CLARKE'S COMMENTARY NT, VOLUME 5 by Adam Clarke 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW 

-Usherian year of the World, 4000. -Alexandrian year of the 
World, 5498.-Antiochian year of the World, 5488. -
Constantinopolitan AEra of the World, 5504. -Year of the 
Julian Period, 4709. -AEra of the Seleucidae, 308. -Year 
before the vulgar AEra of Christ, 5. -Year of the 
CXCIII.Olympiad, 4. -Year of the building of Rome, 749. -Year 
of the Emperor Augustus, i.e. from the battle of Actium, 26. 
-Consuls, Augustus XII. and Lucius Cornelius Sulla. -Year of 
the Paschal Cycle or Dionysian Period, 530. -Year of the 
Solar Cycle, 5. -Year of the Lunar Cycle, 13. -Dominical 
Letters, B A.

CHAPTER i.

The genealogy of Christ divided into three classes of 
fourteen generations each: The first fourteen, from Abraham 
to David, 2-6. The second fourteen, from Solomon to 
Jechonias, 7-10. The third fourteen, from Jechonias to 
Christ, 11-16. The sum of these generations, 17. Christ is 
conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary, 
when she was espoused to Joseph, 18. Joseph's anxiety and 
doubts are removed by the ministry of an Angel, 19, 20; by 
whom the child is named JESUS, 21. The fulfillment of the 
prophecy of Isaiah relative to this, 22, 23. Joseph takes 
home his wife, Mary, and Christ is born, 24, 25.

NOTES ON CHAP. i

Verse 1. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ] I 
suppose these words to have been the original title to this 
Gospel; and that they signify, according to the Hebrew 
Phraseology, not only the account of the genealogy of Christ, 
as detailed below, hut the history of his birth, acts, 
sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension.

The phrase, book of the generation, twdlwt rpo sepher 
toledoth, is frequent in the Jewish writings, and is 
translated by the Septuagint, biblov genesewv, as here, by 
the evangelist; and regularly conveys the meaning given to it 
above; e. g. This is the book of the generations of Adam, 
Gen. v. 1. That is, the account of the life of Adam and 
certain of his immediate descendants. Again. These are the 
generations of Jacob, Genesis xxxvii. 2. That is, the account 
or history of Jacob, his son Joseph, and the other remarkable 
branches of the family. And again. These are the generations 
of Aaron and Moses, Num. iii. 1. That is, the history of the 
life and acts of these persons, and some of their immediate 
descendants.

The same form of expression is also used, Gen. ii. 4, when 
giving the history of the creation of heaven and earth.

Some have translated biblov genesewv, The book of the 
genealogy; and consider it the title of this chapter only; 
but the former opinion seems better founded.

Jesus Christ] See on ver. 16, 21.

The son of David, the son of Abraham] No person ever born 
could boast, in a direct line, a more illustrious ancestry 
than Jesus Christ. Among his progenitors, the regal, 
sacerdotal, and prophetic offices, existed in all their glory 
and splendour. DAVID, the most renowned of sovereigns, was 
king and prophet: ABRAHAM, the most perfect character in all 
antiquity, whether sacred or profane, was priest and prophet: 
but the three offices were never united except in the person 
of Christ; he alone was prophet, priest, and king; and 
possessed and executed these offices in such a supereminent 
degree as no human being ever did, or ever could do. As the 
principal business of the prophet was to make known the will 
of God to men, according to certain partial communications 
received from Heaven; so Jesus, who lay in the bosom of the 
Father, and who was intimately and thoroughly acquainted with 
all the mysteries of the eternal world, came to declare the 
Divine nature and its counsels to mankind; see John i. 18. As 
the business of the priest was to offer sacrifices to God, to 
make atonement for the sins of the people; so Christ was 
constituted a high priest, to make, by the sacrifice of 
himself, an atonement for the sins of the whole world; see 1 
John ii. 2, and the whole Epistle to the Hebrews. As the 
office of king was to reign over, protect, and defend the 
people committed to his care by the Divine Providence; so 
Christ is set as a king upon Sion, having the heathen for his 
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his 
possession, Psa. ii. 6, 8, &c. Of the righteousness, peace, 
and increase of whose government, there shall be no end, 
Isaiah ix. 7. This three-fold office, Christ executes not 
only in a general sense, in the world at large; but, in a 
particular sense, in every Christian soul. He is first a 
prophet, to teach the heart of man the will of God; to 
convict the conscience of sin, righteousness, and judgment; 
and fully to illustrate the way of salvation. He is next a 
priest, to apply that atonement to the guilty conscience, the 
necessity of which, as a prophet, he had previously made 
known. And lastly, as a king, he leads captivity captive, 
binds and casts out the strong man armed, spoils his goods, 
extends the sway of the scepter of righteousness, subdues and 
destroys sin, and reigns Lord over all the powers and 
faculties of the human soul; so that AS sin reigned unto 
death, EVEN so does grace reign through righteousness, unto 
eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans v. 21.

It is remarkable, that the evangelist names David before 
Abraham, though the latter was many generations older: the 
reason seems to be this, that David was not only the most 
illustrious of our Lord's predecessors, as being both king 
and prophet; but because that promise, which at first was 
given to Abraham, and afterwards, through successive 
generations, confirmed to the Jewish people, was at last 
determined and restricted to the family of David. Son of 
David, was an epithet by which the Messiah was afterwards 
known among the Jews; and, under this title, they were led to 
expect him by prophetic authority. See Psa. lxxxix. 3, 4; 
Psalm cxxxii. 10, 11, compared with Acts xiii. 23, and Isa. 
xi. 1; Jeremiah xxiii. 5. Christ was prophesied of under the 
very name of David. See Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24; xxxvii. 24, 25.

Verse 2. Abraham begat Isaac] In this genealogy, those 
persons only, among the ancestors of Christ, which formed the 
direct line, as specified: hence no mention is made of 
Ishmael, the son of Abraham, nor of Esau, the son of Isaac; 
and of all the twelve patriarchs, or sons of Jacob, Judah 
alone is mentioned.

Verse 3. Phares and Zara] The remarkable history of these 
twins may be seen, Gen. xx18: Some of the ancients were of 
opinion, that the evangelist refers to the mystery of the 
youngest being preferred to the eldest, as prefiguring the 
exaltation of the Christian Church over the synagogue. 
Concerning the women whose names are recorded in this 
genealogy, see the note at the end of the chapter.

Verse 8. Joram begat Ozias] This is the Uzziah, king of 
Judah, who was struck with the leprosy for his presumption in 
entering the temple to offer incense before the Lord. See 2 
Chronicles xxvi. 16, &c. Ozias was not the immediate son of 
Joram: there were three kings between them, Ahaziah, Joash, 
and Amaziah, which swell the fourteen generations to 
seventeen: but it is observed that omissions of this kind are 
not uncommon in the Jewish genealogies. In Ezra vii. 3, Aziah 
is called the son of Meraioth, although it is evident, from 1 
Chron. vi. 7-9, that there were six descendants between them. 
This circumstance the evangelist was probably aware of; but 
did not see it proper to attempt to correct what he found in 
the public accredited genealogical tables; as he knew it to 
be of no consequence to his argument, which was merely to 
show that Jesus Christ as surely descended, in an 
uninterrupted line from David, as David did from Abraham. And 
this he has done in the most satisfactory manner; nor did any 
person in those days pretend to detect any inaccuracy in his 
statement; though the account was published among those very 
people whose interest it was to expose the fallacy, in 
vindication of their own obstinate rejection of the Messiah, 
if any such fallacy could have been proved. But as they were 
silent, modern and comparatively modern unbelievers may for 
ever hold their peace. The objections raised on this head are 
worthy of no regard; yet the following statement deserves 
notice.

St. Matthew took up the genealogies just as he found them in 
the public Jewish records, which, though they were in the 
main correct, yet were deficient in many particulars. The 
Jews themselves give us sufficient proof of this. The Talmud, 
title Kiddushim, mentions ten classes of persons who returned 
from the Babylonish captivity: I. ynhk COHANEY, priests. II. 
ywl LEVEY, Levites. III. lary YISHRAEL, Israelites. IV. 
ylwlj CHULULEY, common persons, as to the priesthood; such 
whose fathers were priests, but their mothers were such as 
the priests should not marry. V. yryg GIREY, proselytes. VI. 
yrwrj CHARUREY, freed-men, or servants who had been liberated 
by their masters. VII. yryzmm MAMZIREY, spurious, such as 
were born in unlawful wedlock. VIII. ynytn NETHINEY, 
Nethinim. IX.

yqwt SHETUKEY, bastards, persons whose mothers, though well 
known, could not ascertain the fathers of their children, 
because of their connections with different men. X. ypwoa 
ASUPHEY, such as were gathered up out of the streets, whose 
fathers and mothers were utterly unknown.

Such was the heterogeneous mass brought up from Babylon to 
Jerusalem; and although we learn from the Jews, that great 
care was taken to separate the spurious from the true-born 
Israelites, and canons were made for that purpose, yet it so 
happened, that sometimes a spurious family had got into high 
authority, and therefore must not be meddled with. See 
several cases in Lightfoot. On this account, a faithful 
genealogist would insert in his roll such only as were 
indisputable. "It is therefore easy to guess," says Dr. 
Lightfoot, "whence Matthew took the last fourteen generations 
of this genealogy, and Luke the first forty names of his: 
namely, from the genealogical rolls, at that time well known, 
and laid up in the public keimhlia, repositories, and in the 
private also. And it was necessary indeed, in so noble and 
sublime a subject, and a thing that would be so much inquired 
into by the Jewish people, as the lineage of the Messiah 
would be, that the evangelists should deliver a truth, not 
only that could not be gainsayed, but also might be proved 
and established from certain and undoubted rolls of 
ancestors." See Horae Talmudicae.

Verse 11. Josias begat Jechonias, &c.] There are three 
considerable difficulties in this verse. 1. Josias was not 
the father of Jechonias; he was only the grandfather of that 
prince: 1 Chron. iii. 14-16. 2. Jechonias had no brethren; at 
least, none are on record. 3. Josias died 20 years before the 
Babylonish captivity took place, and therefore Jechonias and 
his brethren could not have been begotten about the time they 
were carried away to Babylon. To this way be added a fourth 
difficulty, viz. there are only thirteen in this 2nd class of 
generations; or forty-one, instead of forty-two, in the 
whole. But all these difficulties disappear, by adopting a 
reading found in many MSS. iowsiav de egennhse tov iwakeim? 
iwakeim de egennhse ton ieconian. And Josias begat JEHOIAKIM, 
or Joakim, and JOAKIM begat Jechonias. For this reading, see 
the authorities in Griesbach.

Josiah was the immediate father of Jehoiakim (called also 
Eliakeim and Joakim) and his brethren, who were Johanan, 
Zedekiah, and Shallum: see 1 Chron. iii. 15. Joakim was the 
father of Joachin or Jechonias, about the time of the first 
Babylonish captivity: for we may reckon three Babylonish 
captivities. The first happened in the fourth year of Joakim, 
son of Josiah, about A. M. 3398. In this year, 
Nebuchadnezzar, having taken Jerusalem, led a great number of 
captives to Babylon. The second captivity happened under 
Jechoniah, son of Joakim; who, having reigned three months, 
was taken prisoner in 3405, and was carried to Babylon, with 
a great number of the Jewish nobility. The third captivity 
took place under Zedekiah, A. M. 3416. And thus, says Calmet, 
ver. 11 should be read: Josias begat Joakim and his brethren: 
and Joakim begat Jechonias about the time of the first 
Babylonish captivity; and Jechonias begat Salathiel, after 
they were brought to Babylon. Thus, with the necessary 
addition of Joakim, the three classes, each containing 
fourteen generations, are complete. And to make this the more 
evident, I shall set down each of these three generations in 
a separate column, with the additional Joakim, that the 
reader may have them all at one view.

1 Abraham 1 Solomon 1 Jechonias 2 Isaac 2 Rehoboam 2 
Salathiel 3 Jacob 3 Abia 3 ZorobHebel 4 Judah 4 Asa 4 Abiud 5 
Pharez 5 Josaphat 5 Eliakim 6 Esrom 6 Joram 6 Azor 7 Aram 7 
Ozias 7 Sadoc 8 Aminadab 8 Joatham 8 Achim 9 Naason 9 Achaz 9 
Eliud 10 Salmon 10 Ezekias 10 Eleazar 11 Booz 11 Manasses 11 
Matthan 12 Obed 12 Amon 12 Jacob 13 Jesse 13 Josias 13 Joseph 
14 David 14 Joachim 14 JESUS In all forty-two generations.

Verse 12. Jechonias begat Salathiel] After Jechonias was 
brought to Babylon, he was put in prison by Nebuchadnezzar, 
where he continued till the death of this prince, and the 
accession of Evilmerodach, who brought him out of prison, in 
which he had been detained thirty-seven years, and restored 
him to such favour that his throne (seat) was exalted above 
all the kings which were with him in Babylon: Jer. lii. 31, 
32. But though he thus became a royal favourite, he was never 
restored to his kingdom. And, according to the prophecy of 
Jeremiah, Jer. xxii. 30, no man of his seed sat upon the 
throne of David; yet the regal line was continued through his 
son Salathiel, who died in Babylon: but ZorobHebel, his son, 
returned from captivity, and by him the race of David was 
continued, according to Matthew, by Abiud; and, according to 
Luke, by Rhesa. See on Luke iii. 23, &c.

The term carrying away to Babylon, metoikesia, from metoikew, 
to change a habitation, or place of residence, would be more 
properly translated by the word transportation, which is here 
peculiarly appropriate: the change was not voluntary; they 
were forced away.

Verse 16. Jesus, who is called Christ.] As the word cristov 
Christ, signifies the anointed or anointer, from criw, to 
anoint, it answers exactly to the Hebrew jym mashiach, which 
we pronounce Messiah or Messias; this word comes from the 
root jm mashac, signifying the same thing. As the same 
person is intended by both the Hebrew and Greek appellation, 
it should be regularly translated The Messiah, or The Christ; 
whichever is preferred, the demonstrative article should 
never be omitted.

Priests, prophets, and kings, among the Jews, were anointed 
in order to the legitimate exercise of their respective 
offices. Hence the word cristov Christ, or jym Mashiach, 
became a name of dignity, and often signified the same as 
king. See Isa. xlv. 1; Psa. cv. 15; Lev. iv. 3; vi. 20; 1 
Sam. ii. 10. The words jym Mashiach and ūlm melec, cristov 
and basileuv, Christ and king, are frequently interchanged. 1 
Sam. ii. 10; Psa. ii. 2, 6; Luke xxiii. 2; and see the 
Scholia of Rosenmuller on this place.

The reason of this may be seen in the following note, which I 
extract from the comment on Exod. xxix. 7.

"It appears from Isa. lxi. 1, that anointing with oil, in 
consecrating a person to any important office, whether civil 
or religious, was considered as an emblem of the 
communication of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. 
This ceremony was used on three occasions, viz. the 
installation of prophets, priests, and kings, into their 
respective offices. But why should such an anointing be 
deemed necessary? Because the common sense of men taught them 
that all good, whether spiritual or secular, must come from 
God, its origin and cause. Hence it was taken for granted, 1. 
That no man could foretell events, unless inspired by the 
Spirit of God. And therefore the prophet was anointed, to 
signify the communication of the Spirit of wisdom and 
knowledge. 2. That no person could offer an acceptable 
sacrifice to God for the sins of men, or profitably minister 
in holy things, unless enlightened, influenced, and directed, 
by the Spirit of grace and holiness. Hence the priest was 
anointed, to signify his being divinely qualified for the due 
performance of his sacred functions. 3. That no man could 
enact just and equitable laws, which should have the 
prosperity of the community and the welfare of the individual 
continually in view, or could use the power confided to him 
only for the suppression of vice and the encouragement of 
virtue, but that man who was ever under the inspiration of 
the Almighty. Hence kings were inaugurated by anointing with 
oil. Two of these offices only exist in all civilized 
nations, the sacerdotal and regal; and, in some countries, 
the priest and king are still consecrated by anointing. In 
the Hebrew language jm mashach signifies to anoint; and jym 
mashiach, the anointed person. But as no man was ever 
dignified by holding the three offices, so no person ever had 
the title Mashiach, the anointed one, but Jesus, The CHRIST. 
He alone is King of kings, and Lord of lords: the king who 
governs the universe, and rules in the hearts of his 
followers; the prophet, to instruct men in the way wherein 
they should go; and the great high priest, to make atonement 
for their sins. Hence he is called the Messias, a corruption 
of the word jymh ha-mashiach, THE anointed ONE, in Hebrew; 
which gave birth to o cristov ho Christos, which has 
precisely the same signification in Greek: of him, 
Melchisedeck, Abraham, Aaron, David, and others, were 
illustrious types. But none of these had the title of THE 
MESSIAH, or THE ANOINTED OF GOD. This does, and ever will, 
belong exclusively to JESUS, The CHRIST." 

Verse 17. Fourteen generations] See the note on "ver. 11". 
The Jews had a sort of technical method of summing up 
generations in this way. In Synopsis Sohar, p. 132, n. 18, we 
have the following words; "From Abraham to Solomon were 
fifteen generations; and then the moon was at the full. From 
Solomon to Zedekiah were other fifteen generations; the moon 
was then in the wane, and Zedekiah's eyes were put out." That 
is, the regal state came to its zenith of light and glory in 
the time of Solomon; but decreased gradually, till it became 
nearly extinct in the days of Zedekiah. See Schoetgen.

Verse 18. Espoused to Joseph] The word mnhsteuqeishv, from 
mnhsteuw, to contract, or betroth, refers to the previous 
marriage agreement, in which the parties mutually bound 
themselves to each other; without which, no woman was ever 
married among the Jews. Among the Hindoos, a woman is 
espoused often a whole year, and even longer before the 
marriage takes place.

Before they came together] The woman was espoused at her own, 
or her father's house; and, generally, some time elapsed 
before she was taken home to the house of her husband: Deut. 
xx. 7; Judg. xiv. 7, 8.

This custom has been immemorially observed among the 
inhabitants of Ireland, who have not only this, but many 
Asiatic customs, which, added to various authentic historic 
proofs, are collateral evidences that they received the 
Christian religion, not from the popes of Rome, but through 
the means of Asiatic missionaries.

Among the Jews, the espousal, though the marriage had not 
been consummated, was considered as perfectly legal and 
binding on both sides; and hence a breach of this contract 
was considered as a case of adultery, and punished exactly in 
the same way. See Deut. xxii. 25, 28. Nor could a contract of 
this kind, though there was no cohabitation, be broken but by 
a regular divorce, as Mr. Selden, in his Uxor Hebraica, has 
proved at large from the Jewish rabbins.

She was found with child] Her situation was the most 
distressing and humiliating that can be conceived. Nothing 
but the fullest consciousness of her own integrity, and the 
strongest confidence in God, could have supported her in such 
trying circumstances, where her reputation, her honour, and 
her life were at stake. What conversation passed between her 
and Joseph, on this discovery, we are not informed; but the 
issue proves that it was not satisfactory to him: nor could 
he resolve to consider her as his wife, till God had sent his 
angel to bear the most unequivocal testimony to the virgin's 
innocence. His whole conduct, on this occasion, was 
exceedingly benevolent and humane. He might at once have 
taken the advantage of the law, Deut. xxii. 23, 24, and had 
her stoned to death.

Verse 19. To make her a public example] paradeigmatisai, to 
expose her to public infamy; from para, near, and deiknumai, 
I show, or expose; what is oddly, though emphatically, called 
in England, showing up-exposing a character to public view. 
Though Joseph was a righteous man, dikaiov, and knew that the 
law required that such persons as he supposed his wife to be 
should be put to death, yet, as righteousness is ever 
directed by mercy, he determined to put her away or divorce 
her privately, i.e. without assigning any cause, that her 
life might be saved; and, as the offense was against himself, 
he had a right to pass it by if he chose. Some have supposed 
that the term dikaiov should be translated merciful, and it 
certainly often has this signification; but here it is not 
necessary.

Verse 20. That which is conceived (or formed) in her] So I 
think gennhqen should be translated in this place: as it 
appears that the human nature of Jesus Christ was a real 
creation in the womb of the virgin, by the power of the Holy 
Spirit. The angel of the Lord mentioned here was probably the 
angel Gabriel, who, six months before, bad been sent to 
Zacharias and Elisabeth, to announce the birth of Christ's 
forerunner, John the Baptist. See Luke i. 36.

Verse 21. JESUS] The same as Joshua, [why Yehoshua, from [y 
yasha, he saved, delivered, put in a state of safety. See on 
Exod. xiii. 9; Num. xiii. 16, and in the preface to Joshua.

He shall save his people from their sins.] This shall be his 
great business in the world: the great errand on which he is 
come, viz. to make an atonement for, and to destroy, sin: 
deliverance from all the power, guilt, and pollution of sin, 
is the privilege of every believer in Christ Jesus. Less than 
this is not spoken of in the Gospel; and less than this would 
be unbecoming the Gospel. The perfection of the Gospel system 
is not that it makes allowances for sin, but that it makes an 
atonement for it: not that it tolerates sin, but that it 
destroys it. In ver. 1, he is called Jesus Christ, on which 
Dr. Lightfoot properly remarks, "That the name of Jesus, so 
often added to the name of Christ in the New Testament, is 
not only that Christ might be thereby pointed out as the 
saviour, but also that Jesus might be pointed out as the true 
Christ or Messiah, against the unbelief of the Jews." This 
observation will be of great use in numberless places of the 
New Testament. See Acts ii. 36; viii. 35; 1 Cor. xvi. 22; 1 
John ii. 22; 1 John iv. 15, &c.

Verse 22. By the prophet] ISAIAH is added here by several 
MSS., versions, and fathers. The prophecy is taken from Isa. 
vii. 14.

Verse 23. Behold, a virgin shall be with child] We have 
already seen, from the preceding verse, that this prophecy is 
taken from Isa. vii. 14; but it may be necessary to consider 
the circumstances of the original promise more particularly. 
At the time referred to, the kingdom of Judah, under the 
government of Ahaz, was reduced very low. Pekah, king of 
Israel, had slain in Judea 120,000 persons in one day, and 
carried away captives 200,000, including women and children, 
together with much spoil. To add to their distress, Rezin, 
king of Syria, being confederate with Pekah, had taken Elath, 
a fortified city of Judah, and carried the inhabitants away 
captive to Damascus. In this critical conjuncture, need we 
wonder that Ahaz was afraid that the enemies who were now 
united against him must prevail, destroy Jerusalem, and the 
kingdom of Judah, and annihilate the family of David! To meet 
and remove this fear, apparently well grounded, Isaiah is 
sent from the Lord to Ahaz, swallowed up now both by sorrow 
and by unbelief, in order to assure him that the counsels of 
his enemies should not stand; and that they should be utterly 
discomfited. To encourage Ahaz, he commands him to ask a sign 
or miracle, which should be a pledge in hand, that God 
should, in due time, fulfill the predictions of his servant, 
as related in the context. On Ahaz humbly refusing to ask any 
sign, it is immediately added, Therefore the Lord himself 
shall give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive and 
bear a son; and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and 
honey shall he eat, &c. Both the Divine and human nature of 
our Lord, as well as the miraculous conception, appear to be 
pointed out in the prophecy quoted here by the evangelist:-He 
shall be called la-wnm[ IM-MENU-EL; literally, The STRONG GOD 
WITH US: similar to those words in the New Testament:-The 
Word which was God-was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full 
of grace and truth: John i. 1, 14. And, God was manifested in 
the flesh: 1 Tim. iii. 16. So that we are to understand, God 
with us, to imply God incarnated-God in human nature. This 
seems farther evident from the words of the prophet, Isa. 
vii. 15. Butter and honey shall he eat-he shall be truly man, 
grow up and be nourished in a human, natural way; which 
refers to his being WITH US, i.e. incarnated. To which the 
prophet adds, That he may know to refuse the evil and choose 
the good:-or rather, According to his knowledge, wt[dl le-
daato, reprobating the evil, and choosing the good. This 
refers to him as GOD; and is the same idea given by this 
prophet, Isa. liii. 11: By (or in) his knowledge (the 
knowledge of Christ crucified, wt[db be-dadto) shall my 
righteous servant sanctify many; for he shall bear their 
offenses. Now this union of the Divine and human nature is 
termed a sign or miracle, twa oth, i.e. something which 
exceeds the power of nature to produce. And this miraculous 
union was to be brought about in a miraculous way: Behold a 
VIRGIN shall conceive: the word is very emphatic, hml[h ha-
almah, THE virgin; the only one that ever was, or ever shall 
be, a mother in this way.

But the Jews, and some called Christians, who have espoused 
their desperate cause, assert, that "the word hml[ almah does 
not signify a VIRGIN only; for it is applied, Prov. xxx. 19, 
to signify a young married woman." I answer, that this latter 
text is no proof of the contrary doctrine: the words hml[b 
rbg ūrd derec geber be-almah, the way of a man with a maid, 
cannot be proved to mean that for which it is produced: 
beside, one of Deuteronomy Rossi's MSS. reads wyml[b be-
almaiu, the way of a strong, or stout, man ( rbg geber) IN 
HIS YOUTH; and in this reading the Syriac, Septuagint, 
Vulgate, and Arabic agree, which are followed by the first 
version in the English language, as it stands in a MS. in my 
own possession-the weie of a man in his waring youthe; so 
that this place, the only one that can with any probability 
of success be produced, were the interpretation contended for 
correct, which I am by no means disposed to admit, proves 
nothing. Beside, the consent of so many versions in the 
opposite meaning deprives it of much of its influence in this 
question.

The word hml[ almah, comes from ml[ alam, to lie hid, be 
concealed; and we are told that "virgins were so called, 
because they were concealed or closely kept up in their 
fathers' houses, till the time of their marriage." This is 
not correct: see the case of Rebecca, Gen. xxiv. 43, and my 
note there: that of Rachel, Gen. xxix. 6, 9, and the note 
there also: and see the case of Miriam, the sister of Moses, 
Exod. ii. 8, and also the Chaldee paraphrase on La i. 4, 
where the virgins are represented as going out in the dance. 
And see also the whole history of Ruth. This being concealed, 
or kept at home, on which so much stress is laid, is purely 
fanciful; for we find that young unmarried women drew water, 
kept sheep, gleaned publicly in the fields, &c., &c., and the 
same works they perform among the Turcomans to the present 
day. This reason, therefore, does not account for the radical 
meaning of the word; and we must seek it elsewhere. Another 
well known and often used root in the Hebrew tongue will cast 
light on this subject. This is hlg galah, which signifies to 
reveal, make manifest, or uncover, and is often applied to 
matrimonial connections, in different parts of the Mosaic 
law: ml[ alam, therefore, may be considered as implying the 
concealment of the virgin, as such, till lawful marriage had 
taken place. A virgin was not called hml[ almah, because she 
was concealed by being kept at home in her father's house, 
which is not true, but literally and physically, because, as 
a woman, she had not been uncovered-she had not known man. 
This fully applies to the blessed virgin: see Luke i. 34. 
"How can this be, seeing I know no man?" and this text throws 
much light on the subject before us. This also is in perfect 
agreement with the ancient prophecy, "The seed of the woman 
shall bruise the head of the serpent," Gen. iii. 15; for the 
person who was to destroy the work of the devil was to be the 
progeny of the woman, without any concurrence of the man. 
And, hence, the text in Genesis speaks as fully of the virgin 
state of the person, from whom Christ, according to the 
flesh, should come, as that in the prophet, or this in the 
evangelist. According to the original promise, there was to 
be a seed, a human being, who should destroy sin; but this 
seed or human being must come from the woman ALONE; and no 
woman ALONE, could produce such a human being, without being 
a virgin. Hence, A virgin shall bear a son, is the very 
spirit and meaning of the original text, independently of the 
illustration given by the prophet; and the fact recorded by 
the evangelist is the proof of the whole. But how could that 
be a sign to Ahaz, which was to take place so many hundreds 
of years after? I answer, the meaning of the prophet is 
plain: not only Rezin and Pekah should be unsuccessful 
against Jerusalem at that time, which was the fact; but 
Jerusalem, Judea, and the house of David, should be both 
preserved, notwithstanding their depressed state, and the 
multitude of their adversaries, till the time should come 
when a VIRGIN should bear a son. This is a most remarkable 
circumstance-the house of David could never fail, till a 
virgin should conceive and bear a son-nor did it: but when 
that incredible and miraculous fact did take place, the 
kingdom and house of David became extinct! This is an 
irrefragable confutation of every argument a Jew can offer in 
vindication of his opposition to the Gospel of Christ. Either 
the prophecy in Isaiah has been fulfilled, or the kingdom and 
house of David are yet standing. But the kingdom of David, we 
know, is destroyed: and where is the man, Jew or Gentile, 
that can show us a single descendant of David on the face of 
the earth? The prophecy could not fail-the kingdom and house 
of David have failed; the virgin, therefore, must have 
brought forth her son-and this son is Jesus, the Christ. Thus 
Moses, Isaiah, and Matthew concur; and facts, the most 
unequivocal, have confirmed the whole! Behold the wisdom and 
providence of God! Notwithstanding what has been said above, 
it may be asked, In what sense could this name Immanuel be 
applied to Jesus Christ, if he be not truly and properly GOD? 
Could the Spirit of truth ever design that Christians should 
receive him as an angel or a mere man, and yet, in the very 
beginning of the Gospel history, apply a character to him 
which belongs only to the most high God? Surely no. In what 
sense, then, is Christ GOD WITH US? Jesus is called Immanuel, 
or God with us, in his incarnation.-God united to our nature-
God with man-God in man.-God with us, by his continual 
protection.-God with us, by the influences of his Holy 
Spirit-in the holy sacrament-in the preaching of his word-in 
private prayer. And God with us, through every action of our 
life, that we begin, continue, and end in his name. He is God 
with us, to comfort, enlighten, protect, and defend us in 
every time of temptation and trial, in the hour of death, in 
the day of judgment; and God with us, and in us, and we with 
and in him, to all eternity.

Verse 25. Her first-born son] ton uion authv ton prw-otokon.

Literally, That son of hers, the first-born one. That Mary 
might have had other children, any person may reasonably and 
piously believe; that she had others, many think exceedingly 
probable, and that this text is at least an indirect proof of 
it. However this may be, the perpetual virginity of Mary 
should not be made an article of faith. God has not made it 
one: indeed it can hardly bear the light of several texts in 
the Gospels.

He knew her not] Had no matrimonial intercourse with her-TILL 
she had brought forth that son of hers, of whom the 
evangelist had been just speaking, the first-born, the eldest 
of the family, to whom the birthright belonged, and who was 
miraculously born before she knew any man, being yet in a 
state of virginity. See on chap. xiii. 55. The virginity of 
Mary, previously to the birth of Christ, is an article of the 
utmost consequence to the Christian system; and therefore it 
is an article of faith: her perpetual virginity is of no 
consequence; and the learned labour spent to prove it has 
produced a mere castle in the air. The thing is possible; but 
it never has been, and never can be proved.

He called his name JESUS.] This name was given by the command 
of God, see ver. 16, and was imposed on Christ when eight 
days old; for then, according to the Jewish law, he was 
circumcised: thus he had the name of saviour given when he 
first began to shed that blood without which there could be 
no remission of sins.

The goodness of God is manifested, not only in his giving his 
Son to save a lost world, but also in the choice of the 
persons who were his progenitors: among whom we find, First, 
SAINTS, to excite our courage: Abraham, remarkable for his 
faith; Isaac, for his obedience; and Jacob, for his fervour 
and constancy.

Secondly, Penitent SINNERS, to excite our confidence: such as 
David, Manasses, &c.

Thirdly, Sinners, of whose repentance and salvation we hear 
nothing; to put us on our guard. Who can read the account of 
idolatrous Solomon, who, from the whole evidence of the 
sacred history, died In his sins, without trembling? Four 
WOMEN are mentioned in this genealogy: two of these were 
adulteresses, Tamar and Bathsheba; and two were Gentiles, 
Rahab and Ruth, and strangers to the covenant of promise; to 
teach us that Jesus Christ came to save sinners, and that, 
though strangers to his people, we are not on that account 
excluded from a salvation which God has designed for all men. 
He is not the God of the Jews only; he is also the God of the 
Gentiles.

The state of the royal family of David, the circumstances of 
the holy virgin and her spouse Joseph, the very remarkable 
prophecy of Isaiah, the literal and circumstantial 
fulfillment of it, the names given to our blessed Lord, the 
genealogical scroll of the family, &c., &c., are all so many 
proofs of the wisdom, goodness, and providence of God. Every 
occurrence seems, at first view, to be abandoned to 
fortuitous influence, and yet the result of each shows that 
God managed the whole. These circumstances are of the 
greatest importance; nor can the Christian reader reflect on 
them without an increase of his faith and his piety.

CHAPTER ii

Wise men come from the east to worship Christ, 1, 2. Herod, 
hearing of the birth of our Lord, is greatly troubled, 3; and 
makes inquiry of the chief priests and scribes, where the 
Christ should be born, 4. They inform him of the prophecy 
relative to Bethlehem, 5, 6. The wise men, going to 
Bethlehem, are desired by Herod to bring him word when they 
have found the child, pretending that he wished to do him 
homage, 7, 8. The wise men are directed by a star to the 
place where the young child lay, adore him, and offer him 
gifts, 9-11. Being warned of God not to return to Herod, they 
depart into their own country another way, 12. Joseph and 
Mary are divinely warned to escape into Egypt, because Herod 
sought to destroy Jesus, 13, 14. They obey, and continue in 
Egypt till the death of Herod, 15. Herod, finding that the 
wise men did not return, is enraged, and orders all the young 
children in Bethlehem, under two years of age, to be 
massacred, 16-18. Herod dies, and Joseph is divinely warned 
to return to the land of Israel, 19-21. Finding that 
Archelaus reigned in Judea in place of his father Herod, he 
goes to Galilee, and takes up his residence at Nazareth, 22, 
23.

NOTES ON CHAP. ii

Verse 1. Bethlehem of Judea] This city is mentioned in Judg. 
xvii. 7, and must be distinguished from another of the same 
name in the tribe of Zebulon, Josh. xix. 15. It is likewise 
called Ephrath, Gen. xlviii. 7, or Ephratah, Micah v. 2, and 
its inhabitants Ephrathites, Ruth i. 2; 1 Sam. xvii. 12. It 
is situated on the declivity of a hill, about six miles from 
Jerusalem. µjl tyb Beth-lechem, in Hebrew, signifies the 
house of bread.

And the name may be considered as very properly applied to 
that place where Jesus, the Messiah, the true bread that came 
down from heaven, was manifested, to give life to the world. 
But µjl lehem also signifies flesh, and is applied to that 
part of the sacrifice which was burnt upon the altar. See 
Lev. iii. 11-16; xxi. 6. The word is also used to signify a 
carcass, Zeph. i. 17. The Arabic version has  Beet lehem, and 
the Persic  Beet allehem: but  lehem, in Arabic, never 
signifies bread, but always means flesh. Hence it is more 
proper to consider the name as signifying the house of flesh, 
or, as some might suppose, the house of the incarnation, i.e. 
the place where God was manifested in the flesh for the 
salvation of a lost world.

In the days of Herod the king] This was HEROD, improperly 
denominated the GREAT, the son of Antipater, an Idumean: he 
reigned 37 years in Judea, reckoning from the-time he was 
created-king of that country by the Romans. Our blessed Lord 
was born in the last year of his reign; and, at this time, 
the scepter had literally departed from Judah, a foreigner 
being now upon the throne.

As there are several princes of this name mentioned in the 
New Testament, it may be well to give a list of them here, 
together with their genealogy.

Herod, the Great, married ten wives, by whom he had several 
children, Euseb. l. i. c. 9. p. 27. The first was Doris, 
thought to be an Idumean, whom he married when but a private 
individual; by her he had Antipater, the eldest of all his 
sons, whom he caused to be executed five days before his own 
death.

His second wife was Mariamne, daughter to Hircanus, the sole 
surviving person of the Asmonean, or Maccabean, race. Herod 
put her to death. She was the mother of Alexander and 
Aristobulus, whom Herod had executed at Sebastia, (Joseph. 
Antiq. l. xvi. c. 13.-Deuteronomy Bello, l. i. c. 17,) on an 
accusation of having entered into a conspiracy against him. 
Aristobulus left three children, whom I shall notice 
hereafter.

His third wife was Mariamne, the daughter of Simon, a person 
of some note in Jerusalem, whom Herod made high priest, in 
order to obtain his daughter. She was the mother of Herod 
Philippus, or Herod Philip, and Salome. Herod or Philip 
married Herodias, mother to Salome, the famous dancer, who 
demanded the head of John the Baptist, Mark vi. 22. Salome 
had been placed, in the will of Herod the Great, as second 
heir after Antipater; but her name was erased, when it was 
discovered that Mariamne, her mother, was an accomplice in 
the crimes of Antipater, son of Herod the Great. Joseph de 
Bello, lib. i. c. 18,19,20.

His fourth wife was Malthake, a Samaritan, whose sons were 
Archelaus and Philip. The first enjoyed half his father's 
kingdom under the name of tetrarch, viz. Idumea, Judea, and 
Samaria: Joseph. Antiq. l. xvii. c. 11. He reigned nine 
years; but, being accused and arraigned before the Emperor 
Augustus, he was banished to Vienna, where he died: Joseph. 
Antiq. l. xvii.

c. 15. This is the Archelaus mentioned in ver. 22.

His brother Philip married Salome, the famous dancer, the 
daughter of Herodias; he died without children, and she was 
afterwards married to Aristobulus.

The fifth wife of Herod the Great was Cleopatra of Jerusalem. 
She was the mother of Herod surnamed Antipas, who married 
Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, while he was still 
living. Being reproved for this act by John the Baptist, 
chap. xiv. 3; Mark vi. 17; Luke iii. 19, and having 
imprisoned this holy man, he caused him to be beheaded, 
agreeable to the promise he had rashly made to the daughter 
of his wife Herodias, who had pleased him with her dancing. 
He attempted to seize the person of Jesus Christ, and to put 
him to death. It was to this prince that Pilate sent our 
Lord, Luke xiii. 31, 32. He was banished to Lyons, and then 
to Spain, where both he and his wife Herodias died. Joseph. 
Antiq. l. xv. c.

14.-Deuteronomy Bello, l. ii. c. 8.

The sixth wife of Herod the Great was Pallas, by whom he had 
Phasaelus: his history is no ways connected with the New 
Testament.

The seventh was named Phoedra, the mother of Roxana, who 
married the son of Pheroras.

The eighth was Elpida, mother of Salome, who married another 
son of Pheroras.

With the names of two other wives of Herod we are not 
acquainted; but they are not connected with our history, any 
more than are Pallas, Phoedra, and Elpida, whose names I 
merely notice to avoid the accusation of inaccuracy.

ARISTOBULUS, the son of Herod the Great by Mariamne, a 
descendant of the Asmoneans, left two sons and a daughter, 
viz. Agrippa, Herod, and Herodias, so famous for her 
incestuous marriage with Antipas, in the life-time of his 
brother Philip.

AGRIPPA, otherwise named Herod, who was imprisoned by 
Tiberius for something he had inconsiderately said against 
him, was released from prison by Caligula, who made him king 
of Judea: Joseph. Antiq. l. xviii. c.

8. It was this prince who put St. James to death, and 
imprisoned Peter, as mentioned in xii. of Acts. He died at 
Caesarea, in the way mentioned in the Acts, as well as by 
Josephus, Antiq. l. xix. c. 7. He left a son named Agrippa, 
who is mentioned below.

HEROD, the second son of Aristobulus, was king of Chalcis, 
and, after the death of his brother, obtained permission of 
the emperor to keep the ornaments belonging to the high 
priest, and to nominate whom he pleased to that office: 
Joseph. Antiq. l. xx. c. 1. He had a son named Aristobulus, 
to whom Nero gave Armenia the lesser, and who married Salome, 
the famous dancer, daughter to Herodias.

AGRIPPA, son of Herod Agrippa, king of Judea, and grandson to 
Aristobulus and Mariamne; he was at first king of Chalcis, 
and afterwards tetrarch of Galilee, in the room of his uncle 
Philip: Joseph. Antiq. l. xx. c.

5. It was before him, his sister Berenice, and Felix, who had 
married Drusilla, Agrippa's second daughter, that St. Paul 
pleaded his cause, as mentioned Acts 26.

HERODIAS, the daughter of Mariamne and Aristobulus, is the 
person of whom we have already spoken, who married 
successively the two brothers Philip and Antipas, her uncles, 
and who occasioned the death of John the Baptist. By her 
first husband she had Salome, the dancer, who was married to 
Philip, tetrarch of the Trachonitis, the son of Herod the 
Great. Salome having had no children by him, she was married 
to Aristobulus, her cousin-german, son of Herod, king of 
Chalcis, and brother to Agrippa and Herodias: she had by this 
husband several children.

This is nearly all that is necessary to be known relative to 
the race of the Herods, in order to distinguish the 
particular persons of this family mentioned in the New 
Testament. See Basnage, Calmet, and Josephus.

There came wise men from the east] Or, Magi came from the 
eastern countries. "The Jews believed that there were 
prophets in the kingdom of Saba and Arabia, who were of the 
posterity of Abraham by Keturah; and that they taught in the 
name of God, what they had received in tradition from the 
mouth of Abraham."-WHITBY. That many Jews were mixed with 
this people there is little doubt; and that these eastern 
magi, or philosophers, astrologers, or whatever else they 
were, might have been originally of that class, there is room 
to believe. These, knowing the promise of the Messiah, were 
now, probably, like other believing Jews, waiting for the 
consolation of Israel. The Persic translator renders the 
Greek magoi by  mejooseean, which properly signifies a 
worshipper of fire; and from which we have our word magician. 
It is very probable that the ancient Persians, who were 
considered as worshippers of fire, only honoured it as the 
symbolical representation of the Deity; and, seeing this 
unusual appearance, might consider it as a sign that the God 
they worshipped was about to manifest himself among men. 
Therefore they say, We have seen his star-and are come to 
worship him; but it is most likely that the Greeks made their 
magoi magi, which we translate wise men, from the Persian  
mogh, and  moghan, which the Kushuf ul Loghat, a very eminent 
Persian lexicon, explains by  atush perest, a worshipper of 
fire; which the Persians suppose all the inhabitants of Ur in 
Chaldea were, among whom the Prophet Abraham was brought up. 
The Mohammedans apply this title by way of derision to 
Christian monks in their associate capacity; and by a yet 
stronger catachresis, they apply it to a tavern, and the 
people that frequent it. Also, to ridicule in the most 
forcible manner the Christian priesthood, they call the 
tavern-keeper , peeri Mughan, the priest, or chief of the 
idolaters. It is very probable that the persons mentioned by 
the evangelist were a sort of astrologers, probably of Jewish 
extraction, that they lived in Arabia-Felix, and, for the 
reasons above given, came to worship their new-born 
sovereign. It is worthy of remark, that the Anglo-saxon 
translates the word magoi by , which signifies astrologers, 
from  a star or planet, and , to know or understand.

Verse 2. We have seen his star] Having discovered an unusual 
luminous appearance or meteor in the heavens, supposing these 
persons to have been Jews, and knowing the prophecies 
relative to the redemption of Israel, they probably 
considered this to be the star mentioned by Balaam, Num. 
xxiv. 17. See the note there.

In the east] en th anatolh, At its rise. anatolh and dushn 
are used in the New Testament for east and west.

To worship him.] Or, To do him homage; proskunhsai autw. The 
word proskunew, which is compounded of prov, to, and kuwn, a 
dog, signifies to crouch and fawn like a dog at his master's 
feet. It means, to prostrate oneself to another, according to 
the eastern custom, which is still in use. In this act, the 
person kneels, and puts his head between his knees, his 
forehead at the same time touching the ground. It was used to 
express both civil and religious reverence. In Hindostan, 
religious homage is paid by prostrating the body at full 
length, so that the two knees, the two hands, forehead, nose, 
and cheeks all touch the earth at the same time. This kind of 
homage is paid also to great men. AYEEN AKBERY, vol. iii. p. 
227.

As to what is here called a star, some make it a meteor, 
others a luminous appearance like an Aurora Borealis; others 
a comet! There is no doubt, the appearance was very striking: 
but it seems to have been a simple meteor provided for the 
occasion. See on "ver. 9".

Verse 3. When Herod-heard these things, he was troubled] 
Herod's consternation was probably occasioned by the 
agreement of the account of the magi, with an opinion 
predominant throughout the east, and particularly in Judea, 
that some great personage would soon make his appearance, for 
the deliverance of Israel from their enemies; and would take 
upon himself universal empire.

SUETONIUS and TACITUS, two Roman historians, mention this. 
Their words are very remarkable:-Percrebuerat Oriente toto, 
vetus et constans opinio, esse in fatis, ut eo tempore Judaea 
profecti rerum potirentur. Id de imperatare Romano, quantum 
eventu postea predictum patuit, Judaei ad se trahentes, 
rebellarunt. SUETON. VESP. "An ancient and settled persuasion 
prevailed throughout the east, that the fates had decreed 
some to proceed from Judea, who should attain universal 
empire. This persuasion, which the event proved to respect 
the Roman emperor, the Jews applied to themselves, and 
therefore rebelled." The words of Tacitus are nearly 
similar:-Pluribus persuasio inerat, antiquis sacerdotum 
literis contineri, eo ipso tempore fore, ut valesceret 
Oriens, profectique Judaea rerum potirentur.

Quae ambages Vespasianum ac Titum praedixerant.

"Many were persuaded, that it was contained in the ancient 
books of their priests, that at that very time the east 
should prevail: and that some should proceed from Judea and 
possess the dominion. It was Vespasian and Titus that these 
ambiguous prophecies predicted." Histor. v.

Verse 4. The chief priests] Not only the high priest for the 
time being, called arh hk cohen ha-rosh, 2 Kings xxv. 18, 
and his deputy, called hnm hk cohen mishneh, with those who 
had formerly borne the high priest's office; but also, the 
chiefs or heads of the twenty four sacerdotal families, which 
David distributed into so many courses, 1 Chronicles 24.

These latter are styled µynhkh yrs sarey ha-cohanim, chief of 
the priests, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14; Ezra viii. 24; and µynhkh 
yar roshey ha-cohanim, heads of the priests, Neh. xii. 7. 
Josephus calls them by the same name as the writers of the 
New Testament. In his Life, sect. 8, he mentions pollouv-twn 
arcierewn, MANY of the chief priests. The word is used in the 
singular in this last sense, for a chief of the priests, Acts 
xix. 14.

Scribes] The word grammateuv, in the Septuagint, is used for 
a political officer, whose business it was to assist kings 
and civil magistrates, and to keep an account in writing of 
public acts and occurrences. Such an officer is called in 
Hebrew ūlmh rpo seper hamelech, o grammateuv tou basilewv, 
the king's scribe, or secretary. See LXX. 2 Kings xii. 10.

The word is often used by the LXX. for a man of learning, 
especially for one skilled in the Mosaic law: and, in the 
same sense, it is used by the New Testament writers. 
grammateuv is therefore to be understood as always implying a 
man of letters, or learning, capable of instructing the 
people. The derivation of the names proves this to be the 
genuine meaning of the word gramma: a letter, or character, 
in writing: or grammata, letters, learning, erudition, and 
especially that gained from books. The Hebrew rps or rpws 
sopher, from saphar, to tell, count, cypher, signifies both a 
book, volume, roll, &c., and a notary, recorder, or 
historian; and always signifies a man of learning. We often 
term such a person a man of letters.

The word is used Acts xix. 35, for a civil magistrate at 
Ephesus, probably such a one as we would term recorder. It 
appears that Herod at this time gathered the whole Sanhedrin, 
in order to get the fullest information on a subject by which 
all his jealous fears had been alarmed.

Verse 5. In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the 
prophet] As there have been several confused notions among 
the Jews, relative not only to the Messiah, and his 
character, but also to the time of his birth, it may be 
necessary to add, to what has already been said on this 
subject, the following extracts from the Talmudists and 
Gemarists, quoted by LIGHTFOOT. At the close of a long 
dissertation on the year of our Lord's birth, (which he 
places in the 35th of the reign of Herod, not the last or 
37th as above,) he says: "It will not be improper here to 
produce the Gemarists themselves openly confessing that the 
Messias had been born, a good while ago before their times. 
For so they write: After this the children of Israel shall be 
converted, and shall inquire after the Lord their God, and 
David their king: Ho iii. 5. Our rabbins say, That is King 
Messias, If he be among the living, his name is David, or if 
dead, David is his name. R.

Tanchum said, Thus I prove it: He showeth mercy to David his 
Messiah.

(Psa. xviii. 50.) R. Joshua ben Levi saith, His name is jmx 
tsemach, a Branch. (Zech. iii. 8.) R. Juban bar Arbu saith, 
His name is Menahem.

(That is, paraklhtov, the Comforter.) 'And that which 
happened to a certain Jew, as he was ploughing, agreeth with 
this business. A certain Arabian travelling, and hearing the 
ox bellow, said to the Jew at plough, O Jew, loose thy oxen, 
and loose thy ploughs, for behold! The temple is laid waste. 
The ox belloweth the second time; the Arabian saith to him, O 
Jew, Jew, yoke thy oxen, and fit thy ploughs: ajym aklm ryly 
ahw For behold! King Messiah is born. But, saith the Jew, 
What is his name? Menahem, saith he (i.e. the Comforter.) And 
what is the name of his Father? Hezekiah, saith the Arabian. 
To whom the Jew, But whence is He? The other answered, From 
the palace of the king of Bethlehem Judah.

Away he went, and sold his oxen and his ploughs, and became a 
seller of infants' swaddling clothes, going about from town 
to town. When he came to that city, (Bethlehem,) all the 
women bought of him, but the mother of Menahem bought 
nothing. He heard the voice of the women saying, O thou 
mother of Menahem, thou mother of Menahem, carry thy son the 
things that are here sold. But she replied, May the enemies 
of Israel be strangled, because on the day that he was born, 
the temple was laid waste.

To whom he said, But we hoped, that as it was laid waste at 
his feet, so at his feet it would be built again. She saith, 
I have no money. To whom he replied, But why should this be 
prejudicial to him? Carry him what you buy here, and if you 
have no money today, after some days I will come back and 
receive it. After some days, he returned to that city, and 
saith to her, How does the little infant? And she said, From 
the time you saw me last, spirits and tempests came, and 
snatched him away out of my hands.

R. Bon saith, What need have we to learn from an Arabian? Is 
it not plainly written, And Lebanon shall fall before the 
powerful one? (Isa. x. 34.) And what follows after? A branch 
shall come out of the root of Jesse. (Isa. xi. 1.) "The 
Babylonian doctors yield us a confession not very unlike the 
former.

R. Charinah saith: After four hundred years are passed from 
the destruction of the temple, if any one shall say to you, 
Take to thyself for one penny a field worth a thousand pence, 
do not take it. And again, After four thousand two hundred 
thirty and one years from the creation of the world, if any 
shall say to you, Take for a penny a field worth a thousand 
pence, take it not. The gloss is, For that is the time of 
redemption, and you shall be brought back to the holy 
mountain, to the inheritance of your fathers; why, therefore, 
should you misspend your penny? "You may fetch the reason of 
this calculation, if you have leisure, out of the tract 
Sanhedrin. The tradition of the school of Elias, the world is 
to last six thousand years, &c. And a little after, Elias 
said to Rabh Judah, The world shall last not less than 
eighty-five jubilees: and in the last jubilee shall the Son 
of David come. He saith to him, Whether in the beginning of 
it, or in the end? He answered him, I know not. Whether is 
this whole time to be finished first, or not? He answered 
him, I know not. But Rabh Asher asserted, that he answered 
thus, Until then, expect him not, but from thence expect him. 
Hear your own countrymen, O Jew! How many centuries of years 
are passed by and gone from the eighty-fifth jubilee of the 
world, that is, the year MMMMCCL, and yet the Messias of your 
expectation is not yet come! "Daniel's weeks had so clearly 
defined the time of the true Messias, his coming, that the 
minds of the whole nation were raised into the expectation of 
him. Hence, it was doubted of the Baptist, whether he were 
not the Messias, Luke iii. 15. Hence it was, that the Jews 
are gathered together from all countries unto Jerusalem, Acts 
ii. , expecting and coming to see, because at that time the 
term of revealing the Messias, that had been prefixed by 
Daniel, was come. Hence it was that there was so great a 
number of false Christs, chap. xxiv. 5, &c., taking the 
occasion of their impostures hence, that now the time of that 
great expectation was at hand, and fulfilled: and in one 
word, They thought the kingdom of God should presently 
appear, Luke xix. 11.

"But when those times of expectation were past, nor did such 
a Messias appear as they expected, (for when they saw the 
true Messias, they would not see him,) they first broke out 
into various, and those wild, conjectures of the time; and at 
length, all those conjectures coming to nothing, all ended in 
this curse (the just cause of their eternal blindness) twr 
tph yxq yktm l , May their soul be confounded who compute 
the times!" They were fully aware that the time foretold by 
the prophets must be long since fulfilled; and that their 
obstinacy must be confounded by their own history, and the 
chronology of their own Scriptures; and therefore they have 
pronounced an anathema on those who shall attempt to examine, 
by chronological computations, the prophecies that predict 
his coming. Who can conceive a state of willful blindness or 
determined obstinacy superior to this!

Verse 6. And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda] To 
distinguish it from Bethlehem, in the tribe of Zebulon. Josh. 
xix. 15. See on "ver. 1".

Art not the least] In Micah v. 2, it is read, Though thou be 
little-twyhl ry[x tsdir lehayoth, little to be. Houbigant, 
struck with the oddness of the construction of the Hebrew, by 
dividing the last word, and making a small change in two of 
the letters, makes the prophet agree with the evangelist, 
tyyh al ry[x tsdir lo hayita, thou art not the least. Several 
learned men are of opinion, that the copy from which St. 
Matthew quoted, had the text in this way. However, some MSS. 
of very good note, among which is the Codex Bezae, have mh 
elacisth ei, for oudamwv elacisth ei, Art thou not the least? 
This reconciles the prophet and evangelist without farther 
trouble. See the authorities for this reading in Griesbach 
and Wetstein.

Among the princes of Juda] In Micah v. 2, it is, the 
thousands of Judah.

There is much reason to believe that each tribe was divided 
into small portions called thousands, as in England certain 
small divisions of counties are called hundreds. For the 
proof of the first, the reader is referred to Judg. vi. 15, 
where, instead of my FAMILY is poor in Manasseh, the Hebrew 
is, my THOUSAND ( ypla ) is the meanest in Manasseh: and to 1 
Sam. x. 19, Present yourselves before the Lord by your TRIBES 
and by your THOUSANDS: and to 1 Chron. xii. 20, Captains of 
the THOUSANDS of Manasseh. Now these THOUSANDS being petty 
governments, Matthew renders them by the word hgemosiv, 
because the word princes or governors was more intelligible 
in the Greek tongue than thousands, though, in this case, 
they both signify the same. See Wakefield.

That shall rule my people Israel.] ostiv poimanei, Who shall 
FEED my people. That is as a shepherd feeds his flock. Among 
the Greeks, kings are called, by Homer, lawn poimenev, 
shepherds of the people. This appellation probably originated 
from the pastoral employment, which kings and patriarchs did 
not blush to exercise in the times of primitive simplicity; 
and it might particularly refer to the case of David, the 
great type of Christ, who was a keeper of his father's sheep, 
before he was raised to the throne of Israel. As the 
government of a good king was similar to the care a good 
shepherd has of his flock, hence poimhn signified both 
shepherd and king; and poimainw, to feed and to rule among 
the ancient Greeks.

Verse 8. That I may come and worship him also.] See Matthew 
ii. 2, and on Gen. xvii. 3, and Exod. iv. 31. What exquisite 
hypocrisy was here! he only wished to find out the child that 
he might murder him; but see how that God who searches the 
heart prevents the designs of wicked men from being 
accomplished! 

Verse 9. In the east] Or, at its rise. See "ver. 2".

Stood over where the young child was.] Super caput pueri, 
Over the head of the child, as the OPUS IMPERFECTUM, on this 
place, has it. See Griesbach's Var. Lect. So it appears to 
have been a simple luminous meteor in a star-like form, and 
at a very short distance from the ground, otherwise it could 
not have ascertained the place where the child lay. But the 
last quoted reading, from the Opus Imperfectum, justifies the 
opinion that the luminous appearance which had hitherto 
directed them now encompassed the head of the child; and 
probably this gave the first idea to the ancient painters, of 
representing Christ in the manger, with a glory surrounding 
his head. This glory, or nimbus, is usually given also to 
saints and eminent persons, especially in the Roman Church, 
by all Roman Catholic painters.

Verse 11. They presented unto him gifts] The people of the 
east never approach the presence of kings and great 
personages, without a present in their hands. This custom is 
often noticed in the Old Testament, and still prevails in the 
east, and in some of the newly discovered South Sea Islands.

Gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.] Some will have these 
gifts to be emblematic of the Divinity, regal office, and 
manhood of Christ. "They offered him incense as their God; 
gold as their king; and myrrh, as united to a human body, 
subject to suffering and death." Aurum, thus, myrrham, 
regique, DEO, HOMINIQUE, dona ferunt. JUVENCUS. Rather, they 
offered him the things which were in most esteem among 
themselves; and which were productions of their own country. 
The gold was probably a very providential supply, as on it, 
it is likely, they subsisted while in Egypt.

Verse 13. Flee into Egypt] Many Jews had settled in Egypt; 
not only those who had fled thither in the time of Jeremiah, 
see Jeremiah. 48; but many others who had settled there also, 
on account of the temple which Onias IV. had built at 
Heliopolis. Those who could speak the Greek tongue enjoyed 
many advantages in that country: besides, they had the Greek 
version of the Septuagint, which had been translated nearly 
300 years before this time. Egypt was now a Roman province, 
and the rage of Herod could not pursue the holy family to 
this place. There is an apocryphal work in Arabic, called the 
Gospel of the infancy, which pretends to relate all the acts 
of Jesus and Mary while in Egypt. I have taken the pains to 
read this through, and have found it to be a piece of gross 
superstition, having nothing to entitle it to a shadow of 
credibility.

Verse 15. Out of Egypt have I called my son.] This is quoted 
from Ho xi. 1, where the deliverance of Israel, and that 
only, is referred to. But as that deliverance was 
extraordinary, it is very likely that it had passed into a 
proverb, so that "Out of Egypt have I called my son," might 
have been used to express any signal deliverance. I confess, 
I can see no other reference it can have to the case in hand, 
unless we suppose, which is possible, that God might have 
referred to this future bringing up of his son Jesus from 
Egypt, under the type of the past deliverance of Israel from 
the same land. Midrash Tehillin, on Psa. ii. 7, has these 
remarkable words: I will publish a decree: this decree has 
been published in the Law, in the Prophets, and in the 
Hagiographia. In the Law, Israel is my first-born son: Exod. 
iv. 22. In the Prophets, Behold, my servant shall deal 
prudently: Isa. lii. 13. In the Hagiographia, The Lord said 
unto my lord: Psa. cx. 1. All these passages the Jews refer 
to the Messiah. See Schoetgen.

Verse 16. Slew all the children] This cruelty of Herod seems 
alluded to in very decisive terms by Macrobius, who 
flourished toward the conclusion of the fourth Century. In 
his chapter Deuteronomy jocis Augusti in alios, et aliorum 
rursus in ipsum, he says, Cum audisset inter pueros, quos in 
Syria Herodes, rex Judeorum, intra bimatum jussit interfici, 
filium quoque ejus occisum, ait, Melius est Herodis PORCUM 
esse, quam FILIUM. "When he heard that among those male 
infants about two years old, which Herod, the king of the 
Jews, ordered to be slain in Syria, one of his sons was also 
murdered, he said: 'It is better to be Herod's HOG than his 
SON.'" Saturn. lib. ii. c. 4. The point of this saying 
consists in this, that Herod, professing Judaism, his 
religion forbade his killing swine, or having any thing to do 
with their flesh; therefore his hog would have been safe, 
where his son lost his life.

Verse 18. In Rama was there a voice heard] These words, 
quoted from Jer. xxxi. 15, were originally spoken concerning 
the captivity of the ten tribes; but are here elegantly 
applied to the murder of the innocents at Bethlehem. As if he 
had said, Bethlehem at this time resembled Rama; for as 
Rachel might be said to weep over her children, which were 
slaughtered or gone into captivity; so in Bethlehem, the 
mothers lamented bitterly their children, because they were 
slain. The word qrhnov, lamentation is omitted by the Codd. 
Vatic. Cypr. one of Selden's MSS. the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, 
AEthiopic, all the Itala, (except that in the Cod. Bezae,) 
Vulgate, and Saxon, several of the fathers, and above all 
Jeremiah, Jer. xxxi. 15, from which it is quoted. Griesbach 
leaves it in the text with a note of doubtfulness. This 
mourning may refer to cases far from uncommon in the east, 
where all the children have been massacred. The lamentations 
of a Hindoo mother for her child are loud and piercing; and 
it is almost impossible to conceive of a scene more truly 
heart-rending than that of a whole town of such mothers 
wailing over their massacred children. See WARD.

Verse 20. They are dead] Both Herod and Antipater his son; 
though some think the plural is here used for the singular, 
and that the death of Herod alone is here intended. But as 
Herod's son Antipater was at this time heir apparent to the 
throne, and he had cleared his way to it by procuring the 
death of both his elder brothers, he is probably alluded to 
here, as doubtless he entered into his father's designs. THEY 
are dead-Antipater was put to death by his father's command, 
five days before this execrable tyrant went to his own place. 
See Josephus, Antiq. xvi. 11; xvii. 9.

Verse 22. When he heard that Archelaus did reign] Herod, 
having put Antipater his eldest son to death, altered his 
will, and thus disposed of his dominions: he gave the 
tetrarchy of Galilee and Petrea to his son Antipas; the 
tetrarchy of Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, Batanea, and Paneadis, 
to his son Philip; and left the kingdom of Judea to his 
eldest remaining son, Archelaus. This son partook of the 
cruel and blood-thirsty disposition of his father: at one of 
the passovers, he caused three thousand of the people to be 
put to death in the temple and city. For his tyranny and 
cruelty, Augustus deprived him of the government, and 
banished him. His character considered, Joseph, with great 
propriety, forbore to settle under his jurisdiction.

He turned aside into the parts of Galilee] Here Antipas 
governed, who is allowed to have been of a comparatively mild 
disposition: and, being intent on building two cities, Julias 
and Tiberias, he endeavoured, by a mild carriage and promises 
of considerable immunities, to entice people from other 
provinces to come and settle in them. He was besides in a 
state of enmity with his brother Archelaus: this was a most 
favourable circumstance to the holy family; and though God 
did not permit them to go to any of the new cities, yet they 
dwelt in peace, safety, and comfort at Nazareth.

Verse 23. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the 
prophets] It is difficult to ascertain by what prophets this 
was spoken. The margin usually refers to Judg. xiii. 5, where 
the angel, foretelling the birth of Samson, says, No razor 
shall come upon his head; for the child shall be a NAZARITE ( 
ryzn nezir) unto God from the womb. The second passage 
usually referred to is Isa. xi. 1: There shall come forth a 
rod from the stem of Jesse, and a BRANCH ( rxn netser) shall 
grow out of his roots.

That this refers to Christ, there is no doubt. Jeremiah, 
Jeremiah xxiii. 5, is supposed to speak in the same language-
I will raise unto David a righteous BRANCH: but here the word 
is jmx tsemach, not rxn netser; and it is the same in the 
parallel place, Zechariah iii. 8; vi. 12; therefore, these 
two prophets cannot be referred to; but the passages in 
Judges and Isaiah may have been in the eye of the evangelist, 
as well as the whole institution relative to the Nazarite ( 
ryzn nezir) delivered at large, Num. vi. , where see the 
notes. As the Nazarite was the most pure and perfect 
institution under the law, it is possible that God intended 
to point out by it, not only the perfection of our Lord, but 
also the purity of his followers. And it is likely that, 
before St. Matthew wrote this Gospel, those afterwards called 
Christians bore the appellation of Nazarites, or Nazoreans, 
for so the Greek word, nazwraiov, should be written. Leaving 
the spiritual reference out of the question, the Nazarene or 
Nazorean here may mean simply an inhabitant or person of 
Nazareth; as Galilean does a person or inhabitant of Galilee. 
The evangelist evidently designed to state, that neither the 
sojourning at Nazareth, nor our Lord being called a Nazarene, 
were fortuitous events, but were wisely determined and 
provided for in the providence of God; and therefore foretold 
by inspired men, or fore-represented by significant 
institutions.

But how shall we account for the manner in which St. Matthew 
and others apply this, and various other circumstances, to 
the fulfillment of ancient traditions? This question has 
greatly agitated divines and critics for more than a century. 
Surenhusius, Hebrew professor at Amsterdam, and editor of a 
very splendid and useful edition of the Mishna, in six vols. 
fol.

published an express treatise on this subject, in 1713, full 
of deep research and sound criticism. He remarks great 
difference in the mode of quoting used in the Sacred 
Writings: as, It hath been said-it is written-that it might 
be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets-the Scripture 
says-see what is said-the Scripture foreseeing-he saith-is it 
not written?-the saying that is written, &c., &c. With great 
pains and industry, he has collected ten rules out of the 
Talmud and the rabbins, to explain and justify all the 
quotations made from the Old Testament in the New.

RULE I. Reading the words, not according to the regular vowel 
points, but to others substituted for them. He thinks this is 
done by Peter, Acts iii. 22, 23; by Stephen, Acts vii. 42, 
&c.; and by Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 54; 2 Cor. viii. 15.

RULE II. Changing the letters, as done by St. Paul, Rom. ix. 
33; 1 Cor. ix. 9, &c.; Heb. viii. 9., &c.; Heb. x. 5.

RULE III. Changing both letters and vowel points, as he 
supposes is done by St. Paul, Acts xiii. 40, 41; 2 Cor. viii. 
15.

RULE IV. Adding some letters, and retrenching others.

RULE V. Transposing words and letters.

RULE VI. Dividing one word into two.

RULE VII. Adding other words to make the sense more clear.

RULE VIII. Changing the original order of the words.

RULE IX. Changing the original order, and adding other words.

RULE X. Changing the original order, and adding and 
retrenching words, which he maintains is a method often used 
by St. Paul.

Let it be observed, that although all these rules are used by 
the rabbins, yet, as far as they are employed by the sacred 
writers of the New Testament, they never, in any case, 
contradict what they quote from the Old, which cannot be said 
of the rabbins: they only explain what they quote, or 
accommodate the passage to the facts then in question. And 
who will venture to say that the Holy Spirit has not a right, 
in any subsequent period, to explain and illustrate his own 
meaning, by showing that it had a greater extension in the 
Divine mind than could have been then perceived by men? And 
has HE not a right to add to what he has formerly said, if it 
seem right in his own sight? Is not the whole of the New 
Testament, an addition to the Old, as the apostolic epistles 
are to the narrative of our Lord's life and acts, as given by 
the evangelists? Gusset, Wolf, Rosenmuller, and others, give 
four rules, according to which, the phrase, that it might be 
fulfilled, may be applied in the New Testament.

RULE I. When the thing predicted is literally accomplished.

RULE II. When that is done, of which the Scripture has 
spoken, not in a literal sense, but in a spiritual sense.

RULE III. When a thing is done neither in a literal nor 
spiritual sense, according to the fact referred to in the 
Scripture; but is similar to that fact.

RULE IV. When that which has been mentioned in the Old 
Testament as formerly done, is accomplished in a larger and 
more extensive sense in the New Testament.

St. Matthew seems to quote according to all these rules; and 
it will be useful to the reader to keep them constantly in 
view. I may add here, that the writers of the New Testament 
seem often to differ from those of the Old, because they 
appear uniformly to quote from some copy of the Septuagint 
version; and most of their quotations agree verbally, and 
often even literally, with one or other of the copies of that 
version which subsist to the present day. Want of attention 
to the difference of copies, in the Septuagint version, has 
led some divines and critics into strange and even ridiculous 
mistakes, as they have taken that for THE SEPTUAGINT which 
existed in the printed copy before them; which sometimes 
happened not to be the most correct.

ON the birth-place of our Lord, a pious and sensible man has 
made the following observations:-" At the first sight, it 
seems of little consequence to know the place of Christ's 
nativity; for we should consider him as our Redeemer, 
whatever the circumstances might be which attended his mortal 
life. But, seeing it has pleased God to announce, beforehand, 
the place where the saviour of the world should be born, it 
became necessary that it should happen precisely in that 
place; and that this should be one of the characteristics 
whereby Jesus Christ should be known to be the true Messiah.

"It is also a matter of small importance to us where we may 
live, provided we find genuine happiness. There is no place 
on earth, however poor and despicable, but may have better 
and more happy inhabitants than many of those are who dwell 
in the largest and most celebrated cities. Do we know a 
single place on the whole globe where the works of God do not 
appear under a thousand different forms, and where a person 
may not feel that blessed satisfaction which arises from a 
holy and Christian life? For an individual, that place is 
preferable to all others where he can get and do most good. 
For a number of people, that place is best where they can 
find the greatest number of wise and pious men. Every nation 
declines, in proportion as virtue and religion lose their 
influence on the minds of the inhabitants. The place where a 
young man first beheld the dawn and the beauty of renewed 
nature, and with most lively sensations of joy and gratitude 
adored his God, with all the veneration and love his heart 
was capable of; the place where a virtuous couple first met, 
and got acquainted; or where two friends gave each other the 
noblest proofs of their most tender affection; the village 
where one may have given, or seen, the most remarkable 
example of goodness, uprightness, and patience; such places, 
I say, must be dear to their hearts.

"Bethlehem was, according to this rule, notwithstanding its 
smallness, a most venerable place; seeing that there so many 
pious people had their abode, and that acts of peculiar piety 
had often been performed in it. First, the patriarch Jacob 
stopped some time in it, to erect a monument to his well-
beloved Rachel. It was at Bethlehem that honest Naomi, and 
her modest daughter-in-law, Ruth, gave such proofs of their 
faith and holiness; and in it Boaz, the generous benefactor, 
had his abode and his possessions.

At Bethlehem the humble Jesse sojourned, the happy father of 
so many sons; the youngest of whom rose from the pastoral 
life to the throne of Israel. It was in this country that 
David formed the resolution of building a house for the Lord, 
and in which he showed himself the true shepherd and father 
of his subjects, when, at the sight of the destroying angel, 
whose sword spread consternation and death on all hands, he 
made intercession for his people. It was in Bethlehem that 
ZerubbHebel the prince was born, this descendant of David, 
who was the type of that Ruler and Shepherd under whose 
empire Israel is one day to assemble, in order to enjoy 
uninterrupted happiness. Lastly, in this city the Son of God 
appeared; who, by his birth, laid the foundation of that 
salvation, which, as Redeemer, he was to purchase by his 
death for the whole world. Thus, in places which from their 
smallness are entitled to little notice, men sometimes 
spring, who become the benefactors of the human race. Often, 
an inconsiderable village has given birth to a man, who, by 
his wisdom, uprightness, and heroism, has been a blessing to 
whole kingdoms." Sturm's Reflections, translated by A. C. 
vol. iv.

CHAPTER iii

John the Baptist begins to preach, 1. The subject of his 
preaching, 2, 3. Description of his clothing and food, 4. The 
success of his ministry, 5, 6. His exhortation to the 
Pharisees, 7-9. He denounces the judgments of God against the 
impenitent, 10. The design of his baptism, and that of 
Christ, 11, 12. He baptizes Christ in Jordan, 13-15; who is 
attested to be the Messiah by the Holy Spirit, and a voice 
from heaven, 16, 17.

NOTES ON CHAP. iii

Verse 1. John the Baptist] John, surnamed The Baptist, 
because he required those to be baptized who professed to be 
contrite because of their sins, was the son of a priest named 
Zacharias, and his wife Elisabeth, and was born about A. M. 
3999, and about six months before our blessed Lord. Of his 
almost miraculous conception and birth, we have a 
circumstantial account in the Gospel of Luke, chap. i to 
which, and the notes there, the reader is requested to refer. 
For his fidelity in reproving Herod for his incest with his 
brother Philip's wife, he was cast into prison, no doubt at 
the suggestion of Herodias, the profligate woman in question.

He was at last beheaded at her instigation, and his head 
given as a present to Salome, her daughter, who, by her 
elegant dancing, had highly gratified Herod, the paramour of 
her incestuous mother. His ministry was short; for he appears 
to have been put to death in the 27th or 28th year of the 
Christian aera.

Came-preaching] khrusswn, proclaiming, as a herald, a matter 
of great and solemn importance to men; the subject not his 
own, nor of himself, but from that God from whom alone he had 
received his commission. See on the nature and importance of 
the herald's office, at the end of this chapter.

khrussein, says Rosenmuller, de iis dicitur, qui in PLATEIS, 
in CAMPIS, in AERE aperto, ut a multis audiantur, vocem 
tollunt, &c. "The verb khrussein is applied to those who, in 
the streets, fields, and open air, lift up their voice, that 
they may be heard by many, and proclaim what has been 
committed to them by regal or public authority; as the 
KERUKES among the Greeks, and the PRECONES among the Romans." 

The wilderness of Judea] That is, the country parts, as 
distinguished from the city; for in this sense the word 
wilderness, rbdm midbar or twyrbdm midbarioth, is used among 
the rabbins. John's manner of life gives no countenance to 
the eremite or hermit's life, so strongly recommended and 
applauded by the Roman Church.

Verse 2. Repent] metanoeite. This was the matter of the 
preaching. The verb metanoew is either compounded of meta, 
after, and noein to understand, which signifies that, after 
hearing such preaching, the sinner is led to understand, that 
the way he has walked in was the way of misery, death, and 
hell. Or the word may be derived from meta after, and anoia, 
madness, which intimates that the whole life of a sinner is 
no other than a continued course of madness and folly: and if 
to live in a constant opposition to all the dictates of true 
wisdom; to wage war with his own best interests in time and 
eternity; to provoke and insult the living God; and, by 
habitual sin, to prepare himself only for a state of misery, 
be evidences of insanity, every sinner exhibits them 
plentifully. It was from this notion of the word, that the 
Latins termed repentance resipiscentia, a growing wise again, 
from re and sapere; or, according to Tertullian, 
Resipiscentia, quasi receptio mentis ad se, restoring the 
mind to itself: Contra Marcion, lib. ii. Repentance, then, 
implies that a measure of Divine wisdom is communicated to 
the sinner, and that he thereby becomes wise to salvation. 
That his mind, purposes, opinions, and inclinations, are 
changed; and that, in consequence, there is a total change in 
his conduct. It need scarcely be remarked, that, in this 
state, a man feels deep anguish of soul, because he has 
sinned against God, unfitted himself for heaven, and exposed 
his soul to hell. Hence, a true penitent has that sorrow, 
whereby he forsakes sin, not only because it has been ruinous 
to his own soul, but because it has been offensive to God.

The kingdom of heaven is at hand] Referring to the prophecy 
of Daniel, Dan. vii. 13,14, where the reign of Christ among 
men is expressly foretold.

This phrase, and the kingdom of God, mean the same thing, 
viz. the dispensation of infinite mercy, and manifestation of 
eternal truth, by Christ Jesus, producing the true knowledge 
of God, accompanied with that worship which is pure and holy, 
worthy of that God who is its institutor and its object. But 
why is this called a kingdom? Because it has its laws, all 
the moral precepts of the Gospel: its subjects, all who 
believe in Christ Jesus: and its king, the Sovereign of 
heaven and earth. N. B. Jesus Christ never saved a soul which 
he did not govern; nor is this Christ precious or estimable 
to any man who does not feel a spirit of subjection to the 
Divine will.

But why is it called the kingdom of HEAVEN? Because God 
designed that his kingdom of grace here should resemble the 
kingdom of glory above.

And hence our Lord teaches us to pray, Thy will be done on 
earth, as it is in heaven. The kingdom of heaven is not meat 
and drink, says St. Paul, Rom. xiv. 17; does not consist in 
the gratification of sensual passions, or worldly ambition; 
but is righteousness, peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost.

Now what can there be more than this in glory? Righteousness, 
without mixture of sin; peace, without strife or contention; 
joy, in the Holy Ghost, spiritual joy, without mixture of 
misery! And all this, it is possible, by the grace of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, to enjoy here below. How then does heaven 
itself differ from this state? Answer. It makes the 
righteousness eternal, the peace eternal, and the joy 
eternal. This is the heaven of heavens! The phrase, kingdom 
of heaven, µym twklm malcuth shamayim, is frequently used by 
the rabbinical writers, and always means, the purity of the 
Divine worship, and the blessedness which a righteous man 
feels when employed in it.

It is farther added, This kingdom is at hand. The 
dispensation of the glorious Gospel was now about to be fully 
opened, and the Jews were to have the first offers of 
salvation. This kingdom is also at hand to us; and wherever 
Christ crucified is preached, there is salvation to be found. 
JESUS is proclaimed to thee, O man! as infinitely able and 
willing to save. Believe in his name-cast thy soul upon his 
atonement, and enter into rest!

Verse 3. The voice of one crying in the wilderness] Or, A 
voice of a crier in the wilderness. This is quoted from Isa. 
xl. 3, which clearly proves that John the Baptist was the 
person of whom the prophet spoke.

The idea is taken from the practice of eastern monarchs, who, 
whenever they entered upon an expedition, or took a journey 
through a desert country, sent harbingers before them, to 
prepare all things for their passage; and pioneers to open 
the passes, to level the ways, and to remove all impediments. 
The officers appointed to superintend such preparations were 
called by the Latins, stratores.

Diodourus's account of the march of Semiramis into Media and 
Persia, will give us a clear notion of the preparation of the 
way for a royal expedition.

"In her march to Ecbatane, she came to the Zarcean mountain, 
which, extending many furlongs, and being full of craggy 
precipices and deep hollows, could not be passed without 
making a great compass about. Being therefore desirous of 
leaving an everlasting memorial of herself, as well as 
shortening the way, she ordered the precipices to be digged 
down, and the hollows to be filled up; and, at a great 
expense, she made a shorter and more expeditious road, which, 
to this day, is called from her, The road of Semiramis. 
Afterwards she went into Persia, and all the other countries 
of Asia, subject to her dominion; and, wherever she went, she 
ordered the mountains and precipices to be leveled, raised 
causeways in the plain country, and, at a great expense, made 
the ways passable." Diod. Sic. lib.

ii. and Bp. Lowth.

The Jewish Church was that desert country, to which John was 
sent, to announce the coming of the Messiah. It was destitute 
at that time of all religious cultivation, and of the spirit 
and practice of piety; and John was sent to prepare the way 
of the Lord, by preaching the doctrine of repentance. The 
desert is therefore to be considered as affording a proper 
emblem of the rude state of the Jewish Church, which is the 
true wilderness meant by the prophet, and in which John was 
to prepare the way of the promised Messiah. The awful 
importance of the matter, and the vehemence of the manner of 
the Baptist's preaching, probably acquired him the character 
of the crier, bown.

For the meaning of the word JOHN, see the note on Mark i. 4.

Verse 4. His raiment of camel's hair] A sort of coarse or 
rough covering, which, it appears, was common to the 
prophets, Zech. xiii. 4.

In such a garment we find Elijah clothed, 2 Kings i. 8. And 
as John had been designed under the name of this prophet, 
Malachi iv. 5, whose spirit and qualifications he was to 
possess, Luke i. 17, he took the same habit and lived in the 
same state of self-denial.

His meat was locusts] akridev. akriv may either signify the 
insect called the locust, which still makes a part of the 
food in the land of Judea; or the top of a plant. Many 
eminent commentators are of the latter opinion; but the first 
is the most likely. The Saxon translator has  grasshoppers.

Wild honey.] Such as he got in the rocks and hollows of 
trees, and which abounded in Judea: see 1 Sam. xiv. 26. It is 
most likely that the dried locusts, which are an article of 
food in Asiatic countries to the present day, were fried in 
the honey, or compounded in some manner with it. The Gospel 
according to the Hebrews, as quoted by Epiphanius, seems to 
have taken a similar view of the subject, as it adds here to 
the text, ou h geusiv hn tou manna, wv egkriv en elaiw. And 
its taste was like manna, as a sweet cake baked in oil.

Verse 5. Jordan] Many of the best MSS. and versions, with 
Mark i. 5, add potamw, the river Jordan; but the definitive 
article, with which the word is generally accompanied, both 
in the Hebrew and the Greek, is, sufficient; and our article 
the, which should ever be used in the translation, expresses 
the force of the other.

Verse 6. Were baptized] In what form baptism was originally 
administered, has been deemed a subject worthy of serious 
dispute. Were the people dipped or sprinkled? for it is 
certain baptw and baptizw mean both. They were all dipped, 
say some. Can any man suppose that it was possible for John 
to dip all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea, and of all 
the country round about the Jordan? Were both men and women 
dipped, for certainly both came to his baptism? This could 
never have comported either with safety or with decency. Were 
they dipped in their clothes? This would have endangered 
their lives, if they had not with them change of raiment: and 
as such a baptism as John's (however administered) was, in 
several respects, a new thing in Judea, it is not at all 
likely that the people would come thus provided. But suppose 
these were dipped, which I think it would be impossible to 
prove, does it follow that, in all regions of the world, men 
and women must be dipped, in order to be evangelically 
baptized? In the eastern countries, bathings were frequent, 
because of the heat of the climate, it being there so 
necessary to cleanliness and health; but could our climate, 
or a more northerly one, admit of this with safety, for at 
least three-fourths of the year? We may rest assured that it 
could not. And may we not presume, that if John had opened 
his commission in the north of Great Britain, for many months 
of the year, he would have dipped neither man nor woman, 
unless he could have procured a tepid bath? Those who are 
dipped or immersed in water, in the name of the Holy Trinity, 
I believe to be evangelically baptized-those who are washed 
or sprinkled with water in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, I believe to be equally so; and 
the repetition of such a baptism I believe to be profane. 
Others have a right to believe the contrary, if they see 
good. After all, it is the thing signified, and not the mode, 
which is the essential part of the sacrament. See the note on 
Mark x. 16.

Confessing their sins.] exomologoumenoi, earnestly 
acknowledging that their sins were their own. And thus taking 
the whole blame upon themselves, and laying nothing to the 
charge of GOD or man. This is essential to true repentance; 
and, till a man take the whole blame on himself, he cannot 
feel the absolute need he has of casting his soul on the 
mercy of God, that he may be saved.

Verse 7. Pharisees] A very numerous sect among the Jews, who, 
in their origin, were, very probably, a pure and holy people. 
It is likely that they got the name of Pharisees, i.e. 
Separatists, (from rp pharash, to separate,) from their 
separating themselves from the pollution of the Jewish 
national worship; and hence, the word in the Anglo-saxon 
version is , holy persons who stand apart, or by themselves: 
but, in process of time, like all religious sects and 
parties, they degenerated: they lost the spirit of their 
institution, they ceased to recur to first principles, and 
had only the form of godliness, when Jesus Christ preached in 
Judea; for he bore witness, that they did make the outside of 
the cup and platter clean-they observed the rules of their 
institution, but the spirit was gone.

Sadducees] A sect who denied the existence of angels and 
spirits, consequently all Divine influence and inspiration, 
and also the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees of that 
time were the Materialists and Deists of the Jewish nation. 
When the sect of the Pharisees arose cannot be distinctly 
ascertained; but it is supposed to have been some time after 
the Babylonish captivity. The sect of the Sadducees were the 
followers of one Sadok, a disciple of Antigonus Sochaeus, who 
flourished about three centuries before Christ. There was a 
third sect among the Jews, called the Essenes or Essenians, 
of whom I shall have occasion to speak on Matthew xix. 12.

Come to his baptism] The AEthiopic version adds the word 
privately here, the translator probably having read laqra in 
his copy, which gives a very remarkable turn to the passage. 
The multitudes, who had no worldly interest to support, no 
character to maintain by living in their usual way, came 
publicly, and openly acknowledged that they were SINNERS; and 
stood in need of mercy. The others, who endeavoured to secure 
their worldly interests by making a fair show in the flesh, 
are supposed to have come privately, that they might not be 
exposed to reproach; and that they might not lose their 
reputation for wisdom and sanctity, which their consciences, 
under the preaching of the Baptist, told them they had no 
right to. See below.

O generation of vipers] gennhmata ecidnwn. A terribly 
expressive speech. A serpentine brood, from a serpentine 
stock. As their fathers were, so were they, children of the 
wicked one. This is God's estimate of a SINNER, whether he 
wade in wealth, or soar in fame. The Jews were the seed of 
the serpent, who should bruise the heel of the woman's seed, 
and whose head should be bruised by him.

Who hath warned you] Or, privately shown you. tiv epedixen-
from upo, under, and deiknumai, to show. Does not this seem 
to allude to the reading of the AEthiopic noticed above? They 
came privately: and John may be supposed to address them 
thus: "Did any person give you a private warning? No, you 
received your convictions under the public ministry of the 
word. The multitudes of the poor and wretched, who have been 
convinced of sin, have publicly acknowledged their crimes, 
and sought mercy-God will unmask you-you have deceived the 
people-you have deceived yourselves-you must appear just what 
you are; and, if you expect mercy from God, act like the 
penitent multitude, and bring forth FRUIT worthy of 
repentance. Do not begin to trifle with your convictions, by 
thinking, that because you are descendants of Abraham, 
therefore you are entitled to God's favour; God can, out of 
these stones (pointing probably to those scattered about in 
the desert, which he appears to have considered as an emblem 
of the Gentiles) raise up a faithful seed, who, though not 
natural descendants of your excellent patriarch, yet shall be 
his worthy children, as being partakers of his faith, and 
friends of his God." It should be added, that the Greek word 
also signifies plain or ample information. See on Luke vi. 
47.

The wrath to come?] The desolation which was about to fall on 
the Jewish nation for their wickedness, and threatened in the 
last words of their own Scriptures. See Mal. iv. 6. Lest I 
come and smite the earth Årah ta (et ha-arets, this very 
land) with a curse. This wrath or curse was coming: they did 
not prevent it by turning to God, and receiving the Messiah, 
and therefore the wrath of God came upon them to the 
uttermost. Let him that readeth understand.

Verse 10. And now also the axe is laid] Or, Even now the axe 
lieth. As if he had said, There is not a moment to spare-God 
is about to cut off every impenitent soul-you must therefore 
either turn to God immediately, or be utterly and finally 
ruined. It was customary with the prophets to represent the 
kingdoms, nations, and individuals, whose ruin they 
predicted, under the notion of forests and trees, doomed to 
be cut down. See Jer. xlvi. 22, 23; Ezek. xxxi. 3, 11, 12. 
The Baptist follows the same metaphor: the Jewish nation is 
the tree, and the Romans the axe, which, by the just judgment 
of God, was speedily to cut it down. It has been well 
observed, that there is an allusion here to a woodman, who, 
having marked a tree for excision, lays his axe at its root, 
and strips off his outer garment, that he may wield his blows 
more powerfully, and that his work may be quickly performed. 
For about sixty years before the coming of Christ, this axe 
had been lying at the root of the Jewish tree, Judea having 
been made a province to the Roman empire, from the time that 
Pompey took the city of Jerusalem, during the contentions of 
the two brothers Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, which was about 
sixty-three years before the coming of Christ. See Joseph. 
Antiq. l. xiv. c. 1-5. But as the country might be still 
considered as in the hands of the Jews, though subject to the 
Romans, and God had waited on them now nearly ninety years 
from the above time, expecting them to bring forth fruit, and 
none was yet produced; he kept the Romans as an axe, lying at 
the root of this tree, who were ready to cut it down the 
moment God gave them the commission.

Verse 11. But he that cometh after me] Or, I coming after me, 
who is now on his way, and will shortly make his appearance. 
Jesus Christ began his ministry when he was thirty years of 
age, Luke iii. 23, which was the age appointed by the law, 
Num. iv. 3. John the Baptist was born about six months before 
Christ; and, as he began his public ministry when thirty 
years of age, then this coming after refers to six months 
after the commencement of John's public preaching, at which 
time Christ entered upon his.

Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear] This saying is 
expressive of the most profound humility and reverence. To 
put on, take off, and carry the shoes of their masters, was, 
not only among the Jews, but also among the Greeks and 
Romans, the work of the vilest slaves. This is amply proved 
by Kypke, from Arrian, Plutarch, and the Babylonian Talmud.

With the Holy Ghost, and with fire] That the influences of 
the Spirit of God are here designed, needs but little proof. 
Christ's religion was to be a spiritual religion, and was to 
have its seat in the heart. Outward precepts, however well 
they might describe, could not produce inward spirituality.

This was the province of the Spirit of God, and of it alone; 
therefore he is represented here under the similitude of 
fire, because he was to illuminate and invigorate the soul, 
penetrate every part, and assimilate the whole to the image 
of the God of glory. See on John iii. 5.

With fire] kai puri. This is wanting in E. S. (two MSS. one 
of the ninth, the other of the tenth century) eight others, 
and many Evangelistaria, and in some versions and printed 
editions; but it is found in the parallel place, Luke iii. 
16, and in the most authentic MSS. and versions.

It was probably the different interpretations given of it by 
the fathers that caused some transcribers to leave it out of 
their copies.

The baptism of fire has been differently understood among the 
primitive fathers. Some say, it means the tribulations, 
crosses, and afflictions, which believers in Christ are 
called to pass through. Hence the author of the Opus 
Imperfectum, on Matthew, says, that there are three sorts of 
baptism, 1. that of water; 2. that of the Holy Ghost; and, 3. 
that of tribulations and afflictions, represented under the 
notion of fire. He observes farther, that our blessed Lord 
went through these three baptisms: 1. That of water, he 
received from the hands of John. 2. That of the Holy Spirit 
he received from the Father. And, 3. That of fire, he had in 
his contest with Satan in the desert. St. Chrysostom says; it 
means the superabundant graces of the Spirit. Basil and 
Theophilus explain it of the fire of hell. Cyril, Jerome, and 
others, understand by it the descent of the Holy Spirit, on 
the day of pentecost.

Hilary says, it means a fire that the righteous must pass 
through in the day of judgment, to purify them from such 
defilements as necessarily cleaved to them here, and with 
which they could not be admitted into glory.

Ambrose says, this baptism shall be administered at the gate 
of paradise, by John Baptist; and he thinks that this is what 
is meant by the flaming sword, Gen. iii. 24.

Origen and Lactantius conceive it to be a river of fire, at 
the gate of heaven, something similar to the Phlegethon of 
the heathens; but they observe, that when the righteous come 
to pass over, the liquid flames shall divide, and give them a 
free passage: that Christ shall stand on the brink of it, and 
receive through the flames all those, and none but those, who 
have received in this world the baptism of water in his name: 
and that this baptism is for those who, having received the 
faith of Christ, have not, in every respect, lived 
conformably to it; for, though they laid the good foundation, 
yet they built hay, straw, and stubble upon it, and this work 
of theirs must be tried, and destroyed by this fire. This, 
they think, is St. Paul's meaning, 1 Cor. iii. 13-15. If any 
man build on this foundation (viz. Jesus Christ) gold, 
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work 
shall be made manifest: and the fire shall try every man's 
work, of what sort it is.-If any man's work be burnt, he 
shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as 
BY FIRE. From this fire, understood in this way, the fathers 
of the following ages, and the schoolmen, formed the famous 
and lucrative doctrine of PURGATORY. Some in the primitive 
Church thought that fire should be, in some way or other, 
joined to the water in baptism; and it is supposed that they 
administered it by causing the person to pass between two 
fires, or to leap through the flame; or by having a torch, or 
lighted candle, present. Thus have those called Doctors of 
the Church trifled. The exposition which I have given, I 
believe to be the only genuine one.

Verse 12. Whose fan is in his hand] The Romans are here 
termed God's fan, as, in ver. 10, they were called his axe, 
and, in chap. xxii. 7, they are termed his troops or armies.

The winnowing fan of the Hindoos is square, made of split 
bamboo; and the corn is winnowed by waving the fan backwards 
with both hands-"Whose fan is in his hand." His floor] Does 
not this mean the land of Judea, which had been long, as it 
were, the threshing-floor of the Lord? God says, he will now, 
by the winnowing fan (viz. the Romans) thoroughly cleanse 
this floor-the wheat, those who believe in the Lord Jesus, he 
will gather into his garner, either take to heaven from the 
evil to come, or put in a place of safety, as he did the 
Christians, by sending them to Pella, in Coelosyria, 
previously to the destruction of Jerusalem. But he will burn 
up the chaff-the disobedient and rebellions Jews, who would 
not come unto Christ, that they might have life.

Unquenchable fire.] That cannot be extinguished by man.

Verse 14. John forbad him] Earnestly and pressingly opposed 
him: this is the proper import of the words diekwleuen auton. 
I have observed that dia, in composition, most frequently, if 
not always, strengthens the signification in classic authors. 
-Wakefield.

Verse 15. To fulfill all righteousness.] That is, Every 
righteous ordinance: so I think the words pasan dikaiosunhn 
should be translated; and so our common version renders a 
similar word, Luke i. 6.

The following passage, quoted from Justin Martyr, will 
doubtless appear a strong vindication of this translation. 
"Christ was circumcised, and observed all the other 
ordinances of the law of Moses, not with a view to his own 
justification; but to fulfill the dispensation committed to 
him by the Lord, the God and Creator of all things."] 
Wakefield.

How remarkable are the following words of Creeshna (an 
Incarnation of the Supreme God, according to the Hindoo 
theology) related in the Bhagvat Geeta, p. 47. Addressing his 
disciple Arjoon, he says, "I myself, Arjoon, have not, in the 
three regions of the universe, any thing which is necessary 
for me to perform; nor any thing to obtain, which is not 
obtained; and yet I live in the exercise of the moral duties. 
If I were not vigilantly to attend to those duties, all men 
would presently follow my example. If I were not to perform 
the moral actions, this world would fail in their duties: I 
should be the cause of spurious births, and should drive the 
people from the right way. As the ignorant perform the duties 
of life from a hope of reward, so the wise man, out of 
respect to the opinions and prejudices of mankind, should 
perform the same without motives of interest. The wise man, 
by industriously performing all the duties of life, should 
induce the vulgar to attend to them." The Septuagint use this 
word often for the Hebrew tpm mishpat, judgment, 
appointment. And in Ezek. xviii. 19, 21, the person who 
dikaiosunhn kai eleov pepoihke-hath done righteousness and 
mercy, is he who sacredly attended to the performance of all 
the religious ordinances mentioned in that chapter, and 
performed them in the genuine spirit of mercy. dikaiwmata is 
used 1 Mac i. 13, 49; ii. 21, and in Heb. x. 1, 10, to denote 
religious ceremonies. Michaelis supposes that qj lk kol chok, 
all religious statutes or ordinances, were the words used in 
the Hebrew original of this Gospel.

But was this an ordinance? Undoubtedly: it was the initiatory 
ordinance of the Baptist's dispensation. Now, as Christ had 
submitted to circumcision, which was the initiatory ordinance 
of the Mosaic dispensation, it was necessary that he should 
submit to this, which was instituted by no less an authority, 
and was the introduction to his own dispensation of eternal 
mercy and truth. But it was necessary on another account: Our 
Lord represented the high priest, and was to be the high 
priest over the house of God:- now, as the high priest was 
initiated into his office by washing and anointing, so must 
Christ: and hence he was baptized, washed, and anointed by 
the Holy Ghost. Thus he fulfilled the righteous ordinance of 
his initiation into the office of high priest, and thus was 
prepared to make an atonement for the sins of mankind.

Then he suffered him.] In the Opus Imperfectum, quoted by 
Griesbach, there is the following addition, which, at least, 
may serve to show the opinion of its author: Et Johannes 
quidem baptizauit ilium in aqua, ille autem Johannem cum 
Spiritu. "Then John baptized him with water, and he baptized 
John with the Spirit."

Verse 16. The heavens were opened unto him] That is, to John 
the Baptist-and he, John, saw the Spirit of God-lighting upon 
him, i.e. Jesus.

There has been some controversy about the manner and form in 
which the Spirit of God rendered itself visible on this 
occasion. St. Luke, Luke iii. 22, says it was in a bodily 
shape like to a dove: and this likeness to a dove some refer 
to a hovering motion, like to that of a dove, and not to the 
form of the dove itself: but the terms of the text are too 
precise to admit of this far-fetched interpretation.

This passage affords no mean proof of the doctrine of the 
Trinity. That three distinct persons are here, represented, 
there can be no dispute. 1. The person of Jesus Christ, 
baptized by John in Jordan. 2. The person of the Holy Ghost 
in a bodily shape, (swmatikw eidei, Luke iii. 22) like a 
dove.

3. The person of the Father; a voice came out of heaven, 
saying, This is my beloved Son, &c. The voice is here 
represented as proceeding from a different place to that in 
which the persons of the Son and Holy Spirit were manifested; 
and merely, I think, more forcibly to mark this Divine 
personality.

Verse 17. In whom I am well pleased.] en w endakhsa in whom I 
have delighted-though it is supposed that the past tense is 
here used for the present: but See the note on "chap. xvii. 
5". By this voice, and overshadowing of the Spirit, the 
mission of the Lord Jesus was publicly and solemnly 
accredited; God intimating that he had before delighted in 
him: the law, in all its ordinances, having pointed him out, 
for they could not be pleasing to God, but as they were 
fulfilled in, and showed forth, the Son of man, till, he 
came.

As the office of a herald is frequently alluded to in this 
chapter, and also in various other parts of the New 
Testament, I think it best to give a full account of it here, 
especially as the office of the ministers of the Gospel is 
represented by it. Such persons can best apply the different 
correspondences between their own and the herald's office.

At the Olympic and Isthmian games, heralds were persons of 
the utmost consequence and importance. Their office was:-1.

To proclaim from a scaffold, or elevated place, the combat 
that was to be entered on.

2. To summon the Agonistae, or contenders, to make their 
appearance, and to announce their names.

3. To specify the prize for which they were to contend.

4. To admonish and animate, with appropriate discourses, the 
athletae, or combatants.

5. To set before them, and explain, the laws of the agones, 
or contenders; that they might see that even the conqueror 
could not receive the crown or prize, unless he had strove 
lawfully.

6. After the conflict was ended, to bring the business before 
the judges, and, according to their determination, to 
proclaim the victor.

7. To deliver the prize to the conqueror, and to put the 
crown on his head, in the presence of the assembly.

8. They were the persons who convoked all solemn and 
religious assemblies, and brought forth, and often slew, the 
sacrifices offered on those occasions.

9. They frequently called the attention of the people, during 
the sacrifices, to the subject of devotion, with hoc age! 
touto pratte: mind what you are about, don't be idle; think 
of nothing else. See PLUTARCH in Coriolanus.

The office, and nearly the word itself, was in use among the 
ancient Babylonians, as appears from Dan. iii. 4, where the 
Chaldee word azwrk caroza, is rendered by the Septuagint 
khrux kerux, and by our translation, very properly, herald. 
His business in the above place was to call an assembly of 
the people, for the purpose of public worship; to describe 
the object and nature of that worship, and the punishment to 
be inflicted on those who did not join in the worship, and 
properly assist in the solemnities of the occasion.  Dan. 
iii. 4, is the only place in our translation, in which the 
word herald is used: but the word khrux, used by St. Paul, 1 
Timothy ii. 7; 2 Tim. i. 11, and by St. Peter, 2 Pet. iii. 5, 
is found in the Septuagint, Gen. xli. 43, as well as in Dan. 
iii. 4, and the verb khrussw is found in different places of 
that version, and in a great number of places in the New 
Testament.

It is worthy of remark, that the office of the khrux, kerux, 
or herald, must have been anciently known, and Indeed 
established, among the Egyptians: for in Gen. xli. 43, where 
an account is given of the promotion of Joseph to the second 
place in the kingdom, where we say, And they cried before 
him, saying, Bow the knee; the Septuagint has kai ekhruxen 
emprosqen autou khrux? And a HERALD made proclamation before 
him. As the Septuagint translated this for Ptolemy 
Philadelphus, the Egyptian king, and were in Egypt when they 
translated the law, we may safely infer that the office was 
not only known, but in use among the Egyptians, being 
denominated in their language qrba abrek, which our 
translators, following the Vulgate, have rendered, Bow the 
knee; but which the Septuagint understood to be the title of 
an officer, who was the same among the Egyptians as the khrux 
among the Greeks. This is a probable meaning of the word, 
which escaped me when I wrote the note on Gen. xli. 43.

As every kind of office had some peculiar badge, or ensign, 
by which it was known among the ancients, so the heralds were 
known by generally carrying a caduceus. This was a rod with 
two spread wings at the top, and about which two serpents 
were entwined. The poets fabled that this rod was given by 
Apollo, the god of wisdom and music, to Mercury, the god of 
eloquence, and the messenger of the gods. To it wonderful 
properties are ascribed] especially that it produces sleep, 
and that it raises the dead.

Who does not at once see, that the caduceus and its 
properties clearly point out the office, honour, and 
influence of the herald? As persons of strong voice, and 
ready speech, and copious eloquence, were always chosen for 
heralds, they were represented as endued with wisdom and 
eloquence from above. They lulled men to sleep, i.e. by their 
persuasive powers of speech, they calmed the turbulent 
dispositions of an inflamed populace, when proceeding to acts 
of rebellion and anarchy; or they roused the dormant zeal of 
the community, who, through long oppression, despairing of 
succour or relief, seemed careless about their best interests 
being stupidly resolved to sink under their burdens, and 
expect release only in death.

As to the caduceus itself, it was ever the emblem of peace 
among the ancients: the rod was the emblem of power; the two 
serpents, of wisdom and prudence; and the two wings, of 
diligence and despatch. The first idea of this wonderful rod 
seems to have been borrowed from the rod of Moses. See the 
note on "Exod. iv. 17".

The word khrux kerux, or herald, here used, is evidently 
derived from khrussein, to proclaim, call aloud; and this 
from ghruv, the voice; because these persons were never 
employed in any business, but such only as could not be 
transacted but by the powers of speech, and the energy of 
ratiocination.

For the derivation of the word herald, we must look to the 
northern languages. Its meaning in Junius, Skinner, and 
Minshieu, are various, but not essentially different; they 
all seem to point out different parts of the herald's office. 
1. In the Belgic, heer signifies army. Hence heer-alt, a 
senior officer, or general, in the army. 2. Or heer-held, the 
hero of the army: he who had distinguished himself most in 
his country's behalf. 3. Or from the Gallo-teutonic herr-
haut, the high lord, because their persons were so 
universally respected, as we have already seen. 4. Or from 
the simple Teutonic herr-hold, he who is faithful to his 
lord. And, lastly, according to Minshieu, from the verb hier-
holden, stop here; because, in proclaiming peace, they 
arrested bloodshed and death, and prevented the farther 
progress of war.

These officers act an important part in all heroic history, 
and particularly in the Iliad and Odyssey, from which, as the 
subject is of so much importance, I shall make a few 
extracts.

I. Their character was sacred. Homer gives them the epithet 
of divine, qeioi.- dolwn, eumhdeov uiov, khrukov qeioi. Iliad 
x. 315 "Dolon, son of Eumedes, the divine herald." They were 
also termed inviolable, asuloi; also, great, admirable, &c. 
In the first book of the Iliad, we have a proof of the 
respect paid to heralds, and the inviolability of their 
persons. Agamemnon commands the heralds, Talthybius and 
Eurybates, his faithful ministers, to go to the tent of 
Achilles, seize the young Briseis, and bring her to him. They 
reluctantly obey; but, when they come into the presence of 
Achilles, knowing the injustice of their master's cause, they 
are afraid to announce their mission. Achilles, guessing 
their errand, thus addresses them:-cairete, khrukev, diov 
aggeloi, hde kai andrwn. k. t. l.

"Hail, O ye heralds, messengers of God and of men! come 
forward. I cannot blame you-Agamemnon only is culpable, who 
has sent you for the beautiful Briseis. But come, O godlike 
Patroclus, bring forth the damsel, and deliver her to them, 
that they may lead her away," &c., Iliad i. 334, &c.

II. Their functions were numerous; they might enter without 
danger into besieged cities, or even into battles. III. They 
convoked the assemblies of the leaders, according to the 
orders they received from the general or king.

IV. They commanded silence, when kings were to address the 
assembly, (Iliad xviii. 503. khrukev dĘ ara lawn eshtuon. See 
also Iliad ii. 280,) and delivered the scepter into their 
hands, before they began their harangue.

hn dĘ apa khrux, cersi skhptron eqhke, siwphsai rĘ ekeleusen. 
Iliad xxiii. 567 V. They were the carriers and executors of 
the royal commands, (Iliad i.

320,) and went in search of those who were summoned to 
appear, or whose presence was desired.

VI. They were entrusted with the most important missions; and 
accompanied princes in the most difficult circumstances. 
Priam, when he went to Achilles, took no person besides a 
herald with him. (Iliad xxiv.

674, 689.) When Ulysses sent two of his companions to treat 
with the Lestrygons, he sent a herald at the same time. 
(Odys. x. 102.) Agamemnon, when he wished to soften Achilles, 
joined Eurybates and Hodius, his heralds, to the deputation 
of the princes. (Iliad ix. 170.) VII. Heralds were employed 
to proclaim and publish whatever was to be known by the 
people. (Odys. xx. 276.) VIII. They declared war and 
proclaimed peace. (Odys. xviii. 334.) IX. They took part in 
all sacred ceremonies: they mingled the wine and water in the 
large bowls for the libations, which were made at the 
conclusion of treaties. They were the priests of the people 
in many cases; they led forth the victims, cut them in 
pieces, and divided them among those engaged in the 
sacrifices. (Odys. i. 109, &c.) X. In Odyssey lib. xvii., a 
herald presents a piece of flesh to Telemachus, and pours out 
his wine.

XI. They sometimes waited on princes at table, and rendered 
them many other personal services. (Iliad ii. 280; Odys. i. 
143, &c., 146, 153; ii. 6,38.) In the Iliad, lib. x. 3, 
Eurybates carries the clothes to Ulysses. And a herald of 
Alcinous conducts Demodocus, the singer, into the festive 
hall. (Odys. viii. 470.) Many others of their functions, 
services, and privileges, the reader may see, by consulting 
DAMM'S Homeric Lexicon, under krw.

CHAPTER iv

Jesus, in the wilderness, is tempted by Satan, 1-11. He goes 
into Galilee, 12; and Capernaum, 13. The prophecy which was 
thus fulfilled, 14-16. He begins to preach publicly, 17. 
Calls Simon Peter, and his brother Andrew, 18-20. Calls also 
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, 21, 22. Preaches and 
works miracles throughout Galilee, 23. Becomes famous in 
Syria, and is followed by multitudes from various quarters, 
among whom he works a great variety of miracles, 24, 25.

NOTES ON CHAP. iv

Verse 1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit] This 
transaction appears to have taken place immediately after 
Christ's baptism; and this bringing up of Christ was through 
the influence of the Spirit of God; that Spirit which had 
rested upon him in his baptism.

To be tempted] The first act of the ministry of Jesus Christ 
was a combat with Satan. Does not this receive light from 
Gen. iii. 17. I will put enmity between the woman's seed and 
thy seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his 
heel.

Verse 2. And when he had fasted forty days] It is remarkable 
that Moses, the great lawgiver of the Jews, previously to his 
receiving the law from God, fasted forty days in the mount; 
that Elijah, the chief of the prophets, fasted also forty 
days; and that Christ, the giver of the New Covenant, should 
act in the same way. Was not all this intended to show, that 
God's kingdom on earth was to be spiritual and Divine?-that 
it should not consist in meat and drink, but in 
righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost? Romans xiv. 
17. Relative to the forty days' fast of Moses, there is a 
beautiful saying in the Talmudists. "Is it possible that any 
man can fast forty days and forty nights? To which Rabbi Meir 
answered, When thou takest up thy abode in any particular 
city, thou must live according to its customs. Moses ascended 
to heaven, where they neither eat nor drink therefore he 
became assimilated to them. We are accustomed to eat and 
drink; and, when angels descend to us, they eat and drink 
also." Moses, Elijah, and our blessed Lord could fast forty 
days and forty nights, because they were in communion with 
God, and living a heavenly life.

Verse 3. And when the tempter] This onset of Satan was made 
(speaking after the manner of men) judiciously: he came when 
Jesus, after having fasted forty days and forty nights, was 
hungry: now, as hunger naturally diminishes the strength of 
the body, the mind gets enfeebled, and becomes easily 
irritated; and if much watching and prayer be not employed, 
the uneasiness which is occasioned by a lack of food may soon 
produce impatience, and in this state of mind the tempter has 
great advantages. The following advice of an Arabian 
philosopher to his son is worthy of attention. "My son, never 
go out of the house in the morning, till thou hast eaten 
something: by so doing, thy mind will be more firm; and, 
shouldest thou be insulted by any person, thou wilt find 
thyself more disposed to suffer patiently: for hunger dries 
up and disorders the brain." Bibliot. Orient. Suppl. p. 449. 
The state of our bodily health and worldly circumstances may 
afford our adversary many opportunities of doing us immense 
mischief. In such cases, the sin to which we are tempted may 
be justly termed, as in Heb. xii. 1, thn euperistaton 
amartian, the well circumstanced sin, because all the 
circumstances of time, place, and state of body and mind, are 
favourable to it.

If thou be the Son of God] Or, a son of God, uiov tou qeou. 
uiov is here, and in Luke iv. 3, written without the article; 
and therefore should not be translated THE Son, as if it were 
o uiov, which is a phrase that is applicable to Christ as the 
Messiah: but it is certain, whatever Satan might suspect, he 
did not fully know that the person he tempted was the true 
Messiah. Perhaps one grand object of his temptation was to 
find this out.

Command that these stones] The meaning of this temptation is: 
"Distrust the Divine providence and support, and make use of 
illicit means to supply thy necessities."

Verse 4. But by (or, upon, epi) every word] rhma, in Greek, 
answers to rbd dabar in Hebrew, which means not only a word 
spoken, but also thing, purpose, appointment, &c. Our Lord's 
meaning seems to be this: God purposes the welfare of his 
creatures-all his appointments are calculated to promote this 
end. Some of them may appear to man to have a contrary 
tendency; but even fasting itself, when used in consequence 
of a Divine injunction, becomes a mean of supporting that 
life which it seems naturally calculated to impair or 
destroy.

Verse 5. Pinnacle of the temple] It is very likely that this 
was what was called the stoa basilikh, the king's gallery; 
which, as Josephus says, "deserves to be mentioned among the 
most magnificent things under the sun: for upon a stupendous 
depth of a valley, scarcely to be fathomed by the eye of him 
that stands above, Herod erected a gallery of a vast height, 
from the top of which if any looked down, he would grow 
dizzy, his eyes not being able to reach so vast a depth."-
Ant. l. xv. c. 14. See Dr. Lightfoot on this place.

Verse 6. Cast thyself down] Our Lord had repelled the first 
temptation by an act of confidence in the power and goodness 
of God; and now Satan solicits him to make trial of it. 
Through the unparalleled subtlety of Satan, the very means we 
make use of to repel one temptation may he used by him as the 
groundwork of another. This method he often uses, in order to 
confound us in our confidence.

He shall give his angels charge, &c.] This is a mutilated 
quotation of Psa. xci. 11. The clause, to keep thee in all 
thy ways, Satan chose to leave out, as quite unsuitable to 
his design. That God has promised to protect and support his 
servants, admits of no dispute; but, as the path of duty is 
the way of safety, they are entitled to no good when they 
walk out of it.

In their hands they shall bear thee up] This quotation from 
Psalm xci. 11, is a metaphor taken from a nurse's management 
of her child: in teaching it to walk, she guides it along 
plain ground; but, when stones or other obstacles occur, she 
lifts up the child, and carries it over them, and then sets 
it down to walk again. Thus she keeps it in all its ways, 
watching over, and guarding every step it takes. To this St. 
Paul seems also to allude, 1 Thess. ii. 7. We were gentle 
among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children. Thus the 
most merciful God deals with the children of men, ever 
guarding them by his eye, and defending them by his power.

