And though in words they take upon them to be the only servants, sons, and saints of God, as heretics and schismatics ordinarily do, yet these words of theirs and their confident calling on God are not such fruits by which you can judge well of them, for it is not every one which believeth on me, which acknowledgeth me, which looketh for salvation from me, that— at the day of judgment, Lord, we are the men which thou by thy power hast enabled to foretell things to come, and by the same to exorcise devils, and do all kind of miracles. saying, I never knew you: believeth and entertaineth all these commands here contained in this sermon, (beginning ch. v. 1,) and practiseth them, he is like a prudent builder, that laid the foundation of his house upon a rock: (see note on ch. x. [b]). land floods that proceeded from that sudden rain, by, τῷ ὀνδμ. (The things that heathen men are so solicitous for; they that worship false idol gods, or that acknowledge nothing of a divine providence,) for the gospel tells us (not that we have no need of them, but) that God knows we have need of them, and will in his providence take care for our wants, help us to the necessaries of life in due time, as long as he affords us life. But let your principal and first care be to approve yourselves the obedient servants of God, performing all those things with all diligence and exactness, which are required to render you acceptable in his sight, and then for the necessaries of this life (though ye now, which follow me, have no way to lay in for yourselves) I promise you, that they shall not be wanting to you, I will take care they shall be brought in unto you. Be not therefore beforehand importunely doubtful or solicitous concerning your future subsistence, be not solicitous for that to-day, which may be soon enough cared for to-morrow, only labour and pray for that which is sufficient for the present time; and when the future comes, then take care and pray for that, let that have the proportion of care and prayer, which is due to it, laid or charged upon it, and let not the present have the charge and burden of the future also, having enough of its own trouble and turmoil belonging to it. (Thus is this whole discourse directly designed by Christ to prohibit all anxiety for the future in a Christian, though not absolutely all care or provision for the present necessities of life, or the prudent managing of store and possessions, when God gives such. Every day, as it comes, requiring that duty from us, to preserve that life in ourselves (and those that belong unto us) which God hath bestowed on us. AFTER the finishing of this sermon of his, there was great resort unto him, not only for his doctrine, but his miracles of cures, &c. fell down and besought him that he would please to make use of his power, whereby he was confident that he was able to cure his leprosy. he was cleansed or cured from his leprosy. Be sure thou divulge not this to others, but according to the law shew thyself to the priest, and offer the offering required of all such as are thus [c] shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, [d] for a testimony unto them. [a] worshipped] Προσκυνεῖ, προσπίπτει, saith Hesychius and Phavorinus, it signifies to fall down, as suppliants do to any. [b] See thou tell no man] What was the reason why Christ so oft commanded the concealing of his miracles, and of his being the Messias, will best be conjectured by considering the several places where this is mentioned. First here to the leper cured by him, See thou tell nobody, ver. 4; then Matt. ix, to the blind restored to sight, he charged them, saying, See ye tell no man, ver. 30. And as yet there is no reason discernible in the contexts, unless perhaps in this latter, when they obeying not his command, but his fame spreading, the demoniacs coming to him, he cures them, which the Pharisees hearing of, say, He casts out Tr. Sanhed. sect. 10. [c] shew thyself to the priest] The leper continued without the camp or city; on the day of his cleansing he was led to the outside of the camp, and in the latter ages to the gate of Jerusalem, and the priest went out to meet him, and performing some rites for him, afterwards received him into the city or camp, and by degrees into the sanctuary. This was the form or manner of shewing himself to the priest, (who, as the παστοφόροι among the Egyptians, was exercised in all kind of knowledge, particularly in that of being able to judge of diseases in the body,) and this shewing was necessary to every one that had been leprous, though never so perfectly cured, Levit. iv. 2; and therefore Christ, in obedience to the law, here requires it of him. [d] for a testimony] The phrase εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς, for a testimony to them, may possibly connect with λέγει ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Jesus saith, in the beginning of the verse, and λέγει αὐτῷ, he saith unto him, Mark i. 44, not with προσέταξε Μωσῆς, Moses commanded next before it; or, [e] tormented] Βασανίζεσθαι doth not always signify torment or sharp pain, for here the palsy is not such, but any great disaffection or disease of body, or commonly any punishment; as ver. 29, and so ch. xviii. 34, βασανισταί, lictors, gaolers, according to that of the old Glossary, βασανίζω, not only crucio, torqueo, "to torment," but coerceo too, agreeable to that of imprisoning. For I am a man, who though I am under other men's authority, that of the chief commander, and of the emperor, yet have under me soldiers for my military commands, and servants for my domestic, and whatsoever I command them is done by them as surely as if I did it myself, how much more canst thou with thy word command health (who art the word, which healeth all things, Wisd. xvi. 12.) without troubling thyself to come down to my house? [c] will he give] Μὴ ἐπιδώσει is here no more than will he give? The Greek μὴ being oft all one with the Hebrew מי, nunquid? as in the Gemara, מי כתיב. Nunquid scriptum est? "Is it written?" At this saying of the centurion's Jesus expressed much wonderment, and calling to his disciples, said with some earnestness of asseveration, I have not found any Jew so fully persuaded of my power, or that behaves himself so much like a believer, as this Gentile. [f] faith] There are five acceptions of the word πίστις, faith, in the New Testament. First, the faith or believing that Christ was able to cure diseases, &c. So here, and ch. ix. 22, Acts xiv. 9; and under this head the faith of the disciples, by which they believed Christ so far as that by his delegated power they were able to do the like miracles, Matt. xvii. 20, and xxi. 22, Mark xi. 24, 1 Cor. xiii. 2, and perhaps ch. xii. 9, where faith as a χέρισμα, or gift of the Spirit, is joined with the gift of healing. But this which is now so very admirable will within a while be frequently exemplified: for the old prophets have oft foretold it, (and now the time of the completion approacheth,) that many multitudes from all parts of the world will come ² affected, punished. [h] sit down] The custom of ἀνάκλισις, accubitus, "lying along at meat," so usual among the Grecians and the Romans, though it be not mentioned in the Old Testament, (but on the other side, tables were in use, at which they sat, ἐκάθισαν, Ecclus. xxxi. 13; and so saith ¹ Philo distinctly of Joseph's brethren, ἐκάθισαν, they sat, μήπω τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν ταῖς συμποτικαῖς σανουσίαις κατακλίσει χρωμένων, "the custom of lying along at meat being not then come in among men,") yet under the time of the New Testament (and before) it was come in among the Jews also. Many places there are in the New Testament where this use appears, and that both within doors, on beds, and abroad (in the fields and in ᵐ gardens) on the ground, ἐπὶ χόρτῳ χλωρῷ, Mark vi. 39, upon the green grass, which is, ver. 40, described by ἀνέπεσον πρασιὰ πρασιὰ, they lay along rank by rank in several areolæ or beds. For so are πρασιὰ φυτεῖων σχέσεις τετράγωνοι, (saith the Scholiast on ᵐ Homer, upon ἵνθα δὲ κοσμηταὶ πρασιὰ,) "four-square divisions," which from thence we vulgarly call beds in gardens, because they were so used, as the κλιναὶ, beds in the houses, (see note on Mark vi. 40.) The manner of this lying at meat is described by many, and shall no further be recited here, than as will be useful to explain some passages in the evangelists. The chief person lay at the head of the bed, (which the ¹ Πίστις καὶ βίος. ¹ P. 433. ᵐ So Cic. de Off. I. 3, in the story of Canins, the eques Romanus, that bought the garden of Pythius, that he might make invitations, and feast in it. ᵐ Ιλ. π. And the Jews themselves to whom this Messias was primarily sent, will disbelieve, and be punished accordingly, shut out of the spiritual feast, out of the church here, and heaven hereafter, deprived of the light and cheerful heat that is wont to be in houses of feasting, and left to utter darkness, (the cold of the night, and winter, without,) stupid blindness here, and eternal darkness hereafter. found his wife's mother sick of a fever, and laid to bed under it. provided for them what was necessary for their entertainment. [h] weeping] That κλανθμὸς is deduced from κλαίω, clamo, "to cry," there is no doubt; and that both of them signify (more than weeping or shedding of tears) crying out and ejaculation, see Num. xi. 10, (where it was that which was heard by Moses;) Job xxx. 13, the voice of them that wail, or cry out in lamentations; Ezra iii. 13, the noise of the weeping, or wailing of the people; and so Isaiah lxv. 19, Jer. xxxi. 16. As for βρυγμὸς, which follows, though by that which Hesychius saith of βρύχω, (ὁδοῖσι πιέζοντα ζόφον ἀποτελεῖν, ὡς ἐν ῥίγει συμβαίνει,) it might be thought to signify chattering of teeth, proper to a state of cold; and agreeable to the second notion of hell, by some mentioned from Job xxiv. 19, gehenna nivis, "the hell of snow;" as the other is gehenna ignis, "the hell of fire;" yet the notion of βρύχω, Acts vii. 54, for anger, or rage, which is proper to that of gnashing the teeth, and the mention of fire joined with it, Matt. xiii. 4. and 50, which cannot agree with chattering, do sufficiently justify the ordinary rendering, gnashing, or grinding of teeth, as in pain or rage is usual. ° In Ver. 1. ° Sat. II. 119. When by the approach of the evening-cool it was more convenient, they— He was so affected with all the miseries that befall us, that out of compassion to us, he made use of his divine power to heal even our bodies of the diseases that were on them. HAMMOND, VOL. I. D [i] took our infirmities] This place of scripture cited here by the evangelist out of Isaiah liii. 4, is principally fulfilled in the sufferings of Christ on the cross, where he bare our sins in his own body, that is, suffered the punishment of them; and it is so applied 1 Peter ii. 24. Yet here it is applied also to Christ's healing the sick, and with a kind of sympathy bearing their corporal infirmities, and removing them from the patient, (and both these kinds of bearing our diseases were requisite in our perfect High Priest, Heb. v. 1, and iv. 15;) by which it is apparent, that the same prophetic scripture may truly and fitly belong to two or more events, and, beside the first literal, have a double remarkable πλήρωσις, or eminent completion. [k] dead] There is a figure in rhetoric called ἀντανάκλασις, whereby it hath been usual in all sorts of authors to affect to use the same word twice in the same place, though it be ofttimes in a different sense. In the holy writers there are frequent examples of this. Psalm xviii. 26, With the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward, where frowardness or peevishness, being a fault and piece of stubborn ill nature, cannot properly be affirmed of God, to whom yet those words belong, (as appears by the next words, and the afflicted people thou wilt save, ver. 27.) The only meaning is, that those that deal frowardly or stubbornly with God shall be punished by him, and that there expressed (by this figure now mentioned), thou shalt shew thyself froward, only by reason of the word froward preceding. So in the prophet, If ye walk contrary to me, I will also walk contrary to you; where walking contrary, in the first place, is their obstinacy or frowardness against God; in the second, God's punishing, sending judgments on them, thus expressed by this figure. So Jer. xxxiii. 17, upon the mention of the word liberty, follows, liberty to the sword, &c., that is, destroying, quite contrary to the liberty before spoken of. So Matt. v. 19, Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, (the iota or tittle mentioned before,) &c. he shall be least in the kingdom of God, that is, indeed, shall not be admitted at all, which by this figure is thus expressed, in relation to what went before, He shall be the least, as he breaks the least; without which, that would not have been the style in all likelihood. Thus Isaiah lxv. 11, Ye are they that furnish the drink-offering to that number—Therefore will I number you to the sword, &c. Thus Matt. xii. 50, upon mention of his mother and brethren seeking him, which was literally true of Mary, &c., Christ's reply is in another, not a literal sense, Whosoever doth the will of my Father, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. So 1 Cor. viii. 2, speaking of the knowing of God, in the vulgar, ordinary sense of knowing, he adds, ver. 3, But if any man love God, he is known of God; in another notion of knowledge for approbation: and in the same kind again, Gal. iv. 9, Now after ye have known God, or rather are known of God; and Rom. xiv. 13, Let us no longer judge one another, that is, censure, separate from communion, but rather judge this, quite in another sense, as judging signifies thinking fit and resolving; and Rev. xxii. 18, 19, Ἐὰν γις ἐπιτιθῇ, If any man shall add to these things, ἐπιθῆσει ὁ Θεός, God shall add to him the plagues, &c.; and so ἰὰν γις ἀφαιρῇ, If any man shall take away, God shall take away his part out of the book of life. Agreeable to these is this phrase here, on mention of the dead father preceding, Let the dead bury their dead, but follow thou me; that is, (not, Let the dead, but,) Let others do that office, inter the dead; but [d] "Or here and in some other places hath a peculiar notion, nearer an expletive than a causal, and is best rendered by the Latin scilicet, the English thus, or the like, as a form only of introducing the speech that comes after, He shall say unto them, what shall he say? Why, or Thus he shall say, I know you not, &c. So ch. x. 7, and so ch. xxvi. 72. He denied with an oath, ὅτι οὐκ οἶδα, which will be best rendered, saying, I know him not, so vv. 74, 75. In all which places, if it shall be rendered that, the words will not be coherent; but if it be rendered saying, or else quite omitted, as an expletive, and not rendered at all, the sense will be perspicuous. Thus I conceive is ὅτι to be taken Rom. iii. 8, καὶ μὴ (καθὼς βλασφημούμεθα, καὶ καθὼς φασί τινες ἡμᾶς λέγειν) ὅτι ποιήσωμεν, &c., and why should we not say, (as they say we do,) to wit, Let us do evil, &c. [e] the floods] The word ποταμοὶ doth not peculiarly signify rivers, that is, streams or channels, either beginning from springs or proceeding from the sea, but is a general word, of which, as those rivers are one species, so are land-floods or torrents, that arise from any tempestuous, sudden rain, another; and the latter of these is here meant, being joined to the descending of the rain, and accompanied with the blowing of the winds. Thus in Homer, II. δ. 452. 'Ως δ' ὅτε χείμαρροι ποταμοὶ, κατ' ἄρεσφι ῥίοντες. "As when the torrent rivers running down from the mountains —" Where, saith Eustathius, the word ποταμοὶ is a generical word, χείμαρροι, specifical, ποταμὸς being of two sorts; 1. ἀίνναος, "a continual river" that flows from a spring; and 2. χείμαρρος, "that comes in a torrent from a tempestuous rain," (ὄμβριμον ὕδωρ, "rain water" there in Homer;) and therefore he concludes, τύδε ποταμὸς χειμάρροος παρακείμενον ἔχει τῷ γένει τὸ εἶδος, ὁμοίως τῷ βοῦς ταῦρος, "The word ποταμὸς hath the adjective χειμάρροος added to it, the specifical word to the generical, as if to βοῦς the word ταῦρος were added." And so as βοῦς is sometimes taken peculiarly for a bull, though it be a more general comprehensive word, and signify an ox also, so doth ποταμὸς here signify a land flood, or torrent, though in its own amplitude it signify a river also, just as χίρτος, the generical word for grass and flowers, &c. is yet by the context restrained to signify flowers peculiarly, ch. vi. 30. And at this they were wonderfully amazed, and terrified, (Mark iv. 41, Luke viii. 25.) saying— ⁷ that country where Gergesa and Gadara (Mark v. 1) lie near together: see Mark viii. 10. For all this sermon of his, whether spoken continually, or with pauses between, was delivered by him as by one which had extraordinary power and mission, prophetic at least, which since Ezra's time had been intermitted (as the Jews confess), and not as the doctors of law among the Jews. ### CHAP. VIII. WHEN he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. [a] to cast them out] The devils possessing men in those days, which was much more ordinary before the coming of Christ, and about that time, than it hath been since, (Christ having much retrenched and restrained Satan's power,) had generally corporeal, discernible effects attending it, diseases of all kinds, epilepsies, &c. And agreeably thereto the apostle's delivering men up to Satan is said to be εἰς ὄλεθρον σαρκὸς, to the destruction of the flesh. And therefore before any such disease could be cured, the devil must be cast out. And accordingly here the same power is given to the disciples to cast out devils and to heal diseases. [b] Peter] His name was Simon, but is now, John i. 43, altered by Christ into ΝΩΝΩ, which in Syriac signifies, (as it is rendered in Greek,) πέτρα, a stone. Πέτρα, saxum, cautes, silex, saith the old Glos- sary, it signifies a stone, or rock, or flint, but in this place no more than a foundation-stone, (for such the apostles were, Ephes. ii. 20, Rev. xxi. 14,) as that is laid upon the corner stone, Jesus Christ. And upon that and other the like (the rest of the apostles, styled twelve found- ations, Rev. xxi.) all believers, as living stones, are built, 1 Peter ii. 5. This Greek word πέτρα in the feminine is exactly all one with πέτρος in the masculine, as may appear not only by Matt. xvi. 18, where that which is in the Greek, Thou art Πέτρος, and upon this πέτρα, &c., is in the Syriac, Thou art Kipha, and upon this kipha, &c., but also by other ° Tom. 7. p. 107. l. 3. Ῥ Ib. p. 169. l. 16. Ῥ Ib. p. 554. Ῥ Ap. Euseb. l. 4. c. 15. [a] within] The particle ἐν (and ἐντός) is oft used in the sacred writings, not for within, but amongst; so ch. xvi. 7, where their διαλογισμός or dispute was not mental but verbal; for it is added, λέγοντες, saying; and many the like. One eminent place there is, Exod. xvii. 7, Εἰ Θεὸς ἐν ἡμῖν? Is the Lord among us? and from thence 2 Cor. xiii. 5, Do you not discern yourselves, that Jesus Christ, ἐν ὑμῖν ἐστι, is amongst you? Do not the many miracles of Christ, done before you, give assurance that Christ is among you? But yet here it may be in the other sense, so as εἶπον ἐν ἰαυτοῖς, saying within themselves, be all one with ἐνθυμήσεις, their thoughts, and thinking in their hearts, ver. 4; so ver. 21, ἔλεγε ἐν ἰαυτῇ is, without doubt, speaking within herself. And Jesus by his divine power, as searcher of hearts, discerning whether their thoughts or words whispered among themselves and not spoken audibly, said unto them, Why do you pass such malicious causeless censures? d Be cured of thy palsy, and walk about. e that Christ in this state of exinanition hath authority to forgive sins here, to men that lie under punishment of them, and consequently to deliver from their bond those that were delivered up to Satan, and so tormented by him (This power given to Christ on earth in the commission received from his Father, ver. 8, to be from this time continued on the earth, and accordingly committed by Christ at his departure to the apostles, John xx. (and in them to their successors,) that what they forgive on earth should be forgiven in heaven, and the bonds loosed), then saith he— f were amazed to see it, and acknowledged it an incomprehensible mercy of God, to send a prophet to them with such a commission, power of pardoning sin, and that testified by doing an absolute miracle, ver. 6. g a toll-gatherer or publican by trade, busy about his work; and upon Christ's first word of command, or call, he left his trade, and attended him as his constant disciple. [b] receipt of custom] Τελώνιον signifies a publican's stall; and the Syriac read בית סבא, the house of the publican, literally a tollbooth, the English toll coming from the Greek τέλος, and booth being the Hebrew בית very little varied. And this new disciple of his made him a feast, Mark ii. 14, and that a great one, Luke v. 27, (though Matthew, being the writer of this Gospel, affirm it not of himself,) and as Jesus was at that feast in Mat- [c] publicans] Τελώναι, publicans, were infamous persons among the Jews, not only because they dealt and (by necessity of their trade) conversed with the Gentiles, (whence perhaps the ἁμαρτωλοί, sinners, joined with them, note heathens, called sinners of the Gentiles, Gal. ii. 15; and as publicans and sinners here, so we read publicans and heathens, ch. xviii. 17,) but also in respect of their calling, that of hiring the tributes at a price, and raising gain to themselves by exaction, τελώνου ἐργασία ἄχρωμος, the publicans' trade is filthy and sordid, saith a Artemidorus, joining with them καπήλους, λῃστὰς, ζυγοκρουστὰς, παραλογιστὰς, "thieves, cheats," &c.; and Theophrastus putteth together πορνοβοσκῆσαι καὶ τελωνῆσαι, "keeping whores and being publicans;" and so that of the poet, Πάντες τελώναι, πάντες εἰσὶν ἄρπαγες, "All publicans are thieves, all rapacious, or robbers;" and so saith Musonius, that Theocritus being demanded what was the cruellest • ὀνειροκρ. l. 4. c. 44. and c. 9. HAMMOND ANNOTT. F [d] Why] Among the idioms or peculiar forms of writing observable in the sacred writers this may be one, That when one thing only appears by the context to be designed and meant, another thing is yet delivered, as preparative to that, that by it, either by way of comparison or opposition, &c. the one principal thing designed may be more set out. Thus Exod. xx. 9, 10, in the fourth commandment, in which the sabbatic rest is the only thing designed, that is introduced with a Six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do, which being not the matter of that commandment, is there set only to prepare for the ensuing rest, but the seventh day is the sabbath, &c., and must not be extended any further, and is best interpreted by way of comparison, thus: As thou hast six days allowed thee to labour, &c., so the seventh must be looked on as a rest to that God which hath been so liberal to thee. So here the disciples of John designing to ask one question, why Christ and his disciples fast not, what is the reason of that, it is not to be thought that they would ask concerning their own fasting, being well enough satisfied of the reason of that, viz. the practice of all pious Jews for a long time, and yet in this other question first asked, and set as preparatory to the other, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, and thy disciples fast not? which cannot therefore be better interpreted than thus, by way of comparison, Why do not thy disciples fast as well as we? So Mark xii. 10, If a woman shall put away her husband, and marry another, she commits adultery; where it is not to be thought in the power of a wife to put away her husband, but only of the husband to put away the wife, as being superior, and having authority over her, but because it is possible for a woman, the wife of one, to yield herself to be married to another, and in what case soever she doth so, she committeth adultery, that being the thing there in hand designed to be spoken of by Christ; the former, of putting away the husband, is mentioned without any weight set on it to prepare for the latter important part, and is only set to continue the opposition with that which had preceded, the husband's putting away his wife, ver. 11. So Eph. iv. 20, Be angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down on thy wrath; where it is not the apostle's meaning so much as to permit anger, but that is only set down as a preparative to the consequent not sinning, that is, moderating that passion, and not letting it dwell upon us, which is the only thing in that place designed to be commanded us. So James i. 9, Let the brother of low degree rejoice, or boast, that he is exalted, and, or but the rich, that he is brought low; where the matter of the discourse from ver. 2. being exhortation to rejoice in afflictions, enforced by the advantages of them, vv. 3, 4, and backed with directions how to practise it, by praying to God for wisdom, ver. 5, and perseverance in the faith, required to the obtaining answer to his prayers, vv. 6—8, (and so still kept to the same matter of rejoicing in afflictions,) it follows, ver. 9, Let the brother, that is, the Christian, of low degree rejoice that he is exalted, which is not at all to the point in [e] children of the bridechamber] Those which were the special guests of a marriage feast, were by custom to go and fetch the bridegroom, and wait on him to the marriage feast, as we see the practice of it 1 Mac. ix. 37; so Matt. xxv. 1, the ten virgins took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom; and those that were ready at his coming, ver. 10, went in with him els γάμου, that is, to the marriage feast; (for so the word γάμος and γάμοι, which we render marriage, signifies, Matt. xxii. 3, John ii. 1, not a marriage, but a marriage feast in Cana of Galilee. So there were in Homer three sorts of feasts, of which γάμος was one: Εἰλαπίν', ἢ γάμος; ἐπὶ οὐκ ἔρανος τάγε γ' ἐστί. Od. α'. 