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 ûlm 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 ûrd 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 ûlmh 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 dÆ ara lawn eshtuon. See 
also Iliad ii. 280,) and delivered the scepter into their 
hands, before they began their harangue.

hn dÆ apa khrux, cersi skhptron eqhke, siwphsai rÆ 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: ûtsnl 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 dÆ 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] Æo 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 Æomwv aidao pulhsin, ov cÆeteron 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, û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, allÆ 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 ûlm 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 efÆ 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] diÆ 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 ûlm wnyhla hta ûwrb 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 ûlm wnyhla ûwrb 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 epÆ 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, allÆ 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 epÆ 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 dÆ epei oun drwmai lousan kai crisan elaiw, amoi dÆ ara 
clainav oulav balon hde citwnav, ev ra qronouv ezonto parÆ 
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 epÆ 
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, 
katÆ 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-
both are appointed and capacitated to show forth his glory.

II. The servants who improved their talents.

These persons are termed douloi, slaves, such as were the 
property of the master, who might dispose of them as he 
pleased. Then he that had received the five talents went and 
traded, ver. 16.

1. The work was speedily begun-as soon as the master gave the 
talents and departed, so soon they began to labour. There is 
not a moment to be lost-every moment has its grace, and every 
grace has its employment, and every thing is to be done for 
eternity.

2. The work was perseveringly carried on; after a long time 
the lord of those servants cometh, ver. 19. The master was 
long before he returned, but they did not relax. The longer 
time, the greater improvement.

God gives every man just time enough to live, in this world, 
to glorify his Maker, and to get his soul saved. Many begin 
well, and continue faithful for a time-but how few persevere 
to the end! Are there none who seem to have outlived their 
glory, their character, their usefulness? 3. Their work was 
crowned with success. They doubled the sum which they had 
received. Every grace of God is capable of great improvement.

Jesus himself, the pure, immaculate Jesus, grew in wisdom and 
favour with God, Luke ii. 52.

4. They were ready to give in a joyful account when their 
master came and called for them. 1st. They come without 
delay: they expected his coming; and it was with an eye to 
this that they continued their labour-they endured as seeing 
him who is invisible. 2dly. They come without fear; the 
master before whom they appear has always loved them, and 
given them the fullest proofs of his affection for them: his 
love to them has begotten in them love to him; and their 
obedience to his orders sprung from the love they bore to 
him. He that loveth me, says Jesus, will keep my words. 3d.

They render up their accounts without confusion: he who 
received five brought five others; and he who had received 
two brought two more: nothing was to be done when their 
master called; all their business was fully prepared. 4th. 
They gave up every thing to their master, without attempting 
to appropriate any thing. Their ability was his, the talents 
his, and the continued power to improve them, his. All is of 
God, and all must be returned to him.

5. Their recompense from their gracious master. 1st. They 
receive praise.

Well done, good and faithful servants, ver. 21. What a 
glorious thing to have the approbation of God, and the 
testimony of a good conscience! They were good, pure and 
upright within-faithful, using to God's glory the blessings 
he had given. 2d. They receive gracious promises. Ye have 
been faithful over a little, I will set you over much.

These promises refer not only to a future glory, but to an 
increase of God's grace and mercy here; for the more 
faithfully a man improves what God has already given him, the 
more he shall have from his gracious Master: for he giveth 
more grace, till he fills the faithful soul with his own 
fullness. 3d. They receive GLORY. Enter into the joy of your 
Lord. As ye were partakers of my nature on earth, be ye 
sharers of my glory in heaven.

The joy, the happiness wherewith I am happy, shall be your 
eternal portion! O, what is all we can do, all we can suffer, 
even the most lingering and cruel martyrdom, in comparison of 
this unbounded, eternal joy! III. Of the servant who buried 
his talent.

He that had received one went and digged in the earth, and 
hid his Lord's money, ver. 18.

1. See the ingratitude of this servant. His master gave him a 
talent, capable of being improved to his own present and 
eternal advantage; but he slights the mercy of his lord.

2. See his idleness. Rather than exert himself to improve 
what he has received, he goes and hides it.

3. See his gross error. He DIGS to hide it-puts himself to 
more trouble to render the mercy of God to him of none 
effect, than he would have had in combating and conquering 
the world, the devil, and the flesh.

4. See his injustice. He takes his master's money, and 
neither improves nor designs to improve it, even while he is 
living on and consuming that bounty which would have been 
sufficient for a faithful servant. How much of this useless 
lumber is to be found in the Church of Christ! But suppose 
the man be a preacher-what a terrible account will he have to 
give to God-consuming the provision made for a faithful 
pastor, and so burying, or misusing his talent, as to do no 
good, to immortal souls! 5. Hear the absurdity of his 
reasoning. Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard (or 
avaricious) man, reaping where thou hast not sown, &c., ver. 
24. See this meaning of sklhrov proved by Kypke. The wicked 
excuse of this faithless servant confuted itself and 
condemned him. Nevertheless it is on this very model that 
sinners in general seek to justify themselves; and the 
conclusion turns always against them. I knew thee to be a 
hard man.

How awfully deceived and deeply depraved must that person be, 
who not only attempts to excuse his follies, but to charge 
his crimes on GOD himself! I was afraid-Why? Because thou 
wert an enemy to thy soul, and to thy God.-I was afraid-of 
what? that he would require more than he did give.

How could this be? Did he not give thee the talent freely, to 
show thee his benevolence? And did he not suit it to thy 
ability, that he might show thee his wisdom, justice, and 
goodness, in not making thee responsible for more than thou 
couldst improve? IV. Behold the awful punishment of this 
faithless servant.

1. He is reproached. Thou wicked and slothful servant! 
Wicked-in thy heart: slothful-in thy work. THOU knewest that 
I reap where I sowed not.

Thou art condemned by thy own mouth-whose is the unemployed 
talent? Did I not give thee this? And did I require the 
improvement of two when I gave thee but one?-Thou knowest I 
did not.

2. He is stripped of what he possessed. Take-the talent from 
him. O terrible word!-Remove the candlestick from that 
slothful, worldly-minded Church: take away the inspirations 
of the Holy Spirit from that lukewarm, Christless Christian, 
who only lives to resist them and render them of none effect. 
Dispossess that base, man-pleasing minister of his 
ministerial gifts; let his silver become brass, and his fine 
gold, dross. He loved the present world more than the eternal 
world, and the praise of men more than the approbation of 
God. Take away the talent from him! 3. He is punished with an 
everlasting separation from God and the glory of his power. 
Cast forth the unprofitable servant, ver. 30. Let him have 
nothing but darkness, who refused to walk in the light: let 
him have nothing but misery-weeping and gnashing of teeth, 
who has refused the happiness which God provided for him.

Reader, if the careless virgin, and the unprofitable servant, 
against whom no flagrant iniquity is charged, be punished 
with an outer darkness, with a hell of fire: of what sorer 
punishment must he be judged worthy, who is a murderer, an 
adulterer, a fornicator, a blasphemer, a thief, a liar, or in 
any respect an open violater of the laws of God? The careless 
virgins, and the unprofitable servants, were saints in 
comparison of millions, who are, notwithstanding, dreaming of 
an endless heaven, when fitted only for an endless hell!

Verse 27. With usury.] sun tokw, with its produce-not usury; 
for that is unlawful interest, more than the money can 
properly produce.

Verse 29. Unto every one that hath shall be given] See on 
chap. xiii. 12.

Verse 30. Weeping and gnashing of teeth.] See on chap. viii. 
12, a note necessary for the illustration of this, and the 
foregoing parable.

Verse 31. When the Son of man shall come] This must be 
understood of Christ's coming at the last day, to judge 
mankind: though all the preceding part of the chapter may be 
applied also to the destruction of Jerusalem.

Holy angels] The word agioi is omitted by many excellent 
manuscripts, versions, and fathers. Mill and Bengel approve 
of the omission, and Griesbach has left it out of the text. 
It is supposed by some that our Lord will have other angels 
(messengers) with him in that day, besides the holy ones. The 
evil angels may be in attendance to take, as their prey, 
those who shall be found on his left hand.

The throne of his glory] That glorious throne on which his 
glorified human nature is seated, at the right hand of the 
Father.

Verse 32. All nations] Literally, all the nations-all the 
Gentile world; the Jews are necessarily included, but they 
were spoken of in a particular manner in the preceding 
chapter.

He shall separate them] Set each kind apart by themselves.

As a shepherd divideth, &c.] It does not appear that sheep 
and goats were ever penned or housed together, though they 
might feed in the same pasture; yet even this was not done 
but in separate flocks; so Virgil, Eclog. vii. v. 2.

Compulerantque greges Corydon et Thyrsis in unum; Thyrsis 
OVES, Corydon distentas lacte CAPELLAS "Thyrsis and Corydon 
drove their flocks together: Thyrsin his sheep; and Corydon 
his goats, their udders distended with milk." These two 
shepherds had distinct flocks, which fed in the same pasture, 
but separately; and they are only now driven together, for 
the convenience of the two shepherds, during the time of 
their musical contest.

Verse 33. He shall set the sheep, &c.] The right hand 
signifies, among the rabbins, approbation and eminence: the 
left hand, rejection, and disapprobation. Hence in Sohar 
Chadash it is said, "The right hand is given, the left also 
is given-to the Israelites and the Gentiles are given 
paradise and hell-this world, and the world to come." The 
right and left were emblematical of endless beatitude and 
endless misery among the Romans. Hence Virgil:-Hic locus est, 
partes ubi se via findit in ambas, Dextera, quae Ditis magni 
sub moenia tendit: Hac iter Elysium nobis; at laeva malorum 
Exercet poenas, et ad impia Tartara mittit AEn. vi. 540 Here 
in two ample roads the way divides, The right direct, our 
destined journey guides, By Pluto's palace, to the Elysian 
plains; The left to Tartarus, where bound in chains Loud howl 
the damn'd in everlasting pains. PITT Of the good and 
faithful servants he approves, and therefore exalts them to 
his glory; of the slothful and wicked he disapproves, and 
casts them into hell.

SHEEP, which have ever been considered as the emblems of 
mildness, simplicity, patience, and usefulness, represent 
here the genuine disciples of Christ.

GOATS, which are naturally quarrelsome, lascivious, and 
excessively ill-scented, were considered as the symbols of 
riotous, profane, and impure men. They here represent all who 
have lived and died in their sins. See Ezek. xxxiv. 17, and 
Zech. x. 3.

Verse 34. Ye blessed of my Father] This is the king's address 
to his followers; and contains the reason why they were found 
in the practice of all righteousness, and were now brought to 
this state of glory-they were blessed-came as children, and 
received the benediction of the Father, and became, and 
continued to be, members of the heavenly family.

Inherit] The inheritance is only for the children of the 
family-if sons, then heirs, Gal. iv. 7, but not otherwise. 
The sons only shall enjoy the father's estate.

Prepared for you] That is, the kingdom of glory is designed 
for such as you-you who have received the blessing of the 
Father, and were holy, harmless, undefiled, and separated 
from sinners.

From the foundation of the world] It was God's purpose and 
determination to admit none into his heaven but those who 
were made partakers of his holiness, Heb. xii. 14. The 
rabbins say, Seven things were created before the foundation 
of the world. 1. The law. 2. Repentance. 3. Paradise. 4. 
Hell. 5. The throne of God. 6. The temple; and 7. The name of 
the Messiah.

Verse 35. I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat] Every thing 
which is done to a follower of Christ, whether it be good or 
evil, he considers as done to himself, see ver. 40; Acts ix. 
4, 5; Heb. vi. 10. Of all the fruits of the Spirit, none are 
mentioned here but those that spring from love, or mercy; 
because these give men the nearest conformity to God.

Jesus had said, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall 
obtain mercy; and he here shows how this promise shall be 
fulfilled. The rabbins say: "As often as a poor man presents 
himself at thy door, the holy blessed God stands at his right 
hand: if thou give him alms, know that he who stands at his 
right hand will give thee a reward. But if thou give him not 
alms, he who stands at his right hand will punish thee." 
Vaiyikra Rabba, s. 34, fol.

178.

A stranger, and ye took me in] sunhgagete me, ye entertained 
me: Kypke has fully proved that this is the meaning of the 
original. Literally, sunagein signifies to gather together. 
Strangers are sometimes so destitute as to be ready to perish 
for lack of food and raiment: a supply of these things keeps 
their souls and bodies together, which were about to be 
separated through lack of the necessaries of life. The word 
may also allude to a provision made for a poor family, which 
were scattered abroad, perhaps begging their bread, and who 
by the ministry of benevolent people are collected, relieved, 
and put in a way of getting their bread. O blessed work! to 
be the instruments of preserving human life, and bringing 
comfort and peace into the habitations of the wretched! While 
writing this, (Nov. 13, 1798,) I hear the bells loudly 
ringing in commemoration of the birth-day of E. Colson, Esq., 
a native of this city, (Bristol,) who spent a long life and 
an immense fortune in relieving the miseries of the 
distressed. His works still praise him in the gates; his name 
is revered, and his birth-day held sacred, among the 
inhabitants. Who has heard the bells ring in commemoration of 
the birth of any deceased hero or king? Of so much more 
value, in the sight even of the multitude, is a life of 
public usefulness than one of worldly glory or secular state. 
But how high must such a person rank in the sight of God, 
who, when Christ in his representatives was hungry, gave him 
food; when thirsty, gave him drink; when naked clothed him; 
when sick and in prison, visited him! Thou blessed of my 
Father! come. Thou hast been faithful in the unrighteous 
mammon, and now thou shalt eternally enjoy the true riches.

The Supreme God is represented in the Bhagvat Geeta as 
addressing mankind, when he had just formed them, thus: 
"Those who dress their meat but for themselves, eat the bread 
of sin." Geeta, p. 46.

Verse 36. I was sick, and ye visited me] Relieving the 
strangers, and visiting the sick, were in high estimation 
among the Jews. One of their sayings on this head is worthy 
of notice: "He who neglects to visit the sick is like him who 
has shed blood." That is, as he has neglected, when it was in 
his power, to preserve life, he is as guilty in the sight of 
the Lord as he is who has committed murder. See Kypke in 
loco.

Verse 37. Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, &c.] This 
barbarous expression, an hungered, should be banished out of 
the text, wheresoever it occurs, and the simple word hungry 
substituted for it. Whatever is done for Christ's sake, is 
done through Christ's grace; and he who does the work 
attributes to Jesus both the will and the power by which the 
work was done, and seeks and expects the kingdom of heaven 
not as a reward, but as a gift of pure unmerited mercy. Yet, 
while workers together with his grace, God attributes to them 
that which they do through his influence, as if they had done 
it independently of him. God has a right to form what 
estimate he pleases of the works wrought through himself: but 
man is never safe except when he attributes all to his Maker.

Verse 40. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least 
of these my brethren] The meanest follower of Christ is 
acknowledged by him as his brother! What infinite 
condescension! Those, whom many would scorn to set with the 
dogs of their flock, are brothers and sisters of the blessed 
Jesus, and shall soon be set among the princes of his people.

Verse 41. Depart from me, ye cursed] Or, Ye cursed! depart.-
These words are the address of the king to the sinners; and 
contain the reason why they are to be separated from 
blessedness: Ye are cursed, because ye have sinned, and would 
not come unto me that ye might have life.-No work of piety 
has proceeded from your hand, because the carnal mind, which 
is enmity against me, reigned in your heart; and ye would not 
have me to reign over you. Depart! this includes what some 
have termed the punishment of loss or privation. Ye cannot, 
ye, shall not be united to me-Depart! O terrible word! and 
yet a worse is to come.

Into everlasting fire] This is the punishment of sense. Ye 
shall not only be separated from me, but ye shall be 
tormented, awfully, everlastingly tormented in that place of 
separation.

Prepared for the devil and his angels] The devil and his 
angels sinned before the creation of the world, and the place 
of torment was then prepared for them: it never was designed 
for human souls; but as the wicked are partakers with the 
devil and his angels in their iniquities, in their rebellion 
against God, so it is right that they should be sharers with 
them in their punishment. We see here, plainly, why sinners 
are destroyed, not because there was no salvation for them, 
but because they neglected to receive good, and do good. As 
they received not the Christ who was offered to them, so they 
could not do the work of righteousness which was required of 
them. They are cursed, because they refused to be blessed; 
and they are damned, because they refused to be saved.

Verse 42. I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat] I put it 
in your power to do good, and ye would not. A variety of 
occasions offered themselves to you, but ye neglected them 
all, so that my blessings in your hands, not being improved, 
according to my order, became a curse to you.

Verse 43. I was a stranger] If men were sure that Jesus 
Christ was actually somewhere in the land, in great personal 
distress, hungry, thirsty, naked, and confined, they would 
doubtless run unto and relieve him. Now Christ assures us 
that a man who is hungry, thirsty, naked, &c., is his 
representative, and that whatever we do to such a one he will 
consider as done to himself; yet this testimony of Christ is 
not regarded! Well, he will be just when he judges, and 
righteous when he punishes.

Verse 44. Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, &c.] It is want 
of faith which in general produces hard-heartedness to the 
poor. The man who only sees with eyes of flesh is never 
likely to discover Christ in the person of a man destitute of 
the necessaries of life. Some pretend not to know the 
distressed; because they have no desire to relieve them; but 
we find that this ignorance will not avail them at the bar of 
God.

Verse 46. And these shall go away into everlasting 
punishment] No appeal, no remedy, to all eternity! No end to 
the punishment of those whose final impenitence manifests in 
them an eternal will and desire to sin.

By dying in a settled opposition to God, they cast themselves 
into a necessity of continuing in an eternal aversion from 
him.

But some are of opinion that this punishment shall have an 
end: this is as likely as that the glory of the righteous 
shall have an end: for the same word is used to express the 
duration of the punishment, kolasin aiwnion, as is used to 
express the duration of the state of glory: zwhn aiwnion. I 
have seen the best things that have been written in favour of 
the final redemption of damned spirits; but I never saw an 
answer to the argument against that doctrine, drawn from this 
verse, but what sound learning and criticism should be 
ashamed to acknowledge. The original word aiwn is certainly 
to be taken here in its proper grammatical sense, continued 
being, aeiwn, NEVER ENDING. Some have gone a middle way, and 
think that the wicked shall be annihilated. This, I think, is 
contrary to the text; if they go into punishment, they 
continue to exist; for that which ceases to be, ceases to 
suffer. See the note on Gen. xxi. 33, where the whole subject 
is explained.

A very good improvement of the parable of the wise and 
foolish virgins is made by Salvian, a very pious writer of 
the fifth century, (Epist. ad. Ecclus. Cath. lib. ii.,) the 
substance of which, in Mr. Bulkley's translation, is as 
follows:-Ego unum scio, &c. "One thing I know, that the lamps 
of the foolish virgins are said to have gone out for want of 
the oil of good works; but thou, whoever thou art, thinkest 
that thou hast oil in abundance, and so did they; for, if 
they had not believed themselves to have had it, they would 
have provided themselves with it; for since afterwards, as 
the Lord says, they would gladly have borrowed, and sought it 
so eagerly, no doubt they would have done so before, had they 
not been deceived by the confidence of having it. Thou 
thinkest thyself wise, and these did not imagine themselves 
to be foolish: thou thinkest that thy lamp has light, and 
they lost their light because they thought they should have 
it. For why did they prepare their lamps if they did not 
think they should be lighted? In a word, their lamps, I 
suppose, must have afforded some degree of light; for since 
we read of their being afraid that their lamps should go out, 
they certainly had something which they feared would be 
extinguished. Nor was it a groundless fear; their lamps did 
go out, and that pure light of virginity which appeared 
profited them nothing, for want of a supply of oil. From 
whence we understand that what is but a little, is in a 
manner nothing. You have therefore need of a lamp plentifully 
filled, that your light may be lasting. And if those which we 
light up here for a short time so soon fail, unless copiously 
supplied with oil, how much must thou stand in need of that 
thy lamp may shine to eternity?" This writer was a priest of 
Marseilles, in 430. He bewailed the profligacy of his times 
so much, and so pathetically, that he has been styled the 
Jeremiah of the fifth century. Were he still upon earth, he 
would find equal reason to deplore the wickedness and 
carelessness of mankind.

From what our Lord has here said, we may see that God 
indispensably requires of every man to bring forth good 
fruit; and that a fruitless tree shall be inevitably cut 
down, and cast into the fire. Let it be also remarked that 
God does not here impute to his own children the good works 
which Jesus Christ did for them. No! Christ's feeding the 
multitudes in Judea will not be imputed to them, while 
persons in their own neighbourhood are perishing through 
want, and they have wherewithal to relieve them. He gives 
them a power that they may glorify his name by it and have, 
in their own souls, the continued satisfaction which arises 
from succouring the distressed. Let it be farther remarked, 
that Christ does not say here that they have purchased the 
eternal life by these good deeds. No! for the power to work, 
and the means of working, came both from God. They first had 
redemption through his blood, and then his Spirit worked in 
them to will and to do. They were therefore only workers 
together with him, and could not be said, in any sense of the 
word, to purchase God's glory, with his own property. But 
though God works in them, and by them, he does not obey for 
them. The works of piety and mercy THEY perform, under the 
influence and by the aid of his grace. Thus God preserves the 
freedom of the human soul, and secures his own glory at the 
same time.

Let it be remarked, farther, that the punishment inflicted on 
the foolish virgins, the slothful servant, and the cursed who 
are separated from God, was not because of their personal 
crimes; but because they were not good, and were not useful 
in the world. Their lives do not appear to have been stained 
with crimes,-but they were not adorned with virtues. They are 
sent to hell because they did no good. They were not renewed 
in the image of God; and hence did not bring forth fruit to 
his glory. If these harmless people are sent to perdition, 
what must the end be of the wicked and profligate!

CHAPTER xxvi

Christ predicts his being betrayed and crucified, 1, 2. The 
chief priests, scribes, and elders consult about his death, 
3-5. A woman anoints his head at Bethany, at which the 
disciples are offended, but Christ vindicates her conduct, 6-
13. Judas, for thirty pieces of silver, engages with the 
chief priests to betray him, 14-16. He eats a passover with 
his disciples, and assures them of his approaching death, and 
that one of them would betray him, 17-21. On each asking, Is 
it I? Christ asserts that Judas is the traitor, 22-25. Having 
eaten his last supper, he institutes the eucharist, to be 
observed in his Church as a memorial of his sacrificial 
death, 26-29. They sing a hymn, go to the mount of Olives, 
and he again announces his approaching death and 
resurrection, 30-32. Peter asserts his resolution to be 
faithful to his Master, and Christ foretells his denial and 
apostasy, 33-35. He goes to Gethsemane; the transactions 
there, 36-46. Judas comes with the high priest's mob and 
betrays him with a kiss, 47-50. Peter cuts off the ear of the 
high priest's servant; Christ discourses with the multitude, 
51-55. The disciples flee, and he is led to Caiaphas, 56, 57. 
Peter follows at a distance, 58. They seek false witnesses, 
and question our Lord, who declares himself to be the Christ, 
59-64. They accuse him of blasphemy, and abuse him, 65-68. 
Peter's denial and repentance, 69-75.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxvi

Verse 1. When Jesus had finished all these sayings] He began 
these sayings on Mount Olivet, chap. xxiv. 1, and continued 
them till be entered into Bethany, whither he was going.

Verse 2. The passover] A feast instituted in Egypt, to 
commemorate the destroying angel's passing over the houses of 
the Israelites, when he slew the firstborn of the Egyptians. 
See the whole of this business largely explained in the Notes 
on Exodus xii. 1-27. This feast began on the fourteenth day 
of the first moon, in the first month, Nisan, and it lasted 
only one day; but it was immediately followed by the days of 
unleavened bread, which were seven, so that the whole lasted 
eight days, and all the eight days are sometimes called the 
feast of the passover, and sometimes the feast or days of 
unleavened bread. See Luke xxii. 1-7. The three most signal 
benefits vouchsafed to the Israelites were, 1. The 
deliverance from the slavery of Egypt; to commemorate which 
they kept the feast of unleavened bread, and the passover.

2. The giving of the law; to commemorate which, they kept the 
feast of weeks.

3. Their sojourning in the wilderness, and entrance into the 
promised land; to commemorate which, they kept the feast of 
tabernacles. See these largely explained, Exod. xxiii. 14; 
Lev. xxiii. 2-40.

The Son of man is betrayed, (rather delivered up,) to be 
crucified.] With what amazing calmness and precision does our 
blessed Lord speak of this awful event! What a proof does he 
here give of his prescience in so correctly predicting it; 
and of his love in so cheerfully undergoing it! Having 
instructed his disciples and the Jews by his discourses, 
edified them by his example, convinced them by his miracles, 
he now prepares to redeem them by his blood! These two verses 
have no proper connection with this chapter, and should be 
joined to the preceding.

Verse 3. Then assembled together the chief priests] That is, 
during the two days that preceded the passover.

The high priest, who was called Caiaphas] Caiaphas succeeded 
Simon, son of Camith, about A. D. 16, or, as Calmet thinks, 
25. He married the daughter of Annas, who was joined with him 
in the priesthood. About two years after our Lord's 
crucifixion, Caiaphas and Pilate were both deposed by 
VITELLIUS, then governor of Syria, and afterwards emperor. 
Caiaphas, unable to bear this disgrace, and the stings of his 
conscience for the murder of Christ, killed himself about A. 
D. 35. See Joseph. Ant. b. xviii. c. 2-4.

Verse 4. And consulted that they might take Jesus by 
subtilty] The providence of God frustrated their artful 
machinations; and that event which they wished to conduct 
with the greatest privacy and silence was transacted with all 
possible celebrity, amidst the thousands who resorted to 
Jerusalem, at this season, for the keeping of the passover. 
It was, doubtless, of the very first importance that the 
crucifixion of Christ, which was preparatory to the most 
essential achievement of Christianity, viz. his resurrection 
from the grave, should be exhibited before many witnesses, 
and in the most open manner, that infidelity might not 
attempt, in future, to invalidate the evidences of the 
Christian religion, by alleging that these things were done 
in a corner. See WAKEFIELD in loco.

Verse 5. Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar] It 
was usual for the Jews to punish criminals at the public 
festivals; but in this case they were afraid of an 
insurrection, as our Lord had become very popular. The 
providence of God directed it thus, for the reason given in 
the preceding note.

He who observes a festival on motives purely human violates 
it in his heart, and is a hypocrite before God. It is likely 
they feared the Galileans, as being the countrymen of our 
Lord, more than they feared the people of Jerusalem.

Verse 6. In Bethany] For a solution of the difficulties in 
this verse, about the time of the anointing, see the 
observations at the end of this chapter.

Simon the LEPER] This was probably no more than a surname, as 
Simon the CANAANITE, chap. x. 4, and Barsabas JUSTUS, Acts i. 
23, and several others. Yet it might have been some person 
that Christ had healed of this disease. See chap. xi. 5.

Verse 7. There came unto him a woman] There is much 
contention among commentators about the transaction mentioned 
here, and in John xii. 3; some supposing them to be 
different, others to be the same. Bishop Newcome's view of 
the subject I have placed at the end of the chapter.

Some think that the woman mentioned here was Mary, the sister 
of Lazarus; others Mary Magdalene; but against the former 
opinion it is argued that it is not likely, had this been 
Mary the sister of Lazarus, that Matthew and Mark would have 
suppressed her name. Besides, say they, we should not 
confound the repast which is mentioned here, with that 
mentioned by John, John xii. 3. This one was made only two 
days before the passover, and that one six days before: the 
one was made at the house of Simon the leper, the other at 
the house of Lazarus, John xii. 1, 2. At this, the woman 
poured the oil on the head of Christ; at the other, Mary 
anointed Christ's feet with it. See on Mark xiv. 3, and see 
the notes at the end of this chapter. 

Verse 8. His disciples] One of them, viz. Judas. This mode of 
speaking was common among the Hebrews. So, chap. xxvii. 44, 
the thieves also, i.e. one of them. So, chap. xxviii. 17, some 
doubted, i.e. one, Thomas. See also Gen. viii. 4; Judg. xii. 7; 
Neh. vi. 7, &c. By a figure called among rhetoricians enallage, the 
plural is put for the singular; it is, however, possible that 
Judas, who made the objection, was followed in the sentiment by the 
rest of the disciples.

Verse 9. And given to the poor.] How often does charity serve 
as a cloak for covetousness! God is sometimes robbed of his 
right under the pretense of devoting what is withheld to some 
charitable purpose, to which there was no intention ever to 
give it.

Verse 10. Why trouble ye the woman?] Or, Why do ye put the 
woman to pain? See this sense of kopouv parecein, established 
by Kypke in loco. A generous mind is ever pained when it is 
denied the opportunity of doing good, or when its proffered 
kindness is refused.

Verse 11. Ye have the poor always with you] And, 
consequently, have the opportunity of doing them good at any 
time; but me ye have not always; my bodily presence is about 
to be removed from you for ever. The woman, under a 
presentiment of my death is preparing me for my burial.

Verse 12. She did it for my burial.] Or, She hath done it to 
embalm me-entafiasai me. The Septuagint use entafiasthv for 
the person whose office it was to embalm, Gen. l. 2, and 
entafiazw for the Hebrew fnh which signifies to prepare with 
spices, or aromatics, Gen. l. 3. Our Lord took this 
opportunity to tell them, once more, that he was shortly to 
die.

Verse 13. Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached] Another 
remarkable proof of the prescience of Christ. Such a matter 
as this, humanly speaking, depended on mere fortuitous 
circumstances, yet so has God disposed matters, that the 
thing has continued, hitherto, as firm and regular as the 
ordinances of heaven.

For a memorial of her.] As embalming preserves the body from 
corruption, and she has done this good work to embalm and 
preserve this body, so will I order every thing concerning 
this transaction to be carefully recorded, to preserve her 
memory to the latest ages. The actions which the world 
blames, through the spirit of envy, covetousness, or malice, 
God takes delight to distinguish and record.

Verse 14. Then-Judas] After this supper at Bethany, Judas 
returned to Jerusalem, and made his contract with the chief 
priests.

Verse 15. Thirty pieces of silver.] triakonta arguria, thirty 
silverlings; but stathrav, staters, is the reading of the 
Codex Bezae, three copies of the Itala, Eusebius, and Origen 
sometimes; and stathrav arguriou, silver staters, is the 
reading of the famous Basil MS. No. 1, in Griesbach, and one 
copy of the Itala.

A stater was the same as the shekel, and worth about 3s. 
English money, according to Dean Prideaux: a goodly price for 
the saviour of the world! Thirty staters, about 4l. 10s. the 
common price for the meanest slave! See Exod. xxi. 32. The 
rabbins say, thirty y[lo selain of pure silver was the 
standard price for a slave, whether good or bad, male or 
female. See tract Erachin, fol. 14, and Shekalim, cap. 1. 
Each selaa weighed 384 barley-corns; the same number was 
contained in a shekel; and therefore the shekel and the selaa 
were the same. See the notes on Gen. xx. 16, and Exod. 
xxxviii. 24.

Verse 16. He sought opportunity] eukairian, a convenient or 
fit opportunity. Men seldom leave a crime imperfect: when 
once sin is conceived, it meets, in general, with few 
obstacles, till it brings forth death.

How deceitful, how deeply damning, is the love of money! Well 
might a heathen exclaim, while contemplating the grave of a 
person who was murdered for the sake of his wealth:- - Quid 
non mortalia pectora cogis AURI SACRA FAMES? VIRG. AEn. iii. 
56 "O! cursed lust of gold! what wilt thou not compel the 
human heart to perpetrate?." Judas is deservedly considered 
as one of the most infamous of men, his conduct base beyond 
description, and his motives vile. But how many, since his 
time, have walked in the same way! How many, for the sake of 
worldly wealth, have renounced the religion of their Lord and 
Master, and sold Jesus, and their interest in heaven, for a 
short-lived portion of secular good! From John xii. 6, we 
learn that Judas, who was treasurer to our Lord and his 
disciples, (for he carried the bag,) was a thief, and 
frequently purloined a portion of what was given for the 
support of this holy family. Being disappointed of the prey 
he hoped to have from the sale of the precious ointment, 
Matthew xxvi. 9, he sold his Master to make up the sum. A 
thorough Jew! 

Verse 17. Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread] 
As the feast of unleavened bread did not begin till the day 
after the passover, the fifteenth day of the month, Lev. 
xxiii. 5, 6; Num. xxviii. 16, 17, this could not have been, 
properly, the first day of that feast; but as the Jews began 
to eat unleavened bread on the fourteenth, Exod. xii. 18, 
this day was often termed the first of unleavened bread. The 
evangelists use it in this sense, and call even the paschal 
day by this name. See Mark xiv. 12; Luke xxii. 7.

Where wilt thou that we prepare] How astonishing is this, 
that HE who created all things, whether visible or invisible, 
and by whom all things were upheld, should so empty himself 
as not to be proprietor of a single house in his whole 
creation, to eat the last passover with his disciples! This 
is certainly a mystery, and so, less or more is every thing 
that God does. But how inveterate and destructive must the 
nature of sin be, when such emptying and humiliation were 
necessary to its destruction! It is worthy of note what the 
Talmudists say, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem did not let 
out their houses to those who came to the annual feasts; but 
afforded all accommodations of this kind gratis. A man might 
therefore go and request the use of any room, on such an 
occasion, which was as yet unoccupied.

The earthen jug, and the skin of the sacrifice, were left 
with the host. See Lightfoot, vol. ii. p. 21.

Verse 18. Go-to such a man] ton deina It is probable that 
this means some person with whom Christ was well acquainted, 
and who was known to the disciples. Grotius observes that the 
Greeks use this form when they mean some particular person 
who is so well known that there is no need to specify him by 
name. The circumstances are more particularly marked in Luke 
xxii. 8, &c.

My time is at hand] That is, the time of my crucifixion. 
Kypke has largely shown that kairov is often used among the 
Greeks for affliction and calamity. It might be rendered 
here, the time of my crucifixion is at hand.

Verse 19. And the disciples did] The disciples that were sent 
on this errand were Peter and John. See Luke xxii. 8.

They made ready the passover] That is, they provided the 
lamb, &c., which were appointed by the law for this 
solemnity. Mr. Wakefield justly observes, "that the Jews 
considered the passover as a sacrificial rite; Josephus calls 
it qusian, A SACRIFICE; and Trypho, in Justin Martyr, speaks 
of probaton tou pasca quein, SACRIFICING the paschal lamb.

But what comes nearer to the point is this, that Maimonides, 
one of the most eminent of the Jewish rabbins, has a 
particular treatise on the paschal sacrifice; and throughout 
that piece, speaks of the lamb as a victim, and of the 
solemnity itself as a sacrifice. And R. Bechai, in his 
commentary on Lev. ii. 11, says that the paschal sacrifice 
was of a piacular nature, in order to expiate the guilt 
contracted by the idolatrous practices of the Israelites In 
Egypt." It was highly necessary that this should be 
considered as an expiatory sacrifice, as it typified that 
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. For much 
more on this important subject than can, with propriety, be 
introduced into these notes, see a Discourse on the 
Eucharist, lately published by the author of this work.

Verse 20. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the 
twelve.] It is a common opinion that our Lord ate the 
passover some hours before the Jews ate it; for the Jews, 
according to custom, ate theirs at the end of the fourteenth 
day, but Christ ate his the preceding even, which was the 
beginning of the same sixth day, or Friday; the Jews begin 
their day at sunsetting, we at midnight. Thus Christ ate the 
passover on the same day with the Jews, but not on the same 
hour. Christ kept this passover the beginning of the 
fourteenth day, the precise day and hour in which the Jews 
had eaten their first passover in Egypt. See Exod. xii. 6-12. 
And in the same part of the same day in which the Jews had 
sacrificed their first paschal lamb, viz. between the two 
evenings, about the ninth hour, or 3 o'clock, Jesus Christ 
our passover was sacrificed for us: for it was at this hour 
that he yielded up his last breath; and then it was that, the 
sacrifice being completed, Jesus said, IT IS FINISHED. See 
Exod. xii. 6, &c., and Deuteronomy xvi. 6, &c. See on John 
xviii. 28, and the Treatise on the Eucharist, referred to 
ver. 19; and see the notes on ver. 26 and following verses.

Verse 21. One of you shall betray me.] Or, will deliver me 
up. Judas had already betrayed him, ver. 15, and he was now 
about to deliver him into the hands of the chief priests, 
according to the agreement he had made with them.

Verse 22. They were exceeding sorrowful] That is, the eleven 
who were innocent; and the hypocritical traitor, Judas, 
endeavoured to put on the appearance of sorrow. Strange! Did 
he not know that Christ knew the secrets of his soul! Or had 
his love of money so far blinded him, as to render him 
incapable of discerning even this, with which he had been 
before so well acquainted?

Verse 23. He that dippeth his hand] As the Jews ate the 
passover a whole family together, it was not convenient for 
them all to dip their bread in the same dish; they therefore 
had several little dishes or plates, in which was the juice 
of the bitter herbs, mentioned Exod. xii. 8, on different 
parts of the table; and those who were nigh one of these, 
dipped their bread in it.

As Judas is represented as dipping in the same dish with 
Christ, it shows that he was either near or opposite to him. 
If this man's heart had not been hardened, and his conscience 
seared beyond all precedent, by the deceitfulness of his sin, 
would he have showed his face in this sacred assembly, or 
have thus put the seal to his own perdition, by eating of 
this sacrificial lamb? Is it possible that he could feel no 
compunction? Alas! having delivered himself up into the hands 
of the devil, he was capable of delivering up his Master into 
the hands of the chief priests; and thus, when men are 
completely hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, they can 
outwardly perform the most solemn acts of devotion, without 
feeling any sort of inward concern about the matter.

Verse 24. The Son of man goeth] That is, is about to die. 
Going, going away, departing, &c., are frequently used in the 
best Greek and Latin writers, for death, or dying. The same 
words are often used in the Scriptures in the same sense.

It had been good for that man] Can this be said of any 
sinner, in the common sense in which it is understood, if 
there be any redemption from hell's torments? If a sinner 
should suffer millions of millions of years in them, and get 
out at last to the enjoyment of heaven, then it was well for 
him that he had been born, for still he has an eternity of 
blessedness before him. Can the doctrine of the non-eternity 
of hell's torments stand in the presence of this saying? Or 
can the doctrine of the annihilation of the wicked consist 
with this declaration? It would have been well for that man 
if he had never been born! Then he must be in some state of 
conscious existence, as non-existence is said to be better 
than that state in which he is now found. It was common for 
the Jews to say of any flagrant transgressor, It would have 
been better for him had he never been born. See several 
examples in Schoettgen. See the case of Judas argued at the 
end of Acts 1.

Verse 25. Judas-said, Master, is it I?] What excessive 
impudence! He knew, in his conscience, that he had already 
betrayed his Master, and was waiting now for the servants of 
the chief priests, that he might deliver him into their 
hands; and yet he says, (hoping that he had transacted his 
business so privately that it had not yet transpired,) 
Master, is it I? It is worthy of remark, that each of the 
other disciples said kurie, LORD, is it I? But Judas dares 
not, or will not, use this august title, but simply says 
rabbi, TEACHER, is it I? Thou hast said.] su eipav, or wtyrma 
wta atun amaritun, "Ye have said," was a common form of 
expression for YES. IT IS so. "When the Zipporenses inquired 
whether Rabbi Judas was dead? the son of Kaphra answered, Ye 
have said," i.e. He is dead. See Schoettgen. Hor. Hebr. p. 
225.

Verse 26. Jesus took bread] This is the first institution of 
what is termed the LORD'S SUPPER. To every part of this 
ceremony, as here mentioned, the utmost attention should be 
paid.

To do this, in the most effectual manner, I think it 
necessary to set down the text of the three evangelists who 
have transmitted the whole account, collated with that part 
of St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians which speaks 
of the same subject, and which, he assures us, he received by 
Divine revelation. It may seem strange that, although (John 
xiii. 1-38) mentions all the circumstances preceding the holy 
supper, and, from chap. xiv. 1-36 the circumstances which 
succeeded the breaking of the bread, and in chapters 15, 16, 
and 17, the discourse which followed the administration of 
the cup; yet he takes no notice of the Divine institution at 
all. This is generally accounted for on his knowledge of what 
the other three evangelists had written; and on his 
conviction that their relation was true, and needed no 
additional confirmation, as the matter was amply established 
by the conjoint testimony of three such respectable 
witnesses. ver. 26. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread 
and blessed it (euloghsav and blessed God) and brake it, and 
gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my 
body.

Mark xiv. 22. And as they did eat, Jesus took bread and 
blessed (euloghsav, blessed God) and brake it, and to them, 
and said, Take, eat, this is my body.

Luke xxii. 19. And he took bread and gave thanks, 
(eucaristhsav, i.e. to God,) and gave brake it, and gave unto 
them, saying: This is my body which is given for you: This do 
in remembrance of me.

Cor. xi. 23. The Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was 
betrayed, took bread; V. 24. And when he had given thanks 
(kai eucaristhsov, i.e. to God) he brake it, and said, Take, 
eat, this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in 
remembrance of me.

After giving the bread, the discourse related, John xiv. 1-
31, inclusive, is supposed by Bishop Newcome to have been 
delivered by our Lord, for the comfort and support of his 
disciples under their present and approaching trials. ver. 
27. And he took the cup, and gave thanks (eucaristhsav,) and 
gave it to them, saying: Drink ye all of it. V. 28. For this 
is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many or 
the remission of sins. V.

29. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this 
fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with 
you in my Father's kingdom.

Mark xiv. 23. And he took the cup; and when he had given 
thanks, (eucaristhsav,) he gave it to them; and they all 
drank of it. V. 24. And he said unto them, This is my blood 
of the New Testament, which is shed for many. V. 25. Verily I 
say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine 
until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

Luke xxii. 20. Likewise also the cup, after supper, saying: 
This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for 
you.

Cor. xi. 25. After the same manner also, he took the cup, 
when he had supped, saying: This cup is the New Testament in 
my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance 
of me.

After this, our Lord resumes that discourse which is found in 
the 15th, 16th, and 17th chapters of John, beginning with the 
last verse of chap. 14, Arise, let us go hence. Then succeed 
the following words, which conclude the whole ceremony.

 Matt. xxvi. 30. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out 
into the Mount of Olives.

Mark xiv. 26. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out 
into the Mount of Olives.

Luke xxii. 39. And he came out, and went as he was wont to 
the Mount of Olives. And his disciples also followed him.

John xiv. 1. When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth 
with his disciples over the brook Kedron.

From the preceding harmonized view of this important 
transaction, as described by three EVANGELISTS and one 
APOSTLE, we see the first institution, nature, and design of 
what has been since called THE LORD'S SUPPER. To every 
circumstance, as set down here, and the mode of expression by 
which such circumstances are described, we should pay the 
deepest attention.

Verse 26. As they were eating] Either an ordinary supper, or 
the paschal lamb, as some think. See the observations at the 
end of this chapter.

Jesus took bread] Of what kind? Unleavened bread, certainly, 
because there was no other kind to be had in all Judea at 
this time; for this was the first day of unleavened bread, 
(ver. 17,) i.e. the 14th of the month Nisan, when the Jews, 
according to the command of God, (Exod. xii. 15-20; xxiii. 
15; xxxiv. 25,) were to purge away all leaven from their 
houses; for he who sacrificed the passover, having leaven in 
his dwelling, was considered to be such a transgressor of the 
Divine law as could no longer be tolerated among the people 
of God; and therefore was to be cut off from the congregation 
of Israel. Leo of Modena, who has written a very sensible 
treatise on the customs of the Jews, observes, "That so 
strictly do some of the Jews observe the precept concerning 
the removal of all leaven from their houses, during the 
celebration of the paschal solemnity, that they either 
provide vessels entirely new for baking, or else have a set 
for the purpose, which are dedicated solely to the service of 
the passover, and never brought out on any other occasion." 
To this divinely instituted custom of removing all leaven 
previously to the paschal solemnity, St. Paul evidently 
alludes, 1 Cor. v. 6-8. Know ye not that a little leaven 
leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, 
that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even 
Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us; therefore let us 
keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven 
of malice and wickedness, but with the UNLEAVENED bread of 
sincerity and truth.

Now, if any respect should be paid to the primitive 
institution, in the celebration of this Divine ordinance, 
then, unleavened, unyeasted bread should be used. In every 
sign, or type, the thing signifying or pointing out that 
which is beyond itself should either have certain properties, 
or be accompanied with certain circumstances, as expressive 
as possible of the thing signified. Bread, simply considered 
in itself, may be an emblem apt enough of the body of our 
Lord Jesus, which was given for us; but the design of God was 
evidently that it should not only point out this, but also 
the disposition required in those who should celebrate both 
the antetype and the type; and this the apostle explains to 
be sincerity and truth, the reverse of malice and wickedness. 
The very taste of the bread was instructive: it pointed out 
to every communicant, that he who came to the table of God 
with malice or ill-will against any soul of man, or with 
wickedness, a profligate or sinful life, might expect to eat 
and drink judgment to himself, as not discerning that the 
Lord's body was sacrificed for this very purpose, that all 
sin might be destroyed; and that sincerity, eilikrineia, such 
purity as the clearest light can discern no stain in, might 
be diffused through the whole soul; and that truth, the law 
of righteousness and true holiness, might regulate and guide 
all the actions of life. Had the bread used on these 
occasions been of the common kind, it would have been 
perfectly unfit, or improper, to have communicated these 
uncommon significations; and, as it was seldom used, its rare 
occurrence would make the emblematical representation more 
deeply impressive; and the sign, and the thing signified, 
have their due correspondence and influence.

These circumstances considered, will it not appear that the 
use of common bread in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is 
highly improper? He who can say, "This is a matter of no 
importance," may say with equal propriety, the bread itself 
is of no importance; and another may say, the wine is of no 
importance; and a third may say, "neither the bread nor wine 
is any thing, but as they lead to spiritual references; and, 
the spiritual reference being once understood, the signs are 
useless." Thus we may, through affected spirituality, refine 
away the whole ordinance of God; and, with the letter and 
form of religion, abolish religion itself. Many have already 
acted in this way, not only to their loss, but to their ruin, 
by showing how profoundly wise they are above what is 
written. Let those, therefore, who consider that man shall 
live by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God, and 
who are conscientiously solicitous that each Divine 
institution be not only preserved, but observed in all its 
original integrity, attend to this circumstance. The Lutheran 
Church makes use of unleavened bread to the present day.

And blessed it] Both St. Matthew and St. Mark use the word 
euloghsav, blessed, instead of eucaristhsav, gave thanks, 
which is the word used by St. Luke and St. Paul. But instead 
of euloghsav, blessed, eucaristhsav, gave thanks, is the 
reading of ten MSS. in uncial characters, of the Dublin Codex 
rescriptus, published by Dr. Barrett, and of more than one 
hundred others, of the greatest respectability. This is the 
reading also of the Syriac and Arabic, and is confirmed by 
several of the primitive fathers. The terms, in this case, 
are nearly of the same import, as both blessing and giving 
thanks were used on these occasions. But what was it that our 
Lord blessed? Not the bread, though many think the contrary, 
being deceived by the word IT, which is improperly supplied 
in our version. In all the four places referred to above, 
whether the word blessed or gave thanks is used, it refers 
not to the bread, but to God, the dispenser of every good. 
Our Lord here conforms himself to that constant Jewish 
custom, viz. of acknowledging God as the author of every good 
and perfect gift, by giving thanks on taking the bread and 
taking the cup at their ordinary meals. For every Jew was 
forbidden to eat, drink, or use any of God's creatures 
without rendering him thanks; and he who acted contrary to 
this command was considered as a person who was guilty of 
sacrilege.

From this custom we have derived the decent and laudable one 
of saying grace (gratas thanks) before and after meat. The 
Jewish form of blessing, probably that which our Lord used on 
this occasion, none of my readers will be displeased to find 
here, though it has been mentioned once before.

On taking the bread they say:- Årah m µjl axwmh µlw[h ûlm 
wnyhla hta ûwrb Baruch atta Elohinoo, Melech, haolam, ha 
motse Lechem min haarets.

Blessed be thou, our God, King of the universe, who bringest 
forth bread out of the earth! Likewise, on taking the cup, 
they say:-: pgh yrp arwb µlw[h ûlm wnyhla ûwrb Baruch 
Elohinoo, Melech, haolam, Bore perey haggephen.

Blessed be our God, the King of the universe, the Creator of 
the fruit it of the vine! The Mohammedans copy their example, 
constantly saying before and after meat:- [-Arabic-] 
Bismillahi arahmani arraheemi.

In the name of God, the most merciful, the most 
compassionate.

No blessing, therefore, of the elements is here intended; 
they were already blessed, in being sent as a gift of mercy 
from the bountiful Lord; but God the sender is blessed, 
because of the liberal provision he has made for his 
worthless creatures. Blessing and touching the bread are 
merely Popish ceremonies, unauthorized either by Scripture or 
the practice of the pure Church of God; necessary of course 
to those who pretend to transmute, by a kind of spiritual 
incantation, the bread and wine into the real body and blood 
of Jesus Christ; a measure the grossest in folly, and most 
stupid in nonsense, to which God in judgment ever abandoned 
the fallen spirit of man.

And brake it] We often read in the Scriptures of breaking 
bread, but never of cutting it. The Jewish people had nothing 
similar to our high-raised loaf: their bread was made broad 
and thin, and was consequently very brittle, and, to divide 
it, there was no need of a knife.

The breaking of the bread I consider essential to the proper 
performance of this solemn and significant ceremony: because 
this act was designed by our Lord to shadow forth the 
wounding, piercing, and breaking of his body upon the cross; 
and, as all this was essentially necessary to the making a 
full atonement for the sin of the world, so it is of vast 
importance that this apparently little circumstance, the 
breaking of the bread, should be carefully attended to, that 
the godly communicant may have every necessary assistance to 
enable him to discern the Lord's body, while engaged in this 
most important and Divine of all God's ordinances. But who 
does not see that one small cube of fermented, i.e. leavened 
bread, previously divided from the mass with a knife, and 
separated by the fingers of the minister, can never answer 
the end of the institution, either as to the matter of the 
bread, or the mode of dividing it? Man is naturally a dull 
and heedless creature, especially in spiritual things, and 
has need of the utmost assistance of his senses, in union 
with those expressive rites and ceremonies which the Holy 
Scripture, not tradition, has sanctioned, in order to enable 
him to arrive at spiritual things, through the medium of 
earthly similitudes.

And gave it to the disciples] Not only the breaking, but also 
the DISTRIBUTION, of the bread are necessary parts of this 
rite. In the Romish Church, the bread is not broken nor 
delivered to the people, that THEY may take and eat; but the 
consecrated wafer is put upon their tongue by the priest; and 
it is generally understood by the communicants, that they 
should not masticate, but swallow it whole.

"That the breaking of this bread to be distributed," says Dr. 
Whitby, "is a necessary part of this rite is evident, first, 
by the continual mention of it by St. Paul and all the 
evangelists, when they speak of the institution of this 
sacrament, which shows it to be a necessary part of it. 2dly, 
Christ says, Take, eat, this is my body, BROKEN for you, 1 
Cor. xi. 24.

But when the elements are not broken, it can be no more said, 
This is my body broken for you, than where the elements are 
not given. 3dly, Our Lord said, Do this in remembrance of me: 
i.e. 'Eat this bread, broken in remembrance of my body broken 
on the cross:' now, where no body broken is distributed, 
there, nothing can be eaten in memorial of his broken body. 
Lastly, The apostle, by saying, The bread which we BREAK, is 
it not the communion of the body of Christ? sufficiently 
informs us that the eating of his broken body is necessary to 
that end, 1 Cor. x. 10.

Hence it was that this rite, of distributing bread broken, 
continued for a thousand years, and was, as Humbertus 
testifies, observed in the Roman Church in the eleventh 
century." WHITBY in loco. At present, the opposite is as 
boldly practised as if the real Scriptural rite had never 
been observed in the Church of Christ.

This is my body.] Here it must be observed that Christ had 
nothing in his hands, at this time, but part of that 
unleavened bread which he and his disciples had been eating 
at supper, and therefore he could mean no more than this, 
viz. that the bread which he was now breaking represented his 
body, which, in the course of a few hours, was to be 
crucified for them.

Common sense, unsophisticated with superstition and erroneous 
creeds,-and reason, unawed by the secular sword of sovereign 
authority, could not possibly take any other meaning than 
this plain, consistent, and rational one, out of these words. 
"But," says a false and absurd creed, "Jesus meant, when he 
said, HOC EST CORPUS MEUM, This is my body, and HIC EST CALIX 
SANGUINIS MEI, This is the chalice of my blood, that the 
bread and wine were substantially changed into his body, 
including flesh, blood, bones, yea, the whole Christ, in his 
immaculate humanity and adorable divinity!" And, for denying 
this, what rivers of righteous blood have been shed by state 
persecutions and by religious wars! Well it may be asked, 
"Can any man of sense believe, that, when Christ took up that 
bread and broke it, it was his own body which he held in his 
own hands, and which himself broke to pieces, and which he 
and his disciples ate?" He who can believe such a congeries 
of absurdities, cannot be said to be a volunteer in faith; 
for it is evident, the man can neither have faith nor reason, 
as to this subject.

Let it be observed, if any thing farther is necessary on this 
point, that the paschal lamb, is called the passover, because 
it represented the destroying angel's passing over the 
children of Israel, while he slew the firstborn of the 
Egyptians; and our Lord and his disciples call this lamb the 
passover, several times in this chapter; by which it is 
demonstrably evident, that they could mean no more than that 
the lamb sacrificed on this occasion was a memorial of, and 
REPRESENTED, the means used for the preservation of the 
Israelites from the blast of the destroying angel.

Besides, our Lord did not say, hoc est corpus meum, (this is 
my body,) as he did not speak in the Latin tongue; though as 
much stress has been laid upon this quotation from the 
Vulgate as if the original of the three evangelists had been 
written in the Latin language. Had he spoken in Latin, 
following the idiom of the Vulgate, he would have said, Panis 
hic corpus meum signficat, or, Symbolum est corporis mei:-hoc 
poculum sanguinem meum representat, or, symbolum est 
sanguinis mei:-this bread signifies my body; this cup 
represents my blood. But let it be observed that, in the 
Hebrew, Chaldee, and Chaldeo-Syriac languages, as used in the 
Bible, there is no term which expresses to mean, signify, 
denote, though both the Greek and Latin abound with them: 
hence the Hebrews use a figure, and say, it is, for, it 
signifies. So Gen. xli. 26, 27. The seven kine ARE (i.e.

represent) seven years. This IS (represents) the bread of 
affliction which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Dan. 
vii. 24. The ten horns ARE (i.e.

signify) ten kings. They drank of the spiritual Rock which 
followed them, and the Rock WAS (represented) Christ. 1 Cor. 
x. 4. And following this Hebrew idiom, though the work is 
written in Greek, we find in Rev. i. 20, The seven stars ARE 
(represent) the angels of the seven Churches: and the seven 
candlesticks ARE (represent) the seven Churches.

The same form of speech is used in a variety of places in the 
New Testament, where this sense must necessarily be given to 
the word.

Matt. xiii. 38, 39. The field IS (represents) the world: the 
good seed ARE (represent or signify) the children of the 
kingdom: the tares ARE (signify) the children of the wicked 
one. The enemy IS (signifies) the devil: the harvest IS 
(represents) the end of the world: the reapers ARE (i.e. 
signify) the angels. Luke viii. 9. What might this parable 
BE? tiv eih h parabolh auth:- What does this parable SIGNIFY? 
John vii. 36. tiv estin autov o logov: What is the 
SIGNIFICATION of this saying? John x. 6. They understood not 
what things they WERE, tina hn, what was the SIGNIFICATION of 
the things he had spoken to them. Acts x. 17. ti an eih 
orama, what this vision MIGHT BE; properly rendered by our 
translators, what this vision should MEAN. Gal. iv. 24. For 
these ARE the two covenants, autai gar eisin ai duo diaqhkai, 
these SIGNIFY the two covenants. Luke xv. 26. He asked, ti 
eih tauta, what these things MEANT. See also Luke xviii. 36. 
After such unequivocal testimony from the Sacred writings, 
can any person doubt that, This bread is my body, has any 
other meaning than, This bread REPRESENTS my body? The Latins 
use the verb, sum, in all its forms, with a similar latitude 
of meaning. So, ESSE oneri ferendo, he is ABLE to bear the 
burthen: bene ESSE, to LIVE sumptuously: male ESSE, to LIVE 
miserably: recte ESSE, to ENJOY good health: EST mihi 
fistula, I POSSESS a flute: EST hodie in rebus, he now ENJOYS 
a plentiful fortune: ESt mihi namque domi pater, I HAVE a 
father at home, &c.: ESSE solvendo, to be ABLE to pay: FUIMUS 
Troes, FUIT Ilium; the Trojans are EXTINCT, Troy is NO MORE.

In Greek also, and Hebrew, it often signifies to live, to 
die, to be killed.

ouk eimi, I am DEAD, or a dead man. chap. ii. 18: Rachel 
weeping for her children, oti ouk eisi, because they WERE 
MURDERED. Gen. xlii. xx16: Joseph is not, wnnya Powy Yoseph 
einennu, iwshf ouk estin, Sept., Joseph is DEVOURED by a WILD 
BEAST. Rom. iv. 17: Calling the things that ARE not, as if 
they were ALIVE. So Plutarch in Laconicis: "This shield thy 
father always preserved; preserve thou it, or may thou not 
BE," h mh eso, may thou PERISH. ouk ontev nomoi, ABROGATED 
laws. eimi en emoi, I POSSESS a sound understanding. eiv 
patera umin esomai, I will PERFORM the PART of a father to 
you. eimi thv polewv thv de, I AM an INHABITANT of that city. 
1 Tim. i. 7: Desiring to BE teachers of the law, qelontev 
einai nomodidaskaloi, desiring to be REPUTED teachers of the 
law, i.e. ABLE divines. ta onta, the things that ARE, i.e. 
NOBLE and honourABLE men: ta mh onta, the things that are 
not, viz. the VULGAR, or those of IGNOBLE BIRTH.

Tertullian seems to have had a correct notion of those words 
of our Lord, Acceptum panem et distributum discipulis, corpus 
illum suum fecit, HOC EST CORPUS MEUM dicendo, id est, FIGURA 
corporis mei. Advers. Marc. l.

v. c. 40. "Having taken the bread, and distributed that body 
to his disciples, he made it his body by saying, This is my 
body, i.e. a FIGURE of my body." That our Lord neither spoke 
in Greek nor Latin, on this occasion, needs no proof. It was, 
most probably, in what was formerly called the Chaldaic, now 
the Syriac, that our Lord conversed with his disciples. 
Through the providence of God, we have complete versions of 
the Gospels in this language, and in them it is likely we 
have the precise words spoken by our Lord on this occasion. 
In ver. 26, 27, the words in the Syriac version are,  hanau 
pagree, This is my body,  hanau demee, This is my blood, of 
which forms of speech the Greek is a verbal translation; nor 
would any man, even in the present day, speaking in the same 
language, use, among the people to whom it was vernacular, 
other terms than the above to express, This represents my 
body, and this represents my blood.

As to the ancient Syrian Church on the Malabar coast, it is a 
fact that it never held the doctrine of transubstantiation, 
nor does it appear that it was ever heard of in that Church 
till the year 1599, when Don Alexis Menezes, Archbishop of 
Goa, and the Jesuit Fransic Rez, invaded that Church, and by 
tricks, impostures, and the assistance of the heathen 
governors of Cochin, and other places, whom they gained over 
by bribes and presents, overthrew the whole of this ancient 
Church, and gave the oppressed people the rites, creeds, &c., 
of the papal Catholic Church in its place. Vid.

La Croz. Hist. du Ch. des Indes.

This was done at the Synod of Diamper, which began its 
sessions at Agomale, June 20, 1599. The tricks of this 
unprincipled prelate, the tool of Pope Clement VIII., and 
Philip II., King of Portugal, are amply detailed by Mr. La 
Croze, in the work already quoted.

But this form of speech is common, even in our own language, 
though we have terms enow to fill up the ellipsis. Suppose a 
man entering into a museum, enriched with the remains of 
ancient Greek sculpture: his eyes are attracted by a number 
of curious busts; and, on inquiring what they are, he learns, 
this is Socrates, that Plato, a third Homer; others Hesiod, 
Horace, Virgil, Demosthenes, Cicero, Herodotus, Livy, Caesar, 
Nero, Vespasian, &c. Is he deceived by this information? Not 
at all: he knows well that the busts he sees are not the 
identical persons of those ancient philosophers, poets, 
orators, historians, and emperors, but only REPRESENTATIONS 
of their persons in sculpture, between which and the 
originals there is as essential a difference as between a 
human body, instinct with all the principles of rational 
vitality, and a block of marble.

When, therefore, Christ took up a piece of bread, brake it, 
and said, This IS my body, who, but the most stupid of 
mortals, could imagine that he was, at the same time, 
handling and breaking his own body! Would not any person, of 
plain common sense, see as great a difference between the man 
Christ Jesus, and the piece of bread, as between the block of 
marble and the philosopher it represented, in the case 
referred to above? The truth is, there is scarcely a more 
common form of speech in any language than, This IS, for, 
This REPRESENTS or SIGNIFIES. And as our Lord refers, in the 
whole of this transaction, to the ordinance of the passover, 
we may consider him as saying: "This bread is now my body, in 
that sense in which the paschal lamb has been my body 
hitherto; and this cup is my blood of the New Testament, in 
the same sense as the blood of bulls and goats has been my 
blood under the Old: Exodus 24; Hebrews 9. That is, the 
paschal lamb and the sprinkling of blood represented my 
sacrifice to the present time this bread and this wine shall 
represent my body and blood through all future ages; 
therefore, Do this in remembrance of me." St. Luke and St. 
Paul add a circumstance here which is not noticed either by 
St. Matthew or St. Mark. After, this is my body, the former 
adds, which is given for you; the latter, which is broken for 
you; the sense of which is: "As God has in his bountiful 
providence given you bread for the sustenance of your lives, 
so in his infinite grace he has given you my body to save 
your souls unto life eternal. But as this bread must be 
broken and masticated, in order to its becoming proper 
nourishment, so my body must be broken, i.e. crucified, for 
you, before it can be the bread of life to your souls. As, 
therefore, your life depends on the bread which God's bounty 
has provided for your bodies, so your eternal life depends on 
the sacrifice of my body on the cross for your souls." 
Besides, there is here an allusion to the offering of 
sacrifice-an innocent creature was brought to the altar of 
God, and its blood (the life of the beast) was poured out 
for, or in behalf of, the person who brought it. Thus Christ 
says, alluding to the sacrifice of the paschal lamb, This is 
my body, to uper umwn didomenon, which IS GIVEN in your 
stead, or in your behalf; a free GIFT, from God's endless 
mercy, for the salvation of your souls. This is my body, to 
uper umwn klwmenon, (1 Corinthians xi. 24,) which is broken-
sacrificed in your stead; as without the breaking (piercing) 
of the body, and spilling of the blood, there was no 
remission.

In this solemn transaction we must weigh every word, as there 
is none without its appropriate and deeply emphatic meaning. 
So it is written, Eph. v. 2. Christ hath loved us, and given 
himself, eper hmwn, on our account, or in our stead, an 
offering and a SACRIFICE (qusia) to God for a sweet-smelling 
savour; that, as in the sacrifice offered by Noah, Gen. viii. 
21, (to which the apostle evidently alludes,) from which it 
is said, The Lord smelled a sweet savour, jjynh jyr riach 
hanichoach, a savour of rest, so that he became appeased 
towards the earth, and determined that there should no more 
be a flood to destroy it; in like manner, in the offering and 
sacrifice of Christ for us, God is appeased towards the human 
race, and has in consequence decreed that whosoever believeth 
in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

Verse 27. And he took the cup] meta to deipnhsai, after 
having supped, Luke xxii. 20, and 1 Cor. xi. 25. Whether the 
supper was on the paschal lamb, or whether it was a common or 
ordinary meal, I shall not wait here to inquire: see at the 
end of this chapter. In the parallel place, in Luke 22, we 
find our Lord taking the cup, Luke xxii. 17, and again Luke 
xxii. 19; by the former of which was probably meant the cup 
of blessing, hkrbh owk kos haberakah, which the master of a 
family took, and, after blessing God, gave to each of his 
guests by way of welcome: but this second taking the cup is 
to be understood as belonging to the very important rite 
which he was now instituting, and on which he lays a very 
remarkable stress. With respect to the bread, he had before 
simply said, Take, eat, this is my body; but concerning the 
cup he says, Drink ye all of this: for as this pointed out 
the very essence of the institution, viz. the blood of 
atonement, it was necessary that each should have a 
particular application of it; therefore he says, Drink ye ALL 
of THIS. By this we are taught that the cup is essential to 
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper; so that they who deny the 
cup to the people sin against God's institution; and they who 
receive not the cup are not partakers of the body and blood 
of Christ. If either could without mortal prejudice be 
omitted, it might be the bread; but the cup, as pointing out 
the blood poured out, i.e. the life, by which alone the great 
sacrificial act is performed, and remission of sins procured, 
is absolutely indispensable. On this ground it is 
demonstrable, that there is not a priest under heaven, who 
denies the cup to the people, that can be said to celebrate 
the Lord's Supper at all; nor is there one of their votaries 
that ever received the holy sacrament. All pretension to this 
is an absolute farce, so long as the cup, the emblem of the 
atoning blood, is denied. How strange is it, that the very 
men who plead so much for the bare literal meaning of this is 
my body, in the preceding verse, should deny all meaning to 
drink YE ALL of this cup, in this verse! And though Christ 
has in the most positive manner enjoined it, they will not 
permit one of the laity to taste it! O, what a thing is man-a 
constant contradiction to reason and to himself.

I have just said that our blessed Lord lays remarkable stress 
on the administration of the cup, and on that which himself 
assures us is represented by it. As it is peculiarly 
emphatic, I beg leave to set down the original text, which 
the critical reader will do well minutely to examine: touto 
gar esti to aima mou to thv kainhv diaqhkhv, to peri pollwn 
ekcunomenon eiv afesin amartiwn. The following literal 
translation and paraphrase do not exceed its meaning:-For 
THIS is THAT blood of mine which was pointed out by all the 
sacrifices under the Jewish law, and particularly by the 
shedding and sprinkling of the blood of the paschal lamb. 
THAT blood of the sacrifice slain for the ratification of the 
new covenant. THE blood ready to be poured out for the 
multitudes, the whole Gentile world as well as the Jews, for 
the taking away of sins; sin, whether original or actual, in 
all its power and guilt, in all its internal energy and 
pollution.

And gave thanks] See the form used on this occasion, on 
Matthew xxvi. 26; and see the MISHNA, TRACT twkrb Beracoth.

Verse 28. For this is my blood of the New Testament] This is 
the reading both here and in St. Mark; but St. Luke and St. 
Paul say, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This 
passage has been strangely mistaken: by New Testament, many 
understand nothing more than the book commonly known by this 
name, containing the four Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, 
apostolical Epistles, and book of the Revelation; and they 
think that the cup of the New Testament means no more than 
merely that cup which the book called the New Testament 
enjoins in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. As this is the 
case, it is highly necessary that this term should be 
explained. The original, h kainh diaqhkh, which we translate, 
The New Testament, and which is the general title of all the 
contents of the book already described, simply means, the new 
COVENANT. Covenant, from con, together, and venio, I come, 
signifies an agreement, contract, or compact, between two 
parties, by which both are mutually bound to do certain 
things, on certain conditions and penalties. It answers to 
the Hebrew tyrb berith, which often signifies, not only the 
covenant or agreement, but also the sacrifice which was slain 
on the occasion, by the blood of which the covenant was 
ratified; and the contracting parties professed to subject 
themselves to such a death as that of the victim, in case of 
violating their engagements. An oath of this kind, on slaying 
the covenant sacrifice, was usual in ancient times: so in 
Homer, when a covenant was made between the Greeks and the 
Trojans, and the throats of lambs were cut, and their blood 
poured out, the following form of adjuration was used by the 
contracting parties:-zeu kudiste, megiste, kai aqanatoi qeoi 
alloi, oppoteroi proteroi uper orkia phmhneian, ode sfÆ 
egkefalov camadiv reoi, wv ode oinov, autwn, kai tekewn? 
alocoi dÆ alloisi migeien All glorious Jove, and ye, the 
powers of heaven! Whoso shall violate this contract first, So 
be their blood, their children's and their own, Poured out, 
as this libation, on the ground And let their wives bring 
forth to other men! ILIAD l. iii. v. 298-301 Our blessed 
saviour is evidently called the diaqhkh, tyrb berith, or 
covenant sacrifice, Isa. xlii. 6; xli10: 8; Zech. ix. 11. And 
to those Scriptures he appears to allude, as in them the Lord 
promises to give him for a covenant (sacrifice) to the 
Gentiles, and to send forth, by the blood of this covenant 
(victim) the prisoners out of the pit. The passages in the 
sacred writings which allude to this grand sacrificial and 
atoning act are almost innumerable. See the Preface to 
Matthew.

In this place, our Lord terms his blood the blood of the NEW 
covenant; by which he means that grand plan of agreement, or 
reconciliation, which God was now establishing between 
himself and mankind, by the passion and death of his Son, 
through whom alone men could draw nigh to God; and this NEW 
covenant is mentioned in contradistinction from the OLD 
covenant, h palaia diaqhkh, 2 Cor. iii. 14, by which 
appellative all the books of the Old Testament were 
distinguished, because they pointed out the way of 
reconciliation to God by the blood of the various victims 
slain under the law; but now, as the Lamb of God, which 
taketh away the sin of the world, was about to be offered up, 
a NEW and LIVING way was thereby constituted, so that no one 
henceforth could come unto the Father but by HIM. Hence all 
the books of the New Testament, which bear unanimous 
testimony to the doctrine of salvation by faith through the 
blood of Jesus, are termed, h kainh diaqhkh, The NEW 
covenant. See the Preface.

Dr. Lightfoot's Observations on this are worthy of serious 
notice. "This is my blood of the New Testament. Not only the 
seal of the covenant, but the sanction of the new covenant. 
The end of the Mosaic economy, and the confirming of a new 
one. The confirmation of the old covenant was by the blood of 
bulls and goats, Exodus 24, Hebrews 9, because blood was 
still to be shed: the confirmation of the new was by a cup of 
wine, because under the new covenant there is no farther 
shedding of blood. As it is here said of the cup, This cup is 
the New Testament in my blood; so it might be said of the cup 
of blood, Exodus 24, That cup was the Old Testament in the 
blood of Christ: there, all the articles of that covenant 
being read over, Moses sprinkled all the people with blood, 
and said, This is the blood of the covenant which God hath 
made with you; and thus the old covenant or testimony was 
confirmed. ln like manner, Christ, having published all the 
articles of the new covenant, he takes the cup of wine, and 
gives them to drink, and saith. This is the New Testament in 
my blood; and thus the new covenant was established."-Works, 
vol. ii. p. 260.

Which is shed (ekcunomenon, poured out) for many] ekcew and 
ekcuw, to pour out, are often used in a sacrificial sense in 
the Septuagint, and signify to pour out or sprinkle the blood 
of the sacrifices before the altar of the Lord, by way of 
atonement. See 2 Kings xvi. 15; Lev. viii. 15; ix. 9; Exod. 
xxix. 12; Lev. iv. 7, 14, 17, 30, 34; and in various other 
places. Our Lord, by this very remarkable mode of expression, 
teaches us that, as his body was to be broken or crucified, 
uper hmwn, in our stead, so here the blood was to be poured 
out to make an atonement, as the words, remission of sins, 
sufficiently prove for without shedding of blood there was no 
remission, Heb. ix. 22, nor any remission by shedding of 
blood, but in a sacrificial way. See the passages above, and 
on ver. 26.

The whole of this passage will receive additional light when 
collated with Isa. liii. 11, 12. By his knowledge shall my 
righteous servant justify MANY, for he shall bear their 
iniquities-because he hath POURED OUT his soul unto death, 
and he bare the sin of MANY. The pouring out of the soul unto 
death, in the prophet, answers to, this is the blood of the 
new covenant which is poured out for you, in the evangelists; 
and the µybr , rabbim, multitudes, in Isaiah, corresponds to 
the MANY, pollwn, of Matthew and Mark. The passage will soon 
appear plain, when we consider that two distinct classes of 
persons are mentioned by the prophet. 1. The Jews. Isa. liii. 
4. Surely he hath borne OUR griefs, and carried OUR sorrows. 
Isa. liii. 5. But he was wounded for OUR transgressions, he 
was bruised for OUR iniquities, the chastisement of OUR peace 
was upon him. Isaiah liii. 6. All WE like sheep have gone 
astray, and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of US 
all. 2. The GENTILES. Isa. liii. 11. By his knowledge, wt[db 
bedaato, i.e. by his being made known, published as Christ 
crucified among the Gentiles, he shall justify µybr rabbim, 
the multitudes, (the GENTILES,) for he shall (also) bear 
THEIR offenses, as well as OURS, the Jews, Isa. liii. 4, &c. 
It is well known that the Jewish dispensation, termed by the 
apostle as above, h palaia diaqhkh, the OLD covenant, was 
partial and exclusive. None were particularly interested in 
it save the descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob: whereas 
the Christian dispensation, h kainh diaqhkh, the NEW 
covenant, referred to by our Lord in this place, was 
universal; for as Jesus Christ by the grace of God tasted 
death for EVERY man, Heb. ii. 9, and is that Lamb of God that 
taketh away the sin of the WORLD, John i. 29, who would have 
ALL MEN to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth, 
1 Tim. ii. 4, even that knowledge of Christ crucified, by 
which they are to be justified, Isa. liii. 11, therefore he 
has commanded his disciples to go into all the world, and 
preach the Gospel to EVERY CREATURE, Mark xvi. 15. The 
reprobate race, those who were no people, and not beloved, 
were to be called in; for the Gospel was to be preached to 
all the world, though it was to begin at Jerusalem, Luke 
xxiv. 47. For this purpose was the blood of the new covenant 
sacrifice poured out for the multitudes, that there might be 
but one fold, as there is but one Shepherd; and that God 
might be ALL and in ALL.

For the remission of sins.] eiv afesiv amartiwn, for (or, in 
reference to) the taking away of sins. For, although the 
blood is shed, and the atonement made, no man's sins are 
taken away until, as a true penitent, he returns to God, and, 
feeling his utter incapacity to save himself, believes in 
Christ Jesus, who is the justifier of the ungodly.

The phrase, afesiv twn amartiwn, remission of sins, 
(frequently used by the Septuagint,) being thus explained by 
our Lord, is often used by the evangelists and the apostles; 
and does not mean merely the pardon of sins, as it is 
generally understood, but the removal or taking away of sins; 
not only the guilt, but also the very nature of sin, and the 
pollution of the soul through it; and comprehends all that is 
generally understood by the terms justification and 
sanctification. For the use and meaning of the phrase afesiv 
amartown, see Mark i. 4; Luke i. 77; iii. 3; xxiv. 47; Acts 
ii. 38; v. 31; x. 43; xiii. 38; xxvi. 18; Colossiansi. 14; 
Hebrews x. 18.

Both St. Luke and St. Paul add, that, after giving the bread, 
our Lord said, Do this in remembrance of me. And after giving 
the cup, St. Paul alone adds, This do ye, as oft as ye drink 
it, in remembrance of me. The account, as given by St. Paul, 
should be carefully followed, being fuller, and received, 
according to his own declaration, by especial revelation from 
God. See 1 Cor. xi. 23, For I have received of the Lord that 
which also I delivered unto you, &c. See the harmonized view 
above.

Verse 29. I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the 
vine] These words seem to intimate no more than this: We 
shall not have another opportunity of eating this bread and 
drinking this wine together; as in a few hours my crucifixion 
shall take place.

Until that day when I drink it new with you] That is, I shall 
no more drink of the produce of the vine with you; but shall 
drink new wine-wine of a widely different nature from this-a 
wine which the kingdom of God alone can afford. The term new 
in Scripture is often taken in this sense. So the NEW heaven, 
the NEW earth, the NEW covenant, the NEW man-mean a heaven, 
earth, covenant, man, of a very different nature from the 
former. It was our Lord's invariable custom to illustrate 
heavenly things by those of earth, and to make that which had 
last been the subject of conversation the means of doing it. 
Thus he uses wine here, of which they had lately drunk, and 
on which he had held the preceding discourse, to point out 
the supreme blessedness of the kingdom of God. But however 
pleasing and useful wine may be to the body and how helpful 
soever, as an ordinance of God. It may be to the soul in the 
holy sacrament; yet the wine of the kingdom, the spiritual 
enjoyments at the right hand of God, will be infinitely more 
precious and useful. From what our Lord says here, we learn 
that the sacrament of his supper is a type and a pledge, to 
genuine Christians, of the felicity they shall enjoy with 
Christ in the kingdom of glory.

Verse 30. And when they had sung a hymn] umnhsantev means, 
probably, no more than a kind of recitative reading or 
chanting. As to the hymn itself, we know, from the universal 
consent of Jewish antiquity, that it was composed of Psalms 
113, 114, 115, 116, 117, and 118, termed by the Jews llh 
halel, from hy-wllh halelu-yah, the first word in Psalm 113. 
These six Psalms were always sung at every paschal solemnity. 
They sung this great hillel on account of the five great 
benefits referred to in it; viz.

1. The Exodus from Egypt, Psa. cxiv. 1. When Israel went out 
of Egypt, &c.

2. The miraculous division of the Red Sea, Psa. cxiv. 3. The 
sea saw it and fled.

3. The promulgation of the law, Psa. cxiv. 4. The mountains 
skipped like lambs.

4. The resurrection of the dead, Psa. cxvi. 9. I will walk 
before the Lord in the land of the living.

5. The passion of the Messiah, Psa. cxv. 1. Not unto us, O 
Lord, not unto us, &c. See Schoettgen, Hor. Hebr. p. 231, and 
my Discource on the nature and design of the Eucharist, 8vo. 
Lond. 1808.

Verse 31. All ye shall be offended] Or rather, Ye will all be 
stumbled-pantev umeiv skandalisqhsesqe-ye will all forsake 
me, and lose in a great measure your confidence in me.

This night] The time of trial is just at hand.

I will smite the shepherd] It will happen to you as to a 
flock of sheep, whose shepherd has been slain-the leader and 
guardian being removed, the whole flock shall be scattered, 
and be on the point of becoming a prey to ravenous beasts.

Verse 32. But after I am risen again] Don't lose your 
confidence; for though I shall appear for a time to be wholly 
left to wicked men, and be brought under the power of death, 
yet I will rise again, and triumph over all your enemies and 
mine.

I will go before you] Still alluding to the case of the 
shepherd and his sheep. Though the shepherd has been smitten 
and the sheep scattered, the shepherd shall revive again, 
collect the scattered flock, and go before them, and lead 
them to peace, security, and happiness.

Verse 33. Peter-said unto him, Though all men shall be 
offended-yet will I never] The presumptuous person imagines 
he can do every thing, and can do nothing: thinks he can 
excel all, and excels in nothing: promises every thing, and 
performs nothing. The humble man acts a quite contrary part. 
There is nothing we know so little of as ourselves-nothing we 
see less of than our own weakness and poverty. The strength 
of pride is only for a moment. Peter, though vainly 
confident, was certainly sincere-he had never been put to a 
sore trial, and did not know his own strength. Had this 
resolution of his been formed in the strength of God, he 
would have been enabled to maintain it against earth and 
hell. This most awful denial of Christ, and his abandoning 
him in the time of trial, was sufficient to have disqualified 
him for ever from being, in any sense, head of the Church, 
had such a supremacy been ever designed him. Such a supremacy 
was never given him by Christ; but the fable of it is in the 
Church of Rome, and the mock Peter, not Peter the apostle, is 
there and there only to be found.

Verse 34. Jesus said] Our Lord's answer to Peter is very 
emphatic and impressive. Verily-I speak a solemn weighty 
truth, thou wilt not only be stumbled, fall off, and forsake 
thy Master, but thou wilt even deny that thou hast, or ever 
had, any knowledge of or connection with me; and this thou 
wilt do, not by little and little, through a long process of 
time, till the apostasy, daily gathering strength, shall be 
complete; but thou wilt do it this very night, and that not 
once only, but thrice; and this thou wilt do also in the 
earlier part of the night, before even a cock shall crow. Was 
not this warning enough to him not to trust in his own 
strength, but to depend on God?

Verse 35. Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny 
thee.] He does not take the warning which his Lord gave him-
he trusts in the warm, sincere attachment to Christ which he 
now feels, not considering that this must speedily fail, 
unless supported by the power of God.

Verse 36. A place called Gethsemane] A garden at the foot of 
the mount of Olives. The name seems to be formed from hg 
gath, a press, and ms shemen, oil; probably the place where 
the produce of the mount of Olives was prepared for use. The 
garden of the oilpress, or olive-press.

Sit ye here] Or, stay in this place, while I go and pray 
yonder: and employ ye the time as I shall employ it-in 
watching unto prayer.

Verse 37. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of 
Zebedee] That is, James and John; the same persons who had 
beheld his transfiguration on the mount-that they might 
contemplate this agony in the light of that glory which they 
had there seen; and so be kept from being stumbled by a view 
of his present humiliation.

Began to be sorrowful] lupeisqai, from luw, to dissolve-
exquisite sorrow, such as dissolves the natural vigour, and 
threatens to separate soul and body.

And very heavy.] Overwhelmed with anguish-adhmonein. This 
word is used by the Greeks to denote the most extreme anguish 
which the soul can feel-excruciating anxiety and torture of 
spirit.

Verse 38. Then saith he] Then saith-Jesus:-I have added the 
word Jesus, o ihsouv, on the authority of a multitude of 
eminent MSS. See them in Griesbach.

My soul is exceeding sorrowful, (or, is surrounded with 
exceeding sorrow,) even unto death.] This latter word 
explains the two former: My soul is so dissolved in sorrow, 
my spirit is filled with such agony and anguish, that, if 
speedy succour be not given to my body, death must be the 
speedy consequence.

Now, the grand expiatory sacrifice begins to be offered: in 
this garden Jesus enters fully into the sacerdotal office; 
and now, on the altar of his immaculate divinity, begins to 
offer his own body-his own life-a lamb without spot, for the 
sin of the world. St. Luke observes, Luke xxii. 43, 44, that 
there appeared unto him an angel from heaven strengthening 
him; and that, being in an agony, his sweat was like great 
drops of blood falling to the ground. How exquisite must this 
anguish have been, when it forced the very blood through the 
coats of the veins, and enlarged the pores in such a 
preternatural manner as to cause them to empty it out in 
large successive drops! In my opinion, the principal part of 
the redemption price was paid in this unprecedented and 
indescribable agony.

Bloody sweats are mentioned by many authors; but none was 
ever such as this-where a person in perfect health, (having 
never had any predisposing sickness to induce a debility of 
the system,) and in the full vigour of life, about thirty-
three years of age, suddenly, through mental pressure, 
without any fear of death, sweat great drops of blood; and 
these continued, during his wrestling with God to fall to the 
ground.

To say that all this was occasioned by the fear he had of the 
ignominious death which he was about to die confutes itself-
for this would not only rob him of his divinity, for which 
purpose it is brought, but it deprives him of all excellency, 
and even of manhood itself. The prospect of death could not 
cause him to suffer thus, when he knew that in less than 
three days he was to be restored to life, and be brought into 
an eternity of blessedness. His agony and distress can 
receive no consistent explication but on this ground-He 
SUFFERED, the JUST for the UNJUST, that he might BRING us to 
GOD. O glorious truth! O infinitely meritorious suffering! 
And O! above all, the eternal love, that caused him to 
undergo such sufferings for the sake of SINNERS! 

Verse 39. Fell on his face] See the note on Luke xxii. 44. 
This was the ordinary posture of the supplicant when the 
favour was great which was asked, and deep humiliation 
required. The head was put between the knees, and the 
forehead brought to touch the earth-this was not only a 
humiliating, but a very painful posture also.

This cup] The word cup is frequently used in the Sacred 
Writings to point out sorrow, anguish, terror, death. It 
seems to be an allusion to a very ancient method of punishing 
criminals. A cup of poison was put into their hands, and they 
were obliged to drink it. Socrates was killed thus, being 
obliged by the magistrates of Athens to drink a cup of the 
juice of hemlock. To death, by the poisoned cup, there seems 
an allusion in Heb. ii. 9, Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, 
TASTED death for every man. The whole world are here 
represented as standing guilty and condemned before the 
tribunal of God; into every man's hand the deadly cup is put, 
and he is required to drink off the poison-Jesus enters, 
takes every man's cup out of his hand, and drinks off the 
poison, and thus tastes or suffers the death which every man 
otherwise must have undergone.

Pass from me] Perhaps there is an allusion here to several 
criminals standing in a row, who are all to drink of the same 
cup; but, the judge extending favour to a certain one, the 
cup passes by him to the next.

Instead of proelqwn mikron, going a little forward, many 
eminent MSS.

have proselqwn, coming a little forward-but the variation is 
of little moment. At the close of this verse several MSS. add 
the clause in Luke xxii. 43, There appeared an angel, &c.

Verse 40. He-saith unto Peter] He addressed himself more 
particularly to this apostle, because of the profession he 
had made, ver. 33; as if he had said: "Is this the way you 
testify your affectionate attachment to me? Ye all said you 
were ready to die with me; what, then, cannot you watch ONE 
hour?" Instead of ouk iscusate, could YE not, the Codex 
Alexandrinus, the later Syriac in the margin, three of the 
Itala, and Juvencus, read ouk iscusav, couldst THOU not-
referring the reproach immediately to Peter, who had made the 
promises mentioned before.

Verse 41. That ye enter not into temptation] If ye cannot 
endure a little fatigue when there is no suffering, how will 
ye do when the temptation, the great trial of your fidelity 
and courage, cometh? Watch-that ye be not taken unawares; and 
pray-that when it comes ye may be enabled to bear it.

The spirit-is willing, but the flesh is weak] Your 
inclinations are good-ye are truly sincere; but your good 
purposes will be overpowered by your timidity. Ye wish to 
continue steadfast in your adherence to your Master; but your 
fears will lead you to desert him.

Verse 42. O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me] 
If it be not possible-to redeem fallen man, unless I drink 
this cup, unless I suffer death for them; thy will be done-I 
am content to suffer whatever may be requisite to accomplish 
the great design. In this address the humanity of Christ most 
evidently appears; for it was his humanity alone that could 
suffer; and if it did not appear that he had felt these 
sufferings, it would have been a presumption that he had not 
suffered, and consequently made no atonement. And had he not 
appeared to have been perfectly resigned in these sufferings, 
his sacrifice could not have been a free-will but a 
constrained offering, and therefore of no use to the 
salvation of mankind.

Verse 43. Their eyes were heavy.] That is, they could not 
keep them open. Was there nothing preternatural in this? Was 
there no influence here from the powers of darkness?

Verse 44. Prayed the third time] So St. Paul-I besought the 
Lord THRICE that it might depart from me, 2 Cor. xii. 8. This 
thrice repeating the same petition argues deep earnestness of 
soul.

Verse 45. Sleep on now, and take your rest] Perhaps it might 
be better to read these words interrogatively, and paraphrase 
them thus: Do ye sleep on still? Will no warnings avail? Will 
no danger excite you to watchfulness and prayer? My hour-in 
which I am to be delivered up, is at hand; therefore now 
think of your own personal safety.

The Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.] 
amartwlwn, viz. the Gentiles or heathens, who were generally 
distinguished by this appellation from the Jews. Here it 
probably means the Roman cohort that was stationed on 
festivals for the defense of the temple. By the Romans he was 
adjudged to death; for the Jews acknowledged that they had no 
power in capital cases. See the note on chap. ix. 10.

Verse 46. Rise, let us be going] That is, to meet them, 
giving thereby the fullest proof that I know all their 
designs, and might have, by flight or otherwise, provided for 
my own safety; but I go willingly to meet that death which 
their malice designs me, and, through it, provide for the 
life of the world.

Verse 47. Judas, one of the twelve] More deeply to mark his 
base ingratitude and desperate wickedness-HE was ONE of the 
TWELVE-and he is a TRAITOR, and one of the vilest too that 
ever disgraced human nature.

A great multitude with swords and staves] They did not come 
as officers of justice, but as a desperate mob. Justice had 
nothing to do in this business. He who a little before had 
been one of the leaders of the flock of Christ is now become 
the leader of ruffians and murderers! What a terrible fall!

Verse 48. Gave them a sign] How coolly deliberate is this 
dire apostate! The man whom I shall kiss-how deeply 
hypocritical! That is he, hold him fast, seize him-how 
diabolically malicious! Hail, Master] A usual compliment 
among the Jews. Judas pretends to wish our Lord continued 
health while he is meditating his destruction! How many 
compliments of this kind are there in the world! Judas had a 
pattern in Joab, who, while he pretends to inquire tenderly 
for the health of Amasa, thrust him through with his sword; 
but the disciple here vastly outdoes his master, and through 
a motive, if possible, still more base. Let all those who use 
unmeaning or insidious compliments rank for ever with Joab 
and Judas.

And kissed him.] And tenderly kissed him-this is the proper 
meaning of the original word katefilhsen, he kissed him again 
and again-still pretending the most affectionate attachment 
to him, though our Lord had before unmasked him.

Verse 50. Jesus said-Friend] Rather, companion, etaire, (not 
FRIEND,) wherefore, rather, against whom (efÆ d, the reading 
of all the best MSS.) art thou come? How must these words 
have cut his very soul, if he had any sensibility left! 
Surely, thou, who hast so long been my companion, art not 
come against me, thy Lord, Teacher and Friend! What is the 
human heart not capable of, when abandoned by God, and 
influenced by Satan and the love of money! Laid hands on 
Jesus] But not before they had felt that proof of his 
sovereign power by which they had all been struck down to the 
earth, John xviii. 6. It is strange that, after this, they 
should dare to approach him; but the Scriptures must be 
fulfilled.

Verse 51. One of them which were with Jesus] This was Peter-
struck a servant of the high priest's, the servant's name was 
Malchus, John xviii. 10, and smote off his ear. In Luke xxii. 
51, it is said, Jesus touched and healed it.

Here was another miracle, and striking proof of the Divinity 
of Christ.

Peter did not cut the ear, merely, he cut it OFF, afeilen. 
Now to heal it, Jesus must either take up the ear and put it 
on again, or else create a new one-either of these was a 
miracle, which nothing less than unlimited power could 
produce. See the note on John xviii. 10.

Verse 52. Put up again thy sword into his place] Neither 
Christ nor his religion is to be defended by the secular arm. 
God is sufficiently able to support his ark: Uzzah need not 
stretch out his hand on the occasion.

Even the shadow of public justice is not to be resisted by a 
private person, when coming from those in public authority. 
The cause of a Christian is the cause of God: sufferings 
belong to one, and vengeance to the other. Let the cause, 
therefore, rest in his hands, who will do it ample justice.

Shall perish with the sword] Instead of apolountai, shall 
perish, many excellent MSS., versions, and fathers, have 
apoqanountai, shall die. The general meaning of this verse 
is, they who contend in battle are likely, on both sides, to 
become the sacrifices of their mutual animosities. But it is 
probably a prophetic declaration of the Jewish and Roman 
states. The Jews put our Lord to death under the sanction of 
the Romans-both took the sword against Christ, and both 
perished by it. The Jews by the sword of the Romans, and the 
Romans by that of the Goths, Vandals, &c. The event has 
verified the prediction-the Jewish government has been 
destroyed upwards of 1700 years, and the Roman upwards of 
1000.

Confer with this passage, Psa. ii. 4, 9; cx. 1, 5, 6. But how 
came Peter to have a sword? Judea was at this time so 
infested with robbers and cut-throats that it was not deemed 
safe for any person to go unarmed. He probably carried one 
for his mere personal safety.

Verse 53. More than twelve legions of angels?] As if he had 
said, Instead of you twelve, one of whom is a traitor, my 
Father can give me more than twelve legions of angels to 
defend me. A legion, at different times, contained different 
numbers; 4,200, 5,000, and frequently 6,000 men; and from 
this saying, taking the latter number, which is the common 
rate, may we not-safely believe that the angels of God amount 
to more than 72,000?

Verse 54. But how then] Had I such a defense-shall the 
Scriptures be fulfilled, which say, that thus it must be? 
That is, that I am to suffer and die for the sin of the 
world. Probably the Scriptures to which our Lord principally 
refers are Psa 22, 69, and especially Isaiah 53, and Dan. ix. 
24-27. Christ shows that they had no power against him but 
what he permitted; and that he willingly gave up himself into 
their hands.

Verse 55. Are ye come out as against a thief] At this time 
Judea was much infested by robbers, so that armed men were 
obliged to be employed against them-to this our Lord seems to 
allude. See on ver. 52.

I sat daily with you] Why come in this hostile manner? Every 
day, for four days past, ye might have met with me in the 
temple, whither I went to teach you the way of salvation. See 
on Matthew xxi. 17.

Verse 56. But all this was done] This is probably the 
observation of the evangelist. See on chap. ii. 23.

Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.] O what is man! 
How little is even his utmost sincerity to be depended on! 
Jesus is abandoned by all!-even zealous Peter and loving John 
are among the fugitives! Was ever master so served by his 
scholars? Was ever parent so treated by his children? Is 
there not as much zeal and love among them all as might make 
one martyr for God and truth? Alas! no. He had but twelve who 
professed inviolable attachment to him; one of these betrayed 
him, another denied him with oaths, and the rest run away and 
utterly abandon him to his implacable enemies! Are there not 
found among his disciples still, 1st.

Persons who betray him and his cause? 2dly. Persons who deny 
him and his people? 3dly. Persons who abandon him, his 
people, his cause, and his truth? Reader! dost thou belong to 
any of these classes?

Verse 57. They-led him away to Caiaphas] John says, John 
xviii. 13, that they led him first to Annas; but this appears 
to have been done merely to do him honour as the father-in-
law of Caiaphas, and his colleague in the high priesthood. 
But as the Sanhedrin was assembled at the house of Caiaphas, 
it was there he must be brought to undergo his mock trial: 
but see on John xviii. 13.

Verse 58. Peter followed him afar off] Poor Peter! this is 
the beginning of his dreadful fall. His fear kept him from 
joining the company, and publicly acknowledging his Lord; and 
his affection obliged him to follow at a distance that he 
might see the end.

And sat with the servants, to see the end.] When a man is 
weak in faith, and can as yet only follow Christ at a 
distance, he should avoid all dangerous places, and the 
company of those who are most likely to prove a snare to him. 
Had not Peter got to the high priest's palace, and sat down 
with the servants, he would not thus have denied his Lord and 
Master.

Servants-officers, uphretwn. Such as we term serjeants, 
constables, &c.

Verse 59. All the council sought false witness] What a 
prostitution of justice!-they first resolve to ruin him, and 
then seek the proper means of effecting it: they declare him 
criminal, and after that do all they can to fix some crime 
upon him, that they may appear to have some shadow of justice 
on their side when they put him to death. It seems to have 
been a common custom of this vile court to employ false 
witness, on any occasion, to answer their own ends. See this 
exemplified in the case of Stephen, Acts vi. 11-13.

Verse 60. Though many false witnesses came] There is an 
unaccountable confusion in the MSS. in this verse: without 
stating the variations, which may be seen in Griesbach, I 
shall give that which I believe to be the genuine sense of 
the evangelist. Then the chief priests and elders, and all 
the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him 
to death; but they found it not, though many false witnesses 
came up. At last two false witnesses came up, saying; This 
man said, &c. It is the property of falsity to be ever 
inconsistent, and to contradict itself; therefore they could 
not find two consistent testimonies, without which the Jewish 
law did not permit any person to be put to death. However, 
the hand of God was in this business: for the credit of 
Jesus, and the honour of the Christian religion, he would not 
permit him to be condemned on a false accusation; and, 
therefore, at last they were obliged to change their ground, 
and, to the eternal confusion of the unrighteous council, he 
is condemned on the very evidence of his own innocence, 
purity, and truth!

Verse 61. I am able to destroy the temple of God] 1st. These 
words were not fairly quoted. Jesus had said, John ii. 19, 
Destroy this temple, and I will build it again in three days. 
2dly. The inuendo which they produce, applying these words to 
a pretended design to destroy the temple at Jerusalem, was 
utterly unfair; for these words he spoke of the temple of his 
body. It is very easy, by means of a few small alterations, 
to render the most holy things and innocent persons odious to 
the world, and even to take away the life of the innocent.

Verse 62. Answerest thou nothing?] The accusation was so 
completely frivolous that it merited no notice: besides, 
Jesus knew that they were determined to put him to death, and 
that his hour was come; and that therefore remonstrance or 
defense would be of no use: he had often before borne 
sufficient testimony to the truth.

Verse 63. I adjure thee by the living God] I put thee to thy 
oath. To this solemn adjuration Christ immediately replies, 
because he is now called on, in the name of God, to bear 
another testimony to the truth. The authority of God in the 
most worthless magistrate should be properly respected. 
However necessary our Lord saw it to be silent, when the 
accusations were frivolous, and the evidence contradictory, 
he felt no disposition to continue this silence, when 
questioned concerning a truth, for which he came into the 
world to shed his blood.

Verse 64. Thou hast said] That is, I am the Christ, the 
promised Messiah, (see on ver. 25;) and you and this whole 
nation shall shortly have the fullest proof of it: for 
hereafter, in a few years, ye shall see the Son of man 
sitting on the right hand of power, fully invested with 
absolute dominion, and coming in the clouds of heaven, to 
execute judgment upon this wicked race. See chap. xxiv. 30. 
Our Lord appears to refer to Dan. vii. 13: One like the Son 
of man came with the clouds of heaven, &c. This may also 
refer to the final judgment.

Verse 65. The high priest rent his clothes] This rending of 
the high priest's garments was expressly contrary to the law, 
Leviticus x. 6: xxi. 10.

But it was a common method of expressing violent grief, 
Genesis xxxvii. 29, 34; Job i. 20, and horror at what was 
deemed blasphemous or impious. 2 Kings xviii. 37; xix. 1; 
Acts xiv. 14. All that heard a blasphemous speech were 
obliged to rend their clothes, and never to sew them up 
again. See Lightfoot.

He hath spoken blasphemy] Quesnel's note on this is worthy of 
notice.

"See here a false zeal, a mask of religion, and a passionate 
and seditious way of proceeding, tending only to incense and 
stir up others, all which are common to those who would 
oppress truth by cabal, and without proof.

By crying out, 'heresy, blasphemy, and faction,' though 
contrary to all appearance, men fail not to stir up those in 
power, to gain the simple, to give some shadow of authority 
to the ill-disposed, to cast devout but ignorant people into 
scruples, and thereby to advance the mystery of iniquity, 
which is the mystery of all ages." This was the very plan his 
Catholic brethren adopted in this country, in the reign of 
Queen Mary, called the bloody queen, because of the many 
murders of righteous men which she sanctioned at the mouth of 
her Catholic priesthood.

Verse 66. He is guilty of death.] enocov qanatou esti, he is 
liable to death. All the forms of justice are here violated. 
The judge becomes a party and accuser, and proceeds to the 
verdict without examining whether all the prophecies 
concerning the Messiah, and the innumerable miracles which he 
wrought, did not justify him. Examination and proof are the 
ruin of all calumnies, and of the authors of them, and 
therefore they take care to keep off from these two things. 
See Quesnel.

Verse 67. Then did they spit in his face] This was done as a 
mark of the most profound contempt. See Job xvi. 10; xxx. 10; 
Isa. l. 6; Micah v. 1.

The judges now delivered him into the hands of the mob.

And buffeted him] Smote him with their fists, ekolafisan. 
This is the translation of Theophylact. kolafizein, says he, 
means, "to beat with the hand, the fingers being clenched. 
sugkamtomenwn twn daktulwn, or, to speak more briefly, to 
buffet with the fist." Smote him with the palms of their 
hands] errapisan. rapizw, says Suidas, means "pataxai thn 
gnaqon aplh th ceiri, to smite the cheek with the open hand." 
Thus they offered him indignity in all its various and 
vexatious forms. Insults of this kind are never forgiven by 
the world: Jesus not only takes no revenge, (though it be 
completely in his power,) but bears all with meekness, 
without even one word of reply.

Verse 68. Prophesy unto us, thou Christ] Their conduct toward 
him now was expressly prophesied of, by a man whose Divine 
mission they did not pretend to deny; see Isa. l. 6. It 
appears that, before they buffeted him, they bound up his 
eyes, See Mark xiv. 65.

Verse 69. A damsel came unto him] A maid servant, paidiskh. 
See this translation vindicated by Kypke.

Thou also wast with Jesus] What a noble opportunity had Peter 
now to show his zeal for the insulted cause of truth, and his 
attachment to his Master. But, alas! he is shorn of his 
strength. Constables and maid servants are no company for an 
apostle, except when he is delivering to them the message of 
salvation. Evil communications corrupt good manners.

Had Peter been in better company, he would not have had so 
foul a fall.

Verse 70. But he denied before them all] So the evil 
principle gains ground. Before, he followed at a distance, 
now he denies; this is the second gradation in his fall.

Verse 71. Unto them that were there] Instead of legei toiv 
ekei? kai, more than one hundred MSS., many of which are of 
the first authority and antiquity, have legei autoiv? ekei 
kai, she saith unto them, this man was THERE also. I rather 
think this is the genuine reading. toiv might have been 
easily mistaken for autoiv, if the first syllable au were but 
a little faded in a MS. from which others were copied: and 
then the placing of the point after ekei? instead of after 
autoiv? would naturally follow, as placed after toiv, it 
would make no sense. Griesbach approves of this reading.

Verse 72. And again he denied with an oath] This is a third 
gradation of his iniquity. He has told a lie, and he swears 
to support it. A liar has always some suspicion that his 
testimony is not credited, for he is conscious to his own 
falsity, and is therefore naturally led to support his 
assertions by oaths.

Verse 73. Thy speech] Thy manner of speech, h lalia sou, that 
dialect of thine-his accent being different from that of 
Jerusalem. From various examples given by Lightfoot and 
Schoettgen, we find that the Galileans had a very corrupt 
pronunciation, frequently interchanging a, h, t, and [ , and 
so blending or dividing words as to render them 
unintelligible, or cause them to convey a contrary sense.

Bewrayeth thee.] dhlou se poiei, maketh thee manifest, from 
the Anglo-saxon , to accuse, betray; a word long since lost 
from our language.

Verse 74. Then began he to curse and to swear] Rather, Then 
he began positively to affirm-kataqematizein, from kata 
intensive, and tiqhmi, I lay down, place, affirm. But the 
common reading is katanaqematizein, which signifies to wish 
curses on himself. The former reading is supported by almost 
every MS. of value, and is, beyond dispute, the true reading, 
and has been received by Griesbach into the text. The 
business is bad enough, but the common reading makes it 
worse. In ver. 72, Peter is said to deny with an oath; here, 
he positively affirms and swears, probably by the name of 
God, for this is the import of the word omnuein.

This makes the fourth and final gradation in the climax of 
Peter's fall. From these awful beginnings it is not unfair to 
conclude that Peter might have gone almost as far as Judas 
himself, had not the traitorous business been effected 
before. Yet all this evil sprung simply from the fear of man. 
How many denials of Christ and his truth have sprung since, 
from the same cause! The cock crew] This animal becomes, in 
the hand of God, the instrument of awaking the fallen 
apostle, at last, to a sense of his fall, danger, and duty. 
When abandoned of God, the smallest thing may become the 
occasion of a fall; and, when in the hand of God, the 
smallest matter may become the instrument of our restoration. 
Let us never think lightly of what are termed little sins: 
the smallest one has the seed of eternal ruin in it. Let us 
never think contemptibly of the feeblest means of grace: each 
may have the seed of eternal salvation in it. Let us ever 
remember that the great Apostle Peter fell through fear of a 
servant maid, and rose through the crowing of a cock.

Verse 75. Peter remembered the word of Jesus] St. Luke says, 
Luke xxii. 61, The Lord turned and looked upon Peter. So it 
appears he was nigh to our Lord, either at the time when the 
cock crew, or shortly after. The delicacy of this reproof was 
great-he must be reproved and alarmed, otherwise he will 
proceed yet farther in his iniquity; Christ is in bonds, and 
cannot go and speak to him; if he call aloud, the disciple is 
discovered, and falls a victim to Jewish malice and Roman 
jealousy; he therefore does the whole by a look. In the hand 
of Omnipotence every thing is easy, and he can save by a few, 
as well as by many.

He went out] He left the place where he had sinned, and the 
company which had been the occasion of his transgression.

And wept bitterly.] Felt bitter anguish of soul, which 
evidenced itself by the tears of contrition which flowed 
plentifully from his eyes. Let him that standeth take heed 
lest he fall! Where the mighty have been slain, what shall 
support the feeble? Only the grace of the ALMIGHTY God.

This transaction is recorded by the inspired penmen, 1st. 
That all may watch unto prayer, and shun the occasions of 
sin. 2dly. That if a man be unhappily overtaken in a fault, 
he may not despair, but cast himself immediately with a 
contrite heart on the infinite tenderness and compassion of 
God. See the notes on John xviii. 27.

I have touched on the subject of our Lord's anointing but 
slightly in the preceding notes, because the controversy upon 
this point is not yet settled; and, except to harmonists, it 
is a matter of comparatively little importance. Bishop 
Newcome has written largely on this fact, and I insert an 
extract from his notes.

BISHOP NEWCOME'S ACCOUNT OF THE ANOINTING OF OUR LORD "The 
histories of Jesus' unction, in Matthew, Mark, and John, are 
accounts of the same fact. Hoc fixum maneat, eandem ab 
omnibus historiam referri. Calv. Harm. p. 375.

"The following objections to this position occur in 
Lightfoot, Whiston, Whitby, and Macknight.

1st. "The unction recorded by St. John happens six days 
before the passover; but the other unction is fixed to the 
second day before that feast.

"Ans. The day of the entertainment related John xii. 2, is 
not restrained to the sixth day before the passover. Quo die 
factum illi fuerit convivium, in quo a Maria unctus est, 
Johannes non exprimit. Calv. Harm. Johann. p.
144. John xii. 12, 13, much people are said to meet Jesus on 
the day after his arrival at Bethany, not on the day after 
his unction. See John xii. 9. St. John has recorded events on 
the sixth and on the fifth day before the passover; and then, 
John xiii. 1, he proceeds to the evening on which the 
passover was eaten. On this account he anticipates the 
history of Jesus's unction; and he naturally anticipates it 
on mentioning the place where it happened.

2dly. "The scene in St. John is the house of Martha, or of 
Lazarus; in the other evangelists, that of Simon the leper.

"Ans. St. John lays the scene in general at Bethany. "It 
seems probable that Lazarus would not have been called eiv 
twn anakeimenwn, if he had been the host.

"Martha, the sister of Lazarus, might show Jesus honour by 
ministering to him in any house as well as her own. 'She was 
Simon's neighbour, and perhaps his relation,' Dr. Priestley, 
Harm. p. 102. Our Lord's affection for Lazarus and his 
sister, and the recent miracle wrought on Lazarus, were very 
sufficient reasons for Simon's invitation of such 
neighbouring guests.

3dly. "St. John mentions the feet of Jesus as anointed by 
Mary, and wiped with her hair; the other evangelists say that 
the ointment was poured on Jesus's head.

"Ans. It is no where asserted that the unction was of Jesus's 
head only, or of his feet only: both actions are consistent; 
and St. John, in his supplemental history, may very well have 
added the respectful conduct of Mary, that, after having 
anointed Jesus's head, she proceeded to anoint his feet, and 
even to wipe them with her hair.

4thly. "In St. John, Judas alone murmurs: in St. Matthew, the 
disciples have indignation; or, as St. Mark expresses it, 
some have indignation among themselves.

"Ans. Dr. Lardner says, Serm. vol. ii. p. 316: 'It is well 
known to be very common with all writers to use the plural 
number when one person only is intended; nor is it impossible 
that others might have some uneasiness about it, though they 
were far from being so disgusted at it as Judas was.

And their concern for the poor was sincere: his was self-
interested and mere pretense.' Grotius's words are: 
Reprehensa est hoc nomine mulier ab uno discipulorum; nam ita 
pluralis accipi solet.

5thly. "The vindications of the woman by our Lord differ so 
much as to show that the occasions were different.

"Ans. St, John's words are indeed thus misinterpreted by 
Baronius: Let her alone, that she may keep it against the day 
of my burial, alluding to, Mark xvi. 1. See Lightfoot, Harm. 
p. 27. See also Lightfoot, ib. l. 251. 'She hath kept it yet, 
and not spent all; that she may bestow it on a charitable 
use, the anointing of my body to its burial.' "Whiston also, 
Harm. 129, gives a wrong sense to the words. She hath spent 
but little of it now: she hath reserved the main part of it 
for a fitter time, the day before my delivery to the Jews; 
making this a prediction of what passed, ver. 6-13; Mark xiv. 
3-9. It must be observed that John xii. 7, there is a 
remarkable various reading: ina eiv thn hmeran tou 
entafiasmou mou thrhsh auto. See Wetstein, and add Codd. 
Vercell.

and Veron. in Blanchini. Of this reading we have a sound 
interpretation in Mill, proleg. xlv. Sine eam ut opportune 
usa hoc unguento, velut ad sepulturam meam, jamjam occidendi, 
illud servasse ostendatur. And likewise in Bengelius ad loc. 
who observes that the common reading is, Faciioris sensus 
causta; and adds, Verbum thrhsh servaret, pendet ex 
praeterito, cujus vis latet in afev authn, i.e. Noli 
reprehendere hanc, quoe unguentum ideo nec vendidit, nec 
pauperibus dedit, ut, &c. And the common reading is thus 
rightly explained by Lightfoot, 2, 588. 'If Baronius's 
exposition do not take, then add this clause:-Let her alone; 
for this may be an argument and sign that she hath not done 
this vainly, luxuriously, or upon any delicacy spent so 
costly an ointment upon me; because she hath reserved it for 
this time, wherein I am so near my grave and funeral, and 
poured it not on me before.' Lardner's comment, ubi supra, p. 
312, is applicable to the three evangelists. If this ointment 
were laid out upon a dead body, you would not think it too 
much. You may consider this anointing as an embalming of me. 
The words are a prediction of Christ's death, which was to 
happen on the third day after; and they are a prediction 
beautifully taken from the occasion. She has done this to 
embalm me, Matthew. She has anticipated the embalming of me, 
Mark.

She has not sold this ointment, and given it to the poor, 
that she might reserve it to this day, which is, as it were, 
the day of my embalming, so soon is my burial to follow, 
John.

"Dr. Scott, on Matthew, quotes the following passage from 
Theophylact: eqov hn toiv ioudaioiv meta murwn entafiazein ta 
swmata, wv kai oi aiguptioi epoioun, dia to ashpta threisqdi, 
kai aneu duswdiav. It was a custom among the Jews, as well as 
among the Egyptians, to embalm the bodies of the dead, as 
well to keep them from putrefaction, as to prevent offensive 
smells.

The expressions therefore of the three evangelists agree in 
sense and substance. I have explained the more difficult in 
St. John; leaving every one to his own judgment whether it be 
the true one or not; though I incline to think that the 
unusual phrase ought generally to be admitted into the text.

"6thly. In St. John, Mary anoints Jesus in Matthew and Mark, 
a woman not named.

"Ans. Lardner says, ubi supra, p. 315. 'St. John having 
before given the history of the resurrection of Lazarus, it 
was very natural for him, when he came to relate this 
anointing of our Lord, to say by whom it was done. But the 
two former evangelists having never mentioned Lazarus or his 
sisters in their Gospels, when they came to relate this 
action forbear to mention any name, and speak only of a 
certain woman. Luke x. 38-42, has an account of our Lord's 
being entertained at the house of Martha. But he says nothing 
of this anointing. If he had related it, I make no question 
that he, like St. John, would have said by whom it was done.' 
Upon the whole, there is no solid objection to the 
hypothesis, that we have three accounts of the same 
transaction. But it is incredible that there should be two 
unctions of Jesus, in Bethany, within four days, not plainly 
distinguished from each other; that the kind and price of the 
ointment should be the same; that the two actions should be 
censured in the same manner; and that words to the same 
effect should be used in defense of the woman who anointed 
Jesus, within so short a time, in the same place, and among 
the same persons. See Doddridge on John xii. 1. As to the 
precise time of this transaction, it is natural to conclude 
from the accounts of Matthew and Mark, that it happened two 
days before the passover. I had much pleasure in observing 
that Mr. Jebb, in his Harmony, assigns it the same order as I 
do. I likewise find in Ward's Dissertations, p. 112, the 
following remark.

'John only mentions the day when Jesus came to Bethany, 
without specifying the time when he was entertained there by 
Simon the leper; whereas the other two evangelists acquaint 
us with the day when that was done, and what followed upon 
it, with relation to Judas.' And again, Wall says, Critical 
Notes, v. 3. p. l2: 'Wednesday he seems to have stayed at 
Bethany, and supped there. At which supper, Mary, sister of 
Lazarus, poured that ointment on his body which he 
interpreted to be for his burial.' And on John xii. 2: 'This 
seems to be the same supper which Matthew and Mark do say was 
at the house of Simon the leper; for there it was that Mary 
anointed him. But then we must not take it to be the same 
night that he came to Bethany, but two days before the 
passover.' "That Judas went to the high priests on the 
evening or night of our Wednesday, may be collected from ver. 
14-17, and the parallel places in this harmony; and he seems 
to have acted partly in disgust at what had passed. This is a 
good argument for fixing the unction for Wednesday. As it 
will appear that the other apostles did not suspect his 
treachery, we may suppose that Judas withdrew himself 
clandestinely, probably after our Lord had retired to privacy 
and devotion. Our Lord's words, chap. x16: 2, may have led 
Mary to show this respect to Jesus, lest no future 
opportunity should offer. See Lardner, ubi supra, p. 327. Dr. 
Priestley thinks that 'if the verses that contain this story 
in ver. 6-13, be considered, they will be found to stand very 
awkwardly in their present situation, where they interrupt an 
account of a consultation among the Jews about putting Jesus 
to death.' Harm. p. 100. But it seems to me that the story 
has a remarkably apt connection with the preceding and 
subsequent history. The Jewish rulers consult how they may 
take Jesus by craft, and without raising a tumult among the 
people. An accident happens which offends one of Jesus's 
familiar attendants; who immediately repairs to Jesus's 
enemies, and receives from them a bribe to betray him in the 
absence of the multitude." Newcome's Harmony, Notes p. 39, 
&c.

I have added the above, not from a conviction that the point 
is so elucidated as to settle the controversy, but merely to 
place before the reader both sides of the question. Still, 
sub judice lis est; and any man may doubt, consistently with 
the most genuine piety, whether the relations given by the 
evangelists, concerning the anointing of our Lord, should be 
understood of two different unctions, at two different times, 
in two different places, by two different persons; or whether 
they are not different accounts, with some varying 
circumstances, of one and the same transaction. I incline, at 
present, to the former opinion, but it would be rash to 
decide where so many eminently learned and wise men have 
disagreed.

The question considered, whether our Lord ate the passover 
with his disciples before he suffered? Every candid person 
must allow that there are great difficulties relative to the 
time in which our Lord ate the last passover with his 
disciples. In the Introduction to my Discourse on the nature 
and design of the Holy Eucharist, I have examined this 
subject at large, and considered the four following opinions, 
viz. I. Our Lord did not eat the passover on the last year of 
his ministry. II. Our Lord did eat it that year; and at the 
same time with the Jews. III. He did eat it that year, but 
not at the same time with the Jews. IV. He did eat a passover 
of his own instituting, but widely differing from that eaten 
by the Jews. The two first opinions do not appear to be 
solidly supported. The two last are of the most importance, 
are the most likely, and may be harmonized. I shall introduce 
a few observations on each in this place. And I. On the 
opinion that "our Lord did eat the passover this year, but 
not at the same time with the Jews." Dr. Cudworth, who of all 
others has handled this subject best, has proved from the 
Talmud, Mishna, and some of the most reputable of the Jewish 
rabbins, that the ancient Jews, about our saviour's time, 
often solemnized as well the passovers as the other feasts, 
upon the ferias next before and after the Sabbaths. And, that 
as the Jews in ancient times reckoned the new moons, not 
according to astronomical exactness, but according to the 
fasiv, or moon's appearance: and, as this appearance might 
happen a day later than the real time, consequently there 
might be a whole day of difference in the time of celebrating 
one of these feasts, which depended on a particular day of 
the month; the days of the month being counted from the 
fasiv, or appearance of the new moon. As he describes the 
whole manner of doing this, both from the Babylonish Talmud, 
and from Maimonides, I shall give an extract from this part 
of his work, that my readers may have the whole argument 
before them.

"In the great or outer court there was a house called Beth 
Yazek, where the senate sat all the 30th day of every month, 
to receive the witnesses of the moon's appearance, and to 
examine them. If there came approved witnesses on the 30th 
day, who could state they had seen the new moon, the chief 
man of the senate stood up, and cried dqm mekuddash, it is 
sanctified; and the people standing by caught the word from 
him, and cried, Mekuddash! mekuddash! But if, when the 
consistory had sat all the day, and there came no approved 
witnesses of the phasis, or appearance of the new moon, then 
they made an intercalation of one day in the former month, 
and decreed the following one and thirtieth day to be the 
calends.

But if, after the fourth or fifth day, or even before the end 
of the month, respectable witnesses came from far, and 
testified they had seen the new moon in its due time, the 
senate were bound to alter the beginning of the month, and 
reckon it a day sooner, viz. from the thirtieth day.

"As the senate were very unwilling to be at the trouble of a 
second consecration, when they had even fixed on a wrong day, 
and therefore received very reluctantly the testimony of such 
witnesses as those last mentioned, they afterwards made a 
statute to this effect-That whatsoever time the senate should 
conclude on for the calends of the mouth, though it were 
certain they were in the wrong, yet all were bound to order 
their feasts according to it." This, Dr. Cudworth supposes, 
actually took place in the time of our Lord; and "as it is 
not likely that our Lord would submit to this perversion of 
the original custom, and that following the true fasiv, or 
appearance of the new moon, confirmed by sufficient 
witnesses, he and his disciples ate the passover on that day; 
but the Jews, following the pertinacious decree of the 
Sanhedrin, did not eat it till the day following." Dr. C. 
farther shows from Epiphanius, that there was a contention, 
qorubov, a tumult, among the Jews about the passover, that 
very year. Hence it is likely that what was the real paschal 
day to our Lord, his disciples, and many other pious Jews who 
adopted the true fasiv phasis, was only the preparation or 
antecedent evening to others, who acted on the decree of the 
senate. Besides, it is worthy of note, that not only the 
Karaites, who do not acknowledge the authority of the 
Sanhedrin, but also the rabbins themselves grant that, where 
the case is doubtful, the passover should be celebrated with 
the same ceremonies, two days together; and it was always 
doubtful, when the appearance of the new moon could not be 
fully ascertained.

Bishop Pearce supposes that it was lawful for the Jews to eat 
the paschal lamb at any time between the evening of Thursday, 
and that of Friday; and that this permission was necessary, 
because of the immense number of lambs which were to be 
killed for that purpose: as, in one year there were not fewer 
than 256,500 lambs offered. See Josephus, War, b. vii. c. 9. 
sect.

3. In ver. 17, it is said, Now the first day of the feast of 
unleavened bread, (th de prwth twn azumwn,) the disciples 
came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we 
prepare for thee to eat the passover? As the feast of 
unleavened bread did not begin till the day after the 
passover, the fifteenth day of the month, Lev. xxiii. 5, 6; 
Num. xxviii. 16, 17, this could not have been properly the 
first day of that feast; but, as the Jews began to eat 
unleavened bread on the fourteenth day, Exod. xii. 18, this 
day was often termed the first of unleavened bread.

Now it appears that the evangelists use it in this sense, and 
call even the paschal day by this name, see Mark xiv. 12; 
Luke xxii. 7.

At first view, this third opinion, which states that Christ 
did eat the passover with his disciples that year, but not in 
the same hour with the Jews; and that he expired on the cross 
the same hour in which the paschal lamb was killed, seems the 
most probable. For it appears, from what has already been 
remarked, that our Lord and his disciples ate the passover 
some hours before the Jews ate theirs; for they, according to 
custom, ate theirs at the end of the fourteenth day, but 
Christ appears to have eaten his the preceding evening, which 
was the beginning of the same sixth day of the week, or 
Friday, for the Jews began their day at sun-setting; we at 
midnight. Thus Christ ate the passover the same day with the 
Jews, but not on the same hour. Christ, therefore, kept this 
passover the beginning of the fourteenth day, the precise day 
in which the Jews had eaten their first passover in Egypt: 
see Exodus xii. 6-19. And in the same part of the same day in 
which they had sacrificed their first paschal lamb, viz. 
between the two evenings, i, e, between the sun's declining 
west and his setting, Jesus, our passover was sacrificed for 
us. For it was the third hour, in the course of between 9 and 
12, Mark xv. 25, that Christ was nailed to the cross: and in 
the course of the ninth hour, between 12 and 3 in the 
afternoon, chap. xxvii. 46; Mark xv. 34, Jesus, knowing that 
the antetype had accomplished every thing shadowed forth by 
the type, said, "It is FINISHED," tetelestai, completed, 
perfected, and, having thus said, he bowed his head, and 
dismissed his spirit. See on John xix. 14,30.

Probably there is but one objection of any force that lies 
against the opinion, that our Lord ate his passover some 
hours before the Jews in general ate theirs; which is that, 
if our Lord did eat the passover the evening before the Jews 
in general ate theirs, it could not have been sacrificed 
according to the law; nor is it at all likely that the blood 
was sprinkled at the foot of the altar. If, therefore, the 
blood was not thus sprinkled by one of the priests, that 
which constituted the very essence of the rite, as ordained 
by God, was lacking in that celebrated by our Lord.

To this it is answered:-First, we have already seen that, in 
consequence of the immense number of sacrifices to be offered 
on the paschal solemnity, it is highly probable the Jews were 
obliged to employ two days for this work. It is not at all 
likely that the blood of 256,500 lambs could be shed and 
sprinkled at one altar, in the course of one day, by all the 
priests in Jerusalem, or indeed in the Holy Land; since they 
had but that one altar where they could legally sprinkle the 
blood of the victims.

Secondly, we have also seen that, in cases of doubt relative 
to the time of the appearance of the new moon, the Jews were 
permitted to hold the passover both days; and that it is 
probable such a dubious case existed at the time in question. 
In any of these cases the lamb might have been killed and its 
blood sprinkled according to the rules and ceremonies of the 
Jewish Church.

Thirdly, as our Lord was the true paschal lamb, who was, in a 
few hours after this time, to bear away the sin of the world, 
he might dispense with this part of the ceremony, and act as 
Lord of his own institution in this, as he had done before in 
the case of the Sabbath. At any rate, as it seems probable 
that he ate the passover at this time, and that he died about 
the time the Jews offered theirs, it may be fully presumed 
that he left nothing undone towards a due performance of the 
rite which the present necessity required, or the law of God 
could demand.

The objection that our Lord and his disciples appear to have 
sat or reclined at table all the time they ate what is 
supposed above to have been the passover, contrary to the 
paschal institution, which required them to eat it standing, 
with their staves in their hands, their loins girded, and 
their shoes on, cannot be considered as having any great 
weight in it; for, though the terms anekeito, ver. 20, and 
anepese, Luke xxii. 14, are used in reference to their eating 
that evening, and these words signify reclining at table, or 
on a couch, as is the custom of the orientals, it does not 
follow that they must necessarily be restrained to that 
meaning; nor does it appear that this part of the ceremony 
was much attended to, perhaps not at all, in the latter days 
of the Jewish Church.

The second opinion which we have to examine is this: Our Lord 
did eat a passover of his own instituting, but widely 
different from that eaten by the Jews.

Mr. Toinard, in his Greek Harmony of the Gospels, strongly 
contends that our Lord did not eat what is commonly called 
the passover this year, but another, of a mystical kind. His 
chief arguments are the following:-It is indubitably evident, 
from the text of St. John, that the night on the beginning of 
which our Lord supped with his disciples, and instituted the 
holy sacrament, was not that on which the Jews celebrated the 
passover; but the preceding evening, on which the passover 
could not be legally offered. The conclusion is evident from 
the following passages: John xiii. 1.

Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus knowing, &c. John 
xiii. 2. And supper, (not the paschal, but an ordinary 
supper,) being ended, &c. John xiii. 27. That thou doest, do 
quickly. John xiii. 28. Now no one at the table knew for what 
intent he spake this. John xiii. 29. For some thought, 
because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy 
what we have need of against the feast, &c. John xviii. 28. 
Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas to the hall of judgment, 
and it was early; and they themselves went not into the 
judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they 
might eat the passover. John xix. 14. And it was the 
preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour. Now as 
it appears that at this time the disciples thought our Lord 
had ordered Judas to go and bring what was necessary for the 
passover, and they were then supping together, it is evident 
that it was not the paschal lamb on which they were supping; 
and it is as evident, from the unwillingness of the Jews to 
go into the hall of judgment, that they had not as yet eaten 
the passover. These words are plain, and can be taken in no 
other sense, without offering them the greatest violence.

Mr. Toinard, having found that our Lord was crucified the 
sixth day of the week, (Friday,) during the paschal 
solemnity, in the thirty-third year of the vulgar aera, and 
that the paschal moon of that year was not in conjunction 
with the sun till the afternoon of Thursday the 19th of 
March, and that the new moon could not be seen in Judea until 
the following day, (Friday,) concluded that the intelligence 
of the fasiv, or appearance of the new moon, could not be 
made by the witnesses to the beth din, or senate, sooner than 
Saturday morning, the 21st of March. That the first day of 
the first Jewish month, Nisan, could not continence that 
thirty-third year sooner than the setting of the sun on 
Friday, March 20th; and, consequently, that Friday, April 3d, 
on which Christ died, was the 14th of Nisan, (not the 15th,) 
the day appointed by the law for the celebration of the 
passover. All these points he took care to have ascertained 
by the nicest astronomical calculations, in which he was 
assisted by a very eminent astronomer and mathematician, 
Bullialdus. (Mr. Bouilleau.) These two last opinions, 
apparently contradictory, and which alone, of all those 
offered on the subject, deserve consideration, may be brought 
to harmonize. That Jesus ate the passover with his disciples 
the evening before the Jews ate theirs, seems pretty clearly 
proved from the text of St. Luke, and the arguments founded 
on that text.

All that is assumed there, to make the whole consistent, is, 
that the Jews that year held the passover both on the 13th 
and 14th of Nisan, because of the reasons already assigned: 
and that therefore Peter and John, who were employed on this 
business, might have got the blood legally sprinkled by the 
hands of a priest, which was all that was necessary to the 
legality of the rite.

But, secondly, should it appear improbable that such double 
celebration took place at this time, and that our Lord could 
not have eaten the passover that year with his disciples, as 
he died on the very hour on which the paschal lamb was slain, 
and consequently before he could legally eat the passover, 
how then can the text of St. Luke be reconciled with this 
fact? I answer, with the utmost ease; by substituting a 
passover for the passover, and simply assuming that our Lord 
at this time instituted the holy EUCHARIST, in place of the 
PASCHAL LAMB: and thus it will appear he ate a passover with 
his disciples the evening before his death, viz. the mystical 
passover, or sacrament of his body and blood; and that this 
was the passover which he so ardently longed to eat with his 
disciples before he suffered. This is the opinion of Mr. 
Toinard, and, if granted, solves every difficulty. Thus the 
whole controversy is brought into a very narrow compass: Our 
Lord did eat a passover with his disciples some short time 
before he died:-the question is, What passover did he eat-the 
regular legal passover, or a mystical one? That he ate a 
passover is, I think, demonstrated: but whether the literal 
or mystical one, is a matter of doubt.

On this point, good and learned men may innocently hesitate 
and differ: but on either hypothesis, the text of the 
evangelists is unimpeachable, and all shadow of contradiction 
done away: for the question then rests on the peculiar 
meaning of names and words. On this hypothesis, the 
preparation of the passover must be considered as implying no 
more than-1. Providing a convenient room. 2. Bringing water 
for the baking on the following day, because on that day the 
bringing of the water would have been unlawful. 3.

Making inquisition for the leaven, that every thing of this 
kind might be removed from the house where the passover was 
to be eaten, according to the very strict and awful command 
of God, Exod. xii. 15-20; xxiii. 15; xxxiv. 25.

These, it is probable, were the acts of preparation which the 
disciples were commanded to perform, ver. 17; Mark xiv. 13, 
14; Luke xxii. 8-11, and which, on their arrival at the city, 
they punctually executed. See ver. 19; Mark xiv. 16; Luke 
xxii. 13. Thus every thing was prepared, and the holy 
sacrament instituted, which should, in the Christian Church, 
take place of the Jewish passover, and continue to be a 
memorial of the sacrifice which Christ was about to make by 
his death on the cross: for as the paschal lamb had showed 
forth his death till he came, this death fulfilled the design 
of the rite, and sealed up the vision and prophecy.

All preparations for the true paschal sacrifice being now 
made, Jesus was immediately betrayed, shortly after 
apprehended, and in a few hours expired upon the cross. It is 
therefore very likely that he did not literally eat the 
passover this year; and may I not add, that it is more than 
probable that the passover was not eaten in the whole land of 
Judea on this occasion? The rending of the vail of the 
temple, chap. xxvii. 51; Mark xv. 38; Luke xxiii. 45, the 
terrible earthquake, chap. xxvii. 51-54; the dismal and 
unnatural darkness, which was over the whole land of Judea, 
from the sixth hour, (twelve o'clock,) to the ninth hour 
(i.e. three o'clock in the afternoon,) with all the other 
prodigies which took place on this awful occasion, we may 
naturally conclude, were more than sufficient to terrify and 
appal this guilty nation, and totally to prevent the 
celebration of the paschal ceremonies. Indeed, the time in 
which killing the sacrifices, and sprinkling the blood of the 
lambs, should have been performed, was wholly occupied with 
these most dreadful portents; and it would be absurd to 
suppose that, under such terrible evidences of the Divine 
indignation, any religious ordinances or festive preparations 
could possibly have taken place.

My readers will probably be surprised to see the preceding 
opinions so dissentient among themselves, and the plausible 
reasons by which they are respectively supported, where each 
seems by turns to prevail. When I took up the question, I had 
no suspicion that it was encumbered with so many 
difficulties. These I now feel and acknowledge; nevertheless, 
I think the plan of reconciling the texts of the evangelists, 
particularly St. Luke and St. John, which I have adopted 
above, is natural, and, I am in hopes, will not appear 
altogether unsatisfactory to my readers. On the subject, 
circumstanced as it is, hypothesis alone can prevail; for 
indubitable evidence and certainty cannot be obtained. The 
morning of the resurrection is probably the nearest period in 
which accurate information on this point can be expected. Je 
suis trompe, says Bouilleau, si cete question peut etre 
jamais bien eclaircie. "If I be not mistaken, this question 
will never be thoroughly understood." It would be 
presumptuous to say, Christ did eat the passover this last 
year of his ministry: it would be as hazardous to say he did 
not eat it. The middle way is the safest; and it is that 
which is adopted above. One thing is sufficiently evident, 
that Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed for us; 
and that he has instituted the holy eucharist, to be a 
perpetual memorial of that his precious death until his 
coming again: and they who, with a sincere heart, and true 
faith in his passion and death, partake of it, shall be made 
partakers of his most blessed body and blood. Reader, praise 
God for the atonement, and rest not without an application of 
it to thy own soul.

CHAPTER xxvii

In the morning, Christ is bound and delivered to Pontius 
Pilate, 1, 2. Judas, seeing his Master condemned, repents, 
acknowledges his transgression to the chief priests, attests 
Christ's innocence, throws down the money, and goes and hangs 
himself, 3-5. They buy the potter's field with the money, 6-
10. Christ, questioned by Pilate, refuses to answer, 11-14. 
Pilate, while inquiring of the Jews whether they would have 
Jesus or Barabbas released, receives a message from his wife 
to have nothing to do in this wicked business, 15-19. The 
multitude, influenced by the chief priests and elders, desire 
Barabbas to be released, and Jesus to be crucified, 20-23. 
Pilate attests his innocence, and the people make themselves 
and their posterity responsible for his blood, 24, 25. 
Barabbas is released, and Christ is scourged, 26. The 
soldiers strip him, clothe him with a scarlet robe, crown him 
with thorns, mock, and variously insult him, 27-31. Simon 
compelled to bear his cross, 32. They bring him to Golgotha, 
give him vinegar mingled with gall to drink, crucify him, and 
cast lots for his raiment, 33-36. His accusation, 37. Two 
thieves are crucified with him, 38. He is mocked and insulted 
while hanging on the cross, 39-44. The awful darkness, 45. 
Jesus calls upon God, is offered vinegar to drink, expires, 
46-50. Prodigies that accompanied and followed his death, 51-
53. He is acknowledged by the centurion, 54. Several women 
behold the crucifixion, 55, 56. Joseph of Arimathea begs the 
body of Pilate, and deposites it in his own new tomb, 57-60. 
The women watch the sepulchre, 61. The Jews consult with 
Pilate how they may prevent the resurrection of Christ, 62-
64. He grants them a guard for the sepulchre, and they seal 
the stone that stopped the mouth of the tomb where he was 
laid, 65, 66.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxvii

Verse 1. When the morning was come] As soon as it was light-
took counsel against Jesus. They had begun this counsel the 
preceding evening, see chap. xxvi. 59. But as it was contrary 
to all forms of law to proceed against a person's life by 
night, they seem to have separated for a few hours, and then, 
at the break of day, came together again, pretending to 
conduct the business according to the forms of law.

To put him to death] They had already determined his death, 
and pronounced the sentence of death on him; chap. xxvi. 66. 
And now they assemble under the pretense of reconsidering the 
evidence, and deliberating on it, to give the greater 
appearance of justice to their conduct. They wished to make 
it appear that "they had taken ample time to consider of it, 
and, from the fullest conviction, by the most satisfactory 
and conclusive evidence, they had now delivered him into the 
hands of the Romans, to meet that death to which they had 
adjudged him."

Verse 2. They-delivered him to Pontius Pilate] The Sanhedrin 
had the power of life and death in their own hands in every 
thing that concerned religion; but as they had not evidence 
to put Christ to death because of false doctrine, they wished 
to give countenance to their conduct by bringing in the civil 
power, and therefore they delivered him up to Pilate as one 
who aspired to regal dignities, and whom he must put to 
death, if he professed to be Caesar's friend. Pontius Pilate 
governed Judea ten years under the Emperor Tiberius; but, 
having exercised great cruelties against the Samaritans, they 
complained of him to the emperor, in consequence of which he 
was deposed, and sent in exile to Vienna, in Dauphiny, where 
he killed himself two years after.

Verse 3. Judas-when he saw that he was condemned, repented] 
There is much of the wisdom and goodness of God to be seen in 
this part of Judas's conduct. Had our Lord been condemned to 
death on the evidence of one of his own disciples, it would 
have furnished infidels with a strong argument against Christ 
and the Christian religion. "One of his own disciples, 
knowing the whole imposture, declared it to the Jewish 
rulers, in consequence of which he was put to death as an 
impostor and deceiver." But the traitor, being stung with 
remorse, came and acknowledged his crime, and solemnly 
declared the innocence of his Master, threw back the money 
which they gave him to induce him to do this villainous act; 
and, to establish the evidence which he now gave against them 
and himself, in behalf of the innocence of Christ, hanged 
himself, or died through excessive grief and contrition. Thus 
the character of Christ was rescued from all reproach; 
infidelity deprived of the power to cry "imposture!" and the 
Jewish rulers overwhelmed with eternal infamy. If it should 
ever be said, "One who knew him best delivered him up as an 
impostor,"-to this it may be immediately answered, "The same 
person, struck with remorse, came and declared his own guilt, 
and Christ's innocence; accused and convicted the Jewish 
rulers, in the open council, of having hired him to do this 
iniquitous action, threw them back the bribe they had given 
him, and then hanged himself through distress and despair, 
concluding his iniquity in this business was too great to be 
forgiven." Let him who chooses, after this plenary evidence 
to the innocence of Christ, continue the objection, and cry 
out imposture! take heed that he go not and do LIKEWISE. 
Caiaphas, Pilate, and Judas have done so already, and I have 
known several, who have called Christ an impostor, who have 
cut their own throats, shot, drowned, or hanged themselves. 
God is a jealous God, and highly resents every thing that is 
done and said against that eternal truth that came to man 
through Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit. Indeed, there is 
one class of Deists, viz. those who are vicious in their 
lives, and virulent in their opposition to Christianity, who 
generally bring themselves to an untimely end.

Verse 4. Innocent blood.] aima aqwon, a Hebraism, for an 
innocent man. But instead of aqwon, innocent, two ancient 
MSS., Syriac, Vulgate, Sahidic, Armenian, and all the Itala; 
Origen, Cyprian, Lucifer, Ambrose, Leo, read dikaion, 
righteous, or just.

What is that to us?] What is it?-A great deal. You should 
immediately go and reverse the sentence you have pronounced, 
and liberate the innocent person. But this would have been 
justice, and that would have been a stranger at their 
tribunal.

Verse 5. In the temple] naov signifies, properly, the temple 
itself, into which none but the priests were permitted to 
enter; therefore en tw naw must signify, near the temple, by 
the temple door, where the boxes stood to receive the free-
will offerings of the people, for the support and repairs of 
the sacred edifice. See this amply proved by Kypke.

Hanged himself] Or was strangled-aphgxato. Some eminent 
critics believe that he was only suffocated by excessive 
grief, and thus they think the account here given will agree 
with that in Acts i. 18. Mr. Wakefield supports this meaning 
of the word with great learning and ingenuity. I have my 
doubts-the old method of reconciling the two accounts appears 
to me quite plausible-he went and strangled himself, and the 
rope breaking, he fell down, and by the violence of the fall 
his body was bursted, and his bowels gushed out. I have 
thought proper, on a matter of such difficulty, to use the 
word strangled, as possessing a middle meaning between 
choking or suffocation by excessive grief, and hanging, as an 
act of suicide. See the note on chap. x. 4. Dr. Lightfoot is 
of opinion that the devil caught him up into the air, 
strangled him, and threw him down on the ground with 
violence, so that his body was burst, and his guts shed out! 
This was an ancient tradition.

Verse 6. The treasury] korbanan-the place whither the people 
brought their free-will offerings for the service of the 
temple, so called from the Hebrew brq korban, AN OFFERING, 
from brq karab, he drew nigh, because the person who brought 
the gift came nigh to that place where God manifested his 
glory between the cherubim, over the mercy-seat in the most 
holy place. It is from this idea that the phrase to draw nigh 
to God is taken, which is so frequently used in the sacred 
writings.

Because it is the price of blood.] "What hypocrites, as one 
justly exclaims, to adjudge an innocent man to death, and 
break the eternal laws of justice and mercy without scruple, 
and to be, at the same time, so very nice in their attention 
to a ceremonial direction of the law of Moses! Thus it is 
that the devil often deludes many, even among the priests, by 
a false and superstitious tenderness or conscience in things 
indifferent, while calumny, envy, oppression of the innocent, 
and a conformity to the world, give them no manner of trouble 
or disturbance." See Quesnel.

Verse 7. To bury strangers in.] toiv xenoiv, the strangers, 
probably meaning, as some learned men conjecture, the Jewish 
strangers who might have come to Jerusalem, either to 
worship, or on some other business, and died there during 
their stay. See here, the very money for which the blessed 
Jesus was sold becomes subservient to the purpose of mercy 
and kindness! The bodies of strangers have a place of rest in 
the field purchased by the price at which his life was 
valued, and the souls of strangers and foreigners have a 
place of rest and refuge in his blood which was shed as a 
ransom price for the salvation of the whole world.

Verse 8. The field of blood] In vain do the wicked attempt to 
conceal themselves; God makes them instrumental in 
discovering their own wickedness. Judas, by returning the 
money, and the priests, by laying it out, raise to themselves 
an eternal monument-the one of his treachery, the others of 
their perfidiousness, and both of the innocence of Jesus 
Christ.

As, long as the Jewish polity continued, it might be said, 
"This is the field that was bought from the potter with the 
money which Judas got from the high priests for betraying his 
Master; which he, in deep compunction of spirit, brought back 
to them, and they bought this ground for a burial-place for 
strangers: for as it was the price of the blood of an 
innocent man, they did not think proper to let it rest in the 
treasury of the temple where the traitor had thrown it, who 
afterwards, in despair, went and hanged himself." What a 
standing proof must this have been of the innocence of 
Christ, and of their perfidy!

Verse 9. Jeremy the prophet] The words quoted here are not 
found in the Prophet Jeremiah, but in Zech. xi. 13. But St. 
Jerome says that a Hebrew of the sect of the Nazarenes showed 
him this prophecy in a Hebrew apocryphal copy of Jeremiah; 
but probably they were inserted there only to countenance the 
quotation here.

One of Colbert's, a MS. of the eleventh century, has 
zaxariou, Zechariah; so has the later Syriac in the margin, 
and a copy of the Arabic quoted by Bengel. In a very elegant 
and correct MS. of the Vulgate, in my possession, written in 
the fourteenth century, Zachariam is in the margin, and 
Jeremiam in the text, but the former is written by a later 
hand.

Jeremiah is wanting in two MSS., the Syriac, later Persic, 
two of the Itala, and in some other Latin copies. It is very 
likely that the original reading was dia toi profhtou, and 
the name of no prophet mentioned. This is the more likely, as 
Matthew often omits the name of the prophet in his 
quotations. See chap. i. 22; ii. 5, 15; xiii. 35; xxi. 4. 
Bengel approves of the omission.

It was an ancient custom among the Jews, says Dr. Lightfoot, 
to divide the Old Testament into three parts: the first 
beginning with the law was called THE LAW; the second 
beginning with the Psalms was called THE PSALMS; the third 
beginning with the prophet in question was called JEREMIAH: 
thus, then, the writings of Zechariah and the other prophets 
being included in that division that began with Jeremiah, all 
quotations from it would go under the name of this prophet. 
If this be admitted, it solves the difficulty at once. Dr. 
Lightfoot quotes Baba Bathra, and Rabbi David Kimchi's 
preface to the prophet Jeremiah, as his authorities; and 
insists that the word Jeremiah is perfectly correct as 
standing at the head of that division from which the 
evangelist quoted, and which gave its denomination to all the 
rest. But Jeremiah is the reading in several MSS. of the 
Coptic. It is in one of the Coptic Dictionaries in the 
British Museum, and in a Coptic MS. of Jeremiah, in the library 
of St. Germain. So I am informed by the Rev. Henry Tattam, Rector 
of St Cuthbert's, Bedford.

Verse 11. Before the governor] My old MS. English Bible 
translates hghmwn Meyr cheef justyse, Presedent.

Art thou the King of the Jews?] The Jews had undoubtedly 
delivered him to Pilate as one who was rising up against the 
imperial authority, and assuming the regal office. See on 
Matthew xxvii. 2.

Verse 12. He answered nothing.] An answer to such accusations 
was not necessary: they sufficiently confuted themselves.

Verse 14. Marveled greatly.] Silence under calumny manifests 
the utmost magnanimity. The chief priests did not admire this 
because it confounded them; but Pilate, who had no interest 
to serve by it, was deeply affected. This very silence was 
predicted. Isa. liii. 7.

Verse 15. The governor was wont to release] Whence this 
custom originated among the Jews is not known,-probably it 
was introduced by the Romans themselves, or by Pilate, merely 
to oblige the Jews, by showing them this public token of 
respect; but if it originated with him, he must have had the 
authority of Augustus; for the Roman laws never gave such 
discretionary power to any governor.

Verse 16. A notable prisoner-Barabbas.] This person had, a 
short time before, raised an insurrection in Jerusalem, in 
which it appears, from Mark xv. 7, some lives were lost. In 
some MSS., and in the Armenian and Syriac Hieros., this man 
has the surname of Jesus. Professor Birch has discovered this 
reading in a Vatican MS., written in 949, and numbered 354, 
in which is a marginal note which has been attributed to 
Anastasius, bishop of Antioch, and to Chrysostom, which 
asserts that in the most ancient MSS.

the passage was as follows:-tina qelete apo twn duw apolusw 
umin, in ton barabban, h in ton legomenon xn: Which of the 
two do ye wish me to release unto you, Jesus Barabbas, or 
Jesus who is called Christ? As Jesus, or Joshua, was a very 
common name among the Jews, and as the name of the father was 
often joined to that of the son, as Simon Barjonah, Simon, 
son of Jonah; so it is probable it was the case here, Jesus 
Barabba, Jesus, son of Abba, or Abbiah. If this name were 
originally written as above, which I am inclined to believe, 
the general omission of JESUS in the MSS. may be accounted 
for from the over zealous scrupulosity of Christian copyists, 
who were unwilling that a murderer should, in the same verse, 
be honoured with the name of the Redeemer of the world. See 
Birch in New Test.

Verse 18. For envy] dia fqonon, through malice. Then it was 
his business, as an upright judge, to have dispersed this 
mob, and immediately released Jesus.

Seeing malice is capable of putting even Christ himself to 
death, how careful should we be not to let the least spark of 
it harbour in our breast. Let it be remembered that malice as 
often originates from envy as it does from anger.

Verse 19. I have suffered many things-in a dream] There is no 
doubt that God had appeared unto this woman, testifying the 
innocence of Christ, and showing the evils which should 
pursue Pilate if this innocent blood should be shed by his 
authority. See ver. 2.

Verse 20. Ask Barabbas] Who had raised an insurrection and 
committed murder-and to destroy Jesus, whose voice was never 
heard in their streets, and who had, during the space of 
three years and a half, gone about unweariedly, from village 
to village, instructing the ignorant, healing the diseased, 
and raising the dead.

Verse 21. They said, Barabbas.] What a fickle crowd! A little 
before they all hailed him as the Son of David, and 
acknowledged him as a gift from God; now they prefer a 
murderer to him! But this it appears they did at the 
instigation of the chief priests. We see here how dangerous 
wicked priests are in the Church of Christ; when pastors are 
corrupt, they are capable of inducing their flock to prefer 
Barabbas to Jesus, the world to God, and the pleasures of 
sense to the salvation of their souls. The invidious epithet 
which a certain statesman gave to the people at large was, in 
its utmost latitude, applicable to these Jews,-they were a 
SWINISH MULTITUDE.

Verse 22. What shall I do then with Jesus?] Showing, hereby, 
that it was his wish to release him.

Verse 23. What evil hath he done?] Pilate plainly saw that 
there was nothing laid to his charge for which, consistently 
with the Roman laws, he could condemn him.

But they cried out the more] What strange fury and injustice! 
They could not answer Pilate's question, What evil hath he 
done? He had done none, and they knew he had done none; but 
they are determined on his death.

Verse 24. Pilate-took water, and washed his hands] Thus 
signifying his innocence. It was a custom among the Hebrews, 
Greeks, and Latins, to wash the hands in token of innocence, 
and to show that they were pure from any imputed guilt. In 
case of an undiscovered murder, the elders of that city which 
was nearest to the place where the dead body was found, were 
required by the law, Deut. xxi. 1-10, to wash their hands 
over the victim which was offered to expiate the crime, and 
thus make public protestation of their own innocence. David 
says, I will wash my hands in innocence, so shall I compass 
thine altar, Psa. xxvi. 6. As Pilate knew Christ was 
innocent, he should have prevented his death: he had the 
armed force at his command, and should have dispersed this 
infamous mob. Had he been charged with countenancing a 
seditious person, he could have easily cleared himself, had 
the matter been brought before the emperor. He, therefore, 
was inexcusable.

Verse 25. His blood be on us and on our children.] If this 
man be innocent, and we put him to death as a guilty person, 
may the punishment due to such a crime be visited upon us, 
and upon our children after us! What a dreadful imprecation! 
and how literally fulfilled! The notes on chap. 24, will show 
how they fell victims to their own imprecation, being visited 
with a series of calamities unexampled in the history of the 
world.

They were visited with the same kind of punishment; for the 
Romans crucified them in such numbers when Jerusalem was 
taken, that there was found a deficiency of crosses for the 
condemned, and of places for the crosses. Their children or 
descendants have had the same curse entailed upon them, and 
continue to this day a proof of the innocence of Christ, the 
truth of his religion, and of the justice of God.

Verse 26. Scourged Jesus] This is allowed to have been a very 
severe punishment of itself among the Romans, the flesh being 
generally cut by the whips used for this purpose: so the 
poet:- - Horribili SECTERE flagello.

"To be cut by the horrible whip."-HOR. Sat. I. 3. 119. And 
sometimes it seems, they were whipped to death. See the same 
poet, Sat. I. 2. 41.- Ille FLAGELLIS AD MORTEM caesus. - See 
also HORAT. Epod. od. iv.

v. 11.

It has been thought that Pilate might have spared this 
additional cruelty of whipping; but it appears that it was a 
common custom to scourge those criminals which were to be 
crucified, (see Josephus Deuteronomy Bello, lib. ii. c. 25,) 
and lenity in Christ's case is not to be allowed; he must 
take all the misery in full tale.

Delivered him to be crucified.] Tacitos, the Roman historian, 
mentions the death of Christ in very remarkable terms:-Nero] 
quaesitissimis poenis is affecit, quos-vulgus CHRISTIANOS 
appellabat.

Auctor nominis ejus CHRISTUS, qui Tiberio imperitante, per 
Procuratorem Pontium Pilatum supplicio affectus erat.-" Nero 
put those who commonly went by the name of Christians to the 
most exquisite tortures. The author of this name was CHRIST, 
who was capitally punished in the reign of TIBERIUS, by 
PONTIUS PILATE the PROCURATOR."

Verse 27. The common hall] Or, praetorium. Called so from the 
praetor, a principal magistrate among the Romans, whose 
business it was to administer justice in the absence of the 
consul. This place night be termed in English the court 
house, or common hall.

Verse 28. Stripped him] Took off his mantle, or upper 
garment.

A scarlet robe] Or, according to Mark and John, a purple 
robe, such as emperors and kings wore.

Verse 29. A crown of thorns] stefanon ex akanqwn. It does not 
appear that this crown was intended to be an instrument of 
punishment or torture to his head, but rather to render him 
ridiculous; for which cause also they put a reed in his hand, 
by way of scepter, and bowed their knees, pretending to do 
him homage. The crown was not probably of thorns, in our 
sense of the word: there are eminently learned men who think 
that the crown was formed of the herb acanthus; and Bishop 
Pearce and Michaelis are of this opinion. Mark, Mark xv. 17, 
and John, John xix. 5, term it, stefanon akanqinon, which may 
very well be translated an acanthine crown or wreath, formed 
out of the branches of the herb acanthus, or bear's foot. 
This, however, is a prickly plant, though nothing like 
thorns, in the common meaning of that word. Many Christians 
have gone astray in magnifying the sufferings of Christ from 
this circumstance; and painters, the worst of all 
commentators, frequently represent Christ with a crown of 
long thorns, which one standing by is striking into his head 
with a stick.

These representations engender ideas both false and absurd.

There is a passage produced from Philo by Dr. Lardner, which 
casts much light on these indignities offered to our blessed 
Lord.

"Caligula, the successor of Tiberius, gave Agrippa the 
tetrarchy of his uncle Philip, with the right of wearing a 
diadem or crown. When he came to Alexandria, on his way to 
his tetrarchate, the inhabitants of that place, filled with 
envy at the thoughts of a Jew having the title of king, 
showed their indignation in the following way. They brought 
one Carabus (a sort of an idiot) into the theater; and, 
having placed him on a lofty seat, that he might be seen by 
all, they put a diadem upon his head, made of the herb 
byblos, (the ancient papyrus, or paper flag;) his body they 
covered with a mat or carpet, instead of a royal cloak. One 
seeing a piece of reed, papurou (the stem, probably, of the 
aforesaid herb) lying on the ground, picked it up, and put it 
in his hand in place of a scepter. Having thus given him a 
mock royal dress, several young fellows, with poles on their 
shoulders, came and stood on each side of him as his guards. 
Then there came people, some to pay their homage to him, some 
to ask justice, and some to consult him on affairs of state 
and the crowd that stood round about made a confused noise, 
crying, Mario, that being, as they say, the Syriac word for 
LORD; thereby showing that they intended to ridicule Agrippa, 
who was a Syrian." See PHILO, Flace. p. 970, and Dr. Lardner, 
Works, vol. i. p. 159.

There is the most remarkable coincidence between this account 
and that given by the evangelists; and the conjecture 
concerning the acanthus will probably find no inconsiderable 
support from the bylos and papyrus of Philo. This plant, 
Pliny says, grows to ten cubits long in the stem and the 
flowers were used ad deos coronandos, for CROWNING THE GODS. 
See Hist. Nat. lib. xiii. c. 11.

The reflections of pious Quesnel on these insults offered to 
our blessed Lord merit serious attention.

Let the crown of thorns make those Christians blush who throw 
away so much time, pains, and money, in beautifying and 
adorning a sinful head.

Let the world do what it will to render the royalty and 
mysteries of Christ contemptible, it is my glory to serve a 
King thus debased; my salvation, to adore that which the 
world despises; and my redemption, to go unto God through the 
merits of him who was crowned with thorns."

Verse 30. And they spit upon him] "Let us pay our adoration," 
says the same pious writer, "and humble ourselves in silence 
at the sight of a spectacle which faith alone renders 
credible, and which our senses would hardly endure. Jesus 
Christ, in this condition, preaches to the kings of the earth 
this truth-that their scepters are but reeds, with which 
themselves shall be smitten, bruised, and crushed at his 
tribunal, if they do not use them here to the advancement of 
his kingdom."

Verse 32. A man of Cyrene-him they compelled to bear his 
cross.] In John, John xix. 16, 17, we are told Christ himself 
bore the cross, and this, it is likely, he did for a part of 
the way; but, being exhausted with the scourging and other 
cruel usage which he had received, he was found incapable of 
bearing it alone; therefore they obliged Simon, not, I think, 
to bear it entirely, but to assist Christ, by bearing a part 
of it. It was a constant practice among the Romans, to oblige 
criminal to bear their cross to the place of execution: 
insomuch that Plutarch makes use of it as an illustration of 
the misery of vice. "Every kind of wickedness produces its 
own particular torment, just as every malefactor, when he is 
brought forth to execution, carries his own cross." See 
Lardner's Credib. vol. i. p. 160.

Verse 33. A place called Golgotha] From the Hebrew htglg or 
tlglg , golgoleth, a skull, probably so called from the many 
skulls of these who had suffered crucifixion and other 
capital punishments scattered up and down in the place. It is 
the same as Calvary, Calvaria, i.e. calvi capitis area, the 
place of bare skulls. Some think the place was thus called, 
because it was in the form of a human skull. It is likely 
that it was the place of public execution, similar to the 
Gemoniae Scalae at Rome.

Verse 34. They gave him vinegar-mingled with gall] Perhaps 
colh, commonly translated gall, signifies no more than 
bitters of any kind. It was a common custom to administer a 
stupefying potion compounded of sour wine, which is the same 
as vinegar, from the French vinaigre, frankincense, and 
myrrh, to condemned persons, to help to alleviate their 
sufferings, or so disturb their intellect that they might not 
be sensible of them. The rabbins say that they put a grain of 
frankincense into a cup of strong wine; and they ground this 
on Prov. xxxi. 6: Give strong drink unto him that is ready to 
perish, i.e. who is condemned to death. Some person, out of 
kindness, appears to have administered this to our blessed 
Lord; but he, as in all other cases, determining to endure 
the fullness of pain, refused to take what was thus offered 
to him, choosing to tread the winepress alone.

Instead of oxov, vinegar, several excellent MSS. and versions 
have oinon, wine; but as sour wine is said to have been a 
general drink of the common people and Roman soldiers, it 
being the same as vinegar, it is of little consequence which 
reading is here adopted. This custom of giving stupefying 
potions to condemned malefactors is alluded to in Prov. xxxi. 
6: Give strong drink, rq shekar, inebriating drink, to him 
who is ready to PERISH, and wine to him who is BITTER of 
soul-because he is just going to suffer the punishment of 
death. And thus the rabbins, as we have seen above, 
understand it. See Lightfoot and Schoettgen.

Michaelis offers an ingenious exposition of this place: 
"Immediately after Christ was fastened to the cross, they 
gave him, according to ver. 34, vinegar mingled with gall; 
but, according to Mark, they offered him wine mingled with 
myrrh. That St. Mark's account is the right one is probable 
from this circumstance, that Christ refused to drink what was 
offered him, as appears from both evangelists. Wine mixed 
with myrrh was given to malefactors at the place of 
execution, to intoxicate them, and make them less sensible to 
pain. Christ, therefore, with great propriety, refused the 
aid of such remedies. But if vinegar was offered him, which 
was taken merely to assuage thirst, there could be no reason 
for his rejecting it.

Besides, he tasted it before he rejected it; and therefore he 
must have found it different from that which, if offered to 
him, he was ready to receive. To solve this difficulty, we 
must suppose that the words used in the Hebrew Gospel of St. 
Matthew were such as agreed with the account given by St. 
Mark, and at the same time were capable of the construction 
which was put on them by St. Matthew's Greek translator. 
Suppose St. Matthew wrote aryrmb aylj (chaleea bemireera) 
which signifies, sweet wine with bitters, or sweet wine and 
myrrh, as we find it in Mark; and Matthew's translator 
overlooked the yod y in aylj (chaleea) he took it for alj 
(chala) which signifies vinegar; and bitter, he translated by 
colh, as it is often used in the Septuagint. Nay, St. Matthew 
may have written alj , and have still meant to express sweet 
wine; if so, the difference only consisted in the points; for 
the same word which, when pronounced chale, signifies sweet, 
denotes vinegar, as soon as it is pronounced chala." With 
this conjecture Dr. Marsh (Michaelis's translator) is not 
satisfied; and therefore finds a Chaldee word for oinov wine, 
which may easily be mistaken for one that denotes oxov 
vinegar; and likewise a Chaldee word, which signifies smurna, 
(myrrh,) which may be easily mistaken for one that denotes 
colh, (gall.) "Now," says he, " rmj (chamar) or armj 
(chamera) really denotes oinov (wine,) and Åmj (chamets) or 
axmj (charnetsa) really denotes oxov (vinegar.) Again, arwm 
(mura) really signifies smurna (myrrh,) and arrm (murera) 
really signifies colh (gall.) If, then, we suppose that the 
original Chaldee text was arwmb fylh armj (chamera heleet 
bemura) wine mingled with myrrh, which is not at all 
improbable, as it is the reading of the Syriac version, at 
Mark xv. 23, it might easily have been mistaken for arrmb 
fylh axmj (chametsa haleet bemurera) vinegar mingled with 
gall." This is a more ingenious conjecture than that of 
Michaelis. See Marsh's notes to Michaelis, vol. iii., part 
2d. p. 127-28. But as that kind of sour wine, which was used 
by the Roman soldiers and common people, appears to have been 
termed oinov, and vin aigre is sour wine, it is not difficult 
to reconcile the two accounts, in what is most material to 
the facts here recorded.

Verse 35. And they crucified him] Crucifixion properly means 
the act of nailing or tying to a cross. The cross was made of 
two beams, either crossing at the top at right angles, like a 
T, or in the middle of their length, like an X. There was, 
besides, a piece on the center of the transverse beam, to 
which the accusation or statement of the crime of the culprit 
was attached, and a piece of wood which projected from the 
middle, on which the person sat, as on a sort of saddle; and 
by which the whole body was supported. Tertullian mentions 
this particularly: Nobis, says he, tota crux imputatur, cum 
antenna scilicet sua, et cum illo SEDILLS excessu. Advers.

Nationes, lib. ii. Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho 
the Jew, gives precisely the same description of the cross; 
and it is worthy of observation that both he and Tertullian 
flourished before the punishment of the cross had been 
abolished. The cross on which our Lord suffered was of the 
former kind; being thus represented in all old monuments, 
coins, and crosses. St. Jerome compares it to a bird flying, 
a man swimming, or praying with his arms extended. The 
punishment of the cross was inflicted among the ancient 
Hindoos from time immemorial for various species of theft; 
see Halhead's Code of Gentoo Laws, p. 248, and was common 
among the Syrians, Egyptians, Persians, Africans, Greeks, and 
Romans: it is also still in use among the Chinese, who do not 
nail, but tie the criminal to it. It was probably the Romans 
who introduced it among the Jews.

Before they became subject to the Romans, they used hanging 
or gibbeting, but not the cross. This punishment was the most 
dreadful of all others, both for the shame and pain of it: 
and so scandalous, that it was inflicted as the last mark of 
detestation upon the vilest of people. It was the punishment 
of robbers and murderers, provided they were slaves; but if 
they were free, it was thought too infamous a punishment for 
such, let their crimes be what they might.

The body of the criminal was fastened to the upright beam, by 
nailing or tying the feet to it, and on the transverse piece 
by nailing, and sometimes tying the hands to it. As the hands 
and feet are the grand instruments of motion, they are 
provided with a greater quantity of nerves; and the nerves in 
those places, especially the hands, are peculiarly sensible. 
Now, as the nerves are the instruments of all sensation or 
feeling, wounds in the parts where they abound must be 
peculiarly painful; especially when inflicted with such rude 
instruments as large nails, forced through the places by the 
violence of a hammer; thus tearing asunder the nervous 
fibrillae, delicate tendons, and small bones of those parts. 
This punishment will appear dreadful enough, when it is 
considered that the person was permitted to hang (the whole 
weight of his body being borne up by his nailed hands and the 
projecting piece which passed between the thighs) till he 
perished through agony and lack of food. Some, we are 
informed, have lived three whole days in this state. It is 
true that, in some cases, there was a kind of mercy shown to 
the sufferer, which will appear sufficiently horrid, when it 
is known that it consisted in breaking the bones of their 
legs and thighs to pieces with a large hammer, in order to 
put them the sooner out of pain! Such a coup de grace as this 
could only spring from those tender mercies of the wicked 
which God represents as cruelty itself. Some were permitted 
to hang on the cross till eaten up by birds of prey, which 
often began to tear them before life was extinct. Horace 
alludes to this punishment, and from what he says, it seems 
to have been inflicted on slaves, &c., not on trifling 
occasions, but for the most horrible crimes.

Si quis eum servum, patinam qui tollere jussus Semesos pisces 
tepidumque ligurrierit jus, In CRUCE suffigat. HOR. Satyr. l. 
i. s. 3. v. 80 If a poor slave who takes away your plate, 
Lick the warm sauce, or half cold fragments eat, Yet should 
you crucify the wretch! - FRANCIS Non hominem occidi: non 
pasces in CRUCE corvos.

"I have not committed murder: Then thou shalt not be nailed 
to the cross, to feed the ravens." HOR. Epist. l. i. s. 16. 
v. 48.

The anguish occasioned by crucifixion was so intense, that 
crucio, (a cruce,) among the Romans, was the common word by 
which they expressed suffering and torment in general.

And parted his garments, casting lots] These were the Roman 
soldiers, who had crucified him: and it appears from this 
circumstance, that in those ancient times the spoils of the 
criminal were claimed by the executioners, as they are to the 
present day. It appears that they divided a part, and cast 
lots for the rest: viz. for his seamless coat, John xix. 23, 
24.

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, 
saying, They parted my garments among them, and upon my 
vesture did they cast lots.] The whole of this quotation 
should be omitted, as making no part originally of the 
genuine text of this evangelist. It is omitted by almost 
every MS. of worth and importance, by almost all the 
versions, and the most reputable of the primitive fathers, 
who have written or commented on the place. The words are 
plainly an interpolation, borrowed from John xix. 24, in 
which place they will be properly noticed.

Verse 36. They watched him] To prevent his disciples or 
relatives from taking away the body or affording any relief 
to the sufferer.

Verse 37. His accusation] It was a common custom to affix a 
lHebel to the cross, giving a statement of the crime for 
which the person suffered. This is still the case in China, 
when a person is crucified. Sometimes a person was employed 
to carry this before the criminal, while going to the place 
of punishment.

It is with much propriety that Matthew calls this aitia, 
accusation; for it was false that ever Christ pretended to be 
KING OF THE JEWS, in the sense the inscription held forth: he 
was accused of this, but there was no proof of the 
accusation; however it was affixed to the cross. From John 
xix. 21, we find that the Jews wished this to be a little 
altered: Write, said they, that HE said, l am king of the 
Jews; thus endeavouring, by the addition of a vile lie, to 
countenance their own conduct in putting him to death. But 
this Pilate refused to do. Both Luke, Luke xxiii. 38, and 
John, John xix. 20, say that this accusation was written in 
Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. In those three languages, we may 
conceive the lHebel to stand thus, according to the account 
given by St. John; the Hebrew being the mixed dialect then 
spoken. In Hebrew-ebraisti: aydwhyd aklm ayrxn [wsy In Greek-
ellhnista: ihsouv o nazwraiov o basileuv twn ioudaiwn In 
Latin-rwmaisti: IESUS NAZARENUS REX IUDAEORUM It is only 
necessary to observe, that all the letters, both of the Greek 
and Roman alphabets, were those now called square or uncial, 
similar to these above.

Verse 38. Two thieves] lhstai, robbers, or cutthroats: men 
who had committed robbery and murder; for it does not appear 
that persons were crucified for robbery only. Thus was our 
Lord numbered (his name enrolled, placed as it were in the 
death warrant) with transgressors, according to the prophetic 
declaration, Isa. liii. 12; and the Jews placed him between 
these two, perhaps to intimate that he was the worst felon of 
the three.

Verse 39. Wagging their heads] In token of contempt.

Verse 40. Thou that destroyest] Who didst pretend that thou 
couldst have destroyed the temple, and built it up again in 
three days. This malicious torturing of our Lord's words has 
been noticed before. Cruelty is obliged to take refuge in 
lies, in order to vindicate its infamous proceedings.

If thou be the Son of God] Or rather, uiov tou qeou A son of 
God, i.e. a peculiar favourite of the Most-High; not o uiov tou 
qeou, THE Son of God. "It is not to be conceived," says a learned 
man, "that every passenger who was going to the city had a 
competent knowledge of Christ's supernatural conception by 
the Holy Spirit, or an adequate comprehension of his 
character as the Messiah, and (katÆ exochn) THE SON OF GOD.

There is not a single passage where Jesus is designed to be 
pointed out as the MESSIAH, THE SON OF GOD, where the article 
is omitted: nor, on the other hand, is this designation ever 
specified without the article, thus, 'o uiov tou qeou. See 
Matthew xvi. 16; xxvi. 63; xxviii. 19."

Verse 41. Chief priests-scribes and elders] To these, several 
ancient MSS. and versions add, kai farisaiwn, and Pharisees. 
But though the authority for this reading is respectable, yet 
it does not appear that the Pharisees joined in with the 
others in the condemnation of our Lord.

Probably his discourses and parables, related in some of the 
preceding chapters, which were spoken directly to them, had 
so far convinced them that they would at least have no hand 
in putting him to death. All the infamy of this seems to fall 
upon the PRIESTS, scribes, and elders.

Verse 42. He saved others; himself he cannot save.] Or, 
Cannot he save himself? Several MSS. read this with the mark 
of interrogation as above; and this makes the sarcasm still 
more keen.

A high priest who designs to destroy the temple of God: a 
saviour who saves not himself; and the Son of God crucified: 
these are the contradictions which give offense to Jews and 
libertines. But a high priest who dispels the types and 
shadows, only that he may disclose the substance of religion, 
and become the minister of a heavenly sanctuary; a saviour 
who dies only to be the victim of salvation; and the Son of 
God who confines his power within the bounds of the cross to 
establish the righteousness of faith: this is what a 
Christian adores; this is the foundation of his hope, and the 
fountain of his present comfort and final blessedness. See 
Quesnel.

We will believe him.] Instead of autw, him, many excellent 
MSS. have epÆ autw, IN him: this is a reading which Griesbach 
and other eminent critics have adopted.

Verse 43. If he will have him] Or, if he delight in him-ei 
qelei auton.

The verbs qelw and eqelw, are used by the Septuagint in more 
than forty places for the Hebrew Åpj chaphets, which 
signifies, earnestly to desire, or delight in. Now as this is 
a quotation from Psa. xxii. 8, He trusted in the Lord, that 
he would deliver him; let him deliver him, ( wb Åpj yk ki 
chaphets bo,) for he HATH DELIGHTED IN HIM:-oti qelei auton, 
Sept.

This will sufficiently vindicate the above translation; as 
the evangelist quotes the words from that version, with the 
simple change of ei, if, for oti, because.

Verse 44. The thieves also-cast the same in his teeth.] That 
is, one of the robbers; for one, we find, was a penitent, 
Luke xxiii. 39, 40. See this form of expression accounted 
for, on chap. xxvi. 8.

Verse 45. There was darkness over all the land] I am of 
opinion that pasan thn ghn does not mean all the world, but 
only the land of Judea. So the word is used chap. xxiv. 30; 
Luke iv. 25, and in other places. Several eminent critics are 
of this opinion: Beza defends this meaning of the word, and 
translates the Greek, super universam REGIONEM over the whole 
COUNTRY. Besides, it is evident that the evangelists speak of 
things that happened in Judea, the place of their residence. 
It is plain enough there was a darkness in Jerusalem, and 
over all Judea; and probably over all the people among whom 
Christ had for more than three years preached the everlasting 
Gospel; and that this darkness was supernatural is evident 
from this, that it happened during the passover, which was 
celebrated only at the full moon, a time in which it was 
impossible for the sun to be eclipsed.

But many suppose the darkness was over the whole world, and 
think there is sufficient evidence of this in ancient 
authors. PHLEGON and THALLUS, who flourished in the beginning 
of the second century, are supposed to speak of this. The 
former says: "In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, there 
was an extraordinary eclipse of the sun: at the sixth hour, 
the day was turned into dark night, so that the stars in 
heaven were seen; and there was an earthquake in Bithynia, 
which overthrew many houses in the city of Nice." This is the 
substance of what Phlegon is reputed to have said on this 
subject:-but 1. All the authors who quote him differ, and 
often very materially, in what they say was found in him. 2. 
Phlegon says nothing of Judea: what he says is, that in such 
an Olympiad, (some say the 102nd, others the 202nd,) there 
was an eclipse in Bithynia, and an earthquake at Nice. 3. 
Phlegon does not say that the earthquake happened at the time 
of the eclipse. 4. Phlegon does not intimate that this 
darkness was extraordinary, or that the eclipse happened at 
the full of the moon, or that it lasted three hours. These 
circumstances could not have been omitted by him, if he had 
known them. 5. Phlegon speaks merely of an ordinary, though 
perhaps total, eclipse of the sun, and cannot mean the 
darkness mentioned by the evangelists. 6. Phlegon speaks of 
an eclipse that happened in some year of the 102nd, or 202nd 
Olympiad; and therefore little stress can be laid on what he 
says as applying to this event.

The quotation from THALLUS, made by AFRICANUS, found in the 
Chronicle of SYNCELLUS, of the eighth century, is allowed by 
eminent critics to be of little importance. This speaks "of a 
darkness over all the world, and an earthquake which threw 
down many houses in Judea and in other parts of the earth." 
It may be necessary to observe, that THALLUS is quoted by 
several of the ancient ecclesiastical writers for other 
matters, but never for this; and that the time in which he 
lived is so very uncertain, that Dr. Lardner supposes there 
is room to think he lived rather before than after Christ.

DIONYSIUS the Areopagite is supposed to have mentioned this 
event in the most decided manner: for being at Heliopolis in 
Egypt, with his friend Apollophanes, when our saviour 
suffered, they there saw a wonderful eclipse of the sun, 
whereupon Dionysius said to his friend, "Either God himself 
suffers, or sympathizes with the sufferer." It is enough to 
say of this man, that all the writings attributed to him are 
known to be spurious, and are proved to be forgeries of the 
fifth or sixth century. Whoever desires to see more on this 
subject, may consult Dr. Lardner, (vol. vii. p.
371, ed. 1788,) a man whose name should never be mentioned 
but with respect, notwithstanding the peculiarities of his 
religious creed; who has done more in the service of Divine 
revelation than most divines in Christendom; and who has 
raised a monument to the perpetuity of the Christian 
religion, which all the infidels in creation shall never be 
able to pull down or deface.

This miraculous darkness should have caused the enemies of 
Christ to understand that he was the light of the world, and 
that because they did not walk in it it was now taken away 
from them.

Verse 46. My God! My God! why hast thou forsaken me!] These 
words are quoted by our Lord from Psa. xxii. 1; they are of 
very great importance, and should be carefully considered.

Some suppose "that the divinity had now departed from Christ, 
and that his human nature was left unsupported to bear the 
punishment due to men for their sins." But this is by no 
means to be admitted, as it would deprive his sacrifice of 
its infinite merit, and consequently leave the sin of the 
world without an atonement. Take deity away from any 
redeeming act of Christ, and redemption is ruined. Others 
imagine that our Lord spoke these words to the Jews only, to 
prove to them that he was the Messiah. "The Jews," say they, 
"believed this psalm to speak of the Messiah: they quoted the 
eighth verse of it against Christ-He trusted in God that he 
would deliver him; let him deliver him, seeing he delighted 
in him. (See ver. 43.) To which our Lord immediately answers, 
My God! my God! etc , thus showing that he was the person of 
whom the psalmist prophesied." I have doubts concerning the 
propriety of this interpretation.

It has been asked, What language is it that our Lord spoke? 
Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. Some say it is Hebrew-others 
Syriac. I say, as the evangelists quote it, it is neither. 
St. Matthew comes nearest the Hebrew, yntbz[ hml yla yla Eli, 
Eli, lamah azabthani, in the words, hli, hli, lama sabactani, 
Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.

And St. Mark comes nearest the Syriac, Mark xv. 34,  Alohi, 
Alohi, l'mono shebachtheni, in the words elwi, elwi, lamma 
sabacqani, Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabachthani. It is worthy of 
note, that a Hebrew MS. of the twelfth century, instead of 
yntbz[ azabthani, forsaken me, reads yntjk shechachthani, 
FORGOTTEN me. This word makes a very good sense, and comes 
nearer to the sabachthani of the evangelists. It may be 
observed also, that the words, Why hast thou FORGOTTEN me? 
are often used by David and others, in times of oppression 
and distress. See Psalm xlii. 9.

Some have taken occasion from these words to depreciate the 
character of our blessed Lord. "They are unworthy," say they, 
"of a man who suffers, conscious of his innocence, and argue 
imbecility, impatience, and despair." This is by no means 
fairly deducible from the passage. However, some think that 
the words, as they stand in the Hebrew and Syriac, are 
capable of a translation which destroys all objections, and 
obviates every difficulty. The particle hml lamah, may be 
translated, to what-to whom-to what kind or sort-to what 
purpose or profit: Genesis xxv. 32; Gen. xxxii. 29; xxxiii. 
15; Job ix. 29; Jer. vi. 20; xx. 18; Am v. 18; and the verb 
bz[ azab signifies to leave-to deposit-to commit to the care 
of. See Gen. xxxix. 6; Job xxxix. 11; Psa. x. 14, and Jer. 
xlix. 11. The words, taken in this way, might be thus 
translated: My God! my God! to what sort of persons hast thou 
left me? The words thus understood are rather to be referred 
to the wicked Jews than to our Lord, and are an exclamation 
indicative of the obstinate wickedness of his crucifiers, who 
steeled their hearts against every operation of the Spirit 
and power of God. See Ling. Brit. Reform. by B. Martin, p. 
36.

Through the whole of the Sacred Writings, God is represented 
as doing those things which, in the course of his providence, 
he only permits to be done; therefore, the words, to whom 
hast thou left or given me up, are only a form of expression 
for, "How astonishing is the wickedness of those persons into 
whose hands I am fallen!" If this interpretation be admitted, 
it will free this celebrated passage from much embarrassment, 
and make it speak a sense consistent with itself, and with 
the dignity of the Son of God.

The words of St. Mark, Mark xv. 34, agree pretty nearly with 
this translation of the Hebrew: eiv ti me egkatilepev; To 
what [sort of persons, understood] hast thou left me? A 
literal translation of the passage in the Syriac Testament 
gives a similar sense: Ad quid dereliquisti me? "To what hast 
thou abandoned me?" And an ancient copy of the old Itala 
version, a Latin translation before the time of St. Jerome, 
renders the words thus: Quare me in opprobrium dedisti? "Why 
hast thou abandoned me to reproach?" It may he objected, that 
this can never agree with the inati, why, of Matthew. To this 
it is answered, that inati must have here the same meaning as 
eiv ti-as the translation of hml lama; and that, if the 
meaning be at all different, we must follow that evangelist 
who expresses most literally the meaning of the original: and 
let it be observed, that the Septuagint often translate hml 
by inati instead of eiv ti, which evidently proves that it 
often had the same meaning. Of this criticism I say, Valet 
quod valet, Let it pass for no more than it is worth: the 
subject is difficult. But whatever may be thought of the 
above mode of interpretation, one thing is certain, viz. That 
the words could not be used by our Lord in the sense in which 
they are generally understood. This is sufficiently evident; 
for he well knew why he was come unto that hour; nor could he 
be forsaken of God, in whom dwelt all the fullness of the 
Godhead bodily. The Deity, however, might restrain so much of 
its consolatory support as to leave the human nature fully 
sensible of all its sufferings, so that the consolations 
might not take off any part of the keen edge of his passion; 
and this was necessary to make his sufferings meritorious. 
And it is probable that this is all that is intended by our 
Lord's quotation from the twenty-second Psalm. Taken in this 
view, the words convey an unexceptionable sense, even in the 
common translation.

Verse 47. This man calleth for Elias.] Probably these were 
Hellenistic Jews, who did not fully understand the meaning of 
our Lord's words.

Elijah was daily expected to appear as the forerunner of the 
Messiah, whose arrival, under the character of a mighty 
prince, was generally supposed to be at hand throughout the 
east. See Mal. iv. 5; chap. ii. 2-4; xvii. 10-12.

Verse 48. Took a sponge] This being the most convenient way 
to reach a liquid to his mouth; tied it on a reed, that they 
might be able to reach his lips with it. This reed, as we 
learn from St. John, was a stalk of hyssop, which, in that 
country, must have grown to a considerable magnitude. This 
appears also to have been done in mercy, to alleviate his 
sufferings. See ver. 34.

Verse 49. After this verse, BCL and five others add, Another, 
taking a spear, pierced his side, and there came out blood 
and water. Several of the fathers add the same words here: 
they appear, however, to be an interpolation from John xix. 
34.

Verse 50. Yielded up the ghost.] afhke to pneuma, He 
dismissed the spirit. He himself willingly gave up that life 
which it was impossible for man to take away. It is not said 
that he hung on the cross till he died through pain and 
agony; nor is it said that his bones were broken, the sooner 
to put him out of pain, and to hasten his death; but that 
himself dismissed the soul, that he might thus become, not a 
forced sacrifice, but a free-will offering for sin.

Now, as our English word ghost, from the Anglo-Saxon  gast, 
an inmate, inhabitant, guest, (a casual visitant,) also a 
spirit, is now restricted among us to the latter meaning, 
always signifying the immortal spirit or soul of man, the 
guest of the body and as giving up the spirit, ghost, or 
soul, is an act not proper to man, though commending it to 
God, in our last moments, is both an act of faith and piety; 
and as giving up the ghost, i.e. dismissing his spirit from his 
body, is attributed to Jesus Christ, to whom alone it is proper; 
I therefore object against its use in every other case.

Every man, since the fall, has not only been liable to death, 
but has deserved it; as all have forfeited their lives 
because of sin. Jesus Christ, as born immaculate, and having 
never sinned, had not forfeited his life, and therefore may 
be considered as naturally and properly immortal. No man, 
says he, taketh it, my life, from me, but I lay it down of 
myself: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take 
it again; therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay 
down my life that I might take it again, John x. 17, 18. 
Hence we rightly translate ver. 50, afhke to pneuma, he gave 
up the ghost; i.e. he dismissed his spirit, that he might die 
for the sin of the world. The Evangelist St. John (John xix. 
30) makes use of an expression to the same import, which we 
translate in the same way: paredwke to pneuma, he delivered 
up his spirit. We translate Mark xv. 37, and Luke xxiii. 46, 
he gave up the ghost, but not correctly, because the word in 
both these places is very different-exepneuse, he breathed 
his last, or expired; though in the latter place, Luke xxiii. 
46, there is an equivalent expression-O Father, into thy 
hands, paratiqemai to pneuma mou, I commit my spirit; i.e. I 
place my soul in thy hand: proving that the act was his own; 
that no man could take his life away from him; that he did 
not die by the perfidy of his disciple, or the malice of the 
Jews, but by his own free act. Thus HE LAID DOWN his life for 
the sheep. Of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts v. 5,10, and of 
Herod, Acts xii. 23, our translation says, they gave up the 
ghost; but the word in both places is exeyuxe, which simply 
means to breathe out, to expire, or die: but in no case, 
either by the Septuagint in the Old, or any of the sacred 
writers in the New Testament, is afhke to pneuma, or paredwke 
to pneuma, he dismissed his spirit, or delivered up his 
spirit, spoken of any person but Christ. Abraham, Isaac, 
Ishmael, Jacob, &c., breathed their last; Ananias, Sapphira, 
and Herod, expired; but none, Jesus Christ excepted, gave up 
the ghost, dismissed, or delivered up his own spirit, and 
was, consequently, free among the dead. Of the patriarchs, 
&c., the Septuagint use the word ekleipwn, failing; or 
katepausen, he ceased, or rested.

Verse 51. The veil of the temple was rent] That is, the veil 
which separated the holy place, where the priests ministered, 
from the holy of holies, into which the high priest only 
entered, and that once a year, to make a general expiation 
for the sins of the people. This rending of the veil was 
emblematical, and pointed out that the separation between 
Jews and Gentiles was now abolished, and that the privilege 
of the high priest was now communicated to all mankind: ALL 
might henceforth have access to the throne of grace, through 
the one great atonement and mediator, the Lord Jesus. See 
this beautifully illustrated in Heb. x. 19-22.

Verse 52. And the graves were opened] By the earthquake; and 
many bodies of saints which slept, i.e. were dead, sleep 
being a common expression for death in the Scriptures.

Verse 53. And came out of the graves after his resurrection] 
Not BEFORE, as some have thought, for Christ was himself the 
FIRST FRUITS of them who slept, 1 Cor. xv. 20. The graves 
were opened at his death, by the earthquake, and the bodies 
came out at his resurrection.

And appeared unto many.] Thus establishing the truth of our 
Lord's resurrection in particular, and of the resurrection of 
the body in general, by many witnesses. Quesnel's reflections 
on these passages may be very useful. "1. The veil being rent 
shows that his death is to put an end to the figurative 
worship, and to establish the true religion. 2. The 
earthquake, that this dispensation of the Gospel is to make 
known through the earth the judgments of God against sin and 
sinners. 3. The rocks being rent declare that the sacrifice 
of Christ is to make way for the grace of repentance. 4. The 
graves being opened, that it is to destroy the death of sin, 
and confer the life grace on sinners. 5. The rising of the 
bodies of the saints shows that this death of Christ is to 
merit, and his Gospel publish, the eternal happiness of body 
and soul for all that believe in his name." It is difficult 
to account for the transaction mentioned ver. 52, 53.

Some have thought that these two verses have been introduced 
into the text of Matthew from the gospel of the Nazarenes; 
others think that the simple meaning is this:-by the 
earthquake several bodies that had been buried were thrown up 
and exposed to view, and continued above ground till after 
Christ's resurrection, and were seen by many persons in the 
city.

Why the graves should be opened on Friday, and the bodies not 
be raised to life till the following Sunday, is difficult to 
be conceived. The place is extremely obscure.

Verse 54. The centurion] The Roman officer who superintended 
the execution, called centurio, from centum, a hundred, 
because he had the command of one hundred men.

Truly this was the Son of God.] An innocent, holy, and Divine 
person; and God thus shows his disapprobation of this bloody 
tragedy. It is not likely that this centurion had any 
knowledge of the expectation of the Jews relative to the 
Messiah, and did not use the words in this sense. A son of 
God, as the Romans used the term, would signify no more than 
a very eminent or Divine person; a hero.

Verse 55. Many women] To their everlasting honour, these 
women evidenced more courage, and affectionate attachment to 
their Lord and Master, than the disciples did, who had 
promised to die with him rather than forsake him.

Beholding afar off] At a distance-apo makroqen. Though this 
expression may be understood to refer, rather to the distance 
from which they came, (viz. from Galilee,) than the distance 
they stood from the cross; yet, as all malefactors were 
crucified naked, perhaps this may account for the distance at 
which these modest women stood.

Verse 56. Mary Magdalene] She probably had her name from 
Magdala, a village or district in Lower Galilee. See Matthew 
xv. 39. Some think she was called Magdalene from aldgm 
magdala, which signifies a plaiter of hair. See Lightfoot.

Mary the mother of James] She was mother of him called James 
the lesser, or junior, who was son of Alpheus or Cleopas-see 
chap. x. 3; Mark xv. 40; John xix. 25; and she was sister to 
the holy virgin. Thus it appears that there were four 
remarkable Marys mentioned in the Gospels.

1. MARY the Virgin, wife of JOSEPH. 2. MARY SALOME, her 
sister, wife of Cleopas, John xix. 25. 3. MARY MAGDALENE, or 
MARY of Magdala; and, 4. MARY, the sister of Martha and 
Lazarus, John xi. 1. Though Baronius asserts, and Lightfoot 
is of the same opinion, that Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the 
sister of Martha and Lazarus, was one and the same person. It 
is difficult to ascertain and distinguish these women where 
their names occur in the Gospels, so many being called by the 
name of Mary.

Joses] Several MSS. and versions read Joseph.

Verse 57. When the even] This must have been about three 
o'clock, or a little after; for our Lord having expired about 
three o'clock, ver. 46, and the Jewish passover beginning 
about four, it was necessary that Joseph, who would not fail 
to eat the passover at the usual time, should have obtained 
and buried the body of Christ some time before four o'clock.

But such was the general consternation, occasioned by the 
prodigies that took place on this most awful occasion, that 
we may safely conjecture that nothing was done in order, and 
perhaps the passover itself was not eaten at the usual hour, 
if at all, that day. See at the end of the preceding chapter.

A rich man] He was a counsellor of the great Sanhedrin, Luke 
xxiii. 50; and, from the accounts given of him by the 
evangelists we learn that he was a man of the greatest 
respectability. He now acted a more honourable part than all 
the disciples of our Lord. He was of Arimathea, or Rama, in 
the tribe of Benjamin, Matthew ii. 18, but lived ordinarily 
in Jerusalem, as being a member of the great council.

Verse 58. Begged the body] That he might bury it honourably 
otherwise, by the Jewish customs, he would have either been 
burned, or buried in the common place appointed for executed 
criminals.

Verse 59. Wrapped it in a clean linen cloth] The Jews, as 
well as the Egyptians, added spices to keep the body from 
putrefaction, and the linen was wrapped about every part to 
keep the aromatics in contact with the flesh. From John xix. 
39, 40, we learn that a mixture of myrrh and aloes of one 
hundred pounds' weight had been applied to the body of Jesus 
when he was buried. And that a second embalmment was 
intended, we learn from Luke xxiii. 56; xxiv. 1, as the hurry 
to get the body interred before the Sabbath did not permit 
them to complete, the embalming in the first instance. See an 
account of the mode of embalming among the Egyptians, in the 
note on Gen. l. 2, 26.

Verse 60. Laid it in his own new tomb] To all human 
appearance the body of Christ must have had the same burial-
place with those of the two robbers, as he was numbered with 
the transgressors, and suffered with them; for then he was a 
sacrifice, bearing the sin of the world in his own body on 
the tree; but now the sacrifice is offered, the atonement 
made and accepted, he is no longer to be enrolled with the 
transgressors, and, according to a prophecy delivered nearly 
seven hundred years before that time, he is to have the 
burying-place of a rich man. See Isa. liii. 9, 10. Had our 
Lord been buried in the common burial-ground of the 
malefactors, his resurrection could not have been so 
distinctly remarked, as the chief priests would never have 
thought of sealing the stone there, or setting a watch; but 
now that the body is got into the hands of a friend, they 
judge it necessary to make use of these precautions, in 
order, as they said, to prevent imposture; and from this very 
circumstance the resurrection of Christ had its fullest 
evidence, and was put beyond the power of successful 
contradiction. What a number of objections would not human 
prudence have made to Joseph's conduct, had he consulted it 
on this occasion! It would have represented to him that, 
"this was to expose himself, to bring himself into trouble, 
to render himself suspected, to put himself out of all 
capacity of doing good, to ruin himself irrecoverably; and 
now it could do no good to his teacher-he is now dead, and 
needs no longer any office of kindness from men." There is, 
sometimes in our whole life, but one opportunity in which God 
designs signally to employ us; and, through our general 
backwardness to every good work, we are for reserving 
ourselves to other opportunities, in which God neither 
requires nor will accept our services.

Rolled a great stone to the door] Some are of opinion that 
this tomb was cut down into the rock, perpendicularly from 
the surface; and that the great stone spoken of here covered 
over the entrance to it. The stone, no doubt, was intended to 
secure the place as much as possible.

Verse 61. Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary] The mother of 
James and Joses, ver. 56. The mother of our Lord had 
probably, by this time, been taken home to the house of John. 
See John xix. 26, 27.

Sitting over against the sepulchre.] These holy women, filled 
with that love to their Lord which death cannot destroy, 
cleaved to him in life, and in death were not divided. They 
came to the grave to see the end, and overwhelmed with sorrow 
and anguish, sat down to mourn.

Verse 62. The next day] This was the seventh, or Saturday, 
and might be what we should term the evening of the sixth, or 
Friday, because the Jews always ended their day when the sun 
set, and then began the next.

That followed the day of the preparation] That is, of the 
Sabbath. The victuals, &c., which were to be used on the 
Sabbath by the Jews, were always prepared the preceding 
evening before the sun set. It is of this preparation that 
the evangelist speaks here; and it is the same which is 
mentioned by Mark, Mark xv. 42; by Luke, Luke xxiii. 54; and 
by John, John xix. 31. But there was another preparation 
which happened in the same day: viz. The preparation of the 
passover; this began about twelve o'clock, and continued till 
four, the time in which they ate the paschal lamb. See John 
xix. 14.

Verse 63. Sir, we remember, &c.] While these wicked men are 
fulfilling their own vicious counsels, they are subserving 
the great cause of Christianity. Every thing depended on the 
resurrection of Christ; if it did not appear that he rose 
from the dead, then the whole system was false, and no 
atonement was made. It was necessary therefore that the chief 
priests, &c., should make use of every precaution to prevent 
an imposture, that the resurrection of Christ might have the 
fullest evidence to support it. See on ver. 60.

The word kurie is here very properly translated sir, which, 
in many other places, is as improperly translated Lord. When 
a Roman is the speaker, or the person addressed, kurie should 
always be translated sir; when strangers address our Lord, 
the word is a title of civil respect, and should, in general, 
be translated in the same way.

After three days I will rise again.] This they probably took 
from his saying, Destroy this temple, and in three days I 
will build it up. If so, they destroyed, by their own words, 
the false accusation they brought against him to put him to 
death; then they perverted the meaning, now they declare it. 
Thus the wise are taken in their own craftiness. Neither the 
devil nor his servants ever speak truth, but when they expect 
to accomplish some bad purpose by it.

Verse 64. Lest his disciples come by night] nuktov, by night, 
is wanting in ten of the uncial MSS., and in several others, 
and in most of the versions. Erasmus, Aldus, Bengel, and 
Boghard, with Griesbach, leave it out of the text.

Verse 65. Ye have a watch] The Jews had a corps of Roman 
troops, consisting of several companies, as a guard for the 
temple, Acts iv. 1. These companies mounted guard by turns, 
see Luke xxii. 4. Some of these companies, which were not 
then on duty, Pilate gave them leave to employ to watch the 
tomb.

Verse 66. Made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and 
setting a watch.] Or rather, made the tomb secure by the 
guard, and by sealing the stone. I follow Kypke, in 
construing meta thv koustwdiav, with hsfalisanto. The guard 
was to take care that the disciples should not steal him 
away; and the seal, which was probably the seal of the 
governor, was to prevent the guards from being corrupted so 
as to permit the theft.

So every thing was done which human policy and prudence 
could, to prevent a resurrection, which these very 
precautions had the most direct tendency to authenticate and 
establish. How wonderful are the wisdom and goodness of God!-
and how true is it, that there is neither might nor counsel 
against him! 1. The death of Christ was ordered, so as to be 
witnessed by thousands; and if his resurrection take place, 
it must be demonstrated; and it cannot take place without 
being incontestable, such are the precautions used here to 
prevent all imposture.

2. The more the circumstances of the death of Christ are 
examined, the more astonishing the whole will appear. The 
death is uncommon-the person uncommon-and the object 
uncommon; and the whole is grand, majestic, and awful. Nature 
itself is thrown into unusual action, and by means and causes 
wholly supernatural. In every part, the finger of God most 
evidently appears.

3. How glorious does Christ appear in his death! Were it not 
for his thirst, his exclamation on the cross, and the 
piercing of his side, we should have found it difficult to 
believe that such a person could ever have entered the empire 
of death; but the divinity and the manhood equally appear, 
and thus the certainty of the atonement is indubitably 
established.

4. But who can reflect on the state of the poor disciples, 
during the whole of the time in which our blessed Lord lay 
under the empire of death, without sharing their sorrows! 
When he expired on the cross their expectation was cut off; 
and when his body was laid in the grave their hopes were 
buried; and nothing but the resurrection of Christ from the 
dead could have given a resurrection to their hopes. It is 
true they had heard him say that he would rise again the 
third day; but in this it is evident their faith was very 
imperfect; and the uncertainty, perplexity, anxiety, and 
distress which they in consequence must have suffered, can 
neither be described nor imagined. Though we know the 
glorious result, yet who can help sympathizing with the pious 
father, the virgin mother, and the disconsolate disciples!

CHAPTER xxviii

The resurrection of Christ declared by an angel to the two 
Marys at the sepulchre, 1-6. They are commissioned to 
announce this to the disciples, 7. They go, and are met by 
Christ himself who promises to meet the disciples in Galilee, 
8-10. The watch go into the city, and report to the chief 
priests what had taken place, 11. They give them money, to 
say that his disciples had stolen the body by night, while 
they slept, 12-15. Christ meets the eleven disciples in a 
mountain of Galilee, 16, 17. He gives them a commission to 
preach the Gospel throughout the earth; to baptize in the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; 
and promises to be with them to the end of the world, 18-20.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxviii

Verse 1. In the end of the Sabbath] oye de sabbatwn. After 
the end of the week: this is the translation given by several 
eminent critics; and in this way the word oye is used by the 
most eminent Greek writers.

Thucydides, lib. iv. chap. 93, thv hmerav oye hn-the day was 
ended.

Plutarch, oye twn basilewv cronwn] after the times of the 
king.

Philostratus oye twn troikwn-after the Trojan war. See 
Rosenmuller. In general the Jews divided their natural day, 
which consisted of twenty-four hours, into day and night. 
Their artificial day began at the rising and ended at the 
setting of the sun; all the rest of the time, from the 
setting to the rising of the sun, they termed night: hence 
the same word, in Hebrew, signifies both evening and night. 
Gen. i. 5; Mark vi. 47. Matthew has employed the word in this 
extensive sense here, pointing out the latter part of the 
Jewish night, that which immediately preceded the rising of 
the sun, and not that first part which we call the evening. 
The transaction mentioned here evidently took place early on 
the morning of the third day after our Lord's crucifixion; 
what is called our Sunday morning, or first day of the next 
week.

Came-to see the sepulchre.] That is, they set out at this 
time in order to visit the tomb of our Lord, and also to weep 
there, John xi. 31, and to embalm the body of our Lord, Luke 
xxiv. 1. St. Matthew omits Mary Salome, mentioned by Mark; 
and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, mentioned by 
Luke. The other Mary was the wife of Cleopas, and mother of 
James and Joses, mentioned before, chap. xxvii. 56. Were not 
Mary and Salome two distinct persons?

Verse 2. A great earthquake] seismov, a shaking or commotion 
of any kind: probably the word means no more than the 
confusion caused among the guards by the angel's appearance. 
All this had taken place before the women reached the 
sepulchre.

The angel of the Lord descended from heaven] Matthew is very 
particular in this, to show that the word angel is not to be 
taken in the sense of an ordinary messenger, who might have 
come from Joseph of Arimathea, or from any other; but in the 
sense of an extraordinary messenger, who descended from GOD, 
out of heaven, for this very purpose. It is likely that the 
angel had descended, rolled away the stone, and was sitting 
on it, before the women reached the tomb.

Verse 3. His countenance] His appearance, h idea autou; or, 
his face, for so the word is used in some of the best Greek 
writers. It seems, from Mark xvi. 5, that this angel had 
assumed the appearance of a young man.

Like lightning] Coruscations of glory continually flaming 
from his face.

This might produce the confusion mentioned ver. 2.

His raiment white as snow] He was clothed in garments 
emblematical of the glad tidings which he came to announce. 
It would have been inconsistent with the message he brought, 
had the angel appeared in black robes, such as those 
preposterously wear who call themselves his successors in the 
ministry of a once suffering, but now risen and highly 
exalted, saviour. But the world is as full of nonsense as of 
sin; and who can correct and bring it to reason and piety?

Verse 4. The keepers-became as dead men.] God can, by one and 
the same means, comfort his servants, and terrify his 
enemies. The resurrection of Christ is a subject of terror to 
the servants of sin, and a subject of consolation to the sons 
of God; because it is a proof of the resurrection of both, 
the one to shame and everlasting contempt-the other to 
eternal glory and joy.

Verse 5. I know that ye seek Jesus] Speaking after the manner 
of men, these women deserved to be the first witnesses of the 
resurrection of Christ: during life they ministered to him, 
and in death they were not divided. They attended him to the 
CROSS, notwithstanding their attachment to him exposed them 
to the most imminent danger; and now they come to watch and 
weep at his TOMB. The common opinion is, that women are more 
fickle and less courageous than men. The reverse of this I 
believe to be the truth, in those who are thoroughly 
converted to God; and who, previously to conversion, whether 
man or woman, can be trusted in any case?

Verse 6. Come, see the place] The tomb in which our Lord was 
laid was no doubt like the rest of the Jewish burying places, 
a receptacle for the several dead of a whole family, divided 
into separate niches, where each had his place. Come and see 
the place-was tantamount to, Come and see the niche in which 
he was laid-it is now empty; nor was there any other body in 
the place, for the tomb was a new one, in which no man had 
ever been laid, John xix. 41; so there could be no deception 
in the case.

Verse 7. Go quickly and tell his disciples] Thus these 
faithful women proclaim the Gospel to those who were 
afterwards to be the teachers of the whole human race! Behold 
what honour God puts upon those who persevere in his truth, 
and continue to acknowledge him before men! That he is risen 
from the dead] There is a remarkable saying of R. Judah 
Hakkodesh, which some critics quote on this subject: "After 
THREE DAYS the SOUL of the Messiah shall RETURN to its body, 
and he shall GO OUT of that STONE in which he shall be 
BURIED." Goeth before you into Galilee] As himself promised, 
chap. xxvi. 32.

Verse 8. They departed quickly from the sepulchre] At the 
desire of the angel they went into the tomb, to have the 
fullest certainty of the resurrection.

Fear and great joy] Fear, produced by the appearance of this 
glorious messenger of God; and great joy occasioned by the 
glad tidings of the resurrection of their Lord and Master. At 
the mention of unexpected good news, fear and joy are 
generally intermingled.- Vix sum apud me, ita animus commotus 
est metu, Spe, gaudio, mirando hoc tanto, tam repentino bono 
TERANT. Andr. v. 945 "I am almost beside myself, my mind is 
so agitated with fear, hope, and joy, at this unexpected good 
news."

Verse 9. And as they went to tell his disciples] This clause 
is wanting in the Codex Vatican, and Codex Bezae, and in 
twenty others, and in most of the versions. The omission is 
approved by Mill, Bengel, and Schmid.

Griesbach leaves it in the text with a note of doubtfulness. 
It appears to be superfluous. To connect this with the next 
clause, the particle kai, and, is obliged to be suppressed in 
all the translations. I think the verse should begin with, 
And behold he goeth, &c., and the former clause be 
suppressed. Probabiliter delenda, says Professor White, in 
his Crisews Griesbachianae, speaking of the preceding words.

Jesus met them] Christ bestows his graces and consolations by 
degrees, first by his angels, and then by himself. He does 
not reveal himself to incredulous and disobedient souls; he 
appears not even to these women till he has tried their faith 
and obedience by his ministering angels.

All hail.] Anglo-Saxon, , Health be to you! cairete, Be ye 
safe, rejoice.

And they held him by the feet, and worshipped him.] This kind 
of reverence is in daily use among the Hindoos: when a 
disciple meets his religious guide in the public streets, he 
prostrates himself before him, and, taking the dust from his 
teacher's feet, rubs it on his forehead, breast, &c. See 
WARD'S CUSTOMS.

Verse 10. Be not afraid] They were seized with fear at the 
sight of the angel; and this was now renewed by this 
unexpected appearance of Christ. See the note on ver. 8.

Go, tell my brethren] This is the first time our Lord called 
his disciples by this endearing name: they no doubt thought 
that their Lord would reproach them with their past cowardice 
and infidelity; but, in speaking thus, he gives them a full 
assurance, in the most tender terms, that all that was passed 
was as buried for ever.

Verse 11. Some of the watch] Or guards. Probably the rest 
still remained at the tomb, waiting for orders to depart, and 
had sent these to intimate to their employers the things that 
had taken place.

Verse 12. With the elders] That is, the senators of the great 
Sanhedrin or Jewish council of state, elsewhere called the 
elders of the people; they could now meet, as the Sabbath was 
over.

Verse 13. His disciples came by night] This was as absurd as 
it was false. On one hand, the terror of the disciples, the 
smallness of their number (only eleven;) and their almost 
total want of faith; on the other, the great danger of such a 
bold enterprise, the number of armed men who guarded the 
tomb, the authority of Pilate and of the Sanhedrin, must 
render such an imposture as this utterly devoid of credit.

Stole him away while we slept.] Here is a whole heap of 
absurdities. 1st.

Is it likely that so many men would all fall asleep, in the 
open air, at once? 2dly. Is it at all probable that a Roman 
guard should be found off their watch, much less asleep, when 
it was instant death, according to the Roman military laws, 
to be found in this state? 3dly. Could they be so sound 
asleep as not to awake with all the noise which must be 
necessarily made by removing the great stone, and taking away 
the body? 4thly. Is it at all likely that these disciples 
could have had time sufficient to do all this, and to come 
and return, without being perceived by any person? And 5thly. 
If they were asleep, how could they possibly know that it was 
the disciples that stole him, or indeed that any person or 
persons stole him?-for, being asleep, they could see no 
person. From their own testimony, therefore, the resurrection 
may be as fully proved as the theft.

Verse 14. If this came to the governor's ears] Pilate-we will 
persuade him that it is for his own interest and honour to 
join in the deception; and we will render you secure-we will 
take care that you shalt not suffer that punishment for this 
pretended breach of duty which otherwise you might expect.

Verse 15. Until this day.] That is to say, the time in which 
Matthew wrote his Gospel; which is supposed by some to have 
been eight, by others eighteen, and by others thirty years 
after our Lord's resurrection.

Verse 16. Then the eleven disciples went] When the women went 
and told them that they had seen the Lord, and that he had 
promised to meet them in Galilee. From the eleventh to the 
fifteenth verse inclusive, should be read in a parenthesis, 
as the sixteenth verse is the continuation of the subject 
mentioned in the tenth.

Verse 17. But some doubted.] That is, Thomas only at first 
doubted.

The expression simply intimates, that they did not all 
believe at that time. See the same form noticed on chap. 
xxvi. 8, and chap. xxvii. 44.

Verse 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them] It is supposed 
by some that the reason why any doubted was, that when they 
saw Jesus at first, he was at a distance; but when he came 
up, drew near to them, they were fully persuaded of the 
identity of his person.

All power is given unto me] Or, All authority in heaven and 
upon earth is given unto me. One fruit of the sufferings and 
resurrection of Christ is represented to be, his having 
authority or right in heaven to send down the Holy Spirit-to 
raise up his followers thither-and to crown them in the 
kingdom of an endless glory: in earth, to convert sinners; to 
sanctify, protect, and perfect his Church; to subdue all 
nations to himself; and, finally, to judge all mankind. If 
Jesus Christ were not equal with the Father, could he have 
claimed this equality of power, without being guilty of 
impiety and blasphemy? Surely not; and does he not, in the 
fullest manner, assert his Godhead, and his equality with the 
Father, by claiming and possessing all the authority in 
heaven and earth?-i.e. all the power and authority by which 
both empires are governed? 

Verse 19. Go ye therefore] Because I have the authority 
aforesaid, and can send whomsoever I will to do whatsoever I 
please:-teach, maqhteusate, make disciples of all nations, 
bring them to an acquaintance with God who bought them, and 
then baptize them in the name of the Father. It is natural to 
suppose that adults were the first subjects of baptism; for 
as the Gospel was, in a peculiar manner, sent to the 
Gentiles, they must hear and receive it, before they could be 
expected to renounce their old prejudices and idolatries, and 
come into the bonds of the Christian covenant. But, 
certainly, no argument can be drawn from this concession 
against the baptism of children. When the Gentiles and Jews 
had received the faith and blessings of the Gospel, it is 
natural enough to suppose they should wish to get their 
children incorporated with the visible Church of Christ; 
especially if, as many pious and learned men have believed, 
baptism succeeded to circumcision, which I think has never 
yet been disproved. The apostles knew well that the Jews not 
only circumcised the children of proselytes, but also 
baptized them; and as they now received a commission to teach 
and proselyte all the nations, and baptize them in the name 
of the holy Trinity, they must necessarily understand that 
infants were included: nor could they, the custom of their 
country being considered, have understood our Lord 
differently, unless he had, in the most express terms, said 
that they were not to baptize children, which neither he nor 
his apostles ever did. And as to the objection, that the 
baptized were obliged to profess their faith, and that, 
therefore, only adults should be baptized, there is no weight 
at all in it; because what is spoken of such refers to those 
who, only at that period of life, heard the Gospel, and were 
not born of parents who had been Christians; therefore they 
could not have been baptized into the Christian faith, 
forasmuch as no such faith was at their infancy preached in 
the world. That the children and even infants, of proselytes, 
were baptized among the Jews, and reputed, in consequence, 
clean, and partakers of the blessings of the covenant, see 
proved at large by Wetstein, in his note on chap. iii. 16.-
See the note on chap. iii. 6, and particularly on Mark xvi. 
16.

In the name of the Father, &c.] Baptism, properly speaking, 
whether administered by dipping or sprinkling, signifies a 
full and eternal consecration of the person to the service 
and honour of that Being in whose name it is administered; 
but this consecration can never be made to a creature; 
therefore the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are 
not creatures. Again, baptism is not made in the name of a 
quality or attribute of the Divine nature; therefore the 
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are not qualities 
or attributes of the Divine nature. The orthodox, as they are 
termed, have generally considered this text as a decisive 
proof of the doctrine of the holy Trinity: and what else can 
they draw from it? Is it possible for words to convey a 
plainer sense than these do? And do they not direct every 
reader to consider the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 
as three distinct persons? "But this I can never believe." I 
cannot help that-you shall not be persecuted by me for 
differing from my opinion. I cannot go over to you; I must 
abide by what I believe to be the meaning of the Scriptures. 
Dr. Lightfoot has some good thoughts on this commission given 
to the apostles:-" I. Christ commands them to go and baptize 
the nations: but how much time was past before such a journey 
was taken! And when the time was now come that this work 
should be begun, Peter doth not enter upon it without a 
previous admonition given him from heaven. And this was 
occasioned hereby, that, according to the command of Christ, 
the Gospel was first to be preached to Judea, Samaria, and 
Galilee.

"II. He commands them to baptize in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; but among the Jews, 
they baptized only in the name of Jesus. See Acts ii. 38; 
viii. 16; xix. 5. For this reason, that thus the baptizers 
might assert, and the baptized confess, Jesus to be the true 
Messias; which was chiefly controverted by the Jews. Of the 
same nature is that apostolic blessing, Grace and peace from 
God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Where then is 
the Holy Ghost? He is not excluded, however he be not named. 
The Jews did more easily consent to the Spirit of the 
Messias, which they very much celebrate, than to the person 
of the Messias. Above all others they deny and abjure Jesus 
of Nazareth. It belonged to the apostles, therefore, the more 
earnestly to assert Jesus (to be the Messias) by how much the 
more vehemently they opposed him: which being once cleared, 
the acknowledging of the Spirit of Christ would be introduced 
without delay or scruple. Moses, (in Exod. vi. 14,) going 
about to reckon up all the tribes of Israel, goes no farther 
than the tribe of Levi; and takes up with that to which his 
business and story at that present related. In like manner, 
the apostles, for the present, baptize in the name of Jesus, 
and bless in the name of the Father and of Jesus, that 
thereby they might more firmly establish the doctrine of 
Jesus, which met with such sharp and virulent opposition; 
which doctrine being established among them, they would soon 
agree about the Holy Ghost.

"III. Among the Jews, the controversy was about the true 
Messias; among the Gentiles, about the true God. It was 
therefore proper among the Jews to baptize in the name of 
Jesus, that he might be vindicated to be the true Messias. 
Among the Gentiles, in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that they might be hereby 
instructed in the doctrine of the true God.-Let this be 
particularly noted.

"IV. The Jews baptized proselytes into the name of the 
Father, that is, into the profession of God, whom they called 
by the name of Father. The apostles baptize the Jews into the 
name of Jesus the Son, and the Gentiles, into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

"V. The Father hath revealed himself in the old covenant; the 
Son in the new; in human flesh by his miracles, doctrine, 
resurrection and ascension; the Holy Ghost in his gifts and 
miracles. Thus the doctrine of the ever blessed Trinity grew 
by degrees to full maturity. For the arriving to the 
acknowledgment of which, it was incumbent upon all who 
professed the true God to be three in one to be baptized into 
his name." LIGHTFOOT'S Works, vol. ii. p. 274.

Verse 20. Teaching them to observe all things] Men are 
ignorant of Divine things, and must be taught. Only those can 
be considered as proper teachers of the ignorant who are 
thoroughly instructed in whatsoever Christ has commanded. 
Persons who are entrusted with the public ministry of the 
word should take care that they teach not human creeds and 
confessions of faith, in place of the Sacred Writings; but 
those things, and those only, which Jesus has commanded.

And, lo, I am with you alway] kai idou egw mequmwn eimi pasav 
tav hmerav-literally, Behold, I am with you every day. A 
minister of Christ should consider, that while his soul 
simply and uniformly follows Jesus, he shall be made a 
constant instrument of bringing many sons and daughters to 
glory. The dark, it is true, must be enlightened, the 
ignorant instructed, the profligate reclaimed, the guilty 
justified, and the unholy sanctified; and who is sufficient 
for this work? He with whom the Son of God is EVERY DAY, and 
none other.

Unto the end of the world.] Some translate, ewv thv 
sunteleiav tou aiwnov, to the end of this age; meaning the 
apostolic age, or Jewish dispensation; and then they refer 
the promise of Christ's presence to the working of miracles, 
and explain this by Mark xvi. 17-19. By my name they shall 
cast out demons, &c., &c. But though the words are used in 
this sense in several places, see chap. xiii. 39, 40, Matt. 
xiii. 49; xxiv. 3, yet it is certain they were repeatedly 
used among the primitive ecclesiastical writers to denote the 
consummation of all things; and it is likely that this is the 
sense in which they are used here, which the Anglo-Saxon has 
happily expressed: -And I, be with you all days, until world 
ending; and this is indispensably necessary, because the 
presence and influence of Jesus Christ are essentially 
requisite in every age of the world, to enlighten, instruct, 
and save the lost. The promise takes in not only the 
primitive apostles, but also all their successors in the 
Christian ministry, as long as the earth shall endure.

Amen.] This word is omitted by some of the oldest and most 
authentic MSS., and by some versions and fathers. When it is 
considered that the word amen simply means so be it! we may 
at once perceive that it could not be added by our Lord. For 
our Lord could not pray that his own will might be done, or 
his own promise fulfilled. The word is, therefore, utterly 
impertinent as a part of the sacred text, and could neither 
have been added by our Lord, nor by the evangelist. The amens 
at the end of the sacred books have no other authority than 
what they derive from the transcribers of copies; and, at 
best, are only to be considered as the pious wish of the 
writer, or of the Church, that the promises contained in the 
sacred volume may be accomplished. Indeed, it seems often to 
have no other meaning than our finis at the end of our books.

In the MSS. and versions there are various subscriptions, or 
epigraphs, to this Gospel: the following are the principal:-" 
The Gospel according to Matthew-written by him in Jerusalem-
in Palestine-in the east-in the Hebrew dialect-in Hebrew-
eight years after the ascension of Christ-interpreted by 
John-by James the brother of the Lord." The subscription in 
some copies of the Arabic version is very full: "The end of 
the copy of the Gospel of Matthew the Apostle. He wrote it in 
the land of Palestine, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in 
the Hebrew tongue, eight years after the bodily ascension of 
Jesus the Messiah into heaven, in the first year of the reign 
of Claudius Caesar, king of Rome." These are sufficient to 
show how little credit should be attached to the 
subscriptions found at the end of the sacred books, either in 
the MSS., or in the versions.

1. IN concluding my notes on this evangelist, I cannot 
express myself better than in the words of the late Mr. 
Wakefield, to whom this commentary has been in many instances 
indebted. "I have now finished my observations on the Gospel 
of Matthew: a piece of history, it must be acknowledged, the 
most singular in its composition, the most wonderful in its 
contents, and the most important in its object, that was ever 
exhibited to the notice of mankind. For simplicity of 
narrative, and an artless relation of facts, without any 
applause or censure, or digressive remarks, on the part of 
the historian, upon the characters introduced in it; without 
any intermixture of his own opinion, upon any subject 
whatsoever; and for a multiplicity of internal marks of 
credibility, this Gospel certainly has no parallel among 
human productions." 2. One thing the pious and intelligent 
reader has, no doubt, already noticed: there is not one 
truth, or doctrine, in the whole oracles of God, which is not 
taught in this evangelist. The outlines of the whole 
spiritual system are here correctly laid down: even Paul 
himself has added nothing; he has amplified and illustrated 
the truths contained in this Gospel; but, even under the 
direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost, neither he nor any 
other of the apostles have brought to light any one truth, 
the prototype of which has not been found in the words or 
acts of our blessed Lord, as related by Matthew, in the work 
which has already passed under review. The Gospel by St. 
Matthew is the grand text-book of Christianity; the other 
Gospels are collateral evidences of its truth, and the 
apostolic epistles are comments on the text. In the 
commencement of this work, I stated my wish, "to assist my 
fellow labourers in the vineyard to lead men to HIM who is 
the fountain of all excellence, goodness, truth, and 
happiness;-to magnify his LAW, and make it honourable;-to 
show the wonderful provision made in his GOSPEL for the 
recovery and salvation of a sinful world;-to prove that God's 
great design is to make his creatures HAPPY; and that such a 
salvation as it becomes God to give, and such as man needs to 
receive, is within the grasp of every human soul."--General 
Preface, before Genesis. And having thus far done what I 
could, in reference to these great and important purposes, 
here I register my thanks to the ever-blessed God, Father, 
Word, and Holy Spirit, that he has permitted me to cast my 
mite into this sacred treasury, to add my feeble testimony to 
his Eternal Truth; and has spared me, in the midst of many 
infirmities and oppressive labours, to see the conclusion of 
this Gospel, a consummation which I had long devoutly wished, 
but which I had scarcely hoped ever to see realized.

May the Divine Author of this sacred book give the reader a 
heart-felt experience of all the truths it contains; make and 
keep him wise unto salvation; build him up in this most holy 
faith; and give him an inheritance among the blessed, through 
Christ Jesus, the Friend of mankind, and the saviour of 
sinners, who is the object and end of this glorious system of 
truth! And to Him, with the Father and Eternal Spirit, be 
glory and dominion, thanksgiving and obedience, for ever and 
ever, Amen and amen! 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK 

-Usherian year of the World, 4030. -Alexandrian year of the 
World, 5528.-Antiochian year of the World, 5518. -
Constantinopolitan AEra of the World, 5534. -Rabbinical year 
of the World, 3786. -Year of the Julian Period, 4740. -AEra 
of the Seleucidae, 338. -Year of the Christian AEra, 26. -
Year of the CCI. Olympiad, 2. -Year of the building of Rome, 
769.-Year of the Julian AEra, 71. -Year of the Caesarean AEra 
of Antioch, 74.-Year of the Spanish AEra, 64. -Year of the 
Paschal Cycle or Dionysian Period, 27. -Year of the Christian 
Lunar Cycle, or Golden Number, 8.-Year of the Rabbinical 
Lunar Cycle, 5. -Year of the Solar Cycle, 7.-Dominical 
Letter, F. -Epact, 17. -Year of the Emperor Tiberius, 14.-
Consuls, C. Calvisius Sabinus, and Cn. Corn. Lentulus 
Getulicus, from January 1 to July 1; and Q. Marcius Barca and 
T. Rustius Nummus Gallus, for the remainder of the year. The 
reason why two sets of Consuls appear in this Chronology is 
this: the Consuls were changed every year in July; therefore, 
taking in the whole year, four Consuls necessarily appear: 
two for the first six months, and two for the latter half of 
the year.

CHAPTER i

The mission, preaching, and success of John Baptist, 1-5. His 
manner of life, 6. Proclaims Christ, and baptizes him in 
Jordan, 7-11. The temptation of Christ, 12, 13. John being 
put in prison, Christ begins to preach, 14, 15. He calls 
Andrew and Simon, 16-18. James and John, 19, 20. Teaches in 
Capernaum, 21, 22. Casts out a demon, 23-28. Goes into the 
house of Simon, and heals his mother-in-law, 29-31. Heals 
many diseased persons, 32-34. Goes to the desert, and is 
followed by his disciples, 35-37.Preaches in different towns 
and synagogues of Galilee, and casts cut devils, 38, 39. 
Cleanses a leper, who publishes abroad his miraculous cure, 
40-45.

NOTES ON CHAP. i

Verse 1. The beginning of the Gospel] It is with the utmost 
propriety that Mark begins the Gospel dispensation by the 
preaching of John the Baptist, he being the forerunner of 
Jesus Christ, and the first proclaimer of the incarnated 
Messiah. Gospel-for the meaning of the word see the preface 
to Matthew.  Son of God] To point out his Divine origin; and 
thus glancing at his miraculous conception. This was an 
essential character of the Messiah. See Matthew xvi. 16; 
xxvi. 63; Luke xxii. 67, &c.

Verse 2. As it is written in the prophets] Rather, As it is 
written by Isaiah the prophet. I think this reading should be 
adopted, instead of that in the common text. It is the 
reading of the Codex Bezae, Vatican, and several other MSS. 
of great repute. It is found also in the Syriac, Persic, 
Coptic, Armenian, Gothic, Vulgate, and Itala versions, and in 
several of the fathers. As this prophecy is found both in 
Isaiah and Malachi, probably the reading was changed to taiv 
profhtaiv, the prophets, that it might comprehend both. In 
one of ASSEMAN'S Syriac copies, both Isaiah and Malachi are 
mentioned. See all the authorities in Griesbach, 2d edit.; 
and see the parallel place in Matthew, Matt. iii. 3, where 
the Prophet Isaiah is mentioned, which seems fully to 
establish the authority of this reading.

Verse 3. The voice of one crying] See on Matt. iii. 1-3.

Verse 4. John] The original name is nearly lost in the Greek 
iwannhv, and in the Latin Johannes, and almost totally so in 
the English John. The original name is njwhy Yehochanan, 
compounded of nj hwhy Yehovah chanan, the grace or mercy of 
Jehovah: a most proper and significant name for the 
forerunner of the God of ALL GRACE. It was John's business to 
proclaim the Gospel of the grace of God, and to point out 
that Lamb or sacrifice of God which takes away the sin of the 
world.

For the remission of sins.] Or, toward the remission-eiv 
afesin. They were to repent, and be baptized in reference to 
the remission of sins.

REPENTANCE prepared the soul for it, and BAPTISM was the type 
or pledge of it. See on Matt. iii. 2.

Verse 5. All the land] See on Matt. iii. 4-6.

Confessing their sins.] It was an invariable custom among the 
Jews to admit no proselyte to baptism, till he had, in the 
most solemn manner, declared that he forever had renounced 
all idolatrous worship, all heathenish superstitions, and 
promised an entire and unreserved submission to the law of 
Moses. This was necessary for a proselyte adult-a child 
dedicated to God by baptism must be brought up in this faith.

Verse 6. John was clothed, &c.] See the note on Matt. iii. 4.

Verse 7. The latchet of whose shoes] The shoe of the ancients 
was properly only a sole tied round the foot and ankle with 
strings or thongs. See on Matt. iii. 11.

Verse 8. I indeed have baptized you with water] As if he had 
said: This baptism is not to be rested in; it is only an 
emblem of that which you must receive from him who is 
mightier than I. It is he only who can communicate the Holy 
Spirit; and water baptism is nothing, but as it points out, 
and leads to, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The subject of 
these two verses is not found in Matthew nor John; but is 
mentioned with some varying circumstances by Luke, Luke iii. 
16.

Verse 9. - 11. See the subject of these verses which contain 
the account of our Lord's baptism, explained. Matt. iii. 13-
17. 

 

 Verse 12. The Spirit driveth him] ekballei, putteth him 
forth. St. Matthew says, Matt. iv. 1, anhcqh, was brought up. 
See this important subject of our Lord's temptation explained 
at large, Matt. iv. 1-11.

Verse 13. With the wild beasts] This is a curious 
circumstance, which is mentioned by none of the other 
evangelists; and seems to intimate that he was in the most 
remote, unfrequented, and savage part of the desert; which, 
together with the diabolic influence, tended to render the 
whole scene the more horrid. Perhaps this very circumstance 
is mentioned, as emblematical of that savage and brutal 
cruelty with which he was persecuted to death by the Jews and 
Gentiles, instigated thereto by the malice of Satan.

Verse 14. Preaching the Gospel of the kingdom] See the notes 
on Matt. iii. 2; and on the office of the preacher, or 
herald, at the end of that chapter.

Verse 15. The time is fulfilled] That is, the time appointed 
for sending the Messiah; and particularly the time specified 
by Daniel, Dan. ix. 24-27.

Here are four points worthy of deep attention, in the 
preaching of the Son of God.

1. Every thing that is done is according to a plan laid by 
the Divine wisdom, and never performed till the time 
appointed was filled up.

2. That the kingdom and reign of sin are to be destroyed, and 
the kingdom of grace and heaven established in their place.

3. That the kingdom of God, and his reign by grace, begins 
with repentance for past sins.

4. That this reign of grace is at hand; and that nothing but 
an obstinate perseverance in sin and impenitence can keep any 
soul out of it; and that now is the accepted time to enter 
in.

Verse 16. As he walked by the sea, &c.] See on Matt. iv. 18-
22.

Andrew his brother] Instead of the common reading, adelfon 
autou, his brother, the best MSS. and versions have adelfou 
tou simwnov, the brother of Simon, which should be received 
into the text. The most eminent critics approve of this 
reading.

Verse 21. Capernaum] See Matt. iv. 13.

He entered into the synagogue] Their synagogues-en taiv 
sunagwgaiv autwn, according to the Syriac, which has the word 
in the plural.

Verse 22. As one that had authority] From God, to do what he 
was doing; and to teach a pure and beneficent system of 
truth.

And not as the scribes.] Who had no such authority, and whose 
teaching was not accompanied by the power of God to the souls 
of the people: 1.

because the matter of the teaching did not come from God; and 
2. because the teachers themselves were not commissioned by 
the Most High. See the note on Matt. vii. 28.

Verse 23. A man with an unclean spirit] This demoniac is only 
mentioned by Mark and Luke, Luke iv. 33. It seems the man had 
lucid intervals; else he could not have been admitted into 
the synagogue. Unclean or impure spirit-a common epithet for 
those fallen spirits: but here it may mean, one who filled 
the heart of him he possessed with LASCIVIOUS thoughts, 
images, desires, and propensities. By giving way to the first 
attacks of such a spirit, he may soon get in, and take full 
possession of the whole soul.

Verse 24. What have we to do with thee] Or, What is it to us 
and to thee? or, What business hast thou with us? That this 
is the meaning of the original, ti hmin kai soi, Kypke has 
sufficiently shown. There is a phrase exactly like it in 2 
Sam. xvi. 10. What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? 
hywrx ynb µklw yl hm ma li v'lacem beney Tseruiah, What 
business have ye with me, or, Why do ye trouble me, ye sons 
of Tseruiah? The Septuagint translate the Hebrew just as the 
evangelist does here, ti emoi kai umin; it is the same idiom 
in both places, as there can be no doubt that the demoniac 
spoke in Hebrew, or in the Chaldeo-Syriac dialect of that 
language, which was then common in Judea. See on Matt. viii. 
29.

Art thou come to destroy us?] We may suppose this spirit to 
have felt and spoken thus: "Is this the time of which it hath 
been predicted, that in it the Messiah should destroy all 
that power which we have usurped and exercised over the 
bodies and souls of men? Alas! it is so. I now plainly see 
who thou art-the Holy One of God, who art come to destroy 
unholiness, in which we have our residence, and through which 
we have our reign in the souls of men." An unholy spirit is 
the only place where Satan can have his full operation, and 
show forth the plenitude of his destroying power.

Verse 25. And Jesus rebuked him] A spirit of this cast will 
only yield to the sovereign power of the Son of God. All 
watchings, fasting, and mortifications, considered in 
themselves, will do little or no good.

Uncleanness, of every description, will only yield to the 
rebuke of God.

Verse 26. And when the unclean spirit had torn him] And had 
thrown him down in the midst, Luke iv. 35, kai sparaxan, and 
convulsed him.

Never was there a person possessed by an unclean spirit who 
did not suffer a convulsion, perhaps a total ruin of nature 
by it. Sins of uncleanness, as the apostle intimates, are 
against the body; they sap the foundation of life, so that 
there are very few of this class, whether male or female, 
that live out half their days: they generally die martyrs to 
their lusts. When the propensities of the flesh are most 
violent in a person who is determined to serve God, it is 
often a proof that these are the last efforts of the impure 
spirit, who has great rages because he knows his time is but 
short.

Verse 27. What thing is this?] Words of surprise and 
astonishment.

And what new doctrine] I have added the particle and, from 
the Syriac, as it helps the better to distinguish the members 
of the sentence; but there is a vast diversity in the MSS. on 
this verse. See Griesbach.

For with authority] They had never heard such a gracious 
doctrine, and never saw any teaching supported by miracles 
before. How much must this person be superior to men!-they 
are brought into subjection by unclean spirits; this person 
subjects unclean spirits to himself.

Verse 28. And immediately his fame spread abroad] The miracle 
which he had performed was-1. great; 2. evidenced much 
benevolence in the worker of it; and 3. was very public, 
being wrought in the synagogue. The many who saw it published 
it wherever they went; and thus the fame of Christ, as an 
incomparable teacher, and unparalleled worker of miracles, 
became soon spread abroad through the land.

The word, euqewv, immediately, occurs more frequently in this 
evangelist than in any other writer of the new covenant: it 
is very often superfluous, and may often be omitted in the 
translation, without any prejudice to the sense of the 
passage in which it is found. It seems to be used by St. 
Mark, as our ancient writers used forsooth, and such like 
words.

Verse 29. See this account of the healing of Peter's mother-
in-law explained at large, Matt. viii. 14-17.

Verse 32. When the sun did set] See on Matt. viii. 14.

Verse 34. Because they knew him] To be the Christ, is added 
here by several ancient and respectable MSS. and versions; 
but it appears to be only a gloss.

Verse 35. In the morning a great while before day] By prwi, 
the morning, is to be understood the whole space of three 
hours, which finished the fourth watch of the night.

And there prayed.] Not that he needed any thing, for in him 
dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; but that he 
might be a pattern to us. Every thing that our blessed Lord 
did he performed either as our pattern, or as our sacrifice.

Verse 36. And Simon-followed after him.] katediwxan, followed 
him eagerly. They had now begun to taste the good word of 
God, and thought they could never hear too much of it. Many 
possess this spirit when first converted to God. O! what a 
pity that they should ever lose it! The soul that relishes 
God's word is ever growing in grace by it.

Verse 37. All men seek for thee.] Some to hear; some to be 
healed; some to be saved; and some, perhaps, through no good 
motive. There are all sorts of followers in the train of 
Christ; but how few walk steadily, and persevere unto the 
end!

Verse 38. The next towns] kwmopoleiv properly signifies such 
towns as resembled cities for magnitude and number of 
inhabitants, but which were not walled as were cities. The 
Codex Bezae, most of the versions, and all the Itala, read, 
Let us go into the neighbouring villages, AND INTO THE 
CITIES.

For therefore came I forth.] eiv touto, for this purpose am I 
come forth-to preach the Gospel to every creature, that all 
might hear, and fear, and return unto the Lord. The towns and 
the villages will not come to the preacher-the preacher must 
go to them, if he desires their salvation. In this, also, 
Jesus has left his ministering servants an example, that they 
should follow his steps. Let no minister of God think he has 
delivered his own soul, till he has made an offer of 
salvation to every city and village within his reach.

Verse 39. And he preached] He continued preaching-hn 
khrusswn: this is the proper meaning of the words: he never 
slackened his pace-he continued proclaiming the glad tidings 
of salvation to all-there was no time to be lost-immortal 
souls were perishing for lack of knowledge; and the grand 
adversary was prowling about, seeking whom he might devour. 
This zealous, affectionate, and persevering diligence of 
Christ should be copied by all his servants in the ministry; 
it is not less necessary now than it was then. Thousands, 
thousands of Christians, so called, are perishing for lack of 
knowledge. O God, send forth more and more faithful labourers 
into thy vineyard!

Verse 40. There came a leper] See the notes on Matt. viii. 2, 
&c.

Should any be inclined to preach on this cleansing of the 
leper, Mark is the best evangelist to take the account from, 
because he is more circumstantial than either Matthew or 
Luke.

I. Consider this leper.

1. He heard of Jesus and his miracles.

2. He came to him for a cure, conscious of his disease.

3. He earnestly besought him to grant the mercy he needed.

4. He fell down on his knees, (with his face to the earth, 
Luke v. 12,) thus showing his humbled state, and the distress 
of his soul.

5. He appealed to his love-if thou wilt; with a full 
conviction of his ability-thou canst; in order to get healed.

II. Consider Jesus.

1. He is moved with tender compassion towards him: this is 
the alone source of all human salvation.

2. He stretches forth his hand, showing thus his readiness to 
relieve him.

3. He touches him; though this was prohibited by the law, and 
rendered him who did it in any common case legally unclean.

4. He proves at once his infinite love and unlimited power, 
by his word and by his act; I will-be thou cleansed; and 
immediately his leprosy was removed. But see on Matt. viii. 
2.

Verse 43. Straitly charged] See the reason for this, Matt. 
viii. 4. This verse is wanting in two copies of the Itala.

Verse 45. Began to publish it much] Began to publish polla, 
many things; probably all that he had heard about our Lord's 
miraculous works.

And to blaze abroad the matter] That is, his own healing; 
thinking he could never speak too much, nor too well, of him 
who had thus mercifully and miraculously cleansed him.

Jesus could no more openly enter into the city] A city of 
Galilee, probably Chorazin or Bethsaida, in which he did not 
appear, for fear of exciting the jealousy of the secular 
government, or the envy and malice of the Jewish rulers.

And they came to him from every quarter.] So generally had 
the poor man, who was cleansed of his leprosy, spread abroad 
his fame. And can we suppose that, of all these people who 
came to him from all parts, and to whom he preached the glad 
tidings of the kingdom, by the power and authority of God, 
few or none were saved? This is a common opinion; but every 
person who seriously considers it must see that it is 
unfounded.

Without doubt, Christ had thousands that were brought to God 
by his ministry; though, in general, only those are mentioned 
who were constant attendants on his person. It would be 
strange, if, while God manifested in the flesh was preacher, 
there should be few brought to the knowledge of themselves, 
and of the truth! In this respect he does not permit his 
faithful ministers to labour in vain. The Son of man sowed 
the seed of the kingdom; and it afterwards produced a 
plentiful harvest. Multitudes of Jews were converted by the 
preaching of the Gospel; and the first Christian Church was 
founded at Jerusalem.

CHAPTER ii

Christ preaches in Capernaum, 1, 2. A paralytic person is 
brought to him, whose sins are pronounced forgiven, 3-5. The 
scribes accuse him of blasphemy, 6, 7. He vindicates himself, 
and proves his power to forgive sins, by healing the man's 
disease, 8-11. The people are astonished and edified, 12. He 
calls Levi from the receipt of custom, 13, 14. Eats in his 
house with publicans and sinners, at which the Pharisees 
murmur, 15, 16. He vindicates his conduct, 17. Vindicates his 
disciples, who are accused of not fasting, 18-22; and for 
plucking the ears of corn on the Sabbath day, 23-26; and 
teaches the right use of the Sabbath, 27, 28.

NOTES ON CHAP. ii

Verse 1. In the house.] The house of Peter, with whom Christ 
lodged when at Capernaum. See the notes on Matt. iv. 13; 
viii. 13.

Verse 2. So much as about the door] Meaning the yard or court 
before the house.

Preached THE WORD] ton logon. The doctrine of the kingdom of 
God; for so o logov is repeatedly used.

Verse 3. One sick of the palsy] A paralytic person. See on 
Matt. ix. 2, &c.

Borne of four.] Four men, one at each corner of the sofa or 
couch on which he lay: this sick man appears to have been too 
feeble to come himself, and too weak to be carried in any 
other way.

Verse 4. They uncovered the roof] The houses in the east are 
generally made flat-roofed, that the inhabitants may have the 
benefit of taking the air on them; they are also furnished 
with battlements round about, Deut. xxii. 8; Judg. xvi. 27; 
and 2 Sam. xi. 2, to prevent persons from falling off; and 
have a trap door by which they descend into the house. This 
door, it appears, was too narrow to let down the sick man and 
his couch; so they uncovered the roof, removed a part of the 
tiles; and having broken it up, taken away the laths or 
timber, to which the tiles had been attached, they then had 
room to let down the afflicted man. See Luke v. 19, and on 
Matt. x. 27; xxiv. 17.

Verse 7. Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies?] See this 
explained Matt. ix. 3, &c.

Verse 12. He-took up the bed] The words of PROSPER, on this 
place, are worthy of notice:-" What is sin but a deplorable 
fall, a grovelling on the earth, a repose in the creature, 
often followed by a universal palsy of the soul; namely, an 
utter inability to help itself, to break off its evil habits, 
to walk in the ways of God, to rise or to take one good step 
towards him? Grace can repair all in a moment: because it is 
nothing but the almighty will of God, who commands and does 
whatever he commands."

Verse 14. Levi] The same as Matthew; he appears to have been 
a Jew, though employed in the odious office of a tax-
gatherer. For an account of his call, see his Gospel, Matt. 
ix. 9, &c.

Verse 16. Sinners] By amartwloi, the Gentiles or heathens are 
generally to be understood in the Gospels, for this was a 
term the Jews never applied to any of themselves, See the 
note on Matthew ix. 10.

How is it that he eateth] Some very good MSS., several 
versions, with Chrysostom and Augustin, read, Why doth YOUR 
MASTER eat?

Verse 17. To repentance.] This is omitted by ABDKL, twenty-
seven others; both the Syriac, Persic, Coptic, AEthiopic, 
Armenian, Gothic, Vulgate; six copies of the Itala; Euthymius 
and Augustin. Griesbach has left it out of the text; Grotius, 
Mill, and Bengel approve of the omission. See on Matt. ix. 
13. I leave it as in the parallel place above quoted.

Properly speaking, the righteous cannot be called to 
repentance. They have already forsaken sin, mourned for it, 
and turned to God. In the other parallel place, Luke v. 32, 
all the MSS. and versions retain metanoian, repentance.

Verse 18. Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees 
fast] See this largely explained on Matt. ix. 14, &c. The 
following vices are very common to Pharisees.

1. They are more busied in censuring the conduct of others 
than in rectifying their own.

2. They desire that every one should regulate his piety by 
theirs; and embrace their particular customs and forms of 
devotion.

3. They speak of and compare themselves with other people, 
only that they may have an opportunity of distinguishing and 
exalting themselves.

On the nature, times, and duration of fasting, see Matt. vi. 
16; ix. 15.

Verse 19. Can the children of the bride-chamber fast while 
the bridegroom is with them?] Among the Hindoos, large 
parties of friends, belonging both to the bride and 
bridegroom, attend on both during the wedding day; on the 
following day, when the bridegroom leaves the house of his 
father-in-law, the attendants are filled with sorrow, 
especially the near relations.-WARD'S Customs.

Verse 20. In those days.] But instead of en ekeinaiv taiv 
hmeraiv, many of the best MSS. and versions read, en ekeinh 
th hmera, in that day; viz. the day in which Jesus Christ 
should be delivered up to the Jews and Gentiles. Mill and 
Bengel approve of this reading, and Griesbach adopts it. The 
former part of the verse seems to vindicate the common 
reading.

Verse 21. No man-seweth] See Matt. ix. 16. No man seweth a 
piece of unscoured cloth upon an old garment. In the common 
editions this verse begins with kai, and, but this is omitted 
by almost every MS. and version of note. The construction of 
the whole verse is various in the MSS. The translation given 
here, and in Matt. ix. 16, is intelligible, and speaks for 
itself.

Verse 23. Went through the corn fields] See on Matt. xii. 1.

Verse 26. The days of Abiathar the high priest] It appears 
from 1 Sam. xxi. 1, which is the place referred to here, that 
Ahimelech was then high priest at Nob: and from 1 Sam. xxii. 
20; xxiii. 6, and 1 Chron. xviii. 16, it appears that 
Abiathar was the son of Ahimelech. The Persic reads Abimelech 
instead of Abiathar. Theophylact supposes that Abiathar was 
the priest, and Ahimelech or Abimelech the high priest, and 
thus endeavours to reconcile both the sacred historians. 
Others reconcile the accounts thus: Ahimelech was called 
Ahimelech Abiathar, ba ab, father, understood; and Abiathar 
was called Abiathar Ahimelech, b ben, son, understood. 
Probably they both officiated in the high priesthood; and the 
name of the office was indifferently applied to either.

Shew-bread] See Matt. xii. 4.

Verse 27. The Sabbath was made for man] That he might have 
the seventh part of his whole time to devote to the purposes 
of bodily rest and spiritual exercises. And in these respects 
it is of infinite use to mankind. Where no Sabbath is 
observed, there disease, poverty, and profligacy, generally 
prevail. Had we no Sabbath, we should soon have no religion. 
This whole verse is wanting in the Codex Bezae, and in five 
of the Itala.

Verse 28. The Son of man is Lord] See on Matt. xii. 7, 8. 
Some have understood this as applying to men in general, and 
not to Christ. The Son of man, any man is Lord of the 
Sabbath; i.e. it was made for him, for his ease, comfort, and 
use, and to these purposes he is to apply it. But this is a 
very harsh, and at the same time a very lax, mode of 
interpretation; for it seems to say that a man may make what 
use he pleases of the Sabbath; and, were this true, the moral 
obligation of the Sabbath would soon be annihilated.

GOD ordained the Sabbath not only to be a type of that rest 
which remains for the people of God, but to be also a mean of 
promoting the welfare of men in general.

The ordinances of religion should be regulated according to 
their end, which is the honour of God, and the salvation of 
men. It is the property of the true religion to contain 
nothing in it but what is beneficial to man. Hereby God 
plainly shows that it is neither out of indigence or interest 
that he requires men to worship and obey him; but only out of 
goodness, and to make them happy. God prohibited work on the 
Sabbath day, lest servants should be oppressed by their 
masters, that the labouring beasts might have necessary rest, 
and that men might have a proper opportunity to attend upon 
his ordinances, and get their souls saved. To the Sabbath, 
under God, we owe much of what is requisite and necessary as 
well for the body as the soul.

CHAPTER iii

The man with the withered hand healed, 1-5. The Pharisees 
plot our Lord's destruction, 6. Christ withdraws, and is 
followed by a great multitude, 7-9. He heals many, and goes 
to a mountain to pray, 10-13. He ordains twelve disciples, 
and, gives them power to preach and work miracles, 14, 15. 
Their names, 16-19. The multitudes throng him, and the 
scribes attribute his miracles to Beelzebub, 20-22. He 
vindicates himself by a parable, 23-27. Of the blasphemy 
against the Holy Ghost, 28-30. His mother and brethren send 
for him, 31, 32. And he takes occasion from this to show, 
that they who do the will of God are to him as his brother, 
sister, and mother, 33-35.

NOTES ON CHAP. iii

Verse 1. A man there which had a withered hand.] See this 
explained on Matt. xii. 10, &c., and on Luke vi. 6, 10.

Verse 2. They watched him] parethroun auton, they maliciously 
watched him. See on Luke xiv. 1.

Verse 4. To do good-or-evil? to save life, or to kill?] It 
was a maxim with the Jews, as it should be with all men, that 
he who neglected to preserve life when it was in his power, 
was to be reputed a murderer.

Every principle of sound justice requires that he should be 
considered in this light. But, if this be the case, how many 
murderers are there against whom there is no law but the law 
of God! To kill-but instead of apokteinai, several MSS. and 
versions have apolesai to destroy. Wetstein and Griesbach 
quote Theophylact for this reading; but it is not in my copy. 
Paris edit. 1635.

Verse 5. With anger, being grieved for the hardness of their 
hearts] These words are not found in any of the other 
evangelists. For pwrwsei hardness, or rather callousness, the 
Codex Bezae, and four of the Itala, read nekrwsei, deadness; 
the Vulgate and some of the Itala, caecitate, blindness. Join 
all these together, and they will scarcely express the 
fullness of this people's wretchedness. By a long resistance 
to the grace and Spirit of God, their hearts had become 
callous; they were past feeling.

By a long opposition to the light of God, they became dark in 
their understanding, were blinded by the deceitfulness of 
sin, and thus were past seeing. By a long continuance in the 
practice of every evil work, they were cut off from all union 
with God, the fountain of spiritual life; and, becoming dead 
in trespasses and sins, they were incapable of any 
resurrection but through a miraculous power of God.

With anger. What was the anger which our Lord felt? That 
which proceeded from excessive grief, which was occasioned by 
their obstinate stupidity and blindness: therefore it was no 
uneasy passion, but an excess of generous grief.

Whole as the other.] This is omitted by the best MSS. and 
versions.

Grotius, Mill, and Bengel approve of the omission, and 
Griesbach leaves it out of the text.

Verse 6. Herodians] For an account of these, see the note on 
Matt. xvi. 1; xxii. 16.

Verse 7. Galilee] See Matt. iv. 13, 15.

Verse 8. Tyre-Sidon, &c.] See Matt. xi. 21.

When they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.] 
So, if Christ be persecuted and abandoned by the wicked, 
there are a multitude of pious souls who earnestly seek and 
follow him. He who labours for God will always find more than 
he loses, in the midst of all his contradictions and 
persecutions.

Verse 9. A small ship] ploiarion. The lytil boot, Old English 
MS. It was doubtless something of the boat kind, which 
probably belonged to some of the disciples. Our Lord was at 
this time teaching by the sea of Galilee. The word ship is 
utterly improper in many places of our translation, and tends 
to mislead the people.

Verse 10. They pressed upon him] Rushed upon him, epipiptein-
through eagerness to have their spiritual and bodily maladies 
immediately removed.

Plagues.] Rather disorders, mastigav; properly such disorders 
as were inflicted by the Lord. The word plague also tends to 
mislead.

Verse 11. Thou art the Son of God.] Two MSS., and the later 
Syriac, have, Thou art the Christ, the Son of God. One of 
Stephens's MSS. has, Thou art the Holy One of God. A MS. in 
the library of Leicester has, su ei o qeov, uiov, Thou art 
GOD, the Son. This is an uncommon reading, which is not 
confirmed by any MS. yet discovered.

Verse 14. He ordained twelve] epoihse, he made twelve. Here 
is nothing of what we call ordaining. Christ simply appointed 
them to be with him; and that he might send them occasionally 
to preach, &c.

To preach] The Codex Bezae, Saxon, and all the Itala, except 
one, add to euaggelion, the Gospel.

Verse 15. To have power to heal-and to cast out devils] The 
business of a minister of Christ is, 1st. To preach the 
Gospel. 2dly. To be the physician of souls. And, 3dly. To 
wage war with the devil, and destroy his kingdom.

Verse 16. Simon, &c.] See on Matt. x. 2, &c.

Verse 17. Sons of thunder] A Hebraism for thunderers; 
probably so named because of their zeal and power in 
preaching the Gospel.

The term Boanerges is neither Hebrew nor Syriac. Calmet and 
others think that there is reason to believe that the Greek 
transcribers have not copied it exactly. µ[r ynb beney raam, 
which the ancient Greeks would pronounce Beneregem, and which 
means sons of thunder, was probably the appellative used by 
our Lord: or s[r ynb beni reges, sons of tempest, which comes 
nearest to the Boanerges of the evangelist. St. Jerome, on 
Dan. i. , gives µ[r ynb (which he writes Benereem, softening 
the sound of the y ain) as the more likely reading, and 
Luther, supposing our Lord spoke in Hebrew, gives the proper 
Hebrew term above mentioned, which he writes Bnehargem. Some 
think that the reason why our Lord gave this appellative to 
the sons of Zebedee was, their desire to bring fire down from 
heaven, i.e. a storm of thunder and lightning, to overturn 
and consume a certain Samaritan village, the inhabitants of 
which would not receive their Master. See the account in Luke 
ix. 53, 54. It was a very usual thing among the Jews to give 
surnames, which signified some particular quality or 
excellence, to their rabbins. See several instances in 
Schoettgen.

Verse 19. Into a house.] As Christ was now returned to 
Capernaum, this was probably the house of Peter, mentioned 
chap. ii. 1.

Verse 20. Eat bread.] Had no time to take any necessary 
refreshment.

Verse 21. His friends] Or, relations. On this verse several 
MSS. differ considerably. I have followed the reading of the 
Syriac, because I think it the best: oi parÆ autou signify 
merely his relatives, his brethren, &c., see ver. 31; and the 
phrase is used by the best writers to signify relatives, 
companions, and domestics. See Kypke in loc.

They said, He is beside himself.] It was the enemies of 
Christ that raised this report; and his relatives, probably 
thinking that it was true, went to confine him. Let a 
Christian but neglect the care of his body for a time, in 
striving to enter in at the strait gate; let a minister of 
Christ but impair his health by his pastoral labours; 
presently "he is distracted;" he has "not the least conduct 
nor discretion." But let a man forget his soul, let him 
destroy his health by debaucheries, let him expose his life 
through ambition, and he may, notwithstanding, pass for a 
very prudent and sensible man! Schoettgen contends that the 
multitude, and not Christ, is here intended.

Christ was in the house: the multitude, oclov, ver. 20, 
pressed upon him so that he could not eat bread. His 
disciples, or friends, went out, krathsai auton (scil. 
oclon,) to restrain it, viz. the multitude, to prevent them 
from rushing into the house and disturbing their Master, who 
was now taking some refreshment. This conjecture should not 
be lightly regarded.

Verse 22. He hath Beelzebub] See on Matt. xii. 24-26.

Verse 27. -30. No man, &c.] For an explanation of these 
verses, and a definition of the sin against the Holy Ghost, 
see Matthew xii. 29-33. 

 

 

Verse 31. His brethren and his mother] Or rather, his mother 
and his brethren. This is the arrangement of the best and 
most ancient MSS.; and this clause, kai al adelfai sou, and 
thy sisters, ver. 32, should be ADDED, on the authority of 
ADEFGMSUV, fifty-five others, some editions, the margin of 
the later Syriac, Slavonic, Gothic, and all the Itala except 
four. Griesbach has received this reading into the text.

Calling him.] This clause is wanting in one copy of the 
Itala. The Codex Alexandrinus has zhtountev auton, seeking 
him.

Verse 33. Who is my mother?] See on Matt. xii. 46-50.

CHAPTER iv

The parable of the sower, 1-9. Its interpretation, 10-20. The 
use we should make of the instructions we receive, 21-26. The 
parable of the progressively growing seed, 26-29. Of the 
mustard seed, 30-34. Christ and his disciples are overtaken 
by a storm, 35-38. He rebukes the wind and the sea, and 
produces fair weather, 39-41.

NOTES ON CHAP. iv

Verse 2. He taught them many things by parables] See every 
part of this parable of the sower explained on Matt. xiii. 1, 
&c.

Verse 4. The fowls] tou ouranou, of the air, is the common 
reading; but it should be omitted, on the authority of nine 
uncial MSS., upwards of one hundred others, and almost all 
the versions. Bengel and Griesbach have left it out of the 
text. It seems to have been inserted in Mark, from Luke viii. 
5.

Verse 9. And he said-He that hath ears to hear, let him 
hear.] The Codex Bezae, later Syriac in the margin, and seven 
copies of the Itala, add, kai o suniwn sunietw, and whoso 
understandeth, let him understand.

Verse 10. They that were about him] None of the other 
evangelists intimate that there were any besides the twelve 
with him: but it appears there were several others present; 
and though they were not styled disciples, yet they appear to 
have seriously attended to his public and private 
instructions.

Verse 11. Unto you it is given to know] gnwnai, to know, is 
omitted by ABKL, ten others, the Coptic, and one of the 
Itala. The omission of this word makes a material alteration 
in the sense; for without it the passage may be read thus:-To 
you the mystery of the kingdom of God is given; but all these 
things are transacted in parables to those without. Griesbach 
leaves it doubtful. And Professor White says, probabiliter 
delendum. I should be inclined to omit it, were it not found 
in the parallel passages in Matthew and Luke, in neither of 
whom it is omitted by any MS. or version. See the 
dissertation on parabolical writing at the end of Matthew 
xiii. 58.

Verse 13. Know ye not this parable?] The scope and design of 
which is so very obvious.

How then will ye know all parables?] Of which mode of 
teaching ye should be perfect masters, in order that ye may 
be able successfully to teach others. This verse is not found 
in any of the other evangelists.

Verse 15. THESE are they] Probably our Lord here refers to 
the people to whom he had just now preached, and who, it is 
likely, did not profit by the word spoken.

Where the word is sown] Instead of this clause, four copies 
of the Itala read the place thus-They who are sown by the way 
side, are they WHO RECEIVE THE WORD NEGLIGENTLY. There are 
thousands of this stamp in the Christian world. Reader, art 
thou one of them?

Verse 19. The deceitfulness of riches] This is variously 
expressed in different copies of the Itala: the errors-
delights of the world-completely alienated (abolienati) by 
the pleasures of the world. The lusts of other things-which 
have not been included in the anxious cares of the world, and 
the deceitfulness of riches. All, all, choke the word!

Verse 21. Is a candle-put under a bushel!] The design of my 
preaching is to enlighten men; my parables not being designed 
to hide the truth, but to make it more manifest.

Verse 22. For there is nothing hid, &c.] Probably our Lord 
means, that all that had hitherto been secret, relative to 
the salvation of a lost world, or only obscurely pointed out 
by types and sacrifices, shall now be uncovered and made 
plain by the everlasting Gospel. See on Matt. v. 15; x. 26.

Verse 24. And unto you that hear shall more be given.] This 
clause is wanting in DG, Coptic, and four copies of the 
Itala; and in others, where it is extant, it is variously 
written. Griesbach has left it out of the text, and supposes 
it to be a gloss, Whosoever hath, to him shall be given.

Verse 25. He that hath] See on Matt. xiii. 12.

Verse 26. So is the kingdom of God] This parable is mentioned 
only by Mark, a proof that Mark did not abridge Matthew. 
Whitby supposes it to refer to the good ground spoken of 
before, and paraphrases is thus:-"What I have said of the 
seed sown upon good ground, may be illustrated by this 
parable. The doctrine of the kingdom, received in a good and 
honest heart, is like seed sown by a man in his ground, 
properly prepared to receive it; for when he hath sown it, he 
sleeps and wakes day after day, and, looking on it, he sees 
it spring and grow up through the virtue of the earth in 
which it is sown, though he knows not how it doth so; and 
when he finds it ripe, he reaps it, and so receives the 
benefit of the sown seed. So is it here: the seed sown in the 
good and honest heart brings forth fruit with patience; and 
this fruit daily increaseth, though we know not how the Word 
and Spirit work that increase; and then Christ the 
husbandman, at the time of the harvest, gathers in this good 
seed into the kingdom of heaven." I see no necessity of 
inquiring how Christ may be said to sleep and rise night and 
day; Christ being like to this husbandman only in sowing and 
reaping the seed.

Verse 27. And should sleep and rise night and day] That is, 
he should sleep by night, and rise by day; for so the words 
are obviously to be understood.

He knoweth not how.] How a plant grows is a mystery in 
nature, which the wisest philosopher in the universe cannot 
fully explain.

Verse 28. Bringeth forth-of herself] automath. By its own 
energy, without either the influence or industry of man. 
Similar to this is the expression of the poet: - Namque 
aliae, NULLIS HOMLNUM COGENTIBUS, ipsae SPONTE SUA veniunt. 
VIRG. Geor. l. ii. v. 10 "Some (trees) grow of their own 
accord, without the labour of man." All the endlessly varied 
herbage of the field is produced in this way.

The full corn] plhrh siton, FULL wheat; the perfect, full-
grown, or ripe corn. Lucian uses kenov karpov, EMPTY fruit, 
for imperfect, or unripe fruit. See Kypke.

The kingdom of God, which is generated in the soul by the 
word of life, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, is 
first very small; there is only a blade, but this is full of 
promise, for a good blade shows there is a good seed at 
bottom, and that the soil in which it is sown is good also. 
Then the ear-the strong stalk grows up, and the ear is formed 
at the top; the faith and love of the believing soul increase 
abundantly; it is justified freely through the redemption 
that is in Christ; it has the ear which is shortly to be 
filled with the ripe grain, the outlines of the whole image 
of God. Then the full corn. The soul is purified from all 
unrighteousness; and, having escaped the corruption that is 
in the world, it is made a partaker of the Divine nature, and 
is filled with all the fullness of God.

Verse 29. He putteth in the sickle] apostellei, he sendeth 
out the sickle, i.e. the reapers; the instrument, by a 
metonomy, being put for the persons who use it. This is a 
common figure. It has been supposed that our Lord intimates 
here that, as soon as a soul is made completely holy, it is 
taken into the kingdom of God. But certainly the parable does 
not say so. When the corn is ripe, it is reaped for the 
benefit of him who sowed it; for it can be of little or no 
use till it be ripe: so when a soul is saved from all sin, it 
is capable of being fully employed in the work of the Lord: 
it is then, and not till then, fully fitted for the Master's 
use. God saves men to the uttermost, that they may here 
perfectly love him, and worthily magnify his name. To take 
them away the moment they are capable of doing this, would 
be, so far, to deprive the world and the Church of the 
manifestation of the glory of his grace. "But the text says, 
he immediately sendeth out the sickle; and this means that 
the person dies, and is taken into glory, as soon as he is 
fit for it." No, for there may be millions of cases, where, 
though to die would be gain, yet to live may be far better 
for the Church, and for an increase of the life of Christ to 
the soul. See Philippians i. 21, 24. Besides, if we attempt 
to make the parable speak here what seems to be implied in 
the letter, then we may say, with equal propriety, that 
Christ sleeps and wakes alternately; and that his own grace 
grows, he knows not how, in the heart in which he has planted 
it.

Verse 27. On these two parables we may remark:-1.

That a preacher is a person employed by God, and sent out to 
sow the good seed of his kingdom in the souls of men.

2. That it is a sin against God to stay in the field and not 
sow.

3. That it is a sin to pretend to sow, when a man is not 
furnished by the keeper of the granary with any more seed.

4. That it is a high offense against God to change the 
Master's seed, to mix it, or to sow bad seed in the place of 
it.

5. That he is not a seeds-man of God who desires to sow by 
the way side, &c., and not on the proper ground, i.e. he who 
loves to preach only to genteel congregations, to people of 
sense and fashion, and feels it a pain and a cross to labour 
among the poor and the ignorant.

6. That he who sows with a simple, upright heart, the seed of 
his Master, shall (though some may be unfruitful) see the 
seed take deep root; and, notwithstanding the unfaithfulness 
and sloth of many of his hearers, he shall doubtless come 
with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. See Quesnel.

Verse 30. Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God?] How 
amiable is this carefulness of Jesus! How instructive to the 
preachers of his word! He is not solicitous to seek fine 
turns of eloquence to charm the minds of his auditors, nor to 
draw such descriptions and comparisons as may surprise them: 
but studies only to make himself understood; to instruct to 
advantage; to give true ideas of faith and holiness; and to 
find out such expressions as may render necessary truths easy 
and intelligible to the meanest capacities. The very wisdom 
of God seems to be at a loss to find out expressions low 
enough for the slow apprehensions of men.

How dull and stupid is the creature! How wise and good the 
Creator! And how foolish the preacher who uses fine and hard 
words in his preaching, which, though admired by the shallow, 
convey no instruction to the multitude.

Verse 31. A grain of mustard seed] See on Matt. xiii. 31, 32.

Verse 33. With many such parables] pollaiv, many, is omitted 
by L, sixteen others; the Syriac, both the Persic, one 
Arabic, Coptic, Armenian, AEthiopic, and two of the Itala. 
Mill approves of the omission, and Griesbach leaves it 
doubtful. It is probably an interpolation: the text reads 
better without it.

As they were able to hear] akouein, or to understand always 
suiting his teaching to the capacities of his hearers. I have 
always found that preacher most useful, who could adapt his 
phrase to that of the people to whom he preached. Studying 
different dialects, and forms of speech, among the common 
people, is a more difficult and a more useful work than the 
study of dead languages. The one a man should do, and the 
other he need not leave undone.

Verse 34. He expounded all things to his disciples.] That 
they might be capable of instructing others. Outside hearers, 
those who do not come into close fellowship with the true 
disciples of Christ, have seldom more than a superficial 
knowledge of Divine things.

In the fellowship of the saints, where Jesus the teacher is 
always to be found, every thing is made plain,-for the secret 
of the Lord is with them who fear him.

Verse 35. Let us pass over unto the other side.] Our Lord was 
now by the sea of Galilee.

Verse 36. THEY took him even as he was in the ship.] That is, 
the disciples; he was now en tw ploiw, in the boat, i.e. his 
own boat which usually waited on him, and out of which it 
appears he was then teaching the people. There were several 
others there which he might have gone in, had this one not 
been in the place. The construction of this verse is 
exceedingly difficult; the meaning appears to be this:-The 
disciples sailed off with him just as he was in the boat out 
of which he had been teaching the people; and they did not 
wait to provide any accommodations for the passage. This I 
believe to be the meaning of the inspired penman.

Verse 37. A great storm of wind] See on Matt. viii. 24.

Verse 38. On a pillow] proskefalaion probably means a little 
bed, or hammock, such as are common in small vessels. I have 
seen several in small packets, or passage boats, not a great 
deal larger than a bolster.

Verse 39. Peace, be still.] Be silent! Be still! There is 
uncommon majesty and authority in these words. Who but God 
could act thus? Perhaps this salvation of his disciples in 
the boat might be designed to show forth that protection and 
deliverance which Christ will give to his followers, however 
violently they may be persecuted by earth or hell. At least, 
this is a legitimate use which may be made of this 
transaction.

Verse 40. Why are ye so fearful?] Having me with you.

How is it that ye have no faith?] Having already had such 
proofs of my unlimited power and goodness.

Verse 41. What manner of man is this?] They were astonished 
at such power proceeding from a person who appeared to be 
only like one of themselves. It is often profitable to 
entertain each other with the succour and support which we 
receive from God in times of temptation and distress; and to 
adore, with respectful awe, that sovereign power and goodness 
by which we have been delivered.

HAVING spoken so largely of the spiritual and practical uses 
to be made of these transactions, where the parallel places 
occur in the preceding evangelist, I do not think it 
necessary to repeat those things here, and must refer the 
reader to the places marked in the margin.

CHAPTER v

The man possessed with a legion of demons cured, 1-20. He 
raises Jairus's daughter to life, and cures the woman who had 
an issue of blood, 21-43.

NOTES ON CHAP. v

Verse 1. The Gadarenes.] Some of the MSS. have Gergasenes, 
and some of them Gerasenes. Griesbach seems to prefer the 
latter. See the note on Matt. viii. 28.

The Gadarenes were included within the limits of the 
Gergasenes. Dr. Lightfoot supposes that, of the two demoniacs 
mentioned here, one was of Gadara, and consequently a 
heathen, the other was a Gergesenian, and consequently a Jew; 
and he thinks that Mark and Luke mention the Gadarene 
demoniac because his case was a singular one, being the only 
heathen cured by our Lord, except the daughter of the 
Syrophoenician woman.

Verse 2. A man with an unclean spirit] There are two 
mentioned by Matthew, who are termed demoniacs. See on chap. 
i. 23.

Verse 3. Who had his dwelling among the tombs] See Matthew 
viii. 28.

Verse 4. With fetters and chains] His strength, it appears 
was supernatural, no kind of chains being strong enough to 
confine him. With several, this man would have passed for an 
outrageous madman, and diabolic influence be entirely left 
out of the question; but it is the prerogative of the 
inspired penman only, to enter into the nature and causes of 
things; and how strange is it, that because men cannot see as 
far as the Spirit of God does, therefore they deny his 
testimony. "There was no devil; there can be none." Why? 
"Because we have never seen one, and we think the doctrine 
absurd." Excellent reason! And do you think that any man who 
conscientiously believes his Bible will give any credit to 
you? Men sent from God, to bear witness to the truth, tell us 
there were demoniacs in their time; you say, "No, they were 
only diseases." Whom shall we credit? The men sent from God, 
or you?

Verse 5. Crying and cutting himself with stones.] In this 
person's case we see a specimen of what Satan could do in all 
the wicked, if God should permit him; but even the devil 
himself has his chain; and he who often binds others, is 
always bound himself.

Verse 6. Worshipped him] Did him homage; compelled thereto by 
the power of God. How humiliating to Satan, thus to be 
obliged to acknowledge the superiority of Christ!

Verse 7. What have I to do with thee] Or, What is it to thee 
and me, or why dost thou trouble thyself with me? See on 
chap. i. 24, and Matt. viii. 29, where the idiom and meaning 
are explained.

Jesus] This is omitted by four MSS., and by several in Luke 
viii. 28, and by many of the first authority in Matt. viii. 
29. See the note on this latter place.

Verse 9. Legion: for we are many.] Could a disease have 
spoken so? "No, there was no devil in the case; the man spoke 
according to the prejudice of his countrymen." And do you 
think that the Spirit of God could employ himself in 
retailing such ridiculous and nonsensical prejudices? "But 
the evangelist gives these as this madman's words, and it was 
necessary that, as a faithful historian, he should mention 
these circumstances." But this objection is destroyed by the 
parallel place in Luke, Luke viii. 30, where the inspired 
writer himself observes, that the demoniac was called Legion, 
because many demons had entered into him.

Verse 10. Out of the country.] Strange that these accursed 
spirits should find it any mitigation of their misery to be 
permitted to exercise their malevolence in a particular 
district! But as this is supposed to have been a heathen 
district, therefore the demons might consider themselves in 
their own territories; and probably they could act there with 
less restraint than they could do in a country where the 
worship of God was established. See on chap. v. 1.

Verse 11. A great herd of swine] See the notes on Matt. viii. 
30.

Verse 12. ALL the devils] pantev, all, is omitted by many 
MSS. and versions; Griesbach leaves it out of the text. oi 
daimonev is omitted also by several: Griesbach leaves it 
doubtful. Probably it should be read thus, And they besought 
him, saying.

Verse 13. Gave them leave.] For epetreyen, DH, three others, 
and three copies of the Itala have epemyen, sent them.

Verse 14. The swine] Instead of touv coirouv, BCDL, three 
others, Syriac, Coptic, AEthiopic, Vulgate, and Itala, read 
autouv, them-And they that fed THEM fled. Griesbach has 
adopted this reading.

Verse 15. That-had the legion] This is omitted by D, and two 
others, AEthiopic, Persic, Vulgate, and all the Itala but 
one. Mill, Bengel, and Griesbach, think it should be omitted.

Verse 19. Suffered him not] Æo de insouv, Howbeit Jesus, is 
omitted by ABKLM, twenty-seven others, both the Syriac, both 
the Persic, Coptic, Gothic, Vulgate, and one of the Itala. 
Mill and Bengel approve of the omission, and Griesbach leaves 
it out of the text.

Go home to thy friends, &c.] This was the cause why Jesus 
would not permit him to follow him now, because he would not 
have the happiness of his relatives deferred, who must 
exceedingly rejoice at seeing the wonders which the Lord had 
wrought.

Verse 20. Decapolis] See on Matt. iv. 25.

Verse 23. My little daughter] to qugatrion mou, that little 
daughter of mine. The words express much tenderness and 
concern. Luke observes, Luke viii. 42, that she was his only 
daughter, and was about twelve years of age.

At the point of death] escatwv ecei, in the last extremity, 
the last gasp. See on Matt. ix. 18.

Verse 25. A certain woman] See Matt. ix. 20.

Verse 26. Had suffered many things of many physicians,-and 
was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse] No person will 
wonder at this account, when he considers the therapeutics of 
the Jewish physicians in reference to hemorrhages, especially 
of the kind with which this woman was afflicted.

Rabbi Jochanan says: "Take of gum Alexandria, of alum, and of 
crocus hortensis, the weight of a zuzee each; let them be 
bruised together, and given in wine to the woman that hath an 
issue of blood. But if this fail, "Take of Persian onions 
nine logs, boil them in wine, and give it to her to drink: 
and say, Arise from thy flux. But should this fail, "Set her 
in a place where two ways meet, and let her hold a cup of 
wine in her hand; and let somebody come behind and affright 
her, and say, Arise from thy flux. But should this do no 
good, "Take a handful of cummin and a handful of crocus, and 
a handful of faenu-greek; let these be boiled, and given her 
to drink, and say, Arise from thy flux. But should this also 
fail, "Dig seven trenches, and burn in them some cuttings of 
vines not yet circumcised (vines not four years old;) and let 
her take in her hand a cup of wine, and let her be led from 
this trench and set down over that, and let her be removed 
from that, and set down over another: and in each removal say 
unto her, Arise from thy flux." Dr. Lightfoot gives these as 
a sample, out of many others, extracted from Bab. Shabb. fol. 
110.

And from some of these nostrums it is evident the woman could 
not be bettered, and from some others it is as evident that 
she must be made worse; and from all together it is 
indubitably certain that she must have suffered many things;-
and from the persons employed, the expense of the 
medicaments, and the number of years she was afflicted, as 
she was not a person of great opulence, it is most perfectly 
credible that she spent all that she had. She was therefore a 
fit patient for the Great Physician.

The case of this woman was, a very afflicting one: 1. Because 
of the nature of her malady; it was such as could not be made 
public, without exposing her to shame and contempt. 2. It was 
an inveterate disorder; it had lasted twelve years. 3. It was 
continual; she appears to have had no interval of health. 4. 
Her disorder was aggravated by the medicines she used-she 
suffered much, &c. 6. Her malady was ruinous both to her 
health and circumstances-she spent all that she had. 6. She 
was now brought to the last point of wretchedness, want, and 
despair; she was growing worse, and had neither money nor 
goods to make another experiment to procure her health. 7. 
She was brought so low by her disorder as to be incapable of 
earning any thing to support her wretched life a little 
longer. It has been said, and the saying is a good one, 
"Man's extremity is God's opportunity." Never could the power 
and goodness of God be shown in a more difficult and 
distressful case. And now Jesus comes, and she is healed.

Verse 27. Came in the press behind] She had formed her 
resolution in faith, she executes it, notwithstanding her 
weakness, &c., with courage; and now she finds it crowned 
with success.

Verse 31. Thou seest the multitude thronging then, &c.] Many 
touch Jesus who are not healed by him: the reason is, they do 
it not by faith, through a sense of their wants, and a 
conviction of his ability and willingness to save them. Faith 
conveys the virtue of Christ into the soul, and spiritual 
health is the immediate consequence of this received virtue.

Verse 33. Fearing and trembling] See Matt. ix. 22.

Verse 34. Be whole of thy plague.] Rather, continue whole, 
not, be whole, for she was already healed: but this contains 
a promise, necessary to her encouragement, that her disorder 
should afflict her no more.

Verse 35. Why troublest thou the Master] These people seem to 
have had no other notion of our Lord than that of an eminent 
physician, who might be useful while there was life, but 
afterwards could do nothing.

Verse 36. Jesus-saith] These words were spoken by our Lord to 
the afflicted father, immediately on his hearing of the death 
of his child, to prevent that distress which he otherwise 
must have felt on finding that the case was now, humanly 
speaking, hopeless.

Verse 38. He cometh] But erontai, they come, is the reading 
of ABCDF, four others, and several versions.

Wept and wailed] See on Matt. ix. 23.

Verse 40. The father and the mother] Prudence required that 
they should be present, and be witnesses of the miracle.

And them that were with him] That is, Peter, James, and John, 
ver. 37. It is remarkable that our Lord gave a particular 
preference to these three disciples, beyond all the rest, on 
three very important occasions: 1.

They were present at the transfiguration. 2. At the raising 
of Jairus's daughter. 3. At his agony in the garden of 
Gethsemane.

Where the damsel was lying.] anakeimenon, lying. This word is 
very doubtful. BDL, one other, Coptic, and later Arabic, with 
five of the Itala, omit it. Other MSS. express the same idea 
in five different words: Griesbach leaves it out of the text. 
See his Testament.

Verse 41. Talitha cumi] , This is mere Syriac, the proper 
translation of which the evangelist has given. The Codex 
Bezae has a very odd and unaccountable reading here, rabbi, 
qabita koumi, My master. Damsel arise. Suidas quotes this 
place under the word abbakoum thus talhqa koum. koum is the 
reading of several ancient MSS., but it is certainly a faulty 
one.

Verse 43. Something should be given her to eat.] For though 
he had employed an extraordinary power to bring her to life, 
he wills that she should be continued in existence by the use 
of ordinary means. The advice of the heathen is a good one: - 
Nec Deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus Inciderit. HORAT 
"When the miraculous power of God is necessary, let it be 
resorted to: when it is not necessary, let the ordinary means 
be used."-To act otherwise would be to tempt God.

While Christ teaches men the knowledge of the true God, and 
the way of salvation, he at the same time teaches them 
lessons of prudence, economy, and common sense. And it is 
worthy of remark, that all who are taught of him are not only 
saved, but their understandings are much improved. True 
religion, civilization, mental improvement, common sense, and 
orderly behaviour, go hand in hand.

CHAPTER vi

Our Lord's countrymen are astonished at his wisdom and mighty 
works, and are offended at him, 1-4. He works few miracles 
there, because of their unbelief, 5, 6. He sends forth his 
disciples by two and two to preach, &c., 7-11. They depart, 
preach, and work miracles, 12, 13. Different opinions of 
Christ, 14-16. Account of the beheading of John Baptist, 17-
29. The disciples return, and give an account of their 
mission, 30. He departs with them to a place of privacy, but 
the people follow him, 31-33. He has compassion on them, and 
miraculously feeds five thousand with five loaves and two 
fishes, 34-44. He sends the disciples by sea to Bethsaida, 
and himself goes into a mountain to pray, 45, 46. The 
disciples meet with a storm, and he comes to them walking 
upon the water, and appeases the winds and the sea, 47-52. 
They come into the land of Gennesaret, and he works many 
miracles, 53-56.

NOTES ON CHAP. vi

Verse 1. And he went out from thence] That is, from 
Capernaum. See on Matt. xiii. 54.

Verse 2. Were astonished] epi didach autou, at his doctrine, 
or teaching. This is added by the Codex Bezae and eight 
others, later Syriac, Armenian, Vulgate, and all the Itala.

Verse 3. Is not this the carpenter] Among the ancient Jews, 
every father was bound to do four things for his son. 1. To 
circumcise him. 2. To redeem him. 3. To teach him the law. 4. 
To teach him a trade. And this was founded on the following 
just maxim: "He who teaches not his son to do some work, is 
as if he taught him robbery!" It is therefore likely that 
Joseph brought up our Lord to his own trade.

Joses] Several good MSS. read iwshtov, Joset, and one, with 
several versions, reads Joseph.

Verse 4. - 6. See this curious subject explained, Matt. xiii. 
55-58.

 

 Verse 7. By two and two] That they might encourage and 
support each other; and to show that union among the 
ministers of the Gospel is essential to the promotion of the 
cause of truth. See on Luke x. 1.

Verse 8. A staff only] It is likely he desired them to take 
only one with every two, merely for the purpose of carrying 
any part of their clothes on, when they should be obliged to 
strip them off by reason of the heat; for walking staves, or 
things of this kind, were forbidden, see Matt. x. 10.

But, probably, no more is designed than simply to state that 
they must not wait to make any provision for the journey, but 
go off just as they were, leaving the provision necessary in 
the present case to the care of Divine Providence. St. James 
is represented in ancient paintings, as carrying a gourd 
bottle on a STAFF across his shoulder.

Verse 9. Shod with sandals] The sandal seems to have been 
similar to the Roman solea, which covered only the sole of 
the foot, and was fastened about the foot and ankle with 
straps. The sandal was originally a part of the woman's 
dress; ancient authors represent them as worn only by women. 
In Matt. x. 10, the disciples are commanded to take no shoes, 
upodhmata, which word is nearly of the same import with 
sandalia, sandals; but, as our Lord intimates to them that 
they should be free from all useless incumbrances, that they 
might fulfill his orders with the utmost diligence and 
despatch, so we may suppose that the sandal was a lighter 
kind of wear than the shoe: and indeed the word sandal, which 
is mere Chaldee, ldno might be properly translated a light 
shoe; as it is compounded of yo sin, a shoe, (see Targum, 
Deut. xxv. 9, 10,) and ld dal, thin, slender, or mean, as 
being made, not only lighter than the hypodema or shoe, but 
(probably) also of meaner materials. See many excellent 
observations on this subject in Martinius's Etymolog. 
Lexicon, under the word Sandalium.

Verse 11. And whosoever shall not receive you] Æov an topov 
mh dexhtai, whatsoever PLACE will not receive you: this is 
the reading of BL, four others, and the later Syriac in the 
margin.

Verily, &c.] All this clause is omitted in BCDL, two others, 
one Arabic, one Persic, Coptic, Armenian, Vulgate, and all 
the Itala but three. Mill and Beza approve of the omission, 
and Griesbach leaves it out of the text. It has probably been 
transferred here from Matt. x. 15. See this subject, from 
chap. vi. 7-11, explained at large on Matt. x. 1-15.

Verse 13. Anointed with oil many that were sick] This is only 
spoken of here, and in James v. 14. This ceremony was in 
great use among the Jews; and in certain cases it might be 
profitable. But in the cases mentioned here, which were 
merely miraculous, it could avail no more of itself than the 
imposition of hands. It was used symbolically, as an emblem 
of that ease, comfort, and joy, which they prayed God to 
impart to the sick. For various examples of its use among the 
Jews, see Lightfoot and Wetstein on this place.

Verse 14. And king Herod heard?] thn akihn aotou, his fame, 
is added by KM, fifteen others, and in the margin of several. 
It seems necessary to complete the sense.

Verse 15. OR, as one of the prophets.] h, or, is omitted by 
ABCEGHKLMS-BHV, and one hundred others, Syriac, all the 
Arabic, all the Persic, Coptic, AEthiopic, Gothic, Slavonic, 
Vulgate, two Itala, Origen, Victor, and Theophylact. Bengel, 
Wetstein, and Griesbach leave it out of the text: the 
omission of it mends the sense much.

Verse 19. Would have killed] ezhtei, SOUGHT to kill him. C 
and five of the Itala. See the whole of this account, from 
ver. 17-29, explained on Matt. xiv. 2-12.

Verse 21. Lords] megistasin, probably governors of particular 
districts.

High captains] ciliarcoiv; literally, chiefs or captains over 
a thousand men, military chiefs.

Chief estates] prwtoiv; probably such as might be called 
nobles by title only, having no office civil or military; 
probably magistrates. See KYPKE an the place.

Verse 23. Unto the half of my kingdom.] A noble price for a 
dance! This extravagance in favour of female dancers has the 
fullest scope in the east, even to the present day. M. 
Anquetil du Perron, in the preliminary discourse to his Zend 
Avesta, p. 344 and 345, gives a particular account of the 
dancers at Surat. This account cannot be transcribed in a 
comment on the Gospel of God, however illustrative it might 
be of the conduct of Herodias and her daughter Salome: it is 
too abominable for a place here. He observes, that the rich 
vie with each other in the presents they make to the dancing 
girls of money and jewels; and that persons of opulence have 
even ruined themselves by the presents they made to those 
victims of debauch.

He mentions a remarkable case, which may throw light on this 
passage: "That the dancer Laal-koner gained such a complete 
ascendancy over the Mogul Emperor Maaz-eddin, that he made 
her joint governess of the empire with himself."

Verse 26. For their sakes which sat with him] Probably these 
persons joined in with the request, and were glad of this 
opportunity to get this light of Israel extinguished; he 
being a public reprover of all their vices.

Verse 30. The apostles gathered themselves together] For they 
went different ways before, by two and two, ver. 7; and now 
they return and meet Christ at Capernaum.

Verse 31. Rest a while] Rest is necessary for those who 
labour; and a zealous preacher of the Gospel will as often 
stand in need of it as a galley slave.

Verse 33. The people] Or, ocloi, the multitudes. This is 
wanting in many MSS., but it seems necessary to make the 
sense clear. There is scarcely a verse in the whole New 
Testament that has suffered so much from transcribers as this 
verse. Amidst the abundance of various readings, one can 
scarcely tell what its original state was. The various 
readings may be seen in Griesbach.

Verse 34. Much people, &c.] See this miracle explained on 
Matt. xiv. 14, &c.

Verse 40. By hundreds, and by fifties.] "That is," says Mr. 
Wesley, "fifty in a rank, and a hundred in file. So, a 
hundred multiplied by fifty, made just five thousand." But if 
they sat fifty deep, how could the disciples conveniently 
serve them with the bread and fish?

Verse 41. And blessed] I think the word God should be 
inserted here, as in Matt. xiv. 19. See the note there. The 
food we receive from God is already blessed, and does not 
stand in need of being blessed by man; but God, who gives it, 
deserves our warmest thanksgivings, as frequently as we are 
called to partake of his bounty.

Verse 43. Twelve baskets] These were either the baskets used 
by the disciples, see Matt. xiv. 20, or baskets belonging to 
some of the multitude, who might have brought some with them 
to carry provisions, or other things necessary for the sick, 
whom they brought to Christ to be healed.

Verse 44. Were about five thousand] wsei, about, is omitted 
by a great majority of the best MSS. and by the principal 
versions. It is wanting in several editions: Bengel, 
Wetstein, and Griesbach, leave it out of the text. It is 
omitted by some in the parallel place, Matt. xiv. 21, but it 
stands without any variation in Luke ix. 14, and John vi. 10. 
This miracle is mentioned by all the four evangelists. It is 
one of the most astonishing that Christ has wrought. It is a 
miracle which could not be counterfeited, and a full proof of 
the divinity of Christ.

Verse 45. To the other side before unto Bethsaida] John says, 
John vi. 17, to Capernaum. It is probable our Lord ordered 
them to steer to one or other of these two places, which were 
about four miles distant, and on the same side of the sea of 
Galilee.

Verse 47. The ship was in the midst of the sea] See all the 
parts of this wonderful transaction considered, on Matt. xiv. 
22-33.

Verse 49. They supposed it had been a spirit] That is, by 
whom the storm had been raised.

Verse 52. Their heart was hardened.] See this explained 
Matthew xiv. 33.

Verse 53. The land of Gennesaret] This country lay on the 
coast of the sea of Galilee: it is described by Josephus as 
being exceedingly pleasant and fertile. It had its name of 
Gennesaret from g , gen, a garden, and ro sar, a prince, 
either because the king had a garden there, or because of its 
great fertility.

Verse 54. They knew him] epignontev, They recollected him; 
for he had before preached and wrought miracles in different 
places of the same country.

Verse 56. Villages] Probably small towns near cities.

Country] Villages at a distance from cities and large public 
towns. See the notes on Matt. xiv. 34-36.

Christ went about doing good-he confined his ministry and 
miracles to no place-wherever he went, they stood in need of 
his help; and whenever they required his assistance, they had 
it granted immediately. Our Lord's conduct, in these 
respects, is a perfect pattern for every preacher of his 
Gospel.

CHAPTER vii

The Pharisees find fault with the disciples for eating with 
unwashen hands, 1-5. Christ exposes their hypocrisy, and 
shows that they had made the word of God of no effect by 
their traditions, 6-13. He shows what things defile men, 14-
16; and teaches his disciples in private, that the sin of the 
heart alone, leading to vicious practices, defiles the man, 
17-23. The account of the Syrophoenician woman, 24-30. He 
heals a man who was dumb, and had an impediment in his 
speech, 31-37.

NOTES ON CHAP. vii

Verse 1. Came from Jerusalem.] Probably for the express 
purpose of disputing with Christ, that they might entangle 
him in his talk. Malice and envy are never idle-they 
incessantly hunt the person they intend to make their prey.

Verse 2. They found fault.] This is wanting in ABEHLV, 
nineteen others, and several versions: Mill and Bengel 
approve the omission, and Griesbach rejects the word. If the 
3d and 4th verses be read in a parenthesis, the 2d and 5th 
verses will appear to be properly connected, without the 
above clause.

Verse 3. Except they wash their hands] pugmh, the hand to the 
wrist-Unless they wash the hand up to the wrist, eat not. 
Several translations are given of this word; that above is 
from Dr. Lightfoot, who quotes a tradition from the rabbins, 
stating that the hands were to be thus washed. This sort of 
washing was, and still continues to be, an act of religion in 
the eastern countries. It is particularly commanded in the 
Koran, Surat v. ver. 7, "O believers, when ye wish to pray, 
wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows-and your 
feet up to the ankles." Which custom it is likely Mohammed 
borrowed from the Jews. The Jewish doctrine is this: "If a 
man neglect the washing, he shall be eradicated from this 
world." But instead of pugmh, the fist or hand, the Codex 
Bezae has puknh, frequently: and several of the Itala have 
words of the same signification. Bathing is an indispensable 
prerequisite to the first meal of the day among the Hindoos; 
and washing the hands and the feet is equally so before the 
evening meal. WARD'S Customs.

Verse 4. And when they come] This clause is added by our 
translators, to fill up the sense; but it was probably a part 
of the original: for ean elqwsi is the reading of the Codex 
Bezae, Vulgate, Armenian, and most of the Itala. The clause 
in my old MS. Bible is read thus: And thei turninge agein fro 
chepinge. The words seem essentially necessary to a proper 
understanding of the text; and, if not admitted on the above 
authority, they must be supplied in italics, as in our common 
translation.

Except they wash] Or dip; for baptiswntai may mean either. 
But instead of the word in the text, the famous Codex 
Vaticanus; (B,) eight others, and Euthymius, have 
pantiswntai, sprinkle. However, the Jews sometimes washed 
their hands previously to their eating: at other times, they 
simply dipped or plunged them into the water.

Of cups] pothriwn; any kind of earthen vessels.

Pots] Of measures-xestwn, from the singular xesthv, a measure 
for liquids, formed from the Latin sextarius, equal to a pint 
and a half English. See this proved by Wetstein on this 
place. My old MS. renders it cruetis.

Of brazen vessels] calkiwn. These, if polluted, were only to 
be washed, or passed through the fire; whereas the earthen 
vessels were to be broken.

And of tables.] Beds, couches-kai klinwn. This is wanting in 
BL, two others, and the Coptic. It is likely it means no more 
than the forms, or seats, on which they sat to eat. A bed or 
a couch was defiled, if any unclean person sat or leaned on 
it-a man with an issue-a leper-a woman with child, &c. As the 
word baptismouv, baptisms, is applied to all these, and as it 
is contended that this word, and the verb whence it is 
derived, signify dipping or immersion alone, its use in the 
above cases refutes that opinion and shows that it was used, 
not only to express dipping or immersion, but also sprinkling 
and washing. The cups and pots were washed; the beds and 
forms perhaps sprinkled; and the hands dipped up to the 
wrist.

Verse 5. Why walk not thy disciples] See on Matt. xv. 2-9.

Verse 6. honoureth me] me tima-but the Codex Bezae, and three 
copies of the Itala, have me agapa, loveth me:-the AEthiopic 
has both readings.

Verse 8. Washing of pots and cups, &c.] This whole clause is 
wanting in BL, five others, and the Coptic: one MS. omits 
this and the whole of the ninth verse. The eighth verse is 
not found in the parallel place of Matt. xv. 7-9.

Verse 9. Full well] kalws,-a strong irony. How noble is your 
conduct! From conscientious attachment to your own traditions 
ye have annihilated the commandments of God! That ye may 
keep] But sthshte, that ye may establish, is the reading of 
D, three others, Syriac, all the Itala, with Cyprian, Jerome, 
and Zeno.

Griesbach thinks it should be received instead of the other. 
God's law was nothing to these men, in comparison of their 
own: hear a case in point.

"Rabba said, How foolish are most men! They observe the 
precepts of the Divine law, and neglect the statutes of the 
rabbins!" Maccoth, fol. 22.

Verse 10. For Moses said, &c.] See all these verses, from 
this to the 23d, explained Matt. xv. 3-20.

Verse 13. Your tradition] D, later Syriac in the margin, 
Saxon, and all the Itala but one, add th mwra, by your 
FOOLISH tradition. , your foolish law:-Anglo-Saxon.

Verse 14. When he had called all the people] But instead of 
panta, all, palin, again, is the reading of BDL, later Syriac 
in the margin, Coptic, AEthiopic, Saxon, Vulgate, all the 
Itala but one. Mill and Griesbach approve of this reading.

Verse 19. Into the draught] See on Matt. xv. 17.

Purging all meats?] For what is separated from the different 
aliments taken into the stomach, and thrown out of the body, 
is the innutritious parts of all the meats that are eaten; 
and thus they are purged, nothing being left behind but what 
is proper for the support of the body.

Verse 24. Into the borders of Tyre end Sidon] Or, into the 
country between Tyre and Sidon. I have adopted this 
translation from KYPKE, who proves that this is the meaning 
of the word meqoria, in the best Greek writers.

Verse 25. A certain woman] See this account of the 
Syrophoenician woman explained at large, Matt. xv. 21-28.

Verse 26. The woman was a Greek] Rosenmuller has well 
observed, that all heathens or idolaters were called 
Æellhnev, Greeks, by the Jews; whether they were Parthians, 
Medes, Arabs, Indians, or AEthiopians.

Jews and Greeks divided the whole world at this period.

Verse 30. Laid upon the bed.] The demon having tormented her, 
so that her bodily strength was exhausted, and she was now 
laid upon the couch to take a little rest. The AEthiopic has 
a remarkable reading here, which gives a very different, and, 
I think, a better sense. And she found her daughter CLOTHED, 
SITTING upon the couch, and the demon gone out.

Verse 32. They bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an 
impediment in his speech] Though from the letter of the text, 
it does not appear that this man was absolutely deprived of 
speech; for mogilalov literally signifies, one that cannot 
speak plainly-a stammerer; yet it is certain also that the 
word means a dumb person; and it is likely that the person in 
question was dumb, because he was deaf; and it is generally 
found that he who is totally deaf is dumb also. Almost all 
the versions understand the word thus: and the concluding 
words seem to confirm this-He maketh both the deaf to hear, 
and the DUMB, kwfouv, to speak.

Verse 33. And he spit, and touched his tongue] This place is 
exceedingly difficult. There is scarcely an action of our 
Lord's life but one can see an evident reason for, except 
this. Various interpretations are given of it-none of them 
satisfies my mind. The Abbe Giradeau spiritualizes it thus:-
1. He took him aside from the multitude-When Christ saves a 
sinner, he separates him from all his old evil companions, 
and from the spirit and maxims of an ungodly world. 2. He put 
his fingers in his ears-to show that they could be opened 
only by the finger, i.e. the power, of God, and that they 
should be shut to every word and voice, but what came from 
him. 3.

Spitting out he touched his tongue-to show that his mental 
taste and relish should be entirely changed: that he should 
detest those things which he before esteemed, and esteem 
those which he before hated. 4. Looking up to heaven-to 
signify that all help comes from God, and to teach the new 
convert to keep continually looking to and depending upon 
him. 5. He groaned-to show the wretched state of man by sins 
and how tenderly concerned God is for his present and eternal 
welfare; and to intimate that men should seek the salvation 
of God in the spirit of genuine repentance, with strong 
crying and tears. 6. He said, Be opened-Sin is a shutting of 
the ears against the words of God; and a tying of the tongue, 
to render it incapable of giving God due praise. But when the 
all-powerful grace of Christ reaches the heart, the ear is 
unstopped, and the man hears distinctly-the tongue is 
unloosed, and the man speaks correctly.

After all, it is possible that what is attributed here to 
Christ belongs to the person who was cured. I will give my 
sense of the place in a short paraphrase.

And Jesus took him aside from the multitude: and [the deaf 
man] put his fingers into his ears, intimating thereby to 
Christ that they were so stopped that he could not hear; and 
having spat out, that there might be nothing remaining in his 
mouth to offend the sight when Christ should look at his 
tongue, he touched his tongue, showing to Christ that it was 
so bound that he could not speak: and he looked up to heaven, 
as if to implore assistance from above: and he groaned, being 
distressed because of his present affliction, and thus 
implored relief: for, not being able to speak, he could only 
groan and look up, expressing by these signs, as well as he 
could, his afflicted state, and the desire he had to be 
relieved. Then Jesus, having compassion upon him, said, Be 
opened: and immediately his ears were opened, so that he 
could hear distinctly; and the impediment to his speaking was 
removed, so that he spake properly. The original will admit 
of this interpretation; and this, I am inclined to believe, 
is the true meaning of this otherwise (to me and many others) 
unaccountable passage.

Verse 34. Ephphatha] Ethphathach,  Syriac. It is likely that 
it was in this language that our Lord spoke to this poor man: 
and because he had pronounced the word Ephphathach with 
peculiar and authoritative emphasis, the evangelist thought 
proper to retain the original word; though the last letter in 
it could not be expressed by any letter in the Greek 
alphabet.

Verse 35. He spake plain.] orqwv, distinctly, without 
stammering. One MS. has, And he spoke, praising God. There is 
no doubt of this: but the evangelist, I think, did not write 
these words.

Verse 36. Tell no man] See on Matt. viii. 4. This miracle is 
not mentioned by any other of the evangelists. Another proof 
that Mark did not abridge Matthew. For a practical review of 
the different important subjects of this chapter, see Matt. 
xv. 1-39, and particularly the observations at the end.  

Verse 37. He hath done all things well] This has been, and 
ever will be, true of every part of our Lord's conduct. In 
creation, providence, and redemption he hath done all things 
well. The wisest philosophers are agreed that, considering 
creation as a whole, it would be impossible to improve it. 
Every thing has been made in number, weight, and measure; 
there really is nothing deficient, nothing redundant; and the 
good of the creature seems evidently more consulted than the 
glory of the Creator. The creature's good is every where 
apparent; but to find out how the Creator is glorified by 
these works requires the eye of the philosopher. And as he 
has done all things well in creation, so has he in 
providence: here also every thing is in number, weight, 
measure, and time. As creation shows his majesty, so 
providence shows his bounty. He preserves every thing he has 
made; all depend upon him; and by him are all things 
supported. But how glorious does he appear in the work of 
redemption! How magnificent, ample, and adequate the 
provision made for the salvation of a lost world! Here, as in 
providence, is enough for all, a sufficiency for each, and an 
abundance for eternity. He loves every man, and hates nothing 
that he has made; nor can the God of all grace be less 
beneficent than the Creator and Preserver of the universe.

CHAPTER viii

Four thousand persons fed with seven loaves and a few small 
fishes, 1-8. Christ refuses to give any farther sign to the 
impertinent Pharisees, 10-12. Warns his disciples against the 
corrupt doctrine of the Pharisees and of Herod, 13-21. He 
restores sight to a blind man, 22-26. Asks his disciples what 
the public thought of him, 27-30. Acknowledges himself to be 
the Christ, and that he must suffer, 31-33. And shows that 
all his genuine disciples must take up their cross, suffer in 
his cause, and confess him before men, 34-38.

NOTES ON CHAP. viii

Verse 1. The multitude being very great] Or rather, There was 
again a great multitude. Instead of pampollou, very great, I 
read palin pollou, again a great, which is the reading of 
BDGLM, fourteen others, all the Arabic, Coptic, AEthiopic, 
Armenian, Gothic, Vulgate, and Itala, and of many 
Evangelistaria. Griesbach approves of this reading. There had 
been such a multitude gathered together once before, who were 
fed in the same way. See chap. vi. 34, &c.

Verse 2. Having nothing to eat] If they had brought any 
provisions with them, they were now entirely expended; and 
they stood in immediate need of a supply.

Verse 3. For divers of them came from far.] And they could 
not possibly reach their respective homes without perishing, 
unless they got food.

Verse 4. &c.] See on Matt. xiv. 14; xv. 35.

Verse 7. And they, had a few small fishes] This is not 
noticed in the parallel place, Matt. xv. 36.

Verse 10. Dalmanutha.] See the note on Matt. xv. 39.

Verse 12. And he sighed deeply in his spirit] Or having 
deeply groaned-so the word anastenaxav properly means. He was 
exceedingly affected at their obstinacy and hardness of 
heart. See Matt. xvi. 1-4.

Verse 14. Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread] See 
all this, to ver. 21, explained at large on Matt. xvi. 4-12. 
In the above chapter, an account is given of the Pharisees, 
Sadducees, and Herodians.

Verse 22. They bring a blind man unto him] Christ went about 
to do good, and wherever he came he found some good to be 
done; and so should we, if we had a proper measure of the 
same zeal and love for the welfare of the bodies and souls of 
men.

Verse 23. And he took the blind man by the hand] Giving him a 
proof of his readiness to help him, and thus preparing him 
for the cure which he was about to work.

Led him out of the town] Thus showing the inhabitants that he 
considered them unworthy of having another miracle wrought 
among them.

He had already deeply deplored their ingratitude and 
obstinacy: see on Matt. xi. 21. When a people do not make a 
proper improvement of the light and grace which they receive 
from God, their candlestick is removed-even the visible 
Church becomes there extinct; and the candle is put out-no 
more means of spiritual illumination are afforded to the 
unfaithful inhabitants: Revelation ii. 5.

When he had spit on his eyes] There is a similar transaction 
to this mentioned by John, John ix. 6. It is likely this was 
done merely to separate the eyelids; as, in certain cases of 
blindness, they are found always gummed together. It required 
a miracle to restore the sight, and this was done in 
consequence of Christ having laid his hands upon the blind 
man: it required no miracle to separate the eyelids, and, 
therefore, natural means only were employed-this was done by 
rubbing them with spittle; but whether by Christ, or by the 
blind man, is not absolutely certain. See on chap. vii. 33. 
It has always been evident that false miracles have been 
wrought without reason or necessity, and without any obvious 
advantage; and they have thereby been detected: on the 
contrary, true miracles have always vindicated themselves by 
their obvious utility and importance; nothing ever being 
effected by them that could be performed by natural means.

If he saw aught.] ei, if, is wanting in the Syriac, all the 
Persic and Arabic, and in the AEthiopic; and ti blepeiv, Dost 
thou see any thing? is the reading of CD, Coptic, AEthiopic, 
all the Arabic and Persic.

Verse 24. I see men as trees, walking.] His sight was so 
imperfect that he could not distinguish between men and 
trees, only by the motion of the former.

Verse 25. And saw every man clearly.] But instead of apantav, 
all men, several excellent MSS., and the principal versions, 
have apanta, all things, every object; for the view he had of 
them before was indistinct and confused. Our Lord could have 
restored this man to sight in a moment; but he chose to do it 
in the way mentioned in the text, to show that he is 
sovereign of his own graces; and to point out that, however 
insignificant means may appear in themselves, they are 
divinely efficacious when he chooses to work by them; and 
that, however small the first manifestations of mercy may be, 
they are nevertheless the beginnings of the fullness of the 
blessings of the Gospel of peace. Reader, art thou in this 
man's state? Art thou blind? Then come to Jesus that he may 
restore thee. Hast thou a measure of light? Then pray that he 
may lay his hands again on thee, that thou mayest be enabled 
to read thy title clear to the heavenly inheritance.

Verse 26. He sent him away to his house] So it appears that 
this person did not belong to Bethsaida, for, in going to his 
house, he was not to enter into the village.

This miracle is not mentioned by any other of the 
evangelists. It affords another proof that Mark did not 
abridge Matthew's Gospel.

Verse 27. And Jesus went out, &c.] See on Matt. xvi. 13-20.

Verse 29. Thou art the Christ.] Three MSS. and some versions 
add, the Son of the living God.

Verse 32. And he spake that saying] Concerning the certainty 
and necessity of his sufferings-openly: with great plainness, 
parrhsia, confidence, or emphasis, so that the disciples now 
began fully to understand him. This is an additional 
observation of St. Mark. For Peter's reproof, see on Matt. 
xvi. 22, &c.

Verse 34. Whosoever will come after me] It seems that Christ 
formed, on the proselytism of the Jews, the principal 
qualities which he required in the proselytes of his 
covenant.

The first condition of proselytism among the Jews was, that 
he that came to embrace their religion should come 
voluntarily, and that neither force nor influence should be 
employed in this business. This is also the first condition 
required by Jesus Christ, and which he considers as the 
foundation of all the rest: -If a man be willing to come 
after me.

The second condition required in the Jewish proselyte was, 
that he should perfectly renounce all his prejudices, his 
errors, his idolatry, and every thing that concerned his 
false religion; and that he should entirely separate himself 
from his most intimate friends and acquaintances. It was on 
this ground that the Jews called proselytism a new birth, and 
proselytes new-born, and new men; and our Lord requires men 
to be born again, not only of water, but by the Holy Ghost. 
See John iii. 5. All this our Lord includes in this word, Let 
him renounce himself. To this the following scriptures refer: 
Matt. x. 33; John iii. 3, 5, 2 Cor. v. 17.

The third condition on which a person was admitted into the 
Jewish Church as a proselyte was, that he should submit to 
the yoke of the Jewish law, and bear patiently the 
inconveniences and sufferings with which a profession of the 
Mosaic religion might be accompanied. Christ requires the 
same condition; but, instead of the yoke of the law, he 
brings in his own doctrine, which he calls his yoke, Matt. 
xi. x19: and his cross, the taking up of which not only 
implies a bold profession of Christ crucified, but also a 
cheerful submitting to all the sufferings and persecutions to 
which he might be exposed, and even to death itself.

The fourth condition was, that they should solemnly engage to 
continue in the Jewish religion, faithful even unto death. 
This condition Christ also requires; and it is comprised in 
this word, Let him FOLLOW me. See the following verses; and 
see, on the subject of proselytism, Ruth i. 16, 17.

Verse 35. For whosoever will save his life] On this and the 
following verses, see Matt. xvi. 24, &c.

Verse 38. Whosoever-shall be ashamed of me] Our Lord hints 
here at one of the principal reasons of the incredulity of 
the Jews,-they saw nothing in the person of Jesus Christ 
which corresponded to the pompous notions which they had 
formed of the Messiah.

If Jesus Christ had come into the world as a mighty and 
opulent man, clothed with earthly glories and honours, he 
would have had a multitude of partisans, and most of them 
hypocrites.

And of my words] This was another subject of offense to the 
Jews: the doctrine of the cross must be believed; a suffering 
Messiah must be acknowledged; and poverty and affliction must 
be borne; and death, perhaps, suffered in consequence of 
becoming his disciples.

Of him, and of his words, in this sense, the world is, to 
this day, ashamed.

Of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed] As he refused to 
acknowledge me before men, so will I refuse to acknowledge 
him before God and his angels. Terrible consequence of the 
rejection of Christ! And who can help him whom the only 
saviour eternally disowns. Reader! Lay this subject seriously 
to heart; and see the notes on Matt. xvi. 24, &c., and at the 
end of that chapter.  ALL the subjects contained in this 
chapter are very interesting; but particularly: 1. The 
miraculous feeding of the multitudes, which is a full, 
unequivocal proof of the supreme Divinity of Jesus Christ: in 
this miracle he truly appears in his creative energy, with 
which he has associated the tenderest benevolence and 
humanity. The subject of such a prince must ever be safe; the 
servant of such a master must ever have kind usage; the 
follower of such a teacher can never want nor go astray.

2. The necessity of keeping the doctrine of the Gospel 
uncorrupt, is strongly inculcated in the caution to avoid the 
leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod: the doctrine of the 
cross must not only be observed and held inviolate, but that 
doctrine must never be mixed with worldly politics.

Time-serving is abominable in the sight of God: it shows that 
the person has either no fixed principle of religion, or that 
he is not under the influence of any.

CHAPTER ix

The transfiguration of Christ, and the discourse occasioned 
by it, 1-13. He casts out a dumb spirit which his disciples 
could not, 14-29. He foretells his death, 30-32. The 
disciples dispute about supremacy, and Christ corrects them, 
33-37. Of the person who cast out demons in Christ's name, 
but did not follow him, 38-40. Every kind of office done to 
the disciples of Christ shall be rewarded by him, and all 
injuries done to them shall be punished, 41, 42. The 
necessity of mortification and self-denial, 43-48. Of the 
salting of sacrifices, 49; and the necessity of having union 
among the disciples of Christ, 50.

NOTES ON CHAP. ix

Verse 1. There be some] This verse properly belongs to the 
preceding chapter, and to the preceding discourse. It is in 
this connection in Matt. xvi. 27, 28. See the notes there.

Verse 2. And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, &c.] 
For a full account of the nature and design of the 
transfiguration, see on Matt. xvii. 1, &c.

A high mountain] I have conjectured, Matt. xvii. 1, that this 
was one of the mountains of Galilee: some say Hermon, some 
Tabor; but Dr. Lightfoot thinks a mountain near Cesarea 
Philippi to be more likely.

Was transfigured] Four good MSS. and Origen add here, AND 
WHILE THEY WERE PRAYING he was transfigured; but this appears 
to be added from Luke ix. 29.

Verse 10. And they kept that saying] This verse is wanting in 
two MSS.

and one of the Itala.

What the rising from the dead should mean.] Æotan eknekrwn 
anasth, When he should arise from the dead, is the reading of 
D, six others, Syriac, all the Persic, Vulgate, all the 
Itala, and Jerome. Griesbach approves of it.

There is nothing that answers to this verse either in Matthew 
or Luke.

Verse 12. And how it is written] Rather, as also it is 
written. Instead of kai pwv, AND HOW it is written, I read 
kaqwv, AS ALSO it is written of the Son of man, &c. This 
reading is supported by AKM, seventeen others, the later 
Syriac in the margin, Slavonic and Armenian. Some think the 
propriety of adopting this reading is self-evident.

Verse 15. Were greatly amazed] Probably, because he came so 
unexpectedly; but the cause of this amazement is not self-
evident.

Verse 17. A dumb spirit] That is, a demon who afflicted those 
in whom it dwelt with an incapacity of speaking. The spirit 
itself could not be either deaf or dumb. These are accidents 
that belong only to organized animate bodies. See this case 
explained, Matt. xvii. 14, &c.

Verse 18. Pineth away] By these continual torments; so he was 
not only deaf and dumb, but sorely tortured besides.

Verse 20. When he saw him the spirit tare him; and he fell on 
the ground, &c.] When this demon saw Jesus, he had great 
rage, knowing that his time was short; and hence the 
extraordinary convulsions mentioned above.

Verse 22. If THOU canst DO any thing] I have already tried 
thy disciples, and find they can do nothing in this case; but 
if thou hast any power, in mercy use it in our behalf.

Verse 23. If THOU canst BELIEVE] This was an answer to the 
inquiry above. I can furnish a sufficiency of power, if thou 
canst but bring faith to receive it. Why are not our souls 
completely healed? Why is not every demon cast out? Why are 
not pride, self-will, love of the world, lust, anger, 
peevishness, with all the other bad tempers and dispositions 
which constitute the mind of Satan, entirely destroyed? Alas! 
it is because we do not believe; Jesus is able; more, Jesus 
is willing; but we are not willing to give up our idols; we 
give not credence to his word; therefore hath sin a being in 
us, and dominion over us.

Verse 24. Lord, I believe] The word Lord is omitted by ABCDL, 
both the Syriac, both the Arabic later Persic, AEthiopic, 
Gothic, and three copies of the Itala. Griesbach leaves it 
out. The omission, I think, is proper, because it is evident 
the man did not know our Lord, and therefore could not be 
expected to accost him with a title expressive of that 
authority which he doubted whether he possessed, unless we 
grant that he used the word kurie after the Roman custom, for 
Sir.

Help thou mine unbelief.] That is, assist me against it. Give 
me a power to believe.

Verse 25. I charge thee] Considerable emphasis should be laid 
on the pronoun:-Thou didst resist the command of my 
disciples, now I command thee to come out. If this had been 
only a natural disease, for instance the epilepsy, as some 
have argued, could our Lord have addressed it, with any 
propriety, as he has done here: Thou deaf and dumb spirit, 
come out of him, and enter no more into him? Is the doctrine 
of demoniacal influence false? If so, Jesus took the most 
direct method to perpetuate the belief of that falsity, by 
accommodating himself so completely to the deceived vulgar. 
But this was impossible; therefore the doctrine of demoniacal 
influence is a true doctrine, otherwise Christ would never 
have given it the least countenance or support.

Verse 29. Prayer and fasting.] See on Matt. xvii. 21.

This demon may be considered as an emblem of deeply rooted 
vices, and inveterate habits, over which the conquest is not 
generally obtained, but through extraordinary humiliations.

This case is related by both Matthew and Luke, but it is 
greatly amplified in Mark's account, and many new 
circumstances related. Another proof that Mark did not 
abridge Matthew.

Verse 30. They-passed through Galilee] See on Matt. xvii. 22-
27.

Verse 32. But they understood not] This whole verse is 
wanting in two MSS., in the first edition of Erasmus, and in 
that of Aldus. Mill approves of the omission. It does not 
appear likely, from Matthew's account, that three of the 
disciples, Peter, James, and John, could be ignorant of the 
reasons of Christ's death and resurrection, after the 
transfiguration; on the contrary, from the circumstances 
there related, it is very probable that from that time they 
must have had at least a general understanding of this 
important subject; but the other nine might have been 
ignorant of this matter, who were not present at the 
transfiguration; probably it is of these that the evangelist 
speaks here. See the observations on the transfiguration, 
Matt. xvii. 9, &c., and Matt. xviii. 1.

Verse 33. And being in the house] That is, Peter's house, 
where he ordinarily lodged. This has been often observed 
before.

Verse 34. Who should be the greatest.] See on Matt. xviii. 1-
5.

Verse 38. We saw one casting out devils in thy name] It can 
scarcely be supposed that a man who knew nothing of Christ, 
or who was only a common exorcist, could be able to work a 
miracle in Christ's name; we may therefore safely imagine 
that this was either one of John the Baptist's disciples, 
who, at his master's command, had believed in Jesus, or one 
of the seventy, whom Christ had sent out, Luke x. 1-7, who, 
after he had fulfilled his commission, had retired from 
accompanying the other disciples; but as he still held fast 
his faith in Christ, and walked in good conscience, the 
influence of his Master still continued with him, so that he 
could cast out demons as well as the other disciples.

He followeth not us] This first clause is omitted by BCL, 
three others, Syriac, Armenian, Persic, Coptic, and one of 
the Itala. Some of the MSS.

and versions leave out the first; some the second clause: 
only one of them is necessary. Griesbach leaves out the 
first.

We forbade him] I do not see that we have any right to 
attribute any other motive to John than that which he himself 
owns-because he followed not us-because he did not attach 
himself constantly to thee, as we do, we thought he could not 
be in a proper spirit.

Verse 39. Forbid him not] If you meet him again, let him go 
on quietly in the work in which God owns him. If he were not 
of God, the demons would not be subject to him, and his work 
could not prosper. A spirit of bigotry has little countenance 
from these passages. There are some who are so outrageously 
wedded to their own creed, and religious system, that they 
would rather let sinners perish than suffer those who differ 
from them to become the instruments of their salvation. Even 
the good that is done they either deny or suspect, because 
the person does not follow them. This also is vanity and an 
evil disease.

Verse 40. He that is not against us, is on our part.] Or 
rather, Whosoever is not against YOU, is for YOU. Instead of 
hmwn, us, I would read umwn, you, on the authority of ADSHV, 
upwards of forty others, Syriac, Armenian, Persic, Coptic, 
AEthiopic, Gothic, Slavonic, Vulgate, Itala, Victor, and Opt. 
This reading is more consistent with the context-He followed 
not us-well, he is not against YOU; and he who is not against 
you, in such a work, may be fairly presumed to be on your 
side.

There is a parallel case to this mentioned in Num. xi. 26-29, 
which, for the elucidation of this passage, I will 
transcribe. "The Spirit rested upon Eldad and Medad, and they 
prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man, and told 
Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And 
Joshua, the servant of Moses, said, My lord Moses, forbid 
them! And Moses said unto him, Enviest THOU for MY sake? 
Would God, that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that 
the Lord would put his Spirit upon them." The reader will 
easily observe that Joshua and John were of the same bigoted 
spirit; and that Jesus and Moses acted from the spirit of 
candour and benevolence. See the notes on Num. xi. 25-29.

Verse 41. A cup of water to drink] See the notes on Matthew 
x. 42; xviii. 6-8.

Verse 43. - 48. Thy hand-foot-eye-cause thee to offend;] See 
the notes on Matt. v. 29, 30.

Verse 43. The fire that never shall be quenched] That is, the 
inextinguishable fire. This clause is wanting in L, three 
others, the Syriac, and later Persic. Some eminent critics 
suppose it to be a spurious reading; but the authorities 
which are for it, are by no means counterbalanced by those 
which are against it. The same clause in ver. 45, is omitted 
in BCL, seven others, Syriac, later Persic, Coptic, and one 
Itala. Eternal fire is the expression of Matthew. 

Verse 49. For every one shall be salted with fire] Every one 
of those who shall live and die in sin: but there is great 
difficulty in this verse. The Codex Bezae, and some other 
MSS., have omitted the first clause; and several MSS. keep 
the first, and omit the last clause-and every sacrifice shall 
be salted with salt. There appears to be an allusion to Isa. 
lxvi. 24. It is generally supposed that our Lord means, that 
as salt preserves the flesh with which it is connected from 
corruption, so this everlasting fire, to pur to asbeston, 
this inconsumable fire, will have the property, not only of 
assimilating all things cast into it to its own nature, but 
of making them inconsumable like itself.

Scaliger supposes, that instead of pav puri, pasa puria, 
every sacrifice (of flour) should be read, "Every sacrifice 
(of flour) shall be salted, and every burnt offering shall be 
salted." This, I fear, is taking the text by storm. Some take 
the whole in a good sense, as referring to the influence of 
the Spirit of God in the hearts of believers, which shall 
answer the same end to the soul, in preserving it from the 
contagion that is in the world, as salt did in the sacrifices 
offered to God to preserve them from putrefaction. Old 
Trapp's note on the place pleases me as much as any I have 
seen:-"The Spirit, as salt, must dry up those bad humours in 
us which breed the never-dying worm; and, as fire, must waste 
our corruptions, which else will carry us on to the 
unquenchable fire." Perhaps the whole is an allusion to the 
purification of vessels, and especially such metallic vessels 
as were employed in the service of the sanctuary.

Probably the following may be considered as a parallel text:-
Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shalt make go through 
the fire, and it shall be clean; and all that abideth not the 
fire, ye shall make go through the water, Num. xxxi. 23. Ye, 
disciples, are the Lord's sacrifice; ye shall go through much 
tribulation, in order to enter into my kingdom: but ye are 
salted, ye are influenced by the Spirit of God, and are 
immortal till your work is done; and should ye be offered up, 
martyred, this shall be a means of establishing more fully 
the glad tidings of the kingdom: and this Spirit shall 
preserve all who believe on me from the corruption of sin, 
and from eternal perdition. That converts to God are 
represented as his offering, see Isa. lxvi. 20, the very 
place which our Lord appears to have here in view.

If this passage be taken according to the common meaning, it 
is awful indeed! Here may be seen the greatness, 
multiplicity, and eternity, of the pains of the damned. They 
suffer without being able to die; they are burned without 
being consumed; they are sacrificed without being sanctified-
are salted with the fire of hell, as eternal victims of the 
Divine Justice. We must of necessity be sacrificed to God, 
after one way or other, in eternity; and we have now the 
choice either of the unquenchable fire of his justice, or of 
the everlasting flame of his love. Quesnel.

Verse 50. If the salt have lost his saltness] See on Matt. v. 
13.

Have salt in yourselves] See that ye have at all times the 
preserving principle of Divine grace in your hearts, and give 
that proof of it which will satisfy your own minds, and 
convince or silence the world: live in brotherly kindness and 
peace with each other: thus shall all men see that you are 
free from ambition, (see ver. 34,) and that you are my 
disciples indeed. That it is possible for the salt to lose 
its savour, and yet retain its appearance in the most perfect 
manner, see proved on the note on Matthew v. 13.