Verse 7. Thou shalt not tempt] To expose myself to any danger 
naturally destructive, with the vain presumption that God 
will protect and defend me from the ruinous consequences of 
my imprudent conduct, is to tempt God.

Verse 8. An exceeding high mountain, and showeth him] If the 
words, all the kingdoms of the world, be taken in a literal 
sense, then this must have been a visionary representation, 
as the highest mountain on the face of the globe could not 
suffice to make evident even one hemisphere of the earth, and 
the other must of necessity be in darkness.

But if we take the world to mean only the land of Judea, and 
some of the surrounding nations, as it appears sometimes to 
signify, (see on Luke ii. 1,) then the mountain described by 
the Abbe Mariti (Travels through Cyprus, &c.) could have 
afforded the prospect in question. Speaking of it, he says, 
"Here we enjoyed the most beautiful prospect imaginable. This 
part of the mountain overlooks the mountains of Arabia, the 
country of Gilead, the country of the Amorites, the plains of 
Moab, the plains of Jericho, the river Jordan, and the whole 
extent of the Dead Sea. It was here that the devil said to 
the Son of God, All these kingdoms will I give thee, if thou 
wilt fall down and worship me." Probably St. Matthew, in the 
Hebrew original, wrote Årah haarets, which signifies the 
world, the earth, and often the land of Judea only. What 
renders this more probable is, that at this time Judea was 
divided into several kingdoms, or governments under the three 
sons of Herod the Great, viz. Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip; 
which are not only called ethnarchs and tetrarchs in the 
Gospels, but also basileiv, kings, and are said basileuein, 
to reign, as Rosenmuller has properly remarked. See chap. ii. 
22; xiv. 9.

Verse 9. If thou wilt fall dozen and worship me] As if he had 
said, "The whole of this land is now under my government; do 
me homage for it, and I will deliver it into thy hand."

Verse 10. Get thee hence] Or, behind me, opisw mou. This is 
added by a multitude of the best MSS., VERSIONS, and FATHERS. 
This temptation savouring of nothing but diabolical 
impudence, Jesus did not treat it as the others; but, with 
Divine authority, commanded the tempter to return to his own 
place.

In the course of this trial, it appears that our blessed Lord 
was tempted, 1st. To DISTRUST. Command these stones to become 
bread. 2dly. To PRESUMPTION. Cast thyself down. 3dly. To 
worldly AMBITION. All these will I give. 4thly. To IDOLATRY. 
Fall down and worship me, or do me homage. There is probably 
not a temptation of Satan, but is reducible to one or other 
of these four articles.

From the whole we may learn: First. No man, howsoever holy, 
is exempted from temptation: for God manifested to the flesh 
was tempted by the devil.

Secondly. That the best way to foil the adversary, is by the 
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, Eph. vi. 17.

Thirdly. That to be tempted even to the greatest abominations 
(while a person resists) is not sin: for Christ was tempted 
to worship the DEVIL.

Fourthly. That there is no temptation which is from its own 
nature, or favouring circumstances, irresistible. God has 
promised to bruise even Satan under our feet.

As I wish to speak what I think most necessary on every 
subject, when I first meet it, and once for all, I would 
observe, first, That the fear of being tempted may become a 
most dangerous snare.

Secondly, That when God permits a temptation or trial to come 
he will give grace to bear or overcome it.

Thirdly, That our spiritual interests shall be always 
advanced, in proportion to our trials and faithful 
resistance.

Fourthly, That a more than ordinary measure of Divine 
consolation shall be the consequence of every victory.

Verse 11. Behold, angels came and ministered unto him.] That 
is, brought that food which was necessary to support nature.

The name given to Satan in the third verse is very emphatic, 
o peirazwn, the tempter, or trier, from peirw, to pierce 
through. To this import of the name there seems to be an 
allusion, Ephesians vi. 16: The fiery DARTS of the wicked 
one. This is the precise idea of the word in Deut. viii. 2.

To humble thee, and to prove thee, TO KNOW WHAT WAS IN THY 
HEART: ūtsnl linesteca, peirash se, LXX. that he might bore 
thee through.

The quality and goodness of many things are proved by 
piercing or boring through; for this shows what is in the 
heart. Perhaps nothing tends so much to discover what we are, 
as trials either from men or devils.

Shalt thou serve, or pay religious veneration, larreuseiv. 
This is Mr. Wakefield's translation, and I think cannot be 
mended. latreia comes from la, very much, and trew, I 
tremble. When a sinner approaches the presence of God, 
conscious of HIS infinite holiness and justice, and of his 
own vileness, he will then fully comprehend what this word 
means. See this religious reverence exemplified in the case 
of Moses, when in the presence of God; I exceedingly fear, 
said he, and tremble, Heb. xii. 21.

And yet this fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. See the 
observations at the end of the chapter.

Verse 13. And leaving Nazareth] Or, entirely leaving 
Nazareth, kai katalipwn thn nazaret, from kata, intensive, 
and deipw, I leave. It seems that, from this time, our 
blessed Lord made Capernaum his ordinary place of residence; 
and utterly forsook Nazareth, because they had wholly 
rejected his word, and even attempted to take away his life. 
See Luke iv. 29.

Galilee was bounded by mount Lebanon on the north, by the 
river Jordan and the sea of Galilee on the east, by Chison on 
the south, and by the Mediterranean on the west.

Nazareth, a little city in the tribe of Zebulon, in lower 
Galilee, with Tabor on the east, and Ptolemais on the west. 
It is supposed that this city was the usual residence of our 
Lord for the first thirty years of his life. It was here he 
became incarnate, lived in subjection to Joseph and Mary, and 
from which he took the name of a Nazorean.

Capernaum, a city famous in the New Testament, but never 
mentioned in the Old. Probably it was one of those cities 
which the Jews built after their return from Babylon. It 
stood on the sea-coast of Galilee, on the borders of Zabulon 
and Nephthalim, as mentioned in the text. This was called his 
own city, chap. ix. 1, &c., and here, as a citizen, he paid 
the half shekel, chap. xvii. 24. Among the Jews, if a man 
became a resident in any city for twelve months, he thereby 
became a citizen, and paid his proportion of dues and taxes. 
See Lightfoot. Capernaum is well known to have been the 
principal scene of our Lord's miracles during the three years 
of his public ministry.

Zabulon, the country of this tribe, in which Nazareth and 
Capernaum were situated, bordered on the lake of Gennesareth, 
stretching to the frontiers of Sidon, Gen. xlix. 13. 
Nephthalim was contiguous to it, and both were on the east 
side of Jordan, Josh. xix. 34.

Verse 15. Galilee of the Gentiles] Or of the nations. So 
called, because it was inhabited by Egyptians, Arabians, and 
Phoenicians, according to the testimony of Strabo and others. 
The Hebrew µywg goyim, and the Greek eqnwn, signify nations; 
and, in the Old and New Testaments, mean those people who 
were not descendants of any of the twelve tribes. The word 
Gentiles, from gens, a nation, signifies the same. It is 
worthy of remark, that it was a regular tradition among the 
ancient Jews, that the Messiah should begin his ministry in 
Galilee. See the proofs in Schoetgen.

Verse 16. The people which sat in darkness] This is quoted 
from Isa. ix. 2, where, instead of sitting, the prophet used 
the word walked. The evangelist might on purpose change the 
term, to point out the increased misery of the state of these 
persons. Sitting in darkness expresses a greater degree of 
intellectual blindness, than walking in darkness does. In the 
time of Christ's appearing, the people were in a much worse 
state than in the time of the prophet, which was nearly 700 
years before; as, during all this period, they were growing 
more ignorant and sinful.

The region and shadow of death] These words are amazingly 
descriptive. A region of death-DEATH'S country, where, in a 
peculiar manner, Death lived, reigned, and triumphed, 
subjecting all the people to his sway.

Shadow of death] skia qanatou, used only here and in Luke i. 
79, but often in the Old Covenant, where the Hebrew is twm lx 
tsal maveth, It is not easy to enter fully into the ideal 
meaning of this term. As in the former clause, death is 
personified, so here. A shadow is that darkness cast upon a 
place by a body raised between it and the light or sun. Death 
is here represented as standing between the land above 
mentioned, and the light of life, or Sun of righteousness; in 
consequence of which, all the inhabitants were, involved in a 
continual cloud of intellectual darkness, misery, and sin. 
The heavenly sun was continually eclipsed to them, till this 
glorious time, when Jesus Christ, the true light, shone forth 
in the beauty of holiness and truth. Christ began his 
ministry in Galilee, and frequented this uncultivated place 
more than he did Jerusalem and other parts of Judea: here his 
preaching was peculiarly needful; and by this was the 
prophecy fulfilled.

Verse 17. Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent] See on 
chap. iii. 1, 2. Every preacher commissioned by God to 
proclaim salvation to a lost world, begins his work with 
preaching the doctrine of repentance. This was the case with 
all the prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, all the 
apostles, and all their genuine successors in the Christian 
ministry. The reasons are evident in the notes already 
referred to; and for the explanation of the word khrussein, 
preaching or proclaiming as a herald, see at the end of chap. 
3.

Verse 18. Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother] Why did 
not Jesus Christ call some of the eminent Scribes or 
Pharisees to publish his Gospel, and not poor unlearned 
fishermen, without credit or authority? Because it was the 
kingdom of heaven they were to preach, and their teaching 
must come from above: besides, the conversion of sinners, 
though it be effected instrumentally by the preaching of the 
Gospel, yet the grand agent in it is the Spirit of God. As 
the instruments were comparatively mean, and, the work which 
was accomplished by them was grand and glorious, the 
excellency of the power at once appeared to be of GOD, and 
not of man; and thus the glory, due alone to his name, was 
secured, and the great Operator of all good had the deserved 
praise. Seminaries of learning, in the order of God's 
providence and grace, have great and important uses; and, in 
reference to such uses, they should be treated with great 
respect: but to make preachers of the Gospel is a matter to 
which they are utterly inadequate; it is a, prerogative that 
God never did, and never will, delegate to man.

Where the seed of the kingdom of God is sowed, and a 
dispensation of the Gospel is committed to a man, a good 
education may be of great and general use: but it no more 
follows, because a man has had a good education, that 
therefore he is qualified to preach the Gospel, than it does, 
that because he has not had that, therefore he is 
unqualified; for there may be much ignorance of Divine things 
where there is much human learning; and a man may be well 
taught in the things of God, and be able to teach others, who 
has not had the advantages of a liberal education.

Men-made ministers have almost ruined the heritage of God. To 
prevent this, our Church requires that a man be inwardly 
moved to take upon himself this ministry, before he can be 
ordained to it. And he who cannot say, that he trusts (has 
rational and Scriptural conviction) that he is moved by the 
Holy Ghost to take upon himself this office, is an intruder 
into the heritage of God, and his ordination, ipso facto, 
vitiated and of none effect. See the truly apostolic 
Ordination Service of the Church of England.

Fishers.] Persons employed in a lawful and profitable 
avocation, and faithfully discharging their duty in it. It 
was a tradition of the elders, that one of Joshua's ten 
precepts was, that all men should have an equal right to 
spread their nets and fish in the sea of Tiberias, or 
Galilee. The persons mentioned here were doubtless men of 
pure morals; for the minister of God should have a good 
report from them that are without.

Verse 19. Follow me] Come after me, deute opisw mou. Receive 
my doctrines, imitate me in my conduct-in every respect be my 
disciples. We may observe that most of the calls of God to 
man are expressed in a few solemn words, which alarm, the 
conscience, and deeply impress the heart.

I will make you fishers of men.] Ezekiel Ezek. xlvii. 8-10, 
casts much light on this place; and to this prophet our Lord 
probably alludes. To follow Christ, and be admitted into a 
partnership of his ministry, is a great honour; but those 
only who are by himself fitted for it, God calls. Miserable 
are those who do not wait fur this call-who presume to take 
the name of fishers of men, and know not how to cast the net 
of the Divine word, because not brought to an acquaintance 
with the saving power of the God who bought them. Such 
persons, having only their secular interest in view, study 
not to catch men, but to catch money: and though, for 
charity's sake, it may be said of a pastor of this spirit, he 
does not enter the sheepfold as a thief, yet he certainly 
lives as a hireling. See Quesnel.

Some teach to work, but have no hands to row; Some will be 
eyes, but have no light to see; Some will be guides, but have 
no feet to go; Some deaf, yet ears, some dumb, yet tongues 
will be; Dumb, deaf, lame, blind, and maimed, yet fishers 
all! Fit for no use but store an hospital. Fletcher's 
Piscatory Eclogues. Ecclesiastes. iv. 5, 18.

Following a person, in the Jewish phrase, signifies being his 
disciple or scholar. See a similar mode of speech, 2 Kings 
vi. 19.

Verse 20. They straightway left their nets] A change, as far 
as it respected secular things, every way to their 
disadvantage. The proud and the profane may exult and say, 
"Such preachers as these cannot be much injured by their 
sacrifices of secular property-they have nothing but nets, 
&c., to leave." Let such carpers at the institution of Christ 
know, that he who has nothing but a net, and leaves that for 
the sake of doing good to the souls of men, leaves his ALL: 
besides, he lived comfortably by his net before; but, in 
becoming the servant of all for Christ's sake, he often 
exposes himself to the want of even a morsel of bread. See on 
chap. xix. 27.

Verse 22. Left the ship and their father] By the ship, to 
ploion, we are to understand the mere fishing-boat, used for 
extending their nets in the water and bringing the hawser or 
rope of the farther end to shore, by which the net was pulled 
to land. But why should these be called to leave their 
employment and their father, probably now aged? To this I 
answer, that to be obedient to, provide for, and comfort our 
parents, is the highest duty we owe or can discharge, except 
that to God. But, when God calls to the work of the ministry, 
father and mother and all must be left. Were we necessary to 
their comfort and support before? Then God, if he call us 
into another work or state, will take care to supply to them 
our lack of service some other way; and, if this be not done, 
it is a proof we have mistaken our call. Again, were our 
parents necessary to us, and in leaving them for the sake of 
the Gospel, or in obedience to a Divine command, do we 
deprive ourselves of the comforts of life? No matter: we 
should prefer the honour of serving the Most High, even in 
poverty and humility, to all the comforts of a father's 
house. But what an honour was the vocation of James and John, 
to old Zebedee their father! His sons are called to be 
heralds of the God of heaven! Allowing him to have been a 
pious man, this must have given him unutterable delight.

Verse 23. Teaching in their synagogues] Synagogue, sunagwgh, 
from sun, together, and agw, I bring, a public assembly of 
persons, or the place where such persons publicly assembled. 
Synagogues, among the Jews, were not probably older than the 
return from the Babylonish captivity.

They were erected not only in cities and towns, but in the 
country, and especially by rivers, that they might have water 
for the convenience of their frequent washings.

Not less than ten persons of respectability composed a 
synagogue; as the rabbins supposed that this number of 
persons, of independent property, and well skilled in the 
law, were necessary to conduct the affairs of the place, and 
keep up the Divine worship. See Lightfoot. Therefore, where 
this number could not be found, no synagogue was built; but 
there might be many synagogues in one city or town, provided 
it were populous.

Jerusalem is said to have contained 480. This need not be 
wondered at, when it is considered that every Jew was obliged 
to worship God in public, either in a synagogue or in the 
temple.

The chief things belonging to a synagogue were: 1st. The ark 
or chest, made after the mode of the ark of the covenant, 
containing the Pentateuch.

2dly. The pulpit and desk, in the middle of the synagogue, on 
which he stood who read or expounded the law.

3dly. The seats or pews for the men below, and the galleries 
for the women above.

4thly. The lamps to give light in the evening service, and at 
the feast of the dedication. And, 5thly. Apartments for the 
utensils and alms-chests.

The synagogue was governed by a council or assembly, over 
whom was a president, called in the Gospels, the ruler of the 
synagogue. These are sometimes called chiefs of the Jews, the 
rulers, the priests or elders, the governors, the overseers, 
the fathers of the synagogue. Service was performed in them 
three times a day-morning, afternoon, and night.

Synagogue, among the Jews, had often the same meaning as 
congregation among us, or place of judicature, see James ii. 
2.

Preaching the Gospel of the kingdom] Or, proclaiming the glad 
tidings of the kingdom. See the preceding notes. Behold here 
the perfect pattern of an evangelical preacher: 1. He goes 
about seeking sinners on every side, that he may show them 
the way to heaven. 2. He proclaims the glad tidings of the 
kingdom, with a freedom worthy of the King whom he serves. 3. 
He makes his reputation and the confidence of the people 
subservient not to his own interest, but to the salvation of 
souls. 4. To his preaching he joins, as far as he has 
ability, all works of mercy, and temporal assistance to the 
bodies of men. 5. He takes care to inform men that diseases, 
and all kinds of temporal evils, are the effects of sin, and 
that their hatred to iniquity should increase in proportion 
to the evils they endure through it. 6. And that nothing but 
the power of God can save them from sin and its consequences.

For glad tidings, or Gospel, see chap. 1. title. Proclaiming, 
see chap. iii. 1, and end; and for the meaning of kingdom, 
see chap. iii. 2.

All manner of sickness, and all manner of disease] There is a 
difference between nosov, translated here sickness, and 
malakia, translated disease.

The first is thus defined: nosov, thn cronian kakopaqeian, a 
disease of some standing, a chronic disorder.

Infirmity, malakia thn proskairon anwmalian toi swmatov, a 
temporary disorder of the body. Theophylact. This is a proper 
distinction, and is necessary to be observed.

Verse 24. Sick people] touv, kakwv econtav, those who felt 
ill-were afflicted with any species of malady.

And torments] basanoiv, from basanizw, to examine by torture, 
such as cholics, gouts, and rheumatisms, which racked every 
joint.

Possessed with devils] Daemoniacs. Persons possessed by evil 
spirits.

This is certainly the plain obvious meaning of daemoniac in 
the Gospels.

Many eminent men think that the sacred writers accommodated 
themselves to the unfounded prejudices of the common people, 
in attributing certain diseases to the influence of evil 
spirits, which were merely the effects of natural causes: but 
that this explanation can never comport with the accounts 
given of these persons shall be proved as the places occur.

Our common version, which renders the word, those possessed 
by devils, is not strictly correct; as the word devil, 
diabolov, is not found in the plural in any part of the 
Sacred Writings, when speaking of evil spirits: for though 
there are multitudes of daemons, Mark 5: 9, yet it appears 
there is but one DEVIL, who seems to be supreme, or head, 
over all the rest.

diabolov signifies an accuser or slanderer, 1 Tim. iii. 11; 2 
Tim. iii. 3; Tit. ii. 3. Perhaps Satan was called so, 1st. 
because he accused or slandered God in paradise, as averse 
from the increase of man's knowledge and happiness, Gen. iii. 
5; John viii. 44; and 2dly. because he is the accuser of men, 
Rev. xii. 9, 10. See also "Job i. 2". The word comes from 
dia, through, and ballein, to cast, or shoot, because of the 
influence of his evil suggestions; compared, Eph. vi. 16, to 
fiery darts; and thus it is nearly of the same meaning with o 
peirazwn, he who pierces through. See on ver. 3.

Lunatic] Persons afflicted with epileptic or other disorders, 
which are always known to have a singular increase at the 
change and full of the moon. This undoubtedly proceeds from 
the superadded attractive influence of the sun and moon upon 
the earth's atmosphere, as, in the periods mentioned above, 
these two luminaries are both in conjunction; and their 
united attractive power being exerted on the earth at the 
same time, not only causes the flux and reflux of the ocean, 
but occasions a variety of important changes in the bodies of 
infirm persons, of animals in general, but more particularly 
in those who are more sensible of these variations. And is 
this any wonder, when it is well known, that a very slight 
alteration in the atmosphere causes the most uncomfortable 
sensations to a number of invalids! But sometimes even these 
diseases were caused by demons. See on Matthew viii. 16, 34, 
and chap. xvii. 15.

Palsy] Palsy is defined, a sudden loss of tone and vital 
power in a certain part of the human body. This may affect a 
limb, the whole side, the tongue, or the whole body. This 
disorder is in general incurable, except by the miraculous 
power of God, unless in its slighter stages.

He healed them.] Either with a word or a touch; and thus 
proved that all nature was under his control.

Verse 25. This verse is immediately connected with the fifth 
chapter, and should not be separated from it.

Great multitudes] This, even according to the Jews, was one 
proof of the days of the Messiah: for they acknowledged that 
in his time there should be a great famine of the word of 
God; and thus they understood Amos, Am viii. 11. Behold, the 
days come-that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine 
of bread-but of hearing the words of the Lord. And as the 
Messiah was to dispense this word, the bread of life, hence 
they believed that vast multitudes from all parts should be 
gathered together to him. See Schoettgenius on this place.

Decapolis] A small country, situated between Syria and 
Galilee of the nations. It was called Decapolis, dekapoliv, 
from deka, ten, and poliv, a city, because it contained only 
ten cities; the metropolis, and most ancient of which, was 
Damascus.

From beyond Jordan.] Or, from the side of Jordan. Probably 
this was the country which was occupied anciently by the two 
tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh; for 
the country of Decapolis lay on both sides of the river 
Jordan. See Numbers xxxii. 5, 33.

THE account of our Lord's temptation, as given by the 
evangelist, is acknowledged on all hands to be extremely 
difficult. Two modes of interpretation have been generally 
resorted to, in order to make the whole plain and 
intelligible: viz. the literal and allegorical. In all cases, 
where it can possibly apply, I prefer the first: the latter 
should never be used, unless obviously indicated in the text 
itself; or so imperiously necessary that no other mode of 
interpretation can possibly apply. In the preceding 
observations, I have taken up the subject in a literal point 
of view; and it is hoped that most of the difficulties in the 
relation have been removed, or obviated, by this plan. An 
ingenious correspondent has favoured me with some 
observations on the subject, which have much more than the 
merit of novelty to recommend them. I shall give an abstract 
of some of the most striking; and leave the whole to the 
reader's farther consideration.

The thoughts in this communication proceed on this ground: 
"These temptations were addressed to Christ as a public 
person, and respected his conduct in the execution of his 
ministry; and are reported to his Church as a forcible and 
practical instruction, concerning the proper method of 
promoting the kingdom of God upon earth. They are warnings 
against those Satanic illusions, by which the servants of 
Christ are liable to be hindered in their great work, and 
even stopped in the prosecution of it.

"As our Lord had, at his baptism, been declared to be the SON 
of God, i.e. the promised Messiah, this was probably well known 
to Satan, who did not mean to insinuate any thing to the contrary, 
when he endeavoured to engage him to put forth an act of that 
power which he possessed as the Messiah. The mysterious union 
of the Divine with the human nature, in our Lord's state of 
humiliation, Satan might think possible to be broken; and 
therefore endeavoured, in the first temptation, Command these 
stones to be made bread, to induce our Lord to put forth a 
separate, independent act of power; which our Lord repelled, 
by showing his intimate union with the Divine will, which he 
was come to fulfill-Man shall not live by bread alone, but by 
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Thus 
showing, as he did on another occasion, that it was his meat 
and drink to do the will of his Father.

"2. The ground of the temptation was then changed; and the 
fulfillment of the Divine will, in the completion of a 
prophetic promise, was made the ostensible object of the next 
attack. Cast thyself down-for it is WRITTEN, He will give his 
angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands shall they 
bear thee up, &c. This our Lord repelled with-Thou shalt not 
tempt the Lord thy God-as Satan had designed to induce him to 
seek this public miraculous confirmation of God's peculiar 
care over him, as the promised Messiah, of his being which, 
according to the hypothesis above, Satan had no doubt. Moses, 
being appointed to a great and important work, needed 
miraculous signs to strengthen his faith; but the sacred 
humanity of our blessed Lord needed them not; nor did his 
wisdom judge that such a sign from heaven was essential to 
the instruction of the people.

"3. The last temptation was the most subtle and the most 
powerful-All these will I give unto thee, if thou wilt fall 
down and worship me. To inherit all nations, had been 
repeatedly declared to be the birthright of the Messiah. His 
right to universal empire could not be controverted; nor 
could Satan presume to make the investiture. What, then, was 
his purpose? Satan had hitherto opposed, and that with 
considerable success, the kingdom of God upon earth; and what 
he appears to propose here, were terms of peace, and an 
honourable retreat. The worship which he exacted was an act 
of homage, in return for his cession of that ascendancy 
which, through the sin of man, he had obtained in the world. 
Having long established his rule among men, it was not at 
first to be expected that he would resign it without a 
combat: but the purpose of this last temptation appears to be 
an offer to decline any farther contest; and, yet more, if 
his terms were accepted, apparently to engage his influence 
to promote the kingdom of the Messiah. And as the condition 
of this proposed alliance, he required, not Divine worship, 
but such an act of homage as implied amity and obligation; 
and if this construction be allowed, he may be supposed to 
have enforced the necessity of the measure, by every 
suggestion of the consequences of a refusal. The sufferings 
which would inevitably result from a provoked opposition, 
which would render the victory, though certain to Christ 
himself, dearly bought; added to which, the conflict he was 
prepared to carry on through succeeding ages, in which all 
his subtlety and powers should be employed to hinder the 
progress of Christ's cause in the earth, and that with a 
considerable degree of anticipated success. Here the devil 
seems to propose to make over to Christ the power and 
influence he possessed in this world, on condition that he 
would enter into terms of peace with him; and the inducement 
offered was, that thereby our Lord should escape those 
sufferings, both in his own person, and in that of his 
adherents, which a provoked contest would ensure. And we may 
suppose that a similar temptation lies hid in the desires 
excited even in some of the servants of Christ, who may feel 
themselves often induced to employ worldly influence and 
power for the promotion of his kingdom, even though, in so 
doing, an apparent communion of Christ and Belial is the 
result: for it will be found that neither worldly riches, nor 
power, can be employed in the service of Christ, till, like 
the spoils taken in war, Deuteronomy xxxi. 21-23, they have 
passed through the fire and water, as, without a Divine 
purification, they are not fit to be employed in the service 
of God and his Church.

"Hence we may conclude, that the first temptation had for its 
professed object, 1st, our Lord's personal relief and 
comfort, through the inducement of performing a separate and 
independent act of power.-The second temptation professed to 
have in view his public acknowledgment by the people, as the 
MESSIAH: for, should they see him work such a miracle as 
throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the temple without 
receiving any hurt, they would be led instantly to 
acknowledge his Divine mission; and the evil of this 
temptation may be explained, as seeking to secure the success 
of his mission by other means than those which, as the 
Messiah, he had received from the Father. Compare John xiv. 
31. The third temptation was a subtle attempt to induce 
Christ to acknowledge Satan as an ally, in the establishment 
of his kingdom." E. M. B.

The above is the substance of the ingenious theory of my 
correspondent, which may be considered as a third mode of 
interpretation, partaking equally of the allegoric and 
literal. I still, however, think, that the nearer we keep to 
the letter in all such difficult cases, the more tenable is 
our ground, especially where the subject itself does not 
obviously require the allegorical mode of interpretation. 
Among many things worthy of remark in the preceding theory 
the following deserves most attention: That Satan is ever 
ready to tempt the governors and ministers of the Christian 
Church to suppose that worldly means, human policy, secular 
interest and influence, are all essentially necessary for the 
support and extension of that kingdom which is not of this 
world! Such persons can never long preserve hallowed hands: 
they bring the world into the Church; endeavour to sanctify 
the bad means they use, by the good end they aim at; and 
often, in the prosecution of their object, by means which are 
not of God's devising, are driven into straits and 
difficulties, and to extricate themselves, tell lies for 
God's sake. This human policy is from beneath-God will 
neither sanction nor bless it. It has been the bane of true 
religion in all ages of the world; and, in every country 
where the cause of Christianity has been established, such 
schemers and plotters in the Church of God are as dangerous 
to its interests as a plague is to the health of society. The 
governors and ministers of the Christian Church should keep 
themselves pure, and ever do God's work in his own way. If 
the slothful servant should be cast out of the vineyard, he 
that corrupts the good seed of the Divine field, or sows 
tares among the wheat, should be considered as an enemy to 
righteousness, and be expelled from the sacred pale as one 
who closes in with the temptation-"All these things (the 
kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them) will I give 
unto THEE, if thou wilt fall down and worship ME." However 
necessary the Church may be to the state, and the state to 
the Church, as some people argue, yet the latter is never in 
so much danger as when the former smiles upon it.

CHAPTER v

Christ begins his sermon on the mount, 1, 2. The beatitudes, 
3-12. The disciples the salt of the earth, and light of the 
world, 13-16. Christ is not come to destroy, but confirm and 
fulfill, the Law and the Prophets, 17-19. Of the 
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, 20. 
Interpretation of the precepts relative to murder, anger, and 
injurious speaking, 21, 22. Of reconciliation, 23-26. Of 
impure acts and propensities, and the necessity of 
mortification, 27-30. Of divorce, 31, 32. Of oaths and 
profane swearing, 33-37. Of bearing injuries and persecution, 
38-41. Of borrowing and lending, 42 Of love and hatred, 43-
46. Of civil respect, 47. Christ's disciples must resemble 
their heavenly Father, 48.

NOTES ON CHAP. v

Verse 1. And seeing the multitudes] touv oclouv, these 
multitudes, viz. those mentioned in the preceding verse, 
which should make the first verse of this chapter.

He went up into a mountain] That he might have the greater 
advantage of speaking, so as to be heard by that great 
concourse of people which followed him. It is very probable 
that nothing more is meant here than a small hill or 
eminence. Had he been on a high mountain they could not have 
heard; and, had he been at a great distance, he would not 
have sat down. See the note on "ver. 14".

And when he was set] The usual posture of public teachers 
among the Jews, and among many other people. Hence sitting 
was a synonymous term for teaching among the rabbins.

His disciples] The word maqhthv signifies literally a 
scholar. Those who originally followed Christ, considered him 
in the light of a Divine teacher; and conscious of their 
ignorance, and the importance of his teaching, they put 
themselves under his tuition, that they might be instructed 
in heavenly things. Having been taught the mysteries of the 
kingdom of God, they became closely attached to their Divine 
Master, imitating his life and manners; and recommending his 
salvation to all the circle of their acquaintance. This is 
still the characteristic of a genuine disciple of Christ.

Verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, &c.] Or, happy, 
makarioi from ma or mh, not, and khr, fate, or death: 
intimating, that such persons were endued with immortality, 
and consequently were not liable to the caprices of fate. 
Homer, Iliad i, 330, calls the supreme gods, qewn makarwn, 
the ever happy and IMMORTAL gods, and opposes them to qnhtwn 
anqrwpwn, mortal men.

tw dĘ autw marturoi estwn, prov te qewn makarwn, prov te 
qnhtwn anqropwn "Be ye witnesses before the immortal gods, 
and before mortal men." From this definition we may learn, 
that the person whom Christ terms happy is one who is not 
under the influence of fate or chance, but is governed by an 
all-wise providence, having every step directed to the 
attainment of immortal glory, being transformed by the power 
into the likeness of the ever-blessed God. Though some of the 
persons, whose states are mentioned in these verses, cannot 
be said to be as yet blessed or happy, in being made 
partakers of the Divine nature; yet they are termed happy by 
our Lord, because they are on the straight way to this 
blessedness.

Taken in this light the meaning is similar to that expressed 
by the poet when describing a happy man.

FELIX, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas: Atque metus omnes 
et inexorabile FATUM Subjecit pedibus; strepitumque 
Acherontis avari! Virg. Geor. ii. v. 490 Which may be thus 
paraphrased:-" Happy is he who gains the knowledge of the 
first cause of all things; who can trample on every fear, and 
the doctrine of inexorable FATE; and who is not terrified by 
death, nor by the threatened torments of the invisible 
world!" Poor in spirit] One who is deeply sensible of his 
spiritual poverty and wretchedness. ptwcov, a poor man, comes 
from ptwssw, to tremble, or shrink with fear. Being destitute 
of the true riches, he is tremblingly alive to the 
necessities of his soul, shrinking with fear lest he should 
perish without the salvation of God. Such Christ pronounces 
happy, because there is but a step between them and that 
kingdom which is here promised.

Some contend, that makarioi should be referred to, pneumati, 
and the verse translated thus: Happy, or blessed in spirit, 
are the poor. But our Lord seems to have the humiliation of 
the spirit particularly in view.

Kingdom of heaven.] Or, twn ouranwn, of the heavens. A 
participation of all the blessings of the new covenant here, 
and the blessings of glory above. See this phrase explained, 
"Matthew iii. 2". Blessed are the poor! this is God's word; 
but who believes it? Do we not say, Yea, rather, Blessed is 
the rich? The Jewish rabbins have many good sayings relative 
to that poverty and humility of spirit which Christ 
recommends in this verse. In the treatise called Bammidbar 
Rabbi, s. 20, we have these words: There were three (evils) 
in Balaam: the evil eye, (envy,) the towering spirit, 
(pride,) and the extensive mind (avarice.) Tanchum, fol. 84. 
The law does not abide with those who have the extensive 
mind, (avarice,) but with him only who has a contrite heart.

Rabbi Chanina said, "Why are the words of the law compared to 
water? Because as waters flow from heights, and settle in low 
places, so the words of the law rest only with him who is of 
an humble heart." See Schoettgen.

Verse 4. Blessed are they that mourn] That is, those who, 
feeling their spiritual poverty, mourn after God, lamenting 
the iniquity that separated them from the fountain of 
blessedness. Every one flies from sorrow, and seeks after 
joy, and yet true joy must necessarily be the fruit of 
sorrow.

The whole need not (do not feel the need of) the physician, 
but they that are sick do; i.e. they who are sensible of 
their disease. Only such persons as are deeply convinced of 
the sinfulness of sin, feel tho plague of their own heart, 
and turn with disgust from all worldly consolations, because 
of their insufficiency to render them happy, have God's 
promise of solid comfort. They SHALL BE comforted, says 
Christ, paraklhqhsontai, from para, near, and kalew, I call. 
He will call them to himself, and speak the words of pardon, 
peace, and life eternal, to their hearts. See this notion of 
the word expressed fully by our Lord, chap. xi. 28, COME UNTO 
ME all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest.

Verse 5. Blessed are the meek] Happy, oi praeiv, from raov, 
easy, those who are of a quiet, gentle spirit, in opposition 
to the proud and supercilious Scribes and Pharisees and their 
disciples. We have a compound word in English, which once 
fully expressed the meaning of the original, viz. gentleman; 
but it has now almost wholly lost its original signification. 
Our word meek comes from the old Anglo-saxon meca, or meccea, 
a companion or equal, because he who is of a meek or gentle 
spirit, is ever ready to associate with the meanest of those 
who fear God, feeling himself superior to none; and well 
knowing that he has nothing of spiritual or temporal good but 
what he has received from the mere bounty of God, having 
never deserved any favour from his hand.

For they shall inherit the earth.] Or, thn ghn, the land. 
Under this expression, which was commonly used by the 
prophets to signify the land of Canaan, in which all temporal 
good abounded, Judges xviii. 9, 10, Jesus Christ points out 
that abundance of spiritual good, which was provided for men 
in the Gospel. Besides, Canaan was a type of the kingdom of 
God; and who is so likely to inherit glory as the man in whom 
the meekness and gentleness of Jesus dwell? In some good MSS. 
and several ancient versions, the fourth and fifth verses are 
transposed: see the authorities in the various readings in 
Professor Griesbach's edition. The present arrangement 
certainly is most natural: 1. Poverty, to which the promise 
of the kingdom is made. 2. Mourning or distress, on account 
of this impoverished state, to which consolation is promised. 
And 3. Meekness established in the heart by the consolations 
received.

Verse 6. They which do hunger and thirst] As the body has its 
natural appetites of hunger and thirst for the food and drink 
suited to its nourishment, so has the soul. No being is 
indestructible or unfailing in its nature but GOD; no being 
is independent but him: as the body depends for its 
nourishment, health, and strength upon the earth, so does the 
soul upon heaven. Heavenly things cannot support the body; 
they are not suited to its nature: earthly things cannot 
support the soul, for the same reason.

When the uneasy sensation termed hunger takes place in the 
stomach, we know we must get food or perish. When the soul is 
awakened to a tense of its wants, and begins to hunger and 
thirst after righteousness or holiness, which is its proper 
food, we know that it must be purified by the Holy Spirit, 
and be made a partaker of that living bread, John viii. 48, 
or perish everlastingly. Now, as God never inspires a prayer 
but with a design to answer it, he who hungers and thirsts 
after the full salvation of God, may depend on being speedily 
and effectually blessed or satisfied, well-fed, as the word 
cortasqhsontai implies. Strong and intense desire after any 
object has been, both by poets and orators, represented 
metaphorically by hunger and thirst. See the well-known words 
of Virgil, AEneid iii. 55.- Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, 
Auri sacra FAMES! "O cursed hunger after gold! what canst 
thou not influence the hearts of men to perpetrate?" How 
frequently do we find, inexplebilis honourum FAMES-SITIENS 
virtutis-famae SITUS, the insatiable hunger after honour, a 
thirst for virtue, thirst after fame, and such like! 
Righteousness here is taken for all the blessings of the new 
covenant-all the graces of the Messiah's kingdom-a full 
restoration to the image of God!

Verse 7. The merciful] The word mercy, among the Jews, 
signified two things: the pardon of injuries, and almsgiving. 
Our Lord undoubtedly takes it in its fullest latitude here. 
To know the nature of mercy, we have only to consult the 
grammatical meaning of the Latin word misericordia, from 
which ours is derived. It is composed of two words: miserans, 
pitying, and cor, the heart; or miseria cordis, pain of 
heart. Mercy supposes two things: 1. A distressed object: 
and, 2. A disposition of the heart, through which it is 
affected at the sight of such an object. This virtue, 
therefore, is no other than a lively emotion of the heart, 
which is excited by the discovery of any creature's misery; 
and such an emotion as manifests itself outwardly, by effects 
suited to its nature. The merciful man is here termed by our 
Lord elehmwn, from eleov, which is generally derived from the 
Hebrew lyj chil, to be in pain, as a woman in travail: or 
from lly galal, to cry, or lament grievously; because a 
merciful man enters into the miseries of his neighbour, feels 
for and mourns with him.

They shall obtain mercy.] Mercy is not purchased but at the 
price of mercy itself; and even this price is a gift of the 
mercy of God. What mercy can those vindictive persons expect, 
who forgive nothing, and are always ready to improve every 
advantage they have of avenging themselves? Whatever mercy a 
man shows to another, God will take care to show the same to 
him. The following elegant and nervous saying of one of our 
best poets is worthy of the reader's most serious attention:-
" The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the 
gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice 
blessed; It blesseth him who gives, and him who takes: 'Tis 
mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch 
better than his crown It is an attribute of God himself; And 
earthly power doth then show likest God's, When mercy seasons 
justice. - Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That, 
in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation. We 
do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to 
render The deeds of mercy. - Why, all the souls that are, 
were forfeit once: And he who might the 'vantage best have 
took Found out the remedy. How would you be, If He who is the 
top of judgment should But judge you as you are? O! think on 
that; And mercy then will breathe within your lips, Like man, 
new made How shalt thou hope for mercy, rend'ring none?" In 
the tract Shabbath, fol. 151, there is a saying very like 
this of our Lord.

"He who shows mercy to men, God will show mercy to him: but 
to him who shows no mercy to man, God will show no mercy.

Verse 8. Pure in heart] In opposition to the Pharisees, who 
affected outward purity, while their hearts were full of 
corruption and defilement.

A principal part of the Jewish religion consisted in outward 
washings and cleansings: on this ground they expected to see 
God, to enjoy eternal glory: but Christ here shows that a 
purification of the heart, from all vile affections and 
desires, is essentially requisite in order to enter into the 
kingdom of God. He whose soul is not delivered from all sin, 
through the blood of the covenant, can have no Scriptural 
hope of ever being with God.

There is a remarkable illustration of this passage, quoted by 
Mr. Wakefield from Origen, Contra Cels. lib. vi. "God has no 
body, and therefore is invisible: but men of contemplation 
can discern him with the heart and understanding. But A 
DEFILED HEART CANNOT SEE GOD: BUT HE MUST BE PURE WHO WISHES 
TO ENJOY A PROPER VIEW OF A PURE BEING." Shall see God.] This 
is a Hebraism, which signifies, possess God, enjoy his 
felicity: as seeing a thing, was used among the Hebrews for 
possessing it. See Psa. xvi. 10. Thou wilt not suffer thy 
Holy One to see corruption, i.e. he shall not be corrupted. 
So John iii. 3: Except a man be born again, he cannot SEE the 
kingdom of God, i.e. he cannot enjoy it. So John iii. 16. He 
that believeth not the Son, shall not SEE life, i. e shall 
not be put in possession of eternal glory. The Hindoo 
idolaters vainly boast of what the genuine followers of 
Christ actually enjoy-having the Divine favour witnessed to 
their souls by the Holy Spirit. The Hindoos pretend that some 
of their sages have been favoured with a sight of their 
guardian deity.-See WARD'S Customs.

Probably our Lord alludes to the advantages those had, who 
were legally pure, of entering into the sanctuary, into the 
presence of God, while those who had contracted any legal 
defilement were excluded from it. This also was obviously 
typical.

Verse 9. The peace-makers] eirhnh, peace, is compounded of 
eirein (eiv) en, connecting into one: for as WAR distracts 
and divides nations, families, and individuals, from each 
other, inducing them to pursue different objects and 
different interests, so PEACE restores them to a state of 
unity, giving them one object, and one interest. A peace-
maker is a man who, being endowed with a generous public 
spirit, labours for the public good, and feels his own 
interest promoted in promoting that of others: therefore, 
instead of fanning the fire of strife, he uses his influence 
and wisdom to reconcile the contending parties, adjust their 
differences, and restore them to a state of unity. As all men 
are represented to be in a state of hostility to God and each 
other, the Gospel is called the Gospel of peace, because it 
tends to reconcile men to God and to each other. Hence our 
Lord here terms peace-makers the children of God: for as he 
is the Father of peace, those who promote it are reputed his 
children. But whose children are they who foment divisions in 
the Church, the state, or among families? Surely they are not 
of that GOD, who is the Father of peace, and lover of 
concord; of that CHRIST, who is the sacrifice and mediator of 
it; of that SPIRIT, who is the nourisher and bond of peace; 
nor of that CHURCH of the Most High, which is the kingdom and 
family of peace.

St. Clement, Strom. lib. iv. s. 6, in fin. says, that "Some 
who transpose the Gospels add this verse: Happy they who are 
persecuted by justice, for they shall be perfect: happy they 
who are persecuted on my account, for they shall have a place 
where they shall not be persecuted."

Verse 10. They which are persecuted] dediwgmenoi, they who 
are hard pressed upon and pursued with repeated acts of 
enmity. Parkhurst. They are happy who suffer, seems a strange 
saying: and that the righteous should suffer, merely because 
they are such, seems as strange. But such is the enmity of 
the human heart to every thing of God and goodness, that all 
those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution 
in one form or other. As the religion of Christ gives no 
quarter to vice, so the vicious will give no quarter to this 
religion, or to its professors.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.] That spiritual kingdom, 
explained chap. iii. 2, and that kingdom of glory which is 
its counterpart and consequence.

Verse 11. When men shall revile you, and persecute] The 
persecution mentioned in the preceding verse comprehends all 
outward acts of violence-all that the hand can do. This 
comprehends all calumny, slander, &c., all that the tongue 
can effect. But as diwkein, which we render to persecute, is 
a forensic term, and signifies legal persecutions and public 
accusations, which, though totally unsubstantiated, were the 
means of destroying multitudes of the primitive Christians, 
our Lord probably refers to such. No Protestant can think, 
without horror, of the great numbers burnt alive in this 
country, on such accusations, under the popish reign of her 
who is emphatically called Bloody Queen Mary.

Verse 12. Rejoice] In the testimony of a good conscience; 
for, without this, suffering has nothing but misery in it.

Be exceeding glad] agalliasqe, leap for joy. There are 
several cases on record, where this was literally done by the 
martyrs, in Queen Mary's days.

Great is your reward in heaven] In the Talmudical tract 
Pirkey Aboth, are these words: "Rabbi Tarpon said, The day is 
short: the work is great: the labourers are slow: the REWARD 
IS GREAT: and the father of the family is urgent." The 
followers of Christ are encouraged to suffer joyfully on two 
considerations. 1. They are thereby conformed to the prophets 
who went before. 2. Their reward in heaven is a great one. 
God gives the grace to suffer, and then crowns that grace 
with glory; hence it is plain, the reward is not of debt, but 
of grace: Rom. vi. 23.

Verse 13. Ye are the salt of the earth] Our Lord shows here 
what the preachers of the Gospel, and what all who profess to 
follow him, should be; the salt of the earth, to preserve the 
world from putrefaction and destruction. See the note on 
"Lev. ii. 13".

But if the salt have lost his savour] That this is possible 
in the land of Judea, we have proof from Mr. Maundrell, who, 
describing the Valley of Salt, speaks thus: "Along, on one 
side of the valley, toward Gibul, there is a small precipice 
about two men's lengths, occasioned by the continual taking 
away of the salt; and, in this, you may see how the veins of 
it lie. I broke a piece of it, of which that part that was 
exposed to the rain, sun, and air, though it had the sparks 
and particles of salt, YET IT HAD PERFECTLY LOST ITS SAVOUR: 
the inner part, which was connected to the rock, retained its 
savour, as I found by proof." See his Trav., 5th edit., last 
page. A preacher, or private Christian, who has lost the life 
of Christ, and the witness of his Spirit, out of his soul, 
may be likened to this salt. He may have the sparks and 
glittering particles of true wisdom, but without its unction 
or comfort. Only that which is connected with the rock, the 
soul that is in union with Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, 
can preserve its savour, and be instrumental of good to 
others.

To be trodden underfoot] There was a species of salt in 
Judea, which was generated at the lake Asphaltites, and hence 
called bituminous salt, easily rendered vapid, and of no 
other use but to be spread in a part of the temple, to 
prevent slipping in wet weather. This is probably what our 
Lord alludes to in this place. The existence of such a salt, 
and its application to such a use, Schoettgenius has largely 
proved in his Horae Hebraicae, vol. i. p. 18, &c.

Verse 14. Ye are the light of the world] That is, the 
instruments which God chooses to make use of to illuminate 
the minds of men; as he uses the sun (to which probably he 
pointed) to enlighten the world. Light of the world, µlw[ rn 
ner olam, was a title applied to the most eminent rabbins.

Christ transfers the title from these, and gives it to his 
own disciples, who, by the doctrines that he taught them, 
were to be the means of diffusing the light of life 
throughout the universe.

A city that is set on a hill] This place may receive light 
from the following passage in Maundrell's Travels. "A few 
points toward the north (of Tabor) appears that which they 
call the Mount of Beatitudes, a small rising, from which our 
blessed saviour delivered his sermon in the fifth, sixth, and 
seventh chapters of Matthew. (See the note on "ver. 5".) Not 
far from this little hill is the city Saphet, supposed to be 
the ancient Bethulia. It stands upon a very eminent and 
conspicuous mountain, and is SEEN FAR and NEAR. May we not 
suppose that Christ alludes to this city, in these words of 
his, A city set on a hill cannot be hid?" p. 115. Quesnell 
remarks here: "The Christian life is something very high and 
sublime, to which we cannot arrive without pains: while it 
withdraws us from the earth, and carries us nearer heaven, it 
places us in view, and as a mark, to the malice of carnal 
men."

Verse 15. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a 
bushel] A bushel modiov:-a measure both among the Greeks and 
Romans, containing a little more than a peck English. From 
some ancient writers we learn, that only those who had bad 
designs hid a candle under a bushel; that, in the dead of the 
night, when all were asleep, they might rise up, and have 
light at hand to help them to effect their horrid purposes of 
murder, &c. See Wetstein, Kypke, Wolf, &c.

Verse 16. Let your light so shine] Or more literally, Thus 
let your light shine, outw lamyatw to fwv. As the sun is 
lighted up in the firmament of heaven to diffuse its light 
and heat freely to every inhabitant of the earth; and as the 
lamp is not set under the bushel, but placed upon the lamp-
stand that it may give light to all in the house; THUS let 
every follower of Christ, and especially every preacher of 
the Gospel, diffuse the light of heavenly knowledge, and the 
warmth of Divine love through the whole circle of their 
acquaintance.

That they may see your good works] It is not sufficient to 
have light-we must walk in the light, and by the light. Our 
whole conduct should be a perpetual comment on the doctrine 
we have received, and a constant exemplification of its power 
and truth.

And glorify your Father] The following curious saying is 
found in Bammidbar Rabba, s. 15. "The Israelites said to the 
holy blessed God, Thou commandest us to light lamps to thee; 
and yet thou art the, Light of the world, and with thee the 
light dwelleth. The holy blessed God answered, I do not 
command this because I need light; but that you may reflect 
light upon me, as I have illuminated you:-that the people may 
say, Behold, how the Israelites illustrate him, who 
illuminates them in the sight of the whole earth." See more 
in Schoettgen. Real Christians are the children of God-they 
are partakers of his holy and happy nature: they should ever 
be concerned for their Father's honour, and endeavour so to 
recommend him, and his salvation, that others may be 
prevailed on to come to the light, and walk in it. Then God 
is said to be glorified, when the glorious power of his grace 
is manifested in the salvation of men.

Verse 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the law] Do not 
imagine that I am come to violate the law katalusai, from 
kata, and luw, I loose, violate, or dissolve-I am not come to 
make the law of none effect-to dissolve the connection which 
subsists between its several parts, or the obligation men are 
under to have their lives regulated by its moral precepts; 
nor am I come to dissolve the connecting reference it has to 
the good things promised. But I am come, plhrwsai, to 
complete-to perfect its connection and reference, to 
accomplish every thing shadowed forth in the Mosaic ritual, 
to fill up its great design; and to give grace to all my 
followers, plhrwsai, to fill up, or complete, every moral 
duty. In a word, Christ completed the law: 1st. In itself, it 
was only the shadow, the typical representation, of good 
things to come; and he added to it that which was necessary 
to make it perfect, HIS OWN SACRIFICE, without which it could 
neither satisfy God, nor sanctify men. 2dly. He completed it 
in himself by submitting to its types with an exact 
obedience, and verifying them by his death upon the cross. 
3dly. He completes this law, and the sayings of his prophets, 
in his members, by giving them grace to love the Lord with 
all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their 
neighbour as themselves; for this is all the law and the 
prophets.

It is worthy of observation, that the word rmg gamar, among 
the rabbins, signifies not only to fulfill, but also to 
teach; and, consequently, we may infer that our Lord 
intimated, that the law and the prophets were still to be 
taught or inculcated by him and his disciples; and this he 
and they have done in the most pointed manner. See the 
Gospels and epistles; and see especially this sermon on the 
mount, the Epistle of James, and the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
And this meaning of the word gives the clear sense of the 
apostle's words, Colossiansi. 25. Whereof I am made a 
minister, plhrwsai tov logon tou qeou, to fulfill the word of 
God, i.e. to teach the doctrine of God.

Verse 18. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven] In the very 
commencement of his ministry, Jesus Christ teaches the 
instability of all visible things. "The heaven which you see, 
and which is so glorious, and the earth which you inhabit and 
love, shall pass away; for the things which are seen are 
temporal, proskaira, are for a time; but the things which are 
not seen are eternal aiwnia, ever-during," 2 Cor. iv. 18. And 
the WORD of the Lord endureth for ever.

One jot or one tittle] One yod, ( y ,) the smallest letter in 
the Hebrew alphabet. One tittle or point, keraia, either 
meaning those points which serve for vowels in this language, 
if they then existed; or the seraphs, or points of certain 
letters, such as r resh, or d daleth, h he, or j cheth (as 
the change of any of these into the other would make a most 
essential alteration in the sense, or, as the rabbins say, 
destroy the world.) Or our Lord may refer to the little 
ornaments which certain letters assume on their tops, which 
cause them to appear like small branches. The following 
letters only can assume coronal apices, Å tsaddi-g gimel-z 
zain] n nun-f teth-[ ayin- shin. These, with the coronal 
apices, often appear in MSS.

That this saying, one jot or one tittle, is a proverbial mode 
of expression among the Jews, and that it expressed the 
meaning given to it above, is amply proved by the extracts in 
Lightfoot and Schoettgen. The reader will not be displeased 
to find a few of them here, if he can bear with the 
allegorical and strongly figurative language of the rabbins.

"The book of Deuteronomy came and prostrated itself before 
the Lord, and said: 'O Lord of the world, thou hast written 
in me thy law; but now, a Testament defective in some parts 
is defective in all. Behold, Solomon endeavours to root the 
letter yod out of me.' (In this text, Deut. xvii. 5. µyn 
hbry al lo yirbeh, nashim, he shall not multiply wives.) The 
holy blessed God answered, 'Solomon and a thousand such as he 
shall perish, but the least word shall not perish out of 
thee.'" In Shir Hashirim Rabba, are these words: "Should all 
the inhabitants of the earth gather together, in order to 
whiten one feather of a crow, they could not succeed: so, if 
all the inhabitants of the earth should unite to abolish one 
y yod, which is the smallest letter in the whole law, they 
should not be able to effect it." In Vayikra Rabba, s. 19, it 
is said: "Should any person in the words of Deut. vi. 4, 
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is dja achad, ONE Lord, 
change the d daleth into a r resh, he would ruin the world." 
[Because, in that case, the word rja achar, would signify a 
strange or false God.] "Should any one, in the words of Exod. 
xxxiv. 14, Thou shalt worship no OTHER, rja achar, God, 
change r resh into d daleth, he would ruin the world." 
[Because the command would then run, Thou shalt not worship 
the ONLY or true God.] "Should any one in the words of Lev. 
xxii. 32, Neither shall ye PROFANE wlljt techelelu, my holy 
name, change j cheth into h he, he would ruin the world." 
[Because the sense of the commandment would then be, Neither 
shall ye PRAISE my holy name.] "Should any one, in the words 
of Psa. cl. 6, Let every thing that hath breath PRAISE, llht 
tehalel, the Lord, change h he into j cheth, he would ruin 
the world." [Because the command would then run, Let every 
thing that hath breath PROFANE the Lord.] "Should any one, in 
the words of Jer. v. 10, They lied AGAINST the Lord, hwhyb 
beihovah, change b beth into k caph, he would ruin the 
world." [For then the words would run, They lied LIKE the 
Lord.] "Should any one, in the words of Hosea, Hos. v. 7, 
They have dealt treacherously, hwhyb beihovah, AGAINST the 
Lord, change b beth into k caph, he would ruin the world." 
[For then the words would run, They have dealt treacherously 
LIKE the Lord.] "Should any one, in the words of 1 Sam. ii. 
2, There is none holy AS the Lord, change k caph into b beth, 
he would ruin the world." [For then the words would mean, 
There is no holiness IN the Lord.] These examples fully prove 
that the mia keraia of our Lord, refers to the apices, 
points, or corners, that distinguish b beth from k caph; j 
cheth from h he; and r resh from d daleth. For the reader 
will at once perceive, how easily a k caph may be turned into 
a b beth; a h he into a j cheth; and a r resh into a d 
daleth: and he will also see of what infinite consequence it 
is to write and print such letters correctly.

Till all be fulfilled.] Or, accomplished. Though all earth 
and hell should join together to hinder the accomplishment of 
the great designs of the Most High, yet it shall all be in 
vain-even the sense of a single letter shall not be lost. The 
words of God, which point out his designs, are as 
unchangeable as his nature itself. Every sinner, who 
perseveres in his iniquity, shall surely be punished with 
separation from God and the glory of his power; and every 
soul that turns to God, through Christ, shall as surely be 
saved, as that Jesus himself hath died.

Verse 19. Whosoever-shall break one of these least 
commandments] The Pharisees were remarkable for making a 
distinction between weightier and lighter matters in the law, 
and between what has been called, in a corrupt part of the 
Christian Church, mortal and venial sins. See on "chap. xxii. 
36".

Whosoever shall break. What an awful consideration is this! 
He who, by his mode of acting, speaking, or explaining the 
words of God, sets the holy precept aside, or explains away 
its force and meaning, shall be called least-shall have no 
place in the kingdom of Christ here, nor in the kingdom of 
glory above. That this is the meaning of these words is 
evident enough from the following verse.

Verse 20. Except your righteousness shall exceed] perisseush, 
Unless your righteousness abound more-unless it take in, not 
only the letter, but the spirit and design of the moral and 
ritual precept; the one directing you how to walk so as to 
please God; the other pointing out Christ, the great 
Atonement, through and by which a sinner is enabled to do so-
more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, who only attend 
to the letter of the law, and had indeed made even that of no 
effect by their traditions-ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven. This fully explains the meaning of the 
preceding verse. The old English word is , right-wiseness, 
i.e.

complete, thorough, excellent Wisdom. For a full explanation 
of this verse, see Luke xviii. 10, &c.

Verse 21. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time] 
toiv arcaioiv, to or by the ancients. By the ancients, we may 
understand those who lived before the law, and those who 
lived under it; for murder was, in the most solemn manner, 
forbidden before, as well as under, the law, Gen. ix. 5, 6.

But it is very likely that our Lord refers here merely to 
traditions and glosses relative to the ancient Mosaic 
ordinance; and such as, by their operation, rendered the 
primitive command of little or no effect. Murder from the 
beginning has been punished with death; and it is, probably, 
the only crime that should be punished with death. There is 
much reason to doubt, whether the punishment of death, 
inflicted for any other crime, is not in itself murder, 
whatever the authority may be that has instituted it.

GOD, and the greatest legislators that have ever been in the 
universe, are of the same opinion. See Montesquieu, 
Blackstone, and the Marquis Beccaria, and the arguments and 
testimonies lately produced by Sir Samuel Romilly, in his 
motion for the amendment of the criminal laws of this 
kingdom. It is very remarkable, that the criminal code 
published by Joseph II., late emperor of Germany, though it 
consists of seventy-one capital crimes, has not death 
attached to any of them. Even murder, with all intention to 
rob, is punished only with "imprisonment for thirty years, to 
lie on the floor, to have no nourishment but bread and water, 
to be closely chained, and to be publicly whipped once a 
year, with less than one hundred lashes." See Colquhoun on 
the Police of the City of London, p. 272.

Verse 22. Whosoever is angry with his brother without a 
cause] Ęo orgizomenov-eikh, who is vainly incensed. "This 
translation is literal; and the very objectionable phrase, 
without a cause, is left out, eikh being more properly 
translated by that above." What our Lord seems here to 
prohibit, is not merely that miserable facility which some 
have of being angry at every trifle, continually taking 
offense against their best friends; but that anger which 
leads a man to commit outrages against another, thereby 
subjecting himself to that punishment which was to be 
inflicted on those who break the peace. eikh, vainly, or, as 
in the common translation, without a cause, is wanting in the 
famous Vatican MS. and two others, the Ethiopic, latter 
Arabic, Saxon, Vulgate, two copies of the old Itala, J.

Martyr, Ptolomeus, Origen, Tertullian, and by all the ancient 
copies quoted by St. Jerome. It was probably a marginal gloss 
originally, which in process of time crept into the text.

Shall be in danger of the judgment] enocov estai, shall be 
liable to the judgment. That is, to have the matter brought 
before a senate, composed of twenty-three magistrates, whose 
business it was to judge in cases of murder and other capital 
crimes. It punished criminals by strangling or beheading; but 
Dr. Lightfoot supposes the judgment of God to be intended. 
See at the end of this chapter.

Raca] hqyr from the Hebrew qr rak, to be empty. It signifies 
a vain, empty, worthless fellow, shallow brains, a term of 
great contempt. Such expressions were punished among the 
Gentoos by a heavy fine. See all the cases, Code of Gentoo 
Laws, chap. xv sec. 2.

The council] sunedrion, the famous council, known among the 
Jews by the name of Sanhedrin. It was composed of seventy-two 
elders, six chosen out of each tribe. This grand Sanhedrin 
not only received appeals from the inferior Sanhedrins, or 
court of twenty-three mentioned above; but could alone take 
cognizance, in the first instance, of the highest crimes, and 
alone inflict the punishment of stoning.

Thou fool] Moreh, probably from hrm marah, to rebel, a rebel 
against God, apostate from all good. This term implied, among 
the Jews, the highest enormity, and most aggravated guilt. 
Among the Gentoos, such an expression was punished by cutting 
out the tongue, and thrusting a hot iron, of ten fingers 
breadth, into the mouth of the person who used it.

Code of Gentoo Laws, chap. xv sec. 2. p. 212.

Shall be in danger of hell fire.] enocov estai eiv thn 
geennan tou purov, shall be liable to the hell of fire. Our 
Lord here alludes to the valley of the son of Hinnom, µnh yg 
Ghi hinom. This place was near Jerusalem, and had been 
formerly used for those abominable sacrifices, in which the 
idolatrous Jews had caused their children to pass through the 
fire to Molech. A particular place in this valley was called 
Tophet, from tpt tophet, the fire stove, in which some 
supposed they burnt their children alive to the above idol. 
See 2 Kings xxiii. 10; 2 Chron. xxviii. 3; Jeremiah vii. 31, 
32. From the circumstances of this valley having been the 
scene of those infernal sacrifices, the Jews, in our 
saviour's time, used the word for hell, the place of the 
damned. See the word applied in this sense by the Targum, on 
Ruth ii. 12; Psa. cxl. 12; Gen. iii. 24; xv. 17. It is very 
probable that our Lord means no more here than this: if a man 
charge another with apostasy from the Jewish religion, or 
rebellion against God, and cannot prove his charge, then he 
is exposed to that punishment (burning alive) which the other 
must have suffered, if the charge had been substantiated. 
There are three kinds of offenses here, which exceed each 
other in their degrees of guilt. 1st. Anger against a man, 
accompanied with some injurious act. 2dly. Contempt, 
expressed by the opprobrious epithet raka, or shallow brains. 
3dly. Hatred and mortal enmity, expressed by the term moreh, 
or apostate, where such apostasy could not be proved. Now, 
proportioned to these three offenses were three different 
degrees of punishment, each exceeding the other in its 
severity, as the offenses exceeded each other in their 
different degrees of guilt. 1st. The judgment, the council of 
twenty-three, which could inflict the punishment of 
strangling. 2dly. The Sanhedrin, or great council, which 
could inflict the punishment of stoning. And 3dly. The being 
burnt alive in the valley of the son of Hinnom. This appears 
to be the meaning of our Lord.

Now, if the above offenses were to be so severely punished, 
which did not immediately affect the life of another, how 
much sorer must the punishment of murder be! ver. 21. And as 
there could not be a greater punishment inflicted than death, 
in the above terrific forms, and this was to be inflicted for 
minor crimes; then the punishment of murder must not only 
have death here, but a hell of fire in the eternal world, 
attached to it. It seems that these different degrees of 
guilt, and the punishment attached to each, had not been 
properly distinguished among the Jews. Our Lord here calls 
their attention back to them, and gives then to understand, 
that in the coming world there are different degrees of 
punishment prepared for different degrees of vice; and that 
not only the outward act of iniquity should be judged and 
punished by the Lord, but that injurious words, and evil 
passions, should all meet their just recompense and reward. 
Murder is the most punishable of all crimes, according to the 
written law, in respect both of our neighbours and civil 
society. But he who sees the heart, and judges it by the 
eternal law, punishes as much a word or a desire, if the 
hatred whence they proceed be complete and perfected. Dr. 
Lightfoot has some curious observations on this passage in 
the preface to his Harmony of the Evangelists. See his works, 
vol. ii., and the conclusion of this chapter.

Verse 23. Therefore if thou bring thy gift] Evil must be 
nipped in the bud. An unkind thought of another may be the 
foundation of that which leads to actual murder. A Christian, 
properly speaking, cannot be an enemy to any man; nor is he 
to consider any man his enemy, without the fullest evidence: 
for surmises to the prejudice of another can never rest in 
the bosom of him who has the love of God in his heart, for to 
him all men are brethren. He sees all men as children of God, 
and members of Christ, or at least capable of becoming such. 
If a tender forgiving spirit was required, even in a Jew, 
when he approached God's altar with a bullock or a lamb, how 
much more necessary is this in a man who professes to be a 
follower of the Lamb of God; especially when he receives the 
symbols of that Sacrifice which was offered for the life of 
the world, in what is commonly called the sacrament of the 
Lord's supper!

Verse 24. Leave there thy gift before the altar] This is as 
much as to say, "Do not attempt to bring any offering to God 
while thou art in a spirit of enmity against any person; or 
hast any difference with thy neighbour, which thou hast not 
used thy diligence to get adjusted." It is our duty and 
interest, both to bring our gift, and offer it too; but God 
will not accept of any act of religious worship from us, 
while any enmity subsists in our hearts towards any soul of 
man; or while any subsists in our neighbour's heart towards 
us, which we have not used the proper means to remove. A 
religion, the very essence of which is love, cannot suffer at 
its altars a heart that is revengeful and uncharitable, or 
which does not use its utmost endeavours to revive love in 
the heart of another. The original word, dwron, which we 
translate gift, is used by the rabbins in Hebrew letters wrwd 
doron, which signifies not only a gift, but a sacrifice 
offered to God. See several proofs in Schoettgen.

Then come and offer thy gift.] Then, when either thy brother 
is reconciled to thee, or thou hast done all in thy power to 
effect this reconciliation. My own obstinacy and 
uncharitableness must render me utterly unfit to receive any 
good from God's hands, or to worship him in an acceptable 
manner; bat the wickedness of another can be no hinderance to 
me, when I have endeavoured earnestly to get it removed, 
though without effect.

Verse 25. Agree with thine adversary quickly] Adversary, 
antidikov, properly a plaintiff in law-a perfect law term. 
Our Lord enforces the exhortation given in the preceding 
verses, from the consideration of what was deemed prudent in 
ordinary law-suits. In such cases, men should make up matters 
with the utmost speed, as running through the whole course of 
a law-suit must not only be vexatious, but be attended with 
great expense; and in the end, though the loser may be 
ruined, yet the gainer has nothing.

A good use of this very prudential advice of our Lord is 
this: Thou art a sinner; God hath a controversy with thee. 
There is but a step between thee and death. Now is the 
accepted time. Thou art invited to return to God by Christ 
Jesus. Come immediately at his call, and he will save thy 
soul.

Delay not! Eternity is at hand; and if thou die in thy sins, 
where God is thou shalt never come.

Those who make the adversary, God; the judge, Christ; the 
officer, Death; and the prison, Hell, abuse the passage, and 
highly dishonour God.

Verse 26. The uttermost farthing.] kodranthn . The rabbins 
have this Greek word corrupted into ofnwydrq kordiontes, and 
qyrfnwq , kontrik, and say, that two twfwrp prutoth make a 
kontarik, which is exactly the same with those words in Mark 
xii. 42, lepta duo, o esti kodranthv, two mites, which are 
one farthing. Hence it appears that the lepton lepton was the 
same as the prutah. The weight of the prutah was half a 
barley-corn, and it was the smallest coin among the Jews, as 
the kodrantes, or farthing, was the smallest coin among the 
Romans. If the matter issue in law, strict justice will be 
done, and your creditor be allowed the fullness of his just 
claim; but if; while you are on the way, going to the 
magistrate, you come to a friendly agreement with him, he 
will relax in his claims, take a part for the whole, and the 
composition be, in the end, both to his and your profit.

This text has been considered a proper foundation on which to 
build not only the doctrine of a purgatory, but also that of 
universal restoration. But the most unwarrantable violence 
must be used before it can be pressed into the service of 
either of the above antiscriptural doctrines. At the most, 
the text can only be considered as a metaphorical 
representation of the procedure of the great Judge; and let 
it ever be remembered, that by the general consent of all 
(except the basely interested) no metaphor is ever to be 
produced in proof of any doctrine. In the things that concern 
our eternal salvation, we need the most pointed and express 
evidence on which to establish the faith of our souls.

Verse 27. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old] By 
the ancients, toiv arcaioiv, is omitted by nearly a hundred 
MSS., and some of them of the very greatest antiquity and 
authority; also by the Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Gothic, 
and Sclavonian versions; by four copies of the old Itala; and 
by Origen, Cyril, Theophylact, Euthymius, and Hilary. On this 
authority Wetstein and Griesbach have left it out of the 
text.

Verse 28. Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her] 
epiqumsai authn, earnestly to covet her. The verb, epiqumew, 
is undoubtedly used here by our Lord, in the sense of 
coveting through the influence of impure desire. The word is 
used in precisely the same sense, on the same subject, by 
Herodotus, book the first, near the end. I will give the 
passage, but I dare not translate it. To the learned reader 
it will justify my translation, and the unlearned must take 
my word. thv epiqumhsei gunaikov massagethv anhr, misgetai 
adewv, Raphelius, on this verse, says, epiqumein hoc loco, 
est turpi cupiditate mulieris potiundae flagrare. In all 
these eases, our blessed Lord points out the spirituality of 
the law; which was a matter to which the Jews paid very 
little attention. Indeed it is the property of a Pharisee to 
abstain only from the outward crime. Men are very often less 
inquisitive to know how far the will of God extends, that 
they may please him in performing it, than they are to know 
how far they may satisfy their lusts without destroying their 
bodies and souls, utterly, by an open violation of his law.

Hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.] It is 
the earnest wish or desire of the soul, which, in a variety 
of cases, constitutes the good or evil of an act. If a man 
earnestly wish to commit an evil, but cannot, because God 
puts time, place, and opportunity out of his power, he is 
fully chargeable with the iniquity of the act, by that God 
who searches and judges the heart. So, if a man earnestly 
wish to do some kindness, which it is out of his power to 
perform, the act is considered as his; because God, in this 
case, as in that above, takes the will for the deed. If 
voluntary and deliberate looks and desires make adulterers 
and adulteresses, how many persons are there whose whole life 
is one continued crime! whose eyes being full of adultery, 
they cannot cease from sin, 2 Pet. ii. 14. Many would abhor 
to commit one external act before the eyes of men, in a 
temple of stone; and yet they are not afraid to commit a 
multitude of such acts in the temple of their hearts, and in 
the sight of God!

Verse 29. - 30. Pluck it out-cut it off] We must shut our 
senses against dangerous objects, to avoid the occasions of 
sin, and deprive ourselves of all that is most dear and 
profitable to us, in order to save our souls, when we find 
that these dear and profitable things, however innocent in 
themselves, cause us to sin against God.

It is profitable for thee that one of thy members] Men often 
part with some members of the body, at the discretion of a 
surgeon, that they may preserve the trunk, and die a little 
later; and yet they will not deprive themselves of a look, a 
touch, a small pleasure, which endanger the eternal death of 
the soul. It is not enough to shut the eye, or stop the hand; 
the one must be plucked out, and the other cut off. Neither 
is this enough, we must cast them both from us. Not one 
moment's truce with an evil passion, or a sinful appetite. If 
you indulge them, they will gain strength, and you shall be 
ruined. The rabbins have a saying similar to this: "It is 
better for thee to be scorched with a little fire in this 
world, than to be burned with a devouring fire in the world 
to come."

Verse 31. Whosoever shall put away his wife] The Jewish 
doctors gave great license in the matter of divorce. Among 
them, a man might divorce his wife if she displeased him even 
in the dressing of his victuals! Rabbi Akiba said, "If any 
man saw a woman handsomer than his own wife, he might put his 
wife away; because it is said in the law, If she find not 
favour in his eyes." Deut. xxiv. 1.

Josephus, the celebrated Jewish historian, in his Life, tells 
us, with the utmost coolness and indifference, "About this 
time I put away my wife, who had borne me three children, not 
being pleased with her manners." These two cases are 
sufficient to show to what a scandalous and criminal excess 
this matter was carried among the Jews. However, it was 
allowed by the school of Shammai, that no man was to put away 
his wife unless for adultery. The school of Hillel gave much 
greater license.

A writing of divorcement] The following is the common form of 
such a writing. See Maimonides and Lightfoot.

"On the day of the week A. in the month B. in the year C. 
from the beginning of the world, according to the common 
computation in the province of D., I, N. the son of N. by 
whatever name I am called, of the city E. with entire consent 
of mind, and without any compulsion, have divorced, 
dismissed, and expelled thee-thee, I say, M. the daughter of 
M. by whatever name thou art called, of the city E. who wast 
heretofore my wife: but now I have dismissed thee-thee, I 
say, M. the daughter of M. by whatever name thou art called, 
of the city E. so as to be free, and at thine own disposal, 
to marry whomsoever thou pleasest, without hinderance from 
any one, from this day for ever. Thou art therefore free for 
any man.

Let this be thy bill of divorce from me, a writing of 
separation and expulsion, according to the law of Moses and 
Israel.

REUBEN, son of Jacob, Witness.

ELIEZAR, son of Gilead, Witness." God permitted this evil to 
prevent a greater; and, perhaps, to typify his repudiating 
the Jews, who were his first spouse.

Verse 32. Saving for the cause of fornication] logou 
porneiav, on account of whoredom. As fornication signifies no 
more than the unlawful connection of unmarried persons, it 
cannot be used here with propriety, when speaking of those 
who are married. I have therefore translated logou porneiav, 
on account of whoredom. It does not appear that there is any 
other case in which Jesus Christ admits of divorce. A real 
Christian ought rather to beg of God the grace to bear 
patiently and quietly the imperfections of his wife, than to 
think of the means of being parted from her. "But divorce was 
allowed by Moses;" yes, for the hardness of their hearts it 
was permitted: but what was permitted to an uncircumcised 
heart among the Jews, should not serve for a rule to a heart 
in which the love of God has been shed abroad by the Holy 
Spirit. Those who form a matrimonial connection in the fear 
and love of God, and under his direction, will never need a 
divorce. But those who marry as passion or money lead the 
way, may be justly considered adulterers and adulteresses as 
long as they live.

Verse 33. Thou shalt not forswear thyself] They dishonour the 
great God, and break this commandment, who use frequent oaths 
and imprecations, even in reference to things that are true; 
and those who make vows and promises, which they either 
cannot perform, or do not design to fulfill, are not less 
criminal. Swearing in civil matters is become so frequent, 
that the dread and obligation of an oath are utterly lost in 
it. In certain places, where oaths are frequently 
administered, people have been known to kiss their thumb or 
pen, instead of the book, thinking thereby to avoid the sin 
of perjury; but this is a shocking imposition on their own 
souls. See the notes on Deut. iv. 26; vi. 13.

Perform unto the Lord thine oaths] The morality of the Jews 
on this point was truly execrable: they maintained, that a 
man might swear with his lips, and annul it in the same 
moment in his heart. Rab. Akiba is quoted as an example of 
this kind of swearing. See Schoettgen.

Verse 34. - 35. Neither by heaven, &c.] It was a custom among 
the Scythians, when they wished to bind themselves in the 
most solemn manner, to swear by the king's throne; and if the 
king was at any time sick, they believed it was occasioned by 
some one's having taken the oath falsely. Herod. l. iv.

Who is there among the traders and people of this world who 
obey this law? A common swearer is constantly perjuring 
himself: such a person should never be trusted. When we make 
any promise contrary to the command of God, taking, as a 
pledge of our sincerity, either GOD, or something belonging 
to him, we engage that which is not ours, without the 
Master's consent. God manifests his glory in heaven, as upon 
his throne; he imprints the footsteps of his perfections upon 
the earth, his footstool; and shows that his holiness and his 
grace reign in his temple as the place of his residence. Let 
it be our constant care to seek and honour God in all his 
works.

Verse 36. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head] For these 
plain reasons: 1st. God commands thee not to do it. 2dly. 
Thou hast nothing which is thy own, and thou shouldst not 
pledge another's property. 3dly. It never did, and never can, 
answer any good purpose. And 4thly. Being a breach of the law 
of God, it is the way to everlasting misery.

Verse 37. Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay] That 
is, a positive affirmation, or negation, according to your 
knowledge of the matter concerning which you are called to 
testify. Do not equivocate; mean what you assert, and adhere 
to your assertion. Hear what a heathen says on this subject:-
ecqrov gar moi keinov Ęomwv aidao pulhsin, ov cĘeteron men 
keuqei eni fresin, allo de bazei. Hom. Il. ix. 312 "He whose 
words agree not with his private thoughts is as detestable to 
me as the gates of hell." See on Joshua 2: at the end. See 
the subject of swearing particularly considered in the note 
at the conclusion of Deuteronomy 6.

Whatsoever is more than these] That is, more than a bare 
affirmation or negation, according to the requirements of 
Eternal Truth, cometh of evil; or, is of the wicked one-ek 
tou ponhrou estin, i.e. the devil, the father of 
superfluities and lies. One of Selden's MSS. and Gregory 
Nyssen, a commentator of the fourth century, have ek tou 
diabolou estin, is of the devil.

That the Jews were notoriously guilty of common swearing, for 
which our Lord particularly reprehends them, and warns his 
disciples against, and that they swore by heaven, by earth, 
by Jerusalem, by their head, &c., the following extracts, 
made by Dr. Lightfoot from their own writings, amply 
testify:- "It was customary and usual among them to swear by 
the creatures. 'If any swear by heaven, by earth, by the sun, 
&c., although the mind of the swearer be, under these words, 
to swear by HIM who created them, yet this is not an oath. 
Or, if any swear by some of the prophets, or by some of the 
books of the Scripture, although the sense of the swearer be 
to swear by HIM that sent that prophet, or that gave that 
book, nevertheless, this is not an oath. MAIMONIDES.' "If any 
adjure another by heaven or earth, he is not guilty. TALMUD.

"They swore by HEAVEN, awh k µymh hashsha mayim, ken hu, 'By 
heaven, so it is.' BAB. BERAC.

"They swore by the TEMPLE. 'When turtles and young pigeons 
were sometimes sold at Jerusalem for a penny of gold, Rabban 
Simeon ben Gamaliel said, hwh w[mh By this habitation (that 
is, by this TEMPLE) I will not rest this night, unless they 
be sold for a penny of silver.' CHERITUTH, cap. i.

"R. Zechariah ben Ketsab said, hwh w[mh 'By this TEMPLE, the 
hand of the woman departed not out of my hand.'-R. Jochanan 
said, alkyh 'By the TEMPLE, it is in our hand, &c.' KETUBOTH 
and BAB. KIDUSHIN.

"Bava ben Buta swore by the TEMPLE in the end of the tract 
Cherithuth, and Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel in the beginning, 
laryk ghnm hzw -And so was the custom in Israel.-Note this, 
so was the custom. JUCAS. fol. 56.

"They swore by the city Jerusalem. R. Judah saith, 'He that 
saith, By JERUSALEM, saith nothing, unless with an intent 
purpose he shall vow towards Jerusalem.' Where also, after 
two lines coming between those forms of swearing and vowing, 
are added, lkyhb lkyhl lkyh µlwryb µlwryl µlwry 
'Jerusalem, For Jerusalem, By Jerusalem.-The Temple, For the 
temple, By the temple.-The Altar, For the altar, By the 
altar.-The Lamb, For the Lamb, By the Lamb.-The Chambers of 
the Temple, For the chambers of the temple, By the chambers 
of the temple.-The Word, For the Word, By the Word.-The 
Sacrifices on Fire, For the sacrifices on fire, By the 
sacrifices on fire.-The Dishes, For the dishes, By the 
dishes.-By all these things, that I will do this to you.' 
TOSAPHT. ad. NEDARIM.

"They swore by their own HEADS. 'One is bound to swear to his 
neighbour, and he saith, ūar yytk yl dyr Vow (or swear) to 
me by the life of thy head, &c. SANHEDR. cap. 3.

"One of the holiest of their precepts relative to swearing 
was this: 'Be not much in oaths, although one should swear 
concerning things that are true; for in much swearing it is 
impossible not to profane.' Tract. DEMAI."-See Lightfoot's 
Works, vol. ii. p. 149.

They did not pretend to forbid ALL common swearing, but only 
what they term MUCH. A Jew might swear, but he must not be 
too abundant in the practice. Against such permission, our 
Lord opposes his Swear NOT AT ALL! He who uses any oath, 
except what he is solemnly called by the magistrate to make, 
so far from being a Christian, he does not deserve the 
reputation, either of decency or common sense. In some of our 
old elementary books for children, we have this good maxim: 
"Never swear: for he that swears will lie; and he that lies 
will steal; and, if so, what bad things will he not do!" 
READING MADE EASY.

Verse 38. An eye for an eye] Our Lord refers here to the law 
of retaliation mentioned See "Exod. xxi. 24", (see the note 
there, and See "Lev. xxiv. 20",) which obliged the offender 
to suffer the same injury he had committed. The Greeks and 
Romans had the same law. So strictly was it attended to at 
Athens, that if a man put out the eye of another who had but 
one, the offender was condemned to lose both his eyes, as the 
loss of one would not be an equivalent misfortune. It seems 
that the Jews had made this law (the execution of which 
belonged to the civil magistrate) a ground for authorizing 
private resentments, and all the excesses committed by a 
vindictive spirit. Revenge was often carried to the utmost 
extremity, and more evil returned than what had been 
received. This is often the case among those who are called 
Christians.

Verse 39. Resist not evil] Or, the evil person. So, I am 
fully persuaded, tw ponhrw ought to be translated. Our Lord's 
meaning is, "Do not repel one outrage by another." He that 
does so makes himself precisely what the other is, a wicked 
person.

Turn to him the other also] That is, rather than avenge 
thyself, be ready to suffer patiently a repetition of the 
same injury. But these exhortations belong to those 
principally who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Let 
such leave the judgment of their cause to Him for whose sake 
they suffer.

The Jews always thought that every outrage should be 
resented; and thus the spirit of hatred and strife was 
fostered.

Verse 40. And if any man will sue thee at the law] Every 
where our blessed Lord shows the utmost disapprobation of 
such litigations as tended to destroy brotherly kindness and 
charity. It is evident he would have his followers to suffer 
rather the loss of all their property than to have recourse 
to such modes of redress, at so great a risk. Having the mind 
averse from contentions, and preferring peace and concord to 
temporal advantages, is most solemnly recommended to all 
Christians. We are great gainers when we lose only our money, 
or other property, and risk not the loss of our souls, by 
losing the love of God and man.

Coat] citwna, upper garment.-Cloke, imation, under garment. 
What we call strait coat, and great coat.-See on Luke vi. 29.

Verse 41. Shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.] 
aggareusei. This word is said to be derived from the 
Persians, among whom the king's messengers, or posts, were 
called aggapoi, or angari.

This definition is given both by Hesychius and Suidas.

The Persian messengers had the royal authority for pressing 
horses, ships, and even men, to assist them in the business 
on which they were employed. These angari are now termed 
chappars, and serve to carry despatches between the court and 
the provinces. When a chappar sets out, the master of the 
horse furnishes him with a single horse; and, when that is 
weary, he dismounts the first man he meets, and takes his 
horse. There is no pardon for a traveler that refuses to let 
a chappar have his horse, nor for any other who should deny 
him the best horse in his stable. See Sir J.

Chardin's and Hanway's Travels. For pressing post horses, 
&c., the Persian term is  Sukhreh geriften. I find no Persian 
word exactly of the sound and signification of aggarov; but 
the Arabic  agharet signifies spurring a horse, attacking, 
plundering, &c. The Greek word itself is preserved among the 
rabbins in Hebrew characters, ayrgna angaria, and it has 
precisely the same meaning: viz. to be compelled by violence 
to do any particular service, especially of the public kind, 
by the king's authority.

Lightfoot gives several instances of this in his Horae 
Talmudicae.

We are here exhorted to patience and forgiveness: First, When 
we receive in our persons all sorts of insults and affronts, 
Matthew v. 39.

Secondly, When we are despoiled of our goods, ver. 40.

Thirdly, When our bodies are forced to undergo all kinds of 
toils, vexations, and torments, ver. 41. The way to improve 
the injustice of man to our own advantage, is to exercise 
under it meekness, gentleness, and long-suffering, without 
which disposition of mind, no man can either be happy here or 
hereafter; for he that avenges himself must lose the mind of 
Christ, and thus suffer an injury ten thousand times greater 
than he can ever receive from man. Revenge, at such an 
expense, is dear indeed.

Verse 42. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that 
would borrow] To give and lend freely to all who are in need, 
is a general precept from which we are only excused by our 
inability to perform it.

Men are more or less obliged to it as they are more or less 
able, as the want is more or less pressing, as they are more 
or less burthened with common poor, or with necessitous 
relatives. In all these matters, both prudence and charity 
must be consulted. That God, who makes use of the beggar's 
hand to ask our charity, is the same from whom we ourselves 
beg our daily bread: and dare we refuse HIM! Let us show at 
least mildness and compassion, when we can do no more; and if 
we cannot or will not relieve a poor man, let us never give 
him an ill word nor an ill look. If we do not relieve him, we 
have no right to insult him.

To give and to lend, are two duties of charity which Christ 
joins together, and which he sets on equal footing. A rich 
man is one of God's stewards: God has given him money for the 
poor, and he cannot deny it without an act of injustice. But 
no man, from what is called a principle of charity or 
generosity, should give that in alms which belongs to his 
creditors.

Generosity is godlike; but justice has ever, both in law and 
Gospel, the first claim.

A loan is often more beneficial than an absolute gift: first, 
because it flatters less the vanity of him who lends; 
secondly, it spares more the shame of him who is in real 
want; and, thirdly, it gives less encouragement to the 
idleness of him who may not be very honest. However, no 
advantage should be taken of the necessities of the borrower: 
he who does so is, at least, half a murderer. The lending 
which our Lord here inculcates is that which requires no more 
than the restoration of the principal in a convenient time: 
otherwise to live upon trust is the sure way to pay double.

Verse 43. Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine 
enemy.] Instead of plhsian neighbour, the Codex Graevii, a 
MS. of the eleventh century, reads filon friend. Thou shalt 
love thy friend, and hate thine enemy. This was certainly the 
meaning which the Jews put on it: for neighbour, with them, 
implied those of the Jewish race, and all others were, 
considered by them as natural enemies. Besides, it is evident 
that plhsion, among the Hellenistic Jews, meant friend 
merely: Christ uses it precisely in this sense in Luke x. 36, 
in answer to the question asked by a certain lawyer, ver. 29. 
Who of the three was neighbour (plhsion friend) to him who 
fell among the thieves? He who showed him mercy; i.e. he who 
acted the friendly part. In Hebrew, [r rea, signifies friend, 
which word is translated plhsion by the LXX. in more than one 
hundred places. Among the Greeks it was a very comprehensive 
term, and signified every man, not even an enemy excepted, as 
Raphelius, on this verse, has shown from Polybius. The Jews 
thought themselves authorized to kill any Jew who 
apostatized; and, though they could not do injury to the 
Gentiles, in whose country they sojourned, yet they were 
bound to suffer them to perish, if they saw them in danger of 
death. Hear their own words: "A Jew sees a Gentile fall into 
the sea, let him by no means lift him out; for it is written, 
Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy neighbour:-
but this is not thy neighbour." Maimon. This shows that by 
neighbour they understood a Jew; one who was of the same 
blood and religion with themselves.

Verse 44. Love your enemies] This is the most sublime piece 
of morality ever given to man. Has it appeared unreasonable 
and absurd to some? It has. And why? Because it is natural to 
man to avenge himself, and plague those who plague him; and 
he will ever find abundant excuse for his conduct, in the 
repeated evils he receives from others; for men are naturally 
hostile to each other. Jesus Christ design's to make men 
happy. Now he is necessarily miserable who hates another. Our 
Lord prohibits that only which, from its nature, is opposed 
to man's happiness. This is therefore one of the most 
reasonable precepts in the universe. But who can obey it? 
None but he who has the mind of Christ. But I have it not. 
Seek it from God; it is that kingdom of heaven which Christ 
came to establish upon earth. See on chap. iii. 2. This one 
precept is a sufficient proof of the holiness of the Gospel, 
and of the truth of the Christian religion. Every false 
religion flatters man, and accommodates itself to his pride 
and his passions. None but God could have imposed a yoke so 
contrary to self-love; and nothing but the supreme eternal 
love can enable men to practice a precept so insupportable to 
corrupt nature. Sentiments like this are found among Asiatic 
writers, and in select cases were strongly applied; but as a 
general command this was never given by them, or any other 
people. It is not an absolute command in any of the books 
which they consider to be Divinely inspired. Sir William 
Jones lays by far too much stress on the casual introduction 
of such sentiments as this in the Asiatic writers. See his 
WORKS, vol. i. p. 168, where the sentiment is connected with 
circumstances both extravagant and unnatural; and thus it is 
nullified by the pretended recommendation.

Bless them that curse you] eulogeite, give them good words 
for their bad words. See the note on "Gen. ii. 3".

Do good to them that hate you] Give your enemy every proof 
that you love him. We must not love in tongue, but in deed 
and in truth.

Pray for them which despitefully use you] ephreazontwn from 
epi against, and arhv Mars, the heathen god of war. Those who 
are making continual war upon you, and constantly harassing 
and calumniating you.

Pray for them-This is another exquisitely reasonable precept. 
I cannot change that wicked man's heart; and while it is 
unchanged he will continue to harass me: God alone can change 
it: then I must implore him to do that which will at once 
secure the poor man's salvation, and contribute so much to my 
own peace.

And persecute you] diwkontwn, those who press hard on and 
pursue you with hatred and malice accompanied with repeated 
acts of enmity.

In this verse our Lord shows us that a man may be our enemy 
in three different ways.

First, in his heart, by hatred.

Secondly, in his words by cursing or using direful 
imprecations (katarwmenouv) against us.

Thirdly, in his actions, by continually harassing and abusing 
us.

He shows us also how we are to behave to those.

The hatred of the first we are to meet with love.

The cursings or evil words of the second, we are to meet with 
good words and blessings.

And the repeated injurious acts of the third, we are to meet 
with continual prayer to God for the man's salvation.

Verse 45. That ye may be the children of your Father] Instead 
of uioi children, some MSS., the latter Persic version, and 
several of the primitive fathers, read omoioi, that ye may be 
like to, or resemble, your Father who is in heaven. This is 
certainly our Lord's meaning. As a man's child is called his, 
because a partaker of his own nature, so a holy person is 
said to be a child of God, because he is a partaker of the 
Divine nature.

He maketh his sun to rise on the evil] "There is nothing 
greater than to imitate God in doing good to our enemies. All 
the creatures of God pronounce the sentence of condemnation 
on the revengeful: and this sentence is written by the rays 
of the sun, and with the drops of rain, and indeed by all the 
natural good things, the use of which God freely gives to his 
enemies." If God had not loved us while we were his enemies, 
we could never have become his children: and we shall cease 
to be such, as soon as we cease to imitate him.

Verse 46. For if ye love them which love you] He who loves 
only his friends, does nothing for God's sake. He who loves 
for the sake of pleasure or interest, pays himself. God has 
no enemy which he hates but sin; we should have no other.

The publicans] That is, tax-gatherers, telwnai, from telov a 
tax, and wneomai I buy or farm. A farmer or collector of the 
taxes or public revenues. Of these there were two classes; 
the superior, who were Romans of the equestrian order; and 
the inferior, those mentioned in the Gospels, who it appears 
were mostly Jews.

This class of men was detestable among the Romans, the 
Greeks, and the Jews, for their intolerable rapacity and 
avarice. They were abhorred in an especial manner by the 
Jews, to whom the Roman government was odious: these, 
assisting in collecting the Roman tribute, were considered as 
betrayers of the liberties of their country, and abettors of 
those who enslaved it. They were something like the tythe-
farmers of certain college-livings in some counties of 
England, as Lancashire, &c.-a principal cause of the public 
burthens and discontent. One quotation, of the many produced 
by Kypke, will amply show in what detestation they were held 
among the Greeks. Theocritus being asked, Which of the wild 
beasts were the most cruel? answered, en men toiv oresin 
apktoi kai leontev? en de taiv polesin, telwnai kai 
sukofantai. Bears and lions, in the mountains; and TAX-
GATHERERS and calumniators, in cities.

Verse 47. And if ye salute your brethren only] Instead of 
adelfouv brethren, upwards of one hundred MSS., and several 
of them of great authority and antiquity, have filouv 
friends. The Armenian Slavonic, and Gothic versions, with the 
later Syriac, and some of the primitive fathers, agree in 
this reading. I scarcely know which to prefer; as brother is 
more conformable to the Jewish mode of address, it should be 
retained in the text: the other reading, however, tends to 
confirm that of the Codex Graevii on Matthew v. 43.

On the subject of giving and receiving salutations in Asiatic 
countries, Mr. Harmer, Observat. vol. ii. p. 327, &c., edit. 
1808, has collected much valuable information: the following 
extract will be sufficient to elucidate our Lord's meaning.

"Dr. Doddridge supposes that the salutation our Lord refers 
to, ver. 47, If ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more 
than others? do not even the publicans so? means embracing, 
though it is a different word. I would observe, that it is 
made use of in the Septuagint to express that action of 
endearment; and which is made use of by an apocryphal writer, 
(Ecclus. xxx. 19,) whereas, the word we translate salute is 
of a much more general nature: this, I apprehend, arose from 
his being struck with the thought, that it could never be 
necessary to caution his disciples, not to restrain the 
civilities of a common salutation to those of their own 
religious party. Juvenal, when he satirizes the Jews of the 
apostolic age for their religious opinions, and represents 
them as unfriendly, and even malevolent, to other people, 
Sat. xiv., and when he mentions their refusing to show 
travelers the way, Non monstrare vias, &c., or to point out 
to them where they might find water to drink when thirsty 
with journeying, takes no notice of their not saluting those 
of another nation; yet there is no reason to believe, from 
these words of CHRIST, that many of them at least would not, 
and that even a Jewish public an received no salutations from 
one of his own nation, excepting brother publicans.

"Nor shall we wonder at this, or think it requisite to 
suppose the word we translate salute (aspazomai) and which 
certainly, sometimes at least, signifies nothing more than 
making use of some friendly words upon meeting with people, 
must here signify something more particular, since we find 
some of the present inhabitants of the east seem to want this 
admonition of our Lord. 'When the Arabs salute one another,' 
according to Niebuhr, 'it is generally in these terms, Salam 
aleikum, Peace be with you; in speaking which words they lay 
the right hand on the heart. The answer is, Aleikum essalam, 
With you be peace. Aged people are inclined to add to these 
words, And the mercy and blessing of God. The Mohammedans of 
Egypt and Syria never salute a Christian in this manner; they 
content themselves with saying to them, Good day to you; or, 
Friend, how do you do? The Arabs of Yemen, who seldom see any 
Christians, are not so zealous but that sometimes they will 
give them the Salam aleikum.' "Presently after he says: 'For 
a long time I thought the Mohammedan custom, of saluting 
Christians in a different manner from that made use of to 
those of their own profession, was an effect of their pride 
and religious bigotry. I saluted them sometimes with the 
Salam aleikum, and I had often only the common answer. At 
length I observed in Natolia, that the Christians themselves 
might probably be the cause that Mohammedans did not make the 
same return to their civilities that they did to those of 
their own religion. For the Greek merchants, with whom I 
traveled in that country, did not seem pleased with my 
saluting Mohammedans in the Mohammedan manner. And when they 
were not known to be Christians, by those Turks whom they met 
with in their journeying, (it being allowed Christian 
travelers in these provinces to wear a white turban, 
Christians in common being obliged to wear the sash of their 
turbans white striped with blue, that banditti might take 
them at a distance for Turks, and people of courage,) they 
never answered those that addressed them with the compliment 
of Salam aleikum. One would not, perhaps, suspect that 
similar customs obtain in our times, among Europeans: but I 
find that the Roman Catholics of some provinces of Germany 
never address the Protestants that live among them with the 
compliment JESUS CHRIST be praised; and, when such a thing 
happens by mistake, the Protestants do not return it after 
the manner in use among Catholics, For ever and ever.

Amen!' "After this, the words of our Lord in the close of the 
fifth of Matthew want no farther commentary. The Jews would 
not address the usual compliment of Peace be to you, to 
either heathens or publicans; the publicans of the Jewish 
nation would use it to their countrymen that were publicans, 
but not to heathens; though the more rigid Jews would not do 
it to them, any more than to heathens: our Lord required his 
disciples to lay aside the moroseness of Jews, and express 
more extensive benevolence in their salutations. There seems 
to be nothing of embracing thought of in this case, though 
that, doubtless, was practised anciently among relations, and 
intimate friends, as it is among modern Asiatics." If not to 
salute be a heathenish indifference, to hide hatred under 
outward civilities is a diabolic treachery. To pretend much 
love and affection for those for whom we have neither-to use 
towards them complimentary phrases, to which we affix no 
meaning, but that they mean, nothing, is highly offensive in 
the sight of that God by whom actions are weighed and words 
judged.

Do not-the publicans] telwnai,-but eqnikoi heathens, is 
adopted by Griesbach, instead of telwnai, on the authority of 
Codd. Vatican. & Bezae, and several others; together with the 
Coptic, Syriac later, and Syriac Jerusalem; two Arabic, 
Persic, Slavonic; all the Itala but one; Vulgate, Saxon, and 
several of the primitive fathers.

Verse 48. Be ye therefore perfect-as your Father] God himself 
is the grand law, sole giver, and only pattern of the 
perfection which he recommends to his children. The words are 
very emphatic, esesqe oun umeiv teleioi, Ye shall be 
therefore perfect-ye shall be filled with the spirit of that 
God whose name is Mercy, and whose nature is love. God has 
many imitators of his power, independence, justice, &c., but 
few of his love, condescension, and kindness. He calls 
himself LOVE, to teach us that in this consists that 
perfection, the attainment of which he has made both our duty 
and privilege: for these words of our Lord include both a 
command and a promise.

"Can we be fully saved from sin in this world?" is an 
important question, to which this text gives a satisfactory 
answer: "Ye shall be perfect, as your Father, who is in 
heaven, is perfect."-As in his infinite nature there is no 
sin, nothing but goodness and love, so in your finite nature 
there shall dwell no sin, for the law of the spirit of life 
in Christ Jesus shall make you free from the law of sin and 
death, Rom. viii. 2. God shall live in, fill, and rule your 
hearts; and, in what He fills and influences, neither Satan 
nor sin can have any part. If men, slighting their own 
mercies, cry out, This is impossible!-whom does this arguing 
reprove-God, who, on this ground, has given a command, the 
fulfillment of which is impossible. "But who can bring a 
clean out of an unclean thing?" God Almighty-and, however 
inveterate the disease of sin may be, the grace of the Lord 
Jesus can fully cure it; and who will say, that he who laid 
down his life for our souls will not use his power completely 
to effect that salvation which he has died to procure. "But 
where is the person thus saved?" Wherever he is found who 
loves God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and 
his neighbour as himself; and, for the honour of Christianity 
and its AUTHOR, may we not hope there are many such in the 
Church of God, not known indeed by any profession of this 
kind which they make, but by a surer testimony, that of 
uniformly holy tempers, piety to God, and beneficence to man? 
Dr. Lightfoot is not perfectly satisfied with the usual mode 
of interpreting the 22nd verse of this chapter. I subjoin the 
substance of what he says.

Having given a general exposition of the word brother, which 
the Jews understood as signifying none but an Israelite-
enocov, which we translate is in danger of, and which he 
shows the Jews used to signify, is exposed to, merits, or is 
guilty of-and the word gehenna, hell-fire, which he explains 
as I have done above, he comes to the three offenses, and 
their sentences.

The FIRST is causeless anger, which he thinks too plain to 
require explanation; but into the two following he enters in 
considerable detail:-" The SECOND. Whosoever shall say to his 
brother, 'Racha,' a nickname, or scornful title usual, which 
they disdainfully put one upon another, and very commonly; 
and therefore our saviour has mentioned this word, the rather 
because it was of so common use among them. Take these few 
examples:-" A certain man sought to betake himself to 
repentance (and restitution.) His wife said to him, 'Rekah, 
if thou make restitution, even thy girdle about thee is not 
thine own, &c.' Tanchum, fol. 5.

"Rabbi Jochanan was teaching concerning the building of 
Jerusalem with sapphires and diamonds, &c. One of his 
scholars laughed him to scorn. But afterwards, being 
convinced of the truth of the thing, he saith to him, 'Rabbi, 
do thou expound, for it is fit for thee to expound: as thou 
saidst, so have I seen it.' he saith to him, 'Rekah, hadst 
thou not seen, thou wouldst not have believed, &c.' Midras 
Tillin, fol. 38, col. 4.

"To what is the thing like? To a king of flesh and blood, who 
took to wife a king's daughter: he saith to her, 'Wait and 
fill me a cup;' but she would not: whereupon he was angry, 
and put her away; she went, and was married to a sordid 
fellow; and he saith to her, 'Wait, and fill me a cup;' she 
said unto him, 'Rekah, I am a king's daughter, &c.' Idem in 
Psalm 137.

"A Gentile saith to an Israelite, 'I have a choice dish for 
thee to eat of.' He saith, 'What is it ?' He answers, 
'Swine's flesh.' he saith to him, 'Rekah, even what you kill 
of clean beasts is forbidden us, much more this.' Tanchum, 
fol. 18, col. 4.

"The THIRD offense is to say to a brother, 'Thou fool,' 
which, how to distinguish from racha, which signifies an 
empty fellow, were some difficulty, but that Solomon is a 
good dictionary here for us, who takes the term continually 
here for a wicked wretch and reprobate, and in opposition to 
spiritual wisdom: so that in the first clause is condemned 
causeless anger; in the second, scornful taunting and 
reproaching of a brother; and, in the last, calling him a 
reprobate and wicked, or uncharitably censuring his spiritual 
and eternal estate. And this last does more especially hit 
the scribes and Pharisees, who arrogated to themselves only 
to be called µymkj chocamim, wise men, but of all others they 
had this scornful and uncharitable opinion, 'This people, 
that knoweth not the law, is cursed,' John vii. 49.

"And now for the penalties denounced upon these offenses, let 
us look upon them, taking notice of these two traditions of 
the Jews, which our saviour seems to face, and to contradict.

"1st. That they accounted the command, Thou shalt not kill, 
to aim only at actual murder. So that in their collecting the 
six hundred and thirteen precepts out of the law, they 
understand that command to mean but this: 'That one should 
not kill an Israelite,' and accordingly they allotted this 
only violation of it to judgments; against this wild gloss 
and practice, he speaks in the first clause: Ye have heard it 
said, Thou shalt not kill, and he that killeth, or committeth 
actual murder, is liable to judgment, and ye extend the 
violation of that command no farther; but I say to you, that 
causeless anger against thy brother is a violation of that 
command, and even that maketh a man liable to judgment.

2nd. They allotted that murder only to be judged by the 
council, or Sanhedrin, that was committed by a man in propria 
persona: let them speak their own sense, &c. Talm. in 
Sanhedrin, per. 9.

"'Any one that kills his neighbour with his hand, as if he 
strike him with a sword, or with a stone that kills him, or 
strangle him till he die, or burn him in the fire, seeing 
that he kills him any how in his own person, lo! such a one 
must be put to death by the Sanhedrin; but he that hires 
another to kill his neighbour, or that sends his servants, 
and they kill him, or that violently thrusts him before a 
lion, or the like, and the beast kills him-any one of these 
is a shedder of blood, and the guilt of shedding of blood is 
upon him, and he is liable to death by the hand of Heaven, 
but he is not to be put to death by the Sanhedrin. And whence 
is the proof that it must be thus! Because it is said, He 
that sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. 
This is he that slays a man himself, and not by the hand of 
another.

Your blood of your lives will I require. This is he that 
slays himself. At the hand of every beast will I require it. 
This is he that delivers up his neighbour before a beast to 
be rent in pieces. At the hand of man, even at the hand of 
every man's brother, will I require the life of man. This is 
he that hires others to kill his neighbour: In this 
interpretation, requiring is spoken of all the three; behold, 
their judgment is delivered over to Heaven (or God.) And all 
these man-slayers and the like, who are not liable to death 
by the Sanhedrin, if the king of Israel will slay them by the 
judgment of the kingdom, and the law of nations, he may, &c.' 
Maym. ubi supr. per. 2.

"You may observe in these wretched traditions a twofold 
killing, and a twofold judgment: a man's killing another in 
his own person, and with his own hand, and such a one liable 
to the judgment of the Sanhedrin, to be put to death by them, 
as a murderer; and a man that killed another by proxy, not 
with his own hand, not hiring another to kill him, or turning 
a beast or serpent upon him to kill him. This man is not to 
be judged and executed by the Sanhedrin, but, referred and 
reserved only to the judgment of God. So that we see plainly, 
from hence, in what sense the word judgment is used in the 
latter end of the preceding verse, and the first clause of 
this, namely, not for the judgment of any one of the 
Sanhedrins, as it is commonly understood, but for the 
judgment of God. In the former verse, Christ speaks their 
sense, and in the first clause of this, his own, in 
application to it. Ye have heard it said, that any man that 
kills is liable to the judgment of God; but I say unto you, 
that he that is but angry with his brother without a cause is 
liable to the judgment of God. You have heard it said, that 
he only that commits murder with his own hand is liable to 
the council, or Sanhedrin, as a murderer; but I say unto you, 
that he that but calls his brother racha, as common a word as 
ye make it, and a thing of nothing, he is liable to be judged 
by the Sanhedrin.

"Lastly, he that saith to his brother, Thou fool, wicked one, 
or cast-away, shall be in danger of hell-fire, enocov eiv 
qeevvav purov. There are two observable things in the words. 
The first is the change of case from what was before; there 
it was said th krisei tw sunedriw, but here, eiv geennan. It 
is but an emphatical raising of the sense, to make it the 
more feeling and to speak home. He that saith to his brother, 
Raka, shall be in danger of the council; but he that says, 
Thou fool, shall be in danger of a penalty even to hell-fire. 
And thus our saviour equals the sin and penalty in a very 
just parable. In just anger, with God's just anger and 
judgment; public reproach, with public correction by the 
council; and censuring for a child of hell, to the fire of 
hell.

"2nd. It is not said eiv pur geennhv, To the fire of hell, 
but eiv geennav purov, To a hell of fire; in which expression 
he sets the emphasis still higher. And, besides the reference 
to the valley of Hinnom, he seems to refer to that penalty 
used by the Sanhedrin of burning-the most bitter death that 
they used to put men to; the manner of which was thus: They 
set the malefactor in a dunghill up to the knees; and they 
put a towel about his neck, and one pulled one way, and 
another the opposite, till, by thus strangling him, they 
forced him to open his mouth. Then they poured boiling lead 
into his mouth, which went down into his belly, and so burnt 
his bowels. Talm. in Sanhedrin. per. 7.

"Now, having spoken in the clause before, of being judged by 
the Sanhedrin, whose most terrible penalty was this burning, 
he doth in this clause raise the penalty higher; namely, of 
burning in hell; not with a little scalding lead, but even 
with a hell of fire." It is possible that our Lord might have 
reference to such customs as these.

CHAPTER vi

Of alms-giving, 1-5. Of prayer, 6-8. The Lord's prayer, or 
model according to which Christians should pray, 9-13. Of 
forgiveness, 14, 15. Of fasting, 16, 17. Of laying up 
treasures, 18-21. Of the single eye, 22, 23. The 
impossibility of serving two masters, 24. Of contentment and 
confidence in the Divine providence, 25-32. Directions about 
seeking the kingdom of God, 33, 34.

NOTES ON CHAP. vi

Verse 1. That ye do not your alms] dikaiosunhn umwn mh 
poiein, perform not your acts of righteousness-such as alms-
giving, fasting, and prayer, mentioned immediately after. 
Instead of dikaiosunhn, righteousness, or acts of 
righteousness, the reading in the text, that which has been 
commonly received is elehmosunhn, alms. But the first reading 
has been inserted in several editions, and is supported by 
the Codd.

Vatican. and Bezae, some others, and several versions, all 
the Itala except one, and the Vulgate. The Latin fathers have 
justitiam, a word of the same meaning. Mr. Gregory has amply 
proved, hqdx tsidekeh, righteousness, was a common word for 
alms among the Jews. Works, 4to. p. 58, 1671. R.

D. Kimchi says that hqdx tsidekeh, Isa. lix. 14, means alms-
giving; and the phrase hqdx tn natan tsidekah, is used by the 
Jews to signify the giving of alms. The following passages 
from Dr. Lightfoot show that it was thus commonly used among 
the Jewish writers:-" It is questioned," says he, "whether 
Matthew writ elehmosunhn, alms, or dikaiosunhn, 
righteousness. I answer:-" I. That, our saviour certainly 
said hqdx tsidekah, righteousness, (or, in Syriac atqdz 
zidkatha,) I make no doubt at all; but, that that word could 
not be otherwise understood by the common people than of 
alms, there is as little doubt to be made. For although the 
word hqdx tsidekah, according to the idiom of the Old 
Testament, signifies nothing else than righteousness; yet 
now, when our saviour spoke these words, it signified nothing 
so much as alms.

"II. Christ used also the same word atqdz zidkatha, 
righteousness, in time three verses next following, and 
Matthew used the word elehmosunhn, alms; but by what right, I 
beseech you, should he call it dikaiosunhn, righteousness, in 
the first verse, and elehmosunhn, alms, in the following; 
when Christ every where used one and the same word? Matthew 
might not change in Greek, where our saviour had not changed 
in Syriac: therefore we must say that the Lord Jesus used the 
word hqdx tsidekeh or atqdz zidkatha, in these four first 
verses; but that, speaking in the dialect of common people, 
he was understood by the common people to speak of alms. Now 
they called alms by the name of righteousness, for the 
fathers of the traditions taught, and the common people 
believed, that alms contributed very much to justification. 
Hear the Jewish chair in this matter-For one farthing given 
to a poor man in alms, a man is made partaker of the beatific 
vision: where it renders these words, Psa. xvii. 15, I shall 
behold thy face in righteousness, after this manner, I shall 
behold thy face, BECAUSE OF ALMS. Bava. Bathra.

"This money goeth for alms, that my sons may live, and that I 
may obtain the world to come. Bab. Rosh. Hashshanah.

"A man's table now expiates by alms, as heretofore the altar 
did by sacrifice. Beracoth.

"If you afford alms out of your purse, God will keep you from 
all damage and harm. Hieros. Peah.

"MONOBAZES the king bestowed his goods liberally upon the 
poor, and had these words spoken to him by his kinsmen and 
friends-'Your ancestors increased both their own riches, and 
those that were left them by their fathers; but you waste 
both your own and those of your ancestors.' To whom he 
answered-'My fathers laid up their wealth on earth: I lay up 
mine in heaven. As it is written, Truth shall flourish out of 
the earth, but Righteousness shall look down from heaven. My 
fathers laid up treasures that bear no fruit; but I lay up 
such as bear fruit. As it is said, It shall be well with the 
just, for they shall eat the fruit of their own works. My 
fathers treasured up, when power was in their hands; but I 
where it is not.

As it is said, Justice and judgment is the habitation of his 
throne. My fathers heaped up for others; I for myself. As it 
is said, And this shall be to thee for righteousness. They 
scraped together for this world. I for the world to come. As 
it is said, Righteousness shall deliver from death.' Ibid.

These things are also recited in the Babylonian Talmud.

"You see plainly in what sense he understands righteousness, 
namely, in the sense of alms: and that sense not so much 
framed in his own imagination, as in that of the whole 
nation, and which the royal catachumen had imbibed from the 
Pharisees his teachers.

"Behold the justifying and saving virtue of alms, from the 
very work done according to the doctrine of the Pharisaical 
chair! And hence, the opinion of this efficacy of alms so far 
prevailed with the deceived people, that they pointed out 
alms by no other name (confined within one single word) than 
hqdx tsidekah, righteousness. Perhaps those words of our 
saviour are spoken in derision of this doctrine. Yea, give 
those things which ye have in alms, and behold all things 
shall be clean to you, Luke xi. 41. With good reason indeed 
exhorting them to give alms; but yet withal striking at the 
covetousness of the Pharisees, and confuting their vain 
opinion of being clean by the washing of their hands, from 
their own opinion of the efficacy of alms. As if he had said, 
"Ye assert that alms justifies and saves, and therefore ye 
call it by the name of righteousness; why therefore do ye 
affect cleanliness by the washing of hands; and not rather by 
the performance of charity?" LIGHTFOOT'S Works, vol. ii. p. 
153.

Before men] Our Lord does not forbid public alms-giving, 
fasting, and prayer, but simply censures those vain and 
hypocritical persons who do these things publicly that they 
may be seen of men, and receive from them the reputation of 
saints, &c.