224. and 'Ἡ γάμῳ, ἢ ἐράνῳ, ἢ εἰλαπίνῃ τεθαλύῃ. Od. λ'. 415. whereupon, saith Eustathius, ἡ δὲ εἰλαπίνῃ, καὶ ὁ γάμος καὶ ὁ ἔρανος εἴδη εἰσὶ τῆς δαίτὸς, "These three are several species of feasts." So γάμους θύειν in b Philo; so nuptias celebrare in the civil law, "the marriage festivity;") these special guests which attended these nuptial solemnities are called πορύνυμφοι, and πάροχοι in c Phavorinus, and here the sons or children of the νυμφών, (that is, τόπος ἐν ᾧ οἱ νυμφίοι,) "the place in which the bridegroom and bride are." These, I suppose, are the φίλοι νυμφίου, John iii. 29, the friends of the bridegroom; which, saith Phavorinus, τῷ ὀχήματι ἅμα τῇ νύμφῃ καὶ τῷ νυμφίῳ ὀχοῦνται, "are carried in the same chariot with the bride and bridegroom," or else go with them πεζῆ, on foot; and of these some performed some nuptial offices to the bridegroom, (as to be the king's friend, 1 Kings iv. 5, is a special office of nearness about the king.) So we find in d Julius Pollux, κολειταί τις τῶν τοῦ νυμφίου φίλων θυρωρός, &c. "one of the bridegroom's friends is called the doorkeeper." Of these it is here said, that as long as the bridegroom is with them, that is, as long as the marriage feast is celebrating, (parallel to which is the time of Christ's abode on this earth, marrying himself to his spouse, this church of his,) it is not imaginable that they should mourn or fast; but when this marriage feast was turned into a funeral obsequy, then should they fast in those days. See more in note [b] John iii. 29. [f] bottles] The use of ἀσκοὶ, skins for the keeping or carrying of wines, is ordinary in authors; ἀσκῷ ἐν αἰγείῳ, in Homer, in a goat's skin, Odys. ζ'. 78: see Casaubon on Atheneus. So in Spain the wine is carried in borachoes, bags made of hog-skins, and the whole skin of a hog made up close to put wine in. b De Spec. Lege, c. 6, 7. c In γάμος, νυμφίον. d Ὀνυμφίον. l. 3. c. 5. P 2 [g] ruler] There was among the Jews, the lesser or the greater sanhedrim or consistory, Matt. v. 22; the former consisting of twenty-three judges in every city, the latter of seventy-two in Jerusalem. The greater sanhedrim was made up of the chief priests and elders or presbyters of the people, (called oft the elders of Israel,) and the scribes of the people, Judges v. 11, (or in the Chaldee Paraphrase, the scribes of Israel;) they of the lesser consistory were called rulers, as here. See note [c] Mark v. And as Jesus was a going to the ruler's house to cure his daughter, behold— and found them very busily preparing for the interment of the ruler's daughter, with music and other solemnities for the funeral, he— is not so departed that she shall not return again, her death shall not continue above the space of an ordinary sleep, and she shall, as from a sleep, awake from it. And they— by this time, &c. company in an hurry, or, making a stir, ἄγλον θορυβούμενον. [h] minstrels] This custom of having musical instruments in funerals came to the latter Jews from the rites and manner of the Gentiles. For though in the Mishna, Rubbi Jehuda saith, that at the funeral of the wife there should be instruments at least, besides the person which began the lamentation; yet this testimony of his, is but of the latter times, such as this in this verse. And in the Old Testament there is no mention of any such custom. They were wont indeed to mourn for the dead, Ecclus. xxii. 10, and to commend them, thereby to excite the living to the imitation of their virtues, or that they may lay it to heart, Eccl. vii. 2. (and so it was at the death of Tabitha, where the widows wailed, and shewed the coats and garments which her liberality had provided for the poor in her lifetime;) and many other ceremonies they used, as you may find, Ezek. xxiv. 17, and Jer. xvi. 6, 7; as, 1. tearing their flesh; 2dly, shaving their heads bald; 3dly, the neighbours sending in good cheer, which is in Ezekiel eating the bread of men, or (as אֱלֹהִים would be better rendered) of mourners; and in Jeremiah, (not tearing, but) breaking bread to the mourner, to comfort him, and, as it follows, giving the cup of consolation to drink; so saith Josephus of Archelaus, πενθήσας ἡμέρας ἑπτὰ τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν ἐπιτάφιον ἑστίασιν πολυτελῆ τῷ πλῆθει παρασχών, "he mourned seven days for his father, and made a sumptuous funeral feast for the multitude;" and he adds, that this custom among the Jews was the impoverishing of many, and that upon a kind of necessity; for if any man omitted it, he was accounted no pious man. So the meat of mourners, Hosea ix. 4; and περίδειπνον νεκροῦ, the funeral feast, in the epistle of Jeremiah, ver. 32; and to that, perhaps, belong the θέματα βρωμάτων παρακείμενα τάφῳ, the messes of meat set on the sepulchre, Ecclus. xxx. 18. But all this while no mention of instruments of music in funerals among the ancient Jews of the Old Testament; but on the other side, the use of music in lamentation is mentioned among the ἄκαιρα, unseasonable things, Ecclus. xxii. 6; songs of lamentation they had, Jer. ix. 17, Amos vi. 15, Jer. xxxiv. 5, Jer. xxii. 18; but these were performed only by the voice, not by instruments, saith Schickard. This custom of instruments in funerals was heathen, and came in but late among the Jews. Among the heathen there is frequent mention of it, both among the Romans, under the style of siccinium, and in Apuleius, monumentarii choraula; and among the Grecians under that of τυμβούλοι; and in Aristot. l. 5. de Gen. Anim., αἰάζοντες; and in Lucian, εἰς τὸ μέλος ἐπαι- e Tit. Cheruboth. c. 4. 1. 2. Ἀλώσ. β'. b De Jure Reg. p. 162. 1 Vide Perotti Cornucop. p. 512. Non. Marcell. de propr. Serm. p. 1248. Hieron. Mag. Miscell. l. 1. c. 13. Ovid. de Fast. l. 6. Cantabis maastis tibia funeribus. Et Trist. 5. Eleg. 1. Tibia funeribus convenit ista meis. And p. 177. Petronius Arbiter. licet ad tibicines mittas, of one desperately sick: see Jo. a Wower. ad loc. Stat. Theb. 6. Virg. Exoritur clamorque virum, clangorque tubarum. [i] put forth] The word ἰκβάλλειν, which in ordinary Greek authors, and many times in the New Testament, signifies to cast out by violence, doth several times also, in the New Testament, signify in a softer sense, only to send, or bring out. So not only in this verse, and the places parallel to it in the other Gospels, but in this chap. ver. 38, ὅπως ἰκβάλλῃ ἐργάτας, that is, ἱκπέμπῃ, not cast, but send forth labourers. So ch. xii. 20, ἴως ἂν ἰκβάλῃ τὴν κρίσιν, until he send forth judgment; and ver. 35, ἰκβάλλει ἀγαθὰ καὶ πονηρὰ, sends or brings forth good and evil things; and ch. xiii. 52, ὅστις ἰκβάλλει ἐκ τοῦ θησαυροῦ, whosoever brings forth out of his treasure. So Luke x. 35, ἰκβαλὼν δύο δηνάρια, he took out twopence; and John x. 4, ὅταν τὰ ἴδια πρόβατα ἰκβάλῃ, when he brings out his sheep, for it is added immediately, he goes before them. Thus פק signifies in Syriac both to go out and to be cast out; and Matt. viii. 12, where the Greek reads ἰκβληθήσονται, shall be cast out, the Syriac hath פקין, which is ordinarily rendered exibunt, “shall go out;” and agreeably to this promiscuous use of those words, we may observe, Rev. xiv, that πέμπειν, to send, ver. 15, is βάλλειν, to cast, ver. 16, in the same matter. See ch. xii. 20. [l] tombs] It was usual for the devils to abide in tombs to confirm in men that vain persuasion of the souls of men (after death) being turned into devils, (see Hieron. Magius Miscellan. l. 4. c. 12,) and for divers other ends, for which the solitude of such places was advantageous to them, none using to come thither but to bury their dead. [m] swine] That there were swine among the Gadarenes, contrary to the Jewish customs, will not be strange, when it is remembered that Gadara is by Josephus numbered among the ἰλληνίδες πόλεις, "Grecian cities" which Pompey took away from the Jews, (see Is. Casaub. ad Baron. p. 219,) and that the greatest part of the inhabitants were Syrians, not Jews, by the affirmation of the same Josephus, l. 2. De Bello Judaic. c. 33. See Constant. l'Empereur de Legibus, p. 181. [k] charged them] The word ἱμβριμῆσαι that is here used is rendered by Phavorinus, ἐπιτιμῆσαι, κελεῦσαι, προστάξαι μετ’ ἰξουσίας, to k Αὐλοὶ καὶ κύμβαλα θρήνον ἐγείροντες, Chrysost. l Περὶ πένθ. p. 792. = Ἀλώσ. l. 3. c. 15. n Ἐθρηνήσαμεν. And thereupon the devils knowing that Christ would cast them out, and by that miracle so far shew forth his power, that it would probably bring all the country to believe on him, desired to prevent this, and thereupon fell on this project, which might incense the countrymen against him, (as it proved in the event, ver. 34,) and in order to it besought Christ, saying— See Mark v. 13, Luke viii. 32. 'gave them notice of the loss of their swine, and telling the occasion of it, let them know how as their swine were lost on one side, so two men possessed with devils were recovered, and that Christ had done this since his coming thither. Hereupon the whole city, as being very much concerned in that which had happened, came out to meet and see Jesus, which did such miracles; and instead of being wrought on by his cure on the men to desire his continuance among them, the consideration of the loss of their swine made them desire, and beseech him, &c. ### CHAP. IX. AND he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. [l] teaching] It was the manner among the Jews for divers men to contribute their talents to the exposition of the lesson which was read. This ordinarily belonged to the sons of the prophets, who were brought up in learning the law, and at thirty years old might be made doctors, (at which time, being then of doctor's standing, saith Irenæus, Christ began to preach, and not before; and proportionably presbyters were not made in the ancient church till that age,) and continued in that notion, or the other of scribes, till they obtained the spirit of prophecy at God's hands, till which time they did ordinarily expound scriptures, though not by revelation. Answerable to which was that custom or practice among Christians mentioned 1 Cor. xiv. 29. And thus might Christ, without pretension to any extraordinary power or authority, expound in their synagogues, which, being the doctors' work, is here called teaching, and differs (in the Christian use of the word in the New Testament) from κηρύσσειν, preaching, (which follows,) and εὐαγγελίζεσθαι, publishing, or preaching the gospel, and μαθητεύειν, parallel with it, (as appears by comparing Matt. xxviii. 19. with Mark xvi. 15,) gathering of disciples, in other places. All these being the publishing somewhat to those, to whom it was news, (as here the gospel of the kingdom, that is, the doctrine of Christianity,) the other, (διδάσκειν,) instructing congregations that already professed that doctrine, which is therefore by the doctor only further explained to them. And so Acts v. 42, where you have διδάσκοντες and εὐαγγελιζόμενοι, teaching and preaching; the first refers to the ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, in the temple; the second to the κατ' οἶκον, in somewhat more private places, (see note [c] Acts i.;) the first to those that were instructed in the doctrine of Christianity already, the second to those that had not already received it; and so Acts xv. 35. In proportion to which was that difference in the Christian church betwixt the evangelist, and doctor, or teacher, the first telling them the good news, and planting the gospel, the other watering or instructing them further in it, and so the word and doctrine are different, 1 Tim. v. 17; the first without the church to unbelievers, 2 Cor. v. 19, Matt. xiii. 19, Mark iv. 14, ch. ii. 2, Acts iv. 4, and vi. 2, 1 Peter ii. 8; the second in it, or to those that were already converted to the faith. [m] fainted] The Greek copies do vary in this place, some reading it ἐσκυλμένοι; so the ancient Greek and Latin MS., and that in Magdalene College, in Oxford; and so both Chrysostom and many very ancient copies have it, and then it would be rendered tossed. So the old Glossary, σκύλλομαι, factor; or else wearied, σκύλλω, fatigo, saith the same; and so the Greek and Latin MS. fatigati; so from Herodian H. Stephanus concludes in his Preface to Herodian. And so it is surely used in that author, l. 4, σὺν ἱππεῦσιν ὀλίγοις (ἵνα μὴ πάντα τὸν στρατὸν σκύλῃ) τὴν ὁδοιπορίαν ἐποιεῖτο, "he took his voyage with a few horsemen, that he might not tire the whole army;" and lib. 7, σκύλας δὲ καὶ ὑβρίσας, "after he had tired them with long journeys and AND selecting twelve of his followers who should continually be with him, and whom he might send out on any message of preaching, &c., Mark iii. 15, (and who should after his death undertake the whole work of preaching, &c.,) he now ordains them to that office, and to that end he gave them power— a The name of the first was formerly Simon, or Simeon, which signifies hearkening, or obedient, (a name aptly noting his readiness to follow Christ and become his disciple,) but by Christ he is now called Cephas (see John i. 43.) in Syriac, which signifies a stone, such as might be fit in a building to be super-struited upon Christ the corner-stone, and that in the Greek is Petros, in English turned into the appallative Peter, and with him, Andrew his brother, and James and John, two sons of Zebedee, after called Boanerges. [c] Canaanite] Many Greek copies have Κανανίτης, others Καναναῖος, and Καναῖος. The word comes not from the name of a place, as a πατρονυμικόν, but from קנא and קנאה, zeal; from whence is Κάνναι, (which, with the Greek termination os, is directly Καναῖος, a zealot. The Syriac hath קנניא, Kenonoyo, which seems to be the version of Καναναῖος. The matter is clear, that this Simon, Luke vi. 15, and Acts i. 13, is called Ζηλωτὴς, the Zealot; and Κανονίτης and Ζηλωτὴς are as perfectly the same, as Cephas and Πέτρος, Tabitha and Δόρκας, and the like. Of these zealots, so famous among the Jews, many mentions we have in sacred writ. Phinees is looked on as the first to whom that name was compatible, for his slaying the unclean pair in the very fact, which Mattathias in his dying speech calls his ζηλῶσαι ζῆλον, having zeal, 1 Mac. ii. 54. And after him Elias, in his apprehending the prophets of Baal, and slaying them, 1 Kings xviii. 40; which again Mattathias calls ζηλῶσαι ζῆλον νόμου, having zeal for the law, ver. 58. And such was this Mattathias and his son Judas, &c., which, without any external calling, took upon them to destroy the profaners of the temple, putting in their colours these words, מי כמוך באלים יהוה, that is, "Who is like thee among the gods, O Lord?" or as others read it, באלוהי יהודה, "Who is like thee among the princes of Judah?" From the initial letters whereof, מכבי, they seem to be styled Maccabees, which though literally it do not, yet in effect denotes zealots. But Ferrarius, in his Nomenclat. Syr., translates the very word ζηλωτὴς, σωμμάτων, Maccabeus, writing it with koph, which is not answerable to the Hebrew caph, which others generally use in this word. In after-times, from these beginnings great distempers and flames broke out; a multitude of men, under pretence of being zealous for the law and honour of God, under the name of ζηλωταί, zealots, committing all the riots and bloodiness imaginable. See Josephus. Ἀλώσ. l. 4. c. 11, where he saith of them, that they "killed many of the chief men of the nation," and still when they did so, "boasted of themselves, ὡς εὐεργέτας καὶ σωτήρας τῆς πόλεως γεγενημένους, that they were become the benefactors and saviours of the people." Whose insolence meeting with the timidity and baseness of the people's minds, advanced so far, ὡς ἐπ' αὐτοῖς εἶναι καὶ τὰς χειροτονίας τῶν ἀρχιερίων, "that they took upon them to choose and ordain the high priests, contemning the rules of birth by which those were to succeed, and constituting ignoble, obscure men in those places, that by that means they might have abetters and partners of their villainies." These, saith he, c. 12, imposed this name of zealot upon themselves, ὡς ἐπ' ἀγαθοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν, "as if their undertakings were [d] Iscariot] This title of his may either be taken from his country whence he came, a man of Carioth (according to which it is that the ancient Greek and Latin MS. generally reads ἀπὸ Κορνώτον, a Cariota, "from Carioth,") or else from the Syriac, which calls a wallet or purse Secariat, and then בְּכִרְיֹטָא, Secariota, or Iscariota may signify, τὸν ἔχοντα γλωσσόκομον, "him that hath the wallet," which was the office of this Judas. And wherever ye come, make use of the power which I now give you, with the same frankness and liberality that is used toward you; work all manner of healing merciful miracles wheresoever ye come, to all that beg them from you. Make no provision of money, much or little. [e] purses] The word ζώνη, that literally signifies a girdle, both in Greek and Latin authors, signifies also a purse, either because that was wont to be sewed or fastened to the girdle, or because the girdle being a loose thing, like a scarf, tied about the middle, they used to wrap up their money within it; and so the gold and silver and brass (for such were the Roman asses and quadrantes) in their zones, are three sorts of coins made of those three metals, the brass being coins of the least value for the least commodities, or for common uses and exchange, as gold and silver for higher purposes; and so under the prohibition of all these is forbidden all greater or lesser provision of money to be carried out with them. These they are forbidden κτήσασθαι, to possess, that is, to acquire, or any way to provide for themselves against this journey; for so the word signifies to get, to purchase, Acts xxii. 28, and not only to possess. Κτάομαι, acquiro, saith the old Glossary, Κτησάμενος, adeptus, indeptus; and accordingly in Demosthenes it is set opposite to φυλάττειν, to keep, Olynth. 2. So in Musonius. Ἦὅσα κτήσασθαι δύσκολα, "those things that are acquired with difficulty" are distinguished from φυλάξαι μὴ ῥάδια, "such as are hard to keep." This making provision of money for their journey, as they that go on their own business are wont to do, is forbidden the apostles, who, going on Christ's errand, are to expect and confide to be provided for by him, and so also for victuals, which sure is meant here by πήραν, the scrip, which was usual for travellers, or any to carry victuals in. Thus 2 Kings iv. 42, that which we read ears of corn in the husk, the Greek read παλάθας ἐν τῇ πήρᾳ αὐτοῦ, ears in his scrip or sachel, thus rendering the Hebrew עָקֵל, which some taking for a vestment, rendered it there a husk, as the garment of the corn, but surely not rightly, for that was sufficiently said in the ears of corn precedent. The Hebrew עָקֵל is directly our English sachel; α Περὶ σκεύων, αρ. Stobm. p. 489. Nor of victuals, nor clothes to carry with you, nor of any thing for your defence by the way. For taking so much pains for the benefit of others, ye may very reasonably expect to be entertained for all necessaries by them who profit by you. Whensoever therefore you come into a town or village, enquire what pious person there is dwelling there, and there fasten your station, and eat and drink what they set before you, Luke x. 7, and go not from that house to any other while you stay in the town. say, Peace (that is, all kind of prosperity) be to this house! And if those of the house be qualified to receive it, your blessing shall rest upon it; but if not, your blessing shall return upon you, and they shall I assure you the punishment or destruction that will light upon that city shall be such, that the destruction of Sodom shall appear to have been more tolerable than that. See note [c] on chap. iii. 'and therefore, though ye may be allowed to be as prudent and wary as may be to preserve yourselves, because they among whom you go are ravenous as wolves, yet ye must most strictly preserve your mildness and meekness. [f] be ye] One idiom of the sacred writers may be here taken notice of, who by words imperative, having the form of precept, do ofttimes mean no more than either prediction of what will befall, or else permission of what may lawfully be done by them. So here in the next, the 17th verse, Προσίχετε ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, Take heed of the men, is no command of caution or prudential behaviour toward the Jewish sanhedrin, nor was it so understood by the apostles, who many times did avowedly profess Christ before them, when it brought the utmost peril upon them; and that they should be so used by them is here foretold in the latter part of the verse, they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues, that is, ye shall be delivered up and scourged by them, and so that is all that is meant by προσίχετε ἀπὸ τῶν, a prediction that their greatest danger is from them. So Matt. xxiii. 32, καὶ ὑμεῖς πληρώσατε, and do ye fill up the measure of your fathers, a prediction what they would, no kind of command what they should do. So ch. xxiv. 16, Let them that are in Judæa flee unto the mountains; let him that is on the housetop not descend, &c.; and ver. 20, Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter; all in form of precept, yet none but the first of them is so much as an admonition (and that only of counsel, prudentially what was best for them); all the rest are but so many forms of predictions of the sudden and horrible dangers that should overtake all that continued in Judæa, when that day of vengeance came. So Luke xxi. 19, Ἐν τῇ ὑπομονῇ ὑμῶν κτήσασθε τὰς ψυχὰς ὑμῶν, In your patience or perseverance possess ye your souls, or lives; possess ye, that is, There is no such way to keep or preserve your lives, as persevering, faithful adherence to Christ. So ver. 28, When these things [g] harmless] For the notion of the word ἀκίραιος, the origination of it must be considered from κεραίξειν, to butt, or strike, or wound with the horns; from hence, saith 'Eustathius, comes ἀκίραιος, and consequently (saith he) it signifies, ἁπλοῦς καὶ πραΰθυμος, καὶ μὴ τινα κεραίζων, simple and mildly disposed, and not butting or using of horns against any body. So 4 again, τὸ κεραίζεσθαι, φθορὰν ἁπλῶς καὶ βλόβην δηλοῖ, παρὰ τὰ κίρατα, ὅθεν φασίν, ὁ ἄθυμος καὶ ἀόργητος, ἀκίραιος λέγεται, ὥσπερ μηδέντα κεραίζων, ὁ ἔστι βλάπτων, the word so derived signifies wrathless, angerless, as one that useth no horns, hurts nobody; and this notion perfectly agrees with the nature of the dove, which, say the naturalists, hath no gall, is never angry, nor hurts any, and so in all reason is to be resolved the meaning of it in this place. So 5 Cæsarius, μηδενὶ βροτῶν κακῶς ἀνταμειβόμενοι, "not retributing evil to any man," φασὶ γὰρ ἄκακον τὴν περιστερὰν, καὶ μηδ' ἔχειν χολοδόχον, "for the dove hath no malice in it, hurts nothing, having not the organ of choler in it." Your greatest danger will be from the men, as they are called, 1 Pet. ii. 4, those you wot of, of the Jewish sanhedrin and consistories; for you shall be accused and brought before them, who, if your offences be not conceived capital, shall scourge you (according to Deut. xxv. 2.) in their assemblies. But if they desire to have you punished capitally, they will remove you from thence to the Roman governors, requiring you to be put to death (as it was with Christ, John xviii. 30.); and this carrying you from the Jewish to the heathen, from one tribunal to another, will be a means to proclaim and testify the gospel to Gentiles as well as Jews. 'make no provision beforehand what answers ye shall give, ye shall at the time be directed what answers to make. And how suspicious soever ye may be of your own abilities, yet this need not trouble you, for God will enable you to speak that which is most fit and proper to be spoken by you; and sure they that have God to enable and direct them, need not fear they shall want answers. And one Christian (at least such as pretend to be so) shall accuse and deliver up another to the persecutors, and forgetting all natural affection, the nearest kindred shall mischief one another, and cause ⁴ mild, meek, wrathless. ⁵ the men, τῶν ἀνόρ. ⁶ consistories, συνιδρία. ⁷ assemblies: see note [d] on chap. vi. and note [b] on James ii. ⁸ to them, αὐτοῖς. And the Jews, wheresoever you come, shall persecute you for preaching of Christ; but there is a fatal day approaching for these Jews, and they that in despite of all these persecutions, ver. 18-22, shall stick fast to their Christian profession, they shall, beside their crown in another world, have a remarkable deliverance here out of that destruction which universally lighteth upon all others. when they thus persecute you in one city, you may flee to another; and be assured from me, that by that time you have gone through all the cities of the Jews, ver. 6, this fatal day shall come upon your persecutors: see note [h]. [h] endureth to the end] To endure to the end doth here clearly signify a persevering, constant adherence to Christ, in despite of all the persecutions that shall befall them for the name of Christ. And for an encouragement to that, is here added the promise, that this shall be the most probable course, in the event, to escape not only eternal wrath, but even present destruction here. This will appear by the context, which runs thus: The apostles are appointed to go preach first to the Jews peculiarly, and not to any others, till they have done with them, ver. 5; they are foretold what usage they shall meet with among them, scourging and killing, ver. 17; and as a means to escape the sharpness of this ill usage among them, is their flying from one city to another, ver. 23, which will save or deliver them for the time; and before they shall have c In Iliad β'. p. 476. l. 3. d Iliad χ'. p. 1353. l. 15. e Dial. iv. ἀποκρ. 