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CCL. 3.

more value than many sparrows.

in the cause of Christ.

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before men, him will I also deny before An. Olymp.

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31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of my Father which is in heaven.
34 Think not that I am
come to send
peace on earth: I came not to send peace
but a sword.

32 ' Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

35 For I am come

to set a man at vari

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* 1 Sam. 14. 45. 2 Sam. 14. 11. Luke 21. 18. Acts 27. 31.

b Luke 12. 8. Rom. 10. 9, 10. — Rev. 3, 5.— Mark 8. 38. Luke 9. 26. 2 Tim. 2. 12.- Le Luke 12. 49, 51, 52, 53.

Fall on the ground] Instead of tv yn, Origen, Clement, Chrysostom, Juvencus, and six MSS. of Mathai, read us y Fayıda, into a snare. Bengel conjectures that it might have been written at first, TM mayn; that the first syllable wa being lost out of the word, yn the earth, instead of waynı mare, became the common reading.

Without your Father.] Without the will of your Father: 75 Bain, 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.

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. 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.

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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 (ver. 12.) that the word □ shalom, rendered by the Greeks gun, 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 y", 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 (Baxλ) by forcing out the Roman power, that temporal prosperity which they long for; I am not come for this purpose, but to send forth (Saλ) 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 Verse 32. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men] destructive factions; they employed their time in butchering

Verse 31. Fear ye not—ye are of more value] None can esti- || mate 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 eyes, as God of all,
"A HERO perish, or a SPARROW fall?"

How cold and meagre is this shallow deistical saying! That
is, a sparrow is of as much worth in the sight of God, who re- ||
gards (if we may believe the poet) things only in general, as an
immortal soul, purchased by the sacrifice of Christ!

Christ and his religion

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ance against his father, and theme, is not worthy of me: and he that A.1.4031. An. Olymp. daughter against her mother, and the loveth son or daughter more than me, daughter in law against her mother is not worthy of me.

CCL. 3.

in law.

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38 And he that taketh not his cross, and fol36 Anda man's foes shall be they of his own loweth after me, is not worthy of me. household. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and 37 He that loveth father or mother more than he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

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a Mic. 7. 6.b Ps. 41. 9. & 55. 13. Mic. 7. 6. John 13. 18. Luke 14. 26.

4 Ch. 16. 21. Mark 8. 31.

Luke 9. 23. & 1.1. 27. ch. 16. 25. Luke 17. 33. John 12. 25.

one another, till the Roman sword was unsheathed against enemy of his servant, and the servant that of his master, when them, and desolated the land. the one takes no care of the other's salvation, and the latter is subservient to his master's passions.”

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 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, Exaços tar κακούργων εκφέρει τον αυτού ταυρον. Each of the malefactors carries on, his own cross. See John xix. 17.

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 in- || sult 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 for 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 mo- Verse 39. He that findeth his life, &c.] i. e. He, who for ther, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and the the sake of his temporal interest, abandons his spiritual concerns, men of that age shall be excessively impudent; nor shall the shall lose his soul; and he who, in order to avoid martyrdom, son reverence his father." These are most remarkable sayings, abjures the pure religion of Christ, shall lose his soul, and perand by them our Lord shews them that he was the Messiah, haps his life too. He that findeth his life shall lose it, was lifor all these things literally took place shortly after their final re- terally fulfilled in Archbishop Cranmer. He confessed Christ jection of Christ. See the terrible account, given by Josephus, against the devil, and his eldest son, the Pope. He was ordered relative to the desolations of those times. Through the just judg-to be burnt; to save his life he recanted, and was, notwithment of God, they who rejected the Lord that bought them, standing, burnt. Whatever a man sacrifices to God is never became abandoned to every species of iniquity; they rejected lost, for he finds it again in God. the salvation of God, and fell into the condemnation of the devil. There is a fine piece on this subject in Juvenal, Sat. viii. Father Quesnel's note on this place is worthy of deep at-1. 80. which deserves to be recorded here. tention. "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

ambiguæ si quando citabere testis
Incertæque rei, Phalaris licet imperet ut sist
Falsus, & admoto dictet perjuria tauro,
Summum crede nefus ANIMAM præferre 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.

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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 travellers 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

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.

Verse 41. He that receiveth a prophet] ПgnTM, 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 doc-passengers. This necessary work of charity, in these hot trines 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 Shecinah;" and again, "He who speaks against a faithful pastor, it is the same as if he had spoken against God himself." See Schoetgen.

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 which 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 themLittle ones] My apparently mean, and generally despised selves comparatively contemptible, of high worth in the sight disciples. of God. See Quesnel.

Verse 42 A cup of cold water] rdares is not in the common text, but it is found in the Codex Beza, 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.

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 enquire 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. Shews that none can know God but by the revelation of the Son, 27. Invites the distressed to come unto him, and gives them the promise of rest for their souls, 28-30.

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John the Baptist sends

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two of his disciples to Christ. ND it came to pass, when Je- should come, or do we look for ansus had made an end of com- other? manding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their

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2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,

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4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:

d

5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up, and the poor

3 And said unto him, Art thou he that have the gospel preached to them:

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Luke 7. 18, 19, &c. ch. 14. 3.

Gen. 49. 10. Numb. 21. 17.
Dan. 9. 24. John 6. 14.

d Isai. 29. 18. & 35. 4, 5, 6. & 42. 7. John 2. 23. & S. 2. & 5. 36. & 10. 25, 53. & 14. 11. Isai. 61. 1. Luke 4. 18. Jam. 2. 5.

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 connexion, 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, chap. iv. 12. and after the first passover, John iii. 24.

Verse 3. Art thou he that should come] O gxoμevos, he that cometh, seems to have been a proper name of the Messiah ; to save or deliver, are necessarily implied. See on Luke

vii. 19.

There is some difficulty in what is here spoken of Jolin; 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 declarations, 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 speedy place. It is very probable that John now began, through the length of his confinement, to entertain doubts, relative to this 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.

MSS. with both the Syriac, Armenian, Gothic, and one copy of the Itala, have a by; he sent by his disciples.

Verse 4. Go and shew 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.] AvabλETWO, look upwards, contemplating the heavens which their Lord hath made.

The lame walk] Tarwe, 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 Two of his disciples] Instead of duo two several excellent || hear his pardoning words; and raises those who were dead in

The exalted character

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6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.

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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 sxada in its root, signifies to hit against or stumble over a thing, which one may mect with in the way. The Jews, as was before remarked, expected a temporal deliverer. Many might be 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 shews 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 today, 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.

9 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, dand more than a prophet:

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10 For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that

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Verse 8. A man clothed in soft ruiment?] A second cxcellency 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 univérsally 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 desart, 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 (gregor) 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.

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