CHAPTER x

The Pharisees question our Lord concerning divorce, 1-12. 
Little children are brought to him, 13-16. The person who 
inquired how he might inherit eternal life, 17-22. How 
difficult it is for a rich man to be saved, 23-27. What they 
shall receive who have left all for Christ and his Gospel, 
28-31. He foretells his death, 32-34. James and John desire 
places of pre-eminence in Christ's kingdom, 35-41. Christ 
shows them the necessity of humility, 42-46. Blind Bartimeus 
healed, 46-52.

NOTES ON CHAP. x

Verse 1. He arose] kakeiqen anastav may be translated, he 
departed thence. The verb anisthmi has this sense in some of 
the purest Greek writers. See Kypke. Many transactions took 
place between those mentioned in the preceding chapter, and 
these that follow, which are omitted by Matthew and Mark; but 
they are related both by Luke and John. See Lightfoot, and 
Bishop Newcome.

Verse 2. Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?] See 
this question about divorce largely explained on Matt. xix. 
3-12.

Verse 12. And if a woman shall put away her husband] From 
this it appears that in some cases, the wife assumed the very 
same right of divorcing her husband that the husband had of 
divorcing his wife; and yet this is not recorded any where in 
the Jewish laws, as far as I can find, that the women had 
such a right. Indeed, were the law which gives the permission 
all on one side, it would be unjust and oppressive; but where 
it is equally balanced, the right being the same on each 
side, it must serve as a mutual check, and prevent those 
evils it is intended to cure. Among the Jews there are 
several instances of the women having taken other men, even 
during the life of their own husbands. Nor do we find any law 
by which they were punished. Divorce never should be 
permitted but on this ground-"The parties are miserable 
together, and they are both perfectly willing to be 
separated." Then, if every thing else be proper, let them go 
different ways, that they may not ruin both themselves and 
their hapless offspring.

Verse 13. And they brought young children] See on Matthew 
xix. 13-15.

Verse 16. And he took them up in his arms] One of the Itala 
reads in sinu suo-"in his bosom." Jesus Christ loves little 
children; and they are objects of his most peculiar care. Who 
can account for their continual preservation and support, 
while exposed to so many dangers, but on the ground of a 
peculiar and extraordinary providence? And blessed them.] 
Then, though little children, they were capable of receiving 
Christ's blessing. If Christ embraced them, why should not 
his Church embrace them? Why not dedicate them to God by 
baptism?-whether that be performed by sprinkling, washing, or 
immersion; for we need not dispute about the mode: on this 
point let every one be fully persuaded in his own mind. I 
confess it appears to me grossly heathenish and barbarous, to 
see parents who profess to believe in that Christ who loves 
children, and among them those whose creed does not prevent 
them from using infant baptism, depriving their children of 
an ordinance by which no soul can prove that they cannot be 
profited, and, through an unaccountable bigotry or 
carelessness, withholding from them the privilege of even a 
nominal dedication to God; and yet these very persons are 
ready enough to fly for a minister to baptize their child 
when they suppose it to be at the point of death! It would be 
no crime to pray that such persons should never have the 
privilege of hearing, My father! or, My mother! from the lips 
of their own child. See on Matt. iii. 6, and on chap. xvi. 
16.

Verse 17. There came one running] See the case of this rich 
young man largely explained on Matt. xix. 16, &c.

Verse 21. Then Jesus, beholding him] Looking earnestly, 
embleyav, or affectionately upon him, loved him, because of 
his youth, his earnestness, and his sincerity.

One thing thou lackest] What was that? A heart disengaged 
from the world, and a complete renunciation of it and its 
concerns, that he might become a proper and successful 
labourer in the Lord's vineyard. See Matt. xix. 21. To say 
that it was something else he lacked, when Christ explains 
here his own meaning, is to be wise above what is written.

Verse 22. And he was sad at that saying] This young man had 
perhaps been a saint, and an eminent apostle, had he been 
poor! From this, and a multitude of other cases, we may learn 
that it is oftentimes a misfortune to be rich: but who is 
aware of this?-and who believes it?

Verse 29. And the Gospel's] Read, for the sake of the Gospel. 
I have with Griesbach adopted eneken, for the sake, on the 
authority of BCDEGHKMS, V, sixty others, and almost all the 
versions.

Verse 30. In this time] en tw kairw toutw, In this very time. 
Though Jews and Gentiles have conspired together to destroy 
both me and you, my providence shall so work that nothing 
shall be lacking while any thing is necessary.

And fathers. This is added by K, upwards of sixty others, 
AEthiopic, Gothic, Slavonic, Saxon, Armenian, Coptic, and in 
one of my own MSS. of the Vulgate.

Some have been greatly embarrassed to find out the literal 
truth of these promises; and, some in flat opposition to the 
text, have said they are all to be understood spiritually. 
But thus far is plain, that those who have left all for the 
sake of Christ do find, among genuine Christians, spiritual 
relatives, which are as dear to them as fathers, mothers, 
&c.; yet they have the promise of receiving a hundredfold 
often literally fulfilled: for, wherever a Christian travels 
among Christians, the shelter of their houses, and the 
product of their lands, are at his service as far as they are 
requisite.

Besides, these words were spoken primarily to the disciples, 
and pointed out their itinerant manner of life; and how, 
travelling about from house to house, preaching the Gospel of 
the grace of God, they should, among the followers of Christ, 
be provided with every thing necessary in all places, as if 
the whole were their own. I have often remarked that the 
genuine messengers of God, in the present day have, as noted 
above, this promise literally fulfilled.

With persecutions] For while you meet with nothing but 
kindness from true Christians, you shall be despised, and 
often afflicted, by those who are enemies to God and 
goodness; but, for your comfort, ye shall have in the world 
to come, aiwni tw ercomenw, the coming world, (that world 
which is on its way to meet you,) eternal life.

Verse 32. And he took again the twelve] Or thus: For having 
again taken the twelve, &c. I translate kai for, which 
signification it often bears; see Luke i. 22; John xii. 35, 
and elsewhere. This gives the reason of the wonder and fear 
of the disciples, FOR he began to tell them on the way, what 
was to befall him. This sense of kai, I find, is also noticed 
by Rosenmuller. See on Matthew xx. 17-19.

Verse 35. And James and John-come unto him] The request here 
mentioned, Matthew says, Matt. xx. 20, was made by Salome 
their mother; the two places may be easily reconciled thus:-
The mother introduced them, and made the request as if from 
herself; Jesus knowing whence it had come, immediately 
addressed himself to James and John, who were standing by; 
and the mother is no farther concerned in the business. See 
the note on Matthew xx. 20.

Verse 37. In thy glory.] In the kingdom of thy glory-three 
MSS. Which kingdom they expected to be established on earth.

And be baptized] OR, be baptized. Instead of kai and h or, is 
the reading of BCDL, five others, Coptic, Armenian, later 
Syriac in the margin, Vulgate, all the Itala, and Origen. See 
the note on Matt. xx. 22.

Verse 40. Is not mine to give] See on Matt. xx. 23.

Verse 41. When the ten heard it] See Matt. xx. 24-28.

Verse 46. Blind Bartimeus] rb bar in Syriac signifies son. It 
appears that he was thus named because Timeus, Talmeus or 
Talmai, was the name of his father, and thus the son would be 
called Bar-talmeus, or Bartholomew. Some suppose uiov 
timaiou, the son of Timeus, to be an interpolation. Bartimeus 
the son of Timeus, o tuflov, THE blind man. It was because he 
was the most remarkable that this evangelist mentions him by 
name, as a person probably well known in those parts.

Verse 50. And he, casting away his garment] He cast off his 
outward covering, a blanket, or loose piece of cloth, the 
usual upper garment of an Asiatic mendicant, which kept him 
from the inclemency of the weather, that he might have 
nothing to hinder him from getting speedily to Christ. If 
every penitent were as ready to throw aside his self-
righteousness and sinful incumbrances, as this blind man was 
to throw aside his garment, we should have fewer delays in 
conversions than we now have; and all that have been 
convinced of sin would have been brought to the knowledge of 
the truth. The reader will at least pardon the introduction 
of the following anecdote, which may appear to some as 
illustrative of the doctrine grounded on this text.

A great revival of religion took place in some of the 
American States, about the year 1773, by the instrumentality 
of some itinerant preachers sent from England. Many, both 
whites and blacks, were brought to an acquaintance with God 
who bought them. Two of these, a white man and a negro, 
meeting together, began to speak concerning the goodness of 
God to their souls, (a custom which has ever been common 
among truly religious people.) Among other things they were 
led to inquire how long each had known the salvation of God; 
and how long it was, after they were convinced of their sin 
and danger, before each got a satisfactory evidence of 
pardoning mercy. The white man said, "I was three months in 
deep distress of soul, before God spoke peace to my troubled, 
guilty conscience." "But it was only a fortnight," replied 
the negro, "from the time I first heard of Jesus, and felt 
that I was a sinner, till I received the knowledge of 
salvation by the remission of sins." "But what was the 
reason," said the white man, "that you found salvation sooner 
than I did?" "This is the reason," replied the other; "you 
white men have much clothing upon you, and when Christ calls, 
you cannot run to him; but we poor negroes have only this, 
(pointing to the mat or cloth which was tied round his 
waist,) and when we hear the call, we throw it off instantly, 
and run to him." Thus the poor son of Ham illustrated the 
text without intending it, as well as any doctor in the 
universe. People who have been educated in the principles of 
the Christian religion imagine themselves on this account 
Christians; and, when convinced of sin, they find great 
difficulty to come as mere sinners to God, to be saved only 
through the merits of Christ.

Others, such as the negro in question, have nothing to plead 
but this, We have never heard of thee, and could not believe 
in thee of whom we had not heard; but this excuse will not 
avail now, as the true light is come-therefore they cast off 
this covering, and come to Jesus. See this miraculous cure 
explained at large on Matthew xx. 29-34.

Verse 51. Lord, that I might, &c.] The Codex Bezae, and some 
copies of the Itala, have, kurie rabbei, O Lord, my teacher.

Verse 52. Followed Jesus in the way.] Instead of tw ihsou, 
Jesus, several eminent critics read autw, him. This is the 
reading of ABCDL, fourteen others, Coptic, AEthiopic, 
Armenian, later Syriac in the margin, two Persic, Vulgate, 
all the Itala, and Origen once. JESUS is the common reading; 
but this sacred name having occurred so immediately before, 
there could be no necessity for repeating it here, nor would 
the repetition have been elegant.

This very remarkable cure gives us another proof, not only of 
the sovereign power, but of the benevolence, of Christ: nor 
do we ever see that sovereign power used, but in the way of 
benevolence. How slow is God to punish!-how prone to spare! 
To his infinite benevolence, can it be any gratification to 
destroy any of the children of men? No! We must take great 
heed not to attribute to his sovereignty, acts which are 
inconsistent with his benevolence and mercy. I am afraid this 
is a prevailing error; and that it is not confined to any 
religious party exclusively.

CHAPTER xi

Christ rides triumphantly into Jerusalem, 1-11. The barren 
fig tree cursed, 12-14. He cleanses the temple, 15-17. The 
scribes and chief priests are enraged, 18. Reflections on the 
withered fig tree, 19-23. Directions concerning prayer and 
forgiveness, 24-26. The chief priests, &c., question him by 
what authority he did his works, 27, 28. He answers, and 
confounds them, 29-33.

NOTES ON CHAP. xi

Verse 1. He sendeth-two of his disciples] This was done but a 
few days before the passover. See our Lord's entry into 
Jerusalem illustrated, on Matt. xxi. 1-17.

Verse 2. Whereon never man sat] No animal was allowed to be 
employed in sacred uses, even among the heathen, that had 
previously been used for any domestic or agricultural 
purpose; and those which had never been yoked were considered 
as sacred. See several proofs of this in the note on Num. 
xix. 2, and add this from Ovid:-Bos tibi, Phoebus ait, solis 
occurret in arvis, Nullum passa jugum curvique immunis aratri 
Met. lib. iii. v. 10 The Delphic oracles this answer give:- 
Behold among the fields a lonely cow, Unworn with yokes, 
unbroken to the plough.

Verse 3. And straightway he will send him hither.] From the 
text, I think it is exceedingly plain, that our Lord did not 
beg, but borrow, the colt; therefore the latter clause of 
this verse should be understood as the promise of returning 
him. Is not the proper translation the following? And if any 
one say to you, Why do ye this? Say, the Lord hath need of 
him, and will speedily send him back hither-kai euqewv auton 
apostellei wde. Some eminent critics take the same view of 
the passage.

Verse 6. And they let them go.] Having a full assurance that 
the beast should be safely and speedily restored.

Verse 10. In the name of the Lord] Omitted by BCDLU, some 
others, and several versions. Griesbach leaves it out.

Hosanna in the highest!] See on Matt. xxi. 9.

Verse 11. When he had looked round about upon all things] He 
examined every thing-to see if the matters pertaining to the 
Divine worship were properly conducted; to see that nothing 
was wanting-nothing superfluous.

And now the eventide was come] The time in which he usually 
left Jerusalem, to go to Bethany.

Verse 13. For the time of figs was not yet.] Rather, For it 
was not the season of gathering figs yet. This I am fully 
persuaded is the true sense of this passage, ou gar hn kairov 
sukwn. For a proof that kairov here signifies the time of 
gathering the figs, see the LXX. in Psa. i. 3. He bringeth 
forth his fruit, en kairw autou, in his season; i.e. in the 
time in which fruit should be ripe, and fit for gathering. 
See also chap. xii. 2: -And at the season, tw kairw, the time 
of gathering the fruits of the vineyard.

Matt. xxi. xxxiv. - When the time of the fruit drew near; o 
kairov twn karpwn, the time in which the fruits were to be 
gathered, for it was then that the Lord of the vineyard sent 
his servants to receive the fruits; i.e. so much of them as 
the holder of the vineyard was to pay to the owner by way of 
rent; for in those times rent was paid in kind.

To the above may be added, Job v. xxvi. - Thou shalt come to 
thy grave in FULL AGE, like as a shock of corn cometh in his 
season; kata kairon, in the time in which it should be 
reaped.

When our Lord saw this fig tree by the way-side, apparently 
flourishing, he went to it to gather some of the figs: being 
on the way-side, it was not private, but public property; and 
any traveler had an equal right to its fruit. As it was not 
as yet the time for gathering in the fruits, and yet about 
the time when they were ready to be gathered, our Lord with 
propriety expected to find some. But as this happened about 
five days before that passover on which Christ suffered, and 
the passover that year fell on the beginning of April, it has 
been asked, "How could our Lord expect to find ripe figs in 
the end of March?" Answer, Because figs were ripe in Judea as 
early as the passover. Besides, the fig tree puts forth its 
fruit first, and afterwards its leaves. Indeed, this tree, in 
the climate which is proper for it, has fruit on it all the 
year round, as I have often seen. All the difficulty in the 
text may be easily removed by considering that the climate of 
Judea is widely different from that of Great Britain. The 
summer begins there in March, and the harvest at the 
passover, as all travelers into those countries testify; 
therefore, as our Lord met with this tree five days before 
the passover, it is evident,-1st. That it was the time of 
ripe figs: and, 2ndly.

That it was not the time of gathering them, because this did 
not begin till the passover, and the transaction here 
mentioned took place five days before.

For farther satisfaction on this point, let us suppose:-I. 
That this tree was intended to point out the state of the 
Jewish people. 1. They made a profession of the true 
religion. 2. They considered themselves the peculiar people 
of God, and despised and reprobated all others. 3. They were 
only hypocrites, having nothing of religion but the 
profession-leaves, and no fruit.

II. That our Lord's conduct towards this tree is to be 
considered as emblematical of the treatment and final 
perdition which was to come upon this hypocritical and 
ungodly nation. 1. It was a proper time for them to have 
borne fruit: Jesus had been preaching the doctrine of 
repentance and salvation among them for more than three 
years; the choicest influences of Heaven had descended upon 
them; and every thing was done in this vineyard that ought to 
be done, in order to make it fruitful. 2. The time was now at 
hand in which God would require fruit, good fruit; and, if it 
did not produce such, the tree should be hewn down by the 
Roman axe.

Therefore, 1. The tree is properly the Jewish nation. 2. 
Christ's curse the sentence of destruction which had now gone 
out against it; and, 3. Its withering away, the final and 
total ruin of the Jewish state by the Romans.

His cursing the fig tree was not occasioned by any resentment 
at being disappointed at not finding fruit on it, but to 
point out unto his disciples the wrath which was coming upon 
a people who had now nearly filled up the measure of their 
iniquity.

A fruitless soul, that has had much cultivation bestowed on 
it, may expect to be dealt with as God did with this 
unrighteous nation. See on Matt. xxi. 19, &c.

Verse 15. And they come] Several MSS. and versions have 
palin, again.

This was the next day after our Lord's triumphant entry into 
Jerusalem; for on the evening of that day he went to Bethany, 
and lodged there, ver. 11, and Matt. xxi. 17, and returned 
the next morning to Jerusalem.

Verse 16. Should carry any vessel] Among the Jews the word 
ylk keli, vessel, had a vast latitude of meaning; it 
signified arms, Jer. xxi. 4; Ezek. ix. 1; clothes, Deut. 
xxii. 5, and instruments of music, Psa. lxxi. 22. It is 
likely that the evangelist uses the Greek word skeuov in the 
same sense, and by it points out any of the things which were 
bought and sold in the temple.

Verse 17. And he taught-them] See on Matt. xxi. 12.

Verse 19. He went out of the city.] To go to Bethany.

Verse 22. Have faith in God] ecete pistin qeou is a mere 
Hebraism: have the faith of God, i.e. have strong faith, or 
the strongest faith, for thus the Hebrews expressed the 
superlative degree; so the mountains of God mean exceeding 
great mountains-the hail of God, exceeding great hail, &c.

Verse 25. When ye stand praying] This expression may mean no 
more than, When ye are disposed, or have a mind, to pray, 
i.e. whenever ye perform that duty. And it is thus used and 
explained in the Koran, Surat.

v. ver. 7. See on Matt. xxi. 20-22. But the Pharisees loved 
to pray standing, that they might be seen of men.

Verse 26. At the end of this verse, the 7th and 8th verses of 
Matt. vii. ,  Ask and ye shall receive, &c., are added by M, 
and sixteen other MSS.

The 26th verse is wanting in BLS, seven others, some 
editions, the Coptic, one Itala, and Theophyact.

Verse 27. - 33. See on Matt. xxi. 23-27. 



 

 

 Verse 32. They feared the people] Or rather, We fear, &c. 
Instead of efobounto, they feared; the Codex Bezae, seven 
others, later Syriac, Arabic, Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, 
Vulgate, and all the Itala, read foboumen, or foboumeqa. The 
common reading appearing to me quite improper.

WE fear the people. ean, if, before eipwmen, we shall say, is 
omitted by ABCEFGHLS, and more than fifty others. Bengel 
leaves it out of the text, and puts a note of interrogation 
after ex anqrwpwn; and then the whole passage reads thus: But 
shall we say, Of men? They feared the people, &c.

This change renders the adoption of foboumen, we fear, 
unnecessary.

Several critics prefer this mode of distinguishing the text. 
However the critics may be puzzled with the text, the 
scribes, chief priests, and elders were worse puzzled with 
our Lord's question. They must convict themselves or tell a 
most palpable falsehood.-They told the lie, and so escaped 
for the present.

1. ENVY, malice, and double dealing have always a difficult 
part to act, and are ultimately confounded by their own 
projects and ruined by their own operations. On the other 
hand, simplicity and sincerity are not obliged to use a mask, 
but always walk in a plain way.

2. The case of the barren fig-tree which our Lord cursed has 
been pitifully misunderstood and misapplied. The whole 
account of this transaction, as stated above, I believe to be 
correct; it is so much in our Lord's usual manner that the 
propriety of it will scarcely be doubted. He was ever acting 
the part of the philosopher, moralist, and divine, as well as 
that of the saviour of sinners. In his hand, every 
providential occurrence and every object of nature, became a 
means of instruction: the stones of the desert, the lilies of 
the field, the fowls of heaven, the beasts of the forest, 
fruitful and unfruitful trees, with every ordinary 
occurrence, were so many grand texts, from which he preached 
the most illuminating and impressive sermons, for the 
instruction and salvation of his audience. This wisdom and 
condescension cannot be sufficiently admired. But shall the 
example of the fruitless fig tree be lost on us as well as on 
the Jews? God forbid! Let us therefore take heed, lest having 
been so long unfruitful, God should say, Let no fruit appear 
on thee hereafter for ever! and in consequence of this, we 
wither and die away! See on "ver. 27". 

CHAPTER xii

The parable of the vineyard let out to wicked husbandmen, 1-
12. The Pharisees and Herodians question him about paying 
tribute to Caesar, 13-17. The Sadducees question him about 
the resurrection, 18-27. A scribe questions him concerning 
the chief commandment of the law, 28-34. Christ asks the 
scribes why the Messiah is called David's son, 35-37. He 
warns his disciples against the scribes, 38-40. Of the widow 
that cast two mites into the treasury, 41-44.

NOTES ON CHAP. xii

Verse 1. A certain man planted a vineyard] See this parable 
explained, Matt. xxi. 33-41.

Verse 4. At him they cast stones and wounded him in the head] 
Or rather, as most learned men agree, they made short work of 
it, ekefalaiwsan. We have followed the Vulgate, illum in 
capite vulneraverunt, in translating the original, wounded 
him in the head, in which signification, I believe, the word 
is found in no Greek writer.

anakefalaioomai signifies to sum up, to comprise, and is used 
in this sense by St. Paul, Rom. xiii. 9. From the parable we 
learn that these people were determined to hear no reason, to 
do no justice, and to keep the possession and the produce by 
violence; therefore they fulfilled their purpose in the 
fullest and speediest manner, which seems to be what the 
evangelist intended to express by the word in question. Mr. 
Wakefield translates, They speedily sent him away; others 
think the meaning is, They shaved their heads and made them 
look ridiculously; this is much to the same purpose, but I 
prefer, They made short work of it. Dr. Lightfoot, 
Deuteronomy Dieu, and others, agree in the sense given above; 
and this will appear the more probable, if the word 
liqobolhsantev, they cast stones, be omitted, as it is by 
BDL, the Coptic, Vulgate, and all the Itala.

Verse 7. This is the heir] So they appear to have 
acknowledged in their consciences that this was the Messiah, 
the heir of all things.

The inheritance shall be ours.] By slaying him we shall 
maintain our authority, and keep possession of our revenues.

Verse 9. And will give the vineyard unto others.] The 
vineyard must not perish with the husbandmen; it is still 
capable of producing much fruit, if it be properly 
cultivated. I will give it into the care of new vine-
dressers, the evangelists and apostles.-And under their 
ministry, multitudes were brought to God before the 
destruction of Jerusalem.

Verse 13. And they send unto him] See this, and to ver. 17, 
largely explained on Matt. xxii. 15-22.

Verse 15. Shall we give, or shall we not give?] This is 
wanting in the Codex Bezae, and in several versions.

Verse 18. See this question, concerning the resurrection, 
explained in detail on Matt. xxii. 23-32.

Verse 23. When they shall rise] This clause is wanting in 
BCDL, four others, Syriac, later Arabic, later Persic, 
Coptic, Saxon, and two of the Itala. Griesbach leaves it 
doubtful.

Verse 27. But the God of the living] qeov, God, is left out 
by ABCDKL, and in more than forty others, Syriac, one Arabic, 
one Persic, Coptic, Armenian, Gothic, Saxon, Vulgate, Itala, 
and Origen. Griesbach has omitted it.

Verse 30. Thou shalt love the Lord] On the nature and 
properties of the love of God and man, and the way in which 
this commandment is fulfilled, see the notes on Matt. xxii. 
37, &c.

Verse 32. And the scribe said] The answer of the scribe, 
contained in ver. 32-34, is not found either in Matthew or 
Luke. This is another proof against Mark's supposed 
abridgment.

Verse 34. Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.] This 
scribe appears to have been a prudent, sensible, and pious 
man; almost a Christian-so near the kingdom of God that he 
might have easily stepped in.

It is very probable that he did at last believe in and 
confess Jesus.

Verse 35. How say the scribes] See Matt. xxii. 41, &c.

Verse 37. The common people heard him gladly.] And were 
doubtless many of them brought to believe and receive the 
truth. By the comparatively poor the Gospel is still best 
received.

Verse 38. Beware of the scribes] See on Matt. xxiii. 1, &c.

Verse 41. Cast money into the treasury] It is worthy of 
observation, that the money put into the treasury, even by 
the rich, is termed by the evangelist calkon, brass money, 
probably that species of small brass coin which was called 
hfwrp prutah among the Jews, two of which make a farthing, 
and twenty-four an Italian assarius, which assarius is the 
twenty-fourth part of a silver penny. We call this, mite, 
from the French, miete, which signifies a crumb, or very 
small morsel. The prutah was the smallest coin in use among 
the Jews: and there is a canon among the rabbins that no 
person shall put less than two prutahs into the treasury.

This poor widow would not give less, and her poverty 
prevented her from giving more. And whereas it is said that 
many rich persons cast in MUCH, polla, (many,) this may only 
refer to the number of the prutahs which they threw in, and 
not to the value. What opinion should we form of a rich man, 
who, in a collection for a public charity, only threw in a 
handful of halfpence? See Luke xxi. 1, and see the note on 
Matt. v. 26. The whole of this account is lacking in Matthew. 
Another proof that Mark did not abridge him.

Let us examine this subject a little more closely: Jesus 
prefers the widow's two mites to all the offerings made by 
the rich.

In the preceding account, ver. 41, it is said Jesus beheld 
how the people cast money into the treasury. To make this 
relation the more profitable, let us consider Christ the 
observer and judge of human actions.

1. Christ observes all men and all things: all our actions 
are before his eyes, what we do in public and what we do in 
private are equally known unto him.

2. He observes the state and situation we are in: his eye was 
upon the abundance of the rich who had given much; and he was 
well acquainted with the poverty and desolate state of the 
widow who had given her all, though that was but little in 
itself. What an awful thought for the rich! "God sees every 
penny I possess, and constantly observes how I lay it out." 
What a comfortable thought for the poor and desolate! The eye 
of the most merciful and bountiful Jesus continually beholds 
my poverty and distress, and will cause them to work for my 
good.

3. Christ sees all the motives which lead men to perform 
their respective actions; and the different motives which 
lead them to perform the same action: he knows whether they 
act through vanity, self-love, interest, ambition, hypocrisy, 
or whether through love, charity, zeal for his glory, and a 
hearty desire to please him.

4. He observes the circumstances which accompany our actions; 
whether we act with care or negligence, with a ready mind or 
with reluctance.

5. He observes the judgment which we form of that which we do 
in his name; whether we esteem ourselves more on account of 
what we have done, speak of it to others, dwell on our 
labours, sufferings, expenses, success, &c., or whether we 
humble ourselves because we have done so little good, and 
even that little in so imperfect a way.

II. See the judgment Christ forms of our actions.

1. He appears surprised that so much piety should be found 
with so much poverty, in this poor widow.

2. He shows that works of charity, &c., should be estimated, 
not by their appearance, but by the spirit which produces 
them.

3. He shows by this that all men are properly in a state of 
equality; for though there is and ought to be a difference in 
outward things, yet God looks upon the heart, and the poorest 
person has it in his power to make his mite as acceptable to 
the Lord, by simplicity of intention, and purity of 
affection, as the millions given by the affluent. It is just 
in God to rate the value of an action by the spirit in which 
it is done.

4. He shows that men should judge impartially in cases of 
this kind, and not permit themselves to be carried away to 
decide for a person by the largeness of the gift on the one 
hand, or against him by the smallness of the bounty on the 
other. Of the poor widow it is said, She has cast in more 
than all the rich. Because: 1. She gave more; she gave her 
all, and they gave only a part. 2. She did this in a better 
spirit, having a simple desire to please God. Never did any 
king come near the liberality of this widow; she gave all 
that she had, olon ton bion authv, her whole life, i.e. all 
that she had to provide for one day's sustenance, and could 
have no more till by her labour she had acquired it. What 
trust must there be in the Divine Providence to perform such 
an act as this! Two important lessons may be learned from her 
conduct. 1. A lesson of humiliation to the rich, who, by 
reason of covetousness on the one hand, and luxury on the 
other, give but little to GOD and the poor. A lesson of 
reproof to the poor, who, through distrust of God's 
providence, give nothing at all. Our possessions can only be 
sanctified by giving a portion to God. There will be 
infallibly a blessing in the remainder, when a part has been 
given to God and the poor. If the rich and the poor reflect 
seriously on this, the one will learn pity, the other 
liberality, and both be blessed in their deed. He must be a 
poor man indeed who cannot find one poorer than himself.

CHAPTER xiii

Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple, 1, 2. His 
disciples inquire when this shall be, and what previous sign 
there shall be of this calamity, 3, 4; which questions he 
answers very solemnly and minutely, 5-27; illustrates the 
whole by a parable, 28, 29; asserts the absolute certainty of 
the events, 30, 31; shows that the precise minute cannot be 
known by man, 32; and inculcates the necessity of 
watchfulness and prayer, 33-37.

NOTES ON MARK 13

Verse 1. See what manner of stones] Josephus says, ANT. b. 
xv. chap. 11: "That these stones were white and strong, FIFTY 
feet long, TWENTY-FOUR broad, and SIXTEEN in thickness." If 
this account can be relied on, well might the disciples be 
struck with wonder at such a superb edifice, and formed by 
such immense stones! The principal contents of this chapter 
are largely explained in the notes on Matt. xxiv. , and to 
these the reader is requested to refer.

Verse 6. Saying, I am] The Christ, is added by eight MSS., 
Coptic, Armenian, Saxon, and four of the Itala.

Verse 8. The beginnings] For arcai, many MSS. and versions 
have arch, the beginning, singular.

Verse 9. Councils] sunedria, Sanhedrins. The grand Sanhedrin 
consisted of seventy-two elders; six chosen out of each 
tribe; this was the national council of state; and the small 
Sanhedrins, which were composed of twenty-three counsellors.

Synagogues] Courts of justice for villages, &c., consisting 
of three magistrates, chosen out of the principal directors 
of the synagogue in that place.

Rulers] Or governors. The Roman deputies, such as Pontius 
Pilate, &c.

Kings] The tetrarchs of Judea and Galilee, who bore this 
name. See chap. vi. 27.

Verse 10. And the Gospel must first be published among all 
nations.] Many of the Evangelistaria omit this verse. Its 
proper place seems to be after verse the thirteenth. 

Verse 11. Neither-premeditate] This is wanting in BDL, five 
others, Coptic, AEthiopic, Vulgate, Itala. Griesbach leaves 
it doubtful. On this verse see Matt. x. 19.

Verse 14. Let him that readeth understand] What he readeth, 
is added by D, and three of the Itala, perhaps needlessly.

Verse 15. House-top] See on Matt. xxiv. 17.

Verse 20. Had shortened those days] Because of his chosen, 
added by D, Armenian, and five of the Itala. See Matt. xxiv. 
22.

Verse 30. This generation] Æhgenea auth, This very race of 
men. It is certain that this word has two meanings in the 
Scriptures; that given in the text, and that above. 
Generation signifies a period of a certain number of years, 
sometimes more, sometimes less. In Deut. i. 35; ii. 14, Moses 
uses the word to point out a term of thirty-eight years, 
which was precisely the number in the present case; for 
Jerusalem was destroyed about thirty-eight years after our 
Lord delivered this prediction. But as there are other events 
in this chapter, which certainly look beyond the destruction 
of Jerusalem, and which were to take place before the Jews 
should cease to be a distinct people, I should therefore 
prefer the translation given above. See on Matt. xxiv. 34.

Verse 32. Neither the Son] This clause is not found either in 
Matthew or Luke; and Ambrose says it was wanting in some 
Greek copies in his time. To me it is utterly unaccountable, 
how Jesus, who knew so correctly all the particulars which he 
here lays down, and which were to a jot and tittle verified 
by the event-how he who knew that not one stone should be 
left on another, should be ignorant of the day and hour when 
this should be done, though Daniel, Dan. ix. 24, &c., could 
fix the very year, not less than five hundred years before it 
happened: how he in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwelt 
bodily, and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, should 
not know this small matter, I cannot comprehend, but on this 
ground, that the Deity which dwelt in the man Christ Jesus 
might, at one time, communicate less of the knowledge of 
futurity to him than at another. However, I strongly suspect 
that the clause was not originally in this Gospel. Its not 
being found in the parallel places in the other evangelists 
is, in my opinion, a strong presumption against it. But Dr. 
Macknight, and others, solve this difficulty in the following 
manner. They suppose the verb oiden to have the force of the 
Hebrew conjugation Hiphel, in which verbs are taken in a 
causative, declarative, or permissive sense; and that it 
means here, make known, or promulge, as it is to be 
understood in 1 Cor. ii. 2. This intimates that this secret 
was not to be made known, either by men or angels, no, not 
even by the Son of man himself; but it should be made known 
by the Father only, in the execution of the purposes of his 
justice. I am afraid this only cuts the knot, but does not 
untie it.

Verse 34. Left his house] oikian, family. Our blessed Lord 
and Master, when he ascended to heaven, commanded his 
servants to be faithful and watchful. This fidelity to which 
he exhorts his servants consists in doing every thing well 
which is to be done, in the heart or in the family, according 
to the full extent of the duty. The watchfulness consists in 
suffering no stranger nor enemy to enter in by the senses, 
which are the gates of the soul; in permitting nothing which 
belongs to the Master to go out without his consent; and in 
carefully observing all commerce and correspondence which the 
heart may have abroad in the world, to the prejudice of the 
Master's service. See Quesnel.

Verse 35. Watch ye therefore] The more the master is 
expected, the more diligent ought the servants to be in 
working, watching, and keeping themselves in readiness. Can 
one who has received the sentence of his death, and has no 
right to live a moment, need any admonition to prepare to 
die? Does not a prisoner who expects his deliverance, hold 
himself in continual readiness to leave his dungeon?

Verse 36. He find you sleeping.] A porter asleep exposes the 
house to be robbed, and well deserves punishment. No wonder 
that the man is constantly suffering loss who is frequently 
off his guard.

Our Lord shows us in this parable: 1. That himself, ascended 
to heaven, is the man gone from home. 2. That believers 
collectively are his family. 3.

That his servants are those who are employed in the work of 
faith and labour of love. 4. That the porter represents the 
ministers of his Gospel, who should continually watch for the 
safety and welfare of the whole flock. 5. That every one has 
his own work-that which belongs to himself and to none other, 
and for the accomplishment of which he receives sufficient 
strength from his Lord. 6. That these servants and porters 
shall give an account to their Lord, how they have exercised 
themselves in their respective departments. 7. And that as 
the master of the family will certainly come to require this 
account at a time when men are not aware, therefore they 
should be always watchful and faithful. And, 8, That this is 
a duty incumbent on every soul of man, What I say unto you, I 
say unto ALL, WATCH! If, after all these warnings, the 
followers of God be found careless, their misery and 
condemnation must be great.

CHAPTER xiv

The Jews conspire against Christ, 1, 2. He is anointed in the 
house of Simon the Leper, 3-9. Judas Iscariot sells him to 
the chief priests for thirty pieces of money, 10, 11. He 
orders his disciples to prepare the passover, 12-16. Predicts 
his approaching death, 17-21. Institutes the holy eucharist, 
22-26. Foretells the unfaithfulness of his disciples in 
general, 27, 28, and Peter's denial, 29-31. His agony in the 
garden, 32-36. The disciples overcome by sleep, 37-42. Judas 
comes with a mob from the chief priests, and betrays him with 
a kiss; they seize him, 43-49. The disciples flee, 50. A 
young man following, and about to be apprehended, makes his 
escape, 51, 52. Jesus is brought before the chief priests, 
and Peter follows at a distance, 53, 54. He is examined, 
insulted, and abused, and condemned on false evidence, 55-65. 
Peter thrice denies him, reflects on his wickedness, and 
repents of his sin, 66-72.

NOTES ON CHAP. xiv

Verse 1. Unleavened breed] After they began to eat unleavened 
bread: see on Matt. xxvi. 2.

Verse 3. Alabaster box] Among critics and learned men there 
are various conjectures concerning the alabaster mentioned by 
the evangelists: some think it means a glass phial; others, 
that it signifies a small vessel without a handle, from a 
negative and labh, a handle; and others imagine that it 
merely signifies a perfume or essence bottle. There are 
several species of the soft calcareous stone called 
alabaster, which are enumerated and described in different 
chemical works.

Spikenard] Or nard. An Indian plant, whose root is very small 
and slender. It puts forth a long and small stalk, and has 
several ears or spikes even with the ground, which has given 
it the name of spikenard: the taste is bitter, acrid, and 
aromatic, and the smell agreeable. CALMET.

Very precious] Or rather, unadulterated: this I think is the 
proper meaning of pistikhv. Theophylact gives this 
interpretation of the passage: "Unadulterated hard, and 
prepared with fidelity." Some think that pistikh is a 
contraction of the Latin spicatae, and that it signifies the 
spicated nard, or what we commonly call the spikenard. But 
Dr. Lightfoot gives a different interpretation. pistikh he 
supposes to come from the Syriac aqtoyp pistike, which 
signifies the acorn: he would therefore have it to signify an 
aromatic confection of nard, maste, or myrobalane. See his 
Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations; and see Scheuchzer's 
Physica Sacra.

She brake the box] Rather, she broke the seal. This is the 
best translation I can give of the place; and I give it for 
these reasons: 1. That it is not likely that a box 
exceedingly precious in itself should be broken to get out 
its contents. 2. That the broken pieces would be very 
inconvenient if not injurious to the head of our Lord, and to 
the hands of the woman. 3. That it would not be easy 
effectually to separate the oil from the broken pieces.

And, 4. That it was a custom in the eastern countries to seal 
the bottles with wax that held the perfumes; so that to come 
at their contents no more was necessary than to break the 
seal, which this woman appears to have done; and when the 
seal was thus broken, she had no more to do than to pour out 
the liquid ointment, which she could not have done had she 
broken the bottle. The bottles which contain the  gul i 
attyr, or attyr of roses, which come from the east, are 
sealed in this manner. See a number of proofs relative to 
this point in HARMER'S Observations, vol. iv. 469.

Pouring sweet-scented oil on the head is common in Bengal. At 
the close of the festival of the goddess Doorga, the Hindoos 
worship the unmarried daughters of Brahmins: and, among other 
ceremonies, pour sweet-scented oil on their heads. WARD'S 
Customs.

Verse 5. It might have been sold] to muron, This ointment, is 
added by ABCDKL, thirty-five others, AEthiopic, Armenian, 
Gothic, all the Itala except one. Griesbach has received it 
into the text. The sum mentioned here would amount to nearly 
10ú sterling.

Verse 8. To anoint my body to the burying.] eiv ton 
entafiasmon, against, or in reference to, its embalmment, 
thus pointing out my death and the embalmment of my body, for 
the bodies of persons of distinction were wrapped up in 
aromatics to preserve them from putrefaction. See on Matt. 
xxvi. 12.

Verse 9. For a memorial of her.] See on Matt. xxvi. 13.

Verse 11. They were glad] The joy that arises from the 
opportunity of murdering an innocent person must be 
completely infernal.

Verse 13. Bearing a pitcher of water] How correct is the 
foreknowledge of Jesus Christ! Even the minutest 
circumstances are comprehended by it! An honest employment, 
howsoever mean, is worthy the attention of God; and even a 
man bearing a pitcher of water is marked in all his steps, 
and is an object of the merciful regards of the Most High. 
This man was employed in carrying home the water which was to 
be used for baking the unleavened bread on the following day; 
for on that day it was not lawful to carry any: hence they 
were obliged to fetch it on the preceding evening.

Verse 14. Say ye to the good man of the house] eipate tw 
oikodespoth-Say ye to the master of the house. The good man 
and the good woman mean, among us, the master and mistress of 
the house. A Hindoo woman never calls her husband by his 
name; but simply, the man of the house.

Where is the guest chamber?] Respectable householders, says 
Mr. Ward, have a room which they call the strangers' room, 
(utit' hu-shala,) which is especially set apart for the use 
of guests. This appears to have been the custom in Judea 
also.

Verse 15. Furnished] Spread with carpets-estrwmenon-so this 
word is often used. See WAKEFIELD. But it may also signify 
the couches on which the guests reclined when eating. It does 
not appear that the Jews ate the passover now, as their 
fathers did formerly, standing, with their shoes on, and 
their staves in their hands.

Verse 19. And another said, Is it I?] This clause is wanting 
in BCLP, seventeen others, Syriac, Persic, Arabic, Coptic, 
AEthiopic, Vulgate, and four of the Itala. Griesbach leaves 
it doubtful: others leave it out.

Verse 20. That dippeth with me in the dish.] In the east, 
persons never eat together from one dish, except when a 
strong attachment subsists between two or more persons of the 
same caste; in such a case one invites another to come and 
sit by him and eat from the same dish. This custom seems to 
have existed among the Jews; and the sacred historian 
mentions this notice of our Lord's, It is one of the twelve, 
that dippeth with me in the dish, to mark more strongly the 
perfidy of the character of Judas.

Verse 21. Goeth] That is, to die. See on Matt. xxvi. 24.

Verse 22. Eat] This is omitted by many MSS. and versions, but 
I think without reason. It is found in the parallel places, 
Matthew xxvi. 26; 1 Cor. xi. 24. See the subject of the 
Lord's Supper largely explained on Matt. xxvi. 26, &c.

Verse 30. That THOU] su is added by ABEGHKLMS-V, eighty-eight 
others, Syriac, Arabic, Persic, Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, 
Slavonic, Vulgate, Saxon, Theophylact, and Euthymsus. It adds 
much to the energy of the passage, every word of which is 
deeply emphatical. Verily, I say unto thee, that THOU, THIS 
DAY, in THIS VERY NIGHT, before the cock shall crow TWICE, 
THOU wilt deny ME.

Verse 36. Abba, Father] This Syriac word, which intimates 
filial affection and respect, and parental tenderness, seems 
to have been used by our blessed Lord merely considered as 
man, to show his complete submission to his Father's will, 
and the tender affection which he was conscious his Father 
had for him,  Abba, Syriac, is here joined to o pathr, Greek, 
both signifying father; so St. Paul, Rom. viii. 15; Gal. iv. 
6. The reason is, that from the time in which the Jews became 
conversant with the Greek language, by means of the 
Septuagint version and their commerce with the Roman and 
Greek provinces, they often intermingled Greek and Roman 
words with their own language. There is the fullest evidence 
of this fact in the earliest writings of the Jews; and they 
often add a word of the same meaning in Greek to their own 
term; such as yryq yrm , Mori, kurie my Lord, Lord; r[ ylyp 
, pili, pulh, shuar, gate, gate: and above, aba , pathr, 
father, father: see several examples in Schoettgen. The words 
yba and aba appear to have been differently used among the 
Hebrews; the first Abbi, was a term of civil respect; the 
second, Abba, a term of filial affection. Hence, Abba, Abbi, 
as in the Syriac version in this place, may be considered as 
expressing, My Lord, my Father. And in this sense St. Paul is 
to be understood in the places referred to above. See 
Lightfoot.

Verse 37. Saith unto Peter] See on Matt. xxvi. 40.

Verse 51. A certain young man] Probably raised from his sleep 
by the noise which the rabble made who came to apprehend 
Jesus, having wrapped the sheet or some of the bed-clothing 
about him, became thereby the more conspicuous: on his 
appearing, he was seized; but as they had no way of holding 
him, but only by the cloth which was wrapped round him, he 
disengaged himself from that, and so escaped out of their 
hands. This circumstance is not related by any other of the 
evangelists.

Verse 52. And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them 
naked.] It has often been intimated, by the inhabitants of 
India, that a European in strait clothes must be in great 
danger when his clothes take fire. From their loose clothing 
they can suddenly disengage themselves. When two Hindoos are 
engaged in a violent quarrel, and one seizes the clothing of 
the other, often the latter will leave his clothes in the 
hands of his opponent, and flee away naked. This seems to 
have been the case with the person mentioned above. See 
WARD'S Customs.

Verse 54. Peter followed] On Peter's denial, see Matt. xxvi. 
57, &c.

At the fire.] prov to fwv, literally, at the light, i.e. a 
fire that cast considerable light, in consequence of which, 
the maid servant was the better able to distinguish him: see 
ver. 67.

Verse 61. Of the Blessed?] qeou tou euloghtou, Or, of God the 
blessed one. qeou, is added here by AK, ten others, Vulgate, 
and one of the Itala. It might be introduced into the text, 
put in Italics, if the authority of the MSS. and versions be 
not deemed sufficient. It appears necessary for the better 
understanding of the text. The adjective, however, conveys a 
good sense by itself, and is according to a frequent Hebrew 
form of speech.

Verse 72. And when he thought thereon, he wept.] Or, he fell 
a weeping. This Mr. Wakefield thinks comes nearest to the 
original, epibalwn eklaie. Others think it means the wrapping 
of his head in the skirts of his garment, through shame and 
anguish. Others think that epibalwn rather refers to the 
violence, or hurry, with which he left the place, being 
impelled thereto by the terrors and remorse of his guilty 
conscience. Our own translation is as good as any.

CHAPTER xv

Jesus is brought before Pilate, examined, and accused, but 
makes no answer, 1-5. The multitude clamour for the release 
of Barabbas, and the crucifixion of Christ, 6-14. Pilate 
consents, and he is led away, mocked, insulted, and nailed to 
the cross, 15-26. Two thieves are crucified with him, 27, 28. 
While hanging on the cross, he is mocked and insulted, 29-32. 
The miraculous darkness and our Lord's death, 33-37. The 
rending of the veil, and the confession of the centurion, 38, 
39. Several women attend and behold his death, 40, 41. Joseph 
of Arimathea begs the body from Pilate, and buries it, 42-46. 
Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Joses, note the place 
of his burial, 47.

NOTES ON CHAP. xv

Verse 1. In the morning] See Matthew xxvii. 1, &c.

Verse 8. The multitude crying aloud] anabohsav. The word 
itself strongly marks the vociferations, or, to come nearer 
the original word, the bellowing of the multitude. It 
signifies, properly, a loud and long cry, such as Christ 
emitted on the cross. See the whole history of these 
proceedings against our Lord treated at large, on Matthew 27. 

Verse 17. And platted a crown of thorns] In the note on Matt. 
xxvii. 29, I have ventured to express a doubt whether our 
Lord was crowned with thorns, in our sense of the word; this 
crown being designed as an instrument of torture. I am still 
of the same opinion, having considered the subject more 
closely since writing that note. As there I have referred to 
Bishop Pearce, a man whose merit as a commentator is far 
beyond my praise, and who, it is to be regretted, did not 
complete his work on the New Testament, I think it right to 
insert the whole of his note here.

"The word akanqwn may as well be the plural genitive case of 
the word akanqov as of akanqh: if of the latter, it is 
rightly translated, of thorns; but the former would signify 
what we call bear's-foot, and the French, branche ursine. 
This is not of the thorny kind of plants, but is soft and 
smooth. Virgil calls it mollis acanthus, Ecl. iii. 45, Geor. 
iv. 137. So does Pliny, sec. Epist. ver. 6. And Pliny the 
elder, in his Nat. Hist. xxii. 22, p. 277, edit. Hard., says 
that it is laevis, smooth; and that it is one of those plants 
that are cultivated in gardens. I have somewhere read, but 
cannot at present recollect where, that this soft and smooth 
herb was very common in and about Jerusalem. I find nothing in the 
New Testament said concerning this crown, which Pilate's soldiers 
put on the head of Jesus, to incline one to think that it was of 
thorns, and intended, as is usually supposed, to put him to pain. 
The reed put into his hand, and the scarlet robe on his back, 
were only meant as marks of mockery and contempt.

One may also reasonably judge, by the soldiers being said to 
plat this crown, that it was not composed of such twigs and 
leaves as were of a thorny nature. I do not find that it is 
mentioned by any of the primitive Christian writers as an 
instance of the cruelty used towards our saviour, before he 
was led to his crucifixion, till the time of Tertullian, who 
lived after Jesus's death at the distance of above 160 years. 
He indeed seems to have understood akanqwn in the sense of 
thorns, and says, Deuteronomy Corona Militar. sect. xiv. 
edit. Pamel. Franck. 1597, Quale, oro te, Jesus Christus 
sertum pro utroque sexu subiit? Exodus spinis, opinor, et 
tribulis.

The total silence of Polycarp, Barnabas, Clem. Romanus, and 
all the other Christian writers whose works are now extant, 
and who wrote before Tertullian, in particular, will give 
some weight to incline one to think that this crown was not 
platted with thorns. But as this is a point on which we have 
not sufficient evidence, I leave it almost in the same state 
of uncertainty in which I found it. The reader may see a 
satisfactory account of acanthus, bear's-foot, in Quincy's 
English Dispensatory, part ii. sect. 3, edit. 8, 1742." This 
is the whole of the learned and judicious prelate's note; on 
which I have only to observed that the species of acanthus 
described by Virgil and the two Plinys, as mollis and laevis, 
soft and smooth, is, no doubt, the same as that formerly used 
in medicine, and described by Quincy and other 
pharmacopaeists; but there are other species of the same 
plant that are prickly, and particularly those called the 
acanthus spinosus, and the ilicifolius, the latter of which 
is common in both the Indies: this has leaves something like 
our common holly, the jagged edges of which are armed with 
prickles; but I do not conceive that this kind was used, nor 
indeed any other plant of a thorny nature, as the Roman 
soldiers who platted the crown could have no interest in 
adding to our Lord's sufferings; though they smote him with 
the rod, yet their chief object was to render him ridiculous, 
for pretending, as they imagined, to regal authority. The 
common wild acanthas or bear's-foot, which I have often met 
in the dry turf bogs in Ireland, though it have the 
appearance of being prickly, yet is not, in fact, so. Several 
shoots grow from one root, about four or five inches long, 
and about as thick as a little finger. A parcel of such 
branches, platted by their roots in a string, night be made 
to look even ornamental, tied about the temples and round the 
head. It would finely imitate a crown or diadem. But I know 
not if this plant be a native of Judea.

Verse 21. A Cyrenian] One of Cyrene, a celebrated city in the 
Pentapolis of Libya.

The father of Alexander and Rufus] It appears that these two 
persons were well known among the first disciples of our 
Lord. It is not unlikely that this is the same Alexander who 
is mentioned, Acts xix. 33, and that the other is the Rufus 
spoken of by St. Paul, Rom. xvi. 13.

Verse 25. The third hour] It has been before observed, that 
the Jews divided their night into four watches, of three 
hours each. They also divided the day into four general 
parts. The first began at sunrise. The second three hours 
after. The third at mid-day. The fourth three hours after, 
and continued till sunset. Christ having been nailed to the 
cross a little after mid-day, John xix. 14-16, 17, and having 
expired about three o'clock, ver. 33, the whole business of 
the crucifixion was finished within the space of this third 
division of the day, which Mark calls here the third hour. 
Commentators and critics have found it very difficult to 
reconcile this third hour of Mark, with the sixth hour of 
John, John xix. 14.

It is supposed that the true reading, in John xix. 14, should 
be trith, the third, instead of ekth the sixth; a mistake 
which might have readily taken place in ancient times, when 
the character g gamma, which was put for trith, three, might 
have been mistaken for Greek episema, or sigma tau, which 
signifies six. And trith, the third, instead of ekth, the 
sixth, is the reading of some very eminent MSS. in the place 
in question, John xix. 14. See Bengel, Newcome, Macknight, 
Lightfoot, Rosenmuller, &c., on this perplexing point.

Verse 27. Two thieves] A copy of the Itala tells their names: 
One on the right hand-named Zoathon; and one on the left 
hand-named Chammatha.

Verse 28. The scripture was fulfilled] All this verse is 
wanting in many MSS., some versions, and several of the 
fathers.

Verse 32. And believe] In him is added by DFGHPBHV, and 
upwards of sixty others; as also the Armenian, Slavonic, and 
four Itala.

Verse 34. My God, my God, &c.] See on Matt. xxvii. 46.

Verse 37. Gave up the ghost.] This was about three o'clock, 
or what was termed by the Jews the ninth hour; about the time 
that the paschal lamb was usually sacrificed. The darkness 
mentioned here must have endured about two hours and a half. 
Concerning this eclipse, see on Matt. xxvii. 45.

Verse 40. Joses] Some MSS. and versions read Joset, others 
Joseph. See on Matt. xxvii. 56.

Verse 42. The day before the Sabbath] What we would call 
Friday evening. As the law of Moses had ordered that no 
criminal should continue hanging on a tree or gibbet till the 
setting of the sun, Joseph, fearing that the body of our Lord 
might be taken down, and thrown into the common grave with 
the two robbers, came and earnestly entreated Pilate to 
deliver it to him, that he might bury it in his own new tomb. 
See on Matt. xxvii. 56, 60.

Verse 43. Went in boldly unto Pilate] He who was a coward 
before now acts a more open, fearless part, than any of the 
disciples of our Lord! This the Holy Spirit has thought 
worthy of especial notice. It needed no small measure of 
courage to declare now for Jesus, who had been a few hours 
ago condemned as a blasphemer by the Jews, and as a seditious 
person by the Romans; and this was the more remarkable in 
Joseph, because hitherto, for fear of the Jews, he had been 
only a secret disciple of our Lord. See John xix. 38.

The apostle says, We have BOLDNESS to enter into the holiest 
through his blood. Strange as it may appear, the death of 
Jesus is the grand cause of confidence and courage to a 
believing soul.

Verse 47. Beheld where he was laid.] The courage and 
affection of these holy women cannot be too much admired. The 
strength of the Lord is perfected in weakness; for here a 
timid man, and a few weak women, acknowledge Jesus in death, 
when the strong and the mighty utterly forsook him.

HUMAN strength and human weakness are only names in religion. 
The mightiest MAN, in the hour of trial, can do nothing 
without the strength of God; and the weakest WOMAN can do all 
things, if Christ strengthen her.

These truths are sufficiently exemplified in the case of 
Peter and all his brother disciples on the one hand; and 
Joseph of Arimathea and the two Marys on the other. And all 
this is recorded, equally to prevent both presumption and 
despair. Reader, let not these examples be produced before 
thee in vain.

CHAPTER xvi

Early in the morning after the Sabbath, the three Marys come 
to the sepulcher, bringing sweet spices to embalm the body, 
1-4. They see an angel who announces the resurrection of our 
Lord, 5-8. Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, who goes and 
tells the disciples, 9-11. He appears also to the two 
disciples who were going into the country, who also tell it 
to the rest, 12, 13. Afterwards he appears unto the eleven, 
and commissions them to preach the Gospel to all mankind, 14-
16. And promises to endue them with power to work miracles, 
17, 18. He is received up into heaven, 19. And they go forth 
to preach and work miracles, 20.

NOTES ON CHAP. xvi

Verse 1. And anoint him.] Rather, to embalm him. This is a 
proof that they had not properly understood what Christ had 
so frequently spoken, viz. that he would rise again the third 
day. And this inattention or unbelief of theirs is a proof of 
the truth of the resurrection.

Verse 2. Very early in the morning,] This was the time they 
left their own houses, and by the rising of the sun they got 
to the tomb. As the preceding day was the Sabbath, they could 
not, consistently with the observances of that day, approach 
the tomb. See the concluding notes at the end of John.  The 
following observations from Lightfoot will serve to 
illustrate this subject.

"The distinction of the twilight among the rabbins was this:-
" I. arjh ajlyya The hinde of the morning-the first 
appearance. R.

Chaiia Rab, and R. Simeon ben Chalaphta, travelling together 
on a certain morning in the valley of Arbel, saw the hinde of 
the morning, that its light spread the sky. R. Chaiia said, 
Such shall be the redemption of Israel.

First, it goes forward by degrees, and by little and little; 
but by how much the more it shall go forward, by so much the 
more it shall increase. It was at that time that Christ 
arose, namely, in the first morning, as may be gathered from 
the words of St. Matthew. And to this the title of the 22d 
Psalm seems to have respect-rjh tlyya l[ . See also Rev. 
xxii. 16, I am the bright and morning star. And now you may 
imagine the women went out of their houses towards the 
sepulchre.

"II. bll tlkh yb rykym When one may distinguish between 
purple colour and white. From what time do they recite their 
phylacterical prayers in the morning? From that time that one 
may distinguish between purple colour and white. R. Eliezer 
saith, Between purple colour and green. Before this time was 
obscurum adhue caeptae lucis, the obscurity of the begun 
light, as Tacitus's expression is.

"III. jrzmh wraym When the east begins to lighten.

"IV. hmjh Ånb Sunrise; from the hinde of the morning going 
forth, until the east begins to lighten; and from the time 
the east begins to lighten, until sunrise, &c.

"According to these four parts of time, one might not 
improperly suit the four phrases of the evangelists. 
According to the first, Matthew's, th epifwskoush, As it 
began to dawn. According to the second, John's, prwi skotiav 
eti oushv, Early in the morning when it was yet dark. To the 
third, Luke's, orqrou baqewv, Very early in the morning. To 
the fourth, Mark's, lian prwi, Very early in the morning. And 
yet, anateilantov tou hliou, At the rising of the sun. For 
the women came twice to the sepulchre, as St. John teaches, 
by whom the other evangelists are to be explained; which 
being well considered, the reconciling them together is very 
easy." 

Verse 4. For it was very great] This clause should be read 
immediately after the third verse, according to D, three 
copies of the Itala, Syriac, Hier., and Eusebius. "Who shall 
roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? for it 
was very great. And when they looked, they saw that the stone 
was rolled away." They knew that the stone was too heavy for 
them to roll away; and, unless they got access to the body, 
they could not apply the aromatics which they had brought to 
finish the embalming.

Verse 6. Jesus of Nazareth] The Jews had given this name to 
Christ by way of reproach, Matt. ii. 23; but as it was under 
this name that he was crucified, John xix. 19, the angel 
here, and the apostles after, have given him the same name, 
Acts iv. 10, &c. Names which the world, in derision, fixes 
all the followers of God, often become the general 
appellatives of religious bodies: thus Quakers, Puritans, 
Pietists, and Methodists, have in their respective times been 
the nicknames, given in derision by the world, to those who 
separated themselves from its corruptions. Our Lord, by 
continuing to bear the name of the Nazarene, teaches us not 
to be too nice or scrupulous in fixing our own appellation. 
No matter what the name may be, as long as it implies no 
particular evil, and serves sufficiently to mark us out. Let 
us be contented to bear it, and thus carry about with us the 
reproach of Christ; always taking care to keep our garments 
unspotted from the world.

Verse 7. Tell his disciples and Peter] Why is not Pet. 
included among the disciples? For this plain reason,-he had 
forfeited his discipleship, and all right to the honour and 
privileges of an apostle, by denying his Lord and Master. 
However, he is now a penitent:-tell him that Jesus is risen 
from the dead, and is ready to heal his backsliding, and love 
him freely; so that, after being converted, he may strengthen 
his brethren.

Verse 9. Now when Jesus was risen, &c.] This, to the 
conclusion of the Gospel, is wanting in the famous Codex 
Vaticanus, and has anciently been wanting in many others. See 
Wetstein and Griesbach. In the margin of the later Syriac 
version, there is a remarkable addition after this verse; it 
is as follows:-And they declared briefly all that was 
commanded, to them that were with Peter. Afterward Jesus 
himself published by them, from east to west, the holy and 
incorruptible preaching of eternal salvation. Amen.

Mary Magdalene] It seems likely that, after this woman had 
carried the news of Christ's resurrection to the disciples, 
she returned alone to the tomb; and that it was then that 
Christ appeared to her, John xx. 1-12; and a little after he 
appeared to all the women together, Matt. xxviii. 9; Luke 
xxiv. 16.

Verse 10. Them that had been with him] Not only the eleven 
disciples, but several others who had been the occasional 
companions of Christ and the apostles.

Mourned and wept.] Because they had lost their Lord and 
Master, and had basely abandoned him in his extremity.

Verse 12. He appeared-unto two of them] These were the two 
who were going to Emmaus. The whole account is given by Luke, 
Luke xxiv. 13-34, where see the notes.

Dr. Lightfoot's criticism upon this passage is worthy of 
notice.

"That, in the verses immediately going before, the discourse 
is of the two disciples going to Emmaus, is without all 
controversy. And then how do these things consist with that 
relation in Luke, who saith, That they two, returning to 
Jerusalem, found the eleven gathered together, and they that 
were with them; who said, The Lord is risen indeed, and has 
appeared to Simon? Luke xxiv. 34. The word legontav, saying, 
evidently makes those to be the words twn endeka, of the 
eleven, and of those that were gathered together with them; 
which, when you read the versions, you would scarcely 
suspect. For when that word is rendered by the SYRIAC,  cad 
amrin; by the ARABIC,  wehom yekolon; by the VULGATE, 
dicentes; by the ITALIAN, dicendo; by the FRENCH, disans; by 
the ENGLISH, saying; who, I pray, would take it in another 
sense, than that those two that returned from Emmaus said, 
The Lord is risen indeed, &c.? But in the original Greek, 
when it is the accusative case, it is plainly to be referred 
to the eleven disciples, and those that were together with 
them; as if they had discoursed among themselves of the 
appearance made to Peter, either before, or now in the very 
access of those two coming from Emmaus. And yet, says this 
our evangelist, that when those two had related the whole 
business, they gave no credit to them; so that, according to 
Luke, they believed Christ was risen, and had appeared to 
Simon, before they told their story; but, according to Mark, 
they believed it not, no, not when they had told it. The 
reconciling therefore of the evangelists is to be fetched 
thence, that those words pronounced by the eleven, Æoti 
hgerqh o kuriov ontwv, &c., The Lord is risen indeed, &c., do 
not manifest their absolute confession of the resurrection of 
Christ, but a conjectural reasoning of the sudden and 
unexpected return of Peter. I believe that Peter was going 
with Cleophas into Galilee, and that being moved with the 
words of Christ, told him by the women, Say to his disciples 
and Peter, I go before you into Galilee-think with yourself 
how doubtful Peter was, and how he fluctuated within himself 
after his threefold denial, and how he gasped to see the Lord 
again, if he were risen, and to cast himself an humble 
suppliant at his feet. When therefore he heard these things 
from the women, (and he had heard it indeed from Christ 
himself, while he was yet alive, that when he arose he would 
go before them into Galilee,) and when the rest were very 
little moved with the report of his resurrection, nor as yet 
stirred from that place, he will try a journey into Galilee, 
and Alpheus with him; which, when it was well known to the 
rest, and they saw him return so soon and so unexpectedly-
Certainly, say they, the Lord is risen, and hath appeared to 
Peter, otherwise he had not so soon come back again. And yet, 
when he and Cleophas open the whole matter, they do not yet 
believe even them."

Verse 14. And upbraided them with their unbelief] Never were 
there a people so difficult to be persuaded of the truth of 
spiritual things as the disciples. It may be justly asserted, 
that people of so skeptical a turn of mind would never credit 
any thing till they had the fullest evidence of its truth. 
The unbelief of the disciples is a strong proof of the truth 
of the Gospel of God. See the addition at the end. 

Verse 15. Go ye into all the world] See on Matthew xxviii. 
19.

And preach the Gospel to every creature.] Proclaim the glad 
tidings-of Christ crucified; and raised from the dead-to all 
the creation, pash th ktisei-to the Gentile worid; for in 
this sense twyrb berioth, is often understood among the 
rabbins; because HE, through the grace of God, hath tasted 
death for EVERY man, Heb. ii. 9. And on the rejection of the 
Gospel by the Jews, it was sent to the whole Gentile world.

Verse 16. He that believeth] He that credits this Gospel as a 
revelation from God: and is baptized-takes upon him the 
profession of it, obliging himself to walk according to its 
precepts: he shall be saved-redeemed from sin here, and 
brought at last to the enjoyment of my eternal glory. But he 
that believeth not, shall be damned-because he rejects the 
only provision that could be effectual to his soul's 
salvation.

Verse 17. These signs shall follow] Or rather, accompany; 
this is the proper import of the original word 
parakolouqhsei, from para with, and akolouqew, I follow.

Them that believe] The believers, as we express it; i.e. the 
apostles, and all those who in those primitive times were 
endued with miraculous powers, for the confirmation of the 
doctrines they preached.

In my name] That is, by the authority and influence of the 
almighty Jesus.

Cast out devils] Whose kingdom Jesus Christ was manifested to 
destroy.

Speak with new tongues] This was most literally fulfilled on 
the day of pentecost, Acts ii. 4-19.

Verse 18. Take up serpents] Several MSS. add en taiv cersin, 
in their hands-shall be enabled to give, when such a proof 
may be serviceable to the cause of truth, this evidence of 
their being continually under the power and protection of 
God, and that all nature is subject to him. This also was 
literally fulfilled in the case of Paul, Acts xxviii. 5.

If they drink any deadly thing] qanasimon (farmakon) being 
understood-if they should through mistake, or accident, drink 
any poisonous matter, their constant preserver will take care 
that it shall not injure them. See a similar promise, Isa. 
xliii. 2.

They shall lay hands on the sick] And I will convey a healing 
power by their hands, so that the sick shall recover, and men 
shall see that these are sent and acknowledged by the Most 
High. Several instances of this kind are found in the Acts of 
the Apostles.

That the apostles of our Lord should not lose their lives by 
poison is most fully asserted in this verse, and there is 
neither record nor tradition to disprove this. But it is 
worthy of remark, that Mohammed, who styled himself THE 
APOSTLE OF GOD, lost his life by poison; and had he been a 
true apostle of God, he could not have fallen by it. Al 
Kodai, Abul Feda, and Al Janabi, give the following account.

When Mohammed, in the seventh year of the Hejra, A. D. 628, 
had taken the city of Kheebar, from the Arab Jews, he took up 
his lodgings at the house of Hareth, the father of Marhab the 
Jewish general, who had been slain at the taking of the city 
by Alee, the son-in-law of Mohammed.

Zeenab the daughter of Hareth, who was appointed to dress the 
prophet's dinner, to avenge the fall of her people, and the 
death of her brother, put poison in a roasted lamb which was 
provided for the occasion. Bashar, one of his companions, 
falling on too hastily, fell dead on the spot.

Mohammed had only chewed one mouthful, but had not swallowed 
it: though, on perceiving that it was poisoned, he 
immediately spat it out, yet he had swallowed a sufficiency 
of the juice to lay the foundation of his death; though this 
did not take place till about three years after: but that it 
was the cause of his death then, his dying words related by 
Al Janabi, and others, sufficiently testify. When the mother 
of Bashar came to see him in his dying agonies, he thus 
addressed her: "O mother of Bashar, I now feel the veins of 
my heart bursting through the poison of that morsel which I 
ate with thy son at Kheebar." Abul Feda, Ebnol Athir, and Ebn 
Phares say, that the prophet acknowledged on his death-bed, 
that the poison which he had taken at Kheebar had tormented 
him from that time until then, notwithstanding blisters were 
applied to his shoulders, and every thing done in the 
beginning to prevent its effects. Al Kodai and Al Janabi 
relate, that when Zeenab was questioned why she did this, she 
answered to this effect: "I said in my heart, If he be a 
king, we shall hereby be freed from his tyranny; and if he be 
a prophet, he will easily perceive it, and consequently 
receive no injury." To support his credit, he pretended that 
the lamb spoke to him, and said that it was infected with 
poison! See Elmakin, p. 8. It was therefore policy in him not 
to put Zeenab to death. It has pleased God that this fact 
should be acknowledged by the dying breath of this scourge of 
the earth; and that several of even the most partial 
Mohammedan historians should relate it! And, thus attested, 
it stands for the complete and everlasting refutation of his 
pretensions to the prophetic spirit and mission. Vide 
Specimen Hist. Arabum, a POCOCKIO, p. 189, 190. Leviticus 
Coran traduit par SAVARY, vol. i; p. 135, and 212. See also, 
The Life of Mohammed by PRIDEAUX, 93, 101.

Verse 19. After the Lord had spoken] These things, and 
conversed with them for forty days, he was taken up into 
heaven, there to appear in the presence of God for us.

Verse 20. The Lord working with them] This co-operation was 
twofold, internal and external. Internal, illuminating their 
minds, convincing them of the truth, and establishing them in 
it. External, conveying their word to the souls that heard 
it, by the demonstration of the Holy Ghost; convincing them 
of sin, righteousness, and judgment; justifying them by his 
blood, and sanctifying them by his Spirit. Though miraculous 
powers are not now requisite, because the truth of the Gospel 
has been sufficiently confirmed, yet this co-operation of God 
is indispensably necessary, without which no man can be a 
successful preacher; and without which no soul can be saved.

With signs following.] epakolouqountwn shmeiwn, the 
accompanying signs: viz. those mentioned in the 17th and 18th 
verses, , and those others just now spoken of, which still 
continue to be produced by the energy of God, accompanying 
the faithful preaching of his unadulterated word.

Amen.] This is added here by many MSS. and versions; but is 
supposed not to have made a part of the text originally. 
Griesbach, Bengel, and others, leave it out.

St. Jerome mentions certain Greek copies, which have the 
following remarkable addition to ver. 14, after these words] 
and reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, 
because they did not believe those who had seen him after he 
was raised up: Et illi satisfaciebant dicentes: seculum istud 
iniquitatis et incredulitatis substantia est, quae non sinit 
per immundos spiritus verem Dei apprehendi virtutem. Idcirco, 
jam nunc revela justitiam tuam. "And they confessed the 
charge, saying: This age is the substance of iniquity and 
unbelief, which, through the influence of impure spirits, 
does not permit the true influence of God to be apprehended. 
Therefore, even now, reveal thy righteousness." There are 
various subscriptions to this book in the MSS. and versions; 
the principal are the following: "The holy Gospel according 
to Mark is ended written by him-in EGYPT-in ROME-in the Latin 
tongue-directed by Peter the 10th-12th year after the 
ascension of Christ-preached in Alexandria, and all its 
coasts." Dr. Lardner supposes this Gospel to have been 
composed A. D. 64 or 65, and published before the end of the 
last mentioned year. See the Preface.  The Gospel according 
to Mark, if not an abridgment of the Gospel according to 
Matthew, contains a neat, perspicuous abridgment of the 
history of our Lord; and, taken in this point of view, is 
very satisfactory; and is the most proper of all the four 
Gospels to be put into the hands of young persons, in order 
to bring them to an acquaintance with the great facts of 
evangelical history. But as a substitute for the Gospel by 
Matthew, it should never be used. It is very likely that it 
was written originally for the use of the Gentiles, and 
probably for those of Rome. Of this, there seem to be several 
evidences in the work itself. Of the other Gospels it is not 
only a grand corroborating evidence, but contains many 
valuable hints for completing the history of our Lord, which 
have been omitted by the others; and thus, in the mouths of 
FOUR witnesses, all these glorious and interesting facts are 
established.

One thing may be observed, that this Gospel has suffered more 
by the carelessness and inaccuracy of transcribers than any 
of the others: and hence the various readings in the MSS. are 
much more numerous, in proportion, than in the other 
evangelists. Every thing of this description, which I judged 
to be of real importance, I have carefully noted.

Though the matter of St. Mark's work came from the 
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, yet the language seems to be 
entirely his own: it is very plain, simple, and unadorned; 
and sometimes appears to approach to a degree of rusticity or 
inelegance. Whoever reads the original must be struck with 
the very frequent, and often pleonastic, occurrence of 
euqewv, immediately, and palin, again, and such like; but 
these detract nothing from the accuracy and fidelity of the 
work. The Hebraisms which abound in it may be naturally 
expected from a native of Palestine, writing in Greek. The 
Latinisms which frequently occur are accounted for on the 
ground of this Gospel being written for the Gentiles, and 
particularly for the Roman people: this, it must be 
confessed, is only theory, but it is a theory which stands 
supported by many arguments, and highly presumptive facts.

However this may be, the Gospel according to Mark is a very 
important portion of Divine revelation, which God has 
preserved by a chain of providences, from the time of its 
promulgation until now; and for which no truly pious reader 
will hesitate to render due praise to that God whose work is 
ever perfect. Amen.



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE 

-Usherian year of the World, 3999. -Alexandrian year of the 
World, 5497.-Antiochian year of the World, 5487. -
Constantinopolitan AEra of the World, 5503. -Rabbinical year 
of the World, 3754. -Year of the Julian Period, 4708. -AEra 
of the Seleucidae, 307. -Year before the Christian AEra, 6. -
Year of the CXCIII. Olympiad, 3. -Year of the building of 
Rome, 748. -Year of the Julian AEra, 41. -Year of the 
Caesarean AEra of Antioch, 44. -Year of the Spanish AEra, 34. 
-Year of the Paschal Cycle or Dionysian Period, 529. -Year of 
the Christian Lunar Cycle, or Golden Number, 15. -Year of the 
Rabbinical Lunar Cycle, 12. -Year of the Solar Cycle, 4. -
Dominical Letter, C. -Epact, 4. -Year of the Emperor 
Augustus, 25. -Consuls, D. Laelius Balbus, and C. Antistius 
Vetus, from January 1 to July 1; and Imp. C. Julius Caesar 
Octav. Augustus XII. and L. Cornelius Sulla, for the 
remainder of the year. The reason why two sets of Consuls 
appear in this Chronology is this: the Consuls were changed 
every year in July, therefore, taking in the whole year, four 
Consuls necessarily appear: two for the first six months, and 
two for the latter half of the year.

CHAPTER i

The preface, or St. Luke's private epistle to Theophilus, 1-
4. The conception and birth of John Baptist foretold by the 
angel Gabriel, 5-17. Zacharias doubts, 18. And the angel 
declares he shall be dumb, till the accomplishment of the 
prediction, 19-25. Six months after the angel Gabriel appears 
to the virgin Mary, and predicts the miraculous conception 
and birth of Christ, 26-38. Mary visits her cousin Elisabeth, 
39-45. Mary's song of exultation and praise, 46-56. John the 
Baptist is born, 57-66. The prophetic song of his father 
Zacharias, 67-79. John is educated in the desert, 80.

NOTES ON CHAP. i

Verse 1. Many have taken in hand] Great and remarkable 
characters have always many biographers. So it appears it was 
with our Lord: but as most of these accounts were inaccurate, 
recording as facts things which had not happened; and through 
ignorance or design mistaking others, especially in the place 
where St. Luke wrote; it seemed good to the Holy Spirit to 
inspire this holy man with the most correct knowledge of the 
whole history of our Lord's birth, preaching, miracles, 
sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension, that the 
sincere, upright followers of God might have a sure 
foundation, on which they might safely build their faith. See 
the note on chap. ix. 10.

Most surely believed among us] Facts confirmed by the fullest 
evidence-twn peplhroforhmenwn pragmatwn. Every thing that had 
been done or said by Jesus Christ was so public, so plain, 
and so accredited by thousands of witnesses, who could have 
had no interest in supporting an imposture, as to carry the 
fullest conviction, to the hearts of those who heard and saw 
him, of the divinity of his doctrine, and the truth of his 
miracles.

Verse 2. Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the 
beginning were eye-witnesses] Probably this alludes to the 
Gospels of Matthew and Mark, which it is likely were written 
before St. Luke wrote his, and on the models of which he 
professes to write his own; and apÆ archv, from the 
beginning, must mean, from the time that Christ first began 
to proclaim the glad tidings of the kingdom; and autoptai, 
eye-witnesses, must necessarily signify, those who had been 
with him from the beginning, and consequently had the best 
opportunities of knowing the truth of every fact.

Ministers of the word] tou logou. Some suppose that our 
blessed Lord is meant by this phrase; as o logov, the Word or 
Logos, is his essential character in John i. 1, &c.; but it 
does not appear that any of the inspired penmen ever use the 
word in this sense except John himself; for here it certainly 
means the doctrine of Christ; and in this sense logov is 
frequently used both by the evangelists and apostles.

Verse 3. Having had perfect understanding] parhkolouqhkoti 
anwqen, Having accurately traced up-entered into the very 
spirit of the work, and examined every thing to the bottom; 
in consequence of which investigation, I am completely 
convinced of the truth of the whole. Though God gives his 
Holy Spirit to all them who ask him, yet this gift was never 
designed to set aside the use of those faculties with which 
he has already endued the soul, and which are as truly his 
gifts as the Holy Spirit itself is.

The nature of inspiration, in the case of St. Luke, we at 
once discover: he set himself, by impartial inquiry and 
diligent investigation, to find the whole truth, and to 
relate nothing but the truth; and the Spirit of God presided 
over and directed his inquiries, so that he discovered the 
whole truth, and was preserved from every particle of error.

From the very first] anwqen, from their origin. Some think 
anwqen should, in this place, be translated from above; and 
that it refers to the inspiration by which St. Luke wrote. I 
prefer our translation, or, from the origin, which several 
good critics contend for, and which meaning it has in some of 
the best Greek writers. See Kypke.

Theophilus] As the literal import of this word is friend of 
God, qeou filov, some have supposed that under this name Luke 
comprised all the followers of Christ, to whom, as friends of 
God, he dedicated this faithful history of the life, 
doctrine, death, and resurrection of our Lord. But this 
interpretation appears to have little solidity in it; for, if 
all the followers of Christ are addressed, why is the 
singular number used? and what good end could there be 
accomplished by using a feigned name? Besides, kratiste, most 
excellent, could never be applied in this way, for it 
evidently designates a particular person, and one probably 
distinguished by his situation in life; though this does not 
necessarily follow from the title, which was often given in 
the way of friendship. Theophilus appears to have been some 
very reputable Greek or Roman, who was one of St. Luke's 
disciples. The first four verses seem a private epistle, sent 
by the evangelist with this history, which, having been 
carefully preserved by Theophilus, was afterwards found and 
published with this Gospel.

Verse 4. Wherein thou hast been instructed.] kathchqhv-In 
which thou hast been catechized. It appears that Theophilus 
had already received the first elements of the Christian 
doctrine, but had not as yet been completely grounded in 
them. That he might know the certainty of the things in which 
he had been thus catechized, by having all the facts and 
their proofs brought before him in order, the evangelist sent 
him this faithful and Divinely inspired narrative. Those who 
content themselves with that knowledge of the doctrines of 
Christ which they receive from catechisms and schoolmasters, 
however important these elementary instructions may be, are 
never likely to arrive at such a knowledge of the truth as 
will make them wise unto salvation, or fortify them against 
the attacks of infidelity and irreligion. Every man should 
labour to acquire the most correct knowledge, and indubitable 
certainty, of those doctrines on which he stakes his eternal 
salvation. Some suppose that St. Luke refers here to the 
imperfect instruction which Theophilus had received from the 
defective Gospels to which he refers in ver. 1.

Verse 5. In the days of Herod, the king] This was Herod, 
surnamed the Great, the son of Antipater, an Idumean by 
birth, who had professed himself a proselyte to the Jewish 
religion, but regarded no religion, farther than it promoted 
his secular interests and ambition. Thus, for the first time, 
the throne of Judah was filled by a person not of Jewish 
extraction, who had been forced upon the people by the Roman 
government. Hence it appears plain that the prophecy of 
Jacob, Gen. xlix. 10, was now fulfilled; for the scepter had 
departed from Judah: and now was the time, according to 
another prophecy, to look for the governor from Bethlehem, 
who should rule and feed the people of Israel: Micah v. 1, 2. 
See a large account of the family of the Herods, in the note 
on Matt. ii. 1. This was before Christ six years.

The course of Abiah] When the sacerdotal families grew very 
numerous, so that all could not officiate together at the 
tabernacle, David divided them into twenty-four classes, that 
they might minister by turns, 1 Chron. xxiv. 1, &c., each 
family serving a whole week, 2 Kings xi. 7; 2 Chron. xxiii. 
8. Abiah was the eighth in the order in which they had been 
originally established: 1 Chron. xxiv. 10. These dates and 
persons are particularly mentioned as a full confirmation of 
the truth of the facts themselves; because any person, at the 
time this Gospel was written, might have satisfied himself by 
applying to the family of John the Baptist, the family of our 
Lord, or the surrounding neighbours. What a full proof of the 
Gospel history! It was published immediately after the time 
in which these facts took place; and among the very people, 
thousands of whom had been eye-witnesses of them; and among 
those, too, whose essential interest it was to have 
discredited them if they could; and yet, in all that age, in 
which only they could have been contradicted with advantage, 
no man ever arose to call them in question! What an absolute 
proof was this that the thing was impossible; and that the 
truth of the Gospel history was acknowledged by all who paid 
any attention to the evidences it produced! Of the daughters 
of Aaron] That is, she was of one of the sacerdotal families. 
This shows that John was most nobly descended: his father was 
a priest and his mother the daughter of a priest; and thus, 
both by father and mother, he descended from the family of 
Amram, of whom came Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, the most 
illustrious characters in the whole Jewish history.

Verse 6. They were both righteous] Upright and holy in all 
their outward conduct in civil life.

Before God] Possessing the spirit of the religion they 
professed; exercising themselves constantly in the presence 
of their Maker, whose eye, they knew, was upon all their 
conduct, and who examined all their motives.

Walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord 
blameless.] None being able to lay any evil to their charge. 
They were as exemplary and conscientious in the discharge of 
their religious duties as they were in the discharge of the 
offices of civil life. What a sacred pair! they made their 
duty to God, to their neighbour, and to themselves, walk 
constantly hand in hand. See the note on Matt. iii. 15. 
Perhaps entolai, commandments, may here mean the decalogue; 
and dikaiwmata, ordinances, the ceremonial and judicial laws 
which were delivered after the decalogue: as all the precepts 
delivered from Exod. xxi.  to xxiv.  are termed dikaiwmata, 
judgments or ordinances.

Verse 7. Both were now well stricken in years.] By the order 
of God, sterility and old age both met in the person of 
Elisabeth, to render the birth of a son (humanly speaking) 
impossible. This was an exact parallel to the case of Sarah 
and Abraham, Genesis xi. 30; xvii. 17. Christ must (by the 
miraculous power of God) be born of a virgin: whatever was 
connected with, or referred to, his incarnation must be 
miraculous and impressive.

Isaac was his grand type, and therefore must be born 
miraculously-contrary to the common course and rule of 
nature: Abraham was a hundred years of age, Sarah was ninety, 
Genesis xvii. 17, and it had CEASED to be with Sarah AFTER 
THE MANNER OF WOMEN, Gen. xviii. 11, and therefore, from her 
age and state, the birth of a child must, according to 
nature, have been impossible; and it was thus; that it might 
be miraculous.

John the Baptist was to be the forerunner of Christ; his 
birth, like that of Isaac, must be miraculous, because, like 
the other, it was to be a representation of the birth of 
Christ; therefore his parents were both far advanced in 
years, and besides, Elisabeth was naturally barren. The birth 
of these three extraordinary persons was announced nearly in 
the same way. God himself foretells the birth of Isaac, Gen. 
xvii. 16. The angel of the Lord announces the birth of John 
the Baptist, ver. 13; and six months after, the angel 
Gabriel, the same angel, proclaims to Mary the birth of 
Christ! Man is naturally an inconsiderate and incredulous 
creature: he must have extraordinary things to arrest and fix 
his attention; and he requires well-attested miracles from 
God, to bespeak and confirm his faith.

Every person who has properly considered the nature of man 
must see that the whole of natural religion, so termed, is 
little else than a disbelief of all religion.

Verse 8. Before God] In the temple, where God used to 
manifest his presence, though long before this time he had 
forsaken it; yet, on this important occasion, the angel of 
his presence had visited it.

Verse 9. His lot was, &c.] We are informed in the Talmud, 
that it was the custom of the priests to divide the different 
functions of the sacerdotal office among themselves by lot: 
and, in this case, the decision of the lot was, that 
Zacharias should at that time burn the incense before the 
Lord, in the holy place.

Verse 10. The whole multitude-were praying] The incense was 
itself an emblem of the prayers and praises of the people of 
God: see Psa. cxli. 2; Rev. viii. 1. While, therefore, the 
rite is performing by the priest, the people are employed in 
the thing signified. Happy the people who attend to the 
spirit as well as the letter of every divine institution! 
Incense was burnt twice a day in the temple, in the morning 
and in the evening, Exod. xxx. 7, 8; but the evangelist does 
not specify the time of the day in which this transaction 
took place. It was probably in the morning.

Verse 11. There appeared-an angel of the Lord] There had been 
neither prophecy nor angelic ministry vouchsafed to this 
people for about 400 years. But now, as the Sun of 
righteousness is about to arise upon them, the day-spring 
from on high visits them, that they may be prepared for that 
kingdom of God which was at hand. Every circumstance here is 
worthy of remark: 1. That an angel should now appear, as such 
a favour had not been granted for 400 years. 2. The person to 
whom this angel was sent-one of the priests. The sacerdotal 
office itself pointed out the Son of God till he came: by him 
it was to be completed, and in him it was to be eternally 
established:-Thou art a priest for ever, Psa. cx. 4. 3. The 
place in which the angel appeared-Jerusalem; out of which the 
word of the Lord should go forth, Isa. ii. 3, and not at 
Hebron, in the hill country of Judea, where Zacharias lived, 
chap. i. 39, which was the ordinary residence of the priests, 
Joshua xxi. 11, where there could have been few witnesses of 
this interposition of God, and the effects produced by it. 4. 
The place where he was when the angel appeared to him-in the 
temple, which was the place where God was to be sought; the 
place of his residence, and a type of the human nature of the 
blessed Jesus, John ii. 21. 5. The time in which this was 
done-the solemn hour of public prayer. God has always 
promised to be present with those who call upon him. When the 
people and the priest go hand in hand, and heart with heart, 
to the house of God, the angel of his presence shall surely 
accompany them, and God shall appear among them.

6. The employment of Zacharias when the angel appeared-he was 
burning incense, one of the most sacred and mysterious 
functions of the Levitical priesthood, and which typified the 
intercession of Christ: confer Heb. vii. 25, with Heb. ix. 
24. 7. The long continued and publicly known dumbness of the 
priest, who doubted the word thus miraculously sent to him 
from the Lord: a solemn intimation of what God would do to 
all those who would not believe in the Lord Jesus. Every 
mouth shall be stopped.

Verse 12. Zacharias-was troubled] Or, confounded at his 
sudden and unexpected appearance; and fear fell upon him, 
lest this heavenly messenger were come to denounce the 
judgments of God against a faithless and disobedient people, 
who had too long and too well merited them.

Verse 13. Thy prayer is heard] This probably refers, 1st, to 
the frequent prayers which he had offered to God for a son; 
and 2dly, to those which he had offered for the deliverance 
and consolation of Israel. They are all heard-thou shalt have 
a son, and Israel shall be saved. If fervent faithful prayers 
be not immediately answered, they should not be considered as 
lost; all such are heard by the Lord, are registered in 
heaven, and shall be answered in the most effectual way, and 
in the best time. Answers to prayer are to be received by 
faith; but faith should not only accompany prayer while 
offered on earth, but follow it all its way to the throne of 
grace, and stay with it before the throne till dismissed with 
its answer to the waiting soul.

Thou shalt call his name John.] For the proper exposition of 
this name, see on Mark i. 4.

Verse 14. Thou shalt have joy, &c.] estai cara soi, He will 
be joy and gladness to thee. A child of prayer and faith is 
likely to be a source of comfort to his parents. Were proper 
attention paid to this point, there would be fewer 
disobedient children in the world; and the number of broken-
hearted parents would be lessened. But what can be expected 
from the majority of matrimonial connections, connections 
begun without the fear of God, and carried on without his 
love.

Many shall rejoice at his birth.] He shall be the minister of 
God for good to multitudes, who shall, through his preaching, 
be turned from the error of their ways, and converted to God 
their saviour.

Verse 15. He shall be great in the sight of the Lord] That 
is, before Jesus Christ, whose forerunner he shall be; or he 
shall be a truly great person, for so this form of speech may 
imply.

Neither wine nor strong drink] sikera, i.e. all fermented 
liquors which have the property of intoxicating, or producing 
drunkenness. The original word sikera, sikera, comes from the 
Hebrew, rk shakar, to inebriate.

"Any inebriating liquor," says St. Jerome, (Epis. ad Nepot.)" 
is called sicera, whether made of corn, apples, honey, dates, 
or any other fruits." One of the four prohibited liquors 
among the East Indian Moslimans is called sikkir. "Sikkir is 
made by steeping fresh dates in water till they take effect 
in sweetening it: this liquor is abominable and unlawful." 
HEDAYA, vol. iv. p. 158. Probably this is the very liquor 
referred to in the text. In the Institutes of Menu it is 
said, "Inebriating liquor may be considered as of three 
principal sorts: that extracted from dregs of sugar, that 
extracted from bruised rice, and that extracted from the 
flowers of the madhuca: as one, so are all; they shall not be 
tasted by the chief of the twice-born." Chap. xi. Inst. 95. 
Twice-born is used by the Brahmins in the same sense as being 
born again is used by Christians. It signifies a spiritual 
regeneration. From this word comes our English term cyder, or 
sider, a beverage made of the fermented juice of apples. See 
the note on Lev. x. 9.

Shall be filled with the Holy Ghost] Shall be Divinely 
designated to this particular office, and qualified for it, 
from his mother's womb-from the instant of his birth. One 
MS., two versions, and four of the primitive fathers read en 
th koilia, IN the womb of has mother-intimating that even 
before he should be born into the world the Holy Spirit 
should be communicated to him. Did not this take place on the 
salutation of the Virgin Mary?-and is not this what is 
intended, ver. 44? To be filled with the Holy Ghost, implies 
having the soul influenced in all its powers, with the 
illuminating, strengthening, and sanctifying energy of the 
Spirit.

Verse 16. Many of the children of Israel shall he turn] See 
this prediction fulfilled, chap. iii. 10-18.

Verse 17. He shall go before him] Jesus Christ, in the spirit 
and power of Elijah; he shall resemble Elijah in his retired 
and austere manner of life, and in his zeal for the truth, 
reproving even princes for their crimes; compare 1 Kings xxi. 
17-24, with Matthew xiv. 4. It was on these accounts that the 
Prophet Malachi, Malachi iv. 6, had likened John to this 
prophet. See also Isa. xl. 3; and Mal. iv. 5, 6.

To turn the hearts of the fathers] Gross ignorance had taken 
place in the hearts of the Jewish people; they needed a 
Divine instructer: John is announced as such; by this 
preaching and manner of life, all classes among the people 
should be taught the nature of their several places, and the 
duties respectively incumbent upon them, See chap. iii. 10, 
&c. In these things the greatness of John, mentioned ver. 15, 
is pointed out, Nothing is truly great but what is so in the 
sight of God. John's greatness arose: 1st. From the plenitude 
of God's Spirit which dwelt in him. 2. From his continual 
self-denial, and taking up his cross. 3. From his ardent zeal 
to make Christ known. 4. From his fidelity and courage in 
rebuking vice. 5.

From the reformation which he was the instrument of effecting 
among the people; reviving among them the spirit of the 
patriarchs, and preparing their hearts to receive the Lord 
Jesus. To turn the hearts of the fathers to their children. 
By a very expressive figure of speech, Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob, and the rest of the patriarchs, are represented here 
as having their hearts alienated from the Jews, their 
children, because of their unbelief and disobedience; but 
that the Baptist should so far succeed in converting them to 
the Lord their God, that these holy men should again look 
upon them with delight, and acknowledge them for their 
children. Some think that by the children, the Gentiles are 
meant, and by the fathers, the Jews.

The disobedient] Or unbelieving, apeiqeiv, the persons who 
would no longer credit the predictions of the prophets, 
relative to the manifestation of the Messiah. Unbelief and 
disobedience are so intimately connected, that the same word 
in the sacred writings often serves for both.

Verse 18. Whereby shall I know this?] All things are possible 
to God: no natural impediment can have any power when God has 
declared he will accomplish his purpose. He has a right to be 
believed on his own word alone; and it is impious, when we 
are convinced that it is his word, to demand a sign or pledge 
for its fulfillment.

Verse 19. I am Gabriel] This angel is mentioned, Dan. viii. 
16; ix. 21. The original layrbg is exceedingly expressive: it 
is compounded of hrwbg geburah, and la el, the might of the 
strong God. An angel with such a name was exceedingly proper 
for the occasion; as it pointed out that all-prevalent power 
by which the strong God could accomplish every purpose, and 
subdue all things to himself.

That stand in the presence of God] This is in allusion to the 
case of the prime minister of an eastern monarch, who alone 
has access to his master at all times; and is therefore said, 
in the eastern phrase, to see the presence, or to be in the 
presence. From the allusion we may conceive the angel Gabriel 
to be in a state of high favour and trust before God.

Verse 20. Thou shalt be dumb] siwpwn silent; this translation 
is literal; the angel immediately explains it, thou shalt not 
be able to speak.

Dumbness ordinarily proceeds from a natural imperfection or 
debility of the organs of speech; in this case there was no 
natural weakness or unfitness in those organs; but, for his 
rash and unbelieving speech, silence is imposed upon him by 
the Lord, and he shall not be able to break it, till the 
power that has silenced him gives him again the permission to 
speak! Let those who are intemperate in the use of their 
tongues behold here the severity and mercy of the Lord; nine 
months' silence for one intemperate speech! Many, by giving 
way to the language of unbelief, have lost the language of 
praise and thanksgiving for months, if not years!

Verse 21. The people waited] The time spent in burning the 
incense was probably about half an hour, during which there 
was a profound silence, as the people stood without engaged 
in mental prayer. To this there is an allusion in Rev. viii. 
1-5. Zacharias had spent not only the time necessary for 
burning the incense, but also that which the discourse 
between him and the angel took up.

Verse 22. They perceived that he had seen a vision] As the 
sanctuary was separated from the court by a great veil, the 
people could not see what passed, but they understood this 
from Zacharias himself, who, hn dianeuwn, made signs, or 
nodded unto them to that purpose. Signs are the only means by 
which a dumb man can convey his ideas to others.

Verse 23. As soon as the days of his ministration were 
accomplished] Each family of the priesthood officiated one 
whole week, 2 Kings xi. 17.

There is something very instructive in the conduct of this 
priest; had he not loved the service he was engaged in, he 
might have made the loss of his speech a pretext for 
immediately quitting it. But as he was not thereby disabled 
from fulfilling the sacerdotal function, so he saw he was 
bound to continue till his ministry was ended; or till God 
had given him a positive dismission. Preachers who give up 
their labour in the vineyard because of some trifling bodily 
disorder by which they are afflicted, or through some 
inconvenience in outward circumstances, which the follower of 
a cross-bearing, crucified Lord should not mention, show that 
they either never had a proper concern for the honour of 
their Master or for the salvation of men, or else that they 
have lost the spirit of their Master, and the spirit of their 
work. Again, Zacharias did not hasten to his house to tell 
his wife the good news that he had received from heaven, in 
which she was certainly very much interested: the angel had 
promised that all his words should be fulfilled in their 
season, and for this season he patiently waited in the path 
of duty. He had engaged in the work of the Lord, and must pay 
no attention to any thing that was likely to mar or interrupt 
his religious service. Preachers who profess to be called of 
God to labour in the word and doctrine, and who abandon their 
work for filthy lucre's sake, are the most contemptible of 
mortals, and traitors to their God.

Verse 24. Hid herself five months] That she might have the 
fullest proof of the accomplishment of God's promise before 
she appeared in public, or spoke of her mercies. When a 
Hindoo female is pregnant of her first child, she avoids the 
presence of those with whom she was before familiar, as a 
point of delicacy.

Verse 25. To take away my reproach] As fruitfulness was a 
part of the promise of God to his people, Gen. xvii. 6, and 
children, on this account, being considered as a particular 
blessing from heaven, Exod. xxiii. 20; Lev. xxvi. i10: Psa. 
cxxvii. 3; so barrenness was considered among the Jews as a 
reproach, and a token of the disapprobation of the Lord. 1 
Sam. i. 6. But see ver. 36.

Verse 26. A city of Galilee] As Joseph and Mary were both of 
the family of David, the patrimonial estate of which lay in 
Bethlehem, it seems as if the family residence should have 
been in that city, and not in Nazareth; for we find that, 
even after the return from the captivity, the several 
families went to reside in those cities to which they 
originally belonged. See Neh. xi. 3. But it is probable that 
the holy family removed to Galilee for fear of exciting the 
jealousy of Herod, who had usurped that throne to which they 
had an indisputable right. See on chap. ii. 39. Thus, by 
keeping out of the way, they avoided the effects of his 
jealousy.

Verse 27. To a virgin espoused, &c.] See on-Matt. i. 18, 23. 
The reflections of pious father Quesnel on this subject are 
worthy of serious regard. At length the moment is come which 
is to give a son to a virgin, a saviour to the world, a 
pattern to mankind, a sacrifice to sinners, a temple to the 
Divinity, and a new principle to the new world. This angel is 
sent from God, not to the palaces of the great, but to a poor 
maid, the wife of a carpenter. The Son of God comes to humble 
the proud, and to honour poverty, weakness, and contempt. He 
chooses an obscure place for the mystery which is most 
glorious to his humanity, its union with the Divinity, and 
for that which is most degrading (his sufferings and death) 
he will choose the greatest city! How far are men from such a 
conduct as this!

Verse 28. And the angel came in unto her] Some think that all 
this business was transacted in a vision; and that there was 
no personal appearance of the angel. When Divine visions were 
given, they are announced as such, in the sacred writings; 
nor can we with safety attribute any thing to a vision, where 
a Divine communication is made, unless it be specified as 
such in the text.

Hail] Analogous to, Peace be to thee-May thou enjoy all 
possible blessings! Highly favoured] As being chosen in 
preference to all the women upon earth, to be the mother of 
the Messiah. Not the mother of God, for that is blasphemy.

The Lord is with thee] Thou art about to receive the most 
convincing proofs of God's peculiar favour towards thee.

Blessed art thou among women.] That is, thou art favoured 
beyond all others.

Verse 29. She was troubled at his saying] The glorious 
appearance of the heavenly messenger filled her with 
amazement; and she was puzzled to find out the purport of his 
speech.

Verse 31. Thou-shalt call his name JESUS.] See on Matt. i. 
20, 21, and here, on chap. ii. 21, and John i. 29.

Verse 32. He shall be great] Behold the greatness of the man 
Christ Jesus: 1st. Because that human nature that should be 
born of the virgin was to be united with the Divine nature. 
2dly. In consequence of this, that human nature should be 
called in a peculiar sense the SON of the most high God; 
because God would produce it in her womb without the 
intervention of man. 3. He shall be the everlasting Head and 
Sovereign of his Church.

4thly. His government and kingdom shall be eternal. 
Revolutions may destroy the kingdoms of the earth, but the 
powers and gates of hell and death shall never be able to 
destroy or injure the kingdom of Christ. His is the only 
dominion that shall never have an end. The angel seems here 
to refer to Isa. ix. 7; xvi. 5; Jeremiah xxiii. 5; Dan. ii. 
44; vii. 14. All which prophecies speak of the glory, extent, 
and perpetuity of the evangelical kingdom. The kingdom of 
grace and the kingdom of glory form the endless government of 
Christ.

Verse 33. The house of Jacob] All who belong to the twelve 
tribes, the whole Israelitish people.

Verse 34. Seeing I know not a man] Or, husband. As she was 
only contracted to Joseph, and not as yet married, she knew 
that this conception could not have yet taken place; and she 
modestly inquires by what means the promise of the angel is 
to be fulfilled in order to regulate her conduct accordingly.

Verse 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee] This 
conception shall take place suddenly, and the Holy Spirit 
himself shall be the grand operator. The power, dunamiv, the 
miracle-working power, of the Most High shall overshadow 
thee, to accomplish this purpose, and to protect thee from 
danger. As there is a plain allusion to the Spirit of God 
brooding over the face of the waters, to render them 
prolific, Gen. i. 2, I am the more firmly established in the 
opinion advanced on Matt. i. 20, that the rudiments of the 
human nature of Christ was a real creation in the womb of the 
virgin, by the energy of the Spirit of God.

Therefore also that holy thing (or person)-shall be called 
the Son of God.] We may plainly perceive here, that the angel 
does not give the appellation of Son of God to the Divine 
nature of Christ; but to that holy person or thing, to agion, 
which was to be born of the virgin, by the energy of the Holy 
Spirit. The Divine nature could not be born of the virgin; 
the human nature was born of her. The Divine nature had no 
beginning; it was God manifested in the flesh, 1 Tim. iii. 
16; it was that Word which being in the beginning (from 
eternity) with God, John i. 2, was afterwards made flesh, 
(became manifest in human nature,) and tabernacled among us, 
John i. 14. Of this Divine nature the angel does not 
particularly speak here, but of the tabernacle or shrine 
which God was now preparing for it, viz. the holy thing that 
was to be born of the virgin.

Two natures must ever be distinguished in Christ: the human 
nature, in reference to which he is the Son of God and 
inferior to him, Mark xiii. 32; John v. 19; xiv. 28, and the 
Divine nature which was from eternity, and equal to God, John 
i. 1; x. 30; Romans ix. 5; Col. i. 16-18. It is true, that to 
Jesus the Christ, as he appeared among men, every 
characteristic of the Divine nature is sometimes attributed, 
without appearing to make any distinction between the Divine 
and human natures; but is there any part of the Scriptures in 
which it is plainly said that the Divine nature of Jesus was 
the Son of God? Here, I trust, I may be permitted to say, 
with all due respect for those who differ from me, that the 
doctrine of the eternal Sonship of Christ is, in my opinion, 
anti-scriptural, and highly dangerous.

This doctrine I reject for the following reasons:-1st.

I have not been able to find any express declaration in the 
Scriptures concerning it.

2dly. If Christ be the Son of God as to his Divine nature, 
then he cannot be eternal; for son implies a father; and 
father implies, in reference to son, precedency in time, if 
not in nature too. Father and son imply the idea of 
generation; and generation implies a time in which it was 
effected, and time also antecedent to such generation.

3dly. If Christ be the Son of God, as to his Divine nature, 
then the Father is of necessity prior, consequently superior 
to him.

4thly. Again, if this Divine nature were begotten of the 
Father, then it must be in time; i.e. there was a period in 
which it did not exist, and a period when it began to exist. 
This destroys the eternity of our blessed Lord, and robs him 
at once of his Godhead.

5thly. To say that he was begotten from all eternity, is, in 
my opinion, absurd; and the phrase eternal Son is a positive 
self-contradiction.

ETERNITY is that which has had no beginning, nor stands in 
any reference to TIME. SON supposes time, generation, and 
father; and time also antecedent to such generation. 
Therefore the conjunction of these two terms, Son and 
eternity is absolutely impossible, as they imply essentially 
different and opposite ideas.

The enemies of Christ's Divinity have, in all ages, availed 
themselves of this incautious method of treating this 
subject, and on this ground, have ever had the advantage of 
the defenders of the Godhead of Christ. This doctrine of the 
eternal Sonship destroys the deity of Christ; now, if his 
deity be taken away, the whole Gospel scheme of redemption is 
ruined.

On this ground, the atonement of Christ cannot have been of 
infinite merit, and consequently could not purchase pardon 
for the offenses of mankind, nor give any right to, or 
possession of, an eternal glory. The very use of this phrase 
is both absurd and dangerous; therefore let all those who 
value Jesus and their salvation abide by the Scriptures. This 
doctrine of the eternal Sonship, as it has been lately 
explained in many a pamphlet, and many a paper in magazines, 
I must and do consider as an awful heresy, and mere sheer 
Arianism; which, in many cases, has terminated in 
Socinianism, and that in Deism. From such heterodoxies, and 
their abetters, may God save his Church! Amen!

Verse 36. Thy cousin Elisabeth] Thy kinswoman, suggenhv. As 
Elisabeth was of the tribe of Levi, ver. 5, and Mary of the 
tribe of Judah, they could not be relatives but by the 
mother's side.

She hath also conceived] And this is wrought by the same 
power and energy through which thou shalt conceive. Thus God 
has given thee a proof and pledge, in what he has done for 
Elisabeth, of what he will do for thyself; therefore, have 
faith in God.

Who was called barren.] It is probable that Elisabeth got 
this appellative by way of reproach; or to distinguish her 
from some other Elisabeth also well known, who had been 
blessed with children. Perhaps this is the reproach which 
Elisabeth speaks of, ver. 25, her common name among men, 
among the people who knew her, being Elisabeth the barren.

Verse 37. For with God nothing shall be impossible.] Words of 
the very same import with those spoken by the Lord to Sarah, 
when he foretold the birth of Isaac, Gen. xviii. 14, Is any 
thing too hard for the Lord? As there can be no doubt that 
Mary perceived this allusion to the promise and birth of 
Isaac, so she must have had her faith considerably 
strengthened by reflecting on the intervention of God in that 
case.

Verse 38. Behold the handmaid of the Lord] I fully credit 
what thou sayest, and am perfectly ready to obey thy 
commands, and to accomplish all the purposes of thy grace 
concerning me. It appears that at the instant of this act of 
faith, and purposed obedience, the conception of the 
immaculate humanity of Jesus took place; and it was DONE unto 
her according to his word. See ver. 35.

Verse 39. In those days] As soon as she could conveniently 
fit herself out for the journey.

Hill country] Hebron, the city of the priests, Josh. xxi. 11, 
which was situated in the tribe of Judah, about forty miles 
south of Jerusalem, and upwards of seventy from Nazareth.

With haste] This probably refers to nothing else than the 
earnestness of her mind to visit her relative Elisabeth, and 
to see what the Lord had wrought for her.

Verse 41. Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.] This 
seems to have been the accomplishment of the promise made by 
the angel, ver. 15, He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, 
even from his mother's womb. The mother is filled with the 
Holy Spirit, and the child in her womb becomes sensible of 
the Divine influence.

Verse 42. Blessed art thou among women] Repeating the words 
of the angel, ver. 28, of which she had probably been 
informed by the holy virgin, in the present interview.

Verse 43. The mother of my Lord] The prophetic spirit, which 
appears to have overshadowed Elisabeth, gave her a clear 
understanding in the mystery of the birth of the promised 
Messiah.

Verse 45. Blessed is she that believed; for there shall be, 
&c.] Or, Blessed is she who hath believed that there shall 
be, &c. This I believe to be the proper arrangement of the 
passage, and is thus noticed in the marginal reading. Faith 
is here represented as the foundation of true happiness, 
because it receives the fulfillment of God's promises. 
Whatever God has promised, he intends to perform. We should 
believe whatever he has spoken-his own authority is a 
sufficient reason why we should believe. Let us only be 
convinced that God has given the promise, and then implicit 
faith becomes an indispensable duty: in this case not to 
believe implicitly would be absurd and unreasonable-God will 
perform his promise, for HE cannot lie.

Verse 46. And Mary said] Two copies of the Itala, and some 
books mentioned by Origen, give this song to Elisabeth. It is 
a counterpart of the song of Hannah, as related in 1 Sam. ii. 
1-10.

This is allowed by many to be the first piece of poetry in 
the New Testament; but the address of the angel to Zacharias, 
ver. 13-17, is delivered in the same way; so is that to the 
virgin, chap. i. 30-33, and so also is Elisabeth's answer to 
Mary, ver. 42-45. All these portions are easily reducible to 
the hemistich form in which the Hebrew poetry of the Old 
Testament is found in many MSS., and in which Dr. Kennicott 
has arranged the Psalms, and other poetical parts of the 
Sacred Writings. See his Hebrew Bible.

My soul doth magnify the Lord] The verb megalunein, Kypke has 
proved, signifies to celebrate with words, to extol with 
praises. This is the only way in which God can be magnified, 
or made great; for, strictly speaking, nothing can be added 
to God, for he is infinite and eternal; therefore the way to 
magnify him is to show forth and celebrate those acts in 
which he has manifested his greatness.

Verse 47. My spirit hath rejoiced] Exulted. These words are 
uncommonly emphatical-they show that Mary's whole soul was 
filled with the Divine influence, and wrapped up in God.

Verse 48. He hath regarded] Looked favourably, &c., 
epebleyen. In the most tender and compassionate manner he has 
visited me in my humiliation, drawing the reasons of his 
conduct, not from any excellence in me, but from his own 
eternal kindness and love.

All generations shall call me blessed.] This was the 
character by which alone she wished to be known; viz. The 
blessed or happy virgin. What dishonour do those do to this 
holy woman, who give her names and characters which her pure 
soul would abhor; and which properly belong to GOD her 
saviour! By her votaries she is addressed as Queen of Heaven, 
Mother of God, &c., titles both absurd and blasphemous.

Verse 49. He that is mighty hath done to me great things] Or, 
miracles, megaleia. As God fills her with his goodness, she 
empties herself to him in praises; and, sinking into her own 
nothingness, she ever confesses that God alone is all in all.

Holy is his name] Probably the word which Mary used was doj 
chesed, which though we sometimes translate holy, see Psalm 
lxxxvi. 2; cxlv. 17, yet the proper meaning is abundant 
goodness, exuberant kindness; and this well agrees with the 
following clause.

Verse 50. His mercy is on them that fear him] His exuberant 
kindness manifests itself in acts of mercy to all those who 
fear or reverence his name; and this is continued from 
generation to generation, because he is abundant in goodness, 
and because he delighteth in mercy. This is a noble, 
becoming, and just character of the God of the Christians; a 
being who delights in the salvation and happiness of all his 
creatures, because his name is mercy, and his nature love.

Verse 51. He hath showed strength] Or, He hath gained the 
victory, epoihse kratov. The word kratov is used for victory, 
by Homer, Hesiod, Sophocles, Euripides, and others.

With his arm] Grotius has well observed, that God's efficacy 
is represented by his finger, his great power by his hand, 
and his omnipotence by his arm. The plague of lice was the 
finger of God, Exod. vii. 18. The plagues in general were 
wrought by his hand, Exod. iii. 20, And the destruction of 
Pharaoh's host in the Red Sea, which was effected by the 
omnipotence of God, is called the act of his arm, Exod. xv. 
16.

He hath scattered] dieskorpisen, hath scattered abroad; as a 
whirlwind scatters dust and chaff.

The proud] Or haughty, uperhfanouv; from uper above, and 
fainw I show-the haughty men, who wish to be noticed in 
preference to all others, and feel sovereign contempt for all 
but themselves. These God scatters abroad-instead of being in 
his sight, as in their own, the most excellent of the earth, 
he treats them as straw, stubble, chaff, and dust.

In the imagination of their hearts.] While they are forming 
their insolent, proud, and oppressive projects-laying their 
plans, and imagining that accomplishment and success are 
waiting at their right hand, the whirlwind of God's 
displeasure blows, and they and their machinations are 
dissipated together.

Verse 52. He hath put down the mighty from their seats] Or, 
He hath taken down potentates from their thrones. This 
probably alludes to the removal of Saul from the throne of 
Israel, and the establishment of the kingdom in the person 
and family of David. And as Mary spoke prophetically, this 
saying may also allude to the destruction of the kingdom of 
Satan and his allies, and the final prevalence of the kingdom 
of Christ.

Verse 53. Filled the hungry-the rich he hath sent empty 
away.] God is here represented under the notion of a person 
of unbounded benevolence, who is daily feeding multitudes at 
his gates. The poor and the rich are equally dependent upon 
him; to the one he gives his affluence for a season, and to 
the other his daily bread. The poor man comes through a sense 
of his want to get his daily support, and God feeds him; the 
rich man comes through the lust of gain, to get more added to 
his abundance, and, God sends him empty away-not only gives 
him nothing more, but often deprives him of that which he 
has, because he has not improved it to the honour of the 
giver. There is an allusion here, as in several other parts 
of this song, to the case of Hannah and Peninah, as related 1 
Sam. i. 2, &c.; ii. 1-10.

Verse 54. He hath holpen [supported, antelabeto] his servant 
Israel] Israel is here represented as falling, and the Lord 
comes speedily in and props him up. The house of David was 
now ready to fall and rise no more; Jesus, being born of the 
very last branch of the regal line, revived the family, and 
restored the dominion.

In remembrance of his mercy] By mercy, the covenant which God 
made with Abraham, Gen. xv. 18, is intended; which covenant 
proceeded from God's eternal mercy, as in it salvation was 
promised to all the nations of the earth. See Gen. xvii. 19, 
and xxii. 18, and this promise was, in one form or other, 
given to all the fathers, ver. 55.

This song properly consists of three parts.

1. In the first part Mary praises God for what he had done 
for herself, ver. 46-50.

2. In the second, she praises him for what he had done, and 
would do, against the oppressors of his people, ver. 51-53.

3. In the third, she praises him for what he had done, and 
would do, for his Church, ver. 53-56.

Verse 56. And Mary abode with her about three months] 
According to some, the departure of Mary from Hebron must 
have been but a few days before the birth of John; as nine 
months had now elapsed since Elisabeth's conception; see ver. 
36. Hence it immediately follows:-Verse 57. Now Elisabeth's 
full time came, &c.] But, according to others, we are to 
understand the three months of Mary's visit as preceding the 
birth of John, which would complete the time of Elisabeth's 
pregnancy, according to ver. 36, and the only difficulty is 
to ascertain whether Mary went immediately to Hebron after 
her salutation, or whether she tarried nearly three months 
before she took the journey.

Verse 58. And her neighbours and her cousins-rejoiced with 
her.] Because sterility was a reproach; and they now rejoiced 
with their relative, from whom that reproach was now rolled 
away. To rejoice with those whom God has favoured, and to 
congratulate them on the advantages which he has granted to 
them, is a duty which humanity, charity, and religion call 
upon us to fulfill.

1. It is a duty of humanity, which should be punctually 
performed. We are all members of each other, and should 
rejoice in the welfare of the whole.

He who rejoices in his neighbour's prosperity increases his 
neighbour's happiness, and gets an addition to his own.

2. It is a duty which charity or brotherly love requires us 
to perform with sincerity. In the polite world, there is no 
duty better fulfilled in word than this is; but sincerity is 
utterly banished, and the giver and receiver are both 
convinced that compliments and good wishes mean-nothing. He 
who does not endeavour to take a sincere part in his 
neighbour's prosperity will soon feel ample punishment in the 
spirit of jealousy and envy.

3. It is a duty of religion, which should be fulfilled with 
piety. These neighbours and relatives saw that God had 
magnified his mercy towards Elisabeth, and they acknowledged 
his hand in the work. God is the dispenser of all good-he 
distributes his favours in mercy, judgment, and justice. Let 
us honour him in his gifts; and honour those, for his sake, 
who are objects of his favour. The society of believers are 
but one body; the talents, &c., of every individual are 
profitable to the whole community; at least none ate deprived 
of a share in the general welfare, but those who, through 
jealousy or envy, refuse to rejoice with him towards whom God 
hath magnified his mercy.

Verse 59. On the eighth day they came to circumcise] See an 
account of this institution in the note on Gen. xvii. 10-14. 
Had circumcision been essential to an infant's salvation, God 
would not have ordered it to be delayed to the eighth day, 
because, in all countries, multitudes die before they arrive 
at that age. Baptism, which is generally allowed to have been 
substituted for circumcision, is no more necessary to the 
salvation of an infant than circumcision was. Both are signs 
of the covenant-circumcision, of the putting away the 
impurity of the flesh; and baptism, of the washing of 
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, producing the 
answer of a good conscience towards God. Confer 1 Pet. iii. 
21, with Tit. iii. 5. This should never be neglected: it is a 
sign and token of the spiritual grace.

They called him Zacharias] Among the Jews, the child was 
named when it was circumcised, and ordinarily the name of the 
father was given to the first-born son.

Verse 60. Not so; but he shall be called John.] This is the 
name which the angel desired should be given him, ver. 13, 
and of which Zacharias by writing had informed his wife. 
There is something very remarkable in the names of this 
family. Zachariah, whyrkz the memory or memorial of Jehovah; 
why yeho, at the end of the word, being contracted for hwhy 
Yehovah, as in many other names. Elisabeth, hbsyla the 
Sabbath or rest of my strong God: names probably given them 
by their parents, to point out some remarkable circumstance 
in their conception or birth. And John, which should always 
be written Jehochanan or Yehochanan, njwhy the grace or mercy 
of Jehovah: so named, because he was to go before and 
proclaim the God of all grace, and the mercy granted through 
him to a lost world. See John i. 29; see also chap. iii. 16, 
and Mark i. 4.

Verse 61. None of thy kindred] As the Jewish tribes and 
families were kept sacredly distinct, it appears the very 
names of the ancestors were continued among their 
descendants, partly through reverence for them, and partly to 
avoid confusion in the genealogical tables, which, for the 
sake of distinguishing the inheritances, were carefully 
preserved in each of the families. It seems to be on this 
account that the neighbours and relatives objected to a name 
which had not before existed in any branch of the family.

Verse 62. They made signs to his father] Who, it appears from 
this, was deaf as well as dumb; otherwise they might have 
asked him, and obtained his answer in this way.

Verse 63. A writing table] pinakidion, a tablet, a diminutive 
of pinax, a table. "The boys in Barbary are taught to write 
upon a smooth thin board, slightly daubed over with whiting, 
which may be rubbed off or renewed at pleasure. Such probably 
(for the Jewish children use the same) was the little board, 
or writing table, as we render it ver. 63, that was called 
for by Zacharias." Shaw's Travels, p. 194. My old MS. 
considers the word as meaning the instrument of writing, 
rather than the tablet on which he wrote: and he aringe a 
poyntel, wroot seyinge, Joon is his name.

A thin board, made out of the pine tree, smeared over with 
wax, was used among the ancients; and to this the Anglo-Saxon 
version seems to refer, as it translates pinakidion, , a wax 
board or cloth.

An intelligent friend has suggested a different mode of 
reading the 62nd and 63rd verses: ver. 62. And they asked his 
father how he would have him called? ver. 63. And he made 
signs for a writing table and wrote, His name is John: "For," 
says my friend, "the 64th verse  proves his mouth was not 
opened, neither his tongue loosed, till after the child was 
named; therefore he could not ask for the table; and it is 
more reasonable that he, being dumb, should make signs, than 
that those should who had the use of their tongues." But, 
howsoever ingenious this may be, neither the words of the 
Greek text, nor their construction, will bear this version.

Verse 64. The latter clause of the preceding verse should be 
joined with the beginning of this, as follows: And they 
marveled all, for his mouth was opened, &c. Every person must 
see the propriety of putting this clause, And they marveled 
all, to the beginning of the 64th verse, instead of leaving 
it at the end of the 63rd, as in the common version. The 
people did not wonder because Zacharias said, He shall be 
called John; but because he himself was that instant restored 
to the use of his speech.

And he spake, and praised God.] In his nine months' silence, 
he had learned the proper use of his tongue; and God, whose 
power was discredited by it, is now magnified. Happy they 
who, in religious matters, only break silence in order to 
speak of the loving-kindness of the Lord!

Verse 65. And fear came] Seeing what they might have thought 
a paralytic affection so suddenly and effectually healed. 
fobov-This word certainly means in several places, religious 
fear or reverence; and in this sense it is used Acts ix. 31; 
Rom. iii. 18; xiii. 7; 1 Pet. i. 17; ii. 18; iii. 2. The 
meaning of it here is plainly this: The inhabitants of Hebron 
and its environs, who were well acquainted with the 
circumstances of Zacharias and Elisabeth, perceived that God 
had in a remarkable manner visited them; and this begot in 
their minds a more than ordinary reverence for the Supreme 
Being. Thus the salvation of one often becomes an instrument 
of good to the souls of many. The inhabitants of this hill 
country seem to have been an open, honest-hearted, generous 
people; who were easily led to acknowledge the interposition 
of God, and to rejoice in the comfort and welfare of each 
other. The people of the country are more remarkable for 
these qualities than those in towns and cities. The latter, 
through that evil communication which corrupts good manners, 
are generally profligate, selfish, regardless of God, and 
inattentive to the operation of his hands.

Verse 66. What manner of child shall this be!] As there have 
been so many extraordinary things in his conception and 
birth, surely God has designed him for some extraordinary 
purpose. These things they laid up in their heart, patiently 
waiting to see what God would work.

The hand of the Lord was with him.] God defended and 
prospered him in all things, and the prophetic spirit began 
to rest upon him.

Verse 67. Zacharias-prophesied] The word prophesy is to be 
taken here in its proper acceptation, for the predicting or 
foretelling future events.

Zacharias speaks, not only of what God had already done, but 
also of what he was about to do, in order to save a lost 
world.

Verse 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for, &c.] 
Zacharias praises God for two grand benefits which he had 
granted to his people. 1. He has visited them. 2. He has 
ransomed them. 1. He speaks by the spirit of prophecy, which 
calls things that are not, as though they were; because they 
are absolutely determined by the Most High, and shall be all 
fulfilled in their season. God visits his people in the 
incarnation of Jesus Christ; therefore this Christ is called 
by him, kuriov o qeov, Jehovah the God of Israel. Here the 
highest and most glorious character of the Supreme Being is 
given to Christ. 2. This God redeems his people: it is for 
this end that he visits them. His soul is about to be made a 
sacrifice for sin: he becomes flesh, that he may suffer and 
die for the sin of the world. God, by taking upon him the 
nature of man, has redeemed that nature from eternal ruin.

He hath-redeemed] epoihse lutrwsin, he hath made a ransom-
laid down the ransom price. lutrow signifies particularly to 
ransom a captive from the enemy, by paying a price. The 
following remarkable passage from Josephus, Ant. b. xiv. c. 
14, sect. 1, fully illustrates this meaning of the original. 
"Herod, not knowing what had happened to his brother, 
hastened lutrwsasqai, to ransom him from the enemy, and was 
willing to pay lutron uper autou, a ransom for him, to the 
amount of three hundred talents." Sinners are fallen into the 
hands of their enemies, and are captives to sin and death. 
Jesus ransoms them by his own blood, and restores them to 
life, liberty, and happiness. this truth the whole Bible 
teaches: this truth God has shown in certain measures, even 
to those nations who have not been favoured with the light of 
his written word: for Christ is that true light, which 
enlightens every man that cometh into the world.

How astonishing is the following invocation of the Supreme 
Being, (translated from the original Sanscreet by Dr. C. 
WILKINS,) still existing on a stone, in a cave near she 
ancient city of Gya, in the East Indies! "The Deity, who is 
the Lord, the possessor of all, appeared in this ocean of 
natural beings, at the beginning of the Kalee Yoog (the age 
of contention and baseness.) He who is omnipresent and 
everlastingly to be contemplated, the Supreme Being, the 
Eternal One, the Divinity worthy to be adored-APPEARED here 
with a PORTION of his DIVINE NATURE.

Reverence be unto thee in the form of (a) Bood-dha! Reverence 
be unto the Lord of the earth! Reverence be unto thee, an 
INCARNATION of the Deity, and the Eternal One! Reverence be 
unto thee, O God, in the form of the God of mercy; the 
dispeller of pain and trouble, the Lord of all things, the 
Deity who overcometh the sins of the Kalee Yoog; the guardian 
of the universe, the emblem of mercy toward those who serve 
thee] (b) O'M! the possessor of all things in VITAL FORM! 
Thou art (c) Brahma, Veeshnoo, and Mahesa! Thou art Lord of 
the universe! Thou art under the form of all things, movable 
and immovable, the possessor of the whole! and thus I adore 
thee. Reverence be unto the BESTOWER OF SALVATION, and the 
Ruler of the faculties! Reverence be unto thee, the DESTROYER 
of the EVIL SPIRIT! O Damordara, (d) show me favour! I adore 
thee, who art celebrated by a thousand names, and under 
various forms, in the shape of Bood-dha, the God of MERCY! Be 
propitious, O Most High God!"-ASIATIC RESEARCHES, vol. i. pp. 
284, 285.

(a) Bood-dha. The name of the Deity, as author of happiness.

(b) O'M. A mystic emblem of the Deity, forbidden to be 
pronounced but in silence. It is a syllable formed of the 
Sanscreet letters a, o o, which in composition coalesce, and 
make o, and the nasal consonant m. The first letter stands 
for the Creator, the second for the Preserver and the third 
for the Destroyer. It is the same among the Hindoos as hwhy 
Yehovah is among the Hebrews.

(c) Brahma, the Deity in his creative quality. Veeshnoo, he 
who filleth all space, the Deity in his preserving quality. 
Mahesa, the Deity in his destroying quality. This is properly 
the Hindoo Trinity: for these three names belong to the same 
Being. See the notes to the Bhagvat Geeta.

(d) Damordara, or Darmadeve, the Indian God of Virtue.

Verse 69. And hath raised up a horn of salvation] That is, a 
mighty and glorious saviour: a quotation from Psa. xviii. 2. 
Horns are the well known emblems of strength, glory, and 
power, both in the sacred and profane writers, because the 
strength and beauty of horned animals consist in their horns. 
Horns have also been considered as emblems of light; 
therefore the heathen god Apollo is represented with horns, 
to point out the power, glory, and excellence of the solar 
light. The Chaldee paraphrast sometimes translates rq keren, 
horn, by twklm malcuth, or atwklm malcutha, 1 Sam. ii. 10; 
Jer. xlviii. 25, which signify a kingdom: but it is likely 
that the allusion is here made to the horns of the altar; and 
as the altar was a place of refuge and safety, and those who 
laid hold on its horns were considered to be under the 
protection of the Lord, so, according to the expression of 
Zacharias, Jesus Christ is a new altar, to which whosoever 
flees shall find refuge.

Some imagine that this form of speech is taken from the 
custom of ancient warriors, who had a horn of steel on the 
top of their helmets, which ordinarily lay flat, till the 
person came victorious from battle, and then it was erected, 
as emblematical of the victory gained. Such a horn as this is 
represented on the helmet of the Abyssinian kings and 
warriors: see the plates in Bruce's Travels. To this custom 
of wearing or lifting up the horn, the following scriptures 
are thought to allude: 1 Sam. ii. 10; Psalm cxii. 9; cxlviii. 
4; Lam. ii. 17. In ancient gems and coins, this form of the 
horn on helmets is easily discernible, sometimes flat, 
sometimes erected. A horn, filled with various fruits, was 
also the emblem of abundance among the ancients: hence their 
cornu copia, or horn of plenty. From all this we may learn 
that the Lord Jesus gives a luminous, powerfuly prevalent, 
glorious, and abundant SALVATION or REFUGE to mankind.

In the house of his servant David] Or, in the family: so the 
word oikov, house, is often used in the Sacred Writings. In 
ver. 32, the angel states that Mary was of the family of 
David; and Zacharias, who, from the nature of his office, 
must have been well acquainted with the public genealogical 
tables, attests the same thing. This is a matter of 
considerable importance; because it shows forth the truth of 
all the prophetic declarations, which uniformly state that 
the Messiah should come from the family and sit on the throne 
of DAVID.

Verse 71. That we should be saved (literally, a salvation) 
from our enemies] As Zacharias spoke by the inspiration of 
the Holy Spirit, the salvation which he mentions here must 
necessarily be understood in a spiritual sense. Satan, death, 
and sin are the enemies from whom Jesus came to deliver us. 
Sin is the most dangerous of all, and is properly the only 
enemy we have to fear. Satan is without us, and can have no 
power over us, but what he gets through sin. Death is only in 
our flesh, and shall be finally destroyed (as it affects us) 
on the morning of the resurrection.

Jesus redeems from sin; this is the grand, the glorious, the 
important victory. Let us get sin cast out, and then we need, 
fear neither death, nor the devil.

Verse 72. His holy covenant] See the note on ver. 54.

Verse 74. - 75. Being delivered, &c.] The salvation brought 
by Jesus Christ, consists in the following things:-1.

We are to be delivered out of the hand of our enemies, and 
from all that hate us; so that sin shall neither have 
dominion over us, nor existence in us.

2. We are to worship God, latreuein, to render him that 
service and adoration which the letter and spirit of his 
religion require.

3. Ye are to live in holiness, a strict inward conformity to 
the mind of Christ-and righteousness, a full outward 
conformity to the precepts of the Gospel.

4. This is to be done before God, under the continual 
influence and support of his grace, and with a constant 
evidence of his presence and approbation.

5. This state is a state of true happiness-it is without 
fear. Sin is all cast out, holiness is brought in; God's 
power upholds, and his approbation cheers and comforts, the 
believing heart. Thus misery is precluded, and happiness 
established.

6. This blessedness is to continue as long as we exist-all 
the days of our life, in all ages, in all situations, and in 
all circumstances. What a pity to have lived so long without 
God in the world, when so much happiness and glory are to be 
enjoyed in union with him! thv zwhv, in the last clause, is 
omitted by many MSS., versions, and fathers. Griesbach has 
left it out of the text: however, it is but of small 
importance whether we read all our days, or, all the days of 
our life.

Verse 76. And thou, child, &c.] Zacharias proclaims the 
dignity, employment, doctrine, and success of his son; and 
the ruin and recovery of the Jews and the Gentiles.

1. His dignity. Thou shalt be called (constituted) a prophet 
of the Most High. Prophet has two acceptations:-1st. A person 
who foretells future events; and; 2dly. A teacher of men in 
the things of God, 1 Cor. xiv. 3. John was a prophet in both 
senses: he proclaimed the mercy which should be communicated; 
announced the baptism of the Holy Spirit; and taught men how 
to leave their sins, and how to find the salvation of God. 
See chap. iii. 5-14. His very name, Jehochanan, the grace or 
mercy of Jehovah, (see ver. 60,) was a constant prediction of 
the salvation of God. Our Lord terms him the greatest prophet 
which had ever appeared in the world. He had the honour of 
being the last and clearest prophet of the old covenant, and 
the first of the new.

2. His employment. Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord 
to prepare his ways. He should be the immediate forerunner of 
Jesus Christ, none being capable of succeeding him in his 
ministry but Christ himself. He was to prepare his ways, to 
be the honoured instrument, in the hands of God, of disposing 
the hearts of multitudes of the Israelites to believe in and 
follow the Lord Jesus.

3. Zacharias points out the doctrine or teaching of John. It 
should be gnwsiv swthriav, the science of salvation. Men are 
ignorant, and they must be instructed. Human sciences may be 
profitable in earthly matters, but cannot profit the soul. 
The science that teaches God must come from God. No science 
is of any avail to the soul that does not bring salvation 
with it: this is the excellence of heavenly science, and an 
excellence that is peculiar to itself. No science but that 
which comes from God can ever save a soul from the power, the 
guilt, and the pollution of sin.

4. Zacharias predicts the success of his son's ministry. 
Under his preaching, the people should be directed to that 
tender mercy of God, through which they might obtain the 
remission of their sins, ver. 77, 78.

Those who are sent by God, and preach his truth, and his 
only, shall always be successful in their work; for it is for 
this very purpose that God has sent them; and it would be a 
marvelous thing, indeed, should they labour in vain. But 
there never was such a case, since God made man, in which a 
preacher was Divinely commissioned to preach Jesus and his 
salvation, and yet had no fruit of his labour.

5. Zacharias points out the wretched state in which the 
inhabitants of Judea and the Gentile world were then found. 
1. Their feet had wandered out of the way of peace, (ver. 
79,) of temporal and spiritual prosperity.

2. They had got into a state of darkness-they were blind 
concerning the things of God, and the things which belonged 
to their salvation. 3. They had become contented inhabitants 
of this land of intellectual darkness-they had sat down in 
it, and were not concerned to get out of it. 4. They were 
about to perish in it-death had his dominion there; and his 
swift approaches to them were now manifested to the prophet 
by seeing his shadow cast upon them. Ignorance of God and 
salvation is the shadow of death; and the substance, eternal 
ruin, is essentially connected with the projected shadow. See 
these phrases explained at large on Matt. iv. 16.

6. Zacharias proclaims the recovery of a lost world. As the 
removal of this darkness, and redemption from this death, 
were now at hand, John is represented as being a day-spring 
from on high, a morning star, that foretold the speedy 
approach of the day, and the rising of the Sun of 
righteousness. That these words should be applied to John, 
and not to Christ, I am fully satisfied; and cannot give my 
reasons better for the arrangement I have made in the 
preceding notes, than in the words of an eminent critic, who, 
I find, has adopted nearly the same plan with myself.

The passage, as I read it, is as follows: Through the tender 
mercy of our God, by which he hath visited us: a day-spring 
from on high, to give light to them that sit in the darkness 
and in the shadow of death, &c. "Let the reader judge, 
whether my arrangement of this passage, which much better 
suits the original, be not far more elegant, and in all 
respects superior to the old translation. Thou, child! wilt 
be a teacher-THOU WILT BE a day-spring from the sky. And with 
what beauty and propriety is John, the forerunner of our 
Lord, styled the dawn of day, that ushers in the rising of 
the Sun of righteousness! And the concluding words-to guide 
our feet into the way of peace-is a comprehensive clause, 
after the manner of Hebrew poetry, belonging equally to the 
former sentence, beginning at-And thou, child!-and the 
latter, beginning at-A day-spring from the sky: for the 
people spoken of in the former are the Jews; and in the 
latter, the Gentiles."-WAKEFIELD.

Verse 80. The child grew] Increased in stature and bodily 
vigour. And waxed strong in spirit-had his understanding 
Divinely illuminated and confirmed in the truths of God. And 
was in the deserts-the city of Hebron, the circumjacent hill 
country, and in or near Nazareth. Till the time of his 
showing, or manifestation-till he was thirty years of age, 
before which time the law did not permit a man to enter into 
the public ministry, Num. iv. 3. See also chap. iii. 23.

So much has already been said, by way of practical 
improvement of the different subjects in this important 
chapter, as to preclude the necessity of any addition here.

CHAPTER ii

The decree of Augustus to enroll all the Roman empire, 1, 2. 
Joseph and Mary go to their own city to be enrolled, 3-5. 
Christ is born, 6, 7. His birth is announced to the 
shepherds, 8-14. They go to Bethlehem, and find Joseph, Mary, 
and Christ, 15-20. Christ is circumcised, 21. His parents go 
to present him in the temple, 22-24. Simeon receives him: his 
song, 25-35. Anna the prophetess, 36-38. The holy family 
return to Nazareth, 39, 40. They go to Jerusalem at the feast 
of the passover, and leave Jesus behind in Jerusalem, 41-44. 
They return seeking him, and find him in the midst of the 
doctors, 45-47. His mother chides him, 48. His defense of his 
conduct, 49, 50. They all return to Nazareth, 51, 52.

NOTES ON CHAP. ii

Verse 1. Caesar Augustus] This was Caius Caesar Octavianus 
Augustus, who was proclaimed emperor of Rome in the 29th year 
before our Lord, and died A.D. 14.

That all the world should be taxed.] pasan thn oikoumenhn, 
the whole of that empire. It is agreed, on all hands, that 
this cannot mean the whole world, as in the common 
translation; for this very sufficient reason, that the Romans 
had not the dominion of the whole earth, and therefore could 
have no right to raise levies or taxes in those places to 
which their dominion did not extend. oikoumenh signifies 
properly the inhabited part of the earth, from oikew, to 
dwell, or inhabit. Polybius makes use of the very words in 
this text to point out the extent of the Roman government, 
lib. vi. c. 48; and Plutarch uses the word in exactly the 
same sense, Pomp.

p. 635. See the passages in Wetstein. Therefore the whole 
that could be meant here, can be no more than that a general 
CENSUS of the inhabitants and their effects had been made in 
the reign of Augustus, through all the Roman dominions.

But as there is no general census mentioned in any historian 
as having taken place at this time, the meaning of oikoumenh 
must be farther restrained, and applied solely to the land of 
Judea. This signification it certainly has in this same 
evangelist, chap. xxi. 26. Men's hearts failing them for 
fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on 
the earth, th oikoumenh this land. The whole discourse 
relates to the calamities that were coming, not upon the 
whole world, nor the whole of the Roman empire, but on the 
land of Judea, see chap. xxi. 21. Then let them that are in 
Judea flee to the mountains. Out of Judea, therefore, there 
would be safety; and only those who should be with child, or 
giving suck, in those days, are considered as peculiarly 
unhappy, because they could not flee away from that land on 
which the scourge was to fall: for the wrath, or punishment, 
shall be, says our Lord, en tw law toutw, ON THIS VERY 
PEOPLE, viz. the Jews, chap. xxi. 23. It appears that St. 
Luke used this word in this sense in conformity to the 
Septuagint, who have applied it in precisely the same way, 
Isa. xiii. 11; xiv. 26; xxiv. 1. And from this we may learn, 
that the word oikoumenh had been long used as a term by which 
the land of Judea was commonly expressed. Æh gh, which 
signifies the earth, or world in general, is frequently 
restrained to this sense, being often used by the evangelists 
and others for all the country of Judea. See chap. iv. 25; 
Josh. ii. 3.

It is probable that the reason why this enrolment, or census, 
is said to have been throughout the whole Jewish nation, was 
to distinguish it from that partial one, made ten years 
after, mentioned Acts v. 37, which does not appear to have 
extended beyond the estates of Archelaus, and which gave 
birth to the insurrection excited by Judas of Galilee. See 
Josephus, Ant.

book xx. c. 3.

Verse 2. This taxing was first made when Cyrenius, &c.] The 
next difficulty in this text is found in this verse, which 
may be translated, Now this first enrolment was made when 
Quirinus was governor of Syria.

It is easily proved, and has been proved often, that Caius 
Sulpicius Quirinus, the person mentioned in the text, was not 
governor of Syria, till ten or twelve years after the birth 
of our Lord.

St. Matthew says that our Lord was born in the reign of 
Herod, ver. 1, at which time Quintilius Varus was president 
of Syria, (Joseph. Ant. book xvii. c. 5, sect. 2,) who was 
preceded in that office by Sentius Saturninus.

Cyrenius, or Quirinus, was not sent into Syria till Archelaus 
was removed from the government of Judea; and Archelaus had 
reigned there between nine and ten years after the death of 
Herod; so that it is impossible that the census mentioned by 
the evangelist could have been made in the presidency of 
Quirinus.

Several learned men have produced solutions of this 
difficulty; and, indeed, there are various ways of solving 
it, which may be seen at length in Lardner, vol. i. p. 248-
329. One or other of the two following appears to me to be 
the true meaning of the text.

1. When Augustus published this decree, it is supposed that 
Quirinus, who was a very active man, and a person in whom the 
emperor confided, was sent into Syria and Judea with 
extraordinary powers, to make the census here mentioned; 
though, at that time, he was not governor of Syria, for 
Quintilius Varus was then president; and that when he came, 
ten or twelve years after, into the presidency of Syria, 
there was another census made, to both of which St. Luke 
alludes, when he says, This was the first assessment of 
Cyrenius, governor of Syria; for so Dr. Lardner translates 
the words. The passage, thus translated, does not say that 
this assessment was made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria, 
which would not have been the truth, but that this was the 
first assessment which Cyrenius, who was (i.e. afterwards) 
governor of Syria, made; for after he became governor, he 
made a second. Lardner defends this opinion in a very 
satisfactory and masterly manner. See vol. i. p. 317. &c.

2. The second way of solving this difficulty is by 
translating the words thus: This enrolment was made BEFORE 
Cyrenius was governor of Syria; or, before that of Cyrenius. 
This sense the word prwtov appears to have, John i. x20: oti 
protov mou hn, for he was BEFORE me. John xv. 18: The world 
hated me BEFORE (proton) it hated you. See also 2 Sam. xix. 
43.

Instead of prwth, some critics read pro thv, This enrolment 
was made BEFORE THAT of Cyrenius. Michaelis; and some other 
eminent and learned men, have been of this opinion: but their 
conjecture is not supported by any MS. yet discovered; nor, 
indeed, is there any occasion for it. As the words in the 
evangelist are very ambiguous, the second solution appears to 
me to be the best.

Verse 3. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own 
city.] The Roman census was an institution of Servius 
Tullius, sixth king of Rome.

From the account which Dionysius of Halicarnassus gives of 
it; we may at once see its nature.

"He ordered all the citizens of Rome to register their 
estates according to their value in money, taking an oath, in 
a form he prescribed, to deliver a faithful account according 
to the best of their knowledge, specifying the names of their 
parents, their own age, the names of their wives and 
children, adding also what quarter of the city, or what town 
in the country, they lived in." Ant. Rom. l. iv. c. 15. p. 
212. Edit. Huds.

A Roman census appears to have consisted of these two parts: 
1. The account which the people were obliged to give in of 
their names, quality, employments, wives, children, servants, 
and estates; and 2. The value set upon the estates by the 
censors, and the proportion in which they adjudged them to 
contribute to the defense and support of the state, either in 
men or money, or both: and this seems to have been the design 
of the census or enrolment in the text. This census was 
probably similar to that made in England in the reign of 
William the Conqueror, which is contained in what is termed 
Domesday Book, now in the Chapter House, Westminster, and 
dated 1086.

Verse 5. With Mary his espoused wife] There was no necessity 
for Mary to have gone to Bethlehem, as Joseph's presence 
could have answered the end proposed in the census as well 
without Mary as with her; but God so ordered it, that the 
prophecy of Micah should be thus fulfilled, and that Jesus 
should be born in the city of David; Micah v. 2.

Verse 7. Laid him in a manger] Wetstein has shown, from a 
multitude of instances, that fatnh means not merely the 
manger, but the whole stable, and this I think is its proper 
meaning in this place. The Latins use praesepe, a manger, in 
the same sense. So Virgil, AEn. vii. p. 275.

Stabant ter centum nitidi in praesepibus altis "Three hundred 
sleek horses stood in lofty stables." Many have thought that 
this was a full proof of the meanness and poverty of the holy 
family, that they were obliged to take up their lodging in a 
stable; but such people overlook the reason given by the 
inspired penman, because there was no room for them in the 
inn. As multitudes were going now to be enrolled, all the 
lodgings in the inn had been occupied before Joseph and Mary 
arrived. An honest man who had worked diligently at his 
business, under the peculiar blessing of God, as Joseph 
undoubtedly had, could not have been so destitute of money as 
not to be able to procure himself and wife a comfortable 
lodging for a night; and, had he been so ill fitted for the 
journey as some unwarrantably imagine, we may take it for 
granted he would not have brought his wife with him, who was 
in such a state as not to be exposed to any inconveniences of 
this kind without imminent danger.

There was no room for them in the inn.] In ancient times, 
inns were as respectable as they were useful, being fitted up 
for the reception of travelers alone:-now, they are 
frequently haunts for the idle and the profligate, the 
drunkard and the infidel;-in short, for any kind of guests 
except Jesus and his genuine followers. To this day there is 
little room for such in most inns; nor indeed have they, in 
general, any business in such places. As the Hindoos travel 
in large companies to holy places and to festivals, it often 
happens that the inns (suraies) are so crowded that there is 
not room for one half of them: some lie at the door, others 
in the porch.

These inns, or lodging-houses, are kept by Mohammedans, and 
Mussulmans obtain prepared food at them; but the Hindoos 
purchase rice, &c., and cook it, paying about a halfpenny a 
night for their lodging.

WARD'S Customs.

Verse 8. There were-shepherds abiding in the field] There is 
no intimation here that these shepherds were exposed to the 
open air. They dwelt in the fields where they had their sheep 
penned up; but they undoubtedly had tents or booths under 
which they dwelt.

Keeping watch-by night.] Or, as in the margin, keeping the 
watches of the night, i.e. each one keeping a watch (which 
ordinarily consisted of three hours) in his turn. The reason 
why they watched them in the field appears to have been, 
either to preserve the sheep from beasts of prey, such as 
wolves, foxes, &c., or from freebooting banditti, with which 
all the land of Judea was at that time much infested. It was 
a custom among the Jews to send out their sheep to the 
deserts, about the passover, and bring them home at the 
commencement of the first rain: during the time they were 
out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As the 
passover occurred in the spring, and the first rain began 
early in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to part of 
our October and November, we find that the sheep were kept 
out in the open country during the whole of the summer.

And as these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, 
it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet 
commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on 
the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; 
nor could he have been born later than September, as the 
flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground 
the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of 
the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact, 
which casts considerable light upon this disputed point. See 
the quotations from the Talmudists in Lightfoot.

The time in which Christ was born has been considered a 
subject of great importance among Christians. However, the 
matter has been considered of no moment by Him who inspired 
the evangelists; as not one hint is dropped on the subject, 
by which it might be possible even to guess nearly to the 
time, except the chronological fact mentioned above. A late 
writer makes tho following remark: "The first Christians 
placed the baptism of Christ about the beginning of the 
fifteenth year of Tiberius; and thence reckoning back thirty 
years, they placed his birth in the forty-third year of the 
Julian period, the forty-second of Augustus, and the twenty-
eighth after the victory at Actium. This opinion obtained 
till A. D. 527, when Dionysius Exiguus invented the vulgar 
account. Learned and pious men have trifled egregiously on 
this subject, making that of importance which the Holy 
Spirit, by his silence, has plainly informed them is of none.

Fabricius gives a catalogue of no less than 136 different 
opinions concerning the YEAR of Christ's birth: and as to his 
birth DAY, that has been placed by Christian sects and 
learned men in every month in the year.

The Egyptians placed it in January-Wagenseil, in February-
Bochart, in March-some, mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus, in 
April-others, in May-Epiphanius speaks of some who placed it 
in June-and of others who supposed it to have been in July-
Wagenseil, who was not sure of February, fixed it probably in 
August-Lightfoot, on the 15th of September-Scaliger, 
Casaubon, and Calvisius, in October-others, in November-but 
the Latin Church, supreme in power, and infallible in 
judgment, placed it on the 25th of December, the very day on 
which the ancient Romans celebrated the feast of their 
goddess Bruma." See more in Robinson's Notes on Claude's 
Essay, vol. i. p. 275, &c. Pope Julius I. was the person who 
made this alteration, and it appears to have been done for 
this reason: the sun now began his return towards the 
northern tropic, ending the winter, lengthening the short 
days, and introducing the spring.

All this was probably deemed emblematical of the rising of 
the Sun of righteousness on the darkness of this world, and 
causing the day-spring from on high to visit mankind.

Verse 9. The angel of the Lord came upon them] Or, stood over 
them, epesth. It is likely that the angel appeared in the air 
at some little distance above them, and that from him the 
rays of the glory of the Lord shone round about them, as the 
rays of light are protected from the sun.

They were sore afraid.] Terrified with the appearance of so 
glorious a being, and probably fearing that he was a 
messenger of justice, coming to denounce Divine judgments, or 
punish them immediately, for sins with which their 
consciences would not fail, on such an occasion, to reproach 
them.

Verse 10. Behold, I bring you good tidings] I am not come to 
declare the judgments of the Lord, but his merciful loving-
kindness, the subject being a matter of great joy. He then 
declares his message. Unto you-to the Jews first, and then to 
the human race. Some modern MSS. with the utmost impropriety 
read hmin, us, as if angels were included in this glorious 
work of redemption; but St. Paul says, he took not upon him 
the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham, i.e. the 
nature of Abraham and his posterity, the human nature; 
therefore the good news is to you,-and not to yourselves 
exclusively, for it is to all people, to all the inhabitants 
of this land, and to the inhabitants of the whole earth.

Verse 11. A saviour, which is Christ the Lord.] A saviour, 
swthr, the same as Jesus from swzein, to make safe, to 
deliver, preserve, to make alive, thus used by the Septuagint 
for hyjh hecheiah, to cause to escape; used by the same for 
flp to confide in, to hope. See the extensive acceptations of 
the verb in Mintert, who adds under swthr: " The word 
properly denotes such a saviour as perfectly frees us from 
all evil and danger, and is the author of perpetual 
salvation." On the word Jesus, see John i. 29.

Which is Christ. cristov, the anointed, from criw to anoint, 
the same as hym Messiah, from jm mashach. This name points 
out the saviour of the world in his prophetic, regal, and 
sacerdotal offices: as in ancient times, prophets, kings, and 
priests were anointed with oil, when installed into their 
respective offices. Anointing was the same with them as 
consecration is with us. Oil is still used in the 
consecration of kings.

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mh 
ha-mashiach, the anointed person. But as no man was ever 
dignified by holding the three offices, so no person ever had 
the title ha-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, Melchizedek, 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.

The Lord. kuriov, the supreme, eternal Being, the ruler of 
the heavens and the earth. The Septuagint generally translate 
hwhy Yehovah by kuriov.

This Hebrew word, from hyh hayah, he was, properly points out 
the eternity and self-existence of the Supreme Being; and if 
we may rely on the authority of Hesychius, which no scholar 
will call in question, kuriov is a proper translation of hwhq 
Yehovah, as it comes from kurw,-tugcanw, I am, I exist. 
Others derive it from kurov, authority, legislative power. It 
is certain that the lordship of Christ must be considered in 
a mere spiritual sense, as he never set up any secular 
government upon earth, nor commanded any to be established in 
his name; and there is certainly no spiritual government but 
that of God: and indeed the word Lord, in the text, appears 
to be properly understood, when applied to the deity of 
Christ. Jesus is a prophet, to reveal the will of God, and 
instruct men in it.

He is a priest, to offer up sacrifice, and make atonement for 
the sin of the world. He is Lord, to rule over and rule in 
the souls of the children of men: in a word, he is Jesus the 
saviour, to deliver from the power, guilt, and pollution of 
sin; to enlarge and vivify, by the influence of his Spirit; 
to preserve in the possession of the salvation which he has 
communicated; to seal those who believe, heirs of glory; and 
at last to receive them into the fullness of beatitude in his 
eternal joy.

Verse 12. This shall be a sign (or token) unto you] You shall 
find this glorious person, however strange it may appear, 
wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a stable! It is by 
humility that Christ comes to reign; and this is the only way 
into his kingdom! Pride is the character of all the children 
of Adam: humility the mark of the Son of God, and of all his 
followers. Christ came in the way of humility to destroy that 
pride which is the root of evil in the souls of men. And 
thus, according to the old medical aphorism, "Opposites are 
destroyed by their opposites."

Verse 13. Suddenly there was with the angel, &c.] this 
multitude of the heavenly host had just now descended from on 
high, to honour the new-born Prince of peace, to give his 
parents the fullest conviction of his glory and excellence, 
and to teach the shepherds, who were about to be the first 
proclaimers of the Gospel, what to think and what to speak of 
him, who, while he appeared as a helpless infant, was the 
object of worship to the angels of God.

Verse 14. Glory to God in the highest] The design of God, in 
the incarnation, was to manifest the hidden glories of his 
nature, and to reconcile men to each other and to himself. 
The angels therefore declare that this incarnation shall 
manifest and promote the glory of God, en uyistoiv not only 
in the highest heavens, among the highest orders of beings, 
but in the highest and most exalted degrees. For in this 
astonishing display of God's mercy, attributes of the Divine 
nature which had not been and could not be known in any other 
way should be now exhibited in the fullness of their glory, 
that even the angels should have fresh objects to 
contemplate, and new glories to exult in. These things the 
angels desire to look into, 1 Pet. i. 12, and they desire it 
because they feel they are thus interested in it. The 
incarnation of Jesus Christ is an infinite and eternal 
benefit. Heaven and earth both partake of the fruits of it, 
and through it angels and men become one family, Eph. iii. 
15.

Peace, good will toward men.] Men are in a state of hostility 
with Heaven and with each other. The carnal mind is enmity 
against God. He who sins wars against his Maker; and "Foe to 
God was ne'er true friend to man." When men become reconciled 
to God, through the death of his Son, they love one another. 
They have peace with God; peace in their own consciences; and 
peace with their neighbours: good will dwells among them, 
speaks in them, and works by them. Well might this state of 
salvation be represented under the notion of the kingdom of 
God, a counterpart of eternal felicity. See on Matt. iii. 2.

Verse 15. Let us now go even unto Bethlehem] dielqwmen, let 
us go across the country at the nearest, that we may lose no 
time, that we may speedily see this glorious reconciler of 
God and man. All delays are dangerous: but he who delays to 
seek Jesus, when the angels, the messengers of God, bring him 
glad tidings of salvation, risks his present safety and his 
eternal happiness. O, what would the damned in hell give for 
those moments in which the living hear of salvation, had they 
the same possibility of receiving it! Reader, be wise. 
Acquaint thyself now with God, and be at peace; and thereby 
good will come unto thee. Amen.

Verse 17. They made known abroad the saying] These shepherds 
were the first preachers of the Gospel of Christ: and what 
was their text? Why, Glory to God in the highest heavens, and 
on earth peace and good will among men. This is the elegant 
and energetic saying which comprises the sum and substance of 
the Gospel of God. This, and this only, is the message which 
all Christ's true pastors or shepherds bring to men. He who, 
while he professes the religion of Christ, disturbs society 
by his preachings or writings, who excludes from the 
salvation of God all who hold not his religious or political 
creed, never knew the nature of the Gospel, and never felt 
its power or influence. How can religious contentions, civil 
broils, or open wars, look that Gospel in the face which 
publishes nothing but glory to God, and peace and good will 
among men? Crusades for the recovery of a holy land so 
called, (by the way, latterly, the most unholy in the map of 
the world,) and wars for the support of religion, are an 
insult to the Gospel, and blasphemy against God!

Verse 19. And pondered them in her heart.] sumballousa, 
Weighing them in her heart. Weighing is an English 
translation of our word pondering, from the Latin ponderare. 
Every circumstance relative to her son's birth, Mary 
treasured up in her memory; and every new circumstance she 
weighed, or compared with those which had already taken 
place, in order to acquire the fullest information concerning 
the nature and mission of her son.

Verse 20. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising] 
These simple men, having satisfactory evidence of the truth 
of the good tidings, and feeling a Divine influence upon 
their own minds, returned to the care of their flocks, 
glorifying God for what he had shown them, and for the 
blessedness which they felt. "Jesus Christ, born of a woman, 
laid in a stable, proclaimed and ministered to by the 
heavenly host, should be a subject of frequent contemplation 
to the pastors of his Church. After having compared the 
predictions of the prophets with the facts stated in the 
evangelic history, their own souls being hereby confirmed in 
these sacred truths, they will return to their flocks, 
glorifying and praising God for what they had seen and heard 
in the Gospel history, just as it had been told them in the 
writings of the prophets; and, preaching these mysteries with 
the fullest conviction of their truth, they become 
instruments in the hands of God of begetting the same faith 
in their hearers; and thus the glory of God and the happiness 
of his people are both promoted." What subjects for 
contemplation!-what matter for praise!

Verse 21. When eight days were accomplished] The law had 
appointed that every male should be circumcised at eight days 
old, or on the eighth day after its birth, Gen. xvii. 12; and 
our blessed Lord received circumcision in token of his 
subjection to the law, Gal. iv. 4; v. 3.

His name was called JESUS] See on Matt. i. 21 and John i. 29.

Verse 22. Days of her purification] That is, thirty-three 
days after what was termed the seven days of her uncleanness-
forty days in all: for that was the time appointed by the 
law, after the birth of a male child. See Lev. xii. 2, 6.

The MSS. and versions differ much in the pronoun in this 
place: some reading authv, HER purification; others autou, 
HIS purification; others autwn, THEIR purification; and 
others autoin, the purification of THEM BOTH. Two versions 
and two of the fathers omit the pronoun, autwn, their, and 
autou, his, have the greatest authorities in their support, 
and the former is received into most of the modern editions. 
A needless scrupulosity was, in my opinion, the origin of 
these various readings.

Some would not allow that both needed purification, and 
referred the matter to Mary alone. Others thought neither 
could be supposed to be legally impure, and therefore omitted 
the pronoun entirely, leaving the meaning indeterminate. As 
there could be no moral defilement in the case, and what was 
done being for the performance of a legal ceremony, it is of 
little consequence which of the readings is received into the 
text.

The purification of every mother and child, which the law 
enjoined, is a powerful argument in proof of that original 
corruption and depravity which every human being brings into 
the world. The woman to be purified was placed in the east 
gate of the court, called Nicanor's gate, and was there 
sprinkled with blood: thus she received the atonement. See 
Lightfoot.

Verse 24. And to offer a sacrifice] Neither mother nor child 
was considered as in the Lord's covenant, or under the Divine 
protection, till these ceremonies, prescribed by the law, had 
been performed.

A pair of turtle doves, &c.] One was for a burnt-offering, 
and the other for a sin-offering: see Lev. xii. 8. The rich 
were required to bring a lamb, but the poor and middling 
classes were required to bring either two turtle doves, or 
two pigeons. This is a proof that the holy family were not in 
affluence. Jesus sanctified the state of poverty, which is 
the general state of man, by passing through it. Therefore 
the poor have the Gospel preached unto them; and the poor are 
they who principally receive it.

Though neither Mary nor her son needed any of these 
purifications, for she was immaculate, and He was the Holy 
One, yet, had she not gone through the days of purification 
according to the law, she could not have appeared in the 
public worship of the Most High, and would have been 
considered as an apostate from the faith of the Israel of 
God; and had not He been circumcised and publicly presented 
in the temple, he could not have been permitted to enter 
either synagogue or temple, and no Jew would have heard him 
preach, or had any intercourse or connection with him. These 
reasons are sufficient to account for the purification of the 
holy virgin, and for the circumcision of the most holy Jesus.

Verse 25. And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem] This man 
is distinguished because of his singular piety. There can be 
no doubt that there were many persons in Jerusalem named 
Simeon, besides this man; but there was none of the name who 
merited the attention of God so much as he in the text. Such 
persevering exemplary piety was very rare, and therefore the 
inspired penman ushers in the account with behold! Several 
learned men are of the opinion that he was son to the famous 
Hillel, one of the most celebrated doctors and philosophers 
which had ever appeared in the Jewish nation since the time 
of Moses. Simeon is supposed also to have been the AB or 
president of the grand Sanhedrin.

The same man was just] He steadily regulated all his conduct 
by the law of his God: and devout-he had fully consecrated 
himself to God, so that he added a pious heart to a righteous 
conduct. The original word eulabhv, signifies also a person 
of good report-one well received among the people, or one 
cautious and circumspect in matters of religion; from eu, 
well, and lambanw, I take: it properly denotes, one who takes 
any thing that is held out to him, well and carefully. He so 
professed and practised the religion of his fathers that he 
gave no cause for a friend to mourn on his account, or an 
enemy to triumph.

Several excellent MSS. read eusebhv, pious or godly, from eu, 
well, and sebomai, I worship; one who worships God well, i.e. 
in spirit and in truth.

Waiting for the consolation of Israel] That is, the Messiah, 
who was known among the pious Jews by this character: he was 
to be the consolation of Israel, because he was to be its 
redemption. This consolation of Israel was so universally 
expected that the Jews swore by it: So let me see the 
Consolation, if such a thing be not so, or so. See the forms 
in Lightfoot.

The Holy Ghost was upon him] He was a man divinely inspired, 
overshadowed, and protected by the power and influence of the 
Most High.

Verse 26. It was revealed unto him] He was divinely informed, 
kecrhmatistismenon-he had an express communication from God 
concerning the subject. The secret of the Lord is with them 
that fear him.

The soul of a righteous and devout man is a proper habitation 
for the Holy Spirit.

He should not see death] They that seek shall find: it is 
impossible that a man who is earnestly seeking the salvation 
of God, should be permitted to die without finding it.

The Lord's Christ.] Rather, the Lord's anointed. That 
prophet, priest, and king, who was typified by so many 
anointed persons under the old covenant; and who was 
appointed to come in the fullness of time, to accomplish all 
that was written in the law, in the prophets, and in the 
Psalms, concerning him. See the note on ver. 11.

Verse 27. He came by the Spirit into the temple] Probably he 
had in view the prophecy of Malachi, Mal. iii. 1, The Lord, 
whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple. In this 
messenger of the covenant, the soul of Simeon delighted. Now 
the prophecy was just going to be fulfilled; and the Holy 
Spirit, who dwelt in the soul of this righteous man, directed 
him to go and see its accomplishment. Those who come, under 
the influence of God's Spirit, to places of public worship, 
will undoubtedly meet with him who is the comfort and 
salvation of Israel.

After the custom of the law] To present him to the Lord, and 
then redeem him by paying five shekels, Num. xviii. 15, 16, 
and to offer those sacrifices appointed by the law. See ver. 
24.

Verse 28. Then took he him up in his arms] What must the holy 
soul of this man have felt in this moment! O inestimable 
privilege! And yet ours need not be inferior: If a man love 
me, says Christ, he will keep my word; and I and the Father 
will come in unto him, and make our abode with him.

And indeed even Christ in the arms could not avail a man, if 
he were not formed in his heart.

Verse 29. Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace] 
Now thou dismissest, apolueiv, loosest him from life; having 
lived long enough to have the grand end of life accomplished.

According to thy word] It was promised to him, that he should 
not die till he had seen the Lord's anointed, ver. 26; and 
now, having seen him, he expects to be immediately dismissed 
in peace into the eternal world; having a full assurance and 
enjoyment of the salvation of God. Though Simeon means his 
death, yet the thing itself is not mentioned; for death has 
not only lost its sting, but its name also, to those who 
have, even by faith, seen the Lord's anointed.

Verse 30. Thy salvation] That saviour which it became the 
goodness of God to bestow upon man, and which the necessities 
of the human race required. Christ is called our salvation, 
as he is called our life, our peace, our hope; i.e. he is the 
author of all these, to them who believe.

Verse 31. Which thou hast prepared] o htoimasav, which thou 
hast MADE READY before the face, in the presence, of all 
people. Here salvation is represented under the notion of a 
feast, which God himself has provided for the whole world; 
and to partake of which he has invited all the nations of the 
earth. There seems a direct allusion here to Isa. xxv. 6, &c. 
"In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all 
people a feast of fat things," &c. Salvation is properly the 
food of the soul, by which it is nourished unto eternal life; 
he that receiveth not this, must perish for ever.

Verse 32. A light to lighten the Gentiles] fwv eiv apokaloyin 
eqnwn-A light of the Gentiles, for revelation. By Moses and 
the prophets, a light of revelation was given to the Jews, in 
the blessedness of which the Gentiles did not partake. By 
Christ and his apostles, a luminous revelation is about to be 
given unto the Gentiles, from the blessedness of which the 
Jews in general, by their obstinacy and unbelief, shall be 
long excluded. But to all true Israelites it shall be a 
glory, an evident fulfillment of all the predictions of the 
prophets, relative to the salvation of a lost world; and the 
first offers of it shall be made to the Jewish people, who 
may see in it the truth of their own Scriptures indisputably 
evinced.

Verse 33. Joseph and his mother marvelled] For they did not 
as yet fully know the counsels of God, relative to the 
salvation which Christ was to procure; nor the way in which 
the purchase was to be made: but to this Simeon refers in the 
following verses.

Verse 34. This child is set for the fall] This seems an 
allusion to Isa. viii. 14, 15: Jehovah, God of hosts, shall 
be-for a stone of stumbling and rock of offense to both 
houses of Israel; and many among them shall stumble and fall, 
&c. As Christ did not come as a temporal deliverer, in which 
character alone the Jews expected him, the consequence should 
be, they would reject him, and so fall by the Romans. See 
Rom. xi. 11, 12, and Matthew 24. But in the fullness of time 
there shall be a rising again of many in Israel. See Rom. xi. 
26.

And for a sign] A mark or butt to shoot at-a metaphor taken 
from archers. Or perhaps Simeon refers to Isa. xi. 10-12. 
There shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an 
ENSIGN of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek:-
intimating that the Jews would reject it, while the Gentiles 
should flock to it as their ensign of honour, under which 
they were to enjoy a glorious rest.

That the thoughts (or reasonings) of many hearts may be 
revealed.] I have transposed this clause to the place to 
which I believe it belongs. The meaning appears to me to be 
this: The rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish rulers will 
sufficiently prove that they sought the honour which comes 
from the world, and not that honour which comes from God: 
because they rejected Jesus, merely for the reason that he 
did not bring them a temporal deliverance. So the very 
Pharisees, who were loud in their professions of sanctity and 
devotedness to God, rejected Jesus, and got him crucified, 
because his kingdom was not of this world. Thus the 
reasonings of many hearts were revealed.

Verse 35. Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul 
also] Probably meaning, Thou also, as well as thy son, shall 
die a martyr for the truth. But as this is a metaphor used by 
the most respectable Greek writers to express the most 
pungent sorrow, it may here refer to the anguish Mary must 
have felt when standing beside the cross of her tortured son: 
John xix. 25.

Verse 36. Anna, a prophetess] It does not appear that this 
person was a prophetess in the strict sense of the word, i.e. 
one who could foretell future events; but rather a holy 
woman; who, from her extensive knowledge and deep experience 
in Divine things, was capable of instructing others; 
according to the use of the word profhteuw, 1 Cor. xiv. 3: He 
that prophesieth, speaketh unto men to edification, and to 
exhortation, and to comfort. So we find this holy widow 
proclaiming Jesus to all who looked for redemption in 
Jerusalem, ver. 38.

The tribe of Asher] This was one of the ten tribes of the 
kingdom of Israel, several families of which had returned 
from their idolatry unto God, in the time that Hezekiah 
proclaimed the passover in Jerusalem, which is mentioned 2 
Chron. xxx. 1-11. Though her family might have been a 
distinguished one in Jerusalem, yet we find that it was her 
very exemplary piety that entitled her to be thus honourably 
mentioned in the sacred history. It is an honourable thing 
indeed to have one's name written in the sacred records; but 
to be written in the book of life is of infinitely greater 
moment.

Seven years] She was a pure virgin when married, was favoured 
with her husband but seven years, and was now in all, taking 
in the time of her virginity, marriage, and widowhood, 
eighty-four years of age. At such an age, it might be 
supposed she was reasonably exempted from performing the 
severer duties of religion; but her spirit of piety continued 
still to burn with a steady and undiminished fame.

Verse 37. Departed not from the temple] Attended constantly 
at the hours of prayer, which were nine in the morning and 
three in the afternoon. See Acts ii. 15; iii. 1. It does not 
appear that women had any other functions to perform in that 
holy place.

With fastings] She accompanied her devotion with frequent 
fastings, probably not oftener than twice in the week; for 
this was the custom of the most rigid Pharisees: see chap. 
xviii. 12.

Verse 38. Coming in that instant] auth th wra, at that very 
time-while Simeon held the blessed Redeemer in his arms, and 
was singing his departing and triumphal song.

Gave thanks likewise] She, as well as Simeon, returned God 
public thanks, for having sent this saviour to Israel.

Spake of him] Of the nature and design of his mission; and 
the glory that should take place in the land.

To all them that looked for redemption] As Daniel's seventy 
weeks were known to be now completed, the more pious Jews 
were in constant expectation of the promised Messiah. They 
were expecting redemption, lutrwsiv; such a redemption as was 
to be brought about by an atonement, or expiatory victim, or 
ransom price. See on chap. i. 68.

In Jerusalem.] It is probable she went about from house to 
house, testifying the grace of God. In the margin of our 
common version, Israel is put instead of Jerusalem, which the 
translators thought was nearly as eligible as the word they 
received into the text. This marginal reading is supported by 
several MSS., all the Arabic and Persic versions, the 
Vulgate, and most copies of the Itala. Were this reading to 
be received, it would make a very essential alteration in the 
meaning of the text, as it would intimate that this excellent 
woman traveled over the land of Israel, proclaiming the 
advent of Christ. At all events, it appears that this widow 
was one of the first publishers of the Gospel of Christ, and 
it is likely that she traveled with it from house to house 
through the city of Jerusalem, where she knew they dwelt who 
were expecting the salvation of God.

Verse 39. They returned into Galilee] But not immediately: 
for the coming of the wise men, and the retreat of Joseph 
with his family into Egypt, happened between this period of 
time, and his going to Nazareth in Galilee.-Bp. PEARCE. But 
it is very likely, that as soon as the presentation in the 
temple, and the ceremonies relative to it, had been 
accomplished, that the holy family did return to Galilee, as 
St. Luke here states, and that they continued there till 
Herod's bloody purpose was discovered to them by the Lord; 
which probably took some time to bring it to its murderous 
crisis, after the departure of the magi. After which, they 
fled into Egypt, where they continued till the death of 
Herod; and it is probable that it is of a second return to 
Nazareth that St. Matthew speaks, ver. 23.

Verse 40. The child grew] As to his body-being in perfect 
health.

Waxed strong in spirit] His rational soul became strong and 
vigorous.

Filled with wisdom] The divinity continuing to communicate 
itself more and more, in proportion to the increase of the 
rational principle. The reader should never forget that Jesus 
was perfect man, as well as God.

And the grace of God was upon him.] The word cariv, not only 
means grace in the common acceptation of the word, (some 
blessing granted by God's mercy to those who are sinners, or 
have no merit,) but it means also favour or approbation: and 
this sense I think most proper for it here, when applied to 
the human nature of our blessed Lord; and thus our 
translators render the same word, ver. 52. Even Christ 
himself, who knew no sin, grew in the favour of God; and, as 
to his human nature, increased in the graces of the Holy 
Spirit. From this we learn that, if a man were as pure and as 
perfect as the man Jesus Christ himself was, yet he might 
nevertheless increase in the image, and consequently in the 
favour, of God.

God loves every thing and person, in proportion to the 
nearness of the approaches made to his own perfections.

Verse 41. His parents went-every year] This was their 
constant custom, because positively enjoined by the law, 
Exod. xxiii. 17. But it does not appear that infants were 
obliged to be present; and yet all the men-children are 
positively ordered to make their appearance at Jerusalem 
thrice in the year, Exod. xxxiv. 23. And our Lord, being now 
twelve years old, ver. 42, accompanies his parents to the 
feast. Probably this was the very age at which the male 
children were obliged to appear before the Lord at the three 
public festivals-the feast of unleavened bread, of weeks, and 
of tabernacles.

According to the Jewish canons, it was the age at which they 
were obliged to begin to learn a trade.

Verse 43. Had fulfilled the days] Eight days in the whole: 
one was the passover, and the other seven, the days of 
unleavened bread. See on Matt. xxvi. 2.

Verse 44. Supposing him to have been in the company] Some 
have supposed that the men and women marched in separate 
companies on these occasions, which is very likely; and that 
sometimes the children kept company with the men, sometimes 
with the women. This might have led to what otherwise seems 
to have been inexcusable carelessness in Joseph and Mary. 
Joseph, not seeing Jesus in the men's company, might suppose 
he was with his mother in the women's company; and Mary, not 
seeing him with her, might imagine he was with Joseph.

Went a day's journey] Knowing what a treasure they possessed, 
how could they be so long without looking on it? Where were 
the bowels and tender solicitude of the mother? Let them 
answer this question who can.

And they sought him] anezhtoun, They earnestly sought him. 
They are now both duly affected with a sense of their great 
loss and great negligence.

Kinsfolk and acquaintance.] Those of the same family and 
neighbourhood went up to Jerusalem together on such 
occasions.

I have frequently been reminded, says Mr. Ward, when reading 
this history, of the crowds going to some place in Bengal, to 
an idol feast. Men, women, and children, in large companies, 
may be seen travelling together, with their bedding, &c., on 
their heads. They cook and prepare their victuals in some 
shady place near a town, where they can purchase the 
necessaries they want, and, after remaining two or three days 
at the festival, return in companies as they went.

Verse 45. Seeking him.] zhtountev auton-or rather, seeking 
him diligently, anzhtountev. This is the reading of BCDL, six 
others, Vulgate, and nine copies of the Itala. If they sought 
earnestly when they first found him missing, there is little 
doubt that their solicitude and diligence must be greatly 
increased during his three days' absence, therefore the word 
which I have adopted, on the above authority, is more likely 
to be the true reading than the zhtountev of the common text, 
which simply signifies seeking; whereas the other strongly 
marks their solicitude and diligence.

Verse 46. Sitting in the midst of the doctors] The rabbins, 
who were explaining the law and the ceremonies of the Jewish 
religion to their disciples.

Asking them questions.] Not as a scholar asks his teacher, to 
be informed; but as a teacher, who proposes questions to his 
scholars in order to take an occasion to instruct them.

In the time of Josephus, the Jewish teachers were either very 
ignorant or very humble: for he tells us that, "when he was 
about fourteen years of age, the chief priests, and the 
principal men of the city, were constantly coming to him to 
be more accurately instructed in matters relative to the 
law." See his Life, sect. ii. If this were true, it is no 
wonder to find them now listening, with the deepest 
attention, to such teaching as they never before heard.

Verse 47. Answers:- The word apokrisiv here seems not to mean 
answers only, but what Jesus said by way of question to the 
doctors, ver. 46. So in Rev. vii. 13, one of the elders is 
said to have answered, saying-when he only asked a question. 
Bp. PEARCE.

Verse 48. Why hast thou thus dealt with us?] It certainly was 
not his fault, but theirs. Men are very apt to lay on others 
the blame of their own misconduct.

Verse 49. How is it that ye sought me?] Is not this intended 
as a gentle reproof? Why had ye me to seek? Ye should not 
have left my company, when ye knew I am constantly employed 
in performing the will of the Most High.

My Father's business?] en toiv tou patrov mou, My Father's 
concerns. Some think that these words should be translated, 
In my Father's house; which was a reason that they should 
have sought him in the temple only. As if he had said, Where 
should a child be found, but in his father's house? This 
translation is defended by Grotius, Pearce, and others; and 
is the reading of the Syriac, later Persic, and Armenian 
versions. Our Lord took this opportunity to instruct Joseph 
and Mary concerning his Divine nature and mission. My 
Father's concerns. This saying, one would think, could not 
have been easily misunderstood. It shows at once that he came 
down from heaven. Joseph had no concerns in the temple; and 
yet we find they did not fully comprehend it. How slow of 
heart is man to credit any thing that comes from God! 

Verse 51. Was subject unto them] Behaved towards them with 
all dutiful submission. Probably his working with his hands 
at his reputed father's business, is here also implied: see 
on ver. 41. No child among the Jews was ever brought up in 
idleness. Is not this the carpenter? was a saying of those 
Jews who appear to have had a proper knowledge of his 
employment while in Joseph's house. See the note on Matt. 
xiii. 55.

Verse 52. Jesus increased in wisdom] See on ver. 40.

THE following remarks, taken chiefly from Mr. Claude, on the 
foregoing subject, are well worth the reader's attention.

I. The birth of Christ is announced to the shepherds.

1. God causes his grace to descend not only on the great and 
powerful of the world, but also upon the most simple and 
inconsiderable; just as the heavens diffuse their influence 
not only on great trees, but also on the smallest herbs.

2. God seems to take more delight in bestowing his favours on 
the most abject than in distributing them among persons of 
elevated rank. Here is an example: for while he sent the wise 
men of the east to Herod, he sent an angel of heaven to the 
shepherds, and conducted them to the cradle of the saviour of 
the world.

3. ln this meeting of the angels and shepherds, you see a 
perpetual characteristic of the economy of Jesus Christ; 
wherein the highest and most sublime things are joined with 
the meanest and lowest. In his person, the eternal WORD is 
united to a creature, the Divine nature to the human, 
infinity to infirmity, in a word, the Lord of glory to mean 
flesh and blood.

On his cross, though he appears naked, crowned with thorns, 
and exposed to sorrows, yet at the same time he shakes the 
earth, and eclipses the sun.

Here, in like manner, are angels familiar with shepherds; 
angels, to mark his majesty-shepherds, his humility.

4. This mission of angels relates to the end for which the 
Son of God came into the world; for he came to establish a 
communion between God and men, and to make peace between men 
and angels: to this must be referred what St. Paul says, 
Colossiansi. 20, It pleased the Father, by him, to reconcile 
all things to himself.

5. However simple and plain the employments of men may be, it 
is always very pleasing to God when they discharge them with 
a good conscience.

While these shepherds were busy in their calling, God sent 
his angels to them.

6. God does, in regard to men, what these shepherds did in 
regard to their sheep. He is the great Shepherd of mankind, 
continually watching over them by his providence.

II. The glory of the Lord shone round the shepherds.

1. When angels borrow human forms, in order to appear to men, 
they have always some ensigns of grandeur and majesty, to 
show that they are not men, but angels.

2. The appearance of this light to the shepherds in the 
night, may very well be taken for a mystical symbol. Night 
represents the corrupt state of mankind when Jesus came into 
the world; a state of ignorance and error.

Light fitly represents the salutary grace of Christ, which 
dissipates obscurity, and gives us the true knowledge of God.

III. The shepherds were filled with great fear.

1. This was the effect of their great surprise. When grand 
objects suddenly present themselves to us, they must needs 
fill us with astonishment and fear, for the mind, on these 
occasions, is not at liberty to exert its force; on the 
contrary, its strength is dissipated, and during this 
dissipation it is impossible not to fear.

2. This fear may also arise from emotions of conscience. Man 
is by nature a sinner, and consequently an object of the 
justice of God. While God does not manifest himself to him, 
he remains insensible of his sin; but, when God discovers 
himself to him, he awakes to feeling, and draws nigh to God 
as a trembling criminal approaches his judge. See this 
exemplified in the case of Adam, and in that of the 
Israelites when God appeared on the mountain: hence that 
proverbial saying, We shall die, for we have seen God.

3. The shepherds had just reason to fear when they saw before 
them an angel of heaven, surrounded with the ensigns of 
majesty, for angels had been formerly the ministers of God's 
vengeance. On this occasion, the sad examples of Divine 
vengeance, recorded in Scripture, and performed by the 
ministry of angels, might, in a moment, rise to view, and 
incline them to think that this angel had received a like 
order to destroy them.

IV. Observe the angel's discourse to the shepherds.

1. The angels say to them, Fear not. This preface was 
necessary to gain their attention, which fear, no doubt, had 
dissipated. The disposition which the angel wishes to awaken 
in them comports with the news which he intended to announce; 
for what has fear to do with the birth of the saviour of the 
world? 2. The angel describes, 1st, The person of whom he 
speaks, a saviour, Christ, the Lord; see before on ver. 11. 
See, 2dly, What he speaks of him; he is born unto you. 3dly, 
He marks the time; this day. 4thly, He describes the place; 
in the city of David. 5thly, He specifies the nature of this 
important news; a great joy which shall be unto all people. 
See Claude's Essay, by Robinson, vol. i. p. 266, &c.

Concerning Simeon, three things deserve to be especially 
noted: 1. His faith. 2. His song. And 3. His prophecy.

I. His faith.

1. He expected the promised Redeemer, in virtue of the 
promises which God had made; and, to show that his faith was 
of the operation of God's Spirit, he lived a life of 
righteousness and devotedness to God. Many profess to expect 
the salvation which God has promised only to those who 
believe, while living in conformity to the world, under the 
influence of its spirit, and in the general breach of the 
righteous law of God.

2. The faith of Simeon led him only to wish for life that he 
might see him who was promised, and, be properly prepared for 
an inheritance among the sanctified. They who make not this 
use of life are much to be lamented.

It would have been better for them had they never been born.

3. The faith of Simeon was crowned with success. Jesus came; 
he saw, he felt, he adored him! and, with a heart filled with 
the love of God, he breathed out his holy soul, and probably 
the last dregs of his life, in praise to the fountain of all 
good.

II. Simeon's song. By it he shows forth:-1.

The joy of his own heart. Lord, now thou dismissest thy 
servant; as if he had said: "Yes, O my God, I am going to 
quit this earth! I feel that thou callest me; and I quit it 
without regret. Thou hast fulfilled all my desires, and 
completed my wishes, and I desire to be detained no longer 
from the full enjoyment of thyself." O, how sweet is death, 
after such an enjoyment and discovery of eternal life! 2. 
Simeon shows forth the glory of Christ. He is the Sun of 
righteousness, rising on a dark and ruined world with light 
and salvation. He is the light that shall manifest the 
infinite kindness of God to the Gentile people; proving that 
God is good to all, and that his tender mercies are over all 
his works.

He is the glory of Israel. It is by him that the Gentiles 
have been led to acknowledge the Jews as the peculiar people 
of God; their books as the word of God, and their teaching as 
the revelation of God. What an honour for this people, had 
they known how to profit by it! 3. He astonished Joseph and 
Mary with his sublime account of the Redeemer of the world. 
They hear him glorified, and their hearts exult in it.

From this Divine song they learn that this miraculous son of 
theirs is the sum and substance of all the promises made unto 
the fathers, and of all the predictions of the prophets.

III. Simeon's prophecy.

1. He addresses Christ, and foretells that he should be for 
the ruin and recovery of many in Israel. How astonishing is 
the folly and perverseness of man, to turn that into poison 
which God has made the choicest medicine; and thus to kill 
themselves with the cure which he has appointed for them in 
the infinity of his love! Those who speak against Jesus, his 
ways, his doctrine, his cross, his sacrifice, are likely to 
stumble, and fall, and rise no more for ever! May the God of 
mercy save the reader from this condemnation! 2. He addresses 
Mary, and foretells the agonies she must go through. What 
must this holy woman have endured when she saw her son 
crowned with thorns, scourged, buffeted, spit upon-when she 
saw his hands and his feet nailed to the cross, and his side 
pierced with a spear! What a sword through her own soul must 
each of these have been! But this is not all.

These sufferings of Jesus are predicted thirty years before 
they were to take place! What a martyrdom was this! While he 
is nourished in her bosom, she cannot help considering him as 
a lamb who is growing up to be sacrificed. The older he 
grows, the nearer the bloody scene approaches! Thus her 
sufferings must increase with his years, and only end with 
his life! 3. He foretells the effects which should be 
produced by the persecutions raised against Christ and his 
followers. This sword of persecution shall lay open the 
hearts of many, and discover their secret motives and 
designs.

When the doctrine of the cross is preached, and persecution 
raised because of it, then the precious are easily 
distinguished from the vile. Those whose hearts are not 
established by grace, now right with God, will turn aside 
from the way of righteousness, and deny the Lord that bought 
them. On the other hand, those whose faith stands not in the 
wisdom of man, but in the power of God, will continue 
faithful unto death, glorify God in the fire, and thus show 
forth the excellency of his salvation, and the sincerity of 
the profession which they had before made. Thus the thoughts 
of many hearts are still revealed.

The design of our blessed Lord in staying behind in the 
temple seems to have been twofold. 1st. To prepare the Jews 
to acknowledge in him a Divine and supernatural wisdom: and 
2dly. To impress the minds of Joseph and Mary with a proper 
idea of his independence and Divinity.

Their conduct in this business may be a lasting lesson and 
profitable warning to all the disciples of Christ.

1st. It is possible (by not carefully watching the heart, and 
by not keeping sacredly and constantly in view the 
spirituality of every duty) to lose the presence and power of 
Christ, even in religious ordinances. Joseph and Mary were at 
the feast of the passover when they lost Jesus! 2dly. Many 
who have sustained loss in their souls are kept from making 
speedy application to God for help and salvation, through the 
foolish supposition that their state is not so bad as it 
really is; and, in the things of salvation, many content 
themselves with the persuasion that the religious people with 
whom they associate are the peculiar favourites of Heaven, 
and that they are in a state of complete safety while 
connected with them.

They, supposing him to be in the company, went a day's 
journey.

3dly. Deep sorrow and self-reproach must be the consequence 
of the discovery of so great a loss as that of the presence 
and power of Christ.

Joseph and Mary sought him sorrowing.

4thly. When people are convinced, by the light of the Lord, 
that their souls are not in a safe state, and that unless 
they find the Redeemer of the world they must perish, they 
are naturally led to inquire among their kinsfolk and 
acquaintance for him who saves sinners. But this often proves 
fruitless; they know not Jesus themselves, and they cannot 
tell others where to find him.

They sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance, and 
found him not.

5thly. When people perceive that they have proceeded in a 
certain course of life for a considerable time, without that 
salvation which God promises in his word, they should first 
stop and inquire into their state, and when they find that 
they have been posting into eternity, not only without a 
preparation for glory, but with an immense load of guilt upon 
their souls, they should turn back, and, as their time may be 
but short, they should seek diligently.

They turned back to Jerusalem, earnestly seeking him.

6thly. The likeliest place to find Jesus and his salvation is 
the temple. The place where his pure unadulterated Gospel is 
preached, the sanctuary where the power and glory of God are 
seen in the conviction, conversion, and salvation of sinners. 
They found him in the temple, among the doctors.

7thly. Trials, persecutions, and afflictions are all nothing, 
when the presence and power of Christ are felt; but when a 
testimony of his approbation lives no longer in the heart, 
every thing is grievous and insupportable. The fatigue of the 
journey to Bethlehem, the flight from the cruelty of Herod, 
and the unavoidable trials in Egypt, were cheerfully 
supported by Joseph and Mary, because in all they had Jesus 
with them; but now they are in distress and misery because he 
is behind in Jerusalem.

Reader, if thou have lost Jesus, take no rest to body or soul 
till thou have found him! Without him, all is confusion and 
ruin: with him, all is joy and peace.

CHAPTER iii

The time in which John the Baptist began to preach, 1-3. The 
prophecies which were fulfilled in him, 4-6. The matter and 
success of his preaching, 7-9; among the people, 10, 11; 
among the publicans, 12, 13; among the soldiers, 14. His 
testimony concerning Christ, 15-18. The reason why Herod put 
him afterwards in prison, 19, 20. He baptizes Christ, on whom 
the Spirit of God descends, 21, 22. Our Lord's genealogy, 23-
38.

NOTES ON CHAP. iii

Verse 1. Fifteenth year] This was the fifteenth of his 
principality and thirteenth of his monarchy: for he was two 
years joint emperor, previously to the death of Augustus.

Tiberius Caesar] This emperor succeeded Augustus, in whose 
reign Christ was born. He began his reign August 19, A.D. 14, 
reigned twenty-three years, and died March 16, A.D. 37, aged 
seventy eight years.

He was a most infamous character. During the latter part of 
his reign especially, he did all the mischief he possibly 
could; and that his tyranny might not end with his life, he 
chose Caius Caligula for his successor, merely on account of 
his bad qualities; and of whom he was accustomed to say, This 
young prince will be a SERPENT to the Roman people, and a 
PHAETHON to the rest of mankind.

Herod] This was Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great who 
murdered the innocents. It was the same Herod who beheaded 
John Baptist, and to whom our Lord was sent by Pilate. See 
the account of the Herod family in the notes on Matt. ii. 1.

Iturea and Trachonitis] Two provinces of Syria, on the 
confines of Judea.

Abilene] Another province of Syria, which had its name from 
Abila, its chief city.

These estates were left to Herod Antipas and his brother 
Philip by the will of their father, Herod the Great; and were 
confirmed to them by the decree of Augustus.

That Philip was tetrarch of Trachonitis, in the fifteenth 
year of Tiberius, we are assured by Josephus, who says that 
Philip the brother of Herod died in the twentieth year of 
Tiberius, after he had governed Trachonitis, Batanea, and 
Gaulonitis thirty-seven years. Antiq. b. xviii. c. 5, s. 6. 
And Herod continued tetrarch of Galilee till he was removed 
by Caligula, the successor of Tiberius. Antiq. b. xviii. c. 
8, s. 2.

That Lysanius was tetrarch of Abilene is also evident from 
Josephus. He continued in this government till the Emperor 
Claudius took it from him, A.D. 42, and made a present of it 
to Agrippa. See Antiq. b. xix. c. 5, s. 1.

Tetrarch signifies the ruler of the fourth part of a country. 
See the note on Matt. xiv. 1.

Verse 2. Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests] Caiaphas 
was the son-in-law of Annas or Ananias, and it is supposed 
that they exercised the high priest's office by turns. It is 
likely that Annas only was considered as high priest; and 
that Caiaphas was what the Hebrews termed hnm hk cohen 
mishneh, or µynhk go sagan cohanim, the high priest's deputy, 
or ruler of the temple. See the note on Matt. ii. 4, and on 
John xviii. 13.

The facts which St. Luke mentions here tend much to confirm 
the truth of the evangelical history. Christianity differs 
widely from philosophic system; it is founded in the goodness 
and authority of God; and attested by historic facts. It 
differs also from popular tradition, which either has had no 
pure origin, or which is lost in unknown or fabulous 
antiquity. It differs also from pagan and Mohammedan 
revelations, which were fabricated in a corner, and had no 
witnesses. In the above verses we find the persons, the 
places, and the times marked with the utmost exactness. It 
was under the first Caesars that the preaching of the Gospel 
took place; and in their time, the facts on which the whole 
of Christianity is founded made their appearance: an age the 
most enlightened, and best known from the multitude of its 
historic records. It was in Judea, where every thing that 
professed to come from God was scrutinized with the most 
exact and unmerciful criticism. In writing the history of 
Christianity, the evangelists appeal to certain facts which 
were publicly transacted in such places, under the government 
and inspection of such and such persons, and in such 
particular times. A thousand persons could have confronted 
the falsehood, had it been one! These appeals are made-a 
challenge is offered to the Roman government, and to the 
Jewish rulers and people-a new religion has been introduced 
in such a place, at such a time-this has been accompanied 
with such and such facts and miracles! Who can disprove this? 
All are silent. None appears to offer even an objection. The 
cause of infidelity and irreligion is at stake! If these 
facts cannot be disproved, the religion of Christ must 
triumph. None appears because none could appear.

Now let it be observed, that the persons of that time, only, 
could confute these things had they been false; they never 
attempted it; therefore these facts are absolute and 
incontrovertible truths: this conclusion is necessary.

Shall a man then give up his faith in such attested facts as 
these, because, more than a thousand years after, an infidel 
creeps out, and ventures publicly to sneer at what his 
iniquitous soul hopes is not true! The word of God came unto 
John] That is, the Holy Spirit that revealed to him this 
doctrine of salvation. This came upon him in the desert, 
where he was living in such a state of austerity as gave him 
full right to preach all the rigours of penitence to others. 
Thus we find that the first preachers, historians, and 
followers of the doctrines of the Gospel were men eminent for 
the austerity of their lives, the simplicity of their 
manners, and the sanctity of their conduct; they were 
authorized by God, and filled with the most precious gifts of 
his Spirit. And what are the apostles which the new 
philosophy sends us? Philosophers full of themselves, not 
guided by the love of truth or wisdom, but ever seeking their 
own glory; in constant hostility among themselves, because of 
their separate pretensions to particular discoveries, of the 
honour of which they would almost as soon lose life as be 
deprived. Who are they? Men of a mortified life and 
unblamable conversation? No-they are poets and poetasters; 
composers of romances, novels, intrigues, farces, comedies, 
&c., full of extravagance and impurity. They are pretended 
moralists that preach up pleasure and sensual gratification, 
and dissolve, as far as they can, the sacred and civil ties 
that unite and support society. They are men whose guilt is 
heightened by their assuming the sacred name of philosophers, 
and dignifying their impure system with a name at which 
Philosophy herself blushes and bleeds.

Verse 3. The baptism of repentance] See on Matt. iii. 4-6, 
and Mark i. 1, &c., and Mark 16 at the end.

Verse 4. Prepare ye the way] It was customary for the Hindoo 
kings, when on journeys, to send a certain class of the 
people two or three days before them, to command the 
inhabitants to clear the ways. A very necessary precaution 
where there are no public roads.-WARD.

Verse 5. Every they shall be filled] All hinderances shall be 
taken out of the way: a quotation from the Greek version of 
Isa. xl. 4, containing an allusion to the preparations made 
in rough countries to facilitate the march of mighty kings 
and conquerors. See the instance produced on Matt. iii. 3.

Verse 7.-9. On this account of the Baptist's mode of 
preaching, see the notes on Matt. iii. 7-11.

Verse 10. What shall we do then?] The preaching of the 
Baptist had been accompanied with an uncommon effusion of 
that Spirit which convinces of sin, righteousness, and 
judgment. The people who heard him now earnestly begin to 
inquire what they must do to be saved? They are conscious 
that they are exposed to the judgments of the Lord, and they 
wish to escape from the coming wrath.

Verse 11. He that hath two coats, &c.] He first teaches the 
great mass of the people their duty to each other. They were 
uncharitable and oppressive, and he taught them not to expect 
any mercy from the hand of God, while they acted towards 
others in opposition to its dictates. If men be unkind and 
uncharitable towards each other, how can they expect the 
mercy of the Lord to be extended towards themselves?

Verse 12. Then came also publicans] He next instructs the 
tax-gatherers in the proper discharge of their duty: though 
it was an office detested by the Jews at large, yet the 
Baptist does not condemn it. It is only the abuse of it that 
he speaks against. If taxes be necessary for the support of a 
state, there must be collectors of them; and the collector, 
if he properly discharge his duty, is not only a useful, but 
also a respectable officer. But it seems the Jewish tax-
gatherers exacted much more from the people than government 
authorized them to do, ver. 13, and the surplus they 
pocketed. See the conduct of many of our surveyors and 
assessors. They are oppressors of the people, and enrich 
themselves by unjust surcharges.

This, I am inclined to think, is too common an evil; and the 
executive government is often the people's scape-goat, to 
bear the crimes of its officers, crimes in which it has no 
concern. For an account of the publicans, see the note on 
Matt. v. 46.

Verse 14. The soldiers likewise demanded of him] He, thirdly, 
instructs those among the military. They were either Roman 
soldiers, or the soldiers of Herod or Philip. Use no violence 
to any, mhdena diaseishte, do not extort money or goods by 
force or violence from any. This is the import of the words 
neminein concutite, used here by the Vulgate, and points out 
a crime of which the Roman soldiers were notoriously guilty, 
their own writers being witnesses. Concussio has the above 
meaning in the Roman law. See RAPHELIUS in loco.

Neither accuse any falsely] Or, on a frivolous pretense-mhde 
sukofanthshte, be not sycophants, like those who are base 
flatterers of their masters, who to ingratiate themselves 
into their esteem, malign, accuse, and impeach the innocent. 
Bishop PEARCE observes that, when the concussio above 
referred to did not produce the effect they wished, they 
often falsely accused the persons, which is the reason why 
this advice is added. See the note on chap. xix. 7.

Be content with your wages.] oywnioiv. The word signifies not 
only the money which was allotted to a Roman soldier, which 
was tico oboli, about three halfpence per day, but also the 
necessary supply of wheat, barley, &c. See Raphelius.

Verse 15. Whether he were the Christ] So general was the 
reformation which was produced by the Baptist's preaching 
that the people were ready to consider him as the promised 
Messiah. Thus John came in the spirit and power of Elijah, 
and reformed all things; showed the people, the tax-
gatherers, and the soldiers, their respective duties, and 
persuaded them to put away the evil of their doings. See the 
note on Matt. xvii. 11.

Verse 16.-17. On these verses see Matt. iii. 11, 12, and Mark 
i. 7, 8, and particularly the note on John iii. 5.

Verse 19. Herod the tetrarch] See this subject explained at 
large, Matt. xiv. 1, &c., and Mark vi. 21, 23.

Verse 21. Jesus-being baptized] See on Matt. iii. 16, 17.

Verse 23. Thirty years of age] This was the age required by 
the law, to which the priests must arrive before they could 
be installed in their office: see Num. iv. 3.

Being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph] This same phrase 
is used by Herodotus to signify one who was only reputed to 
be the son of a particular person: touton paiv nomizetai he 
was SUPPOSED to be this man's son. Much learned labour has 
been used to reconcile this genealogy with that in St. 
Matthew, Matt. i. 1-17, and there are several ways of doing 
it; the following, which appears to me to be the best, is 
also the most simple and easy. For a more elabourate 
discussion of the subject, the reader is referred to the 
additional observations at the end of the chapter.

MATTHEW, in descending from Abraham to Joseph, the spouse of 
the blessed virgin, speaks of SONS properly such, by way of 
natural generation: Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat 
Jacob, &c. But Luke, in ascending from the saviour of the 
world to GOD himself, speaks of sons either properly or 
improperly such: on this account he uses an indeterminate 
mode of expression, which may be applied to sons either 
putatively or really such. And Jesus himself began to be 
about thirty years of age, being, as was SUPPOSED the son of 
Joseph-of Heli-of Matthat, &c.

This receives considerable support from Raphelius's method of 
reading the original wn (wv enomizeto uiov iwshf) tou Æhli, 
being (when reputed the son of Joseph) the son of Heli, &c. 
That St. Luke does not always speak of sons properly such, is 
evident from the first and last person which he names: Jesus 
Christ was only the supposed son of Joseph, because Joseph 
was the husband of his mother Mary: and Adam, who is said to 
be the son of God, was such only by creation. After this 
observation it is next necessary to consider, that, in the 
genealogy described by St. Luke, there are two sons 
improperly such: i.e. two sons-in-law, instead of two sons. 
As the Hebrews never permitted women to enter into their 
genealogical tables, whenever a family happened to end with a 
daughter, instead of naming her in the genealogy, they 
inserted her husband, as the son of him who was, in reality, 
but his father-in-law. This import, bishop Pearce has fully 
shown, nomizesqai bears, in a variety of places-Jesus was 
considered according to law, or allowed custom, to be the son 
of Joseph, as he was of Heli. The two sons-in-law who are to 
be noticed in this genealogy are Joseph the son-in-law of 
Heli, whose own father was Jacob, Matt. i. 16; and Salathiel, 
the son-in-law of Neri, whose own father was Jechonias: 1 
Chron. iii. 17, and Matthew i. 12.

This remark alone is sufficient to remove every difficulty. 
Thus it appears that Joseph, son of Jacob, according to St. 
Matthew, was son-in-law of Heli, according to St. Luke. And 
Salathiel, son of Jechonias, according to the former, was 
son-in-law of Neri, according to the latter. Mary therefore 
appears to have been the daughter of Heli; so called by 
abbreviation for Heliachim, which is the same in Hebrew with 
Joachim. Joseph, son of Jacob, and Mary; daughter of Heli, 
were of the same family: both came from ZerubbHebel; Joseph 
from Abiud, his eldest son, Matt. i. 13, and Mary by Rhesa, 
the youngest. See ver. 27. Salathiel and ZorobHebel, from 
whom St. Matthew and St. Luke cause Christ to proceed, were 
themselves descended from Solomon in a direct line: and 
though St. Luke says that Salathiel was son of Neri, who was 
descended from Nathan, Solomon's eldest brother, 1 Chron. 
iii. 5, this is only to be understood of his having espoused 
Nathan's daughter, and that Neri dying, probably, without 
male issues the two branches of the family of David, that of 
Nathan and that of Solomon, were both united in the person of 
ZerubbHebel, by the marriage of Salathiel, chief of the regal 
family of Solomon, with the daughter of Neri, chief and 
heretrix of the family of Nathan. Thus it appears that Jesus, 
son of Mary, reunited in himself all the blood, privileges, 
and rights of the whole family of David; in consequence of 
which he is emphatically called, The son of David. It is 
worthy of being remarked that St. Matthew, who wrote 
principally for the Jews, extends his genealogy to Abraham 
through whom the promise of the Messiah was given to the 
Jews; but St. Luke, who wrote his history for the instruction 
of the Gentiles, extends his genealogy to Adam, to whom the 
promise of the Redeemer was given in behalf of himself and of 
all his posterity. See the notes on Matt. i. 1, &c.

Verse 36. Of Cainan] This Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, and 
father of Sala, is not found in any other Scripture 
genealogy. See Gen. x. 24; xi. 12; 1 Chron. i. 18, 24, where 
Arphaxad is made the father of Sala, and no mention at all 
made of Cainan. Some suppose that Cainan was a surname of 
Sala, and that the names should be read together thus, The 
son of Heber, the son of Salacainan, the son of Arphaxad, &c. 
If this does not untie the knot, it certainly cuts it; and 
the reader may pass on without any great scruple or 
embarrassment. There are many sensible observations on this 
genealogy in the notes at the end of Bishop Newcome's 
Harmony.

CHAPTER iv.

Christ's temptation, 1-13. Teaches in the synagogues of 
Galilee, 14, 15.He preaches tn a synagogue at Nazareth, 16-
28. They attempt to kill him, 29, 30. He preaches in 
Capernaum, 31, 32, and casts out a demon, 33-37. Heals 
Peter's mother-in-law, and various others, 38-41. He goes to 
the desert, and preaches afterwards in the synagogues of 
Galilee, 42-44.

NOTES ON CHAP. iv

Verse 1. Was led by the Spirit] Or, And was carried about, 
hgeto.

Matthew says, avhcqh, he was brought up. Mark says, the 
Spirit driveth him ekballei-putteth him forth. But each of 
the evangelists attributes this to the Holy Ghost, not to 
Satan. It may be useful to remark here, that, during the 
forty days and forty nights in which he is said to have been 
tempted by the devil, he is carried about, continually 
sustained and supported, by the Holy Ghost. Let those who are 
tempted by Satan look for, and, in virtue of the power and 
intercession of Christ, claim, the same support; and it 
matters little how many days they may be assaulted by the 
devil, while they are carried about by the Spirit of God.

Verse 7. If thou-wilt worship me] This temptation is the last 
in order, as related by Matthew; and it is not reasonable to 
suppose that any other succeeded to it. Luke has here told 
the particulars, but not in the order in which they took 
place. See every circumstance of this temptation considered 
and explained in the notes on Matt. iv. 1-11.

Verse 14. Returned in the power of the Spirit] en th dunamei 
tou pneumatov, In the mighty power of the Spirit. Having now 
conquered the grand adversary, he comes in the miracle-
working energy of the Spirit to show forth his power, 
godhead, and love to the people, that they might believe and 
be saved. He who, through the grace of God, resists and 
overcomes temptation, is always bettered by it. This is one 
of the wonders of God's grace, that those very things which 
are designed for our utter ruin he makes the instruments of 
our greatest good. Thus Satan is ever duped by his own 
proceedings, and caught in his own craft.

Verse 15. And he taught in their synagogues] We do not find 
that even the persecuting Jews ever hindered Christ or his 
disciples from preaching in their synagogues. Is it the same 
in every place where even the Christian religion is 
established by law? Would Jesus, or his apostles, or their 
most Scriptural representatives, be permitted to preach in 
one out of a thousand churches, in certain countries, unless 
they were strictly conformed to their external ecclesiastical 
customs? Nor even then, unless their doctrine were according 
to the taste of the managers and of the times.

Glorified of all.] All felt the power of his preaching, and 
acknowledged the divinity of his mission. The scandal of the 
cross had not yet taken place.

Verse 16. To Nazareth, where he had been brought up] It is 
likely that our Lord lived principally in this city till the 
30th year of his age; but, after he entered on his public 
ministry, his usual place of residence was at the house of 
Peter, in Capernaum.

As his custom was] Our Lord regularly attended the public 
worship of God in the synagogues; for there the Scriptures 
were read: other parts of the worship were very corrupt; but 
it was the best at that time to be found in the land. To 
worship God publicly is the duty of every man, and no man can 
be guiltless who neglects it. If a person cannot get such 
public worship as he likes, let him frequent such as he can 
get. Better to attend the most indifferent than to stay at 
home, especially on the Lord's day.

The place and the time are set apart for the worship of the 
true God: if others do not conduct themselves well in it, 
that is not your fault, and need not be any hinderance to 
you. You come to worship GOD-do not forget your errand-and 
God will supply the lack in the service by the teachings of 
his Spirit. Hear the saying of old Mr. Herbert:- "The worst 
speak something good: should all want sense, God takes the 
text, and preacheth p-a-t-i-e-n-c-e." A man may always profit 
where the word of God is read.

Stood up for to read.] The Jews, in general, sat while they 
taught or commented on the Sacred Writings, or the traditions 
of the elders; but when they read either the law or the 
prophets they invariably stood up: it was not lawful for them 
even to lean against any thing while employed in reading.

Verse 17. And when he had opened the book] anaptuzav, When he 
had unrolled it. The Sacred Writings used to this day, in all 
the Jewish synagogues, are written on skins of basil, 
parchment, or vellum, sewed end to end, and rolled on two 
rollers, beginning at each end; so that, in reading from 
right to left, they roll off with the left, while they roll 
on with the right. Probably the place in the Prophet Isaiah, 
here referred to, was the lesson for that day; and Jesus 
unrolled the manuscript till he came to the place: then, 
after having read, he rolled it up again, and returned it to 
the officer, chap. iv. 20, the ruler of the synagogue, or his 
servant, whose business it was to take care of it. The place 
that he opened was probably the section for the day. See the 
table at the end of Deuteronomy, and the note at the end of 
that table.

Verse 18. The Spirit of the Lord] This is found in Isa. lxi. 
1; but our Lord immediately adds to it Isa. xlii. 7. The 
proclaiming of liberty to the captives, and the acceptable 
year (or year of acceptance) of the Lord, is a manifest 
allusion to the proclaiming of the year of jubilee by sound 
of trumpet: see Lev. xxv. 9, &c., and the notes there. This 
was a year of general release of debts and obligations; of 
bond-men and women; of lands and possessions, which had been 
sold from the families and tribes to which they belonged. Our 
saviour, by applying this text to himself, a text so 
manifestly relating to the institution above mentioned, 
plainly declares the typical design of that institution.-
LOWTH.

He hath anointed me] I have been designed and set apart for 
this very purpose; my sole business among men is to proclaim 
glad tidings to the poor, &c. All the functions of this new 
prophet are exercised on the hearts of men; and the grace by 
which he works in the heart is a grace of healing, 
deliverance, and illumination; which, by an admirable virtue, 
causes them to pass from sickness to health, from slavery to 
liberty, from darkness to light, and from the lowest degrees 
of misery to supreme eternal happiness. See Quesnel. To those 
who feel their spiritual poverty, whose hearts are broken 
through a sense of their sins, who see themselves tied and 
bound with the chains of many evil habits, who sit in the 
darkness of guilt and misery, without a friendly hand to lead 
them in the way in which they should go-to these, the Gospel 
of the grace of Christ is a pleasing sound, because a present 
and full salvation is proclaimed by it; and the present is 
shown to be the acceptable year of the Lord; the year, the 
time, in which he saves to the uttermost all who come unto 
him in the name of his Son Jesus. Reader! what dost thou 
feel? Sin-wretchedness-misery of every description? Then come 
to Jesus-He will save THEE-he came into the world for this 
very purpose. Cast thy soul upon him, and thou shalt not 
perish, but have everlasting life.

Verse 20. Were fastened on him.] Were attentively fixed on 
him. The proper import of atenizontev autw.

Verse 22. At the gracious words] To the words of grace, epi 
toiv logoiv thv caritov, or the doctrines of grace, which he 
then preached. It is very strange that none of the 
evangelists give us any account of this sermon! There was 
certainly more of it than is related in chap. iv. 21.

To-day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears; which seems 
to have been no more than the first sentence he spoke on the 
occasion. Had it been necessary for our salvation, it would 
have been recorded. It was a demonstration to those Jews, 
that Jesus, who preached to them, was the person of whom the 
prophet there spoke: it was not designed for general 
edification. Let us make a good use of what we have got, and 
we shalt not regret that this sermon is lost. The ear is 
never satisfied with hearing: we wish for another and another 
revelation, while sadly unacquainted with the nature and 
design of that which God's mercy has already given us.

Verse 23. Physician, heal thyself] That is, heal the broken-
hearted in thy own country, as the latter clause of the verse 
explains it; but they were far from being in a proper spirit 
to receive the salvation which he was ready to communicate; 
and therefore they were not healed.

Verse 24. No prophet is accepted] See on Matt. xiii. 55-57.

Verse 25. In the days of Elias] See this history, 1 Kings 
xvii. 1-9, compared with 1 Kings xviii. 1-45. This was 
evidently a miraculous interference, as no rain fell for 
three years and six months, even in the rainy seasons. There 
were two of these in Judea, called the first and the latter 
rains; the first fell in October, the latter in April: the 
first prepared the ground for the seed, the latter ripened 
the harvest. As both these rains were withheld, consequently 
there was a great famine throughout all the land.

Verse 26. Unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto 
Sarepta] The sentence is elliptical, and means this: To none 
of them was Elias sent; he was not sent except to Sarepta; 
for the widow at Sarepta was a Sidonian, not a widow of 
Israel. PEARCE.-Sarepta was a pagan city in the country of 
Sidon, in the vicinity of Galilee.

Verse 27. None of them was cleansed] This verse is to be 
understood as the 26th; for Naaman, being a Syrian, was no 
leper in Israel. The meaning of these verses is, God 
dispenses his benefits when, where, and to whom he pleases. 
No person can complain of his conduct in these respects, 
because no person deserves any good from his hand. God never 
punishes any but those who deserve it; but he blesses 
incessantly those who deserve it not. The reason is evident: 
justice depends on certain rules; but beneficence is free. 
Beneficence can bless both the good and the evil; justice can 
punish the latter only. Those who do not make this 
distinction must have a very confused notion of the conduct 
of Divine Providence among men.

Verse 28. Were filled with wrath] They seem to have drawn the 
following conclusion from what our Lord spoke: "The Gentiles 
are more precious in the sight of God than the Jews; and to 
them his miracles of mercy and kindness shall be principally 
confined." This was pretty near the truth, as the event 
proved. Those who profit not by the light of God, while it is 
among them, shall have their candle extinguished. The kingdom 
of God was taken from the Jews, and given to the Gentiles; 
not because the Gentiles were better than they were, but 
because, 1st. The Jews had forfeited their privileges; and 
2dly. Because Christ saw that the Gentiles would bring forth 
the fruits of the kingdom.

Verse 29. The brow of the hill] Mr. Maundrel tells us that 
this is still called "the Mountain of the Precipitation, and 
is half a league southward of Nazareth. In going to it, you 
cross first over the vale in which Nazareth stands; and then 
going down two or three furlongs, in a narrow cleft between 
the rocks, you there clamber up a short but difficult way on 
the right hand; at the top of which you find a great stone 
standing on the brink of a precipice, which is said to be the 
very place where our Lord was destined to be thrown down by 
his enraged neighbours." Maundrel's Journey, p. 116. Edit. 
5th. 1732.

Verse 30. Passing through the midst of them] Either he shut 
their eyes so that they could not see him; or he so overawed 
them by his power as to leave them no strength to perform 
their murderous purpose. The man Christ Jesus was immortal 
till his time came; and all his messengers are immortal till 
their work is done. The following relation of a fact presents 
a scene something similar to what I suppose passed on this 
occasion: A missionary, who had been sent to a strange land 
to proclaim the Gospel of the kingdom of God, and who had 
passed through many hardships, and was often in danger of 
losing his life, through the persecutions excited against 
him, came to a place where he had often before, at no small 
risk, preached Christ crucified. About fifty people, who had 
received good impressions from the word of God, assembled: he 
began his discourse; and, after he had preached about thirty 
minutes, an outrageous mob surrounded the house, armed with 
different instruments of death, and breathing the most 
sanguinary purposes. Some that were within shut the door; and 
the missionary and his flock betook themselves to prayer. The 
mob assailed the house, and began to hurl stones against the 
walls, windows, and roof; and in a short time almost every 
tile was destroyed, and the roof nearly uncovered, and before 
they quitted the premises scarcely left one square inch of 
glass in the five windows by which the house was enlightened.

While this was going forward, a person came with a pistol to 
the window opposite to the place where the preacher stood, 
(who was then exhorting his flock to be steady, to resign 
themselves to God, and trust in him,) presented it at him, 
and snapped it; but it only flashed in the pan! As the house 
was a wooden building, they began with crows and spades to 
undermine it, and take away its principal supports. The 
preacher then addressed his little flock to this effect: 
"These outrageous people seek not you, but me; if I continue 
in the house, they will soon pull it down, and we shall be 
all buried in its ruins; I will therefore, in the name of 
God, go out to them, and you will be safe." He then went 
towards the door; the poor people got round him, and 
entreated him not to venture out, as he might expect to be 
instantly massacred; he went calmly forward, opened the door, 
at which a whole volley of stones and dirt was that instant 
discharged; but he received no damage. The people were in 
crowds in all the space before the door, and filled the road 
for a considerable way, so that there was no room to pass or 
repass. As soon as the preacher made his appearance, the 
savages became instantly as silent and as still as night: he 
walked forward; and they divided to the right and to the 
left, leaving a passage of about four feet wide for himself 
and a young man who followed him, to walk in. He passed on 
through the whole crowd, not a soul of whom either lifted a 
hand, or spoke one word, till he and his companion had gained 
the uttermost skirts of the mob! The narrator, who was 
present on the occasion, goes on to say: "This was one of the 
most affecting spectacles I ever witnessed; an infuriated 
mob, without any visible cause, (for the preacher spoke not 
one word,) became in a moment as calm as lambs! They seemed 
struck with amazement bordering on stupefaction; they stared 
and stood speechless; and, after they had fallen back to 
right and left to leave him a free passage, they were as 
motionless as statues! They assembled with the full purpose 
to destroy the man who came to show them the way of 
salvation; but he, passing through the midst of them, went 
his way. Was not the God of missionaries in this work? The 
next Lord's day, the missionary went to the same place, and 
again proclaimed the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of 
the world!"

Verse 31. Came down to Capernaum] Which it is likely he made 
his ordinary place of residence from this time. See on Matt. 
iv. 13.

Verse 32. His word was with power.] en exousia, With 
authority. He assumed the tone and manner of a new Lawgiver; 
and uttered all his doctrines, not in the way of exhortation 
or advice, but in the form of precepts and commands, the 
unction of the Holy Spirit accompanying all he said. See on 
Mark i. 22.

Verse 33. A spirit of an unclean devil] As demon was used 
both in a good and bad sense before and after the time of the 
evangelists the word unclean may have been added here by St. 
Luke, merely to express the quality of this spirit. But it is 
worthy of remark, that the inspired writers never use the 
word daimwn, demon, in a good sense. See the whole of this 
case explained, Mark i. 23, &c.

Verse 35. And hurt him not.] Though he convulsed him, Mark 
ii. 26, and threw him down in the midst of them, probably 
with the design to take away his life, yet our Lord permitted 
it not; and this appears to be the meaning of the place. The 
spirit was not permitted essentially to injure him at that 
time.

Verse 37. The fame] hcov, the sound. This is a very elegant 
metaphor.

The people are represented as struck with astonishment, and 
the sound goes out through all the coasts; in allusion to the 
propagation of sound, by a smart stroke upon any substance, 
by which the air is suddenly agitated, and conveys the report 
made by the stroke to distant places. So this miracle was 
told to others by those who saw it, and they to others still, 
till it was heard through all the coasts of Galilee, Mark i. 
28.

Verse 38. Simon's wife's mother] See on Matt. viii. 14-17. As 
soon as Peter began to follow Christ, his family began to 
benefit by it. It is always profitable to contract an 
acquaintance with good men. One person full of faith and 
prayer may be the means of drawing down innumerable blessings 
on his family and acquaintance. Every person who knows the 
virtue and authority of Christ should earnestly seek his 
grace in behalf of all the spiritually diseased in his 
household; nor can he seek the aid of Christ in vain.

Verse 40. When the sun was setting] And consequently the 
Sabbath ended, for before this it would have been unlawful to 
have brought their sick to be healed.

Verse 42. And the people sought him] Rather, Sought him 
earnestly.

Instead of ezhtoun, sought, I read, epezhtoun, earnestly 
sought. This reading is supported by ABCDFLMS-V, and more 
than seventy others.

Wetstein and Griesbach have both received it into the text. 
The people had tasted the good word of God, and now they 
cleave to Christ with their whole heart. Hearing the words of 
Christ, and feeling the influence of his Spirit upon the 
soul, will attract and influence the heart; and indeed 
nothing else can do it.

And stayed him] Strove to detain him; kateicon auton they 
caught hold of him. Thus showing their great earnestness to 
be farther instructed.

Verse 43. I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities] 
To proclaim the kingdom of God was the Messiah's great work; 
healing the diseases of the people was only an emblematical 
and secondary work, a work that was to be the proof of his 
goodness, and the demonstration of his authority to preach 
the Gospel, and open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

SOME have found both a difficulty and a mystery in the 
shutting up of heaven in the time of the Prophet Elijah. It 
was, no doubt, emblematical of the hardened and impenitent 
state of the Israelites, and of the judgments of God in 
withholding those Divine influences which they had so often 
abused. As to the difficulty of the six months, which both 
our Lord here, and St. James, James v. 17, mention, and which 
are not mentioned in the book of Kings whence the account is 
taken, it may be easily understood thus. The rains, we have 
already seen, fell in Judea twice in the year, about April, 
and about October. At this latter period, when the rain was 
expected, the prophet prayed that it might not rain; the rain 
therefore of Marchesvan, or October, &c., was then 
restrained: this restraint continued for three full years; 
but six months had elapsed from Nisan, April, &c., when they 
had their last rain, add these six months to the three full 
years that the rain was restrained at the prayer of Elijah, 
and then we have the period of three years and six months, 
according to our Lord and Saint James. By this the justice of 
God was shown: but behold his mercy in that rain of grace 
which fell so abundantly by the preaching of Christ during 
the three years and six months of his public ministry! Thus 
the difficulty is solved, and the mystery explained. Reader, 
the most awful famine is a famine of the word of God: thou 
art not yet tried in this way: behold the goodness and 
severity of God! While thou hast the light, walk as a child 
of the light; and let it not be thy curse and condemnation, 
that while others, by reading and hearing the word of God, 
are plenteously watered, thy fleece alone should be found 
dry. How unutterable must the wo of those be, who live and 
die infidels under the preaching of the Gospel of Christ! Let 
him that readeth, understand.

CHAPTER v

The miraculous draught of fishes at the lake of Gennesaret, 
1-11. Christ heals a leper, 12-14. His fame being published 
abroad, he withdraws to the desert, 15, 16. He heals a 
paralytic person, at which the scribes and Pharisees murmur, 
but the people glorify God, 17-26. He calls the publican 
Levi, who makes a feast for Christ, to which he invites a 
great number of publicans and others, at which the scribes 
and Pharisees murmur, and our Lord vindicates his conduct, 
27-32. The question about fasting answered, 33-35. The 
parable of the new piece of cloth put on the old garment, and 
the new wine in old bottles, 36-39.

NOTES ON CHAP. v

Verse 1. The people pressed upon him] There was a glorious 
prospect of a plentiful harvest, but how few of these blades 
came to full corn in the ear! To hear with diligence and 
affection is well; but a preacher of the Gospel may expect 
that, out of crowds of hearers, only a few, comparatively, 
will fully receive the truth, and hold out to the end.

To hear the word of God] tou logon tou qeou, The doctrine of 
God, or, the heavenly doctrine.

The lake of Gennesaret] Called also the sea of Galilee, 
Matthew iv. 18, and Mark i. 16; and the sea of Tiberias, John 
vi. 1. It was, according to Josephus, forty furlongs in 
breadth, and one hundred and forty in length.

No synagogue could have contained the multitudes who attended 
our Lord's ministry; and therefore he was obliged to preach 
in the open air.

But this also some of the most eminent rabbins were in the 
habit of doing; though among some of their brethren it was 
not deemed reputable.

Verse 2. Two ships] duo ploia, Two vessels, It is highly 
improper to term these ships. They appear to have been only 
such small boats as are used to manage nets on flat smooth 
beaches: one end of the net is attached to the shore; the 
fishermen row out, and drop the net as they go, making a kind 
of semicircle from the shore; they return, and bring the rope 
attached to the other end with them, and then the net is 
hauled on shore; and, as it was sunk with weights to the 
bottom, and floated with corks at the top, all the fish in 
that compass were included, and drawn to shore.

Verse 3. And taught-out of the ship.] They pressed so much 
upon him on the land, through their eagerness to hear the 
doctrine of life, that he could not conveniently speak to 
them, and so was obliged to get into one of the boats; and, 
having pushed a little out from the land, he taught them.

The smooth still water of the lake must have served 
excellently to convey the sounds to those who stood on the 
shore;

Verse 5. Simon-said-Master] epistata. This is the first place 
where this word occurs; it is used by none of the inspired 
penmen but Luke, and he applies it only to our blessed Lord. 
It properly signifies a prefect, or one who is set over 
certain affairs or persons: it is used also for an 
instructer, or teacher. Peter considered Christ, from what he 
had heard, as teacher of a Divine doctrine, and as having 
authority to command, &c. He seems to comprise both ideas in 
this appellation; he listened attentively to his teaching, 
and readily obeyed his orders. To hear attentively, and obey 
cheerfully, are duties we owe, not only to the sovereign 
Master of the world, but also to ourselves. No man ever took 
Jesus profitably for his teacher, who did not at the same 
time receive him as his Lord.

We have toiled all the night] They had cast the net several 
times in the course of the night, and drew it to shore 
without success, and were now greatly disheartened. I have 
seen several labourious draughts of this kind made without 
fruit. All labour must be fruitless where the blessing of God 
is not; but especially that of the ministry. It is the 
presence and influence of Christ, in a congregation, that 
cause souls to be gathered unto himself: without these, 
whatever the preacher's eloquence or abilities may be, all 
will be night, and fruitless labour.

At thy word I will let down the net.] He who assumes the 
character of a fisher of men, under any authority that does 
not proceed from Christ, is sure to catch nothing; but he who 
labours by the order and under the direction of the great 
Shepherd and Bishop of souls, cannot labour in vain.

Verse 6. Their net brake.] Or, began to break, dierrhgnuto, 
or, was likely to be broken. Had it broke, as our version 
states, they could have caught no fish. Grammarians give the 
following rule concerning words of this kind. Verba 
completiva inchoative intelligenda. Verbs which signify the 
accomplishment of a thing, are often to be understood as only 
signifying the beginning of that accomplishment. Raphelius 
gives some very pertinent examples of this out of Herodotus.

Verse 7. They beckoned unto their partners] Had not these 
been called in to assist, the net must have been broken, and 
all the fish lost. What a pity there should be such envious 
separation among the different sects that profess to believe 
in Christ Jesus! Did they help each other in the spirit of 
Christian fellowship, more souls would be brought to the 
knowledge of the truth. Some will rather leave souls to 
perish than admit of partners in the sacred work. It is an 
intolerable pride to think nothing well done but what we do 
ourselves; and a diabolic envy to be afraid lest others 
should be more successful than we are.

They-filled both the ships] Both the boats had as many as 
they could carry, and were so heavily laden that they were 
ready to sink. As one justly observes, "There are fish plenty 
to be taken, were there skillful hands to take, and vessels 
to contain them. Many are disputing about the size, capacity, 
and goodness of their nets and their vessels, while the fish 
are permitted to make their escape." Did the faithful fishers 
in both the vessels in these lands (the established Church, 
and the various branches of the dissenting interest) join 
heartily together, the nations might be converted to God; 
but, while the ridiculous disputes for and against particular 
forms last, there can be no unity. Were men as zealous to 
catch souls, as they are to support their particular creeds, 
and forms of worship, the state of Christianity would be more 
flourishing than it is at present.

But the wall of separation is continually strengthened, each 
party fortifying it on his own side.

Verse 8. Depart from me; for I am a sinful man] exelqe apÆ 
emou, Go out from me, i.e. from my boat. Peter was fully 
convinced that this draught of fish was a miraculous one; and 
that God himself had particularly interfered in this matter, 
whose presence and power he reverenced in the person of 
Jesus. But as he felt himself a sinner, he was afraid the 
Divine purity of Christ could not possibly endure him; 
therefore he wished for a separation from that power, which 
he was afraid might break forth and consume him. It seems to 
have been a received maxim among the Jews, that whoever had 
seen a particular manifestation of God should speedily die.

Hence Jacob seemed astonished that his life should have been 
preserved, when he had seen God face to face, Gen. xxxii. 30. 
So the nobles of Israel saw God, and yet did eat and drink; 
for on them he had laid not his hand, i.e. to destroy them, 
though it appears to have been expected by them, in 
consequence of this discovery which he made of himself. See 
Exod. xxiv. 10, 11, and the notes there. This supposition of 
the Jews seems to have been founded on the authority of God 
himself, Exod. xxxiii. 20: There shall no man see my FACE and 
LIVE. So Moses, Deuteronomy v. x16: Who is there of all flesh 
that hath heard the voice of the living God, speaking out of 
the midst of the fire as we have, and LIVED? So Gideon 
expected to be immediately slain, because he had seen an 
angel of the Lord, and a miracle performed by him. See Judg. 
vi. 21-23. So likewise Manoah and his wife, Judges xiii. 22: 
We shall surely DIE, for we have SEEN GOD. These different 
passages sufficiently show in what sense these words of Peter 
are to be understood.

Verse 10. Thou shalt catch men.] anqrwpouv esh zwgrwn, Thou 
shalt catch men alive; this is the proper signification of 
the word. Fear not: these discoveries of God tend to life, 
not to death; and ye shall become the instruments of life and 
salvation to a lost world. These fish are taken to be killed 
and fed on; but those who are converted under your ministry 
shall be preserved unto eternal life. See on Matt. iv. 18, 
&c., where this subject is considered more at large.

Verse 11. They forsook all, and followed him.] God expects 
this from every person, and especially from those in whose 
hearts, or in whose behalf, he has wrought a miracle of grace 
or of providence. Jesus intended to call Peter, James, and 
John, to become his disciples; and that they might see the 
propriety and importance of the call, he:-1st.

TEACHES in their presence, that they may know his doctrine.

2dly. He WORKS a MIRACLE before their eyes, that they might 
see and be convinced of his power.

3dly. He CALLS them to go forth with this doctrine, and 
through this power, that they might teach the ignorant, and 
be successful in their work.

Verse 12. A certain city] This was some city of Galilee; 
probably Chorazin or Bethsaida.

A man full of leprosy] See this disease, and the cure, 
largely explained on Matt. viii. 2-4; and see it particularly 
applied to the use of public preaching, Mark i. 40, &c. See 
also the notes on Leviticus 13, and 14. 

Verse 14. And offer for thy cleansing] A Hindoo, after 
recovering from sickness, presents the offerings he had vowed 
when in distress, as a goat, sweetmeats, milk, or any thing 
directed by the Shaster. All nations agreed in these 
gratitude-offerings for benefits received from the object of 
their worship.

Verse 16. And he withdrew himself into the wilderness] Or 
rather, He frequently withdrew into the desert. This I 
believe to be the import of the original words, hn upocwrwn. 
He made it a frequent custom to withdraw from the multitudes 
for a time, and pray, teaching hereby the ministers of the 
Gospel that they are to receive fresh supplies of light and 
power from God by prayer, that they may be the more 
successful in their work; and that they ought to seek 
frequent opportunities of being in private with God and their 
books. A man can give nothing unless he first receive it; and 
no man can be successful in the ministry who does not 
constantly depend upon God, for the excellence of the power 
is all from him. Why is there so much preaching, and so 
little good done? Is it not because the preachers mix too 
much with the world, keep too long in the crowd, and are so 
seldom in private with God? Reader! Art thou a herald for the 
Lord of hosts? Make full proof of thy ministry! Let it never 
be said of thee, "He forsook all to follow Christ, and to 
preach his Gospel, but there was little or no fruit of his 
labour; for he ceased to be a man of prayer, and got into the 
spirit of the world." Alas! alas! is this luminous star, that 
was once held in the right hand of Jesus, fallen from the 
firmament of heaven, down to the EARTH!

Verse 17. On a certain day] This was when he was at 
Capernaum. See Mark ii. 1.

The power of the Lord] dunamiv kuriou The mighty or 
miraculous power of the Lord, i.e. of Jesus, was there to 
heal them-as many as were diseased either in body or soul. 
Where the teaching of Christ is, there also is the power of 
Christ to redeem and save.

Verse 18. A man-taken with a palsy] See this case described 
on Matt. ix. 1, &c., and Mark ii. 1, &c.

Verse 19. Went upon the housetop] See on Matt. xxiv. 17.

Verse 21. Who can forgive sins, but God alone?] If Jesus were 
not God, he could not forgive sins; and his arrogating this 
authority would have been blasphemy against God, in the most 
proper sense of the word.

That these scribes and Pharisees might have the fullest proof 
of his Godhead, he works in their presence three miracles, 
which from their nature could only be effected by an 
omniscient and omnipotent Being. The miracles are: 1. The 
remission of the poor man's sins. 2. The discernment of the 
secret thoughts of the scribes. 3. The restoration of the 
paralytic in an instant to perfect soundness. See on Matt. 
ix. 5, 6.

Verse 26. Strange things] paradoxa, paradoxes. A paradox is 
something that appears false and absurd, but is not really 
so: or, something contrary to the commonly received opinion. 
We have seen wonders wrought which seem impossible; and we 
should conclude them to be tricks and illusions, were it not 
for the indisputable evidence we have of their reality.

Verse 27. Levi] See on Matt. ix. 9; Mark ii. 14.

Verse 28. And he left all] katalipwn-completely abandoning 
his office, and every thing connected with it. He who wishes 
to preach the Gospel, like the disciples of Christ, must have 
no earthly entanglement. If he have, his whole labour will be 
marred by it. The concerns of his own soul, and those of the 
multitudes to whom he preaches, are sufficient to engross all 
his attention, and to employ all his powers.

Verse 29. A great feast] dochn megalhn, A splendid 
entertainment. The word refers more properly to the number of 
the guests, and the manner in which they were received, than 
to the quality or quantity of the fare. A great number of his 
friends and acquaintance was collected on the occasion, that 
they might be convinced of the propriety of the change he had 
made, when they had the opportunity of seeing and hearing his 
heavenly teacher.

Verse 30. Why do ye eat and drink, &c.] See what passed at 
this entertainment considered at large on Matt. ix. 10-17; 
Mark ii. 15-22.

Verse 37. The new wine will burst the bottles] These old 
bottles would not be able to stand the fermentation of the 
new wine, as the old sewing would be apt to give way. It is 
scarcely necessary to remark, that the eastern bottles are 
made of skins; generally those of goats.

Verse 39. The old is better.] crhstoterov-Is more agreeable 
to the taste or palate. Herodotus, the scholiast on 
Aristophanes, and Homer, use the word in this sense. See 
Raphelius. The old wine, among the rabbins, was the wine of 
three leaves; that is, wine three years old; because, from 
the time that the vine had produced that wine, it had put 
forth its leaves three times. See Lightfoot.

1. THE miraculous draught of fishes-the cleansing of the 
leper-the healing of the paralytic person-the calling of 
Levi-and the parable of the old and new bottles, and the old 
and new wine-all related in this chapter, make it not only 
very entertaining, but highly instructive. There are few 
chapters in the New Testament from which a preacher of the 
Gospel can derive more lessons of instruction; and the reader 
would naturally expect a more particular explanation of its 
several parts, had not this been anticipated in the notes and 
observations on Matt. 9,  to which chapter it will be well to 
refer.

2. The conduct as well as the preaching of our Lord is highly 
edifying. His manner of teaching made every thing he spoke 
interesting and impressive.

He had many prejudices to remove, and he used admirable 
address in order to meet and take them out of the way. There 
is as much to be observed in the manner of speaking the 
truth, as in the truth itself, in order to make it effectual 
to the salvation of them who hear it. A harsh, unfeeling 
method of preaching the promises of the Gospel, and a smiling 
manner of producing the terrors of the Lord, are equally 
reprehensible. Some preachers are always severe and 
magisterial: others are always mild and insinuating: neither 
of these can do God's work; and it would take two such to 
make one PREACHER.

CHAPTER vi

The disciples pluck and eat the ears of corn on the Sabbath 
day, and the Pharisees find fault, 1, 2. Our Lord shows the 
true use of the Sabbath, 3-5. He heals the man with the 
withered hand, 6-11. He goes into a mountain to pray, and 
calls twelve disciples, 12-16. Multitudes are instructed and 
healed, 17-19. Pronounces four blessings, 20-23, and four 
woes, 24-26. Gives various instructions about loving our 
enemies, being patient, gentle, kind, grateful, and merciful, 
27-36. Harsh judgments censured, and charity recommended, 37, 
38. The parable of the blind leading the blind, 39. Of the 
mote in a brother's eye, 40-42. Of the good and corrupt tree, 
43, 44. The good and evil treasure of the heart, 45. The 
parable of the two houses, one builded on the rock, and the 
other on the sand, 46-49.

NOTES ON CHAP. vi

Verse 1. On the second Sabbath after the first] en sabbatw 
deuteroprwtw, In the first Sabbath after the second. What 
does this mean? In answering this question, commentators are 
greatly divided. Dr. Whitby speaks thus: "After the first day 
of the passover, (which was a Sabbath, Exod. xii. 16,) ye 
shall count unto you seven Sabbaths complete, Lev. xxiii. 15, 
reckoning that day for the first of the first week, which was 
therefore called deuteroprwton, the first Sabbath from the 
second day of unleavened bread; (the 16th of the month;) the 
second was called deuterodeuteron, the second Sabbath from 
that day; and the third, deuterotriton, the third Sabbath 
from the second day; and so on, till they came to the seventh 
Sabbath from that day, i.e. to the 49th day, which was the 
day of pentecost. The mention of the seven Sabbaths, to be 
numbered with relation to this second day, answers all that 
Grotius objects against this exposition." WHITBY'S Notes.

By this Sabbath seems meant that which immediately followed 
the two great feasts, the first and last day of the passover, 
and was therefore the second after the proper passover day. 
The words in the Greek seem to signify, the second first 
Sabbath; and, in the opinion of some, the Jews had three 
first Sabbaths: viz. the first Sabbath after the passover; 
that after the feast of pentecost; and that after the feast 
of tabernacles. According to which opinion, this second first 
Sabbath must have been the first Sabbath after the pentecost. 
So we have the first Sunday after Epiphany; the first after 
Easter; the first after Trinity; and the first in Lent. Bp. 
PEARCE.

This was the next day after the passover, the day in which 
they were forbidden to labour, Lev. xxiii. 6, and for this 
reason was termed Sabbath, Lev. xxiii. 15; but here it is 
marked by the name, second first Sabbath, because, being the 
day after the passover, it was in this respect the second; 
and it was also the first, because it was the first day of 
unleavened bread, Exodus xii. 15, 16. MARTIN.

I think, with many commentators, that this transaction 
happened on the first Sabbath of the month Nisan; that is, 
after the second day of the feast of unleavened bread. We may 
well suppose that our Lord and his disciples were on their 
way from Jerusalem to Galilee, after having kept the 
passover. Bp. NEWCOME.

The Vulgar Latin renders deuteroprwton, secundoprimum, which 
is literal and right. We translate it, the second Sabbath 
after the first, which is directly wrong; for it should have 
been the first Sabbath after the second day of the passover. 
On the 14th of Nisan, the passover was killed; the next day 
(the 15th) was the first day of the feast of unleavened 
bread; the day following (the 16th) the wave sheaf was 
offered, pursuant to the law, on the morrow after the 
Sabbath: Lev. xviii. 11. The Sabbath, here, is not the 
seventh day of the week, but the first day of the feast of 
unleavened bread, let it fall on what day of the week it 
would. That and the seventh day of that feast were holy 
convocations, and therefore are here called Sabbaths. The 
morrow, therefore, after the Sabbath, i.e. after the 16th day 
of Nisan, was the day in which the wave sheaf was offered; 
and after that seven Sabbaths were counted, and fifty days 
completed, and the fiftieth day inclusively was the day of 
pentecost. Now these Sabbaths, between the passover and 
pentecost, were called the first, second, &c., Sabbaths after 
the second day of the feast of unleavened bread. This 
Sabbath, then, on which the disciples plucked the ears of 
corn, was the first Sabbath after that second day. Dr. 
Lightfoot, has demonstrably proved this to be the meaning of 
this sabbaton deuteroprwton, (Hor. Hebraic. in locum,) and 
from him F. Lamy and Dr. Whitby have so explained it. This 
Sabbath could not fall before the passover, because, till the 
second day of that feast, no Jew might eat either bread or 
parched corn, or green ears, (Lev. xxiii. 14.) Had the 
disciples then gathered these ears of corn on any Sabbath 
before the passover, they would have broken two laws instead 
of one: and for the breach of these two laws they would 
infallibly have been accused; whereas now they broke only 
one, (plucking the ears of standing corn with one's hand, 
being expressly allowed in the law, Deut. xxiii. 25,) which 
was that of the Sabbath. They took a liberty which the law 
gave them upon any other day; and our Lord vindicated them in 
what they did now, in the manner we see. Nor can this fact be 
laid after pentecost; because then the harvest was fully in. 
Within that interval, therefore, this Sabbath happened; and 
this is a plain determination of the time, according to the 
Jewish ways of reckoning, founded upon the text of Moses's 
law itself. Dr. WOTTON'S Miscellaneous Discourses, &c., vol. 
i.

p. 269.

The word deuteroprwtw, the second first, is omitted by BL, 
four others, Syriac, later Arabic, all the Persic, Coptic, 
AEthiopic, and three of the Itala. A note in the margin of 
the later Syriac says, This is not in all copies.

The above MSS. read the verse thus: It came to pass, that he 
walked through the corn fields on a Sabbath day. I suppose 
they omitted the above word, because they found it difficult 
to fix the meaning, which has been too much the case in other 
instances.

Verse 2. Which is not lawful] See on Matt. xii. 2-8.

Verse 3. What David did] See on Mark ii. 26, 27.

Verse 4. After this verse, the Codex Bezae and two ancient 
MSS. quoted by Wechel, have the following extraordinary 
addition: th auth qeasamenov tina ergazomenon tw sabbatw, 
eipen autw, anqrwpe, ei men oidav ti poieiv makariov ei: ei 
de mh oidav epikataratov, kai parabathv eitou nomon. On the 
same day, seeing one working on the Sabbath, he said unto 
him, Man, if indeed thou knowest what thou dost, blessed art 
thou; but if thou knowest not, thou art cursed, and art a 
transgressor of the law. Whence this strange addition 
proceeded, it is hard to tell. The meaning seems to be this: 
If thou now workest on the Jewish Sabbath, from a conviction 
that that Sabbath is abolished, and a new one instituted in 
its place, then happy art thou, for thou hast got Divine 
instruction in the nature of the Messiah's kingdom; but if 
thou doest this through a contempt for the law of God, then 
thou art accursed, forasmuch as thou art a transgressor of 
the law. The Itala version of the Codex Bezae, for parabathv, 
transgressor, has this semi-barbaric word, trabaricator.

Verse 6. Whose right hand was withered.] See on Matt. xii. 
10, &c.

The critic who says that xhran ceira signifies a luxated arm, 
and that the stretching it out restored the bone to its 
proper place, without the intervention of a miracle, deserves 
no serious refutation. See on ver. 10.

Verse 7. Watched him] parethroun, They maliciously watched 
him.

This is the import of the word, chap. xiv. 1; xx. 20, and in 
the parallel place, Mark iii. 2. See Raphelius on the last-
quoted text, who has proved, by several quotations, that this 
is the proper meaning of the term.

An accusation against him.] Instead of kathgorian auton, his 
accusation, several eminent MSS. and versions add kata, 
against, which I find our translators have adopted.

Verse 9. I will ask you one thing] I will put a question to 
you. See on Mark iii. 4, 5.

Verse 10. Whole as the other.] Many MSS., both here and in 
the parallel place, Mark iii. 5, omit the word ugihv, whole. 
Griesbach leaves it out of the text. The hand was restored as 
the other. But had it only been a luxated joint, even 
allowing, with a German critic, that the bone regained its 
place by the effort made to stretch out the arm, without the 
intervention of a miracle, it would have required several 
weeks to restore the muscles and ligaments to their wonted 
tone and strength. Why all this learned labour to leave God 
out of the question?

Verse 11. They were filled with madness] Pride, obstinacy, 
and interest, combined together, are capable of any thing. 
When men have once framed their conscience according to their 
passions, madness passes for zeal, the blackest conspiracies 
for pious designs, and the most horrid attempts for heroic 
actions. QUESNEL.

Verse 12. In prayer to God.] Or, in the prayer of God: or, in 
the oratory of God, en th proseuch tou qeou. So this passage 
is translated by many critics; for which Dr. Whitby gives the 
following reasons: As the mountain of God, Exod. iii. 1; iv. 
27; the bread of God, Lev. xxi. 17; the lamp of God, 1 Sam. 
iii. 3; the vessels of God, 1 Chron. xxii. 19; the altar of 
God, Psa. xliii. 4; the sacrifices of God, Psa. li. 17; the 
gifts of God, chap. xxi. 4; the ministers of God, 2 Cor. vi. 
4; the tabernacle of God, 2 Chron. i. 3; the temple of God, 
Matt. xxi. 12; the synagogues of God, Psa. lxxiv. 8; are all 
things consecrated or appropriated to God's service; so 
proseuch tou qeou must, in all reason, be a house of prayer 
to God; whence it is called topov proseuchv, a place of 
prayer, 1 Mac.

iii. 46; and so the word is certainly used Acts xvi. 13; and 
by Philo, in his oration against Flaccus, where he complains 
that ai proseucai, their houses for prayer were pulled down, 
and there was no place left in which they might worship God, 
or pray for Caesar; and by Josephus, who says the multitude 
was gathered eiv thv proseuchn, into the house of prayer: and 
so Juvenal, Sat. iii. v. 296, speaks to the mendicant Jew:-
Ede ubi consistas; in qua te quaero proseucha? In what house 
of prayer may I find thee begging? See on Acts xvi. 13. But 
on this it may be observed, that as the mountains of God, the 
wind of God, the hail of God, the trees of God, &c., mean 
very high mountains, a very strong wind, great and terrible 
hail, very tall trees, &c., so proseuch tou qeou, here, may 
be very properly translated the prayer of God; i.e. very 
fervent and earnest prayer; and though dianuktereuwn may 
signify, to lodge in a place for a night, yet there are 
various places in the best Greek writers in which it is used, 
not to signify a place, but to pass the night in a particular 
state. So Appian, Bell. Pun. en toiv oploiv dienuktereuve 
meqÆ apantwn-He passed the night under arms with them all. 
Idem, Bell. Civ. lib. v. dienuktereuon-They passed the night 
without food, without any regard to the body, and in the want 
of all things. See more examples in Kypke, who concludes by 
translating the passage thus: He passed the night without 
sleep in prayers to God. Some of the Jews imagine that God 
himself prays; and this is one of his petitions: Let it be my 
good pleasure, that my mercy overcome my wrath. See more in 
Lightfoot.

Verse 13. He chose twelve] eklexamenov apÆ autwn, He chose 
twelve OUT of them. Our Lord at this time had several 
disciples, persons who were converted to God under his 
ministry; and, out of these converts, he chose twelve, whom 
he appointed to the work of the ministry; and called them 
apostles, i.e. persons sent or commissioned by himself, to 
preach that Gospel to others by which they had themselves 
been saved. These were favoured with extraordinary success: 
1. Because they were brought to the knowledge of God 
themselves. 2. Because they received their commission from 
the great Head of the Church. And 3. Because, as he had sent 
them, he continued to accompany their preaching with the 
power of his Spirit. These three things always unite in the 
character of a genuine apostle. See on Matt. x. 1-4.

Verse 15. Called Zelotes] Some Jews gave this name to 
themselves, according to Josephus, (War, b. iv. c. iii. s. 9, 
and vii. c. viii. s. 1,) "because they pretended to be more 
than ordinarily zealous for religion, and yet practised the 
very worst of actions." "But this (says the judicious Bp.

Pearce) Josephus says of the zealots, at the time when 
Vespasian was marching towards Jerusalem. They probably were 
men of a different character above forty years before; which 
was the time when Jesus chose his twelve apostles, one of 
whom had the surname of the Zealot." It is very probable that 
this name was first given to certain persons who were more 
zealous for the cause of pure and undefiled religion than the 
rest of their neighbours; but like many other sects and 
parties who have begun well, they transferred their zeal for 
the essentials of religion to nonessential things, and from 
these to inquisitorial cruelty and murder. See on Matt. x. 4.

Verse 17. And stood in the plain] In Matt. v. 1, which is 
supposed to be the parallel place, our Lord is represented as 
delivering this sermon on the mountain; and this has induced 
some to think that the sermon mentioned here by Luke, though 
the same in substance with that in Matthew, was delivered in 
a different place, and at another time; but, as Dr. Priestly 
justly observes, Matthew's saying that Jesus was sat down 
after he had gone up to the mountain, and Luke's saying that 
he stood on the plain when he healed the sick, before the 
discourse, are no inconsistencies. The whole picture is 
striking. Jesus ascends a mountain, employs the night in 
prayer; and, having thus solemnly invoked the Divine 
blessing, authoritatively separates the twelve apostles from 
the mass of his disciples. He then descends, and heals in the 
plain all the diseased among a great multitude, collected 
from various parts by the fame of his miraculous power. 
Having thus created attention, he likewise satisfies the 
desire of the people to hear his doctrine; and retiring first 
to the mountain whence he came, that his attentive hearers 
might follow him and might better arrange themselves before 
him-Sacro digna silentio mirantur omnes dicere.HORACE. 

All admire his excellent sayings with sacred silence. See 
Bishop Newcome's notes on his Harmony of the Gospels, p. 19.

Verse 20. Blessed be ye poor] See the sermon on the mount 
paraphrased and explained, Matt. 5, 11, 7. 

Verse 22. They shall separate you] Meaning, They will 
excommunicate you, aforiswsin umav, or separate you from 
their communion. Luke having spoken of their separating or 
excommunicating them, continues the same idea, in saying that 
they would cast out their name likewise, as a thing evil in 
itself. By your name is meant their name as his disciples. As 
such, they were sometimes called Nazarenes, and sometimes 
Christians; and both these names were matter of reproach in 
the mouths of their enemies. So James (James ii. 7) says to 
the converts, Do they not blaspheme that worthy name by which 
ye are called? So when St. Paul (in Acts xxiv. 5) is called a 
ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, the character of a 
pestilent fellow, and, that of a mover of sedition, is joined 
to it; and, in Acts xxviii. 22, the Jews say to Paul, As 
concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken 
against; and this is implied in 1 Pet. iv. 14, when he says, 
If ye be reproached for the NAME of Christ, i.e. as 
Christians; agreeably to what follows there in 1 Pet. iv. 16, 
If any man suffer as a Christian, &c. In after times we find 
Pliny, Epist. x. 97, consulting the Emperor Trajan, whether 
or no he should PUNISH the NAME ITSELF, (of Christian,) 
though no evil should be found in it. NOMEN IPSUM, etiam si 
flagitiis careat, PUNIATUR. See PEARCE.

Verse 23. Did-unto the prophets.] See 1 Kings xviii. 4; xix. 
20; 2 Chron. xxiv. 21; xxxvi. 16; Neh. ix. 26.

Verse 24. - 26. But wo unto you that are rich!] The 
Pharisees, who were laden with the spoils of the people which 
they received in gifts, &c.

These three verses are not found in the sermon, as recorded 
by Matthew.

They seem to be spoken chiefly to the scribes and Pharisees, 
who, in order to be pleasing to all, spoke to every one what 
he liked best; and by finesse, flattery, and lies, found out 
the method of gaining and keeping the good opinion of the 
multitude.

Verse 29. Thy cloak-thy coat] In Matt. v. 40, I have said 
that COAT, citwna, signifies under garment, or strait coat; 
and CLOAK, imation, means upper garment, or great coat. This 
interpretation is confirmed by the following observations of 
Bishop Pearce. The citwn was a tunica, or vestcoat, over 
which the Jews and other nations threw an outer coat, or 
gown, called a cloak, Matt. v. 40, (which is meant by 
imation,) when they went abroad, or were not at work. Hence 
the common people at Rome, who did not usually wear, or had 
no right to wear, the toga, are called by Horace tunicatus 
popellus, Epist. i. 7, 65. This account of the difference 
between the citwn and the imation appears plainly from what 
Maximus Tyrius says, The inner garment which is over the body 
they call citwniskon, and the outer one the imation. And so 
Plutarch, (in NUPT.

p. 139, ed. Fran. 1620,) speaking of a man who felt the heat 
of the sun too much for him, says that he put off, ton 
citwna, tw imatiw, his vestcoat also with his cloak.

Verse 30. Ask them not again.] Or, Do not beg them off. This 
probably refers to the way in which the tax-gatherers and 
Roman soldiers used to spoil the people. "When such harpies 
as these come upon your goods, suffer the injury quietly, 
leaving yourselves in the hand of God, rather than attempt 
even to beg off what belongs to you, lest on their part they 
be provoked to seize or spoil more, and lest you be irritated 
to sue them at law, which is totally opposite to the spirit 
and letter of the Gospel; or to speak bad words, or indulge 
wrong tempers, which would wound the spirit of love and 
mercy." Of such as these, and of all merciless creditors, who 
even sell the tools and bed of a poor man, it may be very 
truly said:-Tristius haud illis monstrum, nec saevior ulla 
Pestis et ira deum Stygiis sese extulit undis:-Diripiunt 
dapes, contactaque omnia faedant Immundo:-VIRG. AEn. iii. 
ver. 214 "Monsters more fierce offended heaven ne'er sent 
From hell's abyss, for human punishment:-They snatch the 
meat, defiling all they find." DRYDEN However, it is probable 
that what is here spoken relates to requiring a thing 
speedily that had been lent, while the reason for borrowing 
it still continues. In Ecclus. xx. 15, it is a part of the 
character of a very bad man, that to-day he lendeth, and 
tomorrow will he ask it again. From chap. vi. 27 to ver. 30 
our blessed Lord gives us directions how to treat our 
enemies.

1. Wish them well. 2. Do them good. 3. Speak as well of them 
as possible.

4. Be an instrument of procuring them good from others; use 
your influence in their behalf. 5. Suffer patiently from them 
contempt and ill treatment. 6. Give up your goods rather than 
lose your meekness and charity towards them. The retaliation 
of those who hearken not to their own passion, but to Christ, 
consists in doing more good than they receive evil. Ever 
since our blessed saviour suffered the Jews to take away his 
life, it is by his patience that we must regulate our own. 
Quesnel.

Verse 32. For sinners also love those that love them.] I 
believe the word amartwloi is used by St. Luke in the same 
sense in which telwnai, tax-gatherers, is used by St. 
Matthew, Matt. v. 46, 47, and signifies heathens; not only 
men who have no religion, but men who acknowledge none. The 
religion of Christ not only corrects the errors and reforms 
the disorders of the fallen nature of man, but raises it even 
above itself: it brings it near to God; and, by universal 
love, leads it to frame its conduct according to that of the 
Sovereign Being. "A man should tremble who finds nothing in 
his life besides the external part of religion, but what may 
be found in the life of a Turk or a heathen." The Gospel of 
the grace of God purifies and renews the heart, causing it to 
resemble that Christ through whom the grace came. See the 
note on chap. vii. 37.

Verse 34. Of whom ye hope to receive] Or, whom ye expect to 
return it.

"To make our neighbour purchase, in any way, the assistance 
which we give him, is to profit by his misery; and, by laying 
him under obligations which we expect him in some way or 
other to discharge, we increase his wretchedness under the 
pretense of relieving it."

Verse 35. Love ye your enemies] This is the most sublime 
precept ever delivered to man: a false religion durst not 
give a precept of this nature, because, without supernatural 
influence, it must be for ever impracticable.

In these words of our blessed Lord we see the tenderness, 
sincerity, extent, disinterestedness, pattern, and issue of 
the love of God dwelling in man: a religion which has for its 
foundation the union of God and man in the same person, and 
the death of this august being for his enemies; which 
consists on earth in a reconciliation of the Creator with his 
creatures, and which is to subsist in heaven only in the 
union of the members with the head: could such a religion as 
this ever tolerate hatred in the soul of man, even to his 
most inveterate foe? Lend, hoping for nothing again] mhden 
apelpizontev. The rabbins say, he who lends without usury, 
God shall consider him as having observed every precept. 
Bishop Pearce thinks that, instead of mhden we should read 
mhdena with the Syriac, later Arabic, and later Persic; and 
as apelpizein signifies to despair, or cause to despair, the 
meaning is, not cutting off the hope (of longer life) of any 
man, neminis spem amputantes, by denying him those things 
which he requests now to preserve him from perishing.

Verse 36. Be ye therefore merciful] Or, compassionate; 
oiktirminev, from oiktov, commiseration, which etymologists 
derive from eikw to give place, yield, because we readily 
concede those things which are necessary to them whom we 
commiserate. As God is ever disposed to give all necessary 
help and support to those who are miserable, so his 
followers, being influenced by the same spirit, are easy to 
be entreated, and are at all times ready to contribute to the 
uttermost of their power to relieve or remove the miseries of 
the distressed. A merciful or compassionate man easily 
forgets injuries; pardons them without being solicited; and 
does not permit repeated returns of ingratitude to deter him 
from doing good, even to the unthankful and the unholy. See 
on Matt. v. 7.

Verse 37. Judge not] See on Matt. vii. 1. "How great is the 
goodness of God, in being so willing to put our judgment into 
our own hands as to engage himself not to enter into judgment 
with us, provided we do not usurp the right which belongs 
solely to him in reference to others!" Condemn not] "Mercy 
will ever incline us not to condemn those unmercifully whose 
faults are certain and visible; to lessen, conceal, and 
excuse them as much as we can without prejudice to truth and 
justice; and to be far from aggravating, divulging, or even 
desiring them to be punished." Forgive] The mercy and 
compassion which God recommends extend to the forgiving of 
all the injuries we have received, or can receive. To imitate 
in this the mercy of God is not a mere counsel; since it is 
proposed as a necessary mean, in order to receive mercy. What 
man has to forgive in man is almost nothing: man's debt to 
God is infinite. And who acts in this matter as if he wished 
to receive mercy at the hand of God! The spirit of revenge is 
equally destitute of faith and reason.

Verse 38. Give, and it shall be given] "Christian charity 
will make no difficulty in giving that which eternal truth 
promises to restore. Let us give, neither out of mere human 
generosity, nor out of vanity, nor from interest, but for the 
sake of God, if we would have him place it to account.

There is no such thing as true unmixed generosity but in God 
only; because there is none but him who receives no advantage 
from his gifts, and because he engages himself to pay these 
debts of his creatures with an excessive interest. So great 
is the goodness of God, that, when he might have absolutely 
commanded us to give to our neighbour, he vouchsafes to 
invite us to this duty by the prospect of a reward, and to 
impute that to us as a desert which he has a right to exact 
of us by the title of his sovereignty over our persons and 
estates." Men live in such a state of social union as renders 
mutual help necessary; and, as self-interest, pride, and 
other corrupt passions mingle themselves ordinarily in their 
commerce, they cannot fail of offending one another. In civil 
society men must, in order to taste a little tranquillity, 
resolve to bear something from their neighbours; they must 
suffer, pardon, and give up many things; without doing which 
they must live in such a state of continual agitation as will 
render life itself insupportable. Without this giving and 
forgiving spirit there will be nothing in civil society, and 
even in Christian congregations, but divisions, evil 
surmisings, injurious discourses, outrages, anger, vengeance, 
and, in a word, a total dissolution of the mystical body of 
Christ. Thus our interest in both worlds calls loudly upon us 
to GIVE and to FORGIVE.

Bosom.] kolpon, or lap. Almost all ancient nations wore long, 
wide, and loose garments; and when about to carry any thing 
which their hands could not contain, they used a fold of 
their robe in nearly the same way as women here use their 
aprons. The phrase is continually occurring in the best and 
purest Greek writers. The following example from Herodotus, 
b.

vi., may suffice to show the propriety of the interpretation 
given above, and to expose the ridiculous nature of 
covetousness. "When Croesus had promised to Alcmaeon as much 
gold as he could carry about his body at once, in order to 
improve the king's liberality to the best advantage, he put 
on a very wide tunic, (kiqwna megan,) leaving a great space 
in the BOSOM, kolpon baqun, and drew on the largest buskins 
he could find. Being conducted to the treasury, he sat down 
on a great heap of gold, and first filled the buskins about 
his legs with as much gold as they could contain, and, having 
filled his whole BOSOM, kolpon, loaded his hair with ingots, 
and put several pieces in his mouth, he walked out of the 
treasury, &c." What a ridiculous figure must this poor sinner 
have cut, thus heavy laden with gold, and the love of money! 
See many other examples in Kypke and Raphelius. See also Psa. 
cxxix. 7; Prov. vi. 27; xvii. 23.

The same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to 
you again.] The same words we find in the Jerusalem Targum on 
Gen. xxxviii. 26. Our Lord therefore lays down a maxim which 
themselves allowed.

Verse 39. Can the blind lead the blind?] This appears to have 
been a general proverb, and to signify that a man cannot 
teach what he does not understand. This is strictly true in 
spiritual matters. A man who is not illuminated from above is 
utterly incapable of judging concerning spiritual things, and 
wholly unfit to be a guide to others. Is it possible that a 
person who is enveloped with the thickest darkness should 
dare either to judge of the state of others, or attempt to 
lead them in that path of which he is totally ignorant! If he 
do, must not his judgment be rashness, and his teaching 
folly?-and does he not endanger his own soul, and run the 
risk of falling into the ditch of perdition himself, together 
with the unhappy objects of his religious instruction?

Verse 40. Every one that is perfect] Or, thoroughly 
instructed, kathrtismenov:-from katartizw, to adjust, adapt, 
knit together, restore, or put in joint. The noun is used by 
the Greek medical writers to signify the reducing a luxated 
or disjointed limb. It sometimes signifies to repair or mend, 
and in this sense it is applied to broken nets, Matt. iv. 21; 
Mark i. 19; but in this place, and in Hebrews xiii. 21; 2 
Tim. iii. 17, it means complete instruction and information. 
Every one who is thoroughly instructed in Divine things, who 
has his heart united to God, whose disordered tempers and 
passions are purified and restored to harmony and order; 
every one who has in him the mind that was in Christ, though 
he cannot be above, yet will be as, his teacher-holy, 
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.

"The disciple who perfectly understands the rules and sees 
the example of his master, will think it his business to 
tread exactly in his steps, to do and suffer upon like 
occasions, as his master did: and so he will be like his 
master." WHITBY.

Verse 41. And why beholdest thou the mote] See this explained 
on Matt. vii. 3-5.

Verse 43. Corrupt fruit] karpon sapron, literally, rotten 
fruit: but here it means, such fruit as is unfit for use. See 
on Matt. vii. 17-20.

Verse 45. A good man] See on Matt. xii. 35.

Verse 46. Lord, Lord] God judges of the heart, not by words, 
but by works. A good servant never disputes, speaks little, 
and always follows his work. Such a servant a real Christian 
is: such is a faithful minister, always intent either on the 
work of his own salvation, or that of his neighbour; speaking 
more to God than to men; and to these as in the presence of 
God. The tongue is fitly compared by one to a pump, which 
empties the heart, but neither fills nor cleanses it. The 
love of God is a hidden spring, which supplies the heart 
continually, and never permits it to be dry or unfruitful. 
Quesnel.

Verse 47. I will show you] Æupodeixw, I will show you 
plainly. I will enable you fully to comprehend my meaning on 
this subject by the following parable. See this word 
explained Matt. iii. 7.

Verse 48. He is like a man, &c.] See on Matt. vii. 24-27.

Verse 49. The ruin of that house was great.] On this passage, 
father Quesnel, who was a most rigid predestinarian, makes 
the following judicious remark. "It is neither by the 
speculations of astrologers, nor by the Calvinian assurance 
of predestination, that we can discover what will be our 
portion for ever: but it is by the examination of our heart, 
and the consideration of our life, that we may in some 
measure prognosticate our eternal state. Without a holy heart 
and a holy life, all is ruinous in the hour of temptation, 
and in the day of wrath." To this may be added, He that 
believeth on the Son of God, hath the WITNESS in HIMSELF: 1 
John v. 10.

The subjects of this chapter have been so amply explained and 
enforced in the parallel places in Matthew, to which the 
reader has been already referred, that there appears to be no 
necessity to make any additional observations.

CHAPTER vii

Christ heals the servant of a centurion, who is commended for 
his faith, 1-10. Raises a widow's son to life at Nain, 11-17. 
John Baptist hears of his fame, and sends two of his 
disciples to inquire whether he was the Christ, 18-23. 
Christ's character of John, 24-30. The obstinate blindness 
and capriciousness of the Jews, 31-35. A Pharisee invites him 
to his house, where a woman anoints his head with oil, and 
washes his feet with her tears, 36-38. The Pharisee is 
offended 39. Our Lord reproves him by a parable, and 
vindicates the woman, 40-46; and pronounces her sins 
forgiven, 47-50.

NOTES ON CHAP. vii.

Verse 2. A certain centurion's servant] See this miracle 
explained on Matt. viii. 5-13.

Verse 3. Elders of the Jews] These were either magistrates in 
the place, or the elders of the synagogue which the centurion 
had built, ver. 5. He sent these, probably, because he was 
afraid to come to Christ himself, not being a Jew, either by 
nation or religion. In the parallel place in Matthew, he is 
represented as coming to Christ himself; but it is a usual 
form of speech in all nations, to attribute the act to a 
person which is done not by himself, but by his authority.

Verse 5. He loveth our nation] He is a warm friend to the 
Jews; and has given a full proof of his affection to them in 
building them a synagogue.

This he had done at his own proper charges; having no doubt 
employed his own men in the work.

Verse 10. Found the servant whole] This cure was the effect 
of the faith, prayer, and humility of the centurion, through 
which the almighty energy of Jesus Christ was conveyed to the 
sick man. But these very graces in the centurion were the 
products of grace. It is God himself who, by the gifts of his 
mercy, disposes the soul to receive its cure; and nothing can 
contribute to the reception of his grace but what is the 
fruit of grace itself. The apostle says, The grace of God 
that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men, Tit. ii. 
11. It should therefore be our concern, not to resist the 
operations of this grace: for though we cannot endue 
ourselves with by gracious disposition, yet we can quench the 
Spirit, by whose agency these are produced in the soul. The 
centurion had not received the grace of God in vain.

Verse 11. Nain] A small city of Galilee, in the tribe of 
Issachar.

According to Eusebius, it was two miles from Mount Tabor, 
southward; and near to Endor.

Verse 12. Carried out] The Jews always buried their dead 
without the city, except those of the family of David. No 
burying places should be tolerated within cities or towns; 
much less in or about churches and chapels. This custom is 
excessively injurious to the inhabitants; and especially to 
those who frequent public worship in such chapels and 
churches. God, decency, and health forbid this shocking 
abomination.

On the impropriety of burying in towns, churches, and 
chapels, take the following testimonies: Extra urbem soliti 
sunt alii mortuos sepelire: Nos Christiani, eos non in urbes 
solum, sed et in TEMPLA recepimus, quo fit ut multi faetore 
nimis, fere exanimentur. SCHOETTGEN. "Others were accustomed 
to bury their dead without the city. We Christians not only 
bury them within our cities, but receive them even into our 
churches! Hence many nearly lose their lives through the 
noxious effluvia." "Both the Jews and other people had their 
burying places without the city:-Et certe ita postulat ratio 
publicae sanitatis, quae multum laedi solet aura 
sepulchrorum:-and this the health of the public requires, 
which is greatly injured by the effluvia from graves."-
Rosenmuller. From long observation I can attest that churches 
and chapels situated in grave-yards, and those especially 
within whose walls the dead are interred, are perfectly 
unwholesome; and many, by attending such places, are 
shortening their passage to the house appointed for the 
living. What increases the iniquity of this abominable and 
deadly work is, that the burying grounds attached to many 
churches and chapels are made a source of private gain. The 
whole of this preposterous conduct is as indecorous and 
unhealthy as it is profane. Every man should know that the 
gas which is disengaged from putrid flesh, and particularly 
from a human body, is not only unfriendly to, but destructive 
of, animal life. Superstition first introduced a practice 
which self-interest and covetousness continue to maintain.

For a general improvement of all the circumstances of this 
miracle, see the end of the chapter.

Verse 16. God hath visited his people.] Several MSS. and 
versions add, eiv agaqon, for good. Sometimes God visited his 
people in the way of judgment, to consume them in their 
transgressions; but it was now plain that he had visited them 
in the most tender compassion and mercy. This seems to have 
been added by some ancient copyist, by way of explanation.

Verse 18. The disciples of John showed him, &c.] It is very 
likely that John's disciples attended the ministry of our 
Lord at particular times; and this, we may suppose, was a 
common case among the disciples of different Jewish teachers. 
Though bigotry existed in its most formidable shape between 
the Jews and Samaritans, yet we do not find that it had any 
place between Jews and Jews, though they were of different 
sects, and attached to different teachers.

Verse 19. Art thou he that should come?] That is, to save. 
Art thou the promised Messiah? See on Matt. xi. 3.

Some have thought that this character of our Lord, o 
ercomenov, he who cometh, refers to the prophecy of Jacob, 
Gen. xlix. 10, where he is called hly Shiloh, which Grotius 
and others derive from hl shalach, he sent: hence, as the 
time of the fulfillment of the prophecy drew nigh, he was 
termed, He who cometh, i.e. he who is just now ready to make 
his appearance in Judea. In Zech. ix. 9, a similar phrase is 
used, Behold, thy king COMETH unto thee-having SALVATION. 
This is meant of the Messiah only; therefore I think the 
words to save, are necessarily implied.

Verse 21. Infirmities and plagues] The following judicious 
note from Bp. PEARCE is worthy of deep attention: "Luke 
mentions here vosoi, mastigev, leprosias, and pneumata 
ponhra, i.e. diseases or ill habits of body, sores or 
lamenesses, and evil spirits: from whence we may conclude 
that evil spirits are reckoned by him (who speaks of 
distempers with more accuracy than the other evangelists) as 
things different from any disorders of the body, included in 
the two former words." Unto many that were blind he gave 
light.] Rather, he kindly gave sight-ecarisato to blepein; 
or, he graciously gave sight. This is the proper meaning of 
the original words. In all his miracles, Jesus showed the 
tenderest mercy and kindness: not only the cure, but the 
manner in which he performed it, endeared him to those who 
were objects of his compassionate regards.

Verse 22.-28. See these verses explained at large on Matthew 
xi. 4-15.

Verse 29. Justified God] Or, declared God to be just-
edikaiwsan ton qeon. The sense is this: John preached that 
the Divine wrath was coming upon the Jews, from which they 
might flee by repentance, chap. iii. 7. The Jews, therefore, 
who were baptized by him, with the baptism of repentance, did 
thereby acknowledge that it is but justice in God to punish 
them for their wickedness unless they repented, and were 
baptized in token of it. Bp. PEARCE proves that this is the 
sense in which the word dikaiow is used here and in Psa. li. 
4, compared with Job xxxii. 2, and by this evangelist again 
in chap. x. 29, and xvi. 15.

Verse 30. Rejected the counsel of God] Or, frustrated the 
will of God-thn boulhn tou qeou hqethsan. Kypke says the verb 
aqetein has two meanings:-1, to disbelieve; 2, despise, or 
disobey: and that both senses may be properly conjoined here. 
The will of God was that all the inhabitants of Judea should 
repent at the preaching of John, be baptized, and believe in 
Christ Jesus. Now as they did not repent, &c., at John's 
preaching, so they did not believe his testimony concerning 
Christ: thus the will, gracious counsel, or design of God, 
relative to their salvation, was annulled or frustrated. They 
disbelieved his promises, despised the Messiah, and disobeyed 
his precepts.

Verse 31. And the Lord said] Almost every MS. of authority 
and importance, with most of the versions, omit these words. 
As the Evangelistaria (the books which contained those 
portions of the Gospels which were read in the Churches) 
began at this verse, the words were probably at first used by 
them, to introduce the following parable. There is the 
fullest proof that they never made a part of Luke's text. 
Every critic rejects them. Bengel and Griesbach leave them 
out of the text.

Verse 32. They are like unto children] See on Matt. xi. 16-
19. It is probable that our Lord alludes here to some play or 
game among the Jewish children, no account of which is now on 
record.

Verse 35. Wisdom is justified, &c.] Probably the children of 
wisdom is a mere Hebraism here for the products or fruits of 
wisdom; hence the Vatican MS., one other, and some versions, 
have ergwn, works, instead of teknwn, sons, in the parallel 
place, Matt. xi. 19. True wisdom shows itself by its works; 
folly is never found in the wise man's way, any more than 
wisdom is in the path of a fool. Theophylact's note on this 
place should not be overlooked. edikaiwqh, toutÆ estin 
etimhqh, Wisdom IS JUSTIFIED, that is, IS honourED, by all 
her children.

Verse 36. One of the Pharisees] Called Simon, ver. 40. This 
account is considered by many critics and commentators to be 
the same with that in Matt. xxvi. 6, &c., Mark xiv. 3; and 
John xii. 3. This subject is considered pretty much at large 
in the notes on Matt. xxvi. 6, &c., to which the reader is 
requested to refer.

Verse 37. A woman-which was a sinner] Many suppose that this 
woman had been a notorious public prostitute; but this is 
taking the subject by the very worst handle. My own opinion 
is, that she had been a mere heathen who dwelt in this city, 
(probably Capernaum,) who, through the ministry of Christ, 
had been before this converted to God, and came now to give 
this public testimony of her gratitude to her gracious 
deliverer from the darkness and guilt of sin. I am inclined 
to think that the original word, amartwlov, is used for 
heathen or Gentile in several places of the sacred writings. 
I am fully persuaded that this is its meaning in Matt. ix. 
10, 11, 13; xi. 19; and xxvi. 45. The Son of man is betrayed 
into the hands of sinners, i.e. is delivered into the hands 
of the heathens, viz. the Romans, who alone could put him to 
death. See Mark ii. 15-17; xiv. 41. I think also it has this 
meaning in chap. vi. 32-34; xv. 1, 2, 7, 10; xix. 7; John ix. 
31. I think no other sense can be justly assigned to it in 
Gal. ii. 15: We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of 
the Gentiles. We Jews, who have had the benefit of a Divine 
revelation, know that a man is not justified by the works of 
the law, but by the faith of Christ, (Gal. ii. 16,) which 
other nations, who were heathens, not having a Divine 
revelation, could not know. It is, I think, likely that the 
grand subject of the self-righteous Pharisee's complaint was 
her being a heathen. As those who were touched by such 
contracted a legal defilement, he could not believe that 
Christ was a conscientious observer of the law, seeing he 
permitted her to touch him, knowing who she was; or, if he 
did not know that she was a heathen, it was a proof that he 
was no prophet, ver. 39, and consequently had not the 
discernment of spirits which prophets were supposed to 
possess. As the Jews had a law which forbade all iniquity, 
and they who embraced it being according to its requisitions 
and their profession saints; and as the Gentiles had no law 
to restrain evil, nor made any profession of holiness, the 
term amartwloi, or sinners, was first with peculiar propriety 
applied to them, and afterwards to all others, who, though 
they professed to be under the law, yet lived as Gentiles 
without the law. Many suppose this person to be the same as 
Mary Magdalene, but of this there is no solid proof.

Brought an alabaster box] See on Mark xiv. 3.

Verse 38. Stood at his feet behind him] In taking their 
meals, the eastern people reclined on one side; the loins and 
knees being bent to make the more room, the feet of each 
person were turned outwards behind him. This is the meaning 
of standing BEHIND at his FEET.

Began to wash his feet with tears] hrxato brecein-toiv 
dakrusi, She began to water his feet-to let a shower of tears 
fall on them. As the Jews wore nothing like our shoes, 
(theirs being a mere sole, bound about the foot and ancle 
with thongs,) their feet being so much exposed had frequent 
need of washing, and this they ordinarily did before taking 
their meals.

Kissed his feet] With affectionate tenderness, katefilei, or 
kissed them again and again. See on Matt. xxvi. 49.

The kiss was used in ancient times as the emblem of love, 
religious reverence, subjection, and supplication. It has the 
meaning of supplication, in the way of adoration, accompanied 
with subjection, in 1 Kings xix. 18, Whose mouths have not 
kissed Baal; and in Job xxxi. 27, My mouth hath not kissed my 
hand; I have paid no sort of adoration to false gods; and in 
Psa. ii. 12, Kiss the Son lest he be angry,-close in with 
him, embrace affectionately, the offers of mercy made unto 
you through Christ Jesus, lest he (the Lord) be angry with 
you, and ye perish: which commandment this woman seems to 
have obeyed, both in the literal and spiritual sense.

Kissing the feet was practised also among the heathens, to 
express subjection of spirit, and earnest supplication. See a 
long example in Raphelius, produced from Polybius, concerning 
the Carthaginian ambassadors when supplicating the Romans for 
peace. With an humble and abject mind, pesontev epi thn ghn, 
they fell down on the earth, touv podav katafiloien tw 
sunedriw, and kissed the feet of the council. See also 
several examples in Kypke. Kissing the feet is a farther 
proof that this person had been educated a heathen. This was 
no part of a Jew's practice.

Verse 41. A certain creditor, &c.] It is plain that in this 
parable our Lord means, by the creditor, GOD, and, by the two 
debtors, Simon and the woman who was present. Simon, who had 
the light of the law, and who, in consequence of his 
profession as a Pharisee, was obliged to abstain from outward 
iniquity, might be considered as the debtor who owed only 
fifty pence, or denarii. The woman, whom I have supposed to 
be a heathen, not having these advantages, having no rule to 
regulate her actions, and no curb on her evil propensities, 
may be considered as the debtor who owed five hundred pence, 
or denarii. And when both were compared, Simon's debt to God 
might be considered, in reference to hers, as fifty to five 
hundred.

However, we find, notwithstanding this great disparity, both 
were insolvent. Simon, the religious Pharisee, could no more 
pay his fifty to God than this poor heathen her five hundred; 
and, if both be not freely forgiven by the Divine mercy, both 
must finally perish. Having NOTHING to PAY, he kindly FORGAVE 
them both. Some think that this very Simon was no 
inconsiderable debtor to our Lord, as having been mercifully 
cleansed from a leprosy; for he is supposed to be the same as 
Simon the leper. See the note on Matt. xxvi. 6.

Verse 42. Which of them will love him most?] Which is under 
the greater obligation and should love him most?

Verse 43. He to whom he forgave most.] By this acknowledgment 
he was, unknowingly to himself, prepared to receive our 
Lord's reproof.

Verse 44. Thou gavest me no water] In this respect Simon was 
sadly deficient in civil respect, whether this proceeded from 
forgetfulness or contempt. The custom of giving water to wash 
the guest's feet was very ancient. See instances in Gen. 
xviii. 4; xxiv. 32; Judg. xix. 21; 1 Sam. xxv. 41. In 
Hindoostan it is the custom, that when a superior enters the 
house of an inferior, the latter washes his feet, and gives 
him water to rinse his mouth before he eats. See AYEEN 
AKBERY, vol. iii. p. 226.

Verse 45. Since the time I came in] Rather, Since the time 
SHE came in, af hv eishlqen, not eishlqon, I came in, for it 
is clear from ver. 37 that the woman came in after Christ, 
having heard that he was sitting at meat in the Pharisee's 
house. The reading which I have adopted is supported by 
several MSS. and Versions.

Verse 46. My head with oil thou didst not anoint] Anointing 
the head with oil was as common among the Jews as washing the 
face with water is among us. See Ruth iii. 3; 2 Sam. xii. 20; 
xiv. 2; 2 Kings iv. 2; and Psa. xxiii. 5, where the author 
alludes to the Jewish manner of receiving and entertaining a 
guest. Thou preparest a table for me; anointest my head with 
oil; givest me an overflowing cup. See Matt. v. 17.

Verse 47. For she loved much] Or, THEREFORE she loved much. 
It appears to have been a consciousness of God's forgiving 
love that brought her at this time to the Pharisee's house. 
In the common translation her forgiveness is represented to 
be the consequence of her loving much, which is causing the 
tree to produce the root, and not the root the tree. I have 
considered oti here as having the sense of dioti, therefore; 
because, to make this sentence suit with the foregoing 
parable, ver. 42, 43, and with what immediately follows here, 
but he to whom little is forgiven loveth little, we must 
suppose her love was the effect of her being pardoned, not 
the cause of it. Æoti seems to have the sense of therefore in 
Matt. xiii. 13; John viii. 44; 1 Cor. x. 17; and in the 
Septuagint, in Deut. xxxiii. 52; Isa. xlix. 19; Ho ix. 15; 
and Eccles. v. 6. Both these particles are often interchanged 
in the New Testament.

Loved much-loveth little] That is, A man's love to God will 
be in proportion to the obligations he feels himself under to 
the bounty of his Maker.

Verse 48. Thy sins are forgiven.] He gave her the fullest 
assurance of what he had said before to Simon, (ver. 47,) Thy 
sins are forgiven.

While the Pharisee murmured, the poor penitent rejoiced.

Verse 50. Thy faith hath saved thee] Thy faith hath been the 
instrument of receiving the salvation which is promised to 
those who repent. Go in peace. Though peace of conscience be 
the inseparable consequence of the pardon of sin, yet here it 
seems to be used as a valediction or farewell: as if he had 
said, May goodness and mercy continue to follow thee! In this 
sense it is certainly used Judg. xviii. 6; 1 Sam. i. 17; xx. 
42; xxix. 7; 2 Samuel xv. 9; James ii. 16.

THE affecting account of raising the widow's son to life, 
chap. vii. 11-17, is capable of farther improvement. The 
following may be considered to be sober, pious uses of this 
transaction.

In this resurrection of the widow's son, four things are 
highly worthy of notice:-1. The meeting. 2. What Christ did 
to raise the dead man. 3. What the man did when raised to 
life: and 4. The effect produced on the minds of the people.

I. THE MEETING 1. It was uncommon: it was a meeting of life 
and death, of consolation and distress. On the one part 
JESUS, accompanied by his disciples, and an innumerable crowd 
of people, advance towards the gate of the city of Nain: on 
the other part, a funeral solemnity proceeds out of the 
gate,-a person of distinction, as we may imagine from the 
number of the people who accompanied the corpse, is carried 
out to be buried. Wherever Jesus goes, he meets death or 
misery; and wherever he comes, he dispenses life and 
salvation.

2. It was instructive. A young man was carried to the grave-
an only son-cut off in the flower of his age from the 
pleasures, honours, profits, and expectations of life; a 
multitude of relatives, friends, and neighbours, in tears, 
affliction, and distress, accompanied the corpse. Behold the 
present life in its true point of light! How deceitful is the 
world! To hide its vanity and wretchedness, funeral pomp 
takes the place of the decorations of life and health; and 
pride, which carries the person through life, cleaves to the 
putrid carcass in the ridiculous adornments of palls, scarfs, 
cloaks, and feathers! Sin has a complete triumph, when pride 
is one of the principal bearers to the tomb.

And shall not the living lay these things to heart? Remember, 
ye that are young, the young die oftener than the old; and it 
is because so many of the former die, that there are so few 
of the latter to die.

3. It was an affecting meeting. The mother of this young man 
followed the corpse of her son; her distress was extreme. She 
had already lost her husband, and in losing her only son she 
loses all that could be reckoned dear to her in the world. 
She lost her support, her glory, and the name of her family 
from among the tribes of her people. Jesus sees her in this 
state of affliction, and was moved with compassion towards 
her. This God of goodness cannot see the wretched without 
commiserating their state, and providing for their salvation.

4. It was a happy meeting. Jesus approaches this distressed 
widow, and says, Weep not. But who, with propriety, can give 
such advice in a case like this? Only that God who can dry up 
the fountain of grief, and remove the cause of distress. Weep 
for thy sin, weep for thy relatives, weep after Christ, and 
God will infallibly comfort thee.

II. WHAT CHRIST DID TO RAISE THIS DEAD MAN 1. He came up, 
ver. 14. When the blessed God is about to save a soul from 
spiritual death, he comes up to the heart by the light of his 
Spirit, by the preaching of his word, and by a thousand other 
methods, which all prove that his name is mercy, and his 
nature love.

2. He touched the bier. God often stretches out his hand 
against the matter or occasion of sin, renders that public 
that was before hidden, lays afflictions upon the body; by 
some evil disease effaces that beauty, or impairs that 
strength, which were the occasions of sin; disconcerts the 
schemes and blasts the property of the worldly man. These 
were carrying him down to the chambers of death, and the 
merciful God is thus delivering him out of the hands of his 
murderers.

3. He commanded-Young man! I say unto thee, Arise. Sinners! 
You have been dead in trespasses and sins too long: now hear 
the voice of the Son of God. Young people! to you in 
particular is this commandment addressed.

Delay not a moment: it will be more easy for you to return to 
God now than at any future time. And perhaps the present call 
may never be repeated. The sooner you hear the voice of God, 
the sooner you shall be happy.

III . WHAT THE MAN DID WHEN RAISED TO LIFE 1. He sat up, ver. 
15. When the quickening voice of God reaches the heart of a 
sinner, his first business is to lift up his head to 
contemplate the awful state in which he is found, and the 
horrible pit over which he hangs, and look about for a 
deliverer from the hell that is moved from beneath to meet 
him at his coming.

2. He began to speak. Prayer to God, for the salvation he 
needs, is indispensably requisite to every awakened sinner. 
Let him speak in prayer and praise; prayer for present 
salvation, and praise, because he is still out of hell. Let 
him also declare the power and goodness of God which have 
thus rescued him from the bitter pains of an eternal death.

3. He walked. He (Christ) presented him to his mother. Those 
who were carrying the corpse having heard the voice of the 
young man, immediately laid down the bier, and the young man 
stepping directly on the ground, Jesus took him by the hand 
and conducted him to his mother. What a change from the 
deepest affliction to the highest ecstacy of joy must have 
now taken place in this widow's heart! Happy moment!-when the 
quickening power of Christ restores a prodigal son to a 
disconsolate parent, and a member to Christ's mystical body, 
the Church militant! IV. THE EFFECT PRODUCED ON THE MINDS OF 
THE PEOPLE 1. Fear seized them, ver. 16. A religious 
reverence penetrated their hearts, while witnessing the 
effects of the sovereign power of Christ. Thus should we 
contemplate the wonders of God's grace in the conviction and 
conversion of sinners.

2. They glorified God. They plainly saw that he had now 
visited his people: the miracle proclaimed his presence, and 
that a great prophet was risen among them, and they expect to 
be speedily instructed in all righteousness. The conversion 
of a sinner to God should be matter of public joy to all that 
fear his name; and should be considered as a full proof that 
the God of our fathers is still among their children. See 
ver. 16.

3. They published abroad the account. The work of the grace 
of God should be made known to all: the Gospel should be 
preached in every place; and the miracle-working power of 
Christ every where recommended to notice. If those who are 
raised from the death of sin were more zealous in discoursing 
of, walking in, and recommending the Gospel of the grace of 
God, the kingdom of Christ would soon have a more extensive 
spread; and the souls thus employed would be incessantly 
watered from on high.

CHAPTER viii

Jesus preaches through every city and village, 1. Women 
minister to him, 2, 3. Instructs the multitudes by the 
parable of the sower, 4-8. Explains it at large to his 
disciples, 9-15. Directions how to improve by hearing the 
Gospel, 16-18. His mother and brethren seek him, 19-21. He 
and his disciples go upon the lake, and are taken in a storm, 
22-25. They arrive among the Gadarenes, 26, where he cures a 
demoniac, 27-39. He returns from the Gadarenes, and is 
requested by Jairus to heal his daughter, 40-42. On the way 
he cures a diseased woman, 43-48. Receives information that 
the daughter of Jairus is dead, 49. Exhorts the father to 
believe; arrives at the house, and raises the dead child to 
life, 60-66.

NOTES ON CHAP 8

Verse 1. Throughout every city and village] That is, of 
Galilee.

Verse 2. Out of whom went seven devils-. Who had been 
possessed in a most extraordinary manner; probably a case of 
inveterate lunacy, brought on by the influence of evil 
spirits. The number seven may here express the superlative 
degree.

Mary Magdalene is commonly thought to have been a prostitute 
before she came to the knowledge of Christ, and then to have 
been a remarkable penitent. So historians and painters 
represent her: but neither from this passage, nor from any 
other of the New Testament, can such a supposition be 
legitimately drawn. She is here represented as one who had 
been possessed with seven demons; and as one among other 
women who had been healed by Christ of evil (or wicked) 
spirits and infirmities. As well might Joanna and Susanna, 
mentioned ver. 3, come in for a share of the censure as this 
Mary Magdalene; for they seem to have been dispossessed 
likewise by Jesus, according to St. Luke's account of them.

They had all had infirmities, of what sort it is not said, 
and those infirmities were occasioned by evil spirits within 
them; and Jesus had healed them all: but Mary Magdalene, by 
her behaviour, and constant attendance on Jesus in his life-
time, at his crucifixion, and at his grave, seems to have 
exceeded all the other women in duty and respect to his 
person. Bishop PEARCE.

There is a marvellous propensity in commentators to make some 
of the women mentioned in the Sacred Writings appear as women 
of ill fame; therefore Rahab must be a harlot; and Mary 
Magdalene, a prostitute: and yet nothing of the kind can be 
proved either in the former or in the latter case; nor in 
that mentioned chap. vii. 36, &c., where see the notes. Poor 
Mary Magdalene is made the patroness of penitent prostitutes, 
both by Papists and Protestants; and to the scandal of her 
name, and the reproach of the Gospel, houses fitted up for 
the reception of such are termed Magdalene hospitals! and the 
persons themselves Magdalenes! There is not only no proof 
that this person was such as commentators represent her, but 
there is the strongest presumptive proof against it: for, if 
she ever had been such, it would have been contrary to every 
rule of prudence, and every dictate of wisdom, for Christ and 
his apostles to have permitted such a person to associate 
with them, however fully she might have been converted to 
God, and however exemplary her life, at that time, might have 
been. As the world, who had seen her conduct, and knew her 
character, (had she been such as is insinuated,) could not 
see the inward change, and as they sought to overwhelm Christ 
and his disciples with obloquy and reproach on every 
occasion, they would certainly have availed themselves of so 
favourable an opportunity to subject the character and 
ministry of Christ to the blackest censure, had he permitted 
even a converted prostitute to minister to him and his 
disciples. They were ready enough to say that he was the 
friend of publicans and sinners, because he conversed with 
them in order to instruct and save their souls; but they 
could never say he was a friend of prostitutes, because it 
does not appear that such persons ever came to Christ; or 
that he, in the way of his ministry, ever went to them. I 
conclude therefore that the common opinion is a vile slander 
on the character of one of the best women mentioned in the 
Gospel of God; and a reproach cast on the character and 
conduct of Christ and his disciples. From the whole account 
of Mary Magdalene, it is highly probable that she was a 
person of great respectability in that place; such a person 
as the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, could associate with, 
and a person on whose conduct or character the calumniating 
Jews could cast no aspersions.

Verse 3. Herod's steward] Though the original word, 
epitropov, signifies sometimes the inspector or overseer of a 
province, and sometimes a tutor of children, yet here it 
seems to signify the overseer of Herod's domestic affairs: 
the steward of his household. Steward of the household was an 
office in the king's palace by s. 24, of Hen. VIII. The 
person is now entitled lord steward of the king's household, 
and the office is, I believe, more honourable and of more 
importance than when it was first created. Junius derives the 
word from the Islandic stivardur, which is compounded of 
stia, work, and vardur, a keeper, or overseer: hence our 
words, warder, warden, ward, guard, guardian, &c. The Greek 
word in Hebrew letters is frequent in the rabbinical 
writings, µwpwdfypa , and signifies among them the deputy 
ruler of a province. See on chap. xvi. 1. In the Islandic 
version, it is forsionarmanns.

Unto him] Instead of autw, to him, meaning Christ, many of 
the best MSS. and versions have autoiv, to them, meaning both 
our Lord and the twelve apostles, see ver. 1. This is 
unquestionably the true meaning.

Christ receives these assistances and ministrations, says 
pious Quesnel,-1.

To honour poverty by subjecting himself to it.

2. To humble himself in receiving from his creatures.

3. That he may teach the ministers of the Gospel to depend on 
the providence of their heavenly Father.

4. To make way for the gratitude of those he had healed. And, 
5. That he might not be burthensome to the poor to whom he 
went to preach.

Verse 5. A sower went out to sow] See all this parable 
largely explained on Matt. xiii. 1-23.

Verse 12. Those by the way side] Bishop PEARCE thinks that 
Luke by on here means sporoi, the seeds, though he 
acknowledges that he has never found such a word as sporoi in 
the plural number signifying seeds.

Verse 15. With patience.] Rather, with perseverance. The 
Greek word upomonh, which our translators render patience, 
properly signifies here, and in Rom. ii. 7, perseverance. The 
good ground, because it is good, strong and vigorous, 
continues to bear: bad or poor ground cannot produce a good 
crop, and besides it is very soon exhausted. The persons 
called the good ground in the text are filled with the power 
and influence of God, and therefore continue to bring forth 
fruit; i.e. they persevere in righteousness.

From this we may learn that the perseverance of the saints, 
as it is termed, necessarily implies that they continue to 
bring forth fruit to the glory of God. Those who are not 
fruitful are not in a state of perseverance.

Verse 16. Lighted a candle] This is a repetition of a part of 
our Lord's sermon on the mount. See the notes on Matt. v. 15; 
x. 26; and on Mark iv. 21, 22.

Verse 17. For nothing is secret, &c.] Whatever I teach you in 
private, ye shall teach publicly; and ye shall illustrate and 
explain every parable now delivered to the people.

Verse 18. Even that which he seemeth to have.] Or rather, 
even what he hath. Æodokei ecein, rendered by our common 
version, what he seemeth to have, seems to me to contradict 
itself. Let us examine this subject a little.

1. To seem to have a thing, is only to have it in appearance, 
and not in reality; but what is possessed in appearance only 
can only be taken away in appearance; therefore on the one 
side there is no gain, and on the other side no loss. On this 
ground, the text speaks just nothing.

2. It is evident that o dokei ecein, what he seemeth to have, 
here, is equivalent to o ecei, what he hath, in the parallel 
places, Mark iv. 25; Matt. xiii. 12; xxv. 29; and in chap. 
xix. 26.

3. It is evident, also, that these persons had something 
which might be taken away from them. For 1. The word of God, 
the Divine seed, was planted in their hearts. 2. It had 
already produced some good effects; but they permitted the 
devil, the cares of the world, the desire of riches, and the 
love of pleasure, to destroy its produce.

4. The word dokein is often an expletive: so Xenophon in 
Hellen, vi. oti edokei patikov filov autoiv, Because he 
seemed to be (i.e. WAS) their father's friend. So in his 
OEeon. Among the cities that seemed to be (dokousaiv, 
actually were) at war. So Athenaeus, lib. vi. chap. 4. They 
who seemed to be (dokountev, who really were) the most 
opulent, drank out of brazen cups.

5. It often strengthens the sense, and is thus used by the 
very best Greek writers. ULPIAN, in one of his notes on 
Demosthenes' Orat. Olinth. 1, quoted by Bishop PEARCE, says 
expressly, to dokein ou pantwv epi amfibolou tattousin oi 
palaioi, alla pollakiv kai epi tou alhqeuein. The word dokein 
is used by the ancients to express, not always what is 
doubtful, but oftentimes what is true and certain. And this 
is manifestly its meaning in Matt. iii. 9; chap. xxii. 24; 
John v. 39; 1 Cor. vii. 40; x. 12; xi. 16; Gal. ii. 9; Phil. 
iii. 4; and in the text. See these meanings of the word 
established beyond the possibility of successful 
contradiction, in Bishop PEARCE'S notes on Mark x. 42, and in 
KYPKE in loc. See also the notes on Matt. xiii. 12.

Verse 19. His mother and brethren] See the notes on Matthew 
xii. 46, &c., and on Mark iii. 31, &c.

Verse 22. Let us go over, &c.] See on Matt. viii. 24, &c., 
and Mark iv. 36-41.

Verse 23. There came down a storm of wind-and they-were in 
jeopardy.] This is a parallel passage to that in Jonah i. 4. 
There was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was 
like to be broken: the latter clause of which is thus 
translated by the Septuagint: kai to ploion ekinduneue tou 
suntribhnai, And the ship was in the utmost danger of being 
dashed to pieces. This is exactly the state of the disciples 
here; and it is remarkable that the very same word, 
ekinduneuon, which we translate, were in jeopardy, is used by 
the evangelist, which is found in the Greek version above 
quoted. The word jeopardy, an inexpressive French term, and 
utterly unfit for the place which it now occupies, is 
properly the exclamation of a disappointed gamester, Jeu 
perdu! The game is lost! or, j'ai perdu! I have lost! i.e. 
the game.

Verse 25. Where is your faith?] Ye have a power to believe, 
and yet do not exercise it! Depend on God. Ye have little 
faith, (Matt. viii. 26,) because you do not use the grace 
which I have already given you. Many are looking for more 
faith without using that which they have. It is as possible 
to hide this talent as any other.

Verse 26. The country of the Gedarenes] Or, according to 
several MSS., Gerasenes or Gergasenes. See on Matt. viii. 28, 
and Mark v. 1.

Verse 27. A certain man] See the case of this demoniac 
considered at large, on the parallel places, Matt. viii. 28-
34; Mark v. 1-20. In India deranged persons walk at liberty 
through the streets and country in all manner of dresses; 
sometimes entirely naked; and often perish while strolling 
from place to place. It is the same in Ireland, as there are 
no public asylums either there or in India for insane people.

Verse 28. Jesus, thou Son of God most high] The words Jesus 
and God are both omitted here by several MSS. I think it is 
very likely that the demons mentioned neither. They were 
constrained in a summary way to acknowledge his power; but it 
is probable they did not pronounce names which were of such 
dreadful import to themselves. The words which they spoke on 
the occasion seem to have been these, What is it to thee and 
me, O Son of the most high? See the note on Matt. viii. 29.

Verse 31. And they besought him that he would not command 
them to go out into the deep.] In the Chaldaic philosophy, 
mention is made of certain material demons, who are permitted 
to wander about on the earth, and are horribly afraid of 
being sent into abysses and subterranean places.

Psellus says, Deuteronomy Daemonibus: "These material demons 
fearing to be sent into abysses, and standing in awe of the 
angels who send them thither, if even a man threaten to send 
them thither and pronounce the names of those angels whose 
office that is, it is inexpressible how much they will be 
affrighted and troubled. So great will their astonishment be, 
that they cannot discern the person that threatens them. And 
though it be some old woman or little old man that menaces 
them, yet so great is their fear that they depart as if the 
person who menaces had a power to kill them." See Stanley's 
Chaldaic Philosophy.

Verse 33. Then went the devils out of the man, and entered 
into the swine] Some critics and commentators would have us 
to understand all this of the man himself, who, they say, was 
a most outrageous maniac; and that, being permitted by our 
Lord, he ran after the swine, and drove them all down a 
precipice into the sea! This is solemn trifling indeed; or, 
at least, trifling with solemn things. It is impossible to 
read over the account, as given here by Luke, and admit this 
mode of explanation. The devils went out of the man, and 
entered into the swine; i.e. the madman ran after the swine! 
On this plan of interpretation there is nothing certain in 
the word of God; and every man may give it what meaning he 
pleases. Such comments are intolerable.

Verse 34. They fled, and went and told it] apelqontev, They 
went, is omitted by almost every MS. of repute, and by the 
best of the ancient versions. Griesbach leaves it out, and 
with propriety too, as it is not likely that so correct a 
writer as Luke would say, They fled, and WENT and told it.

Verse 40. Gladly received him] This is the proper import of 
the word apedexato; therefore our translators needed not to 
have put gladly in italics, as though it were not expressed 
in the text. Raphelius gives several proofs of this in loc.

Verse 41. A man named Jairus] See these two miracles-the 
raising of Jairus's daughter, and the cure of the afflicted 
woman-considered and explained at large, on Matt. ix. 18-26, 
and Mark v. 22-43.

Verse 42. The people thronged him.] sunepnigon auton-almost 
suffocated him-so great was the throng about him.

Verse 43. Spent all her living upon physicians] See the note 
on Mark v. 26.

Verse 46. I perceive that virtue] dunamin, Divine or 
miraculous power.

This Divine emanation did not proceed always from Christ, as 
necessarily as odours do from plants, for then all who 
touched him must have been equally partakers of it. Of the 
many that touched him, this woman and none else received this 
Divine virtue; and why? Because she came in faith.

Faith alone attracts and receives the energetic influence of 
God at all times.

There would be more miracles, at least of spiritual healing, 
were there more faith among those who are called believers.

Verse 54. He put them all out] That is, the pipers and those 
who made a noise, weeping and lamenting. See Matt. ix. 23; 
Mark v. 38. Pompous funeral ceremonies are ridiculous in 
themselves, and entirely opposed to the spirit and simplicity 
of the religion of Christ. Every where they meet with his 
disapprobation.

Verse 55. And he commanded to give her meat.] Though she was 
raised to life by a miracle, she was not to be preserved by a 
miracle. Nature is God's great instrument, and he delights to 
work by it; nor will he do any thing by his sovereign power, 
in the way of miracle, that can be effected by his ordinary 
providence. Again, God will have us be workers together with 
him: he provides food for us, but he does not eat for us; we 
eat for ourselves, and are thus nourished on the bounty that 
God has provided.

Without the food, man cannot be nourished; and unless he eat 
the food, it can be of no use to him. So, God provides 
salvation for a lost world, and bestows it on every penitent 
believing soul; but he neither repents nor believes for any 
man. A man repents and believes for himself, under the 
succours of God's grace.

CHAPTER  ix

Christ sends his apostles to preach and work miracles, 1-6. 
Herod, hearing of the fame of Jesus, is perplexed; some 
suppose that John Baptist is risen from the dead; others, 
that Elijah or one of the old prophets was come to life, 7-9. 
The apostles return and relate the success of their mission. 
He goes to a retired place, and the people follow him, 10, 
11. He feeds five thousand men with five loaves and two 
fishes, 12-17. He asks his disciples what the public think of 
him, 18-21. Foretells his passion, 22. Shows the necessity of 
self-denial, and the importance of salvation, 23-25. 
Threatens those who deny him before men, 26. The 
transfiguration, 27-36. Cures a demoniac, 37-43. Again 
foretells his passion, 44, 45. The disciples contend who 
shall be greatest, 46-48. Of the person who cast out devils 
in Christ's name, but did not associate with the disciples, 
49, 50. Of the Samaritans who would not receive him, 51-56. 
Of the man who wished to follow Jesus, 57, 58. He calls 
another disciple who asks permission first to bury his 
father, 59. Our Lord's answer 60-62.

NOTES ON CHAP. ix

Verse 1. Power and authority] dunamin kai exousian. The words 
properly mean here, the power to work miracles; and that 
authority by which the whole demoniac system was to be 
subjected to them. The reader will please to observe: 1. That 
Luke mentions both demons and diseases; therefore he was 
either mistaken, or demons and diseases are not the same.

2. The treatment of these two was not the same:-the demons 
were to be cast out, the diseases to be healed. See Matt. x. 
1.

Verse 2. To preach the kingdom of God] For an explication of 
this phrase, see on Matt. iii. 1.

Verse 3. Take nothing] See on Mark vi. 7, 8.

Neither money] See on Matt. x. 9.

Neither have two coats] Show that in all things ye are 
ambassadors for God; and go on his charges.

Verse 4. There abide, and thence depart.] That is, remain in 
that lodging till ye depart from that city. Some MSS. and 
versions add mh, which makes the following sense: There 
remain, and depart NOT thence. See the note on Matt. x. 11.

Verse 7. Herod the tetrarch] See on Matt. ii. 1; xiv. 1.

By him] This is omitted by BCDL, two others, the Coptic, 
Sahidic, Armenian, and four of the Itala. It is probable that 
Luke might have written, Herod, hearing of all the things 
that were done, &c.; but Matthew says particularly, that it 
was the fame of Jesus of which he heard: Matt. xiv. 1.

He was perplexed;] He was greatly perplexed dihporei? from 
dia emphat. and aporew, I am in perplexity. It is a metaphor 
taken from a traveler, who in his journey meets with several 
paths, one only of which leads to the place whither he would 
go; and, not knowing which to take, he is distressed with 
perplexity and doubt. The verb comes from a, negative, and 
porov, a way or passage. A guilty conscience is a continual 
pest:-Herod had murdered John, and he is terribly afraid, 
lest he should arise from the dead, and bring his deeds to 
light, and expose him to that punishment which he deserved. 
See Mark vi. 16.

Verse 10. Told him all] Related distinctly-dihghsanto, from 
dia, through, and hgeomai, I declare: hence the whole of this 
Gospel, because of its relating every thing so particularly, 
is termed dihghsiv, chap. i. 1, a particular and 
circumstantially detailed narration. See on Mark vi. 30.

Verse 11. The people-followed him] Observe here five grand 
effects of Divine grace. 1. The people are drawn to follow 
him. 2. He kindly receives them. 3. He instructs them in the 
things of God. 4. He heals all their diseases. 5. He feeds 
their bodies and their souls. See Quesnel. Reader! Jesus is 
the same to the present moment. Follow him, and he will 
receive, instruct, heal, feed, and save thy soul unto eternal 
life.

Verse 12. Send the multitude away] See this miracle explained 
at large, on the parallel places, Matt. xiv. 15-21; Mark vi. 
36-44.

Verse 16. Then he took the five loaves] A minister of the 
Gospel, who is employed to feed souls, should imitate this 
conduct of Christ: 1. He ought to exhort the people to hear 
with sedate and humble reverence.

2. He should first take the bread of life himself, that he 
may be strengthened to feed others.

3. He ought frequently to lift his soul to God, in order to 
draw down the Divine blessing on himself and his hearers.

4. He should break the loaves-divide rightly the word of 
truth, and give to all such portions as are suited to their 
capacities and states.

5. What he cannot perform himself, he should endeavour to 
effect by the ministry of others; employing every promising 
talent, for the edification of the whole, which he finds 
among the members of the Church of God.

Under such a pastor, the flock of Christ will increase and 
multiply. See Quesnel.

Verse 18. Whom say the people] oi ocloi, the common people, 
i.e. the mass of the people. See this question considered on 
Matthew xvi. 13, &c.

Verse 20. But whom say ye that I am?] Whom do ye tell the 
people that I am? What do ye preach concerning me? See also 
on Matt. xvi. 14; and see the observations at the end of this 
chapter.

The Christ of God.] The Coptic and later Persic read, Thou 
art Christ God. After this comes in Peter's confession of our 
Lord, as related Matt. xvi. 16, &c., where see the notes; and 
see also the observations of Granville Sharp, Esq., at the 
end of this chapter. 

Verse 23. If any man will come after me] See on Matt. xvi. 
24, and on Mark viii. 34, where the nature of proselytism 
among the Jews is explained.

Daily] kaqÆ hmeran is omitted by many reputable MSS., 
versions, and fathers. It is not found in the parallel 
places, Matt. xvi. 24; Mark viii. 34.

Verse 24. Will save his life] See on Matt. xvi. 24, &c.

Verse 25. Lose himself] That is, his life or soul. See the 
parallel places, Matt. xvi. 25; Mark viii. 35, and especially 
the note on the former.

Or be cast away?] Or receive spiritual damage h zhmiwqeiv. I 
have added the word spiritual here, which I conceive to be 
necessarily implied.

Because, if a man received only temporal damage in some 
respect or other, yet gaining the whole world must amply 
compensate him. But if he should receive spiritual damage-
hurt to his soul in the smallest degree, the possession of 
the universe could not indemnify him. Earthly goods may 
repair earthly losses, but they cannot repair any breach that 
may be made in the peace or holiness of the soul. See on 
Matt. xvi. 26.

Verse 26. Ashamed of me] See on Mark viii. 38.

Verse 28. About an eight days after] See the whole of this 
important transaction explained at large on Matt. xvii. 1-13.

Verse 31. His decease] thn exodon auton, That going out (or 
death) of his. That peculiar kind of death-its nature, 
circumstances, and necessity being considered. Instead of 
exodon, thirteen MSS. have doxan, glory.

They spoke of that glory of his, which he was about to fill 
up (plhroun) at Jerusalem. The AEthiopic unites both 
readings. The death of Jesus was his glory, because, by it, 
he gained the victory over sin, death, and hell, and 
purchased salvation and eternal glory for a lost world.

Verse 33. It is good for us to be here] Some MSS. add 
pantote, It is good for us to be ALWAYS here.

Verse 35. This is my beloved Son] Instead of o agaphtov, the 
beloved one, some MSS. and versions have eklektov, the chosen 
one: and the AEthiopic translator, as in several other cases, 
to be sure of the true reading, retains both.

In whom I am well pleased, or have delighted-is added by some 
very ancient MSS. Perhaps this addition is taken from Matthew 
xvii. 5.

Verse 37. Much people] See on Matt. xvii. 14.

Verse 39. A spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out] 
pneuma lambanei auton. This very phrase is used by heathen 
writers, when they speak of supernatural influence. The 
following, from Herodotus, will make the matter, I hope, 
quite plain. Speaking of Scyles, king of the Scythians, who 
was more fond of Grecian manners and customs than of those of 
his countrymen, and who desired to be privately initiated 
into the Bacchic mysteries, he adds: "Now because the 
Scythians reproach the Greeks with these Bacchanals, and say 
that to imagine a god driving men into paroxysms of madness 
is not agreeable to sound reason, a certain Borysthenian, 
while the king was performing the ceremonies of initiation, 
went out, and discovered the matter to the Scythian army in 
these words: 'Ye Scythians ridicule us because we celebrate 
the Bacchanals, kai hmeav o qeov lambanei, and the GOD 
POSSESSES US: but now the same demon, outov o daimwn, has 
TAKEN POSSESSION, lelabhke, of your king, for he celebrates 
the Bacchanals, and upo tou qeou mainetai, is filled with 
fury by this god." Herodot. l. iv. p. 250, edit. Gale.

This passage is exceedingly remarkable. The very expressions 
which Luke uses here are made use of by Herodotus. A demon, 
daimwn, is the agent in the Greek historian, and a demon is 
the agent in the case mentioned in the text, chap. ix. 42. In 
both cases it is said the demon possesses the persons, and 
the very same word, lambanei is used to express this in both 
historians. Both historians show that the possessions were 
real, by the effects produced in the persons: the heathen 
king rages with fury through the influence of the demon 
called the god Bacchus; the person in the text screams out, 
(krazei,) is greatly convulsed, and foams at the mouth. Here 
was a real possession, and such as often took place among 
those who were worshippers of demons.

Verse 42. The devil threw him down, and tare him.] See this 
case considered at large, on Matt. xvii. 15-18, and on Mark 
ix. 14-27.

Verse 43. The mighty power] This majesty of God, megaleiothti 
tou qeou. They plainly saw that it was a case in which any 
power inferior to that of God could be of no avail; and they 
were deeply struck with the majesty of God manifested in the 
conduct of the blessed Jesus.

Verse 44. Let these sayings sink down into your ears] Or, put 
these words into your ears. To other words, you may lend 
occasional attention-but to what concerns my sufferings and 
death you must ever listen. Let them constantly occupy a 
place in your most serious meditations and reflections.

Verse 45. But they understood not] See the note on Mark ix. 
32.

Verse 46. There arose a reasoning] eishlqe de dialogismov, A 
dialogue took place-one inquired, and another answered, and 
so on. See this subject explained on Matt. xviii. 1, &c.

Verse 49. We forbade him] See this subject considered on Mark 
ix. 38, &c.

Verse 51. That he should be received up] Bishop PEARCE says: 
"I think the word analhyewv must signify, of Jesus's retiring 
or withdrawing himself, and not of his being received up: 
because the word sumplhrousqai, here used before it, denotes 
a time completed, which that of his ascension was not then. 
The sense is, that the time was come, when Jesus was no 
longer to retire from Judea and the parts about Jerusalem as 
he had hitherto done; for he had lived altogether in Galilee, 
lest the Jews should have laid hold on him, before the work 
of his ministry was ended, and full proofs of his Divine 
mission given, and some of the prophecies concerning him 
accomplished. John says, John vii. 1: Jesus walked in 
Galilee; for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews 
sought to kill him. Let it be observed, that all which 
follows here in Luke, to chap. xix. 45, is represented by him 
as done by Jesus in his last journey from Galilee to 
Jerusalem." He steadfastly set his face] That is, after 
proper and mature deliberation, he chose now to go up to 
Jerusalem, and firmly determined to accomplish his design.

Verse 52. Sent messengers] aggelouv, angels, literally; but 
this proves that the word angel signifies a messenger of any 
kind, whether Divine or human. The messengers in this case 
were probably James and John.

Verse 53. His face was] They saw he was going up to Jerusalem 
to keep the feast; (it was the feast of tabernacles, John 
vii. 2;) and knowing him thereby to be a Jew, they would 
afford nothing for his entertainment; for, in religious 
matters, the Samaritans and Jews had no dealings: see John 
iv. 9.

The Samaritans were a kind of mongrel heathens; they feared 
Jehovah, and served other gods, 2 Kings xvii. 34. They 
apostatized from the true religion, and persecuted those who 
were attached to it. See an account of them, Matt. xvi. 1. 
Those only who have deserted the truth of God, or who are 
uninfluenced by it, hate them who embrace and act by it. When 
a man has once decidedly taken the road to heaven, he can 
have but little credit any longer in the world, 1 John iii. 
1.

Verse 54. That we command fire] Vengeance belongs to the 
Lord. What we suffer for his sake, should be left to himself 
to reprove or punish. The insult is offered to him, not to 
us. See the note on Mark iii. 17.

Verse 55. Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.] Ye do 
not consider that the present is a dispensation of infinite 
mercy and love; and that the design of God is not to destroy 
sinners, but to give them space to repent, that he may save 
them unto eternal life. And ye do not consider that the zeal 
which you feel springs from an evil principle, being more 
concerned for your own honour than for the honour of God. The 
disciples of that Christ who died for his enemies should 
never think of avenging themselves on their persecutors.

Verse 56. And they went to another village.] Which probably 
did entertain them; being, perhaps, without the Samaritan 
borders.

The words, Ye know not of what spirit ye are; for the Son of 
man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them, are 
wanting in ABCEGHLS-V, and in many others. Griesbach leaves 
the latter clause out of the text. It is probable that the 
most ancient MSS. read the passage thus: But he turned, and 
rebuked them, and said, Ye know not of what spirit ye are. 
And they went to another village. See the authorities in 
GRIESBACH.

Verse 57. A certain man] He was a scribe. See on Matt. viii. 
19-22. It is probable that this took place when Christ was at 
Capernaum, as Matthew represents it, and not on the way to 
Jerusalem through Samaria.

Verse 61. Another also said] This circumstance is not 
mentioned by any of the other evangelists; and Matthew alone 
mentions the former case, chap. ix. 57, 58.

Let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home] 
epitreyon moi apotaxasqai toiv eiv ton oikon mou-Permit me to 
set in order my affairs at home. Those who understand the 
Greek text will see at once that it will bear this 
translation well; and that this is the most natural. This 
person seems to have had in view the case of Elisha, who made 
a similar request to the Prophet Elijah, 1 Kings xix. 19, 20, 
which request was granted by the prophet; but our Lord, 
seeing that this person had too much attachment to the earth, 
and that his return to worldly employments, though for a 
short time, was likely to become the means of stifling the 
good desires which he now felt, refused to grant him that 
permission. That which we object to the execution of God's 
designs is sometimes the very thing from which we should 
immediately disengage ourselves.

Verse 62. Put his hand to the plough] Can any person properly 
discharge the work of the ministry who is engaged in secular 
employments? A farmer and a minister of the Gospel are 
incompatible characters. As a person who holds the plough 
cannot keep on a straight furrow if he look behind him; so he 
who is employed in the work of the ministry cannot do the 
work of an evangelist, if he turn his desires to worldly 
profits. A good man has said: "He who thinks it necessary to 
cultivate the favour of the world is not far from betraying 
the interests of God and his Church." Such a person is not 
fit, euqetov, properly disposed, has not his mind properly 
directed towards the heavenly inheritance, and is not fit to 
show the way to others. In both these verses there is a plain 
reference to the call of Elisha. See 1 Kings xix. 19, &c.

1. CONSIDERING the life of mortification and self-denial 
which Christ and his disciples led, it is surprising to find 
that any one should voluntarily offer to be his disciple. But 
there is such an attractive influence in truth, and such a 
persuasive eloquence in the consistent steady conduct of a 
righteous man, that the first must have admirers, and the 
latter, imitators.

Christianity, as it is generally exhibited, has little 
attractive in it; and it is no wonder that the cross of 
Christ is not prized, as the blessings of it are not known; 
and they can be known and exhibited by him only who follows 
Christ fully.

2. It is natural for man to wish to do the work of God in his 
own spirit; hence he is ready to call down fire and brimstone 
from heaven against those who do not conform to his own views 
of things. A spirit of persecution is abominable. Had man the 
government of the world, in a short time, not only sects and 
parties, but even true religion itself, would be banished 
from the face of the earth. Meekness, long-suffering, and 
benevolence, become the followers of Christ; and his 
followers should ever consider that his work can never be 
done but in his own spirit.

Since the notes on Matthew were published, I have received 
from Granville Sharp, Esq., a short Treatise, entitled, 
Remarks on an important Text, (viz. Matt. xvi. 18,) which has 
long been perverted by the Church of Rome, IN SUPPORT OF HER 
VAIN AND BANEFUL PRETENSIONS TO A SUPERIORITY OR SUPREME 
DOMINION OVER ALL OTHER EPISCOPAL CHURCHES.

As I should feel it an honour to introduce the name of such a 
veteran in the cause of religion, liberty, and learning, into 
my work, so it gives me pleasure to insert the substance of 
his tract here, as forming a strong argument against a most 
Anti-christian doctrine.

"And I also say unto thee, That thou art PETER; and upon this 
ROCK I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not 
prevail against it." Matt. xvi. 18.

"The Greek word petrov (Petros or Peter) does not mean a 
rock, though it has, indeed, a relative meaning to the word 
petra, a rock; for it signifies only a little piece of a 
rock, or a stone, that has been dug out of a rock; whereby 
the dignity of the real foundation intended by our Lord, 
which he expressed by the prophetical figure of Petra, (a 
rock,) must necessarily be understood to bear a 
proportionable superiority of dignity and importance above 
the other preceding word, Petros; as petra, a real rock, is, 
comparatively, superior to a mere stone, or particle from the 
rock; because a rock is the regular figurative expression in 
Holy Scripture for a Divine Protector: y[lo hwhy Jehovah (is) 
my rock, (2 Sam. xxii. 2, and Psa. xviii. 2.) Again, yrwx 
yhla , my God (is) my rock; (2 Sam. xxii. 2, and Psa. xviii. 
2;) and again, wnyhla yd[lbm rwx ymw , and who (is) a rock 
except our God? 2 Samuel xxii. 32.