191. How reasonable it is for you to expect this ill usage among men, ye may judge by what ye see already, and shall more largely hereafter discern to befall me: the disciple cannot in reason expect to be better used than his master, nor the servant than his lord. [i] not above] This is a proverb, or known saying among the Hebrews; Aben Ezra, on Hosea i. 2, sets it down in Hebrew, thus, דִּי לַעֲבֹד לְהִיוֹת כִּי־בוֹ. It is enough, or sufficient, for the servant to be as his master, that is, he hath no reason to expect any better portion, hath all reason to be content with that. Many other such proverbial speeches there are, falling from Christ, (as purposely making use of what was good among them, their customs, their proverbs, their forms of prayer and benediction.) So that of Matt. vii. 2, In the measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again. For so in that part of the Gemara called sanhedrim we find כְּמֹדֶה שָׁאָרֵם מֵדֶר בָּהּ מוֹדְדִים לוֹ, "In the measure that a man meteth, they shall mete to him in that." See note [b] ch. xix., and note [b] 2 Thess. iii., and note [a] Rom. ii. The most that a disciple or servant can aspire to, is to come to his master's perfection, Luke vi. 40. And if they have called me Beelzebub, how much reason have you to expect that they shall deal with you as with the wickedest apostates in the world, revile you proportionably in your places and orders! Be ye therefore courageous, not terrified by any thing that can befall you; this fear or foresight of the danger must not make you conceal any thing that I have taught you. See Mark iv. 22. And therefore what I say now in parables to you, do ye courageously publish to all; and what I more privately impart to you as my disciples, and not to the multitude, chap. v. 1, do you stand on the top of the houses and proclaim from the battlements to the people in the streets as publicly as ye can. [k] hear in the ear] This phrase of hearing in the ear will be best explained by referring to the custom of the Jews mentioned by the rabbins, who affirm that the masters among the Jews were wont to have their interpreters, who (as the ὑποφῆται of the oracles) did receive the dictates of the masters, whispered in the ear, and then publicly propose them to all; the masters dictating softly, but the interpreters delivering them aloud. Of this Elias Levita speaks in his Thisbi on the word תִּרְגֵּם, and saith that the interpreter is mentioned Exod. iv. 16, he shall be to thee as a mouth, (where the Targum reads לְתוֹרַגְמָן, the word which is among the Chaldees the title of an interpreter,) and adds that every psalm that is inscribed מַשְׂכִּיל, was received from a master, and dictated by an interpreter; so it was an ensign of a master to have an interpreter. In the Excerpta Gemaræ tract. de Sanhed., c. 1. §. 7, Dixerunt Jehudæ interpreti Resh Lachish, adsta illi in concione, adstitit, et se inclinavit juxta illum, et iste nihil ei dictavit: "Judah, the interpreter of Resh Lachish, stood by him in the assembly, and bowed himself to And never be afraid of any man, armed with the most power or malice; for the utmost he can do is to kill your bodies, but your souls he cannot touch. And what an improvidence would it be in you, if to escape those terrors ye should neglect your duty, and so incur that far greater danger from God, who hath employed you, whose punishments are far more terrible, casting unprofitable servants' bodies and souls, into eternal misery and torments. Besides, consider that all the power of men escape. [l] a farthing] For ἀσσάριον the Hebrew reads טבע קטון, a little piece of money; the Syriac reads אכר, asor, the Greek word so changed by them. The Arabic have phals, which they use to express the least piece of money that is; and accordingly for λεπτά δύο, Mark xii. 42, they read phalsain the dual from that. For the value of the coin, according to the use of the word asoro in the Syriac, f Jesu Bar Ali saith, that there are such diversities of opinions, that it is hard to determine any thing in it. f Eocl. Hist. L 2. c. 23. g Syro-Arab. Lex. God hath the knowledge and care and overruling of all the least things that belong to you or shall befall you. This is full ground of all confidence and courage to you; your lives are dearly valued by God, and will not by him be negligently or prodigally wasted. 'shall courageously preach my doctrine when the preaching of it is persecuted, and when any particular duty taught by me, and required by me to be performed by all Christians, is so opposed by the world, that the practising it then may bring the utmost hazard upon him, shall then constantly adhere to that precept, and so confess and honour me, how dear soever it cost him, I will be sure to own, and honour, and stick to him, declare those performances of his to his honour, before my Father in heaven, from whom he shall have the acclamation and reward of a good servant. renounce the faith of Christ or obedience to him in time of danger, he must expect to be renounced by me before my— Do not deceive yourselves with an imagination, as if the effect or design of my coming into the world were to secure unto the Christian profession a perpetual enjoyment of worldly quiet and prosperity upon earth, when all the malice of wicked men and devils are set against it; but rather reckon beforehand of persecution as your portion, and expect that your perseverance and constancy in this profession may and very often will bring great outward calamities upon you for a season, even unto the killing of some of you. The far more general effect of my doctrine will be (or upon the publishing my doctrine will ensue) all manner of contention, quarrels, and variance betwixt the dearest and nearest friends, either about acknowledging the truth of it, or adhering to it in time of danger. And the nearer men are to others in kindred, &c., the more bitter will their hatred be against them (as against blasphemers, &c.) upon their receiving my doctrine, especially when it comes to be persecuted. And he that prefers the advantages which he can and is like to receive from his parents, or any that are dearest to him, before those he expects from me, or that values their kindness or good opinion more than mine, is no fit person for my service, no way qualified to be a disciple for me; for it is certain all such worldly interests will ever be soliciting against me. Nay, I must plainly tell you, that he that doth not provide for the utmost that can come, that is not content to suffer death itself (and therein to do what I do before him) rather than do any thing contrary to Christian duty, is not competently qualified to be a disciple of mine. This comfort meanwhile ye have, that as he that useth any way of compliance with the persecutors, and so escapes their malice, and saves his life, shall gain little by this, but be involved in the destruction which awaits them; so on the other side, he that shall hazard the utmost, that he may stick close to me, shall be likely to fare best even in this world. For thus I foretell you it will be: some, to comply with the persecuting Jews, and to escape their persecutions, will renounce Christianity, and feign themselves zealous Jews; and so when the destruction falls upon the Jews, as it certainly shall most heavily, they shall be involved in that destruction, and that is all they shall get by that compliance and pusillanimity: whereas at the same time they that comply not, and so venture all that the Jews' malice can do against them, shall by the destruction of their persecutors be rescued from that danger, and live to see a peaceable profession of Christianity, or, if they do not, have the loss of a short temporary life rewarded with an eternal. And therefore, both to arm you against this great error, and to satisfy one objection more which will be apt to rise in your hearts, (viz. that if Christian doctrine will be so persecuted, you have reason to expect that it will be looked on strangely by all others, and that nobody will dare to receive you into their houses,) I now tell you, that how great soever your persecutions are, and how dangerous a thing soever to profess to be a follower of Christ, yet shall no man have reason to fear the entertaining of you; for the same protection that waits over you, ver. 39, and the same reward that attends you, ver. 32, shall also await those that are thus kind as to receive you: it shall be as if they had entertained not only angels, He that entertaineth (see note [c] on 1 Tim. i.) a prophet in the name of him that sent him, (one prophet coming in the name of another prophet, as Elizaeus in the name of Elias, and the apostles in the name of Christ,) or in that one consideration, because he is a prophet, or he that doth support and enable a prophet to do his work that sent him, he shall receive the same reward that he should, if himself had been sent to prophesy, (gain thereby an interest in his work, and so in the reward due to it,) yea, the same that he should have had if he had received him that sent him, even Christ, and God which sent Christ: see ver. 40. And so likewise he that entertains any holy man sent by another to plant holiness among men, shall receive the benediction, Gen. xxx. 27, that attends the having a righteous man in one's house, or that of Lot's entertaining the angels, the messengers of God, or of Rahab's receiving the spies; that is, shall himself be delivered by that means, when others are destroyed. In this notion, because he is a disciple of Christ, (as Mark ix. 41, in my name, because you are Christ's,) verily— ## CHAP. XI. AND it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. [a] he that should come] The prophecies of Christ as the Messias of the Jews by them expected, (and also of the Gentiles, though by them not so discerned,) were so plain in the Old Testament under the title of Shilo coming, &c., and yet the person or name of him so unknown, that he was by them wont to be expressed by some circumlocutions, particularly by this of ὁ ἑρχόμενος, he that cometh, as it appears by the continuing that phrase both here and Heb. x. 37, Matt. xxi. 9. Luke vii. 20, xiii. 35. John xii. 13. and Luke xix. 38, by ἑρχόμενος βασιλεὺς, the coming King, (and so the state of Christianity is βασιλεία ἑρχομένη, the coming kingdom, Mark xi. 10; and in Isaiah ix. 6, μέλλων αἰών, the age to come, in the Septuagint's rendering); by which is distinctly meant the Messias entering on those great offices to which he was designed and destined by God. So also οἰκουμένη μέλλονσα, Heb. ii. 5, the world to come; and δυνάμεις μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, Heb. vi. 5, the state and power of grace, or Christianity. And of this the Baptist here asks the question; by this means to help his disciples to a more explicit conviction and assurance of the truth of it, that whatsoever befalls him they may cleave fast to Christ. [b] the poor, &c.] It is an idiom ordinary in these books of the Old and New Testament, that passive verbs (by a metonymy of the effect) comprehend and import the reality of the effect of the passion, or a willing reception of the impression, that is, note the patient not only to receive influxes from the agent, but to be effectually changed by the passion. So Isaiah lxv. 1, I am sought of them that asked not for me; where it is clear, that seeking and asking for are all one. Ask and ye shall have, seek and ye shall find, saith our Saviour, directly in the same sense; and therefore it cannot be imagined how they that have not asked for God, he may yet be truly affirmed to be sought by them. It remains therefore that to be sought must here be understood cum effectu, so as to have the effect of finding attend it; and so it is distinctly interpreted by that which follows, I am found by them which sought me not; where, as sought me not is equivalent to asked not for me, so I am found is directly all one with I am sought in the beginning of the verse. And accordingly, Rom. x. 20, where these words of the prophet are cited, instead of I am sought of them, the apostle reads, I was made manifest unto them. So ἐξίστραπται, turned out of the way, Tit. iii. 11, signifies not only the being persuaded and turned and perverted by another, but the having really received the impression, being effectually wrought on and corrupted by seducers. So πειράζεσθαι, to be tempted, Gal. vi. 1, is to be wrought on by temptation, or else the possibility of it would not be used as an argument to enforce so much Christian care and meekness toward him who is overtaken in a fault. So σκανδαλίζεσθαι, to be scandalized, is to be wrought on (brought into sin, actually discouraged in the ways of godliness) by the scandal laid in his way, (as in this very verse); and so here εὐαγγελίζεσθαι, to be evangelized, is to be wrought on by the preaching of the gospel, (not only to have it preached to them,) which is peculiarly observed of the poor, humble-minded man, of whom it is therefore said, under the emblem of the little children, that of such is the kingdom of heaven: the Christian church is made up of such (see James ii. 5); whereas the proud resist and despise And for that which concerns their doubting of what before they had believed, and that founded on John's present condition, Christ adds (over and above the words of the prophets). Blessed is he who doth not forsake or fall off from me in this time (or by occasion) of temptation or affliction, (such as now John is in, and) such as shall oft befall Christians in this world, Christ's office being not to deliver all men in this world out of such, but to shew them the way to suffer patiently, and to conquer by suffering. Jesus thought fit, upon this occasion, to give the people a right notion of John the Baptist, which consequently would give them a more perfect knowledge of himself, John's office being wholly subservient to the revealing of Christ. Thus therefore he began to them, What was it that so many of you went out into the wilderness to behold? Was it a reed, such as the wind plays with there in the wilderness, any trifle of so little moment, and so ordinary to be seen there? Sure your going out to him was not on so childish an errand. [c] offended] The use of the word σκάνδαλον, scandal, in the sacred (being seldom or never found in the ancient profane) writers is once for all to be observed. It is either natural, (as generally in the Old Testament,) or metaphorical, (as chiefly in the New.) It naturally signifies three things: 1. a trap, a gin, or snare, to catch any thing. So in the Greek translation of psalm lxix. 22, the word is used, (being joined with two other words, which signify snare and gin*;) and therefore in the place of Rom. xi. 9, where the same words are cited out of the Septuagint's translation, and not out of the Hebrew text of the psalm, it should be rendered by analogy, not stumblingblock, but gin, or some other word belonging to this signification. In this sense it is used 1 Mac. v. 4, where it is all one with snare; and it is further interpreted * Παγὶς καὶ θῆρα. G ᵇ Lud. de Dieu. ᶜ פנסות from נכה. 0 2 Or was it any glorious gallant person in splendid array? Sure such an one you would not have looked for in a desert, but a court; and you know it was quite contrary of him. You found him in an austere habit and diet, and therefore you cannot now imagine that he is troubled with the confinement or danger he is in, so that he should presently be cast into doubts, or be changed so soon to so much weakness of faith from so much strength. Certainly he that lived in a wilderness, and observed that habit and diet there, is not now troubled at all that he is from Herod's court cast into prison. No, it is certain you went out to him as to a prophet; and of him I must tell you, that he is a great prophet, nay, of a pitch beyond all the prophets that receive. scandalized at, or, about. [d] more than a prophet] There were, saith Maimonides, among the Jews eleven degrees of prophecy, of which (saith he) only nine were of true, genuine prophecy, or properly so called; the other two being sublime, transcendent sorts, somewhat more excellent than ordinary prophecy. One of these he there defines to be that which comes on the man without dream or ecstasy, the speaking by the Holy Ghost. Of this sort was John the Baptist, who was clearly told by the Father, (Matt. iii 17, John i. 33, and by the descent of the Spirit of God,) and accordingly proclaimed as clearly to others, that Christ was the Lamb of God, &c., so far that he is said to speak only as a witness, not as a prophet, John i. 7. In this respect it is that he is called by so many other styles, the voice of one crying, Mark i. 3; a proclaimer, a herald, ver. 4; a messenger of God's, ver. 2; μίγαι, a great, illustrious person, Luke i. 15, and one filled with the Holy Ghost; and by way of excellence, the prophet of the Most High, ver. 76; but never simply a prophet, unless it be Luke vii. 28, where yet the words may be best rendered thus, that no prophet born of a woman is greater than John the Baptist: where Baptist, not prophet, is his only title, (and therefore in the 11th verse of this chapter the word prophet is left out of the expression,) only a comparison made betwixt him and all the prophets; and so Luke xvi. 16, where it is said, that the prophets continued till John, not including him in that number, but referring him to the higher classis of a forerunner of Christ, or a preacher of the gospel; for so it follows, From that time the kingdom of God, that is, Christianity, is preached; and to the same sense it is, that here he is said to be one, or somewhat περισσοτέρον προφήτου, superior to a prophet, viz. in respect of the clearness of God's shewing Christ to him, and his revealing him to others, pointing at him, ἰδοὺ, behold. But yet, because this office of forerunner was the office of disciples, (see Matt. xxvi. 18,) and consequently John was only a disciple and messenger employed by Christ, therefore being compared with the apostles, who were to be rulers of the church, it is here said, that the least of them is greater than he, designed to a more honourable employment. [e] before thy face] That which is here before thy face is in Malachi, ch. iii. 1, before my face, and so thereby it appears that Christ (here referred to in the thy) is there all one with God the Father; or yet further, that the face of God, signifying often his coming, or his presence, (and sending before his face, sending a harbinger or forerunner in a journey, Luke ix. 52); this coming of Christ into the world, is the coming of God himself, this presence of his on the earth, the [f] suffereth violence] Βιάζεσθαι notes a thing being taken by one that hath no legal acknowledged right to it, βιαίως κρατείται, saith Hesychius, "it is taken and violently possessed," (βία signifying τὴν ἐκ τῆς δυναστείας ἀδικίαν, saith Phavorinus, injustice by overruling power.) Thus when the people of Israel were forbidden to go up to Sinai, their going up thither is in the Greek expressed by Βιάζεται, Exod. xix. 24. Thus in the 4 Talmud, "Two men had an inheritance equally divided betwixt them, and one of them carried his own part away and his fellow's too," therefore they called him בן חמצן, the son of violence, a violent dealer, the very βιαστῆς here. Thus the kingdom of heaven being as an inheritance provided for all Jews and Gentiles, and the Jews being in a manner the elder brother, the gospel being first by appointment preached to them, the chief cities thereof, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, nay, Jerusalem itself, have not been so careful to look after it, especially the principal persons among them, doctors and high priests, &c., but continue to contradict and oppose it; and then the multitudes and meaner sort of the Jews, the people, which, say the doctors, know not the law, and are accursed; and those that dwelt in Idumæa, Tyre and Sidon, (see chap. xii. 15, compared with Mark iii. 8,) and of Galilee, so despised by the Pharisees, that they said proverbially, No good thing comes out from thence, (and besides them, the publicans and sinners,) they carry all away, and proportionably are called here βιασθαι, violent persons; and the gospel, which primarily and (as it was by them conceived) legally belonged not to them, (and therefore it is one of the Pharisees' arguments against Christ's being the Messias, Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed on him? but these people, &c.; and another, that he eat with publicans and sinners,) is now wholly enclosed and engrossed by them. That this is the meaning of the verse will appear by what follows, where it is said over again in other expressions. Parallel to ver. 11 (where the office of John is extolled) is v. 13, 14, which discriminates him from the law and the prophets, that is, all that went before him, and points him out as the famous Ἡλίας ὁ μέλλων, Elias that was to come; and parallel to this twelfth verse, (which, I say, contains the doctors' and rulers' contempting, and the multitude's and publicans' and people's receiving the gospel,) is v. 15—24. But that which will make this most manifest is, that, Luke vii, (where the story of the Baptist's sending to Christ, and Christ's testimony of him, and the parable here immediately following, of piping and mourning, is set down,) in the very place of the words of this verse (which are not there repeated by him) he sets down these, Καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ἀκούσας καὶ οἱ τελῶναι ἰδικαίωσαν τὸν Θεόν, &c., And all the people (that is, the common sort) and the publicans justified God, having been (or, in that they were) baptized with the baptism of John: but the Pharisees and the lawyers, that is, the chief men, those of the sanhedrim or consistories, the rulers, or men in authority among them, rejected the counsel of God toward themselves, having not been (or, in that they were not) baptized of him. And if it be objected that many of the Pharisees For the law and prophets all of them, that is, the writers of the Old Testament, had a prophetic relation to the Messias, darkly and afar off described Christ in types and predictions, and so continued to do till John came, but he, beyond them all by way of indication, pointed at him as actually present, whom all others foretold as future and at a distance. And whether you will or will not receive him, take it how you will, this is that Ehas prophesied of in Malachi, to usher in a new state, and the Messias the prince of it. And the embracing of his doctrine or message is a matter of huge concernment, and they that do not embrace it will not excuse themselves from the crime and punishment of obstinate wilful blindness. [g] children] It was the custom of children among the Jews in their sports to imitate what they saw done by others upon greater occasions; and particularly the customs in festivities, wherein the musician beginning a tune on his instrument, the company danced to his pipe; and so likewise the customs in funerals, wherein some old women beginning the mournful song, (as the præficæ among the Latins,) the rest followed, lamenting and beating the breasts, Alas, my brother! Ah, his glory! &c.: (of this custom in funerals, see note [h] ch. ix.) These did the children act and personate in the streets in play; and when one had begun to act the musician's part, or another the old woman's part, and the rest did not follow him in theirs, then was the occasion of this speech which is here mentioned, We have piped &c. If John use a diet more austere than ordinary, then they that are the wise men among you, Pharisees, doctors of the law, look on him as a madman, a melancholy, hypochondriacal person. See John vii. 6. 19. And if Christ come using the ordinary diet of men, and eating promiscuously with all company, they censure him as a loose person, and a favourer of such. And so Christ and his forerunner the Baptist, and in ¹ receive him, this, Mparton, abt. HAMMOND, VOL. I. [h] justified] The scripture notion of the word ἐδικαίωθη (as of the Hebrew צדקה, and the Syriac אוררקת, ezdadkat, which are here used) is known and vulgar, justified, approved. And if that be here received, then the και and י, the ordinary copulatives, which are used both here and Luke vii. 35, must either be rendered but, as those copulatives, especially the Hebrew י, sometimes are, or else this other importance and connexion with the antecedents they may have. The men of this age, that is, the rulers and Pharisees and doctors, which reject the counsel of God toward them, that is, God's wise and various methods of reducing them, Luke vii. 30, do quarrel and complain and except against all that is done either by John or Christ, vv. 16—18, and by doing so, bear a testimony that this is the true wisdom of the Father, which according to predictions was to be refused by all the great ones, and approved and entertained only by the meaner sort, the publicans and the people, which in this part of the history are by St. Luke said to have justified God, Luke vii. 29. Πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ἀκούσας καὶ οἱ τελῶναι ἐδικαίωσαν τὸν Θεόν, All the people that heard, and the publicans, justified God. And then the νίοι σοφίας, children of wisdom, here, are those that receive it, that pretending least to the wisdom of the world, have yet humility enough to receive this true wisdom which comes from above, when it is offered to them. And all these, as St. Luke reads, ver. 35, do approve or justify this wisdom, this counsel, these most gracious and wise proceedings of God toward them. This rendering of the place is sure most agreeable to the scripture style and acception of δικαίωθη and also with the ordinary rendering of και, (not but, but) and, and therefore is to be preferred as the clearest interpretation. Yet if the use of δικαίωθη among And thou, Capernaum, the place of my abode, which hast been so honoured and favoured by me beyond all other places, and hast received such spiritual advantages, shalt be brought to destruction and desolation suddenly, humbled as low as thou wert highly advanced; for if the miracles done in thee, on design to reform thee, had been done in Lot's time for the reforming of Sodom and Gomorrah, Sodom would certainly have reformed, and so should not have been destroyed. [i] hell] Ἄδης doth not signify here the place of hell, but a state of perishing or dissolution; and because this is the first place wherein the word is used in this book, it will not be amiss more largely to clear the notion of it. Among profane writers it is clear that the word signifies not the place of the damned, no, nor any kind of place, either common to both, or proper to either bliss or woe, but only the state of the dead. Thus in c Cornutus ἐν ᾧδῃ οἰκεῖν is interpreted by ἐν ἀσαφεῖ κεῖθαι, "to be nobody knows where," according to the definition of c Θεωρ. πτ. τῆς τῶν Θεῶν φυσ. p. 10. 