Verse 2. Therefore when thou doest thine alms] In the first 
verse the exhortation is general: Take YE heed. In this verse 
the address is pointed-and THOU-man-woman-who readest-
hearest.

Do not sound a trumpet] It is very likely that this was 
literally practised among the Pharisees, who seemed to live 
on the public esteem, and were excessively self-righteous and 
vain. Having something to distribute by way of alms, it is 
very probable they caused this to be published by blowing a 
trumpet or horn, under pretense of collecting the poor; 
though with no other design than to gratify their own 
ambition. There is a custom in the east not much unlike this. 
"The derveeshes carry horns with them, which they frequently 
blow, when any thing is given to them, in honour of the 
donor. It is not impossible that some of the poor Jews who 
begged alms might be furnished like the Persian derveeshes, 
who are a sort of religious beggars, and that these 
hypocrites might be disposed to confine their alms-giving to 
those that they knew would pay them this honour." HARMER'S 
Observat. vol. i. p. 474.

It must be granted, that in the Jewish writings there is no 
such practice referred to as that which I have supposed 
above, viz. blowing a trumpet to gather the poor, or the poor 
blowing a horn when relieved. Hence some learned men have 
thought that the word rpw shopher, a trumpet, refers to the 
hole in the public alms chest, into which the money was 
dropped which was allotted for the service of the poor. Such 
holes, because they were wide at one end and grew gradually 
narrow towards the other, were actually termed twrpw 
shopheroth, trumpets, by the rabbins; of this Schoettgen 
furnishes several examples. An ostentatious man, who wished 
to attract the notice of those around him, would throw in his 
money with some force into these trumpet-resembling holes, 
and thus he might be said rpw salpizein, to sound the 
trumpet. The Jerusalem Gemara, tract Shekalim, describes 
these twrpw shopheroth thus-These trumpet holes were 
crooked, narrow above and wide below, in order to prevent 
fraud. As our Lord only uses the words, mh salpishv, it may 
be tantamount to our term jingle. Do not make a public 
ostentatious jingle of that money which you give to public 
charities. Pride and hypocrisy are the things here 
reprehended. The Pharisees, no doubt, felt the weight of the 
reproof. Still the words may be taken in their literal 
meaning, as we know that the Moslimans, who nearly resemble 
the ancient Pharisees in the ostentation, bigotry, and 
cruelty of their character, are accustomed, in their festival 
of Muhurram, to erect stages in the public streets, and, by 
the sound of a trumpet, call the poor together to receive 
alms of rice, and other kinds of food. See WARD.

Works of charity and mercy should be done as much in private 
as is consistent with the advancement of the glory of God, 
and the effectual relief of the poor.

In the synagogues and in the streets] That such chests or 
boxes, for receiving the alms of well-disposed people, were 
placed in the synagogues, we may readily believe; but what 
were the streets? Schoettgen supposes that courts or avenues 
in the temple and in the synagogues may be intended-places 
where the people were accustomed to walk, for air, amusement, 
&c., for it is not to be supposed that such chests were fixed 
in the public streets.

They have their reward.] That is, the honour and esteem of 
men which they sought. God is under no obligation to them-
they did nothing with an eye to his glory, and from HIM they 
can expect no recompense. They had their recompense in this 
life; and could expect none in the world to come.

Verse 3. Let not thy left hand know] In many cases, works of 
charity must be hidden from even our nearest relatives, who, 
if they knew, would hinder us from doing what God has given 
us power and inclination to perform. We must go even farther; 
and conceal them as far as is possible from ourselves, by not 
thinking of them, or eyeing them with complacency. They are 
given to GOD, and should be hidden in HIM.

Verse 4. Which seeth in secret] We should ever remember that 
the eye of the Lord is upon us, and that he sees not only the 
act, but also every motive that led to it.

Shall reward thee openly.] Will give thee the fullest proofs 
of his acceptance of thy work of faith, and labour of love, 
by increasing that substance which, for his sake, thou 
sharest with the poor; and will manifest his approbation in 
thy own heart, by the witness of his Spirit.

Verse 5. And when thou prayest] otan proseuch. proseuch,, 
prayer, is compounded of prov with, and euch a vow, because 
to pray right, a man binds himself to God, as by a vow, to 
live to his glory, if he will grant him his grace, &c. 
eucomai signifies to pour out prayers or vows, from eu well, 
and cew, I pour out; probably alluding to the offerings or 
libations which were poured out before, or on the altar. A 
proper idea of prayer is, a pouring out of the soul unto God, 
as a free-will offering, solemnly and eternally dedicated to 
him, accompanied with the most earnest desire that it may 
know, love, and serve him alone. He that comes thus to God 
will ever be heard and blessed. Prayer is the language of 
dependence; he who prays not, is endeavouring to live 
independently of God: this was the first curse, and continues 
to be the great curse of mankind. In the beginning, Satan 
said, Eat this fruit; ye shall then be as God; i.e. ye shall 
be independent: the man hearkened to his voice, sin entered 
into the world, and notwithstanding the full manifestation of 
the deception, the ruinous system is still pursued; man will, 
if possible, live independently of God; hence he either prays 
not at all, or uses the language without the spirit of 
prayer. The following verses contain so fine a view, and so 
just a definition, of prayer, that I think the pious reader 
will be glad to find them here.

WHAT IS PRAYER? Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, 
Unuttered or expressed, The motion of a hidden fire That 
trembles in the breast: Prayer is the burden of a sigh, The 
falling of a tear, The upward gleaming of an eye, When none 
but God is near Prayer is the simplest form of speech That 
infant lips can try; Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach 
The Majesty on high: Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 
The Christian's native air, His watch-word at the gates of 
death, He enters heaven by prayer Prayer is the contrite 
sinner's voice, Returning from his ways, While angels in 
their songs rejoice, And say, Behold he prays! The saints in 
prayer appear as one, In word, in deed, in mind, When with 
the Father and the Son Their fellowship they find Nor prayer 
is made on earth alone: The Holy Spirit pleads; And Jesus, on 
th' eternal throne, For sinners intercedes "O Thou, by whom 
we come to God! The Life, the Truth, the Way, The path of 
prayer thyself hast trod, Lord, teach us how to pray!" 
MONTGOMERY Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites] upokritai. 
From upo under, and krinomai to be judged, thought: properly 
a stage-player, who acts under a mask, personating a 
character different from his own; a counterfeit, a 
dissembler; one who would be thought to be different from 
what he really is. A person who wishes to be taken for a 
follower of God, but who has nothing of religion except the 
outside.

Love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of 
the streets] The Jewish phylacterical prayers were long, and 
the canonical hours obliged them to repeat these prayers 
wherever they happened to be; and the Pharisees, who were 
full of vain glory, contrived to be overtaken in the streets 
by the canonical hour, that they might be seen by the people, 
and applauded for their great and conscientious piety. See 
Lightfoot. As they had no piety but that which was outward, 
they endeavoured to let it fully appear, that they might make 
the most of it among the people. It would not have answered 
their end to kneel before God, for then they might have been 
unnoticed by men; and consequently have lost that reward 
which they had in view: viz. the esteem and applause of the 
multitude.

This hypocritical pretension to devotion is common among the 
Asiatics.

Both Hindoos and Mohammedans love to pray in the most public 
places, at the landing places of rivers, in the public 
streets, on the roofs of the covered boats, without the least 
endeavour to conceal their outside devotion, that they may be 
seen of men.

Verse 6. But thou, when thou prayest] This is a very 
impressive and emphatic address. But THOU! whosoever thou 
art, Jew, Pharisee, Christian-enter into thy closet. Prayer 
is the most secret intercourse of the soul with God, and as 
it were the conversation of one heart with another.

The world is too profane and treacherous to be of the secret. 
We must shut the door against it: endeavour to forget it, 
with all the affairs which busy and amuse it. Prayer requires 
retirement, at least of the heart; for this may be fitly 
termed the closet in the house of God, which house the body 
of every real Christian is, 1 Cor. iii. 16. To this closet we 
ought to retire even in public prayer, and in the midst of 
company.

Reward thee openly.] What goodness is there equal to this of 
God to give, not only what we ask, and more than we ask, but 
to reward even prayer itself! How great advantage is it to 
serve a prince who places prayers in the number of services, 
and reckons to his subjects' account, even their trust and 
confidence in begging all things of him!

Verse 7. Use not vain repetitions] mh battologhshte, Suidas 
explains this word well: "polulogia, much speaking, from one 
Battus, who made very prolix hymns, in which the same idea 
frequently recurred." "A frequent repetition of awful and 
striking words may often be the result of earnestness and 
fervour. See Dan. ix. 3-20; but great length of prayer, which 
will of course involve much sameness and idle repetition, 
naturally creates fatigue and carelessness in the worshipper, 
and seems to suppose ignorance or inattention in the Deity; a 
fault against which our Lord more particularly wishes to 
secure them." See "ver. 8". This judicious note is from the 
late Mr. Gilbert Wakefield, who illustrates it with the 
following quotation from the Heautontimorumenos of Terence: 
Ohe! jam decine Deos, uxor, gratulando OBTUNDERE, Tuam esse 
inventam gnatam: nisi illos ex TUO INGENIO judicas, Ut nil 
credas INTELLIGERE, nisi idem DICTUM SIT CENTIES "Pray thee, 
wife, cease from STUNNING the gods with thanksgivings, 
because thy child is in safety; unless thou judgest of them 
from thyself, that they cannot UNDERSTAND a thing, unless 
they are told of it a HUNDRED TIMES." Heaut. ver. 880.

Prayer requires more of the heart than of the tongue. The 
eloquence of prayer consists in the fervency of desire, and 
the simplicity of faith. The abundance of fine thoughts, 
studied and vehement motions, and the order and politeness of 
the expressions, are things which compose a mere human 
harangue, not an humble and Christian prayer. Our trust and 
confidence ought to proceed from that which God is able to do 
in us, and not from that which we can say to him. It is 
abominable, says the HEDAYAH, that a person offering up 
prayers to God, should say, "I beseech thee, by the glory of 
thy heavens!" or, "by the splendour of thy throne!" for a 
style of this nature would lead to suspect that the Almighty 
derived glory from the heavens; whereas the heavens are 
created, but God with all his attributes is eternal and 
inimitable. HEDAYAH, vol. iv. p. 121.

This is the sentiment of a Mohammedan; and yet for this vain 
repetition the Mohammedans are peculiarly remarkable; they 
often use such words as the following:-[ A] O God, O God, O 
God, O God!-O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord!-O living, O 
immortal, O living, O immortal, O living, O immortal, O 
living, O immortal!-O Creator of the heavens and the earth!-O 
thou who art endowed with majesty and authority! O wonderful, 
&c. I have extracted the above from a form of prayer used by 
Tippo Sahib, which I met with in a book of devotion in which 
there were several prayers written with his own hand, and 
signed with his own name.

Of this vain repetition in civil matters, among the Jews, 
many instances might be given, and not a few examples might 
be found among Christians.

The heathens abounded with them: see several quoted by 
Lightfoot.-Let the parricide be dragged! We beseech thee, 
Augustus, let the parricide be dragged! This is the thing we 
ask, let the parricide be dragged! Hear us, Caesar; let the 
false accusers be cast to the lion! Hear us, Caesar, let the 
false accusers be condemned to the lion! Hear us, Caesar, &c. 
It was a maxim among the Jews, that "he who multiplies 
prayer, must be heard." This is correct, if it only imply 
perseverance in supplication; but if it be used to signify 
the multiplying of words, or even forms of prayer, it will 
necessarily produce the evil which our Lord reprehends: Be 
not as the heathen-use not vain repetition, &c. Even the 
Christian Churches in India have copied this vain repetition 
work; and in it the Roman Catholic, the Armenian, and the 
Greek Churches strive to excel.

As the heathen] The Vatican MS. reads upokritai, like the 
hypocrites.

Unmeaning words, useless repetitions, and complimentary 
phrases in prayer, are in general the result of heathenism, 
hypocrisy, or ignorance.

Verse 8. Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of] 
Prayer is not designed to inform God, but to give man a sight 
of his misery; to humble his heart, to excite his desire, to 
inflame his faith, to animate his hope, to raise his soul 
from earth to heaven, and to put him in mind that THERE is 
his Father, his country, and inheritance.

In the preceding verses we may see three faults, which our 
Lord commands us to avoid in prayer:-

1st. HYPOCRISY. Be not as the hypocrites. ver. 5.

2ndly. DISSIPATION. Enter into thy closet. ver. 6.

3rdly. MUCH SPEAKING, or UNMEANING REPETITION, Be not like 
the heathens. ver. 7.

Verse 9. After this manner therefore pray ye] Forms of prayer 
were frequent among the Jews; and every public teacher gave 
one to his disciples. Some forms were drawn out to a 
considerable length, and from these abridgments were made: to 
the latter sort the following prayer properly belongs, and 
consequently, besides its own very important use, it is a 
plan for a more extended devotion. What satisfaction must it 
be to learn from God himself, with what words, and in what 
manner, he would have us pray to him, so as not to pray in 
vain! A king, who draws up the petition which he allows to be 
presented to himself, has doubtless the fullest determination 
to grant the request. We do not sufficiently consider the 
value of this prayer; the respect and attention which it 
requires; the preference to be given to it; its fullness and 
perfection: the frequent use we should make of it; and the 
spirit which we should bring with it. "Lord, teach us how to 
pray!" is a prayer necessary to prayer; for unless we are 
divinely instructed in the manner, and influenced by the 
spirit of true devotion, even the prayer taught us by Jesus 
Christ may be repeated without profit to our souls.

Our Father] It was a maxim of the Jews, that a man should not 
pray alone, but join with the Church; by which they 
particularly meant that he should, whether alone or with the 
synagogue, use the plural number as comprehending all the 
followers of God. Hence, they say, Let none pray the short 
prayer, i.e. as the gloss expounds it, the prayer in the 
singular, but in the plural number. See Lightfoot on this 
place.

This prayer was evidently made in a peculiar manner for the 
children of God. And hence we are taught to say, not MY 
Father, but OUR Father.

The heart, says one, of a child of God, is a brotherly heart, 
in respect of all other Christians: it asks nothing but in 
the spirit of unity, fellowship, and Christian charity; 
desiring that for its brethren which it desires for itself.

The word Father, placed here at the beginning of this prayer, 
includes two grand ideas, which should serve as a foundation 
to all our petitions: 1st.

That tender and respectful love which we should feel for God, 
such as that which children feel for their fathers. 2dly. 
That strong confidence in God's love to us, such as fathers 
have for their children. Thus all the petitions in this 
prayer stand in strictest reference to the word Father; the 
first three referring to the love we have for God; and the 
three last, to that confidence which we have in the love he 
bears to us.

The relation we stand in to this first and best of beings 
dictates to us reverence for his person, zeal for his honour, 
obedience to his will, submission to his dispensations and 
chastisements, and resemblance to his nature.

Which art in heaven] The phrase µymb wnyba , abinu 
sheboshemayim, our Father who art in heaven, was very common 
among the ancient Jews; and was used by them precisely in the 
same sense as it is used here by our Lord.

This phrase in the Scriptures seems used to express: 1st. His 
OMNIPRESENCE. The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. 1 
Kings viii. x17: that is, Thou fillest immensity.

2dly. His MAJESTY and DOMINION over his creatures. Art thou 
not God in heaven, and rulest thou not over all the kingdoms 
of the heathen? 2 Chron. xx. 6.

3dly. His POWER and MIGHT. Art thou not God in heaven, and in 
thy hand is there not power and might, so that no creature is 
able to withstand thee! 2 Chron. xx. 6. Our God is in heaven, 
and hath done whatsoever he pleased. Psa. cxv. 3.

4thly. His OMNISCIENCE. The Lord's throne is in heaven, his 
eyes behold, his eye-lids try the children of men. Psa. xi. 
4. The Lord looketh down from heaven, he beholdeth all the 
sons of men. Psa. xxxiii. 13-15.

5thly. His infinite PURITY and HOLINESS. Look down from thy 
holy habitation, &c. Deut. xxvi. 15. Thou art the high and 
lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. Isa. 
lvii. 15.

Hallowed] agiasqhtw. agiazw? from a negative, and gh, the 
earth, a thing separated from the earth, or from earthly 
purposes and employments. As the word sanctified, or 
hallowed, in Scripture, is frequently used for the 
consecration of a thing or person to a holy use or office, as 
the Levites, first-born, tabernacle, temple, and their 
utensils, which were all set apart from every earthly, 
common, or profane use, and employed wholly in the service of 
God, so the Divine Majesty may be said to be sanctified by 
us, in analogy to those things, viz. when, we separate him 
from, and in our conceptions and desires exalt him above, 
earth and all things.

Thy name.] That is, GOD himself, with all the attributes of 
his Divine nature-his power, wisdom, justice, mercy, &c.

We hallow God's name, 1st. With our lips, when all our 
conversation is holy, and we speak of those things which are 
meet to minister grace to the hearers.

2dly. In our thoughts, when we suppress every rising evil, 
and have our tempers regulated by his grace and Spirit.

3dly. In our lives, when we begin, continue, and end our 
works to his glory. If we have an eye to God in all we 
perform, then every act of our common employment will be an 
act of religious worship.

4thly. In our families, when we endeavour to bring up our 
children in the discipline and admonition or the Lord; 
instructing also our servants in the way of righteousness.

5thly. In a particular calling or business, when we separate 
the falsity, deception, and lying, commonly practised, from 
it; buying and selling as in the sight of the holy and just 
God.

Verse 10. Thy kingdom come.] The ancient Jews scrupled not to 
say: He prays not at all, in whose prayers there is no 
mention of the kingdom of God. Hence, they were accustomed to 
say, "Let him cause his kingdom to reign, and his redemption 
to flourish: and let the Messiah speedily come and deliver 
his people." The universal sway of the scepter of Christ:-God 
has promised that the kingdom of Christ shall be exalted 
above all kingdoms. Daniel vii. 14-27.

That it shall overcome all others, and be at last the 
universal empire. Isa. ix. 7. Connect this with the 
explanation given of this phrase, chap. iii. 2.

Thy will be done] This petition is properly added to the 
preceding; for when the kingdom of righteousness, peace, and 
joy, in the Holy Spirit, is established in the heart, there 
is then an ample provision made for the fulfillment of the 
Divine will.

The will of God is infinitely good, wise, and holy; to have 
it fulfilled in and among men, is to have infinite goodness, 
wisdom, and holiness diffused throughout the universe; and 
earth made the counterpart of heaven.

As it is in heaven.] The Jews maintained, that they were the 
angels of God upon earth, as these pure spirits were angels 
of God in heaven; hence they said, "As the angels sanctify 
the Divine name in heaven, so the Israelites sanctify the 
Divine name, upon earth." See Schoettgen.

Observe, 1st. The salvation of the soul is the result of two 
wills conjoined: the will of God, and the will of man. If God 
will not the salvation of man, he cannot be saved: If, man 
will not the salvation God has prepared for him, he cannot be 
delivered from his sins. 2dly. This petition certainly points 
out a deliverance from all sin; for nothing that is unholy 
can consist with the Divine will, and if this be fulfilled in 
man, surely sin shall be banished from his soul. 3dly. This 
is farther evident from these words, as it is in heaven; i.e. 
as the angels do it: viz. with all zeal, diligence, love, 
delight, and perseverance. 4thly. Does not the petition 
plainly imply, we may live without sinning against God? 
Surely the holy angels never mingle iniquity with their 
loving obedience; and as our Lord teaches us to pray, that we 
do his will here as they do it in heaven, can it be thought 
he would put a petition in our mouths, the fulfillment of 
which was impossible? 5thly. This certainly destroys the 
assertion: "There is no such state of purification, to be 
attained here, in which it may be said, the soul is redeemed 
from sinful passions and desires;" for it is on EARTH that we 
are commanded to pray that this will, which is our 
sanctification, may be done. 6thly. Our souls can never be 
truly happy, till our WILLS be entirely subjected to, and 
become one with, the will of God. 7thly. How can any person 
offer this petition to his Maker, who thinks of nothing less 
than the performance of the will of God, and of nothing more 
than doing his own? Some see the mystery of the Trinity in 
the three preceding petitions. The first being, addressed to 
the Father, as the source of all holiness. The second, to the 
Son, who establishes the kingdom of God upon earth. The 
third, to the Holy Spirit, who by his energy works in men to 
will and to perform.

To offer these three petitions with success at the throne of 
God, three graces, essential to our salvation, must be 
brought into exercise; and, indeed, the petitions themselves 
necessarily suppose them. FAITH, Our Father-for he that 
cometh to God, must believe that he is.

HOPE, Thy kingdom come-For this grace has for its object good 
things to come.

LOVE, Thy will be done-For love is the incentive to and 
principle of all obedience to God, and beneficence to man.

Verse 11. Give us this day our daily bread] The word 
epiousian has greatly perplexed critics and commentators. I 
find upwards of thirty different explanations of it. It is 
found in no Greek writer before the evangelists, and Origen 
says expressly, that it was formed by them, allĘ eoike 
peplasqai upo twn euaggelistwn. The interpretation of 
Theophylact, one of the best of the Greek fathers, has ever 
appeared to me to be the most correct, artov epi th ousia kai 
austasei hmwn autarkhv, Bread, sufficient for our substance 
and support, i.e. That quantity of food which is necessary to 
support our health and strength, by being changed into the 
substance of our bodies. Its composition is of epi and ousia, 
proper or sufficient for support. Mr. Wakefield thinks it 
probable, that the word was originally written epi ousian, 
which coalesced by degrees, till they became the epiousion of 
the MSS. There is probably an allusion here to the custom of 
travelers in the east, who were wont to reserve a part of the 
food given them the preceding evening to serve for their 
breakfast or dinner the next day. But as this was not 
sufficient for the whole day, they were therefore obliged to 
depend on the providence of God for the additional supply. In 
Luke xv. 12, 13, ousia signifies, what a person has to live 
on; and nothing can be more natural than to understand the 
compound epiousiov, of that additional supply which the 
traveler needs, to complete the provision necessary for a 
day's eating, over and above what he had then in his 
possession. See Harmer.

The word is so very peculiar and expressive, and seems to 
have been made on purpose by the evangelists, that more than 
mere bodily nourishment seems to be intended by it. Indeed, 
many of the primitive fathers understood it as comprehending 
that daily supply of grace which the soul requires to keep it 
in health and vigour: He who uses the petition would do well 
to keep both in view. Observe 1. God is the author and 
dispenser of all temporal as well as spiritual good. 2. We 
have merited no kind of good from his hand, and therefore 
must receive it as a free gift: Give us, &c. 3.

We must depend on him daily for support; we are not permitted 
to ask any thing for to-morrow: give us to-day. 4. That 
petition of the ancient Jews is excellent: "Lord, the 
necessities of thy people Israel are many, and their 
knowledge small, so that they know not how to disclose their 
necessities: Let it be thy good pleasure to give to every 
man, what sufficeth for food!" Thus they expressed their 
dependence, and left it to God to determine what was best and 
most suitable. We must ask only that which is essential to 
our support, God having promised neither luxuries nor 
superfluities.

Verse 12. And forgive us our debts] Sin is represented here 
under the notion of a debt, and as our sins are many, they 
are called here debts. God made man that he might live to his 
glory, and gave him a law to walk by; and if, when he does 
any thing that tends not to glorify God, he contracts a debt 
with Divine Justice, how much more is he debtor when he 
breaks the law by actual transgression! It has been justly 
observed, "All the attributes of God are reasons of obedience 
to man; those attributes are infinite; every sin is an act of 
ingratitude or rebellion against all these attributes; 
therefore sin is infinitely sinful." Forgive us.-Man has 
nothing to pay: if his debts are not forgiven, they must 
stand charged against him for ever, as he is absolutely 
insolvent.

Forgiveness, therefore, must come from the free mercy of God 
in Christ: and how strange is it we cannot have the old debt 
canceled, without (by that very means) contracting a new one, 
as great as the old! but the credit is transferred from 
Justice to Mercy. While sinners we are in debt to infinite 
Justice; when pardoned, in debt to endless Mercy: and as a 
continuance in a state of grace necessarily implies a 
continual communication of mercy, so the debt goes on 
increasing ad infinitum.

Strange economy in the Divine procedure, which by rendering a 
man an infinite debtor, keeps him eternally dependent on his 
Creator! How good is God! And what does this state of 
dependence imply? A union with, and participation of, the 
fountain of eternal goodness and felicity! As we forgive our 
debtors.] It was a maxim among the ancient Jews, that no man 
should lie down in his bed, without forgiving those who had 
offended him. That man condemns himself to suffer eternal 
punishment, who makes use of this prayer with revenge and 
hatred in his heart. He who will not attend to a condition so 
advantageous to himself (remitting a hundred pence to his 
debtor, that his own creditor may remit him 10,000 talents) 
is a madman, who, to oblige his neighbour to suffer an hour, 
is himself determined to suffer everlastingly! This condition 
of forgiving our neighbour, though it cannot possibly merit 
any thing, yet it is that condition without which God will 
pardon no man. See Matthew vi. 14, 15.

Verse 13. And lead us not into temptation] That is, bring us 
not in to sore trial. peirasmon, which may be here rendered 
sore trial, comes from peirw, to pierce through, as with a 
spear, or spit, used so by some of the best Greek writers. 
Several of the primitive fathers understood it something in 
this way; and have therefore added quam ferre non possimus, 
"which we cannot bear." The word not only implies violent 
assaults from Satan, but also sorely afflictive 
circumstances, none of which we have, as yet, grace or 
fortitude sufficient to bear. Bring us not in, or lead us not 
in.

This is a mere Hebraism: God is said to do a thing which he 
only permits or suffers to be done.

The process of temptation is often as follows: 1st. A simple 
evil thought.

2ndly. A strong imagination, or impression made on the 
imagination, by the thing to which we are tempted. 3dly. 
Delight in viewing it. 4thly.

Consent of the will to perform it. Thus lust is conceived, 
sin is finished, and death brought forth. James i. 15. See 
also on chap. iv. 1. A man may be tempted without entering 
into the temptation: entering into it implies giving way, 
closing in with, and embracing it.

But deliver us from evil] apo tou ponhrou, from the wicked 
one. Satan is expressly called o ponhrov, the wicked one. 
Matthew xiii. 19, 38, compare with Mark iv. 15; Luke viii. 
12. This epithet of Satan comes from ponov, labour, sorrow, 
misery, because of the drudgery which is found in the way of 
sin, the sorrow that accompanies the commission of it, and 
the misery which is entailed upon it, and in which it ends.

It is said in the MISHNA, Titus. Beracoth, that Rabbi Judah 
was wont to pray thus: "Let it be thy good pleasure to 
deliver us from impudent men, and from impudence: from an 
evil man and an evil chance; from an evil affection, an evil 
companion, and an evil neighbour: from Satan the destroyer, 
from a hard judgment, and a hard adversary." See Lightfoot.

Deliver us] rusai hmav-a very expressive word-break our 
chains, and loose our bands-snatch, pluck us from the evil, 
and its calamitous issue.

For thine is the kingdom, &c.] The whole of this doxology is 
rejected by Wetstein, Griesbach, and the most eminent 
critics. The authorities on which it is rejected may be seen 
in Griesbach and, Wetstein, particularly in the second 
edition of Griesbach's Testament, who is fully of opinion 
that it never made a part of the sacred text. It is variously 
written in several MSS., and omitted by most of the fathers, 
both Greek and Latin. As the doxology is at least very 
ancient, and was in use among the Jews, as well as all the 
other petitions of this excellent prayer, it should not, in 
my opinion, be left out of the text, merely because some MSS. 
have omitted it, and it has been variously written in others. 
See various forms of this doxology, taken from the ancient 
Jewish writers, in Lightfoot and Schoettgen.

By the kingdom, we may understand that mentioned Matthew vi. 
10, and explained chap. iii. 2.

By power, that energy by which the kingdom is governed and 
maintained.

By glory, the honour that shall redound to God in consequence 
of the maintenance of the kingdom of grace, in the salvation 
of men.

For ever and ever.] eiv touv aiwnav, to the for evers. Well 
expressed by our common translation-ever in our ancient use 
of the word taking in the whole duration of time; the second 
ever, the whole of eternity. May thy name have the glory both 
in this world, and in that which is to come! The original 
word aiwn comes from aei always, and wn being, or existence.

This is Aristotle's definition of it. See the note on 
"Genesis xxi. 33". There is no word in any language which 
more forcibly points out the grand characteristic of 
eternity-that which always exists. It is often used to 
signify a limited time, the end of which is not known; but 
this use of it is only an accommodated one; and it is the 
grammatical and proper sense of it which must be resorted to 
in any controversy concerning the word. We sometimes use the 
phrase for evermore: i.e. for ever and more, which signifies 
the whole of time, and the more or interminable duration 
beyond it. See on "chap. xxv. 46".

Amen.] This word is Hebrew, ma , and signifies faithful or 
true. Some suppose the word is formed from the initial 
letters of man ūlm ynwda adoni melech neetnan, My Lord, the 
faithful King. The word itself implies a confident resting of 
the soul in God, with the fullest assurance that all these 
petitions shall be fulfilled to every one who prays according 
to the directions given before by our blessed Lord.

The very learned Mr. Gregory has shown that our Lord 
collected this prayer out of the Jewish Euchologies, and 
gives us the whole form as follows:-" Our Father who art in 
heaven, be gracious unto us! O Lord our God, hallowed be thy 
name, and let the remembrance of Thee be glorified in heaven 
above, and in the earth here below! Let thy kingdom reign 
over us now, and for ever! The holy men of old said, remit 
and forgive unto all men whatsoever they have done against 
me! And lead us not into the hands of temptation, but deliver 
us from the evil thing! For thine is the kingdom, and thou 
shalt reign in glory for ever and for evermore." Gregory's 
Works, 4to. 1671, p. 162. See this proved at large in the 
collections of Lightfoot and Schoettgenius,

Verse 14. If ye forgive men] He who shows mercy to men 
receives mercy from God. For a king to forgive his subjects a 
hundred millions of treasons against his person and 
authority, on this one condition, that they wilt henceforth 
live peaceably with him and with each other, is what we shall 
never see; and yet this is but the shadow of that which 
Christ promises on his Father's part to all true penitents. A 
man can have little regard for his salvation, who refuses to 
have it on such advantageous terms. See Quesnel.

Verse 15. But if ye forgive not] He who does not awake at the 
sound of so loud a voice, is not asleep but dead. A 
vindictive man excludes himself from all hope of eternal 
life, and himself seals his own damnation.

Trespasses] paraptwmata, from para and piptw, to fall off. 
What a remarkable difference there is between this word and 
ofeilhmata, debts, in ver. 12! Men's sins against us are only 
their stumblings, or fallings off from the duties they owe 
us; but our's are debts to God's justice, which we can never 
discharge. It can be no great difficulty to forgive those, 
especially when we consider that in many respects we have 
failed as much, in certain duties which we owed to others, as 
they have done in those which they owed us. "But I have given 
him no provocation." Perhaps thou art angry, and art not a 
proper judge in the matter; but, however it may be, it is thy 
interest to forgive, if thou expectest forgiveness from God. 
On this important subject I will subjoin an extract from 
Mason's Self-knowledge, page 248, 1755.

"Athenodourus, the philosopher by reason of his old age, 
begged leave to retire from the court of Augustus, which the 
emperor granted. In his compliments of leave, he said, 
'Remember, Caesar, whenever thou art angry, that thou say or 
do nothing before thou hast distinctly repeated to thyself 
the twenty-four letters of the alphabet.' On which Caesar 
caught him by the hand, and said, 'I have need of thy 
presence still:' and kept him a year longer. This was 
excellent advice from a heathen; but a Christian may 
prescribe to himself a wiser rule. When thou art angry, 
answer not till thou hast repeated the fifth petition of our 
Lord's prayer-Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our 
debtors: and our Lord's comment upon it-For if ye forgive not 
men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly father 
forgive your trespasses." PRAYER to God is considered among 
the Mohammedans in a very important point of view. It is 
declared by the Mosliman doctors to be the corner stone of 
RELIGION, and the pillar of FAITH. It is not, say they, a 
thing of mere form, but requires that the heart and 
understanding should accompany it, without which they 
pronounce it to be of no avail. They direct prayer to be 
performed five times in the twenty-four hours. 1.

Between day-break and sun-rise; 2. Immediately after noon; 3.

Immediately before sun-set; 4. In the evening before dark; 
and 5. Before the first watch of the night.

They hold the following points to be essentially requisite to 
the efficacy of prayer:-1. That the person be free from every 
species of defilement. 2.

That all sumptuous and gaudy apparel be laid aside. 3. That 
the attention accompany the act, and be not suffered to 
wander to any other object. 4.

That the prayer be performed with the face toward the temple 
of MECCA. HEDAYAH. Prel. Dis. pp. 53, 54.

There are few points here but the follower of Christ may 
seriously consider and profitably practice.

Verse 16. When ye fast] A fast is termed by the Greeks 
nhstiv, from nh not, and esqein to eat; hence fast means, a 
total abstinence from food for a certain time. Abstaining 
from flesh, and living on fish, vegetables, &c., is no fast, 
or may be rather considered a burlesque on fasting. Many 
pretend to take the true definition of a fast from Isa. 
lviii. 3, and say that it means a fast from sin. This is a 
mistake; there is no such term in the Bible as fasting from 
sin; the very idea is ridiculous and absurd, as if sin were a 
part of our daily food. In the fast mentioned by the prophet, 
the people were to divide their bread with the hungry, Isa. 
lviii. 7; but could they eat their bread, and give it too? No 
man should save by a fast: he should give all the food he 
might have eaten to the poor. He who saves a day's expense by 
a fast, commits an abomination before the Lord. See more on 
"Matthew ix. 15".

As the hypocrites-of a sad countenance] skuqrwpoi, either 
from skuqrov sour, crabbed, and wy the countenance; or from 
skuqhv a Scythian, a morose, gloomy, austere phiz, like that 
of a Scythian or Tartar.

A hypocrite has always a difficult part to act: when he 
wishes to appear as a penitent, not having any godly sorrow 
at heart, he is obliged to counterfeit it the best way he 
can, by a gloomy and austere look.

Verse 17. Anoint thine head and wash thy face] These were 
forbidden in the Jewish canon on days of fasting and 
humiliation; and hypocrites availed themselves of this 
ordinance, that they might appear to fast. Our Lord, 
therefore, cautions us against this: as if he had said, 
Affect nothing-dress in thy ordinary manner, and let the 
whole of thy deportment prove that thou desirest to recommend 
my soul to God, and not thy face to men. That factitious 
mourning, which consists in putting on black clothes, crapes, 
&c., is utterly inconsistent with the simplicity of the 
Gospel of Christ; and if practised in reference to spiritual 
matters, is certainly forbidden here: but sin is so common, 
and so boldly persisted in, that not even a crape is put on, 
as an evidence of deploring its influence, or of sorrow for 
having committed it.

Verse 18. Thy father which seeth in secret] Let us not be 
afraid that our hearts can be concealed from God; but let us 
fear lest he perceive them to be more desirous of the praise 
of men than they are of that glory which comes from Him.

Openly.] en tw fanerw. These words are omitted by nine MSS. 
in uncial letters; and by more than one hundred others, by 
most of the versions, and by several of the primitive 
fathers. As it is supported by no adequate authority, Bengel, 
Wetstein, Griesbach, and others, have left it out of the 
text.

Verse 19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth] 
What blindness is it for a man to lay up that as a treasure 
which must necessarily perish! A heart designed for God and 
eternity is terribly degraded by being fixed on those things 
which are subject to corruption. "But may we not lay up 
treasure innocently?" Yes. 1st. If you can do it without 
setting your heart on it, which is almost impossible: and 
2dly. If there be neither widows nor orphans, destitute nor 
distressed persons in the place where you live. "But there is 
a portion which belongs to my children; shall I distribute 
that among the poor?" If it belongs to your children, it is 
not yours, and therefore you have no right to dispose of it. 
"But I have a certain sum in stock, &c.; shall I take that 
and divide it among the poor?" By no means; for, by doing so, 
you would put it out of your power to do good after the 
present division: keep your principal, and devote, if you 
possibly can spare it, the product to the poor; and thus you 
shall have the continual ability to do good. In the mean time 
take care not to shut up your bowels of compassion against a 
brother in distress; if you do, the love of God cannot dwell 
in you.

Rust] Or canker, brwsiv, from brwskw, I eat, consume. This 
word cannot be properly applied to rust, but to any thing 
that consumes or cankers clothes or metals. There is a saying 
exactly similar to this in the Institutes of MENU: speaking 
of the presents made to Brahmins, he says, "It is a gem which 
neither thieves nor foes take away, and which never 
perishes." Chapter of Government, Institute 83.

Where thieves do not break through] diorussousi, literally 
dig through, i.e. the wall, in order to get into the house. 
This was not a difficult matter, as the house was generally 
made of mud and straw, kneaded together like the cobb houses 
in Cornwall, and other places. See on "chap. vii. 27".

Verse 20. Lay up-treasures in heaven] "The only way to render 
perishing goods eternal, to secure stately furniture from 
moths, and the richest metals from canker, and precious 
stones from thieves, is to transmit them to heaven by acts of 
charity. This is a kind of bill of exchange which cannot fail 
of acceptance, but through our own fault." Quesnel.

It is certain we have not the smallest portion of temporal 
good, but what we have received from the unmerited bounty of 
God: and if we give back to him all we have received, yet 
still there is no merit that can fairly attach to the act, as 
the goods were the Lord's; for I am not to suppose that I can 
purchase any thing from a man by his own property. On this 
ground the doctrine of human merit is one of the most absurd 
that ever was published among men, or credited by sinners. 
Yet he who supposes he can purchase heaven by giving that 
meat which was left at his own table, and that of his 
servants; or by giving a garment which he could no longer in 
decency wear, must have a base ignorant soul, and a very mean 
opinion of the heaven he hopes for. But shall not such works 
as these be rewarded? Yes, yes, God will take care to give 
you all that your refuse victuals and old clothes are worth. 
Yet he, who through love to God and man, divides his bread 
with the hungry, and covers the naked with a garment, shall 
not lose his reward; a reward which the mercy of God 
appoints, but to which, in strict justice, he can lay no 
claim.

Verse 21. Where your treasure is] If God be the treasure of 
our souls, our hearts, i.e. our affections and desires will 
be placed on things above.

An earthly minded man proves that his treasure is below; a 
heavenly minded man shows that his treasure is above.

Verse 22. The light of the body is the eye] That is, the eye 
is to the body what the sun is to the universe in the day 
time, or a lamp or candle to a house at night.

If-thine eye be single] aplouv, simple, uncompounded; i.e. so 
perfect in its structure as to see objects distinctly and 
clearly, and not confusedly, or in different places to what 
they are, as is often the case in certain disorders of the 
eye; one object appearing two or more-or else in a different 
situation, and of a different colour to what it really is. 
This state of the eye is termed, ver. 23, ponhrov evil, i.e. 
diseased or defective. An evil eye was a phrase in use, among 
the ancient Jews, to denote an envious, covetous man or 
disposition; a man who repined at his neighbour's prosperity, 
loved his own money, and would do nothing in the way of 
charity for God's sake. Our blessed Lord, however, extends 
and sublimes this meaning, and uses the sound eye as a 
metaphor to point out that simplicity of intention, and 
purity of affection with which men should pursue the supreme 
good. We cannot draw more than one straight line between two 
indivisible points. We aim at happiness: it is found only in 
one thing, the indivisible and eternal GOD. It the line of 
simple intention be drawn straight to him, and the soul walk 
by it, with purity of affection, the whole man shall be light 
in the Lord; the rays of that excellent glory shall irradiate 
the mind, and through the whole spirit shall the Divine 
nature be transfused. But if a person who enjoyed this 
heavenly treasure permit his simplicity of intention to 
deviate from heavenly to earthly good; and his purity of 
affection to be contaminated by worldly ambition, secular 
profits, and animal gratifications; then, the light which was 
in him becomes darkness, i.e. his spiritual discernment 
departs, and his union with God is destroyed: all is only a 
palpable obscure; and, like a man who has totally lost his 
sight, he walks without direction, certainty, or comfort. 
This state is most forcibly intimated in our Lord's 
exclamation, How great a darkness! Who can adequately 
describe the misery and wretchedness of that soul which has 
lost its union with the fountain of all good, and, in losing 
this, has lost the possibility of happiness till the simple 
eye be once more given, and the straight line once more 
drawn.

Verse 24. No man can serve two masters] The master of our 
heart may be fitly termed the love that reigns in it. We 
serve that only which we love supremely. A man cannot be in 
perfect indifference betwixt two objects which are 
incompatible: he is inclined to despise and hate whatever he 
does not love supremely, when the necessity of a choice 
presents itself.

He will hate the one and love the other.] The word hate has 
the same sense here as it has in many places of Scripture; it 
merely signifies to love less-so Jacob loved Rachel, but 
hated Leah; i.e. he loved Leah much less than he loved 
Rachel. God himself uses it precisely in the same sense: 
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated; i.e. I have loved 
the posterity of Esau less than I have loved the posterity of 
Jacob: which means no more than that God, in the course of 
his providence, gave to the Jews greater earthly privileges 
than he gave to the Edomites, and chose to make them the 
progenitors of the Messiah, though they ultimately, through 
their own obstinacy, derived no more benefit from this 
privilege than the Edomites did. How strange is it, that with 
such evidence before their eyes, men will apply this loving 
and hating to degrees of inclusion and exclusion, in which 
neither the justice nor mercy of God are honoured! Ye cannot 
serve God and mammon.] wmm mamon is used for money in the 
Targum of Onkelos, Exodus xviii. 21; and in that of Jonathan, 
Judg. v. 19; 1 Sam. viii. 3. The Syriac word anwmm mamona is 
used in the same sense, Exodus xxi. 30. Dr. Castel deduces 
these words from the Hebrew ma aman, to trust, confide; 
because men are apt to trust in riches. Mammon may therefore 
be considered any thing a man confides in. Augustine 
observes, "that mammon, in the Punic or Carthaginian 
language, signified gain." Lucrum Punicä mammon dicitur. The 
word plainly denotes riches, Luke xvi. 9, 11, in which latter 
verse mention is made not only of the deceitful mammon, (tw 
adikw,) but also of the true (to alhqinon.) St. Luke's 
phrase, mamwno adikiav, very exactly answers to the Chaldee 
rqd wmm mamon dishekar, which is often used in the Targums. 
See more in Wetstein and Parkhurst.

Some suppose there was an idol of this name, and Kircher 
mentions such a one in his OEdip. Egyptiacus. See Castel.

Our blessed Lord shows here the utter impossibility of loving 
the world and loving God at the same time; or, in other 
words, that a man of the world cannot be a truly religious 
character. He who gives his heart to the world robs God of 
it, and, in snatching at the shadow of earthly good, loses 
substantial and eternal blessedness. How dangerous is it to 
set our hearts upon riches, seeing it is so easy to make them 
our God!

Verse 25. Therefore] dia touto, on this account; viz., that 
ye may not serve mammon, but have unshaken confidence in God, 
I say unto you,-Take no thought] Be not anxiously careful, mh 
merimnate; this is the proper meaning of the word. merimna 
anxious solicitude, from merizein ton noun dividing or 
distracting the mind. My old MS. Bible renders it, be not 
bysy to your life. Prudent care is never forbidden by our 
Lord, but only that anxious distracting solicitude, which, by 
dividing the mind, and drawing it different ways, renders it 
utterly incapable of attending to any solemn or important 
concern. To be anxiously careful concerning the means of 
subsistence is to lose all satisfaction and comfort in the 
things which God gives, and to act as a mere infidel. On the 
other hand, to rely so much upon providence as not to use the 
very powers and faculties with which the Divine Being has 
endowed us, is to tempt God. If we labour without placing our 
confidence in our labour, but expect all from the blessing of 
God, we obey his will, co-operate with his providence, set 
the springs of it a-going on our behalf, and thus imitate 
Christ and his followers by a sedate care and an industrious 
confidence.

In this and the following verses, our Lord lays down several 
reasons why men should not disquiet themselves about the 
wants of life, or concerning the future.

The first is, the experience of greater benefits already 
received. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than 
raiment? Can he who gave us our body, and breathed into it 
the breath of life, before we could ask them from him, refuse 
us that which is necessary to preserve both, and when we ask 
it in humble confidence? The clause what ye must eat, is 
omitted by two MSS., most of the ancient versions, and by 
many of the primitive fathers. Griesbach has left it in the 
text with a note of doubtfulness. It occurs again in ver. 31, 
and there is no variation in any of the MSS. in that place. 
Instead of, Is not the life more than, &c., we should read, 
Of more value; so the word pleion is used in Num. xxii. 15, 
and by the best Greek writers; and in the same sense it is 
used in chap. xxi. 37. See the note there.

Verse 26. Behold the fowls of the air] The second reason why 
we should not be anxiously concerned about the future, is the 
example of the smaller animals, which the providence of God 
feeds without their own labour; though he be not their 
father. We never knew an earthly father take care of his 
fowls, and neglect his children; and shall we fear this from 
our heavenly Father? God forbid! That man is utterly unworthy 
to have God for his father, who depends less upon his 
goodness, wisdom, and power, than upon a crop of corn, which 
may be spoiled either in the field or in the barn. If our 
great Creator have made us capable of knowing, loving, and 
enjoying himself eternally, what may we not expect from him, 
after so great a gift? They sow not, neither do they reap] 
There is a saying among the rabbins almost similar to this-
"Hast thou ever seen a beast or a fowl that had a workshop? 
yet they are fed without labour and without anxiety. They 
were created for the service of man, and man was created that 
he might serve his Creator. Man also would have been 
supported without labour and anxiety, had he not corrupted 
his ways. Hast thou ever seen a lion carrying burthens, a 
stag gathering summer fruits, a fox selling merchandise, or a 
wolf selling oil, that they might thus gain their support? 
And yet they are fed without care or labour. Arguing 
therefore from the less to the greater, if they which were 
created that they might serve me, are nourished without 
labour and anxiety, how much more I, who have been created 
that I might serve my Maker! What therefore is the cause, why 
I should be obliged to labour in order to get my daily bread? 
Answer, SIN." This is a curious and important extract, and is 
highly worthy of the reader's attention. See Schoettgen.

Verse 27. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit 
unto his stature?] The third reason against these carking 
cares is the unprofitableness of human solicitude, unless God 
vouchsafe to bless it.

What can our uneasiness do but render us still more unworthy 
of the Divine care? The passage from distrust to apostasy is 
very short and easy; and a man is not far from murmuring 
against Providence, who is dissatisfied with its conduct. We 
should depend as fully upon God for the preservation of his 
gifts as for the gifts themselves.

Cubit unto his stature?] I think hlikian should be rendered 
age here, and so our translators have rendered the word in 
John ix. 21, autov hlikian ecei he is of age. A very learned 
writer observes, that no difficulty can arise from applying 
phcun a cubit, a measure of extension, to time, and the age 
of man: as place and time are both quantities, and capable of 
increase and diminution, and, as no fixed material standard 
can be employed in the mensuration of the fleeting particles 
of time, it was natural and necessary, in the construction of 
language, to apply parallel terms to the discrimination of 
time and place. Accordingly, we find the same words 
indifferently used to denote time and place in every known 
tongue. Lord, let me know the MEASURE of my days! Thou hast 
made my days HAND-BREADTHS, Psa. xxxix. 5. Many examples 
might be adduced from the Greek and Roman writers. Besides, 
it is evident that the phrase of adding one cubit is 
proverbial, denoting something minute; and is therefore 
applicable to the smallest possible portion of time; but, in 
a literal acceptation, the addition of a cubit to the 
stature, would be a great and extraordinary accession of 
height. See Wakefield.

Verse 28. And why take ye thought for raiment?] Or, why are 
ye anxiously careful about raiment? The fourth reason against 
such inquietudes is the example of inanimate creatures: The 
herbs and flowers of the field have their being, nourishment, 
exquisite flavors, and beautiful hues from God himself. They 
are not only without anxious care, but also without care or 
thought of every kind. Your being, its excellence and 
usefulness, do not depend on your anxious concern: they 
spring as truly from the beneficence and continual 
superintendence of God, as the flowers of the field do; and 
were you brought into such a situation, as to be as utterly 
incapable of contributing to your own preservation and 
support as the lilies of the field are to theirs, your 
heavenly Father could augment your substance, and preserve 
your being, when for his glory and your own advantage.

Consider] Diligently consider this, katamaqete, lay it 
earnestly to heart, and let your confidence be unshaken in 
the God of infinite bounty and love.

Verse 29. Solomon in all his glory] Some suppose that as the 
robes of state worn by the eastern kings were usually white, 
as were those of the nobles among the Jews, that therefore 
the lily was chosen for the comparison.

Verse 30. If God so clothe the grass of the field] Christ 
confounds both the luxury of the rich in their superfluities, 
and the distrust of the poor as to the necessaries of life. 
Let man, who is made for God and eternity, learn from a 
flower of the field how low the care of Providence stoops. 
All our inquietudes and distrusts proceed from lack of faith: 
that supplies all wants. The poor are not really such, but 
because they are destitute of faith.

To-morrow is cast into the oven] The inhabitants of the east, 
to this day, make use of dry straw, withered herbs, and 
stubble, to heat their ovens.

Some have translated the original word klibanon, a still, and 
intimate that our Lord alludes to the distillation of herbs 
for medicinal purposes; but this is certainly contrary to the 
scope of our Lord's argument, which runs thus: If God covers 
with so much glory things of no farther value than to serve 
the meanest uses, will he not take care of his servants, who 
are so precious in his sight, and designed for such important 
services in the world? See Harmer's Observations.

Verse 31. What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? &c.] 
These three inquiries engross the whole attention of those 
who are living without God in the world. The belly and back 
of a worldling are his compound god; and these he worships in 
the lust of the flesh, in the lust of the eye, and in the 
pride of life.

Verse 32. For after all these things do the Gentiles seek] 
The fifth reason against solicitude about the future is-that 
to concern ourselves about these wants with anxiety, as if 
there was no such thing as a providence in the world; with 
great affection towards earthly enjoyments, as if we expected 
no other; and without praying to God or consulting his will, 
as if we could do any thing without him: this is to imitate 
the worst kind of heathens, who live without hope, and 
without God in the world.

Seek] epizhtei from epi, intensive, and zhtew, I seek, to 
seek intensely, earnestly, again and again: the true 
characteristic of the worldly man; his soul is never 
satisfied-give! give! is the ceaseless language of his earth-
born heart.

Your heavenly Father knoweth, &c.] The sixth reason against 
this anxiety about the future is-because God, our heavenly 
Father, is infinite in wisdom, and knows all our wants. It is 
the property of a wise and tender father to provide 
necessaries, and not superfluities, for his children. Not to 
expect the former is an offense to his goodness; to expect 
the latter is injurious to his wisdom.

Verse 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God] See on 
"Matthew iii. 7".

His righteousness] That holiness of heart and purity of life 
which God requires of those who profess to be subjects of 
that spiritual kingdom mentioned above. See on "chap. v. 20".

The seventh reason against these worldly cares and fears is-
because the business of our salvation ought to engross us 
entirely: hither all our desires, cares, and inquiries ought 
to tend. Grace is the way to glory-holiness the way to 
happiness. If men be not righteous, there is no heaven to be 
had: if they be, they shall have heaven and earth too; for 
godliness has the promise of both lives. 1 Tim. vi. 3.

All these things shall be added unto you.] The very blunt 
note of old Mr. Trapp, on this passage, is worthy of serious 
attention. All things shall be added. "They shall be cast in 
as an overplus, or as small advantages to the main bargain; 
as paper and pack-thread are given where we buy spice and 
fruit, or an inch of measure to an ell of cloth." This was a 
very common saying among the Jews: "Seek that, to which other 
things are necessarily connected." "A king said to his 
particular friend, 'Ask what thou wilt, and I will give it 
unto thee.' He thought within himself, 'If I ask to be made a 
general I shall readily obtain it. I will ask something to 
which all these things shall be added:' he therefore said, 
'Give me thy daughter to wife.' This he did knowing that all 
the dignities of the kingdom should be added unto this gift." 
See in Schoettgen.

To this verse, probably, belong the following words, quoted 
often by Clement, Origen, and Eusebius, as the words of 
Christ: aiteite ta megala, kai ta mikra umin prosteqhsetai? 
kai aiteite ta epourania, kai ta epigeia prosteqhsetai umin. 
"Ask great things, and little things shall be added unto you; 
ask heavenly things, and earthly things shall be added unto 
you."

Verse 34. Take therefore no thought] That is, Be not 
therefore anxiously careful.

The eighth and last reason, against this preposterous 
conduct, is-that carking care is not only useless in itself, 
but renders us miserable beforehand. The future falls under 
the cognizance of God alone: we encroach, therefore, upon his 
rights, when we would fain foresee all that may happen to us, 
and secure ourselves from it by our cares. How much good is 
omitted, how many evils caused, how many duties neglected, 
how many innocent persons deserted, how many good works 
destroyed, how many truths suppressed, and how many acts of 
injustice authorized by those timorous forecasts of what may 
happen; and those faithless apprehensions concerning the 
future! Let us do now what God requires of us, and trust the 
consequences to him. The future time which God would have us 
foresee and provide for is that of judgment and eternity: and 
it is about this alone that we are careless! Sufficient unto 
the day is the evil thereof] arketon th hmera h kakia authv, 
Sufficient for each day is its own calamity. Each day has its 
peculiar trials: we should meet them with confidence in God. 
As we should live but a day at a time, so we should take care 
to suffer no more evils in one day than are necessarily 
attached to it. He who neglects the present for the future is 
acting opposite to the order of God, his own interest, and to 
every dictate of sound wisdom. Let us live for eternity, and 
we shall secure all that is valuable in time.

There are many valuable reflections in the Abbe Quesnel's 
work, on this chapter; and from it several of the preceding 
have been derived.

CHAPTER vii

Our Lord warns men against rash judgment and uncharitable 
censures, 1-5. Shows that holy things must not be profaned, 
6; gives encouragement to fervent persevering prayer, 7-11. 
Shows how men should deal with each other, 12. Exhorts the 
people to enter in at the strait gate, 13, 14; to beware of 
false teachers, who are to be known by their fruits, 15-20. 
Shows that no man shall be saved by his mere profession of 
Christianity, however specious, 22, 23. The parable of the 
wise man who built his house upon a rock, 24, 25. Of the 
foolish man who built his house, without a foundation, on the 
sand, 26, 27. Christ concludes his sermon, and the people are 
astonished at his doctrine, 28, 29.

NOTES ON CHAP. vii

Verse 1. Judge not, that ye be not judged.] These 
exhortations are pointed against rash, harsh, and 
uncharitable judgments, the thinking evil, where no evil 
seems, and speaking of it accordingly. The Jews were highly 
criminal here, and yet had very excellent maxims against it, 
as may be seen in Schoettgen. This is one of the most 
important exhortations in the whole of this excellent sermon. 
By a secret and criminal disposition of nature, man 
endeavours to elevate himself above others, and, to do it 
more effectually, depresses them. His jealous and envious 
heart wishes that there may be no good quality found but in 
himself, that he alone may be esteemed. Such is the state of 
every unconverted man; and it is from this criminal 
disposition, that evil surmises, rash judgments, precipitate 
decisions, and all other unjust procedures against our 
neighbour, flow.

Verse 2. For with what judgment] He who is severe on others 
will naturally excite their severity against himself. The 
censures and calumnies which we have suffered are probably 
the just reward of those which we have dealt out to others.

Verse 3. And why beholdest thou the mote] karfov might be 
translated the splinter: for splinter bears some analogy to 
beam, but mote does not. I should prefer this word (which has 
been adopted by some learned men) on the authority of 
Hesychius, who is a host in such matters; karfov, keraia 
xulou lepth, Karphos is a thin piece of wood, a splinter. It 
often happens that the faults which we consider as of the 
first enormity in others are, to our own iniquities, as a 
chip is, when compared to a large beam. On one side, self-
love blinds us to ourselves; and, on the other, envy and 
malice give us piercing eyes in respect of others. When we 
shall have as much zeal to correct ourselves, as we have 
inclination to reprove and correct others, we shall know our 
own defects better than now we know those of our neighbour. 
There is a caution very similar to this of our Lord given by 
a heathen:-Cum tua praevideas oculis mala lippus inunctis: 
Cur in amicorum vitiis tam cernis acutum, Quam aut aquila, 
aut serpens Epidaurius? Hor. Sat. lib. 1. sat. 3. l. 25-27 
"When you can so readily overlook your own wickedness, why 
are you more clear-sighted than the eagle or serpent of 
Epidaurus, in spying out the failings of your friends?" But 
the saying was very common among the Jews, as may be seen in 
Lightfoot.

Verse 4. Or how wilt thou say] That man is utterly unfit to 
show the way of life to others who is himself walking in the 
way of death.

Verse 5. Thou hypocrite] A hypocrite, who professes to be 
what he is not, (viz. a true Christian,) is obliged, for the 
support of the character he has assumed, to imitate all the 
dispositions and actions of a Christian; consequently he must 
reprove sin, and endeavour to show an uncommon affection for 
the glory of God. Our Lord unmasks this vile pretender to 
saintship, and shows him that his hidden hypocrisy, covered 
with the garb of external sanctity, is more abominable in the 
sight of God than the openly professed and practised iniquity 
of the profligate.

In after times, the Jews made a very bad use of this saying: 
"I wonder," said Rabbi Zarphon, "whether there be any in this 
age that will suffer reproof? If one say to another, Cast out 
the mote out of thine eye, he is immediately ready to answer, 
Cast out the beam that is in thine own eye." This proverbial 
mode of speech the Gloss interprets thus: "Cast out? µyoq 
kisim, the mote, that is, the little sin, that is in thy 
hand: to which he answered, Cast out the great sin that is in 
thine. So they could not reprove, because all were sinners." 
See Lightfoot.

Verse 6. Give not that which is holy] to agion, the holy or 
sacred thing; i.e. any thing, especially, of the sacrificial 
kind, which had been consecrated to God. The members of this 
sentence should be transposed thus:-Give not that which is 
holy unto the dogs, Lest they turn again and rend you: 
Neither cast ye your pearls before swine, Lest they trample 
them under their feet The propriety of this transposition is 
self-evident. There are many such transpositions as these, 
both in sacred and profane writers. The following is very 
remarkable:-" I am black but comely; "As the tents of Kedar, 
as the curtains of Solomon." That is, "I am black as the 
tents of Kedar, "Comely as the curtains of Solomon." See many 
proofs of this sort of writing in Mr. WAKEFIELD'S Commentary.

As a general meaning of this passage, we may just say: "The 
sacrament of the Lord's supper, and other holy ordinances 
which are only instituted for the genuine followers of 
Christ, are not to be dispensed to those who are continually 
returning like the snarling ill-natured dog to their easily 
predominant sins of rash judgment, barking at and tearing the 
characters of others by evil speaking, back biting and 
slandering; nor to him who, like the swine, is frequently 
returning to wallow in the mud of sensual gratifications and 
impurities."

Verse 7. Ask-seek-knock] These three words include the ideas 
of want, loss, and earnestness. Ask: turn, beggar at, the 
door of mercy; thou art destitute of all spiritual good, and 
it is God alone who can give it to thee; and thou hast no 
claim but what his mercy has given thee on itself.

Seek: Thou hast lost thy God, thy paradise, thy soul.-Look 
about thee-leave no stone unturned there is no peace, no 
final salvation for thee till thou get thy soul restored to 
the favour and image of God.

Knock: Be in earnest-be importunate: Eternity is at hand! 
and, if thou die in thy sins, where God is thou shalt never 
come.

Ask with confidence and humility.

Seek with care and application.

Knock with earnestness and perseverance.

Verse 8. For every one that asketh receiveth] Prayer is 
always heard after one manner or other. No soul can pray in 
vain that prays as directed above. The truth and faithfulness 
of the Lord Jesus are pledged for its success.-Ye SHALL 
receive-ye SHALL find-it SHALL be opened. These words are as 
strongly binding on the side of God, as thou shalt do no 
murder is on the side of man. Bring Christ's word, and 
Christ's sacrifice with thee, and not one of Heaven's 
blessings can be denied thee. See on "Luke xi. 9".

Verse 9. Or what man is there-whom if his son] Men are 
exhorted to come unto God, with the persuasion that he is a 
most gracious and compassionate Parent, who possesses all 
heavenly and earthly good, knows what is necessary for each 
of his creatures, and is infinitely ready to communicate that 
which they need most.

Will he give him a stone?] Will he not readily give him bread 
if he have it? This was a proverb in other countries; a 
benefit grudgingly given by an avaricious man is called by 
Seneca, panem lapidosum, stony bread. Hence that saying in 
Plautus: Altera manu, fert lapidem, panem ostentat altera.-In 
one hand he brings a stone, and stretches out bread in the 
other.

Verse 11. If ye, then, being evil] ponhroi ontev, who are 
radically and diabolically depraved, yet feel yourselves led, 
by natural affection, to give those things to your children 
which are necessary to support their lives, how much more 
will your Father who is in heaven, whose nature is infinite 
goodness, mercy, and grace, give good things-his grace and 
Spirit (pneuma agton, the Holy Ghost, Luke xi. 13,) to them 
who ask him? What a picture is here given of the goodness of 
God! Reader, ask thy soul, could this heavenly Father 
reprobate to unconditional eternal damnation any creature he 
has made? He who can believe that he has, may believe any 
thing: but still GOD IS LOVE.

Verse 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men-. 
This is a most sublime precept, and highly worthy of the 
grandeur and beneficence of the just God who gave it. The 
general meaning of it is this: "Guided by justice and mercy, 
do unto all men as you would have them to do to you, were 
your circumstances and theirs reversed." Yet this saying may 
be misunderstood. "If the prisoner should ask the judge, 
'whether he would be content to be hanged, were he in his 
case,' he would answer, 'No.' Then, says the prisoner, do as 
you would be done to.-Neither of them must do as private men; 
but the judge must do by him as they have publicly agreed: 
that is, both judge and prisoner have consented to a law, 
that if either of them steal he shall be hanged."-Selden. 
None but he whose heart is filled with love to God and all 
mankind can keep this precept, either in its spirit or 
letter. Self-love will feel itself sadly cramped when brought 
within the limits of this precept; but God hath spoken it: it 
is the spirit and design of the law and the prophets; the sum 
of all that is laid down in the Sacred Writings, relative to 
men's conduct toward each other.

It seems as if God had written it upon the hearts of all men, 
for sayings of this kind may be found among all nations, 
Jewish, Christian, and Heathen. See many examples in 
Wetstein's notes.

Verse 13. Enter ye in at the strait gate] Our saviour seems 
to allude here to the distinction between the public and 
private ways mentioned by the Jewish lawyers. The public 
roads were allowed to be sixteen cubits broad, the private 
ways only four. The words in the original are very emphatic: 
Enter in (to the kingdom of heaven) through THIS strait gate, 
dia thv stenhv pulhv, i.e. of doing to every one as you would 
he should do unto you; for this alone seems to be the strait 
gate which our Lord alludes to.

For wide is the gate] And very broad, eurucwrov, from euruv, 
broad, and cwrov, a place, a spacious roomy place, that 
leadeth forward, apagousa, into THAT destruction, eiv thn 
apwleian, meaning eternal misery; intimating, that it is much 
more congenial, to the revengeful, covetous heart of fallen 
man, to take every advantage of another, and to enrich 
himself at his expense, rather than to walk according to the 
rule laid down before, by our blessed Lord, and that acting 
contrary to it is the way to everlasting misery. With those 
who say it means repentance, and forsaking sin, I can have no 
controversy. That is certainly a gate, and a strait one too, 
through which every sinner must turn to God, in order to find 
salvation. But the doing to every one as we would they should 
do unto us, is a gate extremely strait, and very difficult, 
to every unregenerate mind.

Verse 14. Because strait is the gate] Instead of oti because, 
I should prefer ti how, which reading is supported by a great 
majority of the best MSS., versions, and fathers. How strait 
is that gate! This mode of expression more forcibly points 
out the difficulty of the way to the kingdom. How strange is 
it that men should be unwilling to give up their worldly 
interests to secure their everlasting salvation! And yet no 
interest need be abandoned, but that which is produced by 
injustice and unkindness. Reason, as well as God, says, such 
people should be excluded from a place of blessedness. He who 
shows no mercy (and much more he who shows no justice) shall 
have judgment without mercy. James ii. 13.

Few there be that find it.] The strait gate, stenh pulh, 
signifies literally what we call a wicket, i.e. a little door 
in a large gate. Gate, among the Jews, signifies, 
metaphorically, the entrance, introduction, or means of 
acquiring any thing. So they talk of the gate of repentance, 
the gate of prayers, and the gate of tears. When God, say 
they, shut the gate of paradise against Adam, He opened to 
him the gate of repentance. The way to the kingdom of God is 
made sufficiently manifest-the completest assistance is 
promised in the way, and the greatest encouragement to 
persevere to the end is held out in the everlasting Gospel. 
But men are so wedded to their own passions, and so 
determined to follow the imaginations of their own hearts, 
that still it may be said: There are few who find the way to 
heaven; fewer yet who abide any time in it; fewer still who 
walk in it; and fewest of all who persevere unto the end. 
Nothing renders this way either narrow or difficult to any 
person, but sin. Let all the world leave their sins, and all 
the world may walk abreast in this good way.

Verse 15. Beware of false prophets] By false prophets we are 
to understand teachers of erroneous doctrines, who come 
professing a commission from God, but whose aim is not to 
bring the heavenly treasure to the people, but rather to rob 
them of their earthly good. Teachers who preach for hire, 
having no motive to enter into the ministry but to get a 
living, as it is ominously called by some, however they may 
bear the garb and appearance of the innocent useful sheep, 
the true pastors commissioned by the Lord Jesus, or to 
whatever name, class or party they may belong, are, in the 
sight of the heart-searching God, no other than ravenous 
wolves, whose design is to feed themselves with the fat, and 
clothe themselves with the fleece, and thus ruin, instead of 
save, the flock.

Verse 16. Ye shall know them by their fruits.] Fruits, in the 
Scripture and Jewish phraseology, are taken for works of any 
kind. "A man's works," says one, "are the tongue of his 
heart, and tell honestly whether he is inwardly corrupt or 
pure." By these works you may distinguish (epignwsesqe) these 
ravenous wolves from true pastors. The judgment formed of a 
man by his general conduct is a safe one: if the judgment be 
not favourable to the person, that is his fault, as you have 
your opinion of him from his works, i.e. the confession of 
his own heart.

Verse 17. So every good tree] As the thorn can only produce 
thorns, not grapes; and the thistle, not figs, but prickles; 
so an unregenerate heart will produce fruits of degeneracy. 
As we perfectly know that a good tree will not produce bad 
fruit, and the bad tree will not, cannot produce good fruit, 
so we know that the profession of godliness, while the life 
is ungodly, is imposture, hypocrisy, and deceit. A man cannot 
be a saint and a sinner at the same time. Let us remember, 
that as the good tree means a good heart, and the good fruit, 
a holy life, and that every heart is naturally vicious; so 
there is none but God who can pluck up the vicious tree, 
create a good heart, plant, cultivate, water, and make it 
continually fruitful in righteousness and true holiness.

Verse 18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit] Love to 
God and man is the root of the good tree; and from this 
principle all its fruit is found. To teach, as some have 
done, that a state of salvation may be consistent with the 
greatest crimes, (such as murder and adultery in David,) or 
that the righteous necessarily sin in all their best works, 
is really to make the good tree bring forth bad fruit, and to 
give the lie to the Author of eternal truth.

Verse 19. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit] What 
a terrible sentence is this against Christless pastors, and 
Christless hearers! Every tree that produceth not good fruit, 
ekkoptetai, is to be now cut down; the act of excision is now 
taking place: the curse of the Lord is even now on the head 
and the heart of every false teacher, and impenitent hearer.

Verse 20. Wherefore by their fruits, &c.] This truth is often 
repeated, because our eternal interests depend so much upon 
it. Not to have good fruit is to have evil: there can be no 
innocent sterility in the invisible tree of the heart. He 
that brings forth no fruit, and he that brings forth bad 
fruit, are both only fit for the fire.

Verse 21. Not every one] ou pav, a Hebraism, say some, for no 
person.

It is a Graecism and a Latinism too: ou pantwn qewn, not ALL 
of the gods, i.e. not ANY of the gods, HOM. Odyss. Z. 240. So 
TERENCE Sine omni periclo, without ALL danger, i.e. without 
ANY danger. And JUVENAL: Sine omni labe, without ALL 
imperfection, i.e. without ANY. See more in Mr. Wakefield. 
The sense of this verse seems to be this: No person, by 
merely acknowledging my authority, believing in the Divinity 
of my nature, professing faith in the perfection of my 
righteousness, and infinite merit of my atonement, shall 
enter into the kingdom of heaven-shall have any part with God 
in glory; but he who doeth the will of my Father-he who gets 
the bad tree rooted up, the good tree planted, and continues 
to bring forth fruit to the glory and praise of God. There is 
a good saying among the rabbins on this subject. "A man 
should be as vigorous as a panther, as swift as an eagle, as 
fleet as a stag, and as strong as a lion, to do the will of 
his Creator."

Verse 22. Many will say to me in that day] ekeinh th hmera, 
in that very day, viz. the day of judgment-have we not 
prophesied, taught, publicly preached, in thy name; 
acknowledging thee to be the only saviour, and proclaiming 
thee as such to others; cast out demons, impure spirits, who 
had taken possession of the bodies of men; done many 
miracles, being assisted by supernatural agency to invert 
even the course of nature, and thus prove the truth of the 
doctrine we preached? 

Verse 23. Will I profess] omologhsw, I will fully and plainly 
tell them, I never knew you-I never approved of you; for so 
the word is used in many places, both in the Old and New 
Testaments. You held the truth in unrighteousness, while you 
preached my pure and holy doctrine; and for the sake of my 
own truth, and through my love to the souls of men, I blessed 
your preaching; but yourselves I could never esteem, because 
you were destitute of the spirit of my Gospel, unholy in your 
hearts, and unrighteous in your conduct. Alas! alas! how many 
preachers are there who appear prophets in their pulpits; how 
many writers, and other evangelical workmen, the miracles of 
whose labour, learning, and doctrine, we admire, who are 
nothing, and worse than nothing, before God, because they 
perform not his will, but their own? What an awful 
consideration, that a man of eminent gifts, whose talents are 
a source of public utility, should be only as a way-mark or 
finger-post in the way to eternal bliss, pointing out the 
road to others, without walking in it himself! Depart from 
me] What a terrible word! What a dreadful separation! Depart 
from ME! from the very Jesus whom you have proclaimed in 
union with whom alone eternal life is to be found. For, 
united to Christ, all is heaven; separated from him, all is 
hell.

Verse 24. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine] 
That is, the excellent doctrines laid down before in this and 
the two preceding chapters. There are several parables or 
similitudes like to this in the rabbins. I shall quote but 
the two following:-Rabbi Eleasar said, "The man whose 
knowledge exceeds his works, to whom is he like? He is like a 
tree which had many branches, and only a few roots; and, when 
the stormy winds came, it was plucked up and eradicated. But 
he whose good works are greater than his knowledge, to what 
is he like? He is like a tree which had few branches, and 
many roots; so that all the winds of heaven could not move it 
from its place." Pirke Aboth.

Elisha, the son of Abuja, said, "The man who studies much in 
the law, and maintains good works, is like to a man who built 
a house, laying stones at the foundation, and building brick 
upon them; and, though many waters come against it, they 
cannot move it from its place. But the man who studies much 
in the law, and does not maintain good words, is like to a 
man who, in building his house, put brick at the foundation, 
and laid stones upon them, so that even gentle waters shall 
overthrow that house." Aboth Rab. Nath.

Probably our Lord had this or some parable in his eye: but 
how amazingly improved in passing through his hands! In our 
Lord's parable there is dignity, majesty, and point, which we 
seek for in vain in the Jewish archetype.

I will liken him unto a wise man] To a prudent man-andri 
fronimw, to a prudent man, a man of sense and understanding, 
who, foreseeing the evil hideth himself, who proposes to 
himself the best end, and makes use of the proper means to 
accomplish it. True wisdom consists in getting the building 
of our salvation completed: to this end we must build on the 
Rock, CHRIST JESUS, and make the building firm, by keeping 
close to the maxims of his Gospel, and having our tempers and 
lives conformed to its word and spirit; and when, in order to 
this, we lean on nothing but the grace of Christ, we then 
build upon a solid rock.

Verse 25. And the rain descended-floods came-winds blew] In 
Judea, and in all countries in the neighbourhood of the 
tropics, the rain sometimes falls in great torrents, 
producing rivers, which sweep away the soil from the rocky 
hills; and the houses, which are built of brick only dried in 
the sun, of which there are whole villages in the east, 
literally melt away before those rains, and the land-floods 
occasioned by them. There are three general kinds of trials 
to which the followers of God are exposed; and to which, some 
think, our Lord alludes here: First, those of temporal 
afflictions, coming in the course of Divine Providence: these 
may be likened to the torrents of rain. Secondly, those which 
come from the passions of men, and which may be likened to 
the impetuous rivers.

Thirdly, those which come from Satan and his angels, and 
which, like tempestuous whirlwinds, threaten to carry every 
thing before them. He alone, whose soul is built on the Rock 
of ages, stands all these shocks; and not only stands in, but 
profits by them.

Verse 26. And every one that heareth-and doeth them not] Was 
there ever a stricter system of morality delivered by God to 
man, than in this sermon? He who reads or hears it, and does 
not look to God to conform his soul and life to it, and 
notwithstanding is hoping to enter into the kingdom of 
heaven, is like the fool who built his house on the sand. 
When the rain, the rivers, and the winds come, his building 
must fall, and his soul be crushed into the nethermost pit by 
its ruins. Talking about Christ, his righteousness, merits, 
and atonement, while the person is not conformed to his word 
and spirit, is no other than solemn self-deception.

Let it be observed, that it is not the man who hears or 
believes these sayings of Christ, whose building shall stand, 
when the earth and its works are burnt up; but the man who 
DOES them.

Many suppose that the law of Moses is abolished, merely 
because it is too strict, and impossible to be observed; and 
that the Gospel was brought in to liberate us from its 
obligations; but let all such know, that in the whole of the 
old covenant nothing can be found so exceedingly strict and 
holy as this sermon, which Christ lays down as the rule by 
which we are to walk. "Then, the fulfilling of these precepts 
is the purchase of glory." No, it is the WAY only to that 
glory which has already been purchased by the blood of the 
Lamb. To him that believes, all things are possible.

Verse 27. And the rain descended, and the floods came, &c.] A 
fine illustration of this may be seen in the case of the 
fishermen in Bengal, who, in the dry season, build their huts 
on the beds of sand from which the rivers had retired: but 
when the rain sets in suddenly; as it often does, accompanied 
with violent northwest winds, and the waters pour down in 
torrents from the mountains; in one night, multitudes of 
these buildings are swept away, and the place where they 
stood is on the next morning indiscoverable.

Verse 28. The people were astonished] oi ocloi, the 
multitudes; for vast crowds attended the ministry of this 
most popular and faithful of all preachers. They were 
astonished at his doctrine. They heard the law defined in 
such a manner as they had never thought of before; and this 
sacred system of morality urged home on their consciences 
with such clearness and authority as they had never felt 
under the teaching of their scribes and Pharisees. Here is 
the grand difference between the teaching of scribes and 
Pharisees, the self-created or men-made ministers, and those 
whom GOD sends. The first may preach what is called very good 
and very sound doctrine; but it comes with no authority from 
God to the souls of the people: therefore, the unholy is 
unholy still; because preaching can only be effectual to the 
conversion of men, when the unction of the Holy Spirit is in 
it; and as these are not sent by the Lord, therefore they 
shall not profit the people at all. Jer. xxiii. 32.

From one of the royal household of George III., I have 
received the following anecdote:-The late Bishop F. of 
Salisbury having procured a young man of promising abilities 
to preach before the king, and the young man having, to his 
lordship's apprehension, acquitted himself well, the Bishop, 
in conversation with the king afterwards, wishing to get the 
king's opinion, took the liberty to say, "Does not your 
majesty think that the young man who had the honour to preach 
before your majesty, is likely to make a good clergyman, and 
has this morning delivered a very good sermon?" To which the 
king, in his blunt manner, hastily replied, "It might have 
been a good sermon, my lord, for aught I know; but I consider 
no sermon good that has nothing of Christ in it!"

Verse 29. Having authority] They felt a commanding power and 
authority in his word, i.e. his doctrine. His statements were 
perspicuous; his exhortations persuasive; his doctrine sound 
and rational; and his arguments irresistible. These they 
never felt in the trifling teachings of their most celebrated 
doctors, who consumed their own time, and that of their 
disciples and hearers, with frivolous cases of conscience, 
ridiculous distinctions, and puerile splittings of 
controversial hairs-questions not calculated to minister 
grace to the hearers.

Several excellent MSS. and almost all the ancient versions 
read, kai oi farisaioi, and the Pharisees. He taught them as 
one having authority, like the most eminent and distinguished 
teacher, and not as the scribes and Pharisees, who had no 
part of that unction which he in its plenitude possessed. 
Thus ends a sermon the most strict, pure, holy, profound, and 
sublime, ever delivered to man; and yet so amazingly simple 
is the whole that almost a child may apprehend it! Lord! 
write all these thy sayings upon our hearts, we beseech thee! 
Amen.

CHAPTER viii

Great multitudes follow Christ, 1. He heals a leper, 2-4. 
Heals the centurion's servant, 5-13. Heals Peter's wife's 
mother, 14, 15; and several other diseased persons, 16, 17. 
Departs from that place, 18. Two persons offer to be his 
disciples, 19-22. He and his disciples are overtaken with a 
tempest, which he miraculously stills, 23-27. He cures 
demoniacs, and the demons which went out enter into a herd of 
swine, which, rushing into the sea, perish, 28-32. The swine-
herds announce the miracle to the Gergesenes, who request 
Christ to depart from their country, 33, 34.

NOTES ON CHAP. viii

Verse 1. From the mountain] That mountain on which he had 
delivered the preceding inimitable sermon.

Great multitudes followed him.] Having been deeply impressed 
with the glorious doctrines which they had just heard.

Verse 2. And, behold, there came a leper] The leprosy lepra, 
from lepiv, a scale, was an inveterate cutaneous disease, 
appearing in dry, thin, white scurfy scales or scabs, either 
on the whole body, or on some part of it, usually attended 
with violent itching, and often with great pain. The eastern 
leprosy was a distemper of the most loathsome kind, highly 
contagious, so as to infect garments, (Lev. xiii. 47, &c.,) 
and houses, (Lev. xiv. 34, &c.,) and was deemed incurable by 
any human means.

Among the Jews, GOD alone was applied to for its removal; and 
the cure was ever attributed to his sovereign power.

The various symptoms of this dreadful disorder, which was a 
striking emblem of sin, may be seen in Lev. xiii. xiv. , 
where also may be read the legal ordinances concerning it; 
which, as on the one hand, they set forth how odious sin is 
to God, so, on the other, they represent the cleansing of our 
pollutions by the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ, by 
the sprinkling and application of his blood, and by the 
sanctifying and healing influences of the Holy Spirit.

The Greek name lepra, seems to have been given to this 
distemper, on account of the thin, white SCALES (lepidev) 
with which the bodies of the leprous were sometimes so 
covered as to give them the appearance of snow, Exod. iv. 6; 
Num. xii. 10; 2 Kings v. 27.

Herodotus, lib. 1, mentions this disorder as existing, in his 
time, among the Persians. He calls it leukhn, the white scab; 
and says, that those who were affected with it were 
prohibited from mingling with the other citizens; and so 
dreadful was this malady esteemed among them that they 
considered it a punishment on the person, from their great 
god, the sun, for some evil committed against him. Dr. Mead 
mentions a remarkable case of this kind which came under his 
own observation. "A countryman whose whole body was so 
miserably seized with it that his skin was shining as covered 
with flakes of snow, and as the furfuraceous or bran-like 
scales were daily rubbed off, the flesh appeared quick or raw 
underneath." See the doctor's Medica Sacra, chap. 2. It was 
probably on account of its tendency to produce this disorder, 
in that warm climate, that God forbade the use of swine's 
flesh to the Jews. Feeding on this crude aliment, in union 
with the intemperate use of ardent spirits, is, in all 
likelihood, the grand cause of the scurvy, which is so common 
in the British nations, and which would probably assume the 
form and virulence of a leprosy, were our climate as hot as 
that of Judea. See the notes on "Exod. iv. 6", and on 
Leviticus 13: and 14.

Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.] As this leper 
may be considered as a fit emblem of the corruption of man by 
sin; so may his cure, of the redemption of the soul by 
Christ. A sinner, truly penitent, seeks God with a respectful 
faith; approaches him in the spirit of adoration; humbles 
himself under his mighty hand, acknowledging the greatness of 
his fall, and the vileness of his sin; his prayer, like that 
of the leper, should be humble, plain, and full of confidence 
in that God who can do all things, and of dependence upon his 
will or mercy, from which all good must be derived. It is 
peculiar to God that he need only will what he intends to 
perform. His power is his will. The ability of God to do what 
is necessary to be done, and his willingness to make his 
creatures happy, should be deeply considered by all those who 
approach him in prayer. The leper had no doubt of the former, 
but he was far from being equally satisfied in respect of the 
latter.

Verse 3. Jesus put forth his hand-I will; be thou clean.] The 
most sovereign authority is assumed in this speech of our 
blessed Lord-I WILL: there is here no supplication of any 
power superior to his own; and the event proved to the 
fullest conviction, and by the clearest demonstration, that 
his authority was absolute, and his power unlimited. Be thou 
cleansed, kaqarisqhti; a single word is enough.

And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.] What an 
astonishing sight! A man whose whole body was covered over 
with the most loathsome disease, cleansed from it in a moment 
of time! Was it possible for any soul to resist the evidence 
of this fact? This action of Christ is a representation of 
that invisible hand which makes itself felt by the most 
insensible heart; of that internal word which makes itself 
heard by the most deaf; and of that supreme will which works 
every thing according to its own counsel.

Verse 4. Jesus saith-See thou tell no man] Had our Lord, at 
this early period, fully manifested himself as the Messiah, 
the people in all likelihood would have proclaimed him King; 
this, however, refused by him, must have excited the hatred 
of the Jewish rulers, and the jealousy of the Roman 
government; and, speaking after the manner of men, his 
farther preachings and miracles must have been impeded. This 
alone seems to be the reason why he said to the leper, See 
thou tell no man.

Show thyself to the priest] This was to conform to the law 
instituted in this case, Lev. xiv. 1, &c.

Offer the gift] This gift was two living, clean birds, some 
cedar wood, with scarlet and hyssop, Lev. xiv. 4, which were 
to be brought for his cleansing; and, when clean, two he 
lambs, one ewe lamb, three tenth deals of flour, and one log 
of oil, Leviticus xiv. 10; but if the person was poor, then 
he was to bring one lamb, one tenth deal of flour, one log of 
oil and two turtle doves, or young pigeons, Lev. xiv. 21, 22. 
See the notes on Leviticus 14.

Now all this was to be done for a testimony to them; to prove 
that this leper, who was doubtless well known in the land, 
had been thoroughly cleansed; and thus, in this private way, 
to give full proof to the priesthood that Jesus was the true 
Messiah. The Jewish rabbins allowed that curing the lepers 
should be a characteristic of the Messiah; (see Bishop 
Chandler's Vindication;) therefore the obstinacy of the 
priests, &c., in rejecting Christ, was utterly inexcusable.

Verse 5. Capernaum] See "chap. iv. 13".

A centurion] ekatontarcov. A Roman military officer who had 
the command of one hundred men.

Verse 6. Lord] Rather, Sir, for so the word kurie should 
always be translated when a Roman is the speaker.

Lieth at home] beblhtai, lieth all along; intimating that the 
disease had reduced him to a state of the utmost impotence, 
through the grievous torments with which it was accompanied.

Sick of the palsy] Or paralytic. See "chap. iv. 24". This 
centurion did not act as many masters do when their servants 
are afflicted, have them immediately removed to an infirmary, 
often to a work-house; or sent home to friends or relatives, 
who probably either care nothing for them, or are unable to 
afford them any of the comforts of life. In case of a 
contagious disorder, it may be necessary to remove an 
infected person to such places as are best calculated to cure 
the distemper, and prevent the spread of the contagion. But, 
in all common cases, the servant should be considered as a 
child, and receive the same friendly attention. If, by a 
hasty, unkind, and unnecessary removal, the servant die, are 
not the master and mistress murderers before God?

Verse 7. I will come and heal him.] egw eloqwn qerapeusw 
auton, I am coming, and will heal him. This saying is worthy 
of observation. Jesus did not positively say, I will came and 
heal him; this could not have been strictly true, because our 
Lord healed him without going to the house: and the issue 
shows that the words ought to be taken in the most literal 
sense: thus understood, they contained a promise which it 
seems none of them distinctly comprehended. Foreseeing the 
exercise of the centurion's faith, he promises that while he 
is coming, ere he arrives at the house, he will heal him, and 
this was literally done, ver. 13. There is much beauty in 
this passage.

Verse 8. But speak the word only] Or instead of eipe logon 
read eipe logw, speak by word or command. This reading is 
supported by the most extensive evidence from MSS., versions, 
and fathers. See here the pattern of that living faith and 
genuine humility which ought always to accompany the prayer 
of a sinner: Jesus can will away the palsy, and speak away 
the most grievous torments. The first degree of humility is 
to acknowledge the necessity of God's mercy, and our own 
inability to help ourselves: the second, to confess the 
freeness of his grace, and our own utter unworthiness. 
Ignorance, unbelief, and presumption will ever retard our 
spiritual cure.

Verse 9. For I am a man under authority] That is, under the 
authority of others. This verse has given considerable 
embarrassment to commentators and critics. I believe the 
paraphrase given above to be the true meaning of the 
evangelist. To make this matter more plain, let it be 
observed, that the Roman foot was divided into three grand 
parts, Hastati, Principes, and Triarii. Each of these grand 
divisions was composed of thirty manipuli or companies; and 
every manipulus made two centuries or companies of one 
hundred men. Every manipulus had two centurions; but these 
were very far from being equal in rank and honour, though 
possessing the very same office. The Triarii and Principes 
were esteemed the most honourable, and had their centurions 
elected first; and these first elected centurions took 
precedency of the centurions of the Hastati, who were elected 
last. The centurion in the text was probably one of this last 
order; he was under the authority of either the Principes or 
Triarii, and had none under him but the hundred men whom he 
commanded, and who appear to have been in a state of the most 
loving subjection to him. The argument of the centurion seems 
to run thus. If I, who am a person subject to the control of 
others, yet have some so completely subject to myself, that I 
can say to one, Come, and he cometh, to another, Go, and he 
goeth, and to my slave (tw doulw mou) Do this, and he doeth 
it; how much more then canst thou accomplish whatsoever thou 
willest, being under no control, and having all things under 
thy command: He makes a proper use of his authority, who, by 
it, raises his mind to the contemplation of the sovereign 
power of God, taking occasion from it to humble himself 
before Him who has all power in heaven and earth, and to 
expect all good from him.

There are two beautiful passages in Arrian that tend much to 
illustrate this speech of the centurion. katatageiv 
agamemnwn, legei moi, poreuou prov ton acillea, kai apospason 
thn brishida, poreuomai.

ercou, ercomai. "He who personates Agamemnon says to me, Go 
to Achilles, and bring hither Briseis: I go. He says, Come 
hither: I come." Dissert. l. i. c. 25. p. 97.

otan o qeov eiph toiv futoiv anqein, anqei. otan eiph 
blastanein, blastanei. otan ekferein ton karpon, ekferei. 
otan pepainein, pepainei. otan palin apoballein, kai 
fullorroein, kai auta eiv auta suneiloumena efĘ hsuciav 
menein, kai anapauesqai, menei kai anapauetai. "When God 
commands the plants to blossom, they bear blossoms. When he 
commands them to bear seed, they bear seed.

When he commands them to bring forth fruit, they put forth 
their fruits.

When he commands them to ripen, they grow ripe. When he 
commands them to fade, and shed their leaves, and remain 
inactive, involved in themselves, they thus remain, and are 
inactive." Cap. 14. p. 62. See Raphelius.

This mode of speech fully marks supreme and uncontrolled 
power, and that power put forth by a sovereign will to effect 
any purpose of justice or mercy. And God said, let there be 
light, and there was light, is a similar expression.

Verse 10. I have not found so great faith, no, not in 
Israel.] That is, I have not found so great an instance of 
confidence and faith in my power, even among the Jews, as 
this Roman, a Gentile, has shown himself to possess.

From Luke vii. 5, where it is said of this centurion, "he 
loved our nation, and has built us a synagogue," we may infer 
that this man was like the centurion mentioned Acts x. 1; a 
devout Gentile, a proselyte of the gate, one who believed in 
the God of Israel, without conforming to the Jewish ritual or 
receiving circumcision. Though the military life is one of 
the most improper nurses for the Christian religion, yet in 
all nations there have been found several instances of 
genuine humility, and faith in God, even in soldiers; and 
perhaps never more, in the British military, than at present, 
A. D. 1831.

Verse 11. Many shall come from the east and west] Men of 
every description, of all countries, and of all professions; 
and shall sit down, that is, to meat, for this is the proper 
meaning of anakliqhsontai, intimating the recumbent posture 
used by the easterns at their meals. The rabbins represent 
the blessedness of the kingdom of God under the notion of a 
banquet. See several proofs of this in Schoettgenius. This 
was spoken to soften the unreasonable prejudices of the Jews, 
which they entertained against the Gentiles, and to prepare 
them to receive their brethren of mankind into religious 
fellowship with themselves, under the Christian dispensation.

With Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob] In the closest communion 
with the most eminent followers of God. But if we desire to 
inherit the promises, we must be followers of them who 
through faith and patience enjoy them. Let us therefore 
imitate Abraham in his faith, Isaac in his obedience unto 
death, and Jacob in his hope and expectation of good things 
to come, amidst all the evils of this life, if we desire to 
reign with them.

Verse 12. Shall be cast out into outer darkness] As the 
enjoyment of that salvation which Jesus Christ calls the 
kingdom of heaven is here represented under the notion of a 
nuptial festival, at which the guests sat down in a reclining 
posture, with the master of the feast; so the state of those 
who were excluded from the banquet is represented as deep 
darkness; because the nuptial solemnities took place at 
night. Hence, at those suppers, the house of reception was 
filled with lights called dadev, lampadev, lukneia, fanoi, 
torches, lamps, candles, and lanthorns, by Athenaeus and 
Plutarch: so they who were admitted to the banquet had the 
benefit of the light; but they who were shut out were in 
darkness, called here outer darkness, i.e. the darkness on 
the outside of the house in which the guests were; which must 
appear more abundantly gloomy, when compared with the 
profusion of light within the guest-chamber. And because they 
who were shut out were not only exposed to shame, but also to 
hunger and cold; therefore it is added, there shall be 
weeping and gnashing of teeth. As these feasts are often 
alluded to by the evangelists, I would observe, once for 
all:-that they who were invited to them entered by a gate 
designed to receive them; whence Christ, by whom we enter 
into the marriage feast, compares himself to a gate, John x. 
1, 2, 7, 9. This gate, at the time the guests were to come, 
was made narrow, the wicket only being left open, and the 
porter standing there, that they who were not bidden to the 
marriage might not rush into it. Hence Christ exhorts the 
Jews to enter in at the strait gate, chap. vii. 13, &c. When 
all that were invited were once come, the door was presently 
shut, and was not to be opened to any who came too late, and 
stood knocking without; so after the wise virgins had entered 
with the bridegroom, the gate was shut, and was not opened to 
the foolish virgins, who stood knocking without, chap. xxv. 
11. And in this sense we are to understand the words of 
Christ, Luke xiii. 24, 25.

Many shall seek to enter in, but shall not be able. Why? 
because the master of the house hath risen up and shut to the 
door; they would not come to him when they might, and now the 
day of probation is ended, and they must be judged according 
to the deeds done in the body. See Whitby on the place. How 
many of those who are called Christians suffer the kingdom, 
the graces, and the salvation which they had in their hands, 
to be lost; while West-India negroes, American Indians, 
Hindoo polytheists, and atheistic Hottentots obtain 
salvation! An eternity of darkness, fears, and pains, for 
comparatively a moment of sensual gratification, how terrible 
the thought! What outer darkness, or to skotov to exwteron, 
that darkness, that which is outermost, may refer to, in 
eternal damnation, is hard to say: what it alludes to I have 
already mentioned: but as the words brugmov twn odontwn, 
gnashing or CHATTERING of teeth, convey the idea, not only of 
extreme anguish, but of extreme cold; some have imagined that 
the punishment of the damned consists in sudden transitions 
from extreme heat to extreme cold; the extremes of both I 
have found to produce exactly the same sensation.

MILTON happily describes this in the following inimitable 
verses, which a man can scarcely read, even at midsummer, 
without shivering.

Beyond this flood a frozen continent Lies dark and wild, heat 
with perpetual storms Of whirlwind and dire hail - the 
parching air Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of 
fire Thither by harpy-footed furies haled, At certain 
revolutions all the damn'd Are brought; and feel by turns the 
bitter change Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more 
fierce, From beds of raging fire, to starve in ice, - and 
there to pine Immovable, infix'd, and frozen round Periods of 
time; thence hurried back to fire Parad. Lost, book ii. line 
586 There is a passage in the Vulgate, Job xxiv. 19, that 
might have helped Milton to this idea. Ad nimium calorem 
transeat ab aquis nivium. "Let him pass to excessive heat, 
from waters of snow." This reading, which is found only in 
this form in the Vulgate, is vastly expressive. Every body 
knows that snow water feels colder than snow itself, even 
when both are of the same temperature, viz. 32, because the 
human body, when in contact with snow water, cools quicker 
than when in contact with snow. Another of our poets has 
given us a most terrible description of perdition on the same 
ground.

The once pamper'd spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to 
reside In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice; To be 
imprison'd in the viewless winds, And blown with restless 
violence round about This pendant world; or to be worse than 
worst Of those that lawless and incertain thoughts Imagine - 
Similar to this is that dreadful description of the torments 
of the wicked given in the Institutes of Menu: "The wicked 
shall have a sensation of agony in Tamisra, or utter 
darkness, and in other seats of horror; in Asipatrauana, or 
the sword-leaved forest, and in different places of binding 
fast, and of rending: multifarious tortures await them: they 
shall be mangled by ravens and owls, and shall swallow cakes 
boiling hot, and shall walk over inflamed sands, and shall 
feel the pangs of being baked like the vessels of a potter: 
they shall assume the forms of beasts continually miserable, 
and suffer alternate afflictions from extremities of cold and 
heat; surrounded with terrors of various kinds. They shall 
have old age without resource; diseases attended with 
anguish; pangs of innumerable sorts, and, lastly, 
unconquerable death." Institutes of MENU, chap. 12. Inst. 75-
80.

In the Zend Avesta, the place of wicked spirits is termed, 
"The places of darkness, the germs of the thickest darkness." 
An uncommonly significant expression: Darkness has its birth 
there: there are its seeds and buds, there it vegetates 
everlastingly, and its eternal fruit is-darkness! See Zend 
Avesta, vol. i. Vendidad sadi, Fargard. xviii. p. 412.

And is this, or, any thing as bad as this, HELL? Yes, and 
worse than the worst of all that has already been mentioned. 
Hear Christ himself. There their worm dieth not, and the fire 
is NOT QUENCHED! Great God! save the reader from this 
damnation! 

Verse 13. As thou hast believed; so be it done] Let the mercy 
thou requestest be equal to the faith thou hast brought to 
receive it by.

ACCORDING to thy faith be it done unto thee, is a general 
measure of God's dealings with mankind. To get an increase of 
faith is to get an increase of every grace which constitutes 
the mind that was in Jesus, and prepares fully for the 
enjoyment of the kingdom of God. God is the same in the 
present time which he was in ancient days; and miracles of 
healing may be wrought on our own bodies and souls, and on 
those of others, by the instrumentality of our faith. But, 
alas! where is faith to be found! And his servant was healed 
in the selfsame hour.] en th wra ekeinh, in that very hour. 
Faith is never exercised in the power and goodness of God 
till it is needed; and, when it is exercised, God works the 
miracle of healing. Christ never says, Believe now for a 
salvation which thou now needest, and I will give it to thee 
in some future time. That salvation which is expected through 
works or sufferings must of necessity be future, as there 
must be time to work or suffer in; but the salvation which is 
by faith must be for the present moment, for this simple 
reason, IT IS BY FAITH, that God may be manifested and 
honoured; and not by works or by sufferings, lest any man 
should boast. To say that, though it is of faith, yet it may; 
and, must in many cases, be delayed, (though the person is 
coming in the most genuine humility, deepest contrition, and 
with the liveliest faith in the blood of the Lamb,) is to say 
that there is still something necessary to be done, either on 
the part of the person, or on the part of God, in order to 
procure it; neither of which positions has any truth in it.

Verse 14. Peter's house] That Peter lived at Capernaum, and 
that Christ lodged with him, is fully evident from this verse 
compared with chap. xvii. 24.

Peter's-wife's mother] Learn hence, says Theophylact, that 
marriage is no hinderance to virtue, since the chief of the 
apostles had his wife.

Marriage is one of the first of Divine institutions, and is a 
positive command of God. He says, the state of celibacy is 
not GOOD, Gen. ii. 18. Those who pretend to say that the 
single state is more holy than the other slander their Maker, 
and say in effect, "We are too holy to keep the commandments 
of God."

Verse 15. He touched her hand] Can any thing on this side the 
unlimited power of God effect such a cure with only a touch? 
If the Scriptures had not spoken of the divinity of Christ, 
these proofs of his power must have demonstrated it to the 
common sense of every man whose creed had not previously 
blinded him.

Ministered unto them.] autoiv, them, is the reading of most 
of the printed editions, but autw, to him, has the utmost 
evidence in its support from MSS., versions, and fathers. 
Serving Christ in his ordinances and in his members is the 
best proof we can give to others of our being soundly 
restored to spiritual health.

Verse 16. When the even was come] The Jews kept their sabbath 
from evening to evening, according to the law, Lev. xxiii. 
32, From evening to evening shall ye celebrate your sabbath. 
And the rabbins say, The sabbath doth not enter but when the 
sun is set. Hence it was that the sick were not brought out 
to our Lord till after sun-set, because then the sabbath was 
ended.

Many that were possessed with devils] Dr. Lightfoot gives two 
sound reasons why Judea, in our Lord's time, abounded with 
demoniacs. First, Because they were then advanced to the very 
height of impiety. See what Josephus, their own historian, 
says of them: There was not (said he) a nation under heaven 
more wicked than they were. See on "Rom. i. 1".

Secondly, Because they were then strongly addicted to magic, 
and so, as it were, invited evil spirits to be familiar with 
them. It seems strange to find men at this distance of time 
questioning the truth of that which neither scribes nor 
Pharisees then doubted; nor did they ever object against the 
pretensions of Christ and his apostles to cast them out. And, 
if the whole business of demonism had been only a vulgar 
error, (as wise men now tell us,) what a fine opportunity had 
the wise men then, to unmask the whole matter, and thus pour 
contempt on the pretensions of our blessed Lord and his 
followers, who held it to be one proof of their Divine 
mission, that demons were subject to them! And healed all 
that were sick] Not a soul did the Lord Jesus ever reject, 
who came to him soliciting his aid. Need any sinner despair 
who comes to him, conscious of his spiritual malady, to be 
healed by his merciful hand?

Verse 17. Himself took our infirmities] The quotation is 
taken from Isa. liii. 4, where the verb asn nasa signifies to 
bear sin, so as to make atonement for it. And the rabbins 
understand this place to speak of the sufferings of the 
Messiah for the sins of Israel; and say that all the 
diseases, all the griefs, and all the punishments due to 
Israel shall be borne by him. See Synopsis Sohar. Christ 
fulfils the prophecies in all respects, and is himself the 
completion and truth of them, as being the lamb and victim of 
God, which, bears and takes away the sin of the world. The 
text in Isaiah refers properly to the taking away of sin; and 
this in the evangelist, to the removal of corporeal 
afflictions: but, as the diseases of the body are the emblems 
of the sin of the soul, Matthew, referring to the prediction 
of the prophet, considered the miraculous healing of the body 
as an emblem of the soul's salvation by Christ Jesus.

Verse 18. Unto the other side.] Viz. of the lake of 
Genesareth, whence he proceeded to the country of the 
Gergesenes, Matthew viii. 28.

Verse 19. A certain scribe] Though eiv grammateuv, ONE 
scribe, may be considered as a Hebraism, yet it is probable 
that the literal construction of it was intended, to show 
that few of this class came to the Lord Jesus for instruction 
or salvation.

Master] Rather, teacher, didaskale from didaskw, I teach, 
which itself seems to be derived from deikw, I show, and 
means the person who shows or points out a particular way or 
science.

I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.] A man who is 
not illuminated by the Spirit of God thinks himself capable 
of any thing: he alone who is divinely taught knows he can do 
nothing but through Christ strengthening him. Every teacher 
among the Jews had disciples, and some especially that 
followed or accompanied them wherever they went, that they 
might have some person at hand with whom they might converse 
concerning the Divine law.

Verse 20. The foxes have holes, &c.] Reader! art thou a poor 
man? and dost thou fear God? Then, what comfort must thou 
derive from the thought, that thou so nearly resemblest the 
Lord Jesus! But how unlike is the rich man, who is the votary 
of pleasure and slave of sin, to this heavenly pattern! Son 
of man] A Hebrew phrase, expressive of humiliation and 
debasement; and, on that account, applied emphatically to 
himself, by the meek and lowly Jesus. Besides, it seems here 
to be used to point out the incarnation of the Son of God, 
according to the predictions of the prophets, Psa. viii. 5; 
Dan. vii. 13. And as our Lord was now showing forth his 
eternal Divinity in the miracles he wrought, he seems 
studious to prove to them the certainty of his incarnation, 
because on this depended the atonement for sin. Indeed our 
Lord seems more intent on giving the proofs of his humanity, 
than of his divinity, the latter being necessarily manifested 
by the miracles which he was continually working.

Verse 21. Another of his disciples] This does not mean any of 
the twelve, but one of those who were constant hearers of our 
Lord's preaching; the name of disciple being common to all 
those who professed to believe in him, John vi. 66. Bury my 
father: probably his father was old, and apparently near 
death; but it was a maxim among the Jews, that, if a man had 
any duty to perform to the dead, he was, for that time, free 
from the observance of any other precept or duty. The 
children of Adam are always in extremes; some will rush into 
the ministry of the Gospel without a call, others will delay 
long after they are called; the middle way is the only safe 
one: not to move a finger in the work till the call be given, 
and not to delay a moment after.

Verse 22. Let the dead bury their dead.] It was usual for the 
Jews to consider a man as dead who had departed from the 
precepts of the law; and, on this ground, every transgressor 
was reputed a dead man. Our Lord's saying, being in common 
use, had nothing difficult in it to a Jew.

Natural death is the separation of the body and soul; 
spiritual death, the separation of God and the soul: men who 
live in sin are dead to God. Leave the spiritually dead to 
bury their natural dead. All the common offices of life may 
be performed by any person; to preach the glad tidings of the 
kingdom of God is granted but to a few, and to these only by 
an especial call; these should immediately abandon worldly 
concerns and employments, and give themselves wholly up to 
the work of the ministry.

Verse 24. Arose a great tempest in the sea] Probably excited 
by Satan, the prince of the power of the air, who, having got 
the author and all the preachers of the Gospel together in a 
small vessel, thought by drowning it, to defeat the purposes 
of God, and thus to prevent the salvation of a ruined world. 
What a noble opportunity must this have appeared to the enemy 
of the human race!

Verse 25. And his disciples] THE disciples. In the common 
printed editions, as well as in our translation, it is HIS 
disciples, but autou, his, is omitted by the very best MSS., 
and by Bengel, Wetstein, and Griesbach.

This is a matter of very small importance, and need not be 
noticed; only every translator and commentator should aim, to 
the uttermost of his knowledge and power, to give every 
particle of the language of the inspired penman that can be 
expressed, and to insert no one word which he has reason to 
believe did not come by the inspiration of God.

Lord, save us: we perish.] One advantage of trials is to make 
us know our weakness, so as to oblige us to have recourse to 
God by faith in Christ. It is by faith alone that we may be 
said to approach him; by love we are united to him, and by 
prayer we awake him. All good perishes in us without Christ: 
without his grace, there is not so much as one moment in 
which we are not in danger of utter ruin. How proper, then, 
is this short prayer for us, and how familiar should it be to 
us! Taken in the extensive Christian sense it is exceedingly 
expressive: it comprehends all the power of our Lord's might, 
all the merit of his atonement, and all the depth of our 
misery and danger. See Quesnel.

Verse 26. Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?] Faith is 
ever bold-incredulity always timid. When faith fails in 
temptation, there is the utmost danger of shipwreck. Lord, 
increase our faith! is a necessary prayer for all who desire 
to be saved.

Then he arose and rebuked the winds, &c.] As the agitation of 
the sea was only the effect of the wind, it was necessary to 
remove the cause of the disturbance, that the effect might 
cease. Joshua did not say to the earth, Earth, stand thou 
still, because the earth is not the cause of its own motion: 
but, Sun, stand thou still, µwd m shemesh dom, Sun, be 
silent, or restrain thy influence, which is a proper cause of 
the revolutions of all the planets. When the solar influence 
was by the miraculous power of God suspended, the standing 
still of the earth was a necessary consequence.

Both Christ and Joshua spoke with the strictest philosophical 
precision. See the notes on Josh. x. 12-14.

There was a great calm.] One word of Christ can change the 
face of nature; one word of his can restore calm and peace to 
the most troubled and disconsolate soul. Prayer and faith, if 
sincere, shall be heard, though they may be weak. 1. That our 
imperfections may not hinder us from praying to God. 2. That 
we may be persuaded it is not our merits which make our 
prayers effectual. 3. That we may offer them up with great 
humility: and, 4. That we may be fully united to Christ, 
without which union there is no salvation.

There was at first a great agitation; then a great calm. Thus 
God ever proportions the comfort to the affliction.

Verse 27. The men marvelled] Every part of the creation (man 
excepted) hears and obeys the Creator's voice. Sinners have 
an ear for the world, the devil, and the flesh: till this ear 
is shut, God's voice is not discerned; for when it is shut to 
its enemies it is open to its friends.

What manner of man is this] potapov estin outov, How great is 
this person! Here was God fully manifest; but it was in the 
flesh-there were the hidings of his power.

Verse 28. The country of the Gergesenes] This word is 
variously written in the MSS, and versions; Gergasenes, 
Gerasenes, Gadarenes, Gergesions, and Gersedonians, The three 
first are supported by the greater authorities.

They might have all been names of the same place or district; 
but, if we depend on what Origen says, the people mentioned 
here could not have been the inhabitants of Gerasa, which, 
says he, is a city of Arabia, oute qalassan, oute limnhn 
plhsion econta, which has neither sea nor lake nigh to it. 
"Gadara was, according to Josephus, the metropolis of Perea, 
or the region beyond Jordan: both the city and villages 
belonging to it lay in the country of the Gergasenes; whence 
Christ going into the country of the Gadarenes, Mark v. 1, is 
said to go into the region of the Gergasenes, ver. 28." 
WHITBY.

Two possessed with devils] Persons possessed by evil demons. 
Mark and Luke mention only one demoniac, probably the fiercer 
of the two.

Coming out of the tombs] It is pretty evident that cupolas 
were generally builded over the graves among the Jews, and 
that these demoniacs had their dwellings under such: the evil 
spirits which were in them delighting more in these abodes of 
desolation and ruin, as being more congenial to their fierce 
and diabolic nature, and therefore would drive the possessed 
into them.

Verse 29. What have we to do with thee] The literal 
translation of ti hmin kai soi, is, What is it to us and to 
thee; which perhaps might be understood to imply their 
disclaiming any design to interfere with the work of Christ, 
and that he should not therefore meddle with them; for it 
appears they exceedingly dreaded his power.

What have we to do with thee, is a Jewish phrase, which often 
occurs in the Old Testament, signifying an abrupt refusal of 
some request, or a wish not to be troubled with the company 
or importunity of others. Jehu said to the messenger who was 
sent by Joram to meet him, What hast thou to do with peace? 
David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? 
Compare Judges xi. 12; 2 Sam. xvi. 10; 2 Kings ix. 18; Ezra 
iv. 3; John ii. 4. See the note on "Marki. 24".

Jesus, thou Son of God] Griesbach omits the word Jesus, on 
the authority of several MSS. of the greatest antiquity and 
respectability; besides some versions, and several of the 
fathers. I heartily concur with these MSS., &c., for this 
simple reason, among others, that the word Jesus, i.e. 
saviour, was of too ominous an import to the Satanic interest 
to be used freely, in such a case, by any of his disciples or 
subalterns.

Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?] From 
this it appears that a greater degree of punishment awaited 
these demons than they at that time endured; and that they 
knew there was a time determined by the Divine Judge, when 
they should be sent into greater torments.

Verse 30. A herd of many swine] These were in all probability 
Jewish property, and kept and used in express violation of 
the law of God; and therefore their destruction, in the next 
verse, was no more than a proper manifestation of the justice 
of God.

Verse 31. Suffer us to go away] epitreyon hmin apelqein: this 
is the common reading; but aposteilon hmav, send us away, 
appears more likely to be genuine. This latter reading 
Griesbach has adopted, on the authority of three ancient 
MSS., the Coptic, Sahidic, Ethiopic, Syriac, all the Arabic, 
Saxon, most of the Itala, and the Vulgate. Send us away seems 
to express more fully the absolute power Jesus Christ had 
over them-permission alone was not sufficient; the very power 
by which they were to go away, must come from Christ himself! 
How vain was the boast of Satan, chap. iv. 9, when we find he 
could not possess the body of one of the vilest animals that 
God has made, without immediate authority from the Most High! 
Since a demon cannot enter even into a swine without being 
sent by God himself, how little is the power or malice of any 
of them to be dreaded by those who have God for their portion 
and protector!

Verse 32. They went into the herd of swine] Instead of thn 
agelhn twn coirwn, the herd of swine, Griesbach reads touv 
coirouv, the swine, on the authority of many MSS. and 
versions.

The whole herd of swine] twn coirwn, of swine, is omitted by 
many MSS. and versions. See Griesbach, and see on "Luke viii. 
20", &c.

Ran violently down a steep place, &c.] The prayer of these 
demons is heard and answered! Strange! But let it be noted, 
that God only hears demons and certain sinners when their 
prayer is the echo of his own justice. Here is an emblem of 
the final impenitence and ruin into which the swinish 
sinners, the habitually unpure, more commonly fall than other 
sinners. Christ permits the demons to do that in the swine 
which he did not permit them to do in the possessed, on 
purpose to show us what rage they would exercise on us if 
left to their liberty and malice. Many are the Divine favours 
which we do not consider, or know only in general. "But the 
owners of the swine lost their property." Yes; and learn from 
this of how small value temporal riches, are in the 
estimation of God. He suffers them to be lost, sometimes to 
disengage us from them through mercy; sometimes out of 
justice, to punish us for having acquired or preserved them 
either by covetousness or injustice.

Verse 33. And they that kept them fled] Terrified at what had 
happened to the swine.

Verse 34. The whole city came out] Probably with the 
intention to destroy Jesus for having destroyed their swine; 
but, having seen him, they were awed by his presence; and 
only besought him to depart from their borders. Many rather 
chose to lose Jesus Christ than those temporal goods by which 
they gratify their passions at the expense of their souls. 
They love even their swine better than their salvation.

Certain doctors in both sciences, divinity and physic, 
gravely tell us that these demoniacs were only common madmen, 
and that the disease was supposed, by the superstitious Jews, 
to be occasioned by demons. But, with due deference to great 
characters, may not a plain man be permitted to ask, by what 
figure of speech can it be said that "two diseases besought-
went out-filled a herd of swine-rushed down a precipice?" &c.

What silly trifling is this! Some people's creeds will 
neither permit God nor the devil to work; and, in several 
respects, hardly to exist. For he who denies Divine 
inspiration, will scarcely acknowledge diabolic influence. 
See the note on "ver. 16", and see on "Luke vii. 21".