"Many other examples may be found throughout the Holy 
Scriptures; but these six alone are surely sufficient to 
establish the true meaning of the figurative expression used 
by our Lord on this occasion; as they demonstrate that 
nothing of less importance was to be understood than that of 
our Lord's own Divine divinity, as declared by St. Pet. in 
the preceding context-'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
living God!' "That our Lord really referred to this 
declaration of Peter, relating to his own Divine dignity, as 
being the true rock, on which he would build his Church, is 
established beyond contradiction by our Lord himself, in the 
clear distinction which he maintained between the stone 
(petrov, petros) and the rock, (petra, petra,) by the 
accurate grammatical terms in which both these words are 
expressly recorded. (For whatsoever may have been the 
language in which they were really spoken, perhaps in Chaldee 
or Syriac, yet in this point the Greek record is our only 
authoritative instructer.) The first word, petrov, being a 
masculine noun, signifies merely a stone; and the second 
word, petra, though it is a feminine noun, cannot signify any 
thing of less magnitude and importance than a rock, or strong 
mountain of defense. The true meaning of the name was at 
first declared by our Lord to be Cephas, a stone; and a 
learned commentator, Edward Leigh, Esq., asserts that petrov, 
doth always signify a STONE, never a rock. Critica Sacra, p. 
325.

"With respect to the first.-The word petrov, petros, in its 
highest figurative sense of a stone, when applied to Peter, 
can represent only one true believer, or faithful member of 
Christ's Church, that is, one out of the great multitude of 
true believers in Christ, who, as figurative stones, form 
altogether the glorious spiritual building of Christ's 
Church, and not the foundation on which that Church is built; 
because that figurative character cannot, consistently with 
truth, be applied to any other person than to God, or to 
Christ alone, as I have already demonstrated by several 
undeniable texts of Holy Scripture. And though even Christ 
himself is sometimes, in Holy Scripture, called a stone, 
(loqov, but not petrov,) yet, whenever this figurative 
expression is applied to him, it is always with such a clear 
distinction of superiority over all other figurative stones 
as will not admit the least idea of any vicarial stone to be 
substituted in his place; as, for instance: He is called 'the 
head stone of the corner,' (Psa. cxviii. 22,) 'in Zion a 
precious corner stone,' (Isa. xxviii. 16,) by whom alone the 
other living stones of the spiritual house are rendered 
'acceptable to God;' as St. Peter himself (previous to his 
citation of that text of Isaiah) has clearly declared in his 
address to the Churches dispersed throughout Pontus, Galatia, 
Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia; wherein he manifestly 
explains that very text of Isaiah, as follows:-'Ye also,' 
(says the apostle,) 'as living stones, are built up a 
spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual 
sacrifices ACCEPTABLE TO GOD, BY' (or through) 'JESUS 
CHRIST.' (1 Pet. ii. 5.) Thus plainly acknowledging the true 
foundation, on which the other living stones of the primitive 
catholic Church were built, in order to render them 
'acceptable to God,' as 'a holy priesthood.' And the apostle 
then proceeds (in the very next verse) to his citation of the 
above-mentioned text from Isaiah:-'Wherefore also,' (says he, 
1 Pet. ii. 6,) 'it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I 
lay in Sion a CHIEF CORNER STONE, elect, precious; and he 
that believeth on him' (epÆ autw, on him, that is, on Jesus 
Christ, the only CHIEF CORNER STONE) 'shall not be 
confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe' (he) 'IS 
PRECIOUS,' (or, an honour; as rendered in the margin,) 'but 
unto them which be disobedient' (he is, de, also) 'the stone 
which the builders disallowed, the same' (outov, for there is 
no other person that can be entitled to this supreme 
distinction in the Church) 'is made the HEAD OF THE CORNER.' 
"From this whole argument of St. Peter, it is manifest that 
there cannot be any other true head of the Church than Christ 
himself; so that the pretense for setting up a vicarial head 
on earth, is not only contrary to St. Peter's instruction to 
the eastern Churches, long after Christ's ascent into heaven; 
but also (with respect to the inexpediency and impropriety of 
acknowledging such a vicar on earth as the Roman pretender) 
is equally contrary to our Lord's own instruction to his 
disciples (and, of course, also contrary to the faith of the 
true primitive catholic Church throughout the whole world) 
when he promised them, that, 'Where two or three are gathered 
together in my name' (said our Lord JESUS, the true rock of 
the Church) 'there am I in the midst of them,' Matt. xviii. 
20.

"So that the appointment of any 'vicar on earth,' to 
represent that rock or eternal head of the Church whose 
continual presence, even with the smallest congregations on 
earth, is so expressly promised, would be not only 
superfluous and vain, but must also be deemed a most 
ungrateful affront to the benevolent Promiser of his 
continual presence; such as must have been suggested by our 
spiritual enemies to promote an apostasy from the only sure 
foundation, on which the faith, hope, and confidence of the 
true catholic Church can be built and supported! "Thus, I 
trust that the true sense of the first noun, petrov, a stone, 
is here fairly stated; and also, its relative meaning to the 
second noun, petra, a rock, as far as it can reasonably be 
deemed applicable to the Apostle Peter.

"And a due consideration also of the second noun, petra, a 
rock, will produce exactly the same effect; that is, it will 
demonstrate that the supreme title of the rock, which, in 
other texts of Holy Scripture, is applied to Jehovah, or God, 
alone, (as I have already shown,) most certainly was not 
intended by our Lord to be understood as applicable to his 
disciple Peter; but only to that true testimony which St. 
Peter had just before declared, concerning the Divine dignity 
of the Messiah-'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living 
God.' "I have already remarked that petra (a rock) is a 
feminine noun; and a clear distinction is maintained between 
petrov, the masculine noun, in this text, and the said 
feminine noun petra, the rock, by the grammatical terms in 
which the latter, in its relatives and articles, is 
expressed, which are all regularly feminine throughout the 
whole sentence; and thereby they demonstrate that our Lord 
did not intend that the new appellation, or nominal 
distinction, which he had just before given to Simon, (viz. 
petrov, the masculine noun in the beginning of the sentence,) 
should be construed as the character of which he spoke in the 
next part of the sentence; for, if he had really intended 
that construction, the same masculine noun, petrov, must 
necessarily have been repeated in the next part of the 
sentence with a masculine pronoun, viz. epi toutw tw petrw, 
instead of epi tauth th petra, the present text; wherein, on 
the contrary; not only the gender is changed from the 
masculine to the feminine, but also the figurative character 
itself, which is as much superior, in dignity, to the Apostle 
Simon, and also to his new appellative petrov, as a rock is 
superior to a mere stone. For the word petrov cannot signify 
any thing more than a stone; so that the popish application 
to Peter, (or petrov,) as the foundation of Christ's Church, 
is not only inconsistent with the real meaning of the 
appellative which Christ, at that very time, conferred upon 
him, and with the necessary grammatical construction of it, 
but also with the figurative importance of the other word, 
petra, the rock; epi tauth th petra, 'upon this rock;' the 
declared foundation of the Church, a title of dignity, which 
(as I have already shown by several texts of Scripture) is 
applicable only to God or to Christ.

"And be pleased to observe farther, that the application of 
this supreme title (the rock) to Peter, is inconsistent 
(above all) with the plain reference to the preceding 
CONTEXT; made by our Lord in the beginning of this very 
verse-'AND I ALSO say unto thee'-which manifestly points out 
(both by the copulative 'and,' and the connective adverb 
'also') the inseparable connection of this verse with the 
previous declaration of Peter, concerning our Lord's Divine 
dignity in the preceding sentence-'Thou art the Christ, the 
Son of the living God;' and thereby demonstrates that our 
Lord's immediate reply ('AND I ALSO SAY unto thee, &c.) did 
necessarily include this declaration of Peter, as being the 
principal object of the sentence-the true foundation, or 
rock, on which alone the catholic Church can be properly 
built; because our faith in Christ (that he is truly 'the Son 
of the living God') is unquestionably the only security or 
rock of our salvation.

"And Christ was also the rock even of the primitive Church of 
Israel; for St. Paul testifies, that 'they' (i.e. the hosts 
of Israel) 'did all drink of that spiritual drink: for they 
drank of that spiritual ROCK that followed them, and that 
ROCK was CHRIST,' 1 Cor. x. 4. And the apostle, in a 
preceding chapter, (1 Cor. iii. 11,) says, 'Other foundation 
can no man lay than that is laid, which is JESUS CHRIST.' "In 
the margin of our English version of 1 Cor. x. 4, instead of 
'followed them,' we find, 'went with them;' which is not only 
the literal meaning of the Greek, 'followed them,' but it is 
also unquestionably true that Christ was, in a more 
particular manner, the ROCK of their defense, when he 
'followed them,' than when he 'went before them,' as related 
in Exod. xiii. 21, 'And the Lord' (in the Hebrew, expressly, 
Jehovah) 'WENT BEFORE THEM by day in a pillar of a cloud to 
LEAD THEM the way, and by night in a pillar of fire,' &c. 
Yet, afterwards, a necessary change was made by the Protector 
of the hosts of Israel, in his military manoeuvres with the 
two marching armies, as we are informed in the next chapter, 
Exod. xiv. 19. For though, at first, 'he went BEFORE the camp 
of Israel,' yet he afterwards 'removed, and went BEHIND them; 
and the pillar of the cloud removed from before them, and 
stood' (or rather, was stationed in the order of marching) 
'behind them.' Which is properly expressed by St. Paul (in 
the above-cited text, 1 Cor. x. 4) as 'the rock that followed 
them.' For Christ was more particularly 'a rock of defense to 
Israel,' by this changed manoeuvre in following them; because 
he thereby prevented the pursuit of their cruel enemies, the 
standing armies of the Egyptian tyrant.

"I must remark, however, that in the text, which is parallel 
to St. Paul's testimony that Christ was the ROCK which 
followed, viz. Exod. xiv. 19, 20, Christ is not mentioned 
under the supreme title of Jehovah, (as in the preceding 
chapter, Exod. xiii. 21,) but only as 'an angel of God.' But 
the angel appointed to this most gracious and merciful 
purpose of the Almighty was really of a supreme Divine 
dignity, infinitely superior to all other angels, For (in 
another parallel text on the same subject, wherein the title 
of angel is also given, viz. Exod. xxiii. 20-23,) God 
declared, saying, 'My name is in him,' (viz. the name 
Jehovah, signifying all time, past, present, and future, or 
the eternal Being.) 'Behold,' (said God to the hosts of 
Israel,) 'I send AN ANGEL' (or a messenger) 'before thee, to 
keep thee in the way,' (the object of intention before 
described,) 'and to bring thee into the place which I have 
prepared. Beware of him,' [or rather, watch, (thyself,) or be 
respectful before him, ûynpl or in his presence,] 'and obey 
his VOICE,' (i.e. the WORD of God, the true character of 
Christ, even before the creation;) 'provoke him not,' (or 
rather, murmur not, against him,) 'for he will not pardon 
your transgressions, for MY NAME IS IN HIM,' (not placed upon 
him, as the outward tokens of mere temporary authority are 
given, to be exhibited like the insignia of nobility, or 
robes of magistrates, but really 'in him,' wbrqb 'within 
him,' i.e. thoroughly included in his personal existence.) 
'But if thou shalt indeed obey HIS VOICE,' (i.e. 'the word of 
God,' the true figurative character of the Son of God,) 'and 
shalt do all that I SPEAK,' (for it is Jehovah, the Lord God, 
that speaketh in Christ,) 'then I will be an enemy to thine 
enemies,' &c. It is therefore unquestionably evident, from 
the examination of all these texts, that Christ, whom St. 
Paul has declared to be 'the rock that followed' the 
Israelites, was also the Lord, or Jehovah, (as he is 
expressly called in the first text here cited, Exod. xiii. 
21,) that 'went before' the Israelites 'by day,' in a pillar 
of a cloud, to lead them in 'the way, and by night in a 
pillar of fire,' &c., as expressly declared in the first text 
cited in this note; and, therefore, an attempt to set up any 
mere mortal man, as the rock or foundation of the true 
catholic Church, must be attributed either to extreme 
ignorance of the Holy Scriptures, or to extreme wickedness; 
but certainly, also, to the delusions of spiritual enemies." 
That the power of the keys, or of binding and loosing, 
belonged equally to all the apostles, the author goes on to 
prove.

"But there is a testimony of high authority, which renders it 
unquestionable that this declaration of our Lord respecting 
the power of 'binding and loosing,' related 'to them,' (the 
other disciples,) 'as well as to him:'-even another 
declaration, made by our Lord himself, 'to his disciples,' 
respecting the same identical power, which our Lord 
attributed equally to all the disciples then present.

"The particular discourse of our Lord to which I now refer 
seems to have been made at Capernaum, after the miracle of 
the fish (bearing the tribute money in his mouth) which Peter 
was sent to catch; as related in the 17th chapter of St. 
Matthew.  And in the beginning of the very next chapter  we 
are informed as follows:-'At the SAME TIME came the disciples 
unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of 
heaven?' Our Lord's answer to this question (wherein he urges 
the necessity of a humiliation like that of little children, 
as the proper disposition to qualify mankind for the kingdom 
of heaven) is continued from the 2d verse to the 14th verse 
of this chapter;  which shows that the disciples, in general, 
were still present, as they would certainly wait for the 
desired answer to their own question; and then our Lord 
immediately afterwards proceeded to instruct them (from the 
15th to the 17th verse)  in the general duty of behaviour 
towards a brother that has trespassed against us. After which 
our Lord added, (in the 18th verse,)  'Verily I say unto YOU, 
(umin, a plural pronoun, which must refer unto all the 
disciples that were then assembled,) 'Whatsoever YE SHALL 
BIND on earth,' (dhshte, a verb in the second person plural, 
plainly including all the disciples that were then present,) 
'shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever YE SHALL LOOSE on 
earth,' (lushte, another plural verb,) 'shall be loosed in 
heaven.' "This is exactly the power of the keys, which the 
Church of Rome has, most absurdly, attributed to St. Peter 
alone, in order to invest the bishops of Rome (on the vain 
pretense of their being St. Peter's successors) with an 
exclusive claim to all these ecclesiastical privileges of 
binding and loosing, which our Lord manifestly, in this 
parallel text, attributed to all his faithful apostles, 
without any partial distinction.

"But the importance of examining, not only parallel texts, 
but also more particularly the context, of any difficult 
sentence in Holy Scripture, for a more easy comprehension of 
the true meaning, is clearly exemplified in the examination 
of the first text in question, viz. Matt. xvi. 18, 19; for we 
are informed in the very next verse, the 20th,  that our Lord 
'THEN charged his disciples,' (tote, then, that is, 
immediately after his discourse about the rock and keys,) 
'that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ;' 
manifestly referring to the first circumstance of the context 
concerning himself, viz. the declaration of Peter, 'Thou art 
the Christ,' &c. (Matt. xvi. 16,) in answer to his own 
question to all the disciples-'Whom say ye that I am?' "That 
this question was not addressed to Peter alone is manifest by 
the plural pronoun and verb, (umeiv legete,) 'Whom say YE 
that I am?' And therefore St. Peter's answer must be 
considered as intended not merely for himself, but also for 
his brethren, the other faithful witnesses of Christ's 
miracles and doctrines; so that the substance of this answer-
'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God'-must 
necessarily be understood as the true foundation or rock of 
the Catholic Church, revealed to Peter by our heavenly 
Father, as stated in the 17th and 18th verses.  "This 
declaration, therefore, that he was the Christ, was 
manifestly the subject of our Lord's charge to the disciples, 
that 'they should tell no man;' that is, not until after the 
time of his sufferings and death, which were the next topics 
in the continuation of his discourse. The declaration of 
Peter, therefore, demonstrated the true foundation, or rock, 
of the Church, which (as Christ himself testified) our 
heavenly Father had revealed to Peter. And it is also 
remarkable, that the very next discourse of our Lord to his 
disciples, recorded in the context, (Matt. xvi. 21,) should 
produce that severe censure against Peter, which still 
farther demonstrated that Peter could not be the rock on 
which Christ's Church was to be built.

(Matt. xvi. 21.) 'From that time forth' (apo tote) 'began 
Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto 
Jerusalem, and SUFFER many things of the elders, and chief 
priests, and scribes, and BE KILLED,' (all the predicted 
consequences of his being the CHRIST, the character which 
Peter himself had declared,) 'and' (that he should) 'be 
raised again the third day.

Then Peter took him,' (Matt. xvi. 22,) 'and began to rebuke 
him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord,' (or, rather, 
according to the Greek original, as rendered in the margin-
'Pity thyself, Lord')-'this shall not be unto thee.

But he' (Christ, Matt. xvi. 23) 'turned and said unto Peter,' 
[tw petrw, the same appellative (signifying a stone, or a 
small part of a rock) which was given to Peter by our Lord, 
in the 18th verse:-'Get thee behind me, Satan, (said our 
Lord,) thou art an offense unto me; for thou savourest not 
the things that be of God; but those that be of men.'  "Thus 
a fair examination and comparison of the whole context, 
completely sets aside the vain supposition of the Romish 
Church, that Peter was the rock of Christ's Church. And I 
sincerely hope that a similar attention to this whole context 
may prevent any future attempts, that might otherwise be 
prompted by the prejudices of Roman Catholics, to bring 
forward again this long-disputed question, on which they have 
vainly set up the pretended supremacy of the Romish Church 
above all other episcopal Churches; and that it may be 
silenced, and set at rest, for ever hereafter."

CHAPTER x

Christ appoints seventy disciples to go before him, two by 
two, to preach, heal, &c., 1-12. Pronounces woes on Chorazin 
and Capernaum, 13-16. The seventy return, and give account of 
their mission, 17-20. Christ rejoices that the things which 
were hidden from the wise and prudent had been revealed unto 
babes, and shows the great privileges of the Gospel, 21-24. A 
lawyer inquires how he shall inherit eternal life, and is 
answered, 25-29. The story of the good Samaritan, 30-37. The 
account of Martha and Mary, 38-42.

NOTES ON CHAP. x

Verse 1. The Lord appointed other seventy] Rather, seventy 
others, not other seventy, as our translation has it, which 
seems to intimate that he had appointed seventy before this 
time, though, probably, the word other has a reference to the 
twelve chosen first: he not only chose twelve disciples to be 
constantly with him; but he chose seventy others to go before 
him. Our blessed Lord formed every thing in his Church on the 
model of the Jewish Church; and why? Because it was the 
pattern shown by God himself, the Divine form, which pointed 
out the heavenly substance which now began to be established 
in its place. As he before had chosen twelve apostles, in 
reference to the twelve patriarchs, who were the chiefs of 
the twelve tribes, and the heads of the Jewish Church, he now 
publicly appointed (for so the word anedeizen means) seventy 
others, as Moses did the seventy elders whom he associated 
with himself to assist him in the government of the people. 
Exod. xviii. 19; xxiv. 1-9. These Christ sent by two and two: 
1. To teach them the necessity of concord among the ministers 
of righteousness. 2. That in the mouths of two witnesses 
every thing might be established. And, 3. That they might 
comfort and support each other in their difficult labour. See 
on Mark vi. 7. Several MSS. and versions have seventy-two. 
Sometimes the Jews chose six out of each tribe: this was the 
number of the great Sanhedrin. The names of these seventy 
disciples are found in the margin of some ancient MSS., but 
this authority is questionable.

Verse 2. That he would send forth] ekbalh. There seems to be 
an allusion here to the case of reapers, who, though the 
harvest was perfectly ripe, yet were in no hurry to cut it 
down. News of this is brought to the Lord of the harvest the 
farmer, and he is entreated to exert his authority, and hurry 
them out; and this he does because the harvest is spoiling 
for want of being reaped and gathered in. See the notes on 
Matt. ix. 37, 38.

Verse 3. Lambs among wolves.] See on Matt. x. 16.

Verse 4. Carry neither purse nor scrip] See on Matt. x. 9, 
&c., and Mark vi. 8, &c.

Salute no man by the way.] According to a canon of the Jews, 
a man who was about any sacred work was exempted from all 
civil obligations for the time; forasmuch as obedience to God 
was of infinitely greater consequence than the cultivation of 
private friendships, or the returning of civil compliments.

Verse 5. Peace be to this house] See on Matt. x. 12.

Verse 6. The son of peace] In the Jewish style, a man who has 
any good or bad quality is called the son of it. Thus, wise 
men are called the children of wisdom, Matt. xi. 19; chap. 
vii. 35. So, likewise, what a man is doomed to, he is called 
the son of, as in Eph. ii. 3, wicked men are styled the 
children of wrath: so Judas is called the son of perdition, 
John xvii. 12; and a man who deserves to die is called, 2 
Sam. xii. 5, a son of death. Son of peace in the text not 
only means a peaceable, quiet man, but one also of good 
report for his uprightness and benevolence. It would have 
been a dishonour to this mission, had the missionaries taken 
up their lodgings with those who had not a good report among 
them who were without.

Verse 7. The labourer is worthy] See on Matt. x. 8, 12.

Go not from house to house.] See on Matt. x. 11. It would be 
a great offense among the Hindoos if a guest, after being 
made welcome at a house, were to leave it and go to another.

Verse 9. The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.] ef umav, 
is just upon you. This was the general text on which they 
were to preach all their sermons. See it explained, Matt. 
iii. 2.

Verse 11. Even the very dust of your city] See on Matthew x. 
14, 15.

Verse 13. Wo unto thee, Chorazin!] See on Matt. xi. 21-24.

Verse 15. To hell.] To hades. See this explained, Matt. xi. 
23.

Verse 16. He that despiseth you, despiseth me] "The holy, 
blessed God said: 'honour my statutes, for they are my 
ambassadors: and a man's ambassador is like to himself. If 
thou honour my precepts, it is the same as if thou didst 
honour me; and if thou despise them, thou despisest me." R. 
Tancum. "He that murmurs against his teacher is the same as 
if he had murmured against the Divine Shekinah." Sanhedrin, 
fol. 110.

Verse 17. The seventy returned again with joy] Bishop PEARCE 
thinks they returned while our Lord was on his slow journey 
to Jerusalem, and that they had been absent only a few days.

Verse 18. I beheld Satan] Or, Satan himself, ton satanan, the 
very Satan, the supreme adversary, falling as lightning, with 
the utmost suddenness, as a flash of lightning falls from the 
clouds, and at the same time in the most observable manner. 
The fall was both very sudden and very apparent. Thus should 
the fall of the corrupt Jewish state be, and thus was the 
fall of idolatry in the Gentile world.

Verse 19. To tread on serpents, &c.] It is possible that by 
serpents and scorpions our Lord means the scribes and 
Pharisees, whom he calls serpents and a brood of vipers, 
Matt. xxiii. 33, (see the note there,) because, through the 
subtilty and venom of the old serpent, the devil, they 
opposed him and his doctrine; and, by trampling on these, it 
is likely that he means, they should get a complete victory 
over such: as it was an ancient custom to trample on the 
kings and generals who had been taken in battle, to signify 
the complete conquest which had been gained over them. See 
Josh. x. 24. See also Rom. xvi. 20. See the notes on Mark 
xvi. 17, 18.

Verse 20. Because your names are written in heaven.] This 
form of speech is taken from the ancient custom of writing 
the names of all the citizens in a public register, that the 
several families might be known, and the inheritances 
properly preserved. This custom is still observed even in 
these kingdoms, though not particularly noticed. Every child 
that is born in the land is ordered to be registered, with 
the names of its parents, and the time when born, baptized, 
or registered; and this register is generally kept in the 
parish church, or in some public place of safety. Such a 
register as this is called in Phil. iv. 3; Rev. iii. 5, &c., 
the book of life, i.e. the book or register where the persons 
were enrolled as they came into life.

It appears also probable, that when any person died, or 
behaved improperly, his name was sought out and erased from 
the book, to prevent any confusion that might happen in 
consequence of improper persons laying claim to an estate, 
and to cut off the unworthy from the rights and privileges of 
the peaceable, upright citizens. To this custom of blotting 
the names of deceased and disorderly persons out of the 
public registers, there appear to be allusions, Exod. xxxii. 
32, where see the note; and Rev. iii. 5; Deut. ix. 14; xxv. 
19; xxix. 20; 2 Kings xiv. 27; Psa. lxix. 28; cix. 13, and in 
other places.

Verse 21. Rejoiced in spirit] Was truly and heartily joyous: 
felt an inward triumph. But tw pneumati, tw agiw, the HOLY 
Spirit, is the reading here of BCDKL, six others; the three 
Syriac, later Persic, Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, Vulgate, 
all the Itala except one, and Augustin and Bede. These might 
be considered sufficient authority to admit the word into the 
text.

I thank thee] Bishop PEARCE justly observes, the thanks are 
meant to be given to God for revealing them to babes, not for 
hiding them from the others. See on Matt. xi. 25.

Thou hast hid] That is, thou hast not revealed them to the 
scribes and Pharisees, who idolized their own wisdom; but 
thou hast revealed them to the simple and humble of heart.

Verse 22. The Codex Alexandrinus, several other very ancient 
MSS., and some ancient versions, as well as the margin of our 
own, begin this verse with, And turning to his disciples, he 
said. But as this clause begins ver. 23, it is not likely 
that it was originally in both. Griesbach has left these 
words out of the text, and Professor WHITE says, Certissime 
delenda, "These words should most assuredly be erased."

Verse 22. All things are delivered to me] See on Matt. xi. 
27.

Verse 23. Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye 
see] There is a similar saying to this among the rabbins, in 
Sohar. Genes., where it is said, "Blessed is that generation 
which the earth shall bear, when the King Messiah cometh."

Verse 24. Many prophets] See on Matt. xiii. 11, 17.

Verse 25. A certain lawyer] See on Matt. xxiv. 35.

Verse 27. Thou shalt love the Lord] See this important 
subject explained at large, on Matt. xxii. 37-40.

Thy neighbour as thyself.] See the nature of self-love 
explained, on Matt. xix. 19.

Verse 29. Willing to justify himself] Wishing to make it 
appear that he was a righteous man, and that consequently he 
was in the straight road to the kingdom of God, said, Who is 
my neighbour? supposing our Lord would have at once answered, 
"Every Jew is to be considered as such, and the Jews only." 
Now as he imagined he had never been deficient in his conduct 
to any person of his own nation, he thought he had amply 
fulfilled the law.

This is the sense in which the Jews understood the word 
neighbour, as may be seen from Lev. xxix. 15-18. But our Lord 
shows here, that the acts of kindness which a man is bound to 
perform to his neighbour when in distress, he should perform 
to any person, of whatever nation, religion, or kindred, whom 
he finds in necessity. As the word plhsion signifies one who 
is near, Anglo Saxon [A.S.], he that is next, this very 
circumstance makes any person our neighbour whom we know; 
and, if in distress, an object of our most compassionate 
regards. If a man came from the most distant part of the 
earth, the moment he is near you he has a claim upon your 
mercy and kindness, as you would have on his, were your 
dwelling-place transferred to his native country. It is 
evident that our Lord uses the word plhsion (very properly 
translated neighbour, from nae or naer, near, and buer, to 
dwell) in its plain, literal sense. Any person whom you know, 
who dwells hard by, or who passes near you, is your neighbour 
while within your reach.

Verse 30. And Jesus answering] Rather, Then Jesus took him 
up. This I believe to be the meaning of the word upolabwn; he 
threw out a challenge, and our Lord took him up on his own 
ground. See WAKEFIELD'S Testament.

A certain man went down from Jerusalem] Or, A certain man of 
Jerusalem going down to Jericho. This was the most public 
road in all Judea, as it was the grand thoroughfare between 
these two cities for the courses of priests, twelve thousand 
of whom are said to have resided at Jericho. See Lightfoot.

Fell among thieves] At this time the whole land of Judea was 
much infested with hordes of banditti; and it is not unlikely 
that many robberies might have been committed on that very 
road to which our Lord refers.

Verse 31. And by chance] kata sugkurian properly means the 
coincidence of time and circumstance. At the time in which 
the poor Jew was half dead, through the wounds which he had 
received, a priest came where he was. So the priest's coming 
while the man was in that state is the coincidence marked out 
by the original words.

Verses 31. - 32. Priest and Levite are mentioned here, partly 
because they were the most frequent travelers on this road, 
and partly to show that these were the persons who, from the 
nature of their office, were most obliged to perform works of 
mercy; and from whom a person in distress had a right to 
expect immediate succour and comfort; and their inhuman 
conduct here was a flat breach of the law, Deut. xxii. 1-4.

Verse 33. Samaritan is mentioned merely to show that he was a 
person from whom a Jew had no right to expect any help or 
relief, because of the enmity which subsisted between the two 
nations.

Verse 34. Pouring in oil and wine] These, beaten together, 
appear to have been used formerly as a common medicine for 
fresh wounds. Bind up a fresh cut immediately in a soft rag 
or lint, moistened with pure olive oil, and the parts will 
heal by what is called the first intention, and more speedily 
than by any other means.

An inn] pandoceion, from pan, all, and decomai, I receive; 
because it receives all comers.

Verse 35. Two pence] Two denarii, about fifteen pence, 
English; and which, probably, were at that time of ten times 
more value there than so much is with us now.

Verse 36. Which-was neighbour] Which fulfilled the duty which 
one neighbour owes to another?

Verse 37. He that showed mercy] Or, so much mercy. His 
prejudice would not permit him to name the Samaritan, yet his 
conscience obliged him to acknowledge that he was the only 
righteous person of the three.

Go, and do thou likewise] Be even to thy enemy in distress as 
kind, humane, and merciful, as this Samaritan was. As the 
distress was on the part of a Jew, and the relief was 
afforded by a Samaritan, the lawyer, to be consistent with 
the decision he had already given, must feel the force of our 
Lord's inference, that it was his duty to act to any person, 
of whatever nation or religion he might be, as this Samaritan 
had acted toward his countryman. It is very likely that what 
our Lord relates here was a real matter of fact, and not a 
parable; otherwise the captious lawyer might have objected 
that no such case had ever existed, and that any inference 
drawn from it was only begging the question; but as he was, 
in all probability, in possession of the fact himself, he was 
forced to acknowledge the propriety of our Lord's inference 
and advice.

Those who are determined to find something allegorical, even 
in the plainest portions of Scripture, affirm that the whole 
of this relation is to be allegorically considered; and, 
according to them, the following is the true exposition of 
the text.

The certain man means Adam-went down, his fall-from 
Jerusalem, µwl hary yorih shalom, he shall see peace, 
perfection, &c., meaning his state of primitive innocence and 
excellence-to Jericho, ( yjry yareacho, his moon,) the 
transitory and changeable state of existence in this world-
thieves, sin and Satan-stripped, took away his righteousness, 
which was the clothing of the soul-wounded, infected his 
heart with all evil and hurtful desires, which are the wounds 
of the spirit-half dead, possessing a living body, carrying 
about a soul dead in sin.

The priest, the moral law-the Levite, the ceremonial law-
passed by, either could not or would not afford any relief, 
because by the law is the knowledge of sin, not the cure of 
it. A certain Samaritan, Christ; for so he was called by the 
Jews, John viii. 48 -as he journeyed, meaning his coming from 
heaven to earth; his being incarnated-came where he was, put 
himself in man's place, and bore the punishment due to his 
sins-had compassion, it is through the love and compassion of 
Christ that the work of redemption was accomplished-went to 
him, Christ first seeks the sinner, who, through his 
miserable estate, is incapable of seeking or going to Christ-
bound up his wounds, gives him comfortable promises, and 
draws him by his love-pouring in oil, pardoning mercy-wine, 
the consolations of the Holy Ghost-set him on his own beast, 
supported him entirely by his grace and goodness, so that he 
no longer lives, but Christ lives in him-took him to an inn, 
his Church, uniting him with his people-took care of him, 
placed him under the continual notice of his providence and 
love-when he departed, when he left the world and ascended to 
the Father-took out two pence, or denarii, the law and the 
Gospel; the one to convince of sin, the other to show how it 
is to be removed-gave them to the host, the ministers of the 
Gospel for the edification of the Church of Christ-take care 
of him, as they are Gods watchmen and God's stewards, they 
are to watch over the flock of Christ, and give to each his 
portion of meat in due season. What thou spendest more, if 
thou shouldst lose thy health and life in this work-when I 
come again, to judge the world, I will repay thee, I will 
reward thee with an eternity of glory.

Several primitive and modern fathers treat the text in this 
way. What I have given before is, I believe, the meaning of 
our blessed Lord. What I have given here is generally true in 
itself, but certainly does not follow from the text. Mr. 
Baxter's note here is good: "They who make the wounded man 
Adam, and the good Samaritan Christ, abuse the passage." A 
practice of this kind cannot be too strongly reprehended. Men 
may take that advantage of the circumstances of the case to 
illustrate the above facts and doctrines; but let no man say 
this is the meaning of the relation; no: but he may say, we 
may make this use of it. Though I cannot recommend this kind 
of preaching, yet I know that some simple upright souls have 
been edified by it. I dare not forbid a man to work by whom 
God may choose to work a miracle, because he follows not with 
us. But such a mode of interpretation I can never recommend.

Verse 38. A certain village] If this village was Bethany, 
where Martha and Mary lived, at less than two miles' distance 
from Jerusalem, see John xi. 1, 18; xii. 2, then this must 
have happened later than Luke places it; because, in chap. 
xix. 29, he represents Jesus as having arrived after this at 
Bethany; and what is said in chap. xiii. 22, and chap. xvii. 
11, seems to confirm that this visit of Jesus to Martha and 
Mary ought to be placed later. Bishop PEARCE.

Received him] Kindly received, upedexato, she received him in 
a friendly manner, under her roof; and entertained him 
hospitably. So the word is used in the best Greek writers. 
Martha is supposed by some to have been a widow, with whom 
her brother Lazarus and sister Mary lodged.

Verse 39. Sat at Jesus' feet] This was the posture of the 
Jewish scholars, while listening to the instructions of the 
rabbins. It is in this sense that St. Paul says he was 
brought up at the FEET of Gamaliel, Acts xxii. 3.

Verse 40. Martha was cumbered] periespato, perplexed, from 
peri, about, and spaw, I draw. She was harassed with 
different cares and employments at the same time; one drawing 
one way, and another, another: a proper description of a 
worldly mind. But in Martha's favour it may be justly said, 
that all her anxiety was to provide suitable and timely 
entertainment for our Lord and his disciples; for this is the 
sense in which the word diakoviav, serving, should be taken. 
And we should not, on the merest supposition, attribute 
earthly-mindedness to a woman whose character stands 
unimpeachable in the Gospel; and who, by entertaining Christ 
and his disciples, and providing liberally for them, gave the 
highest proof that she was influenced by liberality and 
benevolence, and not by parsimony or covetousness.

Dost thou not care] Dost thou not think it wrong, that my 
sister thus leaves me to provide and prepare this supper, 
alone? Help me.] sunantilabhtai, from sun, together, and 
antilambanomai, to support. The idea is taken from two 
pillars meeting together at the top, exactly over the center 
of the distance between their bases, and thus mutually 
supporting each other. Order her to unite her skill and 
strength with mine, that the present business may be done 
with that speed and in that order which the necessity and 
importance of the case demand.

Verse 41. Thou art careful and troubled] Thou art distracted, 
merimnav, thy mind is divided, (see on Matt. xiii. 22,) in 
consequence of which, turbazh, thou art disturbed, thy spirit 
is thrown into a tumult.

About many things.] Getting a variety of things ready for 
this entertainment, much more than are necessary on such an 
occasion.

Verse 42. One thing is needful] This is the end of the 
sentence, according to Bengel. "Now Mary hath chosen, &c.," 
begins a new one.

One single dish, the simplest and plainest possible, is such 
as best suits me and my disciples, whose meat and drink it is 
to do the will of our heavenly Father.

Mary hath chosen that good part] That is, of hearing my word, 
of which she shall not be deprived; it being at present of 
infinitely greater importance to attend to my teaching than 
to attend to any domestic concerns. While thou art busily 
employed in providing that portion of perishing food for 
perishing bodies, Mary has chosen that spiritual portion 
which endures for ever, and which shall not be taken away 
from her; therefore I cannot command her to leave her present 
employment, and go and help thee to bring forward a variety 
of matters, which are by no means necessary at this time. Our 
Lord both preached and practised the doctrine of self-denial; 
he and his disciples were contented with a little, and 
sumptuous entertainments are condemned by the spirit and 
design of his Gospel.

Multos morbos, multa fercula fecerunt. SENECA. "Many dishes, 
many diseases." Bishop PEARCE remarks that the word creia, 
needful, is used after the same manner for want of food in 
Mark ii. 25, where of David it is said, creian esce, he had 
need, when it means he was hungry. I believe the above to be 
the true meaning of these verses; but others have taken a 
somewhat different sense from them: especially when they 
suppose that by one thing needful our Lord means the 
salvation of the soul. To attend to this is undoubtedly the 
most necessary of all things, and should be the first, the 
grand concern of every human spirit; but in my opinion it is 
not the meaning of the words in the text. It is only 
prejudice from the common use of the words in this way that 
could make such an interpretation tolerable. KYPKE in loc. 
has several methods of interpreting this passage.

Many eminent commentators, both ancient and modern, consider 
the text in the same way I have done. But this is termed by 
some, "a frigid method of explaining the passage;" well, so 
let it be; but he that fears God will sacrifice every thing 
at the shrine of TRUTH. I believe this alone to be the true 
meaning oú the place, and I dare not give it any other. 
Bengelius points the whole passage thus: Martha, Martha, thou 
art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is 
needful. Now, Mary hath chosen that good portion, which shall 
not be taken away from her.

THAT the salvation of the soul is the first and greatest of 
all human concerns, every man must acknowledge who feels that 
he has a soul; and in humility of mind to hear Jesus, is the 
only way of getting that acquaintance with the doctrine of 
salvation without which how can he be saved? While we fancy 
we are in no spiritual necessity, the things which concern 
salvation will not appear needful to us! A conviction that we 
are spiritually poor must precede our application for the 
true riches. The whole, says Christ, need not the physician, 
but those who are sick.

Martha has been blamed, by incautious people, as possessing a 
carnal, worldly spirit; and as Mary Magdalene has been made 
the chief of all prostitutes, so has Martha of all the 
worldly-minded. Through her affectionate respect for our Lord 
and his disciples, and through that alone, she erred. There 
is not the slightest intimation that she was either worldly-
minded or careless about her soul; nor was she at this time 
improperly employed, only so far as the abundance of her 
affection led her to make a greater provision than was 
necessary on the occasion. Nor are our Lord's words to be 
understood as a reproof; they are a kind and tender 
expostulation, tending to vindicate the conduct of Mary. The 
utmost that can be said on the subject is, Martha was well 
employed, but Mary, on this occasion, better.

If we attend to the punctuation of the original text, the 
subject will appear more plain. I shall transcribe the text 
from Bengel's own edition, Stutgardiae, 1734, 12mo. ver. 41, 
42-v. 41, apokriqeiv de eipen auth o ihsouv, marqa, marqa, 
merimnav kai turbazh peri polla? enov de esti creia. maria de 
thn agaqhn merida exelexato, htiv ouk afaireqhsetai apÆ 
authv. "Then Jesus answered her, Martha, Martha, thou art 
anxiously careful and disturbed about many things; but one 
thing is necessary. But Mary hath chosen that good portion 
which shall not be taken away from her." I have shown, in my 
notes, that Martha was making a greater provision for her 
guests than was needful; that it was in consequence of this 
that she required her sister's help; that Jesus tenderly 
reproved her for her unnecessary anxiety and superabundant 
provision, and asserted that but one thing, call it course or 
dish, was necessary on the occasion, yet she had provided 
many; and that this needless provision was the cause of the 
anxiety and extra labour. Then, taking occasion, from the 
circumstances of the case, to vindicate Mary's conduct, and 
to direct his loving reproof more pointedly at Martha's 
heart, he adds, Mary hath chosen a good portion; that is, she 
avails herself of the present opportunity to hear my 
teaching, and inform herself in those things which are 
essential to the salvation of the soul. I cannot, therefore, 
order her to leave my teaching, to serve in what I know to be 
an unnecessary service, however kindly designed: for it would 
be as unjust to deprive her of this bread of life, after 
which she so earnestly hungers, as to deprive thee, or thy 
guests, of that measure of common food necessary to sustain 
life. All earthly portions are perishing: "Meats for the 
belly, and the belly for meats, but God will destroy both it 
and then; but the work of the Lord abideth for ever;" her 
portion, therefore, shall not be taken away from her. This is 
my view of the whole subject; and all the terms in the 
original, not only countenance this meaning, but necessarily 
require it. The words, one thing is needful, on which we lay 
so much stress, are wanting in some of the most ancient MSS., 
and are omitted by some of the fathers, who quote all the 
rest of the passage: a plain proof that the meaning which we 
take out of them was not thought of in very ancient times; 
and in other MSS., versions, and fathers, there is an unusual 
variety of readings where even the thing, or something like 
it, is retained. Some have it thus; Martha, Martha, thou 
labourest much, and yet a little is sufficient, yea, one 
thing only. Others: And only one thing is required. Others: 
Thou art curious and embarrassed about many things, when that 
which is needful is very small.

Others: But here there need only a few things. Others: But a 
few things, or one only, is necessary. Now these are the 
readings of almost all the ancient versions; and we plainly 
perceive, by them, that what we term the one thing needful, 
is not understood by one of them as referring to the 
salvation of the soul, but to the provision THEN to be made. 
It would be easy to multiply authorities, but I spare both my 
own time and that of my reader. In short, I wonder how the 
present most exceptionable mode of interpretation ever 
obtained; as having no countenance in the text, ancient MSS. 
or versions, and as being false in itself; for even Christ 
himself could not say, that sitting at his feet, and hearing 
his word, was the ONE thing NEEDFUL. Repentance, faith, 
prayer, obedience, and a thousand other things are necessary 
to our salvation, besides merely hearing the doctrines of 
Christ, even with the humblest heart.

CHAPTER xi

Christ teaches his disciples to pray, 1-4. Shows the 
necessity of importunity in prayer, 5-13. Casts out a dumb 
demon, 14. The Jews ascribe this to the power of Beelzebub; 
our Lord vindicates his conduct, 15-23. Miserable state of 
the Jews, 24-26. Who they are that are truly blessed, 27, 28. 
He preaches to the people, 29-36. A Pharisee invites him to 
dine with him, who takes offense because he washed not his 
hands, 37, 38. Our Lord exposes their hypocrisy, 39-44. He 
denounces woes against the lawyers, 45-52. The scribes and 
Pharisees are greatly offended, and strive to entangle him in 
his words, 53, 54.

NOTES ON CHAP. xi

Verse 1. - 5. Teach us to pray] See the nature of prayer, 
with an ample explanation of the different parts of the 
Lord's Prayer, treated of in Matt. vi. 5-16. The prayer 
related here by Luke is not precisely the same as that 
mentioned by Matthew; and indeed it is not likely that it was 
given at the same time. That in Matthew seems to have been 
given after the second passover; and this in Luke was given 
probably after the third passover, between the feasts of 
tabernacles, and the dedication. It is thus that Bishop 
Newcome places them in his Greek Harmony of the Gospels.

There are many variations in the MSS. in this prayer; but 
they seem to have proceeded principally from the desire of 
rendering this similar to that in Matthew. Attempts of this 
nature have given birth to multitudes of the various readings 
in the MSS. of the New Testament. It should be remarked, 
also, that there is no vestige of the doxology found in 
Matthew, in any copy of St. Luke's Gospel.

Verse 4. Lead us not into temptation, &c.] Dr. Lightfoot 
believes that this petition is intended against the visible 
apparitions of the devil, and his actual obsessions; he 
thinks that the meaning is too much softened by our 
translation. Deliver us from evil, is certainly a very 
inadequate rendering of rusai hmav apo tou ponhrou; 
literally, Deliver us from the wicked one.

Verse 6. In his journey is come] Or, perhaps more literally, 
A friend of mine is come to me out of his way, ex odou, which 
renders the case more urgent-a friend of mine, benighted, 
belated, and who has lost his way, is come unto me. This was 
a strong reason why he should have prompt relief.

Verse 7. My children are with me in bed] Or, I and my 
children are in bed; this is Bishop PEARCE'S translation, and 
seems to some preferable to the common one. See a like form 
of speech in 1 Cor. xvi. 11, and in Eph. iii. 18. However, we 
may conceive that he had his little children, ta paidia, in 
bed with him; and this heightened the difficulty of yielding 
to his neighbour's request.

But if he persevere knocking. (At si ille perseveraverit 
pulsans.) This sentence is added to the beginning of ver. 8, 
by the Armenian, Vulgate, four copies of the Itala, Ambrose, 
Augustin, and Bede. On these authorities (as I find it in no 
Greek MS.) I cannot insert it as a part of the original text; 
but it is necessarily implied; for, as Bishop Pearce justly 
observes, unless the man in the parable be represented as 
continuing to solicit his friend, he could not possibly be 
said to use importunity: once only to ask is not to be 
importunate.

Verse 9. And (or, therefore) I say unto you, Ask] Be 
importunate with God, not so much to prevail on him to save 
you, as to get yourselves brought into a proper disposition 
to receive that mercy which he is ever disposed to give. He 
who is not importunate for the salvation of his soul does not 
feel the need of being saved; and were God to communicate his 
mercy to such they could not be expected to be grateful for 
it, as favours are only prized and esteemed in proportion to 
the sense men have of their necessity and importance. See 
this subject explained Matt. vii. 7, 8.

Verse 12. Offer him a scorpion?] skorpion. The Greek 
etymologists derive the name from skorpizein ton ion, 
scattering the poison. But is there any similitude between a 
scorpion and an egg, that the one might be given and taken in 
place of the other? We know there is the utmost similitude 
between some fish, especially those of the eel kind, and 
serpents: and that there are stones exactly similar to bread 
in their appearance; from which we may conjecture that our 
Lord intended to convey the same idea of similitude between 
an egg and a scorpion. Perhaps the word scorpion here may be 
used for any kind of serpent that proceeds from an egg, or 
the word egg may be understood: the common snake is 
oviparous; it brings forth a number of eggs, out of which the 
young ones are hatched. If he asks an egg, will he, for one 
that might nourish him, give him that of a serpent. But 
Bochart states, that the body of a scorpion is like to an 
egg, especially if it be a white scorpion; which sort 
Nicander, AElian, Avicenna, and others, maintain to be the 
first species. Nor do scorpions differ much in size from an 
egg in Judea, if we may credit what the monks of Messua say, 
that there are about Jerusalem, and through all Syria, great 
scorpions, &c. Hieroz. l. iv. cap. xxix. col. 641, edit. 
1692. To this it may be said, there may be such a similitude, 
between a white scorpion and an egg, if the legs and tail of 
the former be taken away; but how there can be a resemblance 
any other way, I know not. It is, however, a fact, that the 
alligator and crocodile come from eggs; two of those lie now 
before me, scarcely so large as the egg of the goose, longer, 
but not so thick. Now, suppose reference be made to one such 
egg, in which the young crocodile is hatched, and is ready to 
burst from its enclosure, would any father give such an egg 
to a hungry child? No. If the child asked an egg, he would 
not, instead of a proper one, give him that of the crocodile 
or the alligator, in which the young serpent was hatched, and 
from which it was just ready to be separated.

Verse 13. The Holy Spirit] Or, as several MSS. have it, 
pneuma agaqon, the good spirit. See on Matt. vii. 11.

Verse 14. Casting out a devil] See on Matt. xii. 22.

Verse 19. Beelzebub] See on Matt. x. 25.

Verse 20. Finger of God] See on Exod. viii. 19.

Verse 24. When the unclean spirit] See on Matt. xii. 43.

Verse 27. A certain woman-lifted up her voice, and said] It 
was very natural for a woman, who was probably a mother, to 
exclaim thus. She thought that the happiness of the woman who 
was mother to such a son was great indeed; but our blessed 
Lord shows her that even the holy virgin could not be 
benefited by her merely being the mother of his human nature, 
and that they only were happy who carried Christ in their 
hearts. True happiness is found in hearing the glad tidings 
of salvation by Christ Jesus, and keeping them in a holy 
heart, and practising them in an unblamable life.

Verse 29. This is an evil generation] Or, This is a wicked 
race of men. See on Matt. xii. 38-42.

Verse 31. The queen of the south, &c.] Perhaps it would be 
better to translate, A queen of the south, and the men of 
this race, shall rise up in judgment, &c. See the note on 
ver. 7. The 32d verse  may be read in the same way.

Verse 33. No man, when he hath lighted, &c.] See on Matthew 
v. 15.

Our Lord intimates, that if he worked a miracle among such an 
obstinate people, who were determined to disbelieve every 
evidence of his Messiahship, he should act as a man who 
lighted a candle and then covered it with a bushel, which 
must prevent the accomplishment of the end for which it was 
lighted. See also on Mark iv. 21, &c.

Verse 34. The light of the body is the eye] Or, the eye is 
the lamp of the body. See on Matt. vi. 22, &c.

The 35th and 36th verses are wanting in some MSS., and are 
variously read in others.

Verse 36. The whole shall be full of light] Or, altogether 
enlightened; i.e. when the eye is perfect, it enlightens the 
whole body. Every object within the reach of the eye is as 
completely seen as if there was an eye in every part. So the 
eye is to every part of the body what the lamp is to every 
part of the house.

When the light of Christ dwells fully in the heart, it 
extends its influence to every thought, word, and action; and 
directs its possessor how he is to act in all places and 
circumstances. It is of the utmost importance to have the 
soul properly influenced by the wisdom that comes from above. 
The doctrine that is contrary to the Gospel may say, 
Ignorance is the mother of devotion; but Christ shows that 
there can be no devotion without heavenly light. Ignorance is 
the mother of superstition; but with this the heavenly light 
has nothing to do.

Verse 37. To dine] Æopwv aristhsh. The word aristein 
dignifies the first eating of the day. The Jews made but two 
meals in the day; their ariston may be called their breakfast 
or their dinner, because it was both, and was but a slight 
meal. Their chief meal was their deipnon or supper, after the 
heat of the day was over; and the same was the principal meal 
among the Greeks and Romans. Josephus, in his Life, says, 
sect. 54, that the legal hour of the ariston, on the Sabbath, 
was the sixth hour, or at twelve o'clock at noon, as we call 
it. What the hour was on the other days of the week, he does 
not say; but probably it was much the same. Bishop PEARCE.

Verse 38. First washed] See on Mark vii. 2-4.

Verse 39. Ye-make clean the outside] See on Matt. xxiii. 25.

Verse 40. Did not he that made that which is without] Did not 
the maker of the dish form it so, both outwardly and 
inwardly, as to answer the purpose for which it was made? And 
can it answer this purpose without being clean in the inside 
as well as on the outside? God has made you such, both as to 
your bodies and souls, as he intended should show forth his 
praise; but can you think that the purpose of God can be 
accomplished by you while you only attend to external legal 
purifications, your hearts being full of rapine and 
wickedness? How unthinking are you to imagine that God can be 
pleased with this outward purification, when all within is 
unholy!

Verse 41. Give alms of such things as ye have] Meaning either 
what was within the dishes spoken of before; or what was 
within their houses or power: or what they had at hand, for 
so ta enonta is used by the purest Greek writers. Cease from 
rapine: far from spoiling the poor by wicked exactions, 
rather give them alms of every thing you possess; and when a 
part of every thing you have is sincerely consecrated to God 
for the use of the poor, then all that remains will be clean 
unto you; you will have the blessing of God in your basket 
and store, and every thing will be sanctified to you. These 
verses are very difficult, and are variously translated and 
interpreted by critics and divines. I have given what I 
believe to be our Lord's meaning, in the preceding 
paraphrase. For a description of the rapine, &c., of the 
Pharisees, see on Matt. xxiii. 25.

Verse 42. Ye tithe mint and rue] See on Matt. xxiii. 23.

Verse 43. Ye love the uppermost seats] Every one of them 
affected to be a ruler in the synagogues. See on Matt. xxiii. 
5.

Verse 44. Ye are as graves which appear not] In Matt. xxiii. 
27, our Lord tells them that they exactly resembled white-
washed tombs: they had no fairness but on the outside: (see 
the note there:) but here he says they are like hidden tombs, 
graves which were not distinguished by any outward 
decorations, and were not elevated above the ground, so that 
those who walked over them did not consider what corruption 
was within; so they, under the veil of hypocrisy, covered 
their iniquities, so that those who had any intercourse or 
connection with them did not perceive what accomplished 
knaves they had to do with.

Verse 45. Thou reproachest as] He alone who searches the 
heart could unmask these hypocrites; and he did it so 
effectually that their own consciences acknowledged the 
guilt, and re-echoed their own reproach.

Verse 46. Ye lade men with burdens] By insisting on the 
observance of the traditions of the elders, to which it 
appears, by the way, they paid no great attention themselves. 
See on Matthew xxiii. 4.

Verse 47. Ye build the sepulchres] That is, ye rebuild and 
beautify them. See on Matt. xxiii. 29.

Verse 48. Truly ye bear witness] Ye acknowledge that those of 
old who killed the prophets were your fathers, and ye are 
about to show, by your conduct towards me and my apostles, 
that ye are not degenerated, that ye are as capable of 
murdering a prophet now, as they were of old.

Verse 49. The wisdom of God] These seem to be Luke's words, 
and to mean that Jesus, the wisdom of God, (as he is called, 
1 Cor. i. 24,) added the words which follow here, on that 
occasion: and this interpretation of the words is agreeable 
to that of Matthew, who makes Jesus speak in his own person: 
Wherefore behold, I send you prophets, &c., Matt. xxiii. 34. 
See the note there, and see Bishop PEARCE.

Verse 50. That the blood] That the particle ina may be 
translated so that, pointing out the event only, not the 
design or intention, Bishop Pearce has well shown in his note 
on this place, where he refers to a like use of the word in 
chap. ix. 45; xiv. 10; John x. 17; Rom. v. 20; xi. 11; 1 Cor. 
i. 15, 31, &c.

Verse 51. From the blood of Hebel] See this subject explained 
at large on Matt. xxiii. 34.

Required] ekzhthqhsetai may be translated either by the word 
visited or revenged, and the latter word evidently conveys 
the meaning of our Lord. They are here represented as having 
this blood among them; and it is intimated that God will come 
by and by to require it, and to inquire how it was shed, and 
to punish those who shed it.

Verse 52. Ye have taken away the key of knowledge] By your 
traditions ye have taken away the true method of interpreting 
the prophecies: ye have given a wrong meaning to those 
scriptures which speak of the kingdom of the Messiah, and the 
people are thereby hindered from entering into it. See on 
Matt. xxiii. 13.

Verse 53. Began to urge him vehemently] deinwv enecein, They 
began to be furious. They found themselves completely 
unmasked in the presence of a vast concourse of people. See 
chap. xii. 1, (for we can not suppose that all this 
conversation passed while Christ was at meat in the 
Pharisee's house, as Matthew, Matt. xxiii. 25, shows that 
these words were spoken on another occasion.) They therefore 
questioned him on a variety of points, and hoped, by the 
multitude and impertinence of their questions, to puzzle or 
irritate him, so as to induce him to speak rashly, (for this 
is the import of the word apostomatizein,) that they might 
find some subject of accusation against him. See Wetstein and 
Kypke.

A MINISTER of the Gospel of God should, above all men, be 
continent of his tongue; his enemies, in certain cases, will 
crowd question upon question, in order so to puzzle and 
confound him that he may speak unadvisedly with his lips, and 
thus prejudice the truth he was labouring to promote and 
defend. The following is a good prayer, which all who are 
called to defend or proclaim the truths of the Gospel may 
confidently offer to their God. "Let thy wisdom and light, O 
Lord, disperse their artifice and my darkness! Cast the 
bright beams of thy light upon those who have to defend 
themselves against subtle and deceitful men! Raise and 
animate their hearts, that they may not be wanting to the 
cause of truth. Guide their tongue, that they may not be 
deficient in prudence, nor expose thy truth by any 
indiscretions or unseasonable transports of zeal. Let 
meekness, gentleness, and longsuffering influence and direct 
their hearts; and may they ever feel the full weight of that 
truth: The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of 
God!" The following advice of one of the ancients is good: 
sthqi edaiov wv akmwn tuptomenov, kalou gar aqlhtou deresqai 
kai nikan. "Stand thou firm as a beaten anvil: for it is the 
part of a good soldier to be flayed alive, and yet conquer."

CHAPTER xii

Christ preaches to his disciples against hypocrisy; and 
against timidity in publishing the Gospel, 1-5. Excites them 
to have confidence in Divine providence, 6, 7. Warns them 
against denying him, or betraying his cause, 8, 9. Of the 
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, 10. Promises direction and 
support in persecution, 11, 12. Warns the people against 
covetousness, 13-15. Parable of the rich man who pulled down 
his granaries to build greater, 16-21. Cautions against 
carking cares and anxieties, 22-32. The necessity of living 
to God, and in reference to eternity, 33-40. At the request 
of Peter, he farther explains the preceding discourse, 41-48. 
The effects that should be produced by the preaching of the 
Gospel, 49-53. The signs of the times, 54-57. The necessity 
of being prepared to appear before the judgment seat of God, 
58, 59.

NOTES ON CHAP. xii

Verse 1. An innumerable multitude of people] twn muriadwn tou 
oclou, myriads of people. A myriad is ten thousand, and 
myriads must, at the very lowest, mean twenty thousand. But 
the word is often used to signify a crowd or multitude which 
cannot be readily numbered. There was doubtless a vast crowd 
assembled on this occasion, and many of them were deeply 
instructed by the very important discourse which our Lord 
delivered.

Leaven of the Pharisees] See Matt. xvi. 1-12.

Which is hypocrisy.] These words are supposed by some to be 
an addition to the text, because it does not appear that it 
is their hypocrisy which Christ alludes to, but their false 
doctrines. They had, however, a large proportion of both.

Verse 2. There is nothing covered] See the notes on Matthew 
v. 15; x. 26, 27; Mark iv. 22.

Verse 4. Kill the body] See on Matt. x. 28.

Verse 5. Fear him] Even the friends of God are commanded to 
fear God, as a being who has authority to send both body and 
soul into hell.

Therefore it is proper even for the most holy persons to 
maintain a fear of God, as the punisher of all 
unrighteousness. A man has but one life to lose, and one soul 
to save; and it is madness to sacrifice the salvation of the 
soul to the preservation of the life.

Verse 6. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings?] See 
this explained on Matt. x. 29, from which place we learn that 
two sparrows were sold for one farthing, and here; that five 
were sold for two farthings: thus we find a certain 
proportion-for one farthing you could get but two, while for 
two farthings you could get five.

Verse 7. Fear not therefore] Want of faith in the providence 
and goodness of God is the source of all human inquietudes 
and fears. He has undertaken to save and defend those to the 
uttermost who trust in him.

His wisdom cannot be surprised, his power cannot be forced, 
his love cannot forget itself. Man distrusts God, and fears 
that he is forgotten by him, because he judges of God by 
himself; and he knows that he is apt to forget his Maker, and 
be unfaithful to him. See on Matt. x. 29-31.

Verse 8. Shall confess] See on Matt. x. 32, 33.

Verse 10. Him that blasphemeth] See the sin against the Holy 
Ghost explained, Matt. xii. 32.

Verse 11. Unto magistrates and powers] See Matt. x. 17-20.

Take ye no thought] See Matt. vi. 25; x. 19.

Verse 13. Speak to my brother, that he divide] Among the 
Jews, the children had the inheritance of their fathers 
divided among them; the eldest had a double portion, but all 
the rest had equal parts. It is likely the person complained 
of in the text was the elder brother; and he wished to keep 
the whole to himself-a case which is far from being uncommon. 
The spirit of covetousness cancels all bonds and obligations, 
makes wrong right, and cares nothing for father or brother.

Verse 14. A judge] Without some judgment given in the case, 
no division could be made; therefore Jesus added the word 
judge. PEARCE. A minister of Christ ought not to concern 
himself with secular affairs, any farther than charity and 
the order of discipline require it. Our Lord could have 
decided this difference in a moment; but the example of a 
perfect disengagement from worldly things was more necessary 
for the ministers of his Church than that of a charity 
applying itself to temporal concerns. He who preaches 
salvation to all should never make himself a party man; 
otherwise he loses the confidence, and consequently the 
opportunity of doing good to the party against whom he 
decides. Better to leave all these things to the civil 
magistrate, unless where a lawsuit may be prevented, and the 
matter decided to the satisfaction or acquiescence of both 
parties.

Verse 15. Beware of covetousness] Or rather, Beware of all 
inordinate desires. I add pashv, all, on the authority of 
ABDKLM-Q, twenty-three others, both the Syriac, all the 
Persic, all the Arabic, Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, Vulgate, 
all the Itala, and several of the primitive fathers.

Inordinate desires. pleonexiav, from pleion, more, and ecein, 
to have; the desire to have more and more, let a person 
possess whatever he may.

Such a disposition of mind is never satisfied; for, as soon 
as one object is gained, the heart goes out after another.

Consisteth not in the abundance] That is, dependeth not on 
the abundance. It is not superfluities that support man's 
life, but necessaries.

What is necessary, God gives liberally; what is superfluous, 
he has not promised. Nor can a man's life be preserved by the 
abundance of his possessions: to prove this he spoke the 
following parable.

Verse 16. The ground of a certain rich man, &c.] He had 
generally what is called good luck in his farm, and this was 
a remarkably plentiful year.

Verse 17. He thought within himself] Began to be puzzled in 
consequence of the increase of his goods. Riches, though ever 
so well acquired, produce nothing but vexation and 
embarrassment.

Verse 18. I will pull down, &c.] The rich are full of designs 
concerning this life, but in general take no thought about 
eternity till the time that their goods and their lives are 
both taken away.

Verse 19. Soul, thou hast much goods] Great possessions are 
generally accompanied with pride, idleness, and luxury; and 
these are the greatest enemies to salvation. Moderate 
poverty, as one justly observes, is a great talent in order 
to salvation; but it is one which nobody desires.

Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.] This was exactly 
the creed of the ancient Atheists and Epicureans. Ede, bibe, 
lude; post mortem nulla voluptas. What a wretched portion for 
an immortal spirit! and yet those who know not God have no 
other, and many of them not even this.

Verse 20. Thou fool!] To imagine that a man's comfort and 
peace can depend upon temporal things; or to suppose that 
these can satisfy the wishes of an immortal spirit! This 
night] How awful was this saying! He had just made the 
necessary arrangements for the gratification of his sensual 
appetites; and, in the very night in which he had finally 
settled all his plans, his soul was called into the eternal 
world! What a dreadful awakening of a soul, long asleep in 
sin! He is now hurried into the presence of his Maker; none 
of his worldly goods can accompany him, and he has not a 
particle of heavenly treasure! There is a passage much like 
this in the book of Ecclesiasticus, xi. 18, 19.

There is that waxeth rich by his wariness and pinching, and 
this is the portion of his reward: Whereas he saith, I have 
found rest, and now will eat continually of my goods; and yet 
he knoweth not what time shall come upon him; and that he 
must leave those things to others, and die. We may easily see 
whence the above is borrowed.

Verse 21. So is he] That is, thus will it be. This is not an 
individual case; all who make this life their portion, and 
who are destitute of the peace and salvation of God, shall, 
sooner or later, be surprised in the same way.

Layeth up treasure for himself] This is the essential 
characteristic of a covetous man: he desires riches; he gets 
them; he lays them up, not for the necessary uses to which 
they might be devoted, but for himself; to please himself, 
and to gratify his avaricious soul. Such a person is commonly 
called a miser, i.e. literally, a wretched, miserable man.

Verse 22. Take no thought] Be not anxiously careful. See on 
Matt. vi. 25.

Verse 25. To his stature one cubit?] See on Matt. vi. 27.

Verse 28. Into the oven] See the note on Matt. vi. 30.

Verse 29. Neither be ye of doubtful mind.] Or, in anxious 
suspense, mh metewrizesqe. Raphelius gives several examples 
to prove that the meaning of the word is, to have the mind 
agitated with useless thoughts, and vain imaginations 
concerning food, raiment, and riches, accompanied with 
perpetual uncertainty.

Verse 30. The nations of the world seek after] Or, earnestly 
seek, epizhtei from epi above, over, and zhtew, I seek; to 
seek one thing after another, to be continually and eagerly 
coveting. This is the employment of the nations of this 
world, utterly regardless of God and eternity! It is the 
essence of heathenism to live only for this life; and it is 
the property of Christianity to lead men to live here in 
reference to another and better world. Reader! how art thou 
living? Dr. Lightfoot observes on this place, that kosmov, 
the world, and aiwn, world or age, have a meaning in the 
sacred writings which they have not in profane authors. aiwn 
has relation to the Jewish ages, and kosmov to the ages that 
are not Jewish: hence, by sunteleia tou aiwnov, Matt. xxiv. 
3, is meant the end of the Jewish age or world: and pro 
cronwn aiwniwn, Tit. i. 2, means before the Jewish world 
began; and hence it is that the term world is very often, in 
the New Testament, to be understood only of the Gentiles.

Verse 32. Fear not, little flock] Or, very little flock, to 
mikron poimnion. This is what some term a double diminutive, 
and, literally translated, is, little little flock. Though 
this refers solely to the apostles and first believers, of 
whom it was literally true, yet we may say that the number of 
genuine believers has been, and is still, small, in 
comparison of heathens and false Christians.

It is your Father's good pleasure] eudokhsen, It hath 
pleased, &c., though this tense joined with an infinitive has 
often the force of the present. Our Lord intimated, God has 
already given you that kingdom which consists in 
righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, and has 
undertaken to protect and save you to the uttermost; 
therefore, fear not; the smallness of your number cannot hurt 
you, for omnipotence itself has undertaken your cause.

Verse 33. Sell that ye have] Dispose of your goods. Be not 
like the foolish man already mentioned, who laid up the 
produce of his fields, without permitting the poor to partake 
of God's bounty: turn the fruits of your fields (which are 
beyond what you need for your own support) into money, and 
give it in alms; and the treasure thus laid out, shall be as 
laid up for yourselves and families in heaven. This purse 
shall not grow old, and this treasure shill not decay. Ye 
shall by and by find both the place where you laid up the 
treasure, and the treasure itself in the place; for he who 
hath pity on the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and he may rest 
assured, that whatever, for Christ's sake, he thus lays out, 
it will be paid him again.

Verse 34. Where your treasure is] Men fix their hearts on 
their treasures, and often resort to the place where they 
have deposited them, to see that all is safe and secure. Let 
God be the treasure of your soul, and let your heart go 
frequently to the place where his honour dwelleth. There is a 
curious parallel passage to this in Plautus, quoted by Bishop 
Pearce on Matt. vi. 21. Nam ego sum hic; animus domi est, sc. 
cum argento meo. "I am here; but my heart is at home, i.e. 
with my money."

Verse 35. Let your loins] Be active, diligent, determined 
ready; let all hinderances be removed out of the way; and let 
the candle of the Lord be always found burning brightly in 
your hand. See on ver. 37.

Verse 36. That wait for their lord] See the notes on Matt. 
xxv. 1, &c.

The wedding] How the Jewish weddings were celebrated, see in 
the notes on Matt. viii. 12; xxii. 13.

Verse 37. He shall gird himself] Alluding to the long 
garments which were worn in the eastern countries; and which, 
in travelling and serving, were tucked up in their belts. 
That those among the Romans who waited on the company at 
table were girded, and had their clothes tucked up, appears 
from what Horace says, Sat. b. vi. l. c7: Veluti SUCCINCTUS 
cursitat HOSPES, He runs about like a girded waiter. The host 
himself often performed this office. And ibid. viii. 10: Puer 
alle cinctus: and that the game custom prevailed among the 
Jews appears from John xiii. 4, 5, and chap. xvii. 8. From 
this verse we may gather likewise, that it was the custom of 
those days, as it was, not long since, among us, for the 
bridegroom, at the wedding supper, to wait as a servant upon 
the company. See Bishop PEARCE.

Verse 38. If he shall come in the second watch] See the note 
on Matt. xiv. 25.

Verse 40. Be ye therefore ready also] It is pretty evident 
that what is related here, from verse 35 to 49,  was spoken 
by our Lord at another time. See Matt. xxiv. 42, &c., and the 
notes there.

Verse 42. Faithful and wise steward] See on Matt. xxiv. 45; 
where the several parts of the steward's office are mentioned 
and explained. Those appear to have been stewards among the 
Jews, whose business it was to provide all the members of a 
family, not only with food, but with raiment.

Verse 45. Begin to beat, &c.] See the different parts of this 
bad minister's conduct pointed out on Matt. xxiv. 48, 49.

Verse 46. With the unbelievers.] Or, rather, the unfaithful; 
twn spistwn. Persons who had the light and knowledge of God's 
word, but made an improper use of the privileges they 
received. The persons mentioned here differ widely from 
unbelievers or infidels, viz. those who were in a state of 
heathenism, because they had not the revelation of the Most 
High: the latter knew not the will of God, ver. 48, and, 
though they acted against it, did not do it in obstinacy; the 
former knew that will, and daringly opposed it. They were 
unfaithful, and therefore heavily punished.

Verse 47. Shall be beaten with many stripes.] Criminals among 
the Jews could not be beaten with more than forty stripes; 
and as this was the sum of the severity to which a whipping 
could extend, it may be all that our Lord here means. But, in 
some cases, a man was adjudged to receive fourscore stripes! 
How could this be, when the law had decreed only forty? 
Answer: By doubling the crime. He received forty for each 
crime; if he were guilty of two offenses, he might receive 
fourscore. See Lightfoot.

Verse 48. Shall be beaten with few] For petty offenses the 
Jews in many cases inflicted so few as four, five, and six 
stripes. See examples in Lightfoot.

From this and the preceding verse we find that it is a crime 
to be ignorant of God's will; because to every one God has 
given less or more of the means of instruction. Those who 
have had much light, or the opportunity of receiving much, 
and have not improved it to their own salvation, and the good 
of others, shall have punishment proportioned to the light 
they have abused. On the other hand, those who have had 
little light, and few means of improvement, shall have few 
stripes, shall be punished only for the abuse of the 
knowledge they possessed. See at the end of the chapter. 

Verse 49. I am come to send fire] See this subject largely 
explained on Matt. x. 34, &c. From the connection in which 
these words stand, both in this place and in Matthew, it 
appears as if our Lord intended by the word fire, not only 
the consuming influence of the Roman sword, but also the 
influence of his own Spirit in the destruction of sin. In 
both these senses this fire was already kindled: as yet, 
however, it appeared but as a spark, but was soon to break 
out into an all-consuming flame.

Verse 50. But I have a baptism] The fire, though already 
kindled, cannot burn up till after the Jews have put me to 
death: then the Roman sword shall come, and the Spirit of 
judgment, burning, and purification shall be poured out.

Verse 51. To give peace] See Matt. x. 34.

Verse 52. Five in one house divided] See on Matt. x. 35, 36.

Verse 54. A cloud rise] See on Matt. xvi. 2, 3.

Verse 56. This time?] Can ye not discover from the writings 
of the prophets, and from the events which now take place, 
that this is the time of the Messiah, and that I am the very 
person foretold by them?

Verse 57. And why-judge ye] Even without the express 
declarations of the prophets, ye might, from what ye see and 
hear yourselves, discern that God has now visited his people 
in such a manner as he never did before.

Verse 58. When thou goest with thine adversary] This and the 
next verse are a part of our Lord's sermon upon the mount. 
See them explained Matt. v. 25, 26. St. Luke is very 
particular in collecting and relating every word and action 
of our blessed Lord, but seldom gives them in the order of 
time in which they were spoken or done. See the Preface to 
this Gospel.

Give diligence] dov erasian, Give labour, do every thing in 
thy power to get free before a suit commences.

The officer] praktwr properly signifies such an officer as 
was appointed to levy the fines imposed by the law for a 
violation of any of its precepts. See Kypke.

Verse 59. Till thou hast paid the very last mite.] And when 
can this be, if we understand the text spiritually? Can 
weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, pay to Divine 
justice the debt a sinner has contracted? This is impossible: 
let him who readeth understand.

THE subject of the 47th and 48th verses  has been greatly 
misunderstood, and has been used in a very dangerous manner. 
Many have thought that their ignorance of Divine things would 
be a sufficient excuse for their crimes; and, that they might 
have but few stripes, they voluntarily continued in 
ignorance. But such persons should know that God will judge 
them for the knowledge they might have received, but refused 
to acquire. No criminal is excused because he has been 
ignorant of the laws of his country, and so transgressed 
them, when it can be proved that those very laws have been 
published throughout the land. Much knowledge is a dangerous 
thing if it be not improved; as this will greatly aggravate 
the condemnation of its possessor. Nor will it avail a 
person, in the land of light and information, to be ignorant, 
as he shall be judged for what he might have known; and, 
perhaps, in this case, the punishment of this voluntarily 
ignorant man will be even greater than that of the more 
enlightened; because his crimes are aggravated by this 
consideration, that he refused to have the light, that he 
might neither be obliged to walk in the light, nor account 
for the possession of it. So we find that the plea of 
ignorance is a mere refuge of lies, and none can plead it who 
has the book of God within his reach, and lives in a country 
blessed with the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER xiii

Christ preaches the necessity of repentance, from the 
punishment of the Galileans massacred by Pilate, 1-3. And by 
the death of those on whom the tower in Siloam fell, 4, 5. 
The parable of the barren fig tree, 6-29. Christ cures a 
woman who had been afflicted eighteen years, 10-13. The ruler 
of the synagogue is incensed and is reproved by our Lord, 14-
17. The parable of the mustard seed, 18, 19; of the leaven, 
20-21. He journeys towards Jerusalem, and preaches, 22. The 
question, Are there few saved? and our Lords answer, with the 
discourse thereon, 23-30. He is informed that Herod purposes 
to kill him, 31, 32. Predicts his own death at Jerusalem, and 
denounces judgments on that impenitent city, 33-35.

NOTES ON CHAP. xiii

Verse 1. At that season] At what time this happened is not 
easy to determine; but it appears that it was now a piece of 
news which was told to Christ and his disciples for the first 
time.

Whose blood Pilate had mingled] This piece of history is not 
recorded (as far as I can find) by Josephus: however, he 
states that the Galileans were the most seditious people in 
the land: they belonged properly to Herod's jurisdiction; 
but, as they kept the great feasts at Jerusalem, they 
probably, by their tumultuous behaviour at some one of them, 
gave Pilate, who was a mortal enemy to Herod, a pretext to 
fall upon and slay many of them; and thus, perhaps, sacrifice 
the people to the resentment he had against the prince. 
Archelaus is represented by Josephus as sending his soldiers 
into the temple, and slaying 3000 men while they were 
employed in offering sacrifices. Josephus, War, b. ii. c. 1, 
s. 3, and ii. c. 5. Some suppose that this refers to the 
followers of Judas Gaulonites, (see Acts v. 37,) who would 
not acknowledge the Roman government, a number of whom 
Pilate. surrounded and slew, while they were sacrificing in 
the temple. See Josephus, Antiq. lib. 18: but this is not 
very certain.

Verse 4. The tower in Siloam] This tower was probably built 
over one of the porticoes near the pool, which is mentioned 
John ix. 7. See also Neh. iii. 15.

Debtors, ofeiletai, a Jewish phrase for sinners. Persons 
professing to be under the law are bound by the law to be 
obedient to all its precepts; those who obey not are reckoned 
debtors to the law, or rather to that Divine justice from 
which the law came. A different word is used when speaking of 
the Galileans: they are termed amartwloi, as this word is 
often used to signify heathens; see the notes on chap. vii. 
37; it is probably used here in nearly a similar sense. "Do 
ye who live in Jerusalem, and who consider your selves 
peculiarly attached to the law, and under the strongest 
obligations to obey it-do ye think that those Galileans were 
more heathenish than the rest of the Galileans, because they 
suffered such things? No. It was not on this account that 
they perished: both these cases exhibit a specimen of the 
manner in which ye shall all perish, if ye do not speedily 
repent, and turn to God." 

Verse 5. Ye shall all likewise perish.] Æwsautwv, omoiwv, In 
a like way, in the same manner. This prediction of our Lord 
was literally fulfilled. When the city was taken by the 
Romans, multitudes of the priests, &c., who were going on 
with their sacrifices, were slain, and their blood mingled 
with the blood of their victims; and multitudes were buried 
under the ruins of the walls, houses, and temple. See 
Josephus, War, b. vi.

ch. iv., v., vi.; and see the notes on Matthew 24.

It is very wrong to suppose that those who suffer by the 
sword, or by natural accidents, are the most culpable before 
God. An adequate punishment for sin cannot be inflicted in 
this world: what God does here, in this way, is in general: 
1st, through mercy, to alarm others; 2, to show his hatred to 
sin; 3, to preserve in men's minds a proper sense of his 
providence and justice; and 4, to give sinners, in one or two 
particular instances, a general specimen of the punishment 
that awaits all the perseveringly impenitent.

Verse 6. A certain man] Many meanings are given to this 
parable, and divines may abound in them; the sense which our 
Lord designed to convey by it appears to be the following:- 
1. A person, tiv, God Almighty. 2. Had a fig tree, the Jewish 
Church. 3.

Planted in his vineyard-established in the land of Judea. 4. 
He came seeking fruit-he required that the Jewish people 
should walk in righteousness, in proportion to the spiritual 
culture he bestowed on them. 5. The vine-dresser-the Lord 
Jesus, for God hath committed all judgment to the Son, John 
v. 22. 6. Cut it down-let the Roman sword be unsheathed 
against it. 7. Let it alone-Christ is represented as 
intercessor for sinners, for whose sake the day of their 
probation is often lengthened; during which time he is 
constantly employed in doing every thing that has a tendency 
to promote their salvation. 8. Thou shalt cut it down-a time 
will come, that those who have not turned at God's 
invitations and reproofs shall be cut off, and numbered with 
the transgressors.

Verse 7. Behold these three years] From this circumstance in 
the parable, it may be reasonably concluded that Jesus had 
been, at the time of saying this, exercising his ministry for 
three years past; and, from what is said in ver. 8, of 
letting it alone this year also, it may be concluded likewise 
that this parable was spoken about a year before Christ's 
crucifixion; and, if both these conclusions are reasonable, 
we may thence infer that this parable was not spoken at the 
time which appears to be assigned to it, and that the whole 
time of Christ's public ministry was about four years. See 
Bishop Pearce. But it has already been remarked that St. Luke 
never studies chronological arrangement. See the Preface to 
this Gospel.

Why cumbereth it the ground?] Or, in other words, Why should 
the ground be also useless? The tree itself brings forth no 
fruit; let it be cut down that a more profitable one may be 
planted in its place. Cut it down.

The Codex Bezae has added here, fere thn axinhn, Bring the 
axe and cut it down. If this reading be genuine, it is 
doubtless an allusion to Matt. iii. 10: Now the axe lieth at 
the root of the trees. If the writer has added it on his own 
authority, he probably referred to the place above mentioned. 
See the note on the above text.

There is something very like this in the gewponika, or 
Deuteronomy Revelation Rustica of the ancient Greek writers 
on agriculture. I refer to cap. 83 of lib. x., p. 773; edit. 
Niclas, entitled, dendron akarpon karpoforein, How to make a 
barren tree fruitful. Having girded yourself, and tied up 
your garments, take a bipen or axe, and with an angry mind 
approach the tree as if about to cut it down. Then let some 
person come forward and deprecate the cutting down of the 
tree, making himself responsible for its future fertility. 
Then, seem to be appeased, and so spare the tree, and 
afterwards it will yield fruit in abundance. "Bean straw 
(manure of that material,) scattered about the roots of the 
tree, will make it fruitful." That a similar superstition 
prevailed among the Asiatics, Michaelis proves from the 
Cosmographer Ibn Alvardi, who prescribes the following as the 
mode to render a sterile palm tree fruitful: "The owner, 
armed with an axe, having an attendant with him, approaches 
the tree, and says, I must cut this tree down, because it is 
unfruitful. Let it alone, I beseech thee, says the other, and 
this year it will bring forth fruit. The owner immediately 
strikes it thrice with the back of his axe; but the other 
preventing him says, I beseech thee to spare it, and I will 
be answerable for its fertility. Then the tree becomes 
abundantly fruitful." Does not our Lord refer to such a 
custom?

Verse 11. A woman which had a spirit of infirmity] Relative 
to this subject three things may be considered:-I.

The woman's infirmity.

II. Her cure. And III. The conduct of the ruler of the 
synagogue on the occasion.

I. The woman's infirmity.

1. What was its origin? SIN. Had this never entered into the 
world, there had not been either pain, distortion, or death.

2. Who was the agent in it? Satan; ver. 16. God has often 
permitted demons to act on and in the bodies of men and 
women; and it is not improbable that the principal part of 
unaccountable and inexplicable disorders still come from the 
same source.

3. What was the nature of this infirmity? She was bowed 
together, bent down to the earth, a situation equally painful 
and humiliating; the violence of which she could not support, 
and the shame of which she could not conceal.

4. What was the duration of this infirmity? Eighteen years. A 
long time to be under the constant and peculiar influence of 
the devil.

What was the effect of this infirmity? The woman was so bowed 
together that she could in no case stand straight, or look 
toward heaven.

II. The woman's cure.

1. Jesus saw her, ver. 12. Notwithstanding her infirmity was 
great, painful, and shameful, she took care to attend the 
synagogue. While she hoped for help from God, she saw it was 
her duty to wait in the appointed way, in order to receive 
it. Jesus saw her distress, and the desire she had both to 
worship her Maker and to get her health restored, and his eye 
affected his heart.

2. He called her to him. Her heart and her distress spoke 
loudly, though her lips were silent; and, as she was thus 
calling for help, Jesus calls her to himself that she may 
receive help.

3. Jesus laid his hands on her. The hand of his holiness 
terrifies, and the hand of his power expels, the demon. 
Ordinances, however excellent, will be of no avail to a 
sinner, unless he apprehend Christ in them.

4. Immediately she was made straight, ver. 13. This cure was-
1. A speedy one-it was done in an instant. 2. It was a 
perfect one-she was made completely whole. 3. It was a public 
one-there were many to attest and render it credible. 4. It 
was a stable and permanent one-she was loosed, for ever 
loosed from her infirmity. 5. Her soul partook of the good 
done to her body-she glorified God. As she knew before that 
it was Satan who had bound her, she knew also that it was God 
only that could loose her; and now, feeling that she is 
loosed, she gives God that honour which is due to his name.

III. The conduct of the ruler of the synagogue on the 
occasion.

1. He answered with indignation, ver. 14. It would seem as if 
the demon who had left the woman's body had got into his 
heart. It is not an infrequent case to find a person filled 
with rage and madness, while beholding the effects of 
Christ's power upon others. Perhaps, like this ruler, he 
pretends zeal and concern for the honour of religion: "These 
preachings, prayer meetings, convictions, conversions, &c., 
are not carried on in his way, and therefore they cannot be 
of God." Let such take care, lest, while denying the 
operation of God's hand, they be given up to demonic 
influence.

2. He endeavours to prevent others from receiving the kind 
help of the blessed Jesus-He said unto the people, &c., ver. 
14. Men of this character who have extensive influence over 
the poor, &c., do immense harm: they often hinder them from 
hearing that word which is able to save their souls. But for 
this also they must stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 
Reader, hast thou ever acted in this way? 3. Jesus retorts 
his condemnation with peculiar force; ver. 15, 16.

Thou hypocrite to pretend zeal for God's glory, when it is 
only the workings of thy malicious, unfeeling, and 
uncharitable heart. Wouldst thou not even take thy ass to 
water upon the Sabbath day? And wouldst thou deprive a 
daughter of Abraham (one of thy own nation and religion) of 
the mercy and goodness of God upon the Sabbath? Was not the 
Sabbath instituted for the benefit of man? 4. His adversaries 
were ashamed, ver. 17. The mask of their hypocrisy, the only 
covering they had, is taken away; and now they are exposed to 
the just censure of that multitude whom they deceived, and 
from whom they expected continual applause.

5. His indignation and uncharitable censure, not only turn to 
his own confusion, but are made the instruments of the 
edification of the multitude-they rejoiced at all the 
glorious things which he did. Thus, O Lord! the wrath of man 
shall praise thee, and the remainder thereof thou shalt 
restrain.

A preacher will know how to apply this subject to general 
edification.

Verse 18. - 19. The kingdom-is like a grain of mustard seed] 
See on Matt. xiii. 31.

Verse 21. Like leaven] See this explained, Matt. xiii. 33.

Verse 22. Journeying toward Jerusalem.] Luke represents all 
that is said, from chap. ix. 51, as having been done and 
spoken while Christ was on his last journey to Jerusalem. See 
the notes on chap. ix. 51, and chap. xii. 58, and see the 
Preface.

Verse 23. Are there few that be saved?] A question either of 
impertinence or curiosity, the answer to which can profit no 
man. The grand question is, Can I be saved? Yes. How? Strive 
earnestly to enter in through the strait gate-agwnizesqe, 
agonize-exert every power of body and soul-let your salvation 
be the grand business of your whole life.

Verse 24. Many-will seek] They seek-wish and desire; but they 
do not strive; therefore, because they will not agonize-will 
not be in earnest, they shall not get in. See this subject 
more particularly explained on Matt. vii. 13, 14.

Verse 25. And hath shut to the door] See the notes on Matthew 
vii. 22, 23, and xxv. 10-41.

Verse 28. Abraham, and Isaac, &c.] See on Matt. viii. 12, 
where the figures and allusions made use of here are 
particularly explained.

Verse 29. They shall come] That is, the Gentiles, in every 
part of the world, shall receive the Gospel of the grace of 
God, when the Jews shall have rejected it.

Verse 30. There are last which shall be first] See on Matthew 
xix. 30.

Verse 31. Depart hence, &c.] It is probable that the place 
from which Christ was desired to depart was Galilee or Perea; 
for beyond this Herod had no jurisdiction. It can scarcely 
mean Jerusalem, though it appears from chap. xxiii. 7, that 
Herod Antipas was there at the time of our Lord's 
crucifixion.

Herod will kill thee.] Lactantius says that this Herod was 
the person who chiefly instigated the Jewish rulers to put 
our Lord to death: Tum Pontius, et illorum clamouribus, et 
Herodis tetrarchae instigatione, metuentis ne regno 
pelleretur, victus est:-fearing lest himself should be 
expelled from the kingdom, if Christ should be permitted to 
set up his. See LACT. Inst. Div. lib. iv. c. xviii., and 
Bishop Pearce on chap. xxiii. 7.

Verse 32. Tell that fox] Herod was a very vicious prince, and 
lived in public incest with his sister-in-law, Mark vi. 17: 
if our Lord meant him here, it is hard to say why the 
character of fox, which implies cunning, design, and 
artifice, to hide evil intentions, should be attributed to 
him, who never seemed studious to conceal his vices. But we 
may suppose that Christ, who knew his heart, saw that he 
covered his desire for the destruction of our Lord, under the 
pretense of zeal for the law and welfare of the Jewish 
people. A fox among the Jews appears to have been the emblem 
of a wicked ruler, who united cunning with cruelty, and was 
always plotting how he might aggrandize himself by spoiling 
the people. See a quotation in Schoettgen.

The following observation from the judicious Bishop Pearce 
deserves attention. "It is not certain," says he, "that Jesus 
meant Herod here; he might only have intended to call that 
man so, from whom the advice of departing came, (whether from 
the speaker himself, or the person who sent him,) for it is 
probable, that the advice was given craftily, and with design 
to frighten Jesus, and, make him go from that place." To-day 
and to-morrow] I am to work miracles for two days more, and 
on the third day I shall be put to death. But it is probable 
that this phrase only means, that he had but a short time to 
live, without specifying its duration.

Perfected.] Or finished, teleioumai. I shall then have 
accomplished the purpose for which I came into the world, 
leaving nothing undone which the counsel of God designed me 
to complete. Hence, in reference to our Lord, the word 
implies his dying; as the plan of human redemption was not 
finished, till he bowed his head and gave up the ghost on the 
cross: see John xix. 30, where the same word is used. It is 
used also in reference to Christ's death, Heb. ii. 10; v. 9; 
see also Acts xx. 24, and Heb. xii. 23. The word finish, &c., 
is used in the same sense both by the Greeks and Latins. See 
KYPKE.

Verse 33. I must walk, &c.] I must continue to work miracles 
and teach for a short time yet, and then I shall die in 
Jerusalem: therefore I cannot depart, according to the advice 
given me, (chap. xiii. 31,) nor can a hair of my head fall to 
the ground till my work be all done.

To-day and to-morrow, &c.] Kypke contends that the proper 
translation of the original is, I must walk to-day and to-
morrow IN THE neighbourING COASTS: and that ecomenh is often 
understood in this way: see Mark i. 38, and his notes there. 
That Christ was now in the jurisdiction of Herod, as he 
supposes, is evident from ver. 31; that he was on his last 
journey to Jerusalem, chap. ix. 51; that he had just passed 
through Samaria, chap. ix. 52, 56; that as Samaria and Judea 
were under the Roman procurator, and Perea was subject to 
Herod Antipas, therefore he concludes that Christ was at this 
time in Perea; which agrees with Matt. xix. 1, and Mark x. 1, 
and chap. xvii. 11. He thinks, if the words be not understood 
in this way, they are contrary to chap. xiii. 32, which says 
that on it Christ is to die, while this says he is to live 
and act.

Perish out of Jerusalem.] A man who professes to be a prophet 
can be tried on that ground only by the grand Sanhedrin, 
which always resides at Jerusalem; and as the Jews are about 
to put me to death, under the pretense of my being a false 
prophet, therefore my sentence must come from this city, and 
my death take place in it.

Verse 34. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem] See the note on Matthew 
xxiii. 37-39, where the metaphor of the hen is illustrated 
from the Greek Anthology.

Verse 35. Your house] Æo oikov, the temple-called here your 
house, not my house-I acknowledge it no longer; I have 
abandoned it, and will dwell in it no more for ever. So he 
said, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 17, when he delivered the temple into 
the hands of the Chaldeans-the house of YOUR sanctuary. A 
similar form of speech is found, Exod. xxxii. 7, where the 
Lord said to Moses, THY people, &c., to intimate that he 
acknowledged them no longer for his followers. See the notes 
on Matt. xxiii. 21, 38. But some think that our Lord means, 
not the temple, but the whole commonwealth of the Jews.

The principal subjects it this chapter may be found 
considered at large, on the parallel places in Matthew and 
Mark, to which the reader is referred.

As to the account of the woman with the spirit of infirmity, 
which is not mentioned by any other of the evangelists, see 
it largely illustrated in the notes on ver. 11, &c.

CHAPTER xiv

Christ heals a man ill of the dropsy, on a Sabbath day, 1-6. 
He inculcates humility by a parable, 7-11. The poor to be 
fed, and not the rich, 12-14. The parable of the great 
supper, 15-24. How men must become disciples of Christ, 25-
27. The parable of the prudent builder, who estimates the 
cost before he commences his work, 28-30. And of the 
provident king, 31, 32. The use of these parables, 33. The 
utility of salt while in its strength and perfection; and its 
total uselessness when it has lost its savour; 34, 35.

NOTES ON CHAP. xiv

Verse 1. Chief Pharisees] Or, one of the rulers of the 
Pharisees. A man who was of the sect of the Pharisees, and 
one of the rulers of the people.

To eat bread on the Sabbath day] But why is it that there 
should be an invitation or dinner given on the Sabbath day? 
Answer: The Jews purchased and prepared the best viands they 
could procure for the Sabbath day, in order to do it honour. 
See several proofs in Lightfoot. As the Sabbath is intended 
for the benefit both of the body and soul of man, it should 
not be a day of austerity or fasting, especially among the 
labouring poor. The most wholesome and nutritive food should 
be then procured if possible; that both body and soul may 
feel the influence of this Divine appointment, and give God 
the glory of his grace. On this blessed day, let every man 
eat his bread with gladness and singleness of heart, praising 
God. In doing this, surely there is no reason that a man 
should feed himself without fear. If the Sabbath be a 
festival, let it be observed unto the Lord; and let no 
unnecessary acts be done; and avoid that bane of religious 
solemnity, giving and receiving visits on the Lord's day.

They watched him.] Or, were maliciously watching, 
parathroumenoi-from para, intens. or denoting ill, and threw, 
to observe, watch. Raphelius, on Mark iii. 2, has proved from 
a variety of authorities that this is a frequent meaning of 
the word:-clam et insidiose observare, quid alter agat-to 
observe privately and insidiously what another does. The 
context plainly proves that this is the sense in which it is 
to be taken here. The conduct of this Pharisee was most 
execrable.

Professing friendship and affection, he invited our blessed 
Lord to his table, merely that he might have a more 
favourable opportunity of watching his conduct, that he might 
accuse him, and take away his life. In eating and drinking, 
people feel generally less restraint than at other times, and 
are apt to converse more freely. The man who can take such an 
advantage over one of his own guests must have a baseness of 
soul, and a fellness of malice, of which, we would have 
thought, for the honour of human nature, that devils alone 
were capable. Among the Turks, if a man only taste salt with 
another, he holds himself bound, in the most solemn manner, 
never to do that person any injury. I shall make no apology 
for inserting the following anecdote.

A public robber in Persia, known by the name of Yacoub, ibn 
Leits Saffer, broke open the treasury of Dirhem, the governor 
of Sistan.

Notwithstanding the obscurity of the place, he observed, in 
walking forward, something that sparkled a little: supposing 
it to be some precious stones, he put his hand on the place, 
and taking up something, touched it with his tongue, and 
found it to be salt. He immediately left the treasury, 
without taking the smallest article with him! The governor 
finding in the morning that the treasury had been broken 
open, and that nothing was carried off, ordered it to be 
published, that "Whoever the robber was who had broke open 
the treasury, if he declared himself, he should be freely 
pardoned, and that he should not only receive no injury, but 
should be received into the good graces of the governor." 
Confiding in the promise of Dirhem, Yacoub appeared. The 
governor asked; How it came to pass that, after having broken 
open the treasury, he took nothing away? Yacoub related the 
affair as it happened, and added, "I believed that I was 
become your FRIEND in eating of your SALT, and that the LAWS 
of that friendship would not permit me to touch any thing 
that appertained to you." D'Herbelot. Bib. Orient. p. 415. 
How base must that man be, who professes Christianity, and 
yet makes his own table a snare for his friend!

Verse 2. The dropsy.] Æudrwpikov, dropsical; from udwp, 
water, and wy, the countenance, because in this disorder the 
face of the patient is often very much bloated. Probably the 
insidious Pharisee had brought this dropsical man to the 
place, not doubting that our Lord's eye would affect his 
heart, and that he would instantly cure him; and then he 
could most plausibly accuse him for a breach of the Sabbath. 
If this were the case, and it is likely, how deep must have 
been the perfidy and malice of the Pharisee!

Verse 4. They held their peace.] They could not answer the 
question but in the affirmative; and as they were determined 
to accuse him if he did heal the man, they could not give an 
answer but such as would condemn themselves, and therefore 
they were silent.

Verse 5. An ass or an ox] See on chap. xiii. 15.

Verse 7. They chose out the chief rooms] When custom and law 
have regulated and settled places in public assemblies, a man 
who is obliged to attend may take the place which belongs to 
him, without injury to himself or to others: when nothing of 
this nature is settled, the law of humility, and the love of 
order, are the only judges of what is proper. To take the 
highest place when it is not our due is public vanity: 
obstinately to refuse it when offered is another instance of 
the same vice; though private and concealed. Humility takes 
as much care to avoid the ostentation of an affected refusal, 
as the open seeking of a superior place. See Quesnel. In this 
parable our Lord only repeats advices which the rabbins had 
given to their pupils, but were too proud to conform to 
themselves. Rabbi Akiba said, Go two or three seats lower 
than the place that belongs to thee, and sit there till they 
say unto thee, Go up higher; but do not take the uppermost 
seat, lest they say unto thee, Come down: for it is better 
that they should say unto thee, Go up, go up; than that they 
should say, Come down, come down. See Schoettgen.

Verse 11. For whosoever exalteth himself, &c.] This is the 
unchangeable conduct of God: he is ever abasing the proud, 
and giving grace, honour, and glory to the humble.

Verse 12. Call not thy friends, &c.] Our Lord certainly does 
not mean that a man should not entertain at particular times, 
his friends, &c.; but what he inculcates here is charity to 
the poor; and what he condemns is those entertainments which 
are given to the rich, either to flatter them, or to procure 
a similar return; because the money that is thus criminally 
laid out properly belongs to the poor.

Verse 14. For they cannot recompense thee] Because you have 
done it for God's sake only, and they cannot make you a 
recompense, therefore God will consider himself your debtor, 
and will recompense you in the resurrection of the righteous. 
There are many very excellent sayings among the rabbins on 
the excellence of charity. They produce both Job and Abraham 
as examples of a very merciful disposition. "Job, say they, 
had an open door on each of the four quarters of his house, 
that the poor, from whatever direction they might come, might 
find the door of hospitality open to receive them. But 
Abraham was more charitable than Job, for he traveled over 
the whole land in order to find out the poor, that he might 
conduct them to his house."

Verse 15. That shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.] This 
is spoken in conformity to the general expectation of the 
Jews, who imagined that the kingdom of the Messiah should be 
wholly of a secular nature. Instead of arton, bread, EKMS-V, 
more than one hundred others, with some versions and fathers, 
read ariston, a dinner. This is probably the best reading, as 
it is likely it was a dinner at which they now sat; and it 
would be natural for the person to say, Happy is he who shall 
dine in the kingdom of God. It does not appear that there was 
any but this person present, who was capable of relishing the 
conversation of our Lord, or entering at all into its 
spiritual reference.

Verse 16. - 24. A certain man made a great supper, &c.] See a 
similar parable to this, though not spoken on the same 
occasion, explained, Matt. xxii. 1-14.

Verse 17. Sent his servant] Messengers are sent to invite the 
guests to a Hindoo feast; when not only relations, but all 
persons of the same division of caste in the neighbourhood, 
are invited. A refusal to attend is considered as a great 
affront.

Verse 22. And yet there is room.] On some occasions, so 
numerous are the guests that there is not room for therm to 
sit in the court of the person who makes the feast, and a 
larger is therefore borrowed.

Verse 23. Compel them to come in] anagkason, Prevail on them 
by the most earnest entreaties. The word is used by Matthew, 
Matt. xiv. 22, and by Mark, Mark vi. 45; in both which 
places, when Christ is said, anagkazein, to constrain his 
disciples to get into the vessel, nothing but his commanding 
or persuading them to do it can be reasonably understood.

The Latins use cogo, and compello, in exactly the same sense, 
i.e. to prevail on by prayers, counsels, entreaties, &c. See 
several examples in Bishop PEARCE, and in KYPKE. No other 
kind of constraint is ever recommended in the Gospel of 
Christ; every other kind of compulsion is antichristian, can 
only be submitted to by cowards and knaves, and can produce 
nothing but hypocrites, See at the end of the chapter. 

Verse 26. And hate not] Matthew, Matt. x. 37, expresses the 
true meaning of this word, when he says, He who loveth his 
father and mother MORE than me. In Matt. vi. 24, he uses the 
word hate in the same sense.

When we read, Rom. ix. 13, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have 
I hated, the meaning is simply, I have loved Jacob-the 
Israelites, more than Esau-the Edomites; and that this is no 
arbitrary interpretation of the word hate, but one agreeable 
to the Hebrew idiom, appears from what is said on Gen. xxix. 
30, 31, where Leah's being hated is explained by Rachel's 
being loved more than Leah. See also Deut. xxi. 15-17; and 
Bishop Pearce on this place. See also the notes on Matt. x. 
37.

Verse 27. Doth not bear his cross] See on Matt. x. 38; xvi. 
24.

Verse 28. To build a tower] Probably this means no more than 
a dwelling house, on the top of which, according to the 
Asiatic manner, battlements were built, both to take the 
fresh air on, and to serve for refuge from and defense 
against an enemy. It was also used for prayer and meditation.

This parable represents the absurdity of those who undertook 
to be disciples of Christ, without considering what 
difficulties they were to meet with, and what strength they 
had to enable them to go through with the undertaking. He 
that will be a true disciple of Jesus Christ shall require no 
less than the mighty power of God to support him; as both 
hell and earth will unite to destroy him.

Verse 33. Whosoever he be of you] This seems to be addressed 
particularly to those who were then, and who were to be, 
preachers of his Gospel; and who were to travel over all 
countries, publishing salvation to a lost world.

Verse 34. Salt is good] See on Matt. v. 13, and Mark ix. 51.

ON the subject referred to this place from ver. 23, Compel 
them to come in, which has been adduced to favour religious 
persecution, I find the following sensible and just 
observations in Dr. Dodd's notes.

"1st. Persecution for conscience' sake, that is, inflicting 
penalty upon men merely for their religious principles or 
worship, is plainly founded on a supposition that one man has 
a right to judge for another in matters of religion, which is 
manifestly absurd, and has been fully proved to be so by many 
excellent writers of our Church.

"2nd. Persecution is most evidently inconsistent with that 
fundamental principle of morality, that we should do to 
others as we could reasonably wish they should do to us; a 
rule which carries its own demonstration with it, and was 
intended to take off that bias of self-love which would 
divert us from the straight line of equity, and render us 
partial judges betwixt our neighbours and ourselves. I would 
ask the advocate of wholesome severities, how he would relish 
his own arguments if turned upon himself? What if he were to 
go abroad into the world among Papists, if he be a 
Protestant; among Mohammedans if he be a Christian? Supposing 
he were to behave like an honest man, a good neighbour, a 
peaceable subject, avoiding every injury, and taking all 
opportunities to serve and oblige those about him; would he 
think that, merely because he refused to follow his 
neighbours to their altars or their mosques, he should be 
seized and imprisoned, his goods confiscated, his person 
condemned to tortures or death? Undoubtedly he would complain 
of this as a very great hardship, and soon see the absurdity 
and injustice of such a treatment when it fell upon him, and 
when such measure as he would mete to others was measured to 
him again.

"3rd. Persecution is absurd, as being by no means calculated 
to answer the end which its patrons profess to intend by it; 
namely, the glory of God, and the salvation of men. Now, if 
it does any good to men at all, it must be by making them 
truly religious; but religion is not a mere name or a 
ceremony. True religion imports an entire change of the 
heart, and it must be founded in the inward conviction of the 
mind, or it is impossible it should be, what yet it must be, 
a reasonable service. Let it only be considered what violence 
and persecution can do towards producing such an inward 
conviction. A man might as reasonably expect to bind an 
immaterial spirit with a cord, or to beat down a wall with an 
argument, as to convince the understanding by threats and 
tortures. Persecution is much more likely to make men 
hypocrites than sincere converts. They may perhaps, if they 
have not a firm and heroic courage, change their profession 
while they retain their sentiments; and, supposing them 
before to be unwarily in the wrong, they may learn to add 
falsehood and villany to error. How glorious a prize! 
especially when one considers at what an expense it is 
gained. But, "4th. Persecution tends to produce much mischief 
and confusion in the world. It is mischievous to those on 
whom it falls; and in its consequences so mischievous to 
others, that one would wonder any wise princes should ever 
have admitted it into their dominions, or that they should 
not have immediately banished it thence; for, even where it 
succeeds so far as to produce a change in men's forms of 
worship, it generally makes them no more than hypocritical 
professors of what they do not believe, which must 
undoubtedly debauch their characters; so that, having been 
villains in one respect, it is very probable that they will 
be so in another, and, having brought deceit and falsehood 
into their religion, that they will easily bring it into 
their conversation and commerce. This will be the effect of 
persecution where it is yielded to; and where it is opposed 
(as it must often be by upright and conscientious men, who 
have the greater claim upon the protection and favour of 
government) the mischievous consequences of its fury will be 
more flagrant and shocking. Nay, perhaps, where there is no 
true religion, a native sense of honour in a generous mind 
may stimulate it to endure some hardships for the cause of 
truth.

'Obstinacy,' as one well observes, 'may rise as the 
understanding is oppressed, and continue its opposition for a 
while, merely to avenge the cause of its injured liberty.' 
"Nay, 5th. The cause of truth itself must, humanly speaking, 
be not only obstructed, but destroyed, should persecuting 
principles universally prevail. For, even upon the 
supposition that in some countries it might tend to promote 
and establish the purity of the Gospel, yet it must surely be 
a great impediment to its progress. What wise heathen or 
Mohammedan prince would ever admit Christian preachers into 
his dominions, if he knew it was a principle of their 
religion that as soon as the majority of the people were 
converted by arguments, the rest, and himself with them, if 
he continued obstinate, must be proselyted or extirpated by 
fire and sword? If it be, as the advocates for persecution 
have generally supposed, a dictate of the law of nature to 
propagate the true religion by the sword; then certainly a 
Mohammedan or an idolater, with the same notions, supposing 
him to have truth on his side, must think himself obliged in 
conscience to arm his powers for the extirpation of 
Christianity; and thus a holy war must cover the face of the 
whole earth, in which nothing but a miracle could render 
Christians successful against so vast a disproportion in 
numbers. Now, it seems hard to believe that to be a truth 
which would naturally lead to the extirpation of truth in the 
world; or that a Divine religion should carry in its own 
bowels the principle of its own destruction.

"But, 6th. This point is clearly determined by the lip of 
truth itself; and persecution is so far from being encouraged 
by the Gospel, that it is most directly contrary to many of 
its precepts, and indeed to its whole genius.

It is condemned by the example of Christ, who went about 
doing good; who came not to destroy men's lives, but to save 
them; who waived the exercise of his miraculous power against 
his enemies, even when they most unjustly and cruelly 
assaulted him, and never exerted it to the corporal 
punishment, even of those who had most justly deserved it. 
And his doctrine also, as well as his example, has taught us 
to be harmless as doves; to love our enemies; to do good to 
them that hate us; and pray for them that despitefully use 
and persecute us." From all this we may learn that the Church 
which tolerates, encourages, and practises persecution, under 
the pretense of concern for the purity of the faith, and zeal 
for God's glory, is not the Church of Christ; and that no man 
can be of such a Church without endangering his salvation. 
Let it ever be the glory of the Protestant Church, and 
especially of the Church of England, that it discountenances 
and abhors all persecution on a religious account; and that 
it has diffused the same benign temper through that STATE 
with which it is associated.

CHAPTER xv

Publicans and sinners draw near to hear our Lord, at which 
the Pharisees are offended, 1, 2. Christ vindicates his 
conduct in receiving them by the parable of the lost sheep, 
3-7. The parable of the lost piece of money, 8-10; and the 
affecting parable of the prodigal son, 11-32.

NOTES ON CHAP. xv

Verse 1. Publicans and sinners] telwnai kai amartwloi, tax-
gatherers and heathens; persons who neither believed in 
Christ nor in Moses. See the note on chap. vii. 36. 
Concerning the tax-gatherers, see the note on Matt. v. 46.

Verse 2. Receiveth sinners] prosdecetai. He receives them 
cordially, affectionately-takes them to his bosom; for so the 
word implies. What mercy! Jesus receives sinners in the most 
loving, affectionate manner, and saves them unto eternal 
life! Reader, give glory to God for ever!

Verse 4. What man of you] Our Lord spoke this and the 
following parable to justify his conduct in receiving and 
conversing with sinners or heathens.

A hundred sheep] Parables similar to this are frequent among 
the Jewish writers. The whole flock of mankind, both Jews and 
Gentiles, belongs unto this Divine Shepherd; and it is but 
reasonable to expect, that the gracious proprietor will look 
after those who have gone astray, and bring them back to the 
flock. The lost sheep is an emblem of a heedless, thoughtless 
sinner: one who follows the corrupt dictates of his own 
heart, without ever reflecting upon his conduct, or 
considering what will be the issue of his unholy course of 
life. No creature strays more easily than a sheep; none is 
more heedless; and none so incapable of finding its way back 
to the flock, when once gone astray: it will bleat for the 
flock, and still run on in an opposite direction to the place 
where the flock is: this I have often noticed.

No creature is more defenceless than a sheep, and more 
exposed to be devoured by dogs and wild beasts. Even the 
fowls of the air seek their destruction. I have known ravens 
often attempt to destroy lambs by picking out their eyes, in 
which, when they have succeeded, as the creature does not see 
whither it is going, it soon falls an easy prey to its 
destroyer.

Satan is ever going about as a roaring lion seeking whom he 
may devour; in order to succeed, he blinds the understanding 
of sinners, and then finds it an easy matter to tumble them 
into the pit of perdition. Who but a Pharisee or a devil 
would find fault with the shepherd who endeavours to rescue 
his sheep from so much danger and ruin!

Verse 7. Just persons, which need no repentance.] Who do not 
require such a change of mind and purpose as these do-who are 
not so profligate, and cannot repent of sins they have never 
committed. Distinctions of this kind frequently occur in the 
Jewish writings. There are many persons who have been brought 
up in a sober and regular course of life, attending the 
ordinances of God, and being true and just in all their 
dealings; these most materially differ from the heathens 
mentioned, ver. 1, because they believe in God, and attend 
the means of grace: they differ also essentially from the 
tax-gatherers mentioned in the same place, because they wrong 
no man, and are upright in their dealings. Therefore they 
cannot repent of the sins of a heathen, which they have not 
practised; nor of the rapine of a tax-gatherer, of which they 
have never been guilty. As, therefore, these just persons are 
put in opposition to the tax-gatherers and heathens, we may 
at once see the scope and design of our Lord's words: these 
needed no repentance in comparison of the others, as not 
being guilty of their crimes.

And as these belonged, by outward profession at least, to the 
flock of God, and were sincere and upright according to their 
light, they are considered as being in no danger of being 
lost; and at they fear God, and work righteousness according 
to their light, he will take care to make those farther 
discoveries to them, of the purity of his nature, the 
holiness of his law, and the necessity of the atonement, 
which he sees to be necessary. See the case of Cornelius, 
Acts x. 1, &c. On this ground, the owner is represented as 
feeling more joy in consequence of finding one sheep that was 
lost, there having been almost no hope of its recovery, than 
he feels at seeing ninety and nine still safe under his care. 
"Men generally rejoice more over a small unexpected 
advantage, than over a much greater good to which they have 
been accustomed." There are some, and their opinion need not 
be hastily rejected, who imagine that by the ninety and nine 
just persons, our Lord means the angels-that they are in 
proportion to men, as ninety-nine are to one, and that the 
Lord takes more pleasure in the return and salvation of one 
sinner, than in the uninterrupted obedience of ninety-nine 
holy angels; and that it was through his superior love to 
fallen man that he took upon him his nature, and not the 
nature of angels. I have met with the following weak 
objection to this: viz. "The text says just persons; now, 
angels are not persons, therefore angels cannot be meant." 
This is extremely foolish; there may be the person of an 
angel, as well as of a man; we allow persons even in the 
Godhead; besides, the original word, dikaioiv, means simply 
just ones, and may be, with as much propriety, applied to 
angels as to men. After all, our Lord may refer to the 
Essenes, a sect among the Jews, in the time of our Lord, who 
were strictly and conscientiously moral; living at the utmost 
distance from both the hypocrisy and pollutions of their 
countrymen. These, when compared with the great mass of the 
Jews, needed no repentance. The reader may take his choice of 
these interpretations, or make a better for himself. I have 
seen other methods of explaining these words; but they have 
appeared to me either too absurd or too improbable to merit 
particular notice.

Verse 8. Ten pieces of silver] dracmav deka, ten drachmas. I 
think it always best to retain the names of these ancient 
coins, and to state their value in English money. Every 
reader will naturally wish to know by what names such and 
such coins were called in the countries in which they were 
current. The Grecian drachma was worth about sevenpence three 
farthings of our money; being about the same value as the 
Roman denarius.

The drachma that was lost is also a very expressive emblem of 
a sinner who is estranged from God, and enslaved to habits of 
iniquity. The longer a piece of money is lost, the less 
probability is there of its being again found; as it may not 
only lose its colour, and not be easily observed, but will 
continue to be more and more covered with dust and dirt: or 
its value may be vastly lessened by being so trampled on that 
a part of the substance, together with the image and 
superscription, may be worn off.

So the sinner sinks deeper and deeper into the impurities of 
sin, loses even his character among men, and gets the image 
and superscription of his Maker defaced from his heart. He 
who wishes to find the image of God, which he has lost by 
sin, must attend to that word which will be a lantern to his 
steps, and receive that Spirit which is a light to the soul, 
to convince of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He must 
sweep the house-put away the evil of his doings; and seek 
diligently-use every means of grace, and cry incessantly to 
God, till he restore to him the light of his countenance.

Though parables of this kind must not be obliged to go on all 
fours, as it is termed; yet they afford many useful hints to 
preachers of the Gospel, by which they may edify their 
hearers. Only let all such take care not to force meanings on 
the words of Christ which are contrary to their gravity and 
majesty.

Verse 12. Give me the portion of goods] It may seem strange 
that such a demand should be made, and that the parent should 
have acceded to it, when he knew that it was to minister to 
his debauches that his profligate son made the demand here 
specified. But the matter will appear plain, when it is 
considered, that it has been an immemorial custom in the east 
for sons to demand and receive their portion of the 
inheritance during their father's lifetime; and the parent, 
however aware of the dissipated inclinations of the child, 
could not legally refuse to comply with the application. It 
appears indeed that the spirit of this law was to provide for 
the child in case of ill treatment by the father: yet the 
demand must first be acceded to, before the matter could be 
legally inquired into; and then, "if it was found that the 
father was irreproachable in his character, and had given no 
just cause for the son to separate from him, in that case, 
the civil magistrate fined the son in two hundred puns of 
cowries." See Code of Gentoo laws, pr. disc. p. 56; see also 
do. chap. ii sec. 9, p. 81, 82; xxi. sec. 10, p. 301.

Verse 13. Not many days after] He probably hastened his 
departure for fear of the fine which he must have paid, and 
the reproach to which he must have been subjected, had the 
matter come before the civil magistrate. See above.

Riotous living.] zwn aswtwv, in a course of life that led him 
to spend all: from a not, and sww I save. And this we are 
informed, ver. 30, was among harlots; the readiest way in the 
world to exhaust the body, debase the mind, ruin the soul, 
and destroy the substance.

Verse 14. A mighty famine in that land] As he was of a 
profligate turn of mind himself, it is likely he sought out a 
place where riot and excess were the ruling characteristics 
of the inhabitants; and, as poverty is the sure consequence 
of prodigality, it is no wonder that famine preyed on the 
whole country.

Verse 15. To feed swine.] The basest and vilest of all 
employments; and, to a Jew, peculiarly degrading. Shame, 
contempt, and distress are wedded to sin, and can never be 
divorced. No character could be meaner in the sight of a Jew 
than that of a swineherd: and Herodotus informs us, that in 
Egypt they were not permitted to mingle with civil society, 
nor to appear in the worship of the gods, nor would the very 
dregs of the people have any matrimonial connections with 
them. HEROD. lib. ii. cap. 47.

Verse 16. With the husks] keratiwn. Bochart, I think, has 
proved that keratia does not mean husks: to signify which the 
Greek botanical writers use the word loboi; several examples 
of which he gives from Theophrastus. He shows, also, that the 
original word means the fruit of the ceratonia or charub 
tree, which grows plentifully in Syria. This kind of pulse, 
Columella observes, was made use of to feed swine. See 
BOCHART, Hieroz. lib. ii. cap. lvi. col. 707-10.

Verse 17. When he came to himself] A state of sin is 
represented in the sacred writings as a course of folly and 
madness; and repentance is represented as a restoration to 
sound sense. See this fully explained on Matt. iii. 2.

I perish with hunger!] Or, I perish HERE. Æwde, here, is 
added by BDL, Syriac, all the Arabic and Persic, Coptic, 
AEthiopic, Gothic, Saxon, Vulgate, all the Itala, and several 
of the fathers.

Verse 18. Against heaven] eiv ton ouranon; that is, against 
God. The Jews often make use of this periphrasis in order to 
avoid mentioning the name of God, which they have ever 
treated with the utmost reverence. But some contend that it 
should be translated, even unto heaven; a Hebraism for, I 
have sinned exceedingly-beyond all description.

Verse 20. And kissed him.] Or, kissed him again and again; 
the proper import of kataefilhsen auton. The father thus 
showed his great tenderness towards him, and his great 
affection for him.

Verse 21. Make me as one of thy hired servants, is added here 
by several MSS. and versions; but it is evident this has been 
added, merely to make his conduct agree with his resolution, 
ver. 19. But by this a very great beauty is lost: for the 
design of the inspired penman is to show, not merely the 
depth of the profligate son's repentance, and the sincerity 
of his conversion, but to show the great affection of the 
father, and his readiness to forgive his disobedient son. His 
tenderness of heart cannot wait till the son has made his 
confession; his bowels yearn over him, and he cuts short his 
tale of contrition and self-reproach, by giving him the most 
plenary assurances of his pardoning love.

Verse 22. Bring forth the best robe] Bring out that chief 
garment, thn stolhn thn prwthn, the garment which was laid 
by, to be used only on birth-days or festival times. Such as 
that which Rebecca had laid by for Esau, and which she put on 
Jacob when she made him personate his brother. See the notes 
on Gen. xxvii. 15.

Put a ring on his hand] Giving a ring was in ancient times a 
mark of honour and dignity. See Gen. xli. 42; 1 Kings xxi. 8; 
Esther viii. 2; Dan. vi. 17; James ii. 2.

Shoes on his feet] Formerly those who were captivated had 
their shoes taken off, Isa. xx. 1; and when they were 
restored to liberty their shoes were restored. See 2 Chron. 
xxviii. 15. In Bengal, shoes of a superior quality make one 
of the distinguishing parts of a person's dress. Some of them 
cost as much as a hundred rupees a pair; ú10 or ú12. 
Reference is perhaps made here to some such costly shoes. It 
is the same among the Chinese: some very costly shoes and 
boots of that people are now before me.

Verse 23. The fatted calf, and kill it] qusate, Sacrifice it. 
In ancient times the animals provided for public feasts were 
first sacrificed to God.

The blood of the beast being poured out before God, by way of 
atonement for sin, the flesh was considered as consecrated, 
and the guests were considered as feeding on Divine food. 
This custom is observed among the Asiatics to this day.

Verse 24. Was dead] Lost to all good-given up to all evil. In 
this figurative sense the word is used by the best Greek 
writers. See many examples in Kypke.

Verse 25. His elder son] Meaning probably persons of a 
regular moral life, who needed no repentance in comparison of 
the prodigal already described.

In the field] Attending the concerns of the farm.

He heard music] sumfwniav, a number of sounds mingled 
together, as in a concert.

Dancing.] corwn. But Leviticus Clerc denies that the word 
means dancing at all, as it properly means a choir of 
singers. The symphony mentioned before may mean the musical 
instruments which accompanied. the choirs of singers.

Verse 28. He was angry] This refers to the indignation of the 
scribes and Pharisees, mentioned ver. 1, 2. In every point of 
view, the anger of the older son was improper and 
unreasonable. He had already received his part of the 
inheritance, see chap. xv. 12, and his profligate brother had 
received no more than what was his just dividend. Besides, 
what the father had acquired since that division he had a 
right to dispose of as he pleased, even to give it all to one 
son; nor did the ancient customs of the Asiatic countries 
permit the other children to claim any share in such property 
thus disposed of. The following is an institute of the GENTOO 
law on this subject: (CODE, chap. ii. sect. 9, p. lxxix. ) 
"If a father gives, by his own choice, land, houses, 
orchards, and the earning of his own industry, to one of his 
sons, the other sons shall not receive any share of it." 
Besides, whatever property the father had acquired after the 
above division, the son or sons, as the prodigal in the text, 
could have no claim at all on, according to another institute 
in the above Asiatic laws, see chap. ii. sect. ii. p. 85, but 
the father might divide it among those who remained with him: 
therefore is it said in the text, "Son, thou art ALWAYS with 
me, and ALL that I have is THINE," ver. 31.

Verse 29. Never-a kid] It is evident from ver. 12, that the 
father gave him his portion when his profligate brother 
claimed his; for he divided his whole substance between them. 
And though he had not claimed it, so as to separate from, and 
live independently of, his father, yet he might have done so 
whenever he chose; and therefore his complaining was both 
undutiful and unjust.

Verse 30. This thy son] THIS son of THINE-words expressive of 
supreme contempt: THIS son-he would not condescend to call 
him by his name, or to acknowledge him for his brother; and 
at the same time, bitterly reproaches his amiable father for 
his affectionate tenderness, and readiness to receive his 
once undutiful, but now penitent, child! For HIM] I have 
marked those words in small capitals which should be strongly 
accented in the pronunciation: this last word shows how 
supremely he despised his poor unfortunate brother.

Verse 31. All that I have is thine.] See on ver. 28.

Verse 32. This thy brother] Or, THIS brother of THINE. To 
awaken this ill-natured, angry, inhumane man to a proper 
sense of his duty, both to his parent and brother, this 
amiable father returns him his own unkind words, but in a 
widely different spirit. This son of mine to whom I show 
mercy is THY brother, to whom thou shouldst show bowels of 
tenderness and affection; especially as he is no longer the 
person he was: he was dead in sin-he is quickened by the 
power of God: he was lost to thee, to me, to himself, and to 
our God; but now he is found: and he will be a comfort to me, 
a help to thee, and a standing proof, to the honour of the 
Most High, that God receiveth sinners. This, as well as the 
two preceding parables, was designed to vindicate the conduct 
of our blessed Lord in receiving tax-gatherers and heathens; 
and as the Jews, to whom it was addressed, could not but 
approve of the conduct of this benevolent father, and 
reprobate that of his elder son, so they could not but 
justify the conduct of Christ towards those outcasts of men, 
and, at least in the silence of their hearts, pass sentence 
of condemnation upon-themselves. For the sublime, the 
beautiful, the pathetic, and the instructive, the history of 
Joseph in the Old Testament, and the parable of the prodigal 
son in the New, have no parallels either in sacred or profane 
history.

THE following reflections, taken chiefly from pious Quesnel, 
cannot fail making this incomparable parable still more 
instructive.

Three points may be considered here: I. The degrees of his 
fall. II. The degrees of his restoration; and, III. The 
consequences of his conversion.

I. The prodigal son is the emblem of a sinner who refuses to 
depend on and be governed by the Lord. How dangerous is it 
for us to desire to be at our own disposal, to live in a 
state of independency, and to be our own governors! God 
cannot give to wretched man a greater proof of his wrath than 
to abandon him to the corruption of his own heart.

Not many days, &c., ver. 13. The misery of a sinner has its 
degrees; and he soon arrives, step by step, at the highest 
pitch of his wretchedness.

The first degree of his misery is, that he loses sight of 
God, and removes at a distance from him. There is a boundless 
distance between the love of God, and impure self-love; and 
yet, strange to tell, we pass in a moment from the one to the 
other! The second degree of a sinner's misery is, that the 
love of God being no longer retained in the heart, carnal 
love and impure desires necessarily enter in, reign there, 
and corrupt all his actions.

The third degree is, that he squanders away all spiritual 
riches, and wastes the substance of his gracious Father in 
riot and debauch.

When he had spent all, &c., ver. 14. The fourth degree of an 
apostate sinner's misery is, that having forsaken God, and 
lost his grace and love, he can now find nothing but poverty, 
misery, and want. How empty is that soul which God does not 
fill! What a famine is there in that heart which is no longer 
nourished by the bread of life! In this state, he joined 
himself-ekollhqh, he cemented, closely united himself, and 
fervently cleaved to a citizen of that country, ver. 15.

The fifth degree of a sinner's misery is, that he renders 
himself a slave to the devil, is made partaker of his nature, 
and incorporated into the infernal family. The farther a 
sinner goes from God, the nearer he comes to eternal ruin.

The sixth degree of his misery is, that he soon finds by 
experience the hardship and rigour of his slavery. There is 
no master so cruel as the devil; no yoke so heavy as that of 
sin; and no slavery so mean and vile as for a man to be the 
drudge of his own carnal, shameful, and brutish passions.

The seventh degree of a sinner's misery is, that he has an 
insatiable hunger and thirst after happiness; and as this can 
be had only in God, and he seeks it in the creature, his 
misery must be extreme. He desired to fill his belly with the 
husks, ver. 16. The pleasures of sense and appetite are the 
pleasures of swine, and to such creatures is he resembled who 
has frequent recourse to them, 2 Pet. ii. 22.

II. Let us observe, in the next place, the several degrees of 
a sinner's conversion and salvation.

The first is, he begins to know and feel his misery, the 
guilt of his conscience, and the corruption of his heart. He 
comes to himself, because the Spirit of God first comes to 
him, ver. 17.

The second is, that he resolves to forsake sin and all the 
occasions of it; and firmly purposes in his soul to return 
immediately to his God. I will arise, &c., ver. 18.

The third is, when, under the influence of the spirit of 
faith, he is enabled to look towards God as a compassionate 
and tender-hearted father. I will arise and go to my father.

The fourth is, when he makes confession of his sin, and feels 
himself utterly unworthy of all God's favours, ver. 19.

The fifth is, when he comes in the spirit of obedience, 
determined through grace to submit to the authority of God; 
and to take his word for the rule of all his actions, and his 
Spirit for the guide of all his affections and desires.

The sixth is, his putting his holy resolutions into practice 
without delay; using the light and power already mercifully 
restored to him, and seeking God in his appointed ways. And 
he arose and came, &c., ver. 20.

The seventh is, God tenderly receives him with the kiss of 
peace and love, blots out all his sins, and restores him to, 
and reinstates him in, the heavenly family. His father-fell 
on his neck, and kissed him, ver. 20.

The eighth is, his being clothed with holiness, united to 
God, married as it were to Christ Jesus, 2 Cor. xi. 2, and 
having his feet shod with the shoes of the preparation of the 
Gospel of peace, Eph. vi. 15, so that he may run the ways of 
God's commandments with alacrity and joy. Bring the best 
robe-put a ring-and shoes, &c., ver. 22.

III. The consequences of the sinner's restoration to the 
favour and image of God are, first, the sacrifice of 
thanksgiving is offered to God in his behalf; he enters into 
a covenant with his Maker, and feasts on the fatness of the 
house of the Most High.

Secondly, The whole heavenly family are called upon to share 
in the general joy; the Church above and the Church below 
both triumph; for there is joy (peculiar joy) in the presence 
of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. See ver. 
10.

Thirdly, God publicly acknowledges him for his son, not only 
by enabling him to abstain from every appearance of evil, but 
to walk before him in newness of life, ver. 24. The tender-
hearted father repeats these words at ver. 32, to show more 
particularly that the soul is dead when separated from God; 
and that it can only be said to be alive when united to him 
through the Son of his love. A Christian's sin is a brother's 
death; and in proportion to our concern for this will our joy 
be at his restoration to spiritual life. Let us have a 
brotherly heart towards our brethren, as God has that of a 
father towards his children, and seems to be afflicted at 
their loss, and to rejoice at their being found again, as if 
they were necessary to his happiness.

In this parable, the younger profligate son may represent the 
Gentile world; and the elder son, who so long served his 
father, ver. 20, the Jewish people. The anger of the elder 
son explains itself at once-it means the indignation 
evidenced by the Jews at the Gentiles being received into the 
favour of God, and made, with them, fellow heirs of the 
kingdom of heaven.

It may also be remarked, that those who were since called 
Jews and Gentiles, were at first one family, and children of 
the same father: that the descendants of Ham and Japhet, from 
whom the principal part of the Gentile world was formed, 
were, in their progenitors, of the primitive great family, 
but had afterwards fallen off from the true religion: and 
that the parable of the prodigal son may well represent the 
conversion of the Gentile world, in order that, in the 
fullness of time, both Jews and Gentiles may become one fold, 
under one Shepherd and Bishop of all souls.

CHAPTER xvi

The parable of the unjust steward, 1-8. Christ applies this 
to his hearers, 9-13. The pharisees take offense, 14. Our 
Lord reproves them, and shows the immutability of the law, 
15-17. Counsels against divorce, 18. The story of the rich 
man and the beggar, commonly called Dives and Lazarus, 10-31.

NOTES ON CHAP. xvi

Verse 1. A steward] oikonomov, from oikov, a house, or oikia, 
a family, and nemw, I administer; one who superintends 
domestic concerns, and ministers to the support of the 
family, having the products of the field, business, &c., put 
into his hands for this very purpose. See on chap. viii. 3.

There is a parable very like this in Rab. Dav. Kimchi's 
comment on Isaiah, Isa. xl. 21: "The whole world may be 
considered as a house builded up: heaven is its roof; the 
stars its lamps; and the fruits of the earth, the table 
spread. The owner and builder of this house is the holy 
blessed God; and man is the steward, into whose hands all the 
business of the house is committed. If he considers in his 
heart that the master of the house is always over him, and 
keeps his eye upon his work; and if, in consequence, he act 
wisely, he shall find favour in the eyes of the master of the 
house: but if the master find wickedness in him, he will 
remove him, wtdqpy m min pakidato, from his STEWARDSHIP. The 
foolish steward doth not think of this: for as his eyes do 
not see the master of the house, he saith in his heart, 'I 
will eat and drink what I find in this house, and will take 
my pleasure in it; nor shall I be careful whether there be a 
Lord over this house or not.' When the Lord of the house 
marks this, he will come and expel him from the house, 
speedily and with great anger. Therefore it is written, He 
bringeth the princes to nothing." As is usual, our Lord has 
greatly improved this parable, and made it in every 
circumstance more striking and impressive. Both in the Jewish 
and Christian edition, it has great beauties.

Wasted his goods.] Had been profuse and profligate; and had 
embezzled his master's substance.

Verse 2. Give an account of thy, &c.] Produce thy books of 
receipts and disbursements, that I may see whether the 
accusation against thee be true or false. The original may be 
translated, Give up the business, ton logon, of the 
stewardship.

Verse 3. I cannot dig] He could not submit to become a common 
day-labourer, which was both a severe and base employment: To 
beg I am ashamed. And as these were the only honest ways left 
him to procure a morsel of bread, and he would not submit to 
either, he found he must continue the system of knavery, in 
order to provide for his idleness and luxury, or else starve. 
Wo to the man who gets his bread in this way! The curse of 
the Lord must be on his head, and on his heart; in his 
basket, and is his store.

Verse 4. They may receive me] That is, the debtors and 
tenants, who paid their debts and rents, not in money, but in 
kind; such as wheat, oil, and other produce of their lands.

Verse 6. A hundred measures of oil.] Æekaton batouv, A 
hundred baths. The hb bath was the largest measure of 
capacity among the Hebrews, except the homer, of which it was 
the tenth part: see Ezek. xlv. 11, 14. It is equal to the 
ephah, i.e. to seven gallons and a half of our measure.

Take thy bill] Thy account-to gramma. The writing in which 
the debt was specified, together with the obligation to pay 
so much, at such and such times. This appears to have been in 
the hand-writing of the debtor, and probably signed by the 
steward: and this precluded imposition on each part. To 
prevent all appearance of forgery in this case, he is desired 
to write it over again, and to cancel the old engagement. In 
carrying on a running account with a tradesman, it is common 
among the Hindoos for the buyer to receive from the hands of 
the seller a daily account of the things received; and 
according to this account, written on a slip of paper, and 
which remains in the hands of the buyer, the person is paid.

Verse 7. A hundred measures of wheat.] Æekaton korouv, a 
hundred cors. korov, from the Hebrew rk cor, was the largest 
measure of capacity among the Hebrews, whether for solids or 
liquids. As the bath was equal to the ephah, so the cor was 
equal to the homer. It contained about seventy-five gallons 
and five pints English. For the same reason for which I 
preserve the names of the ancient coins, I preserve the names 
of the ancient measures. What idea can a mere English reader 
have of the word measure in this and the preceding verse, 
when the original words are not only totally different, but 
the quantity is as seven to seventy-five? The original terms 
should be immediately inserted in the text, and the contents 
inserted in the margin. The present marginal reading is 
incorrect. I follow Bishop Cumberland's weights and measures. 
See on chap. xv. 8.

In the preceding relation, I have no doubt our Lord alluded 
to a custom frequent in the Asiatic countries: a custom which 
still prevails, as the following account, taken from Capt. 
Hadley's Hindostan Dialogues, sufficiently proves. A person 
thus addresses the captain: "Your Sirkar's deputy, whilst his 
master was gone to Calcutta, established a court of justice.

"Having searched for a good many debtors and their creditors, 
he learned the accounts of their bonds.

"He then made an agreement with them to get the bonds out of 
the bondsmen's hands for half the debt, if they would give 
him one fourth.

"Thus, any debtor for a hundred rupees, having given fifty to 
the creditor, and twenty-five to this knave, got his bond for 
seventy-five rupees.

"Having seized and flogged 125 bondholders, he has in this 
manner determined their loans, and he has done this business 
in your name." Hadley's Gram. Dialogues, p. 79. 5th edit. 
1801.

Verse 8. The lord commended] Viz. the master of this unjust 
steward.

He spoke highly of the address and cunning of his iniquitous 
servant. He had, on his own principles, made a very prudent 
provision for his support; but his master no more approved of 
his conduct in this, than he did in his wasting his substance 
before. From the ambiguous and improper manner in which this 
is expressed in the common English translation, it has been 
supposed that our blessed Lord commended the conduct of this 
wicked man: but the word kuriov, there translated lord, 
simply means the master of the unjust steward.

The children of this world] Such as mind worldly things only, 
without regarding God or their souls. A phrase by which the 
Jews always designate the Gentiles.

Children of light.] Such as are illuminated by the Spirit of 
God, and regard worldly things only as far as they may 
subserve the great purposes of their salvation, and become 
the instruments of good to others. But ordinarily the former 
evidence more carefulness and prudence, in providing for the 
support and comfort of this life, than the latter do in 
providing for another world.

Verse 9. The mammon of unrighteousness] mamwna thv adikiav -
literally, the mammon, or riches, of injustice. Riches 
promise MUCH, and perform NOTHING: they excite hope and 
confidence, and deceive both: in making a man depend on them 
for happiness, they rob him of the salvation of God and of 
eternal glory. For these reasons, they are represented as 
unjust and deceitful. See the note on Matt. vi. 24, where 
this is more particularly explained. It is evident that this 
must be the meaning of the words, because the false or 
deceitful riches, here, are put in opposition to the true 
riches, chap. xvi. 11; i.e. those Divine graces and blessings 
which promise all good, and give what they promise; never 
deceiving the expectation of any man. To insinuate that, if a 
man have acquired riches by unjust means, he is to sanctify 
them, and provide himself a passport to the kingdom of God, 
by giving them to the poor, is a most horrid and blasphemous 
perversion of our Lord's words. Ill gotten gain must be 
restored to the proper owners: if they are dead, then to 
their successors.

When ye fail] That is, when ye die. The Septuagint use the 
word ekleipein in this very sense, Jer. xlii. 17, 22. See the 
note on Gen. xxv. 8. So does Josephus, War, chap. iv. 1, 9.

They may receive you] That is, say some, the angels. Others, 
the poor whom ye have relieved will welcome you into glory. 
It does not appear that the poor are meant: 1. Because those 
who have relieved them may die a long time before them; and 
therefore they could not be in heaven to receive them on 
their arrival. 2. Many poor persons may be relieved, who will 
live and die in their sins, and consequently never enter into 
heaven themselves. The expression seems to be a mere 
Hebraism:-they may receive you, for ye shall be received; 
i.e. God shall admit you, if you make a faithful use of his 
gifts and graces. He who does not make a faithful use of what 
he has received from his Maker has no reason to hope for 
eternal felicity. See Matt. xxv. 33; and, for similar 
Hebraisms, consult in the original, chap. vi. 38; xii. 20; 
Revelation xii. 6; xvi. 15.

Verse 10. He that is faithful in that which is least, &c.] He 
who has the genuine principles of fidelity in him will make a 
point of conscience of carefully attending to even the 
smallest things; and it is by habituating himself to act 
uprightly in little things that he acquires the gracious 
habit of acting with propriety fidelity, honour, and 
conscience, in matters of the greatest concern. On the 
contrary, he who does not act uprightly in small matters will 
seldom feel himself bound to pay much attention to the 
dictates of honour and conscience, in cases of high 
importance. Can we reasonably expect that a man who is 
continually falling by little things has power to resist 
temptations to great evils?

Verse 12. That which is another man's] Or rather another's, 
tw allotriw. That is, worldly riches, called another's: 1. 
Because they belong to God, and he has not designed that they 
should be any man's portion. 2. Because they are continually 
changing their possessors, being in the way of commerce, and 
in providence going from one to another. This property of 
worldly goods is often referred to by both sacred and profane 
writers. See a fine passage in Horace, Sat. l. ii. s. 2. v. 
129.

Nam propriae telluris herum natura neque illum, Nec me, nec 
quemquam statuit Nature will no perpetual heir assign, Nor 
make the farm his property, or mine. FRANCIS And the 
following in one of our own poets:-" Who steals my purse 
steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, 
and has been slave to thousands." That which is your own?] 
Grace and glory, which God has particularly designed for you; 
which are the only proper satisfying portion for the soul, 
and which no man can enjoy in their plenitude, unless he be 
faithful to the first small motions and influences of the 
Divine Spirit.

Verse 13. No servant can serve two masters] The heart will be 
either wholly taken up with God, or wholly engrossed with the 
world. See on Matt. vi. 24.

Verse 14. They derided him] Or rather, They treated him with 
the utmost contempt. So we may translate the original words 
exemukthrizon auton, which literally signifies, in illum 
emunxerunt-but must not be translated into English, unless, 
to come a little near it, we say, they turned up their noses 
at him; and why! Because they were lovers of money, and he 
showed them that all such were in danger of perdition. As 
they were wedded to this life, and not concerned for the 
other, they considered him one of the most absurd and foolish 
of men, and worthy only of the most sovereign contempt, 
because he taught that spiritual and eternal things should be 
preferred before the riches of the universe. And how many 
thousands are there of the very same sentiment to the present 
day!

Verse 15. Ye-justify yourselves] Ye declare yourselves to be 
just. Ye endeavour to make it appear to men that ye can still 
feel an insatiable thirst after the present world, and yet 
secure the blessings of another; that ye can reconcile God 
and mammon,-and serve two masters with equal zeal and 
affection; but God knoweth your hearts,-and he knoweth that 
ye are alive to the world, and dead to God and goodness. 
Therefore, howsoever ye may be esteemed among men, ye are an 
abomination before him. See the note on chap. vii. 29.

Verse 16. The law and the prophets were until John] The law 
and the prophets continued to be the sole teachers till John 
came, who first began to proclaim the glad tidings of the 
kingdom of God: and now, he who wishes to be made a partaker 
of the blessings of that kingdom must rush speedily into it; 
as there will be but a short time before an utter destruction 
shall fall upon this ungodly race. They who wish to be saved 
must imitate those who take a city by storm-rush into it, 
without delay, as the Romans are about to do into Jerusalem. 
See also on Matt. xi. 12.

Verse 17. For heaven and earth to pass] See on Matt. v. 17, 
18.

Verse 18. Putteth away (or divorceth) his wife] See on Matt. 
v. 31, 32; xix. 9, 10; Mark x. 12; where the question 
concerning divorce is considered at large. These verses, from 
the 13th to the 18th  inclusive, appear to be part of our 
Lord's sermon on the mount; and stand in a much better 
connection there than they do here; unless we suppose our 
Lord delivered the same discourse at different times and 
places, which is very probable.

Verse 19. There was a certain rich man] In the Scholia of 
some MSS.

the name of this person is said to be Ninive. This account of 
the rich man and Lazarus is either a parable or a real 
history. If it be a parable, it is what may be: if it be a 
history, it is that which has been. Either a man may live as 
is here described, and go to perdition when he dies; or, some 
have lived in this way, and are now suffering the torments of 
an eternal fire. The account is equally instructive in 
whichsoever of these lights it is viewed.

Let us carefully observe all the circumstances offered hereto 
our notice, and we shall see-I. The CRIME of this man; and 
II. His PUNISHMENT.

1. There was a certain rich man in Jerusalem. Provided this 
be a real history, there is no doubt our Lord could have 
mentioned his name; but, as this might have given great 
offense, he chose to suppress it. His being rich is, in 
Christ's account, the first part of his sin. To this 
circumstance our Lord adds nothing: he does not say that he 
was born to a large estate; or that he acquired one by 
improper methods; or that he was haughty or insolent in the 
possession of it. Yet here is the first degree of his 
reprobation-he got all he could, and kept all to himself.

2. He was clothed with purple and fine linen. Purple was a 
very precious and costly stuff; but our Lord does not say 
that in the use of it he exceeded the bounds of his income, 
nor of his rank in life; nor is it said that he used his 
superb dress to be an agent to his crimes, by corrupting the 
hearts of others. Yet our Lord lays this down as a second 
cause of his perdition.

3. He fared sumptuously every day. Now let it be observed 
that the law of Moses, under which this man lived, forbade 
nothing on this point, but excess in eating and drinking; 
indeed, it seems as if a person was authorized to taste the 
sweets of an abundance, which that law promised as a reward 
of fidelity. Besides, this rich man is not accused of having 
eaten food which was prohibited by the law, or of having 
neglected the abstinences and fasts prescribed by it. It is 
true, he is said to have feasted sumptuously every day; but 
our Lord does not intimate that this was carried to excess, 
or that it ministered to debauch. He is not accused of 
licentious discourse, of gaming, of frequenting any thing 
like our modern plays, balls, masquerades, or other impure 
and unholy assemblies; of speaking an irreverent word against 
Divine revelation, or the ordinances of God. In a word, his 
probity is not attacked, nor is he accused of any of those 
crimes which pervert the soul or injure civil society. As 
Christ has described this man, does he appear culpable? What 
are his crimes? Why, 1.

He was rich. 2. He was finely clothed. And 3. He feasted 
well. No other evil is spoken of him. In comparison of 
thousands, he was not only blameless, but he was a virtuous 
man.

4. But it is intimated by many that "he was an uncharitable, 
hard-hearted, unfeeling wretch." Yet of this there is not a 
word spoken by Christ. Let us consider all the circumstances, 
and we shall see that our blessed Lord has not represented 
this man as a monster of inhumanity, but merely as an 
indolent man, who sought and had his portion in this life, 
and was not at all concerned about another.

Therefore we do not find that when Abraham addressed him on 
the cause of his reprobation, chap. xvi. 25, that he 
reproached him with hard-heartedness, saying, "Lazarus was 
hungry, and thou gavest him no meat; he was thirsty, and thou 
gavest him no drink, &c.;" but he said simply, Son, remember 
that thou didst receive thy good things in thy lifetime, 
chap. xvi. 25. "Thou hast sought thy consolation upon the 
earth, thou hast borne no cross, mortified no desire of the 
flesh, received not the salvation God had provided for thee; 
thou didst not belong to the people of God upon earth, and 
thou canst not dwell with them in glory." There are few who 
consider that it is a crime for those called Christians to 
live without Christ, when their lives are not stained with 
transgression. If Christianity only required men to live 
without gross outward sin, paganism could furnish us with 
many bright examples of this sort. But the religion of Christ 
requires a conformity, not only in a man's conduct, to the 
principles of the Gospel; but also a conformity in his heart 
to the spirit and mind of Christ.

Verse 20. There was a certain beggar named Lazarus] His name 
is mentioned, because his character was good, and his end 
glorious; and because it is the purpose of God that the 
righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. Lazarus, 
rz[l is a contraction of the word rz[la Eliezar, which 
signifies the help or assistance of God-a name properly given 
to a man who was both poor and afflicted, and had no help but 
that which came from heaven.

Verse 21. And desiring to be fed with the crumbs] And it is 
likely this desire was complied with, for it is not intimated 
that he spurned away the poor man from the gate, or that his 
suit was rejected. And as we find, chap. xvi. 24, that the 
rich man desired that Lazarus should be sent with a little 
water to him, it is a strong intimation that he considered 
him under some kind of obligation to him; for, had he refused 
him a few crumbs in his lifetime, it is not reasonable to 
suppose that he would now have requested such a favour from 
him; nor does Abraham glance at any such uncharitable conduct 
on the part of the rich man.

We may now observe, II. In what the punishment of this man 
consisted.

1. Lazarus dies and is carried into Abraham's bosom. By the 
phrase, Abraham's bosom, an allusion is made to the custom at 
Jewish feasts, when three persons reclining on their left 
elbows on a couch, the person whose head came near the breast 
of the other, was said to lie in his bosom.

So it is said of the beloved disciple, John xiii. 25. 
Abraham's bosom was a phrase used among the Jews to signify 
the paradise of God. See Josephus's account of the Maccabees, 
chap. xiii.

Verse 22. The rich man also died, and was buried] There is no 
mention of this latter circumstance in the case of Lazarus; 
he was buried, no doubt-necessity required this; but he had 
the burial of a pauper, while the pomp and pride of the other 
followed him to the tomb. But what a difference in these 
burials, if we take in the reading of my old MS. BIBLE, which 
is supported by several versions: forsothe the riche man is 
deed: and is buried in helle. And this is also the reading of 
the Anglo-saxon,: [A.S.], and was in hell buried. In some 
MSS. the point has been wanting after etafh, he was buried; 
and the following kai, and, removed and set before eparav he 
lifted up: so that the passage reads thus: The rich man died 
also, and was buried in hell; and lifting up his eyes, being 
in torment, he saw, &c. But let us view the circumstances of 
this man's punishment.

Scarcely had he entered the place of his punishment, when he 
lifted up his eyes on high; and what must his surprise be, to 
see himself separated from God, and to feel himself tormented 
in that flame! Neither himself, nor friends, ever suspected 
that the way in which he walked could have led to such a 
perdition.

1. And seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, 
chap. xvi. 23. He sees Lazarus clothed with glory and 
immortality-this is the first circumstance in his punishment. 
What a contrast! What a desire does he feel to resemble him, 
and what rage and despair because he is not like him? We may 
safely conclude that the view which damned souls have, in the 
gulf of perdition, of the happiness of the blessed, and the 
conviction that they themselves might have eternally enjoyed 
this felicity, from which, through their own fault, they are 
eternally excluded, will form no mean part of the punishment 
of the lost.

2. The presence of a good to which they never had any right, 
and of which they are now deprived, affects the miserable 
less than the presence of that to which they had a right, and 
of which they are now deprived. Even in hell, a damned spirit 
must abhor the evil by which he is tormented, and desire that 
good that would free him from his torment. If a lost soul 
could be reconciled to its torment, and to its situation, 
then, of course, its punishment must cease to be such. An 
eternal desire to escape from evil, and an eternal desire to 
be united with the supreme good, the gratification of which 
is for ever impossible, must make a second circumstance in 
the misery of the lost.

3. Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy 
good things, chap. xvi. 25. The remembrance of the good 
things possessed in life, and now to be enjoyed no more for 
ever, together with the remembrance of grace offered or 
abused, will form a third circumstance in the perdition of 
the ungodly. Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime, &c.

4. The torments which a soul endures in the hell of fire will 
form, through all eternity, a continual present source of 
indescribable wo. Actual torment in the flames of the 
bottomless pit forms a fourth circumstance in the punishment 
of the lost. I am tormented in this flame, chap. xvi. 24.

5. The known impossibility of ever escaping from this place 
of torment, or to have any alleviation of one's misery in it, 
forms a fifth circumstance in the punishment of ungodly men. 
Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf, 
chap. xvi. 26. The eternal purpose of God, formed on the 
principles of eternal reason, separates the persons, and the 
places of abode, of the righteous and the wicked, so that 
there can be no intercourse: They who wish to pass over hence 
to you, cannot; neither can they pass over, who would come 
from you hither. A happy spirit cannot go from heaven to 
alleviate their miseries; nor can any of them escape from the 
place of their confinement, to enter among the blessed. There 
may be a discovery from hell of the paradise of the blessed; 
but there can be no intercourse nor connection.

6. The iniquitous conduct of relatives and friends, who have 
been perverted by the bad example of those who are lost, is a 
source of present punishment to them; and if they come also 
to the same place of torment, must be, to those who mere the 
instruments of bringing them thither, an eternal source of 
anguish. Send Lazarus to my father's family, for I have five 
brothers, that he may earnestly testify (diamarturhtai) to 
them, that they come not to this place of torment. These 
brothers had probably been influenced by his example to 
content themselves with an earthly portion, and to neglect 
their immortal souls. Those who have been instruments of 
bringing others into hell shall suffer the deeper perdition 
on that account.

Verse 29. They have Moses and the prophets] This plainly 
supposes they were all Jewish believers: they had these 
writings in their hands, but they did not permit them to 
influence their lives.

Verse 30. If one went to them from the dead, &c.] Many are 
desirous to see an inhabitant of the other world, and 
converse with him, in order to know what passes there. Make 
way! Here is a damned soul, which Jesus Christ has evoked 
from the hell of fire! Hear him! Hear him tell of his 
torments! Hear him utter his regrets! "But we cannot see 
him." No: God has, in his mercy, spared you for the present 
this punishment. How could you bear the sight of this damned 
spirit? Your very nature would fail at the appearance. Jesus 
keeps him as it were behind the curtain, and holds a 
conversation with him in your hearing, which you have neither 
faith nor courage sufficient to hold with him yourselves.

Verse 31. If they hear not Moses, &c.] This answer of Abraham 
contains two remarkable propositions. 1. That the sacred 
writings contain such proofs of a Divine origin, that though 
all the dead were to arise, to convince an unbeliever of the 
truths therein declared, the conviction could not be greater, 
nor the proof more evident, of the divinity and truth of 
these sacred records, than that which themselves afford. 2. 
That to escape eternal perdition, and get at last into 
eternal glory, a man is to receive the testimonies of God, 
and to walk according to their dictates. And these two things 
show the sufficiency and perfection of the sacred writings. 
What influence could the personal appearance of a spirit have 
on an unbelieving and corrupted heart? None, except to 
terrify it for the moment, and afterwards to leave it ten 
thousand reasons for uncertainty and doubt.

Christ caused this to be exemplified, in the most literal 
manner, by raising Lazarus from the dead. And did this 
convince the unbelieving Jews? No.

They were so much the more enraged; and from that moment 
conspired both the death of Lazarus and of Christ! Faith is 
satisfied with such proofs as God is pleased to afford! 
Infidelity never has enow. See a Sermon on this subject, by 
the author of this work.

To make the parable of the unjust steward still more 
profitable, let every man consider:-1.

That God is his master, and the author of all the good he 
enjoys, whether it be spiritual or temporal.

2. That every man is only a steward, not a proprietor of 
those things.

3. That all must give an account to God, how they have used 
or abused the blessings with which they have been entrusted.

4. That the goods which God has entrusted to our care are 
goods of body and soul: goods of nature and grace: of birth 
and education: His word, Spirit, and ordinances: goods of 
life, health, genius, strength, dignity, riches; and even 
poverty itself is often a blessing from the hand of God.

5. That all these may be improved to God's honour, our good, 
and our neighbour's edification and comfort.

6. That the time is coming in which we shall be called to an 
account before God, concerning the use we have made of the 
good things with which he has entrusted us.

7. That we may, even now, be accused before our Maker, of the 
awful crime of wasting our Lord's substance.

8. That if this crime can be proved against us, we are in 
immediate danger of being deprived of all the blessings which 
we have thus abused, and of being separated from God and the 
glory of his power for ever.

9. That on hearing of the danger to which we are exposed, 
though we cannot dig to purchase salvation, yet we must beg, 
incessantly beg, at the throne of grace for mercy to pardon 
all that is past.

10. That not a moment is to be lost: the arrest of death may 
have gone out against us; and this very night-hour-minute, 
our souls may be required of us. Let us therefore learn 
wisdom from the prudent despatch which a worldly-minded man 
would use to retrieve his ruinous circumstances; and watch 
and pray, and use the little spark of the Divine light which 
yet remains, but which is ready to die, that we may escape 
the gulf of perdition, and obtain some humble place in the 
heaven of glory. Our wants are pressing; God calls loudly; 
and eternity is at hand!

CHAPTER xvii

Christ teaches the necessity of avoiding offenses, 1, 2. How 
to treat an offending brother, 3, 4. The efficacy of faith, 
5, 6. No man by his services or obedience can profit his 
Maker, 7-10. He cleanses ten lepers, 11-19. The Pharisees 
inquire when the kingdom of God shall commence; Christ 
answers them, and corrects their improper views of the 
subject, 20-37.

NOTES ON CHAP. xvii

Verse 1. It is impossible but that offenses will come] Such 
is the corrupt state of the human heart that, notwithstanding 
all the influences of grace, and the promises of glory, men 
will continue to sin against God; and his justice must 
continue to punish. See on Matt. xviii. 6.

Verse 2. A mill-stone] That drowning a person with a stone 
tied about the neck was an ancient mode of punishment, see 
proved in the note on Matt. xviii. 6, 7, to which let the 
following be added. To have a mill-stone hanged about the 
neck, was a common proverb. "Samuel saith, A man may marry, 
and after that addict himself to the study of the law. Rab. 
Jochanan saith, No: shall he addict himself to the study of 
the law with a mill-stone about his neck?" The place in 
Aristophanes, to which the reader is referred in the note on 
Matt. xviii. 6, is the following:-aran metewron eiv to 
baraqron embalw, ek tou laruggov ekkremasav uperbolon 
"Lifting him up into the air, I will plunge him into the 
deep: a great stone being hung about his neck." Aristoph. in 
Equit. ver. 1359.

Verse 3. - 4. If thy brother trespass] See the notes on 
Matthew xviii. 21, 22.

Verse 5. Increase our faith.] This work of pardoning every 
offense of every man, and that continually, seemed so 
difficult, even to the disciples themselves, that they saw, 
without an extraordinary degree of faith, they should never 
be able to keep this command. But some think that this and 
what follows relate to what Matthew has mentioned. Matt. 
xvii. 19, 20.

Verse 6. As a grain of mustard seed] A faith that increases 
and thrives as that is described to do, Matt. xiii. 32, where 
see the note. See also Matt. xvii. 20.

This sycamine] The words seem to intimate that they were 
standing by such a tree. The sycamine is probably the same as 
the sycamore. Sycamore with us, says Mr. Evelyn, is falsely 
so called, being our acer majus, greater maple. The true 
sycamore is the ficus Pharaonis or AEgyptia, Pharaoh's, or 
Egyptian fig-tree; called also, from its similitude in leaves 
and fruit, morosyous, or mulberry fig-tree. The Arabians call 
it guimez: it grows in Cyprus, Caria, Rhodes, and in Judea 
and Galilee, where our Lord at this time was: see ver. 11. 
St. Jerome, who was well acquainted with these countries, 
translates the word mulberry-tree.

Be thou plucked up by the root] See the note on Matt. xxi. 
21, where it is shown that this mode of speech refers to the 
accomplishment of things very difficult, but not impossible.

Verse 7. - 9. Which of you, having a servant] It is never 
supposed that the master waits on the servant] -the servant 
is bound to wait on his master, and to do every thing for him 
to the uttermost of his power: nor does the former expect 
thanks for it, for he is bound by his agreement to act thus, 
because of the stipulated reward, which is considered as 
being equal in value to all the service that he can perform.

Verse 10. We are unprofitable servants] This text has often 
been produced to prove that no man can live without 
committing sin against God. But let it be observed, the text 
says unprofitable servants, not sinful servants. If this text 
could be fairly construed to countenance sinful imperfection, 
it would be easy to demonstrate that there is not one of the 
spirits of just men made perfect, in paradise, nor a 
ministering angel at the throne of God, but is sinfully 
imperfect: for none of these can work righteousness, in the 
smallest degree, beyond those powers which God has given 
them; and justice and equity require that they should exert 
those powers to the uttermost in the service of their Maker; 
and, after having acted thus, it may be justly said, They 
have done only what it was their duty to do. The nature of 
God is illimitable, and all the attributes of that nature are 
infinitely glorious: they cannot be lessened by the 
transgressions of his creatures, nor can they be increased by 
the uninterrupted, eternal obedience, and unceasing 
hallelujahs, of all the intelligent creatures that people the 
whole vortex of nature. When ages, beyond the power of 
arithmetic to sum up, have elapsed, it may be said of the 
most pure and perfect creatures, "Ye are unprofitable 
servants." Ye have derived your being from the infinite 
fountain of life: ye are upheld by the continued energy of 
the Almighty: his glories are infinite and eternal, and your 
obedience and services, however excellent in themselves, and 
profitable to you, have added nothing, and can add nothing, 
to the absolute excellencies and glories of your God.

Verse 11. He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee] 
He first went through Galilee, whence he set out on his 
journey; and then through Samaria, of which mention is made, 
chap. ix. 51, 52. All who went from Galilee to Jerusalem must 
have necessarily passed through Samaria, unless they had gone 
to the westward, a very great way about. Therefore John tells 
us, John iv. 4, that when Jesus left Judea to go into 
Galilee, it was necessary for him to pass through Samaria; 
for this plain reason, because it was the only proper road. 
"It is likely that our Lord set out from Capernaum, traversed 
the remaining villages of Galilee as far as Samaria, and then 
passed through the small country of Samaria, preaching and 
teaching every where, and curing the diseased, as usual." 
Calmet.

Verse 12. Ten-lepers] Concerning the leprosy see the note on 
Matt. viii. 2; and on Lev. xiii. 1, &c. and xiv. 1, &c..

Which stood afar off] They kept at a distance, because 
forbidden by law and custom to come near to those who were 
sound, for fear of infecting them. See Lev. xiii. 46; Num. v. 
2; 2 Kings xv. 5.

Verse 13. They lifted up their voices] They cried with one 
accord-they were all equally necessitous, and there was but 
one voice among them all, though ten were engaged in crying 
at the same time. As they were companions in suffering, they 
were also companions in prayer. Prayer should be strong and 
earnest, when the disease is great and inveterate. Sin is the 
worst of all leprosies; it not only separates those to whom 
it cleaves from the righteous, but it separates them from 
God; and nothing but the pitying heart and powerful hand of 
Christ Jesus can set any soul free from it.

Verse 14. Show yourselves unto the priests.] According to the 
direction, Lev. xiii. 2, &c.; Lev. xiv. 2, &c. Our Lord 
intended that their cure should be received by faith: they 
depended on his goodness and power; and though they had no 
promise, yet they went at his command to do that which those 
only were required by the law to do who were already healed.

And-as they went] In this spirit of implicit faith; they were 
cleansed.

God highly honours this kind of faith, and makes it the 
instrument in his hand of working many miracles. He who will 
not believe till he receives what he calls a reason for it, 
is never likely to get his soul saved. The highest, the most 
sovereign reason, that can be given for believing, is that 
God has commanded it.

Verse 15. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, &c.] 
It seems that he did not wait to go first to the priest, but 
turned immediately back, and gave public praise to the kind 
hand from which he had received his cure.

Verse 16. He was a Samaritan.] One who professed a very 
corrupt religion; and from whom much less was to be expected 
than from the other nine, who probably were Jews.

Verse 17. Where are the nine?] Where are the numbers that 
from time to time have been converted to God? Are they still 
found praising him, with their faces on the dust, as they did 
at first? Alas! how many are turned back to perdition! and 
how many are again mingled with the world! Reader! art thou 
of this number? 

Verse 18. This stranger.] Often God receives more praise and 
affectionate obedience from those who had long lived without 
his knowledge and fear, than from those who were bred up 
among his people, and who profess to be called by his name. 
The simple reason is, Those who have MUCH forgiven will love 
much, chap. vii. 47.

Verse 19. Thy faith hath made thee whole.] Thy faith hath 
been the means of receiving that influence by which thou hast 
been cleansed.

Verse 20. Cometh not with observation] With scrupulous 
observation.

That this is the proper meaning of the original, meta 
parathrhsewv, KYPKE and others have amply proved from the 
best Greek writers. As if he had said: "The kingdom of God, 
the glorious religion of the Messiah, does not come in such a 
way as to be discerned only by sagacious critics, or is only 
to be seen by those who are scrupulously watching for it; it 
is not of such a nature as to be confined to one place, so 
that men might say of it, Behold it is only here, or only 
there: for this kingdom of God is publicly revealed; and 
behold it is among you; I proclaim it publicly, and work 
those miracles which prove the kingdom of God is come; and 
none of these things are done in a corner." Dr. Lightfoot has 
well observed that there are two senses especially in which 
the phrase "kingdom of heaven," is to be understood. 1. The 
promulgation and establishment of the Christian religion. 2. 
The total overthrow of the Jewish polity. The Jews imagined 
that when the Messiah should come he would destroy the 
Gentiles, and reign gloriously over the Jews: the very 
reverse of this, our Lord intimates, should be the case. He 
was about to destroy the whole Jewish polity, and reign 
gloriously among the Gentiles. Hence he mentions the case of 
the general deluge, and the destruction of Sodom and 
Gomorrah. As if he had said: "The coming of this kingdom 
shall be as fatal to you as the deluge was to the old world, 
and as the fire and brimstone from heaven were to Sodom and 
Gomorrah." Our Lord states that this kingdom of heaven was 
within them, i.e. that they themselves should be the scene of 
these desolations, as, through their disobedience and 
rebellion, they possessed the seeds of these judgments. See 
on Matt. iii. 2.

Verse 21. Lo here! or, lo there!] Perhaps those Pharisees 
thought that the Messiah was kept secret, in some private 
place, known only to some of their rulers; and that by and by 
he should be proclaimed in a similar way to that in which 
Joash was by Jehoiada the priest. See the account, 2 Chron. 
xxiii. 1-11.

Verse 22. When ye shall desire to see one of the days] As it 
was our Lord's constant custom to support and comfort the 
minds of his disciples, we cannot suppose that he intimates 
here that they shall be left destitute of those blessings 
necessary for their support in a day of trial. When he says, 
Ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, he 
either means, ye of this nation, ye Jews, and addresses his 
disciples as if they should bear witness to the truth of the 
declaration; intimating that heavy calamities were about to 
fall upon them, and that they should desire in vain to have 
those opportunities of returning to God which now they 
rejected; or, he means that such should the distressed state 
of this people be, that the disciples would through pity and 
tenderness desire the removal of those punishments from them, 
which could not be removed because the cup of their iniquity 
was full. But the former is more likely to be the sense of 
the place.

Verse 23. And they shall say] Or, And IF they shall say. Two 
MSS., the Syriac and Armenian, have ean, IF.

See here] KM, sixteen others, and the later Syriac, have o 
cristov, Behold the Christ is here. This is undoubtedly the 
meaning of the place. See on Matt. xxiv. 23.

Verse 24. As the lightning, that lighteneth] See this 
particularly explained, Matt. xxiv. 27, 28.

Verse 25. But first must he suffer many things] As the cup of 
the iniquity of this people shall not be full till they have 
finally rejected and crucified the Lord of life and glory, so 
this desolation cannot take place till after my death.

Verse 26. As it was in the days of Noe] See on Matt. xxiv. 
38.

Verse 27. They did eat, they drank, &c.] They spent their 
whole lives in reference to this world; and made no sort of 
provision for their immortal souls. So it was when the Romans 
came to destroy Judea; there was a universal carelessness, 
and no one seemed to regard the warnings given by the Son of 
God.

Verse 29. It rained fire and brimstone] Instead of it rained, 
Gen. xix. 24 justifies the insertion of the pronoun he, as 
implied in the verb ebrexe; for it is there said that Jehovah 
rained fire and brimstone from Jehovah out of heaven.

Verse 31. He which shall be upon the housetop] See this 
explained on Matt. xxiv. 17.

Verse 32. Remember Lot's wife.] Relinquish every thing, 
rather than lose your souls. She looked back, Gen. xix. 26; 
probably she turned back also to carry some of her goods 
away-for so much the preceding verse seems to intimate, and 
became a monument of the Divine displeasure, and of her own 
folly and sin. It is a proof that we have loved with a 
criminal affection that which we leave with grief and 
anxiety, though commanded by the Lord to abandon it.

Verse 33. Whosoever shall seek to save his life] These or 
similar words were spoken on another occasion. See on Matt. 
x. 39; xvi. 25, 26.

Verse 34. - 36. On the subject of these verses see Matt. 
xxiv. 40, 41.

The 36th verse  is, without doubt, an interpolation; see the 
margin. It was probably borrowed from Matt. xxiv. 40. The 
whole verse is wanting in-ABEGHKLQS, more than fifty others, 
the Coptic, AEthiopic, Gothic, Slavonic, and many of the 
fathers: Griesbach has left it out of the text. Well might 
our translators say in the margin, This 36th verse is wanting 
in most of the Greek copies. Griesbach thinks it might have 
been omitted on account of the similar ending, (see the 
preceding verse,) or that it was borrowed from Matt. xxiv. 
40.

Verse 37. Where, Lord?] In what place shall all these 
dreadful evils fall? The answer our Lord gives in a figure, 
the application of which they are to make themselves. Where 
the dead carcass is, there will be the birds of prey-where 
the sin is, there will the punishment be. See on Matt. xxiv. 
28.

Thither will the eagles (or vultures) be gathered together. 
The jackal or chakal is a devourer of dead bodies; and the 
vulture is not less so: it is very remarkable how suddenly 
these birds appear after the death of an animal in the open 
field, though a single one may not have been seen on the spot 
for a long period before. The following chapter seems to be a 
continuation of this discourse: at least it is likely they 
were spoken on the same occasion.

Both contain truths which the reader should carefully ponder, 
and receive in the spirit of prayer and faith, that he may 
not come into the same condemnation into which these have 
fallen.

CHAPTER xviii

The parable of the importunate widow, 1-8. Of the Pharisee 
and the publican, 9-14. Infants brought to Christ, 15-17. The 
ruler who wished to know how he might inherit eternal life, 
18-23. Our Lord's reflections on his case, 24-27. What they 
shall receive who follow Christ, 28-30. He foretells his 
approaching passion and death, 31-34. He restores a blind man 
to sight at Jericho, 35-43.

NOTES ON CHAP. xviii

Verse 1. Men ought always to pray] Therefore the plain 
meaning and moral of the parable are evident; viz. that as 
afflictions and desolations were coming on the land, and they 
should have need of much patience and continual fortitude, 
and the constant influence and protection of the Almighty, 
therefore they should be instant in prayer. It states, 
farther, that men should never cease praying for that the 
necessity of which God has given them to feel, till they 
receive a full answer to their prayers. No other meaning need 
be searched for in this parable: St. Luke, who perfectly knew 
his Master's meaning, has explained it as above.

Verse 2. A judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man] 
It is no wonder that our Lord calls this person an 
unrighteous judge, ver. 6. No person is worthy to be put in 
the sacred office of a judge who does not deeply fear God, 
and tenderly respect his fellow creatures. Because this 
person feared not God, he paid no attention to the calls of 
justice; and because he respected not man, he was unmoved at 
the complaint of the widow. Even among the heathens this was 
the character of a man totally abandoned to all evil. So Dion 
Cassius says of Vitellius, that he neither regarded gods nor 
men-oute twn anqrwpwn, oute twn qewn efrontizen.

Verse 3. Avenge me of mine adversary.] The original, 
ekdikhson me apo tou antidikou mou, had better be translated, 
Do me justice against, or vindicate me from, my adversary. If 
the woman had come to get revenge, as our common translation 
intimates, I think our blessed Lord would never have 
permitted her to have the honour of a place in the sacred 
records. She desired to have justice, and that only; and by 
her importunity she got that which the unrighteous judge had 
no inclination to give, but merely for his own ease.

Verse 4. He said within himself] How many actions which 
appear good have neither the love of God, nor that of our 
neighbour, but only self-love of the basest kind, for their 
principle and motive! 

Verse 5. She weary me.] Æupwpiazh me, Stun me. A metaphor 
taken from boxers, who bruise each other, and by beating each 
other about the face blacken the eyes. See 1 Cor. ix. 27.

Verse 6. Hear what the unjust judge saith.] Our blessed Lord 
intimates that we should reason thus with ourselves: "If a 
person of such an infamous character as this judge was could 
yield to the pressing and continual solicitations of a poor 
widow, for whom he felt nothing but contempt, how much more 
ready must God be, who is infinitely good and merciful, and 
who loves his creatures in the tenderest manner, to give his 
utmost salvation to all them who diligently seek it!"

Verse 7. And shall not God avenge his own elect] And will not 
God the righteous Judge do justice for his chosen? Probably 
this may refer to the cruel usage which his disciples had met 
with, and were still receiving, from the disobedient and 
unbelieving Jews; and which should be finally visited upon 
them in the destruction of their city, and the calamities 
which should follow. But we may consider the text as having a 
more extensive meaning.

As God has graciously promised to give salvation to every 
soul that comes unto him through his Son, and has put his 
Spirit in their hearts, inducing them to cry unto him 
incessantly for it; the goodness of his nature and the 
promise of his grace bind him to hear the prayers they offer 
unto him, and to grant them all that salvation which he has 
led them by his promise and Spirit to request.

Which cry day and night unto him, &c.] This is a genuine 
characteristic of the true elect or disciples of Christ. They 
feel they have neither light, power, nor goodness, but as 
they receive them from him; and, as he is the desire of their 
soul, they incessantly seek that they may be upheld and saved 
by him.

Though he bear long with them?] Rather, and HE is 
compassionate towards THEM, and consequently not at all like 
to the unrighteous judge.

Instead of makroqumwn, and be long-suffering, as in our 
translation, I read makroqumei, he is compassionate, which 
reading is supported by ABDLQ, and several others. The reason 
which our Lord gives for the success of his chosen, is, 1. 
They cry unto him day and night. 2. HE is compassionate 
towards THEM. In consequence of the first, they might expect 
justice even from an unrighteous judge; and, in consequence 
of the second, they are sure of salvation, because they ask 
it from that God who is towards them a Father of eternal love 
and compassion. There was little reason to expect justice 
from the unrighteous judge. 1. Because he was unrighteous; 
and 2. Because he had no respect for man: no, not even for a 
poor desolate widow. But there is all the reason under heaven 
to expect mercy from God: 1. Because he is righteous, and he 
has promised it; and 2.

Because he is compassionate towards his creatures; being ever 
prone to give more than the most enlarged heart can request 
of him.

Every reader must perceive that the common translation is so 
embarrassed as to be almost unintelligible; while that in 
this note, from the above authorities, is as plain as 
possible, and shows this beautiful parable to be one of the 
most invaluable pieces in the word of God.

Verse 8. He will avenge them speedily.] Or, He will do them 
justice speedily-en tacei, instantly, in a trice. 1. Because 
he has promised it; and 2. Because he is inclined to do it.

When the Son of man cometh] To require the produce of the 
seed of the kingdom sown among this people.

Shall he find faith on the earth?] Or rather, Shall he find 
fidelity in this land? Shall he find that the soil has 
brought forth a harvest proportioned to the culture bestowed 
on it? No! And therefore he destroyed that land.

Verse 9. Despised] exouqenountav, Disdained, made nothing of 
others, treated them with sovereign contempt. Our Lord grants 
that the Pharisees made clean the outside: but, alas! what 
pride, vain glory, and contempt for others, were lodged 
within!

Verse 10. A Pharisee] For a description of the Pharisees and 
their tenets, see on Matt. xvi. 1.

Publican.] See an account of these on Matt. v. 46. Both these 
persons went to the temple to pray, i.e. to worship God: they 
were probably both Jews, and felt themselves led by different 
motives to attend at the temple, at the hour of prayer: the 
one to return thanks for the mercies he had received; the 
other to implore that grace which alone could redeem him from 
his sins.

Verse 11. Stood and prayed thus with himself] Or, stood by 
himself and prayed, as some would translate the words. He 
probably supposed it disgraceful to appear to have any 
connection with this penitent publican: therefore his conduct 
seemed to say, "Stand by thyself; I am more holy than thou." 
He seems not only to have stood by himself, but also to have 
prayed by himself; neither associating in person nor in 
petitions with his poor guilty neighbour.

God, I thank thee, &c.] In Matt. v. 20, our Lord says, Unless 
your righteousness abound more than that of the scribes and 
Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of God: see 
the note there. Now, the righteousness of the scribes and 
Pharisees is described here by a Pharisee himself. We find it 
was twofold: 1. It consisted in doing no harm to others.

2. In attending all the ordinances of God, then established 
in the Jewish economy; and in these things they were not like 
other men, the bulk of the inhabitants of the land paying 
little or no attention to them. That the Pharisees were in 
their origin a pure and holy people can admit of little 
doubt; but that they had awfully degenerated before our 
Lord's time is sufficiently evident. They had lost the spirit 
of their institution, and retained nothing else than its 
external regulations. See on Matt. xvi. 1.

1. This Pharisee did no harm to others-I am not rapacious, 
nor unjust, nor an adulterer. I seize no man's property 
through false pretences. I take the advantage of no man's 
ignorance in buying or selling. I avoid every species of 
uncleanness. In a word, I do to others as I wish them to do 
to me. How many of those called Christians are not half as 
good as this Pharisee! And, yet, he was far from the kingdom 
of God.

2. He observed the ordinances of religion-I fast twice in the 
week. The Jewish days of fasting, in each week, were the 
second and fifth; what we call Monday and Thursday. These 
were instituted in remembrance of Moses' going up to the 
mount to give the law, which they suppose to have been on the 
fifth day; and of his descent, after he had received the two 
tables, which they suppose was on the second day of the week.

Verse 12. I give tithes of all that I possess.] Or, of all I 
acquire, ktwmai.

Raphelius has well observed, that this verb, in the present 
tense, signifies to acquire-in the preter, to possess: the 
Pharisee's meaning seems to be, "As fast as I gain any thing, 
I give the tenth part of it to the house of God and to the 
poor." Those who dedicate a certain part of their earnings to 
the Lord should never let it rest with themselves, lest 
possession should produce covetousness. This was the 
Pharisee's righteousness, and the ground on which he builded 
his hope of final salvation. That the Pharisees had a strong 
opinion of their own righteousness, the following history 
will prove:-" Rabbi Simeon, the son of Jochai, said: The 
whole world is not worth thirty righteous persons, such as 
our father Abraham. If there were only thirty righteous 
persons in the world, I and my son should make two of them; 
but if there were but twenty, I and my son would be of the 
number; and if there were but ten, I and my son would be of 
the number: and if there were but five, I and my son would be 
of the five; and if there were but two, I and my son would be 
those two; and if there were but one, myself should be that 
one." Bereshith Rabba, s. 35, fol. 34. This is a genuine 
specimen of Pharisaic pride. No wonder that our Lord accused 
these of pride and vain glory: they were far from humility, 
and consequently far from righteousness.

Verse 13. The publican, standing afar off] Not because he was 
a heathen, and dared not approach the holy place; (for it is 
likely he was a Jew;) but because he was a true penitent, and 
felt himself utterly unworthy to appear before God.

Would not lift up-his eyes] Holding down the head, with the 
eyes fixed upon the earth, was, 1. A sign of deep distress. 
2. Of a consciousness and confession of guilt. And, 3. It was 
the very posture that the Jewish rabbins required in those 
who prayed to God. See Ezra ix. 6; and Mishna, in Berachoth, 
chap. v.; and Kypke's note here. So the Pharisee appears to 
have forgotten one of his own precepts.

But smote upon his breast] Smiting the breast was a token of 
excessive grief, commonly practised in all nations. It seems 
to intimate a desire, in the penitent, to punish that heart 
through the evil propensities of which the sin deplored had 
been committed. It is still used among the Roman Catholics in 
their general confessions.

God be merciful to me] Æilasqhti moi-Be propitious toward me 
through sacrifice-or, let an atonement be made for me. I am a 
sinner, and cannot be saved but in this way. The Greek word 
ilaskw, or ilaskomai, often signifies to make expiation for 
sin; and is used by the Septuagint, Psa. lxv. 4; lxxviii. 38; 
lxxix. 9, for rpk kipper, he made an atonement. So ilasmov a 
propitiation, is used by the same, for hafj chataah, a 
sacrifice for sin, Ezek. xliv. 27; and ilasthrion, the mercy 
seat, is, in the above version, the translation of trpk 
kapporeth, the lid of the ark of the covenant, on and before 
which the blood of the expiatory victim was sprinkled, on the 
great day of atonement. The verb is used in exactly the same 
sense by the best Greek writers. The following from 
Herodotus, lib. i. p. 19, edit. Gale, is full in point. 
qusihsi megalhsi ton en delfoisi qeon Æilasketo, Croesus 
appeased, or made an atonement to, the Delphic god by immense 
sacrifices. We see then, at once, the reason why our blessed 
Lord said that the tax-gatherer went down to his house 
justified rather than the other:-he sought for mercy through 
an atonement for sin, which was the only way in which God had 
from the beginning purposed to save sinners. As the Pharisee 
depended on his doing no harm, and observing the ordinances 
of religion for his acceptance with God, according to the 
economy of grace and justice, he must be rejected: for as all 
had sinned and come short of the glory of God, and no man 
could make an atonement for his sins, so he who did not take 
refuge in that which God's mercy had provided must be 
excluded from the kingdom of heaven.

This was no new doctrine: it was the doctrine publicly and 
solemnly preached by every sacrifice offered under the Jewish 
law. Without shedding of blood there is no remission, was the 
loud and constant cry of the whole Mosaic economy. From this 
we may see what it is to have a righteousness superior to 
that of the scribes and Pharisees. We must humble ourselves 
before God, which they did not: we must take refuge in the 
blood of the cross, which they would not; and be meek and 
humble of heart, which they were not.

Many suppose that the Pharisees thought they could acquire 
righteousness of themselves, independently of God, and that 
they did not depend on him for grace or power: but let us not 
make them worse than they were-for this is disclaimed by the 
Pharisee in the text, who attributes all the good he had to 
God: O God, I thank thee, that I am not as others-it is thou 
who hast made me to differ. But this was not sufficient: 
restraining grace must not be put in the place of the great 
atonement. Guilt he had contracted-and this guilt must be 
blotted out; and that there was no way of doing this, but 
through an atonement, the whole Jewish law declared. See the 
note on Matt. v. 20.

Verse 14. Went doom to his house justified] His sin blotted 
out; and himself accepted.

Rather than the other] h ekeinov: that is, the other was not 
accepted, because he exalted himself-he made use of the 
mercies which he acknowledged he owed to God, to make claims 
on the Divine approbation, and to monopolize the salvation of 
the Most High! He was abased, because he vainly trusted that 
he was righteous, and depended on what he had been enabled to 
do, and looked not for a change of heart, nor for 
reconciliation to God. It is a strange perversion of the 
human mind, to attempt to make God our debtor by the very 
blessings which his mere mercy has conferred upon us! It was 
a maxim among the Jews, that whoever brought a sacrifice to 
the temple returned justified. But our Lord shows that this 
depended on the state of mind-if they were not humbled under 
a sense of sin, they were not justified, though they had even 
offered a sacrifice.

Verse 15. - 17. They brought unto him also infants] On these 
verses the reader is requested to consult the notes on 
Matthew xix. 13, 14, and on Mark x. 16.

When a spiritual guide (a gooroo) visits his disciple, the 
latter takes his child to him for his blessing, forcing the 
head of the child down to the gooroo's feet, who gives what 
is called his blessing in some such words as these, Live 
long!-Be learned!-Be rich!

Verse 18. - 23. A certain ruler] See the case of this person 
largely explained on Matt. xix. 16-22, and Mark x. 21, 22.

Verse 24. How hardly shall they that have riches, &c.] See 
the notes on this discourse of our Lord, on Matt. xix. 21-30, 
and Mark x. 30.

Verse 25. It as easier for a camel] Instead of kamhlon, a 
camel, S, and four other MSS., read kamilou, a cable. See the 
same reading noticed on the parallel place, Matt. xix. 24.

Verse 28. We have left all] Our trades, our houses, and 
families. The reader is desired to consult the notes on Matt. 
iv. 20; xix. 27, &c.

Verse 29. That hath left house, or parents, &c.] See on 
Matthew xix. 28, 29, and Mark x. 29, 30.

Or brethren] h adelfav, OR SISTERS, is added by the Cod. 
Bezae, and some others.

Verse 31. Behold, we go up to Jerusalem] See the notes on 
this discourse, Matt. xx. 17-19, and Mark x. 32.

Verse 33. And the third day he shall rise again.] See Hos. 
vi. 2; and let the reader observe that the passage should be 
read thus: In the third day he will raise HIM up, ( wnmqy ) 
and we shall live before him: his resurrection shall be the 
pledge, token, and cause of ours.

Verse 34. They understood none of these things] 
Notwithstanding all the information which Christ had given 
them concerning this awful subject, they could not as yet 
fully comprehend how the Messiah should suffer; or how their 
Master, whose power they knew was unlimited, should permit 
the Jews and Gentiles to torment and slay him as he here 
intimates they would.

Verse 35. A certain blind man] Bartimeus. See this 
transaction explained at large, on Matt. xx. 29-34, and Mark 
x. 46, &c.

Verse 40. And when he was come near] See the remarkable 
account of the negro and white man, related on Mark x. 50.

Verse 43. And all the people-gave: praise unto God.] They saw 
the finger of God in what was done; and they gave him that 
praise which was due to his name. The Pharisees either saw 
not, or would not acknowledge this. The common people are 
often better judges of the work of God than the doctors 
themselves. They are more simple, are not puffed up with the 
pride of learning, and are less liable to be warped by 
prejudice or self-interest. Happy are those spiritually blind 
persons, to whom Christ has given eyes, that they may know 
him: feet, that they may follow him: a tongue, that they may 
praise him: and a heart, that they may love him! A true 
conversion, which no way contradicts itself, but is followed 
by an edifying life, makes known the majesty and power of God 
in a more eminent manner than the greatest external miracles. 
Quesnel.

FOR a practical use of the principal subjects in this 
chapter, see the parallel places in Matthew and Mark. How 
shall I be justified? is a most important question, which the 
parable of the Pharisee and the publican most distinctly 
answers. A deep consciousness of sin, humiliation of heart, 
and taking refuge by faith in the great atonement, is the 
way, and the only way.

Even the worst transgressors, coming thus to God, are 
accepted. Blessed news for penitent sinners!-for though they 
cannot boast of a righteousness equal to that of the scribes 
and Pharisees, yet they find they can, coming as the 
publican, be justified freely, through the blood of the 
cross, from all things, from which they could not be 
justified by the law of Moses. If this be so, how shall they 
escape who neglect so GREAT a SALVATION!

CHAPTER xix

The conversion of Zaccheus, 1-10. The parable of the 
nobleman, his ten servants, and the ten pounds, 11-27. Christ 
sends his disciples for a colt on which he rides into 
Jerusalem, 28-40. He weeps over the city, and foretells its 
destruction, 41-44. Goes into the temple, and casts out the 
buyers and sellers, 45, 46. The chief priests and the scribes 
seek to destroy him, but are afraid of the people, who hear 
him attentively. 47, 48.

NOTES ON CHAP. xix

Verse 1. Entered and passed through] Was passing through. Our 
Lord had not as yet passed through Jericho-he was only 
passing through it; for the house of Zaccheus, in which he 
was to lodge, ver. 5, was in it.

Verse 2. Zaccheus] It is not unlikely that this person was a 
Jew by birth, see ver. 9; but because he had engaged in a 
business so infamous, in the eyes of the Jews, he was 
considered as a mere heathen, ver. 7.

Chief among the publicans] Either a farmer-general of the 
taxes, who had subordinate collectors under him: or else the 
most respectable and honourable man among that class at 
Jericho.

He was rich.] And therefore the more unlikely to pay 
attention to an impoverished Messiah, preaching a doctrine of 
universal mortification and self-denial.

Verse 3. And he sought to see Jesus who he was] So the mere 
principle of curiosity in him led to his conversion and 
salvation, and to that of his whole family, ver. 9.

Verse 4. He ran before] The shortness of his stature was 
amply compensated by his agility and invention. Had he been 
as tall as the generality of the crowd, he might have been 
equally unnoticed with the rest. His getting into the tree 
made him conspicuous: had he not been so low of stature he 
would not have done so. Even the imperfections of our persons 
may become subservient to the grace of God in our eternal 
salvation. As the passover was at hand, the road was probably 
crowded with people going to Jerusalem; but the fame of the 
cure of the blind man was probably the cause of the concourse 
at this time.

Verse 5. Make haste, and come down] With this invitation, our 
blessed Lord conveyed heavenly influence to his heart; hence 
he was disposed to pay the most implicit and cheerful 
obedience to the call, and thus he received not the grace of 
God in vain.

Verse 6. Received him joyfully.] He had now seen WHO he was, 
and he wished to hear WHAT he was; and therefore he rejoiced 
in the honour that God had now conferred upon him. How often 
does Christ make the proposal of lodging, not only in our 
house, but in our heart, without its being accepted! We lose 
much because we do not attend to the visitations of Christ: 
he passes by-he blesses our neighbours and our friends; but, 
often, neither curiosity nor any other motive is sufficient 
to induce us to go even to the house of God, to hear of the 
miracles of mercy which he works in behalf of those who seek 
him.

Verse 7. To be guest with a man that is a sinner.] Meaning 
either that he was a heathen, or, though by birth a Jew, yet 
as bad as a heathen, because of his unholy and oppressive 
office. See the note on chap. vii. 37.

Verse 8. The half of my goods I give to the poor] Probably he 
had already done so for some time past; though it is 
generally understood that the expressions only refer to what 
he now purposed to do.

If I have taken any thing-by false accusation] esukofanthsa, 
from sukon, a fig, and fainw, I show or declare; for among 
the primitive Athenians, when the use of that fruit was first 
found out, or in the time of a dearth, when all sorts of 
provisions were exceedingly scarce, it was enacted that no 
figs should be exported from Attica; and this law (not being 
actually repealed, when a plentiful harvest had rendered it 
useless, by taking away the reason of it) gave occasion to 
ill-natured and malicious fellows to accuse all persons they 
found breaking the letter of it; and from them all busy 
informers have ever since been branded with the name of 
sycophants. POTTER'S Antiq. vol. i. c. 21, end.

I restore him fourfold.] This restitution the Roman laws 
obliged the tax-gatherers to make, when it was proved they 
had abused their power by oppressing the people. But here was 
no such proof: the man, to show the sincerity of his 
conversion, does it of his own accord. He who has wronged his 
fellow must make restitution, if he have it in his power. He 
that does not do so cannot expect the mercy of God. See the 
observations at the end of Genesis 42, and Num. v. 7.

Verse 9. Jesus said unto him] Bishop PEARCE observes: 
"Probably Luke wrote autouv, not auton, said unto them, i.e. 
to those who had before called Zaccheus a sinner; (ver. 7;) 
for Jesus here speaks of Zaccheus in the third person, he 
also is a son of Abraham, and therefore he was not then 
speaking to him." This conjecture of this respectable prelate 
is supported by the margin of the later Syriac, and by every 
copy of the Itala but two.

To this house] tw oikw toutw, To this very house or family. 
As if he had said: "If he be a sinner, he stands in the 
greater need of salvation, and the Son of man is come to seek 
and save what was lost, ver. 10; and therefore to save this 
lost soul is a part of my errand into the world." See the 
sentiment contained in this verse explained on Matt. xviii. 
11.

Verse 11. And as they heard these things] I believe the 
participle of the present tense, here, is used for the 
participle of the past, or rather that the participle of the 
present conveys sometimes the sense of the past; for this 
discourse appears to have taken place the next day after he 
had lodged at the house of Zaccheus; for the text says that 
he was then drawing nigh to Jerusalem, from which Jericho was 
distant nineteen miles. I have not ventured to translate it 
so, yet I think probably the text should be read thus: And 
after they had heard these things, he proceded to speak a 
parable, because they were nigh to Jerusalem.

Immediately appear.] Perhaps the generality of his followers 
thought that, on his arrival at Jerusalem, he would proclaim 
himself king.

Verse 12. A certain nobleman] In the following parable there 
are two distinct morals intended; let it be viewed in these 
two points of light. 1.

The behaviour of the citizens to the nobleman; and, 2. The 
behaviour of his own servants to him. 1. By the behaviour of 
the citizens, and their punishment, (ver. 14, 27,) we are 
taught that the Jews, who were the people of Christ, would 
reject him, and try to prevent his reigning over them in his 
spiritual kingdom, and would for that crime be severely 
punished by the destruction of their state. And this moral is 
all that answers to the introductory words, ver. 11. And they 
thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. 2. 
The other moral extends itself through the whole of the 
parable, viz. that the disciples of Christ, who are his 
servants; and who made a good improvement of the favours 
granted them by the Gospel, should be rewarded in proportion 
to the improvement made under the means of grace. This latter 
moral is all that is intended by Matt. in chap. xxv. 14, &c., 
who mentions this parable as spoken by Christ after his 
triumphant entry into Jerusalem; though Luke has here placed 
that event after the parable. See Bishop PEARCE.

The meaning of the different parts of this parable appears to 
be as follows.

A certain nobleman-The Lord Jesus, who was shortly to be 
crucified by the Jews.

Went into a far country] Ascended to the right hand of the 
Divine Majesty.

To receive a kingdom] To take possession of the mediatorial 
kingdom, the right to which, as Messiah, he had acquired by 
his sufferings: see Phil. ii. 8, 9; Heb. i. 3, 8, 9. In these 
words there is an allusion to the custom of those days, when 
they who had kingdoms or governments given unto them went to 
Rome to receive that dignity from the emperors.

Bishop PEARCE. In proof of this, see Josephus, Ant. l. xiv. 
c. xiv., where we find Herod went to Rome to receive the 
sanction and authority of the Roman emperor. And, from lib. 
xvii. c. 3, we learn that his successors acted in the same 
way.

And to return.] To judge and punish the rebellious Jews.

Verse 13. Ten servants] All those who professed to receive 
his doctrine.

Ten was a kind of sacred number among the Hebrews, as well as 
seven. See chap. xiv. 31; xv. 8; Matt. xv. 1.

Ten pounds] Ten minas. The Septuagint use the original word 
mnaa for the Hebrew hnm maneh, from which it is evidently 
derived; and it appears from Ezek. xlv. 12, to have been 
equal to sixty shekels in money. Now suppose we allow the 
shekel, with Dean Prideaux, to be 3s., then the mina or maneh 
was equal to 9ú English money. The impropriety of rendering 
the original word pound, will easily be seen by the most 
superficial reader.

We should therefore retain the original word for the same 
reason so often before assigned. SUIDAS says, "The talent was 
sixty minas, the mina one hundred drachms, the drachm six 
oboli, the obolus six chalci, the chalcus seven mites or 
lepta." By the ten minas given to each, we may understand the 
Gospel of the kingdom given to every person who professes to 
believe in Christ, and which he is to improve to the 
salvation of his soul. The same word is given to all, that 
all may believe and be saved.

Verse 14. His citizens] Or countrymen-the Jewish people, who 
professed to be subjects of the kingdom of God.

Hated him] Despised him for the meanness of his birth, his 
crucifixion to the world, and for the holiness of his 
doctrine. Neither mortification nor holiness suits the 
dispositions of the carnal mind.

Sent a message after him] As, in ver. 12, there is an 
allusion to a person's going to Rome, when elected to be 
ruler of a province or kingdom, to receive that dignity from 
the hand of the emperor, so it is here intimated that, after 
the person went to receive this dignity, some of the 
discontented citizens took the opportunity to send an embassy 
to the emperor, to prevent him from establishing the object 
of their hatred in the government.

We will not have this man, &c.] The Jews rejected Jesus 
Christ, would not submit to his government, and, a short time 
after this, preferred even a murderer to him. Like cleaves to 
like. No wonder that those who murdered the Lord of glory 
should prefer a murderer, one of their own temper, to the 
Redeemer of their souls.

Verse 15. When he was returned] When he came to punish the 
disobedient Jews; and when he shall come to judge the world. 
See the parable of the talents, Matt. xxv. 14, &c.

Verse 16. Lord, thy pound hath gained ten] The principal 
difference between this parable and that of the talents above 
referred to is, that the mina given to each seems to point 
out the gift of the Gospel, which is the same to all who hear 
it; but the talents distributed in different proportions, 
according to each man's ability, seem to intimate that God 
has given different capacities and advantages to men, by 
which this one gift of the Gospel may be differently 
improved.

Verse 17. Over ten cities.] This is to be understood as 
referring to the new kingdom which the nobleman had just 
received. His former trustiest and most faithful servants he 
now represents as being made governors, under him, over a 
number of cities, according to the capacity he found in each; 
which capacity was known by the improvement of the minas.

Verse 20. Lord, behold, here is thy pound] See Matt. xxv. 18.

Verse 23. With usury?] sun tokw, With its produce, i.e. what 
the loan of the money is fairly worth, after paying the 
person sufficiently for using it: for, in lent money, both 
the lender and borrower are supposed to reap profit.

Verse 25. And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.] 
This whole verse is omitted by the Codex Bezae, a few others, 
and some copies of the Itala. It is probably an observation 
that some person made while our Lord was delivering the 
parable, with a design to correct him in the distribution: as 
if he had said, "Why give the mina to that person? he has got 
ten already; give it to one of those who has fewer."

Verse 26. And from him that hath not] See this particularly 
explained Matt. xiii. 12. Perhaps it would be well, with 
Bishop PEARCE, to supply the word gained-give it to him who 
hath gained ten minas; for I say unto you, That unto every 
one who hath gained shall be given; and, from him who hath 
not gained, even that which he hath received, shall be taken 
away.

Verse 27. Those-enemies-bring hither] the Jews, whom I shall 
shortly slay by the sword of the Romans.

Verse 28. He went before] Joyfully to anticipate his death, 
say some.

Perhaps it means that he walked at the head of his disciples; 
and that he and his disciples kept on the road before other 
companies who were then also on their way to Jerusalem, in 
order to be present at the feast.

Verse 29. - 38. See this triumphal entry into Jerusalem 
explained at large on Matt. xxi. 1-11, and Mark xi. 1-10.

Verse 38. Glory in the highest.] Mayst thou receive the 
uttermost degrees of glory! See on Matt. xxi. 9.

Verse 40. If these should hold their peace, the stones would-
cry out.] Of such importance is my present conduct to you and 
to others, being expressly predicted by one of your own 
prophets, Zech. ix. 9, as pointing out the triumph of 
humility over pride, and of meekness over rage and malice, as 
signifying the salvation which I bring to the lost souls of 
men, that, if this multitude were silent, God would give even 
to the stones a voice, that the advent of the Messiah might 
be duly celebrated.

Verse 41. And wept over it] See Matt. xxiii. 37.

Verse 42. The things which belong unto thy peace!] It is very 
likely that our Lord here alludes to the meaning of the word 
Jerusalem, µylwry from hry yereh, he shall see, and µwl 
shalom, peace or prosperity.

Now, because the inhabitants of it had not seen this peace 
and salvation, because they had refused to open their eyes, 
and behold this glorious light of heaven which shone among 
them, therefore he said, Now they are hidden from thine eyes, 
still alluding to the import of the name.

Verse 43. Cast a trench about thee] This was literally 
fulfilled when this city was besieged by Titus. Josephus 
gives a very particular account of the building of this wall, 
which he says was effected in three days, though it was not 
less than thirty-nine furlongs in circumference; and that, 
when this wall and trench were completed, the Jews were so 
enclosed on every side that no person could escape out of the 
city, and no provision could be brought in, so that they were 
reduced to the most terrible distress by the famine which 
ensued. The whole account is well worth the reader's 
attention. See Josephus, War, book v. chap. xxii. sec. 1, 2, 
3.

Verse 44. The time of thy visitation.] That is, the time of 
God's gracious offers of mercy to thee. This took in all the 
time which elapsed from the preaching of John the Baptist to 
the coming of the Roman armies, which included a period of 
above forty years.

Verse 45. Went into the temple] See all this transaction 
explained, Matt. xxi. 12-16.

Verse 47. And he taught daily in the temple.] This he did for 
five or six days before his crucifixion. Some suppose that it 
was on Monday in the passion week that he thus entered into 
Jerusalem, and purified the temple; and on Thursday he was 
seized late at night: during these four days he taught in the 
temple, and lodged each night at Bethany. See the note on 
Matt. xxi. 17.

Verse 48. Were very attentive to hear him.] Or, They heard 
him with the utmost attention, exekremato autou akouwn, 
literally, They hung upon him, hearing. The same form of 
speech is used often by both Greek and Latin writers of the 
best repute. \] Exodus vultu dicentis, pendet omnium vultus.

The face of every man hung on the face of the speaker.- 
Pendetque iterum narrantis ab ore. Virg. AEn. iv. 79 And she 
hung again on the lips of the narrator. The words of the 
evangelist mark, not only the deepest attention because of 
the importance of the subject, but also the very high 
gratification which the hearers had from the discourse. Those 
who read or hear the words of Christ, in this way, must 
inevitably become wise to salvation.

THE reader is requested to refer to Matthew 24, and to 
Matthew xxv. 14, for more extensive information on the 
different subjects in this chapter, and to the other parallel 
places marked in the margin. The prophecy relative to the 
destruction of Jerusalem is one of the most circumstantial, 
and the most literally fulfilled, of any prediction ever 
delivered. See this particularly remarked at the conclusion 
of Matthew 24, where the whole subject is amply reviewed.

CHAPTER xx

The question concerning the authority of Christ, and the 
baptism of John, 1-8. The parable of the vine-yard let out to 
wicked husbandmen, 9-18. The chief priests and scribes are 
offended, and lay snares for him, 19, 20. The question about 
tribute, 21-26. The question about the resurrection of the 
dead, and our Lord's answer, 27-40. How Christ is the son of 
David, 41-44. He warns his disciples against the hypocrisy of 
the scribes, whose condemnation he points out, 45-47.

NOTES ON CHAP. xx

Verse 1. One of those days] Supposed to have been one of the 
four last days of his life, mentioned chap. xix. 47, probably 
Tuesday before the passover.

Verse 2. By what authority, &c.] See the note on Matt. xxi. 
23-27.

Verse 9. A certain man planted a vineyard, &c.] See this 
parable largely explained, Matt. xxi. 33-46. See also on Mark 
xii. 4-9.

Verse 10. That they should give him of the fruit] The Hindoo 
corn-merchants, that have lent money to husbandmen, send 
persons in harvest-time to collect their share of the produce 
of the ground.

Verse 16. God forbid.] Or, Let it not be, mh genoito. Our 
phrase, God forbid, answers pretty well to the meaning of the 
Greek, but it is no translation.

Verse 18. Grind him to powder.] See on Matt. xxi. 44.

Verse 20. They watched him] parathrhsantev, Insidiously 
watching. See on chap. xiv. 1.

Spies] egkaqetouv, from en, in, and kaqihmi, I let down, to 
set in ambush. One who crouches in some secret place to spy, 
listen, catch, or hurt. Hesychius explains the word by 
enedreuontev, those who lie in wait, or in ambush, to 
surprise and slay. Josephus uses the word to signify a person 
bribed for a particular purpose. See War, b. ii. c. ii. s. 5, 
and b. vi.

c. v. s. 2. No doubt the persons mentioned in the text were 
men of the basest principles, and were hired by the malicious 
Pharisees to do what they attempted in vain to perform.

Verse 22. Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar] 
See this insidious but important question considered at large 
on Matthew xxii. 16-22.

Verse 29. There were therefore seven brethren] See on Matthew 
xxii. 23-33.

Verse 34. The children of this world] Men and women in their 
present state of mortality and probation; procreation being 
necessary to restore the waste made by death, and to keep up 
the population of the earth.

Verse 36. Equal unto the angels] Who neither marry nor die. 
See the Jewish testimonies to the resurrection of the human 
body quoted at length on 1 Cor. xv. 42.

Verse 38. All live unto him.] There is a remarkable passage 
in Josephus's account of the Maccabees, chap. xvi., which 
proves that the best informed Jews believed that the souls of 
righteous men were in the presence of God in a state of 
happiness. "They who lose their lives for the sake of God, 
LIVE unto GOD, as do Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the rest 
of the patriarchs." And one not less remarkable in Shemoth 
Rabba, fol.

159. "Rabbi Abbin saith, The Lord said unto Moses, Find me 
out ten righteous persons among the people, and I will not 
destroy thy people.

Then said Moses, Behold, here am I, Aaron, Eleazar, Ithamar, 
Phineas, Caleb, and Joshua; but God said, Here are but seven, 
where are the other three? When Moses knew not what to do, he 
said, O Eternal God, do those live that are dead! Yes, saith 
God. Then said Moses, If those that are dead do live, 
remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." So the resurrection of 
the dead, and the immortality and immateriality of the soul, 
were not strange or unknown doctrines among the Jews.

Verse 40. They durst not ask] Or, did not venture to ask any 
other question, for fear of being again confounded, as they 
had already been.

Verse 41. How say they] See the note on Matt. xxii. 42-46.

Verse 43. Thy footstool.] Literally, the footstool of thy 
feet. They shall not only be so far humbled that the feet may 
be set on them; but they shall be actually subjected, and put 
completely under that Christ whom they now despise, and are 
about to crucify.

Verse 46. Beware of the scribes] Take heed that ye be not 
seduced by those who should show you the way of salvation. 
See on Matt. xxiii. 4-14.

1. How it can be supposed that the ancient Jewish Church had 
no distinct notion of the resurrection of the dead is to me 
truly surprising. The justice of God, so peculiarly 
conspicuous under the old covenant, might have led the people 
to infer that there must be a resurrection of the dead, if 
even the passage to which our Lord refers had not made a part 
of their law. As the body makes a part of the man, justice 
requires that not only they who are martyrs for the testimony 
of God, but also all those who have devoted their lives to 
his service, and died in his yoke, should have their bodies 
raised again. The justice of God is as much concerned in the 
resurrection of the dead, as either his power or mercy. To be 
freed from earthly incumbrances, earthly passions, bodily 
infirmities, sickness; and death, to be brought into a state 
of conscious existence, with a refined body and a sublime 
soul, both immortal, and both ineffably happy-how glorious 
the privilege! But of this, who shall be counted worthy in 
that day? Only those who have washed their robes, and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb, and who, by patient 
continuing in well doing, have sought for glory and honour 
and immortality.

2. A bad example, supported by the authority, reputation, and 
majesty of religion, is a very subtle poison, from which it 
is very difficult for men to preserve themselves. It is a 
great misfortune for any people to be obliged to beware of 
those very persons who ought to be their rule and pattern.

This is a reflection of pious Father Quesnel; and, while we 
admire its depth, we may justly lament that the evil he 
refers to should be so prevalent as to render the 
observation, and the caution on which it is founded, so 
necessary. But let no man imagine that bad and immoral 
ministers are to be found among one class of persons only. 
They are to be found in the branches as well as in the root: 
in the different sects and parties as well as in the mother 
or national Churches, from which the others have separated. 
On either hand there is little room for glorying.-Professors 
and ministers may change, but the truth of the Lord abideth 
for ever!

CHAPTER xxi

The poor widow casting two mites into the treasury, 1-4. the 
destruction of the temple foretold, 5, 6. The signs of this 
desolation, 7. False Christs, 8. Wars, 9, 10. Earthquakes and 
fearful sights, 11. Persecutions against the godly, 12-19. 
Directions how to escape, 20-22. The tribulation of those 
times, 23-28. The parable of the fig tree, illustrative of 
the time when they may expect these calamities, 29-33. The 
necessity of sobriety and watchfulness, 34-36. He teaches by 
day in the temple, and lodges by night in the mount of 
Olives, and the people come early to hear him, 37, 38.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxi

Verse 1. The rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.] 
See all this, from ver. 1-4, explained on Mark xii. 41-44.

Verse 2. A certain poor widow] A widow miserably poor; this 
is the proper import of penicran, and her being miserably 
poor heightened the merit of the action.

Two mites.] Which Mark says, Mark xii. 42, make a farthing or 
quadrans, the fourth part of an AS, or penny, as we term it. 
In Plutarch's time we find the smallest piece of brass coin 
in use among the Romans was the quadrans, but it appears that 
a smaller piece of money was in circulation among the Jews in 
our Lord's time, called here, and in Mark, Mark xii. 42, a 
lepton, i.e. small, diminished, from leipo, I fail. In 
ancient times our penny used to be marked with a deep 
indented cross, dividing the piece into four equal parts, 
which, when broken in two, made the half-penny, and, when 
broken into four, made the fourthing, what we have corrupted 
into farthing. Probably the Roman quadrans was divided in 
this way for the convenience of the poor. Our term mite seems 
to have been taken from the animal called by that name; for 
as that appeared to our ancestors to be the smallest of all 
animals, so this being the smallest of all coins was called 
by its name. Junius says that mite was a small base coin 
among the Dutch.

Our word mite seems to be a contraction of the Latin minutum, 
a small thing, whence the French miete, a crumb, a very small 
morsel. See the note on Mark xii. 41.

Verse 5. Goodly stones] Or, costly stones. It has been 
thought by some that this relates not so much to the stones 
of which the temple was built, as to the precious stones with 
which it was decorated. For an account of the stones of the 
temple, see on Mark xiii. 1.

And gifts] Or, consecrated things, anaqhmasi. anaqhma 
properly signifies a thing consecrated to sacred uses: 
anaqema signifies a thing devoted to a curse, or to 
destruction. They both come from the same root, anatiqhmi, I 
lay up, separate; and though two meanings cannot be more 
opposite than those assigned to these words, yet in the words 
themselves a short vowel (e) in the place of a long one (h) 
makes all the difference between blessing and cursing.

Verse 6. One stone upon another] This was literally 
fulfilled. See Matt. xxiv. 2.

Verse 8. Many shall come in my name] Usurping my name: 
calling themselves the Messiah. See Matt. xxiv. 5. Concerning 
this prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem, and its 
literal accomplishment, see the notes on Matt. xxiv. 1-42.

Verse 9. Commotions] Seditions and civil dissensions, with 
which no people were more agitated than the Jews.

Verse 11. Fearful sights] What these were the reader will 
find in detail on Matt. xxiv. 7.

Verse 12. Synagogues] Or, assemblies, &c. See these all 
explained on Mark xiii. 9.

Verse 13. It shall turn to you for a testimony.] That is, it 
shall turn out on your part for a testimony to them (your 
persecutors) that you are thoroughly persuaded of the truth 
of what you teach, and that you are no impostors.

Verse 14. Settle it therefore, &c.] See on Matt. x. 19.

Verse 15. I will give you a mouth and wisdom] stoma, a mouth, 
must appear plain to every person to be used here for a ready 
utterance, or eloquence in speaking. They shall have an 
abundance of wisdom to know what to say; and they shall have 
an irresistible eloquence to say what they ought.

Verse 18. But there shall not a hair of your head perish.] A 
proverbial expression for, Ye shall not suffer any essential 
injury. Every genuine Christian shall escape when this 
desolation comes upon the Jewish state.

Verse 19. In your patience] Rather, your perseverance, your 
faithful continuance in my word and doctrine. Ye will 
preserve your souls. Ye shall escape the Roman sword, and not 
one of you shall perish in the destruction of Jerusalem. 
Instead of kthsasqe, possess, or preserve ye, I read 
kthsesqe, ye shall preserve. This reading is supported by AB-
B, five others; both the Syriac, all the Arabic, AEthiopic, 
Vulgate, all the Itala except two, Origen, Macarius, and 
Tertullian.

Verse 22. These be the days of vengeance] See on Matt. xxiv. 
21.

Verse 24. They shall fall by the edge of the sword] Those who 
perished in the siege are reckoned to be not less than eleven 
hundred thousand. See Matt. xxiv. 22.

And shall be led away captive] To the number of ninety-seven 
thousand. See Josephus, War, b. vi. c. ix. s. 2, 3, and on 
Matt. xxiv. 31.

Trodden down of the Gentiles] Judea was so completely 
subjugated that the very land itself was sold by Vespasian; 
the Gentiles possessing it, while the Jews were either nearly 
all killed or led away into captivity.

Of the Gentiles be fulfilled.] Till the different nations of 
the earth, to whom God shall have given the dominion over 
this land, have accomplished all that which the Lord hath 
appointed them to do; and till the time of their conversion 
to God take place. But when shall this be? We know not. The 
nations are still treading down Jerusalem, and the end is 
known only to the Lord. See the note on Matt. xxiv. 31.

Verse 25. The sea and the waves roaring] Figuratively 
pointing out the immense Roman armies by which Judea was to 
be overrun and destroyed.

Verse 26. Men's hearts failing them for fear] Or, Men 
fainting away through fear, (apoyucontwn,) being ready to 
die.

Coming on the earth] Or, Coming upon this land, oikoumenh. 
See this translation of the word vindicated in the note on 
chap. ii. 1.

Verse 29. He spake to them a parable] Illustrated all these 
predicted facts by the simile of a fig tree. See this 
explained on Matt. xxiv. 32.

Verse 31. The kingdom of God is nigh at hand.] After the 
destruction of the Jewish state, the doctrine of Christ 
crucified shall be preached every where, and every where 
prevail.

Verse 32. This generation] This race of men; but see on 
Matthew xxiv. 34, and Mark xiii. 30.

Verse 34. Take heed to yourselves] See our Lord's parable, 
relative to this matter, explained, Mark xiii. 34.

Be overcharged] Literally, be made heavy, as is generally the 
case with those who have eaten or drank too much. Take heed 
that ye be not rendered secure by an improper use of lawful 
things: do not make this earth your portion: expect its 
dissolution, and prepare to meet your God.

Verse 35. The face of the whole earth.] Or, of this whole 
land. The land of Judea, on which these heavy judgments were 
to fall. See ver. 25; see also chap. ii. 1.

Verse 36. Watch ye therefore, and pray always] Perhaps we 
should connect ev panti kairw, continually, with agrupneite, 
watch, as it appears to be the most natural order. Indeed the 
word continually belongs equally to both watch and pray; and 
no man is safe, at any time, who does not attend to this 
advice as literally as possible.

That shall come to pass] That is, the tribulations which are 
on their way to overwhelm and destroy the Jewish people. 
These are sufficiently stated in the preceding verses.

To stand before the Son of man.] To be acquitted, and to be 
condemned, are expressed, in Rom. xiv. 4, by standing and 
falling. Those who were faithful to the grace they had 
received were not only not destroyed in the destruction of 
Jerusalem, but became heralds of the grace and mercy of God 
to the nations. Thus they were counted worthy to stand before 
the Son of man-to minister salvation in his name.

Verse 37. And in the day time] Or, every day-tav hmerav. This 
probably relates to the four last days of his life already 
mentioned.

Abode in the mount] He taught all day in the temple, and 
withdrew every evening, and lodged in Bethany; a town at the 
foot, or on the declivity of the mount of Olives. See the 
note on Matt. xxi. 17.

Verse 38. The people came early] He returned early from the 
mount of Olives, and the people came early in the morning to 
the temple to hear his teaching. For practical observations 
on the awful subject of this chapter, see Matthew 24 at the 
end. 

CHAPTER xxii

The chief priests and scribes plot our Lord's destruction, 1, 
2. Judas, at the instigation of the devil, betrays him, 3-6. 
He eats his last supper with his disciples, 7-18. Institutes 
the eucharist, 19, 20. Announces one of his disciples as the 
traitor, 21-23: The contention which should be greatest, 24-
30. Warns Peter against Satan's devices, 31, 32. Peter's 
resolution, 33. His denial foretold, 34. Tells his disciples 
to make prudent provision for their own support, 35-37. The 
two swords, 38. He goes to the Mount of Olives, and has his 
agony in the garden, 39-46. Judas comes with a mob, 47, 48. 
Peter cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant, which 
Christ heals by a touch, 49-51. He addresses the chief 
priests and captains of the temple, 52, 53. They lead him to 
the high priest's house, and Peter follows and denies his 
Master, 54-60. Christ looks upon him, he is stung with 
remorse, and weeps bitterly, 61, 62. Jesus is mocked, and 
variously insulted, 63-65. The next morning he is questioned 
before the council, 66, 67. He acknowledges himself to be the 
Son of God, 68-70. They condemn him, 71.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxii

Verse 1. The feast of unleavened bread, &c.] See this largely 
explained, Exod. xxiii. 14; Lev. xxiii. 2-40, and on Matt. 
xxvi. 2.

Verse 2. They feared the people.] The great mass of the 
people seem to have been convinced that Christ was at least a 
prophet sent from God; and it is likely they kept steady in 
their attachment to him. The multitude, who are represented 
as clamouring for his blood at the crucifixion, appear to 
have been a mere mob, formed out of the creatures of the 
chief priests and Pharisees.

Verse 3. Then entered Satan into Judas] The devil filled the 
heart of Judas with avarice; and that infamous passion led 
him to commit the crime here specified. This at once accounts 
for the whole of this most unprincipled and unnatural 
transaction. None but a devil, or he who is possessed by one, 
could have been guilty of it:-let the living lay this to 
heart. A minister of the Gospel, who is a lover of money, is 
constantly betraying the interests of Christ. He cannot serve 
two masters; and while his heart is possessed with the love 
of pelf, the love of God and zeal for perishing souls cannot 
dwell in him. What Satan could not do by the envy and malice 
of the high priests and Pharisees, he effects by Judas, a 
false and fallen minister of the Gospel of God. None are so 
dangerous to the interests of Christianity as persons of this 
stamp.

Verse 4. And captains] Among the priests who were in waiting 
at the temple, some were appointed fulakev, for a guard to 
the temple; and over these were strathgoi commanding 
officers: both sorts are mentioned by Josephus, War, b. vi. 
c. 5. s. 3. Bp. PEARCE, See another sense of captains, in the 
note on Matthew xxvii. 65. Dr. Lightfoot supposes these to 
have been the captains over the watches; for in three places 
the priests kept watch and ward in the temple, viz. in Beth 
Abtenes, in Beth Nitsots, and in Beth Mokad. The Levites also 
in twenty-one places more, Middoth, chap. i. Though these 
watches consisted of several persons in each, there was one 
set over them, as the captain or head of that watch. He 
thinks that Matthew, Matt. xxvii. 65, refers to one of these: 
Ye have a watch of your own; let some of them be sent to 
guard the sepulchre. The captain of the temple, he supposes 
to have been the chief or head of all these watches; and thus 
he was captain of the captains. In the same Talmudical tract 
it is said, The ruler of the mountain of the temple (i.e.

captain of the temple) takes his walks through every watch 
with torches lighted before him: if he found any upon the 
watch, that was not standing on his feet, he said, Peace be 
with thee: but if he found him sleeping, he struck him with a 
stick, and he might also burn his clothes. And when it was 
said by others, What noise is that in the court? the answer 
was, It is the noise of a Levite under correction, whose 
garments they are burning, because he slept upon his watch. 
This custom casts light on Rev. xvi. 15: Behold, I come as a 
thief: blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, 
lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. It is easy to 
distinguish this captain of the mountain of the temple from 
the ruler of the temple, or sagan: the former presided over 
the guards; the latter over the whole service of the temple. 
We have them both distinguished, Acts iv. 1: there is the 
captain of the temple; and Annas, who was the sagan. See 
Lightfoot.

Verse 5. They-covenanted to give him money.] Matthew says 
thirty pieces, or staters, of silver, about 4ú. 10s. English, 
the common price of the meanest slave. See the note on 
Matthew xxvi. 15.

Verse 6. And he promised] That is, to do it-exwmologhse: or, 
He accepted the proposal. See Wakefield.

Verse 7. The passover] pasca, ver. 1, is the name of the 
festival; to pasca here is supposed to be the name of that on 
which they feasted, viz.

the sacrificed paschal lamb. But see the notes on Matt. 26, 
and especially the observations at the end of that chapter. 

Verse 8. - 13. He sent Peter and John, &c.] See the subject 
of these verses largely explained on Matt. xxvi. 17-19, and 
Mark xiv. 13, 15.

Verse 14. And when the hour was come] That is, the evening. 
See Matt. xxvi. 20, and Mark xiv. 17.

Verse 15. With desire I have desired] A Hebraism for, I have 
desired most earnestly. Our Lord's meaning seems to be, that, 
having purposed to redeem a lost world by his blood, he 
ardently longed for the time in which he was to offer himself 
up. Such love did the holy Jesus bear to the human race. This 
eucharistic passover was celebrated once, by way of 
anticipation, before the bloody sacrifice of the victim of 
salvation, and before the deliverance it was appointed to 
commemorate; as the figurative passover had been likewise 
once celebrated before the going out of Egypt, and the 
deliverance of God's chosen people. Quesnel.

Verse 16. Until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.] That 
is, until that of which the passover is a type is fulfilled 
in my death, through which the kingdom of God, or of heaven, 
(See Matthew iii. 2,) shall be established among men.

Verse 17. He took the cup] This was not the sacramental cup, 
for that was taken after supper, ver. 20, but was the cup 
which was ordinarily taken before supper.

Divide it among yourselves] Pass the cup from one to another; 
thus the cup which Christ gave to the first person on his 
right hand continued to be handed from one to another, till 
it came to the last person on his left.

Verse 18. I will not drink of the fruit of the vine] That is, 
before the time of another passover, the Holy Ghost shall 
descend, the Gospel of the kingdom be established, and the 
sacramental supper shall take place of the paschal lamb; for 
in a few hours his crucifixion was to take place. See on 
Matt. xxvi. 29.

Verse 19. Took bread] See the nature and design of the Lord's 
Supper explained in the notes on Matt. xxvi. 26-29.

This do in remembrance of me.] That the Jews, in eating the 
passover, did it to represent the sufferings of the Messiah, 
as evident from the tract Pesachim, fol. 119, quoted by 
Schoettgen. Why do we call this the great hallel? (i.e. the 
hymn composed of several psalms, which they sung after the 
paschal supper.) Ans. Because in it these five things are 
contained: 1.

The exodus from Egypt. 2. The dividing of the Red Sea. 3. The 
promulgation of the law. 4. The resurrection of the dead. 
And, 5. The sufferings of the Messiah. The first is referred 
to, Psalm cxiv. 1, When Israel went out of Egypt, &c. The 
second in Psalm cxiv. 3, The sea saw it and fled. The third 
in Psa. cxiv. 4, The mountains skipped like rams, &c.

The fourth in Psa. cxvi. 9, I will walk before the Lord in 
the land of the living. The fifth in Psa. cxv. 1, Not unto 
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory; for 
thy mercy and thy truth's sake. See the note on Matt. xxvi. 
30.

Verse 20. This cup is the new testament in my blood] Perhaps 
it might be better to paraphrase the passage thus: This cup 
which is poured out for you, signifies the blood of the new 
covenant, which is shortly to be ratified in (or by) the 
shedding of my blood. Or, This cup is the new covenant, 
poured out for you with my blood:-that is, the paschal 
sacrifice and my sacrifice happen together. But see Kypke.

It does not appear that our Lord handed either the bread or 
the cup to each person; he gave it to him who was next to 
him, and, by handing it from one to another, they shared it 
among themselves, ver. 17. In this respect the present mode 
of administering the Lord's Supper is not strictly according 
to the original institution.

Verse 21. The hand of him that betrayeth me, &c.] What can be 
desired more, says Dr. Lightfoot, as a demonstration that 
Judas was present at the eucharist? And, whereas the contrary 
is endeavoured to be proved out of John 13, nothing is made 
out of nothing; for there is not one syllable throughout that 
whole chapter of the paschal supper, but of a supper before 
the feast of the passover.

Verse 22. The Son of man goeth] That is, he is about to die, 
apercesqai, oicesqai, abire, going, going away, and 
departing, are used, by the best Greek and Latin writers, for 
death and dying. See Rosenmuller.

Verse 23. They began to inquire among themselves] See the 
notes on Matt. xxvi. 23, 24.

Verse 24. There was also a strife among them] There are two 
different instances of this sort of contention or strife 
mentioned by the evangelists, each of which was accompanied 
with very different circumstances; one by Matthew, in Matt. 
xviii. 1, &c., by Mark, Mark ix. 33, &c.; and by Luke, in 
chap. ix. 46, &c. That contention cannot have been the same 
with this which is mentioned here. The other, related in 
Matt. xx. 20, &c., and Mark x. 35, &c., must be what Luke 
intended here to record; and this strife or contention was 
occasioned by the request which Zebedee's wife made to our 
Lord in favour of her sons, James and John; but, then, Luke 
has mentioned this very much out of the order of time, it 
having happened while our Lord and his disciples were on 
their way to Jerusalem: Matt. xx. 17; Mark x. 32. See Bp. 
PEARCE.

Verse 25. Are called benefactors.] The very Greek word used 
by the evangelist, euergetai, was the surname of some of the 
Ptolemies of Egypt; Ptolemy Euergetes, i.e. the Benefactor. 
It was a custom among the ancient Romans to distribute part 
of the lands which they had conquered on the frontiers of the 
empire to their soldiers; those who enjoyed such lands were 
called beneficiarii, beneficed persons; and the lands 
themselves were termed beneficia, benefices, as being held on 
the beneficence of the sovereign; and it is no wonder that 
such sovereigns, however tyrannical or oppressive they might 
have been in other respects, were termed benefactors by those 
who were thus dependent on their bounty.

Verse 26. Let him be as the younger] Dr. Lightfoot justly 
conjectures that Peter was the eldest of all the disciples; 
and he supposes that the strife was kindled between him and 
the sons of Zebedee, James and John.

These three disciples were those whom Christ had 
distinguished by peculiar marks of his favour; and therefore 
it is natural to conclude that the strife lay between these 
three, the two brothers and Peter. Shall we or Peter be at 
the head? Neither, says our Lord. Let him, Peter, who is 
chief (o meizwn, the eldest) among you, be as, John, o 
newterov, the younger.

The younger part of the disciples do not appear to have taken 
any part in this contention; and our Lord shows Peter, and 
the sons of Zebedee, that they must be as unambitious as the 
younger in order to be acknowledged as his disciples. Dr. 
Lightfoot thinks that Peter was the mover of this strife, and 
therefore our Lord rebukes him by name.

Verse 29. I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath 
appointed unto me] The Codex Alexandrinus, with some other 
MSS., the later Syriac, and Origen, read in the first clause, 
diaqhkhn, a covenant. I appoint unto you a COVENANT, as my 
Father hath appointed unto me a kingdom:-Ye shall be 
ministers of the new covenant, as I am king in that spiritual 
kingdom to which it relates. This is a curious reading: but 
our Lord is probably to be understood as promising that they 
should get a kingdom-a state of blessedness, as he should get 
it-they must go through much tribulation in order to enter 
into the kingdom of God. So the Son of man suffered that he 
might enter into his glory: for the joy that was set before 
him, he endured the cross, and despised the shame, and is set 
down on the right hand of God.

Verse 30. Sit on thrones] See on Matt. xix. 28. Marcion left 
the whole of this verse out, according to Epiphanius: 
probably because he did not understand it.

Verse 31. Simon, Simon] When a name is thus repeated in the 
sacred writings, it appears to be always intended as an 
expression of love, manifested by a warning voice. As if he 
had said, While thou and the others are contending for 
supremacy, Satan is endeavouring to destroy you all: but I 
have prayed for thee, as being in most danger.

Satan hath desired-you] That is, all the apostles, but 
particularly the three contenders: the plural pronoun, umav, 
sufficiently proves that these words were not addressed to 
Peter alone. Satan had already got one, Judas; he had nearly 
got another, Peter; and he wished to have all. But we see by 
this that the devil cannot even tempt a man unless he receive 
permission.

He desires to do all evil; he is permitted only to do some.

Verse 32. I have prayed for thee] From the natural 
forwardness and impetuosity of thy own spirit, thou wilt be 
brought into the most imminent danger; but I have supplicated 
for thee, that thy faith may not utterly fail-ekleiph, from 
ek, out, and leipw, I fail, to fall utterly or entirely off. 
Peter's faith did fail, but not utterly: he did fall, but he 
did not fall off, apostatize, or forsake his Master and his 
cause finally, as Judas did. Every body sees, from Peter's 
denial of his Lord, that his faith did fail, and his great 
courage too; and yet they read, in the common translation, 
that Christ prayed that it might not fail: can they then 
conceive that our Lord's prayer was heard? The translation 
which I have given above removes this embarrassment and 
apparent contradiction. It was certainly Peter's advantage 
that our Lord did pray for him; but it was not so much for 
his honour that he should stand in need of such a prayer, 
beyond all others. Lightfoot.

When thou art converted] Restored to a sense of thy folly and 
sin, and to me and my cause-establish these thy brethren. All 
the disciples forsook Jesus and fled, merely through fear of 
losing their lives; Peter, who continued for a while near 
him, denied his Master with oaths, and repeated this thrice: 
our Lord seems to intimate that, after this fall, Peter would 
become more cautious and circumspect than ever; and that he 
should become uncommonly strong in the faith, which was the 
case; and that, notwithstanding the baseness of his past 
conduct, he should be a proper instrument for strengthening 
the feeble minded, and supporting the weak.

His two epistles to the persecuted Christians show how well 
he was qualified for this important work.

Verse 34. The cock shall not crow this day] Matt. xxvi. 34, 
and Mark xiv. 30, say, this night; both expressions are 
right, because the Jewish day, of twenty-four hours, began 
with the evening, and ended at the evening of the following 
day. On Peter's denial, see the notes on Matt. xxvi. 31-35.

Verse 35. When I sent you without purse] See the notes on 
Matt. x. 9, 10.

Verse 36. He that hath no sword] Bishop PEARCE supposes that 
the word macairan, sword, has been inserted here from what is 
said in ver. 38, as it is evident our Lord never intended to 
make any resistance, or to suffer a sword to be used on the 
occasion; see Matt. xxvi. 52. The word stands rather oddly in 
the passage: the verse, translated in the order in which it 
stands, is as follows: And he who hath none, let him sell his 
garment and buy-a sword. Now it is plain that the verb 
pwlhsatw, let him buy, may be referred to phran a scrip, in 
the former part of the verse: therefore if, according to the 
bishop's opinion, the word sword be omitted, the passage may 
be understood thus: "When I sent you out before, chap. x. 1, 
&c., I intended you to continue itinerants only for a few 
days, and to preach the Gospel only to your country-men; 
therefore you had but little need of a staff, purse, or 
scrip, as your journey was neither long, nor expensive; but 
now I am about to send you into all the world, to preach the 
Gospel to every creature; and, as ye shall be generally hated 
and persecuted for my sake, ye shall have need to make every 
prudent provision for your journey; and so necessary will it 
be for you to provide yourselves victuals, &c., for your 
passage through your inhospitable country, that, if any of 
you have no scrip or wallet, he should sell even his upper 
garment to provide one." Others, who are for retaining the 
word sword, think that it was a proverbial expression, 
intimating a time of great difficulty and danger, and that 
now the disciples had need to look to themselves, for his 
murderers were at hand. The reader will observe that these 
words were spoken to the disciples just before he went to the 
garden of Gethsemane, and that the danger was now so very 
near that there could be no time for any of them to go and 
sell his garment in order to purchase a sword to defend 
himself and his Master from the attack of the Jewish mob.

Judea was at this time, as we have already noticed, much 
infested by robbers: while our Lord was with his disciples, 
they were perfectly safe, being shielded by his miraculous 
power. Shortly they must go into every part of the land, and 
will need weapons to defend themselves against wild beasts, 
and to intimidate wicked men, who, if they found them totally 
defenceless, would not hesitate to make them their prey, or 
take away their life. However the matter may be understood, 
we may rest satisfied that these swords were neither to be 
considered as offensive weapons, nor instruments to propagate 
the truth. The genius and spirit of the Christian religion is 
equally against both. Perhaps, in this counsel of our Lord, 
he refers to the contention about supremacy: as if he had 
said, Instead of contending among yourselves about who shall 
be the greatest, ye have more need to unite yourselves 
against the common enemy, who are now at hand: this counsel 
was calculated to show them the necessity of union among 
themselves, as their enemies were both numerous and powerful.

Verse 37. Must yet be accomplished] Probably meaning that, 
though this prophecy did refer to some particular matter in 
the time of the prophet, yet it farther (eti) related to 
Christ, and could not have its complete accomplishment but in 
his crucifixion as a criminal.

For the things concerning me have an end.] As if he had said, 
My work is now almost done; yours is only beginning; I am now 
about to be crucified and numbered with the transgressors; 
think what will be done to you, and what ought to be done by 
you; and then think if this be a time for you to be 
contending with each other. Lightfoot.

Verse 38. Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto 
them, It is enough.] These words cannot be well understood as 
being an answer to the supposed command of Christ, for every 
one who had no sword to go and sell his garment and buy one; 
for, in this case, they were not enough, or sufficient, as 
nine of the disciples must be without any instrument of 
defense; but they may be understood as pointing out the 
readiness and determination of Peter, and perhaps some 
others, to defend our Lord: Thou shalt not be treated as a 
transgressor; here are two swords, and we will fight for 
thee. In ver. 33, Peter had said, he was ready to go with 
Christ either to prison or death; which showed his strong 
resolution to stand by and defend his Master, even at the 
expense of his life. But, alas, he depended too much on 
himself! It is enough. The meaning probably is, there is 
enough said on the subject; as immediately after this he 
entered into his agony.

I must here confess that the matter about the swords appear 
to me very obscure. I am afraid I do not understand it, and I 
know of none who does.

Schoettgen and Lightfoot have said much on the subject; 
others have endeavoured to get rid of the difficulty by 
translating macairan a knife, which was necessary on long 
journeys for providing forage and fuel; as they were to 
depend wholly on their own industry, under God, for all the 
necessaries of life, while going through the nations of the 
earth, preaching the Gospel to Jews and Gentiles. I cannot 
say which sense the reader should prefer.

Verse 40. When he was at the place] Viz. Gethsemane. On this 
agony of our Lord see the notes on Matt. xxvi. 36-46.

Verse 43. There appeared an angel-from heaven] It was as 
necessary that the fullest evidence should be given, not only 
of our Lord's Divinity, but also of his humanity: his 
miracles sufficiently attested the former; his hunger, 
weariness, and agony in the garden, as well as his death and 
burial, were proofs of the latter. As man, he needs the 
assistance of an angel to support his body, worn down by 
fatigue and suffering. See at the end of chap. xxii. 44.

Verse 44. Prayed more earnestly] With greater emphasis and 
earnestness than usual, with strong crying and tears, Heb. v. 
7; the reason given for which is, that he was in an agony. 
Kypke well observes, Vox agwnia summum animi angorem et 
dolorem indicat; et idem est, quod adhmonein, Matt. xxvi. 37; 
Mark xiv. 34. "The word agwnia (agony) points out the utmost 
anguish and grief of soul, and is of the same import with 
adhmonein in Matthew and Mark." See the note on Matt. xxvi. 
37.

Drops of blood] See the note on Matt. xxvi. 38. Some have 
thought that the meaning of the words is, that the sweat was 
so profuse that every drop was as large as a drop of blood, 
not that the sweat was blood itself: but this does not appear 
likely. There have been cases in which persons in a 
debilitated state of body, or through horror of soul, have 
had their sweat tinged with blood. Dr. Mead from Galen 
observes, Contingere interdum, poros ex multo aut fervido 
spiritu adeo dilatari, ut etiam exeat sanguis per eos, 
fiatque sudor sanguineus. "Cases sometimes happen in which, 
through mental pressure, the pores may be so dilated that the 
blood may issue from them; so that there may be a bloody 
sweat." And Bishop PEARCE gives an instance from Thuanus 
(Deuteronomy Thou) of an Italian gentleman being so 
distressed with the fear of death that his body was covered 
with a bloody sweat. But it is fully evident that the fear of 
death could have no place in the mind of our blessed Lord. He 
was in the bloom of life, in perfect health, and had never 
suffered any thing from disease of any kind; this sweat was 
most assuredly produced by a preternatural cause. See at the 
end of the chapter.  

Verse 48. Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?] Dost 
thou attempt to kiss me as a friend, while thou art 
delivering me up into the hands of my enemies? We need not 
wonder at all this, as Satan himself had entered into the 
heart of this traitor, see chap. xxii. 3; consequently we can 
expect nothing from him but what is fell, deceitful, and 
cruel.

Verse 50. Cut off his right ear.] See the note on Matt. xxvi. 
51.

Verse 51. Suffer ye thus far.] Or, Suffer me to go thus far. 
As they had now a firm hold of Christ, Matt. xxvi. 50, he 
wished them to permit him to go as far as Malchus, whose ear 
was cut off, that he might heal it. See the objections 
brought against this interpretation answered by Kypke; and 
see the examples he produces. However, the words may be 
understood as an address to his disciples: Let them proceed; 
make no resistance; for in this way only are the Scriptures 
to be fulfilled.

Verse 53. I was daily with you in the temple] Alluding to the 
four preceding days, during the whole of which he taught in 
the temple, see chap. xxi. 37, and Matt. xxi. 17.

This is your hour, and the power of darkness.] That is, the 
time in which you are permitted to unrein your malice; which 
ye could not do before, because God did not permit you; and 
so perfectly are ye under his control that neither you nor 
the prince of darkness can proceed a hair's breadth against 
me but through this permission: see at the end of the 
chapter. What a comfortable thought is it to the followers of 
Christ, that neither men nor demons can act against them but 
by the permission of their heavenly Father, and that he will 
not suffer any of those who trust in him to be tried above 
what they are able to bear, and will make the trial issue in 
their greater salvation, and in his glory!

Verse 56. A certain maid beheld him] Or, Attentively 
beholding him, atenisasa. And this she did by the help of the 
light of the fire at which Peter sat.

Verse 57. And he denied him] See the notes on Matt. xxvi. 58, 
69, &c.

Verse 61. The Lord turned, and looked upon Peter.] See the 
note on Matt. xxvi. 75, where this delicate reproof is 
particularly noted.

Verse 62. And Peter went out] The word Peter is omitted by 
BDKLM, and many other good MSS., with some of the ancient 
versions. Griesbach leaves it out of the text.

Verse 63. Mocked him, and smote him.] This and the following 
verses are placed by Matthew and Mark before the relation of 
Peter's denial. For their explanation, see on Matt. xxvi. 67, 
68.

Verse 68. And if I also ask you] Concerning the Christ, in 
case ye cannot give me such an answer as may prove I am not 
the Christ, ye will not let me go; for I know ye are 
determined to put me to death.

Verse 69. Hereafter] From this very time, apo tou nun. The 
kingdom of God is now going to be set up. See the note on 
Matt. xvi. 27, 28.

Verse 70. Art thou then the Son of God?] They all insisted on 
an answer to this question, and the high priest particularly 
put it to him, Matt. xxvi. 63.

Verse 71. We ourselves have heard] We have heard him profess 
himself the Son of God; he is therefore guilty of blasphemy, 
and, as an impious pretender to a Divine mission, we must 
proceed against and condemn him to death. See the note on 
Matthew xxvi. 66. Thus they proceeded as far as they could; 
he must now be brought before Pilate, as the Jews had no 
power to put him to death. His trial before Pilate is related 
in the subsequent chapter.

ON our Lord's agony in the garden, related in the 43d and 
44th verses,  much has been written, but to little purpose. 
The cause of this agony seems not to have been well 
understood; and there have been many wild conjectures 
concerning it. Some think it was occasioned by "the Divine 
wrath pressing in upon him; for, as he was bearing the sin of 
the world, God looked on and treated him as if he were a 
sinner." There is something very shocking in this 
supposition; and yet it is truly astonishing how general it 
is. The ministry of the angel, in this case, is a sufficient 
refutation of this opinion; for what sort of strength could 
an angel give Christ against God's indignation? Angelic 
strength could not enable him to bear either the sin of the 
world or God's wrath. If an angel could have succoured him in 
this, an angel might have made the whole atonement.

Indeed, the ministry of the angel, who must have been sent 
from God, and sent in love too, is a full proof that God's 
wrath was not poured out on our blessed Redeemer at this 
time. Dr. Lightfoot conjectures that his conflict in the 
garden was with a devil, who appeared to him in a bodily 
shape, most horrible; and that it was through this apparition 
that he began to be sore amazed, and very heavy, Mark xiv. 
33; for, as Satan assaulted the first Adam in a garden in a 
bodily shape, it is not unreasonable to conclude that in the 
same way he assaulted the second Adam in a garden. St. Luke 
tells us, chap. iv. 13, that when the devil had finished all 
his temptations, he departed from him for a season: this 
season in the garden, probably, was the season, or fit 
opportunity, for him to return-the prince of this world came 
and found nothing in him, John xiv. 30. But, though there was 
nothing in the immaculate Jesus on which Satan could work, 
yet he might, as the doctor supposes, assume some horrible 
shape, in order to appal his mind, and shake his firmness; 
and the evangelist seems to intimate that he had desired to 
be permitted to try or sift the disciples in this way, see 
ver. 31; and it is probable that it is to some personal, 
horrid appearance, that the apostle alludes when he speaks of 
the messenger of Satan that buffeted him, 2 Cor. xii. 7. The 
angel, therefore, from heaven, may be supposed to come 
against this angel from hell; and, as the one appeared to 
terrify, the other appeared to strengthen him. It was not 
necessary to exert the Divine power to crush this devil, and 
therefore an angel from heaven is sent to counteract his 
influence. This is the sum of Dr. Lightfoot's reasonings upon 
this very difficult subject.

Others suppose that, while our Lord was praying intensely in 
the garden, the extreme fervour of his application to God in 
the behalf of the poor deluded Jews, and in behalf of the 
world, was too much for his human nature to support; that he, 
in consequence, fell into a swoon, in which he had a VISION 
of an angel coming from heaven to strengthen him. Let these 
sentiments stand on their respective merits.

What renders this circumstance more difficult is, that there 
is no mention of it in any of the other evangelists: and it 
is worthy of remark that, among many of the ancients, the 
authenticity of these two verses, the 43d and 44th,  has been 
doubted, and in consequence they are omitted in several MSS., 
and in some versions and fathers. The Codex Alexandrinus and 
the Codex Vaticanus, the two oldest MSS. in the world, omit 
both verses; in some other very ancient MSS. they stand with 
an asterisk before them, as a mark of dubiousness; and they 
are both wanting in the Coptic Fragments published by Dr. 
Ford. They are however extant in such a vast number of MSS., 
versions, and fathers, as to leave no doubt with most critics 
of their authenticity. After all that has been said, or 
perhaps can be said on this subject, there will remain 
mysteries which only the bright light of the eternal world 
can sufficiently illustrate. That Christ was now suffering, 
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, and 
that he was bearing in his body the punishment due to their 
sins, I have no doubt: and that the agony of his mind, in 
these vicarious sufferings, caused the effusion from his 
body, of the bloody sweat, may be easily credited without 
supposing him to be at all under the displeasure of his 
heavenly Father; for, as God can see nothing but as it is, he 
could not see him as a sinner who was purity itself. In every 
act, Jesus was that beloved Son in whom the Father was ever 
well pleased.

As to the angel strengthening him, probably no more is meant 
by it than a friendly sympathizing of one of those heavenly 
beings with their Lord in distress: this circumstance is the 
most difficult in the whole relation; but, understood thus, 
the difficulty is removed; for what strength could the 
highest angel in heaven afford to our blessed Lord in his 
atoning acts? Surely, none. The bare supposition is 
insupportable. But, if we allow that the angel came to 
sympathize with him during his passions the whole account 
will appear plain and consistent.

CHAPTER xxiii

Christ is led to Pilate, and accused by the Jews, 1, 2. 
Pilate examines, and pronounces him innocent, 3, 4. The Jews 
virulently accuse him, 5. Pilate, understanding that he was 
of Galilee, sends him to Herod, by whom he is examined, 6-9. 
The chief priests and scribes vehemently accuse him, and 
Herod and his soldiers mock him, 10, 11. Pilate and Herod 
become friends, 12. Pilate, before the chief priests, rulers, 
and people, pronounces Christ to be innocent, and offers to 
release him, 13-20. The Jews clamour for his condemnation, 
and Pilate gives him up to their will, 21-25. Simon bears his 
cross, 26. The people bewail him, and he foretells the 
destruction of the Jewish state, 27-31. He and two 
malefactors are brought to Calvary, and are crucified, 32, 
33. He prays for his crucifiers, 34. He is derided, mocked, 
and insulted by the rulers, and by the soldiers, 35-37. The 
superscription on the cross, 38. The conduct of the two 
malefactors, to one of whom he promises paradise, 39-43. The 
great darkness, 44, 45. He gives up the ghost, 46. The 
centurion and many others are greatly affected at his death, 
47-49. Joseph of Arimathea begs the body, and puts it in his 
own new tomb, 50-53. The women prepare spices and ointments 
to embalm him, 54-56.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxiii

Verse 1. The whole multitude] It seems most probable that the 
chief priests, elders, scribes, and captains of the temple, 
together with their servants, dependents, and other persons 
hired for the purpose, made up the multitude mentioned here. 
The common people were generally favourers of Christ; and for 
this reason the Jewish rulers caused him to be apprehended in 
the night, and in the absence of the people, chap. xxii. 6, 
and it was now but just the break of day, chap. xxii. 66.

Verse 2. Perverting the nation] The Greek word diastrefonta, 
signifies stirring up to disaffection and rebellion. Many 
MSS. and versions add hmwn, OUR nation. They intimated that 
he not only preached corrupt doctrine, but that he 
endeavoured to make them disaffected towards the Roman 
government, for which they now pretended to feel a strong 
affection! Several copies of the Itala add, Destroying our 
law and prophets. Et solventem legem nostram et prophetas.

Forbidding to give tribute to Caesar] These were the falsest 
slanders that could be invented. The whole of our Lord's 
conduct disproved them.

And his decision in the case of the question about the 
lawfulness of paying tribute to Caesar, Matt. xxii. 21, was 
so fully known that we find Pilate paid not the least 
attention to such evidently malicious and unfounded 
accusations. Neither Christ nor any of his followers, from 
that day until now, ever forbade the paying tribute to 
Caesar; that is, constitutional taxes to a lawful prince.

Verse 4. I find no fault in this man.] According to John 
xviii. 36, 38, Pilate did not say this till after our Lord 
had declared to him that his kingdom was not of this world; 
and probably not till after he had found, on examining 
witnesses, (ver. 14,) that all their evidence amounted to no 
proof, of his having set up himself for a temporal king. See 
Bishop PEARCE.

Verse 5. Saying, He stirreth up the people, &c.] In the Codex 
Colbertinus, a copy of the ancient Itala or Antehieronymian 
version, this verse stands thus: He stirreth up the people, 
beginning from Galilee, and teaching through all Judea unto 
this place; our wives and our children he hath rendered 
averse from us, and he is not baptized as we are. As the Jews 
found that their charge of sedition was deemed frivolous by 
Pilate, they changed it, and brought a charge equally false 
and groundless against his doctrine.

Verse 7. Herod's jurisdiction] The city of Nazareth, in which 
Christ had continued till he was thirty years of age, and 
that of Capernaum, in which he principally resided the last 
years of his life, were both in Lower Galilee, of which Herod 
Antipas was tetrarch. Pilate was probably glad of this 
opportunity to pay a little respect to Herod, whom it is 
likely he had irritated, and with whom he now wished to be 
friends. See ver. 12.

Verse 10. The chief priests-vehemently accused him.] Corrupt 
priests and teachers are generally the most implacable 
enemies of Christ and his truth. Evil passions betray those 
who are slaves to them. An affected moderation would have 
rendered these accusers less suspected, their accusations 
more probable, and the envy less visible than this vehemence: 
but envy seldom or never consults prudence: and God permits 
this to be so for the honour of truth and innocence. Quesnel.

Verse 11. A gorgeous robe] esqhta lampran. It probably means 
a white robe, for it was the custom of the Jewish nobility to 
wear such.

Hence, in Rev. iii. 4, it is said of the saints, They shall 
walk with me in WHITE (garments,) because they are WORTHY. In 
such a robe, Herod, by way of mockery, caused our Lord to be 
clothed; but, the nobility among the Romans wearing purple 
for the most part, Pilate's soldiers, who were Romans, put on 
Jesus a purple robe, Mark xv. 17; John xix. 2; both of them 
following the custom of their own country, when, by way of 
mocking our Lord as a king, they clothed him in robes of 
state. See Bishop PEARCE.

Verse 12. Pilate and Herod were made friends] I do not find 
any account of the cause of the enmity which subsisted 
between Herod and Pilate given by ancient authors; and the 
conjectures of the moderns on the subject should be 
considered as mere guesses. It is generally supposed that 
this enmity arose from what is related chap. xiii, of the 
Galileans, whose blood Pilate hath mingled with that of their 
sacrifices. These were Herod's subjects, and Pilate seems to 
have fallen on them at the time they were offering sacrifices 
to God at the temple. Wicked men cannot love one another: 
this belongs to the disciples of Christ. But when Christ, his 
truth, or his followers are to be persecuted, for this 
purpose the wicked unite their counsels and their influence. 
The Moabites and Ammonites, who were enemies among 
themselves, united against poor Israel, and, as Rabbi Tanchum 
says, may be likened to two contending dogs, who, when the 
wolf comes, join together to destroy him; each knowing that, 
if he do not, the wolf will kill both in succession: whereas, 
by their union, they may now kill or baffle him. There is a 
proverb among the rabbins, that, when the cat and weasel 
marry together, misery becomes increased.

Verse 15. No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him] That is, 
to see whether he could find that Christ had ever attempted 
to raise any disaffection or sedition among the Galileans, 
among whom he had spent the principal part of his life; and 
yet Herod has not been able to find out any evil in his 
conduct. Your own accusations I have fully weighed, and find 
them to the last degree frivolous.

Instead of anepemya gar umav prov auton, for I sent you to 
him, BHKLM, and many other MSS., with some versions, read 
anepemwen gar auton prov hmav, for he hath sent him to us. As 
if he had said, Herod hath sent him back to us, which is a 
sure proof that he hath found no blame in him." Nothing 
worthy of death is done unto him.] Or rather, nothing worthy 
of death is committed by him, pepragmenon autw, not, done 
unto him.

This phrase is of the same sense with ouden pepracen autov, 
he hath done nothing, and is frequent in the purest Attic 
writers. See many examples in Kypke.

Verse 17. For of necessity he must release one] That is, he 
was under the necessity of releasing one at this feast. The 
custom, however it originated, had now been so completely 
established that Pilate was obliged to attend to it. See on 
Matt. xxvii. 15.

Verse 18. Away with this man] That is, Put him to death-aire 
touton, literally, Take this one away, i.e. to punishment-to 
death.

Verse 22. I have found no cause of death in him] I find no 
crime worthy of death in him. There is nothing proved against 
him that can at all justify me in putting him to death, So 
here our blessed Lord was in the most formal manner justified 
by his judge. Now as this decision was publicly known, and 
perhaps registered, it is evident that Christ died as an 
innocent person, and not as a malefactor. On the fullest 
conviction of his innocence, his judge pronounced him 
guiltless, after having patiently heard every thing that the 
inventive malice of these wicked men could allege against 
him; and, when he wished to dismiss him, a violent mob took 
and murdered him.

Verse 26. Simon, a Cyrenian] See on Matt. xxvii. 32.

Verse 27. Bewailed and lamented him.] ekoptonto, Beat their 
breasts. See on Matt. xi. 17.

Verse 28. Weep not for me] Many pious persons have been 
greatly distressed in their minds, because they could not 
weep on reading or hearing of the sufferings of Christ. For 
the relief of all such, let it be for ever known that no 
human spirit can possibly take any part in the passion of the 
Messiah. His sufferings were such as only God manifested in 
the flesh could bear; and, as they were all of an expiatory 
nature, no man can taste of or share in them. Besides, the 
sufferings of Christ are not a subject of sorrow to any man; 
but, on the contrary, of eternal rejoicing to the whole of a 
lost world. Some have even prayed to participate in the 
sufferings of Christ. The legend of St. Francis and his 
stigmata is well known.-He is fabled to have received the 
marks in his hands, feet, and side.

Relative to this point, there are many unwarrantable 
expressions used by religious people in their prayers and 
hymns. To give only one instance, how often do we hear these 
or similar words said or sung:-" Give me to feel thy agonies! 
One drop of thy sad cup afford!" Reader! one drop of this cup 
would bear down thy soul to endless ruin; and these agonies 
would annihilate the universe. He suffered alone: for of the 
people there was none with him; because his sufferings were 
to make an atonement for the sins of the world: and in the 
work of redemption he had no helper.

Verse 30. Mountains, fall on us] As this refers to the 
destruction of Jerusalem, and as the same expressions are 
used, Revelation vi. 16, Dr. Lightfoot conjectures that the 
whole of that chapter may relate to the same event.

Verse 31. If they do these things in a green tree] This seems 
to be a proverbial expression, the sense of which is: If they 
spare not a tree which, by the beauty of its foliage, 
abundance and excellence of its fruits, deserves to be 
preserved, then the tree which is dry and withered will 
surely be cut down. If an innocent man be put to death in the 
very face of justice, in opposition to all its dictates and 
decisions, by a people who profess to be governed and 
directed by Divine laws, what desolation, injustice, and 
oppression may not be expected, when anarchy and confusion 
sit in the place where judgment and justice formerly 
presided? Our Lord alludes prophetically to those 
tribulations which fell upon the Jewish people about forty 
years after. See the notes on Matt. xxiv. 1-51.

Verse 32. Two other malefactors] Æeteroi duo kakourgoi, 
should certainly be translated two others, malefactors, as in 
the Bibles published by the King's printer, Edinburgh. As it 
now stands in the text, it seems to intimate that our blessed 
Lord was also a malefactor.

Verse 33. The place-called Calvary] See on Matt. xxvii. 33.

They crucified him] See the nature of this punishment 
explained Matt. xxvii. 35.

Verse 34. They know not what they do.] If ignorance do not 
excuse a crime, it at least diminishes the atrocity of it. 
However, these persons well knew that they were crucifying an 
innocent man; but they did not know that, by this act of 
theirs, they were bringing down on themselves and on their 
country the heaviest judgments of God. In the prayer, Father, 
forgive them! that word of prophecy was fulfilled, He made 
intercession for the transgressors, Isa. liii. 12.

Verse 35. Derided him] Treated him with the utmost contempt, 
exemukthrizon, in the most infamous manner. See the meaning 
of this word explained, chap. xvi. 14.

Verse 36. Offering him vinegar] See on Matt. xxvii. 34. 
Vinegar or small sour wine, was a common drink of the Roman 
soldiers; and it is supposed that wherever they were on duty 
they had a vessel of this liquor standing by. It appears that 
at least two cups were given to our Lord; one before he was 
nailed to the cross, viz. of wine mingled with myrrh, and 
another of vinegar, while he hung on the cross. Some think 
there were three cups: ONE of wine mixed with myrrh; the 
SECOND, of vinegar mingled with gall; and the THIRD, of 
simple vinegar. Allow these three cups, and the different 
expressions in all the evangelists will be included. See 
Lightfoot.

Verse 38. A superscription] See Matt. xxvii. 37.

ln letters of Greek, and Latin and Hebrew] The inscription 
was written in all these languages, which were the most 
common, that all might see the reason why he was put to 
death. The inscription was written in Greek, on account of 
the Hellenistic Jews, who were then at Jerusalem because of 
the passover; it was written in Latin, that being the 
language of the government under which he was crucified; and 
it was written in Hebrew, that being the language of the 
place in which this deed of darkness was committed. But, by 
the good providence of God, the inscription itself exculpated 
him, and proved the Jews to be rebels against, and murderers 
of, their king. See the note on Matt. xxvii. 37. It is not to 
be wondered at that they wished Pilate to alter this 
inscription, John xix. 21, as it was a record of their 
infamy.

Verse 39. One of the malefactors which were hanged.] It is 
likely that the two robbers were not nailed to their crosses, 
but only tied to them by cords, and thus they are represented 
in ancient paintings. If not nailed, they could not have 
suffered much, and therefore they were found still alive when 
the soldiers came to give the coup de grace, which put a 
speedy end to their lives. John xix. 31-33.

Verse 40. Dost not thou fear God] The sufferings of this 
person had been sanctified to him, so that his heart was open 
to receive help from the hand of the Lord: he is a genuine 
penitent, and gives the fullest proof he can give of it, viz. 
the acknowledgment of the justice of his sentence. He had 
sinned, and he acknowledges his sin; his heart believes unto 
righteousness, and with his tongue he makes confession unto 
salvation.

While he condemns himself he bears testimony that Jesus was 
innocent.

Bishop PEARCE supposes that these were not robbers in the 
common sense of the word, but Jews who took up arms on the 
principle that the Romans were not to be submitted to, and 
that their levies of tribute money were oppressive; and 
therefore they made no scruple to rob all the Romans they met 
with. These Jews Josephus calls lhstai, robbers, the same 
term used by the evangelists. This opinion gains some 
strength from the penitent thief's confession: We receive the 
reward of our deeds-we rose up against the government, and 
committed depredations in the country; but this man hath done 
nothing amiss-atopon, out of place, disorderly,-nothing 
calculated to raise sedition or insurrection; nor 
inconsistent with his declarations of peace and good will 
towards all men, nor with the nature of that spiritual 
kingdom which he came to establish among men; though he is 
now crucified under the pretense of disaffection to the Roman 
government.

Verse 42. Lord, remember me, &c.] It is worthy of remark, 
that this man appears to have been the first who believed in 
the intercession of Christ.

Verse 43. To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.] Marcion 
and the Manichees are reported to have left this verse out of 
their copies of this evangelist. This saying of our Lord is 
justly considered as a strong proof of the immateriality of 
the soul; and it is no wonder that those who have embraced 
the contrary opinion should endeavour to explain away this 
meaning. In order to do this, a comma is placed after 
shmeron, to-day, and then our Lord is supposed to have meant, 
"Thou shalt be with me after the resurrection I tell thee 
this, TO-DAY." I am sorry to find men-of great learning and 
abilities attempting to support this most feeble and 
worthless criticism. Such support a good cause cannot need; 
and, in my opinion, even a bad cause must be discredited by 
it.

In paradise. The garden of Eden, mentioned Gen. ii. 8, is 
also called, from the Septuagint, the garden of Paradise. The 
word d[ Eden, signifies pleasure and delight. Several places 
were thus called; see Gen. iv. 16; 2 Kings xix. 12; Isa. 
xxxvii. 12; Ezekiel xxvii. 23; and Amos i. 5; and such places 
probably had this name from their fertility, pleasant 
situation, &c., &c. In this light the Septuagint have viewed 
Gen. ii. 8. as they render the passage thus: efuteusen o qeov 
paradeison en edem, God planted a paradise in Eden. Hence the 
word has been transplanted into the New Testament; and is 
used to signify a place of exquisite pleasure and delight.

From this the ancient heathens borrowed their ideas of the 
gardens of the Hesperides, where the trees bore golden fruit; 
and the gardens of Adonis, a word which is evidently derived 
from the Hebrew d[ Eden: and hence the origin of sacred 
groves, gardens, and other enclosures dedicated to purposes 
of devotion, some comparatively innocent, others impure. The 
word paradise is not Greek, but is of Asiatic origin. In 
Arabic and Persian it signifies a garden, a vineyard, and 
also the place of the blessed. In the Kushuf ul Loghat, a 
very celebrated Persian dictionary, the  Jenet al Ferdoos, 
Garden of Paradise, is said to have been "created by God out 
of light, and that the prophets and wise men ascend thither." 
Paradise was, in the beginning, the habitation of man in his 
state of innocence, in which he enjoyed that presence of his 
Maker which constituted his supreme happiness. Our Lord's 
words intimate that this penitent should be immediately taken 
to the abode of the spirits of the just, where he should 
enjoy the presence and approbation of the Most High. In the 
Institutes of Menu, chap. OEconomics, Inst. 243, are the 
following words: "A man habitually pious, whose offenses have 
been expiated, is instantly conveyed, after death, to the 
higher world, with a radiant form, and a body of ethereal 
substance." The state of the blessed is certainly what our 
Lord here means: in what the locality of that state consists 
we know not. The Jews share a multitude of fables on the 
subject.

Verse 44. Darkness over all the earth] See the note on 
Matthew xxvii. 45.

The darkness began at the sixth hour, about our twelve 
o'clock at noon, and lasted till the ninth hour, which 
answered to our three o'clock in the afternoon.

Verse 45. The sun was darkened] See an examination of the 
accounts of Phlegon, Thallus, and Dionysius, on Matt. xxvii. 
45.

The veil-was rent] See Matt. xxvii. 51.

Verse 46. Into thy hands I commend my spirit] Or, I will 
commit my spirit-I deposit my soul in thy hands. Another 
proof of the immateriality of the soul, and of its separate 
existence when the body is dead.

Verse 48. And all the people] All were deeply affected except 
the priests, and those whom they had employed to serve their 
base purposes.

The darkness, earthquake, &c., had brought terror and 
consternation into every heart. How dreadful is the state of 
those who, in consequence of their long opposition to the 
grace and truth of God, are at last given up to a reprobate 
mind!

Verse 50. - 51. Joseph of Arimathea] See the notes on Matt. 
xxvii. 57-60, and those especially on Mark xv. 43.

Verse 54. And the Sabbath drew on.] Or, The Sabbath was 
lighting up, epefwske, i.e. with the candles which the Jews 
light just before six in the evening, when the Sabbath 
commences. The same word is used for the dawning of the day, 
Matt. xxviii. 1. Wakefield. The Jews always lighted up 
candles on the Sabbath; and it was a solemn precept that, "if 
a man had not bread to eat, he must beg from door to door to 
get a little oil to set up his Sabbath light." The night of 
the Sabbath drew on, which the Jews were accustomed to call 
the light. See Lightfoot.

Verse 55. The women also, which came] These were Mary of 
Magdala, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, chap. xxiv. 
10. To these three, Mark, in Mark xvi. 1, adds, Salome; but 
some think that this was only a surname of one of these 
Marys.

Verse 56. Prepared spices and ointments] This was in order to 
embalm him; which sufficiently proves that they had no hope 
of his resurrection the third day.

And rested the Sabbath day] For though the Jewish canons 
allowed all works, necessary for the dead, to be done, even 
on the Sabbath, such as washing and anointing, provided they 
moved not a limb of the dead person, yet, as the Jews had put 
Christ to death under the pretense of his being a malefactor, 
it would not have been either prudent or safe to appear too 
forward in the present business; and therefore they rested on 
the Sabbath.

CERTAIN copies of the Itala have some remarkable additions in 
these concluding verses. The conclusion of the 48th verse,  
in one of them, is read thus: Beating their breasts and their 
foreheads, and saying, Wo to us because of what is done this 
day, on account of our sins; for the desolation of Jerusalem 
is at hand. To ver. 52, another adds: And when Pilate heard 
that he was dead, he glorified God and gave the body to 
Joseph. On the circumstances of the crucifixion, see the 
observations at the end of Matt. 27,  and consider how 
heinous sin must be in the sight of God, when it required 
such a sacrifice!

CHAPTER xxiv 

The women coming early to the sepulchre on the first day of 
the week, bringing their spices, find the stone rolled away, 
and the tomb empty, 1-3. They see a vision of angels, who 
announce Christ's resurrection, 4-8. The women return and 
tell this to the eleven, 9, 10. They believe not, but Peter 
goes and examines the tomb, 11, 12. Christ, unknown, appears 
to two of the disciples who were going to Emmaus, and 
converses with them, 13-29. While they are eating together, 
he makes himself known, and immediately disappears, 30, 31. 
They return to Jerusalem, and announce his resurrection to 
the rest of the disciples, 32-35. Jesus himself appears to 
them, and gives them the fullest proof of the reality of his 
resurrection, 36-43. He preaches to them, and gives them the 
promise of the Holy Spirit, 44-49. He takes them to Bethany, 
and ascends to heaven in their sight, 50, 51. They worship 
him, and return to Jerusalem, 52, 53.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxiv

Verse 1. Bringing the spices] To embalm the body of our Lord: 
but Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea had done this before 
the body was laid in the tomb. See John xix. 39, 40. But 
there was a second embalming found necessary: the first must 
have been hastily and imperfectly performed; the spices now 
brought by the women were intended to complete the preceding 
operation.

And certain others with them.] This clause is wanting in BCL, 
two others; Coptic, AEthiopic, Vulgate, and in all the Itala 
except two.

Dionysius Alexandrinus, and Eusebius also omit it. The 
omission is approved by Mill, Bengel, Wetstein, Griesbach, 
and others. Bishop Pearce thinks it should be left out for 
the following reasons: 1. "They who came to the sepulchre, as 
is here said, being the same with those who, in chap. xxiii. 
55, are called the women which came with him from Galilee, 
there was no room for Luke (I think) to add as here, and some 
others came with them; because the words in chap. xxiii. 55, 
to which these refer, include all that can be supposed to be 
designed by the words in question. 2. Luke has named no 
particular woman here, and therefore he could not add and 
some others, &c., these words necessarily requiring that the 
names of the women should have preceded, as is the case in 
ver. 10, where, when Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, and 
Joanna, had been named, it is very rightly added, and other 
women that were with them."

Verse 2. They found the stone rolled away] An angel from God 
had done this before they reached the tomb, Matt. xxviii. 2: 
On this case we cannot help remarking, that, when persons 
have strong confidence in God, obstacles do not hinder them 
from undertaking whatever they have reason to believe he 
requires; and the removal of them they leave to him: and what 
is the consequence? They go on their way comfortably, and all 
difficulties vanish before them.

Verse 3. And found not the body of the Lord] His holy soul 
was in Paradise, chap. xxiii. 43; and the evangelist mentions 
the body particularly, to show that this only was subject to 
death. It is, I think, evident enough, from these and other 
words of Luke, that the doctrine of the materiality of the 
soul, made no part of his creed.

Verse 5. Why seek ye the living among the dead?] This was a 
common form of speech among the Jews, and seems to be applied 
to those who were foolishly, impertinently, or absurdly 
employed. As places of burial were unclean, it was not 
reasonable to suppose that the living should frequent them; 
or that if any was missing he was likely to be found in such 
places.

Verse 7. Sinful men] Or heathens, anqrwpwv amartwlwn, i.e. 
the Romans, by whom only he could be put to death; for the 
Jews themselves acknowledged that this power was now vested 
in the hands of the Roman governor alone. See John xix. 15.

Verse 8. They remembered his words.] Even the simple 
recollection of the words of Christ becomes often a source of 
comfort and support to those who are distressed or tempted: 
for his words are the words of eternal life.

Verse 10. And Joanna] She was the wife of Chuza, Herod's 
steward. See chap. viii. 3.

Verse 12. Then arose Peter] John went with him, and got to 
the tomb before him. See John xx. 2, 3.

The linen clothes laid by themselves] Or, The linen clothes 
only. This was the fine linen which Joseph of Arimathea 
bought, and wrapped the body in: Mark xv. 46. Small as this 
circumstance may at first view appear, it is, nevertheless, 
no mean proof of the resurrection of our Lord. Had the body 
been stolen away, all that was wrapped about it would have 
been taken away with it; as the delay which must have been 
occasioned by stripping it might have led to the detection of 
the theft; nor would the disciples have run such a risk if 
they had stolen him, when stripping the body could have 
answered no end. This circumstance is related still more 
particularly by John, John xx. 5-7. Peter seeth the linen 
clothes lie, and the napkin that was about his head not lying 
with the linen clothes, but WRAPPED together in a place by 
itself. All these circumstances prove that the thing was done 
leisurely; order and regularity being observed through the 
whole. Hurry and confusion necessarily mark every act of 
robbery.

Verse 13. Behold, two of them] This long and interesting 
account is not mentioned by Matthew nor John, and is only 
glanced at by Mark, Mark xvi. 12, 13. One of these disciples 
was Cleopas, chap. xxiv. 18, and the other is supposed by 
many learned men, both ancient and modern, to have been Luke 
himself. See the sketch of his life prefixed to these notes. 
Some of the ancient versions have called the other disciple 
Ammaus and Ammaon, reading the verse thus: Behold two of 
them, Ammaus and Cleopas, were going in that very day to a 
village about sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem. But the 
Persian says positively that it was Luke who accompanied 
Cleopas. See the inscription to section 140 of this Gospel in 
the Polyglott. Dr. Lightfoot thinks it was Peter, and proves 
that Cleopas and Alpheus were one and the same person.

Threescore furlongs.] Some MSS. say 160 furlongs, but this is 
a mistake; for Josephus assigns the same distance to this 
village from Jerusalem as the evangelist does. War, b. vii. 
c. 6. s. 6. ammaouo apecei twn Æierosolumwn stadiouv 
exhkonta, Ammaus is sixty stadia distant from Jerusalem, 
about seven English miles and three-quarters. A stadium was 
about 243 yards, according to Arbuthnot.

Verse 15. And reasoned] suzhtein, concerning the probability 
or improbability of Christ being the Messiah, or of his 
resurrection from the dead. It was a laudable custom of the 
Jews, and very common also, to converse about the law in all 
their journeyings; and now they had especial reason to 
discourse together, both of the law and the prophets, from 
the transactions which had recently taken place.

Verse 16. Their eyes were holden] It does not appear that 
there was any thing supernatural here, for the reason why 
these persons (who were not apostles, see ver. 33) did not 
recollect our Lord is given by Mark, Mark xvi. 12, who says 
that Christ appeared to them in another form.

Verse 18. Cleopas] The same as Alpheus, father of the Apostle 
James, Mark iii. 18, and husband of the sister of the virgin. 
John xix. 25.

Art thou only a stranger] As if he had said, What has been 
done it Jerusalem, within these few days, has been so public, 
so awful, and so universally known, that, if thou hadst been 
but a lodger in the city for a single night, I cannot 
conceive how thou couldst miss hearing of these things: 
indeed, thou appearest to be the only person unacquainted 
with them.

Verse 19. Which was a prophet] anhr profhthv, a man prophet, 
a genuine prophet; but this has been considered as a 
Hebraism: "for, in Exod. ii. 14, a man prince is simply a 
prince; and in 1 Samuel xxxi. 3, men archers mean no more 
than archers." But my own opinion is, that this word is often 
used to deepen the signification, so in the above quotations: 
Who made thee a man prince (i.e. a mighty sovereign) and a 
judge over us! Exod. ii. 14. And, the battle went sore 
against Saul, and the men archers (i.e. the stout, or well 
aiming archers) hit him, 1 Sam. xxxi. 3. So in PALAEPHATUS, 
de Incredib. c. 38. p. 47, quoted by Kypke, hn anhr basileus 
megav, He was a great and eminent king. So anhr profhthv here 
signifies, he was a GENUINE prophet, nothing like those false 
ones by whom the people have been so often deceived; and he 
has proved the divinity of his mission by his heavenly 
teaching, and astonishing miracles.

Mighty in-word] Irresistibly eloquent. Powerful in deed, 
working incontrovertible miracles. See Kypke in loco.

Verse 21. - 24. Cleopas paints the real state of his own mind 
in these verses. In his relation there is scarcely any thing 
well connected; important points are referred to, and not 
explained, though he considered the person to whom he spoke 
as entirely unacquainted with these transactions: his own 
hopes and fears he cannot help mixing with the narration, and 
throwing over the whole that confusion that dwells in his own 
heart. The narration is not at all in Luke's style; but as it 
is probable he was the other disciple who was present, and 
had heard the words of Cleopas, he gave them in that simple, 
natural, artless manner in which they were spoken.

Had the account been forged, those simple, natural touches 
would not have appeared.

To-day is the third day] Our Lord had often said that he 
would rise again the third day; and though Alpheus had little 
hope of this resurrection, yet he could not help recollecting 
the words he had heard, especially as they seemed to be 
confirmed by the relation of the women, ver. 22-24.

Verse 25. O fools and slow of heart to believe] Inconsiderate 
men, justly termed such, because they had not properly 
attended to the description given of the Messiah by the 
prophets, nor to his teaching and miracles, as proofs that HE 
alone was the person they described.

Slow of heart-Backward, not easy to be persuaded of the 
truth, always giving way to doubtfulness and distrust. This 
very imperfection in them is a strong evidence of the truth 
of the doctrine which they afterwards believed, and 
proclaimed to the world. Had they not had the fullest 
assurance of these things, they never would have credited 
them; and it is no small honour to the new-covenant 
Scriptures that such persons were chosen, first, to believe 
them; secondly, to proclaim them in the world; and, thirdly, 
to die on the evidence of those truths, the blessed influence 
of which they felt in their own hearts, and fully exemplified 
in their lives.

Verse 26. Ought not Christ to have suffered] ouci edei paqein 
ton criston, Was it not necessary that the Christ should 
suffer. This was the way in which sin must be expiated, and, 
without this, no soul could have been saved. The suffering 
Messiah is he alone by whom Israel and the world can be 
saved.

Verse 27. Beginning at Moses, &c.] What a sermon this must 
have been, where all the prophecies relative to the 
incarnation, birth, teaching, miracles, sufferings, death, 
and resurrection of the blessed Jesus were all adduced, 
illustrated, and applied to himself, by an appeal to the well 
known facts which had taken place during his life! We are 
almost irresistibly impelled to exclaim, What a pity this 
discourse had not been preserved! No wonder their hearts 
burned within them, while hearing such a sermon, from such a 
preacher. The law and the prophets had all borne testimony, 
either directly or indirectly, to Christ; and we may 
naturally suppose that these prophecies and references were 
those which our Lord at this time explained and applied to 
himself. See ver. 32.

Verse 28. He made as though he would have gone farther.] That 
is, he was going on, as though he intended to go farther; and 
so he doubtless would had they not earnestly pressed him to 
lodge with them. His preaching had made a deep impression 
upon their hearts, ver. 32, and now they feel it their 
greatest privilege to entertain the preacher.

This is a constant effect of the doctrine of Christ: wherever 
it is felt, the Author of it, the ever-blessed Jesus, is 
earnestly entreated to dwell in the heart; and he who 
preaches it, is amply provided with the necessaries of life 
by those who have received his testimony.

Verse 29. For it is toward evening] And consequently both 
inconvenient and unsafe to proceed to another village. 
Reader! it is probably the eve of thy life, whether thou be 
old or young: thy day may have already declined, and there 
is, possibly, but a step between thee and the eternal world! 
Hath the Lord Jesus taught thee by his word and Spirit to 
believe in him, that thou mightest be saved? Is he come into 
thy heart? Hast thou the witness of his Spirit that thy sin 
is blotted out through his blood? Rom. viii. 16; Gal. iv. 6; 
1 John v. 10-12. If thou have not, get thee to God right 
humbly. Jesus is about to pass by, perhaps for ever! O, 
constrain him, by earnest faith and prayer, to enter into thy 
soul, and lodge with thee! May God open THY eyes! May he stir 
up and inflame THY heart! And he went in] And so he will to 
thee, thou penitent soul! Therefore take courage, and be not 
faithless but believing.

Verse 30. He took bread] This was the office of the master 
and father of a family, and this was our Lord's usual custom 
among his disciples. Those whom Christ lodges with he feeds, 
and feeds too with bread that himself hath blessed, and this 
feeding not only strengthens, but also enlightens the soul.

Verse 31. Their eyes were opened] But we are not to imagine 
that he administered the holy eucharist at this time; there 
is not the most distant evidence of this. It was a mere 
family meal, and ended before it was well begun.

They knew him] His acting as father of the family, in taking, 
blessing, and distributing the bread among them, caused them 
to recollect those lips which they had often heard speak, and 
those hands by which they had often been fed. Perhaps he also 
threw off the disguise which he had before assumed; and now 
appeared in his own person.

He vanished out of their sight.] Probably, during their 
surprise, he took the opportunity of withdrawing from the 
place; leaving them to reflect and meditate on what they had 
heard and seen.

Verse 32. Did not our heart burn within us] His word was in 
our heart as a burning fire, Jer. xx. 9. Our hearts waxed hot 
within us, and while we were musing the fire burned, Psa. 
xxxix. 3. In some such way as this the words of the disciples 
may be understood: but there is a very remarkable reading 
here in the Codex Bezae; instead of kaiomenh, burned, it has 
kekalummenh, veiled; and one of the Itala has, fuit 
excaecatum, was blinded. Was not our heart veiled (blinded) 
when he conversed with us on the way, and while he unfolded 
the Scriptures to us, seeing we did not know him?

Verse 34. Saying, The Lord is risen indeed] The meaning here 
is, that these two disciples found the apostles, and those 
who were with them, unanimously testifying that Christ had 
risen from the dead. It is not the two disciples to whom we 
are to refer the word legontav, saying; but to the body of 
the disciples. See the note on Mark xvi. 12.

Verse 35. And they] The two disciples who were just come from 
Emmaus, related what had happened to them on the way, going 
to Emmaus, and how he had been known unto them in the 
breaking of bread, while supping together at the above 
village. See on chap. xxiv. 31.

Verse 36. And as they thus spake] While the two disciples who 
were going to Emmaus were conversing about Christ, he joined 
himself to their company. Now, while they and the apostles 
are confirming each other in their belief of his 
resurrection, Jesus comes in, to remove every doubt, and to 
give them the fullest evidence of it. And it is ever true 
that, wherever two or three are gathered together in his 
name, he is in the midst of them.

Peace be unto you.] The usual salutation among the Jews. May 
you prosper in body and soul, and enjoy every heavenly and 
earthly good! See the notes on Matt. v. 9; x. 12.

Verse 37. And supposed that they had seen a spirit.] But if 
there be no such thing as a disembodied spirit, would not our 
Lord have shown them their error? Instead of this, he 
confirms them in their opinion, by saying, A spirit hath not 
flesh and bones as you see me have, ver. 39; therefore he 
says, handle me and see me. They probably imagined that it 
was the soul only of our blessed Lord which they saw; but 
they were soon fully convinced of the identity of his person, 
and the reality of his resurrection; for, 1. They saw his 
body. 2. They heard him speak. 3. They handled him.

4. They saw him eat a piece of broiled fish and honeycomb, 
which they gave him. In these things it was impossible for 
them to have been deceived.

Verse 41. They-believed not for joy] They were so overcome 
with the joy of his resurrection, that they did not, for some 
time, properly receive the evidence that was before them-as 
we phrase it, they thought the news too good to be true.

Verse 44. The law-the prophets-the psalms] This was the 
Jewish division of the whole old covenant. The LAW contained 
the five books of Moses; the PROPHETS, the Jews divided into 
former and latter; they were, according to Josephus, 
thirteen. "The PSALMS included not only the book still so 
named, but also three other books, Proverbs, Job, and 
Canticles.

These all," says the above author, "contain hymns to God, and 
rules for the conduct of the lives of men." Joseph. Cont. 
App. i. 8. This account is imperfect: the common Jewish 
division of the writings of the old covenant is the 
following, and indeed seems to be the same to which our Lord 
alludes:-I.

The LAW, hrwt thorah, including Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, 
Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

II. The PROPHETS, µyaybn , nabiaim, or teachers, including 
Joshua, Judges, the two books of Samuel, and the two books of 
Kings: these were termed the former prophets. Isaiah, 
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, 
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi: 
these were termed the latter prophets.

III. The HAGIOGRAPHA, (holy writings,) µybwtk kethuvim, which 
comprehended the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Canticles, Ruth, 
Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 
and the two books of Chronicles. The Jews made anciently only 
twenty-two books of the whole, to bring them to the number of 
the letters in the Hebrew alphabet; and this they did by 
joining Ruth to Judges, making the two books of Samuel only 
one; and so of Kings and Chronicles; joining the Lamentations 
to Jeremiah, and making the twelve minor prophets only one 
book.

Verse 45. Then opened he their understanding] dihnoixen, He 
fully opened. They had a measure of light before, so that 
they discerned the Scriptures to be the true word of God, and 
to speak of the Messiah; but they had not light sufficient to 
enable them to apply these Scriptures to their Lord and 
Master; but now, by the influence of Christ, they see, not 
only, the prophecies which pointed out the Messiah, but also 
the Messiah who was pointed out by these prophecies. The book 
of God may be received in general as a Divine revelation, but 
the proper meaning, reference, and application of the 
Scriptures can only be discerned by the light of Christ. Even 
the very plain word of God is a dead letter to those who are 
not enlightened by the grace of Christ; and why? because this 
word speaks of spiritual and heavenly things; and the carnal 
mind of man cannot discern them. They who receive not this 
inward teaching continue dark and dead while they live.

Verse 47. Repentance] See its nature fully explained on 
Matthew iii. 1.

Remission of sins] afesin amartiwn, The taking away-removal 
of sins, in general every thing that relates to the 
destruction of the power, the pardoning of the guilt, and the 
purification of the heart from the very nature of sin.

Should be preached in his name] See the office of a 
proclaimer, herald, or preacher, explained in the note on 
Matt. iii. 1, and particularly at the end of that chapter.  
In his name-On his authority, and in virtue of the atonement 
made by him: for on what other ground could the inhabitants 
of the earth expect remission of sins? Among all nations] 
Because God wills the salvation of ALL; and Jesus Christ by 
his grace has tasted death for EVERY man. Heb. ii. 9.

Beginning at Jerusalem] Making the first overtures of mercy 
to my murderers! If, then, the sinners of Jerusalem might 
repent, believe, and be saved, none, on this side hell, need 
despair.

Verse 48. Ye are witnesses of these things.] He gave them a 
full commission to proclaim these glad tidings of peace and 
salvation to a lost world. The disciples were witnesses not 
only that Christ had suffered and rose again from the dead; 
but also that he opens the understanding by the inspiration 
of his Spirit, that he gives repentance, that he pardons sin, 
and purifies from all unrighteousness, and that he is not 
willing that any should perish, but that all should come unto 
the knowledge of the truth and be saved. And these are the 
things of which their successors in the Gospel ministry must 
bear witness. As far as a man steadily and affectionately 
proclaims these doctrines, so far God will bless his labour 
to the salvation of those who hear him. But no man can with 
any propriety bear witness of that grace that saves the soul, 
whose own soul is not saved by that grace.

Verse 49. The promise of my Father] That is, the Holy Ghost, 
promised, John xv. 26. See Acts i. 4; ii. 33.

Until ye be endued with power] The energy of the Holy Ghost 
was to be communicated to them for three particular purposes. 
1. That he might be in them, a sanctifying comforter, 
fortifying their souls and bringing to their remembrance 
whatever Jesus had before spoken to them.

2. That their preaching might be accompanied by his 
demonstration and power to the hearts of their hearers, so 
that they might believe and be saved.

3. That they might be able to work miracles to confirm their 
pretensions to a Divine mission, and to establish the truth 
of the doctrines they preached.

Verse 50. He led them out as far as to Bethany] The 
difficulties in this verse, when collated with the accounts 
given by the other evangelists, are thus reconciled by Dr. 
Lightfoot.

"I. This very evangelist (Acts i. 12) tells us, that when the 
disciples came back from the place where our Lord had 
ascended, they returned from mount Olivet, distant from 
Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey. But now the town of 
Bethany was about fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem, John xi. 
18, and that is double a Sabbath day's journey.

"II. Josephus tells us that mount Olivet was but five 
furlongs from the city, and a Sabbath day's journey was seven 
furlongs and a half. Antiq. lib.

20, cap. 6. About that time there came to Jerusalem a certain 
Egyptian, pretending himself a prophet, and persuading the 
people that they should go out with him to the mount of 
Olives, Æo kai thn polewv antikruv keimenon, apecei stadia 
pente; which, being situated on the front of the city, is 
distant five furlongs. These things are all true: 1. That the 
mount of Olives lay but five furlongs distant from Jerusalem. 
2. That the town of Bethany was fifteen furlongs. 3. That the 
disciples were brought by Christ as far as Bethany. 4. That, 
when they returned from the mount of Olives, they traveled 
more than five furlongs. And, 5. Returning from Bethany, they 
traveled but a Sabbath day's journey. All which may be easily 
reconciled, if we would observe:-That the first space from 
the city was called Bethphage, which I have cleared elsewhere 
from Talmudic authors, the evangelists themselves also 
confirming it. That part of that mount was known by that name 
to the length of about a Sabbath day's journey, till it came 
to that part which is called Bethany. For there was a 
Bethany, a tract of the mount, and the town of Bethany. The 
town was distant from the city about fifteen furlongs, i.e. 
about two miles, or a double Sabbath day's journey: but the 
first border of this tract (which also bore the name of 
Bethany) was distant but one mile, or a single Sabbath day's 
journey.

"Our saviour led out his disciples, when he was about to 
ascend, to the very first region or tract of mount Olivet, 
which was called Bethany, and was distant from the city a 
Sabbath day's journey. And so far from the city itself did 
that tract extend itself which was called Bethphage; and when 
he was come to that place where the bounds of Bethphage and 
Bethany met and touched one another, he then ascended; in 
that very place where he got upon the ass when he rode into 
Jerusalem, Mark xi. 1.

Whereas, therefore, Josephus saith that mount Olivet was but 
five furlongs from the city, he means the first brink and 
border of it. But our evangelist must be understood of the 
place where Christ ascended, where the name of Olivet began, 
as it was distinguished from Bethphage." Between the 
appearance of Christ to his apostles, mentioned in ver. 36, 
&c., almost all the forty days had passed, before he led them 
out to Bethany. They went by his order into Galilee, Matt. 
xxvi. 32; xxviii. 10; Mark xiv. 28; xvi. 7; and there he 
appeared to them, as is mentioned by Matthew, Matthew xxviii. 
16, &c., and more particularly by John, John xxi. 1, &c. See 
Bishop PEARCE.

Lifted up his hands] Probably to lay them on their heads, for 
this was the ordinary way in which the paternal blessing was 
conveyed, See Gen. xlviii. 8-20.

Verse 51. Carried up into heaven.] anefereto-into that heaven 
from which he had descended, John i. 18; iii. 13. This was 
forty days after his resurrection, Acts i. 3, during which 
time he had given the most convincing proofs of that 
resurrection, not only to the apostles, but to many others-to 
upwards of five hundred at one time, 1 Cor. xv. 6.

As in his life they had seen the way to the kingdom, and in 
his death the price of the kingdom, so in his ascension they 
had the fullest proof of the immortality of the soul, the 
resurrection of the human body, and of his continual 
intercession at the right hand of God.

There are some remarkable circumstances relative to this 
ascension mentioned in Acts i. 4-12.

Verse 52. They worshipped him] Let it be observed that this 
worship was not given by way of civil respect, for it was 
after he was parted from them, and carried back into heaven, 
that they offered it to him; but acts of civil respect are 
always performed in the presence of the person. They adored 
him as their God, and were certainly too much enlightened to 
be capable of any species of idolatry.

Returned to Jerusalem with great joy] Having the fullest 
proof that Jesus was the promised Messiah; and that they had 
a full commission to preach repentance and remission of sin 
to mankind, and that they should be Divinely qualified for 
this great work by receiving the promise of the Father, ver. 
49.

Verse 53. Were continually in the temple] Especially till the 
day of pentecost came, when they received the promise, 
mentioned ver. 49.

Praising and blessing God.] Magnifying his mercy, and 
speaking good of his name. Thus the days of their mourning 
were ended; and they began that life upon earth in which they 
still live in the kingdom of God. May the God of infinite 
love give the reader the same portion in time and in 
eternity, through the same glorious and ever-blessed Jesus! 
Amen and amen.

THERE are various subscriptions to this book in the MSS. and 
versions.

The following are the principal.

Through the assistance of the Most High God, the Gospel of 
St. chap. the physician, the proclaimer of eternal life, is 
finished. ARAB.-The most holy Gospel of Luke the Evangelist 
is completed. SYR.-The end of the holy Gospel according to 
Luke-written in Greek-published in Alexandria the Great,-in 
Troas,-in Rome,-in the confines of Achaia and Baeotia,-in 
Bithynia,-in Macedonia,-in the Italic (or Latin) character, 
fifteen years after the ascension of Christ.

It is likely, the word Amen was added by the Church, on the 
reading of this book; but there is no evidence that it was 
affixed by the evangelist. It is omitted by some of the best 
MSS. and versions.

It is evident that, at the conclusion of this Gospel, St. 
Luke passes very rapidly over a number of interesting 
circumstances related by the other evangelists, and 
particularly by St. John, concerning the last forty days of 
our Lord's sojourning on earth; but, to compensate for this, 
he has mentioned a variety of important particulars which the 
others have passed by, a list of which I think it necessary 
to subjoin. It seems as if the providence of God had designed 
that none of these evangelists should stand alone: each has 
his peculiar excellence, and each his own style and mode of 
narration. They are all witnesses to the truth in general; 
and each most pointedly to every great fact of the Gospel 
history. In each there is something new; and no serious 
reader ever finds that the perusal of any one supersedes the 
necessity of carefully consulting and reading the others.

The same facts and doctrines are exhibited by all in 
different points of view, which renders them both impressive 
and interesting; and this one circumstance serves to fix the 
narrative more firmly in the memory. We should have had 
slighter impressions from the Gospel history, had we not had 
the narrative at four different hands. This variety is of 
great service to the Church of God, and has contributed very 
much to diffuse the knowledge of the facts and doctrines 
contained in this history. Parallel passages have been 
carefully studied, and the different shades of meaning 
accurately marked out; and the consequence has been, what the 
wisdom of God designed, the fuller edification of the 
faithful. It is not the business of a commentator to point 
out beauties in the composition of the sacred text.

Many might be selected from the evangelists in general, and 
not a few from Luke, who not only tells a true story, but 
tells it well; especially when he has occasion to connect the 
different parts of the narration with observations of his 
own. But this is his least praise: from his own account we 
learn that he took the utmost pains to get the most accurate 
and circumstantial information relative to the facts he was 
to relate: see the note on chap. i. 3. While, therefore, he 
thus diligently and conscientiously sought for truth, the 
unerring Spirit of God led him into all truth. Even he who 
expected the revelation of the Almighty, and to be inspired 
by the Holy Spirit, that he might correctly, forcibly, and 
successfully proclaim the truth and righteousness of his 
Maker, must stand upon his watch, and set himself upon his 
tower, and watch to see what God would speak IN him, Hab. ii. 
1. In a similar spirit we may expect the fruits of these 
revelations. He who carefully and conscientiously uses the 
means may expect the accomplishment of the end.

I cannot close these observations with a more profitable word 
than what is contained in that truly apostolic and sublime 
prayer for the second Sunday in Advent; and may he who reads 
it weigh every word in the spirit of faith and devotion! 
"Blessed God! who hast caused all holy scriptures to be 
written for our learning; grant that we may in such wise hear 
them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that, by 
patience and comfort of thy holy word, we may embrace and 
ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which 
thou hast given us in our saviour Jesus Christ!" Now to him 
that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 
and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, 
to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever! Amen.

FACTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES RELATED AT LARGE BY ST. LUKE, WHICH 
ARE EITHER NOT MENTIONED AT ALL, OR BUT VERY TRANSIENTLY, - 
BY THE OTHER EVANGELISTS The conception of Elisabeth, Luke i. 
5-25.

The salutation of Mary, Luke i. 26-38.

Mary's visit to Elisabeth, Luke i. 39-56.

The birth of John the Baptist, Luke i. 57-79.

The decree of Caesar Augustus, Luke ii. 1-6.

Apparition of the angel to the shepherds, Luke ii. 8-20.

The circumcision of Christ, Luke ii. 21.

The presentation of Christ in the temple, Luke ii. 22-38.

Dispute with the doctors when twelve years of age, Luke ii. 
40-52.

Chronological dates at the commencement of our Lord's 
ministry, Luke iii. 1, 2.

Success of the preaching of John the Baptist, Luke iii. 10-
15.

Christ's preaching and miraculous escape at Nazareth, Luke 
iv. 15-30.

Remarkable particulars in the call of Simon, Andrew, James, 
and John, Luke v. 1-10.

The calamities that fell on certain Galileans, Luke xiii. 1-
9.

Mission of the seventy disciples, Luke x. 1-16.

The return of the seventy disciples, with an account of their 
success, Luke x. 17-24.

Story of the good Samaritan, Luke x. 25-37.

Cure of the woman who had been diseased eighteen years, Luke 
xiii. 10-20.

The question answered, Are there few that be saved? Luke 
xiii. 22, 23.

Curing of the man with the dropsy, Luke xiv. 1-24.

Difficulties attending the profession of Christianity, to be 
carefully preconsidered, Luke xiv. 25-35.

Parable of the lost sheep, and the lost piece of money, Luke 
xv. 1-10.

Parable of the prodigal son, Luke xv. 11-32.

Parable of the unjust steward, Luke xvi. 1-18; Parable of the 
rich man and the beggar, Luke xvi. 19-31.

Various instructions to his disciples, Luke xvii. 1-10.

The refusal of the Samaritans to receive him into their city, 
Luke ix. 52-56; xvii. 11.

The cleansing of the ten lepers, Luke xvii. 12-19.

The Pharisees ask when the kingdom of God should come, and 
our Lord's answer, Luke xvii. 20-38.

The Pharisee and the publican, Luke xviii. 1-14.

Account of the domestic avocations of Martha and Mary, Luke 
x. 38-42.

The account of Zaccheus, Luke xix. 2-10.

The parable of the nobleman that went to obtain a kingdom, 
Luke xix. 11-28.

Pilate sends Jesus to Herod, Luke xxiii. 6-16.

Account of the women that deplored our Lord's sufferings, 
Luke xxiii. 27-32.

Remarkable particulars concerning the two thieves that were 
crucified with our Lord, Luke xxiii. 39-43.

Account of the two disciples going to Emmaus, Luke xxiv. 13-
35.

Remarkable circumstances concerning his appearance to the 
eleven, after his resurrection, Luke xxiv. 37-49.

Finished the correction for a new edition, Oct. 31, 1831. A. 
C. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN.

-Usherian years of the World, 3999-4033. -Alexandrian years 
of the World, 5497-5531. -Antiochian years of the World, 
5487-5621.-Constantinopolitan AEra of the World, 5503-5537. -
Rabbinical years of the World, 3754-3788. -Years of the 
Julian Period, 4708-4742. -AEra of the Seleucide, 307-341. -
From B.C. 5, to A.D. 29. -From An. Olymp.CXCIII. 3, to CCII. 
1. -Years of the building of Rome, 748-782. -Years of the 
Julian AEra, 41-75. -Years of the Caesarean AEra of Antioch, 
44-78.-Years of the Spanish AEra, 34-68. -Years of the 
Paschal Cycle, or Dionysian Period, 529-31. -Years of the 
Christian Lunar Cycle, or Golden Number, 15-11. -Years of the 
Rabbinical Lunar Cycle, 12-8. -Years of the Solar Cycle, 4-
10. -From the 25th year of the reign of the Emperor Augustus 
to the 18th of that of Tiberius.N. B. As it was impossible to 
ascertain the precise dates of several transactions recorded 
in this Gospel, I have constructed the above Chronology in 
all the AEras which it includes, so as to comprehend the 
whole of our Lord's life on earth, from his conception to his 
ascension, which is generally allowed to comprise the space 
of 34 years, Therefore, 34, added to the first date in any of 
the above AEras, gives the second date; e.g. Usherian year of 
the world, 3099+34=4033, and so of the rest.

CHAPTER i.

The eternity of the Divine Logos, or Word of God, the 
dispenser of light and life, 1-5. The mission of John the 
Baptist, 6-13. The incarnation of the Logos or Word of God, 
14. John's testimony concerning the Logos, 15-18. The priests 
and Levites question him concerning his mission and his 
baptism, 19-22. His answer, 23-28. His farther testimony on 
seeing Christ, 29-34. He points him out to two of his 
disciples, who thereupon follow Jesus, 35-37. Christ's 
address to them, 38, 39. Andrew invites his brother, Simon 
Peter; Christ's address to him, 40-42. Christ calls Philip, 
and Philip invites Nathanael, 43-46. Christ's character of 
Nathanael, 47. A remarkable conversation between him and this 
disciple, 48-61.

NOTES ON CHAP. i.

John's introduction is from ver. 1-18. Some harmonists 
suppose it to end with ver. 14. but, from the connection of 
the whole, ver. 18 appears to be its natural close, at it 
contains a reason why the Logos or Word was made flesh. ver. 
15 refers to chap. i. 6-8, and in these passages John's 
testimony is anticipated in order of time, and is very fitly 
mentioned to illustrate Christ's pre-eminence. ver. 16, 17 
have a plain reference to ver. 14. See Bp. Newcome.

Verse 1. In the beginning] That is, before any thing was 
formed-ere God began the great work of creation. This is the 
meaning of the word in Gen. i. 1, to which the evangelist 
evidently alludes. This phrase fully proves, in the mouth of 
an inspired writer, that Jesus Christ was no part of the 
creation, as he existed when no part of that existed; and 
that consequently he is no creature, as all created nature 
was formed by him: for without him was nothing made that is 
made, ver. 3. Now, as what was before creation must be 
eternal, and as what gave being to all things, could not have 
borrowed or derived its being from any thing, therefore 
Jesus, who was before all things and who made all things, 
must necessarily be the ETERNAL God.

Was the Word] Or, existed the Logos. This term should be left 
untranslated, for the very same reason why the names Jesus 
and Christ are left untranslated. The first I consider as 
proper an apellative of the saviour of the world as I do 
either of the two last. And as it would be highly improper to 
say, the Deliverer, the Anointed, instead of Jesus Christ, so 
I deem it improper to say, the Word, instead of the Logos. 
But as every appellative of the saviour of the world was 
descriptive of some excellence in his person, nature, or 
work, so the epithet logov, Logos, which signifies a word 
spoken, speech, eloquence, doctrine, reason, or the faculty 
of reasoning, is very properly applied to him, who is the 
true light which lighteth every man who cometh into the 
world, ver. 9; who is the fountain of all wisdom; who giveth 
being, life, light, knowledge, and reason, to all men; who is 
the grand Source of revelation, who has declared God unto 
mankind; who spake by the prophets, for the testimony of 
Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, Rev. xix. 10; who has 
illustrated life and immortality by his Gospel, 2 Tim. i. 10; 
and who has fully made manifest the deep mysteries which lay 
hidden in the bosom of the invisible God from all eternity, 
ver. 18.

The apostle does not borrow this mode of speech from the 
writings of Plato, as some have imagined: he took it from the 
Scriptures of the Old Testament, and from the subsequent 
style of the ancient Jews. It is true the Platonists make 
mention of the Logos in this way:-kaqÆ on, aei onta, ta 
genomena egeneto-by whom, eternally existing, all things were 
made.

But as Plato, Pythagoras, Zeno, and others, traveled among 
the Jews, and conversed with them, it is reasonable to 
suppose that they borrowed this, with many others of their 
most important notions and doctrines, from them.

And the Word was God.] Or, God was the Logos: therefore no 
subordinate being, no second to the Most High, but the 
supreme eternal Jehovah.

Verse 3. All things were made by him] That is, by this Logos. 
In Gen. i. 1, GOD is said to have created all things: in this 
verse, Christ is said to have created all things: the same 
unerring Spirit spoke in Moses and in the evangelists: 
therefore Christ and the Father are ONE. To say that Christ 
made all things by a delegated power from God is absurd; 
because the thing is impossible. Creation means causing that 
to exist that had no previous being: this is evidently a work 
which can be effected only by omnipotence. Now, God cannot 
delegate his omnipotence to another: were this possible, he 
to whom this omnipotence was delegated would, in consequence, 
become GOD; and he from whom it was delegated would cease to 
be such: for it is impossible that there should be two 
omnipotent beings.

On these important passages I find that many eminently 
learned men differ from me: it seems they cannot be of my 
opinion, and I feel I cannot be of theirs. May He, who is the 
Light and the Truth, guide them and me into all truth!

Verse 4. In him was life] Many MSS., versions, and fathers, 
connect this with the preceding verse, thus: All things were 
made by him, and without him was nothing made. What was made 
had life in it; but THIS LIFE was the light of men. That is, 
though every thing he made had a principle of life in it, 
whether vegetable, animal, or intellectual, yet this, that 
life or animal principle in the human being, was not the 
light of men; not that light which could guide them to 
heaven, for the world by wisdom knew not God, 1 Cor. i. 21. 
Therefore, the expression, in him was life, is not to be 
understood of life natural, but of that life eternal which he 
revealed to the world, 2 Timothy i. 10, to which he taught 
the way, chap. xiv. 6, which he promised to believers, chap. 
x. 28, which he purchased for them, chap. vi. 51, 53, 54, 
which he is appointed to give them, chap. xvii. 2, and to 
which he will raise them up, chap. v. 29, because he hath the 
life in himself, chap. v. 26. All this may be proved: 1. From 
the like expressions; 1 John v. 11, This is the promise that 
God hath given unto us, eternal life, and this life is in his 
Son: whence he is styled the true God and eternal life, 1 
John v. 20; the resurrection and the life, chap. xi. 25; the 
way, the truth, and the life, chap. xiv. 6. 2. From these 
words, ver. 7, John came to bear witness of this light, that 
all might believe through him, viz. to eternal life, 1 Tim. 
i. 16; for so John witnesseth, chap. iii. 15, 36. And hence 
it follows that this life must be the light of men, by giving 
them the knowledge of this life, and of the way leading to 
it. See Whitby on the place. Is there any reference here to 
Gen. iii. 20: And Adam called his wife's name Eve, hwj chava, 
zwh, LIFE, because she was the mother of all living? And was 
not Jesus that seed of the woman that was to bruise the head 
of the serpent, and to give life to the world?

Verse 5. And the light shineth in darkness] By darkness here 
may be understood: 1. The heathen world, Eph. v. 8. 2. The 
Jewish people. 3.

The fallen spirit of man.

Comprehended it not.] auto ou katelaben, Prevented it not-
hindered it not, says Mr. Wakefield, who adds the following 
judicious note:-"Even in the midst of that darkness of 
ignorance and idolatry which overspread the world, this light 
of Divine wisdom was not totally eclipsed: the Jewish nation 
was a lamp perpetually shining to the surrounding nations; 
and many bright luminaries, among the heathen, were never 
wanting in just and worthy notions of the attributes and 
providence of God's wisdom; which enabled them to shine in 
some degree, though but as lights in a dark place, 2 Pet. i. 
19. Compare Acts xiv. 17; xvii. 28, 29." 

Verse 6. Whose name was John.] This was John the Baptist; see 
his name and the nature of his office explained, Mark i. 4, 
and Matt. iii. 1-3.

Verse 7. That all men through him might believe.] He 
testified that Jesus was the true light-the true teacher of 
the way to the kingdom of glory, and the lamb or sacrifice of 
God, which was to bear away the sin of the world, ver. 29, 
and invited men to believe in him for the remission of their 
sins, that they might receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, 
ver. 32-34. This was bearing the most direct witness to the 
light which was now shining in the dark wilderness of Judea; 
and, from thence, shortly to be diffused over the whole 
world.

Verse 9. Which lighteth every man] As Christ is the Spring 
and Fountain of all wisdom, so all the wisdom that is in man 
comes from him; the human intellect is a ray from his 
brightness; and reason itself springs from this Logos, the 
eternal reason. Some of the most eminent rabbins understand 
Isa. lx. 1, Rise and shine, for thy LIGHT is come, of the 
Messiah who was to illuminate Israel, and who, they believe, 
was referred to in that word, Gen. i. 3, And God said, Let 
there be LIGHT; and there was light. Let a Messiah be 
provided; and a Messiah was accordingly provided. See 
Schoettgen.

That cometh into the world.] Or, coming into the world-
ercomenon eiv ton kosmon: a common phrase among the rabbins, 
to express every human being. As the human creature sees the 
light of the world as soon as it is born, from which it had 
been excluded while in the womb of its parent; in like 
manner, this heavenly light shines into the soul of every 
man, to convince of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and it 
is through this light, which no man brings into the world 
with him, but which Christ mercifully gives to him on his 
coming into it, that what is termed conscience among men is 
produced. No man could discern good from evil, were it not 
for this light thus supernaturally and graciously restored. 
There was much light in the law, but this shone only upon the 
Jews; but the superior light of the Gospel is to be diffused 
over the face of the whole earth.

The following not only proves what is asserted in this verse, 
but is also an excellent illustration of it.

The GAYATRI, or holiest verse of the VEDAS, i.e. the ancient 
Hindoo Scriptures.

"Let us adore the supremacy of that divine Sun, the Godhead 
who illuminates all, who re-creates all; from whom all 
proceed; to whom all must return; whom we invoke to direct 
our understandings aright, in our progress towards his holy 
seat." The ancient comment.

"What the sun and light are to this visible world, that are 
the supreme good and truth to the intellectual and invisible 
universe; and, as our corporeal eyes have a distinct 
perception of objects enlightened by the sun, thus our souls 
acquire certain knowledge by meditating on the light of 
truth, which emanates from the Being of beings; that is the 
light by which alone our minds can be directed in the path to 
blessedness." Sir Wm. Jones's works, vol. vi. p. 417.

Sir William observes that the original word Bhargas, which he 
translates Godhead, consists of three consonants, and is 
derived from bha, to shine; ram, to delight; and gam, to 
move:-the Being who is the light, the source of happiness, 
and the all-pervading energy.

Verse 10. He was in the world] From its very commencement-he 
governed the universe-regulated his Church-spake by his 
prophets-and often, as the angel or messenger of Jehovah, 
appeared to them, and to the patriarchs.

The world knew him not.] auton ouk egnw-Did not acknowledge 
him; for the Jewish rulers knew well enough that he was a 
teacher come from God; but they did not choose to acknowledge 
him as such. Men love the world, and this love hinders them 
from knowing him who made it, though he made it only to make 
himself known. Christ, by whom all things were made, ver. 3, 
and by whom all things are continually supported, 
Colossiansi. 16, 17; Heb. i. 3, has way every where, is 
continually manifesting himself by his providence and by his 
grace, and yet the foolish heart of man regardeth it not! See 
the reason, chap. iii. 19.

Verse 11. He came unto his own] ta idia-to those of his own 
family, city, country:-and his own people, oi idioi-his own 
citizens, brethren, subjects.

The Septuagint, Josephus, and Arrian, use these words, ta 
idioi and oi idioi, in the different senses given them above.

Received him not.] Would not acknowledge him as the Messiah, 
nor believe in him for salvation.

How very similar to this are the words of Creeshna, (an 
incarnation of the Supreme Being, according to the theology 
of the ancient Hindoos!) Addressing one of his disciples, he 
says: "The foolish, being unacquainted with my supreme and 
divine nature, as Lord of all things, despise me in this 
human form; trusting to the evil, diabolic, and deceitful 
principle within them. They are of vain hope, of vain 
endeavours, of vain wisdom, and void of reason; whilst men of 
great minds, trusting to their divine natures, discover that 
I am before all things, and incorruptible, and serve me with 
their hearts undiverted by other beings." See Bhagvat Geeta, 
p. 79.

To receive Christ is to acknowledge him as the promised 
Messiah; to believe in him as the victim that bears away the 
sin of the world; to obey his Gospel, and to become a 
partaker of his holiness, without which no man, on the Gospel 
plan, can ever see God.

Verse 12. Gave he power] exousian, Privilege, honour, 
dignity, or right.

He who is made a child of God enjoys the greatest privilege 
which the Divine Being can confer on this side eternity. 
Those who accept Jesus Christ, as he is offered to them in 
the Gospel, have, through his blood, a right to this sonship; 
for by that sacrifice this blessing was purchased; and the 
fullest promises of God confirm it to all who believe. And 
those who are engrafted in the heavenly family have the 
highest honour and dignity to which it is possible for a 
human soul to arrive. What an astonishing thought is this! 
The sinner, who was an heir to all God's curses, has, through 
the sacrifice of Jesus, a claim on the mercy of the Most 
High, and a right to be saved! Even justice itself, on the 
ground of its holy and eternal nature, gives salvation to the 
vilest who take refuge in this atonement; for justice has 
nothing to grant, or Heaven to give, which the blood of the 
Son of God has not merited.

Verse 13. Which were born, not of blood] Who were 
regenerated, ouk ex aimatwn, not of bloods-the union of 
father and mother, or of a distinguished or illustrious 
ancestry; for the Hebrew language makes use of the plural to 
point out the dignity or excellence of a thing: and probably 
by this the evangelist intended to show his countrymen, that 
having Abraham and Sarah for their parents would not entitle 
them to the blessings of the new covenant; as no man could 
lay claim to them, but in consequence of being born of God; 
therefore, neither the will of the flesh-any thing that the 
corrupt heart of man could purpose or determine in its own 
behalf; nor the will of man-any thing that another may be 
disposed to do in our behalf, can avail here; this new birth 
must come through the will of God-through; his own unlimited 
power and boundless mercy, prescribing salvation by Christ 
Jesus alone. It has been already observed that the Jews 
required circumcision, baptism, and sacrifice, in order to 
make a proselyte. They allow that the Israelites had in Egypt 
cast off circumcision, and were consequently out of the 
covenant; but at length they were circumcised, and they 
mingled the blood of circumcision with the blood of the 
paschal lamb, and from this union of bloods they were again 
made the children of God. See Lightfoot. This was the only 
way by which the Jews could be made the sons of God; but the 
evangelist shows them that, under the Gospel dispensation, no 
person could become a child of God, but by being spiritually 
regenerated.

Verse 14. And the Word was made flesh] That very person who 
was in the beginning-who was with God-and who was God, ver. 
1, in the fullness of time became flesh-became incarnated by 
the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin. 
Allowing this apostle to have written by Divine inspiration, 
is not this verse, taken in connection with ver. 1, an 
absolute and incontestable proof of the proper and eternal 
Godhead of Christ Jesus? And dwelt among us] kai eskhnwsen en 
hmin, And tabernacled among us: the human nature which he 
took of the virgin, being as the shrine, house, or temple, in 
which his immaculate Deity condescended to dwell.

The word is probably an allusion to the Divine Shechinah in 
the Jewish temple; and as God has represented the whole 
Gospel dispensation by the types and ceremonies of the old 
covenant, so the Shechinah in the tabernacle and temple 
pointed out this manifestation of God in the flesh.

The word is thus used by the Jewish writers: it signifies 
with them a manifestation of the Divine Shechinah.

The original word, skhnow, from skia, a shadow, signifies: 1. 
To build a booth, tent, or temporary hut, for present shelter 
or convenience; and does not properly signify a lasting 
habitation or dwelling place; and is therefore fitly applied 
to the human nature of Christ, which, like the tabernacle of 
old, was to be here only for a temporary residence for the 
eternal Divinity.

2. It signifies to erect such a building as was used on 
festival occasions, when a man invited and enjoyed the 
company of his friends. To this meaning of the word, which is 
a common one in the best Greek writers, the evangelist might 
allude, to point out Christ's associating his disciples with 
himself; living, conversing, eating, and drinking with them: 
so that, while they had the fullest proof of his Divinity by 
the miracles which he wrought, they had the clearest evidence 
of his humanity, by his tabernacling among, eating, drinking, 
and conversing with them. Concerning the various acceptations 
of the verb skhnow see Raphelius on this verse.

The doctrine of vicarious sacrifice and the incarnation of 
the Deity have prevailed among the most ancient nations in 
the world, and even among those which were not favoured with 
the letter of Divine revelation. The Hindoos believe that 
their god has already become incarnate, not less than nine 
times, to save the wretched race of man.

On this subject, Creeshna, an incarnation of the supreme God, 
according to the Hindoo theology, is represented in the 
Bhagvat Geeta, as thus addressing one of his disciples: 
"Although I am not in my nature subject to birth or decay, 
and am the Lord of all created beings, yet, having command 
over my own nature, I am made evident by my own power; and, 
as often as there is a decline of virtue and an insurrection 
of vice and injustice in the world, I make myself evident; 
and thus I appear from age to age, for the preservation of 
the just, the destruction of the wicked, and the 
establishment of virtue." Geeta, pp. 51, 52.

The following piece, already mentioned, Luke i. 68, 
translated from the Sanscreet, found on a stone, in a cave 
near the ancient city of Gya in the East Indies, is the most 
astonishing and important of any thing found out of the 
compass of the Sacred Writings, and a proper illustration of 
this text.

"The Deity, who is the Lord, the possessor of all, APPEARED 
in this ocean of natural beings, at the beginning of the 
Kalee Yoog (the age of contention and baseness.) He who is 
omnipresent, and everlastingly to be contemplated, the 
Supreme Being, the eternal ONE, the Divinity worthy to be 
adored-APPEARED here, with a PORTION of his DIVINE NATURE.

Reverence be unto thee in the form of (a) Bood-dha! Reverence 
be unto the Lord of the earth! Reverence be unto thee, an 
INCARNATION of the Deity, and the Eternal ONE! Reverence be 
unto thee, O GOD! in the form of the God of mercy! the 
dispeller of PAIN and TROUBLE, the Lord of ALL things, the 
Deity who overcometh the sins of the Kalee Yoog, the guardian 
of the universe, the emblem of mercy towards those who serve 
thee! (b) O'M! the possessor of all things, in VITAL FORM! 
Thou art (c) Brahma, (d) Veeshnoo, and (e) Mahesa! Thou art 
Lord of the universe! Thou art under the form of all things, 
movable and immovable, the possessor of the whole! And thus I 
adore thee! Reverence be unto the BESTOWER of SALVATION, and 
the ruler of the faculties! Reverence be unto thee, the 
DESTROYER of the EVIL SPIRIT! O Damordara, (f) show me 
favour! I adore thee who art celebrated by a thousand names, 
and under various forms, in the shape of Bood-dha, the God of 
mercy! Be propitious, O most high God!" Asiatic Researches, 
vol. i. p. 284, 285.

We beheld his glory] This refers to the transfiguration, at 
which John was present, in company with Peter and James.

The glory as of the only begotten] That is, such a glory as 
became, or was proper to, the Son of God; for thus the 
particle wv should be here understood. There is also here an 
allusion to the manifestations of God above the ark in the 
tabernacle: see Exodus xxv. 22; Num. vii. 89; and this 
connects itself with the first clause, he tabernacled, or 
fixed his tent among us. While God dwelt in the tabernacle, 
among the Jews, the priests saw his glory; and while Jesus 
dwelt among men his glory was manifested in his gracious 
words and miraculous acts.

The only begotten of the Father] That is, the only person 
born of a woman, whose human nature never came by the 
ordinary way of generation; it being a mere creation in the 
womb of the virgin, by the energy of the Holy Ghost.

Full of grace and truth.] Full of favour, kindness, and mercy 
to men; teaching the way to the kingdom of God, with all the 
simplicity, plainness, dignity, and energy of truth.

(a) Bood-dha. The name of the Deity, as author of happiness.

(b) O'M. A mystic emblem of the Deity, forbidden to be 
pronounced but in silence. It is a syllable formed of the 
Sanscreet letters a, o o, which in composition coalesce, and 
make o, and the nasal consonant m. The first letter stands 
for the Creator, the second for the Preserver, and the third 
for the Destroyer. It is the same among the Hindoos as hwhy 
Yehovah is among the Hebrews.

(c) Brahma, the Deity in his creative quality.

(d) Veeshnoo. He who filleth all space: the Deity in his 
preserving quality.

(c) Mahesa. The Deity in his destroying quality. This is 
properly the Hindoo Trinity: for these three names belong to 
the same God. See the notes to the Bhagvat Geeta.

(f) Damordara, or Darmadeve, the Indian god of virtue.

Verse 15. Of him] The glorious personage before mentioned: 
John the Baptist, whose history was well known to the persons 
to whom this Gospel came in the beginning, bare witness; and 
he cried,-being deeply convinced of the importance and truth 
of the subject, he delivered his testimony with the utmost 
zeal and earnestness,-saying, This is he of whom I spake, He 
that cometh after me-for I am no other than the voice of the 
crier in the wilderness, Isa. xl. 3, the forerunner of the 
Messiah.

Was before me.] Speaking by the prophets, and warning your 
fathers to repent and return to God, as I now warn you; for 
he was before me-he was from eternity, and from him I have 
derived both my being and my ministry.

Verse 16. This verse should be put in place of the fifteenth, 
and the 15th inserted between the 18th and 19th, which 
appears to be its proper place: thus John's testimony is 
properly connected.  And of his fullness] Of the plenitude of 
his grace and mercy, by which he made an atonement for sin; 
and of the plenitude of his wisdom and truth, by which the 
mysteries of heaven have been revealed, and the science of 
eternal truth taught, we have all received: all we apostles 
have received grace or mercy to pardon our sins, and truth to 
enable us so to write and speak, concerning these things, 
that those who attend to our testimony shall be unerringly 
directed in the way of salvation, and with us continue to 
receive grace upon grace, one blessing after another, till 
they are filled with all the fullness of God. I believe the 
above to be the meaning of the evangelist, and think it 
improper to distract the mind of the reader with the various 
translations and definitions which have been given of the 
phrase, grace for grace. It is only necessary to add, that 
John seems here to refer to the Gospel as succeeding the law: 
the law was certainly a dispensation both of grace and truth; 
for it pointed out the gracious design of God to save men by 
Christ Jesus; and it was at least a most expressive and well-
defined shadow of good things to come: but the Gospel, which 
had now taken place, introduced that plenitude of grace and 
truth to the whole world, which the law had only shadowed 
forth to the Jewish people, and which they imagined should 
have been restrained to themselves alone. In the most 
gracious economy of God, one dispensation of mercy and truth 
is designed to make way for, and to be followed by, another 
and a greater: thus the law succeeded the patriarchal 
dispensation, and the Gospel the law; more and more of the 
plenitude of the grace of the Gospel becomes daily manifest 
to the genuine followers of Christ; and, to those who are 
faithful unto death, a heaven full of eternal glory will soon 
succeed to the grace of the Gospel. To illustrate this point 
more fully, the following passage in Philo the Jew has been 
adduced: "God is always sparing of his first blessings or 
graces, (prwtav caritav,) and afterwards gives other graces 
upon them, (antÆ ekeinwn,) and a third sort upon the second, 
and always new ones upon old ones, sometimes of a different 
kind, and at other times of the same sort." Vol. i. p. 254, 
ed. Mang. In the above passage the preposition anti for, is 
used thrice in the sense of epi, upon. To confirm the above 
interpretation Bp. Pearce produces the following quotations. 
Ecclus xxvi. 15: cariv epi cariti gunh aiscunthra-A modest 
woman is a grace upon a grace, i.e. a double grace or 
blessing. Euripides uses the very same phrase with John, 
where he makes Theoclymenus say to Helena. cariv anti caritov 
elqetw, May grace upon grace come to you! Helen v. 1250. ed. 
Barn.

Verse 17. The law was given by Moses] Moses received the law 
from God, and through him it was given to the Jews, Acts vii. 
38.

But grace and truth] Which he had already mentioned, and 
which were to be the subject of the book which he was now 
writing, came to all mankind through Jesus Christ, who is the 
mediator of the new covenant, as Moses was of the old: Heb. 
viii. 6; ix. 15; Gal. iii. 19. See a fine discourse on this 
text by Mr. Claude, "Essay on the Composition of a Sermon," 
vol. i. p. 119, &c. edit. Lond. 1788.