32, whereas all beside them, (as it is there said, ver. 25,) the multitudes, Luke iii. 10, the publicans, 32, whereas all beside them, (as it is there said, ver. 25,) the multitudes, Luke iii. 10, the publicans, And therefore you in all reason are to expect a sadder destruction and vastation than that which befell Sodom and Gomorrah. About that time it was that Jesus upon some occasion taken, probably that of ver. 19, founded on the close of ver. 5, (his being received by the meaner, and refused by the higher sort,) brake out into an affectionate expression of thanks to God, that those mysteries of the gospel which the wise men of the world despised (and were thereupon given up by God to their own wilful blindness) were yet by him revealed to the meanest and most ignorant, that is, that God had so disposed the way to heaven, that the most ignorant and most humble, not the most illuminated and most proud, were most ready to receive and embrace it. ⁶ and, xxi. ⁷ Or, go down, for the Gr. and Lat. MS. reads καταβήρ, descends. [k] All things] The word πάντα, all things, here, though it may possibly signify either all power given to Christ, or all things belonging to his office, yet by the context it rather seems to belong to persons than things; for of those he peculiarly speaks under the title of babes, ver. 25, those single-hearted, plain persons that believed on him, (for whom he there thanks God, as here he saith they are given unto him.) And the neuter gender will be no hinderance to this, being ordinarily used in this manner for persons: see ch. xviii. 11, where that that is lost is these little ones, ver. 14; and whatsoever, ver. 18, is whomsoever; and so ch. xvi. 9. So 1 John v. 4. Apoc. xxi. 27. Heb. vii. 7. 19, and ch. xii. 13. [l] easy] The word χρηστός signifies ἀγαθός, good, and something more, good in the highest degree; and is rendered gracious, 1 Pet. ii. 3. Κύριος χρηστός, the Lord is gracious; the Septuagint renders it, psalm xxxiv. 8, O taste and see, ὅτι χρηστός ὁ Κύριος, that the Lord is gracious; But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. Thereupon, the Pharisees taking notice of it, said— Remember the story of David, 1 Sam. xxi. 6, and by that you will discern that the case of hunger was excepted and reserved in the law concerning holy days, or things; for there David and his company being pressed with hunger were by the priest allowed to eat the shewbread, which being consecrated did particularly belong to the priest, Lev. xxiv. 9, yet might, it seems, (by the intention of the Lawgiver,) be by him employed in any charitable use, for the relief of others, as long as there were more ready consecrated for the sacred uses, 1 Sam. xxi. 5. And accordingly though the priest pretended not to dispense toil, servicem. refresh you, dreadless. that, &c. grastous. E 2 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him: How he entered into the house of none, others. refreshment, devour. on the morning of the sabbath day, before the time of the public service, through corn fields, and his disciples, being hungry, plucked the ears of corn, thereby to break their feet, which among the Jews was not customary till the public offices were past: see note [a]. And therefore if the temple, and the necessities of the service thereof, might give such a dispensation to the law of the sabbath, much more Christ, (who is greater than the temple,) and the necessity of nature, and the service due to Christ from his disciples. And if you were not merciless men, and so unlike that which God likes best in men, if you did consider that which is so visible in all God's word and methods, that God likes mercy toward them that stand in need of it, better than the offering to him the richest sacrifices, you would rather have made a fair construction of this action, which their necessity renders justifiable, and would be so acknowledged by any that had humanity or bowels in them, than, under pretence of zeal to the sabbath, thus falsely charge the innocent. As for the ceremonial observance of the sabbath, which you think is broken in this, God never required it in cases of this nature of necessity, and the like. And therefore the Son of man, that is, Christ, which is here, and who as he is greater than the temple, ver. 6, so is the Lord also of the sabbath, and for whose service that is done which is here done by the disciples, may certainly now with all reason permit them to prefer their health or life before the exact performance of the ceremonies or rest of that day. 'Is healing and doing cures on the sabbath day one of those permitted things of which thou speakest? If he should say it were, this they knew would (though the former would not) bear an accusation in their Sanhedrim, being by them at that time counted utterly unlawful. [a] Son of man] That by the phrase the Son of man in this place is not meant man in common, (as some very learned men have thought,) but peculiarly Christ, is more than probable, not only by these words, a greater than the temple is here, (assuming a greater liberty for his disciples from his presence, and the necessity of their service to him, than belonged to other ordinary Jews in all cases, or than the temple could give any servants of the temple,) but also by the use of this phrase of Son of man for Christ in Daniel, ch. vii. 13, and in every other of the eighty-eight repetitions of it in the New Testament. And although by the words, as they are in St. Mark, ch. ii. 27, the contrary seemeth not improbable, where the ground of Christ's affirming that the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath, is because the sabbath is made for man, as if the sabbath's being made for man did conclude him lord of it, and consequently that he was lord for whom it was made, that is, man in common, and not Christ; yet to this the answer is ready, that the case of which Christ there and here speaks, being for the necessary use and good of man, plucking and eating for necessity, and preservation of life, that may be very fitly referred to by Christ, when he saith, The sabbath is made for man; so that the phrase for man shall signify, for the good of man, and import that the sabbath being designed for the good of man, could not reasonably be conceived to oblige him to any thing so contrary to that, as is starving, or debilitating of nature, (so as to render him unable to discharge the duty of the calling.) And from thence that former conclusion of man's being lord of the sabbath will not follow, because man is not lord, or free disposer of all those things that are for his good, (for even all the moral precepts of God also are for man's good, and the king is said to be for thy good; yet is not he subjected to thee, as to a lord, no more than the moral law can be dispensed with by thee.) The only proper conclusion from this notion of the sabbath's being made for man will be this, that he that made a positive law did not oblige to the observance of it in such cases which are for the good of man, as works of mercy, (which being part of the moral, eternal law, he prefers before the performance of those positive laws, which respect his own service, ver. 7,) and so that the law of the sabbath at the very making of it was not designed to have force in it to bind men to strict rest in some cases; as those, ver. 5, of the necessary services of the temple, (and what is done here was for the service of For some live unmarried, as being naturally enabled to do so chastely, and without great difficulty; some, as being by men disabled, (of which sort there were very many among the heathens, ordinarily called eunuchs;) some out of firmness of resolution have gotten that mastery over themselves that they can live chastely in a single life, and do so on purpose that they may have fuller vacancy to set themselves apart for the duties of Christianity. Now he that finds this agreeable to his condition, and can thus conquer and subdue himself, he may do accordingly, if he please, and shall do well and wisely in so doing. 'that by imposition of hands he would bestow his benediction upon them. And his disciples would have chid them away. 'their meekness, humility, and docility, are the temper, which of all others is most like that which is required of disciples of Christ. To this objection he gave this answer, that all men are not capable of that prudential aphorism—that a single life is more profitable and fit for their turn than marriage—but those only whom God hath some way more than ordinarily fitted for it by some special gift. And using that ceremony of imposition of hands, frequent among the Jews in all kind of benedictions, he bestowed his blessing upon them, and departed— 'what is the condition required of me to make me capable of eternal bliss? Thy calling me good without conceiving me to be God is not right. But for thy question of the way to eternal bliss this is soon answered: it is by obedience to God's commandments. Jesus said, Those great precepts given by God to Moses, containing the heads of all duties both toward God and man, particularly those six of the second sort, containing the duty toward man. And he commanded that this should not be celebrated, proclaimed abroad, that no acclamations should be used toward him, desiring quietly to discharge his office of doing good, and healing, without more notice taken of him, and consequently more contestations with the Pharisees, who, he saw, would not be wrought on by him, but desired only matters of accusation and advantage against him, ver. 10, even to put him to death, ver. 14. 17, 18. By all which actions of his (humility and aversion of glory on one side, and on the other, his receding, and not contending with those that would not acknowledge him, and the Spirit, or power of God in his miracles, but continuing to preach the gospel, and heal diseases, by the sea of Galilee, Mark iii. 7, even to the meanest parts and people of them, ver. 15, when the principal Jews resisted him) was fulfilled that prophecy, Isaiah xlii. 1, of the Messias, to this sense, Behold the Messias, who is very obedient to all my will, whom I have loved, and preferred before all others to execute this great office, and to that end sent down my Spirit on him; and he shall carry forth or propagate the law of living well (the will of God in the gospel) unto the Jews in Galilee, and in the heathen cities of Tyre and Sidon, &c. bordering round about. [b] chosen] Αἱρετίζω signifies so to prefer before all others, as to choose, or assume to any office, προσλαμβάνω, or αἴρω πρὸς ἑμαντὸν, I take [c] judgment] The word κρίσις in this place seems to signify the whole gospel, the true religion, the true way of worshipping and obeying God, the whole will of God under the gospel; and either is to be rendered truth, out of the Hebrew משפט, Isaiah xlii. 1, (whence these verses are taken,) which, Prov. viii. 2c, is rendered ἀλήθεια, truth, and signifies so, when it is rendered κρίσις, judgment, Jer. v. 4. Psalm xxxvii. 6. and Job iii. and κρίμα, Isaiah xxxii. 26,) and oftentimes δικαιοσύνη, righteousness, which is all one with ἀλήθεια, truth; and so in Hesychius, κρίσιν, ἀλήθειαν, (not as it is false printed, ἀκολουθίαν,) judgment, signifies truth; or else being rendered judgment, it is to be taken in the same sense as if it were rendered truth, as indeed κρίσις, judgment, is the title of the prime Christian virtue, righteousness, or equity in judging, Matt. xxiii. 23. And either way it here signifies the gospel; and so ver. 20 also. He shall not set forth himself, or his regal power, as kings are wont to do, magnificently, with a noise, or tumult, or proclamation before them in the streets, calling all in question that do not presently acknowledge them, but shall come in an humble and lowly manner. (And it were strange that he should be despised by us for that, it being merely for our sakes that he hath put on this condition, this humble guise is the fittest for the office which he means to exercise, that being all mercy to the weak, &c.) Those that have fallen, as long as there is any hope left in them, he will not deal with rigidly, but very mercifully, being desirous to plant the gospel, that is, evangelical righteousness, completely in the world. [d] A bruised reed] The reed is the weak, infirm man; the bruising of that reed, is his falling into sin; and the flax on fire that is burning in the illychnium, or lamp, (see Isaiah xliii. 17. Judges xv. 14, xvi. 9,) is the man again; the smoking flax, (τυφόμενον,) is when the flame is out, or burns darkly for want of oil, and yet there remains some fire in the flax, and that smokes or shines dimly, instead of flaming; and answerable to that is the man, in whom grace is decayed, but yet not desperately or irrecoverably gone out, some sparks of good being still left in him; and this person, in this estate, Christ is so far from destroying or triumphing over, that he doth most tenderly cherish and labour to restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, to a firm habit of Christian practice again. This is Christ's practice at his coming into the world, as designing to plant (not the unsinning, legal, perfect, but) the sincere, evangelical righteousness through the world, which is the meaning of the phrase that follows, until he bring forth (or, send forth) judgment unto victory; the Hebrew, Isaiah xlii. 3, is, he shall bring forth, and the word until is taken out of ver. 4, where the same sense is repeated again, and judgment again signifies the gospel, that is, Christian, evangelical righteousness, (see note [c]); and though εἰς νίκος, in the Old Testament, signifies for ever, Lam. v. 20. 2 Sam. ii. 26. Job xxxvi. 7. Jer. v. 3. Am. i. 11, yet that is, when it renders לְרָצָה, which signifies both to victory and to eternity; but here (seeming to be the epitome or breviate of the following words, ver. 4, he shall not fail nor be discouraged,) it most probably signifies victoriously, and notes that the gospel shall be set up over the world, that he shall not fail, or be discouraged, that is, either, 1, the bruised reed shall not fail, or be broken worse than it is, nor the flax be discouraged or quenched; or else, 2dly, the Messias shall not fail, &c. till he have set judgment on the earth, that is, till he have set up the profession of the gospel in the world among the heathen, if the Jews will not receive it. By this rendering of it, it will appear what is the meaning of לְאִמָּה in the Hebrew of Isaiah, and εἰς ἀληθῇ (for ἀλήθειαν) in the Septuagint; sure, that κρίσις εἰς ἀλήθειαν, judgment in truth, should be set for true judgment, and rendered so, he shall bring forth true judgment; and so it will remain, [e] not break] It is the custom of all writers, very frequent in the sacred dialect, to use phrases whereby they understand much more than they do express; an example of it we have in this verse out of the prophet, where Christ's not breaking the bruised reed signifies his great mercy and kindness in repairing and restoring and curing the bruised weakling; and so his not quenching the smoking flax is his enlivening, quickening, inflaming that fire, or spark of grace or goodness, which was almost quenched. So ἀργὸν ῥῆμα, idle word, ver. 36, is much more than idle, vain, even blasphemous speeches. So Eph. v. 11, where the Gentile foul abominations, taken up by the Gnostics, are called ἄκαρπα ἱργα τοῦ σκότους, unprofitable works of darkness; meaning surely, not that they brought in no profit or advantage, but the greatest danger and mischief in the world. So ἄχριος δοῦλος is a wicked, and not only an unprofitable servant. So in Philoxenus's Glossary, nequam, ἀχρεῖος, and nequitia, ἀχρειότης; and so in Cyril's Greek Glossary. So in Hesiod, ἀχρῆτος ἀνὴρ, an unprofitable man, is he that neither understands himself nor heeds others, the most senseless, wretchless person: of the same nature is illaudatus, "unpraised," in Latin; of which, see A. Gellius, l. 2. c. 6, where he proves that word to signify, omnium pessimum ac deterrimum, "the worst and basest of all." And so, l. 7. c. 11, he makes ἄσωτον, ἀκόλαστον, ἄχριον, ἄχρηστον, κακότροπον, μιαρὸν, riotous, intemperate, unprofitable, useless, ill-mannered, detestable, to be all one, the interpretation of the Latin nequam, a "wicked" man, but literally "good for nothing." So ἄνομος, which properly signifies without law; and ἀνομία, a breach, or commission, against the law, is oft set to signify the highest degree of obdurate, profane sinning, 2 Thess. ii. 8, being there spoken of Simon Magus, the most blasphemous apostate. So, though παραβαίνειν literally signifies to transgress, and may belong to the least sin, as being a variation from the strict rule of the law, yet παραβαίνων, he that transgresses, 2 John 9, and so παραβάτης, transgressor, (since the solemn title of Julian,) signifies an apostate. So 2 Tim. iii. 3, ἀφιλάγαθοι, those which do not love the good, is set to express the most virulent haters of the orthodox pious Christians. So 1 Cor. xiii. 6, where it is set down as the character of the charitable man, οὐ χαίρει ἐπὶ τῇ ἀδικίᾳ, he rejoiceth not in iniquity, the meaning is, he is very much troubled and sorrowful; so ver. 5, οὐ φυσιώται, the charitable man is not puffed up, signifies much more than so, that he is extremely humble. So in the third commandment of the Decalogue, where it is said of the perjured person, that the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that sure signifies, that God will look on him and deal with him as a most guilty, punishable person. And so 1 Peter. i. 18, ματαία ἀναστροφῇ, vain conversation, is most vicious and enormously ill; and Rom. i. 16, οὐκ ἐπαισχύνομαι, I am not ashamed, is, I rejoice and glory in the gospel of Christ. And Rom. viii. 8, They that are in the flesh (that is, those that follow their carnal appetites, in despite of the law) cannot please God, that is, are very far from pleasing, being in professed enmity to him, ver. 7, must needs be hated and opposed by him; and ver. 12, We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh; that is, we are far from all obligation to go on any further in And though the rulers and Pharisees do not, yet the Jews of the Gentile cities, Tyre and Sidon, &c. shall lay hold on him. Thus they did, ver. 15. compared with Mark iii. 8, and this is by Esaiah called waiting for his law, ch. xlii. 4, willingly receiving, and giving obedience to him. whom the devil had cast into a disease which deprived him of speech and sight, and— the Messias that was so oft foretold and expected to be born of the family of David, and so he that shall deliver us, and reign over us? m the ruler of the devils, which consequently is able to cast out devils that are his subjects, inferior to him. p If any king mean to uphold his kingdom, he will not quarrel and fall out with his own subjects, and cast them out which are a-doing him service; such divisions and civil dissensions as these will soon destroy his kingdom, and therefore cannot probably be affirmed of any prudent ruler or prince. [f] Beelzebub] Beelzebub in Hebrew, בעל ובוב, is rendered by the Greek of the Old Testament, Βαὰλ μνίας, the prince of the fly, or flies, the god of Ekron, 2 Kings i. 2, and ver. 6; being indeed an idol, that the inhabitants of that city in Palestine worshipped, and conceived to have power over all hurtful flies, and to drive them out of their region. That this was the heathen Jupiter is not improbable, the title of μνίαιος, μνιώδης, ἀπόμνιος, ἀπομνιαῖος, μνίαγρος, and μνιοθήρας, being bestowed on him by the heathens, that is, "he that caught," or, "drove away flies." This idol in h Pliny is called Achor Deus, from Accaron or Ekron, the name of that city, and, as he saith, the Cyrenæans, when any plague of flies comes on them, sacrifice and pray to him, and on that they die presently. This is here called prince of devils, that is, one that hath power over them, (as it was, it seems, believed,) able to throw them out of those that were possessed with them, (whole legions together,) like swarms of flies, which, with their prince or chieftain, fly about in the upper and middle region of the air. This gives the reason of their speech here, why they conceived Christ to cast out devils by Beelzebub, because Beelzebub they thought to have that power, and therefore to have the name of ruler, or prince of devils, and Christ visibly casting them out, they thought he operated by this power. Reven so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. This is an act, said he, of thy free and undeserved mercy, O Lord, to name, and of thy just desertion to others. And Satan's casting out devils which are about his business (possessing those whom he would have possessed) would be such a civil dissension and breach as this. This is an argument against you. But then, secondly, [k] All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and I no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and be to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. All that come to me, and believe on me, are by my Father (enlightening and stirring up their hearts, and using all powerful means to that end) brought and delivered unto me, and none acknowledgeth me but the Father, and those who, by the miracles, &c. which my Father enableth me to do, are attracted to me. As on the other side, none acknowledgeth the Father in that manner as he now requires to be acknowledged, but the Son, and he that believes his preaching of him. Wherefore come— that are now engaged in a sad drudging course of service and slavery to Satan, and I will entertain you into a cheerful, pleasant, not only supportable service. Why may not I cast out devils by the power and in the name of God, as well as your disciples and countrymen, the Jews among you, (who being evil, are therefore more obnoxious to suspicion of holding correspondence with Satan's kingdom,) do, at least pretend to do. When they in the name of God go bring forth, ἑβάλῃ: see note [i] on ch. ix. [y] your children] Your children here signify either your disciples, that is, spiritual children, or your countrymen, that is, children of your nation naturally, and so he means the Jews, who did pretend at least to exorcise and cast out devils in the name of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, which was their ordinary form of exorcism; and which, it seems, the sons of Scheva were willing to change into the name of the Lord Jesus, in imitation of the apostles, Acts xix. 13. So in Justinus against Trypho the Jew: "If," saith he, "you invoke the name of any of your kings, or just men, or prophets, or patriarchs, the devil will not obey you, but if you call upon the God of Abraham, &c., and so exorcise, ἴσως ὑποταγήσεται, perhaps he will obey." So saith Irenæus: "By the invoking of the Most High and Almighty, even before the coming of Christ, men were delivered from the wicked spirits, and a dæmoniis universis, from all kinds of devils." And so Tertull. contra Marcion. expounds this passage in St. Luke, that Christ affirms himself to cast out devils by the same power by which their children did, in virtute scilicet Creatoris, "by virtue of the Creator." That there was this custom among the Jews, (and so long continued,) of charming and incantations, may further appear by the latter remainders, (being, as appears by the Christians' renouncing them, abuses of the true,) which we find in the forms of renouncing Judaism, in the Liturgies of the Greek church; where, after the mention of the several h Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 28. ¶ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. But if it be indeed by the power of God that I do all this, (called the finger of God, Luke xi. 20,) then it is clear, that although you were not aware of it, yet this is the time of the Messias, whose mission God hath testified with these miracles, and would not have done so if he had been a false Christ. And then, thirdly, Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me: for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Put off your present servitude, and exchange it for my yoke, exemplified to you by myself in mine own meekness and humility, and you will find a strange exchange, refreshment instead of weariness, which came from your former course. My dispossessing Satan of his goods, turning him out of those whom he possesses, is an argument that I have mastered him, and so that I do not use his power, but that mine is greater than his, and employed most against his will, and to his damage. For my yoke is [l] easy, and my burden is light. For my service is a good, desirable, excellent service, and the commands or tasks that I require you to perform are very tolerable, and easy to be performed. ### CHAP. XII. AT that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. And it is proverbially known, that he that is not on one's side, that brings forces into the field, and is not for a man's assistance, he is certainly for his enemy, engages against him, doth him hurt; and consequently my casting out devils shews that I am Satan's declared enemy. For this speech of yours (that I work by Beelzebub) let me tell you, Pharisees, ver. 24, that this malicious resisting and holding out against the visible work of God, and despising the miracles that I have wrought by the Spirit and power of God, ver. 28, is such a crime, of so deep a dye, that it shall to them that continue in it be irremissible. Whosoever shall say this against the Son of man, that is, shall not receive me as I am the Son of man, or before I am sufficiently manifested by the Spirit or finger of God to be the Messias, he may by want of light or manifestation be excusable, and by a general repentance for all his sins of ignorance may receive pardon. But he that shall resist the Spirit of God, manifestly shining in these miracles wrought by Christ, to the astonishment and conviction of all but Pharisees, ver. 23, and shall impute those miracles to the devil, which, by what hath been said, sufficiently appear to be the works of God's own power; if he repent not particularly of this, and come in, and acknowledge Christ, thus revealed and manifested to him, there is no pardon or mercy to be had for him, neither in this age nor at the coming of the Messias, (by him supposed yet future,) or, neither in this life, where he shall be punished with spiritual death, * upon you, in? byst. aëroü bmpedans. * plunder, or forcibly carry away his household stuff, &excén 10 age, nor in that to come. [h] speaketh a word] It is ordinary in the Hebrew dialect for speaking to signify doing, and word to signify thing; and so here, to De Myst. 1. 