It is said, The whole city came out to meet Jesus. This means 
no more than all the inhabitants of that place, which, most 
probably, was no more than a small country village; or 
perhaps but a few houses. I have observed that the 
inhabitants of the Zetland Isles, in the North Seas, 
denominate any collection of houses a town, even where there 
are but three or four: and thus I think that the Jews 
denominated their villages, often calling them cities.

CHAPTER ix

Christ heals a paralytic person at Capernaum, 1-8. Calls 
Matthew, 9-10. Eats with publicans and sinners, at which the 
Pharisees are offended, and he vindicates his conduct, 11, 
12. The disciples of John come to him and inquire about 
fasting, 14-17. A ruler requests him to heal his daughter, 
18, 19. On his road to the ruler's house, he heals a diseased 
woman, 20-22. Arriving at the ruler's house, he restores the 
young woman to life, 23-26. Heals two blind men, 27-31. Casts 
out a dumb demon, 32-34. Preaches and works miracles in all 
the cities and villages, 35. Is greatly affected at the 
desolate and dark state of the Jewish people, 36. Exhorts his 
disciples to pray to God to send them proper instructers, 37, 
38.

NOTES ON CHAP. ix

Verse 1. He came into his own city] Viz. Capernaum, where he 
seems to have had his common residence at the house of Peter. 
See chap. iv. 13, and chap. viii. 14. This verse properly 
belongs to the preceding chapter.

Verse 2. Sick of the palsy] See chap. iv. 24.

Lying on a bed] klinhv, a couch or sofa, such as they 
reclined on at meals.

Seeing their faith] The faith of the paralytic person, and 
the faith of those who brought him; see on "Mark ii. 4".

Be of good cheer] qarsei teknon, Son, take courage! Probably 
he began to despond, and Christ spoke thus to support his 
faith.

Thy sins be forgiven thee.] Moral evil has been the cause of 
all the natural evil in the world. Christ goes to the source 
of the malady, which is sin; and to that as the procuring 
cause we should refer in all our afflictions.

It is probable that this paralytic person had, in the earnest 
desires of his heart, entreated the cure of his soul, leaving 
his body to the care of others, as the first miracle of 
healing is wrought on his soul. In a state of helplessness, 
when we seek above all things to please God, by giving him 
our hearts, he often inspires others with the care of our 
temporal necessities. It may be necessary to be observed, 
that it was a maxim among the Jews that no diseased person 
could be healed till all his sins were blotted out. See 
Nedarim, fol. 41. Hence our Lord first forgives the sins, and 
then heals the body of the paralytic person. This appears to 
have been founded on Psa. ciii. 3. Who forgiveth all thine 
iniquities, and healeth all thy diseases. Here pardon 
precedes health. See also Psa. xli. 3, 4. It may be observed, 
also, that most people are more in earnest about their souls 
when in sickness than in health, and therefore are more 
earnest in prayer for salvation.

Verse 3. This man blasphemeth.] blasfhmew comes either from 
blaptein thn fhmhn, to hurt or blast the reputation or credit 
of another, or from ballein taiv fhmaiv, to smite with 
reports. Whenever it is used in reference to GOD, it simply 
signifies, to speak impiously of his nature, or attributes, 
or works. Injurious speaking is its proper translation when 
referred to man.

The scribes were the literati of that time; and their 
learning, because not used in dependence on God, rendered 
them proud, envious, and obstinate.

Unsanctified knowledge has still the same effect: that light 
serves only to blind and lead men out of the way which is not 
joined with uprightness of heart. The most sacred truths 
often become an occasion of delusion, where men are under the 
government of their evil passions.

Verse 4. Jesus knowing (idwn seeing) their thoughts] In 
telling them what the thoughts of their hearts were, (for 
they had expressed nothing publicly,) he gave them the 
fullest proof of his power to forgive sins; because God only 
can forgive sins, and God only can search and know the heart. 
Jesus pronounced the man's sins forgiven; and gave the 
scribes the fullest proof of his power to do so, by telling 
them what, in the secret of their souls, they thought on the 
subject.

God sounds the secrets of all hearts-no sin escapes his 
notice; how senseless then is the sinner to think he sins 
securely when unseen by men! Let us take heed to our hearts, 
as well as to our conduct, for God searches out and condemns 
all that does not spring from, and leads not to himself.

Verse 5. For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven 
thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?] Both are equally easy, and 
equally difficult; for both require unlimited power to 
produce them. And every thing is equally easy to that power 
which is unlimited. A universe can be as easily produced by a 
single act of the Divine will as the smallest elementary part 
of matter.

The common punctuation of the above passage almost destroys 
the sense: the comma should be placed after easier, and to 
say, made the first part of the question.

Verse 6. But that ye may know, &c.] External miracles are the 
proofs of internal ones. Three miracles are wrought in this 
case. (I mean, by miracle, something produced or known that 
no power is capable of but that which is omnipotent, and no 
knowledge adequate to but that which is omniscient.) The 
miracles are these: 1st. The remission of the poor man's 
sins. 2d. The discernment of the secret thoughts of the 
scribes. 3d. The restoring of the paralytic, in an instant, 
to perfect soundness. Thus one miracle becomes the proof and 
establishment of another. Never was a clearer proof of 
omnipotent energy and mercy brought under the senses of man. 
Here is an absolutely perfect miracle wrought; and here are 
absolute incontestable proofs that the miracle was wrought; 
and the conclusion is the fullest demonstration of the 
Divinity of the ever-blessed Jesus.

Arise, take up thy bed] Being enabled to obey this command 
was the public proof that the man was made whole. Such a 
circumstance should not pass without improvement. A man gives 
proof of his conversion from sin to God who imitates this 
paralytic person. He who does not rise and stand upright, but 
either continues grovelling on the earth, or falls back as 
soon as he is got up, is not yet cured of his spiritual 
palsy. When we see a penitent enabled to rejoice in hope of 
God's glory, and to walk in the way of his commandments, he 
affords us all the proof which we can reasonably require, 
that his conversion is real: the proof sufficient to satisfy 
himself is the witness of the Holy Spirit in his own heart; 
but this is a matter of which those who are without cannot 
judge: they must form their opinion from his conduct, and 
judge of the tree by its fruits.

Verse 8. When the multitudes saw it, they marveled] Instead 
of eqaumasan, wondered, the Codex Vatic. and Cod. Bezae, with 
several other MSS. and versions, have efobhqhsan, feared. In 
the Gothic, and one copy of the Itala, both readings are 
conjoined, thus: And the multitudes seeing it, wondered and 
feared, and glorified God. Wondered at the miracle; feared to 
offend against such power and goodness; and glorified God for 
the works of mercy which he had wrought.

That which to the doctors of the law, the worldly-wise and 
prudent, is a matter of scandal, is to the humble an occasion 
of glorifying the Most High. Divine things make a deeper 
impression on the hearts of the simple multitude than on 
those of the doctors, who, puffed up with a sense of their 
own wisdom, refuse to receive the truth as it is in Jesus. 
The conversion of one rebellious soul is a greater miracle, 
and more to be admired than all that can be wrought on 
inanimate creatures. He who sees a sinner converted from the 
error of his way sees a miracle wrought by eternal power and 
goodness. May such miracles be multiplied! 

Verse 9. Named Matthew] Generally supposed to be the same who 
wrote this history of our blessed Lord. Mathai signifies a 
gift in Syriac; probably so named by his parents as implying 
a gift from God.

The receipt of custom] The custom-house, telwnion-the place 
where the taxes levied by the Romans of the Jews, were 
collected.

Follow me.] That is, become my disciple.

And he arose, and followed him.] How blessed it is to be 
obedient to the first call of Christ-how much happiness and 
glory are lost by delays, though conversion at last may have 
taken place!

Verse 10. Sat at meat in the house] Viz. of Matthew, who it 
appears, from Luke v. 29, made a great feast on the occasion, 
thus testifying his gratitude for the honour done him; and 
that his friends and acquaintances might profit by the 
teaching of his new master, he invites them to the 
entertainment that was honoured by the presence of Christ. 
His companions, it appears, were not of the most creditable 
kind. They were tax-gatherers (see "Matthew v. 46") and 
sinners, amartwloi, a word which I believe in general 
signifies heathens, throughout the Gospels, and in several 
other parts of the New Testament. See, among others, chap. 
xi. 19; xxvi. 45; Mark ii. 15-17; xiv. 41; Luke v. 30-32; vi. 
32-34; vii. 34, 37, 39; Luke xv. 1,2, 7, 10; xix. 7; xxiv. 7; 
John ix. 16, 24, 25, 31; Romans 5: 8; Gal. ii. 15; Heb. vii. 
26; 1 Pet. iv. 18; in most, if not all of which places, it 
evidently refers to the character or state of a Gentile, or 
Heathen. See also the notes on these passages.

Verse 11. When the Pharisees saw it] He who, like a Pharisee, 
never felt himself indebted to infinite mercy for his own 
salvation, is rarely solicitous about the salvation of 
others. The grace of Christ alone inspires the soul with true 
benevolence. The self-righteous Pharisees considered it equal 
to legal defilement to sit in company with tax-gatherers and 
heathens. It is certain that those who fear God should not 
associate, through choice, with the workers of iniquity, and 
should only be found with them when transacting their secular 
business requires it, or when they have the prospect of doing 
good to their souls.

Verse 12. They that be whole need not a physician] A common 
proverb, which none could either misunderstand or misapply. 
Of it the reader may make the following use:-1.

Jesus Christ represents himself here as the sovereign 
Physician of souls.

2. That all stand in need of his healing power. 3. That men 
must acknowledge their spiritual maladies, and the need they 
have of his mercy, in order to be healed by him. 4. That it 
is the most inveterate and dangerous disease the soul can be 
afflicted with to imagine itself whole, when the sting of 
death, which is sin, has pierced it through in every part, 
infusing its poison every where.

Verse 13. I will have mercy, and not sacrifice] Quoted from 1 
Sam. xv. 22. These are remarkable words. We may understand 
them as implying, 1st. That God prefers an act of mercy, 
shown to the necessitous, to any act of religious worship to 
which the person might be called at that time.

Both are good; but the former is the greater good, and should 
be done in preference to the other. 2dly. That the whole 
sacrificial system was intended only to point out the 
infinite mercy of God to fallen man, in his redemption by the 
blood of the new covenant. And 3dly. That we should not rest 
in the sacrifices, but look for the mercy and salvation 
prefigured by them. This saying was nervously translated by 
our ancestors, , I will mild-heartedness, and not sacrifice.

Go ye and learn] dmlw ax tse velimmed, a form of speech in 
frequent use among the rabbins, when they referred to any 
fact or example in the Sacred Writings. Nothing tends more to 
humble pretenders to devotion than to show them that they 
understand neither Scripture nor religion, when, relying on 
external performances, they neglect love to God and man, 
which is the very soul and substance of true religion. True 
holiness has ever consisted in faith working by love.

I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners] Most of the 
common editions add, eiv metanoian, unto repentance; but this 
is omitted in the Codex Vatic. and Bezae, sixteen others, 
both the Syriac, both the Persic, Ethiop. Armen. Gothic, 
Anglo-Saxon, all the Itala except three, the Vulgate, Clemens 
Roman, Origen, Basil, Jerome, Augustin, Ambrose, and 
Barnabas. The omission is approved by Mill and Bengel. 
Griesbach leaves it out of the text.

Verse 14. Thy disciples fast not?] Probably meaning that they 
did not fast so frequently as the others did, or for the same 
purposes, which is very likely, for the Pharisees had many 
superstitious fasts. They fasted in order to have lucky 
dreams, to obtain the interpretation of a dream, or to avert 
the evil import of a dream. They also fasted often, in order 
to obtain the things they wished for. The tract, Taanith is 
full of these fasts, and of the wonders performed thus by the 
Jewish doctors.

Verse 15. Can the children of the bride-chamber] numfwnov. 
Or, numfiou, bridegroom, as the Cod. Bezae and several 
versions have it.

These persons were the companions of the bridegroom, who 
accompanied him to the house of his father-in-law when he 
went to bring the bride to his own home. The marriage-feast 
among the Jews lasted seven days; but the new married woman 
was considered to be a bride for thirty days. Marriage feasts 
were times of extraordinary festivity, and even of riot, 
among several people of the east.

When the bridegroom shall be taken from them, &c.] There was 
one annual fast observed in the primitive Church, called by 
our ancestors  the spring fast, and, by us, LENT; by the 
Greeks tesserakosth, and by the Latins, Quadrigessima. This 
fast is pretended to be kept by many, in the present day, in 
commemoration of our Lord's forty days' fast in the 
wilderness; but it does not appear that, in the purest ages 
of the primitive Church, genuine Christians ever pretended 
that their quadrigessimal fast was kept for the above 
purpose. Their fast was kept merely to commemorate the time 
during which Jesus Christ lay under the power of death, which 
was about FORTY HOURS; and it was in this sense they 
understood the words of this text: the days will come, &c. 
With them, the bridegroom meant Christ: the time in which he 
was taken away, his crucifixion, death, and the time he lay 
in the grave. Suppose him dying about twelve o'clock on what 
is called Friday, and that he rose about four on the morning 
of his own day, (St. John says, Early, while it was yet dark, 
chap. xx. 1,) the interim makes forty hours, which was the 
true primitive Lent, or quadrigessimal fast. It is true that 
many in the primitive Church were not agreed on this subject, 
as Socrates, in his Church History, book v. chap. 22, says, 
"Some thought they should fast one day; others two; others 
more." Different Churches also were divided concerning the 
length of the time, some keeping it three, others five, and 
others seven weeks; and the historian himself is puzzled to 
know why they all agreed in calling these fasts, differing so 
much in their duration, by the name of Quadrigessima, or 
forty days' fast: the plain obvious reason appears to me to 
have been simply this: They put DAYS in the place of HOURS; 
and this absurdity continues in some Christian Churches to 
the present day. For more on fasting, see "chap. vi. 16".

Verse 16. No man putteth a piece of new cloth] oudeiv de 
epiballei epiblhma rakouv agnafou epi imatiw palaiw. No man 
putteth a patch of unscoured cloth upon an old garment. This 
is the most literal translation I can give of this verse, to 
convey its meaning to those who cannot consult the original. 
rakov agnafon is that cloth which has not been scoured, or 
which has not passed under the hand of the fuller, who is 
called gnafeuv in Greek: and epiblhma signifies a piece put 
on, or what we commonly term a patch.

It-taketh from the garment] Instead of closing up the rent, 
it makes a larger, by tearing away with it the whole breadth 
of the cloth over which it was laid; airei gar to plhrwma 
autou-it taketh its fullness or whole breadth from the 
garment; this I am persuaded is the meaning of the original, 
well expressed by the Latin, or Itala of the C. BEZAE, Tollit 
enim plenitudo ejus de vestimento. "It takes away its 
fullness from the garment."

Verse 17. New wine into old bottles] It is still the custom, 
in the eastern countries, to make their bottles of goat 
skins: if these happened to be old, and new wine were put 
into them, the violence of the fermentation must necessarily 
burst them; and therefore newly made bottles were employed 
for the purpose of putting that wine in which had not yet 
gone through its state of fermentation. The institutes of 
Christ, and those of the Pharisees, could never be brought to 
accord: an attempt to combine the two systems would be as 
absurd as it would be destructive. The old covenant made way 
for the new, which was its completion and its end; but with 
that old covenant the new cannot be incorporated.

Christian prudence requires that the weak, and newly 
converted, should be managed with care and tenderness. To 
impose such duties and mortifications as are not absolutely 
necessary to salvation, before God has properly prepared the 
heart by his grace for them, is a conduct as absurd and 
ruinous as putting a piece of raw, unscoured cloth on an old 
garment; it is, in a word, requiring the person to do the 
work of a man, while as yet he is but a little child. 
Preachers of the Gospel, and especially those who are 
instruments in God's hand of many conversions, have need of 
much heavenly wisdom, that they may know to watch over, 
guide, and advise those who are brought to a sense of their 
sin and danger. How many auspicious beginnings have been 
ruined by men's proceeding too hastily, endeavouring to make 
their own designs take place, and to have the honour of that 
success themselves which is due only to God.

Verse 18. A certain ruler] There were two officers in the 
synagogue, tonkh zj chazan ha-ceneseth, the bishop or 
overseer of the congregation; and tonkh ar rosh ha-ceneseth, 
the head or ruler of the congregation.

The chazan takes the book of the Law, and gives it to the 
rosh, or ruler; and he appoints who shall read the different 
sections, &c. Jairus, who is the person intended here, was, 
in this latter sense, the ruler or governor of one of the 
synagogues, probably at Capernaum. See Mark v. 22; Luke viii. 
41.

My daughter is even now dead] Or, my daughter was just now 
dying; arti eteleuthsen, or, is by this time dead: i.e. as 
Mr. Wakefield properly observes, She was so ill when I left 
home that she must be dead by this time. This turn of the 
expression reconciles the account given here with that in 
Mark and Luke. Michaelis conjectures that, in the Hebrew 
original, the words must have stood thus, htm ht[ atah matah, 
which, without the points, may signify either, She is dead, 
or She is dying.

To be successful in our applications to God by prayer, four 
things are requisite; and this ruler teaches us what they 
are.

First, A man should place himself in the presence of God-he 
came unto him.

Secondly, He should humble himself sincerely before God-he 
fell down before him-at his feet. Mark v. 22.

Thirdly, He should lay open his wants with a holy 
earnestness-he besought him greatly. Mark v. 23.

Fourthly, he should have unbounded confidence in the power 
and goodness of Christ that his request shall be granted-put 
thy hand upon her, and she shall live. He who comes in this 
way to God, for salvation, is sure to be heard. Imposition of 
hands was a rite anciently used by the servants of God, 
through which heavenly influences were conveyed to the bodies 
and souls of men. This rite is still used in certain 
Churches; but, as there is no Holy Ghost communicated by it, 
some suppose it may be as well omitted. But why is this? Is 
it not because there is an unfaithfulness in the person who 
lays on hands, or an unfitness in him on whom they are laid? 
Let the rite be restored to its primitive simplicity, and God 
will own it as he formerly did. But, however this may be, 
where is the man or number of men who have authority to 
abrogate a rite of God's own appointment? In the appointment 
of men to the sacred ministry it should never be omitted: 
even in these degenerate days, it may still serve as a sign 
of the necessity of the gifts and graces of that Holy Spirit 
without which no man can fulfill the work of the ministry, or 
be the instrument of saving the souls of them that hear him. 
When the inventions of men are put in the place of the 
ordinances of God, the true Church of Christ is in great 
danger.

Verse 19. Jesus arose, and followed him] Our blessed Lord 
could have acted as well at a distance as present; but he 
goes to the place, to teach his ministers not to spare either 
their steps or their pains when the salvation of a soul is in 
question. Let them not think it sufficient to pray for the 
sick in their closets; but let them go to their bed-sides, 
that they may instruct and comfort them. He can have little 
unction in private, who does not also give himself up to 
public duties.

Verse 20. A woman which was diseased with an issue of blood] 
gunh aimorrousa. Mulier sanguinis profluvio labourans. 
Significatur hoc loco, fluxus muliebris, in SANIS, menstruus; 
in HAC perpetuus. It would be easy to explain the nature and 
properties of the disease here mentioned; but, when it is 
said that prudence forbids it, the intimation itself may be 
thought sufficiently explanatory of the disorder in question. 
There are some remarkable circumstances relative to this case 
mentioned by St. Mark, Mark v. 25, &c., which shall be 
properly noticed in the notes on that place.

The hem of his garment] The tyxyx tsitsith, or fringes, which 
the Jews were commanded to wear on their garments. See 
Numbers xv. 38, and the note there.

Verse 21. She said within herself, If I may but touch his 
garment] Her disorder was of that delicate nature that 
modesty forbade her to make any public acknowledgment of it; 
and therefore she endeavoured to transact the whole business 
in private. Besides, the touch of such a person was by the 
law reputed unclean. By faith in Christ Jesus, little things 
are often rendered efficacious to our salvation. What more 
simple than a morsel of bread, and a few drops of wine, in 
the Lord's Supper! And yet, they who receive them by faith in 
the sacrifice they represent, are made partakers of the 
blessings purchased by the crucified body and spilled blood 
of the Lord Jesus!

Verse 22. Daughter, be of good comfort] qarsei qugater, Take 
courage, daughter. See on "ver. 2". The reason of this kind 
speech was-Jesus, finding that virtue had proceeded from him; 
made inquiry who had touched him. The woman, finding that she 
could not be hid, came fearing and trembling, (Mark v. 33,) 
and confessed the truth: to dispel these fears and to comfort 
her mind, Jesus said, Daughter, take courage.

Thy faith hath made thee whole.] h pistiv sou seswke se, This 
thy faith hath saved thee: i.e. thy faith in my power has 
interested that power in thy behalf, so that thou art saved 
from thy disorder, and from all its consequences. See on 
"Luke viii. 46".

Verse 23. Saw the minstrels and the people making a noise] 
aulhtav, pipers; Anglo-Saxon,  the whistlers; Gothic, 
haurngans haurngandans, the horn-blowers blowing with their 
horns. Nearly the same as the pipublasara, pipe-blowers of 
the Islandic: for among all those nations funeral 
lamentations accompanied with such rude instruments, were 
made at the death of relatives. That pipes were in use among 
the Jews, in times of calamity or death, is evident from Jer. 
xlviii. 36. And among the Greeks, and Romans, as well as 
among the Jews, persons were hired on purpose to follow the 
funeral processions with lamentations. See Jer. ix. 17-21; 
Amos v. 16. Even the poorest among the Jews were required to 
have two pipers, and one mourning woman. At these funeral 
solemnities it was usual with them to drink considerably; 
even ten cups of wine each, where it could be got. See 
Lightfoot. This custom is observed among the native Irish to 
this day, in what is called their CAOINAN. The body of the 
deceased, dressed in grave-clothes and ornamented with 
flowers, is placed in some eminent place; the relations and 
caoiners range themselves in two divisions, one at the head 
and the other at the feet of the corpse. Anciently, where the 
deceased was a great personage, the bards and croteries 
prepared the caoinan. The chief bard of the head chorus began 
by singing the first stanza in a low doleful tone; which was 
softly accompanied by the harp. At the conclusion, the foot 
semichorus began the lamentation, or ULLALOO, from the final 
note of the preceding stanza, in which they were answered by 
the head semichorus; then both united in one general chorus.

The chorus of the first stanza being ended, the chief bard of 
the foot semichorus sung the second stanza, the strain of 
which was taken from the concluding note of the preceding 
chorus, which ended, the head semichorus began the GOL, or 
lamentation, in which they were answered by that of the foot, 
and then, as before, both united in the general full chorus. 
Thus alternately were the song and choruses performed during 
the night. I have seen a number of women, sometimes fourteen, 
twenty-four, or more, accompany the deceased from his late 
house to the grave-yard, divided into two parties on each 
side the corpse, singing the ULLALOO, alternately, all the 
way. That drinking, in what is called the wake, or watching 
with the body of the deceased, is practised, and often 
carried to a shameful excess, needs little proof. This kind 
of intemperance proceeded to such great lengths among the 
Jews that the Sanhedrin were obliged to make a decree, to 
restrain the drinking to ten cups each. I mention these 
things more particularly, because I have often observed that 
the customs of the aboriginal Irish bear, a very striking 
resemblance to those of the ancient Jews, and other Asiatic 
nations. The application of these observations I leave to 
others.

It was a custom with the Greeks to make a great noise with 
brazen vessels; and the Romans made a general outcry, called 
conclamatio, hoping either to stop the soul which was now 
taking its flight, or to awaken the person, if only in a 
state of torpor. This they did for eight days together, 
calling the person incessantly by his name; at the expiration 
of which term the phrase, Conclamatum est-all is over-there 
is no hope-was used. See the words used in this sense by 
Terence, EUN. l. 347. In all probability this was the 
qoruboumenon, the making a violent outcry, mentioned here by 
the evangelist. How often, on the death of relatives, do men 
incumber and perplex themselves with vain, worldly, and 
tumultuous ceremonies, instead of making profitable 
reflections on death!

Verse 24. The maid is not dead, but sleepeth] That is, she is 
not dead so as to continue under the power of death; but 
shall be raised from it as a, person is from natural sleep.

They laughed him to scorn.] kategelwn auton, they ridiculed 
him; from kata, intensive, and gelaw, I laugh:-they grinned a 
ghastly smile, expressive of the contempt they felt for his 
person and knowledge. People of the world generally ridicule 
those truths which they neither comprehend nor love, and 
deride those who publish them; but a faithful minister of 
God, (copying the example of Christ,) keeps on his way, and 
does the work of his Lord and Master.

Verse 25. He-took her by the hand, and the maid arose.] The 
fountain of life thus communicating its vital energy to the 
dead body. Where death has already taken place, no power but 
that of the great God can restore to life; in such a case, 
vain is the help of man. So the soul that is dead in 
trespasses and sins-that is, sentenced to death because of 
transgression-and is thus dead in law, can only be restored 
to spiritual life by the mighty power of the Lord Jesus; 
because HE alone has made the atonement, and HE alone can 
pardon transgression. If the spiritually dead person be 
utterly unconcerned about the state and fate of his soul, let 
a converted relative either bring him to Christ by leading 
him to hear the unadulterated Gospel of the kingdom; or bring 
Christ to him by fervent, faithful, and persevering prayer.

Verse 26. And the fame hereof went abroad] In this business 
Jesus himself scarcely appears, but the work effected by his 
sovereign power is fully manifested; to teach us that it is 
the business of a successful preacher of the Gospel to 
conceal himself as much as possible, that God alone may have 
the glory of his own grace. This is a proper miracle, and a 
full exemplification of the unlimited power of Christ.

Verse 27. Son of David] This was the same as if they had 
called him Messiah. Two things here are worthy of remark: 
1st. That it was a generally received opinion at this time in 
Judea, that the Messiah should be son of David. (John vii. 
42.) 2dly. That Jesus Christ was generally and incontestably 
acknowledged as coming from this stock. chap. xii. 23.

Have mercy on us.] That man has already a measure of heavenly 
light who knows that he has no merit; that his cry should be 
a cry for mercy; that he must be fervent, and that in praying 
he must follow Jesus Christ as the true Messiah, the son of 
David, expected from heaven.

Verse 28. When he was come unto the house] That is, the house 
of Peter at Capernaum, where he ordinarily lodged.

Believe ye that I am able to do this?] Without faith Jesus 
does nothing to men's souls now, no more than he did to their 
bodies in the days of his flesh.

They said unto him, Yea, Lord.] Under a sense of our 
spiritual blindness we should have, 1st. A lively faith in 
the almighty grace of Christ. 2dly. A fervent, incessant cry 
for the communication of this grace. 3dly. A proper view of 
his incarnation, because it is through his union with our 
nature, and by his sufferings and death, we are to expect 
salvation.

Verse 29. According to your faith] See on "chap. viii. 13".

Verse 30. Straitly charged them] He charged them severely, 
from enebrimhsato, from en, and brimaomai, to roar or storm 
with anger; he charged them, on pain of his displeasure, not 
to make it as yet public. See the reasons, "chap. viii. 4".

Verse 31. But they-spread abroad his fame] They should have 
held their peace; for to obey is better than sacrifice, 1 
Samuel xv. 22; but man must always be wiser than God, 
however, it may be profitable to remark, 1st.

That honour pursues those who fly from it. 2dly. He who is 
thoroughly sensible of God's mercy cannot long contain his 
acknowledgments. 3dly.

That God in general requires that what a man has received, 
for his own salvation, shall become subservient to that of 
others-Let your light so shine, &c. God chooses to help man 
by man, that all may be firmly knit together in brotherly 
love.

Verse 32. A dumb man possessed with a devil.] Some demons 
rendered the persons they possessed paralytic, some blind, 
others dumb, &c. It was the interest of Satan to hide his 
influences under the appearance of natural disorders. A man 
who does not acknowledge his sin to God, who prays not for 
salvation, who returns no praises for the mercies he is 
continually receiving, may well be said to be possessed with 
a dumb demon.

Verse 33. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake] 
The very miracle which was now wrought was to be the 
demonstrative proof of the Messiah's being manifested in the 
flesh. See Isaiah xxxv. 5, 6.

It was never so seen in Israel.] The greatest of the prophets 
has never been able to do such miracles as these. This was 
the remark of the people; and thus we find that the poor and 
the simple were more ready to acknowledge the hand of God 
than the rich and the learned. Many miracles had been wrought 
in the course of this one day, and this excited their 
surprise.

Verse 34. He casteth out devils through the prince of the 
devils.] This verse is wanting in both the Greek and Latin of 
the C. Bezae, in another copy of the Itala, and in Hilary and 
Juvencus. But see on "chap. xii. 24".

It is a consummate piece of malice to attribute the works of 
God to the devil. Envy cannot suffer the approbation which is 
given to the excellencies of others. Those whose hearts are 
possessed by this vice speak the very language of the devil. 
Calumny is but a little distance from envy. Though all 
persons may not have as much envy as the Pharisees, yet they 
should fear having some degree of it, as all have the 
principle from whence it proceeds, viz. sin.

Verse 35. Jesus went about all the cities and villages] Of 
Galilee. See on chap. iv. 23, 24. A real minister of Jesus 
Christ, after his example, is neither detained in one place 
by a comfortable provision made by some, nor discouraged from 
pursuing his work by the calumny and persecution of others. 
It is proper to remark, that, wherever Christ comes, the 
proofs of his presence evidently appear: he works none but 
salutary and beneficial miracles, because his ministry is a 
ministry of salvation.

Among the people.] en tw law. This clause is omitted by about 
fifty MSS., several of them of the first antiquity and 
authority; by the Complutensian, and by Bengel; by both the 
Syriac, both the Arabic, both the Persic; the Ethiopic, 
Gothic, Saxon, and all the Itala, except four.

Griesbach has left it out of the text.

Verse 36. Moved with compassion] esplagcnisqh, from 
splagcnon, a bowel. The Jews esteemed the bowels to be the 
seat of sympathy and the tender passions, and so applied the 
organ to the sense.

eplagcnizomai signifies, says Mintert, "to be moved with pity 
from the very inmost bowels. It is an emphatic word, 
signifying a vehement affection of commiseration, by which 
the bowels and especially the heart is moved." Both this verb 
and the noun seem to be derived from spaw, to draw; the whole 
intestinal canal, in the peristaltic motion of the bowels, 
being drawn, affected, and agitated with the sight of a 
distressed or miserable object. Pity increases this motion of 
the bowels, and produces considerable pain: hence 
splagcnizomai, to have the bowels moved, signifies to feel 
pity or compassion at seeing the miseries of others.

They fainted] Instead of eklelumenoi, fainted, all the best 
MSS., versions, and fathers, read eskulmenoi, grieved and 
melancholy. Kypke says skullein properly signifies, to pluck 
off the hair, as persons do in extreme sorrow or distress. 
The margin says, They were tired and lay down.

And were scattered abroad] eppimmenoi, thrown down, or, all 
along.

They were utterly neglected as to the interests of their 
souls, and rejected by the proud and disdained Pharisees. 
This people (oclov, this mob) that knoweth not the law, is 
accursed, John vii. 49. Thus those execrable men spoke of the 
souls that God had made, and of whom they should have been 
the instructors.

Those teachers, in name, have left their successors behind 
them; but, as in the days of Christ, so now, God has in his 
mercy rescued the flock out of the hands of those who only 
fed upon their flesh, and clothed themselves with their wool. 
The days in which a man was obliged to give his property to 
what was called THE Church, for the salvation of his soul, 
Christ being left out of the question, are, thank God, nearly 
over and gone. Jesus is the true Shepherd; without him there 
is nothing but fainting, fatigue, vexation, and dispersion. O 
that we may be led out and in by him, and find pasture!

Verse 37. The harvest] The souls who are ready to receive the 
truth are very numerous; but the labourers are few. There are 
multitudes of scribes, Pharisees, and priests, of reverend 
and right reverend men; but there are few that work. Jesus 
wishes for labourers, not gentlemen, who are either idle 
drones, or slaves to pleasure and sin, and nati consumere 
fruges. "Born to consume the produce of the soil." It was 
customary with the Jews to call their rabbins and students 
reapers; and their work of instruction, the harvest. So in 
Idra Rabba, s. 2. "The days are few; the creditor is urgent; 
the crier calls out incessantly; and the reapers are few." 
And in Pirkey Aboth: "The day is short, the work great, the 
workmen idle, the reward abundant, and the master of the 
household is urgent." In all worldly concerns, if there be 
the prospect of much gain, most men are willing enough to 
labour; but if it be to save their own souls, or the souls of 
others, what indolence, backwardness, and carelessness! While 
their adversary, the devil, is going about as a roaring lion, 
seeking whom he may devour; and a careless soul, and 
especially a careless minister is his especial prey.

The place of the harvest is the whole earth: it signifies 
little where a man works, provided it be by the appointment, 
in the Spirit, and with the blessing of God.

Verse 38. That he will send forth labourers] opwv ekballh 
ergatav, that he would thrust forth labourers. Those who are 
fittest for the work are generally most backward to the 
employment. The man who is forward to become a preacher knows 
little of God, of human nature, or of his own heart. It is, 
God's province to thrust out such preachers as shall labour; 
and it is our duty to entreat him to do so. A minister of 
Christ is represented as a day-labourer: he comes into the 
harvest, not to become lord of it, not to live on the labour 
of others, but to work, and to labour his day. Though the 
work may be very severe, yet, to use a familiar expression, 
there is good wages in the harvest-home; and the day, though 
hot, is but a short one.

How earnestly should the flock of Christ pray to the good 
Shepherd to send them pastors after his own heart, who will 
feed them with knowledge, and who shall be the means of 
spreading the knowledge of his truth and the savour of his 
grace over the face of the whole earth! The subject of 
fasting, already slightly noticed in the preceding notes, 
should be farther considered.

In all countries, and under all religions, fasting has not 
only been considered a duty, but also of extraordinary virtue 
to procure blessings, and to avert evils. Hence it has often 
been practised with extraordinary rigour, and abused to the 
most superstitious purposes. There are twelve kinds of fasts 
among the Hindoos:-1.

The person neither eats nor drinks for a day and night. This 
fast is indispensable, and occurs twenty-nine times in the 
year.

2. The person fasts during the day, and eats at night.

3. The person eats nothing but fruits, and drinks milk or 
water.

4. He eats once during the day and night.

5. Eats one particular kind of food during the day and night, 
but as often as he pleases.

6. Called Chanderaym, which is, to eat on the first day, only 
one mouthful; two on the second; and thus continue increasing 
one mouthful every day for a month, and then decreasing a 
mouthful every day, till he leaves off where he began.

7. The person neither eats nor drinks for twelve days.

8. Lasts twelve days: the first three days he eats a little 
once in the day; the next three, he eats only once in the 
night; the next three, he eats nothing, unless it be brought 
to him; and, during the last three days, he neither eats nor 
drinks.

9. Lasts fifteen days. For three days and three nights, he 
eats only one handful at night; the next three days and 
nights, he eats one handful if it be brought him, if not, he 
takes nothing. Then he eats nothing for three days and three 
nights. The next three days and nights he takes only a 
handful of warm water each day. The next three days and 
nights he takes a handful of warm milk each day.

10. For three days and nights he neither eats nor drinks. He 
lights a fire, and sits at a door where there enters a hot 
wind, which he draws in with his breath.

11. Lasts fifteen days. Three, days and three nights he eats 
nothing but leaves; three days and three nights, nothing but 
the Indian fig; three days and three nights, nothing but the 
seed of the lotus; three days and three nights, nothing but 
peepul leaves; three days and three nights, the expressed 
juice of a particular kind of grass called doobah.

12. Lasts a week. First day he eats milk; second, milk-curds; 
third, ghee, i.e. clarified butter; fourth, cow's urine; 
fifth, cow's dung; sixth, water; seventh, nothing.

During every kind of fast, the person sleeps on the ground, 
plays at no game, has no connection with women, neither 
shaves nor anoints himself, and bestows alms each day.-AYEEN 
AKBERY, vol. iii. p. 247-250. How much more simple and 
effectual is the way of salvation taught in the BIBLE! But, 
because it is true, it Is not credited by fallen man.

FASTING is considered by the Mohammedans as an essential part 
of piety.

Their orthodox divines term it the gate of religion. With 
them, it is of two kinds, voluntary and incumbent; and is 
distinguished by the Mosliman doctors into three degrees: 1. 
The refraining from every kind of nourishment or carnal 
indulgence. 2. The restraining the various members from every 
thing which might excite sinful or corrupt desires. 3. The 
abstracting the mind wholly from worldly cares, and fixing it 
exclusively upon God. Their great annual fast is kept on the 
month Ramzan, or Ramadhan, beginning at the first new moon, 
and continuing until the appearance of the next; during 
which, it is required to abstain from every kind of 
nourishment from day-break till after sun-set of each day. 
From this observance none are excused but the sick, the aged, 
and children. This is properly the Mohammedan Lent. See 
HEDAYAH, prel. Dis. p. LV. LVI.

It is worthy of remark, that these children of the 
Bridegroom, the disciples, did not mourn, were exposed to no 
persecution, while the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus, was with 
them, but after he had been taken from them, by death and his 
ascension, they did fast and mourn; they were exposed to all 
manner of hardships, persecutions, and even death itself, in 
some of its worst forms.

CHAPTER x

Jesus calls, commissions, and names his twelve disciples, 1-
4. Gives them particular instructions relative to the objects 
of their ministry, 5, 6. Mode of preaching, &c., 7-15. 
Foretells the afflictions and persecutions they would have to 
endure, and the support they should receive, 16-25. Cautions 
them against betraying his cause, in order to procure their 
personal safety, 26-39. And gives especial promises to those 
who should assist his faithful servants in the execution of 
their work, 40-42.

NOTES ON CHAP. x

Verse 1. Twelve disciples] Our Lord seems to have had the 
twelve patriarchs, heads of the congregation of Israel, in 
view, in his choosing twelve disciples. That he had the plan 
of the ancient Jewish Church in his eye is sufficiently 
evident from chap. xix. 28; and from Luke x. 1; xxii. 30; 
John xvii. 1, &c., and Rev. xxi. 12-14.

He gave them power against unclean spirits] The word kata, 
against, which our translators have supplied in Italic, is 
found in many MSS. of good note, and in the principal 
versions. Here we find the first call to the Christian 
ministry, and the end proposed by the commission given. To 
call persons to the ministry belongs only to Him who can give 
them power to cast out unclean spirits. He whose ministry is 
not accompanied with healing to diseased souls, was never 
called of God. But let it be observed, that, though the 
spiritual gifts requisite for the ministry must be supplied 
by God himself, yet this does not preclude the importance of 
human learning. No man can have his mind too well cultivated, 
to whom a dispensation of the Gospel is committed. The 
influence of the Spirit of God was no more designed to render 
human learning useless, than that learning should be 
considered as superseding the necessity of Divine 
inspiration.

Verse 2. Apostles] This is the first place where the word is 
used.

apostolov, an apostle, comes from apostellw, I send a 
message. The word was anciently used to signify a person 
commissioned by a king to negotiate any affair between him 
and any other power or people. Hence apostoloi and khrukev, 
apostles and heralds, are of the same import in Herodotus. 
See the remarks at the end of chap. 3.

It is worthy of notice, that those who were Christ's apostles 
were first his disciples; to intimate, that men must be first 
taught of God, before they be sent of God. Jesus Christ never 
made an apostle of any man who was not first his scholar or 
disciple. These twelve apostles were chosen. 1. That they 
might be with our Lord, to see and witness his miracles, and 
hear his doctrine. 2. That they might bear testimony of the 
former, and preach his truth to mankind.

The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his 
brother; &c.] We are not to suppose that the word prwtov, 
first, refers to any kind of dignity, as some have imagined; 
it merely signifies the first in order-the person first 
mentioned. A pious man remarks: "God here unites by grace 
those who were before united by nature." Though nature cannot 
be deemed a step towards grace, yet it is not to be 
considered as always a hinderance to it. Happy the brothers 
who are joint envoys of Heaven, and the parents who have two 
or more children employed as ambassadors for God! But this is 
a very rare case; and family compacts in the work of the 
ministry are dangerous and should be avoided.

Verse 3. Bartholomew] Many are of opinion that this was 
Nathanael, mentioned John i. 46, whose name was probably 
Nathanael bar Talmai, Nathanael, the son of Talmai: here, his 
own name is repressed, and he is called Bar Talmai, or 
Bartholomew, from his father.

Matthew the publican] The writer of this history. See the 
preface.

James the son of Alpheus] This person was also called 
Cleopas, or Clopas, Luke xxiv. 18; John 19: 25. He had 
married Mary, sister to the blessed Virgin, John xix. 25.

Verse 4. Simon] He was third son of Alpheus, and brother of 
James and Jude, or Judas, chap. xiii. 55.

The Canaanite] This word is not put here to signify a 
particular people, as it is elsewhere used in the Sacred 
Writings; but it is formed from the Hebrew anq kana, which 
signifies zealous, literally translated by Luke, Luke vi. 15, 
zhlwthv, zelotes, or the zealous, probably from his great 
fervency in preaching the Gospel of his Master. But see "Luke 
vi. 15".

Judas Iscariot] Probably from the Hebrew twyrq ya ish 
kerioth, a man of Kerioth, which was a city in the tribe of 
Judah, Joshua xv. 25, where it is likely this man was born.

As arksa iscara, signifies the quinsy, or strangulation, and 
Judas hanged himself after he had betrayed our Lord, Dr. 
Lightfoot seems inclined to believe that he had his name from 
this circumstance, and that it was not given him till after 
his death.

Who also betrayed him] Rather, even he who betrayed him, or 
delivered him up; for so, I think, o kai paradouv auton 
should be translated. The common translation, who ALSO 
betrayed him, is very exceptionable, as it seems to imply, he 
was betrayed by some others, as well as by Judas.

Verse 5. These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded] To be 
properly qualified for a minister of Christ, a man must be, 
1. filled with the spirit of holiness; 2. called to this 
particular work; 3. instructed in its nature, &c.; and, 4. 
commissioned to go forth, and testify the Gospel of the grace 
of God. These are four different gifts which a man must 
receive from God by Christ Jesus. To these let him add all 
the human qualifications he can possibly attain; as in his 
arduous work he will require every gift and every grace.

Go not into the way of the Gentiles] Our Lord only intended 
that the first offers of salvation should be made to the 
Jewish people; and that the heathen should not be noticed in 
this first mission, that no stumbling-block might be cast in 
the way of the Jews.

Into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not] The Samaritans 
had afterwards the Gospel preached to them by Christ himself, 
John iv. 4, &c., for the reason assigned above. Such as God 
seems at first to pass by are often those for whom he has 
designed his greatest benefits, (witness the Samaritans, and 
the Gentiles in general,) but he has his own proper time to 
discover and reveal them.

The history of the Samaritans is sufficiently known from the 
Old Testament. Properly speaking, the inhabitants of the city 
of Samaria should be termed Samaritans; but this epithet 
belongs chiefly to the people sent into that part of the 
promised land by Salmanezer, king of Assyria, in the year of 
the world 3283, when he carried the Israelites that dwelt 
there captives beyond the Euphrates, and sent a mixed people, 
principally Cuthites, to dwell in their place. These were 
altogether heathens at first; but they afterwards 
incorporated the worship of the true God with that of their 
idols. See the whole account, 2 Kings xvii. 5, &c. From this 
time they feared Jehovah, and served other gods till after 
the Babylonish captivity.

From Alexander the Great, Sanballat, their governor, obtained 
permission to build a temple upon Mount Gerizim, which the 
Jews conceiving to be in opposition to their temple at 
Jerusalem, hated them with a perfect hatred, and would have 
no fellowship with them. The Samaritans acknowledge the 
Divine authority of the law of Moses, and carefully preserve 
it in their own characters, which are probably the genuine 
ancient Hebrew; the character which is now called Hebrew 
being that of the Chaldeans. The Samaritan Pentateuch is 
printed in the London Polyglott, and is an undeniable record. 
A poor remnant of this people is found still at Naplouse, the 
ancient Shechem; but they exist in a state of very great 
poverty and distress, and probably will soon become extinct.

Verse 6. But go rather to the lost sheep, &c.] The Jewish 
Church was the ancient fold of God; but the sheep had 
wandered from their Shepherd, and were lost. Our blessed Lord 
sends these under-shepherds to seek, find, and bring them 
back to the Shepherd and Overseer of their souls.

Verse 7. And as ye go, preach] poreuomenoi de khrussete, and 
as you proceed, proclaim like heralds-make this proclamation 
wherever ye go, and while ye are journeying. Preach and 
travel; and, as ye travel, preach-proclaim salvation to all 
you meet. Wherever the ministers of Christ go, they find 
lost, ruined souls; and, wherever they find them, they should 
proclaim Jesus, and his power to save. For an explanation of 
the word proclaim or preach, see on "chap. iii. 1".

From this commission we learn what the grand subject of 
apostolic preaching was-THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND! 
This was the great message. "They preached," says Quesnel, 
"to establish the faith; the kingdom, to animate the hope; of 
heaven, to inspire the love of heavenly things, and the 
contempt of earthly; which is at hand, that men may prepare 
for it without delay."

Verse 8. raise the dead] This is wanting in the MSS. marked 
EKLMS of Griesbach, and in those marked BHV of Mathai, and in 
upwards of one hundred others. It is also wanting in the 
Syriac, (Vienna edition,) latter Persic, Sahidic, Armenian, 
Sclavonic, and in one copy of the Itala; also in Athanasius, 
Basil, and Chrysostom. There is no evidence that the 
disciples raised any dead person previously to the 
resurrection of Christ. The words should certainly be 
omitted, unless we could suppose that the authority now given 
respected not only their present mission, but comprehended 
also their future conduct. But that our blessed Lord did not 
give this power to his disciples at this time, is, I think, 
pretty evident from ver. 1, and from Luke ix. 6, 10; Luke x. 
19, 20, where, if any such power had been given, or 
exercised, it would doubtless have been mentioned. Wetstein 
has rejected it, and so did Griesbach in his first edition; 
but in the second (1796) he has left it in the text, with a 
note of doubtfulness.

Freely ye have received, freely give.] A rule very necessary, 
and of great extent. A minister or labourer in the Gospel 
vineyard, though worthy of his comfortable support while in 
the work, should never preach for hire, or make a secular 
traffic of a spiritual work. What a scandal is it for a man 
to traffic with gifts which he pretends, at least, to have 
received from the Holy Ghost, of which he is not the master, 
but the dispenser. He who preaches to get a living, or to 
make a fortune, is guilty of the most infamous sacrilege.

Verse 9. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in your 
purses] eiv tav xwnav umwn, in your GIRDLES. It is supposed 
that the people of the east carry their money in a fold of 
their girdles. This is scarcely correct: they carry it in a 
purse in their bosom, under their girdles. This I have often 
observed.

In a thousand instances an apostolic preacher, who goes to 
the wilderness to seek the lost sheep, will be exposed to 
hunger and cold, and other inconveniences; he must therefore 
resign himself to God, depending on his providence for the 
necessaries of life. If God have sent him, he is bound to 
support him, and will do it: anxiety therefore, in him, is a 
double crime, as it insinuates a bad opinion of the Master 
who has employed him. Every missionary should make himself 
master of this subject.

Have no money in your purse, is a command, obedience to which 
was secured by the narrow circumstances of most of the 
primitive genuine preachers of the Gospel. Whole herds of 
friars mendicants have professed the same principle, and 
abandoned themselves to voluntary poverty; but if the money 
be in the heart it is a worse evil. In the former case, it 
may be a temptation to sin; in the latter, it must be 
ruinous.

Verse 10. Nor scrip for your journey] To carry provisions. 
This was called lymrwt tormil, by the rabbins; it was a 
leathern pouch hung about their necks, in which they put 
their victuals. This was properly, the shepherd's bag.

Neither two coats, &c.] Nothing to encumber you Nor yet 
staves] rabdon, a staff, as in the margin, but, instead of 
rabdon, staff, which is the common reading, all the following 
MSS. and versions have rabdouv, staves, and CEFGKLMPS. V. 
ninety-three others, Coptic, Armenian, latter Syriac, one of 
the Itala, Chrysostom, and Theophylact.

This reading is of great importance, as it reconciles this 
place with Luke ix. 3, and removes the seeming contradiction 
from Mark vi. 8; as if he had said: "Ye shall take nothing to 
defend yourselves with, because ye are the servants of the 
Lord, and are to be supported by his bounty, and defended by 
his power. In a word, be like men in haste, and eager to 
begin the important work of the ministry. The sheep are lost-
ruined: Satan is devouring them: give all diligence to pluck 
them out of the jaws of the destroyer." The workman is worthy 
of his meat.] thv trofhv autou, of his maintenance. It is a 
maintenance, and that only, which a minister of God is to 
expect, and that he has a Divine right to; but not to make a 
fortune, or lay up wealth: besides, it is the workman, he 
that labours in the word and doctrine, that is to get even 
this. How contrary to Christ is it for a man to have vast 
revenues, as a minister of the Gospel, who ministers no 
Gospel, and who spends the revenues of the Church to its 
disgrace and ruin!

Verse 11. Into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter] In the 
commencement of Christianity, Christ and his preachers were 
all itinerant.

Inquire who in it is worthy] That is, of a good character; 
for a preacher of the Gospel should be careful of his 
reputation, and lodge only with those who are of a regular 
life.

There abide till ye go thence.] Go not about from house to 
house, Luke x. 7. Acting contrary to this precept has often 
brought a great disgrace on the Gospel of God. Stay in your 
own lodging as much as possible, that you may have time for 
prayer and study. Seldom frequent the tables of the rich and 
great; if you do, it will unavoidably prove a snare to you. 
The unction of God will perish from your mind, and your 
preaching be only a dry barren repetition of old things; the 
bread of God in your hands will be like the dry, mouldy, 
Gibeonitish crusts, mentioned Josh. ix. 5. He who knows the 
value of time, and will redeem it from useless chit-chat, and 
trifling visits, will find enough for all the purposes of his 
own salvation, the cultivation of his mind, and the work of 
the ministry. He to whom time is not precious, and who lives 
not by rule, never finds time sufficient for any thing-is 
always embarrassed-always in a hurry, and never capable of 
bringing one good purpose to proper effect.

Verse 12. Salute it] legoutev eirhnh en tw oikw toutw, 
saying, "Peace be to this house." This clause, which, as 
explanatory of the word aspasasqe, is necessary to the 
connection in which it now stands, is added, by the MSS. D 
and L, and forty-three others, the Armenian, Ethiopic, 
Slavonic, Saxon, Vulgate, all the copies of the old Itala, 
Theophylact, and Hilary. The clause is also found in several 
modern versions. The modern Greek has legontev? eirhnh eiv to 
skhpri touto.

The Italian, by Matthew, of Erberg, and of Diodati, renders 
it thus: Pace sia a questa casa. Peace be to this house.

It is found also in Wickliff, and in my old MS. Seyinge, pees 
be to this hous. Some suppose it is an addition taken from 
Luke; but there is nearly as much reason to believe he took 
it from Matthew.

Peace, µwl , among the Hebrews, had a very extensive 
meaning:-it comprehended all blessings, spiritual and 
temporal. Hence that saying of the rabbins, wb twlwlk twkrbh 
lk µwl lwdg Gadal shalom, shecol haberacoth culoloth bo. 
Great is PEACE, for all other blessings are comprehended in 
it. To wish peace to a family, in the name and by the 
authority of Christ, was in effect a positive promise, on the 
Lord's side, of all the good implied in the wish. This was 
paying largely even beforehand.

Whoever receives the messengers of God into his house confers 
the highest honour upon himself, and not upon the preacher, 
whose honour is from God, and who comes with the blessings of 
life eternal to that man and his family who receives him.

In India, it is customary for a way-faring man, when night 
draws on, to enter a house, and simply say, "Sir, I am a 
guest with you this night." If the owner cannot lodge him, he 
makes an apology, and the traveler proceeds to another house.

Verse 13. If that house be worthy] If that family be proper 
for a preacher to lodge in, and the master be ready to 
embrace the message of salvation.

Your peace] The blessings you have prayed for shall come upon 
the family: God will prosper them in their bodies, souls, and 
substance.

But if it be not worthy] As above explained.

Let your peace] The blessings prayed for, return to you. prov 
umav epistrafhtw, it shall turn back upon yourselves. They 
shall get nothing, and you shall have an increase.

The trials, disappointments, insults, and wants of the 
followers of Christ become, in the hand of the all-wise God, 
subservient to their best interests: hence, nothing can 
happen to them without their deriving profit from it, unless 
it be their own fault.

Verse 14. Shake off the dust of your feet.] The Jews 
considered themselves defiled by the dust of a heathen 
country, when was represented by the prophets as a polluted 
laud, Am vii. 17, when compared with the land of Israel, 
which was considered as a holy land, Ezek. xlv. 1; therefore, 
to shake the dust of any city of Israel from off one's 
clothes or feet was an emblematical action, signifying a 
renunciation of all farther connection with them, and placing 
them on a level with the cities of the Heathen. See "Amos ix. 
7".

Verse 15. In the day of judgment] Or, punishment,-krisewv. 
Perhaps not meaning the day of general judgment, nor the day 
of the destruction of the Jewish state by the Romans; but a 
day in which God should send punishment on that particular 
city, or on that person, for their crimes. So the day of 
judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, was the time in which the 
Lord destroyed them by fire and brimstone, from the Lord out 
of heaven.

If men are thus treated for not receiving the preachers of 
the Gospel, what will it be to despise the Gospel itself-to 
decry it-to preach the contrary-to hinder the preaching of 
it-to abuse those who do preach it in its purity-or to render 
it fruitless by calumnies and lies! Their punishment, our 
Lord intimates, shall be greater than that inflicted on the 
inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah! 

Verse 16. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of 
wolves] He who is called to preach the Gospel is called to 
embrace a state of constant labour, and frequent suffering. 
He who gets ease and pleasure, in consequence of embracing 
the ministerial office, neither preaches the Gospel, nor is 
sent of God. If he did the work of an evangelist, wicked men 
and demons would both oppose him.

Wise (fronimoi prudent) as serpents, and harmless as doves.] 
This is a proverbial saying: so in Shir hashirim Rabba, fol. 
16, "The holy blessed God said to the Israelites, Ye shall be 
towards me as upright as the doves; but, towards the 
Gentiles, as cunning as serpents." There is a beauty in this 
saying which is seldom observed. The serpent is represented 
as prudent to excess, being full of cunning, Gen. iii. 1; 2 
Cor. xi. 3; and the dove is simple, even to stupidity, Ho 
vii. 11; but Jesus Christ corrects here the cunning of the 
serpent, by the simplicity of the dove; and the too great 
simplicity of the dove, by the cunning of the serpent. For a 
fine illustration of this text, see the account of the 
Boiga:-" This species is remarkably beautiful, combining the 
richest colours of the finest gems with the splendour of 
burnished gold, mingled with dark brown shades, which 
contrast and heighten its brilliant ornaments. The whole 
under surface of the head and body is of a silver white, 
separated from the changing blue of the back by a golden 
chain on each side, the whole length of the body. This fine 
blue and silver, ornamented with gold, by no means give a 
full idea of the beautiful embroidery of the boiga. We must 
take in all the reflected tints of silver colour, golden 
yellow, red, blue, green, and black, mingled, and changing in 
the most extraordinary and beautiful manner possible; so 
that, when about to change its skin, it seems studded with a 
mixed assemblage of diamonds, emeralds, topazes, sapphires, 
and rubies, under a thin transparent veil of bluish crystal. 
Thus, in the rich and torrid plains of India, where the most 
splendid gems abound, nature seems to have chosen to reunite 
them all, together with the noble metals, to adorn the 
brilliant robe of the boiga. This is one of the most slender 
of serpents in proportion to its length. The specimens in the 
royal collection, which exceed three feet in length, are 
hardly a few lines in diameter. The tail is almost as long as 
the body, and at the end is like a needle for fineness; yet 
it is sometimes flattened above, below, and on the two sides, 
rendering it in some measure square. From the delicacy of its 
form, its movements are necessarily extremely agile; so that, 
doubling itself up several times, it can spring to a 
considerable distance, with great swiftness. It can twine and 
twist itself, most readily, and nimbly, around trees or other 
such bodies; climbing, or descending, or suspending itself, 
with the utmost facility. The boiga feeds on small birds, 
which it swallows very easily, notwithstanding the small 
diameter of its body, in consequence of the great 
distensibility of its jaws, throat, and stomach, common to it 
with other serpents. It conceals itself under the foliage of 
trees, on purpose to surprise the small birds, and is said to 
attract them by a peculiar kind of whistling, to which the 
term of song has been applied; but we must consider this as 
an exaggeration, as its long divided tongue, and the 
conformation of its other organs of sound, are only adapted 
for producing a hiss, or species of simple whistle, instead 
of forming a melodious assemblage of tones. Yet, if nature 
has not reckoned the boiga among the songsters of the woods, 
it seems to possess a more perfect instinct than other 
serpents, joined to more agile movements, and more 
magnificent ornament. In the isle of Borneo, the children 
play with the boiga, without the smallest dread. They carry 
it in their hands, as innocent as themselves, and twist it 
about their necks, arms, and bodies, in a thousand 
directions. This circumstance brings to recollection that 
fine emblem of Candour and Confidence imagined by the genius 
of the ancients: a child smiling on a snake, which holds him 
fast in his convolutions. But, in that beautiful allegory, 
the snake is supposed to conceal a deadly poison; while the 
boiga returns caress for caress to the Indian children who 
fondle it, and seems pleased to be twisted about their 
delicate hands. As the appearance of such nimble and innocent 
animals in the forests must be extremely beautiful, 
displaying their splendid colours, and gliding swiftly from 
branch to branch, without possessing the smallest noxious 
quality, we might regret that this species should require a 
degree of heat greatly superior to that of our regions, and 
that it can only subsist near the tropics, in Asia, Africa, 
and America. It has usually a hundred and sixty-six large 
plates, and a hundred and twenty-eight pairs of small plates, 
but is subject to considerable variation.

"According to this representation, the boiga is not merely to 
be praised for its beauty, but may be said to fulfill the old 
maxim of combining the wisdom of the serpent with the 
harmlessness of the dove." Cepede's Hist.

of Oviparous Quadrupeds and Serpents.

Instead of akeraioi, harmless, or as the Etymol. Mag. defines 
it, without mixture of evil, the Cod. Bezae reads 
aploustatoi, simple-uncompounded,-so all the copies of the 
old Itala, the Vulgate, and the Latin fathers; hut this 
curious and explanatory reading is found in no other Greek 
MS.

Verse 17. But beware of men] Or, be on your guard against 
men, twn anqrwpwn THESE men; i.e. your countrymen; those from 
whom you might have reasonably expected comfort and support; 
and especially those in power, who will abuse that power to 
oppress you.

Councils] sunedria, sanhedrins and synagogues. See on 
"Matthew v. 22. "By synagogues we may understand here, not 
the places of public worship, but assemblies where three 
magistrates, chosen out of the principal members of the 
synagogue, presided to adjust differences among the people: 
these had power, in certain cases, to condemn to the scourge, 
but not to death. See Acts xxii. 19; 2 Cor. xi. 24, compared 
with Luke xii. 11." See Lightfoot.

Verse 18. Ye shall be brought before governors, &c.] "This 
affords a striking proof of the prescience of Christ. Who 
could have thought, at that time, that these despised and 
illiterate men could excite so much attention, and be called 
upon to apologize for the profession of their faith before 
the tribunals of the most illustrious personages of the 
earth?" Wakefield.

By governors and kings we may understand, the Roman 
proconsuls, governors of provinces, and the kings who were 
tributary to the Roman government, and the emperors 
themselves, before whom many of the primitive Christians were 
brought.

For a testimony against them and the Gentiles.] That is, to 
render testimony, both to Jews and Gentiles, of the truth and 
power of my Gospel.

Verse 19. Take no thought how or what ye shall speak] mh 
merimnhsete-Be not anxiously careful, because such anxiety 
argues distrust in God, and infallibly produces a confused 
mind. In such a state, no person is fit to proclaim or 
vindicate the truth. This promise, It shall be given you, 
&c., banishes all distrust and inquietude on dangerous 
occasions; but without encouraging sloth and negligence, and 
without dispensing with the obligation we are under to 
prepare ourselves by the meditation of sacred truths, by the 
study of the Holy Scriptures, and by prayer.

It shall be given you in that same hour what] This clause is 
wanting in the MSS. D and L, and several others, some 
versions, and several of the fathers: but it is found in Mark 
xiii. 11, without any various reading; and in substance in 
Luke xi. 13.

Verse 20. For it is-the Spirit of your Father, &c.] This was 
an extraordinary promise, and was literally fulfilled to 
those first preachers of the Gospel; and to them it was 
essentially necessary, because the New Testament dispensation 
was to be fully opened by their extraordinary inspiration. In 
a certain measure, it may be truly said, that the Holy Spirit 
animates the true disciples of Christ, and enables them to 
speak. The Head speaks in his members, by his Spirit; and it 
is the province of the Spirit of God to speak for God. 
Neither surprise, defect of talents, nor even ignorance 
itself, could hurt the cause of God, in the primitive times, 
when the hearts and minds of those Divine men were influenced 
by the Holy Spirit.

Your Father] This is added to excite and increase their 
confidence in God.

Verse 21. And the brother shall deliver up the brother, &c.] 
What an astonishing enmity is there in the soul of man 
against God and goodness! That men should think they did God 
service, in putting to death those who differ from them in 
their political or religious creed, is a thing that cannot be 
accounted for but on the principle of an indescribable 
depravity.

O shame to men! devil with devil damn'd Firm concord holds, 
men only disagree Of creatures rational; though under hope Of 
heavenly grace; and, God proclaiming peace, Yet live in 
hatred, enmity, and strife Among themselves, and levy cruel 
wars, Wasting the earth, each other to destroy! PAR. Lost, b. 
ii. l. 496 

Verse 22. Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake] 
Because ye are attached to me, and saved from the corruption 
that is in the world; therefore the world will hate you. "The 
laws of Christ condemn a vicious world, and gall it to 
revenge." He that endureth to the end shall be saved] He who 
holds fast faith and a good conscience to the end, till the 
punishment threatened against this wicked people be poured 
out, he shall be saved, preserved from the destruction that 
shall fall upon the workers of iniquity. This verse is 
commonly understood to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem. 
It is also true that they who do not hold fast faith and a 
good conscience till death have no room to hope for an 
admission into the kingdom of God.

Verse 23. But when they persecute you] It is prudence and 
humility (when charity or righteousness obliges us not to the 
contrary) to avoid persecution. To deprive those who are 
disposed to do evil of the opportunities of doing it; to 
convey the grace which they despise to others; to accomplish 
God's designs of justice on the former, and of mercy on the 
latter, are consequences of the flight of a persecuted 
preacher. This flight is a precept to those who are highly 
necessary to the Church of Christ, an advice to those who 
might imprudently draw upon themselves persecution, and of 
indulgence for those who are weak. But this flight is highly 
criminal in those mercenary preachers who, through love to 
their flesh and their property, abandon the flock of Christ 
to the wolf. See Quesnel.

In this city, flee ye into another] There is a remarkable 
repetition of this clause found in the MSS. DL and eight 
others; the Armenian, Saxon, all the Italia except three; 
Athan., Theodour., Tertul., August., Ambr., Hilar., and 
Juvencus. Bengel, in his gnomon approves of this reading. On 
the above authorities Griesbach has inserted it in the text. 
It probably made a portion of this Gospel as written by 
Matthew. The verse in the MSS. is as follows:-But when they 
shall persecute you in this city, flee ye into another; and 
if they persecute in the other, flee ye unto another.

Ye shall not have gone over (ended or finished, margin) the 
cities, &c.] The word teleshte here is generally understood 
as implying to go over or through, intimating that there 
should not be time for the disciples to travel over the 
cities of Judea before the destruction predicted by Christ 
should take place. But this is very far from being the truth, 
as there were not less than forty years after this was 
spoken, before Jerusalem was destroyed: teleiwn kai 
manqanantwn are used by the Septuagint. 1 Chron. xxv. 8, for 
those who teach and those who learn. And toiv teleioiv is 
used by the apostle, 1 Cor. ii. 6, for those who are 
perfectly instructed in the things of God. Ovid has used the 
Latin perficio, which answers to the Greek teleiow in exactly 
the same sense.

Phillyrides puerum cithara perfecit Achillem.

"Chiron TAUGHT the young Achilles to play on the harp." For 
these reasons some contend that the passage should be 
translated, Ye shall not have INSTRUCTED, i.e. preached the 
Gospel in the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be came. 
The Greek divines call baptism teleiwsiv or initiation. See 
Leigh. Crit. sacr. Edit. Amst. p. 326, 328.

Dr. Lightfoot supposes the meaning to be: "Ye shall not have 
traveled over the cities of Israel, preaching the Gospel, 
before the Son of man is revealed by his resurrection, Rom. 
i. 4; compare Acts iii. 19, 20; v. 26. To you first, God, 
raising up his Son, sent him to bless you, &c. The epoch of 
the Messiah is dated from the resurrection of Christ." After 
all, the place may be understood literally; for telein tav 
poleiv, to finish the cities, is only a concise mode of 
speech, for telein odon dia tav poleiv, to complete the 
journey through the cities. To finish the survey, to preach 
in every one:-till the Son of man be come, may refer either 
to the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of pentecost, or 
to the subversion of the Jewish state. See Rosenmuller.

Verse 24. The disciple is not above his master] Or in plainer 
terms, A scholar is not above his teacher. The saying itself 
requires no comment, its truth and reasonableness are self-
evident, but to the spirit and design we should carefully 
attend. Jesus is the great teacher: we profess to be his 
scholars. He who keeps the above saying in his heart will 
never complain of what he suffers. How many irregular 
thoughts and affections is this maxim capable of restraining! 
A man is not a scholar of Christ unless he learn his 
doctrine; and he does not learn it as he ought unless he put 
it in practice.

Verse 25. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his 
master] Can any man who pretends to be a scholar or disciple 
of Jesus Christ, expect to be treated well by the world? Will 
not the world love its own, and them only? Why, then, so much 
impatience under sufferings, such an excessive sense of 
injuries, such delicacy? Can you expect any thing from the 
world better than you receive? If you want the honour that 
comes from it, abandon Jesus Christ, and it will again 
receive you into its bosom. But you will, no doubt, count the 
cost before you do this. Take the converse, abandon the love 
of the world, &c., and God will receive you.

Beelzebub] This name is variously written in the MSS. 
Beelzebaul, Beelzeboun, Beelzebud, but there is a vast 
majority in favour of the reading Beelzebul, which should, by 
all means, be inserted in the text instead of Beelzebub. See 
the reasons below, and see the margin.

It is supposed that this idol was the same with bwbz l[b 
Baalzebub the god fly, worshipped at Ekron, 2 Kings i. 2, 
&c., who had his name changed afterwards by the Jews to lwbz 
l[b Baal zebul, the dung god, a title expressive of the 
utmost contempt. It seems probable that the worship of this 
vile idol continued even to the time of our Lord; and the 
title, being applied by the Jews to our blessed Lord, affords 
the strongest proof of the inveteracy of their malice.

Dr. Lightfoot has some useful observations on this subject, 
which I shall take the liberty to subjoin.

"For the searching out the sense of this horrid blasphemy, 
these things are worthy observing, "I. Among the Jews it was 
held, in a manner, for a matter of religion, to reproach 
idols, and to give them odious names. R. Akibah saith, 
Idolatry pollutes, as it is said, Thou shalt cast away the 
(idol) as something that is abominable, and thou shalt say to 
it, Get thee hence: (Isaiah xxx. 22.) R.

Lazar saith, Thou shalt say to it, Get thee hence: that which 
they call the face of God, let them call the face of a dog. 
That which they call owk y[ ein cos, the FOUNTAIN OF A CUP, 
let them call Åwq y[ ein kuts, the FOUNTAIN OF TOIL (or of 
flails.) That which they call hydg gediyah, FORTUNE, let them 
call ayylg geliya, a STINK, &c. That town which sometimes was 
called Bethel, was afterwards called Bethaven. See also the 
tract Schabbath.

"II. Among the ignominious names bestowed upon idols, the 
general and common one was lwbz Zebul, DUNG, or a DUNGHILL. 
'Even to them that have stretched out their hands lwbzb 
bezebul in a dunghill, (that is, in an idol temple, or in 
idolatry,) there is hope. Thou canst not bring them (into the 
Church) because they have stretched forth their hands 
bezebul, in a dunghill. But yet you cannot reject them, 
because they have repented.' And a little after, He that sees 
them dunging, ylbzb (that is, sacrificing,) to an idol, let 
him say, Cursed be he that sacrifices to a strange god. Let 
them, therefore, who dare, form this word into Beelzebub. I 
am so far from doubting that the Pharisees pronounced the 
word BEELZEBUL, and that Matthew so wrote it, that I doubt 
not but the sense fails if it be writ otherwise.

"III. Very many names of evil spirits, or devils, occur in 
the Talmud, which it is needless here to mention. Among all 
the devils, they esteemed that devil the worst, the foulest, 
as it were, the prince of the rest, who ruled over the idols, 
and by whom oracles and miracles were given forth among the 
Heathens and idolaters. And they were of this opinion for 
this reason, because they held idolatry, above all other 
things, chiefly wicked and abominable, and to be the prince 
and head of evil. This demon they called lwbz l[b Baal-zebul, 
not so much by a proper name, as by one more general and 
common; as much as to say, the lord of idolatry: the worst 
devil, and the worst thing: and they called him the prince of 
devils, because idolatry is the prince (or chief) of 
wickedness."

Verse 26. Fear them not] A general direction to all the 
persecuted followers of Christ. Fear them not, for they can 
make you suffer nothing worse than they have made Christ 
suffer; and under all trials he has promised the most ample 
support.

For there is nothing covered, &c.] God sees every thing; this 
is consolation to the upright and dismay to the wicked; and 
he will bring into judgment every work, and every secret 
thing, whether good or bad, Eccles. xii. 14.

Verse 27. What I tell you in darkness] A man ought to preach 
that only which he has learned from God's Spirit, and his 
testimonies; but let him not pretend to bring forth any thing 
new, or mysterious. There is nothing that concerns our 
salvation that is newer than the new covenant; and in that 
there are, properly speaking, no mysteries: what was secret 
before is now made manifest in the Gospel of the ever-blessed 
God. See Ephesians iii. 1-12.

What ye hear in the ear] The doctor who explained the law in 
Hebrew had an interpreter always by him, in whose ears he 
softly whispered what he said; this interpreter spoke aloud 
what had been thus whispered to him.

Lightfoot has clearly proved this in his Horae Talmudicae, 
and to this custom our Lord here evidently alludes. The 
spirit of our Lord's direction appears to be this: whatever I 
speak to you is for the benefit of mankind,-keep nothing from 
them, declare explicitly the whole counsel of God; preach ye, 
(khruxate proclaim,) on the house-tops. The houses in Judea 
were flat-roofed, with a ballustrade round about, which were 
used for the purpose of taking the air, prayer, meditation, 
and it seems, from this place, for announcing things in the 
most public manner. As there are no bells among the Turks, a 
crier proclaims all times of public worship from the house-
tops. Whoever will give himself the trouble to consult the 
following scriptures will find a variety of uses to which 
these housetops were assigned. Deuteronomy xxii. 8; Josh. ii. 
6; Judg. ix. 51; Neh. viii. 16; 2 Sam. xi. 2; 2 Kings xxiii. 
12; Isa. xv. 3; Jer. xxxii. 29, and Acts x. 9.

Lightfoot thinks that this may be an allusion to that custom, 
when the minister of the synagogue, on the Sabbath eve, 
sounded with a trumpet six times, upon the roof of a very 
high house, that from thence all might have notice of the 
coming in of the Sabbath. The first blast signified that they 
should heave off their work in the field: the second that 
they should cease from theirs in the city: the third that 
they should light the Sabbath candle, &c.

Verse 28. Fear not them which kill the body] twn 
apokteinontwn.

Those who slay with acts of cruelty, alluding probably to the 
cruelties which persecutors should exercise on his followers 
in their martyrdom.

But are not able to kill the soul. Hence we find that the 
body and the soul are distinct principles, for the body may 
be slain and the soul escape; and, secondly, that the soul is 
immaterial, for the murderers of the body are not able, mh 
dunamenwn, have it not in their power, to injure it.

Fear him] It is, not hell-fire we are to fear, but it is God; 
without the stroke of whose justice hell itself would be no 
punishment, and whose frown would render heaven itself 
insupportable. What strange blindness is it to expose our 
souls to endless ruin, which should enjoy God eternally; and 
to save and pamper the body, by which we enjoy nothing but 
the creatures, and them only for a moment!

Verse 29. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?] 
assariou. A Roman AS was one-tenth of a DENARIUS, which was 
about sevenpence-halfpenny, and one-tenth of sevenpence-
halfpenny makes just three farthings.

The word assarion, which we translate farthing, is found 
among the rabbins in the word roy[ aisar, which, according to 
Maimonides, is equal to four grains of silver, but is used 
among them to express a thing of the lowest, or almost no 
value. Our Lord seems to have borrowed the expression, One of 
them shall not fall on the ground, &c., from his own 
countrymen. In Bereshith Rabba, sec. 79, fol. 77, it is said: 
In the time in which the Jews were compelled to apostatize, 
Rab. Simeon, Ben. Jochai, and Eliezer his son hid themselves 
in a cave, and lived upon dry husks.

After thirteen years they came out; and, sitting at the mouth 
of the cave, they observed a fowler stretching his nets to 
catch birds; and as often as the Bath Kol said owmyd dimos, 
escape! the bird escaped; but when it said alwqpo spicula, a 
dart, the bird was taken. Then the rabbin said, Even a bird 
is not taken without Heaven, i.e. without the will of God, 
how much less the life of man! The doctrine intended to be 
inculcated is this: The providence of God extends to the 
minutest things; every thing is continually under the 
government and care of God, and nothing occurs without his 
will or permission; if then he regards sparrows, how much 
more man, and how much more still the soul that trusts in 
him! Fall on the ground] Instead of epi thn ghn, Origen, 
Clement, Chrysostom, Juvencus, and six MSS. of Mathai, read 
eiv thn pagida, into a snare. Bengel conjectures that it 
might have been written at first, epi thn paghn; that the 
first syllable pa being lost out of the word, ghn, the earth, 
instead of paghn, snare, became the common reading.

Without your Father.] Without the will of your Father: thv 
boulhv, the will or counsel, is added here by Origen, Coptic, 
all the Arabic, latter Persic, Gothic, all the Itala except 
two; Tert., Iren., Cypr., Novatian, and other Latin fathers. 
If the evidence be considered as insufficient to entitle it 
to admission into the text, let it stand there as a 
supplementary italic word, necessary to make the meaning of 
the place evident.

All things are ordered by the counsel of God. This is a great 
consolation to those who are tried and afflicted. The belief 
of an all-wise, all-directing Providence, is a powerful 
support under the most grievous accidents of life. Nothing 
escapes his merciful regards, not even the smallest things of 
which he may be said to be only the creator and preserver; 
how much less those of whom he is the Father, saviour, and 
endless felicity! See on "Luke xii. 7".

Verse 30. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.] 
Nothing is more astonishing than the care and concern of God 
for his followers. The least circumstances of their life are 
regulated, not merely by that general providence which 
extends to all things, but by a particular providence, which 
fits and directs all things to the design of their salvation, 
causing them all to co-operate for their present and eternal 
good. Rom. v. 1-5.

Verse 31. Fear ye not-ye are of more value] None can estimate 
the value of a soul, for which Christ has given his blood and 
life! Have confidence in his goodness; for he who so dearly 
purchased thee will miraculously preserve and save thee. Did 
the poet intend to contradict Christ when he said:- "He sees 
with equal eye, as God of all, A HERO perish, or a SPARROW 
fall?" How cold and meagre is this shallow deistical saying! 
But could the poet mean, that a sparrow is of as much worth 
in the sight of God, who regards (if we may believe him) 
things only in general, as an immortal soul, purchased by the 
sacrifice of Christ?

Verse 32. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men] 
That is, whosoever shall acknowledge me to be the Messiah, 
and have his heart and life regulated by my spirit and 
doctrine. It is not merely sufficient to have the heart right 
before God; there must be a firm, manly, and public 
profession of Christ before men. "I am no hypocrite," says 
one; neither should you be. "I will keep my religion to 
myself" i.e. you will not confess Christ before men; then he 
will renounce you before God.

We confess or own Christ when we own his doctrine, his 
ministers, his servants, and when no fear hinders us from 
supporting and assisting them in times of necessity.

Verse 33. Whosoever shall deny me] Whosoever prefers his 
worldly interest to his duty to God, sets a greater value on 
earthly than on heavenly things, and prefers the friendship 
of men to the approbation of GOD.

Let it be remembered, that to be renounced by Christ is to 
have him neither for a Mediator nor saviour. To appear before 
the tribunal of God without having Christ for our Advocate, 
and, on the contrary, to have him there as our Judge, and a 
witness against us,-how can a man think of this and not die 
with horror!

Verse 34. Think not that I am come to send peace, &c.] The 
meaning of this difficult passage will be plain, when we 
consider the import of the word peace, and the expectation of 
the Jews. I have already had occasion to remark, (chap. x. 
12,) that the word µwl shalom, rendered by the Greeks 
eirhnh, was used among the Hebrews to express all possible 
blessings, temporal and spiritual; but especially the former. 
The expectation of the Jews was, that, when the Messiah 
should come, all temporal prosperity should be accumulated on 
the land of Judea; therefore thn ghn, in this verse, should 
not be translated the earth, but this land. The import of our 
Lord's teaching here is this, Do not imagine, as the Jews in 
general vainly do, that I am come to send forth, (ballein,) 
by forcing out the Roman power, that temporal prosperity 
which they long for; I am not come for this purpose, but to 
send forth (ballein) the Roman sword, to cut off a 
disobedient and rebellious nation, the cup of whose iniquity 
is already full, and whose crimes cry aloud for speedy 
vengeance. See also on "Luke xii. 49". From the time they 
rejected the Messiah, they were a prey to the most cruel and 
destructive factions; they employed their time in butchering 
one another, till the Roman sword was unsheathed against 
them, and desolated the land.

Verse 35. I am come to set a man at variance] The spirit of 
Christ can have no union with the spirit of the world. Even a 
father, while unconverted, will oppose a godly child. Thus 
the spirit that is in those who sin against God is opposed to 
that spirit which is in the followers of the Most High. It is 
the spirits then that are in opposition, and not the persons.

Verse 36. A man's foes shall be they of his own household.] 
Our Lord refers here to their own traditions. So Sota, fol. 
49. "A little before the coming of the Messiah, the son shall 
insult the father, the daughter rebel against her mother, the 
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and each man shall 
have his own household fur his enemies." Again, in Sanhedrin, 
fol. 97, it is said: "In the age in which the Messiah shall 
come, the young men shall turn the elders into ridicule; the 
elders shall rise up against the youth, the daughter against 
her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 
and the man of that age shall be excessively impudent; nor 
shall the son reverence his father." These are most 
remarkable sayings, and, by them, our Lord shows them that he 
was the Messiah, for all these things literally took place 
shortly after their final rejection of Christ. See the 
terrible account, given by Josephus, relative to the 
desolations of those times. Through the just judgment of God, 
they who rejected the Lord that bought them became abandoned 
to every species of iniquity; they rejected the salvation of 
God, and fell into the condemnation of the devil.

Father Quesnel's note on this place is worthy of deep 
attention. "The father (says he) is the enemy of his son, 
when, through a bad education, an irregular love, and a cruel 
indulgence, he leaves him to take a wrong bias, instructs him 
not in his duty, and fills his mind with ambitious views. The 
son is the father's enemy, when he is the occasion of his 
doing injustice, in order to heap up an estate for him, and 
to make his fortune. The mother is the daughter's enemy, when 
she instructs her to please the world, breeds her up in 
excess and vanity, and suffers any thing scandalous or 
unseemly in her dress. The daughter is the mother's enemy, 
when she becomes her idol, when she engages her to comply 
with her own irregular inclinations, and to permit her to 
frequent balls and plays. The master is the enemy of his 
servant, and the servant that of his master, when the one 
takes no care of the other's salvation, and the latter is 
subservient to his master's passions."

Verse 37. He that loveth father or mother more than me] He 
whom we love the most is he whom we study most to please, and 
whose will and interests we prefer in all cases. If, in order 
to please a father or mother who are opposed to vital 
godliness, we abandon God's ordinances and followers, we are 
unworthy of any thing but hell.

Verse 38. He that taketh not his cross] i.e. He who is not 
ready, after my example, to suffer death in the cause of my 
religion, is not worthy of me, does not deserve to be called 
my disciple.

This alludes to the custom of causing the criminal to bear 
his own cross to the place of execution; so Plutarch, ekastov 
ruv kakourgwn ekferei ton autou stauron. Each of the 
malefactors carries on his own cross. See "John xix. 17".

Verse 39. He that findeth his life, &c.] i.e. He who, for the 
sake of his temporal interest, abandons his spiritual 
concerns, shall lose his soul; and he who, in order to avoid 
martyrdom, abjures the pure religion of Christ, shall lose 
his soul, and perhaps his life too. He that findeth his life 
shall lose it, was literally fulfilled in Archbishop Cranmer. 
He confessed Christ against the devil, and his eldest son, 
the pope. He was ordered to be burnt; to save his life he 
recanted, and was, notwithstanding, burnt. Whatever a man 
sacrifices to God is never lost, for he finds it again in 
God.

There is a fine piece on this subject in Juvenal, Sat. viii. 
l. 80, which deserves to be recorded here.- ambiguae si 
quando citabere testis Incertaeque rei, Phalaris liect 
imperet ut sis Falsus, et admoto dictet perjuria tauro, 
Summum crede nefas ANIMAM praeferre PUDORI Et propter VITAM 
VIVENDI perdere causas - If ever call'd To give thy witness 
in a doubtful case, Though Phalaris himself should bid thee 
lie, On pain of torture in his flaming bull, Disdain to 
barter innocence for life; To which life owes its lustre and 
its worth Wakefield

Verse 40. He that receiveth you] Treats you kindly, receiveth 
me; I will consider the kindness as shown to myself; for he 
who receiveth me, as the true Messiah, receiveth that God by 
whose counsels and through whose love I am come.

Verse 41. He that receiveth a prophet] profhthn, a teacher, 
not a foreteller of future events, for this is not always the 
meaning of the word; but one commissioned by God to teach the 
doctrines of eternal life. It is no small honour to receive 
into one's house a minister of Jesus Christ. Every person is 
not admitted to exercise the sacred ministry; but none are 
excluded from partaking of its grace, its spirit, and its 
reward. If the teacher should be weak, or even if he should 
be found afterwards to have been worthless, yet the person 
who has received him in the name, under the sacred character, 
of an evangelist, shall not lose his reward; because what he 
did he did for the sake of Christ, and through love for his 
Church. Many sayings of this kind are found among the 
rabbins, and this one is common: "He who receives a learned 
man, or an elder, into his house, is the same as if he had 
received the Shekinah." And again: "He who speaks against a 
faithful pastor, it is the same as if he had spoken against 
God himself." See Schoettgen.

Verse 42. A cup of cold water] udatov, of water, is not in 
the common text, but it is found in the Codex Bezae, Coptic, 
Armenian, Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, Slavonic, all copies of the 
Itala, Vulgate, and Origen. It is necessarily understood; the 
ellipsis of the same substantive is frequent, both in the 
Greek and Latin writers. See Wakefield.

Little ones] My apparently mean and generally despised 
disciples.

But a cup of water in the eastern countries was not a matter 
of small worth. In India, the Hindoos go sometimes a great 
way to fetch it, and then boil it that it may do the less 
hurt to travelers when they are hot; and, after that, they 
stand from morning to night in some great road, where there 
is neither pit nor rivulet, and offer it, in honour of their 
god, to be drunk by all passengers. This necessary work of 
charity, in these hot countries, seems to have been practised 
by the more pious and humane Jews; and our Lord assures them 
that, if they do this in his name, they shall not lose their 
reward. See the Asiatic Miscellany, vol. ii. p. 142.

Verily-he shall in no wise lose his reward.] The rabbins have 
a similar saying: "He that gives food to one that studies in 
the law, God will bless him in this world, and give him a lot 
in the world to come." Syn. Sohar.

Love heightens the smallest actions, and gives a worth to 
them which they cannot possess without it. Under a just and 
merciful God every sin is either punished or pardoned, and 
every good action rewarded. The most indigent may exercise 
the works of mercy and charity; seeing even a cup of cold 
water, given in the name of Jesus, shall not lose its reward. 
How astonishing is God's kindness! It is not the rich merely 
whom he calls on to be charitable; but even the poor, and the 
most impoverished of the poor! God gives the power and 
inclination to be charitable, and then rewards the work 
which, it may be truly said, God himself hath wrought.

It is the name of Jesus that sanctifies every thing, and 
renders services, in themselves comparatively contemptible, 
of high worth in the sight of God. See Quesnel.

CHAPTER xi

Christ, having finished his instructions to his disciples, 
departs to preach in different cities, 1. John sends two of 
his disciples to him to inquire whether he were the Christ, 
2-6. Christ's testimony concerning John, 7-15. He upbraids 
the Jews with their capriciousness, 16-19. The condemnation 
of Chorazin, and Bethsaida, and Capernaum, for their unbelief 
and impenitence, 20-24. Praises the Divine wisdom for 
revealing the Gospel to the simple-hearted, 25, 26. Shows 
that none can know God but by the revelation of his Son, 27. 
Invites the distressed to come unto him, and gives them the 
promise of rest for their souls, 29-30.

NOTES ON CHAP. xi

Verse 1. This verse properly belongs to the preceding 
chapter, from which it should on no account be separated; as 
with that it has the strictest connection, but with this it 
has none.

To teach and to preach] To teach, to give private 
instructions to as many as came unto him; and to preach, to 
proclaim publicly, that the kingdom of God is at hand; two 
grand parts of the duty of a Gospel minister. Their cities] 
The cities of the Jews.

Verse 2. John had heard in the prison] John was cast into 
prison by order of Herod Antipas, chap. xiv. 3, &c., (where 
see the notes,) a little after our Lord began his public 
ministry, Matthew iv. 12; and after the first passover, John 
iii. 24.

Verse 3. Art thou he that should come] o ercomenov, he that 
cometh, seems to have been a proper name of the Messiah; to 
save or deliver is necessarily implied. See on Luke vii. 19.

There is some difficulty in what is here spoken of John. Some 
have thought he was utterly ignorant of our Lord's Divine 
mission, and that he sent merely for his own information; but 
this is certainly inconsistent with his own declaration, Luke 
iii. 15, &c.; John i. 15, 26, 33, iii. 28, &c. Others suppose 
he sent the message merely for the instruction of his 
disciples; that, as he saw his end approaching, he wished 
them to have the fullest conviction that Jesus was the 
Messiah, that they might attach themselves to him.

A third opinion takes a middle course between the two former, 
and states that, though John was at first perfectly convinced 
that Jesus was the Christ, yet, entertaining some hopes that 
he would erect a secular kingdom in Judea, wished to know 
whether this was likely to take place speedily. It is very 
probable that John now began, through the length of his 
confinement, to entertain doubts, relative to his kingdom, 
which perplexed and harassed his mind; and he took the most 
reasonable way to get rid of them at once, viz. by applying 
to Christ himself.

Two of his disciples] Instead of duo, two, several excellent 
MSS., with both the Syriac, Armenian, Gothic, and one copy of 
the Itala, have dia, by; he sent by his disciples.

Verse 4. Go and show John the things-ye do hear and see] 
Christ would have men to judge only of him and of others by 
their works. This is the only safe way of judging. A man is 
not to be credited because he professes to know such and such 
things; but because he demonstrates by his conduct that his 
pretensions are not vain.

Verse 5. The blind receive their sight, &c.] anablepwsi, look 
upwards, contemplating the heavens which their Lord hath 
made.

The lame walk] peripatwsi, they walk about; to give the 
fullest proof to the multitude that their cure was real. 
These miracles were not only the most convincing proofs of 
the supreme power of Christ, but were also emblematic of that 
work of salvation which he effects in the souls of men.

1. Sinners are blind; their understanding is so darkened by 
sin that they see not the way of truth and salvation. 2. They 
are lame-not able to walk in the path of righteousness. 3. 
They are leprous, their souls are defiled with sin, the most 
loathsome and inveterate disease; deepening in themselves, 
and infecting others. 4. They are deaf to the voice of God, 
his word, and their own conscience. 5. They are dead in 
trespasses and sins; God, who is the life of the soul, being 
separated from it by iniquity. Nothing less than the power of 
Christ can redeem from all this; and, from all this, that 
power of Christ actually does redeem every penitent believing 
soul. Giving sight to the blind, and raising the dead, are 
allowed by the ancient rabbins to be works which the Messiah 
should perform, when he should manifest himself in Israel.

The poor have the Gospel preached to them.] And what was this 
Gospel? Why, the glad tidings that Jesus Christ came into the 
world to save sinners: that he opens the eyes of the blind; 
enables the lame to walk with an even, steady, and constant 
pace in the way of holiness; cleanses the lepers from all the 
defilement of their sins; opens the ears of the deaf to hear 
his pardoning words; and raises those who were dead in 
trespasses and sins to live in union with himself to all 
eternity.

Verse 6. Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in 
me.] Or, Happy is he who will not be stumbled at me; for the 
word skandalizesqai, in its root, signifies to hit against or 
stumble over a thing, which one may meet with in the way. The 
Jews, as was before remarked, expected a temporal deliverer. 
Many might he tempted to reject Christ, because of his mean 
appearance, &c., and so lose the benefit of salvation through 
him. To instruct and caution such, our blessed Lord spoke 
these words. By his poverty and meanness he condemns the 
pride and pomp of this world. He who will not humble himself, 
and become base, and poor, and vile in his own eyes, cannot 
enter into the kingdom of God. It is the poor, in general, 
who hear the Gospel; the rich and the great are either too 
busy, or too much gratified with temporal things, to pay any 
attention to the voice of God.

Verse 7. What went ye out into the wilderness to see?] The 
purport of our Lord's design, in this and the following 
verses, is to convince the scribes and Pharisees of the 
inconsistency of their conduct in acknowledging John Baptist 
for a divinely authorized teacher, and not believing in the 
very Christ which he pointed out to them. He also shows, from 
the excellencies of John's character, that their confidence 
in him was not misplaced, and that this was a farther 
argument why they should have believed in him, whom the 
Baptist proclaimed as being far superior to himself.

A reed shaken with the wind?] An emblem of an irresolute, 
unsteady mind, which believes and speaks one thing to-day, 
and another to-morrow.

Christ asks these Jews if they had ever found any thing in 
John like this: Was he not ever steady and uniform in the 
testimony he bore to me? The first excellency which Christ 
notices in John was his steadiness; convinced once of the 
truth, he continued to believe and assert it. This is 
essentially necessary to every preacher, and to every private 
Christian. He who changes about from opinion to opinion, and 
from one sect or party to another, is never to be depended 
on; there is much reason to believe that such a person is 
either mentally weak, or has never been rationally and 
divinely convinced of the truth.

Verse 8. A man clothed in soft raiment?] A second excellency 
in John was, his sober and mortified life. A preacher of the 
Gospel should have nothing about him which savours of 
effeminacy and worldly pomp: he is awfully mistaken who 
thinks to prevail on the world to hear him and receive the 
truth, by conforming himself to its fashions and manners.

Excepting the mere colour of his clothes, we can scarcely now 
distinguish a preacher of the Gospel, whether in the 
establishment of the country, or out of it, from the merest 
worldly man. Ruffles, powder, and fribble seem universally to 
prevail. Thus the Church and the world begin to shake hands, 
the latter still retaining its enmity to God. How can those 
who profess to preach the doctrine of the cross act in this 
way? Is not a worldly-minded preacher, in the most peculiar 
sense, an abomination in the eyes of the Lord? Are in kings' 
houses.] A third excellency in John was, he did not affect 
high things. He was contented to live in the desert, and to 
announce the solemn and severe truths of his doctrine to the 
simple inhabitants of the country. Let it be well observed, 
that the preacher who conforms to the world in his clothing, 
is never in his element but when he is frequenting the houses 
and tables of the rich and great.

Verse 9. A prophet? yea-and more than a prophet] That is, one 
more excellent (perissoteron) than a prophet; one greatly 
beyond all who had come before him, being the immediate 
forerunner of Christ, (see below,) and who was especially 
commissioned to prepare the way of the Lord.

This was a fourth excellency: he was a prophet, a teacher, a 
man divinely commissioned to point out Jesus and his 
salvation; and more excellent than any of the old prophets, 
because he not only pointed out this Christ, but saw him, and 
had the honour of dying for that sacred truth which he 
steadily believed and boldly proclaimed.

Verse 10. Behold, I send my messenger] A fifth excellency of 
the Baptist was, his preparing the way of the Lord; being the 
instrument, in God's hand, of preparing the people's hearts 
to receive the Lord Jesus; and it was probably through his 
preaching that so many thousands attached themselves to 
Christ, immediately on his appearing as a public teacher.

Verse 11. A greater than John the Baptist] A sixth excellency 
of the Baptist-he was greater than any prophet from the 
beginning of the world till that time:-lst. Because he was 
prophesied of by them, Isa. xl. 3, and Mal. iii. 1, where 
Jesus Christ himself seems to be the speaker. 2ndly.

Because he had the privilege of showing the fulfillment of 
their predictions, by pointing out that Christ has now come, 
which they foretold should come. And 3dly. Because he saw and 
enjoyed that salvation which they could only foretell. See 
Quesnel.

Notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven] 
By the kingdom of heaven in this verse is meant, the fullness 
of the blessings of the Gospel of peace; which fullness was 
not known till after Christ had been crucified, and had risen 
from the dead. Now the least in this kingdom, the meanest 
preacher of a crucified, risen, and glorified saviour, was 
greater than John, who was not permitted to live to see the 
plenitude of Gospel grace, in the pouring out of the Holy 
Spirit. Let the reader observe, 1st.

That the kingdom of heaven here does not mean the state of 
future glory. See chap. iii. 2. 2dly. That it is not in 
holiness or devotedness to God that the least in this kingdom 
is greater than John; but 3dly. That it is merely in the 
difference of the ministry. The prophets pointed out a Christ 
that was coming; John showed that that Christ was then among 
them; and the preachers of the Gospel prove that this Christ 
has suffered, and entered into his glory, and that repentance 
and remission of sins are proclaimed through his blood. There 
is a saying similar to this among the Jews: "Even the servant 
maid that passed through the Red Sea, saw what neither 
Ezekiel, nor any other of the prophets had seen."

Verse 12. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence] The tax-
gatherers and heathens, whom the scribes and Pharisees think 
have no right to the kingdom of the Messiah, filled with holy 
zeal and earnestness, seize at once on the proffered mercy of 
the Gospel, and so take the kingdom as by force from those 
learned doctors who claimed for themselves the chiefest 
places in that kingdom. Christ himself said, The tax-
gatherers and harlots go before you into the kingdom of God. 
See the parallel place, Luke vii. 28-30. He that will take, 
get possession of the kingdom of righteousness, peace, and 
spiritual joy, must be in earnest: all hell will oppose him 
in every step he takes; and if a man be not absolutely 
determined to give up his sins and evil companions, and have 
his soul saved at all hazards, and at every expense, he will 
surely perish everlastingly. This requires a violent 
earnestness.

Verse 13. All the prophets and the law prophesied until 
John.] I believe proefhteusan means here, they taught, or 
continued to instruct.

They were the instructers concerning the Christ who was to 
come, till John came and showed that all the predictions of 
the one, and the types and ceremonies of the other were now 
about to be fully and finally accomplished; for Christ was 
now revealed. The word is taken in this sense, chap. vii. 22.

Verse 14. This is Elias, which was for to come.] This should 
always be written Elijah, that as strict a conformity as 
possible might be kept up between the names in the Old 
Testament and the New. The Prophet Malachi, who predicted the 
coming of the Baptist in the spirit and power of Elijah, gave 
the three following distinct characteristics of him. First, 
That he should be the forerunner and messenger of the 
Messiah: Behold I send my messenger before me, Mal. iii. 1. 
Secondly, That he should appear before the destruction of the 
second temple: Even the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come 
to his temple, ibid. Thirdly, That he should preach 
repentance to the Jews; and that, some time after, the great 
and terrible day of the Lord should come, and the Jewish land 
be smitten with a curse, Mal. iv. 5, 6. Now these three 
characters agree perfectly with the conduct of the Baptist, 
and what shortly followed his preaching, and have not been 
found in any one else; which is a convincing proof that Jesus 
was the promised Messiah.

Verse 15. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.] As if our 
Lord had said, These things are so clear and manifest that a 
man has only to hear them to be convinced and fully satisfied 
of their truth. But neither the Jews of that time nor of the 
succeeding times to the present day, have heard or 
considered, these things. When spoken to on these subjects, 
their common custom is to stop their ears, spit out, and 
blaspheme; this shows not only a bad, but a ruined cause. 
They are deeply and willfully blind.

They will not come unto the light, lest their deeds should 
become manifest, that they are not wrought in God. They have 
ears but they will not hear.

Verse 16. But whereunto shall I liken this generation?] That 
is, the Jewish people-thn genean tauthn, this race: and so 
the word genea is often to be understood in the evangelists.

In the markets] Or, places of concourse, agoraiv, from 
ageirw, I gather together; not a market-place only, but any 
place of public resort: probably meaning here, places of 
public amusement.

Calling unto their fellows] Or, companions. Instead of 
etairoiv, companions, many of the best MSS. have eteroiv, 
others. The great similarity of the words might have easily 
produced this difference.

There are some to whom every thing is useful in leading them 
to God; others, to whom nothing is sufficient. Every thing is 
good to an upright mind, every thing bad to a vicious heart.

Verse 17. We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced] We 
have begun the music, which should have been followed by the 
dance, but ye have not attended to it.

We have mourned-and ye have not lamented.] Ye have not smote 
the breast: ouk ekoyasqe, from koptomai, to strike, or beat 
the breasts with the hands, particularly in lamentation. So 
used, Nahum ii. 7; Luke xviii. 13; xxiii. 48, and by the best 
Greek and Roman writers. There is an allusion here to those 
funeral lamentations explained chap. ix. 23.

Verse 18. For John came neither eating nor drinking] Leading 
a very austere and mortified life: and yet, he did not 
receive him. A sinner will not be persuaded that what he has 
no mind to imitate can come from God.

There are some who will rather blame holiness itself, than 
esteem it in those whom they do not like.

He hath a devil.] He is a vile hypocrite, influenced by a 
demon to deceive and destroy the simple.

Verse 19. The Son of man came eating and drinking] That is, 
went wheresoever he was invited to eat a morsel of bread, and 
observed no rigid fasts: how could he, who had no corrupt 
appetites to mortify or subdue? They say, Behold a man 
gluttonous, &c.] Whatever measures the followers of God may 
take, they will not escape the censure of the world: the best 
way is not to be concerned at them. Iniquity, being always 
ready to oppose and contradict the Divine conduct, often 
contradicts and exposes itself.

But wisdom is justified of her children.] Those who follow 
the dictates of true wisdom ever justify, point out as 
excellent, the holy maxims by which they are guided, for they 
find the way pleasantness, and the path, peace. Of, here, and 
in many places of our translation, ought to be written by in 
modern English. Some suppose that our blessed Lord applies 
the epithet of h sofia, that Wisdom to himself; as he does 
that of Son of man, in the first clause of the verse: and 
that this refers to the sublime description given of wisdom 
in Proverbs 8. Others have supposed that by the children or 
sons (teknwn) of wisdom our Lord means John Baptist and 
himself, who came to preach the doctrines of true wisdom to 
the people, and who were known to be teachers come from God 
by all those who seriously attended to their ministry: they 
recommending themselves, by the purity of their doctrines, 
and the holiness of their lives, to every man's conscience in 
the sight of God. It is likely, however, that by children our 
Lord simply means the fruits or effects of wisdom, according 
to the Hebrew idiom, which denominates the fruits or effects 
of a thing, its children. So in Job v. 7, sparks emitted by 
coals are termed Pr ynb beney resheph, the children of the 
coal. It was probably this well known meaning of the word, 
which led the Codex Vaticanus, one of the most ancient MSS.

in the world, together with the Syriac, Persic, Coptic, and 
Ethiopic, to read ergwn, works, instead of teknwn, sons or 
children. Wisdom is vindicated by her works, i.e. the good 
effects prove that the cause is excellent.

The children of true wisdom can justify all God's ways in 
their salvation; as they know that all the dispensations of 
Providence work together for the good of those who love and 
fear God. See on Luke vii. 35.

Verse 20. Then began he to upbraid the cities] The more God 
has done to draw men unto himself, the less excusable are 
they if they continue in iniquity. If our blessed Lord had 
not done every thing that was necessary for the salvation of 
these people, he could not have reproached them for their 
impenitence.

Verse 21. Wo unto thee, Chorazin-Bethsaida!] It would be 
better to translate the word ouai soi, alas for thee, than wo 
to thee. The former is an exclamation of pity; the latter a 
denunciation of wrath. It is evident that our Lord used it in 
the former sense. It is not known precisely where Chorazin 
was situated; but as Christ joins it in the same censure with 
Bethsaida, which was in Upper Galilee, beyond the sea, Mark 
vi. 45, it is likely that Chorazin was in the same quarter. 
Though the people in these cities were (generally) 
impenitent, yet there is little doubt that several received 
the word of life. Indeed, Bethsaida itself furnished not less 
than three of the twelve apostles, Philip, Andrew, and Peter. 
See John i. 44.

Tyre and Sidon] Were two heathen cities, situated on the 
shore of the Mediterranean Sea, into which it does not appear 
that Christ ever went, though he was often very nigh to them; 
see Matthew xv. 21.

They would have repented long ago] palai, formerly, seems 
here to refer to the time of Ezekiel, who denounced 
destruction against Tyre and Sidon, Ezekiel 26, 27, and 28. 
Our Lord, then, intimates that, if Ezekiel had done as many 
miracles in those cities as himself had in Chorazin and 
Bethsaida, the inhabitants would have repented in sackcloth 
and ashes, with the deepest and most genuine sorrow.

A Hindoo who renounces the secular life, and becomes a 
religious mendicant, often covers himself with a coarse cloth 
sprinkled over with ashes. This is the sackcloth and ashes 
which our Lord refers to; and this covering was the outward 
sign of deep repentance, and forsaking of sin.

Verse 22. But-it shall be more tolerable] Every thing will 
help to overwhelm the impenitent at the tribunal of God-the 
benefits and favours which they have received, as well as the 
sins which they have committed.

Verse 23. Thou, Capernaum-exalted unto heaven] A Hebrew 
metaphor, expressive of the utmost prosperity, and the 
enjoyment of the greatest privileges. This was properly 
spoken of this city, because that in it our Lord dwelt, and 
wrought many of his miraculous works.

Shalt be brought down to hell] Perhaps not meaning, here, the 
place of torment, but rather a state of desolation. The 
original word is Hades, adhv, from a, not, and idein, to see; 
the invisible receptacle or mansion of the dead, answering to 
lwa sheol, in Hebrew; and implying often, 1st. the grave; 
2dly. the state of separate souls, or unseen world of 
spirits, whether of torment, Luke xvi. 23, or, in general, 
Rev. i. 18; vi. 8; xx. 13, 14. The word hell, used in the 
common translation, conveys now an improper meaning of the 
original word; because hell is only used to signify the place 
of the damned. But, as the word hell comes from the Anglo-
Saxon, helan, to cover, or hide, hence the tiling or slating 
of a house is called, in some parts of England (particularly 
Cornwall) heling, to this day; and the covers of books (in 
Lancashire) by the same name: so the literal import of the 
original word adhv was formerly well expressed by it. Here it 
means a state of the utmost wo, and ruin, and desolation, to 
which these impenitent cities should be reduced. This 
prediction of our Lord was literally fulfilled; for, in the 
wars between the Romans and the Jews, these cities were 
totally destroyed, so that no traces are now found of 
Bethsaida, Chorazin, or Capernaum. See Bp. PEARCE.

Verse 24. But-it shall be more tolerable for the land of 
Sodom] gh sodomwn, the land of the Sodomites; i.e. the 
ancient inhabitants of that city and its neighbourhood.

In Jude, Jude 7, we are told that these persons are suffering 
the vengeance of eternal fire. The destruction of Sodom and 
Gomorrah happened A. M.

2107, which was 1897 years before the incarnation. What a 
terrible thought is this! It will be more tolerable for 
certain sinners, who have already been damned nearly four 
thousand years, than for those who, live and die infidels 
under the Gospel! There are various degrees of punishments in 
hell, answerable to various degrees of guilt, and the 
contempt manifested to, and the abuse made of; the preaching 
of the Gospel, will rank semi-infidel Christians in the 
highest list of transgressors, and purchase them the hottest 
place in hell! Great God! save the reader from this 
destruction! Day of judgment] May either refer to that 
particular time in which God visits for iniquity, or to that 
great day in which he will judge the world by the Lord Jesus 
Christ. The day of Sodom's judgment was that in which it was 
destroyed by fire and brimstone from heaven, Gen. xix. 24; 
and the day of judgment to Chorazin, Bethsaida, and 
Capernaum, was the time in which they were destroyed by the 
Romans, ver. 23. But there is a day of final judgment, when 
Hades itself, (sinners in a state of partial punishment in 
the invisible world) shall be cast into the lake of fire and 
brimstone, which is the second death. See Rev. xx. 14.

Verse 25. I thank thee] exomologoumai soi, I fully agree with 
thee-I am perfectly of the same mind. Thou hast acted in all 
things according to the strictest holiness, justice, mercy, 
and truth.

Wise and prudent] The scribes and Pharisees, vainly puffed up 
by their fleshly minds, and having their foolish hearts 
darkened, refusing to submit to the righteousness of God 
(God's method of saving man by Christ) and going about to 
establish their own righteousness, (their own method of 
saving themselves,) they rejected God's counsel, and God sent 
the peace and salvation of the Gospel to others, called here 
babes, (his disciples,) simple-hearted persons, who submitted 
to be instructed and saved in God's own way. Let it be 
observed, that our Lord does not thank the Father that he had 
hidden these things from the wise and prudent, but that, 
seeing they were hidden from them, he had revealed them to 
the others.

There is a remarkable saying in the Talmudists, which casts 
light upon this: "Rab. Jochanan said: 'From the time in which 
the temple was destroyed, wisdom was taken away from the 
prophets, and give a to fools and children.' Bava Bathra, 
fol. 12. Again: 'In the days of the Messiah, every species of 
wisdom, even the most profound, shall, be revealed; and this 
even to children.'" Synop. Sohar. fol. 10.

Verse 26. Even so, Father] nai o pathr. An emphatical 
ratification of the preceding address.

It was right that the heavenly wisdom, despised, rejected, 
and persecuted by the scribes and Pharisees, should be 
offered to the simple people, and afterwards to the foolish 
people, the Gentiles, who are the children of wisdom, and 
justify God in his ways, by bringing forth that fruit of the 
Gospel of which the Pharisees refused to receive even the 
seed.

Verse 27. All things are delivered unto me of my Father] This 
is a great truth, and the key of the science of salvation. 
The man Christ Jesus receives from the Father, and in 
consequence of his union with the eternal Godhead becomes the 
Lord and sovereign Dispenser of all things. All the springs 
of the Divine favour are in the hands of Christ, as Priest of 
God, and atoning Sacrifice for men: all good proceeds from 
him, as saviour, Mediator, Head, Pattern, Pastor, and 
sovereign Judge of the whole world.

No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any 
man, &c.] None can fully comprehend the nature and attributes 
of God, but Christ; and none can fully comprehend the nature, 
incarnation, &c., of Christ, but the Father. The full 
comprehension and acknowledgment of the Godhead, and the 
mystery of the Trinity, belong to God alone.

Verse 28. Come unto me] This phrase in the new covenant 
implies simply, believing in Christ, and becoming his 
disciple, or follower.

All ye that labour and are heavy laden] The metaphor here 
appears to be taken from a man who has a great load laid upon 
him, which he must carry to a certain place: every step he 
takes reduces his strength, and renders his load the more 
oppressive. However, it must be carried on; and he labours, 
uses his utmost exertions, to reach the place where it is to 
be laid down. A kind person passing by, and, seeing his 
distress, offers to ease him of his load, that he may enjoy 
rest.

The Jews, heavily laden with the burdensome rites of the 
Mosaic institution, rendered still more oppressive by the 
additions made by the scribes and Pharisees, who, our Lord 
says, (chap. xxiii. 4,) bound on heavy burdens; and 
labouring, by their observance of the law, to make themselves 
pleasing to God, are here invited to lay down their load, and 
receive the salvation procured for them by Christ.

Sinners, wearied in the ways of iniquity, are also invited to 
come to this Christ, and find speedy relief.

Penitents, burdened with the guilt of their crimes, may come 
to this Sacrifice, and find instant pardon.

Believers, sorely tempted, and oppressed by the remains of 
the carnal mind, may come to this blood, that cleanseth from 
all unrighteousness; and, purified from all sin, and 
powerfully succoured in every temptation, they shall find 
uninterrupted rest in this complete saviour.

All are invited to come, and all are promised rest. If few 
find rest from sin and vile affections, it is because few 
come to Christ to receive it.

Verse 29. Take my yoke upon you] Strange paradox! that a man 
already weary and overloaded must take a new weight upon him, 
in order to be eased and find rest! But this advice is 
similar to that saying, Psa. lv. 22.

Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain thee; i.e. 
trust thy soul and concerns to him, and he will carry both 
thyself and thy load.

I am meek and lowly in heart] Wherever pride and anger dwell, 
there is nothing but mental labour and agony; but, where the 
meekness and humility of Christ dwell, all is smooth, even, 
peaceable, and quiet; for the work of righteousness is peace, 
and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for 
ever. Isa. xxxii. 17.

Verse 30. For my yoke is easy] My Gospel imposes nothing that 
is difficult; on the contrary, it provides for the complete 
removal of all that which oppresses and renders man 
miserable, viz. sin. The commandments of Christ are not 
grievous. Hear the whole: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself. Can any 
thing be more congenial to the nature of man than love?-such 
a love as is inspired by God, and in which the soul rests 
supremely satisfied and infinitely happy? Taste, and know, by 
experience, how good the Lord is, and how worthy his yoke is 
to be taken, borne, and loved. This most tender invitation of 
the compassionate Jesus is sufficient to inspire the most 
diffident soul with confidence. See on Mark viii. 34.

Creeshna, the incarnate God of the Hindoos, is represented in 
the Geeta addressing one of his beloved disciples thus: "I am 
the creator of all things, and all things proceed from me. 
Those who are endued with spiritual wisdom, believe this, and 
worship me: their very hearts and minds are in me; they 
rejoice among themselves, and delight in speaking of my name, 
and teaching one another my doctrine. I gladly inspire those 
who are constantly employed in my service with that use of 
reason by which they come unto me; and, in compassion, I 
stand in my own nature, and dissipate the darkness of their 
ignorance with the light of the lamp of wisdom." Bhagvat 
Geeta, p. 84.

The word lw[ aval, among the Jews, which we properly enough 
translate yoke, signified not only that sort of neck-harness 
by which bullocks drew in wagons, carts, or in the plough; 
but also any kind of bond, or obligation, to do some 
particular thing, or to do some particular work. By them it 
is applied to the following things:-1.

The yoke of the KINGDOM of heaven, µymh twklm lw[ -obedience 
to the revealed will of God.

2. The yoke of the LAW, hrwh lw[ -the necessity of obeying 
all the rites, ceremonies, &c., of the Mosaic institution.

3. The yoke of the PRECEPT, hwxm lw[ -the necessity of 
performing that particular obligation by which any person had 
bound himself, such as that of the Nazarite, &c.