The law of Moses, however excellent in itself, was little in 
comparison of the Gospel: as it proceeded from the justice 
and holiness of God, and was intended to convict men of sin, 
that the way of the Gospel might be the better prepared, it 
was a law of rigour, condemnation, and death: Rom. iv. 15; 2 
Cor. iii. 7, 8. It was a law of shadows, types, and figures: 
Heb. x. 1, and incapable of expiating sin by its sacrifices: 
Rom. viii. 3; Hebrews vii. 18, 19; x. 1, 11. But Christ has 
brought that grace which is opposed to condemnation: Rom. v. 
15, 20, 21; viii. 1; Galatians iii. 10; and he is himself the 
spirit and substance of all those shadows: Col. ii. 19; Heb. 
x. 1.

Jesus Christ.] JESUS the CHRIST, the Messiah, or anointed 
prophet, priest, and king, sent from heaven. To what has 
already been said on the important name Jesus, (See Matt. i. 
21, and the places there referred to,) I shall add the 
following explanation, chiefly taken from Professor 
Schultens, who has given a better view of the ideal meaning 
of the root [y yasha, than any other divine or critic.

He observes that this root, in its true force, meaning, and 
majesty, both in Hebrew and Arabic, includes the ideas of 
amplitude, expansion, and space, and should be translated, he 
was spacious-open-ample; and, particularly, he possessed a 
spacious or extensive degree or rank: and is applied, 1. To a 
person possessing abundance of riches. 2. To one possessing 
abundant power. 3. To one possessing abundant or extensive 
knowledge. 4. To one possessing abundance of happiness, 
beatitude, and glory. Hence we may learn the true meaning of 
Zech. ix. i10: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion-behold, 
thy king cometh unto thee; he is JUST, and having SALVATION:-
[ywh -he is possessed of all power to enrich, strengthen, 
teach, enlarge, and raise to glory and happiness, them who 
trust in him.

Man by nature is in want and poverty: in abjectness and 
weakness: in darkness and ignorance: in straits and 
captivity: in wretchedness and infamy. His Redeemer is called 
h[wy JESUS-he who looses, enlarges, and endows with 
salvation. 1. He enriches man's poverty: 2. strengthens his 
weakness: 3. teaches his ignorance: 4. brings him out of 
straits and difficulties: and 5. raises him to happiness, 
beatitude, and glory. And the aggregate of these is 
SALVATION. Hence that saying, His name shall be called JESUS: 
for he shall save his people from their sins. See Schultens 
Origines Hebraeae, p. 15.

Verse 18. No man hath seen God at any time] Moses and others 
heard his voice, and saw the cloud and the fire, which were 
the symbols of his presence; but such a manifestation of God 
as had now taken place, in the person of Jesus Christ, had 
never before been exhibited to the world. It is likely that 
the word seen, here, is put for known, as in chap. iii. 32; 1 
John iii. 2, 6, and 3 John xi; and this sense the latter 
clause of the verse seems to require:-No man, how highly 
soever favoured, hath fully known God, at any time, in any 
nation or age; the only begotten Son, (see on ver. 14,) who 
is in the bosom of the Father, who was intimately acquainted 
with all the counsels of the Most High, he hath declared him, 
exhghsato, hath announced the Divine oracles unto men; for in 
this sense the word is used by the best Greek writers. See 
Kypke in loco. 1095 Lying in the bosom, is spoken of in 
reference to the Asiatic custom of reclining while at meals; 
the person who was next the other was said to lie in his 
bosom; and he who had this place in reference to the master 
of the feast was supposed to share his peculiar regards, and 
so be in a state of the utmost favour and intimacy with him.

Verse 19. And this is the record of John] He persisted in 
this assertion, testifying to the Jews that this Jesus was 
THE CHRIST.

Verse 20. He confessed, and denied not; but confessed] A 
common mode of Jewish phraseology. John renounces himself, 
that Jesus may be all in all. Though God had highly honoured 
him, and favoured him with peculiar influence in the 
discharge of his work, yet he considered he had nothing but 
what he had received, and therefore, giving all praise to his 
benefactor, takes care to direct the attention of the people 
to him alone from whom he had received his mercies. He who 
makes use of God's gifts to feed and strengthen his pride and 
vanity will be sure to be stripped of the goods wherein he 
trusts, and fall down into the condemnation of the devil. We 
have nothing but what we have received; we deserve nothing of 
what we possess; and it is only God's infinite mercy which 
keeps us in the possession of the blessings which we now 
enjoy.

Verse 21. Art thou Elias?] The scribes themselves had taught 
that Elijah was to come before the Messiah. See Matt. xvii. 
10; and this belief of theirs they supported by a literal 
construction of Mal. iv. 5.

Art thou that prophet?] the prophet spoken of by Moses, Deut. 
xviii. 15, 18. This text they had also misunderstood: for the 
prophet or teacher promised by Moses was no other than the 
Messiah himself. See Acts iii. 22. But the Jews had a 
tradition that Jeremiah was to return to life, and restore 
the pot of manna, the ark of the covenant, &c., which he had 
hidden that the Babylonians might not get them. Besides this, 
they had a general expectation that all the prophets should 
come to life in the days of the Messiah.

I am not.] I am not the prophet which you expect, nor Elijah: 
though he was the Elijah that was to come; for in the spirit 
and power of that eminent prophet he came, proclaiming the 
necessity of reformation in Israel. See Matt. xi. 14; xvii. 
10-13.

Verse 22. That we may give an answer to them that sent us.] 
These Pharisees were probably a deputation from the grand 
Sanhedrin; the members of which, hearing of the success of 
the Baptist's preaching, were puzzled to know what to make of 
him, and seriously desired to hear from himself what he 
professed to be.

Verse 23. I am the voice of one crying] See the notes on 
Matthew iii. 3; Mark i. 4, 5.

Verse 25. Why baptizest thou then?] Baptism was a very common 
ceremony among the Jews, who never received a proselyte into 
the full enjoyment of a Jew's privileges, till he was both 
baptized and circumcised.

But such baptisms were never performed except by an ordinance 
of the Sanhedrin, or in the presence of three magistrates: 
besides, they never baptized any Jew or Jewess, nor even 
those who were the children of their proselytes; for, as all 
these were considered as born in the covenant, they had no 
need of baptism, which was used only as an introductory rite.

Now, as John had, in this respect, altered the common custom 
so very essentially, admitting to his baptism the Jews in 
general, the Sanhedrin took it for granted that no man had 
authority to make such changes, unless especially 
commissioned from on high; and that only the prophet, or 
Elijah, or the Messiah himself; could have authority to act 
as John did. See the observations at the conclusion of Mark.

Verse 26. I baptize with water] See on Mark i. 8. I use the 
common form, though I direct the baptized to a different end, 
viz. that they shall repent of their sins, and believe in the 
Messiah.

There standeth one among you] That is, the person whose 
forerunner I am is now dwelling in the land of Judea, and 
will shortly make his appearance among you. Christ was not 
present when John spoke thus, as may be seen from ver. 29.

Verse 27. Is preferred before me] Æov emprosqen mou gegonen, 
Who was before me. This clause is wanting in BC*L, four 
others, the Coptic, AEthiopic, Slavonic, and two copies of 
the Itala, and in some of the primitive fathers. Griesbach 
has left it out of the text. It is likely that it was omitted 
by the above, because it was found in verses 15 and 30.  At 
the end of this verse, EG, and ten others, with some copies 
of the Slavonic, add, He shall baptize you with the Holy 
Ghost and with fire.

Verse 28. These things were done in Bethabara] It is very 
probable that the word Bethany should be inserted here, 
instead of Bethabara. This reading, in the judgment of the 
best critics, is the genuine one. The following are the 
authorities by which it is supported: ABCEGHLMSX, BV, of 
Matthai, upwards of a hundred others, Syriac, Armenian, 
Persic, Coptic, Slavonic, Vulgate, Saxon, and all the Itala, 
with some of the most eminent of the primitive fathers, 
before the time of Origen, who is supposed to have first 
changed the reading. Bethabara signifies literally the house 
of passage, and is thought to be the place where the 
Israelites passed the river Jordan under Joshua. There was a 
place called Bethany, about two miles from Jerusalem, at the 
foot of the mount of Olives. But there was another of the 
same name, beyond Jordan, in the tribe of Reuben. It was 
probably of this that the evangelist speaks; and Origen, not 
knowing OF this second Bethany, altered the reading to 
Bethabara. See Rosenmuller.

Verse 29. The next day] The day after that on which the Jews 
had been with John, ver. 19.

Behold the Lamb of God, &c.] This was said in allusion to 
what was spoken Isa. liii. 7. Jesus was the true Lamb or 
Sacrifice required and appointed by God, of which those 
offered daily in the tabernacle and temple, Exod. xxix. 38, 
39, and especially the paschal lamb, were only the types and 
representatives. See Exod. xii. 4, 5; 1 Cor. v. 7. The 
continual morning and evening sacrifice of a lamb, under the 
Jewish law, was intended to point out the continual efficacy 
of the blood of atonement: for even at the throne of God, 
Jesus Christ is ever represented as a lamb newly slain, Rev. 
v. 6. But John, pointing to Christ, calls him emphatically, 
the Lamb of God:-all the lambs which had been hitherto 
offered had been furnished by men: this was provided by GOD, 
as the only sufficient and available sacrifice for the sin of 
the world. In three essential respects, this lamb differed 
from those by which it was represented. 1st. It was the Lamb 
of God; the most excellent, and the most available. 2nd. It 
made an atonement for sin: it carried sin away in reality, 
the others only representatively. 3rd. It carried away the 
sin of the WORLD, whereas the other was offered only on 
behalf of the Jewish people. In Yalcut Rubeni, fol. 30, it is 
said, "The Messiah shall bear the sins of the Israelites." 
But this salvation was now to be extended to the whole world.

Verse 31. And I knew him not, &c.] John did not know our Lord 
personally, and perhaps had never seen him, at the time he 
spoke the words in ver. 15. Nor is it any wonder that the 
Baptist should have been unacquainted with Christ, as he had 
spent thirty years in the hill country of Hebron, and our 
Lord remained in a state of great privacy in the obscure city 
of Nazareth, in the extreme borders of Galilee.

But that he should be made manifest to Israel] One design of 
my publicly baptizing was, that he, coming to my baptism, 
should be shown to be what he is, by some extraordinary sign 
from heaven.

Verse 32. I saw the Spirit descending, &c.] See the notes on 
Matt. iii. 16, 17.

Verse 33. He that sent me-said unto me] From this we may 
clearly perceive that John had a most intimate acquaintance 
with the Divine Being; and received not only his call and 
mission at first, but every subsequent direction, by 
immediate, unequivocal inspiration. Who is fit to proclaim 
Jesus, but he who has continual intercourse with God; who is 
constantly receiving light and life from Christ their 
fountain; who bears a steady, uniform testimony to Jesus, 
even in the presence of his enemies; and who at all times 
abases himself, that Jesus alone may be magnified! 
Reformation of manners, and salvation of souls, will 
accompany such a person's labours whithersoever he goeth.

Verse 35. The next day] After that mentioned ver. 29.

Two of his disciples] One of them was Andrew, ver. 40, and it 
is very likely that John himself was the other; in every 
thing in which he might receive honour he studiously 
endeavours to conceal his own name.

Verse 36. And looking upon Jesus] Attentively beholding, 
embleyav, from en, into, and blepw, to look-to view with 
steadfastness and attention. He who desires to discover the 
glories and excellencies of this Lamb of God, must thus look 
on him. At first sight, he appears only as a man among men, 
and as dying in testimony to the truth, as many others have 
died. But, on a more attentive consideration, he appears to 
be no less than God manifest in the flesh, and, by his death, 
making an atonement for the sin of the world.

Behold the Lamb of God!] By this the Baptist designed to 
direct the attention of his own disciples to Jesus, not only 
as the great sacrifice for the sin of the world, but also as 
the complete teacher of heavenly truth.

Verse 37. And the two disciples heard him] And they perfectly 
understood their master's meaning; in consequence of which, 
they followed Jesus. Happy they who, on hearing of the 
salvation of Christ, immediately attach themselves to its 
author! Delays are always dangerous; and, in this case, often 
fatal. Reader! hast thou ever had Christ as a sacrifice for 
thy sin pointed out unto thee? If so, hast thou followed him? 
If not, thou art not in the way to the kingdom of God. Lose 
not another moment! Eternity is at hand! and thou art not 
prepared to meet thy God.

Pray that he may alarm thy conscience, and stir up thy soul 
to seek till thou have found.

Verse 38. What seek ye?] These disciples might have felt some 
embarrassment in addressing our blessed Lord, after hearing 
the character which the Baptist gave of him; to remove or 
prevent this, he graciously accosts them, and gives them an 
opportunity of explaining themselves to him. Such questions, 
we may conceive, the blessed Jesus still puts to those who in 
simplicity of heart desire an acquaintance with him. A 
question of this nature we may profitably ask ourselves: What 
seek ye? In this place! In the company you frequent? In the 
conversation you engage in? In the affairs with which you are 
occupied? In the works which you perform? Do you seek the 
humiliation, illumination, justification, edification, or 
sanctification of your soul? The edification of your 
neighbour? The good of the Church of Christ? Or, The glory of 
God? Questions of this nature often put to our hearts, in the 
fear of God, would induce us to do many things which we now 
leave undone, and to leave undone many things which we now 
perform.

Rabbi] Teacher. Behold the modesty of these disciples-we wish 
to be scholars, we are ignorant-we desire to be taught; we 
believe thou art a teacher come from God.

Where dwellest thou?] That we may come and receive thy 
instructions.

Verse 39. Come and see.] If those who know not the salvation 
of God would come at the command of Christ, they should soon 
see that with him is the fountain of life, and in his light 
they should see light. Reader, if thou art seriously 
inquiring where Christ dwelleth, take the following for 
answer: He dwells not in the tumult of worldly affairs, nor 
in profane assemblies, nor in worldly pleasures, nor in the 
place where drunkards proclaim their shame, nor in 
carelessness and indolence. But he is found in his temple, 
wherever two or three are gathered together in his name, in 
secret prayer, in self-denial, in fasting, in self-
examination. He also dwells in the humble, contrite spirit, 
in the spirit of faith, of love, of forgiveness, of universal 
obedience; in a word, he dwells in the heaven of heavens, 
whither he graciously purposes to bring thee, if thou wilt 
come and learn of him, and receive the salvation which he has 
bought for thee by his own blood.

The tenth hour] Generally supposed to be about what we call 
four o'clock in the afternoon. According to chap. xi. 9, the 
Jews reckoned twelve hours in the day; and of course each 
hour of the day, thus reckoned, must have been something 
longer or shorter, according to the different times of the 
year in that climate. The sixth hour with them answered to 
our twelve o'clock, as appears from what Josephus says in his 
life, chap. liv.

That on the Sabbath day it was the rule for the Jews to go to 
dinner at the sixth hour, (ekth wra.) The Romans had the same 
way of reckoning twelve hours in each of their days. Hence 
what we meet with in Hor. lib. ii. sat. vi. l. x24: ante 
secundam signifies, as we should express it, before eight 
o'clock. And when, in lib. i. sat. vi. l. 122, he says, ad 
quartam jaceo, he means that he lay in bed till ten o'clock. 
See Bishop Pearce on this place.

Dr. Macknight, however, is of opinion that the evangelist is 
to be understood as speaking of the Roman hour, which was ten 
o'clock in the morning; and as the evangelist remarks, they 
abode with him that day, it implies that there was a 
considerable portion of time spent with our Lord, in which, 
by his conversation, he removed all their scruples, and 
convinced them that he was the Messiah. But, had it been the 
Jewish tenth hour, it would have been useless to remark their 
abiding with him that day, as there were only two hours of it 
still remaining. Harmony, vol. i. p. 52.

Verse 41. Findeth his own brother Simon] Every discovery of 
the Gospel of the Son of God produces benevolence, and leads 
those to whom it is made to communicate it to others. Those 
who find Jesus find in him a treasure of wisdom and 
knowledge, through which they may not only become rich 
themselves, but be instruments, in the hand of God, of 
enriching others. These disciples, having tasted the good 
word of Christ, were not willing to eat their bread alone, 
but went and invited others to partake with them. Thus the 
knowledge of Christ became diffused-one invited another to 
come and see: Jesus received all, and the number of disciples 
was increased, and the attentive hearers were innumerable. 
Every man who has been brought to an acquaintance with God 
should endeavour to bring, at least, another with him; and 
his first attention should be fixed upon those of his own 
household.

Verse 42. Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.] 
petrov signifies a stone, or fragment of a rock. The reason 
why this name was given to Simon, who was ever afterwards 
called Peter, may be seen in the notes on Matt. xvi. 18, 19, 
and particularly in Luke, at the end of chap 9. 

Verse 43. Philip] This apostle was a native of Bethsaida in 
Galilee.

Eusebius says he was a married man, and had several 
daughters. Clemens Alexandrinus mentions it as a thing 
universally acknowledged that it was this apostle who, when 
commanded by our Lord to follow him, said, Let me first go 
and bury my father, Matt. viii. 21, 22. Theodouret says he 
preached in the two Phrygias; and Eusebius says he was buried 
in Phrygia Pacatiana. He must not be confounded with Philip 
the deacon, spoken of Acts vi. 5.

Verse 45. Nathanael] This apostle is supposed to be the same 
with Bartholomew, which is very likely, for these reasons 1. 
That the evangelists who mention Bartholomew say nothing of 
Nathanael; and that St. John, who speaks of Nathanael, says 
nothing of Bartholomew. 2. No notice is taken any where of 
Bartholomew's vocation, unless his and that of Nathanael 
mentioned here be the same. 3. The name of Bartholomew is not 
a proper name; it signifies the son of Ptolomy; and Nathanael 
might have been his own name. 4. St. John seems to rank 
Nathanael with the apostles, when he says that Peter and 
Thomas, the two sons of Zebedee, Nathanael, and two other 
disciples, being gone a fishing, Jesus showed himself to 
them, chap. xxi. 2-4.

Moses in the law] See Gen. iii. 16; xxii. 18; xlix. 10; 
Deuteronomy xviii. 18.

And the prophets] See Isa. iv. 2; vii. 14; ix. 5; xl. 10; 
liii. 1, &c.; Jer. xxiii. 5; xxxiii. 14, 15; Ezek. xxxiv. 23; 
xxxvii. 24; Dan. ix. 24; Micah v. 2; Zech. vi. 12; ix. 9; 
xii. 10.

Verse 46. Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?] Bp. 
Pearce supposes that the ti agaqon of the evangelist has some 
particular force in it: for, in Jer. xxxiii. 14, God says, I 
will perform that good thing which I promised, &c.; and this, 
in Jer. xxxiii. 15 is explained to mean, his causing the 
branch of righteousness (i.e. the Messiah) to grow up unto 
David, from whom Jesus was descended: in this view, 
Nathanael's question seems to imply, that not Nazareth, but 
Bethlehem, was to be the birth-place of the Messiah, 
according to what the chief priests and scribes had 
determined, Matt. ii. 4-6. If this conjecture be not thought 
solid, we may suppose that Nazareth, at this time, was become 
so abandoned that no good could be expected from any of those 
who dwelt in it, and that its wickedness had passed into a 
proverb: Can any thing good be found in Nazareth? Or, that 
the question is illiberal, and full of national prejudice.

Come and see.] He who candidly examines the evidences of the 
religion of Christ will infallibly become a believer. No 
history ever published among men has so many external and 
internal proofs of authenticity as this has. A man should 
judge of nothing by first appearances, or human prejudices. 
Who are they who cry out, The Bible is a fable? Those who 
have never read it, or read it only with the fixed purpose to 
gainsay it. I once met with a person who professed to 
disbelieve every tittle of the New Testament, a chapter of 
which, he acknowledged, he had never read. I asked him, had 
he ever read the Old? He answered, No! And yet this man had 
the assurance to reject the whole as an imposture! God has 
mercy on those whose ignorance leads them to form prejudices 
against the truth; but he confounds those who take them up 
through envy and malice, and endeavour to communicate them to 
others.

Verse 47. Behold an Israelite indeed] A worthy descendant of 
the patriarch Jacob, who not only professes to believe in 
Israel's God, but who worships him in sincerity and truth, 
according to his light.

In whom is no guile!] Deceitfulness ever has been, and still 
is, the deeply marked characteristic of the Jewish people. To 
find a man, living in the midst of so much corruption, 
walking in uprightness before his Maker, was a subject worthy 
the attention of God himself. Behold this man! and, while you 
see and admire, imitate his conduct.

Verse 48. Whence knowest thou me?] He was not yet acquainted 
with the divinity of Christ, could not conceive that he could 
search his heart, and therefore asks how he could acquire 
this knowledge of him, or who had given him that character. 
It is the comfort of the sincere and upright, that God knows 
their hearts; and it should be the terror of the deceitful 
and of the hypocrite, that their false dealing is ever 
noticed by the all-seeing eye of God.

Under the fig tree] Probably engaged in prayer with God, for 
the speedy appearing of the salvation of Israel; and the 
shade of this fig tree was perhaps the ordinary place of 
retreat for this upright man. It is not A fig tree, but thn 
sukhn, THE fig tree, one particularly distinguished from the 
others. There are many proofs that the Jewish rabbins chose 
the shade of trees, and particularly the fig tree, to sit and 
study under. See many examples in Schoettgen. How true is the 
saying, The eyes of the Lord are through all the earth, 
beholding the evil and the good! Wheresoever we are, 
whatsoever we are about, may a deep conviction of this truth 
rest upon our hearts, Thou God seest ME! 

Verse 49. Rabbi] That is, Teacher! and so this word should be 
translated.

Thou art the Son of God] The promised Messiah.

Thou art the King of Israel.] The real descendant of David, 
who art to sit on that spiritual throne of which the throne 
of David was the type.

Verse 50. Because I said-I saw thee, &c.] As thou hast 
credited my Divine mission on this simple proof, that I saw 
thee when and where no human eye, placed where mine was, 
could see thee, thy faith shall not rest merely upon this, 
for thou shalt see greater things than these-more numerous 
and express proofs of my eternal power and Godhead.

Verse 51. Verily, verily] Amen, amen. The doubling of this 
word probably came from this circumstance: that it was 
written both in Hebrew ma and in Greek amhn, signifying, it 
is true.

Heaven open] This seems to be a figurative expression: 1. 
Christ may be understood by this saying to mean, that a clear 
and abundant revelation of God's will should be now made unto 
men; that heaven itself should be laid as it were open, and 
all the mysteries which had been shut up and hidden in it 
from eternity, relative to the salvation and glorification of 
man; should be now fully revealed. 2. That by the angels of 
God ascending and descending, is to be understood, that a 
perpetual intercourse should now be opened between heaven and 
earth, through the medium of Christ, who was God manifested 
in the flesh. Our blessed Lord is represented in his 
mediatorial capacity as the ambassador of God to men; and the 
angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man, is a 
metaphor taken from the custom of despatching couriers or 
messengers from the prince to his ambassador in a foreign 
court, and from the ambassador back to the prince.

This metaphor will receive considerable light when compared 
with 2 Cor. v. 19, 20: God was in Christ reconciling the 
world unto himself:-We are ambassadors for Christ, as though 
God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead to 
be reconciled to God. The whole concerns of human salvation 
shall be carried on, from henceforth, through the Son of man; 
and an incessant intercourse be established between heaven 
and earth. Some have illustrated this passage by the account 
of Jacob's vision, Gen. xxviii. 12. But though that vision 
may intimate that God had established at that time a 
communication between heaven and earth, through the medium of 
angels, yet it does not appear that our Lord's saying here 
has any reference to it; but that it should be understood as 
stated above.

What a glorious view does this give us of the Gospel 
dispensation! It is heaven opened to earth; and heaven opened 
on earth. The Church militant and the Church triumphant 
become one, and the whole heavenly family, in both, see and 
adore their common Lord. Neither the world nor the Church is 
left to the caprices of time or chance. The Son of man 
governs as he upholds all. Wherever we are praying, studying, 
hearing, meditating, his gracious eye is upon us. He notes 
our wants, our weakness, and our petitions; and his eye 
affects his heart. Let us be without guile, deeply, 
habitually sincere, serious, and upright; and then we may 
rest assured, that not only the eye, but the hand, of our 
Lord shall be ever upon us for good.

Happy the man whose heart can rejoice in the reflection, Thou 
God seest me! 1. TESTIMONIES CONCERNING THE LOGOS, OR WORD OF 
GOD; From the Chaldee Targums.

The person here styled the Logos is called hwhy rbd debar 
yehovah, the Word of Jehovah, Gen. xv. 1, 4; 1 Sam. iii. 7, 
21; xv. 10; 1 Kings xiii. 9, 17; xix. 9, 15; Psa. cvii. 20; 
and the Targums, or Chaldee paraphrases, frequently 
substitute yyd armym meymra d'yay, the word of the Lord, for 
hwhy Jehovah himself. Thus the Jerusalem Targum in Gen. iii. 
22, and both that and the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, in 
Gen. xix. 24.

And Onkelos, on Gen. iii. 8, for the voice of the Lord God, 
has, the voice of the WORD of the Lord. The Jerusalem Targum 
on Gen. i. 27, for, And God created man, has, The WORD of 
Jehovah created, &c. Compare Targum Jonathan, on Isa. xlv. 
12; xlviii. 13; Jer. xxvii. 5. And on Gen. xxii. 14, that of 
Jerusalem says, Abraham invoked, yyd armym µb beshem meymra 
d'yay, in the name of the WORD of the Lord, and said, THOU 
art Jehovah. So Onkelos, Gen. xxviii. 20, 21, If the WORD of 
Jehovah will be my help-then the WORD of Jehovah shall be my 
God. See Parkhurst under the word logov.

After a serious reading of the Targums, it seems to me 
evident that the Chaldee term armym meymra, or WORD, is taken 
personally, in a multitude of places in them. When Jonathan 
ben Uzziel speaks of the Supreme Being as doing or saying any 
thing, he generally represents him as performing the whole by 
this Meymra, or WORD, which he considers, not as a speech or 
word spoken, but as a person distinct from the Most High, and 
to whom he attributes all the operations of the Deity. To 
attempt to give the word any other meaning than this, in 
various places throughout the Targums, would, in my opinion, 
be flat opposition to every rule of construction; though, 
like the Greek word logov, it has other acceptations in 
certain places. See Lightfoot.

2. Testimonies concerning the personality, attributes, and 
influence of the WORD of GOD, taken from the Zend Avesta, and 
other writings attributed to Zoroaster.

"Let thy terrible WORD which I pronounce, O Ormusd! elevate 
itself on high. May it be great before thee, and satisfy my 
desires!" ZEND AVESTA, vol. i. Vendidad Sade, p. 104.

Zoroaster consulted Ormusd, and spoke thus to him: "O Ormusd, 
absorbed in excellence, just Judge of the world, pure, who 
existest by thy own power, what is that great WORD given by 
God, that living and powerful WORD, O Ormusd, tell me 
plainly, which existed before the heavens, before the water, 
before the earth, before the flocks, before the fire, the 
CHILD of ORMUSD, before men, before the whole race of 
existing beings, before all the benefits, and before all the 
pure germs given by Ormusd?" Ormusd replied: "Pronounce that 
great WORD well, That WORD which existed before heaven was 
made, before the water, before the earth, before brute 
animals, before men, and before the holy angels 
(amschaspands.) I pronounced that word with majesty, and all 
the pure beings which are, and which have been, and which 
shall be, were formed. I continue to pronounce it in its 
utmost extent, and abundance is multiplied." Ibid. p. 138, 
139.

"By his original WORD, Ormusd created the world and 
vanquished Ahriman, the genius of evil." Ibid. p. 140, not. 
1.

"The saints in heaven and earth pronounce the sacred WORD:-
under the character of Honover (i.e. pure desire) it is 
worshipped." Ibid. 141.

"Ormusd, together with the luminous and excellent WORD, is 
invoked, to defend the true worshipper from the oppression of 
evil spirits." Ibid. p. 174.

"Man is healed by the supreme word." Ibid. p. 324.

"By this WORD all defiled places are rendered pure: fire, 
water, earth, trees, flocks, men, women, stars, moon, sun, 
and the primeval light, with all the blessings given by 
Ormusd, are purified by it." Ibid. p. 368.

The word of Ormusd is termed, "Ezem bate, I AM;" and is 
represented as "putting every thing in a safe state-as the 
author of abundance; the source of all productions; the holy, 
pure, precious, and desirable word, which watches over all 
the creation." Ibid. Jescht Rashne Rast. vol. ii. p. 239.

It is called, "The excellent, elevated, and victorious word: 
the source of light; the principle of action, which smites 
and triumphs; which gives health; discomfits wicked men and 
spirits; which exists through all the world, destroying the 
evil, and fulfilling the desires of the good." Ibid.

Jescht of Ormusd, vol. ii. p. 145.

The Word is invoked as-"The pure word-the most pure word: the 
strong-the most strong: the extended and ancient-the most 
extended and the most ancient: the victorious-the most 
victorious: the salutary-the most salutary: which gives 
health-is the abundant source of health, and cures wounds and 
diseases of all kinds." Ibid. Jescht of Ardebehesht, vol. ii. 
p.

157.

It is termed, "The creator, or creating principle." Ibid. 
Jescht of Farvardin, vol. ii. p. 252.

"Prayer is made to the soul of the excellent WORD, the body 
of which is supremely luminous." Ibid. p. 262.

"Through the whole government of Ormusd, men are commanded to 
invoke that most pure and excellent WORD." Ibid. p. 264.

That the word, in the above places, does not mean the sacred 
books of the Parsees, it is expressly said, that-"The law of 
the Mazdejesnans (the disciples of Zoroaster) comes from this 
superexcellent Word." Ibid.

Si-Rouze; Mansrespand, p. 323, 354.

"The law is the body under which the primitive WORD, which 
created the world, is manifested. The primitive WORD 
therefore is worshipped in reading and reverencing that law; 
and the effects produced in the soul by it are no less than a 
new creation, in some sort similar to that which this omnific 
Word formed in the beginning." Ibid. vol. ii. p. 595.

"The WORD proceeds from the first principle, time without 
bounds, i.e. eternity: it is before all created beings, and by it 
all the creation of God has been formed." Ibid. vol. ii. p. 592.

I find a word of the same import, used in exactly the same 
sense, in the Zend Avesta, attributed to the ancient Persian 
lawgiver, Zoroaster.

One might suppose that Mohammed had she first chapter of St. 
John's Gospel in his eye when he wrote ver. 33, of Surat 
xix., of his Koran: -  Zalyka Isa. ibno Mareema Kawlolhokki, 
This is Jesus the Son of Mary, the WORD of TRUTH.-Some may 
understand the Arabic differently: This is a true word, that 
Jesus is the son of Mary.

3. TESTIMONIES CONCERNING THE LOGOS OR WORD OF GOD; From 
Philo Judaeus.

After I had begun my collections from Philo Judaeus relative 
to the Logos, I casually met with a work of the late very 
learned Mr. Jacob Bryant, entitled, The sentiments of Philo 
Judaeus concerning the logov, or WORD of GOD. 8vo. Cambridge, 
1797. From this valuable tract I shall make a few extracts, 
and beg leave to refer the reader to the pamphlet itself.

"Philo Judaeus speaks at large, in many places, of the word 
of God, the second person, which he mentions as (deuterov 
qeov) the second divinity, the great cause of all things, and 
styles him, as Plato, as well as the Jews had done before, 
the LOGOS. Of the Divine Logos, or Word, he speaks in many 
places, and maintains at large the divinity of the second 
person, and describes his attributes in a very precise and 
copious manner, styling him: (a) ton deuteron qeon ov estin 
ekeinou (qeou prwtou) logov, the second Deity, who is the 
Word of the Supreme God; (b) prwtogonon uion, his first 
begotten Son; (c) eikwn qeou, the Image of God; and (d) 
poimhn thv ierav agelhv, The shepherd of his holy flock.

In his treatise upon Creation, he speaks of the WORD, as (e) 
the Divine operator, by whom all things were disposed; and 
mentions him as (f) superior to the angels and all created 
beings, and the image and likeness of God, and says that this 
image of the true God was esteemed the same as God-(g) wv 
auton (qeon) katanoousi. (h) This LOGOS, the WORD of GOD, 
says he, is superior to all the world, and more ancient; 
being the producter of all that was produced. (i) The eternal 
Word of the everlasting God is the sure and fixed foundation, 
upon which all things depend. He mentions man as in need of 
redemption, and says, What intelligent person, who views 
mankind engaged in unworthy and wicked pursuits, but (k) must 
be grieved to the heart, and call upon that only saviour God, 
that these crimes may be extenuated, and that, by a ransom 
and price of redemption being given for his soul, it may 
again obtain its freedom! It pleased God therefore to appoint 
his LOGOS to be a mediator. (l) To his WORD the chief and 
most ancient of all in heaven, the great Author of the world 
gave this especial gift, that he should stand as a medium (or 
intercessor) between the Creator and the created; and he is 
accordingly the advocate for all mortals.

The same (m) WORD is the intercessor for man, who is always 
tending to (n) corruption: and he is the appointed messenger 
of God, the governor of all things, to man in subjection to 
him. (o) He, therefore, exhorts every person, who is able, to 
exert himself in the race which he is to run, to bend his 
course without (p) remission to the Divine WORD above, who is 
the fountain of all wisdom; that, by drinking at this sacred 
spring, he, instead of death, may obtain the reward of 
everlasting life. He repeats, continually, that the LOGOS is 
the express image of God.

(q) The WORD, by which the world was made, is the image of 
the supreme Deity. (r) As we perceive the sun's light, though 
the sun itself is not seen; and behold the brightness of the 
moon, though its orb may not appear to the eye; so men look 
up to, and acknowledge, the likeness of God, in his minister 
the LOGOS, whom they esteem as God. He attempts to describe 
his nature by representing him as, (s) not uncreated, like 
God; nor yet created, as man; but of a Divine substance. (t) 
For the WORD of God, which is above all the host of heaven, 
cannot be comprehended by human wisdom, having nothing in his 
nature that is perceptible to mortal sense.

For, being the image of God, and the eldest of all 
intelligent beings, he is seated immediately next to the one 
God, without any interval of separation. This, in the 
language of Scripture, is sitting on the right hand of God. 
He adds, (u) For not being liable to any voluntary or 
involuntary change, or falling off, he has God for his lot 
and portion, and his residence is in God. The like is 
mentioned in another place, where he is represented again as 
sinless, and as the great High Priest of the world. (v) We 
maintain, that by the (true) High Priest is not meant a man, 
but the Divine WORD, who is free from all voluntary and 
involuntary transgressions; being of heavenly parentage, born 
of God, and of that Divine Wisdom by which all things were 
produced. He speaks to the same purpose in another place, 
there he makes mention of the WORD. (w) en w kai arciereuv, o 
prwtogonov autou (qeou) qeiov logov, In which presides that 
High Priest, the holy WORD, the first-born of God; at other 
times styled, presbutatov uiov qeou, the Son of God, 
antecedent to all creation. (x) touton men gar presbutaton 
uion o twn ontwn aneteile pathr, on eterwqi prwtogonon 
wnomase. It is manifest that every attribute which the sacred 
writers have given to Christ, in his mediatorial capacity, 
Philo has attributed to him in his Divine character, 
antecedent to creation, page 15-22.

Mr. Bryant thinks that Philo derived all this knowledge, 
concerning the Logos, from the apostles, and the works and 
conversation of Christian writers; for it is very probable 
that Philo was contemporary with our Lord himself. Mr. B. is 
so well satisfied that Philo derived all this knowledge from 
these sources that he goes on to ask: - "Whence else could he 
have obtained so many terms which bear such an analogy with 
the expressions and doctrines in the apostolical writings? 
Such are uiov qeou, logov prwtogonov, presbutatov, aidiov, 
logov arciereuv, mesov, meqoriov, ikethv tou qnhtou, 
dhmiourgov, poimhn thv lerav agelhv, Æuparcov qeou, sfragiv, 
eikwn teou, fwv, pneuma qeou, pneuma pansofon. We read 
farther concerning redemption, and-lutra kai swstra, the 
price and ransom for the soul, anti qanatou zwhn aidion, and 
nouv anqrwpou naov qeou. To these other instances might be 
added equally significant; few of which are to be found in 
the Greek version, or in any Jewish doctrines, at least in 
the acceptation given. They were obtained either from the 
conversation, or from the writings, of the first Christians; 
or rather from both." Page 202.

At p. 105, Mr. B. gives "A recapitulation of the characters 
and attributes of the Logos, with the collateral evidence 
from Scripture." This, with some other matters of a 
collateral import, he argues in 52 particulars, from which I 
have extracted the following, as being most closely allied to 
the subject, inserting the original words along with the 
translation. The references, in all cases, are to Dr. 
Mangey's edition of Philo, 2 vols. fol. Lond. 1742.

4. A LIST OF SOME OF THE PARTICULAR TERMS AND DOCTRINES FOUND 
IN PHILO, WITH PARALLEL PASSAGES FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT.

1. The Logos is the Son of God-uiov qeou. Deuteronomy Agric. 
vol. i. p. 308; Deuteronomy Profug. ib. p. 5l12: compare Mark i. 1; 
Luke iv. 41; ver. 34; Acts viii. 37.

2. The second divinity-deuterov qeov logov. Fragm. vol. ii. 
p. 625: comp. ver. 1: 1 Cor. i. 24.

3. The first-begotten of God-logov protogonov. Deuteronomy 
Somniis, vol. i. p. 6l3: comp. Heb. i. 6; Colossiansi. 15.

4. The image of God-eikwn tou qeou. Deuteronomy Mundi Opific. 
vol.

i. p. 6, 414, 419, 656. comp. Colossiansi. 15; Heb. i. 3; 2 
Cor. iv. 4.

5. Superior to angels-uperanw pantwn (aggelwn) logov qeiov.

Deuteronomy Profugis, vol. i. p. 5l11: comp. Heb. i. 4, 6.

6. Superior to all the world-Æo logov-uperanw pantov esti.

Deuteronomy Leg. Allegor. vol. i. p. c21: comp. Heb. ii. 8.

7. By whom the world was created-ton qeion logon ton tauta 
diakosmhsanta. Deuteronomy Mund. Opif. vol. i. p. i5: comp. 
chap. i. 3; 1 Cor. viii. 6; Heb. i. 2, 10.

8. The great substitute of God-uparcov tou qeou. Deuteronomy 
Agricult. vol. i. p. 308: comp. ver. 3; xvii. 4; Eph. iii. 9; 
Phil. ii. 7.

9. The light of the world-fwv kosmou: and intellectual sun-
hliov nohtov.

Deuteronomy Somniis, vol. i. p. 6, 414, 632, 6x23: comp. ver. 
4, 9; viii. 12; 1Pet ii. 9.

10. Who only can see God-w monw ton qeon exesti kaqoran.

Deuteronomy Confus. Linguar. vol. i. p. 418: comp. ver. 18; 
vi. 46.

11. Who resides in God-en autw monw katoikhsei. Deuteronomy 
Profug. vol. i. p. 5l11: comp. ver. 1, 18; xiv. 11.

12. The most ancient of God's works, and before all things-
presbutatov twn osa gegone. Deuteronomy Confus. Ling. vol. i. 
p. 427; Deuteronomy Leg. Allegor. ib. p. c21: comp. ver. 2; 
xvii. 5, 24; 2 Tim. i. 9; Heb. i. 2.

13. Esteemed the same as God-logon wv auton (qeon) 
katanoousi.

Deuteronomy Somniis, vol. i. p. 6l6: comp. Mark ii. 7; Romans 
ix. 5; Phil. ii. 6.

14. The Logos is eternal-o aidiov logov. Deuteronomy Plant. 
Noae, vol.

i. p. 332, and vol. ii. p. 60i5: comp. chap. xii. 34; 2 Tim. 
i. 9; iv. 18; Heb. i. 8; Rev. x. 6.

15. Beholds all things-oxuderkestatov, wv panta eforan einai 
ikanov. Deuteronomy Leg. Allegor. vol. i. p. c21: comp. 
Hebrews iv. 12, 13; Rev. ii. 23.

16. He unites, supports, preserves, and perfects the world-o 
te gar tou ontov logov, desmov wn twn apantwn-sunecei ta merh 
panta, kai sfiggei-periecei ta ola, kai peplhrwken. 
Deuteronomy Prof. vol. i.

p. 562; Fragm. vol. ii. p. 6l5: comp. chap. iii. 35; 
Colossiansi. 17; Heb. i. 3.

17. Nearest to God without any separation-o eggutatw mhdenov 
ontov meqoriou diasthmatov. Deuteronomy Profug. vol. i. p. 
5l11: comp. ver. 18; x. 30; xiv. 11; xvii. 11.

18. Free from all taint of sin, voluntary or involuntary-aneu 
trophv ekousiou-kai thv akousiou. Deuteronomy Profug. vol. i. 
p. 5l11: comp. chap. viii. 46; Heb. vii. 26; ix. 14; 1 Pet. 
ii. 22.

19. Who presides over the imperfect and weak-outov gar hmwn 
twn atelwn an eih qeov. Deuteronomy Leg. Allegor. vol. i. p. 
cx18: comp. Matt. xi. 5; Luke v. 32; 1 Tim. i. 15.

20. The Logos, the fountain of wisdom-logon qeion, ov sofiav 
esti phgh. Deuteronomy Profug. vol. i. p. 560, 5l16: comp. 
chap. iv. 14; chap. vii. 38; 1 Cor. i. 24; Colossiansii. 3.

21. A messenger sent from God-presbeuthv tou hgemonov prov to 
uphkoon. Quis Rer. Div. Haeres. vol. i. p. 501: comp. chap. 
v. 36; viii. 29, 42; 1 John iv. 9.

22. The advocate for mortal man-ikethv men esti tou qnhtou. 
Quis Rer. Div. Haer. vol. i. p. 501: comp. chap. xiv. 16; 
xvii. 20; Rom. viii. 34; Heb. vii. 25.

23. He ordered and disposed of all things-dieile kai dieneime 
panta.

Ib. p. 506: comp. Colossiansi. 15, 16; Heb. xi. 3.

24. The shepherd of God's flock-ton orqon autou logon,-ov thn 
epimeleian thv ierav tauthv agelhv. Deuteronomy Agricul. vol. 
i. p. 308: comp. chap. x. 14; Heb. xiii. 20; 1 Pet. ii. 25.

25. Of the power and royalty of the Logos-o tou hgemonov 
logov-kai basilikh dunamiv autou. Deuteronomy Profug. vol. i. 
p. 5l11: comp. 1 Cor. xv. 25; Eph. i. 21, 22; Heb. i. 2, 3; 
Rev. xvii. 14.

28. The Logos is the physician, who heals all evil-ton 
aggelon (ov esti logov) wsper iatron kakwn. Deuteronomy Leg. 
Allegor. vol. i. p. c22: comp. Luke iv. 18; vii. 21; 1 Pet. 
ii. 24; James i. 21.

27. The Logos is the seal of God-o de-estin h sfragiv. 
Deuteronomy Profug. vol. i. pp. 547, 548; Deuteronomy Plant. 
Noae, ib. p. 3x22: comp. chap. vi. 27; Eph. i. 13; Heb. i. 3.

28. The sure refuge of those who seek him-efÆ on prwton 
katafeugein-wfelimwtaton. Deuteronomy Profug. ib. p. 5l10: 
comp. Matt. xi. 28; 1 Pet. ii. 25.

29. Of heavenly food distributed by the Logos equally to all 
who seek it-thn ouranion trofhn yuchv. Quis Rer. Divin. Haer. 
vol. i. p. 4xci10: comp. Matt. v. 6; vii. 7; xiii. 10; xxiv. 
14; xxviii. 19; Rom. x. 12, 18.

30. Of men's forsaking their sins, and obtaining spiritual 
freedom by the Logos-eleuqeria thv yuchv Deuteronomy Cong. 
Quaer. Erud. Grat. vol.

i. p. 534; Deuteronomy Prof. ib. pp. 561, 5l13: comp. chap. 
viii. 36; 1 Cor. vii. 22; 2 Cor. iii. 17; Gal. v. 1, 13.

31. Of men's being freed by the Logos from all corruption, 
and entitled to immortality-o ierov logov etimhse, gerav 
exaireton douv, klhron aqanaton, thn en afqartw genei taxin. 
Deuteronomy Cong. Quaer. Erud. Grat. vol. i. p. 5x25: comp. 
Rom. viii. 21; 1 Corinthians xv. 52, 53; 1 Pet. i. 3, 4.

32. The Logos mentioned by Philo, not only as uiov qeou, the 
Son of God; but also, agaphton teknon, his beloved Son. 
Deuteronomy Leg. Allegor. vol. i. p. cx19: comp. Matt. iii. 
17; Luke ix. 36; Colossiansi. 13; 2 Pet. i. 17.

33. The just man advanced by the Logos to the presence of his 
Creator-tw autw logw-idrusav plhsion eautou. Deuteronomy 
Sacrificiis, vol. i.

p. 1l15: comp. chap. vi. 37, 44; xii. 26; xiv. 6.

34. The Logos, the true high priest-arciereuv, o prwtogonov 
autou qeiov logov. Deuteronomy Somniis, vol. i. p. 653; 
Deuteronomy Profug.

ib. p. 5l12: comp. ver. 41; viii. 46; Acts iv. 27; Heb. iv. 
14; vii. 26.

35. The Logos in his mediatorial capacity-logov arciereuv 
meqoriov: of whom he says, qaumazw kai ton meta spoudhv 
apneusti dramonta suntonwv ieron logon, ina sth mesov twn 
teqnhkotwn kai twn zwntwn. "I am astonished to see the Holy 
Logos running with so much speed and earnestness, that he may 
stand between the living and the dead." Quis Rer. Divinar. 
Haeres. vol. i. p. 501: comp. 1 Tim. ii. 5; Heb. viii. 1-6; 
ix. 11, 12, 24.

These testimonies are truly astonishing: and if we allow, as 
some contend, that Philo was not acquainted either with the 
disciples of our Lord, or the writings of the New Testament, 
we shall be obliged to grant that there must have been some 
measure of Divine inspiration in that man's mind, who could, 
in such a variety of cases, write so many words and 
sentences, so exactly corresponding to those of the 
evangelists and apostles.

5. Testimonies concerning a Trinity among the Chinese, and 
concerning the Word of God.

Among the ancient Chinese characters which have been 
preserved, we find the following [Chinese], like the Greek 
delta, and since written [Chinese].

According to the Chinese Dictionary Kang-hi, this character 
signifies union. According to Choueouen, a celebrated work, 
[Chinese] is three united in one. The Lieou chou tsing hoen, 
which is a rational and learned explanation of ancient 
characters, says: "[Chinese] signifies intimate union, 
harmony, the chief good of man, of the heaven, and of the 
earth: it is the union of three." The book Se-hi says, 
"Formerly the emperor made a solemn sacrifice every three 
years to the Spirit Trinity in Unity." [Chinese] ehin san Y.

The word Tao in ordinary discourse signifies rule, law, 
wisdom, truth, way, word. In the text of Lao tse it signifies 
the Divinity. "Tao (says he) is an abyss of perfections which 
comprehends all beings. The Tao which can be described is not 
the eternal Tao. The Tao is its own rule and model.

The Tao preserves the heavens, and sustains the earth. It is 
so elevated that none can reach it; so deep that none can 
fathom it; so immense that it contains the universe; and, 
notwithstanding, it is complete in the smallest things." "He 
who is as visible, and yet cannot be seen, is denominated 
lieou [Chinese]; he who can be heard, and yet speaks not to 
the ears, hi; he who is as tangible, and yet cannot be felt, 
is named ouci: in vain do you consult your senses concerning 
these three; your reason alone can discourse of them, and it 
will tell you that they are but one: above, there is no 
light; below, there is no darkness. He is eternal. There is 
no name which can designate him. He bears no similitude to 
any created thing. He is an image without form; and a form 
without matter. His light is encompassed with darkness. If 
you look upwards, you cannot see his commencement: if you 
follow him, you cannot discover his end. What the Tao has 
always been, such he continues to be: for he is eternal, and 
the commencement of wisdom." One of the missionaries at 
Peking, who wrote the letter from which I have made the above 
extracts, takes it for granted that the mystery of the 
Trinity was known among the ancient Chinese, and that the 
character [Chinese] was its symbol. Lettre sur les 
Characteres Chinois, 4to.

Bruxelles, 1773.

IT is remarkable that Moses and the prophets, the ancient 
Chaldee Targumists, the author or authors of the Zend Avesta, 
Plato and the first philosophers of Greece, Philo the Jew, 
John and the apostles, and perhaps even Mohammed himself, 
should all so perfectly coincide in their ideas concerning a 
glorious person in the Godhead! This must have been more than 
the effect of accident. Moses and the prophets received this 
Divine doctrine from God himself: it was afterwards confirmed 
to the apostles by Divine inspiration; and ancient 
philosophers and lawgivers borrowed from both.

CHAPTER ii.

The miracle at Cana in Galilee, where our Lord changed water 
into wine, 1-11. He goes to Capernaum, 12. He purges the 
temple at the feast of the passover, 13-17. The Jews require 
a miracle, as a proof that he had authority to do these 
things, 18. In answer he refers to his own death and 
resurrection, 19-22. Many believe on him while at the feast 
of the passover, to whom Jesus would not trust himself, 23-
25.

NOTES ON CHAP. ii.

Verse 1. Cana of Galilee] This was a small city in the tribe 
of Asher, Josh. xix. 28, and by saying this was Cana of 
Galilee, the evangelist distinguishes it from another Cana, 
which was in the tribe of Ephraim, in the Samaritan country. 
See Josh. xvi. 8; xvii. 9.

Some suppose that the third day, mentioned here, refers to 
the third day of the marriage feast: such feasts lasting 
among the Jews seven days. See Judg. xiv. 12, 17, 18, and 
Bishop Pearce.

The mother of Jesus was there] Some of the ancients have 
thought that this was the marriage of John the evangelist, 
who is supposed to have been a near relative of our Lord. See 
the sketch of his life prefixed to these notes.

Verse 2. And both Jesus was called, and his disciples] There 
are several remarkable circumstances here. 1. This was 
probably the first Christian wedding that was ever in the 
world.

2. The great Author of the Christian religion, with his 
disciples, (probably then only four or five in number, see 
chap. i. 37, &c.,) were invited to it.

3. The first miracle Jesus Christ wrought was at it, and in 
honour of it.

4. The mother of Christ, the most pure of all virgins, the 
most holy of all wives, and the first Christian mother, was 
also at it.

5. The marriage was according to God, or these holy persons 
would not have attended it.

6. The bride and bridegroom must have been a holy pair, 
otherwise they would have had nothing to do with such holy 
company.

Marriage is ever honourable in itself; but it is not at all 
times used honourably. Where Jesus is not invited to bless 
the union, no good can be expected; and where the disciples 
of sin and Satan are preferred to the disciples of Christ, on 
such occasions, it is a melancholy intimation that so bad a 
beginning will have a bad ending. I am afraid we may search 
long, before we find a marriage conducted on such principles 
as this appears to have been, even among those who make more 
than a common profession of the religion of Christ.

Verse 3. They have no wine.] Though the blessed virgin is 
supposed to have never seen her son work a miracle before 
this time, yet she seems to have expected him to do something 
extraordinary on this occasion; as, from her acquaintance 
with him, she must have formed some adequate idea of his 
power and goodness.

Verse 4. Woman, what have I to do with thee?] ti emoi kai 
soi, gunai: O, woman, what is this to thee and me? This is an 
abrupt denial, as if he had said: "WE are not employed to 
provide the necessaries for this feast: this matter belongs 
to others, who should have made a proper and sufficient 
provision for the persons they had invited." The words seem 
to convey a reproof to the virgin, for meddling with that 
which did not particularly concern her. The holiest persons 
are always liable to errors of judgment: and should ever 
conduct themselves with modesty and humility, especially in 
those things in which the providence of God is particularly 
concerned. But here indeed there appears to be no blame. It 
is very likely the bride or bridegroom's family were 
relatives of the blessed virgin; and she would naturally 
suppose that our Lord would feel interested for the honour 
and comfort of the family, and, knowing that he possessed 
extraordinary power, made this application to him to come 
forward to their assistance. Our Lord's answer to his mother, 
if properly translated, is far from being disrespectful. He 
addresses the virgin as he did the Syrophoenician woman, 
Matt. xv. 28; as he did the Samaritan woman, chap. iv. 21, as 
he addressed his disconsolate mother when he hung upon the 
cross, chap. xix. 26; as he did his most affectionate friend 
Mary Magdalene, chap. xx. 15, and as the angels had addressed 
her before, chap. xx. 13; and as St. Paul does the believing 
Christian woman, 1 Cor. vii. 16; in all which places the same 
term, gunai which occurs in this verse, is used; and where 
certainly no kind of disrespect is intended, but, on the 
contrary, complaisance, affability, tenderness, and concern 
and in this sense it is used in the best Greek writers.

Mine hour is not yet come.] Or, my time, for in this sense 
the word wra is often taken. My time for working a miracle is 
not yet fully come. What I do, I do when necessary, and not 
before. Nature is unsteady-full of haste; and ever 
blundering, in consequence. It is the folly and sin of men 
that they are ever finding fault with the Divine providence. 
According to them, God never does any thing in due time-he is 
too early or too late: whereas it is utterly impossible for 
the Divine wisdom to forestall itself; or for the Divine 
goodness to delay what is necessary.

Verse 5. His mother saith, &c.] The virgin seems to have 
understood our Lord as hinted above. It was not yet time to 
grant them a supply, because the want had not as yet been 
generally felt. But, silently receiving the respectful 
caution, she saw that the miracle should be wrought when it 
best suited the purposes of the Divine wisdom.

Verse 6. After the manner of the purifying of the Jews] Or, 
for the purpose of the purifying of the Jews. The preposition 
kata, which I have translated, for the purpose, often denotes 
in the best Greek writers the final cause of a thing. See 
several examples produced by Raphelius, from Arrian and 
Herodotus. These six vessels were set in a convenient place, 
for the purpose of the Jews washing their hands before they 
sat down to meat, and probably for other purposes of 
purification. See this custom referred to in Matthew xv. 2. 
As to the number six, we need seek for no mystery in it; the 
number of pots was proportioned to the number of the guests.

Containing two or three firkins apiece.] Measures or 
metretes, metrhtav. Bishop Cumberland supposes that the 
Syrian metretes is here meant, which he computes to have held 
seven pints and one eighth of a pint; and, if this 
computation be right, the whole six water pots might have 
contained about fourteen gallons and a quart. Others make 
each metretes to contain ten gallons and two pints: see 
Arbuthnot. But the contents of the measures of the ancients 
are so very uncertain that it is best, in this and numberless 
other cases, to attempt to determine nothing.

Verse 8. Governor of the feast.] The original word, 
arcitriklinov, signifies one who is chief or head over three 
couches, or tables. In the Asiatic countries, they take their 
meals sitting, or rather reclining, on small low couches. And 
when many people are present, so that they cannot all eat 
together, three of these low tables or couches are put 
together in form of a crescent, and some one of the guests is 
appointed to take charge of the persons who sit at these 
tables. Hence the appellation of architriclinus, the chief 
over three couches or tables, which in process of time became 
applied to the governor or steward of a feast, let the guests 
be many or few; and such person, having conducted the 
business well, had a festive crown put on his head by the 
guests, at the conclusion of the feast. See Ecclesiasticus, 
xxxii. 1-3. It is very common for the Hindoos to appoint a 
person who is expert in conducting the ceremonies of a feast 
to manage as governor. This person is seldom the master of 
the house.

And they bare it.] A question has been asked, "Did our Lord 
turn all the water into wine which the six measures 
contained?" To which I answer: There is no proof that he did; 
and I take it for granted that he did not. It may be asked, 
"How could a part be turned into wine, and not the whole?" To 
which I answer: The water, in all likelihood, was changed 
into wine as it was drawn out, and not otherwise. "But did 
not our Lord by this miracle minister to vice, by producing 
an excess of inebriating liquor?" No; for the following 
reasons: 1. The company was a select and holy company, where 
no excess could be permitted. And, 2. Our Lord does not 
appear to have furnished any extra quantity, but only what 
was necessary. "But it is intimated in the text that the 
guests were nearly intoxicated before this miraculous 
addition to their wine took place; for the evangelist says, 
otan mequsqwsi, when they have become intoxicated." I answer: 
1. It is not intimated, even in the most indirect manner, 
that these guests were at all intoxicated. 2. The words are 
not spoken of the persons at that wedding at all: the 
governor of the feast only states that such was the common 
custom at feasts of this nature; without intimating that any 
such custom prevailed there. 3. The original word bears a 
widely different meaning from that which the objection forces 
upon it. The verbs mequskw and mequw, from mequ, wine, which, 
from meta quein, to drink after sacrificing, signify not only 
to inebriate, but to take wine, to drink wine, to drink 
enough: and in this sense the verb is evidently used in the 
Septuagint, Gen. xliii. 34; So v. 1; 1 Macc. xvi. 16; Haggai 
i. 6; Ecclus. i. 16. And the Prophet Isaiah, Isa. lviii. 11, 
speaking of the abundant blessings of the godly, compares 
them to a watered garden, which the Septuagint translate, wv 
khpov mequwn, by which is certainly understood, not a garden 
drowned with water, but one sufficiently saturated with it, 
not having one drop too much, nor too little.

Verse 10. The good wine until now.] That which our Lord now 
made being perfectly pure, and highly nutritive!

Verse 11. This beginning of miracles] It was probably the 
first he ever wrought:-at any rate, it was the first he 
wrought after his baptism, and the first he wrought publicly.

His glory] His supreme Divinity: chap. i. 14.

His disciples believed on him.] Were more abundantly 
confirmed in their faith, that he was either the promised 
Messiah, or a most extraordinary prophet, in the fullest 
intercourse with the ever blessed God.

Verse 13. And the Jews' passover was at hand] This was the 
reason why he stayed but a few days at Capernaum, ver. 12, as 
he wished to be present at the celebration of this feast at 
Jerusalem.

This was the first passover after Christ's baptism. The 
second is mentioned, Luke vi. 1. The third, chap. vi. 4. And 
the fourth, which was that at which he was crucified, chap. 
xi. 55. From which it appears, 1. That our blessed Lord 
continued his public ministry about three years and a half, 
according to the prophecy of Daniel, Dan. ix. 27. And, 2. 
That, having been baptized about the beginning of his 
thirtieth year, he was crucified precisely in the middle of 
his thirty-third. See Martin.

Verse 14. Found in the temple those that sold oxen, &c.] This 
is a similar fact to that mentioned Matt. xxi. 12; Mark xi. 
15; Luke xix. 45. See it explained on Matt. xxi. 12. If it be 
the same fact, then John anticipates three years of time in 
relating it here; as that cleansing of the temple mentioned 
by the other evangelists took place in the last week of our 
Lord's life. Mr. Mann, Dr. Priestley, and Bp. Pearce, contend 
that our Lord cleansed the temple only once; and that was at 
the last passover.

Calvin, Mr. Mede, L'Enfant and Beausobre, Dr. Lardner, Bp. 
Hurd, and Bp. Newcome, contend that he purged the temple 
twice; and that this, mentioned by John, was the first 
cleansing, which none of the other evangelists have 
mentioned. Let the reader, says Bp. Newcome, observe the 
order of events.

"Jesus works his first miracle at Cana of Galilee, ver. 11; 
then he passes a few days at Capernaum, which bring him on 
his way to Jerusalem, ver. 12. The passover being near, he 
goes up to Jerusalem, ver. 13, and casts the traders out of 
the temple, chap. ii. 15, 16, At the passover he works many 
miracles, ver. 23. While he is in Jerusalem, which city he 
does not leave till, chap. iii. 22, Nicodemus comes to him by 
night, chap. iii. 1, 2. John iii. 2 contains a reference to 
ver. 23. After these things, Jesus departs from Jerusalem, 
and dwells and baptizes in Judea, chap. iii. 22. And all 
these incidents take place before John was cast into prison, 
ver. 24.

But the second cleansing of the temple happens most clearly 
during the last week of our Lord's life, after the death of 
the Baptist, and at a time when it would be absurd to say 
that afterwards Jesus dwelt and baptized in Judea." The 
vindication of God's house from profanation was the first and 
the last care of our Lord; and it is probable he began and 
finished his public ministry by this significant act.

It certainly appears that John directly asserts an early 
cleansing of the temple, by the series of his history; as the 
other three evangelists assert a later cleansing of it. And 
though the act mentioned here seems to be nearly the same 
with that mentioned by the other evangelists, yet there are 
some differences. St. John alone mentions the scourge of 
rushes, and the casting out of the sheep and oxen. Besides, 
there is a considerable difference in our Lord's manner of 
doing it: in the cleansing mentioned by the three 
evangelists, he assumes a vast deal of authority, and speaks 
more pointedly concerning himself, than he appears to do in 
this cleansing mentioned by St. John: the reason which has 
been given is, In the first cleansing he was just entering 
upon his public ministry, and therefore avoided (as much as 
was consistent with the accomplishment of his work) the 
giving any offense to the Jewish rulers; but, in the last 
cleansing, he was just concluding his ministry, being about 
to offer up his life for the salvation of the world, in 
consequence of which he speaks fully and without reserve. For 
answers to all the objections made against two cleansings of 
the temple, see the notes at the end of Bp. Newcome's Greek 
Harmony of the Gospels, pp. 7-9.

Verse 17. The zeal of thine house] See Psa. lix. 10. Zeal to 
promote thy glory, and to keep thy worship pure.

Verse 18. What sign showest thou] See on Matt. xii. 38; xvi. 
1. When Moses came to deliver Israel, he gave signs, or 
miracles, that he acted under a Divine commission. What 
miracle dost thou work to show us that thou art vested with 
similar authority?

Verse 19. Destroy this temple] ton naon touton, This very 
temple; perhaps pointing to his body at the same time.

Verse 20. Forty and six years was this temple in building] 
The temple of which the Jews spake was begun to be rebuilt by 
Herod the Great, in the 18th year of his reign: Joshua. Ant. 
b. xv. c. 11, s. 1; and xx. c. 9, s. 5, 7. But though he 
finished the main work in nine years and a half, yet some 
additional buildings or repairs were constantly carried on 
for many years afterwards. Herod began the work sixteen years 
before the birth of our Lord: the transactions which are here 
related took place in the thirtieth year of our Lord, which 
make the term exactly forty-six years.

Rosenmuller. Josephus, Ant. b. xx. c. 8, s. 5, 7, has told us 
that the whole of the buildings belonging to the temple were 
not finished till Nero's reign, when Albinus, the governor of 
Judea, was succeeded by Gessius Florus, which was eighty 
years after the eighteenth year of Herod's reign. See Bp. 
Pearce.

Verse 21. Of the temple of his body.] Rather, the temple, his 
body: his body had no particular temple: but it was the 
temple of his Divinity-the place in which, as in the ancient 
temple, his Godhead dwelt; See how the Jews perverted these 
words, Matt. xxvi. 60, and the notes there.

Verse 22. Remembered that he had said this unto them] autoiv, 
to them, is wanting in AEHLMS, Matt. BV, upwards of one 
hundred others; both the Syriac; Persic, Arabic, Coptic, 
AEthiopic, Armenian, Slavonic, Vulgate, and Itala. Griesbach 
has left it out of the text.

They believed the scripture] The scripture which the 
evangelist immediately refers to may have been Psa. xvi. 10. 
Compare this with Acts ii. 31, 32, and with Acts xiii. 35-37. 
See also Psa. ii. 7, and compare it with Heb. i. 5, and Heb. 
v. 5, and with Acts xiii. 33. They understood these 
scriptures in a sense in which they never before understood 
them.

It is the property of many prophecies never to be understood 
except by their accomplishment; but these are so marked that, 
when their fulfillment takes place, they cannot be 
misunderstood, or applied to any other event.

Verse 23. Many believed in his name] They believed him to be 
the promised Messiah, but did not believe in him to the 
salvation of their souls: for we find, from the following 
verse, that their hearts were not at all changed, because our 
blessed Lord could not trust himself to them.

Verse 24. He knew all men] Instead of pantav all men, EGH, 
and about thirty others, read panta, every man, or all 
things; and this I am inclined to believe is the true 
reading. Jesus knew all things; and why? Because he made all 
things, chap. i. 3, and because he was the all-wise God, 
chap. i. 1; and he knew all men, because he alone searches 
the heart, and tries the reins. He knows who are sincere, and 
who are hypocritical: he knows those in whom he can confide, 
and those to whom he can neither trust himself nor his gifts. 
Reader, he also knows thee: thy cares, fears, perplexities, 
temptations, afflictions, desires, and hopes; thy helps and 
hinderances; the progress thou hast made in the Divine life, 
or thy declension from it. If he know thee to be hypocritical 
or iniquitous, he looks upon thee with abhorrence: if he know 
thee to be of a meek and broken spirit, he looks on thee with 
pity, complacency, and delight. Take courage-thou canst say, 
Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I do love 
thee, and mourn because I love and serve thee so little: then 
expect him to come in unto thee, and make his abode with 
thee: while thy eye and heart are simple, he will love thee, 
and thy whole soul shall be full of light.

To him be glory and dominion for ever!

CHAPTER iii.

The conversation between Nicodemus and our Lord, about the 
new birth and faith in his testimony, 1-15. The love of God, 
the source of human salvation, 16. Who are condemned, and who 
are approved, 17-21. Jesus and his disciples come to Judea, 
and baptize, 22. John baptizes in AEnon, 23, 24. The 
disciples of John and the Pharisees dispute about purifying, 
25 The discourse between John and his disciples about Christ, 
in which the excellence, perfection, and privileges, of the 
Christian dispensation are pointed out, 26-36.

NOTES ON CHAP. iii.

Verse 1. Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.] One of the members 
of the grand Sanhedrin; for such were ordinarily styled 
rulers among the Jews. A person of the name of Nicodemus, the 
son of Gorion, is mentioned in the Jewish writings, who lived 
in the time of Vespasian, and was reputed to be so rich that 
he could support all the inhabitants of Jerusalem for ten 
years.

But this is said in their usual extravagant mode of talking.

Verse 2. Came to Jesus by night] He had matters of the utmost 
importance, on which he wished to consult Christ; and he 
chose the night season, perhaps less through the fear of man 
than through a desire to have Jesus alone, as he found him 
all the day encompassed with the multitude; so that it was 
impossible for him to get an opportunity to speak fully on 
those weighty affairs concerning which he intended to consult 
him.

However, we may take it for granted that he had no design at 
present to become his disciple; as baptism and circumcision, 
which were the initiating ordinances among the Jews, were 
never administered in the night time. If any person received 
baptism by night, he was not acknowledged for a proselyte. 
See Wetstein. But as Jews were not obliged to be baptized, 
they being circumcised, and consequently in the covenant, he, 
being a Jew, would not feel any necessity of submitting to 
this rite.

Rabbi] My Master, or Teacher, a title of respect given to the 
Jewish doctors, something like our Doctor of Divinity, i.e. 
teacher of Divine things. But as there may be many found 
among us who, though they bear the title, are no teachers, so 
it was among the Jews; and perhaps it was in reference to 
this that Nicodemus uses the word didaskalov, didaskalos, 
immediately after, by which, in chap. i. 38, St. John 
translates the word rabbi. Rabbi, teacher, is often no more 
than a title of respect: didaskolos signifies a person who 
not only has the name of teacher, but who actually does 
teach.

We know that thou art a teacher come from God] We, all the 
members of the grand Sanhedrin, and all the rulers of the 
people, who have paid proper attention to thy doctrine and 
miracles. We are all convinced of this, though we are not all 
candid enough to own it. It is possible, however, that 
oidamen, we know, signifies no more than, it is known, it is 
generally acknowledged and allowed, that thou art a teacher 
come from God.

No man can do these miracles] It is on the evidence of thy 
miracles that I ground my opinion of thee. No man can do what 
thou dost, unless the omnipotence of God be with him.

Verse 3. Jesus answered] Not in the language of compliment:-
he saw the state of Nicodemus's soul, and he immediately 
addressed himself to him on a subject the most interesting 
and important. But what connection is there between our 
Lord's reply, and the address of Nicodemus? Probably our Lord 
saw that the object of his visit was to inquire about the 
Messiah's kingdom; and in reference to this he immediately 
says, Except a man be born again, &c.

The repetition of amen, or verily, verily, among the Jewish 
writers, was considered of equal import with the most solemn 
oath.

Be born again] Or, from above: different to that new birth 
which the Jews supposed every baptized proselyte enjoyed; for 
they held that the Gentile, who became a proselyte, was like 
a child new born. This birth was of water from below: the 
birth for which Christ contends is anwqen, from above-by the 
agency of the Holy Spirit. Every man must have two births, 
one from heaven, the other from earth-one of his body, the 
other of his soul: without the first he cannot see nor enjoy 
this world, without the last he can not see nor enjoy the 
kingdom of God. As there is an absolute necessity that a 
child should be born into the world, that he may see its 
light, contemplate its glories, and enjoy its good, so there 
is an absolute necessity that the soul should be brought out 
of its state of darkness and sin, through the light and power 
of the grace of Christ, that it may be able to see, idein, 
or, to discern, the glories and excellencies of the kingdom 
of Christ here, and be prepared for the enjoyment of the 
kingdom of glory hereafter. The Jews had some general notion 
of the new birth; but, like many among Christians, they put 
the acts of proselytism, baptism, &c., in the place of the 
Holy Spirit and his influence: they acknowledged that a man 
must be born again; but they made that new birth to consist 
in profession, confession, and external washing. See on ver. 
10.

The new birth which is here spoken of comprehends, not only 
what is termed justification or pardon, but also 
sanctification or holiness. Sin must be pardoned, and the 
impurity of the heart washed away, before any soul can 
possibly enter into the kingdom of God. As this new birth 
implies the renewing of the whole soul in righteousness and 
true holiness, it is not a matter that may be dispensed with: 
heaven is a place of holiness, and nothing but what is like 
itself can ever enter into it.

Verse 4. How can a man be born when he is old?] It is 
probable that Nicodemus was pretty far advanced in age at 
this time; and from his answer we may plainly perceive that, 
like the rest of the Jews, and like multitudes of Christians, 
he rested in the letter, without paying proper attention to 
the spirit: the shadow, without the thing signified, had 
hitherto satisfied him. Our Lord knew him to be in this 
state, and this was the cause of his pointed address to him.

Verse 5. Of water and of the Spirit] To the baptism of water 
a man was admitted when he became a proselyte to the Jewish 
religion; and, in this baptism, he promised in the most 
solemn manner to renounce idolatry, to take the God of Israel 
for his God, and to have his life conformed to the precepts 
of the Divine law. But the water which was used on the 
occasion was only an emblem of the Holy Spirit. The soul was 
considered as in a state of defilement, because of past sin: 
now, as by that water the body was washed, cleansed, and 
refreshed, so, by the influences of the Holy Spirit, the soul 
was to be purified from its defilement, and strengthened to 
walk in the way of truth and holiness.

When John came baptizing with water, he gave the Jews the 
plainest intimations that this would not suffice; that it was 
only typical of that baptism of the Holy Ghost, under the 
similitude of fire, which they must all receive from Jesus 
Christ: see Matthew iii. 11. Therefore, our Lord asserts that 
a man must be born of water and the Spirit, i.e. of the Holy 
Ghost, which, represented under the similitude of water, 
cleanses, refreshes, and purifies the soul. Reader, hast thou 
never had any other baptism than that of water? If thou hast 
not had any other, take Jesus Christ's word for it, thou 
canst not, in thy present state, enter into the kingdom of 
God. I would not say to thee merely, read what it is to be 
born of the Spirit: but pray, O pray to God incessantly, till 
he give thee to feel what is implied in it! Remember, it is 
Jesus only who baptizes with the Holy Ghost: see chap. i. 33. 
He who receives not this baptism has neither right nor title 
to the kingdom of God; nor can he with any propriety be 
termed a Christian, because that which essentially 
distinguished the Christian dispensation from that of the 
Jews was, that its author baptized all his followers with the 
Holy Ghost.

Though baptism by water, into the Christian faith, was 
necessary to every Jew and Gentile that entered into the 
kingdom of the Messiah, it is not necessary that by water and 
the Spirit (in this place) we should understand two different 
things: it is probably only an elliptical form of speech, for 
the Holy Spirit under the similitude of water; as, in Matt. 
iii. 3, the Holy Ghost and fire, do not mean two things, but 
one, viz. the Holy Ghost under the similitude of fire-
pervading every part, refining and purifying the whole.

Verse 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh] This is 
the answer to the objection made by Nicodemus in ver. 4. Can 
a man enter the second time into his mother's womb and be 
born? Our Lord here intimates that, were even this possible, 
it would not answer the end; for the plant will ever be of 
the nature of the seed that produces it-like will beget its 
like.

The kingdom of God is spiritual and holy; and that which is 
born of the Spirit resembles the Spirit; for as he is who 
begat, so is he who is begotten of him. Therefore, the 
spiritual regeneration is essentially necessary, to prepare 
the soul for a holy and spiritual kingdom.

Verse 8. The wind bloweth] Though the manner in which this 
new birth is effected by the Divine Spirit, be 
incomprehensible to us, yet we must not, on this ground, 
suppose it to be impossible. The wind blows in a variety of 
directions-we hear its sound, perceive its operation in the 
motion of the trees, &c., and feel it on ourselves-but we 
cannot discern the air itself; we only know that it exists by 
the effects which it produces: so is every one who is born of 
the Spirit: the effects are as discernible and as sensible as 
those of the wind; but itself we cannot see. But he who is 
born of God knows that he is thus born: the Spirit itself, 
the grand agent in this new birth, beareth witness with his 
spirit, that he is born of God, Rom. viii. 16; for, he that 
believeth hath the witness in himself, 1 John iv. 13; v. 10; 
Gal. iv. 6. And so does this Spirit work in and by him that 
others, though they see not the principle, can easily discern 
the change produced; for whatsoever is born of God overcometh 
the world, 1 John v. 4.

Verse 9. How can these things be?] Our Lord had very plainly 
told him how these things could be, and illustrated the new 
birth by one of the most proper similes that could be chosen; 
but so intent was this great man an making every thing submit 
to the testimony of his senses that he appears unwilling to 
believe any thing, unless he can comprehend it. This is the 
case with many-they profess to believe because they 
comprehend; but they are impostors who speak thus: there is 
not a man in the universe that can fully comprehend one 
operation, either of God or his instrument nature; and yet 
they must believe, and do believe, though they never did nor 
ever can fully comprehend, or account for, the objects of 
their faith.

Verse 10. Art thou a master of Israel, &c.] Hast thou taken 
upon thee to guide the blind into the way of truth; and yet 
knowest not that truth thyself? Dost thou command proselytes 
to be baptized with water, as an emblem of a new birth; and 
art thou unacquainted with the cause, necessity, nature, and 
effects of that new birth? How many masters are there still 
in Israel who are in this respect deplorably ignorant; and, 
strange to tell, publish their ignorance and folly in the 
sight of the sun, by writing and speaking against the thing 
itself! It is strange that such people cannot keep their own 
secret.

"But water baptism is this new birth." No. Jesus tells you, a 
man must be born of water and the Spirit; and the water, and 
its effects upon the body, differ as much from this Spirit, 
which it is intended to represent, and the effects produced 
in the soul, as real fire does from painted flame.

"But I am taught to believe that this baptism is 
regeneration." Then you are taught to believe a falsity. The 
Church of England, in which perhaps you are a teacher or a 
member, asks the following questions, and returns the 
subjoined answers.

"Q. How many sacraments hath Christ ordained in his Church?" 
"A. Two only, as generally necessary to salvation, that is to 
say, baptism and the supper of the Lord." "Q. How many parts 
are there in a sacrament?" "A. Two. The outward visible sign, 
and the inward spiritual grace." "Q. What is the outward 
visible sign, or form, in baptism?" "A. Water, wherein the 
person is baptized, In the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost." "Q. What is the inward and 
spiritual grace?" "A. A death unto sin, and a new birth unto 
righteousness; for being by nature born in sin, and the 
children of wrath, we are hereby made the children of grace." 
Now, I ask, Whereby are such persons made the children of 
grace? Not by the water, but by the death unto sin, and the 
new birth unto righteousness: i.e. through the agency of the 
Holy Ghost, sin is destroyed, and the soul filled with 
holiness.

Verse 11. We speak that we do know] I and my disciples do not 
profess to teach a religion which we do not understand, nor 
exemplify in our conduct. A strong but delicate reproof to 
Nicodemus, who, though a master of Israel, did not understand 
the very rudiments of the doctrine of salvation. He was 
ignorant of the nature of the new birth. How wretched is the 
lot of that minister, who, while he professes to recommend 
the salvation of God to others, is all the while dealing in 
the meagre, unfruitful traffic of an unfelt truth! Let such 
either acquire the knowledge of the grace of God themselves, 
or cease to proclaim it.

Ye receive not our witness.] It was deemed criminal among the 
Jews to question or depart from the authority of their 
teachers. Nicodemus grants that our Lord is a teacher come 
from God, and yet scruples to receive his testimony relative 
to the new birth, and the spiritual nature of the Messiah's 
kingdom.

Verse 12. If I have told you earthly things] If, after I have 
illustrated this new birth by a most expressive metaphor 
taken from earthly things, and after all you believe not; how 
can you believe, should I tell you of heavenly things, in 
such language as angels use, where earthly images and 
illustrations can have no place? Or, if you, a teacher in 
Israel, do not understand the nature of such an earthly 
thing, or custom of the kingdom established over the Jewish 
nation, as being born of baptism, practised every day in the 
initiation of proselytes, how will you understand such 
heavenly things as the initiation of my disciples by the 
baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire from heaven, if I should 
proceed farther on the subject?

Verse 13. No man hath ascended] This seems a figurative 
expression for, No man hath known the mysteries of the 
kingdom of God; as in Deut. xxx. 12; Psa. lxxiii. 17; Prov. 
xxx. 4; Rom. xi. 34. And the expression is founded upon this 
generally received maxim: That to be perfectly acquainted 
with the concerns of a place, it is necessary for a person to 
be on the spot. But our Lord probably spoke to correct a 
false notion among the Jews, viz. that Moses had ascended to 
heaven, in order to get the law. It is not Moses who is to be 
heard now, but Jesus: Moses did not ascend to heaven; but the 
Son of man is come down from heaven to reveal the Divine 
will.

That came down] The incarnation of Christ is represented 
under the notion of his coming down from heaven, to dwell 
upon earth.

Which is in heaven.] Lest a wrong meaning should be taken 
from the foregoing expression, and it should be imagined 
that, in order to manifest himself upon earth he must 
necessarily leave heaven; our blessed Lord qualifies it by 
adding, the Son of man who is in heaven; pointing out, by 
this, the ubiquity or omnipresence of his nature: a character 
essentially belonging to God; for no being can possibly exist 
in more places than one at a time, but HE who fills the 
heavens and the earth.

Verse 14. As Moses lifted up] He shows the reason why he 
descended from heaven, that he might be lifted up, i.e. 
crucified, for the salvation of man. kind, and be, by the 
appointment of God, as certain a remedy for sinful souls as 
the brazen serpent elevated on a pole, Num. xxi. 9, was for 
the bodies of the Israelites, which had been bitten by the 
fiery serpents in the wilderness. It does not appear to me 
that the brazen serpent was ever intended to be considered as 
a type of Christ. It is possible to draw likenesses and 
resemblances out of any thing; but, in such matters as these, 
we should take heed that we go no farther than we can say, 
Thus it is written. Among the Jews, the brazen serpent was 
considered a type of the resurrection-through it the dying 
lived; and so, by the voice of God, they that were dead shall 
be raised to life. As the serpent was raised up, so shall 
Christ be lifted up: as they who were stung by the fiery 
serpents were restored by looking up to the brazen serpent, 
so those who are infected with and dying through sin are 
healed and saved, by looking up to and believing in Christ 
crucified. These are all the analogies which we can 
legitimately trace between the lifting up of the brazen 
serpent, and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The lifting up 
of the Son of man may refer to his mediatorial office at the 
right hand of God. See the note on Num. xxi. 9.

Verse 15. That whosoever believeth] Bp. Pearce supposes that 
this verse is only the conclusion of the 16th, and that it 
has been inserted in this place by mistake. The words contain 
the reason of the subject in the following verse, and seem to 
break in upon our Lord's argument before he had fully stated 
it. The words, mh apolhtai alla, may not perish but, are 
omitted by some very ancient MSS. and versions.

Verse 16. For God so loved the world] Such a love as that 
which induced God to give his only begotten son to die for 
the world could not be described: Jesus Christ does not 
attempt it. He has put an eternity of meaning in the particle 
outw, so, and left a subject for everlasting contemplation, 
wonder, and praise, to angels and to men. The same evangelist 
uses a similar mode of expression, 1 John iii. 1: Behold, 
WHAT MANNER of love, potaphn agaphn, the Father hath bestowed 
upon us.

From the subject before him, let the reader attend to the 
following particulars.

First, The world was in a ruinous, condemned state, about to 
perish everlastingly; and was utterly without power to rescue 
itself from destruction.

Secondly, That God, through the impulse of his eternal love, 
provided for its rescue and salvation, by giving his Son to 
die for it.

Thirdly, That the sacrifice of Jesus was the only mean by 
which the redemption of man could be effected, and that it is 
absolutely sufficient to accomplish this gracious design: for 
it would have been inconsistent with the wisdom of God, to 
have appointed a sacrifice greater in itself, or less in its 
merit, than what the urgent necessities of the case required.

Fourthly, That sin must be an indescribable evil, when it 
required no less a sacrifice, to make atonement for it, than 
God manifested in the flesh.

Fifthly, That no man is saved through this sacrifice, but he 
that believes, i.e. who credits what God has spoken 
concerning Christ, his sacrifice, the end for which it was 
offered, and the way in which it is to be applied in order to 
become effectual.

Sixthly, That those who believe receive a double benefit: 1. 
They are exempted from eternal perdition-that they may not 
perish. 2. They are brought to eternal glory-that they may 
have everlasting life. These two benefits point out tacitly 
the state of man: he is guilty, and therefore exposed to 
punishment: he is impure, and therefore unfit for glory.

They point out also the two grand operations of grace, by 
which the salvation of man is effected. 1. Justification, by 
which the guilt of sin is removed, and consequently the 
person is no longer obnoxious to perdition.

2. Sanctification, or the purification of his nature, by 
which he is properly fitted for the kingdom of glory.

Verse 17. For God sent not, &c.] It was the opinion of the 
Jews that the Gentiles, whom they often term the world, hml[ 
olmah, and µlw[h twmwa omoth haolam, nations of the world, 
were to be destroyed in the days of the Messiah. Christ 
corrects this false opinion; and teaches here a contrary 
doctrine. God, by giving his Son, and publishing his design 
in giving him, shows that he purposes the salvation, not the 
destruction, of the world-the Gentile people: nevertheless, 
those who will not receive the salvation he had provided for 
them, whether Jews or Gentiles, must necessarily perish; for 
this plain reason, There is but one remedy, and they refuse 
to apply it.

Verse 18. He that believeth] As stated before on ver. 16.

Is not condemned] For past sin, that being forgiven on his 
believing in Christ.

But he that believeth not] When the Gospel is preached to 
him, and the way of salvation made plain.

Is condemned already] Continues under the condemnation which 
Divine justice has passed upon all sinners; and has this 
superadded, He hath not believed on the name of the only 
begotten Son of God, and therefore is guilty of the grossest 
insult to the Divine majesty, in neglecting, slighting, and 
despising the salvation which the infinite mercy of God had 
provided for him.

Verse 19. This is the condemnation] That is, this is the 
reason why any shall be found finally to perish, not that 
they came into the world with a perverted and corrupt nature, 
which is true; nor that they lived many years in the practice 
of sin, which is also true; but because they refused to 
receive the salvation which God sent to them.

Light is come] That is, Jesus, the Sun of righteousness, the 
fountain of light and life; diffusing his benign influences 
every where, and favouring men with a clear and full 
revelation of the Divine will.

Men loved darkness] Have preferred sin to holiness, Belial to 
Christ, and hell to heaven. ûj chashac, darkness, is 
frequently used by the Jewish writers for the angel of death, 
and for the devil. See many examples in Schoettgen.

Because their deeds were evil.] An allusion to robbers and 
cut-throats, who practice their abominations in the night 
season, for fear of being detected. The sun is a common 
blessing to the human race-it shines to all, envies none, and 
calls all to necessary labour. If any one choose rather to 
sleep by day, that he may rob and murder in the night season, 
he does this to his own peril, and has no excuse:-his 
punishment is the necessary consequence of his own 
unconstrained actions. So will the punishment of ungodly men 
be. There was light-they refused to walk in it. They chose to 
walk in the darkness, that they might do the works of 
darkness-they broke the Divine law, refused the mercy offered 
to them, are arrested by Divine justice, convicted, 
condemned, and punished. Whence, then, does their damnation 
proceed? From THEMSELVES.

Verse 20. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light] He 
who doth vile or abominable things: alluding to the subject 
mentioned in the preceding verse.

The word faulov, evil or vile, is supposed by some to come 
from the Hebrew slp phalas, to roll, and so cover oneself in 
dust or ashes, which was practised in token of humiliation 
and grief, not only by the more eastern nations, see Job 
xlii. 6, but also by the Greeks and Trojans, as appears from 
Homer, Iliad xviii. l. 26; xxii. l. 414; xxiv. l. 640; 
compare Virgil, AEn. x. l. 844; and Ovid, Metam. lib. viii. 
l. 528. From the above Hebrew word, it is likely that the 
Saxon ful, the English foul, the Latin vilis, and the English 
vile, are derived. See Parkhurst under faulov.

Lest his deeds should be reproved.] Or discovered. To 
manifest or discover, is one sense of the original word, 
elegcw, in the best Greek writers; and it is evidently its 
meaning in this place.

Verse 21. Wrought in God.] In his presence, and through his 
assistance.

This is the end of our Lord's discourse to Nicodemus; and 
though we are not informed here of any good effects produced 
by it, yet we learn from other scriptures that it had 
produced the most blessed effects in his mind, and that from 
this time he became a disciple of Christ. He publicly 
defended our Lord in the Sanhedrin, of which he was probably 
a member, chap. vii. 50, and, with Joseph of Arimathea, gave 
him an honourable funeral, chap. xix. 39, when all his bosom 
friends had deserted him. See Dodd.

Verse 22. Came-into the land of Judea] Jerusalem itself, 
where Christ held the preceding discourse with Nicodemus, was 
in Judea; but the evangelist means that our Lord quitted the 
city and its suburbs, and went into the country parts. The 
same distinction between Jerusalem and Judea is made, Acts i. 
8; x. 39; and in 1 Macc. iii. 34; and in 2 Macc. i. 1, 10. 
See Bp. Pearce.

And baptized.] It is not clear that Christ did baptize any 
with water, but his disciples did-chap. iv. 2; and what they 
did, by his authority and command, is attributed to himself. 
It is a common custom, in all countries and in all languages, 
to attribute the operations of those who are under the 
government and direction of another to him by whom they are 
directed and governed. Some however suppose that Christ at 
first did baptize; but, when he got disciples, he left this 
work to them: and thus these two places are to be 
understood:-1. this place, of Christ's baptizing before he 
called the twelve disciples; and 2. chap. iv. 2, of the 
baptism administered by the disciples, after they had been 
called to the work by Christ.

Verse 23. In AEnon] This place was eight miles southward from 
Scythopolis, between Salim and Jordan.

There was much water] And this was equally necessary, where 
such multitudes were baptized, whether the ceremony were 
performed either by dipping or sprinkling. But as the Jewish 
custom required the persons to stand in the water, and, 
having been instructed, and entered into a covenant to 
renounce all idolatry, and take the God of Israel for their 
God, then plunge themselves under the water, it is probable 
that the rite was thus performed at AEnon. The consideration 
that they dipped themselves, tends to remove the difficulty 
expressed in the note on Matt. iii. 6. See the observations 
at the end of Mark.

Verse 25. John's disciples and the Jews] Instead of ioudaiwn, 
Jews, HebelS. M. BV, nearly 100 others, some versions and 
fathers, read ioudaiou, a Jew, which Griesbach has admitted 
into the text. The person here spoken of was probably one who 
had been baptized by the disciples of our Lord; and the 
subject of debate seems to have been, whether the baptism of 
John, or that of Christ, was the most efficacious towards 
purifying.

Verse 26. And they came unto John] That he might decide the 
question.

Verse 27. A man can receive nothing, &c.] Or, A man can 
receive nothing from heaven, unless it be given him. I have 
received, not only my commission, but the power also by which 
I have executed it, from above.

As I took it up at God's command, so I am ready to lay it 
down when he pleases. I have told you from the beginning that 
I was only the forerunner of the Messiah, and was sent, not 
to form a separate party, but to point out to men that Lamb 
of God which takes away the sin of the world: ver. 28.

Verse 29. He that hath the bride] The congregation of 
believers.

Is the bridegroom] The Lord Jesus-the Head of the Church. See 
Matt. xxii. 2, &c., where the parable of the marriage feast 
is explained.

The friend of the bridegroom] The person whom the Greeks 
called the paranymph-there were two at each wedding: one 
waited on the bride, the other on the bridegroom: their 
business was to serve them, to inspect the concerns of the 
bridechamber, and afterwards to reconcile differences between 
husband and wife, when any took place. John considers himself 
as standing in this relation to the Lord Jesus, while 
espousing human nature, and converting souls to himself: this 
is the meaning of standeth by, i.e. ready to serve. See the 
observations at the end of the chapter. 

Verse 30. He must increase] His present success is but the 
beginning of a most glorious and universal spread of 
righteousness, peace, truth, and good will among men.

I must decrease.] My baptism and teaching, as pointing out 
the coming Messiah, must cease; because the Messiah is now 
come, and has entered publicly on the work of his glorious 
ministry.

Verse 31. Is above all] This blessed bridegroom, who has 
descended from heaven, ver. 13, is above all, superior to 
Moses, the prophets, and me.

He that is of the earth] John himself, who was born in the 
common way of man.

Speaketh of the earth] Cannot speak of heavenly things as 
Christ can do; and only represents Divine matters by these 
earthly ordinances; for the spirit and meaning of which, you 
must all go to the Messiah himself.

Verse 32. And no man receiveth his testimony.] Or, And this 
his testimony no man taketh up. That is, the testimony which 
John had borne to the Jews, that Jesus was the promised 
Messiah. No man taketh up.-No person is found to tread in my 
steps, and to publish to the Jews that this is the Christ, 
the saviour of the world. See this sense of the original 
fully proved and vindicated by Kypke in loc.

Verse 33. Hath set to his seal] That is hath hereby confirmed 
the truth of the testimony which he has borne; as a testator 
sets his seal to an instrument in order to confirm it, and 
such instrument is considered as fully confirmed by having 
the testator's seal affixed to it, so I, by taking up this 
testimony of Christ, and proclaiming it to the Jews, have 
fully confirmed it, as I know it to be a truth; which 
knowledge I have from the immediate inspiration of the Holy 
Spirit. See chap. i. 33, 34.

Verse 34. For God giveth not the Spirit by measure] He is the 
most perfect of all teachers, as having received the Holy 
Spirit as none before him ever did. Without measure-not for a 
particular time, people, purpose, &c., but for the whole 
compass of time, and in reference to all eternity.

Former dispensations of the Holy Spirit made partial 
discoveries of infinite justice and mercy; but now the sum of 
justice, in requiring such a sacrifice, and the plenitude of 
mercy, in providing it, shall, by that Spirit with which he 
baptizes, be made manifest to all the children of men. It is 
worthy of remark that this was fully done after the 
outpouring of the Spirit on the day of pentecost, Acts ii. 1, 
&c., as may be clearly seen in all the apostolic epistles. 
The Jews observe, that the Holy Spirit was given only in 
certain measures to the prophets; some writing only one book, 
others two. So Rab. Acba.

Verse 35. All things into his hand.] See on Matt. xi. 27. A 
principal design of John is, to show that Christ was 
infinitely above every teacher, prophet, and Divine messenger 
that had ever yet appeared. The prophets had various gifts: 
some had visions, others dreams; some had the gift of 
teaching, others of comforting, &c.; but none possessed all 
these gifts: Christ alone possessed their plenitude, and is 
all things in all.

Verse 36. Hath everlasting life] He has already the seed of 
this life in his soul, having been made a partaker of the 
grace and spirit of him in whom he has believed. See on chap. 
iii. 8.

He that believeth not] Or, obeyeth not-apeiqwn: from a, 
negative, and peiqw, to persuade, or peiqomai, to obey-the 
want of the obedience of faith. The person who will not be 
persuaded, in consequence, does not believe; and, not having 
believed, he cannot obey.

Shall not see life] Shall never enjoy it: there being no way 
to the kingdom of God, but through Christ Jesus, Acts iv. 12. 
And none can expect to enter into this kingdom but those who 
obey him; for to such only he is the author of eternal 
salvation, Heb. v. 9.

But the wrath of God abideth on him] opgh, the displeasure of 
God. I should prefer displeasure to wrath, because the common 
acceptation of the latter (fury, rage) is not properly 
applicable here. Perhaps the original word is used in the 
same sense here as in Rom. ii. 5; iii. 5; xiii. 4, 5; Eph. v. 
6; 1 Thess. i. 10; v. 9; where it evidently means punishment, 
which is the effect of irritated justice. Taken in this 
sense, we may consider the phrase as a Hebraism: punishment 
of God, i.e. the most heavy and awful of all punishments; 
such as sin deserves, and such as it becomes Divine justice 
to inflict. And this abideth on him-endures as long as his 
unbelief and disobedience remain! And how shall these be 
removed in a hell of fire! Reader! pray God that thou mayest 
never know what this continuing punishment means! THERE are 
many very important topics brought forward in this chapter; 
the principal of which have been already illustrated in the 
notes: the subject in the 29th verse  is of great 
consequence, and requires some farther explanation.

The friend of the bridegroom is the person called among the 
Jews ybw shoshabin; and paranumfov, paranymph, among the 
Greeks. Several matters are found in the Jewish writings 
relative to these, which may serve to throw light, not only 
on the discourse of John, but also on other passages of 
Scripture.

1. There were generally two shoshabinim; one for the bride, 
another for the bridegroom: though in many instances we find 
the shoshabin of the bride only mentioned.

2. These officers were chosen out of the most intimate and 
particular friends of the parties:-a brother might be 
shoshabin or paranymph to his brother.

3. Though it is probable that such persons were not always 
found in ordinary weddings, yet they were never absent from 
the marriages of kings, princes, and persons of distinction.

4. The Jews believe that this was an ordinance appointed by 
God; and that he himself was shoshabin to Adam. But in 
Bereshith Rabba it is said, that God took the cup of blessing 
and blessed the first pair; and that Michael and Gabriel were 
shoshabins to Adam.

5. So important was this office esteemed among them, that it 
wag reckoned one of the indispensable works of charity: much 
depending on the proper discharge of it, as we shall 
afterwards find.

6. Those who were engaged in this office, were excused, for 
the time, from some of the severer duties of religion, 
because they had so much to do about the new-married pair, 
especially during the seven days of the marriage feast.

These shoshabinan had a threefold office to fulfill, viz. 
before, at, and after the marriage: of each of these in 
order.

I. Before the marriage: it was the business of the shoshabin: 
- 1. To procure a husband for the virgin, to guard her, and 
to bear testimony to her corporeal and mental endowments; and 
it was upon this testimony of this friend that the bridegroom 
chose his bride.

2. He was the internuncio between her and her spouse elect; 
carrying all messages from her to him, and from him to her: 
for before marriage young women were very strictly guarded at 
home with their parents or friends.

II. At the wedding: it was the business of the shoshabin, if 
necessary: - 1. To vindicate the character of the bride.

2. To sleep in an apartment contiguous to the new-married 
pair, to prevent the bride from receiving injury.

3. It was his office to see that neither the bride nor 
bridegroom should be imposed on by each other; and therefore 
it was his business to examine and exhibit the tokens of the 
bride's purity, according to the law, Deut. xxii. 13-21. Of 
their office, in this case, the rabbins thus speak: Olim in 
Judea paranymphi perscrutati sunt locum (lectum) sponsi et 
sponsae-ad scrutandum et officiose observandum ea, quae 
sponsi illa nocte fecerint: ne scilicet alter alteri dolo 
damnum inferat: ne sponsus sanguinem virginitatis agnoscat, 
illum celet aut tollat: et ne sponsa pannum sanguine tinctum 
secum inferat.

4. When they found that their friend had got a pure and 
chaste virgin, they exulted greatly; as their own character 
and the happiness of their friend, were at stake. To this the 
Baptist alludes, chap. iii. 29, This my joy is fulfilled.

5. They distributed gifts to the new-married couple, which, 
on their marriage, were repaid either by their friend, or by 
his father. The same thing is done at what are called the 
biddings, at marriages in Wales, to the present day.

6. They continued with the bride and bridegroom the seven 
days of the marriage, and contributed variously to the 
festivity and hilarity of the occasion.

III. After marriage.

1. The shoshabin was considered the patron and advocate of 
the wife, and in some sort her guardian, to which the apostle 
alludes, 2 Cor. xi. 2.

He was generally called in to compose any differences which 
might happen between her and her husband, and reconcile them 
when they had been at variance.

2. They appear to have had the keeping of the marriage 
contract, which in certain cases they tore; when they had 
reason to suspect infidelity on the part of the woman, by 
which the marriage was dissolved; and thus the suspected 
person was prevented from suffering capitally. Schoettgen 
produces a case like this from R. Bechai, in legem, fol. 114. 
"A king visited foreign parts, and left his queen with her 
maids: they raised an evil report on her, and the king 
purposed to put her to death. The shoshabin hearing of it, 
tore the matrimonial contract, that he might have it to say, 
the marriage is dissolved. The king, having investigated the 
case, found the queen innocent: she was immediately 
reconciled to her husband, and the shoshabin was directed to 
write another contract." 3. Schoettgen very modestly hazards 
a conjecture, that, if the husband had either abandoned or 
divorced his wife, the shoshabin took her, and acted to her 
as a brother-in-law; which is probable from the place to 
which he refers, Judg. xiv. 20: But Samson's wife was given 
to his companion, whom he had used as his friend: or, as both 
the Syriac and the Targum have it, she was given, hynybw 
shoshebeeneyah, to his paranymph; which is agreeable to the 
Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint, kai sunwkhsen h gunh 
samywn tw numfagwgw autou, ov hn etairov autou. And Samson's 
wife dwelt (or cohabited) with his paranymph, who had been 
his companion. The same reading is found in the Complutensian 
Polyglott.

From the preceding particulars, collated with the speech of 
John in chap. iii. 29, and with the words of St. Paul, 2 Cor. 
xi. 2, it is plain that Christ is represented as the 
BRIDEGROOM: the Church, or his genuine disciples, the BRIDE: 
the ministers of the Gospel, the µynybw SHOSHBEENIM, whose 
great and important duty it is to present to the bridegroom a 
pure, uncontaminated virgin, i.e. a Church without spot, or 
wrinkle, or any such thing, Eph. v. 27, alluding evidently to 
the office of the paranymph, on whom the bridegroom depended 
to procure him, for wife, a chaste and pure virgin. Hence 
that saying of St. Paul, who considered himself the paranymph 
to Jesus Christ: I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: 
for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present 
you as a chaste virgin to Christ, 2 Cor. xi. 2.

From all these particulars, we see that the office of the 
shoshabin, or paranymph, was a very important one among the 
Jews; and that, to it, some interesting references are made 
in the New Testament, the force and true meaning of which 
passages cannot be discerned without considering the 
character and office of the Jewish paranymph. See several 
good observations on this in Lightfoot's notes on chap. ii. 
1, and Schoettgen, on chap. iii. 29.

As the Christian Church was now to take place of the Jewish, 
and the latter was about to be cast off because it was 
polluted, John, by using the simile of the bride, bridegroom, 
and paranymph, or friend of the bridegroom, points out, as it 
were prophetically, of what kind the Christian Church must 
be: it must be as holy and pure as an uncontaminated virgin, 
because it is to be the bride or spouse of our Lord Jesus 
Christ: and God honours the Baptist by making him the 
paranymph; and indeed his whole preaching and baptism were 
excellently calculated to produce this great effect, as be 
strongly proclaimed the necessity of a total reformation of 
heart and manners, among all classes of the people. See the 
notes on Matt. iii. 8-12, and on Luke iii. 10-14. He heard 
the bridegroom's voice - he faithfully communicated what he 
had received from heaven, chap. iii. 27, and he rejoiced 
exceedingly to find that he had got a people prepared for the 
Lord. The success of John's preaching greatly contributed to 
the success of that of Christ and his disciples. For this 
purpose he was endued with power from on high, and chosen to 
be the paranymph of the heavenly bridegroom.

CHAPTER iv.

Jesus, finding that the Pharisees took offense at his making 
many disciples, leaves Judea to pass into Galilee, 1-3. And 
passing through Samaria comes to Sychar, and rests at Jacob's 
well, 4-6. While his disciples were gone to the city to buy 
meat, a woman of Samaria comes to draw water, with whom our 
Lord discourses at large on the spiritual nature of his 
religion, the perfection of the Divine nature, and the purity 
of his worship, 7-24. On his informing her that he was the 
Messiah, she leaves her pitcher, and goes to inform her 
townsmen, 25-30. His discourse with his disciples in her 
absence, 31-38. Many of the Samaritans believe on him, 39-42; 
He stays two days with them, and goes into Galilee, 43-45. He 
comes to Cana, and heals the son of a nobleman, in 
consequence of which he believes on him, with his whole 
family, 46-54.

NOTES ON CHAP. iv.

Verse 1. Jesus made and baptized, &c.] These seem to be 
quoted as the very words which were brought to the Pharisees; 
and, from our Lord's conduct after this information, we may 
take it for granted that they were so irritated that they 
were determined to seek an occasion to take away his life; in 
consequence of which, leaving Judea, he withdrew into 
Galilee.

Verse 2. Jesus himself baptized not] See chap. iii. 22.

Verse 4. And he must needs go through Samaria.] Or, It was 
necessary for him to pass through Samaria: for this plain 
reason, and no other, because it was the only proper road. 
Samaria lay northward of Judea, and between the great sea, 
Galilee, and Jordan; and there was therefore no going from 
Galilee to Jerusalem but through this province. See the note 
on Luke xvii. 11. From Jerusalem to Galilee through Samaria, 
according to Josephus, was three days' journey. See his own 
life.

Verse 5. A city-called Sychar] This city was anciently called 
Shechem.

It seems to have been situated at the foot of Mount Gerizim, 
in the province of Samaria, on which the temple of the 
Samaritans was built.

After the ruin of Samaria by Salmanezer, Sychar, or Shechem, 
became the capital of the Samaritans; and it continued so, 
according to Josephus, Ant.

l. xi. c. 8, in the time of Alexander the Great. It was about 
ten miles from Shiloh, forty from Jerusalem, and fifty-two 
from Jericho. It probably got the name of Sychar, which 
signifies drunken, from the drunkenness of its inhabitants. 
With this crime the Prophet Isaiah (Isa. xxviii. 1, 3, 7, 8) 
solemnly charges the Ephraimites, within whose limits the 
city stood. This place is remarkable in the Scriptures: 1. As 
being that where Abram first stopped on his coming from Haran 
to Canaan. 2. Where God first appeared to that patriarch, and 
promised to give the land to his seed. 3.

The place where Abram first built an altar to the Lord, and 
called upon his name, Gen. xii. 7. The present name of this 
city is Neapolis, or Naplouse. See Calmet.

That Jacob gave to his son Joseph.] Jacob had bought this 
field from the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for 
a hundred pieces of silver, or lambs, Gen. xxxiii. 19; and in 
it he built an altar, which he dedicated to El Elohey 
Yishrael, the strong God, the covenant God of Israel, Gen. 
xxxiii. 20. This, Jacob left as a private or overplus 
inheritance to Joseph and his children. See Gen. xlviii. 21, 
22, and Josh. xxiv. 32.

Verse 6. Jacob's well was there.] Of this well Mr. Maundrell 
gives the following account. "About one-third of an hour from 
Naplosa, the ancient Sychar and Sychem, stood Jacob's well. 
If it be inquired, whether this be the very place, seeing it 
may be suspected to stand too remote from Sychar for the 
women to come and draw water, we may answer-that, in all 
probability, the city extended farther in former times than 
it does now, as may be conjectured from some pieces of a very 
thick wall, the remains perhaps of the ancient Sychem, still 
to be seen not far from hence. Over it stood formerly a large 
church, erected by the Empress Irene; but of this the 
voracity of time, assisted by the hands of the Turks, has 
left nothing but a few foundations remaining. The well is 
covered at present with an old stone vault, into which you 
are let down by a very strait hole; and then, removing a 
broad flat stone, you discover the well itself. It is dug in 
a firm rock, is about three yards in diameter, and thirty-
five in depth, five of which we found full of water. This 
confutes a story frequently told to travelers, 'That it is 
dry all the year round, except on the anniversary of that day 
on which our blessed saviour sat upon it; but then bubbles up 
with abundance of water.' At this well the narrow valley of 
Sychem ends, opening itself into a wide field, which probably 
is part of the ground given by Jacob to his son Joseph. It is 
watered by a fresh stream, running between it and Sychem, 
which makes it exceedingly verdant and fruitful." See 
Maundrell's Travels, 5th edit. p. 62.

Cutting pools, or making wells for public use, renders a man 
famous among the Hindoos. So this well had the name of Jacob, 
because he had digged it, and it was for public use.

Sat thus] Chrysostom inquires what the particle thus, outwv, 
means here? and answers, that it simply signifies, he sat not 
upon a throne, seat, or cushion; but (as the circumstances of 
the case required) upon the ground. This is a sense which is 
given to the word in the ancient Greek writers. See 
Raphelius, Wetstein, and Pearce. It is probably a mere 
expletive, and is often so used by Josephus. See several 
examples in Rosenmuller.

The sixth hour.] About twelve o'clock: see the notes on chap. 
i. 31. The time is noted here: 1. To account for Christ's 
fatigue-he had already traveled several hours. 2. To account 
for his thirst-the sun had at this time waxed hot. 3. To 
account for the disciples going to buy food, ver. 8, because 
this was the ordinary time of dinner among the Jews. See the 
note referred to above. Dr. Macknight thinks the sixth hour 
to be the Roman six o'clock in the afternoon. See note on 
chap. i. 29.

Verse 7. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water] That 
this was the employment of the females, we see in different 
parts of the Sacred Writings. See Gen. xxiv. 11, &c.; Exod. 
ii. 16, and the note at the end of that chapter. The Jews say 
that those who wished to get wives went to the wells where 
young women were accustomed to come and draw water; and it is 
supposed that women of ill fame frequented such places also. 
See several proofs in Schoettgen.

Verse 9. That thou, being a Jew] Probably the inhabitants of 
Judea distinguished themselves from those of Samaria by some 
peculiar mode of dress; and by this the Samaritan woman might 
have known Christ: but it is likely that our Lord spoke the 
Galilean dialect, by which we find, from Mark xiv. 70, a Jew 
of that district might easily be known.

The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.] Perhaps 
better, Jews have no communion with Samaritans. These words 
appear to be added by the evangelist himself, in explanation 
of the woman's question. The original word, sugcrwntai, has 
been variously translated and understood.

It comes from sun, together, and craomai, I use, or borrow: 
hence it has been understood to mean, the Jews will be under 
no kind of obligation to the Samaritans-will borrow nothing 
from them-will not drink out of the same cup or well with 
them-will not sit down to meals with them, nor eat out of the 
same vessel-will have no religious connection, no commercial 
dealings with them. The word communion, I think, fully 
expresses the sense of the original; and, being as extensive 
in its meaning as our word dealings, is capable of as general 
an interpretation. The deadly hatred that subsisted between 
these two nations is known to all. The Jews cursed them, and 
believed them to be accursed. Their most merciful wish to the 
Samaritans was, that they might have no part in the 
resurrection; or, in other words, that they might be 
annihilated.

Verse 10. If thou knewest the gift of God] dwrean signifies a 
free gift.

A gift is any thing that is given, for which no equivalent 
has been or is to be returned: a free gift is that which has 
been given without asking or entreaty. Such a gift of 
kindness was Jesus Christ to the world, chap. iii. 16; and 
through him comes the gift of the Spirit, which those who 
believe on his name were to receive. Christ was not an object 
of desire to the world-no man asked for him; and God, moved 
thereto by his own eternal mercy, freely gave him. Through 
this great gift comes the Holy Spirit, and all other gifts 
which are necessary to the salvation of a lost world.

Living water.] By this expression, which was common to the 
inhabitants both of the east and of the west, is always meant 
spring water, in opposition to dead, stagnant water contained 
in ponds, pools, tanks, or cisterns; and what our Lord means 
by it is evidently the Holy Spirit, as may be seen, chap. 
vii. 38, 39.

As water quenches the thirst, refreshes and invigorates the 
body, purifies things defiled, and renders the earth 
fruitful, so it is an apt emblem of the gift of the Holy 
Ghost, which so satisfies the souls that receive it that they 
thirst no more for earthly good: it purifies also from all 
spiritual defilement, on which account it is emphatically 
styled the Holy Spirit; and it makes those who receive it 
fruitful in every good word and work.

Verse 11. Thou hast nothing to draw with] oute antlhma eceiv, 
Thou hast no bucket. Good water is not plentiful in the east; 
and travelers are often obliged to carry leathern bottles or 
buckets with them, and a line also, to let them down into the 
deep wells, in order to draw up water. If the well was in our 
Lord's time, as it was found by Mr. Maundrell, thirty-five 
yards deep, it would require a considerable line to reach it; 
and with such it is not likely that even the disciples of our 
Lord were provided.

The woman might well say, The well is deep, and thou hast 
nothing to draw with; whence then hast thou that living 
water? 

Verse 12. Our father Jacob] The ancient Samaritans were 
undoubtedly the descendants of Jacob; for they were the ten 
tribes that revolted in the reign of Rehoboam: but those in 
our Lord's time were not genuine Israelites, but a corrupted 
race, sprung from a mixture of different nations, sent 
thither by Salmanezer, king of the Assyrians. See 2 Kings 
xvii. 24.

Verse 14. Springing up into everlasting life.] On this 
account he can never thirst:-for how can he lack water who 
has in himself a living, eternal spring? By this water our 
Lord means also his doctrine, explaining and promising the 
gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, which proceed from Jesus 
Christ their fountain, dwelling in a believing heart. There 
is no eternal life without the Spirit; no Spirit without 
Christ; and no Christ to give the Spirit, without dwelling in 
the heart: this his whole doctrine proclaims.

Verse 15. Give me this water] She did not as yet comprehend 
our Lord's meaning; but her curiosity was much excited, and 
this was the design of our Lord, that he might have her mind 
properly prepared to receive the great truths which he was 
about to announce.

Verse 16. Call thy husband] Our Lord appears to have spoken 
these words for two purposes: 1. To make the woman consider 
her own state. 2.

To show her that he knew her heart, and the secret actions of 
her life; and was therefore well qualified to teach her 
heavenly truths.

Verse 18. Thou hast had five husbands] It is not clear that 
this woman was a prostitute: she might have been legally 
married to those five, and might have been divorced through 
some misbehaviour of her own, not amounting to adultery; for 
the adulteress was to be put to death, both by the Jewish and 
Samaritan law, not divorced: or she might have been cast off 
through some caprice of her husband; for, in the time of our 
Lord, divorces were very common among the Jews, so that a man 
put away his wife for any fault. See the note on Matt. v. 31. 
Some are so very fond of exaggerating that nothing can pass 
through their hands without an increase: hence Heracleon says 
she had six husbands, and Jerome modestly gives her twenty-
two! Viginti duos habuisti maritos, et ille a quo sepelieris 
non est tuus. "Thou hast had twenty-two husbands and he by 
whom thou shalt be buried is not thine." Epist. xi.

He whom thou now hast is not thy husband] nun on eceiv, ouk 
esti sou anhr. Bishop Pearce would translate this clause in 
the following manner: There is no husband whom thou now hast-
or, less literally, Thou hast no husband now: probably the 
meaning is, Thou art contracted to another, but not yet 
brought home: therefore he is not yet thy husband. See 
Rosenmuller. Bishop Pearce contends that our Lord did not 
speak these words to her by way of reproof: Because it is not 
likely that a woman so far advanced in years as to have had 
five husbands should have now been found living in adultery 
with a sixth person. 2. Because it is not likely that our 
Lord would not, in some part of his discourse, have reproved 
her for her fornication, especially if guilty of it under 
such gross circumstances. 3. Nor is it likely that a woman of 
so bad a life should have had so much influence with the 
people of her city that they should, on her testimony, ver. 
39-42, believe Jesus to be the Messiah. 4. Nor is it at all 
likely that when a discovery of her guilt was made to her, by 
one whom she acknowledged to be a prophet, ver. 19, the first 
thing which came into her thoughts should be the important 
question in religion, about the place appointed by God for 
his worship, so warmly contested between the Jews and 
Samaritans. 5. Nor is it at all probable that a person of 
such a bad life, without any mentioned sign of repentance, 
should have been the first (perhaps the only private person) 
to whom Jesus is recorded as declaring himself to be the 
Christ, as he does to her, ver. 26.

Verse 19. I perceive that thou art a prophet.] And therefore 
thought him well qualified to decide the grand question in 
dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans: but she did not 
perceive him to be the Messiah.

Verse 20. Worshipped in this mountain] Probably pointing to 
Mount Gerizim, at the foot of which Sychar was situated. The 
patriarchs had worshipped here-Jacob builded an altar on this 
mountain, and worshiped the true God: see Gen. xxii. 2; 
xxxiii. 20. Thus she could say, Our fathers worshipped in 
this mountain. On this mountain Sanballat had built them a 
temple, about 332 years before our Lord's incarnation. See 
Joseph. Antiq.

xi. c. viii. s. 4, and 2 Macc. vi. 2.

Many heathens considered particular places as having a 
peculiar sanctity or fitness, for the worship of their 
deities, beyond others. Such places abound in Hindostan; and 
in them they think men ought to worship.

In the Hebrew Pentateuch, Deut. xxvii. 4, &c., where the 
Israelites are commanded to build an altar on mount EBAL, and 
offer sacrifices, &c., the Samaritan Pentateuch has GERIZIM 
instead of Ebal; and Dr. Kennicott strongly contends, 
Dissert. vol. ii. p. 20, &c., that Gerizim is the genuine 
reading: but our blessed Lord, by the following answer, shows 
that the place was a matter of little importance, as the 
Divine worship was no longer to be confined to either: ver. 
21. See the note on Deut. xxvii. 4.

Verse 21. The hour cometh, &c.] The time was now at hand in 
which the spiritual worship of God was about to be 
established in the earth, and all the Jewish rites and 
ceremonies entirely abolished.

Worship the Father.] This epithet shows the mild, benignant, 
and tender nature of the Gospel dispensation. Men are called 
to worship their heavenly Father, and to consider themselves 
as his children. In reference to this, our Lord's prayer 
begins, Our FATHER, who art in heaven, &c. See ver. 23.

Verse 22. Ye worship ye know not what] The Samaritans 
believed in the same God with the Jews; but, as they rejected 
all the prophetical writings, they had but an imperfect 
knowledge of the Deity: besides, as they incorporated the 
worship of idols with his worship, they might be justly said 
to worship him whom they did not properly know. See the 
account of their motley worship, 2 Kings xvii. 26-34. But 
after Sanballat had built the temple on Mount Gerizim, the 
idolatrous worship of the Cutheans and Sepharvites, &c., was 
entirely laid aside; the same religious service being 
performed in the Samaritan temple which was performed in that 
at Jerusalem.

We know what we worship] We Jews acknowledge all the 
attributes of his nature, and offer to him only the 
sacrifices prescribed in the law.

Salvation is of the Jews.] ek twn ioudaiwn estin, Salvation 
is from the Jews. Salvation seems here to mean the saviour, 
the Messiah, as it does Luke ii. 30; Acts iv. 12: and so the 
woman appears to have understood it, ver. 25. The Messiah was 
to spring from the Jews-from them, the preaching of the 
Gospel, and the knowledge of the truth, were to go to all the 
nations of the world. It was to the Jews that the promises 
were made; and it was in their prophetic Scriptures, which 
the Samaritans rejected, that Jesus Christ was proclaimed and 
described. See Isa. xi. 3.

Verse 23. The true worshippers shall worship-in spirit] The 
worship of the Samaritans was a defective worship-they did 
not receive the prophetical writings: that of the Jews was a 
carnal worship, dealing only in the letter, and referring to 
the spirit and design, which were at a distance, by types and 
ceremonies. The Gospel of Christ showed the meaning of all 
these carnal ordinances, and the legal sacrifices, which had 
all their consummation in his offering of himself: thus a 
spiritual dispensation took the place of the carnal one which 
prefigured it. The preaching of the Gospel discovered the 
true nature of God, of salvation, of the human soul, of 
earthly and of heavenly things; and, because of this, it is 
put in opposition to the defective Samaritan worship.

Verse 24. God is a Spirit] This is one of the first, the 
greatest, the most sublime, and necessary truths in the 
compass of nature! There is a God, the cause of all things-
the fountain of all perfection-without parts or dimensions, 
for he is ETERNAL-filling the heavens and the earth-
pervading, governing, and upholding all things: for he is an 
infinite SPIRIT! This God can be pleased only with that which 
resembles himself: therefore he must hate sin and sinfulness; 
and can delight in those only who are made partakers of his 
own Divine nature. As all creatures were made by him, so all 
owe him obedience and reverence; but, to be acceptable to 
this infinite Spirit, the worship must be of a spiritual 
nature-must spring from the heart, through the influence of 
the Holy Ghost: and it must be in TRUTH, not only in 
sincerity, but performed according to that Divine revelation 
which he has given men of himself. A man worships God in 
spirit, when, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, he 
brings all his affections, appetites, and desires to the 
throne of God; and he worships him in truth, when every 
purpose and passion of his heart, and when every act of his 
religious worship, is guided and regulated by the word of 
God. "The enlightened part of mankind," says Abu'l Fazel, 
"knows that true righteousness is an upright heart; and 
believe that God can only be worshipped in holiness of 
SPIRIT." Ayeen Akbery, vol. iii. p. 254.

"Of all worshippers," says Creeshna, "I respect him as the 
most devout, who hath faith in me, and who serveth me with a 
soul possessed of my spirit." Geeta, p. 68.

Verse 25. I know that Messias cometh] Instead of oida I know, 
several excellent MSS. and versions read, oidamen, we know; 
as if she had said that all the Samaritans expected the 
advent of the Messiah. Though they did not receive the 
prophetic writings, yet the tradition of the advent of the 
Messiah, which was common among the Jews, and founded on 
promises contained even in the books of Moses, was generally 
received among the Samaritans also.

Which is called Christ] This appears to be the evangelist's 
explanation of the Hebrew word, according to his custom; 
chap. i. 38, 41, 42; ix. 7, &c.; for we cannot suppose that 
the woman understood Greek, so as to translate the Hebrew 
word to our word; or that she should suppose that a person 
who was a Jew, ver. 9, and a prophet, ver. 19, could stand in 
need of this interpretation.

He will tell us all things.] Relative to the nature of God, 
the nature of his worship, and the proper place to adore him 
in. In a word, he will settle the great national question 
between Gerizim and Ebal; and we shall then know certainly 
where we ought to worship.

Verse 26. Jesus saith unto her, I-am he.] Our Lord never 
spoke in such direct terms concerning himself to his own 
countrymen; nor even to his own disciples, till a little 
before his death. The reason given by Bishop Pearce is the 
following: The woman being alone when Jesus said it, and 
being a Samaritan, he had no reason to apprehend that the 
Samaritans, if they knew his claim, would disturb his 
ministry before the time of his suffering came; which seems 
to have been the reason why he concealed it so long from his 
own countrymen.

Verse 27. Came his disciples] From the town, whither they 
went to buy food, ver. 8.

Marveled that he talked with the woman] Because it was 
contrary to the custom of the eastern countries; and there 
are many canons, among the rabbins, against it. To the 
present time, if a man meet even his own wife in the street, 
he does not speak to her; and this is done to keep up the 
appearance of a chastity and temperance of which the eastern 
world knows nothing. They might wonder how a Samaritan, in 
whom they could expect no spirituality, could listen to the 
conversation of their Master, who never spake but about 
heavenly things.

Yet no man said, &c.] They were awed by his majesty, and knew 
that he must have sufficient reasons to induce him to act a 
part to which he was not at all accustomed. A great man has 
said, "Converse sparingly, if at all, with women; and never 
alone." Every minister of the Gospel will do well to attend 
to this advice.

Verse 28. Left her waterpot] She was so penetrated with the 
great truths which Jesus had announced that she forgot her 
errand to the well, and returned to the city without the 
water for which she came out!

Verse 29. All things that ever I did] The Jews believed that 
one essential characteristic of the Messiah would be, that he 
should be able to tell the secrets of all hearts. This they 
believed was predicted, Isa. xi. 2, 3.

When the famous impostor Barchochab, who rose up under the 
empire of Adrian, about a hundred years after the 
incarnation, professed himself to be the Messiah, after 
having been deceived by him for two years, they at last 
thought of putting his divinity to proof on this ground: they 
brought before him persons whom he did not know, some of whom 
were very vicious, and others of a different character; they 
desired him to point out who were the righteous, and who were 
the wicked; which when he could not do, they rose up and put 
him to death. Lamentations Bible de Martin.

Verse 30. They went out of the city] Such effect had the 
simple testimony of the woman on their minds.

And came unto him.] Or, Were coming to him; for they did not 
reach him immediately; all that discourse between him and his 
disciples, mentioned ver. 31-39, inclusive, having taken 
place before the people of Sychar got to the well. See ver. 
40.

Verse 31. Master, eat.] They knew that he was greatly spent 
both with hunger and fatigue.

Verse 32. I have meat to eat that ye know not of.] Our 
blessed Lord seizes every opportunity to raise the minds of 
his apostles to heavenly things, through the medium of 
earthly matters. Nor does he force these things into such 
service. Properly understood, earthly substances are the 
types, representatives, and shadows of heavenly things.

Verse 33. Hath any man brought him aught to eat?] Has he got 
food in any preternatural way? They could not help 
remembering the miraculous interventions of Divine providence 
in feeding Elijah by the ravens, at the brook Cherith, 1 
Kings xvii. 4-6, and by the ministry of an angel, 1 Kings 
xix. 5-8, and our Lord's preternatural repast in the 
wilderness, after his victory over Satan, Matt. iv. 11.

Verse 34. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me] In 
these words, our blessed Lord teaches a lesson of zeal and 
earnestness to his apostles, and to all their successors in 
the Christian ministry. Let the salvation of souls lie nearer 
your heart than life itself. Let eating and drinking, labour 
and rest, reading, thinking, study, prayer, and all things, 
be directed to the accomplishment of this great work. 
Ministers of Jesus! imitate your Lord! Souls are perishing 
for lack of knowledge-God has given you the key of the 
kingdom, the knowledge of his word-O open unto them the gate 
of life! They are dropping by thousands into hell! O pluck 
the brands out of the burning!

Verse 35. There are yet four months, and then cometh 
harvest?] In Palestine, the harvest did not begin till after 
the passover, which was fixed on the 14th of the month Nisan, 
which answers to our March, and sometimes extends into April. 
The barley harvest was the first; after that the wheat; and 
both were finished by Pentecost. For, in the feast of 
Pentecost, the first fruits of all the harvest were carried 
to the temple, and waved before the Lord. See Lev. xxiii. 11. 
The four months, of which our Lord speaks here, must be 
computed, according to M. Toynard, from Shebat, which was the 
eleventh month of the sacred year, and which commenced that 
year on the 13th of January: from that, till the beginning of 
the wheat harvest, which began about a month after the 
passover, there were exactly four months. The passover was 
that year on the 15th of Nisan, or March 28; and Pentecost 
took place on the 17th of May. We may therefore suppose that 
it was about the 13th of January, or beginning of the month 
Shebat, that John the Baptist was cast into prison, and that 
Christ retired into Galilee. The fixing of this epoch is of 
considerable importance. See Calmet's Com. on this place.

The following method of dividing the seasons among the Jews 
is thus stated in Bava Metsia, fol. 106. "Half Tisri, all 
Marheshvan, and half Cisleu, is [rz zera. SEED-TIME. Half 
Cisleu, whole Tebeth, and half Shebat, is Prwj choreph, 
WINTER. Half Shebat, whole Adar, and half Nisan, is rwq kor, 
the WINTER SOLSTICE. Half Nisan, all Ijar, and half Sivan, is 
ryxq katsir, HARVEST. Half Sivan, all Tammuz, and half Ab, is 
Åyyq kyits, SUMMER. Half Ab, all Elul, and half Tisri, is µwj 
chum, the great HEAT." The Jews sowed wheat and spelt in 
Tisri and Marheshvan; and barley in Shebat and Adar. Now let 
us reckon tetramhnon, the four months, backwards, from the 
beginning of the barley harvest, or the middle of the month 
Nisan, and we shall go back to the middle of the month 
Cisleu, which will fall in with the beginning of our 
December, whence it will be easy to conjecture what feast 
that was, mentioned chap. v. 1, viz.

the passover. See Lightfoot; and see the note on chap. v. 1.

After all that learned men have said on this passage, it does 
not appear that our Lord meant any thing by it more than an 
illustration of his present subject. Though there were 
ordinarily four months from seed-time to harvest, and that a 
man, after he had sowed his seed, must wait patiently till 
the regular and natural harvest came, yet it was not the case 
now: the seed of life which he had sown but a few hours ago 
had already brought forth much fruit; therefore he says, Lift 
up your eyes, and look on the fields, over which it is likely 
the Samaritans were then coming in troops, guided by the 
woman who had already received the light of the Gospel of 
peace.

The fields-are white already to harvest.] Multitudes of 
Samaritans are coming to believe on me, and to be saved unto 
eternal life. Probably they had a kind of white raiment.

Verse 36. And he that reapeth receiveth wages] Or, And 
already the reaper receiveth wages. By making the word hdh, 
already, the beginning of this verse, on the authority of 
some excellent MSS. and versions, a more consistent sense is 
obtained than from the common arrangement, where hdh 
terminates the preceding verse.

Already the heavenly sower, Jesus Christ, becomes the reaper 
of the produce of the seed which he had so lately sown; and 
receives the wages which he desired, the high gratification 
of saving immortal souls; and gathers in his fruit unto 
eternal life. So the sower and the reaper, who are here one 
and the same person, rejoiced together, having seen the seed 
time and the harvest take place on the same day. The sower 
had not time to leave the field which he had sown, till it 
was full time to gather in the harvest! 

Verse 37. Herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another 
reapeth.] Or, One is the sower, and another is the reaper. In 
what respects you, of this business, this proverb is true-One 
is the sower, &c., for I have sent you to reap, to preach my 
Gospel, and gain converts, where ye have not laboured-have 
not sown the first seeds of eternal life. Others have 
laboured-the patriarchs and prophets, and ye are entered into 
the fruits of their labours. They announced the Messiah who 
was to come, and the expectation of the people was excited, 
and they longed for his appearance; but they were gathered to 
their fathers before they could see the fruit of their 
labour. You are come to tell the people that the kingdom of 
God is among them, and that God has visited his people.

The proverb which our Lord mentions above was taken from what 
ordinarily happens in the course of the Divine providence, 
where one takes a great deal of pains to procure that of 
which another reaps the benefit. See instances of this 
proverb, Lev. xxvi. 16: Ye shall sow your seed in vain, for 
your enemies shall eat it. Micah vi. 15: Thou shalt sow, but 
thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but not 
anoint thee with the oil. See also Hosea vii. 9. The Greeks 
had the same proverb: alloi men sperousi, alloi dÆan 
amhsontai. So had the Latins: Aliis leporem excitasti. You 
have beat the bush, and another has found the hare. See the 
famous verses of Virgil beginning with, Sic vos non vobis, in 
which the fowls, the sheep, the bees, and the oxen, are 
elegantly brought in as illustrations of the propriety of the 
proverb.

Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves.

Sic vos non vobis vellera fertis oves.

Sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes.

Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves.

So you, ye birds, of wondrous skill possest, Not for 
yourselves construct the curious nest.

So you, ye sheep, who roam the verdant field, Not for 
yourselves your snowy fleeces yield, So you, ye bees, who 
every flower explore, Not for yourselves amass the honied 
store.

So you, ye patient kine, inured to toil, Not for yourselves 
subdue the stubborn soil! Bishop Pearce gives this text a 
remarkable turn. The verse he translates thus: I sent you 
away, that ye might reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour; 
i.e. I did not send you to the city (ver. 8) for this purpose 
only, that ye might buy meat; but I sent you away chiefly 
with this intent, that there might be a harvest for you to 
reap upon your return; though you sowed no seed, and bestowed 
no labour for that purpose. While you were gone, I sowed 
spiritual seed in the heart of a Samaritan woman; and she is 
gone, and is about to return with many of her city, whom she 
has brought to believe, (ver. 39-42.) These, and the many 
more which will believe upon hearing my doctrine, (chap. iv. 
41,) will all be a harvest arising out of the seed which I 
sowed in your absence, and on which, therefore, ye bestowed 
no labour. He farther adds, that the Greek qerizein, stands 
for tou qerizein, and such expressions are often used to 
signify, not the end and design, but the event only. Pearce's 
Comment.

Verse 39. Many of the Samaritans-believed on him for the 
saying of the woman] This woman was the first apostle of 
Christ in Samaria! She went and told her fellow citizens that 
the Messiah was come; and gave for proof, that he had told 
her the most secret things she had ever done: see on ver. 29. 
This word, which is twice repeated, in ver. 29 and here, 
strongly intimates that a more particular conversation had 
taken place, between our Lord and the Samaritan woman, than 
what is here related.

Verse 40. He abode there two days.] We are not told that he 
wrought any miracles among them; this does not appear to have 
been necessary: they were a simple-hearted, teachable people, 
and they credited him on the evidence of his own eternal 
truth. Why are not miracles wrought now? Miracles were only 
for the establishment of the doctrines of Christianity, where 
they were first preached; we profess to believe these 
doctrines; therefore, to us, miracles would be useless. Where 
the doctrine is credited, no miracle is necessary: the 
Samaritans believed, and no miracle was wrought among them; 
for the simple reason, it was not necessary.

Verse 42. We have heard him ourselves] On seeing and hearing 
our Lord, the faith of those who had already believed on the 
woman's testimony was abundantly confirmed; and, besides 
those, may others believed who had not heard the woman speak.

This is indeed the Christ] The promised Messiah.

The saviour of the world.] Not of the Jews only, but of the 
Samaritans, and of the whole Gentile world.

Verse 43. Went into Galilee.] Bishop Pearce thinks that some 
words have been lost from the end of this verse, which may be 
supplied thus: Went into Galilee, but not to Nazareth; for 
Jesus himself had declared, &c.

In Matt. xiii. 57; Mark vi. 4, and Luke iv. 24, which are the 
only texts where Jesus is said to have declared this, he 
always spake of Nazareth only, and not of Galilee in general, 
a country where he lived for the most part, and wrought the 
greatest number of his miracles, and made the most converts.

Verse 44. Jesus himself testified] He bore testimony to the 
general truth of the following proverb. See on Matt. xiii. 
57.

Verse 45. The Galileans received him] They received him as 
the promised Messiah, because of the miracles which they had 
seen him perform at Jerusalem, at the Passover. See chap. ii. 
23.

Verse 46. Where he made the water wine.] See the notes on 
chap. ii. 1, &c. Cana was on the road from Nazareth to 
Capernaum and the Sea of Tiberias.

A certain nobleman] An officer of the king's court: for this 
is the meaning of the original word, basilikov, which the 
Vulgate translates regulus, a little king. This officer 
belonged to Herod Antipas, who was then tetrarch of Galilee. 
Jerome calls him Palatinus, and says he was an officer of the 
king's palace. Others think it was Chuza, mentioned Luke 
viii. 3; and others think it was Manaen, spoken of Acts xiii. 
1. One of these opinions may be true, but all solid proof is 
wanting. This officer, whoever he was, appears to have had 
his ordinary abode at Capernaum, and hearing that Christ was 
at Cana, he came express from Capernaum thither, to entreat 
him to heal his child.

Verse 48. Except ye see signs and wonders, &c.] Our Lord does 
not tell this man that he had no faith, but that he had not 
enough. If he had had none, he would not have come from 
Capernaum to Cana, to beg him to heal his son. If he had had 
enough, he would have been contented with recommending his 
son to our Lord, without entreating him to go to Capernaum to 
heal him; which intimates that he did not believe our Lord 
could do it at a distance. But the words are not addressed to 
the nobleman alone, but to all the Galilean Jews in general; 
for our Lord uses the plural number, which he never does when 
addressing an individual. These people differed widely from 
the people of Sychar: they had neither a love of the truth, 
nor simplicity of heart; and would not believe any thing from 
heaven, unless forced on their minds by the most striking 
miracles. They were favoured with the ministry of John 
Baptist; but, as that was not accompanied with miracles, it 
was not generally credited. They require the miracles of 
Christ, in order that they may credit the advent of the 
Messiah.

There are many like these Galileans still in the world: they 
deny that God can have any influence among men; and as to the 
operations of the Holy Spirit, they, in the genuine Galilean 
spirit, boldly assert that they will not credit any man who 
professes to be made a partaker of them, unless he work a 
miracle in proof of his pretensions! These persons should 
know that the grace of working miracles was very different 
from that by which a man is saved; and that the former might 
exist, even in the most astonishing measure, where the latter 
did not. See 1 Cor. xiii. 2.

Verse 49. Sir, come down, &c.] He did not think our Lord 
could cure him without being present, and seems here to feel 
himself hurt, because our Lord did not come at his first 
entreaty. It is difficult for a proud man, or a man in 
office, to humble himself, or to treat even God Almighty with 
proper respect. The spirit of this man seems not much unlike 
to that of Naaman the Syrian, 2 Kings v. 11.

Verse 50. Go thy way; thy son liveth.] Had our Lord gone with 
him, as he wished, his unbelief could not have been fully 
removed; as he would have still thought that our Lord's power 
could not reach from Cana to Capernaum: in order to destroy 
his unbelief at once, and bring him into the fullness of the 
faith of his supreme power, he cures him, being apparently 
absent, by that energy through which he fills both the 
heavens and the earth. Here it may be observed, our blessed 
Lord did what this man requested him to do, but not in the 
way in which he wished it to be done.

God will save all to the uttermost who call upon him, but not 
in the way in which they may desire. Eternal life is the free 
gift of God, and he has a right to give it as he pleases; and 
he always gives his gifts in that way in which his glory is 
best promoted, and our eternal interest secured.

The man believed the word] And yet it appears that he had 
suspended his faith upon a certain condition: "If I find on 
my return that my son is healed, I will believe that Jesus is 
the Messiah."

Verse 52. Then inquired he of them the hour] The servants, 
overjoyed to find their master's son so suddenly restored, 
set off to meet him, that they might impart to him tidings 
which they knew would be so very agreeable; and he, intent on 
having his faith settled, began immediately to inquire what 
time it was when the fever left him, to see whether his cure 
was the effect of some natural cause, or whether it was done 
by the power of Christ.

Yesterday at the seventh hour] At the time we would call one 
o'clock. Dr. Macknight thinks the Roman hour is intended; 
i.e. seven o'clock in the evening; and this he thinks is the 
reason why our Lord did not accompany the nobleman: for, as 
Cana was a day's journey from Capernaum, had our Lord gone at 
that hour he must have traveled in the night, from which it 
might have been inferred that he could not cure the child 
without being personally present. Harmony, vol. i. p. 52.

Verse 53. So the father knew] He had the fullest proof that 
his son's cure was supernatural, and that it was wrought by 
the Lord Jesus.

Himself believed, and his whole house.] He and his whole 
family became true converts to the doctrine of the manifested 
Messiah. The whole family, impressed with the great kindness 
of God in sending health to the child, were the more easily 
led to believe in the Lord Jesus. The sickness of the child 
became the mean of salvation to all the household.

They, no doubt, thought at first that God was dealing hardly 
with them, when threatening to remove the child; but now they 
see that in very faithfulness God had afflicted them. Let us 
learn never to murmur against God, or think that he does not 
act kindly towards us. His wisdom cannot permit him to err; 
his goodness will not suffer him to do any thing to his 
creatures but what may be subservient to their best 
interests. By providential occurrences, apparently the most 
adverse, he may be securing our eternal salvation.

There is an account in Beracoth, fol. 34, very similar to 
this of the evangelist, and very possibly stolen from this 
holy source. "When the son of Rab. Gamaliel fell sick, he 
sent two of his disciples to R. Chanina, that he would pray 
to God for him. When he had seen them, he went on the roof of 
his house and prayed for him. He then came down and said to 
them, His fever has departed from him. They said unto him, 
Art thou a prophet? He answered, I am neither a prophet, nor 
the son of a prophet; but when I can recite my prayers 
readily, I know I shall be heard. They then wrote down the 
hour; and, when they returned to R. Gamaliel, he said to 
them, Ye have fulfilled your ministry-in respect to my son, 
all is complete. In that hour the fever ( hmj chomah, o 
puretov) left him, and he desired water to drink." Schoettgen 
very properly remarks, Ovum ovo non magis simile est, atque 
haec fabula narrationi evangelicae. "One egg is not more like 
to another, than this fable to the evangelical narration."

Verse 54. This-second miracle] The first miracle which Christ 
performed was in this same city of Cana, just after his 
baptism; and this second took place after his arrival here 
from Jerusalem, whence, we have seen, he was driven by the 
persecution raised against him by the scribes and Pharisees. 
By construing the word palin, again, with elqwn, he came, 
that confusion which is evident in the common version is 
entirely removed.

Bishop Pearce says: "It seems probable to me that John, when 
he wrote this verse, either joined the word palin to elqwn, 
as he had done in ver. 46, or meant that it should be so 
joined in the construction." John does not mention here the 
miracles which our Lord did at Capernaum on his first 
journey, chap. ii. 11, nor those which he did at Jerusalem on 
the feast of the passover. See chap. ii. 12; Luke iv. 23.

THERE are several particulars in the preceding history of the 
Samaritan woman which confirm the doctrine of a particular 
providence, and show how God manages the most common 
occurrences in order to accomplish the designs of his mercy 
and love.

The Gospel must be preached to the Samaritans: this is God's 
purpose; and in this case, the wrath of man is caused to 
praise him.

1. Christ finds it necessary to quit Judea because of the 
persecution raised up against him by the scribes and 
Pharisees, ver. 1-3. How worthy of admiration is that Divine 
providence that presses every thing into the accomplishment 
of its own designs! The doctors of Jerusalem oblige the 
saviour to leave their city; and a simple woman persuades all 
the inhabitants of a Samaritan city to open their gates and 
their hearts, and entreat the Redeemer of the world to enter 
in.

2. Christ must pass through Samaria, ver. 4. He was so 
situated in Judea that he could not reach Galilee except 
through Samaria, without taking a large circuit, which the 
necessities of the present case could not admit.

Thus, while he appears to fly only from the fury of his 
persecutors, he is in reality seeking the lost, and fully 
accomplishing the work he came into the world to perform.

3. Christ being weary finds it necessary to sit down to rest 
himself by Jacob's well, ver. 5, 6, spent with fatigue and 
hunger. How energetic was this fatigue? how active was this 
rest! Nothing can happen to Christ in vain-nothing can turn 
him out of the way of his mercy-his great work he continues 
to carry on, without the smallest interruption, where we 
would have thought it must have been necessarily suspended.

4. The disciples are obliged to go to the city to buy 
victuals, ver. 8, and Jesus was left alone. Even this 
circumstance was not only favourable to the conversion of the 
Samaritan woman, but even essentially necessary, as, without 
it, she could not have had that opportunity of conversing 
freely with our Lord; nor would it have been proper for him 
to have made that discovery of himself, in their presence, 
which we find he did during their absence. See the note on 
ver. 26.

5. The Samaritan woman is induced at that very time to go and 
draw water.

Even so small a circumstance as this becomes a necessary part 
in the economy of her salvation. There is not a circumstance 
in our life not an occurrence in our business, but God will 
make it subservient to our salvation, if we have a simple 
heart and a teachable spirit. The steps of a good man 
especially are ordered of the Lord; and, while he 
acknowledges his Maker in all his ways, he will direct all 
his steps. A proper consideration of this great truth will 
produce both confidence and humility.

6. But this blessed doctrine may be abused; for some may 
suppose that God always acts according to a fixed necessity, 
through which, whatsoever was, is, or will be, has had its 
existence, mode of being, operation, and direction, according 
to predetermined irrevocable laws. This system makes God 
himself the necessary agent of eternal fate, as it supposes 
him to be constantly employed in doing what eternal necessity 
obliges him to perform; and thus his infinite freedom is 
bounded or acted upon by uncontrollable necessity. Perdition 
is not farther from glory than necessitating decrees are from 
a particular and gracious providence, by which the means of 
salvation are placed within the reach of every human being.

CHAPTER v.

The man who had been diseased thirty-eight years healed on 
the Sabbath day, 1-9. The Jews cavil, persecute Christ, and 
seek to kill him, because he had done this cure on the 
Sabbath, 10-16. Our Lord vindicates his conduct, and shows, 
from the testimony of the Father, the Scriptures, John the 
Baptist, and his own works, that he came from God, to be the 
light and salvation of the world, 17-39. He reproves the Jews 
for their obstinacy, 40; hatred to God, 41, 42; pride, 43, 
44; and disbelief of their own law, 45-47.

NOTES ON CHAP. v.

Verse 1. A feast] This is generally supposed, by the best 
critics, to have been the feast of the passover, which was 
the most eminent feast among the Jews. In several excellent 
MSS. the article is added, h eorth, THE feast, the grand, the 
principal festival. Petavius supposes that the feast of 
Purim, or lots, is here meant; and one MS. reads h 
skhnophgia, the feast of Tabernacles. Several of the 
primitive fathers believe Pentecost to be intended; and they 
are followed by many of the moderns, because, in chap. vii. 
2, mention is made of the feast of Tabernacles, which 
followed Pentecost, and was about the latter end of our 
September; and, in chap. x. 22, mention is made of the feast 
of Dedication, which was held about the latter end of 
November. See Bp. Pearce. See chap. x. 22.

Calmet, however, argues that there is no other feast with 
which all the circumstances marked here so well agree as with 
the passover; and Bp.

Newcome, who is of Calmet's opinion, thinks Bp. Pearce's 
argument concerning the succession of the feasts to be 
inconclusive; because it is assumed, not proved, that the 
three feasts which he mentions above must have happened in 
the same year. See much on the same subject in Bp.

Newcome's notes to his Harmony, p. 15, &c.

Lightfoot has observed, that the other evangelists speak very 
sparingly of our Lord's acts in Judea. They mention nothing 
of the passovers, from our Lord's baptism till his death, 
excepting the very last: but John points at them all. The 
first he speaks of, chap. ii. 13; the third, chap. vi. 4; the 
fourth, chap. xiii. 1; and the second in this place: for 
although he does not call it the passover, but a feast in 
general, yet the circumstances agree best with this feast; 
and our Lord's words, chap. iv. 35, seem to cast light on 
this subject. See the note there.

Verse 2. There IS] This is thought by some to be a proof that 
John wrote his Gospel before the destruction of Jerusalem; 
and that the pool and its porticoes were still remaining. 
Though there can be little doubt that Jerusalem was destroyed 
many years before John wrote, yet this does not necessarily 
imply that the pool and its porticoes must have been 
destroyed too. It, or something in its place, is shown to 
travelers to the present day. See Maundrell's Jour. p. 108. 
But instead of esti, IS, both the Syriac, all the Arabic, 
Persic, Armenian, and Nonnus, read hn, WAS; which is to me 
some proof that it did not exist when these versions were 
made, and that the pool which is shown now is not the 
original.

By the sheep market] Rather, gate: see Neh. iii. 1, 32; xii. 
39. This was in all probability the gate through which the 
sheep were brought which were offered in sacrifice in the 
temple.

A pool] Bp. Pearce thinks the word kolumbhqra should be 
translated bath, and that this place was built for the 
purpose of bathing and swimming in. He observes that kolumban 
signifies to swim, in Acts xxvii. 43. In proof of this, he 
cites three of the old Itala, which have natatoria, a bathing 
or swimming place.

Bethesda] This word is variously written in the MSS. and 
versions: Bezatha-Bethzatha-Betzetha-Belzetha-Belzatha-
Berzeta; and many have Bethsaida. But the former reading is 
the genuine one. Bethesda, or according to the Hebrew hdojtyb 
Bethchasdah, signifies literally, the house of mercy. It got 
this name probably from the cures which God mercifully 
performed there. It is likely the porticoes were built for 
the more convenient reception of the poor and distressed, who 
came hither to be healed. It does not appear that any person 
was obliged to pay man for what the mercy of God freely gave. 
Wicked as the Jewish people were, they never thought of 
levying a tax on the poor and afflicted, for the cures they 
received in these healing waters. How is it that a well-
regulated state, such as that of Great Britain, can ever 
permit individuals or corporations to enrich themselves at 
the expense of God's mercy, manifested in the sanative waters 
of Bristol, Bath, Buxton, &c.? Should not the accommodations 
be raised at the expense of the public, that the poor might 
enjoy without cost, which they are incapable of defraying, 
the great blessing which the God of nature has bestowed on 
such waters? In most of those places there is a profession 
that the poor may drink and bathe gratis; but it is little 
better than a pretense, and the regulations relative to this 
point render the whole nearly inefficient. However, some good 
is done.

Verse 3. Blind, halt, withered] To these the Codex Bezae, 
three copies of the Itala, and both the Persic, add 
paralutikwn, paralytic; but they are probably included among 
the withered.

Waiting for the moving of the water.] This clause, with the 
whole of the fourth verse, is wanting in some MSS. and 
versions; but I think there is no sufficient evidence against 
their authenticity. Griesbach seems to be of the same 
opinion; for though he has marked the whole passage with the 
notes of doubtfulness, yet he has left it in the text. Some 
have imagined that the sanative virtue was communicated to 
the waters by washing in them the entrails of the beasts 
which were offered in sacrifice; and that the angel meant no 
more than merely a man sent to stir up from the bottom this 
corrupt sediment, which, being distributed through the water, 
the pores of the person who bathed in it were penetrated by 
this matter, and his disorder repelled! But this is a 
miserable shift to get rid of the power and goodness of God, 
built on the merest conjectures, self-contradictory, and 
every way as unlikely as it is insupportable. It has never 
yet been satisfactorily proved that the sacrifices were ever 
washed; and, could even this be proved, who can show that 
they were washed in the pool of Bethesda? These waters healed 
a man in a moment of whatsoever disease he had. Now, there is 
no one cause under heaven that can do this. Had only one kind 
of disorders been cured here, there might have been some 
countenance for this deistical conjecture-but this is not the 
case; and we are obliged to believe the relation just as it 
stands, and thus acknowledge the sovereign power and mercy of 
God, or take the desperate flight of an infidel, and thus get 
rid of the passage altogether.

Verse 4. Angel] "Of the Lord," is added by AKL, about 20 
others, the AEthiopic, Armenian, Slavonic, Vulgate, Anglo-
Saxon, and six copies of the Itala: Cyril and Ambrose have 
also this reading. If this reading be genuine, and the 
authorities which support it are both ancient and 
respectable, it destroys Dr. Hammond's conjecture, that, by 
the angel, a messenger only, sent from the Sanhedrin, is 
meant, and that these cures were all performed in a natural 
way.

Those who feel little or none of the work of God in their own 
hearts are not willing to allow that he works in others. Many 
deny the influences of God's Spirit, merely because they 
never felt them. This is to make any man's experience the 
rule by which the whole word of God is to be interpreted; and 
consequently to leave no more divinity in the Bible than is 
found in the heart of him who professes to explain it.

Went down] katebainen, descended. The word seems to imply 
that the angel had ceased to descend when John wrote. In the 
second verse, he spoke of the pool as being still in 
existence; and in this verse he intimates that the Divine 
influence ceased from these waters. When it began, we know 
not; but it is likely that it continued no longer than till 
the crucifixion of our Lord. Some think that this never took 
place before nor after this time. Neither Josephus, Philo, 
nor any of the Jewish authors mention this pool; so that it 
is very likely that it had not been long celebrated for its 
healing virtue, and that nothing of it remained when those 
authors wrote.

Certain season] This probably refers to the time of the 
feast, during which only this miraculous virtue lasted. It is 
not likely that the angel appeared to the people-his descent 
might be only known by the ebullition caused in the waters. 
Was not the whole a type Of Christ? See Zech. xiii. 1. He is 
the true Bethesda, or house of mercy, the fountain opened to 
the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for 
sin and for uncleanness; unto which all the diseased may 
come, and find health and life eternal.

Verse 5. Had an infirmity thirty and eight years.] St. 
Chrysostom conjectured that blindness was the infirmity of 
this person: what it was, the inspired writer does not say-
probably it was a palsy: his case was deplorable-he was not 
able to go into the pool himself, and he had no one to help 
him; so that poverty and disease were here connected. The 
length of the time he had been afflicted makes the miracle of 
his cure the greater.

There could have been no collusion in this case: as his 
affliction had lasted thirty-eight years, it must have been 
known to multitudes; therefore he could not be a person 
prepared for the occasion. All Christ's miracles have been 
wrought in such a way, and on such persons and occasions, as 
absolutely to preclude all possibility of the suspicion of 
imposture.

Verse 6. Wilt thou be made whole?] Christ, by asking this 
question, designed to excite in this person faith, hope, and 
a greater desire of being healed. He wished him to reflect on 
his miserable state, that he might be the better prepared to 
receive a cure, and to value it when it came.

Addresses of this kind are always proper from the preachers 
of the Gospel, that the hearts, as well of hardened as of 
desponding sinners, may be stirred up to desire and expect 
salvation. Do you wish to be healed? Do you know that you are 
under the power of a most inveterate and dangerous disease? 
If so, there is a remedy-have immediate recourse to the 
physician. Questions of this kind are frequently asked in the 
secret of our souls, by the inspirations of God's Spirit. 
Happy those who pay attention to them, and give right 
answers.

Verse 7. Sir, I have no man] nai, kurie-"Yes, sir; but I have 
no man:"-this is the reading of C*GH, fourteen others, both 
the Syriac, later Persic, Arabic, and Chrysostom. Reader, be 
thankful to God for health and outward comforts. When long 
affliction has been allied to deep poverty, how deplorable is 
the state!

Verse 8. Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.] Jesus speaks here 
as God. He speaks in no name but his own, and with an 
authority which belongs to God alone. And what is the 
consequence? The man became whole immediately; and this 
sudden restoration to health and strength was an 
incontestable proof of the omnipotence of Christ. It has been 
remarked, that our Lord, after having performed a miracle, 
was accustomed to connect some circumstance with it, which 
attested its truth. After the miracle of the five loaves, he 
ordered the fragments to be collected, which were more in 
quantity than the loaves themselves, though several thousands 
had been fed. When he changed the water into wine, he ordered 
some to be taken first to the steward of the feast, that he 
might taste and bear testimony to its genuineness and 
excellency. When he cured the lepers, he commanded them to 
show themselves to the priests, whose business it was to 
judge of the cure. So here, he judged it necessary, after 
having cured this infirm man, to order him not only to arise, 
but to take up his bed, and walk, which sufficiently attested 
the miracle which he had wrought. God's work is ever known by 
its excellence and good effects.

The bed of a poor Hindoo is seldom any thing besides a single 
mat, or a cloth as thick as a bed-quilt. Men carrying such 
beds may be seen daily on the highways.

Verse 9. The same day was the sabbath.] Mr. Toynard supposes 
that this miracle was wrought on the 11th of Nisan, the 
sabbath before the passover, which was celebrated the 14th of 
Nisan, or 28th of March. But why did our Lord command this 
man to carry his bed on the sabbath, as the law prohibited 
all servile work, and especially the carrying of burthens? 
See Exod. xx. 8; Jeremiah xvii. 21; Neh. xiii. 15. To this it 
may be answered, 1. The man was a poor man, and if he had 
left his bed he might have lost it; and he could not have 
conveniently watched it till the next morning. Christ showed 
by this that he was Lord of the sabbath: see Matt. xii. 8. 3. 
This was not contrary to the spirit of the law: the sabbath 
was made to honour God in, and this was a public monument of 
his power and goodness. 4. It was consistent with the wisdom 
of Christ to do his miracles so that they might be seen and 
known by a multitude of people, and especially in Jerusalem, 
which was the capital of the country, and the center of the 
Jewish religion; and this very circumstance of the healed man 
carrying his bed on the sabbath day must call the attention 
of many to this matter, and cause the miracle to be more 
generally known.

Verse 11. He that made me whole, &c.] The poor man reasoned 
conclusively:-He who could work such a miracle must be at 
least the best of men: now a good man will neither do evil 
himself, nor command others to do it: but he who cured me 
ordered me to carry my bed; therefore, there can be no evil 
in it.

Verse 13. Jesus had conveyed himself away] Or, had withdrawn 
himself. And this he might easily do, as there was a crowd in 
the place.

Some think the words indicate, that Jesus withdrew on seeing 
a multitude in the place, i.e. raising a tumult, because of 
the man's carrying his bed. See the margin. He had not yet 
finished his work, and would not expose himself to the envy 
and malice of the Jewish rulers.

Verse 14. Jesus findeth him in the temple] The man being 
conscious that it was through the mercy of God that he was 
restored, (though he did not as yet know distinctly who 
Christ was,) went to the temple to return thanks to God for 
his cure. Whether this was on the same day, or some other, 
does not distinctly appear: it was probably the same day, 
after he had carried home his couch. How many, when they are 
made well, forget the hand that has healed them, and, instead 
of gratitude and obedience to God, use their renewed health 
and strength in the service of sin! Those who make this use 
of God's mercies may consider their restoration as a respite 
only from perdition.

Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.] Our Lord, 
intending to discover to this man who he was, gave him two 
proofs of the perfection of his knowledge. 1. He showed him 
that he knew the secret of the past-sin no more: thereby 
intimating that his former sins were the cause of his long 
affliction. 2. He showed him that he knew the future-lest a 
worse thing come unto thee: if thy iniquity be repeated, thy 
punishment will be increased.

Verse 15. The man departed, and told the Jews] He did not say 
it was Jesus who had ordered him to carry his bed, but it was 
Jesus who had cured him; and he left them to draw the 
inference, viz. That this Jesus must be the miraculous power 
of God.

Verse 16. And sought to slay him] This clause is omitted by 
BCDL, some others, and several ancient versions. Griesbach 
has left it out of the text; and Professor White says, 
certissime delenda: but it does not appear to me that it 
should be omitted. However, it was true of the Jews, whether 
the words were originally in the evangelist or not. For what 
cause did these persons seek to destroy our Lord? Because he 
had healed a poor man, who had been diseased thirty-eight 
years, and ordered him to carry home the couch on which he 
lay! How implacable must their malice have been! The spirit 
of religious persecution has always been the most fell and 
dangerous of all on this side perdition. Every other 
disposition appears to have its moderator; but this is wholly 
abandoned to the guidance of Satan, and has for its objects 
the men who know the truth, and who live to the glory of 
their God, and for the benefit of mankind. How strange that 
such should ever be objects of malice and hatred! But the 
Satanic nature in fallen man is ever opposed to whatever 
comes from God.

Verse 17. My Father worked hitherto, and I work.] Or, As my 
Father worketh until now, &c., kaqwv being understood. God 
created the world in six days: on the seventh he rested from 
all creating acts, and set it apart to be an everlasting 
memorial of his work. But, though he rested from creating, he 
never ceased from preserving and governing that which he had 
formed: in this respect he can keep no sabbaths; for nothing 
can continue to exist, or answer the end proposed by the 
Divine wisdom and goodness, without the continual energy of 
God. So I work-I am constantly employed in the same way, 
governing and supporting all things, comforting the wretched, 
and saving the lost; and to me, in this respect, there is no 
sabbath.

Verse 18. Making himself equal with God.] This the Jews 
understood from the preceding verse: nor did they take a 
wrong meaning out of our Lord's words; for he plainly stated 
that, whatever was the Father's work, his was the same; thus 
showing that He and the Father were ONE. They had now found 
out two pretenses to take away his life: one was that he had 
broken the Sabbath-elue, dissolved, as they pretended, the 
obligation of keeping it holy. The other was that he was 
guilty of blasphemy, in making himself equal to God: for both 
which crimes, a man, according to the law, must suffer death. 
See Num. xv. 32; Lev. xxiv. 11, 14, 16.

Verse 19. The Son can do nothing of himself] Because of his 
inseparable union with the Father: nor can the Father do any 
thing of himself, because of his infinite unity with the Son.

What things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son] God 
does nothing but what Christ does. What God does is the work 
of God, and proper to no creature-Jesus does whatsoever God 
does, and therefore is no created being. The Son can do 
nothing but what he sees the Father do: now, any intelligent 
creature may do what God cannot do: he may err-he may sin. If 
Jesus can do nothing but what God does, then he is no 
creature-he can neither sin nor err, nor act imperfectly. The 
conclusion from our Lord's argument is: If I have broken the 
Sabbath, so has God also; for I can do nothing but what I see 
him doing. He is ever governing and preserving; I am ever 
employed in saving.

Verse 20. Greater works than these] Two of these he 
immediately mentions: Raising the dead, ver. 21. And judging 
the world, ver. 22.

That ye may marvel.] Or, So as to make you wonder. Our Lord 
sometimes speaks of himself as God, and sometimes as the 
ambassador of God. As he had a human and Divine nature, this 
distinction was essentially necessary. Many errors have 
originated from want of attention to this circumstance.

Verse 21. As the Father raised up the dead] This he did in 
the case of the widow's son at Sarepta, 1 Kings xvii. 22, by 
the ministry of the Prophet Elijah. And again, in the case of 
the Shunamite's son, 2 Kings iv. 32-35, by the ministry of 
the Prophet Elisha.

The Son quickeneth whom he will.] He raiseth from death to 
life whomsoever he pleases. So he did, for he raised the 
ruler's daughter, Mark v. 35-42; the widow's son at Nain, 
Luke vii. 11-15; and Lazarus, at Bethany, chap. xi. 14-44.

Whom he will. Here our Lord points out his sovereign power 
and independence; he gives life according to his own will-not 
being obliged to supplicate for the power by which it was 
done, as the prophets did; his own will being absolute and 
sufficient in every case.

Verse 22. The Father judgeth no man] This confirms what he 
had said before, ver. 17, 19, that the Father acts not 
without the Son, nor the Son without the Father; their acts 
are common, their power equal.

Verse 23. That all men should honour the Son, &c.] If then 
the Son is to be honoured, EVEN AS the Father is honoured, 
then the Son must be God, as receiving that worship which 
belongs to God alone. To worship any creature is idolatry: 
Christ is to be honoured even as the Father is honoured; 
therefore Christ is not a creature; and, if not a creature, 
consequently the Creator. See chap. i. 3.

He that honoureth not the Son] God will not receive that 
man's adoration who refuses to honour Jesus, even as he 
honours him. The Jews expected the Messiah as a great and 
powerful Prince; but they never thought of a person coming in 
that character enrobed with all the attributes of Godhead. To 
lead them off from this error, our Lord spoke the words 
recorded in these verses.

Verse 24. He that heareth my word] My doctrine-and believeth 
on him that sent me-he who credits my Divine mission, that I 
am come to give light and life to the world by my doctrine 
and death-hath eternal life-the seed of this life is sown in 
his heart the moment he believes-and shall not come into 
condemnation, eiv krisin, into judgment-that which will 
speedily come on this unbelieving race; and that which shall 
overwhelm the wicked in the great day.

But is passed from death unto life.] metabebhken, Has changed 
his country, or place of abode. Death is the country where 
every Christless soul lives. The man who knows not God lives 
a dying life, or a living death; but he who believes in the 
Son of God passes over from the empire of death, to the 
empire of life. Reader! thou wast born in death: hast thou 
yet changed the place of thy natural residence? Remember that 
to live in sin is to live in death; and those who live and 
die thus shall die eternally.

Verse 25. The dead shall hear the voice] Three kinds of death 
are mentioned in the Scriptures: natural, spiritual, and 
eternal.

The first consists in the separation of the body and soul. 
The second in the separation of God and the soul. The third 
in the separation of body and soul from God in the other 
world. Answerable to these three kinds of death, there is a 
threefold life: Natural life, which consists in the union of 
the soul and body. Spiritual life, which consists in the 
union of God and the soul, by faith and love. Eternal life, 
which consist in the communion of the body and soul with God, 
by holiness, in the realms of bliss.

Of the dead, our Lord says, the hour is coming, and now is, 
when they shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and live. 
The hour is coming, when all that sleep in the dust shall 
awake at the voice of the Son of man, and come to judgment: 
for he giveth life to the dead, ver. 21, 28, 29. Again, the 
hour is coming, when some of those who have died a natural 
death shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live again 
here. It is likely that our Lord had not as yet raised any 
from the dead; and he refers to those whom he intended to 
raise: see on ver. 21. Lastly, the hour now is, when many who 
are dead in trespasses and sins, shall hear the voice (the 
word) of the Son of God, believe, and receive spiritual life 
through him.

Verse 26. Hath he given to the Son to have life, &c.] Here 
our Lord speaks of himself in his character of Messiah, or 
envoy of God.

Verse 27. Because he is the Son of man.] Because he is the 
Messiah; for in this sense the phrase, Son of man, is often 
to be understood. But some join this to the next verse thus:-
Marvel not at this, because he is the Son of man.

Verse 28. Marvel not at this] I think it quite necessary to 
follow here, as noted above, the punctuation of both the 
Syriac, the Armenian, Chrysostom, Damascenus, Theophylact, 
Euthymius, and others; which is found also in some very good 
MSS. Theophylact says that the common method of reading this, 
which he highly objects to, was the invention of Paul of 
Samosata. In ver. 26, 27, our Lord, speaking of himself as 
envoy of God, said, the Father had given him to have life in 
himself, so that, like any of the ancient prophets, he could 
vivify others; and that he had given him authority to execute 
judgment, probably referring to that judgment which he was 
shortly to execute on this unbelieving nation, and apparently 
in direct reference to Daniel vii. 13, Behold one like the 
Son of man came with the clouds, &c., a place which the Jews 
expound of the promised Messiah. In this verse he anticipates 
an objection, as if they had said: "This cannot be: thou art 
a man-thou wast born among us." Our Lord answers: Don't 
marvel at this, BECAUSE I am a man-for greater things than 
these shall be done by me: he who now addresses you, though 
disguised under the form of a man, shall appear in the great 
day to be the Judge of quick and dead: by his almighty power, 
he shall raise all the dead; and, by his unerring wisdom and 
justice, shall adjudge the wicked to hell, and the righteous 
to heaven. The first sense, however, of this passage, appears 
to some the most probable; though they both amount nearly to 
the same meaning.

Verse 30. I can of mine own self do nothing] Because of my 
intimate union with God. See on ver. 19.

I week not mine own will] I do not, I cannot attempt to do 
any thing without God. This, that is, the Son of man, the 
human nature which is the temple of my Divinity, chap. i. 14, 
is perfectly subject to the Deity that dwells in it. In this 
respect our blessed Lord is the perfect pattern of all his 
followers. In every thing their wills should submit to the 
will of their heavenly Father. Nothing is more common than to 
hear people say, I will do it because I choose. He who has no 
better reason to give for his conduct than his own will shall 
in the end have the same reason to give for his eternal 
destruction. "I followed my own will, in opposition to the 
will of God, and now I am plunged in the lake that burneth 
with fire and brimstone." Reader, God hath sent thee also to 
do his will: his will is that thou shouldst abandon thy sins, 
and believe in the Lord Jesus. Hast thou yet done it?

Verse 31. If I bear witness] If I had no proof to bring of my 
being the Messiah, and equal to God, common sense would 
direct you to reject my testimony; but the mighty power of 
God, by which I work my miracles, sufficiently attests that 
my pretensions are well founded.

Bishop Pearce gives a different turn to this verse, by 
translating it interrogatively, thus: "If I only bear witness 
of myself, is not my witness true? i.e. is it, on that 
account, not true? In chap. viii. 14, he says, Though I bear 
record of myself, yet my record is true. And in chap. viii. 
18, he says, I am one that bear witness of myself."

Verse 32. There is another] God the Father, who, by his 
Spirit in your prophets, described my person, office, and 
miracles. You read these scriptures, and you cannot help 
seeing that they testify of me:-no person ever did answer the 
description there given, but myself; and I answer to that 
description in the fullest sense of the word. See ver. 39.

And I know] Instead of oida, I know, oidate, ye know, is the 
reading of the Codex Bezae, Armenian, and two of the Itala. 
Ye believe the Scriptures to be of God, and that he cannot 
lie; and yet ye will not believe in me, though these 
Scriptures have so clearly foretold and described me! It is 
not one of the least evils attending unbelief, that it acts 
not only in opposition to God, but it also acts 
inconsistently with itself. It receives the Scriptures in 
bulk, and acknowledges them to have come through Divine 
inspiration; and yet believes no part separately. With it the 
whole is true, but no part is true! The very unreasonableness 
of this conduct shows the principle to have come from 
beneath, were there no other evidences against it.

Verse 33. Ye sent unto John] I am not without human testimony 
of the most respectable kind:-Ye sent to John, and he bare 
witness. There are several circumstances in John's character 
which render his testimony unexceptionable. 1. He is 
consulted by the very enemies of Christ, as a very holy and 
extraordinary man. 2. He is perfectly free from all self-
interest, having declined making the least advantage by his 
own reputation. 3. He is sincere, undaunted, and so averse 
from all kinds of flattery that he reproves Herod at the 
hazard of his liberty and life. 4. He was so far from being 
solicited by Christ to give his testimony that he had not 
even seen him when he gave it. See chap. i. 19-28.

Verse 34. But I receive not testimony from man [only.] I have 
no need of John's testimony: the works that I do bear 
sufficient testimony to me, ver. 36.

But these things I say, &c.] You believed John to be a 
prophet-a prophet cannot lie: he bore testimony that I am the 
Lamb of God, that beareth away the sin of the world, chap. i. 
29; therefore, that ye may be saved by believing in me as 
such, I have appealed to John's testimony.

Verse 35. He was a burning and a shining light] hn o lucnov o 
kaiomenov kai fainwn, should be translated, He was a burning 
and a shining LAMP. He was not to fwv tou kosmou, the light 
of the world, i.e. the sun; but he was o lucnov, a lamp, to give a 
clear and steady light till the sun should arise. It is supposed 
that John had been cast into prison about four months before this 
time. See the note on chap. iv. 35. As his light continued no 
longer to shine, our Lord says he WAS.

The expression of lamp our Lord took from the ordinary custom 
of the Jews, who termed their eminent doctors the lamps of 
Israel. A lighted candle is a proper emblem of a minister of 
God; and, Alteri serviens consumor-"In serving others, I 
myself destroy:"-a proper motto. There are few who preach the 
Gospel faithfully that do not lose their lives by it.

Burning may refer to the zeal with which John executed his 
message; and shining may refer to the clearness of the 
testimony which he bore concerning Christ. Only to shine is 
but vanity; and to burn without shining will never edify the 
Church of God. Some shine, and some burn, but few both shine 
and burn; and many there are who are denominated pastors, who 
neither shine nor burn. He who wishes to save souls must both 
burn and shine: the clear light of the knowledge of the 
sacred records must fill his understanding; and the holy 
flame of loving zeal must occupy his heart.

Zeal without knowledge is continually blundering; and 
knowledge without zeal makes no converts to Christ.

For a season] The time between his beginning to preach and 
his being cast into prison.

To rejoice] agalliasqhnai, To jump for joy, as we would 
express it.

They were exceedingly rejoiced to hear that the Messiah was 
come, because they expected him to deliver them out of the 
hands of the Romans; but when a spiritual deliverance, of 
infinitely greater moment was preached to them, they rejected 
both it and the light which made it manifest.

Verse 36. But I have greater witness] However decisive the 
judgment of such a man as John may be, who was the lamp of 
Israel, a miracle of grace, filled with the spirit of Elijah, 
and more than any prophet, because he pointed out, not the 
Messiah who was to come, but the Messiah who was already 
come: nevertheless, I am not obliged to depend on his 
testimony alone; for I have a greater one, that of Him whom 
you acknowledge to be your God. And how do I prove that this 
God bears testimony to me? By my works: these miracles, which 
attest my mission, and prove by themselves that nothing less 
than unlimited power and boundless love could ever produce 
them. By my word only, I have perfectly and instantly healed 
a man who was diseased thirty and eight years. Ye see the 
miracle-the man is before you whole and sound. Why then do ye 
not believe in my mission, that ye may embrace my doctrine, 
and be saved?

Verse 37. The Father himself-hath borne witness] That is, by 
his prophets.

Ye have neither heard his voice] I make these words, with Bp. 
Pearce, a parenthesis: the sense is-"Not that my Father ever 
appeared visibly or spake audibly to any of you; but he did 
it by the mouths of his prophets." Lately, however, he had 
added to their testimony his own voice from heaven, on the 
day of Christ's baptism. See Matt. iii. 17.

Verse 38. Ye have not his word abiding in you] Though ye 
believe the Scriptures to be of God, yet ye do not let them 
take hold of your hearts-his word is in your mouth, but not 
in your mind. What a miserable lot! to read the Scriptures as 
the true sayings of God, and yet to get no salvation from 
them! Thy word, says David, (Psa. cxix. 11,) have I hid in my 
heart, that I might not sin against thee. This, these Jews 
had not done.

Reader, hast thou?

Verse 39. Search the Scriptures] ereunate tav grafav. This 
should be translated, not in the imperative, but in the 
indicative mood-thus, Ye search the Scriptures diligently. 
That these words are commonly read in the imperative mood is 
sufficiently known; but this reading can never accord well 
with the following verse, nor can the force and energy of the 
words be perceived by this version.

The rabbins strongly recommend the study of the Scriptures. 
The Talmud, Tract. Shabbath, fol. 30, brings in God thus 
addressing David: "I am better pleased with one day in which 
thou sittest and studiest the law, than I shall be with a 
thousand sacrifices which thy son Solomon shall offer upon my 
altar." Perhaps the Scriptures were never more diligently 
searched than at that very time: first, because they were in 
expectation of the immediate appearing of the Messiah; 
secondly, because they wished to find out allegories in them; 
(see Philo;) and, thirdly, because they found these 
scriptures to contain the promise of an eternal life. He, 
said they, who studies daily in the law, is worthy to have a 
portion in the world to come, Sohar. Genes. fol. 31. Hence we 
may infer: 1st. That the Jews had the knowledge of a future 
state before the coming of Christ; and 2ndly. That they got 
that knowledge from the Old Testament Scriptures.

The word ereunate, which might be translated, Ye search 
diligently, is very expressive. Homer, IL. xviii. l. 321, 
applies it to a lion deprived of his whelps, who "scours the 
plains, and traces the footsteps of the man." And in ODYSS. 
xix. l. 436, to dogs tracing their game by the scent of the 
foot.

In the Septuagint, the verb ereunaw answers to the Hebrew pj 
chapash, to search by uncovering; to rqj chakar, to search 
minutely, to explore; to Pj chashaph, to strip, make bare; 
and to m mashash, to feel, search by feeling. It is 
compounded of erew, I seek, and eunh, a bed; "and is, "says 
St. Chrysostom, "a metaphor taken from those who dig deep, 
and search for metals in the bowels of the earth. They look 
for the bed where the metal lies, and break every clod, and 
sift and examine the whole, in order to discover the ore." 
Those who read the verse in the imperative mood consider it 
an exhortation to the diligent study of the Sacred Writings. 
Search; that is, shake and sift them, as the word also 
signifies: search narrowly, till the true force and meaning 
of every sentence, yea, of every word and syllable, nay, of 
every letter and yod therein, be known and understood. Confer 
place with place; the scope of one place with that of 
another; things going before with things coming after: 
compare word with word, letter with letter, and search the 
whole thoroughly. See Parkhurst, Mintert, and Leigh.

Leaving every translation of the present passage out of the 
question, this is the proper method of reading and examining 
the Scriptures, so as to become wise unto salvation through 
them.

Verse 40. And ye will not come to me] Though ye thus search 
the Scriptures, in hopes of finding the Messiah and eternal 
life in them, yet ye will not come unto me, believe in me, 
and be my disciples, though so clearly pointed out by them, 
that ye may have that eternal life which can only come 
through me.

Verse 41. I receive not honour from men.] I do not stand in 
need of you or your testimony. I act neither through self-
interest nor vanity. Your salvation can add nothing to me, 
nor can your destruction injure me: I speak only through my 
love for your souls, that ye may be saved.

Verse 42. But I know you, that ye have not, &c.] Don't say 
that you oppose me through zeal for God's honour, and love 
for his name, because I make myself equal to him: no, this is 
not the case. I know the dispositions of your souls; and I 
know ye have neither love for his name, nor zeal for his 
glory. Incorrigible ignorance, and malicious jealousy, 
actuate your hearts. Ye read the Scriptures, but ye do not 
enter into their meaning. Had you been as diligent to find 
out the truth, as you have been to find out allegories, false 
glosses, and something to countenance you in your crimes, you 
would have known that the Messiah, who is equal with God, 
must be the Son of man also, and the inheritor of David's 
throne; and that the very works which I do are those which 
the prophets have foretold the Messiah should perform. See 
Dan. vii. 13, 14; Isa. ix. 6, 7; xi. 1-5, 10; xxxv. 4-6.

Verse 43. I am come in my Father's name] With all his 
influence and authority. Among the rabbins, it was essential 
to a teacher's credit that he should be able to support his 
doctrine by the authority of some eminent persons who had 
gone before. Hence the form, Coming in the name of another.

If another shall come in his own name] Having no Divine 
influence, and no other authority than his own, him ye will 
receive. That this was notoriously the case may appear from 
Josephus, Antiq. b. xviii. c. 14; Acts v. 36, 37; Eusebius, 
Eccl. Hist. b. iv. c. 6. It is by the just judgment of God, 
that those who will not believe the truth of God shall be so 
given up as to believe the most absurd of lies. For an 
account of these false Christs, see the notes on Matt. xxiv. 
5.

Verse 44. How can ye believe, which receive honour, &c.] The 
grand obstacle to the salvation of the scribes and Pharisees 
was their pride, vanity, and self-love. They lived on each 
other's praise. If they had acknowledged Christ as the only 
teacher, they must have given up the good opinion of the 
multitude; and they chose rather to lose their souls than to 
forfeit their reputation among men! This is the ruin of 
millions.

They would be religious, if religion and worldly honour were 
connected; but as the kingdom of Christ is not of this world, 
and their hearts and souls are wedded to the earth, they will 
not accept the salvation which is offered to them on these 
terms-Deny thyself: take up thy cross, and follow ME. It is 
no wonder that we never find persons making any progress in 
religion who mix with the world, and in any respect regulate 
their conduct by its anti-Christian customs, maxims, and 
fashions.

From God only?] Or, from the only God-para tou monou qeou. 
Two of the ancient Slavonic versions read, From the only 
begotten Son of God.

Verse 45. Do not think that I will accuse you] You have 
accused me with a breach of the Sabbath, which accusation I 
have demonstrated to be false: I could, in return, accuse 
you, and substantiate the accusation, with the breach of the 
whole law; but this I need not do, for Moses, in whom ye 
trust, accuses you. You read his law, acknowledge you should 
obey it, and yet break it both in the letter and in the 
spirit. This law, therefore, accuses and condemns you. It was 
a maxim among the Jews that none could accuse them but Moses: 
the spirit of which seems to be, that only so pure and 
enlightened a legislator could find fault with such a noble 
and excellent people! For, notwithstanding their 
abominations, they supposed themselves the most excellent of 
mankind!

Verse 46. He wrote of me.] For instance, in reciting the 
prophecy of Jacob, Gen. xlix. 10. The scepter shall not 
depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, 
until SHILOH come; and unto him shall the gathering of the 
people be. And in Deut. xviii. 18: I will raise them up a 
Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee; and I will 
put my words in his mouth, &c. Confer this with Acts iii. 22, 
and Acts vii. 37.

Besides, Moses pointed out the Messiah in a multitude of 
symbols and figures, which are found in the history of the 
patriarchs, the ceremonial laws, and especially in the whole 
sacrificial system. All these were well-defined, though 
shadowy representations of the birth, life, sufferings, 
death, and resurrection of the saviour of the world. Add to 
this, Moses has given you certain marks to distinguish the 
false from the true prophet, Deut. xiii. 1-3; xviii. 22, 
which, if you apply to me, you will find that I am not a 
false but a true prophet of the Most High God.

Verse 47. But if ye believe not his writings, &c.] If you lay 
them not to heart-if you draw not those conclusions from them 
which their very letter, as well as their spirit, authorizes 
you to draw, how shall ye believe my words, against which ye 
have taken up the most ungrounded prejudice? It is no wonder 
that we find the Jews still in the gall of bitterness, and 
bond of iniquity: as they believe not Moses and the prophets, 
in reference to the Messiah, it is no marvel that they reject 
Christ and the apostles. Till they see and acknowledge, from 
the law and the prophets, that Christ must have come, they 
will never believe the Gospel. St. Paul says, 2 Cor. iii. 15, 
that even until this day, when Moses (i.e. the law) is read, 
the VEIL is upon their hearts:-so that they see not to the 
end of that which is abolished: 2 Cor. iii. 13. Nor will this 
veil be taken away, till they turn from worldly gain and 
atheism (which appears to be their general system) to the 
Lord, 2 Cor. iii. 16; and then the light of the glory of God 
shall shine on them in the face (through the mediation and 
merits) of Jesus Christ.

It appears that this discourse of our Lord had effectually 
confounded these Jews, for they went away without replying-a 
manifest proof they had nothing to say.

1. IN all periods of their history, the Jews were both an 
incredulous and disobedient people: perhaps it was on this 
ground that God first chose them to be keepers of his 
testimonies; for had they not had the most incontrovertible 
proofs that God did speak, they would neither have credited 
nor preserved his oracles.

Their incredulity is, therefore, no mean proof of the Divine 
authority of the law and the prophets. The apostles, who were 
all Jews, partook deeply of the same spirit, as various 
places in the Gospel prove; and, had not they had the fullest 
evidence of the divinity of their Master, they would not have 
believed, much less have sealed the truth with their blood.

Thus their incredulity is a strong proof of the authenticity 
of the Gospel.

2. When a man, through prejudice, bigotry, or malevolence, is 
determined to disbelieve, both evidence and demonstration are 
lost upon him: he is incapable of conviction, because he is 
determined not to yield. This was, this is, the case with the 
Jews-there are facts before their eyes sufficient to convince 
and confound them; but they have made a covenant with 
unbelief, and therefore they continue blind, ignorant, and 
wicked; obstinately closing their eyes against the light; and 
thus the wrath of God is coming upon them to the very 
uttermost. But shall not a rebellious and wicked Christian be 
judged worthy of more punishment? Certainly: for he professes 
to believe that truth which is able to make him wise unto 
salvation, by faith in Jesus Christ. Reader, it is an awful 
thing to trifle with the Gospel!-the God of it is pure, 
jealous, and holy. Come unto him and implore forgiveness of 
thy past sins, that thou mayest have eternal life.

CHAPTER vi.

Jesus passes the sea of Tiberias, and a great multitude 
follow him, 1-4. He feeds five thousand with five loaves, and 
two fishes, 5-13. They acknowledge him to be the prophet that 
should come into the world, 14. They purpose to force him to 
become their king; and he withdraws from the multitude, 15. 
The disciples take ship, and go towards Capernaum, and are 
overtaken with a storm, 16-18. Christ comes to them, walking 
upon the water, 19-21. The people take boats and follow him, 
22-24. He reproves their fleshly motives, 25-27. They profess 
a desire to be instructed, 28. Christ preaches to them, and 
shows them that he is the bread of life, and that they who 
reject him are without excuse, 29-40. They are offended, and 
cavil, 41, 42. He asserts and illustrates his foregoing 
discourse, 43-51. They again cavil, and Christ gives farther 
explanations, 52-59. Several of the disciples are stumbled at 
his assertion, that unless they ate his flesh and drank his 
blood they could not have life, 60. He shows them that his 
words are to be spiritually understood, 61-65. Several of 
them withdraw from him, 66. He questions the twelve, whether 
they also were disposed to forsake him, and Peter answers for 
the whole, 67-69. Christ exposes the perfidy of Judas, 70, 
71.

NOTES ON CHAP. vi.

Verse 1. After these things] This is a sort of indefinite 
expression, from which me can gather nothing relative to the 
time in which these things happened. It refers no doubt to 
transactions in the preceding year.

Jesus went over the sea of Galilee] Or, as some translate the 
words, by the side of the sea of Galilee. From Luke, Luke ix. 
10, we learn that this was a desert place in the vicinity of 
Bethsaida. The sea of Galilee, Genesaret, and Tiberias, are 
the same in the New Testament with the sea of Cinnereth in 
the Old. Tiberias was a city in Galilee, situated on the 
western side of the lake. See on chap. vi. 22.

Verse 2. They saw his miracles which he did] John does not 
mention these miracles; but Matthew details them, Matt. xii. 
2-xiv. 13. John seems more intent on supplying the 
deficiencies of the other evangelists than in writing a 
connected history himself.

Verse 3. Went up into a mountain] This mountain must have 
been in the desert of Bethsaida, in the territories of 
Philip, tetrarch of Galilee. Our Lord withdrew to this place 
for a little rest; for he and his disciples had been so 
thronged with the multitudes, continually coming and going, 
that they had not time to take necessary food. See Mark vi. 
31.

Verse 4. And the passover-was nigh.] This happened about ten 
or twelve days before the third passover which Christ 
celebrated after his baptism. Calmet. For a particular 
account of our Lord's four passovers see the note on chap. 
ii. 13.

For thirty days before the Passover there were great 
preparations made by the Jews, but especially in the last 
nineteen days, in order to celebrate the feast with due 
solemnity. Lightfoot supposes that what is here related 
happened within the last fifteen days. See Calmet's opinion 
above.

Verse 5. Saw a great company] See this miracle explained at 
large on Matt. xiv. 13, &c.; Mark vi. 31, &c.; Luke ix. 10, 
&c.

In speaking of the passovers, and various other matters, it 
does not appear that John follows any strict chronological 
order.

From chap. vi. 15, it appears that our Lord had come down 
from the mountain, and fed the multitudes in a plain at the 
foot of it.

Saith unto Philip] This, with what follows, to the end of  
the seventh verse, is not mentioned by any of the other 
evangelists.

Philip was probably the provider for the disciples, as Judas 
was the treasurer.

Whence shall we buy bread] Instead of agorasomen, shall we 
buy, I should read agoraswmen, may we buy, which is the 
reading of ABDEHLS, Mt. VB, and many others. As Philip was of 
Bethsaida, chap. i. 44; xii. 21, he must have been much 
better acquainted with the country in which they then were 
than any other of the disciples.

Verse 6. This he said to prove him] To try his faith, and to 
see whether he and the other apostles had paid proper 
attention to the miracles which they had already seen him 
work; and to draw their attention more particularly to that 
which he was now about to perform. This is an observation of 
the evangelist himself, who often interweaves his own 
judgment with the facts he relates, which St. Matthew rarely 
ever does.

The other evangelists say that, previously to this miracle, 
he continued to instruct and heal the multitudes till it was 
near the close of the day. Matt. xiv. 14, 15; Mark vi. 34, 
35; Luke ix. 11, 12.

Verse 7. Two hundred pennyworth] This sum, rating the 
denarius at 7 3/4d., would amount to 6ú. 9s. 2d. of our 
money, and appears to have been more than our Lord and all 
his disciples were worth of this world's goods. See the notes 
on Matt. xviii. 28.

Verse 8. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith] The other 
evangelists attribute this answer to the apostles in general. 
See the passages referred to above.

Verse 9. There is a lad here] paidarion, a little boy, or 
servant, probably one who carried the apostles' provisions, 
or who came on purpose to sell his bread and fish.

Five barley loaves] Barley scarcely bore one-third of the 
value of wheat in the east: see Rev. vi. 6. That it was a 
very mean fare appears from Ezek. xiii. 19, where the false 
prophetesses are said to pollute the name of God for handfuls 
of barley, i.e. for the meanest reward. And Plutarch, in 
Apoph. p. 174, speaking concerning the flight of Artaxerxes 
Mnemon, says he was reduced to such distress as to be obliged 
to eat barley bread. See Kypke. From this and other 
circumstances we may plainly perceive that the self-denying 
doctrine preached by Christ and his apostles was fully 
exemplified in their own manner of living.

Two small fishes] duo oyaria. The word of oyarion signifies 
whatever is eaten with bread, to perfect the meal, or to make 
it easy of deglutition, or to help the digestion. There is no 
word in the English language for it, which is a great defect. 
The inhabitants of Scotland, and of the north and north-west 
of Ireland, use the word kytshen, by which they express what 
ever is eaten with bread or potatoes, as flesh, fish, butter, 
milk, eggs, &c., no satisfactory etymology of which word I am 
able to offer. In the parallel places in the other three 
evangelists, instead of oyaria, icquav is used; so that the 
word evidently means fish in the text of St. John: see on 
chap. xxi. 5.

Verse 10. There was much grass in the place.] Perhaps newly 
mown grass, or hay, is meant, (so the Vulgate faenum,) and 
this circumstance marks out more particularly that the 
passover was at hand. In Palestine the grass is ready for 
mowing in March; and this miracle seems to have been wrought 
only a few days before the commencement of that festival: see 
chap. vi. 4.

Verse 11. Jesus took the loaves] See the notes on Matt. xiv. 
19-21. As there were five loaves and five thousand people, so 
there was one loaf to every thousand men, independently of 
the women and children.

Verse 12. Gather up the fragments] "Great will be the 
punishment of those who waste the crumbs of food, scatter 
seed, and neglect the law." Synops Sohar. Among the Jews the 
hap peah, or residue after a meal, was the property of the 
servitors.

Verse 14. This is of a truth that prophet] Spoken of, 
Deuteronomy xviii. 15, viz. the Messiah. How near were these 
people at this time to the kingdom of heaven!

Verse 15. Take him by force, to make him a king] The Jews had 
often suffered by famine in those times in which their 
enemies were permitted to prevail over them; but, finding 
that Jesus had such power as to multiply a few loaves to feed 
thousands, they took it for granted that while he was at 
their head no evil could possibly happen to them, and 
therefore were determined immediately to proclaim him king, 
and rid themselves at once of Herod and the Romans. Our Lord 
perceiving this, either by some words which they had dropped, 
or by his penetration of their hearts, retired before the 
project had been fully formed, or could be put into 
execution. It was not till a considerable time afterwards 
that even the disciples fully understood that his kingdom was 
not of this world.

Into a mountain] That on which he was with his disciples 
previously to his working this miracle: see chap. vi. 3.

St. Matthew, Matt. xiv. 22, 23, and Mark, Mark vi. 45, 46, 
say that, before this, Jesus constrained his disciples to 
embark in the vessel, and go along the sea coast towards 
Capernaum, or Bethsaida-see here chap. vi. 17, and the note 
on Mark vi. 45; and that, after they were gone, he dismissed 
the multitudes, having, no doubt, given them such advices as 
the nature of the case required; after which he went into the 
mountain to pray.

Worldly wisdom would have said, "Declare thyself king: yield 
to the desires of the people: this will be the readiest way 
of converting the Jews." No. Jesus must die for the sin of 
the world.-No man's heart can be turned to God by outward 
pomp or splendour-no saving change can be brought about by 
any might or any power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of 
hosts. Zech. iv. 6.

Verse 17. Toward Capernaum.] St. Mark says, Mark vi. 45, that 
our Lord commanded them to go along to Bethsaida; and in the 
course of the history we find they got neither to Bethsaida 
nor Capernaum, but landed in the country of Genesaret: 
Matthew xiv. 34. Our Lord seems to have desired them to go 
either to Bethsaida or Capernaum, which were only a very few 
miles distant, and on the same side of the sea. The reason 
why they could reach neither was the storm which the 
evangelists say rose at the time, and the wind being 
contrary: the storm being probably excited by the prince of 
the power of the air. Capernaum lay at the northern part of 
this sea, and they went along the Galilean or western coast, 
probably expecting Christ to come to them, on which account 
they might keep in close by the land. But there are great 
difficulties in fixing the places mentioned by the 
evangelists. By some writers Bethsaida and Capernaum are 
placed on opposite sides of this lake: by others on the same 
side.

Sometimes when our translation speaks of passing over the 
sea, &c., a coasting voyage only is meant, as we find the 
disciples landing on the same side from which they had 
departed: see the note on chap. vi. 22.

Verse 19. Had rowed] Their vessel was a small one only, 
something of the boat kind: as to sails, if they had any, 
they could not now venture to carry them, because of the 
storm.

Five and twenty or thirty furlongs] Between three and four 
miles. The sea of Tiberias, on which they now were, was, 
according to Josephus, War, book iii. chap. 25, forty 
furlongs, or five miles in breadth; and one hundred and forty 
furlongs, or eighteen miles, in length. Pliny, lib. v. chap. 
15, makes it about six miles broad, and sixteen long.

They see Jesus] See the notes on Matt. xiv. 25, &c.

Verse 21. Immediately the ship was at the land] How far they 
were from the place at which they landed, when our Lord came 
to them, we know not. But the evangelist seems to speak of 
their sudden arrival there as extraordinary and miraculous.

Verse 22. The people which stood on the other side] Æesthkwv 
peran thv qalasshv, Standing by the sea side. The people were 
not on the other side, i.e. in Perea, as our version states, 
but on that side where Bethsaida lay: see the notes on Matt. 
xiv. 25, 34, and on Mark vi. 45. The Greek word, peran, says 
Bishop Pearce, seems to signify in Scripture sometimes on the 
side of, and sometimes on this side of: see Josh. v. 1.

and 1 Macc. ix. 34. The Hebrew word rba abar, signifies by 
the side: Exod. xxviii. 26, and is translated on this side in 
Deuteronomy iv. 29. It has the same meaning in the 
Septuagint, Deuteronomy i. 5; iii. 8; iv. 46. peran, says 
Vorstius, is the same with para, near to. This is evidently 
the meaning of the word in Matt. iv. 15; as it appears, from 
what is said of the land of Zabulon and Nepthali, that by 
peran is not meant beyond, but by the side of; because those 
two tribes inhabited the western side of Jordan, which was 
the side lying nearest to Judea and Galilee: see on Matt. 
xix. 1.

Verse 23. There came other boats] After Jesus and his 
disciples had departed.

From Tiberias] Herod Antipas built this city near the lake of 
Genesaret, in the best parts of Galilee, and called it 
Tiberias, in honour of Tiberius, the Roman emperor: see Jos. 
Ant. book xviii. chap. 2. sect. 3.

Verse 24. They also took shipping] That is, as many of them 
as could get accommodated with boats took them and thus got 
to Capernaum; but many others doubtless went thither on foot, 
as it is not at all likely that five or six thousand persons 
could get boats enow to carry them.

Verse 25. On the other side of the sea] That is, on the sea 
coast, to the northward of it, where Capernaum lies in the 
land of Genesaret: but see the note, on chap. vi. 17, 22. It 
was in one of the synagogues of Capernaum that he delivered 
the following discourse: see chap. vi. 59.

Verse 26. Ye seek me, not because ye saw, &c.] Though the 
miracle of the loaves was one of the most astonishing that 
ever was wrought upon earth; and though this people had, by 
the testimony of all their senses, the most convincing proof 
of its reality; yet we find many of them paid little 
attention to it, and regarded the omnipotent hand of God in 
it no farther than it went to satisfy the demands of their 
appetite! Most men are willing to receive temporal good from 
the hands of God; but there are few, very few, who are 
willing to receive spiritual blessings.

Verse 27. labour not for the meat] That is, for that only, 
but also for the bread, &c. Our Lord wills every man to be 
active and diligent in that employment in which providence 
has placed him; but it is his will also that that employment, 
and all the concerns of life, should be subservient to the 
interest of his soul.

But for that meat, &c.] He who labours not, in the work of 
his salvation, is never likely to enter into the kingdom of 
God. Though our labour cannot purchase it, either in whole or 
in part, yet it is the way in which God chooses to give 
salvation; and he that will have heaven must strive for it.

Every thing that can be possessed, except the salvation of 
God, is a perishing thing: this is its essential character: 
it can last to us no longer than the body lasts. But, when 
the earth and its produce are burnt up, this bread of Christ, 
his grace and salvation, will be found remaining unto eternal 
life. This is the portion after which an immortal spirit 
should seek.

Him hath God the Father sealed.] By this expression, our Lord 
points out the commission which, as the Messiah, he received 
from the Father, to be prophet and priest to an ignorant, 
sinful world. As a person who wishes to communicate his mind 
to another who is at a distance writes a letter, seals it 
with his own seal, and sends it directed to the person for 
whom it was written, so Christ, who lay in the bosom of the 
Father, came to interpret the Divine will to man, bearing the 
image, superscription, and seal of God, in the immaculate 
holiness of his nature, unsullied truth of his doctrine, and 
in the astonishing evidence of his miracles. But he came also 
as a priest, to make an atonement for sin; and the bread 
which nourishes unto eternal life, he tells us, chap. vi. 51, 
is his body, which he gives for the life of the world; and to 
this sacrifice of himself, the words, him hath God the Father 
sealed, seem especially to relate. It certainly was a custom, 
among nations contiguous to Judea, to set a seal upon the 
victim which was deemed proper for sacrifice. The following 
account of the method of providing white bulls among the 
Egyptians, for sacrifices to their god Apis, taken from 
HERODOTUS, Euterpe, b. ii. p. 117, casts much light upon this 
place. "They sacrifice white bulls to Apis; and for that 
reason make the following trial. If they find one black hair 
upon him, they consider him as unclean: that they may know 
this with certainty, the priest appointed for this purpose 
views every part of the animal, both standing and lying on 
the ground. After this, he draws out his tongue, to see if he 
be clean by certain signs: in the last place, he looks upon 
the hairs of his tail, that he may be sure they are as by 
nature they should be. If, after this search, the bull is 
found unblemished, he signifies it by tying a lHebel to his 
horns; then, having applied wax, he seals it with his ring, 
and they lead him away: for it is death to sacrifice one of 
these animals, unless he have been marked with such a seal.

The Jews could not be unacquainted with the rites and 
ceremonies of the Egyptian worship; and it is possible that 
such precautions as these were in use among themselves, 
especially as they were so strictly enjoined to have their 
sacrifices without SPOT, and without blemish. Infinite 
justice found Jesus Christ to be without spot or blemish, and 
therefore sealed, pointed out and accepted him, as a proper 
sacrifice and atonement for the sin of the whole world. 
Collate with this passage, Heb. vii. 26-28; Ephesians v. 27; 
2 Pet. iii. 14; and especially Heb. ix. 13, 14: For if the 
blood of BULLS and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer 
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth-how much more shall the 
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered 
himself WITHOUT SPOT to God, purge your consciences from dead 
works! The rabbins talk much of the seal of God, which they 
suppose to be tma emeth, or truth; and that this is a 
representation of the unoriginated and endless perfections of 
God. This doctrine is just; but their method of proving it is 
not so satisfactory. Aleph a , say they, is the first letter 
of the alphabet; mem m the middle; and tau t the last: these 
three letters make tma emeth, TRUTH, because God is the 
first-there was none before him; he is the middle-none 
mingles with him; and he is the last-there can be none after 
him. Hieros. Sanhed. fol. 18. See also 1 Pet. i. 18, 19.

Verse 28. That we might work the works of God?] That is, 
Divine works, or such as God can approve.

Verse 29. This is the work of God, that ye believe] There is 
nothing you can be employed in more acceptable to God than in 
yielding to the evidence set before you, and acknowledging me 
as your Messiah and the saviour of a lost world.

Verse 30. What sign] ti shmeion, What miracle; so the word is 
evidently used, chap. ii. 11, 23, and in many other places.

That we may see, and believe thee] That, having seen the 
miracle, we may believe thee to be the promised Messiah. They 
had already seen the miracle of the five loaves, and did not 
believe; and it was impossible for them to see any thing more 
descriptive of unlimited power and goodness.

Even miracles themselves are lost on persons whose hearts are 
fixed on the perishing things of the world, and whose minds 
are filled with prejudice against the truth.

Verse 31. Our fathers did eat manna in the desert] Their 
argument seems to run thus: Thou hast, we grant, fed five 
thousand men with five loaves and two small fishes; but what 
is this in comparison of what Moses did in the desert, who 
for forty years fed more than a million of persons with bread 
from heaven: do something like this, and then we will believe 
in thee, as we have believed in Moses.

Verse 32. Moses gave you not that bread from heaven] Our Lord 
refutes the argument of the Jews, by proving: 1. That it was 
not Moses, but God, who gave the manna. 2. That this bread 
was not the true bread, but was merely a type of it. 3. That 
God had given them now a bread infinitely more excellent. 4. 
That himself is that heavenly nourishment of which he spake, 
and who was typified by the manna in the desert.

To show that himself was the true bread from heaven, he 
proves two things: 1. That his doctrine was the true 
nourishment of the soul, and that those who were to be put in 
possession of the blessings promised in it must come to God 
by faith. 2. That he would give his body for the life of the 
world: that as bread is the staff that supports the natural 
life of man, so the salvation procured by his death should be 
that by which the bodies and souls of believers should be 
preserved unto life eternal.

Verse 34. Lord, evermore give us this bread.] Either meaning, 
"Let the miracle of the manna be renewed, and continue among 
us for ever:" or, "Let that bread of which thou hast spoken, 
become our constant nourishment." The Jews expected that, 
when the Messiah should come, he would give them all manner 
of delicacies, and, among the rest, manna, wine, and spicy 
oil. From the following extract, we may see where Mohammed 
got his Paradise. "Many affirm, says Rab. Mayemon, that the 
hope of Israel is this: That the Messiah shall come and raise 
the dead; and they shall be gathered together in the garden 
of Eden, and shall eat and drink and satiate themselves all 
the days of the world. There the houses shall be all builded 
with precious stones; the beds shall be made of silk; and the 
rivers shall flow with wine and spicy oil. He made manna to 
descend for them, in which was all manner of tastes; and 
every Israelite found in it what his palate was chiefly 
pleased with. If he desired fat in it, he had it. In it, the 
young man tasted bread, the old man honey, and the children 
oil. So shall it be in the world to come, (i.e. the days of 
the Messiah.) He shall give Israel peace, and they shall sit 
down in the garden of Eden, and all nations shall behold 
their condition; as it is said, My servants shall eat, but ye 
shall be hungry, &c., Isa. lxv. 13." See Lightfoot.

Verse 35. I am the bread of life] That is, the bread which 
gives life, and preserves from death.

He that cometh to me] The person who receives my doctrine, 
and believes in me as the great atoning sacrifice, shall be 
perfectly satisfied, and never more feel misery of mind. All 
the guilt of his sins shall be blotted out, and his soul 
shall be purified unto God; and, being enabled to love him 
with all his heart, he shall rest, fully, supremely, and 
finally happy, in his God.

Verse 37. All that the Father giveth me] The neuter gender, 
pan, is probably used here for the masculine, pav.

Shall come to me] All that are drawn by the Father, chap. vi. 
44, i.e. all those who are influenced by his Spirit, and 
yield to those influences: for as many as are LED (not driven 
or dragged) by the Spirit of God, they are the children of 
God, Rom. viii. 14. God sent his prophets to proclaim his 
salvation to this people; and he accompanied their preaching 
with the influence of his Spirit. Those who yielded were 
saved: those who did not yield to these drawings were lost. 
This Spirit still continued to work and to allure; but the 
people being uncircumcised both in heart and ears, they 
always resisted the Holy Ghost; as their fathers did, so did 
they; Acts vii. 51. And though Christ would have gathered 
them together, as a hen would her chickens under her wings, 
yet they would not. See the note on Matt. xxiii. 37. Those 
who come at the call of God, he is represented here as giving 
to Christ, because it is through his blood alone that they 
can be saved. God, by his Spirit, convinces of sin, 
righteousness, and judgment; those who acknowledge their 
iniquity, and their need of salvation, he gives to Christ, 
i.e. points out unto them the Lamb of God, who takes away the 
sin of the world. Our Lord may here also refer to the calling 
of the Gentiles; for these, according to the ancient promise, 
Psa. ii. 8, were given to Christ: and they, on the preaching 
of the Gospel, gladly came unto him. See ample proofs of this 
in the Acts of the Apostles.

I will in no wise cast out.] The words are exceedingly 
emphatical-ou mh ekbalw exw, I will by no means thrust out of 
doors; excellently rendered by Matthew of Erberg in his 
Italian Bible-Io non cacciaro fuori, I will not chase him out 
of the house. Our blessed Lord alludes to the case of a 
person in deep distress and poverty, who comes to a 
nobleman's house, in order to get relief: the person appears; 
and the owner, far from treating the poor man with asperity, 
welcomes, receives him kindly, and supplies his wants. So 
does Jesus. Newer did he reject the suit of a penitent, 
however grievous his crimes might have been. He is come to 
the house of mercy; he is lying at the threshold: the 
servants bid him come in-he obeys, and stands trembling, 
waiting for the appearing of the Master, doubtful whether he 
is to be received or rejected: the Master appears, and not 
only grants his suit, but receives him into the number of his 
family: he alleges his unfitness, his unworthiness, his 
guilt, his crimes, his ingratitude: no matter, all shall be 
blotted out through the blood of the Lamb, and he be put 
among the children, and on none of these accounts shall he be 
put out of the house.

The Gentiles shall be as welcome as the Jews; and the 
invitation to them be as free, as full, and as hearty: they 
shall become his adopted children, and never be cast out, as 
the Jews have been. O thou God of love! how able and WILLING 
art thou to save the vilest of the vile, who come unto thee! 
Thou art not the God of the Jews only, thou art also the God 
of the Gentiles. Rejoice, therefore, ye Gentiles, with his 
people.

Verse 38. Not to do mine own will] I am come, not to act 
according to human motives, passions, or prejudices; but 
according to infinite wisdom, goodness, and mercy. Jewish 
passions and prejudices would reject publicans and sinners as 
those alluded to, and shut the gate of heaven against the 
Gentiles; but God's mercy receives them, and I am come to 
manifest that mercy to men.

Verse 39. I should lose nothing] It is the will of God that 
every soul who believes should continue in the faith, and 
have a resurrection unto life eternal. But he wills this 
continuance in salvation, without purposing to force the 
persons so to continue. God may will a thing to be, without 
willing that it shall be. Judas was given to Christ by the 
Father, chap. xvii. 12. The Father willed that this Judas 
should continue in the faith, and have a resurrection unto 
life eternal: but Judas sinned and perished. Now it is 
evident that God willed that Judas might be saved, without 
willing that he must be saved infallibly and unconditionally. 
When a man is a worker together with the grace of God, he is 
saved; when he receives that grace of God in vain, he is 
lost-not through a lack of will or mercy in God, but through 
lack of his co-operation with Divine grace. God saves no man 
as a stock or a stone, but as a reasonable being and free 
agent. "That which thou hast heard, thou mayest hold fast, 
and persevere in, if thou wilt," Says St. Augustin. In eo 
quod audieras, et tenueras, perseverares, si velles.

Deuteronomy Correct. & Grat. c. 7. See Calmet.

Raise it up again at the last day] The Jews believed that the 
wicked should have no resurrection; and that the principle 
that led to the resurrection of the body, in the righteous, 
was the indwelling Spirit of God. This is positively asserted 
in the Shir Hashirim Rabba. See Schoettgen.

Verse 40. This is the will of him that sent me] Lest they 
should take a wrong meaning out of his words, as many have 
done since, he tells them that, far from any person being 
excluded from his mercy, it was the will of God that every 
one who saw him might believe and be saved. The power, 
without which they could not believe, he freely gave them; 
but the use of that power was their own. God gives the grace 
of repentance and faith to every man; but he neither repents 
nor believes for any man. Each must repent for his own sins, 
and believe in the Lord Jesus, through the grace given, or 
perish.

Verse 41. The Jews then murmured] Because the whole of his 
discourse event to prove that he was infinitely greater than 
Moses; and that he alone could give present peace and eternal 
glory to men.

Verse 44. Except the Father-draw him] But how is a man drawn? 
St. Augustin answers from the poet, Trahit sua quemque 
voluptas; a man is attracted by that which he delights in. 
Show green herbage to a sheep, he is drawn by it: show nuts 
to a child, and he is drawn by them. They run wherever the 
person runs who shows these things: they run after him, but 
they are not forced to follow; they run, through the desire 
they feel to get the things they delight in. So God draws 
man: he shows him his wants-he shows the saviour whom he has 
provided for him: the man feels himself a lost sinner; and, 
through the desire which he finds to escape hell, and get to 
heaven, he comes unto Christ, that he may be justified by his 
blood.

Unless God thus draw, no man will ever come to Christ; 
because none could, without this drawing, ever feel the need 
of a saviour. See August. Tract. 26, in Joan. and Calmet.

Drawing, or alluring, not dragging is here to be understood. 
"He," say the rabbins, "who desires to cleave to the holy and 
blessed God, God lays hold of him, and will not cast him 
off." Synops. Sohar. p. 87. The best Greek writers use the 
verb in the same sense of alluring, inciting, &c.

Verse 45. It is written in the prophets] Isa. liv. 13; 
Jeremiah xxxi. 34.

They shall be all taught of God.] This explains the preceding 
verse. God teaches a man to know himself, that, finding his 
need of salvation, he may flee to lay hold on the hope which 
his heavenly Father has set before him in the Gospel. God 
draws men by his love, and by showing them what his love has 
done for them. Fear repels, but love attracts. He who is ever 
preaching the terrors of the law, and representing God as a 
vindictive judge, will never bring sinners to him. They are 
afraid of this terrible God: but they love him, who so loved 
the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life.

Verse 46. Not that any man hath seen the Father] He does not 
teach men by appearing personally before them, or by any 
other outward voice than that of his word and messengers; but 
he teaches by his Spirit. This teaching from God implies: 1. 
That they shall have proper instruction. 2.

That they shall comprehend it; for, when God teaches, there 
is no delay in learning. And, 3. That this teaching should be 
by the influence of the Holy Ghost upon their minds.

He which is of God] That is, Christ alone: neither Moses nor 
any of the prophets had ever seen God: Jesus, who lay in the 
bosom of the Father, HE saw and revealed him, chap. i. 18.

Verse 47. Hath everlasting life.] He is entitled to this, on 
his believing me to be the Messiah, and trusting in me alone 
for salvation. Our blessed Lord recapitulates here what he 
had said in the preceding discourse. The person who is saved 
is, 1. drawn by the Father; 2. hears his instructions; 3.

accepts the salvation offered; 4. is given to Christ Jesus, 
that he may be justified by faith; 5. is nourished by the 
bread of life; 6. perseveres in the faith; 7. is not lost, 
but is raised up at the last day; and 8. is made a partaker 
of eternal life.

Verse 48. I am that bread of life.] I alone afford, by my 
doctrine and Spirit, that nourishment by which the soul is 
saved unto life eternal.

Verse 49. Your fathers did eat manna-and are dead.] That 
bread neither preserved their bodies alive, nor entitled them 
to life eternal; but those who receive my salvation, shall 
not only be raised again in the last day, but shall inherit 
eternal life. It was an opinion of the Jews themselves that 
their fathers, who perished in the wilderness, should never 
have a resurrection.

Our Lord takes them on their own ground: Ye acknowledge that 
your fathers who fell in the wilderness shall never have a 
resurrection; and yet they ate of the manna: therefore that 
manna is not the bread that preserves to everlasting life, 
according even to your own concession.

Verse 50. This is the bread, &c.] I am come for this very 
purpose, that men may believe in me, and have eternal life.

Verse 51. Is my flesh, which I will give, &c.] Our Lord 
explains his meaning more fully, in these words, than he had 
done before. Having spoken so much of the bread which feeds 
and nourishes the soul, and preserves from death, the 
attention of his hearers was fixed upon his words, which to 
them appeared inexplicable; and they desired to know what 
their meaning was. He then told them that the bread meant his 
flesh, (his life,) which he was about to give up; to save the 
life of the world. Here our Lord plainly declares that his 
death was to be a vicarious sacrifice and atonement for the 
sin of the world; and that, as no human life could be 
preserved unless there was bread (proper nourishment) 
received, so no soul could be saved but by the merit of his 
death. Reader, remember this: it is one of the weightiest, 
and one of the truest and most important sayings in the book 
of God.

Verse 52. How can this man give us his flesh to eat?] Our 
Lord removes this difficulty, and answers the question, in 
chap. vi. 63.

Verse 53. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man] Unless 
ye be made partakers of the blessings about to be purchased 
by my blood, passion, and violent death, ye cannot be saved. 
As a man must eat bread and flesh, in order to be nourished 
by them, so a man must receive the grace and Spirit of 
Christ, in order to his salvation. As food in a rich man's 
store does not nourish the poor man that needs it, unless it 
be given him, and he receive it into his stomach, so the 
whole fountain of mercy existing in the bosom of God, and 
uncommunicated, does not save a soul: he who is saved by it 
must be made a partaker of it. Our Lord's meaning appears to 
be, that, unless they were made partakers of the grace of 
that atonement which he was about to make by his death, they 
could not possibly be saved.

Bishop Pearce justly observes that the ideas of eating and 
drinking are here borrowed to express partaking of, and 
sharing in. Thus spiritual happiness on earth, and even in 
heaven, is expressed by eating and drinking; instances of 
which may be seen, Matthew viii. 11; xxvi. 29; Luke xiv. 15; 
xxii. 30; and Rev. ii. 17. Those who were made partakers of 
the Holy Spirit are said by St. Paul, 1 Cor. xii. 13, to be 
made to drink into (or of) one Spirit. This, indeed, was a 
very common mode of expression among the Jews.

Verse 54. Hath eternal life] This can never be understood of 
the sacrament of the Lord's supper. 1. Because this was not 
instituted till a year after; at the last Passover. 2. It 
cannot be said that those who do not receive that sacrament 
must perish everlastingly. Nor can it be supposed that all 
those who do receive it are necessarily and eternally saved. 
On the contrary, St. Paul intimates that many who received it 
at Corinth perished, because they received it unworthily, not 
discerning the Lord's body: not distinguishing between it and 
a common meal; and not properly considering that sacrifice 
for sin, of which the sacrament of the Lord's super was a 
type: see 1 Cor. xi. 30.

Verse 55. My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink 
indeed.] Or, rather, My flesh is the true meat, &c. In both 
clauses of this verse, instead of alhqwv, the adverb, I read 
alhqhv, the adjective, agreeing with brwsiv.

This reading is supported by BCKLT, and twenty-one others; 
both the Arabic, Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, two copies of the 
Itala, Clement, Origen, Cyril, Chrysostom, and Damascenus. 
Our Lord terms his flesh, the true meat, and his blood the 
true drink, because those who received the grace merited by 
his death would be really nourished and supported thereby 
unto eternal life. He calls himself the true vine, chap. xv. 
1, in exactly the same sense in which he calls himself the 
true bread, chap. vi. 32, and the true meat and drink in this 
verse.

Verse 56. Dwelleth in me, and I in him.] Of all connections 
and unions, none is so intimate and complete as that which is 
effected by the digestion of aliments, because they are 
changed into the very substance of him who eats them; and 
this our Lord makes the model of that union which subsists 
between himself and genuine believers. He lives in them, and 
they in him; for they are made partakers of the Divine 
nature: 2 Pet. i. 4. To this verse the following addition is 
made in the Codex Bezae, three copies of the Itala, and 
Victorinus. After these words-dwelleth in me, and I in him, 
they add, as the Father in me, and I in the Father. Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, that unless ye receive the body of 
the Son of man as the bread of life, ye have not life in him. 
This is a very remarkable addition, and is between thirteen 
and fourteen hundred years old.

Verse 57. So he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.] 
From which we learn that the union between Christ and his 
followers shall be similar to that which subsists between God 
and Christ.

Verse 59. In the synagogue-in Capernaum.] From chap. vi. 26, 
to this verse, the evangelist gives us the discourse which 
our Lord preached in the synagogue, in which he was 
repeatedly interrupted by the Jews; but this gave him the 
fuller opportunity to proclaim the whole truth relative to 
his passion and death, to edify the disciples, and confute 
these gainsayers.

Verse 60. Many therefore of his disciples] So it appears that 
he had many more than the twelve, who constantly accompanied 
him.

This is a hard saying; who can hear it?] Who can digest such 
doctrine as this? It is intolerable: it is impracticable. 
There is a similar saving in Euripides, to the sklhrov logov 
of the evangelist. potera qeleiv soi malqaka yeudh legw, h 
sklhrÆ alhqh, fraze; Tell me whether thou wouldst that I 
should speak unto thee, a SOFT LIE, or the HARSH TRUTH? The 
wicked word of a lying world is in general better received 
than the holy word of the God of truth!

Verse 61. Jesus knew in himself] By giving them this proof 
that he knew their hearts he also proved that he was God; 
that he could not be deceived himself, and that it was 
impossible for him to deceive any; consequently, that the 
doctrine he taught them must be the truth of God.

Verse 62. If ye shall see the Son of man ascend] Ye need not 
be stumbled at what I say concerning eating my flesh and 
drinking my blood, for ye shall soon have the fullest proof 
that this is figuratively spoken, for I shall ascend with the 
same body with which I shall arise from the dead; therefore 
my flesh and blood, far from being eaten by men, shall not 
even be found among them.

Verse 63. It is the spirit that quickeneth] It is the 
spiritual sense only of my words that is to be attended to, 
and through which life is to be attained, 2 Cor. iii. 6. Such 
only as eat and drink what I have mentioned, in a spiritual 
sense, are to expect eternal life.

The flesh profiteth nothing] If ye could even eat my flesh 
and drink my blood, this would not avail for your salvation. 
These words contain a caution that the hearers should not 
understand his words in the strict literal sense, as if his 
body were really BREAD, and as if his flesh and blood were 
really to be eaten and drank.

The words that I speak Or, I have spoken. Instead of lalw, I 
speak, I read lelalhka, I have spoken, on the authority of 
BCDKLT, thirteen others; the Syriac, all the Arabic, all the 
Persic, Coptic, AEthiopic, Gothic, Slavonic, Vulgate, all the 
Itala; Origen, Eusebius, Athanasius, Basil, Cyril, 
Chrysostom, Tertullian, Ambrosias, Augustin, Gaudentius, and 
Vigilius Taps. This is an important reading, and plainly 
shows that our Lord's words here do not refer to any new 
point of doctrine which he was then inculcating, but to what 
he had spoken concerning his being the living bread, and 
concerning the eating of his flesh, and drinking of his 
blood, in the preceding verses.

Are spirit, and they are life.] As my words are to be 
spiritually understood, so the life they promise is of a 
spiritual nature: see Bishop Pearce.

Verse 64. But there are some of you that believe not.] This 
is addressed to Judas, and to those disciples who left him: 
chap. vi. 66.

And who should betray him] Or, who would deliver him up. 
Because he knew all things; he knew from the first, from 
Judas's call to the apostleship, and from eternity, (if the 
reader pleases,) who it was who would (not should) deliver 
him up into the hands of the Jews. Should, in the 
apprehension of most, implies necessity and compulsion; would 
implies that he was under the influence of his own free will, 
without necessity or constraint. The former takes away his 
guilt: for what a man is irresistibly compelled to do, by the 
supreme authority of God, he cannot avoid; and therefore to 
him no blame can attach: but Judas having acted through his 
own free will, abusing his power, and the grace he had 
received, he was guilty of the murder of an innocent man, and 
deserved the perdition to which he went.

Verse 65. Therefore said I unto you] chap. vi. 44. see the 
note there.

Except it were given unto him] None can come at first, unless 
he be drawn by the Father; and none can continue, unless he 
continue under those sacred influences which God gives only 
to those who do not receive his first graces in vain. St. 
Augustin himself grants that it was the sole fault of these 
disciples that they did not believe, and were saved. Quare 
non POTERANT credere, si a me quaeratur, cito respondeo, quia 
NOLEBANT. If I be asked why these could not believe, I 
immediately answer, because they WOULD NOT. Aug. Tract. 53, 
in Joan.

Verse 66. Many of his disciples went back] They no longer 
associated with him, nor professed to acknowledge him as the 
Messiah. None of these were of the twelve. Christ had many 
others who generally attended his ministry, and acknowledged 
him for the Messiah.

Verse 67. Will ye also go alway?] Or, Do YE also desire, &c. 
These words are very emphatical. Will YOU abandon me?-you, 
whom I have distinguished with innumerable marks of my 
affection-you, whom I have chosen out of the world to be my 
companions,-you, to whom I have revealed the secrets of the 
eternal world-you, who have been witnesses of all my 
miracles-you, whom I intend to seat with me on my throne in 
glory; will YOU go away? Reader, in what state art thou? Hast 
thou gone back from Christ, or art thou going back? Wilt thou 
go? Thou, whom he has redeemed by his blood-thou, whom he has 
upheld by his power, and fed by his providence-thou, into 
whose wounded soul he has poured the balm of pardoning mercy-
thou, whom he has adopted into the heavenly family-thou, whom 
he has comforted in so many tribulations and adversities-
thou, whose multiplied offenses he has freely and fully 
pardoned; wilt thou go away?

Verse 68. Simon Peter answered] With his usual zeal and 
readiness, speaking in behalf of the whole, To whom shall we 
go? Where shall we find a more gracious master-a more 
powerful Redeemer-a more suitable saviour? Thou alone hast 
the words of eternal life. None can teach the doctrine of 
salvation but thyself; and none can confer the gift of 
eternal life but thou alone. Reader, let me ask, whither art 
thou going? Has the world-the devil-the flesh-the words of 
eternal life? Art thou turning thy back upon God and Christ? 
For thy zealous services, what has Satan to give thee? Death! 
hell! and eternal misery! O stop! Cleave to Jesus; he will 
give thee that happiness which, in vain, thou seekest in the 
pleasures of sin.

Verse 69. We believe] On the authority of thy word; and are 
sure-have known, egnwkamen, by the evidence of thy miracles, 
that thou art the Christ, the promised Messiah. (Anglo-Saxon) 
And we belyfath and witen that thu eart Crist Godes Son. 
Anglo-Saxon. How near is the mother to the daughter tongue! 
Instead of Christ the Son of the living God, some excellent 
MSS., BCDL, and others, read o agiov tou qeou, the holy one 
of God; and this reading Griesbach has received into the 
text, leaving out tou zwntov, the living.

cristov, and agiov convey nearly the same meaning; but the 
AEthiopic, as usual, retains both. tou zwntev is omitted by 
BCDL, H, the Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, later Persic, 
Vulgate, all the Itala but one, and by the Anglo-Saxon; which 
last Griesbach has not noticed.

Verse 70. Have not I chosen you twelve] Have I not, in an 
especial manner, called you to believe in my name, and chosen 
you to be my disciples and the propagators of my doctrine! 
Nevertheless, one of you is a devil, or accuser, enlisted on 
the side of Satan, who was a murderer from the beginning.

Verse 71. He spake of Judas-for he it was that should betray 
him] outov gar hmellen auton paradidonai, He who was about to 
deliver him up. By referring to this matter so often, did not 
our blessed Lord intend to warn Judas? Was not the evil fully 
exposed to his view? And who dare say that it was impossible 
for him to avoid what he had so often been warned against? 
When the temptation did take place, and his heart, in 
purpose, had brought forth the sin, might he not have 
relented, fallen at his injured master's feet, acknowledge 
his black offense, and implored forgiveness? And surely his 
most merciful Lord would have freely pardoned him.

1. ON the subject of the disciples sailing off without 
Christ, and the storm that overtook them, it may be necessary 
to make a few observations, chiefly for the encouragement of 
the labourers in God's vineyard. It was the duty of the 
disciples to depart at the commandment of the Lord, though 
the storm was great, and the wind contrary. It was their duty 
to tug at the oar, expecting the appearing of their Lord and 
master. So it is the duty of the ministers of Christ to 
embark, and sail even into the sea of persecution and 
dangerous trial, in order to save souls. There may be 
darkness for a time-they must row. The waves may rise high-
they must row on. The wind may be contrary-still they must 
tug at the oar. Jesus will appear, lay the storm, and calm 
the sea, and they shall have souls for their hire. The vessel 
will get to land, and speedily too. There are particular 
times in which the Lord pours out his Spirit, and multitudes 
are quickly convinced and converted. "Alas!" says one, "I see 
no fruit of my labour; no return of my prayers and tears." 
Take courage, man; tug on; thou shalt not labour in vain, nor 
spend thy strength for nought. What he does thou knowest not 
now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Great grace, and great 
peace await thee; take courage, and tug on! 2. When a man 
forsakes the living God, and gives way to avarice, which 
appears to have been the case with Judas, he is fit for any 
thing in which Satan may choose to employ him. Beware of the 
love of money! The cursed lust of gold induced a disciple of 
Christ to betray his God: and has it not been the ruin of 
millions since? Few people love money merely for its own 
sake: they love it because it can provide them with the 
necessaries, conveniences, and comforts of life; those who 
have not God for their portion incessantly long after these 
things, and therefore are covetous.

While a man watches unto prayer, and abides in the love of 
Christ Jesus the Lord, so long he is safe, for he is 
contented with the lot which God has given him in life. 
Reader, art thou like Judas (in his best state) put in trust 
for the poor, or for the Church of Christ. Do not covet; and 
take heed that thou grudge not; nor permit thy heart to be 
hardened by repeated sights and tales of wo. Thou art but a 
steward; act faithfully, and act affectionately. Because the 
ointment that prefigured the death of our Lord was not 
applied just as Judas would have it, he took offense; 
betrayed and sold his master; saw and wished to remedy his 
transgression; despaired and hanged himself. Behold the fruit 
of covetousness! To what excesses and miseries the love of 
money may lead, God alone can comprehend. If any man love the 
world, the love of the Father is not in him.

CHAPTER vii.

Jesus continues in Galilee, 1. He is desired to go to the 
feast of tabernacles, 2-5. His answer, 6-9. He goes up, and 
the Jews seek him at the feast, 10-13. He teaches in the 
temple, 14-24. The Jews are confounded by his preaching, 25-
27. He continues to teach; they wish to slay him, 28-30. Many 
of the people believe on him, 31. The Pharisees murmur, and 
our Lord reasons with them, 32-36. His preaching on the last 
day of the feast, 37-39. The people are greatly divided in 
their opinions concerning him, 40-44. The officers, who were 
sent by the Pharisees to take him, return, and because they 
did not bring him, their employers are offended, 45-49. 
Nicodemus reasons with them, 50-53.

NOTES ON CHAP. vii.

Verse 1. After these things] St. John passes from the 
preceding discourse of our Lord, which he delivered a little 
before the passover, chap. vi. 4, to the Feast of 
Tabernacles, which happened six months after, and thus omits 
many things mentioned by the other evangelists, which our 
blessed Lord said and did during that time. He had already 
gone over Galilee four or five times; and he continued there, 
because he found that the hatred of the Jews was such that 
they would kill him if they could meet with him in Judea; and 
his time to suffer was not yet come.

For he would not walk in Jewry] Instead of this, some MSS., 
versions, and fathers read, ougar eicen exousian, he had not 
authority, or liberty to walk, &c. That is, he was no longer 
tolerated, and could not preach publicly in Judea, but at the 
risk of his life. He found greater scope for the exercise of 
his important ministry in Galilee than in Judea, as the chief 
priests, &c., were continually plotting his death.

Verse 2. Feast of tabernacles] This feast was celebrated on 
the fifteenth day of the month Tisri, answering to the last 
half of our September, and the first half of October. This 
month was the seventh of the ecclesiastical, and first of the 
civil, year. The feast took its name from the tents which 
were erected about the temple, in public places, in courts, 
and on the flat roofs of their houses, and in gardens; in 
which the Jews dwelt for eight days, in commemoration of the 
forty years during which their fathers dwelt in the 
wilderness. It was one of the three solemn annual feasts in 
which all the males were obliged, by the law, to appear at 
Jerusalem.

This feast was celebrated in the following manner. All the 
people cut down branches of palm trees, willows, and myrtles, 
(and tied them together with gold and silver cords, or with 
ribbons,) which they carried with them all day, took them 
into their synagogues, and kept them by them while at 
prayers. On the other days of the feast they carried them 
with them into the temple and walked round the altar with 
them in their hands, singing, Hosanna! i.e. Save, we beseech 
thee!-the trumpets sounding on all sides.

To this feast St. John seems to refer, Rev. vii. 9, 10, where 
he represents the saints standing before the throne, with 
palm branches in their hands, singing, Salvation to God, &c. 
On the seventh day of the feast, they went seven times round 
the altar, and this was called Hosanna rabba, the great 
Hosanna. See the notes on Matt. xxi. 9. But the ceremony at 
which the Jews testified most joy was that of pouring out the 
water, which was done on the eighth day of the feast. A 
priest drew some water out of the pool Siloam, in a golden 
vessel, and brought it into the temple; and at the time of 
the morning sacrifice, while the members of the sacrifice 
were on the altar, he went up and poured this water mingled 
with wine upon it, the people all the while singing, with 
transports of joy, Isaiah 12, especially Isa. xii. 6: With 
joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. To 
this part of the ceremony, our Lord appears to allude in ver. 
37, of this chapter.  During this feast many sacrifices were 
offered. On the first day, besides the ordinary sacrifices, 
they offered, as a burnt-offering, thirteen calves, two rams, 
and fourteen lambs with the offerings of flour and the 
libations of wine that were to accompany them. They offered 
also a goat for a sin-offering. On all the succeeding days 
they offered the same sacrifices, only abating one of the 
calves each day, so that when the seventh day came, they had 
but seven calves to offer. On the eighth day, which was kept 
with greater solemnity than the rest, they offered but one 
calf, one ram, and seven lambs, for a burnt-offering, and one 
goat for a sin-offering, with the usual offerings and 
libations. On this day, they also offered in the temple the 
first fruits of their latter crops, or of those things which 
come latest to maturity. During the feast, the 113th, 114th, 
115th, 116th, 117th, 118th, and 119th Psalms were sung. Leo 
of Modena says that, though Moses appointed but eight days, 
yet custom and the devotion of the people have added a ninth 
to it, which is called the joy of the law, because that on it 
they complete the reading of the Pentateuch. See Calmet's 
Com.

and Dict., and father Lamy. For the law relative to this 
institution, see Lev. xxiii. 39, 40, &c., and the notes 
there; and Numbers xxix. 16. &c.

Verse 3. His brethren-said] It is generally supposed that 
these were the children of the sisters of his mother Mary; 
but some of the ancients have stated that Joseph had several 
children by a former wife. See the account of the evangelist 
prefixed to this Gospel. No solid proof can be alleged 
against this; nor can we pretend to say that these were not 
the children of Joseph and Mary. Our blessed Lord, it is 
true, was her first born, while she was yet a virgin; but no 
man can prove that he was her last. It is an article of 
faith, in the Popish Church, to believe in the perpetual 
virginity of Mary; and in this respect, without any reason, 
several Protestants seem to be Papists. However this may be, 
it is certain that the Hebrews gave the name of brethren to 
all the relatives of a particular family. See Gen. xxxi. 32, 
46.

That thy disciples also may see] That is, the disciples which 
he had made two years and six months before, at the Passover: 
chap. ii. 23.

Verse 4. No man that doeth any thing in secret, &c.] They 
took it for granted that Christ was influenced by the same 
spirit which themselves felt; and that therefore he should 
use every opportunity of exhibiting himself to the public, 
that he might get into repute; and they hoped that a part of 
his honour would be reflected back upon themselves, as being 
his near relations. They seem to have said: "It is too little 
to employ thyself in working miracles in Galilee, in the 
country, and in small villages, among an ignorant and 
credulous people, from whom thou canst not get much credit: 
go to Jerusalem, the capital, and among the learned doctors, 
in the presence of the whole nation assembled at this feast, 
work thy miracles, and get thyself a name."

Verse 5. Neither did his brethren believe in him.] They did 
not receive him as the promised Messiah; but, having seen so 
many of his miracles, they could not but consider him as an 
eminent prophet. They supposed that, if he were the Messiah, 
he would wish to manifest himself as such to the world; and, 
because he did not do so, they did not believe that he was 
the salvation of Israel.

Verse 6. My time is not yet come] It is probable our Lord 
meant no more than this, that he had some business to 
transact before he could go to Jerusalem; but his brethren, 
having nothing to hinder them might set off immediately. 
Others think he speaks of his passion: My time of suffering 
is not yet come: as ye are still in friendship with the 
world, ye need not be under any apprehension of danger: ye 
may go when ye please. The first sense I think is the best.

Verse 7. The world cannot hate you] The Jews will not 
persecute you, because ye are in their sentiments and 
interests. Ye also expect a worldly Messiah.

But me it hateth] Because I condemn its injustice, its pride, 
its ambition, and its maxims, by my life and doctrine. It is 
very likely that the term world means here the Jewish people 
only: this is an acceptation in which u kosmov frequently 
occurs in this Gospel. See on chap. 17. 

Verse 8. I go not up yet unto this feast] Porphyry accuses 
our blessed Lord of falsehood, because he said here, I will 
not go to this feast, and yet afterwards he went; and some 
interpreters have made more ado than was necessary, in order 
to reconcile this seeming contradiction. To me the whole 
seems very simple and plain. Our Lord did not say, I will not 
go to this feast; but merely, I go not yet, oupw, or am not 
going, i.e. at present; because, as he said ver. 6, and 
repeats here, his time was not yet come-he had other business 
to transact before he could go. And it is very likely that 
his business detained him in Galilee till the feast was half 
over: for we do not find him at Jerusalem till the middle of 
the feast, ver. 14, i.e. till the feast had been begun four 
days. He might also be unwilling to go at that time, there 
being such a great concourse of people on the road to 
Jerusalem, and his enemies might say that he had availed 
himself of this time and multitude in order to excite 
sedition.

Verse 10. But when his brethren were gone up] Having 
despatched his business, and the concourse of people being 
now past, he went up also.

Verse 11. Then the Jews sought him] By Jews here are to be 
understood the scribes, Pharisees, and rulers of the people, 
and not the inhabitants of the province of Judea. It appears, 
from the following verses, that many of the people were 
prejudiced in his favour, but they dared not to own it 
publicly for fear of the Jews, i.e. for fear of the rulers of 
the people.

Verse 12. Some said, He is a good man] The multitude were 
divided in their opinions concerning him: those who knew him 
best said, He is a good man. Those who spoke according to the 
character given him by the priests, &c., said, Nay; but he 
deceiveth the people. Those who spoke evil of him spoke out, 
because they had the rulers on their side; but those who 
spoke good of him were obliged to do it in private, because 
they feared these rulers. Calumny and slander are among the 
privileged orders; they stalk abroad with their thousand 
brazen mouths, and blast the reputation of the followers of 
God. Benevolence and candour are only on sufferance; and a 
whisper in secret is the most they are permitted to give in 
behalf of Christ and his followers, whose laws and maxims 
condemn a vicious world, and goad it to revenge.

Verse 14. The midst of the feast] Though the canons required 
him to be there on the first day, for the performance of a 
great variety of rites, yet, as these were in general the 
invention of their doctors, he might think it very proper 
neither to attend nor perform them.

Verse 15. How knoweth this man letters, having never 
learned?] The Jewish learning consisted in the knowledge of 
their own scriptures, and the traditions of their elders. In 
this learning our blessed Lord excelled. No person ever spoke 
with more grace and dignity, or knew better how to make a 
more proper use, or a happier application, of Jewish 
allegories and parables; because none ever penetrated the 
sense of the Scriptures as he did; none ever cited them more 
successfully, or ever showed their accomplishment in so 
complete and satisfactory a manner. As these branches of 
learning were taught at the Jewish schools, and our Lord had 
never attended there, they were astonished to find him 
excelling in that sort of learning, of which they themselves 
professed to be the sole teachers.

Verse 16. My doctrine is not mine] Our blessed Lord, in the 
character of Messiah, might as well say, My doctrine is not 
mine, as an ambassador might say, I speak not my own words, 
but his who sent me: and he speaks these words to draw the 
attention of the Jews from the teaching of man to the 
teaching of God; and to show them that he was the promised 
Messiah, the very person on whom, according to the prophet, 
(Isa. xi. 2,) the Spirit of Jehovah-the Spirit of wisdom, 
counsel, understanding, might, and knowledge, should rest.

Verse 17. If any man wilt do his will, &c.] I will give you a 
sure rule by which ye may judge of my doctrine: If you really 
wish to do the will of God, begin the practice of it; and 
take my doctrine, and apply it to all that you know God 
requires of man; and if you find one of my precepts contrary 
to the nature, perfections, and glory of God, or to the 
present or eternal welfare of men, then ye shall be at 
liberty to assert that my doctrine is human and erroneous, 
and God has not sent me. But if, on the contrary, ye find 
that the sum and substance of my preaching is, That men shall 
love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and 
their neighbour as themselves; and that this doctrine must 
bring glory to God in the highest, while it produces peace 
and good will among men; then acknowledge that God has 
visited you, and receive me as the Messiah promised to your 
fathers.

Verse 18. He that speaketh of himself, &c.] I will give you 
another rule, whereby you shall know whether I am from God or 
not: If I speak so as to procure my own glory, to gratify 
vanity, or to secure and promote my secular interests, then 
reject me as a deceiver and as a false prophet. But if I act 
only to promote the glory of God, to induce all men to love 
and obey him; if I propose nothing but what leads to the 
perfection of his law, and the accomplishment of its 
ordinances, you cannot help acknowledging me at least for a 
true prophet; and, if you add to this the proofs which I have 
given of my mission and power, you must acknowledge me as the 
mighty power of God, and the promised Messiah.

And no unrighteousness is in him.] Or, there is no falsehood 
in him: so the word adikia should be translated here; and it 
is frequently used by the Septuagint for rq sheker, a lie, 
falsehood, &c. See in Psa. lii. 3; cxix. 29, 69, 104, 163; 
cxliv. 8. This is its meaning in Rom. ii. 8; where adikia, 
falsehood, is put in opposition to alhqeia, truth.

Verse 19. Did not Moses give you the law, &c.] The scribes 
and Pharisees announced our Lord to the multitude as a 
deceiver; and they grounded their calumny on this, that he 
was not an exact observer of the law, for he had healed a man 
on the Sabbath day, chap. v. 9, 10; and consequently must be 
a false prophet. Now they insinuated, that the interests of 
religion required him to be put to death: 1. As a violator of 
the law; and, 2. as a false prophet and deceiver of the 
people. To destroy this evil reasoning, our Lord speaks in 
this wise: If I deserve death for curing a man on the 
Sabbath, and desiring him to carry home his bed, which you 
consider a violation of the law, you are more culpable than I 
am, for you circumcise a child on the Sabbath, which requires 
much more bustle, and is of so much less use than what I have 
done to the infirm man. But, if you think you do not violate 
the law by circumcising a child on the Sabbath, how can you 
condemn me for having cured one of yourselves, who has been 
afflicted thirty and eight years? If you consider my conduct 
with the same eye with which you view your own, far from 
finding any thing criminal in it, you will see much reason to 
give glory to God. Why, therefore, go ye about to kill me, as 
a transgressor of the law, when not one of yourselves keeps 
it?

Verse 20. Thou hast a devil] The crowd, who made this answer, 
were not in the secret of the chief priests. They could not 
suppose that any person desired to put him to death for 
healing a diseased man; and therefore, in their brutish 
manner, they say, Thou hast a demon-thou art beside thyself, 
and slanderest the people, for none of them desires to put 
thee to death. The Codex Cyprius (K,) four others, and the 
margin of the later Syriac, attribute this answer to the 
Jews, i.e. those who were seeking his life. If the reading, 
therefore, of oi ioudaioi, the Jews, be received instead of o 
oclov, the multitude, it serves to show the malice of his 
enemies in a still stronger light: for, fearing lest their 
wish to put him to death might not be gratified, and that his 
teaching should prevail among the common people; to ruin his 
credit, and prevent his usefulness, they give out that he was 
possessed by a demon; and that, though he might be pitied as 
a miserable man, yet he must not be attended to as a teacher 
of righteousness. Malice and envy are ever active and 
indefatigable, leaving no stone unturned, no mean unused, 
that they may win the object of their resentment. See the 
note on ver. 26.

Verse 21. I have done one work] That of curing the impotent 
man, already referred to. See chap. v. 9.

And ye all marvel.] or, ye all marvel because of this. Some 
have dia touto, in connection with qaumazete, which the 
common pointing makes the beginning of the next verse, and 
which, in our common version, is translated therefore; but 
this word conveys no meaning at all, in the connection in 
which it is thus placed. Proof of this construction Kypke 
gives from Themistius, Strabo, and AElian. All the eminent 
critics are on the side of this arrangement of the words.

Verse 22. But of the fathers] That is, it came from the 
patriarchs.

Circumcision was not, properly speaking, one of the laws of 
the Mosaic institution, it having been given at first to 
Abraham, and continued among his posterity till the giving of 
the law: Genesis xvii. 9, 10, &c.

Ye-circumcise a man.] That is, a male child: for every male 
child was circumcised when eight days old; and if the eighth 
day after its birth happened to be a Sabbath, it was 
nevertheless circumcised, that the law might not be broken, 
which had enjoined the circumcision to take place at that 
time, Leviticus xii. 3. From this and several other 
circumstances it is evident that the keeping of the Sabbath, 
even in the strictest sense of the word, ever admitted of the 
works of necessity and mercy to be done on it; and that those 
who did not perform such works on that day, when they had 
opportunity, were properly violators of every law founded on 
the principles of mercy and justice. If the Jews had said, 
Why didst thou not defer the healing of the sick man till the 
ensuing day? He might have well answered, Why do ye not defer 
the circumcising of your children to the ensuing day, when 
the eighth day happens to be a Sabbath?-which is a matter of 
infinitely less consequence than the restoration of this 
long-afflicted man.

Verse 23. Every whit whole] The law of circumcision required 
the removal of a small portion of flesh, which was considered 
a blot and reproach among the Hebrews, because it confounded 
them with the nations who were not in covenant with God. 
Christ, to this, opposes the complete cure of the infirm man, 
who was diseased throughout his whole body: if the one was 
permitted on the Sabbath day, for the reason already alleged, 
surely the other had stronger reasons to recommend it.

Some think that the original words, olon anqrpon, should be 
translated, the whole man; and that the meaning is, that the 
blessed saviour made him whole both in body and soul. This 
makes the miracle the greater, and shows still more forcibly 
the necessity of doing it without delay.

Battier ap. Wets. supposes that, instead of olon, cwlon 
should be read-I have made a MAIMED man whole; but there is 
no countenance for this reading in any of the MSS;, versions, 
or fathers.

Verse 24. Judge not according to the appearance] Attend to 
the law, not merely in the letter, but in its spirit and 
design. Learn that the law which commands men to rest on the 
Sabbath day is subordinate to the law of mercy and love, 
which requires them to be ever active to promote God's glory 
in the comfort and salvation of their fellow creatures; and 
endeavour to judge of the merit or demerit of an action, not 
from the first impression it may make upon your prejudices 
but from its tendency, and the motives of the person, as far 
as it is possible for you to acquaint yourselves with them; 
still believing the best, where you have no certain proof to 
the contrary.

Verse 26. That this is the very Christ?] In most of the 
common printed editions alhqwv is found, the VERY Christ; but 
the word is wanting in BDKLTX, twenty-two others, several 
editions; all the Arabic, Wheelock's Persic, the Coptic, 
Sahidic, Armenian, Slavonic, Vulgate, and all the Itala but 
one, Origen, Epiphanius, Cyril, Isidore, Pelusian, and 
Nonnus.

Grotius, Mill, Bengel, and Griesbach, decide against it. 
Bishop Pearce says, I am of opinion that this second alhqwv, 
in this verse, should be omitted, it seeming quite 
unnecessary, if not inaccurate, when the words alhqwv 
egnwsan, had just preceded it.

Calmet observes that the multitude which heard our Lord at 
this time was composed of three different classes of persons: 
1. The rulers, priests, and Pharisees, declared enemies of 
Christ. 2. The inhabitants of Jerusalem, who knew the 
sentiments of their rulers concerning him. 3. The strangers, 
who from different quarters had come up to Jerusalem to the 
feast, and who heard Christ attentively, being ignorant of 
the designs of the rulers, &c., against him.

Our Lord addresses himself in this discourse principally to 
his enemies.

The strange Jews were those who were astonished when Christ 
said, ver. 20, that they sought to kill him, having no such 
design themselves, and not knowing that others had. And the 
Jews of Jerusalem were those who, knowing the disposition of 
the rulers, and seeing Christ speak openly, no man attempting 
to seize him, addressed each other in the foregoing words, Do 
the rulers know indeed that this is the Christ? imagining 
that the chief priests, &c., had at last been convinced that 
Jesus was the MESSIAH.

Verse 27. No man knoweth whence he is.] The generality of the 
people knew very well that the Messiah was to be born in 
Bethlehem, in the city, and of the family, of David; see ver. 
42. But, from Isaiah Isa. liii. 8, Who shall declare his 
generation? they probably thought that there should be 
something so peculiarly mysterious in his birth, or in the 
manner of his appearing, that no person could fully 
understand. Had they considered his miraculous conception, 
they would have felt their minds relieved on this point. The 
Jews thought that the Messiah, after his birth, would hide 
himself for some considerable time; and that when he began to 
preach no man should know where he had been hidden, and 
whence he had come. The rabbins have the following proverb: 
Three things come unexpectedly: 1. A thing found by chance. 
2. The sting of a scorpion: and, 3. The Messiah. It was 
probably in reference to the above that the people said, No 
man knoweth whence he is. However, they might have spoken 
this of his parents. We know that the Messiah is to be born 
in Bethlehem, of the family of David; but no man can know his 
parents: therefore they rejected him: chap. vi. 42, Is not 
this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we 
know?

Verse 28. Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am] Perhaps 
they should be read interrogatively: Do ye both know me, and 
know whence I am? Our Lord takes them up on their own 
profession, and argues from it.

Since you have got so much information concerning me, add 
this to it, to make it complete; viz. that I am not come of 
myself; am no self-created or self-authorized prophet; I came 
from God:-the testimony of John the Baptist, the descent of 
the Holy Ghost, the voice from heaven, the purity and 
excellence of my doctrine, and the multitude of my miracles, 
sufficiently attest this. Now, God is true who has borne 
testimony to me; but ye know him not, therefore it is that 
this testimony is disregarded.

Verse 29. But I know him: for I am from him] Instead of eim, 
I am, some editions, the Syriac Hieros. read eimi, I came, 
according to the Attics. Nonnus confirms this reading by 
paraphrasing the word by elhluqa, I came. As the difference 
between the two words lies only in the accents, and as these 
are not found in ancient MSS., it is uncertain which way the 
word was understood by them: nor is the matter of much 
moment; both words amount nearly to the same meaning and 
eimi, I came, seems too refined.

Verse 31. Will he do more miracles] It was the belief of the 
Jews, and they founded it upon Isa. xxxv. 5, that, when the 
Messiah came, he would do all kinds of miracles; and, in 
order that they might have the fullest proof of the Divine 
mission of Christ, it had pleased God to cause miracles to 
cease for between four and five hundred years, and that John 
the Baptist himself had not wrought any. His miracles, 
therefore, were a full proof of his Divine mission.

Verse 32. The people murmured such things] The people began 
to be convinced that he was the Messiah; and this being 
generally whispered about, the Pharisees, &c., thought it 
high time to put him to death, lest the people should believe 
on him; therefore they sent officers to take him.

Verse 33. Yet a little while am I with you] As he knew that 
the Pharisees had designed to take and put him to death, and 
that in about six months from this time, as some conjecture, 
he should be crucified, he took the present opportunity of 
giving this information to the common people, who were best 
disposed towards him, that they might lay their hearts to his 
teaching, and profit by it, while they had the privilege of 
enjoying it.

The word autoiv, to them, in the beginning of this verse, is 
wanting in BDEGHLMS, more than eighty others, both the 
Syriac, later Persic, Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, Gothic, 
Slavonic, Saxon, most copies of the Vulgate and the Itala. It 
is omitted also by Euthymius, Theophylact, Augustin, and 
Bede. Our Lord did not speak these words to the officers who 
came to apprehend him, as autoiv here implies, but to the 
common people, merely to show that he was not ignorant of the 
designs of the Pharisees, though they had not yet been able 
to put them into practice.

Verse 34. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me] When the 
Roman armies come against you, you will vainly seek for a 
deliverer. But ye shall be cut off in your sins, because ye 
did not believe in me; and where I am-in the kingdom of 
glory, ye cannot come; for nothing that is unholy shall enter 
into the new Jerusalem. In this, and the thirty-sixth verse, 
eim, I am, is read by several eimi, I came, as in the 
twenty-ninth verse; and in these two last places the 
AEthiopic, Arabic, three copies of the Itala, Nonnus, and 
Theophylact, agree. See the note on ver. 29.

Verse 35. The dispersed among the Gentiles] Or Greeks. By the 
dispersed, are meant here the Jews who were scattered through 
various parts of that empire which Alexander the Great had 
founded, in Greece, Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor, where the 
Greek language was used, and where the Jewish Scriptures in 
the Greek version of the Septuagint were read. Others suppose 
that the Gentiles themselves are meant-others, that the ten 
tribes which had been long lost are here intended.

Verse 37. In the last day, that great day of the feast] This 
was the eighth day, and was called the great day, because of 
certain traditional observances, and not on account of any 
excellence which it derived from the original institution. On 
the seven days they professed to offer sacrifices for the 
seventy nations of the earth, but on the eighth day they 
offered sacrifices for Israel; therefore the eighth day was 
more highly esteemed than any of the others. It is probably 
to this that the evangelist refers when he calls the last day 
the great day of the feast. See the account of the feast of 
tabernacles, in the note on ver. 2. It was probably when they 
went to draw water from the pool Siloam, and while they were 
pouring it out at the foot of the altar, that our Lord spoke 
these words; for, as that ceremony pointed out the gracious 
influences of the Holy Spirit, our Lord, who was the fountain 
whence it was to proceed, called the people to himself, that, 
by believing on him, they might be made partakers of that 
inestimable benefit.

Verse 38. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath 
said] He who receives me as the Messiah, according to what 
the Scripture has said concerning me; my person, birth, 
conduct, preaching, and miracles, being compared with what is 
written there as ascertaining the true Messiah. Out of his 
belly-from his heart and soul; for in his soul shall this 
Spirit dwell.

Living water.] As a true spring is ever supplied with water 
from the great deep, with which it has communication, so 
shall the soul of the genuine believer be supplied with 
light, life, love, and liberty, and all the other graces of 
the indwelling Spirit, from the indwelling Christ. The Jews 
frequently compare the gifts and influences of the Holy 
Spirit to water in general-to rain, fountains, wells, rivers, 
&c., &c. The Scriptures abound in this metaphor. Psa. xxxvi. 
8, 9; Isa. xliv. 3, 4; Joel ii. 23.

Verse 39. Was not yet given] dedomenon, given is added by the 
Codex Vaticanus, (B.) the Syriac, all the Persic, later 
Syriac with an asterisk, three copies of the Slavonic, 
Vulgate, and all the Itala but three; and several of the 
primitive fathers. The word seems necessary to the completion 
of the sense.

Certain measures of the Holy Spirit had been vouchsafed from 
the beginning of the world to believers and unbelievers: but 
that abundant effusion of his graces spoken of by Joel, Joel 
ii. 28, which peculiarly characterized the Gospel times, was 
not granted till after the ascension of Christ: 1. Because 
this Spirit in its plenitude was to come in consequence of 
his atonement; and therefore could not come till after his 
crucifixion. 2.

It was to supply the place of Christ to his disciples and to 
all true believers; and therefore it was not necessary till 
after the removal of his bodily presence from among them. See 
our Lord's own words, chap. xiv. 16-18, 26; xv. 26; xvi. 7-
15.

Verse 40. Of a truth this is the Prophet.] The great prophet, 
or teacher, spoken of by Moses, Deut. xviii. 15, which they 
improperly distinguished from the Messiah, ver. 41. Some no 
doubt knew that by the prophet, the Messiah was meant; but 
others seem to have thought that one of the ancient prophets 
should be raised from the dead, and precede the appearing of 
the Messiah.

Verse 41. Shalt Christ come out of Galilee?] As the prophets 
had declared that the Messiah was to come from the tribe of 
Judah, and from the family of David, and should be born in 
the city of Bethlehem, these Jews, imagining that Christ had 
been born in Galilee, concluded that he could not be the 
Messiah. Had they examined the matter a little farther, they 
would have found that he had his birth exactly as the 
prophets had foretold; but, for want of this necessary 
examination, they continued in unbelief, and rejected the 
Lord that bought them. Many still lose their souls nearly in 
the same way. They suffer themselves to be led away by common 
report, and become prejudiced against the truth, refuse to 
give it a fair hearing, or to examine for themselves. It is 
on this ground that deign and irreligion have established 
themselves, and still maintain their posts.

Verse 42. Where David was?] That is, where he was born, 1 
Sam. xvi. 1, 4, and where he was before he became king in 
Israel.

Verse 43. There was a division] scisma, a schism; they were 
divided in sentiment, and separated into parties. This is the 
true notion of schism.

Verse 44. Would have taken him] Or, they wished to seize him. 
And this they would have done, and destroyed him too at that 
time, had they been unanimous; but their being divided in 
opinion, ver. 43, was the cause, under God, why his life was 
at that time preserved. How true are the words of the 
prophet: The wrath of man shall praise thee; and the 
remainder thereof thou wilt restrain! Psa. lxxvi. 10.

Verse 45. Then came the officers] They had followed him for 
several days, seeking for a proper opportunity to seize on 
him, when they might fix some charge of sedition, &c., upon 
him; but the more they listened, the more they were convinced 
of his innocence, purity, and consummate wisdom.

Verse 46. Never man spake like this man.] Though these 
officers had gone on the errand of their masters, they had 
not entered into their spirit.

They were sent to apprehend a seditious man, and a false 
prophet. They came where Jesus taught; they found him to be a 
different person to the description they received from their 
masters, and therefore did not attempt to touch or molest 
him. No doubt they expected when they told their employers 
the truth, that they would have commended them, and 
acknowledged their own mistake: but these simple people were 
not in the secret of their masters' malice. They heard, they 
felt, that no man ever spoke with so much grace, power, 
majesty, and eloquence. They had never heard a discourse so 
affecting and persuasive. So Jesus still speaks to all who 
are simple of heart. He speaks pardon-he speaks holiness-he 
speaks salvation to all who have ears to hear. No man ever 
did or can speak as he does. He teaches THE TRUTH, the whole 
TRUTH, and nothing but the TRUTH.

Verse 48. Have any of the rulers-believed on him?] Very few. 
But is this a proof that he is not of God? No, truly. If he 
were of the world, the world would love its own. The religion 
of Christ has been in general rejected by the rulers of this 
world. A life of mortification, self-denial, and humility, 
does not comport with the views of those who will have their 
portion in this life. It has ever been a mark of the truth of 
God that the great, the mighty, and the wise have in general 
rejected it. They are too much occupied with this world to 
attend to the concerns of the next.

Verse 49. This people] Æo oclov, This rabble. The common 
people were treated by the Pharisees with the most sovereign 
contempt: they were termed Årah µ[ am ha-arets, people of the 
earth; and were not thought worthy to have a resurrection to 
eternal life. Wagenseil and Schoettgen have given many proofs 
of the contempt in which the common people were held by the 
Pharisees. Those who were disciples of any of the rabbins 
were considered as being in a much better state. When they 
paid well, they purchased their masters' good opinion.

Verse 50. Nicodemus-being one of them] That is, a Pharisee, 
and a ruler of the Jews: see on chap. iii. 1.

Verse 51. Doth our law judge any man] ton anqrwpon, the man, 
i.e.

who is accused. Perhaps Nicodemus did not refer so much to 
any thing in the law of Moses, as to what was commonly 
practiced among them.

Josephus says, Ant. b. xiv. c. 9. s. 3, That the law has 
forbidden any man to be put to death, though wicked, unless 
he be first condemned to die by the Sanhedrin. It was 
probably to this law, which is not expressly mentioned in the 
five books of Moses, that Nicodemus here alludes. See laws 
relative to this point, Deut. xvii. 8, &c.; Deut. xix. 15.

Verse 52. Art thou also of Galilee?] They knew very well that 
he was not; but they spoke this by way of reproach. As if 
they had said, thou art no better than he is, as thou takest 
his part. Many of the Galileans had believed on him, Which 
the Jews considered to be a reproach. Art thou his disciple, 
as the Galileans are? Search, and look] Examine the 
Scriptures, search the public registers, and thou wilt see 
that out of Galilee there ariseth no prophet. Neither the 
Messiah, nor any other prophet, has ever proceeded from 
Galilee, nor ever can. This conclusion, says Calmet, was 
false and impertinent: false, because Jonah was of Gathheper, 
in Galilee: see 2 Kings xiv. 25, compared with Josh. xix. 13. 
The Prophet Nahum was also a Galilean, for he was of the 
tribe of Simeon; and some suppose that Malachi was of the 
same place. The conclusion was false, because there not 
having been a prophet from any particular place was no 
argument that there never could be one, as the place had not 
been proscribed.

Verse 53. And every man went, &c.] The authority and 
influence of Nicodemus, in this case, was so great that the 
Sanhedrin broke up without being able to conclude any thing. 
As the feast was now ended, they were not obliged to continue 
any longer in or about Jerusalem; and therefore all returned 
to their respective dwellings.

This verse and the first eleven verses of the following 
chapter are wanting in several MSS. Some of those which 
retain the paragraph mark it with obelisks, as a proof of 
spuriousness. Those which do retain it have it with such a 
variety of reading as is no where else found in the sacred 
writings.

Professor Griesbach leaves the whole paragraph in the text 
with notes of doubtfulness. Most of the modern critics 
consider it as resting on no solid authority.

The following in the left-hand column, is a literal 
translation of the whole as it stands in the Codex Bezae. 
That on the right is a connected view of it from other 
manuscripts.

 ver. 63; viii. 1-11.: From the Codex Bezae. From other MSS.

ver. 53. And every one went every one went to his away to his 
own people.

own house. (ta idia autou) Al. place.

chap. viii. 1. And Jesus 1. And Jesus went out went to the 
mount of to the mount of Olives. 

 2. But he came again 2. But very early in the early into-the 
temple, and morning Jesus came again all the people came unto 
into the temple, and all him. the people came; and having sat 
down he taught them.

3. And the scribes and 3. And the chief priests Pharisees 
brought a woman and the Pharisees bring unto him, taken in 
unto him a woman taken sin; and, setting her in in adultery; 
and, having the midst, set her in the midst, 4. The priests 
say unto 4. They spoke, tempting him, tempting him, that him, 
Teacher, we they might have an accusation found this one 
committing against him, Teacher, adultery, in the very this 
woman was taken act: committing adultery, in the very act: 5. 
Now Moses, in the 5. And in the law Moses law, gave orders to 
stone commanded us to stone such: but what dost thou such: 
What dost thou say now? say concerning her? 6. But Jesus, 
having 6. But this they spoke stooped down, wrote with 
tempting him, that they his finger upon the ground. might 
find an accusation against him: but he, knowing it, stooped 
down, (Al. bowed down,) and wrote with his finger upon the 
ground, seeming as if he did not hear.

(Al. pretending.) 7. But as they continued 7. But as they 
continued asking he lifted up asking him, having himself, and 
said unto looked up, he saith, Let them, Let him who is him 
who is without sin without sin among you among you, first 
cast a first cast a stone at her. stone at her.

8. And stooping down 8. And stooping down again, he wrote 
with his again, he wrote with his finger upon the ground. 
finger upon the ground (the sins of every one of them.) 9. 
And each of the 9. And each one of Jews went out, beginning 
them went out, (Al.

from the oldest, so that and hearing these things all went 
out: and he was they departed one by one,) left alone, the 
woman beginning from the oldest; being in the midst. and 
Jesus was left alone, and the woman in the midst of them.

10. And Jesus lifting 10. Jesus therefore looking up himself, 
said to the up, saw her, and said, woman, Where are they? 
Woman, where are thy Hath no one condemned accusers? Hath no 
one thee? condemned thee? 11. Then she said unto 11. Then she 
said, No him, No one, sir. Then one, sir. And Jesus said, he 
said, Neither do I Neither will I judge thee; condemn thee; 
go, and from go away, and henceforth this time sin no more. 
sin no more. See the notes on this account in the following 
chapter.

CHAPTER viii.

The story of the woman taken in adultery, 1-11. Jesus 
declares himself the light of the world, 12. The Pharisees 
cavil, 13. Jesus answers, and shows his authority, 14-20. He 
delivers a second discourse, in which he convicts them of 
sin, and foretells their dying in it, because of their 
unbelief, 21-24. They question him; he answers, and foretells 
his own death, 25-29. Many believe on him, in consequence of 
this last discourse, 30. To whom he gives suitable advice, 
31, 32. The Jews again cavil, and plead the nobility and 
advantages of their birth, 33. Jesus shows the vanity of 
their pretensions, and the wickedness of their hearts, 34-47. 
They blaspheme, and Christ convicts and reproves them, and 
asserts his Divine nature, 48-58. They attempt to stone him, 
59.

NOTES ON CHAP. viii.

Verse 3. A woman taken in adultery] Some of the popish 
writers say that her name was Susanna; that she was espoused 
to an old decrepid man, named Manasseh; that she died a saint 
in Spain, whither she had followed St. James. These accounts 
the judicious Calmet properly terms fables.

It is allowed that adultery was exceedingly common at this 
time, so common that they had ceased to put the law in force 
against it. The waters of jealousy were no longer drunk, the 
culprits or those suspected of this crime, being so very 
numerous; and the men who were guilty themselves dared not 
try their suspected wives, as it was believed the waters 
would have no evil effect upon the wife, if the husband 
himself had been criminal. See the whole of the process on 
the waters of jealousy in the notes on Num. v. 14, &c.; and 
see at the end of chap. 18. 

Verse 5. That such should be stoned] It is not strictly true 
that Moses ordered adultery in general to be punished by 
stoning. The law simply says that the adulterer and the 
adulteress shall be put to death. Lev. xx. 10; Deut. xxii. 
22. The rabbins say they were strangled. This they affirm was 
the ordinary mode of punishment, where the species of death 
was not marked in the law, If the person guilty of an act of 
this kind had been betrothed, but not married, she was to be 
stoned: Deut. xxii. 23. But if she was the daughter of a 
priest, she was to be burned alive: Lev. xvi. 9. It appears, 
from Ezek. xvi. 38, 40, that adulteresses in the time of that 
prophet were stoned, and pierced with a sword.

Selden and Fagius suppose that this woman's case was the same 
with that mentioned, Deut. xxii. 23. If a damsel that is a 
virgin be betrothed unto a husband, and a man find her in the 
city, and lie with her; then ye shall stone them with stones 
that they die, the damsel because she cried not, and the man 
because he hath humbled his neighbours wife. As the Pharisees 
spoke of stoning the woman, it is possible this was her case; 
and some suppose that the apparent indulgence with which our 
Lord treated her insinuates that she had suffered some sort 
of violence, though not entirely innocent. Therefore he said, 
I do not condemn thee, i.e. to death, because violence had 
been used. Sin no more. Nevertheless thou art in certain 
respects guilty; thou mightest have made more resistance.

Verse 6. That they might have to accuse him.] Had our Lord 
condemned the woman to death, they might have accused him to 
Pilate, as arrogating to himself the power of life and death, 
which the Romans had taken away from the Jews; besides, the 
Roman laws did not condemn an adulteress to be put to death. 
On the other hand, if he had said she should not be put to 
death, they might have represented him to the people as one 
who decided contrary to the law, and favoured the crime of 
which the woman was accused.

With his finger wrote] Several MSS. add their sins who 
accused her, and the sins of all men. There are many idle 
conjectures concerning what our Lord wrote on the ground, 
several of which may be seen in Calmet.

We never find that Christ wrote any thing before or after 
this; and what he wrote at this time we know not. On this the 
pious Quesnel makes the following reflections: - "1. Since 
Jesus Christ never wrote but once that we hear of in his 
whole life; 2. since he did it only in the dust; 3. since it 
was only to avoid condemning a sinner; and, 4. since he would 
not have that which he wrote so much as known; let men learn 
from hence never to write but when it is necessary or useful; 
to do it with humility and modesty; and to do it on a 
principle of charity. How widely does Christ differ from men! 
He writes his Divine thoughts in the dust: they wish to have 
theirs cut in marble, and engraved on brass." Schools for 
children are frequently held under trees in Bengal, and the 
children who are beginning to learn write the letters of the 
alphabet in the dust. This saves pen, ink, and paper. WARD.

Verse 7. He that is without sin] anamarthtov, meaning the 
same kind of sin, adultery, fornication, &c. Kypke has 
largely proved that the verb amartanein is used in this sense 
by the best Greek writers.

Let him first cast a stone at her.] Or, upon her, epÆ auth. 
The Jewish method of stoning, according to the rabbins, was 
as follows: The culprit, half naked, the hands tied behind 
the back, was placed on a scaffold, ten or twelve feet high; 
the witnesses, who stood with her, pushed her off with great 
force: if she was killed by the fall there was nothing 
farther done; but, if she was not, one of the witnesses took 
up a very large stone, and dashed it upon her breast, which 
generally was the coup de grace, or finishing stroke. This 
mode of punishment seems referred to, Matt. xxi. 44.

However, this procedure does not appear to have been always 
attended to. See Lev. xxiv. 16, and ver. 59 of this chapter.  

Verse 9. Being convicted by their own conscience] So it is 
likely they were all guilty of similar crimes. Their own is 
not in the original, and is needless: being convicted by 
conscience is expressive enough.

Beginning at the eldest even unto the last] apo twn 
presbuterwn ewv twn escatwn, from the most honourable to 
those of the least repute. In this sense the words are 
undoubtedly to be understood.

The woman standing in the midst.] But if they all went out, 
how could she be in the midst? It is not said that all the 
people whom our Lord had been instructing went out, but only 
her accusers: see ver. 2. The rest undoubtedly continued with 
their teacher.

Verse 11. Neither do I condemn thee] Bishop Pearce says: "It 
would have been strange if Jesus, when he was not a 
magistrate, and had not the witnesses before him to examine 
them, and when she had not been tried and condemned by the 
law and legal judges, should have taken upon him to condemn 
her. This being the case, it appears why Jesus avoided giving 
an answer to the question of the scribes and Pharisees, and 
also how little reason there is to conclude from hence that 
Christ seems in this case not enough to have discouraged 
adultery, though he called it a sin. And yet this opinion 
took place so early among the Christians, that the reading of 
this story was industriously avoided, in the lessons recited 
out of the Gospels, in the public service of the churches; as 
if Jesus's saying, I do not condemn thee, had given too much 
countenance to women guilty of that crime. In consequence of 
this, as it was never read in the churches, and is now not to 
be found in any of the Evangelistaria, and as it was probably 
marked in the MSS. as a portion not to be read there, this 
whole story, from ver. 1-11, inclusive, came, in length of 
time, to be left out in some MSS., though in the greater part 
it is still remaining." Thus far the judicious and learned 
bishop. How the passage stands in all the MSS. hitherto 
collated may be seen in Wetstein and Griesbach. After 
weighing what has been adduced in favour of its authenticity, 
and seriously considering its state in the MSS., as exhibited 
in the Var. Lect. of Griesbach, I must confess, the evidence 
in its favour does not appear to me to be striking. Yet I by 
no means would have it expunged from the text. Its absence 
from many MSS., and the confused manner in which it appears 
in others, may be readily accounted for on the principles 
laid down by Bishop Pearce above. It may however be necessary 
to observe, that a very perfect connection subsists between 
chap. vii. 52 and ver. 12-all the intermediate verses having 
been omitted by MSS. of the first antiquity and authority. In 
some MSS. it is found at the end of this Gospel; in others a 
vacant place is left in this chapter; and in others it is 
placed after the 21st chapter of Luke. See at the end of this 
chapter. 

Verse 12. Then spake Jesus again unto them] Allowing the 
story about the woman taken in adultery to be authentic, and 
to stand here in its proper place, we may consider that our 
Lord, having begun to teach the people in the temple, was 
interrupted by the introduction of this woman by the scribes 
and Pharisees; and now, having dismissed them and the woman 
also, he resumes his discourse.

I am the light of the world] The fountain whence an 
intellectual light and spiritual understanding proceed: 
without me all is darkness, misery, and death. The Divine 
Being was, by the rabbins denominated, The light of the 
world. So in Bamidbar Rabba: "The Israelites said to God, O 
Lord of the universe, thou commandest us to light lamps to 
thee, yet thou art THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD: and with thee the 
light dwelleth." Our Lord, therefore, assumes here a well 
known character of the Supreme Being; and with this we find 
the Jews were greatly offended.

Shall not walk in darkness] He shall be saved from ignorance, 
infidelity, and sin. If he follow me, become my disciple, and 
believe on my name, he shall have my Spirit to bear witness 
with his, that he is a child of God. He shall have the light 
of life-such a light as brings and supports life. The sun, 
the fountain of light, is also the fountain of life: by his 
vivifying influences, all things live-neither animal nor 
vegetative life could exist, were it not for his influence. 
Jesus, the Sun of righteousness, Mal. iv. 2, is the fountain 
of all spiritual and eternal LIFE. His light brings life with 
it, and they who walk in his light live in his life. This 
sentiment is beautifully expressed and illustrated in the 
following inimitable verse (all monosyllables except one 
word) of that second Spenser, Phineas Fletcher. Speaking of 
the conversion of a soul to God, he says: - "New LIGHT new 
LOVE, new LOVE new LIFE hath bred; A LIFE that lives by LOVE, 
and loves by LIGHT: A LOVE to him, to whom all LOVES are wed; 
A LIGHT, to whom the sun is darkest night: Eye's LIGHT, 
heart's LOVE, soul's only LIFE he is: LIFE, soul, love, 
heart, LIGHT, eye, and all are his: He eye, LIGHT, heart, 
LOVE, soul; He all my joy and bliss." PURPLE ISLAND, Can. I. 
v. 7.

Some suppose our Lord alludes to the custom of lighting lamps 
or torches, on the first day of the feast of tabernacles. But 
as these words seem to have been spoken the day after that 
last and great day of the feast, mentioned chap. vii. 37, 
they may rather be considered as referring to the following 
custom: It has already been observed, that the Jews added a 
ninth day to this feast, which day they termed, The feast of 
joy for the law; and on that day they were accustomed to take 
all the sacred books out of the chest where they had been 
deposited, and put a lighted candle in their place, in 
allusion to Prov. vi. 23: For the commandment is a LAMP (or 
CANDLE) and the law is life: or to Psa. cxix. c5: Thy word is 
a LAMP unto my feet, and a LIGHT unto my path. If this custom 
existed in the time of our Lord, it is most likely that it is 
to it he here alludes; as it must have happened about the 
same time in which these words were spoken. See Buxtorf. 
Synagog. Jud. c. xxi.

As the Messiah was frequently spoken of by the prophets under 
the emblem of light, see Isa. lx. 1; xlix. 6; ix. 2, the 
Pharisees must at once perceive that he intended to recommend 
himself to the people as the Messiah, when he said, I am the 
light of the world.

The rabbins think that the Messiah is intended in Gen. i. 8, 
And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. "From 
this we may learn that the holy and blessed God saw the light 
of the Messiah and his works before the world was created; 
and reserved it for the Messiah, and his generation, under 
the throne of his glory. Satan said to the holy and blessed 
God, For whom dost thou reserve that light which is under the 
throne of thy glory? God answered: For him who shall subdue 
thee, and overwhelm thee with confusion. Satan rejoined, Lord 
of the universe, show that person to me! God said, Come and 
see him. When he saw him, he was greatly agitated, and fell 
upon his face, saying, Truly this is the Messiah, who shall 
cast me and idolaters into hell." Yalcut Rubeni, fol. 6. This 
is a very remarkable saying; and, as it might have existed in 
the time of our Lord, to it he might have alluded in the 
verse before us. The thing itself is true: the Messiah is the 
light of the world, and by him Satan's empire of idolatry is 
destroyed in the world, and the kingdom of light and life 
established. See several similar testimonies in Schoettgen.

Verse 13. Thou bearest record] As if they had said, Dost thou 
imagine that we shall believe thee, in a matter so important, 
on thy bare assertion? Had these people attended to the 
teaching and miracles of Christ, they would have seen that 
his pretensions to the Messiahship were supported by the most 
irrefragable testimony.

Verse 14. I know whence I came] I came from God, and am going 
to God, and can neither do nor say any thing but what leads 
to and glorifies him.

Verse 15. Ye judge after the flesh] Because I appear in the 
form of man, judging from this appearance, ye think I am but 
a mere man-pay attention to my teaching and miracles, and ye 
shall then see that nothing less than infinite wisdom and 
unlimited power could teach and do what I have taught and 
performed. Our Lord speaks here exactly in the character of 
an ambassador. Such a person does not bring a second with him 
to vouch his truth; his credentials from his king ascertain 
his character: he represents the king's person. So our Lord 
represents the Father as bearing witness with him. The 
miracles which he wrought were the proof from heaven that he 
was the promised Messiah: these were the great seal of all 
his pretensions.

Verse 19. Ye neither know me, &c.] Ye know neither the 
Messiah, nor the God that sent him.

If ye had known me] If ye had received my teaching, ye would 
have got such an acquaintance with the nature and attributes 
of God as ye never could have had, and never can have any 
other way. That is a true saying, No man hath seen God at any 
time: the only begotten Son, who lay an the bosom of the 
Father. he hath DECLARED him. The nature and perfections of 
God never can be properly known, but in the light of the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is worthy of remark that, in all 
this discourse, our blessed Lord ever speaks of the Father 
and himself as two distinct persons.

Therefore, the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father, 
as some persons vainly imagine; though it is plain enough 
that the completest unity and equality subsists between them.

Verse 20. The treasury] Lightfoot observes, from the rabbins, 
that the treasury was in what was called the court of the 
women-that there were thirteen chests in it; in the 
thirteenth only the women were permitted to put their 
offerings. Probably the other twelve were placed there in 
reference to the twelve tribes; each perhaps inscribed with 
the name of one of Jacob's twelve sons.

It seems that our Lord sometimes sat in this court to teach 
the people. See Mark xii. 41, &c.

His hour was not yet come.] The time was not arrived, in 
which he had determined to give himself up into the hands of 
his crucifiers.

Verse 21. Then said Jesus again unto them] He had said the 
same things to them the day before. See chap. vii. 34.

Ye shall seek me] When your calamities come upon you, ye 
shall in vain seek for the help of the Messiah, whom ye now 
reject, and whom ye shall shortly crucify.

Verse 22. Will he kill himself?] They now understood that he 
spoke concerning his death; but before, chap. vii. 35, they 
thought he spoke of going to some of the Grecian provinces, 
to preach to the dispersed Jews.

Verse 23. Ye are from beneath] Ye are capable of murder, and 
of self-murder too, because ye have nothing of God in you. Ye 
are altogether earthly, sensual, and devilish. They verified 
this character in murdering the Lord Jesus; and many of them 
afterwards, to escape famine, &c., put an end to their own 
lives.

Verse 25. Who art thou?] This marks the indignation of the 
Pharisees-as if they had said: Who art thou that takest upon 
thee to deal out threatenings in this manner against us? 
Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you 
from the beginning.] Rather, Just what I have already told 
you, i.e. that I am the light of the world-the Christ-the 
saviour of mankind. There are a variety of renderings for 
this verse among the critics. Some consider thn archn (which 
makes the principal difficulty in the text) as the answer of 
our Lord. Who art thou? I am thn archn, the chief, the 
supreme; and have therefore a right to judge, and to execute 
judgment. But if our Lord had intended to convey this 
meaning, he would doubtless have said h arch, or o arcwn, and 
not thn archn, in the accusative case. This mode of reading 
appears to have been followed by the Vulgate, some copies of 
the Itala, and some of the fathers; but this construction can 
never be reconciled to the Greek text. Others take thn archn 
as an adverb, in which sense it is repeatedly used by the 
best Greek writers; and, connecting the 25th with the 26th 
verse, they translate thus: I have indeed, as I ASSURE ye, 
many things to say of you, and to condemn in you. See 
Wakefield. Raphelius takes up the words nearly in the same 
way, and defends his mode of exposition with much critical 
learning; and to him I refer the reader. I have given it that 
meaning which I thought the most simple and plain, should any 
departure from our own version be thought necessary: both 
convey a good and consistent sense.

Verse 26. I have many things to say and to judge of you] Or, 
to speak and to condemn, &c. I could speedily expose all your 
iniquities-your pride and ambition, your hypocrisy and 
irreligion, your hatred to the light, and your malice against 
the truth, together with the present obstinate unbelief of 
your hearts, and show that these are the reasons why I say 
you will die in your sins; but these will appear in their 
true light: when, after you have crucified me, the judgments 
of God shall descend upon and consume you.

He that sent me is true] Whatever he hath spoken of you by 
the prophets shall surely come to pass; his word cannot fail.

Verse 28. When ye have lifted up] When ye have crucified me, 
and thus filled up the measure of your iniquities, ye shall 
know that I am the Christ, by the signs that shall follow; 
and ye shall know that what I spoke is true, by the judgments 
that shall follow. To be lifted up, is a common mode of 
expression, among the Jewish writers, for to die, or to be 
killed.

Verse 29. The Father hath not left me alone] Though ye shalt 
have power to put me to death, yet this shall not be because 
he hath abandoned me. No-he is ever with me, because I do 
that which pleaseth him; and it is his pleasure that I should 
lay down my life for the salvation of the world.

Does not our Lord allude to the following scriptures?-
Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; my ears hast 
thou opened: (or, a body hast thou prepared me: Heb. x. v. ) 
then said I, Lo, I come: this is written in the volume of the 
book concerning me. I delight to do thy will, O my God! Thy 
law is in my heart. Psalm xl. 6-8.

Verse 30. As he spake these words, many believed on him.] The 
same sun that hardens the clay softens the wax. This 
discourse, which proved the savour of death unto death to the 
obstinate Pharisees, became the savour of life unto life to 
many of the simple-hearted people.

Verse 31. If ye continue in my word] Or, in this doctrine of 
mine. It is not enough to receive God's truth-we must retain 
and walk in it. And it is only when we receive the truth, 
love it, keep it, and walk in it, that we are the genuine 
disciples of Christ.

Verse 32. Ye shall know the truth] Shall have a constant 
experimental knowledge of its power and efficacy.

And the truth shall make you free.] It was a maxim of the 
Jews, "That no man was free, but he who exercised himself in 
the meditation of the law." No man is truly free, but he in 
whose heart the power of sin is destroyed, and who has 
received the Spirit of adoption, through which he cries, 
Abba! Father! See Romans viii. 15. The bondage of sin is the 
most grievous bondage; and freedom from its guilt and 
influence is the greatest liberty.

Verse 33. They answered] That is, the other Jews who had not 
believed-the carping, cavilling Pharisees already mentioned; 
for the words cannot be spoken of the simple people who had 
already believed. See ver. 30.

Were never in bondage to any man] This assertion was not only 
false, but it was ridiculous in the extreme; seeing their 
whole history, sacred and profane, is full of recitals of 
their servitude in Egypt, in Chaldea, under the Persians, 
under the Macedonians, and under the Romans. But those who 
are not under the influence of the truth of God will speak 
and act according to the influence of the spirit of falsehood 
and error. If the words are to be restrained to themselves 
alone, they may be understood thus: We are Abraham's seed: 
and we were never in bondage. Both these propositions had a 
faint shadow of truth.

Verse 34. Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.] 
Or, doulov esti, &c., is the slave of sin. This was the 
slavery of which Christ spoke; and deliverance from it, was 
the liberty which he promised.

Verse 35. And the servant abideth not in the house] Or, 
rather, Now the slave abided not in the family. As if Jesus 
had said: And now that I am speaking of a slave, I will add 
one thing more, viz. a slave has no right to any part of the 
inheritance in the family to which he belongs; but the son, 
the legitimate son, has a right. He can make any servant of 
the family free, though no slave can. He can divide or bestow 
the inheritance as he pleases.

Our Lord seems here to refer to the sending away of Ishmael, 
mentioned, Gen. xxi. 10-14. Only those who are genuine 
children can inherit the estate. If sons, then heirs: heirs 
of God, and joint heirs with Christ: Gal. iv. 21-31; Rom. 
viii. 17; and see Bishop Pearce's Paraphrase.

Verse 37. My word hath no place in you.] Or, this doctrine of 
mine hath no place to you. Ye hear the truths of God, but ye 
do not heed them: the word of life has no influence over you; 
and how can it, when you seek to kill me because I proclaim 
this truth to you? It is a dismal omen when a person is 
regardless of the truth of God: it is more so to be provoked 
against it: but to persecute and endeavour to destroy those 
who preach it is the last degree of perverseness and 
obduracy. The word of God requires a heart which is empty. A 
heart filled with earthly projects, carnal interests 
ambition, thoughts of raising a fortune, and with the love of 
the superfluities and pleasures of life, is not fit to 
receive the seed of the kingdom. When a man shuts his heart 
against it by his passions, he at the same time opens it to 
all sorts of crimes. QUESNEL.

From what is here said, it is manifest, says Dr. Lightfoot, 
that the whole tendency of our saviour's discourse is to show 
the Jews, that they are the seed of that serpent which was to 
bruise the heel of the Messiah: else what could that mean, 
ver. xli5: Ye are of your father the devil, i.e. ye are the 
seed of the serpent.

Verse 38. I speak that which I have seen] I speak nothing but 
that unchangeable, eternal truth which I have received from 
the bosom of God.

Ye do that which ye have seen] Instead of ewrakate, ye have 
seen, I think we should read hkousate, ye have heard, on the 
authority of BCKL, fifteen others; Coptic, AEthiopic, 
Armenian, later Syriac in the margin, Gothic, one copy of the 
Itala; Origen, Cyril, and Chrysostom. This reading, says 
Bishop Pearce, (who has adopted it,) seems preferable to the 
other, because it could not be said, with the same propriety, 
that the Jews had seen any thing with their father the devil, 
as it could that Jesus had seen with his.

Jesus saw the Father, for he was the WORD that was with God 
from eternity. The Jews did not see, they only felt and 
heard, their father the devil. It is the interest of Satan to 
keep himself out of sight, and to work in the dark.

Verse 39. If ye were Abraham's children] Griesbach reads 
este, ye are, instead of hte, ye were, on the authority of 
BDL, Vulgate, four copies of the Itala; Origen and Augustin.

Ye would do the works of Abraham.] As the son has the nature 
of his father in him, and naturally imitates him, so, if ye 
were the children of Abraham, ye would imitate him in his 
faith, obedience, and uprightness; but this ye do not, for ye 
seek to kill me-ye are watching for an opportunity to destroy 
me, merely because I tell you the truth: Abraham never did 
any thing like this; therefore, you have no spiritual 
relationship to him.

Verse 41. Ye do the deeds of your father.] You have certainly 
another father than Abraham-one who has instilled his own 
malignant nature into you; and, as ye seek to murder me for 
telling you the truth, ye must be the offspring of him who 
was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the 
truth, chap. viii. 44.

We be not born of fornication] We are not a mixed, spurious 
breed-our tribes and families have been kept distinct-we are 
descended from Abraham by his legal wife Sarah; and we are no 
idolaters.

We have one Father, even God.] In the spiritual sense of 
father and son, we are not a spurious, that is, an idolatrous 
race; because we acknowledge none as our spiritual father, 
and worship none as such, but the true God. See Bishop 
Pearce.

Verse 42. If God were your Father, ye would love me] I came 
from God, and it would be absurd to suppose that you would 
persecute me if you were under the influence of God. The 
children of the same father should not murder each other.

Verse 43. Why do ye not understand my speech?] thn lalian thn 
emhn, This my mode of speaking-when illustrating spiritual by 
natural things: lalia refers to the manner of speaking; 
logov, to the matter or subject on which he spoke. For 
lalian, the Codex Bezae had originally alhqeian: why do ye 
not acknowledge this TRUTH of mine? A few other MSS. agree in 
this reading.

Because ye cannot hear my word.] That is, ye cannot bear my 
doctrine: it comes too close to you; it searches your hearts, 
detects your hypocrisy, and exposes your iniquitous 
intentions and designs; and as ye are determined not to leave 
your sins, so ye are purposed not to hear my doctrine.

Verse 44. Ye are of your father the devil] Ye are the seed of 
the old serpent. See on ver. 37.

The lusts of your father] Like father like son. What Satan 
desires, ye desire; because ye are filled with his nature. 
Awful state of unregenerate men! They have the nearest 
alliance to Satan; they partake of his nature and have in 
them the same principles and propensities which characterize 
the very nature and essence of the devil! Reader, canst thou 
rest in this state? Apply to God, through Christ, that thou 
mayest be born again.

He was a murderer from the beginning] It was through him that 
Adam transgressed; in consequence of which death entered into 
the world, and slew him and all his posterity. This was the 
sentiment of the Jews themselves. In Sohar Kadash, the wicked 
are called, "The children of the old serpent, who slew Adam 
and all his descendants." See Schoettgen.

Abode not in the truth] He stood not in the truth-was once in 
a state of glorious felicity, but fell from it; and, being 
deprived of all good himself, he could not endure that others 
should enjoy any; therefore by his lies he deceived Eve, and 
brought her, her husband, and, through them, their posterity, 
into his own condemnation.

He speaketh of his own] ek twn idiwn lalei, He speaketh of 
his own offspring, or, from his own disposition, for he is 
the father and fountain of all error and falsity; and all who 
are deceived by him, and partake of his disposition, falsity 
and cruelty, are his offspring, for he is a liar, and the 
father of it-kai o pathr autou-literally, his father also. 
There is considerable difficulty in this verse. The Cainites, 
and the Archontites, mentioned by Epiphanius, read it thus: 
"Ye are the children of your father the devil, because he is 
a liar, and his father was a liar. He was a man-slayer, and 
he did not remain in the truth. When he speaketh, he speaketh 
a lie of his own, (progenitors understood,) because his 
father also was a liar." The consequences which the above 
heretics drew from this verse were the following. They said 
that the father of the Jews was a demon; that he also had a 
demon for his father; and that he had a demon for his father, 
&c. The Archontites maintained that Cain had a demon for his 
father, the spirit which our Lord speaks of here; and that 
the Jews proceeded from the race of Cain.

Grotius, supposing that the devil who tempted Eve was not the 
prince of devils, but rather a subordinate one, seems to 
think he may be understood here, he is a liar, and his father 
also, which is the literal translation of the latter clause 
of the text, wv kai o pathr autou, as it has been read by 
many of the primitive fathers.

Mr. Wakefield, by changing to, before yeudov, into tiv, gives 
the text the following translation:-"The devil is your 
father, and ye willingly perform the lusts of your father. He 
was a man-slayer from the first, and continued not in the 
truth, because there is no truth in him. When ANY ONE 
speaketh a lie, he speaketh according to his own kindred: for 
his father also is a liar." Our own translation, that refers 
pathr autou to yeudov, a lie, and not to yeusthv, a liar, is 
probably the most correct.

Verse 46. Which of you convinceth me of sin?] Do you pretend 
to reject the truths which I announce, because my life does 
not correspond to the doctrines I have taught? But can any of 
you prove me guilty of any fault? You have maliciously 
watched all my steps; have you seen the smallest matter to 
reprove, in any part of my conduct? But it is probable that 
amartia, sin, is put here in opposition to alhqeia, truth, in 
the same verse, and then it should be rendered falsehood. The 
very best Greek writers use the word in the same sense: this, 
KYPKE proves by quotations from Polybius, Lucian, Dionysius 
Halicarnassensis, Plutarch, Thucydides, and Hippocrates. 
RAPHELIUS adds a pertinent quotation from Herodotus, and 
shows that the purest Latin writers have used the word 
peccatum, sin, in the sense of error or falsehood. See the 
note on Gen. xiii. 13.

Verse 47. He that is of God] Meaning probably himself: he who 
came from God, or was born of God-heareth the words of God-
has the constant inspiration of his Spirit, speaks nothing 
but truth, and cannot possibly err.

Verse 48. Thou art a Samaritan] This was the same, among 
them, as heretic, or schismatic, among us. This is the only 
time in which the Jews gave our Lord this title of reproach; 
and they probably grounded it on his having preached among 
them, and lodged in their villages. See the account in chap. 
iv. 39, 40; but Samaritan, among them, meant a person 
unworthy of any credit.

Hast a devil?] Art possessed by an evil spirit; and art, in 
consequence, deranged.

Verse 49. I have not a devil] The first part of the charge 
was too futile: if taken literally, it was both absurd and 
impossible; they did not believe it themselves, and therefore 
our Lord does not stop a moment to refute it; but he answers 
to the second with the utmost meekness and conclusiveness: I 
honour God. This is what no demon can do, nor any man who is 
under such influence.

Verse 50. I seek not mine own glory] Another proof that I am 
not influenced by any spirit but that which proceeds from 
God. But there is one that seeketh-i.e. my glory-and judgeth-
will punish you for your determined obstinacy and iniquity.

Verse 51. Shall never see death.] As Moses promised a long 
life, with abundance of temporal blessings, to those who 
should keep his statutes and ordinances, so he who keeps my 
doctrine shall not only have a long life, but shall never see 
death-he shall never come under the power of the death of the 
soul, but shall live eternally with me in glory.

Verse 54. Your God] Many MSS. and most of the versions read 
hmwn, our, instead of umwn. The variation is of very little 
consequence. They called God their God, while enemies to him 
both in their spirit and conduct.

Verse 56. Abraham rejoiced to see my day] Or, he earnestly 
desired to see my day; hgalliasato, from agan, very much, and 
allomai, I leap-his soul leaped forward in earnest hope and 
strong expectation that he might see the incarnation of Jesus 
Christ. The metaphor appears to be taken from a person who, 
desiring to see a long-expected friend who is coming, runs 
forward, now and then jumping up to see if he can discover 
him. There is a saying very like this in Sohar Numer fol. 
l11: "Abraham rejoiced because he could know, and perceive, 
and cleave to the Divine NAME." The Divine name is hwhy 
Yehovah; and by this they simply mean God himself.

And he saw it] Not only in the first promise, Gen. iii. 15, 
for the other patriarchs saw this as well as he; and not only 
in that promise which was made particularly to himself, Gen. 
xii. 7; xxii. 18, (compared with Gal. iii. 16,) that the 
Messiah should spring from his family; but he saw this day 
especially when Jehovah appeared to him in a human form, Gen. 
xviii. 2, 17, which many suppose to have been a manifestation 
of the Lord Jesus.

Verse 57. Thou art not yet fifty years old] Some MSS. read 
forty. The age of our blessed Lord has never been properly 
determined. Some of the primitive fathers believed that he 
was fifty years old when he was crucified; but their 
foundation, which is no other than these words of the Jews, 
is but a very uncertain one. Calmet thinks that our Lord was 
at this time about thirty-four years and ten months old, and 
that he was crucified about the middle of his thirty-sixth 
year; and asserts that the vulgar era is three years too 
late. On the other hand, some allow him to have been but 
thirty-one years old, and that his ministry had lasted but 
one year. Many opinions on this subject, which are scarcely 
worthy of being copied, may be found in Calmet.

Verse 58. Before Abraham was, I am.] The following is a 
literal translation of Calmet's note on this passage:-"I am 
from all eternity. I have existed before all ages. You 
consider in me only the person who speaks to you, and who has 
appeared to you within a particular time. But besides this 
human nature, which ye think ye know, there is in me a Divine 
and eternal nature. Both, united, subsist together in my 
person. Abraham knew how to distinguish them. He adored me as 
his God; and desired me as his saviour. He has seen me in my 
eternity, and he predicted my coming into the world." On the 
same verse Bishop Pearce speaks as follows:-"What Jesus here 
says relates (I think) to his existence antecedent to 
Abraham's days, and not to his having been the Christ 
appointed and foretold before that time; for, if Jesus had 
meant this, the answer I apprehend would not have been a 
pertinent one. He might have been appointed and foretold for 
the Christ; but if he had not had an existence before 
Abraham's days, neither could he have seen Abraham, (as, 
according to our English translation, the Jews suppose him to 
have said,) nor could Abraham have seen him, as I suppose the 
Jews understood him to have said in the preceding verse, to 
which words of the Jews the words of Jesus here are intended 
as an answer."

Verse 59. Then took they up stones, &c.] It appears that the 
Jews understood him as asserting his Godhead; and, supposing 
him to be a blasphemer, they proceeded to stone him, 
according to the law. Leviticus xxiv. 16.

But Jesus hid himself] In all probability he rendered himself 
invisible-though some will have it that he conveyed himself 
away from those Jews who were his enemies, by mixing himself 
with the many who believed on him, (ver. 30, 31,) and who, we 
may suppose, favoured his escape. Pearce.

But where did they find the stones, Christ and they being in 
the temple? It is answered: 1st. It is probable, as the 
buildings of the temple had not been yet completed, there 
might have been many stones near the place; or, 2dly.

They might have gone out so the outer courts for them; and, 
before their return, our Lord had escaped. See Lightfoot and 
Calmet.

Going through the midst of them, and so passed by.] These 
words are wanting in the Codex Bezae, and in several editions 
and versions. Erasmus, Grotius, Beza, Pearce, and Griesbach, 
think them not genuine. The latter has left them out of the 
test. But, notwithstanding what these critics have said, the 
words seem necessary to explain the manner of our Lord's 
escape. 1st. He hid himself, by becoming invisible; and then, 
2dly. He passed through the midst of them, and thus got clear 
away from the place. See a similar escape mentioned, Luke iv. 
30, and the note there.

THE subjects of this chapter are both uncommon and of vast 
importance.

1. The case of the woman taken in adultery, when properly and 
candidly considered, is both intelligible and edifying. It is 
likely that the accusation was well founded; and that the 
scribes and Pharisees endeavoured maliciously to serve 
themselves of the fact, to embroil our Lord with the civil 
power, or ruin his moral reputation. Our Lord was no 
magistrate, and therefore could not, with any propriety, give 
judgment in the case; had he done it, it must have been 
considered an invasion of the rights and office of the civil 
magistrate, and would have afforded them ground for a process 
against him. On the other hand, had he acquitted the woman, 
he might have been considered, not only as setting aside the 
law of Moses, but as being indulgent to a crime of great 
moral turpitude, and the report of this must have ruined his 
moral character. He disappointed this malice by refusing to 
enter into the case; and overwhelmed his adversaries with 
confusion, by unmasking their hearts, and pointing out their 
private abominations. It is generally supposed that our Lord 
acquitted the woman: this is incorrect; he neither acquitted 
nor condemned her: he did not enter at all juridically into 
the business. His saying, Neither do I condemn thee, was no 
more than a simple declaration that he would not concern 
himself with the matter-that being the office of the chief 
magistrate; but, as a preacher of righteousness, he exhorted 
her to abandon her evil practices, lest the punishment, which 
she was now likely to escape, should be inflicted on her for 
a repetition of her transgression.

2. In several places in this chapter, our Lord shows his 
intimate union with the Father, both in will, doctrine, and 
deed; and though he never speaks so as to confound the 
persons, yet he evidently shows that such was the indivisible 
unity, subsisting between the Father and the Son, that what 
the one witnessed, the other witnessed; what the one did, the 
other did; and that he who saw the one necessarily saw the 
other.

3. The original state of Satan is here pointed out-he abode 
not in the truth, ver. 44. Therefore he was once in the 
truth, in righteousness and true holiness-and he fell from 
that truth into sin and falsehood, so that he became the 
father of lies and the first murderer. Our Lord confirms here 
the Mosaic account of the fall of man, and shows that this 
fall was brought about by his lies, and that these lies 
issued in the murder or destruction both of the body and soul 
of man.

4. The patience and meekness exercised by our Lord, towards 
his most fell and unrelenting enemies, are worthy the 
especial regard of all those who are persecuted for 
righteousness.-When he was reviled, he reviled not again. As 
the searcher of hearts, he simply declared their state, ver. 
44, in order to their conviction and conversion: not to have 
done so, would have been to betray their souls. In this part 
of his conduct we find two grand virtues united, which are 
rarely associated in man, MEEKNESS and FIDELITY-patience to 
bear all insults and personal injuries; and boldness, is the 
face of persecution and death, to declare the truth. The meek 
man generally leaves the sinner unreproved: the bold and 
zealous man often betrays a want of due self-management, and 
reproves sin in a spirit which prevents the reproof from 
reaching the heart. In this respect also, our blessed Lord 
has left us an example, that we should follow his steps. Let 
him that readeth understand.

CHAPTER ix.

Account of the man who was born blind, 1-5. Christ heals him, 
6, 7. The man is questioned by his neighbours, 8-12. He is 
brought to the Pharisees, who question him, 13-17, and then 
his parents, 18-23. They again interrogate the man, who, 
vindicating the conduct of Christ, is excommunicated by them, 
24-34. Jesus, hearing of the conduct of the Pharisees, 
afterwards finds the man, and reveals himself to him, 35-38. 
He passes sentence on the obduracy and blindness of the 
Pharisees, 39-41.

NOTES ON CHAP. ix.

Verse 1. And as Jesus passed by] This chapter is a 
continuation of the preceding, and therefore the word Jesus 
is not in the Greek text: it begins simply thus-And passing 
along, kai paragwn, &c. Having left the temple, where the 
Jews were going to stone him, (chap. viii. 59,) it is 
probable our Lord went, according to his custom, to the mount 
of Olives. The next day, which was the Sabbath, ver. 14, he 
met a man who had been born blind, sitting in some public 
place, and asking alms from those who passed by, chap. ix. 8.

Verse 2. Who did sin, this man, or his parents] The doctrine 
of the transmigration of souls appears to have been an 
article in the creed of the Pharisees, and it was pretty 
general both among the Greeks and the Asiatics. The 
Pythagoreans believed the souls of men were sent into other 
bodies for the punishment of some sin which they had 
committed in a pre-existent state. This seems to have been 
the foundation of the disciples question to our Lord. Did 
this man sin in a pre-existent state, that he is punished in 
this body with blindness? Or, did his parents commit some 
sin, for which they are thus plagued in their offspring? Most 
of the Asiatic nations have believed in the doctrine of 
transmigration.

The Hindoos still hold it; and profess to tell precisely the 
sin which the person committed in another body, by the 
afflictions which he endures in this: they profess also to 
tell the cures for these. For instance, they say the headache 
is a punishment for having, in a former state, spoken 
irrevently to father or mother. Madness is a punishment for 
having been disobedient to father or mother, or to one's 
spiritual guide. The epilepsy is a punishment for having, in 
a former state, administered poison to any one at the command 
of his master. Pain in the eyes is a punishment for having, 
in another body, coveted another man's wife. Blindness is a 
punishment for having killed his mother: but this person they 
say, before his new birth, will suffer many years' torment in 
hell. See many curious particulars relative to this in the 
AYEEN AKBERY, vol. iii. p. 168-175; and in the Institutes of 
Menu, chap. xi. Inst. 48-53.

The Jewish rabbins have had the same belief from the very 
remotest antiquity. Origen cites an apocryphal book of the 
Hebrews, in which the patriarch Jacob is made to speak thus: 
I am an angel of God; one of the first order of spirits. Men 
call me Jacob, but my true name, which God has given me, is 
Israel: Orat. Joseph. apud ORIG. Many of the Jewish doctors 
have believed that the souls of Adam, Abraham, and Phineas, 
have successively animated the great men of their nation. 
Philo says that the air is full of spirits, and that some, 
through their natural propensity, join themselves to bodies; 
and that others have an aversion from such a union. See 
several other things relative to this point in his treatises, 
Deuteronomy Plant. Noe-De Gigantibus-De Confus. Ling.-De 
Somniis, &c.; and see Calmet, where he is pretty largely 
quoted.

The Hindoos believe that the most of their misfortunes arise 
out of the sins of a former birth; and, in moments of grief 
not unfrequently break out into exclamations like the 
following:-"Ah! in a former birth how many sins must I have 
committed, that I am thus afflicted!" "I am now suffering for 
the sins of a former birth; and the sins that I am now 
committing are to fill me with misery in a following birth. 
There is no end to my sufferings!" Josephus, Ant. b. xvii. c. 
1, s. 3, and War, b. ii. c. 8, s. 14, gives an account of the 
doctrine of the Pharisees on this subject. He intimates that 
the souls of those only who were pious were permitted to 
reanimate human bodies, and this was rather by way of reward 
than punishment; and that the souls of the vicious are put 
into eternal prisons, where they are continually tormented, 
and out of which they can never escape. But it is very likely 
that Josephus has not told the whole truth here; and that the 
doctrine of the Pharisees on this subject was nearly the same 
with that of the Papists on purgatory. Those who are very 
wicked go irrecoverably to hell; but those who are not so 
have the privilege of expiating their venial sins in 
purgatory. Thus, probably, is the Pharisean doctrine of the 
transmigration to be understood. Those who were comparatively 
pious went into other bodies, for the expiation of any 
remaining guilt which had not been removed previously to a 
sudden or premature death, after which they were fully 
prepared for paradise; but others who had been incorrigibly 
wicked were sent at once into hell, without ever being 
offered the privilege of amendment, or escape. For the 
reasons which may be collected above, much as I reverence 
Bishop Pearce, I cannot agree with his note on this passage, 
where he says that the words of the disciples should be thus 
understood:-Who did sin? This man, that he is blind? or his 
parents, that he was born so? He thinks it probable that the 
disciples did not know that the man was born blind: if he 
was, then it was for some sin of his parents-if he was not 
born so, then this blindness came unto him as a punishment 
for some crime of his own. It may be just necessary to say, 
that some of the rabbins believed that it was possible for an 
infant to sin in the womb, and to be punished with some 
bodily infirmity in consequence. See several examples in 
Lightfoot on this place.

Verse 3. Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents] That 
is, the blindness of this person is not occasioned by any sin 
of his own, nor of his parents, but has happened in the 
ordinary course of Divine providence, and shall now become 
the instrument of salvation to his soul, edification to 
others, and glory to GOD. Many of the Jews thought that marks 
on the body were proofs of sin in the soul. From a like 
persuasion, probably arose that proverb among our northern 
neighbours-Mark him whom God marks.

Verse 4. While it is day] Though I plainly perceive that the 
cure of this man will draw down upon me the malice of the 
Jewish rulers, yet I must accomplish the work for which I 
came into the world whole it is day-while the term of this 
life of mine shall last. It was about six months after this 
that our Lord was crucified. It is very likely that the day 
was now declining, and night coming on; and he took occasion 
from this circumstance to introduce the elegant metaphor 
immediately following. By this we are taught that no 
opportunity for doing good should be omitted-DAY representing 
the opportunity: NIGHT, the loss of that opportunity.

Verse 5. I am the light of the world.] Like the sun, it is my 
business to dispense light and heat every where; and to 
neglect no opportunity that may offer to enlighten and save 
the bodies and souls of men. See chap. viii. 12.

Verse 6. Anointed the eyes of the blind man] It would be 
difficult to find out the reason which induced our Lord to 
act thus. It is certain, this procedure can never be supposed 
to have been any likely medical means to restore sight to a 
man who was born blind; this action, therefore, had no 
tendency to assist the miracle. If his eye-lids had been only 
so gummed together that they needed nothing but to be suppled 
and well washed, it is not likely that this could possibly 
have been omitted from his birth until now. The Jews believed 
that there was some virtue in spittle to cure the diseases of 
the eye; but then they always accompanied this with some 
charm. Our Lord might make clay with the spittle to show that 
no charms or spells were used, and to draw their attention 
more particularly to the miracle which he was about to work. 
Perhaps the best lesson we can learn from this is: That God 
will do his own work in his own way; and, to hide pride from 
man, will often accomplish the most beneficial ends by means 
not only simple or despicable in themselves, but by such also 
as appear entirely contrary, in their nature and operation, 
to the end proposed to be effected by them.

Verse 7. Siloam] Called also Shiloah, Silos, or Siloa, was a 
fountain under the walls of Jerusalem, towards the east, 
between the city and the brook Kidron. Calmet thinks that 
this was the same with En-rogel, or the fuller's fountain, 
which is mentioned in Josh. xv. 7; xviii. 16; in 2 Sam. xvii. 
17; and in 1 Kings i. 9. Its waters were collected in a great 
reservoir for the use of the city; and a stream from it 
supplied the pool of Bethesda.

By interpretation, SENT.] From the Hebrew jl shalach, he 
sent: either because it was looked upon as a gift sent from 
God, for the use of the city; or because its waters were 
directed or sent by canals or pipes, into different quarters, 
for the same purpose. Some think there is an allusion here to 
Gen. xlix. 10; that this fountain was a type of Shiloh, the 
Christ, the SENT of God; and that it was to direct the man's 
mind to the accomplishment of the above prophecy that our 
Lord sent him to this fountain. This supposition does not 
appear very solid. The Turks have this fountain still in 
great veneration, and think the waters of it are good for 
diseases of the eyes. Lightfoot says that the spring of 
Siloam discharged itself by a double stream into a twofold 
pool-the upper was called jwly shiloach-the lower, jl 
shelach; the one signifying apestalmenov, sent, the latter, 
kwdiwn fleeces; and that our Lord marked this point so 
particularly, to inform the blind man that it was not to 
Shelach, but to Shiloach, that he must go to wash his eyes. 
These two pools seem to be referred to in Isaiah vii. 23; 
xxii. 9.

Verse 8. That he was blind] Æoti tuflov hn: but, instead of 
this, prosaithv, when he begged, or was a beggar, is the 
reading of ABC*DKL, seven others, both the Syriac, both the 
Arabic, later Persic, Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, Sahidic, 
Gothic, Slavonic, Vulgate, eight copies of the Itala, and 
some of the primitive fathers. This is in all probability the 
true reading, and is received by Griesbach into the text.

Beggars in all countries have a language peculiar to 
themselves. The language of the Jewish beggars was the 
following: yk ybz Deserve something by me-Give me something 
that God may reward you. ûm rg ykz yn ykr O ye tender-
hearted, do yourselves good by me. Another form, which seems 
to have been used by such as had formerly been in better 
circumstances, was this: aga hm yb lktoa agywh hm yk yko Look 
back and see what I have been; look upon me now, and see what 
I am. See Lightfoot.

Verse 9. Some said, This is he] This miracle was not wrought 
in private-nor before a few persons-nor was it lightly 
credited. Those who knew him before were divided in their 
opinion concerning him: not whether the man who sat there 
begging was blind before-for this was known to all; nor, 
whether the person now before them saw clearly-for this was 
now notorious; but whether this was the person who was born 
blind, and who used in a particular place to sit begging.

Others said, He is like him] This was very natural: for 
certainly the restoration of his sight must have given him a 
very different appearance to what he had before.

Verse 11. A man that is called Jesus] The whole of this 
relation is simple and artless in the highest degree. The 
blind man had never seen Jesus, but he had heard of his name-
he felt that he had put something on his eyes, which he 
afterwards found to be clay-but how this was made he could 
not tell, because he could not see Jesus when he did it; 
therefore he does not say, he made clay of spittle-but 
simply, he made clay, and spread it upon my eyes. Where a 
multitude of incidents must necessarily come into review, 
imposture and falsehood generally commit themselves, as it is 
termed; but, however numerous the circumstances may be in a 
relation of fact, simple truth is never embarrassed.

Verse 12. Where is he?] They had designed to seize and 
deliver him up to the Sanhedrin, as a violater of the law, 
because he had done this on the Sabbath day.

Verse 13. They brought to the Pharisees] These had the chief 
rule, and determined all controversies among the people; in 
every case of religion, their judgment was final: the people, 
now fully convinced that the man had been cured, brought him 
to the Pharisees, that they might determine how this was 
done, and whether it had been done legally.

Verse 14. It was the Sabbath] Some of the ancient rabbins 
taught, and they have been followed by some moderns, not much 
better skilled in physic than themselves, that the saliva is 
a cure for several disorders of the eyes; but the former held 
this to be contrary to the law, if applied on the Sabbath. 
See LIGHTFOOT'S Hor. Talm.

Verse 16. This man is not of God] He can neither be the 
Messiah, nor a prophet, for he has broken the Sabbath. The 
Jews always argued falsely on this principle. The law 
relative to the observation of the Sabbath never forbade any 
work but what was of the servile and unnecessary kind.

Works of necessity and mercy never could be forbidden on that 
day by him whose name is mercy, and whose nature is love; for 
the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; 
were it otherwise, the Sabbath would be rather a curse than a 
blessing.

How can a man that is a sinner, &c.] They knew very well that 
though magicians and impostors might do things apparently 
miraculous, yet nothing really good could be performed by 
them. We might have safely defied all the magicians in Egypt, 
who are said to have been so successful in imitating some of 
the miracles of Moses, to have opened the eyes of one blind 
man, or to have done any essential good either to the body or 
to the soul.

And there was a division among them.] scisma, a schism, a 
decided difference of opinion, which caused a separation of 
the assembly.

Verse 17. He is a prophet.] They had intended to lay snares 
for the poor man, that, getting him to acknowledge Christ for 
the Messiah, they might put him out of the synagogue, ver. 
22, or put him to death, that such a witness to the Divine 
power of Christ might not appear against them. But, as the 
mercy of God had given him his sight, so the wisdom of God 
taught him how to escape the snares laid for his ruin. On all 
thy glory there shall be a defense, says the prophet, Isa. 
iv. 5. When God gives any particular mercy or grace, he sends 
power to preserve it, and wisdom to improve it.

The man said, He is a prophet. Now, according to a Jewish 
maxim, a prophet might dispense with the observation of the 
Sabbath. See Grotius.

If they allow that Jesus was a prophet, then, even in their 
sense, he might break the law of the Sabbath, and be 
guiltless: or, if they did not allow him to be a prophet, 
they must account for the miracle some other way than by the 
power of God; as from Satan or his agents no good can 
proceed-to do this it was impossible. So the wisdom of God 
taught the poor man to give them such an answer as put them 
into a complete dilemma, from which they could not possibly 
extricate themselves.

Verse 18. But the Jews did not believe] All the subterfuge 
they could use was simply to sin against their conscience, by 
asserting that the man had not been blind; but out of this 
subterfuge they were soon driven by the testimony of the 
parents, who, if tried farther on this subject, might have 
produced as witness, not only the whole neighbourhood, but 
nearly the whole city: for it appears the man got his bread 
by publicly begging, ver. 8.

That he had been blind, and received his sight] This clause 
is omitted in some MSS., probably because similar words occur 
immediately after.

There is, however, no evidence against it, sufficient to 
exclude it from the test.

Verse 21. He is of age] Æhlikian ecei, literally, he has 
stature, i.e. he is a full-grown man; and in this sense the 
phrase is used by the best Greek writers. See Kypke and 
Raphelius. Mature age was fixed among the Jews at thirty 
years.

Verse 22. Put out of the synagogue.] That is, excommunicated-
separated from all religious connection with those who 
worshipped God. This was the lesser kind of excommunication 
among the Jews and was termed nidui.

The cherem, or anathema, was not used against the followers 
of Christ till after the resurrection.

Verse 24. Give God the praise] Having called the man a second 
time, they proceeded to deal with him in the most solemn 
manner; and therefore they put him to his oath; for the words 
above were the form of an oath, proposed by the chief 
magistrate to those who were to give evidence to any 
particular fact, or to attest any thing, as produced by or 
belonging to the Lord. See Josh. vii. 19; 1 Sam. vi. 5, and 
Luke xvii. 18. But, while they solemnly put him to his oath, 
they endeavoured to put their own words in his mouth, viz. he 
is a sinner-a pretender to the prophetic character, and a 
transgressor of the law of God:-assert this, or you will not 
please us.

Verse 25. Whereas I was blind, now I see.] He pays no 
attention to their cavils, nor to their perversion of 
justice; but, in the simplicity of his heart, speaks to the 
fact, of the reality of which he was ready to give them the 
most substantial evidence.

Verse 27. I have told you already] So he did, ver. 15. And 
did ye not hear? Ye certainly did. Why then do you wish to 
hear it again? Is it because ye wish to become his disciples? 
The poor man continued steady in his testimony; and, by 
putting this question to them, he knew he should soon put an 
end to the debate.

Verse 28. Then they reviled him] eloidorhsan. Eustathius 
derives loidoria from logov, a word, and doru, a spear:-they 
spoke cutting, piercing words. Solomon talks of some who 
spoke like the piercings of a sword, Prov. xii. 18. And the 
psalmist speaks of words that are like drawn swords, Psa. lv. 
21, words which show that the person who speaks them has his 
heart full of murderous intentions; and that, if he had the 
same power with a sword as he has with his tongue, he would 
destroy him whom he thus reproaches.

We are Moses' disciples.] By this they meant that they were 
genuine Pharisees; for they did not allow the Sadducees to be 
disciples of Moses.

Verse 29. We know not from whence he is.] As if they had 
said: We have the fullest assurance that the commission of 
Moses was Divine; but we have no proof that this man has such 
a commission: and should we leave Moses, and attach ourselves 
to this stranger? No.

Verse 30. Why herein is a marvellous thing] As if he had 
said, This is wonderful indeed! Is it possible that such 
persons as you are, whose business it is to distinguish good 
from evil, and who pretend to know a true from a false 
prophet, cannot decide in a case so plain? Has not the man 
opened my eyes? Is not the miracle known to all the town; and 
could any one do it who was not endued with the power of God?

Verse 31. God heareth not sinners] I believe the word 
amartwlwn signifies heathens, or persons not proselyted to 
the Jewish religion; and therefore it is put in opposition to 
qeosebhv, a worshipper of the true God. See the note on Luke 
vii. 37. But in what sense may it be said, following our 
common version, that God heareth not sinners? When they 
regard iniquity in their heart-when they wish to be saved, 
and yet abide in their sins-when they will not separate 
themselves from the workers and works of iniquity. In all 
these cases, God heareth not sinners.

Verse 32. Since the world began] ek tou aiwnov, From the age-
probably meaning from the commencement of time. Neither Moses 
nor the prophets have ever opened the eyes of a man who was 
born blind: if this person then were not the best of beings, 
would God grant him a privilege which he has hitherto denied 
to his choicest favourites? Opened the eyes of one that was 
born blind.] It will readily appear that our Lord performed 
no surgical operation in this cure: the man was born blind, 
and he was restored to sight by the power of God; the simple 
means used could have had no effect in the cure; the miracle 
is therefore complete.

That there are cases, in which a person who was born blind 
may be restored to sight by surgical means, we know: but no 
such means were used by Christ: and it is worthy of remark 
that, from the foundation of the world, no person born blind 
has been restored to sight, even by surgical operation, till 
about the year of our Lord, 1728; when the celebrated Dr. 
Cheselden, by couching the eyes of a young man, 14 years of 
age, who had been born blind, restored him to perfect 
soundness. This was the effect of well directed surgery: that 
performed by Christ was a miracle.

Verse 33. If this man were not of God, &c.] A very just 
conclusion: God is the fountain of all good: all good must 
proceed from him, and no good can be done but through him; if 
this person were not commissioned by the good God, he could 
not perform such beneficent miracles as these.

Verse 34. Thou wast altogether born in sins] Thou hast not 
only been a vile wretch in some other pre-existent state, but 
thy parents also have been grossly iniquitous; therefore thou 
and they are punished by this blindness: Thou wast altogether 
born in sins-thou art no other than a sinful lump of 
deformity, and utterly unfit to have any connection with 
those who worship God.

And they cast him out.] They immediately excommunicated him, 
as the margin properly reads-drove him from their assembly 
with disdain, and forbade his farther appearing in the 
worship of God. Thus a simple man, guided by the Spirit of 
truth, and continuing steady in his testimony, utterly 
confounded the most eminent Jewish doctors. When they had no 
longer either reason or argument to oppose to him, as a proof 
of their discomfiture and a monument of their reproach and 
shame, they had recourse to the secular arm, and thus 
silenced by political power a person whom they had neither 
reason nor religion to withstand. They hare had since many 
followers in their crimes. A false religion, supported by the 
state, has, by fire and sword silenced those whose truth in 
the end annihilated the system of their opponents.

Verse 35. Dost thou believe on the Son of God?] This was the 
same with, Dost thou believe on the Messiah? for these two 
characters were inseparable; see chap. i. 34, 49; x. 36; 
Matthew xvi. 16; Mark i. 1.

Verse 36. Who is he, Lord?] it is very likely that the blind 
man did not know that it was Jesus the Christ who now spoke 
to him; for it is evident he had never seen him before this 
time; and he might now see him without knowing that he was 
the person by whom he was cured, till our Lord made that 
discovery of himself, mentioned in the following verse.

Verse 38. And he said, Lord, I believe.] That is, I believe 
thou art the Messiah; and, to give the fullest proof of the 
sincerity of his faith, he fell down before and adored him. 
Never having seen Jesus before, but simply knowing that a 
person of that name had opened his eyes, he had only 
considered him as a holy man and a prophet; but now that he 
sees and hears him he is convinced of his divinity, and 
glorifies him as his saviour.