8. c. 4. [i] it shall be forgiven him] The difference of these two sins being set down, (note [h]), it follows now, that the former of these was a sin for which under the law of the Jews there was place for sacrifice, and so for forgiveness, (upon a general confession of all unknown sins, and asking pardon for them of God.) It did not incur that sanction of death, or excision from the people; and proportionably (in the Christian anagogy) it was in the number or of the nature of those sins by which the sinner, if before living spiritually, doth not ipso facto become spiritually dead, nor incur present obligation to death eternal, but by Christ's sacrifice is preserved from it; and if before he were spiritually dead, yet is not this such as is to him imputed so as to fill up the measure of his iniquities, and bring utter desertion upon him; but (as a sin ἀκουσθιασθείσης ψυχῆς, or unaffected ignorance, Num. xv. 28,) is accordingly pardonable by a general repentance: (such was that of Nathanael, John i. 46, Can any good come out of Nazareth? which was speaking a word against the Son of man, and yet easily pardonable.) [k] it shall not be forgiven] As that former kind of sin was capable of mercy, so this second was of a far higher nature, none of those ἀγνοήματα, ignorances, for which only sacrifices were appointed under the law, Heb. ix. 7. Num. xv. 18, but parallel to those for which there was no sacrifice accepted, (see Heb. x,) but just vengeance and punishment under the law, to which death without mercy was to be expected on the impenitent opposers, the ὑπεναντίον and ἀθετήσαντες, adversaries and despisers, Heb. x. 27, 28. Those that sin thus are the soul that doth ought presumptuously, or with a high hand, Num. xv. 30, (a hand lifted up, saith the Hebrew, a hand against God's finger, Luke xi. 20, or against the Holy Spirit here,) and so that reproaches the Lord there, as the Spirit, Heb. x. 29, (which is just the βλασφημία, or blaspheming the Spirit here, and so the Hebrew יָדָה, reproach, there is rendered blasphemy by the Greek, 2 Kings xix. 22,) and so must be cut off from the people. And proportionably now under the gospel, such a sin as this shall not be forgiven; the offender thereby, if he were before spiritually living, certainly dies spiritually, and so is cut off from God's true Israel (and by the apostles' and the church's discipline is to be cut off from the congregation by censures); the sacrifice of Christ's death, typified by the legal sacrifices, doth not obtain that such sinners should not fall into present spiritual death and present obligation to eternal death, nor doth the spirit of meekness but the rod of excommunication belong to such. Or if the offender were not before spiritually living, this adds unto his dead works, and so brings on him a new obligation to eternal death; though the sacrifice of Christ's death, if they repent of such sin particularly and actually, (God giving them space of life to do so,) may and certainly doth raise them up from this spiritual death, and obligation to eternal, by justification. But without such particular special repentance from their sin particularly retracted, they shall continue in death spiritual here, till they fall into eternal hereafter, which is now by Christ most clearly revealed against all wilful sin continued in impenitently, though it were not before so clearly revealed under the law. The issue of this whole matter, as far as concerned the Pharisees there, was this, that unless their sin were particularly retracted by repentance, and Christ received and acknowledged upon these miracles of his, or afterwards by the conviction which the Holy Ghost should work upon the crucifiers, they can never have pardon or remission, not that they that were here guilty should never after repent, or upon repentance be accepted. This is not said here or in any other place, but rather the contrary is every where affirmed in the scripture, which offereth repentance to all, (and that so really, that by the grace of Christ, and the Holy Ghost assisting his word, they may receive it,) and promiseth pardon to all, be they never so great sinners, so they do amend their lives sincerely, and lay hold on God's mercy in Christ; and this is particularly applied to those Pharisees by force of Christ's prayer for his crucifiers, (which was certainly heard,) Father, forgive them; that is, deny them not the means of forgiveness, (the power of repenting,) and forgiveness if they shall repent. And accordingly the apostles after teach that God had exalted Christ to his right hand to give repentance unto Israel, Acts v. 31, that is, to all Israel, Acts ii. 36 and 38, and particularly those crucifying rulers, Acts iii. 17, whose ignorance is there, as on the cross by Christ, urged to make their case the more H [I] in this world, &c.] This phrase seems to refer to a persuasion of the Jews that some sins which could not be forgiven upon their sacrifices, (whether their daily sacrifices or that on the great day of expiation,) and so are irremissible, ἐν τούτῳ τῷ οἴωνι, in this age, might yet be remitted and pardoned, ἐν τῷ μέλλωνι, in that to come, which sometimes signifies among them the age of the Messias, sometimes the state after death, (see note [o] Luke i.) But of this sin unrepented of, saith Christ, there is no place for any such hope: that opinion of yours, that every Jew hath his part in the age to come, as that notes the age of the Messias, (there being now no further Messias to be looked for by you,) shall stand you in no stead, if you stand out impenitently against all this light and manifestation of divine power, now evidently testifying that I am the Messias. And for the state after death, when that comes and your sentence is once past, there will be small hope of relief or release for you. For indeed they that do this, that impute the miracles which by the power and finger and Spirit of God are wrought by me unto the devil, must, according to the old known rule of judging the tree by the fruit, be understood to affirm the same ill of him (that is, the Holy Ghost) whose productions these miracles are, as they affirm of the miracles themselves; by pronouncing these to be diabolical, they do by implication pronounce the Holy Ghost to be an infernal spirit, and so God to be the devil, which is the highest and the most irremissible blasphemy imaginable. Ye are indeed a wretched sort of people, your language speaks you what you are, viz., that your viperous hearts will not permit you to speak any otherwise, (as how can you is used John v. 44, and of Christ, he could not do miracles, Mark vi. 5, that is, their unbelief was a let and impediment to him,) for as your hearts are, even so by consequence will your language be, and therefore from so viperous a brood no better can be expected. Every man entertaineth his guests with such provisions as he hath, and just so, men's words are testifications of what is in their hearts. But deceive not yourselves, as if words were too light to be accounted for; believe it, words, such they may be, false, blasphemous words, such as yours are now, ver. 32, and such as flow out of the evil treasure of the heart, ver. 35, shall be most sadly accounted for in the day of judgment. [m] idle word] The word ἀργὸν may bear proportion in sense to the Hebrew שָׁוָה, which signifies vain indeed, but frequently false, because that which is false wants the solidity and substance of truth. So μάταιον λόγον καὶ ψευδῆ, vanity and lies, Prov. xxx. 8; or as the Greek ἀργός is derived, quasi, ἀεργος, when the words are without deeds agreeing to them. Thus κενὸς λόγος, vain speech, Ephes. v. 6, is not unprofitable, but false speaking, such as with which they are advised that they be not deceived. But it is further observable from the scripture style, mentioned note [e], (which uses to signify more than the words literally import,) that the word ἄκαρπος, unfruitful, Ephes. v. 11, and μάταιος, vain, do signify, not only the negation of, but contrariety to all profit, that is, the greatest wickedness; and so may ἀργός here. The advice of Pythagoras, Αἱρετώτερόν σοι ἔστω λίθον εἰκῇ βάλλειν ἢ λόγον ἀργόν: "Let it be more desirable to thee, or choose rather to cast a stone at an adventure, than an idle speech," where it is evident that λόγος ἀργός is at least a rash speech, and such as from which a man himself or others may as probably receive some considerable hurt, as from a stone rashly cast we have reason to expect. And accordingly in this place R. Stevens mentions another reading, πονηρὸν instead of ἀργόν, every wicked word. Thus will the ἀργὸν ῥῆμα be the same with πονηρὰ, evil things, ver. 35; and thus it may refer to the notion of πονηρὸν ῥῆμα, used for reproach and contumely, ch. v. 11; for such was that against Christ, ver. 24, that great contumely and falsity of his casting out devils by the prince of devils. That it is some grand crime, not every word which tends not to some special end of Christian edification, appears by the next verse, where they are affirmed to be such as for which For words as well as actions are accounted of by God in conferring either rewards or punishments upon us. p all that take upon them to be sent from God, and expect to be received, bring some signs with them, miracles, or somewhat of that nature, to give them authority; we now desire some such from you. p It is the sign of a wicked infidel people to be always unsatisfied, after so many miracles and manifestations (sufficient to prove me the Messias) still to be requiring more, without ever being moved with what you have already; for such as you there is but one sign or token or miracle behind, that of my resurrection from death, after ye have crucified me; whereby you shall have my office asserted, after I am they are such things that those who desire sincerely to learn may by industry and examination of the parables more fully discern by them than by the plainest speech, and withal better carry it away and retain the sense of them; but secondly, they that willingly shut their eyes against the light, because their deeds are evil, they do not use to see, but understand and discern less by parables than otherwise; (and yet, thirdly, if they have any desire of learning left, parables will more excite and inflame a desire of understanding and inquiring after the meaning of them than any thing else;) and therefore do I not speak plainly to them, but in such veils as these, because what hath formerly been without parables delivered unto them, as plainly as what is before their eyes, they have not made use of. And as he sowed in the field, some of his seed fell on the path, or the ground which was not pre- [a] hundredfold] That great proportion of an hundredfold in the harvest is no such prodigious increase as men imagine. For though it were strange that to the number of the bushels of seed there should be an hundred times so many brought home by way of increase, because a great deal of the corn that is sowed miscarries and comes to nothing; yet it is easy to observe, that from one single corn (which is here referred to by the ὁ μὲν ἑκατόν, &c. and εἷς in Mark, that is, one, an hundred) there oft comes so many branches and stalks, and grains in all those stalks, as may easily and ordinarily make up the number sometimes of thirty, sometimes of sixty, nay, sometimes of an hundredfold; though the truth is, the hundredfold is the liberallest proportion, and so is set down as the highest degree of fruitfulness in the good ground. See ch. xix. 29. And his disciples wondered that he should speak so mystically and obscurely to the people, and therefore asked him why he did so. And he gave them this answer. The understanding the higher and obscurer parts of the gospel is a privilege that belongs only unto you disciples, which are believers already, which have already received and profited, and undertaken to direct your lives according to the rules of my doctrine communicated to you; but these, which have not done so, are not yet fit for revealing of secrets to them (that which is fitter for their turn, is to be incited by the darkness of parables to inquire into the meaning of them, ver. 13). Whosoever hath to purpose, that is, hath made use of any degree of grace or knowledge afforded him by God, shall have more given him, (as in the seed that fell on good ground,) he shall have an abundant increase; as proverbially it is known of rich men, it is easy and usual for them to grow richer soon by wise employment, and laying out of their wealth, and every man's presenting them; but whosoever is poor ordinarily grows poorer: and so shall it be in the spiritual wealth; whosoever employs what he hath, he shall increase by exercising his graces, and besides, have addition from God; but whosoever makes not use of what he hath, and so by his own fault fallet into poverty, he shall not only be denied more, but shall be deprived of what he hath, the means of grace shall be taken from him, and also grace itself, (as to that measure which is in all the children of God,) upon his wilful continuance in sin against conscience; and all degrees of it taken away, either [b] hath] The word ἔχειν signifies here, (as it is plain by the parable,) to use, to occupy, to traffick with grace, to take that care of it which belongs to so great a treasure; so saith Phavorinus in the word εὐνοῦχος, ἔχειν τὸ ἐπιμελεῖσθαι φασι καὶ φυλίσσειν, to have is used for to take care of, to keep; thus perhaps may χάριν ἔχειν signify, Heb. xii. 28, though it be capable of another rendering, as there we shall see. H 2 Parables may be designed to several uses: And so what Esaias foretold of God's dealing with an obstinate people, although it was foretold of some of your ancestors, yet hath a most eminent completion now, and is found most true of them, That they shall not receive so much profit as otherwise they might by what is represented or delivered to them; things shall be so enigmatically and darkly represented to them as that they (having before shut their eyes, ver. 13.) shall now discern but little. And this is a just judgment of God's upon them, for their former obduration and obstinacy, in that they have hung down their ears (as creatures do that hearken not, whereas others hold them up) and shut their eyes against me, wilfully blinded themselves; for fear, as it were, that they should see, or hear, or understand, and by repentance and conversion become capable of my working cures of mercy on them, which otherwise I should infallibly do, (and also, on God's part, lest such precious knowledge should be exposed to further contempt.) See note [a] on Mark iv. ⁸ that by receiving what hath been already taught you, you are thus capable of these higher illuminations. For though there have been many men employed by God to reveal his will to others, and many so far in God's favour, that God hath made himself ¹ that, &c. ² that, &c. You disciples therefore, to whom it is given to know the mysteries, ver. 11, (from whence to this 18th verse all was spoken as in a parenthesis,) have ye the meaning of this parable. When the gospel is preached to any, and he lays it not to heart, but by temptations is induced to live an unchristian life: this is that is meant by the seed that is sown by the path side, that is, by that part of the parable mentioned ver. 4. [c] understandeth] Συνίημι signifies ordinarily laying to heart, thinking on, considering, ξυνήκε, συνίλαβε, saith Didymus; and so συμβάλλω, Luke ii. 19, seems all one with it; and so Suidas, συνίημι ἐστι τὸ νοῶ, to consider or think on; and σκόπει, βλέπει, συνίει; and Hesychius, συνίασιν, νοούσιν. So Ὀδύσ. σ. 390. Σιγῇ νῦν ξυνίει καὶ τέρπεο, "Consider and please thyself in private." And so Prov. xxi. 12, the Septuagint renders Maschil by συνίει; and so psalm cvi. 7; and so here, ver. 15, consider and turn; answerable to Ezek. xviii. 28, because he considereth and turneth away from his sins. [d] This is he] That the οὐτός ἐστι σπαρεῖς signifies literally, not him that receives the seed, but that which is sown, either ὁ σπόρος, the seed, in St. Luke, or ὁ λόγος, the word, or the like, appears both by the parable, in which, answerable to it is the ἃ μὲν ἔπεσε, &c. some fell, that is, in sowing fell; and also more particularly by the parallel place, Luke viii. 11, where it is said, that ὁ σπόρος ἐστι λόγος, the seed is the word; and ver. 14, instead of the σπαρεῖς, sown, is the τὸ πεσόν, that which falls, which must needs be the corn, and not the ground; and in St. Mark, ch. iv. 19, it is clearly the corn (and not the man or the ground) that becometh unfruitful; and therefore it is clear that as οὗτος, he, refers to the whole precedent oration, when any one hears, &c.; so the σπαρεῖς, sown, is the whole of that part of the parable, the seed, and the ground, and the sowing, and the fowls picking it up, all together; and then ἐστι signifies, is denoted by. Only, it is true, that in the following expression, οὐτός ἐστιν ἀκούων, this is he that heareth, &c., the word is is taken a little otherwise, and the phrase signifies, this is it (that is, the seed sown in that ground, or in complexo, the seed with its ground is it) which denoteth, or by which is denoted he that heareth, &c. By both which it is observable, that in the scripture dialect, the word ἐστι, is, or οὐτός ἐστι, this is, doth either, as St. Augustine saith, signify, significat, "signifies," or significatur, "is signified," that is, denotes one thing which is answerable to another, whether it be the sign or the thing signified; sometimes the sign, as ver. 19, the οὐτός ἐστιν ὁ παρὰ τὴν ὁδὸν σπαρεῖς, this is it that is signified by the seed sown by the path side; and sometimes the thing signified, as ver. 20, οὐτός ἐστιν ὁ τὸν λόγον ἀκούων, this is it which signifieth him which heareth the word, &c.; and so vv. 22 and 23. But the sowing of seed on the stony ground denoteth him that at the first hearing receives the gospel with all greediness and joy, looking only on the smoother part of it. But for want of an honest heart, a good soil, where it may take deep root, for want of resolution to hear whatsoever the gospel requires of them, they last but a little while: as soon as ever Christianity is persecuted, as soon as any chargeable duty is required of them, immediately they are galled and discouraged from going any farther in the ways of piety. See note [c] on ch. xi. But the sowing of seed among thorns denoteth him that heareth the gospel, but the solicitude and care of preserving the things of this world (and of getting of riches) being in his heart, where the word is sown, suffocates it, and so renders the word in him unfruitful, makes him live never the better for being a Christian. But the sowing the seed in good ground denoteth him, that by hearing and understanding, and laying to heart the precepts of Christ, expresses the effects of it by bringing forth abundance of Christian practice all the life after, some in a greater measure than others, but all in a good proportion. ¹ This is it which is sown by the path side. ² that which is sown on stony ground, & hi del vā verpiñāg evapels: see note [d]. ³ And that which is sown, &hi evapels. ⁴ It becometh, yfereas. ⁵ that which is sown upon. This was not discerned at the time, but when the corn came up, and began to ear, then, beside the wheat that was sowed, there appeared cockle also. ˡ certainly all the seed which thou didst sow in thy field was good wheat, and yet we discern now a great deal of cockle among it; whence should this be? ᵇ Some malicious person hath done this. Hereupon the servants offer their pains, if he please to accept them, to go presently and weed up all the cockle. ˡ No, for some of them are in such a conjuncture with the wheat that the one cannot be pulled up but the other will follow, if it be done by you that are not so able to discern them. ˢ until my time of judgment, and then I will appoint the angels my officers, saying, Gather— ⁿ The state of the gospel is of such a growing procreative nature both in the world and in the heart of man, where it is received, that it is fitly resembled to a grain— ᵃ cockle, Gfdria. ᵇ cockle. [e] enemy] The phrase ἐχθρὸς ἄνθρωπος, literally enemy-man, is here an Hebraism, the like as we shall find Esth. vii. 6, The man-adversary, or adversary-man, is this wicked Haman. And so it restrains not the word here to a man, but leaves it in the latitude that ἐχθρὸς alone would be a man or devil. [f] utter] The word ἐρεύξομαι, must be rendered, I will pour out; for, saith Hesychius, ἐρεύξεται, βρύσεται, it signifies to send forth, so as a fountain doth water, or as a tree its juice or moisture. Thus נָבָע, (which psalm xix. 3, and so psalm cxix. 171, and psalm cxlv. 7, is rendered ἐρεύγομαι,) signifies scaturire, or exundare, to pour forth water from within it; as here the κεκρυμμίνα, what was before kept close within. Which being one of the least seeds that are, yet when it comes up prosperously, it becomes bigger than any thing that comes from a seed, and among the Jews grows into a tree with boughs large enough for birds to roost or lodge in. See note [a] on Luke xiii. "The gospel hath such a secret invisible influence on the hearts of men, to change them and affect them, and all the actions that flow from them, that it is fitly resembled to leaven, so mixed thoroughly with the whole, that although it appeareth not in any part of it visibly, yet every part hath a tincture from it. "I will pour out all those mysterious truths which have been kept close from all time, and now, though in parables, are revealed by me. "Explain, interpret unto us— The field is this world, the place of our living here; that part of the parable that concerneth the good seed signifies the Christians; but that of the tares signifies the wicked seducers; such were the Gnostics, and other heretics of the first times; such are all heretics and schismatics since. ¹⁰ greater than herbs, μεῖς τών λαχάνων. [n] three days, &c.] That Christ was not in the earth three nights it is clear; and therefore the way of interpreting this place must be taken from a figure which expresses one whole thing by two parts of it. Thus the heaven and the earth in St. Peter, 2 Peter iii. 7, (see note [c],) signify the world; and the natural day, consisting of night and day, and beginning among the Hebrews at evening, is here meant by this phrase, night and day; and so Christ is said to be three days and three nights in the earth, though the first natural day he was not in the grave any part of the night, but the latter part of the Friday, all Saturday, and so much of Sunday as until the sun approached their horizon. The reckoning of days by the Jews was by the νυχθήμερον, evening and morning, which made up the natural day; so among the Athenians also: see A. Gellius, l. 3. c. 2. And as it is practised in the business of circumcision, which was precisely observed the eighth day, if the child were born in one day, though but half an hour before the end of it, that is, before the beginning or evening of the next, that half hour was counted for one of the eight days, (because, say they, legal days are not accounted from time to time, or from hour to hour,) so is it here, that part of Friday wherein he was buried was the first day of this number. Thus when, Luke ix. 28, it is said, about eight days after; Matt. xvii. 1, and Mark ix. 2, it is after six days, that is, after six days complete, the first and the last being not complete, and so though numbered by one, yet omitted by two evangelists; and accordingly the space of these very three days of Christ's lying in the grave until his resurrection, are, when it is prophetically mentioned by Hosea, ch. vi. 2, said to be after two days. So a lustrum and an olympiad, though they contain but four complete years, are yet said to be five years, after the manner of our accounting a tertian and a quartan ague. See Nebrissensis quinquag. c. 25, and Is. Casanbon against Baron. p. 16. Christ by his messengers and instruments of his justice shall destroy all heretics and schismatics, that any way keep others from the Christian religion, and all that live professedly in any unlawful course of contrariety to Christian purity. the true pure Christian professors shine eminently in the church here, and after in glory. the gospel being by some not looked after, is yet sometimes met with by them, and becomes matter of infinite joy and desire to them, and so is likened fitly to a treasure, which a man finding casually in a field, hid again or concealed it, and then designing to get it into his possession, accounts no price that he can pay too dear for it. others there are which have followed the study of wisdom, and thirsted after some instructor, and then the gospel of Christ comes as a rich prize doth to a merchant, which is in pursuit of rich merchandise, and meeting with a jewel for his turn lays out all his estate upon it. ¹¹ conclusion of the ἀγν, συντέλεια τοῦ ἀωτος. τὰ σκάνδαλα. ¹² conclusion of this age. ¹³ scandals, [g] scribe] The γραμματεύς, scribe, here set opposite to μαθητής, disciple, signifies him that is skilful in the Mosaical law, (as the disciple is he that hath thereto superadded the knowledge of the gospel,) or any man considered as furnished with sacred instructions, and ob- And coming to Nazareth, where he was bred, he set about the work of public teaching of them in their assemblies, which he did in such manner, expressing such knowledge, and doing such miracles, that they which saw and heard were amazed and astonished at it, saying, What means of knowledge hath he had by his education, and from whence can he be imagined to derive the power of doing such miracles? his first cousins, James— made a disciple for, pathologists of. HAMMOND, VOL. I. P Mark vi., note [b]. ¹⁶ scandalized at: see note [c] on ch. xi. [a] instructed] The word προβιβάζω, saith Budæus, hath a peculiar notion for a client instructing an advocate in his cause, telling him the heads of his defence; and so it may properly signify here; and, so the Vulgar reads præmonita, that Herodias instructed her daughter, admonished her beforehand, what she should propose to the king by way of request. So in Xenophon, Ἀπομνημ. a. the masters having shewed their scholars how to do their business, καὶ τῷ λόγῳ προβιβάζουσι, “do also by words premonish them.” But besides this, Hesychius renders προβιβασθεὶς, προαχθεὶς; and in the Old Glossary, προβιβάζω, promoveo, proveho; and Suidas, προβιβάζεις, πείθεις, παραινεις; in all of these to stir up, persuade, instigate. The interpreters of the Old Testament use it for μιν, to sharpen, Deut. vi. 7, and that belongs to the same sense. This petition was very unacceptable to Herod, yet because he had sworn, and that it might not appear a levity or inconstancy to those that were at the feast with him when he made the oath, he gave appointment it should be so. [b] was sorry] Of Herod’s sorrow many motives and reasons might be collected; one less observable might be, because this was his birthday feast. On such days they were wont to make merry and entertain the people, and make it holyday from all secular employments; and they took special care to avoid all ill omens, to have no quarrels nor contentions, no pleadings in foro, (Natalem colimus, tacete lites, Mart. l. 10. 