4. The yoke of REPENTANCE, hkwh l lw[ -without which, they 
knew, they could not enter into the kingdom of heaven. With 
the Jews, repentance not only implied forsaking sin, but 
fasting, mortification, &c.

5. The yoke of FAITH, hnwma lw[ -the necessity of believing 
in the promised Messiah.

6. The DIVINE yoke, aly[lr lw[ -the obligation to live a 
spiritual life; a life of thanksgiving and gratitude unto 
God.

In Shemoth Rabba it is said: "Because the ten tribes did not 
take the yoke of the holy and blessed God upon them, 
therefore Sennacherib led them into captivity." CHRIST'S yoke 
means, the obligation to receive him as the MESSIAH, to 
believe his doctrine, and to be in all things conformed to 
his Word and to his Spirit.

CHAPTER xii

Jesus and his disciples go through the cornfields on the 
Sabbath, and the latter pluck and eat some of the ears, at 
which the Pharisees take offense, 1, 2. Our Lord vindicates 
them, 3-8. The man with the withered hand cured, 9-13. The 
Pharisees seek his destruction, 14. He heals the multitudes, 
and fulfils certain prophecies, 15-21. Heals the blind and 
dumb demoniac, 22, 23. The malice of the Pharisees reproved 
by our Lord, 24-30. The sin against the Holy Ghost, 31, 32. 
Good and bad trees known by their fruits-evil and good men by 
their conduct, 33-37. Jonah, a sign of Christ's death and 
resurrection, 38-40. The men of Nineveh and the queen of the 
south shall rise up in the judgment against the Jews, 41, 42. 
Of the unclean spirit, 43-45. Christ's mother and brethren 
seek him, 46-50.

NOTES ON CHAP. xii

Verse 1. At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath-day through 
the corn] "The time is determined by Luke in these words, en 
sabbatw deuteroprwtw, that is, on the Sabbath from the 
second-first.

"1. Provision was made by the Divine law that the sheaf of 
first-fruits should be offered on the second day of the pass-
over week, Lev. xxiii. 10, 11. On the morrow after the 
Sabbath, the priest shall shake (or wave) it. Not on the 
morrow after the ordinary Sabbath of the week, but the morrow 
after the first of the pass-over week, which was a Sabbatic 
day, Exod. xii. 16; Leviticus xxiii. 7. Hence the seventy, 
epaurion thv prwthv, the morrow of the first day; the 
Chaldee, the morrow after the holy day. The rabbins, Solomon 
and Menachen, have it, On the morrow after the first day of 
the pass-over feast; of which mention had been made in the 
verses foregoing.

"But now, from the second day of the pass-over solemnity, 
wherein the sheaf was offered, were numbered seven weeks to 
pentecost: for the day of the sheaf, and the day of pentecost 
did mutually respect each other; for on this second day of 
the pass-over, the offering of the sheaf was supplicatory, 
and by way of prayer, beseeching a blessing upon the new 
corn, and leave to eat it, and to pot in the sickle into the 
standing corn.

Now, the offering of the first-fruit loaves on the day of 
pentecost, (Lev. xxiii. 15-17,) did respect the giving of 
thanks for the finishing and housing of the barley-harvest. 
Therefore, in regard of this relation, these two solemnities 
were linked together, that both might respect the harvest; 
that, the harvest beginning; this, the harvest ended: this 
depended on that, and was numbered seven weeks after it. 
Therefore, the computation of the time coming between could 
not but carry with it the memory of that second day of the 
pass-over week; and hence pentecost is called the feast of 
weeks, Deut. xvi. 10. The true calculation of the time 
between could not otherwise be retained, as to Sabbaths, but 
by numbering thus: this is sabbatwn deuteroprwton, the first 
Sabbath after the second day of the pass-over. This is 
deuterodeureron, the second Sabbath after that second day. 
And so of the rest. In the Jerusalem Talmud, the word 
ayymgwfwrp tb shebeth protogamiya, the Sabbath, protogamiav, 
of the first marriage, is a composition not very unlike." 
Lightfoot.

His disciples were an hungered] Were hungry. The former is a 
mode of expression totally obsolete. How near does the 
translation of this verse come to our ancient mother-tongue, 
the Anglo-Saxon!--The Healer went on rest-day over acres: 
truly his learning knights hungred, and they began to pluck 
the ear and eaten. We may well wonder at the extreme poverty 
of Christ and his disciples. He was himself present with 
them, and yet permitted them to lack bread! A man, therefore, 
is not forsaken of God because he is in want. It is more 
honourable to suffer the want of all temporal things in 
fellowship with Christ and his followers, than to have all 
things in abundance in connection with the world.

Verse 2. Thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do] The 
Jews were so superstitious, concerning the observance of the 
Sabbath, that in their wars with Antiochus Epiphanes, and the 
Romans, they thought it a crime even to attempt to defend 
themselves on the Sabbath: when their enemies observed this, 
they deterred their operations to that day. It was through 
this, that Pompey was enabled to take Jerusalem. Dion. Cass. 
lib. xxxvi.

Those who know not the spirit and design of the divine law 
are often superstitious to inhumanity, and indulgent to 
impiety. An intolerant and censorious spirit in religion is 
one of the greatest curses a man can well fall under.

Verse 3. - 4. Have ye not read what David did] The original 
history is in 1 Sam. xxi. 1-6.

When he was an hungered] Here hearken to Kimchi, producing 
the opinion of the ancients concerning this story in these 
words: "Our rabbins of blessed memory say, that he gave him 
the shew-bread, &c. The interpretation also of the clause, 
Yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel, is 
this: It is a small thing to say, that it is lawful for us to 
eat THESE LOAVES, taken from before the Lord, when we are 
hungry; for it would be lawful to eat this very loaf which is 
now set on, which is also sanctified in the vessel, (for the 
table sanctifieth,) it would be lawful to eat even this, when 
another loaf is not present with you to give us, and we are 
so hunger-bitten. And a little after, There is nothing which 
may hinder taking care of life, beside idolatry, adultery, 
and murder. That is, a man, according to them, should do any 
thing but these in order to preserve life." See Lightfoot.

He entered into the house of God] Viz. the house of Ahimelech 
the priest, who dwelt at Nob, with whom the tabernacle then 
was, in which the Divine presence was manifested.

And did eat the shew-bread] touv artouv tnv proqesewv-in 
Hebrew, µynp µjl lechem panim-bread of the presence, or 
faces, because this bread was to be set continually, hwhy 
ynpl lipney Yehovah, before the face of Jehovah. See the 
notes on Exodus xxv. 23, 30.

"Since part of the frankincense put in the bread was to be 
burnt on the altar for a memorial, Lev. xxiv. 7, and since 
Aaron and his sons were to eat it in the holy place, it is 
evident that this bread typified Christ, first presented as a 
sacrifice to, or in the presence of, Jehovah, and then 
becoming spiritual food to such as, in and through him, are 
spiritual priests to God. See Rev. i. 6; v. 10; xx. 6; also 1 
Pet. ii. 5." Parkhurst. 

 Verse 5. The priests-profane the Sabbath] Profane, i.e. put 
it to what might be called a common use, by slaying and 
offering up sacrifices, and by doing the services of the 
temple, as on common days, Exod. xxix. 38; Num. xxviii. 9.

Verse 6. In this place is one greater than the temple.] Does 
not our Lord refer here to Mal. iii. 1? Compare this with 
Heb. iii. 3. The Jews esteemed nothing greater than the 
temple, except that God who was worshipped in it. Christ, by 
asserting he was greater than the temple, asserts that he was 
God; and this he does, in still more direct terms, ver. 8, 
The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath-is Institutor and 
Governor of it. Compare this with Gen. ii. 3, and see the 
notes there.

Verse 7. I will have mercy, &c.] See this explained, Matthew 
ix. 13.

There are four ways in which positive laws may cease to 
oblige.

First, by the natural law of necessity.

Secondly, by a particular law, which is superior.

Thirdly, by the law of charity and mercy.

Fourthly, by the dispensation and authority of the Lawgiver.

These cases are all exemplified from ver. 4-8.

Verse 8. The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath-day.] The 
change of the Jewish into the Christian Sabbath, called the 
Lord's day, Rev. i. 10, shows that Christ is not only the 
Lord, but also the truth and completion of it. For it seems 
to have been by an especial providence that this change has 
been made and acknowledged all over the Christian world.

Verse 10. A man which had his hand withered.] Probably 
through a partial paralysis. The man's hand was withered; but 
God's mercy had still preserved to him the use of his feet: 
He uses them to bring him to the public worship of God, and 
Jesus meets and heals him there. How true is the proverb-It 
is never so ill with us, but it might be much worse!

Verse 11. If it fall into a pit on the Sabbath-day, &c.] It 
was a canon among the Jews: "We must take a tender care of 
the goods of an Israelite." Hence:-" If a beast fall into a 
ditch, or into a pool of water, let (the owner) bring him 
food in that place if he can; but, if he cannot, let him 
bring clothes and litter, and bear up the beast; whence, if 
he can come up, let him come up, &c." "If a beast or its foal 
fall into a ditch on a holy day, R. Lazar saith, Let him lift 
up the former to kill him, and let him kill him; but let him 
give fodder to the other, lest he die in that place. R. 
Joshua saith, Let him lift up the former with the intention 
of killing him, although he kill him not; let him lift up the 
other also, although it be not in his mind to kill him." To 
these canons our Lord seems here very properly to appeal, in 
vindication of his intention to heal the distressed man. See 
Lightfoot.

Self-interest is a very decisive casuist, and removes 
abundance of scruples in a moment. It is always the first 
consulted, and the must readily obeyed.

It is not sinful to hearken to it, but it must not govern nor 
determine by itself.

Verse 12. How much then is a man better than a sheep?] Our 
Lord's argument is what is called argumentum ad hominem; they 
are taken on their own ground, and confuted on their own 
maxims and conduct. There are many persons who call 
themselves Christians, who do more for a beast of burden or 
pleasure than they do for a man for whom Christ died! Many 
spend that on coursers, spaniels, and hounds, of which 
multitudes of the followers of Christ are destitute:-but this 
also shall come to judgment.

Wherefore, it is lawful to do well, &c.] This was allowed by 
a multitude of Jewish canons. See Schoettgen.

Verse 13. Stretch forth thine hand.] The bare command of God 
is a sufficient reason of obedience. This man might have 
reasoned thus: "Lord, my hand is withered; how then can I 
stretch it out? Make it whole first, and afterwards I will do 
as thou commandest." This may appear reasonable, but in his 
case it would have been foolishness. At the command of the 
Lord he made the effort, and in making it the cure was 
effected! Faith disregards apparent impossibilities, where 
there is a command and promise of God. The effort to believe 
is, often, that faith by which the soul is healed.

A little before (ver. 6, 8) Jesus Christ had asserted his 
Godhead, in this verse he proves it. What but the omnipotence 
of the living God could have, in a moment, restored this 
withered hand? There could be no collusion here; the man who 
had a real disease was instantaneously and therefore 
miraculously cured; and the mercy and power of God were both 
amply manifested in this business.

It is worthy of remark, that as the man was healed with a 
word, without even a touch, the Sabbath was unbroken, even 
according to their most rigid interpretation of the letter of 
the law.

Verse 14. Held a council against him] Nothing sooner leads to 
utter blindness, and hardness of heart, than envy. There are 
many who abandon themselves to pleasure-taking and debauchery 
on the Sabbath, who condemn a poor man whom necessity obliges 
to work on what is termed a holiday, or a national fast.

Verse 15. Jesus-withdrew himself from thence] It is the part 
of prudence and Christian charity not to provoke, if 
possible, the blind and the hardened; and to take from them 
the occasion of sin. A man of God is not afraid of 
persecution; but, as his aim is only to do good, by 
proclaiming every where the grace of the Lord Jesus, he 
departs from any place when he finds the obstacles to the 
accomplishment of his end are, humanly speaking, invincible, 
and that he can not do good without being the means of much 
evil. Yield to the stream when you cannot stem it.

Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all] The 
rejection of the Gospel in one place has often been the means 
of sending it to and establishing it in another. Jesus healed 
all that followed him, i.e. all who had need of healing, and 
who desired to be healed; for thus the passage must be 
understood:- and is he not still the same? No soul shall ever 
implore his healing power in vain; but let it be remembered, 
that only those who follow Christ, and apply to him, are 
healed of their spiritual maladies.

Verse 16. Charged them that they should not make him known] 
See chap. viii. 4. Jesus Christ, as GOD, could have easily 
concealed himself, but he chooses to do it as man, and to use 
no other than human means, as these were quite sufficient for 
the purpose, to teach us not to neglect them in our 
necessity. Indeed, he always used his power less on his own 
account, than on that of men.

Verse 18. Behold my servant] This title was given to our 
blessed Lord in several prophecies. See Isa. xlii. 1; liii. 
2. Christ assumes it, Psa. xl. 7-9.

Compare these with John xvii. 4, and Phil. ii. 7. God 
required an acceptable and perfect service from man; but man, 
being sinful, could not perform it. Jesus, taking upon him 
the nature of man, fully performed the whole will of God, and 
communicates grace to all his followers, to enable them 
perfectly to love and worthily to magnify their Maker.

And he shall show judgment to the Gentiles.] That is, He will 
publish the Gospel to the heathens; for the word krisin here 
answers to the word fpm mishpat of the prophet, and it is 
used among the Hebrews to signify laws, precepts, and a whole 
system or body of doctrine. See Psa. xix. 9; cxix. 30, 39; 
Isa. lviii. 2.

Verse 19. He shall not strive, nor cry] The spirit of Christ 
is not a spirit of contention, murmuring, clamour, or 
litigiousness. He who loves these does not belong to him. 
Christ therefore fulfilled a prophecy by withdrawing from 
this place, on account of the rage of the Pharisees.

Verse 20. A bruised reed shall he not break] A reed is, in 
Scripture, the emblem of weakness, Ezek. xxix. 6; and a 
bruised reed must signify that state of weakness that borders 
on dissolution and death.

And smoking flax shall he not quench] linon tufomenon. linov 
means the wick of a lamp, and tufomenon is intended to point 
out its expiring state, when the oil has been all burnt away 
from it, and nothing is left but a mere snuff, emitting 
smoke. Some suppose the Jewish state, as to ecclesiastical 
matters, is here intended, the prophecy declaring that Christ 
would not destroy it, but leave it to expire of itself, as it 
already contained the principles of its own destruction. 
Others have considered it as implying that great tenderness 
with which the blessed Jesus should treat the weak and the 
ignorant, whose good desires must not be stifled, but 
encouraged. The bruised reed may recover itself, if permitted 
to vegetate under the genial influences of heaven; and the 
life and light of the expiring lamp may be supported by the 
addition of fresh oil. Jesus therefore quenches not faint 
desires after salvation, even in the worst and most 
undeserving of men; for even such desires may lead to the 
fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of peace.

Judgment unto victory.] See ver. 18. By judgment, understand 
the Gospel, and by victory its complete triumph over Jewish 
opposition, and Gentile impiety. He will continue by these 
mild and gentle means to work till the whole world is 
Christianized, and the universe filled with his glory.

Verse 21. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.] 
elpiousi, they shall hope. Jesus Christ is the sole hope and 
trust of mankind; to trust and hope in his name, JESUS, is to 
expect salvation and all things necessary from him alone, to 
despise, comparatively, all earthly promises, to esteem, 
love, and desire heavenly things only, and to bear with 
patience and tranquillity all the losses and evils of this 
life, upon the prospect and hope of that felicity which he 
has purchased for us.

Verse 22. One possessed with a devil, blind and dumb] A 
person from whom the indwelling demon took away both sight 
and hearing. Satan makes himself master of the heart, the 
eyes, and the tongue of the sinner.

His heart he fills with the love of sin; his eyes he blinds 
that he may not see his guilt, and the perdition which awaits 
him; and his tongue he hinders from prayer and supplication, 
though he gives it increasing liberty in blasphemies, lies, 
slanders, &c. None but Jesus can redeem from this threefold 
captivity.

Verse 23. Is not this the son of David?] Is not this the true 
Messiah? Do not these miracles sufficiently prove it? See 
Isaiah xxxv. 5.

Verse 24. Beelzebub] See chap. x. 25.

Verse 25. Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to 
desolation] Our Lord's argument was thus:-"The welfare of any 
kingdom, city, or family, depends on its concord and 
unanimity; Satan, like every other potentate, must wish to 
rule his empire in peace and security; how then can he be in 
league with me, who oppose his authority, and am destroying 
his kingdom?" The reasoning of the Pharisees, ver. 24, was 
not expressed, and Jesus, knowing their thoughts, gave them 
ample proof or his omniscience.

This, with our Lord's masterly confutation of their 
reasonings, by a conclusion drawn from their own premises, 
one would have supposed might have humbled and convinced 
these men; but the most conclusive reasoning, and the most 
astonishing miracles, were lost upon a people who were 
obstinately determined to disbelieve every thing good, 
relative to Christ. How true the saying-He came unto his own, 
and his own received him not! 

Verse 26. If Satan cast out Satan] A good cause will produce 
a good effect, and an evil cause an evil effect. Were I on 
Satan's side, I would act for his interest and confirm his 
influence among you; but I oppose his maxims by my doctrine, 
and his influence by my power.

Verse 27. By whom do your children cast them out?] Children, 
or sons of the prophets, means the disciples of the prophets; 
and children or sons of the Pharisees, disciples of the 
Pharisees. From Acts xix. 13, 14, it is evident there were 
exorcists among the Jews, and, from our Lord's saying here, 
it is also evident that the disciples of the Pharisees did 
east out demons, or, at least, those who educated them wished 
to have it believed that they had such a power. Our Lord's 
argument here is extremely conclusive: If the man who casts 
out demons proves himself thereby to be in league with and 
influenced by Satan, then your disciples, and you who taught 
them, are all of you in league with the devil: ye must either 
give up your assertion, that I cast out demons by Beelzebul, 
or else admit this conclusion, in its fullest force and 
latitude, that ye are all children of the devil, and leagued 
with him against God.

Envy causes persons often to condemn in one, what they 
approve in another.

Verse 28. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God] 
Perhaps the Spirit of God is here mentioned by way of 
opposition to the magical incantations of the Jews; for it is 
well known that by fumigations and magical washings, they 
professed to cast out devils. See a case mentioned by 
Schoettgen on this verse.

Then the kingdom of God] For the destruction of the kingdom 
of Satan plainly implies the setting up of the kingdom of 
God.

Is come unto you.] Is come unexpectedly upon you. efqasen, 
from fqanw, to appear suddenly-unexpectedly.

They pretended to be in expectation of the kingdom of God, 
and consequently of the destruction of the kingdom of Satan. 
But, by being not prepared to receive Christ in these proofs 
of his Divine mission, they showed that their expectation was 
but pretended. They were too carnal to mind spiritual things.

Verse 29. Else how can one enter into a strong man's house] 
Men, through sin, are become the very house and dwelling 
place of Satan, having of their own accord surrendered 
themselves to this unjust possessor; for whoever gives up his 
soul to sin gives it up to the devil. It is Jesus, and Jesus 
alone, who can deliver from the power of this bondage. When 
Satan is cast out, Jesus purifies and dwells in the heart.

Verse 30. He that is not with me is against me] In vain do 
men seek for methods to reconcile God and mammon. There is no 
medium between loving the Lord and being his enemy-between 
belonging to Christ or to Satan. If we be on the side of the 
devil, we must expect to go to the devil's hell; if we be on 
the side of Christ, we may expect to go to his heaven.

When Christ, his truth, and his servants are assaulted, he 
who does not espouse their cause is not on Christ's side, but 
incurs the guilt of deserting and betraying him. There are 
many, (it is to be feared,) in the world who are really 
against Christ, and scatter abroad, who flatter themselves 
that they are workers together with him, and of the number of 
his friends! Scattereth abroad.] This seems to have been a 
proverbial form of speech, and may be a metaphor taken from 
shepherds. He who does not help the true shepherd to gather 
his flock into the fold is, most likely, one who wishes to 
scatter them, that he may have the opportunity of stealing 
and destroying them. I do not find any parallel to this 
proverbial mode of speech in the Jewish rabbins, if it be 
one, nor have I met with it among the Greek or Roman writers.

Verse 31. All manner of sin and blasphemy] blasfhmia, 
injurious or impious speaking. , mocking and deriding speech, 
Anglo-Saxon. See chap. ix. 3.

But the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost] Even personal 
reproaches, revilings, persecutions against Christ, were 
remissible; but blasphemy, or impious speaking against the 
Holy Spirit was to have no forgiveness: i.e. when the 
person obstinately attributed those works to the devil, 
which he had the fullest evidence could be wrought only 
by the Spirit of God. That this, and nothing else, is 
the sin against the Holy Spirit, is evident from the 
connection in this place, and more particularly from Mark 
iii. 28-30. "All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, 
and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme; but he 
that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never 
forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation; BECAUSE 
they said, He hath an unclean spirit." Here the matter is 
made clear beyond the smallest doubt-the unpardonable sin, as 
some term it, is neither less nor more than ascribing the 
miracles Christ wrought, by the power of God, to the spirit 
of the devil. Many sincere people have been grievously 
troubled with apprehensions that they had committed the 
unpardonable sin; but let it be observed that no man who 
believes the Divine mission of Jesus Christ, ever can commit 
this sin: therefore let no man's heart fail because of it, 
from henceforth and for ever, Amen. See below.

Verse 32. Neither in this world, neither in the world to 
come.] Though I follow the common translation, yet I am fully 
satisfied the meaning of the words is, neither in this 
dispensation, (viz. the Jewish,) nor in that which is to 
come, viz. the Christian. abh µlw[ olam ha-bo, the world to 
come, is a constant phrase for the times of the Messiah in 
the Jewish writers. See below. The sin here spoken of by our 
Lord ranks high in the catalogue of presumptuous sins, for 
which there was no forgiveness under the Mosaic dispensation. 
See Num. xv. 30, 31; xxxv. 31; Leviticus xx. 10; 1 Sam. ii. 
25. When our Lord says that such a sin hath no forgiveness, 
is he not to be understood as meaning that the crime shall be 
punished under the Christian dispensation as it was under the 
Jewish, viz. by the destruction of the body? And is not this 
the same mentioned 1 John i. 7, called there the sin unto 
death; i.e. a sin that was to be punished by the death of the 
body, while mercy might be extended to the soul? The 
punishment for presumptuous sins, under the Jewish law, to 
which our Lord evidently alludes, certainly did not extend to 
the damnation of the soul, though the body was destroyed: 
therefore I think that, though there was no such forgiveness 
to be extended to this crime as to absolve the man from the 
punishment of temporal death, yet, on repentance, mercy might 
be extended to the soul; and every sin may be repented of 
under the Gospel dispensation.

Dr. Lightfoot has sufficiently vindicated this passage from 
all false interpretation. "They that endeavour hence to prove 
the remission of some sins after death, seem little to 
understand to what Christ had respect when he spake these 
words. Weigh well this common and, most known doctrine of the 
Jewish schools, and judge.

"He that transgresses an affirmative precept, if he presently 
repent, is not moved until the Lord pardon him; and of such 
it is said, Be ye converted, O back sliding children! and I 
will heal your backslidings. He that transgresses a negative 
precept, and repents, his repentance suspends judgment, and 
the day of expiation expiates him; as it is said, This day 
shall all your uncleannesses be expiated to you. He that 
transgresses to cutting off (by the stroke of God) or to 
death by the Sanhedrin, and repents, repentance and the day 
of expiation do suspend judgment, and the strokes that are 
laid upon him wipe off sin, as it is said, And I will visit 
their transgression with a rod, and their iniquity with 
scourges. But he by whom the name of God is profaned (or 
blasphemed) repentance is of no avail to him to suspend 
judgment, nor the day of expiation to expiate it, nor 
scourges (or corrections inflicted) to wipe it off, but all 
suspend judgment, and death wipes it off. Thus the Babylonian 
Gemara writes; but the Jerusalem thus: Repentance and the day 
of expiation expiate as to the third part, and corrections as 
to the third part, and death wipes it off, as it is said, And 
your iniquities shall not be expiated to you until ye die: 
behold, we learn that death wipes off. Note this, which 
Christ contradicts, concerning blasphemy against the Holy 
Ghost. It shall not be forgiven, saith he, neither in this 
world, nor in the world to come; that is, neither before 
death, nor, as you dream, by death. Jerus. Sanhed. fol. 37. 
and Bab.

Yoma, fol. 86.

"In the world to come.-I. Some phrases were received into 
common use, by which, in common speech, they opposed the 
heresy of the Sadducces, who denied immortality, Of that sort 
were abh µlw[ olam ha-ba, aiwn o mellwn, The world to come. 
d[ g gan aden, paradeisov, paradise: µwnh wg gei hinnom, 
geenna, hell, &c.

"At the end of all the prayers in the temple (as we observed 
before) they said µlw[ d[ ad olam, for ever. But when the 
heretics (i.e. the Sadducees) brake in, and said there was NO 
AGE but one, then it was appointed to be said for ever and 
ever. µlw[h m µlw[h d[w min ha-olam, vead ha-olam. Bab. 
Beracoth, fol. 54. This distinction of hzh µlw[ olam hazeh, 
this world, and of abh µlw[ olam ha-ba, the world to come, 
you may find almost in every page of the rabbins.

"The Lord recompense thee a good reward for this thy good 
work in this world, and let thy reward be perfected in the 
world to come. Targum on Ruth.

"It (that is, the history of the creation and of the Bible) 
therefore begins with the letter b beth, (in the word tyyrb 
bereshith,) because two worlds were created, this world and a 
world to come. Baal Turim.

"The world to come hints two things especially, (of which see 
Rambam, in Sanhed. cap. ii. Chelek.) I. The times of the 
Messiah: 'Be mindful of the day wherein thou camest out of 
Egypt, all the days of thy life: the wise men say, by the 
days of thy life is intimated this world: by all the days of 
thy life, the days of the Messiah are superinduced.' In this 
sense the apostle seems to speak, Heb. ii. 5; vi. 5. II. The 
state after death: thus Rab. Tancum, The world to come, is 
when a man has departed out of this world."

Verse 33. Either make the tree good] That is, the effect will 
be always similar to the cause; a bad tree will produce bad 
fruit, and a good tree, good fruit.

The works will resemble the heart: nothing good can proceed 
from an evil spirit; no good fruit can proceed from a corrupt 
heart. Before the heart of man can produce any good, it must 
be renewed and influenced by the Spirit of God.

Verse 34. O generation of vipers] These are apparently severe 
words; but they were extremely proper in reference to that 
execrable people to whom they were addressed: the whole verse 
is an inference from what was spoken before.

Out of the abundance (perisseumatov, the overflowings) of the 
heart] Wicked words and sinful actions may be considered as 
the overflowings of a heart that is more than full of the 
spirit of wickedness; and holy words and righteous deeds may 
be considered as the overflowings of a heart that is filled 
with the Holy Spirit, and running over with love to God and 
man.

Verse 35. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart] 
thv kardiav, of the heart, is omitted by upwards of one 
hundred MSS., many of them of the greatest antiquity and 
authority; by all the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic; by the 
Slavonic, Saxon, Vulgate, and Itala, (except four,) and by 
several of the primitive fathers. It seems to have been added 
here by some copyist, merely to explain. The good heart is 
the good treasury, and the treasure that is in it is the love 
of God, and of all mankind. The bad heart is the bad 
treasury, and its treasure is the carnal mind, which is 
enmity against God, and ill-will to man.

Verse 36. Every idle word] rhma argon, a word that does 
nothing, that neither ministers grace nor instruction to them 
who hear it. The word argon corresponds to the Hebrew aw 
shave, which signifies not only vain or empty, but also 
wicked and injurious, such as a false testimony against a 
neighbour, compare Deut. v. 11, 20. Add to this, that 
Symmachus translates lwgp piggul, polluted, Lev. xix. 7, by 
the very Greek word in the text. It was to explain this 
ambiguous meaning of the word, that ten MSS. have changed 
argon Into ponhron, evil. Our Lord must be understood here as 
condemning all false and injurious words: the scope of the 
place necessarily requires this meaning.

Verse 37. By thy words thou shalt be justified] That is, the 
whole tenor of thy conversation will be an evidence for or 
against thee, in the great day.

How many are there who count words for nothing! and yet 
eternity often depends on them. Lord, put a watch before the 
door of my lips! is a prayer proper for all men.

Verse 38. We would see a sign from thee.] That is, we wish 
now to see thee work a miracle. Pride, vain curiosity, and 
incredulity, have never proof sufficient of the truth: for 
they will not be satisfied.

Verse 39. An evil and adulterous generation] Or, race of 
people; for so genea should be translated here, and in most 
other places in the Gospels; for our Lord, in general, uses 
it to point out the Jewish people. This translation is a key 
to unlock some very obscure passages in the evangelists.

Seeketh after a sign] Or, seeketh another sign, (epizhtei,) 
so I think this word should be translated. Our Lord had 
already given the Jews several signs; and here they desire 
sign upon sign.

Our Lord terms the Jews an adulterous race. Under the old 
covenant, the Jewish nation was represented as in a marriage 
contract with the Lord of hosts; as believers, in the new 
covenant, are represented as the spouse of Christ. All 
unfaithfulness and disobedience was considered as a breach of 
this marriage contract; hence the persons who were thus 
guilty are denominated adulterers and adulteresses. But, 
independently of this, there is the utmost proof, from their 
own writings, that in the time of our Lord they were most 
literally an adulterous race of people: for, at this very 
time, R. Jochanan ben Zacchai abrogated the trial by the 
bitter waters of jealousy, because so many were found to be 
thus criminal. See on John viii. 3.

Verse 40. Three days and three nights] Our Lord rose from the 
grave on the day but one after his crucifixion: so that, in 
the computation in this verse, the part of the day on which 
he was crucified, and the part of that on which he rose 
again, are severally estimated as an entire day; and this, no 
doubt, exactly corresponded to the time in which Jonah was in 
the belly of the fish. Our Lord says, As Jonah was, so shall 
the Son of man be, &c.

Evening and morning, or night and day, is the Hebrew phrase 
for a natural day, which the Greeks termed nuxqhmeron, 
nuchthemeron. The very same quantity of time which is here 
termed three days and three nights, and which, in reality, 
was only one whole day, a part of two others, and two whole 
nights, is termed three days and three nights, in the book of 
Esther: Go; neither eat nor drink THREE DAYS, NIGHT or DAY, 
and so I will go in unto the king: Esth. iv. 16. Afterwards 
it follows, Esther v. 1. On the THIRD DAY, Esther stood in 
the inner court of the king's house. Many examples might be 
produced, from both the sacred and profane writers, in 
vindication of the propriety of the expression in the text. 
For farther satisfaction, the reader, if he please, may 
consult Whitby and Wakefield, and take the following from 
Lightfoot.

"I. The Jewish writers extend that memorable station of the 
unmoving sun, at Joshua's prayer, to six and thirty hours; 
for so Kimchi upon that place: 'According to more exact 
interpretation, the sun and moon stood still for six and 
thirty hours: for when the fight was on the eve of the 
Sabbath, Joshua feared lest the Israelites might break the 
Sabbath; therefore he spread abroad his hands, that the sun 
might stand still on the sixth day, according to the measure 
of the day of the Sabbath, and the moon according to the 
measure of the night of the Sabbath, and of the going out of 
the Sabbath, which amounts to six and thirty hours.' "II. If 
you number the hours that pass from our saviour's giving up 
the ghost upon the cross to his resurrection, you shall find 
almost the same number of hours; and yet that space is called 
by him three days and three nights, whereas two nights only 
came between, and one complete day.

Nevertheless, while he speaks these words, he is not without 
the consent both of the Jewish schools and their computation. 
Weigh well that which is disputed in the tract Scabbath, 
concerning the separation of a woman for three days; where 
many things are discussed by the Gemarists, concerning the 
computation of this space of three days. Among other things 
these words occur: R. Ismael saith, Sometimes it contains 
four hwnwa onoth, sometimes five, sometimes six. But how much 
is the space of an hnwa onah? R. Jochanan saith, Either a day 
or a night. And so also the Jerusalem Talmud: 'R. Akiba fixed 
a DAY for an onah, and a NIGHT for an onah.' But the 
tradition is, that R. Eliazar ben Azariah said, A day and a 
night make an onah: and a PART of an onah is as the WHOLE. 
And a little after, R.

Ismael computed a part of the onah for the whole." Thus, 
then, three days and three nights, according to this Jewish 
method of reckoning, included any part of the first day; the 
whole of the following night; the next day and its night; and 
any part of the succeeding or third day.

In the whale's belly] That a fish of the shark kind, and not 
a whale, is here meant, Bochart has abundantly proved, vol. 
iii. col. 742, &c., edit. Leyd. 1692. It is well known that 
the throat of a whale is capable of admitting little more 
than the arm of an ordinary man; but many of the shark 
species can swallow a man whole, and men have been found 
whole in the stomachs of several. Every natural history 
abounds with facts of this kind. Besides, the shark is a 
native of the Mediterranean Sea, in which Jonah was sailing 
when swallowed by what the Hebrew terms lwdg gd dag gadol, a 
great fish; but every body knows that whales are no produce 
of the Mediterranean Sea, thought some have been by accident 
found there, as in most other parts of the maritime world: 
but, let them be found where they may, there is none of them 
capable of swallowing a man. Instead of either whale or 
shark, some have translated lwdg gd dag gadol, Jonah i. 17, 
by a fishing cove, or something of this nature; but this is 
merely to get rid of the miracle: for, according to some, the 
whole of Divine revelation is a forgery-or it is a system of 
metaphor or allegory, that has no miraculous interferences in 
it. But, independently of all this, the criticism is 
contemptible. Others say, that the great fish means a vessel 
so called, into which Jonah went, and into the hold of which 
he was thrown, where he continued three days and three 
nights. In short, it must be any thing but a real miracle, 
the existence of which the wise men, so called, of the 
present day, cannot admit. Perhaps these very men are not 
aware that they have scarcely any belief even in the 
existence of God himself! 

Verse 41. The men of Nineveh shell rise in judgment] The 
voice of God, threatening temporal judgments, caused a whole 
people to repent, who had neither Moses nor Christ, neither 
the law nor the prophets; and who perhaps never had but this 
one preacher among them. What judgment may not we expect, if 
we continue impenitent, after all that God has bestowed upon 
us? A greater than Jonas is here.] pleion, for ti pleion, 
something more.

The evidence offered by Jonah sufficed to convince and lead 
the Ninevites to repentance; but here was more evidence, and 
a greater person; and yet so obstinate are the Jews that all 
is ineffectual. 1. Christ, who preached to the Jews, was 
infinitely greater than Jonah, in his nature, person, and 
mission. 2. Jonah preached repentance in Nineveh only forty 
days, and Christ preached among the Jews for several years. 
3. Jonah wrought no miracles to authorize his preaching; but 
Christ wrought miracles every day, in every place where he 
went, and of every kind. And 4. Notwithstanding all this, the 
people of Judea did not repent, though the people of Nineveh 
did.

Verse 42. The queen of the south] In 1 Kings x. 1, this queen 
is said to be of Saba, which was a city and province of 
Arabia Felix, to the south, or south-east, of Judea. 
Uttermost parts of the earth] peratwn thv ghv-a form of 
speech which merely signifies, a great distance. See Deut. 
xxviii. 49.

Verse 43. When the unclean spirit] If there had been no 
reality in demoniacal possessions, our Lord would have 
scarcely appealed to a case of this kind here, to point out 
the real state of the Jewish people, and the desolation which 
was coming upon them. Had this been only a vulgar error, of 
the nonsense of which the learned scribes and the wise 
Pharisees must have been convinced, the case not being one in 
point, because not true, must have been treated by that very 
people with contempt for whose conviction it was alone 
designed.

He walketh through dry places] diĘ anudrwn topwn. There seems 
to be a reference here to the Orphic demonology, in which 
evil spirits were divided into various classes, according to 
the different regions of their abode, or places in which they 
delighted. These classes were five: 1.

daimonev ouranioi, Celestial demons. 2. daimonev herioi, 
Aerial. 3.

daimonev enudrioi, Aquatic. 4. daimonev cqonioi, Terrestrial. 
5. kai daimonev upocqonioi, And subterranean demons. See 
Orph. ad Mus. ap. Schott. The Platonists, the followers of 
Zoroaster, and the primitive Jews, made nearly the same 
distinctions.

Seeking rest] Or refreshment. Strange! a fallen corrupt 
spirit can have no rest but in the polluted human heart: the 
corruption of the one is suited to the pollution of the 
other, and thus like cleaves to like.

Verse 44. Into my house] The soul of that person from whom he 
had been expelled by the power of Christ, and out of which he 
was to have been kept by continual prayer, faith, and 
watchfulness.

He findeth it empty] Unoccupied, scolazonta, empty of the 
former inhabitant, and ready to receive a new one: denoting a 
soul that has lost the life and power of godliness, and the 
testimony of the Holy Spirit.

Swept and garnished.] As scolazw signifies to be idle, or 
unemployed, it may refer here to the person, as well as to 
his state. His affections and desires are no longer busied 
with the things of God, but gad about, like an idle person, 
among the vanities of a perishing world. Swept, from love, 
meekness, and all the fruits of the Spirit; and garnished, or 
adorned, kekosmhmenon, decorated, with the vain showy trifles 
of folly and fashion. This may comprise also smart speeches, 
cunning repartees, &c., for which many who have lost the life 
of God are very remarkable.

Verse 45. Seven other spirits more wicked] Seven was a 
favourite number with the Jews, implying frequently, with 
them, something perfect, completed, filled up, for such is 
the proper import of the Hebrew word [w sheva or shevang: 
nearly allied in sound to our seven. And perhaps this meaning 
of it refers to the seventh day, when God rested from his 
work, having filled up, or completed the whole of his 
creative design.

Seven demons-as many as could occupy his soul, harassing it 
with pride, anger, self-will, lust, &c., and torturing the 
body with disease.

The last state of that man is worse than the first.] His 
soul, before influenced by the Spirit of God, dilated and 
expanded under its heavenly influences, becomes more capable 
of refinement in iniquity, as its powers are more capacious 
than formerly. Evil habits are formed and strengthened by 
relapses; and relapses are multiplied, and become more 
incurable, through new habits.

So shall it be also unto this wicked generation.] And so it 
was: for they grew worse and worse, as if totally abandoned 
to diabolic influence; till at last the besom of destruction 
swept them and their privileges, national and religious, 
utterly away. What a terrible description of a state of 
apostasy is contained in these verses! May he who readeth 
understand!

Verse 46. His mother and his brethren] These are supposed to 
have been the cousins of our Lord, as the word brother is 
frequently used among the Heb. in this sense. But there are 
others who believe Mary had other children beside our Lord 
and that these were literally his brothers, who are spoken of 
here. And, although it be possible that these were the sons 
of Mary, the wife of Cleopas or Alpheus, his mother's sister, 
called his relations, Mark iii. 31; yet it is as likely that 
they were the children of Joseph and Mary, and brethren of 
our Lord, in the strictest sense of the word. See on Matthew 
xiii. 55.

Verse 48. Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?] The 
reason of this seeming disregard of his relatives was this: 
they came to seize upon him, for they thought he was 
distracted. See Mark iii. 33.

Verse 50. Whosoever shall do the will of my Father, &c.] 
Those are the best acknowledged relatives of Christ who are 
united to him by spiritual ties, and who are become one with 
him by the indwelling of his Spirit. We generally suppose 
that Christ's relatives must have shared much of his 
affectionate attention; and doubtless they did: but here we 
find that whosoever does the will of God is equally esteemed 
by Christ, as his brother, sister, or even his virgin mother. 
What an encouragement for fervent attachment to God! 1. From 
various facts related in this chapter, we see the nature and 
design of the revelation of God, and of all the ordinances 
and precepts contained in it-they are all calculated to do 
man good: to improve his understanding, to soften and change 
his nature, that he may love his neighbour as himself.

That religion that does not inculcate and produce humanity 
never came from heaven.

2. We have already seen what the sin against the Holy Ghost 
is: no soul that fears God can commit it: perhaps it would be 
impossible for any but Jews to be guilty of it, and they only 
in the circumstances mentioned in the text; and in such 
circumstances, it is impossible that any person should now be 
found.

CHAPTER xiii

Christ teaches the multitudes out of a ship, they standing on 
the shore, 1, 2. The parable of the sower, 3-9. He gives his 
reasons for speaking in parables, 10-17. Explains the parable 
of the sower, 18-23. Parable of the tares and the wheat, 24-
30. Of the grain of mustard seed, 31, 32. Of the leaven, 33. 
The prophecy fulfilled by this mode of teaching, 34, 35. He 
explains the parable of the tares and the wheat, 36-43. 
Parable of the treasure hid in a field, 44. Of the pearl-
merchant, 45, 46. Of the dragnet, 47-50. His application of 
the whole, 51, 52. He teaches in his own country, and his 
neighbours take offense, 53-56. Our Lord's observations on 
this, 57. He works no miracle among them because of their 
unbelief. 58.

NOTES ON CHAP. xiii

Verse 1. The same day] Our Lord scarcely ever appears to take 
any rest: he is incessant in his labours, and instant in 
season and out of season; and in this he has left all his 
successors in the ministry an example, that they should 
follow his steps: for he who wishes to save souls will find 
few opportunities to rest. As Satan is going about as a 
roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, the messenger of God 
should imitate his diligence, that he may counteract his 
work. The gospels are journals of our Lord's life.

Went Jesus out of the house] This was the house of Peter. See 
chap. xvii. 24.

Sat by the sea side.] The sea of Galilee, on the borders of 
which the city of Capernaum was situated.

Verse 2. Into a ship] to ploion, THE vessel or boat. Mr. 
Wakefield supposes (which is very likely) that a particular 
vessel is uniformly specified, which seems to have been kept 
on the lake for the use of Christ and his apostles: it 
probably belonged to some of the fishermen, (see chap. iv. 
22,) who, he thinks, occasionally, at least, followed their 
former occupation. See John xxi. 3.

The thought of pious Quesnel on this verse should not be 
neglected. We see here a representation of the Church, which 
consists of the people united to their pastors. These, being 
more exposed to violent tossings and storms, are, as it were, 
in a ship, while those continue at ease on the shore.

Verse 3. He spake many things unto them in parables] Parable, 
from para, near, and ballw, I cast, or put. A comparison or 
similitude, in which one thing is compared with another, 
especially spiritual things with natural, by which means 
these spiritual things are better understood, and make a 
deeper impression on an attentive mind. Or, a parable is a 
representation of any matter accommodated, in the way of 
similitude, to the real subject, in order to delineate it 
with the greater force and perspicuity. See more on this 
subject at the conclusion of this chapter. No scheme, says 
Dr. Lightfoot, of Jewish rhetoric was more familiarly used 
than that of parables; which, perhaps, creeping in from 
thence among the heathens, ended in fables.

It is said in the tract Sotah, chap. 9. "From the time that 
Rabbi Meri died, those that spake in parables ceased." Not 
that this figure of rhetoric perished in the nation from that 
time; but because he surpassed all others in these flowers, 
as the gloss there from the tract Sanhedrin speaks. "A third 
part of his discourses was tradition; a third part allegory; 
and a third part parable." The Jewish books every where 
abound with these figures, the nation inclining by a kind of 
natural genius to this kind of rhetoric.

Their very religion might be called parabolical, folded up 
within the covering of ceremonies; and their oratory in their 
sermons was like to it.

But is it not indeed a wonder, that they who were so much 
given to and delighted in parables, and so dexterous in 
unfolding them, should stick in the outward shell of 
ceremonies, and should not have brought out the parabolical 
and spiritual sense of them? Our saviour, who always spoke 
with the common people, uses the same kind of speech, and 
very often the same preface which they used, To what is it 
likened? See Lightfoot in loco.

Though we find the basis of many of our Lord's parables in 
the Jewish writings, yet not one of them comes through his 
hands without being astonishingly improved. In this respect 
also, Surely never man spoke like this man.

Under the parable of the sower, our Lord intimates, 1. That 
of all the multitudes then attending his ministry, few would 
bring forth fruit to perfection. And 2. That this would be a 
general case in preaching the Gospel among men.

Verse 4. Some seeds fell by the way side] The hard beaten 
path, where no plough had broken up the ground.

Verse 5. Stony places] Where there was a thin surface of 
earth, and a rock at the bottom.

Verse 7. Among thorns] Where the earth was ploughed up, but 
the brambles and weeds had not been cleared away.

Verse 8. Good ground] Where the earth was deep, the field 
well ploughed, and the brambles and weeds all removed. See 
more on chap. xiii. 18, &c., and see on Luke viii. 15.

Some a hundred-fold.] For the elucidation of this text, I beg 
leave to introduce the following experiment. In 1816 I sowed, 
for a third crop, a field with oats, at Millbrook, in 
Lancashire; the grains weighed, on an average, 3/4 of a grain 
each. One grain produced three stalks with three ears: the 
largest had 68 grains in it, the second 26, and the third 25.

Whole number of grains 119, which togetherweighed 82 grs.

The root separately, after washing and drying, weighed 13 _.

The stalks and remaining leaves (for many had perished in the 
wet season) 630 _.

Weight of the whole produce of one grain of oats 726 grs.

which was 725 times and one quarter more than the original 
weight.

The power of grain to multiply itself, even in the same year, 
is a subject as much of curiosity and astonishment as of 
importance and general utility.

For the farther elucidation of this text, I shall give the 
following example from a practice in agriculture, or rural 
economy, which is termed filtering.

On the 2nd of June, 1766, Mr. C. Miller, of Cambridge, sowed 
some grains of the common, red wheat; and on the 8th of 
August a single plant was taken up, and separated into 18 
parts, and each planted separately: these plants having 
pushed out several side shoots, about the middle of September 
some of them were taken up and divided; and the rest between 
that time and October. This second division produced 67 
plants. These plants remained through the winter, and another 
division of them, made between the middle of March and the 
12th of April, produced 500 plants.

They were divided no farther, but permitted to remain in the 
field. These plants were in general stronger than any of the 
wheat in the field. Some of them produced upwards of 100 ears 
from a single root and many of the ears measured seven inches 
in length, and contained between sixty and seventy grains. 
The whole number of ears produced from the single plant was 
21,109, which yielded three pecks and three-quarters of clear 
corn, weighing 47lbs. 7oz., and, from a calculation made by 
counting the grains in an ounce, the whole number of grains 
was about 576,840. Mr. Miller thinks that, had he made a 
second division in the spring, the number of plants would 
have amounted to 2000. Who can help admiring the wisdom and 
providence of God in this single grain of corn! He has, in 
some sort, impressed on it an idea of his own infinity; and 
an idea which, like the subject to which it refers, confounds 
our imagination and reason. How infinitely great is God, even 
in his minor works.

Verse 9. Who hath ears to hear, &c.] Let every person who 
feels the necessity of being instructed in the things which 
concern his soul's welfare pay attention to what is spoken, 
and he shall become wise unto salvation.

Verse 11. It is given unto you to know the mysteries, &c.] By 
mysteries, here, we may understand not only things concerning 
the scheme of salvation, which had not yet been revealed; but 
also the prophetic declarations concerning the future state 
of the Christian Church, expressed in the ensuing parables. 
It is not given to them to know the purport and design of 
these things-they are gross of heart, earthly and sensual, 
and do not improve the light they have received: but to you 
it is given, because I have appointed you not only to be the 
first preachers of my Gospel to sinners, but also the persons 
who shall transmit accounts of all these things to posterity. 
The knowledge of these mysteries, in the first instance, can 
be given only to a few; but when these faithfully write and 
publish what they have heard and seen, unto the world, then 
the science of salvation is revealed and addressed to all. 
From chap. xiii. 17, we learn, that many prophets and 
righteous men had desired to see and hear these things, but 
had not that privilege-to them it was not given; not because 
God designed to exclude them from salvation, but because HE 
who knew all things knew, either that they were not proper 
persons, or that that was not the proper time: for the choice 
of the PERSONS by whom, and the choice of the TIME in which 
it is most proper to reveal Divine things, must ever rest 
with the all-wise God.

Verse 12. Whosoever hath, to him shall be given] This is an 
allusion to a common custom in all countries: he who 
possesses much or is rich, to such a person, presents are 
ordinarily given.

Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he 
hath.] That is, the poor man: he that has little may be 
easily made a prey of, and so lose his little. This is a 
proper sense of the word ecein in sacred and profane writers. 
In 1 Cor. xi. 22, touv mh econtav, those who have not, means 
simply THE POOR: and Aristophanes uses touv exontav, those 
that have, for the RICH or OPULENT. See a variety of 
pertinent examples in Kypke on Luke viii. 18. There is one 
example in Juvenal, Sat. iii. l. 208, 209, that expresses the 
whole of our Lords meaning, and is a beautiful illustration 
of this apparently difficult passage. NIL habuit Codrus: quis 
enim negat? et tamen illud Perdidit infelix TOTUM NIL.

"'Tis true, poor Codrus NOTHING had to boast, And yet poor 
Codrus ALL that NOTHING lost." Dryden Now what was this 
NOTHING which, the poet said, Codrus had and lost? The five 
preceding lines tell you.

Lectus erat Codro Procula minor, urceoli sex, Ornamentum 
abaci; necnon et parvulus infra Cantharus, et recubans sub 
eodem marmoure Chiron; Jamque vetus Graecos servabat cista 
libellos, Et divina Opici rodebant carmina mures He had one 
small bed, six little pitchers, the ornament of a side-board; 
a small jug or tankard, the image of a centaur, and an old 
chest with some Greek books in it, on which the mice had 
already begun to make depredations. And all this he lost; 
probably by continuing, in spite of his destiny, to be a 
poet. So those who devote not the light and power which God 
has given them to the purposes for which he has granted these 
gifts, from them shall be taken away these unemployed or 
prostituted blessings.

This seems to have been a proverbial mode of speech, which 
our Lord here uses to inform his disciples, that he who does 
not improve the first operations of grace, howsoever small, 
is in danger of losing not only all the possible product, but 
even the principal; for God delights to heap benefits on 
those who properly improve them. See the note on Luke viii. 
18.

Verse 13. Therefore speak I to them in parables] On this 
account, viz.

to lead them into a proper knowledge of God. I speak to them 
in parables, natural representations of spiritual truths, 
that they may be allured to inquire, and to find out the 
spirit, which is hidden under the letter; because, seeing the 
miracles which I have wrought, they see not, i.e. the end for 
which I have wrought them; and hearing my doctrines, they 
hear not, so as to profit by what is spoken; neither do they 
understand, oude suniousi, they do not lay their hearts to 
it. Is not this obviously our Lord's meaning? Who can suppose 
that he would employ his time in speaking enigmatically to 
them, on purpose that they might not understand what was 
spoken? Could the God of truth and sincerity act thus? If he 
had designed to act otherwise, he might have saved his time 
and labour, and not spoken at all, which would have answered 
the same end, viz. to leave them in gross ignorance.

Verse 14. In them is fulfilled] anaplhroutai, Is AGAIN 
fulfilled: this proper meaning of the Greek word has been 
generally overlooked. The evangelist means, that as these 
words were fulfilled in the Jews, in the time of the Prophet 
Isaiah, so they are now again fulfilled in these their 
posterity, who exactly copy their fathers example. These 
awful words may be again fulfilled in us, if we take not 
warning by the things which these disobedient people have 
suffered.

By hearing ye shall hear] Jesus Christ shall be sent to you, 
his miracles ye shall fully see, and his doctrines ye shall 
distinctly hear; but God will not force you to receive the 
salvation which is offered.

Verse 15. Heart is waxed gross] epacunqh, is become fat-
inattentive stupid, insensible. They hear heavily with their 
ears-are half asleep while the salvation of God is preached 
unto them.

Their eyes they have closed] Totally and obstinately resisted 
the truth of God, and shut their eyes against the light.

Lest-they should see, &c.] Lest they should see their lost 
estate, and be obliged to turn unto God, and seek his 
salvation. His state is truly deplorable who is sick unto 
death, and yet is afraid of being cured. The fault is here 
totally in the people, and not at all in that God whose name 
is Mercy and whose nature is love.

Verse 16. But blessed are your eyes] Ye improve the light 
which God has given you; and you receive an increase of 
heavenly wisdom by every miracle and by every sermon.

Verse 17. Many prophets and righteous men] These lived by and 
died in the faith of the promised Messiah: the fullness of 
the time was not then come for his manifestation in the 
flesh. See also on chap. xiii. 11.

Verse 19. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom] Viz. 
the preaching of the Gospel of Christ.

And understandeth it not] mh sunientov, perhaps more 
properly, regardeth it not, does not lay his heart to it.

The wicked one] o ponhrov, from ponov, labour, toil, he who 
distresses and torments the soul. Mark, Mark iv. 15, calls 
him o satanav, the adversary or opposer, because he resists 
men in all their purposes of amendment, and, to the utmost of 
his power opposes, in order to frustrate, the influences of 
Divine grace upon the heart. In the parallel place in Luke, 
Luke viii. 12, he is called o diabolov, the devil, from 
diaballein, to shoot, or dart through. In allusion to this 
meaning of the name, St. Paul, Eph. vi. 16, speaks of the 
fiery DARTS of the wicked one. It is worthy of remark, that 
the three evangelists should use each a different appellative 
of this mortal enemy of mankind; probably to show that the 
devil, with all his powers and properties, opposes every 
thing that tends to the salvation of the soul.

Catcheth away] Makes the utmost haste to pick up the good 
seed, lest it should take root in the heart.

A careless inattentive hearer is compared to the way side-his 
heart is an open road, where evil affections, and foolish and 
hurtful desires, continually pass and repass, without either 
notice or restraint. "A heart where Satan has" (as one terms 
it) "ingress, egress, regress, and progress: in a word, the 
devil's thoroughfare." 

Verse 20. But he that received the seed into stony places-is 
he] That is, is a fit emblem of that man who, hearing the 
Gospel, is affected with its beauty and excellency, and 
immediately receiveth it with joy-is glad to hear what God 
has done to make man happy.

Verse 21. Yet hath he not root in himself] His soul is not 
deeply convinced of its guilt and depravity; the fallow 
ground is not properly ploughed up, nor the rock broken. When 
persecution, &c., ariseth, which he did not expect, he is 
soon stumbled-seeks some pretext to abandon both the doctrine 
and followers of Christ. Having not felt his own sore, and 
the plague of his heart, he has not properly discovered that 
this salvation is the only remedy for his soul: thus he has 
no motive in his heart strong enough to counteract the 
outward scandal of the cross; so he endureth only for the 
time in which there is no difficulty to encounter, no cross 
to bear.

Verse 22. He also that received seed among the thorns] In 
land ploughed, but not properly cleared and seeded. Is he] 
represents that person who heareth the word, but the cares, 
rather the anxiety, h merimna, the whole system of anxious 
carking cares. Lexicographers derive the word merimna from 
merizein ton noun, dividing, or distracting the mind. Thus a 
poet, Tot me impediunt curae quae meum animum diverse 
trahunt.

"So many cares hinder me which draw my mind different ways." 
Terence.

The deceitfulness of riches] Which promise peace and 
pleasure, but can never give them.

Choke the word] The seed had taken root, and that these 
cares, &c., choked it in the root, before even the blade 
could show itself.

Verse 23. Good ground] That which had depth of mould, was 
well ploughed, and well weeded.

Is he that heareth] Who diligently attends the ministry of 
the word.

And understandeth it] Lays the subject to heart, deeply 
weighing its nature, design, and importance.

Which also beareth fruit] His fruitfulness being an almost 
necessary consequence of his thus laying the Divine message 
to heart. Let it be observed, that to hear, to understand, 
and to bring forth fruit, are the three grand evidences of a 
genuine believer. He who does not hear the word of wisdom 
cannot understand what makes for his peace; and he who does 
not understand what the Gospel requires him to be and to 
perform, cannot bring forth fruit; and he who is not 
fruitful, very fruitful, cannot be a disciple of Christ-see 
John xv. 8; and he who is not Christ's disciple cannot enter 
into the kingdom of God.

From the different portions of fruit produced by the good 
ground, a hundred, sixty, and thirty, we may learn that all 
sound believers are not equally fruitful; all hear, 
understand, and bring forth fruit, but not in the same 
degrees-occasioned, partly, by their situation and 
circumstances not allowing them such extensive opportunities 
of receiving and doing good; and, partly, by lack of mental 
capacity-for every mind is not equally improvable.

Let it be farther observed that the unfruitfulness of the 
different lands was not owing to bad seed or an unskilful 
sower-the same sower sows the same seed in all, and with the 
same gracious design-but it is unfruitful in many because 
they are careless, inattentive, and worldly-minded.

But is not the ground naturally bad in every heart? 
Undoubtedly. And can any but God make it good? None. But it 
is your business, when you hear of the justice and mercy of 
God, to implore him to work in you that which is pleasing in 
his sight. No man shall be condemned because he did not 
change his own heart, but because he did not cry to God to 
change it, who gave him his Holy Spirit for this very 
purpose, and which he, by his worldly-mindedness and impiety, 
quenched. Whoso hath ears to hear let him hear: and may the 
Lord save the reader from an impenitent and unfruitful heart!

Verse 24. The kingdom of heaven] God's method of managing the 
affairs of the world, and the concerns of his Church.

Is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field] In 
general, the world may be termed the field of God; and in 
particular, those who profess to believe in God through 
Christ are his field or farm; among whom God sows nothing but 
the pure unadulterated word of his truth.

Verse 25. But while men slept] When the professors were 
lukewarm, and the pastors indolent, his enemy came and sowed 
tares, zizania degenerate, or bastard wheat. The righteous 
and the wicked are often mingled in the visible Church. Every 
Christian society, how pure soever its principles may be, has 
its bastard wheat-those who bear a resemblance to the good, 
but whose hearts are not right with God. He who sows this 
bastard wheat among God's people is here styled God's enemy; 
and he may be considered also as a sower of them who permits 
them to be sown and to spring up through his negligence. Wo 
to the indolent pastors, who permit the souls under their 
care to be corrupted by error and sin! This word does not, I 
believe, occur in any of the Greek classics, nor in 
Dioscorides; but it may be seen in the Geoponica, or Greek 
writers Deuteronomy Revelation Rustica: see the edition by 
Niclas, vol. i. lib. ii. c.

43, where to zizanion is said to be the same which the Greeks 
call aira; and Florentinus, the author, says, to zizanion, to 
legomenon aira, fqeirei vov siton, artoiv de mignumenh, 
skotoi touv esqiontav.

"Zizanion, which is called aira, darnel, injures the wheat; 
and, mixed in the bread, causes dimness of the eyes to those 
who eat of it." And the author might have added vertigo also. 
But this does not seem to be the grain to which our Lord 
alludes.

The word zizania, zizania, which is here translated tares, 
and which should rather be translated bastard or degenerate 
wheat, is a Chaldee word; and its meaning must be sought in 
the rabbinical writers. In a treatise in the Mishna called 
Kelayim, which treats expressly on different kinds of seeds, 
the word µynwz zunim, or ynwz zunin, is used for bastard or 
degenerated wheat; that which was wholly a right seed in the 
beginning, but afterwards became degenerate-the ear not being 
so large, nor the grains in such quantity, as formerly, nor 
the corn so good in quality. In Psalm cxliv. 13, the words z 
la zm mizzan al zen, are translated all manner of store; but 
they properly signify, from species to species: might not the 
Chaldee word ynwz zunin, and the Greek word zizania, zizania, 
come from the psalmist's znz zanzan, which might have 
signified a mixture of grain of any kind, and be here used to 
point out the mixing bastard or degenerate wheat among good 
seed wheat? The Persic translator renders it  telkh daneh, 
bitter grain; but it seems to signify merely degenerate 
wheat. This interpretation throws much light on the scope and 
design of the whole passage. Christ seems to refer, first, to 
the origin of evil. God sowed good seed in his field; made 
man in his own image and likeness: but the enemy, the devil, 
(chap. xiii. 30,) corrupted this good seed, and caused it to 
degenerate.

Secondly, he seems to refer to the state of the Jewish 
people: God had sowed them, at first, wholly a right seed, 
but now they were become utterly degenerate, and about to be 
plucked up and destroyed by the Roman armies, which were the 
angels or messengers of God's justice, whom he had 
commissioned to sweep these rebellious people from the face 
of the land. Thirdly, he seems to refer also to the state in 
which the world shall be found, when he comes to judge it. 
The righteous and the wicked shall be permitted to grow 
together, till God comes to make a full and final separation.

Verse 26. When the blade was sprung up-then appeared the 
tares also.] Satan has a shoot of iniquity for every shoot of 
grace; and, when God revives his work, Satan revives his 
also. No marvel, therefore, if we find scandals arising 
suddenly to discredit a work of grace, where God has begun to 
pour out his Spirit.

Verse 27. So the servants-said unto him, Sir, didst not thou 
sow] A faithful and vigilant minister of Christ fails not to 
discover the evil, to lament it, and to address himself to 
God by prayer, in order to find out the cause of it, and to 
receive from him proper information how to behave on the 
occasion.

Verse 28. An enemy hath done this] It is the interest of 
Satan to introduce hypocrites and wicked persons into 
religious societies, in order to discredit the work of God, 
and to favour his own designs.

Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?] A zeal which 
is rash and precipitate is as much to be feared as the total 
lack of strict discipline.

Verse 29. But he said, Nay] God judges quite otherwise than 
men of this mixture of good and evil in the world; he knows 
the good which he intends to produce from it, and how far his 
patience towards the wicked should extend, in order to their 
conversion, or the farther sanctification of the righteous. 
Men often persecute a true Christian, while they intend only 
to prosecute an impious person. "A zeal for the extirpation 
of heretics and wicked men," said a pious Papist, "not 
regulated by these words of our blessed saviour, allows no 
time for the one to grow strong in goodness, or to the other 
to forsake their evil courses. They are of a spirit very 
opposite to his, who care not if they root up the wheat, 
provided they can but gather up the tares." The zeal which 
leads persons to persecute others for religious opinions is 
not less a seed of the devil than a bad opinion itself is.

Verse 30. Let both grow together] Though every minister of 
God should separate from the Church of Christ every 
incorrigible sinner, yet he should proceed no farther: the 
man is not to be persecuted in his body or goods, because he 
is not sound in the faith-GOD tolerates him; so should men.

False doctrines are against God-he alone is the judge and 
punisher of them-man has no right to interfere in this 
matter. They who burnt Vanini for atheism usurped the seat of 
judgment, and thus proved themselves to be not less a 
diabolical seed than the person they thus, without God's 
leave, hurried into eternity. MARY, Queen of England, of 
execrable memory, and the inquisitorial tormentors she 
employed, were all of this diabolical sowing. See more on 
this parable at chap. xiii. 37, &c.

Verse 31. The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard 
seed] This parable is a representation of the progress of the 
Gospel in the world; and of the growth of grace in the soul. 
That grace which leads the soul to the fullness of glory may 
begin, and often does, in a single good desire-a wish to 
escape hell, or a desire to enjoy God in heaven.

Verse 32. Which indeed is the least of all seeds] That is, of 
all those seeds which produce plants, whose stems and 
branches, according to the saying of the botanists, are apt 
dendrizein, arborescere, to grow into a ligneous or woody 
substance.

Becometh a tree] That is, it is not only the largest of 
plants which are produced from such small seeds, but 
partakes, in its substance, the close woody texture, 
especially in warm climates, where we are informed it grows 
to an almost incredible size. The Jerusalem Talmud, tract 
Peah. fol.

20, says, "There was a stalk of mustard in Sichin, from which 
sprang out three boughs; one of which, being broken off, 
served to cover the tent of a potter, and produced three 
cabes of mustard seed. Rabbi Simeon ben Chalapha said, A 
stalk of mustard seed was in my field, into which I was want 
to climb, as men are wont to climb into a fig tree." See 
Lightfoot and Schoettgen. This may appear to be extravagant; 
and it is probable that, in the case of the three cabes of 
seed, there is considerable exaggeration; but, if it had not 
been usual for this plant to grow to a very large size, such 
relations as these would not have appeared even in the 
Talmud; and the parable of our Lord sufficiently attests the 
fact. Some soils being more luxuriant than others, and the 
climate much warmer, raise the same plant to a size and 
perfection far beyond what a poorer soil, or a colder 
climate, can possibly do. Herodotus says, he has seen wheat 
and barley in the country about Babylon which carried a blade 
full four fingers-breadth: and that the millet and sesamum 
grew to an incredible size. I have myself seen a field of 
common cabbages, in one of the Norman isles, each of which 
was from seven to nine feet in height; and one in the garden 
of a friend, which grew beside an apple-tree, though the 
latitude of the place is only about 48 deg.min. north, was 
fifteen feet high, the stem of which is yet remaining, 
(September, 1798.) These facts, and several others which 
might be added, confirm fully the possibility of what our 
Lord says of the mustard-tree, however incredible such things 
may appear to those who are acquainted only with the 
productions of northern regions and cold climates.

Verse 33. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven] On the 
nature and effects of leaven, see the note on Exod. xii. 8. 
As the property of leaven is to change, or assimulate to its 
own nature, the meal or dough with which it is mixed, so the 
property of the grace of Christ is to change the whole soul 
into its own likeness; and God intends that this principle 
should continue in the soul till all is leavened-till the 
whole bear the image of the heavenly, as it before bore the 
image of the earthly. Both these parables are prophetic, and 
were intended to show, principally, how, from very small 
beginnings, the Gospel of Christ should pervade all the 
nations of the world, and fill them with righteousness and 
true holiness.

Verse 34. All these things spoke Jesus-in parables] Christ 
descends from Divine mysteries to parables, in order to 
excite us to raise our minds, from and through natural 
things, to the great God, and the operations of his grace and 
Spirit. Divine things cannot be taught to man but through the 
medium of earthly things. If God should speak to us in that 
language which is peculiar to heaven, clothing those ideas 
which angelic minds form, how little should we comprehend of 
the things thus described! How great is our privilege in 
being thus taught! Heavenly things, in the parables of 
Christ, assume to themselves a body, and thus render 
themselves palpable.

Verse 35. By the prophet] As the quotation is taken from 
Psalm lxxviii. 2, which is attributed to Asaph, he must be 
the prophet who is meant in the text; and, indeed, he is 
expressly called a prophet, 1 Chron. xxv. 2.

Several MSS. have hsaiou, Isaiah; but this is a manifest 
error. Jerome supposes that Asaph was first in the text, and 
that some ignorant transcriber, not knowing who this Asaph 
was, inserted the word Isaiah; and thus, by attempting to 
remove an imaginary error, made a real one.

Verse 36. Jesus-went into the house: and his disciples came] 
Circumstances of this kind should not pass unnoticed: they 
are instructive and important. Those who attend only to the 
public preaching of the Gospel of God are not likely to 
understand fully the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. To 
understand clearly the purport of the Divine message, a man 
must come to God by frequent, fervent, secret prayer. It is 
thus that the word of God sinks into the heart, is watered, 
and brings forth much fruit.

Declare (frason, explain) unto us the parable of the tares of 
the field.] To what has already been spoken on this parable, 
the following general exposition may be deemed a necessary 
appendage:-I.

What is the cause of EVIL in the world? 1. We must allow that 
God, who is infinite in holiness, purity, and goodness, could 
not have done it. Nothing can produce what is not in itself. 
This is a maxim which every man subscribes to: God then could 
not have produced sin, forasmuch as his nature is infinite 
goodness and holiness. He made man at first in his own image, 
a transcript of his own purity: and, since sin entered into 
the world, He has done every thing consistent with his own 
perfections, and the freedom of the human mind, to drive it 
out, and to make and keep man holy.

2. After a thousand volumes are written on the origin of 
evil, we shall just know as much of it as Christ has told us 
here-An enemy hath done it, and this enemy is the devil, 
chap. xiii. 39.

1. This enemy is represented as a deceitful enemy: a friend 
in appearance, soliciting to sin, by pleasure, honour, 
riches, &c.

2. A vigilant enemy. While men sleep he watches, Matthew 
xiii. 25.

3. A hidden or secret enemy. After having sown his seed, he 
disappears, chap. xiii. 25. Did he appear as himself, few 
would receive solicitations to sin; but he is seldom 
discovered in evil thoughts, unholy desires, flattering 
discourses, bad books, &c.

II. Why was evil permitted to enter into the world? 1. There 
are doubtless sufficient reasons in the Divine Mind for its 
permission; which, connected with his infinite essence, and 
extending to eternity, are not only unfathomable by us, but 
also, from their nature, incommunicable to men.

2. But it may be justly said, that hereby many attributes of 
the Divine Nature become manifest, which otherwise could not 
have been known; such as mercy, compassion, long-suffering, 
&c. All of which endear the Deity to men, and perfect the 
felicity of those who are saved.

III. But why does he suffer this mixture of the good and bad 
seed now? 1. Because of the necessary dependence of one part 
of the creation on the other. Were the wicked all rooted up, 
society must fail-the earth be nearly desolated-noxious 
things greatly multiplied-and the small remnant of the godly, 
not being able to stand against the onsets of wild beasts, 
&c., must soon be extirpated; and then adieu to the economy 
of grace! 2. Did not the wicked exist, there would be no room 
for the exercise of many of the graces of the Spirit, on 
which our spiritual perfection greatly depends.

3. Nor could the grace of God be so manifest in supporting 
and saving the righteous; and consequently could not have 
that honour which now it justly claims.

4. Were not this evil tolerated, how could the wicked be 
converted? The bastard wheat, by being transplanted to a 
better soil, may become good wheat; so sinners may be 
engrafted in Christ, and become sons of God through faith in 
his name; for the longsuffering of God leads multitudes to 
repentance.

IV. Observe the end of the present state of things: 1. The 
wicked shall be punished, and the righteous rewarded.

The wicked are termed bastard-wheat-the children of the 
wicked one, chap. xiii. 38, the very seed of the serpent.

Observe the place in which the wicked shall be punished,-a 
FURNACE. The instrument of this punishment, FIRE. This is an 
allusion to the punishment inflicted only on those supposed 
to be the very worst of criminals. See Dan. iii. 6. They were 
cast into a burning fiery furnace. The effect of it, DESPAIR; 
weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, chap. xiii. 42.

2. Observe the character and state of the righteous: 1. They 
are the children of the kingdom, a seed of God's sowing, 
chap. xiii. 38.

2. As to their persons, they shall be like the sun.

3. The place of their felicity shall be the kingdom of 
heaven: and, 4. The object of it, GOD In the relation of 
FATHER, Matthew xiii. 43. This is a reference to Dan. xii. 2, 
3.

Some learned men are of opinion that the whole of this 
parable refers to the Jewish state and people; and that the 
words sunteleia tou aiwnov, which are commonly translated the 
end of the world, should be rendered the end of the age, viz. 
the end of the Jewish polity. That the words have this 
meaning in other places there can be no doubt; and this may 
be their primary meaning here; but there are other matters in 
the parable which agree far better with the consummation of 
all things than with the end of the Jewish dispensation and 
polity. See on Mark iv. 29.

Verse 44. The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in 
a field] qhsaurw kekrummenw, to a hidden treasure. We are not 
to imagine that the treasure here mentioned, and to which the 
Gospel salvation is likened, means a pot or chest of money 
hidden in the field, but rather a gold or silver mine, which 
he who found out could not get at, or work, without turning 
up the field, and for this purpose he bought it. Mr. 
Wakefield's observation is very just: "There is no sense in 
the purchase of a field for a pot of money, which he might 
have carried away with him very readily, and as honestly, 
too, as by overreaching the owner by an unjust purchase." He 
hideth-i.e. he kept secret, told the discovery to no person, 
till he had bought the field. From this view of the subject, 
the translation of this verse, given above, will appear 
proper-a hidden treasture, when applied to a rich mine, is 
more proper than a treasure hid, which applies better to a 
pot of money deposited there, which I suppose was our 
translators' opinion; and kept secret, or concealed, will 
apply better to the subject of his discovery till he made the 
purchase, than hideth, for which there could be no occasion, 
when the pot was already hidden, and the place known only to 
himself.

Our Lord's meaning seems to be this:- The kingdom of heaven-
the salvation provided by the Gospel-is like a treasure-
something of inestimable worth-hidden in a field; it is a 
rich mine, the veins of which run in all directions in the 
sacred Scriptures; therefore, the field must be dug up, the 
records of salvation diligently and carefully turned over, 
and searched. Which, when a man hath found-when a sinner is 
convinced that the promise of life eternal is to him, he kept 
secret-pondered the matter deeply in his heart; he examines 
the preciousness of the treasure, and counts the cost of 
purchase; for joy thereof-finding that this salvation is just 
what his needy soul requires, and what will make him 
presently and eternally happy, went and sold all that he had-
renounces his sins, abandons his evil companions, and 
relinquishes all hope of salvation through his own 
righteousness; and purchased that field-not merely bought the 
book for the sake of the salvation it described, but, by the 
blood of the covenant, buys gold tried in the fire, white 
raiment, &c.; in a word, pardon and purity, which he receives 
from God for the sake of Jesus. We should consider the 
salvation of God, 1. As our only treasure, and value it above 
all the riches in the world. 2. Search for it in the 
Scriptures, till we fully understand its worth and 
excellence. 3. Deeply ponder it in the secret of our souls. 
4. Part with all we have in order to get it. 5. Place our 
whole joy and felicity in it; and 6. Be always convinced that 
it must be bought, and that no price is accepted for it but 
the blood of the covenant; the sufferings and death of our 
only Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

Verse 45. A merchant man, seeking goodly pearls] A story very 
like this is found in the Talmudical tract Shabbath: "Joseph, 
who sanctified the Sabbath, had a very rich neighbour; the 
Chaldeans said, All the riches of this man shall come to 
Joseph, who sanctifies the Sabbath. To prevent this, the rich 
man went and sold all that he had, and bought a pearl, and 
went aboard of a ship; but the wind carried the pearl away, 
it fell into the sea, and was swallowed by a fish. This fish 
was caught, and the day before the Sabbath it was brought 
into the market, and they proclaimed, Who wishes to buy this 
fish? The people said, Carry it to Joseph, the sanctifier of 
the Sabbath, who is accustomed to buy things of great value. 
They carried it to him, and he bought it, and when he cut it 
up he found the pearl, and sold it for thirteen pounds weight 
of golden denarii!" From some tradition of this kind, our 
Lord might have borrowed the simile in this parable.

The meaning of this parable is the same with the other; and 
both were spoken to impress more forcibly this great truth on 
the souls of the people:-eternal salvation from sin and its 
consequences is the supreme good of man, should be sought 
after above all things, and prized beyond all that God has 
made. Those merchants who compass sea and land for temporal 
gain, condemn the slothfulness of the majority of those 
called Christians, who, though they confess that this 
salvation is the most certain and the most excellent of all 
treasures, yet seek worldly possessions in preference to it! 
Alas, for him who expects to find any thing more amiable than 
God, more worthy to fill his heart, and more capable of 
making him happy!

Verse 47. Is like unto a net] A drag-net. This is the proper 
meaning of saghnh, which the Latins translate verriculum, a 
sweep net; Quod in aquam jacitur ad pisces comprehendendos; 
imprimis, cujus usus est extrahendis iis a fundo. MARTINIUS. 
"Which is cast into the water to catch fish, and the 
particular use of which is to drag them up from the bottom." 
As this is dragged along it keeps gathering all in its way, 
both good and bad, small and great; and, when it is brought 
to the shore, those which are proper for use are preserved, 
and those which are not are either destroyed or thrown back 
into the water.

By the net may be understood the preaching of the Gospel of 
the kingdom, which keeps drawing men into the profession of 
Christianity, and into the fellowship of the visible Church 
of Christ. By the sea may be represented that abyss of sin, 
error, ignorance, and wickedness in which men live, and out 
of which they are drawn, by the truth and Spirit of God, who 
cordially close in with the offers of salvation made to them 
in the preaching of the Gospel.

By drawing to shore, may be represented the consummation of 
all things, see chap. xiii. 49, when a proper distinction 
shall be made between those who served God, and those who 
served him not; for many shall doubtless be found who shall 
bear the name without the nature of Christ.

By picking out the good, and throwing away the bad, Matthew 
xiii. 48, is meant that separation which God shall make 
between false and true professors, casting the former into 
hell, and bringing the latter to heaven.

Instead of ta kala the good, the Cod. Bezae, and five copies 
of the old Antehieronymian, or Itala version, read ta 
kallista, the best, the very best. Every reader would 
naturally hope that this is not the true reading, or that it 
is not to be understood literally, as it seems to intimate 
that only the very best shall be at last saved.

It is probable that this parable also refers, in its primary 
meaning, to the Jewish state, and that, when Christ should 
come to judge and destroy them by the Roman power, the 
genuine followers of Christ only should escape, and the rest 
be overwhelmed by the general destruction. See chap. xxiv. 
30, &c.

Verse 50. Into the furnace of fire] See the note on chap. 
viii. 12.

Verse 51. Have ye understood all these things?] Divine truths 
must not be lightly passed over.-Our Lord's question here 
shows them to be matters of the utmost weight and importance; 
and that they should be considered again and again, till they 
be thoroughly understood.

Verse 52. Every scribe] Minister of Christ: who is 
instructed-taught of God; in the kingdom of heaven-in the 
mysteries of the Gospel of Christ: out of his treasury-his 
granary or store-house; things new and old-a Jewish phrase 
for great plenty. A small degree of knowledge is not 
sufficient for a preacher of the Gospel. The sacred writings 
should be his treasure, and he should properly understand 
them. His knowledge does not consist in being furnished with 
a great variety of human learning, (though of this he should 
acquire as much as he can;) but his knowledge consists in 
being well instructed in the things concerning the kingdom of 
heaven, and the art of conducting men thither. Again, it is 
not enough for a man to have these advantages in possession: 
he must bring them forth, and distribute them abroad. A good 
pastor will not, like a miser, keep these things to himself 
to please his fancy; nor, like a merchant, traffic with them, 
to enrich himself; but, like a bountiful father or 
householder, distribute them with a liberal through judicious 
hand, for the comfort and support of the whole heavenly 
family.

A preacher whose mind is well stored with Divine truths, and 
who has a sound judgment, will suit his discourses to the 
circumstances and states of his hearers. He who preaches the 
same sermon to every congregation, gives the fullest proof 
that, however well he may speak, he is not a scribe who is 
instructed in the kingdom of heaven. Some have thought that 
old and new things here, which imply the produce of the past 
and the produce of the present year, may also refer to the 
old and new covenants-a proper knowledge of the Old Testament 
Scriptures, and of the doctrines of Christ as contained in 
the New. No man can properly understand the Old Testament but 
through the medium of the New, nor can the New be so forcibly 
or successfully applied to the conscience of a sinner as 
through the medium of the Old. The law is still a 
schoolmaster to lead men to Christ-by it is the knowledge of 
sin, and, without it, there can be no conviction] where it 
ends, the Gospel begins, as by the Gospel alone is salvation 
from sin. See the whole of the comment on the Pentateuch.

Verse 54. And when he was come into his own country] Probably 
Nazareth, where his parents lived, and where he had continued 
till his thirtieth year, though it appears he had a lodging 
in Peter's house at Capernaum.

They were astonished] It appears, hence, that our blessed 
Lord had lived in obscurity all the time above specified; for 
his countrymen appear not to have heard his doctrines, nor 
seen his miracles, until now. It is a melancholy truth, that 
those who should know Christ best are often the most ignorant 
of himself, the doctrines of his word, and the operations of 
his Spirit.

Verse 55. Is not this the carpenter's son?] Seven copies of 
the old Itala have, Is not this the son of JOSEPH the 
carpenter? But it is likely our Lord, during the thirty years 
of his abode at Nazareth, wrought at the same trade with 
Joseph; and perhaps this is what is intended, Luke ii. 51. He 
went down with them (his parents) to Nazareth, and was 
SUBJECT unto them.

An honest trade is no discredit to any man. He who spends his 
time in idleness is fit for any business in which the devil 
chooses to employ him.

Is not his mother-Mary, and his brethren, James, &c.] This 
insulting question seems to intimate that our Lord's family 
was a very obscure one; and that they were of small repute 
among their neighbours, except for their piety.

It is possible that brethren and sisters may mean here near 
relations, as the words are used among the Heb. in this 
latitude of meaning; but I confess it does not appear to me 
likely. Why should the children of another family be brought 
in here to share a reproach which it is evident was designed 
for Joseph the carpenter, Mary his wife, Jesus their son, and 
their other children? Prejudice apart, would not any person 
of plain common sense suppose, from this account, that these 
were the children of Joseph and Mary, and the brothers and 
sisters of our Lord, according to the flesh? It seems odd 
that this should be doubted; but, through an unaccountable 
prejudice, Papists and Protestants are determined to maintain 
as a doctrine, that on which the Scriptures are totally 
silent, viz.

the perpetual virginity of the mother of our Lord. See 
Matthew i. 25.

Verse 57. And they were offended in him.] They took offense 
at him, eskandalizonto en autw, making the meanness of his 
family the reason why they would not receive him as a 
prophet, though they were astonished at his wisdom, and at 
his miracles, Matthew xiii. 54. So their pride and their envy 
were the causes of their destruction.

A prophet is not without honour] This seems to have been a 
proverbial mode of speech, generally true, but not without 
some exceptions. The apparent meanness of our Lord was one 
pretense why they rejected him; and yet, God manifested in 
the flesh, humbling himself to the condition of a servant, 
and to the death of the cross, is the only foundation for the 
salvation of a lost world. Perhaps our Lord means, by 
prophet, in this place, himself alone, as if he had said, My 
ministry is more generally reputed, and my doctrine better 
received, in any other part of the land than in my own 
country, among my own relatives; because, knowing the 
obscurity of my birth, they can scarcely suppose that I have 
these things from heaven.

Verse 58. And he did not many mighty works there because of 
their unbelief] dunameiv, miracles. So the word is used, 
Matthew vii. 22; xi. 20; Acts xix. 11; 1 Cor. xii. 28; Gal. 
iii. 5; Heb. ii. 4. The Septuagint translates la twalpn 
niphleoth el, the miraculous works of God, by dunamin kuriou.

Unbelief and contempt drive Christ out of the heart, as they 
did out of his own country. Faith seems to put the almighty 
power of God into the hands of men; whereas unbelief appears, 
to tie up even the hands of the Almighty. A man, generally 
speaking, can do but little good among his relatives, because 
it is difficult for them to look with the eyes of faith upon 
one whom they have been accustomed to behold with the eyes of 
the flesh.-QUESNEL. See the notes at the beginning of this 
chapter. 

CHAPTER xiv

Herod, having heard the fame of Christ, supposes him to be 
John the Baptist, risen from the dead, 1, 2. A circumstantial 
account of the beheading of John the Baptist, 3-12. Five 
thousand men, besides women and children, fed with five 
loaves and two fishes, 13-21. The disciples take ship, and 
Jesus stays behind, and goes privately into a mountain to 
pray, 22, 23. A violent storm arises, by which the lives of 
the disciples are endangered, 24. In their extremity, Jesus 
appears to them, walking upon the water, 25-27. Peter, at the 
command of his Master, leaves the ship, and walks on the 
water to meet Christ, 28-31. They both enter the ship, and 
the storm ceases, 32, 33. They come into the land of 
Gennesaret, and he heals many diseased people, 34-36.

NOTES ON CHAP. xiv

Verse 1. Herod the tetrarch] This was Herod Antipas, the son 
of Herod the Great. See the notes on chap. ii. 1, where an 
account is given of the Herod family. The word tetrarch 
properly signifies a person who rules over the fourth part of 
a country; but it is taken in a more general sense by the 
Jewish writers, meaning sometimes a governor simply, or a 
king; see ver. 9. The estates of Herod the Great were not, at 
his death, divided into four tetrarchies, but only into 
three: one was given by the Emperor Augustus to Archelaus; 
the second to Herod Antipas, the person in the text; and the 
third to Philip: all three, sons of Herod the Great.

Verse 2. This is John the Baptist] on egw apekefalisa, Whom I 
beheaded. These words are added here by the Codex Bezae and 
several others, by the Saxon, and five copies of the Itala.-
See the power of conscience! He is miserable because he is 
guilty; being continually under the dominion of self-
accusation, reproach, and remorse. No need for the Baptist 
now: conscience performs the office of ten thousand accusers! 
But, to complete the misery, a guilty conscience offers no 
relief from God-points out no salvation from sin.

He is risen from the dead] From this we may observe: 1. That 
the resurrection of the dead was a common opinion among the 
Jews; and 2.

That the materiality of the soul made no part of Herod's 
creed. Bad and profligate as he was, it was not deemed by him 
a thing impossible with God to raise the dead; and the spirit 
of the murdered Baptist had a permanent resurrection in his 
guilty conscience.

Verse 3. For Herodias' sake] This infamous woman was the 
daughter of Aristobulus and Bernice, and grand-daughter of 
Herod the Great. Her first marriage was with Herod Philip, 
her uncle, by whom she had Salome: some time after, she left 
her husband, and lived publicly with Herod Antipas, her 
brother-in-law, who had been before married to the daughter 
of Aretas, king of Arabia Petraea. As soon as Aretas 
understood that Herod had determined to put away his 
daughter, he prepared to make war on him: the two armies met, 
and that of Herod was cut to pieces by the Arabians; and 
this, Josephus says, was supposed to be a judgment of God on 
him for the murder of John the Baptist. See the account in 
Josephus, Antiq. lib. xviii.

c. 7.

Verse 4. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to 
have her.] Here is an instance of zeal, fidelity, and 
courage, highly worthy of imitation. Plainness, mildness, and 
modesty, are qualifications necessary to be observed when we 
reprove the great. The best service a subject can render his 
prince is to lay before him, in the plainest but most 
respectful manner, what the law of God requires of him, and 
what it forbids. How unutterable must the punishment of those 
be who are chaplains to princes, or great men, and who either 
flatter them in their vices, or wink at their sins!

Verse 5. He feared the multitude] Miserable prince! who fears 
more to offend his people, than to sin against his God, by 
shedding innocent blood.

When a man resists sin only by the help of human motives, he 
cannot long defend himself.

Verse 6. Herod's birth-day] Either the day in which he was 
born, or the day on which he began to reign; for both were 
termed birth-days. See 1 Sam. xiii. 1, and Hos. vii. 5. The 
kings of Persia were accustomed to reject no petition that 
was preferred to them during the entertainment. See Herodotus 
in Calliope, and Esth. v. 3.

The daughter-danced] This was Salome, mentioned before. 
Danced: by a literal rendering of the saltavit of the 
Vulgate, in my old MS. of the English Bible, the whole of 
this business seems to be treated with sovereign contempt: 
for thus says the translator, Shee leped in the myddle.

Verse 8. Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger.] The 
word charger formerly signified a large dish, bowl, or 
drinking cup: the Saxon has , a dish, Tindal, a platter; any 
thing is better than charger, which never conveyed much 
meaning, and now conveys none. The evangelist says she was 
instructed before, by her mother, to ask the Baptist's head! 
What a most infernal mother, to give such instructions to her 
child! and what a promising daughter to receive them! What a 
present for a young lady!-the bloody head of the murdered 
forerunner of Jesus! and what a gratification for an 
adulterous wife, and incestuous mother! The disturber of her 
illicit pleasures, and the troubler of her brother-husband's 
conscience, is no more! Short, however, was their glorying! 
See on ver. 3.

Verse 9. The king was sorry] He knew John to be a righteous 
man, and at first did many things gladly which John told him 
it was his duty to perform: Mark vi. 20.

Nevertheless, for the oath's sake] The OATHS, orkouv-he had 
probably sworn again and again-one sin begets many.

And them which sat with him at meat] Who were probably such 
as himself, and would have considered it a breach of honour 
if he had not fulfilled his sworn promise: he therefore 
commanded it to be given!

Verse 11. His head was given to the damsel: and she brought 
it to her mother.] There is no person so revengeful as a 
lascivious woman when reproved and blamed. A preacher of the 
Gospel has most to fear from this quarter:-the first of this 
profession lost his life for the sake of truth and chastity; 
and others, especially those who have any thing to do with 
men in power who are profligates, may learn what they are to 
expect in return for a faithful discharge of their duty.

Verse 12. His disciples came, and took up the BODY] The HEAD 
was in the possession of Herodias, who, 'tis probable, took a 
diabolic pleasure in viewing that speechless mouth which had 
often been the cause of planting thorns in her criminal bed; 
and in offering indignities to that tongue from which she 
could no longer dread a reproof. Her character justifies 
every bad conjecture that can well be formed on this head: 
and St. Jerome positively says that, when she got it, she 
drew out the tongue, and thrust it through with her bodkin. 
On the whole we may observe:-That the diversions of the 
world, feasting and dancing, are but too commonly the 
occasions of sin. After so fatal an example as this, can we 
doubt whether balls are not snares for souls; destructive of 
chastity, modesty, and sometimes even of humanity itself; and 
a pernicious invention to excite the most criminal passions! 
How many on such occasions have sacrificed their chastity, 
and then, to hide their shame, have stifled the feelings of 
the human being and the parent, and, by direct or indirect 
means, have put a period to the innocent offspring of their 
connections! Unhappy mother, who exposes her daughter to the 
same shipwreck herself has suffered, and makes her own child 
the instrument of her lust and revenge! Behold here, ye 
professedly religious parents, the fruits of what was 
doubtless called in those times, elegant breeding and 
accomplished dancing! Fix your eyes on that vicious mother, 
that prostituted daughter, and especially on that murdered 
ambassador of God, and then send your children to genteel 
boarding-schools, to learn the accomplishment of DANCING! 
where the fear of God makes no part of the education.

Verse 13. When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence] Had the 
blessed Jesus continued in that place, it is probable the 
hand of this impure female murderer would have been stretched 
out against him also: he withdrew, therefore, not through 
fear, but to teach his messengers rather to yield to the 
storm than expose themselves to destruction, where, from 
circumstances, the case is evidently hopeless.

The people-followed him on foot] pezh, or, by land, which is 
a common acceptation of the word in the best Greek writers. 
See many examples in Kypke.

Verse 14. Jesus-was moved with compassion] esplagcnisqe, he 
was moved with tender compassion, so I think the word should 
in general be translated: see the note on chap. ix. 36. As a 
verb, it does not appear to have been used by any but 
ecclesiastical writers. It always intimates that motion of 
the bowels, accompanied with extreme tenderness and concern, 
which is felt at the sight of the miseries of another.

Verse 15. Send the multitude away, that they may go-and buy] 
The disciples of Christ are solicitous for the people's 
temporal as well a spiritual welfare: and he is not worthy to 
be called a minister of Christ, who dues not endeavour to 
promote both to the uttermost of his power.

The preaching of Christ must have been accompanied with 
uncommon power to these people's souls, to have induced them 
to leave their homes to follow him from village to village, 
for they could never hear enough; and to neglect to make use 
of any means for the support of their lives, so that they 
might still have the privilege of hearing him. When a soul is 
either well replenished with the bread of life, or hungry 
after it, the necessities of the body are, for the time, 
little regarded.

Verse 16. They need not depart] He that seeks first the 
kingdom of heaven is sure to have every temporal requisite. 
When a man ensures the first, God always takes care to throw 
the other into the bargain. He who has an interest in Jesus 
has in him an inexhaustible treasure of spiritual and 
temporal good. Though the means by which man may help his 
fellows have failed, we are not to suppose that the bounty of 
God is exhausted.

When we are about to give up all hope of farther supply, the 
gracious word of Christ still holds good-They need not 
depart; give ye them to eat.

Give ye them to eat.] Should we say, Lord, how shall thy 
poor, feeble ministering servants feed so many hungry souls 
as attend thy word! Begin at the command of Jesus-make the 
attempt-divide what you have-and the bread of God shall be 
multiplied in your hands, and all shall eat and be satisfied.

Verse 17. We have here but five loaves and two fishes.] When 
we are deeply conscious of our own necessities, we shall be 
led to depend on Jesus with a firmer faith. God often permits 
his servants to be brought low, that they may have repeated 
opportunities of proving the kindness and mercy of their 
gracious Lord and Master.

Verse 18. Bring them hither to me.] No creature of God should 
be considered as good or safe without the blessing of God in 
it. If thou have but even a handful of meal and a few herbs, 
bring them to Christ by prayer and faith, and he will make 
them a sufficiency for thy body, and a sacrament to thy soul. 
Let the minister of the Gospel attend also to this-let him 
bring all his gifts and graces to his Maker-let him ever know 
that his word can be of no use, unless the blessing of Christ 
be in it.

Verse 19. And took the five loaves, &c.] This was the act of 
the father of a family among the Jews-his business it was to 
take the bread into his hands, and render thanks to God, 
before any of the family was permitted to taste of it.

Looking up to heaven] To teach us to acknowledge GOD as the 
Supreme Good, and fountain of all excellence.

He blessed] The word God should, I think, be rather inserted 
here than the word them, because it does not appear that it 
was the loaves which Christ blessed, but that God who had 
provided them; and this indeed was the Jewish custom, not to 
bless the food, but the God who gave it.

However, there are others who believe the loaves are meant, 
and that he blessed them in order to multiply them. The 
Jewish form of blessing, or what we term grace, before and 
after meat, was as follows:-BEFORE MEAT : Årah m µjl axwmh 
µlw[h ūlm wnyhla hta ūwrb Barnuc attah Elohinoo melec haolam 
hamoise lechem min haarets: Blessed art thou, our God, King 
of the universe, who bringest bread out of the earth! AFTER 
MEAT pgh yrp arwb µlw[h ūlm wnyhla ūwrb Barnuc Elohinoo melec 
haolam bore peri hagephen: Blessed art thou, our God, King of 
the universe, the Creator of the fruit of the vine! And 
brake] We read often in the Scriptures of breaking bread, 
never of cutting it: because the Jews made their bread broad 
and thin like cakes, and to divide such, being very brittle, 
there was no need of a knife.

Verse 20. They did all eat, and were filled] Little or much 
is the same in the hands of Jesus Christ. Here was an 
incontestable miracle-five thousand men, besides women and 
children, fed with five cakes and two fishes! Here must have 
been a manifest creation of substance-the parts of the bread 
were not dilated to make them appear large, nor was there any 
delusion in the eating-for they all ate, and were all filled. 
Here then is one miracle of our Lord attested by at least 
five thousand persons! But did not this creation of bread 
prove the unlimited power of Jesus? Undoubtedly: and nothing 
less than eternal power and Godhead could have effected it.

They took up-twelve baskets] It was customary for many of the 
Jews to carry a basket with them at all times: and Mr. 
Wakefield's conjecture here is very reasonable:-"By the 
number here particularized, it should seem that each apostle 
filled his own bread basket." Some think that the Jews 
carried baskets in commemoration of their Egyptian bondage, 
when they were accustomed to carry the clay and stubble to 
make the bricks, in a basket that was hung about their necks. 
This seems to be what Sidonius Apollinaris refers to in the 
following words, Epist. vii. 6. Ordinis res est, ut, (dum in 
allegorica versamur AEgypto) Pharao incedat cum diademate, 
Israelita cum COPHINO.

These words of Alcimus Avitus, lib. v. 30, are to the same 
effect:- Servitii longo lassatam pondere plebem, Oppressos 
cophinis humeros, attritaque collo It appears that a basket 
about the neck, and a bunch of hay, were the general 
characteristic of this long enslaved and oppressed people in 
the different countries where they sojourned.

Juvenal also mentions the BASKET and the hay:-Cum dedit ille 
locum, cophino faenoque relicto, Arcanam Judaea tremens 
mendicat in aurem Sat vi. 542 A gypsy Jewess whispers in your 
ear] Her goods a basket, and old hay her bed, She strolls, 
and telling fortunes, gains her bread Dryden And again, Sat 
iii. xiii. -Nunc sacri fontis nemus, et delubra locantur 
Judaeis, quorum cophinus, faenumque supellex Now the once 
hallowed fountain, grove, and fane, Are let to Jews, a 
wretched, wandering train, Whose wealth is but a basket 
stuff'd with hay Gifford The simple reason why the Jews 
carried baskets with them appears to be this:-When they went 
into Gentile countries, they carried their own provision with 
them, as they were afraid of being polluted by partaking of 
the meat of heathens. This also obliged them probably to 
carry hay with them to sleep on: and it is to this, in all 
likelihood, that Juvenal alludes.

After five thousand were fed, twelve times as much, at least, 
remained, as the whole multitude at first sat down to! See 
the note on Luke ix. 16.

Verse 22. Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship] 
Either they were afraid to return into the jurisdiction of 
Herod, or they were unwilling to embark without their Lord 
and Protector, and would not enter their boat till Christ had 
commanded them to embark.

From this verse it appears that Christ gave some advices to 
the multitudes after the departure of his disciples, which he 
did not wish them to hear.

Unto the other side] Towards Capernaum, ver. 34. John vi. 16, 
17, or Bethsaida, see on Mark vi. 45.

Verse 23. He went up into a mountain apart, to pray] He whom 
God has employed in a work of mercy had need to return, by 
prayer, as speedily, to his Maker, as he can, lest he should 
be tempted to value himself on account of that in which he 
has no merit-for the good that is done upon earth, the Lord 
doth it alone. Some make this part of our Lord's conduct 
emblematic of the spirit and practice of prayer, and observe 
that the proper dispositions and circumstances for praying 
well are: 1.

Retirement from the world. 2. Elevation of the heart to God. 
3. Solitude. 4.

The silence and quiet of the night. It Is certain that in 
this also Christ has left us an example that we should follow 
his steps. Retirement from the world is often a means of 
animating, supporting, and spiritualizing prayer.

Other society should be shut out, when a soul comes to 
converse with God.

Verse 24. Tossed with waves] Grievously agitated. This is the 
proper meaning of the word basanizomenon: but one MS. reads 
baptizomenon, plunged under the waves, frequently covered 
with them; the waves often breaking over the vessel.

Verse 25. The fourth watch] Anciently the Jews divided the 
night into three watches, consisting of four hours each. The 
first watch is mentioned, Lamenations ii. 19: the second, 
Judg. vii. 19; and the third, Exod. xiv. 24; but a fourth 
watch is not mentioned in any part of the OLD Testament.

This division the Romans had introduced in Judea, as also the 
custom of dividing the day into twelve hours: see John xi. 9. 
The first watch began at six o'clock in the evening, and 
continued till nine; the second began at nine, and continued 
till twelve; the third began at twelve, and continued till 
three next morning; and the fourth began at three, and 
continued till six. It was therefore between the hours of 
three and six in the morning that Jesus made his appearance 
to his disciples.

Walking on the sea.] Thus suspending the laws of gravitation 
was a proper manifestation of unlimited power. Jesus did this 
by his own power; therefore Jesus showed forth his Godhead. 
In this one miracle we may discover three:-1. Though at a 
distance from his disciples, he knew their distress. 2. He 
found them out on the lake, and probably in the midst of 
darkness. 3. He walked upon the water. Job, speaking of those 
things whereby the omnipotence of God was demonstrated, says 
particularly, Job ix. 8, He walketh upon the waves of the 
sea: intimating that this was impossible to any thing but 
Omnipotence.

Verse 26. It is a spirit] That the spirits of the dead might 
and did appear, was a doctrine held by the greatest and 
holiest of men that ever existed; and a doctrine which the 
caviliers, free-thinkers and bound-thinkers, of different 
ages, have never been able to dispove.

Verse 27. It is I; be not afraid] Nothing but this voice of 
Christ could, in such circumstances, have given courage and 
comfort to his disciples: those who are grievously tossed 
with difficulties and temptations require a similar 
manifestation of his power and goodness. When he proclaims 
himself in the soul, all sorrow, and fear, and sin are at an 
end.

Verse 28. Bid me come unto thee on the water.] A weak faith 
is always wishing for signs and miracles. To take Christ at 
his word, argues not only the perfection of faith, but also 
the highest exercise of sound reason. He is to be credited on 
his own word, because he is the TRUTH, and therefore can 
neither lie nor deceive.

Verse 29. Peter-walked on the water] However impossible the 
thing commanded by Christ may appear, it is certain he will 
give power to accomplish it to those who receive his word by 
faith; but we must take care never to put Christ's power to 
the proof for the gratification of a vain curiosity; or even 
for the strengthening of our faith, when the ordinary means 
for doing that are within our reach.

Verse 30. When he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid] It 
was by faith in the power of Christ he was upheld; when that 
faith failed, by which the laws of gravitation were 
suspended, no wonder that those laws returned to their wonted 
action, and that he began to sink. It was not the violence of 
the winds, nor the raging of the waves, which endangered his 
life, but his littleness of faith.

Verse 31. Jesus stretched forth his hand] Every moment we 
stand in need of Christ: while we stand-we are upheld by his 
power only; and when we are falling, or have fallen, we can 
be saved only by his mercy. Let us always take care that we 
do not consider so much the danger to which we are exposed, 
as the power of Christ by which we are to be upheld; and then 
our mountain is likely to stand strong.

Verse 32. The wind ceased.] Jesus is the Prince of peace, and 
all is peace and calm where he condescends to enter and 
abide.

Verse 33. Thou art the Son of God.] It is probable that these 
words were spoken either by the sailors or passengers, and 
not by the disciples.

Critics have remarked that, when this phrase is used to 
denominate the MESSIAH, both the articles are used, e uiov 
tou qeou, and that the words without the articles mean, in 
the common Jewish phrase, a Divine person.

It would have been a strange thing indeed, if the disciples, 
after all the miracles they had seen Jesus work-after their 
having left all to follow him, &c., were only now persuaded 
that he was the promised Messiah. That they had not as yet 
clear conceptions concerning his kingdom, is evident enough; 
but that they had any doubts concerning his being the 
promised Messiah is far from being clear.

Verse 34. The land of Gennesaret.] It was from this country 
that the sea or lake of Gennesaret had its name. In this 
district, on the western side of the lake, were the cities of 
Capernaum and Tiberias.

Verse 35. The men of that place had knowledge of him] i.e. 
They knew him again. They had already seen his miracles; and 
now they collect all the diseased people they can find, that 
he may have the same opportunity of showing forth his 
marvellous power, and they of being the instruments of 
relieving their friends and neighbours.

They brought unto him all that were diseased] And Jesus 
received and healed every man and woman of them. And is not 
the soul, in the sight of God, of more value than the body? 
and will he withhold his healing power from the former, and 
grant it so freely to the latter? This cannot be. Let a man 
come himself to Jesus, and he shall be saved and afterwards 
let him recommend this Christ to the whole circle of his 
acquaintance, and they, if they come, shall also find mercy.

Verse 36. That they might only touch the hem of his garment] 
What mighty influence must the grace and Spirit of Christ 
have in the soul, when even the border or hem of his garment 
produced such wonders in the bodies of those who touched it! 
Here is a man who has turned from sin to God through Christ, 
and the healing hand of Jesus is laid upon him. Then, no 
wonder that he knows and feels his sins forgiven, his soul 
purified, and his heart filled with the fullness of his 
Maker. Lord, increase our faith! and we shall see greater 
manifestations of thy power and glory! Amen.

CHAPTER xv

The Pharisees accuse the disciples of eating with unwashed 
hands, 1, 2. Our Lord answers, and convicts them of gross 
hypocrisy, 3-9. Teaches the people and the disciples what it 
is that renders men unclean, 10-20. Heals the daughter of a 
Canaanitish woman, 21-28. Heals many diseased people on a 
mountain of Galilee, 29-31. With seven loaves, and a few 
little fishes, he feeds 4,000 men, besides women and 
children, 32-38. Having dismissed the multitudes, he comes to 
the coast of Magdala, 39 

NOTES ON CHAP. xv

Verse 1. The scribes and Pharisees-of Jerusalem] Our Lord was 
now in Galilee, Matthew xiv. 34.

Verse 2. Elders] Rulers and magistrates among the Jews. For 
they wash not their hands] What frivolous nonsense! These 
Pharisees had nothing which their malice could fasten on in 
the conduct or doctrine of our blessed Lord and his 
disciples, and therefore they must dispute about washing of 
hands! All sorts of Pharisees are troublesome people in 
religious society; and the reason is, they take more pleasure 
in blaming others than in amending themselves.

The tradition of the elders] The word paradosiv, tradition, 
has occupied a most distinguished place, both in the Jewish 
and Christian Church. Man is ever fond of mending the work of 
his Maker; and hence he has been led to put his finishing 
hand even to Divine revelation! This supplementary matter has 
been called paradosiv, from paradidomai, to deliver from hand 
to hand-to transmit; and hence the Latin term, tradition, 
from trado, to deliver, especially from one to another;-to 
hand down. Among the Jews TRADITION signifies what is also 
called the oral law, which they distinguish from the written 
law: this last contains the Mosaic precepts, as found in the 
Pentateuch: the former, the traditions of the elders, i.e. 
traditions, or doctrines, that had been successively handed 
down from Moses through every generation, but not committed 
to writing.

The Jews feign that, when GOD gave Moses the written law, he 
gave him also the oral law, which is the interpretation of 
the former. This law, Moses at first delivered to Aaron then 
to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar; and, after these to the 
seventy-two elders, who were six of the most eminent men 
chosen out of each of the twelve tribes. These seventy-two, 
with Moses and Aaron, delivered it again to all the heads of 
the people, and afterwards to the congregation at large. They 
say also that, before Moses died, he delivered this oral law, 
or system of traditions, to JOSHUA, and Joshua to the ELDERS 
which succeeded him-THEY to the Prophets, and the PROPHETS to 
each other, till it came to JEREMIAH, who delivered it to 
BARUCH his scribe, who repeated it to EZRA, who delivered it 
to the men of the great synagogue, the last of whom was SIMON 
the Just. By Simon the Just it was delivered to ANTIGONUS of 
Socho; by him to JOSE the son of Jochanan; by him to JOSE, 
the son of Joezer; by him to NATHAN the Arbelite, and Joshua 
the son of Perachiah; and by them to JUDAH the son of Tabbai, 
and Simeon, the son of Shatah; and by them to SHEMAIAH and 
ABTALION; and by them to HILLEL; and by Hillel to SIMEON his 
son, the same who took Christ in his arms when brought to the 
temple to be presented to the Lord: by SIMEON it was 
delivered to GAMALIEL his son, the preceptor of St. Paul, who 
delivered it to SIMEON his son, and he to Rab. JUDAH 
HAKKODESH his son, who compiled and digested it into the book 
which is called the MISHNA; to explain which the two Talmuds, 
called the Jerusalem and Babylyonish Talmuds, were compiled, 
which are also called the Gemera or complement, because by 
these the oral law or Mishnah is fully explained. The 
Jerusalem Talmud was completed about A. D. 300; and the 
Babylonish Talmud about the beginning of the sixth century. 
This Talmud was printed at Amsterdam in 12 vols. folio. These 
contain the whole of the traditions of the elders, and have 
so explained, or rather frittered away, the words of God, 
that our Lord might well say, Ye have made the word of God of 
no effect by your traditions. In what estimation these are 
held by the Jews, the following examples will prove: "The 
words of the scribes are lovely beyond the words of the law: 
for the words of the law are weighty and light, but the words 
of the scribes are all weighty." Hierus. Berac. fol. 3.

"He that shall say, There are no phylacteries, though he thus 
transgress the words of the law, he is not guilty; but he 
that shall say, There are five Totaphot, thus adding to the 
words of the scribes, he is guilty." "A prophet and an elder, 
to what are they likened! To a king sending two of his 
servants into a province; of one he writes thus: Unless he 
show you my seal, believe him not; for thus it is written of 
the prophet: He shall show thee a sign; but of the elders 
thus: According to the law which they shall teach thee, for I 
will confirm their words."-See Prideaux. Con. vol. ii.

p. 465, and Lightfoot's Hor. Talmud.

They wash not their hands] On washing of hands, before and 
after meat, the Jews laid great stress: they considered 
eating with unwashed hands to be no ordinary crime; and 
therefore, to induce men to do it, they feigned that an evil 
spirit, called Shibta atby , who sits on the hands by night, 
has a right to sit on the food of him who eats without 
washing his hands, and make it hurtful to him! They consider 
the person who undervalues this rite to be no better than a 
heathen, and consequently excommunicate him. See many 
examples of this doctrine in Schoettgen and Lightfoot.

Verse 3. Why do ye-transgress the commandment] Ye accuse my 
disciples of transgressing the traditions of the elders-I 
accuse you of transgressing the commands of God, and that too 
in favour of your own tradition; thus preferring the 
inventions of men to the positive precepts of God. Pretenders 
to zeal often prefer superstitious usages to the Divine law, 
and human inventions to the positive duties of Christianity.

Verse 4. honour thy father and mother] This word was taken in 
great latitude of meaning among the Jews: it not only meant 
respect and submission, but also to take care of a person, to 
nourish and support him, to enrich. See Num. xxii. 17; Judges 
xiii. 17; 1 Tim. v. 17. And that this was the sense of the 
law, as it respected parents, see Deut. xxvii. 16, and see 
the note on Exod. xx. 12.

Verse 5. It is a gift] brq korban, Mark vii. 11, an offering 
of approach; something consecrated to the service of God in 
the temple, by which a man had the privilege of approaching 
his Maker. This conduct was similar to the custom of certain 
persons who bequeath the inheritance of their children to 
Churches or religious uses; either through terror of 
conscience, thus striving to purchase the kingdom of glory; 
or through the persuasion of interested hireling priests. It 
was in this way that, in the days of popish influence, the 
principal lands in the nation had fallen into the hands of 
the Church. In those charters, multitudes of which have 
passed through my hands, a common form was, pro salute meae, 
et pro salute antecessorum meorum, et pro salute successorum 
meorum, et pro solute uxoris meae, &c., &c., do, et concedo 
Deo et Ecclesiae, &c. "For my salvation, and for the 
salvation of my predecessors, and for the salvation of my 
successors, and for the salvation of my wife, &c., &c., I 
give and bequeath to God and his Church, &c." Though a world 
of literature was destroyed, and fine buildings ruined, by 
the suppression of the monasteries in England, yet this step, 
with the Stat.Hen. VIII. c. 10, together with the Stat. 9 
Geo. II. c. 36, ware the means of checking an evil that had 
arrived at a pitch of unparalleled magnitude; an evil that 
was supplanting the atonement made by the blood of the 
covenant, and putting death-bed grants of land, &c., in the 
place of Jesus Christ, and throwing the whole secular power 
of the kingdom into the hands of the pope and the priests. No 
wonder then that they cried out, when the monasteries were 
suppressed! It is sacrilege to dedicate that to God which is 
taken away from the necessities of our parents and children; 
and the good that this pretends to will doubtless be found in 
the catalogue of that unnatural man's crimes, in the judgment 
of the great day, who has thus deprived his own family of its 
due. To assist our poor relatives, is our first duty; and 
this is a work infinitely preferable to all pious legacies 
and endowments.

Verse 7. Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you] In 
every place where the proper names of the Old Testament 
occur, in the New, the same mode of orthography should be 
followed: I therefore write Isaiah with the Hebrew, not 
Esaias, with the Greek. This prophecy is found Isa. xxix. 13.

Our blessed Lord unmasks these hypocrites; and we may observe 
that, when a hypocrite is found out, he should be exposed to 
all; this may lead to his salvation: if he be permitted to 
retain his falsely acquired character, how can he escape 
perdition!

Verse 8. Their heart is far from me.] The true worship of God 
consists in the union of the heart to him-where this exists 
not, a particle of the spirit of devotion cannot be found.

This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth] This 
clause, which is taken from Isa. xxix. 13, is omitted by 
several excellent MSS., and by several versions and fathers. 
Erasmus, Mill, Drusius, and Bengel, approve of the omission, 
and Griesbach has left it out of the text; but as I find it 
in the prophet, the place from which it is quoted, I dare not 
omit it, howsoever respectable the above authorities may 
appear.

Verse 9. In vain they do worship me, &c.] By the traditions 
of the elders, not only the word of God was perverted, but 
his worship also was greatly corrupted. But the Jews were not 
the only people who have acted thus: whole Christian 
Churches, as well as sects and parties, have acted in the 
same way. Men must not mould the worship of God according to 
their fancy-it is not what they think will do-is proper, 
innocent, &c., but what God himself has prescribed, that he 
will acknowledge as his worship.

However sincere a man may be in a worship of his own 
invention, or of man's commandment, yet it profits him 
nothing. Christ himself says it is in vain. To condemn such, 
may appear to some illiberal; but whatever may be said in 
behalf of sincere heathens, and others who have not had the 
advantages of Divine Revelation, there is no excuse for the 
man who has the BIBLE before him.