We may hear much of Jesus, but can never know his glories and 
excellencies till he has discovered himself to our hearts by 
his own Spirit; then we believe on him, trust him with our 
souls, and trust in him for our salvation. The word kurie has 
two meanings: it signifies Lord, or Sovereign Ruler, and Sir, 
a title of civil respect. In the latter sense it seems 
evidently used in the 36th verse,  because the poor man did 
not then know that Jesus was the Messiah; in the former sense 
it is used in this verse-now the healed man knew the quality 
of his benefactor.

Verse 39. For judgment I am come] I am come to manifest and 
execute the just judgment of God: 1. By giving sight to the 
blind, and light to the Gentiles who sit in darkness. 2. By 
removing the true light from those who, pretending to make a 
proper use of it, only abuse the mercy of God.

In a word, salvation shall be taken away from the Jews, 
because they reject it; and the kingdom of God shall be given 
to the Gentiles.

Verse 40. Are we blind also?] These Pharisees understood 
Christ as speaking of blindness in a spiritual sense, and 
wished to know if he considered them in that state.

Verse 41. If ye were blind] If ye had not had sufficient 
opportunities to have acquainted yourselves with my Divine 
nature, by the unparalleled miracles which I have wrought 
before you? and the holy doctrine which I have preached, then 
your rejecting me could not be imputed to you as sin; but 
because ye say, we see-we are perfectly capable of judging 
between a true and false prophet, and can from the Scriptures 
point out the Messiah by his works-on this account you are 
guilty, and your sin is of no common nature, it remaineth, 
i.e. it shall not be expiated: as ye have rejected the Lord 
from being your deliverer, so the Lord has rejected you from 
being his people. When the Scripture speaks of sin remaining, 
it is always put in opposition to pardon; for pardon is 
termed the taking away of sin, chap. i. 29; Psalm xxxii. 5. 
And this is the proper import of the phrase, afesiv twn 
amartiwv, which occurs so frequently in the sacred writings.

1. THE history of the man who was born blind and cured by our 
Lord is, in every point of view, instructive. His simplicity, 
his courage, his constancy, and his gratitude are all so many 
subjects worthy of attention and emulation. He certainly 
confessed the truth at the most imminent risk of his life; 
and therefore, as Stephen was the first martyr for 
Christianity, this man was the first confessor. The power and 
influence of TRUTH, in supporting its friends and confounding 
its adversaries, are well exemplified in him; and not less 
so, that providence of God by which he was preserved from the 
malice of these bad men. The whole story is related with 
inimitable simplicity, and cannot be read by the most cold-
hearted without extorting the exclamation, How forcible are 
right words? 2. It has already been remarked that, since the 
world began, there is no evidence that any man born blind was 
ever restored to sight by surgical means, till the days of 
Mr. Cheselden, who was a celebrated surgeon at St. Thomas's 
Hospital, London. For though, even before the Christian aera, 
there is reason to believe that both the Greek and Roman 
physicians performed operations to remove blindness 
occasioned by the cataract, yet we know of none of these ever 
attempted on the eyes of those who had been born blind, much 
less of any such persons being restored to sight.

The cure before us must have been wholly miraculous-no 
appropriate means were used to effect it. What was done had 
rather a tendency to prevent and destroy sight than to help 
or restore it. The blindness in question was probably 
occasioned by a morbid structure of the organs of sight; and 
our Lord, by his sovereign power, instantaneously restored 
them to perfect soundness, without the intervention of any 
healing process. In this case there could be neither 
deception nor collusion.

CHAPTER x.

Christ speaks the parable of the sheepfold, 1-6. Proclaims 
himself the door of the sheepfold, 7-10, and the good 
shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, 11-18. The 
Jews are again divided, and some revile and some vindicate 
our Lord, 19-21. His discourse with the Jews at the temple, 
on the feast of dedication, 22-29. Having asserted that he 
was one with the Father, the Jews attempt to stone him, 30, 
31. He vindicates his conduct, and appeals to his works, 32-
38. They strive to apprehend him; he escapes, and retires 
beyond Jordan, 39, 40. Many resort to and believe on him 
there, 41, 42.

NOTES ON CHAP. x.

Verse 1. Verily, verily, &c.] From ver. 6, we learn that this 
is a parable, i.e. a representation of heavenly things 
through the medium of earthly things. Some think our Lord 
delivered this discourse immediately after that mentioned in 
the preceding chapter; others think it was spoken not less 
than three months after. The former, says Bishop Pearce, was 
spoken at the feast of tabernacles, see chap. 7, or about the 
end of September, and this at the feast of dedication, or in 
December. See ver. 22.

Christ, says Calmet, having declared himself to be the light 
of the world, which should blind some while it illuminated 
others, John ix. 41, continues his discourse, and, under the 
similitude of a shepherd and his flock, shows that he was 
about to form his Church of Jews and Gentiles, and that into 
it he would admit none but those who heard his voice. The 
unbelieving and presumptuous Jews, who despised his doctrine, 
are the sheep which hear not the voice of the shepherd: the 
proud and self-sufficient Pharisees are those who imagine 
they see clearly while they are blind. The blind who become 
illuminated are the Gentiles and Jews who turn from their 
sins and believe in Jesus.

The light of the world, the good shepherd, and the door which 
leads into the sheepfold, are all to be understood as meaning 
Jesus Christ; the hireling shepherds, the willfully blind; 
the murderers and robbers are the false Christs, false 
prophets, scribes, Pharisees, wicked hireling priests, and 
ungodly ministers of all sorts, whether among primitive Jews 
or modern Christians.

Our Lord introduces this discourse in a most solemn manner, 
Verily, verily!-Amen, amen!-it is true, it is true!-a 
Hebraism for, This is a most important and interesting truth; 
a truth of the utmost concern to mankind.

At all times our Lord speaks what is infallibly true; but 
when he delivers any truths with this particular 
asseveration, it is either, 1. Because they are of greater 
importance; or, 2. because the mind of man is more averse 
from them; or, 3. because the small number of those who will 
practice them may render them incredible. Quesnel.

He that entereth not by the door] Christ assures us, ver. 7, 
that he is the door; whoever, therefore, enters not by Jesus 
Christ into the pastoral office, is no other than a thief and 
a robber in the sheepfold. And he enters not by Jesus Christ 
who enters with a prospect of any other interest besides that 
of Christ and his people. Ambition, avarice, love of ease, a 
desire to enjoy the conveniences of life, to be distinguished 
from the crowd, to promote the interests of one's family, and 
even the sole design of providing against want-these are all 
ways by which thieves and robbers enter into the Church. And 
whoever enters by any of these ways, or by simony, craft, 
solicitation, &c. deserves no better name. Acting through 
motives of self-interest, and with the desire of providing 
for himself and his family, are innocent, yea, laudable, in a 
secular business; but to enter into the ministerial office 
through motives of this kind is highly criminal before God.

Verse 2. He that entereth in by the door] Observe here the 
marks, qualities, and duties of a good pastor; The first mark 
is, that he has a lawful entrance into the ministry by the 
internal call of Christ, namely, by an impulse proceeding 
from his Spirit, upon considerations which respect only his 
glory, and upon motives which aim at nothing but the good of 
his Church, the salvation of souls, the doing the will of 
God, and the sacrificing himself entirely to his service, and 
to that of the meanest of his flock.

Verse 3. To him the porter openeth] Sir Isaac Newton observes 
that our Lord being near the temple, where sheep were kept in 
folds to be sold for sacrifices, spoke many things 
parabolically of sheep, of their shepherds, and of the door 
to the sheepfold; and discovers that he alluded to the 
sheepfolds which were to be hired in the market place, by 
speaking of such folds as a thief could not enter by the 
door, nor the shepherd himself open, but a porter opened to 
the shepherd. In the porter opening the door to the true 
shepherd, we may discover the second mark of a true minister-
his labour is crowned with success. The Holy Spirit opens his 
way into the hearts of his hearers, and he becomes the 
instrument of their salvation. See Col. iv. 3; 2 Corinthians 
ii. 12; 1 Cor. xvi. 9; Rev. iii. 8.

The sheep hear his voice] A third mark of a good shepherd is 
that he speaks so as to instruct the people-the sheep hear 
HIS voice; he does not take the fat and the fleece, and leave 
another hireling on less pay to do the work of the pastoral 
office. No: himself preaches Christ Jesus the Lord, and in 
that simplicity too, that is best calculated to instruct the 
common people. A man who preaches in such a language as the 
people cannot comprehend may do for a stage-player or a 
mountebank, but not for a minister of Christ.

He calleth his own sheep by name] A fourth mark of a good 
pastor is that he is well acquainted with his flock; he knows 
them by name-he takes care to acquaint himself with the 
spiritual states of all those that are entrusted to him. He 
speaks to them concerning their souls, and thus getting a 
thorough knowledge of their state he is the better qualified 
to profit them by his public ministrations. He who has not a 
proper acquaintance with the Church of Christ, can never by 
his preaching build it up in its most holy faith.

And leadeth them out.] A fifth mark of a good shepherd is, he 
leads the flock, does not lord it over God's heritage; nor 
attempts by any rigorous discipline not founded on the Gospel 
of Christ, to drive men into the way of life; nor drive them 
out of it, which many do, by a severity which is a disgrace 
to the mild Gospel of the God of peace and love.

He leads them out of themselves to Christ, out of the 
follies, diversions, and amusements of the world, into the 
path of Christian holiness: in a word, he leads them, by 
those gentle yet powerful persuasions that flow from a heart 
full of the word and love of Christ, into the kingdom and 
glory of his God.

Verse 4. He goeth before them] A sixth mark of a true pastor 
is, he gives them a good example: he not only preaches, but 
he lives, the truth of the Gospel; he enters into the depths 
of the salvation of God; and, having thus explored the path, 
he knows how to lead those who are entrusted to his care into 
the fullness of the blessings of the Gospel of peace. He who 
does not endeavour to realize in his own soul the truths 
which he preaches to others will soon be as salt without its 
savour; his preaching cannot be accompanied with that unction 
which alone can make it acceptable and profitable to those 
whose hearts are right with God. The minister who is in this 
state of salvation the sheep, genuine Christians, will 
follow, for they know his voice. It was the custom in the 
eastern countries for the shepherd to go at the head of his 
sheep, and they followed him from pasture to pasture. I have 
seen many hundreds of sheep thus following their shepherd on 
the extensive downs in the western parts of England.

Verse 5. And a stranger will they not follow] That is, a man 
who, pretending to be a shepherd of the flock of God, is a 
stranger to that salvation which he professes to preach. His 
mode of preaching soon proves, to those whose hearts are 
acquainted with the truths of God, that he is a stranger to 
them; and therefore, knowing him to have got into the fold in 
an improper way, they consider him a thief, a robber, and a 
murderer; and who can blame them if they wholly desert his 
ministry? There are preachers of this kind among all classes.

Verse 7. I am the door of the sheep.] It is through me only 
that a man can have a lawful entrance into the ministry; and 
it is through me alone that mankind can be saved. Instead of, 
I am the door, the Sahidic version reads, I am the shepherd; 
but this reading is found in no other version, nor in any MS. 
It is evidently a mistake of the scribe.

Verse 8. All that ever came before me] Or, as some translate, 
all that came instead of me, pro emou, i.e. all that came as 
the Christ, or Messiah, such as Theudas, and Judas the 
Gaulonite, who are mentioned, Acts v. 36, 37; and who were 
indeed no other than thieves, plundering the country wherever 
they came; and murderers, not only slaying the simple people 
who resisted them, but leading the multitudes of their 
followers to the slaughter.

But our Lord probably refers to the scribes and Pharisees, 
who pretended to show the way of salvation to the people-who 
in fact stole into the fold, and clothed themselves with the 
fleece, and devoured the sheep.

The words, pro emou, before me, are wanting in EGMS, Mt. BKV, 
seventy others; Syriac, Persic, Syriac Hieros., Gothic, 
Saxon, Vulgate, eleven copies of the Itala; Basil, Cyril, 
Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius, Augustin, and some 
others. Griesbach has left them in the text with a note of 
doubtfulness. The reason thy these words are wanting in so 
many respectable MSS., versions, and fathers, is probably 
that given by Theophylact, who says that the Manicheans 
inferred from these words that all the Jewish prophets were 
impostors. But our Lord has borne sufficient testimony to 
their inspiration in a variety of places.

klepthv, and lhsthv, the thief and the robber, should be 
properly distinguished; one takes by cunning and stealth; the 
other openly and by violence. It would not be difficult to 
find bad ministers who answer to both these characters. 
Tithes have been often enforced and collected in a most 
exceptionable manner, and in a most disgraceful spirit.

The reflection of pious Quesnel on this verse is well worth 
attention. A pastor ought to remember that whoever boasts of 
being the way of salvation, and the gate of heaven, shows 
himself to be a thief and an impostor; and though few are 
arrived at this degree of folly, yet there are many who rely 
too much upon their own talents, eloquence, and labours, as 
if the salvation of the sheep depended necessarily thereon: 
in which respect they are always robbers, since they rob the 
grace of Christ of the glory of saving the sheep. God often 
puts such pastors to shame, by not opening the hearts of the 
people to receive their word: while he blesses those who are 
humble, in causing them to be heard with attention, and 
accompanying their preaching with an unction which converts 
and saves souls. Let every man know that in this respect his 
sufficiency and success are of the Lord.

Verse 9. I am the door: by me if any man enter, &c.] Those 
who come for salvation to God, through Christ, shall obtain 
it: he shall be saved-he shall have his sins blotted out, his 
soul purified, and himself preserved unto eternal life. This 
the scribes and Pharisees could neither promise nor impart.

Go in and out] This phrase, in the style of the Hebrews, 
points out all the actions of a man's life, and the liberty 
he has of acting, or not acting. A good shepherd conducts his 
flock to the fields where good pasturage is to be found; 
watches over them while there, and brings them back again and 
secures them in the fold. So he that is taught and called of 
God feeds the flock of Christ with those truths of his word 
of grace which nourish them unto eternal life; and God 
blesses together both the shepherd and the sheep, so that 
going out and coming in they find pasture: every occurrence 
is made useful to them; and all things work together for 
their good.

Verse 10. But for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy] 
Those who enter into the priesthood that they may enjoy the 
revenues of the Church, are the basest and vilest of thieves 
and murderers. Their ungodly conduct is a snare to the 
simple, and the occasion of much scandal to the cause of 
Christ. Their doctrine is deadly; they are not commissioned 
by Christ, and therefore they cannot profit the people. Their 
character is well pointed out by the Prophet Ezekiel, Ezek. 
xxxiv. 2, &c. Wo be to the shepherds of Israel, that do feed 
themselves! Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool; 
ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock, &c, How 
can worldly-minded, hireling, fox-hunting, and card-playing 
priests read these words of the Lord, without trembling to 
the center of their souls! Wo to those parents who bring up 
their children merely for Church honours and emoluments! 
Suppose a person have all the Church's revenues, if he have 
God's wo, how miserable is his portion! Let none apply this 
censure to any one class of preachers, exclusively.

That they might have life] My doctrine tends to life, because 
it is the true doctrine-that of the false and bad shepherds 
tends to death, because it neither comes from nor can lead to 
that God who is the fountain of life.

Might have it more abundantly.] That they might have an 
abundance, meaning either of life, or of all necessary good 
things; greater felicity than ever was enjoyed under any 
period of the Mosaic dispensation; and it is certain that 
Christians have enjoyed greater blessings and privileges than 
were ever possessed by the Jews, even in the promised land. 
If perisson be considered the accusative fem. Attic, agreeing 
with zwhn, (see Parkhurst,) then it signifies more abundant 
life; that is, eternal life; or spiritual blessings much 
greater than had ever yet been communicated to man, preparing 
for a glorious immortality. Jesus is come that men may have 
abundance; abundance of grace, peace, love, life, and 
salvation.

Blessed be Jesus.

Verse 11. I am the good shepherd] Whose character is the very 
reverse of that which has already been described. In ver. 7, 
9, our Lord had called himself the door of the sheep, as 
being the sole way to glory, and entrance into eternal life; 
here he changes the thought, and calls himself the shepherd, 
because of what he was to do for them that believe in him, in 
order to prepare them for eternal glory.

Giveth his life for the sheep.] That is, gives up his soul as 
a sacrifice to save them from eternal death.

Some will have the phrase here only to mean hazarding his 
life in order to protect others; but the 15th, 17th, and 18th 
verses,  as well as the whole tenor of the new covenant, 
sufficiently prove that the first sense is that in which our 
Lord's words should be understood.

Verse 12. But he that is a hireling] Or, as my old MS. Bible 
reads it, the marchaunt, he who makes merchandise of men's 
souls; bartering them, and his own too, for filthy lucre. Let 
not the reader apply this, or any of the preceding censures, 
to any particular class or order of men: every religious 
party may have a hireling priest, or minister; and where the 
provision is the greatest there the danger is most.

Whose own the sheep are not] A hireling priest, who has never 
been the instrument of bringing souls to God, will not abide 
with them in the time of danger or persecution. They are not 
the produce of his labour, faith, and prayers: he has no 
other interest in their welfare than that which comes from 
the fleece and the fat. The hireling counts the sheep his 
own, no longer than they are profitable to him; the good 
shepherd looks upon them as his, so long as he can be 
profitable to them.

Among the ancient Jews some kept their own flocks, others 
hired shepherds to keep them for them. And every owner must 
naturally have felt more interest in the preservation of his 
flock than the hireling could possibly feel.

Verse 14. I-know my sheep] I know, ta ema, them that are 
mine: I know their hearts, their wishes, their purposes, 
their circumstances; and I approve of them; for in this sense 
the word to know is often taken in the Scriptures. Homer 
represents the goatherds as being so well acquainted with 
their own, though mixed with others, as easily to distinguish 
them.

touv dÆ, wvÆ aipolia plateÆ aigwn aipoloi andrev Æreia 
diakrinewsin, epei ke nomw migewsin. Iliad. 2. 474.

"As goat-herds separate their numerous flocks With ease, 
though fed promiscuous." And are known of mine.] They know me 
as their father, protector, and saviour; they acknowledge me 
and my truth before the world; and they approve of me, my 
word, my ordinances, and my people, and manifest this by 
their attachment to me, and their zeal for my glory. The 
first clause of the 15th verse should be joined to the 
fourteenth. 

Verse 16. Other sheep I have] The Gentiles and Samaritans. As 
if our Lord had said, Do not imagine that I shall lay down my 
life for the Jews, exclusively of all other people; no: I 
shall die also for the Gentiles; for by the grace, the 
merciful design and loving purpose of God, I am to taste 
death for every man, Heb. ii. 9; and, though they are not of 
this fold now, those among them that believe shall be united 
with the believing Jews, and made one fold under one 
shepherd, Eph. ii. 13-17.

The original word, aulh, which is here translated fold, 
dignifies properly a court. It is probable that our blessed 
Lord was now standing in what was termed the inner court, or 
court of the people, in the temple, see ver. 23; and that he 
referred to the outer court, or court of the Gentiles, 
because the Gentiles who were proselytes of the gate were 
permitted to worship in that place; but only those who were 
circumcised were permitted to come into the inner court, over 
the entrance of which were written, in large characters of 
gold, these words, Let no uncircumcised person enter here! 
Our Lord therefore might at this time have pointed out to the 
worshippers in that court, when he spoke these words, and the 
people would at once perceive that he meant the Gentiles.

Verse 17. Therefore doth my Father love me] As I shall be 
shortly crucified by you, do not imagine that I am abandoned 
by my heavenly Father, and therefore fall thus into your 
hands. The Father loveth me particularly on this account, 
because I am going to lay down my life for the life of the 
world. Again, do not suppose that I shall be put to death by 
your rulers, because I have not strength to resist them. I 
LAY DOWN my life voluntarily and cheerfully; no one can take 
it away from me, see ver. 18; and I shall give you the 
fullest proof of my supreme power by raising, in three days, 
that very crucified, wounded body from the grave.

Verse 18. I have power] Or, authority, exousian. Our Lord 
speaks of himself here as man, or the Messiah, as being God's 
messenger, and sent upon earth to fulfill the Divine will, in 
dying and rising again for the salvation of men.

This commandment have I received] That is, I act according to 
the Divine commandment in executing these things, and giving 
you this information.

Verse 19. There was a division] scisma, a schism, a rent. 
They were divided in their opinions; one part received the 
light, and the other resisted it.

Again] There was a dissension of this kind before among the 
same people; see chap. ix. 16.

Verse 20. He hath a devil, and is mad] So, then, a demoniac 
and a madman were not exactly the same in the apprehension of 
the Jews; no more than the effect is the same with the cause 
which produces it. Some will have it that, when the Jews told 
our Lord that he had a demon, they meant no more than that he 
was deranged; but here these matters are evidently 
distinguished. They believed him to be possessed by a demon, 
who deranged his faculties, and that he must have been a 
wicked man, and a deceiver, thus to be put under the power of 
such a spirit.

Verse 21. These are not the words of him that hath a devil.] 
If he were deranged by an unclean spirit, his words would 
bear a similitude to the spirit that produced them; but these 
are words of deep sense, soberness, and piety: besides, could 
a demoniac open the eyes of blind men? "This is not the work 
of a demon. Now we have seen that this man has restored a man 
who was born blind. Therefore it is demonstrably evident that 
he is neither a madman nor a demoniac.

Behold the usage which the blessed Lord received from his 
creatures! And behold with what meekness and gentleness he 
conducts himself!-not a word of impatience proceeds from his 
lips; nor a look of contempt or indignation is seen in his 
face. And what was he doing to merit all this? Why, he was 
instructing the ignorant, and telling the wretched that he 
was just going to die to save their souls! Amazing love of 
God, and ingratitude and obduracy of men! Let not the 
disciple suppose that, in this respect, he shall be above his 
master. When a minister of Christ has done his utmost to do 
good to his fellow creatures, let him not be surprised if he 
meet with nothing from many but reproaches and persecutions 
for his pains. The grand point is to take Jesus for an 
example of suffering, and to be armed with the same mind. It 
appears that the words spoken by the friendly Jews prevailed; 
and that the others were obliged to abandon the field.

Verse 22. The feast of the dedication] This was a feast 
instituted by Judas Maccabeus, in commemoration of his 
purifying the temple after it had been defiled by Antiochus 
Epiphanes. This feast began on the twenty-fifth of the month 
Cisleu, (which answers to the eighteenth of our December,) 
and continued for eight days. When Antiochus had heard that 
the Jews had made great rejoicings, on account of a report 
that had been spread of his death, he hastened out of Egypt 
to Jerusalem, took the city by storm, and slew of the 
inhabitants in three days forty thousand persons; and forty 
thousand more he sold for slaves to the neighbouring nations. 
Not contented with this, he sacrificed a great sow on the 
altar of burnt offerings; and, broth being made by his 
command of some of the flesh, he sprinkled it all over the 
temple, that he might defile it to the uttermost. See 
Prideaux's Connection, vol. iii. p. 236, edit. 1725. After 
this, the whole of the temple service seems to have been 
suspended for three years, great dilapidations having taken 
place also in various parts of the buildings: see 1 Macc. iv. 
36, &c. As Judas Maccabaeus not only restored the temple 
service, and cleansed it from pollution, &c., but also 
repaired the ruins of it, the feast was called ta egkainia, 
the renovation.

It was winter.] ceimwn hn, or, it was stormy or rainy 
weather. And this is the reason, probably, why our Lord is 
represented as walking in Solomon's porch, or portico, ver. 
23. Though it certainly was in winter when this feast was 
held, yet it does not appear that the word above refers so 
much to the time of the year as to the state of the weather.

Indeed, there was no occasion to add it was winter, when the 
feast of the dedication was mentioned, because every body 
knew that, as that feast was held on the twenty-fifth of the 
month Cisleu, it was in the winter season.

John has here omitted all that Jesus did from the time when 
he left Jerusalem, after the feast of tabernacles in 
September was ended, until the feast of the dedication in the 
December following: and he did it probably because he found 
that the other evangelists had given an account of what our 
Lord did in the interval. St. Luke relates what our Lord did 
on his way from Galilee to Jerusalem, to this feast, Luke 
xvii. 11-37; xviii. 1-14. Observe, likewise, that this time 
here mentioned was the fourth time (according to John's 
account) that Jesus went up to the feasts at Jerusalem in 
about a year: for, first, he went up to the feast of the 
passover, chap. ii. 13; next to the feast of pentecost, as it 
seems to have been, chap. v. 1; then to the feast of 
tabernacles, chap. vii. 2, 10; and, lastly, to the feast of 
the passover in which he was crucified. John seems purposely 
to have pointed out his presence in Jerusalem at these four 
feasts, because all the other evangelists have omitted the 
mention of every one of them. See Bishop Pearce; and see the 
note on chap. v. 1.

Verse 23. Solomon's porch.] By what we find in Josephus, Ant. 
b. xx.

c. 8, s. 7, a portico built by Solomon, on the east side of 
the outer court of the temple, was left standing by Herod, 
when he rebuilt the temple. This portico was four hundred 
cubits long, and was left standing, probably, because of its 
grandeur and beauty. But when Agrippa came to Jerusalem, a 
few years before the destruction of the city by the Romans, 
and about eighty years after Herod had begun his building, 
(till which time what Herod had begun was not completed,) the 
Jews solicited Agrippa to repair this portico at his own 
expense, using for argument, not only that the building was 
growing ruinous, but that otherwise eighteen thousand 
workmen, who had all of them, until then, been employed in 
carrying on the works of the temple, would be all at once 
deprived of a livelihood.

Verse 24. How long dost than make us to doubt?] Or, How long 
dost thou kill us with suspense? Æewv pote thn yuchn hmwn 
aireiv, literally, How long wilt thou take away our life? Mr. 
Markland would read aiwreiv for aireiv, which amounts nearly 
to the same sense with the above. The Jews asked this 
question through extreme perfidiousness: they wished to get 
him to declare himself king of the Jews, that they might 
accuse him to the Roman governor; and by it they insolently 
insinuated that all the proofs he had hitherto given them of 
his Divine mission were good for nothing.

Verse 25. I told you, &c.] That is, I told you before what I 
tell you now again, that the works which I do, bear testimony 
to me. I have told you that I am the light of the world: the 
Son of God: the good shepherd: that I am come to save-to give 
life-to give liberty-to redeem you: that, in order to this, I 
must die, and rise again; and that I am absolute master of my 
life, and of my death. Have you not noticed my omniscience, 
in searching and discovering the very secrets of your hearts? 
Have you not seen my omnipotence in the miracles which I have 
wrought? Have not all these been sufficient to convince you?-
and yet ye will not believe!-See the works which bore 
testimony to him, as the Messiah, enumerated, Matt. xi. 5.

Verse 26. Ye are not of my sheep] Ye have not the disposition 
of those who come unto me to be instructed and saved: see 
what follows.

Verse 27. My sheep hear my voice] But ye will not hear:-my 
sheep follow me; but ye will neither follow nor acknowledge 
me. Any person who reads without prejudice may easily see, 
that our Lord does not at all insinuate that these persons 
could not believe, because God had made it impossible to 
them; but simply because they did not hear and follow Christ, 
which the whole of our blessed Lord's discourse proves that 
they might have done. The sheep of Christ are not those who 
are included in any eternal decree, to the exclusion of 
others from the yearnings of the bowels of eternal mercy; but 
they are those who hear, believe in, follow, and obey the 
saviour of the world.

Verse 28. They shall never perish] Why? Because they hear my 
voice, and follow me; therefore I know, I approve of and love 
them, and give them eternal life. They who continue to hear 
Christ's voice, and to follow him, shall never perish. They 
give themselves up to God-believe so on Jesus that he lives 
in their hearts: God hath given unto them eternal life, and 
this life is in his Son; and he that hath the Son hath life, 
1 John v. 11, 12. Now it is evident that only those who have 
Christ living in and governing their souls, so that they 
possess the mind that was in him, are his sheep-are those 
that shall never perish, because they have this eternal life 
abiding in them: therefore to talk of a man's being one of 
the elect-one that shall never perish-one who shall have 
eternal life-who shall never be plucked out of the hand of 
God, &c., while he lives in sin, has no Christ in his heart, 
has either never received or fallen away from the grace of 
God, is as contrary to common sense as it is to the nature 
and testimonies of the Most High. Final perseverance implies 
final faithfulness-he that endures to the end shall be saved-
he that is faithful unto death shall have a crown of life. 
And will any man attempt to say that he who does not endure 
to the end, and is unfaithful, shall ever enter into life?

Verse 29. My Father-is greater than all] More powerful than 
all the united energies of men and demons. He who loves God 
must be happy; and he who fears him need fear nothing on this 
side eternity.

Verse 30. I and my Father are one.] If Jesus Christ were not 
God, could he have said these words without being guilty of 
blasphemy? It is worthy of remark that Christ does not say, I 
and MY Father, which my our translation very improperly 
supplies, and which in this place would have conveyed a 
widely different meaning: for then it would imply that the 
human nature of Christ, of which alone, I conceive, God is 
ever said to be the Father in Scripture, was equal to the 
Most High: but he says, speaking then as God over all, I and 
THE Father, egw kai o pathr en esmen-the Creator of all 
things, the Judge of all men, the Father of the spirits of 
all flesh-are ONE, ONE in nature, ONE in all the attributes 
of Godhead, and ONE in all the operations of those 
attributes: and so it is evident the Jews understood him. See 
chap. xvii. 11, 22.

Verse 31. The Jews took up stones] To stone him as a 
blasphemer, Lev. xxiv. 14-16, because he said he was one with 
God. The evangelist adds the word again, because they had 
attempted to do this before, see chap. viii. 59; but it seems 
they mere prevented from doing this now by the following 
discourse.

Verse 32. Many good works have I showed you] I have healed 
your sick, delivered those of you who were possessed from the 
power of demons; I have fed multitudes of your poor, and I 
have taught you in all places, at all times, without expense, 
with patience; and is this my reward? To show good works or 
good things is a Hebraism, which signifies to do them really, 
to give good things liberally. The phrase is similar to the 
following: Who will SHOW us any good? Psa. iv. 6; i.e. who 
shall give us good things. SHOW us thy mercy, Psa. lxxxv. 7; 
i.e. give us to feel the effects of thy mercy. Thou hast 
SHOWED thy people hard things, Psa. lx. 3; i.e. thou hast 
treated them with rigor. Thou hast SHOWED me great and sore 
troubles, Psa. lxxi. 20; i.e. thou hast exposed me to terrible 
hardships.

Verse 33. But for blasphemy] I have elsewhere shown that the 
original word, blasfhmein, when applied to men, signifies to 
speak injuriously of their persons, character, connections, 
&c.; but when applied to God it signifies to speak impiously, 
i.e. contrary to his nature, perfections, the wisdom of his 
providence, or goodness of his works.

Thou, being a man] That is, only a man-makest thyself God. 
When Christ said before, ver. 30, I and the Father are one, 
had the Jews understood him (as many called Christians 
profess to do) as only saying he had a unity of sentiments 
with the Father, they would not have attempted to treat him 
for this as a blasphemer; because in this sense Abraham, 
Isaac, Moses, David, and all the prophets, were one with God.

But what irritated them so much was that they understood him 
as speaking of a unity of nature. Therefore they say here, 
thou makest thyself God; which word they understood, not in a 
figurative, metaphorical, or improper sense, but in the most 
literal meaning of the term.

Verse 34. Is it not written in your law] The words which our 
Lord quotes are taken from Psa. lxxxii. 6, which shows that, 
under the word law, our Lord comprised the Jewish sacred 
writings in general. See also chap. xii. 34; xv. 25.

Ye are gods?] That is, judges, who are called µyhla elohim. 
That judges are here meant appears from Psa. lxxxii. 2, &c., 
and also from what follows here. And this is probably the 
only place where the word µyhla is applied to any but the 
true God. See Parkhurst under the root hla .

Verse 35. Unto whom the word of God came] Bishop Pearce 
thinks that "the word logov, here, is put for logov krisewv, 
the word or matter of judgment, as in 2 Chron. xix. 6, where 
Jehoshaphat, setting up judges in the land of Judah, says: 
Take heed what ye do: judge not for men, but for the Lord, 
who is with you in judgment-logoi thv krisewv, in the words 
or matters of judgment,-SEPT., which is nearly according to 
the Hebrew to fpm rbdb bedebar mishpat, in the word or 
matter of judgment. In Deut. i. 17, when a charge is given to 
the judges that they should not be afraid of the face of man, 
this reason is given: for the judgment is God's. Hence it 
appears probable that logov is here used for logov krisewv: 
and it is called logov qeou, because it is the judgment that 
properly belongs to God, and which they who give it on earth 
give only as acting in the stead of God. A way of speaking 
very like to this is found in Heb. iv. 13, where the writer 
says, prov on hmin o logov, with whom we have to do, i.e. by 
whom we are to be judged." But the words logov qeou may be 
here understood for the order, commission, or command of God; 
and so it properly signifies, Luke iii. 2; and in this sense 
it is found often employed in the Old Testament. When it is 
there said that the word of the Lord came, &c., it means, God 
gave an order, commission, &c., to such a person, to declare 
or do such and such things.

And the scripture cannot be broken] auqhnai, dissolved, 
rendered of none effect, i.e. it cannot be gainsayed or set 
aside; every man must believe this, because it is the 
declaration of God. If those were termed gods who were only 
earthly magistrates, fallible mortals, and had no particular 
influence of the Divine Spirit; and that they are termed gods 
is evident from that scripture which cannot be gainsayed; 
what greater reason then have I to say, I am the Son of God, 
and one with God, when, as Messiah, I have been consecrated, 
sent into the world, to instruct and save men; and when, as 
God, I have wrought miracles which could be performed by no 
power less than that of omnipotence?

Verse 37. If I do not the works, &c.] I desire you to believe 
only on the evidence of my works: if I do not do such works 
as God only can perform, then believe me not.

Verse 38. Believe the works] Though ye do not now credit what 
I have said to you, yet consider my works, and then ye will 
see that these works prove that I am in the Father and the 
Father in me; and, consequently, that I and the Father are 
one. This seems to be the force of our Lord's argument; and 
every man must see and feel that it is conclusive. There was 
no possibility of weakening the force of this reasoning but 
by asserting that these miracles were not wrought by the 
power of God; and then they must have proved that not only a 
man, but a bad man, such as they said Jesus was, could work 
these miracles. As this was impossible, then the argument of 
Christ had a complete triumph.

Verse 39. They sought again to take him] They could not reply 
to his arguments but by stones. The evidence of the truth 
could not be resisted; and they endeavoured to destroy the 
person who spoke it. Truth may confound the obstinately 
wicked, but it does not convert them; and it is a just 
judgment of God, to leave those to perish in their 
gainsayings who obstinately continue to gainsay and 
disbelieve.

But he escaped] In such a way as we know not, for the 
evangelist has not specified the manner of it.

Verse 40. Beyond Jordan] Rather, to the side of Jordan, not 
beyond it. See the note on chap. vi. 22, and Matt. xix. 1.

Where John at first baptized] That is, at Bethabara: see 
chap. i. 28.

Afterwards, John baptized at AEnon: chap. iii. 23.

Verse 42. Many believed on him there.] The people believed on 
him: 1.

because of the testimony of John the Baptist whom they knew 
to be a good and a wise man, and a prophet of the Lord; and 
they knew he could neither deceive nor be deceived in this 
mater; and, 2. they believed because of the miracles which 
they saw Jesus work. These fully proved that all that John 
had said of him was true. The scribes and Pharisees with all 
their science could not draw a conclusion so just. Truth and 
common sense are often on the side of the common people, whom 
the insolently wise, the unsanctifiedly learned, and the 
tyrannically powerful sometimes disingenuously brand with the 
epithets of mob and swinish multitude.

1. THIS and the preceding chapter contain two remarkable 
discomfitures of the Jewish doctors. In the former they were 
confounded by the testimony of a plain uneducated man, simply 
appealing to the various circumstances of a matter of fact, 
at which they cavilled, and which they endeavoured to decry. 
In this chapter the wise are taken in their own craftiness: 
the Pharisees are confounded by that wisdom which is from 
above, speaking of and manifesting the deep things of God. 
Sometimes God himself stops the mouths of gainsayers; at 
other times he makes the simplest of his followers too mighty 
for the most learned among the doctors. Ancient and modern 
martyrologies of the people of God abound with proofs of both 
these facts. And the persecutions of the Protestants by the 
Papists in the reign of Queen Mary afford a very large 
proportion of proofs. In these the mighty power of God, and 
the prevalence of truth, were gloriously apparent. Both the 
word of God and the Protestant cause were nobly illustrated 
by those transactions. May that abomination that maketh 
desolate never more sit in the holy place! 2. It must be 
remarked, by every serious reader, that our Lord did 
frequently speak of himself to the Jews, as being not only 
sent of God as their Messiah, but as being one with him. And 
it is as evident that in this sense the priests and Pharisees 
understood him; and it was because they would not credit this 
that they accused him of blasphemy. Now, if our Lord was not 
the person they understood him to state himself to be, he had 
the fairest opportunity, from their strong remonstrances, to 
correct their misapprehension of his words, if they really 
had mistaken his meaning-but this he never attempts. He 
rather strengthens his assertions in his consequent 
discourses with them; which, had not his positions been true, 
he could not have done, even as an honest man. He not only 
asserted himself to be equal with God, but wished them to 
believe it to be true; and he amply confirmed this heavenly 
doctrine by the miracles he wrought.

CHAPTER xi.

Account of the sickness of Lazarus, 1. His sisters Martha and 
Mary send for Christ, 2. Our Lord's discourse with his 
disciples on this sickness and consequent death, 3-16. He 
arrives at Bethany four days after the burying of Lazarus, 
17, 18. Martha meets Christ-their conversation, 19-27. She 
returns and Mary goes out to meet him, in great distress, 28-
33. Christ comes to the grave-his conversation there, 34-42. 
He raises Lazarus from the dead, 43-46. The priests and 
Pharisees, hearing of this, hold a council, and plot his 
destruction, 47, 48. The remarkable prophecy of Caiaphas, and 
the consequent proceedings of the Jews, 49-53. Jesus 
withdraws into a city called Ephraim, 54. They lay wait for 
him at the passover, 55-67.

NOTES ON CHAP. xi.

Verse 1. Lazarus, of Bethany] St. John, who seldom relates 
any thing but what the other evangelists have omitted, does 
not tell us what gave rise to that familiar acquaintance and 
friendship that subsisted between our Lord and this family. 
It is surprising that the other evangelists have omitted so 
remarkable an account as this is, in which some of the finest 
traits in our Lord's character are exhibited. The conjecture 
of Grotius has a good deal of weight. He thinks that the 
other three evangelists wrote their histories during the life 
of Lazarus; and that they did not mention him for fear of 
exciting the malice of the Jews against him. And indeed we 
find, from chap. xii. 10, that they sought to put Lazarus to 
death also, that our Lord might not have one monument of his 
power and goodness remaining in the land. Probably both 
Lazarus and his sisters were dead before St. John wrote. 
Bethany was situated at the foot of the mount of Olives, 
about two miles from Jerusalem. Bishop Pearce observes that 
"there is a large gap in John's history of Christ in this 
place. What is mentioned in the preceding chapter passed at 
the feast of the dedication, chap. x. 22, about the middle of 
our December; and this miracle of raising Lazarus from the 
dead seems to have been wrought but a little before the 
following passover, in the end of March, at which time Jesus 
was crucified, as may (he thinks) be gathered from verses 54 
and 55 of this chapter, , and from chap. xii. 9." John has, 
therefore, according to the bishop's calculation, omitted to 
mention the several miracles which our Lord wrought for above 
three months after the things mentioned in the preceding 
chapter.

Calmet says, Christ left Jerusalem the day after the 
dedication took place, which was the 18th of December. He 
event then to Bethabara, where he continued preaching and his 
disciples baptizing. About the middle of the following 
January Lazarus fell sick: Christ did not leave Bethabara 
till after the death of Lazarus, which happened about the 
18th of the same month.

Bishop Newcome supposes that our Lord might have stayed about 
a month at Bethabara.

The harmonists and chronologists differ much in fixing dates, 
and ascertaining times. In cases of this nature, I believe 
men may innocently guess as well as they can; but they should 
assert nothing.

Verse 2. It was that Mary which anointed] There is much 
disagreement between learned men relative to the two 
anointings of our Lord, and the persons who performed these 
acts. The various conjectures concerning these points the 
reader will find in the notes on Matt. xxvi. 7, &c., but 
particularly at the end of that chapter.  Dr. Lightfoot 
inquires, Why should Bethany be called the town of Martha and 
Mary, and not of Lazarus? And he thinks the reason is, that 
Martha and Mary had been well known by that anointing of our 
Lord, which is mentioned Luke vii. 37; (see the note there;) 
but the name of Lazarus had not been mentioned till now, 
there being no transaction by which he could properly be 
brought into view. He therefore thinks that the aorist 
aleiyasa, which we translate anointed, should have its full 
force, and be translated, who had formerly anointed; and this 
he thinks to have been the reason of that familiarity which 
subsisted between our Lord and this family; and, on this 
ground, they could confidently send for our Lord when Lazarus 
fell sick. This seems a very reasonable conjecture; and it is 
very likely that the familiarity arose out of the anointing.

Others think that the anointing of which the evangelist 
speaks is that mentioned chap. xii. 1, &c., and which 
happened about six days before the passover. St. John, 
therefore, is supposed to anticipate the account, because it 
served more particularly to designate the person of whom he 
was speaking.

Verse 3. He whom thou lovest is sick.] Nothing could be more 
simple, nor more modest, than this prayer: they do not say, 
Come and heal him: or, Command the disease to depart even 
where thou art, and it will obey thee:-they content 
themselves with simply stating the case, and using an 
indirect but a most forcible argument, to induce our Lord to 
show forth his power and goodness:-He is sick, and thou 
lovest him; therefore thou canst neither abandon him, not us.

Verse 4. This sickness is not unto death] Not to final 
privation of life at this time; but a temporary death shall 
be now permitted, that the glory of God may appear in the 
miracle of his resurrection. It is very likely that this 
verse contains the message which Christ sent back, by the 
person whom the afflicted sisters had sent to him; and this, 
no doubt, served much to strengthen their confidence, though 
their faith must have been greatly exercised by the death of 
their brother: for when this took place, though they buried 
him, yet they believed, even then, probably on the ground of 
this message, that Jesus might raise him from the dead. See 
ver. 22.

Verse 5. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and 
Lazarus.] Therefore his staying two days longer in Bethabara 
was not through lack of affection for this distressed family, 
but merely that he might have a more favourable opportunity 
of proving to them how much he loved them.

Christ never denies a less favour, but in order to confer a 
greater. God's delays, in answering prayers offered to him by 
persons in distress, are often proofs of his purpose to 
confer some great kindness, and they are also proofs that his 
wisdom finds it necessary to permit an increase of the 
affliction, that his goodness may be more conspicuous in its 
removal.

Verse 8. The Jews of late sought to stone thee] It was but a 
few weeks before that they were going to stone him in the 
temple, on the day of the feast of the dedication, chap. x. 
31.

Verse 9. Are there not twelve hours in the day?] The Jews, as 
well as most other nations, divided the day, from sun-rising 
to sun-setting, into twelve equal parts; but these parts, or 
hours, were longer or shorter, according to the different 
seasons of the year. See the note on chap. i. 39.

Our Lord alludes to the case of a traveler, who has to walk 
the whole day: the day points out the time of life-the night 
that of death. He has already used the same mode of speech, 
chap. ix. i5: I must work the works of him that sent me, 
while it is day: the night cometh when no man can work.

Here he refers to what the apostles had just said-The Jews 
were but just now going to stone thee. Are there not, said 
he, twelve hours in the day? I have not traveled these twelve 
hours yet-my last hour is not yet come; and the Jews, with 
all their malice and hatred, shall not be able to bring it a 
moment sooner than God has purposed. I am immortal till my 
work is done; and this, that I am now going to Bethany to 
perform, is a part of it.

When all is completed, then their hour, and that of the power 
of darkness, shall commence. See Luke xxii. 53.

If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not] A traveler 
should use the day to walk in, and not the night. During the 
day he has the sun, the light of this world: he sees his way, 
and does not stumble: but, if he walk in the night, he 
stumbleth, because there is no light in it, ver. 10; i.e. 
there is no sun above the horizon. The words en autw, ver. 
10, refer not to the man, but to the world, the sun, its 
light, not being above the horizon.

Life is the time to fulfill the will of God, and to prepare 
for glory. Jesus is the light of the world; he that walks in 
his Spirit, and by his direction, cannot stumble-cannot fall 
into sin, nor be surprised by an unexpected death. But he who 
walks in the night, in the darkness of his own heart, and 
according to the maxims of this dark world, he stumbles-falls 
into sin, and at last falls into hell. Reader! do not dream 
of walking to heaven in the night of thy death. God has given 
thee the warning: receive it, and begin to live to him, and 
for eternity.

Verse 11. Lazarus sleepeth] It was very common among the Jews 
to express death by sleep; and the expression, falling 
asleep-sleeping with their fathers, &c., were in great use 
among them. The Hebrews probably used this form of speech to 
signify their belief in the immortality of the soul, and the 
resurrection of the body.

It is certain that our Lord received no intimation of 
Lazarus's death from any person, and that he knew it through 
that power by which he knows all things.

Verse 12. If he sleep, he shall do well.] That is, if he 
sleep only, &c.

Though the word sleep frequently meant death, (see Acts vii. 
60; 1 Cor. xi. 30; xv. 18, 20,) yet, as it was an ambiguous 
term, the disciples appear here to have mistaken its meaning. 
Because, in certain acute disorders, the composing the 
patient to rest was a favourable sign; therefore the words, 
If he sleep, he shall do well, or recover, became a 
proverbial forth of speech among the Jews. In most diseases, 
sleep is a very favourable prognostic: hence that saying of 
Menander: - upnov de pashv estin ugieia nosou.

Sleep is a remedy for every disease. See Grotius here. The 
meaning of the disciples seems to have been this: There can 
be no need for thee to go into Judea to awake our friend 
Lazarus; he will awake time enough, and his very sleep is a 
presage of his recovery: therefore do not hazard thy life by 
going.

Verse 15. I am glad for your sakes that I was not there] "I 
tell you plainly, Lazarus is dead: and I am glad I was not 
there-if I had been, I should have been prevailed on to have 
healed him almost as soon as he fell sick, and I should not 
have had so striking an occasion to manifest the glory of God 
to you, and to establish you in the faith." It was a miracle 
to discover that Lazarus was dead, as no person had come to 
announce it. It was a greater miracle to raise a dead man 
than to cure a sick man. And it was a still greater miracle, 
to raise one that was three or four days buried, and in whose 
body putrefaction might have begun to take place, than to 
raise one that was but newly dead. See ver. 39.

Verse 16. Thomas, which is called Didymus] Thomas, or µwat 
Thaom, was his Hebrew name, and signifies a twin-one who had 
a brother or a sister born with him at the same time: 
Didymus, didumov, is a literal translation of the Hebrew word 
into Greek. In Gen. xxv. 24, Esau and Jacob are called µymwt 
thomeem, twins; Septuag. diduma, from didumov, a twin-from 
the Anglo-Saxon (A.S.), to double.

Let us also go, that we may die with him.] That is, "Seeing 
we cannot dissuade our Lord from going, and his death is 
likely to be the inevitable consequence, let us give him the 
fullest proof we can of our love, by going and suffering 
death with him." Some think Thomas spoke these words 
peevishly, and that they should be translated thus, Must we 
also go, and expose ourselves to destruction with him? which 
is as much as to say: "If he will obstinately go and risk his 
life in so imminent a danger, let us act with more prudence 
and caution." But I think the first sense is to be preferred. 
When a matter is spoken which concerns the moral character of 
a person, and which may be understood in a good and a bad 
sense, that sense which is most favourable to the person 
should certainly be adopted.

This is taking things by the best handle, and both justice 
and mercy require it. The conduct of most men widely differs 
from this: of such an old proverb says, "They feed like the 
flies-pass over all a man's whole parts, to light upon his 
sores."

Verse 17. He had lain in the grave four days already.] Our 
Lord probably left Bethabara the day, or the day after, 
Lazarus died. He came to Bethany three days after; and it 
appears that Lazarus had been buried about four days, and 
consequently that he had been put in the grave the day or day 
after he died. Though it was the Jewish custom to embalm 
their dead, yet we find, from ver. 39, that he had not been 
embalmed; and God wisely ordered this, that the miracle might 
appear the more striking.

Verse 18. Fifteen furlongs] About two miles: for the Jewish 
miles contained about seven furlongs and a half. So 
Lightfoot, and the margin.

Verse 19. Many of the Jews came] Bethany being so nigh to 
Jerusalem, many of the relatives and friends of the family 
came, according to the Jewish custom, to mourn with the 
afflicted sisters. Mourning, among the Jews, lasted about 
thirty days: the three first days were termed days of 
weeping: then followed seven of lamentation. During the three 
days, the mourner did no servile work; and, if any one 
saluted him, he did not return the salutation. During the 
seven days, he did no servile work, except in private-lay 
with his bed on the floor-did not put on his sandals-did not 
wash nor anoint himself-had his head covered-and neither read 
in the law, the Mishnah, nor the Talmud. All the thirty days 
he continued unshaven, wore no white or new clothes, and did 
not sew up the rents which he had made in his garments. See 
Lightfoot, and see on ver. 31.

Verse 20. Martha-went and met him] Some suppose she was the 
eldest of the two sisters-she seems to have had the 
management of the house. See Luke x. 40.

Mary sat still in the house.] It is likely that by this 
circumstance the evangelist intended to convey the idea of 
her sorrow and distress; because anciently afflicted persons 
were accustomed to put themselves in this posture, as 
expressive of their distress; their grief having rendered 
them as it were immovable. See Ezra ix. 3, 4; Neh. i. 4; Psa. 
cxxxvii. 1; Isaiah xlvii. 1; Luke i. 79; and Matt. xxvii. 61.

Verse 21. If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.] 
Mary said the same words to him a little after, ver. 32, 
which proves that these sisters had not a complete knowledge 
of the omnipotence of Christ: they thought he could cure at 
hand, but not at a distance; or they thought that it was 
because he did not know of their brother's indisposition that 
he permitted him to die. In either of these cases it plainly 
appears they had not a proper notion of his divinity; and 
indeed the following verse proves that they considered him in 
no other light than that of a prophet.

Query-Was it not proper that Christ should, in general, as 
much as might be, hide the knowledge of his divinity from 
those with whom he ordinarily lodged? Had they known him 
fully, would not the reverence and awe connected with such a 
knowledge have overwhelmed them?

Verse 22. I know, that even now] She durst not ask so great a 
favour in direct terms; she only intimated modestly that she 
knew he could do it.

Verse 23. Thy brother shall rise again.] That is, directly; 
for it was by raising him immediately from the dead that he 
intended to comfort her.

Verse 24. I know that he shall rise again in the 
resurrection] The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead 
was then commonly received; and though it was our Lord who 
fully exemplified it by his own resurrection, yet the opinion 
was common, not only among God's people, but among all those 
who believed in the God of Israel. The Jewish writings after 
the captivity are full of this doctrine. See 2 Macc. vii. 9, 
14, 23, 36; xii. 43; xiv. 46; Wisd. v. 1, 7, 17; vi. 6, 7. 
See also Josephus and the Targums, passim.

Verse 25. I am the resurrection, and the life] Thou sayest 
that thy brother shall rise again in the resurrection at the 
last day; but by whom shall he arise if not by ME, who am the 
author of the resurrection, and the source of life? And is it 
not as easy for me to raise him now as to raise him then? 
Thus our blessed Lord raises her hope, animates her faith, 
and teaches her that he was not a mere man, but the essential 
principle and author of existence.

Though he were dead] Every man who has believed or shall 
believe in me, though his believing shall not prevent him 
from dying a natural death, yet his body shall be re-
animated, and he shall live with me in an eternal glory. And 
every one who is now dead, dead to God, dead in trespasses 
and sins, if he believe in me, trust on me as his sole 
saviour, he shall live, shall be quickened by my Spirit, and 
live a life of faith, working by love.

Verse 26. Shall never die.] Or, Shall not die for ever. 
Though he die a temporal death. he shall not continue under 
its power for ever; but shall have a resurrection to life 
eternal.

Believest thou this?] God has determined to work in the 
behalf of men only in proportion to their faith in him: it 
was necessary, therefore, that these persons should be well 
instructed concerning his nature, that they might find no 
obstacles to their faith. These sisters had considered him 
only as a prophet hitherto; and it was necessary that they 
should now be farther instructed, that, as God was to exert 
himself, they might believe that God was there.

Verse 27. Yea, Lord: I believe] pepisteuka, I have believed. 
Either meaning that she had believed this for some time past, 
or that, since he began to teach her, her faith had been 
considerable increased; but verbs preter, in Greek, are often 
used to signify the present. Martha here acknowledges Christ 
for the Messiah promised to their fathers; but her faith goes 
no farther; and, having received some hope of her brother's 
present resurrection, she waited for no farther instruction, 
but ran to call her sister.

Verse 28. The Master is come] This was the appellation which 
he had in the family; and from these words it appears that 
Christ had inquired for Mary, desiring to have her present, 
that he might strengthen her faith, previously to his raising 
her brother.

Verse 30. Jesus was not yet come into the town] As the Jewish 
burying places were without their cities and villages, it 
appears that the place where our saviour was, when Martha met 
him, was not far from the place where Lazarus was buried. See 
the note on Luke vii. 12.

Verse 31. She goeth unto the grave to weep there.] It appears 
that it was the custom for the nearest relatives of the 
deceased to go at times, during the three days of weeping, 
accompanied by their friends and neighbours, to mourn near 
the graves of the deceased. They supposed that the spirit 
hovered about the place where the body was laid for three 
days, to see whether it might be again permitted to enter, 
but, when it saw the face change, it knew that all hope was 
now past. It was on this ground that the seven days of 
lamentation succeeded the three days of weeping, because all 
hope was now taken away. They had traditions that, in the 
course of three days, persons who had died were raised again 
to life. See Lightfoot.

Mr. Ward says: "I once saw some Mussulman women, near 
Calcutta, lying on the new-made grave of a relation, weeping 
bitterly. In this manner the Mussulman females weep and strew 
flowers over the graves of relations, at the expiration of 
four days, and forty days, after the interment."

Verse 33. He groaned in the spirit, &c.] Here the blessed 
Jesus shows himself to be truly man; and a man, too, who, 
notwithstanding his amazing dignity and excellence, did not 
feel it beneath him to sympathize with the distressed, and 
weep with those who wept. After this example of our Lord, 
shall we say that it is weakness, folly, and sin to weep for 
the loss of relatives? He who says so, and can act in a 
similar case to the above according to his own doctrine, is a 
reproach to the name of man. Such apathy never came from God: 
it is generally a bad scion, implanted in a nature miserably 
depraved, deriving its nourishment from a perverted spirit or 
a hardened heart; though in some cases it is the effect of an 
erroneous, ascetic mode of discipline.

It is abolishing one of the finest traits in our Lord's human 
character to say that he wept and mourned here because of sin 
and its consequences. No: Jesus had humanity in its 
perfection, and humanity unadulterated is generous and 
sympathetic. A particular friend of Jesus was dead; and, as 
his friend, the affectionate soul of Christ was troubled, and 
he mingled his sacred tears with those of the afflicted 
relatives. Behold the man, in his deep, heart-felt trouble, 
and in his flowing tears! But when he says, Lazarus, come 
forth! behold the GOD! and the God too of infinite clemency, 
love, and power. Can such a Jesus refuse to comfort the 
distressed, or save the lost? Can he restrain his mercies 
from the penitent soul, or refuse to hear the yearnings of 
his own bowels? Can such a character be inattentive to the 
welfare of his creatures? Here is God manifested in the 
flesh! living in human nature, feeling for the distressed, 
and suffering for the lost! Reader! ask thy soul, ask thy 
heart, ask the bowels of thy compassions, if thou hast any, 
could this Jesus unconditionally reprobate from eternity any 
soul of man? Thou answerest, NO! God repeats, NO! Universal 
nature re-echoes, NO! and the tears and blood of Jesus 
eternally say, NO!

Verse 35. Jesus wept.] The least verse in the Bible, yet 
inferior to none.

Some of the ruthless ancients, improperly styled fathers of 
the Church, thought that weeping was a degradation of the 
character of Christ; and therefore, according to the 
testimony of Epiphanius, Anchorat. c. 13, razed out of the 
Gospel of St. Luke the place (Luke xix. 41) where Christ is 
said to have wept over Jerusalem.

Verse 36. Behold how he loved him!] And when we see him 
pouring out his blood and life upon the cross for mankind, we 
may with exultation and joy cry out, Behold how he hath loved 
US!

Verse 37. Could not this man, which opened the eyes, &c.] 
Through the maliciousness of their hearts, these Jews 
considered the tears of Jesus as a proof of his weakness. We 
may suppose them to have spoken thus: "If he loved him so 
well, why did he not heal him? And if he could have healed 
him, why did he not do it, seeing he testifies so much sorrow 
at his death? Let none hereafter vaunt the miracle of the 
blind man's cure; if he had been capable of doing that, he 
would not have permitted his friend to die." Thus will men 
reason, or rather madden, concerning the works and providence 
of God; till, by his farther miracles of mercy or judgment, 
he converts or confounds them.

Verse 38. It was a cave, &c.] It is likely that several of 
the Jewish burying-places were made in the sides of rocks; 
some were probably dug down like a well from the upper 
surface, and then hollowed under into niches, and a flat 
stone, laid down upon the top, would serve for a door.

Yet, from what the evangelist says, there seems to have been 
something peculiar in the formation of this tomb. It might 
have been a natural grotto, or dug in the side of a rock or 
hill, and the lower part of the door level with the ground, 
or how could Lazarus have come forth, as he is said to have 
done, ver. 44? 

Verse 39. Take ye away the stone.] He desired to convince all 
those who were at the place, and especially those who took 
away the stone, that Lazarus was not only dead, but that 
putrescency had already taken place, that it might not be 
afterwards said that Lazarus had only fallen into a lethargy; 
but that the greatness of the miracle might be fully evinced.

He stinketh] The body is in a state of putrefaction. The 
Greek word ozw signifies simply to smell, whether the scent 
be good or bad; but the circumstances of the case 
sufficiently show that the latter is its meaning here. Our 
translators might have omitted the uncouth term in the common 
text; but they chose literally to follow the Anglo-Saxon, 
(Anglo-Saxon), and it would be now useless to attempt any 
change, as the common reading would perpetually recur, and 
cause all attempts at mending to sound even worse than that 
in the text.

For he hath been dead four days.] tetartaiov gar esti, This 
is the fourth day, i.e. since his interment. Christ himself 
was buried on the same day on which he was crucified, see 
chap. xix. 42, and it is likely that Lazarus was buried also 
on the same day on which he died. See on ver. 17.

Verse 40. If thou wouldest believe, &c.] So it appears that 
it is faith alone that interests the miraculous and saving 
power of God in behalf of men. Instead of doxan, the glory, 
one MS. reads dunamin, the miraculous power.

Verse 41. Where the dead was laid.] These words are wanting 
in BC*DL, three others; Syriac, Persic, Arabic, Sahidic, 
AEthiopic, Armenian, Vulgate, Saxon, and in all the Itala. 
Griesbach leaves them out of the text.

Father, I thank thee] As it was a common opinion that great 
miracles might be wrought by the power and in the name of the 
devil, Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, and invoked the 
supreme God before these unbelieving Jews, that they might 
see that it was by his power, and by his only, that this 
miracle was done; that every hinderance to this people's 
faith might be completely taken out of the way, and that 
their faith might stand, not in the wisdom of man, but in the 
power of the Most High. On this account our Lord says, he 
spoke because of the multitude, that they might see there was 
no diabolic influence here, and that God in his mercy had 
visited his people.

Verse 43. He cried with a loud voice] In chap. v. 25, our 
Lord had said, that the time was coming, in which the dead 
should hear the voice of the Son of God, and live. He now 
fulfils that prediction, and cries aloud, that the people may 
take notice, and see that even death is subject to the 
sovereign command of Christ.

Jesus Christ, says Quesnel, omitted nothing to save this dead 
person: he underwent the fatigue of a journey, he wept, he 
prayed, he groaned, he cried with a loud voice, and commanded 
the dead to come forth. What ought not a minister to do in 
order to raise a soul, and especially a soul long dead in 
trespasses and sins!

Verse 44. Bound hand and foot with grave-clothes] Swathed 
about with rollers-keiriaiv, from keirw, I cut. These were 
long slips of linen a few inches in breadth, with which the 
body and limbs of the dead were swathed, and especially those 
who were embalmed, that the aromatics might be kept in 
contact with the flesh. But as it is evident that Lazarus had 
not been embalmed, it is probable that his limbs were not 
swathed together, as is the constant case with those who are 
embalmed, but separately, so that he could come out of the 
tomb at the command of Christ, though he could not walk 
freely till the rollers were taken away.

But some will have it that he was swathed exactly like a 
mummy, and that his coming out in that state was another 
miracle. But there is no need of multiplying miracles in this 
case: there was one wrought which was a most sovereign proof 
of the unlimited power and goodness of God. Several of the 
primitive fathers have adduced this resurrection of Lazarus 
as the model, type, proof, and pledge of the general 
resurrection of the dead.

Loose him, and let him go.] He would have the disciples and 
those who were at hand take part in this business, that the 
fullest conviction might rest on every person's mind 
concerning the reality of what was wrought.

He whom the grace of Christ converts and restores to life 
comes forth, at his call, from the dark, dismal grave of sin, 
in which his soul has long been buried: he walks, according 
to the command of Christ, in newness of life; and gives, by 
the holiness of his conduct, the fullest proof to all his 
acquaintance that he is alive from the dead.

Verse 45. Many of the Jews-believed on him.] They saw that 
the miracle was incontestable; and they were determined to 
resist the truth no longer. Their friendly visit to these 
distressed sisters became the means of their conversion. How 
true is the saying of the wise man, It is better to go to the 
house of mourning than to the house of feasting! Eccles. vii. 
2.

God never permits men to do any thing, through a principle of 
kindness to others, without making it instrumental of good to 
themselves. He that watereth shall be watered also himself, 
Prov. xi. 25. Therefore, let no man withhold good, while it 
is in the power of his hand to do it. Prov. iii. 27.

Verse 46. But some of them went their ways] Astonishing! Some 
that had seen even this miracle steeled their hearts against 
it; and not only so, but conspired the destruction of this 
most humane, amiable, and glorious saviour! Those who 
obstinately resist the truth of God are capable of every 
thing that is base, perfidious, and cruel.

Verse 47. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a 
council] The Pharisees, as such, had no power to assemble 
councils; and therefore only those are meant who were scribes 
or elders of the people, in conjunction with Annas and his 
son-in-law Caiaphas, who were the high priests here 
mentioned. See chap. xviii. 13, 24.

What do we?] This last miracle was so clear, plain, and 
incontestable, that they were driven now to their wit's end. 
Their own spies had come and borne testimony of it. They told 
them what they had seen, and on their word, as being in 
league with themselves against Jesus, they could confidently 
rely.

Verse 48. All men will believe on him] If we permit him to 
work but a few more miracles like these two last (the cure of 
the blind man, and the resurrection of Lazarus) he will be 
universally acknowledged for the Messiah; the people will 
proclaim him king; and the Romans, who can suffer no 
government here but their own, will be so irritated that they 
will send their armies against us, and destroy our temple, 
and utterly dissolve our civil and ecclesiastical existence. 
Thus, under the pretense of the public good, these men of 
blood hide their hatred against Christ, and resolve to put 
him to death. To get the people on their side, they must give 
the alarm of destruction to the nation: if this man be 
permitted to live, we shall be all destroyed! Their former 
weapons will not now avail. On the subject of keeping the 
Sabbath, they had been already confounded; and his last 
miracles were so incontestable that they could no longer cry 
out, He is a deceiver.

Both our place and nation.] Literally, this place, ton topon: 
but that the temple only is understood is dear from Acts vi. 
13, 14; 2 Macc. i. 14; ii. 18; iii. 18; v. 16, 17; x. 7; 
where it is uniformly called the place, or the holy place, 
because they considered it the most glorious and excellent 
place in the world. When men act in opposition to God's 
counsel, the very evils which they expect thereby to avoid 
will come upon them. They said, If we do not put Jesus to 
death, the Romans will destroy both our temple and nation. 
Now, it was because they put him to death that the Romans 
burnt and razed their temple to the ground, and put a final 
period to their political existence. See Matt. xxii. 7; and 
the notes on chap. 24.

Verse 49. Caiaphas being the high priest that same year] By 
the law of Moses, Exod. xl. 15, the office of high priest was 
for life, and the son of Aaron's race always succeeded his 
father, But at this time the high priesthood was almost 
annual: the Romans and Herod put down and raised up whom they 
pleased, and when they pleased, without attending to any 
other rule than merely that the person put in this office 
should be of the sacerdotal race. According to Josephus, Ant. 
xviii. c. 3, the proper name of this person was Joseph, and 
Caiaphas was his surname. He possessed the high priesthood 
for eight or nine years, and was deposed by Vitellius, 
governor of Judea. See on Luke iii. 2.

Ye know nothing] Of the perilous state in which ye stand.

Verse 50. Nor consider] Ye talk more at random than according 
to reason, and the exigencies of the case. There is a various 
reading here in some MSS. that should be noticed. Instead of 
oude dialogizesqe, which we translate, ye do not consider, 
and which properly conveys the idea of conferring, or talking 
together, oude logizesqe, neither do ye reason or consider 
rightly, is the reading of ABDL, three others, and some of 
the primitive fathers. Griesbach, by placing it in his inner 
margin, shows that he thinks it bids fair to be the true 
reading. Dr. White thinks that this reading is equal, and 
probably preferable, to that in the text: Lectio aequalis, 
forsitan praeferenda receptae.

That one man should die for the people] In saying these 
remarkable words, Caiaphas had no other intention than merely 
to state that it was better to put Jesus to death than to 
expose the whole nation to ruin on his account. His maxim 
was, it is better to sacrifice one man than a whole nation. 
In politics nothing could be more just than this; but there 
are two words to be spoken to it: First, The religion of God 
says, we must not do evil that good may come: Rom. iii. 8. 
Secondly, It is not certain that Christ will be acknowledged 
as king by all the people; nor that he will make any 
insurrection against the Romans; nor that the Romans will, on 
his account, ruin the temple, the city, and the nation. This 
Caiaphas should have considered. A person should be always 
sure of his premises before he attempts to draw any 
conclusion from them. See Calmet. This saying was proverbial 
among the Jews: see several instances of it in Schoettgen.

Verse 51. This spake he not of himself] Wicked and worthless 
as he was, God so guided his tongue that, contrary to his 
intention, he pronounced a prophecy of the death of Jesus 
Christ.

I have already remarked that the doctrine of a vicarious 
atonement had gained, long before this time, universal credit 
in the world. Words similar to these of Caiaphas are, by the 
prince of all the Roman poets, put in the mouth of Neptune, 
when promising Venus that the fleet of AEneas should be 
preserved, and his whole crew should be saved, one only 
excepted, whose death he speaks of in these remarkable words: 
- "Unum pro multis dabitar caput." "One life shall fall, that 
many may be saved." Which victim the poet informs us was 
Palinurus, the pilot of AEneas's own ship, who was 
precipitated into the deep by a Divine influence. See VIRG. 
AEn. v. l. 815, &c.

There was no necessity for the poet to have introduced this 
account. It was no historic fact, nor indeed does it tend to 
decorate the poem. It even pains the reader's mind; for, 
after suffering so much in the sufferings of the pious hero 
and his crew, he is at once relieved by the interposition of 
a god, who promises to allay the storm, disperse the clouds, 
preserve the fleet, and the lives of the men; but,-one must 
perish! The reader is again distressed, and the book 
ominously closes with the death of the generous Palinurus, 
who strove to the last to be faithful to his trust, and to 
preserve the life of his master and his friend. Why then did 
the poet introduce this? Merely, as it appears to me, to have 
the opportunity of showing in a few words his religious 
creed, on one of the most important doctrines in the world; 
and which the sacrificial system of Jews and Gentiles proves 
that all the nations of the earth credited.

As Caiaphas was high priest, his opinion was of most weight 
with the council; therefore God put these words in his mouth 
rather than into the mouth of any other of its members. It 
was a maxim among the Jews that no prophet ever knew the 
purport of his own prophecy, Moses and Isaiah excepted. They 
were in general organs by which God chose to speak.

Verse 52. And not for that nation only, &c.] These, and the 
preceding words in ver. 51, are John's explication of what 
was prophetic in the words of Caiaphas: as if John had said, 
He is indeed to die for the sins of the Jewish nation, but 
not for theirs alone, but for the sins of the whole world: 
see his own words afterwards, 1 John ii. 1, 2.

Gather together in one] That he should collect into one 
body;-form one Church out of the Jewish and Gentile 
believers.

Children of God that were scattered abroad.] Probably John 
only meant the Jews who were dispersed among all nations 
since the conquest of Judea by the Romans; and these are 
called the dispersed, chap. vii. 35, and James i. 1; and it 
is because he refers to these only, that he terms them here, 
the children of God, which was an ancient character of the 
Jewish people: see Deuteronomy xxxii. 5; Isa. xliii. 6; xlv. 
11; Jer. xxxii. 1. Taking his words in this sense, then his 
meaning is this: that Christ was to die, not only for the 
then inhabitants of Judea, but for all the Jewish race 
wheresoever scattered; and that the consequence would be, 
that they should be all collected from their various 
dispersions, and made one body.

This comports with the predictions of St. Paul: Rom. xi. 1-
32. This probably is the sense of the passage; and though, 
according to this interpretation, the apostle may seem to 
confine the benefits of Christ's death to the Jewish people 
only, yet we find from the passage already quoted from his 
first epistle, that his views of this subject were afterwards 
very much extended; and that he saw that Jesus Christ was not 
only a propitiation for their sins (the Jews) but for the 
sins of the whole world: see his 1st epistle, chap. 2. ver. 
2.  All the truths of the Gospel were not revealed at once, 
even to the apostles themselves.

Verse 53. They took counsel together] sunebouleusanto, they 
were of one accord in the business, and had fully made up 
their minds on the subject; and they waited only for a proper 
opportunity to put him to death.

Verse 54. Walked no more openly] parrhsia, He did not go as 
before through the cities and villages, teaching, preaching, 
and healing the sick.

Near to the wilderness] Some MSS. add, of Samphourein, or 
Samphourim, or Sapfurim.

A city chilled Ephraim] Variously written in the MSS., 
Ephraim, Ephrem, Ephram, and Ephratha. This was a little 
village, situated in the neighbourhood of Bethel; for the 
scripture, 2 Chronicles xiii. 19, and Josephus, War, b. iv. 
c. 8. s. 9, join them both together. Many believe that this 
city or village was the same with that mentioned, 1 Macc. v. 
46; 2 Macc. xii. 27. Joshua gave it to the tribe of Judah, 
Josh. xv. 9; and Eusebius and Jerome say it was about twenty 
miles north of Jerusalem.

And there continued] Calmet says, following Toynard, that he 
stayed there two months, from the 24th of January till the 
24th of March.

Verse 55. The Jews' passover was nigh at hand] It is not 
necessary to suppose that this verse has any particular 
connection with the preceding.

Most chronologists agree that our Lord spent at least two 
months in Ephraim. This was the last passover which our Lord 
attended; and it was at this one that he suffered death for 
the salvation of a lost world. As the passover was nigh, many 
of the inhabitants of Ephraim and its neighbourhood went up 
to Jerusalem, some time (perhaps seven or eight days, for so 
much time was required to purify those who had touched the 
dead) before the feast, that they might purify themselves, 
and not eat the passover otherwise than prescribed in the 
law. Many of the country people, in the time of Hezekiah, 
committed a trespass by not attending to this: see 2 Chron. 
xxx. 18, 19. Those mentioned in the text wished to avoid this 
inconvenience.

Verse 56. Then sought they for Jesus] Probably those of 
Ephraim, in whose company Christ is supposed to have departed 
for the feast, but, having stayed behind, perhaps at Jericho, 
or its vicinity, the others had not missed him till they came 
to the temple, and then inquired among each other whether he 
would not attend the feast. Or the persons mentioned in the 
text might have been the agents of the high priest, &c., and 
hearing that Christ had been at Ephraim, came and inquired 
among the people that came from that quarter, whether Jesus 
would not attend the festival, knowing that he was punctual 
in his attendance on all the Jewish solemnities.

Verse 57. Had given a commandment] Had given order; entolhn, 
positive order, or injunction, and perhaps with a grievous 
penalty, that no one should keep the place of his residence a 
secret. This was their hour, and the power of darkness; and 
now they are fully determined to take away his life. The 
order here spoken of was given in consequence of the 
determination of the council, mentioned ver. 48-53.

CHRIST'S sympathy and tenderness, one of the principal 
subjects in this chapter, have already been particularly 
noted on chap. xi. 33. His eternal power and Godhead are 
sufficiently manifested in the resurrection of Lazarus. The 
whole chapter abounds with great and important truths, 
delivered in language the most impressive and edifying. In 
the whole of our Lord's conduct in the affair of Lazarus and 
his sisters, we find majesty, humanity, friendship, and 
sublime devotion, blended in the most intimate manner, and 
illustrating each other by their respective splendour and 
excellence. In every act, in every word, we see GOD 
manifested in the FLESH:-Man in all the amiableness and 
charities of his nature; GOD in the plenitude of his power 
and goodness. How sublime is the lesson of instruction 
conveyed by the words, Jesus wept! The heart that feels them 
not must be in the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity, 
and consequently lost to every generous feeling.

On the quotation from Virgil, on the 50th verse, a learned 
friend has sent me the following lines.

My dear Sir,-I have observed that in one part of your 
Commentary you quote these words of Virgil, Unum pro multis 
dabitur caput; and you are of opinion that Virgil here 
recognizes the doctrine of atonement. There is a passage in 
Lucan where this doctrine is exhibited more clearly and 
fully. It is in the second book, v. 306. Cato, in a speech to 
Brutus, declares his intention of fighting under the standard 
of Pompey, and then expresses the following sentiment: - O 
utinam, coelique Deis Erebique liberet, Hoc caput in cunctas 
damnatum exponere poenas! Devotum hostiles Decium pressere 
catervae: Me geminae figant acies, me barbara telis Rheni 
turba petat: cunctis ego pervius hastis Excipiam medius 
totius vulnera belli.

Hic redimat sanguis populos: hac caede luatur, Quidquid 
Romani meruerunt pendere mores.

O, were the gods contented with my fall, If Cato's life could 
answer for you all, Like the devoted Decius would I go, To 
force from either side the mortal blow, And for my country's 
sake wish to be thought her foe.

To me, ye Romans, all your rage confine, To me, ye nations 
from the barbarous Rhine, Let all the wounds this war shall 
make be mine.

Open my vital streams, and let them run; O, let the purple 
sacrifice atone, For all the ills offending Rome hath done! 
ROWE.

A little after, v. 377, Lucan portrays the character of Cato 
with a very masterly hand; but he applies expressions to a 
mortal which are applicable to Christ alone.

Uni quippe vacat, studiisque odiisque carenti, Humanum lugere 
genus.

The golden mean unchanging to pursue; Constant to keep the 
purposed end in view; Religiously to follow nature's laws; 
And die with pleasure in his country's cause, To think he was 
not for himself design'd, But born to be of use to all 
mankind. ROWE.

CHAPTER xii.

Jesus sups at the house of Lazarus, and Mary anoints his 
feet, 1-3. Judas Iscariot finds fault, and reproves her, 4-6. 
Jesus vindicates Mary and reproves Judas, 7, 8. The chief 
priests consult to put Lazarus to death, because that through 
him many believed on Jesus, 9-11. He enters Jerusalem in 
triumph; the people meet him, and the Pharisees are troubled, 
12-19. Greeks inquire after Jesus, 20-22. Our Lord's 
discourse on the subject, 23-26. Speaks of his passion, and 
is answered by a voice from heaven, 27, 28. The people are 
astonished at the voice, and Jesus explains it to them, and 
foretells his death, 29-33. They question him concerning the 
perpetuity of the Messiah, and he instructs them, 34-36. Many 
believe not; and in them the saying of Isaiah is fulfilled, 
37-41. Some of the chief rulers believe, but are afraid to 
confess him, 42, 43. He proclaims himself the light of the 
world, and shows the danger of rejecting his words, 44-50.

NOTES ON CHAP. xii.

Verse 1. Six days before the Passover] Reckoning the day of 
the Passover to be the last of the six. Our Lord came on our 
Sabbath, the first day of the Jewish week, to Bethany, where 
he supped; and on the next day he made his public entry into 
Jerusalem: chap. xii. 12. Calmet thinks that this was about 
two months after the resurrection of Lazarus, on the 9th of 
Nisan, (March 29,) in the thirty-sixth year of our Lord's 
age. It has been observed before-that Calmet adds three years 
to the common account.

Verse 3. Then took Mary a pound of ointment] See the note on 
Matt. xxvi. 7; see also Mark xiv. 3. It does not seem the 
most likely that this was the same transaction with that 
mentioned above. Some think that this was, notwithstanding 
that before is said to have been at the house of Simon the 
leper. The arguments, pro and con, are largely stated in the 
notes at the end of Matthew 26,  to which I beg leave to 
refer the reader.

Verse 5. Three hundred pence] Or denarii: about 9ú. 13s. 9d. 
of our money; reckoning the denarius at 7 3/4d. One of my 
MSS. of the Vulgate (a MS. of the 14th century) reads, cccc 
denarii.

Verse 6. Not that HE cared for the poor] There should be a 
particular emphasis laid on the word he, as the evangelist 
studies to show the most determined detestation to his 
conduct.

And bare what was put therein.] Or rather, as some eminent 
critics contend, And stole what was put in it. This seems the 
proper meaning of ebastazen; and in this sense it is used, 
chap. xx. 15: If thou hast STOLEN him away-ei su ebastasav 
auton. In the same sense the word is used by Josephus, Ant. 
b. xii. c. 5, s 4; where speaking of the pillage of the 
temple by Antiochus, he says, ta skeuh tou qeou bastasai, He 
carried off, or STOLE, also the vessels of the Lord. See also 
Ant. b. viii. c. 2, s. 2, where the harlot says before 
Solomon, concerning her child, bastasasa de toumon ek twn 
gonatwn prov authn metaferei-She STOLE away my child out of 
my bosom, and removed it to herself. And Ibid. b. ix. c. 4, 
s. 5, speaking of the ten lepers that went into the Syrian 
camp, he says, finding the Syrians fled, They entered into 
the camp, and ate, and drank; and, having STOLEN away 
(ebastasan) garments, and much gold, they hid them without 
the camp. See the objections to this translation answered by 
Kypke, and the translation itself vindicated. See also Pearce 
in loc., Wakefield, Toup. Em. ad Suid. p. iii. p. 203. If 
stealing were not intended by the evangelist, the word itself 
must be considered as superfluous; for, when we are told that 
he had the bag, we need not be informed that he had what was 
in it. But the apostle says he was a thief; and because he 
was a thief, and had the common purse in his power, therefore 
he stole as much as he conveniently could, without subjecting 
himself to detection. And, as he saw that the death of Christ 
was at hand, he wished to secure a provision for himself, 
before he left the company of the apostles. I see that 
several copies of the old Itala version understood the word 
in this sense, and therefore have translated the word by 
auferebat, exportabat-took away, carried away. Jerome, who 
professed to mend this version, has in this place (as well as 
in many others) marred is, by rendering ebastazen, by 
portabat.

The glwssokomon, which we translate bag, meant originally the 
little box, or sheath, in which the tongues or reeds used for 
pipes were carried; and thus it is interpreted by Pollux in 
his Onomasticon; and this is agreeable to the etymology of 
the word. The Greek word is used in Hebrew letters by the 
Talmudists to signify a purse, scrip, chest, coffer, &c. As 
our Lord and his disciples lived on charity, a bag or scrip 
was provided to carry those pious donations by which they 
were supported. And Judas was steward and treasurer to this 
holy company.

Verse 7. Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath 
she kept this.] Several MSS. and versions read thus:-afev 
authn, ina eiv thn hmerantou entafiasmou mou thrhsh-Let her 
alone, THAT she may keep it to the day of my embalming. This 
is the reading of BDLQ, four others, Arabic, Coptic, 
AEthiopic, Armenian, later Syriac in the margin, Slavonic, 
Vulgate, all the Itala but one; Nonnus, Ambrosius, 
Gaudentius, and Augustin. This reading, which has the 
approbation of Mill, Bengel, Griesbach, Pearce, and others, 
intimates that only a part of the ointment was then used, and 
that the rest was kept till the time that the women came to 
embalm the body of Jesus: Luke xxiv. 1. See the notes on 
Matthew xxvi. 12, 13.

Verse 9. Much people of the Jews] John, who was a Galilean, 
often gives the title of Jews to those who were inhabitants 
of Jerusalem.

Verse 10. Consulted that they might put Lazarus also to 
death.] As long as he lived they saw an incontestable proof 
of the Divine power of Christ; therefore they wished to put 
him to death, because many of the Jews, who came to see him 
through curiosity, became converts to Christ through his 
testimony. How blind were these men not to perceive that he 
who had raised him, after he had been dead four days, could 
raise him again though they had slain him a thousand times?

Verse 12. On the next day] On what we call Monday.

Verse 13. Took branches] See on Matt. xxi. 1, &c., and Mark 
xi. 1-6, where this transaction is largely explained.

Verse 16. Then remembered they, &c.] After the ascension of 
Christ, the disciples saw the meaning of many prophecies 
which referred to Christ, and applied them to him, which they 
had not fully comprehended before.

Indeed it is only in the light of the new covenant, that the 
old is to be fully understood.

Verse 17. When he called] It appears that these people, who 
had seen him raise Lazarus from the dead, were publishing 
abroad the miracle, which increased the popularity of Christ, 
and the envy of the Pharisees.

Verse 19. Ye prevail nothing] Either by your threatening or 
excommunications.

The world is gone after him.] The whole mass of the people 
are becoming his disciples. This is a very common form of 
expression among the Jews, and simply answers to the French, 
tout le monde, and to the English, every body-the bulk of the 
people. Many MSS., versions, and fathers, add olov, the WHOLE 
world. As our Lord's converts were rapidly increasing, the 
Pharisees thought it necessary to execute without delay what 
they had purposed at their first council. See chap. xi. 53.

Verse 20. Certain Greeks] There are three opinions concerning 
these: 1.

That they were proselytes of the gate or covenant, who came 
up to worship the true God at this feast. 2. That they were 
real Jews, who lived in Grecian provinces, and spoke the 
Greek language. 3. That they were mere Gentiles, who never 
knew the true God: and hearing of the fame of the temple, or 
the miracles of our Lord, came to offer sacrifices to 
Jehovah, and to worship him according to the manner of the 
people of that land.

This was not an unfrequent case: many of the Gentiles, 
Romans, and others, were in the habit of sending sacrifices 
to the temple at Jerusalem.

Of these opinions the reader may choose; but the first seems 
best founded.

Verse 21. The same came therefore to Philip] Some suppose 
that these Gentiles were of Phoenicia or Syria, or perhaps 
inhabitants of Decapolis, near to the lake of Gennesareth and 
Bethsaida; and therefore they addressed themselves to Philip, 
who was of the latter city, and probably known to them. The 
later Syriac calls them Arameans or Syrians. The Vulgate, and 
several copies of the Itala, call them Gentiles.

Sir, we would see Jesus.] We have heard much concerning him, 
and we wish to see the person of whom we have heard such 
strange things. The final salvation of the soul often 
originates, under God, in a principle of simple curiosity. 
Many have only wished to se or hear a man who speaks much of 
Jesus, his miracles, and his mercies; and in hearing have 
felt the powers of the world to come, and have become genuine 
converts to the truths of the Gospel.

Verse 22. Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.] How pleasing to God 
is this union, when the ministers of his Gospel agree and 
unite together to bring souls to Christ. But where self-love 
prevails, and the honour that comes from God is not sought, 
this union never exists. Bigotry often ruins every generous 
sentiment among the different denominations of the people of 
God.

Verse 23. The hour is come, that the Son of man, &c.] The 
time is just at hand in which the Gospel shall be preached to 
all nations, the middle wall of partition broken down, and 
Jews and Gentiles united in one fold.

But this could not be till after his death and resurrection, 
as the succeeding verse teaches. The disciples were the first 
fruits of the Jews; these Greeks, the first fruits of the 
Gentiles.

Verse 24. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and 
die] Our Lord compares himself to a grain of wheat; his 
death, to a grain sown and decomposed in the ground; his 
resurrection, to the blade which springs up from the dead 
grain; which grain, thus dying, brings forth an abundance of 
fruit. I must die to be glorified; and, unless I am 
glorified, I can not establish a glorious Church of Jews and 
Gentiles upon earth. In comparing himself thus to a grain of 
wheat, our Lord shows us: - 1. The cause of his death-the 
order of God, who had rated the redemption of the world at 
this price; as in nature he had attached the multiplication 
of the corn to the death or decomposition of the grain.

2. The end of his death-the redemption of a lost world; the 
justification, sanctification, and glorification of men: as 
the multiplication of the corn is the end for which the grain 
is sown and dies.

3. The mystery of his death, which we must credit without 
being able fully to comprehend, as we believe the dead grain 
multiplies itself, and we are nourished by that 
multiplication, without being able to comprehend how it is 
done. The greatest philosopher that ever existed could not 
tell how one grain became thirty, sixty, a hundred, or a 
thousand-how it vegetated in the earth-how earth, air, and 
water, its component parts, could assume such a form and 
consistence, emit such odours, or produce such tastes. Nor 
can the wisest man on earth tell how the bodies of animals 
are nourished by this produce of the ground; how wheat, for 
instance, is assimilated to the very nature of the bodies 
that receive it, and how it becomes flesh and blood, nerves, 
sinews, bones, &c. All we can say is, the thing is so; and it 
has pleased God that is should be so, and not otherwise. So 
there are many things in the person, death, and sacrifice of 
Christ, which we can neither explain nor comprehend. All we 
should say here is, It is by this means that the world was 
redeemed-through this sacrifice men are saved: it has pleased 
God that it should be so, and not otherwise. Some say: "Our 
Lord spoke this according to the philosophy of those days, 
which was by no means correct." But, I would ask, has ever a 
more correct philosophy on this point appeared? Is it not a 
physical truth that the whole body of the grain dies, is 
converted into fine earth, which forms the first nourishment 
of the embryo plant, and prepares it to receive a grosser 
support from the surrounding soil; and that nothing lives but 
the germ, which was included in this body, and which must die 
also, if it did not receive, from the death or putrefaction 
of the body of the grain, nourishment, so as to enable it to 
unfold itself? Though the body of our Lord died, there was 
still the germ, the quickening power of the Divinity, which 
re-animated that body, and stamped the atonement with 
infinite merit. Thus the merit was multiplied; and, through 
the death of that one person, the man Christ Jesus united to 
the eternal WORD, salvation was procured for the whole world. 
Never was a simile more appropriate, nor an illustration more 
happy or successful.

Verse 25. He that loveth his life] See on Matt. x. 39; Luke 
xiv. 26. I am about to give up my life for the salvation of 
men; but I shall speedily receive it back with everlasting 
honour, by my resurrection from the dead.

In this I should be imitated by my disciples, who should, 
when called to it, lay down their lives for the truth; and, 
if they do, they shall receive them again with everlasting 
honour.

Verse 26. If any man serve me] Christ is a master in a 
twofold sense: 1.

To instruct men. 2. To employ and appoint them their work. He 
who wishes to serve Christ must become: 1. His disciple or 
scholar, that he may be taught: 2. His servant, that he may 
be employed by and obey his master. To such a person a 
twofold promise is given: 1. He shall be with Christ, in 
eternal fellowship with him; and 2. He shall be honoured by 
the Lord: he shall have an abundant recompense in glory; but 
how great, eye hath not seen, ear heard, nor hath it entered 
into the heart of man to conceive.

How similar to this is the saying of Creeshna (an incarnation 
of the supreme God, according to the Hindoo theology) to his 
disciple Arjoon! "If one whose ways were ever so evil serve 
me alone, he soon becometh of a virtuous spirit, is as 
respectable as the just man, and obtaineth eternal happiness. 
Consider this world as a finite and joyless place, and serve 
me.

Be of my mind, my servant, my adorer, and bow down before me. 
Unite thy soul unto me, make me thy asylum, and thou shalt go 
unto me." And again: "I am extremely dear to the wise man, 
and he is dear to me-I esteem the wise man even as myself, 
because his devout spirit dependeth upon me alone as his 
ultimate resource." Bhagvat Geeta, pp. 71 and 82.

The rabbins have an extravagant saying, viz. "God is more 
concerned for the honour of the just man than for his own."

Verse 27. Now is my soul troubled] Our blessed Lord took upon 
him our weaknesses, that he might sanctify them to us. As a 
man he was troubled at the prospect of a violent death. 
Nature abhors death: God has implanted that abhorrence in 
nature, that it might become a principle of self 
preservation; and it is to this that we owe all that prudence 
and caution by which we avoid danger. When we see Jesus 
working miracles which demonstrate his omnipotence, we should 
be led to conclude that he was not man were it not for such 
passages as these. The reader must ever remember that it was 
essentially necessary that he should be man; for, without 
being such, he could hot have died for the sin of the world.

And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour] kai ti 
eipw; pater, swson me ek thv wrav tauthv? which may be 
paraphrased thus: And why should I say, Father, save me from 
this hour? when for this cause I am come to this hour. The 
common version makes our blessed Lord contradict himself 
here, by not attending to the proper punctuation of the 
passage, and by translating the particle ti what, instead of 
why or how.

The sense of our Lord's words is this: "When a man feels a 
fear of a sudden or violent death, it is natural to him to 
cry out, Father, save me from this death! for he hopes that 
the glory of God and his welfare may be accomplished some 
other way, less dreadful to his nature: but why should I say 
so, seeing for this very purpose, that I might die this 
violent death for the sins of mankind, I am come into the 
world, and have almost arrived at the hour of my 
crucifixion."

Verse 28. Father, glorify thy name.] By the name of God is to 
be understood himself, in all his attributes: his wisdom, 
truth, mercy, justice, holiness, &c., which were all more 
abundantly glorified by Christ's death and resurrection, 
(i.e. shown forth in their own excellence,) than they had 
ever been before. Christ teaches here a lesson of submission 
to the Divine will. Do with me what thou wilt, so that glory 
may redound to thy name.

Some MSS. read, Father, glorify my name: others, glorify thy 
Son.

Then came there a voice from heaven, &c.] The following is a 
literal translation of Calmet's note on this passage, which 
he has taken from Chrysostom, Theodouret, Theophylact, and 
others: "I have accomplished my eternal designs on thee. I 
have sent thee into the world to make an atonement for the 
sin of the world, and to satisfy my offended justice. I will 
finish my work. Thou shalt shed thy blood upon the cross. My 
glory is interested in the consummation of thy sacrifice. 
But, in procuring my own glory, I shall procure thine. Thy 
life and thy death glorify me: I have glorified thee by the 
miracles which have accompanied thy mission; and I will 
continue to glorify thee at thy death, by unexampled 
prodigies, and thy resurrection shall be the completion of 
thy glory and of thy elevation." Christ was glorified: 1st. 
By the prodigies which happened at his death. 2.

In his resurrection. 3. In his ascension, and sitting at the 
right hand of God.

4. In the descent of the Holy Ghost on the apostles. and 5. 
In the astonishing success with which the Gospel was 
accompanied, and by which the kingdom of Christ has been 
established in the world. 2 Cor. ii. 14.

Verse 29. The people-said that it thundered: others-an angel 
spake to him.] Bishop Pearce says, Probably there was thunder 
as well as a voice, as in Exod. xix. 16, 17, and some 
persons, who were at a small distance, might hear the thunder 
without hearing the voice; while others heard the voice too; 
and these last said, "An angel hath spoken to him." Wetstein 
supposes that the voice was in the language then in use among 
the Jews; which the Greeks, not understanding, took for 
thunder; the others, the Jews, who did understand it, said it 
was the voice of an angel.

In Rev. vi. 1, the voice of one of the living creatures is 
compared to thunder; and in Rev. x. 3, the voice of an angel 
is compared to seven thunders. The voice mentioned was 
probably very loud, which some heard distinctly, others 
indistinctly; hence the variety of opinion.

Verse 30. This voice came not because of me, but for your 
sakes.] Probably meaning those Greeks who had been brought to 
him by Philip and Andrew. The Jews had frequent opportunities 
of seeing his miracles, and of being convinced that he was 
the Messiah; but these Greeks, who were to be a first fruits 
of the Gentiles, had never any such opportunity.

For their sakes, therefore, to confirm them in the faith, 
this miraculous voice appears to have come from heaven.

Verse 31. Now is the judgment of this world] The judgment 
spoken of in this place is applied by some to the punishment 
which was about to fall on the Jewish people for rejecting 
Christ. And the ruler or prince, o arcwn, of this world, is 
understood to be Satan, who had blinded the eyes of the Jews, 
and hardened their hearts, that they might not believe on the 
Son of God; but his kingdom, not only among the Jews, but in 
all the world, was about to be destroyed by the abolition of 
idolatry and the vocation of the Gentiles.

The epithet µlw[h rs sar ha-olam, prince of this world, is 
repeatedly applied to the devil, or to Samael, who is termed 
the angel of death. The Jews fabled that, into the hands of 
this chief, God had delivered all the nations of the earth, 
except the Israelites. See Lightfoot. The words are 
understood by others as addressed to these believing Greeks, 
and to have the following meaning, which is extremely 
different from the other. "In a short time (four or five days 
afterwards) ye shall see what sort of a judgment this world 
passes. I, who am its ruler and prince, shall be cast out, 
shall be condemned by my own creatures, as an impious and 
wicked person. But do not be discouraged: though I be lifted 
up on the cross, and die like a malefactor, nevertheless I 
will draw all men unto myself. The Gospel of Christ crucified 
shall be the grand agent, in the hand of the Most High, of 
the conversion and salvation of a ruined world." But see on 
chap. xiv. 30; xvi. 11.

Verse 32. I-will draw all men unto me.] After I shall have 
died and risen again, by the preaching of my word and the 
influence of my Spirit, I shall attract and illuminate both 
Jews and Gentiles. It was one of the peculiar characteristics 
of the Messiah, that unto him should the gathering of the 
people be, Genesis xlix. 10. And probably our Lord refers to 
the prophecy, Isaiah xi. 10, which peculiarly belonged to the 
Gentiles: "There shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand 
for an ENSIGN of the people, to it shall the GENTILES seek, 
and his rest shall be glorious." There is an allusion here to 
the ensigns or colours of commanders of regiments, elevated 
on high places, on long poles, that the people might see 
where the pavilion of their general was, and so flock to his 
standard.

Instead of pantav, the Codex Bezae, another, several 
versions, and many of the fathers, read panta, all men, or 
all things: so the Anglo-Saxon, (Anglo-Saxon), I will draw 
all things to myself. But panta may be here the accusative 
singular, and signify all men.

The ancients fabled that Jupiter had a chain of gold, which 
he could at any time let down from heaven, and by it draw the 
earth and all its inhabitants to himself. See a fine passage 
to this effect in Homer, Iliad viii. ver. 18-27.

eidÆ age peirhsasqe qeoi, ina eidete pantev, seirhn cruseihn 
ex ouranoqen kremasantevÆ pantev dÆ exaptesqe qeoi, pasai te 
qeainai. k. t. l.

"Now prove me: let ye down the golden chain From heaven, and 
pull at its inferior links, Both goddesses and gods: but me 
your king, Supreme in wisdom, ye shall never draw To earth 
from heaven, strive with me as ye may.

But I, if willing to exert my power, The earth itself, itself 
the sea, and you, Will lift with ease together, and will wind 
The chain around the spiry summit sharp Of the Olympian, that 
all things upheaved Shall hang in the mid heaven. So much am 
I, Alone, superior both to gods and men. COWPER.

By this chain the poets pointed out the union between heaven 
and earth; or, in other words, the government of the universe 
by the extensive chain of causes and effects. It was termed 
golden, to point out, not only the beneficence of the Divine 
Providence, but also that infinite philanthropy of God by 
which he influences and by which he attracts all mankind to 
himself. It was possibly in allusion to this that our Lord 
spoke the above words. Should it be objected that it is 
inconsistent with the gravity of the subject, and the dignity 
of our Lord, to allude to the fable of a heathen poet, I 
answer: 1. The moral is excellent, and, applied to this 
purpose, expresses beautifully our Lord's gracious design in 
dying for the world, viz. That men might be united to 
himself, and drawn up into heaven. 2. It is no more 
inconsistent with the gravity of the subject, and his 
dignity, for our blessed Lord to allude to Homer, than it was 
for St. Paul to quote Aratus and Cleanthes, Acts xvii. 28, 
and Epimenides, Tit. i. 12; for he spoke by the same Spirit.

So justice was sometimes represented under the emblem of a 
golden chain, and in some cases such a chain was constructed, 
one end attached to the emperor's apartment, and the other 
hanging within reach; that if any person were oppressed he 
might come and lay hold on the chain, and by shaking it give 
the king notice that he was oppressed, and thus claim 
protection from the fountain of justice and power. In the 
Jehangeer Nameh, a curious account of this kind is given, 
which is as follows. The first order which Jehangeer issued 
on his accession to the throne (which was A.H. 1014, 
answering to A.D. 1605) was for the construction of the 
GOLDEN CHAIN of Justice. It was made of pure gold, and 
measured thirty yards in length, consisting of sixty links, 
and weighing, in the whole, four Hindostany maunds (about 
four hundred pounds avoirdupois.) One end of the chain was 
suspended from the royal bastion of the fortress of Agra, and 
the other fastened in the ground near the side of the river. 
The intention of this was, that if the officers of the courts 
of law were partial in their decisions, or dilatory in the 
administration of justice, the injured parties might come 
themselves to this chain, and, making a noise by shaking the 
links of it, give notice that they were waiting to represent 
their grievances to his majesty. Hist. of Hindostan, p. 96, 
Calcutta, 1788. Such a communication, prayer and faith 
establish between the most just and most merciful GOD, and 
the wretched and oppressed children of men. "And I, if I be 
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." O thou 
that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come! Psa. 
lxv. 2.

Verse 34. We have heard out of the law] That is, out of the 
sacred writings. The words here are quoted from Psa. cx. 4; 
but the Jews called every part of the sacred writings by the 
name, The Law, in opposition to the words or sayings of the 
scribes. See on chap. x. 34.

That Christ abideth for ever] There was no part of the law 
nor of the Scripture that said the Messiah should not die; 
but there are several passages that say as expressly as they 
can that Christ must die, and die for the sin of the world 
too. See especially Isaiah liii. 1, &c.; Dan. ix. 24, 27.

But as there were several passages that spoke of the 
perpetuity of his reign, as Isa. ix. 7; Ezek. xxxvii. 25; 
Dan. vii. 14, they probably confounded the one with the 
other, and thus drew the conclusion, The Messiah cannot die; 
for the Scripture hath said, his throne, kingdom, and reign 
shall be eternal. The prophets, as well as the evangelists 
and apostles, speak sometimes of the Divine, sometimes of the 
human nature of Christ: when they speak of the former, they 
show forth its glory, excellence, omnipotence, omniscience, 
and eternity; when they speak of the latter, they show forth 
its humiliations, afflictions, sufferings, and death. And 
those who do not make the proper distinction between the two 
natures of Christ, the human and the Divine, will ever make 
blunders as well as the Jews. It is only on the ground of two 
natures in Christ that the Scriptures which speak of him, 
either in the Old or New Testament, can be possibly 
understood. No position in the Gospel is plainer than this, 
God was manifest in the flesh.

Verse 35. Yet a little while is the light with you.] In 
answer to their objection, our Lord compares himself to a 
light, which was about to disappear for a short time, and 
afterwards to shine forth with more abundant lustre; but not 
to their comfort, if they continued to reject its present 
beamings. He exhorts them to follow this light while it was 
among them. The Christ shall abide for ever, it is true; but 
he will not always be visible. When he shall depart from you, 
ye shall be left in the thickest darkness; in impenitence and 
hardness of heart. Then shall ye wish to see one of the days 
of the Son of man, and shall not see it, Luke xvii. 22. Then 
shall ye seek me, but shall not find me, chap. vii. 34. For 
the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to the 
Gentiles, Matt. xxi. 43. If ye believe not in me now, ye 
shall then wish ye had done it, when wishing shall be for 
ever fruitless.

Instead of meqÆ umwn, with you, en umin, among you, is the 
reading of BDL, seventeen others; Coptic, Gothic, Slavonic, 
Vulgate, Itala; Cyril, Nonnus, and Victorinus. Griesbach has 
received it into the text. The meaning of both is nearly the 
same.

Lest darkness come upon you] Ye have a good part of your 
journey yet to go: ye cannot travel safely but in the 
daylight-that light is almost gone-run, that the darkness 
overtake you not, or in it ye shall stumble, fall, and 
perish! Reader, is thy journey near an end? There may be but 
a very little time remaining to thee. O, run, fly to Christ, 
lest the darkness of death overtake thee, before thy soul 
have found redemption in his blood!

Verse 36. Children of light] Let the light, the truth of 
Christ, so dwell in and work by you that ye may be all light 
in the Lord: that as truly as a child is the produce of his 
own parent, and partakes of his nature, so ye may be children 
of the light, having nothing in you but truth and 
righteousness.

Did hide himself from them.] Either by rendering himself 
invisible, or by suddenly mingling with the crowd, so that 
they could not perceive him. See chap. viii. 59. Probably it 
means no more than that he withdrew from them, and went to 
Bethany, as was his custom a little before his crucifixion; 
and concealed himself there during the night, and taught 
publicly every day in the temple. It was in the night season 
that they endeavoured to seize upon him, in the absence of 
the multitude.

Verse 37. Yet they believed not on him] Though the miracles 
were wrought for this very purpose, that they might believe 
in Christ, and escape the coming wrath, and every evidence 
given that Jesus was the Messiah, yet they did not believe; 
but they were blinded by their passions, and obstinately 
hardened their hearts against the truth.

Verse 38. That the saying of Esaias] Or, Thus the word of 
Isaiah was fulfilled. So I think ina (commonly rendered that) 
should be translated.

For it certainly does not mean the end the Pharisees had in 
view by not believing; nor the end which the prophet had in 
view in predicting the incredulity of the Jews; but simply, 
such a thing was spoken by the prophet, concerning the Jews 
of his own time, and it had its literal fulfillment in those 
of our Lord's time.

Our report] The testimony of the prophets, concerning the 
person, office, sufferings, death, and sacrifice of the 
Messiah. See Isaiah liii. 1, &c.

The arm of the Lord] The power, strength, and miracles of 
Christ.

Verse 39. Therefore they could not believe] Why? Because they 
did not believe the report of the prophets concerning Christ; 
therefore they credited not the miracles which he wrought as 
a proof that he was the person foretold by the prophets, and 
promised to their fathers. Having thus resisted the report of 
the prophets, and the evidence of Christ's own miracles, God 
gave them up to the darkness and hardness of their own 
hearts, so that they continued to reject every overture of 
Divine mercy; and God refused to heal their national wound, 
but, on the contrary, commissioned the Romans against them, 
so that their political existence was totally destroyed.

The prophecy of Isaiah was neither the cause nor the motive 
of their unbelief: it was a simple prediction, which imposed 
no necessity on them to resist the offers of mercy. They 
might have believed, notwithstanding the prediction, for such 
kinds of prophecies always include a tacit condition; they 
may believe, if they properly use the light and power which 
God has given them. Such prophecies also are of a general 
application-they will always suit somebody, for in every age 
persons will be found who resist the grace and Spirit of God 
like these disobedient Jews. However, it appears that this 
prediction belonged especially to these rejecters and 
crucifiers of Christ; and if the prophecy was infallible in 
its execution, with respect to them, it was not because of 
the prediction that they continued in unbelief, but because 
of their own voluntary obstinacy; and God foreseeing this, 
foretold it by the prophet. Should I say that, they could not 
believe, means, they would not believe, I should perhaps 
offend a generation of his children; and yet I am pretty 
certain the words should be so understood. However, that I 
may put myself under cover from all suspicion of perverting 
the meaning of a text which seems to some to be spoken in 
favour of that awful doctrine of unconditional reprobation, 
the very father of it shall interpret the text for me. Thus 
then saith St. AUGUSTIN: Quare autem non POTERANT, si a me 
quaeratur, cito respondeo; Quia NOLEBANT: MALAM quippe eorum 
VOLUNTATEM praevidit Deus, et per prophetam praenunciavit. 
"If I be asked why they COULD not believe? I immediately 
answer, Because THEY WOULD NOT. And God, having foreseen 
their BAD WILL, foretold it by the prophet." Aug. Tract. 53, 
in Joan.

Verse 40. And I should heal them.] This verse is taken from 
Isaiah vi. 9, and, perhaps, refers more to the judgments that 
should fall upon them as a nation, which God was determined 
should not be averted, than it does to their eternal state. 
To suppose that the text meant that God was unwilling that 
they should turn unto him, lest he should be obliged to save 
them, is an insupportable blasphemy.

Verse 41. When he saw his glory] Isa. vi. 1, &c. I saw 
Jehovah, said the prophet, sitting upon a throne, high and 
lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood 
the seraphim; and one cried unto another, and said, Holy, 
holy, holy, is Jehovah, God of hosts; the whole earth shall 
be full of his glory! It appears evident, from this passage, 
that the glory which the prophet saw was the glory of 
Jehovah: John, therefore, saying here that it was the glory 
of Jesus, shows that he considered Jesus to be Jehovah. See 
Bishop Pearce. Two MSS. and a few versions have qeou, and tou 
qeou autou, the glory of God, or of his God.

Verse 42. Among the chief rulers-many believed on him] We 
only know the names of two of them, Nicodemus, and Joseph of 
Arimathea.

But-they did not confess him] Or it: they were as yet weak in 
the faith, and could not bear the reproach of the cross of 
Christ. Besides, the principal rulers had determined to 
excommunicate every person who acknowledged Christ for the 
Messiah; see chap. ix. 22.

Verse 43. They loved the praise of men] doxan, the glory or 
honour that cometh from men.

How common are these four obstacles of faith! says Quesnel: 
1. Too great a regard to men. 2. Riches and temporal 
advantages. 3. The fear of disgrace.

4. The love of the praise of men. Abundance of persons 
persuade themselves that they love God more than the world, 
till some trying occasion fully convinces them of their 
mistake. It is a very great misfortune for a person not to 
know himself but by his falls; but it is the greatest of all 
not to rise again after he has fallen. This is generally 
occasioned by the love of the praise of men, because in their 
account it is more shameful to rise again than it was to fall 
at first.

Verse 44. Jesus cried and said] This is our Lord's concluding 
discourse to this wicked people: probably this and the 
following verses should be understood as a part of the 
discourse which was left off at the 36th verse.

 Jesus cried-he spoke these words aloud, and showed his 
earnest desire for their salvation.

Believeth not on me, (only,) but on him that sent me.] Here 
he asserts again his indivisible unity with the Father:-he 
who believes on the Son believes on the Father: he who hath 
seen the Son hath seen the Father: he who honours the Son 
honours the Father. Though it was for asserting this (his 
oneness with God) that they were going to crucify him, yet he 
retracts nothing of what he had spoken, but strongly 
reasserts it, in the very jaws of death!

Verse 46. I am come a light into the world] Probably 
referring to what his forerunner had said, chap. i. 5. Before 
the coming of this saviour, this sun of righteousness, into 
the world, all was darkness: at his rising the darkness is 
dispersed; but it only profits those whose eyes are open to 
receive the rays of this sun of righteousness. See on chap. 
i. 5; iii. 19; viii. 12; ix. 5.

Verse 47. And believe not] kai mh fulaxh, And keep them not, 
is the reading of ABL, seven others; Syriac, Wheelock's 
Persian, two of the Arabic, Coptic, Sahidic, AEthiopic, 
Armenian, later Syriac, Vulgate, six of the Itala, and some 
of the fathers.

A man must hear the words of Christ in order to believe them; 
and he must believe, in order to keep them; and he must keep 
them in order to his salvation.

I judge him not] I need not do it: the words of Moses and the 
prophets judge and condemn him. See the notes on chap. iii. 
17; v. 45.

Verse 48. The word that I have spoken-shall judge him] Ye 
shall be judged according to my doctrine: the maxims which ye 
have heard from my mouth shall be those on which ye shall be 
tried in the great day; and ye shall be condemned or 
acquitted according as ye have believed or obeyed them, or 
according as ye have despised and violated them, See this 
proved, Matt. xxv. 35, &c.

Verse 49. For I have not spoken of myself] I have not spoken 
for my secular interest: I have not aimed at making any gain 
of you: I have not set up myself as your teachers in general 
do, to be supported by my disciples, and to be credited on my 
own testimony. I have taught you, not the things of men, but 
the deep, everlasting truths of God. As his envoy, I came to 
you; and his truth only I proclaim.

Gave me a commandment] Or, commission. So I understand the 
original word, entolh. Christ, as the Messiah, received his 
commission from God; what he should command-every thing that 
related to the formation and establishment of the Christian 
institution: and what he should speak-all his private 
conversations with his disciples or others, he, as man, 
commanded and spoke through the constant inspiration of the 
Holy Spirit.

Verse 50. I know that this commandment is life everlasting] 
These words of our Lord are similar to that saying in St. 
John's first epistle, 1 John v. 11, 12. This is the record, 
that God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in 
his Son. He that hath the Son hath life. God's commandment or 
commission is, Preach salvation to a lost world, and give 
thyself a ransom for all; and whosoever believeth on thee 
shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Every word of 
Christ, properly credited, and carefully applied, leads to 
peace and happiness here, and to glory hereafter. What an 
amiable view of the Gospel of the grace of God does this give 
us? It is a system of eternal life, Divinely calculated to 
answer every important purpose to dying, miserable man. This 
sacred truth Jesus witnessed with his last breath. He began 
his public ministry proclaiming the kingdom of God; and he 
now finishes it by asserting that the whole commission is 
eternal life; and, having attested this, he went out of the 
temple, and retired to Bethany.

THE public work of our Lord was now done; and the remnant of 
his time, previously to his crucifixion, he spent in teaching 
his disciples-instructing them in the nature of his kingdom, 
his intercession, and the mission of the Holy Spirit; and in 
that heavenly life which all true believers live with the 
Father, through faith in the Son, by the operation of the 
Holy Ghost.

Many persons are liberal in their condemnation of the Jews, 
because they did not believe on the Son of God; and doubtless 
their unbelief has merited and received the most signal 
punishment. But those who condemn them do not reflect that 
they are probably committing the same sort of transgression, 
in circumstances which heighten the iniquity of their sin.

Will it avail any man, that he has believed that Christ has 
come in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil, who does 
not come unto him that he may have life, but continues to 
live under the power and guilt of sin? Paradoxical as it may 
seem, it is nevertheless possible, for a man to credit the 
four evangelists, and yet live and die an infidel, as far as 
his own salvation is concerned. Reader, it is possible to 
hold the truth in unrighteousness. Pray to God that this may 
not be thy condemnation. For a farther improvement of the 
principal subjects of this chapter, see the notes on verses 
24, 32, and 39. 

CHAPTER xiii.

Christ washes the feet of his disciples, and gives them 
instructions concerting humility and charity, 1-17. He tells 
them that one of themselves will betray him, 18-20. The 
disciples doubting of whom he spoke, Peter desires John to 
ask him, 21-25. Jesus shows that it is Judas Iscariot, 26. 
Satan enters into Judas, and he rises up and leaves the 
company, 27-30. Christ shows his approaching death, and 
commands his disciples to love one another, 31-35. Peter, 
professing strong attachment to Christ, is informed of his 
denial. 36-38.

NOTES ON CHAP. xiii.

Verse 1. Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus 
knew, &c.] Or, as some translate, Now Jesus having known, 
before the feast of the passover, that his hour was come, &c. 
The supper mentioned in ver. 2 is supposed to have been that 
on the Thursday evening, when the feast of the passover 
began; and though, in our common translation, this passage 
seems to place the supper before that feast, yet, according 
to the amended translation, what is here said is consistent 
with what we read in the other evangelists. See Matt. xxvi. 
2; chap. xii. 1.

Having loved his own] His disciples.

Which were in the world] Who were to continue longer in its 
troubles and difficulties.

He loved them unto the end.] Continued his fervent affection 
towards them to his latest breath, and gave them that 
convincing proof of it which is mentioned ver. 5. That the 
disciples alone are meant here every man must see.

Verse 2. And supper being ended] Rather, deipnou genomenou, 
while supper was preparing. To support this new translation 
of the words, it may be remarked that, from ver. 26, 30, it 
appears that the supper was not then ended: nay, it is 
probable that it was not then begun; because the washing of 
feet (ver. 5) was usually practised by the Jews before they 
entered upon their meals, as may be gathered from Luke vii. 
44, and from the reason of the custom. I think that John 
wrote, not genomenou, but ginomenou, as in BL. Cant. and 
Origen, which latter reading is approved by several eminent 
critics, and should be translated as above. By the supper I 
suppose to be meant, not only the eating of it, but the 
preparing and dressing of it, and doing all things necessary 
previously to the eating of it. The devil had, before this 
time of the supper, put it into Judas's heart to betray his 
Master. See Matt. xxvi. 14, &c.; Mark xiv. 10, 11; and Luke 
xxii. 3, &c. See also Bishop Pearce, from whose judicious 
commentary the preceding notes are principally taken.

Calmet observes that John, designing only to supply what was 
omitted by the other evangelists, passes over all the 
transactions of the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, before 
the passion, and at once goes from Monday evening to Thursday 
evening. It is remarkable that St. John says nothing about 
the institution of the holy sacrament, which Matthew, Matt. 
xxvi. 26, &c., Mark, Mark xiv. 22, &c., and Luke, Luke xxii. 
19, &c., describe so particularly. No other reason can be 
assigned for this than that he found it completely done by 
the others, and that he only designed to supply their 
defects.

The devil having now put it into the heart] Judas formed his 
plot six days before this, on occasion of what happened at 
the house of Simon the leper: see Matt. xxvi. 14. Calmet.

Verse 3. Knowing that the Father had given, &c.] Our Lord, 
seeing himself almost at the end of his race, and being about 
to leave his apostles, thought it necessary to leave them a 
lesson of humility exemplified by himself, to deliver them 
from the bad influence of those false ideas which they formed 
concerning the nature of his kingdom. On all occasions 
previously to this, the disciples had shown too much 
attachment to worldly honours and dignities: if this ambition 
had not been removed, the consequences of it would have been 
dreadful in the establishment of the religion of Christ; as 
after his death, it would have divided and infallibly 
dispersed them. It was necessary therefore to restrain this 
dangerous passion, and to confirm by a remarkable example 
what he had so often told them,-that true greatness consisted 
in the depth of humility, and that those who were the willing 
servants of all should be the highest in the account of God.

Verse 4. He riseth from supper] Not from eating, as Bishop 
Pearce has well observed, but from his place at table; 
probably the dishes were not as yet laid down, though the 
guests were seated. According to the custom of the Jews and 
other Asiatics, this washing must have taken place before the 
supper. See on chap. xiii. 2.

Laid aside his garments] That is, his gown or upper coat, 
with the girdle wherewith it was girded close to his tunic or 
under coat; and, instead of this girdle, he tied a towel 
about him: 1. that he might appear in the character of a 
servant; and 2. that he might have it in readiness to dry 
their feet after he had washed them.

Verse 5. Poureth water into a bason, &c.] This was the office 
of the meanest slaves. When David sent to Abigail, to inform 
her that he had chosen her for wife, she arose and said: 
Behold, let thy handmaid be a SERVANT, to WASH the FEET of 
the SERVANTS of my lord, 1 Sam. xxv. 41.

Some of the ancients have supposed that our Lord began with 
washing the feet of Judas, to inspire him with sentiments of 
compunction and remorse, to melt him down with kindness, and 
to show all his disciples how they should act towards their 
enemies. Dr. Lightfoot supposes he washed the feet of Peter, 
James, and John only; but this is not likely: the verb 
arcesqai in the sacred writings, signifies, not only to 
commence, but to finish an act, Acts i. 1; and in the 
Septuagint, Gen. ii. 3. There is every reason to believe that 
he washed the feet of all the twelve. See on ver. 9.

Verse 6. Lord, dost THOU wash MY feet?] Every word here is 
exceedingly emphatic. Peter had often seen the great humility 
of his Lord, but never saw his condescension so particularly 
marked as in this instance.

Verse 7. What I do thou knowest not now, &c.] As if our Lord 
had said, Permit me to do it now, and I will shortly explain 
to you the nature of this action, and my motives for doing 
it.

Thou shalt know hereafter.] meta tauta, after this business 
is finished.

And so we find he explained the whole to them, as soon as he 
had finished the washing: see ver. 12-17. I cannot think that 
this refers to any particular instruction received on this 
head after the day of pentecost, as some have conjectured.

Verse 8. If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.] Thou 
canst not be my disciple unless I wash thee. It is certain 
Christ did not mean to exclude him from the apostolic office, 
if he should persist, through the deepest reverence for his 
Master, to refuse to let him wash his feet: this act of his 
was emblematical of something spiritual; of something that 
concerned the salvation of Peter; and without which washing 
he could neither be an apostle or be finally saved; therefore 
our Lord said, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. 
There is a mystical washing by the blood of Christ, 1 John i. 
7; and by his Spirit, 1 Cor. vi. 11; Tit. iii. 5, 6. It was 
the common custom of our Lord to pass from sensible and 
temporal things to those which were spiritual and eternal; 
and to take occasion from every thing that presented itself, 
to instruct his disciples, and to raise their souls to God. 
If the discourse was of bread, water, leaven, father, mother, 
riches, &c., he immediately changed the literal sense, and 
under the figure of these things, spoke of matters altogether 
spiritual and Divine. I have met with many good persons who 
have attempted to imitate our blessed Lord in this, but I 
never knew one to succeed in it. The reason is, it requires 
not only very deep piety, but sound sense, together with an 
accurate knowledge of the nature and properties of the 
subjects which, in this way, the person wishes to illustrate; 
and very few can be found who have such deep, philosophical 
knowledge as such cases require. The large folio which a 
good-intentioned man printed on the metaphors is, alas! a 
standing proof how little mere piety can do in matters of 
this kind, where the sciences, and especially practical 
philosophy, are totally wanting. Jesus Christ was a 
consummate philosopher: every subject appears grand and noble 
in his hands. See an ample proof in the preceding chapter, 
chap. xii. 24.

Verse 9. Lord, not my feet only, &c.] It appears that Peter 
entered into our Lord's meaning, and saw that this was 
emblematical of a spiritual cleansing: therefore he wishes to 
be completely washed.

Verse 10. He that is washed] That is, he who has been in the 
bath, as probably all the apostles had lately been, in order 
to prepare themselves the better for the paschal solemnity; 
for on that occasion, it was the custom of the Jews to bathe 
twice.

Needeth not save to wash his feet] To cleanse them from any 
dirt or dust that might have adhered to them, in consequence 
of walking from the bath to the place of supper. The washing, 
therefore, of the feet of such persons was all that was 
necessary, previously to their sitting down to table; The 
Hindoos walk home from bathing barefoot, and, on entering the 
house wash their feet again. To this custom our Lord 
evidently alludes.

If these last words of our Lord had any spiritual reference, 
it is not easy to say what it was. A common opinion is the 
following: He who is washed-who is justified through the 
blood of the Lamb, needeth only to wash his feet-to regulate 
all his affections and desires; and to get, by faith, his 
conscience cleansed from any fresh guilt, which he may have 
contracted since his justification.

Ye are clean, but not all] Eleven of you are upright and 
sincere; the twelfth is a traitor. So it appears he had 
washed the feet of all the twelve; but as no external 
ablutions can purify a hypocrite or a traitor, therefore 
Judas still remained unclean.

Verse 12. Know ye what I have done] Our Lord had told Peter, 
in the presence of the rest, ver. 7, that he should 
afterwards know what was the intent and meaning of this 
washing; and now he begins to fulfill his promise; therefore 
I think it more likely that he gives a command, here, than 
asks a question, as he knew himself that they did not 
comprehend his design. On this account ginwskete might be 
translated in the imperative mood, CONSIDER what I have done.

Verse 13. Ye call me Master and Lord] Æo didaskalov kai o 
kuriov, similar to ybr Rabbi, and rm Mar, titles very common 
among the Jewish doctors, as may be seen in Schoettgen. This 
double title was not given except to the most accredited 
teachers, yrwmw ybr Rabbi vemore, my master, my lord!

Verse 14. Ye also ought to wash one another feet.] That is, 
ye should be ready, after my example, to condescend to all 
the weakness of your brethren; to be willing to do the 
meanest offices for them, and to prefer the least of them in 
honour to yourselves.

Verse 16. The servant is not greater than his lord] Christ 
has ennobled the acts of humility by practising them himself. 
The true glory of a Christian consists in being, in his 
measure, as humble as his Lord.

Neither he that is sent] oude apostolov Nor an apostle. As I 
think these words were intended for the suppression of all 
worldly ambition and lordly conduct in the apostles and their 
successors in the ministry, therefore I think the original 
word apostolov, should be translated apostle, rather than he 
that is sent, because the former rendering ascertains and 
determines the meaning better.

Verse 17. If ye know these things, happy, &c.] True happiness 
consists in the knowledge of God, and in obedience to him. A 
man is not happy because he knows much; but because he 
receives much of the Divine nature, and is, in all his 
conduct, conformed to the Divine will. "They who have read 
many books (says Menu) are more exalted than such as have 
seldom studied; they who retain what they have read, than 
forgetful readers; they who fully understand, than such as 
only remember; and they who perform their known duty, than 
such as barely know it. Sacred knowledge and devotedness to 
God are the means by which a man can arrive at beatitude." 
See Institutes of MENU, c. xii. Inst. 103, 104. For a heathen 
this saying is very remarkable.

Verse 18. I speak not of you all] This is a continuation of 
that discourse which was left off at the tenth verse. The 
preceding verses may be read in a parenthesis.

I know whom I have chosen] I am not deceived in my choice; I 
perfectly foresaw every thing that has happened, or can 
happen. I have chosen Judas, not as a wicked man, nor that he 
should become such; but I plainly foresaw that he would abuse 
my bounty, give way to iniquity, deliver me into the hands of 
my enemies, and bring ruin upon himself.

That the scripture may be fulfilled] Or, thus the scripture 
is fulfilled.

Christ applies to Judas what David had said of his rebellious 
son Absalom, Psa. xli. 9, who was one of the most express 
emblems of this traitor. See on chap. xii. 38, 39.

He that eateth bread with me] That is, he who was in habits 
of the utmost intimacy with me.

Hath lifted up his heel] An allusion to a restive, ill-
natured horse, that sometimes kicks even the person who feeds 
and takes care of him.

Verse 19. That-ye may believe] These frequent predictions of 
his death, so circumstantial in themselves, had the most 
direct tendency to confirm the disciples, not only in the 
belief of his being the Messiah, but also in that of his 
omniscience.

Verse 20. He that received whomsoever I send] See similar 
words, Matt. x. 40, &c. Our Lord spoke this to comfort his 
disciples: he showed them that, although they should be 
rejected by many, they would be received by several; and that 
whoever received them should reap the utmost benefit by it.

Verse 21. Was troubled in spirit.] See the note on chap. xi. 
33.

And testified] Spoke with great earnestness.

Shall betray me.] paradwsei me, Will deliver me up. Judas had 
already betrayed our blessed Lord, and he was now on the 
point of delivering him up into the hands of the chief 
priests. By all these warnings, did not our Lord intend that 
Judas should be benefited?-that he should repent of his 
iniquity, and turn and find mercy? 

Verse 22. Looked one on another doubting of whom he spake.] 
See the notes on Matt. xxvi. 20-25. Every one but Judas, 
conscious of his own innocence, looked about upon all the 
rest, wondering who in that company could be such a traitor! 
Even Judas himself is not suspected. Is not this a proof that 
his general conduct had been such as to subject him to no 
suspicion?

Verse 23. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom] The Jews of 
those days, at their suppers, reclined, supported by their 
left arm, on couches placed round the table, as the Greeks 
and Romans did. On each couch there were two or three 
persons; and the head of one of them came near to the bosom 
of him who reclined above him on the same couch. The person 
here mentioned was John, the writer of this history, who, 
being more tenderly loved by Christ than the rest, had always 
that place at table which was nearest to his Lord.

Verse 25. He then lying on Jesus' breast] epipeswn, laying 
his head against the breast of Christ, in a loving, 
respectful manner. As the expressions in the text are 
different here from those in the preceding verse, it shows 
that John altered his position at table, in order to ask the 
question which Peter suggested, which he probably did by 
whispering to our Lord; for, from ver. 28, we may learn that 
the other disciples had not heard what John said; and it is 
likely that the following words-It is he to whom I shall give 
the morsel when I have dipped it, were whispered back by 
Christ to John.

Verse 26. And when he had dipped the sop] Dr. Lightfoot 
observes that it was no unusual thing to dip a sop and give 
it to any person; and it is probable that the rest of the 
disciples considered it as given to Judas that he might hurry 
to do some work on which he wished to employ him, and not 
wait to finish his supper in a regular manner. They did not 
hear the question that John asked, nor our Lord's answer; but 
they no doubt heard the words, That thou doest do quickly-and 
might understand them as above.

Verse 27. Satan entered into him.] He had entered into him 
before, and now he enters again, to strengthen him in his 
purpose of delivering up his Master. But the morsel was not 
the cause of this entering in; the giving of it only marks 
the time in which the devil confirmed Judas in his traitorous 
purpose. Some have thought that this morsel was the sacrament 
of the Lord's Supper: but this is an utter mistake.

That thou doest, do quickly.] As if he had said: "Thou art 
past all counsel; thou hast filled up the measure of thy 
iniquity, and hast wholly abandoned thyself to Satan; I will 
not force thee to turn from thy purpose, and without this 
thou wilt not. Thy designs are all known to me; what thou art 
determined to do, and I to permit, do directly; delay not, I 
am ready."

Verse 29. Buy those things that we have need of against the 
feast] Calmet's observation here has weight so it. "The 
disciples who thought that our Lord had said this to Judas, 
knew well that on the day of the passover there was neither 
buying nor selling in Jerusalem. This, therefore, did not 
happen on the paschal evening; for the feast, according to 
the common opinion, must have begun the preceding evening, 
and Jesus have eaten the passover with his disciples the 
night before his death; but it appears to me, by the whole 
text of St. John, that the passover did not begin till the 
time in which our Lord expired upon the cross. It was then 
that they were sacrificing the paschal lambs in the temple. 
It is therefore probable that the apostles believed that 
Judas went to purchase a lamb, and the other necessary things 
for the evening, and for the day of the Passover." On this 
subject the reader is requested to consult the observations 
at the end of Matthew 26, where the subject is considered at 
large.  Give something to the poor.] It is well known that 
our Lord and his disciples lived on public charity; and yet 
they gave alms out of what they had thus received. From this 
we learn that even those who live on charity themselves are 
expected to divide a little with those who are in deeper 
distress and want.

Verse 30. He-went immediately out: and it was night.] He set 
off to Jerusalem from Bethany, which was about two miles 
distant; and, under the conduct of the prince of darkness, 
and in the time of darkness, he did this work of darkness.

Verse 31. Now is the Son of man glorified] nun edoxasqh, Hath 
been glorified. Now it fully appears that I am the person 
appointed to redeem a lost world by my blood. I have already 
been glorified by this appointment, and am about to be 
farther glorified by my death, resurrection, and ascension.

Verse 32. And shall straightway glorify him.] Or, glorify 
him, euquv, immediately; "he did, not only in the miracles 
wrought at his death, but also in that remarkable case 
mentioned, chap. xviii. 6, when the whole crowd that came to 
seize him were driven back with a word of his mouth, and fell 
to the ground.

Verse 33. Little children] Or, rather, beloved children. 
teknia, a word frequently used by this apostle in his 
epistles. It is an expression which implies great tenderness 
and affection, and such as a fond mother uses to her most 
beloved babes. Now that Judas was gone out, he could use this 
epithet without any restriction of meaning.

Yet a little while] The end of my life is at hand; Judas is 
gone to consummate his treason; I have but a few hours to be 
with you, and you shall be by and by scattered.

Ye shall seek me] For a few days ye shall feel great distress 
because of my absence.

Whither I go, ye cannot come] Your time is not up. The Jews 
shall die in their sins, martyrs to their infidelity; but ye 
shall die in the truth, martyrs for your Lord.

Verse 34. A new commandment I give unto you] In what sense 
are we to understand that this was a new commandment? Thou 
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, was a positive precept 
of the law, Lev. xix. 18, and it is the very same that Christ 
repeats here; how then was it new? Our Lord answers this 
question, Even AS I have loved you. Now Christ more than 
fulfilled the Mosaic precept; he not only loved his neighbour 
AS himself, but he loved him MORE than himself, for he laid 
down his life for men. In this he calls upon the disciples to 
imitate him; to be ready on all occasions to lay down their 
lives for each other. This was, strictly, a new commandment: 
no system of morality ever prescribed any thing so pure and 
disinterested as this. Our blessed Lord has outdone all the 
moral systems in the universe in two words: 1. Love your 
enemies; 2. Lay down your lives for each other.

Verse 35. By this shall all men know, &c.] From this time 
forward, this mutual and disinterested love shall become the 
essential and distinctive mark of all my disciples. When they 
love one another with pure hearts, fervently, even unto 
death, then shall it fully appear that they are disciples of 
that person who laid down his life for his sheep, and who 
became, by dying, a ransom for all.

The disciples of different teachers were known by their 
habits, or some particular creed or rite, or point of 
austerity, which they had adopted; but the disciples of 
Christ were known by this love which they bore to each other. 
The primitive Christians were particularly known by this 
among the Gentiles. Tertullian, in his Apology, gives us 
their very words: Vide, inquiunt, ut se diligunt; et pro 
alterutro mori parati sunt. "See, said they, how they love 
one another, and are ready to lay down their lives for each 
other." 

Verse 36. Thou canst not follow me now] Thou hast not faith 
strong enough to die for me, nor is thy work yet done; but 
hereafter thou shalt suffer for my sake, and die in defense 
of my truth. See chap. xxi. 18.

Verse 37. Why cannot I follow thee now?] Peter probably 
thought that our Lord intended to go some long journey, which 
would necessarily subject him to many inconveniences and 
fatigue; and he felt quite disposed to follow him in this 
supposed journey, at all hazards. He saw no reason, because 
he did not see our Lord's meaning, why he could not follow 
him now.

I will lay down my life for thy sake.] Poor Peter! thou wast 
sincere, but thou didst not know thy own strength. Thou wast 
at this time willing to die, but when the time cams wast not 
able. Christ must first die for Peter, before Peter can die 
for him. Let no man think he can do any thing good, without 
the immediate assistance of God. Peter's denial should be an 
eternal warning to all self-confident persons: though there 
be sincerity and good will at the bottom, yet in the trial 
these cannot perform that office which belongs to the power 
of God. We should will, and then look to God for power to 
execute: without him we can do nothing.

Verse 38. The cock shall not crow, &c.] See on Matt. xxvi. 
34. Dr. Lightfoot has very properly remarked that we must not 
understand these words, as if the cock should not crow at all 
before Peter had thrice denied his Master; but we must 
understand them thus: "The cock shall not have finished his 
crowing before thou wilt thrice deny me. When the time was 
near, the very night in which this was to happen, Christ 
said, This very night the cock shall not crow his second 
time, &c. But here, two days before that time, he says, the 
cock shall not crow; that is, shall not have done his 
crowing. The Jews, and some other nations, divided the cock-
crowing into the first, the second, and the third times." 1. 
ON peters denial of our Lord much has been written: by one 
class he has been incautiously excused, and by another rashly 
censured. Peter was self-confident, but he was certainly 
sincere, and, had he trusted more in God and less in himself, 
he would not have miscarried. He did not look to his Maker 
for strength, and therefore he fell. He was surprised, and 
found unarmed. It is a well-known fact that circumstances 
have occurred in which persons of the most bold, intrepid, 
and adventurous minds have proved mere cowards, and acted to 
their own disgrace and ruin. Facts of this kind occur in the 
naval and military history of this and every other country. 
No man is master of himself at all times; therefore prudence 
and caution should ever be united to courage. Peter had 
courage, but he had not caution: he felt a powerful and 
determined will; but the trial was above his own strength, 
and he did not look to God for power from on high. He was 
warned by this miscarriage, but he dearly bought his 
experience. Let him that readeth understand.

2. A fact which occurs in the English Martyrology will serve 
to illustrate the history of Peter's denial and fall. In the 
reign of Queen Mary, when the Papists of this kingdom burned 
all the Protestants they could convict of denying the 
doctrine of transubstantiation, a poor man who had received 
the truth in theory, but had not as yet felt its power, was 
convicted and sentenced by their bloody tribunal to be burned 
alive. While they were drawing him to the place of execution, 
he was very pensive and melancholy; and when he came within 
sight of the stake, &c., he was overpowered with fear and 
terror, and exclaimed, O! I can't burn! I can't burn! Some of 
the attending priests, supposing that he wished to recant, 
spoke to him to that effect. The poor man still believed the 
truth-felt no disposition to deny it-but did not feel such an 
evidence of his Maker's approbation in his own soul as could 
enable him to burn for it! He continued in great agony, 
feeling all the bitterness of death, and calling on God to 
reveal himself through the Son of his love. While thus 
engaged, God broke in upon his soul and he was filled with 
peace and joy in believing.

He then clapped his hands, and exclaimed with a powerful 
voice, I can burn! I can burn! He was bound to the stake, and 
burned gloriously, triumphing in God through whom he had 
received the atonement. This was a case in point. The man was 
convinced of the truth, and was willing to burn for the 
truth; but had not as yet power, because he had not yet 
received an evidence of his acceptance with God. He pleaded 
for this with strong crying and tears, and God answered him 
to the joy of his soul; and then he was as able as he was 
willing to go to prison and to death. Without the power and 
consolation of the Spirit of God, who could be a martyr, even 
for Divine truth? We see now plainly how the case lies: no 
man is expected to do a supernatural work by his own 
strength; if left to that, in a case of this kind, his 
failure must be inevitable. But, in all spiritual matters, 
assistance is to be sought from God; he that seeks shall 
find, and he that finds Divine strength shall be equal to the 
task he is called to fulfill. Peter was incautious and off 
his guard: the trial came-he looked not for power from on 
high, and he fell: not merely because he was weak-not because 
God withheld the necessary assistance-but because he did not 
depend on and seek it. In no part of this business can Peter 
be excused-he is every where blamable, and yet, through the 
whole, an object of pity.

CHAPTER xiv.

Christ comforts his disciples, on the event of his removal 
from them, by the consideration of his going to prepare a 
place for them in heaven, 1-4. Thomas questions him 
concerning the way to the Father, and is answered, 5-7. 
Philip proposes a difficulty, and Christ shows that he and 
the Father are one; that he is Mediator between God and man; 
and that whatsoever is asked in his name shall be obtained, 
8-14. He promises them the Holy Spirit as the Comforter and 
Spirit of truth, 15-18. Shows them that he is shortly to 
leave them, and that those who love him should be loved of 
the Father, 19-21. Jude asks a question, how Christ is to 
manifest himself to the disciples, and not to the Jews? 22. 
Christ answers, and shows that the manifestation is to be 
made to those who love God, and to them the Holy Spirit is to 
be an infallible teacher, 23-26. He bequeaths his peace to 
them, and fortifies them against discouragements, 27-29. 
Foretells his approaching death, 30, 31.

NOTES ON CHAP. xiv.

Verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled] After having 
answered St. Peter's question, he addresses himself again to 
his disciples, and tells them not to be afflicted at his 
leaving them, nor to lose courage because of what he said 
concerning Peter's denying him; that if they reposed their 
confidence in God, he would protect them; and that, howsoever 
they might see him treated, they should believe in him more 
firmly, as his sufferings, death, and resurrection should be 
to them the most positive proof of his being the Messiah, the 
saviour of the world.

Ye believe in God, believe also in me.] It is best to read 
both the verbs in the imperative mood:-Place your confidence 
in God, and in me as the Mediator between God and man, ver. 
12-14; and expect the utmost support from God; but expect it 
all through me. The disciples began to lose all hope of a 
secular kingdom, and were discouraged in consequence: Christ 
promises them a spiritual and heavenly inheritance, and thus 
lifts up their drooping hearts.

Verse 2. In my Fathers house, &c.] The kingdom of glory.

Many mansions] Though I have said before that whither I am 
going ye cannot come now, yet do not think that we shall be 
for ever separated. I am going to that state of glory where 
there is not only a place of supreme eminence for myself, but 
also places for all my disciples;-various degrees of glory, 
suited to the various capacities and attainments of my 
followers.

Our Lord alludes here to the temple, which was called the 
house of God, in the precincts of which there were a great 
number of chambers, 1 Kings vi. 5; Ezra viii. 29; Jer. xxxv. 
2, 4; xxxvi. 10.

If-not-I would have told you.] If your places were not 
prepared in the kingdom of God, I would not have permitted 
you to have indulged a vain hope concerning future 
blessedness.

Verse 3. And if I go] And when I shall have gone and prepared 
a place for you-opened the kingdom of an eternal glory for 
your reception, and for the reception of all that shall die 
in the faith, I will come again, after my resurrection, and 
give you the fullest assurances of this state of blessedness; 
and confirm you in the faith, by my grace and the effusion of 
my Spirit. Dr. Lightfoot thinks, and with great probability 
too, that there is an allusion here to Num. x. x23: And the 
ark of the Lord went before therm to search out a resting 
place for them.

Verse 4. And whither I go ye know] I have told you this so 
often and so plainly that ye must certainly have comprehended 
what I have said.

Verse 5. Lord, we know not] Thomas, perhaps, thought that our 
Lord only spoke of his going some distance from the place 
where he then was.

Verse 6. I am the WAY] That leads so the Father:-the TRUTH 
that teaches the knowledge of God, and directs in the way:-
the LIFE that animates all those who seek and serve him, and 
which is to be enjoyed eternally at the end of the way.

Christ is the WAY: 1. By his doctrine, chap. vi. 68. 2. By 
his example, 1 Pet. ii. 91. 3. By his sacrifice, Heb. ix. 8, 
9. 4. By his Spirit, chap. xvi. 13.

He is the TRUTH: 1. In opposition to all false religions. 2. 
To the Mosaic law, which was only the shadow, not the truth 
or substance, of the good things which were to come. And 3. 
In respect to all the promises of God, 2 Cor. i. 20.

He is the LIFE, both in grace and glory; the life that not 
only saves from death, but destroys it.

No man cometh unto the Father] By any other doctrine, by any 
other merit, or by any other intercession than mine.

Verse 7. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father] 
Because I and the Father are ONE, chap. x. 30. Or, if ye had 
properly examined the intention and design of the law, ye 
would have been convinced that it referred to me; and that 
all that I have done and instituted was according to the 
design and intention of the Father, as expressed in that law.

Verse 8. Show us the Father] As if he had said, We have seen 
and adored thee, and our happiness will be complete if thou 
show us the Father. The demand of Philip was similar to that 
made by Moses, Exod. xxxiii. 18. He wished to see the glory 
of God. In Peter, James, or John, this would have been 
inexcusable; but Philip had not seen the transfiguration on 
the mount. The Jewish history is full of the manifestations 
which God made of himself, and especially when he gave the 
law. As Christ was introducing a new law, Philip wished to 
have an additional manifestation of God.

Verse 9. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father] Could any 
creature say these words? Do they not evidently imply that 
Christ declared himself to his disciples to be the 
everlasting God?

Verse 10. I am in the Father, and the Father in me?] We are 
essentially one; and those who have seen me have seen him who 
sent me.

He doeth the works.] We are not only one in nature, but one 
also in operation. The works which I have done bear witness 
of the infinite perfection of my nature. Such miracles as I 
have wrought could only be performed by unlimited power.

Verse 12. And greater works than these] The miracles which I 
have wrought could not have been wrought but by the 
omnipotence of God; but that omnipotence can work greater. 
And those who believe on my name shall, through my almighty 
power, be enabled to work greater miracles than those which l 
have ordinarily wrought. An impostor might seduce the people 
by false miracles; but he could not make his power and 
cunning pass to all those who were seduced by him: but I will 
give you this proof of the divinity of my mission and the 
truth of my doctrine.

Perhaps the greater works refer to the immense multitudes 
that were brought to God by the ministry of the apostles. By 
the apostles was the doctrine of Christ spread far and wide; 
while Christ confined his ministry chiefly to the precincts 
of Judea. It is certainly the greatest miracle of Divine 
grace to convert the obstinate, wicked heart of man from sin 
to holiness. This was done in numberless cases by the 
disciples, who were endued with power from on high, while 
proclaiming remission of sins through faith in his blood.

Some account for the greater works thus: 1. The very shadow 
of Peter healed the diseased, Acts v. 15.

2. Diseases were cured, and demons cast out, by applying to 
the persons handkerchiefs and aprons that had before touched 
the body of Paul, Acts xix. 12.

3. By the word of Peter, Ananias and Sapphira were struck 
dead, Acts v. 5, 9, 10.

4. Elymas the sorcerer was struck blind by the word of Paul, 
Acts xiii. 11.

5. Christ only preached in Judea, and in the language only of 
that country; but the apostles preached through the most of 
the then known world, and in all the languages of all 
countries. But let it be remarked that all this was done by 
the power of Christ; and I think it still more natural to 
attribute the greater works to the greater number of 
conversions made under the apostles' ministry. The reason 
which our Lord gives for this is worthy of deep attention: - 
Because I go unto my Father.] Where I shall be an Intercessor 
for you, that: -

Verse 13. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name] To enable you 
to perform these miracles, and to convert souls, may be 
granted you. Besides, by going unto the Father, I shall 
receive the Holy Spirit, and send down his abundant 
influences into the hearts of those who believe.

Verse 15. If ye love me, keep my commandments.] Do not be 
afflicted at the thought of my being separated from you: the 
most solid proof ye can give of your attachment to and 
affection for me is to keep my commandments. This I shall 
receive as a greater proof of your affection than your tears.

Verse 16. I will pray the Father] After having made an 
atonement for the sin of the world, I will become the 
Mediator between God and man; and through my mediation and 
intercession shall all the blessings of grace and glory be 
acquired.

Another Comforter] The word paraklhtov signifies not only a 
comforter, but also an advocate, a defender of a cause, a 
counsellor, patron, mediator. Christ is thus termed, 1 John 
ii. 1, where the common translation renders the word 
advocate. Christ is thus called, because he is represented as 
transacting the concerns of our souls with God; and for this 
cause, he tells us, he goes unto the Father, ver. 12. The 
Holy Spirit is thus called, because he transacts the cause of 
God and Christ with us, explains to us the nature and 
importance of the great atonement, shows the necessity of it, 
counsels us to receive it, instructs us how to lay hold on 
it, vindicates our claim to it, and makes intercessions in us 
with unutterable groanings. As Christ acted with his 
disciples while he sojourned with them, so the Holy Ghost 
acts with those who believe in his name.

For ever] As the death and atonement of Christ will be 
necessary to man till the conclusion of the world, so the 
office of the Holy Spirit must be continued among men till 
the end of time: therefore says Christ, he shall continue 
with you for ever, teaching, comforting, advising, defending, 
and interceding for you and for all my followers to the end 
of time.

Verse 17. The Spirit of truth] The Spirit, or Holy Ghost, 
whose essential office is to manifest, vindicate, and apply 
the truth. The Gospel of Christ may be thus called, because 
it exposes falsity, removes error, and teaches the knowledge 
of the true God-shows the way to him, saves from vanity and 
illusive hopes, and establishes solid happiness in the souls 
of those who believe.

The world cannot receive] By the world, St. John means those 
who are influenced only by the desire of the flesh, the 
desire of the eye, and the pride of life, 1 John ii. 16. Now 
these cannot receive the Spirit of the truth, because they 
see him not, have no spiritual discernment, attend to nothing 
but the dictates of their corrupt passions and affections, 
and will admit of no influence but what can be an object of 
their senses. Hence all the deign and irreligion in the 
world. God, in the operation of his hands, and in the 
influences of his Spirit, is found every where except in the 
perverted passions of men. In these alone do men of corrupt 
minds seek him; here only he is not to be found, and 
therefore they become infidels and atheists.

But ye know him] Ye have already received a measure of the 
truth, and ye believe in this Spirit. Probably our Lord 
refers to the knowledge which they should afterwards attain: 
in this sense the passage has been understood by the Vulgate, 
Nonnus, and two copies of the Itala, which read, Ye SHALL 
know him.

For he dwelleth with you] Or, as the AEthiopic, Vulgate, 
Nonnus, and six copies of the Itala read, he shall dwell with 
you, (see above;) and this, it is very evident, is the 
meaning of the evangelist, who not unfrequently uses the 
present for the future tense. It is certain the Holy Spirit 
was not yet given to the disciples so as to dwell in them; 
this St. John himself assures us, chap. vii. 39. And it is 
evidently of that Spirit and its influences, which was not 
given till the day of pentecost, that our Lord here speaks.

Verse 18. I will not leave you comfortless] Literally, 
orphans. The original word orfanov, is by some derived from 
orfnov, obscure, dark, because, says Mintert, an orphan (one 
deprived of father and mother) is little esteemed, neglected, 
and is obliged to wander about in obscurity and darkness. 
Others derive it from the Hebrew Prj charaph, to strip or 
make bare, despoil, because such a child is destitute of 
comfort, direction, and support, and is a prey to misery and 
disease, to sin and to death.

The disciples of a particular teacher among the Hebrews 
called him father; his scholars were called his children, 
and, on his death, were considered as orphans. Christ calls 
his disciples children, beloved children, chap. xiii. 33; 
and, now that he is about to be removed from them by death, 
he assures them that they shall not be left fatherless, or 
without a teacher; for in a little time he should come again, 
(rise from the dead,) and, after his ascension, they should 
be made partakers of that Spirit which would be their 
comforter, advocate, teacher, and guide for ever.

Verse 19. Because I live] As surely as I shall rise from the 
dead, so shall ye. My resurrection shall be the proof and 
pledge of yours. And because I live a life of intercession 
for you at the right hand of God, ye shall live a life of 
grace and peace here, and a life of glory hereafter.

Verse 20. That I am in my Father] After my resurrection, ye 
shall be more fully convinced of this important truth, that I 
and the Father are ONE; for I will live in you by the energy 
of my Spirit, and ye shall live in me by faith, love, and 
obedience.

Verse 21. He it is that loveth me] See on ver. 15.

And will manifest myself to him.] All my faithful disciples 
shall see me after my resurrection; and I will manifest my 
power and goodness to all those who believe in and obey me, 
even to the end of the world.

Verse 22. Judas] The same as Thaddeus and Lebbeus, the 
brother of James, and author of what is called the epistle of 
Jude.

How is it] Or, how can it be-ti gegonen, what is to happen?-
on what account is it? Judas, who was probably thinking that 
the kingdom of Christ should extend over all the earth, 
wonders how this can be, and yet Christ manifest himself only 
to his disciples and not to the world, ver. 19. To this our 
Lord, in a more express manner than he had done before 
answers: -

Verse 23. If a man] Not only my present disciples, but all 
those who shall believe on me through their word, or that of 
their successors: Love me] Receive me as his saviour, and get 
the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost: 
He will keep my words] Observe all my sayings, and have his 
affections and conduct regulated by my Spirit and doctrine: 
My Father will love him] Call him his child; support, defend, 
and preserve him as such.

And we will come unto him] God the Father, through his Son, 
will continue to pour out his choicest blessings upon his 
head and upon his heart: And make our abode with him.] Will 
make his heart our temple, where God, the Father, Son, and 
Spirit, shall rest, receive homage, and dwell to eternity. 
Thus will I manifest myself to the believing, loving, 
obedient disciple, and not to the world, who will not receive 
the Spirit of the truth.

Verse 24. He that loveth me not, &c.] Hence we learn that the 
man who is not obedient to the testimonies of Christ does not 
love him; and the Spirit of this truth has said, He who loves 
not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed, 1 Cor. xvi. 
22.

Verse 26. He shall teach you all things] If in the things 
which I have already spoken to you, there appear to you any 
obscurity, the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, Counsellor, and 
Instructer, will take away all your doubts, free you from all 
embarrassment, and give you a perfect understanding in all 
things: and this Spirit ye shall shortly receive.

And bring all things to your remembrance] Here Christ 
promises them that inspiration of the Holy Spirit which 
enabled them not only to give a true history of his life and 
death, but also gave them the most perfect recollection of 
all the words which he had spoken to them, so that they have 
been able to transmit to posterity the identical words which 
Jesus uttered in his sermons, and in his different discourses 
with them, the Jews, and others.

Verse 27. Peace I leave with you] The Jewish form of 
salutation and benediction. A wish of peace among them is 
thus to be understood: May you prosper in body and soul, and 
enjoy every earthly and heavenly good! For the meaning of 
this word, see Matt. v. 9.

My peace I give unto you] Such tranquillity of soul, such 
uninterrupted happiness of mind, such everlasting friendship 
with God as I enjoy, may ye all enjoy! And such blessedness I 
bequeath unto you: it is my last, my best, my dying legacy.

Not as the world giveth] Not as the Jews, in empty wishes: 
not as the people of the world, in empty compliments. Their 
salutations and benedictions are generally matters of custom 
and polite ceremony, given without desire or design; but I 
mean what I say; what I wish you, that I will give you. To 
his followers Jesus gives peace, procures it, preserves it, 
and establishes it. He is the author, prince, promoter, and 
keeper of peace.

Neither let it be afraid.] mhde deiliatw, Let not your heart 
shrink back through fear of any approaching evil. This is the 
proper meaning of the word. In a few hours ye will be most 
powerfully assaulted; but stand firm:-the evil will only fall 
upon me; and this evil will result in your comfort and 
salvation, and in the redemption of a lost world.

Verse 28. I go away] To the Father by my death: And come 
again unto you.] By my resurrection.

Ye would rejoice] Because, as the Messiah, I am going to 
receive a kingdom, and power, and glory, for ever. Therefore 
as my friends ye should rejoice in my elevation, though for a 
while it may put you to the pain of being separated from me: 
besides, I am going that I may send you the Holy Spirit, 
which shall fill you with the fullness of God: on your own 
account, therefore, ye should have rejoiced and not mourned.

My Father is greater than I.] In ver. 24, Christ tells his 
disciples that the Father had sent him: i.e. in his quality 
of Messiah, he was sent by the Father to instruct, and to 
save mankind. Now, as the sender is greater than the sent, 
chap. xiii. 16, so in this sense is the Father greater than 
the Son; and in this sense was the passage understood by 
Origen, Jerome, Novatian, and Vigilius, who read the text 
thus: The Father, o pemyav, who sent me, is greater than I. 
It certainly requires very little argument, and no sophistry, 
to reconcile this saying with the most orthodox notion of the 
Godhead of Christ; as he is repeatedly speaking of his Divine 
and of his human nature.

Of the former he says, I and the Father are one, chap. x. 30; 
and of the latter he states, with the same truth, The Father 
is greater than I.

Verse 29. I have told you before it come to pass] Lest my 
death should be a stumbling-block to you, I have spoken of it 
beforehand, and showed you the necessity of it, that when it 
happens ye may believe, that as I could predict it so 
clearly, and so circumstantially, so all the good which I 
have promised shall be the result may be confidently expected 
by you; and that your sorrow, if not entirely removed, may at 
least be much mitigated.

Verse 30. The prince of this world] toutou, of this, is 
omitted by ABDEGHKLMS, Mt. BH, one hundred others; both the 
Syriac, later Persic, all the Arabic, and several of the 
primitive fathers. I rather think the omission of the pronoun 
makes the sense more general; for, had he said THIS world, 
the words might have been restrained to the Jewish state, or 
to the Roman government. But who is the person called here 
the prince of the world? 1. Mr. Wakefield thinks that Christ 
speaks here of himself, as he does in chap. xii. 31, (see the 
note there,) and translates this verse and the following 
thus: For the ruler of this world is coming; and I have 
nothing now to do, but to convince the world that I love the 
Father, and do as he commanded me. On which he observes that 
our Lord speaks of what he shall be, when he comes again, and 
not of what he then was: compare ver. 18; chap. xvi. 16; 
xvii. 2; Matt. xxviii. 18; Phil. ii. 9. And how often does he 
speak of himself, as the Son of man, in the third person! See 
his vindication of this translation in the third vol. of his 
New Testament.

2. Others think that our Lord refers to the Roman government, 
the ruler of the world, who, by its deputy, Pilate, was going 
to judge him, but who should find nothing (eurhsei ouden, 
which is the reading found in some excellent MSS. and 
versions, and is followed by almost all the primitive 
fathers,) as a just cause of death in him-nothing in the 
whole of his conduct which was in the least reprehensible; 
and this indeed Pilate witnessed in the most solemn manner. 
See chap. xviii. 38; xix. 4, 12; see also Luke xxiii. 4, &c., 
and Matt. xxvii. 24.

3. But the most general opinion is that Satan is meant, who 
is called the prince of the power of the air, Eph. ii. 2; and 
who is supposed to be the same that is called the god of this 
world, 2 Cor. iv. 4; and who at his last and most desperate 
trial, the agony in the garden, should be convinced that 
there was nothing of his nature in Christ, nothing that would 
coincide with his solicitations, and that he should find 
himself completely foiled in all his attacks, and plainly 
foresee the impending ruin of his kingdom. It is very 
difficult to ascertain the real meaning here: of the 
different opinions proposed above, the reader must take that 
which he deems the most likely.

Verse 31. Arise, let us go hence.] Calmet supposes that 
Christ, having rendered thanks to God, and sung the usual 
hymn, Matt. xxvi. 30; Mark xiv. 26; rose from the table, left 
the city, and went towards the garden of Olives, or garden of 
Gethsemane, on the road to which, a part of the following 
discourse was delivered. It was now about midnight, and the 
moon was almost full, it being the 14th day of her age, about 
the time in which the Jewish passover was to be slain.

THE reader should carefully note the conduct of our Lord. He 
goes to die as a SACRIFICE, out of love to mankind, in 
obedience to the Divine will, and with unshaken courage. All 
our actions should be formed on this plan.

They should have the love of God and man for their principle 
and motive; his glory for their end; and his will for their 
rule. He who lives and acts thus shall live for ever. Amen.

CHAPTER xv.

The union of Jesus Christ with his followers, represented by 
the parable of a vine and its branches, 1-11. He exhorts them 
to mutual love, 12. Calls them his friends, and promises to 
lay down his life for them, 13-15. Appoints them their work, 
and promises them success in it, 16. Renews the exhortation 
to mutual love, 17, and foretells the opposition they would 
meet with from the world, 18-21. The sin of the Jews in 
rejecting Christ, 22-25. The Holy Spirit is promised as a 
witness for Christ, and the Comforter of the disciples, 26, 
27.

NOTES ON CHAP. xv.

Verse 1. I am the true vine] Perhaps the vines which they met 
with, on their road from Bethany to Gethsemane, might have 
given rise to this discourse. Some of the disciples were 
probably making remarks on the different kinds of them, and 
our Lord took the opportunity of improving the conversation, 
according to his usual manner, to the instruction of their 
souls. He might here term himself the true vine, or vine of 
the right sort, in opposition to the wild and barren vine. 
Some MSS. and several of the fathers read the verse thus: I 
am the true vine, ye are the branches, and my Father is the 
husbandman. Some think that, as this discourse followed the 
celebration of the Eucharist, our Lord took occasion from the 
fruit of the vine, used in that ordinance, to introduce this 
similitude.

Verse 2. Every branch in me] I stand in the same relation to 
my followers, and they to me, as the vine to the branches, 
and the branches to the vine.

He taketh away] As the vine-dresser will remove every 
unfruitful branch from the vine, so will my Father remove 
every unfruitful member from my mystical body-such as Judas, 
the unbelieving Jews, the apostatizing disciples, and all 
false and merely nominal Christians, who are attached to the 
vine by faith in the word and Divine mission of Christ, while 
they live not in his life and Spirit, and bring forth no 
fruit to the glory of God; and also every branch which has 
been in him by true faith-such as have given way to iniquity, 
and made shipwreck of their faith and of their good 
conscience: all these he taketh away.

He purgeth it] He pruneth. The branch which bears not fruit, 
the husbandman aerei auto, taketh IT away; but the branch 
that beareth fruit, kaqairei auto, he taketh away FROM it, 
i.e. he prunes away excrescences, and removes every thing 
that might hinder its increasing fruitfulness. The verb 
kaqairw; from kata, intens. and airw, I take away, signifies 
ordinarily to cleanse, purge, purify, but is certainly to be 
taken in the sense of pruning, or cutting off, in this text, 
as the verb purgare is used by HORACE, Epist. lib. i. ep. 
vii. v. 51.

Cultello proprios purgantem leniter ungues.

"Composedly PARING his own nails with a penknife." He who 
brings forth fruit to God's glory, according to his light and 
power, will have the hinderances taken away from his heart; 
for his very thoughts shall be cleansed by the inspiration of 
the Holy Ghost.

Verse 3. Now ye are clean] kaqaroi este, Ye are pruned. As 
our Lord has not changed the metaphor, it would be wrong to 
change the expression.

Through the word] dia ton logov, Through that word-that 
doctrine of holiness which I have incessantly preached unto 
you, and which ye have received. Perhaps our Lord more 
immediately refers here to the words which he had spoken 
concerning Judas, chap. xiii. 21-30, in consequence of which 
Judas went out and finished his bargain with the chief 
priests; he being gone off, the body of the apostles vas 
purified; and thus he might say, Now ye are clean through the 
word which I have spoken unto you.

Verse 4. Abide in me] Hold fast faith and a good conscience; 
and let no trials turn you aside from the truth. And I will 
abide in you-ye shall receive every help and influence from 
me that your souls can require, in order to preserve and save 
them to eternal life.

These two things are absolutely necessary to our salvation: 
1. That we continue closely united to Christ by faith and 
love, and live in and to him.

2. That we continually receive from him the power to do good; 
for as the branch, however good in itself, cannot bear fruit 
from itself, through its own juice, which it has already 
derived from the tree, and can be no longer supported than it 
continues in union with the parent stock, neither can ye, 
unless ye abide in me. As the branch partakes of the nature 
of the tree, is nourished by its juice, and lives by its 
life, so ye must be made partakers of my Divine nature, be 
wise in my wisdom, powerful in my might, and pure through my 
holiness.

Verse 5. Without me ye can do nothing.] cwriv emou ou dunasqe 
poiein ouden-Separated from me, ye can do nothing at all. God 
can do without man, but man cannot do without God. Following 
the metaphor of our Lord, it would be just as possible to do 
any good without him, as for a branch to live, thrive, and 
bring forth fruit, while cut off from that tree from which it 
not only derives its juices, but its very existence also.

Nearly similar to this saying of our Lord, is that of 
Creeshna (the incarnate God of the Hindoos) to his disciple 
Arjoon: "God is the gift of charity; God is the offering: God 
is the fire of the altar; by God the sacrifice is performed; 
and God is to be obtained by him who maketh God alone the 
object of his works." And again: "I am the sacrifice; I am 
the worship; I am the spices; I am the invocation; I am the 
fire; and I am the victim. I am the Father and Mother of this 
world, and the Preserver. I am the Holy One, worthy to be 
known; the mystic figure OM; (see on chap. i. 14;) I am the 
journey of the good; the Comforter; the Creator; the Witness; 
the resting-place; the asylum, and the Friend. I am the place 
of all things; and the inexhaustible seed of nature; I am 
sunshine, and I am rain; I now draw in, and now let forth." 
See Bhagvat Geeta, pp. 54 and 80. Could such sentiments as 
these ever come from any other source than Divine revelation? 
There is a saying in Theophilus very similar to one of those 
above: qeov ou cwreitai, alla autov esti topov twn olwn.-God 
is not comprehended, but he is the place of all things.

Verse 6. If a man abide not in me] Our Lord in the plainest 
manner intimates that a person may as truly be united to him 
as the branch is to the tree that produces it, and yet be 
afterwards cut off and cast into the fire; because he has not 
brought forth fruit to the glory of his God. No man can cut 
off a branch from a tree to which that branch was never 
united: it is absurd, and contrary to the letter and spirit 
of the metaphor, to talk of being seemingly in Christ-because 
this means nothing. If there was only a seeming union, there 
could be only a seeming excision: so the matter is just where 
it began; nothing is done on either side, and nothing said to 
any purpose.

He is cast forth] Observe, that person who abides not in 
Christ, in a believing loving, obedient spirit, is-1. Cut off 
from Jesus, having no longer any right or title to him or to 
his salvation. 2. He is withered-deprived of all the 
influences of God's grace and Spirit; loses all his heavenly 
unction; becomes indifferent, cold, and dead to every holy 
and spiritual word and work. 3. He is gathered-becomes 
(through the judgment of God) again united with backsliders 
like himself and other workers of iniquity; and, being 
abandoned to his own heart and Satan, he is, 4. Cast into the 
fire-separated from God's people, from God himself, and from 
the glory of his power. And, 5. He is burned-is eternally 
tormented with the devil and his angels, and with all those 
who have lived and died in their iniquity.

Reader! pray God that this may never be thy portion.

Verse 7. If ye abide in me, &c.] "Those," says Creeshna, 
"whose understandings are in him, (God,) whose souls are in 
him, whose confidence is in him, whose asylum is in him, are 
by the inspired wisdom purified from all their offenses, and 
go from whence they shall never return." Geeta, p. 59.

Observe, in order to have influence with God, we must-1. Be 
united to Christ-if ye abide in me. 2. That in order to be 
preserved in this union, we must have our lives regulated by 
the doctrine of Christ-and my words abide in you. 3. That to 
profit by this union and doctrine, we must pray-ye shall ask. 
4. That every heavenly blessing shall be given to those who 
continue in this union, with a loving, obedient, praying 
spirit:-ye shall ask what ye will, &c.

Verse 8. Herein is my Father glorified] Or, honoured. It is 
the honour of the husbandman to have good, strong, vigorous 
vines, plentifully laden with fruit: so it is the honour of 
God to have strong, vigorous, holy children, entirely freed 
from sin, and perfectly filled with his love.

Verse 10. If ye keep my commandments, &c.] Hence we learn 
that it is impossible to retain a sense of God's pardoning 
love, without continuing in the obedience of faith.

Verse 11. That my joy may remain in you] That the joy which I 
now feel, on account of your steady, affectionate attachment 
to me, may be lasting, I give you both warnings and 
directions, that ye may abide in the faith.

That your joy might be full.] Or, complete-plhrwqh, filled 
up: a metaphor taken from a vessel, into which water or any 
other thing is poured, till it is full to the brim. The 
religion of Christ expels all misery from the hearts of those 
who receive it in its fullness. It was to drive wretchedness 
out of the world that Jesus came into it.

Bishop Pearce, by joining en emoi to cara, and not to meinh, 
translates the verse thus: These things have I spoken, that 
my joy in you may remain-which is according to the meaning 
given to the first clause.

Verse 12. That ye love one another] See on chap. xiii. 34. So 
deeply was thus commandment engraved on the heart of this 
evangelist that St. Jerome says, lib. iii. c. 6, Com. ad 
Galat., that in his extreme old age, when he used to be 
carried to the public assemblies of the believers, his 
constant saying was, Little children, love one another. His 
disciples, wearied at last with the constant repetition of 
the same words, asked him, Why he constantly said the same 
thing? "Because (said he) it is the commandment of the Lord, 
and the observation of it alone is sufficient." Quia 
praeceptum Domini est, et, si solum fiat, sufficit.

Verse 13. That a man lay down his life for his friends.] No 
man can carry his love for his friend farther than this: for, 
when he gives up his life, he gives up all that he has. This 
proof of my love for you I shall give in a few hours; and the 
doctrine which I recommend to you I am just going to 
exemplify myself. There are several remarkable cases, in 
heathen antiquity, where one friend offered his life for 
another. The two following will not stand dishonourably even 
in the book of God; became every thing loving and pure, in 
heathen, Jew, or Christian, must come from the God of love 
and purity.

When Cyrus had made war on the king of Armenia, and had taken 
him, his wife, and children, with Tigranes his son, and his 
wife, prisoners; treating with the old king concerning his 
ransom, he said, How much money wilt thou give me to have thy 
wife again? All that I have, replied the king. And how much 
wilt thou advance to enjoy thy children again? All that I can 
produce, answered the king. By reckoning thus, said Cyrus, 
you prize these at twice as much as you possess. Then, 
turning to Tigranes, he said, How much wilt thou give as a 
ransom, that thou mayest have thy wife? (Now Tigranes had 
been but lately married, kai uperfilwn thn gunaika, and loved 
his wife exceedingly.) He answered, I will indeed, O Cyrus, 
kai thv yuchv priaimhn, ransom her even with MY LIFE, that 
she may be no longer in thraldom. See XENOPH. Cyrop. lib. 
iii. c.

The second example, which is too long to be inserted, is that 
affecting account of the friendship of Nisus and Euryalus, 
given by Virgil, in the ninth book of the AEneis. These two 
friends, leagued together, had slain many of the Rutulians in 
a night attack: at last Euryalus was taken prisoner. Nisus, 
concealed in a thicket, slew several of the enemy's chiefs 
with his javelins: Volscens, their general, not seeing the 
hand by which his officers were slain, determines to wreak 
his vengeance upon his prisoner.

Nisus, seeing his friend about to be transfixed with the 
sword, rushing out of the wood where he lay hidden, suddenly 
cries: - ME! ME! adsum qui FECI! in ME convertite ferrum, O 
Rutuli! MEA fraus omnis:-nihil ISTE-nec ausus, Nec potuit-
Caelum hoc, et conscia sidera testor! TANTUM infelicem NIMIUM 
DILEXIT AMICUM. AEN. lib. ix. l. 427, &c.

"ME! ME! he cried, turn all your swords alone On ME!-the fact 
confess'd, the fault my own.

HE neither could, nor durst, the guiltless youth; Ye moon and 
stars, bear witness to the truth! His only crime (if 
friendship can offend) Is too much love to his unhappy 
friend." DRYDEN.

Those who understand the beautiful original will at once 
perceive that the earnestness, confusion, disorder, 
impatience, and burning love of the FRIEND, are poorly 
imitated in the above tame translation.

The friendship of David and Jonathan is well known: the 
latter cheerfully gave up his crown to his friend, though 
himself was every way worthy to wear it. But when all these 
instances of rare friendship and affection are seen, read, 
and admired, let the affected reader turn his astonished eyes 
to Jesus, pouring out his blood, not for his friends, but for 
his ENEMIES; and, in the agonies of death, making 
supplication for his murderers, with, Father, forgive them, 
for they know not what they do!-and then let him help 
exclaiming, if he can, "O Lamb of God, was ever pain, Was 
ever LOVE like THINE!"

Verse 15. Henceforth I call you not servants] Which he at 
least indirectly had done, chap. xiii. 16; Matt. x. 24, 25; 
Luke xvii. 10.

I have called you friends] I have admitted you into a state 
of the most intimate fellowship with myself; and have made 
known unto you whatsoever I have heard from the Father, 
which, in your present circumstances, it was necessary for 
you to be instructed in.

Verse 16. Ye have not chosen me] Ye have not elected me as 
your Teacher: I have called you to be my disciples; witnesses 
and depositories of the truth. It was customary among the 
Jews for every person to choose his own teacher.

And ordained you] Rather, I have appointed you: the word is 
eqhka, I have PUT or placed you, i.e. in the vine.

Theodourus Mopsuensis, as quoted by Wetstein, observes that 
eqhka is here used for efuteusa; (I have planted;) "and, in 
saying this, our Lord still makes use of the metaphor of the 
vine; as if he had said: I have not only planted you, but I 
have given you the greatest benefits, causing your branches 
to extend every where through the habitable world." The first 
ministers of the Gospel were the choice of Jesus Christ; no 
wonder, then, that they were so successful. Those whom men 
have since sent, without the appointment of God, have done no 
good. The choice should still continue with God, who, knowing 
the heart, knows best who is most proper for the Gospel 
ministry.

To be a genuine preacher of the Gospel, a man must-1. Be 
chosen of God to the work. 2. He must be placed in the true 
vine-united to Christ by faith. 3. He must not think to lead 
an idle life, but labour. 4. He must not wait till work be 
brought to him, but he must go and seek it. 5. He must labour 
so as to bring forth fruit, i.e. to get souls converted to 
the Lord. 6. He must refer all his fruit to God, who gave him 
the power to labour, and blessed him in his work. 7. He must 
take care to water what he has planted, that his fruit may 
remain-that the souls whom he has gathered in be not 
scattered from the flock. 8. He must continue instant in 
prayer, that his labours may be accompanied with the presence 
and blessing of God-Whatsoever ye shall ASK. 9. He must 
consider Jesus Christ as the great Mediator between God and 
man, proclaim his salvation, and pray in his name.-Whatsoever 
ye shall ask of the Father in my name, &c. See Quesnel.

Verse 18. If the world hate you] As the followers of Christ 
were to be exposed to the hatred of the world, it was no 
small consolation to them to know that that hatred would be 
only in proportion to their faith and holiness; and that, 
consequently, instead of being troubled at the prospect of 
persecution, they should rejoice, because that should always 
be a proof to them that they were in the very path in which 
Jesus himself had trod.

Dr. Lardner thinks that prwton is a substantive, or at least 
an adjective used substantively, and this clause of the text 
should be translated thus: If the world hate you, know that 
it hated me, your CHIEF. It is no wonder that the world 
should hate you, when it hated me, your Lord and Master, 
whose lips were without guile, and whose conduct was 
irreproachable. See the doctor's vindication of this 
translation, WORKS, vol. i. p. 306.

Verse 19. Ye are not of the world-therefore, &c.] On this 
very account, because ye do not join in fellowship with those 
who know not God, therefore they hate you. How true is that 
saying: - "The laws of Christ condemn a vicious world, And 
goad it to revenge!" GAMBOLD.

Verse 20. If they have kept my saying] Or, doctrine. 
Whosoever acknowledges me for the Christ will acknowledge you 
for my ministers.

Some translate the passage thus: If they have WATCHED my 
sayings, i.e. with an intent to accuse me for something which I 
have said, they will WATCH yours also: therefore be on your 
guard. parathrein has this sense, as we have had occasion to 
observe before; and perhaps threin has the same sense here, as 
it is much more agreeable to the context.

Verse 21. Because they know not him that sent me.] This is 
the foundation of all religious persecution: those who are 
guilty of it, whether in Church or state, know nothing about 
God. If God tolerates a worship which professes to have him 
for its object, and which does not disturb the quiet or peace 
of society, no man has the smallest right to meddle with it; 
and he that does fights against God. His letting it pass is 
at least a tacit command that all should treat it as he has 
done.

Verse 22. But now they have no cloke for their sin.] They are 
without excuse. See the margin, and see the note on chap. ix. 
41. Christ had done such works as demonstrated him to be the 
Messiah-yet they rejected him: here lay their sin; and this 
sin, and the punishment to which it exposed them, still 
remain; for they still continue to reject the Lord that 
bought them.

Verse 25. Written in their law] See on chap. x. 34. These 
words are taken from Psa. lxix. 4. This psalm is applied to 
Christ, chap. ii. 17; xix. 28; to the vengeance of God 
against Judea, Acts i. 20. The psalm seems entirely prophetic 
of Christ. His deep abasement is referred to, Psa. lxix. 2-5; 
his prayer for his disciples and followers, Psa. lxix. 6; 
that for himself, in the garden of Gethsemane, Psa. lxix. 15-
19; his crucifixion, Psa. lxix. 20-22; the vengeance of God 
against the Jews, from Psa. lxix. 23-29; the glorious manner 
in which he gets out of all his sufferings, Psalm lxix. 30; 
the abolition of the Mosaic rites and ceremonies, Psalm lxix. 
31, compared with Isa. lxvi. 3; and, finally, the 
establishment of the Gospel through the whole world, in Psa. 
lxix. 33 and following verses. The reader will do well to 
consult the psalm before he proceeds.

Verse 26. But when the Comforter is come] See on chap. xiv. 
16.

Verses 26-27. He shall testify and ye also shall bear 
witness] He shall bear his testimony in your souls, and ye 
shall bear this testimony to the world. And so they did, by 
their miracles, their preaching, their writings, their lives, 
and by their deaths. Our Lord appears to reason thus: In 
every respect the unbelief of the Jews is inexcusable. They 
believe not my doctrine, notwithstanding its purity and 
holiness. They believe not in the Father who sent me, 
notwithstanding I have confirmed my mission by the most 
astonishing miracles. One thing only remains now to be done, 
i.e. to send them the Holy Spirit, to convince them of sin, 
righteousness, and judgment; and this he shall do, not only 
by his influence upon their hearts, but also by your words: 
and when they shall have resisted this Spirit, then the cup 
of their iniquity shall be filled up, and wrath shall come 
upon them to the uttermost.

BUT in what sense can it be said that Christ wrought more 
miracles than any other had done, ver. 24?-for Elijah and 
Elisha raised the dead; cured diseases; and made fire to come 
down from heaven. Did Christ do greater miracles than Moses 
did in Egypt-at the Red Sea-at the rock of Horeb, and at the 
rock of Kadesh? Did Christ do greater miracles than Joshua 
did, in the destruction of Jericho-in the passage of Jordan-
in causing the sun and moon to stand still? To all this it 
may be answered, Christ's miracles were greater: 1. As to 
their number. 2. As to their utility-they were wrought to 
comfort the distressed, and to save the lost.

3. Christ wrought all his miracles by his own power alone; 
and they wrought theirs through his power only. 4. Christ 
wrought his numerous miracles in the space of three or four 
years, and in the presence of the same people; and the others 
mere wrought from time to time in different centuries.

Some critics have confined the whole of this chapter to the 
apostles of our Lord, and the work of propagating 
Christianity to which they had been called. The whole comment 
of Rosenmuller on this chapter proceeds on this plan; and at 
once shows how nugatory it is. What learned labour has there 
been in the world, to banish the spirit of Christianity from 
the earth, while the letter was professed to be scrupulously 
regarded! 1. The spiritual union spoken of by Christ is not 
merely necessary for his primitive disciples, but also for 
all who would be Christians on earth, and beatified spirits 
in heaven. 2. The brotherly love here inculcated is the duty 
and interest of every Christian soul on the face of the 
earth. 3. The necessity of adorning the Christian profession, 
by bringing forth corresponding fruits, is the duty of all 
who name the name of the Lord Jesus. 4. The appointment to, 
and preparation for, the work of the sacred ministry, must 
ever be primarily with Christ: for those who have no higher 
authority than that which they derive from man are never 
likely to be useful in Christianizing the world. 5. The 
persecution to which the apostles were exposed has been the 
common lot of Christians from the foundation of Christianity. 
6. The consolations and influences of Christ's Spirit have 
not been the exclusive privileges of the apostles; they are 
the birthright of all the sons and daughters of God.

CHAPTER xvi.

Christ warns his disciples, and foretells the persecutions 
they should receive from the Jews, 1-4. Foretells his death, 
and promises them the Comforter, 5-7. Points out his 
operations among the Jews, and in the world, 8-11. His 
peculiar influences on the souls of the disciples, 12-15. 
Speaks figuratively of his death and resurrection, at which 
his disciples are puzzled, 16-18. He explains and illustrates 
the whole by a similitude, 19-22. Shows himself to be the 
Mediator between God and man, and that all prayers must be 
put up in his name, 23-28. The disciples clearly comprehend 
his meaning and express their strong faith in him, 29, 30. He 
again foretells their persecution, and promises them his 
peace and support, 31-33.

NOTES ON CHAP. xvi.

Verse 1. These things have I spoken] Particularly what is 
mentioned in the two last chapters.

Be offended.] ina mh skandalisqhte, That ye should not be 
stumbled. May not fall away from the faith, nor receive any 
injury to your souls, as that man does to his body who 
stumbles, or falls over a stone, or block, in the way which 
he has not discovered.

Verse 2. They shall put you out of the synagogues] They will 
excommunicate you, and consider you as execrable, and utterly 
unworthy to hold any commerce with God by religion; or with 
man by civil fellowship. See on chap. ix. 22. In these 
excommunications they were spoiled of all their substance, 
see Ezra x. 8, and see also Heb. x. 34, and deprived of their 
character, their influence, and every necessary of life.

Though the Jewish people had the most humane laws, yet they 
were a most vindictive and cruel people.

That whosoever killeth you, &c.] This Paul found; for more 
than forty Jews bound themselves under a curse that they 
would neither eat nor drink till they had killed him, Acts 
xxiii. 12, 13; and agreeably to this, it is said, in that 
Tract of the Talmud which is entitled Bammidbar, R. xxi. ad. 
Num. xxv. 13: "He who sheds the blood of the ungodly, is 
equal to him who brings an offering to God." What the Zealots 
did is notorious in history. They butchered any person, in 
cold blood, who, they pretended to believe, was an enemy to 
God, to the law, or to Moses; and thought they were 
fulfilling the will of God by these human sacrifices. We had 
the same kind of sacrifices here in the time of our Popish 
Queen Mary. May God ever save our state from the Stuarts!

Verse 3. Because they have not known the Father] See on chap. 
xv. 25.

Ignorance of the benevolence of GOD, and of the philanthropy 
of CHRIST, is the grand fountain whence all religious 
persecution and intolerance proceed.

Verse 4. At the beginning] I would not trouble you by 
speaking of these things pointedly at first, when I chose you 
to be my disciples, but have referred them to the present 
time, lest you should be discouraged; and now only declare 
them because it is absolutely necessary that you should be 
put upon your guard.

Verse 5. None of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?] In chap. 
xiii. 3, Peter had asked, Lord, thither goest thou?-and 
Thomas much the same in chap. xiv. 5, both of whom had 
received an answer. But now, at the time when Jesus was 
speaking this, none of them asked this question, because 
their hearts were filled with sorrow: ver. 6.

Verse 7. It is expedient-that I go away] In other places he 
had showed them the absolute necessity of his death for the 
salvation of men: see Matt. xx. 19; xxvi. 2; Mark ix. 31; x. 
33, Luke ix. 44; xviii. 32. This he does not repeat here, but 
shows them that, by the order of God, the Holy Spirit cannot 
come to them, nor to the world, unless he first die; and 
consequently men cannot be saved but in this way.

Verse 8. He will reprove] elegxei, He will demonstrate these 
matters so clearly as to leave no doubt on the minds of those 
who are simple of heart; and so fully as to confound and shut 
the mouths of those who are gainsayers. See Acts ii. 1, &c.

The world] The Jewish nation first, and afterwards the 
Gentile world; for his influences shall not be confined to 
one people, place, or time.

Verse 9. Of sin] Of the sin of the Jews in not receiving me 
as the Messiah, though my mission was accredited by the very 
miracles which the prophets foretold: see Isa. xxxv. 3-6. 
This was literally fulfilled on the day of pentecost, when 
the Spirit was given; for multitudes of Jews were then 
convinced of this sin, and converted to God. See Acts ii. 37.

If we take this prediction of our Lord in a more general 
sense, then we may consider that it is one of the grand 
offices of the Holy Spirit to convince of sin, to show men 
what sin is, to demonstrate to them that they are sinners, 
and to show the necessity of an atonement for sin; and in 
this sense the phrase, peri amartiav, may be understood, and 
in this sense it is used in multitudes of places in the 
Septuagint, but the words, because they believe not in me, 
restrict the meaning particularly to the sin of the Jews in 
rejecting Jesus as the Messiah.

Verse 10. Of righteousness] Of my innocence and holiness, 
because I go away to my Father; of which my resurrection from 
the dead, and my ascension to heaven, shall be complete 
proofs. Christ was treated by the Jews as an impostor; as a 
magician; as one possessed by the devil; as a wicked person, 
seducer, and destroyer of the law. His vindication from these 
charges he chiefly referred to the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, 
who, by his influences on the minds of the people, and by his 
eloquence and energy in the ministry of the apostles, 
convinced both the Jews and the Gentiles that the sentence of 
the Jewish rulers was unjust and infamous, and that the very 
person whom they had crucified was both Lord and Christ-Lord, 
the great governor of the universe; and Christ, the Lord's 
anointed, the promised Messiah. It was a matter of the utmost 
consequence to the Christian cause to have the innocence and 
holiness of its founder demonstrated, and the crime of the 
Jews in putting him to death made manifest to the world. This 
also has been literally fulfilled: the universe that has 
heard of him believes the righteousness and innocence of 
Jesus; and the Jews, his persecutors, are confounded and 
execrated throughout the habitable globe.

Verse 11. Of judgment] Of the false judgment of the Jews in 
condemning the Lord Jesus, who, as some think, is intended 
here by the ruler of this world: see chap. xiv. 30. Others 
think that Satan is meant whose usurped power over the world 
was now to be greatly restrained, and by and by totally 
destroyed: see chap. xii. 31; Col. ii. 15; Rev. xi. 15; xii. 
10, 11. Perhaps our Lord's meaning is, that as a most 
astonishing judgement, or punishment, was now about to fall 
upon the Jews, in consequence of their obstinate infidelity, 
the Holy Ghost, by the ministry of the apostles, should 
demonstrate that this judgment, severe as it might seem, was 
amply merited by this worst of all people; and may we not say 
that their continuance in the same crime sufficiently 
vindicates the judgment of God, not only in its being poured 
out upon them at first, but in continuing to pursue them? It 
is necessary to observe that it was one office of the Spirit 
to convince of a judgment to come; and this he did 
particularly by the apostles, in declaring that God had 
appointed a day in which he would judge the world by him whom 
he had appointed for that purpose: Acts xvii. 31. And we find 
that while Peter was asserting this doctrine at Caesarea, 
Acts x. 42, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Jews and 
the Gentiles which were present, ver. 44, &c., and many were 
converted unto the Lord.

One general exposition may be given of these three verses. 
The Holy Spirit will convince the world of sin committed, and 
guilt and condemnation thereby incurred. Of righteousness-of 
the necessity of being pardoned, and made righteous through 
the blood of the Lamb, who, after being offered up for sin, 
went to the Father, ever to appear in his presence as our 
intercessor: and of judgment-of the great day thereof, when 
none shall be able to stand but those whose sins are 
pardoned, and whose souls are made righteous. In all that our 
Lord says here, there seems to be an allusion to the office 
of an advocate in a cause, in a court of justice; who, by 
producing witnesses, and pleading upon the proof, convicts 
the opposite party of sin, demonstrates the righteousness of 
his client, and shows the necessity of passing judgment upon 
the accuser.

The faith of the Gospel discovers unto us three different 
states of man: it shows him: 1. Under sin, in which there is 
nothing but infidelity towards God, because there is no faith 
in Jesus Christ.

2. Under grace, in which sin is pardoned, and righteousness 
acquired by faith in Christ; who is gone to the Father to 
carry on, by his intercession, the great work of redemption.

3. In the peace and glory of heaven, where Christ will reign 
with his members; the devil, with his angels and servants, 
being banished into hell by the last judgment.

Thus, in the Christian revelation, we are made acquainted 
with three grand truths, which contain the sum and substance 
of all true religion.

The first is the general corruption of human nature, and the 
reign of sin till the coming of Christ.

The second is the reparation of our nature by the Lord Jesus, 
and the reign of righteousness by his grace: Rom. v. 21.

The third is the condemnation of sinners, and the total 
destruction of the kingdom of sin, and of all the power of 
the devil, by the last judgment.

Verse 12. Ye cannot bear them now.] In illustration of these 
three points, Christ had many things to say; but he found 
that his disciples could only bear general truths; yet, in 
saying what he did, he sowed the seeds of the whole system of 
theological knowledge, and heavenly wisdom, which the Holy 
Spirit of this truth afterwards watered and ripened into a 
glorious harvest of light and salvation, by the ministry of 
the apostles. Dr. Lightfoot supposes that the things which 
the apostles could not bear now were such as these: 1. The 
institution of the Christian Sabbath, and the abolition of 
the Jewish.

2. The rejection of the whole Jewish nation, at the very time 
in which they expected to be set up and established for ever.

3. The entire change of the whole Mosaic dispensation, and 
the bringing the Gentiles into the Church of God.

Verse 13. He will guide you] He will consider your feeble 
infant state; and, as a father leads his child by the hand, 
so will the Holy Spirit lead and guide you.

The Vulgate, and some copies of the Itala, read, He will 
TEACH you all truth; but this and more is implied in the word 
odhghsei, he will lead; besides, this reading is not 
acknowledged by any Greek MS.

He shall not speak of himself] He shall teach nothing 
contrary to what I have taught you: But whatsoever he shall 
hear] Of the Father and me, that he shall speak, and thus 
show the intimate consent between himself, the Father, and 
Christ. It is one conjoint testimony, in which the honour and 
glory of the holy Trinity, and man's salvation are equally 
concerned.

And he will show you things to came.] He will fully explain 
every thing that may now appear dark or difficult to you; 
will give you such a knowledge of futurity as shall, in all 
necessary cases, enable you to foretell future events; and 
shall supply every requisite truth, in order to make the new 
covenant revelation complete and perfect.

Verse 15. All things that the Father hath are mine] If Christ 
had not been equal to God, could he have said this without 
blasphemy? And show it unto you.] As Christ is represented 
the Ambassador of the Father, so the Holy Spirit is 
represented the ambassador of the Son, coming vested with his 
authority, as the interpreter and executor of his will.

Verse 16. A little while] He had but a few hours to live.

And ye shall not see me] I shall be hidden from your view in 
the grave.

Again a little while] In three days after my death: Ye shall 
see me] I will rise again, and show myself to you. Or, As I 
am going by my ascension to the Father, in a short time, ye 
shall see me personally no more; but in a little while I 
shall pour out my Spirit upon you, and others through your 
ministry; and ye shall see me virtually in the great and 
wonderful work which shall then take place in the hearts and 
lives of men.

This may also refer to his coming again to destroy the Jewish 
state, and also to judge the world; but how can this latter 
be said to be in a little while? Because a thousand years are 
but as a day in the sight of God: Psa. xc. 4.

Verse 18. What is this that he saith] They knew from what he 
had said that he was to die, but knew not what he meant by 
their seeing him again in a little time.

Verse 20. Ye shall weep and lament] To see me crucified and 
laid in the grave.

But the world shall rejoice] The chief priests, scribes, 
Pharisees, and persecuting Jews in general, will triumph, 
hoping that their bad cause is crowned with success.

But your sorrow shall be turned into joy.] When ye see me 
risen from the dead.

It is very evident that our Lord uses the word world, in 
several parts of this discourse of his, to signify the 
unbelieving and rebellious Jews.

Verse 21. For joy that a man is born] anqrwpov is put here 
for a human creature, whether male or female; as homo among 
the Romans denoted either man or woman.

Verse 22. Your joy no man taketh from you.] Or, shall take 
away. Some excellent MSS. and versions read the verb in the 
future tense. Our Lord's meaning appears to have been this: 
that his resurrection should be so completely demonstrated to 
them, that they should never have a doubt concerning it; and 
consequently that their joy should be great and permanent, 
knowing that the atonement was made, the victory gained, and 
the kingdom of heaven opened to all believers. Therefore it 
is said, Acts iv. 33, that with great power did the apostles 
give witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Verse 23. Ye shall ask me nothing.] Ye shall then be led, by 
that Spirit which guides into all truth, to consider me in 
the character of Mediator in the kingdom of God, and to 
address your prayers to the Father in my name-in the name of 
Jesus the saviour, because I have died to redeem you-in the 
name of Christ the Anointer, because I have ascended to send 
down the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Verse 24. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name] Ye have 
not as yet considered me the great Mediator between God and 
man; but this is one of the truths which shall be more fully 
revealed to you by the Holy Spirit.

Ask] In my name; and ye shall receive-all the salvation ye 
thus request; the consequence of which shall be that your joy 
shall be full-ye shall be thoroughly happy in being made 
completely holy.

Verse 25. In Proverbs] That is, words which, besides their 
plain, literal meaning, have another, viz. a spiritual or 
figurative one. I have represented heavenly things to you 
through the medium of earthly.

The time cometh] viz. the interval from his resurrection to 
his ascension, which consisted of forty days, during which he 
instructed his disciples in the most sublime mysteries and 
truths of his kingdom. Acts i. 3.

Verse 26. I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for 
you] I need not tell you that I will continue your 
intercessor: I have given you already so many proofs of my 
love that ye cannot possibly doubt this: besides, the Father 
himself needs no entreaty to do you good, for he loves you, 
and is graciously disposed to save you to the uttermost, 
because ye have loved me and believed in me as coming from 
God, for the salvation of the world.

Verse 28. I came forth from the Father] With whom I existed 
from eternity in glory.

Am come into the world] By my incarnation.

I leave the world] By my death.

And go to the Father.] By my ascension. These four words 
contain the whole economy of the Gospel of man's salvation, 
and a consummate abridgment of the Christian faith. This gave 
the disciples a key to the whole of our Lord's discourse; and 
especially to that part, ver. 16, that had so exceedingly 
embarrassed them, as appears by ver. 17, 18.

Verse 29. Lo, now speakest thou plainly] The disciples 
received more light now, on the nature of Christ's person and 
office, than they had ever done before.

Verse 30. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things] Is 
not the following the meaning of the disciples? We believe 
that thou art not only the Messiah who camest out from God, 
but that thou art that God who searchest the heart and triest 
the reins, and needest not to be asked in order to make thee 
acquainted with the necessities of thy creatures; for thou 
perfectly knowest their wants, and art infinitely disposed to 
relieve them.

Verse 31. Do ye now believe?] And will ye continue to 
believe? Ye are now fully convinced; and will ye in the hour 
of trial retain your conviction, and prove faithful and 
steady?

Verse 32. The hour cometh] Ye shall shortly have need of all 
the faith ye profess: ye now believe me to be the Omniscient; 
but ye will find difficulty to maintain this faith when ye 
see me seized, condemned, and crucified as a malefactor. Yea, 
your faith will be then so shaken that ye shall run away, 
each striving to save himself at his own home, or among his 
kindred.

Verse 33. That in me ye might have peace.] I give you this 
warning as another proof that I know all things, and to the 
end that ye may look to me alone for peace and happiness. The 
peace of God is ever to be understood as including all 
possible blessedness-light, strength, comfort, support, a 
sense of the Divine favour, unction of the Holy Spirit, 
purification of heart, &c., &c., and all these to be enjoyed 
in Christ.

In the world ye shall have tribulation] Or, as most of the 
very best MSS. read, ecete, ye have-the tribulation is at 
hand; ye are just about to be plunged into it.

But be of good cheer] Do not despond on account of what I 
have said: the world shall not be able to overcome you, how 
severely soever it may try you.

I have overcome the world.] I am just now going by my death 
to put it and its god to the rout.

My apparent weakness shall be my victory; my ignominy shall 
be my glory; and the victory which the world, the devil, and 
my adversaries in general, shall appear to gain over me, 
shall be their own lasting defeat, and my eternal triumph.-
Fear not! Luther writing to Philip Melancthon, quotes this 
verse, and adds these remarkable words: "Such a saying as 
this is worthy to be carried from Rome to Jerusalem upon 
one's knees." ONE of the grand subjects in this chapter, the 
mediation of Christ, is but little understood by most 
Christians. Christ having made an atonement for the sin of 
the world, has ascended to the right hand of the Father, and 
there he appears in the presence of God for us. In 
approaching the throne of grace, we keep Jesus as our 
sacrificial victim, continually in view: our prayers should 
be directed through him to the Father; and, under the 
conviction that his passion and death have purchased every 
possible blessing for us, we should, with humble confidence, 
ask the blessings we need; and, as in him the Father is ever 
well pleased, we should most confidently expect the blessings 
he has purchased. We may consider, also, that his appearance 
before the throne, in his sacrificial character, constitutes 
the great principle of mediation or intercession. He has 
taken our nature into heaven; in that he appears before the 
throne: this, without a voice, speaks loudly for the sinful 
race of Adam, for whom it was assumed, and on whose account 
it was sacrificed. On these grounds every penitent and every 
believing soul may ask and receive, and their joy be 
complete. By the sacrifice of Christ we approach God; through 
the mediation of Christ God comes down to man.

CHAPTER xvii.

Christ prays the Father to glorify him, 1. In what eternal 
life consists, 2-3. Shows that he has glorified his Father, 
by fulfilling his will upon earth, and revealing him to the 
disciples, 4-8. Prays for them, that they may be preserved in 
unity and kept from evil, 9-16. Prays for their 
sanctification, 17-19. Prays also for those who should 
believe on him through their preaching, that they all might 
be brought into a state of unity, and finally brought to 
eternal glory, 20-26.

NOTES ON CHAP. xvii.

Verse 1. These words spake Jesus] That is, what is related in 
the preceding chapters. We may consider our Lord as still 
moving on towards Gethsemane, not having yet passed the brook 
Cedron, chap. xviii. 1.

Our Lord, who was now going to act as high priest for the 
whole human race, imitates in his conduct that of the Jewish 
high priest on the great day of expiation; who, in order to 
offer up the grand atonement for the sins of the people: - 1. 
Washed himself, and put on clean linen garments. This Christ 
appears to have imitated, chap. xiii. 4. He laid aside his 
garments, girded himself with a towel, &c. There is no room 
to doubt that he and his disciples had been at the bath 
before: see chap. xiii. 10.

2. The high priest addressed a solemn prayer to God: 1. For 
himself this Christ imitates, ver. 1-5. 2. For the sons of 
Aaron: our Lord imitates this in praying for his disciples, 
ver. 9-19. 3. For all the people: our Lord appears to imitate 
this also in praying for his Church, all who should believe 
on him through the preaching of the apostles and their 
successors, ver. 20-24. After which he returns again to his 
disciples, ver. 25, 26. See CALMET'S Dict. under Expiation; 
and see Lamentations Grande Bible de M. MARTIN, in loc.

I. Our Lord's prayer for himself, ver. 1-5.

Father] Here our Lord addresses the whole Divine nature, as 
he is now performing his last acts in his state of 
humiliation.

Glorify thy Son] Cause him to be acknowledged as the promised 
Messiah by the Jewish people, and as the universal saviour by 
the Gentile world; and let such proofs of his Godhead be 
given as shall serve to convince and instruct mankind.

That thy son also may glorify thee] That by dying be may 
magnify thy law and make it honourable, respected among men-
show the strictness of thy justice, and the immaculate purity 
of thy nature.

Verse 2. As thou hast given him power] As the Messiah, Jesus 
Christ received from the Father universal dominion. All 
flesh, i.e. all the human race, was given unto him, that by 
one sacrifice of himself, he might reconcile them all to God; 
having by his grace tasted death for every man, Heb. ii. 9. 
And this was according to the promise of the universal 
inheritance made to Christ, Psalm ii. 8, which was to be made 
up of the heathen, and the uttermost parts of the land, all 
the Jewish people. So that he got all from God, that he might 
give his life a ransom for the whole. See 2 Cor. v. 14, 15; 
Rom. v. 21; 1 Tim. ii. 4, 6.

That he should have eternal life, &c.] As all were delivered 
into his power, and he poured out his blood to redeem all, 
then the design of God is that all should have eternal life, 
because all are given for this purpose to Christ; and, that 
this end might be accomplished, he has become their sacrifice 
and atonement.

Verse 3. This is life eternal] The salvation purchased by 
Christ, and given to them who believe, is called life: 1. 
Because the life of man was forfeited to Divine justice; and 
the sacrifice of Christ redeemed him from that death to which 
he was exposed. 2. Because the souls of men were dead in 
trespasses and sins; and Christ quickens them by his word and 
Spirit. 3. Because men who are not saved by the grace of 
Christ do not live, they only exist, no good purpose of life 
being answered by them. But when they receive this salvation 
they live-answer all the Divine purposes, are happy in 
themselves, useful to each other, and bring glory to God. 4. 
It is called eternal life to show that it reaches beyond the 
limits of time, and that it necessarily implies-1. The 
immortality of the soul; 2. the resurrection of the body; and 
that it is never to end, hence called aiwniov zwh, a life 
ever living; from aei, always, and wn, being or existence. 
And indeed no words can more forcibly convey the idea of 
eternity than these.

It is called h aiwniov zwh, THAT eternal life, by way of 
eminence. There may be an eternal existence without 
blessedness; but this is that eternal life with which 
infinite happiness is inseparably connected.

The only true God] The way to attain this eternal life is to 
acknowledge, worship, and obey, the one only true God, and to 
accept as teacher, sacrifice, and saviour, the Lord Jesus, 
the one and only true Messiah.

Bishop Pearce's remark here is well worthy the reader's 
attention:- "What is said here of the only true God seems 
said in opposition to the gods whom the heathens worshipped; 
not in opposition to Jesus Christ himself, who is called the 
true God by John, in 1 John v. 20." The words in this verse 
have been variously translated: 1. That they might 
acknowledge thee, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent, to be 
the only true God. 2. That they might acknowledge thee, the 
only true God, and Jesus, whom thou hast sent, to be the 
Christ or Messiah. 3. That they might acknowledge thee to be 
the only true God, and Jesus Christ to be him whom thou hast 
sent. And all these translations the original will bear.

From all this we learn that the only way in which eternal 
life is to be attained is by acknowledging the true God, and 
the Divine mission of Jesus Christ, he being sent of God to 
redeem men by his blood, being the author of eternal 
salvation to all them that thus believe, and conscientiously 
keep his commandments.

A saying similar to this is found in the Institutes of Menu. 
Brigoo, the first emanated being who was produced from the 
mind of the supreme God, and who revealed the knowledge of 
his will to mankind, is represented as addressing the human 
race and saying: "Of all duties, the principal is to acquire 
from the Upanishads (their sacred writings) a true knowledge 
of one supreme God; that is the most exalted of sciences, 
because it ensures eternal life. For in the knowledge and 
adoration of one God all the rules of good conduct are fully 
comprised." See Institutes of Menu, chap. xii. Inst.

85, 87.

Verse 4. I have glorified thee] Our Lord, considering himself 
as already sacrificed for the sin of the world, speaks of 
having completed the work which God had given him to do: and 
he looks forward to that time when, through the preaching of 
his Gospel, his sacrifice should be acknowledged, and the 
true God should be known and worshipped by the whole world.

Verse 5. Before the world was.] That is, from eternity, 
before there was any creation-so the phrase, and others 
similar to it, are taken in the sacred writings; see ver. 24; 
Psa. xc. 2; Eph. i. 4. See chap. i. 1. Let the glory of my 
eternal divinity surround and penetrate my humanity, in its 
resurrection, ascension, and in the place which it is to 
occupy at thy right hand, far above all creatures, Phil. ii. 
6, 9.

II. Our Lord's prayer for his disciples, ver. 6, 19.

Verse 6. I have manifested thy name] efanerwsa, I have 
brought it into light, and caused it to shine in itself, and 
to illuminate others. A little of the Divine nature was known 
by the works of creation; a little more was known by the 
Mosaic revelation: but the full manifestation of God, his 
nature, and his attributes, came only through the revelation 
of Christ.

The men which thou gavest me] That is, the apostles, who, 
having received this knowledge from Christ, were, by their 
preaching and writings, to spread it through the whole world.

Out of the world] From among the Jewish people; for in this 
sense is the word kosmov to be understood in various parts of 
our Lord's last discourses.

Thine they were] Objects of thy choice; and thou gavest them 
to me from among this very unbelieving people, that they 
might be my disciples and the heralds of my salvation.

And they have kept thy word.] Though their countrymen have 
rejected it; and they have received me as thy well beloved 
Son in whom thou delightest.

Verse 8. I have given-them the words] I have delivered thy 
doctrine to them, so that they have had a pure teaching 
immediately from heaven: neither Jewish fables nor fictions 
of men have been mingled with it.

And have known surely] Are fully convinced and acknowledge 
that I am the promised Messiah, and that they are to look for 
none other; and that my mission and doctrine are all Divine, 
ver. 7, 8.

Verse 9. I pray not for the world] I am not yet come to that 
part of my intercession: see ver. 20. I am now wholly 
employed for my disciples, that they may be properly 
qualified to preach my salvation to the ends of the earth. 
Jesus here imitates the high priest, the second part of whose 
prayer, on the day of expiation, was for the priests, the 
sons of Aaron: see on ver. 1. These words may also be 
understood as applying to the rebellious Jews. God's wrath 
was about to descend upon them, and Christ prays that his own 
followers might be kept from the evil, ver. 15. But he does 
not thus pray for the world, the rebellious Jews, because the 
cup of their iniquity was full, and their judgment slumbered 
not.

Verse 10. I am glorified in them.] Christ speaks of the 
things which were not, but which should be, as though they 
were. He anticipates the glorifying of his name by the 
successful preaching of the apostles.

Verse 11. I am no more in the world] I am just going to leave 
the world, and therefore they shall stand in need of peculiar 
assistance and support.

They have need of all the influence of my intercession, that 
they may be preserved in thy truth.

Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me] 
Instead of ouv dedwkav moi, THOSE whom thou hast given me, 
ABCEHLMS, Mt. BHV, and nearly one hundred others, read w, 
which refers to the tw onomati sou, thy name, immediately 
preceding. The whole passage should be read thus: Holy 
Father, keep them through thy own name WHICH thou hast given 
me, that they may be one, &c. By the name, here, it is 
evident that the doctrine or knowledge of the true God is 
intended; as if our Lord had said, Keep them in that doctrine 
WHICH thou hast given me, that they may be one, &c. This 
reading is supported by the most ample evidence and 
indisputable authority. Griesbach has admitted it into the 
text, and Professor White in his crisewv says of it, Lectio 
indubie genuina, "It is, without doubt, the genuine reading." 
That they may be ONE] That they, and all that believe through 
their word, (the doctrine which I have given them,) may be 
one body, united by one Spirit to me their living head. The 
union which Christ recommends here, and prays for, is so 
complete and glorious as to be fitly represented by that 
union which subsists between the Father and the Son.

Verse 12. I kept them in thy name] In thy doctrine and truth.

But the son of perdition] So we find that Judas, whom all 
account to have been lost, and whose case at best is 
extremely dubious, was first given by God to Christ? But why 
was he lost? Because, says St. Augustin, he would not be 
saved: and he farther adds, After the commission of his 
crime, he might have returned to God and have found mercy. 
Aug. Serm.

125; n. 5; Psalm 146. n. 20; Ser. 352, n. 8; and in Psa. 
cviii. See Calmet, who remarks: Judas only became the son of 
perdition because of his wilful malice, his abuse of the 
grace and instructions of Christ, and was condemned through 
his own avarice, perfidy, insensibility, and despair. In 
behalf of the mere possibility of the salvation of Judas, see 
the observations at the end of Acts 1.  Perdition or 
destruction is personified; and Judas is represented as being 
her son, i.e. one of the worst of men-one whose crime appears 
to have been an attempt to destroy, not only the saviour of 
the world, but also the whole human race. And all this he was 
capable of through the love of money! How many of those who 
are termed creditable persons in the world have acted his 
crime over a thousand times! To Judas and to all his 
brethren, who sell God and their souls for money, and who 
frequently go out of this world by a violent voluntary death, 
we may apply those burning words of Mr. Blair, with very 
little alteration: "O cursed lust of gold! when for thy sake 
The wretch throws up his interest in both worlds, First 
hanged in this, then damned in that to come." That the 
scripture might be fulfilled.] Or, Thus the scripture is 
fulfilled: see Psa. xli. 9; cix. 8; compared with Acts i. 20. 
Thus the traitorous conduct of Judas has been represented and 
illustrated by that of Ahitophel, and the rebellion of 
Absalom against his father David. Thus what was spoken 
concerning them was also fulfilled in Judas: to him therefore 
these scriptures are properly applied, though they were 
originally spoken concerning other traitors. Hence we plainly 
see that the treachery of Judas was not the effect of the 
prediction, for that related to a different case; but, as his 
was of the same nature with that of the others, to it the 
same scriptures were applicable.

Verse 13. My joy fulfilled in themselves.] See on chap. xv. 
11.

Verse 14. I have given them thy word] Or, thy doctrine-tou 
logon sou.

In this sense the word logov is often used by St. John.

And the world hath hated them] The Jewish rulers, &c., have 
hated them.-Why? Because they received the doctrine of God, 
the science of salvation, and taught it to others. They knew 
Jesus to be the Messiah, and as such they proclaimed him: our 
Lord speaks prophetically of what was about to take place. 
How terrible is the perversion of human nature! Men despise 
that which they should esteem, and endeavour to destroy that 
without which they must be destroyed themselves!

Verse 15. That thou shouldest take them out of the world] 
They must not yet leave the land of Judea: they had not as 
yet borne their testimony there, concerning Christ crucified 
and risen again from the dead. To take them away before this 
work was finished would not answer the gracious design of 
God.-1. Christ does not desire that his faithful apostles 
should soon die, and be taken to God. No: but that they may 
live long, labour long, and bring forth much fruit. 2. He 
does not intimate that they should seclude themselves from 
the world by going to the desert, or to the cloisters; but 
that they should continue in and among the world, that they 
may have the opportunity of recommending the salvation of 
God. 3.

Christ only prays that while they are in the world, employed 
in the work of the ministry, they may be preserved from the 
influence, tou ponhrou, of the evil one, the devil, who had 
lately entered into Judas, chap. xiii. 27, and who would 
endeavour to enter into them, ruin their souls, and destroy 
their work. A devil without can do no harm; but a devil 
within ruins all.

Verse 17. Sanctify them] Æagiason, from a, negative, and gh, 
the earth.

This word has two meanings: 1. It signifies to consecrate, to 
separate from earth and common use, and to devote or dedicate 
to God and his service. 2.

It signifies to make holy or pure. The prayer of Christ may 
be understood in both these senses. He prayed-1. That they 
might be fully consecrated to the work of the ministry, and 
separated from all worldly concerns. 2. That they might be 
holy, and patterns of all holiness to those to whom they 
announced the salvation of God. A minister who engages 
himself in worldly concerns is a reproach to the Gospel; and 
he who is not saved from his own sins can with a bad grace 
recommend salvation to others.

Through thy truth] It is not only according to the truth of 
God that ministers are to be set apart to the sacred work; 
but it is from that truth, and according to it, that they 
must preach to others. That doctrine which is not drawn from 
the truth of God can never save souls. God blesses no word 
but his own; because none is truth, without mixture of error, 
but that which has proceeded from himself. Our Lord still 
acts here in reference to the conduct of the high priest, to 
whom it belonged to sanctify the priests, the sons of Aaron: 
see on ver. 1.

Verse 18. As thou hast sent me-so have I also sent them] The 
apostles had the same commission which Christ had, considered 
as man-they were endued with the same Spirit, so that they 
could not err, and their word was accompanied with the same 
success.

Verse 19. I sanctify myself] I consecrate and devote myself 
to death-that I may thereby purchase eternal salvation for 
them. There seems to be here an allusion to the entering of 
the high priest into the holy of holies, when, having offered 
the sacrifice, he sprinkled the blood before the ark of the 
covenant. So Jesus entered into the holiest of all by his own 
blood, in order to obtain everlasting redemption for men: see 
Heb. ix. 11-13. The word, agiazw, to consecrate or sanctify, 
is used in the sense of devoting to death, in Jer. xii. 3, 
both in the Hebrew and in the Septuagint: the Hebrew dq 
signifies also to sacrifice.

III. Our Lord's prayer for his Church, and for all who would 
believe on his name, through the preaching of the apostles 
and their successors: see on ver. 1.

Verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone] This prayer extends 
itself through all ages, and takes in every soul that 
believes in the Lord Jesus.

And what is it that Christ asks in behalf of his followers? 
The greatest of blessings: unity, peace, love, and eternal 
glory.

Verse 21. That they all may be one] This prayer was literally 
answered to the first believers, who were all of one heart 
and of one soul: Acts iv. 39.

And why is it that believers are not in the same spirit now? 
Because they neither attend to the example nor to the truth 
of Christ.

That the world may believe] are have already seen that the 
word, kosmov, world, is used in several parts of this last 
discourse of our Lord to signify the Jewish people only.

Christ will have all his members to be one in spirit-one in 
rights and privileges, and one in the blessedness of the 
future world.

Verse 22. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given 
them] That is, the power to work miracles, and to preach 
unadulterated truth, say some; but as our Lord is not here 
praying for the disciples, but for all those who should 
believe on him through their word, ver. 20, it is more 
natural to understand the passage thus. As Christ, according 
to his human nature, is termed the Son of God, he may be 
understood as saying: "I have communicated to all those who 
believe, or shall believe in me, the glorious privilege of 
becoming sons of God; that, being all adopted children of the 
same Father, they may abide in peace, love, and unity." For 
this reason it is said, Heb. ii. 11, Christ is not ashamed to 
call them brethren.

However, our Lord may here, as in several other places, be 
using the past for the future; and the words may therefore be 
understood of the glory which they were to share with him in 
heaven.

Verse 23. That the world may know] That the Jewish people 
first, and secondly the Gentiles, may acknowledge me as the 
true Messiah, and be saved unto life eternal.

Verse 24. That they may behold my glory] That they may enjoy 
eternal felicity with me in thy kingdom. So the word is used, 
chap. iii. 3; Matt. v. 8. The design of Christ is, that all 
who believe should love and obey, persevere unto the end, and 
be eternally united to himself, and the ever blessed God, in 
the kingdom of glory.

Verse 25. The world hath not known thee] Has not acknowledged 
me. See on chap. i. 11, 12.

And these have known] Here our Lord, returning to the 
disciples, speaks: 1st. Of their having received him as the 
Messiah; 2dly. Of his making the Father known unto them; 
3dly. Of his purpose to continue to influence them by the 
Spirit of truth, that they might be perfectly united to God, 
by an indwelling saviour for ever.

Verse 26. I have declared unto them thy name, &c.] I have 
taught them the true doctrine.

And will declare it] This he did: 1st. By the conversations 
he had with his disciples after his resurrection, during the 
space of forty days. 2dly.

By the Holy Spirit which was poured out upon them on the day 
of pentecost. And all these declarations Jesus Christ made, 
that the love of God, and Christ Jesus himself, might dwell 
in them; and thus they were to become a habitation for God 
through the eternal Spirit.

OUR Lord's sermon, which he concluded by the prayer recorded 
in this chapter, begins at chap. xiii. 13, and is one of the 
most excellent than can be conceived. His sermon on the mount 
shows men what they should do, so as to please God: this 
sermon shows them how they are to do the things prescribed in 
the other. In the former the reader sees a strict morality 
which he fears he shall never be able to perform: in this, he 
sees all things are possible to him who believes; for that 
very God who made him shall dwell in his heart, and enable 
him to do all that He pleases to employ him in. No man can 
properly understand the nature and design of the religion of 
Christ who does not enter into the spirit of the preceding 
discourse.

Perhaps no part of our Lord's words has been less understood, 
or more perverted, than the seventeenth chapter of St. John. 
I have done what I could, in so small a compass, to make 
every thing plain, and to apply these words in that way in 
which I am satisfied he used them.

CHAPTER xviii.

Jesus passes the brook Cedron, and goes to the garden of 
Gethsemane, 1. Judas, having betrayed him, comes to the place 
with a troop of men to take him, 2, 3. Jesus addresses them, 
and they fall to the ground, 4-6. He addresses them again, 
and Peter smites Malchus, 7-11. They seize him and lead him 
away to Caiaphas, 12-14. Peter follows to the palace of the 
high priest, 15-18. The high priest questions Christ 
concerning his doctrine, and Jesus answers, and is smitten, 
19-23. Peter denies his Lord twice, 24-27. Jesus is led to 
the judgment hall, and Pilate and the Jews converse about 
him, 28-32. Pilate converses with Jesus, who informs him of 
the spiritual nature of his kingdom, 33-37. Pilate returns to 
the Jews, and declares Christ to be innocent, 38. He seeks to 
discharge him, and the Jews clamour for his condemnation, 39. 
40.

NOTES ON CHAP. xviii.

Verse 1. Over the brook Cedron] Having finished the prayer 
related in the preceding chapter, our Lord went straight to 
the garden of Gethsemane, Matt. xxvi. 36, which was in the 
mount of Olives, eastward of Jerusalem.

This mount was separated from the city by a very narrow 
valley, through the midst of which the brook Cedron ran: see 
1 Macc. xii. 37; Joseph. War, b. v. c. 2, s. 3. xii. 2. 
Cedron is a very small rivulet, about six or seven feet 
broad, nor is it constantly supplied with water, being dry 
all the year, except during the rains. It is mentioned in the 
Old Testament: 2 Sam. xv. 23; 1 Kings xv. 13; 2 Kings xxiii. 
4. And it appears the evangelist only mentions it here to 
call to remembrance what happened to David, when he was 
driven from Jerusalem by his son Absalom, and he and his 
followers obliged to pass the brook Cedron on foot: see 2 
Samuel xv. 23. All this was a very expressive figure of what 
happened now to this second David, by the treachery of one of 
his own disciples. This brook had its name probably from rdq 
Kadar, he was black; it being the place into which the blood 
of the sacrifices, and other filth of the city, ran. It was 
rather, says Lightfoot, the sink, or the common sewer, of the 
city, than a brook. Some copyists, mistaking kedrwn for 
Greek, have changed tou into twn, and thus have written twn 
kedrwn, of cedars, instead of tou kedrwn, the brook of 
Cedron: but this last is undoubtedly the genuine reading.

A garden] Gethsemane: see on Matt. xxvi. 36.

The Jewish grandees had their gardens and pleasure grounds 
without the city even in the mount of Olives. This is still a 
common custom among the Asiatics.

St. John mentions nothing of the agony in the garden; 
probably because he found it so amply related by all the 
other evangelists. As that account should come in here, the 
reader is desired to consult the notes on Matt. xxvi. 36-47. 
See also Mark xiv. 30-36, and Luke xxii. 40-44.

Verse 2. Judas-knew the place] As many had come from 
different quarters to celebrate the passover at Jerusalem, it 
could not be an easy matter to find lodging in the city: 
Jesus therefore chose to pass the night in the garden with 
his disciples which, from this verse, and from Luke xxii. 39, 
we find was his frequent custom, though he often lodged in 
Bethany. But, as he had supped in the city this evening, 
Judas took it for granted that he had not gone to Bethany, 
and therefore was to be met with in the garden; and, having 
given this information to the priests, they gave him some 
soldiers and others that he might be the better enabled to 
seize and bring him away.

Verse 3. A band] thn speiran, The band or troop. Some think 
that the spira was the same as the Roman cohort, and was the 
tenth part of a legion, which consisted sometimes of 4200, 
and sometimes of 5000 foot.

But Raphelius, on Matt. xxvii. 27, has clearly proved, from 
Polybius, that the spira was no more than a tenth of the 
fourth part of a legion. And as the number of the legion was 
uncertain, and their divisions not at all equal, no person 
can tell how many the band or spira contained. See many 
curious particulars in Raphelius on this point, vol. i. p. 
351, edit. 1747.

This band was probably those Roman soldiers given by the 
governor for the defense of the temple; and the officers were 
those who belonged to the Sanhedrin.

With lanterns and torches] With these they had intended to 
search the corners and caverns, provided Christ had hidden 
himself; for they could not have needed them for any other 
purpose, it being now the fourteenth day of the moon's age, 
in the month Nisan, and consequently she appeared full and 
bright. The weapons mentioned here were probably no other 
than clubs, staves, and instruments of that kind, as we may 
gather from Matt. xxvi. 55; Mark xiv. 48; Luke xxii. 52. The 
swords mentioned by the other evangelists were probably those 
of the Roman soldiers; the clubs and staves belonged to the 
chief priest's officers.

Verse 4. Jesus knowing all things, &c.] He had gone through 
all his preaching, working of miracles, and passion, and had 
nothing to do now but to offer up himself on the cross; he 
therefore went forth to meet them, to deliver himself up to 
death.

Verse 5. Jesus of Nazareth.] They did not say this till after 
Judas kissed Christ, which was the sign which he had agreed 
with the soldiers, &c., to give them, that they might know 
whom they were to seize: see Matt. xxvi. 48. Though some 
harmonists place the kiss after what is spoken in the ninth 
verse.

Verse 6. They went backward, and fell to the ground.] None of 
the other evangelists mentions this very important 
circumstance. Our Lord chose to give them this proof of his 
infinite power, that they might know that their power could 
not prevail against him if he chose to exert his might, 
seeing that the very breath of his mouth confounded, drove 
back, and struck them down to the earth. Thus by the blast of 
God they might have perished, and by the breath of his 
nostrils they might have been consumed: Job iv. 9.

Verse 8. Let these go their way] These words are rather words 
of authority, than words of entreaty. I voluntarily give 
myself up to you, but you must not molest one of these my 
disciples. At your peril injure them.

Let them go about their business. I have already given you a 
sufficient proof of my power: I will not exert it in my own 
behalf, for I will lay down my life for the sheep; but I will 
not permit you to injure the least of these. It was certainly 
the supreme power of Christ that kept the soldiers and the 
mob from destroying all the disciples present, when Peter had 
given them such provocation, in cutting off the ear of 
Malchus. There were probably no other disciples with Christ 
than Peter, James, and John, at this time. see Matt. xxvi. 
37; Mark xiii. 33.

Verse 10. Having a sword] See the note on Luke xxii. 36.

Cut off his right ear.] He probably designed to have cloven 
his scull in two, but God turned it aside, and only permitted 
the ear to be taken off; and this he would not have suffered, 
but only that he might have the opportunity of giving them a 
most striking proof of his Divinity in working an astonishing 
miracle on the occasion: see the notes on Matt. xxvi. 51-56.

The other three evangelists mention this transaction; but 
neither give the name of Peter nor of Malchus, probably 
because both persons were alive when they wrote; but it is 
likely both had been long dead before St. John published his 
history.

Verse 11. The cup which my Father hath given me] The cup 
signifies, sometimes the lot of life, whether prosperous or 
adverse: here it signifies the final sufferings of Christ.

Verse 12. The captain] ciliarcov, The chiliarch, or chief 
over one thousand men-answering nearly to a colonel with us. 
See the note on Luke xxii. 4. He was probably the prefect or 
captain of the temple guard.

Verse 13. To Annas] This man must have had great authority in 
his nation: 1. Because he had been a long time high priest; 
2. Because he had no less than five sons who successively 
enjoyed the dignity of the high priesthood; and, 3. Because 
his son-in-law Caiaphas was at this time in possession of 
that office. It is likely that Annas was chief of the 
Sanhedrin, and that it was to him in that office that Christ 
was first brought. Some think that Annas was still high 
priest, and that Caiaphas was only his deputy, though he did 
the principal part of the business, and that it as because of 
this that he is called high priest. But see the notes on 
Matt. ii. 4, and Luke iii. 2.

That same year.] The office was now no longer during life as 
formerly. See the note on chap. xi. 49.

What is related in the 24th verse, , Now Annas had sent him 
bound to Caiaphas, comes properly in after the 13th verse.  
One of the Vienna MSS. adds this verse here; the later Syriac 
has it in the margin, and St. Cyril in the text. See the 
margin.

Verse 14. Caiaphas was he which gave counsel, &c.] Therefore 
he was an improper person to sit in judgment on Christ, whom 
he had prejudged and precondemned: see on chap. xi. 50-52. 
But Christ must not be treated according to the rules of 
justice: if he had, he could not have been put to death.

Verse 15. And-another disciple] Not THAT other disciple, for 
the article is omitted by AD, two others; some editions; 
Syriac, Persic, Gothic, and Nonnus. So the Vulgate is to be 
understood. There are many conjectures who this disciple was: 
Jerome, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Nonnus, Lyra, Erasmus, 
Piscator, and others, say it was John. It is true John 
frequently mentions himself in the third person; but then he 
has always, whom Jesus loved, as in chap. xiii. 23; xix. 26; 
xxi. 7, 20, except in chap. xix. 35, where he has plainly 
pointed out himself as writer of this Gospel; but, in the 
place before us, he has mentioned no circumstance by which 
that disciple may be known to be John. To this may be added 
that John being not only a Galilean, but a fisherman by 
trade, it is not likely that he should have been known to the 
high priest, as it is here said of that disciple who followed 
Jesus with Peter. See Bishop Pearce and Calmet. The 
conjecture of Grotius is the most likely: viz. that it was 
the person at whose house Jesus had supped. St. Augustin, 
Tract. 113, speaks like a man of sound sense: We should not 
decide hastily, says he, on a subject concerning which the 
Scripture is silent.

Verse 17. The damsel that kept the door] Caezarius, a writer 
quoted by Calmet, says this portress was named Ballila. It is 
worthy of remark that women, especially old women, were 
employed by the ancients as porters.

In 2 Sam. iv. 6, both the Septuagint and Vulgate make a woman 
porter to Ishbosheth. ARISTOPHANES, in Vespis, v. 765, 
mentions them in the same office and calls them shkiv, Sekis, 
which seems to signify a common maid-servant: - oti thn quran 
anewzen h shkiv laqra.

And EURIPIDES, Troad. brings in Hecuba, complaining that she, 
who was wont to sit upon a throne, is now reduced to the 
miserable necessity of becoming a porter, or a nurse, in 
order to get a morsel of bread. And PLAUTUS, Curcul. Act. i. 
sc. 1, mentions an old woman who was keeper of the gate: - 
Anus hic solet cubitare custos janitrix.

Why they, in preference to men, should be pitched upon for 
this office, I cannot conceive; but we find the usage was 
common in all ancient nations. See the notes on Matt. xxvi. 
69.

Verse 18. Servants and officers] These belonged to the chief 
priests, &c.; the Roman soldiers had probably been dismissed 
after having conducted Christ to Annas.

Verse 19. Asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine.] 
He probably asked him by what authority, or in virtue of what 
right, he collected disciples, formed a different sect, 
preached a new doctrine, and set himself up for a public 
reformer? As religion was interested in these things, the 
high priest was considered as being the proper judge. But all 
this, with what follows, was transacted by night, and this 
was contrary to established laws. For the Talmud states, 
Sanhed. c. iv. s. 1, that-"Criminal processes can neither 
commence not terminate, but during the course of the day. If 
the person be acquitted, the sentence may be pronounced 
during that day; but, if he be condemned, the sentence cannot 
be pronounced till the next day. But no kind of judgment is 
to be executed, either on the eve of the Sabbath, or the eve 
of any festival." Nevertheless, to the lasting infamy of this 
people, Christ was judicially interrogated and condemned 
during the night; and on the night too of the passover, or, 
according to others, on the eve of that feast. Thus, as I 
have remarked before, all the forms of justice were insulted 
and outraged in the case of our Lord. In this his humiliation 
his judgment was taken away. See Acts viii. 33.

Verse 20. I spake openly to the world] To every person in the 
land indiscriminately-to the people at large: the tw kosmw, 
here, is tantamount to the French tout le monde, all the 
world, i.e. every person within reach.

This is another proof that St. John uses the term world to 
mean the Jewish people only; for it is certain our Lord did 
not preach to the Gentiles. The answer of our Lord, mentioned 
in this and the following verse, is such as became a person 
conscious of his own innocence, and confident in the 
righteousness of his cause. I have taught in the temple, in 
the synagogues, in all the principal cities, towns, and 
villages, and through all the country. I have had no secret 
school. You and your emissaries have watched me every where. 
No doctrine has ever proceeded from my lips, but what was 
agreeable to the righteousness of the law and the purity of 
God. My disciples, when they have taught, have taught in the 
same way, and had the same witnesses. Ask those who have 
attended our public ministrations, and hear whether they can 
prove that I or my disciples have preached any false 
doctrines, have ever troubled society, or disturbed the 
state. Attend to the ordinary course of justice, call 
witnesses, let them make their depositions, and then proceed 
to judge according to the evidence brought before you.

Verse 22. One of the officers-struck Jesus] This was an 
outrage to all justice: for a prisoner, before he is 
condemned, is ever considered to be under the especial 
protection of justice; nor has any one a right to touch him, 
but according to the direction of the law. But it has been 
observed before that, if justice had been done to Christ, he 
could neither have suffered nor died.

Verse 24. Now Annas had sent him, &c.] It has been observed 
before that the proper place of this verse is immediately 
after the 13th; and, if it be allowed to stand here, it 
should be read in a parenthesis, and considered as a 
recapitulation of what had been before done.

Verse 27. And-the cock crew.] Peter denied our Lord three 
times:- Peter's first denial.

I. This took place, when he was without, or beneath, in the 
hall of Caiaphas's house. He was not in the higher part where 
Christ stood before the high priest; but without that 
division of the hall, and in the lower part with the servants 
and officers, at the fire kindled in the midst of the hall, 
ver. 16, 18; and the girl who kept the door had entered into 
the hall, where she charged Peter.

Peter's second denial.

II. This was in a short time after the first, Luke xxii. 58. 
Having once denied his Master, he naturally retired from the 
place where his accuser was to the vestibule of the hall, 
Matt. xxvi. 71, and it was the time of the first cock-
crowing, or soon after midnight. After remaining here a short 
time, perhaps an hour, another girl sees him, and says to 
them who were standing by in the vestibule, that he was one 
of them. Peter, to avoid this charge, withdraws into the 
hall, and warms himself. The girl, and those to whom she had 
spoken, follow him; the communication between the two places 
being immediate. Here a man enforces the charge of the girl, 
according to Luke; and others urge it, according to St. John; 
and Peter denies Jesus vehemently.

Peter's third denial.

III. He was now in the hall, and also within sight of Jesus, 
though at such a distance from him that Jesus could not know 
what passed, but in a supernatural way. And, about an hour 
after his second denial, those who stood by founded a third 
charge against him, on his being a Galilean, which St. Luke 
says, Luke xxii. 59, one in particular strongly affirmed; and 
which, according to John, ver. 26, was supported by one of 
Malchus's relations. This occasioned a more vehement denial 
than before, and immediately the cock crew the second time, 
which is eminently called alektorofwnia. The first denial may 
have been between our twelve and one; and the second between 
our two and three.

At the time of the third denial, Luke xxii. 61 proves that 
Jesus was in the same room with Peter. We must farther 
observe that Matthew, Matt. xxvi. 57, lays the scene of 
Peter's denials in the house of Caiaphas: whereas John, ver. 
15-23, seems to intimate that these transactions took place 
in the house of Annas; but this difficulty arises from the 
injudicious insertion of the particle oun, therefore, in ver. 
24, which should be omitted, on the authority of ADES, Mt. 
BH, many others; besides some versions, and some of the 
primitive fathers. Griesbach has left it out of the text. See 
Bishop Newcome's Harm. notes, p. 48.

The time of Peter's denials happened during the space of the 
third Roman watch, or that division of the night, between 
twelve and three, which is called alektorofwnia, or cock-
crowing, Mark xiii. 35. Concerning the nature and progress of 
Peter's denial, see the notes on Matt. xxvi. 58, 69-75.

Verse 28. The hall of judgment] eiv to praitwriov, To the 
praetorium. This was the house where Pilate lodged; hence 
called in our margin, Pilate's house. The praetorium is so 
called from being the dwelling-place of the praetor, or chief 
of the province. It was also the place where he held his 
court, and tried causes.

St. John has omitted all that passed in the house of 
Caiaphas-the accusations brought against Christ-the false 
witnesses-the insults which he received in the house of the 
high priest-and the assembling of the grand council, or 
Sanhedrin. These he found amply detailed by the other three 
evangelists; and for this reason it appears that he omitted 
them. John's is properly a supplementary Gospel.

Lest they should be defiled] The Jews considered even the 
touch of a Gentile as a legal defilement; and therefore would 
not venture into the praetorium, for fear of contracting some 
impurity, which would have obliged them to separate 
themselves from all religious ordinances till the evening, 
Lev. xv. 10, 11, 19, 20.

That they might eat the passover.] Some maintain that to 
pasca here does not mean the paschal lamb, but the other 
sacrifices which were offered during the paschal solemnity-
for this had been eaten the evening before; and that our Lord 
was crucified the day after the passover. Others have 
maintained that the paschal lamb is here meant; that this was 
the proper day for sacrificing it; that it was on the very 
hour in which it was offered that Christ expired on the 
cross; and that therefore our Lord did not eat the Paschal 
lamb this year, or that he ate it some hours before the 
common time. Bishop Pearce supposes that it was lawful for 
the Jews to eat the paschal lamb any time between the evening 
of Thursday and that of Friday. He conjectures too that this 
permission was necessary on account of the immense number of 
lambs which were to be killed for that purpose.

When Cestius desired to know the number of the Jews, he asked 
the priests how he might accomplish his wish? They informed 
him that this might be known by the number of the lambs slain 
at the passover, as never less than ten partook of one lamb, 
though twenty might feast on it. On this mode of computation 
he found the lambs to be 256,500; eikosi pente muriadav 
hriqmhsan, prov de exakiscilia kai pentakosia. See Josephus, 
War, b. vi. c. 9. s. 3.

That Jesus ate a passover this last year of his life is 
sufficiently evident from Matt. xxvi. 17-19; Mark xiv. 12-18; 
Luke xxii. 8-15; and that he ate this passover some hours 
before the ordinary time, and was himself slain at that hour 
in which the paschal lamb was ordered by the law to be 
sacrificed, is highly probable, if not absolutely certain. 
See the note on Matthew xxvi. 20, and at the conclusion of 
the chapter, where the subject, and the different opinions on 
it, are largely considered. 

Verse 29. Pilate then went out] This was an act of 
condescension; but, as the Romans had confirmed to the Jews 
the free use of all their rites and ceremonies, the governor 
could not do less than comply with them in this matter. He 
went out to them, that they might not be obliged to come into 
the hall, and thus run the risk of being defiled.

Verse 30. If he were not a malefactor] So they did not wish 
to make Pilate the judge, but the executor of the sentence 
which they had already illegally passed.

Verse 31. It is not lawful for us to put any man to death] 
They might have judged Jesus according to their law, as 
Pilate bade them do; but they could only excommunicate or 
scourge him. They might have voted him worthy of death; but 
they could not put him to death, if any thing of a secular 
nature were charged against him. The power of life and death 
was in all probability taken from the Jews when Archelaus, 
king of Judea, was banished to Vienna, and Judea was made a 
Roman province; and this happened more than fifty years 
before the destruction of Jerusalem. But the Romans suffered 
Herod, mentioned Acts xii. 1, &c., to exercise the power of 
life and death during his reign. See much on this point in 
Calmet and Pearce. After all, I think it probable that, 
though the power of life and death was taken away from the 
Jews, as far as it concerned affairs of state, yet it was 
continued to them in matters which were wholly of an 
ecclesiastical nature; and that they only applied thus to 
Pilate to persuade him that they were proceeding against 
Christ as an enemy of the state, and not as a transgressor of 
their own peculiar laws and customs. Hence, though they 
assert that he should die according to their law, because he 
made himself the Son of God, chap. xix. 7, yet they lay 
peculiar stress on his being an enemy to the Roman 
government; and, when they found Pilate disposed to let him 
go, they asserted that if he did he was not Caesar's friend, 
ver. 12. It was this that intimidated Pilate, and induced him 
to give him up, that they might crucify him. How they came to 
lose this power is accounted for in a different manner by Dr. 
Lightfoot. His observations are very curious, and are 
subjoined to the end of this chapter. 

Verse 32. That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled] Or, 
thus the word was fulfilled. God permitted the Jews to lose 
the power of life and death, in the sense before stated, that 
according to the Roman laws, which punished sedition, &c., 
with the cross, Christ might be crucified, according to his 
own prediction: chap. xii. 32, iii. 14.

Verse 33. Art thou the king of the Jews?] St. Luke says, 
expressly, Luke xxiii. 2, that when the Jews brought him to 
Pilate they began to accuse him as a rebel, who said he was 
king of the Jews, and forbade the people to pay tribute to 
Caesar. It was in consequence of this accusation that Pilate 
asked the question mentioned in the text.

Verse 34. Sayest thou this thing of thyself] That is, Is it 
because my enemies thus accuse me, or because thou hast any 
suspicion of me, that thou askest this question?

Verse 35. Amos I a Jew?] That is, I am not a Jew, and cannot 
judge whether thou art what is called the Christ, the king of 
the Jews. It is thy own countrymen, and their spiritual 
rulers, who delivered thee up to me with the above 
accusation.

What hast thou done?] If thou dost not profess thyself king 
over this people, and an enemy to Caesar, what is it that 
thou hast done, for which they desire thy condemnation?

Verse 36. My kingdom is not of this world] It is purely 
spiritual and Divine. If it had been of a secular nature, 
then my servants would have contended-they would have opposed 
force with force, as the kingdoms of this world do in their 
wars; but as my kingdom as not of this world, therefore no 
resistance has been made. Eusebius relates, Hist. Eccles. 
lib. iii. c. 20, that "The relatives of our Lord were brought 
before Domitian, and interrogated whether they were of the 
family of David; and what sort the kingdom of Christ was, and 
where it would appear? They answered, that this kingdom was 
neither of this world, nor of an earthly nature; that it was 
altogether heavenly and angelical; and that it would not take 
place till the end of the world."

Verse 37. Thou sayest] A common form of expression for, yes, 
it is so. I was born into the world that I might set up and 
maintain a spiritual government: but this government is 
established in and by truth. All that love truth, hear my 
voice and attend to the spiritual doctrines I preach. It is 
by truth alone that I influence the minds and govern the 
manners of my subjects.

Verse 38. What is truth] Among the sages of that time there 
were many opinions concerning truth; and some had even 
supposed that it was a thing utterly out of the reach of men. 
Pilate perhaps might have asked the question in a mocking 
way; and his not staying to get an answer indicated that he 
either despaired of getting a satisfactory one, or that he 
was indifferent about it. This is the case with thousands: 
they appear desirous of knowing the truth, but have not 
patience to wait in a proper way to receive an answer to 
their question.

I find in him no fault] Having asked the above question, and 
being convinced of our Lord's innocence, he went out to the 
Jews to testify his convictions and to deliver him, if 
possible, out of their hands.

Verse 39. But ye have a custom] Nothing relative to the 
origin or reason of this custom is known. Commentators have 
swam in an ocean of conjecture on this point. They have lost 
their labour, and made nothing out: see the notes on Matt. 
xxvii. 15; Luke xxiii. 17.

Verse 40. Barabbas was a robber] See Matt. xxvii. 16.

The later Syriac has in the margin, arcilhsthv, a chief 
robber, a captain of banditti, and it is probable that this 
was the case. He was not only a person who lived by plunder, 
but shed the blood of many of those whom he and his gang 
robbed, and rose up against the Roman government, as we learn 
from Luke xxiii. 19. There never existed a more perfidious, 
cruel, and murderous people than these Jews; and no wonder 
they preferred a murderer to the Prince of peace. Christ 
himself had said, If ye were of the world, the world would 
love its own. Like cleaves to like: hence we need not be 
surprised to find the vilest things still preferred to 
Christ, his kingdom, and his salvation.

1. IT is not easy to give the character of Pilate. From the 
manner of his conduct, we scarcely can tell when he is in 
jest or in earnest. He appears to have been fully convinced 
of the innocence of Christ; and that the Jews, through envy 
and malice, desired his destruction. On this ground he should 
have released him; but he was afraid to offend the Jews. He 
knew they were an uneasy, factious, and seditious people; and 
he was afraid to irritate them. Fiat justitia, ruat caelum! 
was no motto of his. For fear of the clamours of this bad 
people, he permitted all the forms and requisitions of 
justice to be outraged, and abandoned the most innocent Jesus 
to their rage and malice. In this case he knew what was 
truth, but did not follow its dictates; and he as hastily 
abandoned the author of it as he did the question he had 
asked concerning it. Pilate, it is true, was disposed to 
pity-the Jews were full of malice and cruelty. They both, 
however, joined in the murder of our Lord. The most that we 
can say for Pilate is, that he was disposed to justice, but 
was not inclined to hazard his comfort or safety in doing it.

He was an easy, pliable man, who had no objection to do a 
right thing if it should cost him no trouble; but he felt no 
disposition to make any sacrifice, even in behalf of 
innocence, righteousness, and truth. In all the business 
Pilate showed that he was not a good man; and the Jews proved 
that they were of their father, the devil. See chap. xix. 8.

2. As Dr. Lightfoot has entered into a regular examination of 
when and how the Jews lost the power of life and death in 
criminal cases, it may be necessary to lay before the reader 
a copious abstract of his researches on this subject, founded 
on chap. xviii. 31.

"It cannot be denied that all capital judgment, or sentence 
upon life, had been taken from the Jews for above forty years 
before the destruction of Jerusalem, as they oftentimes 
themselves confess. But how came this to pass? It is commonly 
received that the Romans, at this time the Jews' lords and 
masters, had taken from all their courts a power and capacity 
of judging the capital matters. Let us superadd a few things 
here. Rabh Cahna saith, When R. Ismael bar Jose lay sick, 
they sent to him, saying, Pray, sir, tell us two or three 
things which thou didst once tell us in the name of thy 
Father. He saith to them, A hundred and fourscore years 
before the destruction of the temple, the wicked kingdom (the 
Roman empire) reigned over Israel, fourscore years before the 
destruction of the temple, they (the fathers of the 
Sanhedrin) determined about the uncleanness of the heathen 
land, and about glass vessels. Forty years before the 
destruction of the temple, the Sanhedrin removed and sat in 
the Taberne. What is the meaning of this tradition? Rabbi 
Isaac bar Abdimi saith, They did not judge judgments of 
mulcts. The gloss is, Those are the judgments about fining 
any that offered violence, that entice a maid, and the price 
of a servant.

When, therefore, they did not sit in the room Gazith, they 
did not judge about these things, and so those judgments 
about mulcts or fines ceased.

Avodoh Zarah. fol. 82. Here we have one part of their 
judiciary power lost; not taken away from them by the Romans, 
but falling of itself, as it were, out of the hands of the 
Sanhedrin. Nor did the Rom. indeed take away their power of 
judging in capital matters; but they, by their own oscitancy, 
supine and unreasonable lenity, lost it themselves, for so 
the Gemara goes on: Rabh Hachman bar Isaac saith, Let him not 
say that they did not judge judgments of mulcts, for they did 
not judge capital judgments either. And whence comes this? 
When they saw that so many murders and homicides multiplied 
upon them that they could not well judge and call them to 
account, they said, It is better for us that we remove from 
place to place; for how can we otherwise (sitting here and 
not punishing them) not contract guilt upon ourselves? "They 
thought themselves obliged to punish murderers while they sat 
in the room Gazith, for the place itself engaged them to it. 
They are the words of the Gemarists, upon which the gloss. 
The room Gazith was half of it within, and half of it 
without, the holy place. The reason of which was, that it was 
requisite that the council should sit near the Divine 
Majesty. Hence it is that they say, Whoever constitutes an 
unfit judge is as if he planted a grove by the altar of the 
Lord, as it is written, Judges and officers shalt thou make 
thee; and it follows presently after, Thou shalt not plant 
thee a grove near the altar of the Lord thy God, Deut. xvi. 
18, 21. They removed therefore from Gazith, and sat in the 
Taberne; now though the Taberne were upon the mountain of the 
temple, yet they did not sit so near the Divine Majesty there 
as they did when they sat in the room Gazith.

"Let us now in order put the whole matter together.

"I. The Sanhedrin were most stupidly and unreasonably remiss 
in their punishment of capital offenders; going upon this 
reason especially, that they counted it so horrible a thing 
to put an Israelite to death. Forsooth, he is of the seed of 
Abraham, of the blood and stock of Israel, and you must have 
a care how you touch such a one! "R. Eliezer bar Simeon had 
laid hold on some thieves. R. Joshua bar Korchah sent to him, 
saying, O thou vinegar, the son of good wine! (i.e. O thou 
wicked son of a good father!) how long wilt thou deliver the 
people of God to the slaughter! He answered and said, I root 
the thorns out of the vineyard. To whom the other: Let the 
Lord of the vineyard come and root them out himself. Bava 
Meziah, fol. 83, 2. It is worth noting, that the very thieves 
of Israel are the people of God; and they must not be touched 
by any man, but referred to the judgment of God himself! 
"When R. Ismael bar R. Jose was constituted a magistrate by 
the king, there happened some such thing to him; for Elias 
himself rebuked him, saying, How long wilt thou deliver over 
the people of God to slaughter! Ibid. fol. 64, 1. Hence that 
which we alleged elsewhere: The Sanhedrin that happens to 
sentence any one to death within the space of seven years, is 
termed a destroyer. R. Eliezer ben Azariah saith it is so, if 
they should but condemn one within seventy years. Maccoth, 
fol. 7, 1.

"II. It is obvious to any one how this foolish remissness, 
and letting loose the reins of judgment, would soon increase 
the numbers of robbers, murderers, and all kinds of 
wickedness; and indeed they did so abundantly multiply that 
the Sanhedrin neither could nor durst, as it ought, call the 
criminals to account. The law slept, while wickedness was in 
the height of its revels; and punitive justice was so out of 
countenance that as to uncertain murders they made no search, 
and against certain ones they framed no judgement. Since the 
time that homicides multiplied, the beheading the heifer 
ceased. Sotoh, fol. 47, 1. And in the place before quoted in 
Avodah: When they saw the numbers of murderers so greatly 
increase that they could not sit in judgment upon them, they 
said, Let us remove, &c., fol. 8, 2. So in the case of 
adultery, which we also observed in our notes on chap. viii. 
3-11. Since the time that adultery so openly advanced, under 
the second temple, they left off trying the adultress by the 
bitter water, &c. Mainaon. in Sotoh, cap. 3.

"So that, we see, the liberty of judging in capital matters 
was no more taken from the Jews by the Romans than the 
beheading of the heifer, or the trial of the suspected wife 
by the bitter waters, was taken away by them, which no one 
will affirm. It is a tradition of R. Chaia, from the day 
wherein the temple was destroyed, though the Sanhedrin 
ceased, yet the four kinds of death (which were wont to be 
inflicted by the Sanhedrin) did not cease.

For he that had deserved to be stoned to death, either fell 
off from some house, or some wild beast tore and devoured 
him. He that had deserved burning, either fell into some 
fire, or some serpent bit him. He that had deserved to be 
slain (i.e. with the sword) was either delivered into the 
hands of some heathen king, or was murdered by robbers. He 
that had deserved strangling, was either drowned in some 
river, or choked by a squinancy.

"This must be observed from the evangelists, that when they 
had Christ in examination in the palace of the high priest 
all night, in the morning the whole Sanhedrin met that they 
might pass sentence of death upon him.

Where then was this that they met? Questionless in the room 
Gazith-at least if they adhered to their own rules and 
constitutions: Thither they betook themselves sometimes upon 
urgent necessity. The gloss before quoted excepts only the 
case of murder, with which, amongst all their false 
accusations, they never charged Christ.

"But, however, suppose it were granted that the great council 
met either in the Taberne, or some other place, (which yet 
agreed by no means with their own tradition,) did they deal 
truly, and as the matter really and indeed was, with Pilate, 
when they tell him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to 
death? He had said to them, Take ye him and judge him 
according to your laws. We have indeed judged and condemned 
him, but we cannot put any one to death. Was this that they 
said in fact true? How came they then to stone the proto-
martyr Stephen? How came they to stone Ben Sarda at Lydda? 
Hieros. Sanhed. fol. 25, 4. How came they to burn the 
priest's daughter alive that was taken in adultery? Bab. 
Sanhed. fol. 52, 1, and 51, 1. It is probable that they had 
not put any one to death as yet, since the time that they had 
removed out of Gazith, and so might the easier persuade 
Pilate in that case. But their great design was to throw off 
the odium of Christ's death from themselves; at least among 
the vulgar crowd; fearing them, if the council should have 
decreed his execution. They seek this evasion, therefore, 
which did not altogether want some colour and pretext of 
truth; and it succeeded according to what they desired. 
Divine Providence so ordering it as the evangelist intimates, 
chap. xviii. 32, That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, 
which he spake signifying what death he should die: that is, 
be crucified according to the custom of the Romans.

While I am upon this thought, I cannot but reflect upon that 
passage, than which nothing is more worthy observation in the 
whole description of the Roman beast in the Revelation, Rev. 
xiii. 4. The dragon which gave power to the beast. We cannot 
say this of the Assyrian, Babylonish, or any other monarchy; 
for the Holy Scriptures do not say it. But reason dictates, 
and the event itself tells us, that there was something acted 
by the Roman empire in behalf of the dragon, which was not 
compatible with any other, that is, the putting of the Son of 
God to death. Which thing we must remember as often as we 
recite that article of our creed, 'He suffered under Pontius 
Pilate,' that is, was put to death by the Roman empire,"

CHAPTER xix.

Jesus is scourged, crowned with thorns, and mocked by the 
soldiers, 1-3. He to brought forth by Pilate, wearing the 
purple robe; and the Jews clamour for his death, 4-8. 
Conversation between our Lord and Pilate, 9-11. Pilate 
expostulates with the Jews on their barbarous demands; but 
they become more inveterate, and he delivers Christ into 
their hands, 12-16. He, bearing his cross, is led to 
Golgotha, and crucified, 17-22. The soldiers cast lots for 
his raiment, 23, 24. Jesus commends his mother to the care of 
John, 25-27. Jesus thirsts, receives vinegar, and dies, 28-
30. The Jews request that the legs of those who were 
crucified might be broken; the soldiers break those of the 
two thieves, and pierce the side of Christ; the Scriptures 
fulfilled in these acts, 31-37. Joseph of Arimathea begs the 
body of Christ; and Nicodemus brings spices to embalm it, 38-
40. He is laid in a new sepulchre, 41, 42.

NOTES ON CHAP. xix.

Verse 1. Pilate took Jesus, and scourged him.] That is, 
caused him to be scourged: for we cannot with Bede suppose 
that he scourged him with his own hand.

As our Lord was scourged by order of Pilate, it is probable 
he was scourged in the Roman manner, which was much more 
severe than that of the Jews. The latter never gave more than 
thirty-nine blows; for the law had absolutely forbidden a man 
to be abused, or his flesh cut in this chastisement, Deut. 
xxv. 3. The common method of whipping or flogging in some 
places, especially that of a military kind, is a disgrace to 
the nation where it is done, to the laws, and to humanity. 
See Matt. xxvii. 26, and the note there. Though it was 
customary to scourge the person who was to be crucified, yet 
it appears that Pilate had another end in view by scourging 
our Lord. He hoped that this would have satisfied the Jews, 
and that he might then have dismissed Jesus. This appears 
from Luke xxiii. 16.

Verse 2. Platted a crown of thorns] See on Matt. xxvii. 29.

Verse 5. And Pilate saith] The word Pilate, which we supply 
in our version, is added by one MS., the later Syriac, later 
Arabic, and the Coptic.

Behold the man!] The man who, according to you, affects the 
government, and threatens to take away the empire from the 
Romans.

Behold the man whom ye have brought unto me as an enemy to 
Caesar, and as a sower of the seeds of sedition in the land! 
In him I find no guilt; and from him ye have no occasion to 
fear any evil.

Verse 6. Crucify HIM] auton, which is necessary to the text, 
and which is wanting in the common editions, and is supplied 
by our version in Italics, is added here on the authority of 
almost every MS. and version of importance. As it is omitted 
in the common editions, it affords another proof, that they 
were not taken from the best MSS.

Verse 7. We have a law] In Lev. xxiv. 14-16, we find that 
blasphemers of God were to be put to death; and the chief 
priests having charged Jesus with blasphemy, they therefore 
voted that he deserved to die. See Matt. xxvi. 65, 66. They 
might refer also to the law against false prophets, Deut. 
xviii. 20.

The Son of God.] It is certain that the Jews understood this 
in a very peculiar sense. When Christ called himself the Son 
of God, they understood it to imply positive equality to the 
Supreme Being: and, if they were wrong, our Lord never 
attempted to correct them.

Verse 8. He was the more afraid] While Jesus was accused only 
as a disturber of the peace of the nation, which accusation 
Pilate knew to be false, he knew he could deliver him, 
because the judgment in that case belonged to himself; but 
when the Jews brought a charge against him of the most 
capital nature, from their own laws, he then saw that he had 
every thing to fear, if he did not deliver Jesus to their 
will. The Sanhedrin must not be offended-the populace must 
not be irritated: from the former a complaint might be sent 
against him to Caesar; the latter might revolt, or proceed to 
some acts of violence, the end of which could not be 
foreseen.

Pilate was certainly to be pitied: he saw what was right, and 
he wished to do it; but he had not sufficient firmness of 
mind. He did not attend to that important maxim, Fiat 
justitia: ruat caelum. Let justice be done, though the 
heavens should be dissolved. He had a vile people to govern, 
and it was not an easy matter to keep them quiet. Some 
suppose that Pilate's fear arose from hearing that Jesus had 
said he was the Son of God; because Pilate, who was a 
polytheist, believed that it was possible for the offspring 
of the gods to visit mortals; and he was afraid to condemn 
Jesus, for fear of offending some of the supreme deities. 
Perhaps the question in the succeeding verse refers to this.

Verse 9. Whence art thou?] This certainly does not mean, From 
what country art thou? for Pilate knew this well enough; but 
it appears he made this inquiry to know who were the parents 
of Christ; what were his pretensions, and whether he really 
were a demigod, such as the heathens believed in. To this 
question ve find our Lord gave no answer. He had already told 
him that his kingdom was not of this world; and that he came 
to erect a spiritual kingdom, not a temporal one: chap. 
xviii. 36, 37. This answer he deemed sufficient; and he did 
not choose to satisfy a criminal curiosity, nor to enter then 
into any debate concerning the absurdity of the heathen 
worship.

Verse 11. Hath the greater sin.] It is a sin in thee to 
condemn me, while thou art convinced in thy conscience that I 
am innocent: but the Jews who delivered me to thee, and Judas 
who delivered me to the Jews, have the greater crime to 
answer for. Thy ignorance in some measure excuses thee; but 
the rage and malice of the Jews put them at present out of 
the reach of mercy.

Verse 12. Pilate sought to release him] Pilate made five 
several attempts to release our Lord; as we may learn from 
Luke xxiii. 4, 15, 20, 22; ver. 4, 12, 13.

Thou art not Caesar's friend] Thou dost not act like a person 
who has the interest of the emperor at heart. Ambassadors, 
prefects, counsellors, &c., were generally termed the friends 
of the emperor. This insinuation determined Pilate to make no 
longer resistance: he was afraid of being accused, and he 
knew Tiberius was one of the most jealous and distrustful 
princes in the world. During his reign, accusations of 
conspiracies were much in fashion; they were founded on the 
silliest pretenses, and punished with excessive rigour. See 
Calmet, Tacit. An. l. i. c. 72, 73, 74. Sueton. in Tiber. c. 
58.

Verse 13. The Pavement] liqostrwton, literally, a stone 
pavement: probably it was that place in the open court where 
the chair of justice was set, for the prefects of provinces 
always held their courts of justice in the open air, and 
which was paved with stones of various colours, like that of 
Ahasuerus, Esth. i. 6, of red, blue, white, and black marble; 
what we still term Mosaic work, or something in imitation of 
it; such as the Roman pavements frequently dug up in this and 
other countries, where the Romans have had military stations.

Gabbatha.] That is, an elevated place; from hbg gabah, high, 
raised up; and it is very likely that the judgment seat was 
considerably elevated in the court, and that the governor 
went up to it by steps; and perhaps these very steps were 
what was called the Pavement. John does not say that 
Lithostroton, or the Pavement, is the meaning of the word 
Gabbatha; but that the place was called so in the Hebrew. The 
place was probably called Lithostroton, or the Pavement: the 
seat of judgment, Gabbatha, the raised or elevated place.

In several MSS. and versions, the scribes not understanding 
the Hebrew word, wrote it variously, Gabbatha, Gabatha, 
Kapphatha, Kappata, Gennetha, Gennaesa, and Gennesar. 
Lightfoot conjectures that the pavement here means the room 
Gazith in the temple, in which the grand council, called the 
Sanhedrin, held their meetings.

Verse 14. It was the preparation of the Passover] That is, 
the time in which they were just preparing to kill the 
paschal lamb. Critics differ widely concerning the time of 
our Lord's crucifixion; and this verse is variously 
understood. Some think it signifies merely the preparation of 
the Sabbath; and that it is called the preparation of the 
passover, because the preparation of the Sabbath happened 
that year on the eve of the Passover.

Others think that the preparation of the Sabbath is 
distinctly spoken of in ver. 31, and was different from what 
is here mentioned. Contending nations may be more easily 
reconciled than contending critics.

The sixth hour] Mark says, Mark xv. 25, that it was the third 
hour.

trith, the third, is the reading of DL, four others, the 
Chron. Alex., Seuerus Antiochen., Ammonius, with others 
mentioned by Theophylact.

Nonnus, who wrote in the fifth century, reads trith, the 
third. As in ancient times all the numbers were written in 
the manuscripts not at large but in numeral letters, it was 
easy for g three, to be mistaken for v six. The Codex Bezae 
has generally numeral letters instead of words. Bengel 
observes that he has found the letter g gamma, THREE, 
exceedingly like the v episemon, SIX, in some MSS. Episemon = 
greek 'st' combined, similar appearance to final form sigma 
with a nearly flat top. Similar appearance to upper case 
gamma. The major part of the best critics think that trith, 
the third, is the genuine reading. See the note on Mark xv. 
25.

Behold your king!] This was probably intended as an irony; 
and, by thus turning their pretended serious apprehensions 
into ridicule, he hoped still to release him.

Verse 15. Away with him] aron: probably this means, kill him. 
In Isa. lvii. 1, it is said, kai andrev, dikaioi airontai, 
and just men are taken away; that is, according to some, by a 
violent death.

Verse 16. Then delivered he him] This was not till after he 
had washed his hands, Matt. xxvii. 24, to show, by that 
symbolical action, that he was innocent of the death of 
Christ. John omits this circumstance, together with the 
insults which Christ received from the soldiers. See Matt. 
xxvii. 26, &c.; Mark xv. 16, &c.

Verse 17. Bearing his cross] He bore it all alone first; when 
he could no longer carry the whole through weakness, 
occasioned by the ill usage he had received, Simon, a 
Cyrenian, helped him to carry it: see the note on Matt. 
xxvii. 32.

Golgotha] See on Matt. xxvii. 33.

Verse 18. Two other] Matthew and Mark in the parallel places 
calls them robbers or murderers; they probably belonged to 
the gang of Barabbas. See about the figure of the cross, and 
the nature of crucifixion, on Matt. xxvii. 35.

Verse 19. Pilate wrote a title] See on Matt. xxvii. 37.

Verse 20. Hebrew,-Greek,-Latin.] See on Luke xxiii. 38.

On Matt. xxvii. 37, I have given this title in Hebrew, Greek, 
and Latin, as mentioned by this evangelist. The reader, 
however, will not be displeased to find the same title 
repeated here in a character which was written in the fourth 
century, and is probably nearly resembling that used in the 
earliest ages of Christianity. The Greek and Latin character, 
which is inserted here, is an exact fac-simile of that in the 
Codex Bezae, cut and cast at the expense of the University of 
Cambridge, for Dr. Kipling's edition of that most venerable 
MS. which contains the Greek text of the four evangelists and 
Acts; and the Latin text of the same, as it existed before 
the time of St. Jerome. Having examined the MS. myself, I can 
say that these types are a very faithful representation of 
the original.

In Hebrew, Æebraisti.

aydwhyd aklm ayrxn [wsy In Greek, Æellhnisti.

ihsouv o nazwreov o basileuv twn ioudaiwn In Latin, 
Ærwmaisti.

iehsus nazarenus rex iudaeorum

Verse 22. What I have written, I have written.] That is, I 
will not alter what I have written. The Roman laws forbad the 
sentence to be altered when once pronounced; and as this 
inscription was considered as the sentence pronounced against 
our Lord, therefore, it could not be changed: but this form 
of speech is common in the Jewish writings, and means simply, 
what is done shall continue. Pilate seems to speak 
prophetically.

This is the king of the Jews: they shall have no other 
Messiah for ever.

Verse 23. To every soldier a part] So it appears there were 
four soldiers employed in nailing him to and rearing up the 
cross.

The coat was without seam] Several have seriously doubted 
whether this can be literally understood, as they imagine 
that nothing with sleeves, &c.

can be woven without a seam. But Baun, de Vest. Sacer. Heb. 
l. 1, c. 16, has proved, not only that such things were done 
by the ancients, and are still done in the east, but himself 
got a loom made, on which these kinds of tunics, vents, 
sleeves, and all, were woven in one piece. See much on this 
subject in Calmet. The clothes of a Hindoo are always without 
a seam; and the Brahmins would not wear clothes that were 
otherwise made. Besides, the Hindoos have no regular tailors.

Our Lord was now in the grand office of high priest, and was 
about to offer the expiatory victim for the sin of the world. 
And it is worthy of remark that the very dress he was in was 
similar to that of the Jewish high priest. The following is 
the description given of his dress by Josephus, Ant. b. iii. 
c. 7, s. i5: "Now this coat (citwn) was not composed of two 
pieces, nor was it sewed together upon the shoulders and 
sides, but it was one long vestment, so woven as to have an 
opening for the neck; not an oblique one, but parted all 
along the back and breast; it was also parted where the hands 
were to come out." A little before, the same author says, 
that "the high priest had a long robe of a blue colour, which 
hung down to the feet, and was put over all the rest." It is 
likely that this was the same with that upper garment which 
the soldiers divided among them, it being probably of a 
costly stuff. I may just add here, that I knew a woman who 
knit all kinds of clothes, even to the sleeves and button 
holes, without a seam; and have seen some of the garments 
which she made; that the thing is possible I have the fullest 
proof. For an explanation of citwn and imation which we 
translate cloak, and coat, see the note on Luke vi. 29.

Verse 24. That the scripture might be fulfilled] These words 
are found in the common printed text, in Matt. xxvii. 35; but 
they are omitted by ABDEFGHKLMSU, Mt. BHV, 150 others; the 
principal versions, Chrysostom, Titus Bost., Euthymius, 
Theophylact, Origen, Hilary, Augustin, Juven. See Griesbach's 
second edition. But in the text of John they are not omitted 
by one MS., version, or ancient commentator.

The words are taken from Psa. xxii. 18, where it appears they 
were spoken prophetically of this treatment which Jesus 
received, upwards of a thousand years before it took place! 
But it should be remarked that this form of speech, which 
frequently occurs, often means no more than that the thing so 
fell out that such a portion of Scripture may be exactly 
applied to it.

Verse 25. Mary the wife of Cleophas] She is said, in Matthew 
xxvii. 56, (see the note there,) and Mark xv. 40, to have 
been the mother of James the Less, and of Joses; and this 
James her son is said, in Matt. x. 3, to have been the son of 
Alpheus; hence it seems that Alpheus and Cleopas were the 
same person. To which may be added, that Hegesippus is quoted 
by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. l. iii. c. 11, as saying that 
Cleopas was the brother of Joseph, the husband of the virgin. 
Theophylact says that Cleopas, (brother of Joseph, the 
husband of the virgin,) having died childless, his brother 
Joseph married his widow, by whom he had four sons, called by 
the evangelists the brothers of our Lord, and two daughters, 
the one named Salome, the other Mary, the daughter of 
Cleopas, because she was his daughter according to law, 
though she was the daughter of Joseph according to nature. 
There are several conjectures equally well founded with this 
last to be met with in the ancient commentators; but, in many 
cases, it is very difficult to distinguish the different 
Marys mentioned by the evangelists.

Verse 26. The disciple-whom he loved] John, the writer of 
this Gospel.

Woman, behold thy son!] This is a remarkable expression, and 
has been much misunderstood. It conveys no idea of 
disrespect, nor of unconcern, as has been commonly supposed. 
In the way of compellation, man! and woman! were titles of as 
much respect among the Hebrews as sir! and madam! are among 
us. But why does not Jesus call her mother? Probably because 
he wished to spare her feelings; he would not mention a name, 
the very sound of which must have wrung her heart with 
additional sorrow.

On this account he says, Behold thy son! this was the 
language of pure natural affection: "Consider this crucified 
man no longer at present as any relative of thine; but take 
that disciple whom my power shall preserve from evil for thy 
son; and, while he considers thee as his mother, account him 
for thy child." It is probable that it was because the 
keeping of the blessed virgin was entrusted to him that he 
was the only disciple of our Lord who died a natural death, 
God having preserved him for the sake of the person whom he 
gave him in charge. Many children are not only preserved 
alive, but abundantly prospered in temporal things, for the 
sake of the desolate parents whom God hast cast upon their 
care. It is very likely that Joseph was dead previously to 
this; and that this was the reason why the desolate virgin is 
committed to the care of the beloved disciple.

Verse 28. I thirst.] The scripture that referred to his 
drinking the vinegar is Psa. lxix. 21. The fatigue which he 
had undergone, the grief he had felt, the heat of the day, 
and the loss of blood, were the natural causes of this 
thirst. This he would have borne without complaint; but he 
wished to give them the fullest proof of his being the 
Messiah, by distinctly marking how every thing relative to 
the Messiah, which had been written in the prophets, had its 
complete fulfillment in him.

Verse 29. A vessel full of vinegar] This was probably that 
tart small wine which we are assured was the common drink of 
the Roman soldiers.

Our word vinegar comes from the French vin aigre, sour or 
tart wine; and, although it is probable that it was brought 
at this time for the use of the four Roman soldiers who were 
employed in the crucifixion of our Lord, yet it is as 
probable that it might have been furnished for the use of the 
persons crucified; who, in that lingering kind of death, must 
necessarily be grievously tormented with thirst. This vinegar 
must not be confounded with the vinegar and gall mentioned 
Matt. xxvii. 34, and Mark xv. 23.

That, being a stupifying potion, intended to alleviate his 
pain, he refused to drink; but of this he took a little, and 
then expired, chap. xix. 30.

And put it upon hyssop] Or, according to others, putting 
hyssop about it. A great variety of conjectures have been 
produced to solve the difficulty in this text, which is 
occasioned by supposing that the sponge was put on a stalk of 
hyssop, and that this is the reed mentioned by Matthew and 
Mark. It is possible that the hyssop might grow to such a 
size in Judea as that a stalk of it might answer the end of a 
reed or cane in the case mentioned here; but still it appears 
to me more natural to suppose that the reed was a distinct 
thing and that the hyssop was used only to bind the sponge 
fast to the reed; unless we may suppose it was added for some 
mystical purpose, as we find it frequently used in the Old 
Testament in rites of purification. The various conjectures 
on this point may be seen in Bowyer's Conject. and in Calmet.

Verse 30. It is finished] As if he had said: "I have executed 
the great designs of the Almighty-I have satisfied the 
demands of his justice-I have accomplished all that was 
written in the prophets, and suffered the utmost malice of my 
enemies; and now the way to the holy of holies is made 
manifest through my blood." An awful, yet a glorious finish. 
Through this tragical death God is reconciled to man, and the 
kingdom of heaven opened to every believing soul.

"Shout heaven and earth, this SUM of good to MAN!" See the 
note on Matt. xxvii. 50.

The prodigies which happened at our Lord's death, and which 
are mentioned by the other three evangelists, are omitted by 
John, because he found the others had sufficiently stated 
them, and it appears he had nothing new to add.

Verse 31. It was the preparation] Every Sabbath had a 
preparation which began at the ninth hour (that is, three 
o'clock) the preceding evening.

Josephus, Ant. b. xvi. c. 6, s. 2, recites an edict of the 
Emperor Augustus in favour of the Jews, which orders, "that 
no one shall be obliged to give bail or surety on the Sabbath 
day, nor on the preparation before it, after the ninth hour." 
The time fixed here was undoubtedly in conformity to the 
Jewish custom, as they began their preparation at three 
o'clock on the Friday evening.

That the bodies should not remain] For the law, Deuteronomy 
xxi. 22, 23, ordered that the bodies of criminals should not 
hang all night; and they did not wish to have the Sabbath 
profaned by either taking them down on that day, or letting 
them hang to disturb the joy of that holy time.

Probably their consciences began to sting them for what they 
had done, and they wished to remove the victim of their 
malice out of their sight.

For that Sabbath day was a high day] 1. Because it was the 
Sabbath. 2.

Because it was the day on which all the people presented 
themselves in the temple according to the command, Exodus 
xxiii. 17. 3. Because that was the day on which the sheaf of 
the first fruits was offered, according to the command, Lev. 
xxiii. 10, 11. So that upon this day there happened to be 
three solemnities in one.-Lightfoot. It might be properly 
called a high day, because the passover fell on that Sabbath.

Their legs might be broken] Lactantius says. l. iv. c. 26, 
that it was a common custom to break the legs or other bones 
of criminals upon the cross; and this appears to have been a 
kind of coup de grace, the sooner to put them out of pain.

Verse 34. With a spear pierced his side] The soldier who 
pierced our Lord's side has been called by the Roman Catholic 
writers Longinus, which seems to be a corruption of logch, 
lonche, a spear or dart, the word in the text. They moreover 
tell us that this man was converted-that it was he who said, 
Truly this was the Son of God-that he traveled into 
Cappadocia, and there preached the Gospel of Christ, and 
received the crown of martyrdom. But this deserves the same 
credit as the other legends of the Popish Church.

Whether it was the right or the left side of Christ that was 
pierced has been a matter of serious discussion among divines 
and physicians; and on this subject they are not yet agreed. 
That it is of no importance we are sure, because the Holy 
Ghost has not revealed it. Luke Cranache, a famous painter, 
whose piece of the crucifixion is at Augsburg, has put no 
wound on either side: when he was asked the reason of this-I 
will do it, said he, when I am informed WHICH side was 
pierced.

Blood and water.] It may be naturally supposed that the spear 
went through the pericardium and pierced the heart; that the 
water proceeded from the former, and the blood from the 
latter. Ambrose, Augustin, and Chrysostom, make the blood an 
emblem of the eucharist, and the water an emblem of baptism. 
Others represent them as the emblems of the old and new 
covenants. Protestants have thought them the emblems of 
justification, which is through the blood of the Lamb, and 
sanctification, which is through the washing of regeneration; 
and it is in reference to the first notion that they mingle 
the wine with water in the sacrament of the Lord's supper. 
The piercing appears to have taken place because his legs 
were not broken; and, as the law in this case stated that the 
criminals were to continue on the cross till they died, the 
side of our Lord was pierced to secure the accomplishment of 
the law; and the issuing of the blood and water appears to be 
only a natural effect of the above cause, and probably 
nothing mystical or spiritual was intended by it. However, it 
affords the fullest proof that Jesus died for our sins. Dr. 
Lightfoot thinks that there is a reference here to the rock 
in the wilderness which Moses smote twice, and which, 
according to the Jews, Shemoth Rabba, fol. 122, "poured out 
blood at the first stroke, and water at the second." Now St. 
Paul says, 1 Corinthians x. 4, That rock was Christ; and here 
the evangelist says, the soldier pierced his side, and there 
came out blood and water. St. John therefore, in what he 
asserts in the 35th and 36th verses,  wishes to call the 
attention of the Jews to this point, in order to show them 
that this Jesus was the true Messiah, who was typified by the 
rock in the wilderness. He knoweth that he saith true, that 
ye might believe.

Verse 35. He that saw it] Most probably John himself, who 
must have been pretty near the cross to have been able to 
distinguish between the blood and the water, as they issued 
from the side of our blessed Lord.

And he knoweth] This appears to be an appeal to the Lord 
Jesus, for the truth of the testimony which he had now 
delivered. But why such a solemn appeal, unless there was 
something miraculous in this matter? It might appear to him 
necessary: 1. Because the other evangelists had not noticed 
it. 2. Because it contained the most decisive proof of the 
death of Christ: as a wound such as this was could not have 
been inflicted, (though other causes had been wanting,) 
without occasioning the death of the person; and on his dying 
for men depended the salvation of the world.

And, 3. Because two important prophecies were fulfilled by 
this very circumstance, both of which designated more 
particularly the person of the Messiah. A bone of him shall 
not be broken, Exodus xii. 46; Num. ix. 12; Psa. xxxiv. 20. 
They shall look upon him whom they pierced, Zech. xii. 10; 
Psa. xxii. 16.

Verse 38. Joseph of Arimathea] See on Matt. xxvii. 57-60; and 
particularly Mark xv. 42, 43.

Verse 39. Nicodemus] See on chap. iii. 1, &c.

Myrrh and aloes] Which drugs were used to preserve bodies 
from putrefaction. Calmet says that the aloes mentioned here 
is a liquor which runs from an aromatic tree, and is widely 
different from that called aloes among us.

Some have objected that a hundred pounds' weight of myrrh and 
aloes was enough to embalm two hundred dead bodies; and 
instead of ekaton, a hundred, some critics have proposed to 
read ekaterwn] a mixture of myrrh and aloes, of about a pound 
EACH. See Bowyer's Conjectures. But it may be observed that 
great quantities of spices were used for embalming dead 
bodies, when they intended to show peculiar marks of respect 
to the deceased. A great quantity was used at the funeral of 
Aristobulus; and it is said that five hundred servants 
bearing aromatics attended the funeral of Herod: see 
Josephus, Ant. b. xv. c. 3, s. 4; and b. xvii. c. 8, s. 3: 
and fourscore pounds of spices were used at the funeral of R. 
Gamaliel the elder. See Wetstein in loc.

Verse 40. Wound it in linen] See on chap. xi. 34.

Verse 41. There was a garden] It was an ancient custom for 
particular families to have burying places in their gardens. 
See 2 Kings xxi. 18, 26.

New sepulchre] See on Matt. xxvii. 60.

Verse 42. Because of the Jews' preparation] From this it may 
be conjectured that they had designed to have put him in a 
more magnificent tomb; or, that they intended to make one 
expressly for himself after the passover: or, that they had 
designed to have put him somewhere else, but could not do it 
for want of time; and that they put him here because the tomb 
was nigh. It appears plainly, from embalming, &c., that none 
of these persons had any hope of the resurrection of Christ. 
They considered him as a great and eminent prophet, and 
treated him as such.

1. IN the burial of our Lord, a remarkable prophecy was 
fulfilled: His death was appointed with the wicked; and with 
a rich man was his tomb. See Lowth on Isa. liii. 9. Every 
thing attending his mock trial, his passion, his death, his 
burial, &c., afforded the fullest proof of his innocence. In 
still continuing to reject him, the Jews seem to have 
exceeded the ordinary bounds of incredulity and callousness 
of heart. One might imagine that a candid attention to the 
Gospel facts, collated with those passages in the law and in 
the prophets which they acknowledge to speak of the Messiah, 
would be sufficient to furnish them with the utmost evidence 
and fullest conviction that he is the Christ, and that they 
are to expect none other. But where people once make a 
covenant with unbelief, argument, reason, demonstration, and 
miracles themselves, fail to convince them. As their 
conviction, through this obstinacy, is rendered impossible, 
it belongs to God's justice to confound them. At present they 
have scarcely any correct knowledge of the true God; and, 
while they continue to reject the genuine faith, they are 
capable of crediting the most degrading absurdities.

2. The holy sepulchre, or what has long passed for the burial 
place of our Lord, is now no more! On the following 
information the reader may depend: "On the night of October 
11, 1808, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was discovered to 
be on fire; and between five and six in the morning the 
burning cupola, with all the melting and boiling lead upon 
it, fell in. The excessive heat which proceeded from this 
immense mass of liquid fire, caused not only the marble 
columns, which supported the gallery, to burst; but likewise 
the marble floor of the Church, together with the pilasters 
and images in bas relief that decorate the chapel, containing 
the holy sepulchre, situated in the centre of the church. 
Shortly after, the massive columns which supported the 
gallery, fell down, together with the whole of the walls." 
Thus has perished the famous church raised by the Empress 
Helena fourteen hundred years ago, over the place where the 
body of our blessed Lord was supposed to have been deposited, 
while he lay under the power of death. And thus has perished 
an engine of superstition, fraud, and imposture. To the most 
sinful purposes has this holy sepulchre been abused. The 
Greeks and Armenians have pretended that, on every Easter-
eve, fire descends from heaven, and kindles all the lamps and 
candles in the place; and immense crowds of pilgrims frequent 
this place, on these occasions, in order to witness this 
ceremony, to light a taper at this sacred flame, and with 
these candles to singe and daub pieces of linen, which are 
afterwards to serve for winding sheets; for, says Mr. 
Maundrell, who was present, April 3rd, 1697, and witnessed 
the whole of this absurd and abominable ceremony, "it is the 
opinion of these poor people that, if they can but have the 
happiness to be buried in a shroud smutted with this 
celestial fire, it will certainly secure them from the flames 
of hell." See the whole of his circumstantial account of this 
imposture, and the ridiculous and abominable ceremonies with 
which it is accompanied, in his Journey from Aleppo to 
Jerusalem, edit. 5th, pp. 94-97; and let the reader thank God 
that he is not degraded with a superstition that renders the 
grace of the Gospel of none effect.

CHAPTER xx.

Mary Magdalene, coming early to the sepulchre, finds it 
empty, and runs and tells Peter, 1, 2. Peter and John run to 
the tomb, and find all as Mary had reported, 3-10. Mary sees 
a vision of angels in the tomb, 11-13. Jesus himself appears 
to her, and sends her with a message to the disciples, 14-18. 
He appears to the disciples, gives the fullest proof of the 
reality of his resurrection, and communicates to them a 
measure of the Holy Spirit, 19-23. The determined incredulity 
of Thomas, 24, 25. Eight days after, Jesus appears again to 
the disciples, Thomas being present, to whom he gives the 
proofs he had desired, 26, 27. Thomas is convinced, and makes 
a noble confession, 28. Our Lord's reflections on his case, 
29. Various signs done by Christ, not circumstantially 
related, 30. Why others are recorded, 31.

NOTES ON CHAP. xx.

All that John relates concerning the resurrection of our Lord 
he has collected partly from the account given by Mary 
Magdalene, and partly from his own observations. From Mary he 
derived the information given, ver. 1, 2, and from ver. 11-
18. From his own actual knowledge, what he relates, chap. 
iii. 3-10, 19-29, and the whole of chap. xxi. 1-25. It is 
supposed that he details the account given by Mary, without 
altering any circumstance, and without either addition or 
retrenchment. See Rosenmuller.

Verse 1. The first day of the week] On what we call Sunday 
morning, the morning after the Jewish Sabbath. As Christ had 
been buried in haste, these holy women had bought aromatics, 
Mark xvi. 1; Luke xxiv. 1, to embalm him afresh, and in a 
more complete manner than it could have been done by Joseph 
and Nicodemus. John only mentions Mary of Magdala, because he 
appears to wish to give a more detailed history of her 
conduct than of any of the rest; but the other evangelists 
speak of three persons who went together to the tomb, viz. 
Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome: Matt. 
xxviii. 1; Mark xvi. 1.

Verse 2. Then she runneth] This was after the women had seen 
the angels, who said he was risen from the dead, Luke xxiv. 
4. She told, not only Peter and John, but the other apostles 
also, Matt. xxviii. 8; but only the two disciples above 
mentioned went to the tomb to see whether what she had said 
was true.

They have taken away the Lord] She mentions nothing of what 
the angels had said, in her hurry and confusion; she speaks 
things only by halves; and probably the vision of angels 
might have appeared to her only as an illusion of her own 
fancy, and not to be any farther regarded.

Verse 4. Outrun Peter] Not because he had a greater desire to 
see into the truth of these things; but because he was 
younger, and lighter of foot.

Verse 5. Went he not in.] Why? Because he was fully satisfied 
that the body was not there. But why did he not seize upon 
the linen clothes, and keep them as a most precious relic? 
Because he had too much religion and too much sense; and the 
time of superstition and nonsense was not yet arrived, in 
which bits of rotten wood, rags of rotten cloth, decayed 
bones (to whom originally belonging no one knows) and bramble 
bushes, should become objects of religious adoration.

Verse 6. Seeth the linen clothes lie] qewpei: from qeaomai, 
to behold, and oraw, to see-to look steadily at any thing, so 
as to discover what it is, and to be satisfied with viewing 
it.

Verse 7. Wrapped together in a place by itself.] The 
providence of God ordered these very little matters, so that 
they became the fullest proofs against the lie of the chief 
priests, that the body had been stolen away by the disciples. 
If the body had been stolen away, those who took it would not 
have stopped to strip the clothes from it, and to wrap them 
up, and lay them by in separate places.

Verse 8. That other disciple] John.

Saw] That the body was not there.

And believed.] That it had been taken away, as Mary had said; 
but he did not believe that he was risen from the dead. See 
what follows.

Verse 9. They knew not the scripture] Viz. Psa. xvi. 9, 10: 
Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell-lwal ypn bz[t al yk ki 
lo taazob naphshi l'sheol-For thou wilt not abandon my life 
to the grave, nor suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. It 
was certainly a reproach to the disciples that they had not 
understood this prophecy, when our Lord had given them often 
the most direct information concerning it. Christ had 
referred to the history of Jonah, Matt. xii. 40, which was at 
once the type and the proof of his own resurrection. However, 
this ingenuous confession of John, in a matter so 
dishonourable to himself, is a full proof of his sincerity, 
and of the truth of his narration.

Verse 10. Unto their own home.] Either to their own houses, 
if they still had any; or to those of their friends, or to 
those where they had a hired lodging, and where they met 
together for religious purposes. See ver. 19.

Verse 11. But Mary stood without] She remained some time 
after Peter and John had returned to their own homes.

Verse 12. Seeth two angels] See on ver. 6. She knew these to 
be angels by their white and glistening robes. Matthew and 
Mark mention but one angel-probably that one only that spoke, 
chap. xx. 13.

One at the head, and the other at the feet] So were the 
cherubim placed at each end of the mercy-seat: Exod. xxv. 18, 
19. Lightfoot.

Verse 13. They have taken away my Lord] It was conjectured, 
on chap. xix. 42, that the body of our Lord was only put here 
for the time being, that, after the Sabbath, they might carry 
it to a more proper place. Mary seems to refer to this: They 
have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid 
him. This removal she probably attributed to some of our 
Lord's disciples, or to some of his friends.

Verse 14. She turned herself back] Or, estrafh eiv ta opisw, 
she was turned back, i.e. to go again with the other women to 
Jerusalem, who had already departed; but she had not as yet 
gone so far as to be out of the garden.

Knew not that it was Jesus] John has here omitted what the 
angels said to the women, about Christ's being risen; 
probably because it was so particularly related by the other 
evangelists: Matthew xxviii. 5-7; Mark xvi. 6, 7; Luke xxiv. 
5-7. Mary was so absorbed in grief that she paid but little 
attention to the person of our Lord, and therefore did not at 
first discern it to be him; nor could she imagine such an 
appearance possible, as she had no conception of his 
resurrection from the dead. She was therefore every way 
unprepared to recognize the person of our Lord.

Verse 15. Supposing him to be the gardener] khpourov, the 
inspector or overseer of the garden, from khpov, a garden, 
and ourov, an inspector-the person who had the charge of the 
workmen, and the care of the produce of the garden; and who 
rendered account to the owner.

And I will take him away] How true is the proverb, Love feels 
no load! Jesus was in the prime of life when he was 
crucified, and had a hundred pounds weight of spices added to 
his body; and yet Mary thinks of nothing less than carrying 
him away with her, if she can but find where he is laid!

Verse 16. Mary.] This word was no doubt spoken with uncommon 
emphasis; and the usual sound of Christ's voice accompanied 
it, so as immediately to prove that it must be Jesus. What 
transports of joy must have filled this woman's heart! Let it 
be remarked that Mary Magdalene sought Jesus more fervently, 
and continued more affectionately attached to him than any of 
the rest: therefore to her first, Jesus is pleased to show 
himself, and she is made the first herald of the Gospel of a 
risen saviour.

After Mary's exclamation of Rabboni, and its interpretation 
by the evangelist, one MS., the later Syriac, Syriac Hieros., 
and three copies of the Itala, add kai prosedramen ayasqai 
autou, And she ran to embrace, or cling to him. Then our 
Lord's words come in with the reason for them.

Verse 17. Touch me not] mh mou aptou, Cling not to me. 
Æaptomai has this sense in Job xxxi. 7, where the Septuagint 
use it for the Hebrew qbd dabak, which signifies to cleave, 
cling, stick, or be glued to. From Matt. xxviii. 9, it 
appears that some of the women held him by the feet and 
worshipped him. This probably Mary did; and our Lord seems to 
have spoken to her to this effect: "Spend no longer time with 
me now: I am not going immediately to heaven-you will have 
several opportunities of seeing me again: but go and tell my 
disciples, that I am, by and by, to ascend to my Father and 
God, who is your Father and God also. Therefore, let them 
take courage."

Verse 18. Told the disciples-that he had spoken these things] 
St. Mark says, Mark xvi. 11, that the afflicted apostles 
could not believe what she had said. They seem to have 
considered it as an effect of her troubled imagination.

Verse 19. The doors were shut-for fear of the Jews] We do not 
find that the Jews designed to molest the disciples: that 
word of authority which Christ spoke, chap. xviii. 8, Let 
these go away-had prevented the Jews from offering them any 
injury; but, as they had proceeded so far as to put Christ to 
death, the faith of the disciples not being very strong, they 
were led to think that they should be the next victims if 
found. Some think, therefore, that they had the doors not 
only shut, but barricadoed: nevertheless Jesus came in, the 
doors being shut, i.e. while they continued shut. But how? By 
his almighty power: and farther we know not. Yet it is quite 
possible that no miraculous influence is here intended. The 
doors might be shut for fear of the Jews; and Jesus might 
open them, and enter in the ordinary way. Where there is no 
need for a miracle, a miracle is never wrought. See on ver. 
30.

The evangelist has omitted the appearing of our Lord to the 
other women who came from the tomb, Matt. xxviii. 9, and that 
to the two disciples who were going to Emmaus, Luke xxiv. 13, 
&c., which all happened in the course of this same day.

Peace be unto you.] His usual salutation and benediction. May 
every blessing of heaven and earth which you need be granted 
unto you!

Verse 20. He showed unto them his hands and his side.] So it 
appears that his body bore the marks of the nails and the 
spear; and these marks were preserved that the disciples 
might be the more fully convinced of the reality of his 
resurrection.

Verse 21. Even so send I you.] As I was sent to proclaim the 
truth of the Most High, and to convert sinners to God, I send 
you for the very same purpose, clothed with the very same 
authority, and influenced by the very same Spirit.

Verse 22. He breathed on them] Intimating, by this, that they 
were to be made new men, in order to be properly qualified 
for the work to which he had called them; for in this 
breathing he evidently alluded to the first creation of man, 
when God breathed into him the breath of lives, and he became 
a living soul: the breath or Spirit of God ( µyhla jwr ruach 
Elohim) being the grand principle and cause of his spiritual 
and Divine life.

Receive ye the Holy Ghost] From this act of our Lord, the 
influences of the Holy Spirit on the souls of men have been 
termed his inspiration; from in, into, and spiro, I breathe. 
Every word of Christ which is received in the heart by faith 
comes accompanied by this Divine breathing; and, without 
this, there is neither light nor life. Just as Adam was 
before God breathed the quickening spirit into him, so is 
every human soul till it receives this inspiration. Nothing 
is seen, known, discerned, or felt of God, but through this. 
To every private Christian this is essentially requisite; and 
no man ever did or ever can preach the Gospel of God, so as 
to convince and convert sinners, without it. "There are many 
(says pious Quesnel) who extol the dignity of the apostolic 
mission, and compare that of bishops and pastors with that of 
Christ; but with what shame and fear ought they to be filled, 
if they do but compare the life and deportment of Christ with 
the lives and conversation of those who glory in being made 
partakers of his mission. They may depend on it that, if sent 
at all, they are only sent on the same conditions, and for 
the same end, namely-to preach the truth, and to establish 
the kingdom of God, by opposing the corruption of the world; 
and by acting and suffering to the end, for the advancement 
of the glory of God. That person is no other than a monster 
in the Church who, by his sacred office, should be a 
dispenser of the Spirit, and who, by the corruption of his 
own heart, and by a disorderly, worldly, voluptuous, and 
scandalous life, is, at the same time, a member and 
instrument of the devil."

Verse 23. Whose soever sins ye remit] See the notes on Matt. 
xvi. 19; xviii. 18. It is certain God alone can forgive sins; 
and it would not only be blasphemous, but grossly absurd, to 
say that any creature could remit the guilt of a 
transgression which had been committed against the Creator. 
The apostles received from the Lord the doctrine of 
reconciliation, and the doctrine of condemnation. They who 
believed on the Son of God, in consequence of their 
preaching, had their sins remitted; and they who would not 
believe were declared to lie under condemnation. The reader 
is desired to consult the note referred to above, where the 
custom to which our Lord alludes is particularly considered. 
Dr. Lightfoot supposes that the power of life and death, and 
the power of delivering over to Satan, which was granted to 
the apostles, is here referred to. This was a power which the 
primitive apostles exclusively possessed.

Verse 24. Thomas-called Didymus] See this name explained, 
chap. xi. 16.

Was not with them] And, by absenting himself from the company 
of the disciples, he lost this precious opportunity of seeing 
and hearing Christ; and of receiving (at this time) the 
inestimable blessing of the Holy Ghost.

Where two or three are assembled in the name of Christ, he is 
in the midst of them. Christ had said this before: Thomas 
should have remembered it, and not have forsaken the company 
of the disciples. What is the consequence?-His unbelief 
becomes 1st. Utterly unreasonable. Ten of his brethren 
witnessed that they had seen Christ, ver. 25; but he rejected 
their testimony. 2dly. His unbelief became obstinate: he was 
determined not to believe on any evidence that it might 
please God to give him: he would believe according to his own 
prejudices, or not at all. 3dly. His unbelief became 
presumptuous and insolent: a view of the person of Christ 
will not suffice: he will not believe that it is he, unless 
he can put his finger into the holes made by the nails in his 
Lord's hand, and thrust has hand into the wound made by the 
spear in his side.

Thomas had lost much good, and gained much evil, and yet was 
insensible of his state. Behold the consequences of forsaking 
the assemblies of God's people! Jesus comes to the meeting-a 
disciple is found out of his place, who might have been 
there; and he is not only not blessed, but his heart becomes 
hardened and darkened through the deceitfulness of sin. It 
was through God's mere mercy that ever Thomas had another 
opportunity of being convinced of his error. Reader! take 
warning.

Verse 26. After eight days] It seems likely that this was 
precisely on that day se'nnight, on which Christ had appeared 
to them before; and from this we may learn that this was the 
weekly meeting of the apostles; and, though Thomas was not 
found at the former meeting, he was determined not to be 
absent from this. According to his custom, Jesus came again; 
for he cannot forget his promise-two or three are assembled 
in his name; and he has engaged to be among them.

Verse 27. Then saith he to Thomas] Through his infinite 
compassion, he addressed him in a particular manner; 
condescending in this case to accommodate himself to the 
prejudices of an obstinate, though sincere, disciple.

Reach hither thy finger, &c.] And it is very probable that 
Thomas did so; for his unbelief was too deeply rooted to be 
easily cured.

Verse 28. Thomas answered, &c.] Those who deny the Godhead of 
Christ would have us to believe that these words are an 
exclamation of Thomas, made through surprise, and that they 
were addressed to the Father and not to Christ. Theodoure of 
Mopsuestia was the first, I believe, who gave the words this 
turn; and the fifth OEcumenic council, held at 
Constantinople, anathematized him for it. This was not 
according to the spirit of the Gospel of God. However, a man 
must do violence to every rule of construction who can apply 
the address here to any but Christ. The text is plain: Jesus 
comes in-sees Thomas, and addresses him; desiring him to come 
to him, and put his finger into the print of the nails, &c. 
Thomas, perfectly satisfied of the reality of our Lord's 
resurrection, says unto him,-MY LORD! and MY GOD! i.e. Thou 
art indeed the very same person,-my Lord whose disciple I 
have so long been; and thou art my God, henceforth the object 
of my religious adoration. Thomas was the first who gave the 
title of God to Jesus; and, by this glorious confession, made 
some amends for his former obstinate incredulity. It is 
worthy of remark, that from this time forward the whole of 
the disciples treated our Lord with the most supreme respect, 
never using that familiarity towards him which they had often 
used before. The resurrection from the dead gave them the 
fullest proof of the divinity of Christ. And this, indeed, is 
the use which St. John makes of this manifestation of Christ. 
See chap. xx. 30, 31. Bishop Pearce says here: "Observe that 
Thomas calls Jesus his God, and that Jesus does not reprove 
him for it, though probably it was the first time he was 
called so." And, I would ask, could Jesus be jealous of the 
honour of the true God-could he be a prophet-could he be even 
an honest man, to permit his disciple to indulge in a mistake 
so monstrous and destructive, if it had been one?

Verse 29. Thomas] This word is omitted by almost every MS., 
version, and ancient commentator of importance.

Blessed are they, &c.] Thou hast seen, and therefore thou 
hast believed, and now thou art blessed; thou art now happy-
fully convinced of my resurrection; yet no less blessed shall 
all those be who believe in my resurrection, without the 
evidence thou hast had. From this we learn that to believe in 
Jesus, on the testimony of his apostles, will put a man into 
the possession of the very same blessedness which they 
themselves enjoyed. And so has God constituted the whole 
economy of grace that a believer, at eighteen hundred years' 
distance from the time of the resurrection, suffers no loss 
because he has not seen Christ in the flesh.

The importance and excellence of implicit faith in the 
testimony of God is thus stated by Rab. Tanchum: "Rab. Simeon 
ben Lachesh saith, The proselyte is more beloved by the holy 
blessed God than that whole crowd that stood before Mount 
Sinai; for unless they had heard the thundering, and seen the 
flames and lightning, the hills trembling, and the trumpets 
sounding, they had not received the law. But the proselyte 
hath seen nothing of all this, and yet he hath come in, 
devoting himself to the holy blessed God, and hath taken upon 
him (the yoke of) the kingdom of heaven." Reader! Christ died 
for thee!-believe, and thou shalt be saved, and become as 
blessed and as happy as an apostle.

Verse 30. Many other signs truly did Jesus, &c.] That is, 
besides the two mentioned here. ver. 19, 26, viz. Christ's 
entering into the house in a miraculous manner twice, 
notwithstanding the doors were fast shut: see on ver. 19. The 
other miracles which our Lord did, and which are not related 
here, were such as were necessary to the disciples only, and 
therefore not revealed to mankind at large. There is nothing 
in the whole revelation of God but what is for some important 
purpose, and there is nothing left out that could have been 
of any real use.

Verse 31. That ye might believe] What is here recorded is to 
give a full proof of the Divinity of Christ; that he is the 
promised Messiah; that he really suffered and rose again from 
the dead; and that through him every believer might have 
eternal life.

Life] Several MSS., versions, and fathers read eternal life, 
and this is undoubtedly the meaning of the word, whether the 
various reading be admitted or not.

GROTIUS has conjectured that the Gospel, as written by St. 
John, ended with this chapter, and that the following chapter 
was added by the Church of Ephesus. This conjecture is 
supported by nothing in antiquity. It is possible that these 
two last verses might have formerly been at the conclusion of 
the last chapter, as they bear a very great similarity to 
those that are found there; and it is likely that their true 
place is between the 24th and 25th verses of the succeeding 
chapter; ; with the latter of which they in every respect 
correspond, and with it form a proper conclusion to the book. 
Except this correspondence, there is no authority for 
changing their present position.

After reading the Gospel of John, his first Epistle should be 
next taken up: it is written exactly in the same spirit, and 
keeps the same object steadily in view. As John's Gospel may 
be considered a supplement to the other evangelists, so his 
first Epistle may be considered a supplement and continuation 
to his own Gospel. In some MSS. the epistles follow this 
Gospel, not merely because the transcribers wished to have 
all the works of the same writer together, but because there 
was such an evident connection between them. The first 
Epistle is to the Gospel as a pointed and forcible 
application is to an interesting and impressive sermon.

CHAPTER xxi.

Jesus shows himself to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias, 
1-5. The miraculous draught of fishes, 6-11. He dines with 
his disciples, 12-14. Questions Peter concerning his love to 
him, and gives him commission to feed his sheep, 15-17. 
Foretells the manner of Peter's death, 18, 19. Pet. inquires 
concerning John, and receives an answer that was afterwards 
misunderstood, 20-23. John's concluding testimony concerning 
the authenticity of his Gospel, and the end for which it was 
written, 24, 25.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxi.

Verse 1. Jesus showed himself again] After that our Lord had 
appeared several times to the women, and to the apostles at 
Jerusalem, and at the tomb, he bade them go into Galilee, 
giving them the promise of meeting them there: Matt. xxviii. 
7; Mark xvi. 7. This promise we find he fulfilled in the way 
John relates here. This was the seventh appearance of our 
Lord after the resurrection. Matthew, Matt. xxviii. 16, has 
but just mentioned it: of it the rest of the evangelists say 
nothing, and this is the reason why John gives it so 
particularly.

Verse 3. Peter saith-I go a fishing.] Previously to the 
crucifixion of our Lord, the temporal necessities of himself 
and his disciples appear to have been supplied by the charity 
of individuals: Luke viii. 3. As it is probable that the 
scandal of the cross had now shut up this source of support, 
the disciples, not fully knowing how they were to be 
employed, purposed to return to their former occupation of 
fishing, in order to gain a livelihood; and therefore the 
seven, mentioned ver. 2, embarked on the sea of Tiberias, 
otherwise called the sea of Galilee.

That night they caught nothing.] God had so ordered it, that 
they might be the more struck with the miracle which he 
afterwards wrought.

Verse 4. Knew not that it was Jesus.] Probably because it was 
either not light enough, or he was at too great a distance, 
or he had assumed another form, as in Mark xvi. 12; otherwise 
his person was so remarkable that all his disciples readily 
knew him when he was at hand: see ver. 12.

Verse 5. Children] paidia, a term of familiarity and 
affectionate kindness: it is the vocative case plural of 
paidion, which is the diminutive of paiv, and literally 
signifies little children, or beloved children. How the 
margin has made sirs out of it I cannot conceive.

Any meat] prosfagion from prov, besides, and fagw, I eat; any 
thing that is eaten with bread, or such like solid 
substances, to make the deglutition the more easy: here it 
evidently means any kind of fish; and our Lord seems to have 
appeared at first in the character of a person who wished to 
purchase a part of what they had caught: see the note on 
chap. vi. 9.

Verse 6. And ye shall find.] The AEthiopic, three copies of 
the Itala, and St. Cyril, add, They said therefore unto him, 
we have laboured all the night and caught nothing, 
nevertheless at thy command we will let down the net. This is 
borrowed from Luke v. 5.

For the multitude of fishes.] This was intended as an emblem 
of the immense number of souls which should be converted to 
God by their ministry; according to the promise of Christ, 
Matthew iv. 19.

Verse 7. His fisher's coat] Or, his upper coat. ependuthn, 
from epi, upon, and enduw, I clothe; something analagous to 
what we term a great coat or surtout.

He was naked] He was only in his vest. gumnov, naked, is 
often used to signify the absence of this upper garment only. 
In 1 Sam. xix. 24, when Saul had put off his imatia, upper 
garments, he is said to have been gumnov, naked; and David, 
when girded only with a linen ephod, is said to have been 
uncovered, in 2 Sam. vi. 14, 20. To which may be added what 
we read in the Sept. Job xxii. 6, Thou hast taken away the 
covering of the naked; amfiasin gumnwn, the plaid or blanket 
in which they wrapped themselves, and besides which they had 
none other. In this sense it is that Virgil says, Geor. i. 
2xci10: Nudus ara, sere nudus, i.e. strip off your upper 
garments, and work till you sweat. See more examples in Bp. 
Pearce.

Cast himself into the sea.] It is likely that they were in 
very shallow water; and, as they were only two hundred cubits 
from the land, (about one hundred and thirty-two English 
yards,) it is possible that Peter only stepped into the water 
that he might assist them to draw the boat to land, which was 
now heavily laden. It is not likely that he went into the 
water in order to swim ashore; had he intended this, it is 
not to be supposed that he would have put his great coat on, 
which must have been an essential hinderance to him in 
getting to shore.

Verse 8. Dragging the net] It is probable that this was that 
species of fishing in which the net was stretched from the 
shore out into the sea; the persons who were in the boat, and 
who shot the net, fetched a compass, and bringing in a 
hawser, which was attached to the other end of the net, those 
who were on shore helped them to drag it in. As the net was 
sunk with weights to the bottom, and the top floated on the 
water by corks, or pieces of light wood, all the fish that 
happened to come within the compass of the net were of course 
dragged to shore. The sovereign power of Christ had in this 
case miraculously collected the fish to that part where he 
ordered the disciples to cast the net.

Verse 9. They saw a fire, &c.] This appears to have been a 
new miracle.

It could not have been a fire which the disciples had there, 
for it is remarked as something new; besides, they had caught 
no fish, ver. 5, and here was a small fish upon the coals, 
and a loaf of bread provided to eat with it. The whole 
appears to have been miraculously prepared by Christ.

Verse 12. Come and dine.] deute aristhsate. Though this is 
the literal translation of the word, yet it must be observed 
that it was not dinner time, being as yet early in the 
morning, ver. 4; but Kypke has largely shown that the 
original word is used by Homer, Xenophon, and Plutarch, to 
signify breakfast, or any early meal, as well as what we term 
dinner. It might perhaps appear singular, otherwise it would 
be as agreeable to the use of the Greek word, to have 
translated it, come and breakfast.

Durst ask him] Ever since the confession of Thomas, a proper 
awe of the Deity of Christ had possessed their minds.

Verse 13. And giveth them] Eating likewise with them, as Luke 
expressly says: Luke xxiv. 43.

Verse 14. This is now the third time] That is, this was the 
third time he appeared unto the apostles, when all or most of 
them were together. He appeared to ten of them, chap. xx. 19; 
again to eleven of them, chap. xx. 26; and at this time to 
seven of them, ver. 2. But, when the other evangelists are 
collated, we shall find that this was the seventh time in 
which he had manifested himself after he arose from the dead. 
1st. He appeared to Mary of Magdala, Mark xvi. 9; chap. xx. 
15, 16. 2ndly, To the holy women who came from the tomb. 
Matt. xxviii. 9. 3dly, To the two disciples who went to 
Emmaus, Luke xxiv. 13, &c. 4thly, To St. Peter alone, Luke 
xxiv. 34. 5thly, To the ten, in the absence of Thomas, chap. 
xx. 19.

6thly, Eight days after to the eleven, Thomas being present; 
chap. xx. 26.

7thly, To the seven, mentioned in ver. 2; which was between 
the eighth and fortieth day after his resurrection. Besides 
these seven appearances, he showed himself, 8thly, To the 
disciples on a certain mountain in Galilee, Matt. xxviii. 16. 
If the appearance mentioned by St. Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 6, to 
upwards of 500 brethren at once-if this be not the same with 
his appearance on a mountain in Galilee, it must be 
considered the ninth. According to the same apostle, he was 
seen of James, 1 Cor. xv. 7, which may have been the tenth 
appearance. And, after this, to all the apostles, when, at 
Bethany, he ascended to heaven in their presence. See Mark 
xvi. 19, 20; Luke xxiv. 50-53; Acts i. 3-12; 1 Cor. xv. 7. 
This appears to have been the eleventh time in which he 
distinctly manifested himself after his resurrection. But 
there might have been many other manifestations, which the 
evangelists have not thought proper to enumerate, as not 
being connected with any thing of singular weight or 
importance.

Verse 15. Simon lovest thou me] Peter had thrice denied his 
Lord, and now Christ gives him an opportunity in some measure 
to repair his fault by a triple confession.

More than these?] This was a kind of reproach to Peter: he 
had professed a more affectionate attachment to Christ than 
the rest; he had been more forward in making professions of 
friendship and love than any of the others; and no one (Judas 
excepted) had treated his Lord so basely.

As he had before intimated that his attachment to his Master 
was more than that of the rest, our Lord now puts the 
question to him, Dost thou love me more than these? To which 
Peter made the most modest reply-Thou knowest I love thee, 
but no longer dwells on the strength of his love, nor 
compares himself with even the meanest of his brethren. He 
had before cast the very unkind reflection on his brethren, 
Though all be offended because of thee, yet will I never be 
offended, Matt. xxvi. 33.

But he had now learned, by dreadful experience, that he who 
trusteth his own heart is a fool; and that a man's 
sufficiency for good is of the Lord alone.

The words, more than these, Bishop Pearce thinks refer to the 
provisions they were eating, or to their secular employments; 
for says he, "It does not seem probable that Jesus should put 
a question to Peter which he could not possibly answer; 
because he could only know his own degree of love for Jesus, 
not that of the other disciples." But it appears to me that 
our Lord refers to the profession made by Peter, which I have 
quoted above.

It is remarkable that in these three questions our Lord uses 
the verb agapaw, which signifies to love affectionately, 
ardently, supremely, perfectly-see the note on Matt. xxi. 37; 
and that Peter always replies, using the verb filew, which 
signifies to love, to like, to regard, to feel friendship for 
another. As if our Lord had said, "Peter, dost thou love me 
ardently and supremely?" To which he answers, "Lord, I feel 
an affection for thee-I do esteem thee-but dare, at present, 
say no more." There is another remarkable change of terms in 
this place. In ver. 15, 17, our Lord uses the verb boskdw, to 
feed, and in ver. 16 he uses the word poimainw, which 
signifies to tend a flock, not only to feed, but to take care 
of, guide, govern, defend, &c., by which he seems to intimate 
that it is not sufficient merely to offer the bread of life 
to the congregation of the Lord, but he must take care that 
the sheep be properly collected, attended to, regulated, 
guided, &c.; and it appears that Peter perfectly comprehended 
our Lord's meaning, and saw that it was a direction given not 
only to him, and to the rest of the disciples, but to all 
their successors in the Christian ministry; for himself says, 
1 John v. 2: Feed the flock of God (poimanate to poimnion tou 
qeou) which is among you, taking the oversight 
(episkopountev, acting as superintendents and guardians,) not 
by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a 
ready mind.

Every spiritual shepherd of Christ has a flock, composed of 
LAMBS-young converts, and SHEEP-experienced Christians, to 
feed, guide, regulate, and govern. To be properly qualified 
for this, his wisdom and holiness should always exceed those 
of his flock. Who is sufficient for these things? The man who 
lives in God, and God in him.

To the answer of Christ, in ver. 16, the later Syriac adds, 
If thou lovest me and esteemest me, feed my sheep.

Verse 17. Peter was grieved] Fearing, says St. Chrysostom, 
lest Christ saw something in his heart which he saw not 
himself, and which might lead to another fall; and that 
Christ was about to tell him of it, as he had before 
predicted his denial.

Verse 18. Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands] Wetstein 
observes that it was a custom at Rome to put the necks of 
those who were to be crucified into a yoke, and to stretch 
out their hands and fasten them to the end of it; and having 
thus led them through the city they were carried out to be 
crucified. See his note on this place. Thus then Peter was 
girded, chained, and carried whither he would not-not that he 
was unwilling to die for Christ; but he was a man-he did not 
love death; but he loved his life less than he loved his God.

Verse 19. Should glorify God.] Ancient writers state that, 
about thirty-four years after this, Peter was crucified; and 
that he deemed it so glorious a thing to die for Christ that 
he begged to be crucified with his head downwards, not 
considering himself worthy to die in the same posture in 
which his Lord did. So Eusebius, Prudentius, Chrysostom, and 
Augustin. See Calmet.

Follow me.] Whether our Lord meant by these words that Peter 
was to walk with him a little way for a private interview, or 
whether he meant that he was to imitate his example, or be 
conformed to him in the manner of his death, is very 
uncertain.

Verse 22. If I will that he tarry till I come] There are 
several opinions concerning this: the following are the 
principal. 1. Some have concluded from these words that John 
should never die. Many eminent men, ancients and moderns, 
have been and are of this opinion. 2. Others thought that our 
Lord intimated that John should live till Christ came to 
judge and destroy Jerusalem. On this opinion it is observed 
that Peter, who was the oldest of the apostles, died in the 
year 67, which, says Calmet, was six years before the 
destruction of Jerusalem; and that John survived the ruin of 
that city about thirty years, he being the only one of the 
twelve who was alive when the above desolation took place. 3. 
St. Augustin, Bede, and others, understood the passage thus: 
If I will that he remain till I come and take him away by a 
natural death, what is that to thee? follow thou me to thy 
crucifixion. On this it may be observed, that all antiquity 
agrees that John, if he did die, was the only disciple who 
was taken away by a natural death.

4. Others imagine that our Lord was only now taking Peter 
aside to speak something to him in private, and that Peter, 
seeing John following, wished to know whether he should come 
along with them; and that our Lord's answer stated that John 
should remain in that place till Christ and Peter returned to 
him; and to this meaning of the passage many eminent critics 
incline. For neatly eighteen hundred years, the greatest men 
in the world have been puzzled with this passage. It mould 
appear intolerable in me to attempt to decide, where so many 
eminent doctors have disagreed, and do still disagree. I 
rather lean to the fourth opinion. See the conclusion of the 
Preface to this Gospel.

Verse 24. This is the disciple] It is, I think, very likely 
that these two verses were added by some of the believers at 
that time, as a testimony to the truth of the preceding 
narration; and I allow, with Bishop Pearce and others, that 
it is possible that John may mean himself when he says WE 
know, &c., yet, I think that it is very unlikely. It is 
certain that this Gospel loses no part of its authority in 
admitting the suffrage of the Church of God: it rather 
strengthens the important truths which are delivered in it; 
and in the mouths of so many witnesses the sacred matters 
which concern the peace and salvation of the world, are still 
more abundantly established. See the last note on the 
preceding chapter.  We know] Instead of oidamen, we know, 
some have written oida men, I know indeed; but this is mere 
conjecture, and is worthy of no regard. It is likely that 
these verses were added by those to whom John gave his work 
in charge.

Verse 25. Many other things] Before his disciples, is added 
by two MSS. The Scholia in several MSS. intimate that this 
verse is an addition; but it is found in every ancient 
version, and in Origen, Cyril, and Chrysostom.

Could not contain, &c.] Origen's signification of the word 
cwrein is to admit of, or receive favourably. As if he had 
said, the miracles of Christ are so many, and so astonishing, 
that if the whole were to be detailed, the world would not 
receive the account with proper faith; but enough is recorded 
that men may believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that 
in believing they may have life through his name: chap. xx. 
31.

We have already seen that this apostle often uses the term 
world to designate the Jewish people only; and if it have 
this sense here, which is possible, it will at once vindicate 
the above exposition of the word cwrein. As if he had said, 
Were I to detail all the signs and miracles which Jesus did 
among his disciples, and in the private families where he 
sojourned, the Jewish people themselves would not receive nor 
credit these accounts; but enough is written to prove that 
this Christ was the promised Messiah.

Bishop Pearce has a very judicious note here, of which what 
follows is an abstract, with a few additions.

Even the world itself, &c. This is a very strong eastern 
expression, to represent the number of miracles which Jesus 
wrought. But, however strong and strange this expression may 
seem to us of the western world, we find sacred and other 
authors using hyperboles of the like kind and signification. 
In Num. xiii. 33, the spies who returned from the search of 
the land of Canaan say that they saw giants there of such a 
prodigious size that they were in their own sight as 
grasshoppers. In Dan. iv. 11, mention is made of a tree, 
whereof the height reached unto the heaven; and the sight 
thereof unto the end of all the earth. And the author of 
Ecclesiasticus, in xlvii. 15, speaking of Solomon's wisdom, 
says, Thy soul covered the whole earth, and thou filledst it 
with parables: so here, by one degree more of hyperbole, it 
is said that the world would not contain all the books which 
should be written concerning Jesus's miracles, if the 
particular account of every one of them were given. In 
Josephus, Antiq. lib. xix. c. 20, God is mentioned as 
promising to Jacob that he would give the land of Canaan to 
him and his seed; and then it is added, oi plhrousi pasan, 
oshn hliov ora, kai ghn kai qalassan. They shall fill all, 
whatsoever the sun illuminates, whether earth or sea. Philo 
in his tract Deuteronomy Ebriet, T.i. p. 362, 10, is observed 
to speak after the same manner, oude gar twn dwrewn ikanov 
oudeiv cwrhsai to afqonon plhqov, iswv dÆ audÆ o kosmov. 
Neither is any one able to contain the vast abundance of 
gifts; nor is the world capable of it. And in his tract 
Deuteronomy Posterit. Caini, T.i. p. 253, l. 38, he says, 
speaking of the fullness of God, oude gar eiv (ei) plouton 
epideiknusqai boulhqeih ton eautou, cwrhsai an, hpeirwqeishv 
kai qalatthv, h sumpasa gh. And should he will to draw out 
his fullness, the whole compass of sea and land could not 
contain it." Homer, who, if not born in Asia Minor, had 
undoubtedly lived there, has sometimes followed the 
hyperbolic manner of speaking which prevailed so much in the 
east, as in Iliad, b. xx. he makes AEneas say to Achilles: - 
allÆ age mhketi tauta legwmeqa, nhputioi wv, ÆestaotÆ en 
messh usminh dhiothtov.
esti gar amfoteroisin oneidea muqhsasqai polla malÆ? oudÆ an 
nhuv ekatonzugov acqov aroito. strepth de glwssÆ esti brotwn, 
poleev dÆ eni muqoi, pantoioi? epewn de poluv nomov enqa kai 
enqa. Æoppoion kÆ eiphsqa epov, toion kÆ epakousaiv. Iliad, 
xx. v. 244-250.

But wherefore should we longer waste the time In idle prate, 
while battle roars around? Reproach is cheap. With ease we 
might discharge Gibes at each other, till a ship that asks A 
hundred oars should sink beneath the load.

The tongue of man is voluble, hath words For every theme, nor 
wants wide field and long; And, as he speaks, so shall he 
hear again. COWPER.

Few instances of any thing like these have been found in the 
western world; and yet it has been observed that Cicero, in 
Philip ii. 44, uses a similar form: Praesertim cum illi eam 
gloriam consecuti sunt, quae vix coelo capi posse videatur-
"especially when they pursued that glory which heaven itself 
seems scarcely sufficient to contain." And Livy also, in vii.

25, Hae vires populi Romani, quas vix terrarum capit orbis-
"these energies of the Roman people, which the terraqueous 
globe can scarcely contain." We may define hyperbole thus: it 
is a figure of speech where more seems to be said than is 
intended; and it is well known that the Asiatic nations 
abound in these. In Deut. i. 28, cities with high walls round 
about them are said to be walled up to heaven. Now, what is 
the meaning of this hyperbole? Why, that the cities had very 
high walls: then, is the hyperbole a truth? Yes, for we 
should attach no other idea to these expressions than the 
authors intended to convey by them. Now, the author of this 
expression never designed to intimate that the cities had 
walls which reached to heaven; nor did one of his countrymen 
understand it in this sense-they affixed no other idea to it, 
(for the words, in common use, conveyed no other,) than that 
these cities had very high walls. When John, therefore, 
wrote, the world itself could not contain the books, &c., 
what would every Jew understand by it! Why, that if every 
thing which Christ had done and said were to be written, the 
books would be more in number than had ever been written 
concerning any one person or subject: i.e. there would be an 
immense number of books. And so there would be; for it is not 
possible that the ten thousandth part of the words and 
actions of such a life as our Lord's was could be contained 
in the compass of one or all of these Gospels.

There is a hyperbole very like this, taken from the Jewish 
writers, and inserted by BASNAGE, Hist. des Juifs, liv. iii. 
c. 1, s. 9. "Jochanan succeeded Simeon-he attained the age of 
Moses-he employed forty years in commerce, and in pleading 
before the Sanhedrin. He composed such a great number of 
precepts and lessons, that if the heavens were paper, and all 
the trees of the forest so many pens, and all the children of 
men so many scribes, they would not suffice to write all his 
lessons!" Now, what meaning did the author of this hyperbole 
intend to convey? Why, that Jochanan had given more lessons 
than all his contemporaries or predecessors. Nor does any Jew 
in the universe understand the words in any other sense. It 
is worthy of remark that this Jochanan lived in the time of 
St. John; for he was in Jerusalem when it was besieged by 
Vespasian. See Basnage, as above.

There is another quoted by the same author, ibid. c. v. s. 7, 
where, speaking of Eliezar, one of the presidents of the 
Sanhedrin, it is said: "Although the firmament were vellum, 
and the waters of the ocean were chanced into ink, it would 
not be sufficient to describe all the knowledge of Eliezar; 
for he made not less than three hundred constitutions 
concerning the manner of cultivating cucumbers." Now, what 
did the rabbin mean by this hyperbole? Why, no more than that 
Eliezar was the greatest naturalist in his time; and had 
written and spoken more on that subject and others than any 
of his contemporaries. This Eliezar flourished about seventy-
three years after Christ. It is farther worthy of remark that 
this man also is stated to have lived in the time of St. 
John. John is supposed to have died A. D. 99.

Hyperboles of this kind, common to the east and to the west, 
to the north and to the south, may be found every where; and 
no soul is puzzled with them but the critics. The above 
examples, I trust, are sufficient to vindicate and explain 
the words in the text. It is scarcely necessary to add that 
the common French expression, tout le monde, which literally 
means the whole world, is used in a million of instances to 
signify the people present at one meeting, or the majority of 
them, and often the members of one particular family. And yet 
no man who understands the language ever imagines that any 
besides the congregation in the one case, or the family in 
the other, is intended.

Amen.] This word is omitted by ABCD, several others; Syriac, 
all the Arabic, and both the Persic; the Coptic, Sahidic, 
AEthiopic, Armenian, Syriac Hieros., Vulgate, and all the 
Itala but three.