87,) but especially no shedding of blood, no executions, counting it unfit to deprive any of life that day, wherein they received theirs, (Ἔθος ἦν μηδίνα κολάζειν τῶν κατακρίτων ἄχρις ἂν ἐπιφανείς, γενέθλιοι, καὶ πανηγύρεις, &c. διεξέλθωσι, saith Philo against Flaccus; and if any hanged on the gallows or cross before, they were then to be taken down. This was done by the pagans, lest they should offend, or sadden or displease their genius; and Herod, being more than half a pagan, might well have this cause of grief, and so be troubled to do this on John Baptist this day. But beyond this, two other reasons of Herod’s sorrow are set down by the evangelists, on Mark vi. 20, where it is said, Herod feared John, and looked upon him as a just and holy man; and thereupon reformed many things upon his instance, and took And John's disciples took care of his burial; and that being done came to Jesus, whose forerunner John was, and told him what had befallen John, and (probably) continued with him as his disciples. ¶ that the same might not befall him before he had fulfilled his office, for which he was sent, (see ch. xii. 15,) he departed by ship from thence, taking none but his disciples with him, and went to a place which was not inhabited; and when the people heard whither he was gone, they took a compass by land, and came to him thither. 'was so kind, as not to conceal himself from them any longer, but came to them, and when he was come, he healed— 'the time of evening, when every one gets him to his inn and provides for his supper, is already past; send— ¹ lay, evermore than. P 2 [c] blessed] That εὐλογεῖν, to bless, signifies to give thanks, is sufficiently known; and the same is otherwise expressed by praising, glorifying, singing, confessing, calves of lips, but especially giving thanks; and two of them together, ἐν χάριτι ᾤδοντες, Col. iii. 16, with thanks-giving, singing, or praising. The only difficulty here is, whether the verb εὐλόγησε, he blessed, be to be rendered so as to join with the bread and fishes, or with the word God understood, that is, whether it be, he gave thanks to God, or he blessed the bread, &c., praying for God's blessing upon them. The sense in either notion will be much the same; for if he blessed, or gave thanks to God, he is to be supposed also to have prayed for his blessing upon them; and so if he gave thanks, or prayed for blessing on them, it must be to God that this was performed. But the use of the phrase in the New Testament inclines it (both here and Mark vi. 41, and viii. 7.) to the latter notion, that of blessing the bread, giving thanks for it; for so 1 Cor. x. 16, where it hath an accusative case joined with it, it is ποτήριον, the cup, or pot, the cup of blessing, ὁ εὐλογοῦμεν, which we bless, which makes it necessary to render the word in that place, not to give thanks simply, but to bless, that is, by giving of thanks to separate or consecrate it to a holy use; as when, Gen. ii. 3. it is said of God, that he hallowed the seventh day, and blessed it. Thus 1 Sam. ix. 13, we read εὐλογεῖν τὴν θυσίαν, to bless the sacrifice, that is, by giving thanks to God to consecrate it. And so Luke ix. 16, it is clearly (without the notion of any extraordinary consecration) of the loaves and fishes, εὐλόγησεν αὐτούς, he blessed them, and brake, &c. And this is ἀγιάζειν, to sanctify with prayer, &c., 1 Tim. iv. 5, which belongs to the use of every creature, and not only of those which are consecrated to a peculiar use in the service of God. Upon this the multitudes designing to take him and proclaim him king, John vi. 15, he presently sent his disciples before him by sea to the wilderness, Mark vi. 32, (which was on the same side with Bethsaida and Capernaum, whither it seems they went, John vi. 17,) that so he might quietly dismiss the multitude. towards the morning Jesus— the evening being ended. [d] evening] The different signification of ὀψίας γενομένης, the evening being come, in this verse, from the same phrase, ver. 15, may be observed; for betwixt that and this, the people were set to supper, and risen again, the disciples sent to take boat, and the multitudes dismissed by Christ; and all that being done, Jesus goes by himself to the mount to pray; and then after that it follows, ὀψίας δὲ γενομένης, the evening being come. The sure way of understanding this must be by comparing these passages with the relations of the other evangelists. St. John assigns not any part of the day to the former part of the action, but to the latter he doth, John vi. 16, ὡς δὲ ὀψία ἐγένετο, when the evening was come. St. Mark in the first place hath a different phrase, ἤδη ὥρας πολλῆς γενομένης, much time being now spent, ch. vi. 35; and St. Luke another, ἡ δὲ ἡμέρα ἤρξατο κλίνειν, ch. ix. 12, now the day began to wane. In the latter place, St. Mark reads with St. Matthew, ὀψίας γενομένης, evening being come; and St. Luke proceeds not to that part of the story. By this it is clear, that the latitude of the word ὀψία, which we render evening, is it which must reconcile the seeming difference. The evening and the morning were the first day, saith Moses, and so it is clear that the ὀψία signifies all from the beginning of the evening till [a] wash not their hands] A custom this was taken up among the Jews, and so strictly commanded one another, that he that should not observe it was thought guilty of an heavy crime and a capital. So saith rabbi Aquiba, "He that takes meat with unwashed hands is worthy of death;" and therefore having, in prison, water given him for his use, to wash and to drink, having by accident spilt one half of it, he washed his hands in the remainder, thinking it more necessary to do so than to drink, and to die than to violate the traditions of his ancestors. Hence is that of another Jew, rabbi Jose, that "to eat with unwashed hands is all one as to lie with a whore." [b] curseth &c.] The words of this second text being by our Saviour taken out of Exod. xxi. 17, and set down punctually out of the Septuagint, κακολογία, according to the scope of Christ, must have the extent of the signification of the Hebrew radix קַל; and therefore it signifies, 1. positively, doing, or speaking injuriously to any; and 2dly, privately, lightly regarding, in words or deeds, and so not maintaining them in their need. For as this is the thing to which Christ's scope directs the signification of it here, so קַל, the word used in all the texts, to which this refers, Exod. xxi. 17. Levit. xx. 9. Prov. xx. 20, signifies, vilependere, contemnere, parvi facere, "to slight, and contemn, and set at nought," (as in Pihel most usually maledicere). So Ezek. xxii. 7, πατέρα καὶ μητέρα ἱκακολόγουν, say the Septuagint, where we rightly render it, set light by father and mother; and although every part of this was not so far meant, Exod. xxi. 17, as to bring temporal death on all that did thus neglect their parents; yet it is thus fitly extended by Christ in the following words, as bringing danger of eternal death on those who, though they did not in plain words curse their parents, (which the Pharisees told them was all that was meant by that text,) would not yet do ought for them; and so in St. Paul's judgment, 1 Tim. v. 8, were worse than infidels. It is here further observable, that ὁ κακολογῶν sig- [c] a gift] A solemn form of devoting there was among the Jews, called εὐχή ὠφελείας, and though very contrary to charity, yet frequent among them, "to bind a man's self by vow, or execration, that he will in nothing be beneficial to his neighbour, his parent, &c.;" ὄρκω τὴν ἀγριότητα πιστούμενος τῶν ῥᾶων, saith Philo, "he confirms by oath the barbarousness and ferity of his disposition." And this was called by them corban, and is often in this sense to be met with in the Misnaith, and in Maimonides; and is the word used in Mark vii. 11; and is all one with δῶρον, a gift, here. And what hath thus passed under their vow is, say they, אֲסִיר, that is, "utterly forbidden or unlawful;" or אֲסִיר כְּקָרְבָּן, "unlawful as corban," which being consecrated, must not be touched or employed to any other uses; which therefore in all probability is the word omitted in the ellipsis, which others supply by ἀναίτιος ἴσται, he shall be free, but should rather be, he is obliged, may not give his father. So that the plain meaning of the place is: A father being in want requires relief of his son; the son answers, that he hath vowed he will not, and so that to him it remains not lawful to relieve him. And the Pharisees approve of this practice, that he may thus evacuate his duty to his parent; and, though quite contrary to the precept of honouring and relieving them, yet it was by them thought obligatory to the frustrating of that commandment, and many cases are set down wherein it doth so, in Maimonides and the rabbins: see Mr. Pocock Not. Miscell. p. 414; and so this, without question, is it which is here charged on the Pharisees by Christ; but that which is more ordinarily received by the ancients, and which Origen had from an Hebrew, is, that corban and δῶρον are (in the sense of it, Levit. i. 2. and vii. 14, &c.) a gift consecrated to God; and so saith Theophylact, "The Pharisees" (covetous, greedy persons) "persuading children to give nothing to their parents, but to consecrate all to the treasury of the temple, taught them to say, O father, that which thou desirest to be profited by me" (that is, 'relieved') "is a gift," that is, "consecrated to the temple;" and so they "divided with the children all that they had," καὶ οἱ γονεῖς κατελιμπάνοντο ἀγηροκόμιστοι, the poor old "parents were left without any relief" in their old age. This interpretation is probable also, yet appears not to be agreeable to the Jewish practice, for among them are no footsteps of any cleaving to God, or consecrating, in this matter, as the testimonies produced by Mr. Pocock do evidence. However it be, the words in Greek have an ellipsis, most fitly to be supplied, as was said, by אֲסִיר, an interdict, or it is unlawful to break my vow, and not as others supply it by adding, shall be guiltless, or shall be free, that is, from the obligation or punishment attending that prohibition, or, there is no more required, or, this is enough, or the like. The service which they perform to me is little worth, and likely to receive a slender reward, when my commands are not heeded by them, but their own constitutions set up instead of them: see Mark vii. And leaving the Pharisees with some dislike, he calls the multitude, (who while he talked to the Pharisees stood at some distance,) and speaks more hopefully of, and cheerfully to them, saying, To this matter of washing before meat, so insisted on by the Pharisees, do you consider what I now say. Not that which is eaten, but that which is spoken polluteth any man. gall, and discouraged from receiving thy doctrine. To this he gave no other reply but this: All such as they which come with such prejudices as the Pharisees do, that prefer their own injunctions before the commands of God, ver. 9, it is to be expected, that the telling them the truth will alien them. All seed but that which falls on the good ground, and is there radicated in humility and piety, such as my Father owns the planting of, shall certainly come to naught; and consequently so must all faith in these opinionative men; and therefore it is not strange if they be galled, and depart from me, upon the noting and reproving of their errors. [d] plant] The word φυτεία, plantation, here signifies not one single plant, but a garden, or nursery of plants; and so fitly belongs to a multitude of men, a sect, or sort; as here of the Pharisees, ver. 12, which followed Christ and heard his doctrine. The only difficulty is, what is meant by such a plantation being planted, or not planted by God; and that will be best conjectured from the context. At one saying of Christ, If this have galled and discouraged and drove them from me, let them go; they are stupidly and perversely ignorant themselves, and take great pleasure to be accounted doctors and rabbis, instructors of the ignorant; and what can be the effect of this, but that the leaders, and they that are led by them, shall together ingulf themselves in perdition? Tell us the meaning of this parable. every thing that we eat first comes from without, and so is no part of us, is not imputable to us in respect of the principle, and then doth but pass or travel through us, is soon dispatched, and thrown out of the body again, and so be it never so gross, never so unclean, it cannot pollute the eater, at least not comparably so much as that which hath the original from ourselves, and hath some space of permanency there. But unclean, unsavoury speeches, it is clear that they proceed from the heart, and those that are there, that is, in the heart, that spring from that injunctions, deda plantation, quoria. still all this while, daube. [e] evil thoughts] Διαλογισμοί cannot well in this place signify reasonings, bare thoughts, without subsequent actions, because they are here said to come out of the heart, and to come out of the man, Mark vii. 20; it may therefore possibly be wicked talking, from λόγος, speech, and not λόγος, reason; according to which it is that Hesychius renders it ἀδολεσχία, loquacity, garrulity; and so it would accord with the mention of the mouth, vv. 11. 18, 19. But it may well be that the mouth there may be used by a synecdoche for the outward man, as in Mark it is set, out of the man; and then other circumstances there are of the context, which will, I conceive, suggest another signification of the word, which may be most agreeable to them. Our Saviour here mentions several sins against the second table, against the seventh commandment, adulteries and fornications together; and by setting fornications after adulteries, I suppose he means a fouler sort of that sin, unnatural uncleanness, such as is meant by πορνεία in many other places. Then against the eighth, thefts of all sorts; the word κλοπᾶς will belong to greater and lesser kinds of that sin, and so no other word is added to it. Then against the ninth, false witness, and βλασφημίαι, that is, [f] woman of Canaan] This woman of Canaan is, Mark vii. 26, called a Syrophœnician, that is, as the context here shews, a Phœnician of Tyre or Sidon, for in those maritime coasts Christ now was, ver. 20. This borders upon Syria, as we see in Pliny. Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 12. Qui subtilius dividunt, circum fundi Syria Phœnicem volunt, esse enim primum oram maritimum Syriæ ab Arabia,—deinde Phœnicem, (as a Budæus out of an ancient copy hath restored that place,) “They that divide more subtilely affirm Phœnice to be bounded by Syria, for that there is first the seacoast of Syria toward Arabia, then Phœnice,” &c. And so b Dionysius having resolved of Syria, ὑπεὶρ ἁλὸς ἔγγυθεν ἵρπει, “that it creeps close upon the sea,” adds, that all the “inhabitants are not of one name,” but severally called: Οἱ μὲν ἐπ' ἠπείρῳ, τοῖπερ Σύριοι καλέονται, Οἱδ' ἁλὸς ἔγγυε ἐόντες, ἐπωνυμὴν Φοίνικες : “Those that are on the continent are called Syrians, but those which are near the sea have the surname of Phœnicians,” that is, are called Syrophœnicians, not after the account, wherein the Lybophœnicians are in c Livy, mistum Afris Punicum genus, “a sort of Phœnicians mingled with the Africans,” but only as bordering upon Syria, or in d some accounts part of it; for so they that divide Syria into five parts name τὴν παραλίαν Φοινίκην, “Phœnice by the seashore” for one; and e Eustathius, speaking of that Syria, which is περὶ στρεπτικὴν θίνα τοῦ Ἰσσηκοῦ κόλπου, adds, τουτέστιν ἡ Φοινίκη, “this is Phœnice,” &c. Now Phœnice and Canaan are the same region, (and the learned 1 Bochart's conjecture is very ingenious, that the Greek word φοίνιξ is lightly changed from 2:1, “the sons of Anak,” which we know were in Canaan, Numb. xiii. 33,) and to the land of Canaan, ארץ כנען, Exod. xvi. 35, is by the LXXII rendered Φοινίκη, Phœnice; and so Shaul, Exod. iv. 15, is by them called, Σαοὺλ ἐκ τῆς Φοινίσης, Shaul of the Phœnician; but Gen. xlvi. 10, υἱὸς Κανανίτιδος, the son of a Canaanitish woman. So when their situation is set down, Num. xiii. 29, it is said expressly, the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and that assures us of their inhabiting Phœnice. And therefore as the Phœnicians were famous for merchandise, and cunning and subtilty therein, (c Ἐνθάδε Φοίνικες ναυσίκλυτοι ἦλυθον ἄνδρες, Τρώκται, μυρὶ ἄγοντες ἀθύρματα νηὶ μελαίνῃ, “the Phœnicians are famous merchants,” &c. and Δὴ τότε Φοίνιξ ἦλθεν ἀνὴρ, ἀπατήλια εἰδῶς, Τρώκτης, ὃς δὴ πολλὰ κάκ' ἀνθρώποισιν ἐώργει, “a cunning Phœnician merchant;” and h Οἱ πρῶτοι νήεσσιν ἐπειρήσαντο θαλάσσης Πρῶτοι δ' ἐμπορίης ἀλιδινίος ἐμνήσαντο, a De Ass. l. 4. b Περηγ. p. 117. c Dec. 111. l. 1. d See Eustathius on Dionysius, p. 116. 2. e Ibid. f De Colon. Phœn. l. 1. c. 1. g Hom. Odys. l. 15. h Dionys. περιήγ. p. 117. [g] Send her away] The disciples speaking to Christ to dismiss her, seemeth not here to mean that he should send her away without doing what she desired, send her away empty, but that he should satisfy her request, and so dispatch or dismiss her, (as when a master bids the servant dismiss the poor body, his meaning is, that he should give him his dole): this sense accords with Christ's answer; which is, that he is not sent save to the house of Israel, ver. 24, in opposition to this Canaanitish woman, which was not such; and ver. 26, It is not good to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs; which objection of Christ's is a reason why he should not presently cure the woman's child, not why he should cure it; and so argues the sense of the disciples (who sure desire him to do that which he did not seem to intend to do) to be, that he should grant, not that he should deny her. [h] Truth] The Greek ναὶ is here a sign of beseeching, not only of assenting; as Phil. v. 20, ναὶ ἀδελφί, I beseech thee, brother, let me, &c.; Rev. xxii. 20, Ναὶ ἄρχον Κύριε, Come, Lord, I pray thee. This use of the word ναὶ seems to be taken from the Hebrew אָז, which is a form of exhorting or praying, Numb. xii. 13, Heal her now, O Lord, אָז, I beseech thee. So Gen. xix. 7, 8, and xviii. 30. 32; and so in the word Hosanna. So in Euripides, ναὶ πρὸς σὲ τήσθε δεξιὰς εὐωλένου; and in Aristophanes, ναὶ ναὶ καταιδίσθητι πατρίψου Δία. [e] Gennesaret] The place called כנרות in Joshua (and used by the Jerusalem Targum, Num. xxiv. 15.) was after commonly called Genezar, saith Josephus, from the Chaldee נינוכי, which was the rendering of that Hebrew; from both which put together, ariseth the word here, Gennesaret, that is, the valley of branches; and this as the title of the whole province, which contained in it the lake so called, and the city in the tribe of Nephthali, which Herod adorned with magnificent buildings, and called it Tiberias, in honour of Tiberius Cæsar; and accordingly the lake of Gennesaret is sometimes called the sea of Tiberias. [i] Magdala] What the Greek here reads Magdala, the Syriac reads Magedu; the vulgar Latin, Magedan; and the ancient Greek and Latin MS. τῆς Μαγδαάν, Magadan; which makes it probable, that this coast of Magdala is all one with the valley of Mageddon, or Megiddo, Not being satisfied with his former answer of the sign of Jonas, ch. xii. 39, they again require some farther sign from him, to testify that the God of heaven hath sent him. ye hypocrites, ye have skill enough to expound and interpret the appearances of the sky, and can prognosticate what kind of weather it will be, by what at the present ye observe in the colour of the clouds: and when my preaching in these words, Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand, and my adding miracles of all sorts to enforce belief on you, do not yet work on you, is it not strange that you cannot discern what is coming upon you? Can there be any more certain prognostic of approaching destruction than this? and are not you much more nearly concerned herein than in rain or fair weather ye can be? Why should not your sagacity in other things extend to this also? It is an argument of great perverseness and falseness in you, that when so many miracles have been wrought, and repentance so long preached among you, ye now require a sign from heaven to satisfied, Exprodation. [a] leaven of the Pharisees] That which is here the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, the infusions of these upon all their followers, is, Mark viii. 15, the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. And the reason may be, either because some of the Sadducees were also Herodians, adhered to Herod's party, that is, to the Roman government, (see note [b] ch. xxii.) whereas, generally, the Pharisees were on the other side, took Cæsar for an usurper; or else because Christ mentioned all three, the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, and of Herod also, each of them designing ill against Christ and his apostles. And they understood not his meaning, but from the mention of leaven grossly conceited that the occasion of his speech was because they had forgotten to bring bread along with them. • What a piece of infidelity is this, thus to apply my speech to the want of bread! Will you never lay to heart, or consider? Have you so soon forgot how easily I am able to relieve your want of bread? Ye have had two competent evidences of this very lately afforded you, five thousand men fed with five loaves, and yet twelve baskets of fragments to spare after they were satisfied. And so four thousand fed with seven loaves, and seven baskets of fragments remaining. [b] baskets] That which is here rendered baskets is not κοφίνους, (the word used before, ver. 9, and in the relation of the story, to which that refers, Matt. xiv. 20. Mark vi. 43. John vi. 13, constantly retained in all the three evangelists,) but σπυρίδας, which is retained also in the other story, (to which this passage refers,) Matt. xv. 37, and Mark viii. 8, from whence it is probable that these two, κόφινοι and σπυρίδες, were vessels of several quantities, and σπυρίδες much the bigger: so large that Saul was let down in one, Acts ix. 25; but what the bigness was, or how they differed, will not perhaps be worth the pains of inquiry; and however the word basket (being not a note of a limited measure or quantity, but only of the kind of the vessel) may well enough be retained in both places. How then could ye be guilty of so gross an infidelity as to think me still unable to provide necessaries for myself and you, and consequently to speak of bread when I bid you beware— Then they understood their mistake, how that he had not spoken of bread or leaven literally, but that he foretold them what kind of people all the Pharisees and Sadducees were, and all that were leavened