Verse 10. Hear and understand] A most important command.

Hear-make it a point of conscience to attend to the ministry 
of the word.

Understand-be not satisfied with attending places of public 
worship merely; see that the teaching be of God, and that you 
lay it to heart.

Verse 11. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth] This 
is an answer to the carping question of the Pharisees, 
mentioned ver. 2, Why do thy disciples eat with unwashed 
hands? To which our Lord here replies, That what goes into 
the mouth defiles not the man; i.e. that if, in eating with 
unwashed hands, any particles of dust, &c., cleaving to the 
hands, might happen to be taken into the mouth with the food, 
this did not defile, did not constitute a man a sinner; for 
it is on this alone the question hinges: thy disciples eat 
with unwashed hands; therefore they are sinners; for they 
transgress the tradition of the elders, i.e. the oral law, 
which they considered equal in authority to the written law; 
and, indeed, often preferred the former to the latter, so as 
to make it of none effect, totally to destroy its nature and 
design, as we have often seen in the preceding notes.

That which cometh out of the mouth] That is, what springs 
from a corrupt unregenerate heart-a perverse will and impure 
passions] these defile, i.e. make him a sinner.

Verse 12. The Pharisees were offended] None so liable to take 
offense as formalists and hypocrites, when you attempt to 
take away the false props from the one, and question the 
sincerity of the other. Besides, a Pharisee must never be 
suspected of ignorance, for they are the men, and wisdom must 
die with them! 

Verse 13. Every plant] Every plantation. So I render futeia, 
and so it is translated in the Itala version which 
accompanies the Greek text in the Codex Bezae, omnis 
plantatio, and so the word is rendered by Suidas. This gives 
a different turn to the text. The Pharisees, as a religious 
body, were now a plantation of trees, which God did not 
plant, water, nor own: therefore, they should be rooted up, 
not left to wither and die, but the fellers, and those who 
root up, (the Roman armies,) should come against and destroy 
them, and the Christian Church was to be planted in their 
place. Since the general dispersion of the Jews, this sect, I 
believe, has ceased to exist as a separate body, among the 
descendants of Jacob. The first of the apostolical 
constitutions begins thus: qeou futeia h kaqolikh ekklhsia, 
kai ampelwn autou eklektov. The Catholic Church is the 
plantation of God, and his chosen vineyard.

Verse 14. Let them alone] afete autouv, give them up, or 
leave them.

These words have been sadly misunderstood. Some have quoted 
them to prove that blind and deceitful teachers should not be 
pointed out to the people, nor the people warned against 
them; and that men should abide in the communion of a corrupt 
Church, because that Church had once been the Church of God, 
and in it they had been brought up; and to prove this they 
bring Scripture, for, in our present translation, the words 
are rendered, let them alone: but the whole connection of the 
place evidently proves that our blessed Lord meant, give them 
up, have no kind of religious connection with them, and the 
strong reason for which he immediately adds, because they are 
blind leaders. This passage does not at all mean that blind 
leaders should not be pointed out to the people, that they 
may avoid being deceived by them; for this our Lord does 
frequently, and warns his disciples, and the people in 
general, against all such false teachers as the scribes and 
Pharisees were; and though he bids men do that they heard 
those say, while they sat in the chair of Moses, yet he 
certainly meant no more than that they should be observant of 
the moral law when read to them out of the sacred book: yet 
neither does he tell them to do all these false teachers 
said; for he testifies in ver. 6, that they had put such 
false glosses on the law, that, if followed, would endanger 
the salvation of their souls. The Codex Bezae, for afete 
autouv, has afete touv tuflouv, give up these blind men. 
Amen! A literal attention to these words of our Lord produced 
the Reformation.

Probably the words may be understood as a sort of proverbial 
expression for-Don't mind them: pay no regard to them.-"They 
are altogether unworthy of notice." And if the blind lead the 
blind] This was so self-evident a case that an apter parallel 
could nut be found-if the blind lead the blind, both must 
fall into the ditch. Alas, for the blind teachers, who not 
only destroy their own souls, but those also of their flocks! 
Like priest, like people. If the minister be ignorant, he 
cannot teach what he does not know; and the people cannot 
become wise unto salvation under such a ministry-he is 
ignorant and wicked, and they are profligate. They who even 
wish such God speed; are partakers of their evil deeds. But 
shall not the poor deceived people escape? No: both shall 
fall into the pit of perdition together; for they should have 
searched the Scriptures, and not trusted to the ignorant 
sayings of corrupt men, no matter of what sect or party. He 
who has the Bible in his hand, or within his reach, and can 
read it, has no excuse.

Verse 15. Declare unto us this parable.] Is it not strange to 
hear the disciples asking for the explanation of such a 
parable as this! The true knowledge of the spirit of the 
Gospel is a thing more uncommon than we imagine, among the 
generality of Christians, and even of the learned.

Verse 16. Are ye also yet without understanding?] The word 
akmh, which we translate yet, should be here rendered still: 
Are ye still void of understanding? and the word is used in 
this sense by several Greek writers.

The authorities which have induced me to prefer this 
translation may be seen in Kypke.

Verse 17. Cast out into the draught] eiv afedwna, . And beeth 
into the forthgoing a sent-what is not fit for nourishment is 
evacuated; is thrown into the sink. This I believe to be the 
meaning of this difficult and variously translated word, 
afedrwn. Diodati translates it properly, nella latrina, into 
the privy. And the Persian translator has given a good 
paraphrase, and appears to have collected the general meaning  
her teche der dehen ander ayeed, az nusheeb beeroon rood, we 
ber zemeen aftad: "Whatsoever enters into the mouth goes 
downward, and falls upon the ground." Michaelis, and his 
annotator, Dr. Marsh, have been much perplexed with this 
perplexing passage. See Michaelis's Introduction, vol.

i. note 35. p. 458.

Verse 19. Out of the heart] In the heart of an unregenerate 
man, the principles and seeds of all sin are found. And 
iniquity is always conceived in the heart before it be spoken 
or acted. Is there any hope that a man can abstain from 
outward sin till his heart, that abominable fountain of 
corruption, be thoroughly cleansed? I trow not.

Evil thoughts] dialogismoi ponhroi, wicked dialogues-for in 
all evil surmisings the heart holds a conversation, or 
dialogue, with itself. For fonoi, murders, two MSS. have 
fqonoi, envyings, and three others have both. Envy and murder 
are nearly allied: the former has often led to the latter.

Blasphemies] I have already observed, chap. ix. 3, that the 
verb blasfhmew, when applied to men, signifies to speak 
INJURIOUSLY of their persons, characters, &c., and, when 
applied to God, it means to speak IMPIOUSLY of his nature, 
works, &c.

Verse 20. These-defile a man] Our Lord's argument is very 
plain. What goes into the mouth descends into the stomach and 
other intestines;-part is retained for the nourishment of the 
body, and part is ejected, as being improper to afford 
nourishment. Nothing of this kind defiles the soul, because 
it does not enter into it; but the evil principles that are 
in it, producing evil thoughts, murders, &c., these defile 
the soul, because they have their seat and operation in it.

Verse 21. Departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.] eiv ta 
merh, towards the coasts or confines. It is not clear that 
our Lord ever left the land of the Hebrews; he was, as the 
apostle observes, Rom. xv. 8, the minister of the 
circumcision according to the truth of God. Tyre and Sidon 
are usually joined together, principally because they are but 
a few miles distant from each other.

Verse 22. A woman of Canaan] Matthew gives her this name 
because of the people from whom she sprung-the descendants of 
Canaan, Judg. i. 31, 32; but Mark calls her a Syrophenician, 
because of the country where she dwelt. The Canaanites and 
Phoenicians have been often confounded.

This is frequently the case in the Septuagint. Compare 
Genesis xlvi. 10, with Exod. vi. 15, where the same person is 
called a Phoenician in the one place, and a Canaanite in the 
other. See also the same version in Exod. xvi. 35; Josh. v. 
12.

The state of this woman is a proper emblem of the state of a 
sinner, deeply conscious of the misery of his soul.

Have mercy an me, &c.] How proper is this prayer for a 
penitent! There are many excellencies contained in it; 1. It 
is short; 2. humble; 3. full of faith; 4. fervent; 5. modest; 
6. respectful; 7. rational; 8. relying only on the mercy of 
God; 9. persevering. Can one who sees himself a slave of the 
devil, beg with too much earnestness to be delivered from his 
thraldom? Son of David] An essential character of the true 
Messiah.

Verse 23. He answered her not a word.] Seemed to take time to 
consider her request, and to give her the opportunity of 
exercising her faith, and manifesting her fervour.

Verse 24. I am not sent but unto the lost sheep] By the 
Divine appointment, I am come to preach the Gospel to the 
Jews only. There are certain preachers who should learn a 
lesson of important instruction from this part of our Lord's 
conduct. As soon as they hear of a lost sheep being found by 
other ministers, they give all diligence to get that one into 
their fold: but display little earnestness in seeking in the 
wilderness for those that are lost. This conduct, perhaps, 
proceeds from a consciousness of their inability to perform 
the work of an evangelist; and leads them to sit down in the 
labours of others, rather than submit to the reproach of 
presiding over empty chapels. Such persons should either dig 
or beg immediately, as they are a reproach to the pastoral 
office; for, not being sent of God, they cannot profit the 
people.

The wilderness of this world is sufficiently wide and 
uncultivated. Sinners abound every where; and there is ample 
room for all truly religious people, who have zeal for God, 
and love for their perishing follow creatures, to put forth 
all their strength, employ all their time, and exercise all 
their talents, in proclaiming the Gospel of God; not only to 
the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but to a lost WORLD. 
Nor can such exertions be unsuccessful.

There the pure truth of God is preached, many will be 
converted. Where that truth is preached, though with a 
mixture of error, some will be converted, for God will bless 
his own truth. But where nothing but false doctrine is 
preached, no soul is converted: for God will never sanction 
error by a miracle of his mercy.

Verse 25. Lord, help me.] Let me also share in the 
deliverance afforded to Israel.

Verse 26. The children's bread] The salvation provided for 
the Jews, who were termed the children of the kingdom. And 
cast it to the kunarioiv, little dogs-to the curs; such the 
Gentiles were reputed by the Jewish people, and our Lord uses 
that form of speech which was common among his countrymen. 
What terrible repulses! and yet she still perseveres!

Verse 27. Truth, Lord] nai kurie, Yes, Lord. This appears to 
be not so much an assent, as a bold reply to our Lord's 
reason for apparently rejecting her suit.

The little dogs share with the children, for they eat the 
crumbs which fall from their masters' table. I do not desire 
what is provided for these highly favoured children, only 
what they leave: a single exertion of thy almighty power, in 
the healing of my afflicted daughter, is all that I wish for; 
and this the highly favoured Jews can well spare, without 
lessening the provision made for themselves. Is not this the 
sense of this noble woman's reply? 

Verse 28. O woman, great is thy faith] The hinderances thrown 
in this woman's way only tended to increase her faith. Her 
faith resembles a river, which becomes enlarged by the dykes 
opposed to it, till at last it sweeps them entirely away with 
it, Her daughter was made whole] Persevering faith and prayer 
are next to omnipotent. No person can thus pray and believe, 
without receiving all his soul requires. This is one of the 
finest lessons in the book of God for a penitent, or for a 
discouraged believer. Look to Jesus! As sure as God is in 
heaven, so surely will he hear and answer thee to the eternal 
salvation of thy soul! Be not discouraged at a little delay: 
when thou art properly prepared to receive the blessing, then 
thou shalt have it. Look up; thy salvation is at hand. Jesus 
admires this faith, to the end that we may admire and imitate 
it, and may reap the same fruits and advantages from it.

Verse 29. Went up into a mountain] to orov, THE mountain.

"Meaning," says Wakefield, "some particular mountain which he 
was accustomed to frequent; for, whenever it is spoken of at 
a time when Jesus is in Galilee, it is always discriminated 
by the article. Compare chap. iv. 18, with chap. v. 1; and 
Matthew xiii. 54, with chap. xiv. 23; and chap. xxviii. 16. I 
suppose it was mount Tabor."

Verse 30. Those that were-maimed] kullouv. Wetstein has fully 
proved that those who had lost a hand, foot, &c., were termed 
kulloi by the Greeks. Kypke has shown, from Hippocrates, that 
the word was also used to signify those who had distorted or 
dislocated legs, knees, hands, &c. Mr. Wakefield is fully of 
opinion that it means here those who had lost a limb, and 
brings an incontestable proof from chap. xviii. 8; Mark ix. 
43. "If thy hand cause thee to offend, CUT IT OFF; it is 
better for thee to enter into life (kullov) WITHOUT A LIMB, 
than, having thy TWO hands, to go away into hell." What an 
astonishing manifestation of omnific and creative energy must 
the reproduction of a hand, foot, &c., be at the word or 
touch of Jesus! As this was a mere act of creative power, 
like that of multiplying the bread, those who allow that the 
above is the meaning of the word will hardly attempt to doubt 
the proper Divinity of Christ.

Creation, in any sense of the word, i.e. causing something to 
exist that had no existence before, can belong only to God, 
because it is an effect of an unlimited power; to say that 
such power could be delegated to a person is to say that the 
person to whom it is delegated becomes, for the time being, 
the omnipotent God; and that God, who has thus clothed a 
creature with his omnipotence, ceases to be omnipotent 
himself; for there cannot be two omnipotents, nor can the 
Supreme Being delegate his omnipotence to another, and have 
it at the same time. I confess, then, that this is to me an 
unanswerable argument for the Divinity of our blessed Lord. 
Others may doubt; I can't help believing.

Verse 31. The multitude wondered] And well they might, when 
they had such proofs of the miraculous power and love of God 
before their eyes. Blessed be God! the same miracles are 
continued in their spiritual reference. All the disorders of 
the soul are still cured by the power of Jesus.

Verse 32. I have compassion, &c.] See a similar transaction 
explained, chap. xiv. 14-22.

Verse 33. Whence should we have so much bread in the 
wilderness, &c.] Human foresight, even in the followers of 
Christ, is very short. In a thousand instances, if we supply 
not its deficiency by faith, we shall be always embarrassed, 
and often miserable. This world is a desert, where nothing 
can be found to satisfy the soul of man, but the salvation 
which Christ has procured.

Verse 37. They did all eat, and were filled] ecortasqhsan-
they were satisfied. The husks of worldly pleasures may fill 
the man, but cannot satisfy the soul. A man may eat, and not 
be satisfied: it is the interest therefore of every follower 
of Christ to follow him till he be fed, and to feed on him 
till he be satisfied.

Verse 38. Four thousand] Let the poor learn from these 
miracles to trust in God for support. Whatever his ordinary 
providence denies, his miraculous power will supply.

Verse 39. He sent away the multitude] But not before he had 
instructed their souls, and fed and healed their bodies.

The coasts of Magdala.] In the parallel place, Mark viii. 10, 
this place is called Dalmanutha. Either Magdala was formed by 
a transposition of letters from Dalman, to which the Syriac 
termination atha had been added, or the one of these names 
refers to the country, and the other to a town in that 
neighbourhood. Jesus went into the country, and proceeded 
till he came to the chief town or village in that district. 
Whitby says, "Magdala was a city and territory beyond Jordan, 
on the banks of Gadara. It readied to the bridge above 
Jordan, which joined it to the other side of Galilee, and 
contained within its precincts Dalmanutha." The MSS. and VV. 
read the name variously-Magada, Madega, Magdala; and the 
Syriac has Magdu. In Mark, Dalmanutha is read by many MSS. 
Melagada, Madegada, Magada, Magidan, and Magedam. Magdala, 
variously pronounced, seems to have been the place or 
country; Dalmanutha, the chief town or capital.

In this chapter a number of interesting and instructive 
particulars are contained.

1. We see the extreme superstition, envy, and incurable ill 
nature of the Jews. While totally lost to a proper sense of 
the spirituality of God's law, they are ceremonious in the 
extreme. They will not eat without washing their hands, 
because this would be a transgression of one of the 
traditions of their elders; but they can harbour the worst 
temper and passions, and thus break the law of God! The word 
of man weighs more with them than the testimony of Jehovah; 
and yet they pretend the highest respect for their God and 
sacred things, and will let their parents perish for lack of 
the necessaries of life, that they may have goods to vow to 
the service of the sanctuary! Pride and envy blind the hearts 
of men, and cause them often to act not only the most wicked, 
but the most ridiculous, parts. He who takes the book of God 
for the rule of his faith and practice can never go astray: 
but to the mazes and perplexities produced by the traditions 
of elders, human creeds, and confessions of faith, there is 
no end. These evils existed in the Christian as well as in 
the Jewish Church; but the Reformation, thank God! has 
liberated us from this endless system of uncertainty and 
absurdity, and the Sun of righteousness shines now unclouded! 
The plantation, which God did not plant, in the course of his 
judgments, he has now swept nearly away from the face of the 
earth! Babylon is fallen! 2. We wonder at the dulness of the 
disciples, when we find that they did not fully understand 
our Lord's meaning, in the very obvious parable about the 
blind leading the blind. But should we not be equally struck 
with their prying, inquisitive temper? They did not 
understand, but they could not rest till they did. They knew 
that their Lord could say nothing that had not the most 
important meaning in it: this meaning, in the preceding 
parable, they had not apprehended, and therefore they wished 
to have it farther explained by himself. Do we imitate their 
docility and eagerness to comprehend the truth of God? Christ 
presses every occurrence into a means of instruction. The 
dulness of the disciples in the present case, has been the 
means of affording us the fullest instruction on a point of 
the utmost importance-the state of a sinful heart, and how 
the thoughts and passions conceived in it defile and pollute 
it; and how necessary it is to have the fountain purified, 
that it may cease to send forth those streams of death.

3. The case of the Canaanitish woman is, in itself, a 
thousand sermons. Her faith-her prayers-her perseverance-her 
success-the honour she received from her Lord, &c., &c. How 
instructively-how powerfully do these speak and plead! What a 
profusion of light does this single case throw upon the 
manner in which Christ sometimes exercises the faith and 
patience of his followers! They that seek shall find, is the 
great lesson inculcated in this short history: God is ever 
the same. Reader, follow on after God-cry, pray, plead-all in 
Him is for thee!-Thou canst not perish, if thou continuest to 
believe and pray. The Lord will help THEE.

CHAPTER xvi

The Pharisees insidiously require our Lord to give them a 
sign, 1. They are severely rebuked for their hypocrisy and 
wickedness, 2-5. The disciples are cautioned to beware of 
them and their destructive doctrine, 6-12. The different 
opinions formed by the people of Christ, 13, 14. Peter's 
confession, and our Lord's discourse on it, 15-20. He 
foretells his sufferings, and reproves Peter, 21-23. Teaches 
the necessity of self-denial, and shows the reasons on which 
it is founded, 24-26. Speaks of a future judgment, 27. And 
promises the speedy opening of the glory of his own kingdom 
on earth, 28.

NOTES ON CHAP. xvi

Verse 1. The Pharisees also with the Sadducees] Though a 
short account of these has been already given in a note on 
chap. iii. 7, yet, as one more detailed may be judged 
necessary, I think it proper to introduce it in this place.

The PHARISEES were the most considerable sect among the Jews, 
for they had not only the scribes, and all the learned men of 
the law of their party, but they also drew after them the 
bulk of the people. When this sect arose is uncertain. 
Josephus, Antiq. lib. v. c. xiii. s. 9, speaks of them as 
existing about 144 years before the Christian era. They had 
their appellation of Pharisees, from rp parash, to separate, 
and were probably, in their rise, the most holy people among 
the Jews, having separated themselves from the national 
corruption, with a design to restore and practice the pure 
worship of the most High. That they were greatly degenerated 
in our Lord's time is sufficiently evident; but still we may 
learn, from their external purity and exactness, that their 
principles in the beginning were holy. Our Lord testifies 
that they had cleansed the outside of the cup and the 
platter, but within they were full of abomination. They still 
kept up the outward regulations of the institution, but they 
had utterly lost its spirit; and hypocrisy was the only 
substitute now in their power for that spirit of piety which 
I suppose, and not unreasonably, characterized the origin of 
this sect.

As to their religious opinions, they still continued to 
credit the being of a God; they received the five books of 
Moses, the writings of the prophets, and the hagiographa. The 
hagiographa or holy writings, from agiov holy, and grafw I 
write, included the twelve following books-Psalms, Proverbs, 
Job, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, 
Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles. These, among the 
Jews, occupied a middle place between the law and the 
prophets, as divinely inspired. The Pharisees believed, in a 
confused way, in the resurrection, though they received the 
Pythagorean doctrine of the metempsychosis, or transmigration 
of souls. Those, however, who were notoriously wicked, they 
consigned, on their death, immediately to hell, without the 
benefit of transmigration, or the hope of future redemption. 
They held also the predestinarian doctrine of necessity, and 
the government of the world by fate; and yet, inconsistently, 
allowed some degree of liberty to the human will. See 
Prideaux.

The SADDUCEES had their origin and name from one Sadoc, a 
disciple of Antigonus of Socho, president of the Sanhedrin, 
and teacher of the law in one of the great divinity schools 
in Jerusalem, about 264 years before the incarnation.

This Antigonus having often in his lectures informed his 
scholars, that they should not serve God through expectation 
of a reward, but through love and filial reverence only, 
Sadoc inferred from this teaching that there were neither 
rewards nor punishments after this life, and, by consequence, 
that there was no resurrection of the dead, nor angel, nor 
spirit, in the invisible world; and that man is to be 
rewarded or punished here for the good or evil he does.

They received only the five books of Moses, and rejected all 
unwritten traditions. From every account we have of this 
sect, it plainly appears they were a kind of mongrel deists, 
and professed materialists. See Prideaux, and the authors he 
quotes, Connex. vol. iii. p. 95, and 471, &c., and see the 
note on chap. iii. 7.

In chap. xxii. 16, we shall meet with a third sect, called 
HERODIANS, of whom a few words may be spoken here, It is 
allowed on all hands that these did not exist before the time 
of Herod the Great, who died only three years after the 
incarnation of our Lord. What the opinions of these were is 
not agreed among the learned. Many of the primitive fathers 
believed that their distinguishing doctrine was, that they 
held Herod to be the Messiah; but it is not likely that such 
an opinion could prevail in our saviour's time, thirty years 
after Herod's death, when not one characteristic of 
Messiahship had appeared in him during his life. Others 
suppose that they were Herod's courtiers, who flattered the 
passions of their master, and, being endowed with a 
convenient conscience, changed with the times; but, as Herod 
was now dead upwards of thirty years, such a sect could not 
exist in reference to him; and yet all allow that they 
derived their origin from Herod the Great.

Our Lord says, Mark viii. 15, that they had the leaven of 
Herod, i.e. a bad doctrine, which they received from him. 
What this was may be easily discovered: 1. Herod subjected 
himself and his people to the dominion of the Romans, in 
opposition to that law, Deut. xvii. 15, Thou shalt not set a 
king over thee-which is not thy brother, i.e. one out of the 
twelve tribes. 2. He built temples, sat up images, and joined 
in heathenish worship, though he professed the Jewish 
religion; and this was in opposition to all the law and the 
prophets. From this we may learn that the Herodians were such 
as, first, held it lawful to transfer the Divine government 
to a heathen ruler; and, secondly, to conform occasionally to 
heathenish rites in their religious worship. In short, they 
appear to have been persons who trimmed between God and the 
world-who endeavoured to reconcile his service with that of 
mammon-and who were religious just as far as it tended to 
secure their secular interests. It is probable that this sect 
was at last so blended with, that it became lost in, the sect 
of the Sadducees; for the persons who art called Herodians, 
Mark viii. 15, are styled Sadducees in ver. 6. See Prideaux, 
Con. vol. iii. p. 516, &c., and Josephus, Antiq. b. xv. c. 
viii. s. i. and x. s. iii. But it is very likely that the 
Herodians, mentioned c. xxii. 10, were courtiers or servants 
of Herod king of Galilee. See the note there.

Show them a sign] These sects, however opposed among 
themselves, most cordially unite in their opposition to 
Christ and his truth. That the kingdom of Satan may not fall, 
all his subjects must fight against the doctrine and maxims 
of the kingdom of Christ.

Tempting-him] Feigning a desire to have his doctrine fully 
proved to them, that they might credit it, and become his 
disciples; but having no other design than to betray and ruin 
him.

Verse 2. When it is evening] There are certain signs of fair 
and foul weather, which ye are in the constant habit of 
observing, and which do not fail.-The signs of the times: the 
doctrine which I preach, and the miracles which I work among 
you, are as sure signs that the day-spring from on high has 
visited you for your salvation; but if ye refute to hear, and 
continue in darkness, the red and gloomy cloud of vindictive 
justice shall pour out such a storm of wrath upon you as 
shalt sweep you from the face of the earth.

Verse 3. The sky is red and lowering.] The signs of fair and 
foul weather were observed in a similar manner among the 
Romans, and indeed among most other people. Many treatises 
have been written on the subject: thus a poet:-Caeruleus 
pluviam denunciant, IGNEUS euros Sin MACULAE incipient RUTILO 
immiscerier IGNI, Omnia tunc pariter VENTO NIMBISQUE videbis 
Fervere VIRG. Geor. i. l. 453 "If fiery red his glowing globe 
descends, High winds and furious tempests he portends: But if 
his cheeks are swoll'n with livid blue, He bodes wet weather, 
by his watery hue If dusky spots are varied on his brow, And 
streak'd with red a troubled colour show, That sullen mixture 
shall at once declare, Wind, rain, and storms, and elemental 
war Dryden.

Verse 4. Wicked and adulterous generation] The Jewish people 
are represented in the Sacred Writings as married to the Most 
High; but, like a disloyal wife, forsaking their true 
husband, and uniting themselves to Satan and sin. Seeketh 
after a sign, shmeion epizhtei, seeketh sign upon sign, or, 
still another sign. Our blessed Lord had already wrought 
miracles sufficient to demonstrate both his Divine mission 
and his divinity; only one was farther necessary to take away 
the scandal of his cross and death, to fulfill the 
Scriptures, and to establish the Christian religion; and that 
was, his resurrection from the dead, which, he here states, 
was typified in the case of Jonah.

Verse 5. Come to the other side] Viz. the coast of Bethsaida, 
by which our Lord passed, going to Caesarea, for he was now 
on his journey thither. See ver. 13, and Mark viii. 22, 27.

Verse 6. Beware of the leaven] What the leaven of Pharisees 
and Sadducees was has been already explained, see ver. 1. Bad 
doctrines act in the soul as leaven does in meal; they 
assimulate the whole Spirit to their own nature. A man's 
particular creed has a greater influence on his tempers and 
conduct than most are aware of. Pride, hypocrisy, and 
worldly-mindedness, which constituted the leaven of the 
Pharisees and Sadducees, ruin the major part of the world.

Verse 7. They reasoned] For, as Lightfoot observes, the term 
leaven was very rarely used among the Jews to signify 
doctrine, and therefore the disciples did not immediately 
apprehend his meaning. In what a lamentable state of 
blindness is the human mind? Bodily wants are perceived with 
the utmost readiness, and a supply is sought with all speed. 
But the necessities of the soul are rarely discovered, though 
they are more pressing than those of the body, and the supply 
of them of infinitely more importance.

Verse 8. When Jesus perceived, he said] autoiv, unto them, is 
wanting in BDKLMS, and twenty others; one of the Syriac, the 
Armenian, Ethiopia, Vulgate, and most of the Itala; also in 
Origen, Theophylact, and Lucifer Calaritanus. Mill approves 
of the omission, and Griesbach has left it out of the text.

O ye of little faith] There are degrees in faith, as well as 
in the other graces of the Spirit. Little faith may be the 
seed of great faith, and therefore is not to be despised. But 
many who should be strong in faith have but a small measure 
of it, because they either give way to sin, or are not 
careful to improve what God has already given.

Verse 9. - 10. Do ye not yet understand-the five loaves-
neither the seven] See the notes on chap. xiv. 14, &c. How 
astonishing is it that these men should have any fear of 
lacking bread, after having seen the two miracles which our 
blessed Lord alludes to above! Though men quickly perceive 
their bodily wants, and are querulous enough till they get 
them supplied, yet they as quickly forget the mercy which 
they had received; and thus God gets few returns of gratitude 
for his kindnesses. To make men, therefore, deeply sensible 
of his favours, he is induced to suffer them often to be in 
want, and then to supply them in such a way as to prove that 
their supply has come immediately from the hand of their 
bountiful Father.

 9"

Verse 11. How is it that ye do not understand] We are not 
deficient in spiritual knowledge, because we have not had 
sufficient opportunities of acquainting ourselves with God; 
but because we did not improve the advantages we had. How 
deep and ruinous must our ignorance be, if God did not give 
line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there 
a little! They now perceived that he warned them against the 
superstition of the Pharisees, which produced hypocrisy, 
pride, envy, &c., and the false doctrine of the Sadducees, 
which denied the existence of a spiritual world, the 
immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and 
the providence of God.

Verse 13. Casarea Philippi] A city, in the tribe of Naphtali, 
near to Mount Libanus, in the province of Iturea. Its ancient 
name was Dan, Gen. xiv. 14; afterwards it was called Lais, 
Judg. xviii. 7. But Philip the tetrarch, having rebuilt and 
beautified it, gave it the name of Cesarea, in honour of 
Tiberius Caesar, the reigning emperor: but to distinguish it 
from another Caesarea, which was on the coast of the 
Mediterranean Sea, and to perpetuate the fame of him who 
rebuilt it, it was called Caesarea Philippi, or Caesarea of 
Philip.

When Jesus came] elqwn de o ihsouv-when Jesus was coming. 
Not, when Jesus came, or was come, for Mark expressly 
mentions that it happened en th odw, in the way to Caesarea 
Philippi, Mark viii. 27, and he is Matthew's best 
interpreter.-WAKEFIELD.

Whom do men say] He asked his disciples this question, not 
because he was ignorant what the people thought and spoke of 
him; but to have the opportunity, in getting an express 
declaration of their faith from themselves, to confirm and 
strengthen them in it: but see on Luke ix. 20.

Some, John the Baptist, &c. By this and other passages we 
learn, that the Pharisaic doctrine of the Metempsychosis, or 
transmigration of souls, was pretty general; for it was upon 
this ground that they believed that the soul of the Baptist, 
or of Elijah, Jeremiah, or some of the prophets, had come to 
a new life in the body of Jesus.

Verse 16. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.] 
Every word here is emphatic-a most concise, and yet 
comprehensive, confession of faith.

The Christ, or Messiah, points out his divinity, and shows 
his office; the Son-designates his person: on this account it 
is that both are joined together so frequently in the new 
covenant. Of the living God tou qeou, tou zwntov, literally, 
of God the Living One. The C. Bezae has for tou zwntov the 
Living One, tou swzontov, the saviour, and the Cant. Dei 
Salvatoris, of God the saviour.

Living-a character applied to the Supreme Being, not only to 
distinguish him from the dead idols of paganism, but also to 
point him out as the source of life, present, spiritual, and 
eternal. Probably there is an allusion here to the great name 
hwhy Yeve, or Yehovah, which properly signifies being or 
existence.

Verse 17. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona] Or Simon, son of 
Jonah; so Bar-jonah should be translated, and so it is 
rendered by our Lord, John i. 42. Flesh and blood-i.e. MAN;-
no human being hath revealed this; and though the text is 
literal enough, yet every body should know that this is a 
Hebrew periphrasis for man; and the literal translation of it 
here, and in Gal. i. 16, has misled thousands, who suppose 
that flesh and blood signify carnal reason, as it is termed, 
or the unregenerate principle in man.

Is it not evident, from our Lord's observation, that it 
requires an express revelation of God in a man's soul, to 
give him a saving acquaintance with Jesus Christ; and that 
not even the miracles of our Lord, wrought before the eyes, 
will effect this? The darkness must be removed from the heart 
by the Holy Spirit, before a man can become wise unto 
salvation.

Verse 18. Thou art Peter] This was the same as if he had 
said, I acknowledge thee for one of my disciples-for this 
name was given him by our Lord when he first called him to 
the apostleship. See John i. 42.

Peter, petrov, signifies a stone, or fragment of a rock; and 
our Lord, whose constant custom it was to rise to heavenly 
things through the medium of earthly, takes occasion from the 
name, the metaphorical meaning of which was strength and 
stability, to point out the solidity of the confession, and 
the stability of that cause which should be founded on THE 
CHRIST, the SON of the LIVING GOD. See the notes at "Luke ix. 
62".

Upon this very rock, epi tauth th petra-this true confession 
of thine-that I am THE MESSIAH, that am come to reveal and 
communicate THE LIVING GOD, that the dead, lost world may be 
saved-upon this very rock, myself, thus confessed (alluding 
probably to Psa. cxviii. 22, The STONE which the builders 
rejected is become the HEAD-STONE of the CORNER: and to Isa. 
xxviii. 16, Behold I lay a STONE in Zion for a FOUNDATION)-
will I build my Church, mon thn ekklhsian, my assembly, or 
congregation, i.e. of persons who are made partakers of this 
precious faith. That Petra is not designed in our Lord's 
words must be evident to all who are not blinded by 
prejudice. Peter was only one of the builders in this sacred 
edifice, Eph. ii. 20 who himself tells us, (with the rest of 
the believers,) was built on this living foundation stone: 1 
Peter 2: 4, 5, therefore Jesus Christ did not say, on thee, 
Peter, will I build my Church, but changes immediately the 
expression, and says, upon that very rock, epi tauth th 
petra, to show that he neither addressed Peter, nor any other 
of the apostles. So, the supremacy of Peter, and the 
infallibility of the Church of Rome, must be sought in some 
other scripture, for they certainly are not to be found in 
this. On the meaning of the word Church, see at the 
conclusion of this chapter.

The gates of hell, pulai adou i. e, the machinations and 
powers of the invisible world. In ancient times the gates of 
fortified cities were used to hold councils in, and were 
usually places of great strength. Our Lord's expression 
means, that neither the plots, stratagems, nor strength of 
Satan and his angels, should ever so far prevail as to 
destroy the sacred truths in the above confession. Sometimes 
the gates are taken for the troops which issue out from them: 
we may firmly believe, that though hell should open her 
gates, and vomit out her devil and all his angels, to fight 
against Christ and his saints, ruin and discomfiture must be 
the consequence on their part; as the arm of the Omnipotent 
must prevail.

Verse 19. The keys of the kingdom] By the kingdom of heaven, 
we may consider the true Church, that house of God, to be 
meant; and by the keys, the power of admitting into that 
house, or of preventing any improper person from coming in. 
In other words, the doctrine of salvation, and the full 
declaration of the way in which God will save sinners; and 
who they are that shall be finally excluded from heaven; and 
on what account. When the Jews made a man a doctor of the 
law, they put into his hand the key of the closet in the 
temple where the sacred books were kept, and also tablets to 
write upon; signifying, by this, that they gave him authority 
to teach, and to explain the Scriptures to the people.-
Martin. This prophetic declaration of our Lord was literally 
fulfilled to Peter, as he was made the first instrument of 
opening, i.e. preaching the doctrines of the kingdom of 
heaven to the Jews, Acts ii. 41; and to the Gentiles, Acts x. 
44-47; xi. 1; xv. 7.

Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth] This mode of expression 
was frequent among the Jews: they considered that every thing 
that was done upon earth, according to the order of God, was 
at the same time done in heaven: hence they were accustomed 
to say, that when the priest, on the day of atonement, 
offered the two goats upon earth, the same were offered in 
heaven. As one goat therefore is permitted to escape on 
earth, one is permitted to escape in heaven; and when the 
priests cast the lots on earth, the priest also casts the 
lots in heaven. See Sohar. Leviticus fol. 26; and see 
Lightfoot and Schoettgen. These words will receive 
considerable light from Lev. xiii. 3, 23: The priest shall 
look upon him (the leper) and pronounce him unclean. Hebrew 
wta amfw vetime otho, he shall pollute him, i.e. shall 
declare him polluted, from the evidences mentioned before.

And in Lev. xiii. 23: The priest shall pronounce him clean, 
hkh wrhfw vetiharo hacohen, the priest shall cleanse him, 
i.e. declare he is clean, from the evidences mentioned in the 
verse. In the one case the priest declared the person 
infected with the leprosy, and unfit for civil society; and, 
in the other, that the suspected person was clean, and might 
safely associate with his fellows in civil or religious 
assemblies. The disciples of our Lord, from having the keys, 
i.e. the true knowledge of the doctrine of the kingdom of 
heaven, should be able at all times to distinguish between 
the clean and the unclean, and pronounce infallible judgment; 
and this binding and loosing, or pronouncing fit or unfit for 
fellowship with the members of Christ, being always according 
to the doctrine of the Gospel of God, should be considered as 
proceeding immediately from heaven, and consequently as 
Divinely ratified.

That binding and loosing were terms in frequent use among the 
Jews, and that they meant bidding and forbidding, granting 
and refusing, declaring lawful or unlawful, &c., Dr. 
Lightfoot, after having given numerous instances, thus 
concludes:-" To these may be added, if need were, the 
frequent (shall I say?) or infinite use of the phrases, rtwmw 
rwoa bound and loosed, which we meet with thousands of times 
over. But from these allegations the reader sees, abundantly 
enough, both the frequency and the common use of this phrase, 
and the sense of it also; namely, first, that it is used in 
doctrine, and in judgments, concerning things allowed or not 
allowed in the law.

Secondly, that to bind is the same with, to forbid, or to 
declare forbidden.

To think that Christ, when he used the common phrase, was not 
understood by his hearers in the common and vulgar sense, 
shall I call it a matter of laughter, or of madness? To this, 
therefore, do these words amount: When the time was come 
wherein the Mosaic law, as to some part of it, was to be 
abolished, and left off, and, as to another part of it, was 
to be continued and to last for ever, he granted Peter here, 
and to the rest of the apostles, chap. xviii. 18, a power to 
abolish or confirm what they thought good, and as they 
thought good; being taught this, and led by the Holy Spirit: 
as if he should say, Whatsoever ye shall bind in the law of 
Moses, that is, forbid, it shall be forbidden, the Divine 
authority confirming it; and whatsoever ye shall loose, that 
is, permit, or shall teach that it is permitted and lawful, 
shall be lawful and permitted. Hence they bound, that is 
forbade, circumcision to the believers; eating of things 
offered to idols, of things strangled, and of blood, for a 
time, to the Gentiles; and that which they bound on earth was 
confirmed in heaven. They loosed, that is, allowed 
purification to Paul, and to four other brethren, for the 
shunning of scandal; Acts xxi. 24 and, in a word, by these 
words of Christ it was committed to them, the Holy Spirit 
directing, that they should make decrees concerning religion, 
as to the use or rejection of Mosaic rites and judgments, and 
that either for a time, or for ever.

"Let the words be applied by way of paraphrase to the matter 
that was transacted at present with Peter: 'I am about to 
build a Gentile Church,' saith Christ, and to thee, O Peter, 
do I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that thou mayest 
first open the door of faith to them; but if thou askest by 
what rule that Church is to be governed, when the Mosaic rule 
may seem so improper for it, thou shalt be so guided by the 
Holy Spirit, that whatsoever of the law of Moses thou shalt 
forbid them shall be forbidden; whatsoever thou grantest them 
shall be granted; and that under a sanction made in heaven.' 
Hence, in that instant, when he should use his keys, that is, 
when he was now ready to open the gate of the Gospel to the 
Gentiles, Acts 10, he was taught from heaven that the 
consorting of the Jew with the Gentile, which before had been 
bound, was now loosed; and the eating of any creature 
convenient for food was now loosed, which before had been 
bound; and he in like manner looses both these.

"Those words of our saviour, John xx. 23, Whose sins ye 
remit, they are remitted to them, for the most part are 
forced to the same sense with these before us, when they 
carry quite another sense. Here the business is of doctrine 
only, not of persons; there of persons, not of doctrine. Here 
of things lawful or unlawful in religion, to be determined by 
the apostles; there of persons obstinate or not obstinate, to 
be punished by them, or not to be punished.

"As to doctrine, the apostles were doubly instructed. 1. So 
long sitting at the feet of their Master, they had imbibed 
the evangelical doctrine.

"2. The Holy Spirit directing them, they were to determine 
concerning the legal doctrine and practice, being completely 
instructed and enabled in both by the Holy Spirit descending 
upon them. As to the persons, they were endowed with a 
peculiar gift, so that, the same Spirit directing them, if 
they would retain and punish the sins of any, a power was 
delivered into their hands of delivering to Satan, of 
punishing with diseases, plagues, yea, death itself, which 
Peter did to Ananias and Sapphira; Paul to Elymas, Hymeneus, 
and Philetus, &c." After all these evidences and proofs of 
the proper use of these terms, to attempt to press the word, 
into the service long assigned them by the Church of Rome, 
would, to use the words of Dr. Lightfoot, be "a matter of 
laughter or of madness." No Church can use them in the sense 
thus imposed upon them, which was done merely to serve 
secular ends; and least of all can that very Church that thus 
abuses them.

Verse 20. Then charged he his disciples] diesteilato, he 
strictly charged them. Some very good MSS. have epetimhsen, 
he severely charged-comminatus est,-he threatened. These are 
the readings of the Cod.

Bezae, both in the Greek and Latin.

The Christ.] The common text has Jesus the Christ; but the 
word Jesus is omitted by fifty-four MSS., some of which are 
not only of the greatest authority, but also of the greatest 
antiquity. It is omitted also by the Syriac, later Persic, 
later Arabic, Slavonic, six copies of the Itala, and several 
of the fathers. The most eminent critics approve of this 
omission, and Griesbach has left it out of the text in both 
his editions. I believe the insertion of it here to be wholly 
superfluous and improper; for the question is, Who is this 
Jesus? Peter answers, He is, o cristov, the Messiah. The word 
Jesus is obviously improper. What our Lord says here refers 
to Peter's testimony in ver. 16: Thou art the Christ-Jesus 
here says, Tell no man that I am the Christ, i.e. the 
MESSIAH; as the time for his full manifestation was not yet 
come; and he was not willing to provoke the Jewish malice, or 
the Roman envy, by permitting his disciples to announce him 
as the saviour of a lost world. He chose rather to wait, till 
his resurrection and ascension had set this truth in the 
clearest light, and beyond the power of successful 
contradiction.

Verse 21. From that time forth began Jesus, &c.] Before this 
time our Lord had only spoken of his death in a vague and 
obscure manner, see chap. xii. 40, because he would not 
afflict his disciples with this matter sooner than necessity 
required; but now, as the time of his crucifixion drew nigh, 
he spoke of his sufferings and death in the most express and 
clear terms. Three sorts of persons, our Lord intimates, 
should be the cause of his death and passion: the elders, the 
chief priests, and the scribes. Pious Quesnel takes occasion 
to observe from this, that Christ is generally persecuted by 
these three descriptions of men: rich men, who have their 
portion in this life; ambitious and covetous ecclesiastics, 
who seek their portion in this life; and conceited scholars, 
who set up their wisdom against the wisdom of God, being more 
intent on criticising words than in providing for the 
salvation of their souls. The spirit of Christianity always 
enables a man to bear the ills of life with patience; to 
receive death with joy; and to expect, by faith, the 
resurrection of the body, and the life of the world to come.

Verse 22. Then Peter took him] proslabomenov-took him up-
suddenly interrupted him, as it were calling him to order-see 
Wakefield. Some versions give proslabomenov the sense of 
calling him aside. The word signifies also to receive in a 
friendly manner-to embrace; but Mr. Wakefield's translation 
agrees better with the scope of the place. A man like Peter, 
who is of an impetuous spirit, and decides without 
consideration upon every subject, must of necessity be often 
in the wrong.

Be it far from thee Lord] ilewv soi kurie. Be merciful to 
thyself Lord: see the margin.  So I think the original should 
be rendered.

Peter knew that Christ had power sufficient to preserve 
himself from all the power and malice of the Jews; and wished 
him to exert that in his own behalf which he had often 
exorted in the behalf of others. Some critics of great note 
think the expression elliptical, and that the word qeov, God, 
is necessarily understood, as if Peter had said, God be 
merciful to thee! but I think the marginal reading is the 
sense of the passage. The French, Italian, and Spanish, 
render it the same way. Blind and ignorant man is ever 
finding fault with the conduct of God. Human reason cannot 
comprehend the incarnation of the Almighty's fellow, 
(Zechariah xiii. 7,) nor reconcile the belief of his divinity 
with his sufferings and death. How many Peters are there now 
in the world, who are in effect saying, This cannot be done 
unto thee-thou didst not give thy life for the sin of the 
world-it would be injustice to cause the innocent to suffer 
thus for the guilty. But what saith God? His soul shall be 
made an offering for sin-he shall taste death for every man-
the iniquities of us all were laid upon him. Glorious truth! 
May the God who published it have eternal praises!

Verse 23. Get thee behind me, Satan] upage opisw mou satana. 
Get behind me, thou adversary. This is the proper translation 
of the Hebrew word fs Satan, from which the Greek word is 
taken. Our blessed Lord certainly never designed that men 
should believe he called Peter, DEVIL, because he, through 
erring affection, had wished him to avoid that death which he 
predicted to himself. This translation, which is literal, 
takes away that harshness which before appeared in our Lord's 
words.

Thou art an offense unto me] skandalon mou ei Thou art a 
stumbling-block in my way, to impede me in the accomplishment 
of the great design.

Thou savourest not] That is, dost not relish, ou froneiv, or, 
thou dost not understand or discern the things of God-thou 
art wholly taken up with the vain thought that my kingdom is 
of this world. He who opposes the doctrine of the atonement 
is an adversary and offense to Christ, though he be as 
sincere in his profession as Peter himself was. Let us beware 
of false friendships. Carnal relatives, when listened to, may 
prove the ruin of those whom, through their mistaken 
tenderness, they wish to save. When a man is intent on saving 
his own soul, his adversaries are often those of his own 
household.

Verse 24. Will come after me] i.e. to be my disciple. This 
discourse was intended to show Peter and the rest of the 
disciples the nature of his kingdom; and that the honour that 
cometh from the world was not to be expected by those who 
followed Christ.

The principles of the Christian life are: First. To have a 
sincere desire to belong to Christ-If any man be WILLING to 
be my disciple, &c. Secondly.

To renounce self-dependence, and selfish pursuits-Let him 
deny HIMSELF.

Thirdly. To embrace the condition which God has appointed, 
and bear the troubles and difficulties he may meet with in 
walking the Christian road-Let him take up HIS CROSS. 
Fourthly. To imitate Jesus, and do and suffer all in his 
spirit-Let him FOLLOW ME.

Let him deny himself] aparnhsasqw may well be interpreted, 
Let him deny, or renounce, himself fully-in all respects] 
perseveringly. It is a compounded word, and the preposition 
apo abundantly increases the meaning. A follower of Christ 
will need to observe it in its utmost latitude of meaning, in 
order to be happy here, and glorious hereafter. A man's self 
is to him the prime cause of most of his miseries. See the 
note on Mark viii. 34.

Verse 25. For whosoever will save his life] That is, shall 
wish to save his life-at the expense of his conscience, and 
casting aside the cross, he shall lose it-the very evil he 
wishes to avoid shall overtake him; and he shall lose his 
soul into the bargain. See then how necessary it is to 
renounce one's self! But whatsoever a man loses in this 
world, for his steady attachment to Christ and his cause, he 
shall have amply made up to him in the eternal world.

Verse 26. Lose his own soul] Or, lose his life, thn yuchn 
autou. On what authority many have translated the word yuch, 
in the 25th verse, life, and in this verse, soul, I know not, 
but am certain it means life in both places. If a man should 
gain the whole world, its riches, honours, and pleasures, and 
lose his life, what would all these profit him, seeing they 
can only be enjoyed during life? But if the words be applied 
to the soul, they show the difficulty-the necessity-and 
importance of salvation. The world, the devil, and a man's 
own heart are opposed to his salvation; therefore it is 
difficult. The soul was made for God, and can never be united 
to him, nor be happy, till saved from sin: therefore it is 
necessary.

He who is saved from his sin, and united to God, possesses 
the utmost felicity that the human soul can enjoy, either in 
this or the coming world: therefore, this salvation is 
important. See also the note on Luke ix. 25.

Verse 27. For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his 
Father] This seems to refer to Dan. vii. 13, 14. "Behold, one 
like the Son of man came-to the ancient of Days-and there was 
given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all 
people, and nations, and languages should serve him." This 
was the glorious Mediatorial kingdom which Jesus Christ was 
now about to set up, by the destruction of the Jewish nation 
and polity, and the diffusion of his Gospel through the whole 
world. If the words be taken in this sense, the angels or 
messengers may signify the apostles and their successors in 
the sacred ministry, preaching the Gospel in the power of the 
Holy Ghost. It is very likely that the words do not apply to 
the final judgment, to which they are generally referred; but 
to the wonderful display of God's grace and power after the 
day of pentecost.

Verse 28. There be some-which shall not taste of death] This 
verse seems to confirm the above explanation, as our Lord 
evidently speaks of the establishment of the Christian Church 
after the day of pentecost, and its final triumph after the 
destruction of the Jewish polity; as if he had said, "Some of 
you, my disciples, shall continue to live until these things 
take place." The destruction of Jerusalem, and the Jewish 
economy, which our Lord here predicts, took place about 
forty-three years after this: and some of the persons now 
with him doubtless survived that period, and witnessed the 
extension of the Messiah's kingdom; and our Lord told them 
these things before, that when they came to pass they might 
be confirmed in the faith, and expect an exact fulfillment of 
all the other promises and prophecies which concerned the 
extension and support of the kingdom of Christ.

To his kingdom, or in his kingdom. Instead of basileia, 
kingdom, four MSS., later Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Saxon, 
and one copy of the Itala, with several of the primitive 
fathers, read doxh, glory: and to this is added, tou patrov 
autou, of his Father, by three MSS. and the versions 
mentioned before. This makes the passage a little more 
conformable to the passage already quoted from Daniel; and it 
must appear, very clearly, that the whole passage speaks not 
of a future judgment, but of the destruction of the Jewish 
polity, and the glorious spread of Christianity in the earth, 
by the preaching of Christ crucified by the apostles and 
their immediate successors in the Christian Church.

1. THE disciples, by being constantly with their Master, were 
not only guarded against error, but were taught the whole 
truth: we should neglect no opportunity of waiting upon God; 
while Jesus continues to teach, our ear and heart should be 
open to receive his instructions. That what we have already 
received may be effectual, we must continue to hear and pray 
on. Let us beware of the error of the Pharisees! They minded 
only external performances, and those things by which they 
might acquire esteem and reputation among men; thus, humility 
and love, the very soul of religion, were neglected by them: 
they had their reward-the approbation of those who were as 
destitute of vital religion as themselves. Let us beware also 
of the error of the Sadducees, who, believing no other 
felicity but what depended on the good things of this world, 
became the flatterers and slaves of those who could bestow 
them, and so, like the Pharisees, had their portion only in 
this life. All false religions and false principles conduct 
to the same end, however contrary they appear to each other. 
No two sects could be more opposed to each other than the 
Sadducees and Pharisees, yet their doctrines lead to the same 
end-they are both wedded to this world, and separated from 
God in the next.

2. From the circumstance mentioned in the conclusion of this 
chapter, we may easily see the nature of the kingdom and 
reign of Christ: it is truly spiritual and Divine; having for 
its object the present holiness and future happiness of 
mankind. Worldly pomp, as well as worldly maxims, were to be 
excluded from it. Christianity forbids all worldly 
expectations, and promises blessedness to those alone who 
bear the cross, leading a life of mortification and self-
denial. Jesus Christ has left us an example that we should 
follow his steps. How did he live?-What views did he 
entertain?-In what light did he view worldly pomp and 
splendour? These are questions which the most superficial 
reader may, without difficulty, answer to his immediate 
conviction. And has not Christ said that the disciple is not 
ABOVE the Master? If HE humbled himself, how can he look upon 
those who, professing faith in his name, are conformed to the 
world and mind earthly things? These disciples affect to be 
above their Lord; and as they neither bear his cross, nor 
follow him in the regeneration, they must look for another 
heaven than that in which he sits at the right hand of God. 
This is an awful subject; but how few of those called 
Christians lay it to heart! 3. The term CHURCH in Greek 
ekklhsia, occurs for the first time in ver. 18. The word 
simply means an assembly or congregation, the nature of which 
is to be understood from connecting circumstances; for the 
word ekklhsia, as well as the terms congregation and 
assembly, may be applied to any concourse of people, good or 
bad; gathered together for lawful or unlawful purposes. 
Hence, it is used, Acts xix. 32, for the mob, or confused 
rabble, gathered together against Paul, ekklhsia sugkecumenh, 
which the town-clerk distinguished, Acts xix. 39, from a 
lawful assembly, ennomw ekklesia. The Greek word ekklhsia 
seems to be derived from ekkalew, to call out of, or from, 
i.e. an assembly gathered out of a multitude; and must have 
some other word joined to it, to determine its nature: viz. 
the Church of God; the congregation collected by God, and 
devoted to his service. The Church of Christ: the whole 
company of Christians wheresoever found; because, by the 
preaching of the Gospel, they are called out of the spirit 
and maxims of the world, to live according to the precepts of 
the Christian religion. This is sometimes called the Catholic 
or universal Church, because constituted of all the 
professors of Christianity in the world, to whatever sects or 
parties they may belong: and hence the absurdity of applying 
the term Catholic, which signifies universal, to that very 
small portion of it, the Church of Rome. In primitive times, 
before Christians had any stated buildings, they worshipped 
in private houses; the people that had been converted to God 
meeting together in some one dwelling-house of a fellow-
convert, more convenient and capacious than the rest; hence 
the Church that was in the house of Aquila and Priscilla, 
Rom. xvi. 3, 5, and 1 Cor. xvi. 19, and the Church that was 
in the house of Nymphas, Colossiansiv. 15. Now, as these 
houses were dedicated to the worship of God, each was termed 
kuriou oikov kuriou oikos, the house of the Lord; which word, 
in process of time, became contracted into kurioik kurioik, 
and kuriakh, kuriake; and hence the kirk of our northern 
neighbours, and  kirik of our Saxon ancestors, from which, by 
corruption, changing the hard Saxon c into ch, we have made 
the word church. This term, though it be generally used to 
signify the people worshipping in a particular place, yet by 
a metonymy, the container being put for the contained, we 
apply it, as it was originally, to the building which 
contains the worshipping people.

In the proper use of this word there can be no such thing as 
THE church, exclusively; there may be A church, and the 
CHURCHES, signifying a particular congregation, or the 
different assemblies of religious people: and hence, the 
Church of Rome, by applying it exclusively to itself, abuses 
the term, and acts as ridiculously as it does absurdly. 
Church is very properly defined in the 19th article of the 
Church of England, to be "a congregation of faithful men, in 
the which the pure word of God is preached, and the 
sacraments duly administered, according to Christ's 
ordinance."

CHAPTER xvii

The transfiguration of Christ, 1-8. Christ's discourse with 
his disciples on the subject, 9-13. He heals a lunatic, 14-
18. His discourse with his disciples on this subject also, 
19-21. He foretells his own sufferings and death, 22, 23. He 
is required to pay tribute at Capernaum, 24-26; and provides 
the money by a miracle, 27.

NOTES ON CHAP. xvii

Verse 1. After six days] Mark ix. 2, has the same number; but 
Luke says, Luke ix. 28, after eight days. The reason of this 
difference seems to be the following: Matthew and Mark reckon 
the days from that mentioned in the preceding chapter, to 
that mentioned in this; Luke includes both days, as well as 
the six intermediate: hence, the one makes eight, the other 
six, without any contradiction.

Peter, James, and John] He chose those that they might be 
witnesses of his transfiguration: two or three witnesses 
being required by the Scripture to substantiate any fact. 
Eminent communications of the Divine favour prepare for, and 
entitle to, great services and great conflicts. The same 
three were made witnesses of his agony in the garden, chap. 
xxvi. 37.

A high mountain] This was one of the mountains of Galilee; 
but whether Mount Tabor or not, is uncertain. Some think it 
was Mount Hermon. St. Luke says, Christ and his disciples 
went up into the mountain to pray, Luke ix. 28.

Verse 2. Was transfigured] That fullness of the Godhead, 
which dwelt bodily in Christ, now shone forth through the 
human nature, and manifested to his disciples not only that 
Divinity which Peter had before confessed, chap. xvi. 16, but 
also the glorious resurrection body, in which they should 
exist in the presence of God to eternity.

White as the light.] But the Cod. Bezae, some of the ancient 
versions, and several of the fathers, read wv ciwn, as snow; 
and this is the reading in Mark ix. 3.

Verse 3. Moses and Elias] Elijah came from heaven in the same 
body which he had upon earth, for he was translated, and did 
not see death, 2 Kings ii. 11. And the body of Moses was 
probably raised again, as a pledge of the resurrection; and 
as Christ is to come to judge the quick and the dead, for we 
shall not all die, but all shall be changed, 1 Cor. xv. 51, 
he probably gave the full representation of this in the 
person of Moses, who died, and was thus raised to life, (or 
appeared now as he shall appear when raised from the dead in 
the last day,) and in the person of Elijah, who never tasted 
death. Both their bodies exhibit the same appearance, to show 
that the bodies of glorified saints are the same, whether the 
person had been translated, or whether he had died. It was a 
constant and prevalent tradition among the Jews, that both 
Moses and Elijah should appear in the times of the Messiah, 
and to this very tradition the disciples refer, Matthew xvii. 
10.

We may conceive that the law in the person of Moses, the 
great Jewish legislator, and the prophets in the person of 
Elijah, the chief of the prophets, came now to do homage to 
Jesus Christ, and to render up their authority into his 
hands; as he was the END of the law, and the grand subject of 
the predictions of the prophets. This appears more 
particularly from what St. Luke says, Luke ix. 31, that Moses 
and Elijah conversed with our Lord on his death, which he was 
about to accomplish, (plhroun to fulfill,) because in it, all 
the rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices of the law, as well as 
the predictions of the prophets, were fulfilled.

Verse 4. Peter said-let us make, &c.] That is, when he saw 
Moses and Elijah ready to depart from the mount, Luke ix. 33, 
he wished to detain them, that he might always enjoy their 
company with that of his Lord and Master, still supposing 
that Christ would set up a temporal kingdom upon earth.

Verse 5. A bright cloud overshadowed them] Or as six MSS. and 
Ephraim read it, a cloud of light, nefelh fwtov; which 
reading GRIESBACH has admitted into the text. As a bright 
cloud, or a cloud of light could not overshadow, or cast any 
kind of shade, the word epeskiasen should be translated, 
surrounded them. A cloud was frequently the symbol of the 
Divine presence; but such a cloud had always something very 
remarkable in its appearance. Ezekiel, Ezek. i. 4, represents 
it as a great cloud, and a fire unfolding itself, and a 
brightness about it, and out of the midst thereof, as the 
colour of amber out of the midst of the fire; and in Ezek. i. 
28, he tells us that this was the appearance of the likeness 
of the glory of the Lord. See also Exod. xvi. 10; xl. 33, 
&c.; Ezek. xliii. 2, and 1 Chron. v. 14. But it was generally 
in a thick, dark cloud, that God manifested himself under the 
law; see Exod. xix. 9; xx. 21. This might be designed as 
emblematical of the old covenant, which was but the shadow of 
the good things which were to come, Heb. x. 1; and the cloud 
of light mentioned here, the emblem of that glorious display 
of God, in his Gospel, by which life and immortality were 
brought to light, 2 Tim. i. 10.

This is my beloved Son] outov estin o uiov mou o agaphtov, en 
w eudokhsa, This is my Son, the beloved one, in who I have 
delighted, or, been well pleased. God adds his testimony of 
approbation to what was spoken of the sufferings of Christ by 
Moses and Elijah; thus showing that the sacrificial economy 
of the old covenant was in itself of no worth, but as it 
referred to the grand atonement which Jesus was about to 
make; therefore he says, In him HAVE I delighted, (eudokhsa,) 
intimating that it was in him alone, as typified by those 
sacrifices, that he HAD delighted through the whole course of 
the legal administration; and that it was only in reference 
to the death of his Son that he accepted the offerings and 
oblations made to him under the old covenant. Hear HIM. The 
disciples wished to detain Moses and Elijah that they might 
hear them: but God shows that the law which had been in 
force, and the prophets which had prophesied, until now, must 
all give place to Jesus; and he alone must now be attended 
to, as the way, the truth, and the life; for no man could now 
come unto the Father but through him. This voice seems also 
to refer to that prediction in Deut. xviii. 15. The Lord 
shall raise up a Prophet like unto me: HIM SHALL YE HEAR. Go 
no more to the law, nor to the prophets, to seek for a coming 
Messiah; for behold he IS come! Hear and obey him, and him 
only.

This transfiguration must have greatly confirmed the 
disciples in the belief of a future state, and in the 
doctrine of the resurrection; they saw Moses and Elijah still 
EXISTING, though the former had been gathered to his fathers 
upwards of 1400 years, and the latter had been translated 
nearly 900.

Verse 6. Fell on their face] Dismayed by the voice, and 
dazzled by the glory of the cloud. So Daniel, Dan. viii. 17, 
and Saul of Tarsus, Acts ix. 4.

Verse 7. Jesus came and touched them] Exactly parallel to 
this account is Dan. viii. 18, I was in a deep sleep, i, e. 
(a trance) on my face towards the ground; but he TOUCHED me, 
and set me upright. From Jesus alone are we to expect Divine 
communications, and by his power only are we able to bear and 
improve them. It is very likely that this transfiguration 
took place in the night, which was a more proper season to 
show forth its glory than the day time, in which a part of 
the splendour must necessarily be lost by the presence of the 
solar light. Besides, St. Luke, Luke ix. 37, expressly says, 
that it was on the next day after the transfiguration that 
our Lord came down from the mount.

Verse 9. Tell the vision to no man] See the note on Matthew 
xvi. 20; and farther observe, that as this transfiguration 
was intended to show forth the final abolition of the whole 
ceremonial law, it was necessary that a matter which could 
not fail to irritate the Jewish rulers and people should be 
kept secret, till Jesus had accomplished vision and prophecy 
by his death and resurrection.

The whole of this emblematic transaction appears to me to be 
intended to prove, 1st. The reality of the world of spirits, 
and the immortality of the soul. 2dly. The resurrection of 
the body, and the doctrine of future rewards and punishments, 
see Matthew xvi. 27. 3dly. The abolition of the Mosaic 
institutions, and, the fulfillment of the predictions of the 
prophets relative to the person, nature, sufferings, death, 
and resurrection of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 
4thly. The establishment of the mild, light-bringing, and 
life-giving Gospel of the Son of God. And 5thly. That as the 
old Jewish covenant and Mediatorship had ended, Jesus was now 
to be considered as the sole Teacher, the only availing 
offering for sin, and the grand Mediator between God and man. 
There are many very useful remarks on this transaction, by 
the late venerable Bp. Porteus.

Verse 10. His disciples] instead of HIS disciples, some MSS., 
with the Coptic, Armenian, Vulgate, all the Itala except two, 
and Origen, read simply, oi maqhtai, THE disciples, i.e. 
those only who had been with him on the mount, Peter, James, 
and John.

Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?] As the 
disciples saw that Elijah returned to heaven, knowing the 
tradition of the elders, and the prophecy on which the 
tradition was founded, Mal. iv. 5, 6, Behold I send you 
Elijah the prophet, before the great and terrible day of the 
Lord shall come; and he shall turn the hearts, &c., it was 
natural enough for them to inquire what the meaning of the 
tradition, and the intention of the prophecy, were.

Verse 11. Elias-shall first come, and restore all things.] Or 
will reform, apokatasthsei; this word our Lord quotes from 
the Septuagint; who render the Hebrew µynb l[ twba bl bwhw 
vehesheb leb aboth al banim, he will cause the heart of the 
fathers to turn to the children, by, ov apokatasthsei kardian 
patrov prov uion, who will convert, or restore, the heart of 
the father to the son. We are not therefore to understand the 
version of the Septuagint quoted by our Lord in any other 
sense than the Hebrew will allow. No fanciful restoration of 
all men, devils and damned spirits, is spoken of as either 
being done, or begun, by the ministry of John; but merely 
that he should preach a doctrine tending to universal 
reformation of manners, and should be greatly successful: see 
chap. iii. 1-7, and especially Luke iii. 3-15, where we find 
that a general reformation had taken place, 1. among the 
common people; 2. among the tax-gatherers; and 3. among the 
soldiers. And as John announced the coming Christ, who was to 
baptize with the Holy Ghost, i.e. to enlighten, change, and 
purify the heart, that the reform might be complete, both 
outward and inward, he may be said, in the strictest sense of 
the word, to have fulfilled the prophecy: and that he was the 
Elijah mentioned by Malachi, the words of Gabriel to the 
virgin Mary prove; Luke i. 17. And he (John) shall go before 
him (Christ) in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the 
hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to 
the wisdom of the just, &c.; and that his ministry was 
powerfully effectual for this purpose, we have already seen.

Verse 12. Knew him not] Or, ouk epignwsan auton, They have 
not acknowledged him. That is, the Jewish rulers have not 
acknowledged him, did not receive him as the forerunner of 
the Messiah. But it appears that all the rest acknowledged 
him as such; and some, from the power and demonstration of 
his preaching, were inclined to think he was more, even the 
Messiah himself: see Luke iii. 15.

Verse 13. Then the disciples understood] When he spoke of the 
sufferings of this prophetic Elijah, and also of his own, 
which had been the subject of the conversation on the mount, 
during the transfiguration, they clearly apprehended that he 
spoke of John the Baptist.

Verse 14. When they were come to the multitude] It appears 
that a congregation had been collected during our Lord's stay 
on the mount: how great must have been the desire of these 
people to hear the words of Christ! The assembly is self-
collected, and no delay on the preacher's side discourages 
them-they continue to wait for him. In the present day how 
rare is this zeal! How few by the most pathetic invitation 
can be brought together, even at the most convenient times, 
to hear the same doctrines, and to get their souls healed by 
the same wonder-working Christ! Kneeling down to him] Or 
falling at his knees, gonupetwn. The ancients consecrated the 
EAR to memory; the FOREHEAD to genius; the RIGHT HAND to 
faith; and the KNEES to mercy: hence those who entreated 
favour fell at and touched the knees of the person whose 
kindness they supplicated. See Wakefield's Commentary; and 
see the note on Exod. ix. 29; where the subject is largely 
explained.

Verse 15. My son-is lunatic] selhniazetai. One who was most 
affected with this disorder at the change and full of the 
moon. See on chap. iv. 24. But this lunacy was occasioned by 
a demon, see ver. 18, and Mark ix. 17; Luke ix. 38. In this 
case, the devil intended to hide himself under the appearance 
of a natural disorder, that no supernatural means might be 
resorted to for his expulsion. See a remarkable account on 
Luke ix. 39.

Falleth ofttimes into the fire, and oft into the water.] The 
paroxysms of his disorder frequently recurred; and among his 
numerous falls, some were into the fire and some into the 
water: so that, on this account, his life was in continual 
danger. Those who are under the influence of the devil are 
often driven to extremes in every thing. Such are often 
driven into the fire of presumption, or the waters of 
despair. Satan takes advantage of our natural temper, state 
of health, and outward circumstances, to plague and ruin our 
souls.

Verse 16. Thy disciples could not cure him.] No wonder, when 
the cure must be effected by supernatural agency, and they 
had not faith enough to interest the power of God in their 
behalf, ver. 20. A spiritual disorder must have a spiritual 
remedy: natural means, in such cases, signify just-nothing.

Verse 17. O faithless and perverse generation!] These and the 
following words may be considered as spoken: 1. To the 
disciples, because of their unbelief, ver. 20. 2. To the 
father of the possessed, who should have brought his son to 
Christ. 3. To the whole multitude, who were slow of heart to 
believe in him as the Messiah, notwithstanding the miracles 
which he wrought. See KYPKE.

Perverse, diestrammenh, signifies-1. Such as are influenced 
by perverse opinions, which hinder them from receiving the 
truth: and, 2. Such as are profligate in their manners. 
KYPKE. This last expression could not have been addressed to 
the disciples, who were certainly saved from the corruption 
of the world, and whose minds had been lately divinely 
illuminated by what passed at and after the transfiguration: 
but at all times the expression was applicable to the Jewish 
people.

Verse 18. Jesus rebuked the devil] Deprived him of all power 
to torment the child; and obliged him to abandon his present 
usurped habitation.

There are some souls whose cure God reserves to himself 
alone, and to whom all the applications of his ministers 
appear to be utterly ineffectual.

He sometimes does all without them, that they may know they 
can never do any good without him. QUESNEL.

Verse 19. Why could not we cast him out?] They were 
confounded at their want of success-but not at their want of 
faith, which was the cause of their miscarriage! When the 
ministers of the Gospel find their endeavours, with respect 
to some places or persons, ineffectual, they should come, by 
private prayer, to Christ, humble themselves before him, and 
beg to be informed whether some evil in themselves have not 
been the cause of the unfruitfulness of their labours.

Verse 20. Because of your unbelief] Are we preachers of the 
Gospel? Do the things of God rest upon our minds with a deep 
and steady conviction? Can we expect that a doctrine which we 
do not, from conviction, credit ourselves, can be 
instrumental in our hands of begetting faith in others? So we 
preached, end so ye believed. The word preached generally 
begets in the people the same spirit which the preacher 
possesses. Instead of apistian, unbelief, the famous Vatican 
MS. and Cod. Cyprius, six others, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, 
and Arabic, Origen, and Chrysostom, read oligopistian, 
littleness of faith. The disciples had some faith, but not 
enough-they believed, but not fully.

As a grain of mustard seed] Some eminent critics think this a 
proverbial expression, intimating a GREAT DEGREE of faith, 
because removing mountains, which St. Paul, 1 Cor. xiii. 2, 
attributes to ALL FAITH; i.e. the greatest possible degree of 
faith, is attributed here, by our Lord, to that faith which is 
as a grain of mustard seed. However this may be, there can be 
no doubt that our Lord means, as BISHOP PEARCE well remarks, a 
thriving and increasing faith; which like the grain of mustard 
seed, from being the least of seeds, becomes the greatest of all 
herbs; even a tree in whose branches the fowls of the air take 
shelter. See WAKEFIELD'S Comment, and the note on chap. xiii. 
32.

Verse 21. This kind goeth not out but by prayer, &c.] touto 
to genov, this kind, some apply to the faith which should be 
exercised on the occasion, which goeth not out, doth not 
exert itself, but by prayer and fasting; but this 
interpretation is, in my opinion, far from solid. However, 
there is great difficulty in the text. The whole verse is 
wanting in the famous Vatican MS., one of the most ancient 
and most authentic perhaps in the world; and in another one 
of Colbert's, written in the 11th or 12th century. It is 
wanting also in the Coptic, Ethiopic, Syriac, Hieros., and in 
one copy of the Itala. But all the MSS. acknowledge it in the 
parallel place, Mark ix. 29, only the Vatican MS. leaves out 
nhsteia, fasting. I strongly suspect it to be an 
interpolation; but, if it be, it is very ancient, as Origen, 
Chrysostom, and others of the primitive fathers, acknowledged 
it. But while candour obliges me to acknowledge that I cannot 
account for the fact here alleged, that a certain class or 
genus of demons cannot be expelled but by prayer and fasting, 
while others may be ejected without them, I can give a sense 
to the passage which all my readers will easily understand: 
viz. that there are certain evil propensities, in some 
persons, which pampering the flesh tends to nourish and 
strengthen; and that self-denial and fasting, accompanied by 
prayer to God, are the most likely means, not only to mortify 
such propensities, but also to destroy them. For other 
remarkable circumstances relative to this case, see the notes 
on Mark ix. 17, &c.

Verse 22. They abode in Galilee] Lower Galilee, where the 
city of Capernaum was.

The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men] 
mellei-paradidosqai eiv ceirav-The Son of man is about to be 
delivered into the hands, &c. I am fully of the mind of two 
eminent critics, Grotius and Wakefield, that paradidosqai 
should be here translated delivered, or delivered up, not 
betrayed; and that the agency, in this case, should be 
referred to God, not to Judas. Jesus was delivered up, by the 
counsel of God, to be an atonement for the sin of the world. 
See Acts iv. 27, 28. Against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou 
hast anointed to do what thy hand and thy counsel determined 
before to be done, Herod and Pontius Pilate-were gathered 
together.

Verse 23. They were exceeding sorry] Since the conversation 
on the mount, with Moses and Elijah; Peter, James, and John 
could have no doubt that their Lord and Master must suffer, 
and that it was for this end he came into the world; but, 
while they submitted to the counsel of God, their affection 
for him caused them to feel exquisite distress.

Verse 24. They that received tribute] This was not a tax to 
be paid to the Roman government; but a tax for the support of 
the temple. The law, Exod. xxx. 13, obliged every male among 
the Jews to pay half a shekel yearly; for the support of the 
temple; and this was continued by them wherever dispersed, 
till after the time of Vespasian, see Josephus, WAR, book 7. 
c. 6, who ordered it afterwards to be paid into the Roman 
treasury.

The word in the text, which is generally translated tribute-
ta didracma, signifies the didrachma, or two drachms. This 
piece of money was about the value of two Attic drachms, each 
equal to fifteen pence of our money.

The didrachma of the Septuagint, mentioned Exod. xxx. 13, was 
twice as heavy as the Attic, for it was equal to a whole 
shekel, this being the value of that piece of money at 
Alexandrina, the place where the Septuagint translation was 
made; for the half shekel mentioned in the above passage, 
they render hmisu tou didacmou, the half of a didrachma.

Verse 25. He saith, Yes.] From this reply of Peter, it is 
evident that our Lord customarily paid all taxes, tributes, 
&c., which were common among the people wherever he came. The 
children of God are subject to all civil laws in the places 
where they live -and should pay the taxes levied on them by 
public authority; and though any of these should be found 
unjust, THEY rebel not, as their business is not to reform 
the politics of nations, but the morals of the world.

Verse 26. Then are the children free] As this money is levied 
for the support of that temple of which I am the Lord, then I 
am not obliged to pay the tax; and my disciples, like the 
priests that minister, should be exempted from the necessity 
of paying.

Verse 27. Lest we-offend them] Be a stumbling-block to the 
priests, or rulers of the Jews, I will pay the tribute-go 
thou to the sea-cast a hook, and take the first fish-thou 
shalt find a piece of money, stathra, a stater.

This piece of money was equal in value to four drachms, or 
two shekels, (five shillings of our money,) and consequently 
was sufficient to pay the tribute for our Lord and Peter, 
which amounted to about half-a-crown each. If the stater was 
in the mouth or belly of the fish before, who can help 
admiring the wisdom of Christ, that discovered it there? If 
it was not before in the mouth of the fish, who can help 
admiring the power of Christ, that impelled the fish to go 
where the stater had been lost in the bottom of the sea, take 
it up, come towards the shore where Peter was fishing, and, 
with the stater in its mouth or stomach, catch hold of the 
hook that was to draw it out of the water? But suppose there 
was no stater there, which is as likely as otherwise, then 
Jesus created it for the purpose, and here his omnipotence 
was shown; for to make a thing exist that did not exist 
before is an act of unlimited power, however small the thing 
itself may be. Some suppose that the haddock was the fish 
caught by Peter, because this fish has a blackish mark on 
each side of its neck or shoulders, as seems to exhibit the 
impression of a finger and thumb. The haddock is the gadus 
eglesinus. But this being a sea fish, could not be a native 
of the sea of Galilee or Tiberias, &c., for the river Jordan 
runs through the sea of Galilee, and falls into the Dead Sea, 
which has no outlet to the ocean: no sea fish of any kind can 
be found there; and we may add to this, that Belzoni, a 
learned traveler, who examined the produce of the lake of 
Tiberias, found only trouts, pikes, chevins, and tenches. 
That it may, besides these, have some fishes peculiar to 
itself, as most extensive fresh water lakes have, need not be 
denied; but it could have no sea fish.

THE account of the transfiguration, the peculiar case of the 
lunatic, with his cure, and the miracle wrought to pay the 
tribute money, render this one of the most interesting and 
instructive chapters in the New Testament.

1. To what has already been said on the subject of the 
transfiguration, nothing need be added: I have given that 
sense to it which the circumstances of the case, the 
construction of the words, and the analogy of faith warrant. 
That others have understood the whole transaction 
differently, is readily granted. Some of the foreign critics, 
who are also called divines, have stripped it, by their mode 
of interpretation, of all its strength, use, and meaning. 
With them, it is thus to be understood:-"Jesus, with his 
disciples, Peter, James, and John, went by night into a 
mountain, for the purpose of prayer and meditation; while 
thus engaged, the animal spirits of the disciples were 
overcome by watching and fatigue, and they fell asleep: in 
this sleep they dreamed, or Peter only dreamed, that he saw 
his Master encompassed with a glorious light, and that Moses 
and Elijah were conversing with him. That early in the 
morning, just as the sun was rising, there happened some 
electric or thunder-like explosions (a thing not unfrequent 
near some mountains) by which the disciples were suddenly 
awoke; that Peter, whose mind was strongly impressed with his 
dream, seeing the rising sun shine gloriously upon his 
Master, and his strongly impressed senses calling to 
remembrance his late vision, he for a moment imagined he saw, 
not only the glory of which he had dreamed, but the persons 
also-Moses and Elijah, still standing on the mount with 
Christ; that not being as yet sufficiently awake, finding the 
images impressed on his imagination fleeting away with his 
returning exercise of reason, he cried out, before he was 
aware, Lord! it is good for its to be here, let us make three 
tabernacles, &c.; but in a short time, having recovered the 
regular use of his senses, he perceived that it was a dream; 
and, having told it to our Lord and his brother disciples, 
lest the Jews might take occasion of jealousy from it, he was 
desired to tell the vision to no man." This is the substance 
of that strange explanation given by those learned men to 
this extraordinary transaction; a mode of interpretation only 
calculated to support that system which makes it an important 
point to deny and decry all supernatural and miraculous 
influence, and to explain away all the spirituality of the 
New Testament. Whatever ingenuity may be in this pretended 
elucidation, every unprejudiced person must see that it can 
never be brought to accord with the letter and concomitant 
circumstances of this most remarkable case.

2. The cure of the deaf and dumb lunatic has been treated, by 
the same critics, in nearly the same way, and for the same 
obvious design, namely, to exclude from the world all 
supernatural agency; and could they succeed in this, of what 
value, or, indeed, utility, could the whole New Testament be 
to mankind? We might be well astonished to find such a 
history, with such a great variety of curious and apparently 
interesting circumstances:-a wondrous person, labouring, 
preaching, suffering, dying, &c., &c., without having 
scarcely any thing in view, but a sort of merely moral 
reformation of the outward man! Truly, this:-" Is like an 
ocean into tempest toss'd, To waft a feather, or to drown a 
fly." But the truth of God's miraculous interpositions, the 
miracles of the New Testament, demoniacal possessions and 
influence, the atonement, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 
the regeneration of the corrupted human heart, &c., etc ,, 
must not be given up to please a certain description of 
persons, who have no commerce with God themselves, and cannot 
bear that others should either have or pretend to it.

3. The miracle wrought for the paying of the temple tribute 
money, is exceedingly remarkable. The note on ver. 27, brings 
this particularly to view. To what is there said, it may be 
added, that our Lord seems to have wrought this miracle for 
the following purposes:-1.

More forcibly to impress the minds of his disciples, and his 
followers in general, with the necessity and propriety of 
being subject to all the laws of the different states, 
kingdoms, &c., wheresoever the providence of God might cast 
their lot.

2. To show forth his own unlimited power and knowledge, that 
they might be fully convinced that he knew all things, even 
to the most minute; and could do whatsoever he pleased; and 
that both his wisdom and power were continually interested in 
behalf of his true disciples.

3. To teach all believers a firm trust and reliance on Divine 
Providence, the sources of which can never be exhausted; and 
which, directed by infinite wisdom and love, will make every 
provision essentially requisite for the comfort and support, 
of life. How many of the poor followers of Christ have been 
enabled to discern his kind hand, even in the means furnished 
them to discharge the taxes laid on them by the state! The 
profane and the unprincipled may deride, and mock on, but the 
people of God know it to be their duty, and their interest, 
to be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake; 
and, while his grace and providence render this obedience, in 
things both spiritual and secular, possible, his love, which 
their hearts feel, renders their duty their delight. The 
accomplishment of such ends as these is worthy both of the 
wisdom and benevolence of Christ.

CHAPTER xviii

The disciples inquiring who should be greatest in Christ's 
kingdom, 1. He takes occasion to recommend humility, 
simplicity, and disinterestedness, 2-6. Warns them against 
offenses, 7. Recommends mortification and self-denial. 8, 9. 
Charges them to avoid giving offense. 10, 11. Parable of him 
who had lost one sheep out of his flock consisting of one 
hundred, 12-14. How to deal with an offending brother, 15-18. 
A gracious promise to social prayer, 19, 20. How often an 
offending brother who expresses sorrow, and promises 
amendment, is to be forgiven, 21, 22. The parable of the 
king, who calls his servants to account, and finds one who 
owed him ten thousand talents, who, being unable to pay, and 
imploring mercy, is forgiven, 23-27. Of the same person, who 
treated his fellow-servant unmercifully, who owed him but a 
small sum, 28-30. Of the punishment inflicted on this 
unmerciful servant, 31-35.

NOTES ON CHAP. xviii

Verse 1. At the same time] Or hour; but wra is frequently 
used to signify some particular time: however, instead of 
wra, three MSS., all the Itala but four, and Origen, read 
hmera, day. Origen says both readings were extant in MSS. in 
his time.

Who is the greatest] Could these disciples have viewed the 
kingdom of Christ in any other light than that of a temporal 
one? Hence they wished to know whom he would make his prime 
minister-whom his general-whom his chief chancellor-whom 
supreme judge, &c., &c. Is it he who first became thy 
disciple, or he who is thy nearest relative, or he who has 
most frequently entertained thee, or he who is the oldest, 
merely as to years? Could this inquiry have proceeded from 
any but the nine disciples who had not witnessed our Lord's 
transfiguration? Peter, James, and John, were surely more 
spiritual in their views! And yet how soon did even these 
forget that his kingdom was not of this world! See Mark x. 
35, &c.; John xviii. 10, &c. The disciples having lately seen 
the keys delivered to Peter, and found that he, with James 
and John, had been privileged with being present at the 
transfiguration, it is no wonder if a measure of jealousy and 
suspicion began to work in their minds. From this inquiry we 
may also learn, that the disciples had no notion of Peter's 
supremacy; nor did they understand, as the Roman Catholics 
will have it, that Christ had constituted him their head, 
either by the conversation mentioned chap. xvi. 18, 19, or by 
the act mentioned in the conclusion of the preceding chapter. 
Had they thought that any such superiority had been designed, 
their present question must have been extremely impertinent. 
Let this be observed.

Verse 2. A little child] But this child could walk, for he 
called him to him. Nicephorus says, this was Ignatius, who 
was afterwards bishop of Antioch, and suffered martyrdom 
under, and by command of, the Roman Emperor Trojan, in the 
107th year of our Lord. But this good father is not much to 
be depended on, being both weak and credulous.

Verse 3. Except ye be converted] Unless ye be saved from 
those prejudices which are at present so baneful to your 
nation, (seeking a temporal and not a spiritual kingdom,) 
unless ye be clothed with the spirit of humility, ye cannot 
enter into the spirit, design, and privileges of my spiritual 
and eternal kingdom. The name of this kingdom should put you 
in mind of its nature.-1. The KING is heavenly; 2. His 
SUBJECTS are heavenly-minded; 3. Their COUNTRY is heavenly, 
for they are strangers and pilgrims upon earth; 4. The 
GOVERNMENT of this kingdom is wholly spiritual and divine. 
See on chap. iii. 2.

And become as little children] i.e. Be as truly without 
worldly ambition, and the lust of power, as little children 
are, who act among themselves as if all were equal. The 
following saying from the Boostan of the poet Saady is very 
appropriate. "The hearts of infants being free from avarice, 
what care they for a handful of silver more than for a 
handful of dust?"

Verse 4. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself] So great 
is the disparity between the kingdom of Christ and the 
kingdoms of this world, that there is no way of rising to 
honours in the former, but by humility of mind, and continual 
self-abasement.

The same is greatest] Thus our Lord shows them that they were 
all equal, and that there could be no superiority among them, 
but what must come from the deepest humility; he intimates 
also, that wherever this principle should be found, it would 
save its possessor from seeking worldly honours or earthly 
profits, and from seeking to be a ruler over his brethren, or 
a lord in God's heritage.

Verse 5. One such little child] As our Lord in the preceding 
verses considers a little child an emblem of a genuine 
disciple, so by the term in this verse he means a disciple 
only. "Whosoever will receive, i.e. show unto such a child-
like, unambitious disciple of mine, any act of kindness for 
my sake, I will consider it as done to myself."

Verse 6. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones] 
But, on the contrary, whosoever shall cause one of the least 
of those who believe in me to be stumbled-to go into the 
spirit of the world, or give way to sin-such a one shall meet 
with the most exemplary punishment.

Let those who act the part of the devil, in tempting others 
to sin, hear this declaration of our Lord, and tremble.

A millstone] mulov onikov, an ass's millstone, because in 
ancient times, before the invention of wind and water mills, 
the stones were turned sometimes by slaves, but commonly by 
asses or mules. The most ancient kind of mills among the 
inhabitants of the northern nations, was the quern, or hand-
mill. In some places in Ireland, Scotland, and the Zetland 
Isles, these still exist.

Drowned in the depth of the sea.] It is supposed that in 
Syria, as well as in Greece, this mode of punishing criminals 
was practised; especially in cases of parricide; and when a 
person was devoted to destruction for the public safety, as 
in cases of plague, famine, &c. That this was the custom in 
Greece, we learn from the Scholiast on the Equites of 
Aristophanes, otan gar katepontoun tinav, barov apo twn 
trachlwn ekremwn.

When a person was drowned, they hung a weight, (uperbolon 
liqon, Suidas,) a vast stone about his neck. See the ancient 
Scholia upon the Equites, lin. 1360, and Suidas, in uperbolon 
liqon. We find also that it was a positive institute of the 
ancient Hindoo law. "If a woman," says the precept, "causes 
any person to take poison, sets fire to any person's house, 
or murders a man, then the magistrate, having bound a stone 
to her neck, shall drown her." Halhead's Code of Gentoo Laws, 
4to. edition, page 306.

Verse 7. Wo!] Or, alas! ouai. It is the opinion of some 
eminent critics, that this word is ever used by our Lord to 
express sympathy and concern.

Because of offenses] Scandals, stumbling-blocks, 
persecutions, &c.

For it must needs be that offenses come] anagke gar estin 
elqein ta skandala, for the coming of offenses is 
unavoidable. Such is the wickedness of men, such their 
obstinacy, that they will not come unto Christ that they may 
have life, but desperately continue deceiving and being 
deceived. In such a state of things, offenses, stumbling-
blocks, persecutions, &c., are unavoidable.

Wo to that man] He who gives the offense, and he who receives 
it, are both exposed to ruin.

Verse 8. - 9. If thy hand, &c.] See the notes on chap. v. 29, 
30. 

 Verse 10. One of these little ones] One of my simple, 
loving, humble disciples.

Their angels-always behold] Our Lord here not only alludes 
to, but, in my opinion, establishes the notion received by 
almost all nations, viz.

That every person has a guardian angel; and that these have 
always access to God, to receive orders relative to the 
management of their charge. See Psa. xxxiv. 8; Heb. i. 14.

Always behold the face] Hence, among the Jews, the angels 
were styled µynp yklm , malakey panim, angels of the face, 
and Michael is said to be µynph rs , sar ha-panim the prince 
of the face. This is an allusion to the privilege granted by 
eastern monarchs to their chief favourites; a privilege which 
others were never permitted to enjoy. The seven princes of 
Media and Persia, who were the chief favourites and privy-
counsellors of Ahasuerus, are said to see the king's face. 
Esth. i. 14; see also 2 Kings xxv. 19, and Jer. li. 25. Our 
Lord's words give us to understand that humble-hearted, 
child-like disciples, are objects of his peculiar care, and 
constant attention. The clause, en ouranoiv, in the heavens, 
is wanting in several MSS., versions, and fathers.

Verse 11. For the Son of man, &c.] This is added as a second 
reason, why no injury should be done to his followers. "The 
Son of man has so loved them as to come into the world to lay 
down his life for them." That which was lost.] apolwlov. In 
Revelation ix. 11, Satan is called apolluwn, Apolluon, the 
destroyer, or him who lays waste. This name bears a near 
relation to that state in which our Lord tells us he finds 
all mankind-lost, desolated, ruined. So it appears that Satan 
and men have the nearest affinity to each other-as the 
destroyer and the destroyed-the desolator and the desolated] 
the loser and the lost. But the Son of man came to save the 
lost. Glorious news! May every lost soul feel it! This verse 
is omitted by five MSS., two versions, and three of the 
fathers; but of its authenticity there can be no doubt, as it 
is found in the parallel place, Luke xix. 10, on which verse 
there is not a single various reading found in any of the 
MSS. that have ever been discovered, nor in any of the 
ancient versions.

Verse 12. Doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth 
into the mountains] So our common translation reads the 
verse; others, Doth he not leave the ninety and nine UPON THE 
MOUNTAINS, and go, &c. This latter reading appears to me to 
be the best; because, in Luke xv. 4, it is said, he leaveth 
the ninety and nine IN THE DESERT. The allusion, therefore, 
is to a shepherd feeding his sheep on the mountains, in the 
desert; not seeking the lost one ON the mountains.

Leaving the ninety and nine, and seeking the ONE strayed 
sheep:-This was a very common form of speech among the Jews, 
and includes no mystery, though there are some who imagine 
that our Lord refers to the angels who kept not their first 
estate, and that they are in number, to men, as NINETY are to 
ONE. But it is likely that our Lord in this place only 
alludes to his constant solicitude to instruct, heal, and 
save those simple people of the sea coasts, country villages, 
&c., who were scattered abroad, as sheep without a shepherd, 
(chap. ix. 36,) the scribes and Pharisees paying no attention 
to their present or eternal well-being. This may be also 
considered as a lesson of instruction and comfort to 
backsliders. How hardly does Christ give them up!

Verse 13. He rejoiceth more] It is justly observed by one, on 
this verse, that it is natural for a person to express 
unusual joy at the fortunate accomplishment of an unexpected 
event.

Verse 14. It is not the will of your Father] If any soul be 
finally lost, it is not because God's will or counsel was 
against its salvation, or that a proper provision had not 
been made for it; but that, though light came into the world, 
it preferred darkness to light, because of its attachment to 
its evil deeds.

Verse 15. If thy brother] Any who is a member of the same 
religious society, sin against thee, 1. Go and reprove him 
alone,-it may be in person; if that cannot be so well done, 
by thy messenger, or in writing, (which in many cases is 
likely to be the most effectual.) Observe, our Lord gives no 
liberty to omit this, or to exchange it for either of the 
following steps. If this do not succeed,

Verse 16. 2. Take with thee one or two more] Men whom he 
esteems, who may then confirm and enforce what thou sayest; 
and afterwards, if need require, bear witness of what was 
spoken. If even this do not succeed, then, and not before,

Verse 17. 3. Tell it unto the Church] Lay the whole matter 
before the congregation of Christian believers, in that place 
of which he is a member, or before the minister and elders, 
as the representatives of the Church or assembly. If all this 
avail not, then, Let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a 
publican.] To whom thou art, as a Christian, to owe earnest 
and persevering good will, and acts of kindness; but have no 
religious communion with him, till, if he have been 
convicted, he acknowledge his fault. Whosoever follows this 
threefold rule will seldom offend others, and never be 
offended himself.-Rev. J. WESLEY.

Reproving a brother who had sinned was a positive command 
under the law. See Lev. xix. 17. And the Jews have a saying, 
that one of the causes of the ruin of their nation was, "No 
man reproved another." On the word Church, see at "Matthew 
xvi. 28".

Verse 18. Whatsoever ye shall bind, &c.] Whatever 
determinations ye make, in conformity to these directions for 
your conduct to an offending brother, will be accounted just, 
and ratified by the Lord. See on chap. xvi. 19; and, to what 
is there said, the following observations may be profitably 
added.

osa ean dhshte-kai osa ean lushte. Binding and loosing, in 
this place, and in chap. xvi. 19, is generally restrained, by 
Christian interpreters, to matters of discipline and 
authority. But it is as plain as the sun, by what occurs in 
numberless places dispersed throughout the Mishna, and from 
thence commonly used by the later rabbins when they treat of 
ritual subjects, that binding signified, and was commonly 
understood by the Jews at that time to be, a declaration that 
any thing was unlawful to be done; and loosing signified, on 
the contrary, a declaration that any thing may be lawfully 
done. Our saviour spoke to his disciples in a language which 
they understood, so that they were not in the least at a loss 
to comprehend his meaning; and its being obsolete to us is no 
manner of reason why we should conclude that it was obscure 
to them. The words, bind and loose, are used in both places 
in a declaratory sense, of things, not of persons. It is o 
and osa, in the neuter gender, both in chap. 16, and here in 
this: i.e. Whatsoever thing or things ye shall bind or loose.

Consequently, the same commission which was given at first to 
St. Peter alone, (chap. xvi. 19,) was afterwards enlarged to 
all the apostles. St. Peter had made a confession that Jesus 
was the Christ, the Son of God.

His confession of the Divinity of our Lord was the first that 
ever was made by man; to him, therefore, were given the keys 
of the kingdom of heaven: i.e. God made choice of him among 
all the apostles, that the Gentiles should first, by his 
mouth, hear the word of the Gospel, and believe. He first 
opened the kingdom of heaven to the Gentiles, when he 
preached to Cornelius. It was open to the Jews all along 
before; but if we should suppose that it was not, yet to them 
also did St. Peter open the kingdom of heaven, in his sermon 
at the great pentecost. Thus, then, St. Peter exercised his 
two keys: that for the Jews at the great pentecost; and that 
for the Gentiles, when he admitted Cornelius into the Church. 
And this was the reward of his first confession, in which he 
owned Jesus to be the promised Messiah. And what St. Peter 
loosed, i.e. declared as necessary to be believed and 
practised by the disciples here, was ratified above. And what 
he declared unlawful to be believed and practised, (i.e.

what he bound,) was actually forbidden by God himself.

I own myself obliged to Dr. Lightfoot for this interpretation 
of the true notion of binding and loosing. It is a noble one, 
and perfectly agrees with the ways of speaking then in use 
among the Jews. It is observable that these phrases, of 
binding and loosing, occur no where in the New Testament but 
in St. Matthew, who is supposed to have written his Gospel 
first in Hebrew, from whence it was translated into Greek, 
and then the force and use of the expression will better 
appear. Dr. Wotton's Miscell. Discourses, vol. i. p. 309, 
&c., &c.

"The phrases to bind and to loose were Jewish, and most 
frequent in their writers. It belonged only to the teachers 
among the Jews to bind and to loose. When the Jews set any 
apart to be a preacher, they used these words, 'Take thou 
liberty to teach what is BOUND and what is LOOSE.'" Strype's 
preface to the Posthumous Remains of Dr. Lightfoot, p. 38.

Verse 19. Again I say unto you] The word amhn, verily, is 
added here, in ninety-eight MSS., (many of which are of the 
greatest antiquity and importance,) seven editions, all the 
Arabic, the Slavonic, and several of the Itala. The taking in 
or leaving out such a word may appear to some a matter of 
indifference; but, as I am fully convinced Jesus Christ never 
spoke a useless or a needless word, my maxim is, to omit not 
one syllable that I am convinced (from such authority as the 
above) he has ever used, and to take in nothing that he did 
not speak. It makes the passage much more emphatic-Again, 
VERILY I say unto you, If two of you shall agree] 
sumfwnhstwsin, symphonize, or harmonize.

It is a metaphor taken from a number of musical instruments 
set to the same key, and playing the same tune: here, it 
means a perfect agreement of the hearts, desires, wishes, and 
voices, of two or more persons praying to God. It also 
intimates that as a number of musical instruments, skilfully 
played, in a good concert, are pleasing to the ears of men, 
so a number of persons united together in warm, earnest, 
cordial prayer, is highly pleasing in the sight and ears of 
the Lord. Now this conjoint prayer refers, in all 
probability, to the binding and loosing in the preceding 
verse; and thus we see what power faithful prayer has with 
God! It shall be done for them] What an encouragement to 
pray! even to two, if there be no more disposed to join in 
this heavenly work.

Verse 20. For where two-are gathered together in thy name] 
There are many sayings among the Jews almost exactly similar 
to this, such as, Wherever even two persons are sitting in 
discourse concerning the law, the Divine presence is among 
them. See much more in Schoettgen. And the following, among 
the ancient Hindoos, is like unto it: "When Brahma, the Lord 
of creation, had formed mankind, and at the same time 
appointed his worship, he spoke and said, 'With this worship 
pray for increase, and let it be that on which ye shall 
depend for the accomplishment of all your wishes. With this 
remember God, that God may remember you. Remember one 
another, and ye shall obtain supreme happiness. God, being 
remembered in worship, will grant you the enjoyment of your 
wishes: he who enjoyeth what hath been given unto him by God, 
and offereth not a portion unto him, is even as a thief. Know 
that good works come from Brahma, whose nature is 
incorruptible; wherefore, the omnipresent Brahma is PRESENT 
IN THE WORSHIP." See the Bagvat Geeta, p. 45, 46.

In my name] Seems to refer particularly to a public 
profession of Christ and his Gospel.

There am I in the midst] None but God could say these words, 
to say them with truth, because God alone is every where 
present, and these words refer to his omnipresence. Wherever-
suppose millions of assemblies were collected in the same 
moment, in different places of the creation, (which is a very 
possible case,) this promise states that Jesus is in each of 
them. Can any, therefore, say these words, except that God 
who fills both heaven and earth? But Jesus says these words: 
ergo-Jesus is God. Let it be observed, that Jesus is not 
among them to spy out their sins; or to mark down the 
imperfections of their worship; but to enlighten, strengthen, 
comfort, and save them.

Verse 21. Till seven times?] Though seven was a number of 
perfection among the Hebrews, and often meant much more than 
the units in it imply, yet it is evident that Peter uses it 
here in its plain literal sense, as our Lord's words 
sufficiently testify. It was a maxim among the Jews never to 
forgive more than thrice: Peter enlarges this charity more 
than one half; and our Lord makes even his enlargement 
septuple, see ver. 22.

Revenge is natural to man, i.e. man is naturally a vindictive 
being, and, in consequence, nothing is more difficult to him 
than forgiveness of injuries.

Verse 22. Seventy times seven.] There is something very 
remarkable in these words, especially if collated with 
Genesis iv. 24, where the very same words are used-"If any 
man kill LAMECH, he shall be avenged seventy times seven." 
The just God punishes sin in an exemplary manner. Sinful man, 
who is exposed to the stroke of Divine justice, should be 
abundant in forgiveness, especially as the merciful only 
shall find mercy. See the note on chap. v. 7, and on chap. 
vi. 14, 15. The sum seventy times seven makes four hundred 
and ninety. Now an offense, properly such, is that which is 
given wantonly, maliciously, and without ANY PROVOCATION. It 
is my opinion, that, let a man search ever so accurately, he 
will not find that he has received, during the whole course 
of his life, four hundred and ninety such offenses. If the 
man who receives the offense has given any cause for it, in 
that case, the half of the offense, at least, towards his 
brother, ceases.

Verse 23. Therefore is the kingdom] In respect to sin, 
cruelty, and oppression, God will proceed in the kingdom of 
heaven (the dispensation of the Gospel) as he did in former 
times; and every person shall give an account of himself to 
God. Every sin is a debt contracted with the justice of God; 
men are all God's own servants; and the day is at hand in 
which their Master will settle accounts with them, inquire 
into their work, and pay them their wages. Great Judge! what 
an awful time must this be, when with multitudes nothing 
shall be found but sin and insolvency! By servant, in the 
text, we are to understand, a petty king, or tributary 
prince; for no hired servant could possibly owe such a sum as 
is here mentioned.

Verse 24. Ten thousand talents] muriwn talantwn, a myriad of 
talents, the highest number known in Greek arithmetical 
notation. An immense sum, which, if the silver talent be 
designed, amounts to 4,500,000 sterling; but if the gold 
talent be meant which is by far the most likely, then the 
amount is 67,500,000 sterling, a sum equal to the annual 
revenue of the British empire! See the note on Exod. xxv. 39. 
The margin above is incorrect.

Verse 25. He had not to pay] That is not being able to pay. 
As there could not be the smallest probability that a 
servant, wholly dependent on his master, who was now 
absolutely insolvent, could ever pay a debt he had contracted 
of more than 67 millions! -so is it impossible for a sinner, 
infinitely indebted to Divine justice, ever to pay a mite out 
of the talent.

Commanded him to be sold-his wife-children, &c.] Our Lord 
here alludes to an ancient custom among the Hebrews, of 
selling a man and his family to make payment of contracted 
debts. See Exodus xxii. 3; Lev. xxv. 30, 47; 2 Kings iv. 1. 
This custom passed from among the Jews to the Greeks and 
Romans. I have already remarked (see Gen. xlvii. 19) that in 
the Burman empire the sale of whole families, to discharge 
debts, is very common.

Verse 26. Fell down and worshipped him] prosekunei autw, 
crouched as a dog before him, with the greatest deference, 
submission, and anxiety.

Have patience with me] makroqumhson epĘ emoi, be long-minded 
towards me-give me longer space.

The means which a sinner should use to be saved, are, 1. Deep 
humiliation of heart-he fell down. 2. Fervent prayer. 3. 
Confidence in the mercy of God-have patience. 4. A firm 
purpose to devote his soul and body to his Maker-I will pay 
thee all. A sinner may be said, according to the economy of 
grace, to pay all, when he brings the sacrifice of the Lord 
Jesus to the throne of justice, by faith; thus offering an 
equivalent for the pardon he seeks, and paying all he owes to 
Divine justice, by presenting the blood of the Lamb.

Verse 27. Moved with compassion] Or with tender pity. This is 
the source of salvation to a lost world, the tender pity, the 
eternal mercy of God.

Verse 28. A hundred pence] Rather denarii. The denarius was a 
Roman coin, worth about seven-pence halfpenny English. The 
original word should be retained, as our word penny does not 
convey the seventh part of the meaning. A hundred denarii 
would amount to about 3l. 2s. 6d. British, or, if reckoned as 
some do, at seven-pence three farthings, the sum would be 3l. 
4s. 7d.

Took him by the throat] krathsav auton epnige. There is no 
word I am acquainted with, which so fully expresses the 
meaning of the original, epnige, as the Anglo-saxon term 
throttle: it signified (like the Greek) to half choke a 
person, by seizing his throat.

Verse 29. Fell down at his feet] This clause is wanting in 
several ancient MSS., versions, and fathers. Several printed 
editions also have omitted it; Griesbach has left it out of 
the text.

Pay thee all.] panta, all, is omitted by a multitude of MSS., 
versions, and fathers.

Verse 30. And he would not, &c.] To the unmerciful, God will 
show no mercy; this is an eternal purpose of the Lord, which 
never can be changed.

God teaches us what to do to a fellow-sinner, by what HE does 
to us. Our fellow-servant's debt to us, and ours to God, are 
as one hundred denarii to ten thousand talents! When we 
humble ourselves before him, God freely forgives us all this 
mighty sum! And shall we exact from our brother recompense 
for the most trifling faults? Reader, if thou art of this 
unmerciful, unforgiving cast, read out the chapter.

"All the souls that are were forfeit once, And he who might 
the 'vantage best have took, Found out the remedy. How would 
you be, If HE, who is the top of judgment, should But judge 
you as you are? O! think on that, And mercy then will breathe 
within your lips Like man new made Though justice be thy 
plea, consider this, That, in the course of justice, none of 
us Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; And that same 
prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of Mercy.-"

Verse 31. His fellow-servants saw what was done] An act of 
this kind is so dishonourable to all the followers of Christ, 
and to the spirit of his Gospel, that through the respect 
they owe to their Lord and Master, and through the concern 
they feel for the prosperity of his cause, they are obliged 
to plead against it at the throne of God.

Verse 32. His lord, after that he had called him] Alas! how 
shall he appear! Confounded. What shall he answer? He is 
speechless! 

Verse 33. Shouldest not thou also have had compassion] ouk 
edei kai se, Did it not become thee also? What a cutting 
reproach! It became ME to show mercy, when thou didst 
earnestly entreat me, because I am MERCIFUL, It became thee 
also to have shown mercy, because thou wert so deep in debt 
thyself, and hadst obtained mercy.

Verse 34. Delivered him to the tormentors] Not only continued 
captivity is here intended, but the tortures to be endured in 
it. If a person was suspected of fraud, as there was reason 
for in such a case as that mentioned here, he was put to very 
cruel tortures among the Asiatics, to induce him to confess. 
In the punishments of China, a great variety of these appear; 
and probably there is an allusion to such torments in this 
place. Before, he and all that he had, were only to be sold. 
Now, as he has increased his debt, so he has increased his 
punishment; he is delivered to the tormentors, to the horrors 
of a guilty conscience, and to a fearful looking for of fiery 
indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. But if this 
refers to the day of judgment, then the worm that dieth not, 
and the fire that is not quenched, are the tormentors.

Verse 35. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto 
you] The goodness and indulgence of God towards us is the 
pattern we should follow in our dealings with others. If we 
take man for our exemplar we shall err, because our copy is a 
bad one; and our lives are not likely to be better than the 
copy we imitate. Follow Christ; be merciful as your Father 
who is in heaven is merciful. You cannot complain of the 
fairness of your copy. Reader, hast thou a child, or servant 
who has offended thee, and humbly asks forgiveness? Hast thou 
a debtor, or a tenant, who is insolvent, and asks for a 
little longer time? And hast thou not forgiven that child or 
servant? Hast thou not given time to that debtor or tenant? 
How, then, canst thou ever expect to see the face of the just 
and merciful God? Thy child is banished, or kept at a 
distance; thy debtor is thrown into prison, or thy tenant 
sold up: yet the child offered to fall at thy feet; and the 
debtor or tenant, utterly insolvent, prayed for a little 
longer time, hoping God would enable him to pay thee all; but 
to these things thy stony heart and seared conscience paid no 
regard! O monster of ingratitude! Scandal to human nature, 
and reproach to God! If thou canst, go hide thyself-even in 
hell, from the face of the Lord! Their trespasses.] These 
words are properly left out by GREISBACH, and other eminent 
critics, because they are wanting in some of the very best 
MSS. most of the versions, and in some of the chief of the 
fathers. The words are evidently an interpolation; the 
construction of them is utterly improper, and the concord 
false.

In our common method of dealing with insolvent debtors, we in 
some sort imitate the Asiatic customs: we put them in prison, 
and all their circumstances there are so many tormentors; the 
place, the air, the company, the provision, the 
accommodation, all destructive to comfort, to peace, to 
health, and to every thing that humanity can devise. If the 
person be poor, or comparatively poor, is his imprisonment 
likely to lead him to discharge his debt? His creditor may 
rest assured that he is now farther from his object than 
ever: the man had no other way of discharging the debt but by 
his labour; that is now impossible, through his confinement, 
and the creditor is put to a certain expense towards his 
maintenance. How foolish is this policy! And how much do such 
laws stand in need of revision and amendment! Imprisonment 
for debt, in such a case as that supposed above, can answer 
no other end than the gratification of the malice, revenge, 
or inhumanity of the creditor. Better sell all that he has, 
and, with his hands and feet untied, let him begin the world 
afresh. Dr. Dodd very feelingly inquires here, "Whether 
rigour in exacting temporal debts, in treating without mercy 
such as are unable to satisfy them-whether this can be 
allowed to a Christian, who is bound to imitate his God and 
Father? To a debtor, who can expect forgiveness only on the 
condition of forgiving others? To a servant, who should obey 
his Master?-and to a criminal, who is in daily expectation of 
his Judge and final sentence?" Little did he think, when he 
wrote this sentence, that himself should be a melancholy 
proof, not only of human weakness, but of the relentless 
nature of those laws by which property, or rather money, is 
guarded. The unfortunate Dr. Dodd was hanged for forgery, in 
1777, and the above note was written only seven years before! 
The unbridled and extravagant appetites of men sometimes 
require a rigour even beyond the law to suppress them. While, 
then, we learn lessons of humanity from what is before us, 
let us also learn lessons of prudence, sobriety, and 
moderation. The parable of the two debtors is blessedly 
calculated to give this information.

CHAPTER xix

Jesus leaves Galilee, and comes into the coasts of Judea, and 
is followed by great multitudes, whom he heals, 1, 2. The 
question of the Pharisees concerning divorce answered, and 
the doctrine of marriage explained, 3-9. The inquiry of the 
disciples on this subject, 10. Our Lord's answer, explaining 
the case of eunuchs, 11, 12. Little children brought to 
Christ for his blessing, 13-15. The case of the young man who 
wished to obtain eternal life, 16-22. Our Lords reflections 
on this case, in which he shows the difficulty of a rich 
man's salvation, 23-26. What they shall possess who have left 
all for Christ's sake and the Gospel. 27-29 How many of the 
first shall be last, and the last first, 30.

NOTES ON CHAP. xix

Verse 1. Beyond Jordan] Or, by the side of Jordan. Matthew 
begins here to give an account of Christ's journey (the only 
one he mentions) to Jerusalem, a little before the passover, 
at which he was crucified. See Mark x. 1; Luke ix. 51.

Jesus came from Galilee (which lay to the north of Judea) 
into the coasts of Judea; and from thence, in his way to 
Jerusalem, he went through Jericho, (chap. xx. 17, 29,) which 
lay at the distance of sixty furlongs, or seven miles and a 
half from Jordan, to the western side of it. See Joseph.

WAR, book iv. chap. 8. sect. 3. It seems, therefore, most 
probable, that the course of Christ's journey led him by the 
side of the river Jordan, not beyond it. That the Greek word 
peran, especially with a genitive case as here, has sometimes 
this signification, see on John vi. 22; see also Bp. Pearce.

Verse 2. Great multitudes followed him] Some to be 
instructed-some to be healed-some through curiosity-and some 
to ensnare him.

Verse 3. Tempting him] Trying what answer he would give to a 
question, which, however decided by him, would expose him to 
censure.

Is it lawful-for every cause?] Instead of aitian, fault, 
cause, reason, three MSS. and the Coptic version read 
amartian, sin or transgression: this was probably the 
original reading-the first syllable being lost, artian alone 
would remain, which a subsequent transcriber would suppose to 
be a mistake for aitian, and so wrote it; hence this various 
reading. What made our Lord's situation at present so 
critical in respect to this question was: At this time there 
were two famous divinity and philosophical schools among the 
Jews, that of SHAMMAI, and that of HILLEL. On the question of 
divorce, the school of Shammai maintained, that a man could 
not legally put away his wife, except for whoredom. The 
school of Hillel taught that a man might put away his wife 
for a multitude of other causes, and when she did not find 
grace in his sight; i.e. when he saw any other woman that 
pleased him better. See the case of Josephus, mentioned in 
the note on chap. v. 31, and Calmet's Comment, vol. i. part 
ii. p. 379. By answering the question, not from Shammai or 
Hillel, but from Moses, our blessed Lord defeated their 
malice, and confounded their devices.

Verse 4. He which made them at the beginning] When Adam and 
Eve were the first of human kind.

Made them male and female] Merely through the design of 
matrimonial union, that the earth might be thus peopled. To 
answer a case of conscience, a man should act as Christ does 
here; pay no regard to that which the corruption of manners 
has introduced into Divine ordinances, but go back to the 
original will, purpose, and institution of God. Christ will 
never accommodate his morality to the times, nor to the 
inclinations of men. What was done at the beginning is what 
God judged most worthy of his glory, most profitable for man, 
and most suitable to nature.

Verse 5. For this cause] Being created for this very purpose; 
that they might glorify their Maker in a matrimonial 
connection. A man shall leave (kataleiyai, wholly give up) 
both father and mother-the matrimonial union being more 
intimate and binding than even paternal or filial affection;-
and shall be closely united, proskollhqhsetai, shall be 
firmly cemented to his wife. A beautiful metaphor, which most 
forcibly intimates that nothing but death can separate them: 
as a well-glued board will break sooner in the whole wood, 
than in the glued joint. So also the Hebrew word qbd debak 
implies.