The word ma amen, which has passed unaltered into almost all 
the languages of the world in which the sacred writings are 
extant, is pure Hebrew; and signifies to be steady, constant, 
firm, established, or confirmed. It is used as a particle of 
affirmation and adjuration. When a person was sworn to the 
truth of any fact, the oath was recited to him, and he bound 
himself by simply saying, ma ma amen, amen. See an instance 
of this, Numbers v. 22. In Deut. xxvii. 15-26, it is to be 
understood in the same sense; the persons who use it binding 
themselves, under the curse there pronounced, should they do 
any of the things there prohibited. It is often used as a 
particle of affirmation, approbation, and consent, examples 
of which frequently occur in the Old Testament. When any 
person commenced a discourse or testimony with this word, it 
was considered in the light of an oath; as if he had said, I 
pledge my truth, my honour, and my life to the certainty of 
what I now state.

Our Lord begins many of his discourses with this word, either 
singly, Amen, I say unto you; or doubled, Amen, amen, I say 
unto you; which we translate verily: as Christ uses it, we 
may ever understand it as expressing an absolute and 
incontrovertible truth. Instances of the use of the single 
term frequently occur: see Matt. v. 18, 26; vi. 2, 5, 16; 
viii. 10; x. 15, 23, 42, &c., &c.; but it is remarkable that 
it is doubled by St. John, see chap. i. 51; iii. 3, 5, 11; v. 
19, 24, 25; vi. 26, 32, 47, 53; chap. viii. 34, 51, 58; x. 1, 
7; xii. 24; xiii. 16, 20, 21, 38; chap. xiv. 12; xvi. 20, 23; 
xxi. 18; and is never found iterated by any of the other 
evangelists. Some have supposed that the word ma is 
contracted, and contains the initials of m[n ûlm ynda Adonai 
Malec Neeman, my Lord the faithful King; to whom the person 
who uses it is always understood to make his appeal. Christ 
is himself called the Amen, o amhn, Rev. i. 18; iii. 14; 
because of the eternity of his nature and the 
unchangeableness of his truth. In later ages, it was placed 
at the end of all the books in the New Testament, except the 
Acts, the Epistle of James, and the third Epistle of John, 
merely as the transcriber's attestation to their truth; and, 
perhaps, it is sometimes to be understood as vouching to the 
fidelity of his own transcript.

The subscriptions to this Gospel, as well as to the preceding 
Gospels, are various in the different versions and 
manuscripts. The following are those which appear most worthy 
of being noticed.

"The most holy Gospel of the preaching of John the 
evangelist, which he spake and proclaimed in the Greek 
language at Ephesus, is finished."-SYRIAC in Bib. Polyglott.

"With the assistance of the supreme God, the Gospel of St. 
John the son of Zebedee, the beloved of the Lord, and the 
preacher of eternal life, is completed. And it is the 
conclusion of the four most holy and vivifying Gospels, by 
the blessing of God. Amen."-ARABIC in Bib. Polyglott.

"The four glorious Gospels, of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 
are completed."-PERSIC in Bib. Polyglott.

Other subscriptions are as follow: - "The end of the holy 
Gospel of John-delivered thirty years-thirty-two years after 
the ascension of Christ-in the Isle of Patmos-in the Greek 
tongue at Ephesus-under the reign of Domitian-written by John 
when he was an exile in Patmos-under the Emperor Trajan-and 
delivered in Ephesus by Gaius the host of the apostles. John, 
having returned from his exile in Patmos, composed his 
Gospel, being 100 years of age and lived to the age of 120."-
SUIDAS.

In an AEthiopic MS. in the royal library in Paris, at the 
conclusion of this evangelist are these words:-"Now the sum 
of all the clauses of the four Gospels is 9700.-By the grace 
of the Lord, here are ended the four Gospels. The sections of 
the four Gospels are 217. The clauses of the holy Gospel, 
even from its beginning to its end, namely, the writing of 
St. John, are completed." It may be just necessary to inform 
the reader that the most ancient MSS.

have scarcely any subscription at all, and that there is no 
dependence to be placed on any thing of this kind found in 
the others; most of the transcribers making conclusions 
according to their different fancies. See the concluding note 
of the preceding chapter; and see the preface to this Gospel, 
where other subjects relative to it are discussed.



ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.

-Usherian year of the world, 4033. -Alexandrian aera of the 
world, 5531.-Antiochian year of the world, 5521. -
Constantinopolitan year of the world, 5537. -Year of the aera 
of the Seleucidae, 341. -Year of the Spanish aera, 67. -Year 
of the Christian aera, 29. -Year of the Paschal Cycle, 30.-
Year of the Jewish Cycle, 11. -Golden Number, 8. -Solar 
Cycle, 10.-Dominical Letter, B. -Jewish Passover, April 15. -
Epact, 20. -Year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius Caesar, 
18. -Year of the CCII. Olympiad, 1.-Year of Rome, 782. -
Consuls, from Jan. 1, to July 1, L. Rubellius Geminus, and C. 
Rufius Geminus; and, for the remainder of the year, Aulus 
Plautius and L. Nonius Asprenas.For an explanation of these 
aeras, see the Advertisement prefixed to the Comment on the 
Gospel of St Matthew.

CHAPTER i.

St. Luke's prologue, containing a repetition of Christ's 
history from his passion till his ascension, 1-9. Remarkable 
circumstances in the ascension, 10, 11. The return of the 
disciples to Jerusalem, and their employment there, 12-14. 
Peter's discourse concerning the death of Judas Iscariot, 15-
20, and the necessity of choosing another apostle in his 
place, 21, 22. Barnabas and Matthias being set apart by 
prayer, the apostles having given their votes, Matthias is 
chosen to succeed Judas, 23-26.

NOTES ON CHAP. i.

Verse 1. The former treatise] The Gospel according to Luke, 
which is here most evidently intended.

O Theophilus] See the note on Luke i. 3.

To do and teach] These two words comprise his miracles and 
sermons.

This introduction seems to intimate that, as he had already 
in his Gospel given an account of the life and actions of our 
Lord, so in this second treatise he was about to give an 
account of the lives and acts of some of the chief apostles, 
such as Peter and Paul.

Verse 2. After that he, through the Holy Ghost, &c.] This 
clause has been variously translated: the simple meaning 
seems to be this-that Christ communicated the Holy Spirit to 
his disciples, after his resurrection, as he had not done 
before. In Luke xxiv. 45, it is said that he opened their 
understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures; and 
in John xx. 22, that he breathed on them, and said, receive 
ye the Holy Ghost.

Previously to this, we may suppose that the disciples were 
only on particular occasions made partakers of the Holy 
Spirit; but from this time it is probable that they had a 
measure of this supernatural light and power constantly 
resident in them. By this they were not only able to proclaim 
the truth, but to discern the meaning of all the Old 
Testament Scriptures which referred to Christ; and to appoint 
whatever rites or ordinances were necessary for the 
establishment of his Church. There were many things which the 
apostles said, did, and decreed, for which they had no verbal 
instructions from our Lord, at least, none that are recorded 
in the Gospels; we may therefore conclude that these were 
suggested to them by that Holy Spirit which now became 
resident in them, and that it is to this that St. Luke refers 
in this verse, After that he, through the Holy Ghost, had 
given commandments unto the apostles.

Verse 3. To whom-he showed himself alive-by many infallible 
proofs] polloiv tekmhrioiv; by many proofs of such a nature, 
and connected with such circumstances, as to render them 
indubitable; for this is the import of the Greek word 
tekmhrion. The proofs were such as these: 1.

Appearing to several different persons at different times. 2. 
His eating and drinking with them. 3. His meeting them in 
Galilee according to his own appointment. 4. His subjecting 
his body to be touched and handled by them. 5. His 
instructing them in the nature and doctrines of his kingdom. 
6.

His appearing to upwards of five hundred persons at once, 1 
Cor. xv. 6. And, 7. Continuing these public manifestations of 
himself for forty days.

The several appearances of Jesus Christ, during the forty 
days of his sojourning with his disciples, between his 
resurrection and ascension, are thus enumerated by Bishop 
Pearce: The first was to Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, 
Matt. xxviii. 1-9. The second, to the two disciples on their 
way to Emmaus, Luke xxiv. 15. The third, to Simon Peter, Luke 
xxiv. 34.

The fourth, to ten of the apostles, Thomas being absent, Luke 
xxiv. 36, and John xx. 19. (All these four appearances took 
place on the day of his resurrection.) The fifth was to the 
eleven disciples, Thomas being then with them, John xx. 26. 
The sixth, to seven of the apostles in Galilee, at the sea of 
Tiberias, John xxi. 4. The seventh, to James, 1 Cor. xv. 7, 
most probably in Jerusalem, and when Jesus gave an order for 
all his apostles to assemble together, as in ver. 4. The 
eighth, when they were assembled together, and when he led 
them unto Bethany, Luke xxiv. 50, from whence he ascended to 
heaven. But see the note on John xxi. 14, for farther 
particulars.

Pertaining to the kingdom of God] Whatever concerned the 
doctrine, discipline, and establishment of the Christian 
Church.

Verse 4. And, being assembled together] Instead of 
sunalizomenov, being assembled together, several good MSS. 
and versions read sunaulizomenov, living or eating together, 
which refers the conversation reported here to some 
particular time, when he sat at meat, with his disciples. See 
Mark xvi. 14: Luke xxiv. 41-44. See the margin. But probably 
the common reading is to be preferred; and the meeting on a 
mountain of Galilee is what is here meant.

The promise of the Father] The HOLY SPIRIT, which indeed was 
the grand promise of the New Testament, as JESUS CHRIST was 
of the Old.

And as Christ was the grand promise of the Old Testament, 
during the whole continuance of the old covenant; so is the 
Holy Ghost, during the whole continuance of the new. As every 
pious soul that believed in the coming Messiah, through the 
medium of the sacrifices offered up under the law, was made a 
partaker of the merit of his death, so every pious soul that 
believes in Christ crucified is made a partaker of the Holy 
Spirit.

Thus, as the benefit of the death of Christ extended from the 
foundation of the world till his coming in the flesh, as well 
as after, so the inspiration of the Holy Spirit has been, and 
will be continued through the whole lapse of time, till his 
coming again to judge the world. It is by this Spirit that 
sin is made known, and by it the blood of the covenant is 
applied; and indeed, without this, the want of salvation 
cannot be discovered, nor the value of the blood of the 
covenant duly estimated. How properly do we still pray, and 
how necessary is the prayer, "Cleanse the thoughts of our 
hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may 
perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy name, through 
Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen." Communion Service.

Ye have heard of me.] In his particular conversations with 
his disciples, such as those related John xiv. 16-26; xv. 26; 
xvi. 7-15; to which passages, and the notes on them the 
reader is requested to refer: but it is likely that our Lord 
alludes more particularly to the conversation he had with 
them on one of the mountains of Galilee.

Verse 5. Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many 
days hence.] This must refer to some conversation that is not 
distinctly related by the evangelists; as these identical 
words do not occur in any of the preceding histories. The 
Codex Bezae reads this passage thus: but ye shall be baptized 
with the Holy Ghost, which ye shall receive not many days 
hence. John baptized with water, which was a sign of 
penitence, in reference to the remission of sin; but Christ 
baptizes with the Holy Ghost, for the destruction of sin, the 
illumination of the mind, and the consolation of the heart. 
John's baptism was in reference to the spiritual kingdom; but 
Christ's baptism established and maintained that kingdom. 
From this passage we may also learn that baptism does not 
always mean being plunged or immersed in water; for as this 
promise most evidently refers to the communication of the 
Holy Spirit on the following pentecost, and then he sat upon 
each as a cloven tongue of fire, this certainly has more 
affinity to sprinkling than to plunging. However, the mode of 
administering the sign is of very little consequence; and 
which is the best mode is exceedingly dubious: the stress 
should be laid on receiving the thing signified-the Holy 
Ghost, to illuminate, regenerate, refine, and purify the 
heart. With this, sprinkling or immersion are equally 
efficient: without this, both are worth nothing.

Verse 6. When they therefore were come together] It is very 
likely that this is to be understood of their assembling on 
one of the mountains of Galilee, and there meeting our Lord.

At this time restore again the kingdom] That the disciples, 
in common with the Jews, expected the Messiah's kingdom to be 
at least in part secular, I have often had occasion to note. 
In this opinion they continued less or more till the day of 
pentecost; when the mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit 
taught them the spiritual nature of the kingdom of Christ. 
The kingdom had now for a considerable time been taken away 
from Israel; the Romans, not the Israelites, had the 
government. The object of the disciples' question seems to 
have been this: to gain information, from their all-knowing 
Master, whether the time was now fully come, in which the 
Romans should be thrust out, and Israel made, as formerly, an 
independent kingdom. But though the verb apokaqistanein 
signifies to reinstate, to renew, to restore to a former 
state or master, of which numerous examples occur in the best 
Greek writers, yet it has also another meaning, as Schoettgen 
has here remarked, viz. of ending, abolishing, blotting out: 
so Hesychius says, apokatastasiv is the same as teleiwsiv, 
finishing, making an end of a thing. And Hippocrates, Aph. 
vi. 49, uses it to signify the termination of a disease. On 
this interpretation the disciples may be supposed to ask, 
having recollected our Lord's prediction of the destruction 
of Jerusalem, and the whole Jewish commonwealth, Lord, Wilt 
thou at this time destroy the Jewish commonwealth, which 
opposes thy truth, that thy kingdom may be set up over all 
the land? This interpretation agrees well with all the parts 
of our Lord's answer, and with all circumstances of the 
disciples, of time, and of place; but, still, the first is 
most probable.

Verse 7. The times or the seasons] cronouv h kairouv. Times 
here may signify any large portion of a period, aera, or 
century-such as an Olympiad, lustrum or year; and seasons, 
the particular part, season, or opportunity in that period, 
&c., in which it might be proper to do any particular work. 
God has not only fixed the great periods in which he will 
bring about those great revolutions which his wisdom, 
justice, and mercy have designed, but he leaves himself at 
full liberty to choose those particular portions of such 
periods as may be best for the accomplishment of those 
purposes. Thus God is no necessary agent-every thing is put 
in his own power, en th idia exousia, under his control and 
authority; nor will he form decrees of which he must become 
the necessary executor. The infinite liberty of acting or not 
acting, as wisdom, justice, and goodness shall see best, is 
essential to God, nor can there be a point in the whole of 
his eternity in which he must be the necessary agent of a 
fixed and unalterable fate. Infinite, eternal liberty to act 
or not to act, to create or not create, to destroy or not 
destroy, belongs to God alone, and we must take care how we 
imagine decrees, formed even by his own prescience, in 
reference to futurity, which his power is from the moment of 
their conception laid under the necessity of performing. In 
every point of time and eternity, God must be free to act or 
not to act, as may seem best to his godly wisdom.

Verse 8. But ye shall receive power] lhyesqe dunamin. 
Translating different terms of the original by the same 
English word is a source of misapprehension and error. We 
must not understand dunamiv which we translate power in this 
verse, as we do exousia, translated by the same word in the 
preceding verse. In the one, God's infinite authority over 
all times and seasons, and his uncompellable liberty of 
acting or not acting in any given case, are particularly 
pointed out: in the other, the energy communicated by him to 
his disciples, through which they were enabled to work 
miracles, is particularly intended; and dunamiv, in general, 
signifies such power, and is sometimes put for that of which 
it is the cause, viz. a miracle. See Matt. vii. 22; xi. 20-
23; Matt. xiii. 54, 58; Mark vi. 5; Luke x. 13; and chap. ii. 
22. The disciples were to be made instruments in the 
establishment of the kingdom of Christ; but this must be by 
the energy of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; 
nevertheless, this energy would be given in such times and 
seasons, and in such measures, as should appear best to the 
infinite wisdom of God. Christ does not immediately answer 
the question of the disciples, as it was a point savouring 
too much of mere curiosity; but he gave them such information 
as was calculated to bring both their faith and hope into 
action. St. Chrysostom has well observed, "that it is the 
prerogative of an instructer to teach his disciple, not what 
he wishes to learn, but what his master sees best for him:" 
didaskalou touto esti mh a bouletai o maqhthv, allÆ a 
sumferei maqein, didaskein.

Ye shall be witnesses-in all Judea, &c.] Though the word 
earth, h gh, is often used to denote Judea alone, yet here, 
it is probable, it is to be taken in its largest extent. All 
the inhabitants of the globe might at that period be 
considered divisible into three classes. 1. The JEWS, who 
adhered to the law of Moses, and the prophetic writings, 
worshipping the true God only, and keeping up the temple 
service, as prescribed in their law. 2. The SAMARITANS, a 
mongrel people, who worshipped the God of Israel in 
connection with other gods, 2 Kings xvii. 5, &c., and who had 
no kind of religious connection with the Jews. See on Matt. 
x. 5. And, 3. The GENTILES, the heathens through all other 
parts of the world, who were addicted to idolatry alone, and 
had no knowledge of the true God. By the terms in the text we 
may see the extent to which this commission of instruction 
and salvation was designed to reach: to the Jews; to the 
Samaritans, and the uttermost part of the earth, i.e. to the 
Gentile nations, thus, to the whole human race the Gospel of 
the kingdom was to be proclaimed. When the twelve disciples 
were sent out to preach, Matt. x. 5, their commission was 
very limited-they were not to go in the way of the Gentiles, 
nor enter into any city of the Samaritans, but preach the 
Gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel: but here 
their commission is enlarged, for they are to go into all the 
world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. See Matt. 
xxviii. 18.

Verse 9. He was taken up] He was speaking face to face with 
them, and while they beheld he was taken up; he began to 
ascend to heaven, and they continued to look after him till a 
cloud received him out of their sight-till he had ascended 
above the region of the clouds, by the density of which all 
farther distinct vision was prevented. These circumstances 
are very remarkable, and should be carefully noted. They 
render insupportable the theory that states, "that our Lord 
did not ascend to heaven; that his being taken up signifies 
his going into some mountain, the top of which was covered 
with clouds, or thick vapours; and that the two men in white 
garments were two priests, or Levites, who simply informed 
the disciples of his revisiting them again at some future 
time." One would suppose that an opinion of this kind could 
hardly ever obtain credit among people professing 
Christianity; and yet it is espoused by some men of 
considerable learning and ingenuity. But the mere letter of 
the text will be ever sufficient for its total confutation. 
He that believes the text cannot receive such a miserable 
comment. Foreign critics and divines take a most sinful 
latitude on subjects of this kind.

Verse 10. Looked steadfastly] Keeping their eyes intensely 
fixed on their ascending Lord; continuing to look even after 
he had ascended above the region of the inferior clouds.

Two men stood by them] Doubtless, angels in human shape.

In white apparel] As emblematical of their purity, happiness, 
and glory.

Verse 11. Gazing up into heaven] Not to the top of a 
mountain, to which an unbridled fancy, influenced by 
infidelity, would intimate he had ascended, and not to 
heaven.

This same Jesus] Clothed in human nature. shall so come in 
like manner-with the same body, descending from heaven by his 
sovereign and all-controlling power, as ye have seen him go 
into heaven. Thus shall he come again to judge the quick and 
the dead. It was a very ancient opinion among Christians, 
that when Christ should come again to judge the world he 
would make his appearance on Mount Olivet. Some think that 
his coming again to destroy the Jewish nation is what the 
angels refer to. See a connected account of the different 
appearances of Christ at the end of this chapter.

Verse 12. A Sabbath day's journey.] See the difficulties in 
this verse explained in the note on Luke xxiv. 50. A Sabbath 
day's journey was seven furlongs and a half. Olivet was but 
five furlongs from Jerusalem; and Bethany was fifteen. The 
first region or tract of Mount Olivet, which was called 
Bethany, was distant from the city a Sabbath day's journey, 
or seven furlongs and a half; and the same distance did that 
tract called Bethphage extend from the city. When, therefore; 
our Lord came to the place where these two tracts touched 
each other, he there ascended, which place was distant from 
Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey, as St. Luke here remarks. 
See the notes referred to above.

Verse 13. They went up into an upper room] This was either a 
room in the temple, or in the house of one of the disciples, 
where this holy company was accustomed to meet. In Luke xxiv. 
53, it is said that, after their return from Mount Olivet, 
they were continually in the temple, praising and blessing 
God: it is probable, therefore, that the upper room mentioned 
in this verse is that apartment of the temple mentioned 
above. But still it is not certain that this place should be 
so understood; as we have the fullest proofs that the upper 
rooms in private houses were used for the purpose of reading 
the law, and conferring together on religious matters. See 
several proofs in Lightfoot. Add to this, that the room here 
mentioned seems to have been the place where all the apostles 
lodged, ou hsan katamenontev, and therefore most probably a 
private house.

Verse 14. These-continued-in prayer and supplication] Waiting 
for the promise of the Father, according to the direction of 
our Lord, Luke xxiv. 49.

The words kai th dehsei, and in supplication, are omitted by 
ABC*DE, both the Syriac, the Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, 
Vulgate, Itala, and some of the primitive fathers. On this 
evidence, Griesbach has left them out of the text; and others 
contend for the propriety of this omission, because, say 
they, th proseuch and th dehsei, prayer and supplication, 
mean the same thing. Whether the reading be genuine or 
spurious, this inference is not just. Prayer may simply imply 
any address to God, in the way of petition or request; 
supplication, the earnest, affectionate, and continued 
application to God for the blessing requested from him by 
prayer. Prayer asks, supplication expostulates, entreats, 
urges and re-urges the petition.

With the women] Probably those who had been witnesses of his 
resurrection, with the immediate relatives of the apostles. 
Peter we know was married, Matt. viii. 14, and so might 
others of the disciples; and therefore the wives of the 
apostles, as well as of other pious men, may be here 
intended.

Verse 15. In the midst of the disciples] maqhtwn; but instead 
of this, adelfwn, brethren, is the reading of ABC, a few 
others, with the Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, and Vulgate. 
This seems the best reading, because of what immediately 
follows; for it was not among the disciples merely that he 
stood, but among the whole company, which amounted to one 
hundred and twenty. It is remarkable that this was the number 
which the Jews required to form a council in any city; and it 
is likely that in reference to this the disciples had 
gathered together, with themselves, the number of one hundred 
and twenty, chosen out of the many who had been already 
converted by the ministry of our Lord, the twelve disciples, 
and the seventy-two whom he had sent forth to preach, Luke x. 
1, &c., thus they formed a complete council in presence of 
which the important business of electing a person in the 
place of Judas was to be transacted.

Verse 16. The Holy Ghost by the mouth of David] Thus is a 
strong attestation to the Divine inspiration of the book of 
Psalms. They were dictated by the Holy Spirit, and spoken by 
the mouth of David.

Verse 17. Obtained part of this ministry.] elace ton klhron, 
He obtained the lot of this ministry-not that he or any of 
the twelve apostles, was chosen to this ministry by lot, but 
as lot signifies the portion a man has in life, what comes to 
him in the course of the Divine providence, or as an especial 
gift of God's goodness, it is used here, as in many other 
parts of the sacred writings, to signify office or station. 
On this subject the reader is referred to the notes on Lev. 
xvi. 8, 9; Josh. xiv. 2: see also ver. 26.

Verse 18. Purchased a field with the reward of iniquity] 
Probably Judas did not purchase the field himself, but the 
money for which he sold his Lord was thus applied, see Matt. 
xxvii. 6-8. It is possible, however, that he might have 
designed to purchase a field or piece of ground with this 
reward of his iniquity, and might have been in treaty far it, 
though he did not close the bargain, as his bringing the 
money to the treasury proves: the priests, knowing his 
intentions, might have completed the purchase, and, as Judas 
was now dead, applied the field thus bought for the burial of 
strangers, i.e. Jews from foreign parts, or others who, 
visiting Jerusalem, had died there. Though this case is 
possible, yet the passage will bear a very consistent 
interpretation without the assistant of this conjecture; for, 
in ordinary conversation, we often attribute to a man what is 
the consequence of his own actions, though such consequence 
was never designed nor wished for by himself: thus we say of 
a man embarking in a hazardous enterprise, he is gone to seek 
his death; of one whose conduct has been ruinous to his 
reputation, he has disgraced himself; of another who has 
suffered much in consequence of his crimes, he has purchased 
repentance at a high price, &c., &c. All these, though 
undesigned, were consequences of certain acts, as the buying 
of the yield was the consequence of Judas's treason.

And falling headlong, he burst asunder] It is very likely 
that the 18th and 19th verses  are not the words of Peter, 
but of the historian, St. Luke, and should be read in a 
parenthesis, and then the 17th and 20th verses  will make a 
connected sense. (ln the case of Judas, and the manner of his 
death, see the observations at the end of this chapter. 

Verse 19. It was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem] 
The repentance of Judas, his dying testimony in behalf of our 
Lord's innocence, and his tragical death, were publicly 
known, as was also the transaction about the purchase of the 
field, and hence arose the name by which at was publicly 
known. These circumstances must have lessened the credit of 
the chief priests, and have prepared the public mind to 
receive the Gospel of the kingdom, when preached to them 
after the day of pentecost.

That field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama] This 
proper tongue was not the Hebrew; that had long ceased to be 
the proper tongue in Palestine: it was a sort of Chaldaio-
Syriac which was commonly spoken. The word in the Syriac 
version is (Syriac) chacal-demo, and literally signifies the 
field of blood; because it was bought by the price of the 
life or blood of the Lord Jesus.

Verse 20. For it is written in the book of Psalms] The places 
usually referred to are Psa. lxix. 25: Let their habitation 
be desolate, and let none dwell in their tents. And Psa. cix. 
8: Let his days be few, and let another take his office, 
wtdqp pekudato, his overseership, his charge of visitation or 
superintendence, translated by the SEPTUAGINT, thn episkophn, 
VULGATE, episcopatum; and WE, following both, bishopric, but 
not with sufficient propriety, for surely the office or 
charge of Judas was widely different from what we call 
bishopric, the diocess, estate, and emoluments of a bishop. 
episkopov, episcopos, which was corrupted by our Saxon 
ancestors into (Anglo-Saxon), biscop, and by us into bishop, 
signifies literally an overseer or superintendent, from epi, 
over, and skeptomai, I see, a person who had the inspection, 
overseeing, or superintendence of others. The ancient 
episkopoi were persons who had the care of different 
congregations of the Church of Christ; who traveled, 
preached, enforced the discipline of the Church, and took 
care to prevent false doctrines, heresies, &c. Those who 
still deserve this title, and it is an august and noble one, 
walk by the same rule, and mind the same thing. episkopov, 
episcopus, or bishop, is a scriptural and sacred title; was 
gloriously supported in the primitive Church; and many to the 
present day are not less ornaments to the title, than the 
title is ornamental to them. The best defenses of the truth 
of God, and the Protestant faith, are in the works of the 
bishops of the British Churches.

The words quoted from the Psalms were originally spoken 
against the enemies of David; and as David, in certain 
particulars, was a type of Christ, the words are applied to 
him in an especial manner who had sinned against his own soul 
and the life of his Master.

Verse 21. Which have companied with us] They judged it 
necessary to fill up this blank in the apostolate by a person 
who had been an eye witness of the acts of our Lord.

Went in and out] A phrase which includes all the actions of 
life.

Verse 22. Beginning from the baptism of John] From the time 
that Christ was baptized by John in Jordan; for it was at 
that time that his public ministry properly began.

Must one be ordained] This translation misleads every reader 
who cannot examine the original text. There is no term for 
ordained in the Greek: genesqai, to be, is the only word in 
the verse to which this interpretation can be applied. The 
New Testament printed at London, by Robert Barker, the king's 
printer, in 1615, renders this and the preceding verse more 
faithfully and more clearly than our common version: 
Wherefore of these men who have companied with us, all the 
time that the Lord Jesus was conversant among us, beginning 
from the baptism of John, unto the day he was taken up from 
us, must one of them BE MADE a witness with us of his 
resurrection. The word ordained would naturally lead most 
readers to suppose that some ecclesiastical rite was used on 
the occasion, such as imposition of hands, &c., although 
nothing of the kind appears to have been employed.

Verse 23. They appointed two] These two were probably of the 
number of the seventy disciples; and, in this respect, well 
fitted to fill up the place.

It is likely that the disciples themselves were divided in 
opinion which of these two was the most proper person, and 
therefore laid the matter before God, that he might decide it 
by the lot. No more than two candidates were presented; 
probably because the attention of the brethren had been drawn 
to those two alone, as having been most intimately acquainted 
with our Lord, or in being better qualified for the work than 
any of the rest; but they knew not which to prefer.

Joseph called Barsabas] Some MSS. read Joses Barnabas, making 
him the same with Joses Barnabas, chap. iv. 36. But the 
person here is distinguished from the person there, by being 
called Justus.

Verse 24. Thou Lord, which knowest the hearts] su, kurie, 
kardiognwsta. The word kardiognwsthv, the searcher of hearts, 
seems to be used here as an attribute of God; he knows the 
hearts, the most secret purposes, intentions, and 
dispositions of all men; and because he is the knower of 
hearts, he knew which of these men he had qualified the best, 
by natural and gracious dispositions and powers, for the 
important work to which one of them was now to be appointed.

Verse 25. That he may take part of this ministry, &c.] 
Instead of ton klhron, the lot, which we translate part, ton 
topon, the place, is the reading of ABC*, Coptic, Vulgate, 
and the Itala in the Codex Bezae, and from them the verse may 
be read thus, That he may take the place of this ministry and 
apostleship, (from which Judas fell) and go to his own place; 
but instead of idion, own, the Codex Alexandrinus, and one of 
Matthai's MSS., read dikaion, just-that he might go to his 
just or proper place.

This verse has been variously expounded: 1. Some suppose that 
the words, that he might go to his own place, are spoken of 
Judas, and his punishment in hell, which they say must be the 
own place of such a person as Judas.

2. Others refer them to the purchase of the field, made by 
the thirty pieces of silver for which he had sold our Lord. 
So he abandoned the ministry and apostolate, that he might go 
to his own place, viz. that which he had purchased.

3. Others, with more seeming propriety, state that his own 
place means his own house, or former occupation; he left this 
ministry and apostleship that he might resume his former 
employment in conjunction with his family, &c. This is 
primarily the meaning of it in Num. xxiv. 25: And Balaam 
returned to HIS OWN PLACE, i.e. to his own country, friends, 
and employment.

4. Others think it simply means the state of the dead in 
general, independently of either rewards or punishments; as 
is probably meant by Eccles. iii. 20: All go unto ONE PLACE: 
all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

But, 5. Some of the best critics assert that the words (as 
before hinted) belong to Matthias-his own place being the 
office to which he was about to be elected. Should any 
object, this could not be called his own place, because he 
was not yet appointed to it, but hell might be properly 
called Judas's own place, because, by treason and 
covetousness, he was fully prepared for that place of 
torment, it may be answered, that the own or proper place of 
a man is that for which he is eligible from being qualified 
for it, though he may not yet possess such a place: so St. 
Paul, Every man shall receive HIS OWN reward, ton idion 
misqon, called there his own, not from his having it already 
in possession, for that was not to take place until the 
resurrection of the just; but from his being qualified in 
this life for the state of glory in the other. See the 
observations at the end of the chapter.  

Verse 26. They gave forth their lots] In what manner this or 
any other question was decided by lot, we cannot precisely 
say. The most simple form was to put two stones, pieces of 
board, metal, or slips of parchment, with the names of the 
persons inscribed on them, into an urn; and after prayer, 
sacrifice, &c., to put in the hand and draw out one of the 
lots, and then the case was decided. I have considered this 
subject at large on Lev. xvi. 8, 9; and Josh. xiv. 2.

He was numbered with the eleven apostles.] The word 
sugkateyhfisqh, comes from sun, together with, kata, 
according to, and yhfov, a pebble or small stone, used for 
lots, and as a means of enumeration among the Greeks, Romans, 
and Egyptians; hence the words calculate, calculation, &c., 
from calculus, a small stone or pebble. From this use of the 
word, though it signifies in general to sum up, associate, 
&c., we may conjecture that the calculus or pebble was used 
on this occasion. The brethren agreed that the matter should 
be determined by lot; the lots were cast into the urn; God 
was entreated to direct the choice; one drew out a lot; the 
person whose name was inscribed on it was thereby declared to 
be the object of God's choice, and accordingly associated 
with the disciples.

But it is possible that the whole was decided by what we 
commonly call ballot, God inclining the hearts of the 
majority to ballot for Matthias.

Nothing certain can, however, be stated on this head. Thus 
the number twelve was made up, that these might be the 
fountains under God of the whole Christian Church, as the 
twelve sons of Jacob had been of the Jewish Church. For it 
has already been remarked that our Lord formed his Church on 
the model of the Jewish. See the notes on John xvii. 1, &c. 
As the Holy Ghost, on the day of pentecost, was to descend 
upon them and endue them with power from on high, it was 
necessary that the number twelve should be filled up 
previously, that the newly elected person might also be made 
partaker of the heavenly gift. How long it was found 
necessary to keep up the number twelve, we are not informed: 
the original number was soon broken by persecution and death.

ON the death of Judas there is a great diversity of opinion 
among learned men and divines.

1. It is supposed, following the bare letter of the text, 
that Judas hanged himself, and that, the rope breaking, he 
fell down, was burst with the fall, and thus his bowels 
gushed out.

2. That, having hanged himself, he was thrown on the 
dunghill, and, the carcass becoming putrid, the abdomen, 
which soonest yields to putrefaction burst, and the bowels 
were thus shed from the body, and possibly torn out by dogs.

3. That, being filled with horror and despair, he went to the 
top of the house, or to some eminences and threw himself 
down; and thus, failing headlong, his body was broken by the 
fall, and his bowels gushed out.

4. That Satan, having entered into him, caught him up in the 
air, and thence precipitated him to the earth; and thus, his 
body being broken to pieces, his bowels gushed out. This is 
Dr. Lightfoot's opinion, and has been noticed on Matt. xxvii. 
5.

5. Others think that he died or was suffocated through 
excessive grief; and that thus the terms in the text, and in 
Matt. xxvii. 5, are to be understood.

The late Mr. Wakefield defends this meaning with great 
learning and ingenuity.

6. Others suppose the expressions to be figurative: Judas 
having been highly exalted, in being an apostle, and even the 
purse-bearer to his Lord and brother disciples, by his 
treason forfeited this honour, and is represented as falling 
from a state of the highest dignity into the lowest infamy, 
and then dying through excessive grief. The Rev. John Jones, 
in his Illustrations of the four Gospels, sums up this 
opinion thus: "So sensible became the traitor of the 
distinguished rank which he forfeited, and of the deep 
disgrace into which he precipitated himself, by betraying his 
Master, that he was seized with such violent grief as 
occasioned the rupture of his bowels, and ended in 
suffocation and death." P. 571.

After the most mature consideration of this subject, on which 
I hesitated to form an opinion in the note on Matt. xxvii. 5, 
I think the following observations may lead to a proper 
knowledge of the most probable state of the case. 1. Judas, 
like many others, thought that the kingdom of the Messiah 
would be a secular kingdom; and that his own secular 
interests must be promoted by his attachment to Christ. Of 
this mind all the disciples seem to have been, previously to 
the resurrection of Christ. 2.

From long observation of his Master's conduct, he was now 
convinced that he intended to erect no such kingdom; and that 
consequently the expectations which he had built on the 
contrary supposition must be ultimately disappointed. 3. 
Being poor and covetous, and finding there was no likelihood 
of his profiting by being a disciple of Christ, he formed the 
resolution (probably at the instigation of the chief priests) 
of betraying him for a sum of money sufficient to purchase a 
small inheritance, on which he had already cast his eye. 4. 
Well knowing the uncontrollable power of his Master, he might 
take it for granted that, though betrayed, he would extricate 
himself from their hands; and that they would not be capable 
of putting him either to pain or death. 5. That having 
betrayed him, and finding that he did not exert his power to 
deliver himself out of the hands of the Jews, and seeing, 
from their implacable malice, that the murder of his most 
innocent Master was likely to be the consequence, he was 
struck with deep compunction at his own conduct, went to the 
chief priests, confessed his own profligacy, proclaimed the 
innocence of his Master, and returned the money for which he 
had betrayed him; probably hoping that they might be thus 
influenced to proceed no farther in this unprincipled 
business, and immediately dismiss Christ. 8. Finding that 
this made no impression upon them, from their own words, What 
is that to us? See thou to that, and that they were 
determined to put Jesus to death, seized with horror at his 
crime and its consequences, the remorse and agitation of his 
mind produced a violent dysentery, attended with powerful 
inflammation; (which, in a great variety of cases, has been 
brought on by strong mental agitation;) and while the 
distressful irritation of his bowels obliged him to withdraw 
for relief, he was overwhelmed with grief and affliction, 
and, having fallen from the seat, his bowels were found to 
have gushed out, through the strong spasmodic affections with 
which the disease was accompanied. I have known cases of this 
kind, where the bowels appeared to come literally away by 
piece meal.

Now; when we consider that the word aphgxato, Matt. xxvii. 5, 
which we translate hanged himself, is by the very best 
critics thus rendered, was choked, and that the words of the 
sacred historian in this place, falling headlong, he burst 
asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out, may be 
no other than a delicate mode of expressing the circumstance 
to which I have alluded under observation 6, perhaps this way 
of reconciling and explaining the evangelist and historian 
will appear, not only probable, but the most likely. To 
strengthen this interpretation, a few facts may be adduced of 
deaths brought about in the same way with that in which I 
suppose Judas to have perished. The death of Jehoram is thus 
related, 2 Chron. xxi. 18, 19: And after all this, the Lord 
smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease: and it 
came to pass that, after the end of two years, HIS BOWELS 
FELL OUT, by reason of his sickness; so he died of sore 
diseases; µyaljtb bethachaluim, with inflammations, or 
ulcers. The death of Herod was probably of the same kind, 
chap. xii. 23. That of Aristobulus, as described by Josephus, 
WAR, book i. chap. 3, is of a similar nature. Having murdered 
his mother and brother, his mind was greatly terrified, and 
his bowels being torn with excruciating torments, he voided 
much blood, and died in miserable agonies. Again, in his 
ANTIQ.

book xv. chap. 10., sect. 3, he thus describes the death of 
Zenodourus: "His bowels bursting, and his strength exhausted 
by the loss of much blood, he died at Antioch in Syria." 
Taking it for granted that the death of Judas was probably 
such as related above, collating all the facts and evidences 
together, can any hope be formed that he died within the 
reach of mercy? Let us review the whole of these 
transactions.

I. It must be allowed that his crime was one of the most 
inexcusable ever committed by man: nevertheless, it has some 
alleviations. 1. It is possible that he did not think his 
Master could be hurt by the Jews. 2. When he found that he 
did not use his power to extricate himself from their hands, 
he deeply relented that he had betrayed him. 3. He gave every 
evidence of the sincerity of his repentance, by going openly 
to the Jewish rulers: (1.) Confessing his own guilt; (2.) 
asserting the innocence of Christ; (3.) returning the money 
which he had received from them; and there (4.) the 
genuineness of his regret was proved by its being the cause 
of his death.

But, II. Judas might have acted a much worse part than he 
did: By persisting in his wickedness. 2. By slandering the 
character of our Lord both to the Jewish rulers and to the 
Romans; and, had he done so, his testimony would have been 
credited, and our Lord would then have been put to death as a 
malefactor, on the testimony of one of his own disciples; and 
thus the character of Christ and his Gospel must have 
suffered extremely in the sight of the world, and these very 
circumstances would have been pleaded against the 
authenticity of the Christian religion by every infidel in 
all succeeding ages. And, 3. Had he persisted in his evil 
way, he might have lighted such a flame of persecution 
against the infant cause of Christianity as must, without the 
intervention of God, have ended in its total destruction: 
now, he neither did, nor endeavoured to do, any of these 
things. In other cases these would be powerful pleadings.

Judas was indisputably a bad man; but he might have been 
worse: we may plainly see that there were depths of 
wickedness to which he might have proceeded, and which were 
prevented by his repentance. Thus things appear to stand 
previously to his end. But is there any room for hope in his 
death? In answer to this it must be understood, 1. That there 
is presumptive evidence that he did not destroy himself; and, 
2. That his repentance was sincere. If so, was it not 
possible for the mercy of God to extend even to his case? It 
did so to the murderers of the Son of God; and they were 
certainly worse men (strange as this assertion may appear) 
than Judas. Even he gave them the fullest proof of Christ's 
innocence: their buying the field with the money Judas threw 
down was the full proof of it; and yet, with every convincing 
evidence before them, they crucified our Lord. They excited 
Judas to betray his Master, and crucified him when they had 
got him into their power; and therefore St. Stephen calls 
them both the betrayers and murderers of that Just One, chap. 
vii. l2: in these respects they were more deeply criminal 
than Judas himself; yet even to those very betrayers and 
murderers Peter preaches repentance, with the promise of 
remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, chap. iii. 
12-26.

If, then, these were within the reach of mercy, and we are 
informed that a great company of the priests became obedient 
to the faith, chap. vi. 7, then certainly Judas was not in 
such a state as precluded the possibility of his salvation. 
Surely the blood of the covenant could wash out even his 
stain, as it did that more deeply engrained one of the other 
betrayers and murderers of the Lord Jesus.

Should the 25th verse be urged against this possibility, 
because it is there said that Judas fell from his ministry 
and apostleship, that he might go to his own place, and that 
this place is hell; I answer, 1. It remains to be proved that 
this place means hell; and, 2. It is not clear that the words 
are spoken of Judas at all, but of Matthias: his own place 
meaning that vacancy in the apostolate to which he was then 
elected. See the note on ver. 25.

To say that the repentance of Judas was merely the effect of 
his horror; that it did not spring from compunction of heart; 
that it vas legal, and not evangelical, &c., &c., is saying 
what none can with propriety say, but God himself, who 
searches the heart. What renders his case most desperate are 
the words of our Lord, Matt. xxvi. 24: Wo unto that man by 
whom the Son of man is betrayed! It had been good for that 
man if he had not been born! I have considered this saying in 
a general point of view in my note on Matt. xxvi. 24; and, 
were it not a proverbial form of speech among the Jews, to 
express the state of any flagrant transgressor, I should be 
led to apply it in all its literal import to the case of 
Judas, as I have done, in the above note, to the case of any 
damned soul; but when I find that it was a proverbial saying, 
and that it has been used in many cases where the fixing of 
the irreversible doom of a sinner is not implied, it may be 
capable of a more favourable interpretation than what is 
generally given to it. I shall produce a few of those 
examples from Schoettgen, to which I have referred in my note 
on Matt. xxvi. 24.

In CHAGIGAH, fol. ii. 2, it is said: "Whoever considers these 
four things, it would have been better for him had he never 
come into the world, viz.

That which is above-that which is below-that which is before-
and that which is behind; and whosoever does not attend to 
the honour of his Creator, it were better for him had he 
never been born." In SHEMOTH RABBA, sect. 40, fol. 135, 1, 2, 
it is said: "Whosoever knows the law, and does not do it, it 
had been better for him had he never come into the world." In 
VIYIKRA RABBA, sect. 36, fol. 179, 4, and MIDRASH COHELETH, 
fol. 91, 4, it is thus expressed: "It were better for him had 
he never been created; and it would have been better for him 
had he been strangled in the womb, and never have seen the 
light of this world." In SOHAR GENES. fol. 71, col. 282, it 
is said: "If any man be parsimonious towards the poor, it had 
been better for him had he never came into the world." Ibid. 
fol. 84, col. 3x23: "If any performs the law, not for the 
sake of the law, it were good for that man had he never been 
created." These examples sufficiently prove that this was a 
common proverb, and is used with a great variety and latitude 
of meaning, and seems intended to show that the case of such 
and such persons was not only very deplorable, but extremely 
dangerous; but does not imply the positive impossibility 
either of their repentance or salvation.

The utmost that can be said for the case of Judas is this he 
committed a heinous act of sin and ingratitude; but he 
repented, and did what he could to undo his wicked act: he 
had committed the sin unto death, i.e. a sin that involves 
the death of the body; but who can say (if mercy was offered 
to Christ's murderers, and the Gospel was first to be 
preached at Jerusalem that these very murderers might have 
the first offer of salvation through him whom they had 
pierced) that the same mercy could not be extended to the 
wretched Judas? I contend that the chief priests, &c., who 
instigated Judas to deliver up his Master, and who crucified 
him-and who crucified him too as a malefactor-having at the 
same time the most indubitable evidence of his innocence, 
were worse men than Judas Iscariot himself; and that, if 
mercy was extended to those, the wretched penitent traitor 
did not die out of the reach of the yearning of its bowels. 
And I contend, farther, that there is no positive evidence of 
the final damnation of Judas in the sacred text.

I hope it will not displease the humane reader that I have 
entered so deeply into the consideration of this most 
deplorable case. I would not set up knowingly any plea 
against the claims of justice; and God forbid that a sinner 
should be found capable of pleading against the cries of 
mercy in behalf of a fellow culprit! Daily, innumerable cases 
occur of persons who are betraying the cause of God, and 
selling, in effect, Christ and their souls for money. Every 
covetous man, who is living for this world alone, is of this 
stamp. And yet, while they live, we do not despair of their 
salvation, though they are continually repeating the sin of 
Judas, with all its guilt and punishment before their eyes! 
Reader! learn from thy Lord this lesson, Blessed are the 
merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. The case is before the 
Judge, and the Judge of all the earth will do right.

CHAPTER ii.

The day of pentecost being arrived, and the disciples 
assembled, the Holy Spirit descended as a mighty rushing 
wind, and in the likeness of fiery tongues sat upon them; in 
consequence of which, they were all enabled to speak 
different languages, which they had never learned, 1-4. An 
account of persons from various countries who there present, 
and were astonished to hear the apostles declare the 
wonderful works of God in their respective languages, 5-12. 
Some cavil, 13, and are confounded by Peter, who asserts that 
this work is of God; and that thereby a most important 
prophecy was fulfilled, 14-21. He takes occasion from this to 
preach Jesus to them, as the true Lord and only Messiah, 22-
36. The people are alarmed and convinced, and inquire what 
they shall do, 37. He exhorts them to repent and be baptized 
in the name of Jesus, that they may receive remission of sins 
and the gift of the Holy Spirit, 38-40. They gladly receive 
his word, about three thousand are baptized and added to the 
Church in one day; they continue steadfast in the apostles' 
doctrine and fellowship, 41, 42. The apostles work many 
miracles; and the disciples have all things in common, and 
live in a state of great happiness and Christian fellowship, 
43-47.

NOTES ON CHAP. ii.

Verse 1. When the day of pentecost was fully come] The feast 
of pentecost was celebrated fifty days after the passover, 
and has its name penthkosth from penthkonta, fifty, which is 
compounded of pente, five, and hkonta, the decimal 
termination. It commenced on the fiftieth day reckoned from 
the first day of unleavened bread, i.e. on the morrow after 
the paschal lamb was offered. The law relative to this feast 
is found in Lev. xxiii. 15, 16, in these words: And ye shall 
count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the 
day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering; seven 
Sabbaths shall be complete: even unto the morrow after the 
seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days. This feast was 
instituted in commemoration of the giving the law on Mount 
Sinai; and is therefore sometimes called by the Jews, hrwt 
tjm shimchath torah, the joy of the law, and frequently the 
feast of weeks. There is a correspondence between the giving 
of the law, which is celebrated by this feast of pentecost, 
together with the crucifixion of our Lord, which took place 
at the passover, and this descent of the Holy Spirit, which 
happened at this pentecost. 1. At the passover, the 
Israelites were delivered from Egyptian bondage: this was a 
type of the thraldom in which the human race were to Satan 
and sin. 2. At the passover Jesus Christ, who was typified by 
the paschal lamb, was sacrificed for the sin of the world, 
and by this sacrifice redemption from sin and Satan is now 
procured and proclaimed. 3. On the pentecost, God gave his 
law on Mount Sinai, accompanied with thunderings and 
lightnings. On the pentecost, God sent down his Holy Spirit, 
like a rushing mighty wind; and tongues of fire sat upon each 
disciple, in order that, by his influence, that new law of 
light and life might be promulgated and established. Thus, 
the analogy between the Egyptian bondage and the thraldom 
occasioned by sin-the deliverance from Egypt, and the 
redemption from sin-the giving of the law, with all its 
emblematic accompaniments, and the sending down the Holy 
Spirit, with its symbols of light, life, and power, has been 
exactly preserved. 4. At the Jewish passover, Christ was 
degraded, humbled, and ignominiously put to death: at the 
following festival, the pentecost, he was highly glorified; 
and the all conquering and ever during might of his kingdom 
then commenced.

The Holy Spirit seems to have designed all these analogies, 
to show that, through all preceding ages, God had the 
dispensation of the Gospel continually in view; and that the 
old law and its ordinances were only designed as preparatives 
for the new.

They were all with one accord in one place.] It is probable 
that the ALL here mentioned means the one hundred and twenty 
spoken of chap. i. 15, who were all together at the election 
of Matthias. With one accord, omoqumadon; this word is very 
expressive: it signifies that all their minds, affections, 
desires, and wishes, were concentred in one object, every man 
having the same end in view; and, having but one desire, they 
had but one prayer to God, and every heart uttered it. There 
was no person uninterested-none unconcerned-none lukewarm; 
all were in earnest; and the Spirit of God came down to meet 
their united faith and prayer. When any assembly of God's 
people meet in the same spirit they may expect every blessing 
they need.

In one place.-Where this place was we cannot tell: it was 
probably in the temple, as seems to be intimated in ver. 46, 
where it is said they were daily omoqumadon en tw ierw, with 
one accord in the temple; and as this was the third hour of 
the day, ver. 15, which was the Jewish hour of morning 
prayer, as the ninth hour was the hour of evening prayer, 
chap. iii. 1, it is most probable that the temple was the 
place in which they were assembled.

Verse 2. A sound from heaven] Probably thunder is meant, 
which is the harbinger of the Divine presence.

Rushing mighty wind] The passage of a large portion of 
electrical fluid over that place would not only occasion the 
sound, or thunder, but also the rushing mighty wind; as the 
air would rush suddenly and strongly into the vacuum 
occasioned by the rarefaction of the atmosphere in that 
place, through the sudden passage of the electrical fluid; 
and the wind would follow the direction of the fire. There is 
a good deal of similarity between this account and that of 
the appearance of God to Elijah, 1 Kings xix. 11, 12, where 
the strong wind, the earthquake, and the fire, were 
harbingers of the Almighty's presence, and prepared the heart 
of Elijah to hear the small still voice; so, this sound, and 
the mighty rushing wind, prepared the apostles to receive the 
influences and gifts of the Holy Spirit. In both cases, the 
sound, strong wind, and fire, although natural agents, were 
supernaturally employed. See the note on chap. ix. 7.

Verse 3. Cloven tongues like as of fire] The tongues were the 
emblem of the languages they were to speak. The cloven 
tongues pointed out the diversity of those languages; and the 
fire seemed to intimate that the whole would be a spiritual 
gift, and be the means of bringing light and life to the 
souls who should hear them preach the everlasting Gospel in 
those languages.

Sat upon each of them.] Scintillations, coruscations, or 
flashes of fire, were probably at first frequent through 
every part of the room where they were sitting; at last these 
flashes became defined, and a lambent flame, in the form of a 
cloven tongue, became stationary on the head of each 
disciple; a proof that the Spirit of God had made each his 
temple or residence. That unusual appearances of fire were 
considered emblems of the presence and influence of God, both 
the Scriptures and the Jewish writings amply prove. Thus God 
manifested himself to Moses, when he appointed him to deliver 
Israel, Exod. iii. 2, 3; and thus he manifested himself when 
he delivered the law on Mount Sinai, Exod. xix. 16-20. The 
Jews, in order to support the pretensions of their rabbins, 
as delivering their instructions by Divine authority and 
influence, represent them as being surrounded with fire while 
they were delivering their lectures; and that their words, in 
consequence, penetrated and exhilarated the souls of their 
disciples. Some of the Mohammedans represent Divine 
inspiration in the same way. In a fine copy of a Persian 
work, entitled Ajaceb al Makhlookat, or Wonders of Creation, 
now before me, where a marred account of Abraham's sacrifice, 
mentioned Gen. xv. 9-17, is given, instead of the burning 
lamp passing between the divided pieces of the victim, Gen. 
xv. 17, Abraham is represented standing between four fowls, 
the cock, the peacock, the duck, and the crow, with his head 
almost wrapped in a flame of lambent fire, as the emblem of 
the Divine communication made to him of the future prosperity 
of his descendants.

The painting in which this is represented is most exquisitely 
finished. This notion of the manner in which Divine 
intimations were given was not peculiar to the Jews and 
Arabians; it exists in all countries; and the glories which 
appear round the heads of Chinese, Hindoo, and Christian 
saints, real or supposed, were simply intended to signify 
that they had especial intercourse with God, and that his 
Spirit, under the emblem of fire, sat upon them and became 
resident in them. There are numerous proofs of this in 
several Chinese and Hindoo paintings in my possession; and 
how frequently this is to be met with in legends, missals, 
and in the ancient ecclesiastical books of the different 
Christian nations of Europe, every reader acquainted with 
ecclesiastical antiquity knows well. See the dedication of 
Solomon's temple, 2 Chronicles vii. 1-3.

The Greek and Roman heathens had similar notions of the 
manner in which Divine communications were given: strong 
wind, loud and repeated peals of thunder, coruscations of 
lightning, and lambent flames resting on those who were 
objects of the Deities regard, are all employed by them to 
point out the mode in which their gods were reported to make 
their will known to their votaries. Every thing of this kind 
was probably borrowed from the account given by Moses of the 
appearance on Mount Sinai; for traditions of this event were 
carried through almost every part of the habitable world, 
partly by the expelled Canaanites, partly by the Greek sages 
travelling through Asiatic countries in quest of philosophic 
truth: and partly by means of the Greek version of the 
Septuagint, made nearly three hundred years before the 
Christian aera.

"A flame of fire seen upon the head of any person was, among 
the heathens, considered as an omen from their gods that the 
person was under the peculiar care of a supernatural power, 
and destined to some extraordinary employment. Many proofs of 
this occur in the Roman poets and historians. Wetstein, in 
his note on this place, has made an extensive collection of 
them. I shall quote but one, which almost every reader of the 
AEneid of Virgil will recollect: - Talia vociferans gemitu 
tectum omne replebat: Cum subitum, dictuque oritur mirabile 
monstrum.

Namque manus inter, maestorumque ora parentum.

Ecce levis summo de vertice visus Iuli Fundere lumen apex, 
tactuque innoxia molli Lambere flamma comas, et circum 
tempora pasci.

Nos pavidi trepidare metu, crinemque flagrantem Excutere, et 
sanctos restinguere fontibus ignes.

At pater Anchises oculos ad sidera laetus Extulit, et coelo 
palamas cum voce tetendit: Jupiter omnipotens - Da auxilium, 
pater, atque haec omina firma. VIRG. AEN. ii. v. 679.

While thus she fills the house with clamourous cries, Our 
hearing is diverted by our eyes; For while I held my son, in 
the short space Betwixt our kisses and our last embrace, 
Strange to relate! from young Iulus' head, ) A lambent flame 
arose, which gently spread Around his brows, and on his 
temples fed. ) Amazed, with running water, we prepare To 
quench the sacred fire, and slake his hair; But old Anchises, 
versed in omens, rear'd His hands to heaven, and this request 
preferr'd: If any vows almighty Jove can bend, Confirm the 
glad presage which thou art pleased to send. DRYDEN.

There is nothing in this poetic fiction which could be 
borrowed from our sacred volume; as Virgil died about twenty 
years before the birth of Christ.

It may be just necessary to observe, that tongue of fire may 
be a Hebraism: for in Isa. v. 24, a wl leshon esh, which we 
render simply fire, is literally a tongue of fire, as the 
margin very properly has it. The Hebrews give the name of 
tongue to most things which terminate in a blunt point: so a 
bay is termed in Josh. xv. 2, l lashon, a tongue. And in 
Josh. xv. 5, what appears to have been a promontory is called 
µyh wl leshon hayam, a tongue of the sea.

It sat upon each] That is, one of those tongues, like flames, 
sat upon the head of each disciple; and the continuance of 
the appearance, which is indicated by the word sat, shows 
that there could be no illusion in the case.

I still think that in all this case the agent was natural, 
but supernaturally employed.

Verse 4. To speak with other tongues] At the building of 
BHebel the language of the people was confounded; and, in 
consequence of this, they became scattered over the face of 
the earth: at this foundation of the Christian Church, the 
gift of various languages was given to the apostles, that the 
scattered nations might be gathered; and united under one 
shepherd and superintendent (episkopov) of all souls.

As the Spirit gave them utterance.] The word apofqeggesqai 
seems to imply such utterance as proceeded from immediate 
inspiration, and included oracular communications.

Verse 5. Devout men, out of every nation] Either by these we 
are simply to understand Jews who were born in different 
countries, and had now come up to Jerusalem to be present at 
the passover, and for purposes of traffic, or proselytes to 
Judaism, who had come up for the same purpose: for I cannot 
suppose that the term andrev eulabeiv, devout men, can be 
applied to any other. At this time there was scarcely a 
commercial nation under heaven where the Jews had not been 
scattered for the purpose of trade, merchandize, &c., and 
from all these nations, it is said, there were persons now 
present at Jerusalem.

Verse 6. When this was noised abroad] If we suppose that 
there was a considerable peal of thunder, which followed the 
escape of a vast quantity of electric fluid, and produced the 
mighty rushing wind already noticed on ver. 2, then the whole 
city must have been alarmed; and, as various circumstances 
might direct their attention to the temple, having flocked 
thither they were farther astonished and confounded to hear 
the disciples of Christ addressing the mixed multitude in the 
languages of the different countries from which these people 
had come.

Every man heard them speak in his own language.] Use may 
naturally suppose that, as soon as any person presented 
himself to one of these disciples, he, the disciple, was 
immediately enabled to address him in his own language, 
however various this had been from the Jewish or Galilean 
dialects. If a Roman presented himself, the disciple was 
immediately enabled to address him in Latin-if a Grecian, in 
Greek-an Arab, in Arabic, and so of the rest.

Verse 7. Are not all these-Galileans?] Persons who know no 
other dialect, save that of their own country. Persons wholly 
uneducated, and, consequently, naturally ignorant of those 
languages which they now speak so fluently.

Verse 8. How hear we every man in our own tongue] Some have 
supposed from this that the miracle was not so much wrought 
on the disciples as on their hearers: imagining that, 
although the disciples spoke their own tongue, yet every man 
so understood what was spoken as if it had been spoken in the 
language in which he was born. Though this is by no means so 
likely as the opinion which states that the disciples 
themselves spoke all these different languages, yet the 
miracle is the same, howsoever it be taken; for it must 
require as much of the miraculous power of God to enable an 
Arab to understand a Galilean, as to enable a Galilean to 
speak Arabic. But that the gift of tongues was actually given 
to the apostles, we have the fullest proof; as we find 
particular ordinances laid down by those very apostles for 
the regulation of the exercise of this gift; see 1 Cor. xiv. 
1, &c.

Verse 9. Parthians] Parthia anciently included the northern 
part of modern Persia: it was situated between the Caspian 
Sea and Persian Gulf, rather to the eastward of both.

Medes] Media was a country lying in the vicinity of the 
Caspian Sea; having Parthia on the east, Assyria on the 
south, and Mesopotamia on the west.

Elamites] Probably inhabitants of that country now called 
Persia: both the Medes and Elamites were a neighbouring 
people, dwelling beyond the Tigris.

Mesopotamia] Now Diarbec in Asiatic Turkey; situated between 
the rivers Tigris and Euphrates; having Assyria on the east, 
Arabia Deserta with Babylonia on the south, Syria on the 
west, and Armenia on the north.

It was called Padan-aram by the ancient Hebrews, and by the 
Asiatics is now called Maverannhar, i.e. the country beyond 
the river.

Judea] This word has exceedingly puzzled commentators and 
critics; and most suspect that it is not the true reading. 
Bishop Pearce supposes that ioudaian is an adjective, 
agreeing with mesopotamian, and translates the passage thus: 
the dwellers in Jewish Mesopotamia. He vindicates this 
translation by showing that great numbers of the Jews were 
settled in this country: Josephus says that the ten tribes 
remained in this country till his time; that "there were 
countless myriads of them there, and that it was impossible 
to know their numbers."-muriadev apeiroi, kai ariqmw 
gnwsqhnai mh dunamenai. See Ant. lib. xv. c. 2, s. 2, and c. 
3, s. 1; Bell. Jud. lib. i. c. 1, 2. This interpretation, 
however ingenious, does not comport with the present Greek 
text. Some imagine that ioudaian is not the original reading; 
and therefore they have corrected it into Syriam, SYRIA; 
Armeniam, ARMENIA; indian, INDIA; ludian, LYDIA; idoumaian, 
IDUMEA; biqunian, BITHYNIA; and kilikian, CILICIA: all these 
stand on very slender authority, as may be seen in Griesbach; 
and the last is a mere conjecture of Dr. Mangey. If Judea be 
still considered the genuine reading, we may account for it 
thus: the men who were speaking were known to be Galileans; 
now the Galilean dialect was certainly different from that 
spoken in Judea-the surprise was occasioned by a Jew being 
able to comprehend the speech of a Galilean, without any 
interpreter and without difficulty; and yet it is not easy to 
suppose that there was such a difference between the two 
dialects as to render these people wholly unintelligible to 
each other.

CAPPADOCIA] Was an ancient kingdom of Asia comprehending all 
that country that lies between Mount Taurus and the Euxine 
Sea.

PONTUS] Was anciently a very powerful kingdom of Asia, 
originally a part of Cappadocia; bounded on the east by 
Colchis; on the west by the river Halys; on the north by the 
Black Sea; and on the south by Armenia Minor. The famous 
Mithridates was king of this country; and it was one of the 
last which the Romans were able to subjugate.

ASIA] Meaning probably Asia Minor; it was that part of Turkey 
in Asia now called Natolia.

Verse 10. PHRYGIA] A country in Asia Minor, southward of 
Pontus.

PAMPHYLIA] The ancient name of the country of Natolia, now 
called Caramania, between Lycia and Cilicia, near the 
Mediterranean Sea.

EGYPT] A very extensive country of African bounded by the 
Mediterranean on the north; by the Red Sea and the Isthmus of 
Suez, which divide it from Arabia, on the east; by Abyssinia 
or AEthiopia on the south; and by the deserts of Barca and 
Nubia on the west. It was called Mizraim by the ancient 
Hebrews, and now Mesr by the Arabians. It extends 600 miles 
from north to south; and from 100 to 250 in breadth, from 
east to west.

LIBYA] In a general way, among the Greeks, signified Africa; 
but the northern part, in the vicinity of Cyrene, is here 
meant.

CYRENE] A country in Africa on the coast of the Mediterranean 
Sea, southward of the most western point of the Island of 
Crete.

Strangers of Rome] Persons dwelling at Rome, and speaking the 
Latin language, partly consisting of regularly descended Jews 
and proselytes to the Jewish religion.

Verse 11. Cretes] Natives of Crete, a large and noted island 
in the Levant, or eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, now 
called Candia.

Arabians] Natives of Arabia, a well known country of Asia, 
having the Red Sea on the west; the Persian Gulf on the east; 
Judea on the north; and the Indian Ocean on the south.

The wonderful works of God.] Such as the incarnation of 
Christ; his various miracles, preaching, death, resurrection, 
and ascension; and the design of God to save the world 
through him. From this one circumstance we may learn that all 
the people enumerated above were either Jews or proselytes; 
and that there was probably none that could be, strictly 
speaking, called heathens among them. It may at first appear 
strange that there could be found Jews in so many different 
countries, some of which were very remote from the others; 
but there is a passage in Philo's Embassy to Caius which 
throws considerable light on the subject. In a letter sent to 
Caius by King Agrippa, he speaks of to the holy city of 
Jerusalem, not merely as the metropolis of Judea, but of many 
other regions, because of the colonies at different times led 
out of Judea, not only into neighbouring countries, such as 
Egypt, Phoenicia, Syria, and Coelosyria, but also into those 
that are remote, such as Pamphylia, Cilicia, and the chief 
parts of Asia as far as Bithynia, and the innermost parts of 
Pontus; also in the regions of Europe, Thessaly, Boeotia, 
Macedonia, AEtolia, Attica, Argos, Corinth, and the principal 
parts of Peloponnesus.

Not only the continents and provinces (says he) are full of 
Jewish colonies, but the most celebrated isles also, Euboea, 
Cyprus, and Crete, not to mention the countries beyond the 
Euphrates. All these (a small part of Babylon and some other 
praefectures excepted, which possess fertile territories) are 
inhabited by Jews. Not only my native city entreats thy 
clemency, but other cities also, situated in different parts 
of the world, Asia, Europe, Africa; both islands, sea coasts, 
and inland countries." PHILONIS Opera, edit. Mangey, vol. ii. 
p. 587.

It is worthy of remark that almost all the places and 
provinces mentioned by St. Luke are mentioned also in this 
letter of King Agrippa. These, being all Jews or proselytes, 
could understand in some measure the wonderful works of God, 
of which mere heathens could have formed no conception.

It was wisely ordered that the miraculous descent of the Holy 
Ghost should take place at this time, when so many from 
various nations were present to bear witness to what was 
done, and to be themselves subjects of his mighty working. 
These, on their return to their respective countries, would 
naturally proclaim what things they saw and heard; and by 
this the way of the apostles was made plain; and thus 
Christianity made a rapid progress over all those parts in a 
very short time after the resurrection of our Lord.

Verse 13. These men are full of new wine.] Rather sweet wine, 
for gleukouv, cannot mean the mustum, or new wine, as there 
could be none in Judea so early as pentecost. The gleukov, 
gleucus, seems to have been a peculiar kind of wine, and is 
thus described by Hesychius and Suidas: gleukov, to apostagma 
thv stafulhv, prin pathqh. Gleucus is that which distils from 
the grape before it is pressed. This must be at once both the 
strongest and sweetest wine. Calmet observes that the 
ancients had the secret of preserving wine sweet through the 
whole year, and were fond of taking morning draughts of it: 
to this Horace appears to refer, Sat. l. ii. s.

iv. ver. 24.

Aufidius forti miscebat mella Falerno.

Mendose: quoniam vacuis committere venis Nil nisi lene decet: 
leni praecordia mulso Prolueris melius.

Aufidius first, most injudicious, quaffed Strong wine and 
honey for his morning draught.

With lenient bev'rage fill your empty veins, For lenient must 
will better cleanse the reins. FRANCIS.

Verse 14. Peter, standing up with the eleven] They probably 
spoke by turns, not altogether; but Peter began the 
discourse.

All ye that dwell at Jerusalem] oi katoikountev would be 
better translated by the word sojourn, because these were not 
inhabitants of Judea, but the strangers mentioned in ver. 9-
11, who had come up to the feast.

Verse 15. But the third hour of the day] That is, about nine 
o'clock in the morning, previously to which the Jews scarcely 
ever ate or drank, for that hour was the hour of prayer. This 
custom appears to have been so common that even the most 
intemperate among the Jews were not known to transgress it; 
Peter therefore spoke with confidence when he said, these are 
not drunken-seeing it is but the third hour of the day, 
previously to which even the intemperate did not use wine.

Verse 16. Spoken by the prophet Joel] The prophecy which he 
delivered so long ago is just now fulfilled; and this is 
another proof that Jesus whom ye have crucified is the 
Messiah.

Verse 17. In the last days] The time of the Messiah; and so 
the phrase was understood among the Jews.

I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh] Rabbi Tanchum 
says, "When Moses laid his hands upon Joshua, the holy 
blessed God said, In the time of the old text, each 
individual prophet prophesied; but, in the times of the 
Messiah, all the Israelites shall be prophets." And this they 
build on the prophecy quoted in this place by Peter.

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy] The word 
prophesy is not to be understood here as implying the 
knowledge and discovery of future events; but signifies to 
teach and proclaim the great truths of God, especially those 
which concerned redemption by Jesus Christ.

Your young men shall see visions, &c.] These were two of the 
various ways in which God revealed himself under the Old 
Testament. Sometimes he revealed himself by a symbol, which 
was a sufficient proof of the Divine presence: fire was the 
most ordinary, as it was the most expressive, symbol. Thus he 
appeared to Moses on Mount Horeb, and afterwards at Sinai; to 
Abraham, Gen. xv. 1-21; to Elijah, 1 Kings xix. 11, 12. At 
other times he revealed himself by angelic ministry: this was 
frequent, especially in the days of the patriarchs, of which 
we find many instances in the book of Genesis.

By dreams he discovered his will in numerous instances: see 
the remarkable case of Joseph, Gen. xxxvii. 5, 9; of Jacob, 
Genesis xxviii. 1, &c.; Gen. xlvi. 2, &c.; of Pharaoh, Gen. 
xli. 1-7; of Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. iv. 10-17. For the 
different ways in which God communicated the knowledge of his 
will to mankind, see the note on Gen. xv. 1.

Verse 18. On my servants and on my handmaidens] This properly 
means persons of the lowest condition, such as male and 
female slaves. As the Jews asserted that the spirit of 
prophecy never rested upon a poor man, these words are quoted 
to show that, under the Gospel dispensation, neither bond nor 
free, male nor female, is excluded from sharing in the gifts 
and graces of the Divine Spirit.

Verse 19. I will show wonders] It is likely that both the 
prophet and the apostle refer to the calamities that fell 
upon the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem, and the 
fearful signs and portents that preceded those calamities. 
See the notes on Matthew xxiv. 5-7, where these are 
distinctly related.

Blood, fire, and vapour of smoke] Skirmishes and 
assassinations over the land, and wasting the country with 
fire and sword.

Verse 20. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon 
into blood] These are figurative representations of eclipses, 
intended most probably to point out the fall of the civil and 
ecclesiastical state in Judea: see the notes on Matt. xxiv. 
29. That the SUN is darkened when a total eclipse takes 
place, and that the MOON appears of a bloody hue in such 
circumstances, every person knows.

Verse 21. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall 
be saved.] The predicted ruin is now impending; and only such 
as receive the Gospel of the Son of God shall be saved. And 
that none but the Christians did escape, when God poured out 
these judgments, is well known; and that ALL the Christians 
did escape, not one of them perishing in these devastations, 
stands attested by the most respectable authority. See the 
note on Matt. xxiv. 13.

Verse 22. A man approved of God] apodedeigmenon, celebrated, 
famous. The sense of the verse seems to be this: Jesus of 
Nazareth, a man sent of God, and celebrated among you by 
miracles, wonders, and signs; and all these done in such 
profusion as had never been done by the best of your most 
accredited prophets. And these signs, &c., were such as 
demonstrated his Divine mission.

Verse 23. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel] 
Bp. Pearce paraphrases the words thus: Him having been given 
forth; i.e. sent into the world, and manifested by being made 
flesh, and dwelling among you, as it is said in John i. 14; 
see also chap. iv. 28.

Kypke contends that ekdoton, delivered, does not refer to 
GOD, but to Judas the traitor "the Jews received Jesus, 
delivered up to them by Judas; the immutable counsel of God 
so permitting." By the determinate counsel, wrismenh boulh; 
that counsel of God which defined the time, place, and 
circumstance, according (prognwsei) to his foreknowledge, 
which always saw what was the most proper time and place for 
the manifestation and crucifixion of his Son; so that there 
was nothing casual in these things, God having determined 
that the salvation of a lost world should be brought about in 
this way; and neither the Jews nor Romans had any power here, 
but what was given to them from above. It was necessary to 
show the Jews that it was not through Christ's weakness or 
inability to defend himself that he was taken; nor was it 
through their malice merely that he was slain; for God had 
determined long before, from the foundation of the world, 
Rev. xiii. 8, to give his Son a sacrifice for sin; and the 
treachery of Judas, and the malice of the Jews were only the 
incidental means by which the great counsel of God was 
fulfilled: the counsel of God intending the sacrifice, but 
never ordering that it should be brought about by such 
wretched means. This was permitted; the other was decreed. 
See the observations at the end of this chapter.  By wicked 
hands have crucified and slain] I think this refers to the 
Romans, and not to the Jews; the former being the agents, to 
execute the evil purposes of the latter. It is well known 
that the Jews acknowledged that they had no power to put our 
Lord to death, John xviii. 31, and it is as well known that 
the punishment of the cross was not a Jewish, but a Roman, 
punishment: hence we may infer that by dia ceirwn anomwn, by 
the hands of the wicked, the Romans are meant, being called 
anomoi, without law, because they had no revelation from God; 
whereas the others had what was emphatically termed o nomov 
tou qeou, the law of God, by which they professed to regulate 
their worship and their conduct. It was the Jews, therefore, 
who caused our Lord to be crucified by the hands of the 
heathen Romans.

Verse 24. Whom God hath raised up] For, as God alone gave him 
up to death, so God alone raised him up from death.

Having loosed the pains of death] It is generally supposed 
that this expression means, the dissolving of those bonds or 
obligations by which those who enter into the region of the 
dead are detained there till the day of the resurrection; and 
this is supposed to be the meaning of twm ylbj chebley 
maveth, in Psa. cxvi. 3, or lwa ylbj chebley sheol, in Psa. 
xviii. 5, and in 2 Sam. xxii. 6, to which, as a parallel, 
this place has been referred. But Kypke has sufficiently 
proved that luein tav wdinav qanatou, signifies rather to 
REMOVE the pains or sufferings of death. So Lucian, 
Deuteronomy Conscr. Hist., says, "a copious sweat to some, 
eluse ton pureton, REMOVES or carries off the fever." So 
STRABO, speaking of the balm of Jericho, says, luei de 
kefalalgiav qaumastwv-it wonderfully REMOVES the headache, 
&c. That Christ did suffer the pains and sorrows of death in 
his passion is sufficiently evident; but that these were all 
removed, previously to his crucifixion, is fully seen in that 
calm manner in which he met it, with all its attendant 
terrors. If we take the words as commonly understood, they 
mean that it was impossible for the Prince of Life to be left 
in the empire of death: his resurrection, therefore, was a 
necessary consequence of his own Divine power.

Instead of qanatou, of death, the Codex Bezae, Syriac, 
Coptic, and Vulgate, have Æaidou, of hell, or the place of 
separate spirits; and perhaps it was on no better authority 
than this various reading, supported but by slender evidence, 
that, He descended into hell, became an article in what is 
called the apostles' creed. And on this article many a popish 
legend has been builded, to the discredit of sober sense and 
true religion.

Verse 25. For David speaketh concerning him] The quotation 
here is made from Psa. xvi. 8-11, which contains a most 
remarkable prophecy concerning Christ, every word of which 
applies to him, and to him exclusively. See the notes there.

Verse 26. And my tongue was glad] In the Hebrew it is ydwbk 
lgyw vaiyagel kebodi, "And my glory was glad:" but the 
evangelist follows the Septuagint, in reading kai hgalliasato 
h glwssa mon, what all the other Greek interpreters in the 
Hexapla translate doxa mon, my glory.

And what is to be understood by glory here! Why the soul, 
certainly, and not the tongue; and so some of the best 
critics interpret the place.

Verse 27. Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell] eiv Æaidou, in 
hades, that is, the state of separate spirits, or the state 
of the dead. Hades was a general term among the Greek 
writers, by which they expressed this state; and this HADES 
was Tartarus to the wicked, and Elysium to the good. See the 
explanation of the word in the note on Matt. xi. 23.

To see corruption.] Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt 
return, was a sentence pronounced on man after the fall: 
therefore this sentence could be executed on none but those 
who were fallen; but Jesus, being conceived without sin, 
neither partook of human corruption, nor was involved in the 
condemnation of fallen human nature; consequently, it was 
impossible for his body to see corruption; and it could not 
have undergone the temporary death, to which it was not 
naturally liable, had it not been for the purpose of making 
an atonement. It was therefore impossible that the human 
nature of our Lord could be subject to corruption: for though 
it was possible that the soul and it might be separated for a 
time, yet, as it had not sinned, it was not liable to 
dissolution; and its immortality was the necessary 
consequence of its being pure from transgression.

Verse 28. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life] That 
is, the way from the region of death, or state of the dead 
and separate spirits; so that I shall resume the same body, 
and live the same kind of life, as I had before I gave up my 
life for the sin of the world.

Verse 29. Let me speak freely-of the patriarch David] In 
Midris Tillin, it is said, in a paraphrase on the words, my 
flesh shall rest in hope, "Neither worm nor insect had power 
over David." It is possible that this opinion prevailed in 
the time of St. Peter, and, if so, his words are the more 
pointed and forcible; and therefore thus applied by Dr. 
Lightfoot: "That this passage, Thou shalt not leave my soul 
in hell, &c., is not to be applied to David himself appears 
in that I may confidently aver concerning him, that he was 
dead and buried, and never rose again; but his soul was left 
eiv adou, in the state of the dead, and HE saw corruption; 
for his sepulchre is with us to this day, under that very 
notion, that it is the sepulchre of David, who died and was 
there buried; nor is there one syllable mentioned any where 
of the resurrection of his body, or the return of his soul ex 
adou from the state of the dead." To this the same author 
adds the following remarkable note: I cannot slip over that 
passage, Hieros. Chagig. fol. lx18: Rab. Jose saith, David 
died at pentecost, and all Israel bewailed him, and offered 
their sacrifices the day following. This is a remarkable 
coincidence; and may be easily applied to him of whom David 
was a type.

Verse 30. According to the flesh, he would raise up Christ] 
This whole clause is wanting in ACD, one of the Syriac, the 
Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, and Vulgate; and is variously 
entered in others. Griesbach rejects it from the text, and 
Professor White says of the words, "certissime delenda," they 
should doubtless be expunged. This is a gloss, says 
Schoettgen, that has crept into the text, which I prove thus: 
1. The Syriac and Vulgate, the most ancient of the versions, 
have not these words. 2. The passage is consistent enough and 
intelligible without them. 3. They are superfluous, as the 
mind of the apostle concerning the resurrection of Christ 
follows immediately in the succeeding verse. The passage 
therefore, according to Bp. Pearce, should be read thus: 
Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn 
with an oath, of the fruit of his loins, to set on his 
throne; and foreseeing that he (God) would raise up Christ, 
he spake of the resurrection of Christ, &c. "In this 
transition, the words which Peter quotes for David's are 
exactly the same with what we read in the psalm above 
mentioned; and the circumstance of David's foreseeing that 
Christ was to be raised up, and was the person meant, is not 
represented as a part of the oath; but is only made to be 
Peter's assertion, that David, as a prophet, did foresee it, 
and meant it."

Verse 31. That his soul was not left in hell] The words h 
yuch autou, his soul, are omitted by ABCD, Syriac, Coptic, 
AEthiopic, and Vulgate.

Griesbach has left them out of the text, and Professor White 
says again, certissime delenda. The passage may be thus read: 
"He spake of the resurrection of Christ, that he was not left 
in hades, neither did his flesh see corruption." For the 
various readings in this and the preceding verse, see 
Griesbach.

Verse 32. Whereof we all are witnesses.] That is, the whole 
120 saw him after he rose from the dead, and were all ready, 
in the face of persecution and death, to attest this great 
truth.

Verse 33. By the right hand of God exalted] Raised by 
omnipotence to the highest dignity in the realms of glory, to 
sit at the right hand of God, and administer the laws of both 
worlds.

The promise of the Holy Ghost] This was the promise that he 
had made to them a little before he suffered, as may be seen 
in John xiv. 16, &c., John xvi. 7, &c., and after he had 
risen from the dead. Luke xxiv. 49, and which as the apostle 
says was now shed forth.

Verse 34. David is not ascended] Consequently, he has not 
sent forth this extraordinary gift, but it comes from his 
Lord, of whom he said, The Lord said unto my Lord, &c. See 
the note on these words, Matt. xxii. 44.

Verse 35. Until I make thy foes thy footstool.] It was usual 
with conquerors to put their feet on the necks of vanquished 
leaders, as emblematical of the state of subjection to which 
they were reduced, and the total extinction of their power. 
By quoting these words, Peter shows the Jews, who continued 
enemies to Christ, that their discomfiture and ruin must 
necessarily take place, their own king and prophet having 
predicted this in connection with the other things which had 
already been so literally and circumstantially fulfilled. 
This conclusion had the desired effect, when pressed home 
with the strong application in the following verse.

Verse 36. Both Lord and Christ.] Not only the Messiah, but 
the supreme Governor of all things and all persons, Jews and 
Gentiles, angels and men. In the preceding discourse, Peter 
assumes a fact which none would attempt to deny, viz. that 
Jesus had been lately crucified by them.

He then, 1. Proves his resurrection. 2. His ascension. 3. His 
exaltation to the right hand of God. 4. The effusion of the 
Holy Spirit, which was the fruit of his glorification, and 
which had not only been promised by himself, but foretold by 
their own prophets: in consequence of which, 5. It was 
indisputably proved that this same Jesus, whom they had 
crucified, was the promised Messiah; and if so, 6. The 
Governor of the universe, from whose power and justice they 
had every thing to dread, as they refused to receive his 
proffered mercy and kindness.

Verse 37. When they heard this, they were pricked in their 
heart] This powerful, intelligent, consecutive, and 
interesting discourse, supported every where by prophecies 
and corresponding facts, left them without reply and without 
excuse; and they plainly saw there was no hope for them, but 
in the mercy of him whom they had rejected and crucified.

What shall we do?] How shall we escape those judgments which 
we now see hanging over our heads?

Verse 38. Peter said unto them, Repent] metanohsate; Humble 
yourselves before God, and deeply deplore the sins you have 
committed; pray earnestly for mercy, and deprecate the 
displeasure of incensed justice. For a definition of 
repentance, see on Matt. iii. 2.

And be baptized every one of you] Take on you the public 
profession of the religion of Christ, by being baptized in 
his name; and thus acknowledge yourselves to be his disciples 
and servants.

For the remission of sins] eiv afesin amartiwn, In reference 
to the remission or removal of sins: baptism pointing out the 
purifying influences of the Holy Spirit; and it is in 
reference to that purification that it is administered, and 
should in consideration never be separated from it. For 
baptism itself purifies not the conscience; it only points 
out the grace by which this is to be done.

Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.] If ye 
faithfully use the sign, ye shall get the substance. Receive 
the baptism, in reference to the removal of sins, and ye 
shall receive the Holy Ghost, by whose agency alone the 
efficacy of the blood of the covenant is applied, and by 
whose refining power the heart is purified. It was by being 
baptized in the name of Christ that men took upon themselves 
the profession of Christianity; and it was in consequence of 
this that the disciples of Christ were called CHRISTIANS.

Verse 39. For the promise is unto you] Jews of the land of 
Judea: not only the fulfillment of the promise which he had 
lately recited from the prophecy of Joel was made to them, 
but in this promise was also included the purification from 
sin, with every gift and grace of the Holy Spirit.

To all that are afar off] To the Jews wherever dispersed, and 
to all the Gentile nations; for, though St. Peter had not as 
yet a formal knowledge of the calling of the Gentiles, yet, 
the Spirit of God, by which he spoke, had undoubtedly this in 
view; and therefore the words are added, even as many as the 
Lord our God shall call, i.e. all to whom, in the course of 
his providence and grace, he shall send the preaching of 
Christ crucified.

Verse 40. Save yourselves from this untoward generation.] 
Separate yourselves from them: be ye saved, swqhte: the power 
is present with you; make a proper use of it, and ye shall be 
delivered from their obstinate unbelief, and the punishment 
that awaits it in the destruction of them and their city by 
the Romans.

Verse 41. They that gladly received his word] The word 
asmenwv, which signifies joyfully, readily, willingly, 
implies that they approved of the doctrine delivered; that 
they were glad to hear of this way of salvation; and that 
they began immediately to act according to its dictates. This 
last sense is well expressed in a similar phrase by Josephus: 
when speaking of the young Israelites enticing the 
Midianitish women to sin, by fair speeches, he says, ai de 
asmenwv dexamenai touv logouv sunhesan autoiv, Ant. l. iv. c. 
4. Then they who approved of their words consorted with them. 
The word is however omitted by ABCD, Coptic, Sahidic, 
AEthiopic, Vulgate, the Itala of the Codex Bezae, Clemens, 
and Chrysostom.

Were baptized] That is, in the name of Jesus, ver. 38, for 
this was the criterion of a Jew's conversion; and when a Jew 
had received baptism in this name he was excluded from all 
communication with his countrymen; and no man would have 
forfeited such privileges but on the fullest and clearest 
conviction. This baptism was a very powerful means to prevent 
their apostasy; they had, by receiving baptism in the name of 
Jesus, renounced Judaism, and all the political advantages 
connected with it; and they found it indispensably necessary 
to make the best use of that holy religion which they had 
received in its stead. Dr. Lightfoot has well remarked, that 
the Gentiles who received the Christian doctrine were 
baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy 
Ghost; whereas the Jewish converts, for the reasons already 
given, were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Were added-three thousand souls.] proseteqhsan, They went 
over from one party to another. The Greek writers make use of 
this verb to signify that act by which cities, towns, or 
provinces changed their masters, and put themselves under 
another government. So these 3000 persons left the scribes 
and Pharisees, and put themselves under the teaching of the 
apostles, professing the Christian doctrine, and 
acknowledging that Christ was come, and that he who was 
lately crucified by the Jews was the promised and only 
Messiah; and in this faith they were baptized.

These 3000 were not converted under one discourse, nor in one 
place, nor by one person. All the apostles preached, some in 
one language, and some in another; and not in one house-for 
where was there one at that time that could hold such a 
multitude of people? For, out of the multitudes that heard, 
3000 were converted; and if one in five was converted it must 
have been a very large proportion. The truth seems to by 
this: All the apostles preached in different, parts of the 
city, during the course of that day; and in that day, th 
hmera ekeinh, 3000 converts were the fruits of the conjoint 
exertions of these holy men. Dr. Lightfoot thinks that the 
account in this place is the fulfillment of the prophecy in 
Psa. cx. 1, &c.: The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my 
right hand; this refers to the resurrection and ascension of 
Christ. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, 
Psa. cx. 3. This was the day of his power; and while the 
apostles proclaimed his death, resurrection, and ascension, 
the people came willingly in, and embraced the doctrines of 
Christianity.

Verse 42. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' 
doctrine] They received it, retained it, and acted on its 
principles.

And fellowship] koinwnia, community; meaning association for 
religious and spiritual purposes, The community of goods 
cannot be meant; for this is mentioned ver. 44, 45, where it 
is said, they had all things common.

And in breaking of bread] Whether this means the holy 
eucharist, or their common meals, it is difficult to say. The 
Syriac understands it of the former. Breaking of bread was 
that act which preceded a feast or meal, and which was 
performed by the master of the house, when he pronounced the 
blessing-what we would call grace before meat. See the form 
on Matt. xxvi. 26.

And in prayers.] In supplications to God for an increase of 
grace and life in their own souls; for establishment in the 
truth which they had received, and for the extension of the 
kingdom of Christ in the salvation of men.

Behold the employment of the primitive and apostolic Church. 
1. They were builded up on the foundation of the prophets and 
apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the corner stone. 2. 
They continued steadfastly in that doctrine which they had so 
evidently received from God. They were separated from the 
world, and lived in a holy Christian fellowship, 
strengthening and building up each other in their most holy 
faith. 4. They were frequent in breaking bread; in 
remembrance that Jesus Christ died for them. 5. They 
continued in prayers; knowing that they could be no longer 
faithful than while they were upheld by their God; and 
knowing also that they could not expect his grace to support 
them, unless they humbly and earnestly prayed for its 
continuance.

Verse 43. And fear came upon every soul] Different MSS. and 
versions read this clause thus, And GREAT fear and TREMBLING 
came upon every soul in JERUSALEM. For several weeks past 
they had a series of the most astonishing miracles wrought 
before their eyes; they were puzzled and confounded at the 
manner in which the apostles preached, who charged them home 
with the deliberate murder of Jesus Christ, and who attested, 
in the most positive manner, that he was risen from the dead, 
and that God had sent down that mighty effusion of the Spirit 
which they now witnessed as a proof of his resurrection and 
ascension, and that this very person whom they had crucified 
was appointed by God to be the Judge of quick and dead. They 
were in consequences stung with remorse, and were 
apprehensive of the judgments of God; and the wonders and 
signs continually wrought by the apostles were at once proofs 
of the celestial origin of their doctrine and mission, and of 
their own baseness, perfidy, and wickedness.

Verse 44. And, all that believed] oi pisteuontev, The 
believers, i.e. those who conscientiously credited the doctrine 
concerning the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension 
of Jesus Christ, and had, in consequence, received redemption in 
his blood.

Were together] epi to auto. "These words signify either, in 
one time, chap. iii. 1; or in one place, ver. 1; or in one 
thing. The last of these three senses seems to be the most 
proper here; for it is not probable that the believers, who 
were then 3000 in number, chap. ii. 41, besides the 120 
spoken of chap. i. 15, were used all to meet at one time, or 
in one place, in Jerusalem." See Bp. Pearce.

And had all things common] Perhaps this has not been well 
understood.

At all the public religious feasts in Jerusalem, there was a 
sort of community of goods. No man at such times hired houses 
or beds in Jerusalem; all were lent gratis by the owners: 
Yoma, fol. 12. Megill. fol. 26.

The same may be well supposed of their ovens, cauldrons, 
tables, spits, and other utensils. Also, provisions of water 
were made for them at the public expense; Shekalim, cap. 9. 
See Lightfoot here. Therefore a sort of community of goods 
was no strange thing at Jerusalem, at such times as these. It 
appears, however, that this community of goods was carried 
farther; for we are informed, ver. 45, that they sold their 
possessions and their goods, and parted them to all, as every 
man had need. But, this probably means that, as in 
consequence of this remarkable outpouring of the Spirit of 
God; and their conversion, they were detained longer at 
Jerusalem than they had originally intended, they formed a 
kind of community for the time being, that none might suffer 
want on the present occasion; as no doubt the unbelieving 
Jews, who were mockers, ver. 13, would treat these new 
converts with the most marked disapprobation.

That an absolute community of goods never obtained in the 
Church at Jerusalem, unless for a very short time, is evident 
from the apostolical precept, 1 Cor. xvi. 1, &c., by which 
collections were ordered to be made for the poor; but, if 
there had been a community of goods in the Church, there 
could have been no ground for such recommendations as these, 
as there could have been no such distinction as rich and 
poor, if every one, on entering the Church, gave up all his 
goods to a common stock. Besides, while this sort of 
community lasted at Jerusalem, it does not appear to have 
been imperious upon any; persons might or might not thus 
dispose of their goods, as we learn front the case of 
Ananias, chap. v. 4. Nor does it appear that what was done at 
Jerusalem at this time obtained in any other branch of the 
Christian Church; and in this, and in the fifth chap., where 
it is mentioned, it is neither praised nor blamed. We may 
therefore safely infer, it was something that was done at 
this time, on this occasion, through some local necessity, 
which the circumstances of the infant Church at Jerusalem 
might render expedient for that place and on that occasion 
only.

Verse 46. They, continuing daily with one accord in the 
temple] They were present at all the times of public worship, 
and joined together in prayers and praises to God; for it in 
not to be supposed that they continued to offer any of the 
sacrifices prescribed by the law.

Breaking bread from house to house] This may signify, that 
select companies, who were contiguous to each other, 
frequently ate together at their respective lodgings on their 
return from public worship. But katÆ oikon, which we 
translate from house to house, is repeatedly used by the 
Greek writers for home, at home, (see margin,) for though 
they had all things in common, each person lived at his own 
table. Breaking bread is used to express the act of taking 
their meals. The bread of the Jews was thin, hard, and dry, 
and was never cut with the knife as ours is, but was simply 
broken by the hand.

With gladness and singleness of heart] A true picture of 
genuine Christian fellowship. They ate their bread: they had 
no severe fasts; the Holy Spirit had done in their souls, by 
his refining influence, what others vainly expect from bodily 
austerities. It may be said also, that, if they had no severe 
fasts, they had no splendid feasts: all was moderation, and 
all was contentment. They were full of gladness, spiritual 
joy and happiness; and singleness of heart, every man worthy 
of the confidence of his neighbour; and all walking by the 
same rule, and minding the same thing.

Verse 47. Praising God] As the fountain whence they had 
derived all their spiritual and temporal blessings; seeing 
him in all things, and magnifying the work of his mercy.

Having favour with all the people.] Every honest, upright Jew 
would naturally esteem these for the simplicity, purity, and 
charity of their lives.

The scandal of the cross had not yet commenced; for, though 
they had put Jesus Christ to death, they had not get entered 
into a systematic opposition to the doctrines he taught.

And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be 
saved.] Though many approved of the life and manners of these 
primitive Christians, yet they did not become members of this 
holy Church; God permitting none to be added to it, but touv 
swzomenouv, those who were saved from their sins and 
prejudices. The Church of Christ was made up of saints; 
sinners ware not permitted to incorporate themselves with it.

One MS. and the Armenian version, instead of touv swzomenouv, 
the saved, have toiv swzomenoiv, to them who were saved; 
reading the verse thus: And the Lord added daily to those who 
were saved. He united those who were daily converted under 
the preaching of the apostles to those who had already been 
converted. And thus every lost sheep that was found was 
brought to the flock, that, under the direction of the great 
Master Shepherd, they might go out and in, and find pasture. 
The words, to the Church, th ekklhsia, are omitted by BC, 
Coptic, Sahidic, AEthiopic, Armenian, and Vulgate; and 
several add the words epi to auto, at that tine, (which begin 
the first verse of the next chapter) to the conclusion of 
this. My old MS. English Bible reads the verse thus: For so 
the Lord encresed hem that weren maad saaf, eche day, into 
the same thing.

Nearly the same rendering as that in Wiclif. Our translation 
of touv swzomenouv, such as should be saved is improper and 
insupportable. The original means simply and solely those who 
were then saved; those who were redeemed from their sins and 
baptized into the faith of Jesus Christ.

The same as those whom St. Paul addressed, Eph. ii. 8: By 
grace ye are saved, este seswsmenoi; or, ye are those who 
have been saved by grace. So in Tit. iii. 5: According to his 
mercy he saved us, eswsen hmav, by the washing of 
regeneration. And in 1 Cor. i. 18, we have the words toiv 
swzomenoiv, them who are saved, to express those who had 
received the Christian faith; in opposition to toiv 
apollumenoiv, to those who are lost, namely the Jews, who 
obstinately refused to receive salvation on the terms of the 
Gospel, the only way in which they could be saved; for it was 
by embracing the Gospel of Christ that they were put in a 
state of salvation; and, by the grace it imparted, actually 
saved from the power, guilt, and dominion of sin. See 1 
Corinthians xv. 2: I made known unto you, brethren, the 
Gospel which I preached unto you, which ye have received, and 
in which ye stand; and BY WHICH YE ARE SAVED, diÆ ou kai 
swzesqe. Our translation, which indeed existed long before 
our present authorized version, as may be seen in 
Cardmarden's Bible, 1566, Beck's Bible, 1549, and Tindall's 
Testament, printed by Will. Tylle, in 1548, is bad in itself; 
but it has been rendered worse by the comments put on it, 
viz. that those whom God adds to the Church shall necessarily 
and unavoidably be eternally saved; whereas no such thing is 
hinted by the original text, be the doctrine of the 
indefectibility of the saints true or false-which shall be 
examined in its proper place.

ON that awful subject, the foreknowledge of God, something 
has already been spoken: see ver. 23. Though it is a subject 
which no finite nature can comprehend, yet it is possible so 
to understand what relates to us in it as to avoid those 
rocks of presumption and despondency on which multitudes have 
been shipwrecked. The foreknowledge of God is never spoken of 
in reference to himself, but in reference to us: in him 
properly there is neither foreknowledge nor afterknowledge. 
Omniscience, or the power to know all things, is an attribute 
of God, and exists in him as omnipotence, or the power to do 
all things. He can do whatsoever he will; and he does 
whatsoever is fit or proper to be done. God cannot have 
foreknowledge, strictly speaking, because this would suppose 
that there was something coming, in what we call futurity, 
which had not yet arrived at the presence of the Deity. 
Neither can he have any afterknowledge, strictly speaking, 
for this would suppose that something that had taken place, 
in what we call pretereity, or past time, had now got beyond 
the presence of the Deity. As God exists in all that can be 
called eternity, so he is equally every where: nothing can be 
future to him, because he lives in all futurity; nothing can 
be past to him, because he equally exists in all past time; 
futurity and pretereity are relative terms to us; but they 
can have no relation to that God who dwells in every point of 
eternity; with whom all that is past, and all that is 
present, and all that is future to man, exists in one 
infinite, indivisible, and eternal NOW. As God's omnipotence 
implies his power to do all things, so God's omniscience 
implies his power to know all things; but we must take heed 
that we meddle not with the infinite free agency of this 
Eternal Being. Though God can do all thinks, he does not all 
things. Infinite judgment directs the operations of his 
power, so that though he can, yet he does not do all things, 
but only such things as are proper to be done. In what is 
called illimitable space, he can make millions of millions of 
systems; but he does not see proper to do this. He can 
destroy the solar system, but he does not do it: he can 
fashion and order, in endless variety, all the different 
beings which now exist, whether material, animal, or 
intellectual; but he does not do this, because he does not 
see it proper to be done. Therefore it does not follow that, 
because God can do all things, therefore he must do all 
things. God is omniscient, and can know all things; but does 
it follow from this that he must know all things? Is he not 
as free in the volitions of his wisdom, as he is in the 
volitions of his power? The contingent as absolute, or the 
absolute as contingent? God has ordained some things as 
absolutely certain; these he knows as absolutely certain. He 
has ordained other things as contingent; these he knows as 
contingent. It would be absurd to say that he foreknows a 
thing as only contingent which he has made absolutely 
certain. And it would be as absurd to say that he foreknows a 
thing to be absolutely certain which in his own eternal 
counsel he has made contingent. By absolutely certain, I mean 
a thing which must be, in that order, time, place, and form 
in which Divine wisdom has ordained it to be; and that it can 
be no otherwise than this infinite counsel has ordained. By 
contingent, I mean such things as the infinite wisdom of God 
has thought proper to poise on the possibility of being or 
not being, leaving it to the will of intelligent beings to 
turn the scale. Or, contingencies are such possibilities, 
amid the succession of events, as the infinite wisdom of God 
has left to the will of intelligent beings to determine 
whether any such event shall take place or not. To deny this 
would involve the most palpable contradictions, and the most 
monstrous absurdities. If there be no such things as 
contingencies in the world, then every thing is fixed and 
determined by an unalterable decree and purpose of God; and 
not only all free agency is destroyed, but all agency of 
every kind, except that of the Creator himself; for on this 
ground God is the only operator, either in time or eternity: 
all created beings are only instruments, and do nothing but 
as impelled and acted upon by this almighty and sole Agent. 
Consequently, every act is his own; for if he have purposed 
them all as absolutely certain, having nothing contingent in 
them, then he has ordained them to be so; and if no 
contingency, then no free agency, and God alone is the sole 
actor. Hence the blasphemous, though, from the premises, fair 
conclusion, that God is the author of all the evil and sin 
that are in the world; and hence follows that absurdity, 
that, as God can do nothing that is wrong, WHATEVER IS, is 
RIGHT. Sin is no more sin; a vicious human action is no 
crime, if God have decreed it, and by his foreknowledge and 
will impelled the creature to act it. On this ground there 
can be no punishment for delinquencies; for if every thing be 
done as God has predetermined, and his determinations must 
necessarily be all right, then neither the instrument nor the 
agent has done wrong. Thus all vice and virtue, praise and 
blame, merit and demerit, guilt and innocence, are at once 
confounded, and all distinctions of this kind confounded with 
them. Now, allowing the doctrine of the contingency of human 
actions, (and it must be allowed in order to shun the above 
absurdities and blasphemies,) then we see every intelligent 
creature accountable for its own works, and for the use it 
makes of the power with which God has endued it; and, to 
grant all this consistently, we must also grant that God 
foresees nothing as absolutely and inevitably certain which 
he has made contingent; and, because he has designed it to be 
contingent, therefore he cannot know it as absolutely and 
inevitably certain. I conclude that God, although omniscient, 
is not obliged, in consequence of this, to know all that he 
can know; no more than he is obliged, because he is 
omnipotent, to do all that he can do.

How many, by confounding the self and free agency of God with 
a sort of continual impulsive necessity, have raised that 
necessity into an all-commanding and overruling energy, to 
which God himself is made subject! Very properly did Milton 
set his damned spirits about such work as this, and has made 
it a part of their endless punishment: - Others apart sat on 
a hill retired, In thoughts more elevate; and reasoned high 
Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate; Fixed fate, 
free-will, foreknowledge absolute, And found no end, in 
wand'ring mazes lost. PARAD. LOST, b. ii. l. 557.

Among some exceptionable expressions, the following are also 
good thoughts on the flee agency and fall of man: -- I made 
him just and right, Sufficient to have stood, though free to 
fall.

Not free, what proof could they have given sincere Of true 
allegiance, constant faith or love, When only what they needs 
must do appeared, Not what they would? What praise could they 
receive?.

Useless and vain, of freedom both despoiled, Made passive, 
both had served NECESSITY, Not ME. - So without least impulse 
or shadow of fate, Or aught by me immutably foreseen, They 
trespass, authors to themselves in all Both what they judge, 
and what they choose, for so I formed them free, and free 
they must remain Till they enthrall themselves: I else must 
change Their nature, and revoke the high decree Unchangeable, 
eternal, which ordained Their freedom; they themselves 
ordained their fall. Ibid, b. iii. l. 98, 103, 120.

I shall conclude these observations with a short extract from 
Mr. Bird's Conferences, where, in answer to the objection, 
"If many things fall out contingently, or as it were by 
accident, God's foreknowledge of them can be but contingent, 
dependent on man's free will," he observes: "It is one thing 
to know that a thing will be done necessarily; and another, 
to know necessarily that a thing will be done. God doth 
necessarily foreknow all that will be done; but he doth not 
know that those things which shall be done voluntarily will 
be done necessarily: he knoweth that they will be done; but 
he knoweth withal that they might have fallen out otherwise, 
for aught he had ordered to the contrary. So likewise God 
knew that Adam would fall; and get he knew that he would not 
fall necessarily, for it was possible for him not to have 
fallen. And as touching God's preordination going before his 
prescience as the cause of all events this would be to make 
God the author of all the sin in the world; his knowledge 
comprehending that as well as other things. God indeed 
foreknoweth all things, because they will be done; but things 
are not (therefore) done, because he foreknoweth them. It is 
impossible that any man, by his voluntary manner of working, 
should elude God's foresight; but then this foresight doth 
not necessitate the will, for this were to take it wholly 
away. For as the knowledge of things present imports no 
necessity on that which is done, so the foreknowledge of 
things future lays no necessity on that which shall be; 
because whosoever knows and sees things, he knows and sees 
them as they are, and not as they are not; so that God's 
knowledge doth not confound things, but reaches to all 
events, not only which come to pass, but as they come to 
pass, whether contingency or necessarily. As, for example, 
when you see a man walking upon the earth, and at the very 
same instant the sun shining in the heavens, do you not see 
the first as voluntary, and the second as natural? And though 
at the instant you see both done, there is a necessity that 
they be done, (or else you could not see them at all,) yet 
there was a necessity of one only before they were done, 
(namely, the sun's shining in the heavens,) but none at all 
of the other, (viz. the man's walking upon the earth.) The 
sun could not but shine, as being a natural agent; the man 
might not have walked, as being a voluntary one." This is a 
good argument; but I prefer that which states the knowledge 
of God to be absolutely free, without the contradictions 
which are mentioned above. "But you deny the omniscience of 
God."-No, no more than I deny his omnipotence, and you know I 
do not, though you have asserted the contrary. But take heed 
how you speak about this infinitely free agent: if you will 
contradict, take heed that you do not blaspheme. I ask some 
simple questions on the subject of God's knowledge and power: 
if you know these things better than your neighbour, be 
thankful, be humble, and pray to God to give you amiable 
tempers; for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness 
of God. May he be merciful to thee and me!

CHAPTER iii.

Peter and John go to the temple at the hour of prayer, and 
heal a man who had been lame from his mother's womb, 1-8. The 
people are astonished, and the apostles inform them that it 
was not by their own power they had healed the man, but 
through the power of Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had 
crucified, 9-16. Peter both excuses and reproves them, and 
exhorts them to repentance, 17-21. Shows that in Jesus Christ 
the prophecy of Moses was fulfilled; and that all the 
prophets testified of Jesus and his salvation, 22-24; and 
that, in him, the covenant made with Abraham is fulfilled; 
and that Christ came to bless them by turning them away from 
their iniquities, 25, 26.

NOTES ON CHAP. iii.

Verse 1. Peter and John went up together] The words epi to 
auto, which we translate together, and which are the first 
words in this chapter in the Greek text, we have already 
seen, chap. ii. 47, are added by several MSS. and versions to 
the last verse of the preceding chapter. But they do not make 
so good a sense there as they do here; and should be 
translated, not together, which really makes no sense here, 
but at that time; intimating that this transaction occurred 
nearly about the same time that those took place which are 
mentioned at the close of the former chapter.

At the hour of prayer] This, as is immediately added, was the 
ninth hour, which answers, in a general way, to our three 
o'clock in the afternoon. The third hour, which was the other 
grand time of public prayer among the Jews, answered, in a 
general way, to our nine in the morning. See the note on 
chap. ii. 15.

It appears that there were three hours of the day destined by 
the Jews to public prayer; perhaps they are referred to by 
David, Psa. lv. 17: EVENING and MORNING, and at NOON, will I 
pray and cry aloud. There are three distinct times marked in 
the book of the Acts. The THIRD hour, chap. ii. 15, 
answering, as we have already seen, to nearly our nine 
o'clock in the morning; the SIXTH hour, chap. x. 9, answering 
to about twelve with us; and the NINTH hour, mentioned in 
this verse, and answering to our three in the afternoon.

The rabbins believed that Abraham instituted the time of 
morning prayer; Isaac, that at noon; and Jacob, that of the 
evening: for which they quote several scriptures, which have 
little reference to the subject in behalf of which they are 
produced. Others of the rabbins, particularly Tanchum, made a 
more natural division. Men should pray, 1. When the sun 
rises; 2.

when the sun has gained the meridian; 3. when the sun has 
set, or passed just under the horizon. At each of these three 
times they required men to offer prayer to God; and I should 
be glad to know that every Christian in the universe observed 
the same rule: it is the most natural division of the day; 
and he who conscientiously observes these three stated times 
of prayer will infallibly grow in grace, and in the knowledge 
of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Verse 2. A-man lame from his mother's womb] The case of this 
man must have been well known: 1. from the long standing of 
his infirmity: 2.

from his being daily exposed in a place so public. It appears 
that he had no power to walk, and was what we term a cripple, 
for he was carried to the gate of the temple, and laid there 
in order to excite compassion. These circumstances are all 
marked by St. Luke, the more fully to show the greatness and 
incontestable nature of the miracle.

The gate-which is called Beautiful] There are different 
opinions concerning this gate. Josephus observes, Bell. Jud. 
lib. v. cap. 5, sect. 3, that the temple had nine gates, 
which were on every side covered with gold and silver; but 
there was one gate which was without the holy house, and was 
of Corinthian brass, and greatly excelled those which were 
only covered with gold and silver: polu th timh tav 
katargurouv kai pericrusouv uperagousa. The magnitudes of the 
other gates were equal one to another; but that of the 
Corinthian gate, which opened on the east, over against the 
gate of the holy house itself, was much larger: penthkonta 
gar phcwn ousa thn anastasin, tessarakonta phceiv tav qurav 
eice, kai ton kosmon polutelesteron, epi dayilev pacov 
argurou te kai crusou? for its height was fifty cubits, and 
its doors were forty cubits, and it was adorned after a most 
costly manner, as having much richer and thicker plates of 
silver and gold upon them than upon the other. This last was 
probably the gate which is here called Beautiful; because it 
was on the outside of the temple, to which there was an easy 
access, and because it was evidently the most costly, 
according to the account in Josephus; but it must be granted 
that the text of Josephus is by no means clear.

Verse 4. Look on us.] He wished to excite and engage his 
attention that he might see what was done to produce his 
miraculous cure, and, it is likely, took this occasion to 
direct his faith to Jesus Christ. See note on ver. 16. Peter 
and John probably felt themselves suddenly drawn by the Holy 
Spirit to pronounce the healing name in behalf of this poor 
man.

Verse 5. Expecting to receive something of them.] Because it 
was a constant custom for all who entered the temple to carry 
money with them to give to the treasury, or to the poor, or 
to both. It was on this ground that the friends of the lame 
man laid him at the gate of the temple, as this was the most 
likely place to receive alms.

Verse 6. Silver and gold have I none] Though it was customary 
for all those who entered the temple to carry some money with 
them, for the purposes mentioned above, yet so poor were the 
apostles that their had nothing to give, either to the sacred 
treasury, or to the distressed. The popish writers are very 
dexterous at forming analogies between St. Peter and the 
pope; but it is worthy of note that they have not attempted 
any here. Even the judicious and generally liberal Calmet 
passes by this important saying of the person whom he 
believed to have been the first pope. Thomas Aquinas, 
surnamed the angelical doctor, who was highly esteemed by 
Pope Innocent IV., going one day into the pope's chamber, 
where they were reckoning large sums of money, the pope, 
addressing himself to Aquinas, said: "You see that the Church 
is no longer in an age in which she can say, Silver and gold 
have I none?" "It is true, holy father," replied the 
angelical doctor, "nor can she now say to the lame man, Rise 
up and walk!" This was a faithful testimony, and must have 
cut deep for the moment. One thing is very remarkable, that 
though the saints of this church can work no miracles while 
alive, they work many when dead; and it is the attestation of 
those post mortem miracles that leads to their canonization. 
Thomas a Becket, who did no good while he lived, is reported 
to have done much after his death. Many have visited his 
tomb, and, in days of yore, many were said to be healed of 
whatsoever disease they had. The age is more enlightened, and 
the tomb of this reputed saint has lost all its power.

Verse 7. Immediately his feet and ancle bones received 
strength] The suddenness of the cure was the proof of the 
miracle: his walking and leaping were the evidences of it.

Verse 8. Walking and leaping, and praising God.] These 
actions are very naturally described. He walked, in obedience 
to the command of the apostle, rise up and walk: he leaped, 
to try the strength of his limbs and to be convinced of the 
reality of the cure: he praised God, as a testimony of the 
gratitude he felt for the cure he had received. Now was 
fulfilled, in the most literal manner, the words of the 
Prophet Isaiah, Isa. xxxv. 6: The lame man shall leap as a 
hart.

Verse 9. And all the people saw him] The miracle was wrought 
in the most public manner, and in the most public place, and 
in a place where the best judgment could be formed of it; 
for, as it was a Divine operation, the priests, &c., were the 
most proper persons to judge of it; and under their notice it 
was now wrought.

Verse 11. Held Peter and John] He felt the strongest 
affection for them, as the instruments by which the Divine 
influence was converted to his diseased body.

In the porch that is called Solomon's] On this portico see 
Bp. Pearce's note, inserted in this work, John x. 23.

Verse 12. As though by our own power] dunamei, Miraculous 
energy.

Or holiness] h eusebeia, Meaning religious attachment to the 
worship of God. Do not think that we have wrought this 
miracle by any power of our own; or that any supereminent 
piety in us should have induced God thus to honour us, by 
enabling us to work it. Instead of eusebeia, holiness, the 
Syriac of Erpen, Armenian, Vulgate, and some copies of the 
Itala, have exousia, power or authority; but the first 
appears to be the legitimate reading.

Verse 13. The God of Abraham, &c.] This was wisely 
introduced, to show them that HE whom they called their God 
had acknowledged Jesus Christ for his Son, and wrought this 
miracle in his name; and, by thus honouring Jesus whom they 
slew, he had charged home the guilt of that murder upon them.

Denied him in the presence of Pilate] hrnhsasqe, Ye have 
renounced him as your king, and denounced him to death as a 
malefactor, when Pilate, convinced of his perfect innocence, 
was determined, krinantov, judged it proper and just, to let 
him go. Pilate wished to act according to justice; you acted 
contrary to justice and equity in all their forms.

Verse 14. Ye denied the HOLY ONE] ton agion. A manifest 
reference to Psa. xvi. 10: Thou wilt not suffer thy HOLY ONE 
to see corruption; where the original word ûydyoj Chasideyca, 
thy HOLY ONE, is translated by the Septuagint, ton Æosion 
sou, a word of the same import with that used by Peter.

And desired a murderer] Barabbas: the case must have been 
fresh in their own remembrance. Like cleaves to like, and 
begets its like: they were murderers themselves, and so 
Christ calls them, Matt. xxii. 7, and they preferred a 
murderer to the holy and righteous ONE of God.

Verse 15. And killed the Prince of life] ton archgon thv 
zwhv, The author of this life: not only implying that all 
life proceeds from Jesus Christ as its source, but that the 
life-giving influence of that religion which they were now 
proclaiming came all through him. archgov signifies a prime 
leader or author, a captain, from arch, the beginning, head, 
or chief; and agw, I lead. In Heb. ii. 10, Christ is called 
archgov thv swthriav, the Captain of salvation. He teaches 
the doctrine of life and salvation, leads the way in which 
men should walk, and has purchased the eternal life and glory 
which are to be enjoyed at the end of the way. So the Jews 
preferred a son of death, a destroyer of life, to the Author 
and Procurer of life and immortality! Whereof we are 
witnesses.] They had now wrought a most striking miracle in 
the name of Christ, and immediately proposed themselves as 
witnesses of his resurrection from the dead; the miracle 
which they had thus wrought being an unimpeachable proof of 
this resurrection.

Verse 16. And his name] JESUS, the saviour: through faith in 
his name, as the saviour, and author of life, and all its 
concomitant blessings, such as health, &c. It is not quite 
clear whether the apostles refer to their own faith in Jesus, 
or to the faith of the lame man. It is true Christ had 
promised that they should perform miracles in his name, Mark 
xvi. 17, 18. And that whatsoever they asked of the Father in 
his name, he would grant it, John xvi. 23. And they might 
have been led at this time to make request unto God to be 
enabled to work this miracle; and the faith they had in his 
unlimited power and unchangeable truth might have induced 
them to make this request. Or, the faith might have been that 
of the lame man; the apostles, in the time they desired him 
to look on them, might have taught him the necessity of 
believing in Christ in order to his healing; and the man's 
mind might have been prepared for this by the miracle of the 
gift of tongues, of which he must have heard; and heard that 
this mighty effusion of the Spirit had come in the name and 
through the power of Christ.

However the faith may be understood, it was only the means to 
receive the blessing, which the apostles most positively 
attribute, not to their power or holiness, but to Jesus 
Christ alone. Faith always receives; never gives.

Verse 17. I wot] oida, I know. Wot is from the Anglo-Saxon, 
(Anglo-Saxon) to know; and hence wit, science or 
understanding.

Through ignorance ye did it] This is a very tender excuse for 
them; and one which seems to be necessary, in order to show 
them that their state was not utterly desperate; for if all 
that they did to Christ had been through absolute malice, 
(they well knowing who he was,) if any sin could be supposed 
to be unpardonable, it must have been theirs. Peter, 
foreseeing that they might be tempted thus to think, and 
consequently to despair of salvation, tells them that their 
offense was extenuated by their ignorance of the person they 
had tormented and crucified. And one must suppose that, had 
they been fully convinced that this Jesus was the only 
Messiah, they never would have crucified him; but they did 
not permit themselves to receive conviction on the subject.

Verse 18. But those things-he hath so fulfilled.] Your 
ignorance and malice have been overruled by the sovereign 
wisdom and power of God, and have become the instruments of 
fulfilling the Divine purpose, that Christ must suffer, in 
order to make an atonement for the sin of the world.

All the prophets had declared this; some of them in express 
terms, others indirectly and by symbols; but, as the whole 
Mosaic dispensation referred to Christ, all that prophesied 
or ministered under it must have referred to him also.

Verse 19. Repent ye therefore] Now that ye are convinced that 
this was the Messiah, let your minds be changed, and your 
hearts become contrite for the sins you have committed.

And be converted] epistreyate, Turn to God through this 
Christ, deeply deploring your transgressions, and believing 
on his name; that your sins may be blotted out, which are not 
only recorded against you, but for which you are condemned by 
the justice of God; and the punishment due to them must be 
executed upon you, unless prevented by your repentance, and 
turning to him whom ye have pierced. The blotting out of sins 
may refer to the ceremony of the waters of jealousy, where 
the curse that was written in the book was to be blotted out 
with the bitter water. See the note on Num. v. 23. Their sins 
were written down against them, and cried aloud for 
punishment; for they themselves had said, His blood be upon 
us, and upon our children, Matt. xxvii. 25; and unless they 
took refuge in this sacrificial blood, and got their sins 
blotted out by it, they could not be saved.

When the times of refreshing shall come] Dr. Lightfoot 
contends, and so ought all, that opwv an elqwsi kairoi 
anayuxewv, should be translated, THAT the times of refreshing 
MAY come. anayuxiv, signifies a breathing time, or respite, 
and may be here applied to the space that elapsed from this 
time till the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.

This was a time of respite, which God gave them to repent of 
their sins, and be converted to himself. Taking the word in 
the sense of refreshment in general, it may mean the whole 
reign of the kingdom of grace, and the blessings which God 
gives here below to all genuine believers, peace, love, joy, 
and communion with himself. See on ver. 21.

Verse 20. Which before was preached unto you] Instead of 
prokekhrugmenon, before preached, ABCDE, fifty-three others, 
both the Syriac, all the Arabic, the Armenian, Chrysostom, 
and others, have prokeceirismenon, who was before designed, 
or appointed; and this is without doubt the true reading. 
Christ crucified was the person whom God had from the 
beginning appointed or designed for the Jewish people. It was 
not a triumphant Messiah which they were to expect; but one 
who was to suffer and die. Jesus was this person; and by 
believing in him, as thus suffering and dying for their sins, 
he should be again sent, in the power of his Spirit, to 
justify and save them.

Verse 21. Whom the heaven must receive] He has already 
appeared upon earth, and accomplished the end of his 
appearing; he has ascended unto heaven, to administer the 
concerns of his kingdom, and there he shall continue till he 
comes again to judge the quick and the dead.

The times of restitution of all things] The word 
apokatastasiv, from apo which signifies from, and 
kaqistanein, to establish or settle any thing, viz. in a good 
state; and, when apo is added to it, then this preposition 
implies that this good state, in which it is settled, was 
preceded by a bad one, from which the change is made to a 
good one. So in chap. i. 6, when the disciples said to 
Christ, Wilt thou at this time restore again (apokaqistaneiv) 
the kingdom to Israel? they meant, as the Greek word implies, 
Wilt thou take the kingdom from the Romans, and give it back 
to the Jews? Now, as the word is here connected with, which 
God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets, it 
must mean the accomplishment of all the prophecies and 
promises contained in the Old Testament relative to the 
kingdom of Christ upon earth; the whole reign of grace, from 
the ascension of our Lord till his coming again, for of all 
these things have the holy prophets spoken; and, as the grace 
of the Gospel was intended to destroy the reign of sin, its 
energetic influence is represented as restoring all things, 
destroying the bad state, and establishing the good-taking 
the kingdom out of the hands of sin and Satan, and putting it 
into those of righteousness and truth. This is done in every 
believing soul; all things are restored to their primitive 
order; and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, 
keeps the heart and mind in the knowledge and love of God. 
The man loves God with all his heart, soul, mind, and 
strength, and his neighbour as himself; and thus all the 
things of which the holy prophets have spoken since the world 
began, relative to the salvation of any soul, are 
accomplished in this case; and when such a work becomes 
universal, as the Scriptures seem to intimate that it will, 
then all things will be restored in the fullest sense of the 
term. As therefore the subject here referred to is that of 
which all the prophets from the beginning have spoken, (and 
the grand subject of all their declarations was Christ and 
his work among men,) therefore the words are to be applied to 
this, and no other meaning. Jesus Christ comes to raise up 
man from a state of ruin, and restore to him the image of 
God, as he possessed it at the beginning.

All his holy prophets] pantwn, all, is omitted by ABCD, some 
others, one Syriac, the Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, and 
Vulgate. Griesbach leaves it out of the text, and inserts the 
article twn, which the Greek MSS.

have, in the place of pantwn. The text reads thus: Which he 
hath spoken by his holy prophets, &c.

Since the world began.] apÆ aiwnov; as aiwn signifies 
complete and ever-during existence or eternity, it is 
sometimes applied, by way of accommodation, to denote the 
whole course of any one period, such as the Mosaic 
dispensation. See the note on Genesis xxi. 33. It may 
therefore here refer to that state of things from the giving 
of the law; and as Moses is mentioned in the next verse, and 
none before him, it is probable that the phrase should be so 
understood here. But, if we apply it to the commencement of 
time, the sense is still good: Enoch, the seventh from Adam, 
prophesied of these things; and indeed the birth, life, 
miracles, preaching sufferings, death, resurrection, 
ascension, and reign of Jesus Christ, have been the only 
theme of all prophets and inspired men from the foundation of 
the world.

Verse 22. Moses truly said unto the fathers] On this subject 
the reader is requested to refer to the note at Deut. xviii. 
22. From this appeal to Moses it is evident that Peter wished 
them to understand that Jesus Christ was come, not as an 
ordinary prophet, to exhort to repentance and amendment, But 
as a legislator, who was to give them a new law, and whose 
commands and precepts they were to obey, on pain of endless 
destruction. Therefore they were to understand that the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ was that new law which should 
supersede the old.

Verse 24. All the prophets from Samuel] Dr. Lightfoot 
observes: "We have Moses and Samuel mentioned together in 
this place, as also Psa. xcix. 6, because there were few or 
no prophets between these two, 1 Sam. iii. 1, and the 
apparition of angels having been more frequent; but, after 
the decease of Phineas, it is a question whether there was 
any oracle by Urim and Thummim, through the defect of 
prophecy in the high priests, till the times of Samuel. But 
then it revived in Abimelec, Abiather, &c." The Jews have a 
saying, Hieros. Chagigah, fol. 77. l bd lawms µyaykg Samuel 
was the chief of the prophets. Perhaps it was in reference to 
this that Peter said, All the prophets from Samuel, &c.

Verse 25. Ye are the children of the prophets] This is the 
argumentum ad hominem: as ye are the children or disciples of 
the prophets, ye are bound to believe their predictions, and 
obey their precepts; and not only so, but ye are entitled to 
their promises. Your duty and your interest go hand in hand; 
and there is not a blessing contained in the covenant which 
was made with your fathers but belongs to you. Now, as this 
covenant respected the blessings of the Gospel, you must 
believe in Jesus Christ, in order to be put in possession of 
all those blessings.

Verse 26. Unto you first, God, having raised up] As you are 
the children of the prophets, and of the covenant, the first 
offers of salvation belong to you, and God thus makes them to 
you. The great mission of Jesus Christ is directed first to 
you, that you may be saved from your sins. God designs to 
bless you, but it is by turning each of you away from his 
iniquities. The salvation promised in the covenant is a 
salvation from SIN, not from the Romans; and no man can have 
his sin blotted out who does not turn away from it.

1. We may learn from this that neither political nor 
ecclesiastical privileges can benefit the soul, merely 
considered in themselves: a man may have Abraham for his 
father, according to the flesh; and have Satan for his 
father, according to the spirit. A man may be a member of the 
visible Church of Christ, without any title to the Church 
triumphant. In short, if a man be not turned away from his 
iniquities, even the death of Christ profits him nothing. His 
name shall be called JESUS, for he shall SAVE his people FROM 
their SINS.

2. If Christ be the substance and sum of all that the 
prophets have written, is it not the duty and interest of 
every Christian, in reading the Scriptures, to search for the 
testimony they bear to this Christ, and the salvation 
procured by his death?

CHAPTER iv.

The priests And Sadducees are incensed at the apostles' 
teaching, and put them in prison, 1-3. The number of those 
who believed, 4. The rulers, elders, and scribes call the 
apostles before them, and question them concerning their 
authority to teach, 5-7. Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, 
answers, and proclaims Jesus, 8-12. They are confounded at 
his discourse and the miracle wrought on the lame man, yet 
command them not to preach in the name of Jesus, 13-18. Peter 
and John refuse to obey, 19, 20. They are farther threatened 
and dismissed, 21, 22. They return to their own company, who 
all join in praise and prayer to God, 23-30. God answers, and 
fills them with the Holy Spirit, 31. The blessed state of the 
primitive disciples, 32-35. The case of Joses, who sells his 
estate, and brought the money to the common stock. 36. 37.

NOTES ON CHAP. iv.

Verse 1. The priests] These persons had evidenced the most 
implacable enmity against Christ from the beginning.

The captain of the temple] See this office particularly 
explained in the note on Luke xxii. 4.

The Sadducees] Whose whole system was now in danger by the 
preaching of the resurrection of Christ; for they believed 
not in the immortality of the soul, nor in any future world. 
These made a common cause with the priests, &c., to suppress 
the evidence of Christ's resurrection, and silence the 
apostles.

Verse 2. Being grieved] diaponoumenoi, They were thoroughly 
fatigued with the continuance of this preaching; their minds 
suffered more labour, through vexation at the success of the 
apostles, than the bodies of the apostles did in their 
fatiguing exercise of preaching during the whole day.

Verse 4. The number-was about five thousand.] That is, as I 
understand the passage, the one hundred and twenty which were 
converted before pentecost, the three thousand converted at 
pentecost, and one thousand eight hundred and eighty 
converted since the conversion of the three thousand; making 
in the whole five thousand, or wsei about that number: there 
might have been more or less; the historian does not fix the 
number absolutely. A goodly flock in one city, as the 
commencement of the Christian Church! Some think all the five 
thousand were converted on this day; but this is by no means 
likely.

Verse 5. Their rulers, and elders, and scribes] Those with 
the high priest Annas formed the Sanhedrin, or grand council 
of the Jews.

Verse 6. Annas] Though this man was not now actually in the 
office of high priest, yet he had possessed it for eleven 
years, bore the title all his life, and had the honour of 
seeing five of his sons fill that eminent place after him-an 
honour that never happened to any other person from the 
commencement of the Mosaic institution. He is the same who is 
called Ananus by Josephus, Ant. b. xx. c. 8.

And Caiaphas] He was son-in-law to Annas, John xviii. 13, was 
now high priest, and the same who, a short time before, 
condemned Christ to be crucified.

And John] Dr. Lightfoot conjectures, with great probability 
that this was Jochanan ben Zaccai, who was very famous at 
that time in the Jewish nation. Of him it is said in the 
Talmud, Jucas. fol. l10: "Rabbin Jochanan ben Zaccai the 
priest lived 120 years. He found favour in the eyes of 
Caesar, from whom he obtained Jafneh. When he died, the glory 
of wisdom ceased." The following is a remarkable passage: 
Yoma, fol. xx19: Forty years before the destruction of the 
city, (the very time of which St. Luke now treats,) when the 
gates of the temple flew open of their own accord, Rab.

Jochanan ben Zaccai said, "O temple! temple! why dost thou 
disturb thyself? I know thy end, that thou shalt be 
destroyed, for so the Prophet Zachary hath spoken concerning 
thee: open thy doors, O Lebanon! that the fire may devour thy 
cedars." See Lightfoot and Schoettgen.

And Alexander] This was probably Alexander Lysimachus, one of 
the richest Jews of his time, who made great presents to the 
temple, and was highly esteemed by King Agrippa. See Calmet. 
He was brother to the famous Philo Judaeus, and father of 
Alexander Tiberius, who married Berenice, the daughter of 
Agrippa the elder, and was governor of Judea after Cuspius 
Fadus. See Josephus, Ant. l. xix. c. 5, s. 1.

Of the kindred of the high priest] Or rather, as Bp. Pearce 
renders it, "of the race of the high priests, i.e. of the 
family out of which the high priests were chosen." It may, 
however, comprehend those who belonged to the families of 
Annas and Caiaphas, and all who were connected with the 
sacerdotal family. Luke distinctly mentions all these, to 
show how formidable the enemies were against whom the infant 
Church of Christ had to contend.

Verse 7. By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?] 
It seems that this council were convinced that the lame man 
was miraculously healed; but it is very likely that they 
believed the whole to be the effect of magic; and, as all 
intercourse with familiar spirits, and all spells, charms, 
&c., were unlawful, they probably hoped that, on the 
examination, this business would come out, and that then 
these disturbers of their peace would be put to death. Hence 
they inquired by what power, en poia dunamei, by what 
supernatural energy; or in what name, by what mode of 
incantation; and who is the spirit you invoke, in order to do 
these things? False prophets, reputed witches, wizards, &c., 
were to be brought before the sanhedrin, to be by them 
judged, acquitted, or condemned, according to the evidence. 
Some think the words should be thus understood: Who gave you 
authority to teach publicly! This belongs to the sanhedrin. 
What, therefore, is your authority, and who is he who gave it 
to you?

Verse 8. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost] Which guided 
him into all truth, and raised him far above the fear of man; 
placing him in a widely different state of mind to that in 
which he was found when, in the hall of Caiaphas, he denied 
his Master, through fear of a servant girl. But now was 
fulfilled the promise of Christ, Matt. x. 18-20; And ye shall 
be brought before governors and kings for my sake; but take 
no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it is not ye that 
speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.

Verse 9. The good deed done] epi euergesia, The benefit he 
has received in being restored to perfect soundness.

Verse 10. By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth] This was a 
very bold declaration in the presence of such an assembly; 
but he felt he stood on good ground. The cure of the lame man 
the day before was notorious; his long infirmity was well 
known; his person could be easily identified; and he was now 
standing before them whole and sound: they themselves 
therefore could judge whether the miracle was true or false. 
But the reality of it was not questioned, nor was there any 
difficulty about the instruments that were employed; the only 
question is, How have ye done this? and in whose name? Pet. 
immediately answers, We have done it in the name of Jesus of 
Nazareth whom ye crucified, and whom God hath raised from the 
dead.

Verse 11. This is the stone which was set at nought of you 
builders] By your rejection and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, 
you have fulfilled one of your own prophecies, Psa. cxviii. 
22; and, as one part of this prophecy is now so literally 
fulfilled, ye may rest assured, so shall the other; and this 
rejected stone shall speedily become the head stone of the 
corner. See the note on Matthew xxi. 42.

Verse 12. Neither is there salvation in any other] No kind of 
healing, whether for body or soul, can come through any but 
him who is called JESUS. The spirit of health resides in him; 
and from him alone its influences must be received.

For there is none other name] Not only no other person, but 
no name except that divinely appointed one, Matt. i. 21, by 
which salvation from sin can be expected-none given under 
heaven-no other means ever devised by God himself for the 
salvation of a lost world. All other means were only 
subordinate, and referred to him, and had their efficacy from 
him alone. He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
world; and no man ever came, or can come, to the Father but 
by him.

Verse 13. The boldness of Peter and John] thn parrhsian, The 
freedom and fluency with which they spoke; for they spoke now 
from the immediate influence of the Holy Ghost, and their 
word was with power.

That they were unlearned and ignorant men] agrammatoi, 
Persons without literature, not brought up in nor given to 
literary pursuits-and ignorant, idiwtai, persons in private 
life, brought up in its occupations alone. It does not mean 
ignorance in the common acceptation of the term; and our 
translation is very improper. In no sense of the word could 
any of the apostles be called ignorant men; for though their 
spiritual knowledge came all from heaven, yet in all other 
matters they seem to have been men of good, sound, strong, 
common sense.

They took knowledge of them] epeginwskon may imply that they 
got information, that they had been disciples of Christ, and 
probably they might have seen them in our Lord's company; for 
there can be little doubt that they had often seen our Lord 
teaching the multitudes, and these disciples attending him.

That they had been with Jesus.] Had they not had his 
teaching, the present company would soon have confounded 
them; but they spoke with so much power and authority that 
the whole sanhedrin was confounded.

He who is taught in spiritual matters by Christ Jesus has a 
better gift than the tongue of the learned. He who is taught 
in the school of Christ will ever speak to the point, and 
intelligibly too; though his words may not have that polish 
with which they who prefer sound to sense are often carried 
away.

Verse 14. They could say nothing against it.] They could not 
gainsay the apostolic doctrine, for that was supported by the 
miraculous fact before them. If the doctrine be false, the 
man cannot have been miraculously healed: if the man be 
miraculously healed, then the doctrine must be true that it 
is by the name of Jesus of Nazareth that he has been healed. 
But the man is incontestably healed; therefore the doctrine 
is true.

Verse 16. A notable miracle hath been done] A miracle has 
been wrought, and this miracle is known, and acknowledged to 
be such; all Jerusalem knew that he was lame-lame from his 
birth, and that he had long begged at the Beautiful gate of 
the temple; and now all Jerusalem knew that he was healed; 
and there was no means by which such a self-evident fact 
could be disproved.

Verse 17. But that it spread no farther] Not the news of the 
miraculous healing of the lame man, but the doctrine and 
influence which these men preach and exert. More than a 
thousand people had already professed faith in Christ in 
consequence of this miracle, (see ver. 4,) and if this 
teaching should be permitted to go on, probably accompanied 
with similar miracles, they had reason to believe that all 
Jerusalem (themselves excepted, who had steeled their hearts 
against all good) should be converted to the religion of him 
whom they had lately crucified.

Let us straitly threaten them] apeilh apeilhswmeqa, Let us 
threaten them with threatening, a Hebraism, and a proof that 
St. Luke has translated the words of the council into Greek, 
just as they were spoken.

That they speak-to no man in this name.] Nothing so ominous 
to them as the name of Christ crucified, because they 
themselves had been his crucifiers. On this account they 
could not bear to hear salvation preached to mankind through 
him of whom they had been the betrayers and murderers, and 
who was soon likely to have no enemies but themselves.

Verse 18. Not to speak-nor teach in the name of Jesus.] Any 
other doctrine, and any other name, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites and infidels will bear, but the doctrine which is 
according to godliness, proclaiming salvation through the 
blood of Christ crucified, they will not bear. If their 
doctrine were not the truth of God it could not be so 
unpopular; there is such an enmity in human nature against 
all that is good and true, that whatever comes from God is 
generally rejected by wicked men.

Verse 19. Whether it be right in the sight of God] As if they 
had said: Worldly prudence and a consideration of our secular 
interests would undoubtedly induce us to obey you; but acting 
as before God, and following the dictates of eternal truth 
and justice, we dare not be silent.

Can it be right to obey men contrary to the command and will 
of God? When he commands us to speak, dare we hold our 
tongue? We have received our authority from God through 
Christ, and feel fully persuaded of the truth by the Holy 
Spirit which now dwells in us; and we should be guilty of 
treason against God, were we on any consideration to suppress 
his testimony. Your own consciences testify that we should be 
sinners against our heavenly King, were we to act according 
to your orders; and the conclusion is, that we cannot but 
speak what we have seen and heard.

Verse 21. When they had farther threatened them] 
prosapeilhsamenoi, When they had added to their former 
threatenings, repeating the former menaces, and adding new 
penalties.

Finding nothing how they might punish them] Or, as the Codex 
Bezae reads, mheuriskontev aitian, pwv kolaswntai, not 
finding, a cause why they might punish them. This reading is 
supported by the Syriac and Arabic. Bp. Pearce says, "This is 
better sense and better Greek." Because of the people] The 
people saw the miracle, confessed the finger of God, believed 
on the Lord Jesus, and thus became converts to the Christian 
faith; and the converts were now so numerous that the 
sanhedrin was afraid to proceed to any extremities, lest an 
insurrection should be the consequence.

Verse 22. The man was above forty years old] The disease was 
of long standing, and consequently the more inveterate; but 
all difficulties, small or great, yield equally to the 
sovereign power of God. It is as easy with God to convert a 
sinner of forty or four-score, as one of ten years old. But 
he who now refuses to obey the call of God has neither reason 
nor revelation to support himself even in the most distant 
hope that he shall get, in a future time, the salvation which 
he rejects in the present.

Verse 23. They went to their own company] This was properly 
the first persecution that had been raised up against the 
Church since the resurrection of Christ; and as the rest of 
the disciples must have known that Peter and John had been 
cast into prison, and that they were to be examined before 
the sanhedrin, and knowing the evil disposition of the rulers 
toward their brethren, they doubtless made joint supplication 
to God for their safety. In this employment it is likely 
Peter and John found them on their return from the council, 
and repeated to them all their treatment, with the threats of 
the chief priests and elders.

Verse 24. Lord, thou art God] despota, su o qeov, Thou God 
art the sovereign Lord. Thy rule is universal, and thy power 
unlimited; for thou hast the heaven and its glories, the 
earth and the sea, and their endlessly varied and numerous 
inhabitants, under thy direction and control.

Verse 25. By the mouth of thy servant David hast said] 
Several add, but impertinently, dia pneumatov agiou, by the 
Holy Spirit; but it is sufficient that GOD has said it; and 
thugs we find that David spoke by the inspiration of God; and 
that the second Psalm relates to Jesus Christ, and predicts 
the vain attempts made by Jewish and heathen powers to 
suppress Christianity.

Verse 26. Against the Lord and against his Christ.] kata tou 
cristou autou should be translated, against his ANOINTED, 
because it particularly agrees with on ecrisav, whom thou 
hast ANOINTED, in the succeeding verse.

Verse 27. There is a parenthesis in this verse that is not 
sufficiently noticed: it should be read in connection with 
chap. iv. 28, thus: For of a truth against thy holy child 
Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, (for to do whatsoever thy 
hand and thy counsel determined before to be done,) both 
Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and people of 
Israel, were gathered together.

It is evident that what God's hand and counsel determined 
before to be done was not that which Herod, Pontius Pilate, 
the Gentiles, (Romans,) and the people of Israel had done and 
were doing; for, then, their rage and vain counsel would be 
such as God himself had determined should take place, which 
is both impious and absurd; but these gathered together to 
hinder what God had before determined that his Christ or 
Anointed should perform; and thus the passage is undoubtedly 
to be understood.

Were gathered together] en th polei tauth, In this very city, 
are added by ABDE, and several others; all the Syriac, the 
Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, Slavonian, Vulgate, Itala, and 
several of the primitive fathers.

This reading Griesbach has received into the text. This makes 
the words much more emphatic; in this thy own city, these 
different and in all other cases dissentient powers are 
leagued together against thine Anointed, and are determined 
to prevent the accomplishment of thy purpose.

Verse 29. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings] It is not 
against us, but against thee, that they conspire: it is not 
to prevent the success of our preaching, but to bring to 
nought thy counsel: the whole of their enmity is against 
thee. Now, Lord, look upon it; consider this.

And grant unto thy servants] While we are endeavouring to 
fulfill thy counsels, and can do nothing without thee, 
sustain our courage, that we may proclaim thy truth with 
boldness and irresistible power.

Verse 30. By stretching forth thine hand to heal] Show that 
it is thy truth which we proclaim, and confirm it with 
miracles, and show how highly thou hast magnified thy Son 
Jesus, whom they have despised and crucified, by causing 
signs and wonders to be wrought in his name.

Thy holy child Jesus.] tou agiou paidov sou should be 
translated, thy holy SERVANT, as in ver. 25. dabid paidov 
sou, thy servant David, not thy CHILD David: the word is the 
same in both places.

Verse 31. The place was shaken] This earthquake was an 
evidence of the presence of God, and a most direct answer to 
their prayer, as far as that prayer concerned themselves. The 
earthquake proclaimed the stretched-out arm of God, and 
showed them that resistance against his counsels and 
determinations must come to nought.

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost] And, in 
consequence of this, they spake the word of God with 
boldness; a pointed answer to a second part of their request, 
ver. 29. A right prayer will always have a right and ready 
answer. Though these disciples had received the Holy Spirit 
on the day of pentecost, yet they were capable of larger 
communications; and what they had then received did not 
preclude the necessity of frequent supplies, on emergent 
occasions. Indeed, one communication of this Spirit always 
makes way and disposes for another.

Neither apostle nor private Christian can subsist in the 
Divine life without frequent influences from on high. Had 
these disciples depended on their pentecostal grace, they 
might have sunk now under the terror and menaces of their 
combined and powerful foes. God gives grace for the time 
being, but no stock for futurity, because he will keep all 
his followers continually dependent on himself.

With boldness.] panti tw qelonti pisteuein, To all who were 
willing to believe, is added by DE, two others, Augustin, 
Irenaeus, and Bede.

Verse 32. The multitude of them that believed] The whole 
5000, mentioned ver. 4, and probably many others, who had 
been converted by the ministry of the other apostles since 
that time.

Were of one heart and of one soul] Were in a state of the 
most perfect friendship and affection. In all the 5000 there 
appeared to be but one heart and one soul; so perfectly did 
they agree in all their views, religious opinions, and holy 
affections. Some MSS. add, kai ouk hn diakrisiv en autoiv 
oudemia, and there was no kind of difference or dissension 
among them. This remarkable reading is found in the Codex 
Bezae, another of great authority, E, two others, Ambrose, 
Bede, Cyprian, and Zeno.

Diogenes Laertius relates of Aristotle, erwthqeiv, ti esti 
filov; being asked, What is a FRIEND? efh, mia yuch duo 
swmasin enoikousa answered, ONE soul dwelling in TWO bodies. 
This saying has been justly celebrated: but what would this 
wonderful philosopher have thought and said, had he seen 
these disciples of Jesus, and friends of mankind: one soul 
dwelling in 5000 bodies! They had all things common.] See the 
notes on chap. ii. 44, where this subject is examined. See 
below, ver. 34.

Verse 33. With great power gave the apostles witness] This 
power they received from the Holy Spirit, who enabled them, 
megalh dunamei, with striking miracles, to give proof of the 
resurrection of the Lord Jesus; for this is the point that 
was particularly to be proved: that he was slain and buried, 
all knew; that he rose again from the dead, many knew; but it 
was necessary to give such proofs as should convince and 
confound all. This preaching and these miracles demonstrated 
this Divine truth: Jesus died for your sins-he rose again for 
your justification; behold what God works in confirmation of 
these glorious truths; believe therefore in the Lord Jesus, 
and ye shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

Great grace was upon them all.] They all received much of the 
favour or grace of God; and they had much favour with all who 
feared God. In both these ways this clause may be understood; 
for cariv means favour, whether that be evidenced by 
benevolence or beneficence, or by both. The favour of God is 
the benevolence of God; but his benevolence is never exerted 
without the exertions of his beneficence. Hence the grace or 
favour of God always implies a blessing or gift from the hand 
of his mercy and power. The favour or benevolence of men may 
exist without beneficence, because it may not be in their 
power to communicate any gift or benefit, though they are 
disposed to do it; or, 2dly. the persons who enjoy their 
favour may not stand in need of any of their kind acts; but 
it is not so with God: his good will is ever accompanied by 
his good work; and every soul that is an object of his 
benevolence stands in the utmost need of the acts of his 
beneficence. Hence, as he loved the world, he gave his Son a 
ransom for all. All needed his help; and, because they all 
needed it, therefore all had it.

And truly we may say of the whole human race, for whom the 
Son of God tasted death, that great grace was upon all; for 
ALL have been purchased by his sacrificial death. This by the 
way.

Verse 34. Neither was there any among them that lacked] It 
was customary with the Jews to call the poor together, to eat 
of the sacrifices, but as the priests, &c., were incensed 
against Christ and Christianity, consequently the Christian 
poor could have no advantage of this kind; therefore, by 
making a common stock for the present necessity, the poor 
were supplied; so there was none among them that lacked. This 
provision therefore of the community of goods, which could be 
but temporary, was made both suitably and seasonably. See Bp. 
Pearce, and see the note on chap. ii. 44.

Verse 35. Laid-down at the apostles' feet] To show how 
cordially and entirely they parted with them. And they 
entrusted the management of the whole to those men to whom 
they found God had entrusted the gifts of his Holy Spirit, 
and the doctrine of the kingdom of heaven.

Verse 36. Joses] Or, Joseph, as many excellent MSS. read; but 
who he was, farther than what is here said, we know not.

Surnamed Barnabas] Or, Barsabbas, according to the Coptic.

The son of consolation] uiov paraklhsewv; As paraklhsiv 
signifies exhortation, as well as consolation, and is indeed 
distinguished from the latter, 1 Cor. xiv. 3, the original 
name was probably abn rb Bar naba, or aybn rb Bar nebia, 
which signifies the son of prophecy or exhortation; and this 
is certainly one sense which prophecy has in the New 
Testament; and in this way Barnabas distinguished himself 
among the apostles. See chap. xi. 23. And Barnabas EXHORTED 
them all that with purpose of heart they should cleave unto 
the Lord.

A Levite, and of the country of Cyprus] Cyprus is an island 
in the Mediterranean Sea, off Cilicia, and not very distant 
from the Jewish coast.

The Jews were very numerous in that island: see Dion. Cas. 
lib. 68, 69.

Though he was a Levite, he might have had land of his own by 
private purchase. The Levites, as a tribe, had no land in 
Israel; but the individuals certainly might make purchases 
any where in the country: but, as Barnabas was of Cyprus, his 
land probably lay there; and as it is likely that he was one 
of those strangers that came up to Jerusalem to the late 
feast, and was there converted, he might have sold his land 
in the island to some of his own countrymen who were at 
Jerusalem at this time; and so, being called to the work of 
the ministry, continued to associate with the apostles, 
travelling every where, and preaching the Gospel of the 
kingdom of God.

He was the constant companion of St. Paul, till the 
separation took place on account of John Mark, mentioned 
chap. xv. 36-39.

IT is worthy of remark that the two apostles of the Gentiles, 
though of Jewish extraction, were both born in Gentile 
countries; Paul in Cilicia, Barnabas in Cyprus: this gave 
them many advantages; served to remove prejudices from the 
heathens; and gave them no doubt much facility in the Greek 
tongue, without which they could have done but little in Asia 
Minor, nor in most parts of the Roman empire where they 
traveled. How admirably does God determine even the place of 
our birth, and the bounds of our habitation! When under the 
influence of the grace of Christ, every thing is turned to a 
man's advantage. The man whom he calls to his work he will 
take care to endue with every necessary qualification. And is 
it too much to say that God never did call a man to preach 
the Gospel whom he did not qualify in such a manner that both 
the workman and the work should appear to be of God? Some 
have said that ignorance is the mother of devotion. Devotion 
and religion are both scandalized by the saying. Enlightened 
piety has ever been the most sincere, steady, and active. God 
makes those wise who turn unto him; and by experimental 
religion all the powers of the mind are greatly improved. 
Every genuine minister of Christ has an enlightened heart; 
and, to this, it is his duty to add a well-cultivated mind. 
Exodus quovis ligno Mercurius non fit: A blockhead never did, 
and never can, make a minister.

CHAPTER v.

The hypocrisy of Ananias and his wife Sapphira, and their 
awful death, 1-11. The apostles work many miracles, and the 
Church of God is increased, 12-16. The high priest and the 
Sadducees, being incensed against the apostles, seize and put 
them in prison, 17, 18. The angel of God delivers them, and 
commands them to go to the temple, and proclaim the Gospel, 
19, 20. The high priest, having gathered the council together 
in the morning, sends to the prison to have the apostles 
brought before him, 21. The offers return, and report that 
they found the prison shut, and the watch set, but that the 
men had got out, 22, 23. A messenger arrives in the 
meanwhile, and says that the apostles are preaching in the 
temple, 24, 25. The captain and officers go and bring than 
before the council, who expostulate with them, 26-28. The 
apostles defend themselves, and charge the council with the 
murder of Christ; and assert his resurrection from the dead 
and ascension to the right hand of God, 29-32. The council 
are confounded, and purpose to slay the apostles, 33. 
Gamaliel gives them seasonable and prudent advice, 34-39. The 
council agree to it, but, before they discharge the apostles, 
beat them, and command them not to teach in the name of 
Jesus, 40. They depart rejoicing in their persecution, and 
continue to preach Jesus Christ, 41, 42.

NOTES ON CHAP. v.

Verse 1. But a certain man named Ananias] Of these unhappy 
people we have no farther account than what is recorded here. 
In reference to birth, connections, &c., their names are 
written in the dust. The import of his name, hynnj 
chananiyah, the grace or mercy of the Lord, agrees very ill 
with his conduct.

Verse 2. Kept back part of the price] Ananias and Sapphira 
were evidently persons who professed faith in Christ with the 
rest of the disciples. While all were making sacrifices for 
the present necessity, they came forward among the rest, 
pretending to bring all the money they had got for a 
possession, kthma, (of what kind we know not,) which they had 
sold. A part of this price, however, they kept back, not 
being willing to trust entirely to the bounty of Providence, 
as the others did; thinking probably, that, as the whole was 
their own, they had a right to do with it as they pleased. 
And so they had: they were under no necessity to sell their 
possession; but the act of selling it for the ostensible 
purpose of bringing it into the common stock, left them no 
farther control over it, nor property in it; and their 
pretense, that the money which they brought was the whole 
produce of the sale, was a direct lie in itself, and an 
attempt to deceive the Holy Spirit, under whose influence 
they pretended to act. This constituted the iniquity of their 
sin.

Verse 3. Why hath Satan filled thine heart] The verb 
plhroein, which we translate to fill, Kypke has showed by 
many examples to signify, to instigate, excite, impel, &c., 
and it was a common belief, as well among the heathens as 
among the Jews and Christians, that, when a man did evil, he 
was excited to it by the influence and malice of an evil 
spirit. It is strange that, by the general consent of 
mankind, sin against God has been ever considered so 
perfectly unnatural, and so evil in itself, that no man would 
commit it unless impelled to it by the agency of the devil. 
The words of St. Peter here prove that such an agency is not 
fictitious: if there had been no devil, as some wish and 
perhaps feel it their interest to believe, or if this devil 
had no influence on the souls of men, Peter, under the agency 
of the Holy Spirit, would not have expressed himself in this 
way; for, if the thing were not so, it would have been the 
most direct means to lead the disciples to form false 
opinions, or to confirm them in old and absurd prejudices.

To lie to the Holy Ghost] ueusasqai to pneuma to Æagion, To 
deceive the Holy Spirit. Every lie is told with the intention 
to deceive; and they wished to deceive the apostles, and, in 
effect, that Holy Spirit under whose influence they professed 
to act. Lying against the Holy Ghost is in the next verse 
said to be lying against God; therefore the Holy Ghost is 
GOD.

To keep back part of the price] nosfisasqai apo thv timhv. 
The verb nosfizein, nosfizesqai, is used by the Greek writers 
to signify purloining part of the public money, peculation. 
The word is used here with great propriety, as the money for 
which the estate was sold was public property; as it was for 
this purpose alone that the sale was made.

Verse 4. Whiles it remained, was it not thine own?] See the 
note on ver. 2, and see that also on chap. ii. 44.

Verse 5. Fell down, and gave up the ghost] peswn exeyuxe, 
Falling down, he expired, breathed his last: "Gave up the 
ghost" is a very improper translation here. See the notes on 
Gen. xxv. 8, and on Matt. xxvii. 50. Two things may be 
remarked here: 1. That the sin of this person was of no 
ordinary magnitude, else God would not have visited it with 
so signal a punishment. 2. That Peter must have had the power 
to discern the state of the heart, else he had not known the 
perfidy of Ananias. This power, commonly called the 
discernment of spirits, the apostles had as a particular 
gift, not probably always but at select times, when God saw 
it necessary for the good of his Church.

Verse 6. The young men arose] Some of the stout young men 
belonging to the disciples then present, who were the fittest 
to undertake a work of this kind, which required considerable 
bodily exertion.

Buried him.] This was on the same day in which he died. It 
was a clear case that he was dead, and dead by a judgment of 
God that would not be revoked. As therefore it was no case of 
suspended animation, there was no reason to delay the burial.

Verse 9. To tempt the Spirit of the Lord?] So the Holy Ghost, 
God, and the Spirit of the Lord, are the same person.

Verse 10. Yielded up the ghost] See ver. 5. It was not by 
Peter's words, nor through Peter's prayers, nor through 
shame, nor through remorse, that this guilty pair died, but 
by an immediate judgment of God.

The question of the salvation of Ananias and Sapphira has not 
been a little agitated; and most seem inclined to hope that, 
though their sin was punished by this awful display of the 
Divine judgment, mercy was extended to their souls. For my 
own part, I think their sin was what the apostle, 1 John v. 
16, calls a sin unto death; a sin which must be punished with 
temporal death, or the death of the body, while mercy was 
extended to the soul. It was right in this infant state of 
the Church to show God's displeasure against deceit, fraud, 
and hypocrisy: had this guilty pair been permitted to live 
after they had done this evil, this long-suffering would have 
been infallibly abused by others; and, instead of leading 
them who had sinned to repentance, might have led them to 
hardness of heart by causing them to presume on the mercy of 
God. That hypocrisy may be afraid to show her face, God makes 
these two an example of his justice; but, because they had 
not the ordinary respite, we may presume that God extended 
mercy to them, though cut off almost in the act of sin. Their 
case, however, cannot become a precedent, allowing them to 
have received mercy; because those who have seen in this case 
the severity of God must expect much sorer punishment, if, 
with such an example before their eyes, they should presume 
on the mercy of their Maker: this would be doing evil that 
good might come, and the perdition of such would be just.

Verse 11. Great fear came upon all the Church] This judgment 
answered the end for which it was inflicted; a deeply 
religious fear occupied every mind, and hypocrisy and 
deception were banished from this holy assembly. On the word 
Church, see the observations at the end of Matt. 16.  It has 
been properly observed that we have in this place a native 
specimen of a New Testament Church: 1. Called by the Gospel; 
2. grafted into Christ by baptism; 3. animated by love; 4. 
united by all kinds of fellowship; 5. and disciplined by the 
exemplary punishment of hypocrites. See Dodd.

Verse 12. By the hands of the apostles] This verse should be 
read with the 15th, to which it properly belongs.  Solomon's 
porch.] See the note on John x. 23.

Verse 13. And of the rest, durst no man join him self to 
them] Who were these called the rest, twn loipwn? Dr. 
Lightfoot thinks the 120 are intended, of which he supposes 
Ananias to have been one; who, all seeing such wonders 
wrought by the apostles, were afraid to associate themselves 
with them in any way of equality, as they saw that God put 
peculiar honour upon them. Calmet more rationally observes, 
that the Jewish nation was then divided into many different 
sects, who entertained widely different opinions on various 
articles. The apostles adopted none of these jarring 
sentiments, and none of the different sects dared to join 
themselves to them; neither Pharisees, Sadducees, nor 
Herodians, as such, were found in this simple, holy Church. 
The people felt the force and power of the apostles' 
doctrine, and magnified them, no more attending to the 
teaching of the others: the apostles taught them as men 
having authority, and not as the scribes and Pharisees. This 
irritated the high priest and his Sadducean council, and led 
them to adopt the measures mentioned below, ver. 17.

Verse 14. And believers were the more added to the Lord] 
Believers: 1.

Those who credited the Divine mission of Christ. 2. That he 
was the Messiah. 3. That he died for their sins. 4. That he 
rose again. 5. That he ascended into heaven. 6. That he sent 
down the gift of the Holy Spirit. 7.

That he ever appeared in the presence of God for them. 8. 
That it was he who gives repentance and remission of sins. 
And, 9. He by whom the world is to be judged. These were 
simple articles, of the truth of which they had the fullest 
evidence.

Verse 15. Insomuch that they brought forth the sick] This 
verse is a continuation of the subject begun in the 12th.  
The following is the order in which all these verses should 
be read, from the 11th to the 15th. 

Verse 11. And great fear came upon all the Church, and upon 
as many as heard these things.

Verse 13. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them; 
but the people magnified them:

Verse 14. And believers were the more added to the Lord, both 
men and women.

Verse 12. (last clause.) And they were all with one accord in 
Solomon's porch.

Verse 12. (first clause.) And by the hands of the apostles 
were many signs and wonders wrought among the people;

Verse 15. Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the 
streets, and laid them on beds and couches, &c., &c.

How these different verses and clauses of verses, got so 
intermingled and confounded as they are now in our common 
text, I cannot tell; but the above will appear at once to be 
the natural order in which they should be placed.

That-the shadow of Peter passing by] I cannot see all the 
miraculous influence here that others profess to see. The 
people who had seen the miracles wrought by the apostles 
pressed with their sick to share the healing benefit: as 
there must have been many diseased people, it is not likely 
that the apostles, who generally addressed such persons, 
prayed and used imposition of hands, could reach all those 
that were brought to them, as fast as the solicitude of their 
friends could wish. As, therefore, they could not get Peter 
or the other apostles, personally, to all their sick, they 
thought if they placed them on that side of the way where the 
shadow was projected, (the sun probably now declining, and 
consequently the shadow lengthening,) they should be healed 
by the shadow of the man passing over them, in whose person 
such miraculous powers were lodged. But it does not appear 
that the persons who thus thought and acted were of the 
number of those converts already made to the faith of Christ; 
nor does it appear that any person was healed in this way. 
The sacred penman simply relates the impression made on the 
people's minds; and how they acted in consequence of this 
impression. A popish writer, assuming that the shadow of 
Peter actually cured all on which it was projected, argues 
from this precarious principle in favour of the wonderful 
efficacy of relics! For, says he, "if the shadow of a saint 
can do so much, how much more may his bones, or any thing 
that was in contact with his person, perform!" Now, before 
this conclusion can be valid, it must be proved: 1. That the 
shadow of Peter did actually cure the sick; 2. That this was 
a virtue common to all the apostles; 3. That all eminent 
saints possess the same virtue; 4. That the bones, &c., of 
the dead, possess the same virtue with the shadow of the 
living; 5. That those whom they term saints were actually 
such; 6. That miracles of healing have been wrought by their 
relics; 7. That touching these relics as necessarily produces 
the miraculous healing as they suppose the shadow of Peter to 
have done. I think there is not sufficient evidence here that 
Peter's shadow healed any one, though the people thought it 
could; but, allowing that it did, no evidence can be drawn 
from this that any virtue is resident in the relics of 
reputed or real saints, by which miraculous influence may be 
conveyed. It was only in rare cases that God enabled even an 
apostle to work a miracle.

After the words, might overshadow some of them, the Vulgate 
adds, et liberarentur ab infirmitatibus suis; a Greek MS. (E) 
has nearly the same words, kai rusqwsin apo pashv asqeneiav 
hv eicon, and that they might be freed from all the 
infirmities which they had: a few other MSS.

agree in the main with this reading.

Verse 16. Sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean 
spirits] Here it is evident that sick people are 
distinguished from those who were vexed with unclean spirits; 
and therefore they were not one and the same thing. The same 
distinction is made Matt. iv. 24; x. 1; Mark i. 32, 34; xvi. 
17, 18; and Luke iv. 40, 41; vii. 21.

Verse 17. The high priest-and-the sect of the Sadducees] 
airesiv twn saddoukaiwn, The heresy of the Sadducees. In this 
place, as well as in several others, the word airesiv, 
heresy, has no evil meaning in itself; it is a word of 
distinction, and may receive either a good or bad colouring 
from the persons or opinions designated by it. It signifies a 
sect or party, whether good or bad, distinguished from any 
other sect. airesiv, heresy, comes from airew, I choose, and 
was anciently applied to the different sects of the heathen 
philosophers, the members of each sect having chosen their 
own in preference to all the others. It has been applied 
among ecclesiastical writers in the same way-when a man 
chooses one party of Christians, in preference to others, to 
be his companions in the way of salvation; and he chooses 
them and their creed and Christian discipline, because he 
believes the whole to be more consistent with the oracles of 
God than any of the rest. The Church of Rome has thought 
proper to attach a very bad meaning to this innocent word, 
and then apply it to all those who can neither credit her 
transubstantiation, depend on her purgatory, nor worship her 
relics. A heretic, in her acceptation, is one who is not a 
papist, and, because not a papist, utterly out of the way and 
out of the possibility of being saved. These persons should 
recollect that, by a then persecuting brother, St. Paul, all 
the apostles, and the whole Church of Christ, were termed 
nazwraiwn airesiv, the heresy of the Nazarenes, chap. xxiv. 
5; and it was after the way which the persecuting Jews called 
heresy that St. Paul and the rest of the apostles worshipped 
the God of their fathers, chap. xxiv. 14; and it was 
according to the strictest HERESY in the Jewish Church, 
akiribestathn airesin, that St. Paul lived before his 
conversion, chap. xxvi. 5; and we find, from chap. xxviii. 
22, that the whole Church of Christ was termed this heresy, 
tauthv airesewv, and this by persons who intended no 
reproach, but wished simply to distinguish the Christians 
from scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, &c. Heresy therefore, in 
its first acceptation, signifies simply a choice: afterwards 
it was applied to designate all those persons who made the 
same choice; and hence the word sect and it became 
synonymous: in process of time it was applied to those 
professing Christianity who made, in some cases, a different 
choice as to some article of faith, or form of worship, from 
those which had obtained in that part of the Church with 
which they had been before connected. The majority, from whom 
they became thus separated, spoke evil of them, and treated 
them ill, because they presumed to choose for themselves on 
the foundation of the Holy Scriptures; and because they would 
take nothing for the truth of God that was not accredited 
from heaven. Thus, when the people now called Protestants, 
began to examine their creed according to the Holy 
Scriptures, and, in consequence of this examination, left out 
auricular confession, indulgences, the priests' power to 
forgive sins, adoration of saints, angels, and relics, 
purgatory, and the doctrine of transubstantiation, because 
they could not find them in the word of God, the papists 
called them heretics, by which they meant, in opposition to 
the meaning of the word, persons holding damnable errors; 
and, as such, they persecuted, burnt, and destroyed them 
wherever they had power.

Now be it known to these persecutors, that the Protestants 
still choose to reject opinions and practices which they know 
to be unscriptural, absurd, and superstitious; and which they 
have a thousand times demonstrated to be such: and, on this 
ground, may they still be HERETICS! Were filled with 
indignation.] zhlou, With zeal. zhlov, from zew, to be hot, 
and la or lian, very much, signifies a vehement affection or 
disposition of the mind, which, according to its object, is 
either good or bad, laudable or blamable. Its meaning in this 
place is easily discerned; and not improperly translated 
indignation, in our version. We need not be surprised that 
the Sadducees were filled with indignation, because the 
apostles proclaimed the resurrection of Christ, and, through 
that, the general resurrection, which was diametrically 
opposed to their doctrine; for they denied the possibility of 
a resurrection, and believed not in the being of either angel 
or spirit; nor did they allow of the existence of a spiritual 
world. See on chap. iv. 2.

Verse 18. Put them in the common prison.] It being too late 
in the evening to bring them to a hearing. To this verse the 
Codex Bezae adds, kai eporeuqh eiv ekastov eiv ta idia, And 
each of them went to his own house.

Verse 19. But the angel of the Lord-opened the prison doors] 
This was done: 1. To increase the confidence of the apostles, 
by showing them that they were under the continual care of 
God; and, To show the Jewish rulers that they were fighting 
against Him while persecuting his followers, and attempting 
to prevent them from preaching the Gospel. This was another 
warning graciously given them by a good and merciful God, 
that they might repent, and so escape the coming wrath.

Verse 20. All the words of this life.] All the doctrines of 
life eternal, founded on the word, death, and resurrection of 
Christ Jesus. This is another periphrasis for Gospel. Go to 
the temple-the most public place, and speak to the people-who 
come there to worship according to the law, the words of this 
life-the whole doctrine of salvation from sin and death; and 
show that the law is fulfilled in the sacrifice of Jesus, and 
that, by his resurrection, he has brought life and 
immortality to light.

Verse 21. Called the council together] sunedrion The 
sanhedrin, all the senate; thn gerousian, the elders, or what 
we would call the aldermen. How these differed from the 
presbuterion, presbytery, if they did differ, is not now 
known.

Verse 23. The prison truly found we shut] All the doors were 
properly bolted, and the keepers at their post; but when we 
had opened, for it appears they were alone in possession of 
the keys; how much must this have increased their 
astonishment when they found that the doors were not broken 
open, the guards properly posted, and every thing as they 
left it, for they themselves had put the apostles in prison; 
but, when they had opened, there was no man within!

Verse 24. They doubted of them whereunto this would grow.] 
They did not know what to think of the apostles, whether they 
had saved themselves by magic, or whether they were delivered 
by a real miracle; and they were at a loss to tell what the 
issue of these things would be.

Verse 25. Then came one and told them] While they were in the 
perplexity mentioned above, a messenger surprised them with 
the information that the very men whom they had imprisoned 
the preceding night were standing in the temple and teaching 
the people!

Verse 26. Brought them without violence] On receiving the 
information mentioned above, proper officers were sent to 
seize and bring them before the council. The officers, on 
reaching the temple, found the multitude gladly receiving the 
doctrine of the apostles, and so intent on hearing all the 
words of this life that they were afraid to show any 
hostility to the apostles, lest the people should stone them; 
we may therefore conclude that the officers entreated them to 
accompany them to the council; and that they felt it their 
duty to obey every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, and 
so cheerfully went with them, trusting in the Lord their God.

Verse 28. Did not we straitly command you] ou paraggelia 
parhggeilamen, With commanding did we not command you; a 
Hebraism-another proof of the accuracy and fidelity of St. 
Luke, who seems always to give every man's speech as he 
delivered it; not the substance, but the very words. See 
chap. iv. 17.

Not teach in this name?] That is, of JESUS as the Christ or 
Messiah. His saving name, and the doctrines connected with 
it, were the only theme and substance of their discourses.

Intend to bring this men's blood upon us.] You speak in such 
a way of him to the people as to persuade them that we have 
crucified an innocent man; and that we must on that account 
fall victims to the Divine vengeance, or to the fury of the 
people, whom, by your teaching, you are exciting to sedition 
against us.

Verse 29. We ought to obey God rather than men.] The same 
answer they gave before, chap. iv. 19, founded on the same 
reason, which still stood good. We have received our 
commission from GOD; we dare not lay it down at the desire or 
command of men. See the note on chap. iv. 19.

Verse 30. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus] It was well 
to introduce this, that the council might at once see that 
they preached no strange God; and that he who so highly 
honoured the patriarchs, Moses, and the prophets, had yet 
more highly honoured Jesus Christ in raising him from the 
dead and seating him at his right hand, and proclaiming him 
as the only giver of salvation and the repentance which leads 
to it.

Whom ye slew] They charge them again with the murder of 
Christ, as they had done before, chap. iv. 10-12, where see 
the notes.

Verse 31. Him hath God exalted with his right hand] By a 
supereminent display of his almighty power, for so the right 
hand of God often means; he has raised him from the dead, and 
raised his human nature to the throne of his glory. Instead 
of dexia, the right hand, the Codex Bezae has doxh, to glory.

A Prince] The leader or director in the way. See the notes on 
chap. iii. 15, 19.

And a saviour] swthra, A deliverer or preserver. The word 
swthr comes from sww to save, deliver, preserve, escape from 
death or danger, bring into a state of security or safety. 
JESUS and SAVIOUR are nearly of the same import. See the note 
on John i. 17. He alone delivers from sin, death, and hell: 
by him alone we escape from the snares and dangers to which 
we are exposed: and it is by and in him, and in connection 
with him, that we are preserved blameless and harmless, and 
made the sons of God without rebuke. He alone can save the 
soul from sin, and preserve it in that state of salvation.

To give repentance] See this explained, Matt. iii. 2.

Forgiveness of sins.] afesin twn amartiwn, The taking away of 
sins.

This is not to be restrained to the mere act of 
justification; it implies the removal of sin, whether its 
power, guilt, or impurity be considered.

Through Jesus we have the destruction of the power, the 
pardon of the guilt, and the cleansing from the pollution, of 
sin. And was Jesus Christ exalted a Prince and a saviour to 
give repentance and remission of sins to ISRAEL? Then none 
need despair. If such as were now before the apostles could 
be saved, then the salvation of the very worst of 
transgressors, of any or all on this side perdition, is 
gloriously possible. Yes, for he tasted death for every man; 
and he prayed for his murderers, compared to some of whom 
JUDAS himself was a saint.

The two words in Italics, in this text, to be, are 
impertinently introduced; it reads much better without them.

Verse 32. We are his witnesses] The word autou, his, is 
omitted by AD, and several others of good note; the Syriac, 
all the Arabic, AEthiopic, and Vulgate. It does not seem to 
be necessary.

Of these things] twn phmatwn toutwn, Of these transactions: 
i.e. of Christ's life and miracles, and of your murderous 
proceedings against him.

And so is also the Holy Ghost] In the gift of tongues lately 
communicated; and by his power and influence on our souls, by 
which we are enabled to give irresistible witness of our 
Lord's resurrection.

To them that obey him.] We obey GOD, not you; and therefore 
God gives us this Spirit, which is in us a fountain of light, 
life, love, and power.

The Spirit of God is given to the obedient: in proportion as 
a man who has received the first influences of it (for 
without this he cannot move in the spiritual life) is 
obedient to those influences, in the same proportion the 
gifts and graces, the light, life, and power, of the Holy 
Spirit, are increased in his soul.

Verse 33. They were cut to the heart] dieprionto, Literally, 
they were sawn through, from dia through, and priw, to saw. 
They were stung to the heart, not with compunction nor 
remorse, but with spite, malice, and revenge: for, having the 
murder of Christ thus brought home to their consciences, in 
the first feelings of their malice and revenge, they thought 
of destroying the persons who had witnessed their nefarious 
conduct.

Verse 34. A Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law] 
"This," says Dr. Lightfoot, "was Rabban Gamaliel the first; 
commonly, by way of distinction, called Rabban Gamaliel the 
elder. He was president of the council after the death of his 
own father, Rabban Simeon, who was the son of Hillel. He was 
St. Paul's master, and the 35th receiver of the traditions, 
and on this account might not be improperly termed 
nomodidaskalov, a doctor of the law, because he was one that 
kept and handed down the Cabala received from Mount Sinai. He 
died eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem, his 
son Simeon succeeding him in the chair, who perished in the 
ruins of the city." Though probably no favourer of 
Christianity, yet, for a Pharisee, he seems to have possessed 
a more liberal mind than most of his brethren; the following 
advice was at once humane, sensible, candid, and enlightened.

Verse 35. What ye intend to do] ti mellete prassein, What ye 
are about to do: they had already intended to destroy them; 
and they were now about to do it.

Verse 36. Rose up Theudas] Josephus, Ant. lib. xx. cap. 4, 
sect. 1, mentions one named Theudas who was the author of an 
insurrection; about whom there has been much controversy 
whether he were the person spoken of here by Gamaliel. Every 
circumstance, as related by Josephus agrees well enough with 
what is referred to here, except the chronology; for the 
Theudas mentioned by Josephus made his insurrection when 
Fadus was governor of Judea; which was at least ten years 
after the time in which the apostles were brought before this 
council. Much labour has been thrown away in unsuccessful 
attempts to reconcile the historian and the evangelist, when 
it is very probable they speak of different transactions. Bp. 
Pearce thinks "the whole difficulty will disappear if we 
follow the opinion of Abp. Usher, who imagined that Luke's 
Theudas was the same with that Judas of whom Josephus gives 
this account, Ant. lib. xvii. cap. 12, sect. 5; and War, lib. 
ii. cap. 4, sect. 1: 'that a little after the death of Herod 
the Great, he raised an insurrection in Galilee, and aimed at 
getting the sovereignty of Judea,' and that he was defeated 
and put to death, as is implied in sect. 10, of the same 
chapter. That Theudas and Judas might be names for the same 
person, Bp. Pearce thinks probable from the consideration, 
that the same apostle who is called Judas in John xiv. 22, 
and Luke vi. 16, and called Jude in Jude 1, is, in Mark iii. 
18, called Thaddeus; and, in Matt. x. 3, is also called 
Lebbeus. This apostle having the names Judas and Thaddeus and 
Lebbeus given to him, two of these must have been the same; 
because no Jew had more than two names, unless when a 
patronymic name was given to him, as when Joseph surnamed 
Justus was called Barsabas, i.e. the son of Saba. It is no 
unreasonable thing to suppose that Thaddeus and Theudas are 
the same name; and that therefore the person called Theudas 
in Luke is probably the same whom Josephus, in the places 
above quoted, calls Judas." Dr. Lightfoot thinks that 
"Josephus has made a slip in his chronology;" and rather 
concludes that the Theudas mentioned in the Ant. lib. xx. 
cap. 4, sect. 1, is the person referred to in the text. I 
confess the matter does not appear to me of so much 
consequence; it is mentioned by Gamaliel in a careless way, 
and St. Luke, as we have already seen, scrupulously gives the 
Lords of every speaker. The story was no doubt well known, 
and there were no doubts formed on it by the Jewish Council. 
We see plainly the end for which it was produced; and we see 
that it answered this end most amply; and certainly we have 
no farther concern with Gamaliel or his story.

Boasting himself to be somebody] legon einai tina eauton, 
Saying that he was a great personage, i.e., according to the 
supposition of Bp.

Pearce, setting himself up to be king of the Jews: see the 
preceding note.

After eauton, himself, magan, great one, is added by several 
very respectable MSS. and versions.

Verse 37. Judas of Galilee] Concerning Judas of Galilee, 
Rabbi Abraham, in Jucasin, fol. 139, writes thus: "In this 
time there were three sects: for, besides the Pharisees and 
Sadducees, Judas of Galilee began another sect, which was 
called Essenes. They caused the Jews to rebel against the 
Romans, by asserting that they should not obey strangers; nor 
call any one Lord (or Governor) but the holy blessed God 
above." Rabbi Abraham makes a mistake here: the Essenes 
existed long before the days of Judas of Galilee; but it is 
very possible that he might have been one of that sect. 
Josephus mentions the insurrection made by Judas of Galilee, 
Ant. lib. xviii. cap. 1, and says it was when Cyrenius was 
governor of Syria: see the note on Luke ii. 2. Bp. Pearce 
supposes that there were two apografai, taxations or 
enrolments; and that the one mentioned here took place ten 
years after that mentioned in Luke ii. 1-5. He observes also, 
in conformity with the note on the preceding verse, that the 
Judas mentioned here, was not only different from that Judas 
or Theudas spoken of before, but that his pretense for 
rebellion was different; the former wished to have the empire 
of Judea; the latter only maintained that it was base and 
sinful to obey a heathen governor.

Verse 38. Refrain from these men] Do not molest them, leave 
them to God; for if this counsel and work be of man it will 
come to nought, like the rebellion of Theudas, and that of 
Judas of Galilee: for whatever pretends to be done in the 
name of God, but is not of him, will have his curse and not 
his blessing. He whose name is prostituted by it will 
vindicate his injured honour, and avenge himself.

Verse 39. But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it] 
Because his counsel cannot fail; and his work cannot be 
counteracted. If he be determined that this doctrine shall 
prevail, it is vain for us to attempt to suppress it.

Lest haply ye be found-to fight against God.] mhpote kai 
qeomacoi eureqhte. Some have thought that they saw a parallel 
to these words in the speech of Diomede, when, seeing Mars, 
associated with Hector, oppose the Grecians, he judged 
farther opposition vain, and desired his troops to retire 
from the battle.

tw dÆ aiei para eiv ge qewn, ov loigon amunei? kai nun oi 
para keinov arhv, brotw andri eoikwv.

alla prov trwav tetrammenoi aien opissw eikete, mhde qeoiv 
meneainemen ifi macesqai.

Iliad, lib. v. 603.

Protected always by some power divine; And Mars attends this 
moment at his side, In form a man. Ye therefore still retire, 
But facing still your foes: nor battle wage, However fierce, 
yet fruitless, with the gods. COWPER.

Verse 40. To him they agreed] That is, not to slay the 
apostles, nor to attempt any farther to imprison them; but 
their malevolence could not be thus easily satisfied; and 
therefore they beat them-probably gave each of them thirty-
nine stripes; and, having commanded them not to speak in the 
name of Jesus, they let them go. It was of JESUS they were 
afraid: not of the apostles. They plainly saw that, if the 
doctrine of Christ was preached, it must prevail; and, if it 
prevailed, they must come to nought. It was a wise saying of 
the popish bishops in the time of Queen Mary-If we do not put 
down this PRINTING, it will put us down: They laboured to put 
down the printing, but they could not; and, under God, the 
printing, by exposing the wickedness of their doctrine and 
practices, and especially by multiplying copies of the New 
Testament, did most effectually put them down.

Verse 41. Rejoicing that they there counted worthy, &c.] The 
whole verse may be read thus: But they departed rejoicing 
from the presence of the sanhedrin, because they there deemed 
worthy to be dishonoured on account of THE NAME. The word, a 
utou, his, is omitted by ABCD, several others; Erpen's 
Syriac, and the Coptic. THE NAME, probably, by this time, 
distinguished both the author of salvation and the sacred 
system of doctrine which the apostles preached. To rejoice in 
persecution, and triumph in the midst of pain, shame, 
disgrace, and various threatened deaths, is the privilege of 
the New Testament. Nothing of this kind, as far as I can 
recollect, appears even in the choicest saints under the Old 
Testament dispensation. Some of them fretted and mourned, and 
sometimes even murmured; some merely possessed their souls in 
patience; Christians exulted and triumphed in the God of 
their salvation. This is no mean proof of the additional 
light and evidence which the New Testament dispensation 
affords.

Verse 42. Daily in the temple] That is at the hours of 
morning and evening prayer; for they felt it their duty to 
worship God in public, and to help others to make a 
profitable use of the practice. Every man that professes 
Christianity should, in this respect also, copy their 
conduct: nor can any man be considered to have any religion, 
let his sentiments be what they may, who does not attend on 
the public worship of his Maker.

They ceased not to teach and preach Jesus.] Far from 
desisting, they became more zealous, yea, incessant, in their 
work. They took advantage of the public assemblies in the 
temple, as well as of all private opportunities, to teach all 
the truths of their holy religion; and to preach, proclaim 
Jesus as the only Messiah, that he who was crucified rose 
from the dead, and was exalted a Prince and a saviour at the 
right hand of God.

How little must these men have regarded their lives, who in 
the midst of such danger could pursue a line of conduct 
which, to all human views, must terminate in their ruin. They 
loved their Master, they loved his work, they loved their 
thankless countrymen, they loved their present wages-
persecution and stripes, and hated nothing but their own 
lives! These men were proper persons to be employed in 
converting the world.

Preachers of the Gospel, look at those men, and learn at once 
your duty, your employment, and your interest. Live and 
preach like apostles, and God will crown your labours with 
similar success.

CHAPTER vi.

The Hellenistic Jews complain against the Hebrews, that their 
widows were neglected in the daily ministration, 1. To remedy 
the evil complained of, the apostles appoint seven deacons to 
superintend the temporal affairs of the Church, 2-6. The 
progress of the word of God in Jerusalem, 7. Stephen, one of 
the deacons, becomes very eminent, and confounds various Jews 
of the synagogues of the Libertines, &c., 8-10. They suborn 
false witnesses against him, to get him put to death, 11-14. 
He appears before the council with an angelic countenance, 
15.

NOTES ON CHAP. vi.

Verse 1. A murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews] 
Those who are here termed Grecians, ellhnistai, or 
Hellenists, were Jews who sojourned now at Jerusalem, but 
lived in countries where the Greek language was spoken, and 
probably in general knew no other. They are distinguished 
here from those called Hebrews, by which we are to understand 
native Jews, who spoke what was then termed the Hebrew 
language, a sort of Chaldaio-Syriac.

It has been remarked that Greek words ending in isthv imply 
inferiority.

Æellhnev, Hellenes, was distinguished from Æellhnistai: the 
former implies pure Greeks, native Greeks, who spoke the 
Greek tongue in its purity; and the latter, Jews or others 
sojourning among the Greeks, but who spoke the Greek language 
according to the Hebrew idiom. Pythagoras divided his 
disciples into two classes; those who were capable of 
entering into the spirit and mystery of his doctrine he 
called puqagoreioi, Pythagoreans; those who were of a 
different cast he termed puqagoristai, Pythagorists: the 
former were eminent and worthy of their master; the latter 
only so so. The same distinction is made between those called 
attikoi and attikistai, Attics and Atticists, the pure and 
less pure Greeks, as between those called Æellhnev and 
Æellhnistai, Hellenes and Hellenists, pure Greeks and 
Graecising Jews. See Jamblicus, Deuteronomy Vit. Pyth. cap. 
18, and Schoettgen on this place.

The cause of the murmuring mentioned here seems to have been 
this: When all the disciples had put their property into a 
common stock, it was intended that out of it each should have 
his quantum of supply. The foreign or Hellenistic Jews began 
to be jealous, that their widows were neglected in the daily 
ministration, that they either had not the proportion, or 
were not duly served; the Palestine Jews being partial to 
those of their own country. This shows that the community of 
goods could never have been designed to become general. 
Indeed, it was no ordinance of God; and, in any state of 
society, must be in general impracticable. The apostles, 
hearing of this murmuring, came to the resolution mentioned 
below.

Verse 2. It is not reason] ouk areston esti, it is not 
pleasing, proper, or fitting, that we should leave the word 
of God, that we should give up ourselves, or confide to 
others, the doctrine of salvation which God has commanded us 
to preach unto the people.

And serve tables.] Become providers of daily bread for your 
widows and poor: others can do this, to whom our important 
office is not intrusted.

Verse 3. Wherefore-look ye out among you seven men] Choose 
persons in whom ye can all confide, who will distribute the 
provisions impartially, and in due time; and let these 
persons be the objects of the choice both of the Hebrews and 
Hellenists, that all cause of murmuring and discontent may be 
done away. Though seven was a sacred number among the Jews, 
yet there does not appear to be any mystery intended here. 
Probably the seven men were to take each his day of service; 
and then there would be a superintendent for these widows, 
&c., for each day of the week.

Of honest report] marturoumenouv Persons to whose character 
there is authentic testimony, well known and accredited.

Full of the Holy Ghost] Saved into the spirit of the Gospel 
dispensation; and made partakers of that Holy Ghost by which 
the soul is sanctified, and endued with those graces which 
constitute the mind that was in Christ.

And wisdom] Prudence, discretion, and economy; for mere piety 
and uprightness could not be sufficient, where so many must 
be pleased, and where frugality, impartiality, and 
liberality, must ever walk hand in hand.

Whom we may appoint] Instead of katasthswmen, we may appoint, 
katasthsomen, we shall appoint, is the reading of ABCDE, and 
several others. It makes, however, very little difference in 
the sense.

Verse 4. We will give ourselves continually to prayer] 
proskarterhsomen,, We will steadfastly and invariably attend, 
we will carefully keep our hearts to this work. The word is 
very emphatic.

To prayer.-See this defined, Matt. vi. 5. Even apostles could 
not live without prayer; they had no independent graces; what 
they had could not be retained without an increase; and for 
this increase they must make prayer and supplication, 
depending continually on their God.

Ministry of the word.] diakonia tou logou, The deaconship of 
the word. The continual proclamation of the Gospel of their 
Lord; and, to make this effectual to the souls of the 
hearers, they must continue in prayer: a minister who does 
not pray much, studies in vain.

The office of deacon, diakonov, came to the Christian from 
the Jewish Church. Every synagogue had at least three 
deacons, which were called µyonrp parnasim, from onrp parnes, 
to feed, nourish, support, govern. The nrp parnas, or deacon, 
was a sort of judge in the synagogue; and, in each, doctrine 
and wisdom were required, that they might be able to discern 
and give right judgment in things both sacred and civil. The 
zj chazan, and m shamash, were also a sort of deacons. The 
first was the priest's deputy; and the last was, in some 
cases, the deputy of this deputy, or the sub-deacon. In the 
New Testament the apostles are called deacons, 2 Cor. vi. 4; 
Eph. iii. 7; Col. i. 23: see also 2 Cor. xi. 15. Christ 
himself, the Shepherd and Bishop of souls, is called the 
deacon of the circumcision, legw de criston ihsoun diakonon 
gegenhsqai peritomhv, Rom. xv. 8. As the word implies to 
minister or serve, it was variously applied, and pointed out 
all those who were employed in helping the bodies or souls of 
men; whether apostles, bishops, or those whom we call 
deacons. Some remark that there were two orders of deacons: 
1. diakonoi thv trapizhv, deacons of the TABLE, whose 
business it was to take care of the alms collected in the 
Church, and distribute them among the poor, widows, &c. 2. 
diakonoi tou logou, deacons of the WORD, whose business it 
was to preach, and variously instruct the people. It seems 
that after the persecution raised against the apostolic 
Church, in consequence of which they became dispersed, the 
deaconship of tables ceased, as did also the community of 
goods; and Philip, who was one of these deacons, who at first 
served tables, betook himself entirely to preaching of the 
word: see chap. viii. 4, &c. In the primitive Church, it is 
sufficiently evident that the deacons gave the bread and wine 
in the Eucharist to the believers in the Church, and carried 
it to those who were absent, Just. Mar. Apol. ii. p. 162; 
they also preached, and in some cases administered baptism. 
See Suicer on the words diakonov, khrussw, and baptisma. But 
it appears they did the two last by the special authority of 
the bishop. In the ancient Roman Church, and in the Romish 
Church, the number of seven deacons, in imitation of those 
appointed by the apostles, was kept up; and in the council of 
Neocaesarea it was decreed that this number should never be 
exceeded, even in the largest cities: vide Concil. Neocaesar. 
Canon. xiv. other Churches varied this number; and the Church 
of Constantinople had not less than one hundred. Deacons were 
ordained by the bishops, by imposition of hands.

None was ordained deacon till he was twenty-five years of 
age, and we find that it was lawful for them to have wives. 
See Suicer under the word diakonov, and see the note on Matt. 
xx. 26.

In the Church of England, (the purest and nearest to the 
apostolical model in doctrine and discipline of all national 
Churches,) a deacon receives ordination by the imposition of 
the hands of a bishop, in consequence of which he can preach, 
assist in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and in general 
perform any sacred office, except consecrating the elements, 
and pronouncing the absolution. No person in this Church can 
be ordained deacon till he be twenty-three years of age, 
unless by dispensation from the Abp. of Canterbury. There 
were deaconesses, both in the apostolic and primitive Church, 
who had principally the care of the women, and visited and 
ministered to them in those circumstances in which it would 
have been improper for a deacon to attend. They also assisted 
in preparing the female candidates for baptism.

At present, the office for which the seven deacons were 
appointed is, in the Church of England, filled by the 
churchwardens and overseers of the poor; in other Churches 
and religious societies, by elders, stewards, &c., chosen by 
the people, and appointed by the minister.

Verse 5. Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost] 
A person every way properly fitted for his work; and thus 
qualified to be the first martyr of the Christian Church.

Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch] A heathen Greek, who had not 
only believed in the God of Israel, but had also received 
circumcision, and consequently was a proselyte of the 
covenant; for, had he been only a proselyte of the gate, the 
Jews could not have associated with him. On the word 
proselyte, see the note on Exod. xii. 43. As this is the only 
proselyte mentioned here, we may presume that all the rest 
were native Jews. From this Nicolas, it is supposed that the 
sect called Nicolaitans, mentioned Rev. ii. 6, 15, derived 
their origin. Dr. Lightfoot doubts this, and rather inclines 
to derive the name "from alwkyn nicola, let us eat together; 
those brutes encouraging each other to eat meats offered to 
idols, like those in Isa. xxii. 13, who said, Let us eat 
flesh and drink wine, &c." Both Irenaeus and Epiphanius 
derive this sect from Nicolas the deacon.

Clemens Alexandrinus gives this Nicolas a good character, 
even while he allows that the sect who taught the community 
of wives pretended to derive their origin from him. See on 
Rev. ii. 6.

Verse 6. And when they had prayed] Instead of kai, and, the 
Codex Bezae reads oitinev, who, referring the act of praying 
to the apostles, which removes a sort of ambiguity. The 
apostles prayed for these persons, that they might in every 
respect be qualified for their office, and be made successful 
in it. And, when they had done this, they laid their hands 
upon them, and by this rite appointed them to their office. 
So then, it plainly appears that the choice of the Church was 
not sufficient: nor did the Church think it sufficient; but, 
as they knew their own members best, the apostles directed 
them, ver. 3, to choose those persons whom they deemed best 
qualified, according to the criterion laid down by the 
apostles themselves, that they should be of honest report, 
and full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom. Let us examine the 
process of this business: 1. There was an evident necessity 
that there should be more helpers in this blessed work 2. The 
apostles called the disciples together, that they might 
consider of this necessity and provide for it, ver. 3. They 
directed the disciples to choose out from among themselves 
such persons as they judged the most proper for the work. 4. 
They gave them the criterion by which their choice should be 
directed; not any man, not every man, not their nearest 
relative, or best beloved friend; but such as were of honest 
report, whose public character was known to be unblemished; 
and men who were full of the Holy Ghost, the influence of 
which would keep all right within, and direct their hearts 
into all truth; and men who were known to be men of prudence 
and economy, for not every good and pious man may be proper 
for such a work. 5. Seven persons being chosen by the 
disciples, according to this criterion, are presented to the 
apostles for their approbation and confirmation. The 
apostles, receiving them from the hands of the Church, 
consecrated them to God by prayer, imploring his blessing on 
them and their labour. 7. When this was done, they laid their 
hands upon them in the presence of the disciples, and thus 
appointed them to this sacred and important work; for it is 
evident they did not get their commission merely to serve 
tables, but to proclaim, in connection with and under the 
direction of the apostles, the word of life. Let no man say 
that any of the things here enumerated was unnecessary, and 
let no Church pretend or affect to do without them. 1. No 
preacher or minister should be provided till there is a place 
for him to labour in, and necessity for his labour. 2. Let 
none be imposed upon the Church of Christ who is not of that 
Church, well known and fully approved by that branch of it 
with which he was connected. 3.

Let none be sent to publish salvation from sin, and the 
necessity of a holy life, whose moral character cannot bear 
the strictest scrutiny among his neighbours and acquaintance. 
4. Let none, however moral, or well reported of, be sent to 
convert souls, who has not the most solid reason to believe 
that he is moved thereto by the Holy Ghost. 5. Let those who 
have the power to appoint see that the person be a man of 
wisdom, i.e. sound understanding-for a witling or a 
blockhead, however upright, will never make a Christian 
minister; and that he be a man of prudence, knowing how to 
direct his own concerns, and those of the Church of God, with 
discretion. 6. Let no private person, nor number of private 
members in a Church, presume to authorize such a person, 
though in every way qualified to preach the Gospel; for even 
the one hundred and twenty primitive disciples did not 
arrogate this to themselves. 7. Let the person be brought to 
those to whom God has given authority in the Church, and let 
them, after most solemnly invoking God, lay their hands upon 
him, according to the primitive and apostolic plan, and thus 
devote him to the work of the ministry. 8. Let such a one 
from that moment consider himself the property of God and his 
Church, and devote all his time, talents, and powers, to 
convert sinners, and build up believers in their most holy 
faith.

9. And let the Church of God consider such a person as 
legitimately and divinely sent, and receive him as the 
ambassador of Christ.

Verse 7. The word of God increased] By such preachers as the 
apostles and these deacons, no wonder the doctrine of God 
increased-became widely diffused and generally known; in 
consequence of which, the number of the disciples must be 
greatly multiplied: for God will ever bless his own word, 
when ministered by those whom he has qualified to proclaim 
it.

A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.] 
This was one of the greatest miracles wrought by the grace of 
Christ: that persons so intent on the destruction of Christ, 
his apostles, and his doctrine, should at last espouse that 
doctrine, is astonishing; and that they who had withstood the 
evidence of the miracles of Christ should have yielded to the 
doctrine of his death and resurrection, is worthy of note. 
And from this we may learn that it is not by miracles that 
sinners are to be converted unto God, but by the preaching of 
Christ dying for their offenses, and rising again for their 
justification.

Instead of lerewn, priests, a few MSS., and the Syriac, read 
ioudaiwn, Jews; for the copyists seem to be struck here with 
two difficulties: 1. That such persons as these priests could 
be converted. 2. That the word oxlov, company, or multitude, 
could with propriety be applied to this class, which must 
have been inconsiderable in their numbers, when compared with 
the rest of the Jews. To preserve the ancient reading, which 
is undoubtedly genuine, some have altered the text by 
conjecture; and, by putting a comma after oclov, and a kai 
before twn ierewn, make the text read thus: And a great 
multitude, and some of the priests, were obedient to the 
faith. This conjecture is unnecessary, as there is no such 
difficulty here as to require so desperate an expedient, 
which is not recommended by the evidence of a single MS. or 
version. 1. The grace of Christ Jesus can save even a 
murderous Jewish priest: his death is a grand atonement for 
all crimes and for the worst of sinners. 2. In the twenty-
four courses of priests, there was not a multitude merely, 
but multitudes: indeed the number of ecclesiastics at 
Jerusalem was enormous. A great company out of these might be 
converted, and yet multitudes be left behind.

Verse 8. Stephen, full of faith and power] Instead of 
pistewv, faith, caritov, grace, is the reading of ABD, 
several others, the Syriac of Erpen, the Coptic, Armenian, 
Vulgate, and some of the fathers. This reading Griesbach has 
admitted into the text. Some MSS. join both readings.

Stephen was full of faith-gave unlimited credence to the 
promises of his Lord; he was full of grace-receiving the 
fulfillment of those promises, he enjoyed much of the unction 
of the Divine Spirit, and much of the favour of his God; and, 
in consequence, he was full of power, dunamewv, of the Divine 
energy by which he was enabled to work great wonders and 
miracles among the people.

Verse 9. The synagogue-of the Libertines, &c.] That Jews and 
proselytes from various countries had now come up to 
Jerusalem to bring offerings, and to attend the feast of 
pentecost, we have already seen, chap. ii. 9-11. The persons 
mentioned here were foreign Jews, who appear to have had a 
synagogue peculiar to themselves at Jerusalem, in which they 
were accustomed to worship when they came to the public 
festivals.

Various opinions have been entertained concerning the 
Libertines mentioned here: Bp. Pearce's view of the subject 
appears to me to be the most correct.

"It is commonly thought that by this name is meant the sons 
of such Jews as had been slaves, and obtained their freedom 
by the favour of their masters; but it is to be observed that 
with these Libertines the Cyrenians and Alexandrians are here 
joined, as having one and the same synagogue for their public 
worship. And it being known that the Cyrenians (chap. ii. 10) 
lived in Libya, and the Alexandrians in the neighbourhood of 
it, it is most natural to look for the Libertines too in that 
part of the world. Accordingly we find Suidas, in his 
Lexicon, saying, upon the word libertinoi, that it is onoma 
tou eqnouv, the name of a people. And in Gest. Collationis 
Carthagine habitae inter Catholicos et Donatistas, published 
with Optatus's works, Paris, 1679, (No. 201, and p. 57,) we 
have these words: Victor episcopus Ecclesiae Catholicae 
LIBERTINENSIS dixit, Unitas est illic, publicam non latet 
conscientiam. Unity is there: all the world knows it.

From these two passages it appears that there was in Libya a 
town or district called Libertina, whose inhabitants bore the 
name of libertinoi, Libertines, when Christianity prevailed 
there. They had an episcopal see among them, and the above-
mentioned Victor was their bishop at the council of Carthage, 
in the reign of the Emperor honourius. And from hence it 
seems probable that the town or district, and the people, 
existed in the time of which Luke is here speaking. They were 
Jews, (no doubt,) and came up, as the Cyrenian and 
Alexandrian Jews did, to bring their offerings to Jerusalem, 
and to worship God in the temple there. Cunaeus, in his Rep. 
Hebr. ii. 23, says that the Jews who lived in Alexandria and 
Libya, and all other Jews who lived out of the Holy Land, 
except those of Babylon and its neighbourhood, were held in 
great contempt by the Jews who inhabited Jerusalem and Judea; 
partly on account of their quitting their proper country, and 
partly on account of their using the Greek language, and 
being quite ignorant of the other. For these reasons it seems 
probable that the Libertines, Cyrenians, and Alexendrians, 
had a separate synagogue; (as perhaps the Cilicians and those 
of Asia had;) the Jews of Jerusalem not suffering them to be 
present in their synagogues, or they not choosing to perform 
their public service in synagogues where a language was used 
which they did not understand." It is supposed, also, that 
these synagogues had theological, if not philosophical, 
schools attached to them; and that it was the disciples or 
scholars of these schools who came forward to dispute with 
Stephen, and were enraged because they were confounded. For 
it is not an uncommon custom with those who have a bad cause, 
which can neither stand the test of Scripture nor reason, to 
endeavour to support it by physical when logical force has 
failed; and thus: - "Prove their doctrine orthodox, By 
apostolic blows and knocks." In the reign of Queen Mary, when 
popery prevailed in this country, and the simplest women who 
had read the Bible were an overmatch for the greatest of the 
popish doctors; as they had neither Scripture nor reason to 
allege, they burned them alive, and thus terminated a 
controversy which they were unable to maintain. The same 
cause will ever produce the same effect: the Libertines, 
Cilicians, Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, pursued this course: 
Stephen confounded them by Scripture and reason, and they 
beat his brains out with stones! This was the most effectual 
way to silence a disputant whose wisdom they could not 
resist. In the same way were the Protestants treated, when by 
Scripture and reason they had shown the absurdity and 
wickedness of that anti-christian system which the fire and 
the sword were brought forth to establish. These persecutors 
professed great concern at first for the souls of those whom 
they variously tortured, and at last burned; but their tender 
mercies were cruel, and when they gave up the body to the 
flames, they most heartily consigned the soul to Satan.

Scires ä sanguine natos: their conduct proclaimed their 
genealogy.

Verse 10. They there not able to resist the wisdom, &c.] He 
was wise, well exercised and experienced, in Divine things; 
and, as appears by his defense, in the following chapter, 
well versed in the Jewish history. The spirit by which he 
spake was the Holy Spirit, and its power was irresistible. 
They were obliged either to yield to its teachings, or were 
confounded by its truth. Several MSS. add to this verse, 
because he reproved them with boldness, they could not resist 
the truth. This reading is not genuine, though it exists (but 
in different forms) in some good MSS.

Verse 11. Then they suborned men] upebalon. They made 
underhand work; got associated to themselves profligate 
persons, who for money would swear any thing.

Blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.] This was 
the most deadly charge they could bring against him. We have 
already seen, Matt. ix. 4, that blasphemy, when against GOD, 
signifies speaking impiously of his nature, attributes, or 
works; and, when against men, it signifies speaking 
injuriously of their character, blasting their reputation, 
&c. These false witnesses came to prove that he had 
blasphemed Moses by representing him as an impostor, or the 
like; and GOD, by either denying his being, his providence, 
the justice of his government, &c.

Verse 12. And they] The Libertines, &c., mentioned before, 
stirred up the people-raised a mob against him, and, to 
assist and countenance the mob, got the elders and scribes to 
conduct it, who thus made themselves one with the basest of 
the people, whom they collected; and then, altogether, 
without law or form of justice, rushed on the good man, 
seized him, and brought him to a council who, though they sat 
in the seat of judgment, were ready for every evil work.

Verse 13. Against this holy place] The temple, that it shall 
be destroyed.

And the law] That it cannot give life, nor save from death. 
It is very likely that they had heard him speak words to this 
amount, which were all as true as the spirit from which they 
proceeded; but they gave them a very false colouring, as we 
see in the succeeding verse.

Verse 15. Saw his face, as it had been the face of an angel.] 
Sayings like this are frequent among the Jewish writers, who 
represent God as distinguishing eminent men by causing a 
glory to shine from their faces.

Rabbi Gedalia said that, "when Moses and Aaron came before 
Pharaoh, they appeared like those angels which minister 
before the face of the Lord; for their stature appeared 
greater, and the splendour of their faces was like the sun, 
and their eyes like the wheels of the sun; their beard like 
clusters of grapes, and their words like thunder and 
lightning; and that, through fear of them, those who were 
present fell to the earth." The like is said of Moses, in 
Debarim Rabba, fol. 75. that "when Sammael (Satan) came to 
Moses, the splendour of his face was like the sun, and 
himself resembled an angel of God." The reader may find 
several similar sayings in Schoettgen.

It appears that the light and power of God which dwelt in his 
soul shone through his face, and God gave them this proof of 
the falsity of the testimony which was now before them; for, 
as the face of Stephen now shone as the face of Moses did 
when he came down from the mount, it was the fullest proof 
that he had not spoken blasphemous words either against Moses 
or God, else this splendour of heaven had not rested upon 
him.

The history of the apostolic Church is a series of wonders. 
Every thing that could prevent such a Church from being 
established, or could overthrow it when established, is 
brought to bear against it. The instruments employed in its 
erection and defense had neither might nor power, but what 
came immediately from God. They work, and God works with 
them; the Church is founded and built up; and its 
adversaries, with every advantage in their favour, cannot 
overthrow it. Is it possible to look at this, without seeing 
the mighty hand of God in the whole? He permits devils and 
wicked men to work-to avail themselves of all their 
advantages, yet counterworks all their plots and designs, 
turns their weapons against themselves, and promotes his 
cause by the very means that were used to destroy it. How 
true is the saying, There is neither might nor counsel 
against the Lord!

CHAPTER vii.

Stephen, being permitted to answer for himself relative to 
the charge of blasphemy brought against him by his accusers, 
gives a circumstantial relation of the call of Abraham, when 
he dwelt in Mesopotamia, in Charran, &c., 1-8. The history of 
Jacob and Joseph, 9-17. The persecution of their fathers in 
Egypt, 18, 19. The history of Moses and his acts till the 
exodus from Egypt, 20-37. The rebellion and idolatry of the 
Israelites in the wilderness, 38-43 The erection of the 
tabernacle of witness, which continued till the time of 
David, 44-46. Of the temple built by Solomon for that God who 
cannot be confined to temples built by hands, 47-50. Being 
probably interrupted in the prosecution of his discourse, he 
urges home the charge of rebellion against God, persecution 
of his prophets, the murder of Christ, and neglect of their 
own law against them, 51-53. They are filled with 
indignation, and proceed to violence, 54. He sees the glory 
of God, and Christ at the right hand of the Father; and 
declares the glorious vision, 55, 56. They rush upon him, 
drag him out of the city, and stone him, 57, 58. He involves 
the Lord Jesus, prays for his murderers, and expires, 59, 60.

NOTES ON CHAP. vii.

Verse 1. Are these things so?] Hast thou predicted the 
destruction of the temple? And hast thou said that Jesus of 
Nazareth shall change our customs, abolish our religious 
rites and temple service? Hast thou spoken these blasphemous 
things against Moses, and against God? Here was some colour 
of justice; for Stephen was permitted to defend himself. And, 
in order to do this he thought it best to enter into a detail 
of their history from the commencement of their nation; and 
thus show how kindly God had dealt with them, and how 
ungraciously they and their fathers had requited Him. And all 
this naturally led him to the conclusion, that God could no 
longer bear with a people the cup of whose iniquity had been 
long overflowing; and therefore they might expect to find 
wrath, without mixture of mercy.

But how could St. Luke get all this circumstantial account? 
1. He might have been present, and heard the whole; or, more 
probably, he had the account from St. Paul, whose companion 
he was, and who was certainly present when St. Stephen was 
judged and stoned, for he was consenting to his death, and 
kept the clothes of them who stoned him. See ver. 58; viii. 
1; xxii. 20.

Verse 2. Men, brethren, and fathers] Rather, brethren and 
fathers, for andrev should not be translated separately from 
adelfoi. Literally it is men-brethren, a very usual form in 
Greek; for every person knows that andrev aqhnaioi and andrev 
persai should not be translated men-Athenians and men-
Persians, but simply Athenians and Persians. See chap. xvii. 
22. So, in Luke ii. 15, anqrwpoi poimenev should be 
translated shepherds, not men-shepherds. And anqrwpov 
basileuv Matt. xviii. 23, should not be translated man-king, 
but king, simply. By translating as we do, men, brethren, and 
fathers, and putting a comma after men, we make Stephen 
address three classes, when in fact there were but two: the 
elders and scribes, whom he addressed as fathers; and the 
common people, whom he calls brethren. See Bp. Pearce, and 
see chap. viii. 27.

The God of glory appeared, &c.] As Stephen was now 
vindicating himself from the false charges brought against 
him, he shows that he had uttered no blasphemy, either 
against God, Moses, or the temple; but states that his 
accusers, and the Jews in general, were guilty of the faults 
with which they charged him: that they had from the beginning 
rejected and despised Moses, and had always violated his 
laws. He proceeds to state that there is no blasphemy in 
saying that the temple shall be destroyed: they had been 
without a temple till the days of David; nor does God ever 
confine himself to temples built by hands, seeing he fills 
both heaven and earth; that Jesus is the prophet of whom 
Moses spoke, and whom they had persecuted, condemned, and at 
last put to death; that they were wicked and uncircumcised in 
heart and in ears, and always resisted the Holy Ghost as 
their fathers did. This is the substance of St. Stephen's 
defense as far as he was permitted to make it: a defense 
which they could not confute; containing charges which they 
most glaringly illustrated and confirmed, by adding the 
murder of this faithful disciple to that of his all-glorious 
Master.

Was in Mesopotamia] In that part of it where Ur of the 
Chaldees was situated, near to BHebel, and among the rivers, 
(Tigris and Euphrates,) which gave the name of Mesopotamia to 
the country. See the note on Gen. xi. 31.

Before he dwelt in Charran] This is called Haran in our 
translation of Gen. xi. 31; this place also belonged to 
Mesopotamia, as well as Ur, but is placed west of it on the 
maps. It seems most probable that Abraham had two calls, one 
in Ur, and the other in Haran. He left Ur at the first call, 
and came to Haran; he left Haran at the second call, and came 
into the promised land. See these things more particularly 
stated in the notes on Gen. xii. 1.

Verse 4. When his father was dead] See the note on Genesis 
xi. 26.

Verse 5. Gave him none inheritance] Both Abraham and Jacob 
had small parcels of land in Canaan; but they had them by 
purchase, not by God's gift; for, as Abraham was obliged to 
buy a burying-place in Canaan, Gen. xxiii. 3-18, it is 
obvious he had no inheritance there.

And to his seed after him] See Gen. xii. 7; xiii. 15, and the 
notes there.

Verse 6. That his seed should sojourn in a strange land] See 
Gen. xv. 13, 14.

Four hundred years.] MOSES says, Exod. xii. 40, that the 
sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt-was 430 years. 
See the note there. St. PAUL has the same number, Gal. iii. 
17; and so has Josephus, Ant. lib. ii. cap.

1, sect. 9; in Bell. lib. v. cap. 9, sect. 4. St. Stephen 
uses the round number of 400, leaving out the odd tens, a 
thing very common, not only in the sacred writers, but in all 
others, those alone excepted who write professedly on 
chronological matters.

Verse 7. Will I judge] krinw egw, I will punish, for in this 
sense the Greek word is frequently taken. "When," says Bp. 
Pearce, "a malefactor is brought before a judge, the judge 
does three things: 1. he tries or judges him; 2. he then 
gives his judgment or sentence; and, 3. he puts the law in 
execution, and punishes him. Hence krinw, at different times, 
signifies each of these things; and the sense of the word is 
to be determined by the context. Here it signifies to punish, 
as krima is used for punishment, in Romans xiii. 2; 1 Cor. 
xi. 29, compared with 1 Cor. xi. 30, 31." The Egyptians, to 
whom the Israelites were in bondage, were punished by the ten 
plagues, described Exod. vii. 19-xii. 30

Verse 8. He gave him the covenant of circumcision] That is, 
he instituted the rite of circumcision, as a sign of that 
covenant which he had made with him and his posterity. See 
Gen. xvii. 10, &c.

And so Abraham begat Isaac] kai outwv, And thus, in this 
covenant, he begat Isaac; and as a proof that he was born 
under this covenant, was a true son of Abraham and inheritor 
of the promises, he circumcised him the eighth day; and this 
rite being observed in the family of Isaac, Jacob and his 
twelve sons were born under the covenant; and thus their 
descendants, the twelve tribes, being born under the same 
covenant, and practising the same rite, were, by the 
ordinance of Gods legal inheritors of the promised land, and 
all the secular and spiritual advantages connected with it.

Verse 9. And the patriarchs] The twelve sons of Jacob, thus 
called because each was chief or head of his respective 
family or tribe.

Moved with envy] zhlwsantev. We translate zhlov variously: 
zeal or fervent affection, whether its object be good or bad, 
is its general meaning; and zhlow signifies to be indignant, 
envious, &c. See the note on chap. v. 17. The brethren of 
Joseph, hearing of his dreams, and understanding them to 
portend his future advancement, filled with envy, (with which 
no ordinary portion of malice was associated,) sold Joseph 
into the land of Egypt, hoping by this means to prevent his 
future grandeur; but God, from whom the portents came, was 
with him, and made their envy the direct means of 
accomplishing the great design.

Verse 10. Gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh] 
God gave him much wisdom, in consequence of which he had 
favour with the king of Egypt. See the whole of this 
remarkable history explained at large, Gen. xli. 1-xlv. 28.

Verse 14. Threescore and fifteen souls.] There are several 
difficulties here, which it is hoped the reader will find 
satisfactorily removed in the note on Gen. xlvi. 20. It is 
well known that in Gen. xlvi. 27, and in Deut. x. 22, their 
number is said to be threescore and ten; but Stephen quotes 
from the Septuagint, which adds five persons to the account 
which are not in the Hebrew text, Machir, Gilead, Sutelaam, 
Taham, and Edem; but see the note referred to above.

Verse 16. And were carried over to Sychem] "It is said, 
Genesis l. 13, that Jacob was buried in the cave of the field 
of Machpelah before Mamre.

And in Josh. xxiv. 32, and Exod. xiii. 19, it is said that 
the bones of Joseph were carried out of Egypt by the 
Israelites, and buried in Shechem, which Jacob bought from 
the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem. As for the eleven 
brethren of Joseph, we are told by Josephus, Ant. lib. ii. 
cap. 8. sect. 2, that they were buried in Hebron, where their 
father had been buried. But, since the books of the Old 
Testament say nothing about this, the authority of Stephen 
(or of Luke here) for their being buried in Sychem is at 
least as good as that of Josephus for their being buried in 
Hebron."-Bp. Pearce.

We have the uniform consent of the Jewish writers that all 
the patriarchs were brought out of Egypt, and buried in 
Canaan, but none, except Stephen, mentions their being buried 
in Sychem. As Sychem belonged to the Samaritans, probably the 
Jews thought it too great an honour for that people to 
possess the bones of the patriarchs; and therefore have 
carefully avoided making any mention of it. This is Dr. 
Lightfoot's conjecture; and it is as probable as any other.

That Abraham bought for a sum of money] Two accounts seem 
here to be confounded: 1. The purchase made by Abraham of the 
cave and field of Ephron, which was in the field of 
Machpelah: this purchase was made from the children of Heth, 
Gen. xxiii. 3, 10, 17. 2. The purchase made by Jacob, from 
the sons of Hamor or Emmor, of a sepulchre in which the bones 
of Joseph were laid: this was in Sychem or Shechem, Gen. 
xxxiii. 19; Josh. xxiv. 32. The word Abraham, therefore, in 
this place, is certainly a mistake; and the word Jacob, which 
some have supplied, is doubtless more proper. Bp. Pearce 
supposes that Luke originally wrote, o wnhsato timhv 
arguriou, which he bought for a sum of money: i.e. which 
Jacob bought, who is the last person, of the singular number, 
spoken of in the preceding verse. Those who saw that the word 
wnhsato, bought, had no nominative case joined to it, and did 
not know where to find the proper one, seem to have inserted 
abraam, Abraham, in the text, for that purpose, without 
sufficiently attending to the different circumstances of his 
purchase from that of Jacob's.

Verse 18. Which knew not Joseph.] That is, did not approve of 
him, of his mode of governing the kingdom, nor of his people, 
nor of his God. See the note on Exod. i. 8.

Verse 19. The same dealt subtilty] outov katasofisamenov, A 
word borrowed from the Septuagint, who thus translate the 
Hebrew wl hmkjhn nithchokmah lo, let us deal wisely with it, 
i.e. with cunning and deceit, as the Greek word implies; and 
which is evidently intended by the Hebrew. See Gen. xxvii. 
35, Thy brother came with subtilty, which the Targumist 
explains by amkwjb be-chokma, with wisdom, that is, cunning 
and deceit. For this the Egyptians were so remarkable that 
aiguptiazein, to Egyptize, signified to act cunningly, and to 
use wicked devices. Hence the Jews compared them to foxes; 
and it is of them that Canticles, So ii. 15, is understood by 
the rabbins: Take us the little foxes which spoil our vines; 
destroy the Egyptians, who, having slain our male children, 
sought to destroy the name of Israel from the face of the 
earth.

To the end they might not live.] Might not grow up and 
propagate, and thus build up the Hebrew nation.

Verse 20. Moses-was exceeding fair] asteiov tw qew, Was fair 
to God, i.e. was divinely beautiful. See the note on Exod. 
ii. 2.

Verse 22. In all the wisdom of the Egyptians] Who were, at 
that time, the most intelligent and best instructed people in 
the universe. Philo says, Moses was taught arithmetic, 
geometry, poetry, music, medicine, and the knowledge of 
hieroglyphics. In Sohar Cadash, fol. 46, it is said, "that, 
of the ten portions of wisdom which came into the world, the 
Egyptians had nine, and that all the inhabitants of the earth 
had only the remaining portion." Much of the same nature may 
be seen in the rabbins, though they apply the term wisdom 
here to magic.

Was mighty in words and in deeds.] This may refer to the 
glorious doctrines he taught, and the miracles he wrought in 
Egypt. Josephus Ant. lib. ii. cap. 10, sect. 1, gives an 
account of his being general of an Egyptian army, defeating 
the Ethiopians, who had invaded Egypt, driving them back into 
their own country, and taking Saba their capital, which was 
afterwards called Meroe. But this, like many other tales of 
the same writer, is worthy of little credit.

Phoenix says the same of Achilles: - muqwn te rhthrÆ emenai, 
prhkthra te ergwn. Il. ix. v. 443.

Not only an orator of words, but a performer of deeds.

Verse 23. When he was full forty years old] This was a 
general tradition among the Jews: "Moses was forty years in 
Pharaoh's court, forty years in Midian, and forty years he 
served Israel." To visit his brethren] Probably on the ground 
of trying to deliver them from their oppressive bondage. This 
desire seems to have been early infused into his mind by the 
Spirit of God; and the effect of this desire to deliver his 
oppressed countrymen was his refusing to be called the son of 
Pharoah's daughter-see Hebrews xi. 24, and thus renouncing 
all right to the Egyptian crown, choosing rather to endure 
addiction with the people of God than enjoy the pleasures of 
sin for a season.

Verse 24. Smote the Egyptian] See this explained, Exod. ii. 
11, 12.

Verse 25. He supposed his brethren would have understood, 
&c.] He probably imagined that, as he felt from the Divine 
influence he was appointed to be their deliverer, they would 
have his Divine appointment signified to them in a similar 
way; and the act of justice which he now did in behalf of his 
oppressed countryman would be sufficient to show them that he 
was now ready to enter upon his office, if they were willing 
to concur.

Verse 26. Unto them as they strove] Two Hebrews, See on Exod. 
ii. 13, &c.

Verse 30. In a flame of fire in a bush.] See this and the 
following verses largely explained in the notes on Exod. iii. 
1-8.

Verse 36. He brought them out, after that he had showed 
wonders, &c.] Thus the very person whom they had rejected, 
and, in effect, delivered up into the hands of Pharaoh that 
he might be slain, was the person alone by whom they were 
redeemed from their Egyptian bondage. And does not St. 
Stephen plainly say by this, that the very person, Jesus 
Christ, whom they had rejected and delivered up into the 
hands of Pilate to be crucified, was the person alone by whom 
they could be delivered out of their spiritual bondage, and 
made partakers of the inheritance among the saints in light? 
No doubt they felt that this was the drift of his speech.

Verse 37. This is that Moses, which said-A prophet, &c.] This 
very Moses, so highly esteemed and honoured by God, announced 
that very prophet whom ye have lately put to death. See the 
observations at Deut. xviii. 22.

Verse 38. With the angel which spake to him] Stephen shows 
that Moses received the law by the ministry of angels; and 
that he was only a mediator between the angel of God and 
them.

The lively oracles] logia zwnta, The living oracles. The 
doctrines of life, those doctrines-obedience to which 
entitled them, by the promise of God, to a long life upon 
earth, which spoke to them of that spiritual life which every 
true believer has in union with his God, and promised that 
eternal life which those who are faithful unto death shall 
enjoy with him in the realms of glory.

The Greek word logion, which we translate oracle, signifies a 
Divine revelation, a communication from God himself, and is 
here applied to the Mosaic law; to the Old Testament in 
general, Rom. iii. 2; Heb. v. 12; and to Divine revelation in 
general, 1 Pet. iv. 11.

Verse 39. In their hearts turned back again into Egypt] 
Became idolaters, and preferred their Egyptian bondage and 
their idolatry to the promised land and the pure worship of 
God. See the whole of these transactions explained at large 
in the notes on Exodus xxxii. 1-35.

Verse 42. Then God turned, and gave them up, &c.] He left 
them to themselves, and then they deified and worshipped the 
sun, moon, planets, and principal stars.

In the book of the prophets] As this quotation is found in 
Amos, Amos v. 25, by the book of the prophets is meant the 
twelve minor prophets, which, in the ancient Jewish division 
of the sacred writings, formed only one book.

Have ye offered to me slain beasts] It is certain that the 
Israelites did offer various sacrifices to God, while in the 
wilderness; and it is as certain that they scarcely ever did 
it with an upright heart. They were idolatrous, either in 
heart or act, in almost all their religious services; these 
were therefore so very imperfect that they were counted for 
nothing in the sight of God; for this seems to be strongly 
implied in the question here asked, Have ye offered to ME 
(exclusively and with an upright heart) slain beasts and 
sacrifices by the space of forty years? On the contrary, 
these forty years were little else than a tissue of rebellion 
and idolatry.

Verse 43. Ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star 
of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them.] 
This is a literal translation of the place, as it stands in 
the Septuagint; but in the Hebrew text it stands thus: But ye 
have borne the tabernacle of your Molech, and Chiun, your 
images, the star of your god which ye made to yourselves.

This is the simple version of the place, unless we should 
translate µkklm twko ta µtasnw venasatem eth Siccuth 
malkekem, ye took SIKUTH your king, (instead of ye took up 
the tabernacle of your MOLEK,) as some have done. The place 
is indeed very obscure, and the two texts do not tend to cast 
light on each other. The rabbins say siccuth, which we 
translate tabernacle, is the name of an idol. Molech is 
generally understood to mean the sun; and several persons of 
good judgment think that by Remphan or Raiphan is meant the 
planet Saturn, which the Copts call rhfan, Rephan.

It will be seen above that instead of Remphan, or, as some of 
the best MSS. have it, Rephan, the Hebrew text has wyk Chiun, 
which might possibly be a corruption of pyr Reiphan, as it 
would be very easy to mistake the k caph for r resh, and the 
vau shurek w for p pe. This emendation would bring the 
Hebrew, Septuagint, and the text of Luke, nearer together; 
but there is no authority either from MSS. or versions for 
this correction: however, as Chiun is mentioned in no other 
place, though Molech often occurs, it is the more likely that 
there might have been some very early mistake in the text, 
and that the Septuagint has preserved the true reading.

It was customary for the idolaters of all nations to carry 
images of their gods about them in their journeys, military 
expeditions, &c.; and these, being very small, were enclosed 
in little boxes, perhaps some of them in the shape of 
temples, called tabernacles; or, as we have it, chap. xix. 
24, shrines. These little gods were the penates and lares 
among the Romans, and the tselems or talismans among the 
ancient eastern idolaters. The Hebrew text seems to refer to 
these when it says, the tabernacle of your Molech, and Chiun, 
your images, µkymlx tsalmeycem, your tselems, touv tupouv, 
the types or simulachres of your gods. See the note on Gen. 
xxxi. 19. Many of those small portable images are now in my 
own collection, all of copper or brass; some of them the 
identical penates of the ancient Romans, and others the 
offspring of the Hindoo idolatry; they are from an ounce 
weight to half a pound. Such images as these I suppose the 
idolatrous Israelites, in imitation of their neighbours, the 
Moabites, Ammonites, &c., to have carried about with them; 
and to such the prophet appears to me unquestionably to 
allude.

I will carry you away beyond Babylon.] You have carried your 
idolatrous images about; and I will carry you into captivity, 
and see if the gods in whom ye have trusted can deliver you 
from my hands. Instead of beyond Babylon, Amos, from whom the 
quotation is made, says, I will carry you beyond Damascus. 
Where they were carried was into Assyria and Media, see 2 
Kings xvii. 6: now, this was not only beyond Damascus, but 
beyond Babylon itself; and, as Stephen knew this to be the 
fact, he states it here, and thus more precisely fixes the 
place of their captivity.

The Holy Spirit, in his farther revelations, has undoubted 
right to extend or illustrate those which he had given 
before. This case frequently occurs when a former prophecy is 
quoted in later times.

Verse 44. Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the 
wilderness] That is, the tabernacle in which the two tables 
of stone written by the finger of God were laid up, as a 
testimony that he had delivered these laws to the people, and 
that they had promised to obey them. As one great design of 
St. Stephen was to show the Jews that they placed too much 
dependence on outward privileges, and had not used the law, 
the tabernacle, the temple, nor the temple service, for the 
purpose of their institution, he labours to bring them to a 
due sense of this, that conviction might lead to repentance 
and conversion. And he farther shows that God did not confine 
his worship to one place, or form. He was worshipped without 
any shrine in the times of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, 
Jacob, &c. He was worshipped with a tabernacle, or portable 
temple, in the wilderness. He was worshipped also in the 
fixed temple projected by David, but built by Solomon. He 
asserts farther that his infinite majesty cannot be confined 
to temples, made by human hands; and where there is neither 
tabernacle nor temple, (in any part of his vast dominions,) 
he may be worshipped acceptably by the upright in heart. Thus 
he proves that neither tabernacle nor temple are essentially 
requisite for the true worship of the true God. Concerning 
the tabernacle to which St. Stephen here refers, the reader 
is requested to consult the notes on Exod. xxv. 8, &c., and 
the subsequent chapters.

Speaking unto Moses] Æo lalwn, Who spake, as in the margin; 
signifying the angel of God who spake to Moses, or God 
himself. See Exod. xxv. 40.

Verse 45. Brought in with Jesus] That is, with JOSHUA, whom 
the Greek version, quoted by St. Stephen, always writes 
ihsouv, JESUS, but which should constantly be written Josh. 
in such cases as the present, in order to avoid ambiguity and 
confusion.

Possession of the Gentiles] twn eqnwn, of the heathens, whom 
Joshua conquered, and gave their land to the children of 
Israel.

Verse 46. Desired to find a tabernacle] This was in David's 
heart, and it met with the Divine approbation: see 2 Sam. 
vii. 2, Ac., and see the purpose, Psa. cxxxii. 2-5; but, as 
David had been a man of war, and had shed much blood, God 
would not permit him to build the temple; but he laid the 
plan and made provision for it, and Solomon executed the 
design.

Verse 48. The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with 
hands] Here St. Stephen evidently refers to Solomon's speech, 
1 Kings viii. 27. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? 
Behold, the heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain 
thee, how much less this house that I have builded? Both 
Solomon and St. Stephen mean that the majesty of God could 
not be contained, not even in the whole vortex of nature; 
much less in any temple which human hands could erect.

As saith the prophet] The place referred to is Isa. lxvi. 1, 
2: Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the 
earth my footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto me? 
And where is the place of my rest, &c., with which the 
quotation by Stephen agrees.

Verse 50. Hath not my hand made all these things?] Stephen 
certainly had not finished his discourse, nor drawn his 
inferences from the facts already stated; but it is likely 
that, as they perceived he was about to draw conclusions 
unfavourable to the temple and its ritual, they immediately 
raised up a clamour against him, which was the cause of the 
following very cutting address.

Verse 51. Ye stiff-necked] sklhrotrachloi. A metaphor taken 
from untoward oxen, who cannot be broken into the yoke; and 
whose strong necks cannot be bended to the right or the left.

Uncircumcised in heart and ears] This was a Jewish mode of 
speech, often used by the prophets. Circumcision was 
instituted, not only as a sign and seal of the covenant into 
which the Israelites entered with their Maker, but also as a 
type of that purity and holiness which the law of God 
requires; hence there was an excision of what was deemed not 
only superfluous but also injurious; and by this cutting off, 
the propensity to that crime which ruins the body, debases 
the mind, and was generally the forerunner of idolatry, was 
happily lessened. It would be easy to prove this, were not 
the subject too delicate. Where the spirit of disobedience 
was found, where the heart was prone to iniquity, and the 
ears impatient of reproof and counsel, the person is 
represented as uncircumcised in those parts, because devoted 
to iniquity, impatient of reproof, and refusing to obey. In 
Pirkey Eliezer, chap. 29, "Rabbi Seira said, There are five 
species of uncircumcision in the world; four in man, and one 
in trees. Those in man are the following: - "1. 
Uncircumcision of the EAR. Behold, their EAR is 
uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken, Jer. vi. 10.

"2. The uncircumcision of the LIPS. How shall Pharaoh hear 
me, who am of uncircumcised LIPS? Exod. vi. 12.

"3. Uncircumcision of HEART. If then their uncircumcised 
HEARTS be humbled, Lev. xxvi. 41. Circumcise therefore the 
FORESKIN of YOUR HEART, Deut. x. 16; Jeremiah iv. 4. For all 
the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the HEART, Jer. ix. 
26.

"4. The uncircumcision of the FLESH. Ye shall circumcise the 
FLESH of your FORESKIN, &c., Gen. xvii. 11." Ye do always 
resist the Holy Ghost] 1. Because they were uncircumcised in 
heart, they always resisted the influences of the Holy 
Spirit, bringing light and conviction to their minds; in 
consequence of which they became hardened through the 
deceitfulness of sin, and neither repented at the preaching 
of John, nor credited the glad tidings told them by Christ 
and the apostles. 2. Because they were uncircumcised in ears, 
they would neither hear nor obey Moses, the prophets, Christ, 
nor the apostles.

As your fathers did, so do ye.] They were disobedient 
children, of disobedient parents: in all their generations 
they had been disobedient and perverse. This whole people, as 
well as this text, are fearful proofs that the Holy Spirit, 
the almighty energy of the living God, may be resisted and 
rendered of none effect. This Spirit is not sent to stocks, 
stones, or machines, but to human beings endued with rational 
souls; therefore it is not to work on them with that 
irresistible energy which it must exert on inert matter, in 
order to conquer the vis inertiae or disposition to abide 
eternally in a motionless state, which is the state of all 
inanimate beings; but it works upon understanding, will, 
judgment, conscience, &c., in order to enlighten, convince, 
and persuade. If, after all, the understanding, the eye of 
the mind, refuses to behold the light; the will determines to 
remain obstinate; the judgment purposes to draw false 
inferences; and the conscience hardens itself against every 
check and remonstrance, (and all this is possible to a 
rational soul, which must be dealt with in a rational way,) 
then the Spirit of God, being thus resisted, is grieved, and 
the sinner is left to reap the fruit of his doings. To force 
the man to see, feel, repent, believe, and be saved, would be 
to alter the essential principles of his creation and the 
nature of mind, and reduce him into the state of a machine, 
the vis inertiae of which was to be overcome and conducted by 
a certain quantum of physical force, superior to that 
resistance which would be the natural effect of the certain 
quantum of the vis inertiae possessed by the subject on and 
by which this agent was to operate. Now, man cannot be 
operated on in this way, because it is contrary to the laws 
of his creation and nature; nor can the Holy Ghost work on 
that as a machine which himself has made a free agent. Man 
therefore may, and generally does, resist the Holy Ghost; and 
the whole revelation of God bears unequivocal testimony to 
this most dreadful possibility, and most awful truth. It is 
trifling with the sacred text to say that resisting the Holy 
Ghost here means resisting the laws of Moses, the 
exhortations, threatenings, and promises of the prophets, &c. 
These, it is true, the uncircumcised ear may resist; but the 
uncircumcised heart is that alone to which the Spirit that 
gave the laws, exhortations, promises, etc;, speaks; and, as 
matter resists matter, so spirit resists spirit. These were 
not only uncircumcised in ear, but uncircumcised also in 
heart; and therefore they resisted the Holy Ghost, not only 
in his declarations and institutions, but also in his actual 
energetic operations upon their minds.

Verse 52. Which of the prophets have not your fathers 
persecuted?] Ye have not only resisted the Holy Ghost, but ye 
have persecuted all those who have spoken to you in his name, 
and by his influence: thus ye prove your opposition to the 
Spirit himself, by your opposition to every thing that 
proceeds from him.

They have slain them, &c.] Isaiah, who showed before of the 
coming of Christ, the Jews report, was sawn asunder at the 
command of Manasseh.

The coming of the Just One] tou dikaiou, Meaning Jesus 
Christ; emphatically called the just or righteous person, not 
only because of the unspotted integrity of his heart and 
life, but because of his plenary acquittal, when tried at the 
tribunal of Pilate: I find no fault at all in him.

The mention of this circumstance served greatly to aggravate 
their guilt.

The character of Just One is applied to our Lord in three 
other places of Scripture: chap. iii. 14; xxii. 14; and James 
v. 6.

The betrayers and murderers] Ye first delivered him up into 
the hands of the Romans, hoping they would have put him to 
death; but, when they acquitted him, then, in opposition to 
the declaration of his innocence, and in outrage to every 
form of justice, ye took and murdered him. This was a most 
terrible charge; and one against which they could set up no 
sort of defense. No wonder, then, that they were instigated 
by the spirit of the old destroyer, which they never 
resisted, to add another murder to that of which they had 
been so recently guilty.

Verse 53. By the disposition of angels] eiv diatagav aggelwn. 
After all that has been said on this difficult passage, 
perhaps the simple meaning is, that there were ranks, 
diatagai, of angels attending on the Divine Majesty when he 
gave the law: a circumstance which must have added greatly to 
the grandeur and solemnity of the occasion; and to this Psa. 
lxviii. 17 seems to me most evidently to allude: The chariots 
of God are twenty thousand, even many thousands of angels: 
the Lord is among them as in SINAI, in the holy place. It was 
not then by the mouths nor by the hands of angels, as prime 
agents, that Moses, and through him the people, received the 
law; but God himself gave it, accompanied with many thousands 
of those glorious beings. As it is probable they might be 
assisting in this most glorious solemnity, therefore St. Paul 
might say, Gal. iii. 19, that it was ordained by angels, 
diatageiv diÆ aggelwn, in the hand of a Mediator. And as they 
were the only persons that could appear, for no man hath seen 
God at any time, therefore the apostle might say farther, (if 
indeed he refers to the same transaction, see the note 
there,) the word spoken by angels was steadfast, Hebrews ii. 
2. But the circumstances of this case are not sufficiently 
plain to lead to the knowledge of what was done by the angels 
in this most wonderful transaction; only we learn, from the 
use made of this circumstance by St. Stephen, that it added 
much to the enormity of their transgression, that they did 
not keep a law, in dispensing of which the ministry of angels 
had been employed. Some think Moses, Aaron, and Joshua are 
the angels here intended; and others think that the fire, 
light, darkness, cloud and thick darkness were the angels 
which Jehovah used on this occasion, and to which St. Stephen 
refers; but neither of these senses appears sufficiently 
natural, and particularly the latter.

Verse 54. They were cut to the heart] dieprionto, They were 
sawn through. See the note on chap. v. 33.

They gnashed on him with their teeth.] They were determined 
to hear him no longer; were filled with rage against him, and 
evidently thirsted for his blood.

Verse 55. Saw the glory of God] The Shekinah, the splendour 
or manifestation of the Divine Majesty.

And Jesus standing on the right hand of God] In his official 
character, as Mediator between God and man.

Stephen had this revelation while in the Sanhedrin; for as 
yet he had not been forced out of the city. See ver. 58.

Verse 57. They-stopped their ears] As a proof that he had 
uttered blasphemy, because he said, He saw Jesus standing at 
the right hand of God. This was a fearful proof against them; 
for if Jesus was at the right hand of God, then they had 
murdered an innocent person; and they must infer that God's 
justice must speedily avenge his death. They were determined 
not to suffer a man to live any longer who could say he saw 
the heavens opened and Jesus Christ standing at the right 
hand of God.

Verse 58. Cast him out of the city, and stoned him] They did 
not however wait for any sentence to be pronounced upon him; 
it seems they were determined to stone him first, and then 
prove, after it had been done, that it was done justly. For 
the manner of stoning among the Jews, see the note on Lev. 
xxiv. 23.

The witnesses laid down their clothes] To illustrate this 
whole transaction, see the observations at the end of this 
chapter. 

Verse 59. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God] The word 
God is not found in any MS. or version, nor in any of the 
primitive fathers except Chrysostom. It is not genuine, and 
should not be inserted here: the whole sentence literally 
reads thus: And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, 
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! Here is a most manifest proof 
that prayer is offered to Jesus Christ; and that in the most 
solemn circumstances in which it could be offered, viz., when 
a man was breathing his last. This is, properly speaking, one 
of the highest acts of worship which can be offered to God; 
and, if Stephen had not conceived Jesus Christ to be GOD, 
could he have committed his soul into his hands? We may 
farther observe that this place affords a full proof of the 
immateriality of the soul; for he could not have commended 
his spirit to Christ, had he believed that he had no spirit, 
or, in other words, that his body and soul were one and the 
same thing. Allowing this most eminent saint to have had a 
correct notion of theology, and that, being full of the Holy 
Ghost, as he was at this time, he could make no mistake in 
matters of such vast weight and importance, then these two 
points are satisfactorily stated in this verse: 1. That Jesus 
Christ is GOD; for Stephen died praying to him. 2. That the 
soul is immaterial; for Stephen, in dying, commends his 
departing spirit into the hand of Christ.

Verse 60. He kneeled down] That he might die as the subject 
of his heavenly MASTER-acting and suffering in the deepest 
submission to his Divine will and permissive providence; and, 
at the same time, showing the genuine nature of the religion 
of his Lord, in pouring out his prayers with his blood in 
behalf of his murderers! Lay not this sin to their charge.] 
That is, do not impute it to them so as to exact punishment. 
How much did the servant resemble his Lord, Father, forgive 
them, for they know not what they do! This was the cry of our 
Lord in behalf of his murderers; and the disciple, closely 
copying his Master, in the same spirit, and with the same 
meaning, varies the expression, crying with a loud voice, 
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge! What an extent of 
benevolence! And in what a beautiful light does this place 
the spirit of the Christian religion! Christ had given what 
some have supposed to be an impossible command; Love your 
enemies; pray for them that despitefully use and persecute 
you. And Stephen shows here, in his own person, how 
practicable the grace of his Master had made this sublime 
precept.

He fell asleep.] This was a common expression among the Jews 
to signify death, and especially the death of good men. But 
this sleep is, properly speaking, not attributable to the 
soul, but to the body; for he had commended his spirit to the 
Lord Jesus, while his body was overwhelmed with the shower of 
stones cast on him by the mob.

After the word ekoimhqh, fell asleep, one MS. adds, en 
eirhnh, in peace; and the Vulgate has, in Domino, in the 
Lord. Both these readings are true, as to the state of St. 
Stephen; but I believe neither of them was written by St. 
Luke.

The first clause of the next chapter should come in here, And 
Saul was consenting unto his death: never was there a worse 
division than that which separated it from the end of this 
chapter: this should be immediately altered, and the 
amputated member restored to the body to which it belongs.

1. THOUGH I have spoken pretty much at large on the 
punishment of stoning among the Jews, in the note on 
Leviticus xxiv. 23, yet, as the following extracts will serve 
to bring the subject more fully into view, in reference to 
the case of St. Stephen, the reader will not be displeased to 
find them here.

Dr. Lightfoot sums up the evidence he has collected on this 
subject, in the following particulars: - "I. The place of 
stoning was without the sanhedrin, according as it is said, 
bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp, Lev. xxiv. 
14. It is a tradition, the place of stoning was without three 
camps. The gloss tells us that the court was the camp of the 
Divine Presence; the mountain of the temple, the camp of the 
Levites; and Jerusalem, the camp of Israel. Now, in every 
sanhedrin, in whatever city, the place of stoning was without 
the city, as it was at Jerusalem.

We are told the reason by the Gemarists, why the place of 
stoning was without the sanhedrin, and again without three 
camps: viz. If the Sanhedrin go forth and sit without the 
three camps, they make the place for stoning also distant 
from the sanhedrin, partly lest the sanhedrin should seem to 
kill the man; partly, that by the distance of the place there 
may be a little stop and space of time before the criminal 
come to the place of execution, if peradventure any one might 
offer some testimony that might make for him; for in the 
expectation of some such thing: - "II. There stood one at the 
door of the sanhedrin having a handkerchief in his hand, and 
a horse at such a distance as it was only within sight. If 
any one therefore say, I have something to offer in behalf of 
the condemned person, he waves the handkerchief, and the 
horseman rides and calls back the people. Nay, if the man 
himself say, I have something to offer in my own defense, 
they bring him back four or five times one after another, if 
it be any thing of moment that he hath to say." I doubt they 
hardly dealt so gently with the innocent Stephen.

"III. If no testimony arise that makes any thing for him, 
then they go on to stoning him: the crier proclaiming before 
him, 'N. the son of N. comes forth to be stoned for such or 
such a crime. N. and N. are the witnesses against him; if any 
one have any thing to testify in his behalf, let him come 
forth and give his evidence.' "IV. When they come within ten 
cubits of the place where he must be stoned, they exhort him 
to confess, for so it is the custom for the malefactor to 
confess, because every one that confesseth hath his part in 
the world to come, as we find in the instance of Achan, &c.

"V. When they come within four cubits of the place, they 
strip off his clothes, and make him naked.

"VI. The place of execution was twice a man's height. One of 
the witnesses throws him down upon his loins; if he roll on 
his breast, they turn him on his loins again. If he die so, 
well. If not, then the other witness takes up a stone, and 
lays it upon his heart. If he die so, well. If not, he is 
stoned by all Israel.

"VII. All that are stoned, are handed also, &c." These things 
I thought fit to transcribe the more largely, that the reader 
may compare this present action with this rule and common 
usage of doing it.

"1. It may be questioned for what crime this person was 
condemned to die? You will say for blasphemy for the have 
heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against 
God. But no one is condemned as a blasphemer, unless for 
abusing the sacred name with four letters, viz. hwhy YeHoVaH. 
Hence it is that although they oftentimes accused our saviour 
as a blasphemer, yet he was not condemned for this, but 
because he used witchcraft and deceived Israel, and seduced 
them into apostasy. And those are reckoned among persons that 
are to be stoned: He that evilly persuades; and he that draws 
into apostasy; and he that is a conjuror.

"2. It may farther be questioned whether our blessed martyr 
was condemned by any formal sentence of the sanhedrin, or 
hurried in a tumultuary manner by the people; and so 
murdered: it seems to be the latter." 2. The defense of 
Stephen against the charges produced by his accusers must be 
considered as being indirect; as they had a show of truth for 
the ground of their accusations, it would have been improper 
at once to have roundly denied the charge. There is no doubt 
that Stephen had asserted and proved JESUS to be the Christ 
or MESSIAH; and that the whole nation should consider him as 
such, receive his doctrine, obey him, or expose themselves to 
the terrible sentence denounced in the prophecy of Moses: 
Whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall 
speak in my name, I will require it of him, Deut. xviii. 19; 
for they well knew that this word implied that Divine 
judgments should inevitably fall upon them.

To make proper way for this conclusion, Stephen enters into a 
detail of their history, showing that, from the beginning, 
God had in view the dispensation which was now opening, and 
that his designs were uniformly opposed by their impious 
forefathers. That, notwithstanding all this, God carried on 
his work: First, by revealing his will to ABRAHAM, and giving 
him the rite of circumcision, which was to be preserved among 
his descendants. Secondly, to MOSES and AARON in Egypt. 
Thirdly, to the whole congregation of Israel at Mount Sinai, 
and variously in the wilderness. Fourthly, by instituting the 
tabernacle worship, which was completed in the promised land, 
and continued till the days of Solomon, when the temple was 
builded, and the worship of God became fixed.

Fifthly, by the long race of prophets raised up under that 
temple, who had been all variously persecuted by their 
forefathers, who departed from the true worship, and 
frequently became idolatrous; in consequence of which God 
gave them up into the hands of their enemies, and they were 
carried into captivity. How far St. Stephen would have 
proceeded, or to what issue he would have brought his 
discourse, we can only conjecture, as the fury of his 
persecutors did not permit him to come to a conclusion. But 
this they saw most clearly, that, from his statement, they 
could expect no mercy at the hand of God, if they persisted 
in their opposition to Jesus of Nazareth, and that their 
temple and political existence must fall a sacrifice to their 
persevering obstinacy. Their guilt stung them to the heart, 
and they were determined rather to vent their insupportable 
feelings by hostile and murderous acts, than in penitential 
sorrow and supplication for mercy.

The issue was the martyrdom of Stephen; a man of whom the 
sacred writings give the highest character, and a man who 
illustrated that character in every part of his conduct. 
Stephen is generally called the proto-martyr, i.e. the FIRST 
martyr or witness, as the word martur implies; the person 
who, at the evident risk and ultimate loss of his life, bears 
testimony to TRUTH. This honour, however, may be fairly 
contested, and the palm at least divided between him and John 
the Baptist. The martyrdom of Stephen, and the spirit in 
which he suffered, have been an honour to the cause for which 
he cheerfully gave up his life, for eighteen hundred years.

While Christianity endures, (and it will endure till time is 
swallowed up in eternity,) the martyrdom of Stephen will be 
the model, as it has been, for all martyrs, and a cause of 
triumph to the Church of God.

3. I cannot close these observations without making one 
remark on his prayer for his murderers. Though this shows 
most forcibly the amiable, forgiving spirit of the martyr, 
yet we must not forget that this, and all the excellent 
qualities with which the mind of this blessed man was endued, 
proceeded from that HOLY GHOST of whose influences his mind 
was full.

The prayer therefore shows most powerfully the matchless 
benevolence of GOD. Even these most unprincipled, most 
impious, and most brutal of all murderers, were not out of 
the reach of HIS mercy! His Spirit influenced the heart of 
this martyr to pray for his destroyers; and could such 
prayers fail? No: Saul of Tarsus, in all probability was the 
first fruits of them. St. Augustine has properly remarked, Si 
Stephanus non orasset, ecclesia Paulum non haberet. If 
Stephen had not prayed, the Church of Christ could not have 
numbered among her saints the apostle of the Gentiles. Let 
this example teach us at once the spirit that becomes a 
disciple of Christ, the efficacy of prayer, and the unbounded 
philanthropy of God.

CHAPTER viii.

A general persecution is raised against the Church, 1. 
Stephen's burial, 2. Saul greatly oppresses the followers of 
Christ, 3, 4. Philip the deacon goes to Samaria, preaches, 
works many miracles, converts many persons, and baptizes 
Simon the sorcerer, 5-13. Peter and John are sent by the 
apostles to Samaria; they confirm the disciples, and by 
prayer and imposition of hands they confer the Holy Spirit, 
14-17. Simon the sorcerer, seeing this, offers them money, to 
enable him to confer the Holy Spirit, 18, 19. He is sharply 
reproved by Peter, and exhorted to repent, 20-23. He appears 
to be convinced of his sin, and implores an interest in the 
apostle's prayers, 24. Peter and John, having preached the 
Gospel in the villages of Samaria, return to Jerusalem, 25. 
An angel of the Lord commands Philip to go towards Gaza, to 
meet an Ethiopian eunuch, 26. He goes, meets, and converses 
with the eunuch, preaches the Gospel to him, and baptizes 
him, 27-38. The Spirit of God carries Philip to Azotus, 
passing through which, he preaches in all the cities till he 
comes to Caesarea, 39, 40.

NOTES ON CHAP. viii.

Verse 1. Saul was consenting unto his death.] So inveterate 
was the hatred that this man bore to Christ and his followers 
that he delighted in their destruction. So blind was his 
heart with superstitious zeal that he thought he did God 
service by offering him the blood of a fellow creature, whose 
creed he supposed to be erroneous. The word suneudokwn 
signifies gladly consenting, being pleased with his murderous 
work! How dangerous is a party spirit; and how destructive 
may zeal even for the true worship of God prove, if not 
inspired and regulated by the spirit of Christ! It has 
already been remarked that this clause belongs to the 
conclusion of the preceding chapter; so it stands in the 
Vulgate, and so it should stand in every version.

There was a great persecution] The Jews could not bear the 
doctrine of Christ's resurrection; for this point being 
proved demonstrated his innocence and their enormous guilt in 
his crucifixion; as therefore the apostles continued to 
insist strongly on the resurrection of Christ, the 
persecution against them became hot and general.

They were all scattered abroad-except the apostles.] Their 
Lord had commanded them, when persecuted in one city, to flee 
to another: this they did, but, wherever they went, they 
proclaimed the same doctrines, though at the risk and hazard 
of their lives. It is evident, therefore, that they did not 
flee from persecution, or the death it threatened; but merely 
in obedience to their Lord's command. Had they fled through 
the fear of death, they would have taken care not to provoke 
persecution to follow them, by continuing to proclaim the 
same truths that provoked it in the first instance.

That the apostles were not also exiled is a very remarkable 
fact: they continued in Jerusalem, to found and organize the 
infant Church; and it is marvellous that the hand of 
persecution was not permitted to touch them.

Why this should be we cannot tell; but so it pleased the 
great Head of the Church. Bp. Pearce justly suspects those 
accounts, in Eusebius and others, that state that the 
apostles went very shortly after Christ's ascension into 
different countries, preaching and founding Churches. He 
thinks this is inconsistent with the various intimations we 
have of the continuance of the apostles in Jerusalem; and 
refers particularly to the following texts: ver. 1, 14, 25; 
chap. ix. 26, 27; xi. 1, 2; chap. xii. 1-4; xv. 2, 4, 6, 22, 
23; chap. xxi. 17, 18; Gal. i. 17-19; ii. 1, 9. The Church at 
Jerusalem was the first CHRISTIAN Church; and consequently, 
the boast of the Church of Rome is vain and unfounded. From 
this time a new aera of the Church arose.

Hitherto the apostles and disciples confined their labours 
among their countrymen in Jerusalem. Now persecution drove 
the latter into different parts of Judea, and through 
Samaria; and those who had received the doctrine of Christ at 
the pentecost, who had come up to Jerusalem from different 
countries to be present at the feast, would naturally return, 
especially at the commencement of the persecution, to their 
respective countries, and proclaim to their countrymen the 
Gospel of the grace of God. To effect this grand purpose, the 
Spirit was poured out at the day of pentecost; that the 
multitudes from different quarters, partaking of the word of 
life, might carry it back to the different nations among whom 
they had their residence. One of the fathers has well 
observed, that "these holy fugitives were like so many lamps, 
lighted by the fire of the Holy Spirit, spreading every where 
the sacred flame by which they themselves had been 
illuminated."

Verse 2. Devout men carried Stephen to his burial] The Greek 
word, sunekomisan, signifies not only to carry, or rather to 
gather up, but also to do every thing necessary for the 
interment of the dead. Among the Jews, and indeed among most 
nations of the earth, it was esteemed a work of piety, 
charity, and mercy, to bury the dead. The Jews did not bury 
those who were condemned by the Sanhedrin in the burying 
place of the fathers, as they would not bury the guilty with 
the innocent; and they had a separate place for those who 
were stoned, and for those that were burnt.

According to the Tract Sanh. fol. 45, 46, the stone wherewith 
any one was stoned, the post on which he was hanged, the 
sword by which he was beheaded, and the cord by which he was 
strangled, were buried in the same place with the bodies of 
the executed persons. As these persons died under the curse 
of the law, the instruments by which they were put to death 
were considered as unclean and accursed, and therefore buried 
with their bodies. Among the ancients, whatever was grateful 
or useful to a person in life was ordinarily buried with him; 
thus the sword, spear, shield, &c., of the soldier were put 
in the same grave; the faithful dog of the hunter, &c., &c. 
And on this principle the wife of a Brahman burns with the 
body of her deceased husband.

Made great lamentation over him.] This was never done over 
any condemned by the Sanhedrin-they only bemoaned such 
privately; this great lamentation over Stephen, if the same 
custom then prevailed as afterwards, is a proof that Stephen 
was not condemned by the Sanhedrin; he probably fell a 
sacrifice to the fury of the bigoted incensed mob, the 
Sanhedrin not interfering to prevent the illegal execution.

Verse 3. Saul made havoc of the Church] The word elumaineto, 
from lumainw, to destroy, devastate, ravage, signifies the 
act of ferocious animals, such as bears, wolves, and the 
like, in seeking and devouring their prey. This shows with 
what persevering rancour this man pursued the harmless 
Christians; and thus we see in him what bigotry and false 
zeal are capable of performing.

Entering into every house] For, however it might be to 
others, a Christian man's house was not his castle.

Haling men and women] Neither sparing age nor sex in the 
professors of Christianity. The word surwn signifies dragging 
them before the magistrates, or dragging them to justice.

Committed them to prison.] For, as the Romans alone had the 
power of life and death, the Sanhedrin, by whom Saul was 
employed, chap. xxvi. 10, could do no more than arrest and 
imprison, in order to inflict any punishment short of death. 
It is true, St. Paul himself says that some of them were put 
to death, see chap. xxvi. 10; but this was either done by 
Roman authority, or by what was called the judgment of zeal, 
i.e. when the mob took the execution of the laws into their 
own hands, and massacred those whom they pretended to be 
blasphemers of God: for these sanctified their murderous 
outrage under the specious name of zeal for God's glory, and 
quoted the ensample of Phineas as a precedent. Such persons 
as these formed a sect among the Jews; and are known in 
ecclesiastical history by the appellation of Zealots or 
Sicarii.

Verse 4. They that were scattered-went every where preaching] 
Thus the very means devised by Satan to destroy the Church 
became the very instruments of its diffusion and 
establishment. What are counsel, or might, or cunning, or 
rage, or malice, against the Lord, whether they arc excited 
by men or devils!

Verse 5. Then Philip] One of the seven deacons, chap. vi. 5, 
called afterwards, Philip the Evangelist, chap. xxi. 8.

The city of Samaria] At this time there was no city of 
Samaria existing: according to Josephus, Ant. lib. xiii. cap. 
10, sect. 3, Hyrcanus had so utterly demolished it as to 
leave no vestige of it remaining. Herod the Great did 
afterwards build a city on the same spot of ground; but he 
called it sebasth i.e. Augusta, in compliment to the Emperor 
Augustus, as Josephus tells us, Ant. lib. xv. cap. 8, sect. 
5; War, lib. i. cap. 2. sect. 7; and by this name of SebastÇ, 
or Augusta, that city, if meant here, would in all 
probability have been called, in the same manner as the town 
called Strato's Tower, (which Herod built on the sea coasts, 
and to which he gave the name of Caesarea, in compliment to 
Augustus Caesar,) is always called Caesarea, wherever it is 
mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. Bp. Pearce.

As Sychem was the very heart and seat of the Samaritan 
religion, and Mount Gerizim the cathedral church of that 
sect, it is more likely that it should be intended than any 
other. See Lightfoot. As the Samaritans received the same law 
with the Jews, as they also expected the Messiah, as Christ 
had preached to and converted many of that people, John iv. 
39-42, it was very reasonable that the earliest offers of 
salvation should be made to them, before any attempt was made 
to evangelize the Gentiles. The Samaritans, indeed, formed 
the connecting link between the Jews and the Gentiles; for 
they were a mongrel people, made up of both sorts, and 
holding both Jewish and Pagan rites. See the account of them 
on Matt. x. 5.

Verse 6. The people with one accord gave heed] He had fixed 
their attention, not only with the gravity and importance of 
the matter of his preaching, but also by the miracles which 
he did.

Verse 7. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came 
out of many that were possessed] Hence it is evident that 
these unclean spirits were not a species of diseases; as they 
are here distinguished from the paralytic and the lame. There 
is nothing more certain than that the New Testament writers 
mean real diabolic possessions by the terms unclean spirits, 
devils, &c., which they use. It is absolute trifling to deny 
it. If we, in our superior sagacity can show that they were 
mistaken, that is quite a different matter!

Verse 8. There was great joy in that city.] No wonder, when 
they heard such glorious truths, and were the subjects of 
such beneficent miracles.

Verse 9. A certain man called Simon] In ancient 
ecclesiastical writers, we have the strangest account of this 
man; they say that he pretended to be the Father, who gave 
the law to Moses; that he came in the reign of Tiberius in 
the person of the Son; that he descended on the apostles on 
the day of pentecost, in flames of fire, in quality of the 
Holy Spirit; that he was the Messiah, the Paraclete, and 
Jupiter; that the woman who accompanied him, called Helena, 
was Minerva, or the first intelligence; with many other 
extravagancies which probably never had an existence. All 
that we know to be certain on this subject is, that he used 
sorcery, that he bewitched the people, and that he gave out 
himself to be some great one.

This might be sufficient, were not men prone to be wise above 
what is written.

Our word sorcerer, from the French sorcier, which, from the 
Latin sors, a lot, signifies the using of lots to draw 
presages concerning the future; a custom that prevailed in 
all countries, and was practised with a great variety of 
forms. On the word lot see the note, Lev. xvi. 8, 9; and 
Josh. xiv. 2.

The Greek word, mageuwn, signifies practising the rites or 
science of the Magi, or (Persic) Mughan, the worshippers of 
fire among the Persians; the same as (Arabic) Majoos, and 
(Arabic) Majooseean, from which we have our word magician. 
See the note on Matt. ii. 1.

And bewitched the people of Samaria] existwn, Astonishing, 
amazing, or confounding the judgment of the people, from 
existhmi, to remove out of a place or state, to be 
transported beyond one's self, to be out of one's wits; a 
word that expresses precisely the same effect which the 
tricks or legerdemain of a juggler produce in the minds of 
the common people who behold his feats. It is very likely 
that Simon was a man of this cast, for the east has always 
abounded in persons of this sort. The Persian, Arabian, 
Hindoo, and Chinese jugglers are notorious to the present 
day; and even while I write this, (July, 1813,) three Indian 
jugglers, lately arrived, are astonishing the people of 
London; and if such persons can now interest and amaze the 
people of a city so cultivated and enlightened, what might 
not such do among the grosser people of Sychem or Sebaste, 
eighteen hundred years ago? That himself was some great one.] 
That the feats which he performed sufficiently proved that he 
possessed a most powerful supernatural agency, and could do 
whatsoever he pleased.

Verse 10. This man is the great power of God.] That is, he is 
invested with it, and can command and use it. They certainly 
did not believe him to be God; but they thought him to be 
endued with a great supernatural power.

There is a remarkable reading here in several MSS. which 
should not pass unnoticed. In ABCDE, several others, together 
with the AEthiopic, Armenian, later Syriac, Vulgate, Itala, 
Origen, and Irenaeus, the word kaloumenh is added before 
megalh, and the passage reads thus, This person is that power 
of God which is CALLED the GREAT. This appears to be the true 
reading; but what the Samaritans meant by that power of God 
which they termed the Great, we know not. Simon endeavoured 
to persuade the people that he was a very great personage, 
and he succeeded.

Verse 12. But when they believed Philip] So it is evident 
that Philip's word came with greater power then that of 
Simon; and that his miracles stood the test in such a way as 
the feats of Simon could not.

Verse 13. Simon himself believed also] He was struck with the 
doctrine and miracles of Philip-he saw that these were real; 
he knew his own to be fictitious. He believed therefore that 
Jesus was the Messiah, and was in consequence baptized.

Continued with Philip, and wondered] existato, He was as much 
astonished and confounded at the miracles of Philip as the 
people of Samaria were at his legerdemain. It is worthy of 
remark that existato comes from the same root, existhmi, as 
the word existwn, in ver. 9, and, if our translation 
bewitched be proper there, it should be retained here; and 
then we should read, Then Simon himself believed and was 
baptized, and continued with Philip, being BEWITCHED, 
beholding the miracles and signs which were done. We may see, 
from this circumstance, how improper the term bewitched is, 
in the 9th and 11th verses.  

Verse 14. The word of God] The doctrine of the Lord Jesus 
Christ.

They sent unto them Peter and John] There was no individual 
ruler among the apostles-there was not even a president of 
the council; and Peter, far from being chief of the apostles, 
is one of those sent, with the same commission and authority 
as John, to confirm the Samaritans in the faith.

Verse 15. When they were come down] The very same mode of 
speaking, in reference to Jerusalem formerly, obtains now in 
reference to London. The metropolis in both cases is 
considered as the centre; and all parts, in every direction, 
no matter how distant, or how situated, are represented as 
below the metropolis. Hence we so frequently hear of persons 
going up to Jerusalem: and going down from the same. So in 
London the people speak of going down to the country; and, in 
the country, of going up to London. It is necessary to make 
this remark, lest any person should be led away with the 
notion that Jerusalem was situated on the highest ground in 
Palestine. It is a mode of speech which is used to designate 
a royal or imperial city.

Prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost.] It 
seems evident from this case, that even the most holy 
deacons, though full of the Holy Ghost themselves, could not 
confer this heavenly gift on others. This was the prerogative 
of the apostles, and they were only instruments; but they 
were those alone by which the Lord chose to work. They prayed 
and laid their hands on the disciples, and God sent down the 
gift; so, the blessing came from God by the apostles, and not 
from the apostles to the people. But for what purpose was the 
Holy Spirit thus given? Certainly not for the sanctification 
of the souls of the people: this they had on believing in 
Christ Jesus; and this the apostles never dispensed. It was 
the miraculous gifts of the Spirit which were thus 
communicated: the speaking with different tongues, and those 
extraordinary qualifications which were necessary for the 
successful preaching of the Gospel; and doubtless many, if 
not all, of those on whom the apostles laid their hands, were 
employed more or less in the public work of the Church.

Verse 17. Then laid they their hands on them] Probably only 
on some select persons, who were thought proper for public 
use in the Church.

They did not lay hands on all; for certainly no hands in this 
way were laid on Simon.

Verse 18. When Simon saw, &c.] By hearing these speak with 
different tongues and work miracles.

He offered them money] Supposing that the dispensing this 
Spirit belonged to them-that they could give it to whomsoever 
they pleased; and imagining that, as he saw them to be poor 
men, they would not object to take money for their gift; and 
it is probable that he had gained considerably by his 
juggling, and therefore could afford to spare some, as he 
hoped to make it all up by the profit which he expected to 
derive from this new influence.

Verse 20. Thy money perish with thee] This is an awful 
declaration; and imports thus much, that if he did not 
repent, he and his ill-gotten goods would perish together; 
his money should be dissipated, and his soul go into 
perdition.

That the gift of God may be purchased] Peter takes care to 
inform not only Simon, but all to whom these presents may 
come, that the Spirit of God is the gift of God alone, and 
consequently cannot be purchased with money; for what reward 
can HE receive from his creatures, to whom the silver and the 
gold belong, the cattle on a thousand hills, the earth and 
its fullness!

Verse 21. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter] Thou 
hast no part among the faithful, and no lot in this ministry. 
That the word klhrov, which we translate lot, is to be 
understood as implying a spiritual portion, office, &c., see 
proved in the note on Num. xxvi. 55.

Thy heart is not right] It is not through motives of purity, 
benevolence, or love to the souls of men, that thou desirest 
to be enabled to confer the Holy Ghost; it is through pride, 
vain glory, and love of money: thou wouldest now give a 
little money that thou mightest, by thy new gift, gain much.

Verse 22. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness] St. Peter 
did not suppose his case to be utterly hopeless; though his 
sin, considered in its motives and objects, was of the most 
heinous kind.

If perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.] 
His sin, as yet, only existed in thought and purpose; and 
therefore it is said, if perhaps the thought of thine heart 
may be forgiven.

Verse 23. The gall of bitterness] A Hebraism for excessive 
bitterness: gall, wormwood, and such like, were used to 
express the dreadful effects of sin in the soul; the bitter 
repentance, bitter regret, bitter sufferings, bitter death, 
&c., &c., which it produces. In Deut. xxix. 18, idolatry and 
its consequences are expressed, by having among them a root 
that beareth GALL and WORMWOOD. And in Heb. xii. 15, some 
grievous sin is intended, when the apostle warns them, lest 
any root of BITTERNESS springing up, trouble you, and thereby 
many be defiled.

Bond of iniquity.] An allusion to the mode in which the 
Romans secured their prisoners, chaining the right hand of 
the prisoner to the left hand of the soldier who guarded him; 
as if the apostle had said, Thou art tied and bound by the 
chain of thy sin; justice hath laid hold upon thee, and thou 
hast only a short respite before thy execution, to see if 
thou wilt repent.

Verse 24. Pray ye to the Lord for me] The words of Peter 
certainly made a deep impression on Simon's mind; and he must 
have had a high opinion of the apostle's sanctity and 
influence with God, when he thus commended himself to their 
prayers. And we may hope well of his repentance and 
salvation, if the reading of the Codex Bezae, and the margin 
of the later Syriac may be relied on: Pray ye to the Lord for 
me, that none (toutwn twn kakwn) OF ALL THOSE EVILS which ye 
have spoken (moi) TO ME, may come upon me: (ov polla klaiwn 
ou dielimpanen) WHO WEPT GREATLY, and DID NOT CEASE. That is, 
he was an incessant penitent. However favourably this or any 
other MS. may speak of Simon, he is generally supposed to 
have "grown worse and worse, opposing the apostles and the 
Christian doctrine, and deceiving many cities and provinces 
by magical operations; till being at Rome, in the reign of 
the Emperor Claudius, he boasted that he could fly, and when 
exhibiting before the emperor and the senate, St. Peter and 
St. Paul being present, who knew that his flying was 
occasioned by magic, prayed to God that the people might be 
undeceived, and that his power might fail; in consequence of 
which he came tumbling down, and died soon after of his 
bruises." This account comes in a most questionable shape, 
and has no evidence which can challenge our assent. To me, it 
and the rest of the things spoken of Simon the sorcerer 
appear utterly unworthy of credit. Calmet makes a general 
collection of what is to be found in Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, 
Tertullian; Eusebius, Theodouret, Augustine, and others, on 
the subject of Simon Magus; and to him, if the reader think 
it worth the pains, he may refer. The substance of these 
accounts is given above, and in the note on ver. 9; and to 
say the least of them they are all very dubious. The tale of 
his having an altar erected to him at Rome, with the 
inscription, Simoni sancto deo, "To the holy god Simon," has 
been founded on an utter mistake, and has been long ago 
sufficiently confuted. See the inscriptions in Gruter, vol. 
i. p. 96, inscript. No. 5, 6, 7.

Verse 25. And they, when they had-preached-returned to 
Jerusalem] That is, Peter and John returned, after they had 
borne testimony to and confirmed the work which Philip had 
wrought.

Verse 26. Arise, and go toward the south] How 
circumstantially particular are these directions! Every thing 
is so precisely marked that there is no danger of the apostle 
missing his way. He is to perform some great duty; but what, 
he is not informed. The road which he is to take is marked 
out; but what he is to do in that road, or how far he is to 
proceed, he is not told! It is GOD who employs him, and 
requires of him implicit obedience. If he do his will, 
according to the present direction, he shall know, by the 
issue, that God hath sent him on an errand worthy of his 
wisdom and goodness. We have a similar instance of 
circumstantial direction from God in chap. ix. 11: Arise, go 
into the street called Straight, and inquire in the house of 
Judas for one Saul of Tarsus, &c. And another instance, still 
more particular, in chap. x. 5, 6: Send men to Joppa, and 
call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter; he lodgeth with 
one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea side. God 
never sends any man on a message, without giving him such 
directions as shall prevent all mistakes and miscarriages, if 
simply and implicitly followed. This is also strictly true of 
the doctrines contained in his word: no soul ever missed 
salvation that simply followed the directions given in the 
word of God. Those who will refine upon every thing, question 
the Divine testimony, and dispute with their Maker, cannot be 
saved. And how many of this stamp are found, even among 
Christians, professing strict godliness! Gaza, which is 
desert.] auth estin erhmov, This it the desert, or this is in 
the desert. Gaza was a town about two miles and a half from 
the sea-side; it was the last town which a traveler passed 
through, when he went from Phoenicia to Egypt, and was at the 
entrance into a wilderness, according to the account given by 
Arrian in Exped. Alex. lib. ii. cap. 26, p. 102. [Ed. Gronov.] 
That it was the last inhabited town, as a man goes from Phoenicia 
to Egypt, epi th arch thv erhmou, on the commencement of the desert. 
See Bp. Pearce.

Dr. Lightfoot supposes that the word desert is added here, 
because at that time the ancient Gaza was actually desert, 
having been destroyed by Alexander, and menousa erhmov, 
remaining desert, as Strabo, lib. xvi. p. 1102, says; and that the 
angel mentioned this desert Gaza to distinguish it from another 
city of the same name, in the tribe of Ephraim, not far from the 
place where Philip now was. On this we may observe that, although 
Gaza was desolated by Alexander the Great, as were several other 
cities, yet it was afterwards rebuilt by Gabinius. See Josephus, Ant. 
lib. xv. cap.

5, sect. 3. And writers of the first century represent it as 
being flourishing and populous in their times. See Wetstein.

Schoettgen thinks that erhmov, desert, should be referred, 
not to Gaza, but to odov, the way; and that it signifies a 
road that was less frequented. If there were two roads to 
Gaza from Jerusalem, as some have imagined, (see 
Rosenmuller,) the eunuch might have chosen that which was 
desert, or less frequented, for the sake of privacy in his 
journeying religious exercises.

Verse 27. A man of Ethiopia] anhr aiqioy should be translated 
an Ethiopian, for the reasons given on chap. vii. 2.

An eunuch] See this word interpreted, on Matt. xix. 12. The 
term eunuch was given to persons in authority at court, to 
whom its literal meaning did not apply. Potiphar was probably 
an eunuch only as to his office; for he was a married man. 
See Genesis xxxvii. 36; xxxix. 1. And it is likely that this 
Ethiopian was of the same sort.

Of great authority] dunasthv, A perfect lord chamberlain of 
the royal household; or, rather, her treasurer, for it is 
here said, he had charge of all her treasure, hn epi pashv 
thv gazhv authv. The apparent Greek word gaza, Gaza, is 
generally allowed to be Persian, from the authority of 
Servius, who, in his comment on AEn. lib. i. ver. c18: - 
Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto, Arma virum, 
tabulaeque, et Troia GAZA per undas.

"And here and there above the waves are seen Arms, pictures, 
precious goods, and floating men." DRYDEN.

The words of Servius are: "Gaza Persicus sermo est, et 
significat divitias; unde Gaza urbs in Palaestina dicitur, 
quod in ea Cambyses rex Persarum cum AEgyptiis bellum 
inferret divitias suas condidit." GAZA is a Persian word, and 
signifies RICHES: hence Gaza, a city in Palestine, was so 
called because Cambyses, king of Persia, laid up his 
treasures in it, when he waged war with the Egyptians. The 
nearest Persian word of this signification which I find is 
(Persian) gunj, or ganz, and (Persian) gunja, which signify a 
magazine, store, hoard, or hidden treasure. The Arabic 
(Arabic) kluzaneh, comes as near as the Persian, with the 
same meaning.

Hence (Arabic) makhzen, called magazen by the Spaniards, and 
magazine by the English; a word which signifies a collection 
of stores or treasures, or the place where they are laid up. 
It is scarcely necessary to remark that this name is given 
also to certain monthly publications, which are, or profess 
to be, a store of treasures, or repository of precious, or 
valuable things.

But who was Candace? It is granted that she is not found in 
the common lists of Ethiopic sovereigns with which we have 
been favoured. But neither the Abyssinians nor the Jews 
admitted women in their genealogies. I shall not enter into 
this controversy, but shall content myself with quoting the 
words of Mr. Bruce. "It is known," says he, "from credible 
writers engaged in no controversy, that this Candace reigned 
upon the Nile in Atbara, near Egypt. Her capital also, was 
taken in the time of Augustus, a few years before the 
conversion of the slave by Philip; and we shall have occasion 
often to mention her successors and her kingdom, as existing 
in the reign of the Abyssinian kings, long after the 
Mohammedan conquest: they existed when I passed through 
Atbara, and do undoubtedly exist there to this day."-Bruce's 
Travels, vol. ii. p. 431.

It does not appear, as some have imagined, that the 
Abyssinians were converted to the Christian faith by this 
eunuch, nor by any of the apostles; as there is strong 
historic evidence that they continued Jews and Pagans for 
more than three hundred years after the Christian aera. Their 
conversion is with great probability attributed to 
Frumentius, sent to Abyssinia for that purpose by Athanasius, 
bishop of Alexandria, about A.D. 330. See Bruce as above.

The Ethiopians mentioned here are those who inhabited the 
isle or peninsula of Meroe, above and southward of Egypt. It 
is the district which Mr. Bruce calls Atbara, and which he 
proves formerly bore the name of Meroe. This place, according 
to Diodourus Siculus, had its name from Meroe, daughter of 
Cambyses, king of Persia, who died there in the expedition 
which her father undertook against the Ethiopians. Strabo 
mentions a queen in this very district named Candace: his 
words are remarkable. Speaking of an insurrection of the 
Ethiopians against the Romans he says: toutwn dÆ hsan kai oi 
basilisshv strathgoi thv kandakhv, h kaqÆ hmav hrxe twn 
aiqiopwn, andrikh tiv gunh, pephrwenh ton ofqalmon, "Among 
these were the officers of Queen CANDACE, who in our days 
reigned over the Ethiopians. She was a masculine woman, and 
blind of one eye." Though this could not have been the 
Candace mentioned in the text, it being a little before the 
Christian aera, yet it establishes the fact that a queen of 
this name did reign in this place; and we learn from others 
that it was a common name to the queens of Ethiopia. Pliny, 
giving an account of the report made by Nero's messengers, 
who were sent to examine this country, says, AEdificia oppidi 
(Meroes) pauca: regnare faeminam CANDACEN; quod nomen multis 
jam annis ad reginas transiit. Hist. Nat. lib. vi. cap. 29, 
ad fin. They reported that "the edifices of the city were 
few: that a woman reigned there of the name of Candace; which 
name had passed to their queens, successively, for many 
years." To one of those queens the eunuch in the text 
belonged; and the above is sufficient authority to prove that 
queens of this name reigned over this part of Ethiopia.

Had come to Jerusalem for to worship] Which is a proof that 
he was a worshipper of the God of Israel; but how came he 
acquainted with the Jewish religion? Let us, for a little, 
examine this question. In 1 Kings x. 1, &c., we have the 
account of the visit paid to Solomon by the queen of Sheba, 
the person to whom our Lord refers, Matt. xii. 42, and Luke 
xi. 31. It has been long credited by the Abyssinians that 
this queen, who by some is called Balkis, by others Maqueda, 
was not only instructed by Solomon in the Jewish religion, 
but also established it in her own empire on her return; that 
she had a son by Solomon named Menilek, who succeeded her in 
the kingdom; and, from that time till the present, they have 
preserved the Jewish religion. Mr. Bruce throws some light 
upon this subject: the substance of what he says is the 
following: "There can be no doubt of the expedition of the 
queen of Sheba; as Pagan, Moor, Arab, Abyssinian, and all the 
countries round, vouch for it, nearly in the terms of 
Scripture. Our saviour calls her queen of the south; and she 
is called, in 1 Kings x. 1, &c., 2 Chron. ix. 1, &c., queen 
of Sheba or Saba; for Saba, Azab, and Azaba, all signify the 
south: and she is said to have come from the uttermost parts 
of the earth. In our Saviour's time the boundaries of the 
known land, southward, were Raptam or Prassum; which were the 
uttermost parts of the known earth, and were with great 
propriety so styled by our Lord. The gold, myrrh, cassia, and 
frankincense, which she brought with her, are all products of 
that country. The annals of the Abyssinians state that she 
was a pagan when she left Saba or Azab, to visit Solomon; and 
that she was there converted and had a son by Solomon, who 
succeeded her in the kingdom, as stated above. All the 
inhabitants of this country, whether Jews or Christians, 
believe this; and, farther, that the 45th Psalm  was a 
prophecy of her journey to Jerusalem; that she was 
accompanied by a daughter of Hiram from Tyre; and that the 
latter part of the Psalms is a prophecy of her having a son 
by Solomon, and of his ruling over the Gentiles." Travels, 
vol.

ii. page 395, &c. All this being granted, and especially the 
Scripture fact of the queen of Sheba's visit, and the great 
probability, supported by uninterrupted tradition, that she 
established the Jewish religion in her dominions on her 
return, we may at once see that the eunuch in question was a 
descendant of those Jews; or that he was a proselyte in his 
own country to the Jewish faith, and was now come up at the 
great feast to worship God at Jerusalem. Mr. Bruce may be 
right; but some think that Saba, in Arabia Felix, is meant: 
see the note on Matt. xii. 42.

Verse 28. Sitting in his chariot, read Esaias the prophet.] 
He had gone to Jerusalem to worship: he had profited by his 
religious exercises: and even in travelling, he is improving 
his time. God sees his simplicity and earnestness, and 
provides him an instructer, who should lead him into the 
great truths of the Gospel, which, without such a one, he 
could not have understood. Many, after having done their 
duty, as they call it, in attending a place of worship, 
forget the errand that brought them thither, and spend their 
time, on their return, rather in idle conversation than in 
reading or conversing about the word of God. It is no wonder 
that such should be always learning, and never able to come 
to the knowledge of the truth.

Verse 29. Then the Spirit said unto Philip] This holy man 
having obeyed the first direction he received from God, and 
gone southward without knowing the reason why, it was 
requisite that he should now be informed of the object of his 
mission: the Spirit said unto him, go near, and join thyself, 
&c. The angel who had given him the first direction had 
departed; and the influence of the Holy Spirit now completed 
the information. It is likely that what the Spirit did in 
this case was by a strong impression on his mind, which left 
him no doubt of its being from God.

Verse 30. Heard him read the Prophet Esaias] The eunuch, it 
seems, was reading aloud, and apparently in Greek, for that 
was the common language in Egypt; and, indeed, almost in 
every place it was understood.

And it appears that it was the Greek version of the 
Septuagint that he was reading, as the quotation below is 
from that version.

Verse 31. How can I, except some man should guide me?] This 
is no proof that "the Scriptures cannot be understood without 
an authorized interpreter," as some of the papistical writers 
assert. How could the eunuch know any thing of the Gospel 
dispensation, to which this scripture referred? That 
dispensation had not yet been proclaimed to him; he knew 
nothing about Jesus. But where that dispensation has been 
published, where the four Gospels and the apostolic epistles 
are at hand, every thing relative to the salvation of the 
soul may be clearly apprehended by any simple, upright 
person. There are difficulties, it is true, in different 
parts of the sacred writings, which neither the pope nor his 
conclave can solve; and several which even the more 
enlightened Protestant cannot remove; but these difficulties 
do not refer to matters in which the salvation of the soul is 
immediately concerned: they refer to such as are common to 
every ancient author in the universe. These difficulties, 
being understood, add to the beauty, elegance, and justness 
of the language, thoughts, and turns of expression; and 
these, only the few who are capable of understanding are able 
to relish. As to all the rest, all that relates to faith and 
practice, all in which the present and eternal interest of 
the soul is concerned, "the wayfaring man, though a fool, 
(quite illiterate,) shall not err therein." That he would 
come up, and sit with him.] So earnestly desirous was he to 
receive instruction relative to those things which concerned 
the welfare of his soul.

Verse 32. The place of the scripture] perioch thv grafhv, The 
section, or paragraph.

Verse 33. In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away] He 
who was the fountain of judgment and justice had no justice 
shown him (mercy he needed not) in his humiliation; viz. that 
time in which he emptied himself, and appeared in the form of 
a servant.

Who shall declare his generation] thn genean autou: Answering 
to the Hebrew wrwd doro, which Bp. Lowth understands as 
implying his manner of life. It was the custom among the 
Jews, when they were taking away any criminal from judgment 
to execution, to call out and inquire whether there was any 
person who could appear in behalf of the character of the 
criminal-whether there was any who, from intimate 
acquaintance with his manner of life, could say any thing in 
his favour? This circumstance I have noticed before, and it 
has been particularly remarked in the case of Stephen: see at 
chap. vii. 60. In our Lord's case, this benevolent inquiry 
does not appear to have been made; and perhaps to this breach 
of justice, as well as of custom, the prophet refers; and 
this shows how minutely the conduct of those bad men was 
known seven hundred years before it took place. God can 
foreknow what he pleases, and can do what he pleases; and all 
the operations of his infinite mind are just and right. Some 
think that, who shall declare his generation? refers to his 
eternal Sonship; others, to his miraculous conception by the 
Holy Spirit, in the womb of the virgin; others, to the 
multitudinous progeny of spiritual children which should be 
born unto God, in consequence of his passion and meritorious 
death.

Perhaps the first, which refers to the usual custom in behalf 
of the criminal, is the best and most natural sense.

Verse 34. Of whom speaketh the prophet this] This was a very 
natural inquiry: for in the test itself, and in its 
circumstances, there was nothing that could determine the 
meaning, so as to ascertain whether the prophet meant himself 
or some other person; and the very inquiry shows that the 
eunuch had thought deeply on the subject.

Verse 35. Began at the same scripture] He did not confine 
himself to this one scripture, but made this his text, and 
showed, from the general tenor of the sacred writings, that 
Jesus was the Christ, or Messiah; and that in his person, 
birth, life, doctrine, miracles, passion, death, and 
resurrection, the Scriptures of the Old Testament were 
fulfilled. This preaching had the desired effect, for the 
eunuch was convinced of the truth of Philip's doctrine, and 
desired to be baptized in the name of Jesus.

Verse 36. See, here is water] He was not willing to omit the 
first opportunity that presented itself of his taking upon 
himself the profession of the Gospel. By this we may see that 
Philip had explained the whole of the Christian faith to him, 
and the way by which believers were brought into the 
Christian Church.

Verse 37. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.] He 
believed that Jesus, whom Philip preached to him, was THE 
CHRIST or Messiah, and consequently the Son of God.

This whole verse is omitted by ABCG, several others of the 
first authority, Erpen's edit. of the Arabic, the Syriac, the 
Coptic, Sahidic, AEthiopic, and some of the Slavonic: almost 
all the critics declare against it as spurious. Griesbach has 
left it out of the text; and Professor White in his Crisews 
says, "Hic versus certissime delendus," this verse, most 
assuredly, should be blotted out. It is found in E, several 
others of minor importance, and in the Vulgate and Arabic. In 
those MSS. where it is extant it exists in a variety of 
forms, though the sense is the same.

Verse 38. And they went down] They alighted from the chariot 
into the water. While Philip was instructing him, and he 
professed his faith in Christ, he probably plunged himself 
under the water, as this was the plan which appears to have 
been generally followed among the Jews in their baptisms; but 
the person who had received has confession of faith was he to 
whom the baptism was attributed, as it was administered by 
his authority.

Verse 39. The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip] Perhaps 
this means no more than that the Holy Spirit suggested to the 
mind of Philip that he should withdraw abruptly from the 
eunuch, and thus leave him to pursue his journey, reflecting 
on the important incidents which had taken place. Some 
suppose that the angel of the Lord, and the Spirit of the 
Lord, are the same person throughout this chapter. There is a 
remarkable reading in the Codex Alexandrinus which exists 
thus in two lines: - p n a a g i o n e p e p e c e n e p i t 
o n e u n o u x o n The Spirit of the Lord fell upon the 
eunuch: a g g e l o c d e k u h r p a c e n t o n f i l i p p 
o n .

But the angel of the Lord snatched away Philip.

This reading is found in several other MSS. and in some 
versions. Many think that the Spirit or angel of God carried 
off Philip in some such manner as the Apocrypha represents 
the transportation of Habakkuk, who was taken up by the hair 
of the head, and carried from Judea to Babylon! For such an 
interposition there was no need. When Philip had baptized the 
eunuch, the Spirit of God showed him that it was not the will 
of God that he should accompany the eunuch to Meroe, but, on 
the contrary, that he should hasten away to Ashdod; as God 
had in that, and the neighbouring places, work sufficient to 
employ him in.

Verse 40. Philip was found at Azotus] Prom the time he left 
the eunuch, he was not heard of till he got to Azotus, which, 
according to Dr. Lightfoot, was about 34 miles from Gaza, and 
probably it was near Gaze that Philip met the eunuch. The 
Azotus of the New Testament is the Ashdod of the old. It was 
given by Joshua to the tribe of Judah, Josh. xv. 47. It was 
one of the five lordships which belonged to the Philistines, 
and is a seaport town on the Mediterranean Sea, between Gaza 
on the south, and Joppa or Jaffa on the north. Herodotus 
reports, lib. ii. cap. 157, that Psammeticus, king of Egypt, 
besieged this city 29 years, which, if true, is the longest 
siege which any city or fortress ever endured.

Preached in all the cities, till he cams to Caesarea.] This 
was Caesarea in Palestine, formerly called Strato's Tower, 
built by Herod the Great in honour of Augustus. There was an 
excellent harbour here made by Herod; and, after the 
destruction of Jerusalem, it became the capital of the whole 
land of Judea. It must be always distinguished from Caesarea 
Philippi, which was an inland town not far from the springs 
of Jordan. Whenever the word Caesarea occurs without 
Philippi, the former is intended. As Philip preached in all 
the cities of Palestine till he came to Caesarea, he must 
have preached in the different cities of the Philistine 
country, Ashdod, Akkaron, and Jamnia, and also in the 
principal parts of Samaria, as these lay in his way from Gaza 
to Caesarea. As there was a readier disposition to receive 
the word in those places, the Spirit of the Lord, under whose 
guidance he acted, did not suffer him to accompany the eunuch 
to Abyssinia. It appears, from chap. xxi. 8, that Philip 
settled at Caesarea, where he had a house and family, four of 
his unmarried daughters being prophetesses. It is likely that 
his itinerant mission ended here; though he continued 
occasionally to perform the work of an evangelist, and to 
bring up his family in the knowledge and fear of God, which 
is the most imperious duty that any master of a family can be 
called on to perform, and which it is impossible for any man 
to accomplish by substitute; and which none can neglect 
without endangering his own salvation.

CHAPTER ix.

Saul, bent on the destruction of the Christians, obtains 
letters from the high priest, authorizing him to seize those 
whom he should find at Damascus, and bring them bound to 
Jerusalem, 1, 2. On his way to Damascus, he has a Divine 
vision, is convinced of his sin and folly, is struck blind, 
and remains three days without sight, and neither eats nor 
drinks, 3-9. Ananias, a disciple, is commanded in a vision to 
go and speak to Saul, and restore his sight, 10-16. Ananias 
goes and lays his hands on him, and he receives his sight, 
and is baptized, 17-19. Saul, having spent a few days with 
the Christians at Damascus, goes to the synagogues, proclaims 
Christ, and confounds the Jews, 20-22. The Jews lay wait to 
kill him, but the disciples let him down over the walls of 
the city in a basket, by night, and he escapes to Jerusalem, 
23-25. Having wished to associate with the disciples there, 
they avoid him; but Barnabas takes and brings him to the 
apostles, and declares his conversion, 26, 27. He continues 
in Jerusalem preaching Christ, and arguing with the 
Hellenistic Jews, who endeavour to slay him; but the 
disciples take him to Caesarea, and send him thence to his 
own city Tarsus, 28-30. About this time, the Churches, being 
freed from persecution, are edified and multiplied, 31. Peter 
heals Eneas at Lydda, who had been afflicted with the palsy 
eight years: in consequence of which miracle, all the people 
of Lydda and Saron are converted, 32-35. Account of the 
sickness and death of a Christian woman named Tabitha, who 
dwelt at Joppa; and her miraculous restoration to life by the 
ministry of Peter, 36-41. Gracious effects produced among the 
inhabitants of Lydda by this miracle, 42, 43.

NOTES ON CHAP. ix.

Verse 1. Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter] 
The original text is very emphatic, eti empnewn apeilhv kai 
fonou, and points out how determinate Saul was to pursue and 
accomplish his fell purpose of totally destroying the infant 
Church of Christ. The mode of speech introduced above is very 
frequent in the Greek writers, who often express any vehement 
and hostile affection of the mind by the verb pneein, to 
breathe, to pant; so Theocritus, Idyll. xxii. ver. lx22: ev 
messon sunagon, fonon allaloisi pneontev.

They came into the assembly, breathing mutual slaughter.

Euripides has the same form, pur pneousa kai fonon, breathing 
out fire, and slaughter, Iphig. in Taur.

And Aristophanes more fully, referring to all the 
preparations for war: - alla pneontav doru kai logcav kai 
leukolofouv trufaleiav, kai phlhkav, kai knhmidav, kai qumouv 
eptaboeiouv.

They breathed spears, and pikes, and helmets, and crests, and 
greaves, and the fury of redoubted heroes.

The figure is a favourite one with Homer: hence menea 
pneiontev abantev, the Abantes breathing strength.-Il. ii. 
536. And how frequently he speaks of his fierce countrymen 
as, menea pneiontev acaioi, the Greeks breathing strength, 
see Il. iii. 8; xi. 508; xxiv. 364, which phrase an old 
Scholiast interprets, being filled with strength and fury. 
St. Luke, who was master of the Greek tongue, chose such 
terms as best expressed a heart desperately and incessantly 
bent on accomplishing the destruction of the objects of its 
resentment. Such at this time was the heart of Saul of 
Tarsus; and it had already given full proof of its malignity, 
not only in the martyrdom of Stephen, but also in making 
havoc of the Church, and in forcibly entering every house, 
and dragging men and women, whom he suspected of 
Christianity, and committing them to prison. See chap. viii. 
3.

Went unto the high priest] As the high priest was chief in 
all matters of an ecclesiastical nature, and the present 
business was pretendedly religious, he was the proper person 
to apply to for letters by which this virulent persecutor 
might be accredited. The letters must necessarily be granted 
in the name of the whole Sanhedrin, of which Gamaliel, Saul's 
master, was at that time the head; but the high priest was 
the proper organ through whom this business might be 
negotiated.

Verse 2. Letters to Damascus to the synagogues] Damascus, 
anciently called qsmd Damask, and qsmrd Darmask, was once the 
metropolis of all Syria. It was situated at fifty miles' 
distance from the sea; from which it is separated by lofty 
mountains. It is washed by two rivers, Amara or Abara, which 
ran through it, and Pharpar, called by the Greeks 
Chrysorrhoas, the golden stream, which ran on the outside of 
its walls. It is one of the most ancient cities in the world, 
for it existed in the time of Abraham, Genesis xiv. 15; and 
how long before is not known. The city of Damascus is at 
present a place of considerable trade, owing to its being the 
rendezvous for all the pilgrims from the north of Asia, on 
their road to and from the temple of Mecca. It is surrounded 
with pretty strong walls, which have nine gates, and is 
between four and five miles in circumference.

It contains about 100,000 inhabitants, some say more, the 
principal part of whom are Arabs and Turks, with whom live, 
in a state of considerable degradation, about 15,000 
Christians. Damascus, like other places of importance, has 
passed through the hands of many masters. It was captured and 
ruined by Tiglath Pileser, who carried away its inhabitants 
to Kin, beyond the Euphrates, about 740 years before the 
Christian aera; and thus was fulfilled the prophecy of 
Isaiah, Isa. xvii. 1-3, and that of Amos, Amos i. 4, 5. It 
was also taken by Sennacherib, and by the generals of 
Alexander the Great. Metellus and Laelius seized it, during 
the war of Pompey with Tigranes; before Christ 65. It 
continued under the dominion of the Romans till the Saracens 
took possession of it, in A.D. 634. It was besieged and taken 
by Teemour lenk, A.D. 1400, who put all the inhabitants to 
the sword. The Egyptian Mamelukes repaired Damascus when they 
took possession of Syria; but the Turkish Emperor Selim 
having defeated them at the battle of Aleppo in 1516, 
Damascus was brought under the government of the Turks, and 
in their hands it still remains. In the time of St. Paul it 
was governed by Aretas, whose father, Obodas, had been 
governor of it under Augustus. Damascus is 112 miles south of 
Antioch; 130 N.N.E. of Jerusalem; and 270 S.S.W; of Diarbek.

Longitude 37¯ east: latitude 33¯ 45' north. The fruit tree 
called the Damascene, vulgarly Damazon, and the flower called 
the Damask rose, were transplanted from Damascus to the 
gardens of Europe; and the silks and linens, known by the 
name of Damasks, were probably first manufactured by the 
inhabitants of this ancient city.

Any of this way] That is, this religion, for so ûrd derec in 
Hebrew, and odov, hodos, in Hellenistic Greek, are often to 
be understood. hwhy ûrd derec Yehovah, the way of the Lord, 
implies the whole of the worship due to him, and prescribed 
by himself: the way or path in which he wills men to walk, 
that they may get safely through life, and finally attain 
everlasting felicity. The Jewish writers designate the whole 
doctrine and practice of Christianity by a similar 
expression, µyrxwnh ûrd derec hanotsarim, the way, doctrine, 
or sect of the Christians.

Whether they were men or women] Provided they were Jews; for 
no converts had as yet been made among the Gentiles; nor did 
the power of the high priest and Sanhedrin extend to any but 
those who belonged to the synagogues. Pearce.

In every country where there were Jews and synagogues, the 
power and authority of the Sanhedrin and high priest were 
acknowledged: just as papists in all countries acknowledge 
the authority of the pope. And as there can be but one pope, 
and one conclave, so there could be but one high priest, and 
one Sanhedrin; and this is the reason why the high priest and 
sanhedrin at Jerusalem had authority over all Jews, even in 
the most distant countries.

Verse 3. Suddenly there shined round about him] This might 
have been an extraordinary flash of the electric fluid, 
accompanied with thunder, with which God chose to astonish 
and confound Saul and his company; but so modified it as to 
prevent it from striking them dead. Thunder would naturally 
follow such a large quantity of this fluid as appears to have 
been disengaged at this time; and out of this thunder, or 
immediately after it, Christ spoke in an awful and distinct 
voice, which appears to have been understood by Saul only.

Verse 4. And he fell to the earth] Being struck down with the 
lightning: many persons suppose he was on horseback, and 
painters thus represent him; but this is utterly without 
foundation. Painters are, in almost every case, wretched 
commentators.

Verse 5. Who art thou, Lord?] tiv ei, kurie; Who art thou, 
SIR? He had no knowledge who it was that addressed him, and 
would only use the term kurie, as any Roman or Greek would, 
merely as a term of civil respect.

I am Jesus whom thou persecutest] "Thy enmity is against me 
and my religion; and the injuries which thou dost to my 
followers I consider as done to myself." The following words, 
making twenty in the original, and thirty in our version, are 
found in no Greek MS. The words are, It is hard for thee to 
kick against the pricks: and he trembling and astonished 
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? and the Lord said 
unto him. It is not very easy to account for such a large 
addition, which is not only not found in any Greek MS. yet 
discovered, but is wanting in the Itala, Erpen's Arabic, the 
Syriac, Coptic, Sahidic, and most of the Slavonian. It is 
found in the Vulgate, one of the Arabic, the AEthiopic, and 
Armenian; and was probably borrowed from chap. xxvi. 14, and 
some marginal notes. It is wanting also in the Complutensian 
edition, and in that of Bengel. Griesbach also leaves it out 
of the text.

It is hard for thee, &c.] sklhron soi prov kentra laktizein. 
This is a proverbial expression, which exists, not only in 
substance, but even in so many words, both in the Greek and 
Latin writers. kentron, kentron, signifies an ox goad, a 
piece of pointed iron stuck in the end of a stick, with which 
the ox is urged on when drawing the plough. The origin of the 
proverb seems to have been this: sometimes it happens that a 
restive or stubborn ox kicks back against the goad, and thus 
wounds himself more deeply: hence it has become a proverb to 
signify the fruitlessness and absurdity of rebelling against 
lawful authority, and the getting into greater difficulties 
by endeavouring to avoid trifling sufferings. So the proverb, 
Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim. Out of the 
cauldron into the fire. "Out of bad into worse." The saying 
exists, almost in the apostolic form, in the following 
writers. EURIPIDES, in Bacch. ver. 7xc3: - quoimÆ an autw 
mallon, h qumoumenov prov kentra laktizoimi, qnhtov wn, qew.

"I, who am a frail mortal, should rather sacrifice to him who 
is a GOD, than, by giving place to anger, kick against the 
goads." And AESCHYLUS, in Agamemnon, ver. 16x23: - prov 
kentra mh laktize.

Kick not against the goads.

And again in Prometh. Vinct. ver. 323: - prov kentra kwlon 
ekteneiv, orwn oti tracuv monarcov oudÆ upeuqunov kratei.

"Thou stretchest out thy foot against goads, seeing the 
fierce monarch governs according to his own will." Resistance 
is of no use: the more thou dost rebel, the more keenly thou 
shalt suffer. See the Scholiast here.

PINDAR has a similar expression, Pyth. ii. ver. 171-5 : - 
ferein dÆ elafrwv epaucenion labonta zugon gÆ arhgei. poti 
kentron de toi laktizemen, teleqei olisqhrov oimov.

"It is profitable to bear willingly the assumed yoke.

To kick against the goad is pernicious conduct." Where see 
the Scholiast, who shows that "it is ridiculous for a man to 
fight with fortune: for if the unruly ox, from whom the 
metaphor is taken, kick against the goad, he shall suffer 
still more grievously." TERENCE uses the same figure. Phorm. 
Act i. scen. 2, ver. x17: - Venere in mentem mihi istaec: nam 
inscitia est, Adversum stimulum calces. - "These things have 
come to my recollection, for it is foolishness for thee to 
kick against a goad." OVID has the same idea in other words, 
Trist. lib. ii. ver. 15: - At nunc (tanta meo comes est 
insania morbo) Saxa malum refero rursus ad icta pedem.

Scilicet et victus repetit gladiator arenam; Et redit in 
tumidas naufraga puppis aquas.

But madly now I wound myself alone, Dashing my injured foot 
against the stone: So to the wide arena, wild with pain, The 
vanquish'd gladiator hastes again; So the poor shatter'd bark 
the tempest braves, Launching once more into the swelling 
waves.

Intelligent men, in all countries and in all ages of the 
world, have seen and acknowledged the folly and wickedness of 
fighting against God; of murmuring at the dispensations of 
his providence; of being impatient under affliction; and of 
opposing the purposes of his justice and mercy. The words 
contain a universal lesson, and teach us patience under 
affliction, and subjection to the sovereign will of God; and 
they especially show the desperate wickedness of 
endeavouring, by persecution, to hinder the dissemination of 
the truth of God in the earth. He that kicks against this 
goad does it at the risk of his final salvation. The fable of 
the viper and the file is another illustration of this 
proverb: it gnawed and licked the file, till it destroyed its 
teeth and wasted away its tongue. The maxim in the proverb 
should be early inculcated on the minds of children and 
scholars; when chastised for their faults, resistance and 
stubbornness produce increased coercion and chastisement. And 
let parents and masters learn that the oft-repeated use of 
the goad and ferula seldom tend to reclaim, but beget 
obduracy and desperation. The advice of Columella to the 
ploughman, having some relation to the proverb in the text, 
and a strong bearing on this latter part of the subject, is 
worthy of the most serious regard: "Voce potius quam 
verberibus terreat: ultimaque sint opus recusantibus remedia 
plagae. Nunquam stimulo lacessat juvencum, quod retrectantem 
calcitrosumque eum reddit: nonnunquam tamen admoneat 
flagello." COLUMELLA, Deuteronomy Revelation Rustica, lib. 
ii. cap. 2, in fine. "Let the husbandman intimidate his oxen 
more by his voice than by blows, to which he should never 
have recourse but in extreme cases. A young steer should 
never be goaded, for this will induce him to kick and run 
back; but on proper occasions the whip, as an incentive to 
activity, may be profitably used." In reference to the same 
subject, which all concerned should feel to be of the 
greatest importance I shall close with the advice of one 
greater than the Roman agriculturist: Fathers, provoke not 
your children to anger, lest they be discouraged, Col. iii. 
21; but bring them up (en paideia kai nouqesia kuriou) in the 
discipline and admonition of the Lord, Eph. vi. 4, using the 
authority that God has given you with a steady hand, actuated 
by a tender and feeling heart.

Verse 6. Trembling] Under a strong apprehension of meeting 
the judgment he deserved.

And astonished] At the light, the thunder, and the voice.

Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?] The word kurie, Lord, is 
here to be understood in its proper sense, as expressing 
authority and dominion: in the 5th verse it appears to be 
equivalent to our word sir.

The pride of the Pharisee is now brought down to the dust; 
and the fury of the persecutor is not only restrained, but 
the lion becomes a lamb. What wilt thou have me to do? Wilt 
thou condescend to employ me among thy meanest servants? Go 
into the city, and it shall be told thee, &c.] Jesus could 
have informed him at once what was his will concerning him; 
but he chose to make one of those very disciples whom he was 
going to bring in bonds to Jerusalem the means of his 
salvation: 1. To show that God will help man by man, that 
they may learn to love and respect each other. 2. That in the 
benevolence of Ananias he might see the spirit and tendency 
of that religion which he was persecuting, and of which he 
was shortly to become an apostle.

Verse 7. Stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no 
man.] The men were enneoi, stupified, hearing thv fwnhv, the 
voice or thunder, but not distinguishing the words, which 
were addressed to Saul alone; and which were spoken out of 
the thunder, or in a small, still voice, after the peal had 
ceased. The remarkable case, 1 Kings xix. 11-13, may serve to 
illustrate that before us. And he said, Go forth, and stand 
upon the mount before the Lord; and the Lord passed by, and a 
great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces 
the rocks before the Lard; and after the wind an earthquake; 
and after the earthquake a fire; and after the fire a still 
small voice; and when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in 
his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the 
cave, and behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, WHAT 
DOST THOU HERE, ELIJAH! The thunder must have been heard by 
all; the small, still voice by Saul alone.

This consideration amply reconciles the passage in the text 
with that in chap. xxii. 9, where Paul says, They that were 
with me saw the light and were afraid, but they heard not the 
voice of him that spoke with one. They had heard the thunder 
which followed the escape of the lightning, but they heard 
not the voice of him that spake to Saul; they did not hear 
the words, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest, &c.; but they 
saw and heard enough to convince them that the whole was 
supernatural; for they were all struck down to the earth with 
the splendour of the light, and the sound of the thunder, 
which I suppose took place on this occasion. It has been a 
question among divines, whether Jesus Christ did really 
appear to Saul on this occasion. The arguments against the 
real appearance are not strong. St. Luke tells us that those 
who were with him heard the voice, but they saw no man; which 
is a strong intimation that he saw what they did not.

Ananias, it seems, was informed that there had been a real 
appearance, for, in addressing Saul, ver. 17, he says, The 
Lord Jesus that APPEARED unto THEE in the way as thou camest, 
&c. And Barnabas intimates thus much, when he brought him 
before the apostles at Jerusalem, for he declared unto them 
how he had SEEN the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken 
unto him; and, chap. xxii. 14, where the discourse of Ananias 
is given more at large, he says, The God of our fathers hath 
chosen thee that thou shouldest know his will, and SEE that 
JUST ONE, and shouldest HEAR the voice of his mouth; so we 
find that hearing the voice, or words of his mouth, was not 
what is called the appearance; for, besides this, there was 
an actual manifestation of the person of Christ. But St. 
Paul's own words, 1 Cor. ix. 1, put the subject out of 
dispute: Amos I not an apostle? Amos I not free? HAVE I NOT 
SEEN JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD? To which may be added, 1 Cor. xv. 
8, And last of all, HE WAS SEEN OF ME ALSO, as of one born 
out of due time.

Verse 8. When his eyes were opened, he saw no man] Instead of 
oudena, no man, the Codex Alexandrinus, the Syriac, Vulgate, 
and some others, have ouden nothing. He not only saw no man, 
but he saw nothing, being quite blind; and therefore was led 
by the hand to Damascus, mh blepwn, being without sight.

Verse 9. Neither did eat nor drink.] The anxiety of his mind 
and the anguish of his heart were so great that he had no 
appetite for food; and he continued in total darkness and 
without food for three days, till Ananias proclaimed 
salvation to him in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Verse 10. A certain disciple-named Ananias] A general opinion 
has prevailed in the Greek Church that this Ananias was one 
of the seventy-two disciples, and that he was martyred; and 
they celebrate his martyrdom on the first of October. It has 
been farther stated that his house was turned into a church, 
which remains to the present day, though now occupied as a 
Turkish mosque; but even the Mohammedans have the tradition, 
and treat his memory with great respect. However this may be, 
from chap. xxii. 12, we learn, what is of more importance, 
that he was a devout man according to the law, having a good 
report of all the Jews that dwelt there. See on ver. 17.

To him said the Lord in a vision] en oramati, In a strong 
impression made upon his mind, which left no doubt concerning 
its heavenly origin, nor of the truth of the things 
represented by it. It is very probable that the whole took 
place in a dream.

Verse 11. Arise, and go into the street which is called 
Straight] How very particular is this direction! And it was 
necessary that it should be so, that he might see the whole 
to be a Divine communication; the house was probably one in 
which Saul was accustomed to reside when at Damascus; and 
where he was known as a native of Tarsus.

Tarsus was a city of Cilicia, seated on the Cydnus, and now 
called Tarasso. It was, at one period, the capital of all 
Cilicia, and became a rival to Alexandria and Athens in the 
arts and sciences. The inhabitants, in the time of Julius 
Caesar, having shown themselves friendly to the Romans, were 
endowed with all the privileges of Roman citizens; and it was 
on this account that St. Paul claimed the rights of a Roman 
citizen; a circumstance which, on different occasions, was to 
him, and the cause in which he was engaged, of considerable 
service.

Behold, he prayeth] He is earnestly seeking to know my will, 
and to find the salvation of his soul; therefore, go 
speedily, and direct him. Some have laid needless stress on 
these words, as if they intimated, that "though Saul as a 
Pharisee had often said his prayers, yet he had never prayed 
them till now." This is not correct: he could himself testify 
that, while he was a Pharisee, he had lived in all good 
conscience towards God; and consequently, in that time, made 
many faithful and fervent prayers; but he was praying now for 
instruction, and his prayers were speedily answered.

Verse 12. Hath seen in a vision] While God prepares Ananias, 
by a vision, to go and minister to Saul, he at the same time 
prepares Saul, by another vision, to profit by this ministry.

Verse 13. Lord, I have heard by many of this man] This was 
all done in a dream, else this sort of reasoning with his 
Maker would have been intolerable in Ananias. Saul had been a 
notorious persecutor; many could testify of his outrageous 
acts against the poor followers of Christ.

Thy saints] That is, the Christians, or followers of Christ. 
Æagioi signifies not only holy persons, but also consecrated 
persons; from a, negative, and gh, the earth; persons who are 
separated from all earthly uses, and consecrated to the 
service of God alone.

Verse 14. And here he hath authority, &c.] Ananias had 
undoubtedly heard of Saul's coming, and the commission he had 
received from the chief priests; and he was about to urge 
this as a reason why he should have no connection with so 
dangerous a man.

Verse 15. Go thy way] He was thus prevented from going 
farther in his reasoning on this subject.

He is a chosen vessel unto me] The word skeuov in Greek, and 
ylk Keley in Hebrew, though they literally signify a vessel, 
yet they are both used to signify any kind of instrument, or 
the means by which an act is done. In the Tract. Sohar Exod. 
fol. 87, on these words of Boaz to Ruth, Ruth ii. 9, When 
thou art athirst, go unto the vessels and drink, &c., there 
are these remarkable words . " ylk keley, vessels; that is, 
the righteous, who are called the vessels or instruments of 
Jehovah; for it is decreed that the whole world shall bring 
gifts to the King Messiah; and these are the vessels of the 
Lord: vessels, I say, which the holy and blessed God uses, 
although they be brittle; but they are brittle only in this 
world, that they may establish the law and the worship with 
which the holy and blessed God is worshipped in this world; 
neither can this ministry be exercised but by vessels or 
instruments." This mode of speech was common also among the 
Greek and Roman writers. So POLYBIUS, speaking of Damocles, 
Excerpta, vol. iii. lib. 13, [Edit. Ernesti,] says, hn 
uphretikon skeuov, kai pollav ecwn eformav eiv pragmatwn 
oikonomian. "He was a useful instrument, and fit for the 
management of affairs." We find Paul, in 1 Thess. iv. 4, 
using the same word, skeuov, for the body, agreeable to the 
expression of Lucretius, iii. 441, Corpus, quod VAS quasi 
constitit ejus. "The BODY, which is the VESSEL or instrument 
of the soul." See Bp. Pearce on this passage.

Chosen vessel.-skeuov ekloghv is properly a Hebraism, for an 
excellent or well-adapted instrument. Every reader of the 
Bible must have noticed how often the word chosen is used 
there to signify excelling or eminent: so we use the word 
choice, "choice men," eminent persons; "choice things," 
excellent articles. So in Jer. xxii. 7: They shall cut down 
the choice cedars, ûyzra rjbm wtrkw vecaretu MIBCHAR 
arazeyca; kai ekkoyousi tav eklekatav kedrouv sou, SEPT. They 
shall cut the most EXCELLENT of thy cedars; or thy cedar 
trees, which are the most excellent of their kind, they will 
cut down. Whoever considers the character of St. Paul, his 
education, attainments in natural knowledge, the 
distinguished part he took-first against Christianity, and 
afterwards, on the fullest conviction, the part he took in 
its favour-will at once perceive how well he was every way 
qualified for the great work to which God had called him.

To bear my name before the Gentiles] To carry the ensign of 
the cross among the Greeks and Romans; and, by the 
demonstration of the Spirit, to confound their wisdom and 
learning, and prove that neither salvation nor happiness 
could be found in any other. Hence he was emphatically 
called, the apostle of the Gentiles, 1 Tim. ii. 7; 2 Tim. i. 
11. See also Gal. ii. 7, 8, and Eph. iii. 8.

Verse 16. How great things he must suffer] Instead of 
proceeding as a persecutor, and inflicting sufferings on 
others, I will show him how many things he himself must 
suffer for preaching that very doctrine which he has been 
hitherto employed in persecuting. Strange change indeed! And 
with great show of reason, as with incontrovertible strength 
of argument, has a noble writer, Lord Lyttleton, adduced the 
conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and his subsequent conduct, as 
an irrefragable proof of the truth of Christianity.

Some think that the words, I will show him, &c., refer to a 
visionary representation, which Christ was immediately to 
give Saul, of the trials and difficulties which he should 
have to encounter; as also of that death by which he should 
seal his testimony to the truth. If so, what a most thorough 
conviction must Saul have had of the truth of Christianity, 
cheerfully and deliberately to give up all worldly honours 
and profits, and go forward in a work which he knew a violent 
death was to terminate!

Verse 17. Brother Saul] As he found that the Head of the 
Church had adopted Saul into the heavenly family, he made no 
scruple to give him the right hand of fellowship, and 
therefore said, Brother Saul.

The Lord, even Jesus] Of what use is this intrusive word even 
here? It injures the sense. St. Luke never wrote it; and our 
translators should not have inserted it. The Lord Jesus, the 
sovereign Jesus who appeared unto thee in the way, hath sent 
me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with 
the Holy Ghost. Christ could have cured him so miraculously 
by his own power, without human means, as he had enlightened 
his heart without them; but he will honour man by making him 
his agent, even in working miracles.

And be filled with the Holy Ghost.] So it appears that the 
Holy Spirit was given to him at this time, and probably by 
the imposition of the hands of Ananias. To say that it would 
be degrading to an apostle to receive the Holy Ghost by means 
of one who was not an apostle is a very flimsy argument 
against the evidence which the text affords that Saul did 
receive this Spirit by the ministry of Ananias: besides, Saul 
was not an apostle at this time; he was not even a Christian; 
and the Holy Ghost, which he received now, was given more to 
make him a thorough Christian convert than to make him an 
apostle. No person will deny that he was baptized by Ananias; 
and certainly there was as strong an objection against an 
apostle receiving baptism from one who was not an apostle as 
there could be in receiving the Holy Spirit from such a 
person. It is very likely that Ananias was either one of the 
seventy disciples commissioned by Jesus Christ himself, or 
one of those who had been converted on the day of pentecost.

If he were the former, any authority that man could have he 
had. But who was the instrument is a matter of little 
importance; as the apostleship, and the grace by which it was 
to be fulfilled, came immediately from Jesus Christ himself. 
Nor has there ever been an apostle, nor a legitimate 
successor of an apostle, that was not made such by Christ 
himself. If we consider the authority as coming by man, or 
through any description of men, we should be arrested and 
confounded by the difficult question, Who baptized the 
apostles? Jesus Christ baptized no man, John iv. 2. Who then 
baptized Peter! Can the Roman conclave answer this question? 
I trow not.

It would be as difficult to answer it as to prove Peter's 
supremacy. We have no evidence who baptized the apostles, who 
themselves baptized so many others. The truth is, none but 
Christ ever made an apostle; and none but himself can make 
and qualify a Christian minister.

Verse 18. There fell from his eyes as it had been scales] 
This was real: he had been so dazzled with the brightness of 
the light that we may suppose the globe of the eye, and 
particularly the cornea, had suffered considerable injury. 
The structure of the cornea was doubtless much disturbed, and 
the whole of that humour would be rendered opaque, and 
incapable of permitting the rays of light to pass through the 
different humours to the retina, where all the images of 
things transmitted through the lenses, or humours, are 
distinctly painted. In the miraculous cure the membrane was 
restored to its primitive state, and the opaque matter 
separated from the cornea, in the form of thin laminae or 
scales. This being done, the light would have as free a 
passage as formerly, and the result would be distinct vision.

And arose, and was baptized.] That he was baptized by Ananias 
there is every reason to believe; as he appears to have been 
the chief Christian at Damascus. As baptism implied, in an 
adult, the public profession of that faith into which he was 
baptized, this baptism of Saul proved, at once, his own 
sincerity, and the deep and thorough conviction he had of the 
truth of Christianity.

Verse 19. When he had received meat, he was strengthened] His 
mind must have been greatly worn down under his three days' 
conviction of sin, and the awful uncertainty he was in 
concerning his state; but when he was baptized, and had 
received the Holy Ghost, his soul was Divinely invigorated; 
and now, by taking food, his bodily strength, greatly 
exhausted by three days' fasting, was renewed also. The body 
is not supported by the bread of life, nor the soul by the 
bread that perisheth: each must have its proper aliment, that 
the whole man may be invigorated, and be enabled to perform 
all the functions of the animal and spiritual life with 
propriety and effect.

Then was Saul certain days with the disciples] Doubtless 
under instructions, relative to the doctrines of 
Christianity; which he must learn particularly, in order to 
preach them successfully. His miraculous conversion did not 
imply that he must then have a consummate knowledge of every 
Christian doctrine. To this day we find that even the genuine 
Christian convert has a thousand things to learn; and for his 
instruction he is placed in the Church of Christ, where he is 
built up on his most holy faith by the ministry and 
experience of the disciples. Without the communion of saints, 
who is likely to make a steady and consistent Christian; even 
though his conversion should have been the most sincere and 
the most remarkable?

Verse 20. Preached Christ in the synagogues] Instead of 
criston, Christ, ihsoun, Jesus, is the reading of ABCE, 
several others of high importance, together with the Syriac, 
Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, Slavonic, and Vulgate.

The great question to be determined, for the conviction of 
the Jews, was that JESUS was the Son of God. That the Christ, 
or Messiah, was to be the Son of God, they all believed. Saul 
was now convinced that Jesus, whom they had crucified, and 
who had appeared to him on the way, was the Son of God, or 
Messiah; and therefore as such he proclaimed him. The word 
Christ should be changed for Jesus, as the latter is, without 
doubt, the genuine reading.

The first offers of the grace of the Gospel were uniformly 
made to the Jews. Saul did not at first offer Jesus to the 
heathens at Damascus; but to the synagogues of the Jews.

Verse 21. Is not this he that destroyed them] Æo porqhsav. 
The verb porqein has three acceptations in the Greek writers: 
1. To treat one as an enemy, to spoil him of his goods. 2. To 
lead away captive, to imprison. 3.

To slay. Paul was properly porqwn, a destroyer, in all these 
senses. 1. He acted as the most determined enemy of the 
Christians: Being exceedingly mad against them, he persecuted 
them to strange cities, chap. xxvi. 11. 2. He shut up many of 
the saints in prison, chap. viii. 3; ix. 14; xxvi. 10. 3. He 
persecuted them unto death-gave his voice against them that 
they might be destroyed, and was a principal instrument in 
the martyrdom of Stephen.

He breathed threatenings and slaughter. See chap. vii. 58; 
viii. 1; ix. 1; xxvi. 10, 11.

Therefore these three meanings of the original word are all 
exemplified in the conduct of Saul.

Verse 22. Confounded the Jews] sunecune, Overwhelmed them so 
with his arguments that they were obliged to blush for the 
weakness of their own cause.

Proving that this] outov, This person, viz. JESUS, is very 
Christ; estin o cristov, IS THE CHRIST, or Messiah. See on 
ver. 21.

Verse 23. And after that many days were fulfilled] What 
follows relates to transactions which took place about three 
years after his conversion, when he had come a second time to 
Damascus, after having been in Arabia. See Gal. i. 17, 18. 
What he did in Arabia we know not; he probably preached 
Christ in different Jewish synagogues; but with what fruit we 
are not told. St. Luke, who could not have been ignorant of 
this part of his history, passes it over in silence; and any 
assertion, at this distance of time, RELATIVE to his 
employment in Arabia for those three years, must be both 
foolish and impertinent.

Verse 24. They watched the gates day and night to kill him.] 
At this time Damascus was under the government of Aretas, 
king of Arabia, who was now at war with Herod, his son-in-
law, who had put away his daughter in order to marry 
Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. As Herod was supported 
by the Romans, Saul's enemies might intimate that he was in 
league with them or Herod; and, as the gates of the city were 
constantly watched and shut, that no spy might enter, and no 
fugitive get away, they thought it would be easy to apprehend 
him; and doubtless got orders for the different officers at 
the gates to be on the look-out that he might not be 
permitted to escape.

Verse 25. Let him down, by the wall] Favoured, probably, by a 
house built against or upon the wall, through the window of 
which they could lower him in a basket; and by this means he 
made his escape. His escape was something similar to that of 
the spies at Jericho, Josh. ii. 15.