or taught, or received infusions from them, viz., that all the whole tribe of them were a sort of hypocrites, Luke xii. 1, who pretended much piety and love of the truth, and so inquired after signs from heaven, ver. 1, but were indeed most perversely and maliciously bent against Christ and his doctrine, and would prove the most virulent persecutors both of him and them, ch. x. 17. And being on his way (Mark viii. 27.) to Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, What opinion have the multitude, Luke ix. 18, of me? do they take me for an ordinary man? or a prophet, or what else? some old prophet of the Old Testament, either risen from the dead, (as it is clear they expected Elias should come again,) or else that the soul of one of them was by way of transmigration (which the Pharisees had borrowed from the Pythagoreans) come into his body. See note [a] on John ix. [c] Cæsarea Philippi] Καισάρεια Φιλίππου is not here set to signify that city where Philip the evangelist dwelt, Acts xxi. 8, the style is of another origination; for Euseb. Chron. l. 1. p. 43. saith, that Philip the tetrarch, Herod's brother, built many houses in the city Paneas, and having so enlarged it, gave it a new name, Cæsarea Philippi, the first part in honour of the emperor, the second of himself. And to the same purpose Josephus also. Whereas that other Cæsarea, simply so called, without any addition, in the Acts, was built by Herod, and was in Syria, formerly called Stratonis turris: of that see Ærodius Pandect. rer. Jud. l. 5. tit. 21. c. 7, where he relates the contention between the Jews and the Syrians, before Nero, for this city: the Jews said it was a city of Judæa, because built by Herod, and by him Jews planted there; the Syrians, that it was in Syria, and that Herod did not found but only enlarge it, and gave it a new name, and that he built it not for the Jews, because he set up images in the temple, which are not allowed by the Jews. Whereupon the emperor adjudged it to the Syrians. [d] Son of man] That the Son of man is a title of Christ peculiarly (though the most humble title, and of least eminence, belonging to his state of exinanition) hath been before said, note [a] ch. xii. And so here it is set to signify Christ in that humble guise, as a man, or To this question Simon Peter particularly rendered an answer, Thou art the Messias, even the Son— ¶ this faith of thine is not built upon human testimony, but upon the miracles and doctrines which thou hast heard and seen, which are the testimonies of God himself, whereby he hath testified of me to thee, and such as thou art, Matt. xi. 25. See note [d] on ch. xv. [e] flesh and blood] The phrase σάρξ καὶ αἷμα, flesh and blood, is an Hebrew phrase, בשר ודם, signifying no more than a mere man here upon the earth, one that hath ascended no higher than the common state of men. Thus it is ordinary in the Jewish writers; take one example for all, in Gemara Babyl. ad Cod. Berachoth, where a parable of a rich man (the first draught, as it were, and monogram of that which is enlarged and filled up with lively colours by our Saviour, Luke xvi. 19.) is called משל למלך בשר ודם, a parable of a king of flesh and blood, that is, of a human, mortal king here on earth. Thus 1 Cor. xv. 50, σάρξ καὶ αἷμα, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, that is, these corruptible, gross, earthy bodies of ours, till they be refined. So Ephes. vi. 12, our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, that is, against ordinary human enemies, but, as it follows, against the most powerful enemies, &c.; and so here, when Christ tells Peter that that confession of his, That Christ is the Son of God, was not founded on any human testimony, nor on the votes and wishes of men, which were not much likely to be gratified by this doctrine, but on that stronger of God himself. And so when St. Paul mentions his call to apostleship immediately from heaven, Acts xiii. 2, he adds, Gal. i. 16, that he applied not himself to flesh and blood, that is, to any men, to receive mission or commission of apostleship from them. And seeing thou hast so freely confessed me before men, I will also confess thee, Thou art &c., that is, The name by which thou art styled and known by me is that which signifies a stone or rock, and such shalt thou be in the building of the church, which accordingly shall be so built on thee, founded in thee, that the power of death or the grave shall not get victory over it; the Christian church, now to be planted, shall never be destroyed. [f] rock] The name of Πέτρος signifying a stone here, such an one as for the firmness and validity is fit to bear the greater stress and weight in the building, is applicable to the person of St. Peter in respect of the church. He was the apostle of the circumcision, as Christ himself was. He was already a very considerable disciple, joined ordinarily with James and John in the participation of some favours, which others enjoyed not, (though in Christ's favour John enjoyed the first place, John xiii. 25); he twice made confession, with greatest boldness, of Christ's being the Messias, and Son of God, John vi. 19, and here. And after the resurrection of Christ, he had among the twelve the honour of his first appearing, 1 Cor. xv. 5; and proportionably was first of all to preach and make known to the Jews (but so as not to exclude the heathens) the truth of that which he here professed, viz. that [g] hell] Hades here (according to the notion of ἄδης for the state of ἀφανισμός before mentioned, note [i] ch. xi.) signifies death, or grave, or destruction, and by consequence Satan also, who hath the power of these. Then for gates, they may signify, first, power, force, strength, which consists in arms or weapons, which were usually kept over the gates of the cities. Secondly, counsel, contrivance, stratagems, policy, because they were wont to sit in counsel in the gates. Thirdly, worldly authority, borrowed by Satan from his instruments, the heathen powers of the world, because judgment was wont to be exercised in the gates: and so these three (τὰ τρίθυρα διαβόλου, in Macarius's style) being put together, will conclude, that it is not all the power and strength, wisdom and policy, authority and empire in the world, no, not death or grave, (which are proverbially irresistible, Cant. viii. 6.) nor Satan himself, that shall be able to destroy this fabric now to be erected by Christ and his apostles in the hearts of men, though that glorious temple of Jerusalem erected by God's own appointment shall be destroyed. Now that all this shall not prevail against the church, may be understood, either as the church signifies particular persons, (believers, true faithful Christians,) of which the church consists, or as it signifies the whole congregation and society of men: as the church signifies the persons, so the phrase imports, that though Christians shall die, yet death shall have no dominion over them, Christ shall break open those bars, and rescue them by his resurrection from the power of the grave. As it refers to the church in complexo, that is, to the whole congregation of Christian professors, so it signifies a promise of Christ, that it shall never be destroyed so as to perish totally, irrecoverably, but whatsoever change it undergoes in the world, it shall again lift up the head, and have as it were its resurrection; And I will give thee (as afterwards to all the twelve, ch. xviii. 18, and more distinctly John xx. 23.) the keys of the gate of this court or kingdom, the church, of which every one of you is to be the steward, (as the keys of the court were given to Eliakim, Isaiah xxii. 22, in token of his being steward of the house, to admit and exclude whom he pleased,) that is, both power and ensign of power, Apoc. iii. 7, to exercise censures, and by them to exclude men in case of their impenitence, either by laying some restraints on them in the church, or to turn them out of the gates of this city, and upon repentance to receive them into the church again. And what you do here, as you ought to do, shall be valid in heaven. 20, 21. The disciples knowing that he was the Messias, and having told him so, ver. 16, he commands that this be not publicly disclosed (till after ³ hades. [h] keys of the kingdom] What is here meant by the keys is best discernible by Isaiah xxii, where God foretells Eliakim, ver. 20, the son of Hilkiah, that he will call him, and clothe him with the robe of Shebna, (which was over the household, ver. 15,) and strengthen him with his girdle, and commit his government into his hand, and lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and none shall shut; and shut, and none shall open. By which is noted the bestowing on him the power of administering, and ruling the whole family or house of the king, so as to entertain and admit into it, and in like manner to exclude out of it whom he would. And accordingly this being by Christ accommodated to the church, notes the power of governing in it. This primarily and independently belongs to Christ, the holy and true, which hath the key of David, Apoc. iii. 7, where a difference must be observed betwixt the key of David and the keys of the house of David. Keys are an ensign of power; but that power is not all of one kind; it is greater or less, principal and independent, or inferior and derivative; and the several keys are emblems of these severals. David we know was a king, and independent from any on earth; and consequently the key of David notes an independent, supreme power, and that, applied to the church, belongs only to Christ, in that prophetic expression, Apoc. iii. 7. But the keys of the house of David notes an inferior power, that of a steward in David's family, which being perfectly subordinate to him, hath yet the διοίκησις, the administration of the affairs of his family intrusted to him. Now Christ is the original and prime fountain of all power over the whole church, that spiritual kingdom of David, as to whom was given by the Father all power in heaven and earth, particularly that of loosing or remitting sin on earth, Matt. ix. 6. And this is by Christ here communicated to his apostles, and their successors, the bishops in the church, as so many several stewards. Hence is that of St. Chrysostom, περὶ ἱερωσ. 1. 3, "That the bishops are those faithful servants in the parable whom the Lord sets over his household," that is, literally, stewards. And so this agrees perfectly with the promise of Christ, ch. xix, of the apostles sitting on twelve thrones, where the power of judging and governing in the church, set answerable to that of the phylarchæ, or chief of the tribes, which was, among the Jews, next unto the regal, is directly that of the œconomus, or ruler of the king's household, which is here, as in Isaiah, noted by the keys. And this power being here promised by Christ to be conferred on Peter, a single person, so that whatever he bound or loosed was bound and loosed by Christ's affirmation, is by force of the words, ch. xviii. 18, (before the keys were given,) Whatsoever ye shall bind and ye shall loose, and by the form of conferring it actually, John xx. 23, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted, &c., actually and equally instated on every of the apostles; and accordingly the fiery tongues descended, and sat upon every one of them. And so when Cephas, in respect of this authority, is styled Πίερος, a stone, on which, as on a foundation-stone, built on Christ, the head of the corner, this holy city, that comes down from heaven, the new Jerusalem, the church of Christ, is built; it is also apparent that all and every the apostles have the same title bestowed upon them, [I] Be it far] This form of speech, ἰδεὼς σοι, is borrowed from the Hebrews, who use it to express the Latin absit, that is, amoliri malum aliquod, to signify our desire that such a thing may not come to pass. So in the Jerusalem Targum on Gen. xlix. 22, Parce tibi Josephe, ut ne conjicias oculos, that is, "God forbid thou shouldst cast thine eyes;" and on Num. xxxi. 50, Parce nobis Moses doctor noster, ne unus I [k] Satan] The title of Satan here signifies according to the use of the Hebrew phrase, 2 Sam. xix. 22, where David, rejecting the counsel of Abishai, saith, Why art thou to me this day, ישש, in Satanam, for an adversary? that is, Why dost thou give me this evil, pernicious counsel, and so suppliest the true enemy's, or even the devil's place to me? [l] deny himself] Denying himself is renouncing all interest, relations, engagements of his own, when they come in balance or competition with Christ. Thus saith Porphyry of the gymnosophists among the Indians, that there were two sorts of them, the θεόσοφοι, divines, by families, and the samanæi, which were chosen; and of these, whensoever any had once taken the stole upon him, οὔτε πρὸς γυναίκα οὔτε πρὸς τέκνα (εἰ τύχοι κεκτημένος) ἐπιστροφὴν, ἢ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅλως νομίζων, περὶ ἀποχ. l. 4. pp. 58, 59, "he never thought of any return to wife, to children, or at all to himself again." Nay, if by denying me a man should gain some advantage at the present, what a pitiful bargain would he make of it, although he should gain the whole world, as long as life, (ver. 25,) especially eternal life, were lost by it! And what price is there imaginable to buy that back again if it be lost? or what is there that a man would not willingly give for it? [m] lose] Ζημιωθῆναι, to have a mulct inflicted on one, is not thought very fitly to be joined with ψυχὴν, the soul, as the accusative case governed by it, but rather to stand as a passive, and τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν to be instead of κατὰ δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν, and so not only to belong to the final fatal loss, or damnation of the soul, but also to any loss or damage that belongs to it here: as deprivation of grace; nay, guilt of sin, &c. So Munster's Hebrew reads it, בְּנַפְשִׁי יָשָׁא נוֹק, receive damage in his soul. Yet may it be read with an accusative case following the verb, as in that place of Agathias in the speech of Phartazes to the Colchiansᵃ, Τί δὲ κερδανοῦμεν ἅπασαν τὴν Περσίδα, θῶμεν γὰρ οὕτω, προσλαμβάνοντες, τὰς δὲ ψυχὰς ἐζημιωμένοι; "What if we gain all Persia, and lose our lives, or our souls?" a place almost parallel to this. For there shall be a solemn visitation among the Jews, a time of judgment on them (see note [m]), wherein there shall be a visible discrimination between those which cleave fast to Christ and those which do not, and so likewise on all mankind, either in particular visitation upon kingdoms or at the day of doom. [n] glory] The Hebrew שכינה, the appearance of God, or special presence, which is called his δόξα, glory, consists generally in the appearance of his guard, the angels that wait on him; as, when Jacob sees the vision of angels, he concludes, Surely the Lord is in this place. And accordingly here, Christ coming ἐν δόξῃ Πατρὸς, in the glory of his Father, is expressed by μετὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ, with his angels. See note [k] ch. iii. And of this coming of mine against my enemies, and to the relieving of them that adhere to me, I tell you assuredly that some that are here present, [o] coming in his kingdom] The nearness of this to the story of Christ's transfiguration makes it probable to many that this coming of Christ is that transfiguration of his; but that cannot be, because the 27th ver. of the Son of man's coming in his glory with his angels to reward, &c. (to which this verse clearly connects) cannot be applied to that. And there is another place, John xxi. 23, (which may help to the understanding of this,) which speaks of a real coming, and one principal person (agreeable to what is here said of some standing here) that should tarry, or not die, till that coming of his. And that surely was fulfilled in John's seeing the πωνολεθρία, or famous destruction of the Jews, which was to fall in that generation, (Matt. xxiv.); that is, in the lifetime of some there present, and is called the kingdom of God, and the coming of Christ; and by consequence here, most probably, the Son of man's coming in his kingdom, (see note [c], Matt. iii. 2, ᵃ Lib. 3. p. 82. Then Peter said to Jesus, Lord, let us abide here, and not consort any more with those beneath us: and to that end build three booths, one for thee and us. a whatsoever he shall teach is that which you are to receive as my good pleasure, before any either of the law or prophets, Moses or Elias then appearing, according to that prediction of Moses himself, Deut. xviii. 15, Him shall ye hear. And when Peter and James and John heard that voice from heaven, they were amazed and astonished for fear, and fell down prostrate. And upon the contemplation of what here they had seen and heard these three disciples asked him, saying, If this be true that was said by Moses and Elias in the mount concerning the approach of the great and dreadful day for the destroying of God's enemies, and rescuing his faithful servants, then what is the meaning of that which the doctors generally teach, that Elias must come before that great and dreadful day of the Lord, and the rising of the sun of righteousness with healing in his wings, to them that fear God's name? Mal. iv. 2, 3. It is truly observed by them from Malachi that Elias is first to come, and to do his office of restoring and returning the Jews to repentance, (see Mark ix. 12,) to preach repentance, and so prepare for this famous coming. [a] Elias must first come] By this question of the three apostles, made unto Christ at his coming down from the mount, may be collected what was the prime matter of the discourse betwixt him and Moses and Elias, ver. 3; (for that their question should refer to Christ's resurrection from the dead, incidentally mentioned, (ver. 9,) is not possible, because the scribes did not believe that the Messias should die, or rise, nor consequently that Elias should come before that.) Of this discourse, what was the subject-matter of it, there is nothing said, either in this Gospel or in that of St. Mark, but only this, that the disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? By the scribes are here meant their doctors of the law, those that were skilful, not only in the law, but in the doctrine of the whole Old Testament, and so of the prophets; among whom, Mal. iv. 5, they found that Elias was to come before a set time or period, that is, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. This, therefore, being it that was asserted by the scribes, the great and dreadful day of the Lord, the thing before which, said they, Elias must first come; and the disciples' question, Why then do they say that Elias must first come? being an objection against what they had heard discoursed of in the mount; it necessarily follows, that that which was discoursed of in the mount was the approaching of that great and dreadful day of the Lord. Now what is meant by this great and dreadful day of the Lord appears by the first, second, and third verses of that chapter: Behold the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be as ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. What was the ultimate completion of this prophecy (and of the like, Joel ii. 11, 22, 23, 33, though Elias be not mentioned there) is clear enough—the eradication of the wicked, obstinate Jews, ver. 1, and the delivery and preservation of all the humble, faithful penitents out of that destruction, ver. 2; 1 2 [b] restore) Ἀποκαταστῆσαι, the word here used, is rendered by Hesychius and Phavorinus, to finish, or perfect. It is true, indeed, the ordinary books read ἀποκαταπτύσαι, τελειῶσαι; but that is a false reading, as it is evident by that which it immediately follows, ἀποκατάστοσις, τελείωσις, the substantive signifies perfection, completion. According to this notation of the word, this would be the importance of the place: he shall finish or perform, establish, settle all things, both perform all that was prophesied of Elias at his coming, and close and shut up the first state of the world, that of the Mosaical economy; making en- But I say unto you that it is another person that is prophesied of under the name of Elias, which cometh, and that person is come and gone already, but not acknowledged by the principal men of the Jews, but despised by them, and put to death by Herod, and so Christ himself shall also be before this great day that now ye hear of. the changes of the moon have such a power on him, that at such times the devil, ver. 18, handless him miserably, casting him into fits of the falling sickness, throwing him into the fire or water, whichsoever is next. those disciples of thine that stayed beneath when thou wert retired, and they— [c] lunatic] The word σεληνιάζεται, here coming from σελήνη, the moon, is directly parallel to the English lunatic, from luna the moon also. Yet some mistake hath arisen from thus rendering of it; for the English word lunacy and lunatic is vulgarly taken to signify a madman, and nothing else, to wit, that species of madness which comes on men at such a set time, toward the full of the moon, as ordinarily it is observable in those that have any intervals. But here it is apparent, by the nature of the disaffection, and the effects of it, falling into the fire, and water, &c., that it was not any madness that this man's son was affected with, but a plain epilepsy, or falling-sickness; which further Upon this Jesus rebuked those disciples, accused them of infidelity and perverseness, that when he had been with them so long, given them power to hoal diseases and cast out devils, and in some cases prescribed prayer and fasting, ver. 21, as the means of doing it, they now neglected that means, and so were not able to cast out this devil: this impotency of theirs therefore was very culpable, and so here And when he came, Jesus commanded and chid that evil spirit that brought that disease upon him; and the devil and the disease departed from him together. "I have given you the power of doing all miracles, and directed you to the means which ye are to use in the doing them; and if you did sincerely believe, though in never so weak a degree, the things that I have said to you, and obeyed and practised accordingly, ye should by me be enabled to do any thing that is most impossible among men, as even to remove a mountain out of the place by speaking to it, (which is literally affirmed to have been done by the gift of miracles,) or any thing else as strange and as difficult as that. As for the second of the three admonitions, spoken of, ver. 16, (see note [b] on ch. vii.,) this I assure you, that as the maize of three men among the Jews had some power, so shall any two or three Christians, joining in such a reprehension, be considerable in this matter, having the privilege of God's presence (as in their prayers thus united, so in their united admonitions) to give them authority, assistance, and blessing. For where two or three are met or assembled for this piece of discipline, (as for any holy action besides,) there am I present with them in a special manner, and will not suffer the actions, which thus they undertake by my appointment, to be set at naught by any. Now that which ye failed in was this, that ye used not fasting and prayer to this purpose; for that is the method that must be used to the ejecting of this sort of diseases and of devils; viz., great intention of devotion joined with faith; and if that be not used it will not go out, and your not using that means was a want of faith in you, ver. 20. 'Jesus kept himself as private as he could, Mark ix. 30, telling his disciples the reason of his doing so, because having done so many miracles among them, and wrought so little effect upon them, as that he foresaw he should soon be put to death by them, he thought it not yet seasonable to do any more, till by the addition of his resurrection from death he should be more likely to be received and believed on by them. (See note [b] on ch. viii.) "the tribute that every Jew yearly paid to the temple, to the value of fifteen pence. Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? When Christ had gone thus far by way of return from the last to the second, and before he proceeded from that to the first, Peter interposed this question (the answer to which comes home to the first of the three also): Sir, seeing I am bound to forbear my brother, or fellow-Christian, that injureth me, and not to act any revenge upon him, as we were taught by thee, Matt. v. 39, and seeing now, upon admonishing him that hath injured me, in case he repent, either on the first or second or third admonition, I am to proceed no farther against him, but forgive him, and rejoice that I have done so much good upon him, ver. 15; yet because he that hath thus trespassed, and repented once, may possibly trespass again, and repent again, (see Luke xvii. 3, 4,) I desire to be taught by thee, how oft I am to do this, to forgive him, that though he repent of his injury, ask forgiveness, and promise to do so no more, (see ver. 26, 29,) yet ofttimes relapses again, how oft must I be thus indulgent to him and forgive him upon his request? must I do it often, or seven times? [d] betrayed] Some difference there is betwixt παραδιδόναι and προδιδόναι, tradere and prodere; the latter is ordinarily taken for treachery, falseness to him whose part we take, whether by going over to the enemy's part, or betraying secrets; but the former is somewhat more, not only to reveal those things to the enemy that may be hurtful to the friend, but to deliver him (master, captain, friend, fort) into the enemy's hand, who desires to have him and mischief him. So in Athenæus, l. 5, of Quintus Oppius, παραδοθεὶς δίσμιος, "a prisoner delivered up to custody;" so psalm lxxxviii. 