49. I am come to send fire &c.] See Matt. x. 34. I am come to publish that doctrine which will kindle great contentions in the world; yet so profitable is it to the world, that I wish it had already taken place, although attended with this disagreeable consequence. "What will I, if it be;" a phrase that signifies, I wish that it were, &c. Dr. Whitby, Bp. Pearce. Anno DOMINI 33. 60.—I have a baptism] See note at Matt. xx. 22. I Myself must undergo the first effects of the persecution which will ensue, in suffering a cruel and ignominious death: and I am uneasy and straitened in My own mind with an earnest desire of having this great work finished. Dr. S. Clarke. 66.—ye do not discern this time?] Ye do not, from the predictions of the ancient Prophets, and from the present circumstances of things compared together, know the times and Person of the Messiah? Dr. S. Clarke.