And they twain shall be one flesh?] Not only meaning, that 
they should be considered as one body, but also as two souls 
in one body, with a complete union of interests, and an 
indissoluble partnership of life and fortune, comfort and 
support, desires and inclinations, joys and sorrows.

Farther, it appears to me, that the words in Gen. ii. 24, dja 
rsbl lebasar achad, for one flesh, which our Lord literally 
translates, mean also, that children, compounded as it were 
of both, should be the product of the matrimonial connection. 
Thus, they two (man and woman) shall be for the producing of 
one flesh, the very same kind of human creature with 
themselves. See the note on Gen. ii. 24.

Verse 6. What therefore God hath joined together] sunezeuxen, 
yoked together, as oxen in the plough, where each must pull 
equally, in order to bring it on. Among the ancients, when 
persons were newly married, they put a yoke upon their necks, 
or chains upon their arms, to show that they were to be one, 
closely united, and pulling equally together in all the 
concerns of life. See KYPKE in loco.

The finest allegorical representation of the marriage union I 
have met with, is that antique gem representing the marriage 
of Cupid and Psyche, in the collection of the duke of 
Marlborough: it may be seen also among Baron Stoch's gems, 
and casts or copies of it in various other collections. 1. 
Both are represented as winged, to show the alacrity with 
which the husband and wife should help, comfort and support 
each ether; preventing, as much as possible, the expressing 
of a wish or want on either side, by fulfilling it before it 
can be expressed. 2. Both are veiled, to show that modesty is 
an inseparable attendant on pure matrimonial connections. 3. 
Hymen or Marriage goes before them with a lighted torch, 
leading them by a chain, of which each has a hold, to show 
that they are united together, and are bound to each other, 
and that they are led to this by the pure flame of love, 
which at the same instant both enlightens and warms them. 4. 
This chain is not iron nor brass, (to intimate that the 
marriage union is a state of thraldom or slavery,) but it is 
a chain of pearls, to show that the union is precious, 
beautiful, and delightful. 5. They hold a dove, the emblem of 
conjugal fidelity, which they appear to embrace 
affectionately, to show that they are faithful to each other, 
not merely through duty, but by affection, and that this 
fidelity contributes to the happiness of their lives.

6. A winged Cupid, or Love, is represented as having gone 
before them, preparing the nuptial feast; to intimate that 
active affections, warm and cordial love, are to be to them a 
continual source of comfort and enjoyment; and that this is 
the entertainment they are to meet with at every step of 
their affectionate lives. 7. Another Cupid, or genius of love 
comes behind, and places on their heads a basket of ripe 
fruits; to intimate that a matrimonial union of this kind 
will generally be blessed with children, who shall be as 
pleasing to all their senses as ripe and delicious fruits to 
the smell and taste. 8. The genius of love that follows them 
has his wings shrivelled up, or the feathers all curled, so 
as to render them utterly unfit for flight; to intimate that 
love is to abide with them, that there is to be no separation 
in affection, but that they are to continue to love one 
another with pure hearts fervently. Thus love begins and 
continues this sacred union; as to end, there can be none, 
for God hath yoked them together.

A finer or more expressive set of emblems has never, I 
believe, been produced, even by modern refined taste and 
ingenuity. This group of emblematical figures is engraved 
upon an onyx by Tryphon, an ancient Grecian artist. A fine 
drawing was made of this by Cypriani, and was engraved both 
by Bartolozzi and Sherwin. See one of these plates in the 
second volume of Bryant's Analysis of Ancient Mythology, page 
392.

Verse 7. Why did Moses then command to give a writing of 
divorcement?] It is not an unusual case for the impure and 
unholy to seek for a justification of their conduct from the 
law of God itself, and to wrest Scripture to their own 
destruction. I knew a gentleman, so called, who professed 
deep reverence for the sacred writings, and, strange as it 
may appear, was outwardly irreproachable in every respect but 
one; that was, he kept more women than his wife. This man 
frequently read the Bible, and was particularly conversant 
with those places that spoke of or seemed to legalize the 
polygamy of the patriarchs! A writing of divorcement] See the 
form of it in the note on "chap. v. 31".

Verse 8. Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts] It is 
dangerous to tolerate the least evil, though prudence itself 
may require it: because toleration, in this case, raises 
itself insensibly into permission, and permission soon sets 
up for command. Moses perceived that if divorce were not 
permitted, in many cases, the women would be exposed to great 
hardships through the cruelty of their husbands: for so the 
word sklhrokardia, is understood in this place by some 
learned men.

From the beginning it was not so] The Jews named the books of 
the law from the first word in each. Genesis they always term 
Bereshith, tyarb , which is the first word in it, and 
signifies, In the beginning. It is probable that our Lord 
speaks in this way here, In Bereshith it was not so, 
intimating that the account given in Genesis is widely 
different. There was no divorce between Eve and Adam; nor did 
he or his family practice polygamy. But our Lord, by the 
beginning, may mean the original intention or design.

Verse 9. Except it be for fornication] See on chap. v. 32. 
The decision of our Lord must be very unpleasant to these 
men: the reason why they wished to put away their wives was, 
that they might take others whom they liked better; but our 
Lord here declares that they could not be remarried while the 
divorced person was alive, and that those who did marry, 
during the life of the divorced, were adulterers; and heavy 
judgments were, denounced, in their law, against such: and as 
the question was not settled by the schools of Shammai and 
Hillel, so as to ground national practice on it therefore 
they were obliged to abide by the positive declaration of the 
law, as it was popularly understood, till these eminent 
schools had proved the word had another meaning. The grand 
subject of dispute between the two schools, mentioned above, 
was the word in Deut. xxiv. 1, When a man hath taken a wife-
and she find no grace in his sight, because of some 
UNCLEANNESS, twr[ eruath:-this the school of Shammai held to 
mean whoredom or adultery; but the school of Hillel 
maintained that it signified any corporeal defect, which 
rendered the person deformed, or any bad temper which made 
the husband's life uncomfortable. Any of the latter a good 
man might bear with; but it appears that Moses permitted the 
offended husband to put away the wife on these accounts, 
merely to save her from cruel usage.

In this discourse, our Lord shows that marriage, (except in 
one case,) is indissoluble, and should be so:-1st, By Divine 
institution, ver. 4.

2dly, By express commandment, ver. 5.

3dly, Because the married couple become one and the same 
person, ver. 6.

4thly, By the example of the first pair, ver. 8; and 5thly, 
Because of the evil consequent on separation, ver. 9. The 
importance of this subject will, I hope, vindicate or excuse, 
the length of these notes.

Verse 10. If the case of the man] tou anqrwpou, of a husband, 
so I think the word should be translated here. The Codex 
Bezae, Armenian, and most of the Itala, have tou androv, 
which, perhaps, more properly signifies a husband, though 
both words are used in this sense.

Our word husband comes from the Anglo-Saxon, hus and band: 
the bond of the house, anciently spelt housebond,-so in my 
old MS. Bible. It is a lamentable case when the husband, 
instead of being the bond and union of the family, scatters 
and ruins it by dissipation, riot, and excess.

It is not good to marry.] That is, if a man have not the 
liberty to put away his wife when she is displeasing to him. 
God had said, Gen. ii. 18, It is not good for man to be 
alone, i.e. unmarried. The disciples seem to say, that if the 
husband have not the power to divorce his wife when she is 
displeasing to him, it is not good for him to marry. Here was 
a flat contradiction to the decision of the Creator. There 
are difficulties and trials in all states; but let marriage 
and celibacy be weighed fairly, and I am persuaded the former 
will be found to have fewer than the latter. However, before 
we enter into an engagement which nothing but death can 
dissolve, we had need to act cautiously, carefully consulting 
the will and word of God. Where an unbridled passion, or a 
base love of money, lead the way, marriage is sure to be 
miserable.

Verse 11. All-cannot receive this saying] A very wise answer, 
and well suited to the present circumstances of the 
disciples. Neither of the states is condemned. If thou marry, 
thou dost well-this is according to the order, will, and 
commandment of God. But if thou do not marry, (because of the 
present necessity, persecution, worldly embarrassments, or 
bodily infirmity,) thou dost better. See 1 Cor. vii. 25.

Verse 12. Eunuchs] eunoucov, from eunhn ecein, to have the 
care of the bed or bedchamber; this being the principal 
employment of eunuchs in the eastern countries, particularly 
in the apartments of queens and princesses. These are they 
whom our Lord says are made eunuchs by men, merely for the 
above purpose.

So born from their mother's womb] Such as are naturally 
incapable of marriage, and consequently should not contract 
any.

For the kingdom of heaven's sake.] I believe our Lord here 
alludes to the case of the ESSENES, one of the most holy and 
pure sects among the Jews.

These abstained from all commerce with women, hoping thereby 
to acquire a greater degree of purity, and be better fitted 
for the kingdom of God: children they had none of their own, 
but constantly adopted those of poor people, and brought them 
up in their own way. PHILO, JOSEPHUS, and PLINY have largely 
described this very singular sect; and Dean PRIDEAUX, with 
his usual fidelity and perspicuity, has given the substance 
of what each has said. CONNEX. vol. iii. p. 483, &c.; edit. 
1725. The account is very interesting, and well worthy the 
attention of every Christian. Among the rabbins we find these 
different kinds of eunuchs, not only mentioned, but 
circumstantially described, hmj oyro saris chama, eunuchs of 
the sun, i.e. eunuchs by the hand of God; men born impotent. µda 
oyro saris Adam, eunuchs of men, those who were castrated. And 
they add a third sort; those who make themselves eunuchs, abstain 
from marriage, &c., that they may give themselves UP to the study 
of the Divine law. See many examples in Schoettgen.

He that is able to receive] cwrein cwreitw. These words are 
variously translated: he who can take; let him take it; 
comprehend, let him comprehend it: admit, let him admit it. 
The meaning seems to be, Let the man who feels himself 
capable of embracing this way of life, embrace it; but none 
can do it but he to whom it is given, who has it as a gift 
from his mother's womb.

The great ORIGEN, understanding the latter clause of this 
verse (which I have applied to the Essenes) literally-O human 
weakness!-went, and literally fulfilled it on himself!

Verse 13. Then were there brought unto him little children] 
These are termed by Luke, Luke xviii. 15, ta brefh, infants, 
very young children; and it was on this account, probably, 
that the disciples rebuked the parents, thinking them too 
young to receive good. See on Mark x. 16.

That he should put his hands] It was a common custom among 
the Jews to lay their hands on the heads of those whom they 
blessed, or for whom they prayed. This seems to have been 
done by way of dedication or consecration to God-the person 
being considered as the sacred property of God ever after. 
Often God added a testimony of his approbation, by 
communicating some extraordinary influence of the Holy 
Spirit. This rite has been long practised among Christians, 
when persons are appointed to any sacred office. But this 
consecration of children to God seems to have grown out of 
use. It is no wonder that the great mass of children are so 
wicked, when so few, are put under the care of Christ by 
humble, praying, believing parents. Let every parent that 
fears God bring up his children in that fear; and, by 
baptism, let each be dedicated to the holy trinity.

Whatever is solemnly consecrated to God abides under his 
protection and blessing.

Verse 14. Of such is the kingdom of heaven.] Or, the kingdom 
of heaven is composed of such. This appears to be the best 
sense of the passage, and utterly ruins the whole inhuman 
diabolic system of what is called non-elect infants' 
damnation; a doctrine which must have sprung from Moloch, and 
can only be defended by a heart in which he dwells. A great 
part of God's kingdom is composed of such literally; and 
those only who resemble little children shall be received 
into it: see on chap. xviii. 3.

Christ loves little children because he loves simplicity and 
innocence; he has sanctified their very age by passing 
through it himself-the holy Jesus was once a little child.

Verse 15. He-departed thence.] That is, from that part of 
Judea which was beyond Jordan, ver. 1; and then went to 
Jericho. See chap. xx. 29.

Verse 16. One came] Instead of eiv one, several MSS., the 
Slavonic version, and Hilary, read neaniskov tiv, a certain 
young man.

Good, &c.] Much instruction may be had from seriously 
attending to the conduct, spirit, and question of this 
person.

1. He came running, (Mark x. 17,) for he was deeply convinced 
of the importance of his business, and seriously determined 
to seek so as to find.

2. He kneeled, or caught him by the knees, thus evidencing 
his humility, and addressing himself only to mercy. See 
Matthew xvii. 14.

3. He came in the spirit of a disciple, or scholar, desiring 
to be taught a matter of the utmost importance to him-Good 
teacher.

4. He came in the spirit of obedience; he had worked hard to 
no purpose, and he is still willing to work, provided he can 
have a prospect of succeeding-What good thing shall I do? 5. 
His question was the most interesting and important that any 
soul can ask of God-How shall I be saved?

Verse 17. Why callest thou me good?] Or, Why dost thou 
question me concerning that good thing? ti me erwtav peri tou 
agaqou. This important reading is found in BDL, three others, 
the Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, Ethiopic, latter Syriac, 
Vulgate, Saxon, all the Itala but one, Origen, Eusebius, 
Cyril, Dionysius Areop., Antiochus, Novatian, Jerome, 
Augustin, and Juvencus. Erasmus, Grotius, Mill, and Bengel 
approve of this reading. This authority appears so decisive 
to Griesbach that he has received this reading into the text 
of his second edition, which in the first he had interlined. 
And instead of, None is good but the one God, he goes on to 
read, on nearly the same respectable authorities, eiv estin o 
agaqov. There is one who is good. Let it be observed also 
that, in the 16th verse, instead of didaskale agaqe, good 
teacher, didaskale only is read by BDL, one other, one 
Evangelistarium, the Ethiopic, three of the Itala, Origen, 
and Hilary. The whole passage therefore may be read thus: O 
teacher! what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal 
life? And he said unto him, Why dost thou question me 
concerning that good thing? There is one that is good. (Or he 
who is good is one.) But If thou art willing to enter into 
that life, keep the commandments. This passage, as it stood 
in the common editions, has been considered by some writers 
as an incontrovertible proof against the Divinity or Godhead 
of Christ. A very learned person, in his note on this place, 
thus concludes concerning it: "Therefore our saviour cannot 
be GOD: and the notion of, I know not what, a trinity in 
unity, THREE Gods in ONE, is here proved beyond all 
controversy, by the unequivocal declaration of JESUS CHRIST 
HIMSELF, to be ERRONEOUS and IMPOSSIBLE." Not so. One of the 
greatest critics in Europe, not at all partial to the Godhead 
of Christ, has admitted the above readings into his text, on 
evidence which he judged to be unexceptionable.

If they be the true readings, they destroy the whole doctrine 
built on this text; and indeed the utmost that the enemies of 
the trinitarian doctrine can now expect from their formidable 
opponents, concerning this text, is to leave it neuter.

Keep the commandments.] From this we may learn that God's 
great design, in giving his law to the Jews, was to lead them 
to the expectation and enjoyment of eternal life. But as all 
the law referred to Christ, and he became the end of the law 
for righteousness (justification) to all that believe, so he 
is to be received, in order to have the end accomplished 
which the law proposed.

Verse 18. Thou shalt do no murder, &c.] But some say these 
commandments are not binding on us. Vain, deceived men! Can a 
murderer, an adulterer, a thief, and a liar enter into 
eternal life? No. The God of purity and justice has forbidden 
it. But we are not to keep these commandments in order to 
purchase eternal life. Right. Neither Jesus Christ, nor his 
genuine messengers, say you are. To save your souls, Christ 
must save you from your sins, and enable you to walk before 
him in newness of life.

Verse 19. Honour thy father and thy mother] sou thy, is 
omitted by almost every MS. of respectability.

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself] Self-love, as it is 
generally called, has been grievously declaimed against, even 
by religious people, as a most pernicious and dreadful evil. 
But they have not understood the subject on which they spoke. 
They have denominated that intense propensity which 
unregenerate men feel to gratify their carnal appetites and 
vicious passions, self-love; whereas it might be more 
properly termed self-hatred or self-murder. If I am to love 
my neighbour as myself and this "love worketh no ill to its 
neighbour," then self-love, in the sense in which our Lord 
uses it, is something excellent. It is properly a disposition 
essential to our nature, and inseparable from our being, by 
which we desire to be happy, by which we seek the happiness 
we have not, and rejoice in it when we possess it. In a word, 
it is a uniform wish of the soul to avoid all evil, and to 
enjoy all good. Therefore, he who is wholly governed by self-
love, properly and Scripturally speaking, will devote his 
whole soul to God, and earnestly and constantly seek all his 
peace, happiness, and salvation in the enjoyment of God. But 
self-love cannot make me happy. I am only the subject which 
receives the happiness, but am not the object that 
constitutes this happiness; for it is that object, properly 
speaking, that I love, and love not only for its own sake, 
but also for the sake of the happiness which I enjoy through 
it. "No man," saith the apostle, "ever hated his own flesh." 
But he that sinneth against God wrongeth his own soul, both 
of present and eternal salvation, and is so far from being 
governed by self-love that he is the implacable enemy of his 
best and dearest interests in both worlds.

Verse 20. All these have I kept] I have made these precepts 
the rule of my life. There is a difference worthy of notice 
between this and our Lord's word. He says, ver. 17, thrhson, 
keep, earnestly, diligently, as with watch and ward; probably 
referring not only to the letter but to the spirit. The young 
man modestly says, all these (efulaxa) have I observed; I 
have paid attention to, and endeavoured to regulate my 
conduct by them. I have kept them in custody.

From my youth] Several MSS., versions, and fathers, leave out 
these words. Grotius and Mill approve of the omission, and 
Griesbach leaves them in the text with a note of suspicion. 
Perhaps the young man meant no more than that he had in 
general observed them, and considered them of continual 
obligation.

What lack I yet?] He felt a troubled conscience, and a mind 
unassured of the approbation of God; and he clearly perceived 
that something was wanting to make him truly happy.

Verse 21. If thou wilt be perfect] teleiov einai, To be 
complete, to have the business finished, and all hinderances 
to thy salvation removed, go and sell that thou hast-go and 
dispose of thy possessions, to which it is evident his heart 
was too much attached, and give to the poor-for thy goods 
will be a continual snare to thee if thou keep them; and thou 
shalt have treasure in heaven-the loss, if it can be called 
such, shall be made amply up to thee in that eternal life 
about which thou inquirest; and come and follow me-be my 
disciple, and I will appoint thee to preach the kingdom of 
God to others. This was the usual call which Christ gave to 
his disciples. See chap. iv. 19; viii. 22; ix. 9; Mark ii. 
14; and it is pretty evident, from this, that he intended to 
make him a preacher of his salvation. How many, by their 
attachment to filthy lucre, have lost the honour of becoming 
or continuing ambassadors for the Most High! See on Mark x. 
21.

Verse 22. Went away sorrowful] Men undergo great agony of 
mind while they are in suspense between the love of the world 
and the love of their souls. When the first absolutely 
predominates, then they enjoy a factitious rest through a 
false peace: when the latter has the upper hand, then they 
possess true tranquillity of mind, through that peace of God 
that passeth knowledge.

He had great possessions.] And what were these in comparison 
of peace of conscience, and mental rest? Besides, he had 
unequivocal proof that these contributed nothing to his 
comfort, for he is now miserable even while he possesses 
them! And so will every soul be, who puts worldly goods in 
the place of the supreme God. See on Mark x. 22.

Verse 23. A rich man shall hardly enter] That is, into the 
spirit and privileges of the Gospel in this world, and 
through them into the kingdom of glory. Earthly riches are a 
great obstacle to salvation; because it is almost impossible 
to possess them, and not to set the heart upon them; and they 
who love the world have not the love of the Father in them. 1 
John ii. 15. To be rich, therefore, is in general a great 
misfortune: but what rich man can be convinced of this? It is 
only God himself who, by a miracle of mercy, can do this. 
Christ himself affirms the difficulty of the salvation of a 
rich man, with an oath, verily; but who of the rich either 
hears or believes him!

Verse 24. A camel] Instead of kamhlon, camel, six MSS. read 
kamilon, cable, a mere gloss inserted by some who did not 
know that the other was a proverb common enough among the 
people of the east.

There is an expression similar to this in the Koran. "The 
impious, who in his arrogance shall accuse our doctrine of 
falsity, shall find the gates of heaven shut: nor shall he 
enter there till a camel shall pass through the eye of a 
needle. It is thus that we shall recompense the wicked." AL 
KORAN.

Surat vii. ver. 37.

It was also a mode of expression common among the Jews, and 
signified a thing impossible. Hence this proverb: A camel in 
Media dances in a cabe; a measure which held about three 
pints. Again, No man sees a palm tree of gold, nor an 
elephant passing through the eye of a needle. Because these 
are impossible things. "Rabbi Shesheth answered Rabbi Amram, 
who had advanced an absurdity, Perhaps thou art one of the 
Pembidithians who can make an elephant pass through the eye 
of a needle; that is, says the Aruch, 'who speak things 
impossible.'" See Lightfoot and Schoettgen on this place.

Go through] But instead of dielqein, about eighty MSS. with 
several versions and fathers, have eiselqein, to enter in; 
but the difference is of little importance in an English 
translation, though of some consequence to the elegance of 
the Greek text.

Verse 25. Who can be saved?] The question of the disciples 
seemed to intimate that most people were rich, and that 
therefore scarcely any could be saved. They certainly must 
have attached a different meaning to what constitutes a rich 
man, to what we in general do. Who is a rich man in our 
Lord's sense of the word? This is a very important question, 
and has not, that I know of, been explicitly answered. A rich 
man, in my opinion, is not one who has so many hundreds or 
thousands more than some of his neighbours; but is one who 
gets more than is necessary to supply all his own wants, and 
those of his household, and keeps the residue still to 
himself, though the poor are starving through lack of the 
necessaries of life.

In a word, he is a man who gets all he can, saves all he can, 
and keeps all he has gotten. Speak, reason! Speak, 
conscience! (for God has already spoken) Can such a person 
enter into the kingdom of God? ALL, NO!!!

Verse 26. With men this is impossible] God alone can take the 
love of the world out of the human heart. Therefore the 
salvation of the rich is represented as possible only to him: 
and indeed the words seem to intimate, that it requires more 
than common exertions of Omnipotence to save a rich man.

Verse 27. We have forsaken all] "A poor all," says one, "a 
parcel of rotten nets." No matter-they were their ALL, 
whether rotten or sound; besides, they were the all they got 
their bread by; and such an all as was quite sufficient for 
that purpose: and let it be observed, that that man forsakes 
much who reserves nothing to himself, and renounces all 
expectations from this world, taking God alone for his 
portion. See chap. iv. 20.

To forsake all, without following Christ, is the virtue of a 
philosopher. To follow Christ in profession, without 
forsaking all, is the state of the generality of Christians. 
But to follow Christ and forsake all, is the perfection of a 
Christian.

What shall we have therefore?] ti ara estai hmin, What REWARD 
shall we get? This Kypke proves to be the meaning of the 
words from some of the best Greek writers.

Verse 28. Ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, 
when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, 
&c.] The punctuation which I have observed here, is that 
which is followed by the most eminent critics: the 
regeneration is thus referred to the time when Jesus shall 
sit on the throne of his glory, and not to the time of 
following him, which is utterly improper.

The regeneration, paliggenesia. Some refer this to the time 
in which the new heavens and the new earth shall be created, 
and the soul and body united. The Pythagoreans termed that 
paliggenesia, when, according to their doctrine of the 
transmigration or metempsychosis, the soul entered into a new 
body, and got into a new state of being. Clement, in his 
Epistle to the Corinthians, calls the restoration of the 
world, after the deluge, by the same name.

Judging the twelve tribes] From the parallel place, Luke 
xxii. 28-30, it is evident that sitting on thrones, and 
judging the twelve tribes, means simply obtaining eternal 
salvation, and the distinguishing privileges of the kingdom 
of glory, by those who continued faithful to Christ in his 
sufferings and death.

Judging, krinontev. Kypke has shown that krinesqai is to be 
understood in the sense of governing, presiding, holding the 
first or most distinguished place. Thus, Gen. xlix. 16, Dan 
shall JUDGE his people, i.e. shall preside in, or rule over them; 
shall occupy a chief place among the tribes. It is well known that 
the Judges among the Jews were moderators, captains, chief, or 
head men. The sense therefore of our Lord's words appears to be, 
that these disciples should have those distinguished seats in 
glory which seem to belong peculiarly to the first confessors 
and martyrs. See 1 Thess. iv. 14, 16, and particularly Rev. 
xx. 4-6.

The last-quoted passage brings into view the doctrine of the 
Millennium, when Jesus, after having formed the new heavens 
and the new earth, shall reign here gloriously among his 
ancients 365,000 years; for the thousand years referred to 
above are certainly prophetical years, in which, it is well 
known, each day stands for a year.

Others, of no mean note, are of opinion that the regeneration 
means the conversion of men by the preaching of the Gospel-
that sitting on twelve thrones signifies the state of eminent 
dignity to which the apostles should be raised-and that 
judging the twelve tribes of Israel, means no more than 
exercising authority in the Church, and dispensing laws to 
the people of God. But I confess I do not see the propriety 
of this application of the terms, as the following verse 
seems to fix the meaning mentioned above.

Verse 29. Shall receive a hundredfold] Viz. in this life, in 
value, though perhaps not in kind; and in the world to come 
everlasting life. A glorious portion for a persevering 
believer! The fullness of GRACE here, and the fullness of 
GLORY hereafter! See on Mark x. 30.

Verse 30. But many that are first, &c.] The Jews, who have 
been the first and most distinguished people of God, will in 
general reject the Gospel of my grace, and be consequently 
rejected by me. The Gentiles, who have had no name among the 
living, shall be brought to the knowledge of the truth, and 
become the first, the chief, and most exalted people of God. 
That this prediction of our Lord has been literally 
fulfilled, the present state of the Christian and Jewish 
Churches sufficiently proves. To illustrate this fully, and 
to demonstrate that the Jews and Gentiles were now put on an 
equal footing by the Gospel, our Lord speaks the following 
parable, which has been unhappily divided from its connection 
by making it the beginning of a new chapter.

CHAPTER xx

The similitude of the householder hiring labourers into his 
vineyard, to show that the Gentiles should be preferred to 
the Jews, according to what was hinted at the close of the 
last chapter, 1-16. On the way going up to Jerusalem he 
predicts his sufferings and death, 17-19. The mother of 
Zebedee's children requests dignities for her sons, 20, 21. 
Christ, by his answer, shows that sufferings, not worldly 
honours, are to be the lot of his most faithful followers, 
and that seats in glory can be given only to those who are 
prepared for them, 22, 23. From this our Lord takes occasion 
to teach the necessity of humility, and to show that those 
who wished to be chief must be servants of all, 24-28. On his 
coming to Jericho, he restores sight to two blind men, who, 
being restored, follow him, 29-34.

NOTES ON CHAP. xx

Verse 1. For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man-a 
householder] The very commencement of this chapter shows it 
to be connected with the preceding. The manner of God's 
proceeding under the Gospel dispensation resembles a 
householder, who went out at day break, ama prwi, together 
with the morning; as the light began to go out of its 
chambers in the east, so he went out of his bed-room to 
employ labourers, that they might cultivate his vineyard. 
This was what was called, among the Jews and Romans, the 
first hour; answering to six o'clock in the morning.

To hire labourers] Some workmen, twn ergatwn-for he had not 
got all that was necessary, because we find him going out at 
other hours to hire more.

Verse 2. A penny] A Roman coin, as noted before, Matthew 
xviii. 28, worth about seven-pence halfpenny or seven-pence 
three farthings of our money, and equal to the Greek drachma. 
This appears to have been the ordinary price of a day's 
labour at that time. See Tobit v. 14. In 1351 the price of 
labour was regulated in this country by parliament; and it is 
remarkable that "corn-weeders and hay-makers, without meat, 
drink, or other courtesy demanded," were to have one penny 
per day! In 1314 the pay of a chaplain to the Scotch bishops, 
who were then prisoners in England, was three halfpence per 
day. See Fleetwood's Chronicon Precios, p. 123, 129. This was 
miserable wages, though things at that time were so cheap 
that twenty-four eggs were sold for a penny, p. 72; a pair of 
shoes for four-pence, p. 71; a fat goose for two-pence 
halfpenny, p. 72; a hen for a penny, p. 72; eight bushels of 
wheat for two shillings, and a fat ox for six shillings and 
eight-pence! Ibid. In 1336, wheat per quarter, 2s.; a fat 
sheep 6d.; fat goose, 2d. and a pig, 1d.,p. 75.

Verse 3. The third hour] Nine o'clock in the morning.

Market-place] Where labourers usually stood till they were 
hired. I have often seen labourers standing in the market 
places of large towns in these countries, waiting to be 
employed.

Verse 5. The sixth hour] Twelve o'clock. Ninth hour-three 
o'clock in the afternoon.

Verse 6. Eleventh] Five o'clock in the evening, when there 
was only one hour before the end of the Jewish day, which, in 
matters of labour, closed at six.

Verse 7. No man hath hired us.] This was the reason why they 
were all the day idle.

And whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.] Ye may 
expect payment in proportion to your labour, and the time ye 
spend in it; but this clause is wanting in some of the best 
MSS., versions, and fathers.

Verse 8. When the even was come] Six o'clock, the time they 
ceased from labour, and the workmen came to receive their 
wages.

Steward] epitrwpov. A manager of the household concerns under 
the master. The rabbinical writers use the very same word, in 
Hebrew letters, for the same office, owpwrfypa epitropos. See 
Kypke.

Verse 11. They murmured] The Jews made the preaching of the 
Gospel to the Gentiles, a pretense why they should reject 
that Gospel; as they fondly imagined they were, and should 
be, the sole objects of the Divine approbation. How they 
murmured because the Gentiles were made partakers of the 
kingdom of God; see Acts xi. 1, &c., and Acts xv. 1, &c.

There are many similitudes of this kind among the Jews, where 
the principal part even of the phraseology of our Lord's 
parable may be found. Several of them may be seen in 
Schoettgen. Our Lord, however, as in all other cases, has 
greatly improved the language, scope, design, and point of 
the similitude. He was, in all cases, an eminent master of 
the sentences.

Verse 13. Friend, I do thee no wrong] The salvation of the 
Gentiles can in itself become no impediment to the Jews; 
there is the same Jesus both for the Jew and for the Greek. 
Eternal life is offered to both through the blood of the 
cross; and there is room enough in heaven for all.

Verse 15. Is it not lawful for me] As eternal life is the 
free gift of God, he has a right to give it in whatever 
proportions, at whatever times, and on whatever conditions he 
pleases.

Is thine eye evil] An evil eye among the Jews meant a 
malicious, covetous, or envious person.

Most commentators have different methods of interpreting this 
parable.

Something was undoubtedly designed by its principal parts, 
besides the scope and design mentioned at the conclusion of 
the last chapter. The following, which is taken principally 
from the very pious Quesnel, may render it as useful to the 
reader as any thing else that has been written on it.

The Church is a vineyard, because it is a place of labour, 
where no man should be idle. Each of us is engaged to labour 
in this vineyard-to work out our salvation through him who 
worketh in us to will and to perform. Life is but a day, 
whereof childhood, or the first use of reason, is the day-
break or first hour, Matthew xx. 1, in which we receive the 
first CALL.

The promise of the kingdom of glory is given to all those who 
are workers together with him, ver. 2.

The second call is in the time of youth, which is most 
commonly idle, or only employed in dissipation and worldly 
cares, Matthew xx. 3.

The third call is at the age of manhood.

The fourth, in the decline of life, ver. 5.

The fifth, when sickness and the infirmities of life press 
upon us. How many are there in the world who are just ready 
to leave it, before they properly consider for what end they 
were brought into it! Still idle, still unemployed in the 
things which concern their souls; though eternal life is 
offered to them, and hell moving from beneath to meet them! 
ver. 6.

Others consider the morning the first dawn of the Gospel; and 
the first call to be the preaching of John Baptist.

The second call, the public preaching of our LORD; and that 
of the apostles when they got an especial commission to the 
Jews, chap. x. 5, 6, together with that of the seventy 
disciples mentioned Luke x. 1.

The third call, which was at mid-day, represents the 
preaching of the fullness of the Gospel after the ascension 
of Christ, which was the meridian of evangelic glory and 
excellence.

The fourth call represents the mission of the apostles to the 
various synagogues of the Jews, in every part of the world 
where they were scattered; the history of which is 
particularly given in the Acts of the Apostles.

The fifth call, or eleventh hour, represents the general call 
of the Gentiles into the Church of Christ, when the 
unbelieving Jews were finally rejected.

What makes this interpretation the more likely is, that the 
persons who are addressed at ver. 7, say, No man hath hired 
us, i.e. We never heard the voice of a prophet announcing the 
true God, nor of an apostle preaching the Lord Jesus, until 
now. The Jews could not use this as an argument for their 
carelessness about their eternal interests.

Verse 16. So the last shall be first, and the first last] The 
GENTILES, who have been long without the true God, shall now 
enjoy all the privileges of the new covenant; and the Jews, 
who have enjoyed these from the beginning, shall now be 
dispossessed of them; for, because they here rejected the 
Lord, he also hath rejected them.

Many are called, &c.] This clause is wanting in BL, one 
other, and in the Coptic and Sahidic versions. Bishop PEARCE 
thinks it is an interpolation from chap. xxii. 14. The simple 
meaning seems to be: As those who did not come at the 
invitation of the householder to work in the vineyard did not 
receive the denarius, or wages, so those who do not obey the 
call of the Gospel, and believe in Christ Jesus, shall not 
inherit eternal life.

This place seems to refer to the ancient Roman custom of 
recruiting their armies. Among this celebrated people, no one 
was forced to serve his country in a military capacity; and 
it was the highest honour to be deemed worthy of thus serving 
it. The youth were instructed, almost from their cradle, in 
military exercises. The Campus Martius was the grand field in 
which they were disciplined: there, they accustomed 
themselves to leaping, running, wrestling, bearing burdens, 
fencing, throwing the javelin, &c., and when, through these 
violent exercises, they were all besmeared with dust and 
sweat, in order to refresh themselves, they swam twice or 
thrice across the Tyber! Rome might at any time have 
recruited her armies by volunteers from such a mass of well-
educated, hardy soldiers; but she thought proper, to use the 
words of the Abbe Mably, that the honour of being chosen to 
serve in the wars should be the reward of the accomplishments 
shown by the citizens in the Campus Martius, that the soldier 
should have a reputation to save; and that the regard paid 
him, in choosing him to serve, should be the pledge of his 
fidelity and zeal to discharge his duty. The age of serving 
in the army was from seventeen to forty-five, and the manner 
in which they were chosen was the following:-After the 
creation of consuls, they every year named twenty-four 
military tribunes, part of whom must have served five years 
at least, and the rest eleven. When they had divided among 
them the command of the four legions to be formed, the 
consuls summoned to the capitol, or Campus Martius, all the 
citizens who, by their age, were obliged to bear arms. They 
drew up by tribes, and lots were drawn to determine in what 
order every tribe should present its soldiers. That which was 
the first in order chose the four citizens who were judged 
the most proper to serve in the war; and the six tribunes who 
commanded the first legion chose one of these four, whom they 
liked best. The tribunes of the second and third likewise 
made their choice one after another; and he that remained 
entered into the fourth legion. A new tribe presented other 
four soldiers, and the second legion chose first. The third 
and fourth legions had the same advantage in their turns. In 
this manner, each tribe successively chose four soldiers, 
till the legions were complete. They next proceeded to the 
creation of subaltern officers, whom the tribunes chose from 
among the soldiers of the greatest reputation. When the 
legions were thus completed, the citizens who had been 
called, but not chosen, returned to their respective 
employments, and served their country in other capacities. 
None can suppose that these were deemed useless, or that, 
because not now chosen to serve their country in the field, 
they were proscribed from the rights and privileges of 
citizens, much less destroyed, because others were found 
better qualified to serve their country at the post of honour 
and danger. Thus many are called by the preaching of the 
Gospel, but few are found who use their advantages in such a 
way as to become extensively useful in the Church-and many in 
the Church militant behave so ill as never to be admitted 
into the Church triumphant. But what a mercy that those who 
appear now to be rejected may be called in another muster, 
enrolled, serve in the field, or work in the vineyard? How 
many millions does the long-suffering of God lead to 
repentance!

Verse 17. And Jesus going up] From Jericho to Jerusalem, See 
"chap. xix. 15".

Verse 18. The Son of man shall be betrayed] Or, will be 
delivered up.

This is the third time that our Lord informed his disciples 
of his approaching sufferings and death. This was a subject 
of the utmost importance, and it was necessary they should be 
well prepared for such an awful event.

Verse 19. Deliver him to the Gentiles to mock] This was done 
by Herod and his Roman soldiers. See Luke xxiii. 11.

To scourge, and to crucify] This was done by Pilate, the 
Roman governor. The punishment of the cross was Roman not 
Jewish; but the chief priests condemned him to it, and the 
Romans executed the sentence.

How little did they know that they were, by this process, 
jointly offering up that sacrifice which was to make an 
atonement for the Gentiles and for the Jews; an atonement for 
the sin of the whole world? How often may it be literally 
said, The wrath of man shall praise thee!

Verse 20. The mother of Zebedee's children] This was Salome.

Verse 21. Grant that these my two sons] James and John. See 
Mark xv. 40. In the preceding chapter, chap. xix. 28, our 
Lord had promised his disciples, that they should sit on 
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes. Salome, probably 
hearing of this, and understanding it literally, came to 
request the chief dignities in this new government for her 
sons; and it appears it was at their instigation that she 
made this request, for Mark, Mark x. 35, informs us that 
these brethren themselves made the request, i.e. they made it 
through the medium of their mother.

One on thy right hand, and the other on (THY) left] I have 
added the pronoun in the latter clause on the authority of 
almost every MS. and version of repute.

That the sons of Zebedee wished for ecclesiastical, rather 
than secular honours, may be thought probable, from the 
allusion that is made here to the supreme dignities in the 
great Sanhedrin. The prince of the Sanhedrin (HA-NASI) sat in 
the midst of two rows of senators or elders; on his right 
hand sat the person termed AB (the father of the Sanhedrin;) 
and on his left hand the CHACHAM, or sage. These persons 
transacted all business in the absence of the president. The 
authority of this council was at some periods very great, and 
extended to a multitude of matters both ecclesiastical and 
civil. These appear to have been the honours which James and 
John sought. They seem to have strangely forgot the lesson 
they had learned from the transfiguration.

Verse 22. Ye know not what ye ask.] How strange is the 
infatuation, in some parents, which leads them to desire 
worldly or ecclesiastical honours for their children! He must 
be much in love with the cross who wishes to have his child a 
minister of the Gospel; for, if he be such as God approves of 
in the work, his life will be a life of toil and suffering; 
he will be obliged to sip, at least, if not to drink largely, 
of the cup of Christ. We know not what we ask, when, in 
getting our children into the CHURCH, we take upon ourselves 
to answer for their CALL to the sacred office, and for the 
salvation of the souls that are put under their care. Blind 
parents! rather let your children beg their bread than thrust 
them into an office to which God has not called them; and in 
which they will not only ruin their souls, but be the means 
of damnation to hundreds; for if God has not sent them, they 
shall not profit the people at all.

And to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized, &c.] 
This clause in this, and the next verse, is wanting in BDL, 
two others, (7 more in ver. 23,) Coptic, Sahidic, Ethiopic, 
Mr. WHEELOCK'S Persic, Vulgate, Saxon, and all the Itala, 
except two. Grotius, Mill, and Bengel, think it should be 
omitted, and Griesbach has left it out of the text in both 
his editions. It is omitted also by Origen, Epiphanius, 
Hilary, Jerome, Ambrose, and Juvencus. According to the rules 
laid down by critics to appreciate a false or true reading, 
this clause cannot be considered as forming a part of the 
sacred text. It may be asked, Does not drink of my cup, 
convey the same idea? Does the clause add any thing to the 
perspicuity of the passage? And, though found in many good 
MSS., is not the balance of evidence in point of antiquity 
against it? Baptism among the Jews, as it was performed in 
the coldest weather, and the persons were kept under water 
for some time, was used not only to express death, but the 
most cruel kind of death. See Lightfoot. As to the term cup, 
it was a common figure, by which they expressed calamities, 
judgments, desolation, &c.

They say unto him, We are able.] Strange blindness! You can? 
No: one drop of this cup would sink you into utter ruin, 
unless upheld by the power of God. However, the man whom God 
has appointed to the work he will preserve in it.

Verse 23. Is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them 
for wham it is prepared of my Father.] The common 
translation, in which the words, it shall be given to them; 
are interpolated by our translators, utterly changes and 
destroys the meaning of the passage. It represents Christ (in 
opposition to the whole Scriptures) as having nothing to do 
in the dispensing of rewards and punishments; whereas, our 
Lord only intimates that, however partial he may be to these 
two brethren, yet seats in glory can only be given to those 
who are fitted for them. No favour can prevail here; the 
elevated seat is for him who is filled with the fullness of 
God.

The true construction of the words is this:-ouk estin emon 
dounai, allĘ oiv htoimustai upo tou atrov mou, To sit on my 
right hand and on my left, is not mine to give, except to 
them for whom it is prepared of my Father. According to the 
prediction of Christ, these brethren did partake of his 
afflictions: James was martyred by Herod, Acts xii. 2; and 
John was banished to Patmos, for the testimony of Christ, 
Rev. i. 9.

Verse 24. When the ten heard it, they were moved] The 
ambition which leads to spiritual lordship is one great cause 
of murmurings and animosities in religious societies, and has 
proved the ruin of the most flourishing Churches in the 
universe.

Verse 25. Exercise dominion-and-exercise authority upon 
them.] They tyrannized and exercised arbitrary power over the 
people. This was certainly true of the governments in our 
Lord's time, both in the east and in the west. I have 
endeavoured to express, as nearly as possible, the meaning of 
the two Greek verbs, katakurieuousin, and katexousiazousin; 
and those who understand the genius of the language will 
perceive that I have not exhausted their sense, however some 
may think that no emphasis was intended, and that these 
compound verbs are used for the simple kurieuein, and 
exousiazein. See Wakefield and Rosenmuller.

The government of the Church of Christ is widely different 
from secular governments. It is founded in humility and 
brotherly love: it is derived from Christ, the great Head of 
the Church, and is ever conducted by his maxims and spirit. 
When political matters are brought into the Church of Christ, 
both are ruined. The Church has more than once ruined the 
State; the State has often corrupted the Church: it is 
certainly for the interests of both to be kept separate. This 
has already been abundantly exemplified in both cases, and 
will continue so to be, over the whole world, wherever the 
Church and State are united in secular matters.

Verse 26. It shall not be so among you] Every kind of 
lordship and spiritual domination over the Church of Christ, 
like that exercised by the Church of Rome, is destructive and 
anti-christian.

Your minister] Or, deacon, diakonov. I know no other word 
which could at once convey the meaning of the original, and 
make a proper distinction between it and doulov, or servant, 
in Matthew xx. 27. The office of a deacon, in the primitive 
Church, was to serve in the agapae, or love feasts, to 
distribute the bread and wine to the communicants; to 
proclaim different parts and times of worship in the 
churches; and to take care of the widows, orphans, prisoners, 
and sick, who were provided for out of the revenues of the 
Church. Thus we find it was the very lowest ecclesiastical 
office. Deacons were first appointed by the apostles, Acts 
vi. 1-6; they had the care of the poor, and preached 
occasionally.

Verse 27. Your servant] doulov the lowest secular office, as 
deacon was the lowest ecclesiastical office: doulov is often 
put for slave.

From these directions of our Lord, we may easily discern what 
sort of a spirit his ministers should be of. 1. A minister of 
Christ is not to consider himself a lord over Christ's flock. 
2. He is not to conduct the concerns of the Church with an 
imperious spirit. 3. He is to reform the weak, after Christ's 
example, more by loving instruction than by reproof or 
censure. 4.

He should consider that true apostolic greatness consists in 
serving the followers of Christ with all the powers and 
talents he possesses. 5. That he should be ready, if 
required, to give up his life unto death, to promote the 
salvation of men.

Verse 28. A ransom for many.] autron anti pollwn, or a ransom 
instead of many,-one ransom, or atonement, instead of the 
many prescribed in the Jewish law. Mr. \Wakefield contends 
for the above translation, and with considerable show of 
reason and probability.

The word lutron is used by the Septuagint for the Hebrew wydp 
, pidion, the ransom paid for a man's life: see Exod. xxi. 
30; Num. iii. 49-51; and lutra is used Num. xxxv. 31, where a 
satisfaction (Hebrew rpk copher, an atonement) for the life 
of a murderer is refused. The original word is used by Lucian 
in exactly the same sense, who represents Ganymede promising 
to sacrifice a ram to Jupiter, lutron uper emou, as a ransom 
for himself, provided he would dismiss him.

The whole Gentile world, as well as the Jews, believed in 
vicarious sacrifices. Virgil, AEn. v. 85, has nearly the same 
words as those in the text. "UNUM PRO MULTIS dabitur CAPUT,"-
One man must be given for many. Jesus Christ laid down his 
life as a ransom for the lives and souls of the children of 
men. In the Codex Bezae, and in most of the Itala, the Saxon, 
and one of the Syriac, Hilary, Leo Magnus, and Juvencus, the 
following remarkable addition is found; "But seek ye to 
increase from a little, and to be lessened from that which is 
great. Moreover, when ye enter into a house, and are invited 
to sup, do not recline in the most eminent places, lest a 
more honourable than thou come after, and he who invited thee 
to supper come up to thee and say, Get down yet lower; and 
thou be put to confusion. But if thou sit down in the lowest 
place, and one inferior to thee come after, he who invited 
thee to supper will say unto thee, Go and sit higher: now 
this will be advantageous to thee." This is the largest 
addition found in any of the MSS., and contains not less than 
sixty words In the original, and eighty-three in the Anglo-
Saxon. It may be necessary to remark, that Mr. Marshall, in 
his edition of the Gothic and Saxon Gospels, does not insert 
these words in the text, but gives them, p. 496 of his 
observations. This addition is at least as ancient as the 
fourth century, for it is quoted by Hilary, who did not die 
till about A. D. 367.

Verse 30. Two blind men] Mark x. 46, and Luke xviii. 35, 
mention only one blind man, Bartimeus. Probably he was 
mentioned by the other evangelists, as being a person well 
known before and after his cure.

Blindness of heart is a disorder of which, men seldom 
complain, or from which they desire to be delivered; and it 
is one property of this blindness, to keep the person from 
perceiving it, and to persuade him that his sight is good.

Sitting by the way side] In the likeliest place to receive 
alms, because of the multitudes going and coming between 
Jerusalem and Jericho.

Cried out] In the midst of judgments God remembers mercy. 
Though God had deprived them, for wise reasons, of their 
eyes, he left them the use of their speech. It is never so 
ill with us, but it might be much worse: let us, therefore, 
be submissive and thankful.

Have mercy on us] Hearing that Jesus passed by, and not 
knowing whether they should ever again have so good an 
opportunity of addressing him, they are determined to call, 
and call earnestly. They ask for mercy, conscious that they 
deserve nothing, and they ask with faith-Son of David, 
acknowledging him as the promised Messiah.

Verse 31. The multitude rebuked them] Whenever a soul begins 
to cry after Jesus for light and salvation, the world and the 
devil join together to drown its cries, or force it to be 
silent. But let all such remember, Jesus is now passing by; 
that their souls must perish everlastingly, if not saved by 
him, and they may never have so good an opportunity again. 
While there is a broken and a contrite heart, let it sigh its 
complaints to God, till he hear and answer.

They cried the more] When the world and the devil begin to 
rebuke, in this case, it is a proof that the salvation of God 
is nigh; therefore, let such cry out a great deal the more.

Verse 32. Jesus stood] "The cry of a believing penitent," 
says one, "is sufficient to stop the most merciful Jesus, 
were he going to make a new heaven and a new earth; for what 
is all the irrational part of God's creation in worth, when 
compared with the value of one immortal soul!" See on Mark x. 
50.

What will ye that I shall do] Christ is at all times 
infinitely willing to save sinners: when the desire of the 
heart is turned towards him, there can be little delay in the 
salvation. What is thy wish? If it be a good one, God will 
surely fulfill it.

Verse 33. That our eyes may be opened.] He who feels his own 
sore, and the plague of his heart, has no great need of a 
prompter in prayer. A hungry man can easily ask bread; he has 
no need to go to a book to get expressions to state his wants 
in; his hunger tells him he wants food, and he tells this to 
the person from whom he expects relief. Helps to devotion, in 
all ordinary cases, may be of great use; in extraordinary 
cases they can be of little importance; the afflicted heart 
alone can tell its own sorrows, with appropriate pleadings.

Verse 34. So Jesus had compassion on them] eplagcniaqeiv, He 
was moved with tender pity. The tender pity of Christ met the 
earnest cry of the blind men, and their immediate cure was 
the result.

They followed him.] As a proof of the miracle that was 
wrought, and of the gratitude which they felt to their 
benefactor. For other particulars of this miraculous cure, 
see the notes on Mark x. 46, &c.

Reader, whosoever thou art, act in behalf of thy soul as 
these blind men did in behalf of their sight, and thy 
salvation is sure. Apply to the Son of David; lose not a 
moment; he is passing by, and thou art passing into eternity, 
and probably wilt never have a more favourable opportunity 
than the present. The Lord increase thy earnestness and 
faith!

CHAPTER xxi

Christ rides into Jerusalem upon an ass, and the multitude 
receive him joyfully, 1-11. He enters the temple, and expels 
the money-changers, &c. 12, 13. The blind and the lame come 
to him and are healed, 14. The chief priests and scribes are 
offended, 15. Our Lord confounds them, and goes to Bethany, 
16, 17. The barren fig-tree blasted, 18-22. While teaching in 
the temple, the chief priests and elders question his 
authority; he answers and confutes them, 23-27. The parable 
of the man and his two sons, 28-32. The parable of a vineyard 
let out to husbandmen, 33-42; applied to the priests and 
Pharisees, 43-45; who wish to kill him, but are restrained by 
the fear of the people, who acknowledge Christ for a prophet, 
46.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxi

Verse 1. Bethphage] A place on the west declivity of Mount 
Olivet, from which it is thought the whole declivity and part 
of the valley took their name. It is supposed to have derived 
its name from the fig-trees which grew there; tyb beeth, 
signifying a region as well as a house, and gp phag, a green 
fig.

Verse 2. Ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt] Asses and 
mules were in common use in Palestine: horses were seldom to 
be met with. Our blessed Lord takes every opportunity to 
convince his disciples that nothing was hidden from him: he 
informs them of the most minute occurrence; and manifested 
his power over the heart in disposing the owner to permit the 
ass to be taken away.

Verse 3. The Lord (the proprietor of all things) hath need of 
them] Jesus is continually humbling himself, to show us how 
odious pride is in the sight of God: but in his humility he 
is ever giving proofs of his almighty power, that the belief 
of his divinity may be established.

Verse 4. All this was done] The word all, in this clause, is 
omitted by some MSS., versions, and fathers.

Which was spoken] The Spirit of God, which predicted those 
things that concerned the Messiah, took care to have them 
literally fulfilled: 1. To show the truth of prophecy in 
general; and, 2. To designate Christ as the person intended 
by that prophecy. See the note on chap. ii. 23.

Verse 5. Tell ye the daughter of Sion] The quotation is taken 
from Zech. ix. 9, but not in the precise words of the 
prophet.

This entry into Jerusalem has been termed the triumph of 
Christ. It was indeed the triumph of humility over pride and 
worldly grandeur; of poverty over affluence; and of meekness 
and gentleness over rage and malice.

He is coming now meek, full of kindness and compassion to 
those who were plotting his destruction! He comes to deliver 
up himself into their hands; their king comes to be murdered 
by his subjects, and to make his death a ransom price for 
their souls!

Verse 7. And put on them their clothes] Thus acknowledging 
him to be their king, for this was a custom observed by the 
people when they found that God had appointed a man to the 
kingdom. When Jehu sat with the captains of the army, and 
Elisha the prophet came, by the order of God, to anoint him 
king over Israel, as soon as he came out of the inner chamber 
into which the prophet had taken him to anoint him, and they 
knew what was done, every man took his garment, and spread it 
under him on the top of the steps, and blew the trumpets, 
saying, "Jehu is king." 2 Kings ix. 13.

And they set him thereon.] kai epekaqisen epanw autwn, and he 
sat upon them; but instead of epanw autwn, upon THEM, the 
Codex Bezae, seven copies of the Itala, some copies of the 
Vulgate, and some others, read epĘ auton, upon him, i.e. the 
colt. This is most likely to be the true reading; for we can 
scarcely suppose that he rode upon both by turns,-this would 
appear childish; or that he rode upon both at once, for this 
would be absurd. Some say he sat on both; for "the ass that 
was tied up was an emblem of the Jews bound under the yoke of 
the law; and the colt that had not been tied represented the 
Gentiles who were not under the law; and that Jesus Christ's 
sitting on both represented his subjecting the Jews and the 
Gentiles to the sway of his evangelical scepter." He who can 
receive this saying, let him receive it.

Verse 8. Cut down branches from the trees] Carrying palm and 
other branches was emblematical of victory and success. See 1 
Mac. xiii. 51; 2 Mac. x. 7; and Rev. vii. 9.

The rabbins acknowledge that the prophecy in Zechariah refers 
to the Messiah; so Rab. Tancum, and Yalcut Rubeni has a 
strange story about the ass. "This ass is the colt of that 
ass which was created in the twilight of the sixth day. This 
is the ass which Abraham found when he went to sacrifice his 
son. This is the ass on which Moses rode when he went to 
Egypt; and this is the ass on which the Messiah shall ride." 
Some of the Jews seem to think that the zebra is intended; 
for according to Bab. Sanhedr. fol. 98, when Shapoor, king of 
Persia, said to Rabbi Samuel: "You say your Messiah will come 
upon an ass; I will send him a noble horse." To which the 
rabbi replied, "You have not a horse with a hundred spots 
(query, streaks) like his ass." See Lightfoot and Schoettgen.

Verse 9. Hosanna to the son of David] When persons applied to 
the king for help, or for a redress of grievances, they used 
the word hosanna, or rather from the Hebrew an h[ywh HOSHIAH 
NA! Save now! or, Save, we beseech thee!-redress our 
grievances, and give us help from oppression! Thus both the 
words and actions of the people prove that they acknowledged 
Christ as their king, and looked to him for deliverance. How 
easily might he have assumed the sovereignty at this time, 
had he been so disposed! For instances of the use of this 
form of speech, see 2 Sam. xiv. 4; 2 Kings vi. 26; Psa. 
cxviii. 25.

Son of David] A well-known epithet of the Messiah. He who 
cometh in the name, &c. He who comes in the name and 
authority of the Most High.

Hosanna in the highest] Either meaning, Let the heavenly 
hosts join with us in magnifying this august Being!-or, Let 
the utmost degrees of hosanna, of salvation, and deliverance, 
be communicated to thy people! Probably there is an allusion 
here to the custom of the Jews in the feast of tabernacles. 
During the first seven days of that feast, they went once 
round the altar, each day, with palm and other branches in 
their hands, singing HOSANNA: but on the eighth day of that 
feast they walked seven times round the altar, singing the 
hosanna; and this was termed the hosanna rabba, the GREAT 
hosanna: i.e. Assist with the greatest succour. Probably 
answering to the toiv uyistoiv of the evangelist, for on this 
day they beg the most speedy and powerful help against their 
enemies, and likewise pray for a prosperous and fruitful 
year. See STEHLIN'S Jewish Traditions, vol. ii. p. 322.

Verse 10. All the city was moved] Or, the whole city was in 
motion.

eseisqh, was in a tumult-they saw and heard plainly that the 
multitude had proclaimed Christ king, and Messiah. Who is 
this? Who is accounted worthy of this honour?

Verse 11. This is Jesus THE PROPHET] o profhthv THAT prophet 
whom Moses spoke of, Deut. xviii. 18. I will raise them up a 
prophet-like unto thee, &c. Every expression of the multitude 
plainly intimated that they fully received our blessed Lord 
as the promised Messiah.-How strange is it that these same 
people (if the creatures of the high priest be not only 
intended) should, about five days after, change their 
hosannas for, Away with him! crucify him! crucify him! How 
fickle is the multitude! Even when they get right, there is 
but little hope that they will continue so long.

Verse 12. Jesus went into the temple of God, &c.] "Avarice," 
says one, "covered with the veil of religion, is one of those 
things on which Christ looks with the greatest indignation in 
his Church. Merchandize of holy things, simoniacal 
presentations, fraudulent exchanges, a mercenary spirit in 
sacred functions; ecclesiastical employments obtained by 
flattery, service, or attendance, or by any thing which is 
instead of money; collations, nominations, and elections made 
through any other motive than the glory of God; these are all 
fatal and damnable profanations, of which those in the temple 
were only a shadow." QUESNEL.

Money-changers] Persons who furnished the Jews and proselytes 
who came from other countries, with the current coin of 
Judea, in exchange for their own.

Verse 13. My house shall be called the house of prayer] This 
is taken from Isa. lvi. 7.

But ye have made it a den of thieves.] This is taken from 
Jeremiah vii. 11.

Our Lord alludes here to those dens and caves in Judea, in 
which the public robbers either hid or kept themselves 
fortified.

They who are placed in the Church of Christ to serve souls, 
and do it not, and they who enjoy the revenues of the Church, 
and neglect the service of it, are thieves and robbers in 
more senses than one.

Our Lord is represented here as purifying his temple; and 
this we may judge he did in reference to his true temple, the 
Church, to show that nothing that was worldly or unholy 
should have any place among his followers, or in that heart 
in which he should condescend to dwell. It is marvellous that 
these interested, vile men did not raise a mob against him: 
but it is probable they were overawed by the Divine power, 
or, seeing the multitudes on the side of Christ, they were 
afraid to molest him. I knew a case something similar to 
this, which did not succeed so well. A very pious clergyman 
of my acquaintance, observing a woman keeping a public 
standing to sell nuts, gingerbread, &c., at the very porch of 
his Church, on the Lord's day, "desired her to remove thence, 
and not defile the house of God, while she profaned the 
Sabbath of the Lord." She paid no attention to him. He warned 
her the next Sabbath, but still to no purpose. Going in one 
Lord's day to preach, and finding her still in the very 
entrance, with her stall, he overthrew the stall, and 
scattered the stuff into the street. He was shortly after 
summoned to appear before the royal court, which, to its 
eternal reproach, condemned the action, and fined the man of 
God in a considerable sum of money!

Verse 14. The blind and the lame came] Having condemned the 
profane use of the temple, he now shows the proper use of it. 
It is a house of prayer, where God is to manifest his 
goodness and power in giving sight to the spiritually blind, 
and feet to the lame. The Church or chapel in which the blind 
and the lame are not healed has no Christ in it, and is not 
worthy of attendance.

Verse 15. The chief priests-were sore displeased] Or, were 
incensed.

Incensed at what! At the purification of the profaned temple! 
This was a work they should have done themselves, but for 
which they had neither grace nor influence; and their pride 
and jealousy will not suffer them to permit others to do it. 
Strange as it may appear, the priesthood itself, in all 
corrupt times, has been ever the most forward to prevent a 
reform in the Church. Was it because they were conscious that 
a reformer would find them no better than money-changers in, 
and profaners of, the house of God, and that they and their 
system must be overturned, if the true worship of God were 
restored! Let him who is concerned answer this to his 
conscience.

Verse 16. Out of the mouth of babes] The eighth Psalm, out of 
which these words are quoted, is applied to Jesus Christ in 
three other places in the new covenant, 1 Cor. xv. 27; 
Ephesians i. 22; Heb. ii. 6.

Which proves it to be merely a prophetic psalm, relating to 
the Messiah.

It was a common thing among the Jews for the children to be 
employed in public acclamations; and thus they were 
accustomed to hail their celebrated rabbins. This shouting of 
the children was therefore no strange thing in the land: only 
they were exasperated, because a person was celebrated 
against whom they had a rooted hatred. As to the prophecy 
that foretold this, they regarded it not. Some imagine that 
babes and sucklings in the prophecy have a much more 
extensive meaning, and refer also to the first preachers of 
the Gospel of Christ.

Verse 17. And he left them (katalipwn, finally leaving them) 
and went-into Bethany; and he lodged there.] Bethany was a 
village about two miles distant from Jerusalem, by Mount 
Olivet, John xi. 18; and it is remarkable that from this day 
till his death, which happened about six days after, he spent 
not one night in Jerusalem, but went every evening to 
Bethany, and returned to the city each morning. See Luke xxi. 
37; xxii. 39; John viii. 1, 2. They were about to murder the 
Lord of glory; and the true light, which they had rejected, 
is now departing from them.

Lodged there.] Not merely to avoid the snares laid for him by 
those bad men, but to take away all suspicion of his 
affecting the regal power. To the end of this verse is added 
by the Saxon, . And taught them of the kingdom of God. This 
same reading is found in some MSS., Missals, and one copy of 
the Itala. It appears also in Wickliff, and my old folio 
English MS. Bible, and taugt hem of the kyngdom of God; and 
in two MS. copies of the Vulgate, in my possession: one, 
duodecimo, very fairly written, in 1300; the other a large 
folio, probably written in the 11th or 12th century, in which 
the words are, IBIQUE docebat eos de regno Dei. AND THERE he 
taught them concerning the kingdom of God.

Verse 18. Now in the morning, as he returned into the city] 
Which was his custom from the time he wholly left Jerusalem, 
spending only the day time teaching in the temple; see 
Matthew xxi. 17. This was probably on Thursday, the 12th day 
of the month Nisan.

He hungered-Probably neither he, nor his disciples, had any 
thing but what they got from public charity; and the hand of 
that seems to have been cold at this time.

Verse 19. He saw a fig tree in the way] epi thv odou, By the 
road side.

As this fig tree was by the way side, it was no private 
property; and on this account our Lord, or any other 
traveler, had a right to take of its fruit.

For a full explanation of this difficult passage, relative to 
this emblematic fig tree, see on Mark xi. 13, &c.

Let no fruit grow on thee] Can a professor, who affords 
Christ nothing but barren words and wishes, expect any thing 
but his malediction? When the soul continues in 
unfruitfulness, the influences of grace are removed, and then 
the tree speedily withers from the very root.

Verse 20. How soon is the fig tree withered away!] We often 
say to our neighbours, "How suddenly this man died! Who could 
have expected it so soon?" But who takes warning by these 
examples? What we say to-day of OTHERS, may be said to-morrow 
of OURSELVES. Be ye also ready! Lord, increase our faith!

Verse 21. If ye have faith, and doubt not] See on chap. xvii. 
20.

Removing mountains, and rooting up of mountains, are phrases 
very generally used to signify the removing or conquering 
great difficulties-getting through perplexities. So, many of 
the rabbins are termed rooters up of mountains, because they 
were dexterous in removing difficulties, solving cases of 
conscience, &c. In this sense our Lord's words are to be 
understood. He that has faith will get through every 
difficulty and perplexity; mountains shall become molehills 
or plains before him. The saying is neither to be taken in 
its literal sense, nor is it hyperbolical: it is a proverbial 
form of speech, which no Jew could misunderstand, and with 
which no Christian ought to be puzzled.

Verse 22. All things-ye shall ask in prayer, believing] In 
order to get salvation, there must be, 1. a conviction of the 
want of it: this begets, 2.

prayer, or warm desires, in the heart: then 3. the person 
asks, i.e. makes use of words expressive of his wants and 
wishes: 4. believes the word of promise, relative to the 
fulfillment of his wants: and 5. receives, according to the 
merciful promise of God, the salvation which his soul 
requires.

Verse 23. By what authority doest thou these things?] The 
things which the chief priests allude to, were his receiving 
the acclamations of the people as the promised Messiah, his 
casting the traders out of the temple, and his teaching the 
people publicly in it.

Who gave thee this authority?] Not them: for, like many of 
their successors, they were neither teachers nor cleansers; 
though they had the name and the profits of the place.

Verse 24. I also will ask you one thing] Our Lord was 
certainly under no obligation to answer their question: he 
had already given them such proofs of his Divine mission as 
could not possibly be exceeded, in the miracles which he 
wrought before their eyes, and before all Judea; and, as they 
would not credit him on this evidence, it would have been in 
vain to have expected their acknowledgment of him on any 
profession he would make.

Verse 25. The baptism of John] Had John a Divine commission 
or not, for his baptism and preaching? Our Lord here takes 
the wise in their own cunning. He knew the estimation John 
was in among the people; and he plainly saw that, if they 
gave any answer at all, they must convict themselves: and so 
they saw, when they came to examine the question. See ver. 
25, 26.

Verse 27. We cannot tell.] Simplicity gives a wonderful 
confidence and peace of mind; but double dealing causes a 
thousand inquietudes and troubles. Let a man do his utmost to 
conceal in his own heart the evidence he has of truth and 
innocence, to countenance his not yielding to it; God, who 
sees the heart, will, in the light of the last day, produce 
it as a witness against him, and make it his judge.

We cannot tell, said they; which, in the words of truth, 
should have been, We will not tell, for we will not have this 
man for the Messiah: because, if we acknowledge John as his 
forerunner, we must, of necessity, receive Jesus as the 
Christ.

They who are engaged against the truth are abandoned to the 
spirit of falsity, and scruple not at a lie. Pharisaical 
pride, according to its different interests, either pretends 
to know every thing, or affects to know nothing.

Among such, we may meet with numerous instances of arrogance 
and affected humility. God often hides from the wise and 
prudent what he reveals unto babes; for, when they use their 
wisdom only to invent the most plausible excuses for 
rejecting the truth when it comes to them, it is but just 
that they should be punished with that ignorance to which, in 
their own defense, they are obliged to have recourse.

Verse 28. A certain man had two sons] Under the emblem of 
these two sons, one of whom was a libertine, disobedient, and 
insolent, but who afterwards thought on his ways, and 
returned to his duty; and the second, a hypocrite, who 
promised all, and did nothing; our Lord points out, on the 
one hand, the tax-gatherers and sinners of all descriptions, 
who, convicted by the preaching of John and that of Christ, 
turned away from their iniquities and embraced the Gospel; 
and, on the other hand, the scribes, Pharisees, and self-
righteous people, who, pretending a zeal for the law, would 
not receive the salvation of the Gospel.

Verse 29. I will not] This is the general reply of every 
sinner to the invitations of God; and, in it, the Most High 
is treated without ceremony or respect. They only are safe 
who persist not in the denial.

Verse 30. I go, sir] This is all respect, complaisance, and 
professed, obedience; but he went not: he promised well, but 
did not perform. What a multitude of such are in the world, 
professing to know God, but denying him in their works! Alas! 
what will such professions avail, when God comes to take away 
the soul? 

Verse 31. The publicans and the harlots] In all their former 
conduct they had said NO. Now they yield to the voice of 
truth when they hear it, and enter into the kingdom, 
embracing the salvation brought to them in the Gospel. The 
others, who had been always professing the most ready and 
willing obedience, and who pretended to be waiting for the 
kingdom of God, did not receive it when it came, but rather 
chose, while making the best professions, to continue members 
of the synagogue of Satan.

Verse 32. John came unto you in the way of righteousness] 
Proclaiming the truth, and living agreeably to it. Or, John 
came unto you, who are in the way of righteousness. This 
seems rather to be the true meaning and construction of this 
passage. The Jews are here distinguished from the Gentiles. 
The former were in the way of righteousness, had the 
revelation of God, and the ordinances of justice established 
among them; the latter were in the way of unrighteousness, 
without the Divine revelation, and iniquitous in all their 
conduct: John came to both, preaching the doctrine of 
repentance, and proclaiming Jesus the Christ. To say that it 
was John who came in the way of righteousness, and that to 
him the words refer, is, in my opinion, saying nothing; for 
this was necessarily implied: as he professed to come from 
God, he must not only preach righteousness, but walk in it.

It is very difficult to get a worldly minded and self-
righteous man brought to Christ. Examples signify little to 
him. Urge the example of an eminent saint, he is discouraged 
at it. Show him a profligate sinner converted to God, him he 
is ashamed to own and follow; and, as to the conduct of the 
generality of the followers of Christ, it is not striking 
enough to impress him. John, and Christ, and the apostles 
preach; but, to multitudes, all is in vain.

Verse 33. There was a certain householder] Let us endeavour 
to find out a general and practical meaning for this parable. 
A householder-the Supreme Being. The family-the Jewish 
nation. The vineyard-the city of Jerusalem. The fence-the 
Divine protection. The wine-press-the law and sacrificial 
rites. The tower-the temple, in which the Divine presence was 
manifested. The husbandmen-the priests and doctors of the 
law. Went from home-entrusted the cultivation of the vineyard 
to the priests, &c., with the utmost confidence; as a man 
would do who had the most trusty servants, and was obliged to 
absent himself from home for a certain time.

Our Lord takes this parable from Isa. v. 1, &c.; but whether 
our blessed Redeemer quote from the law, the prophets, or the 
rabbins, he reserves the liberty to himself to beautify the 
whole, and render it more pertinent.

Some apply this parable also to Christianity, thus:-The 
master or father-our blessed Lord. The family-professing 
Christians in general. The vineyard-the true Church, or 
assembly of the faithful. The hedge-the true faith, which 
keeps the sacred assembly enclosed and defended from the 
errors of heathenism and false Christianity. The wine-press-
the atonement made by the sacrifice of Christ, typified by 
the sacrifices under the law.

The tower-the promises of the Divine presence and protection. 
The husbandmen-the apostles and all their successors in the 
ministry. The going from home-the ascension to heaven. But 
this parable cannot go on all fours in the Christian cause, 
as any one may see. In the ease of the husbandmen, especially 
it is applicable; unless we suppose our Lord intended such as 
those inquisitorial Bonners, who always persecuted the true 
ministers of Christ, and consequently Christ himself in his 
members; and to these may be added the whole train of St. 
Bartholomew EJECTORS, and all the fire and faggot men of a 
certain Church, who think they do God service by murdering 
his saints. But let the persecuted take courage: Jesus Christ 
will come back shortly; and then he will miserably destroy 
those wicked men: indeed, he has done so already to several, 
and let out his vineyard to more faithful husbandmen.

Digged a wine-press] wruxe lhnon. St. Mark has upolhnion, the 
pit under the press, into which the liquor ran, when squeezed 
out of the fruit by the press.

Verse 34. He sent his servants] Prophets, which, from time to 
time, he sent to the Jewish nation to call both priests and 
people back to the purity of his holy religion.

Receive the fruits of it.] Alluding to the ancient custom of 
paying the rent of a farm in kind; that is, by a part of the 
produce of the farm. This custom anciently prevailed in most 
nations; and still prevails in the highlands of Scotland, and 
in some other places. The Boldon book, a survey made of the 
state of the bishopric of Durham in 1183, shows how much of 
the rents was paid in cows, sheep, pigs, fowls, eggs, &c., 
the remaining part being made up chiefly by manual labour.

Verse 35. Beat one] edeiran, took his skin off, flayed him: 
probably alluding to some who had been excessively scourged.

Killed another, &c.] Rid themselves of the true witnesses of 
God by a variety of persecutions.

Verse 36. Other servants] There is not a moment in which God 
does not shower down his gifts upon men, and require the 
fruit of them. Various instruments are used to bring sinners 
to God. There are prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers: some 
with his gift after this manner, and some after that.

The true disciples of Christ have been persecuted in all 
ages, and the greatest share of the persecution has fallen 
upon the ministers of his religion; for there have always 
been good and bad husbandmen, and the latter have persecuted 
the former.

More than the first] Or, more honourable, so I think pleionav 
should be translated; for, as the fullness of the time 
approached, each prophet more clearly and fully pointed out 
the coming of Christ.

Our translation, which says, more than the first, conveys no 
meaning at all.

pleiov is the meaning I have given it above, in chap. vi. 25. 
pleion thv trofhv, of MORE VALUE than food; and in Numbers 
xxii. 15 pleiouv kai entimoterouv, persons higher in dignity 
and office.

Verse 37. Last of all he sent-his son] This requires no 
comment. Our Lord plainly means himself.

They will reverence] entraphsontai, they will reflect upon 
their conduct and blush for shame because of it, when they 
see my son. So the Syric and Persic.

Verse 38. Said among themselves] Alluding to the conspiracies 
which were then forming against the life of our blessed Lord, 
in the councils of the Jewish elders and chief priests. See 
Matthew xxvii. 1.

Verse 39. Cast him out of the vineyard] Utterly rejected the 
counsel of God against themselves; and would neither 
acknowledge the authority of Christ, nor submit to his 
teaching. What a strange and unaccountable case is this!-a 
sinner, to enjoy a little longer his false peace, and the 
gratification of his sinful appetites, rejects Jesus, and 
persecutes that Gospel which troubles his sinful repose.

Verse 41. He will miserably destroy those wicked men] So, 
according to this evangelist, our Lord caused them to pass 
that sentence of destruction upon themselves which was 
literally executed about forty years after. But Luke relates 
it differently: according to him, they said mh genoito, God 
forbid! The Codex Leicestrensis omits oi legousin, they say; 
so that the following words appear to be spoken by our Lord. 
Michaelis supposes that in the Hebrew original the word was 
rmayw waiomer, he said; for which the Greek translator might 
have read wrmayw waiomeru, they said.

Verse 42. The stone] R. Solom. Jarchi, on Micah 5., says, 
this stone means the Messiah, jym ka : Abarbanel is of the 
same opinion. This seems to have been originally spoken of 
David who was at first rejected by the Jewish rulers, but was 
afterwards chosen by the Lord to be the great ruler of his 
people Israel. The quotation is taken from Psa. cxviii. 22.

As the Church is represented in Scripture under the name of 
the temple and house of God, in allusion to the temple of 
Jerusalem, which was a type of it, 1 Cor. iii. 16; Heb. iii. 
6; 1 Peter ii. 5; so Jesus Christ is represented as the 
foundation on which this edifice is laid, 1 Cor. iii. 11; 
Eph. ii. 20, 21.

The builders] The chief priests and elders of the people, 
with the doctors of the law.

Rejected] An expression borrowed from masons, who, finding a 
stone, which being tried in a particular place, and appearing 
improper for it, is thrown aside, and another taken; however, 
at last, it may happen that the very stone which had been 
before rejected, may be found the most suitable as the head 
stone of the corner.

This passage, as applied by our Lord to himself, contains an 
abridgment of the whole doctrine of the Gospel.

1. The Lord's peculiar work is astonishingly manifested in 
the mission of Jesus Christ.

2. He, being rejected and crucified by the Jews, became an 
atonement for the sin of the world.

3. He was raised again from the dead, a proof of his conquest 
over death and sin, and a pledge of immortality to his 
followers.

4. He was constituted the foundation on which the salvation 
of mankind rests, and the corner stone which unites Jews and 
Gentiles, beautifies, strengthens, and completes the whole 
building, as the head stone, or uppermost stone in the corner 
does the whole edifice.

5. He is hereby rendered the object of the joy and admiration 
of all his followers and the glory of man. This was done by 
the Lord, and is marvellous in our eyes.

Verse 43. Therefore say I] Thus showing them, that to them 
alone the parable belonged. The kingdom of God shall be taken 
from you-the Gospel shall be taken from you, and given to the 
Gentiles, who will receive it, and bring forth fruit to the 
glory of God.

Bringing forth the fruits] As in ver. 34 an allusion is made 
to paying the landlord in kind, so here the Gentiles are 
represented as paying God thus. The returns which He expects 
for his grace are the fruits of grace; nothing can ever be 
acceptable in the sight of God that does not spring from 
himself.

Verse 44. The 44th verse should certainly come before ver. 
43, otherwise the narration is not consecutive.

Verse 42. The stone which the builders rejected, is become 
the head of the corner, &c.

Verse 44. Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, 
&c. This is an allusion to the punishment of stoning among 
the Jews. The place of stoning was twice as high as a man; 
while standing on this, one of the witnesses struck the 
culprit on the loins, so that he fell over this scaffold; if 
he died by the stroke and fall, well; if not, the other 
witness threw a stone upon his heart, and despatched him. 
That stone thrown on the culprit was, in some cases, as much 
as two men could lift up. Tract Sanhed. and Bab. Gemara, and 
Lightfoot. See also the note on John viii. 7.

He, whether Jew or Gentile, who shall not believe in the Son 
of God, shall suffer grievously in consequence; but on 
whomsoever the stone (Jesus Christ) falls in the way of 
judgment, he shall be ground to powder, likmhsei auton-it 
shall make him so small as to render him capable of being 
dispersed as chaff by the wind. This seems to allude, not 
only to the dreadful crushing of the Jewish state by the 
Romans, but also to that general dispersion of the Jews 
through all the nations of the world, which continues to the 
present day. This whole verse is wanting in the Codex Bezae, 
one other, five copies of the Itala, and Origen; but it is 
found in the parallel place, Luke xx. 18, and seems to have 
been quoted from Isa. viii. 14, 15. He shall be for a STONE 
of STUMBLING, and for a ROCK OF OFFENCE to both the houses of 
Israel-and many among them shall STUMBLE and FALL, and be 
BROKEN.

Verse 45. The chief priests-perceived that he spoke of them.] 
The most wholesome advice passes for an affront with those 
who have shut their hearts against the truth. When that which 
should lead to repentance only kindles the flame of malice 
and revenge, there is but little hope of the salvation of 
such persons.

Verse 46. They sought to lay hands on him, they feared the 
multitude] Restraining and preventing grace is an excellent 
blessing, particularly where it leads to repentance and 
salvation; but he who abstains from certain evils, only 
through fear of scandal or punishment, has already committed 
them in his heart, and is guilty before God. The intrepidity 
of our Lord is worthy of admiration and imitation; in the 
very face of his most inveterate enemies, he bears a noble 
testimony to the truth, reproves their iniquities, denounces 
the Divine judgments, and, in the very teeth of destruction, 
braves danger and death! A true minister of Christ fears 
nothing but God, when his glory is concerned: a hireling 
fears every thing, except Him whom he ought to fear.

This last journey of our Lord to Jerusalem is a subject of 
great importance; it is mentioned by all the four 
evangelists, and has been a subject of criticism and cavil to 
some unsanctified minds. He has been accused of "attempting, 
by this method, to feel how far the populace were disposed to 
favour his pretensions in establishing himself as a king in 
the land; or, at least, by his conduct in this business, he 
gave much cause for popular seditions." Every circumstance in 
the case refutes this calumny.

1. His whole conduct had proved that his kingdom was not of 
this world, and that he sought not the honour that cometh 
from man.

2. He had in a very explicit manner foretold his own 
premature death, and particularly at this time.

3. It is evident, from what he had said to his disciples, 
that he went up to Jerusalem at this time for the express 
purpose of being sacrificed, and not of erecting a secular 
kingdom.

4. What he did at this time was to fulfill a declaration of 
God delivered by two prophets, upwards of 700 years before, 
relative to his lowliness, poverty, and total deadness to all 
secular rule and pomp. See Isa. lxii. 11; Zech. ix. 9.

5. All the time he spent now in Jerusalem, which was about 
five days, he spent in teaching, precisely in the same way he 
had done for three years past; nor do we find that he uttered 
one maxim dissimilar to what he formerly taught, or said a 
word calculated to produce any sensation on the hearts of the 
populace, but that of piety towards God; and in the parable 
of the man and his two sons, the husbandmen and the vineyard, 
he spoke in such a way to the rulers of the people as to show 
that he knew they were plotting his destruction; and that, 
far from fleeing from the face of danger, or strengthening 
his party against his enemies, he was come to wait at the 
foot of the altar till his blood should be poured out for the 
sin of the world! 6. Had he affected any thing of a secular 
kind, he had now the fairest opportunity to accomplish his 
designs. The people had already received him as Jesus the 
prophet; now they acknowledge him as the Christ or MESSIAH, 
and sing the hosannah to him, as immediately appointed by 
Heaven to be their deliverer.

7. Though, with the character of the Messiah, the Jews had 
connected that of secular royalty, and they now, by spreading 
their clothes in the way, strewing branches, &c., treat him 
as a royal person, and one appointed to govern the kingdom; 
yet of this he appears to take no notice, farther than to 
show that an important prophecy was thus fulfilled: he went 
as usual into the temple, taught the people pure and 
spiritual truths, withdrew at night from the city, lodged in 
private at Mount Olivet; and thus most studiously and 
unequivocally showed that his sole aim was to call the people 
back to purity and holiness, and prepare them for that 
kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, 
which he was about, by his passion, death, resurrection, 
ascension, and the mission of the Holy Spirit, to set up in 
the earth.

8. Could a person who worked such miracles as he was in the 
daily habit of working-miracles which proved he possessed 
unlimited power and unerring wisdom, need subterfuges, or a 
colouring for any design he wished to accomplish? He had only 
to put forth that power essentially resident in himself, and 
all resistance to his will must be annihilated. In short, 
every circumstance of the case shows at once the calumny and 
absurdity of the charge. But, instead of lessening, or 
tendering suspicious this or any other part of our Lord's 
conduct, it shows the whole in a more luminous and glorious 
point of view; and thus the wrath of man praises him.

9. That he was a king, that he was born of a woman and came 
into the world for this very purpose, he took every occasion 
to declare; but all these declarations showed that his 
kingdom was spiritual: he would not even interfere with the 
duty of the civil magistrate to induce an avaricious brother 
to do justice to the rest of the family, Luke xii. 13, when 
probably a few words from such an authority would have been 
sufficient to have settled the business; yet to prevent all 
suspicion, and to remove every cause for offense, he 
absolutely refused to interfere, and took occasion from the 
very circumstance to declaim against secular views, 
covetousness, and worldly ambition! O how groundless does 
every part of his conduct prove this charge of secular 
ambition to be! Such was the spirit of the Master: such must 
be the spirit of the disciple. He that will reign with 
Christ, must be humbled and suffer with him. This is the 
royal road. The love of the world, in its power and honours, 
is as inconsistent with the spirit of the Gospel as the love 
of the grossest vice. If any man love the world, the love of 
the Father is not in him. Reader, take occasion from this 
refuted calumny, to imitate thy Lord in the spirituality of 
his life, to pass through things temporal so as not to lose 
those that are eternal, that thou mayest reign with him in 
the glory of his kingdom. Amen.

CHAPTER xxii

The parable of the marriage of a king's son, 1-14. The 
Pharisees and Herodians question him concerning the 
lawfulness of paying tribute to Caesar, 15-22. The Sadducees 
question him concerning the resurrection, 23-33. A lawyer 
questions him concerning the greatest commandment in the law, 
34-40. He asks them their opinion of the Christ, and 
confounds them, 41-46.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxii

Verse 2. The kingdom of heaven] In Bereshith Rabba, sect. 62. 
fol. 60, there is a parable very similar to this, and another 
still more so in Sohar. Levit. fol. 40. But these rabbinical 
parables are vastly ennobled by passing through the hands of 
our Lord. It appears from Luke, Luke xiv. 15; &c., that it 
was at an entertainment that this parable was originally 
spoken. It was a constant practice of our Lord to take the 
subjects of his discourses from the persons present, or from 
the circumstances of times, persons, and places. See chap. 
xvi. 6; John iv. 7-10; John vi. 26, 27; vii. 37. A preacher 
that can do so can never be at a loss for text or sermon.

A marriage for his son] A marriage feast, so the word gamouv 
properly means. Or a feast of inauguration, when his son was 
put in possession of the government, and thus he and his new 
subjects became married together. See 1 Kings i. 5-9, 19, 25, 
&c., where such a feast is mentioned.

From this parable it appears plain, 1. That the KING means 
the great God.

2. His SON, the Lord Jesus. 3. The MARRIAGE, his incarnation, 
or espousing human nature, by taking it into union with 
himself. 4. The MARRIAGE FEAST, the economy of the Gospel, 
during which men are invited to partake of the blessings 
purchased by, and consequent on, the incarnation and death of 
our blessed Lord. 5. By those who HAD BEEN bidden, or 
invited, ver. 3, are meant the Jews in general, who had this 
union of Christ with human nature, and his sacrifice for sin, 
pointed out by various rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices 
under the law; and who, by all the prophets, had been 
constantly invited to believe in and receive the promised 
Messiah. 6. By the SERVANTS, we are to understand the first 
preachers of the Gospel, proclaiming salvation to the Jews. 
JOHN the Baptist and the seventy disciples (Luke x. 1,) may 
be here particularly intended. 7. By the OTHER SERVANTS, ver. 
4, the apostles seem to be meant, who, though they were to 
preach the Gospel to the whole world, yet were to begin at 
JERUSALEM (Luke xxiv. 47) with the first offers of mercy. 8. 
By their making light of it, &c., ver. 5, is pointed out 
their neglect of this salvation, and their preferring secular 
enjoyments, &c., to the kingdom of Christ. 9. By injuriously 
using some, and slaying others, of his servants, ver. 6, is 
pointed out the persecution raised against the apostles by 
the Jews, in which some of them were martyred.

10. By sending forth his troops, ver. 7, is meant the 
commission given to the Romans against Judea; and, burning up 
their city, the total destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the 
son of Vespasian, which happened about forty-one years after.

On this parable it is necessary to remark, 1.That man was 
made at first in union with God. 2. That sin entered in, and 
separated between God and man. 3. That as there can be no 
holiness but in union with God, and no heaven without 
holiness, therefore he provided a way to reconcile and 
reunite man to himself. 4. This was effected by Christ's 
uniting himself to human nature, and giving his Spirit to 
those who believe. 5. That as the marriage union is the 
closest, the most intimate, solemn, and excellent, of all the 
connections formed among mortals, and that they who are thus 
united in the Lord are one flesh; so that mystical union 
which is formed between God and the soul through Jesus 
Christ, by the Eternal Spirit, is the closest, most intimate, 
solemn, and excellent, that can be conceived; for he who is 
thus joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 6. This contract is 
made freely: no man can be forced to it, for it is a union of 
will to will, heart to heart; and it is by willing and 
consenting that we come unto God through his Son. 7. That if 
this marriage do not take place here, an eternal separation 
from God, and from the glory of his power, shall be the 
fearful consequence. 8. That there are three states in which 
men run the risk of living without God and losing their 
souls. 1st. That of a soft, idle, voluptuous life, wherein a 
man thinks of nothing but quietly to enjoy life, 
conveniences, riches, private pleasures, and public 
diversions. They made light of it. 2dly. That of a man wholly 
taken up with agricultural or commercial employments, in 
which the love of riches, and application to the means of 
acquiring them, generally stifle all thoughts of salvation. 
One went to his own field, and another to his traffic. 3dly. 
That of a man who is openly unjust, violent, and outrageously 
wicked, who is a sinner by profession, and not only neglects 
his salvation, but injuriously treats all those who bring him 
the Gospel of reconciliation. Seizing his servants, they 
treated them injuriously, &c.

Verse 4. Fatlings] ta sitista Properly, fatted rams, or 
wethers. 2 Sam. vi. 13; 1 Chron. xv. 26.

Verse 7. But when the king] HIMSELF or, this very king. I 
have added ekeinov on the authority of nine of the most 
ancient MSS. and nearly one hundred others; the later Syriac, 
six copies of the Itala, and some of the fathers. Several 
printed editions have it, and Griesbach has received it into 
the text.

Verse 8. Were not worthy.] Because they made light of it, and 
would not come; preferring earthly things to heavenly 
blessings. Among the Mohammedans, refusal to come to a 
marriage feast, when invited, is considered a breach of the 
law of God. HEDAYAH, vol. iv. p. 91. Any one that shall be 
invited to a dinner, and does not accept the invitation, 
disobeys God, and his messenger: and any one who comes 
uninvited, you may say is a thief, and returns a plunderer.-
Mischat ul Mesabih. It was probably considered in this light 
among all the oriental nations. This observation is 
necessary, in order to point out more forcibly the iniquity 
of the refusal mentioned in the text. A man may be said to be 
worthy of, or fit for, this marriage feast, when, feeling his 
wretchedness and misery, he comes to God in the way 
appointed, to get an entrance into the holiest, by the blood 
of Jesus.

Verse 9. Go ye therefore into the highways] diexodouv twn 
adwn, cross or by-paths; the places where two or more roads 
met in one, leading into the city, where people were coming 
together from various quarters of the country. St. Luke adds 
hedges, to point out the people to whom the apostles were 
sent, as either miserable vagabonds, or the most indigent 
poor, who were wandering about the country, or sitting by the 
sides of the ways and hedges, imploring relief. This verse 
points out the final rejection of the Jews, and the calling 
of the Gentiles. It was a custom among the Jews, when a rich 
man made a feast, to go out and invite in all destitute 
travelers. See in Rab. Beracoth, fol. 43.

As many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage] God sends his 
salvation to every soul, that all may believe and be saved.

Verse 10. Gathered together all-both bad and good] By the 
preaching of the Gospel, multitudes of souls are gathered 
into what is generally termed the visible Church of Christ. 
This Church is the FLOOR, where the wheat and the chaff are 
often mingled, chap. iii. 12. The FIELD, where the bastard 
wheat and the true grain grow together, chap. xiii. 26, 27.

The NET, which collects of all kinds, both good and bad, 
chap. xiii. 48.

The HOUSE in which the wise and foolish are found, Matthew 
xxv. 1, &c.

And the FOLD, in which there are both sheep and goats, 
Matthew xxv. 33; &c.

Verse 11. When the king came] When God shall come to judge 
the world.

Wedding garment] Among the orientals, long white robes were 
worn at public festivals; and those who appeared on such 
occasions with any other garments were esteemed, not only 
highly culpable, but worthy of punishment. Our Lord seems 
here to allude to Zeph. i. 7, 8, The Lord hath prepared a 
SACRIFICE, he hath BIDDEN his guests. And it shall come to 
pass, in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will PUNISH 
the princes, and the KING'S CHILDREN, and ALL SUCH as are 
clothed with STRANGE APPAREL. The person who invited the 
guests prepared such a garment for each, for the time being; 
and with which he was furnished on his application to the 
ruler of the feast. It was this which made the conduct of the 
person mentioned in the text inexcusable; he might have had a 
proper marriage garment, if he had applied for it.

To afford accidental guests clothing suitable to a marriage 
feast, was a custom among the ancient Greeks. Homer relates 
that Telemachus, and the son of Nestor, arriving at 
Lacedaemon when Menelaus was making a marriage feast for his 
son and daughter, were accommodated with garments suited to 
the occasion, after having been bathed and anointed.

touv dĘ epei oun drwmai lousan kai crisan elaiw, amoi dĘ ara 
clainav oulav balon hde citwnav, ev ra qronouv ezonto parĘ 
atreidhn menelaon Odyss. l. iv. ver. 49-51 They entered each 
a bath, and by the hands Of maidens laved, and oiled, and 
clothed again With shaggy mantles and resplendent vests, Sat 
both enthroned at Menelaus' side. COWPER Among the Asiatics, 
garments called caftans, great numbers of which each nobleman 
has ordinarily ready in his wardrobe, are given to persons 
whom he wishes to honour: to refuse to accept or wear such a 
dress would be deemed the highest insult.

This marriage feast or dinner (the communication of the 
graces of the Gospel in this life) prepares for the marriage 
supper of the Lamb, Rev. xix. 7-9, the enjoyment of eternal 
blessedness in the kingdom of glory. Now, as without holiness 
no man can see the Lord, we may at once perceive what our 
Lord means by the marriage garment-it is HOLINESS of heart 
and life: the text last quoted asserts that the fine, white, 
and clean linen (alluding to the marriage garment above 
mentioned) was an emblem of the RIGHTEOUSNESS of the SAINTS. 
Mark this expression: the righteousness, the whole external 
conduct; regulated according to the will and word of God. Of 
the SAINTS, the holy persons, whose souls were purified by 
the blood of the Lamb.

Verse 12. He saith unto him, Friend] Rather, companion: so 
etaire should be translated. As this man represents the state 
of a person in the visible Church, who neglects to come unto 
the master of the feast for a marriage garment, for the 
salvation which Christ has procured, he cannot be with any 
propriety called a friend, but may well be termed a 
companion, as being a member of the visible Church, and 
present at all those ordinances where Christ's presence and 
blessing are found, by all those who sincerely wait upon him 
for salvation.

How camest thou in hither] Why profess to be called by my 
name while living without a preparation for my kingdom? He 
was speechless.] efimwqh, he was muzzled, or gagged. He had 
nothing to say in vindication of his neglect. There was a 
garment provided, but he neither put it on, nor applied for 
it. His conduct, therefore, was in the highest degree 
insulting and indecorous. As this man is the emblem, by 
general consent, of those who shall perish in the last day, 
may we not ask, without offense, Where does the doctrine of 
absolute reprobation or preterition appear in his case? If 
Christ had never died for him, or if he had applied for the 
garment, and was refused, might he not well have alleged this 
in behalf of his soul?-and would not the just God have 
listened to it? But there is not the smallest excuse for him: 
Christ died, the sacrifice was offered, for him; the 
ministers of the Gospel invited him; the Holy Spirit strove 
with him; he might have been saved, but he was not: and the 
fault lies so absolutely at his own door that the just God is 
vindicated in his conduct, while he sends him to hell, not 
for the lack of what he could not get, but for the lack of 
what he might have had, but either neglected or refused it.

Then said the king to the servants] To the ministering 
angels, executors of the Divine will.

Cast him into outer darkness] The Jewish marriages were 
performed in the night season, and the hall where the feast 
was made was superbly illuminated; the outer darkness means, 
therefore, the darkness on the outside of this festal hall; 
rendered still more gloomy to the person who was suddenly 
thrust out into it from such a profusion of light. See all 
this largely treated of on chap. viii. 12.

Verse 14. Many are called, &c.] This verse is wanting in one 
of Colbert's MSS., marked 33 in Griesbach. See the note on 
Matthew xx. 16.

Many are called by the preaching of the Gospel into the 
outward communion of the Church of Christ; but few, 
comparatively, are chosen to dwell with God In glory, because 
they do not come to the master of the feast for a marriage 
garment-for that holiness without which none can see the 
Lord. This is an allusion to the Roman custom of raising 
their militia; all were mustered, but only those were chosen 
to serve, who were found proper. See the note on chap. xx. 
16. Reader! examine thy soul, and make sure work for 
eternity!

Verse 15. In his talk.] en logw, by discourse: intending to 
ask him subtle and ensnaring questions; his answers to which 
might involve him either with the Roman government, or with 
the great Sanhedrin.

Verse 16. The Herodians] For an account of this sect, see the 
note on chap. xvi. 1. The preceding parable had covered the 
Pharisees with confusion: when it was ended they went out, 
not to humble themselves before God, and deprecate the 
judgments with which they were threatened; but to plot afresh 
the destruction of their teacher. The depth of their malice 
appears, 1. In their mode of attack. They had often 
questioned our Lord on matters concerning religion; and his 
answers only served to increase his reputation, and their 
confusion. They now shift their ground, and question him 
concerning state affairs, and the question is such as must be 
answered; and yet the answer, to all human appearance, can be 
none other than what may be construed into a crime against 
the people, or against the Roman government. 2. Their 
profound malice appears farther in the choice of their 
companions in this business, viz. the Herodians. Herod was at 
this very time at Jerusalem, whither he had come to hold the 
passover. Jesus, being of Nazareth, which was in Herod's 
jurisdiction, was considered as his subject. Herod himself 
was extremely attached to the Roman emperor, and made a 
public profession of it: all these considerations engaged the 
Pharisees to unite the Herodians, who, as the Syriac 
intimates, were the domestics of Herod, in this infernal 
plot. 3.

Their profound malice appears, farther, in the praises they 
gave our Lord.

Teacher, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of 
God. This was indeed the real character of our blessed Lord; 
and now they bear testimony to the truth, merely with the 
design to make it subserve their bloody purposes. Those whose 
hearts are influenced by the spirit of the wicked one never 
do good, but when they hope to accomplish evil by it.

Men who praise you to your face are ever to be suspected. The 
Italians have a very expressive proverb on this subject:-Che 
ti fa carezze piu che non suole, O t' ha ingannato, o 
ingannar ti vuole He who caresses thee more than he was wont 
to do, has either DECEIVED thee, or is ABOUT TO DO IT.

I have never known the sentiment in this proverb to fail; and 
it was notoriously exemplified in the present instance. 
Flatterers, though they speak the truth, ever carry about 
with them a base or malicious soul. 4.

Their malice appears still farther in the question they 
propose. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?-ver. 
17. The constitution of the Jewish republic, the expectations 
which they had of future glory and excellence, and the 
diversity of opinions which divided the Jews on this subject, 
rendered an answer to this question extremely difficult:-1.

In the presence of the people, who professed to have no other 
king but God, and looked on their independence as an 
essential point of their religion.

2. In the presence of the Pharisees, who were ready to stir 
up the people against him, if his decision could be at all 
construed to be contrary to their prejudices, or to their 
religious rights.

3. In the presence of the Herodians, who, if the answer 
should appear to be against Caesar's rights, were ready to 
inflame their master to avenge, by the death of our Lord, the 
affront offered to his master the emperor.

4. The answer was difficult, because of the different 
sentiments of the Jews on this subject; some maintaining that 
they could not lawfully pay tribute to a heathen governor: 
while others held that as they were now under this strange 
government, and had no power to free themselves from it, it 
was lawful for them to pay what they had not power to refuse.

5. The answer was difficult, when it is considered that 
multitudes of the people had begun now to receive Jesus as 
the promised Messiah, who was to be the deliverer of their 
nation from spiritual and temporal oppression, and therefore 
had lately sung to him the Hosanna Rabba: see chap. xxi. 9. 
If then he should decide the question in Caesar's favour, 
what idea must the people have of him, either as zealous for 
the law, or as the expected Messiah? If against Caesar, he is 
ruined. Who that loved Jesus, and was not convinced of his 
sovereign wisdom, could help trembling for him in these 
circumstances? Jesus opposes the depth of his wisdom to the 
depth of their malice, and manifests it:- 1. By unmasking 
them, and showing that he knew the very secrets of their 
hearts. Ye HYPOCRITES! why tempt ye me? i.e. why do ye try me 
thus? This must cover them with confusion, when they saw 
their motives thus discovered; and tend much to lessen their 
influence in the sight of the people, when it was manifest 
that they acted not through a desire to receive information, 
by which to regulate their conduct, but merely to ensnare and 
ruin him.

2. Christ shows his profound wisdom in not attempting to 
discuss the question at large; but settled the business by 
seizing a maxim that was common among all people, and 
acknowledged among the Jews, That the prince who causes his 
image and titles to be stamped on the current coin of a 
country, is virtually acknowledged thereby as the governor. 
See Maimon. Gezel. c. v. in Wetstein. When Sultan MAHMOUD, 
king of Maveralnahar, Turquestan, and the Indies, wished to 
seize on the dominions of SEIDEH, queen of Persia, who 
governed in the place of her young son Megededde-vlet, about 
A. D. 909, he sent an ambassador to her with the following 
order: You must acknowledge me for your KING, cause the 
kootbah to be read, i.e. pray for me in all the mosques of 
the kingdom, and GET YOUR MONEY recoined, with the IMPRESSION 
THAT IS ON MINE: thus denoting that she must become 
absolutely subject to him. See Bibliot. Orient. de Galand. p. 
453. Esau Afghan carried his conquest into Bhatty, into the 
viceroyalty of Bengal, and caused the kootbah to be read, and 
coin to be struck in the name of the Emperor Akbar. Ayeen 
Akbery, vol. ii p. 5. See also p. 38,92,94,130,139,187.

Verse 19. They brought unto him a penny.] A denarius: 
probably the ordinary capitation tax, though the poll tax in 
the law, Exodus xxx. 13, 14, was half a shekel, about twice 
as much as the denarius. The Roman denarius had the emperor's 
image with a proper legend stamped on one side of it. It was 
not therefore the sacred shekel which was to be paid for the 
repairs of the temple which was now demanded, but the regular 
tribute required by the Roman government.

Verse 20. Whose is this image and superscription?] He knew 
well enough whose they were; but he showed the excellency of 
his wisdom, 3dly, in making them answer to their own 
confusion. They came to ensnare our Lord in his discourse, 
and now they are ensnared in their own.

He who digs a pit for his neighbour ordinarily falls into it 
himself.

Verse 21. They say unto him, Caesars.] The image was the head 
of the emperor; the superscription, his titles. JULIUS CAESAR 
was the first who caused his image to be struck on the Roman 
coin. Tiberius was emperor at this time.

Render therefore unto Caesar] The conclusion is drawn from 
their own premises. You acknowledge this to be Caesar's coin; 
this coin is current, in your land; the currency of this coin 
shows the country to be under the Roman government; and your 
acknowledgment that it is Caesar's proves you have submitted. 
Don't therefore be unjust; but render to Caesar the things 
which you acknowledge to be his; at the same time, be not 
impious, but render unto God the thing's which belong to God.

This answer is full of consummate wisdom. It establishes the 
limits, regulates the rights, and distinguishes the 
jurisdiction of the two empires of heaven and earth. The 
image of princes stamped on their coin denotes that temporal 
things belong all to their government. The image of God 
stamped on the soul denotes that all its faculties and powers 
belong to the Most High, and should be employed in his 
service.

But while the earth is agitated and distracted with the 
question of political rights and wrongs, the reader will 
naturally ask, What does a man owe to Caesar?-to the civil 
government under which he lives? Our Lord has answered the 
question-That which IS Caesar's. But what is it that is 
Caesar's? 1. Honour. 2. Obedience. And 3. Tribute. 1. The 
civil government under which a man lives, and by which he is 
protected, demands his honour and reverence. 2. The laws 
which are made for the suppression of evil doers, and the 
maintenance of good order, which are calculated to promote 
the benefit of the whole, and the comfort of the individual 
should be religiously obeyed. 3. The government that charges 
itself with the support and defense of the whole, should have 
its unavoidable expenses, however great, repaid by the 
people, in whose behalf they are incurred; therefore we 
should pay tribute. But remember, if Caesar should intrude 
into the things of God, coin a new creed, or broach a new 
Gospel, and affect to rule the conscience, while he rules the 
state, in these things Caesar is not to be obeyed; he is 
taking the things of God, and he must not get them. Give not 
therefore God's things to Caesar, and give not Caesar's 
things to God. That which belongs to the commonwealth should, 
on no account whatever, be devoted to religious uses; and let 
no man think he has pleased God, by giving that to charitable 
or sacred uses which he has purloined from the state. The 
tribute of half a shekel, which the law, (Exod. xxx. 13,14,) 
required every person above twenty years of age to pay to the 
temple, was, after the destruction of the temple, in the time 
of Vespasian, paid into the emperor's exchequer. This sum, 
Melanethon supposes, amounted annually to THREE TONS OF GOLD.

Verse 22. When they had heard these words, they marvelled] 
And well they might-never man spake like this man. By this 
decision, CAESAR is satisfied-he gets his own to the 
uttermost farthing. GOD is glorified-his honour is in every 
respect secured. And the PEOPLE are edified-one of the most 
difficult questions that could possibly come before them is 
answered in such a way as to relieve their consciences, and 
direct their conduct. See L'Evangile Medite, and see my 
discourse entitled, The Rights of God and Caesar.

Verse 23. The same day] Malice is ever active; let it be 
defeated ever so often, it returns to the charge. Jesus and 
his Gospel give no quarter to vice; the vicious will give no 
quarter to him or it. The Sadducees] For an account of these 
see on chap. xvi. 1.

Verse 24. Raise up seed unto his brother.] This law is 
mentioned Deut. xxv. 5. The meaning of the expression is, 
that the children produced by this marriage should be 
reckoned in the genealogy of the deceased brother, and enjoy 
his estates. The word seed should be always translated 
children or posterity. There is a law precisely similar to 
this among the Hindoos.

Verse 25. Seven brethren] It is very likely that the 
Sadducees increased the number, merely to make the question 
the more difficult.

Verse 28. Whose wife shall she be of the seven?] The rabbins 
have said, That if a woman have two husbands in this world, 
she shall have the first only restored to her in the world to 
come. Sohar. Genes. fol. 24. The question put by these bad 
men is well suited to the mouth of a libertine.

Those who live without God in the world have no other god 
than the world; and those who have not that happiness which 
comes from the enjoyment of God have no other pleasure than 
that which comes from the gratification of sensual appetites. 
The stream cannot rise higher than the spring: these men, and 
their younger brethren, atheists, deists, and libertines of 
all sorts, can form no idea of heaven as a place of 
blessedness, unless they can hope to find in it the 
gratification of their sensual desires.

On this very ground Mohammed built his paradise.

Verse 29. Ye do err] Or, Ye are deceived-by your impure 
passions: not knowing the scriptures, which assert the 
resurrection:-nor the miraculous power of God (thn dunamin 
tou qeou) by which it is to be effected. In Avoda Sara, fol. 
18, Sanhedrin, fol. 90, it is said: "These are they which 
shall have no part in the world to come: Those who say, the 
Lord did not come from heaven; and those who say, the 
resurrection cannot be proved out of the law." Their 
deception appeared in their supposing, that if there were a 
resurrection, men and women were to marry and be given in 
marriage as in this life; which our Lord shows is not the 
case: for men and women there shall be like the angels of 
God, immortal, and free from all human passions, and from 
those propensities which were to continue with them only 
during this present state of existence. There shall be no 
death; and consequently no need of marriage to maintain the 
population of the spiritual world.

Verse 31. Have ye not read] This quotation is taken from 
Exodus iii. 6, 16; and as the five books of Moses were the 
only part of Scripture which the Sadducees acknowledged as 
Divine, our Lord, by confuting them from those books, proved 
the second part of his assertion, "Ye are ignorant of those 
very scriptures which ye profess to hold sacred."

Verse 32. I am the God of Abraham] Let it be observed, that 
Abraham was dead upwards of 300 years before these words were 
spoken to Moses: yet still God calls himself the God of 
Abraham, &c. Now Christ properly observes that God is not the 
God of the dead, (that word being equal, in the sense of the 
Sadducees, to an eternal annihilation,) but of the living; it 
therefore follows that, if he be the God of Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, these are not dead, but alive; alive with God, 
though they had ceased, for some hundreds of years, to exist 
among mortals. We may see, from this, that our Lord combats 
and confutes another opinion of the Sadducees, viz. that 
there is neither angel nor spirit; by showing that the soul 
is not only immortal, but lives with God, even while the body 
is detained in the dust of the earth, which body is 
afterwards to be raised to life, and united with its soul by 
the miraculous power of God, of which power they showed 
themselves to be ignorant when they denied the possibility of 
a resurrection.

Verse 33. The multitude were astonished at his doctrine.] God 
uses the infidelity of some for the edification of others. 
Had no false doctrine been broached in the world, we had not 
seen the full evidence of the true teaching. The opposition 
of deists and infidels has only served to raise up men in 
behalf of the truth of God, who not only have refuted them, 
but shown, at the same time, that the sacred testimonies are 
infinitely amiable in themselves, and worthy of all 
acceptation. Truth always gains by being opposed.

Verse 34. They were gathered together.] epi to auto-they came 
together with one accord, or, for the same purpose; i.e. of 
ensnaring him in his discourse, as the Sadducees had done, 
ver. 23. The Codex Bezae and several of the Itala have epĘ 
auton, against him. Camen togidre into oon.-Old MS. Eng, Bib.

Verse 35. A lawyer] nomikov, a teacher of the law. What is 
called lawyer, in the common translation, conveys a wrong 
idea to most readers: my old MS. renders the word in the same 
way I have done. These teachers of the law were the same as 
the scribes, or what Dr. Wotton calls letter-men, whom he 
supposes to be the same as the Karaites, a sect of the Jews 
who rejected all the traditions of the elders, and admitted 
nothing but the written word. See Wotton's Mishna, vol. i. p. 
78. These are allowed to have kept more closely to the 
spiritual meaning of the law and prophets than the Pharisees 
did; and hence the question proposed by the lawyer, (Mark, 
Mark xii. 28, calls him one of the scribes,) or Karaite, was 
of a more spiritual or refined nature than any of the 
preceding.

Verse 36. Which is the great commandment] We see here three 
kinds of enemies and false accusers of Christ and his 
disciples; and three sorts of accusations brought against 
them.

1. The Herodians, or politicians and courtiers, who form 
their questions and accusations on the rights of the prince, 
and matters of state, ver. 16.

2. The Sadducees, or libertines, who found theirs upon 
matters of religion, and articles of faith, which they did 
not credit, Matthew xxii. 23.

3. The Pharisees, lawyers, scribes, or Karaites, hypocritical 
pretenders to devotion, who found theirs on that vital and 
practical godliness (the love of God and man) of which they 
wished themselves to be thought the sole proprietors, ver. 
36.

Verse 37. Thou shalt love the Lord] This is a subject of the 
greatest importance, and should be well understood, as our 
Lord shows that the whole of true religion is comprised in 
thus loving God and our neighbour.

It may not be unnecessary to inquire into the literal meaning 
of the word love. agaph, from agapaw, I love, is supposed to 
be compounded either of agan and poiein, to act vehemently or 
intensely; or, from agein kata pan, because love is always 
active, and will act in every possible way; for he who loves 
is, with all his affection and desire, carried forward to the 
beloved object, in order to possess and enjoy it. Some derive 
it from agan and pauesqai, to be completely at rest, or, to 
be intensely satisfied; because he who loves is supremely 
contented with, and rests completely satisfied in, that which 
he loves. Others, from agan and paw, because a person eagerly 
embraces, and vigorously holds fast, that which is the object 
of his love. Lastly, others suppose it to be compounded of 
agaw, I admire, and pauomai, I rest, because that which a man 
loves intensely he rests in, with fixed admiration and 
contemplation. So that genuine love changes not, but always 
abides steadily attached to that which is loved.

Whatever may be thought of these etymologies, as being either 
just or probable, one thing will be evident to all those who 
know what love means, that they throw much light upon the 
subject, and manifest it in a variety of striking points of 
view. The ancient author of a MS. Lexicon in the late French 
king's library, under the word agaph, has the following 
definition: aspastov proqesiv epi th filia tou filoumenou-
somyucia. "A pleasing surrender of friendship to a friend:-an 
identity or sameness of soul." A sovereign preference given 
to one above all others, present or absent: a concentration 
of all the thoughts and desires in a single object, which a 
man prefers to all others. Apply this definition to the love 
which God requires of his creatures, and you will have the 
most correct view of the subject. Hence it appears that, by 
this love, the soul eagerly cleaves to, affectionately 
admires, and constantly rests in God, supremely pleased and 
satisfied with him as its portion: that it acts from him, as 
its author; for him, as its master; and to him, as its end.

That, by it, all the powers and faculties of the mind are 
concentrated in tho Lord of the universe. That, by it, the 
whole man is willingly surrendered to the Most High: and 
that, through it, an identity, or sameness of spirit with the 
Lord is acquired-the man being made a partaker of the Divine 
nature, having the mind in him which was in Christ, and thus 
dwelling in God, and God in him.

But what is implied in loving God with all the heart, soul, 
mind, strength, &c., and when may a man be said to do this? 
1. He loves God with all his heart, who loves nothing in 
comparison of him, and nothing but in reference to him:-who 
is ready to give up, do, or suffer any thing in order to 
please and glorify him:-who has in his heart neither love nor 
hatred, hope nor fear, inclination, nor aversion, desire, nor 
delight, but as they relate to God, and are regulated by him.

2. He loves God with all his soul, or rather, en olh th yuch, 
with all his life, who is ready to give up life for his sake-
to endure all sorts of torments, and to be deprived of all 
kinds of comforts, rather than dishonour God:-who employs 
life with all its comforts, and conveniences, to glorify God 
in, by, and through all:-to whom life and death are nothing, 
but as they come from and lead to God, From this Divine 
principle sprang the blood of the martyrs, which became the 
seed of the Church. They overcame through the blood of the 
Lamb, and loved not their lives unto the death. See Rev. xii. 
11.

3. He loves God with all his strength (Mark xii. 30; Luke x. 
27) who exerts all the powers of his body and soul in the 
service of God:-who, for the glory of his Maker, spares 
neither labour nor cost-who sacrifices his time, body, 
health, ease, for the honour of God his Divine Master:-who 
employs in his service all his goods, his talents, his power, 
credit, authority, and influence.