Verse 26. He assayed to join himself to the disciples] 
epeirato kollasqai, He endeavoured to get closely united to 
them, to be in religious fellowship with them.

Believed not that he was a disciple.] They did not suppose it 
possible that such a person could be converted to the faith 
of Christ. The full power of Divine grace, in the conversion 
of the soul, was not yet completely known.

Verse 27. Barnabas-brought him to the apostles] That is, to 
Peter and James; for others of the apostles he saw none, Gal. 
i. 19. It appears that he went up at this time to Jerusalem 
merely to see Peter, with whom he abode fifteen days, Gal. i. 
18. How it came that the apostles and Church at Jerusalem had 
not heard of Saul's conversion, which had taken place three 
years before, is not easy to be accounted for. The following 
considerations may help; 1. It is certain that intelligence 
did not travel speedily in those primitive times; there were 
few open roads, and no regular posts, except those between 
military stations. 2. Though there were many Jews in 
Damascus, and several Christians, yet the city was heathen, 
and under a heathen king, with whom the Jews at Jerusalem 
could have little commerce. 3. Though Herod had married the 
daughter of Aretas, yet, as he had put her away, there were 
great animosities between the two courts, which at last broke 
out into an open war; this must have prevented all social and 
commercial intercourse. 4. The Christians were at that time 
greatly persecuted by the Jews, and therefore the few that 
dwelt at Damascus could have little connection, if any, with 
their brethren at Jerusalem. 5. It might be the interest of 
the Jews at Jerusalem, supposing they had heard of it, to 
keep the fact of Saul's conversion as quiet as possible, that 
the Christian cause might not gain credit by it. 6. They 
might have heard of his conversion; but either did not fully 
credit what they had heard, or were not satisfied that the 
person who now presented himself was the man; for it is not 
likely that all the Christians at Jerusalem had been 
personally acquainted with Saul.

Verse 28. He was with them coming in and going out] Freely 
conversing and associating with them; but this seems to have 
continued only fifteen days. See Gal. i. 18.

Verse 29. Disputed against the Grecians] That is, the 
Hellenistic Jews, viz. those who lived in Grecian cities, 
spoke the Greek language, and used the Septuagint version for 
their scriptures. And thus the Syriac version has interpreted 
this place. See the note on chap. vi. 1, where this subject 
is largely explained.

Verse 30. They brought him down to Caesarea] Calmet contends 
that this was Caesarea of Palestine, and not Caesarea 
Philippi; it being his opinion, and indeed that of others, 
that where this word occurs without any addition, in the New 
Testament, Caesarea of Palestine is meant, and not Caesarea 
Philippi. See on chap. viii. 40.

Sent him forth to Tarsus.] This was his own city; and it was 
right that he should proclaim to his own countrymen and 
relatives that Gospel through which he was become wise to 
salvation.

Verse 31. Then had the Churches rest] Instead of ia 
ekklhsiai, the Churches, ABC, several others, the Syriac, 
Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, and Vulgate, have hekklhsia, the 
Church. Every assembly of God's people was a Church; the 
aggregate of these assemblies was THE CHURCH.

The word eirhnhn, which we translate rest, and which 
literally signifies peace, evidently means, in this place, 
prosperity; and in this sense both it and the Hebrew µwl 
shalom are repeatedly used. But what was the cause of this 
rest or success? Some say, the conversion of Saul, who before 
made havoc of the Church; but this is not likely, as he could 
not be a universal cause of persecution and distress, however 
active and virulent he might have been during the time of his 
enmity to the Christian Church.

Besides his own persecution, related above, shows that the 
opposition to the Gospel continued with considerable 
virulence three years after his conversion; therefore it was 
not Saul's ceasing to be a persecutor that gave this rest to 
the Churches. Dr. Lardner, with a greater show of 
probability, maintains that this rest was owing to the 
following circumstance: Soon after Caligula's accession to 
the imperial dignity, the Jews at Alexandria suffered very 
much from the Egyptians in that city; and at length their 
oratories were all destroyed. In the third year of Caligula, 
A.D. 39, Petronius, who was made president of Syria in the 
place of Vitellius, was sent by the emperor to set up his 
statue in the temple at Jerusalem. This was a thunder-stroke 
to the Jews, and so occupied them that they had no time to 
think of any thing else; apprehending that their temple must 
be defiled, and the national religion destroyed, or 
themselves run the risk of being exterminated if they 
rebelled against the imperial decree.

The account given by Josephus will set this in a clear point 
of view.

"Caligula sent Petronius to go with an army to Jerusalem, to 
set up his statues in the temple, enjoining him if the Jews 
opposed it, to put to death all that made resistance, and to 
make all the rest of the nation slaves.

Petronius therefore marched from Antioch into Judea, with 
three legions, and a large body of auxiliaries raised in 
Syria. All were hereupon filled with consternation, the army 
being come as far as Ptolemais. The Jews, then, gathering 
together, went to the plain near Ptolemais, and entreated 
Petronius in the first place for their laws, in the next 
place for themselves.

Petronius was moved with their solicitations, and, leaving 
his army and the statues, went into Galilee, and called an 
assembly of the heads of the Jews at Tiberias; and, having 
exhorted them without effect to submit to the emperor's 
orders, said, 'Will ye then fight against Caesar?' They 
answered that they offered up sacrifices twice every day for 
the emperor and the Roman people; but that if he would set up 
the images, he ought first of all to sacrifice the whole 
Jewish nation; and that they were ready to submit themselves, 
their wives and children, to the slaughter." Philo gives a 
similar account of this transaction. See Lardner's 
Credibility, Works, vol. i. p. 97, &c.

It appears, therefore, that, as these transactions took place 
about the time mentioned in the text, their persecution from 
the Romans diverted them from persecuting the Christians; and 
THEN had the Churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee, 
and Samaria; the terror occasioned by the imperial decree 
having spread itself through all those places.

Were edified] oikodomoumenai, A metaphor taken from a 
building.

The ground is marked out; 2. the ichnograph, or dimensions of 
the building, ascertained; 3. the foundation is digged; 4. 
the foundation stone laid; 5. the walls builded up with 
course upon course; 6. the top-stone brought on; 7.

the roof raised, and the whole covered in; and, 8. the 
interior part fitted up and adorned, and rendered convenient 
for the intended inhabitant. This figure frequently occurs in 
the sacred writings, especially in the New Testament. It has 
its reason in the original creation of man: God made the 
first human being as a shrine or temple, in which himself 
might dwell. Sin entered, and the heavenly building was 
destroyed. The materials, however, though all dislocated, and 
covered with rubbish and every way defiled, yet exist; no 
essential power or faculty of the soul having been lost. The 
work of redemption consists in building up this house as it 
was in the beginning, and rendering it a proper habitation 
for God. The various powers, faculties, and passions, are all 
to be purified and refined by the power of the Holy Spirit, 
and order and harmony restored to the whole soul. All this is 
beautifully pointed out by St. Peter, 1 Pet. ii. 4, 5: To 
whom (Jesus Christ) coming as unto a LIVING STONE, chosen of 
God and precious, ye also, as LIVING STONES, are BUILT UP a 
spiritual HOUSE, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual 
sacrifices to God by Jesus Christ. And St. Paul, who, from 
his own profession as a tent-maker, could best seize on the 
metaphor, and press it into this spiritual service, goes 
through the whole figure at large, in the following 
inimitable words: Ye are the HOUSEHOLD of God, and are BUILT 
upon the FOUNDATION of the apostles and prophets, Jesus 
Christ himself being the chief CORNERSTONE, in whom all the 
BUILDING, FITLY FRAMED together, groweth unto a HOLY TEMPLE 
in the Lord: in whom ye also are BUILDED together for a 
HABITATION of God, through the Spirit, Eph. ii. 19-22. 
Edification signifies, therefore, an increase in the light, 
life, and power of God; being founded on the doctrine of 
Christ crucified; having the soul purified from all 
unrighteousness, and fitted, by increasing holiness, to be a 
permanent residence for the ever-blessed God.

Walking in the fear of the Lord] Keeping a continually tender 
conscience; abhorring all sin; having respect to every Divine 
precept; dreading to offend him from whom the soul has 
derived its being and its blessings. Without this salutary 
fear of God there never can be any circumspect walking.

In the comfort of the Holy Ghost] In a consciousness of their 
acceptance and union with God, through his Spirit, by which 
solid peace and happiness are brought into the soul; the 
truly religious man knowing and feeling that he is of God, by 
the Spirit which is given him: nothing less can be implied in 
the comfort of the Holy Ghost.

Were multiplied.] No wonder that the Church of God increased, 
when such lights as these shone among men. This is a short, 
but full and forcible description of the righteousness, 
purity, and happiness of the primitive Church.

Verse 32. As Peter passed throughout all quarters] dia 
pantwn, Bp.

Pearce thinks, should be translated, not through all 
quarters, but through all the saints. The Churches having 
rest, the apostles made use of this interval of quiet to 
visit the different congregations, in order to build them up 
on their most holy faith. Of Saul we hear no more till chap. 
xi. 30, which is supposed to be about five years after this 
time; eight in all from his conversion. Peter, it seems, had 
continued in Jerusalem all the time that the Churches were in 
a state of persecution throughout the whole land. Great as he 
was, he never evidenced that steady determinate courage by 
which St. Paul was so eminently distinguished; nor did he 
ever suffer half so much for God and his truth.

To the saints] The Jews, who had been converted to 
Christianity.

Which dwelt at Lydda.] A town in the tribe of Ephraim, almost 
on the border of Judea, and nigh unto Joppa: it was about ten 
leagues from Jerusalem, and was afterwards known by the name 
of Diospolis, or the city of Jupiter.

Verse 33. A certain man named Eneas] This name has been 
celebrated in the annals of heathen poetry, in that beautiful 
work of the poet Virgil, called the AEneid; which gives an 
account of the misfortunes, travels, wars, &c., of a Trojan 
prince of this name, after the destruction of his native 
city, Troy. On the difference of names which so frequently 
occurs in some pasts of the Scriptures, Calmet makes the 
following judicious remarks: As both Greek and Hebrew, or 
Syriac, were commonly spoken in Palestine, most persons had 
two names, one Greek and the other Hebrew.

Thus Peter was called Cephas in Hebrew, and Petros in Greek. 
Paul was called Saul in Hebrew, and Paulos in Greek. The 
person in ver. 36, Tabitha in Hebrew, and Dorcas in Greek. 
And the paralytic person cured by Peter, Han. in Hebrew, and 
Aineas in Greek. So Thomas was the Hebrew name of the apostle 
who in Greek was called Didymus.

Had kept his bed eight years] This was occasioned by a palsy; 
and now inveterate and hopeless, through its long standing.

Verse 34. Jesus Christ maketh thee whole] Not Peter, for he 
had no power but what was given him from above. And, as an 
instrument, any man could heal with this power as well as 
Peter; but God chose to put honour upon those primitive 
preachers of his word, that men might see that they were 
commissioned from heaven.

Arise, and make thy bed.] Give now full proof that Jesus 
Christ HAS made thee whole, by arising, and by making thy 
bed. He was at home, and therefore was not commanded, as the 
paralytic person, to take up his bed; but he was ordered to 
make it-strew it afresh, that all might see that the cure was 
perfect.

Verse 35. All that dwelt in Lydda and Saron saw him] Saron 
was that champaign country that lay between Joppa and Lydda. 
The long affliction of this man had been well known; and his 
cure, consequently, became a subject of general examination: 
it was found to be real. It was known to have been performed 
by the grace and mercy of Christ; and the consequence of all 
this conviction was that all these people became Christians.

Verse 36. Now there was at Joppa] This was a sea-port town on 
the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, about a day's journey 
from Jerusalem. It is supposed to be the same which is called 
in the Old Testament Japho, which belonged to the tribe of 
Dan, Joshua xix. 46. It is at present called Jaffa, and is 
still a place of considerable note.

A certain disciple named Tabitha] This word is more properly 
Syriac than Hebrew. (Syriac) tebitho is the word in the 
Syriac version, and is their manner of writing the Hebrew ybx 
tsebi, the f teth being changed for the x tsaddi. The word 
(Syriac) tabio, and the feminine (Syriac) tabitho, have the 
same meaning as the Hebrew ybx tsebi and the Greek dorkav, 
Dorcas, and signify the gazel or antelope; and it is still 
customary in the east to give the names of beautiful animals 
to young women. The comparison of fine eyes to those of the 
antelope is continually occurring in the writings of the 
Arabic and Persian poets. The person in the tern probably had 
her name in the same way. She was very beautiful, and was 
therefore called Tabitha and Dorcas.

This woman was full of good works] She spent her life in acts 
of kindness and charity. Her soul was full of love to God and 
man; and her whole time was filled up with works of piety and 
mercy.

Verse 37. She was sick, and died] Even her holiness and 
usefulness could not prevent her from sickness and death. 
Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return, is a decree 
that must be fulfilled, even on the saints; for the body is 
dead, sentenced to death, because of sin, though the spirit 
be life because of righteousness.

Whom when they had washed] Having the fullest proof that she 
was dead, they prepared for her interment. In most nations of 
the world it was customary to wash their dead before they 
buried them, and before they laid them out to lie in state, 
as Homer tells us was the case with the body of Patroclus: - 
wv eipwn, etaroisiv ekekleto diov acilleuv, amoi puri sthsai 
tripoda megan, ofra tacista patroklon louseian - kai tote dh 
lousan te, kai hleiyan lipÆ elaiw - Iliad xviii. 343.

"So saying, he bade his train surround with fire A tripod 
huge, that they might quickly cleanse Patroclus from all 
stains of clotted gore.

They on the blazing hearth a tripod placed, Infused the 
water, thrust dry wood beneath, And soon the flames, 
encompassing around Its ample belly, warm'd the flood within.

Soon as the water in the singing brass Simmer'd, they bathed 
him, and with limpid oil Anointed.

They stretch'd him on his bed, then cover'd him From head to 
feet with linen texture light, And with a wide unsullied 
mantle last." COWPER.

The waking or watching of the dead was also practised among 
the ancient Greeks, as we learn from a preceding paragraph, 
where Achilles, addressing his dead friend Patroclus, tells 
him: - tofra de para nhusi korwnisi keiseai autwv? amoi de se 
trwai kai dardanidev baqukolpoi klausontai, nuktav te kai 
hmata dakruceousai Il. xviii. 338.- "Mean time, among My 
lofty galleys thou shalt lie, with tears Mourn'd day and 
night, by Trojan captives fair And Dardan, compassing thy 
bier around." COWPER.

A similar description is given by Virgil of the funeral 
obsequies of Misenus, AEneid vi. ver. 212.

Nec minus interea Misenum in littore Teucri Flebant, et 
cineri ingrato suprema ferebant.

Pars calidos latices et aena undantia flammis Expediunt, 
corpusque lavant frigentis et ungunt Fit gemitus: tum membra 
toro defleta reponunt, Purpureasque super vestes, velamina 
nota, Conjiciunt, &c.

"Meanwhile, the Trojan troops, with weeping eyes, To dead 
Misenus pay his obsequies.

First from the ground a lofty pile they rear Of pitch-trees, 
oaks, and pines, and unctuous fir: The fabric's front with 
cypress twigs they strew; And stick the sides with boughs of 
baleful yew; The topmost part his glitt'ring arms adorn: Warm 
waters then, in brazen cauldrons borne, Are pour'd to wash 
his body, joint by joint; And fragrant oils the stiffen'd 
limbs anoint.

With groans and cries Misenus they deplore.

Then on a bier with purple cover'd o'er The breathless body, 
thus bewail'd, they lay." DRYDEN.

These rites, in many respects, resemble those still used 
among the native Irish. See the account of the funeral 
ceremonies of the Egyptians, in the notes on Gen. l. 2. The 
primitive Christians washed the bodies of their dead not only 
out of decency and affectionate respect to them, but as a 
token of their firm belief in the resurrection of the dead.

Verse 38. Sent unto him-desiring-that he would not delay to 
come] Tabitha died at Joppa, and Peter was at Lydda, about 
four leagues distant.

But why did they send for Peter? We cannot tell. It is not 
likely that they had any expectation that he should raise her 
from the dead; for none of the apostles had as yet raised 
any; and if God did not choose to restore Stephen to life, 
this favour could not be reasonably expected in behalf of 
inferior persons. However, they might hope that he who cured 
Eneas at Lydda might cure Dorcas; for it is probable that 
they had sent for Peter before she died; and in this sense we 
might understand the apesteilan of the text.

Verse 39. Showing the coats and garments] citwnav kai imatia, 
the outer and inner garments. These, it appears, she had made 
for the poor, and more particularly for poor widows, in whose 
behalf she had incessantly laboured.

Verse 40. Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down and 
prayed] It was not even known to Peter that God would work 
this miracle: therefore he put all the people out, that he 
might seek the will of God by fervent prayer, and during his 
supplications be liable neither to distraction nor 
interruption, which he must have experienced had he permitted 
this company of weeping widows to remain in the chamber.

And turning-to the body] swma, The lifeless body, for the 
spirit had already departed.

Said, Tabitha, arose.] During his wrestling with God, he had, 
undoubtedly, received confidence that she would be raised at 
his word.

And when she saw Peter, she sat up.] As Dorcas was a woman so 
eminently holy, her happy soul had doubtless gone to the 
paradise of God.

Must she not therefore be filled with regret to find herself 
thus called back to earth again? And must not the remembrance 
of the glories she had now lost fill her with dislike to all 
the goods of earth? No: for, 1. As a saint of God, her 
Maker's will must be hers; because she knew that this will 
must be ever best. 2. It is very likely that, in the case of 
the revivescence of saint or sinner, God mercifully draws a 
veil over all they have seen or known, so that they have no 
recollection of what they have either seen or heard. Even St. 
Paul found it impossible to tell what he had heard in the 
third heaven, though he was probably not in the state of the 
dead. Of the economy of the invisible world God will reveal 
nothing. We walk here by faith, and not by sight.

Verse 41. Saints and widows] In primitive times the widows 
formed a distinct part of the Christian Church.

Verse 42. Many believed in the Lord.] That is, in Christ 
Jesus, in whose name and through whose power they understood 
this miracle to be wrought. This miracle, as well as that at 
Lydda, was not only the means of strengthening the faith of 
the disciples, and gaining credit to the cause of 
Christianity, but also of bringing many sincere converts to 
the Lord, so that the Church was thereby both builded up and 
multiplied.

Verse 43. He tarried many days in Joppa] Taking advantage of 
the good impression made on the people's minds by the 
miracle, he preached to them the great truths of 
Christianity, and thus established them in the faith.

Simon a tanner.] Whether the original word burseuv signifies 
a tanner or a currier, is of little consequence. The person 
who dealt in the hides, whether of clean or unclean animals, 
could not be in high repute among the Jews. Even in Joppa, 
the trade appears to have been reputed unclean; and therefore 
this Simon had his house by the sea side. See chap. x. 6. Of 
the trade itself the Talmudists speak with great contempt; 
they reckon it among blemishes. See proofs in Schoettgen.

1. THUS terminates what has not been improperly called the 
first period of the Christian Church, which began at the day 
of pentecost, chap. ii. 1, and continued to the resurrection 
of Dorcas; a period of about eight years.

During the whole of this time the Gospel was preached to the 
Jews only, no Gentile being called before Cornelius, the 
account of whose conversion, and the Divine vision that led 
to it, are detailed in the following chapter.

Salvation was of the Jews: theirs were the fathers, the 
covenants, and the promises, and from them came Christ Jesus; 
and it was right that they should have the first offer of a 
salvation which, while it was a light to lighten the 
Gentiles, was to be the glory of the Israelitish people. When 
they utterly rejected it, then the apostles turned unto the 
Gentiles. Among them the Christian Church was founded, and 
thus the reprobates became the elect, and the elect became 
reprobates. Reader! behold the goodness and severity of God! 
Towards them that fell, severity; but towards thee, goodness, 
if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou also shalt 
be cut off, Rom. xi. 22. Thou canst only stand by faith; and 
be not high-minded, but fear. Nothing less than Christ 
dwelling in thy heart by faith can save thy soul unto eternal 
life.

2. The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is one of the most 
remarkable facts recorded in the history of the Christian 
Church. When we consider the man; the manner in which he was 
brought to the knowledge of the truth; the impression made on 
his own mind and heart by the vision he had on his way to 
Damascus, and the effect produced in all his subsequent life, 
we have a series of the most convincing evidences of the 
truth of the Christian religion. In this light he ever viewed 
the subject himself; the manner of his conversion he ever 
appealed to, as the most proper apology for his conduct; and, 
on several most important occasions, he not only refers to 
it, but enters into a detail of its circumstances, that his 
hearers might see that the excellency of the power was of GOD 
and not of man.

Saul of Tarsus was not a man of a light, fickle, and 
uncultivated mind. His natural powers were vast, his 
character the most decided, and his education, as we learn 
from his historian, and from his writings, was at once both 
liberal and profound. He was born and brought up in a city 
which enjoyed every privilege of which Rome itself could 
boast, and was a successful rival both of Rome and Athens in 
arts and science. Though a Jew, it is evident that his 
education was not confined to matters that concerned his own 
people and country alone. He had read the best Greek writers, 
as his style, allusions, and quotations sufficiently prove; 
and, an matters which concern his own religion, he was 
instructed by Gamaliel, one of the most celebrated doctors 
the synagogue had ever produced. He was evidently master of 
the three great languages which were spoken among the only 
people who deserved the name of nations-the Hebrew, and its 
prevailing dialect, the Chaldio-Syriac; the Greek, and the 
Latin; languages which, notwithstanding all the cultivation 
through which the earth has passed, maintain their rank, 
which is a most decisive superiority over all the languages 
of the universe. Was it likely that such a man, possessing 
such a mind, cultivated to such an extent, could have been 
imposed on or deceived? The circumstances of his conversion 
forbid the supposition: they do more; they render it 
impossible. One consideration on this subject will prove that 
imposture in this case was impossible: he had no 
communication with Christians; the then that accompanied him 
to Damascus were of his own mind-virulent, determined enemies 
to the very name of Christ; and his conversion took place in 
the open day, on the open road, in company only with such men 
as the persecuting high priest and Sanhedrin thought proper 
to be employed in the extermination of Christianity. In such 
circumstances, and in such company, no cheat could be 
practised. But was not he the deceiver? The supposition is 
absurd and monstrous, for this simple reason, that there was 
no motive that could prompt him to feign what he was not; and 
no end that could be answered by assuming the profession of 
Christianity. Christianity had in it such principles as must 
expose it to the hatred of Greece, Rome, and Judea. It 
exposed the absurdity and folly of Grecian and Roman 
superstition and idolatry, and asserted itself to be the 
completion, end, and perfection of the whole Mosaic economy. 
It was therefore hated by all those nations, and its 
followers despised, detested, and persecuted. From the 
profession of such a religion, so circumstanced, could any 
man, who possessed even the most moderate share of common 
sense, expect secular emolument or advantage? No! Had not 
this apostle of the Gentiles the fullest conviction of the 
truth of Christianity, the fullest proof of its heavenly 
influence on his own soul, the brightest prospect of the 
reality and blessedness of the spiritual world, he could not 
have taken one step in the path which the doctrine of Christ 
pointed out. Add to this, that he lived long after his 
conversion, saw Christianity and its influence in every point 
of view, and tried it in all circumstances. What was the 
result? The deepest conviction of its truth; so that he 
counted all things dross and dung in comparison of the 
excellency of its knowledge. Had he continued a Jew he would 
have infallibly risen to the first dignities and honours of 
his nation; but he willingly forfeited all his secular 
privileges and well grounded expectations of secular honour 
and emolument, and espoused a cause from which he could not 
only have no expectation of worldly advantage, but which, 
most evidently and necessarily, exposed him to all sorts of 
privations, sufferings, hardships, dangers, and death itself! 
These were not only the unavoidable consequences of the cause 
he espoused; but he had them fully in his apprehension and 
constantly in his eye. He predicted them, and knew that every 
step he took was a progressive advance in additional 
sufferings, and the issue of his journey must be a violent 
death! The whole history of St. Paul proves him to be one of 
the greatest of men; and his conduct after he became a 
Christian, had it not sprung from a Divine motive, of the 
truth of which he had the fullest conviction, would have 
shown him to be one of the weakest of men. The conclusion 
therefore is self-evident, that in St. Paul's call there 
could be no imposture, that in his own mind there could be no 
deception, that his conversion was from heaven, and the 
religion he professed and taught, the infallible and eternal 
truth of Jehovah. In this full conviction he counted not his 
life dear unto him, but finished his rugged race with joy, 
cheerfully giving up his life for the testimony of Jesus; and 
thus his luminous sun set in blood, to rise again in glory. 
The conversion of St. Paul is the triumph of Christianity; 
his writings, the fullest exhibition and defense of its 
doctrines; and his life and death, a glorious illustration of 
its principles. Armed with this history of Paul's conversion 
and life, the feeblest believer needs not fear the most 
powerful infidel. The ninth chapter of the Acts of the 
Apostles will ever remain an inexpugnable fortress to defend 
Christianity and defeat its enemies. Reader, hath not God so 
done his marvellous works that they may be had in everlasting 
remembrance?

CHAPTER x.

An angel appears to Cornelius, a centurion, and directs him 
to send to Joppa, for Peter, to instruct him in the way of 
salvation, 1-6. He sends accordingly, 7, 8. While the 
messengers are on their way to Joppa, Peter has a remarkable 
vision, by which he is taught how he should treat the 
Gentiles, 9-16. The messengers arrive at the house of Simon 
the tanner, and deliver their message, 17-22. They lodge 
there that night, and on the morrow Peter accompanies them to 
Caesarea, where they find Cornelius and his friends 
assembled, waiting the coming of Peter, 23, 24. Peter makes 
an apology for his coming, and inquires for what purpose 
Cornelius had sent for him, 25-29. Cornelius answers, 30-33. 
And Peter preaches unto him Jesus, as the saviour of the 
world, and the Judge of quick and dead, 34-43. While he 
speaks the Holy Ghost descends on Cornelius and his company; 
and they speak with new tongues, and magnify God, 44-46. 
Peter commands them to be baptized in the name of the Lord, 
47, 48.

NOTES ON CHAP. x.

I have already observed (see the conclusion of the preceding 
chapter) that hitherto the apostles confined their labours 
among the Jews and circumcised proselytes, not making any 
offer of salvation to the Gentiles; for they had fully 
imbibed the opinion that none could enter into the kingdom of 
God, and be finally saved, unless they were circumcised, and 
became obedient to the law of Moses. This prejudice would 
have operated so as finally to prevent them from preaching 
the Gospel to the Gentiles, had not God, by a particular 
interposition of his mercy and goodness, convinced Peter, and 
through him all the other apostles, that he had accepted the 
Gentiles as well as the Jews, and would put no difference 
between the one and the other, purifying their hearts by 
faith, and giving the Gentiles the Holy Ghost, as he had 
before given it to the Jews. The means which he used to 
produce this conviction in the minds of the apostles are 
detailed at length in the following chapter.

Verse 1. There was a certain man in Caesarea] This was 
Caesarea of Palestine, called also Strato's Tower, as has 
been already noted, and the residence of the Roman 
procurator.

A centurion] Æekatontarchv, The chief or captain of 100 men, 
as both the Greek and Latin words imply. How the Roman armies 
were formed, divided, and marshalled, see in the notes on 
Matt. xx. 16. A centurion among the Romans was about the same 
rank as a captain among us.

The band called the Italian band] The word speira, which we 
translate band, signifies the same as cohort or regiment, 
which sometimes consisted of 555 infantry, and 66 cavalry; 
but the cohors prima, or first cohort, consisted of 1105 
infantry, and l32 cavalry, in the time of Vegetius.

But the cavalry are not to be considered as part of the 
cohort, but rather a company joined to it. A Roman legion 
consisted of ten cohorts; the first of which surpassed all 
the others, both in numbers and in dignity. When in former 
times the Roman legion contained 6000, each cohort consisted 
of 600, and was divided into three manipuli; but both the 
legions and cohorts were afterwards various in the numbers 
they contained. As there were doubtless many Syrian 
auxiliaries, the regiment in question was distinguished from 
them as consisting of Italian, i.e. Roman, soldiers. The 
Italian cohort is not unknown among the Roman writers: Gruter 
gives an inscription, which was found in the Forum Sempronii, 
on a fine table of marble, nine feet long, four feet broad, 
and four inches thick; on which are the following words: - L. 
MAESIO. L. F. POL. RVFO. PROC. AVG. TRIB. MIL. LEG. X. 
APPOLLINARIS. TRIB. COH. MIL. ITALIC. VOLUNT. QVAE. EST. IN. 
SYRIA. PRAEF. FABRVM. BIS. See Gruter's Inscriptions, p. 
ccccxxxiii-iv.

This was probably the same cohort as that mentioned here by 
St. Luke; for the tenth legion mentioned in the above 
inscription was certainly in Judea, A.D. 69. Tacitus also 
mentions the Italica legio, the Italic legion, lib. i. c.

59, which Junius Blaesus had under his command in the 
province of Lyons. We learn, from the Roman historians, that 
the fifth, tenth, and fifteenth legions were stationed in 
Judea; and the third, fourth, sixth, and twelfth in Syria. 
The Italic legion was in the battle of Bedriacum, fought, 
A.D. 69, between the troops of Vitellius and Otho; and 
performed essential services to the Vitellian army. See 
Tacitus, Hist. lib. ii. cap. 41.

The issue of this battle was the defeat of the Othonians, on 
which Otho slew himself, and the empire was confirmed to 
Vitellius.

Wherever he sees it necessary, St. Luke carefully gives dates 
and facts, to which any might have recourse who might be 
disposed to doubt his statements: we have had several proofs 
of this in his Gospel. See especially Luke i. 1, &c., and 
Luke iii. 1, &c., and the notes there.

Verse 2. A devout man] eusebhv, from eu, well, and sebomai, I 
worship. A person who worships the true God, and is no 
idolater.

One that feared God] foboumenov ton qeon, One who was 
acquainted with the true God, by means of his word and laws; 
who respected these laws, and would not dare to offend his 
Maker and his Judge. This is necessarily implied in the fear 
of God.

With all his house] He took care to instruct his family in 
the knowledge which he himself had received; and to establish 
the worship of God in his house.

Gave much alms] His love to God led him to love men; and this 
love proved its sincerity by acts of beneficence and charity.

Prayed to God alway.] Felt himself a dependent creature; knew 
he had no good but what he had received; and considered God 
to be the fountain whence he was to derive all his blessings. 
He prayed to God alway; was ever in the spirit of prayer, and 
frequently in the act. What an excellent character is this! 
And yet the man was a Gentile! He was what a Jew would repute 
common and unclean: see ver. 28. He was, therefore, not 
circumcised; but, as he worshipped the true God, without any 
idolatrous mixtures, and was in good report among all the 
nation of the Jews, he was undoubtedly what was called a 
proselyte of the gate, though not a proselyte of justice, 
because he had not entered into the bond of the covenant by 
circumcision. This was a proper person, being so much of a 
Jew and so much of a Gentile, to form the connecting link 
between both people; and God chose him that the salvation of 
the Jews might with as little observation as possible be 
transmitted to the Gentiles. The choice of such a person, 
through whom the door of faith was opened to the heathen 
world, was a proof of the wisdom and goodness of God. The man 
who was chosen to this honour was not a profligate Gentile; 
nor yet a circumcised proselyte. He was a Gentile, amiable 
and pure in his manners; and, for his piety and 
charitableness, held in high estimation among all the nation 
of the Jews. Against such a person they could not, with any 
grace, be envious, though God should pour out upon him the 
gift of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 3. He saw in a vision evidently] The text is as plain 
as it can be, that an angel of God did appear to Cornelius. 
This was in a vision, i.e. a supernatural representation; and 
it was fanerwv, manifestly, evidently made; and at such a 
time too as precluded the possibility of his being asleep; 
for it was about the ninth hour of the day, answering to our 
three o'clock in the afternoon, (see note on chap. iii. 1,) 
the time of public prayer, according to the custom of the 
Jews, and while Peter was engaged in that sacred duty. The 
angelic appearance to Cornelius was something similar to that 
made to Daniel, Dan. ix. 20-23, and that especially to 
Zachariah, the father of John Baptist, Luke i. 11, &c.

Verse 4. Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a 
memorial] Being all performed in simplicity and godly 
sincerity, they were acceptable to the Most High.

Come up for a memorial: This form of speech is evidently 
borrowed from the sacrificial system of the Jews. Pious and 
sincere prayers are high in God's estimation; and therefore 
are said to ascend to him, as the smoke and flame of the 
burnt-offering appeared to ascend to heaven.

These prayers and alms came up for a memorial before God: 
this is a manifest allusion to the meat-offering, which, in 
Leviticus ii. 16, is said to be hrkza azkerah, a memorial, 
(speaking after the manner of men,) to put God in remembrance 
that such a person was his worshipper, and needed his 
protection and help. So the prayers and alms of Cornelius 
ascended before God as an acceptable sacrifice, and were 
recorded in the kingdom of heaven, that the answers might be 
given in their due season.

Verse 6. Simon a tanner] See the note on chap. ix. 43.

What thou oughtest to do.] From this it appears that matters 
of great moment had occupied the mind of Cornelius. He was 
not satisfied with the state of his own soul, nor with the 
degree he possessed of religious knowledge; and he set apart 
a particular time for extraordinary fasting and prayer, that 
God might farther reveal to him the knowledge of his will.

Perhaps he had heard of Jesus, and had been perplexed with 
the different opinions that prevailed concerning him, and now 
prayed to God that he might know what part he should take; 
and the answer to this prayer is, "Send to Joppa for Simon 
Peter, he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do." This 
clause, so explanatory, is wanting in almost every MS. and 
version of note. Griesbach and some others have left it out 
of the text. But see chap. xi. 14, where it stands in 
substance.

Verse 7. And a devout soldier] It has already been remarked 
that Cornelius had taken care to instruct his family in 
Divine things; and it appears also that he had been attentive 
to the spiritual interests of his regiment. We do not find 
that it was then, even among the Romans, considered a 
disgrace for a military officer to teach his men lessons of 
morality, and piety towards God, whatever it may be in some 
Christian countries in the present time.

Verse 8. He sent them to Joppa.] It has been properly 
remarked, that from Joppa, Jonah was sent to preach to the 
Gentiles of Nineveh; and from the same place Peter was sent 
to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles at Caesarea.

Verse 9. On the morrow, as they went on their journey] From 
Joppa to Caesarea was about twelve or fifteen leagues; the 
messengers could not have left the house of Cornelius till 
about two hours before sunset; therefore, they must have 
traveled a part of the night, in order to arrive at Joppa the 
next day, towards noon.-Calmet. Cornelius sent two of his 
household servants, by way of respect to Peter; probably the 
soldier was intended for their defense, as the roads in Judea 
were by no means safe.

Peter went up upon the house-top to pray] It has often been 
remarked that the houses in Judea were builded with flat 
roofs, on which people walked, conversed, meditated, prayed, 
&c. The house-top was the place of retirement; and thither 
Peter went for the purpose of praying to God. In Bengal, some 
of the rich Hindoos have a room on the top of the house, in 
which they perform worship daily.

Verse 10. He became very hungry] It seems that this happened 
about dinner-time; for it appears that they were making 
ready, paraskeuazontwn, dressing the victuals for the family. 
The dinner among the ancients was a very slight meal; and 
they had no breakfast: their supper was their principal meal. 
And, in very ancient times, they ate only once in the day. 
Supper was the meal at which they saw their friends, the 
business of the day being then finished.

He fell into a trance] epepesen epÆ auton ekstasiv, An 
ecstasy fell upon him. A person may be said to be in an 
ecstasy when transported with joy or admiration, so that he 
is insensible to every object but that on which he is 
engaged. Peter's ecstasy is easily accounted for: he went up 
to the house-top to pray: at first he felt keen hunger; but, 
being earnestly engaged with God, all natural appetites 
became absorbed in the intense application of his soul to his 
Maker. While every passion and appetite was under this Divine 
influence, and the soul, without let or hinderance, freely 
conversing with God, then the visionary and symbolical 
representation mentioned here took place.

Verse 11. And saw heaven opened] His mind now entirely 
spiritualized, and absorbed in heavenly contemplation, was 
capable of discoveries of the spiritual world; a world which, 
with its plhrwma, or plenitude of inhabitants, surrounds us 
at all times; but which we are incapable of seeing through 
the dense medium of flesh and blood, and their necessarily 
concomitant earthly passions. Much, however, of such a world 
and its economy may be apprehended by him who is purified 
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and who has 
perfected holiness in the fear of God. But this is a subject 
to which the enthusiast in vain attempts to ascend. The 
turbulent working of his imagination, and the gross earthly 
crudities which he wishes to obtrude on the world as 
revelations from God, afford a sufficient refutation of their 
own blasphemous pretensions.

A great sheet, knit at the four corners] Perhaps intended to 
be an emblem of the universe, and its various nations, to the 
four corners of which the Gospel was to extend, and to offer 
its blessings to all the inhabitants, without distinction of 
nation, &c.

Verse 12. All manner of four-footed beasts, &c.] Every 
species of quadrupeds, whether wild or domestic; all 
reptiles, and all fowls.

Consequently, both the clean and unclean were present in this 
visionary representation: those that the Jewish law allowed 
to be sacrificed to God, or proper for food; as well as those 
which that law had prohibited in both cases: such as the 
beasts that do not chew the cud; fish which have no scales; 
fowls of prey and such others as are specified in Lev. xi. 1, 
&c., where see the notes.

Verse 13. Rise, Peter, kill and eat.] quson kai fage, 
Sacrifice and eat.

Though this verb is sometimes used to signify the slaying of 
animals for food, yet, as the proper notion is to slay for 
the purpose of sacrifice, it appears to me to be better to 
preserve that meaning here. Animals that were offered in 
sacrifice were considered as given to God; and, when he 
received the life, the flesh was given to those who offered 
the sacrifice, that they might feed upon it; and every 
sacrifice had in it the nature of a covenant; and covenants 
were usually made by eating together on the flesh of the 
sacrifice offered on the occasion, God being supposed to be 
invisibly present with them, and partaking of the feast. The 
Jews and Gentiles are certainly represented by the clean and 
unclean animals in this large vessel: these, by the ministry 
of the Gospel, were to be offered up a spiritual sacrifice to 
God. Peter was to be a prime instrument in this work; he was 
to offer them to God, and rejoice in the work of his hands. 
The spirit of the heavenly direction seems to be this: "The 
middle wall of partition is now to be pulled down; the Jews 
and Gentiles are called to become one flock, under one 
shepherd and bishop of souls. Thou, Peter, shalt open the 
door of faith to the Gentiles, and be also the minister of 
the circumcision. Rise up; already a blessed sacrifice is 
prepared: go and offer it to God; and let thy soul feed on 
the fruits of his mercy and goodness, in thus showing his 
gracious design of saving both Jews and Gentiles by Christ 
crucified."

Verse 14. Common or unclean.] By common, koinon, whatever was 
in general use among the Gentiles is to be understood; by 
akaqarton, unclean, every thing that was forbidden by the 
Mosaic law. However, the one word may be considered as 
explanatory of the other. The rabbins themselves, and many of 
the primitive fathers, believed that by the unclean animals 
forbidden by the law the Gentiles were meant.

Verse 15. What God hath cleansed] God, who made at first the 
distinction between Jews and Gentiles, has a right to remove 
it, whenever and by whatever means he pleases: he, therefore, 
who made the distinction, for wise purposes, between the 
clean and the unclean, now pronounces all to be clean. He had 
authority to do the first; he has authority to do the last. 
God has purposed that the Gentiles shall have the Gospel 
preached to them: what he therefore has cleansed, "that call 
not thou common."

Verse 16. This was done thrice] For the greater certainty, 
and to make the deeper impression on the apostle's mind.

And the vessel was received up again into heaven.] Both Jews 
and Gentiles came equally from God; and to him, both, by the 
preaching of the Gospel, shall again return.

Verse 17. While Peter doubted-the men-stood before the gate] 
In all this we find an admirable display of the economy of 
Providence. Cornelius prays, and has a vision which prepares 
him to receive instruction from Peter: Peter prays, and has a 
vision which prepares and disposes him to give instruction to 
Cornelius. While he is in doubts and perplexity what the full 
meaning of the vision might be, the messengers, who had been 
despatched under the guidance of an especial Providence, came 
to the door; and the Holy Spirit gives him information that 
his doubts should be all cleared up by accompanying the men 
who were now inquiring for him.

How exactly does every thing in the conduct of Providence 
occur; and how completely is every thing adapted to time, 
place, and occasion! All is in weight, measure, and number. 
Those simple occurrences which men snatch at, and press into 
the service of their own wishes, and call them providential 
openings may, indeed, be links of a providential chain, in 
reference to some other matter; but unless they be found to 
speak the same language in all their parts, occurrence 
corresponding with occurrence, they are not to be construed 
as indications of the Divine will in reference to the 
claimants. Many persons, through these misapprehensions, 
miscarrying, have been led to charge God foolishly for the 
unsuccessful issue of some business in which their passions, 
not his providence, prompted them to engage.

Verse 21. Which were sent unto him from Cornelius] This 
clause is wanting in almost every MS. of worth, and in almost 
all the versions.

Behold, I am he whom ye seek] A sudden, unexpected speech, 
like the address of AEneas to Dido; when the cloud in which 
he was involved suddenly dissipated, and he appeared with the 
exclamation, - coram, quem quaeritis, adsum! AEn. lib. i. 
595.

What is the cause therefore ye are come?] He still did not 
know the full import of the vision; but being informed by the 
Holy Spirit that three men were seeking him, and that he 
should go with them, without scruple, he instantly obeyed; 
and finding them at the door, desired to know why they sought 
him.

Verse 22. Cornelius the centurion, &c.] They gave him the 
simple relation which they had received from their master. 
For the character of Cornelius, see the comment on ver. 2.

To hear words of thee.] But of what kind they could not as 
yet tell.

Verse 23. Then called he them in, &c.] They had already 
walked a long journey in a short time, and needed 
refreshment; and it was thought expedient they should rest 
that night with Simon the tanner.

Certain brethren from Joppa] They were six in number, as we 
learn from chap. xi. 12. It was necessary that there should 
be several witnesses of the important transactions which were 
about to take place; as on no slight evidence would even the 
converted Jews believe that repentance unto life, and the 
Holy Spirit, should be granted to the Gentiles.

Verse 24. His kinsmen and near friends.] suggeneiv, His, 
relatives, and anagkaiouv filouv, his necessary friends; but 
the Syriac makes anagkaiouv an epithet as well as suggeneiv, 
and thus the passage may be read, his kinsmen, his domestics, 
and his friends. It appears that he had collected the whole 
circle of his intimate acquaintance, that they also might 
profit by a revelation which he expected to come immediately 
from heaven; and these amounted to many persons; see ver. 27.

Verse 25. Fell down at his feet, and worshipped him.] As 
Peter's coming was announced by an angel, Cornelius might 
have supposed that Peter himself was an angel, and of a 
superior order; seeing he came to announce what the first 
angel was not employed to declare: it was, probably, in 
consequence of this thought that he prostrated himself before 
Peter, offering him the highest act of civil respect; for 
there was nothing in the act, as performed by Cornelius, 
which belonged to the worship of the true God. Prostrations 
to superiors were common in all Asiatic countries.

The Codex Bezae, and the later Syriac in the margin reads 
this verse differently from all other MSS. and versions; 
thus, But as Peter drew nigh to Caesarea, one of the servants 
ran before, and told that he was come: then Cornelius leaped 
up, and met him, and, falling at his feet, he worshipped him. 
This is a very remarkable addition, and relates circumstances 
that we may naturally suppose did actually take place.

Verse 26. I myself also am a man.] "I am not an angel; I am 
come to you simply, on the part of God, to deliver to you the 
doctrine of eternal life."

Verse 27. And as he talked with him] Cornelius had met Peter 
at some short distance from his house, and they conversed 
together till they went in.

Verse 28. Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing, &c.] He 
addressed the whole company, among whom, it appears, there 
were persons well acquainted with Jewish customs; probably 
some of them were Jewish proselytes.

But God hath showed me, &c.] He now began to understand the 
import of the vision which he saw at Joppa. A Gentile is not 
to be avoided because he is a Gentile; God is now taking down 
the partition wall which separated them from the Jews.

Verse 29. I ask-for what intent ye have sent for me?] Peter 
had been informed of this by the servants of Cornelius, ver. 
22; but, as all the company might not have been informed of 
the circumstances, he, as it were, invites him to tell his 
story afresh, that his friends, &c., might be the better 
prepared to receive the truth, which he was about to 
dispense, in obedience to his Divine commission.

Verse 30. Four days ago I was fasting until this hour] It was 
then about three o'clock in the afternoon; and it appears 
that Cornelius had continued his fasts from three o'clock the 
preceding day to three o'clock the day following; not that he 
had fasted four days together, as some supposes for even if 
he did fast four days consecutively, he ate one meal on each 
day. It is however necessary to remark that the word 
nhsteuwn, fasting is wanting in ABC, one other; the Coptic, 
AEthiopic, Armenian, and Vulgate; but it has not been omitted 
in any edition of the Greek Testament.

Verse 31. Thy prayer is heard] See the note on ver. 4. 
Cornelius prayed, fasted, and gave alms. It was in this way 
he looked for salvation; not to purchase it: a thought of 
this kind does not appear to have entered into his mind; but 
these were the means he used to get his soul brought to the 
knowledge of the truth. The reader must recollect that in the 
case of Cornelius there was no open vision; he used the light 
and power which God had already given; and behold how 
mightily God increased his gifts! He that hath, i.e., that 
uses what he has, shall receive; and no man can expect any 
increase of light or life, who does not improve the grace 
already given.

Verse 33. Are we all here present before God] Instead of 
before GOD, the Codex Bezae, Syriac, AEthiopic, Armenian, and 
Vulgate, read before THEE. The people were all waiting for 
the preacher, and every heart was filled with expectation; 
they waited as before God, from whose messenger they were 
about to hear the words of life.

Verse 34. God is no respecter of persons] He does God esteem 
a Jew, because he is a Jew; nor does he detest a Gentile 
because he is a Gentile. It was a long and deeply rooted 
opinion among the Jews, that God never would extend his 
favour to the Gentiles; and that the descendants of Jacob 
only should enjoy his peculiar favour and benediction. Of 
this opinion was St. Peter, previously to the heavenly vision 
mentioned in this chapter. He was now convinced that God was 
no respecter of persons; that as all must stand before his 
judgment seat, to be judged according to the deeds done in 
the body, so no one nation, or people, or individual, could 
expect to find a more favourable decision than another who 
was precisely in the same moral state; for the phrase, 
respect of persons, is used in reference to unjust decisions 
in a court of justice, where, through favour, or interest, or 
bribe, a culprit is acquitted, and a righteous or innocent 
person condemned. See Lev. xix. 15; Deuteronomy i. 16, 17; 
xvi. 19. And as there is no iniquity (decisions contrary to 
equity) with God, so he could not shut out the pious prayers, 
sincere fasting, and benevolent alms-giving of Cornelius; 
because the very spring whence they proceeded was his own 
grace and mercy. Therefore he could not receive even a Jew 
into his favour (in preference to such a person) who had 
either abused his grace, or made a less godly use of it than 
this Gentile had done.

Verse 35. But in every nation he that feared him, &c.] In 
every nation he who, according to his light and privileges, 
fears God, worships him alone, (for this is the true meaning 
of the word,) and worketh righteousness, abstains from all 
evil, gives to all their due, injures neither the body, soul, 
nor reputation of his neighbour, is accepted with him. It is 
not therefore the nation, kindred, profession, mode or form 
of worship, that the just God regards; but the character, the 
state of heart, and the moral deportment. For what are 
professions, &c., in the sight of that God who trieth 
spirits, and by whom actions are weighed! He looks for the 
grace he has given, the advantages he has afforded, and the 
improvement of all these. Let it be observed farther, that no 
man can be accepted with this just God who does not live up 
to the advantages of the state in which providence has placed 
him. Why was Cornelius accepted with God while thousands of 
his countrymen were passed by? Because he did not receive the 
grace of God in vain; he watched, fasted, prayed, and gave 
alms, which they did not. Had he not done so, would he have 
been accepted? Certainly not; because it would then appear 
that he had received the grace of God in vain, and had not 
been a worker together with him. Many irreligious men, in 
order to get rid of the duties and obligations of 
Christianity, quote this verse in their own favour, while 
they reject all the Gospel besides; and roundly assert, as 
they think on the authority of this text, that they need 
neither believe in Jesus Christ, attend to his Gospel, nor 
use his ordinances; for, if they fear God and work 
righteousness, they shall be infallibly accepted with him. 
Let such know that if they had been born and still were 
living in a land where the light of the Gospel had never 
shone, and were there conscientiously following the 
glimmering ray of celestial light which God had granted, they 
might, with some show of reason, speak in this way; but, as 
they are born and live under the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God, 
the just Judge, will require that they fear him, and work 
righteousness, ACCORDING to the LIGHT afforded by that very 
GOSPEL.

The sincerity, watching, praying, fastings and alms-giving of 
Cornelius will not be sufficient for them who, as it may be 
justly said, live in splendours of Christianity. In such a 
state, God requires that a man shall love him with all his 
heart, soul, mind, and strength; and his neighbour as 
himself. In the face of such a requisition as this, how will 
the poor heathen virtue of one born in the pale of 
Christianity appear? And if God requires all this, will not a 
man need all the grace that has been brought to light by the 
revelation of Jesus Christ to enable him to do it?

Verse 36. The word which God sent, &c.] Few verses in the New 
Testament have perplexed critics and divines more than this. 
The ancient copyists seem also to have been puzzled with it; 
as the great variety in the different MSS. sufficiently 
proves. A foreign critic makes a good sense by connecting 
this with the preceding verse, thus: In every nation he that 
feared him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him, 
according to that doctrine which God sent unto the children 
of Israel, by which he published peace (i.e. reconciliation 
between Jews and Gentiles) by Jesus Christ, who is Lord of 
all; and, because Lord of all, both of Jews and Gentiles, 
therefore he must be impartial; and, because impartial, or no 
respecter of persons, therefore, in every nation, whether 
Judea, Greece, or Italy, he that feareth God, and worketh 
righteousness, is accepted with him.

I believe ton logou, the word, in this verse, should be 
translated, that doctrine; and probably rhma, which we 
translate that word in ver. 37, should be omitted as it is in 
the Codex Bezae, and its Itala version; and if on, which is 
in ver. 36, be even left out, as it is in ABC, Coptic and 
Vulgate, the whole may be literally read thus: As to the 
doctrine sent to the children of Israel, preaching the glad 
tidings of peace (euaggelizomenov eirhnhn) by Jesus Christ, 
he is Lord of all, ye know what was done (to genomenon) 
through all Judea, beginning after the baptism which John 
preached. Jesus, who was from Nazareth, whom God anointed 
with the Holy Ghost, and with mighty power (dunamei) went 
about doing good, and healing all that were tyrannically 
oppressed (katadunasteuomenouv) by the devil, for God was 
with him. Critics have proposed a great variety of modes by 
which they suppose these verses may be rendered intelligible; 
and the learned reader may see many in Wolfius, Kypke, 
Rosenmuller, and others. Kypke contends that the word kuriov, 
Lord, is to be understood adjectively, and ought to be 
referred to logov, and the 36th verse will then stand thus: 
The word which he sent to the children of Israel, preaching 
peace by Jesus Christ, that word has authority over all. This 
amounts nearly to the same sense with the expositions given 
above; and all proclaim this truth, which the apostle 
laboured to establish, namely, that God intended the 
salvation of all men by Jesus Christ; and therefore 
proclaimed reconciliation to all, by him who is Lord, maker, 
preserver, redeemer, and judge of all. And of this the 
apostle was now more convinced by the late vision; and his 
mission from him who is Lord of all to Cornelius, a heathen, 
was a full illustration of the heavenly truth; for the very 
meeting of Peter, once a prejudiced Jew, and Cornelius, once 
an unenlightened Gentile, was a sort of first fruits of this 
general reconciliation, and a proof that Jesus was LORD of 
ALL.

Verse 37. That word-ye know] This account of Jesus of 
Nazareth ye cannot be unacquainted with; because it has been 
proclaimed throughout all Judea and Galilee, from the time 
that John began to preach. Ye have heard how he was anointed 
with the Holy Ghost, and of the miracles which he performed; 
how he went about doing good, and healing all kinds of 
demoniacs and, by these mighty and beneficent acts, giving 
the fullest proof that God was with him. This was the 
exordium of Peter's discourse; and thus he begins, from what 
they knew, to teach them what they did not know.

St. Peter does not intimate that any miracle was wrought by 
Christ previously to his being baptized by John. Beginning at 
Galilee. Let us review the mode of Christ's manifestation. 1. 
After he had been baptized by John, he went into the desert, 
and remained there forty days. 2. He then returned to the 
Baptist, who was exercising his ministry at that time at 
Bethany or Bethabara; and there he made certain disciples, 
viz., Andrew, Bartholomew, Peter, and Philip. 3.

Thence he went to the marriage at Cana, in Galilee, where he 
wrought his first miracle. 4. And afterwards he went to 
Capernaum in the same country, by the sea of Galilee, where 
he wrought many others. This was the manner in which Christ 
manifested himself; and these are the facts of which Peter 
presumes they had a perfect knowledge, because they had been 
for a long time notorious through all the land.

Verse 38. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth] Here the apostle 
refers to Christ as the promised Messiah; for, as Messiah 
signifies the anointed one, and Christ has the same 
signification in Greek, and the Messiah, according to the 
prophets, and the expectation of the Jews, was to work 
miracles, Peter proclaims Jesus as the Messiah, and refers to 
the miracles which he wrought as the proof of it. This 
delicate, but forcible allusion is lost by most readers.

Verse 39. We are witnesses of all] In this speech St. Peter 
may refer, not only to the twelve apostles, but to the six 
brethren whom he had brought with him.

Whom they slew] As the truth of the resurrection must depend 
on the reality of the death of Christ, it was necessary that 
this should be stated, and shown to rest on the most 
indubitable evidence.

Verse 40. Him God raised up the third day] He lay long enough 
under the power of death to prove that he was dead; and not 
too long, lest it should be supposed that his disciples had 
time sufficient to have practiced some deceit or imposture; 
and, to prevent this, the Jews took care to have the tomb 
well guarded during the whole time which he lay there.

Verse 41. Not to all the people] In the order of Divine 
providence, the public were to be no longer instructed by 
Jesus Christ personally; but it was necessary that those who 
were to preach redemption in his name should be thoroughly 
furnished to this good and great work; therefore, the time he 
spent on earth, after his resurrection, was devoted to the 
instruction of his disciples.

Witnesses chosen before of God] That is, God chose such men 
to attest this fact as were every way best qualified to give 
evidence on the subject; persons who were always to be found; 
who might at all times be confronted with those, if any such 
should offer themselves, who could pretend to prove that 
there was any imposture in this case; and persons who, from 
the very circumstances in which they were placed, must appear 
to have an absolute conviction of the truth of all they 
attested. The first preachers of the Gospel must be the 
witnesses of its facts; and these first preachers must be put 
in such circumstances as to demonstrate, not only that they 
had no secular end in view, nor indeed could have any, but 
also that they should be able to evince that they had the 
fullest conviction of the reality of the eternal world, and 
of their Master's existence in glory there; as they carried 
their lives continually in their hands, and regarded them 
not, so that they might fulfill the ministry which they had 
received from their Lord, and finish their course with joy.

But why was not Christ, after his resurrection, shown to all 
the people! 1. Because it was impossible that such a thing 
could be done without mob and tumult. Let it only be 
announced, "Here is the man who was dead three days, and who 
is risen from the dead!" what confusion would be the 
consequence of such an exposure! Some would say, This is he; 
others, He is like him; and so on; and the valid testimony 
must be lost in the confusion of the multitude. 2. God chose 
such witnesses whose testimony should be unimpeachable; the 
men who knew him best, and who by their depositions in proof 
of the fact should evidently risk their lives. And, 3. as 
multitudes are never called to witness any fact, but a few 
selected from the rest, whose knowledge is most accurate, and 
whose veracity is unquestionable, therefore, God showed not 
Christ risen from the dead to all the people, but to 
witnesses chosen by himself; and they were such as perfectly 
knew him before, and who ate and drank with him after his 
resurrection, and consequently had the fullest proof and 
conviction of the truth of this fact.

Verse 42. And he commanded us to preach] By thus assuring 
them that Jesus Christ was appointed to judge the world, he 
at once showed them the necessity of subjection to him, that 
they might stand in the day of his appearing.

The Judge of quick and dead.] The word quick we retain from 
our ancient mother tongue, the Saxon (Anglo-Saxon), to live, 
hence (Anglo-Saxon) and (Anglo-Saxon), life, and (Anglo-
Saxon), grass; and from this our quicks, quick-set hedges, 
fences made of living thorns, &c. By quick and dead we are to 
understand: 1. All that had lived from the foundation of the 
world till that time; and all that were then alive. 2. All 
that should be found alive at the day of judgment, as well as 
all that had died previously.

Verse 43. To him give all the prophets witness] See Isa. ix. 
6; lii. 7; liii. 5, 6; lix. 20; Jer. xxxi. 34; Dan. ix. 24; 
Micah vii. 18, &c.; and Zech. xiii. 1. As Jesus Christ was 
the sum and substance of the law and the Mosaic dispensation, 
so all the prophets bore testimony, either directly or 
indirectly, to him; and, indeed, without him and the 
salvation he has promised, there is scarcely any meaning in 
the Mosaic economy, nor in most of the allusions of the 
prophets.

Remission of sins.] The phrase, afesiv amartiwn, means simply 
the taking away of sins; and this does not refer to the guilt 
of sin merely, but also to its power, nature, and 
consequences. All that is implied in pardon of sin, 
destruction of its tyranny, and purification from its 
pollution, is here intended; and it is wrong to restrict such 
operations of mercy to pardon alone.

Verse 44. While Peter yet spake] It in not very likely that 
the words recorded by St. Luke are all that the apostle spoke 
on this occasion; but, while he continued to discourse with 
them on this subject, the Holy Ghost fell on all them that 
heard the word; and his descent was known by their being 
enabled to speak with different kinds of tongues. In what 
manner this gift was bestowed we cannot tell; probably it was 
in the same way in which it had been given on the day of 
pentecost; for as they spake with tongues, which was the 
effect of the descent of the Spirit as flaming tongues on the 
heads of the disciples on the day of pentecost, it is very 
likely that the same appearance now took place.

Verse 45. They of the circumcision-were astonished] Because 
it was a maxim with them that the Shechinah or Divine 
influence could not be revealed to any person who dwelt 
beyond the precincts of the promised land. Nor did any of 
them believe that the Divine Spirit could be communicated to 
any Gentile. It is no wonder, therefore, that they were 
amazed when they saw the Spirit of God so liberally given as 
it was on this occasion.

Verse 46. And magnify God.] They had got new hearts as well 
as new tongues; and, having believed with the heart unto 
righteousness, their tongues made confession unto salvation; 
and God was magnified for the mercy which he had imparted.

Verse 47. Can any man forbid water] These had evidently 
received the Holy Ghost, and consequently were become members 
of the mystical body of Christ; and yet St. Peter requires 
that they shall receive baptism by water, that they might 
become members of the Christian Church. In other cases, they 
received baptism first, and the Spirit afterwards by the 
imposition of hands: see chap. xix. 4-6, where the disciples 
who had received only the baptism of John were baptized again 
with water in the name of the Lord Jesus; and, after even 
this, the apostles prayed, and laid their hands on them, 
before they were made partakers of the Holy Ghost.

So we find that Jesus Christ had his water baptism as well as 
John; and that even he who gave the baptism of the Holy Ghost 
required the administration of water baptism also. Therefore 
the baptism of the Spirit did not supersede the baptism by 
water; nor indeed can it; as baptism, as well as the supper 
of our Lord, were intended, not only to be means of grace, 
but standing, irrefragable proofs of the truth of 
Christianity.

Verse 48. To be baptized in the name of the Lord.] That is, 
in the name of Jesus Christ; which implied their taking upon 
them the public profession of Christianity, and believing on 
Christ Jesus as their saviour and Sovereign; for, as they 
were baptized in his name, they professed thereby to be his 
disciples and followers.

Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.] They felt the 
necessity of farther instruction, and prayed him to continue 
his ministry a little longer among them; and to this he no 
doubt consented. This was properly speaking, the commencement 
of the Christian Church, as composed of Jews and Gentiles, 
partaking of the same baptism, united under the same Head, 
made partakers of the same Spirit, and associated in the same 
aggregate body. Now was the middle wall of partition broken 
down, and the Gentiles admitted to the same privileges with 
the Jews.

1. GOD is wonderful in all his works, whether they be works 
of creation, providence, or grace. Every thing proclaims his 
power, his wisdom, and his goodness. Every where we learn 
this truth, which is indispensably necessary for all to know 
who desire to acknowledge God in all their ways that "there 
is nothing which concerns their present or eternal welfare in 
which God does not interest himself." We often, to our great 
spiritual detriment, lose sight of this truth, because we 
think that the MAJESTY of God is too great to be occupied 
with those common occurrences by which we are often much 
affected, in things which relate, not only to our present, 
but also to our eternal interests. This is impossible; for 
God is our father, and, being every where present, he sees 
our state, and his eye affects his heart.

2. Let the reader examine the chain of Providence (composed 
indeed of very minute links) brought to light in the 
conversion of Cornelius, the instruction of Peter, and 
opening the door of faith to the Gentiles, and he will be 
convinced that "God has way every where, and that all things 
serve the purposes of his will." We have already seen how 
particularly, both by gracious and providential workings, God 
prepared the mind of Cornelius to receive instruction, and 
the mind of Peter to give it; so that the receiver and giver 
were equally ready to be workers together with God. This is a 
general economy. He who feels his want may rest assured that, 
even then, God has made the necessary provisions for his 
supply; and that the very sense of the want is a proof that 
the provision is already made. Why then should we lose time 
in deploring wretchedness, for the removal of which God has 
made the necessary preparations? Mourning over our miseries 
will never supply the lack of faith in Christ, and very 
seldom tends even to humble the heart.

3. As the eye of God is ever upon us, he knows our trials as 
well as our wants; and here, also, he makes the necessary 
provision for our support.

We may be called to suffer, but his grace will be sufficient 
for us; and, as our troubles increase, so shall the means of 
our support. And even these trials and temptations will be 
pressed into our service, for all things work together for 
good to them that love God, Rom. viii. 28.

4. We must beware neither to despise outward rites in 
religion, nor to rest in them. Most people do either the one 
or the other. God gives us outward helps, because he knows we 
need them. But do we not sometimes imagine ourselves to be 
above that which, because of our scantiness of grace, is 
really above us? We certainly may over-rate ourselves, and 
under-rate God's bounties. He who is taught by the Spirit of 
God will be saved from both.

CHAPTER xi.

Peter returns to Jerusalem, and is accused of having 
associated with the Gentiles, 1-3. He defends himself by 
relating at large the whole business concerning Cornelius, 4-
17. His defense is accepted, and the whole Church glorifies 
God for having granted unto the Gentiles repentance unto 
life, 18. An account of the proceedings of those who were 
scattered abroad by the persecution that was raised about 
Stephen; and how they had spread the Gospel among the 
circumcision, in Phoenice, Cyprus, and Antioch, 19-21. The 
Church at Jerusalem, hearing of this, sends Barnabas to 
confirm them in the faith, 22, 23. His character, 24. He goes 
to Tarsus to seek Saul, whom he brings to Antioch, where the 
disciples are first called CHRISTIANS, 25, 26. Certain 
prophets foretell the dearth which afterwards took place in 
the reign of the Emperor Claudias, 27, 28. The disciples send 
relief to their poor brethren to Judea, by the hands of 
Barnabas and Saul, 29. 30.

NOTES ON CHAP. xi.

Verse 1. And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea] 
According to Calmet, Judea is here put in opposition to 
Caesarea, which, though situated in Palestine, passed for a 
Greek city, being principally inhabited by Pagans, Greeks, or 
Syrians.

Verse 2. Contended with him] A manifest proof this that the 
primitive Church at Jerusalem (and no Church can ever deserve 
this name but the Jerusalem Church) had no conception of St. 
Peter's supremacy, or of his being prince of the apostles. He 
is now called to account for his conduct, which they judged 
to be reprehensible; and which they would not have attempted 
to do had they believed him to be Christ's vicar upon earth, 
and the infallible Head of the Church. But this absurd dream 
is every where refuted in the New Testament.

Verse 3. Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised] In a Jew, this 
was no small offense; and, as they did not know the reason of 
St. Peter's conduct, it is no wonder they should call him to 
account for it, as they considered it to be a positive 
transgression of the law and custom of the Jews. There is a 
remarkable addition here in the Codex Bezae, which it will be 
well to notice. The second verse of the chapter begins thus: 
- Now Peter had a desire for a considerable time to go to 
Jerusalem: and having spoken to the brethren, and confirmed 
them, speaking largely, he taught them through the countries, 
(i.e. as he passed to Jerusalem,) and, as he met them, he 
spoke to them of the grace of God. But the brethren who were 
of the circumcision disputed with him, saying, &c.

Verse 4. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, 
and expounded it by order] exetiqeto autoiv kaqexhv. This is 
the very style of St. Luke; see his Gospel, Luke i. 3. To 
remove their prejudice, and to give them the fullest reasons 
for his conduct, he thought it best to give them a simple 
relation of the whole affair; which he does, as we have seen 
in the preceding chapter, with a few additional circumstances 
here. See the notes before.

Verse 12. These six brethren] Probably pointing to them, 
being present, as proper persons to confirm the truth of what 
he was delivering.

Verse 14. Thou and all thy house shall be saved.] This is an 
additional circumstance: before, it was said, chap. x. 6, 
Peter shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do; and, in chap. 
x. 32, who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. But, in 
Peter's relation, the matter is more explicitly declared, he 
shall tell thee words whereby thou and thy house shall be 
saved. He shall announce to you all the doctrine of 
salvation.

Verse 16. Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.] These 
words are very remarkable. The words of our Lord, as quoted 
chap. i. 5, to which St. Peter refers here, have been 
supposed by many to be referred to the apostles alone; but 
here it is evident that St. Peter believed they were a 
promise made to all Christians, i.e. to all, whether Jews or 
Gentiles, who should believe on Jesus Christ. Therefore, when 
he saw that the Holy Ghost fell upon those Gentiles, he 
considered it a fulfillment of our Lord's promise: ye, that 
is, all that will believe on me, shall be baptized with the 
Holy Ghost-not many days hence, i.e. in a short time this 
Spirit shall be given, which is to abide with you for ever. 
Hence we learn that the promise of the Holy Spirit is given 
to the whole body of Christians-to all that believe on Christ 
as dying for their sins, and rising for their justification.

Verse 17. God gave them the like gift, &c.] Viz. the Holy 
Spirit, and its various gifts and graces, in the same way and 
in the same measure in which he gave them to us Jews. What 
was I, that I could withstand God? It was not I who called 
them to salvation: it was God; and the thing is proved to be 
from God alone, for none other could dispense the Holy 
Spirit.

Verse 18. They held their peace] Their prejudices were 
confounded; they considered the subject, and saw that it was 
from God; then they glorified him, because they saw that he 
had granted unto the Gentiles repentance unto life. As the 
word metanoia, which we translate repentance, signifies 
literally a change of mind, it may be here referred to a 
change of religious views, &c. And as repentance signifies a 
change of life and conduct, from evil to good, so the word 
metanoia may be used here to signify a change from a false 
religion to the true one; from idolatry, to the worship of 
the true God. Rosenmuller thinks that, in several cases, 
where it is spoken of the Jews, it signifies their change 
from a contempt of the Messiah to reverence for him, and the 
consequent embracing of the Christian religion.

The Christians who were present were all satisfied with St. 
Peter's account and apology; but it does not appear that all 
were ultimately satisfied, as we know there were serious 
disputes in the Church afterwards on this very subject: see 
chap. xv. 5, &c., where Christian believers, from among the 
Pharisees, insisted that it was necessary to circumcise the 
converted Gentiles, and cause them to keep the law of Moses. 
This opinion was carried much farther in the Church at 
Jerusalem afterwards, as may be seen at large in chap. xxi. 
21, &c.

Verse 19. The persecution that arose about Stephen] That is, 
those who were obliged to flee from Jerusalem at the time of 
that persecution in which Stephen lost his life. See chap. 
viii. 1.

Phoenice] Phoenicia, a country between Galilee and Syria, 
along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, including Tyre, 
Sidon, &c. It is often mentioned as a part of Syria. See 
chap. xxi. 2, 3.

Cyprus] An island of the Mediterranean Sea, over against 
Syria. See on chap. iv. 30.

Antioch] A city of Syria, built by Antiochus Seleucus, near 
the river Orontes; at that time one of the most celebrated 
cities of the east. For the situation of all these, see the 
map accompanying this book.

Unto the Jews only.] For they knew nothing of the vision of 
St. Peter; and did not believe that God would open the door 
of faith to the Gentiles.

The next verse informs us that there were others who were 
better instructed. See below.

Verse 20. Men of-Cyrene] The metropolis of the Cyrenaica; a 
country of Africa, bounded on the east by Marmarica, on the 
west by the Regio Syrtica, on the north by the Mediterranean, 
and on the south by the Sahara. Cyrene is now called Cairoan. 
This city, according to Eusebius, was built in the 37th 
Olympiad, about 630 years before Christ. In consequence of a 
revolt of its inhabitants, it was destroyed by the Romans; 
but they afterwards rebuilt it. It was for a long time 
subject to the Arabs, but is now in the hands of the Turks.

Spake unto the Grecians] Æellhnistav, The Hellenists. Who 
these were, we have already seen chap. vi and chap. ix. 29, 
viz. Jews living in Greek cities and speaking the Greek 
language. But, instead of Æellhnistav, Grecians, Æellhnav, 
Greeks, is the reading of AD*, Syriac, all the Arabic, 
Coptic, AEthiopic, Vulgate, some copies of the Itala, 
Eusebius, Chrysostom, Theophylact, and OEcumenius. On this 
evidence, Griesbach has admitted it into the text; and few 
critics entertain any doubt of the genuineness of the 
reading. This intimates that, besides preaching the Gospel to 
the Hellenistic Jews, some of them preached it to heathen 
Greeks; for, were we to adopt the common reading, it would be 
a sort of actum agere; for it is certain that the Hellenistic 
Jews had already received the Gospel. See chap. vi. 1. And it 
is likely that these Cyprians and Cyrenians had heard of 
Peter's mission to Caesarea, and they followed his example by 
offering the Christian faith to the heathen. It is worthy of 
remark that the Jews generally called all nations of the 
world Greeks; as the Asiatics, to the present day, call all 
the nations of Europe Franks.

Verse 21. The hand of the Lord was with them] By the hand, 
arm, and, finger of God, in the Scripture, different displays 
or exertions of his power are intended. Here it means that 
the energy of God accompanied them, and applied their 
preaching to the souls of all attentive hearers. Without this 
accompanying influence, even an apostle could do no good; and 
can inferior men hope to be able to convince and convert 
sinners without this? Ministers of the word of God, so 
called, who dispute the necessity and deny the being of this 
influence, show thereby that they are intruders into God's 
heritage; that they are not sent by him, and shall not profit 
the people at all.

A great number believed] That Jesus was the Christ; and that 
he had died for their offenses, and risen again for their 
justification. Because the apostles preached the truth, and 
the hand of God was with them, therefore, a great number 
believed, and turned unto the Lord, becoming his disciples, 
and taking him for their portion.

Verse 22. The Church which was in Jerusalem] This was the 
original, the mother Church of Christianity; not the Church 
of Rome; there were Christian Churches founded in many 
places, which exist to the present day, before Rome heard the 
Gospel of the kingdom. A Christian Church means a company of 
believers in Christ Jesus, united for the purposes of 
Christian fellowship, and edification in righteousness.

They sent forth Barnabas] It seems, then, that the Church 
collectively had power to commission and send forth any of 
its own members, whom it saw God had qualified for a 
particular work. There must have been, even at that time, an 
acknowledged superiority of some members of the Church beyond 
others. The apostles held the first rank; the deacons 
(probably the same as those called prophets, as being next 
chosen) the second; and perhaps those called evangelists, 
simply preachers of the truth, the third rank. Those who knew 
most of God and sacred things, who were most zealous, most 
holy, and most useful, undoubtedly had the pre-eminence.

Verse 23. Had seen the grace of God] That is, had seen the 
effects produced by the grace of God. By the grace of God, we 
are to understand: 1. His favour. 2. The manifestations of 
that favour in the communication of spiritual blessings. And, 
3. Principles of light, life, holiness, &c., producing 
effects demonstrative of the causes from which they sprung. 
Barnabas saw that these people were objects of the Divine 
approbation; that they were abundantly blessed and edified 
together as a Christian Church; and that they had received 
especial influences from God, by his indwelling Spirit, which 
were to them incentives to faith, hope, and love, and also 
principles of conduct.

Was glad,] Not envious because God had blessed the labours of 
others of his Master's servants, but rejoiced to find that 
the work of salvation was carried on by such instruments as 
God chose, and condescended to use.

They who cannot rejoice in the conversion of sinners, because 
they have not been the means of it, or because such converts 
or their ministers have not precisely the same views of 
certain doctrines which they have themselves, show that they 
have little, if any thing, of the mind that was in Christ, in 
them.

With purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.] These 
converts had begun well; they must continue and persevere: 
God gave them the grace, the principle of life and action; it 
was their business to use this. If they did not, the gift 
would be resumed. Barnabas well knew that they must have the 
grace of God in them to enable them to do any good; but he 
knew, also, that its being in them did not necessarily imply 
that it must continue there. God had taught him that if they 
were not workers together with that grace they would receive 
it in vain; i.e., the end for which it was given would not be 
answered. He therefore exhorted them, th proqesei thv 
kardiav, with determination of heart, with set, fixed purpose 
and resolution, that they would cleave unto the Lord, 
prosmenein tw kuriw, to remain with the Lord; to continue in 
union and fellowship with him; to be faithful in keeping his 
truth, and obedient in the practice of it. To be a Christian 
is to be united to Christ, to be of one spirit with him: to 
continue to be a Christian is to continue in that union. It 
is absurd to talk of being children of God, and of absolute, 
final perseverance, when the soul has lost its spiritual 
union. There is no perseverance but in cleaving to the Lord: 
he who in his works denies him does not cleave to him. Such a 
one is not of God; if he ever had the salvation of God, he 
has lost it; he is fallen from grace; nor is there a word in 
the book of God, fairly and honestly understood, that says 
such a person shall absolutely and unavoidably arise from his 
fall.

Verse 24. For he was a good man] Here is a proper character 
of a minister of the Gospel.

1. He is a good man: his bad heart is changed; his evil 
dispositions rooted out; and the mind that was in Christ 
implanted in him.

2. He is full of the Holy Ghost. He is holy, because the 
Spirit of holiness dwells in him: he has not a few transient 
visitations or drawings from that Spirit; it is a resident in 
his soul, and it fills his heart. It is light in his 
understanding; it is discrimination in his judgment; it is 
fixed purpose and determination in righteousness in his will; 
it is purity, it is love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, 
meekness, temperance, and fidelity in his affections and 
passions. In a word, it has sovereign sway in his heart; it 
governs all passions, and is the motive and principle of 
every righteous action.

3. He was full of faith. He implicitly credited his Lord; he 
knew that he could not lie-that his word could not fail; he 
expected, not only the fulfillment of all promises, but also 
every degree of help, light, life, and comfort, which God 
might at any time see necessary for his Church, he prayed for 
the Divine blessing, and he believed that he should not pray 
in vain. His faith never failed, because it laid hold on that 
God who could not change. Behold, ye preachers of the Gospel! 
an original minister of Christ.

Emulate his piety, his faith, and his usefulness.

Much people was added unto the Lord.] No wonder, when they 
had such a minister, preaching by the power of the Holy 
Ghost, such a Gospel as that of Jesus Christ.

Verse 25. To Tarsus, for to seek Saul] The persecution raised 
against him obliged him to take refuge in his own city, 
where, as a Roman citizen, his person was in safety. See 
chap. ix. 29, 30.

Verse 26. He brought him unto Antioch] As this city was the 
metropolis of Syria, and the third city for importance in the 
whole Roman empire, Rome and Alexandria alone being more 
eminent, Barnabas might think it expedient to have for his 
assistance a person of such eminent talents as Saul; and who 
was especially appointed by Christ to proclaim the Gospel to 
the Gentiles. Saul appears also to have been a thorough 
master of the Greek tongue, and, consequently, the better 
qualified to explain the Gospel to the Greek philosophers, 
and to defend it against their cavils. Barnabas, also being a 
native of Cyprus, chap. iv. 36, where the Greek language was 
spoken, was judged to be proper for this mission, perhaps on 
this account, as well as on account of his disinterestedness, 
holiness, and zeal.

And the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.] 
It is evident they had the name Christians from CHRIST their 
master; as the Platonists and Pythagoreans had their name 
from their masters, Plato and Pythagoras.

Now, as these had their name from those great masters because 
they attended their teaching, and credited their doctrines, 
so the disciples were called Christians because they took 
Christ for their teacher, crediting his doctrines, and 
following the rule of life laid down by him. It has been a 
question, by whom was this name given to the disciples? Some 
think they assumed it; others, that the inhabitants of 
Antioch gave it to them; and others, that it was given by 
Saul and Barnabas. This later opinion is favoured by the 
Codex Bezae, which reads the 25th and 26th verses thus: And 
hearing that Saul was at Tarsus, he departed, seeking for 
him; and having found him, he besought him to come to 
Antioch; who, when they were come, assembled with the Church 
a whole year, and instructed a great number; and there they 
first called the disciples at Antioch Christians.

The word crhmatisai in our common text, which we translate 
were called, signifies in the New Testament, to appoint, 
warn, or nominate, by Divine direction. In this sense, the 
word is used, Matt. ii. 12; Luke ii. 26; and in the preceding 
chapter of this book, chap. x. 22. If, therefore, the name 
was given by Divine appointment, it as most likely that Saul 
and Barnabas were directed to give it; and that, therefore, 
the name Christian is from God, as well as that grace and 
holiness which are so essentially required and implied in the 
character. Before this time. the Jewish converts were simply 
called, among themselves, disciples, i.e. scholars; 
believers, saints, the Church, or assembly; and, by their 
enemies, Nazarenes, Galileans, the men of this way or sect; 
and perhaps lay other names which are not come down to us. 
They considered themselves as one family; and hence the 
appellation of brethren was frequent among them. It was the 
design of God to make all who believed of one heart and one 
soul, that they might consider him as their Father, and live 
and love like children of the same household. A Christian, 
therefore, is the highest character which any human being can 
bear upon earth; and to receive it from God, as those appear 
to have done-how glorious the title! It is however worthy of 
remark that this name occurs in only three places in the New 
Testament: here, and in chap. xxvi. 28, and in 1 Pet. iv. 16.

Verse 27. Came prophets from Jerusalem] Though the term 
prophet is used in the New Testament simply to signify a 
teacher, (see the note on Gen. xx. 7, where the subject is 
largely explained,) yet here it evidently means also such as 
are under Divine inspiration, and foretold future events.

This was certainly the case with Agabus, ver. 28, though, 
perhaps, his ordinary character was that of a teacher or 
preacher. It seems from various scriptures, Rom. xii. 4, &c., 
1 Corinthians xiii. 2-xiv. 40, that the prophets of the New 
Testament were: 1. Teachers or preachers in general. 2.

Persons who, on special occasions, were under the influence 
of the Divine Spirit, and then foretold certain future 
events. 3. Persons who recited hymns to the honour of God in 
the public assemblies of the Christians. 4.

Persons who prayed in those assemblies, having sometimes the 
gift of tongues, at other times not. From Eph. ii. 20; iii. 
5, we learn that the prophets of the Christian Church were 
inferior to the apostles; but, from Eph. iv. 11, we see that 
they were superior to all other teachers, even to evangelists 
and pastors.

Verse 28. Agabus] This prophet, of whom we know nothing, is 
once more mentioned, chap. xxi. 10. He was probably a Jew, 
but whether converted now to Christianity we cannot tell.

Great dearth throughout all the world] The words efÆ olhn thn 
oikoumenhn probably here mean the land of Judea; though 
sometimes by this phrase the whole Roman empire is intended. 
In the former sense the disciples appear to have understood 
it, as the next verse informs us; for they determined to send 
relief to their brethren in Judea, which they could not have 
done had the famine been general. It does not appear that 
they expected it to extend even to Antioch in Syria, where 
they then were, else they would have thought of making 
provision for themselves.

It is well known from history that there were several famines 
in the reign of Claudius. Dion Cassius, lib. lx., mentions a 
severe famine in the first and second year of the reign of 
Claudius, which was sorely felt ln Rome itself.

This famine, it is supposed, induced Claudius to build a port 
at Ostia, for the more regular supply of Rome with 
provisions.

A second famine happened about the fourth year of this reign, 
which continued for several years, and greatly afflicted the 
land of Judea. Several authors notice this, but particularly 
Josephus, Ant. lib. xx. cap. 5, sect. 2, where, having 
mentioned Tiberius Alexander as succeeding to the 
procuratorship in the place of Cuspius Fadus, he says that, 
"during the government of these procurators, a great famine 
afflicted Judea." epi toutoiv dh kai ton megan limon kata thn 
ioudaian sunebh genesqai.

A third famine is mentioned by Eusebius, in An. Abrahami, 
which commences with the calends of October, A.D. 48, which 
was so powerful "in Greece that a modius (about half a bushel 
of grain) was sold for six drachms," about three shillings 
and sixpence English. Vid. Euseb. in Chron. edit. Scalig. The 
same author mentions another famine in Rome, in the tenth 
year of Claudius, of which Orosius gives the details, lib. 
vii.

A fourth famine, which took place in the eleventh year of 
Claudius, is mentioned by Tacitus, Annal. lib. xii. sect. 43, 
in which there was so great a dearth of provisions, and 
famine in consequence, that it was esteemed a Divine 
judgment. Frugrum quoque egestas, et orta ex ea fames, in 
prodigium accipiebatur. At this time, the same author tells 
us, that in all the stores of Rome there were no more than 
fifteen days' provision; and, had not the winter been 
uncommonly mild, the utmost distress and misery must have 
prevailed.

It may now be inquired, to which of these famines in the 
reign of Claudius does the prophecy of Agabus refer? Most 
learned men are of opinion that the famine of which Agabus 
prophesied was that mentioned above, which took place in the 
fourth year of this emperor. A.D. 47. This famine is 
particularly mentioned by Josephus, Ant. lib xx. cap. 2, 
sect. 5, who describes it as "a very great famine, in which 
many died for want of food."-"That Helena, queen of Adiabene, 
who had embraced the Jewish religion, sent some of her 
servants to Alexandria, to buy a great quantity of corn; and 
others of them to Cyprus, to buy a cargo of dried figs, which 
she distributed to those who were in want." And in cap. 5, 
sect. 2, he says that this happened" when Tiberius Alexander 
succeeded Cuspids Fadus; and that under these procurators the 
famine happened in which Queen Helena, at a vast expense, 
procured relief to the Jews." Dr. Hudson's note on this 
passage in Josephus deserves to be copied: "This," says he, 
"is that famine foretold by Agabus, ver. 28, which happened 
when Claudius was consul the fourth time, (A.D. 47,) and not 
that which happened when Claudius was consul the second time, 
and Caecina was his colleague, (A.D.

42,) as Scaliger says, upon Eusebius, p. 174. Now when 
Josephus had said, a little after, cap. 5, sect. 2, that 
Tiberius Alexander succeeded Cuspius Fadus as procurator, he 
immediately subjoins, under these procurators there happened 
a great famine in Judea." From this it is evident that this 
famine must have continued several years, as it existed under 
both these procurators. Fadus, says Mr. Whiston, was not sent 
into Judea till after the death of Agrippa, i.e.
towards the end of the fourth year of Claudius, in the end of 
A.D.

44, or beginning of 45. So that this famine, foretold by 
Agabus, happened on the fifth, sixth, and seventh years of 
Claudius, A.D. 45, 46, and 47. See Whiston's Josephus; and 
see Krebs' Observat. in Nov. Test. on this place.

Verse 29. Then the disciples-determined to send relief] These 
were probably Gentile converts; and as they considered 
themselves receiving the spiritual blessings, which they now 
so happily enjoyed, through the means of the Christians in 
Judea, they resolved to communicate to them a portion of 
their temporal goods; and every man did this according to his 
ability, i.e. he gave a certain proportion of the property with 
which the providence of God had entrusted him. The community of 
goods had for some time ceased.

Verse 30. And sent it to the elders] These probably mean 
those who first believed on Christ crucified, either of the 
seventy disciples mentioned Luke, Luke x. 1, or the one 
hundred and twenty mentioned, chap. i. 15, or the seven 
deacons, chap. vi. 5. Some have divided the primitive 
disciples into three classes: 1. The autoptai, those who were 
eye witnesses. 2. The aparcai, those who were the first 
fruits, or converts of the apostles' preaching. The diadocoi, 
those who were the successors of the preceding from whom they 
had received the doctrines of the Gospel. It is likely the 
deacons are meant, whose office it was to take care of the 
poor. See chap. vi. 1, &c.

1. AMONG many highly interesting subjects which have come 
under review in the preceding chapter, we must have 
particularly noticed, 1. The care the Church of Christ took 
to have young converts confirmed in the truths they had 
received, and built up on their most holy faith, ver. 22. It 
was indispensably necessary that a foundation should be laid; 
and it was not less so that a proper superstructure should be 
raised. For this work, it was requisite that different gifts 
and talents should be employed, and Barnabas and Saul must be 
sent to confirm in the faith those whom the disciples, who 
had been scattered by the persecution raised about Stephen, 
had converted to Christ, ver. 19-22. It is a great thing to 
have souls converted to the Lord; it is greater to have them 
built up on their most holy faith; and few persons, even 
among the ministers of Christ, have talents for both. Even 
when PAUL planted, it required APOLLOS to water.

A frequent interchange of godly ministers in the Church of 
Christ is of the utmost consequence to its stability and 
increase.

2. It appears that CHRISTIANS was the first general 
appellative of the followers of our blessed Lord; and there 
is presumptive evidence, as we have seen, that this 
appellative came by Divine appointment. How very few of those 
who profess this religion are satisfied with this title! That 
very Church that arrogates all to itself has totally 
abandoned this title, and its members call themselves Roman 
Catholics, which is absurd; because the adjective and 
substantive include opposite ideas: catholic signifies 
universal; and Roman signifies of or belonging to Rome. If it 
be merely Roman, it cannot be catholic; if it be catholic, it 
cannot be confined to Rome; but it is not catholic nor 
universal, in any sense of the word, for it contains but a 
small part of the people who profess Christianity. The term 
Protestant has more common sense in it; but not much more 
piety. Almost all sects and parties proceed in the same line; 
but Christian is a title seldom heard of, and the spirit and 
practice of Christianity but rarely occur. When all return to 
the spirit of the Gospel, they will probably resume the 
appellative of Christians.

3. An early fruit of Christianity was mercy to the poor; and 
especially to the poor followers of Christ. He has left the 
poor ever with us, as his representatives, to exercise our 
bowels of commiseration, and thus teach us to feel and 
practice mercy. To every man professing Christianity, the 
religion of Jesus Christ says most authoritatively, With 
every man who is pinched by poverty, share what the 
providence of God has not made absolutely necessary for thy 
own support. What God has given us more than we need is 
entrusted to us for the benefit of those that are in poverty 
and affliction. He who can, and does not, help the poor, is a 
disgrace to Christianity; and he who does not lend his hand 
for the support of the cause of God is a worthless member of 
the Church of Christ. He who shows no mercy shall have 
judgment without mercy. And he who spends in pampering the 
flesh what should be given to the poor shall have a fearful 
account to give in the day of the Lord.

CHAPTER xii.

Herod persecutes the Christians, 1. Kills James, 2. And casts 
Peter into prison, 3, 4. The Church makes incessant prayer 
for his deliverance, 5. An angel of God opens the prison 
doors and leads him out, 6-10. Peter rejoices, and comes to 
the house of Mary, where many were praying, and declares how 
he was delivered, 11-17. The soldiers who kept the prison are 
examined by Herod, and he commands them to be put to death, 
18, 19. Herod is enraged against the people of Tyre, but is 
appeased by their submission, 20. He makes an oration to the 
people, receives idolatrous praises, and an angel of the Lord 
unites him, and he dies a miserable death, 21-23. The word of 
God increases, 24. Barnabas and Saul, having fulfilled their 
ministry, return from Jerusalem accompanied by John Mark, 25.

NOTES ON CHAP. xii.

Verse 1. Herod the king] This was Herod Agrippa, the son of 
Aristobulus, and grandson of Herod the Great; he was nephew 
to Herod Antipas, who beheaded John they Baptist, and brother 
to Herodias. He was made king by the Emperor Caligula, and 
was put in possession of all the territories formerly held by 
his uncle Philip and by Lysanias; viz.

Iturea, Trachonitis, Abilene, with Gaulonitis, Batanaea, and 
Penias. To these the Emperor Claudius afterwards added Judea 
and Samaria; which were nearly all the dominions possessed by 
his grandfather, Herod the Great. See Luke iii. 1; see also 
an account of the Herod family, in the note on Matt. ii. 1.

To vex certain of the Church.] That is, to destroy its chief 
ornaments and supports.

Verse 2. He killed James the brother of John with the sword.] 
This was James the greater, son of Zebedee, and must be 
distinguished from James the less, son of Alpheus. This 
latter was put to death by Ananias the high priest, during 
the reign of Nero. This James with his brother John were 
those who requested to sit on the right and left hand of our 
Lord, see Matt. xx. 23; and our Lord's prediction was now 
fulfilled in one of them, who by his martyrdom drank of our 
Lord's cup, and was baptized with his baptism. By the death 
of James, the number of the apostles was reduced to eleven; 
and we do not find that ever it was filled up. The apostles 
never had any successors: God has continued their doctrine, 
but not their order.

By killing with the sword we are to understand beheading. 
Among the Jews there were four kinds of deaths: 1. Stoning; 
2. burning; killing with the sword, or beheading; and, 4. 
strangling. The third was a Roman as well as a Jewish mode of 
punishment. Killing with the sword was the punishment which, 
according to the Talmud, was inflicted on those who drew away 
the people to any strange worship, Sanhedr. fol. iii. James 
was probably accused of this, and hence the punishment 
mentioned in the text.

Verse 3. He proceeded-to take Peter also.] He supposed that 
these two were pillars on which the infant cause rested; and 
that, if these were removed, the building must necessarily 
come down.

The days of unleavened bread.] About the latter end of March 
or beginning of April; but whether in the third or fourth 
year of the Emperor Claudius, or earlier or later, cannot be 
determined.

Verse 4. Four quaternions of soldiers] That is, sixteen, or 
four companies of four men each, who had the care of the 
prison, each company taking in turn one of the four watches 
of the night.

Intending after Easter to bring him forth] meta to tasca, 
After the passover. Perhaps there never was a more unhappy, 
not to say absurd, translation than that in our text. But, 
before I come to explain the word, it is necessary to observe 
that our term called Easter is not exactly the same with the 
Jewish passover. This festival is always held on the 
fourteenth day of the first vernal full moon; but the Easter 
of the Christians, never till the next Sabbath after said 
full moon; and, to avoid all conformity with the Jews in this 
matter, if the fourteenth day of the first vernal full moon 
happen on a Sabbath, then the festival of Easter is deferred 
till the Sabbath following. The first vernal moon is that 
whose fourteenth day is either on the day of the vernal 
equinox, or the next fourteenth day after it. The vernal 
equinox, according to a decree of the council of Nice, is 
fixed to the 21st day of March; and therefore the first 
vernal moon is that whose fourteenth day falls upon the 21st 
of March, or the first fourteenth day after. Hence it appears 
that the next Sabbath after the fourteenth day of the vernal 
moon, which is called the Paschal term, is always Easter day.

And, therefore, the earliest Paschal term being the 21st of 
March, the 22d of March is the earliest Easter possible; and 
the 18th of April being the latest Paschal term, the seventh 
day after, that is the 25th of April, is the latest Easter 
possible.

The term Easter, inserted here by our translators, they 
borrowed from the ancient Anglo-Saxon service-books, or from 
the version of the Gospels, which always translates the to 
pasca of the Greek by this term; e.g. Matt. xxvi. 2: Ye know 
that after two days is the feast of the passover.

(Anglo-Saxon) Wite ye that aefter twam dagum beoth Eastro. 
Matt. xvi. 19: And they made ready the passover. (Anglo-
Saxon) And hig gegearwodon hym Easter thenunga (i.e. the 
paschal supper.) Prefixed to Matt. xxviii. 1, are these 
words: (Anglo-Saxon) This part to be read on Easter even. 
And, before Matt. xxviii. 8, these words: (Anglo-Saxon) Mark 
xiv. 12: And the first day of unleavened bread when they 
killed the passover. (Anglo-Saxon) And tham forman 
daegeazimorum, tha hi Eastron offrodon. Other examples occur 
in this version. Wiclif used the word paske, i.e. passover; 
but Tindal, Coverdale, Becke, and Cardmarden, following the 
old Saxon mode of translation, insert Easter: the Geneva 
Bible very properly renders it the passover. The Saxon 
(Anglo-Saxon) are different modes of spelling the name of the 
goddess Easter, whose festival was celebrated by our pagan 
forefathers on the month of April; hence that month, in the 
Saxon calendar, is called (Anglo-Saxon) Easter month. Every 
view we can take of this subject shows the gross impropriety 
of retaining a name every way exceptionable, and palpably 
absurd.

Verse 5. Prayer was made without ceasing] The Greek word 
ektenhv signifies both fervour and earnestness, as well as 
perseverance. These prayers of the Church produced that 
miraculous interference mentioned below, and without which 
Peter could not have thus escaped from the hands of this 
ruthless king.

Verse 6. Sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two 
chains] Two soldiers guarded his person; his right hand being 
bound to the left hand of one, and his left hand bound to the 
right hand of the other. This was the Roman method of 
guarding their prisoners, and appears to be what is intimated 
in the text.

Verse 7. Smote Peter on the side] He struck him in such a way 
as was just sufficient to awake him from his sleep.

His chains fell off from his hands.] The chains mentioned 
above, by which he was bound to the two soldiers.

Verse 8. Gird thyself] It seems Peter had put off the 
principal part of his clothes, that he might sleep with more 
comfort. His resuming all that he had thrown off was a proof 
that every thing had been done leisurely. There was no 
evidence of any hurry; nor of any design to elude justice, or 
even to avoid meeting his accusers in any legal way. It 
appears that the two soldiers were overwhelmed by a deep 
sleep, which fell upon them from God.

Verse 9. He-wist not] He knew not; from the Anglo-Saxon, 
(Anglo-Saxon), to know. He supposed himself to be in a dream.

Verse 10. The first and-second ward] It is supposed that 
ancient Jerusalem was surrounded by three walls: if so, then 
passing through the gates of these three walls successively 
is possibly what is meant by the expression in the text. The 
prison in which he was confined might have been that which 
was at the outer wall.

Iron gate] This was in the innermost wall of the three, and 
was strongly plated over with iron, for the greater security. 
In the east, the gates are often thus secured to the present 
day. Pitts says so of the gates of Algiers; and Pocock, of 
some near Antioch. Perhaps this is all that is meant by the 
iron gate. One of the quaternions of soldiers was placed at 
each gate.

Which opened-of his own accord] Influenced by the unseen 
power of the angel.

The angel departed from him.] Having brought him into a place 
in which he no longer needed his assistance. What is proper 
to God he always does: what is proper to man he requires him 
to perform.

Verse 11. When Peter was come to himself] Every thing he saw 
astonished him; he could scarcely credit his eyes; he was in 
a sort of ecstasy; and it was only when the angel left him 
that he was fully convinced that all was real.

Now I know-that the Lord hath sent his angel] The poor German 
divine is worthy of pity, who endeavoured to persuade himself 
and his countrymen that all this talk about the angel was 
mere illusion; that Peter was delivered in a way which he 
could not comprehend, and therefore was led to attribute to a 
particular providence of God what probably was done by the 
prefect of the prison, who favoured him! But it is the study 
of this writer to banish from the word of God all 
supernatural influence; and to reduce even the miracles of 
Christ to simple operations of nature, or to the workings of 
imagination and the prejudices of a weak and credulous 
people. Such men should at once cast off the mask which so 
thinly covers their infidelity, and honestly avow themselves 
to be, what they are, the enemies of revelation in general, 
and of the Christian religion in particular.

Peter could say, Now I know of a certainty that the Lord hath 
sent his angel, and delivered me, &c. No such thing, says Mr. 
E., Peter was deceived; it was not the Lord, it was the 
prefect or some other person.

Now we know that Peter spoke by the Holy Ghost; but we have 
no much testimony of Mr. E. nor of any of his associates.

And all the expectation of the-Jews.] It seems they had built 
much on the prospect of having him sacrificed, as they 
already had James.

Verse 12. And when he had considered] When he had weighed 
every thing, and was fully satisfied of the Divine 
interposition, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of 
John Mark, the author of the Gospel, where it appears many 
were gathered together making prayer and supplication, and 
probably for Peter's release.

Verse 13. As Peter knocked] The door was probably shut for 
fear of the Jews; and, as most of the houses in the east have 
an area before the door, it might have been at this outer 
gate that Peter stood knocking.

A damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda.] She came to inquire 
who was there. Rhoda signifies a rose; and it appears to have 
been customary with he Jews, as Grotius and others remark, to 
give the names of flowers and trees to their daughters: thus 
Susannah signifies a lily, Hadassah, a myrtle, Tamar, a palm 
tree, &c., &c.

Verse 15. It is his angel.] It was a common opinion among the 
Jews that every man has a guardian angel, and in the popish 
Church it is an article of faith. The Jews also believed that 
angels often assumed the likeness of particular persons. They 
have many stories of the appearance of Elijah in the likeness 
of different rabbins. As aggelov signifies in general a 
messenger, whether Divine or human, some have thought that 
the angel or messenger here means a servant or person which 
the disciples supposed was sent from Peter to announce 
something of importance to the brethren: it was also an 
opinion among the Jews, even in the time of the apostles, as 
appears from Philo, that the departed souls of good men 
officiated as ministering angels; and it is possible that the 
disciples at Mary's house might suppose that Peter had been 
murdered in the prison; and that his spirit was now come to 
announce this event, or give some particular warning to the 
Church.

Verse 17. Declared-how the Lord had brought him out of the 
prison.] He still persisted in the belief that his 
deliverance was purely supernatural.

It seems that some modern critics could have informed him of 
his mistake. See ver. 11.

Show these things unto James, and to the brethren] That is, 
in one word, show them to the Church, at the head of which 
James undoubtedly was; as we may clearly understand by the 
part he took in the famous council held at Jerusalem, 
relative to certain differences between the believing Jews 
and Gentiles. See chap. xv. 13-21. There is still no 
supremacy for Peter. He who was bishop or overseer of the 
Church at Jerusalem was certainly at the head of the whole 
Church of God at this time; but James was then bishop or 
inspector of the Church at Jerusalem, and, consequently, was 
the only visible head then upon earth.

He departed-into another place.] Some popish writers say that 
he went to Rome, and founded a Christian Church there. Those 
who can believe any thing may believe this. Where he went we 
know not; but it is probable that he withdrew for the present 
into a place of privacy, till the heat of the inquiry was 
over relative to his escape from the prison; for he saw that 
Herod was intent on his death.

Verse 19. Commanded that they should be put to death.] He 
believed, or pretended to believe, that the escape of Peter 
was owing to the negligence of the keepers: jailers, 
watchmen, &c., ordinarily suffered the same kind of 
punishment which should have been inflicted on the prisoner 
whose escape they were supposed to have favoured.

He went down from Judea to Caesarea] How soon he went down, 
and how long he stayed there, we know not.

Verse 20. Highly displeased with them of Tyre] On what 
account Herod was thus displeased is not related by any 
historian, as far as I have been able to ascertain. Josephus, 
who speaks of this journey of Herod to Caesarea, says nothing 
of it; and it is useless for us to conjecture.

Having made Blastus-their friend] Blastus was probably a 
eunuch, and had considerable influence over his master Herod; 
and, to reach the master, it is likely they bribed the 
chamberlain.

Desired peace] The Tyrians and Sidonians being equally 
subjects of the Roman government with the inhabitants of 
Galilee, Herod could not go to war with them; but, being 
irritated against them, he might prevent their supplies: they 
therefore endeavoured to be on peaceable, i.e. friendly, 
terms with him.

Their country was nourished by the king's country.] That is, 
they had all their supplies from Galilee; for Tyre and Sidon, 
being places of trade and commerce, with little territory, 
were obliged to have all their provisions from the countries 
under Herod's jurisdiction. This had been the case even from 
the days of Solomon, as we learn from 1 Kings v. 11; where it 
is said that Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of 
wheat, for food to his household; and twenty measures of pure 
oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year. See also Ezek. 
xxvii. 17.

Verse 21. Upon a set day, &c.] A day on which games, &c., 
were exhibited in honour of the Roman emperor. What this 
refers to, we learn from Josephus. "Herod, having reigned 
three years over ALL Judea, (he had reigned over the 
tetrarchy of his brother Philip four years before this,) went 
down to Caesarea, and there exhibited shows and games in 
honour of Claudius, and made vows for his health. On the 
second day of these shows, he put on a garment made wholly of 
silver, and of a contexture most truly wonderful, and came 
into the theater early in the morning; at which time the 
silver of his garment, being illuminated by the first 
reflection of the sun's rays, shone out after a surprising 
manner, and was so resplendent as to spread a horror over 
those who looked intently upon him; and presently his 
flatterers cried out, one from one place, and another from 
another, 'He is a god:' and they added, 'Be thou merciful to 
us, for although we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a 
man, yet shall we henceforth own thee as superior to mortal 
nature.' Nor did the king rebuke them, nor reject their 
impious flattery. But, looking up, he saw an owl on a certain 
rope over his head, and immediately conceived that this bird 
was to him a messenger of ill tidings; and he fell into the 
deepest sorrow; a severe pain also arose in his bowels, and 
he died after five days' severe illness." This is the sum of 
the account given by Josephus, Ant. lib. xix. cap. 8, sect. 
2. (See Whiston's edition.) Notwithstanding the 
embellishments of the Jewish historian, it agrees in the main 
surprisingly with the account given here by St. Luke. 
Josephus, it is true, suppresses some circumstances which 
would have been dishonourable to this impious king; and, 
according to his manner, puts a speech in Herod's mouth, when 
he found himself struck with death, expressive of much 
humility and contrition. But this speech is of no authority. 
When Josephus takes up and pursues the thread of mere 
historical narration, he may be safely trusted; but whenever 
he begins to embellish, or put speeches in the mouths of his 
actors, he is no longer to be credited. He even here 
transforms an angel of the Lord into an owl, and introduces 
it most improbably into his narration; as if an owl, a bird 
of all others that can least bear the light, should come and 
perch on the pavilion of the king, when the sun was shining 
with the most resplendent rays!

Verse 23. The angel of the Lord smote him] His death was most 
evidently a judgment from God.

Because he gave not God the glory] He did not rebuke his 
flatterers, but permitted them to give him that honour that 
was due to God alone. See on ver. 21.

And was eaten of worms] Whether this was the morbus 
pedicularis, or whether a violent inflammation of his bowels, 
terminating in putrefaction, did not actually produce worms, 
which, for several days, swarmed in his infected entrails, we 
cannot tell. It is most likely that this latter was the case; 
and this is at once more agreeable to the letter of the text, 
and to the circumstances of the case as related by Josephus.

And gave up the ghost.] That is, he died of the disorder by 
which he was then seized, after having lingered, in 
excruciating torments, for five days, as Josephus has stated. 
Antiochus Epiphanes and Herod the Great died of the same kind 
of disease. See the observations at the end of chap. i. 26 
relative to the death of Judas.

Verse 24. But the word of God] The Christian doctrine 
preached by the apostles grew and multiplied-became more 
evident, and had daily accessions; for the spirit of 
revelation rested on those men, and God was daily adding to 
that word as circumstances required, in order to complete 
that testimony of his which we now find contained in the New 
Testament.

As there is in the original an allusion to the vegetation of 
grain, (huxane, it grew, as corn grows, the stalk and the 
ear; kai eplhquneto, it was multiplied, as the corn is in the 
full ear,) there is probably a reference to the parable of 
the SOWER and his seed; for the seed is the word of God, and 
the doctrine of the kingdom. It was liberally sown; it grew 
vigorously, and became greatly multiplied. And why? Because 
it was the word, the doctrine of God-there was no corruption 
in it; and because God watered it with the dew of heaven from 
on high.

Verse 25. Returned from Jerusalem] That is, to Antioch, after 
the death of Herod.

When they had fulfilled their ministry] When they had carried 
the alms of the Christians at Antioch to the poor saints at 
Jerusalem, according to what is mentioned, chap. xi. 29, 30, 
to support them in the time of the coming famine.

And took with them John, whose surname was Mark.] This was 
the son of Mary, mentioned ver. 12. He accompanied the 
apostles to Cyprus, and afterwards in several of their 
voyages, till they came to Perga in Pamphylia. Finding them 
about to take a more extensive voyage, he departed from them. 
See the case, chap. xiii. 13; xv. 37-40.

1. WHEN the nature, spirit, and tendency of Christianity are 
considered, we may well be astonished that it should ever 
find a persecutor among the souls it was designed to instruct 
and save! Devils can have no part in it, and therefore we may 
naturally expect them, through envy and malice, to oppose it; 
but that men, for whose use and salvation the wisdom and 
mercy of God made it, should reject its offers of mercy, and 
persecute to death those who proclaimed it, is the most 
unaccountable thing that can be conceived. What a proof is 
this of mere maliciousness, where the persecutor not only 
serves no self-interest by it, but destroys, as far as he 
can, all that could promote his own present and eternal 
happiness! This argues such blindness of understanding, 
hardness of heart, and derangement of mind, as can be 
accounted for only on the supposition of a nature totally 
fallen from God, righteousness, and truth. The Jews crucify 
Christ, and martyr Stephen; and Herod murders James; and both 
join together to persecute the followers of Christ and 
destroy his cause. Reader, consider the consequences: this 
bad people were permitted to remain till they had filled up 
the measure of their iniquity, and were then cut of by a most 
terrible judgment; and Herod was visited for his 
transgressions in such a most awful way as strongly marked 
the displeasure of God against persecutors. If a man contend 
with a man, the contest is in a certain way equal-the 
potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth; but when a 
man enters the lists against his Maker, as every persecutor 
does, wo unto that man!-he must be torn in pieces, when there 
is none to deliver.

2. How true is the saying, there is neither counsel nor might 
against the Lord! In the midst of all troubles and 
afflictions, that kingdom of heaven which is like a grain of 
mustard seed grew and increased, and became a mighty tree 
which is now filling the whole earth, and fowl of every wing 
are flying to lodge in its branches. Ride on, and be thou 
prosperous, O Christ! We wish thee good luck with thine 
honour.

CHAPTER xiii.

Of the prophets and teachers in the Church of Antioch, 1. By 
command of the Holy Spirit the Church appoints Saul and 
Barnabas to a particular work, 2, 3. They depart, and travel 
to Seleucia, Cyprus, and Salamis, preaching in the Jewish 
synagogues, 4, 5. At Paphos they meet with Bar-Jesus or 
Elymas, a Jewish sorcerer, who endeavoured to prevent the 
deputy of the island from receiving the Christian faith, 6-8. 
Saul, for the first time called Paul, denounces the judgments 
of God upon him, and he is struck blind, 9-11. The deputy, 
seeing this, is confirmed tn the faith, 12. Paul and his 
company leave Paphos, and come to Pamphylia, where John Mark 
leaves them, and returns to Jerusalem, 13. Paul and Barnabas 
proceed to Antioch; and, coming into a synagogue of the Jews, 
are requested by the rulers of it to preach to the people, 
14,15. Paul preaches, and proves that Jesus is the Christ, 
16-41. The Gentiles desire the sermon to be preached to them 
the next Sabbath, and many of the Jews and proselytes receive 
the Christian faith, 42, 43. The next Sabbath the whole city 
attend; and the Jews, filled with envy, contradict and 
blaspheme, 44, 45. Paul and Barnabas with great boldness show 
that, by the order of God, the Gospel was to be preached 
first to them; but, seeing they had rejected it, it should 
now be taken from them, and sent to the Gentiles, 46, 47. The 
Gentiles rejoice and receive the truth, 48, 49.The Jews raise 
a persecution against the apostles, and expel them, 50. They 
come to Iconium, full of joy and the Holy Ghost, 51, 52.

NOTES ON CHAP. xiii.

Verse 1. Certain prophets and teachers] profhtai kai 
didaskaloi.

It is probable that these were not distinct offices; both 
might be vested in the same persons. By prophets we are to 
understand, when the word is taken simply, persons who were 
frequently inspired to predict future events, and by 
teachers, persons whose ordinary office was to instruct the 
people in the Christian doctrine. These also, to be properly 
qualified for the office, must have been endued with the 
influence of the Holy Spirit; for, as but a very small 
portion of the Scriptures of the New Testament could have as 
yet been given, it was necessary that the teachers should 
derive much of their own teaching by immediate revelation 
from God. On prophets and teachers, see the note on chap. xi. 
27.

Barnabas] Of whom see before, chap. xi. 22-24.

Simeon-Niger] Or Simeon the Black, either because of his 
complexion, or his hair. It was on reasons of this kind that 
surnames, surnoms, name upon name were first imposed. Of this 
Simeon nothing farther is known.

Lucius of Cyrene] See chap. xi. 20.

Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod] Our margin has 
given the proper meaning of the original word suntrofov, a 
foster-brother; i.e. Manaen was the son of the woman who nursed 
Herod Antipas; and the son, also, whose milk the young Herod shared. 
Of a person whose name was Manaen or Menahem, and who was in the 
court of Herod, we read several things in the Jewish writers. They 
say that this man had the gift of prophecy, and that he told 
Herod, when he was but a child, that he would be king. When 
Herod became king he sent for him to his court, and held him 
in great estimation. It might have been the son of this 
Menahem of whom St. Luke here speaks. Dr. Lightfoot has shown 
this to be at least possible.

Verse 2. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted] On 
Mondays and Thursdays it was usual with the more pious Jews 
to attend the public service in their synagogues, and to 
fast: the former is what we are to understand by ministering 
to the Lord. On the Sabbaths they attended the service in the 
synagogue, but did not fast. The Greek word, leitourgountwn, 
signifies performing the office of praying, supplicating, 
rendering thanks, &c.: hence the word leitourgia, liturgy, 
the work of prayer, &c., from lith, supplication, according 
to some; or rather from leitov, common, and ergon, work, the 
common or public work, in which all the people were engaged.

The Holy Ghost said] A revelation of the Divine will was made 
to some person then present; probably to either Simeon, or 
Lucius, or Manaen, mentioned before.

Separate me Barnabas and Saul.] Consecrate, or set them 
apart, for the particular work whereunto I have called them. 
How this was done, we find in the next verse.

Verse 3. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their 
hands on them] 1. They fasted: this was probably done by the 
whole Church. 2.

They prayed, that God would bless and prosper them in their 
work. 3.

They land hands upon them; thus solemnly appointing them to 
that particular work. But was it by this fasting, praying, 
and imposition of hands that these men were qualified for 
this work? No. God had already called them to it, ver. 2, and 
he who called them had qualified them.

Both their call and their qualification came from God; but he 
chose that they should have also the sanction of that Church 
of which they had been members; and therefore he said, 
Separate me, &c. The ordination of elders among the Jews was 
by three persons; and here we find three, Simeon, Lucius, and 
Manaen, ordaining two others, Barnabas and Saul. But how did 
the Jews ordain? Not by imposition of hands: this is strictly 
forbidden, see Maimon. Sanh. chap. 4. "After what manner is 
the ordaining of elders for ever? Not that they should lay 
their hands on the head of an elder; but only that they 
should call him Rabbi, and say to him, Behold, thou art 
ordained, and hast power of judging, &c." It is remarkable 
that the imposition of hands in the ordaining of elders was 
not used among the ancient Jews, probably never under the 
first temple; and rarely, if ever, under the second. See 
Lightfoot on this place. The Church at Antioch, however, did 
depart from this custom: they put their hands on the heads of 
Barnabas and Saul; thus designating them to be the persons 
whom they, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, sent to 
preach the Gospel of Christ to the heathen.

When the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for 
the work whereunto I have called them, and the elders of the 
Church, in consequence, prayed, fasted, and laid their hands 
upon them, they certainly understood that by acting thus they 
fulfilled the mind of the Spirit. Hence, is it not evident 
that, when the elders of the Church of God have good reason 
to believe that He has called certain persons to the work of 
the ministry, and qualified them for that work, they should 
proceed as the elders of the Church of Antioch did; and by 
fasting, prayer, and imposition of hands, separate those 
persons for the work whereunto God has called them. Such 
persons will consider themselves accountable to GOD and his 
Church, and should take care how they use the gift and 
authority received from both. Is it not being wise above what 
is written to say, "When God has called and given authority, 
there is no need of ordination or appointment from man?" I 
would just ask the objector, Why, then, when God had called 
Barnabas and Saul to the work, did he command the Church to 
separate them to him for that very work? And why did they, in 
obedience, fast, pray, and lay hands upon them? I shall 
dispute with no man about the superior excellence of the 
episcopal or presbyterian form in ordination: if all the 
preliminaries be right, they may be both equally good, for 
all that I have ever been able to learn to the contrary; but 
that there should be some proper scriptural form attended to, 
I am fully satisfied. Besides, if the plan of the Church at 
Antioch were regularly and faithfully followed, in sending 
forth the ministers of the Gospel, no man can prove that God 
would not own them in an especial manner, and more 
particularly prosper their work. But, O ye rulers of the 
Church! be careful, as ye shall answer it to God, never to 
lay hands on the head of a man whom ye have not just reason 
to believe God has called to the work; and whose eye is 
single, and whose heart is pure. Let none be sent to teach 
Christianity, who have not experienced it to be the power of 
God to the salvation of their own souls. If ye do, though 
they have your authority, they never can have the blessing 
nor the approbation of God. "I sent them not: therefore they 
shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord." Jer. 
xxiii. 32.

Verse 4. Being sent forth by the Holy Ghost] By his 
influence, authority, and under his continual direction. 
Without the first, they were not qualified to go; without the 
second, they had no authority to go; and without the third, 
they could not know where to go.

Departed, unto Seleucia] This is generally understood to be 
Seleucia of Pieria, the first city on the coast of Syria, 
coming from Cilicia; near the place where the river Orontes 
pours itself into the sea.

They sailed to Cyprus.] A well known island in the 
Mediterranean Sea. See on chap. iv. 36.

Verse 5. Salamis] The capital of the island of Cyprus; 
afterwards called Constantia, and now Salina, situated on the 
eastern part of the island.

They preached the word of God] ton logon, The doctrine of 
God, the Christian religion, emphatically so called.

They had also John to their minister.] This was John Mark, of 
whom we heard, chap. xii. 25; for their minister, uphrethn, 
to assist them in minor offices, as deacon or servant, that 
they might give themselves wholly to the doctrine of the 
Lord.

Verse 6. Gone through the isle] Æolhn, The WHOLE isle, is 
added here by ABCDE, several others, both the Syrian, Coptic, 
AEthiopic, Armenian, Vulgate, and Itala; and also by several 
of the Greek fathers; and this must be the true reading, for 
it is evident they ran through the whole island from east to 
west.

Unto Paphos] This town, next in importance to Salamis, was 
situated on the western part of the isle; and having gone 
from Salamis to this place is a proof that they had gone 
through the whole island from east to west, according to the 
reading noticed above. There was probably no town in the 
universe more dissolute than Papas. Here Venus had a superb 
temple: here she was worshipped with all her rites; and from 
this place she was named the Paphian Venus, the queen of 
Paphos, &c. This temple and whole city were destroyed by an 
earthquake; so that a vestige of either does not now remain. 
There are two islands which go by this name, both adjoining, 
and on the west side of the island of Cyprus. One is called 
Old Paphos, the other New Paphos; the latter is probably the 
island here mentioned, though they are often confounded. On 
this island there is a Christian Church, dedicated to St. 
George, in which service is performed by the Greek ministers. 
It is a bishop's see, suffragan to the Abp. of Nicosia.

A certain sorcerer] tina magon, A magician, one who used 
magical arts, and pretended to have commerce with 
supernatural agents. A person who dealt in sleight of hand, 
or leger-de-main. Such as I have supposed Simon Magus to be. 
See the note on chap. viii. 9.

A false prophet-. A deceiver, one who pretended to have a 
Divine commission, a fortune teller.

Bar-Jesus] That is, the son of Jesus or Joshua; as Bar-jona 
is the son of Jonah; Bar-tholomew, the son of Thalmi, &c.

Verse 7. The deputy of the country] anqupatw, The proconsul.

Rosenmuller and others remark, that in those days the Romans 
sent two different kinds of governors into the provinces. 
Some of the provinces were Caesarean or imperial, and into 
those they sent propretors; others belonged to the senate and 
people of Rome, and into those they sent proconsuls. Cyprus 
had formerly been an imperial province; but Augustus, who 
made the distinction, had given it to the people, whence it 
was governed by a proconsul. See Dion Cass. Hist. Rom. lib. 
iv. p. 523.

(Edit. Leunclav.) Sergius Paulus] This proconsul is not 
mentioned any where else: he became a Christian, had his name 
written in the book of life, and, probably on that very 
account, blotted out of the Fasti Consulares.

A prudent man] andri sunetw, A man of good sense, of a sound 
understanding, and therefore wished to hear the doctrine 
taught by these apostles; he did not persecute the men for 
their preaching, but sent for them that he might hear for 
himself.

Verse 8. But Elymas, the sorcerer, (for so is his name by 
interpretation)] That is, Elymas is the interpretation of the 
word magov, or sorcerer; not of the word Bar-Jesus as some 
have imagined; and to support which they have been led into 
strange etymologies on the word bar-ihsouv, Bar-Jesus. But 
how is Elymas, elumav, the interpretation of the word magov, 
magician or sorcerer? Ans. Both names are Asiatic; but 
neither Hebrew nor Greek. I have already observed, in the 
note on Matt. ii. 1, that (Persic) mogh in Persian means an 
idolater, a worshipper of fire, and sometimes what we term a 
magician. Elymas is from the Arabic (Arabic) ilm, knowledge, 
science, doctrine, art; from alama, he was wise, skilled, 
&c.; hence (Persic) aleem or alymon, a doctor or learned man, 
and, with the Greek termination, elumav, Elymas, the 
interpretation of (Persic) mogh, Greek magov, magos, a 
magician, a wise man, doctor, &c.

Verse 9. Saul, who also is-Paul] This is the first time the 
name Paul occurs, and the last time in which this apostle is 
called Saul, as his common or general name.

Saul, lwa Shaul, was the name of the first Israelitish king, 
and signifies asked, sought; from la shaal, he asked, 
inquired, &c.

Paul, Paulus, if derived from the Latin, signifies little, 
dwarfish: but if from the Hebrew, alp pala, it signifies 
extraordinary, wonderful; and this appears to have been the 
derivation assigned to it by St. Jerome, com. in Ep. Pauli ad 
Philem., who translates it mirabilis, wonderful, and 
Hesychius must have had the same in view, for he defines it 
thus, paulov, qaumastov, h eklektov, sumboulov, Paul, 
wonderful, or elect, counsellor. The lexicographer had 
probably here in view, Isaiah ix. 6: his name shall be called 
( Åy[wy alp pelÇ yoàts) wonderful, counsellor; which he might 
corrupt into paulus, and thus make his qaumastov sumboulov 
out of it by way of explanation. Triller, however, supposes 
the sumboulov of Hesychius to be corrupted from sundoulov 
fellow servant, which is a term not unfrequently applied to 
apostles, &c., in the New Testament, who are called the 
servants of God; and it is used by Paul himself, Col. i. 7; 
iv. 7. The Latin original is the most probable. It is well 
known that the Jews in the apostolic age had frequently two 
names, one Hebrew, the other Greek or Roman. Saul was born of 
Jewish parents, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; he had therefore his 
first name from that language, lwa Shaul, asked or begged; 
as it is possible he might have been a child for whom his 
parents had addressed their fervent petitions to God.

The case of Samuel is one in point. See 1 Sam. i. 9-18. As he 
was born in Tarsus, in Cilicia, he was consequently born a 
free Roman citizen; and hence his parents would naturally 
give him, for cognomen, some name borrowed from the Latin 
tongue, and Paulus, which signifies little, might indicate 
that he was at his birth a small or diminutive child. And it 
is very likely that he was low in stature all his days; and 
that it is to this he refers himself, 2 Cor. x. 10, for his 
bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. If he 
were small in stature, his voice would be naturally low and 
feeble; and the Greeks. who were fond of a thundering 
eloquence, would despise him on this very account.

Filled with the Holy Ghost] Therefore the sentence he 
pronounced was not from himself, but from God. And indeed, 
had he not been under a Divine influence, it is not likely he 
would have ventured thus to accost this sorcerer in the 
presence of the governor, who, no doubt, had greatly admired 
him.

Verse 10. O full of all subtilty] dolou, Deceit, pretending 
to supernatural powers without possessing any, and having 
only cunning and deceit as their substitutes.

And-mischief] radiourgiav, from radiov, easy, and ergon, a 
work; one who is ready at his work; a word which excellently 
well defines a juggler, one who is expert at sleight of hand; 
though it is often employed to signify an abandoned and 
accomplished villain.

Child of the devil] uie diabolou, Son of the devil, 
possessing his nature; filled with his cunning; and, in 
consequence, practising deceit.

Enemy of all righteousness] ecqrepashv dikaiosunhv; Opposed 
in thy heart to all that is just, true, and good.

Wilt thou not cease to pervert, &c.] ou paush diastrefwn. 
Wilt thou not cease perverting? He had probably laboured in 
this bad work from the beginning of Paul's ministry in the 
place; and God in his mercy had borne with him; and no doubt 
the apostle had warned him, for thus much seems implied in 
the reproof. What a terrible character is given of this bad 
man! He no doubt passed among the people for what we call a 
clever fellow; and he was so clever as to hide himself under 
a pretty dense mask; but God, who searches the heart, plucked 
it off, and tells him, and those who were perverted by him, 
what an accomplished deceiver and knave he was.

The right ways of the Lord] tav odouv kuriou tav euqeiav, The 
ways of the Lord, the straight ways. This saying is very 
emphatical. The ways of Elymas were crooked and perverse; the 
ways of the Lord, the doctrine taught by him, plain and 
straight. What is here said of the conduct and teaching of 
Elymas, for he was a false prophet, is true of all false 
doctrine: it is complex, devious, and tortuous: while the 
doctrine of God is simple, plain, and straight; directing in 
the way, the sure way, that leads to present peace and 
everlasting happiness. From the phraseology which the apostle 
employs in this terrible address to Elymas, we may learn, as 
well as from his name Bar-Jesus, that he was by birth and 
education a Jew. On this account he was the greater enemy to 
Christianity; and on this same account he was the less 
excusable.

Verse 11. The hand of the Lord is upon thee] The power of God 
is now about to deal with thee in the way of justice.

Thou shalt be blind] Every word here proves the immediate 
inspiration of Paul. He was full of the Holy Ghost when he 
began this address: by the light of that Spirit he discerned 
the state of Elymas, and exposed his real character; and, by 
the prophetic influence of that same Spirit, he predicted the 
calamity that was about to fall upon him, while as yet there 
was no sign of his blindness! Mark this! Not seeing the sun 
for a season.] In the midst of judgment God remembers mercy. 
This blindness was not to be perpetual: it was intended to be 
the means of awakening and softening the hard heart of this 
poor sinner. There is an ancient tradition, and it is 
mentioned both by Origen and Chrysostom, that Elymas, in 
consequence of this became a sincere convert to the religion 
of Christ. Origen says: "And Paul by a word striking him 
blind, who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paul, dia twn 
ponwn epistrefei auton eiv qeosebeian, by anguish converted 
him to godliness." And, commenting on-Thou shalt be blind, 
not seeing the sun, acri kairou, for a season, asks, "And why 
for a season? That, being smitten on account of his 
transgressions, and brought to repentance, he might at last 
be deemed worthy to see the sun, not only with his body, but 
with his mind; that the Divine virtue might be proclaimed in 
restoring him to sight, and his soul, believing, might 
receive godliness." Com. in Exod., vol. i. p. 117, edit. de 
la Rue, Par. 1733.

There fell on him a mist and darkness] acluv, achlus, is a 
disordered state of the eye, in which the patient sees 
through a thick mist. This thick mist, or perturbed state of 
the eye, took place first: it increased, and skotov, thick, 
positive darkness, was the issue.

He went about] pepiagwn. Not knowing how to take a right 
step, he groped about in great uncertainty; and, not being 
able to find his way, he sought for some persons to lead him 
by the hand. This state of Elymas is inimitably expressed in 
one of the cartoons of Raphael, now at Hampton-court, (and 
lately engraved, in the true spirit of the original, by Mr. 
Thomas Holloway,) in which his whole figure expresses the 
depth of distress, concern, uncertainty, and confusion; and, 
to use a word common in exhibiting this matchless piece of 
painting, he is blind from head to foot.

In this manner the text authorizes the painter to express the 
state of this miserable culprit.

Verse 12. The deputy-believed] This was a proof that the 
doctrine was true; and that the power of God, from which 
nothing could be concealed, and which nothing could resist, 
was with these preachers.

Being astonished] ekplhssomenov, Being struck with 
astonishment, as Elymas was struck with blindness. Thus the 
word of God is a two-edged sword: it smites the sinner with 
judgment or compunction; and the sincere inquirer after 
truth, with conviction of its own worth and excellence.

Verse 13. Paul and his company loosed from Paphos] They 
sailed away from this island, leaving, it may be presumed, 
Elymas a sincere and deeply humbled penitent; and Sergius 
Paul, a thorough and happy believer in the doctrine of 
Christ.

Previously to this time, St. Luke always mentions Barnabas 
before Paul; but after this he mentions Paul always first; 
probably after seeing how God had distinguished him in the 
late proceedings at Cyprus; as much of the Holy Spirit now 
rested upon him.

They came to Perga in Pamphylia] As Perga was not a maritime 
town, it is conjectured that the apostles sailed up the river 
Cestrus, in order to come to this place, which, according to 
Strabo, was situated about sixty leagues up this river, and 
near to which was a famous temple dedicated to Diana. For 
Pamphylia, see chap. ii. 10.

And John departing from them] Why John Mark left his brethren 
at this place we are not informed; probably he went to visit 
his pious mother Mary at Jerusalem, and to see Peter, to whom 
he is supposed to have been much attached. It certainly was 
not with the approbation of Paul that he left them at this 
place, as we learn from chap. xv. 38; yet his departure does 
not seem to have merited the displeasure of Barnabas; for 
John Mark having met these apostles at Antioch, when Paul 
purposed to revisit the various places where they had planted 
the word of God, Barnabas was willing to take him with them; 
but Paul would not consent, because he had departed from them 
from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work, chap. xv. 
35-39, and this occasioned a separation between Barnabas and 
Paul. It does not appear that John Mark was under any 
obligation to accompany them any longer or any farther than 
he pleased. He seems to have been little else than their 
servant, and certainly was not divinely appointed to this 
work, as they were; and consequently might leave them 
innocently, though not kindly, if they could not readily 
supply his place.

In this respect John Mark might be to blame; but Barnabas, 
whose nephew he was, could look over this fault more easily 
than Paul, who could not find those motives to pass by what 
was reprehensible in his conduct which natural affection 
might furnish to his brother apostle.

Verse 14. They came to Antioch in Pisidia] This place is 
mentioned thus to distinguish it from Antioch in Syria, with 
which it had nothing in common but the name. There were 
several cities and towns in various districts of these 
countries called Antioch: some have reckoned up not less than 
twelve. Pisidia, in which this was situated, was a province 
of Asia Minor, near to Pamphylia, having Phrygia on the 
north, and Pamphylia on the south. The position of all these 
places may be seen on the map.

Into the synagogue on the Sabbath day] Though Paul was now on 
a special mission to the Gentiles, yet he availed himself of 
every opportunity, in every place, of making the first offer 
of salvation to the Jews.

Verse 15. After the reading of the law and the prophets] A 
certain portion of the law and another of the prophets, was 
read every Sabbath; and the law was so divided as to be read 
over once every year. In the notes at the conclusion of 
Deuteronomy, I have considered this subject at large, and 
given a complete table of the Parashoth, sections of the law, 
and Haphtaroth, sections of the prophets, which are read 
every Sabbath in the year in the Jewish synagogues. To have 
an exact view of every part of the Jewish ecclesiastical 
economy, the reader will do well to consult the above 
mentioned table, and those which follow it: they have been 
drawn up with great care, attention, and indescribable 
labour.

It has been a question, in what language were the law and 
prophets read in a synagogue of Pisidia, for in that district 
Strabo informs us that four languages were spoken, viz. the 
Pisidian, the Solyman, the Greek, and the Lydian. Dr. 
Lightfoot conjectures, with great probability, that the 
Scriptures were read in the original Hebrew; and that an 
interpreter tendered the reading to the people in their 
mother tongue. There is no doubt that the Jews and proselytes 
understood the Greek tongue well; and they certainly had the 
Septuagint version among them.

The rulers of the synagogue] These were the persons whose 
business it was to read the appointed sections, and to take 
care of the synagogue and its concerns; and to see that all 
was done decently and in order.

Sent unto them] Seeing them to be Jews, they wished them to 
give some suitable address to the people, i.e. to the Jews 
who were then engaged in Divine worship; for the whole of the 
following discourse, which greatly resembles that of St. 
Stephen, chap. vii. 1-53, is directed to the Jews alone; and 
this was probably spoken either in Hebrew or Greek.

Ye men and brethren] andrev adelfoi, Men brethren, a Hebraism 
for, "Ye men who are our brethren," i.e. Jews, as we 
ourselves are; but andrev is often an expletive, as we have 
already seen. See the note on chap. vii. 2.

If ye have any word of exhortation] ei esti logov en umin 
paraklhsewv? If ye have any subject of consolation, any word 
of comfort to us, who are sojourners in this strange land, 
speak it. The Consolation of Israel was an epithet of the 
Messiah among the Jews; and it is probable that it was in 
reference to him that the rulers of the synagogue spoke. That 
paraklhsiv is to be understood here as meaning consolation, 
and this in reference to the Messiah, the whole of the 
following discourse will prove to the attentive reader; in 
which Paul shows the care and protection of God towards his 
people Israel, and the abundant provision he had made for 
their salvation by Jesus Christ. They wished for consolation, 
and he declared unto them glad tidings, and many felt the 
power and comfort of the doctrine of the cross.

Verse 16. Men of Israel] Ye that are Jews by birth; and ye 
that fear God-ye that are proselytes to the Jewish religion. 
In this discourse Paul proves that Jesus Christ is the 
Messiah, sent from God, not only for the salvation of the 
Jews, but of the whole human race. And this he does, not with 
the rhetorician's arts, but in a plain, simple detail of the 
history of Christ, and the most remarkable transactions of 
the people of God, which referred to his manifestation in the 
flesh. Rosenmuller.

Verse 17. The God of-our fathers] The apostle begins his 
discourse with the Egyptian bondage, and their deliverance 
from it, as points the most remarkable and striking in their 
history; in which the providence and mighty power of God, 
exerted so frequently in their behalf, were peculiarly 
conspicuous.

Exalted the people] Even when they were strangers in the 
land, and greatly oppressed, God exalted them; made them a 
terror to their enemies, and multiplied them greatly.

With a high arm] A literal translation of the Hebrew phrase, 
hmr [wrzb bezeroa ramah, with a lifted-up arm, to protect 
them and destroy their enemies. The meaning of the phrase is, 
a manifest display of the Divine power.

Verse 18. About the time of forty years] The space of time 
between their coming out of Egypt, and going into the 
promised land.

Suffered he their manners] etropoforhsen autouv; He dealt 
indulgently with them: howsoever they behaved towards him, he 
mercifully bore with, and kindly treated them. But instead of 
etropoforhsen, ACE, some others, with the Syriac, Arabic, 
Coptic, AEthiopic, and some of the fathers, read 
etrofoforhsen, which signifies, he nourished and fed them, or 
bore them about in his arms as a tender nurse does her child. 
This reading confirms the marginal conjecture, and agrees 
excellently with the scope of the place, and is a reading at 
least of equal value with that in the commonly received text. 
Griesbach has admitted it, and excluded the other. Both, when 
rightly understood, speak nearly the same sense; but the 
latter is the most expressive, and agrees best with Paul's 
discourse, and the history to which he alludes. See the same 
form of expression, Num. xi. 12; Exod. xix. 4; Isa. xlvi. 3, 
4; lxiii. 9.

Verse 19. Destroyed seven nations] The Canaanites, Hittites, 
Girgasites, Amorites, Hivites, Peresites, and Jebusites. The 
rabbins frequently call them twmwa h[b Shebaah Omoth, the 
Seven Nations.

Verse 20. And after that he gave unto them judges about the 
space of four hundred and fifty years] This is a most 
difficult passage, and has been termed by Scaliger, Crux 
Chronologorum. The apostle seems here to contradict the 
account in 1 Kings vi. 1: And it came to pass in the four 
hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were 
come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of 
Solomon's reign, he began to build the house of the Lord.

Sir Norton Knatchbull, in his annotations upon difficult 
texts, has considered the various solutions proposed by 
learned men of the difficulty before us; and concludes that 
the words of the apostle should not be understood as meaning 
how long God gave them judges, but when he gave them; and 
therefore proposes that the first words of this verse, kai 
meta tauta, wv etesi tetrakosioiv kai penthkonta, should be 
referred to the words going before, chap. xiii. 17, that is, 
to the time WHEN the God of the children of Israel chose 
their fathers.

"Now this time wherein God may properly be said to have 
chosen their fathers, about 450 years before he gave them 
judges, is to be computed from the birth of Isaac, in whom 
God may properly be said to have chosen their fathers; for 
God, who had chosen Abraham out of all the people of the 
earth, chose Isaac at this time out of the children of 
Abraham, in whose family the covenant was to rest. To make 
this computation evident, let us observe that from the birth 
of Isaac to the birth of Jacob are 60 years; from thence to 
their going into Egypt, 130; from thence to the exodus, 210; 
from thence to their entrance into Canaan, 40; from that to 
the division of the land (about which time it is probable 
they began to settle their government by judges) 7 years; 
which sums make 4xl7: viz. 60 + 130 + 210 + 40 + 7 = 447. And 
should this be reckoned from the year before the birth of 
Isaac, when God established his covenant between himself and 
Abraham, and all his seed after him, Gen. xvii. 19, at which 
time God properly chose their fathers, then there will be 448 
years, which brings it to within two years of the 450, which 
is sufficiently exact to bring it within the apostle's wv, 
about, or nearly.

"Some have made the period 452 years; which, though two years 
more than the apostle's round number, is still sufficiently 
reconcilable with his qualifying particle wv, about. And it 
may be added that the most correct writers often express a 
sum totally, but not exactly: so, with Demosthenes and 
Plautus, we find that called a talent where some drachms were 
either wanting or abounding." The sacred writers often 
express themselves in the same way: e.g. He made a molten 
sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other; and a line of 
thirty cubits did compass it about. Now we know that the 
circumference of any circle is only in round numbers to its 
diameter as three to one; but, correctly, is considerably 
more, nearly as 22 to 7. But even the Spirit of God does not 
see it necessary to enter into such niceties, which would 
only puzzle, and not instruct the common reader.

Calmet has paraphrased these passages nearly to the same 
sense: the text may be thus connected; ver. 19. And having 
destroyed; seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided 
their land to them by lot, about one hundred and fifty years 
after. And afterwards he gave them judges, to the time of 
Samuel the prophet. The paraphrase of Calmet is the 
following: "The God of this people of Israel chose our 
fathers in the person of Abraham; he promised him the land of 
Canaan; and four hundred and fifty years after this promise, 
and the birth of Isaac, who was the son and heir of the 
promise, he put them in possession of that land which he had 
promised so long before." As this view of the subject removes 
all the principal difficulties, I shall not trouble my reader 
with other modes of interpretation.

Verse 21. Saul the son of Cis] In all proper names quoted 
from the Old Testament, we should undoubtedly follow, as 
nearly as possible, the same orthography: yq Kish, was the 
name of this king's father, and so we spell it in the Old 
Testament, and yet have transformed it into Cis in the New, 
where the orthography is almost entirely lost.

The space of forty years.] Reckoning from the time of his 
anointing by Samuel to the time of his death, from A.M. 2909 
to 2949.

Verse 22. David-a man after mine own heart] That is, a man 
who would rule the kingdom according to God's will. Dr. 
Benson's observation on this point is very judicious: "When 
it is said that David was a man after God's own heart, it 
should be understood, not of his private, but of his public, 
character. He was a man after God's own heart, because he 
ruled the people according to the Divine will. He did not 
allow of idolatry; he did not set up for absolute power. He 
was guided in the government of the nation by the law of 
Moses, as the standing rule of government, and by the 
prophet, or the Divine oracle, whereby God gave directions 
upon particular emergencies. Whatever Saul's private 
character was, he was not a good king in Israel. He did not 
follow the law, the oracle, and the prophet; but attempted to 
be absolute, and thereby to subvert the constitution of the 
kingdom. That this was the meaning of David's being a man 
after God's own heart will easily appear by comparing 1 Sam. 
xv. 28; xxviii. 17, 18; 1 Chronicles x. 13, 14; Psa. lxxviii. 
70, &c.; Psa. lxxxix. 20, &c."

Verse 23. Of this man's seed hath God-raised-a saviour] That 
Jesus Christ came in a direct and indisputable line from 
David, according to both promise and prophecy, may be seen in 
the notes on Matt. i. 1, &c., and particularly in the notes 
at the end of Luke And that the Messiah was promised to come 
from the family of David, see Isa. xi. 1, 2, and Jer. xxiii. 
5, 6.

Verse 24. John-preached-the baptism of repentance] On the 
nature and effects of John's preaching, see the notes on 
Matt. iii. 1, &c., and Luke iii. 10-15.

Verse 25. As John fulfilled his course] As John was 
fulfilling his race, he said, &c. It has been supposed that 
the word dromon, course, or race, is used here to point out 
the short duration of the Baptist's ministry, and the fervent 
zeal with which he performed it. It signifies properly his 
ministry, or life. A man's work, employment, function, &c., 
is his race, course, or way of life. John had a ministry from 
God; and he discharged the duties of it with zeal and 
diligence; bore the fatigues of it with patience and 
resignation; and was gloriously successful in it, because the 
hand of the Lord was with him.

Verse 26. Men and brethren] This should have been translated 
brethren simply. See the note on chap. vii. 2.

Children of the stock of Abraham] All ye that are Jews.

And whosoever among you feared God] That is, all ye who are 
Gentiles, and are now proselytes to the Jewish religion.

The word of this salvation] The doctrine that contains the 
promise of deliverance from sin, and the means by which it is 
brought about; all which is founded on Jesus, of the stock of 
David, dying and rising again for the salvation of Jews and 
Gentiles.

Verse 27. Because they knew him not] A gentle excuse for the 
persecuting high priests, &c. They did not know that Jesus 
was the Christ, because they did not know the prophets: and 
why did they not know the prophets, which were read every 
Sabbath day? Because they did not desire to know his will; 
and therefore they knew not the doctrine of God: nor did they 
know that, in condemning Christ, they fulfilled those very 
Scriptures which were read every Sabbath day in their 
synagogues.

Verse 28. They found no cause of death in him] No reason why 
he should be condemned. Though they accused him of several 
things, yet they could not substantiate the most trifling 
charge against him; and yet, in opposition to all justice and 
equity, desired Pilate to put him to death! This points their 
perfidy in the strongest light.

Verse 29. They took him down from the tree] The apostle 
passes rapidly over several circumstances of his death, that 
he might establish the fact of his resurrection.

Verse 30. But God raised him from the dead] And thus gave the 
fullest proof of his innocence. God alone can raise the dead; 
and he would not work a miracle so very extraordinary, but on 
some extraordinary occasion.

Verse 31. He was seen many days, &c.] The thing was done but 
a very short time since; and many of the witnesses are still 
alive, and ready to attest the fact of this resurrection in 
the most unequivocal manner.

Verse 32. We declare unto you glad tidings] We proclaim that 
Gospel to you which is the fulfillment of the promise made 
unto the fathers.

Verse 33. Written in the second Psalm] Instead of tw yalmw tw 
deuterw the second Psalm, prwtw yalmw, the first Psalm, is 
the reading of D, and its Itala version, and several of the 
primitive fathers. Griesbach has received it into the text; 
but not, in my opinion, on sufficient evidence.

The reason of these various readings is sufficiently evident 
to those who are acquainted with Hebrew MSS. In many of 
these, two Psalms are often written as one; and the first and 
second Psalms are written as one in seven of Kennicott's and 
Deuteronomy Rossi's MSS. Those who possessed such MSS. would 
say, as it is written in the FIRST Psalm; those who referred 
to MSS. where the two Psalms were separate, would say, in the 
SECOND Psalm, as they would find the quotation in question in 
the first verse of the second Psalm. There is, therefore, 
neither contradiction nor difficulty here; and it is no 
matter which reading we prefer, as it depends on the simple 
circumstance, whether we consider these two Psalms as parts 
of one and the same, or whether we consider them as two 
distinct Psalms.

Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.] It has been 
disputed whether this text should be understood of the 
incarnation or of the resurrection of our Lord. If understood 
of his incarnation, it can mean no more than this, that the 
human nature of our blessed Lord was begotten by the energy 
of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the blessed virgin; for as 
to his Divine nature, which is allotted to be God, it could 
neither be created nor begotten. See some reasons offered for 
this on Luke i. 35; and, if those be deemed insufficient, a 
thousand more may be added. But in the above reasons it is 
demonstrated that the doctrine of the eternal Sonship of 
Christ is absolutely irreconcilable to reason, and 
contradictory to itself.

ETERNITY is that which has had no beginning, nor stands in 
any reference to time: SON supposes time, generation, and 
father; and time also antecedent to such generation: 
therefore the rational conjunction of these two terms, Son 
and eternity, is absolutely impossible, as they imply 
essentially different and opposite ideas.

If the passage in question be understood of the resurrection 
of Christ, it points out that the human nature, which was 
produced by the power of God in the womb of the virgin, and 
which was the Son of God, could see no corruption; and 
therefore, though it died for sin, must be raised from the 
dead before it saw corruption. Thus God owned that human 
nature to be peculiarly his own; and therefore Jesus Christ 
was declared to be the Son of God with power, by the 
resurrection from the dead, Rom. i. 4.

Verse 34. No more to return to corruption] To the grave, to 
death, the place and state of corruption; for so we should 
understand the word diafqoran in the text.

The sure mercies of David.] ta osia dabid ta pista. These 
words are quoted literatim from the Septuagint version of 
Isa. lv. 3; where the Hebrew is µynmanh dwd ydoj chasdey 
David ha-neemanim, of which the Greek is a faithful 
translation; and which sure mercies of David St. Paul 
considers as being fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ. 
From this application of the words, it is evident that the 
apostle considered the word David as signifying the Messiah; 
and then the sure or faithful mercies, being such as relate 
to the new covenant, and the various blessings promised in 
it, are evidently those which are sealed and confirmed to 
mankind by the resurrection of Christ; and it is in this way 
that the apostle applies them. Had there not been the fullest 
proof of the resurrection of Christ, not one of the promises 
of the new covenant could have been considered as sure or 
faithful. If he did not rise from the dead, then, as said the 
apostle, your faith and our preaching are vain, 1 Cor. xv. 
14.

The following observations of Bp. Pearce are judicious: "For 
the sense of these words, we must have recourse to what God 
said to David in 2 Sam. vii. 11, 12, &c., explained by what 
is said in Psa. lxxxix. 3, 4, 28, 29, 36, where frequent 
mention is made of a covenant established by God with David, 
and sworn to by God, that David's seed should endure for 
ever, and his throne as the days of heaven, and as the sun, 
to all generations.

This covenant and this oath are the sure and sacred things of 
which Isaiah, Isa. lv. 3, speaks; and Luke in this place. And 
Paul understood them as relating to the kingdom of Jesus, 
(the Son of David,) which was to be an everlasting kingdom; 
and if an everlasting one, then it was necessary that Jesus 
should have been (as he was) raised from the dead; and, to 
support this argument, Paul, in the next verse, strengthens 
it with another, drawn from Psa. xvi. 10." See also the note 
among the marginal readings.

Verse 36. David-fell on sleep-and saw corruption] David died, 
was buried, and never rose again; therefore, David cannot be 
the person spoken of here: the words are true of some other 
person; and they can be applied to Jesus Christ only; and in 
him they are most exactly fulfilled. See the notes on chap. 
ii. 29, 30, &c.

Verse 38. Be it known unto you, therefore] This is the 
legitimate conclusion: seeing the word of God is true, and he 
has promised an endless succession to the seed of David; 
seeing David and all his family have failed in reference to 
the political kingdom, a spiritual kingdom and a spiritual 
succession must be intended, that the sure covenant and all 
its blessings may be continued. Again: seeing the person by 
whom this is to be done is to see no corruption;-seeing David 
has died, and has seen (fallen under the power of) 
corruption;-seeing Jesus the Christ has wrought all the 
miracles which the prophets said he should work;-seeing he 
has suffered all the indignities which your prophets said he 
must suffer;-seeing after his death he has most incontestably 
risen again from the dead, and has not fallen under the power 
of corruption,-then he must be the very person in whom all 
the predictions are fulfilled, and the person through whom 
all the blessings of the covenant must come.

Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of 
sins] See the notes on chap. v. 30, 31. Remission of sins, 
the removal of the power, guilt, and pollution of sin comes 
alone through this man, whom ye crucified, and who is risen 
from the dead.

Verse 39. And by him] On his account, and through him, all 
that believe in his Divine mission, and the end for which he 
has been manifested, namely, to put away sin by the sacrifice 
of himself, are justified from all things, from the guilt of 
all transgressions committed against God; from which ye could 
not be justified by the law of Moses; because it is 
impossible that the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes 
of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, or any other rite or 
service of this kind, could take away sin from the soul, 
cancel its guilt in the conscience, or make an atonement to 
the Divine justice; but this is the sacrifice which God has 
required; this is every way suited to the end for which it 
has been instituted; and this is the sacrifice alone which 
God can accept. Your law says, "Do this, and ye shall live;" 
and, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things 
that are written in the book of the law to do them." Ye have 
not done these things required; ye have not continued in any 
good thing; ye have not only not done all things commanded, 
but ye have done none, none as they ought to be done; and 
therefore ye are under the curse. The Gospel says, Believe on 
the Lord Jesus; credit his Divine mission; consider his death 
an atonement for sin; believe in his resurrection, as a proof 
that the atonement is made, believe that he suffered, died, 
and rose again for your justification; and that for his sake 
God, though he be infinitely just, can be the justifier of 
all who believe in him. By the law of Moses there is neither 
justification nor salvation: in Jesus Christ there are both, 
and all the sure mercies of David. Therefore, believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and ye shall be justified from all things, 
from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Verse 40. Beware-lest that come upon you, &c.] If you reject 
these benefits, now freely offered to you in this preaching 
of Christ crucified, you may expect such judgment from the 
hand of God as your forefathers experienced, when, for their 
rebellion and their contempt of his benefits, their city was 
taken, their temple destroyed, and themselves either slain by 
the sword, or carried into captivity. It is evident that St. 
Paul refers to Hab. i. 5-10; and in those verses the 
desolation by the Chaldeans is foretold. Never was there a 
prophecy more correctly and pointedly applied. These Jews did 
continue to slight the benefits offered to them by the Lord; 
and they persevered in their rebellion: what was the 
consequence? The Romans came, took their city, burnt their 
temple, slew upwards of a million of them, and either carried 
or sold the rest into captivity. How exactly was the prophecy 
in both cases fulfilled!

Verse 41. Behold, ye despisers] There is a remarkable 
difference here between the Hebrew text in Habakkuk, and that 
in the Septuagint, which is a little abridged here by St. 
Paul. I shall exhibit the three texts. Heb:- rpoy yk wnymat 
al µkymyb l[p l[p yk whmt whmthw wfybhw µywgb war Reu bagoyim 
vehabitu vehitammehu; temehu; ki poal poel bimeycem, lo 
teaminu hi yesupar.

Behold, ye among the heathen, (nations,) and regard, and be 
astonished; be astonished, for I am working a work in your 
days, which; when it shall be told, ye will not credit. See 
Houbigant. Sept. idete oi katafronhtai, kai epibleyate, kai 
qaumasate qaumasia, kai afanisqhte? dioti ergon egw ergazomai 
en taiv hmeraiv umwn, o ou mh pisteushte, ean tiv ekdihghtai 
umin. See, ye despisers, and look attentively, and be 
astonished, (or hide yourselves,) for I work a work in your 
days, which, if any one will tell to you, ye will not 
believe.

St. Luke. idete oi katafronhtai, (kai epibleyate,) kai 
qaumasate, (qaumassia,) kai afanisqhte? oti ergon egw 
ergazomai en taiv hmeraiv umwn, ergon w ou mh pisteushte, ean 
tiv ekdihghtai umin. Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and be 
astonished, (or hide yourselves,) for I work a work in your 
days, which, if any one will tell unto you, ye will not 
believe.

I have taken Luke's quotation from the best MSS., and I have 
quoted the Septuagint according to the Codex Alerandrinus; 
and the quotations are exactly the same, not only in words, 
but almost in letters, with the exception of epibleyate and 
qaumasia which the evangelist omits, and which I have 
included in crotchets in the text of St. Luke, merely that 
the place of the omission may be the better seen. It may now 
be necessary to inquire how St. Luke and the Septuagint 
should substitute ye despisers, for ye among the heathen, in 
the Hebrew text? Without troubling myself or my readers with 
labourious criticisms on these words, with which many learned 
men have loaded the text, I will simply state my opinion, 
that the prophet, instead of µywgb bagoyim, among the 
heathen, wrote µydgb bogadim, despisers, or transgressors: a 
word which differs only in a single letter, d daleth, for w 
vau; the latter of which might easily be mistaken by a 
transcriber for the other, especially if the horizontal 
stroke of the d daleth happened to be a little faint towards 
the left; as, in that case, it would wear the appearance of a 
w vau; and this is not unfrequently the case, not only in 
MSS., but even in printed books. It seems as evident as it 
can well be that this gives the word which the Septuagint 
found in the copy from which they translated: their evidence, 
and that of the apostle, joined to the consideration that the 
interchange of the two letters mentioned above might have 
been easily made, is quite sufficient to legitimate the 
reading for which I contend. Houbigant and several others are 
of the same mind.

The word afanisqhte, which we translate perish, signifies 
more properly disappear, or hide yourselves; as people, 
astonished and alarmed at some coming evil, betake themselves 
to flight, and hide themselves in order to avoid it.

Verse 42. When the Jews were gone out] That part of them in 
whom the words of the prophet were fulfilled, viz. those who, 
though they had the clearest relation of so interesting a 
history, would not believe it: they shut their eyes against 
the light, and hardened their hearts against the truth.

There were other Jews in the assembly that did believe, and 
were saved.

The Gentiles besought] There is some doubt whether the 
original, parekaloun ta eqnh, should be translated the 
Gentiles besought; or they besought the Gentiles: for the 
words will bear either, but the latter sense more naturally. 
When the Jews retired, determining not to credit what was 
spoken, the apostle, seeing the Gentiles of a better mind, 
requested them to come and hear those words, or doctrines, 
the next Sabbath. But, the next, to metaxu, as Hiesychius 
defines it, metÆ oligon, ana meson, shortly, or betwixt, may 
mean the after part of the same Sabbath, or the course of the 
ensuing week, between the two Sabbaths; for Mondays and 
Thursdays, or the second and fifth days of the week, were 
times in which those who feared God usually met together in 
the synagogue; for it is a maxim with the rabbins, that no 
three days should elapse without reading of the law.

On this verse there is a great number of various readings: 
instead of, when the Jews were going out of the synagogue, 
ABCDE, several others of great repute, with all the Syriac, 
the Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, Vulgate, and Itala, read, As 
they were going out, they entreated that these words should 
be preached unto them in the course of the week, or the next 
Sabbath. So that, according to this well accredited reading, 
the words, ek thv sunagwghv twn ioudaiwn, are left out in the 
first clause, autwn being put in their place; and ta eqnh, 
the Gentiles, is wholly omitted in the second clause. The 
most eminent critics approve of this reading; indeed it 
stands on such authority as to render it almost indubitable. 
Of the autwn, them, which is substituted for the first 
clause, Professor White says, lectio indubie genuina: this 
reading is undoubtedly genuine; and of the ta eqnh eiv, he 
says, certissime delenda: they should certainly be expunged. 
We are therefore to understand the words thus: that, "as they 
were going out on the breaking up of the assembly, some of 
them desired that they might have these doctrines preached to 
them on the ensuing week or Sabbath." And thus all the 
ambiguity of the verse vanishes.

Verse 43. Many of the Jews] Direct descendants from some of 
the twelve tribes; and religious proselytes, heathens who had 
been converted to Judaism, and, having submitted to 
circumcision, had become proselytes of the covenant: though 
some think that the expression means proselytes of the gate-
persons who believed in one God, like the Jews, but who had 
not received circumcision.

Persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.] That is, 
that they should continue to credit the Gospel; to receive 
the spirit and influence of it; to bring forth the fruits of 
that spirit; and thus continue under the favour and 
approbation of God.

Verse 44. The next Sabbath day] The good news had spread far 
and wide, by means of the converted Jews and proselytes.

Almost the whole city] Jews, proselytes, and Gentiles, came 
together to hear ton logon tou qeou, this doctrine of God, 
this Divine teaching, by which so many of their kindred and 
acquaintance had become so wise and happy. It is not by 
public discourses merely that people are converted to God; 
but by the private teaching and godly conduct of those who 
have received the truth; for, as these are scattered 
throughout society, they are a leaven in every place.

Verse 45. The Jews-were filled with envy] See on chap. v. 17. 
These could not bear the Gentiles, who believed in Christ, to 
be equal with them; and yet; according to the Gospel, it was 
really the case.

Contradicting] The arguments and statements brought forward 
by the disciples; and blaspheming, speaking impiously and 
injuriously of Jesus Christ. This is probably what is meant.

Verse 46. Waxed bold] parrhsiasamenoi; Having great liberty 
of speech; a strong, persuasive, and overpowering eloquence. 
They had eternal truth for the basis of this discourse; a 
multitude of incontestable facts to support it; an all-
persuading eloquence to illustrate and maintain what they had 
asserted.

Should first have been spoken to you] When our Lord gave his 
apostles their commission to go into all the world, and 
preach the Gospel to every creature, he told them they must 
begin first at Jerusalem, Mark xvi. 15; Luke xxiv. 47. In 
obedience therefore to this command, the apostles (in every 
place where they preached) made their first offers of the 
Gospel to the Jews.

Ye put it from you] apwqeisqe auton, Ye disdain this 
doctrine, and consider it contemptible: so the word is 
frequently used.

And judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life] Was this 
meant as a strong irony? "Ye have such humbling thoughts of 
yourselves, that ye think the blessings of the Gospel too 
good to be bestowed on such worthless wretches as ye are." Or 
did the apostle mean that, by their words and conduct on this 
occasion, they had passed sentence on themselves, and, in 
effect, had decided that they were unworthy of the grace of 
the Gospel; and God now ratifies that judgment by removing 
those blessings from them, and sending them to the Gentiles?

Verse 47. For so the Lord commanded us] The apostles could 
quote a pertinent scripture for every thing they did; because 
the outlines of the whole Gospel dispensation are founded in 
the law and the prophets; and they were now building the 
Church of God according to the pattern shown them in the 
Mount. In the things of God, no man nor minister should go 
farther than he can say, Thus it is written, and thus it 
behoves me to do; and let him see that his quotations are 
fairly made, and not a detached passage or member of a 
sentence produced, because it seems to look like the system 
he wishes to establish.

I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles] This quotation 
is from Isa. xlix. 6, and was most fully in point. The Jews 
could not resist the testimony of their own prophet; and the 
Gentiles rejoiced to find that the offers of salvation were 
to be made so specifically to them.

For salvation unto the ends of the earth.] The very name of 
the Messiah, viz JESUS, announced the design and end of his 
mission. He is the saviour, and is to be proclaimed as such 
to the ends of the earth; to all mankind; to every nation, 
and people, and tongue; and, wherever the Gospel is preached, 
there is a free, full, and sincere offer of salvation to 
every soul that hears it. And the offer is proof sufficient, 
in itself, that there is a power to receive its blessings 
given to those to whom the offer is made; as it would be of 
no use to offer them a salvation which it was designed they 
either should not or could not receive. A son of Satan might 
be capable of such dissimulation and bad faith; but the holy 
God cannot.

Verse 48. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.] 
This text has been most pitifully misunderstood. Many suppose 
that it simply means that those in that assembly who were 
fore-ordained; or predestinated by God's decree, to eternal 
life, believed under the influence of that decree. Now, we 
should be careful to examine what a word means, before we 
attempt to fix its meaning. Whatever tetagmenoi may mean, 
which is the word we translate ordained, it is neither 
protetagmenoi nor proorismenoi which the apostle uses, but 
simply tetagmenoi, which includes no idea of pre-ordination 
or pre-destination of any kind. And if it even did, it would 
be rather hazardous to say that all those who believed at 
this time were such as actually persevered unto the end, and 
were saved unto eternal life. But, leaving all these 
precarious matters, what does the word tetagmenov mean? The 
verb tattw or tassw signifies to place, set, order, appoint, 
dispose; hence it has been considered here as implying the 
disposition or readiness of mind of several persons in the 
congregation, such as the religious proselytes mentioned ver. 
43, who possessed the reverse of the disposition of those 
Jews who spake against those things, contradicting and 
blaspheming, ver. 45. Though the word in this place has been 
variously translated, yet, of all the meanings ever put on 
it, none agrees worse with its nature and known signification 
than that which represents it as intending those who were 
predestinated to eternal life: this is no meaning of the 
term, and should never be applied to it. Let us, without 
prejudice, consider the scope of the place: the Jews 
contradicted and blasphemed; the religious proselytes heard 
attentively, and received the word of life: the one party 
were utterly indisposed, through their own stubbornness, to 
receive the Gospel; the others, destitute of prejudice and 
prepossession, were glad to hear that, in the order of God, 
the Gentiles were included in the covenant of salvation 
through Christ Jesus; they, therefore, in this good state and 
order of mind, believed. Those who seek for the plain meaning 
of the word will find it here: those who wish to make out a 
sense, not from the Greek word, its use among the best Greek 
writers, and the obvious sense of the evangelist, but from 
their own creed, may continue to puzzle themselves and 
others; kindle their own fire, compass themselves with 
sparks, and walk in the light of their own fire, and of the 
sparks which they have kindled; and, in consequence, lie down 
in sorrow, having bidden adieu to the true meaning of a 
passage so very simple, taken in its connection, that one 
must wonder how it ever came to be misunderstood and 
misapplied. Those who wish to see more on this verse may 
consult Hammond, Whitby, Schoettgen, Rosenmuller, Pearce, Sir 
Norton Knatchbull, and Dodd.

Verse 49. The word of the Lord was published, &c.] Those who 
had come from different parts, and were converted, carried 
the glad tidings to their respective neighbourhoods; and thus 
the doctrine was published throughout all the region of 
Pisidia, where they then were. See on ver. 44.

Verse 50. Devout and honourable women] It is likely that 
these were heathen matrons, who had become proselytes to the 
Jewish religion; and, as they were persons of affluence and 
respectability, they had considerable influence with the 
civil magistracy of the place, and probably their husbands 
were of this order; and it is likely that they used that 
influence, at the instigation of the Jews, to get the 
apostles expelled from the place.

Verse 51. They shook off the dust of their feet against them] 
This was a very significant rite; by it, they in effect said: 
Ye are worse than the heathen: even your very land is 
accursed for your opposition to God, and we dare not permit 
even its dust to cleave to the soles of our feet; and we 
shake it off, in departing from your country, according to 
our Lord's command, (Matt. x. 14,) for a testimony against 
you, that we offered you salvation, but ye rejected it and 
persecuted us. The Jews, when travelling in heathen 
countries, took care, when they came to the borders of their 
own, to shake off the dust of their feet, lest any of the 
unhallowed ground should defile the sacred land of Israel.

Came unto Iconium.] According to Strabo, Iconium was a small 
fortified town, the capital of Lycaonia, at present called 
Cogni. "Lycaonia was a province at the back of Pamphylia, 
higher up in Asia Minor, and to the northeast of Pamphylia." 
Pearce.

Verse 52. The disciples were filled with joy and with the 
Holy Ghost.] Though in the world they had tribulation, yet in 
Christ they had peace; and, while engaged in their Master's 
work, they always had their Master's wages. The happiness of 
a genuine Christian lies far beyond the reach of earthly 
disturbances, and is not affected by the changes and chances 
to which mortal things are exposed. The martyrs were more 
happy in the flames than their persecutors could be on their 
beds of down.

St. Paul's sermon at Antioch has been thus analyzed.

1. His prologue, ver. 16, addressed to those who fear God.

2. His narrative of God's goodness to Israel: 1. In their 
deliverance from Egypt. 2. In their support in the 
wilderness. 3. In his giving them the land of Canaan. 4. In 
the judges and kings which he had given for their governors, 
ver. 7-22.

3. His proposition, that Jesus was the Christ, the saviour of 
the world, ver. 23.

4. The illustration of this proposition, proving its truth: 
1. From Christ's stock and family, ver. 23. 2. From the 
testimony of his forerunner, ver. 24. 3. From the 
resurrection of Christ, chap. xiii. 30; which was 
corroborated with the testimony of many Galileans, ver. 31, 
and of the prophets, David, ver. 33, 35, and Isaiah, ver. 34.

5. He anticipates objections, relative to the unjust 
condemnation, death and burial of Christ, ver. 27-29.

6. His epilogue, in which he excites his audience to embrace 
the Gospel on two considerations: 1. The benefits which they 
receive who embrace the Gospel, ver. 38, 39. 2. The danger to 
which they were exposed who should despise and reject it, 
ver. 40, 41.

CHAPTER xiv.

Paul and Barnabas, having preached at Iconium with great 
success, are persecuted, and obliged to flee to Lystra and 
Derbe, 1-6. Here they preach, and heal a cripple; on which, 
the people, supposing them to be gods, are about to offer 
them sacrifices, and are with difficulty prevented by these 
apostles, 7-18. Certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, coming 
thither, induce the people to stone Paul; who, being dragged 
out of the city as dead, while the disciples stand around 
him, rises up suddenly, and returns to the city, and the next 
day departs to Derbe, 19, 20. Having preached here, he and 
Barnabas return to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, confirming 
the disciples, and ordaining elders in every Church, 21-23. 
They pass through Pisidia and Pamphylia, 24. Through Perga 
and Attalia, 25; and sail to Antioch in Syria, 26. When, 
having called the disciples together, they inform them of the 
door of faith opened to the Gentiles, and there abode a long 
time with the Church, 27, 28.

NOTES ON CHAP. xiv.

Verse 1. In Iconium] See the conclusion of the preceding 
chapter.

So spake] kai lalhsai outwv. With such power and 
demonstration of the Spirit, that a great multitude both of 
the Jews, genuine descendants of one or other of the twelve 
tribes, and also of the Greeks, Æellhnwn, probably such as 
were proselytes of the gate, believed, received the Christian 
religion as a revelation from God, and confided in its Author 
for salvation, according to the apostles' preaching.

Verse 2. Stirred up the Gentiles] twn eqnwn, Such as were 
mere heathens, and thus distinguished from the Jews, and the 
Greeks who were proselytes.

Evil affected] ekakwsan, Irritated or exasperated their minds 
against the brethren, the disciples of Christ; one of their 
appellations before they were called Christians at Antioch. 
See on chap. xi. 26.

Verse 3. Long time therefore abode they] Because they had 
great success, therefore they continued a long time, gaining 
many converts, and building up those who had believed, in 
their most holy faith; notwithstanding the opposition they 
met with, both from the unbelieving Jews and heathens.

Speaking boldly] parrhsiazomenoi, Having great liberty of 
speech, a copious and commanding eloquence, springing from a 
consciousness of the truth which they preached.

The word of his grace] The Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is 
the doctrine of God's grace, mercy, or favour to mankind.

And granted signs and wonders to be done] For no apostle 
could work a miracle by himself; nor was any sign or wonder 
wrought even by the greatest apostle, but by an especial 
grant or dispensation of God. This power was not resident in 
them at all times; it was only now and then communicated, 
when a miracle was necessary for the confirmation of the 
truth preached.

Verse 4. The multitude of the city was divided] The Jews 
treated the apostles as false teachers, and their miracles as 
impositions; and many of the people held with them: while the 
others, who had not hardened their hearts against the truth, 
felt the force of it; and, being without prejudice, could 
easily discern the miracles to be the work of God, and 
therefore held with the apostles.

Verse 5. An assault made] Æormh, A desperate attempt was made 
by their rulers, i.e. by the heathen rulers of the people, 
and the rulers of the synagogue.

To use them despitefully] To expose them, bring them into 
contempt, and make them appear as monsters, or movers of 
sedition; and then to stone them for this falsely alleged 
crime.

Verse 6. They were ware of it] They were informed of the 
scheme, and of the attempt that was about to be made, and 
fled unto Lystra and Derbe; they did not leave the province 
of Lycaonia, but went to other towns and cities. Lystra lay 
to the south and Derbe to the north of Iconium, according to 
the general opinion. Strabo, Geogr. lib. xii., tells us 
expressly, that Iconium was within Lycaonia, Thence are the 
Lycaonian hills plain, cold, naked, and pastures for wild 
asses. About these places stands Iconium, a town built in a 
better soil. Ptolemy also, Tab. Asiae, i. cap. 6, places 
Iconium in Lycaonia. How comes it, then, that St. Luke does 
not call Iconium a city of Lycaonia, as well as Derbe and 
Lystra? Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. v. cap. 27, solves this 
difficulty, by stating, that there was granted a tetrarchy 
out of Lycaonia, on that side which borders upon Galatia, 
consisting of fourteen cities; the most famous of which is 
Iconium. See Lightfoot.

Verse 7. And there they preached the Gospel.] Wherever they 
went, they were always employed in their Master's work. Some 
MSS. of considerable note add here, and all the people were 
moved at their preaching, but Paul and Barnabas tarried at 
Lystra.

Verse 8. Impotent in his feet] adunatov toiv posin, He had no 
muscular power, and probably his ancle bones were dislocated; 
or he had what is commonly termed club feet; this is the more 
likely, as he is said to have been lame from his mother's 
womb, and to have never walked.

Verse 9. That he had faith to be healed] How did this faith 
come to this poor heathen? Why, by hearing the word of God 
preached: for it is said, the same heard Paul speak. And it 
appears that he credited the doctrine he heard, and believed 
that Jesus could, if he would, make him whole.

Besides, he must have heard of the miracles which the 
apostles had wrought, see ver. 3; and this would raise his 
expectation of receiving a cure.

Verse 10. Said with a loud voice] After this clause the 
following is found in CD, and several others, either in the 
text or margin: soi legw en tw onomati tou kuriou ihsou 
cristou, I say unto thee, In the name of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, "stand upright on thy feet." This reading is also in 
several versions; and though it may not stand on such 
evidence as to entitle it to a place in the text, yet it is 
not likely that St. Paul would not have used the sacred name 
on such an occasion; especially as this appears to have been 
the usual form. See chap. iii. 6.

He leaped and walked.] Giving the fullest proof of his 
restoration: his leaping, however, might have been through 
joy of having received his cure.

Verse 11. Saying, in the speech of Lycaonia] What this 
language was has puzzled the learned not a little. Calmet 
thinks it was a corrupt Greek dialect; as Greek was the 
general language of Asia Minor. Mr. Paul Ernest Jablonski, 
who has written a dissertation expressly on the subject, 
thinks it was the same language with that of the 
Cappadocians, which was mingled with Syriac. That it was no 
dialect of the Greek must be evident from the circumstance of 
its being here distinguished from it. We have sufficient 
proofs from ancient authors that most of these provinces used 
different languages; and it is correctly remarked, by Dr. 
Lightfoot, that the Carians, who dwelt much nearer Greece 
than the Lycaonians, are called by Homer, barbarofwnoi, 
people of a barbarous or strange language; and Pausanias also 
called them Barbari. That the language of Pisidia was 
distinct from the Greek we have already seen, note on chap. 
xiii. 15. We have no light to determine this point; and every 
search after the language of Lycaonia must be, at this 
distance of time, fruitless.

The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.] From 
this, and from all heathen antiquity, it is evident: 1. That 
the heathen did not consider the Divine nature, how low 
soever they rated it, to be like the human nature. 2. That 
they imagined that these celestial beings often assumed human 
forms to visit men, in order to punish the evil and reward 
the good. The Metamorphoses of Ovid are full of such 
visitations; and so are Homer, Virgil, and other poets. The 
angels visiting Abraham, Jacob, Lot, &c., might have been the 
foundation on which most of these heathen fictions were 
built.

The following passage in HOMER will cast some light upon the 
point: - kai te qeoi, xeinoisin eoikotev allodapoisi, 
pantoioi teleqontev, epistrwfwsi polhav, anqrwpwn ubrin te 
kai eunomihn eforwntev. Hom. Odyss. xvii. ver. 485.

For in similitude of strangers oft, The gods, who can with 
ease all shapes assume, Repair to populous cities, where they 
mark The outrageous and the righteous deeds of men. COWPER.

OVID had a similar notion, where he represents Jupiter coming 
down to visit the earth, which seems to be copied from 
Genesis, Gen. xviii. 20, 21: And the Lord said, Because the 
cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is 
grievous, I will go down now, and see whether they have done 
altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me: 
and if not, I will know.

Contigerat nostras infamia temporis aures: Quam cupiens 
falsam, summo delabour Olympo.

Et deus humana lustro sub imagine terras.

Longa mora est, quantum noxae sit ubique repertum, Enamerare: 
minor fuit ipsa infamia vero. Metam. lib. i. ver. 211.

The clamours of this vile, degenerate age, The cries of 
orphans, and the oppressor's rage, Had reached the stars: "I 
will descend," said I, In hope to prove this loud complaint a 
lie.

Disguised in human shape, I traveled round The world, and 
more than what I heard, I found. DRYDEN.

It was a settled belief among the Egyptians, that their gods, 
sometimes in the likeness of men, and sometimes in that of 
animals which they held sacred, descended to the earth, and 
traveled through different provinces, to punish, reward, and 
protect. The Hindoo Avatars, or incarnations of their gods, 
prove how generally this opinion had prevailed. Their Poorana 
are full of accounts of the descent of Brahma, Vishnoo, 
Shiva, Naradu, and other gods, in human shape. We need not 
wonder to find it in Lycaonia.

Verse 12. They called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius] 
The heathens supposed that Jupiter and Mercury were the gods 
who most frequently assumed the human form; and Jupiter was 
accustomed to take Mercury with him on such expeditions. 
Jupiter was the supreme god of the heathens; and Mercury was 
by them considered the god of eloquence.

And the ancient fable, from which I have quoted so largely 
above, represents Jupiter and Mercury coming to this very 
region, where they were entertained by Lycaon, from whom the 
Lycaonians derived their name. See the whole fable in the 
first book of Ovid's Metamorphoses.

As the ancients usually represented Jupiter as rather an aged 
man, large, noble, and majestic; and Mercury young, light, 
and active, the conjecture of Chrysostom is very probable, 
that Barnabas was a large, noble, well-made man, and probably 
in years; and St. Paul, young, active, and eloquent; on which 
account, they termed the former Jupiter, and the latter 
Mercury.

That Mercury was eloquent and powerful in his words is 
allowed by the heathens; and the very epithet that is applied 
here to Paul, hn o hgoumenov tou logou, he was the chief or 
leader of the discourse, was applied to Mercury. So 
Jamblichus de Myster. Init. qeov o twn logwn hgemwn o Æermhv. 
And Macrobius, Sat. i. 8: Scimus Mercurium vocis et sermonis 
potentem. We know that Mercury is powerful both in his voice 
and eloquence. With the Lycaonians, the actions of these 
apostles proved them to be gods; and the different parts they 
took appeared to them to fix their character, so that one was 
judged to be Jupiter, and the other Mercury.

Verse 13. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their 
city] There is a meaning here, which ordinary readers will 
not readily apprehend.

Many cities were put under the protection of a particular 
deity; and the image of that deity placed at the entrance, to 
signify that he was the guardian and protector. To this St. 
Luke, every where as accurate as he is circumstantial, 
refers. Lystra, it appears, was under the guardianship of 
Jupiter Propulaius, diov propulaiou, which St. Luke 
translates, tou diov ontov thv polewv, the Jupiter that was 
before the city, which is another term for Jupiter Custos, or 
Jupiter the guardian. All these deities, according to the 
attributes they sustained, had their peculiar priests, rites, 
and sacrifices; and each a peculiar service and priest for 
the office he bore; so that Jupiter Brontes, Jupiter the 
thunderer, had a different service from Jupiter Custos, Jove 
the guardian. Hence we can see with what accuracy St. Luke 
wrote: the person who was going to offer them sacrifices was 
the priest of Jupiter Custos, under whose guardianship the 
city of Lystra was, and whom the priest supposed had visited 
the city in a human form; and Barnabas, probably for the 
reasons already assigned, he imagined was the person; and as 
Mercury, the god of eloquence, was the general attendant of 
Jupiter, the people and the priest supposed that Paul, who 
had a powerful, commanding eloquence, was that god, also 
disguised. A beautiful figure of such an image of Jupiter as, 
I suppose, stood before the gate of Lystra, still remains; 
and a fine engraving of it may be seen in Gruter's 
Inscriptions, vol. i. p. xx. Jupiter is represented naked, 
sitting on a curule or consular chair; in his right hand he 
holds his thunder, and a long staff in his left; at his 
right, stands the eagle prepared for flight; and, above, the 
winged cap and caduceus of Mercury. On the base is the 
inscription, IUPPITER CUSTOM DOMUS AUG. Jupiter, the guardian 
of the house of Augustus. As the preserver or guardian of 
towns, he was generally styled Jupiter Custos, Serenus and 
Servator. His name, JUPITER, i.e. jurans pater, the helping 
father, entitled him, in those days of darkness, to general 
regard. On this false god, who long engrossed the worship of 
even the most enlightened nations on the earth, much may be 
seen in Lactantius, Divinar.

Institution. lib. i., in the Antiquite expliquee of 
Montfaucon; and various inscriptions, relative to his 
character as guardian, &c., may be seen in Gruter, as above.

Oxen and garlands] That is, oxen adorned with flowers, their 
horns gilded, and neck bound about with fillets, as was the 
custom in sacrificial rites. They also crowned the gods 
themselves, the priests, and gates of the temples, with 
flowers. Of this method of adorning the victims, there are 
numerous examples in the Greek and Latin writers. A few may 
suffice.

Thus OVID: - Victima labe carens et praestantissima forma 
Sistitur ante aras; et vittis praesignis et auro.

OVID, Met. lib. xv. ver. 130.

The fairest victim must the powers appease, So fatal 'tis 
sometimes too much to please: A purple filet his broad brow 
adorns With flowery garlands, crown, and gilded horns. 
DRYDEN.

Huic Anius niveis circumdata tempora vittis Concutiens, et 
tristis ait; - Ibid. lib. xiii. ver. 643.

The royal prophet shook his hoary head, With fillets bound; 
and, sighing, thus he said - CALCOTT.- fovet ignibus aras, 
Muneribus deos implet: feriuntque secures Colla torosa boum 
vinctorum cornua vittis. Ibid. lib. vii. ver. 427.

Rich curling fumes of incense feast the skies, A hecatomb of 
voted victims dies, With gilded horns, and garlands on their 
head, In all the pomp of death to th' altar led. TATE.

VIRGIL also refers to the same rites and circumstances: - 
Saepe in honoure deum medio stans hostia ad aram Lanea dum 
nivea circumdatur infula vitta, Inter cunctantes cecidit 
moribunda ministros. VIRG. Georg. lib. iii. ver. 486.

The victim ox that was for altars pressed, Trimmed with white 
ribbons, and with garlands dressed, Sunk of himself, without 
the god's command, Preventing the slow sacrificer's hand. 
DRYDEN.

Many similar examples may be seen in Wetstein and others.

At the time of worship, the Hindoo priests place garlands of 
flowers on the head of the image. Whether the garlands were 
intended to decorate the oxen or the apostles, we cannot say; 
but in either case the conduct of the Lycaonians was 
conformable to that of the modern Hindoos.

Verse 15. We also are men of like passions with you] This 
saying of the apostles has been most strangely perverted. A 
pious commentator, taking the word passion in its vulgar and 
most improper sense, (a bad temper, an evil propensity,) and 
supposing that these holy men wished to confess that they 
also had many sinful infirmities, and wrong tempers, 
endeavours to illustrate this sense of the word, by appealing 
to the contention of Paul and Barnabas, &c., &c. But the 
expression means no more than, "we are truly human beings, 
with the same powers and appetites as your own; need food and 
raiment as you do; and are all mortal like yourselves." That 
ye should turn from these vanities] That is, from these idols 
and false gods. How often false gods and idolatry are termed 
vanity in the Scriptures, no careful reader of the Bible 
needs to be told. What a bold saying was this in the presence 
of a heathen mob, intent on performing an act of their 
superstitious worship, in which they no doubt thought the 
safety of the state was concerned. The ancient fable related 
by Ovid, Metam. lib. i. ver. 211-239, to which reference has 
already been made, will cast some light on the conduct of the 
Lystrians in this case. The following is its substance:-
"Jupiter, having been informed of the great degeneracy of 
mankind, was determined himself to survey the earth. Coming 
to this province, (Lycaonia,) disguised in human shape, he 
took up his residence at the palace of Lycaon, then king of 
that country: giving a sign of his godhead, the people 
worship him: Lycaon sneers, doubts his divinity, and is 
determined to put it to the trial. Some ambassadors from the 
Molossian state having just arrived, he slew one of them, 
boiled part of his flesh, and roasted the rest, and set it 
before Jupiter: the god, indignant at the insult, burnt the 
palace, and turned the impious king into a wolf." From this 
time, or, rather, from this fable, the whole province was 
called Lycaonia. The simple people now seeing such proofs of 
supernatural power, in the miracles wrought by Barnabas and 
Paul, thought that Jupiter had again visited them; and 
fearing lest they should meet with his indignation, should 
they neglect duly to honour him, they brought oxen and 
garlands, and would have offered them sacrifice, had they not 
been prevented by the apostles themselves. This circumstance 
will account for their whole conduct; and shows the reason 
why Jupiter was the tutelar god of the place. As, therefore, 
the people took them for gods, it was necessary for the 
apostles to show that they were but men; and this is the 
whole that is meant by the omoiopaqeiv anqrwpoi, men of like 
passions, fellow mortals, in the text, which has been so 
pitifully mistaken by some, and abused by others.

The living God] Widely different from those stocks and 
stones, which were objects of their worship.

Which made heaven and earth] And as all things were made by 
his power, so all subsist by his providence; and to him 
alone, all worship, honour, and glory are due.

Verse 16. Who in times past suffered all nations, &c.] The 
words panta ta eqnh, which we here translate, all nations, 
should be rendered, all the Gentiles, merely to distinguish 
them from the Jewish people: who having a revelation, were 
not left to walk in their own ways; but the heathens, who had 
not a revelation, were suffered to form their creed, and mode 
of worship, according to their own caprice.

Verse 17. He left not himself without witness] Though he gave 
the Gentiles no revelation of his will, yet he continued to 
govern them by his gracious providence; doing them good in 
general; giving then rain to fertilize their grounds, and 
fruitful seasons as the result; so that grass grew for the 
cattle and corn for the service of man.

Filling our hearts with food] Giving as much food as could 
reasonably be wished, so that gladness, or general happiness, 
was the result. Such was the gracious provision made for man, 
at all times, that the economy and bounty of the Divine Being 
were equally evidenced by it. He never gives less than is 
necessary, nor more than is sufficient. His economy forbids 
men to waste, by going them in general no profusion. His 
bounty forbids them to want, by giving as much as is 
sufficient for all the natural wants of his creatures. By not 
giving too much, he prevents luxury and riot: by giving 
enough, he prevents discontent and misery. Thus he does 
mankind good, by causing his rain to descend upon the just 
and the unjust, and his sun to shine upon the evil, and the 
good. Thus he is said not to have left himself without 
witness: for his providential dealings are the witnesses of 
his being, his wisdom, and his bounty; and thus the invisible 
things of God, even his eternal power and Godhead, were 
clearly seen, being understood by the things which are made, 
Rom. i. 20. Therefore those who continued to worship stocks 
and stones were without excuse. These were great and striking 
truths; and into what detail the apostles now went, we cannot 
say; but it is likely that they spoke much more than is here 
related, as the next verse states that, with all these 
sayings, they found it difficult to prevent the people from 
offering them sacrifice.

Verse 19. There came thither certain Jews from Antioch] Those 
were, no doubt, the same who had raised up persecution 
against Paul and Barnabas, at Iconium and Antioch, before: 
they followed the apostles with implacable malice; and what 
they could not do themselves they endeavoured to do by 
others, whose minds they first perverted, and then irritated 
to deeds of fell purpose.

And having stoned Paul] Alas! of what real worth is popular 
fame? How uncertain, and how unworthy to be counted! These 
poor heathens acted just like the people of Malta, chap. 
xxviii. 4-6. When the viper fastened on the hand of Paul, 
they concluded he was a murderer: when they found it did him 
no damage, they changed their minds, and said he was a GOD! 
When the Lycaonians saw the miracles that Paul did, they said 
he was the god Mercury: when the persecuting Jews came, they 
persuaded them that he was an impostor; and then they 
endeavoured to stone him to death.

Supposing he had been dead.] They did not leave stoning him 
till they had the fullest evidence that he was dead; and so, 
most probably, he was.

Verse 20. The disciples stood round about him] No doubt in 
earnest prayer, entreating the Author of life that his soul 
might again return to its battered tenement.

He rose up] Miraculously restored, not only to life, but to 
perfect soundness so that he was able to walk into the city, 
that his persecutors might see the mighty power of God in his 
restoration, and the faith of the young converts be confirmed 
in the truth and goodness of God. It is strange that neither 
the young converts at Lystra, nor Barnabas, were involved in 
this persecution! It seems to have had Paul alone for its 
object; and, when they thought they had despatched him, they 
did not think of injuring the rest.

Verse 21. Preached the Gospel to that city] Derbe, a city in 
the same province. See on ver. 6.

They returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium] Behold the 
courage of these Christian men! They counted not their lives 
dear to them, and returned to do their Masters work in the 
very places in which they had been so grievously persecuted, 
and where one of them had been apparently stoned to death! 
The man who knows he is God's ambassador, and that his life 
depends on his fidelity to his Master, knows he has nothing 
but his God to fear.

Verse 22. Confirming the souls of the disciples] The word 
disciple signifies literally a scholar. The Church of Christ 
was a school, in which Christ himself was chief Master; and 
his apostles subordinate teachers. All the converts were 
disciples or scholars, who came to this school to be 
instructed in the knowledge of themselves and of their GOD: 
of their duty to Him, to the Church, to society, and to 
themselves. After having been initiated in the principles of 
the heavenly doctrine, they needed line upon line, and 
precept upon precept, in order that they might be confirmed 
and established in the truth. Though it was a great and 
important thing to have their heads, their understanding, 
properly informed, yet, if the heart was not disciplined, 
information in the understanding would be of little avail; 
therefore they confirmed the SOULS of the disciples. As there 
must be some particular standard of truth, to which they 
might continually resort, that their faith might stand in the 
power of God, it was necessary that they should have such a 
system of doctrine as they knew came from God.

These doctrines were those which contained all the essential 
principles of Christianity, and this was called THE FAITH; 
and, as they must have sound principles, in order that they 
might have righteous practices, so it was necessary that they 
should continue in that faith, that it might produce that 
obedience, without which even faith itself, however 
excellent, must be useless and dead.

Again, as the spirit of the world would be ever opposed to 
the spirit of Christ, so they must make up their minds to 
expect persecution and tribulation in various forms, and 
therefore had need of confirmed souls and strong faith, that, 
when trials came, they might meet them with becoming 
fortitude, and stand unmoved in the cloudy and dark day. And 
as the mind must faint under trouble that sees no prospect of 
its termination, and no conviction of its use, it was 
necessary that they should keep in view the kingdom of God, 
of which they were subjects, and to which, through their 
adoption into the heavenly family, they had a Divine right. 
Hence, from the apostles teaching, they not only learned that 
they should meet with tribulation, much tribulation, but, for 
their encouragement, they were also informed that these were 
the very means which God would use to bring them into his own 
kingdom; so that, if they had tribulation in the way, they 
had a heaven of eternal glory as the end to which they were 
continually to direct their views.

Verse 23. When they had ordained them elders] Elder seems to 
be here the name of an office. These were all young or new 
converts, and yet among them the apostles constitute elders. 
They appointed persons the most experienced, and the most 
advanced in the Divine life, to watch over and instruct the 
rest. But what is the meaning of the word ceirotonhsantev, 
which we translate ordained? The word ordain we use in an 
ecclesiastical sense, and signify by it the appointment of a 
person to an office in the Church, by the imposition of the 
hands of those who are rulers in that Church. But ceirotonia 
a signifies the holding up or stretching out the hand, as 
approving of the choice of any person to a particular work: 
whereas ceiroqesia signifies the imposition of hands.

"Zonaras gives he proper meaning of the word in the text, in 
his Scholia upon the first canon of the apostles, nun men 
ceirotonia kaleitai, k.

t. l. 'Nowadays, a course of prayers and invocation on the 
Holy Spirit, when one is initiated into the priesthood, and 
receives consecration, is called ceirotonia, cheirotonia, so 
termed because the bishop extends his hand over him whom he 
blesses, when he is chosen into holy orders.

Anciently, the choice or suffrage was called cheirotonia; 
for, when it was lawful for the multitude in their cities to 
choose their priests or bishops, they met together, and some 
chose one man, some another; but, that it might appear whose 
suffrage won, they say the electors did use ekteinein tav 
ceirav, to stretch forth their hands, and by their hands so 
stretched forth, or up, they were numbered who chose the one, 
and who the other; and him who was elected by the most 
suffrages they placed in the high priesthood. And from hence 
was the name cheirotonia taken, which the fathers of the 
councils are found to have used, calling their suffrage 
cheirotonia.' St. Paul, 2 Cor. viii. 19, intimates that St. 
Luke was thus appointed to travel with him ceirotonhqeiv upo 
twn ekklhsiwn, who was chosen of the Churches. Ignatius, in 
his epistle to the Philadelphians, uses the same term, prepon 
estin umin, wv ekklhsia qeou, ceirotonhsai episkopon, ye 
ought, as a Church of God, to choose your bishop." Much more 
on this subject may be seen in Sir Norton Knatchbull, who 
contends that cheirotonia implies simply appointment or 
election, but not what he calls ordination by the imposition 
of hands. I believe the simple truth to be this, that in 
ancient times the people chose by the cheirotonia (lifting up 
of hands) their spiritual pastor; and the rulers of the 
Church, whether apostles or others, appointed that person to 
his office by the cheirothesia, or imposition of hands; and 
perhaps each of these was thought to be equally necessary: 
the Church agreeing in the election of the person; and the 
rulers of the Church appointing, by imposition of hands, the 
person thus elected. See the note on chap. vi. 6.

And had l prayed with fasting] This was to implore God's 
special assistance; as they well knew that, without his 
influence, even their appointment could avail nothing.

Commended them to the Lord] To his especial care and 
protection.

Verse 24. Passed throughout Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia.] 
See the note on chap. xiii. 13.

Verse 25. They went down into Attalia] This was a sea-port 
town in Pamphylia. Thus we find the apostles traveled from 
Derbe to Lystra; from Lystra to Iconium; from Iconium to 
Antioch of Pisidia; from Antioch to Perga in Pamphylia; and 
from Perga to Attalia; and it appears that they traveled over 
three provinces of Asia Minor, Pamphylia, Lycaonia, and 
Pisidia. See Calmet, and see the map.

Verse 26. And thence sailed to Antioch] This was Antioch in 
Syria; and to reach which, by sea, they were obliged to coast 
a part of the Mediterranean Sea, steering between Cyprus and 
Cilicia; though they might have gone the whole journey by 
land.

Whence they had been recommended-for the work which they 
fulfilled.] The reader will recollect that it was from this 
Antioch they had been sent to preach the Gospel to the 
heathen in Asia Minor: see chap. xiii. 1, 2; and that they 
fulfilled that work: see in the same chapter, chap. xiii. 48; 
and the circumstantial account of their travels and preaching 
given in this chapter.

Verse 27. Had gathered the Church together] The Church by 
which they had been sent on this very important and 
successful mission.

They rehearsed all that God had done with them] Not what they 
had done themselves; but what GOD made them the instruments 
of working.

And how he had opened the door of faith] How God by his 
providence and grace had made a way for preaching Christ 
crucified among the heathen; and how the heathen had received 
that Gospel which, through faith in Christ Jesus, was able to 
save their souls.

Verse 28. And there they abode long time] How long the 
apostles tarried here we cannot tell; but we hear no more of 
them till the council of Jerusalem, mentioned in the 
following chapter, which is generally supposed to have been 
held in the year 51 of our Lord; and, if the transactions of 
this chapter took place in A.D. 46, as chronologers think, 
then there are five whole years of St. Paul's ministry, and 
that of other apostles, which St. Luke passes by in perfect 
silence. It is very likely that all this time Paul and 
Barnabas were employed in extending the work of God through 
the different provinces contiguous to Antioch; for St. Paul 
himself tells us that he preached the Gospel so far as 
Illyria, Romans xv. 19, on the side of the Adriatic Gulf: see 
its situation on the map. Many of the tribulations and perils 
through which the Apostle Paul passed are not mentioned by 
St, Luke, particularly those of which he himself speaks, 2 
Cor. xi. 23-27. He had been five times scourged by the Jews; 
thrice beaten by the Romans; thrice shipwrecked; a whole 
night and day in the deep, probably saving his life upon a 
plank; besides frequent journeyings, and perils from his 
countrymen, from the heathen, from robbers, in the city, in 
the wilderness, in the sea, among false brethren, &c., &c. Of 
none of these have we any circumstantial account. Probably 
most of these happened in the five years which elapsed 
between the apostles' return to Antioch, and the council of 
Jerusalem.

IN reading the Acts of the Apostles we may have often 
occasion to remark that in preaching the Gospel they 
carefully considered the different circumstances of the Jews 
and the Gentiles, and suited their address accordingly. When 
speaking to the former, of the necessity of crediting the 
Gospel, because without it they could not be saved, they took 
care to support all their assertions by passages drawn from 
the LAW and the PROPHETS, as every Jew considered those books 
to be of Divine authority, and from their decision there was 
no appeal. But, in addressing the Gentiles, who had no 
revelation, they drew the proof of their doctrine from the 
visible creation; and demonstrated, by plain reasoning, the 
absurdity of their idolatrous worship, and called them off 
from those vanities to the worship of the living and true 
God, who made and governs all things, and who gave them such 
proofs of his being, wisdom, and goodness, in the provision 
made for their comfort and support, that they had only to 
reflect on the subject in order to be convinced of its truth. 
And while, in consequence, they saw the absurdity of their 
own system, they would at once discover the reasonableness of 
that religion which was now offered to them, in the name and 
on the authority of that God who had fed and preserved them 
all their life long, and girded them when they knew him not. 
The Gentiles felt the force of these reasonings, yielded to 
the truth, and became steady followers of Christ crucified; 
while the Jews, with all their light and advantages, hardened 
their hearts against it, though they had no other arguments 
than what contradiction and blasphemy could provide! 
Publicans and harlots enter into the kingdom of heaven before 
them. Do not many, even in the present day, copy their 
example, revile the truth, take up with the shadow instead of 
the substance, and rest just as much in the letter of 
Christianity, as ever the Jews did in the letter of the law? 
This is a deplorable fact which cannot be successfully 
controverted.

2. We have already had occasion to note five years of a chasm 
in the apostolic history. God himself does not choose to have 
all the labours and sufferings of his servants recorded. 
Their recompense is in heaven; and it is enough that God 
knows their work, who alone can reward it. And yet every 
faithful servant of God will feel that the reward is all of 
grace, and not of debt; for the amount of their good is just 
the sum of what God has condescended to do by them. How 
studious are men to record the smallest transactions of their 
lives, while much of the life and labours of Jesus Christ and 
his apostles are written in the sand, and no longer legible 
to man; or written before the throne, where they are seen 
only by God and his angels.

In many cases, the silence of Scripture is not less 
instructive than its most pointed communications.

3. We cannot consider the effect produced on the minds of the 
people of Lystra, without being surprised that a single 
miracle, wrought instrumentally by men, should excite so much 
attention and reverence, and that we should be unmoved by the 
myriads wrought by the immediate hand of GOD.

4. How difficult it is to get men brought to worship God, 
though they have the highest reasons and most powerful 
motives for it; and yet how ready are they to offer an 
incense to man that is due only to God himself! We applaud 
the apostles for rejecting with horror the sacrifices offered 
to them: common sense must have taught them this lesson, even 
independently of their piety. Let us beware that we take not 
that praise to ourselves which belongs to our Maker. Gross 
flattery is generally rejected, because a man cannot receive 
it without being rendered ridiculous; but who rejects even 
inordinate praise, if it be delicately and artfully prepared!

CHAPTER xv.

Certain teachers from Judea insist on the necessity of the 
converted Gentiles being circumcised, 1. Paul and Barnabas 
are sent to Jerusalem to consult the apostles on this 
subject, 2. They come to Jerusalem, and inform the apostles 
of the conversion of the Gentiles; and of the trouble which 
certain Pharisees had occasioned concerning circumcision, 3-
5. The apostles having assembled to consider the question, 
Peter delivers his opinion, 6-11. Barnabas and Paul relate 
their success among the Gentiles, 12. James delivers his 
judgment, 13-21. The apostles and elders agree to what he 
proposes, and send Judas and Silas with Paul and Barnabas to 
the converted Gentiles, 22; and send an epistle containing 
their decree to the Churches of Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, 
23-29. Paul and his company return, and read the epistle to 
the brethren at Antioch, which produces great joy; and Judas 
and Silas preach to them, 30-32. Judas returns to Jerusalem, 
but Silas continues with Paul and Barnabas, teaching and 
preaching, 33-35. Paul proposes to Barnabas to visit the 
Churches where they had preached; and, on the latter 
determining to take John Mark with them, Paul refuses, 36-38. 
They disagree; and Barnabas, taking John Mark, sails to 
Cyprus, 39. And Paul, taking Silas, goes through Syria and 
Cilicia, confirming the Churches, 40, 41.

NOTES ON CHAP. xv.

Verse 1. Except ye be circumcised, &c.] The persons who 
taught this doctrine appear to have been converts to 
Christianity; but, supposing that the Christian religion was 
intended to perfect the Mosaic, and not to supersede it, they 
insisted on the necessity of circumcision, because, by that, 
a man was made debtor to the whole law, to observe all its 
rites and ceremonies. This question produced great 
disturbance in the apostolic Church; and, notwithstanding the 
decree mentioned in this chapter, the apostles were 
frequently obliged to interpose their authority in order to 
settle it; and we find a whole Church, that at Galatia, drawn 
aside from the simplicity of the Christian faith by the 
subtilty of Judaizing teachers among themselves, who insisted 
on the necessity of the converted Gentiles being circumcised.

Ye cannot be saved.] Ye can neither enjoy God's blessing in 
time, nor his glory in eternity. Such an assertion as this, 
from any reputable authority, must necessarily shake the 
confidence of young converts.

Verse 2. No small dissension and disputation] Paul and 
Barnabas were fully satisfied that God did not design to 
bring the converted Gentiles under the yoke of circumcision: 
they knew that Jesus Christ was the end of the law for 
righteousness (justification) to every one that believed, and 
therefore they opposed the Judaizing teachers. This was one 
of the first controversies in the Christian Church; but, 
though the difference of sentiment was considerable, it led 
to no breach of Christian charity nor fellowship among 
themselves.

They determined that Paul, &c.] This verse is read very 
differently in the Codex Bezae: genomenhv de ektasewv kai 
zhthsewv ouk ilighv tw paulw kai tw barnaba sun autoiv. 
elegen gar o paulov menein outwv, kaqev episteusan, 
diiscurizomenov. oide elhluqotev apo Æierousalhm, parhggeilan 
autoiv, tw paulw kai barnaba kai tisin alloiv, anabainein 
prov touv apostolouv kai presbuterouv eiv Æierousalhm, opwv 
kriqwsin epÆ autoiv (autwn) peri tou zhthmatov toutou. But 
when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and 
disputation with them, Paul said, with strong assurance, that 
they should remain so as they had believed. But those who 
came from Jerusalem charged Paul and Barnabas and certain 
others to go up to the apostles and elders to Jerusalem, that 
a determination might be made by them concerning this 
question.

And certain other of them] If this be the journey to which 
St. Paul alludes, Gal. ii. 1-5, then he had Titus with him; 
and how many elders went from the Church of Antioch we cannot 
tell. This journey was 14 years after Paul's conversion, and 
was undertaken by express revelation, as he informs us, Gal. 
ii. 2, which revelation appears to have been given to certain 
persons in the Church of Antioch, as we learn from this 
verse, and not to Paul and Barnabas themselves.

Verse 3. Being brought on their way by the Church] That is; 
the members of the Church provided them with all necessaries 
for their journey; for it does not appear that they had any 
property of their own.

Declaring the conversion of the Gentiles] Much stress is laid 
on this: it was a miracle of God's mercy that the Gentiles 
should be received into the Church of God; and they had now 
the fullest proof that the thing was likely to become 
general, by the conversion of Cornelius, the conversion of 
the people of Antioch, of Cyprus, Pisidia, Pamphylia, 
Lycaonia, &c., &c.

Verse 4. They were received of the Church] The whole body of 
Christian believers.

The apostles] Either the whole or part of the twelve; though 
we read of none but John, Peter, and James. See Gal. ii. 9.

And elders] Those who were officers in the Church, under the 
apostles.

They declared] To this council they gave a succinct account 
of the great work which God had wrought by them among the 
Gentiles. This was St. Paul's third journey to Jerusalem 
after his conversion. See an account of his first journey, 
chap. ix. 26, and of his second in chap. xi. 30.

Verse 5. But there rose up certain of the sect of the 
Pharisees] This verse appears to be part of the declaration 
made by Paul and Barnabas to this council: for, having stated 
how God blessed their ministry among the Gentiles, they 
proceed to declare how all the good work was likely to be 
destroyed by certain Pharisees, who, having received the 
Christian faith, came down to Antioch, and began to teach the 
necessity of circumcision, &c., and thus filled the minds of 
the young converted Gentiles with doubtful disputations. See 
the margin.

Verse 6. The apostles and elders came together] This was the 
first council ever held in the Christian Church; and we find 
that it was composed of the apostles and elders simply.

Verse 7. When there had been much disputing] By those of the 
sect of the believing Pharisees; for they strongly contended 
for circumcision, and at the head of these, tradition tells 
us, was Cerinthus, a name famous in the primitive Church, as 
one who laboured to unite the law and the Gospel, and to make 
the salvation promised by the latter dependent on the 
performance of the rites and ceremonies prescribed by the 
former. Though the apostles and elders were under the 
inspiration of the Almighty, and could by this inspiration 
have immediately determined the question, yet it was highly 
necessary that the objecting party should be permitted to 
come forward and allege their reasons for the doctrines they 
preached, and that these reasons should be fairly met by 
argument, and the thing proved to be useless in itself, 
inexpedient in the present case, and unsupported by any 
express authority from God, and serving no purpose to the 
Gentiles, who in their uncircumcised state, by believing in 
Christ Jesus, had been made partakers of the Holy Ghost.

Peter rose up, and said] This was after the matters in 
dispute had been fully debated; and now the apostles, like 
judges, after hearing counsel on both sides, proceed to give 
judgment on the case.

A good while ago] afÆ hmerwn arcaiwn, From the days of old: a 
phrase which simply signifies some years ago; and, if he here 
refers to the conversion of Cornelius, (see chap. x. 1-48,) 
he must mean about ten years before this time; but it is more 
likely that he refers to that time when Christ gave him the 
keys of the kingdom of heaven, that be might open the door of 
faith to the Gentiles.

God made choice among us] That is, he chose me to be the 
first apostle of the Gentiles.

Verse 8. And God which knoweth the hearts] o kardiognwsthv 
qeov.

We had this epithet of the Divine Being once before; see 
chap. i. 24, and the note there: it occurs no where else in 
the New Testament.

Bare them witness] Considered them as proper or fit to 
receive the Gospel of Christ. It is properly remarked by 
learned men, that marturein tini, to bear witness to any 
person, signifies to approve, to testify in behalf of. Here 
it signifies that, as God evidently sent the Gospel to the 
Gentiles, and, by the preaching of it, conveyed the Holy 
Spirit to them who believed, and as he can make no improper 
judgment of any who knows all hearts and their secrets, 
therefore what he had done was right: he saw that it was time 
for them to receive the Gospel; and he saw that they might be 
safely trusted with this heavenly deposit; and the experience 
of eighteen hundred years has justified the conduct of God.

Verse 9. Put no difference between us and them] Giving them 
the Holy Spirit, though uncircumcised, just as he had given 
it to us who were circumcised: an evident proof that, in the 
judgment of God, circumcision was no preparation to receive 
the Gospel of Christ. And as the purification of the heart by 
the Holy Spirit was the grand object of the religion of God, 
and that alone by which the soul could be prepared for a 
blessed immortality, and the Gentiles had received that 
without circumcision, consequently, the shadow could not be 
considered of any worth, now the substance was communicated.

Verse 10. Now therefore why tempt ye God] A God, by giving 
the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles, evidently shows he does not 
design them to be circumcised, in order to become debtors to 
the law, to fulfill all its precepts, &c., why will ye 
provoke him to displeasure by doing what he evidently designs 
shall not be done? A yoke-which neither our fathers nor we 
were able to bear?] This does not refer to the moral law-that 
was of eternal obligation-but to the ritual law, which, 
through the multitude of its sacrifices, ordinances, &c., was 
exceedingly burthensome to the Jewish people. And had not 
God, by an especial providence, rendered both their fields 
and their flocks very fruitful, they could not possibly have 
borne so painful a ritual.

There is a curious story in Midrash Shochar, told in Yalkut 
Simeoni, part i. fol. 229, where Korah is represented as 
showing the oppressive nature of the law, and avarice of its 
priests, in justification of his rebellion. "There was," said 
he, "a widow in our neighbourbood who had two orphan 
children: she had one field; and, when she began to plough 
it, one came and said, Thou shalt not plough with an ox and 
an ass together. when she went to sow it, he said, Thou shalt 
not sow thy field with divers seeds. When she began to reap, 
and to gather the sheaves together, he said, Leave a handful 
and the corners of the field for the poor. When she prepared 
to thresh it, be said, Give me the wave-offering, and the 
first and second tithes. She did as she was commanded, and 
then went and sold her field, and bought two ewes, that she 
might clothe herself and family with the wool, and get profit 
by the lambs. When they brought forth their lambs, Aaron came 
and said, Give me the firstlings, for the holy blessed God 
hath said, All the first born, whatsoever openeth the womb, 
shall be thine. She yielded to his demands, and gave him two 
lambs. When shearing time came, he said, Give me the first 
fruits of the wool. When the widow had done this, she said, I 
cannot stand before this man; I will kill my sheep and eat 
them. When she had killed the sheep, Aaron came and said, 
Give me the shoulder, and the jaws, and the ventricle. The 
widow said, Though I have killed my sheep, I am not delivered 
from this man; I therefore consecrate the whole to God. Then 
Aaron said, ALL belongs to me, for the holy blessed God hath 
said, Every thing that is consecrated in Israel shall be his, 
i.e. the priest's. He therefore took the whole carcasses, and 
marched off, leaving the widow and her orphan daughters over 
whelmed with affliction." This is a terrible picture of the 
requisitions of the Mosaic ritual; and, though exaggerated, 
it contains so many true features that it may well be said, 
This is a yoke which neither we nor our fathers were able to 
bear. See Schoettgen. In the same vexatious way may the 
tithes of the national Church in this country be exacted, and 
in this very way is the exaction frequently exercised. It is 
high time that these abuses should be corrected.

Verse 11. Through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall 
be saved] This seems to be an answer to an objection, "Has 
not God designed to save us, the Jews, by an observance of 
the law; and them, the Gentiles, by the faith of the Gospel?" 
No: for we Jews can be saved no other way than through the 
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this is the way in which 
the Gentiles in question have been saved. There is but one 
way of salvation for Jews and Gentiles, the grace, mercy, or 
favour coming by and through the Lord Jesus, the Christ; this 
is now fully opened to the Gentiles; and we believe we shall 
be saved in the same way.

Verse 12. All the multitude kept silence] The strong facts 
stated by St. Peter could not be controverted. His speech may 
be thus analyzed: 1.

Circumcision is a sign of the purification of the heart. 2. 
That purification can only be effected by the Holy Ghost. 3. 
This Holy Spirit was hitherto supposed to be the portion of 
those only who had received circumcision.

4. But the Gentiles, who were never circumcised, nor kept any 
part of the law of Moses, have had their hearts purified by 
faith in Christ Jesus. 5. As God, therefore, has given them 
the thing signified, he evidently does not intend that the 
sign should be administered. 6. Should we impose this 
burthensome rite, we should most evidently be provoking God, 
who plainly shows us that he intends no more to save in this 
way. 7. Therefore it is evident that both Jews and Gentiles 
are to be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Gave audience to Barnabas and Paul] These apostles came 
forward next, to corroborate what Peter had said, by showing 
the miracles and wonders which God had by them wrought among 
the Gentiles. Peter stated facts: Paul and Barnabas confirmed 
the statement.

Verse 13. James answered] He was evidently president of the 
council, and is generally called bishop of Jerusalem. The 
rest either argued on the subject, or gave their opinion; 
James alone pronounced the definitive sentence. Had Peter 
been prince and head of the apostles, and of the Church, he 
would have appeared here in the character of judge, not of 
mere counsellor or disputant. Thy popish writers say that 
"James presided because the council was held in his own 
church." These men forget that there was not then what they 
term a Church on the face of the earth. The Church, or 
assembly of believers, then met in private houses; for there 
was no building for the exclusive purpose of Christian 
worship then, nor till long after. These writers also forget 
that the pope pretends to be the head of the catholic or 
universal Church; and, consequently, no man can preside where 
he is present, but himself. Peter did not preside here; and 
this was the first ecclesiastical council, and now, if ever, 
he should have assumed his character of prince and chief; but 
he did not; nor did any of the other apostles invite him to 
it, which they would have done had they thought that Jesus 
Christ constituted him head of the Church. From this very 
circumstance there is the most demonstrative evidence that 
Peter was no pope, and that the right of his pretended 
successor is a nonentity.

Verse 14. Simeon hath declared] It is remarkable that James 
does not give him even the title which he received from our 
Lord at the time in which he is supposed to have been made 
head of the Church, and vicar of Christ upon earth; so that, 
it is evident, James did not understand our Lord as giving 
Peter any such pre-eminence; and, therefore, he does not even 
call him Peter, but simply Simeon. It is truly surprising 
that such a vast number of important pretensions should rest 
on such slight foundations! If tradition, no matter how 
interrupted or precarious, did not lend its support, feeble 
as that necessarily must be, the cause tried by plain 
Scripture would fall to the ground.

To take out of them a people for his name.] To form among the 
Gentiles, as he had among the Jews, a people called by his 
name and devoted to his honour.

Verse 15. And to this agree the words of the prophets] Peter 
had asserted the fact of the conversion of the Gentiles; and 
James shows that that fact was the fulfillment of 
declarations made by the prophets.

Verse 16. After this I will return, and will build again, 
&c.] These two verses, 16th and 17th, are quoted from Amos 
ix. 11, 12, nearly as they now stand in the best editions of 
the Septuagint, and evidently taken from that version, which 
differs considerably from the Hebrew text. As St. James 
quoted them as a prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles into 
the Church of God, it is evident the Jews must have 
understood them in that sense, otherwise they would have 
immediately disputed his application of them to the subject 
in question, and have rejected his conclusion by denying the 
premises. But that the words were thus understood by the 
ancient Jews, we have their own testimony. In Sanhedr. fol. 
69, we have these remarkable words: "Rabbi Nachman said to 
Rabbi Isaac, 'Whence art thou taught when Bar Naphli will 
come?' He saith unto him, 'Who is this Bar Naphli?' The other 
replied, 'He is the Messiah.' 'Dost thou then call the 
Messiah Bar Naphli?' 'Yes,' said he, 'for it is written, In 
that day I will build again the tabernacle of David, tlpnh 
HANOPHELETH, which is falling down.'" This is evidently a 
quotation from Amos ix. 11, and a proof that the Jews 
understood it to be a prophecy concerning the Messiah. See 
Lightfoot.

Verse 17. That the residue of men might seek] Instead of 
this, the Hebrew has, That they may possess the remnant of 
Edom. Now it is evident that, in the copy from which the 
Seventy translated, they found wrdy yidreshu, they might 
seek, instead of wryy yireshu, they may possess, where the 
whole difference between the two words is the change of the y 
yod for a d daleth, which might be easily done; and they 
found µda adam, man, or men, instead of µwda Edom, the 
Idumeans, which differs from the other only by the insertion 
of w vau between the two last letters. None of the MSS. 
collated by Kennicott and Deuteronomy Rossi confirm these 
readings, in which the Septuagint, Arabic, and St. James 
agree. It shows, however, that even in Jerusalem, and in the 
early part of the apostolic age, the Septuagint version was 
quoted in preference to the Hebrew text; or, what is 
tantamount, was quoted in cases where we would have thought 
the Hebrew text should have been preferred, because better 
understood. But God was evidently preparing the way of the 
Gospel by bringing this venerable version into general credit 
and use; which was to be the means of conveying the truths of 
Christianity to the whole Gentile world. How precious should 
this august and most important version be to every Christian, 
and especially to every Christian minister! A version, 
without which no man ever did or ever can critically 
understand the New Testament. And I may add that, without the 
assistance afforded by this version, there never could have 
been a correct translation of the Hebrew text, since that 
language ceased to be vernacular, into any language.

Without it, even St. Jerome could have done little in 
translating the Old Testament into Latin; and how much all 
the modern versions owe to St. Jerome's Vulgate, which owes 
so much to the Septuagint, most Biblical scholars know.

Verse 18. Known unto God are all his works from the 
beginning] As if he had said, This is not a new counsel of 
God: he had purposed, from the time he called the Israelites, 
to make the Gentiles partakers of the same grace and mercy; 
and ultimately to destroy those rites and ceremonies which 
separated them from each other. He therefore has sent the 
Gospel of his Son, proclaiming equally peace to him that is 
afar off, the Gentiles, and to him that is nigh, the Jews.

The whole of this verse is very dubious: the principal part 
of it is omitted by the most ancient MSS., and Griesbach has 
left gnwsta apÆ aiwnov doubtful, and has thrown esti tw qew 
panta ta erga autou out of the text. Of the former clause, 
Professor White, in his Crisews, says, "forsitan delenda," 
"probably these words should be blotted out." And of the 
latter clause he says, "certissime delenda," "most assuredly 
these should be blotted out." Supposing the whole to be 
genuine, critics have laboured to find out the sense. Some 
very learned men, and particularly Schleusner, contend that 
the word gnwsta, from ginwskein, to know, should be 
understood here in the same sense in which ady yada is in 
many parts of the Old Testament, which not only signifies to 
know, but to approve, love, &c. They therefore would 
translate the passage thus: All the works of God are ever 
dear unto him. And, if so, consequently we might naturally 
expect him to be merciful to the Gentiles, as well as to the 
Jews; and the evidence now afforded of the conversion of the 
Gentiles is an additional proof that all God's works are 
equally dear to him.

Verse 19. Wherefore my sentence is] dio egw krinw, Wherefore 
I judge. There is an authority here that does not appear in 
the speech of St. Peter; and this authority was felt and 
bowed to by all the council; and the decree proposed by St. 
James adopted.

Verse 20. But that we write unto them] Four things are 
prohibited in this decree: 1. Pollutions of idols; 2. 
fornication; things strangled; 4. blood. By the first, 
POLLUTIONS of IDOLS, or, as it is in ver. 25, meats offered 
to idols, not only all idolatry was forbidden, but eating 
things offered in sacrifice to idols, knowing that they were 
thus offered, and joining with idolaters in their sacred 
feasts, which were always an incentive either to idolatry 
itself, or to the impure acts generally attendant on such 
festivals.

By the second, FORNICATION, all uncleanness of every kind was 
prohibited; for porneia not only means fornication, but 
adultery, incestuous mixtures, and especially the 
prostitution which was so common at the idol temples, viz. in 
Cyprus, at the worship of Venus; and the shocking disorders 
exhibited in the Bacchanalia, Lupercalia, and several others.

By the third, THINGS STRANGLED, we are to understand the 
flesh of those animals which were strangled for the purpose 
of keeping the blood in the body, as such animals were 
esteemed a greater delicacy.

By the fourth, BLOOD, we are to understand, not only the 
thing itself, for the reasons which I have assigned in the 
note on Genesis ix. 4, and for others detailed at the end of 
this chapter; but also all cruelty, manslaughter, murder, 
&c., as some of the ancient fathers have understood it.

Instead of tou aimartov, blood, some have conjectured that we 
should read coireiav, swine's flesh; for they cannot see, 
first, that there can be any harm in eating of blood; and, 
secondly, that, as the other three things neither have nor 
can have any moral evil in them, it would seem strange that 
they should be coupled with a thing which, on all hands, is 
confessed to have much moral turpitude. Answers to such 
trifling objections will be found at the end of the chapter. 
It is only necessary to add that this coireiav, which is the 
critical emendation of Dr. Bentley, is not supported by one 
MS. or version in existence.

At the close of this verse, the Codex Bezae, and several 
others, add a fifth thing, And not to do to others what they 
would not have done to themselves. Though this is a very 
ancient reading, it does not appear to be genuine.

Verse 21. Moses of old time hath in every city] The sense of 
this verse seems to be this: As it was necessary to write to 
the Gentiles what was strictly necessary to be observed by 
them, relative to these points, it was not so to the 
converted Jews; for they had Moses, that is, the law, 
preached to them, kata polin, in the city, that is, Antioch; 
and, by the reading of the law in the synagogues every 
Sabbath day, they were kept in remembrance of those 
institutions which the Gentiles, who had not the law, could 
not know. Therefore, James thought that a letter to the 
converted Gentiles would be sufficient, as the converted Jews 
had already ample instruction on these points.

Verse 22. Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the 
whole Church] James determined what ought to be done; and the 
whole assembly resolved how that should be done.

Chosen men of their own company] Paul and Barnabas were to 
return: they could have witnessed to the Church at Antioch 
what was done at the council at Jerusalem; but as it was 
possible that their testimony might be suspected, from the 
part they had already taken in this question at Antioch, it 
was necessary that a deputation from the council should 
accompany them. Accordingly Judas and Silas are sent to 
corroborate by their oral testimony what was contained in the 
letters sent from the council.

Verse 23. Send greeting unto the brethren-of the Gentiles] 
There was no occasion to send such a letter to the brethren 
which were of the Jews, because that law which had been so 
long read in their synagogues taught them all those things; 
and therefore the epistle is sent exclusively to the 
Gentiles. The word greeting is in the original cairein, to be 
well, to be safe; a very usual form in Greek epistles, the 
word eucomai being understood, I wish thee to be well.

Verse 24. Certain which went out from us] So the persons who 
produced these doubtful disputations at Antioch, &c., had 
gone out from the apostles at Jerusalem, and were of that 
Church: persons zealous for the law, and yet, strange to 
tell, so conscientiously attached to the Gospel that they 
risked their personal safety by professing it.

To whom we gave no such commandment] As, therefore, they went 
out from that Church, they should have taught nothing which 
was not owned and taught by it; much less should they have 
taught in opposition to it.

Verse 26. Men that have hazarded their lives] This was a high 
character of Paul and Barnabas: they had already suffered 
much in the cause of Christ, and exposed their lives to the 
most imminent danger, and were intent on the same work, 
notwithstanding the increasing dangers in the way.

Verse 27. Judas and Silas-shall-tell you the same things] 
These were proofs that the testimony of Paul and Barnabas was 
true; and that the letter was not forged, as they could 
witness the same things which the letter contained.

Verse 28. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us] 
The whole council had met under his direction; had consulted 
under his influence; and gave forth their decree from his 
especial inspiration.

Necessary things] They were necessary, howsoever burthensome 
they might appear; and necessary, not only for the time, 
place, or occasion; but for all times, all places, and all 
occasions. See this proved in the observations at the end of 
this chapter.

Verse 29. Ye shall do well.] But, if they did not keep 
themselves from these things, they would do ill; that is, 
they would sin against God, whose Spirit had commanded them 
to keep from these things. And who can do any of these 
forbidden things, and keep either a guiltless or a tender 
conscience? Fare-well.] An old English form of expressing 
good wishes and good will. It is compounded of (Anglo-Saxon) 
to go, and (Anglo-Saxon), much, well, very much. Go well, go 
prosperously!-tantamount with good speed! may you succeed 
well! may God direct you! Like to that other form of sound 
words, God be with you! corrupted now into good by to ye! And 
of the same meaning with adieu! a Dieu, to God; that is, I 
commend you to God. All these terms savour not only of good 
will, or benevolence, but also of piety. Our pious ancestors 
believed that nothing was safe, nothing protected, nothing 
prosperous, over which the shield of God was not extended; 
and, therefore, in their familiar good wishes, they gave each 
other to God. The Greek word errwsqe, errhosthe, here used, 
from rwnnumi, to strengthen, make strong, has nearly the same 
signification: be strong, courageous, active, be in health, 
and be prosperous! What a pity that such benevolent and pious 
wishes should degenerate into cool formalities, or unmeaning 
compliments!

Verse 31. They rejoiced for the consolation.] It was not a 
matter of small moment to have a question on which such 
stress was laid decided by an apostolic council, over which 
the Spirit of God presided.

Verse 32. Judas and Silas, being prophets] That is, being 
teachers in the Church. This signification of the word 
prophet we have often already seen. See the notes on chap. 
xi. 27; xiii. 1.

Exhorted the brethren] To abide steadily attached to God, and 
to each other, in peace, love, and unity.

And confirmed them.] In the blessed truths they had already 
received.

Verse 33. They were let go] That is, both had liberty to 
depart; but Silas chose to stay a little longer with the 
brethren.

Verse 34. Notwithstanding it pleased Silas, &c.] This whole 
verse is wanting in ABEG, a great number besides, with the 
Syriac, Arabic, Coptic, Slavonic, Vulgate, and some of the 
fathers. It does not appear to have been originally in the 
text.

Verse 36. Let us go-and visit our brethren in every city] 
This heavenly man projected a journey to Cyprus, Pamphylia, 
Pisidia, Lycaonia, Salamis, Paphos, Perga, Iconiam, Lystra, 
Derbe, Antioch in Pisidia, and elsewhere; for in all these 
places he had preached and founded Churches in the preceding 
year. He saw it was necessary to water the seed he had 
planted; for these were young converts, surrounded with 
impiety, opposition, and superstition, and had few advantages 
among themselves.

Verse 37. Barnabas determined to take with them John] John 
Mark was his sister's son; and natural affection might have 
led him to the partiality here mentioned.

Verse 38. But Paul thought not good to take him with them] On 
this subject, see the note on chap. xiii. 13.

Verse 39. The contention was so sharp between them] For all 
this sentence, there is only in the Greek text egeneto oun 
paroxusmov; there was therefore a paroxysm, an incitement, a 
stirring up, from paroxunw, compounded of para, intensive, 
and oxunw, to whet, or sharpen: there was a sharp contention. 
But does this imply anger or ill-will on either side? 
Certainly not. Here, these two apostles differed, and were 
strenuous, each in support of the part he had adopted. 
"Paul," as an ancient Greek commentator has it, "being 
influenced only with the love of righteousness; Barnabas 
being actuated by love to his relative." John Mark had been 
tried in trying circumstances, and he failed; Paul, 
therefore, would not trust him again. The affection of 
Barnabas led him to hope the best, and was therefore desirous 
to give him another trial. Barnabas would not give up: Paul 
would not agree. They therefore agreed to depart from each 
other, and take different parts of the work: each had an 
attendant and companion at hand; so Barnabas took John Mark, 
and sailed to Cyprus: Paul took Silas, and went into Syria. 
John Mark proved faithful to his uncle Barnabas; and Silas 
proved faithful to his master Paul. To all human appearance 
it was best that they separated; as the Churches were more 
speedily visited, and the work of God more widely and more 
rapidly spread. And why is it that most men attach blame to 
this difference between Paul and Barnabas? And why is it that 
this is brought in as a proof of the sinful imperfection of 
these holy apostles? Because those who thus treat the subject 
can never differ with another without feeling wrong tempers; 
and then, as destitute of good breeding as they are of 
humility, they attribute to others the angry, proud, and 
wrathful dispositions which they feel in themselves; and, 
because they cannot be angry and sin not, they suppose that 
even apostles themselves cannot. Thus, in fact, we are always 
bringing our own moral or immoral qualifications to be a 
standard, by which we are to judge of the characters and 
moral feelings of men who were actuated by zeal for God's 
glory, brotherly kindness, and charity. Should any man say 
there was sin in this contention between Paul and Barnabas, I 
answer, there is no evidence of this in the text. Should he 
say, the word paroxusmov, paroxysm, denotes this, I answer, 
it does not. And the verb paroxunomai is often used in a good 
sense. So Isocrates ad Demosth. cap. xx. malista dÆ an 
paroxunqeihv orecqhnai twn kalwn ergwn? "But thou wilt be the 
more stirred up to the love of good works." And such persons 
forget that this is the very form used by the apostle 
himself, Heb. x. 24: kai katanowmen allhlouv eiv paroxusmon 
agaphv kai kalwn ergwn? which, these objectors would be 
highly displeased with me, were I to translate, Let us 
consider one another to an angry contention of love and good 
works. From these examples, it appears that the word is used 
to signify incitement of any kind; and, if taken in a medical 
sense, to express the burning fit of an ague: it is also 
taken to express a strong excitement to the love of God and 
man, and to the fruits by which such love can be best proved; 
and, in the case before us, there was certainly nothing 
contrary to this pure principle in either of those heavenly 
men. See also Kypke on Heb. x. 24.

Verse 40. Being recommended-unto the grace of God.] Much 
stress has been laid upon this, to show that Barnabas was in 
the wrong, and Paul in the right, because "the brethren 
recommended Paul and Silas to the grace of God; but they did 
not recommend Barnabas and John Mark: this proves that the 
Church condemned the conduct of Barnabas, but approved that 
of Paul." Now, there is no proof that the Church did not 
recommend Barnabas to the grace of God, as well as Paul; but, 
as St. Luke had for the present dropped the story of 
Barnabas, and was now going on with that of Paul and Silas, 
he begins it at this point, viz. his being recommended by the 
brethren to the grace of God; and then goes on to tell of his 
progress in Syria, Derbe, Lystra, &c., &c. See the next 
chapter. And with this verse should the following chapter 
begin; and this is the division followed by the most correct 
copies of the Greek text.

Verse 41. Confirming the Churches.] This was the object of 
his journey: they were young converts, and had need of 
establishment; and there is no doubt that, by showing them 
the decision made at the late council of Jerusalem, their 
faith was greatly strengthened, their hope confirmed, and 
their love increased. It was this consideration, no doubt, 
that led some ancient MSS. and some versions to add here, 
They delivered them the decrees of the apostles and elders to 
keep; which clause certainly was not an original part of the 
text, but seems to have been borrowed from the fourth verse 
of the following chapter. Some have thought that the fourth 
and fifth verses of the next chapter really belong to this 
place; or that the first, second, and third verses of it 
should be read in a parenthesis; but of this there does not 
appear to be any particular necessity.

CHAPTER xvi.

Paul, coming to Derbe and Lystra, meets with Timothy, the son 
of a Jewess by a Greek father, whom he circumcises and takes 
with him into his work, 1-3. As they pass through the 
different cities, they deliver the apostles' decrees to the 
Churches; and they are established in the faith, and daily 
increase in numbers, 4, 5. They travel through Phrygia, 
Galatia, Mysia, and to Troas, 6-8. Where Paul has a vision, 
relative to his preaching in Macedonia, 9, 10. Leaving Troas, 
he sails to Samothracia and Neapolis, and comes to Philippi 
in Macedonia, 11, 12. Lydia, a seller of purple, receives the 
apostles teaching; and she and her family are baptized, 13-
16. A young woman, with a spirit of divination, dispossessed 
by St. Paul, 16-18. Her masters, finding their gain by her 
soothsaying gone, make an attack upon Paul and Silas, drag 
them before the magistrates, who command them to be beaten, 
thrust into the closest prison, and their feet made fast in 
the stocks, 19-24. Paul and Silas singing praises at 
midnight, the prison doors are miraculously opened, and all 
the bonds of the prisoners loosed, 25, 26. The keeper being 
alarmed, supposing that the prisoners were fled, is about to 
kill himself, but is prevented by Paul, 27-28. He inquires 
the way of salvation, believes, and he and his whole family 
are baptized, 29-34. The next morning the magistrates order 
the apostles to be dismissed, 35, 36. Paul pleads his 
privilege as a Roman, and accuses the magistrates of 
injustice, who, being alarmed, come themselves to the prison, 
deliver them, and beg them to depart from the city, 37-39. 
They leave the prison, enter into the house of Lydia, comfort 
the brethren, and depart, 40.

NOTES ON CHAP. xvi.

Verse 1. A certain disciple] Bishop Pearce would read the 
latter part of this verse and the beginning of the next thus-
A certain disciple named Timotheus, (the son of a certain 
Jewish woman that believed, but of a father who was a Greek,) 
who was well reported of by the brethren, &c.

This Timothy was the same person to whom St. Paul wrote those 
two noble epistles which are still extant. His mother's name 
was Eunice, as we learn from 2 Tim. i. 5. What his father's 
name was we know not; he was either a mere heathen, or, at 
most, only a proselyte of the gate, who never submitted to 
circumcision: had he submitted to this rite, he would, no 
doubt, have circumcised his son; but the son being without it 
is a proof that the father was so too.

Some MSS. state that Timothy's mother was now a widow; but 
this does not appear to be well founded.

Verse 2. Which was well reported of] These words are spoken 
of Timothy, and not of his father. At this time Timothy must 
have been very young; for, several years after, when 
appointed to superintend the Church at Crete, he appears to 
have been then so young that there was a danger of its 
operating to the prejudice of his ministry: 1 Tim. iv. 12, 
Let no man despise thy youth. He had a very early religious 
education from his godly mother Eunice, and his not less 
pious grandmother Lois; and, from his religious instructions, 
was well prepared for the work to which God now called him.

Verse 3. Took and circumcised him] For this simple reason, 
that the Jews would neither have heard him preach, nor would 
have any connection with him, had he been otherwise. Besides, 
St. Paul himself could have had no access to the Jews in any 
place, had they known that he associated with a person who 
was uncircumcised: they would have considered both to be 
unclean. The circumcision of Timothy was a merely prudential 
regulation; one rendered imperiously necessary by the 
circumstances in which they were then placed; and, as it was 
done merely in reference to this, Timothy was lain under no 
necessity to observe the Mosaic ritual, nor could it 
prejudice his spiritual state, because he did not do it in 
order to seek justification by the law, for this he had 
before, through the faith of Christ. In Gal. ii. 3-5, we read 
that Paul refuses to circumcise Titus, who was a Greek, and 
his parents Gentiles, notwithstanding the entreaties of some 
zealous Judaizing Christians, as their object was to bring 
him under the yoke of the law: here, the case was widely 
different, and the necessity of the measure indisputable.

Verse 4. They delivered them the decrees for to keep] ta 
dogmata, ta kekrimena upo twn apostolwn. Bishop Pearce 
contends that ta dogmata, the decrees, is a gloss which was 
not in the text originally; and that the ta kekrimena, the 
judgments or determinations of the apostles, was all that was 
originally written here. He supports his opinion by a 
reference to the word krinw, I judge, used by James, chap. 
xv. 19, whence the whole decision, as it referred-1. to the 
inexpediency of circumcising the Gentiles; and, 2. to the 
necessity of observing the four precepts laid down, was 
called ta kekrimena, the things that were judged, or decided 
on; the judgments of the apostolic council. Instead of 
gegrammena, the Syrian has a word that answers to gegrammena, 
the decrees that were written. The word dogma, from dokew, to 
think proper, determine, decree, signifies an ordinance or 
decree, properly and deliberately made, relative to any 
important point, and which, in reference to that point, has 
the force of law.

Our term dogma, which we often abuse, is the Greek word in 
English letters.

Verse 5. And so were the Churches established] The 
disputations at Antioch, relative to circumcision, had no 
doubt spread far and wide among other Churches, and unhinged 
many. The decrees of the apostles came in good time, and 
prevented farther mischief: the people, saved from 
uncertainty, became established in the faith; and the Church 
had a daily accession of converted souls.

Verse 6. Were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word 
in Asia.] The Asia mentioned here could not be Asia Minor in 
general, for Galatia, Phrygia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, and 
Pamphylia, were provinces of it, and in these the apostles 
preached; but it was what was called Proconsular Asia, which 
included only Ionia, AEolia, and Lydia. The apostles were not 
suffered to visit these places at this time; but they 
afterwards went thither, and preached the Gospel with 
success; for it was in this Proconsular Asia that the seven 
Churches were situated. God chose to send his servants to 
another place, where he saw that the word would be 
affectionately received; and probably those in Proconsular 
Asia were not, as yet, sufficiently prepared to receive and 
profit by it.

Verse 7. After they were come to Mysia] They passed through 
Phrygia into Mysia, which lay between Bithynia on the north, 
Phrygia on the east, AEolia on the south, and the 
Mediterranean on the west.

But the Spirit suffered them not] God saw that that was not 
the most proper time to preach the word at Bithynia; as he 
willed them to go immediately to Macedonia, the people there 
being ripe for the word of life.

Instead of to pneuma, the Spirit merely, to pneuma ihsou, the 
Spirit of JESUS, is the reading of ABCDE, several others, 
with both the Syriac, the Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, 
Vulgate, Itala, and several of the fathers.

The reading is undoubtedly genuine, and should be immediately 
restored to the text.

Verse 8. Came down to Troas.] The Troad, or part of Phrygia 
Minor in which the celebrated city of Troy was formerly 
situated. This city was first built by Dardanus, who was its 
king, and from whom it was called Dardania; from Tros, his 
grandson, it was called Troja, or Troy; and from his son, 
Ilus, it was called Ilium. It has been long so completely 
destroyed that no ascertainable vestige of it remains; 
insomuch that some have even doubted of its existence. Those 
who contend for the reality of the history of Troy suppose it 
to have stood on the site of the modern village Bounarbachi, 
about twelve miles from the sea, on an eminence, at the 
termination of a spacious plain.

Verse 9. A vision appeared to Paul in the night] Whether this 
was in a dream, or whether a representation made to the 
senses of the apostle, we cannot tell. A man of Macedonia 
appeared to him, and made this simple communication, Come 
over into Macedonia, and help us.

Some suppose that the guardian angel of Macedonia appeared to 
St. Paul in a human shape; others, that it was a Divine 
communication made to his imagination in a dream.

Verse 10. We endeavoured to go into Macedonia] This is the 
first place that the historian St. Luke refers to himself: WE 
endeavoured, &c. And, from this, it has been supposed that he 
joined the company of Paul, for the first time, at Troas.

Assuredly gathering] sumbibazontev, Drawing an inference from 
the vision that had appeared.

That the Lord had called us for to preach] That is, they 
inferred that they were called to preach the Gospel in 
Macedonia, from what the vision had said, come over and help 
us; the help meaning, preach to us the Gospel. Instead of o 
kuriov, the Lord, meaning JESUS, several MSS., such as ABCE, 
several others, with the Coptic, Vulgate, Theophylact, and 
Jerome, have o qeov, GOD. Though this stands on very 
reputable authority, yet the former seems to be the better 
reading; for it was the SPIRIT OF JESUS, ver. 7, that would 
not suffer them to go into Bithynia, because he had designed 
that they should immediately preach the Gospel in Macedonia.

Verse 11. Loosing from Troas] Setting sail from this place.

With a straight course to Samothracia] This was an island of 
the AEgean Sea, contiguous to Thrace, and hence called 
Samothracia, or the Thracian Samos. It is about twenty miles 
in circumference, and is now called Samandrachi by the Turks, 
who are its present masters.

And the next day to Neapolis.] There were many cities of this 
name; but this was a sea-port town of Macedonia, a few miles 
eastward of Philippi.

Neapolis signifies the new city.

Verse 12. And from thence to Philippi] This was a town of 
Macedonia, in the territory of the Edones, on the confines of 
Thrace, situated on the side of a steep eminence. It took its 
name from Philip II., king of Macedon.

It is famous for two battles, fought between the imperial 
army, commanded by Octavianus, afterwards Augustus, and Mark 
Antony, and the republican army, commanded by Brutus and 
Cassius, in which these were successful; and a second, 
between Octavianus and Antony on the one part, and Brutus on 
the other. In this battle the republican troops were cut to 
pieces, after which Brutus killed himself. It was to the 
Church in this city that St. Paul wrote the epistle that 
still goes under their name. This place is still in being, 
though much decayed, and is the see of an archbishop.

The chief city of that part of Macedonia] This passage has 
greatly puzzled both critics and commentators. It is well 
known that, when Paulus AEmilius had conquered Macedonia, he 
divided it into four parts, merh, and that he called the 
country that lay between the rivers Strymon and Nessus, the 
first part, and made Amphipolis its chief city, or 
metropolis; Philippi, therefore, was not its chief city. But 
Bishop Pearce has, with great show of reason, argued that, 
though Amphipolis was made the chief city of it by Paulus 
AEmilius, yet Philippi might have been the chief city in the 
days of St. Paul, which was two hundred and twenty years 
after the division by P. AEmilius. Besides, as it was at this 
place that Augustus gained that victory which put him in 
possession of the whole Roman empire, might not he have given 
to it that dignity which was before enjoyed by Amphipolis? 
This is the most rational way of solving this difficulty; and 
therefore I shall not trouble the reader with the different 
modes that have been proposed to alter and amend the Greek 
text.

And a colony] That is, a colony of Rome; for it appears that 
a colony was planted here by Julius Caesar, and afterwards 
enlarged by Augustus; the people, therefore, were considered 
as freemen of Rome, and, from this, call themselves Romans, 
ver. 21. The Jewish definition of aynlq kolonia (for they 
have the Latin word in Hebrew letters, as St. Luke has it.

here, kolwnia, in Greek letters) is, a free city, which does 
not pay tribute.

Verse 13. By a river side, where prayer was wont to be made] 
ou enomizeto proseuch einai, where it was said there was a 
proseucha.

The proseucha was a place of prayer, or a place used for 
worship, where there was no synagogue. It was a large 
building uncovered, with seats, as in an amphitheatre. 
Buildings of this sort the Jews had by the sea side, and by 
the sides of rivers. See this subject considered at large in 
the note on Luke vi. 12. It appears that the apostles had 
heard from some of the Gentiles, or from some of the Jews 
themselves, that there was a place of prayer by the river 
side; and they went out in quest of it, knowing that, as it 
was the Sabbath, they should find some Jews there.

Spake unto the women] Probably this was before the time of 
their public worship, and while they were waiting for the 
assembling of the people in general; and Paul improved the 
opportunity to speak concerning Christ and salvation to the 
women that resorted thither.

Verse 14. Lydia, a seller of purple] She probably had her 
name from the province of Lydia, in which the city of 
Thyatira was situated. The Lydian women have been celebrated 
for their beautiful purple manufactures.

Which worshipped God] That is, she was a proselyte to the 
Jewish religion; as were probably all the women that resorted 
hither.

Whose heart the Lord opened] As she was a sincere worshipper 
of God, she was prepared to receive the heavenly truths 
spoken by Paul and his companions; and, as she was faithful 
to the grace she had received, so God gave her more grace, 
and gave her now a Divine conviction that what was spoken by 
Paul was true; and therefore she attended unto the things-she 
believed them and received them as the doctrines of God; and 
in this faith she was joined by her whole family, and in it 
they were all baptized.

Verse 15. If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord] 
The meaning seems to be this: If my present reception of the 
Gospel of Christ be a proof to you that I have been faithful 
to the Lord, in the light previously imparted, and that I am 
as likely to be faithful to this new grace as I have been to 
that already received, and, consequently, not likely by light 
or fickle conduct to bring any discredit on this Divine work, 
come into my house, and abide there. It is wrong to suppose 
that this woman had not received a measure of the light of 
God before this time.

And she constrained us.] She used such entreaties and 
persuasions that at last they consented to lodge there.

Verse 16. As we went to prayer] eiv proseuchn, Into the 
proseucha: see on ver. 13, and on Luke vi. 12. The article, 
thn, is added here by ABCE, several others, Origen and 
Theophylact: thus makes the place more emphatic, and seems to 
determine the above meaning of proseuchn to be right-not the 
act of prayer or praying to God, but the place, the oratory, 
in which these proselytes assembled for the purpose of 
praying, reading the law and the prophets, and such like 
exercises of devotion. It appears that the apostles spent 
dome time here; as it is evident, from this and the following 
verses, that they often resorted to this place to preach the 
Gospel.

Possessed with a spirit of divination] ecousan pneuma 
puqwnov, Having a spirit of Python, or of Apollo. Pytho was, 
according to fable, a huge serpent, that had an oracle at 
Mount Parnassus, famous for predicting future events; Apollo 
slew this serpent, and hence he was called Pythius, and 
became celebrated as the foreteller of future events; and all 
those, who either could or pretended to predict future 
events, were influenced by the spirit of Apollo Pythius. As 
often-times the priestesses of this god became greatly 
agitated, and gave answers apparently from their bellies, 
when their mouths remained close, puqwn was applied to the 
eggastrimuqoi, or ventriloquists. Hesychius defines puqwn, 
daimonion mantikon, a divining demon; and it was evidently 
such a one that possessed this young woman, and which Paul 
expelled, ver. 18. See on this subject the notes on Lev. xix. 
31, and Deut. xviii. 11.

Brought her masters much gain by soothsaying] manteuouenh, By 
divination, or what we call telling fortunes. Our term 
soothsaying coming from the Anglo-Saxon (Anglo-Saxon), truth; 
and (Anglo-Saxon), to say, i.e. truth saying, or saying the truth. 
For, as it was supposed among the heathen that such persons spoke 
by the inspiration of their god, consequently what they said must 
be true. However, our translators might have used a term here 
that would not have been so creditable to this Pythoness; for, 
what she said concerning the apostles excepted, she certainly 
could not be supposed to tell the truth, while her 
inspiration came from him who is the father of lies. But 
Satan will sometimes conceal himself under the guise of 
truth, that he may the more effectually deceive. See below.

Verse 17. These men are the servants, &c.] It is astonishing 
how such a testimony could be given in such a case; every 
syllable of it true, and at the same time full, clear, and 
distinct. But mark the deep design and artifice of this evil 
spirit: 1. He well knew that the Jewish law abhorred all 
magic, incantations, magical rites, and dealings with 
familiar spirits; he therefore bears what was in itself a 
true testimony to the apostles, that by it he may destroy 
their credit, and ruin their usefulness. The Jews, by this 
testimony, would be led at once to believe that the apostles 
were in compact with these demons, and that the miracles they 
wrought were done by the agency of these wicked spirits, and 
that the whole was the effect of magic; and this, of course, 
would harden their hearts against the preaching of the 
Gospel. 2. The GENTILES, finding that their own demon bore 
testimony to the apostles, would naturally consider that the 
whole was one system; that they had nothing to learn, nothing 
to correct; and thus the preaching of the apostles must be 
useless to them. In such a predicament is this, nothing could 
have saved the credit of the apostles but their dispossessing 
this woman of her familiar spirit, and that in the most 
incontestable manner; for what could have saved the credit of 
Moses and Aaron, when the magicians of Egypt turned their 
rods into serpents, had not Aaron's rod devoured theirs? And 
what could have saved the credit of these apostles but the 
casting out of this spirit of divination, with which, 
otherwise, both Jews and Gentiles would have believed them in 
compact?

Verse 18. Paul, being grieved] Probably for the reasons 
assigned above.

Turned-to the spirit] Not to the woman; she was only the 
organ by which the spirit acted.

I command thee, in the name of Jesus] Jesus is the saviour; 
Satan is Abaddon and Apollyon, the destroyer. The sovereign 
saviour says to the destroyer, Come out of her; and he came 
out in the same hour. Every circumstance of this case proves 
it to have been a real possession. We have already had 
several opportunities of remarking the great accuracy of St. 
Luke in his accounts of demoniacs: his education as a 
physician gave him advantages to detect imposture of this 
kind where it subsisted; but he sees none in this case. He 
speaks of the spirit and the damsel as distinct persons. The 
damsel had a spirit of divination. Paul turned to the spirit, 
and said, I command THEE to come out of HER; and he came out 
in the same hour. Had not St. Luke considered this as a real 
case of diabolic possession, he has made use of the most 
improper language he could choose; language and forms of 
speech calculated to deceive all his readers, and cause them 
to believe a lie. But it is impossible that the holy apostle 
could do so, because he was a good man; and it is not likely 
he could be deceived by a parcel of charlatans, because he 
was a wise man; and it would be absurd to suppose that, while 
he was under the influence of the Holy Spirit, he could be 
imposed on by the cunning of even the devil himself.

Verse 19. When her masters saw] It appears she was maintained 
by some men, who received a certain pay from every person 
whose fortune she told, or to whom she made any discovery of 
stolen goods, &c., &c.

The hope of their gains was gone] Æh elpiv, This hope; viz. 
the spirit.

So completely was this spirit cast out that the girl could 
divine no more; and yet she continued a heathen still, for we 
do not hear a word of her conversion. Had she been converted, 
got baptized, and been associated with the apostles, the 
family of Lydia, &c., there would have been some show of 
reason to believe that there had been no possession in the 
case, and that the spirit of divination coming out of her 
meant no more than that, through scruple of conscience, she 
had left off her imposing arts, and would no longer continue 
to pretend to do what she knew she could not perform. But she 
still continued with her masters, though now utterly unable 
to disclose any thing relative to futurity! Drew them into 
the market-place] This was the place of public resort, and, 
by bringing them here, they might hope to excite a general 
clamour against them; and probably those who are here called 
touv arcontav, the rulers, were civil magistrates, who kept 
offices in such public places, for the preservation of the 
peace of the city. But these words, the rulers, are suspected 
to be an interpolation by some critics: I think on no good 
ground.

Verse 20. Brought them to the magistrates] strathgoiv, The 
commanders of the army, who, very likely, as this city was a 
Roman colony, possessed the sovereign authority. The civil 
magistrates, therefore, having heard the case, as we shall 
soon find, in which it was pretended that the safety of the 
state was involved, would naturally refer the business to the 
decision of those who had the supreme command.

Exceedingly trouble our city] They are destroying the public 
peace, and endangering the public safety.

Verse 21. And teach customs] eqh, Religious opinions, and 
religious rites.

Which are not lawful for us to receive] The Romans were very 
jealous of their national worship. Servius, on the following 
lines of Virgil, has given us correct information on this 
point; and has confirmed what several other writers have 
advanced: - Rex Evandrus ait: Non haec solemnia nobis Vana 
superstitio, veterumque ignara deorum, Imposuit. AEn. viii. 
v. 185, &c.

King Evander said:-It is not vain superstition, ignorant of 
the ancient worship of the gods, which has imposed these 
rites on us. Duo dicit, says Servius: non ideo Herculem 
colimus; aut quia omnem religionem veram putamus; aut quia 
deos ignoramus antiquos. Cautum enim fuerat, et apud 
Athenienses, et apud Romanos; ne quis NOVAS introduceret 
RELIGIONES: unde et Socrates damnatus est: et Chaldaei et 
Judaei unt urbe depulsi.

"He says two things: we do not worship Hercules because we 
believe every religion to be true; nor are we ignorant of the 
ancient gods. Great care was taken, both among the Athenians 
and Romans, that no one should introduce any new religion. It 
was on this account that Socrates was condemned, and on this 
account the Chaldeans and the Jews were banished from Rome." 
CICERO, Deuteronomy Legibus, lib. ii. c. 8, says: Separatim 
nemo habessit deos; neve NOVOS; sed nec ADVENAS, nisi publice 
ADSCITOS, PRIVATIM colunto. "No person shall have any 
separate gods, nor new ones; nor shall he privately worship 
any strange gods, unless they be publicly allowed." The whole 
chapter is curious. It was on such laws as these that the 
people of Philippi pleaded against the apostles. These men 
bring new gods, new worship, new rites; we are Romans, and 
the laws forbid us to worship any new or strange god, unless 
publicly allowed.

Verse 22. The multitude rose up together] There was a general 
outcry against them; and the magistrates tore off their 
clothes, and delivered them to the mob, commanding the 
lictors, or beadles, to beat them with rods, rabdizein. This 
was the Roman custom of treating criminals, as Grotius has 
well remarked.

Verse 23. Laid many stripes upon them] The Jews never gave 
more than thirty-nine stripes to any criminal; but the Romans 
had no law relative to this: they gave as many as they chose; 
and the apostles had, undoubtedly, the fullest measure. And 
perhaps St. Paul refers to this, where he says, 2 Cor. xi. 
23: en plhgaiv uperballontwv, in stripes beyond measure or 
moderation.

Verse 24. The inner prison] Probably what we would call the 
dungeon; the darkest and most secure cell.

Made their feet fast in the stocks.] The to xulon, which we 
here translate stocks, is supposed to mean two large pieces 
of wood, pierced with holes like our stocks, and fitted to 
each other, that, when the legs were in, they could not be 
drawn out. The holes being pierced at different distances, 
the legs might be separated or divaricated to a great extent, 
which must produce extreme pain. It is this circumstance to 
which it is supposed Prudentius refers, in speaking of the 
torments of St. Vincent: - Lignoque plantas inserit, 
Divaricatis cruribus.

"They placed his feet in the stocks, his legs greatly 
distended!" If the apostles were treated in this way, lying 
on the bare ground with their flayed backs, what agony must 
they have suffered! However, they could sing praises 
notwithstanding.

Verse 25. At midnight Paul and Silas-sang praises] Though 
these holy men felt much, and had reason to fear more, yet 
they are undismayed, and even happy in their sufferings: they 
were so fully satisfied that they were right, and had done 
their duty, that there was no room for regret or self-
reproach. At the same times they had such consolations from 
God as could render any circumstances not only tolerable, but 
delightful. They prayed, first, for grace to support them, 
and for pardon and salvation for their persecutors; and then, 
secondly, sang praises to God, who had called them to such a 
state of salvation, and had accounted them worthy to suffer 
shame for the testimony of Jesus. And, although they were in 
the inner prison, they sang so loud and so heartily that the 
prisoners heard them.

Verse 26. There was a great earthquake] Thus God bore a 
miraculous testimony of approbation to his servants; and, by 
the earthquake, and loosing the bonds of the prisoners, 
showed, in a symbolical way, the nature of that religion 
which they preached: while it shakes and terrifies the 
guilty, it proclaims deliverance to the captives, and the 
opening of the prison-doors to them that are bound; and sets 
at liberty them that are bruised.

Every one's bands were loosed.] And yet so eminently did 
God's providence conduct every thing, that not one of the 
prisoners made his escape, though the doors were open, and 
his bolts off! 

Verse 27. The keeper of the prison-would have killed himself] 
Every jailor was made responsible for his prisoner, under the 
same penalty to which the prisoner himself was exposed. The 
jailor, awaking, and finding the prison-doors open, taking it 
for granted that all the prisoners had made their escape, and 
that he must lose his life on the account, chose rather to 
die by his own hand than by that of others. For it was 
customary among the heathens, when they found death 
inevitable, to take away their own lives. This custom was 
applauded by their philosophers, and sanctioned by some of 
their greatest men.

Verse 28. Do thyself no harm] As it was now dark, being 
midnight, St. Paul must have had a Divine intimation of what 
the jailor was going to do; and, to prevent it, cried out 
aloud, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here.

Verse 29. He called for a light] That he might see how things 
stood, and whether the words of Paul were true; for on this 
his personal safety depended.

Came trembling] Terrified by the earthquake, and feeling the 
danger to which his own life was exposed.

Fell down before Paul and Silas] The persons whom a few hours 
before he, according to his office, treated with so much 
asperity, if not cruelty, as some have supposed; though, by 
the way, it does not appear that he exceeded his orders in 
his treatment of the apostles.

Verse 30. Brought them out] Of the dungeon in which they were 
confined.

What must I do to be saved?] Whether this regard personal or 
eternal safety, it is a question the most interesting to man. 
But it is not likely that the jailor referred here to his 
personal safety. He had seen, notwithstanding the prison 
doors had been miraculously opened, and the bonds of the 
prisoners all loosed, that not one of them had escaped: hence 
he could not feel himself in danger of losing his life on 
this account; and consequently it cannot be his personal 
safety about which he inquires. He could not but have known 
that these apostles had been preaching among the people what 
they called the doctrine of salvation; and he knew that for 
expelling a demon they were delivered into his custody: the 
Spirit of God had now convinced his heart that he was lost, 
and needed salvation; and therefore his earnest inquiry is 
how he should obtain it. The answer of the apostles to the 
jailor shows that his inquiry was not about his personal 
safety; as his believing on Jesus Christ could have had no 
effect upon that, in his present circumstances. Men who 
dispute against this sense of the word are not aware that the 
Spirit of God can teach any thing to a heart, which the head 
of a person has not previously learned. Therefore, they say 
it was impossible that a heathen could make such an inquiry 
in reference to his eternal state, because he could know 
nothing about it. On this ground, how impertinent would the 
answer of the apostles have been: Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be put in a state of PERSONAL SAFETY, 
and thy family! I contend that neither he nor his family were 
in any danger, as long as not one prisoner had escaped; he 
had, therefore, nothing from this quarter to fear; and, on 
the ground against which I contend, his own question would 
have been as impertinent as the apostles' answer.

Verse 31. Believe on the Lord Jesus] Receive the religion of 
Christ, which we preach, and let thy household also receive 
it, and ye shall be all placed in the sure way to final 
salvation.

Verse 32. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord] Thus, 
by teaching him and all that were in his house the doctrine 
of the Lord, they plainly pointed out to them the way of 
salvation. And it appears that he and his whole family, who 
were capable of receiving instructions, embraced this 
doctrine, and showed the sincerity of their faith by 
immediately receiving baptism. And, by the way, if he and all 
his were baptized straightway, paracrhma, immediately, 
instantly, at that very time, dum ipsa res agitur, it is by 
no means likely that there was any immersion in the case; 
indeed, all the circumstances of the case, the dead of the 
night, the general agitation, the necessity of despatch, and 
the words of the text, all disprove it. The apostles, 
therefore, had another method of administering baptism 
besides immersion, which, if practised according to the 
Jewish formalities, must have required considerable time, and 
not a little publicity. As the Jews were accustomed to 
receive whole families of heathens, young and old, as 
proselytes, by baptism, so here the apostles received whole 
families, those of Lydia and the jailor, by the same rite. It 
is therefore pretty evident that we have in this chapter very 
presumptive proofs: 1. That baptism was administered without 
immersion, as in the case of the jailor and his family; and 
2. That children were also received into the Church in this 
way; for we can scarcely suppose that the whole families of 
Lydia and the jailor had no children in them; and, if they 
had, it is not likely that they should be omitted; for the 
Jewish practice was invariably to receive the heathen 
children with their proselyted parents.

Verse 33. Washed their stripes] elousen apo twn plhgwn, He 
washed from the stripes: i.e. he washed the blood from the 
wounds; and this would not require putting them into a pool, 
or bath, as some have ridiculously imagined.

Verse 34. He set meat before them] They were sufficiently 
exhausted, and needed refreshment; nor had the apostles any 
such inherent miraculous power as could prevent them from 
suffering through hunger, or enable them to heal their own 
grounds. As they were the instruments of bringing health to 
his soul, he became the instrument of health to their bodies.

Genuine faith in Christ will always be accompanied with 
benevolence and humanity, and every fruit that such 
dispositions can produce. The jailor believed-brought them 
into his house-washed their stripes-and set meat before them.

Verse 35. And the magistrates sent the sergeants] The 
original word, pabdoucouv, means the lictors, persons who 
carried before the consul the fasces, which was a hatchet, 
round the handle of which was a bundle of rods tied. Why the 
magistrates should have sent an order to dismiss the 
apostles, whom they had so barbarously used the preceding 
evening, we cannot tell, unless we receive the reading of the 
Codex Bezae as genuine, viz. Æhmerav de genomenhv, sunhlqon 
oi strathgoi epi to auto eiv thn agoran, kai anamnhsqentev 
ton seismon ton gegonta, efobhqhsan, kai apesteilan touv 
rabdoucouv k. t. l. And when it was day, the magistrates came 
together into the court, AND REMEMBERING THE EARTHQUAKE THAT 
HAD HAPPENED, they were afraid, and they sent the sergeants, 
&c. The Itala version of this same MS. has the same reading: 
so has also the margin of the later Syriac. If this MS. be 
correct, the cause of the dismissal of the apostles is at 
once evident: the earthquake had alarmed the magistrates; 
and, taking it for granted that this was a token of the 
Divine displeasure against them for their unprincipled 
conduct towards those good men, they wished to get as quietly 
rid of the business as they could, and therefore sent to 
dismiss the apostles. Whether this reading be genuine or not, 
it is likely that it gives the true cause of the magistrates' 
conduct.

Verse 37. They have beaten us openly-being Romans] St. Paul 
well knew the Roman laws; and on their violation by the 
magistrates he pleads.

The Valerian law forbade any Roman citizen to be bound. The 
Porcian law forbade any to be beaten with rods. "Poreia lex 
virgas ab omnium civium Romanorum corpore amovit." And by the 
same law the liberty of a Roman citizen was never put in the 
power of the lictor. "Porcia lex libertatem civium lictori 
eripuit." See CICERO, Orat. pro Rabirio. Hence, as the same 
author observes, In Verrem, Orat. 5: "Facinus est vinciri 
civem Romanum, scelus verberari." It is a transgression of 
the law to bind a Roman citizen: it is wickedness to scourge 
him. And the illegality of the proceedings of these 
magistrates was farther evident in their condemning and 
punishing them unheard. This was a gross violation of a 
common maxim in the Roman law.

Causa cognita, possunt multi absolvi; incognita, nemo 
condemnari potest.

Cicero. "Many who are accused of evil may be absolved, when 
the cause is heard; but unheard, no man can be condemned." 
Every principle of the law of nature and the law of nations 
was violated in the treatment these holy men met with from 
the unprincipled magistrates of this city.

Let them come themselves and fetch us out.] The apostles were 
determined that the magistrates should be humbled for their 
illegal proceedings; and that the people at large might see 
that they had been unjustly condemned, and that the majesty 
of the Roman people was insulted by the treatment they had 
received.

Verse 38. They feared when they heard-they were Romans.] They 
feared, because the Roman law was so constituted that an 
insult offered to a citizen was deemed an insult to the whole 
Roman people. There is a remarkable addition here, both in 
the Greek and Latin of the Codex Bezae.

It is as follows: "And when they were come with many of their 
friends to the prison, they besought them to go out, saying: 
We were ignorant of your circumstances, that ye were 
righteous men. And, leading them out, they besought them, 
saying, Depart from this city, lest they again make an 
insurrection against you, and clamour against you."

Verse 40. Entered into the house of Lydia] This was the place 
of their residence while at Philippi: see chap. xvi. 15.

They comforted them, and departed.] The magistrates were 
sufficiently humbled, and the public at large, hearing of 
this circumstance, must be satisfied of the innocency of the 
apostles. They, therefore, after staying a reasonable time at 
the house of Lydia, and exhorting the brethren, departed; 
having as yet to go farther into Macedonia, and to preach the 
Gospel in the most polished city in the world, the city of 
Athens. See the succeeding chapter.

GREAT and lasting good was done by this visit to Philippi: a 
Church was there founded, and the members of it did credit to 
their profession. To them the apostle, who had suffered so 
much for their sakes, was exceedingly dear; and they 
evidenced this by their contributions to his support in the 
times of his necessity. They sent him money twice to 
Thessalonica, Phil. iv. 16, and once to Corinth, 2 Cor. xi. 
9, and long afterwards, when he was prisoner in Rome, Phil. 
iv. 9, 14, 18. About five or six years after this, St. Paul 
visited Philippi on his way to Jerusalem, and he wrote his 
epistle to them about ten years after his first journey 
thither. The first members of the Church of Christ in this 
place were Lydia and her family; and the next in all 
probability were the jailor and his family. These doubtless 
became the instruments of bringing many more to the faith; 
for the false imprisonment and public acquittal of the 
apostles by the magistrates must have made their cause 
popular; and thus the means which were used to prevent the 
sowing of the seed of life in this city became the means by 
which it was sown and established. Thus the wrath of man 
praised God; and the remainder of it he did restrain.

Never were these words more exactly fulfilled than on this 
occasion.

CHAPTER xvii.

Paul and his company, passing through Amphipolis and 
Apollonia, come to Thessalonica, were they preach the Gospel 
to the Jews, several of whom believe, 1-4. Others raise a 
mob, and bring Jason, who had received the apostles, before 
the magistrates, who, having taken bail of him and his 
companions, dismiss them, 5-9. Paul and Silas are sent away 
by night unto Berea, where they preach to the Jews, who 
gladly receive the Gospel, 10-12. Certain Jews from 
Thessalonica, hearing that the Bereans had received the 
Gospel, come thither and raise up a persecution, 13. Paul is 
sent away by the brethren to Athens, where he preaches to the 
Jews, 14-17. He is encountered by the Epicureans and Stoics, 
who bring him to the Areopagus, and desire him to give a full 
explanation of his doctrine, 18-20. The character of the 
Athenians, 21. Paul preaches to them, and gives a general 
view of the essential principles of theology, 22-31. Some 
mock, some hesitate, and some believe, and, among the latter, 
Dionysias and Damaris, 32-34.

NOTES ON CHAP. xvii.

Verse 1. Passed through Amphipolis] This city was the 
metropolis of the first division of Macedonia, as made by 
Paulus AEmilius: see the note on chap. xvi. 10. It was 
builded by Cimon, the Athenian general, who sent 10,000 
Athenians thither as a colony. It stood in an island in the 
river Strymon, and had its name of Amphipolis because 
included between the two grand branches of that river where 
they empty themselves into the sea, the river being on both 
sides of the city.

Apollonia] This was another city of Macedonia, between 
Amphipolis and Thessalonica. It does not appear that St. Paul 
stopped at any of these cities: and they are only mentioned 
by the historian as places through which the apostles passed 
on their way to Thessalonica. It is very likely that in these 
cities there were no Jews; and that might have been the 
reason why the apostles did not preach the Gospel there, for 
we find them almost constantly beginning with the Jews; and 
the Hellenist Jews, living among the Gentiles, became the 
medium through which the Gospel of Christ was conveyed to the 
heathen world.

Thessalonica] This was a celebrated city of Macedonia, 
situated on what was called the Thermaic Gulf. According to 
Stephanus Byzantinus, it was embellished and enlarged by 
Philip, king of Macedon, who called it Thessalonica, the 
victory of Thessalia, on account of the victory he obtained 
there over the Thessalians; but, prior to this, it was called 
Thermae. But Strabo, Tzetzes, and Zonaras, say that it was 
called Thessalonica, from Thessalonica, wife of Cassander, 
and daughter of Philip. It is now in possession of the Turks, 
and is called Salonichi, which is a mere corruption of the 
original name.

A synagogue of the Jews.] Æh sunagwgh, THE synagogue; for the 
article here must be considered as emphatic, there probably 
being no other synagogue in any other city in Macedonia. The 
Jews in different parts had other places of worship called 
proseuchas. as we have seen, chap. xvi. 13.

At Thessalonica alone they appear to have had a synagogue.

Verse 2. As his manner was] He constantly offered salvation 
first to the Jews; and for this purpose attended their 
Sabbath-days' meetings at their synagogues.

Verse 3. Opening and alleging] paratiqemnov, Proving by 
citations.

His method seems to have been this: 1st. He collected the 
scriptures that spoke of the Messiah. 2d. He applied these to 
Jesus Christ, showing that in him all these scriptures were 
fulfilled, and that he was the saviour of whom they were in 
expectation. He showed also that the Christ, or Messiah, must 
needs suffer-that this was predicted, and was an essential 
mark of the true Messiah. By proving this point, he corrected 
their false notion of a triumphant Messiah, and thus removed 
the scandal of the cross.

Verse 4. The devout Greeks] That is, Gentiles who were 
proselytes to the Jewish religion, so far as to renounce 
idolatry, and live a moral life, but probably had not 
received circumcision.

Verse 5. The Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took 
unto them] Instead of this sentence, the most correct MSS. 
and versions read simply, proslabomenoi de oi ioudaioi. But 
the Jews taking, &c., leaving out the words, zhlwsantev, 
apeiqountev, which believed not, moved with envy: these words 
do not appear to be genuine; there is the strongest evidence 
against them, and they should be omitted.

Certain lewd fellows of the baser sort] This is not a very 
intelligible translation. The original is, twn agoraiwn tinav 
andoav ponhrouv. The word agoraioi, which we translate the 
baser sort, is by Hesychius explained, oi en agora 
anastrefomenoi, those who transact business in courts of 
justice. The same word is used by the Jews in Hebrew letters 
to signify judges; and µywg l twayrwga agorioth shel goyim, 
signifies judges of the Gentiles. These were probably a low 
kind of lawyers, what we would call pettifoggers, or 
attorneys without principle, who gave advice for a trifle, 
and fomented disputes and litigations among the people.

The Itala version of the Codex Bezae calls them quosdam 
forenses, certain lawyers. As the Jews, from their small 
number, could not easily raise up a mob, they cunningly 
employed those unprincipled men, who probably had a certain 
degree of juridical credit and authority, to denounce the 
apostles as seditious men; and this was, very likely, the 
reason why they employed those in preference to any others. 
They were such as always attended forensic litigations, 
waiting for a job, and willing to defend any side of a 
question for money. They were wicked men of the forensic 
tribe.

Gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar] And, 
after having made this sedition and disturbance, charged the 
whole on the peaceable and innocent apostles! This is 
precisely the same way that persecution against the truth and 
followers of Christ is still carried on.

Some wicked man in the parish gets a wicked attorney and a 
constable to head a mob, which they themselves have raised; 
and, having committed a number of outrages, abusing men and 
women, haul the minister of Christ to some magistrate who 
knows as little of his office as he cares for the Gospel; 
they there charge the outrages which themselves have 
committed on the preacher and his peaceable hearers; and the 
peacemaker, appointed by a good king, according to the wise 
and excellent regulations of a sound constitution, forgetting 
whose minister he is, neither administers justice nor 
maintains truth; but, espousing the part of the mob, assumes, 
ex officio, the character of a persecutor. The preacher is 
imprisoned, his hearers fined for listening to that Gospel 
which has not only made them wise unto salvation, but also 
peaceable and orderly citizens, and which would have had the 
same effect on the unprincipled magistrate, the parish 
squire, and the mob, had they heard it with the same 
reverence and respect.

Had I not witnessed such scenes, and such prostitution of 
justice, I could not have described them.

Assaulted the house of Jason] This was the place where the 
apostles lodged; and therefore his goods were clear spoil, 
and his person fair game.

This is a case which frequently occurs where the Gospel is 
preached in its spirit and power. And, even in this moat 
favoured kingdom, the most scandalous excesses of this kind 
have been committed, and a justice of the peace has been 
found to sanction the proceedings; and, when an appeal has 
been made to the laws, a grand jury has been found capable of 
throwing out the true bill! 

Verse 6. These that have turned the world upside down are 
come hither also] The very character our forefathers had for 
preaching that Gospel, in every part of the land, by which 
the nation has been illuminated, the mob disciplined into 
regularity and order, and the kingdom established in the 
hands of the best of monarchs.

Verse 7. These all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar] 
Persecutors always strive to affect the lives of the objects 
of their hatred, by accusing them of sedition, or plots 
against the state.

That there is another king, one Jesus.] How malevolent was 
this saying! The apostles proclaimed Jesus as king-that is 
true; but never once insinuated that his kingdom was of this 
world. The reverse they always maintained.

Verse 8. And they troubled the people and the rulers] It is 
evident that there was no disposition in either the people or 
the rulers to persecute the apostles. But these wicked Jews, 
by means of the unprincipled, wicked lawyers, those lewd 
fellows of the baser sort, threw the subject into the form of 
law, making it a state question, in which form the rulers 
were obliged to notice it; but they showed their 
unwillingness to proceed in a matter which they saw proceeded 
from malice, by letting Jason and his companions go off on 
bail.

Verse 9. Taken security] labontev to ikanon, Having taken 
what was sufficient, or satisfactory. Sufficient for the 
present, to prove that the apostles were upright, peaceable, 
and loyal men; and that Jason and his friends were the like, 
and would be, at any time, forthcoming to answer for their 
conduct. Perhaps this is the sense of the phrase in the text.

Verse 10. Sent away Paul and Silas by night] Fearing some 
farther machinations of the Jews and their associates.

Berea] This was another city of Macedonia, on the same gulf 
with Thessalonica; and not far from Pella, the birth place of 
Alexander the Great.

Verse 11. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica] 
hsan eugenesteroi, Were of a better race, extraction, or 
birth, than those at Thessalonica; but the word refers more 
to their conduct, as a proof of their better disposition, 
than to their birth, or any peculiar lineal nobility. It was 
a maxim among the Jews, that "none was of a noble spirit who 
did not employ himself in the study of the law." It appears 
that the Bereans were a better educated and more polished 
people than those at Thessalonica; in consequence far from 
persecuting: 1. They heard the doctrine of the Gospel 
attentively. 2. They received this doctrine with readiness of 
mind: when the evidence of its truth appeared to them 
sufficiently convincing, they had too much dignity of mind to 
refuse their assent, and too much ingenuousness to conceal 
their approbation. 3. They searched the Scriptures, i.e. of 
the Old Testament, to see whether these thing were so: to see 
whether the promises and types corresponded with the alleged 
fulfillment in the person, works, and sufferings of Jesus 
Christ. 4. They continued in this work; they searched the 
Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

Verse 12. Therefore many of them believed] From the manner in 
which they heard, received, and examined the word preached to 
them, it was not likely they could be deceived. And, as it 
was the truth that was proclaimed to them, it is no wonder 
that they apprehended, believed, and embraced it.

Of honourable women which were Greeks] Probably mere heathens 
are meant; and these were some of the chief families in the 
place. Thus we find that the preaching of Paul at Berea was 
made the instrument of converting both Jews and Gentiles.

Verse 13. The Jews of Thessalonica-stirred up the people.] 
With what implacable malice did these men persecute the 
Gospel! And in the same spirit they continue to the present 
day, though it is evidently the sole cause of their 
wretchedness.

Verse 14. To go as it were to the sea] This passage is 
generally understood to mean that the disciples took Paul 
towards the sea, as if he had intended to embark, and return 
to Troas, but with the real design to go to Athens. But it is 
more likely that his conductors, in order to his greater 
safety, left the public or more frequented road, and took him 
coastwise to Athens. Or, by taking a vessel at that part of 
the sea nearest to Berea, they might have coasted it to 
Athens, which was quite a possible case; and, as we do not 
hear of his stopping at any place on his journey to preach, 
it is very probable that he went by sea to this city. Though 
sleights and feints may be allowable in cases of life and 
death, yet there does not appear an absolute necessity for 
any in this case. And, as the text does not necessarily point 
any out, so we need not have recourse to any. I take it for 
granted, therefore, that Paul went by sea to Athens.

Silas and Timotheus abode there still .] The persecution, it 
seems, was directed principally against Paul. Lo! he stayeth 
his rough wind on the day of his east wind. Silas and 
Timotheus, holy men, were left behind to water the seed which 
Paul had planted.

Verse 15. Brought him unto Athens] This was one of the most 
celebrated cities in the world, whether we consider its 
antiquity, its learning, its political consequence, or the 
valor of its inhabitants. This city, which was the capital of 
Attica, and the seat of the Grecian empire was founded by 
Cecrops, about A.M. 2447, before Christ 1557, and was called 
by him Cecropia. About thirteen or fourteen hundred years 
before Christ, in the reign either of Erechtheus, or 
Erichthonius, it was called Athens, from aqhnh, a name of 
Minerva, to whom it was dedicated, and who was always 
considered the protectress of the city. The whole city at 
first was built upon a hill or rock, in the midst of a 
spacious plain; but, in process of time, the whole plain was 
covered with buildings which were called the lower city; 
while the ancient was called Acropolis, or the upper city. In 
its most flourishing state this city was not less than one 
hundred and seventy-eight stadia, or twenty-two Roman miles 
in circumference. The buildings of Athens were the most 
superb, and best executed, in the world; but every thing is 
now in a state of ruin. Mr. Stuart, in his three folio vols.

of the Antiquities of Athens, has given correct 
representations of those that remain, with many geographical 
notices of much importance. The greatest men that ever lived, 
scholars, lawyers, statesmen, and warriors, were Athenians. 
Its institutions, laws, and literature, were its own 
unrivalled boast, and the envy of the world. The city still 
exists; the Acropolis in a state of comparative repair. It is 
now in the hands of the Greeks; but the Turks, who held it 
till lately, have turned the celebrated Parthenon, or temple 
of Minerva, into a mosque. The inhabitants are reckoned at 
about one thousand. Christianity, planted here by St. Paul, 
still subsists; and about two-thirds of the inhabitants of 
Athens are Christians, who have several churches or oratories 
here, and it is the residence of a Greek bishop, who is a 
metropolitan. He who considers the ancient glory of this 
city, whether in its heathen or Christian antiquity, cannot 
but sigh over its present state.

Verse 16. He saw the city wholly given to idolatry.] 
kateidwlon, Full of idols, as the margin has it, and very 
properly. Whoever examines the remains of this city, as 
represented by Mr. Stuart in his Antiquities, already 
referred to, will be satisfied of the truth of St. Luke's 
remark: it was full of idols. Bishop Pearce produces a most 
apposite quotation from Pausanias, which confirms the 
observation: ouk hn allacou tosauta idein eidwla. There was 
no place where so many idols were to be seen. PAUS. in Attic. 
cap. xvii. 24.

PETRONIUS, who was contemporary with St. Paul, in his Satyr. 
cap. xvii., makes Quartilla say of Athens: Utique nostra 
regio tam PRAESENTIBUS PLENA EST NUMINIBUS, ut facilius 
possis DEUM quam HOMINEM invenire.

Our region is so full of deities that you may more frequently 
meet with a god than a man.

Verse 17. Disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews] Proving 
that Jesus was the Messiah: and with the devout persons, 
probably heathens, proselyted to the Jewish religion. And in 
the market: I suppose the agora here means some such place as 
our exchange, where people of business usually met, and where 
the philosophers conversed and reasoned. The agora was 
probably like the Roman forum, and like places of public 
resort in all countries, where people of leisure assembled to 
converse, hear the news, &c.

Verse 18. Certain philosophers of the Epicureans] These were 
the followers of Epicurus, who acknowledged no gods except in 
name, and absolutely denied that they exercised any 
government over the world or its inhabitants; and that the 
chief good consisted in the gratification of the appetites of 
sense. These points the Epicureans certainly held; but it is 
not clear that Epicurus himself maintained such doctrines.

And of the Stoics] These did not deny the existence of the 
gods; but they held that all human affairs were governed by 
fate. They did not believe that any good was received from 
the hands of their gods; and considered, as Seneca asserts, 
that any good and wise man was equal to Jupiter himself.

Both these sects agreed in denying the resurrection of the 
body; and the former did not believe in the immortality of 
the soul.

EPICURUS, the founder of the Epicurean sect, was born at 
Athens, about A.M. 3663, before Christ 341.

ZENO, the founder of the Stoic sect, was born in the isle of 
Cyprus, about thirty years before Christ. His disciples were 
called Stoics from the stoa, a famous portico at Athens, 
where they studied. Besides these two sects, there were two 
others which were famous at this time; viz. the Academics and 
the Peripatetics. The founder of the first was the celebrated 
PLATO; and the founder of the second, the no less famous 
ARISTOTLE. These sects professed a much purer doctrine than 
the Epicureans and Stoics; and it does not appear that they 
opposed the apostles, nor did they enter into public 
disputations with them. Against the doctrines taught by the 
Epicureans and Stoics, several parts of St. Paul's discourse, 
in the following verses, are directly pointed.

What will this babbler say?] The word spermologov, which we 
translate babbler, signifies, literally, a collector of 
seeds, and is the "name of a small bird the lives by picking 
up seeds on the road." The epithet became applied to persons 
who collected the sayings of others, without order or method, 
and detailed them among their companions in the same way. The 
application of the term to prating, empty, impertinent 
persons, was natural and easy, and hence it was considered a 
term of reproach and contempt, and was sometimes used to 
signify the vilest sort of men.

A setter forth of strange gods] xenwn daimoniwn, Of strange 
or foreign demons. That this was strictly forbidden, both at 
Rome and Athens, see on chap. xvi. 21.

There was a difference, in the heathen theology, between 
qeov, god, and daimwn, demon: the qeoi, were such as were 
gods by nature: the daimonia, were men who were deified. This 
distinction seems to be in the mind of these philosophers 
when they said that the apostles seemed to be setters forth 
of strange demons, because they preached unto them Jesus, 
whom they showed to be a man, suffering and dying, but 
afterwards raised to the throne of God. This would appear to 
them tantamount with the deification of heroes, &c., who had 
been thus honoured for their especial services to mankind. 
Horace expresses this in two lines, 2 Epist. i. 5: - Romulus, 
et Liber pater, et cum Castore Pollux, Post ingentia facta, 
deorum in templa recepti.

"Romulus, father Bacchus, with Castor and Pollux, for their 
eminent services, have been received into the temples of the 
gods."

Verse 19. They took him, and brought him unto Areopagus] The 
Areopagus was a hill not far from the Acropolis, already 
described, where the supreme court of justice was held; one 
of the most sacred and reputable courts that had ever existed 
in the Gentile world. It had its name, areiov pagov, 
Areopagus, or the Hill of Mars, or Ares, from the 
circumstance, according to poetic fiction, of Mars being 
tried there, by a court of twelve gods, for the murder of 
Halirrhothius, son of Neptune: the meaning of which is, that 
Ares, a Thessalian prince, having slain Halirrhothius, the 
son of a neighbouring prince, for having violated his 
daughter Alcippe, was here tried by twelve judges, by whom he 
was honourably acquitted: in the Athenian laws the death of 
the ravisher was the regular forfeiture for his crime. The 
justice administered in this court was so strict and 
impartial, that, it was generally allowed, both the plaintiff 
and defendant departed satisfied with the decision. 
"Innocence, when summoned before it, appeared without 
apprehension; and the guilty, convicted and condemned, 
retired with out daring to murmur." The place in which the 
judges sat was uncovered; and they held their sittings by 
night, to the end that nothing might distract their minds 
from the great business on which they were to decide; and 
that the sight of the accused might not affect them either 
with pity or aversion. In reference to this, all pleaders 
were strictly forbidden to use any means whatever to excite 
either pity or aversion, or to affect the passions; every 
thing being confined to simple relation, or statement of 
facts. When the two parties were produced before the court, 
they were placed between the bleeding members of victims 
slain on the occasion, and were obliged to take an oath, 
accompanied by horrible imprecations on themselves and 
families, that they would testify nothing but truth. These 
parties called to witness the eumenides, or furies, the 
punishers of the perjured in the infernal world; and, to make 
the greater impression on the mind of the party swearing, the 
temple dedicated to these infernal deities was contiguous to 
the court, so that they appeared as if witnessing the oaths 
and recording the appeal made to themselves. When the case 
was fully heard, the judges gave their decision by throwing 
down their flint pebbles, on two boards or tables, one of 
which was for the condemnation, the other for the acquittal, 
of the person in question.

Verse 20. Thou bringest-strange things to our ears] The 
doctrine of the apostles was different from any they had ever 
heard: it was wholly spiritual and divine; thus it was 
strange: it was contrary to their customs and manners; and 
thus it was strange also. As it spoke much of the exaltation 
and glory of Jesus Christ, they supposed him to be a setter 
forth of strange gods: and, therefore, on the authority of 
the laws, which forbade the introduction of any new deities, 
or modes of worship, he was called before the Areopagus.

Verse 21. All the Athenians and strangers which were there] 
As Athens was renovated for its wisdom and learning, it 
became a place of public resort for philosophers and students 
from different parts of the then civilized world. The flux of 
students was in consequence great; and these, having much 
leisure time, would necessarily be curious to know what was 
passing in the world, and would frequently assemble together, 
in places of public resort, to meet with strangers just come 
to the city; and either, as St. Luke says, to tell or hear 
some new thing.

"The Athenian writers give the same account of their fellow 
citizens.

DEMOSTHENES, in his reply to Epist. Philippi, represents the 
Athenians as punqanomenoi kata thn agoran, ei ti legetai 
newteron; inquiring, in the place of public resort, if there 
are any NEWS. We find, likewise, that when Thucydides, iii. 
38, had said, meta kainothtov men logou apatasqai aristoi, Ye 
are excellent in suffering yourselves to be deceived by 
NOVELTY of speech, the old scholiast makes this remark upon 
it, (almost in the words of St. Luke,) tauta prov touv. 
aqhnoiouv ainittetai, ouden ti meletwntav, plhn legein ti kai 
akouein kainon; He here blames the Athenians, who made it 
their only business to tell and hear something that was 
NEW."-Bp. Pearce. This is a striking feature of the city of 
London in the present day. The itch for news, which generally 
argues a worldly, shallow, or unsettled mind, is wonderfully 
prevalent: even ministers of the Gospel, negligent of their 
sacred function, are become in this sense Athenians; so that 
the book of God is neither read nor studied with half the 
avidity and spirit as a newspaper. These persons, forgetful 
not only of their calling, but of the very spirit of the 
Gospel, read the account of a battle with the most violent 
emotions; and, provided the victory falls to their favourite 
side, they exult and triumph in proportion to the number of 
thousands that have been slain! It is no wonder if such 
become political preachers, and their sermons be no better 
than husks for swine. To such the hungry sheep look up, and 
are not fed. God pity such miserable Athenians, and direct 
them to a more suitable employment!

Verse 22. Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill] That is, in 
the midst of the judges, who sat in the Areopagus.

Ye are too superstitious.] kata panta wv deisidaimonesterouv 
umav qewrw; I perceive that in all respects ye are greatly 
addicted to religious practices; and, as a religious people, 
you will candidly hear what I have got to say in behalf of 
that worship which I practice and recommend. See farther 
observations at the end of the chapter. 

Verse 23. Beheld your devotions] sebasmata, The objects of 
your worship; the different images of their gods which they 
held in religious veneration, sacrificial instruments, 
altars, &c., &c.

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.] agnwsto qew. That there was an altar at 
Athens thus inscribed, we cannot doubt after such a 
testimony; though St. Jerome questions it in part; for he 
says St. Paul found the inscription in the plural number, 
but, because he would not appear to acknowledge a plurality 
of gods, he quoted it in the singular: Verum, quia Paulus non 
pluribus Diis indigebat ignotis, sed uno tantum ignoto Deo, 
singulari verbo usus est.

Epist. ad Magn. This is a most foolish saying: had Paul done 
so, how much would such a begging of the question have 
prejudiced his defense in the minds of his intelligent 
judges! OEcumenius intimates that St. Paul does not give the 
whole of the inscription which this famous altar bore; and 
which he says was the following: qeoiv asiav kai eurwphv kai 
aibuhv, qew agnwstw kai xenw, To the gods of Asia, and 
Europe, and Africa: TO THE UNKNOWN and strange GOD. Several 
eminent men suppose that this unknown god was the God of the 
Jews; and, as his name hwhy was considered by the Jews as 
ineffable, the qeov agnwstov may be considered as the 
anonymous god; the god whose name was not known, and must not 
be pronounced. That there was such a god acknowledged at 
Athens we have full proof. Lucian in his Philopatris, cap. 
xiii. p. 769, uses this form of an oath: nh ton agnwston ton 
en aqhnaiv, I swear by the UNKNOWN GOD at ATHENS. And again, 
cap. xxix. 1lx20: hmeiv de ton en aqhnaiv agnwston efeurontev 
kai proskunhsantev, ceirav eiv ouranon ekteinantev, toutw 
eucaristhsomen wv kataxiwqentev, &c. We have found out the 
UNKNOWN god at ATHENS-and worshipped him with our hands 
stretched up to heaven; and we will gave thanks unto him, as 
being thought worthy to be subject to this power. Bp. Pearce 
properly asks, Is it likely that Lucian, speaking thus, 
(whether in jest or in earnest,) should not have had some 
notion of there being at Athens an altar inscribed to the 
unknown God? Philostratus, in vit. Apollon. vi. 3, notices 
the same thing, though he appears to refer to several altars 
thus inscribed: kai tauta aqhnhsi, ou kai agnwstwn qeon bwmoi 
idruntai, And this at ATHENS, where there are ALTARS even to 
the UNKNOWN GODS.

Pausanias, in Attic. cap. 1. p. 4, edit. Kuhn., says that at 
Athens there are bwmoi qewn twn onomazomenwn agnwstwn, altars 
of gods which are called, The UNKNOWN ones. Minutius Felix 
says of the Romans, Aras extruunt etiam ignotis numinibus. 
"They even build altars to UNKNOWN DIVINITIES." And 
Tertullian, contra Marcion, says, Invenio plane Diis ignotis 
aras prostitutas: sed Attica idolatria est. "I find altars 
allotted to the worship of unknown gods: but this is an Attic 
idolatry." Now, though in these last passages, both gods and 
altars are spoken of in the plural number; yet it is 
reasonable to suppose that, on each, or upon some one of 
them, the inscription agnwstw qew, To the unknown god, was 
actually found. The thing had subsisted long and had got from 
Athens to Rome in the days of Tertullian and Minutius Felix. 
See Bp. Pearce and Dr. Cudworth, to whose researches this 
note is much indebted.

Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship] There is here a fine 
paronomasia, or play on the words. The apostle tells them 
that (on their system) they were a very religious people-that 
they had an altar inscribed, agnwstw qew, to the unknown God: 
him therefore, says he, whom, agnountev, ye unknowingly 
worship, I proclaim to you. Assuming it as a truth, that, as 
the true God was not known by them, and that there was an 
altar dedicated to the unknown god, his God was that god 
whose nature and operations he now proceeded to declare. By 
this fine turn he eluded the force of that law which made it 
a capital offense to introduce any new god into the state, 
and of the breach of which he was charged, ver. 18; and thus 
he showed that he was bringing neither new god nor new 
worship among them; but only explaining the worship of one 
already acknowledged by the state, though not as yet known.

Verse 24. God that made the world, &c.] Though the Epicureans 
held that the world was not made by God, but was the effect 
of a fortuitous concourse of atoms, yet this opinion was not 
popular; and the Stoics held the contrary: St. Paul assumes, 
as an acknowledged truth, that there was a God who made the 
world and all things. 2. That this God could not be confined 
within temples made with hands, as he was the Lord or 
governor of heaven and earth. 3. That, by fair consequence, 
the gods whom they worshipped, which were shut up in their 
temples could not be this God; and they must be less than the 
places in which they were contained. This was a strong, 
decisive stroke against the whole system of the Grecian 
idolatry.

Verse 25. Neither is worshiped with men's hands] This is an 
indirect stroke against making of images, and offering of 
sacrifices: he is not worshipped with human hands, as if he 
needed any thing, or required to be represented under a 
particular form or attitude; nor has he required victims for 
his support; for it is impossible that he should need any 
thing who himself gives being, form, and life, to all 
creatures.

Giveth-life, and breath, and all things] These words are 
elegantly introduced by St. Paul: God gives life, because he 
is the fountain of it: he gives breath, the faculty of 
breathing or respiration, by which this life is preserved; 
and though breathing or respiration, be the act of the 
animal, yet the pnohn, the faculty of breathing, and 
extracting from the atmosphere what serves as a pabulum of 
life, is given by the influence of God, and the continued 
power thus to respire, and extract that pure oxygen gas which 
is so evident a support of animal life, is as much the 
continued gift of God as life itself is. But, as much more is 
necessary to keep the animal machine in a state of repair, 
God gives the ta panta, all the other things which are 
requisite for this great and important purpose, that the end 
for which life was given may be fully answered. St. Paul also 
teaches that Divine worship is not enacted and established 
for GOD, but for the use of his creatures: he needs nothing 
that man can give him; for man has nothing but what he has 
received from the hand of his Maker.

Verse 26. Hath made of one blood] In AB, some others, with 
the Coptic, AEthiopic, Vulgate, Itala, Clement, and Bede, the 
word aimatov, blood, is omitted. He hath made of one (meaning 
Adam) all nations of men; but aima, blood, is often used by 
the best writers for race, stock, kindred: so Homer, Iliad, 
vi. ver. 211: tauthv toi genehv te kai aimatov eucomai einai.

I glory in being of that same race and blood.

So Virgil, AEn. viii. ver. 142, says; Sic genus amborum 
scindit se SANGUINE ab uno.

Thus, from one stock, do both our stems divide. See many 
examples of this form in Kypke. The Athenians had a foolish 
notion that they were self-produced, and were the aboriginals 
of mankind.

Lucian ridicules this opinion, aqhnaioi fasi touv prwtouv 
anqrwpouv ek thv attikhv anafonai, kaqaper ta lacana. The 
Athenians say that the first men sprung up in Attica, like 
radishes. Luc. Philo-pseud. 3.

To dwell on all the face of the earth] God in his wisdom 
produced the whole human race from one man; and, having in 
his providence scattered them over the face of the earth, by 
showing them that they sprang from one common source, has 
precluded all those contentious wars and bloodshed which 
would necessarily have taken place among the nations of the 
world, as each in its folly might have arrogated to itself a 
higher and more excellent origin than another.

And hath determined the times before appointed] Instead of 
protetagmenouv kairouv, the times before appointed, ABDE, and 
more than forty others, with both the Syriac, all the Arabic, 
the Coptic, AEthiopic, MS. Slavonian, Vulgate, and Itala, 
read prostetagmenouv kairouv, the appointed times. The 
difference between the two words is this: protassein 
signifies to place before others; but prostassein is to 
command, decree, appoint. The prostetagmenoi kairoi, are the 
constituted or decreed times; that is, the times appointed by 
his providence, on which the several families should go to 
those countries where his wisdom designed they should dwell. 
See Gen. x. 5-32; and see Pearce and Rosenmuller.

And the bounds of their habitations] Every family being 
appointed to a particular place, that their posterity might 
possess it for the purposes for which infinite wisdom and 
goodness gave them their being, and the place of their abode. 
Every nation had its lot thus appointed by God, as truly as 
the Israelites had the land of Canaan. But the removal of the 
Jews from their own land shows that a people may forfeit 
their original inheritance, and thus the Canaanites have been 
supplanted by the Jews; the Jews by the Saracens; the 
Saracens by the Turks; the Greeks by the Romans; the Romans 
by the Goths and Vandals; and so of others. See the notes on 
Gen. xi. 1-32.

Verse 27. That they should seek the Lord] This is a 
conclusion drawn from the preceding statement. God, who is 
infinitely great and self-sufficient, has manifested himself 
as the maker of the world, the creator, preserver, and 
governor of men. He has assigned them their portion, and 
dispensed to them their habitations, and the various 
blessings of his providence, to the end that they should seek 
him in all his works.

Feel after him] yhlafhseian auton, That they might grope 
after him, as a person does his way who is blind or 
blindfolded. The Gentiles, who had not a revelation, must 
grope after God, as the principle of spiritual life, that 
they might find him to be a Spirit, and the source of all 
intellectual happiness; and the apostle seems to state that 
none need despair of finding this fountain of goodness, 
because he is not far from every one of us.

Verse 28. For in him we live, and move, and have our being] 
He is the very source of our existence: the principle of life 
comes from him: the principle of motion, also, comes from 
him; one of the most difficult things in nature to be 
properly apprehended; and a strong proof of the continual 
presence and energy of the Deity.

And have our being] kai esmen, And we are: we live in him, 
move in him, and are in him. Without him we not only can do 
nothing, but without him we are nothing. We are, i.e. we 
continue to be, because of his continued, present, all-
pervading, and supporting energy. There is a remarkable 
saying in Synopsis Sohar, p. 104. "The holy blessed God never 
does evil to any man. He only withdraws his gracious presence 
from him, and then he necessarily perisheth." This is 
philosophical and correct.

As certain also of your own poets] Probably he means not only 
Aratus, in whose poem, entitled Phaenomena, the words quoted 
by St. Paul are to be found literatim, tou gar kai genov 
esmen; but also Cleanthus, in whose Hymn to Jupiter the same 
words (ek sou gar genov esmen) occur. But the sentiment is 
found in several others, being very common among the more 
enlightened philosophers. By saying your own poets, he does 
not mean poets born at Athens, but merely Grecian poets, 
Aratus and Cleanthus being chief.

We are also his offspring.] tou gar kai genov esmen The 
Phaenomena of Aratus, in which these words are found, begins 
thus: - ek diov arcwmesqa, ton oudepotÆ andrev ewmen arrhton? 
mestai de diov pasai men aguiai, pasai dÆ anqrwpwn agorai? 
mesth de qalassa, kai lemenev? panth de diov kecrhmeqa 
pantev? tou gar kaigenov esmen? odÆ hpiov anqrwpoisi dexia 
shmainei. k. t. l.

With Jove we must begin; nor from him rove; Him always 
praise, for all is full of Jove! He fills all places where 
mankind resort, The wide-spread sea, with every shelt'ring 
port.

Jove's presence fills all space, upholds this ball; All need 
his aid; his power sustains us all.

For we his offspring are; and he in love Points out to man 
his labour from above: Where signs unerring show when best 
the soil, By well-timed culture, shall repay our toil, &c., 
&c.

Aratus was a Cilician, one of St. Paul's own countrymen, and 
with his writings St. Paul was undoubtedly well acquainted, 
though he had flourished about 300 years before that time.

Verse 29. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, &c.] 
This inference of the apostle was very strong and conclusive; 
and his argument runs thus: "If we are the offspring of God, 
he cannot be like those images of gold, silver, and stone, 
which are formed by the art and device of man; for the parent 
must resemble his offspring. Seeing, therefore, that we are 
living and intelligent beings, HE from whom we have derived 
that being must be living and intelligent. It is necessary, 
also, that the object of religious worship should be much 
more excellent than the worshipper; but a man is, by 
innumerable degrees, more excellent than an image made out of 
gold, silver, or stone; and yet it would be impious to 
worship a man: how much more so to worship these images as 
gods! Every man in the Areopagus must have felt the power of 
this conclusion; and, taking it for granted that they had 
felt it, he proceeds: -

Verse 30. The times of this ignorance God winked at] He who 
has an indisputable right to demand the worship of all his 
creatures has mercifully overlooked those acts of idolatry 
which have disgraced the world and debased man; but now, as 
he has condescended to give a revelation of himself, he 
commands, as the sovereign, all men every where, over every 
part of his dominions, to repent, metanoein, to change their 
views, designs, and practices; because he hath appointed a 
day in which he will judge the world in righteousness; and, 
as justice will then be done, no sinner, no persevering 
idolater, shall escape punishment.

The word uperidein, which we translate, to wink at, signifies 
simply to look over; and seems to be here used in the sense 
of passing by, not particularly noticing it. So God 
overlooked, or passed by, the times of heathenish ignorance: 
as he had not given them the talent of Divine revelation, so 
he did not require the improvement of that talent; but now, 
as he had given them that revelation, he would no longer 
overlook, or pass by, their ignorance or its fruits.

Verse 31. He hath appointed a day] He has fixed the time in 
which he will judge the world, though he has not revealed 
this time to man.

By that man whom he hath ordained] He has also appointed the 
judge, by whom the inhabitants of the earth are to be tried.

Whereof he hath given assurance] pistin parascwn pasin, 
Having given to all this indubitable proof, that Jesus Christ 
shall judge the world, by raising him from the dead. The 
sense of the argument is this: "Jesus Christ, whom we preach 
as the saviour of men, has repeatedly told his followers that 
he would judge the world; and has described to us, at large, 
the whole of the proceedings of that awful time, Matt. xxv. 
31, &c.; John v. 25. Though he was put to death by the Jews, 
and thus he became a victim for sin, yet God raised him from 
the dead. By raising him from the dead, God has set his seal 
to the doctrines he has taught: one of these doctrines is, 
that he shall judge the world; his resurrection, established 
by the most incontrovertible evidence, is therefore a proof, 
an incontestable proof, that he shall judge the world, 
according to his own declaration."

Verse 32. When they heard of the resurrection, &c.] Paul 
undoubtedly had not finished his discourse: it is likely that 
he was about to have proclaimed salvation through Christ 
crucified; but, on hearing of the resurrection of the body, 
the assembly instantly broke up; the Epicureans mocking, 
ecleuazon, began to laugh; and the Stoics saying they would 
take another opportunity to hear him on that subject. And 
thus the assembly became dissolved before the apostle had 
time to finish his discourse, or to draw all the conclusions 
he had designed from the premises he had laid down. St. 
Stephen's discourse was interrupted in a similar manner. See 
chap. vii. 54, and the note there.

Verse 33. So Paul departed from among them.] He could not be 
convicted of having done any thing contrary to the law; and, 
when the assembly broke up, he was permitted to go about his 
own business.

Verse 34. Certain men clave unto him] Became affectionately 
united to him, and believed the doctrines he had preached.

Dionysius the Areopagite] There can be no doubt that this man 
was one of the judges of this great court, but whether the 
president or otherwise we cannot tell. Humanly speaking, his 
conversion must have been an acquisition of considerable 
importance to the Christian religion; for no person was a 
judge in the Areopagus who had not borne the office of 
archon, or chief governor of the city; and none bore the 
office of judge in this court who was not of the highest 
reputation among the people for his intelligence and 
exemplary conduct. In some of the popish writers we find a 
vast deal of groundless conjecture concerning Dionysius, who, 
they say, was first bishop of Athens, and raised to that 
dignity by Paul himself; that he was a martyr for the truth; 
that Damaris was his wife, &c., &c., concerning which the 
judicious Calmet says, Tout cela est de peu d' autorite. "All 
this has little foundation." 1. IN addition to what has been 
said in the notes on this subject, I may add, the original 
word deisidaimonesterov, from deidw, I fear, and daimwn, a 
demon, signifies, "greatly addicted to the worship of the 
invisible powers;" for, as the word daimwn signifies either a 
good or evil spirit, and deidw, I fear, signifies not only to 
fear in general, but also to pay religious reverence, the 
word must be here taken in its best sense; and so undoubtedly 
St. Paul intended it should; and so, doubtless, his audience 
understood him; for it would have been very imprudent to have 
charged them with superstition, which must have been 
extremely irritating, in the very commencement of a discourse 
in which he was to defend himself, and prove the truth of the 
Christian religion. He stated a fact, acknowledged by the 
best Greek writers; and he reasoned from that fact. The fact 
was that the Athenians were the most religious people in 
Greece, or, in other words, the most idolatrous: that there 
were in that city more altars, temples, sacrifices, and 
religious services, than in any other place. And 
independently of the authorities which may be quoted in 
support of this assertion, we may at once perceive the 
probability of it from the consideration that Athens was the 
grand university of Greece: that here philosophy and every 
thing relating to the worship of the gods was taught; and 
that religious services to the deities must be abundant. Look 
at our own universities of Oxford and Cambridge; here are 
more prayers, more religious acts and services, than in any 
other places in the nation, and very properly so. These were 
founded to be seminaries of learning and religion; and their 
very statutes suppose religion to be essential to learning; 
and their founders were in general religious characters, and 
endowed them for religious purposes. These, therefore, are 
not superstitious services; for, as superstition signifies 
"unnecessary fears or scruples in religion; observance of 
unnecessary and uncommanded rites or practices,"-JOHNSON, it 
cannot be said of those services which are founded on the 
positive command of God, for the more effectual help to 
religious feelings, or as a preventive of immoral practices. 
I consider the Athenians, therefore, acting in conformity to 
their own laws and religious institutions; and Paul grants 
that they were much addicted to religious performances: this 
he pays as a compliment, and then takes occasion to show that 
their religion was defective: they had not a right object of 
devotion; they did not know the true God; the true God was to 
them the unknown God; and this an altar in their own city 
acknowledged. He therefore began to declare that glorious 
Being to them whom they ignorantly worshipped. As they were 
greatly addicted to religious services, and acknowledged that 
there was a Being to them unknown, and to whom they thought 
it necessary to erect an altar, they must, consistently with 
their character as a religious people, and with their own 
concession in the erection of this altar, hear quietly, 
patiently, and candidly, a discourse on that God whose being 
they acknowledged, but whose nature they did not know. Thus 
St. Paul, by acknowledging their religious disposition, and 
seizing the fact of the altar being inscribed to the unknown 
God, assumed a right which not a philosopher, orator, or 
judge in the Areopagus could dispute, of bringing the whole 
subject of Christianity before them, as he was now brought to 
his trial, and put on his defense.

The whole of this fine advantage, this grand stroke of 
rhetorical prudence, is lost from the whole account, by our 
translation, ye are in all things too superstitious, thus 
causing the defendant to commence his discourse with a charge 
which would have roused the indignation of the Greeks, and 
precluded the possibility of their hearing any thing he had 
to say in defense of his conduct.

2. That the original word, on the right interpretation of 
which I have laid so much stress, is taken in a good sense, 
and signifies religious worship and reverence, I shall show 
by several proofs; some of which may be seen in Mr. 
Parkhurst, under the word deisidaimonia, which Suidas 
explains by eulabeia peri to qeion, reverence towards the 
Deity. And Hesychius, by foboqeia, the fear of God. "In this 
good sense it is often used by Diodourus Siculus. Herodotus 
says of Orpheus, he led men, eiv deisidaimonian, to be 
religious; and exhorted them, epi to eusebein, to piety; 
where it is manifest that deisidaimonia must mean religion, 
and not superstition. But, what is more to the present 
purpose, the word is used by Josephus, not only where a 
heathen calls the pagan religion deisidaimoniav, (Antiq. lib. 
xix. cap. 5. s. 3,) or where the Jewish religion is spoken of 
by this name, in several edicts that were made in its favour 
by the Romans, (as in Antiq. lib. xiv. cap. 10, s. 13, 14, 
16, 18, 19,) but also where the historian is expressing his 
own thoughts in his own words: thus, of King Manasseh, after 
his repentance and restoration, he says, espoudazen pash peri 
auton (qeon) th deisidaidaimonia crhsqai, he endeavoured to 
behave in the MOST RELIGIOUS manner towards God. Antiq. lib. 
x. cap. 3, s. 2. And, speaking of a riot that happened among 
the Jews on occasion of a Roman soldier's burning the book of 
the law, he observes that the Jews were drawn together on 
this occasion, th deisidaimonia, by their religion, as if it 
had been by an engine; organw tini.-De Bell. lib. ii. cap. 
12, s. 2." It would be easy to multiply examples of this use 
of the word; but the reader may refer, if necessary, to 
Wetstein, Pearce, and others.

3. That the Athenians were reputed, in this respect, a devout 
people, the following quotations may prove. Pausanias, in 
Attic. cap. xvii. p. 39, edit.

Kuhn., says that the Athenians were not only more humane, 
alla kai ev qeouv eusebein, but more devout towards the gods; 
and again he says, dhla te enargwv, osoiv pleon ti eterwn 
eusebeiav metestin, it appears plainly how much they exceed 
others in the worship of the gods; and, in cap. xxiv. p. 56, 
he says, aqhnioiv perissoteron ti, h toiv alloiv, ev ta qeia 
esti spoudhv, that the Athenians are abundantly more 
solicitous about Divine matters than others. And Josephus 
seals this testimony by the assertion, contr. Apion, ii. 10: 
aqhnaiouv eusebestatouv twn Æellhnwn pantev legousi; Every 
body says that the Athenians are the most religious people of 
all the Greeks.-See Bp.

Pearce. From all these authorities it is palpable that St. 
Paul must have used the term in the sense for which I have 
contended.

4. In the preceding notes, I have taken for granted that Paul 
was brought to the Areopagus to be tried on the charge of 
setting forth strange gods. Bp.

Warburton denies that he was brought before the Areopagus on 
any charge whatever; and that he was taken there that the 
judges might hear him explain his doctrine, and not to defend 
himself against a charge which he does not once notice in the 
whole of his discourse. But there is one circumstance that 
the bishop has not noticed, viz. that St. Paul was not 
permitted to finish his discourse, and therefore could not 
come to those particular parts of the charge brought against 
him which the bishop thinks he must have taken up most 
pointedly, had he been accused, and brought there to make his 
defense. The truth is, we have little more than the apostle's 
exordium, as he was evidently interrupted in the prosecution 
of his defense. As to the supposition that he was brought by 
philosophers to the Areopagus, that they might the better 
hear him explain his doctrine, it appears to have little 
ground; for they might have heard him to as great advantage 
in any other place: nor does it appear that this court was 
ever used, except for the solemn purposes of justice. But the 
question, whether Paul was brought to the Areopagus that he 
might be tried by the judges of that court, Bishop Pearce 
answers with his usual judgment and discrimination. He 
observes: "We are told that one effect of his preaching was, 
that he converted Dionysius the Areopagite, ver. 34; and this 
seems to show that he, who was a judge of that court, was 
present, and, if so, probably other judges were present also. 
2. If they who brought Paul to Areopagus wanted only to 
satisfy their curiosity, they had an opportunity of doing 
that in the market, mentioned ver. 17. Why then did they 
remove him to another place? 3. When it is said that they 
brought Paul to Areopagus, it is said that they took him, 
epilabomenoi autoi, or rather, they laid hold on him, as the 
Greek word is translated, Luke xxiii. 26; xx. 20, 26, and as 
it ought to have been here, in chap. xxi. 30, 33, and 
especially in this latter verse. 4. It is observable that 
Paul, in his whole discourse at the Areopagus, did not make 
the least attempt to move the passions of his audience, as he 
did when speaking to Felix, chap. xxiv. 25, and to Agrippa, 
chap. xxvi. 29; but he used plain and grave reasonings to 
convince his hearers of the soundness of his doctrine.

"Now, we are told by Quinctilian, in Inst. Orat. ii. 16, that 
Athenis actor movere affectus vetabatur: the actor was 
forbidden to endeavour to excite the passions. And again, in 
vi. 1, that Athenis affectus movere etiam per praeconem 
prohibebatur orator: among the Athenians, the orator was 
prohibited by the public crier to move the passions of his 
auditory. And this is confirmed by Philostratus in procem. 
lib. i. de Vit. Sophist.; and by Athenaeus, in Deipnosoph. 
xiii. 6. If, therefore, it was strictly forbidden at Athens 
to move the affections of the courts of justice, especially 
in that of the Areopagus, we see a good reason why Paul made 
no attempt in that way; and, at the same time, we learn how 
improperly the painters have done all they could, when they 
represent Paul speaking at Athens, endeavouring both by his 
looks and gestures to raise those several passions in his 
hearers which their faces are meant to express." I have only 
to add here, that, though St. Paul did not endeavour to 
excite any passions in his address at the Areopagus, yet each 
sect of the philosophers would feel themselves powerfully 
affected by every thing in his discourse which tended to show 
the emptiness or falsity of their doctrines; and, though he 
attempted to move no passions, yet, from these 
considerations, their passions would be strongly moved. And 
this is the idea which the inimitable Raphael took up in his 
celebrated cartoon on this subject, and which his best 
copier, Mr. Thomas Holloway, has not only engraved to the 
life, but has also described in language only inferior to the 
cartoon itself; and, as it affords no mean comment on the 
preceding discourse, my readers will be pleased to find it 
here.

By the cartoons of Raphael, we are to understand certain 
Scripture pieces painted by Raphael d'Urbino, and now 
preserved in the palace at Hampton court. They are allowed to 
be the chefs d'oeuvre in their kind.

They have been often engraved, but never so as to give an 
adequate representation of the matchless originals, till Mr. 
Thomas Holloway, who has completely seized the spirit of the 
artist, undertook this most labourious work, in which he has 
been wholly engaged for several years; and in which he has, 
for some time past, associated with himself Messrs. Slann and 
Webb, two excellent artists, who had formerly been his own 
pupils.

The cartoon to which I have referred has been some time 
finished, and delivered to the subscribers; and with it that 
elegant description, from which the following is a copious 
extract: - "The eye no sooner glances on this celebrated 
cartoon than it is immediately struck with the commanding 
attitude of the speaker, and the various emotions excited in 
his hearers.

"The interest which the first appearance of St. Paul at 
Athens had occasioned, was not calculated to subside on a 
sudden; his doctrines were too new, and his zeal too ardent. 
From the multitude it ascended to the philosophers. The 
Epicureans and Stoics particularly assailed him.

Antecedently to the scene described in the picture, among the 
various characters already encountered by the apostle, many 
undoubtedly, in their speculations upon Divine subjects, had 
often imagined a sublimer religion than that commonly 
acknowledged: such, therefore, would make it their business 
to hear him again. Others, to whom truth was of less value 
than the idle amusement of vain disquisition, felt no other 
motive than curiosity. By far the greater part, however, 
obstinately bigoted to their particular tenets, and abhorring 
innovation, regarded him as impious, or a mere babbler: these 
also wished to hear him again, but with no other than the 
insidious view, that, by a more regular and explicit 
profession of his doctrines, he might expose his own 
absurdities, or render himself obnoxious to the state. The 
drapery accords with the majesty of the figure; and the light 
is so managed, especially on the arms and hands, as greatly 
to assist the energy of the action.

"The painter has proceeded, from the warmth of full 
conviction, through various gradations, to the extremes of 
malignant prejudice, and invincible bigotry.

"In the foreground, on the right, is Dionysius, who is 
recorded to have embraced the new religion. With the utmost 
fervour in his countenance, and with a kind of sympathetic 
action and unconscious eagerness, he advances a step nearer. 
His eye is fixed on the apostle: he longs to tell him his 
conversion, already perhaps preceded by conviction wrought in 
his mind by the reasonings of the sacred teacher on previous 
occasions, in the synagogue, and in the forum or marketplace. 
He appears not only touched with the doctrine he receives, 
but expresses an evident attachment to his instructer: he 
would become his host and protector.

"This figure is altogether admirable. The gracefulness of the 
drapery and of the hair; the masculine beauty of the 
features; the perspective drawing of the arms; the life and 
sentiment of the hands, the right one especially, are 
inimitable.

"Behind is Damaris, mentioned with him as a fellow believer. 
This is the only female in the composition; but the painter 
has fully availed himself of the character, in assisting his 
principle of contrast; an excellence found in all the works 
of Raphael. Her discreet distance, her modest deportment, her 
pious and diffident eye, discovering a degree of awe, the 
decorum and arrangement of her train, all interest the mind 
in her favour.

"Next to these, but at come distance, is a Stoic. The first 
survey of this figure conveys the nature of his peculiar 
philosophy-dignity and austerity.

Raphael has well understood what he meant in this instance to 
illustrate.

His head is sunk in his breast; his arms are mechanically 
folded; his eyes, almost shut, glance towards the ground: he 
is absorbed in reflection. In spite of his stoicism, 
discomposure and perplexity invade his soul, mixed with a 
degree of haughty mortification.

"Sir Joshua Reynolds has observed that 'the same idea is 
continued through the whole figure, even to the drapery, 
which is so closely muffled about him that even his hands are 
not seen;' and that, 'by this happy correspondence between 
the expression of the countenance and the disposition of the 
parts, the figure appears to think from head to foot.' 
"Behind the Stoic are two young men, well contrasted in 
expression: anger in the elder, and in the other, youthful 
pride, half abashed, are finely discriminated.

"Beyond, in the same continued half circle with the Stoic, is 
perhaps exhibited the most astonishing contrast ever 
imagined; that of inexorable sternness, and complete 
placidity.

"Of the two figures, the first is denominated a Cynic, who, 
disappointed in his expectation of the ridiculous appearance 
which he conceived the apostle, when confronted, would make 
among them, abandons his mind to rage. His formidable 
forehead concentrates its whole expression: with a fixed 
frown and threatening eye, he surveys the object of his 
indignation.

He alone would engage to confute him, or punish his temerity. 
His eager impatience and irritation are not discovered in his 
features only; he raises his heel from the ground, and leans 
with a firmer pressure on his crutch, which seems to bend 
beneath him.

"Pass from him to the more polished Epicurean. This figure 
exhibits perfect repose of body and mind: no passions agitate 
the one; no action discomposes the other. His hands, 
judiciously concealed beneath beautiful drapery, shows there 
can be no possible motion or employment for them.

His feet seem to sleep upon the ground. His countenance, 
which is highly pleasing, and full of natural gentleness, 
expresses only a smile of pity at the fancied errors of the 
apostle, mingled with delight derived from his eloquence. He 
waits, with an inclined head, in passive and serene 
expectation. If a shrewd intelligence is discovered in his 
eyes, it is too gentle to disturb the general expression of 
tranquillity.

"Behind are two other young men: the first discovers a degree 
of superciliousness with his vexation; his companion is more 
disgusted, and more morose.

"These, and the two young figures previously described, are 
not introduced merely to fill up the group; they may be 
intended as pupils to the philosophers before them, though by 
some considered as young Romans, who have introduced 
themselves from ennui or curiosity.

"Beyond is a character in whose mind the force of truth and 
eloquence appears to have produced conviction; but pride, 
vanity, or self-interest, impel him to dissemble. His finger, 
placed upon the upper lip, shows that he has imposed silence 
upon himself.

"In the centre is seated a group from the academy. The skill 
of Raphael in this instance is eminent. These figures are not 
only thrown into shade, to prevent their interference with 
the principal figure; but, from their posture, they 
contribute to its elevation, and at the same time vary the 
line of the standing group.

"It seems as if the old philosopher in profile, on the left, 
had offered some observations on the apostle's address; and 
that he was eagerly listening to the reply of his sage 
friend, in whose features we behold more of the spirit of 
mild philosophy. The action of his fingers denotes his habit 
of reasoning, and regularity of argument. The middle figure 
behind appears to be watching the effect which his remarks 
would produce.

"The action of the young man, pointing to the apostle, 
characterizes the keen susceptibility and impetuosity of his 
age. His countenance expresses disgust, approaching to 
horror. The other young man turns his head round, as though 
complaining of unreasonable interruption. The drapery of both 
the front figures in this group is finely drawn: the opening 
action of the knees in the one is beautifully followed and 
described by the folds; in the other, the compression, in 
consequence of the bent attitude, is equally executed; the 
turn of the head gives grace and variety to the figure.

"The head introduced beyond, and rather apart, is intended to 
break the two answering lines of the dark contour of the 
apostle's drapery, and the building in the background.

"In the group placed behind the apostle, the mind is 
astonished at the new character of composition. The finest 
light imaginable is thrown upon the sitting figure; and, as 
necessary, a mass of shade is cast upon the two others.

"It is difficult to ascertain what or whom Raphael meant by 
that corpulent and haughty personage wearing the cap. His 
expression, however, is evident: malice and vexation are 
depicted in his countenance; his stride, and the action of 
his hand, are characteristic of his temperament.

"The figure standing behind is supposed to be a magician. His 
dark hair and beard, which seem to have been neglected, and 
the keen mysterious gaze of his eye, certainly exhibit a mind 
addicted to unusual studies. Under him, the only remaining 
figure is one who listens with malignant attention, as though 
intending to report every thing. He has the aspect of a spy. 
His eye is full of danger to the apostle; and he crouches 
below that he may not be disturbed by communication.

"If this figure be considered with reference to Dionysius, it 
may be remarked that Raphael has not only contrasted his 
characters, but even the two ends of his picture. By this 
means the greatest possible force is given to the subject. At 
the first survey, the subordinate contrasts may escape the 
eye, but these greater oppositions must have their effect.

"When, from this detailed display of the cartoon, the eye 
again glances over the whole subject, including the dignity 
of the architecture; the propriety of the statue of Mars, 
which faces his temple; the happy management of the 
landscape, with the two conversation figures; the result must 
be an acknowledgment that in this one effort of art is 
combined all that is great in drawing, in expression, and in 
composition." Holloway's description of Raphael's Cartoon of 
Paul preaching at Athens.

CHAPTER xviii.