8, παρεδόθην καὶ οὐκ ἐξεπορεύομην, I was imprisoned, and went not forth. And this is it that is peculiarly affirmed of Christ here and in other places, he shall be delivered into the hands of men, and of sinners, the Roman soldiers; and Matt. xxvi. 3, he shall be delivered to be crucified. And therefore, although the English word traitor is originally all one with the Latin traditor, and so to betray with παραδιδόναι here, yet because the ordinary use of the word is for revealing of secrets, or advantages, &c., and is not thought peculiarly to denote that to which the Greek here belongs, of delivering into the enemy's hand, it was therefore most reasonable to render it in this phrase (not so subject by custom to mistake) to deliver up. [e] tribute money] The δίδραχμα signifies two drachms. The word δραχμή is a Greek word, first δραγμή, saith Julius Pollux, that is, an handful, as containing so many oboli ænei, "pieces of brass money," as would make an handful, to wit, six. This word from the Greeks And when they were retired into the house, and Peter was a musing within himself about this business of paying or not paying the tribute money, and was about to ask Jesus concerning it, Jesus prevented, and asked his opinion: From whom, saith he, do all kind of kings exact tribute or head-money (so the Syriac renders it), from those of their own family, their own children, &c., or from other folks only? ³ But this, τοῦτο δέ. ⁴ delivered up. ⁵ the half shekels, or double drachms, τὰ δίδραχμα. [f] own children] That the own sons here are not the natural subjects of the kingdom, and ἀλλότριοι, those whom they have conquered and brought under their dominions, will appear, 1, because the natural subjects ordinarily do pay tribute, and the law was clear, Exod. xxx. 13, that every Jew should pay his half shekel to the temple; and, 2, because to the state of the Jews which now exacted this tribute (not the publicans or officers of Cæsar, this being not collected by them till it was transferred to the capitol, that is, in Vespasian's time) there were no such sorts of men, that were so conquered by them, which could own that title of ἀλλότριοι in that notion. The words and sense will be clear, if it be understood thus, that no king imposes taxes on his own children or family, but on ἀλλότριοι υἱοί, alieni filii, that is, the children of other men, as ἀλλότριος δοῦλος is another man's servant, opposed to ἴδιοι δοῦλοι, his own servants, ch. xxv. 14, (as that is opposed to οἰκείοι, or ἴδιοι, his own children and servants;) and therefore, by proportion, this tribute to the King of heaven ought not to be exacted from the Son of that King, but from others. Some possibility and colour there is that this tribute here might be a tax paid to the Romans, imposed under the form of the δίδραχμα ever since Pompey had overcome the Jews, or else imposed on them by Augustus; and a passage in Josephus de Bell. Jud. 1. 7. c. 10, (where he saith that Agrippa remitted them the tax which was yearly paid by them,) makes it more probable; and it might well be that this was by the Romans imposed under the form of the δίδραχμα, the known tax among the Jews, as in Cicero's orations against Verres we every where see that the praetor of Syria required the tenths of that province, which was, we know, first instituted by God to be paid the priests; and so Christ's pleading an immunity, (who yet was to fulfil all righteousness, that is, to observe the Judaical law,) and mentioning the kings of the nations, is thought to incline also. But because, 1st, that tribute in Josephus remitted by Agrippa was paid by each house, not by each head, and Upon Christ's mentioning his resurrection from death, ch. xvii. 23, and Mark ix. 31, which they took to be a beginning of his kingdom here, the disciples inquire ambitiously (among themselves, Mark ix. 33.) who shall have the chief place of dignity in that kingdom of the Messias here? (so again on the same occasion they fall on the same thoughts, Matt. xx. 20, Luke xxii. 24, and look that way, Acts i. 6.) And Jesus, willing by an emblem or visible representation to satisfy this question of theirs as far as was useful to them, called— * Unless you change your inclinations and desires, and take yourselves off from this vain ambitious expectation and pursuit of a carnal kingdom of Christ, and of your receiving dignities and preeminences in it, you can never be true disciples of Christ, this carnal ambition and projecting being so contrary to the Christian temper. Two things therefore I shall teach you from this emblem: first, that the state of Christianity is such a state, that he which is most lowly is most capable of eminence in it; Secondly, that all the lowliest and meanest persons are so dearly valued by me, that he that *others' children. † steer, cravings: see note [c]. HAMMOND, VOL. I. G Whereas, on the other side, he that shall gall, discourage, drive from me and the Christian practice any such meanest person that comes to me, it were for his advantage that the stone of a mill, not such as women turn with the hand, ch. xxiv. 41, but so big that it is fain to be turned by an ass, were hung as a weight about his neck, and he then cast into the sea, sure to be hurried presently to the bottom of it. Upon this occasion I tell you beforehand, that great falling off and apostatizing there will be amongst those that receive the faith, great discouragements to obstruct the receiving of it, many will be seduced from the right way (which is a sad and woful thing). But though this be to be expected in respect of the wickedness of some, and seducibleness of others, and though it be not imaginable that the world should by God be kept free from all such temptations to sin, (nay God hath thought fit to permit such for the trial and exercise of Christians,) yet will this be little matter of excuse, but rather of aggravation of their sin and woe, that shall be instrumental to this end, that shall be the authors of them. And therefore I now forewarn you that if any that is nearest to you (friend, profit, pleasure, as dear to thee as a member or any part of thyself) go about to discourage thee in thy Christian course, to withdraw thee either in gross from the Christian profession, or more particularly from any act of duty to the contrary sin, thou be sure to renounce it, part with it (Matt. v. 29, 30); it being so much more eligible and desirable for thee to attain eternal bliss, having in thy lifetime been halt or maimed, that is, passing through some difficulties or austerities, than by escaping those difficulties to run into sin, and so to hazard everlasting fire. b having here for some years lost the benefit of one of thine eyes, rather— It is a matter of great moment, then, worthy your saddest care, that you do not undervalue or neglect the good and advantage of any the meanest [a] angels] That angels are God's ministering spirits, and do perform his commands in guarding his servants here below, is the doctrine of scripture, Heb. i. 14, and so several times in the Revelation, where the seven spirits, ch. i. 4, and ch. iv. 5, (that is, saith Andreas Cæsareensis, seven angels,) are said in heaven to behold his face, in the same manner as is here affirmed of them. But whether the ἄγγελοι αὐτῶν, their angels, here be to be defined singular angels peculiarly designed to particular persons, is not here distinctly affirmed, only that they are, as God sees fit, employed in services for the benefit of these little ones, that is, of Christians; and of that there is no doubt. Thus saith Origen, contra Cels. I. 6: "Ἄγγελοι τεταγμένοι εἰς τὸ προϊστάσθαι αὐτῶν," the angels that are appointed to preside over them," as guardians, to counterwork the treacheries and policies of Satan. That these are said continually to behold the face of God, is, saith a Dionysius Alexandr., ὅτι ἀτενίζουσι τῷ θείῳ κάλλει διὰ παντὸς, οὐδέποτε ἐκ τοῦ ὄντος ἀγαθοῦ προεδρίας ἐκπίπτοντες; "because they continually and steadfastly behold the beauty of God, and never fall off from that dignity and preferment" (as Lucifer did) "which they enjoy by their a In Cat. Jobi, p. 21. For Christ that came to reduce those (see note And just thus it is with God; he is very unwilling that any the meanest person upon earth should be lost, that might with any care or methods of ours be recovered to piety. To this purpose, these directions I shall now give; which I require to be used in the church for ever: If any fellow-Christian of thine do thee any injury, and by so doing offend against God, thy charity to him, as it must be sure to put off all thoughts of revenge against him, to forgive him freely, ver. 22, so will it oblige thee to use all prudent methods to reduce him to a sense and reforma- ¶ But if, 'Ede 5c. G 2 But if this first method of thy charity succeed not, another essay must be made: take with thee one or two other men, either that the crime which thou lavest to his charge be so confirmed to him by sufficient testimony, John viii. 17, that he be no longer able to deny it, (as that which cannot be contradicted or denied is said to be established, Heb. vi. 16,) or that the authority of these, added to that of thy private admonition, may be of more force with him, induce him to condemn himself, at least be more likely to do so, be more weighty in the presence of two or three. But if he be still refractory, either through non-conviction of the fact or non-contrition for it, if this second admonition work not on him, then make it a matter of public cognizance, tell it to the rulers of the assemblies, (saith S. Chrysostom, see Power of Keys, ch. ii. §. 12,) or tell it in the presence of all the people, that before them the governor may rebuke him, (as Timothy is appointed to do, 1 Tim. v. 20.) But if this last method succeed not neither, if he be still refractory, thou art then to look on him as a desperate deplored sinner, (see Power of Keys, ch. ii. §. 9,) fit for the censures of the church to overtake him. Which ye therefore to whom now I speak, the designed rulers of the church, and your successors the bishops, are in this case to proceed to, to use the keys given to you, as stewards of the house, (ch. xvi. 19,) for the ejecting of such. And I assure you, whomsoever (see note [k] on ch. xi.) ye shall thus cast out of the church on earth, shall, without repentance, and submission to your censures and reformation upon them, and sincere desire to reconcile and approve themselves to you, be by me excluded from heaven. These censures of yours, inflicted by this [b] shall ask] It is somewhat uncertain what is the meaning of οὐ ἐὰν αἰτήσωνται here; for that it is not in the active, which is ordinarily used for asking, (see ch. xxi. 22,) is clear; and if it be rendered in a passive sense, then it will be whatsoever they shall be required to, and refer to the one or two that are taken, ver. 16, that is, required to go along with the admonisher; which being here part of Christ's institution, it may consequently be said of it, as a promise from Christ, γενήσεται αὐτοῖς, &c., it shall be unto them from my Father; that is, My Father shall give authority to that which they, being thus called or required, συμφωνήσουσιν, shall agree on. The reason of which is given, ver. 20: For where two or three are thus assembled in my name, according to my appointment, there am I in the midst of them. This hath that degree of appearance of truth, that I thought fit here to mention it, but not so much certainty as to put it in the margent, or to impose it as the primary sense in the paraphrase. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his [c] servants. To which purpose (to shew you how necessary it is for every of you to remit most freely the injuries that are done to you by your brethren, be they never so great, if you expect any remission from God for your sins committed against him) I shall give you this parable: God's dealing with men under the gospel is very fitly resembled to a king calling his servants to account. [c] servants] The servants here, that the king or lord is supposed to call to account, seem to be those which are entrusted by him to negotiate for him, such as are mentioned ch. xxv. 14, and Luke xix. 13; and proportionally his reckoning with them here, ver. 24, is all one with that, Matt. xxv. 19; and the same phrase, συναίρειν λόγον, is used in both places, which in St. Luke, (who calls him a king also, as he is here,) ch. xix. 5, is expressed by commanding his servants to be called, that he might know how much every one had gained by trading, that is, what every man had gotten, and had ready to bring him in, above the money which he received. That is there set down to be a very strange increase: one pound had been improved into ten, ver. 16; another into five pounds, ver. 18; and in St. Matthew five are increased into five more, two into two more. And so in both evangelists some such increase is brought in by every one, but only by him that had laid it up in a napkin, and been perfectly idle, done nothing with it. Agreeably to this it here follows, that one of these servants, when he comes to be reckoned with, is found upon account to be indebted to his lord ten thousand talents, which, at the rate of 750 ounces of silver to a talent, and of five shillings an ounce, arises to one thousand eight hundred seventy-five thousand pounds, a vast sum of money; and that being required, he was no way able to make payment, and so was adjudged by his lord (as such debtors are wont) to be sold, &c. Upon this, his petition to his lord is, that he will bear with him a while, and he will repay him all that upon account was due unto him, all the ten thousand talents. And thereupon his lord, moved with pity towards him, not only ἀπέλυσεν αὐτόν, released him from that sentence of selling and imprisoning, before decreed against him, but also remitted him τὸ δάνειον, And when he did so, one of his servants upon account was found to owe him a great sum, cast up by ordinary valuation to be a thousand eight hundred seventy-five thousand pounds. But he being not able to pay that sum, his master appointed him to be used as debtors which are not able to pay are wont to be used among the Jews, sold, they and their wives and their children, to be servants and bondmen, 2 Kings iv. 1, and by that sale the debt to be paid. Hereupon the indebted servant fell down on his face, and besought him that he would stay a while, till he might be able to pay him, and not use this extremity towards him, promising, if he would do so, that he should lose nothing by him. And his master was merciful, and quitted him of the former sentence, ver. 25, and frankly forgave him that vast sum upon his bare request. But when this was done, this servant that had been thus mercifully and magnificently dealt with by his master, having had ten thousand talents forgiven him, met with one of his fellow-servants, which ought him somewhat, one hundred denarii, valued to three pounds two shillings sixpence of our money, a contemptible sum in comparison with what had just now been forgiven him, and he presently apprehended him in a most rigid manner, requiring him to make present payment. [d] took him by the throat] The word πνίγω is not only to choke or throttle, but also, according to the use of the Hebrew בעת (which sometimes is rendered πνίγω, 1 Sam. xvi. 14, sometimes θαμβίω, ταράττω, ἐκταράττω, στροβίω,) signifies to pluck, to exagitate, to trouble, to hale, to shake, to terrify; and so it may here signify. And this fellowservant of his besought him with as much humility to forbear him, as he had, ver. 26, besought his master's forbearance for six hundred thousand times as much. And that servant that had had so much forgiven him would not forgive so little, but dealt with him in the extremest rigour, cast him into prison never to be released, but upon paying the whole debt. For this all the fellowservants that saw it were much troubled, both for the unhappy lot of him that suffered, and the unreasonable behaviour of him 1 shook him. [e] tormentors] Βασανιστής, δημόκαινος, saith Hesychius; it not only signifies one that explores, and examines, and puts upon the rack, (in which notion it cannot be taken here,) but also a keeper of a common gaol; and so it must do here, the usage in this verse being proportionable and parallel to that which this man had dealt to his fellow-servant, ver. 30, which was casting him into prison until he should pay the debt; which argues the βασανιστής here, to whom he is delivered, to be the keeper of that prison and no more, there being no use of the rack or torment in this business. And therefore thus are they to be thought of, as two by God united into one; and then sure that which hath been thus instituted by God must not by man be altered; it ought still to continue among you, as it was first instituted; it is utterly unlawful (unless in case of falseness to the husband's bed, Matt. v. 32.) to put the wife away. To this the Pharisees objected, saying, What account then is to be given of that precept in the law wherein Moses appointed the husband (in some cases mentioned by him, Deut. xxiv. 1.) to give a bill of divorce unto the wife, in this manner permitting him to put her away? d God in the Mosaical economy knowing you Jews to be so impersuasible and obstinately bent to your own lusts and rages, that in case you were obliged to live with hated wives, and not permitted divorces, it would probably cause in you some greater sin, for the preventing hereof allowed a dispensation in this point, tolerated divorces, and took so much pity and care of the oppressed hated wife as to provide this kind of relief for her, commanding to give a bill of divorce, thereby, as by an act of manumission, to restore her liberty to her, withal decently to send her out of the family and in some sort endow her: but this you see (ver. 4, 5.) was very distant from the appointment of God in the first institution of marriage. And accordingly I now define, that whosoever shall use that liberty so frequent among you, to put away his wife, for any lesser cause than that of fornication, and then think it free for him to marry again, that man by marrying another, whilst his wife is alive, (from the obligation to whom he is not nor can be freed,) is consequently guilty of adultery; and so likewise he that marrieth her that is divorced taketh another man's wife, which is adultery also. Hereupon his own disciples began to object, that if marriage brought such an inseparable conjunction with it, then sure the inconveniences and hazards of [a] eunuchs] The word εὐνοῦχοι and εὐνουχίζεσθαι have a vulgar ordinary signification, which is known by the English use of the word eunuch, that is, in the expressions of the grammarians, σπάζων, τομίας, &c. And accordingly three sorts of them are ordinarily set down: 1. ἐκτομίαι, castrati; οἱ διὰ σιδήρου ἀκρωτηριασθέντες; 2. σπάζωνες, οἱ ἐκ γενετῆς διδύμους μὴ ἔχοντες; and, 3. θλιβίαι and θλαδίαι, οἱ νηπιόθεν ἀποβιλλόντες τὰ παιδόγονα μόρια ὑπὸ τῶν γονίων θλιβίντα, καὶ ἀχρηστευθέντα. But here the context, which sets it in opposition to marrying, makes it clear, that eunuchism is taken for the chastity of a single life, howsoever acquired, whether, 1, by natural temper, or, 2, by some outward accidental weakening, or debilitating of nature, as was frequent among the Gentiles, in order to some offices and services, to which men, that were thereby secured from desires, were designed; such, if it were done by themselves, are called by the Apostles' Canons, αὐτοφονευταί, self-murderers, ἐχθροὶ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δημιουργίας, enemies of God's workmanship, can. 22, 23: or 3dly, by firm purpose or resolution of mind, assisted by God's grace, in order to his service; such were the ascetæ, σκληραγωγοὶ τῇ ἰδίᾳ καρδίᾳ ἀγωνιζόμενοι, "those that imposed hardships on themselves," and "combated with their own desires." Thus in Phavorinus, the word being deduced according to some grammarians from εὖ νοῦν ἔχειν, "to have the mind well or wisely disposed," it signifies, saith he, ἀπηλλάχθαι τῶν ἀφροδισίων, "to have nothing to do with any thing of venery or carnality;" for, saith he, the ancients ἀφροδίσια ἀνόητα ἐκάλουν, "called all things of that kind, follies;" thus we know the scripture hath expressed any such unlawful commission, the doing folly in Israel, and so it is cited out of Aristophanes, ὕπνου τε ἀπέχεσθαι καὶ τῶν ἀνοήτων πάντων, "to abstain from sleep and all foolish things," where yet Aristophanes hath only, Οἴνουτ' ἄπεχε καὶ γυμνασίων, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνοήτων, which the Scholiast expounds by τῶν ἀφροδισίων, τὸ γὰρ ἀνοηταίνειν, μωραίνειν, διὰ τὸ ἀφροδισιάζειν ἔλεγον, saith he. But it is possible that the place in Aristophanes is to be read ὕπνου τε instead of οἴνου, and then there is no question, but that ὕπνος, sleep, might be a civil word for things of that nature, as in the wise man, ἡδογὴ δι' ὕπνου signifies. [b] perfect] What is the notion of τελειότης, perfection, here, must be defined by considering what is meant by entering into the kingdom of heaven, v. 23. For it appeareth that the not undertaking the condition required of the young man by Christ, to his being perfect, doth also exclude him from entering into this kingdom, or render him incapable of it. Now that kingdom of heaven, signifying that crown of eternal life and bliss, which was this man's aim, ver. 16, the entering into that kingdom is the undertaking the condition now required by Christ, or the attaining that bliss by performing that condition; and therefore his going away, ver. 22, that is, forsaking of Christ, caused by the greatness of his riches, is all one with the rich man's not being able to enter into that kingdom, v. 23. This again appeareth by the question and answer ensuing, v. 25, where, when the disciples ask, Who then can be saved? (whatsoever they mean by that, whether, Who can be a Christian? as the word rendered escaping or being saved often signifies, (see note [h] Matt. x., note [b] Luke xiii., and note [a] Rom. x.) or whether, Who can come to heaven?) Christ's answer is, by looking upon them, &c. intimating them to When the young man heard Christ say this he was much grieved, because he had a very great estate, and therefore seeing he could not be a Christian at any cheaper rate, he forsook or departed from Christ, would not pay so dear for that perfection. [c] camel] It was an ordinary proverb among the Jews that "an elephant cannot pass through the eye of a needle," to signify the most impossible thing. Thus in the Babyl. Talmud. Perek Haroc Baruchoth, "You perhaps are one of Pombeditha," (an academy of Jews in Babylon,) "where they can make an elephant pass through a needle's eye;" signifying them a vainglorious people, that would boast of doing impossibilities; and in Gemara, לֹא מִיָּא דְעִיל בְּקוֹמָא דְמַחְסָא, "There is no elephant that enters by the hole of a needle." This proverb Christ was willing to change from the elephant, which was a beast that few had seen, to a camel, which was very ordinary in Syria, and whose bunch on his back is apt to hinder his passage through any narrow entrance. This being thus premised, as the full account of the place, it is yet further observable that Phavorinus on the word καμήλος saith, that it is not only the name of that beast, but καὶ τὸ παχὺ σχοινίον, ἂν ᾧ δυσμεύουσι τὰς ἀγκύρας οἱ ναῦται, it signifies "also a cable with which the mariners bind the anchors," and cites this place of the Gospel, as belonging to that signification of the word; and so Theophylact, that it is παχὺ σχοινίον ᾧ χρῶνται ναῦται πρὸς τὸ ῥίπτειν τὰς ἀγκύρας, "a cable with which mariners use to cast their anchors." Were the word to be found in that sense in other authors, it would be an ingenious conjecture; but this word for a cable, (from which the English probably [d] regeneration] The word παλιγγενεσία signifies properly a new or second state, τὸ ἐκ δευτέρον γεννηθῆναι, καὶ ἀναπλασθῆναι, say the grammarians. It is used among the Pythagoreans for the return of the soul, εἰς γένεσιν, when that soul which was once in him that is dead comes back to life again in another body. In sacred writers it is used agreeably for the resurrection, whether that of the future being of body and soul, or that which Christ is pleased to make preparative to it, the spiritual proselytism, expressed by that phrase, Tit. iii. 5, the change and renovation of the soul and affections in this life, and as a token and sign of that work of Christ's, it is used for baptism, that being born of water and the Holy Ghost, John iii. And so hath Phavorinus observed, παλιγγενεσία, τὸ ἅγιον βάπτισμα λέγεται, it is set to signify holy baptism, (see note [a] Matt. iii. and note [a] John iii. Further yet, and by the same analogy, it may signify that second or new state, that μέλλων αἰών, in Isaiah, that age to come, that is, the state of the church under Christ, or his spiritual kingdom, beginning at the resurrection of Christ; and this, either in respect of the beginning of it, Christ's resurrection, which is fitly styled παλιγγενεσία the new birth of Christ, or else in regard that all other things (that is, the general disposal of all things in the church) are become new, 2 Cor. v. 27, the Gentiles received into the church, the Jewish priesthood and ceremonies abolished, &c. If this last sense be here made use of, then it will be most agreeable to the ordinary punctuation of our printed copies, which set a comma after ἀκολουθήσαντίς μοι, ye that have followed me, and another again after ἐν τῇ παλιγγενεσίᾳ, in the regeneration, severing the latter from the former, and joining it so with καθίσεσθε καὶ ὑμεῖς, ye shall also sit, &c. that what is betwixt ὅταν καθίση &c. when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, shall be as in a parenthesis, to explicate what is meant by that time, and what that in the regeneration signifies, viz. when Christ shall be gone to heaven, and all power in the church