4. He loves God with all his mind (intellect-dianoia) who 
applies himself only to know God, and his holy will:-who 
receives with submission, gratitude, and pleasure, the sacred 
truths which God has revealed to man:-who studies no art nor 
science but as far as it is necessary for the service of God, 
and uses it at all times to promote his glory-who forms no 
projects nor designs but in reference to God and the 
interests of mankind:-who banishes from his understanding and 
memory every useless, foolish, and dangerous thought, 
together with every idea which has any tendency to defile his 
soul, or turn it for a moment from the center of eternal 
repose. In a word, he who sees God in all things-thinks of 
him at all times-having his mind continually fixed upon God, 
acknowledging him in all his ways-who begins, continues, and 
ends all his thoughts, words, and works, to the glory of his 
name:-this is the person who loves God with all his heart, 
life, strength, and intellect. He is crucified to the world, 
and the world to him: he lives, yet not he, but Christ lives 
in him. He beholds as in a glass the glory of the Lord, and 
is changed into the same image from glory to glory. Simply 
and constantly looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter 
of his faith, he receives continual supplies of enlightening 
and sanctifying grace, and is thus fitted for every good word 
and work. O glorious state! far, far, beyond this 
description! which comprises an ineffable communion between 
the ever-blessed Trinity and the soul of man!

Verse 38. This is the first and great commandment.] It is so, 
1. In its antiquity, being as old as the world, and engraven 
originally on our very nature.

2. In dignity; as directly and immediately proceeding front 
and referring to God.

3. In excellence; being the commandment of the new covenant, 
and the very spirit of the Divine adoption.

4. In justice; because it alone renders to God his due, 
prefers him before all things, and secures to him his proper 
rank in relation to them.

5. In sufficiency; being in itself capable of making men holy 
in this life, and happy in the other.

6. In fruitfulness; because it is the root of all 
commandments, and the fulfilling of the law.

7. In virtue and efficacy; because by this alone God reigns 
in the heart of man, and man is united to God.

8. In extent; leaving nothing to the creature, which it does 
not refer to the Creator.

9. In necessity; being absolutely indispensable.

10. In duration; being ever to be continued on earth, and 
never to be discontinued in heaven.

Verse 39. Thou shalt love thy neighbour] The love of our 
neighbour springs from the love of God as its source; is 
found in the love of God as its principle, pattern, and end; 
and the love of God is found in the love of our neighbour, as 
its effect, representation, and infallible mark. This love of 
our neighbour is a love of equity, charity, succour, and 
benevolence. We owe to our neighbour what we have a right to 
expect from him-"Do unto all men as ye would they should do 
unto you," is a positive command of our blessed saviour. By 
this rule, therefore, we should speak, think, and write, 
concerning every soul of man:-put the best construction upon 
all the words and actions of our neighbour that they can 
possibly bear. By this rule we are taught to bear with, love, 
and forgive him; to rejoice in his felicity, mourn in his 
adversity, desire and delight in his prosperity, and promote 
it to the utmost of our power: instruct his ignorance, help 
him in his weakness, and risk even our life for his sake, and 
for the public good. In a word, we must do every thing in our 
power, through all the possible varieties of circumstances, 
for our neighbours, which we would wish them to do for us, 
were our situations reversed.

This is the religion of Jesus! How happy would Society be, 
were these two plain, rational precepts properly observed! 
Love ME, and love thy FELLOWS! Be unutterably happy in me, 
and be in perfect peace, unanimity, and love, among 
yourselves. Great fountain and dispenser of love! fill thy 
creation with this sacred principle, for his sake who died 
for the salvation of mankind! On the nature of self-love, see 
chap. xix. 19.

Verse 40. On these two-hang all the law and the prophets.] 
They are like the first and last links of a chain, all the 
intermediate ones depend on them. True religion begins and 
ends in love to God and man. These are the two grand links 
that unite God to man, man to his fellows, and men again to 
God.

Love is the fulfilling of the law, says St. Paul, Rom. xiii. 
10; for he who has the love of God in him delights to obey 
the Divine precepts, and to do all manner of kindness to men 
for God's sake.

Verse 41. While the Pharisees were gathered together] Jesus 
asks a question in his turn, utterly to confound them, and to 
show the people that the source of all the captious questions 
of his opponents was their ignorance of the prophecies 
relative to the Messiah.

Verse 42. What think ye of Christ?] Or, What are your 
thoughts concerning THE CHRIST-the Messiah; for to this title 
the emphatic article should always be added.

Whose son is he?] From what family is he to spring? They say 
unto him, The son of David.] This was a thing well known 
among the Jews, and universally acknowledged, see John vii. 
42; and is a most powerful proof against them that the 
Messiah is come. Their families are now so perfectly 
confounded that they cannot trace back any of their 
genealogies with any degree of certainty: nor have they been 
capable of ascertaining the different families of their 
tribes for more than sixteen hundred years. Why, then, should 
the spirit of prophecy assert so often, and in such express 
terms, that Jesus was to come from the family of David; if he 
should only make his appearance when the public registers 
were all demolished, and it would be impossible to ascertain 
the family? Is it not evident that God designed that the 
Messiah should come at a time when the public genealogies 
might be inspected, to prove that it was he who was 
prophesied of, and that no other was to be expected? The 
evangelists, Matthew and Luke, were so fully convinced of the 
conclusiveness of this proof that they had recourse to the 
public registers; and thus proved to the Jews, from their own 
records, that Jesus was born of the family mentioned by the 
prophets. Nor do we find that a scribe, Pharisee, or any 
other, ever attempted to invalidate this proof, though it 
would have essentially subserved their cause, could they have 
done it. But as this has not been done, we may fairly 
conclude it was impossible to do it.

Verse 43. How then doth David in spirit (or by the Spirit-by 
the inspiration of the Spirit of God) call him Lord? saying,

Verse 44. The Lord (hwhy Yeve or Jehovah) said unto my Lord, 
(ynda Adni or Adonai, my prop, stay, master, support,) Sit 
thou on my right hand] Take the place of the greatest 
eminence and authority. Till I make thine enemies thy 
footstool-till I subdue both Jews and Gentiles under thee, 
and cause them to acknowledge thee as their sovereign and 
Lord. This quotation is taken from Psa. cx. 1; and, from it, 
these two points are clear: 1. That David wrote it by the 
inspiration of God; and 2. That it is a prophetic declaration 
of the Messiah.

Verse 45. How is he his son?] As the Jews did not attempt to 
deny the conclusion of our Lord's question, which was, the 
Messiah is not only the son of David according to the flesh, 
but he is the Lord of David according to his Divine nature, 
then it is evident they could not. Indeed, there was no other 
way of invalidating the argument, but by denying that the 
prophecy in question related to Christ: but it seems the 
prophecy was so fully and so generally understood to belong 
to the Messiah that they did not attempt to do this; for it 
is immediately added, No man was able to answer him a word-
they were completely nonplussed and confounded.

Verse 46. Neither durst any-ask him any more questions.] 
"Thus," says Dr. Wotton, "our Lord put the four great sects 
of the Jews to silence, in one day, successively. The 
Herodians and Pharisees wanted to know whether they might 
lawfully pay tribute to Caesar or not. The Sadducees were 
inquisitive to know whose wife the woman should be of the 
seven brethren, in the resurrection, who had her to wife. 
Then comes the scribe, (or karaite,) who owned no authority 
beyond or besides the written law, and asked which was the 
great commandment in the law. This lawyer deserves to be 
mentioned here, because he not only acquiesced in, but 
commended, what our Lord had said in answer to his question." 
Wotton's Miscellaneous Discourses, vol. i. p. 78.

The Pharisees and Herodians were defeated, ver. 15-22. The 
Sadducees were confounded, ver. 29-33. The lawyers or 
karaites nonplussed, ver. 37-40. And the Pharisees, &c., 
finally routed, ver. 41-46. Thus did the wisdom of God 
triumph over the cunning of men.

From this time, we do not find that our Lord was any more 
troubled with their captious questions: their whole stock, it 
appears, was expended, and now they coolly deliberate on the 
most effectual way to get him murdered.

He that resists the truth of God is capable of effecting the 
worst purpose of Satan.

The very important subjects of this chapter have been so 
amply discussed in the notes, and applied so particularly to 
their spiritual uses, that it does not appear necessary to 
add any thing by way of practical improvement.

The explanation of the great command of the law is 
particularly recommended to the reader's notice. See on ver. 
36-40.

CHAPTER xxiii

The character of the scribes and Pharisees, and directions to 
the people and the disciples to receive the law from them, 
but not to follow their bad example, 1-7. The disciples 
exhorted to humility, 8-12. Different woes pronounced against 
the scribes and Pharisees for their intolerance, 13; 
rapacity, 14; false zeal, 15; superstition in oaths and 
tithes, 16-23; hypocrisy, 24-28. Their cruelty, 29-32. Their 
persecution of the apostles, &c. Their destruction foretold, 
33-36. Christ's lamentation over Jerusalem, 37-39.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxiii

Verse 2. The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat] 
ekaqisan.-They sat there formerly by Divine appointment: they 
sit there now by Divine permission. What our Lord says here 
refers to their expounding the Scriptures, for it was the 
custom of the Jewish doctors to sit while they expounded the 
law and prophets, (chap. v. 1; Luke iv. 20-22,) and to stand 
up when they read them.

By the seat of Moses, we are to understand authority to teach 
the law.

Moses was the great teacher of the Jewish people; and the 
scribes, &c., are here represented as his successors.

Verse 3. All therefore whatsoever] That is, all those things 
which they read out of the law and prophets, and all things 
which they teach consistently with them. This must be our 
Lord's meaning: he could not have desired them to do every 
thing, without restriction, which the Jewish doctors taught; 
because himself warns his disciples against their false 
teaching, and testifies that they had made the word of God of 
none effect by their traditions. See chap. xv. 6, &c. 
Besides, as our Lord speaks here in the past tense-whatsoever 
they HAVE commanded, osa eipwsin, he may refer to the 
teaching of a former period, when they taught the way of God 
in truth, or were much less corrupted than they were now.

Verse 4. They bind heavy burdens] They are now so corrupt 
that they have added to the ceremonies of the law others of 
their own invention, which are not only burdensome and 
oppressive, but have neither reason, expediency, nor 
revelation, to countenance them. In a word, like all their 
successors in spirit to the present day, they were severe to 
others, but very indulgent to themselves.

Verse 5. All their works they do for to be seen of men] In 
pointing out the corruptions of these men, our Lord gives us 
the distinguishing characteristics of all false teachers, 
whether Jewish or Christian.

1. They live not according to the truths they preach. They 
say, and do not, ver. 3.

2. They are severe to others, point out the narrowest road to 
heaven, and walk in the broad road themselves. They bind on 
burdens, &c., ver. 4.

3. They affect to appear righteous, and are strict observers 
of certain rites, &c., while destitute of the power of 
godliness. They make broad their phylacteries, &c., ver. 5.

4. They love worldly entertainments, go to feast wherever 
they are asked, and seek Church preferments. They love the 
chief places at feasts, and chief seats in the synagogues, 
ver. 6.

5. They love and seek public respect and high titles, 
salutations in the market-place, (for they are seldom in 
their studies,) and to be called of men rabbi-eminent 
teacher, though they have no title to it, either from the 
excellence or fruit of their teaching. When these marks are 
found in a man who professes to be a minister of Christ, 
charity itself will assert he is a thief and a robber-he has 
climbed over the wall of the sheepfold, or broken it down in 
order to get in.

Phylacteries] fulakthria, from fulassw, to keep or preserve. 
These were small slips of parchment or vellum, on which 
certain portions of the law were written. The Jews tied these 
about their foreheads and arms, for three different purposes.

1. To put them in mind of those precepts which they should 
constantly observe.

2. To procure them reverence and respect in the sight of the 
heathen. And 3. To act as amulets or charms to drive away 
evil spirits.

The first use of these phylacteries is evident from their 
name.

The second use appears from what is said on the subject from 
the Gemara, Beracoth, chap. 1., quoted by Kypke. "Whence is 
it proved that phylacteries, ( ylypt , tephilin,) are the 
strength of Israel?-Ans. From what is written, Deut. xxviii. 
10. All the, people of the earth shall see that thou art 
called by the name [of hwhy Jehovah]-and they shall be afraid 
of thee.

The third use of them appears from the Targum, on Cant. So 
viii. 3. His left hand is under my head, &c. "The 
congregation of Israel hath said, I am elect above all 
people, because I bind my phylacteries on my left hand, and 
on my head, and the scroll is fixed to the right side of my 
gate, the third part of which looks to my bed-chamber, that 
DAEMONS may not be permitted to INJURE me." An original 
phylactery lies now before me. It is a piece of fine vellum, 
about eighteen inches long, and an inch and quarter broad. It 
is divided into four unequal compartments: in the first is 
written, in a very fair character, with many apices, after 
the mode of the German Jews, the first ten verses of Exod. 
10, (Exod. xiii. 1-10); in the second compartment is written, 
from the eleventh to the sixteenth verse of the same chapter 
(Exod. xiii. 11-16), inclusive in the third, from the fourth 
to the ninth verse, inclusive, of Deut. 6., beginning with, 
Hear, O Israel, &c.; in the fourth, from the thirteenth to 
the twenty-first verse, inclusive, of Deut. xi.

These passages seem to be chosen in vindication of the use of 
the phylactery itself, as the reader will see on consulting 
them: Bind them for a SIGN upon thy HAND-and for FRONTLETS 
between thy EYES-write them upon the POSTS of thy HOUSE, and 
upon thy GATES; all which commands the Jews took in the most 
literal sense.

Even the phylactery became an important appendage to a 
Pharisee's character, insomuch that some of them wore them 
very broad, either that they might have the more written on 
them, or that, the characters being larger, they might be the 
more visible, and that they might hereby acquire greater 
esteem among the common people, as being more than ordinarily 
religious. For the same reason, they wore the fringes of 
their garments of an unusual length. Moses had commanded 
(Num. xv. 38, 39) the children of Israel to put fringes to 
the borders of their garments, that, when they looked upon 
even these distinct threads, they might remember, not only 
the law in general, but also the very minutiae, or smaller 
parts of all the precepts, rites, and ceremonies, belonging 
to it. As these hypocrites were destitute of all the life and 
power of religion within, they endeavoured to supply its 
place by phylacteries and fringes without. See the note on 
Exod. xiii. 9.

Verse 7. To be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.] ybr ybr , i.e. 
My teacher! my teacher! The second rabbi is omitted by 
several excellent MSS., by most of the ancient versions, and 
by some of the fathers.

Griesbach has left it in the text, with the note of 
doubtfulness.

There are three words used among the Jews as titles of 
dignity, which they apply to their doctors-Rabh, Rabbi, and 
Rabban; each of these terms has its particular meaning: 
rabban implies much more than rabbi, and rabbi much more than 
rabh.

They may be considered as three degrees of comparison: rabh 
great, rabbi greater, and rabban greatest. These rabbins were 
looked up to as infallible oracles in religious matters, and 
usurped not only the place of the law, but of God himself.

Verse 8. But be not ye called Rabbi] As our Lord probably 
spoke in Hebrew, the latter word rabbi, in this verse, must 
have been in the plural; but as the contracted form of the 
plural sounds almost exactly like the singular, the Greek 
writer would naturally express them both in the same letters.

None of the prophets had ever received this title, nor any of 
the Jewish doctors before the time of Hillel and Shammai, 
which was about the time of our Lord; and, as disputes on 
several subjects had run high between these two schools, the 
people were of course divided; some acknowledging Hillel as 
rabbi,-infallible teacher, and others giving this title to 
Shammai.

The Pharisees, who always sought the honour that comes from 
men, assumed the title, and got their followers to address 
them by it. See on chap. xix. 3.

One is your Master] Instead of kaqhghthv, guide or leader, 
(the common reading here, and which occurs in ver. 10,) the 
famous Vatican MS., upwards of fifty others, and most of the 
ancient versions, read didaskalov, master. The most eminent 
critics approve of this reading and, independently of the 
very respectable authority by which it is supported, it is 
evident that this reading is more consistent with the context 
than the other,] Be not ye called MASTERS, for one is your 
MASTER.

Even Christ] Griesbach has left this out of the text, because 
it is wanting in many of the most excellent MSS., versions, 
and fathers. Mill and Bengel approve of the omission. It 
might have been brought into this verse from ver. 10. Our 
Lord probably alludes to Isa. liv. 13, All thy children shall 
be taught of the Lord.

Ye are brethren.] No one among you is higher than another, or 
can possibly have from me any jurisdiction over the rest. Ye 
are, in this respect, perfectly equal.

Verse 9. Call no man your FATHER] Our Lord probably alludes 
to the AB, or father of the Sanhedrin, who was the next after 
the nasi, or president. See on chap. xx. 21. By which he 
gives his disciples to understand that he would have no 
SECOND, after himself, established in his Church, of which he 
alone was the head; and that perfect equality must subsist 
among them.

Verse 10. Neither be ye called masters] kaqhghtai, leaders. 
God is in all these respects jealous of his honour. To him 
alone it belongs to guide and lead his Church, as well as to 
govern and defend it. Jesus is the sole teacher of 
righteousness. It is he alone, (who is the word, light, and 
eternal truth,) that can illuminate every created mind; and 
who, as saviour and Redeemer, speaks to every heart by his 
Spirit.

Though the title of Rabbi, mentioned above, was comparatively 
recent in the time of our Lord, yet it was in great vogue, as 
were the others-father and master, mentioned in this and the 
following verse: some had all three titles, for thus in Bab. 
Maccoth, fol. 24. It is feigned," says Dr. Lightfoot, "that 
when King Jehosaphat saw a disciple of the wise men, he rose 
up out of his throne, and embraced him, and said, yrm yrm ybr 
ybr yba yba , Abbi, Abbi! Rabbi, Rabbi! Mori, Mori!-Father, 
Father! Rabbi, Rabbi! Master, Master!" Here then are the 
three titles which, in ver. 7, 8, 10, our blessed Lord 
condemns; and these were titles that the Jewish doctors 
greatly affected.

Verse 11. Your servant.] diakonov, deacon. See on Matthew xx. 
26.

Verse 12. Whosoever shall exalt himself, &c.] The way to 
arrive at the highest degree of dignity, in the sight of God, 
is by being willing to become the servant of all. Nothing is 
more hateful in his sight than pride; to bring it into 
everlasting contempt, God was manifest in the flesh. He who 
was in the likeness of God took upon him the form of a 
servant, and was made in the likeness of man, and humbled 
himself unto death. After this, can God look upon any proud 
man without abasing him? Spiritual lordship and domination, 
ecclesiastical luxury, pomp, and pride, must be an abhorrence 
in the sight of that God who gave the above advices to his 
followers.

Another lesson, which our blessed Lord teaches here, is, that 
no man is implicitly to receive the sayings, doctrines, and 
decisions of any man, or number of men, in the things which 
concern the interests of his immortal soul. Christ, his 
Spirit, and his word, are the only infallible teachers. Every 
man who wishes to save his soul must search the Scriptures, 
by prayer and faith. Reader, take counsel with the pious; 
hear the discourses of the wise and holy: but let the book of 
God ultimately fix thy creed.

Verse 13. - 14. Wo unto you, scribes] I think the fourteenth 
and thirteenth verses should be transposed. This 
transposition is authorized by some of the best MSS., 
versions, and fathers. The fourteenth is wanting in the BDL., 
and in many others of inferior note, as well as in several of 
the versions. Griesbach has left it out of the text, in his 
first edition; I hesitated, and left it in, thus transposed. 
I am happy to find that a more extensive collation of MSS., 
&c., afforded proof to that eminent critic that it should be 
restored to its place. In the second edition, he has 
transposed the two, just as I had done. The fifteenth reads 
best after the thirteenth.

Verse 13. Ye shut up the kingdom] As a key by opening a lock 
gives entrance into a house, &c., so knowledge of the sacred 
testimonies, manifested in expounding them to the people, may 
be said to open the way into the kingdom of heaven. But where 
men who are termed teachers are destitute of this knowledge 
themselves, they may be said to shut this kingdom; because 
they occupy the place of those who should teach, and thus 
prevent the people from acquiring heavenly knowledge.

In ancient times the rabbins carried a key, which was the 
symbol or emblem of knowledge. Hence it is written in 
Semachoth, chap. 8.," When Rab. Samuel the little died, his 
key and his tablets were hung on his tomb, because he died 
childless." See Schoettgen.

The kingdom of heaven here means the Gospel of Christ; the 
Pharisees would not receive it themselves, and hindered the 
common people as far as they could. 

 Verse 14. Ye devour widows' houses] On this subject I am in 
possession of nothing better than the following note of Dr. 
Whitby.

"This sect," says Josephus, (Ant. l. xvii. chap. 3,) 
"pretended to a more exact knowledge of the law, on which 
account the women were subject to them, as pretending to be 
dear to God. And when Alexandra obtained the government, 
(Jewish War, b. I. ch. 4,) they insinuated themselves into 
her favour, as being the exactest sect of the Jews, and the 
most exact interpreters of the law, and, abusing her 
simplicity, did as they listed, remove and dispose, bind and 
loose, and even cut off men. They were in vogue for their 
long prayers, which they continued sometimes three hours; 
that perhaps they sold them, as do the Roman priests their 
masses, or pretended others should be more acceptable to God 
for them; and so might spoil devout widows by the gifts or 
salaries they expected from them.

Now this being only a hypocritical pretense of piety, must be 
hateful to God, and so deserve a greater condemnation." Long 
prayer] For proofs of long prayers and vain repetitions among 
Jews, Mohammedans, and heathens, see the notes on Matthew vi. 
7.

Verse 15. Compass sea and land] A proverbial expression, 
similar to ours, You leave no stone unturned; intimating that 
they did all in their power to gain converts, not to God, but 
to their sect. These we may suppose were principally sought 
for among the Gentiles, for the bulk of the Jewish nation was 
already on the side of the Pharisees.

Proselyte] proshlutov, a stranger, or foreigner; one who is 
come from his own people and country, to sojourn with 
another. See the different kinds of proselytes explained in 
the note on Exodus xii. 43.

The child of hell] A Hebraism for an excessively wicked 
person, such as might claim hell for his mother, and the 
devil for his father.

Twofold-the child of] The Greek word diploteron, which has 
generally been translated twofold, KYPKE has demonstrated to 
mean more deceitful. aplouv is used by the best Greek writers 
for simple, sincere, aplothv for simplicity, sincerity; so 
diplouv, deceitful, dissembling, and diploh, hypocrisy, 
fraudulence, and diploteron, more fraudulent, more deceitful, 
more hypocritical. See also Suidas in diploh.

Dr. Lightfoot, and others, observe, that the proselytes were 
considered by the Jewish nation as the scabs of the Church, 
and hindered the coming of the Messiah; and Justin Martyr 
observes, that "the proselytes did not only disbelieve 
Christ's doctrine, but were abundantly more blasphemous 
against him than the Jews themselves, endeavouring to torment 
and cut off the Christians wherever they could; they being in 
this the instruments of the scribes and Pharisees."

Verse 16. Whosoever shall swear by the gold] The covetous 
man, says one, still gives preference to the object of his 
lust; gold has still the first place in his heart. A man is 
to be suspected when he recommends those good works most from 
which he receives most advantage.

Is bound thereby, i.e. to fulfill his oath.

Verse 20. Whoso-shall swear by the altar] As an oath always 
supposes a person who witnesses it, and will punish perjury; 
therefore, whether they swore by the temple or the gold, 
(Matthew xxiii. 16,) or by the altar or the gift laid on it, 
(ver. 18,) the oath necessarily supposes the God of the 
temple, of the altar, and of the gifts, who witnessed the 
whole, and would, even in their exempt cases, punish the 
perjury.

Verse 21. Whoso shall swear by the temple] Perhaps it is to 
this custom of swearing by the temple, that Martial alludes, 
lib. xi. epist. 95.

Ecce negas, jurasque mihi per templa Tonantis; Non credo; 
jura, Verpe, per Anchialum.

"Behold, thou deniest, and swearest to me by the temples of 
Jupiter; I will not credit thee: swear, O Jew, by the temple 
of Jehovah." This word probably comes from hy lkyh heical 
Yah, the temple of Jehovah. This seems a better derivation 
than yj µa µyhla im chai Elohim, as God liveth, though the 
sound of the latter is nearer to the Latin.

By him that dwelleth therein.] The common reading is 
katoikounti, dwelleth or INHABITETH, but katoikhsanti, dwelt 
or DID inhabit, is the reading of CDEFGHKLM, eighty-six 
others; this reading has been adopted in the editions of 
Complutum, Colineus, Bengel, and Griesbach. The importance of 
this reading may be perceived by the following 
considerations. In the first Jewish temple, God had 
graciously condescended to manifest himself-he is constantly 
represented as dwelling between the cherubim, the two figures 
that stood at each end of the ark of the covenant; between 
whom, on the mercy seat, the lid of the ark, a splendour of 
glory was exhibited, which was the symbol and proof of the 
Divine presence. This the Jews called hnyk Shekinah, the 
habitation of Jehovah. Now the Jews unanimously acknowledge 
that five things were wanting in the second temple, which 
were found in the first, viz., 1. The ark; 2. The holy spirit 
of prophecy; 3. The Urim and Thummim; 4. The sacred fire; and 
5. The hnyk Shekinah. As the Lord had long before this time 
abandoned the Jewish temple, and had now made the human 
nature of Jesus the Shekinah, (see John i. 14, the Logos was 
made flesh, eskhnwsen, and made his tabernacle-made the 
Shekinah,-among us,) our Lord could not, with any propriety, 
say that the supreme Being did now inhabit the temple; and 
therefore used a word that hinted to them that God had 
forsaken their temple, and consequently the whole of that 
service which was performed in it, and had now opened the new 
and living way to the holiest by the Messiah. But all this 
was common swearing; and, whether the subject was true or 
false, the oath was unlawful. A common swearer is worthy of 
no credit, when, even in the most solemn manner he takes an 
oath before a magistrate; he is so accustomed to stake his 
truth, perhaps even his soul, to things whether true or 
false, that an oath cannot bind him, and indeed is as little 
respected by himself as it is by his neighbour. Common 
swearing, and the shocking frequency and multiplication of 
oaths in civil cases, have destroyed all respect for an oath; 
so that men seldom feel themselves bound by it; and thus it 
is useless in many cases to require it as a confirmation, in 
order to end strife or ascertain truth. See the note on 
Matthew v. 37.

Verse 23. Ye pay tithe of mint, &c.] They were remarkably 
scrupulous in the performance of all the rites and ceremonies 
of religion, but totally neglected the soul, spirit, and 
practice of godliness.

Judgment] Acting according to justice and equity towards all 
mankind.

Mercy-to the distressed and miserable. And faith in God as 
the fountain of all righteousness, mercy, and truth. The 
scribes and Pharisees neither began nor ended their works in 
God, nor had they any respect unto his name in doing them. 
They did them to be seen of men, and they had their reward-
human applause.

These ought ye to have done, &c.] Our Lord did not object to 
their paying tithe even of common pot-herbs-this did not 
affect the spirit of religion; but while they did this and 
such like, to the utter neglect of justice, mercy, and faith, 
they showed that they had no religion, and knew nothing of 
its nature.

Verse 24. Blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a 
camel.] This clause should be thus translated: Ye strain out 
the gnat, but ye swallow down the camel. In the common 
translation, Ye strain AT a gnat, conveys no sense. Indeed, 
it is likely to have been at first an error of the press, AT 
for OUT, which, on examination, I find escaped in the edition 
of 1611, and has been regularly continued since. There is now 
before me, "The Newe Testament, (both in Englyshe and in 
Laten,) of Mayster Erasmus translacion, imprynted by Wyllyam 
Powell, dwellynge in Flete strete: the yere of our Lorde 
M.CCCCC.XLVII. the fyrste yere of the kynges (Edwd. VI.) 
moste gracious reygne." in which the verse stands thus: "Ye 
blinde gides, which strayne out a gnat, and swalowe a 
cammel." It is the same also in Edmund Becke's Bible, printed 
in London 1549, and in several others.-Clensynge a gnatte. -
MS. Eng. Bib. So Wickliff. Similar to this is the following 
Arabic proverb . He eats an elephant and is choked by a gnat.

Verse 25. Ye make clean the outside] The Pharisees were 
exceedingly exact in observing all the washings and 
purifications prescribed by the law; but paid no attention to 
that inward purity which was typified by them. A man may 
appear clean without, who is unclean within; but outward 
purity will not avail in the sight of God, where inward 
holiness is wanting.

Extortion and excess.] 'arpaghv kai akrasiav, rapine and 
intemperance; but instead of akrasiav, intemperance, many of 
the very best MSS., CEFGHKS, and more than a hundred others, 
the Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, Slavonic, with Chrysostorn, 
Euthym., and Theophylact, have adikiav injustice, which 
Griesbach has admitted into the text instead of akrasiav. The 
latter Syriac has both. Several MSS. and versions have 
akaqarsiav, uncleanness; others have pleonexiav, 
covetousness; some have ponhriav, wickedness; and two of the 
ancients have iniquitate, iniquity. Suppose we put them all 
together, the character of the Pharisee will not be 
overcharged. They were full of rapine and intemperance, 
injustice and uncleanness, covetousness, wickedness, and 
iniquity.

Verse 27. For ye are like] paromoiazete, ye exactly resemble-
the parallel is complete.

Whited sepulchres] White-washed tombs. As the law considered 
those unclean who had touched any thing belonging to the 
dead, the Jews took care to have their tombs white-washed 
each year, that, being easily discovered, they might be 
consequently avoided.

Verse 28. Even so ye also-appear righteous unto men] But what 
will this appearance avail a man, when God sits in judgment 
upon his soul? Will the fair reputation which he had acquired 
among men, while his heart was the seat of unrighteousness, 
screen him from the stroke of that justice which impartially 
sends all impurity and unholiness into the pit of 
destruction? No. In the sin that he hath sinned, and in which 
he hath died, and according to that, shall he be judged and 
punished; and his profession of holiness only tends to sink 
him deeper into the lake which burns with unquenchable fire. 
Reader! see that thy heart be right with God.

Verse 29. Ye build the tombs of the prophets] It appears 
that, through respect to their memory, they often repaired, 
and sometimes beautified, the tombs of the prophets. M. 
Deuteronomy la Valle, in his Journey to the Holy Land, says, 
that when he visited the cave of Machpelah, he saw some Jews 
honouring a sepulchre, for which they have a great 
veneration, with lighting at it wax candles and burning 
perfumes. See Harmer, vol. iii.

p. 416. And in ditto, p. 424, we are informed that building 
tombs over those reputed saints, or beautifying those already 
built, is a frequent custom among the Mohammedans.

Verse 30. We would not have been partakers] They imagined 
themselves much better than their ancestors; but our Lord, 
who knew what they would do, uncovers their hearts, and shows 
them that they are about to be more abundantly vile than all 
who had ever preceded them.

Verse 31. Ye be witnesses] Ye acknowledge that ye are the 
children of those murderers, and ye are about to give full 
proof that ye are not degenerated.

There are many who think that, had they lived in the time of 
our Lord, they would not have acted towards him as the Jews 
did. But we can scarcely believe that they who reject his 
Gospel, trample under foot his precepts, do despite to the 
Spirit of his grace, love sin, and hate his followers, would 
have acted otherwise to him than the murdering Jews, had they 
lived in the same times.

Verse 32. Fill ye up then] Notwithstanding the profession you 
make, ye will fill up the measure of your fathers-will 
continue to walk in their way, accomplish the fullness of 
every evil purpose by murdering me; and then, when the 
measure of your iniquity is full, vengeance shall come upon 
you to the uttermost, as it did on your rebellious ancestors. 
The 31st verse should be read in a parenthesis, and then the 
32d will appear to be, what it is, an Inference from the 
30th.

Ye will fill up, or fill ye up-plhrwsate but it is manifest 
that the imperative is put here for the future, a thing quite 
consistent with the Hebrew idiom, and frequent in the 
Scriptures. So John ii. 19, Destroy this temple, &c., i.e. Ye 
will destroy or pull down this temple, and I will rebuild it 
in three days-Ye will crucify me, and I will rise again the 
third day. Two good MSS. have the word in the future tense: 
and my old MS. Bible has it in the present-Genesis (ye) fulfillen 
the mesure of youre (your) fadris.

Verse 33. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers] What a 
terrible stroke!-Ye are serpents, and the offspring of 
serpents. This refers to ver. x21: they confessed that they 
were the children of those who murdered the prophets; and 
they are now going to murder Christ and his followers, to 
show that they have not degenerated-an accursed seed, of an 
accursed breed. My old MS. translates this passage oddly-Gee 
serpentis, fruytis of burrownyngis of eddris that sleen her 
modris. There seems to be here an allusion to a common 
opinion, that the young of the adder or viper which are 
brought forth alive eat their way through the womb of their 
mothers.

Hence that ancient enigma attributed to LACTANTIUS:- Non 
possum nasci, si non occidero matrem Occidi matrem: sed me 
manet exitus idem Id mea mors faciet, quod jam mea fecit 
origo Cael. Firm. Symposium, N. xv I never can be born, nor 
see the day, Till through my parent's womb I eat my way Her I 
have slain; like her must yield my breath; For that which 
gave me life, shall cause my death Every person must see with 
what propriety this was applied to the Jews, who were about 
to murder the very person who gave them their being and all 
their blessings.

Verse 34. Wherefore] To show how my prediction, Ye will fill 
up the measure of your fathers, shall be verified, Behold, I 
send (I am just going to commission them) prophets, &c. and 
some ye will kill, (with legal process,) and some ye will 
crucify, pretend to try and find guilty, and deliver them 
into the hands of the Romans, who shall, through you, thus 
put them to death. See on Luke xi. 49. By prophets, wise men, 
and scribes, our Lord intends the evangelists, apostles, 
deacons, &c., who should be employed in proclaiming his 
Gospel: men who should equal the ancient prophets, their wise 
men, and scribes, in all the gifts and graces of the Holy 
Spirit.

Verse 35. Upon the earth] epi thv ghv, upon this land, 
meaning probably the land of Judea; for thus the word is 
often to be understood.

The national punishment of all the innocent blood which had 
been shed in the land, shall speedily come upon you, from the 
blood of Hebel the just, the first prophet and preacher of 
righteousness, Heb. xi. 4; 2 Pet. ii. 5, to the blood of 
Zachariah, the son of Barachiah. It is likely that our Lord 
refers to the murder of Zachariah, mentioned 2 Chron. xxiv. 
20, who said to the people, Why transgress ye the 
commandments of God, so that ye cannot prosper? Because ye 
have forsaken the Lord, he hath forsaken you.

And they conspired against him and stoned him-at the 
commandment of the king, in the court of the house of the 
Lord. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon and 
require it: 2 Chron. xxiv. 21, 22.

But it is objected, that this Zachariah was called the son of 
Jehoiada, and our Lord calls this one the son of Barachiah. 
Let it be observed, 1. That double names were frequent among 
the Jews; and sometimes the person was called by one, 
sometimes by the other. Compare 1 Sam. ix. 1, with 1 Chron. 
viii. 33, where it appears that the father of Kish had two 
names, Abiel and Ner. So Matthew is called Levi; compare 
chap. ix. 9, with Mark ii. 14. So Peter was also called 
Simon, and Lebbeus was called Thaddeus. chap. x. 2, 3.

2. That Jerome says that, in the Gospel of the Nazarenes, it 
was Jehoiada, instead of Barachiah.

3. That Jehoiada and Barachiah have the very same meaning, 
the praise or blessing of Jehovah.

4. That as the Lord required the blood of Zachariah so fully 
that in a year all the princes of Judah and Jerusalem were 
destroyed by the Syrians, and Joash, who commanded the 
murder, slain by his own servants, 2 Chron. xxiv. 23-25, and 
their state grew worse and worse, till at last the temple was 
burned, and the people carried into captivity by 
Nebuzaradan:-so it should also be with the present race. The 
Lord would, after the crucifixion of Christ, visit upon them 
the murder of all those righteous men, that their state 
should grow worse and worse, till at last the temple should 
be destroyed, and they finally ruined by the Romans. See this 
prediction in the next chapter: and see Dr. Whitby concerning 
Zachariah, the son of Barachiah.

Some think that our Lord refers, in the spirit of prophecy, 
to the murder of Zacharias, son of Baruch, a rich Jew, who 
was judged, condemned, and massacred in the temple by Idumean 
zealots, because he was rich, a lover of liberty, and a hater 
of wickedness. They gave him a mock trial; and, when no 
evidence could be brought against him of his being guilty of 
the crime they laid to his charge, viz. a design to betray 
the city to the Romans, and his judges had pronounced him 
innocent, two of the stoutest of the zealots fell upon him 
and slew him in the middle of the temple. See Josephus, WAR, 
b. iv. chap. 5. s. 5. See Crevier, vol. vi. p. 172, History 
of the Roman Emperors. Others imagine that Zachariah, one of 
the minor prophets, is meant, who might have been massacred 
by the Jews; for, though the account is not come down to us, 
our Lord might have it from a well known tradition in those 
times. But the former opinion is every way the most probable.

Between the temple and the altar.] That is, between the 
sanctuary and the altar of burnt-offerings.

Verse 36. Shall come upon this generation] epi thn genean 
tauthn, upon this race of men, viz. the Jews. This phrase 
often occurs in this sense in the evangelists.

Verse 37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem] 1. It is evident that our 
blessed Lord seriously and earnestly wished the salvation of 
the Jews. 2. That he did every thing that could be done, 
consistently with his own perfections, and the liberty of his 
creatures, to effect this. 3. That his tears over the city, 
Luke xix. 41, sufficiently evince his sincerity. 4. That 
these persons nevertheless perished. And 5. That the reason 
was, they would not be gathered together under his 
protection: therefore wrath, i.e. punishment, came upon them 
to the uttermost. From this it is evident that there have 
been persons whom Christ wished to save, and bled to save, 
who notwithstanding perished, because they would not come 
unto him, John v. 40. The metaphor which our Lord uses here 
is a very beautiful one.

When the hen sees a beast of prey coming, she makes a noise 
to assemble her chickens, that she may cover them with her 
wings from the danger. The Roman eagle is about to fall upon 
the Jewish state-nothing can prevent this but their 
conversion to God through Christ-Jesus cries throughout the 
land, publishing the Gospel of reconciliation-they would not 
assemble, and the Roman eagle came and destroyed them. The 
hen's affection to her brood is so very strong as to become 
proverbial. The following beautiful Greek epigram, taken from 
the Anthologia, affords a very fine illustration of this 
text.

ceimeriaiv nifadessi palunomena tiqav orniv teknoiv eunaiav 
amfecee pterugav mesfa men ouranion kruov wlesen h gar 
emeinen aiqerov ouraniwn antipalov nefewn proknh kai medeia, 
katĘ aidov aidesqhte, mhterev, orniqwn erga didaskomenai 
Anthol. lib. i. Titus. lxx17: edit. Bosch. p. 344 Beneath her 
fostering wing the HEN defends Her darling offspring, while 
the snow descends; Throughout the winter's day unmoved defies 
The chilling fleeces and inclement skies; Till, vanquish'd by 
the cold and piercing blast, True to her charge, she perishes 
at last! O Fame! to hell this fowl's affection bear; Tell it 
to Progne and Medea there:-To mothers such as those the tale 
unfold, And let them blush to hear the story told!-T. G This 
epigram contains a happy illustration, not only of our Lord's 
simile, but also of his own conduct. How long had these 
thankless and unholy people been the objects of his tenderest 
cares! For more than 2000 years, they engrossed the most 
peculiar regards of the most beneficent Providence; and 
during the three years of our Lord's public ministry, his 
preaching and miracles had but one object and aim, the 
instruction and salvation of this thoughtless and disobedient 
people. For their sakes, he who was rich became poor, that 
they through his poverty might be rich:-for their sakes, he 
made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of 
a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of 
the cross! HE died, that THEY might not perish, but have 
everlasting life.

Thus, to save their life, he freely abandoned his own.

Verse 38. Behold, your house] o oikov, the temple:-this is 
certainly what is meant. It was once the Lord's temple, God's 
OWN house; but now he says, YOUR temple or house-to intimate 
that God had abandoned it. See the note on ver. 21; see also 
on Luke xiii. 35.

Verse 39. Ye shall not see me] I will remove my Gospel from 
you, and withdraw my protection.

Till ye shall say, Blessed] Till after the fullness of the 
Gentiles is brought in, when the word of life shall again be 
sent unto you; then will ye rejoice, and bless, and praise 
him that cometh in the name of the Lord, with full and final 
salvation for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. See Rom. 
xi. 26, 27.

Our Lord plainly foresaw that, in process of time, a 
spiritual domination would arise in his Church; and, to 
prevent its evil influence, he leaves the strong warnings 
against it which are contained in the former part of this 
chapter. As the religion of Christ is completely spiritual, 
and the influence by which it is produced and maintained must 
come from heaven; therefore, there could be no master or head 
but himself: for as the Church (the assemblage of true 
believers) is his body, all its intelligence, light, and 
life, must proceed from him alone. Our forefathers noted this 
well; and this was one of the grand arguments by which they 
overturned the papal pretensions to supremacy in this 
country. In a note on ver. 9, in a Bible published by Edmund 
Becke in 1549, the 2nd of Edward VI., we find the following 
words:-Call no man your father upon the earth. Here is the 
Bishoppe of Rome declared a plaine Antichrist, in that he 
woulde be called the most holye father; and that all Christen 
men shoulde acknowledge hym for no lesse then their spyritual 
father, notwithstandinge these playne wordes of Christe. It 
is true, nothing can be plainer; and yet, in the face of 
these commands, the pope has claimed the honour; and millions 
of men have been so stupid as to concede it. May those days 
of darkness, tyranny, and disgrace, never return! From the 
13th to the 39th verse, our Lord pronounces eight woes, or 
rather pathetic declarations, against the scribes and 
Pharisees. 1. For their unwillingness to let the common 
people enjoy the pure word of God, or its right explanation: 
Ye shut up the kingdom, &c., ver. 13.

2. For their rapacity, and pretended sanctity in order to 
secure their secular ends: Ye devour widows houses, &c., 
Matthew xxiii. 14.

3. For their pretended zeal to spread the kingdom of God by 
making proselytes, when they had no other end in view than 
forming instruments for the purposes of their oppression and 
cruelty: Ye compass sea and land, &c., ver. 15.

4. For their bad doctrine and false interpretations of the 
Scriptures, and their dispensing with the most solemn oaths 
and vows at pleasure: Ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever 
shall swear by the temple, it is nothing, &c., ver. 16-22.

5. For their superstition in scrupulously attending to little 
things, and things not commanded, and omitting matters of 
great importance, the practice of which God had especially 
enjoined: Ye pay tithe of mint and cummin, &c., ver. 23, 24.

6. For their hypocrisy, pretended saintship, and endeavouring 
to maintain decency in their outward conduct, while they had 
no other object in view than to deceive the people, and make 
them acquiesce in their oppressive measures: Ye make clean 
the outside of the cup, ver. 25, 26.

7. For the depth of their inward depravity and abomination, 
having nothing good, fair, or supportable, but the mere 
outside.-Most hypocrites and wicked men have some good: but 
these were radically and totally evil: Ye are like unto 
whited sepulchres-within full-of all uncleanness, ver. 27, 
28.

8. For their pretended concern for the holiness of the 
people, which proceeded no farther than to keep them free 
from such pollutions as they might accidentally and 
innocently contract, by casually stepping on the place where 
a person had been buried: and for their affected regret that 
their fathers had killed the prophets, while themselves 
possessed and cultivated the same murderous inclinations: Ye-
garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had 
been, &c., ver. 29, 30.

It is amazing with what power and authority our blessed Lord 
reproves this bad people. This was the last discourse they 
ever heard from him; and it is surprising, considering their 
wickedness, that they waited even for a mock trial, and did 
not rise up at once and destroy him. But the time was not yet 
come in which he was to lay down his life, for no man could 
take it from him.

While he appears in this last discourse with all the 
authority of a lawgiver and judge, he at the same time shows 
the tenderness and compassion of a friend and a father: he 
beholds their awful state-his eye affects his heart, and he 
weeps over them! Were not the present hardness and final 
perdition of these ungodly men entirely of themselves? Could 
Jesus, as the Supreme God, have fixed their reprobation from 
all eternity by any necessitating decree; and yet weep over 
the unavoidable consequences of his own sovereign 
determinations? How absurd as well as shocking is the 
thought! This is Jewish exclusion: Credat Judaeus Apella-non 
ego.

CHAPTER xxiv

Christ foretells the destruction of the temple, 1, 2. His 
disciples inquire when and what shall be the sign of this 
destruction, 3. Our Lord answers, and enumerates them-false 
Christs, 5. Wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, 6-8. 
Persecution of his followers, 9. Apostasy from the truth, 10-
13. General spread of the Gospel, 14. He foretells the 
investment of the city by the Romans, 15-18. The calamities 
of those times, 19-22. Warns them against seduction by false 
prophets, 23-26. The suddenness of these calamities, 27, 28. 
Total destruction of the Jewish polity, 29-31. The whole 
illustrated by the parable of the fig-tree, 32, 33. The 
certainty of the event, though the time is concealed, 34-36. 
Careless state of the people, 37-41. The necessity of 
watchfulness and fidelity, illustrated by the parable of the 
two servants, one faithful, the other wicked, 42-51 NOTES ON 
CHAP. xxiv This chapter contains a prediction of the utter 
destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem, and the 
subversion of the whole political constitution of the Jews; 
and is one of the most valuable portions of the new covenant 
Scriptures, with respect to the evidence which it furnishes 
of the truth of Christianity. Every thing which our Lord 
foretold should come on the temple, city, and people of the 
Jews, has been fulfilled in the most correct and astonishing 
manner; and witnessed by a writer who was present during the 
whole, who was himself a Jew, and is acknowledged to be an 
historian of indisputable veracity in all those transactions 
which concern the destruction of Jerusalem. Without having 
designed it, he has written a commentary on our Lord's words, 
and shown how every tittle was punctually fulfilled, though 
he knew nothing of the Scripture which contained this 
remarkable prophecy. His account will be frequently referred 
to in the course of these notes; as also the admirable work 
of Bishop Newton on the prophecies.

Verse 1. And Jesus went out, and departed from, the temple] 
Or, And Jesus, going out of the temple, was going away. This 
is the arrangement of the words in several eminent 
manuscripts, versions, and fathers; and is much clearer than 
that in the common translation. The Jews say the temple was 
built of white and green-spotted marble. See Lightfoot. 
Josephus says the stones were white and strong; fifty feet 
long, twenty-four broad, and sixteen thick. Antiq. b. 15. c. 
xi. See Mark xiii. 1.

Verse 2. See ye not all these things?] The common text, and 
many manuscripts, have ou blepete, Do ye not see, or 
consider? But the negative particle is omitted by several 
excellent manuscripts, by the Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, 
Ethiopic, Slavonic, Vulgate, and Itala versions, and by some 
of the primitive fathers, who all read it thus, see, or 
consider all these things.

There shall not be left here one stone] These seem to have 
been the last words he spoke as he left the temple, into 
which he never afterwards entered; and, when he got to the 
mount of Olives, he renewed the discourse. From this mount, 
on which our Lord and his disciples now sat, the whole of the 
city, and particularly the temple, were clearly seen. This 
part of our Lord's prediction was fulfilled in the most 
literal manner.

Josephus says, War, book vii. c. 1: "Caesar gave orders that 
they should now demolish the whole city and temple, te polin 
apasan kai ton newn kataskeptein, except the three towers, 
Phaselus, Hippicus, and Mariamne, and a part of the western 
wall, and these were spared; but, for all the rest of the 
wall, it was laid so completely even with the ground, by 
those who dug it up to the foundation, that there was left 
nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever 
been inhabited." Maimonides, a Jewish rabbin, in Tract. 
Taanith, c. 4, says, "That the very foundations of the temple 
were digged up, according to the Roman custom." His words are 
these: "On that ninth day of the month Ab, fatal for 
vengeance, the wicked Turnus Rufus, of the children of Edom, 
ploughed up the temple, and the places round about it, that 
the saying might be fulfilled, Zion shall be ploughed as a 
field." This Turnus, or rather Terentius Rufus, was left 
general of the army by Titus, with commission, as the Jews 
suppose, to destroy the city and the temple, as Josephus 
observes.

The temple was destroyed 1st. Justly; because of the sins of 
the Jews.

2dly. Mercifully; to take away from them the occasion of 
continuing in Judaism: and 3dly. Mysteriously; to show that 
the ancient sacrifices were abolished, and that the whole 
Jewish economy was brought to an end, and the Christian 
dispensation introduced.

Verse 3. Tell us, when shall these things be?] There appear 
to be three questions asked here by the disciples. 1st. When 
shall these things be? viz.

the destruction of the city, temple, and Jewish state. 2dly. 
What shall be the sign of thy coming? viz. to execute these 
judgments upon them, and to establish thy own Church: and 
3dly. When shall this world end? When wilt thou come to judge 
the quick and the dead? But there are some who maintain that 
these are but three parts of the same question, and that our 
Lord's answers only refer to the destruction of the Jewish 
state, and that nothing is spoken here concerning the LAST or 
judgment day.

End of the world] tou aiwnov; or, of the age, viz. the Jewish 
economy, which is a frequent accommodated meaning of the word 
aiwn, the proper meaning of which is, as Aristotle 
(Deuteronomy Caelo) observes, ETERNAL. aiwn, quasi aei wn 
continual being: and no words can more forcibly point out 
eternity than these. See the note on Gen. xxi. 33.

Verse 4. Take heed that no man deceive you.] The world is 
full of deceivers, and it is only by taking heed to the 
counsel of Christ that even his followers can escape being 
ruined by them. From this to ver. 31, our Lord mentions the 
signs which should precede his coming.

The FIRST sign is false Christs.

Verse 5. For many shall come in my name] 1. Josephus says, 
(War, b.

ii. c. 13,) that there were many who, pretending to Divine 
inspiration, deceived the people, leading out numbers of them 
to the desert, pretending that God would there show them the 
signs of liberty, meaning redemption from the Roman power: 
and that an Egyptian false prophet led 30,000 men into the 
desert, who were almost all cut off by Felix. See Acts xxi. 
38.

It was a just judgment for God to deliver up that people into 
the hands of false Christs who had rejected the true one. 
Soon after our Lord's crucifixion, Simon Magus appeared, and 
persuaded the people of Samaria that he was the great power 
of God, Acts viii. 9, 10; and boasted among the Jews that he 
was the son of God.

2. Of the same stamp and character was also Dositheus, the 
Samaritan, who pretended that he was the Christ foretold by 
Moses.

3. About twelve years after the death of our Lord, when 
Cuspius Fadus was procurator of Judea, arose an impostor of 
the name of Theudas, who said he was a prophet, and persuaded 
a great multitude to follow him with their best effects to 
the river Jordan, which he promised to divide for their 
passage; and saying these things, says Josephus, he deceived 
many: almost the very words of our Lord.

4. A few years afterwards, under the reign of Nero, while 
Felix was procurator of Judea, impostors of this stamp were 
so frequent that some were taken and killed almost every day. 
Joshua. Ant. b. xx. c. 4. and 7.

The SECOND sign, wars and commotions.

Verse 6. The next signs given by our Lord are wars and rumors 
of wars, &c.] These may be seen in Josephus, Ant. b. xviii. 
c. 9; War, b. ii. c. 10; especially as to the rumors of wars, 
when Caligula ordered his statue to be set up in the temple 
of God, which the Jews having refused, had every reason to 
expect a war with the Romans, and were in such consternation 
on the occasion that they even neglected to till their land.

Verse 7. Nation shall rise against nation] This portended the 
dissensions, insurrections and mutual slaughter of the Jews, 
and those of other nations, who dwelt in the same cities 
together; as particularly at Caesarea, where the Jews and 
Syrians contended about the right of the city, which ended 
there in the total expulsion of the Jews, above 20,000 of 
whom were slain. The whole Jewish nation being exasperated at 
this, flew to arms, and burnt and plundered the neighbouring 
cities and villages of the Syrians, making an immense 
slaughter of the people. The Syrians, in return, destroyed 
not a less number of the Jews. At Scythopolis they murdered 
upwards of 13,000. At Ascalon they killed 2,500. At Ptolemais 
they slew 2000, and made many prisoners. The Tyrians also put 
many Jews to death, and imprisoned more: the people of Gadara 
did likewise; and all the other cities of Syria in 
proportion, as they hated or feared the Jews. As Alexandria 
the Jews and heathens fought, and 50,000 of the former were 
slain. The people of Damascus conspired against the Jews of 
that city, and, assaulting them unarmed, killed 10,000 of 
them. See Bishop Newton, and Dr. Lardner.

Kingdom against kingdom] This portended the open wars of 
different tetrarchies and provinces against each other. 1st. 
That of the Jews and Galileans against the Samaritans, for 
the murder of some Galileans going up to the feast of 
Jerusalem, while Cumanus was procurator. 2dly. That of the 
whole nation of the Jews against the Romans and Agrippa, and 
other allies of the Roman empire; which began when Gessius 
Florus was procurator. 3dly. That of the civil war in Italy, 
while Otho and Vitellius were contending for the empire. It 
is worthy of remark, that the Jews themselves say, "In the 
time of the Messiah, wars shall be stirred up in the world; 
nation shall rise against nation, and city against city." 
Sohar Kadash. "Again, Rab. Eleasar, the son of Abina, said, 
When ye see kingdom rising against kingdom, then expect the 
immediate appearance of the Messiah." Bereshith Rabba, sect. 
42.

The THIRD sign, pestilence and famine.

It is farther added, that There shall be famines, and 
pestilences] There was a famine foretold by Agabus, (Acts xi. 
28,) which is mentioned by Suetonius, Tacitus, and Eusebius; 
which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar, and was so 
severe at Jerusalem that Josephus says (Ant.

b. xx. c. 2.) many died for lack of food. Pestilences are the 
usual attendants of famines: as the scarcity and badness of 
provisions generally produce epidemic disorders.

The FOURTH sign, earthquakes or popular commotions.

Earthquakes, in divers places.] If we take the word seismoi 
from seiw to shake, in the first sense, then it means 
particularly those popular commotions and insurrections which 
have already been noted; and this I think to be the true 
meaning of the word: but if we confine it to earthquakes, 
there were several in those times to which our Lord refers; 
particularly one at Crete in the reign of Claudius, one at 
Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos. See Grotius. One at Rome, 
mentioned by Tacitus; and one at Laodicea in the reign of 
Nero, in which the city was overthrown, as were likewise 
Hierapolis and Colosse. See Tacit. Annal. lib. xii. and lib. 
xiv. One at Campania, mentioned by Seneca; and one at Rome, 
in the reign of Galba, mentioned by Suetonius in the life of 
that emperor. Add to all these, a dreadful one in Judea, 
mentioned by Josephus (War, b. iv. c. 4.) accompanied by a 
dreadful tempest, violent winds, vehement showers, and 
continual lightnings and thunders; which led many to believe 
that these things portended some uncommon calamity.

The FIFTH sign, fearful portents.

To these St. Luke adds that there shall be fearful sights and 
great signs from heaven (Luke xxi. 11.) Josephus, in his 
preface to the Jewish war, enumerates these. 1st. A star hung 
over the city like a sword; and a comet continued a whole 
year. 2d. The people being assembled at the feast of 
unleavened bread, at the ninth hour of the night, a great 
light shone about the altar and the temple, and this 
continued for half an hour. 3d. At the same feast, a cow led 
to sacrifice brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple! 
4th. The eastern gate of the temple, which was of solid 
brass, and very heavy, and could hardly be shut by twenty 
men, and was fastened by strong bars and bolts, was seen at 
the sixth hour of the night to open of its own accord! 5th. 
Before sun-setting there were seen, over all the country, 
chariots and armies fighting in the clouds, and besieging 
cities. 6th. At the feast of pentecost, when the priests were 
going into the inner temple by night, to attend their 
service, they heard first a motion and noise, and then a 
voice, as of a multitude, saying, LET US DEPART HENCE! 7th. 
What Josephus reckons one of the most terrible signs of all 
was, that one Jesus, a country fellow, four years before the 
war began, and when the city was in peace and plenty, came to 
the feast of tabernacles, and ran crying up and down the 
streets, day and night: "A voice from the east! a voice from 
the west! a voice from the four winds! a voice against 
Jerusalem and the temple! a voice against the bridegrooms and 
the brides! and a voice against all the people!" Though the 
magistrates endeavoured by stripes and tortures to restrain 
him, yet he still cried, with a mournful voice, "Wo, wo to 
Jerusalem!" And this he continued to do for several years 
together, going about the walls and crying with a loud voice: 
"Wo, wo to the city, and to the people, and to the temple!" 
and as he added, "Wo, wo to myself!" a stone from some sling 
or engine struck him dead on the spot! It is worthy of remark 
that Josephus appeals to the testimony of others, who saw and 
heard these fearful things. Tacitus, a Roman historian, gives 
very nearly the same account with that of Josephus. Hist. 
lib. v.

Verse 8. All these are the beginning of sorrows.] wdinwn, 
travailing pains. The whole land of Judea is represented 
under the notion of a woman in grievous travail; but our Lord 
intimates, that all that had already been mentioned were only 
the first pangs and throes, and nothing in comparison of that 
hard and death-bringing labour, which should afterwards take 
place.

From the calamities of the nation in general, our Lord passes 
to those of the Christians; and, indeed, the sufferings of 
his followers were often occasioned by the judgments sent 
upon the land, as the poor Christians were charged with being 
the cause of these national calamities, and were cruelly 
persecuted on that account.

Verse 9. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted] 
Rather, Then they will deliver you up to affliction, eiv 
qliyin. By a bold figure of speech, affliction is here 
personified. They are to be delivered into affliction's own 
hand, to be harassed by all the modes of inventive torture.

Ye shall be hated of all nations] Both Jew and Gentile will 
unite in persecuting and tormenting you. Perhaps pantwn twn 
eqnwn means all the Gentiles, as in the parallel places in 
Mark xiii. 9-11, and in Luke xxi. 12-15, the Jewish 
persecution is mentioned distinctly. Ye shall be delivered up 
to COUNCILS and be beaten in SYNAGOGUES, and ye shall stand 
before governors and kings for my name's sake-be not 
anxiously careful beforehand what ye shall speak-for ye are 
not the speakers, but the Holy Spirit will speak by you-I 
will give you utterance and wisdom, which all your 
adversaries shall not be able to contradict or resist. We 
need go no farther than the Acts of the Apostles for the 
completion of these particulars. Some were delivered to 
councils, as Peter and John, Acts iv. 5.

Some were brought before rulers and kings, as Paul before 
Gallio, Acts xviii. 12, before Felix, Acts 24, before Festus 
and Agrippa, Acts 25. Some had utterance and wisdom which 
their adversaries were not able to resist: so Stephen, Acts 
vi. 10, and Paul, who made even Felix himself tremble, Acts 
xxiv. 25. Some were imprisoned, as Peter and John, Acts iv. 
3. Some were beaten, as Paul and Silas, Acts xvi. 23. Some 
were put to death, as Stephen, Acts vii. 59, and James the 
brother of John, Acts xii. 2. But if we look beyond the book 
of the Acts of the Apostles, to the bloody persecutions under 
Nero, we shall find these predictions still more amply 
fulfilled: in these, numberless Christians fell, besides 
those two champions of the faith Peter and Paul. And it was, 
as says Tertullian, nominis praelium, a war against the very 
name of Christ; for he who was called Christian had committed 
crime enough, in bearing the name, to be put to death. So 
true were our saviour's words, that they should be hated of 
all men for his NAME'S sake.

But they were not only to be hated by the Gentiles, but they 
were to be betrayed by apostates.

Verse 10. Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one 
another] To illustrate this point, one sentence out of 
Tacitus (Annal. l. xv.) will be sufficient, who, speaking of 
the persecution under Nero, says, At first several were 
seized, who confessed, and then by THEIR DISCOVERY a great 
multitude of others were convicted and executed.

Verse 11. False prophets] Also were to be raised up; such as 
Simon Magus and his followers; and the false apostles 
complained of by St. Paul, 2 Cor. xi. 13, who were deceitful 
workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
Such also were Hymeneus and Philetus, 2 Tim. ii. 17, 18.

Verse 12. The love of many shall wax cold.] By reason of 
these trials and persecutions from without, and those 
apostasies and false prophets from within, the love of many 
to Christ and his doctrine, and to one another, shall grow 
cold. Some openly deserting the faith, as ver. 10; others 
corrupting it, as ver. 11; and others growing indifferent 
about it, Matthew xxiv. 12. Even at this early period there 
seems to have been a very considerable defection in several 
Christian Churches; see Gal. iii. 1-4; 2 Thess. iii. 1, &c.; 
2 Tim. i. 15.

Verse 13. But he that shall endure] The persecutions that 
shall come-unto the end; to the destruction of the Jewish 
polity, without growing cold or apostatizing-shall be saved, 
shall be delivered in all imminent dangers, and have his soul 
at last brought to an eternal glory. It is very remarkable 
that not a single Christian perished in the destruction of 
Jerusalem, though there were many there when Cestius Gallus 
invested the city; and, had he persevered in the siege, he 
would soon have rendered himself master of it; but, when he 
unexpectedly and unaccountably raised the siege, the 
Christians took that opportunity to escape. See Eusebius, 
Hist. Eccles lib. iii. c. 5, and Mr. Reading's note there; 
and see the note here on ver. 20.

Verse 14. And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in 
all the world] But, notwithstanding these persecutions, there 
should be a universal publication of the glad tidings of the 
kingdom, for a testimony to all nations. God would have the 
iniquity of the Jews published every where, before the heavy 
stroke of his judgments should fall upon them; that all 
mankind, as it were, might be brought as witnesses against 
their cruelty and obstinacy in crucifying and rejecting the 
Lord Jesus.

In all the world, en olh th oikoumenh. Perhaps no more is 
meant here than the Roman empire; for it is beyond 
controversy that pasan thn oikoumenhn, Luke ii. 1, means no 
more than the whole Roman empire: as a decree for taxation or 
enrolment from Augustus Caesar could have no influence but in 
the Roman dominions; but see on Luke ii. 1. Tacitus informs 
us, Annal. l. xv., that, as early as the reign of Nero, the 
Christians were grown so numerous at Rome as to excite the 
jealousy of the government; and in other parts they were in 
proportion. However, we are under no necessity to restrain 
the phrase to the Roman empire, as, previously to the 
destruction of Jerusalem, the Gospel was not only preached in 
the lesser Asia, and Greece, and Italy, the greatest theatres 
of action then in the world; but was likewise propagated as 
far north as SCYTHIA; as far south as ETHIOPIA; as far east 
as PARTHIA and INDIA; and as far west as SPAIN and BRITAIN. 
On this point, Bishop Newton goes on to say, That there is 
some probability that the Gospel was preached in the British 
nations by St. Simon the apostle; that there is much greater 
probability that it was preached here by St. Paul; and that 
there is an absolute certainty that it was planted here in 
the times of the apostles, before the destruction of 
Jerusalem. See his proofs. Dissert. vol. ii. p. 235, 236. 
edit. 1758. St. Paul himself speaks, Colossiansi. 6, 23, of 
the Gospel's being come into ALL THE WORLD, and preached TO 
EVERY CREATURE under heaven. And in his Epistle to the 
Romans, Rom. x. 18, he very elegantly applies to the lights 
of the Church, what the psalmist said of the lights of 
heaven. Their sound went into ALL THE EARTH, and their words 
unto the END of the WORLD. What but the wisdom of God could 
foretell this? and what but the power of God could accomplish 
it? Then shall the end come.] When this general publication 
of the Gospel shall have taken place, then a period shall be 
put to the whole Jewish economy, by the utter destruction of 
their city and temple.

Verse 15. The abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel] 
This abomination of desolation, St. Luke, (Luke xxi. 20, 21,) 
refers to the Roman army; and this abomination standing in 
the holy place is the Roman army besieging Jerusalem; this, 
our Lord says, is what was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, 
in the ninth and eleventh chapters of his prophecy; and so 
let every one who reads these prophecies understand them; and 
in reference to this very event they are understood by the 
rabbins. The Roman army is called an abomination, for its 
ensigns and images, which were so to the Jews. Josephus says, 
(War, b. vi. chap. 6,) the Romans brought their ensigns into 
the temple, and placed them over against the eastern gate, 
and sacrificed to them there. The Roman army is therefore 
fitly called the abomination, and the abomination which 
maketh desolate, as it was to desolate and lay waste 
Jerusalem; and this army besieging Jerusalem is called by St. 
Mark, Mark xiii. 14, standing where it ought not, that is, as 
in the text here, the holy place; as not only the city, but a 
considerable compass of ground about it, was deemed holy, and 
consequently no profane persons should stand on it.

Verse 16. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the 
mountains] This counsel was remembered and wisely followed by 
the Christians afterwards. Eusebius and Epiphanius say, that 
at this juncture, after Cestius Gallus had raised the siege, 
and Vespasian was approaching with his army, all who believed 
in Christ left Jerusalem and fled to Pella, and other places 
beyond the river Jordan; and so they all marvellously escaped 
the general shipwreck of their country: not one of them 
perished. See on ver. 13.

Verse 17. Let him which is on the house top] The houses of 
the Jews, as well as those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, 
were flat-roofed, and had stairs on the outside, by which 
persons might ascend and descend without coming into the 
house. In the eastern walled cities, these flat-roofed houses 
usually formed continued terraces from one end of the city to 
the other; which terraces terminated at the gates. He, 
therefore, who is walking on the house top, let him not come 
down to take any thing out of his house; but let him 
instantly pursue his course along the tops of the houses, and 
escape out at the city gate as fast as he can.

Any thing] Instead of ti, any thing, we should read ta, the 
things; which reading is supported by all the best MSS., 
versions, and fathers.

Verse 18. Neither let him which is in the field return back] 
Because when once the army of the Romans sits down before the 
city, there shall be no more any possibility of escape, as 
they shall never remove till Jerusalem be destroyed.

Verse 19. And wo unto them (alas! for them) that are with 
child, &c.] For such persons are not in a condition to make 
their escape; neither can they bear the miseries of the 
siege. Josephus says the houses were full of women and 
children that perished by the famine; and that the mothers 
snatched the food even out of their own children's mouths. 
See WAR, b. v.

c. 10. But he relates a more horrid story than this, of one 
Mary, the daughter of Eliezar, illustrious for her family and 
riches, who, being stripped and plundered of all her goods 
and provisions by the soldiers, in hunger, rage, and despair, 
killed and boiled her own sucking child, and had eaten one 
half of him before it was discovered. This shocking story is 
told, WAR, b. vi. c. 3, with several circumstances of 
aggravation.

Verse 20. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter] 
For the hardness of the season, the badness of the roads, the 
shortness of the days, and the length of the nights, will all 
be great impediments to your flight.

Rabbi Tanchum observes, "that the favour of God was 
particularly manifested in the destruction of the first 
temple, in not obliging the Jews to go out in the winter, but 
in the summer." See the place in Lightfoot.

Neither on the Sabbath-day] That you may not raise the 
indignation of the Jews by travelling on that day, and so 
suffer that death out of the city which you had endeavoured 
to escape from within. Besides, on the Sabbath-days the Jews 
not only kept within doors, but the gates of all the cities 
and towns in every place were kept shut and barred; so that 
their flight should be on a Sabbath, they could not expect 
admission into any place of security in the land.

Our Lord had ordered his followers to make their escape from 
Jerusalem when they should see it encompassed with armies; 
but how could this be done? God took care to provide amply 
for this. In the twelfth year of Nero, Cestius Gallus, the 
president of Syria, came against Jerusalem with a powerful 
army. He might, says Josephus, WAR, b. ii. c. 19, have 
assaulted and taken the city, and thereby put an end to the 
war; but without any just reason, and contrary to the 
expectation of all, he raised the siege and departed. 
Josephus remarks, that after Cestius Gallus had raised the 
siege, "many of the principal Jewish people, polloi twn 
epifanwn ioudaiwn, forsook the city, as men do a sinking 
ship." Vespasian was deputed in the room of Cestius Gallus, 
who, having subdued all the country, prepared to besiege 
Jerusalem, and invested it on every side. But the news of 
Nero's death, and soon after that of Galba, and the 
disturbances that followed, and the civil wars between Otho 
and Vitellius, held Vespasian and his son Tit. in suspense. 
Thus the city was not actually besieged in form till after 
Vespasian was confirmed in the empire, and Titus was 
appointed to command the forces in Judea. It was in those 
incidental delays that the Christians, and indeed several 
others, provided for their own safety, by flight. In Luke 
xix. 43, our Lord says of Jerusalem, Thine enemies shall cast 
a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in 
on every side. Accordingly, Titus, having made several 
assaults without success, resolved to surround the city with 
a wall, which was, with incredible speed, completed in three 
days! The wall was thirty-nine furlongs in length, and was 
strengthened with thirteen forts at proper distances, so that 
all hope of safety was cut off; none could make his escape 
from the city, and no provisions could be brought into it. 
See Josephus, WAR, book v. c. 12.

Verse 21. For then shall be great tribulation] No history can 
furnish us with a parallel to the calamities and miseries of 
the Jews:-rapine, murder, famine, and pestilence within: fire 
and sword, and all the horrors of war, without. Our Lord wept 
at the foresight of these calamities; and it is almost 
impossible for any humane person to read the relation of them 
in Josephus without weeping also. St. Luke, Luke xxi. 22, 
calls these the days of vengeance, that all things which were 
written might be fulfilled. 1. These were the days in which 
all the calamities predicted by Moses, Joel, Daniel, and 
other prophets, as well as those predicted by our saviour, 
met in one common center, and were fulfilled in the most 
terrible manner on that generation. 2. These were the days of 
vengeance in another sense, as if God's judgments had certain 
periods and revolutions; for it is remarkable that the temple 
was burned by the Rom. in the same month, and on the same day 
of the month, on which it had been burned by the Babylonians. 
See Josephus, WAR, b. vi. c. 4.

Verse 22. Except those days should be shortened] Josephus 
computes the number of those who perished in the siege at 
eleven hundred thousand, besides those who were slain in 
other places, WAR, b. vi. c. 9; and if the Romans had gone on 
destroying in this manner, the whole nation of the Jews 
would, in a short time, have been entirely extirpated; but, 
for the sake of the elect, the Jews, that they might not be 
utterly destroyed, and for the Christians particularly, the 
days were shortened. These, partly through the fury of the 
zealots on one hand, and the hatred of the Romans on the 
other; and partly through the difficulty of subsisting in the 
mountains without houses or provisions, would in all 
probability have been all destroyed, either by the sword or 
famine, if the days had not been shortened. The besieged 
themselves helped to shorten those days by their divisions 
and mutual slaughters; and by fatally deserting their strong 
holds, where they never could have been subdued, but by 
famine alone. So well fortified was Jerusalem, and so well 
provided to stand a siege, that the enemy without could not 
have prevailed, had it not been for the factions and 
seditions within. When Titus was viewing the fortifications 
after the taking of the city, he could not help ascribing his 
success to God. "We have fought," said he, "with God on our 
side; and it is God who pulled the Jews out of these strong 
holds: for what could machines or the hands of men avail 
against such towers as these?" WAR, b. vi. c. 9.

Verse 23. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo here is 
Christ] Our Lord had cautioned his disciples against false 
Christs and prophets before, ver. 11; but he seems here to 
intimate that there would be especial need to attend to this 
caution about the time of the siege. And in fact many such 
impostors did arise about that time, promising deliverance 
from God; and the lower the Jews were reduced, the more 
disposed they were to listen to such deceivers. Like a man 
drowning, they were willing to catch even at a straw, while 
there was any prospect of being saved. But as it was to 
little purpose for a man to take upon him the character of 
the Christ, without miracles to avouch his Divine mission, so 
it was the common artifice of these impostors to show signs 
and wonders, shmeia kai terata; the very words used by Christ 
in this prophecy, and by Josephus in his history: ANT. b. xx. 
c. 7. Among these Simon Magus, and Dositheus, mentioned 
before; and Barcocab, who, St. Jerome says, pretended to 
vomit flames. And it is certain these and some others were so 
dexterous in imitating miraculous works that they deceived 
many; and such were their works, that if the elect, the 
chosen persons, the Christians, had not had the fullest 
evidence of the truth of Christ's mission and miracles, they 
must have been deceived too: but, having had these proofs, 
they could not possibly be deceived by these impostors. This 
is simply the meaning of this place; and it is truly 
astonishing that it should be brought as a proof for the 
doctrine (whether true or false is at present out of the 
question) of the necessary and eternal perseverance of the 
saints! How abundant the Jews were in magic, divination, 
sorcery, incantation, &c., see proved by Dr. Lightfoot on 
this place.

Verse 25. Behold, I have told you before.] That is, I have 
forewarned you.

Verse 26. If they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the 
desert] Is it not worthy of remark that our Lord not only 
foretold the appearance of these impostors, but also the 
manner and circumstances of their conduct? Some he mentions 
as appearing in the desert. Josephus says, ANT. b. xx.
c. 7, and WAR, book ii. c. 13: That many impostors and cheats 
persuaded the people to follow them to the desert, promising 
to show them signs and wonders done by the providence of God, 
is well attested. An Egyptian false prophet, mentioned by 
Josephus, ANT. b. xx. c. 7, and in the Acts, Acts xxi. 38, 
led out into the DESERT four thousand men, who were 
murderers, but these were all taken or destroyed by Felix. 
Another promised salvation to the people, if they would 
follow him to the DESERT, and he was destroyed by Festus, 
ANT. b. xx. c. 7. Also, one Jonathan, a weaver, persuaded a 
number to follow him to the DESERT, but he was taken and 
burnt alive by Vespasian. See WAR, b. vii. c. 11.

As some conducted their deluded followers to the DESERT, so 
did others to the secret chambers. Josephus mentions a false 
prophet, WAR, b. vi. c. 5, who declared to the people in the 
city, that God commanded them to go up into the temple, and 
there they should receive the signs of deliverance.

A multitude of men, women, and children, went up accordingly; 
but, instead of deliverance, the place was set on fire by the 
Romans, and 6,000 perished miserably in the flames, or in 
attempting to escape them.

Verse 27. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and 
shineth even unto the west] It is worthy of remark that our 
Lord, in the most particular manner, points out the very 
march of the Roman army: they entered into Judea on the EAST, 
and carried on their conquest WESTWARD, as if not only the 
extensiveness of the ruin, but the very route which the army 
would take, were intended in the comparison of the lightning 
issuing from the east, and shining to the west.

Verse 28. For wheresoever the carcass is] ptwma, the dead 
carcass. The Jewish nation, which was morally and judicially 
dead.

There will the eagles] The Roman armies, called so partly 
from their strength and fierceness, and partly from the 
figure of these animals which was always wrought on their 
ensigns, or even in brass, placed on the tops of their 
ensign-staves. It is remarkable that the Roman fury pursued 
these wretched men wheresoever they were found. They were a 
dead carcass doomed to be devoured; and the Roman eagles were 
the commissioned devourers. See the pitiful account in 
Josephus, WAR, b. vii. c. 2, 3, 6, 9, 10, and 11.

Verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation, &c.] 
Commentators generally understand this, and what follows, of 
the end of the world and Christ's coming to judgment: but the 
word immediately shows that our Lord is not speaking of any 
distant event, but of something immediately consequent on 
calamities already predicted: and that must be the 
destruction of Jerusalem. "The Jewish heaven shall perish, 
and the sun and moon of its glory and happiness shall be 
darkened-brought to nothing. The sun is the religion of the 
Church; the moon is the government of the state; and the 
stars are the judges and doctors of both. Compare Isaiah 
xiii. 10; Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8, &c." Lightfoot.

In the prophetic language, great commotions upon earth are 
often represented under the notion of commotions and changes 
in the heavens:-The fall of Babylon is represented by the 
stars and constellations of heaven withdrawing their light, 
and the sun and moon being darkened. See Isa. xiii. 9, 10.

The destruction of Egypt, by the heaven being covered, the 
sun enveloped with a cloud, and the moon withholding her 
light. Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8.

The destruction of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes is 
represented by casting down some of the host of heaven, and 
the stars to the ground. See Dan. viii. 10.

And this very destruction of Jerusalem is represented by the 
Prophet Joel, Joel ii. 30, 31, by showing wonders in heaven 
and in earth-darkening the sun, and turning the moon into 
blood. This general mode of describing these judgments leaves 
no room to doubt the propriety of its application in the 
present case.

The falling of stars, i.e. those meteors which are called 
falling stars by the common people, was deemed an omen of 
evil times. The heathens have marked this:-Saepe etiam 
stellas, vento impendente videbis Praecipites coelo labi, 
noctisque per umbram Flammarum longos a tergo albescere 
tractus VIRG. Geor. i. ver. 365 And oft before tempestuous 
winds arise The seeming stars fall headlong from the skies, 
And, shooting through the darkness, gild the night With 
sweeping glories, and long trails of light DRYDEN Again the 
same poet thus sings:-SOL tibi signa dabit: solem quis dicere 
falsum Audeat? Ille etiam coecos instare tumultus Saepe 
monet: fraudemque et operta tumescere bella Ille etiam 
extincto miseratus Caesare Romam, Cum caput obscura nitidum 
ferrugine texit, Impiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem 
Ibid. ver. 462 The sun reveals the secrets of the sky, And 
who dares give the source of light the lie? The change of 
empires often he declares, Fierce tumults, hidden treasons, 
open wars He first the fate of Caesar did foretell, And 
pitied Rome, when Rome in Caesar fell: In iron clouds 
concealed the public light, And impious mortals found eternal 
night DRYDEN

Verse 30. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man] The 
plain meaning of this is, that the destruction of Jerusalem 
will be such a remarkable instance of Divine vengeance, such 
a signal manifestation of Christ's power and glory, that all 
the Jewish tribes shall mourn, and many will, in consequence 
of this manifestation of God, be led to acknowledge Christ 
and his religion. By thv ghv, of the land, in the text, is 
evidently meant here, as in several other places, the land of 
Judea and its tribes, either its then inhabitants, or the 
Jewish people wherever found.

Verse 31. He shall send his angels] touv aggelouv, his 
messengers, the apostles, and their successors in the 
Christian ministry.

With a great sound of a trumpet] Or, a loud-sounding trumpet-
the earnest affectionate call of the Gospel of peace, life, 
and salvation.

Shall gather together his elect] The Gentiles, who were now 
chosen or elected, in place of the rebellious, obstinate 
Jews, according to Our Lord's prediction, chap. viii. 11,12, 
and Luke xiii. 28,29. For the children of the kingdom, (the 
Jews who were born with a legal right to it, but had now 
finally forfeited that right by their iniquities) should be 
thrust out. It is worth serious observation, that the 
Christian religion spread and prevailed mightily after this 
period: and nothing contributed more to the success of the 
Gospel than the destruction of Jerusalem happening in the 
very time and manner, and with the very circumstances, so 
particularly foretold by our Lord. It was after this period 
that the kingdom of Christ began, and his reign was 
established in almost every part of the world.

To St. Matthew's account, St. Luke adds, Luke xxi. 24, They 
shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shalt be led away 
captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down 
by the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. 
The number of those who fell by the sword was very great. 
ELEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND perished during the siege. Many were 
slain at other places, and at other times. By the commandment 
of Florus, the first author of the war, there were slain at 
Jerusalem 3,600, Joshua.

WAR, b. ii. c. 14. By the inhabitants of Caesarea, above 
20,000. At Scythopolis, above 13,000. At Ascalon, 2,500. At 
Ptolemais, 2,000. At Alexandria, 50,000. At Joppa, when taken 
by Cestius Gallus, 8,400. In a mountain called Asamon, near 
Sepporis, above 2,000. At Damascus, 10,000. In a battle with 
the Romans at Ascalon, 10,000. In an ambuscade near the same 
place, 8,000. At Japha, 15,000. Of the Samaritans, on Mount 
Gerizim, 11,600. At Jotapa, 40,000. At Joppa, when taken by 
Vespasian, 4,200. At Tarichea, 6,500. And after the city was 
taken, 1,200.

At Gamala, 4,000, besides 5,000 who threw themselves down a 
precipice.

Of those who fled with John, of Gischala, 6,000. Of the 
Gadarenes, 15,000 slain, besides countless multitudes 
drowned. In the village of Idumea, above 10,000 slain. At 
Gerasa, 1,000. At Machaerus, 1,700. In the wood of Jardes, 
3,000. In the castle of Masada, 960. In Cyrene, by Catullus 
the governor, 3,000. Besides these, many of every age, sex, 
and condition, were slain in the war, who are not reckoned; 
but, of those who are reckoned, the number amounts to upwards 
of 1,357,660, which would have appeared incredible, if their 
own historian had not so particularly enumerated them. See 
Josephus, WAR, book ii. c. 18, 20; book iii. c. 2, 7, 8, 9; 
book iv. c. 1, 2, 7, 8, 9; book vii. c. 6, 9, 11; and Bp. 
Newton, vol. ii. p. 288-290.

Many also were led away captives into all nations. There were 
taken at Japha, 2,130. At Jotapa, 1,200. At Tarichea, 6,000 
chosen young men, who were sent to Nero; others sold to the 
number of 30,400, besides those who were given to Agrippa. Of 
the Gadarenes were taken 2,200. In Idumea above 1,000. Many 
besides these were taken in Jerusalem; so that, as Josephus 
says, the number of the captives taken in the whole war 
amounted to 97,000. Those above seventeen years of age were 
sent to the works in Egypt; but most were distributed through 
the Roman provinces, to be destroyed in their theatres by the 
sword, and by the wild beasts; and those under seventeen 
years of age were sold for slaves. Eleven thousand in one 
place perished for want. At Caesarea, Titus, like a thorough-
paced infernal savage, murdered 2,500 Jews, in honour of his 
brother's birthday; and a greater number at Berytus in honour 
of his father's. See Josephus, WAR, b. vii. c. 3. s. 1. Some 
he caused to kill each other; some were thrown to the wild 
beasts; and others burnt alive. And all this was done by a 
man who was styled, The darling of mankind! Thus were the 
Jews miserably tormented, and distributed over the Roman 
provinces; and continue to be distressed and dispersed over 
all the nations of the world to the present day. Jerusalem 
also was, according to the prediction of our Lord, to be 
trodden down by the Gentiles. Accordingly it has never since 
been in the possession of the Jews. It was first in 
subjection to the Romans, afterwards to the Saracens, then to 
the Franks, after to the Mamalukes, and now to the Turks. 
Thus has the prophecy of Christ been most literally and 
terribly fulfilled, on a people who are still preserved as 
continued monuments of the truth of our Lord's prediction, 
and of the truth of the Christian religion. See more in Bp. 
Newton's Dissert. vol. ii. p. 291, &c.

Verse 32. Learn a parable of the fig-tree] That is, These 
signs which I have given you will be as infallible a proof of 
the approaching ruin of the Jewish state as the budding of 
the trees is a proof of the coming summer.

Verse 34. This generation shall not pass] h genea auth, this 
race; i.e. the Jews shall not cease from being a distinct people, 
till all the counsels of God relative to them and the Gentiles 
be fulfilled. Some translate h genea auth, this generation, 
meaning the persons who were then living, that they should 
not die before these signs, &c., took place: but though this 
was true, as to the calamities that fell upon the Jews, and 
the destruction of their government, temple, &c., yet as our 
Lord mentions Jerusalem's continuing to be under the power of 
the Gentiles till the fullness of the Gentiles should come 
in, i.e. till all the nations of the world should receive the 
Gospel of Christ, after which the Jews themselves should be 
converted unto God, Rom. xi. 25, &c., I think it more proper 
not to restrain its meaning to the few years which preceded 
the destruction of Jerusalem; but to understand it of the 
care taken by Divine providence to preserve them as a 
distinct people, and yet to keep them out of their own land, 
and from their temple service. See on Mark xiii. 30. But 
still it is literally true in reference to the destruction of 
Jerusalem. John probably lived to see these things come to 
pass; compare chap. xvi. 28, with John xxi. 22; and there 
were some rabbins alive at the time when Christ spoke these 
words who lived till the city was destroyed, viz. Rabban 
Simeon, who perished with the city; R. Jochanan ben Zaccai, 
who outlived it; R. Zadoch, R. Ismael, and others. See 
Lightfoot.

The war began, as Josephus says, Ant. b. xx. c. 11. s. 1, in 
the second year of the government of Gessius Florus, who 
succeeded Albinus, successor of Porcius Festus, mentioned 
Acts xxiv. 27, in the month of May, in the twelfth year of 
Nero, and the seventeenth of Agrippa, mentioned Acts 25 and 
26, that is, in May, A. D. 66.

The temple was burnt August 10, A. D. 70, the same day and 
month on which it had been burnt by the king of Babylon: 
Josephus, Ant. b. xx. c. 11. s. 8.

The city was taken September 8, in the second year of the 
reign of Vespasian, or the year of Christ 70. Ant. b. vi. c. 
10.

That was the end of the siege of Jerusalem, which began, as 
Josephus several times observes, about the fourteenth day of 
the month Nisan, or our April. See War, b. v. c. 3. s. 1, c. 
13. s. 7; b. vi. c. 9. s. 3.

Dr. Lardner farther remarks, There is also an ancient 
inscription to the honour of Titus, "who, by his father's 
directions and counsels, had subdued the Jewish nation and 
destroyed Jerusalem, which had never been destroyed by any 
generals, kings, or people, before." The inscription may be 
seen in GRUTER, vol. i. p. 244. It is as follows:-

IMP. TITO. CAESARI. DIVI. VESPASIANI. F VESPASIANO. AUG. 
PONTIFICI. MAXIMO TRIB, POT. X. IMP. XVII. COS. VIII. P. P. 
PRINCIPI. SUO. S. P. Q. R QUOD. PRAECEPTIS. PATRIS. 
CONSILIISQUE. ET AUSPICIIS. GENTEM. JUDAEOROM. DOMUIT. ET 
URBEM. HIEROSOLYMAM. OMNIBUS. ANTE. SE DUCIBUS. REGIBUS. 
GENTIBUSQUE. AUT. FRUSTRA. PETITAM. AUT. OMNINO. INTENTATAM. 
DELEVIT 

For this complete conquest of Jerusalem, Titus had a 
triumphal arch erected to his honour, which still exists. It 
stand on the Via Sacra, leading from the forum to the 
amphitheatre. On it are represented the spoils of the temple 
of God, such as the golden table of the show-bread, the 
golden candlestick with its seven branches, the ark of the 
covenant, the two golden trumpets, &c., &c.; for a particular 
account see the note on Exod. xxv. 31. On this arch, a 
correct model of which, taken on the spot, now stands before 
me, is the following inscription:-SENATUS POPULUSQUE ROMANUS 
DIVO TITO. DIVI VESPASIANI. F VESPASIANO AUGUSTO "The Senate 
and People of Rome, to the Divine Titus, son of the Divine 
Vespasian; and to Vespasian the Emperor." On this occasion, a 
medal was struck with the following inscription round a 
laureated head of the emperor:-IMP.erator J.ulius CAES.ar 
VESP.asianus AUG.ustus. P.ontifex M.aximus, TR.ibunitia, 
P.otestate P.ater P.atrice CO.nS.ul VIII.-On the obverse are 
represented a palm tree, the emblem of the land of Judaea; 
the emperor with a trophy standing on the left; Judea, under 
the figure of a distressed woman, sitting at the foot of the 
tree weeping, with her head bowed down, supported by her left 
hand, with the legend JUDAEA CAPTA. S.enatus C.onsultus. at 
the bottom. This is not only an extraordinary fulfillment of 
our Lord's prediction, but a literal accomplishment of a 
prophecy delivered about 800 years before, Isa. iii. 26, And 
she, desolate, shall sit upon the ground.

Verse 36. But of that day and hour] wra, here, is translated 
season by many eminent critics, and is used in this sense by 
both sacred and profane authors. As the day was not known, in 
which Jerusalem should be invested by the Romans, therefore 
our Lord advised his disciples to pray that it might not be 
on a Sabbath; and as the season was not known, therefore they 
were to pray that it might not be in the winter; ver. 20. See 
on Mark xiii. 32.

Verse 37. - 38. As the days of Noah-they were eating and 
drinking] That is, they spent their time in rapine, luxury, 
and riot. The design of these verses seems to be, that the 
desolation should be as general as it should be unexpected. 

 Verse 39. And knew not] They considered not-did not lay 
Noah's warning to heart, till it was too late to profit by 
it: so shall it be-and so it was in this coming of the Son of 
man.

Verse 40. - 41. Then shall two men-two women-one shall be 
taken, and the other left.] The meaning seems to be, that so 
general should these calamities be, that no two persons, 
wheresoever found, or about whatsoever employed, should be 
both able to effect their escape; and that captivity and the 
sword should have a complete triumph over this unhappy 
people.

Two women shall be grinding] Women alone are still employed 
in grinding the corn in the east; and it is only when 
despatch is required, or the uppermost millstone is heavy, 
that a second woman is added. See Wakefield, and Harmer, Obs. 
vol. i. 253. That they were formerly thus employed, see Exod. 
xi. 5, and the note there. See also Isa. xlvii. 2. 

 Verse 42. Watch therefore] Be always on your guard, that you 
may not be taken unawares, and that you may be properly 
prepared to meet God in the way either of judgment or mercy, 
whensoever he may come. This advice the followers of Christ 
took, and therefore they escaped; the miserable Jews rejected 
it, and were destroyed. Let us learn wisdom by the things 
which they suffered.

Verse 43. If the good man of the house had known] "As a 
master of a family who expected a thief at any time of the 
night, would take care to be awake, and ready to protect his 
house; so do ye, who know that the Son of man will come. 
Though the day and hour be uncertain, continue always in a 
state of watchfulness, that he may not come upon you 
unawares." WAKEFIELD.

Verse 45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant] All should 
live in the same expectation of the coming of Christ, which a 
servant has with respect to the return of his master, who, in 
departing for a season, left the management of his affairs to 
him; and of which management he is to give an exact account 
on his master's return.

Here is an abstract of the duties of a minister of Christ.

1. He is appointed, not by himself, but by the vocation and 
mission of his Master.

2. He must look on himself, not as the master of the family, 
but as the servant.

3. He must be scrupulously faithful and exact in fulfilling 
the commands of his Master.

4. His fidelity must be ever accompanied by wisdom and 
prudence.

5. He must give the domestics-the sacred family, their food; 
and this food must be such as to afford them true 
nourishment. And 6. This must be done in its season. There 
are certain portions of the bread of life which lose their 
effect by being administered out of proper season, or to 
improper persons.

Verse 46. Blessed is that servant] His blessedness consists 
in his master's approbation.

Verse 47. He shall make him ruler over all his goods.] O 
heavenly privilege of a faithful minister of Christ! He shall 
receive from God a power to dispense all the blessings of the 
new covenant; and his word shall ever be accompanied with the 
demonstration of the Holy Ghost to the hearts of all that 
hear it. Much of a preacher's usefulness may be lost by his 
unfaithfulness.

Verse 48. But, and if that evil servant] Here are three 
characters of a bad minister. 1. He has little or no faith in 
the speedy coming of Christ, either to punish for wickedness, 
or to pardon and sanctify those who believe. It may be, he 
does not outwardly profess this, but he says it in his heart, 
and God searches his heart, and knows that he professes to 
teach what he does not believe. 2. He governs with an 
absolute dominion, oppressing his colleagues and doing 
violence to the followers of Christ. And shall begin to 
smite, &c. 3. He leads an irregular life does not love the 
company of the children of God, but eats and drinks with the 
drunkards, preferring the tables of the great and the rich, 
whose god is their belly, and thus feeds himself without 
fear. Great God! save thine inheritance from being ravaged by 
such wolves!

Verse 50. The lord of that servant] Here are three 
punishments which answer to the three characteristics of the 
bad minister. 1. A sudden death, and the weight of God's 
judgments falling upon him, without a moment to avert it: 
this answers to his infidelity and forgetfulness. He shall 
come in a day in which he looked not for him. 2. A separation 
from the communion of saints, and from all the gifts which he 
has abused: this answers to the abuse of his authority in the 
Church of Christ. 3. He shall have tears and eternal pains, 
in company with all such hypocrites as himself: and this 
answers to his voluptuous life, pampering the flesh at the 
expense of his soul.

Verse 51. Cut him asunder] This refers to an ancient mode of 
punishment used in several countries. Isaiah is reported to 
have been sawed ASUNDER. That it was an ancient mode of 
punishment is evident from what Herodotus says: that Sabacus, 
king of Ethiopia, had a vision, in which he was commanded 
mesouv diatamein, to cut in two, all the Egyptian priests, 
lib. ii. And in lib. vii. where Xerxes ordered one of the 
sons of Pythius meson diatamein, to be cut in two, and one 
half placed on each side of the way, that his army might pass 
through between them. See Raphelius also, in his notes from 
Herodotus and Polybius. This kind of punishment was used 
among the Persians: see Daniel ii. 5, iii. 29. Story of 
Susannah, ver. 55, 59. See also 2 Samuel xii. 31, and 1 
Chron. xx. 3. It may also have reference to that mode of 
punishment in which the different members were chopped off 
seriatim, first the feet, then the hands, next the legs, then 
the arms, and lastly the head. This mode of punishment is 
still in use among the Chinese. But we find an exact parallel 
among the Turks, in the following passage from W. Lithgow's 
Travels, p. 153. London 4to. edit. "If a Turk should happen 
to kill another Turk, his punishment is thus: After he is 
adjudged to death, he is brought forth to the market place; 
and a blocke being brought hither of four foot high, the 
malifactor is stript naked, and then laid thereon with his 
belly downward; they draw in his middle together so small 
with running cords that they strike his body a-two with one 
blow: his hinder parts they cast to be eaten by hungry dogs 
kept for the same purpose; and the forequarters and head they 
throw into a grievous fire, made there for the same end. And 
this is the punishment for manslaughter." This is the very 
same punishment, and for the same offense, as that mentioned 
by our Lord, the killing of a fellow servant-one of the same 
nation, and of the same religion.

THE reader has no doubt observed, in the preceding chapter, a 
series of the most striking and solemn predictions, fulfilled 
in the most literal, awful, and dreadful manner. Christ has 
foretold the ruin of the Jewish people, and the destruction 
of their polity; and in such a circumstantial manner as none 
else could do, but He, under whose eye are all events, and in 
whose hands are the government and direction of all things. 
Indeed he rather declared what he would do, than predicted 
what should come to pass. And the fulfillment has been as 
circumstantial as the prediction. Does it not appear that the 
predicted point was so literally referred to by the occurring 
fact, by which it was to have its accomplishment, as to leave 
no room to doubt the truth of the prediction, or the 
certainty of the event by which it was fulfilled? Thus the 
wisdom of God, as also his justice and providence, have had a 
plenary manifestation.

But this wisdom appears, farther, in preserving such a record 
of the prediction, and such evidence of its accomplishment, 
as cannot possibly be doubted. The New Testament, given by 
the inspiration of God, and handed down uncorrupted from 
father to son, by both friends and enemies, perfect in its 
credibility and truth, inexpungable in its evidences, and 
astonishingly circumstantial in details of future 
occurrences, which the wisdom of God alone could foreknow-
that New Testament is the record of these predictions. The 
history of the Romans, written by so many hands; the history 
of the Jews, written by one of themselves; triumphal arches, 
coins, medals, and public monuments of different kinds, are 
the evidence by which the fulfillment of the record is 
demonstrated. Add to this the preservation of the Jewish 
people; a people scattered through all nations, yet 
subsisting as a distinct body, without temple, sacrifices, or 
political government; and who, while they attempt to suppress 
the truth, yet reluctantly stand forth as an unimpeachable 
collateral evidence, that the solemn record, already alluded 
to, is strictly and literally true! Who that has ever 
consulted the Roman historians of the reigns of Vespasian and 
Titus, the history of Josephus, and the 24th chapter of St. 
Matthew's Gospel, and who knows any thing of the present 
state of the Jews over the face of the earth, or even of 
those who sojourn in England, can doubt for a moment the 
truth of this Gospel, or the infinite and all-comprehensive 
knowledge of Him who is its author! Here then is one portion 
of Divine Revelation that is incontrovertibly and absolutely 
proved to be the truth of God. Reader! if he, who, while he 
predicted the ruin of this disobedient and refractory people, 
wept over their city and its inhabitants, has so, minutely 
fulfilled the threatenings of his justice on the unbelieving 
and disobedient, will he not as circumstantially fulfill the 
promises of his grace to all them that believe? The existence 
of his revelation, the continuance of a Christian Church upon 
earth, the certainty that there is one individual saved from 
his sins by the grace of the Gospel, and walking worthy of 
his vocation are continued proofs and evidences that he is 
still the same; that he will fulfill every jot and tittle of 
that word on which he has caused thee to trust; and save to 
the uttermost all that come unto the Father by him. The word 
of the Lord endureth for ever; and they who trust in him 
shall never be confounded.

CHAPTER xxv

The parable of the ten virgins, five of whom were wise, and 
five foolish, 1-12. The necessity of being constantly 
prepared to appear before God, 13. The parable of the 
talents, 14-30. The manner in which God shall deal with the 
righteous and the wicked in the judgment of the great day, 
31-46.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxv

Verse 1. Then shall the kingdom of heaven] The state of Jews 
and professing Christians-the state of the visible Church at 
the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and in the day of 
judgment: for the parable appears to relate to both those 
periods. And particularly at the time in which Christ shall 
come to judge the world, it shall appear what kind of 
reception his Gospel has met with. This parable, or something 
very like it, is found in the Jewish records: so in a 
treatise entitled RESHITH CHOCMAH, the beginning of wisdom, 
we read thus: "Our wise men of blessed memory say, Repent 
whilst thou hast strength to do it, whilst thy lamp burns, 
and thy oil is not extinguished; for if thy lamp be gone out, 
thy oil will profit thee nothing." Our doctors add, in 
MEDRASH: "The holy blessed God said to Israel, My sons, 
repent whilst the gates of repentance stand open; for I 
receive a gift at present, but when I shall sit in judgment, 
in the age to come, I will receive none." Another parable, 
mentioned by Kimchi, on Isa. lxv. 13. "Rabbi Yuchanan, the 
son of Zachai, spoke a parable concerning a king, who invited 
his servants, but set them no time to come: the prudent and 
wary among them adorned themselves and, standing at the door 
of the king's house, said, Is any thing wanting in the house 
of the king? (i.e. Is there any work to be done?) But the 
foolish ones that were among them went away, and working 
said, When shall the feast be in which there is no labour? 
Suddenly the king sought out his servants: those who were 
adorned entered in, and they who were still polluted entered 
in also. The king was glad when he met the prudent, but he 
was angry when he met the foolish: he said, Let the prudent 
sit down and eat-let the others stand and look on." Rabbi 
Eliezer said, "Turn to God one day before your death." His 
disciples said, "How can a man know the day of his death?" He 
answered them, "Therefore you should turn to God to-day, 
perhaps you may die to-morrow; thus every day will be 
employed in returning." See Kimchi in Isa. lxv. 13.

Virgins] Denoting the purity of the Christian doctrine and 
character. In this parable, the bridegroom is generally 
understood to mean Jesus Christ.

The feast, that state of felicity to which he has promised to 
raise his genuine followers. The wise, or prudent, and 
foolish virgins, those who truly enjoy, and those who only 
profess the purity and holiness of his religion. The oil, the 
grace and salvation of God, or that faith which works by 
love. The vessel, the heart in which this oil is contained. 
The lamp, the profession of enjoying the burning and shining 
light of the Gospel of Christ. Going forth; the whole of 
their sojourning upon earth.

Verse 2. Five of them were wise] Or, provident, fronimoi-they 
took care to make a proper provision beforehand, and left 
nothing to be done in the last moment.

Five were foolish] mwroi, which might be translated careless, 
is generally rendered foolish; but this does not agree so 
well with fronimoi, provident, or prudent, in the first 
clause, which is the proper meaning of the word. mwrov in the 
Etymologicon, is thus defined, mh ora to deon, he who sees 
not what is proper or necessary. These did not see that it 
was necessary to have oil in their vessels, (the salvation of 
God in their souls,) as well as a burning lamp of religious 
profession, ver. 3, 4.

Verse 4. Took oil in their vessels] They not only had a 
sufficiency of oil in their lamps, but they carried a vessel 
with oil to recruit their lamps, when it should be found 
expedient. This the foolish or improvident neglected to do: 
hence, when the oil that was in their lamps burned out, they 
had none to pour into the lamp to maintain the flame.

Verse 5. The bridegroom tarried] The coming of the bridegroom 
to an individual may imply his death: his coming to the 
world-the final judgment. The delay-the time from a man's 
birth till his death, in the first case; in the second, the 
time from the beginning to the end of the world.

Slumbered and slept.] Or, enustaxan kai ekaqeudon, they 
became drowsy and fell asleep. As sleep is frequently used in 
the sacred writings for death, so drowsiness, which precedes 
sleep, may be considered as pointing out the decays of the 
constitution, and the sicknesses which precede death. The 
other explanations which are given of this place must be 
unsatisfactory to every man who is not warped by some point 
in his creed, which must be supported at every expense. 
Carelessness disposed them to drowsiness, drowsiness to 
sleep, deep sleep, which rendered them as unconscious of 
their danger as they were before inattentive to their duty. 
The Anglo-Saxon has hit the meaning of the original well] of 
which my old MS. Bible gives a literal version, in the 
English of the 14th century: forsothe-alle nappeden and 
sleptyn.

Verse 6. At midnight there was a cry] The Jewish weddings 
were generally celebrated in the night; yet they usually 
began at the rising of the evening star; but in this case 
there was a more than ordinary delay.

Behold, the bridegroom cometh] What an awful thing to be 
summoned to appear before the Judge of quick and dead! The 
following is an affecting relation, and fas est ab hoste 
doceri. "When Rabbi Jochanan ben Zachai was sick, his 
disciples came to visit him; and when he saw them he began to 
weep. They say to him, Rabbi! the light of Israel, the right 
hand pillar, the strong hammer, wherefore dost thou weep? He 
answered them, If they were carrying me before a king of 
flesh and blood, who is here today, and to-morrow in the 
grave; who, if he were angry with me, his anger would not 
last for ever: if he put me in prison, his prison would not 
be everlasting; if he condemned me to death, that death would 
not be eternal; whom I could soothe with words or bribe with 
riches; yet even in these circumstances I should weep. But 
now I am going before the King of kings, the holy and the 
blessed God, who liveth and endureth for ever and for ever; 
who, if he be angry with me, his anger will last for ever; if 
he put me in prison, his bondage will be everlasting; if he 
condemn me to death, that death will be eternal; whom I 
cannot soothe with words nor bribe with riches: when, 
farther, there are before me two ways, the one to hell and 
the other to paradise, and I know not in which they are 
carrying me, shall I not weep?" TALMUD Beracoth, fol. 29.

Verse 7. Trimmed their lamps.] ekosmhsan, adorned them. I 
have seen some of the eastern lamps or lanthorns, the body of 
which was a skeleton of wood and threads, covered with a very 
thin transparent membrane, or very fine gauze, and decorated 
with flowers painted on it. It is probable that the nuptial 
1amps were highly decorated in this way; though the act 
mentioned here may mean no more than preparing the lamps for 
burning.

The following account of the celebration of a wedding in 
Persia, taken from the Zend Avesta, vol. ii. p. 558, &c., may 
cast some light on this place.

"The day appointed for the marriage, about five o'clock in 
the evening, the bridegroom comes to the house of the bride, 
where the mobed, or priest, pronounces for the first time the 
nuptial benediction. He then brings her to his own house, 
gives her some refreshment, and afterwards the assembly of 
her relatives and friends reconduct her to her father's 
house. When she arrives, the mobed repeats the nuptial 
benediction, which is generally done about MIDNIGHT; 
immediately after, the bride, accompanied with a part of her 
attending troop, (the rest having returned to their own 
homes,) is reconducted to the house of her husband, where she 
generally arrives about three o'clock in the morning. Nothing 
can be more brilliant than these nuptial solemnities in 
India. Sometimes the assembly consists of not less than two 
thousand persons, all richly dressed in gold and silver 
tissue; the friends and relatives of the bride, encompassed 
with their domestics, are all mounted on horses richly 
harnessed. The goods, wardrobe, and even the bed of the 
bride, are carried in triumph. The husband, richly mounted 
and magnificently dressed, is accompanied by his friends and 
relatives, the friends of the bride following him in covered 
carriages. At intervals, during the procession, guns and 
rockets are fired, and the spectacle is rendered grand beyond 
description, by a prodigious number of LIGHTED TORCHES, and 
by the SOUND of a multitude of musical instruments." There 
are certain preparations which most persons believe they must 
make at the approach of death; but, alas! it is often too 
late. The lamp is defiled, the light almost out, and the oil 
expended; and what adorning is a wretched sinner, struggling 
in the agonies of death, capable of preparing for his guilty 
soul!

Verse 8. Our lamps are gone out.] sbennuntai, are going out. 
So then it is evident that they were once lighted. They had 
once hearts illuminated and warmed by faith and love; but 
they had backslidden from the salvation of God, and now they 
are excluded from heaven, because, through their 
carelessness, they have let the light that was in them become 
darkness, and have not applied in time for a fresh supply of 
the salvation of God.

A Jewish rabbin supposes God addressing man thus:-I give thee 
my lamp, give thou me thy lamp; if thou keep my lamp I will 
keep thy lamp; but if thou extinguish my lamp I will 
extinguish thy lamp. That is, I give thee my WORD and 
testimonies to be a light unto thy feet and a lanthorn to thy 
steps, to guide thee safely through life; give me thy SOUL 
and all its concerns, that I may defend and save thee from 
all evil: keep my WORD, walk in my ways, and I will keep thy 
SOUL that nothing shall injure it; but if thou trample under 
foot my laws, I will cast thy soul into outer darkness.

Verse 9. Lest there be not enough for us and you] These had 
all been companions in the Christian course, and there was a 
time when they might have been helpful to each other; but 
that time is now past for ever-none has a particle of grace 
to spare, not even to help the soul of the dearest relative! 
The grace which every man receives is just enough to save his 
own soul; he has no merits to bequeath to the Church; no work 
of supererogation which can be placed to the account of 
another.

Go ye rather to them that sell, and buy] By leaving out the 
particle de, but, (on the indisputable authority of ABDGHKS, 
and HV, of Matthai, with sixteen others, the Armenian, 
Vulgate, and all the Itala but one,) and transposing a very 
little the members of the sentence, the sense is more 
advantageously represented, and the reading smoother: Rather 
go to them that sell, and buy for yourselves, lest there be 
not enough for us and you.

Beza, Mill, Bengel, and Griesbach, approve of the omission of 
the particle de.

Verse 10. While they went to buy, the bridegroom came] What a 
dismal thing it is, not to discover the emptiness of one's 
heart of all that is good, till it is too late to make any 
successful application for relief! God alone knows how many 
are thus deceived.

And they that were ready] They who were prepared-who had not 
only a burning lamp of an evangelical profession, but had oil 
in their vessels, the faith that works by love in their 
hearts, and their lives adorned with all the fruits of the 
Spirit.

The door was shut.] Sinners on a death-bed too often meet 
with those deceitful merchants, who promise them salvation 
for a price which is of no value in the sight of God. Come 
unto me, says Jesus, and buy: there is no salvation but 
through his blood-no hope for the sinner but that which is 
founded upon his sacrifice and death. The door was shut-
dreadful and fatal words! No hope remains. Nothing but death 
can shut this door; but death may surprise us in our sins, 
and then despair is our only portion.

Verse 11. Afterwards came also the other virgins, saying, 
Lord, Lord] Earnest prayer, when used in time, may do much 
good: but it appears, from this parable, that there may come 
a time when prayer even to Jesus may be too late!-viz. when 
the door is shut-when death has separated the body and the 
soul.

Verse 12. I know you not.] As if he had said, Ye are not of 
my company-ye were neither with the bride nor the bridegroom: 
ye slept while the others were in procession. I do not 
acknowledge you for my disciples-ye are not like him who is 
love-ye refused to receive his grace-ye sinned it away when 
ye had it; now you are necessarily excluded from that kingdom 
where nothing but love and purity can dwell.

Verse 13. Watch therefore] If to watch be to employ ourselves 
chiefly about the business of our salvation, alas! how few of 
those who are called Christians are there who do watch! How 
many who slumber! How many who are asleep! How many seized 
with a lethargy! How many quite dead! Wherein the Son of man 
cometh.] These words are omitted by many excellent MSS., most 
of the versions, and several of the fathers. Griesbach has 
left them out of the text: Grotius, Hammond, Mill, and 
Bengel, approve of the omission.

Verse 14. Called his own servants] God never makes the 
children of men proprietors of his goods. They are formed by 
his power, and upheld by his bounty; and they hold their 
lives and their goods, as in many of our ancient tenures, 
quamdiu domino placuerit-at the will of their Lord.

Verse 15. Unto one he gave five talents-to every man 
according to his several ability] The duties men are called 
to perform are suited to their situations, and the talents 
they receive. The good that any man has he has received from 
God, as also the ability to improve that good. God's graces 
and temporal mercies are suited to the power which a man has 
of improving them. To give eminent gifts to persons incapable 
of properly improving them, would be only to lead into a 
snare. The talent which each man has suits his own state 
best; and it is only pride and insanity which lead him to 
desire and envy the graces and talents of another. Five 
talents would be too much for some men: one talent would be 
too little. He who receives much, must make proportionate 
improvement; and, from him who has received little, the 
improvement only of that little will be required. As five 
talents, in one case, are sufficient to answer the purpose 
for which they were given; so also are two and one.

The man who improves the grace he has received, however 
small, will as surely get to the kingdom of God, as he who 
has received most from his master, and improved all.

There is a parable something like this in Sohar Chadash, fol. 
xl7: "A certain king gave a deposit to three of his servants: 
the first kept it; the second lost it; the third spoiled one 
part of it, and gave the rest to another to keep.

After some time, the king came and demanded the deposit. Him 
who had preserved it, the king praised, and made him governor 
of his house. Him who had lost it, he delivered to utter 
destruction, so that both his name and his possessions were 
blotted out. To the third, who had spoiled a part and given 
the rest to another to keep, the king said, Keep him, and let 
him not go out of my house, till we see what the other shall 
do to whom he has entrusted a part: if he shall make a proper 
use of it, this man shall be restored to liberty; if not, he 
also shall be punished." See Schoettgen. I have had already 
occasion to remark how greatly every Jewish parable is 
improved that comes through the hands of Christ.

In this parable of our Lord, four things may be considered:-
I.

The master who distributes the talents.

II. The servants who improved their talents.

III. The servant who buried his talent. And IV. His 
punishment.

1. The master's kindness. The servants had nothing-deserved 
nothing-had no claim on their master, yet he, in his 
KINDNESS, delivers unto them his goods, not for his 
advantage, but for their comfort and salvation.

2. The master distributes these goods diversely;-giving to 
one five, to another, two, and to another one. No person can 
complain that he has been forgotten; the master gives to 
each. None can complain of the diversity of the gifts; it is 
the master who has done it. The master has an absolute right 
over his own goods, and the servants cannot find fault with 
the distribution. He who has little should not envy him who 
has received much, for he has the greater labour, and the 
greater account to give. He who has much should not despise 
him who has little, for the sovereign master has made the 
distinction; and his little, suited to the ability which God 
has given him, and fitted to the place in which God's 
providence has fixed him, is sufficiently calculated to 
answer the purpose of the master, in the salvation of the 
servant's soul.

3. The master distributes his talents with WISDOM. He gave to 
each according to his several ability, i.e. to the power he 
had to improve what was given. It would not be just to make a 
servant responsible for what he is naturally incapable of 
managing; and it would not be proper to give more than could 
be improved. The powers which men have, God has given; and as 
he best knows the extent of these powers, so he suits his 
graces and blessings to them in the most wise, and effectual 
way. Though he may make one vessel for honour, (i.e. a more 
honourable place or office,) and another for dishonour, (a 
less honourable office,) yet both are for the master's use-
b