Paul, leaving Athens, comes to Corinth, meets with Aquila and 
Priscilla, and labours with them at tent-making, 1-3. He 
preaches, and proves that Jesus was the Christ, 4, 5. The 
Jews oppose and blaspheme; and he purposes to go to the 
Gentiles, 6. Justus, Crispus, and several of the Corinthians 
believe, 7, 8. Paul has a vision, by which he is greatly 
comforted, 9, 10. He continues there a year and six months, 
11. Gallio being deputy of Achaia, the Jews make insurrection 
against Paul, and bring him before the deputy, who dismisses 
the cause; whereupon the Jews commit a variety of outrages, 
12-17. Paul sails to Syria, and from thence to Ephesus, where 
he preaches, 18-20. He leaves Ephesus-goes to Caesarea, 
visits Antioch, Galatia, and Phrygia, 21-23. Account of 
Apollos and his preaching, 24-28.

NOTES ON CHAP. xviii.

Verse 1. Paul departed from Athens] How long he stayed here, 
we cannot tell; it is probable it could not be less than 
three months; but, finding that the Gospel made little 
progress among the Athenians, he resolved to go to Corinth.

CORINTH was situated on the isthmus that connects 
Peloponnesus to Attica; and was the capital of all Achaia, or 
Peloponnesus. It was most advantageously situated for trade; 
for, by its two ports, the Lecheum and Cenchreae, it 
commanded the commerce both of the Ionian and AEgean Sea. It 
was destroyed by the Romans under Mummius, about one hundred 
and forty-six years before Christ, in their wars with Attica; 
but was rebuilt by Julius Caesar, and became one of the most 
considerable cities of Greece.

Like other kingdoms and states, it has undergone a variety of 
revolutions: from the oppressive and destructive government 
of the Turks it has been lately restored to that of the 
Greeks; but it is greatly reduced, its whole population 
amounting only to between thirteen and fourteen thousand 
souls. It is about 46 miles east of Athens, and 342 S.W. of 
Constantinople.

Its public buildings were very superb; and there the order 
called the Corinthian Order, in architecture, took its rise.

Verse 2. A certain Jew named Aquila] Some have supposed that 
this Aquila was the same with the Onkelos, mentioned by the 
Jews. See the article in Wolfius, Bibl. Hebr. vol. ii. p. 
1147. We have no evidence that this Jew and his wife were at 
this time converted to the Christian religion.

Their conversion was most likely the fruit of St. Paul's 
lodging with them-Pontus. See the note on chap. ii. 9.

Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome] This 
edict of the Roman emperor is not mentioned by Josephus; but 
it is probably the same to which Suetonius refers in his life 
of Claudius; where he says, Judaeos, impulsore Chresto, 
assidue tumultuantes Roma expulit. "He expelled the Jews from 
Rome, as they were making continual insurrections, under 
their leader Chrestus." Who this Chrestus was we cannot tell; 
probably Suetonius means Christ; but this I confess does not 
appear to me likely. There might have been a Jew of the name 
of Chrestus, who had made some disturbances, and, in 
consequence, Claudius thought proper to banish all Jews from 
the city. But how could he intend Christ, who was never at 
Rome? nor did any one ever personate him in that city; and it 
is evident he could not refer to any spiritual influence 
exerted by Christ on the minds of the people. Indeed he 
speaks of Chrestus as being the person who was the cause of 
the disturbances. It is no fictitious name, no name of an 
absent person, nor of a sect; but of one who was well known 
by the disturbances which he occasioned, and for which it is 
likely he suffered, and those of his nation were expelled. 
This decree, which was made, not by the senate, but by the 
emperor himself, continued only in force during his life, if 
so long; for in a short time after this Rome again abounded 
with Jews.

Verse 3. He abode with them, and wrought] Bp. Pearce observes 
that it was a custom among the Jews, even of such as had a 
better education than ordinary, which was Paul's case, chap. 
xxii. 3, to learn a trade, that, wherever they were, they 
might provide for themselves in case of necessity. And though 
Paul, in some cases, lived on the bounty of his converts, yet 
he chose not to do so at Ephesus, chap. xx. 34; nor at 
Corinth or other places, 1 Corinthians iv. 12; 2 Cor. ix. 8, 
9; 1 Thess. iii. 8; and this Paul did for a reason which he 
gives in 2 Cor. xi. 9-12. While he was at Corinth he was 
supplied, when his own labour did not procure him enough, "by 
the brethren which came to him there from Macedonia." It 
appears that the apostle had his lodging with Aquila and 
Priscilla; and probably a portion of the profits of the 
business, after his board was deducted. It was evidently no 
reproach for a man, at that time, to unite public teaching 
with an honest useful trade. And why should it be so now? May 
not a man who has acquired a thorough knowledge of the Gospel 
way of salvation, explain that way to his less informed 
neighbours, though he be a tent-maker, (what perhaps we would 
call a house-carpenter,) or a shoemaker, or any thing else? 
Even many of those who consider it a cardinal sin for a 
mechanic to preach the Gospel, are providing for themselves 
and their families in the same way. How many of the clergy, 
and other ministers, are farmers, graziers, schoolmasters, 
and sleeping partners in different trades and commercial 
concerns! A tent-maker, in his place, is as useful as any of 
these. Do not ridicule the mechanic because he preaches the 
Gospel to the salvation of his neighbours, lest some one 
should say, in a language which you glory to have learned, 
and which the mechanic has not, Mutato nomine, de TE fabula 
narrator.

There are different opinions concerning that is meant here by 
the skhnopoiov, which we translate tent-maker. Some think it 
means a maker of those small portable tents, formed of skins, 
which soldiers and travelers usually carried with them on 
their journeys; others suppose that these tents mere made of 
linen cloth. Some think that the trade of St. Paul was making 
hangings or curtains, such as were used at the theatres; 
others think the skhnopoiov was a sort of umbrella-maker; 
others, a weaver, &c., &c.

In short, we know not what the trade was. I have generally 
preferred the notion of a carpenter, or faber lignarius. 
Whatever it was, it was an honest, useful calling, and Paul 
got his bread by it.

Verse 4. He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath] 
Discoursed at large concerning Jesus as the Messiah, proving 
this point from their own Scriptures, collated with the facts 
of our Lord's life, &c.

And persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.] Many, both Jews and 
proselytes, were convinced of the truth of his doctrine. 
Among his converts was Epenetus, the first fruit of his 
labour in Achaia, Rom. xvi. 5; and the family of Stephanas 
was the next; and then Crispus and Caius, or Gaius; all of 
whom the apostle himself baptized, 1 Cor. i. 14-16. See on 
ver. 8.

Verse 5. When Silas and Timotheus were come] We have seen, 
chap. xvii. 13, that when Paul was obliged to leave Berea, 
because of the persecution raised up against him in that 
place, he left Silas and Timotheus behind; to whom he 
afterwards sent word to rejoin him at Athens with all speed. 
It appears, from 1 Thessalonians iii. 10, that, on Timothy's 
coming to Athens, Paul immediately sent him, and probably 
Silas with him, to comfort and establish the Church at 
Thessalonica. How long they laboured here is uncertain, but 
they did not rejoin him till some time after he came to 
Corinth. It appears that he was greatly rejoiced at the 
account which Timothy brought of the Church at Thessalonica; 
and it must have been immediately after this that he wrote 
his first epistle to that Church, which is probably the 
first, in order of time, of all his epistles.

Paul was pressed in spirit] suneiceto tw pneumati, or he was 
constrained by the Spirit of God, in an extraordinary manner, 
to testify to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. Instead of 
tw pneumati, in the spirit, tw logw, in the word or doctrine, 
is the reading of ABDE, three others; both the Syriac, 
Coptic, Vulgate, Basil, Chrysostom, and others. Griesbach has 
received this reading into the text, and Bp. Pearce thus 
paraphrases the verse: "And when Silas and Timotheus were 
come from Macedonia, Paul set himself, together with them, 
wholly to the word; i.e. he was fully employed, now that he 
had their assistance, it preaching the Gospel, called the 
word in chap. iv. 4; xvi. 6, 32; xvii. 11. St. Luke seems to 
have intended to express here something relating to St. Paul 
which was the consequence of the coming of Silas and 
Timotheus; and that was rather labouring with them more 
abundantly in preaching the word than his being "pressed in 
spirit." This appears to be the true sense of the word, and 
that tw logw is the genuine reading there can be no doubt. 
suneiceto, which we translate pressed, and which the Vulgate 
translates instabat, Bp. Pearce thinks should be translated 
una cum illis instabat, he earnestly strove together with 
them, tw logw, in preaching the word. The true sense is given 
by Calmet, Paul s'employoit a precher encore avec plus 
d'ardeur, Paul was employed with more ardour in preaching, 
and testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. From 
this time we hear no more of Silas; probably he died in 
Macedonia.

Verse 6. When they opposed] antitassomenwn, Systematically 
opposing, putting themselves in warlike order against him: so 
the word implies.

And blasphemed] This is precisely the way in which they still 
act. They have no arguments against Jesus being the Messiah; 
but, having made a covenant with unbelief, as soon as they 
are pressed on this point, they rail and blaspheme.-See the 
Tela ignea Satanae, by Wagenseil.

He shook his raiment] This was an action similar to that of 
shaking the dust of the feet; see on Matt. x. 14. See a 
parallel act, and its signification, in Neh. v. 13: Also I 
SHOOK MY LAP, and said, So shall God SHAKE every man FROM HIS 
HOUSE and FROM his labour; even thus shall he be SHAKEN OUT 
and EMPTIED. St. Paul's act on this occasion seems to have 
been the same with this of Nehemiah, and with the same 
signification; and it is likely that he was led by a Divine 
impulse to do it-thus signifying the shaking and emptying out 
of this disobedient people, which took place about sixteen 
years afterwards.

Your blood be upon your own heads] That is, ye alone are the 
cause of the destruction that is coming upon yourselves and 
upon your country.

I am clean] kaqarov egw, I am pure or innocent of your death 
and ruin.

I have proposed to you the Gospel of Jesus Christ-the only 
means by which ye can be saved, and ye have utterly rejected 
it. I shall labour no more with you; and, from henceforth, 
shall confine my labours to the Gentiles. St. Paul must refer 
to the Jews and Gentiles of Corinth particularly; for he 
preached to the Jews occasionally in other places; see chap. 
xix. 8, 9; and several were brought to the knowledge of the 
truth. But it seems as if the Jews from this time 
systematically opposed the Gospel of Christ; and yet, general 
tenders of this salvation were made to them wherever the 
apostles came; and when they rejected them, the word was sent 
to the Gentiles; see chap. xix. 8, 9.

Pure from blood, or pure from guilt, is commonly expressed by 
kaqarov; thus Heliodourus, lib. i. p. xli10: eiv deuro 
dietelesa kaqaran emauthn apo shv omiliav fulattousa, Until 
now I have lived, preserving myself pure: and Alciphron, lib. 
i. epist. 7, ad. fin.: oude mianai luqrw tav ceirav, av h 
qalatta ek paidov eiv deuro kaqarav adikhmatwn efulaxe, Nor 
to stain with pollution the hands which a seafaring life has 
kept from a child until now pure from iniquity.

Verse 7. And he departed thence] From his former lodging, or 
that quarter of the city where he had dwelt before with 
Aquila and Priscilla; and went to lodge with Justus, 
apparently a proselyte of the gate. This person is called 
Titus, and Titus Justus, in several MSS. and versions.

Verse 8. Crispus the chief ruler of the synagogue] This 
person held an office of considerable consequence; and 
therefore his conversion to Christianity must have been very 
galling to the Jews. It belonged to the chief or ruler of the 
synagogue to preside in all the assemblies, interpret the 
law, decide concerning things lawful and unlawful, punish the 
refractory, excommunicate the rebellious, solemnize 
marriages, and issue divorces. It is likely that, on the 
conversion of Crispus, Sosthenes was chosen to succeed him.

Many of the Corinthians] Those to whom the sacred historian 
refers were probably Gentiles, and were the fruits of the 
apostle's labours after he had ceased to preach among the 
Jews.

Verse 9. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a 
vision] It is likely that Paul was at this time much 
discouraged by the violent opposition of the Jews, and 
probably was in danger of his life; see ver. 10; and might 
have been entertaining serious thoughts of ceasing to preach, 
or leaving Corinth. To prevent this, and comfort him, God was 
pleased to give him this vision.

Be not afraid] That this comfort and assurance were necessary 
himself shows us in his first epistle to these Corinthians, 
chap. ii. 3: I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in 
much trembling.

Verse 10. No man shall set on thee] kai oudeiv epiqhsetai 
soi, No man shall be permitted to lay violent hands upon 
thee. It is very likely that the Jews had conspired his 
death; and his preservation was an act of the especial 
interposition of Divine Providence.

I have much people in this city.] en th polei tauth, In this 
very city: there are many here who have not resisted my 
Spirit, and consequently are now under its teachings, and are 
ready to embrace my Gospel as soon as thou shalt declare it 
unto them.

Verse 11. He continued there a year and six months] He was 
now confident that he was under the especial protection of 
God, and therefore continued teaching the word, ton logon, 
the doctrine of God. It is very likely, that it was during 
his stay here that he wrote his first epistle to the 
Thessalonians, and the second not long after; and some think 
that the epistle to the Galatians was written during his stay 
at Corinth.

Verse 12. When Gallio was the deputy of Achaia] The Romans 
comprehended, under the name of Achaia, all that part of 
Greece which lay between Thessaly and the southernmost coasts 
of Peloponnesus.

Pausanias, in Attic. vii. 16, says that the Romans were 
accustomed to send a governor into that country, and that 
they called him the governor of Achaia, not of Greece; 
because the Achaeans, when they subdued Greece, were the 
leaders in all the Grecian affairs see also Suetonius, in his 
life of Claudius, cap. xxv., and Dio Cassius, lx. 24. Edit. 
Reimari.

Deputy] anqupateuontov, serving the office of anqupatov, or 
deputy: see the note on chap. xiii. 7.

Gallio] This deputy, or proconsul, was eldest brother to the 
celebrated Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the stoic philosopher, 
preceptor of Nero, and who is so well known among the learned 
by his works. The name of Gallio, was at first Marcus Annaeus 
Novatus; but, having been adopted in the family of Gallio, he 
took the name of Lucius Junius Gallio. He, and Annaeus Mela 
his brother, father of the poet Lucan, shared in the disgrace 
of their brother Seneca; and by this tyrant, Nero, whose 
early years were so promising, the three brothers were put to 
death; see Tacitus, Annal. lib. xv. 70, and xvi.

17. It was to this Gallio that Seneca dedicates his book 
Deuteronomy Ira.

Seneca describes him as a man of the most amiable mind and 
manners: "Quem nemo non parum amat, etiam qui amare plus non 
potent; nemo mortalium uni tam dulcis est, quam hic omnibus: 
cum interim tanta naturalis boni vis est, uti artem 
simulationemque non redoleat:" vide Senec.

Praefat. ad Natural. Quaest. 4. He was of the sweetest 
disposition, affable to all, and beloved by every man.

Statius, Sylvar. lib. ii. 7. ver. 30, Ode on the Birthday of 
Lucan, says not a little in his favour, in a very few words: 
- Lucanum potes imputare terris; Hoc plus quam Senecam 
dedisse mundo, Aut dulcem generasse Gallionem.

You may consider nature as having made greater efforts in 
producing Lucan, than it has done in producing Seneca, or 
even the amiable GALLIO.

And brought him to the judgment seat] They had no power to 
punish any person in the Roman provinces, and therefore were 
obliged to bring their complaint before the Roman governor. 
The powers that be are ordained of God. Had the Jews 
possessed the power here, Paul had been put to death!

Verse 13. Persuaded men to worship God contrary to the law.] 
This accusation was very insidious. The Jews had permission 
by the Romans to worship their own God in their own way: this 
the laws allowed. The Roman worship was also established by 
the law. The Jews probably intended to accuse Paul of acting 
contrary to both laws. "He is not a Jew, for he does not 
admit of circumcision; he is not a Gentile, for he preaches 
against the worship of the gods. He is setting up a worship 
of his own, in opposition to all laws, and persuading many 
people to join with him: he is therefore a most dangerous 
man, and should be put to death."

Verse 14. Paul was now about to open his mouth] He was about 
to enter on his defense; but Gallio, perceiving that the 
prosecution was through envy and malice, would not put Paul 
to any farther trouble, but determined the matter as follows.

If it were a matter of wrong] adikhma, Of injustice; any 
thing contrary to the rights of the subject.

Or wicked lewdness] radiourghma ponhron, Destructive 
mischief.

(See the note on chap. xiii. 10, where the word is 
explained.) Something by which the subject is grievously 
wronged; were it any crime against society or against the 
state.

Reason would that I should bear with you.] kata logon an 
hnescomhn umwn, According to reason, or the merit of the 
case, I should patiently hear you.

Verse 15. But if it be a question of words] peri logou, 
Concerning doctrine and names-whether the person called Jesus 
be the person you call the Messiah. And of your law-any 
particular nicety, concerning that law which is peculiar to 
yourselves: Look ye to it-settle the business among 
yourselves; the Roman government does not meddle with such 
matters, and I will not take upon me to-decide in a case that 
does not concern my office. As if he had said: "The Roman 
laws give religious liberty to Jews and Greeks; but, if 
controversies arise among you on these subjects, decide them 
among yourselves, or dispute about them as much as you 
please." A better answer could not be given by man; and it 
was highly becoming the acknowledged meekness, gentleness, 
and benevolence of this amiable man.

He concluded that the state had no right to control any man's 
religious opinion; that was between the object of his worship 
and his own conscience; and therefore he was not authorized 
to intermeddle with subjects of this nature, which the law 
left to every man's private judgment.

Had all the rulers of the people in every country acted as 
this sensible and benevolent Roman, laws against liberty of 
conscience, concerning religious persecution, would not be 
found to be, as they not are, blots and disgraces on the 
statute books of almost all the civilized nations of Europe.

Verse 16. And he drave them from the judgment seat.] He saw 
that their accusation was both frivolous and vexatious, and 
he ordered them to depart, and the assembly to disperse. The 
word aphlasen, which we translate he drave, does not signify 
here any act of violence on the part of Gallio or the Roman 
officers, but simply an authoritative dismission.

Verse 17. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes] As this man is 
termed the chief ruler of the synagogue, it is probable that 
he had lately succeeded Crispus in that office; see ver. 8; 
and that he was known either to have embraced Christianity, 
or to have favoured the cause of St. Paul. He is supposed to 
be the same person whom St. Paul associates with himself in 
the first epistle to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. i. 1. Crispus 
might have been removed from his presidency in the synagogue 
as soon as the Jews found he had embraced Christianity, and 
Sosthenes appointed in his place.

And, as he seems to have speedily embraced the same doctrine, 
the Jews would be the more enraged, and their malice be 
directed strongly against him, when they found that the 
proconsul would not support them in their opposition to Paul.

But why should the Greeks beat Sosthenes? I have in the above 
note proceeded on the supposition that this outrage was 
committed by the Jews; and my reason for it is this: oi 
Æellhnev, the Greeks, is omitted by AB, two of the oldest and 
most authentic MSS. in the world: they are omitted also by 
the Coptic and Vulgate, Chrysostom, and Bede. Instead of oi 
Æellhnev, three MSS., one of the eleventh, and two of the 
thirteenth century, have ioudaioi, the Jews; and it is much 
more likely that the Jews beat one of their own rulers, 
through envy at his conversion, than that the Greeks should 
do so; unless we allow, which is very probable, (if Æellhnev, 
Greeks, be the true reading,) that these Hellenes were Jews, 
born in a Greek country, and speaking the Greek language.

And Gallio cared for none of those things.] kai ouden toutwn 
qw galliwni emelen. And Gallio did not concern himself, did 
not intermeddle with any of these things. As he found that it 
was a business that concerned their own religion, and that 
the contention was among themselves, and that they were 
abusing one of their own sect only, he did not choose to 
interfere. He, like the rest of the Romans, considered the 
Jews a most despicable people, and worthy of no regard; and 
their present conduct had no tendency to cause him to form a 
different opinion of them from that which he and his 
countrymen had previously entertained. It is not very likely, 
however, that Gallio saw this outrage; for, though it was 
before the judgment seat, it probably did not take place till 
Gallio had left the court; and, though he might be told of 
it, he left the matter to the lictors, and would not 
interfere.

The conduct of Gallio has been, in this case, greatly 
censured; and I think with manifest injustice. In the 
business brought before his tribunal, no man could have 
followed a more prudent or equitable course. His whole 
conduct showed that it was his opinion, that the civil 
magistrate had nothing to do with religious opinions or the 
concerns of conscience, in matters where the safety of the 
state was not implicated. He therefore refused to make the 
subject a matter of legal discussion. Nay, he went much 
farther; he would not even interfere to prevent either the 
Jews or the apostles from making proselytes. Though the 
complaint against the apostles was, that they were teaching 
men to worship God contrary to the law; see the note on ver. 
15, yet, even in this case, he did not think it right to 
exert the secular power to restrain the free discussion and 
teaching of matters which concerned the rights of conscience 
in things pertaining to the worship of the gods. As to his 
not preventing the tumult which took place, we may sag, if he 
did see it, which is not quite evident, that he well knew 
that this could rise to no serious amount; and the lictors, 
and other minor officers, were there in sufficient force to 
prevent any serious riot, and it was their business to see 
that the public peace was not broken, besides, as a heathen, 
he might have no objection to permit this people to pursue a 
line of conduct by which they were sure to bring themselves 
and their religion into contempt. These wicked Jews could not 
disprove the apostle's doctrine, either by argument or 
Scripture; and they had recourse to manual logic, which was 
an indisputable proof of the badness of their own cause, and 
the strength of that of their opponents.

But in consequence of this conduct Gallio has been 
represented as a man perfectly careless and unconcerned about 
religion in general; and therefore has been considered as a 
proper type or representative of even professed Christians, 
who are not decided in their religious opinions or conduct. 
As a heathen, Gallio certainly was careless about both 
Judaism and Christianity.

The latter he had probably never heard of but by the cause 
now before his judgment seat; and, from any thing he could 
see of the other, through the medium of its professors, he 
certainly could entertain no favourable opinion of it: 
therefore in neither case was he to blame. But the words, 
cared for none of those things, are both misunderstood and 
misapplied: we have already seen that they only mean that he 
would not intermeddle in a controversy which did not belong 
to has province and sufficient reasons have been alleged why 
he should act as he did. It is granted that many preachers 
take this for a text, and preach useful sermons for the 
conviction of the undecided and lukewarm; and it is to be 
deplored that there are so many undecided and careless people 
in the world, and especially in reference to what concerns 
their eternal interests. But is it not to be lamented, also, 
thy there should be preachers of God's holy word who attempt 
to explain passages of Scripture which they do not 
understand.

For he who preaches on Gallio cared for none of those things, 
in the way in which the passage has, through mismanagement, 
been popularly understood, either does not understand it, or 
he willing perverts the meaning.

Verse 18. And Paul-tarried there yet a good while] The 
persecuting Jews plainly saw, from the manner in which the 
proconsul had conducted this business, that they could have 
no hope of raising a state persecution against the apostles; 
and the laws provided so amply for the personal safety of 
every Roman citizen that then were afraid to proceed any 
farther in their violence. It would not be unknown that Paul 
was possessed of the right of Roman citizenship; and 
therefore his person was sacred as long as he did nothing 
contrary to the laws.

It is probable that at this time Paul stayed, on the whole, 
as Corinth, about two years.

Having shorn his head in Cenchrea] But who was it that shore 
his head? Paul or Aquila? Some think the latter, who had 
bound himself by the Nazarite vow, probably before he became 
a Christian; and, being under that vow, his conscience would 
not permit him to disregard it. There is nothing in the text 
that absolutely obliges us to understand this action as 
belonging to St. Paul. It seems to have been the act of 
Aquila alone; and therefore both Paul and Priscilla are 
mentioned before Aquila; and it is natural to refer the vow 
to the latter. Yet there are certainly some weighty reasons 
why the vow should be referred to St. Paul, and not to 
Aquila; and interpreters are greatly divided on the subject. 
Chrysostom, Isidore of Seville, Grotius, Hammond, Zegerus, 
Erasmus, Baronius, Pearce, Wesley, and others, refer the vow 
to Aquila.-Jerome, Augustin, Bede, Calmet, Dodd, Rosenmuller, 
and others, refer it to St. Paul. Each party has its strong 
reasons-the matter is doubtful-the bare letter of the text 
determines nothing: yet I cannot help leaning to the latter 
opinion. Perhaps it was from feeling the difficulty of 
deciding which was under the vow that the AEthiopic and two 
Latin versions, instead of keiramenov, having shaved, in the 
singular, appear to have read keiramenoi, they shaved; and 
thus put both Paul and Aquila under the vow.

Cenchrea. This was a port on the east side of the isthmus of 
Corinth, opposite to the Lecheum, which was the other port on 
the west.

And it is likely that it was at Cenchrea that St. Paul took 
shipping for Syria, as it would be more convenient her him, 
and a shorter passage to embark at Cenchrea, in order to go 
by the AEgean Sea to Syria, than to embark at the Lecheum, 
and sail down into the Mediterranean. This isthmus is 
generally described now as dividing the Gulf of Lepanto, on 
the west, from the Gulf of Engia, or Eginaon, on the east.

Verse 19. He came to Ephesus] Where it appears he spent but 
one Sabbath. It is supposed that Paul left Aquila and 
Priscilla at this place, and that he went on alone to 
Jerusalem; for it is certain they were at Ephesus when 
Apollos arrived there. See ver. 24, 26.

EPHESUS was at the time in which St. Paul visited it, one of 
the most flourishing cities of Asia Minor. It was situated in 
that part anciently called Ionia, but now Natolia. It 
abounded with the most eminent orators, philosophers, &c., in 
the world; and was adorned with the most splendid buildings. 
Here was that famous temple of Diana, reputed one of the 
seven wonders of the world. This city is now under the 
dominion of the Turks, and is in a state of almost entire 
ruin. The temple of Minerva, which had long served as a 
Christian church, is now so completely ruined that its site 
cannot be easily determined; though some ruins of the walls 
are still standing, with five or six marble columns, forty 
feet in length, and seven in diameter, all of one piece. It 
still has a good harbour, and is about forty miles from 
Smyrna. In Chandler's Travels in Asia Minor, some curious 
information is given concerning this once eminent city. His 
account concludes thus: "The Ephesians are now a few Greek 
peasants, living in extreme wretchedness, dependence, and 
insensibility: the representative of an illustrious people, 
and inhabiting the wrecks of their greatness: some beneath 
the vaults of the Stadium, once the crowded scene of their 
diversions; and some live by the abrupt precipice, in the 
sepulchres which received the ashes of their ancestors. Such 
are the present citizens of Ephesus; and such is the 
condition to which that renowned city has been gradually 
reduced. Its streets are obscured and overgrown; a herd of 
goats was driven to it for shelter from the sun at noon; and 
a noisy flight of crows from the quarries seemed to insult 
its silence. We heard the partridge call in the area of the 
theater, and of the Stadium.

The glorious pomp of its heathen worship is no longer 
remembered; and Christianity, which was there nursed by 
apostles, and fostered by general councils, until it 
increased to fullness of stature, barely lingers on, in an 
existence hardly visible." Travels in Asia Minor, p.
130. Reader! This city was once the capital of Asia Minor; 
and its ruins alone prove that it has existed: and it was one 
of those seven Churches to which a letter was expressly 
dictated by Jesus Christ himself! Ephesus is properly no 
more! and the Church of Ephesus is blotted put of the map of 
Christianity! Be silent and adore.

Verse 21. I must-keep this feast] Most likely the passover, 
at which he wished to attend for the purpose of seeing many 
of his friends, and having the most favourable opportunity to 
preach the Gospel to thousands who would attend at Jerusalem 
on that occasion. The whole of this clause, I must by all 
means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem, is wanting in 
ABE, six others; with the Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, and 
Vulgate.

Griesbach leaves it in the text, with the mark of 
doubtfulness; and Professor White, in his Crisews, says, 
probabiliter delenda. Without this clause the verse will read 
thus: But he bade them farewell, saying, I will return again 
unto you, if God will. And this he did before the expiration 
of that same year, chap. xix. 1, and spent three years with 
them, chap. xx. 31, extending and establishing the Church at 
that place.

Verse 22. Landed at Caesarea] This must have been Caesarea in 
Palestine.

Gone up] To Jerusalem, though the name is not mentioned: but 
this is a common form of speech in the evangelists, Jerusalem 
being always meant when this expression was used; for the 
word anabainw, to go up, is often used absolutely, to 
signify, to go to Jerusalem: e.g. GO ye UP unto this feast; I 
GO not UP yet, John vii. 8. But when his brethren were GONE 
UP, then WENT he also UP unto the feast, John vii. 10. There 
were certain Greeks-that CAME UP to worship, John xii. 20. 
St. Paul himself uses a similar form of expression. There are 
yet but twelve days since I WENT UP to Jerusalem, for to 
worship, chap. xxiv. 11. So all parts of England are spoken 
of as being below London: so we talk of going up to London; 
and people in London talk of going down to the country.

Saluted the Church] That is, the Church at Jerusalem, called 
emphatically THE CHURCH, because it was the FIRST Church-the 
MOTHER, or APOSTOLIC Church; and from it all other Christian 
Churches proceeded: those in Galatia, Philippi, Thessalonica, 
Corinth, Ephesus, Rome, &c.

Therefore, even this last was only a daughter Church, when in 
its purest state.

Went down to Antioch.] That is, Antioch in Syria, as the word 
is generally to be understood when without addition, so 
Caesarea is always to be understood Caesarea in Palestine, 
when without the addition of Philippi.

Verse 23. Went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia] 
Both were provinces of Asia Minor: see on chap. ii. 10.

In order] kaqexhv, A word peculiar to St. Luke; see his 
Gospel, Luke i. 3; viii. 1; and his history of the Acts, 
chap. iii. 24; xi. 4, and the place above; the only places 
where this word occurs in the New Testament. It properly 
signifies, in order, distinctly, particularly; from kata, 
according to, and exh, order, as opposed to confusion, 
indistinctness, &c. If St. Paul went up to Jerusalem at this 
time, which we are left to infer, for Luke has not expressed 
it, (chap. xviii. 22,) it was his fourth journey thither; and 
this is generally supposed to have been the twenty-first year 
after his conversion.

His first journey is mentioned chap. ix. 26; his second, 
chap. xi. 30; his third, chap. xv. 4; and his fourth, ver. 
22, the place above.

Verse 24. A certain Jew named Apollos] One MS., with the 
Coptic and Armenian, calls him Apelles; and the Codex Bezae, 
Apollonius. It is strange that we should find a Jew, not only 
with a Roman name, as Aquila, an eagle; but with the name of 
one of the false gods, as Apollos or Apollo in the text. 
Query: Whether the parents of this man were not originally 
Gentiles, but converted to Judaism after their son Apollo 
(for so we should write the word) had been born and named.

Born at Alexandria] This was a celebrated city of Egypt, 
built by Alexander the Great, from whom it took its name. It 
was seated on the Mediterranean Sea, between the Lake 
Mareotis and the beautiful harbour formed by the Isle of 
Pharos, about twelve miles west of the Canopic branch of the 
Nile, in lat. 31¯. 10'. N. This city was built under the 
direction of Dinocrates, the celebrated architect of the 
temple of Diana at Ephesus. It was in this city that Ptolemy 
Soter founded the famous academy called the Museum, in which 
a society of learned men devoted themselves to philosophical 
studies. Some of the most celebrated schools of antiquity 
flourished here; and here was the Tower of Pharos, esteemed 
one of the seven wonders of the world. Alexandria was taken 
by the French, July 4, 1798, under the command of Bonaparte; 
and was surrendered to the English under General, now Lord, 
Hutchinson, in 1801.

And, in consequence of the treaty of peace between France and 
England, it was restored to the Turks. Near this place was 
the celebrated obelisk, called Cleopatra's Needle; and the no 
less famous column, called Pompey's Pillar. This city 
exhibits but very slender remains of its ancient splendour.

An eloquent man] Having strong rhetorical powers; highly 
cultivated, no doubt, in the Alexandrian schools.

Mighty in the Scriptures] Thoroughly acquainted with the law 
and prophets; and well skilled in the Jewish method of 
interpreting them.

Verse 25. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord] 
kathchmenov; He was catechized, initiated, in the way, the 
doctrine, of Jesus as the Christ.

Being fervent in the spirit] Being full of zeal to propagate 
the truth of God, he taught diligently, akribwv accurately, 
(so the word should be translated,) the things of Christ as 
far as he could know them through the ministry of John the 
Baptist; for it appears he knew nothing more of Christ than 
what John preached. Some suppose we should read ouk, not, 
before akribwv, correctly, or accurately, because it is said 
that Aquila and Priscilla expounded the way of the Lord, 
akribesteron, more perfectly, rather more accurately; but of 
this emendation there is not the slightest necessity; for 
surely it is possible for a man to teach accurately what he 
knows; and it is possible that another, who possesses more 
information on the subject than the former, may teach him 
more accurately, or give him a larger portion of knowledge. 
Apollo knew the baptism of John; but he knew nothing farther 
of Jesus Christ than that baptism taught; but, as far as he 
knew, he taught accurately. Aquila and Priscilla were 
acquainted with the whole doctrine of the Gospel: the 
doctrine of Christ dying for our sins, and rising again for 
our justification; and in this they instructed Apollo; and 
this was more accurate information than what he had before 
received, through the medium of John's ministry.

Verse 26. They took him unto them] This eloquent man, and 
mighty in the Scriptures, who was even a public teacher, was 
not ashamed to be indebted to the instructions of a Christian 
woman, in matters that not only concerned his own salvation, 
but also the work of the ministry, in which he was engaged. 
It is disgraceful to a man to be ignorant, when he may 
acquire wisdom; but it is no disgrace to acquire wisdom from 
the meanest person or thing. The adage is good: Despise not 
advice, even of the meanest: the gaggling of geese preserved 
the Roman state.

Verse 27. When he was disposed to pass into Achaia] There is 
a very long and important addition here in the Codex Bezae, 
of which the following is a translation: But certain 
Corinthians, who sojourned at Ephesus, and heard him, 
entreated him to pass over with them to their own country. 
Then, when he had given his consent, the Ephesians wrote to 
the disciples at Corinth, that they should receive this man. 
Who, when he was come, &c. The same addition is found in the 
later Syriac, and in the Itala version in the Codex Bezae.

Which had believed through grace.] These words may either 
refer to Apollo, or to the people at Corinth. It was through 
grace that they had believed; and it was through grace that 
Apollo was enabled to help them much.

The words dia thv caritov, through grace, are wanting in the 
Codex Bezae, the later Syriac, the Vulgate, one copy of the 
Itala, and in some of the fathers. But this omission might 
have been the effect of carelessness in the writers of those 
copies from which the foregoing were taken: the words convey 
the same idea that is expressed by St. Paul, 1 Cor. iii. 6: 
Paul planted, and Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 
Though this eminent man became the instrument of mightily 
helping the believers in Corinth, yet he was also the 
innocent cause of a sort of schism among them. For some, 
taken by his commanding eloquence, began to range themselves 
on his side, and prefer him to all other teachers. This evil 
St. Paul reprehends and corrects in his first epistle to the 
Corinthians. St. Jerome says that Apollo became bishop of 
Corinth.

Verse 28. He mightily convinced the Jews] eutonwv 
diakathlegceto; He vehemently confuted the Jews; and that 
publicly, not in private conferences, but in his public 
preaching: showing by the scriptures of the Old Testament, 
which the Jews received as divinely inspired, that Jesus, who 
had lately appeared among them, and whom they had crucified, 
was the Christ, the promised Messiah, and that there was 
salvation in none other; and that they must receive him as 
the Messiah, in order to escape the wrath to come. This they 
refused to do; and we know the consequence.

Their city was sacked, their temple burnt, their whole civil 
and religious polity subverted, more than a million of 
themselves killed, and the rest scattered over the face of 
the earth.

1. THE Christian religion did not hide itself in corners and 
obscure places at first, in order, privately, to get 
strength, before it dared to show itself publicly. Error, 
conscious of its weakness, and that its pretensions cannot 
bear examination, is obliged to observe such a cautious 
procedure. With what caution, circumspection, and privacy, 
did Mohammed propose his new religion! He formed a party by 
little and little, in the most private manner, before he 
ventured to exhibit his pretensions openly. Not so 
Christianity: it showed itself in the most public manner, not 
only in the teaching of Christ, but also in that of the 
apostles. Even after the crucifixion of our Lord, the 
apostles and believers went to the temple, the most public 
place; and in the most public manner taught and worked 
miracles. JERUSALEM, the seat of the doctors, the judge of 
religion, was the first place in which, by the command of 
their Lord, the disciples preached Christ crucified. They 
were, therefore, not afraid to have their cause tried by the 
most rigid test of Scripture; and in the very place, too, 
where that Scripture was best understood.

2. When the same apostles. carried this Gospel to heathen 
countries, did they go to the villages, among the less 
informed or comparatively ignorant Greeks, in order to form a 
party, and shield themselves by getting the multitude on 
their side? No! They went to Caesarea, to Antioch, to 
Thessalonica, to ATHENS, to CORINTH, to EPHESUS; to the very 
places where learning flourished most, where sciences were 
best cultivated, where imposture was most likely to be 
detected, and where the secular power existed in the most 
despotic manner, and could at once have crushed them to 
nothing could they have been proved to be impostors, or had 
they not been under the immediate protection of Heaven! Hence 
it is evident that these holy men feared no rational 
investigation of their doctrines, for they taught them in the 
face of the most celebrated schools in the universe! 3. They 
preached Christ crucified in JERUSALEM, where it was the most 
solemn interest of the Jews to disprove their doctrine, that 
they might exculpate themselves from the murder of Jesus 
Christ. They preached the same Christ, and the vanity of 
idolatry, in Athens, in Corinth, and in Ephesus, where 
idolatry existed in the plenitude of its power; and where all 
its interests required it to make the moat desperate and 
formidable stand against those innovators. What but the 
fullest confidence of the truth of what they preached, the 
fullest conviction of the Divinity of their doctrine, and the 
supernatural influence of God upon their souls, could ever 
have induced these men to preach Christ crucified, either at 
Jerusalem, or at Athens? I scruple not to assert that the 
bold, public manner in which the apostles preached the 
Gospel, among the Jews and Greeks, is a most incontestable 
proof of the conviction they had of its truth; and the 
success with which they were favoured is a demonstration that 
what they preached as truth God proved to be the truth, by 
stretching forth his hand to heal, and causing signs and 
wonders to be wrought in the name of the holy child Jesus. 
This is an additional proof of the sincerity of the apostles, 
and of the truth of Christianity. If Paul and Peter, Barnabas 
and Silas, had not had the fullest persuasion that their 
doctrine was of God, they would never have ventured to 
propose it before the Sanhedrin in JERUSALEM, the literati of 
CORINTH, and the Stoics and inexorable judges of the 
Areopagus at ATHENS.

4. We may be surprised to find that, even among the Jews as 
well as the Gentiles, there were persons who used curious 
arts. Those were inexcusable; these were to be pitied. Blind 
as every man is by nature, yet he is conscious that without 
supernatural assistance he can neither secure the good he 
needs, nor avoid the evil he fears: therefore, he endeavours 
to associate to himself the influence of supernatural agents, 
in order to preserve him in safety, and make him happy. Thus 
forsaking and forgetting the fountain of living water, he 
hews out to himself cisterns that can hold no water. The 
existence of magical arts and incantations, whether real or 
pretended, prove the general belief of the existence of a 
spiritual world, and man's consciousness of his own weakness, 
and his need of supernatural help. When shall the eye be 
directed solely to HIM from whom alone true help can come, by 
whom evil is banished, and happiness restored!

CHAPTER xix.

Paul, coming to Ephesus, finds certain disciples who had not 
received the gift of the Holy Ghost, knowing only the baptism 
of John, but receive it through the imposition of his hands, 
1-7. He preaches for three months in the synagogues, 8. Many 
being hardened, he leaves the synagogues, and teaches daily 
in the school of Tyrannus for two years, 9, 10. He works many 
miracles, 11, 12. Account of the vagabond exorcist Jews, and 
the seven sons of Sceva, 13-17. Many are converted, and burn 
their magical books, 18-20. Paul purposes to pass through 
Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, and afterwards to 
Rome; but, having sent Timotheus and Erastus to Macedonia, 
continues a little longer in Asia, 21, 22. Demetrius, a 
silversmith of Ephesus, raises an uproar against Paul, which, 
after some tumultuous proceedings, is appeased by the town 
clerk, 23-41.

NOTES ON CHAP. xix.

Verse 1. And it came to pass-while Apollos was at Corinth] 
The Codex Bezae begins this chapter differently. But then 
Paul was desirous, according to his own counsel, to go to 
Jerusalem, the Spirit commanded him to return into Asia: 
then, passing through the upper parts, he came to Ephesus. 
This addition is also found in the Latin or Itala part of the 
same MS., and in the margin of the later Syriac.

Paul having passed through the upper coasts] That is, through 
those parts of Asia Minor that lay eastward of Ephesus, such 
as Galatia, Phrygia, and probably Lycaonia and Lydia; and it 
is in reference to Ephesus that these are called the upper 
coasts. See their situation on the map.

Verse 2. Have ye received the Holy Ghost] It is likely that 
these were Asiatic Jews, who, having been at Jerusalem about 
twenty-six years before this, had heard the preaching of 
John, and received his baptism, believing in the coming 
Christ, whom John had proclaimed; but it appears that till 
this time they had got no farther instruction in the 
Christian religion. Paul, perceiving this, asked them if they 
had received the Holy Ghost since they believed? For it was 
the common privilege of the disciples of Christ to receive, 
not only the ordinary graces, but also the extraordinary 
gifts of the Holy Spirit; and thus the disciples of Christ 
differed from those of John, and of all others. John baptized 
with water; Jesus baptized with the Holy Ghost. And to this 
day the genuine disciples of Christ are distinguished from 
all false religionists, and from nominal Christians, by being 
made partakers of this Spirit, which enlightens their minds, 
and convinces of sin, righteousness, and judgment; quickens 
their souls, witnesses to their conscience that they are the 
children of God, and purifies their hearts.

Those who have not received these blessings from the Holy 
Spirit, whatever their profession may be, know nothing better 
than John's baptism: good, excellent in its kind, but 
ineffectual to the salvation of those who live under the 
meridian of Christianity.

We have not so much as heard whether, &c.] That is, they had 
not heard that there were particular gifts and graces of the 
Holy Spirit to be received.

They could not mean that they had not heard of the Holy 
Spirit; for John, in his baptism, announced Christ as about 
to baptize with the Holy Ghost, Matt. iii. 11; Luke iii. 16; 
but they simply meant that they had not heard that this 
Spirit, in his gifts, had been given to or received by any 
one.

Verse 4. That they should believe on him which should come 
after] John baptized them with the baptism of repentance; 
this was common to all the baptisms administered by the Jews 
to proselytes; but telling them that they should believe on 
him who was coming, was peculiar to John's baptism.

Verse 5. When they heard this, &c.] As there is no evidence 
in the New Testament of persons being rebaptized, unless this 
be one, many criticisms have been hazarded to prove that 
these persons were not rebaptized. I see no need of this. To 
be a Christian, a man must be baptized in the Christian 
faith: these persons had not been baptized into that faith, 
and therefore were not Christians: they felt this, and were 
immediately baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. This is 
a plain case; but let one instance be produced of a person 
being rebaptized, who had before been baptized in the name of 
the holy Trinity, or even in the name of Jesus alone. In my 
view, it is an awful thing to iterate baptism when it had 
been before essentially performed: by "essentially 
performed," I mean, administered by sprinkling, washing, or 
plunging, by or in water, in the name of the Father, Son, and 
Spirit, being invoked at the time. Whoever has had this has 
the essence of baptism, as far as that can be conferred by 
man; and it matters not at what period of his life he has had 
it; it is a substantial baptism, and by it the person has 
been fully consecrated to the holy and blessed Trinity; and 
there should not be an iteration of this consecration on any 
account whatever. It is totally contrary to the canon law; it 
is contrary to the decisions of the best divines; it is 
contrary to the practice of the purest ages of the Church of 
God; it is contrary to the New Testament, and tends to bring 
this sacred ordinance into disrepute.

Verse 6. They spake with tongues, and prophesied.] They 
received the miraculous gift of different languages; and in 
those languages they taught to the people the great doctrines 
of the Christian religion; for this appears to be the meaning 
of the word proefhteuon, prophesied, as it is used above.

Verse 8. Spake boldly-three months] We have often remarked 
that St. Paul, in every place, made his first offers of 
salvation to the Jews; and it was only when they rejected it, 
that he turned to the Gentiles; see chap. xviii. 6. And the 
same line of conduct he pursues here: he goes to the school 
of Tyrannus, at least a public place, to which all might 
resort, when they obstinately rejected the Gospel in the 
synagogue.

Disputing and persuading] dialegomenouv, kai peiqwn, Holding 
conversations with them, in order to persuade them of the 
truth of the doctrine of Christ.

Verse 9. When divers were hardened] tinev, When some of them 
were hardened; several no doubt felt the power of Divine 
truth, and yielded consent. Our term divers, one of the most 
bald in our language, has too general a meaning for this 
place.

Behold the effect of the word of God! It is a savour of life 
unto life, or death unto death, according as it is received 
or rejected. The twelve men mentioned above received it 
affectionately, and they were made partakers of the Holy 
Ghost; the others were hardened, for they refused to believe; 
and they calumniated the doctrine, and became Satan's 
preachers among the multitude, to prejudice them against 
Christ and his religion.

Separated the disciples] Paul, and those converted under his 
ministry, had doubtless been in the habit of attending public 
worship in the synagogue: but, on the persecuting conduct of 
these Jews; he and his converts wholly withdrew from the 
synagogue, and took a place for themselves; and constantly 
afterwards held their own meetings at a school room, which 
they hired no doubt for the purpose.

The school of one Tyrannus.] For scolh, the school, one MS. 
has sunagwgh, the synagogue; and, for Tyrannus, some have 
Tyrannios. Some have considered the original word as being an 
epithet, rather than the name of a person; and think that a 
prince or nobleman is intended, because turannov, tyrant, is 
taken in this sense: but this is a most unlikely conjecture. 
It appears that the person in question was a schoolmaster, 
and that he lent or hired his room to the apostles; and that 
they preached daily in it to as many, both Jews and Gentiles, 
as chose to attend. It is very likely that Tyrannus was a 
Jew, and was at least well affected to the Christian cause; 
for we have many proofs that individuals among them kept 
schools for the instruction of their youth; besides the 
schools or academies kept by the more celebrated rabbins. See 
Schoettgen and Vitringa. The school of Tyrannus might have 
been such a place as Exeter Hall, and such like places for 
public and especially for extraordinary religious meetings in 
London.

Verse 10. By the space of two years] The schoolhouse of 
Tyrannus was his regular chapel; and it is likely that in it 
he taught Christianity, as Tyrannus taught languages or 
sciences.

All they-in Asia heard the word] Meaning, probably, the 
Proconsular Asia, for the extent of which see the note on 
chap. xvi. 6.

Jews and Greeks.] For, although he ceased preaching in the 
synagogues of the Jews, yet they continued to hear him in the 
school of Tyrannus. But it is likely that Paul did not 
confine himself to this place, but went about through the 
different towns and villages; without which, how could all 
Asia have heard the word? By Greeks, we are to understand, 
not only the proselytes of the gate, but the heathens in 
general.

Verse 11. God wrought special miracles] dunameiv te ou tav 
tucausav, Miracles of no ordinary kind, i.e. extraordinary 
miracles.

Verse 12. Handkerchiefs or aprons] soudaria h simikinqia, 
Probably the sudaria were a sort of handkerchiefs, which, in 
travelling, were always carried in the hand, for the 
convenience of wiping the face; and the simikinthia were 
either the sashes or girdles that went about the loins. 
These, borrowed from the apostle, and applied to the bodies 
of the diseased, became the means, in the hand of God, of 
their restoration to health.

The diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went 
out of them.] Here, there is a most evident distinction made 
between the diseases and the evil spirits: hence they were 
not one and the same thing.

Verse 13. Certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists] tinev apo 
twn periercomenwn ioudaiwn exorkistwn; Certain of the Jews 
who went about practicing exorcisms. Vagabond has a very bad 
acceptation among us; but, literally, vagabundus signifies a 
wanderer, one that has no settled place of abode. These, like 
all their countrymen, in all places, went about to get their 
bread in what way they could; making trial of every thing by 
which they could have the prospect of gain. Finding that Paul 
cast out demons through the name of Jesus, they thought, by 
using the same, they might produce the same effects; and, if 
they could, they knew it would be to them an ample source of 
revenue; for demoniacs abounded in the land.

Verse 14. Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the 
priests] The original ioudaiou arcierewv, dignifies a Jewish 
high priest; but it is not probable that any sons, much less 
seven sons of a Jewish high priest, should be strolling 
exorcists: it is therefore likely that uioi skeua tinov 
ierewv, the sons of Skeva, a certain priest, as it stands in 
the Codex Bezae, is the true reading. The whole verse in that 
MS. reads thus: Among them there also the sons of Skeva, a 
priest, who wished to do the same: for they were accustomed 
to exorcise such persons. And entering in to the demoniac, 
they began to invoke that Name, saying, We command thee by 
Jesus, whom Paul preacheth, to go out. And the evil spirit 
angered, and said unto them, Jesus I know, &c. It has been 
often remarked that in our Lord's time there were many of the 
Jews that professed to cast out demons; and perhaps to this 
our Lord alludes, Matt. xii. 27. See the note there.

Josephus, in speaking of the wisdom of Solomon, says that he 
had that skill by which demons are expelled; and that he left 
behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which they are 
cast out; and that those arts were known among his countrymen 
down to his own time; and then gives us the following 
relation: "I have seen a certain man of my own country whose 
name was Eleazar, releasing people that were demoniacs, in 
the presence of Vespasian, his sons, his captains, and the 
whole multitude of his soldiers.

The manner of the cure was this: He put a ring, that had a 
root of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon, to the 
nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew out the demon 
through his nostrils; and, when the man fell down, 
immediately he adjured him to return into him no more, making 
still mention of Solomon, and reciting the incantations that 
he had composed.

And when Eleazar would persuade the spectators that he had 
such power, he set at a little distance a cup of water, and 
commanded the demon, as he went out of the man, to overturn 
it; and, when this was done, the skill and wisdom of Solomon 
were showed very manifestly." Joseph. ANTIQ.

book viii. cap. 2, sect. 5. Whiston's edition.

That there were such incantations among the Jews we know 
well, and that there are still such found, and that they are 
attributed to Solomon; but that they are his remains to be 
proved; and could this even be done, a point remains which 
can never be proved, viz. that those curious arts were a part 
of that wisdom which he received from God, as Josephus 
intimates.

Indeed, the whole of the above account gives the strongest 
suspicion of its being a trick by the Jewish juggler, which 
neither Josephus nor the emperor could detect; but the ring, 
the root, the cup of water, the spell, &c.; all indicate 
imposture. Magicians among the Jews were termed µ yl[b 
baaley shem, Masters of the Name, that is, the name of 
Jehovah hwhy by a certain pronunciation of which they 
believed the most wonderful miracles could be wrought. There 
were several among them who pretended to this knowledge; and, 
when they could not deny the miracles of our Lord, they 
attributed them to his knowledge of the true pronunciation of 
this most sacred name.

Verse 15. Jesus I know, and Paul I know] In the answer of the 
demoniac, the verb in varied: ton ihsoun ginwskw, kai ton 
paulon epistamai? umeiv de tinev (tinov) este. I acknowledge 
Jesus, and am acquainted with Paul; but of whom are ye? Ye 
belong to neither; ye have no authority. And he soon gave 
them full proof of this. This distinction is observed in my 
old MS. Bible: I have knowe Jesu, and I wote Poule; forsothe 
who ben yee.

Verse 16. And the man in whom the evil spirit was, &c.] Thus 
we find that one man was more powerful than these seven 
brothers; so that he stripped them of their upper garments, 
and beat and wounded the whole! Was not this a proof that he 
derived his strength from the evil spirit that dwelt in him?

Verse 17. The name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.] They saw 
that there was a sovereign power in the name of Jesus, which 
could not be imitated by these lying exorcists: they 
therefore reverenced this name, and despised those 
pretenders.

Exorcisms or adjurations of evil spirits were very frequent 
in the primitive Church: the name of JESUS was that alone 
which was used. The primitive fathers speak strong and 
decisive words concerning the power of this name; and how 
demons were tormented and expelled by it, not only from 
individuals, but from the temples themselves. Exorcists 
formed a distinct class an the Church; hence we read of 
presbyters, deacons, exorcists, lectors, and door-keepers. 
The adjuration was commonly used over the catechumens, before 
they were admitted to baptism. Gregory of Nazianzen, and 
Cyril of Jerusalem speak much of this rite. See my Succession 
of Sacred Literature, under Cyril, and GREGORY Nazianzen; and 
see Suicer, under exorkismov.

Verse 19. Which used curious arts] ta perierga. From the use 
of this word in the Greek writers, we know that it signified 
magical arts, sorceries, incantations, &c. Ephesus abounded 
with these. Dio Cassius, speaking of the Emperor Adrian, 
says, Æo adrianov periergotatov hn kai manteiaiv kai 
magganeiaiv pantodapaiv ecrhto. "Adrian was exceedingly 
addicted to curious arts, and practised divination and 
magic." These practices prevailed in all nations of the 
earth.

Brought their books together] The efesia grammata, or 
Ephesian characters, are celebrated in antiquity; they appear 
to have been amulets, inscribed with strange characters, 
which were carried about the body for the purpose of curing 
diseases, expelling demons, and preserving from evils of 
different kinds. The books brought together on this occasion 
were such as taught the science, manner of formation, use, 
&c., of these charms.

Suidas, under efesia grammata, Ephesian letters, gives us the 
following account. "Certain obscure incantations.-When 
Milesius and Ephesius wrestled at the Olympic games, Milesius 
could not prevail, because his antagonist had the Ephesian 
letters bound to his heels; when this was discovered, and the 
letters taken away, it is reported that Milesius threw him 
thirty times." The information given by Hesychius is still 
more curious: efesia grammata. hn men palai stÆ? usteron de 
proseqesan tines apatewnev kai alla? fasi de twn prwtwn ta 
onomata, tade askion, kataskion, lix, tetrax, damnameneuv, 
aision? dhloi de, to men askion, skotov? to de kata skion, 
fwv? to de lix, gh? tetrax de, eniautov? damnameneuv de, 
hliov? aision de, alhqev.

tauta oun iera esti kai agia. "The Ephesian letters or 
characters were formerly six, but certain deceivers added 
others afterwards; and their names, according to report, were 
these: ASKION, KATASKION, LIX, TETRAX, DAMNAMENEUS, and 
AISLON. It is evident that Askion signifies DARKNESS; 
Kataskion, LIGHT; Lix, the EARTH; Tetrax, the YEAR; 
Damnameneus, the SUN; and Aision, TRUTH. These are holy and 
sacred things." The same account may be seen in Clemens 
Alexandrinus; Strom. lib. v. cap. 8, where he attempts to 
give the etymology of these different terms. These words 
served, no doubt, as the keys to different spells and 
incantations; and were used in order to the attainment of a 
great variety of ends. The Abraxas of the Basilidians, in the 
second century, were formed on the basis of the Ephesian 
letters; for those instruments of incantation, several of 
which are now before me, are inscribed with a number of words 
and characters equally as unintelligible as the above, and in 
many cases more so.

Then it is said they brought their books together, we are to 
understand the books which treated of these curious arts; 
such as the efesia grammata, or Ephesian characters.

And burned them before all] These must have been thoroughly 
convinced of the truth of Christianity, and of the 
unlawfulness of their own arts.

Fifty thousand pieces of silver.] Some think that the 
argurion, which we translate piece of silver, means a shekel, 
as that word is used Matt. xxvi. 16, where see the note; 
50,000 shekels, at 3s., according to Dean Prideaux's 
valuation, (which is that followed throughout this work,) 
would amount to 7,500ú.

But, as this was a Roman and not a Jewish country, we may 
rationally suppose that the Jewish coin was not here current; 
and that the argurion, or silver coin, mentioned by St. Luke, 
must have been either Greek or Roman; and, it is very likely 
that the sestertius is meant, which was always a silver coin, 
about the value, according to Arbuthnot, of two-pence, or 1d. 
3q3/4., which answers to the fourth part of a denarius, rated 
by the same author at 7 3/4d. Allowing this to be the coin 
intended, the 50,000 sestertii would amount to 403ú. 12s. 
11d.

The Vulgate reads, denariorum quinquaginta millium, fifty 
thousand denarii, which, at 7 3/4 d., will amount to 1,614ú. 
11s. 8d. The reading of the Itala version of the Codex Bezae 
is very singular, Denariorum sestertia ducenta. "Two hundred 
sesterces of denarii;" which may signify no more than "two 
hundred sestertii of Roman money:" for in this sense denarius 
is certainly used by Cicero, Orat. pro Quint.; where ad 
denarium solvere, means to pay in Roman money, an expression 
similar to our word sterling.

This sum would amount to no more than 1ú. 12s. 3 1/2d. But 
that which is computed from the sestertius is the most 
probable amount.

Verse 20. So mightily grew the word of God, and prevailed.] 
The Codex Bezae reads this verse thus: "So mightily grew the 
word of the Lord, and prevailed; and the faith of God 
increased and multiplied." It is probable that it was about 
this time that St. Paul had that conflict which he mentions, 
1 Cor. xv. x22: If I after the manner of men, have fought 
with wild beasts at Ephesus, &c. See the note there. It means 
some severe trials not here mentioned, unless we may suppose 
him to refer to the ferocious insurrection headed by 
Demetrius, mentioned at the end of this chapter. 

Verse 21. Paul purposed in the spirit, &c.] Previously to 
this he appears to have concerted a journey to Macedonia, and 
a visit to Corinth, the capital of Achaia, where he seems to 
have spent a considerable time, probably the whole winter of 
A.D. 58; see 1 Cor. xvi. 5, 6; and afterwards to go to 
Jerusalem; but it is likely that he did not leave Ephesus 
till after pentecost, A.D. 59. (1 Cor. xvi. 8.) And he 
resolved, if possible, to see Rome, which had been the object 
of his wishes for a considerable time. See Rom. i. 10, 13; 
xvi. 23.

It is generally believed that, during this period, while at 
Ephesus, he wrote his first epistle to the Corinthians. He 
had heard that some strange disorders had entered into that 
Church:-1. That there were divisions among them; some 
extolling Paul, beyond all others; some, Peter; others, 
Apollos.

2. He had learned from Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, 
whom he saw at Ephesus, 1 Cor. xvi. 17; vii. 1, that several 
abuses had crept into their religious assemblies. 3. That 
even the Christians went to law with each other, and that 
before the heathens. And, 4. That a person professing 
Christianity in that city, had formed a matrimonial contract 
with his step-mother. It was to remedy those disorders that 
he wrote his first epistle to the Corinthians, in which he 
strongly reprehends all the above evils.

Verse 22. So he sent into Macedonia] He desired Timothy to go 
as far as Corinth, 1 Cor. iv. 18, and after that to return to 
him at Ephesus, 1 Cor. xvi. 11; but he himself continued in 
Asia some time longer; probably to make collections for the 
poor saints in Jerusalem. Erastus, mentioned here for the 
first time, appears to have been the chamberlain, oikonomov, 
either of Ephesus or Corinth; see Rom. xvi. 23. He was one of 
St. Paul's companions, and is mentioned as being left by the 
apostle at Corinth, 2 Tim. iv. 20.

Verse 23. No small stir about that way.] Concerning the 
Gospel, which the apostles preached; and which is termed this 
way, chap. ix. 2, where see the note.

Verse 24. Silver shrines for Diana] It is generally known 
that the temple of Diana at Ephesus was deemed one of the 
seven wonders of the world, and was a most superb building. 
It appears that the silver shrines mentioned here were small 
portable representations of this temple, which were bought by 
strangers as matters of curiosity, and probably of devotion. 
If we can suppose them to have been exact models of this 
famous temple, representing the whole exterior of its 
magnificent workmanship, which is possible, they would be 
held in high estimation, and probably become a sort of 
substitute for the temple itself, to worshippers of this 
goddess who lived in distant parts of Greece. The temple of 
Diana was raised at the expense of all Asia Minor, and yet 
was two hundred and twenty years in building, before it was 
brought to its sum of perfection. It was in length 425 feet, 
by 220 in breadth; and was beautified by 127 columns, which 
were made at the expense of so many kings; and was adorned 
with the most beautiful statues. To procure himself an 
everlasting fame, Erostratus burned it to the ground the same 
night on which Alexander the Great was born. It is reported 
that Alexander offered to make it as magnificent as it was 
before, provided he might put his name on the front; but this 
was refused. It was afterwards rebuilt and adorned, but Nero 
plundered it of all its riches. This grand building remains 
almost entire to the present day, and is now turned into a 
Turkish mosque. See an account of it in Montfaucon, Antiq. 
Expliq. vol. ii., with a beautiful drawing on plate vi., No. 
20. See also Stuart's Athens. There were also pieces of 
silver struck with a representation of the temple of Minerva 
on one side: many coins occur in the reigns of the first 
Roman emperors, where temples, with idols in the porch, 
appear on the reverse; and several may be seen in Muselius, 
in the reigns of Trajan, Adrian, Antoninus Pius, &c. A 
beautiful representation of the temple of Diana at Ephesus 
may be seen on a medal engraved by Montfaucon, in his Antiq. 
Expliq. Suppl. vol.

ii. plate 33. It has eight Doric columns in front, which 
Pliny says were sixty feet in length. In the entrance, the 
figure of Diana is represented with a sort of tower upon her 
head; her arms are supported by two staves; at her feet are 
represented two stags with their backs towards each other. 
The sun is represented on the right side of her head, and the 
moon as a crescent on the left. On each side and at the 
bottom of this temple are the words, prwtwn asiav efesiwn. 
Some think that the medals here referred to are the same that 
are meant by the silver shrines made by Demetrius and his 
craftsmen. See the note on ver. 27.

Brought no small gain] There were many made, many sold, and 
probably at considerable prices.

Verse 25. By this craft we have our wealth.] The word euporia 
not only signifies wealth, but also abundance. It was a most 
lucrative trade; and he plainly saw that, if the apostles 
were permitted to go on thus preaching, the worship of Diana 
itself would be destroyed; and, consequently, all the gain 
that he and his fellows derived from it would be brought to 
nought.

Verse 26. This Paul hath persuaded and turned away much 
people] Prom the mouth of this heathen we have, in one 
sentence, a most pleasing account of the success with which 
God had blessed the labours of the apostles: not only at 
Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, they had persuaded 
and converted much people; for they had insisted that they 
could be no gods which are made with hands; and this the 
common sense of the people must at once perceive.

Verse 27. The temple of the great goddess Diana] From a 
number of representations of the Ephesian goddess Diana, 
which still remain, we find that she was widely different 
from Diana the huntress. She is represented in some statues 
all covered over with breasts, from the shoulders down to the 
feet; in others she is thus represented, from the breast to 
the bottom of the abdomen, the thighs and legs being covered 
with the heads of different animals. From this it is evident 
that, under this name and form, nature, the nourisher and 
supporter of all things, was worshipped: the sun and moon, 
being grand agents, in all natural productions, were properly 
introduced as her attributes or symbols. Because she was the 
representative of universal nature, she was called, in 
opposition to Diana the huntress and goddess of chastity, the 
GREAT goddess Diana; not only worshipped in Asia, but 
throughout the whole world; both the Greeks and the Romans 
unanimously conjoining in her worship.

Several statues of this Ephesian Diana still remain; and some 
beautiful ones are represented by Montfaucon, in his Antig. 
Expliq. vol. i. book iii. cap.

15, plates 46, 47, 48. From this father of antiquaries, much 
information on this subject may be derived. He observes that 
the original statue of Diana of Ephesus, which was in that 
noble temple, esteemed one of the wonders of the world, was 
made of ivory, as Pliny says; but Vitruvius says it was made 
of cedar; and others, of the wood of the vine. The images of 
this goddess are divided into several bands, or compartments; 
so that they appear swathed from the breasts to the feet. On 
the head is generally represented a large tower, two stories 
high. A kind of festoon of flowers and fruit descends from 
her shoulders; in the void places of the festoon a crab is 
often represented, and sometimes crowned by two genii or 
victories. The arms are generally extended, or stretched a 
little out from the sides; and on each one or two lions. 
Below the festoon, between the two first bands, there are a 
great number of paps: hence she has been styled by some of 
the ancients, Multimammia, and polumastov, the goddess with 
the multitude of paps: on one figure I count nineteen. 
Between the second and third bands, birds are represented; 
between the third and fourth, a human head with tritons; 
between the fourth and fifth, heads of oxen.

Most of the images of this goddess are represented as swathed 
nearly to the ancles, about which the folds of her robe 
appear. Though there is a general resemblance in all the 
images of the Ephesian Diana, yet some have more figures or 
symbols, some less: these symbols are generally paps, human 
figures, oxen, lions, stags, griffins, sphinxes, reptiles, 
bees, branches of trees, and roses.

That nature is intended by this goddess is evident from the 
inscription on two of those represented by Montfaucon: 
panaiolov fusiv pantwn mhthr, Nature, full of varied 
creatures, and mother of all things. It is evident that this 
Diana was a composition of several deities: her crown of 
turrets belongs to Cybele, the mother of the gods; the lions 
were sacred to her also; the fruits and oxen are symbols of 
Ceres; the griffins were sacred to Apollo; and the deer or 
stags to Diana. The crab being placed within the festoon of 
flowers evidently refers to the northern tropic Cancer; and 
the crab being crowned in that quarter may refer to the sun 
having accomplished his course, and begun to return with an 
increase of light, heat, etc: The paps, or breasts, as has 
already been observed, show her to be the nurse of all 
things; and the different animals and vegetables represented 
on those images point out nature as the supporter of the 
animal and vegetable world: the moon and tritons show her 
influence on the sea; and the sun her influence on the earth. 
All these things considered, it is no wonder that this 
goddess was called at Ephesus the Great Diana, and that she 
was worshipped, not only in that city, but in all the world. 
In the worship of this deity, and in the construction of her 
images, the heathens seem to have consulted common sense and 
reason in rather an unusual manner. But we must observe, 
also, that among the Greeks and Romans they had two classes 
of deities: the Dii Majores, and the Dii Minores: the great 
gods, and the minor gods. The latter were innumerable; but 
the former; among whom was Diana, were only twelve-Jupiter, 
Neptune, Apollo, Mars, Mercury, and Vulcan; Juno, Vesta, 
Ceres, Diana, Venus, and Minerva. These twelve were adored 
through the whole Gentile world, under a variety of names.

Verse 29. The whole city was filled with confusion] Thus we 
find the peace of the whole city was disturbed, not by an 
apostle preaching the Gospel of Christ, but by one 
interested, unprincipled knave, who did not even plead 
conscience for what he was doing; but that it was by this 
craft he and his fellows got their wealth, and he was afraid 
to lose it.

Rushed-into the theater.] The theatres, being very spacious 
and convenient places, were often used for popular assemblies 
and public deliberation, especially in matters which regarded 
the safety of the state.

There are several proofs of this in ancient authors. So 
Tacitus, Hist. ii. 80, speaking concerning Vespasian, says: 
Antiochensium theatrum ingressus, ubi illis consultare mos 
est, concurrentes et in adulationem effusos alloquitur. 
"Having entered into the theater of the Antiochians, where it 
was the custom to hold consultations, the people running 
together, and being profuse in flattery, he addressed them." 
Frontinus, in Stratagem lib. iii. cap. 2, speaking of a 
public meeting at the theater at Agrigentum, observes, ubi ex 
more Graecorum locus consultationi praebebatur; which, 
according to the custom of the Greeks, is the place for 
public deliberation. See several examples in Kypke.

Verse 31. Certain of the chief of Asia] tinev twn asiarcwn; 
Some of the Asiarchs. The Asiarchs were those to whom the 
care and regulation of the public games were intrusted: they 
were a sort of high priests, and were always persons of 
considerable riches and influence. These could not have been 
Christians; but they were what the sacred text states them to 
have been, autw filoi, his friends; and foreseeing that Paul 
would be exposed to great danger if he went into the theater, 
amidst such a tumultuous assembly, they sent a message to 
him, entreating him not to go into danger so apparent. Query: 
Did he not go, and fight with these wild beasts at Ephesus? 1 
Cor. xv. 32.

Verse 32. Some-cried one thing, and some another] This is an 
admirable description of a tumultuous mob, gathered together 
without law or reason; getting their passions inflamed, and 
looking for an opportunity to commit outrages, without why or 
wherefore-principle or object.

For the assembly was confused] Æh ekklhsia; The same word 
which we translate church; and thus we find that it signifies 
any assembly, good or bad, lawful, or unlawful; and that only 
the circumstances of the case can determine the precise 
nature of the assembly to which this word is applied.

Verse 33. They drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews 
putting him forward] From this and the following verses it is 
pretty evident that this Alexander was brought forward on 
this occasion by the Jews, that he might make an oration to 
the multitude, in order to exculpate the Jews, who were often 
by the heathens confounded with the Christians; and cast the 
whole blame of the uproar upon Paul and his party. And he was 
probably chosen because he was an able speaker; and when he 
beckoned with his hand; to gain an audience, the Greeks, 
knowing that he was a Jew, and consequently as much opposed 
to the worship of Diana as Paul was, would not hear him; and 
therefore, to drown his apology, tw dhmw, for the people, 
viz. the Jews, they vociferated for the space of two hours, 
Great is Diana of the Ephesians! There does not seem any just 
ground from the text to suppose that this Alexander was a 
Christian; or that he was about to make an apology for the 
Christians: it is generally believed that he is the same with 
Alexander the coppersmith, of whom St. Paul speaks, 2 Tim. 
iv. 14, and whom, with Philetus, he was obliged to 
excommunicate, 1 Tim. i. 20. By the Jews putting him forward, 
we are to understand their earnestness to get him to 
undertake their defense, and criminate, as much as possible, 
St. Paul and his companions, and the Christian cause in 
general; which he would no doubt have done, without 
vindicating the worship of Diana, which, as a Jew, he would 
not dare to attempt.

Verse 35. When the town-clerk] Æogrammateuv, Literally, the 
scribe.

The Syriac has (Syriac) reisha damedinato, the chief or 
prince of the city.

The later Syriac has, the scribe of the city. Some think that 
the word recorder would do better here than town-clerk; and 
indeed it is evident that a magistrate of considerable 
authority and influence is intended-the mayor or sovereign of 
the city.

Ye men of Ephesus] The speech of this man may be thus 
analyzed: He states that there was no need of a public 
declaration that the Ephesians were worshippers of Diana; 
this every person knew, and nobody attempted to contest it, 
ver. 35, 36. 2. That the persons accused were not guilty of 
any public offense, nor of any breach of the laws of the 
city, ver. 37. 3. That, if they were, this was not a legal 
method of prosecuting them, chap. xix. 38, 39. 4. That they 
themselves, by this tumultuous meeting, had exposed 
themselves to the censure of the law, and were in danger of 
being called into question for it, ver. 40. See Dodd.

Is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana] The word 
newkorov, neocoros, which we translate worshipper, signified 
at first, among the ancient Greeks, no more than sweeper of 
the temple, and answered nearly to our sexton: in process of 
time, the care of the temple was intrusted to this person: at 
length the neocori became persons of great consequence, and 
were those who offered sacrifices for the life of the 
emperor. Whole cities took this appellation, as appears on 
many ancient coins and medals; and Ephesus is supposed to 
have been the first that assumed this title. At this time, it 
was commonly known as belonging to this city. "What man is 
there that knoweth not that the city of the Ephesians is the 
Neocoros of the great goddess Diana?" As if he had said: "The 
whole city is devoted to her worship: it is reputed an honour 
to our highest characters even to sweep her temple, and open 
and shut her doors. Besides, we offer to her the highest 
sacrifices; and are intrusted with the religious service that 
pertains to the emperor's safety." Of the image which fell 
down from Jupiter?] The original image of the Ephesian Diana 
(see on ver. 27) was supposed to have descended from heaven; 
which intimates that it was so old that no person knew either 
its maker or the time in which it was formed, and it was the 
interest of the priests to persuade the people that this 
image had been sent to them as a present from Jupiter 
himself. Several images and sacred things were supposed, 
among the heathens, to be presents immediately from heaven.

Euripides states the image of Diana of Tauri to be of this 
kind; and calls it diopetev agalma, the image fallen from 
Jupiter. Numa pretended that the ancilia, or sacred shields, 
had come from heaven. In imitation of these, many of the 
Italian papists believe that the shrine of our lady of 
Loretto was also a Divine gift to their country. St. Isidore, 
of Damietta, says that the heathen, in order to induce the 
people to believe that such images came from heaven, either 
banished or slew the artists that had formed them, that there 
might be no evidence of the time in which, or the persons by 
whom, they were made: this point secured, it was easy to 
persuade the credulous multitude that they had been sent from 
heaven. The story of the Palladium, on which the safety of 
Troy was said to depend, is well known.

It was an image of Minerva, and also supposed to have 
descended from Jupiter.

Verse 37. These men-are neither robbers of churches] 
Æiresulouv; Spoilers of sacred places. As his design 
evidently was to appease and conciliate the people, he fixed 
first on a most incontrovertible fact: These men have not 
spoiled your temples; nor is there any evidence that they 
have even blasphemed your goddess. The apostles acted as 
prudent men should: they endeavoured to enlighten the minds 
of the multitude, that the absurdity of their gross errors 
might be the more apparent; for, when they should know the 
truth, it was likely that they would at once abandon such 
gross falsehood.

Verse 38. If Demetrius-have a matter against any man] If it 
be any breach of law, in reference to Demetrius and the 
artists, the law is open, agoraioi agontai; these are the 
terms of law, public courts, times of sessions or assize; or, 
rather, the judges are mow sitting: so the words may be 
understood. And there are deputies, anqupatoi, proconsuls, 
appointed to guard the peace of the state, and to support 
every honest man in his right: let them implead one another; 
let the one party bring forward his action of assault or 
trespass, and the other put in his defense: the laws are 
equal and impartial, and justice will be done to him who is 
wronged.

Verse 39. But if ye inquire any thing concerning other 
matters] In which the safety of the state, or the national 
worship, is concerned, know that such a matter is not the 
business of the mob; it must be heard and determined in a 
lawful assembly, en th ennomw ekklhsia, one legally 
constituted, and properly authorized to hear and determine on 
the subject.

Verse 40. For we are in danger, &c.] Popular commotions were 
always dreaded by the Roman government; and so they should by 
all governments; for, when might has nothing to direct its 
operations but passion, how destructive must these operations 
be! One of the Roman laws made all such commotions of the 
people capital offenses against those who raised them. Qui 
caetum et concursus fecerit, capite puniatur: "He who raises 
a mob shall forfeit his life." If such a law existed at 
Ephesus-and it probably did, from this reference to it in the 
words of the town-clerk or recorder-then Demetrius must feel 
himself in great personal danger; and that his own life lay 
now at the mercy of those whom he had accused, concerning 
whom he had raised such an outcry, and against whom nothing 
disorderly could be proved.

Verse 41. He dismissed the assembly.] thn ekklhsian. Another 
proof that the word ekklhsia, which we generally translate 
church, signifies an assembly of any kind, good or bad, legal 
or illegal.

1. How forcible are right words! From the conduct of this 
prudent, sensible man, we may learn how much influence 
persons of this character may have, even over the unbridled 
multitude. But, where the civil power associates itself with 
the lawless might of the many, THERE must be confusion and 
every evil work. What a blessing to the community is the 
civil law! Were it not for this, the unthinking multitude 
would destroy others, and at last destroy themselves. Law and 
justice are from God; and the civil power, by which they are 
supported and administered, should be respected by all who 
regard the safety of their persons or property.

2. Though the ministry of St. Paul was greatly blessed at 
Ephesus, and his preaching appears to have been very popular, 
yet this sunshine was soon darkened: peace with the world 
cannot last long; the way of the Lord will always be opposed 
by those who love their own ways.

3. How few would make an outward profession of religion, were 
there no gain connected with it! And yet, as one justly 
observes, religion is rendered gainful only by some external 
part of it. For this very reason, the external part of 
religion is always on the increase, and none can find fault 
with it without raising storms and tempests; while the 
internal part wastes and decays, no man laying it to heart. 
Demetrius and his fellows would have made no stir for their 
worship, had not the apostle's preaching tended to discredit 
that by which they got their wealth. Most of the outcries 
that have been made against all revivals of religion-revivals 
by which the Church has been called back to its primitive 
principles and purity, have arisen out of self-interest. The 
cry of, the Church is in danger, has been echoed only by 
those who found their secular interest at stake; and knew 
that reformation must unmask them and show that the slothful 
and wicked servants could no longer be permitted to live on 
the revenues of that Church which they disgraced by their 
lives, and corrupted by their false doctrines. He that eats 
the Church's bread should do the Church's world: and he that 
will not work should not be permitted to eat.

CHAPTER xx.

Paul retires to Macedonia, 1. He goes into Greece, where he 
tarries three months and, purposing to sail to Syria, he 
returns through Macedonia, 2, 3. Several persons accompany 
him into Asia, and then go before and tarry for him at Troas, 
4, 5. Paul and Luke sail from Philippi, and in five days 
reach Troas, where they meet their brethren from Asia, and 
abide there seven days, 6. On the first day of the week, the 
disciples coming together to break bread, Paul preaching to 
them, and continuing his speech till midnight, a young man of 
the name of Eutychus, being in a deep sleep, fell from the 
third loft and was killed, 7-9. Paul restores him to life, 
resumes his discourse, and continuing it till daybreak, then 
departs, 10-12. Luke and his companions come to Assos, 
whither Paul comes by land, 13. He embarks with them at 
Assos, comes to Mitylene, 14. Sails thence, and passes by 
Chios, arrives at Samos, tarries at Trogyllium, and comes to 
Miletus, 15. Purposing to get as soon as possible to 
Jerusalem, he sends from Miletus, and calls the elders of the 
Church of Ephesus, to whom he preaches a most directing 
sermon, gives them the most solemn exhortations, kneels down 
and prays with them, takes a very affecting leave of them, 
and sets sail for Caesarea, in order to go to Jerusalem, 16-
38.

NOTES ON CHAP. xx.

Verse 1. After the uproar was ceased] The tumult excited by 
Demetrius apparently induced Paul to leave Ephesus sooner 
than he had intended. He had written to the Corinthians that 
he should leave that place after pentecost, 1 Cor. xvi. 8; 
but it is very probable that he left it sooner.

Verse 2. He came into Greece] eiv thn Æellada, Into Hellas, 
Greece properly so called, the regions between Thessaly and 
Propontis, and the country of Achaia. He did not, however, go 
there immediately: he passed through Macedonia, ver. 1, in 
which he informs us, 2 Cor. vii. 5-7, that he suffered much, 
both from believers and infidels; but was greatly comforted 
by the arrival of Titus, who gave him a very flattering 
account of the prosperous state of the Church at Corinth. A 
short time after this, being still in Macedonia, he sent 
Titus back to Corinth, 2 Cor. viii. 16, 17, and sent by him 
the second epistle which he wrote to that Church, as 
Theodouret and others suppose. Some time after, he visited 
Corinth himself, according to his promise, 1 Cor. xvi. 5. 
This was his third voyage to that city, 2 Cor. xii. 14; xiii. 
1. What he did there at this time cannot be distinctly known; 
but, according to St. Augustin, he ordered every thing 
relative to the holy eucharist, and the proper manner in 
which it was to be received. See Calmet.

Verse 3. Abode three months] Partly, as we may suppose, at 
Corinth, at Athens, and in Achaia; from which place he is 
supposed to have sent his epistle to the Romans, because he 
continued longer here than at any other place, and mentions 
several of the Cor. in his salutations to the believers of 
Rome.

When the Jesus laid wait for him] Paul had determined to go 
by sea to Syria, and from thence to Jerusalem. This was the 
first object of his journey; and this was the readiest road 
he could take; but, hearing that the Jews had laid wait for 
him, probably to attack his ship on the voyage, seize his 
person, sell him for a slave, and take the money which he was 
carrying to the poor saints at Jerusalem, he resolved to go 
as much of the journey as he conveniently could, by land. 
Therefore, he returned through Macedonia, and from thence to 
Troas, where he embarked to sail for Syria, on his way to 
Jerusalem. The whole of his journey is detailed in this and 
the following chapter. See also the map.

Verse 4. And there accompanied him] Rather, says Bishop 
Pearce, there followed him as far as to Asia; for they were 
not in his company till he set sail from Philippi, and came 
to them at Troas, in Asia, whither they had gone before, and 
where they tarried for him, ver. 5.

Into Asia] acri thv asiav; These words are wanting in two 
MSS., Erpen, the AEthiopic, Coptic, and Vulgate. Some think 
that they embarrass this place; for how these could accompany 
him into Asia, and go before him, and tarry for him at Troas, 
ver. 6, is not so very clear; unless we suppose, what I have 
glanced at in the table of contents, that they came with him 
to Asia, but, he tarrying a short time, they proceeded on 
their journey, and stopped for him at Troas, where he shortly 
after rejoined them. Mr. Wakefield gets rid of the difficulty 
by reading the verse thus: Now Sopater of Berea accompanied 
him; but Aristarchus and Secundus of Thessalonica, Gaius of 
Derbe, Timothy of Lystra, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia, 
went before, and tarried for us at Troas.

Sopater of Berea] Sopater seems to be the same as Sosipater, 
whom St. Paul mentions as his kinsman, Rom. xvi. 21. ADE, 
more than twenty others, with the Coptic, Armenian, later 
Syriac in the margin, Vulgate, Itala, Theophylact, Origen, 
and Bede, add purrou, Sopater the SON OF PYRRHUS. Griesbach 
has received this into his text.

Aristarchus of Thessalonica] This person occurs in chap. xix. 
29, and is mentioned there as a Macedonian. He attended Paul 
in his journey to Rome, chap. xxvii. 2, and was his fellow 
labourer, Philemon 24, and his fellow prisoner, Col. iv. 10, 
11. Secundus is mentioned nowhere but in this place.

Gaius of Derbe] This is supposed to be the same who is 
mentioned chap. xix. 26, and who is there called a man of 
Macedonia, of which some suppose he was a native, but 
descended from a family that came from Derbe; but as Gaius, 
or Caius, was a very common name, these might have been two 
distinct persons. One of this name was baptized by St. Paul 
at Corinth, 1 Cor. i. 14, and entertained him as his host 
while he abode there, Rom. xvi. 23, and was probably the same 
to whom St. John directs his third epistle.

And Timotheus] Of Lystra, is added by the Syriac. This was 
the same person of whom mention is made, chap. xvi. 1, and to 
whom St. Paul wrote the two epistles which are still extant; 
and who was a native of Lystra, as we learn from the above 
place. It was on this evidence, probably that the ancient 
Syriac translator added, of Lystra, to the text. This reading 
is not supported by any MSS.

Tychicus-of Asia] This person was high in the confidence of 
St. Paul. He styles him a beloved brother, and faithful 
minister in the Lord, whom he sent to the Ephesians, that he 
might know their affairs, and comfort their hearts, Eph. vi. 
21, 22. He sent him for the same purpose, and with the same 
commendations, to the Colossians, Col. iv. 7, 8. Paul seems 
also to have designed him to superintend the Church at Crete 
in the absence of Titus; see Tit. iii. 12. He seems to have 
been the most intimate and confidential friend that Paul had.

Trophimus.] Was an Ephesian; and both he and Tychicus are 
called efesioi, Ephesians, instead of asianoi, Asiatics, in 
the Codex Bezae, both Greek and Latin, and in the Sahidic. He 
accompanied Paul from Ephesus into Greece, as we see here; 
and from thence to Jerusalem, chap. xxi. 29. He had, no 
doubt, traveled with him on other journeys, for we find, by 2 
Tim. iv. 20, that he was obliged to leave him sick at 
Miletus, being then, as it is likely, on his return to his 
own kindred at Ephesus.

Verse 5. Tarried for us at Troas.] See the preceding verse. 
Troas was a small town in Phrygia Minor, in the province 
called the Troad: see chap. xvi. 8.

Verse 6. Days of unleavened bread] The seven days of the 
passover, in which they ate unleavened bread. See the account 
of this festival in the notes on Exod. xii. 1-51. It is 
evident, from the manner in which St. Luke writes here, that 
he had not been with St. Paul since the time he accompanied 
him to Philippi, chap. xvi. 10-12; but he now embarks at 
Philippi with the apostle, and accompanies him to Troas, and 
continues with him through the rest of his journey.

To Troas in five days] So long they were making this voyage 
from Philippi, being obliged to keep always by the coast, and 
in sight of the land; for the magnetic needle was not yet 
known. See the situation of these places upon the map.

Verse 7. Upon the first day of the week] What was called 
kuriakh, the Lord's day, the Christian Sabbath, in which they 
commemorated the resurrection of our Lord; and which, among 
all Christians, afterwards took the place of the Jewish 
Sabbath.

To break bread] To break (Syriac) eucaristia, the eucharist, 
as the Syriac has it; intimating, by this, that they were 
accustomed to receive the holy sacrament on each Lord's day. 
It is likely that, besides this, they received a common meal 
together. Some think the agaph, or love feast, is intended.

Continued his speech until midnight.] At what time he began 
to preach we cannot tell, but we hear when he concluded. He 
preached during the whole night, for he did not leave off 
till the break of the next day, ver. 11, though about 
midnight his discourse was interrupted by the fall of 
Eutychus. As this was about the time of pentecost, and we may 
suppose about the beginning of May, as Troas was in about 40 
degrees of north latitude, the sun set there at seven P.M. 
and rose at five A.M., so that the night was about eight 
hours long; and taking all the interruptions together, and 
they could not have amounted to more than two hours, and 
taking no account of the preceding day's work, Paul must have 
preached a sermon not less than six hours long. But it is 
likely that a good part of this time was employed in hearing 
and answering questions; for dielegeto, and dialegomenou, may 
be thus understood.

Verse 8. Upper chamber] It was in an upper chamber in the 
temple that the primitive disciples were accustomed to meet: 
on that account, they might have preferred an upper chamber 
whenever they could meet with it.

The pious Quesnel supposes that the smoke, issuing from the 
many lamps in this upper chamber, was the cause of Eutychus 
falling asleep; and this, he says, the apostle mentions, in 
charity, to excuse the young man's appearing negligent.

Verse 9. There sat in a window] This was probably an opening 
in the wall, to let in light and air, for there was no 
glazing at that time; and it is likely that Eutychus fell 
backward through it, down to the ground, on the outside; 
there being nothing to prevent his falling out, when he had 
once lost the power to take care of himself, by getting into 
a deep sleep.

Verse 10. And Paul-fell on him] epepesen autw, Stretched 
himself upon him, in the same manner as Elisha did on the 
Shunammite's son, 2 Kings iv. 33-35; though the action of 
lying on him, in order to communicate warmth to the flesh, 
might not have been continued so long as in the above 
instance; nor indeed was it necessary, as the natural warmth 
had not yet left the body of Eutychus; but the son of the 
Shunammite had been some time dead.

Verse 11. Had broken bread] Had taken some refreshment, in 
order to their journey.

And talked a long while] Æomilhsav, Having familiarly 
conversed, for this is the import of the word, which is very 
different from the dielegeto, of the seventh verse, and the 
dialegomenou, of the ninth; which imply solemn, grave 
discourse.

Verse 13. Sailed unto Assos] Assos, according to Pausanias, 
Eliac. ii. 4, and Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxvi. 27, was a maritime 
town of Asia, in the Troad.

Strabo and Stephanus place it in Mysia. It was also called 
Apollonia, according to Pliny, Ib. lib. v. 30. The passage by 
sea to this place was much longer than by land; and therefore 
St. Paul chose to go by land, while the others went by sea.

Intending to take in Paul] analambanein, To take him in 
AGAIN; for it appears he had already been aboard that same 
vessel: probably the same that had carried them from Philippi 
to Troas, ver. 6.

Verse 14. Came to Mitylene.] This was a seaport town in the 
isle of Lesbos: see its place in the map.

Verse 15. Over against Chios] This was a very celebrated 
island between Lesbos and Samos, famous in antiquity for its 
extraordinary wines. At this island the apostle did not 
touch.

Arrived at Samos] This was another island of the AEgean Sea, 
or Archipelago. It does not appear that they landed at Samos: 
they passed close by it, and anchored at Trogyllium. This was 
a promontory of Ionia, which gave name to some small islands 
in the vicinity of Samos: thv de trwgiliou prokeitai nhsion 
omwnumon: before Trogyllium is situated an island of the same 
name. Strabo, lib. xiv. p. 635. Pliny also mentions this 
place, Hist. Nat. lib. v. cap. 31. Near this place was the 
mouth of the famous river Maeander.

Came to Miletus.] A celebrated city in the province of Caria, 
about twelve or fifteen leagues from Ephesus, according to 
Calmet. Miletus is famous for being the birthplace of Thales, 
one of the seven wise men of Greece, and founder of the Ionic 
sect of philosophers. Anaximander was also born here, and 
several other eminent men. The Turks, who lately possessed 
it, call it Melas.

Verse 16. To sail by Ephesus] Not to touch there at this 
time.

To be at Jerusalem the day of pentecost.] That he might have 
the opportunity of preaching the kingdom of God to multitudes 
of Jews from different places, who would come up to Jerusalem 
at that feast; and then he no doubt expected to see there a 
renewal of that day of pentecost in which the Spirit was 
poured out on the disciples, and in consequence of which so 
many were converted to God.

Verse 17. He sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the 
Church.] These are called episkopoi, bishops, ver. 28. By the 
presbuteroi, presbyters or elders, here, we are to understand 
all that were in authority in the Church, whether they were 
episkopoi, bishops or overseers, or seniors in years, 
knowledge, and experience. The presbuteroi, or elders, were 
probably the first order in the Church; an order which was 
not so properly constituted, but which rose out of the state 
of things. From these presbuteroi the episcopoi, overseers or 
superintendents, were selected.

Those who were eldest in years, Christian knowledge, and 
experience, would naturally be preferred to all others, as 
overseers of the Church of Christ. From the Greek word 
presbuterov, comes the Latin presbyterus, the English 
presbyter, the French prestre, and our own term priest; and 
all, when traced up to their original, signify merely an 
elderly or aged person; though it soon became the name of an 
office, rather than of a state of years.

Now, as these elders are called episkopoi, bishops, in ver. 
28, we may take it for granted that they were the same order; 
or, rather, that these superintendents of the Church were 
indifferently called either presbyters or bishops.

As he had not time to call at Ephesus, he thought it best to 
have a general convocation of the heads of that Church, to 
meet him at Miletus, that he might give them the instructions 
mentioned in the succeeding parts of this chapter.

Verse 18. After what manner I have been with you] The Codex 
Bezae adds here, for three years, and even more, which 
reading might have been borrowed from ver. 31, though the 
time assigned by it is too long.

Verse 19. Serving the Lord with all humility, &c.] This 
relates not only to his zealous and faithful performance of 
his apostolic functions, but also to his private walk as a 
Christian; and shows with what carefulness this apostle 
himself was obliged to walk, in order to have his calling and 
election, as a Christian, ratified and made firm.

Verse 20. I kept back nothing] Notwithstanding the dangers to 
which he was exposed, and the temptations he must have had to 
suppress those truths that were less acceptable to the 
unrenewed nature of man, or to the particular prejudices of 
the Jews and the Gentiles, he fully and faithfully, at all 
hazards, declared what he terms, ver. 27, the whole counsel 
of God. "Behold here," says the judicious and pious Calmet, 
"the model of a good shepherd-full of doctrine and zeal: he 
communicates with profusion, and yet with discretion, without 
jealousy and without fear, what God had put in his heart, and 
what charity inspires. A good shepherd, says St. Bernard, 
should always have abundance of bread in his scrip, and his 
dog under command. His dog is his zeal, which he must lead, 
order, and moderate; his scrip full of bread is his mind full 
of useful knowledge; and he should ever be in readiness to 
give nourishment to his flock." He who will quarrel with this 
sentiment, because of the uncouthness of the simile, needs 
pity, and deserves censure.

Verse 21. Testify both to-Jews and-Greeks] He always began 
with the Jews; and, in this case, he had preached to them 
alone for three months, chap. xix. 8-10, and only left their 
synagogues when he found, through their obstinacy, he could 
do them no good.

Repentance toward God, &c.] As all had sinned against God, so 
all should humble themselves before him against whom they 
have sinned; but humiliation is no atonement for sin; 
therefore repentance is insufficient, unless faith in our 
Lord Jesus Christ accompany it. Repentance disposes and 
prepares the soul for pardoning mercy; but can never be 
considered as making compensation for past acts of 
transgression. This repentance and faith were necessary to 
the salvation both of Jews and Gentiles; for all had sinned, 
and come short of God's glory. The Jews must repent, who had 
sinned so much, and so long, against light and knowledge. The 
Gentiles must repent, whose scandalous lives were a reproach 
to man. Faith in Jesus Christ was also indispensably 
necessary; for a Jew might repent, be sorry for his sin, and 
suppose that, by a proper discharge of his religious duty, 
and bringing proper sacrifices, he could conciliate the 
favour of God: No, this will not do; nothing but faith in 
Jesus Christ, as the end of the law, and the great and only 
vicarious sacrifice, will do; hence he testified to them the 
necessity of faith in this Messiah. The Gentiles might repent 
of their profligate lives, turn to the true God, and renounce 
all idolatry: this is well, but it is not sufficient: they 
also have sinned, and their present amendment and faith can 
make no atonement for what is past; therefore, they also must 
believe on the Lord Jesus, who died for their sins, and rose 
again for their justification.

Verse 22. I go bound in the spirit] dedemenov tw pneumati-
Either meaning the strong influence of the Divine Spirit upon 
his mind, or the strong propensity in his own will, wish, and 
desire, to visit Jerusalem; and in this sense deein, to bind, 
is sometimes used. But it appears more consistent with the 
mind of the apostle, and with that influence under which we 
find that he constantly acted, to refer it to the influence 
of the Holy Ghost; upo tou pneumatov, being under the power 
of that Spirit; as if he had said: "I have now no choice-God 
has not left me either to the advices of friends, or to my 
own prudence: the Spirit of God obliges me to go to 
Jerusalem, and yet does not intimate to me what peculiar 
trials shall befall me there: I have only the general 
intimation that, in every city where I proclaim the Gospel, 
bonds and afflictions await me." This sense of the word Kypke 
has largely defended in his note here.

Verse 24. None of these things move me] oudenov logon 
poioumai; I consider them as nothing; I value them not a 
straw; they weigh not with me.

Neither count I my life dear] I am not my own; my life and 
being are the Lord's; he requires me to employ them in his 
service; I act under his direction, and am not anxious about 
the issue.

Finish my course with joy] ton dromon mou, My ministerial 
function.

We have already met with this word in application to the same 
subject, chap. xiii. 25, where see the note. And the apostle 
here adds, by way of explanation, kai thn diakonian, even 
that ministry which I have received of the Lord. The words 
meta carav, with joy, are omitted by ABD, some others; the 
Syriac, Erpen, Coptic, Sahidic, AEthiopic, Vulgate, and some 
of the fathers. If we consider them as genuine they may imply 
thus much: that the apostle wished to fulfill his ministry in 
such a way as might meet with the Divine approbation; for 
nothing could give him joy that did not please and glorify 
God.

To testify] diamarturasqai, Earnestly, solemnly, and 
strenuously to assert, vindicate, and prove the Gospel of the 
grace of God, not only to be in itself what it professes to 
be, but to be also the power of God for salvation to every 
one that believes.

Verse 25. Ye all-shall see my face no more.] This probably 
refers simply to the persons who were now present; concerning 
whom he might have had a Divine intimation, that they should 
not be found in life when he should come that way again. Or 
it may refer only to Ephesus and Miletus.

From the dangers to which he was exposed, it was, humanly 
speaking, unlikely that he should ever return; and this may 
be all that is implied: but that he did revisit those parts, 
though probably not Miletus or Ephesus, appears likely from 
Phil. i. 25-27; ii. 24; Philemon 22; Heb. xiii. 19-23. But in 
all these places he speaks with a measure of uncertainty: he 
had not an absolute evidence that he should not return; but, 
in his own mind, it was a matter of uncertainty. The Holy 
Spirit did not think proper to give him a direct revelation 
on this point.

Verse 26. I am pure from the blood of all] If any man, Jew or 
Gentile, perish in his sins, his blood shall be upon him; he, 
alone, shall be accessary to his own perdition. I am 
blameless, because I have fully shown to both the way to 
escape from every evil.

Verse 27. I have not shunned to declare] ou upestilamhn, I 
have not suppressed or concealed any thing, through fear or 
favour, that might be beneficial to your souls. This is 
properly the meaning of the original word. See the note on 
ver. 20.

All the counsel of God.] All that God has determined and 
revealed concerning the salvation of man-the whole doctrine 
of Christ crucified, with repentance towards God, and faith 
in Jesus as the Messiah and great atoning Priest. In Isa. ix. 
6, Jesus Christ is called the wonderful counsellor, Å[wy alp 
Pele Poets, which the Septuagint translate megalhv boulhv 
aggelov? The messenger of the great counsel. To this the 
apostle may have referred, as we well know that this version 
was constantly under his eye. Declaring therefore to them the 
whole counsel of God, pashn thn boulhn tou qeou, the whole of 
that counsel or design of God, was, in effect, declaring the 
whole that concerned the Lord Jesus, who was the messenger of 
this counsel.

Verse 28. Made you overseers] eqeto episkopouv, Appointed you 
bishops; for so we translate the original word in most places 
where it occurs: but overseers, or inspectors, is much more 
proper, from epi, over, and skeptomai, I look. The persons 
who examine into the spiritual state of the flock of God, and 
take care to lead them in and out, and to find them pasture, 
are termed episcopoi, or superintendents. The office of a 
bishop is from God; a true pastor only can fulfill this 
office: it is an office of most awful responsibility; few 
there are who can fill it; and, of those who occupy this high 
and awful place, perhaps we may say there are fewer still who 
discharge the duties of it. There are, however, through the 
good providence of God, Christian bishops, who, while they 
are honoured by the calling, do credit to the sacred 
function. And the annals of our Church can boast of at least 
as many of this class of men, who have served their God and 
their generation, as of any other order, in the proportion 
which this order bears to others in the Church of Christ. 
That bishop and presbyter, or elder, were at this time of the 
same order, and that the word was indifferently used of both, 
see noticed on chap. xx. 17.

Feed the Church of God] This verse has been the subject of 
much controversy, particularly in reference to the term qeou, 
of GOD, in this place; and concerning it there is great 
dissension among the MSS. and versions. Three readings exist 
in them, in reference to which critics and commentators have 
been much divided; viz. ekklhsian tou qeou, the Church of 
GOD; tou kuriou, of the LORD; kuriou kai qeou, of the LORD 
and GOD. From the collections of Wetstein and Griesbach, it 
appears that but few MSS., and none of them very ancient, 
have the word qeou, of GOD; with these only the Vulgate, and 
the later Syriac in the text, agree. kuriou, of the LORD, is 
the reading of ACDE, several others, the Sahidic, Coptic, 
later Syriac in the margin, Armenian, AEthiopia, and some of 
the fathers. kuriou kai qeou, of the LORD and of GOD, is the 
reading of the great majority; though the most ancient are 
for kuriou, of the LORD: on this ground Griesbach has 
admitted this reading into the text, and put kuriou kai qeou 
in the margin, as being next in authority.

Mr. Wakefield, who was a professed and conscientious 
Unitarian, decides for tou qeou, of GOD, as the true reading; 
but, instead of translating tou idiou aimatov, with his own 
blood, he translates, by his own Son, and brings some 
passages from the Greek and Roman writers to show that aima 
and sanguis are used to signify son, or near relative; and, 
were this the only place where purchasing with his own blood 
occurred, we might receive this saying; but, as the 
redemption of man is, throughout the New Testament, 
attributed to the sacrificial death of Christ, it is not 
likely that this very unusual meaning should apply here. At 
all events, we have here a proof that the Church was 
purchased by the blood of Christ; and, as to his Godhead, it 
is sufficiently established in many other places. When we 
grant that the greater evidence appears to be in favour of 
tou kuriou, feed the Church of the Lord, which he has 
purchased with his own blood, we must maintain that, had not 
this Lord been GOD, his blood could have been no purchase for 
the souls of a lost world.

Verse 29. After my departing] Referring, most likely, to his 
death; for few of these evils took place during his life.

Grievous wolves] Persons professing to be teachers; Judaizing 
Christians, who, instead of feeding the flock, would feed 
themselves, even to the oppression and ruin of the Church.

Verse 30. Also of your own selves, &c.] From out of your own 
assembly shall men arise, speaking perverse things, teaching 
for truth what is erroneous in itself, and perversive of the 
genuine doctrine of Christ crucified.

To draw away disciples] To make schisms or rents in the 
Church, in order to get a party to themselves. See, here, the 
cause of divisions in the Church: 1. The superintendents lose 
the life of God, neglect the souls of the people, become 
greedy of gain, and, by secular extortions, oppress the 
people. 2. The members of the Church, thus neglected, 
oppressed, and irritated, get their minds alienated from 
their rapacious pastors. 3. Men of sinister views take 
advantage of this state of distraction, foment discord, 
preach up the necessity of division, and thus the people 
become separated from the great body, and associate with 
those who profess to care for their souls, and who disclaim 
all secular views. In this state of distraction, it is a high 
proof of God's love to his heritage, if one be found who, 
possessing the true apostolic doctrine and spirit, rises up 
to call men back to the primitive truth, and restore the 
primitive discipline. How soon the grievous wolves and 
perverse teachers arose in the Churches of Asia Minor, the 
first chapters of the Apocalypse inform us. The Nicolaitans 
had nearly ruined the Church of Ephesus, Rev. i. 2, 6. The 
same sect, with other false teachers, infested the Church of 
Pergamos, and preached there the doctrine of Balaam, Rev. ii. 
14, 15. A false prophetess seduced the Church of Thyatira, 
Rev. ii. 20. All these Churches were in Asia Minor, and 
probably bishops or ministers from each were present at this 
convocation.

Verse 31. Therefore watch, and remember] The only way to 
abide in the truth is to watch against evil, and for good; 
and to keep in mind the heavenly doctrines originally 
received. Unwatchfulness and forgetfulness are two grand 
inlets to apostasy.

By the space of three years] trietian. The Greek word here 
does not necessarily mean three whole years: it may be months 
more or less. In chap. xix. 8, 10, we have an account of his 
spending two years and three months among them; probably this 
is all that is intended. One MS., perceiving that the time of 
three years was not completed, inserts dietian, the space of 
two years.

Verse 32. I commend you to God] Instead of tw qew, to GOD, 
several MSS. have tw kuriw, to the LORD; neither reading 
makes any difference in the sense.

And to the word of his grace] The doctrine of salvation by 
Christ Jesus.

Which is able to build you up] The foundation is Jesus 
Christ; God is the great master-builder; the doctrine of his 
grace, or mercy, points out the order and manner, as well as 
the extent, &c., of this building. Let us observe the order 
of these things: The soul of man, which was formerly the 
habitation of God, is now in a state of ruin. 2. The ruins of 
this soul must be repaired, that it may again become a 
habitation of God through the Spirit. 3. Jesus Christ is the 
only foundation on which this house can be rebuilded. 4. The 
doctrine of God's grace is the model, or plan, according to 
which the building can be raised. 5. When re-edified, each is 
to be a lively temple of the Lord, made inwardly pure and 
outwardly righteous, and thus prepared for a state of bliss. 
6. Being made children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus, and 
sanctified by his Spirit, they have a right to the heavenly 
inheritance; for only the children of the family can possess 
the celestial estate. Thus we find they must be saved by 
grace, and be made thereby children of God; be sanctified by 
his Spirit; and, then, being prepared for, they are removed, 
in due time, into the heavenly inheritance.

Verse 33. I have coveted no man's silver, &c.] And from this 
circumstance they would be able to discover the grievous 
wolves, and the perverters; for these had nothing but their 
own interests in view; whereas the genuine disciples of 
Christ neither coveted nor had worldly possessions. St. 
Paul's account of his own disinterestedness is very similar 
to that given by Samuel of his, 1 Sam. xii. 3-5.

Verse 34. These hands have ministered, &c.] It was neither 
"sin nor discredit" for the apostle to work to maintain 
himself, when the circumstances of the Church were such that 
it could not support him. Still many eminent ministers of God 
are obliged to support themselves and their families, at 
least in part, in the same way, while indefatigably 
testifying the Gospel of the grace of God. Whatever it may be 
to the people, it is no cause of reproach to the minister, to 
be obliged thus to employ himself.

Verse 35. I have showed you all things] The preposition kata 
is to be understood before panta; and the clause should be 
read thus-I have showed you IN all things, &c.

It is more blessed to give than to receive.] That is, the 
giver is more happy than the receiver. Where, or on what 
occasion, our Lord spake these words we know not, as they do 
not exist in any of the four evangelists.

But that our Lord did speak them, St. Paul's evidence is 
quite sufficient to prove. The sentiment is worthy of Christ. 
A truly generous mind, in affluence, rejoices in 
opportunities to do good, and feels happy in having such 
opportunities. A man of an independent spirit, when reduced 
to poverty, finds it a severe trial to be obliged to live on 
the bounty of another, and feels pain in receiving what the 
other feels a happiness in communicating. Let, therefore, the 
man who is able to give feel himself the obliged person, and 
think how much pain the feeling heart of his supplicant must 
endure, in being obliged to forego his native independence, 
in soliciting and receiving the bounty of another. I am not 
speaking of common beggars; these have got their minds 
already depraved, and their native independence reduced, by 
sin and idleness, to servility.

Verse 36. He kneeled down and prayed] Kneeling is the proper 
posture of a supplicant, it argues at once both humility and 
submission; and he who prays to God should endeavour to feel 
the utmost measures of both.

Verse 37. Fell on Paul's neck] Leaned their heads against his 
shoulders, and kissed his neck. This was not an unusual 
custom in the east.

Verse 38. That they should see his face no more] This was a 
most solemn meeting, and a most affecting parting. The man 
who had first pointed out to them the Lord Jesus Christ, by 
whom they had been brought into so glorious a state of 
salvation, is now going away, in all likelihood, to be seen 
no more till the day in which the quick and dead shall stand 
before the throne of judgment. Such a scene, and its 
correspondent feelings, are more easily imagined than 
described.

1. As the disciples are stated to have come together on the 
first day of the week, we may learn from this that, ever 
since the apostolic times, the Lord's day, now the Christian 
Sabbath, was set apart for religious exercises; such as the 
preaching of God's holy word, and celebrating the sacrament 
of the Lord's Supper. Besides its being the day on which our 
blessed Lord rose from the dead, the practice of the apostles 
and the primitive Church is an additional reason why we 
should religiously celebrate this first day of the week. They 
who, professing the Christian religion, still prefer the 
Jewish Sabbath, have little to support them in the New 
Testament. How prone is man to affect to be wise above what 
is written, while he is, in almost every respect, below the 
teaching so plainly laid down in the Divine word.

2. The charge of St. Paul to the pastors of the Church of 
Christ at Ephesus and Miletus contains much that is 
interesting to every Christian minister: 1. If he be sent of 
God at all, he is sent to feed the flock. 2. But, in order to 
feed them, he must have the bread of life. 3. This bread he 
must distribute in its due season, that each may have that 
portion that is suitable to time, place, and state. 4. While 
he is feeding others, he should take care to have his own 
soul fed: it is possible for a minister to be the instrument 
of feeding others, and yet starve himself. 5. If Jesus Christ 
intrust to his care the souls he has bought by his own blood, 
what an awful account will he have to give in the day of 
judgment, if any of them perish through his neglect! Though 
the sinner, dying in his sins, has his own blood upon his 
head, yet, if the watchman has not faithfully warned him, his 
blood will be required at the watchman's hand. Let him who is 
concerned read Ezekiel, Ezekiel xxxiii. 3-5, and think of the 
account which he is shortly to give unto God.

3. Tenderness and sympathy are not inconsistent with the 
highest state of grace. Paul warns his hearers day and night 
with tears. His hearers now weep sore at the departure of 
their beloved pastor. They who can give up a Christian 
minister with indifference, have either profited little under 
that ministry, or they have backslidden from the grace of 
God. The pastors should love as fathers, the converts as 
children; and all feel themselves one family, under that 
great head, Christ Jesus.

CHAPTER xxi.

Paul and his company sail from Miletus, and come to Coos, 
Rhodes, and Patara, 1. Finding a Phoenician ship at Patara, 
they go on board, sail past Cyprus, and land at Tyre, 2, 3. 
Here they find disciples, and stay seven days, and are kindly 
entertained, 4, 5. Having bade the disciples farewell, they 
take ship and sail to Ptolemais, salute the brethren, stay 
with them one day, come to Caesarea, and lodge with Philip, 
one of the seven deacons, 6-9. Here they tarry a considerable 
time, and Agabus the prophet foretells Paul's persecution at 
Jerusalem, 10, 11. The disciples endeavour to dissuade him 
from going; but he is resolute, and he and his company 
depart, 12-16. They are kindly received by James and the 
elders, who advise Paul, because of the Jews, to show his 
respect for the law of Moses, by purifying himself, with 
certain others that were under a vow; with which advice he 
complies, 17-26. Some of the Asiatic Jews, finding him in the 
temple, raise an insurrection against him, and would have 
killed him had he not been rescued by the chief captain, who 
orders him to be bound and carried into the castle, 27-36. 
Paul requests liberty to address the people, and is 
permitted, 37-40.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxi.

Verse 1. Came with a straight course] Having had, as is 
necessarily implied, wind and tide in their favour.

Coos] An island in the Archipelago, or AEgean Sea, one of 
those called the Sporades. It was famous for the worship of 
AEsculapius and Juno; and for being the birthplace of 
Hippocrates, the most eminent of physicians, and Apelles, the 
most celebrated of painters.

Rhodes] Another island in the same sea, celebrated for its 
Colossus, which was one of the seven wonders of the world. 
This was a brazen statue of Apollo, so high that ships in 
full sail could pass between its legs.

It was the work of Chares, a pupil of Lysippus, who spent 
twelve years in making it. It was 106 feet high, and so great 
that few people could fathom its thumb. It was thrown down by 
an earthquake about 224 years before Christ, after having 
stood sixty-six years. When the Saracens took possession of 
this island, they sold this prostrate image to a Jew, who 
loaded 900 camels with the brass of it; this was about A.D. 
660, nearly 900 years after it had been thrown down.

Patara] One of the chief seaport towns of Syria.

Verse 2. Phoenicia] A part of Syria. See the note on chap. 
xi. 19.

Verse 3. Cyprus] See the note on chap. iv. 36, and see the 
track of this journey on the map.

Tyre] A city of Phoenicia, one of the most celebrated 
maritime towns in the world. See the notes on chap. xii. 20; 
Matt. xi. 21.

There the ship was to unlade her burden.] The freight that 
she had taken in at Ephesus she was to unlade at Tyre; to 
which place she was bound.

Verse 4. Who said to Paul through the Spirit] We cannot 
understand this as a command from the Holy Spirit not to go 
up to Jerusalem, else Paul must have been highly criminal to 
have disobeyed it. Through the Spirit, must either refer to 
their own great earnestness to dissuade him from taking a 
journey which they plainly saw would be injurious to him-and 
so Bp. Pearce understands this place; or, if it refer to the 
Holy Spirit, it must mean that if he regarded his personal 
safety he must not, at this time, go up to Jerusalem. The 
Spirit foretold Paul's persecutions, but does not appear to 
have forbidden his journey; and Paul was persuaded that, in 
acting as he was about to do, whatever personal risk he ran, 
he should bring more glory to God, by going to Jerusalem, 
than by tarrying at Tyre or elsewhere. The purport of this 
Divine communication was, "If thou go up to Jerusalem the 
Jews will persecute thee; and thou wilt be imprisoned, &c." 
As he was apprized of this, he might have desisted, for the 
whole was conditional: Paul might or might not go to 
Jerusalem; if he did go, he would be persecuted, and be in 
danger of losing his life. The Holy Spirit neither commanded 
him to go, nor forbade him; the whole was conditional; and he 
was left to the free exercise of his own judgment and 
conscience. This was a similar case to that of David in 
Keilah, 1 Sam. xxiii. 9-13. David prevented the threatened 
evil by leaving Keilah: Paul fell into it by going to 
Jerusalem.

Verse 5. When we had accomplished those days] That is, the 
seven days mentioned in the preceding verse.

And they all brought us on our way, with wives and children] 
It is not likely that Paul, Silas, Luke, &c., had either 
wives or children with them; and it is more natural to 
suppose that the brethren of Tyre, with their wives and 
children are those that are meant; these, through affection 
to the apostles, accompanied them from their homes to the 
ship; and the coming out of the husbands, wives, and 
children, shows what a general and affectionate interest the 
preaching and private conversation of these holy men had 
excited.

Kneeled down on the shore, and prayed.] As God fills heaven 
and earth, so he may be worshipped every where; as well, when 
circumstances require it, on the seashore as in the temple. 
We have already seen, in the case of Lydia, that the Jews had 
proseuchas by the river sides, &c.; and an observation in 
Tertullian seems to intimate that they preferred such places, 
and in the open air offered their petitions to God by the 
seashore: Omissis templis, per omne littus, quocumque in 
aperto aliquando jam preces ad coelum mittunt. Tertul. de 
Jejunio.

Verse 6. Taken-leave] aspasamenoi; Having given each other 
the kiss of peace, as was the constant custom of the Jews and 
primitive Christians.

They returned home] That is, the men, their wives, and their 
children.

Verse 7. We came to Ptolemais] This was a seaport town of 
Galilee, not far from Mount Carmel, between Tyre and 
Caesarea, where the river Belus empties itself into the sea. 
It was at first called Accho, (and this is the reading of the 
Syriac and Arabic,) and belonged to the tribe of Asher, Judg. 
i. 31; it was enlarged and beautified by the first of the 
Egyptian Ptolemies, from whom it was called Ptolemais. This 
place terminated St. Paul's voyage; and this is what is 
expressed in the text: And we came from Tyre to Ptolemais, 
where our voyage ended. See the Greek text.

Verse 8. We that were of Paul's company] oi peri ton paulon? 
This clause is wanting in ABCE, and many others; the Syriac, 
Coptic, Vulgate, Armenian, &c.

Came unto Caesarea] This was Caesarea of Palestine, already 
sufficiently described, See on chap. viii. 40.

Philip the evangelist] One of the seven deacons, who seems to 
have settled here after he had baptized the eunuch. See on 
chap. viii. 40.

Verse 9. Four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.] 
Probably these were no more than teachers in the Church: for 
we have already seen that this is a frequent meaning of the 
word prophesy; and this is undoubtedly one thing intended by 
the prophecy of Joel, quoted chap. ii. 17, 18, of this book. 
If Philip's daughters might be prophetesses, why not 
teachers?

Verse 10. Agabus.] See the note on chap. xi. 28.

Verse 11. Took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands, &c.] 
This was no doubt a prophet, in the commonly received sense 
of the term; and his mode of acting was like that of the 
ancient prophets, who often accompanied their predictions 
with significant emblems. Jeremiah was commanded to bury his 
girdle by the river Euphrates, to mark out the captivity of 
the Jews. Jer. xiii. 4. For more examples of this figurative 
or symbolical prophesying, see Jer. xxvii. 2, 3; xxviii. 4; 
Isa. xx. 1-6; Ezek. iv. 1-17; xii. 1-28, &c.

Into the hands of the Gentiles.] That is, the Romans, for the 
Jews had not, properly speaking, the power of life and death. 
And, as Agabus said he should be delivered into the hands of 
the Gentiles, he showed thereby that they would attempt to 
destroy his life. This prediction of Agabus was literally 
fulfilled: see ver. 33.

Verse 12. Besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.] For they 
all understood the prophecy to be conditional and contingent; 
and that it was in Paul's power to turn the scale.

Verse 13. I am ready, not to be bound only] He was resolute 
and determined; but was under no constraining necessity. See 
the note on ver. 4.

Verse 14. The will of the Lord be done.] May that which is 
most for his glory take place! They plainly saw from the 
prophecy what would take place, if Paul went to Jerusalem; 
and every one saw that he had power to go, or not to go.

Verse 15. Took up our carriages] aposkeuasamenoi; We made 
ourselves ready; packed up our things; got our baggage in 
order. This is what the text means.

Verse 16. And brought with them one Mnason, &c.] It is not 
very likely that they would bring a man with them with whom 
they were to lodge in Jerusalem; therefore, the text should 
perhaps be read as Bp.

Patrick proposes: There went with us certain of the disciples 
of Caesarea, bringing us to one Mnason, with whom we were to 
lodge. This is most likely, as the text will bear this 
translation. But it is possible that Mnason, formerly of 
Cyprus, now an inhabitant of Jerusalem, might have been down 
at Caesarea, met the disciples, and invited them to lodge 
with him while they were at Jerusalem; and, having transacted 
his business at Caesarea, might now accompany them to 
Jerusalem. His being an old disciple may either refer to his 
having been a very early convert, probably one of those on 
the day of pentecost, or to his being now an old man.

Verse 18. Went in with us unto James] This was James the 
Less, son of Mary; and cousin to our Lord. He appears to have 
been bishop of the Church in Jerusalem, and perhaps the only 
apostle who continued in that city. We have already seen what 
a very important character he sustained in the council. See 
chap. xv. 13.

All the elders were present.] It appears that they had been 
convened about matters of serious and important moment; and 
some think it was relative to Paul himself, of whose arrival 
they had heard, and well knew how many of those that believed 
were disaffected towards him.

Verse 19. Declared particularly, &c.] He no doubt had heard 
that they were prejudiced against him; and, by declaring what 
God had done by him among the Gentiles, showed how groundless 
this prejudice was: for, were he a bad man, or doing any 
thing that he should not do, God would not have made him such 
a singular instrument of so much good.

Verse 20. How many thousands] posai muriadev; How many 
myriads, how many times 10,000. This intimates that there had 
been a most extraordinary and rapid work even among the Jews; 
but what is here spoken is not to be confined to the Jews of 
Jerusalem, but to all that had come from different parts of 
the land to be present at this pentecost.

They are all zealous of the law] The Jewish economy was not 
yet destroyed; nor had God as yet signified that the whole of 
its observances were done away. He continued to tolerate that 
dispensation, which was to be in a certain measure in force 
till the destruction of Jerusalem; and from that period it 
was impossible for them to observe their own ritual. Thus God 
abolished the Mosaic dispensation, by rendering, in the 
course of his providence, the observance of it impossible.

Verse 21. Thou teachest-to forsake Moses, &c.] From any thing 
that appears in the course of this book to the contrary, this 
information was incorrect: we do not find Paul preaching thus 
to the Jews. It is true that, in his epistles, some of which 
had been written before this time, he showed that 
circumcision and uncircumcision were equally unavailable for 
the salvation, of the soul, and that by the deeds of the law 
no man could be justified; but he had not yet said to any 
Jew, forsake Moses, and do not circumcise your children. He 
told them that Jesus Christ had delivered them from the yoke 
of the law; but they had, as yet, liberty to wear that yoke, 
if they pleased. He had shown them that their ceremonies were 
useless but not destructive; that they were only dangerous 
when they depended on them for salvation. This is the sum of 
what Paul had taught on this subject.

Verse 22. The multitude must needs come together] Whether 
this refers to a regular convocation of the Church, or to a 
tumult that would infallibly take place when it was heard 
that the apostle was come, we cannot pretend to say; but it 
is evident that James and the elders wished some prudent 
steps to be taken, in order to prevent an evil that they had 
too much reason to fear.

Verse 23. We have four men which have a vow] From the shaving 
of the head, mentioned immediately after, it is evident that 
the four men in question were under the vow of Nazariteship; 
and that the days of their vow were nearly at an end, as they 
were about to shave their heads; for, during the time of the 
Nazariteship, the hair was permitted to grow, and only shaven 
off at the termination of the vow. Among the Jews, it was 
common to make vows to God on extraordinary occasions; and 
that of the Nazarite appears to have been one of the most 
common; and it was permitted by their law for any person to 
perform this vow by proxy. See the law produced in my note on 
Num. vi. 21. "It was also customary for the richer sort to 
bestow their charity on the poorer sort for this purpose; for 
Josephus, Ant. lib. xix. cap. 6, sec. 1, observes that 
Agrippa, on his being advanced from a prison to a throne, by 
the Emperor Claudius, came to Jerusalem; and there, among 
other instances of his religious thankfulness shown in the 
temple, nazaraiwn xurasqai dietaxe mala sucnouv, he ordered 
very many Nazarites to be shaven, he furnishing them with 
money for the expenses of that, and of the sacrifices 
necessarily attending it." See Bp. Pearce.

Verse 24. Be at charges with them] Or, rather, be at charges 
for them: help them to bear the expense of that vow. Eight 
lambs, four rams, besides oil, flour, &c., were the expenses 
on this occasion. See the notes on Num. vi. 1-21.

Thou-walkest orderly and keepest the law.] Perhaps this 
advice meant no more than, Show them, by such means as are 
now in thy power, that thou art not an enemy to Moses; that 
thou dost still consider the law to be holy, and the 
commandment holy, just, and good. Paul did so, and bore the 
expenses of those who, from a scruple of conscience, had made 
a vow, and perhaps were not well able to bear the expense 
attending it. Had they done this in order to acquire 
justification through the law, Paul could not have assisted 
them in any measure with a clear conscience; but, as he did 
assist them, it is a proof that they had not taken this vow 
on them for this purpose. Indeed, vows rather referred to a 
sense of obligation, and the gratitude due to God for mercies 
already received, than to the procuring of future favours of 
any kind. Besides, God had not yet fully shown that the law 
was abolished, as has already been remarked: he tolerated it 
till the time that the iniquity of the Jews was filled up; 
and then, by the destruction of Jerusalem, he swept every 
rite and ceremony of the Jewish law away, with the besom of 
destruction.

Verse 25. As touching the Gentiles] See the notes on chap. 
xv. 1-21, and the additional observations at the end of that 
chapter. 

Verse 26. To signify the accomplishment, &c.] diaggellwn, 
Declaring the accomplishment, &c. As this declaration was 
made to the priest, the sense of the passage is the 
following, if we suppose Paul to have made an offering for 
himself, as well as the four men: "The next day, Paul, taking 
the four men, began to purify, set himself apart, or 
consecrate himself with them; entering into the temple, he 
publicly declared to the priests that he would observe the 
separation of a Nazarite, and continue it for seven days, at 
the end of which he would bring an offering for himself and 
the other four men, according to what the law prescribed in 
that case." But it is likely that Paul made no offering for 
himself, but was merely at the expense of theirs. However we 
may consider this subject, it is exceedingly difficult to 
account for the conduct of James and the elders, and of Paul 
on this occasion. There seems to have been something in this 
transaction which we do not fully understand. See the note on 
Num. vi. 21.

"Besides their typical and religious use, sacrifices were 
also intended for the support of the state and civil 
government; inasmuch as the ministers of state were chiefly 
maintained by them: so that the allotments to the priests out 
of the sacrifices may be considered as designed, like the 
civil-list money in other nations, for the immediate support 
of the crown and the officers of state. On these principles 
we are able to account for Paul's sacrificing, as we are 
informed he did, after the commencement of the Christian 
dispensation; an action which has been severely censured by 
some as the greatest error of his life: hereby he not only 
gave, say they, too much countenance to the Jews in their 
superstitious adherence to the law of Moses, after it was 
abrogated by Christ, but his offering these typical 
sacrifices, after the antitype of them was accomplished in 
the sacrifice of Christ, was a virtual denial of Christ, and 
of the virtue of his sacrifice, which superseded all others. 
Paul's long trouble, which began immediately after this 
affair, some have looked upon as a judgment of God upon him 
for this great offense. But, if this action were really so 
criminal as some suppose, one cannot enough wonder that so 
good and so wise a man as Paul was should be guilty of it; 
and that the Apostle James and the other Christian elders 
should all advise him to it, ver. 18, 23, 24. It is likewise 
strange that we find no censure ever passed on this action by 
any of the sacred writers; not even by Paul himself, who 
appears so ready, on other occasions, to acknowledge and 
humble himself for his errors and failings: on the contrary 
he reflects with comfort on his having complied with the 
customs of the Jews in order to remove their prejudices 
against him and his ministry, and against the Gospel which he 
preached, and to win them over to embrace it: 'Unto the Jews 
I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; and this I do 
for the Gospel's sake.' 1 Cor. ix. 20, 23.

"To elucidate this point; we are to consider that there was a 
political as well as a typical use of sacrifices; and that, 
though the typical ceased upon the sacrifice of Christ, yet 
the political continued till God in his providence broke up 
the Jewish state and polity about forty years after our 
Saviour's death. Till that time it was not merely lawful, but 
matter of duty, for good subjects to pay the dues which were 
appointed by law for the support of the government and 
magistracy. Now, of this kind was the sacrifice which Paul 
offered; and in this view they were paid by Christians 
dwelling in Judea, as well as by those who still adhered to 
the Jewish religion. So that, upon the whole, this action, 
for which Paul has been so much censured, probably amounts to 
nothing more than paying the tribute due to the magistrate by 
law, which the apostle enjoins upon all other Christians in 
all other nations, Rom. xiii. 6." -Jennings' Jewish 
Antiquities, p. 17.

Verse 27. The Jews which were of Asia] These pursued him with 
the most deliberate and persevering malice in every place; 
and it appears that it was through them that the false 
reports were sent to and circulated through Jerusalem.

Verse 28. This is the man that teacheth, &c.] As much as if 
they had said: This is the man concerning whom we wrote to 
you; who in every place endeavours to prejudice the Gentiles 
against the Jews, against the Mosaic law, and against the 
temple and its services.

Brought Greeks also into the temple] This was a most 
deliberate and malicious untruth: Paul could accomplish no 
purpose by bringing any Greek or Gentile into the temple; and 
their having seen Trophimus, an Ephesian, with him, in the 
city only, was no ground on which to raise a slander that 
must so materially affect both their lives. Josephus informs 
us, War, lib. v. cap. 5, sec. 2, that on the wall which 
separated the court of the Gentiles from that of the 
Israelites was an inscription in Greek and Latin letters, 
which stated that no stranger was permitted to come within 
the holy place on pain of death. With such a prohibition as 
this before his eyes, was it likely that St. Paul would enter 
into the temple in company with an uncircumcised Greek? The 
calumny refutes itself.

Verse 30. They took Paul] They tumultuously seized on him; 
and drew him out of the temple, out of the court of the 
Israelites, where he was worshipping: and-the doors were 
shut; the doors of the court of the Gentiles, probably to 
prevent Paul from getting any succour from his friends in the 
city; for their whole proceedings show that they purposed to 
murder him: they brought him out of the court of the 
Israelites, that court being peculiarly holy, that it might 
not be defiled by his blood; and they shut the court of the 
Gentiles, that they might have the opportunity unmolested of 
killing him in that place; for the court of the Gentiles was 
reckoned to be less holy than than that of the Israelites.

Verse 31. The chief captain of the band] The Roman tribune, 
who had a troop of soldiers under him, which lodged in 
general in the castle of Antonia, which was built at the 
angle where the northern and western porticoes of the outer 
court of the temple were joined together. This castle was 
built by John Hyrcanus, high priest of the Jews: it was at 
first called Baris, and was the royal residence of the 
Asmoneans, as long as they reigned in Jerusalem. It was 
beautified by Herod the Great, and called Antonia, in honour 
of his friend Mark Antony. By this castle the temple was 
commanded, as it stood on higher ground. Josephus describes 
this castle, War, b. v. chap. 5, sec. 8, "as having four 
towers, from one of which the whole temple was overlooked; 
and that one of the towers was joined to the porticoes of the 
temple, and had a double pair of stairs from it, by which 
soldiers in the garrison were used to come down with their 
arms to the porticoes, on the festival days, to keep the 
people quiet; for, as the temple was a guard to the city, so 
this castle was a guard to the temple." "It seems, 
therefore," says Bp. Pearce, "to me very plain, that the 
place where the Jews were about to kill Paul was the court of 
the Gentiles, the porticoes being there; and that the chief 
captain came down there to his rescue." The name of this 
chief captain, or tribune, was Claudius Lysias, as we learn 
from chap. xxiii. 26.

Verse 32. Ran down unto them] Ran down the stairs to the 
porticoes mentioned above.

Verse 33. And took him] With great violence, according to 
chap. xxiv. 7, probably meaning an armed force.

To be bound with two chains] To be bound between two 
soldiers; his right hand chained to the left hand of the one, 
and his left hand to the right of the other. See the note on 
chap. xii. 6.

Verse 35. And when he came upon the stairs] Those mentioned 
in the note on ver. 31.

Verse 36. Away with him.] That is, Kill him; despatch him! 
for so much this phrase always means in the mouth of a Jewish 
mob. See on Luke xxiii. 18, and John xix. 15.

Verse 37. Canst thou speak Greek?] Claudius Lysias was not a 
Roman; he had, as himself informs us, purchased his 
citizenship of Rome with a great sum of money; (see chap. 
xxii. 28;) and it is very likely that he was but imperfectly 
acquainted with the Latin tongue; and the tumult that was now 
made, and the discordant noise, prevented him from clearly 
apprehending what was said; and, as he wished to know the 
merit of the cause, he accosted Paul with, Æellhnisti 
ginwskeiv, Dost thou understand Greek? And when he found that 
he did understand it, he proceeded to question him as below.

Verse 38. Art not thou that Egyptian, &c.] The history to 
which Claudius Lysias refers is taken from Josephus, Ant. 
lib. xx. cap. 7, sec. 6, and War, lib. ii. cap. 13, sec. 5, 
and is in substance as follows: An Egyptian, whose name is 
not known, pretended to be a prophet, and told his followers 
that the walls of Jerusalem would fall down before them, if 
they would assist him in making an attack on the city. He had 
address enough to raise a rabble of 30,000 men, and with 
these advanced as far as the Mount of Olives; but Felix, the 
Roman governor, came suddenly upon him, with a large body of 
Roman troops, both infantry and cavalry: the mob was speedily 
dispersed, four hundred killed, two hundred taken prisoners, 
and the Egyptian himself, with some of his most faithful 
friends, escaped; of whom no account was ever afterwards 
heard. As Lysias found such an outcry made against Paul, he 
supposed that he must be some egregious malefactor, and 
probably that Egyptian who had escaped, as related above. 
Learned men agree that St. Luke refers to the same fact of 
which Josephus speaks; but there is a considerable difference 
between the numbers in Josephus, and those in Luke: the 
former having 30,000, the latter only 4000. The small number 
of killed and prisoners, only 600 in all, according to 
Josephus, leads us to suspect that his number is greatly 
exaggerated; as 600 in killed and prisoners of a mob of 
30,000, routed by regular infantry and cavalry, is no kind of 
proportion; but it is a sufficient proportion to a mob of 
4000. Dean Aldridge has supposed that the number in Josephus 
was originally 4000, but that ancient copyists mistaking the 
Greek d delta, four, for l lambda, thirty, wrote 30,000, 
instead of 4000. See Havercamp's edition, vol. ii. p. 177. 
There is another way of reconciling the two historians, which 
is this: When this Egyptian impostor at first began to make 
great boasts and large promises, a multitude of people, to 
the amount at least of 30,000, weary of the Roman yoke, from 
which he promised them deliverance, readily arranged 
themselves under his banners. As he performed nothing that he 
promised, 26,000 of these had melted away before he reached 
Mount Olivet: this remnant the Romans attacked and dispersed. 
Josephus speaks of the number he had in the beginning; St. 
Luke, of those that he had when he arrived at Mount Olivet.

That were murderers?] sikariwn: Sicarii, assassins: they 
derived their name from sica, a sort of crooked knife, which 
they concealed under their garments, and privately stabbed 
the objects of their malice. Josephus.

Verse 39. I am a man which am a Jew] A periphrasis for, I am 
a Jew. See the note on chap. vii. 2.

Of Tarsus-no mean city] In the notes on chap. ix. 11, I have 
shown that Tarsus was a city of considerable importance, and 
in some measure a rival to Rome and Athens; and that, because 
of the services tendered to the Romans by the inhabitants, 
Julius Caesar endowed them with all the rights and privileges 
of Roman citizens. When St. Paul calls it no mean city, he 
speaks a language that was common to those who have had 
occasion to speak of Tarsus. XENOPHON, Cyri Anabas. i., calls 
it, polin megalhn kai eudaimona, a great and flourishing 
city. JOSEPHUS, Ant. lib. i. cap. 6, sec. 6, says that it was 
parÆ autoiv twn polewn h axiologwtath mhtropoliv ousa, the 
metropolis and most renowned city among them (the Cilicians.) 
And AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS, xiv. 8, says, Ciliciam Tarsus 
nobilitat, urbs perspicabilis: "Tarsus, a very respectable 
city; adorns Cilicia." 

Verse 40. Paul stood on the stairs] Where he was out of the 
reach of the mob, and was surrounded by the Roman soldiers.

Beckoned with the hand] Waving the hand, which was the sign 
that he was about to address the people. So VIRGIL says of 
Turnus, when he wished, by single combat between himself and 
AEneas, to put an end to the war: - Significatque manu, et 
magno simul incipit ore: Parcite jam, Rutuli; et vos tela 
inhibete, Latini.

He beckoned with his hand, and cried out with a loud voice, 
Desist, ye Rutulians; and, ye Latins, cease from throwing 
your javelins.

He spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue] What was called then 
the Hebrew, viz. the Chaldalo-Syriac; very well expressed by 
the Codex Bezae, th idia dialektw, in their own dialect.

Never was there a more unnatural division than that in this 
chapter: it ends with a single comma! The best division would 
have been at the end of the 25th verse.

PAUL'S embarkation at Tyre is very remarkable. The simple 
manner in which he was escorted to the ship by the disciples 
of Tyre, men, women, and children, and their affectionate and 
pious parting, kneeling down on the shore and commending each 
other to God, are both impressive and edifying. Nothing but 
Christianity could have produced such a spirit in persons who 
now, perhaps for the first time, saw each other in the flesh.

Every true Christian is a child of God; and, consequently, 
all children of God have a spiritual affinity. They are all 
partakers of the same Spirit, are united to the same Head, 
are actuated with the same hope, and are going to the same 
heaven. These love one another with pure hearts fervently; 
and these alone are capable of disinterested and lasting 
friendship. Though this kind of friendship cannot fail, yet 
it may err; and with officious affection endeavour to prevent 
us from bearing a necessary and most honourable cross. See 
ver. 12, 13. It should, therefore, be kept within Scriptural 
bounds.

CHAPTER xxii.

Paul, in his address to the people, gives an account of his 
birth and education, 1-3. His prejudices against 
Christianity, 4, 5. And of his miraculous conversion, and 
call to the apostleship, 6-21. The Jews, hearing him say that 
God had sent him to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, become 
exceedingly outrageous, and clamour for his life, 22, 23. The 
chief captain orders him to be examined by scourging; but he, 
pleading his privilege as a Roman citizen, escapes the 
torture, 24-29. The next day the chief captain brings Paul 
before the chief priests and their council, 30.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxii.

Verse 1. Men, brethren, and fathers] A Hebrew form of 
expression for brethren and fathers: for two classes only are 
addressed. See the note on chap. vii. 2.

Hear ye my defense] mou thv apologiav, This apology of mine; 
in this sense the word apology was anciently understood: 
hence the Apologies of the primitive fathers, i.e. their 
defenses of the Christian religion. And this is as proper 
literal meaning; but it is now used only as implying an 
excuse for improper conduct. That this is an abuse of the 
term requires no proof.

Verse 2. When they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue] 
He had probably been traduced by the Jews of Asia as a mere 
Gentile, distinguished only by his virulence against the 
Jewish religion; which virulence proceeded from his malice 
and ignorance.

Verse 3. I am verily a man which am a Jew] A periphrasis for, 
I am really a Jew: and his mentioning this adds weight to the 
conjecture in the preceding note. He shows that he could not 
be ignorant of the Jewish religion, as he had had the best 
instructer in it which Jerusalem could produce.

Yet brought up, &c.] Bp. Pearce proposes that this verse 
should be thus read and translated: but brought up in this 
city; instructed at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the 
most exact manner, being exceedingly zealous for the law of 
our fathers, as ye all are this day.

Born in Tarsus] See the notes on chap. ix. 11; xxi. 39.

Feet of Gamaliel] See a full account of this man in the note 
on chap. v. 34.

It has been generally supposed that the phrase, brought up at 
the feet, is a reference to the Jewish custom, viz. that the 
disciples of the rabbins sat on low seats, or on the ground, 
whilst the rabbin himself occupied a lofty chair. But we 
rather learn, from Jewish authority, that the disciples of 
the rabbins stood before their teachers, as Vitringa has 
proved in his treatise Deuteronomy Synag. Vet. lib. i. p. 1, 
cap. 7. Kypke, therefore, contends that para touv podav, at 
the feet, means the same as plhsion, near, or before, which 
is not an unfrequent mode of speech among both sacred and 
profane writers. Thus, in chap. iv. 35, 37; v. 2, etiqoun 
para touv podav twn apostolwn, they laid it at the apostles' 
feet, means only, they brought it to the apostles. So in 2 
Macc. iv. 7, para podav hdh ton fohn orwntev keimenon, they 
saw death already lying at their feet; that is, as the Syriac 
translator has properly rendered it, they saw death 
immediately before them. So Themistius, Or. 27, p. 341, who 
adds the term by which the phrase is explained, esti kai 
plhsion aei tw dunamenw lambanein, ante pedes id temper et 
prope est, illi qui accipere potest.

Also Lucian, Deuteronomy Conser. Hist. p. 669, wn para podav 
oi elegcoi. The refutation of which is at hand. The same kind 
of form occurs in the Hebrew, Exod. xi. 8: All the people 
that are at thy feet, ûylgrb beragleica, i.e. who are with 
thee, under thy command, 2 Sam. xv. 16.

And the king went out, and all his household, wylgrb 
beraglaiv, at his feet; that is, with him, in his company. 
See Kypke. The phrase is used in the same sense among the 
Hindoos: I learned this at my father's feet-instead of, I 
learned it of my father. I was taught at the feet of such a 
teacher-my teacher's feet say so; meaning, simply, such and 
such persons taught me.

According to the perfect manner] That is, according to that 
strict interpretation of the law, and especially the 
traditions of the elders, for which the Pharisees were 
remarkable. That it is Pharisaism that the apostle has in 
view, when he says he was taught according to, akribeian, the 
most extinct manner, is evident; and hence, in chap. xxvi. 5, 
he calls Pharisaism akribestathn, the most exact system; and, 
under it, he was zealous towards God; scrupulously exact in 
every part of his duty, accompanying this with reverence to 
the supreme Being, and deep concern for his honour and glory.

Verse 4. I persecuted this way] tauthn thn odon; This 
doctrine, the way of worshipping God, and arriving at a state 
of blessedness. See on chap. ix. 2.

Binding and delivering into prisons] See on chap. viii. 3; 
ix. 2.

Verse 5. The high priest doth bear me witness, &c.] He 
probably referred to the letters of authority which he had 
received from the high priest, and the whole estate of the 
elders, pan to presbuterion, the whole of the presbytery, 
that is, the sanhedrin; and it is likely, that he had those 
letters to produce. This zeal of his against Christianity was 
an ample proof of his sincerity as a Pharisaical Jew.

Verse 6. - 13. As I made my journey, &c.] See the whole of 
this account, and all the particular circumstances, 
considered at large in the notes on chap. ix. 1, &c., and the 
observations at the conclusion of that chapter. 

Verse 14. And see that Just One] The Lord Jesus, called the 
Just One, in opposition to the Jews, who crucified him as a 
malefactor: see the note on chap. vii. 52. This is an 
additional proof that Jesus Christ did actually appear unto 
Saul of Tarsus.

Verse 15. Thou shalt be his witness unto all] Thou shalt 
proclaim Christ crucified, both to Jews and Gentiles.

Verse 16. Arise, and be baptized] Take now the profession of 
Christ's faith most solemnly upon thee, by being baptized in 
the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Wash away thy sins, &c.] Let this washing of thy body 
represent to thee the washing away of thy sins: and know that 
this washing away of sin can be received only by invoking the 
name of the Lord.

Verse 17. When I was come again to Jerusalem] It is likely 
that he refers to the first journey to Jerusalem, about three 
years after his conversion, chap. ix. 25, 26, and Gal. i. 18.

I was in a trance] This circumstance is not mentioned any 
where else, unless it be that to which himself refers in 2 
Corinthians xii. 2-4, when he conceived himself transported 
to the third heaven; and, if the case be the same, the 
appearance of Jesus Christ to him, and the command given, are 
circumstances related only in this place.

Verse 19. I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue] This 
shows what an active instrument Saul of Tarsus was, in the 
hands of this persecuting priesthood, and how very generally 
the followers of Christ were persecuted, and how difficult it 
was at this time to profess Christianity.

Verse 20. When the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed] See 
on chap. vii. 58; viii. 1. All these things Paul alleged as 
reasons why he could not expect to be received by the 
Christians; for how could they suppose that such a persecutor 
could be converted?

Verse 21. I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.] This 
was the particular appointment of St. Paul: he was the 
apostle of the Gentiles; for, though he preached frequently 
to the Jews, yet to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, and to 
write for the conversion and establishment of the Gentile 
world, were his peculiar destination. Hence we find him and 
his companions travelling every where; through Judea, 
Phoenicia, Arabia, Syria, Cilicia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, 
Pamphylia, Galatia, Phrygia, Macedonia, Greece, Asia, the 
Isles of the Mediterranean Sea, the Isles of the AEgean Sea, 
Italy, and some add Spain and even Britain. This was the 
diocess of this primitive bishop: none of the apostles 
traveled, none preached, none laboured as this man; and, we 
may add, none was so greatly owned of God.

The epistles of Peter, John, James, and Jude, are great and 
excellent; but, when compared with those of Paul, however 
glorious they may be, they have no glory comparatively, by 
reason of that glory which excelleth. Next to Jesus Christ, 
St. Paul is the glory of the Christian Church. Jesus is the 
foundation; Paul, the master-builder.

Verse 22. They gave him audience unto this word] Namely, that 
God had sent him to the Gentiles: not that they refused to 
preach the law to the Gentiles, and make them proselytes; for 
this they were fond of doing, so that our Lord says, they 
compassed sea and land to make a proselyte; but they 
understood the apostle as stating that God had rejected them, 
and called the Gentiles to be his peculiar people in their 
place; and this they could not bear.

Away with such a fellow] According to the law of Moses, he 
who attempted to seduce the people to any strange worship was 
to be stoned, Deut. xiii. 15. The Jews wished to insinuate 
that the apostle was guilty of this crime, and that therefore 
he should be stoned, or put to death.

Verse 23. Cast off their clothes] Bishop Pearce supposes that 
shaking their upper garments is all that is meant here; and 
that it was an ancient custom for men to do so when highly 
pleased or greatly irritated; but it is likely that some of 
them were now actually throwing off their clothes, in order 
to prepare to stone Paul.

Threw dust into the air] In sign of contempt, and by way of 
execration.

Shimei acted so, in order to express his contempt of David, 2 
Sam. xvi. 13, where it is said, he cursed him as he went, and 
threw stones at him; or, as the margin, he dusted him with 
dust. Their throwing dust in the air was also expressive of 
extraordinary rage and vindictive malice. The apostle, being 
guarded by the Roman soldiers, was out of the power of the 
mob; and their throwing dust in the air not only showed their 
rage, but also their vexation that they could not get the 
apostle into their power. It is still used as a token of 
hostility and defiance. M. Denon, (Travels in Egypt, vol. 
iii. p. 98,) on coming down the Nile to Cairo, stopped at the 
ancient city of Antinoe, to examine its ruins. "Being 
desirous of obtaining a view of the whole of these ruins, we 
ascended a little hill, and soon perceived the inhabitants of 
the modern village assembling behind an opposite eminence: 
scarcely had we come over against them than, supposing our 
intentions to be hostile, they called out for assistance, and 
threw dust into the air, in token of defiance. The alarm 
spread, and they began firing upon us."

Verse 24. Examined by scourging] As the chief captain did not 
understand the Hebrew language, he was ignorant of the charge 
brought against Paul, and ignorant also of the defense which 
the apostle had made; and, as he saw that they grew more and 
more outrageous, he supposed that Paul must have given them 
the highest provocation; and therefore he determined to put 
him to the torture, in order to find out the nature of his 
crime. The practice of putting people to the rack, in order 
to make them confess, has, to the disgrace of human nature, 
existed in all countries.

Verse 25. And as they bound him, &c.] They were going to tie 
him to a post, that they might scourge him.

Is it lawful, &c.] The Roman law absolutely forbade the 
binding of a Roman citizen. See the note on chap. xvi. 37.

Verse 28. With a great sum obtained I this freedom] So it 
appears that the freedom, even of Rome, might be purchased, 
and that it was sold at a very high price.

But I was free born.] It has been generally believed that the 
inhabitants of Tarsus, born in that city, had the same rights 
and privileges as Roman citizens, in consequence of a charter 
or grant from Julius Caesar. Calmet disputes this, because 
Tarsus was a free not a colonial city; and he supposes that 
Paul's father might have been rewarded with the freedom of 
Rome for some military services, and that it was in 
consequence of this that Paul was horn free. But that the 
city of Tarsus had such privileges appears extremely 
probable. In chap. xxi. 39, Paul says he was born at Tarsus 
in Cilicia, and in ver. 28, he says he was free born; and, at 
ver. 26, he calls himself a Roman; as he does also chap. xvi. 
37. From whence it has been concluded, with every show of 
reason, that Tarsus, though no Roman colony, yet had this 
privilege granted to it, that its natives should be citizens 
of Rome. PLINY, in Hist. Nat. lib. v. 27, tells us that 
Tarsus was a free city. And APPIAN, Deuteronomy Bello Civil. 
lib. v. p. 1077, edit. Tollii, says that Antony, tarseav 
eleuqerouv hfiei, kai ateleiv forwn, made the people of 
Tarsus free, and discharged them from paying tribute. DIO 
CASSIUS, lib. xlvii. p. 508, edit. Reimar, farther tells us, 
Adeo Caesari priori, et ejus gratia etiam posteriori, 
favebant Tarsenses, ut urbem suam pro Tarso JULIOPOLIN 
vocaverint: "that, for the affection which the people of 
Tarsus bore to Julius Caesar, and afterwards to Augustus, the 
former caused their city to be called Juliopolis." The Greek 
text is as follows:- outw prosfilwv tw kaisari proterw, kai 
diÆ ekeinon tw deuterw, oi tarseiv eicon, wste kai 
iouliopolin sfav apÆ autou metonomasai. To which I add, that 
PHILO, de Virt. vol.

ii. p. 587, edit. Mang., makes Agrippa say to Caligula, filwn 
eniwn patridav olav thv Ærwmaikhv hxiwsav politeiav? You have 
made whole countries, to which your friends belong, to be 
citizens of Rome. See the note on chap. xxi. 39. These 
testimonies are of weight sufficient to show that Paul, by 
being born at Tarsus, might have been free born, and a Roman. 
See Bishop Pearce on chap. xvi. 37.

Verse 29. After he knew that he was a Roman] He who was going 
to scourge him durst not proceed to the torture when Paul 
declared himself to be a Roman. A passage from Cicero, Orat. 
pro Verr. Act. ii. lib. v. 64, throws the fullest light on 
this place: Ille, quisquis erat, quem tu in crucem rapiebas, 
qui tibi esset ignotus, cum civem se Romanum esse diceret, 
apud te Praetorem, si non effugium, ne moram quidem mortis 
mentione atque usurpatione civitatis assequi potuit? 
"Whosoever he might be whom thou wert hurrying to the rack, 
were he even unknown to thee, if he said that he was a Roman 
citizen, he would necessarily obtain from thee, the Praetor, 
by the simple mention of Rome, if not an escape, yet at least 
a delay of his punishment." The whole of the sixty-fourth and 
sixty-fifth sections of this oration, which speak so 
pointedly on this subject, are worthy of consideration. Of 
this privilege he farther says, Ib. in cap. lvii., Illa vox 
et exclamatio, Civis Romanus sum, quae saepe multis in 
ultimis terris opem inter barbaros et salutem tulit, &c. That 
exclamation, I am a Roman citizen, which often times has 
brought assistance and safety, even among barbarians, in the 
remotest parts of the earth, &c.

PLUTARCH likewise, in his Life of Pompey, (vol. iii. p. 445, 
edit. Bryan,) says, concerning the behaviour of the pirates, 
when they had taken any Roman prisoner, ekeino de hn 
ubristikwtaton k. t. l. what was the most contumelious was 
this; when any of those whom they had made captives cried 
out, Ærwmaiov einai, THAT HE WAS A ROMAN, and told them his 
name, they pretended to be surprised, and be in a fright, and 
smote upon their thighs, and fell down (on their knees) to 
him, beseeching him to pardon them! It is no wonder then that 
the torturer desisted, when Paul cried out that he was a 
Roman; and that the chief captain was alarmed, because he had 
bound him.

Verse 30. He-commanded-all their council to appear] Instead 
of elqein, to come, which we translate, to appear, sunelqein, 
to assemble, or meet together, is the reading of ACE, nearly 
twenty others, the AEthiopic, Arabic, Vulgate, Chrysostom, 
and Theophylact: this reading Griesbach has received into the 
text; and it is most probably the true one: as the chief 
captain wished to know the certainty of the matter, he 
desired the Jewish council, or Sanhedrin, to assemble, and 
examine the business thoroughly, that he might know of what 
the apostle was accused; as the law would not permit him to 
proceed against a Roman in any judicial way, but on the 
clearest evidence; and, as he understood that the cause of 
their enmity was something that concerned their religion, he 
considered the Sanhedrin to be the most proper judge, and 
therefore commanded them to assemble; and there is no doubt 
that he himself, and a sufficient number of soldiers, took 
care to attend, as the person of Paul could not be safe in 
the hands of persons so prejudiced, unprincipled, and 
enraged.

This chapter should end with the twenty-ninth verse, and the 
following should begin with the thirtieth; this is the most 
natural division, and is followed by some of the most correct 
editions of the original text.

1. IN his address to the council, Paul asserts that he is a 
Jew, born of and among Jews; and that he had a regular Jewish 
education; and he takes care to observe that he had early 
imbibed all the prejudices peculiar to his countrymen, and 
had given the fullest proof of this in his persecution of the 
Christians. Thus, his assertions, concerning the 
unprofitableness of the legal ceremonies, could neither be 
attributed to ignorance nor indifference.

Had a Gentile, no matter how learned or eminent, taught thus, 
his whole teaching would have been attributed to ignorance, 
prejudice, and envy.

God, therefore, in his endless mercy, made use of a most 
eminent, learned, and bigoted Jew, to demonstrate the nullity 
of the whole Jewish system, and show the necessity of the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. At the close of this chapter, Dr. Dodd has the following 
judicious remark:-"As unrighteous as it was in the Roman 
officer, on this popular clamour, to attempt putting this 
holy apostle to the torture, so reasonable was St. Paul's 
plea, as a Roman citizen, to decline that suffering. It is a 
prudence worthy the imitation of the bravest of men, not to 
throw themselves into unnecessary difficulties. True courage 
widely differs from rash and heedless temerity; nor are we 
under any obligation, as Christians, to give up our civil 
privileges, which ought to be esteemed as the gifts of God, 
to every insolent and turbulent invader. In a thousand 
circumstances, gratitude to God, and duty to men, will oblige 
us to insist upon them; and a generous concern for those who 
may come after us should engage us to labour to transmit them 
to posterity improved rather than impaired." This should be 
an article in the creed of every genuine Briton.

CHAPTER xxiii.

Paul defending himself before the high priest, he commands 
him to be smitten on the mouth, 1, 2. Paul sharply reproves 
him, and, being reproved for this by one of the attendants, 
accounts for his conduct, 3-5. Seeing that the assembly was 
composed of Pharisees and Sadducees, and that he could expect 
no justice from his judges, he asserts that it was for his 
belief in the resurrection that he was called in question, on 
which the Pharisees declare in his favour, 6-9. A great 
dissension arises, and the chief captain, fearing lest Paul 
should be pulled to pieces, brings him into the castle, 10. 
He is comforted by a dream, 11. More than forty persons 
conspire his death, 12-15. Paul's sister's son, hearing of 
it, informs the captain of the guard, 16-22. He sends Paul by 
night, under a strong escort of horse and foot, to Caesarea, 
to Felix, and with him a letter, stating the circumstances of 
the case, 23-33. They arrive at Caesarea, and Felix promises 
him a hearing when his accusers shall come down, 34, 35.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxiii.

Verse 1. I have lived in all good conscience] Some people 
seem to have been unnecessarily stumbled with this 
expression. What does the apostle mean by it? Why, that, 
while he was a Jew, he was one from principle of conscience; 
that what he did, while he continued Jew, he did from the 
same principle; that, when God opened his eyes to see the 
nature of Christianity, he became a Christian, because God 
persuaded his conscience that it was right for him to become 
one; that, in a word, he was sincere through the whole course 
of his religious life, and his conduct had borne the most 
unequivocal proofs of it. The apostle means, therefore, that 
there was no part of his life in which he acted as a 
dishonest or hypocritical man; and that he was now as fully 
determined to maintain his profession of Christianity as he 
ever was to maintain that of Judaism, previously to his 
acquaintance with the Christian religion.

Verse 2. The high priest, Ananias] There was a high priest of 
this name, who was sent a prisoner to Rome by Quadratus, 
governor of Syria, to give an account of the part he took in 
the quarrel between the Jews and the Samaritans; see Joseph. 
Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 6, s. 8; but whether he ever returned 
again to Jerusalem, says Dr. Lightfoot, is uncertain; still 
more uncertain whether he was ever restored to the office of 
high priest; and most uncertain of all whether he filled the 
chair when Paul pleaded his cause, which was some years after 
Felix was settled in the government.

But Krebs has proved that this very Ananias, on being 
examined at Rome, was found innocent, returned to Jerusalem, 
and was restored to the high priesthood; see Joseph. Antiq. 
lib. xx. cap. 9, s. 2; but of his death I find nothing 
certain. See Krebs on this place, (Observat. in Nov. 
Testament. e Flavio Josepho,) who successfully controverts 
the opinion of Dr. Lightfoot, mentioned at the beginning of 
this note. There was one Ananias, who is said to have 
perished in a tumult raised by his own son about five years 
after this time; see Jos. Antiq. lib. x. cap. 9. War, lib. 
ii. cap. 17.

To smite him on the mouth.] Because he professed to have a 
good conscience, while believing on Jesus Christ, and 
propagating his doctrine.

Verse 3. God shall smite thee, thou whited wall] Thou 
hypocrite! who sittest on the seat of judgment, pretending to 
hear and seriously weigh the defense of an accused person, 
who must in justice and equity be presumed to be innocent 
till he is proved to be guilty; and, instead of acting 
according to the law, commandest me to be smitten contrary to 
the law, which always has the person of the prisoner under 
its protection; nor ever suffers any penalty to be inflicted 
but what is prescribed as the just punishment for the 
offense. As if he had said: "Thinkest thou that God will 
suffer such an insult on his laws, on justice, and on 
humanity, to pass unpunished?"

Verse 5. I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest] 
After all the learned labour that has been spent on this 
subject, the simple meaning appears plainly to be this: - St. 
Paul did not know that Ananias was high priest; he had been 
long absent from Jerusalem; political changes were frequent; 
the high priesthood was no longer in succession, and was 
frequently bought and sold; the Romans put down one high 
priest, and raised up another, as political reasons dictated. 
As the person of Ananias might have been wholly unknown to 
him, as the hearing was very sudden, and there was scarcely 
any time to consult the formalities of justice, it seems very 
probable that St. Paul, if he ever had known the person of 
Ananias, had forgotten him; and as, in a council or meeting 
of this kind, the presence of the high priest was not 
indispensably necessary, he did not know that the person who 
presided was not the sagan, or high priest's deputy, or some 
other person put in the seat for the time being. I therefore 
understand the words above in their most obvious and literal 
sense. He knew not who the person was, and God's Spirit 
suddenly led him to denounce the Divine displeasure against 
him.

Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.] If I 
had known he was the high priest, I should not have publicly 
pronounced this execration; for respect is due to his person 
for the sake of his office. I do not see that Paul intimates 
that he had done any thing through inadvertence; nor does he 
here confess any fault; he states two facts:-1. That he did 
not know him to be the high priest. 2. That such a one, or 
any ruler of the people, should be reverenced. But he neither 
recalled or made an apology for his words: he had not 
committed a trespass, and he did not acknowledge one. We must 
beware how we attribute either to him in the case before us.

Verse 6. I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee] Instead of 
farisaiou, of a Pharisee, ABC, some others, with the Syriac 
and Vulgate, have farisaiwn, of the Pharisees; which, if 
acknowledged to be the genuine reading, would alter the sense 
thus, I am a Pharisee, and a disciple of the Pharisees, for 
so the word son is frequently understood.

Of the hope and resurrection] Concerning the hope of the 
resurrection, the kai, and, being here redundant; indeed, it 
is omitted by the Syriac, all the Arabic, and AEthiopic. St. 
Paul had preached the resurrection of the dead, on the 
foundation and evidence of the resurrection of Christ. For 
this, he and the apostles were, some time before, imprisoned 
by the high priest and elders, chap. iv. 1-3; v. 17, because 
they preached, THROUGH JESUS, the resurrection of the dead. 
This they could not bear; for, if Jesus Christ rose from the 
dead, their malice and wickedness, in putting him to death, 
were incontrovertibly established.

Verse 7. And the multitude was divided] St. Paul, perceiving 
the assembly to consist of Sadducees and Pharisees, and 
finding he was not to expect any justice, thought it best 
thus to divide the council, by introducing a question on 
which the Pharisees and Sadducees were at issue.

He did so; and the Pharisees immediately espoused his side of 
the question, because in opposition to the Sadducees, whom 
they abhorred, as irreligious men.

Verse 8. The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection] It 
is strange, since these denied a future state, that they 
observed the ordinances of the law; for they also believed 
the five books of Moses to be a revelation from God: yet they 
had nothing in view but temporal good; and they understood 
the promises in the law as referring to these things alone. 
In order, therefore, to procure them, they watched, fasted, 
prayed, &c., and all this they did that they might obtain 
happiness in the present life. See the account of the 
Pharisees and Sadducees, Matt. iii. 7; xvi. 1.

Verse 9. The scribes-arose, and strove] diemaconto, They 
contended forcibly-they came to an open rupture with the 
Sadducees; and, in order to support their own party against 
them, they even admitted as truth, St. Paul's account of his 
miraculous conversion, and therefore they said, if a spirit 
or an angel hath spoken to him, &c. He had previously 
mentioned that Jesus Christ had appeared to him, when on his 
way to Damascus; and, though they might not be ready to admit 
the doctrine of Christ's resurrection, yet they could, 
consistently with their own principles, allow that the soul 
of Christ might appear to him; and they immediately caught at 
this, as furnishing a strong proof against the doctrine of 
the Sadducees, who neither believed in angel nor spirit, 
while the Pharisees confessed both.

Let us not fight against God.] These words are wanting in 
ABCE, several others, with the Coptic, AEthiopic, Armenian, 
later Syriac, Vulgate, and some of the fathers.

Verse 10. The chief captain-commanded the soldiers to go 
down] It appears that the chief captain was present during 
these transactions, and that he had a body of soldiers in 
readiness in the castle of Antonia; and it was from this that 
he commanded them to come down; for the rescue and 
preservation of Paul.

Verse 11. Be of good cheer, Paul] It is no wonder if, with 
all these trials and difficulties, St. Paul was much dejected 
in mind; and especially as he had not any direct intimation 
from God what the end of the present trials would be: to 
comfort him and strengthen his faith, God gave him this 
vision.

So must thou bear witness also at Rome.] This was pleasing 
intelligence to Paul, who had long desired to see that city, 
and preach the Gospel of Christ there. He appears to have had 
an intimation that he should see it; but how, he could not 
tell; and this vision satisfied him that he should be sent 
thither by God himself. This would settle every fear and 
scruple concerning the issue of the present persecution.

Verse 12. That they would neither eat nor drink, &c.] These 
forty Jews were no doubt of the class of the sicarii 
mentioned before, (similar to those afterwards called 
assassins,) a class of fierce zealots, who took justice into 
their own hand; and who thought they had a right to despatch 
all those who, according to their views, were not orthodox in 
their religious principles. If these were, in their bad way, 
conscientious men, must they not all perish through hunger, 
as God put it out of their power to accomplish their vow? No: 
for the doctrine of sacerdotal absolution was held among the 
Jews as among the Papists: hence it is said, in Hieros.

Avodah Zarah, fol. 40: "He that hath made a vow not to eat 
any thing, wo to him, if he eat; and wo to him, if he do not 
eat. If he eat, he sinneth against his vow; and if he do not 
eat, he sinneth against his life." What must such a man do in 
this case? Let him go to the wise men, and they will loose 
him from his vow, as it is written, Prov. xii. 18: "The 
tongue of the wise is health." When vows were so easily 
dispensed with, they might be readily multiplied. See 
Lightfoot.

Verse 15. And we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill 
him.] We shall lie in wait, and despatch him before he can 
reach the chief captain. The plan was well and deeply laid; 
and nothing but an especial providence could have saved Paul.

Verse 16. Paul's sister's son] This is all we know of Paul's 
family. And we know not how this young man got to Jerusalem; 
the family, no doubt, still resided at Tarsus.

Verse 17. Bring this young man unto the chief captain] Though 
St. Paul had the most positive assurance from Divine 
authority that he should be preserved, yet he knew that the 
Divine providence acts by reasonable and prudent means; and 
that, if he neglected to use the means in his power, he could 
not expect God's providence to work in his behalf. He who 
will not help himself, according to the means and power he 
possesses, has neither reason nor revelation to assure him 
that he shall receive any assistance from God.

Verse 23. Two hundred soldiers] stratiwtav, Infantry or foot 
soldiers.

Horsemen threescore and ten] There was always a certain 
number of horse, or cavalry, attached to the foot.

Spearmen] dexiolabouv, Persons who held a spear or javelin in 
their hand; from en th dexia labein taking or holding a thing 
in the right hand.

But the Codex Alexandrinus reads dexiobolouv, from dexia, the 
right hand, and ballein, to cast or dart, persons who threw 
javelins. But both words seem to mean nearly the same thing.

The third hour of the night] About nine o'clock P.M., for the 
greater secrecy, and to elude the cunning, active malice of 
the Jews.

Verse 24. Provide them beasts] One for Paul, and some others 
for his immediate keepers.

Felix the governor.] This Felix was a freed man of the 
Emperor Claudius, and brother of Pallas, chief favourite of 
the emperor. Tacitus calls him Antonius Felix; and gives us 
to understand that he governed with all the authority of a 
king, and the baseness and insolence of a quondam slave. E 
libertis Antonius Felix per omnem saevitiam ac libidinem jus 
regium servili ingenio exercuit. Hist. v. 9. He had, 
according to Suetonius, in his life of Claudius, chap. 28, 
three queens to his wives; that is, he was married thrice, 
and each time to the daughter or niece of a king. Drusilla, 
the sister of Agrippa, was his wife at this time; see chap. 
xxiv. 24. He was an unrighteous governor; a base, mercenary, 
and bad man: see chap. xxiv. 2.

Verse 25. He wrote a letter after this manner] It appears 
that this was not only the substance of the letter, but the 
letter itself: the whole of it is so perfectly formal as to 
prove this; and in this simple manner are all the letters of 
the ancients formed. In this also we have an additional proof 
of St. Luke's accuracy.

Verse 30. I sent straightway to thee] As the proper person 
before whom this business should ultimately come, and by whom 
it should be decided.

Farewell.] eppwso, Be in good health.

Verse 31. Antipatris.] This place, according to Josephus, 
Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 23, was anciently called Capharsaba, 
and is supposed to be the same which, in 1 Macc. vii. 31, is 
called Capharsalama, or Carphasalama. It was rebuilt by Herod 
the Great, and denominated Antipatris, in honour of his 
father Antipater. It was situated between Joppa and Caesarea, 
on the road from Jerusalem to this latter city. Josephus says 
it was fifty stadia from Joppa. The distance between 
Jerusalem and Caesarea was about seventy miles.

Verse 32. On the morrow they left the horsemen] Being now so 
far from Jerusalem, they considered Paul in a state of safety 
from the Jews, and that the seventy horse would be a 
sufficient guard; the four hundred foot, therefore, returned 
to Jerusalem, and the horse went on to Caesarea with Paul. We 
need not suppose that all this troop did reach Antipatris on 
the same night in which they left Jerusalem; therefore, 
instead of, they brought him by night to Antipatris, we may 
understand the text thus-Then the soldiers took Paul by 
night, and brought him to Antipatris. And the thirty-second 
verse need not to be understood as if the foot reached the 
castle of Antonia the next day, (though all this was 
possible,) but that, having reached Antipatris, and refreshed 
themselves, they set out the same day, on their march to 
Jerusalem; on the morrow they returned, that is, they began 
their march back again to the castle. See on chap. xxiv. 1.

Verse 33. Who] That is, the seventy horsemen mentioned above.

Verse 35. I will hear thee] diakousomai sou; I will give thee 
a fair, full, and attentive hearing when thy accusers are 
come; in whose presence thou shalt be permitted to defend 
thyself.

In Herod's judgment-hall.] en tw praitwriw, In Herod's 
praetorium, so called because it was built by Herod the 
Great. The praetorium was the place where the Roman praetor 
had his residence; and it is probable that, in or near this 
place, there was a sort of guard room, where state prisoners 
were kept. Paul was lodged here till his accusers should 
arrive.

ON the preceeding chapter many useful observations may be 
made.

1. Paul, while acting contrary to the Gospel of Christ, 
pleaded conscience as his guide. Conscience is generally 
allowed to be the rule of human actions; but it cannot be a 
right rule, unless it be well informed. While it is 
unenlightened it may be a guide to the perdition of its 
professor, and the cause of the ruin of others. That 
conscience can alone be trusted in which the light of God's 
Spirit and God's truth dwells. An ill-informed conscience may 
burn even the saints for God's sake! 2. No circumstance in 
which a man can be placed can excuse him from showing respect 
and reverence to the authorities which God, in the course of 
his providence, has instituted for the benefit of civil or 
religious society.

All such authorities come originally from God, and can never 
lose any of their rights on account of the persons who are 
invested with them. An evil can never be of use, and a good 
may be abused; but it loses not its character, essential 
qualities, or usefulness, because of this abuse.

3. Paul availed himself of the discordant sentiments of his 
judges, who had agreed to show him no justice, that he might 
rid himself out of their hands.

To take advantage of the sentiments and dispositions of an 
audience, without deceiving it, and to raise dissension 
between the enemies of the truth, is an impotent artifice, 
when truth itself is not violated and when error is exposed 
thereby to public view.

4. The Pharisees and Sadducees strove together. God 
frequently raises up defenders of the principles of truth, 
even among those who, in practice, are its decided enemies. 
"Though," says one, "I do not like the truth, yet will I 
defend it." A man clothed with sovereign authority, vicious 
in his heart, and immoral in his life, fostered those 
principles of truth and righteousness by which error was 
banished from these lands, and pure and undefiled religion 
established among us for many generations.

5. The providence of God, and his management of the world, 
are in many respects great mysteries; but, as far as we are 
individually concerned, all is plain. Paul had the fullest 
assurance, from the mouth of Christ himself, that he should 
see Rome; and, consequently, that he should be extricated 
from all his present difficulties. Why then did he not 
quietly sit still, when his nephew informed him that forty 
men had conspired to murder him? Because he knew that God 
made use of the prudence with which he has endowed man as an 
agent in that very providence by which he is supported; and 
that to neglect the natural means of safety with which God 
provides us is to tempt and dishonour him, and induce him in 
judgment to use those means against us, which, in his mercy, 
he had designed for our comfort and salvation. Prudence is 
well associated even with an apostolical spirit. Every being 
that God has formed, he designs should accomplish those 
functions for which he has endowed it with the requisite 
powers.

6. Claudius Lysias sent Paul to Felix. "In the generality of 
human events," says one, "we do not often distinguish the 
designs of God from those of men. The design of Lysias, in 
preserving Paul from the rage of the Jews, was to render his 
own conduct free from exception: the design of God was, that 
he might bring Paul safely to Rome, that he might attack 
idolatry in its strongest fort, and there establish the 
Christian faith." God governs the world, and works by proper 
means; and counterworks evil or sinister devices, so as 
ultimately to accomplish the purposes of his will, and cause 
all things to work together for good to them that love Him.

7. Felix acted prudently when he would not even hear St. Paul 
till he had his accusers face to face. How many false 
judgments, evil surmises, and uncharitable censures would be 
avoided, did men always adopt this reasonable plan! Hear 
either side of a complaint separately, and the evil seems 
very great: hear both together, and the evil is generally 
lessened by one half. Audi et alteram partem-hear the other 
side, says a heathen: remember, if you have an ear for the 
first complainant, you have one also for the second.

CHAPTER xxiv.

After five days, Ananias the high priest, the elders, and one 
Tertullus, an orator, come to Caesarea to accuse Paul, 1. The 
oration of Tertullus, 2-9. Paul's defense, 10-21. Felix, 
having heard his defense, proposes to leave the final 
determination of it till Claudius Lysias should come down; 
and, in the mean time, orders Paul to be treated with 
humanity and respect, 22, 23. Felix, and Drusilla his wife, 
hear Paul concerning the faith of Christ; and Felix it 
greatly affected, 24, 25. On the expectation of obtaining 
money for his liberation, Felix keeps Paul in prison, 26, and 
being superseded in the government of Judea by Porcius 
Festus, in order to please the Jews, he leaves Paul bound, 
27.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxiv.

Verse 1. After five days] These days are to be reckoned from 
the time in which Paul was apprehended at Jerusalem, and 
twelve days after he had arrived in that city; see ver. 11. 
Calmet reckons the days thus:-St. Luke says that Paul was 
apprehended at Jerusalem when the seven days of his vow were 
nearly ended, chap. xxi. 27; that is, at the end of the fifth 
day after his arrival. The next day, which was the sixth, he 
was presented before the Sanhedrin. The night following, he 
was taken to Antipatris. The next day, the seventh, he 
arrived at Caesarea. Five days afterwards, that is, the 
twelfth day after his arrival at Jerusalem, the high priest 
and the elders, with Tertullus, came down to accuse him 
before Felix.-But see the note on chap. xxiii. 32.

A certain orator named Tertullus] This was probably a Roman 
proselyte to Judaism; yet he speaks every where as a Jew. 
Roman orators, advocates; &c., were found in different 
provinces of the Roman empire; and they, in general, spoke 
both the Greek and Latin languages; and, being well 
acquainted with the Roman laws and customs, were no doubt 
very useful. Luitprandus supposed that this Tertullus was the 
same with him who was colleague with Pliny the younger, in 
the consulate, in the year of Rome, 852; who is mentioned by 
Pliny, Epist. v. 15. Of this there is no satisfactory proof.

Verse 2. Tertullus began to accuse him] There are three parts 
in this oration of Tertullus:-1. The exordium. 2. The 
proposition. 3. The conclusion. The exordium contains the 
praise of Felix and his administration, merely for the 
purpose of conciliating his esteem, ver. 2-4; The proposition 
is contained in ver. 5. The narration and conclusion, in ver. 
6-8.

By thee we enjoy great quietness] As bad a governor as Felix 
most certainly was, he rendered some services to Judea. The 
country had long been infested with robbers; and a very 
formidable banditti of this kind, under one Eliezar, he 
entirely suppressed. Joseph. Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 6; Bell. 
lib. ii, cap. 22. He also suppressed the sedition raised by 
an Egyptian impostor, who had seduced 30,000 men; see on 
chap. xxi. 38. He had also quelled a very afflictive 
disturbance which took place between the Syrians and the Jews 
of Caesarea. On this ground Tertullus said, By thee we enjoy 
great quietness; and illustrious deeds are done to this 
nation by thy prudent administration. This was all true; but, 
notwithstanding this, he is well known from his own 
historians, and from Josephus, to have been not only a very 
bad man, but also a very bad governor. He was mercenary, 
oppressive, and cruel; and of all these the Jews brought 
proofs to Nero, before whom they accused him; and, had it not 
been for the interest and influence of his brother Pallas; he 
had been certainly ruined.

Verse 3. We accept it always, and in all places] We have at 
all times a grateful sense of thy beneficent administration, 
and we talk of it in all places, not only before thy face, 
but behind thy back.

Verse 4. That I be not farther tedious unto thee] That I may 
neither trespass on thy time, by dwelling longer on this 
subject, nor on thy modesty, by thus enumerating thy 
beneficent deeds.

Hear us of thy clemency] Give us this farther proof of thy 
kindness, by hearkening to our present complaint. The whole 
of this exordium was artful enough, though it was lame. The 
orator had certainly a very bad cause, of which he 
endeavoured to make the best. Felix was a bad man and bad 
governor; and yet he must praise him, to conciliate his 
esteem. Paul was a very good man, and nothing amiss could be 
proved against him; and yet he must endeavour to blacken him 
as much as possible, in order to please his unprincipled and 
wicked employers. His oration has been blamed as weak, lame, 
and imperfect; and yet, perhaps, few, with so bad a cause, 
could have made better of it.

Verse 5. For we have found this man, &c.] Here the 
proposition of the orator commences. He accuses Paul, ant his 
accusation includes four particulars:- 1. He is a pest, 
loimov; an exceedingly bad and wicked man.

2. He excites disturbances and seditions against the Jews. 3. 
He is the chief of the sect of the Nazarenes, who are a very 
bad people, and should not be tolerated. He has endeavoured 
to pollute and profane the temple, and we took him in the 
fact.

A pestilent fellow] The word loimov, pestis-the plague or 
pestilence, is used by both Greek and Roman authors to 
signify a very bad and profligate man; we have weakened the 
force of the word by translating the substantive adjectively. 
Tertullus did not say that Paul was a pestilent fellow, but 
he said that he was the very pestilence itself. As in that of 
Martial, xi. xc2: - Non vitiosus homo es, Zoile, sed vitium.

"Thou art not a vicious man, O Zoilus, but thou art vice 
itself." The words loimov, and pestis, are thus frequently 
used.-See Wetstein, Bp. Pearce, and Kypke.

A mover of sedition] Instead of stasin, sedition, ABE, 
several others, with the Coptic, Vulgate, Chrysostom, 
Theophylact, and OEcumenius, read staseiv, commotions, which 
is probably the true reading.

Among all the Jews] Bp. Pearce contends that the words should 
be understood thus-one that stirreth up tumults AGAINST all 
the Jews; for, if they be understood otherwise, Tertullus may 
be considered as accusing his countrymen, as if they, at 
Paul's instigation, were forward to make insurrections every 
where. On the contrary, he wishes to represent them as a 
persecuted and distressed people, by means of Paul and his 
Nazarenes.

A ringleader] prwtostathn. This is a military phrase, and 
signifies the officer who stands on the right of the first 
rank; the captain of the front rank of the sect of the 
Nazarenes; thv twn nazwraiwn airesewv, of the heresy of the 
Nazarenes. This word is used six times by St. Luke; viz. in 
this verse, and in ver. 14, and in chap. v. 17; xv. 5; xxvi. 
5; xxviii. 22; but in none of them does it appear necessarily 
to include that bad sense which we generally assign to the 
word heresy.-See the note on chap. v. 17, where the subject 
is largely considered; and see farther on ver. 14.

Verse 6. Hath gone about to profane the temple] This was a 
heavy charge, if it could have been substantiated, because 
the Jews were permitted by the Romans to put any person to 
death who profaned their temple. This charge was founded on 
the gross calumny mentioned, chap. xxi. 28, 29; for, as they 
had seen Trophimus, an Ephesian, with Paul in the city, they 
pretended that he had brought him into the temple.

Would have judged according to our law] He pretended that 
they would have tried the case fairly, had not the chief 
captain taken him violently out of their hands; whereas, had 
not Lysias interfered, they would have murdered him on the 
spot.

Verse 7. With great violence] meta pollhv biav, I rather 
think, means with an armed force. Tertullus intimates that 
Lysias interfered contrary to law, and brought soldiers to 
support him in his infringement on their constitution. This 
is what he seems to say and complain of; for the Jews were 
vexed with Lysias for rescuing the apostle from their hands.

Verse 8. Commanding his accusers to come, &c.] Here Tertullus 
closes his opening and statement of the case; and now he 
proceeds to call and examine his witnesses; and they were no 
doubt examined one by one, though St. Luke sums the whole up 
in one word-The Jews also assented, saying, that these things 
were so. Whoever considers the plan of Tertullus's speech, 
will perceive that it was both judicious and artful. Let us 
take a view of the whole:-1. He praises Felix to conciliate 
his favour. 2.

He generally states the great blessings of his 
administration. 3. He states that the Jews, throughout the 
whole land, felt themselves under the greatest obligations to 
him, and extolled his prudent and beneficent management of 
the public affairs every where. 4. That the prisoner before 
him was a very bad man; a disturber of the public peace; a 
demagogue of a dangerous party; and so lost to all sense of 
religion as to attempt to profane the temple! 5. That, though 
he should have been punished on the spot, yet, as they were 
ordered by the chief captain to appear before him, and show 
the reason why they had seized on Paul at Jerusalem, they 
were accordingly come; and, having now exhibited their 
charges, he would, 6.

proceed to examine witnesses, who would prove all these 
things to the satisfaction of the governor. 7. He then called 
his witnesses, and their testimony confirmed and 
substantiated the charges. No bad cause was ever more 
judiciously and cunningly managed.

Verse 10. Then Paul-answered] The apostle's defense consists 
of two parts:-1. The exordium, which has for its object the 
praise of his judge, whose qualifications to discern and 
decide on a question of this nature he fully allows; and 
expects, from this circumstance, to have a favourable 
hearing. 2. The tractation, which consists of two parts: I. 
REFUTATION: 1.

of the charge of polluting the temple; 2. of stirring up 
sedition; 3. of being a leader of any sect who had a 
different worship from the God of their fathers. II. 
AFFIRMATION: 1. that he had lived so as to preserve a good 
conscience towards God, and towards men; 2. that so far from 
polluting the temple, he had been purified in it, and was 
found thus worshipping according to the law of God; 3. that 
what Tertullus and his companions had witnessed was perfectly 
false; and he defied them to produce a single proof, and 
appeals to those who had been witnesses of his conduct in 
Jerusalem, who should have been there could they have proved 
any thing against him.

Thou hast been of many years a judge] Cumanus and Felix were, 
for a time, joint governors of Judea; but, after the 
condemnation of Cumanus, the government fell entirely into 
the hands of Felix; and from Josephus we learn that this was 
now the sixth or seventh year of his administration, which 
might be called many years, when the very frequent removals 
of the governors of the provinces are considered. See Jos. 
Antiq. lib. xx. 7, and see the margin.

A judge-krithn, the same here in signification as the Hebrew 
fp shophet, which means a ruler or governor. This was the 
title of the ancient governors of Israel.

The more cheerfully] euqumoteron, With a better heart or 
courage, because, as thy long residence among us has brought 
thee to a thorough acquaintance with our customs, I may 
expect a proper decision in my favour, my cause being 
perfectly sound.

Verse 11. There are yet but twelve days] This is his reply to 
their charge of sedition; the improbability of which is shown 
from the short time he had spent in Jerusalem, quite 
insufficient to organize a sedition of any kind; nor could a 
single proof be furnished that he had attempted to seduce any 
man, or unhinge any person from his allegiance by subtle 
disputations, either in the temple, the synagogues, or the 
city. So that this charge necessarily fell to the ground, 
self-confuted, unless they could bring substantial proof 
against him, which he challenges them to do.

Verse 14. That after the way which they call heresy] See the 
explanation of this word in the note on chap. v. 17, and see 
before, ver. 5, where what is here translated heresy, is 
there rendered sect. At this time the word had no bad 
acceptation, in reference to religious opinions. The 
Pharisees themselves, the most respectable body among the 
Jews, are called a sect; for Paul, defending himself before 
Agrippa, says that he lived a Pharisee according to the 
strictest airesin, sect, or heresy of their religion. And 
Josephus, who was a Pharisee, speaks, thv twn farisaiwn 
airesewv, of the heresy or sect of the Pharisees. LIFE, chap. 
xxxviii. Therefore it is evident that the word heresy had no 
bad meaning among the Jews; it meant simply a religious sect. 
Why then did they use it by way of degradation to St. Paul? 
This seems to have been the cause. They had already two 
accredited sects in the land, the Pharisees and Sadducees: 
the interests of each of these were pretty well balanced, and 
each had a part in the government, for the council, or 
Sanhedrin, was composed both of Sadducees and Pharisees: see 
chap. xxiii. 6. They were afraid that the Christians, whom 
they called Nazarenes, should form a new sect, and divide the 
interests of both the preceding; and what they feared, that 
they charged them with; and, on this account, the Christians 
had both the Pharisees and the Sadducees for their enemies. 
They had charged Jesus Christ with plotting against the 
state, and endeavouring to raise seditions; and they charged 
his followers with the same. This they deemed a proper engine 
to bring a jealous government into action.

So worship I the God of my fathers] I bring in no new object 
of worship; no new religious creed. I believe all things as 
they profess to believe; and acknowledge the Law and the 
Prophets as divinely inspired books; and have never, in the 
smallest measure, detracted from the authority or 
authenticity of either.

Verse 15. And have hope toward God, &c.] I not only do not 
hold any thing by which the general creed of this people 
might be altered, in reference to the present state; but, 
also, I hold nothing different from their belief in reference 
to a future state; for, if I maintain the doctrine of the 
resurrection of the dead, it is what themselves allow.

Verse 16. And herein do I exercise myself] And this very 
tenet is a pledge for my good behaviour; for as I believe 
there will be a resurrection, both of the just and unjust, 
and that every man shall be judged for the deeds done in the 
body, so I exercise myself day and night, that I may have a 
conscience void of offense toward God and toward men.

Toward God] In entertaining no opinion contrary to his truth; 
and in offering no worship contrary to his dignity, purity, 
and excellence.

Toward men.] In doing nothing to them that I would not, on a 
change of circumstances, they should do to me; and in 
withholding nothing by which I might comfort and serve them.

Verse 17. Now, after many years, &c.] And as a full proof 
that I act according to the dictates of this Divine and 
beneficent creed, though I have been many years absent from 
my own country, and my political relation to it is almost 
necessarily dissolved, yet, far from coming to disturb the 
peace of society, or to injure any person, I have brought 
ALMS to my nation, the fruits of my own earning and influence 
among a foreign people, and OFFERINGS to my God and his 
temple, proving hereby my attachment to my country, and my 
reverence for the worship of my country's God.

Verse 18. Found me purified in the temple] And the Jews of 
Asia, who stirred up the persecution against me in Jerusalem, 
found me purified in the temple, regularly performing the 
religious vow into which I had entered; giving no cause for 
suspicion; for I made no tumult, nor had I any number of 
people with me, by whom I could have accomplished any 
seditious purpose.

Verse 20. Any evil doing in me while I stood before the 
council] The Jews of Asia, the most competent witnesses, 
though my declared enemies, and they who stirred up the 
persecution against me, should have been here: why are they 
kept back? Because they could prove nothing against me. Let 
these, therefore, who are here, depose, if they have found 
any evil in me, or proved against me, by my most virulent 
adversaries, when examined before them in their council at 
Jerusalem.

Verse 21. Except it be for this one voice] The Sadducees who 
belong to that council, and who deny the resurrection of the 
dead, may indeed blame me for professing my faith in this 
doctrine; but as this is a doctrine credited by the nation in 
general, and as there can be nothing criminal in such a 
belief, and there can bring no accusation against me relative 
to any thing else, this, of course, is the sum of all the 
charges to which I am called to answer before you this day.

Verse 22. And when Felix heard these things] There is 
considerable difficulty in this verse. Translators greatly 
vary concerning the sense; and the MSS. themselves read 
variously. Mr. Wakefield's translation appears to be as 
proper as most: Now Felix, upon hearing these things, put 
them off by saying, When Lysias the captain is come down, 
after I have gained a more exact knowledge of this doctrine, 
I will inquire fully into your business.

Calmet's translation is nearly to the same sense: - Felix, 
having heard these things, put them off to another time, 
saying, When I shall have acquired a more accurate knowledge 
of this sect, and when the tribune Lysias shall have come 
from Jerusalem, I will judge of your business.

And this mode of interpretation is rendered the more likely 
from the circumstance, that, previously to the coming down of 
Lysias, Felix had sent for Paul, concerning the faith of 
Christ; and this he appears to have done, that he might be 
the better qualified to judge of the business, when it should 
come again before him. See on ver. 20.

Verse 23. He commanded a centurion to keep Paul] He gave him 
into the custody of a captain, by whom he was most likely to 
be well used: and to let him have liberty; he freed him from 
the chains with which he was bound to the soldiers, his 
keepers. See on chap. xxi. 33. And that he should forbid none 
of his acquaintance, twn idiwn, of his own people, his fellow 
apostles, and the Christians in general, to minister or come 
unto him; to furnish him with any of the conveniences and 
comforts of life, and visit him as often as they pleased. 
This was an ample proof that Felix found no evil in him; and 
he would certainly have dismissed him but for two reasons: 1. 
He wanted to please the Jews, who, he knew, could depose 
grievous things against his administration. 2. He hoped to 
get money from the apostle, or his friends, as the purchase 
of his liberty.

Verse 24. His wife Drusilla] We have already seen that Felix 
was thrice married: two of his wives were named Drusilla; one 
was a Roman, the niece or grand-daughter of Antony and 
Cleopatra, mentioned by Tacitus, lib. v. cap. 9. The other, 
the person in the text, was a Jewess, daughter to Herod 
Agrippa the Great. See chap. xii. 1, &c. When she was but six 
years of age, she was affianced to Epiphanes, son of 
Antiochus, king of Comagene, who had promised to embrace 
Judaism on her account; but, as he did not keep his word, her 
brother Agrippa (mentioned chap. xxv. 13) refused to ratify 
the marriage. About the year of our Lord 53, he married her 
to Azizus, king of the Emesenes, who received her on 
condition of being circumcised. Felix having seen her, fell 
desperately in love with her, and by means of a pretended 
Jewish magician, a native of Cyprus, persuaded her to leave 
her husband; on which Felix took her to wife. She appears, on 
the whole, to have been a person of indifferent character; 
though one of the finest women of that age. It is said that 
she, and a son she had by Felix, were consumed in an eruption 
of Mount Vesuvius. See Josephus, Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 7, and 
see Calmet and Rosenmuller.

Heard him concerning the faith in Christ.] For the purpose 
mentioned in the note on ver. 21, that he might be the more 
accurately instructed in the doctrines, views, &c., of the 
Christians.

Verse 25. As he reasoned of righteousness] dikaiosunhv; The 
principles and requisitions of justice and right, between God 
and man; and between man and his fellows, in all relations 
and connections of life.

Temperance] egkrateiav, Chastity; self-government or 
moderation with regard to a man's appetites, passions, and 
propensities of all kinds.

And judgment to come] krimatov tou mellontov; The day of 
retribution, in which the unjust, intemperate, and 
incontinent, must give account of all the deeds done in the 
body. This discourse of St. Paul was most solemnly and 
pointedly adapted to the state of the person to whom it was 
addressed. Felix was tyrannous and oppressive in his 
government; lived under the power of avarice and unbridled 
appetites; and his incontinence, intemperance, and injustice, 
appear fully in depriving the king of Emesa of his wife, and 
in his conduct towards St. Paul, and the motives by which 
that conduct was regulated. And as to Drusilla, who had 
forsaken the husband of her youth, and forgotten the covenant 
of her God, and become the willing companion of this bad man, 
she was worthy of the strongest reprehension; and Paul's 
reasoning on righteousness, temperance, and judgment, was not 
less applicable to her than to her unprincipled paramour.

Felix trembled] "The reason of Felix's fear," says Bp. 
Pearce, "seems to have been, lest Drusilla, who was a Jewess, 
and knew that what she had done was against the law of Moses, 
might be influenced by Paul's discourse, and Felix's 
happiness with her disturbed. What is said of Felix, ver. 26, 
seems to show that he had no remorse of conscience for what 
he had done." On the head of Drusilla's scruples, he had 
little to fear; the king of Emesa, her husband, had been dead 
about three years before this; and as to Jewish scruples, she 
could be little affected by them: she had already acted in 
opposition to the Jewish law, and she is said to have turned 
heathen for the sake of Felix. We may therefore hope that 
Felix felt regret for the iniquities of his life; and that 
his conscience was neither so scared nor so hardened, as not 
to receive and retain some gracious impressions from such a 
discourse, delivered by the authority, and accompanied with 
the influence, of the Spirit of God. His frequently sending 
for the apostle, to speak with him in private, is a proof 
that he wished to receive farther instructions in a matter in 
which he was so deeply interested; though he certainly was 
not without motives of a baser kind; for he hoped to get 
money for the liberation of the apostle.

Go thy way for this time] His conscience had received as much 
terror and alarm as it was capable of bearing; and probably 
he wished to hide, by privacy, the confusion and dismay 
which, by this time, were fully evident in his countenance.

Verse 26. He hoped also that money should have been given 
him] Bp.

Pearce asks, "How could St. Luke know this?" To which I 
answer: From the report of St. Paul, with whom Felix had 
frequent conferences, and to whom he undoubtedly expressed 
this wish. We may see, here, the most unprincipled avarice, 
in Felix, united to injustice. Paul had proved before him his 
innocence of the charges brought against him by the Jews. 
They had retired in confusion when he had finished his 
defense. Had Felix been influenced by the common principles 
of justice, Paul had been immediately discharged; but he 
detained him on the hope of a ransom. He saw that Paul was a 
respectable character; that he had opulent friends; that he 
was at the head of a very numerous sect, to whom he was 
deservedly dear; and he took it, therefore, for granted that 
a considerable sum of money would be given for his 
enlargement. Felix was a freed man of the Emperor Claudius; 
consequently, had once been a slave. The stream rises not 
above its source: the meanness of the slave is still 
apparent, and it is now insufferable, being added to the 
authority and influence of the governor. Low-bred men should 
never be intrusted with the administration of public affairs.

Verse 27. After two years] That is, from the time that Paul 
came prisoner to Caesarea.

Porcius Festus] This man was put into the government of Judea 
about A.D. 60, the sixth or seventh year of Nero. In the 
succeeding chapter we shall see the part that he took in the 
affairs of St. Paul.

Willing to show the Jews a pleasure] As he had not got the 
money which he expected, he hoped to be able to prevent the 
complaints of the Jews against his government, by leaving 
Paul, in some measure, in their hands. For it was customary 
for governors, &c., when they left, or were removed from a 
particular district or province, to do some public, 
beneficent act, in order to make themselves popular. But 
Felix gained nothing by this: the Jews pursued him with their 
complaints against his administration, even to the throne of 
the emperor. Josephus states the matter thus: "Now when 
Porcius Festus was sent as successor to Felix, by Nero, the 
principal of the Jewish inhabitants of Caesarea went up to 
Rome, to accuse Felix. And he certainly would have been 
brought to punishment, had not Nero yielded to the 
importunate solicitations of his brother Pallas, who was at 
that time in the highest reputation with the emperor."-Antiq. 
lib. xx. cap. 9. Thus, like the dog in the fable, by 
snatching at the shadow, he lost the substance. He hoped for 
money from the apostle, and got none; he sought to conciliate 
the friendship of the Jews, and miscarried. Honesty is the 
best policy: he that fears God need fear nothing else. 
Justice and truth never deceive their possessor.

1. Envy and malice are indefatigable, and torment themselves 
in order to torment and ruin others. That a high priest, says 
pious Quesnel, should ever be induced to leave the holy city, 
and the functions of religion, to become the accuser of an 
innocent person; this could be no other than the effect of a 
terrible dereliction, and the punishment of the abuse of 
sacred things.

2. Tertullus begins his speech with flattery, against which 
every judge should have a shut ear; and then he proceeds to 
calumny and detraction.

These generally succeed each other. He who flatters you, will 
in course calumniate you for receiving his flattery. When a 
man is conscious of the uprightness of his cause, he must 
know that to attempt to support it by any thing but truth 
tends directly to debase it.

3. The resurrection of the body was the grand object of the 
genuine Christian's hope; but the ancient Christians only 
hoped for a blessed resurrection on the ground of 
reconciliation to God through the death of his Son. In vain 
is our hope of glory, if we have not got a meetness for it. 
And who is fit for this state of blessedness, but he whose 
iniquity is forgiven, whose sin is covered, and whose heart 
is purified from deceit and guile! 4. We could applaud the 
lenity shown to St. Paul by Felix, did not his own conduct 
render his motives for this lenity very suspicious. "To think 
no evil, where no evil seems," is the duty of a Christian; 
but to refuse to see it, where it most evidently appears, is 
an imposition on the understanding itself.

5. Justice, temperance, and a future judgment, the subjects 
of St. Paul's discourse to Felix and Drusilla, do not concern 
an iniquitous judge alone; they are subjects which should 
affect and interest every Christian; subjects which the eye 
should carefully examine, and which the heart should ever 
feel. Justice respects our conduct in life, particularly in 
reference to others: temperance, the state and government of 
our souls, in reference to God. He who does not exercise 
himself in these has neither the form nor the power of 
godliness; and consequently must be overwhelmed with the 
shower of Divine wrath in the day of God's appearing, Many of 
those called Christians, have not less reason to tremble at a 
display of these truths than this heathen.

CHAPTER xxv.

Porcius Festus being appointed governor of Judea, instead of 
Felix, the Jews beseech him to have Paul brought up to 
Jerusalem, that he might be tried there; they lying in wait 
to kill him on the way, 1-3. Festus refuses, and desires 
those who could prove any thing against him, to go with him 
to Caesarea, 4, 5. Festus, having tarried at Jerusalem about 
ten days, returns to Caesarea, and the next day Paul is 
brought to his trial, and the Jews of Jerusalem bring many 
groundless charges against him, against which he defends 
himself, 6-8. In order to please the Jews, Festus asks Paul 
if he be willing to go up to Jerusalem, and be tried there, 
9. Paul refuses, and appeals to Caesar, and Festus admits the 
appeal, 10-13. King Agrippa, and Bernice his wife, come to 
Cesarea to visit Festus, and are informed by him of the 
accusations against Paul, his late trial, and his appeal from 
them to Caesar, 14-21. Agrippa desires to hear Paul; and a 
hearing is appointed for the following day, 22. Agrippa, 
Bernice, the principal officers and chief men of the city 
being assembled, Paul is brought forth, 23. Festus opens the 
business with generally stating the accusations against Paul, 
his trial on these accusations, the groundless and frivolous 
nature of the charges, his own conviction of his innocence, 
and his desire that the matter might be heard by the king 
himself, that he might have something specifically to write 
to the emperor, to whom he was about to send Paul, agreeably 
to his appeal, 24-27.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxv.

Verse 1. Now when Festus was come into the province] By the 
province is meant Judea; for, after the death of Herod 
Agrippa, Claudius thought it imprudent to trust the 
government in the hands of his son Agrippa, who was then but 
seventeen years of age; therefore Cuspius Fadus was sent to 
be procurator. And when afterwards Claudius had given to 
Agrippa the tetrarchate of Philip, that of Batanea and Abila, 
he nevertheless kept the province of Judea more immediately 
in his own hands, and governed it by procurators sent from 
Rome. Joseph. Ant. lib. xx. cap. 7, sec. 1. Felix being 
removed, Porcius Festus is sent in his place; and having come 
to Caesarea, where the Roman governor generally had his 
residence, after he had tarried three days, he went up to 
Jerusalem, to acquaint himself with the nature and complexion 
of the ecclesiastical government of the Jews; no doubt, for 
the purpose of the better administration of justice among 
them.

Verse 2. The high priest-informed him against Paul] They 
supposed that as Felix, to please them, on the resignation of 
his government, had left Paul bound, so Festus, on the 
assumption of it, would, to please them, deliver him into 
their hand; but, as they wished this to be done under the 
colour of justice, they exhibited a number of charges against 
Paul, which they hoped would appear to Festus a sufficient 
reason why a new trial should be granted; and he be sent to 
Jerusalem to take this trial. Their motive is mentioned in 
the succeeding verse.

Verse 4. Festus answered, that Paul should be kept at 
Caesarea] It is truly astonishing that Festus should refuse 
this favour to the heads of the Jewish nation, which, to 
those who were not in the secret, must appear so very 
reasonable; and especially as, on his coming to the 
government, it might be considered an act that was likely to 
make him popular; and he could have no interest in denying 
their request. But God had told Paul that he should testify 
of him at Rome; and he disposed the heart of Festus to act as 
he did; and thus disappointed the malice of the Jews, and 
fulfilled his own gracious design.

He-would depart shortly] So had the providence of God 
disposed matters that Festus was obliged to return speedily 
to Caesarea; and thus had not time to preside in such a trial 
at Jerusalem. And this reason must appear sufficient to the 
Jews; and especially as he gave them all liberty to come and 
appear against him, who were able to prove the alleged 
charges.

Verse 5. Let them-which among you are able] oi dunatoi, Those 
who have authority; for so is this word often used by good 
Greek authors, and by Josephus. Festus seems to have said: "I 
have heard clamours from the multitude relative to this man; 
but on such clamours no accusation should be founded: 
yourselves have only the voice of the multitude as the 
foundation of the request which you now make. I cannot take 
up accusations which may affect the life of a Roman citizen 
on such pretenses. Are there any respectable men among you; 
men in office and authority, whose character is a pledge for 
the truth of their depositions, who can prove any thing 
against him? If so, let these come down to Caesarea, and the 
cause shall be tried before me; and thus we shall know 
whether he be a malefactor or not."

Verse 6. When he had tarried-more than ten days] The 
strangeness of this mode of expression suggests the thought 
that our printed text is not quite correct in this place; and 
this suspicion is confirmed by an examination of MSS. and 
versions: hmerav ou pleiouv oktw h deka, NOT more than EIGHT 
OR ten days, is the reading of ABC, several others of great 
respectability, with the Coptic, Armenian, and Vulgate. 
Griesbach admits this reading into the text: and of it 
Professor White says, Lectio indubie genuina: "This is 
doubtless the genuine reading."

Verse 7. The Jews-laid many and grievous complaints against 
Paul] As they must have perceived that the Roman governors 
would not intermeddle with questions of their law, &c., they 
no doubt invented some new charges, such as sedition, 
treason, &c., in order to render the mind of the governor 
evil affected towards Paul; but their malicious designs were 
defeated, for assertion would not go for proof before a Roman 
tribunal: this court required proof, and the blood-thirsty 
persecutors of the apostle could produce none.

Verse 8. While he answered for himself] In this instance St. 
Luke gives only a general account, both of the accusations 
and of St. Paul's defense.

But, from the words in this verse, the charges appear to have 
been threefold: 1. That he had broken the law. 2. That he had 
defiled the temple.

3. That he dealt in treasonable practices: to all of which he 
no doubt answered particularly; though we have nothing 
farther here than this, Neither against the law of the Jews, 
neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I 
offended any thing at all.

Verse 9. Willing to do the Jews a pleasure] This was merely 
to please them, and conciliate their esteem; for he knew 
that, as Paul was a Roman citizen, he could not oblige him to 
take a new trial at Jerusalem.

Verse 10. I stand at Caesar's judgment seat] Every procurator 
represented the person of the emperor in the province over 
which he presided; and, as the seat of government was at 
Caesarea, and Paul was now before the tribunal on which the 
emperor's representative sat, he could say, with the 
strictest propriety, that he stood before Caesar's judgment 
seat, where, as a freeman of Rome, he should be tried.

As thou very well knowest.] The record of this trial before 
Felix was undoubtedly left for the inspection of Festus; for, 
as he left the prisoner to his successor, he must also leave 
the charges against him, and the trial which he had 
undergone. Besides, Festus must be assured of his innocence, 
from the trial through which he had just now passed.

Verse 11. For if I be an offender] If it can be proved that I 
have broken the laws, so as to expose me to capital 
punishment, I do not wish to save my life by subterfuges; I 
am before the only competent tribunal; here my business 
should be ultimately decided.

No man may deliver me unto them] The words of the apostle are 
very strong and appropriate. The Jews asked as a favour, 
carin, from Festus, that he would send Paul to Jerusalem, 
ver. 3. Festus, willing to do the Jews carin, this favour, 
asked Paul if he would go to Jerusalem, and there be judged, 
ver. 9. Paul says, I have done nothing amiss, either against 
the Jews or against Caesar; therefore no man me dunatai 
autoiv carisasqai, can make a PRESENT of me to them; that is, 
favour them so far as to put my life into their hands, and 
thus gratify them by my death.

Festus, in his address to Agrippa, ver. 16, admits this, and 
uses the same form of speech: It is not the custom of the 
Romans, carizesqai, gratuitously to give up any one, &c. Much 
of the beauty of this passage is lost by not attending to the 
original words. See on ver. 16.

I appeal unto Caesar.] A freeman of Rome, who had been tried 
for a crime, and sentence passed on him, had a right to 
appeal to the emperor, if he conceived the sentence to be 
unjust; but, even before the sentence was pronounced, he had 
the privilege of an appeal, in criminal cases, if he 
conceived that the judge was doing any thing contrary to the 
laws. ANTE sententiam appellari potest in criminali negotio, 
si judex contra leges hoc faciat.-GROTIUS.

An appeal to the emperor was highly respected. The Julian law 
condemned those magistrates, and others having authority, as 
violaters of the public peace, who had put to death, 
tortured, scourged, imprisoned, or condemned any Roman 
citizen who had appealed to Caesar. Lege Julia de vi publica 
damnatur, qui aliqua potestate praeditus, Civem Romanum ad 
Imperatorem appellantem necarit, necarive jusserit, torserit, 
verberauerit, condemnaverit, in publica vincula duci 
jusserit. Pauli Recept. Sent. lib. v. t.

26.

This law was so very sacred and imperative, that, in the 
persecution under Trajan, Pliny would not attempt to put to 
death Roman citizens who were proved to have turned 
Christians; hence, in his letter to Trajan, lib. x. Ep.

97, he says, Fuerunt alii similis amentiae, quos, quia cives 
Romani erant, annotavi in urbem remittendos. 'There were 
others guilty of similar folly, whom, finding them to be 
Roman citizens, I have determined to send to the city." Very 
likely these had appealed to Caesar.

Verse 12. Conferred with the council] From this circumstance, 
we may learn that the appeal of Paul to Caesar was 
conditional; else Festus could not have deliberated with his 
council whether it should be granted; for he had no power to 
refuse to admit such an appeal. We may, therefore, understand 
Paul thus: "I now stand before a tribunal where I ought to be 
judged; if thou refuse to hear and try this cause, rather 
than go to Jerusalem, I appeal to Caesar." Festus, therefore, 
consulted with the council, whether he should proceed to try 
the cause, or send Paul to Rome; and it appears that the 
majority were of opinion that he should be sent to Caesar.

Hast thou appealed unto Caesar, &c.] Rather, Thou hast 
appealed unto Caesar, and to Caesar thou shalt go. The Jews 
were disappointed of their hope; and Festus got his hand 
creditably drawn out of a business with which he was likely 
to have been greatly embarrassed.

Verse 13. King Agrippa] This was the son of Herod Agrippa, 
who is mentioned chap. xii. 1. Upon the death of his father's 
youngest brother, Herod, he succeeded him in the kingdom of 
Chalcis, by the favour of the Emperor Claudius: Jos. Antiq. 
lib. xx. cap. 4, s. 2; and Bell. lib. ii. cap. 12, s. 1. 
Afterwards, Claudius removed him from that kingdom to a 
larger one, giving him the tetrarchy of Philip, which 
contained Trachonitis, Batanea, and Gaulonitis. He gave him, 
likewise, the tetrarchy of Lysanias, and the province which 
Varus had governed. Jos. Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 6, s. 1; Bell. 
lib. ii. cap. 19, s. 8. Nero made a farther addition, and 
gave him four cities, Abila, Julias in Peraea, Tarichaea and 
Tiberias in Galilee: Jos. Antiq. lib. xx.cap. 7, s. 4; Bell. 
lib. ii. cap 13, s. 2. Claudius gave him the power of 
appointing the high priest among the Jews; Joseph. Antiq. 
lib. xx. cap. 1, s.

3; and instances of his exercising this power may be seen in 
Joseph. Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 7, s. 8, 11. This king was 
strongly attached to the Romans, and did every thing in his 
power to prevent the Jews from rebelling against them; and, 
when he could not prevail, he united his troops to those of 
Titus, and assisted in the siege of Jerusalem: he survived 
the ruin of his country several years. See Bishop Pearce and 
Calmet.

Bernice, or, as she is sometimes called, Berenice, was sister 
of this Agrippa, and of the Drusilla mentioned chap. xxiv. 
24: She was at first married to her uncle Herod, king of 
Chalcis, Jos. Antiq. lib. xix. cap. 9, s. 1; and, on his 
death, went to live with her brother Agrippa, with whom she 
was violently suspected to lead an incestuous life. Juvenal, 
as usual, mentions this in the broadest manner-Sat. vi. ver. 
1l5: - Deinde adamas notissimus, et Berenices In digito 
factus pretiosior: hunc dedit olim Barbarus incestae, dedit 
hunc Agrippa sorori.

"Next, a most valuable diamond, rendered more precious by 
being put on the finger of Berenice; a barbarian gave it to 
this incestuous woman formerly; and Agrippa gave this to his 
sister." Josephus mentions the report of her having criminal 
conversation with her brother Agrippa, fhmhv episcoushv, oti 
tudelfw sunhei. To shield herself from this scandal, she 
persuaded Polemo, king of Cilicia, to embrace the Jewish 
religion, and marry her; this he was induced to do on account 
of her great riches; but she soon left him, and he revolted 
to heathenism: see Jos. Antiq. lib. xx. cap. 7, s. 3. After 
this, she lived often with her brother, and her life was by 
no means creditable; she had, however, address to ingratiate 
herself with Titus Vespasian, and there were even rumors of 
her becoming empress-propterque insignem reginae Berenices 
amorem, cui etiam nuptias pollicitus ferebatur.-Suet. in Vit. 
Titi. Which was prevented by the murmurs of the Roman people: 
Berenicen statim ab urbe dimisit, invitus invitam.-Ibid. 
Tacitus also, Hist. lib. ii. cap. 1, speaks of her love 
intrigue with Titus. From all accounts she must have been a 
woman of great address; and, upon the whole, an exceptionable 
character.

Verse 14. Declared Paul's cause unto the king] Festus knew 
that Agrippa was better acquainted with such matters than he 
was; and he wished, in some sort, to make him a party in this 
business.

Verse 15. Desiring to have judgment against him.] Instead of 
dikhn, judgment, katadikhn, condemnation, sentence of death, 
is the reading of ABC, and several others, which is probably 
genuine. This is evidently the meaning of the place, 
whichever reading we prefer. Nothing could satisfy these men 
but the death of the apostle. It was not justice they wanted, 
but his destruction.

Verse 16. It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any 
man to die] carizesqai tina anqrwpon, To MAKE A PRESENT of 
any man; gratuitously to give up the life of any man, through 
favour or caprice. Here is a reference to the subject 
discussed on chap. xxv. 11.

Before that he which is accused have the accusers face to 
face, &c.] For this righteous procedure the Roman laws were 
celebrated over the civilized world. APPIAN, in his Hist. 
Roman., says: ou patrion sfisin akritouv katadikazesqai. It 
is not their custom to condemn men before they have been 
heard. And PHILO Deuteronomy Praesid. Rom., says: tote gar 
koinouv eautouv parecontev dikastav ex isou, kai twn 
kathgorwn kai apologoumenwn akouomenoi, mhdenov akitou 
prokataginwskein axiountev, ebrabeuon oute prov ecqran, oute 
prov carin, alla prov thn fusin thv alhqeiav, ta doxanta 
einai dikaia. "For then, by giving sentence in common, and 
hearing impartially both plaintiff and defendant, not 
thinking it right to condemn any person unheard, they decided 
as appeared to them to be just; without either enmity or 
favour, but according to the merits of the case." See Bp. 
Pearce.

England can boast such laws, not only in her statute books, 
but in constant operation in all her courts of justice. Even 
the king himself, were he so inclined, could not imprison nor 
punish a man without the regular procedure of the law; and 
twelve honest men, before whom the evidence has been adduced, 
the case argued, and the law laid down and explained, are 
ultimately to judge whether the man be guilty or not guilty. 
Here, in this favoured country, are no arbitrary 
imprisonments-no Bastiles-no lettres de cachet. Lex facit 
Regem: the law makes the king, says Bracton, and the king is 
the grand executor and guardian of the laws-laws, in the eyes 
of which the character, property, and life of every subject 
are sacred.

Verse 18. They brought none accusation of such things as I 
supposed] It was natural for Festus, at the first view of 
things, to suppose that Paul must be guilty of some very 
atrocious crime. When he found that he had been twice 
snatched from the hands of the Jews; that he had been brought 
to Caesarea, as a prisoner, two years before; that he had 
been tried once before the Sanhedrin, and once before the 
governor of the province; that he had now lain two years in 
bonds; and that the high priest and all the heads of the 
Jewish nation had united in accusing him, and whose 
condemnation they loudly demanded; when, I say, he considered 
all this, it was natural for him to suppose the apostle to be 
some flagitious wretch; but when he had tried the case, and 
heard their accusations and his defense, how surprised was he 
to find that scarcely any thing that amounted to a crime was 
laid to his charge; and that nothing that was laid to his 
charge could be proved!

Verse 19. Questions-of their own superstition] peri thv idiav 
deididaimoniav; Questions concerning their own religion. 
Superstition meant something as bad among the Romans as it 
does among us; and is it likely that Festus, only a 
procurator, should thus speak to Agrippa, a KING, concerning 
his own religion? He could not have done so without offering 
the highest insult. The word deisidaimonia must therefore 
simply mean religion-the national creed, and the national 
worship, as I have at large proved it to mean, in the 
observations at the end of chap. xvii. 34.

And of one Jesus, which was dead, &c.] In this way does this 
poor heathen speak of the death and resurrection of Christ! 
There are many who profess Christianity that do not appear to 
be much farther enlightened.

Verse 20. I doubted of such manner of questions] Such as, 
whether he had broken their law, defiled their temple; or 
whether this Jesus, who was dead, was again raised to life.

Verse 21. Unto the hearing of Augustus] eiv thn tou sebastou 
diagnwsin; To the discrimination of the emperor. For, 
although sebastov is usually translated Augustus, and the 
Roman emperors generally assumed this epithet, which 
signifies no more than the venerable, the august, get here it 
seems to be used merely to express the emperor, without any 
reference to any of his attributes or titles.

Verse 22. I would also hear the man myself] A spirit of 
curiosity, similar to that of Herod, Luke xxiii. 8.

As Herod, the father of this Agrippa, had been so active an 
instrument in endeavouring to destroy Christianity, having 
killed James, and was about to have put Peter to death also, 
had not God sent him to his own place, there is no doubt that 
Agrippa had heard much about Christianity; and as to St. 
Paul, his conversion was so very remarkable that his name, in 
connection with Christianity, was known, not only throughout 
Judea, but through all Asia Minor and Greece. Agrippa, 
therefore might naturally wish to see and hear a man of whom 
he had heard so much.

Verse 23. With great pomp] meta pollhv fantasiav; With much 
phantasy, great splendour, great parade, superb attendance or 
splendid retinue: in this sense the Greek word is used by the 
best writers. Wetstein has very justly remarked, that these 
children of Herod the Great made this pompous appearance in 
that very city where, a few years before, their father, for 
his PRIDE, was smitten of God, and eaten up by worms! How 
seldom do the living lay any of God's judgments to heart! The 
place of hearing] A sort of audience chamber, in the palace 
of Festus. This was not a trial of Paul; there were no Jews 
present to accuse him, and he could not be tried but at Rome, 
as he had appealed to Caesar.

These grandees wished to hear the man speak of his religion, 
and in his own defense, through a principle of curiosity.

Verse 26. I have no certain thing to write] Nothing alleged 
against him has been substantiated.

Unto my Lord] The title kuriov, Dominus, Lord, both Augustus 
and Tiberius had absolutely refused; and forbade, even by 
public edicts, the application of it to themselves. Tiberius 
himself was accustomed to say that he was lord only of his 
slaves, emperor or general of the troops, and prince of the 
senate. See Suetonius, in his life of this prince. The 
succeeding emperors were not so modest; they affected the 
title. Nero, the then emperor, would have it; and Pliny the 
younger is continually giving it to Trajan in his letters.

Verse 27. For it seemeth to me unreasonable, &c.] Every 
reader must feel the awkward situation in which Festus stood. 
He was about to send a prisoner to Rome, to appear before 
Nero, though he had not one charge to support against him; 
and yet he must be sent, for he had appealed to Caesar. He 
hoped therefore that Agrippa, who was of the Jewish religion, 
would be able to discern more particularly the merits of this 
case; and might, after hearing Paul, direct him how to draw 
up those letters, which, on sending the prisoner, must be 
transmitted to the emperor.

This chapter ends as exceptionably as the twenty-first. It 
should have begun at ver. 13, and have been continued to the 
end of the twenty-sixth chapter, or both chapters have been 
united in one.

1. FROM St. Paul's appeal to Caesar, we see that it is lawful 
to avail ourselves, even in the cause of God, of those civil 
privileges with which his mercy has blessed us. It is often 
better to fall into the hands of the heathen than into the 
hands of those who, from mistaken views of religion, have 
their hearts filled with bitter persecuting zeal. Those who 
can murder a man, pretendedly for God's sake, because he does 
not think exactly with them on ceremonial or speculative 
points of divinity, have no portion of that religion which 
came down from God.

2. The Jews endeavoured by every means to deny the 
resurrection of our Lord; and it seems to have been one part 
of their accusation against Paul, that he asserted that the 
man, Jesus, whom they had crucified, was risen from the dead. 
On this subject, a pious writer observes: "What a train of 
errors and miseries does one single instance of deceit draw 
after it; and what a judgment upon those, who, by corrupting 
the guards of the sepulchre, the witnesses of the 
resurrection of our Lord, have kept the whole nation in 
infidelity!" Thus it often happens in the world that one bad 
counsel, one single lie or calumny, once established, is the 
source of infinite evils.

3. The grand maxim of the Roman law and government, to 
condemn no man unheard, and to confront the accusers with the 
accused, should be a sacred maxim with every magistrate and 
minister, and among all private Christians. How many harsh 
judgments and uncharitable censures would this prevent! 
Conscientiously practised in all Christian societies, 
detraction, calumny, tale-bearing, whispering, backbiting, 
misunderstandings, with every unbrotherly affection, would 
necessarily be banished from the Church of God.

CHAPTER xxvi.

Paul answers for himself before Agrippa, to whom he pays a 
true compliment, in order to secure a favourable hearing, 1-
3; gives an account of his education from his youth up, 4, 5; 
shows that the Jews persecuted him for his maintaining the 
hope of the resurrection, 6-8; states his persecution of the 
Christians, 9-11; gives an account of his miraculous 
conversion, 12-16; and of his call to the ministry, 16-18. 
His obedience to that call, and his success in preaching the 
doctrine of Christ crucified, 19-23. While he is thus 
speaking, Festus interrupts him, and declares him to be mad 
through his abundant learning, 24; which charge he modestly 
refutes with inimitable address, and appeals to King Agrippa 
for the truth and correctness of his speech, 25-27. On which, 
Agrippa confesses himself almost converted to Christianity, 
28. Paul's affectionate and elegant address to him on this 
declaration, 29. The council breaks up, and they all 
pronounce him innocent, 30-32.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxvi.

Verse 1. Then Paul stretched forth the hand] This act, as we 
have already seen on chap. xxi. 40, was merely to gain 
attention; it was no rhetorical flourish, nor designed for 
one. From knowing, partly by descriptions, and partly by 
ancient statues, how orators and others who address a 
concourse of people stood, we can easily conceive the 
attitude of St. Paul. When the right hand was stretched out, 
the left remained under the cloak, which being thrown off the 
right shoulder, to give the arm the fuller liberty, it then 
rested on the left: under these circumstances, the hand could 
be stretched out gracefully, but was confined to no one 
attitude, though the third and fourth fingers were generally 
clenched.

Verse 2. I think myself happy] As if he had said, This is a 
peculiarly fortunate circumstance in my favour, that I am 
called to make my defense before a judge so intelligent, and 
so well acquainted with the laws and customs of our country. 
It may be necessary just to observe that this Agrippa was 
king of Trachonitis, a region which lay on the north of 
Palestine, on the east side of Jordan, and south of Damascus. 
For his possessions, see on chap. xxv. 13.

Verse 4. My manner of life, &c.] The apostle means to state 
that, though born in Tarsus, he had a regular Jewish 
education, having been sent up to Jerusalem for that purpose; 
but at what age does not appear; probably about twelve, for 
at this age the male children were probably brought to the 
annual solemnities. See on Luke ii. 41.

Verse 5. After the most straitest sect] That is, the 
Pharisees; who were reputed the strictest in their doctrines, 
and in their moral practices, of all the sects then among the 
Jews. The sects were the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes.

Verse 6. For the hope of the promise] This does not appear to 
mean, the hope of the Messiah, as some have imagined, but the 
hope of the resurrection of the dead, to which the apostle 
referred in chap. xxiii. 6, where he says to the Jewish 
council, (from which the Roman governor took him,) of the 
hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question: 
see the notes there. And here he says, I stand and am judged 
for the hope of the promise, &c., and to which, he says, ver. 
7, the twelve tribes hope to come. The Messiah had come, and 
was gone again, as Paul well knew; and what is here meant is 
something which the Jews hoped to come to, or attain; not 
what was to come to them; and this singular observation 
excludes the Messiah from being meant. It was the 
resurrection of all men from the dead which Paul's words 
signified; and this the Jews had been taught to hope for, by 
many passages in the Old Testament. I shall only add, that 
when, in the next verse, this hope of the promise is 
mentioned as what the Jews did then hope, katanthoai, to come 
to, it is the very same word which Paul, in Phil. iii. 11, 
uses to express the same thing: If by any means, (says he) 
katanthsw, I might attain to, the resurrection of the dead. 
Bp. Pearce.

Verse 8. That God should raise the dead?] As Agrippa believed 
in the true God, and knew that one of his attributes was 
omnipotence, he could not believe that the resurrection of 
the dead was an impossible thing; and to this belief of his 
the apostle appeals; and the more especially, because the 
Sadducees denied the doctrine of the resurrection, though 
they professed to believe in the same God. Two attributes of 
God stood pledged to produce this resurrection: his truth, on 
which his promise was founded; and his power, by which the 
thing could be easily affected, as that power is unlimited.

Some of the best critics think this verse should be read 
thus: What! should it be thought a thing incredible with you, 
if God should raise the dead?

Verse 10. Many of the saints] From what is said in this 
verse, it seems that Paul, before his conversion, was 
invested with much power: he imprisoned the Christians; 
punished many in various synagogues; compelled them to 
blaspheme-to renounce, and, perhaps, to execrate Christ, in 
order to save their lives; and gave his voice, exerted all 
his influence and authority, against them, in order that they 
might be put to death; and from this it would seem that there 
were other persons put to death besides St. Stephen, though 
their names are not mentioned.

Verse 11. Being exceedingly mad against them] Only a madman 
will persecute another because of his differing from him in 
religious opinion; and the fiercest persecutor is he who 
should be deemed the most furious madman.

Unto strange cities.] Places out of the jurisdiction of the 
Jews, such as Damascus, which he immediately mentions.

Verse 12. Whereupon as I went to Damascus] See the whole 
account of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus explained at 
large, in the notes on chap. ix. 2, &c.

Verse 16. But rise, &c.] The particulars mentioned here, and 
in the two following verses, are not given in chap. ix. 1-9, 
nor in chap. xxii. 6-11, where he gives an account of his 
conversion. He has detailed the different circumstances of 
that important event, as he saw it necessary; and perhaps 
there were several others which then took place, that he had 
no opportunity of mentioning, because there was nothing in 
succeeding occurrences which rendered it necessary to produce 
them.

To make thee a minister] Æuphrethn, An under-rower; that is, 
one who is under the guidance and authority of another; an 
assistant, or servant. So Paul was to act solely under the 
authority of Jesus Christ; and tug hard at the oar, in order 
to bring the vessel, through the tempestuous ocean, to the 
safe harbour. See the concluding observations on John 6, John 
vi. 71.

And a witness] martura, A martyr. Though this word literally 
means a witness, yet we apply it only to such persons as have 
borne testimony to the truth of God at the hazard and expense 
of their lives. In this sense, also, ancient history states 
St. Paul to have been a witness; for it is said he was 
beheaded at Rome, by the command of Nero.

In the which I will appear] Here Christ gives him to 
understand that he should have farther communications from 
himself; and this may refer either to those interpositions of 
Divine Providence by which he was so often rescued from 
destruction, or to those encouragements which he received in 
dreams, visions, trances, &c., or to that general inspiration 
under which he was enabled to apprehend and reveal the secret 
things of God, for the edification of the Church. To all of 
which may be added that astonishing power by which he was so 
often enabled to work miracles for the confirmation of the 
truth.

Verse 17. Delivering thee from the people] From the Jews-and 
from the Gentiles, put here in opposition to the Jews; and 
both meaning mankind at large, wheresoever the providence of 
God might send him. But he was to be delivered from the 
malice of the Jews, that he might be sent with salvation to 
the Gentiles.

Verse 18. To open their eyes] To be the instrument of 
informing their understanding in the things of God.

To turn them from darkness to light] From heathenism and 
superstition to the knowledge and worship of the true God.

From the power of Satan unto God] thv exousiav tou satana, 
From the authority and domination of Satan; for as the 
kingdom of darkness is his kingdom, so those who live in this 
darkness are under his dominion; and he has authority and 
right over them. The blessed Gospel of Christ is the means of 
bringing the soul from this state of spiritual darkness and 
wretchedness to the light and liberty of the children of God; 
and thus they are brought from under the power and authority 
of Satan, to be under the power and authority of GOD.

That they may receive forgiveness of sins] That all their 
sins may be pardoned, and their souls sanctified; for nothing 
less is implied in the phrase, afesiv amartiwn, which 
signifies the taking away or removal of sins.

And inheritance] By remission of sins, i.e. the removal of 
the guilt and pollution of sin, they become children of God; 
and, if children, then heirs; for the children of the 
heavenly family shall alone possess the heavenly estate. And 
as the inheritance is said to be among them that are 
SANCTIFIED, this is a farther proof that afesiv amartiwn 
signifies, not only the forgiveness of sins, but also the 
purification of the heart.

By faith that is in me.] By believing on Christ Jesus, as 
dying for their offenses, and rising again for their 
justification. Thus we see that not only this salvation comes 
through Christ, but that it is to be received by faith; and, 
consequently, neither by the merit of works, nor by that of 
suffering.

Verse 19. I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision] 
This, O Agrippa, was the cause of my conversion from my 
prejudices and mal-practices against the doctrine of Christ. 
The vision was from heaven; I received it as such, and began 
to preach the faith which I had before persecuted.

Verse 20. But showed first unto them of Damascus] He appears 
to have preached at Damascus, and in the neighbouring parts 
of Arabia Deserta, for about three years; and afterwards he 
went up to Jerusalem. See Gal. i. 17, 18; and see the note on 
chap. ix. 23.

That they should repent] Be deeply humbled for their past 
iniquities, and turn to God as their Judge and saviour, 
avoiding all idolatry and all sin; and thus do works meet for 
repentance; that is, show by their conduct that they had 
contrite hearts, and that they sincerely sought salvation 
from God alone. For the meaning of the word repentance, see 
the note on Matt. iii. 2.

Verse 21. For these causes the Jews-went about to kill me.] 
These causes may be reduced to four heads:-1. He had 
maintained the resurrection of the dead. 2. The resurrection 
of Christ, whom they had crucified and slain. 3. That this 
Jesus was the promised Messiah. 4. He had offered salvation 
to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews. He does not mention 
the accusation of having defiled the temple, nor of 
disloyalty to the Roman government; probably, because his 
adversaries had abandoned these charges at his preceding 
trial before Festus: see chap. xxv. 8; and see Calmet.

Verse 22. Having-obtained help of God] According to the 
gracious promise made to him: see ver. 17.

Witnessing both to small and great] Preaching before kings, 
rulers, priests, and peasants; fearing no evil, though ever 
surrounded with evils; nor slackening in my duty, 
notwithstanding the opposition I have met with both from Jews 
and Gentiles. And these continual interpositions of God show 
me that I have not mistaken my call, and encourage me to go 
forward in my work.

Verse 23. That Christ should suffer] That the Christ, or 
Messiah, should suffer. This, though fully revealed in the 
prophets, the prejudices of the Jews would not permit them to 
receive: they expected their Messiah to be a glorious secular 
prince; and, to reconcile the fifty-third of Isaiah with 
their system, they formed the childish notion of two 
Messiahs-Messiah ben David, who should reign, conquer, and 
triumph; and Messiah ben Ephraim, who should suffer and be 
put to death. A distinction which has not the smallest 
foundation in the whole Bible.

As the apostle says he preached none other things than those 
which Moses and the prophets said should come, therefore he 
understood that both Moses and the prophets spoke of the 
resurrection of the dead, as well as of the passion and 
resurrection of Christ. If this be so, the favourite system 
of a learned bishop cannot be true; viz. that the doctrine of 
the immortality of the soul was unknown to the ancient Jews.

That he should be the first that should rise from the dead] 
That is, that he should be the first who should rise from the 
dead so as to die no more; and to give, in his own person, 
the proof of the resurrection of the human body, no more to 
return under the empire of death. In no other sense can Jesus 
Christ be said to be the first that rose again from the dead; 
for Elisha raised the son of the Shunammite. A dead man, put 
into the sepulchre of the Prophet Elisha, was restored to 
life as soon as he touched the prophet's bones. Christ 
himself had raised the widow's son at Nain; and he had also 
raised Lazarus, and several others. All these died again; but 
the human nature of our Lord was raised from the dead, and 
can die no more.

Thus he was the first who rose again from the dead to return 
no more into the empire of death.

And should show light unto the people] Should give the true 
knowledge of the law and the prophets to the Jews; for these 
are meant by the term people, as in ver. 17. And to the 
Gentiles, who had no revelation, and who sat in the valley of 
the shadow of death: these also, through Christ, should be 
brought to the knowledge of the truth, and be made a glorious 
Church, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. That the 
Messiah should be the light both of the Jews and Gentiles, 
the prophets had clearly foretold: see Isa. lx. 1: Arise and 
shine, or be illuminated, for thy LIGHT is come, and the 
glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. And again, Isa. xlix. 
6: I will give thee for a LIGHT to the GENTILES, that thou 
mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth. With such 
sayings as these Agrippa was well acquainted, from his 
education as a Jew.

Verse 24. Paul, thou art beside thyself] "Thou art mad, 
Paul!" "Thy great learning hath turned thee into a madman." 
As we sometimes say, thou art cracked, and thy brain is 
turned. By the ta polla grammata it is likely that Festus 
meant no more than this, that Paul had got such a vast 
variety of knowledge, that his brain was overcharged with it: 
for, in this speech, Paul makes no particular show of what we 
call learning; for he quotes none of their celebrated 
authors, as he did on other occasions; see chap. xvii. 28. 
But he here spoke of spiritual things, of which Festus, as a 
Roman heathen, could have no conception; and this would lead 
him to conclude that Paul was actually deranged. This is not 
an uncommon case with many professing Christianity; who, when 
a man speaks on experimental religion, on the life of God in 
the soul of man-of the knowledge of salvation, by the 
remission of sins-of the witness of the Spirit, &c., &c., 
things essential to that Christianity by which the soul is 
saved, are ready to cry out, Thou art mad: he is an 
enthusiast: that is, a religious madman; one who is not 
worthy to be regarded; and yet, strange to tell, these very 
persons who thus cry out are surprised that Festus should 
have supposed that Paul was beside himself!

Verse 25. I am not mad, most noble Festus] This most 
sensible, appropriate, and modest answer, was the fullest 
proof he could give of his sound sense and discretion. The 
title, kratiste, most noble, or most excellent, which he 
gives to Festus, shows at once that he was far above 
indulging any sentiment of anger or displeasure at Festus, 
though he had called him a madman; and it shows farther that, 
with the strictest conscientiousness, even an apostle may 
give titles of respect to men in power, which taken 
literally, imply much more than the persons deserve to whom 
they are applied. kratistov, which implies most excellent, 
was merely a title which belonged to the office of Festus. 
St. Paul hereby acknowledges him as the governor; while, 
perhaps, moral excellence of any kind could with no propriety 
be attributed to him.

Speak forth the words of truth and soberness.] alhqeiav kai 
swfrosunhv, Words of truth and of mental soundness. The very 
terms used by the apostle would at once convince Festus that 
he was mistaken.

The swfrosunh of the apostle was elegantly opposed to the 
mania of the governor: the one signifying mental derangement, 
the other mental sanity. Never was an answer, on the spur of 
the moment, more happily conceived.

Verse 26. Before whom also I speak freely] This is a farther 
judicious apology for himself and his discourse. As if he had 
said: Conscious that the king understands all these subjects 
well, being fully versed in the law and the prophets, I have 
used the utmost freedom of speech, and have mentioned the 
tenets of my religion in their own appropriate terms.

This thing was not done in a corner.] The preaching, 
miracles, passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, 
were most public and notorious; and of them Agrippa could not 
be ignorant; and indeed it appears, from his own answer, that 
he was not, but was now more fully persuaded of the truth 
than ever, and almost led to embrace Christianity.

Verse 27. Believest thou the prophets?] Having made his 
elegant compliment and vindication to Festus, he turns to 
Agrippa; and, with this strong appeal to his religious 
feeling, says, Believest thou the prophets? and immediately 
anticipates his reply, and, with great address, speaks for 
him, I know that thou believest. The inference from this 
belief necessarily was: "As thou believest the prophets, and 
I have proved that the prophets have spoken about Christ, as 
suffering and, triumphing over death, and that all they say 
of the Messiah has been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, then 
thou must acknowledge that my doctrine is true."

Verse 28. Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.] en 
oligw me peiqeiv cristianon genesqai. This declaration was 
almost the necessary consequence of the apostle's reasoning, 
and Agrippa's faith. If he believed the prophets, see ver. 
22, 23, and believed that Paul's application of their words 
to Christ Jesus was correct, he must acknowledge the truth of 
the Christian religion; but he might choose whether he would 
embrace and confess this truth, or not. However, the sudden 
appeal to his religious faith extorts from him the 
declaration, Thou hast nearly persuaded me to embrace 
Christianity. How it could have entered into the mind of any 
man, who carefully considered the circumstances of the case, 
to suppose that these words of Agrippa are spoken ironically, 
is to me unaccountable. Every circumstance in the case proves 
them to have been the genuine effusion of a heart persuaded 
of the truth; and only prevented from fully acknowledging it 
by secular considerations.

Verse 29. I would to God, &c.] euxaimhn an tw qew, kai en 
oligw kai en pollw-So fully am I persuaded of the infinite 
excellence of Christianity, and so truly happy am I in 
possession of it, that I most ardently wish that not only 
thou, but this whole council, were not only almost, but 
altogether, such as I am, these CHAINS excepted. Thus, while 
his heart glows with affection for their best interests, he 
wishes that they might enjoy all his blessings, if possible, 
without being obliged to bear any cross on the account. His 
holding up his chain, which was probably now detached from 
the soldier's arm, and wrapped about his own, must have made 
a powerful impression on the minds of his audience. Indeed, 
it appears they could bear the scene no longer; the king was 
overwhelmed, and rose up instantly, and so did the rest of 
the council, and went immediately aside; and, after a very 
short conference among themselves, they unanimously 
pronounced him innocent; and his last word, twn desmwn, 
BONDS! and the action with which it was accompanied, had made 
such a deep impression upon their hearts that they conclude 
their judgment with that very identical word desmwn. Would to 
God, says the apostle, that all who hear me this day were 
altogether such as as I am, except these BONDS! The whole 
council say-This man hath done nothing worthy of death nor of 
BONDS! desmwn, BONDS, is echoed by them from the last words 
of the apostle; as we may plainly perceive that, seeing such 
an innocent and eminent man suffering such indignity had made 
a deep impression upon their hearts. Alas! why should such a 
man be in B-O-N-D-S!

Verse 32. Then said Agrippa, &c.] The king himself, who had 
participated in the strongest emotions on the occasion, feels 
himself prompted to wish the apostle's immediate liberation; 
but this was now rendered impracticable, because he had 
appealed to Caesar; the appeal was no doubt registered, and 
the business must now proceed to a full hearing.

Bp. Pearce conjectures, with great probability, that Agrippa, 
on his return to Rome, represented Paul's case so favourably 
to the emperor, or his ministers of state, that he was soon 
set at liberty there, as may be concluded from chap. xxviii. 
30, that he dwelt two whole years in his own hired place; and 
to the same cause it seems to have been owing that Julius, 
who had the care of Paul as a prisoner in the ship, treated 
him courteously; see chap. xxvii. 3, 43. And the same may be 
gathered from chap. xxviii. 14, 16. So that this defense of 
the apostle before Agrippa, Bernice, Festus, &c., was 
ultimately serviceable to his important cause.

1. THE conversion of Saul was a wonderful work of the Spirit 
of God; and, as we have already seen, a strong proof of the 
truth of Christianity; and the apostle himself frequently 
appeals to it as such.

2. His mission to the Gentiles was as extraordinary as the 
calling of the Gentiles itself. Every thing is supernatural 
in a work of grace; for, because nature cannot produce the 
effects, the grace of God, which implies the co-operation of 
his omniscience, omnipotence, and endless mercy, undertakes 
to perform the otherwise impossible task.

3. From the commission of St. Paul, we see the state in which 
the Gentile world was, previously to the preaching of the 
Gospel.

1. Their eyes are represented as closed; their understanding 
was darkened; and they had no right apprehension of spiritual 
or eternal things.

2. They were in a state of darkness; living without the 
knowledge of the true God, in a region where nothing but 
ignorance prevailed.

3. They were under the dominion and authority of Satan; they 
were his vassals, and he claimed them as his right.

4. They were in a state of guiltiness; living, in almost 
every respect, in opposition to the dictates even of nature 
itself.

5. They were polluted; not only irregular and abominable in 
their lives, but also impure and unholy in their hearts. Thus 
far their state.

Behold what the grace of the Gospel is to do for these 
Gentiles, in order to redeem them from this state: - 1. It 
opens their eyes; gives them an understanding, whereby they 
may discern the truth; and, without this illumination from 
above, the truth of God can never be properly apprehended.

2. It turns them from the darkness to the light; a fine 
metaphor, taken from the act of a blind man, who is 
continually turning his eyes towards the light, and rolling 
his eyes upwards towards the sun, and in all directions, that 
he may collect as many of the scattered rays as he can, in 
order to form distinct vision. In this way the Gentiles 
appeared to be, in vain, searching after the light, till the 
Gospel came, and turned their eyes to the Sun of 
righteousness.

3. They are brought from under the bondage and slavery of sin 
and Satan, to be put under the obedience of Jesus Christ. So 
that Christ and his grace as truly and as fully rule and 
govern them as sin and Satan did formerly.

This is a proof that the change is not by might, nor by 
power, but by the Spirit of the Lord.

4. He pardons their sin, so that they are no longer liable to 
endless perdition.

5. He sanctifies their nature, so that they are capable of 
loving and serving him fervently with pure hearts; and are 
thus rendered fit for the enjoyment of the inheritance among 
the saints in light.

Such a salvation, from such a bondage, does the Gospel of 
Christ offer to the Gentiles-to a lost world. It is with 
extreme difficulty that any person can be persuaded that he 
needs a similar work of grace on his heart to that which was 
necessary for the conversion of the Gentiles. We may rest 
assured that no man is a Christian merely by birth or 
education. If Christianity implies the life of God in the 
soul of man -the remission of sins-the thorough purification 
of the heart, producing that holiness without which none can 
see the Lord, then it is evident that God alone can do this 
work, and that neither birth nor education can bestow it. By 
birth, every man is sinful; by practice, every man is a 
transgressor; for all have sinned.

God alone, by faith in Christ Jesus, can save the sinner from 
his sins.

Reader, has God saved thee from this state of wretchedness, 
and brought thee "into the glorious liberty of his children?" 
Let thy conscience answer for itself.

CHAPTER xxvii.

It being determined that Paul should be sent to Rome, he is 
delivered to Julius, a centurion, 1. They embark in a ship of 
Adramyttium, and come the next day to Sidon, 2, 3. They sail 
thence, and pass Cyprus, Cilicia, and Pamphylia, and come to 
Myra, 4, 5. They are transferred there to a ship of 
Alexandria going to Italy; sail past Cnidus, Crete, Salmone, 
and come to the Fair Havens, 6-8. Paul predicts a disastrous 
voyage, 9-11. They sail from the Fair Havens, in order to 
reach Crete, and winter there; but, having a comparatively 
favourable wind, they sail past Crete, and meet with a 
tempest, and are brought into extreme peril and distress, 12-
20. Paul's exhortation and prediction of the loss of the 
ship, 21-26. After having been tossed about in the Adriatic 
Sea, for many days, they are at last shipwrecked on the 
island of Melita; and the whole crew, consisting of two 
hundred and seventy-six persons, escape safe to land, on 
broken fragments of the ship, 27-44.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxvii.

Verse 1. And when it was determined, &c.] That is, when the 
governor had given orders to carry Paul to Rome, according to 
his appeal; together with other prisoners who were bound for 
the same place.

We should sail] By this it is evident that St. Luke was with 
Paul; and it is on this account that he was enabled to give 
such a circumstantial account of the voyage.

Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band.] Lipsius has found the 
name of this cohort on an ancient marble; see Lips. in Tacit. 
Hist. lib. ii. The same cohort is mentioned by Suetonius, in 
his life of Nero, 20.

Verse 2. A ship of Adramyttium] There were several places of 
this name; and in different MSS. the name is variously 
written. The port in question appears to have been a place in 
Mysia, in Asia Minor. And the abbÇ Vertot, in his history of 
the Knights of Malta, says it is now called Mehedia. Others 
think it was a city and seaport of Africa, whence the ship 
mentioned above had been fitted out; but it is more probable 
that the city and seaport here meant is that on the coast of 
the AEgean Sea, opposite Mitylene, and not far from Pergamos. 
See its situation on the map.

Aristarchus, a Macedonian] We have seen this person with St. 
Paul at Ephesus, during the disturbances there, chap. xix. 
29, where he had been seized by the mob, and was in great 
personal danger. He afterwards attended Paul to Macedonia, 
and returned with him to Asia, chap. xx. 4.

Now, accompanying him to Rome, he was there a fellow prisoner 
with him, Col. iv. 10, and is mentioned in St. Paul's epistle 
to Philemon, Philemon 24, who was probably their common 
friend.-Dodd. Luke and Aristarchus were certainly not 
prisoners at this time, and seem to have gone with St. Paul 
merely as his companions, through affection to him, and love 
for the cause of Christianity. How Aristarchus became his 
fellow prisoner, as is stated Col. iv. 10, we cannot tell, 
but it could not have been at this time.

Verse 3. Touched at Sidon] For some account of this place, 
see the notes on Matt. xi. 21; and chap. xii. 20.

Julius courteously entreated Paul] At the conclusion of the 
preceding chapter, it has been intimated that the kind 
treatment which Paul received, both from Julius and at Rome, 
was owing to the impression made on the minds of Agrippa and 
Festus, relative to his innocence. It appears that Julius 
permitted him to go ashore, and visit the Christians which 
were then at Sidon, without using any extraordinary 
precautions to prevent his escape. He was probably 
accompanied with the soldier to whose arm he was chained; and 
it is reasonable to conclude that this soldier would fare 
well on St. Paul's account.

Verse 4. We sailed under Cyprus] See on chap. iv. 36.

Verse 5. Pamphylia] See on chap. ii. 10.

Myra, a city of Lycia.] The name of this city is written 
variously in the MSS., Myra, Murrha, Smyra, and Smyrna. 
Grotius conjectures that all these names are corrupted, and 
that it should be written Limyra, which is the name both of a 
river and city in Lycia. It is certain that, in common 
conversation, the first syllable, li, might be readily 
dropped, and then Myra, the word in the text, would remain. 
Strabo mentions both Myra and Limyra, lib. xiv. p. 666. The 
former, he says, is twenty stadia from the sea, epi metewrou 
lofou, upon a high hill: the latter, he says, is the name of 
a river; and twenty stadia up this river is the town Limyra 
itself. These places were not far distant, and one of them is 
certainly meant.

Verse 6. A ship of Alexandria] It appears, from ver. 38, that 
this ship was laden with wheat, which she was carrying from 
Alexandria to Rome. We know that the Rom. imported much corn 
from Egypt, together with different articles of Persian and 
Indian merchandise.

Verse 7. Sailed slowly many days] Partly because the wind was 
contrary, and partly because the vessel was heavy laden.

Over against Cnidus] This was a city or promontory of Asia, 
opposite to Crete, at one corner of the peninsula of Caria. 
Some think that this was an island between Crete and a 
promontory of the same name.

Over against Salmone] We have already seen that the island 
formerly called Crete is now called Candia; and Salmone or 
Sammon, or Samonium, now called Cape Salamon, or Salamina, 
was a promontory on the eastern coast of that island.

Verse 8. The Fair Havens] This port still remains, and is 
known by the same name; it was situated towards the northern 
extremity of the island.

Was the city of Lasea.] There is no city of this name now 
remaining: the Codex Alexandrinus reads alassa, Alassa; 
probably Lysia, near the port of Gortyna, to the eastward.

Verse 9. Sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now 
already past] It is generally allowed that the fast mentioned 
here was that of the great day of atonement which was always 
celebrated on the tenth day of the seventh month, which would 
answer to the latter end of our September; see Lev. xvi. 29; 
xxiii. 27, &c. As this was about the time of the autumnal 
equinox, when the Mediterranean Sea was sufficiently 
tempestuous, we may suppose this feast alone to be intended. 
To sail after this feast was proverbially dangerous among the 
ancient Jews. See proofs in Schoettgen.

Verse 10. I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt, &c.] 
Paul might either have had this intimation from the Spirit of 
God, or from his own knowledge of the state of this sea after 
the autumnal equinox, and therefore gave them this prudent 
warning.

Verse 11. The centurion believed the master] tw kubernhth, 
the pilot; and owner of the ship, tw nauklhrw, the captain 
and proprietor. This latter had the command of the ship and 
the crew; the pilot had the guidance of the vessel along 
those dangerous coasts, under the direction of the captain; 
and the centurion had the power to cause them to proceed on 
their voyage, or to go into port, as he pleased; as he had 
other state prisoners on board; and probably the ship itself 
was freighted for government. Paul told them, if they 
proceeded, they would be in danger of shipwreck; the pilot 
and captain said there was no danger; and the centurion, 
believing them, commanded the vessel to proceed on her 
voyage. It is likely that they were now in the port called 
the Fair Havens.

Verse 12. Might attain to Phoenice] It appears that the Fair 
Havens were at the eastern end of the island, and they wished 
to reach Phoenice, which lay farther towards the west.

Toward the south-west and north-west.] kata liba kai kata 
cwron.

The libs certainly means the south-west, called libs, from 
Libya, from which it blows to. wards the AEgean Sea. The 
chorus, or caurus, means a north-west wind. Virgil mentions 
this, Geor. iii. ver. 356.

Semper hyems, semper spirantes frigora cauri.

"It is always winter; and the cauri, the north-westers, ever 
blowing cold." Dr. Shaw lays down this, and other winds, in a 
Greek compass, on his map, in which he represents the 
drifting of St. Paul's vessel from Crete, till it was wrecked 
at the island of Melita. Travels, p. 331, 4to. edit.

Verse 13. When the south wind blew softly] Though this wind 
was not very favourable, yet, because it blew softly, they 
supposed they might be able to make their passage.

They sailed close by Crete.] Kept as near the coast as they 
could. See the track on the map.

Verse 14. A tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.] 
Interpreters have been greatly perplexed with this word; and 
the ancient copyists not less so, as the word is variously 
written in the MSS. and versions. Dr. Shaw supposes it to be 
one of those tempestuous winds called levanters, which blow 
in all directions, from N.E. round by the E. to S.E. The 
euroclydon, from the circumstances which attended it, he 
says, "seems to have varied very little from the true east 
point; for, as the ship could not bear, antofqalmein, loof 
up, against it, ver. 15, but they were obliged to let her 
drive, we cannot conceive, as there are no remarkable 
currents in that part of the sea, and as the rudder could be 
of little use, that it could take any other course than as 
the winds directed it. Accordingly, in the description of the 
storm, we find that the vessel was first of all under the 
island Clauda, chap. xxvii. 16, which is a little to the 
southward of the parallel of that part of the coast of Crete 
from whence it may be supposed to have been driven; then it 
was tossed along the bottom of the Gulf of Adria, ver. 27, 
and afterwards broken to pieces, ver. 41, at Melita, which is 
a little to the northward of the parallel above mentioned; so 
that the direction and course of this particular euroclydon 
seems to have been first at east by north, and afterwards, 
pretty nearly east by south." These winds, called now 
levanters, and formerly, it appears, euroclydon, were no 
determinate winds, blowing always from one point of the 
compass: euroclydon was probably then, what levanter is now, 
the name of any tempestuous wind in that sea, blowing from 
the north-east round by east to the south-east; and therefore 
St. Luke says, there rose against it (i.e. the vessel) a 
tempestuous wind called euroclydon; which manner of speaking 
shows that he no more considered it to be confined to any one 
particular point of the compass, than our sailors do their 
levanter. Dr. Shaw derives eurokludwn from eurou kludwn, an 
eastern tempest, which is the very meaning affixed to a 
levanter at the present day.

The reading of the Codex Alexandrinus is eurakulwn, the 
north-east wind, which is the same with the euro-aquilo of 
the Vulgate. This reading is approved by several eminent 
critics; but Dr. Shaw, in the place referred to above, has 
proved it to be insupportable.

Dr. Shaw mentions a custom which he has several times seen 
practised by the Mohammedans in these levanters:-After having 
tied to the mast, or ensign staff, some apposite passage from 
the Koran, they collect money, sacrifice a sheep, and throw 
them both into the sea. This custom, he observes, was 
practised some thousand years ago by the Greeks: thus 
Aristophanes: - arnÆ, arna melainan, paidev, exenegkate? 
tufwv gar ekbainein paraskeuazetai. Ran. Act. iii. s. 2, ver. 
871.

A lamb! boys, sacrifice a black lamb immediately: For a 
tempest is about to burst forth.

Virgil refers to the same custom: - Sic fatus, meritos aris 
mactavit honoures: Taurum Neptuno, taurum tibi, pulcher 
Apollo; Nigram hyemi pecudem, zephyris felicibus albam. AEn. 
iii. ver. 118.

Thus he spake, and then sacrificed on the altars the proper 
eucharistic victims: - A bull to Neptune, and a bull to thee, 
O beautiful Apollo; A black sheep to the north wind, and a 
white sheep to the west.

And again: - Tres Eryci vitutos, et tempestatibus agnam, 
Caedere deinde jubet. AEn. v. ver. 772.

Then he commanded three calves to be sacrificed to Eryx, and 
a lamb to the tempests.

In the days of the Prophet Jonah the mariners in this sea 
were accustomed to do the same. Then they offered a sacrifice 
to the Lord, and vowed vows; Johni. 16. See Shaw's Travels, 4 
to. edit. p. 329-333.

The heathens supposed that these tempests were occasioned by 
evil spirits: and they sacrificed a black sheep in order to 
drive the demon away. See the ancient Scholiast on 
Aristophanes, in the place cited above.

Sir George Staunton (Embassy to China, vol. ii. p. 403) 
mentions a similar custom among the Chinese, and gives an 
instance of it when the yachts and barges of the embassy were 
crossing the Yellow River: - "The amazing velocity with which 
the Yellow River runs at the place where the yacht and barges 
of the embassy were to cross it rendered, according to the 
notions of the Chinese crews, a sacrifice necessary to the 
spirit of the river, in order to insure a safe passage over 
it. For this purpose, the master, surrounded by the crew of 
the yacht, assembled upon the forecastle; and, holding as a 
victim in his hand a cock, wrung off his head, which 
committing to the stream, he consecrated the vessel with the 
blood spouting from the body, by sprinkling it upon the deck, 
the masts, the anchors, and the doors of the apartments; and 
stuck upon them a few of the feathers of the bird. Several 
bowls of meat were then brought forward, and ranged in a line 
across the deck. Before these were placed a cup of oil, one 
filled with tea, one with some ardent spirit, and a fourth 
with salt; the captain making, at the same time, three 
profound inclinations of his body, with hands uplifted, and 
muttering a few words, as if of solicitation to the deity. 
The loo, or brazen drum, vas beaten in the meantime forcibly; 
lighted matches were held towards heaven; papers, covered 
with tin or silver leaf, were burnt; and crackers fired off 
in great abundance by the crew. The captain afterwards made 
libations to the river, by emptying into it, from the 
vessel's prow, the several cups of liquids; and concluded 
with throwing in also that which held the salt. All the 
ceremonies being over, and the bowls of meat removed, the 
people feasted on it in the steerage, and launched 
afterwards, with confidence, the yacht into the current. As 
soon as she had reached the opposite shore, the captain 
returned thanks to heaven, with three inclinations of the 
body.

"Besides the daily offering and adoration at the altar 
erected on the left or honourable side of the cabin in every 
Chinese vessel, the solemn sacrifices above described are 
made to obtain the benefit of a fair wind, or to avert any 
impending danger. The particular spot upon the forecastle, 
where the principal ceremonies are performed, is not 
willingly suffered to be occupied or defiled by any person on 
board."

Verse 15. And when the ship was caught] sunarpasqentov de tou 
ploiou. The ship was violently hurried away before this 
strong levanter; so that it was impossible for her, 
antofqalmein, to face the wind, to turn her prow to it, so as 
to shake it out, as I have heard sailors say, and have seen 
them successfully perform in violent tempests and squalls.

We let her drive.] We were obliged to let her go right before 
this tempestuous wind, whithersoever it might drive her.

Verse 16. A certain island-called Clauda] Called also Gaudos; 
situated at the south-western extremity of the island of 
Crete, and now called Gozo, according to Dr. Shaw.

Much work to come by the boat] It was likely to have been 
washed overboard; or, if the boat was in tow, at the stern of 
the vessel, which is probable, they found it very difficult 
to save it from being staved, or broken to pieces.

Verse 17. Undergirding the ship] This method has been used 
even in modern times. It is called frapping the ship. A stout 
cable is slipped under the vessel at the prow, which they can 
conduct to any part of the ship's keel; and then fasten the 
two ends on the deck, to keep the planks from starting: as 
many rounds as they please may be thus taken about the 
vessel. An instance of this kind is mentioned in Lord Anson's 
Voyage round the World. Speaking of a Spanish man-of-war in a 
storm: "They were obliged to throw overboard all their upper-
deck guns, and take six turns of the cable round the ship, to 
prevent her opening." P. 24, 4to. edit.

The same was done by a British line-of-battle ship in 1763, 
on her passage from India to the Cape of Good Hope.

The quicksands] eiv thn surtin, Into the syrt. There were two 
famous syrts, or quicksands, on the African coast; one called 
the syrtis major, lying near the coast of Cyrene; and the 
other, the syrtis minor, not far from Tripoli. Both these, 
like our Goodwin Sands, were proverbial for their multitude 
of ship-wrecks. From the direction in which this vessel was 
driven, it is not at all likely that they were in danger of 
drifting on any of these syrts, as the vessel does not appear 
to have been driven near the African coast through the whole 
of her voyage. And as to what is said, chap. xxvii. 27, of 
their being driven up and down in Adria, diaferomenwn en tw 
adria, it must mean their being tossed about near to Sicily, 
the sea of which is called Adria, according to the old 
Scholiast upon Dionysius's Periegesis, ver. lx25: to 
sikelikon touto to pelagov adrian kalousi? they call this 
Sicilian sea, Adria. We are therefore to consider that the 
apprehension, expressed in ver. 17, is to be taken generally: 
they were afraid of falling into some shoals, not knowing in 
what part of the sea they then were; for they had seen 
neither sun nor stars for many days; and they had no compass, 
and consequently could not tell in what direction they were 
now driving. It is wrong therefore to mark the course of this 
voyage, as if the vessel had been driven across the whole of 
the Mediterranean, down to the African coast, and near to the 
syrts, or shoal banks; to which there is scarcely any reason 
to believe she had once approximated during the whole of this 
dangerous voyage.

Strake sail] calasantev to skeuov. What this means is 
difficult to say. As to striking or slackening sail, that is 
entirely out of the question, in such circumstances as they 
were; when it is evident they could carry no sail at all, and 
must have gone under bare poles. Some think that lowering the 
yards, and taking down the top-mast, is what is intended; but 
in such a perilous situation this would have been of little 
service. Others think, letting go their main or sheet anchor, 
is what is meant; but this seems without foundation, as it 
would have been foolishness in the extreme to have hoped to 
ride out the storm in such a sea. Passing by a variety of 
meanings, I suppose cutting away, or by some means letting 
down the mast, is the action intended to be expressed here; 
and this would be the most likely means of saving the vessel 
from foundering.

Verse 18. Lightened the ship] Of what, we know not; but it 
was probably cumbrous wares, by which the deck was thronged, 
and which were prejudicial to the due trim of the vessel.

Verse 19. The tackling of the ship.] thn skeuhn; All 
supernumerary anchors, cables, baggage, &c.

Verse 20. Neither sun nor stars in many days appeared] And 
consequently they could make no observation; and, having no 
magnetical needle, could not tell in what direction they were 
going.

Verse 21. After long abstinence] pollhv de asitiav 
uparcoushv.

Mr. Wakefield connects this with the preceding verse, and 
translates it thus: Especially as there was a great scarcity 
of provisions. But this by no means can agree with what is 
said, chap. xxvii. 34-38. The vessel was a corn vessel; and 
they had not as yet thrown the wheat into the sea, see ver. 
38. And we find they had food sufficient to eat, but were 
discouraged, and so utterly hopeless of life that they had no 
appetite for food: besides, the storm was so great that it is 
not likely they could dress any thing.

Have gained this harm and loss.] It seems strange to talk of 
gaining a loss, but it is a correct rendering of the 
original, kerdhsai, which expresses the idea of acquisition, 
whether of good or evil. Those who wish it, may see this use 
of the term well illustrated by Bp. Pearce, in his note on 
this verse. The harm was damage to the vessel; the loss was 
that of the merchandise, furniture, &c.

Verse 22. There shall be no loss of-life] This must be joyous 
news to those from whom all hope that they should be saved 
was taken away: ver. 20.

Verse 23. The-God, whose I am, and whom I serve] This Divine 
communication was intended to give credit to the apostle and 
to his doctrine; and, in such perilous circumstances, to 
speak so confidently, when every appearance was against him, 
argued the fullest persuasion of the truth of what he spoke; 
and the fulfillment, so exactly coinciding with the 
prediction, must have shown these heathens that the God whom 
Paul served must be widely different from theirs.

Verse 24. God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.] 
Two hundred and seventy-six souls saved for the sake of one 
man! This was a strong proof of God's approbation of Paul; 
and must at least have shown to Julius the centurion that his 
prisoner was an injured and innocent man.

Verse 26. We must be cast upon a certain island.] The angel 
which gave him this information did not tell him the name of 
the island. It turned out to be Melita, on which, by the 
violence of the storm, they were wrecked some days after.

Verse 27. Driven up and down in Adria] See the note on chap. 
xxvii. 17.

Deemed that they drew near to some country] They judged so, 
either by the smell of land, which those used to the sea can 
perceive at a considerable distance, or by the agitation of 
the sea, rippling of the tide, flight of sea-birds, &c.

Verse 28. And sounded] bolisantev, Heaving the lead.

Twenty fathoms] orguiav eikosi, About forty yards in depth. 
The orguia is thus defined by the Etymologicon: shmainei thn 
ektasin twn ceirwn, sun tw platei tou sthqouv? It signifies 
the extent of the arms, together with the breadth of the 
breast. This is exactly the quantum of our fathom.

Verse 29. Cast four anchors out of the stern] By this time 
the storm must have been considerably abated; though the 
agitation of the sea could not have subsided much. The 
anchors were cast out of the stern to prevent the vessel from 
drifting ashore, as they found that, the farther they stood 
in, the shallower the water grew; therefore they dropped the 
anchor astern, as even one ship's length might be of much 
consequence.

Verse 30. The shipmen] The sailors-let down the boat. Having 
lowered the boat from the deck into the sea, they pretended 
that it was necessary to carry some anchors ahead, to keep 
her from being carried in a dangerous direction by the tide, 
but with the real design to make for shore, and so leave the 
prisoners and the passengers to their fate. This was timely 
noticed by the pious and prudent apostle; who, while simply 
depending on the promise of God, was watching for the safety 
and comfort of all.

Verse 31. Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be 
saved.] God, who has promised to save your lives, promises 
this on the condition that ye make use of every means he has 
put in your power to help yourselves.

While, therefore, ye are using these means, expect the co-
operation of God.

If these sailors, who only understand how to work the ship, 
leave it, ye cannot escape. Therefore prevent their present 
design. On the economy of Divine Providence, see the notes on 
chap. xxiii. 35.

Verse 32. The soldiers cut off the ropes] These were probably 
the only persons who dared to have opposed the will of the 
sailors: this very circumstance is an additional proof of the 
accuracy of St. Luke.

Verse 33. While the day was coining on] It was then 
apparently about day-break.

This day is the fourteenth day that ye have-continued 
fasting] Ye have not had one regular meal for these fourteen 
days past. Indeed we may take it for granted that, during the 
whole of the storm, very little was eaten by any man: for 
what appetite could men have for food, who every moment had 
death before their eyes? 

Verse 34. A hair fall from the head] A proverbial expression 
for, ye shall neither lose your lives nor suffer any hurt in 
your bodies, if ye follow my advice.

Verse 35. Gave thanks to God] Who had provided the food, and 
preserved their lives and health to partake of it. Some think 
that he celebrated the holy eucharist here: but this is by no 
means likely: he would not celebrate such a mystery among 
ungodly sailors and soldiers, Jews and heathens; nor was 
there any necessity for such a measure.

Verse 38. They lightened the ship] They hoped that, by 
casting out the lading, the ship would draw less water; in 
consequence of which, they could get nearer the shore.

Verse 39. They knew not the land] And therefore knew neither 
the nature of the coast, nor where the proper port lay.

A-creek with a shore] kolpon, Sinum, a bay, with a shore; a 
neck of land perhaps on either side, running out into the 
sea, and this little bay or gulf between them; though some 
think it was a tongue of land, running out into the sea, 
having the sea on both sides, at the point of which these two 
seas met, ver. 41. There is such a place as this in the 
island of Malta, where, tradition says, Paul was shipwrecked; 
and which is called la Cale de St. Paul. See Calmet.

Verse 40. Taken up the anchors] Weighed all the anchors that 
they had cast out of the stern. Some think the meaning of the 
word is, they slipped their cables; and so left the anchors 
in the sea. This opinion is expressed in the margin.

Loosed the rudder bands] Or, the bands of the rudders; for 
large vessels in ancient times had two or more rudders, one 
at the side, and another at the stern, and sometimes one at 
the prow. The bands, zeukthriav, were some kind of 
fastenings, by which the rudders were hoisted some way out of 
the water; for, as they could be of no use in the storm, and, 
should there come fair weather, the vessel could not do 
without them, this was a prudent way of securing them from 
being broken to pieces by the agitation of the waves. These 
bands being loosed, the rudders would fall down into their 
proper places, and serve to steer the vessel into the creek 
which they now had in view.

Hoisted up the mainsail] artemona is not the mainsail, (which 
would have been quite improper on such an occasion,) but the 
jib, or triangular sail which is suspended from the foremast 
to the bowspirit; with this they might hope both to steer and 
carry in the ship.

Verse 41. Where two seas meet] The tide running down from 
each side of the tongue of land, mentioned ver. 39, and 
meeting at the point.

Ran the ship aground] In striving to cross at this point of 
land, they had not taken a sufficiency of sea-room, and 
therefore ran aground.

The forepart stuck fast] Got into the sands; and perhaps the 
shore here was very bold or steep, so that the stem of the 
vessel might be immersed in the quicksands, which would soon 
close round it, while the stern, violently agitated with the 
surge, would soon be broken to pieces. It is extremely 
difficult to find the true meaning of several of the nautical 
terms used in this chapter. I have given that which appeared 
to me to be the most likely; but cannot absolutely say that I 
have everywhere hit the true meaning.

Verse 42. The soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners] 
What blood-thirsty, cowardly villains must these have been! 
Though, through the providence of God, those poor men had 
escaped a watery grave, and had borne all the anxiety and 
distresses of this disastrous voyage, as well as the others, 
now that there is a likelihood of all getting safe to land 
that could swim, lest these should swim to shore, and so 
escape, those men, whose trade was in human blood, desired to 
have them massacred! We have not many traits in the histories 
of the most barbarous nations that can be a proper 
counterpart to this quintessence of humano-diabolic cruelty.

Verse 43. Willing to save Paul, &c.] Had one fallen, for the 
reasons those cruel and dastardly soldiers gave, so must all 
the rest. The centurion save that Paul vas not only an 
innocent, but an extraordinary and divine man; and therefore, 
for his sake, he prevented the massacre; and, unloosing every 
man's bonds, he commanded those that could to swim ashore and 
escape. It is likely that all the soldiers escaped in this 
way, for it was one part of the Roman military discipline to 
teach the soldiers to swim.

Verse 44. And the rest] That could not swim: some on boards, 
planks, spars, &c., got safe to land; manifestly by an 
especial providence of God; for how otherwise could the sick, 
the aged, the terrified, besides women and children, (of 
which, we may naturally suppose, there were some,) though on 
planks, get safe to shore?-where still the waves were 
violent, ver. 41, and they without either skill or power to 
steer their unsafe flotillas to the land? It was (in this 
case, most evidently) God who brought them to the haven were 
they would be.

1. PAUL had appealed to Caesar; and he must go to Rome to 
have his cause heard. God admitted of this appeal, and told 
his servant that he should testify of him at Rome; and yet 
every thing seemed to conspire together to prevent this 
appeal, and the testimony which the apostle was to bear to 
the truth of the Christian religion. The Jews laid wait for 
his life; and when he had escaped out of their hands, and 
from their territories, then the winds and the sea seemed to 
combine to effect his destruction. And God suffered all this 
malice of men, and war of elements, to fight against his 
servant, and yet overruled and counterworked the whole, so as 
to promote his own glory, and bring honour to his apostle. 
Had it not been for this malice of the Jews, Festus, Felix, 
Agrippa, Berenice, and many Roman nobles and officers, had 
probably never heard the Gospel of Christ. And, had it not 
been for Paul's tempestuous voyage, the 276 souls that sailed 
with him could not have had such displays of the power and 
wisdom of the Christians' God as must have struck them with 
reverence, and probably was the cause of the conversion of 
many. Had the voyage been smooth and prosperous, there would 
have been no occasion for such striking interferences of God; 
and, had it not been for the shipwreck, probably the 
inhabitants of Malta would not so soon have heard of the 
Christian religion. God serves his will by every occurrence, 
and presses every thing into the service of his own cause. 
This is a remark which we have often occasion to make, and 
which is ever in place. We may leave the government of the 
world, and the government of the Church, most confidently to 
God; hitherto he has done all things well; and his wisdom, 
power, goodness, and truth, are still the same.

2. In considering the dangers of a sea voyage, we may well 
say, with pious Quesnel, To what perils do persons expose 
themselves, either to raise a fortune, or to gain a 
livelihood! How few are there who would expose themselves to 
the same for the sake of God! They commit themselves to the 
mercy of the waves; they trust their lives to a plank and to 
a pilot; and yet it is often with great difficulty that they 
can trust themselves to the providence of God, whose 
knowledge, power, and goodness, are infinite; and the visible 
effects of which they have so many times experienced.

3. What assurance soever we may have of the will of God, yet 
we must not forget human means. The life of all the persons 
in this ship was given to St. Paul; yet he does not, on that 
account, expect a visible miracle, but depends upon the 
blessing which God will give to the care and endeavours of 
men.

4. God fulfils his promises, and conceals his almighty power, 
under such means and endeavours as seem altogether human and 
natural. Had the crew of this vessel neglected any means in 
their own power, their death would have been the consequence 
of their inaction and infidelity.

CHAPTER xxviii.

St. Paul, and the rest of the crew, getting safely ashore, 
find that the island on which they were shipwrecked is called 
Melita, 1. They are received with great hospitality by the 
inhabitants, 2. A viper comes out of the bundle of sticks, 
laid on the fire, and seizes on Paul's hand, 3. The people, 
seeing this, suppose him to be a murderer, and thus pursued 
by Divine vengeance, 4. Having shook it off his hand, without 
receiving any damage, they change their minds, and suppose 
him to be a god, 5, 6. Publius, the governor of the island, 
receives them courteously, and Paul miraculously heals his 
father, who was ill of a fever, &c., 7, 8. He heals several 
others also, who honour them much, and give them presents, 9, 
10. After three months' stay, they embark in a ship of 
Alexandria, land at Syracuse, stay there three days, sail 
thence, pass the straits of Rhegium, and land at Puteoli; 
find some Christians there, tarry seven days, and set forward 
for Rome, 11-14. They are met at Appii Forum by some 
Christians, and Paul is greatly encouraged, 15. They come to 
Rome, and Julius delivers his prisoners to the captain of the 
guard, who permits Paul to dwell by himself only attended by 
the soldier that kept him, 16. Paul calls the chief Jews 
together, and states his case to them, 17-20. They desire to 
hear him concerning the faith of Christ, 21, 22; and, having 
appointed unto him a day, he expounds to them the kingdom of 
Christ, 23. Some believe, and some disbelieve; and Paul 
informs them that, because of their unbelief and 
disobedience, the salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles, 
24-29. Paul dwells two years in his own hired house, 
preaching the kingdom of God, 30, 31.

NOTES ON CHAP. xxviii.

Verse 1. They knew that the island was called Melita.] There 
were two islands of this name: one in the Adriatic Gulf, or 
Gulf of Venice, on the coast of Illyricum, and near to 
Epidaurus; the other in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily 
and Africa, and now called Malta. It is about fifty miles 
from the coast of Sicily; twenty miles long, and twelve miles 
in its greatest breadth; and about sixty miles in 
circumference. It is one immense rock of white, soft 
freestone, with about one foot depth of earth on an average, 
and most of this has been brought from Sicily! It produces 
cotton, excellent fruits, and fine honey; from which it 
appears the island originally had its name; for meli, meli, 
and in the genitive case, melitov, melitos, signifies honey. 
Others suppose that it derived its name from the Phoenicians, 
who established a colony in it, and made it a place of 
refuge, when they extended their traffic to the ocean, 
because it was furnished with excellent harbours: (on the E. 
and W. shores:) hence, in their tongue, it would be called 
hfylm Meliteh, escape or refuge, from flm malat, to escape.

The Phaeacians were probably the first inhabitants of this 
island: they were expelled by the Phoenicians; the 
Phoenicians by the Greeks; the Greeks by the Carthaginians; 
the Carthaginians by the Romans, who possessed it in the time 
of the apostle; the Romans by the Goths; the Goths by the 
Saracens; the Saracens by the Sicilians, under Roger, earl of 
Sicily, in 1190. Charles V., emperor of Germany, took 
possession of it by his conquest of Naples and Sicily; and he 
gave it in 1525 to the knights of Rhodes, who are also called 
the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. In 1798, this island 
surrendered to the French, under Bonaparte, and in 1800, 
after a blockade of two years, the island being reduced by 
famine, surrendered to the British, under whose dominion it 
still remains (1814.) Every thing considered, there can be 
little doubt that this is the Melita at which St. Paul was 
wrecked, and not at that other island in the Adriatic, or 
Venitian Gulf, as high up northward as Illyricum. The 
following reasons make this greatly evident: 1. Tradition has 
unvaryingly asserted this as the place of the apostle's 
shipwreck. 2. The island in the Venitian Gulf, in favour of 
which Mr. Bryant so learnedly contends, is totally out of the 
track in which the euroclydon must have driven the vessel. 3. 
It is said, in ver. 11, that another ship of Alexandria, 
bound, as we must suppose, for Italy, and very probably 
carrying wheat thither, as St. Paul's vessel did, (chap. 
xxvii. 38,) had been driven out of its course of sailing, by 
stress of weather, up to the Illyricum Melita, and had been 
for that cause obliged to winter in the isle. Now this is a 
supposition which, as I think, is too much of a supposition 
to be made. 4. In St. Paul's voyage to Italy from Melita, on 
board the Alexandrian ship that had wintered there, he and 
his companions landed at Syracuse, ver. 12, 13, and from 
thence went to Rhegium. But if it had been the Illyrican 
Melita, the proper course of the ship would have been, first 
to Rhegium, before it reached Syracuse, and needed not to 
have gone to Syracuse at all; whereas, in a voyage from the 
present Malta to Italy, it was necessary to reach Syracuse, 
in Sicily, before the ship could arrive at Rhegium in Italy. 
See the map; and see Bp. Pearce, from whom I have extracted 
the two last arguments.

That Malta was possessed by the Phoenicians, before the 
Romans conquered it, Bochart has largely proved; and indeed 
the language to the present day, notwithstanding all the 
political vicissitudes through which the island has passed, 
bears sufficient evidence of its Punic origin. In the year 
1761, near a place called Ben Ghisa, in this island, a 
sepulchral cave was discovered, in which was a square stone 
with an inscription in Punic or Phoenician characters, on 
which Sir Wm. Drummond has written a learned essay, (London, 
Valpy, 1810, 4to.,) which he supposes marks the burial place, 
at least of the ashes, of the famous Carthaginian general, 
Hannibal. I shall give this inscription in Samaritan 
characters, as being the present form of the ancient Punic, 
with Sir Wm. Drummond's translation: - [Samaritan MSS. 
majuscule] Chadar Beth olam kabar Chanibaal Nakeh becaleth 
haveh, rach - m daeh Amos beshuth Chanib - aal ben Bar-melec.

"The inner chamber of the sanctuary of the sepulchre of 
Hannibal, Illustrious in the consummation of calamity.

He was beloved; The people lament, when arrayed In order of 
battle, Hannibal the son of Bar-Melec." As this is a curious 
piece, and one of the largest remains of the Punic language 
now in existence, and as it helps to ascertain the ancient 
inhabitants of this island, I thought it not improper to 
insert it here. For the illustration of this and several 
other points of Punic antiquity, I must refer the curious 
reader to the essay itself.

Verse 2. The barbarous people] We have already seen that this 
island was peopled by the Phoenicians, or Carthaginians, as 
Bochart has proved, Phaleg. chap. xxvi.; and their ancient 
language was no doubt in use among them at that time, though 
mingled with some Greek and Latin terms; and this language 
must have been unintelligible to the Romans and the Greeks.

With these, as well as with other nations, it was customary 
to call those barbaroi, barbarians, whose language they did 
not understand. St. Paul himself speaks after this manner in 
1 Cor. xiv. 11: If I know not the meaning of the voice, I 
shall be unto him that speaketh a BARBARIAN, and he that 
speaketh shall be a BARBARIAN unto me. Thus Herodotus also, 
lib.

ii. 158, says, barbarouv pantav aiguptioi kaleousi touv mh 
sfi omoglwssouv? The Egyptians call all those BARBARIANS who 
have not the same language with themselves. And Ovid, when 
among the Getes, says, in Trist. ver. 10: - BARBARUS hic ego 
sum, quia non INTELLIGOR ulli.

"Here I am a barbarian, for no person understands me." 
Various etymologies have been given of this word. I think 
that of Bp.

Pearce the best. The Greeks who traded with the Phoenicians, 
formed this word from their observing that the Phoenicians 
were generally called by the name of their parent, with the 
word rb bar, prefixed to that name; as we find in the New 
Testament men called Bar-Jesus, Bar-Tholomeus, Bar-Jonas, 
Bar-Timeus, &c. Hence the Greeks called them bar-baroi, 
meaning the men who are called Bar Bar, or have no other 
names than what begin with Bar. And because the Greeks did 
not understand the language of the Phoenicians, their first, 
and the Rom. in imitation of them, gave the name of 
Barbarians to all such as talked in a language to which they 
were strangers." No other etymology need be attempted; this 
is its own proof; and the Bar-melec in the preceding epitaph 
is, at least, collateral evidence.

The word barbarian is therefore no term of reproach in 
itself; and was not so used by ancient authors, however 
fashionable it may be to use it so now.

Because of the present rain and-of the cold.] This must have 
been sometime in October; and, when we consider the time of 
the year, the tempestuousness of the weather, and their 
escaping to shore on planks, spars, &c., wet of course to the 
skin, they must have been very cold, and have needed all the 
kindness that these well disposed people showed them.

In some parts of Christianized Europe, the inhabitants would 
have attended on the beach, and knocked the survivors on the 
head, that they might convert the wreck to their own use! 
This barbarous people did not act in this way: they joined 
hands with God to make these sufferers live.

Verse 3. There came a viper out of the heat] We may naturally 
suppose that there had been fuel laid before on the fire, and 
that the viper was in this fuel, and that it had been revived 
by the heat; and, when St. Paul laid his bundle on the fire, 
the viper was then in a state to lay hold on his hand.

Verse 4. The venomous beast] to qhrion, The venomous animal; 
for qhria is a general name among the Greek writers for 
serpents, vipers, scorpions, wasps, and such like creatures. 
Though the viper fastened on Paul's hand, it does not appear 
that it really bit him; but the Maltese supposed that it had, 
because they saw it fasten on his hand.

Vengeance suffereth not to live.] These heathens had a 
general knowledge of retributive justice; and they thought 
that the stinging of the serpent was a proof that Paul was a 
murderer. There is a passage in Bamidbar Rabba, fol. 239, 
that casts some light on this place. "Although the Sanhedrin 
is ceased, yet are not the four deaths ceased. For he that 
deserves stoning either falls from his house, or a wild beast 
tears and devours him. He that deserves burning either falls 
into the fire, or a serpent bites him. He that deserves 
cutting of with the sword is either betrayed into the power 
of a heathen kingdom, or the robbers break in upon him. He 
that deserves strangling is either suffocated in the water, 
or dies of a quinsy." See Lightfoot.

As these people were heathens, it is not likely that they had 
any correct notion of the justice of the true God; and 
therefore it is most probable that they used the word dikh, 
not to express the quality or attribute of any being, but the 
goddess Dikà, or vindictive Justice, herself, who is 
represented as punishing the iniquities of men.

Hesiod makes a goddess of what the Maltese called dikh, or 
Justice: - h de te parqenov esti dikh, diov ekgegauia, kudnh 
tÆ aidoih te qeoiv, oi olumpon ecousin? kai rÆ opotÆ an tiv 
min blapth skoliwv onotazwn.

autika par dii patri kaqezomenh kroniwni ghruetÆ anqrwpwn 
adikon noon? Hesiod. Opera, ver. 254.

JUSTICE, unspotted maid, derived from Jove, Renown'd and 
reverenced by the gods above: When mortals violate her sacred 
laws, When judges hear the bribe and not the cause, Close by 
her parent god, behold her stand, And urge the punishment 
their sins demand. COKE.

Verse 5. Shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no 
harm.] This is a presumptive evidence that the viper did not 
bite St. Paul: it fastened on his hand, but had no power to 
injure him.

Verse 6. When he should have swollen] pimprasqai, When he 
should have been inflamed: by means of an acrid poison 
introduced into the blood, it is soon coagulated; and, in 
consequence, the extremities of the vessels become 
obstructed, strong inflammation takes place, and all the 
parts become most painfully swollen.

Lucan, ix. v. 791, gives a terrible account of this effect of 
the bite of a serpent: -- illi rubor igneus ora Succendit, 
tenditque cutem, pereunte figura Miscens cuncta tumor jam 
toto corpore major: Humanumque egressa modum super omnia 
membra Efflatur sanies late tollente veneno.

Ipse latet penitus, congesto corpore mersus; Nec lorica tenet 
distenti corporis auctum.

And straight a sudden flame began to spread, And paint his 
visage with a glowing red.

With swift expansion swells the bloated skin, ) Nought but an 
undistinguished mass is seen; } While the fair human form 
lies lost within, ) The puffy poison spreads and heaves 
around, Till all the man is in the monster drown'd.ROWE.See 
other ensamples, in the notes on Num. xxi. 6.

Said that he was a god.] As Hercules was one of the gods of 
the Phoenicians, and was worshipped in Malta under the 
epithet of alexikakov, the dispeller of evil, they probably 
thought that Paul was Hercules; and the more so, because 
Hercules was famous for having destroyed, in his youth, two 
serpents that attacked him in his cradle.

Verse 7. The chief man of the island] The term prwtov, CHIEF, 
used hereby St. Luke, was the ancient title of the governor 
of this island, as is evident from an inscription found in 
Malta, which runs thus: - l. k. viov, kur. ippeuv. prm. 
prwtov melitaiwn? Lucius Caius, son of Quirinus, a Roman 
knight, CHIEF of the Melitese. See Bochart, Phaleg. and Chan. 
vol. i. chap. 498, &c., and Grotius. This title is another 
proof of the accuracy of St. Luke, who uses the very epithet 
by which the Roman governor of that island was distinguished.

Verse 8. The father of Publius lay sick] puretoiv kai 
dusenteria; Of a fever and dysentery; perhaps a cholera 
morbus.

Paul-prayed] That God would exert his power; and laid his 
hands on him, as the means which God ordinarily used to 
convey the energy of the Holy Spirit, and healed him; God 
having conveyed the healing power by this means. In such a 
disorder as that mentioned here by St. Luke, where the bowels 
were in a state of inflammation, and a general fever aiding 
the dysentery in its work of death, nothing less than a 
miracle could have made an instantaneous cure in the patient. 
Such a cure was wrought, and even the heathens saw that it 
was the hand of God.

Verse 9. Others-which had diseases] Luke was a physician; yet 
we do not find him engaging in these cures. As a medical man, 
he might have been of use to the father of Publius; but he is 
not even consulted on the occasion. Paul enters in to him, 
prays for him, lays his hands on him, and he is healed. The 
other diseased persons who are mentioned in this verse were 
doubtless healed in the same way.

Verse 10. Honoured us with many honours] The word timh, as 
Bishop Pearce has remarked, is often used to signify a 
pecuniary recompense, or present. The Greek word seems to be 
thus used in 1 Tim. v. 17. Let the elders which rule well be 
accounted worthy of double honour, timhv, which St. 
Chrysostom, on the place, explains thus: thn twn anagkaiwn 
corhgian? a supplying them with all necessary things. 
Diodourus Siculus, and Xenophon, used the word in the same 
way. In the sense of a pecuniary recompense, or price, paid 
for any thing, the word timh is met with in 1 Cor. vi. 20; 
and 1 Cor. vii. 23. And in the Septuagint, Num. xxii. 17; 
compared with Num. xxii. 18; Psa. viii. 5; and Psa. xlix. 12; 
Prov. iii. 9. Bp. Pearce.

Such things as were necessary.] They had before given them 
many presents, and now they gave them a good sea stock; all 
that was necessary for their passage.

Verse 11. After three months] Supposing that they had reached 
Malta about the end of October, as we have already seen, then 
it appears that they left it about the end of January, or the 
beginning of February; and, though in the depth of winter, 
not the worst time for sailing, even in those seas, the wind 
being then generally more steady; and, on the whole, the 
passage more safe.

Whose sign was Castor and Pollux.] These were two fabulous 
semi-deities, reported to be the sons of Jupiter and Leda, 
who were afterwards translated to the heavens, and made the 
constellation called Gemini, or the Twins. This constellation 
was deemed propitious to mariners; and, as it was customary 
to have the images of their gods both on the head and stern 
of their ships, we may suppose that this Alexandrian ship had 
these on either her prow or stern, and that these gave name 
to the ship. We, who profess to be a Christian people, follow 
the same heathen custom: we have out ships called the Castor, 
the Jupiter, the Minerva, the Leda, (the mother of Castor and 
Pollux,) with a multitude of other demon gods and goddesses; 
so that, were ancient Romans or Grecians to visit our navy, 
they would be led to suppose that, after the lapse of more 
than 2000 years, their old religion had continued unaltered! 
Virgil speaks of a vessel called the Tiger. AEneid, x. ver. 
1l16: - Massicus aerata princeps secat aequora TIGRI.

"Massicus, chief, cuts the waves in the brazen-beaked TIGER." 
Of another called the Chimera. AEn. v. ver. 118, 223: - 
Ingentemque Gyas ingenti mole CHIMAERAM.

"Gyas the vast Chimera's bulk commands." And of another 
called the Centaur. AEn. v. ver. 122, 155, 1l7: -- CENTAURO 
invehitur magna.

"Sergestus, in the great Centaur, took the leading place." 
Besides these names, they had their tutelary gods in the 
ship, from whom they expected succour; and sometimes they had 
their images on the stern; and when they got safely to the 
end of their voyage, they were accustomed to crown these 
images with garlands: thus Virgil, Geor. i. ver. 30i5: - 
PUPPIBUS et laeti naute imposuere CORONAS.

"The joyous sailors place garlands on their sterns." Several 
ancient fables appear to have arisen out of the names of 
ships.

Jupiter is fabled to have carried off Europa, across the sea, 
in the shape of a bull; and to have carried away Ganymede, in 
the shape of an eagle. That is, these persons were carried 
away, one in a ship called Taurus, or Bull; and the other in 
one denominated Aquila, the Eagle. Why not Taurus, as well as 
Tigris? and why not Aquila, as well as Chimera?-which names 
did belong to ships, as we find from the above quotations.

Verse 12. Landing at Syracuse] In order to go to Rome from 
Malta, their readiest course was to keep pretty close to the 
eastern coast of Sicily, in order to pass through the straits 
of Rhegium and get into the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Syracuse is one of the most famous cities of antiquity: it is 
the capital of the island of Sicily, and was built about 730 
years before the Christian era.

It lies 72 miles S. by E. of Messina, and about 112 of 
Palermo. Long. 15¯.

30'. W., lat. 37¯. 17'. N. In its ancient state, it was about 
22 English miles in circumference; and was highly celebrated 
for the martial spirit of its inhabitants. This was the 
birthplace of the illustrious Archimedes; who, when the city 
was besieged by the Romans, under Marcellus, about 212 years 
before Christ, defended the place with his powerful engines 
against all the valor and power of the assailants. He beat 
their galleys to pieces by huge stones projected from his 
machines; and by hooks, chains, and levers, from the walls, 
weighed the ships out of the water, and, whirling them round, 
dashed them in pieces against each other, or sunk them to the 
bottom: several also, he is said to have destroyed by his 
burning glasses.

When the city was taken by treachery, Archimedes was found 
intensely engaged in the demonstration of a problem. A Roman 
soldier coming up, and presenting his dagger to his throat, 
he cried, "Stop, soldier, or thou wilt spoil my diagram!" The 
brute was unmoved, and murdered him on the spot.

This city was almost totally destroyed by an earthquake in 
16xc3: its present population amounts to but about 18,000. 
Christianity, in some form or other, has existed here ever 
since St. Paul spent the three days in it, mentioned in the 
text.

Verse 13. We fetched a compass] Æoqen perielqontev, Whence we 
coasted about. This will appear evident, when the coast of 
Sicily is viewed on any correct map, of a tolerably large 
scale.

Rhegium] A city and promontory in Calabria, in Italy, 
opposite to Sicily. It is now called Reggio. It had its name, 
Ærhgion, Rhegium, from the Greek Ærhgnumi, to break off; 
because it appears to have been broken off from Sicily.

The south wind blew] This was the fairest wind they could 
have from Syracuse, to reach the straits of Rhegium.

The next day to Puteoli] This place, now commonly called 
Pozzuoli, is an ancient town of Naples in the Terra di 
Lavoro; and is supposed to have been founded by the Samians, 
about 470 years before Christ. Within this city are several 
warm baths, very highly celebrated; and from these, and its 
springs in general, it seems to have had its ancient name 
Puteoli, from PUTEI, wells or pits; though some derive it 
from putor, a stench, or bad smell, because of the 
sulphureous exhalations from its warm waters. Varro gives 
both these etymologies, lib. iv. de Ling. Lat. cap. 5. It is 
famous for its temple of Jupiter Serapis, which is built, not 
according to the Grecian or Roman manner, but according to 
the Asiatic. Near this place are the remains of Cicero's 
villa, which are of great extent. The town contains, at 
present, about 10,000 inhabitants. Long. 14¯. 40'. E., lat. 
41¯. 50'. N.

Verse 14. Where we found brethren] That is, Christians; for 
there had been many in Italy converted to the faith of 
Christ, some considerable time before this, as appears from 
St. Paul's epistle to the Romans, written some years before 
this voyage.

We went toward Rome.] One of the most celebrated cities in 
the universe, the capital of Italy, and once of the whole 
world; situated on the river Tiber, 410 miles SSE. of Vienna; 
600 SE. of Paris; 730 E. by N. of Madrid; 760 W. of 
Constantinople; and 780 SE. of London. Long. 12¯. 55'. E., 
lat.

41¯. 54'. N. This famous city was founded by Romulus, at the 
end of the seventh Olympiad, A.M. 3251; of the flood, 1595; 
and 753 years before the Christian aera. The history of this 
city must be sought for in works written expressly on the 
subject, of which there are many. Modern Rome is greatly 
inferior to ancient Rome in every respect. Its population, 
taken in 1709, amounted to 138,569 souls only; among whom 
were 40 bishops, 2686 priests, 3359 monks, 1814 nuns, 893 
courtezans, between 8 and 9000 Jews, and 14 Moors. This city, 
which once tyrannized over the world by its arms, and over 
the whole Christian world by its popes, is now reduced to a 
very low state among the governments of Europe, by whom it is 
supported, for it has no power sufficient for its own 
defense.

Verse 15. When the brethren heard of us] By whom the Gospel 
was planted at Rome is not known: it does not appear that any 
apostle was employed in this work. It was probably carried 
thither by some of those who were converted to God at the day 
of pentecost; for there were then at Jerusalem, not only 
devout men, proselytes to the Jewish religion, from every 
nation under heaven, chap. ii. 5, but there were strangers of 
Rome also, chap. ii. 10. And it in most reasonable to 
believe, as we know of no other origin, that it was by these 
Christianity was planted at Rome.

As far as Appii Forum] About 52 miles from Rome; a long way 
to come on purpose to meet the apostle! The Appii Forum, or 
Market of Appius, was a town on the Appian way, a road paved 
from Rome to Campania, by the consul Appius Claudius. It was 
near the sea, and was a famous resort for sailors, peddlers, 
&c. Horace, lib. i. Satyr. 5, ver. 3, mentions this place on 
his journey from Rome to Brundusium: -- Inde FORUM APPI 
Differtum nautis, cauponibus atgue malignis.

"To Forum Appii thence we steer, a place Stuff'd with rank 
boatmen, and with vintners base." This town is now called 
Caesarilla de S. Maria.

And the Three Taverns] This was another place on the same 
road, and about 33 miles from Rome. Some of the Roman 
Christians had come as far as Appii Forum: others, to the 
Three Taverns. Bp. Pearce remarks, there are some ruins in 
that place which are now called Tre Taverne; and this place 
Cicero mentions in his epistles to Atticus, lib. ii. 11. Ab 
Appi Foro hora quarta: dederam aliam paulo ante in Tribus 
Tabernis. "Dated at ten in the morning, from Appii Forum. I 
sent off another (epistle) a little before, from the Three 
Taverns." Zosimus, lib. 2, mentions tria kaphleia, the three 
taverns, or victualling houses, where the Emperor Severus was 
strangled by the treason of Maximinus Herculeus, and his son 
Maxentius. See Lightfoot.

The word taberna, from trabs, a beam, signifies any building 
formed of timber; such as those we call booths, sheds, &c., 
which are formed of beams, planks, boards, and the like; and 
therefore me may consider it as implying, either a temporary 
residence, or some mean building, such as a cottage, &c. And 
in this sense Horace evidently uses it, Carm. lib. i. Od. iv. 
ver. 13: - Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas 
Regumque turres.

"With equal pace, impartial Fate Knocks at the palace as the 
cottage gate." FRANCIS.

This place, at first, was probably a place for booths or 
sheds, three of which were remarkable; other houses became 
associated with them in process of time, and the whole place 
denominated Tres Tabernae, from the three first remarkable 
booths set up there. It appears to have been a large town in 
the fourth century, as Optatus mentions Felix a Tribus 
Tabernis, Felix of the Three Taverns, as one of the Christian 
bishops.

Thanked God, and took courage.] He had longed to see Rome; 
(see Rom. i. 9-15;) and, finding himself brought through so 
many calamities, and now so near the place that he was met by 
a part of that Church to which, some years before, he had 
written an epistle, he gave thanks to God, who had preserved 
him, and took fresh courage, in the prospect of bearing there 
a testimony for his Lord and Master.

Verse 16. The captain of the guard] stratopedarch. This word 
properly means the commander of a camp; but it signifies the 
prefect, or commander of the pretorian cohorts, or emperor's 
guards.

Tacitus (Annal. lib. iv. cap. 2) informs us that, in the 
reign of Tiberius, Sejanus, who was then prefect of these 
troops, did, in order to accomplish his ambitious designs, 
cause them to be assembled from their quarters in the city, 
and stationed in a fortified camp near it; so that their 
commander is with peculiar propriety styled by St. Luke 
stratopedarchv, the commander of the camp. For the arrival of 
St. Paul at Rome was in the seventh year of Nero; and it is 
certain, from Suetonius, (in Tiber. cap. 37,) that the custom 
of keeping the pretorian soldiers in a camp, near the city, 
was retained by the emperors succeeding Tiberius; for the 
historian observes that Claudius, at his accession to the 
empire, was received into the camp, in castra delatus est, 
namely, of the pretorian cohorts; and so Tacitus says of 
Nero, An. lib. xii. cap. 69, that on the same occasions 
illatus castris, he was brought into the camp. Dr. Doddridge 
observes that it was customary for prisoners who were brought 
to Rome to be delivered to this officer, who had the charge 
of the state prisoners, as appears from the instance of 
Agrippa, who was taken into custody by Macro, the pretorian 
prefect, who succeeded Sejanus; (Joseph. Ant. lib. xviii. 
cap. 7. sec. 6;) and from Trajan's order to Pliny, when two 
were in commission, Plin. lib. x. ep. 65. Vinctus mitti ad 
praefectos praetorii mei debet: he should be sent bound to 
the prefects of my guards. The person who now had that office 
was the noted Afranius Burrhus; but both before and after him 
it was held by two: Tacit. An. lib. xii. sec. 42; lib. xiv. 
sec. 51. See Parkhurst.

Burrhus was a principal instrument in raising Nero to the 
throne; and had considerable influence in repressing many of 
the vicious inclinations of that bad prince. With many 
others, he was put to death by the inhuman Nero.

Burrhus is praised by the historians for moderation and love 
of justice. His treatment of St. Paul is no mean proof of 
this. Calmet.

With a soldier that kept him.] That is, the soldier to whom 
he was chained, as has been related before, chap. xii. 6.

Verse 17. Paul called the chief of the Jews together] We have 
already seen, in chap. xviii. 2, that Claudius had commanded 
all Jews to depart from Rome; see the note there: but it 
seems they were permitted to return very soon; and, from this 
verse, it appears that there were then chiefs, probably of 
synagogues, dwelling at Rome.

I have committed nothing] Lest they should have heard and 
received malicious reports against him, he thought it best to 
state his own case.

Verse 20. For the hope of Israel I am bound, &c.] As if he 
had said: This, and this alone, is the cause of my being 
delivered into the hands of the Romans; I have proclaimed 
Jesus as the Messiah; have maintained that though he was 
crucified by the Jews, yet he rose again from the dead; and, 
through him, I have preached the general resurrection of 
mankind: this all Israel professes to hope for; and yet it is 
on this account that the Jews persecute me. Both the Messiah 
and the resurrection might be said to be the hope of Israel; 
and it is hard to tell which of them is here meant: see chap. 
xiii. 6; xxiv. 15, 21; xxvi. 6. It is certain that, although 
the Jews believed in the general resurrection, yet they did 
not credit it in the manner in which Paul preached it; for he 
laid the foundation of the general resurrection on the 
resurrection of Christ.

Verse 21. We neither received letters, &c.] This is very 
strange, and shows us that the Jews knew their cause to be 
hopeless, and therefore did not send it forward to Rome. They 
wished for an opportunity to kill Paul: and, when they were 
frustrated by his appeal to the emperor, they permitted the 
business to drop. Calmet supposes they had not time to send; 
but this supposition does not appear to be sufficiently 
solid: they might have sent long before Paul sailed; and they 
might have written officially by the vessel in which the 
centurion and the prisoners were embarked. But their case was 
hopeless; and they could not augur any good to themselves 
from making a formal complaint against the apostle at the 
emperor's throne.

Verse 22. For as concerning this sect] See the note on chap. 
xxiv. 14. A saying of Justin Martyr casts some light on this 
saying of the Jews: he asserts that the Jews not only cursed 
them in their synagogues, but they sent out chosen men from 
Jerusalem, to acquaint the world, and particularly the Jews 
everywhere, that the Christians were an atheistical and 
wicked sect, which should be, detested and abhorred by all 
mankind.

Justin Martyr, Dial. p. 234.

Verse 23. To whom he expounded-the kingdom of God] To whom he 
showed that the reign of the Messiah was to be a spiritual 
reign; and that Jesus, whom the Jewish rulers had lately 
crucified, was the true Messiah, who should rule in this 
spiritual kingdom. These two points were probably those on 
which he expatiated from morning to evening, proving both out 
of the law and out of the prophets. How easily Jesus, as the 
Messiah, and his spiritual kingdom, might be proved from the 
law of Moses, any person may be satisfied, by consulting the 
notes written on those books. As to the prophets, their 
predictions are so clear, and their prophecies so obviously 
fulfilled in the person, preaching, miracles, passion, and 
death of Jesus Christ, that it is utterly impossible, with 
any show of reason, to apply them to any other.

Verse 24. Some believed, &c.] His message was there treated 
as his Gospel is to the present day: some believe, and are 
converted; others continue in obstinate unbelief, and perish. 
Could the Jews then have credited the spiritual nature of the 
Messiah's kingdom, they would have found little difficulty to 
receive Jesus Christ as the MESSIAH.

Multitudes of those now called Christians can more easily 
credit Jesus as the Messiah than believe the spiritual nature 
of his kingdom. The cross is the great stumbling block: 
millions expect Jesus and his kingdom who cannot be persuaded 
that the cross is the way to the crown.

Verse 25. Agreed not among themselves] It seems that a 
controversy arose between the Jews themselves, in consequence 
of some believing, and others disbelieving; and the two 
parties contested together; and, in respect to the 
unbelieving party, the apostle quoted the following passage 
from Isa. vi. 9.

Verse 26. Hearing ye shall hear, &c.] See the notes on 
Matthew xiii. 14, and John xii. 39, 40.

Verse 28. The salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles] St. 
Paul had spoken to this effect twice before, chap. xiii. 46, 
and chap. xviii. 6, where see the notes; but here he uses a 
firmer tone, being out of the Jewish territories, and under 
the protection of the emperor. By the salvation of God, all 
the blessings of the kingdom of Christ are intended. This 
salvation God could have sent unto the Gentiles, 
independently of the Jewish disobedience; but He waited till 
they had rejected it, and then reprobated them, and elected 
the Gentiles. Thus the elect became reprobate, and the 
reprobate elect.

They will hear it.] That is, they will obey it; for akouein 
signifies, not only to hear, but also to obey.

Verse 29. And had great reasoning among themselves.] The 
believers contending with the unbelievers; and thus we may 
suppose that the cause of truth gained ground. For 
contentions about the truth and authenticity of the religion 
of Christ infallibly end in the triumph and extension of that 
religion.

Verse 30. Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house] 
As a state prisoner, he might have had an apartment in the 
common prison; but peculiar favour was showed him, and he was 
permitted to dwell alone, with the soldier that guarded him, 
ver. 16. Finding now an opportunity of preaching the Gospel, 
he hired a house for the purpose, and paid for it, St. 
Chrysostom observes, by the fruits of his own labour. Here he 
received all that came unto him, and preached the Gospel with 
glorious success; so that his bonds became the means of 
spreading the truth, and he became celebrated even in the 
palace of Nero, Phil. i. 12, 13; and we find that there were 
several saints, even in Caesar's household, Phil. iv. 22, 
which were, no doubt, the fruits of the apostle's ministry. 
It is said that during his two years' residence here he 
became acquainted with Seneca, the philosopher, between whom 
and the apostle an epistolary correspondence took place. In 
an ancient MS. of Seneca's epistles in my own possession, 
these letters are extant, and are in number fourteen and have 
a prologue to them written by St. Jerome. That they are very 
ancient cannot be doubted; but learned men have long ago 
agreed that they are neither worthy of Paul nor of Seneca.

While he was in captivity, the Church at Philippi, to which 
he was exceedingly dear, sent him some pecuniary assistance 
by the hands of their minister, Epaphroditus, who, it 
appears, risked his life in the service of the apostle, and 
was taken with a dangerous malady. When he got well, he 
returned to Philippi, and, it is supposed, carried with him 
that epistle which is still extant; and from it we learn that 
Timothy was then at Rome with Paul, and that he had the 
prospect of being shortly delivered from his captivity. See 
Phil. i. 12, 13; ii. 25; iv. 15, 16, 18, &c.

Verse 31. Preaching the kingdom of God] Showing the spiritual 
nature of the true Church, under the reign of the Messiah. 
For an explanation of this phrase, see the note on Matt. iii. 
2.

Those things which concern the Lord] The Redeemer of the 
world was to be represented as the LORD; as JESUS; and as the 
CHRIST. As the Lord, o kuriov, the sole potentate, upholding 
all things by the word of his power; governing the world and 
the Church; having all things under his control, and all his 
enemies under his feet; in short, the maker and upholder of 
all things, and the judge of all men. As Jesus-the saviour; 
he who saves, delivers, and preserves; and especially he who 
saves his people from their sins. For the explanation of the 
word JESUS, see the note on John i. 17. As Christ-the same as 
Messiah; both signifying the ANOINTED: he who was appointed 
by the Lord to this great and glorious work; who had the 
Spirit without measure, and who anoints, communicates the 
gifts and graces of that Spirit to all true believers. St. 
Paul taught the things which concerned or belonged to the 
Lord Jesus Christ. He proved him to be the Messiah foretold 
by the prophets, and expected by the Jews; he spoke of what 
he does as the Lord, what he does as Jesus, and what he does 
as Christ. These contain the sum and substance of all that is 
called the Gospel of Christ.

Yet, the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, 
necessarily include the whole account of his incarnation, 
preaching in Judea, miracles, persecutions, passion, death, 
burial, resurrection, ascension, intercession, and his 
sending down the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. These 
were the subjects on which the apostle preached for two whole 
years, during his imprisonment at Rome.

With all confidence] parrhsiav, Liberty of speech; perfect 
freedom to say all he pleased, and when he pleased. He had 
the fullest toleration from the Roman government to preach as 
he pleased, and what he pleased; and the unbelieving Jews had 
no power to prevent him.

It is supposed that it was during this residence at Rome that 
he converted Onesimus, and sent him back to his master 
Philemon, with the epistle which is still extant. And it is 
from Philemon 23, 24, of that epistle, that we learn that 
Paul had then with him Epaphras, Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, 
and Luke.

Here St. Luke's account of Paul's travels and sufferings 
ends; and it is probable that this history was written soon 
after the end of the two years mentioned in ver. 30.

That the apostle visited many places after this, suffered 
much in the great cause of Christianity, and preached the 
Gospel of Jesus with amazing success, is generally believed. 
How he came to be liberated we are not told; but it is likely 
that, having been kept in this sort of confinement for about 
two years, and none appearing against him, he was released by 
the imperial order.

Concerning the time, place, and manner of his death, we have 
little certainty. It is commonly believed that, when a 
general persecution was raised against the Christians by 
Nero, about A.D. 64, under pretense that they had set Rome on 
fire, both St. Paul and St. Peter then sealed the truth with 
their blood; the latter being crucified with his head 
downward; the former being beheaded, either in A.D. 64 or 65, 
and buried in the Via Ostiensis. EUSEBIUS, Hist, Eccles. lib. 
ii. cap. 25, intimates that the tombs of these two apostles, 
with their inscriptions, were extant in his time; and quotes 
as his authority a holy man of the name of Caius, who wrote 
against the sect of the Cataphrygians, who has asserted this, 
as from his personal knowledge. See Eusebius, by Reading, 
vol. i. p. 83; and see Dr. Lardner, in his life of this 
apostle, who examines this account with his usual perspicuity 
and candour. Other writers have been more particular 
concerning his death: they say that it was not by the command 
of Nero that he was martyred, but by that of the prefects of 
the city, Nero being then absent; that he was beheaded at 
Aquae Salviae, about three miles from Rome, on Feb. 22; that 
he could not be crucified, as Peter was, because he was a 
freeman of the city of Rome. But there is great uncertainty 
on these subjects, so that we cannot positively rely on any 
account that even the ancients have transmitted to us 
concerning the death of this apostle; and much less on the 
accounts given by the moderns; and least of all on those 
which are to be found in the Martyrologists. Whether Paul 
ever returned after this to Rome has not yet been 
satisfactorily proved. It is probable that he did, and 
suffered death there, as stated above; but still we have no 
certainty.

THERE are several subscriptions to this book in different 
manuscripts: these are the principal: - The Acts of the 
Apostles - The Acts of the holy Apostles - The end of the 
Acts of the holy Apostles, written by Luke the Evangelist, 
and fellow traveler of the illustrious Apostle Paul - By the 
holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke, &c. &c.

The versions are not less various in their subscriptions.

The end of the Acts, that is, the History of the holy 
Apostles.-SYRIAC.

Under the auspices and help of God, the book of the Acts of 
the pure Apostles is finished; whom we humbly supplicate to 
obtain us mercy by all their prayers. Amen. And may praise be 
ascribed to God, the Lord of the universe!-ARABIC.

This (book) of the Acts of the Apostles, which has been by 
many translated into the Roman tongue, is translated from the 
Roman and Greek tongue into the AEthiopic.-AETHIOPIC.

On the nature and importance of the Acts of the Apostles, see 
what is said in the preface to this book. To which may be 
added the following observations, taken from the conclusion 
of Dr. Dodd's Commentary.

"The plainness and simplicity of the narration are strong 
circumstances in its favour; the writer appears to have been 
very honest and impartial, and to have set down, very fairly, 
the objections which were made to Christianity, both by Jews 
and heathens, and the reflections which enemies cast upon it, 
and upon the first preachers of it. He has likewise, with a 
just and honest freedom, mentioned the weaknesses, faults, 
and prejudices, both of the apostles and their converts. 
There is a great and remarkable harmony between the 
occasional hints dispersed up and down in St. Paul's 
epistles, and the facts recorded in this history; insomuch as 
that it is generally acknowledged that the history of the 
Acts is the best clue to guide us in the studying of the 
epistles written by that apostle. The other parts of the New 
Testament do likewise agree with this history, and give great 
confirmation to it; for the doctrines and principles are 
every where uniformly the same; the conclusions of the 
gospels contain a brief account of those things which are 
more particularly related in the beginning of the Acts. And 
there are frequent intimations, in other parts of the 
gospels, that such an effusion of the Spirit was expected; 
and that with a view to the very design which the apostles 
and primitive Christians are said to have carried on, by 
virtue of that extraordinary effusion which Christ poured out 
upon his disciples after his ascension; and, finally, the 
epistles of the other apostles, as well as those of St. Paul, 
plainly suppose such things to have happened as are related 
in the Acts of the Apostles; so that the history of the Acts 
is one of the most important parts of the sacred history, for 
neither the gospels nor epistles could have been so clearly 
understood without it; but by the help of it the whole scheme 
of the Christian revelation is set before us in an easy and 
manifest view.

"Even the incidental things mentioned by St. Luke are so 
exactly agreeable to all the accounts which remain of the 
best ancient historians, among the Jews and heathens, that no 
person who had forged such a history, in later ages, could 
have had that external confirmation, but would have betrayed 
himself by alluding to some customs or opinions since sprung 
up; or by misrepresenting some circumstance, or using some 
phrase or expression not then in use. The plea of forgery, 
therefore, in later ages, cannot be allowed; and for a man to 
have published a history of such things so early as St. Luke 
wrote; (that is, while some of the apostles and many other 
persons were alive who were concerned in the transactions 
which he has recorded;) if his account had not been 
punctually true, could have been only to have exposed himself 
to an easy confutation and certain infamy.

"As, therefore, the Acts of the Apostles are in themselves 
consistent and uniform, the incidental things agreeable to 
the best ancient historians which have come down to us, and 
the main facts supported and confirmed by the other books of 
the New Testament, and by the unanimous testimony of so many 
of the ancient fathers, we may, I think, very fairly, and 
with great justness, conclude that, if any history of former 
times deserves credit, the Acts of the Apostles ought to be 
received and credited; and, if the history of the Acts of the 
Apostles be true, Christianity cannot be false: for a 
doctrine so good in itself, and attended with so many 
miraculous and Divine testimonies, has an the possible masks 
of a true revelation." On St. PAUL'S character and conduct, 
see the observations at the end of chap. ix. 43, where the 
subject is particularly considered.

The book of the ACTS is not only a history of the Church, the 
most ancient and most impartial, as it is the most authentic 
extant, but it is also a history of God's grace and 
providence, The manner in which he has exerted himself in 
favour of Christianity, and of the persons who were 
originally employed to disseminate its doctrines, shows us 
the highest marks of the Divine approbation. Had not that 
cause been of God, could he have so signally interposed in 
its behalf? Would he have wrought such a series of miracles 
for its propagation and support? And would all its genuine 
professors have submitted to sustain the loss of all things, 
had not his own Spirit, by its consolations in their hearts, 
given them to feel that his favour was better than life? That 
the hardships suffered by the primitive apostles and 
Christians were great, the facts themselves related in this 
book sufficiently declare: that their consolation and 
happiness were abundant, the cheerful manner in which they 
met and sustained those hardships demonstrates. He who 
cordially embraced Christianity found himself no loser by it; 
if he lost earthly good in consequence, it was infinitely 
overbalanced by the spiritual good which he received. Paul 
himself, who suffered most, had this compensated by 
superabounding happiness. Wherever the Gospel comes, it finds 
nothing but darkness, sin, and misery; wherever it is 
received, it communicates light, holiness, and felicity. 
Reader, magnify thy God and saviour, who hath called thee to 
such a state of salvation. Should thou neglect it, how 
grievous must thy punishment be! Not only receive its 
doctrines, as a system of wisdom and goodness, but receive 
them as motives of conduct, and as a rule of life; and show 
thy conscientious belief of them, by holding the truth in 
righteousness, and thus adorn these doctrines of God thy 
saviour in all things.-Amen.

I have often with pleasure, and with great advantage to my 
subject, quoted Dr. Lardner, whose elabourate works in 
defense of Divine revelation are really beyond all praise. 
The conclusion of his Credibility of the Gospel History is 
peculiarly appropriate; and the introduction of it here can 
need no apology. I hope, with him, I may also say: - "I have 
now performed what I undertook, and have shown that the 
account given by the sacred writers of persons and things is 
confirmed by other ancient authors of the best note. There is 
nothing in the books of the New Testament unsuitable to the 
age in which they are supposed to have been written. There 
appears in these writers a knowledge of the affairs of those 
times, not to be found in authors of later ages. We are 
hereby assured that the books of the New Testament are 
genuine, and that they were written by persons who lived at 
or near the time of those events of which they have given the 
history.

"Any one may be sensible how hard it is for the most learned, 
acute, and cautious man, to write a book in the character of 
some person of an earlier age; and not betray his own time by 
some mistake about the affairs of the age in which he 
pretends to place himself; or by allusions to customs or 
principles since sprung up; or by some phrase or expression 
not then in use. It is no easy thing to escape all these 
dangers in the smallest performance, though it be a treatise 
of theory or speculation: these hazards are greatly increased 
when the work is of any length; and especially if it be 
historical, and be concerned with characters and customs. It 
is yet more difficult to carry on such a design in a work 
consisting of several pieces, written, to all appearance, by 
several persons. Many indeed are desirous to deceive, but all 
hate to be deceived; and therefore, though attempts have been 
made to impose upon the world in this way, they have never, 
or very rarely, succeeded; but have been detected and exposed 
by the skill and vigilance of those who have been concerned 
for the truth.

"The volume of the New Testament consists of several pieces: 
these are ascribed to eight several persons; and there are 
the strongest appearances that they were not all written by 
any one hand, but by as many persons as they are ascribed to. 
There are lesser differences in the relations of some facts, 
and such seeming contradictions as would never have happened 
if these books had been all the work of one person, or of 
several who wrote in concert. There are as many peculiarities 
of temper and style as there are names of writers; divers of 
which show no depth of genius nor compass of knowledge! Here 
are representations of titles, posts, behaviour of persons of 
higher and lower ranks in many parts of the world; persons 
are introduced, and their characters are set in a full light; 
here is a history of things done in several cities and 
countries; and there are allusions to a vast variety of 
customs and tenets, of persons of several nations, sects, and 
religions. The whole is written without affectation, with the 
greatest simplicity and plainness, and is confirmed by other 
ancient writers of unquestionable authority. If it be 
difficult for a person of learning and experience to compose 
a small treatise concerning matters of speculation, with the 
characters of a more early age than that in which he writes, 
it is next to impossible that such a work of considerable 
length, consisting of several pieces, with a great variety of 
historical facts, representations of characters, principles, 
and customs of several nations, and distant countries, of 
persons of ranks and degrees, of many interests and parties, 
should be performed by eight several persons, the most of 
them unlearned, without any appearance of concert.

"I might perhaps call this argument a demonstration, if that 
term had not been often misapplied by men of warm 
imagination, and been bestowed upon reasonings that have but 
a small degree of probability. But though it should not be a 
strict demonstration that these writings are genuine, or 
though it be not absolutely impossible, in the nature of the 
thing, that the books of the New Testament should have been 
composed in a later age than that to which they are assigned, 
and of which they have innumerable characters, yet, I think, 
it is in the highest degree improbable, and altogether 
incredible.

"If the books of the New Testament were written by persons 
who lived before the destruction of Jerusalem, that is, if 
they were written at the time in which they are said to have 
been written, the things related in them are true. If they 
had not been matter of fact, they would not have been 
credited by any persons near that time, and in those parts of 
the world in which they are said to have been done, but would 
have been treated as the most notorious lies and falsehoods. 
Suppose three or four books should now appear amongst us, in 
the language most generally understood, giving an account of 
many remarkable and extraordinary events, which had happened 
in some kingdom of Europe, and in the most noted cities of 
the countries next adjoining to it; some of them said to have 
happened between sixty and seventy gears ago, others between 
twenty and thirty, others nearer our own time; would they not 
be looked upon as the most manifest and ridiculous forgeries 
and impostures that ever were contrived? Would great numbers 
of persons in those very places, change their religious 
principles and practices upon the credit of things reported 
to be publicly done, which no man ever heard of before? Or, 
rather, is it possible that such a design as this would be 
conceived by any sober and serious persons, or even the most 
wild and extravagant? If the history of the New Testament be 
credible, the Christian religion is true. If the things that 
were related to have been done by Jesus, and by his 
followers, by virtue of powers derived from him, do not prove 
a person to come from God, and that his doctrine is true and 
divine, nothing can. And as Jesus does here, in the 
circumstances of his birth, life, sufferings, and after 
exaltation, and in the success of his doctrine, answer the 
description of the great person promised and foretold in the 
Old Testament, he is at the same time showed to be the 
Messiah.

"From the agreement of the writers of the New Testament with 
other ancient writers, we are not only assured that these 
books are genuine, but also that they are come down to us 
pure and uncorrupted, without any considerable interpolations 
or alterations. If such had been made in them, there would 
have appeared some smaller differences at least between them 
and other ancient writings.

"There has been in all ages a wicked propensity in mankind to 
advance their own notions and fancies by deceits and 
forgeries: they have been practised by heathens, Jews, and 
Christians, in support of imaginary historical facts, 
religious schemes and practices, and political interests.

With these views some whole books have been forged, and 
passages inserted into others of undoubted authority. Many of 
the Christian writers of the second and third centuries, and 
of the following ages, appear to have had false notions 
concerning the state of Judea between the nativity of Jesus 
and the destruction of Jerusalem; and concerning many other 
things occasionally mentioned in the New Testament. The 
consent of the best ancient writers with those of the New 
Testament is a proof that these books are still untouched, 
and that they have not been new modelled and altered by 
Christians of later times, in conformity to their own 
peculiar sentiments.

"This may be reckoned an argument that the generality of 
Christians had a very high veneration for these books; or 
else that the several sects among them have had an eye upon 
each other, that no alterations might be made in those 
writings to which they have all appealed. It is also an 
argument that the Divine providence has all along watched 
over and guarded these books, (a very fit object of especial 
care,) which contain the best of principles, were apparently 
written with the best views, and have in them inimitable 
characters of truth and simplicity."-See Dr. Lardner's WORKS, 
vol. i. p. 419.

Let him answer these arguments who can.-A. C.