of your conduct you have imitated the goodness and benevolence of my Father, and therefore I now declare you blessed and beloved of him, and appoint you to inherit this kingdom. Moreover, that you may know how acceptable acts of kindness and charity are to me, I assure you, that I reckon every thing of this kind as done to myself. It was I who was an hungered, and athirst, and a stranger, and naked, and sick, and in prison. It was I whom you clothed, and lodged, and visited, and comforted in prison. The righteous, in great surprize, ask, with reverence and humility, when all this happened? since they never had seen him in want of their assistance, nor could remember that they had ever bestowed aught upon him. Matt. xxv. 37. Then shall the righteous answer, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38. When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39. Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40. And the king shall answer and say unto them, the King of angels and men, Verily I say unto you, in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it

unte

can exist, where there is no piety; and that for one to pretend to moralı ty, who is destitute of piety, is altogether ridiculous.

But if this parable gives persons no encouragement who are destitute of piety, although they should make a fair shew of many moral virtues, it much less gives those any ground of hope, who not only are void of pie. ty, but are faulty almost in every respect, unless it be that they have a lovely kind of tenderness and humanity in their disposition, which leads them on some occasions to do excellent acts of beneficence. For though there be nothing said of any enquiry made concerning the duties of justice, temperance, chastity and fidelity, we are by no means on that account to fancy these virtues shall not be enquired after at the judgment, and rewarded wherever they are found. Or, that the contrary vices of falsehood, and fraud, and debauchery, shall not be taken notice of, and punished. Charity being the end of the commandment, so far as it respects our duty to men, is the higher branch, and therefore has for its supports justice, veracity, and the other social virtues. Moreover, being connected with temperance, chastity, and self-government, it can never be without these attendant graces, the neglect of which is evidently a direct and gross breach of charity, or leadeth thereto. In a word, as among the vices, so among the virtues, there is a natural affinity and close connec tion. They are some how absolutely essential and necessary to each other, and so can in no case subsist separately. For which reason, if any of thein be wanting, much more if so capital a virtue as the love of God he wanting, it is a sure proof that our charity, our justice, our temperance, or whatever other grace we seem to have, is but the mimickry of these virtues, and not the virtues themselves. At the same time it cannot be denied, that the parable is formed so as to give us the highest idea of works of charity; they are demanded at the judgment as the fuit and perfection of all the virtues, and loudly applauded wherever they are found. On the other hand, hard-heartedness, cruelty, and uncharit bleness, are branded with the blackest mark of infamy, being the foundation on which the sentence of condemnation passed against the wicked, is unalterably and eternally fixed.

unto me. This is unspeakably astonishing! The united wisdom of men and angels could not have thought of any thing more proper to convey an idea of the warmth and strength of the Divine benevolence to men, or offer a more constraining motive to charity, than that the Son of God should declare from the judg ment-seat, in presence of the whole universe assembled, that such good offices as are done to the afflicted, are done to him. Having, in the days of his flesh, suffered injuries and afflictions unspeaka ble, he considers all the virtuous distressed as members of his body, loves them tenderly, and is so much interested in their welfare, that when they are happy he rejoices, when they are distressed he is grieved: In as much as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. O wonderful condescension of the Son of God! O astonishing stupidity of men, who neglect altogether, or are persuaded with difficulty, to do good to Christ! That Jesus should call the poor, even among the heathen, his brethren, is a great honour to the human nature, and shews the Divine benignity in an amiable light. This happy relation arises from the manhood which he still possesses in common with men, and from the poverty, affliction, and other miseries of men, that he was exposed to while he lived in the world. He may call good men, whether heathens or Christians, his brethren likewise, because they are children of the same father, viz. God, after whose image they are formed by the influences of his Spirit working faith in them, that is, a firm and solid conviction of the truths of religion, as far as it has pleased him to discover them. It is this conformity of natures, human and divine, which makes men Christ's brethren; for which reason, in whatever person it is found, he will acknowledge the relation, without regard to any circumstance whatever that is out of the person's power. Matt. xxv. 41. Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, of my Father, as is evident from ver. 34. into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. 42. For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; 43. I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45. Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, in as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. In this parable, the absolution of the righteous is represented as happening before the condemnation of the wicked, to shew that God takes greater delight in rewarding than in punishing men. Moreover, it is remarkable that the fire of hell is here said to be prepared, not for the wicked, but for the devil and his angels; whereas the kingdom of heaven is said

to

to be prepared expressly for the righteous. Perhaps our Lord by this intended to teach us, that God's original intention was to make men happy, and not to damn them. No sooner were we created, than a state of consummate felicity was formed for us. But the fire of hell was prepared for the devil and his angels, namely, after their fall. And because wicked men partake with devils in their sin of rebellion against God, they are doomed to share with them in their punishment. Perhaps also the fire of hell is declared to be made for the devil and his angels, to intimate the greatness of the misery to which men irreclaimably wicked shall be consigned. The punishment which they shall suffer is of the heaviest kind, being the punishment of devils. The condemnation of the wicked, for having neglected to take pity on Christ's brethren, does not imply that he would have our works of charity confined to good men, or that he does not disapprove of inhumanity and cruelty toward those who are bad. The circumstance is formed only to shew more effectually the niggardly, merciless, selfish disposition of the wicked. For if a person be hard-hearted to a saint, he must be more so to a sinner, who, as his covetousness will immediately suggest, deserves nothing; so that it was needless to mention their cruelty to such. To conclude, the issue of the judgment, as it is represented in this parable, is awful beyond description. Matt. xxv. 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal. If the meaning of this short sentence was fully understood, what an impression would it make upon sinners! Everlasting punishment! Eternal life! what is there that is not comprehended in these?

§ CXXV. Jesus foretels his own sufferings the seventh time; see § 106, 127. He is anointed the third time; see § 110. Judas bargains with the council to betray his Master to them. Matt. xxvi. 1,-16. Mark xiv. 1,-11. Luke xxi. 37, 38. xxii. 1,—6.

LUKE xxi. 37. And in the day-time he was teaching in the temple, and at night he went out and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives. His custom at this, and, it may be, at other passovers, was to spend the day in the city, most commonly in the temple, where he always found a great concourse of hearers, and in the evening to retire to the mount of Olives, where he lodged in the villages, or in the gardens, or in the open air among the trees. He chose to lodge at night in such places as these, that he might avoid falling into the hands of his ene mies. For though they durst not attack him in the midst of his followers by day, they probably would have apprehended him during the silence and darkness of the night, had he lodged any where within the walls of the town. Accordingly, they did not VOL. H.

3 L

venture

venture to lay hands on him, till Judas Iscariot, one of his own disciples, betrayed him to them, in the absence of the multitude, by conducting an armed band to the place of his retirement. 38. And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple for to hear him. The evangelist does not say that the people came and heard Jesus preach in the temple after this, for Jesus himself had declared that he never was to preach to them any more, Matt. xxiii. 38, 39.. But having described in what manner our Lord spent his time at this passover, the evangelist adds, that his ministry sustained no damage by his leaving the city at night, because he did not fail to return every morning to the tem ple, before any considerable number of people could attend him; and because they came early, knowing that it was his custom to be there betimes.

· Matt. xxvi. 1. And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, 2. Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. When our Lord sat down on the mount of Olives, to foretel the destruction of the city, and to deliver the parables which represent the method of the general judgment, he was so far on his way to Bethany. After the parables were pronounced, and before he departed, he thought fit to add a word or two concerning his own death. The greatest trial that his disciples were ever to meet with, was now approaching in their Master's sufferings. Wherefore, to prepare them, he foretold those sufferings, together with the particular time and manner of them; and by so doing, proved that he knew perfectly whatever was to befal him, and that his sufferings were all voluntary and necessary *. Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes,

and

This being the last day of our Lord's public teaching, it was mere full of action than any other mentioned in the history, as will appear frem the following induction of particulars.

He came to Bethany six days before the passover, probably about sunsetting. He rode into the city, surrounded by the multitude, the next afternoon. For when he had looked round on all things in the temple after his entry, it was evening, Mark xi. 11. this happened five days before the passover. He went in again from Bethany the day following, viz. four days before the passover, and by the way blasted the fig-tree; after that, he drove the buyers and sellers out of the temple. Next morning, viz. three days before the passover, and the last of his public teaching, being on his way to town, he spake concerning the efficacy of faith, on occasion of the disciples expressing great astonishment at seeing the fig-tree that was cursed the day before withered from the roots. When he appeared in the ten-ple, the deputies that were sent by the council came and asked him coacerning his authority. He answered them with a question concerning the baptism of John; then spake the parable of the two sons commanded to work in their father's vineyard; after that the parable of the vineyard let out to husbandmen; also the parable of the marriagesupper. Then he avoided the snare that was laid for him in the question

concerning

and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high-priest, who was called Caiaphas, 4. And consulted, that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. 5. But they said, Not on the feast-day, (sogra, the feast, i. e. the whole time of the solemnity, which lasted seven days) lest there should be an uproar among the people. See the beginning of § 111.

When Jesus and his disciples came to Bethany, they took up their lodging with Simon the leper, probably one of those who had experienced the healing efficacy of his power. During the time of supper, a woman came and poured a box of precious ointment on the Lord's head. Matt. xxvi. 6. Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, 7. There came unto him a woman having an alabaster-box of very precious ointment, (Mark, of spikenard very precious, and she brake the box) and poured it on his head as he sat at meat. The disciples being sensible that their Master was not delighted with luxuries of any kind, rebuked her for throwing away so much money idly, as they imagined. But they expressed themselves so as to cast a tacit reflection on Jesus himself. Mark xiv. 4. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, (Mark, But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation within them' selves, saying, To what purpose) Why was this waste of the ointment made? 5. For it (Matt. this ointment) might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, (Matt. for much) and have been given to the poor. They did not say the money wherewith this ointment was purchased might have been given to the poor, but this ointment might have been sold and given; insinuating that Jesus was to blame for not taking the ointment from the woman and selling it; and they murmured against her, they spake privately among themselves against the woman for what she had done. But Jesus knowing every thing they said, told them, God had so ordered matters, that, for the exercise and improvement of virtue, there should always be poor in the land, to whom

they

concerning the tribute-money; confuted the doctrine of the Sadducees, concerning the resurrection; shewed the scribe which was the great commandment in the law; asked the Pharisees whose son Christ is; cautioned his disciples to beware of the Scribes and Pharisees, against whom he denounced many grievous woes. When the woes were finished, he looked on the people throwing their gifts into the treasury, probably as they worshipped at the evening sacrifice, and commended the poor widow for her charity. After the service was over, he left the temple, and went to the mount of Olives, where he foretold the downfal of the nation, and spake three parables representing the procedure at the general judgment. Last of all, he concluded the work of the day with predicting his own sufferings. By this time it must have been about sun setting. He went away therefore with his disciples to Bethany, intending to pass the night there, at a distance from his enemies, the chief priests and the Scribes, who were now gathered together at the high-priest's palace, to deliberate how they might take him and put him to death.