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break, and smoking flax he shall not quench, 21 till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles confide.

22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil,* blind and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both 23 spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David ?† 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said,

This man doth not cast out devils, but by 25 Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided 26 against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; 27 how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they 28 shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils

by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of 29 God is come unto you. For, how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? 30 and then he will spoil his house. He that is

* As the common people supposed those to be who are dumb and blind; and it is simply said that Christ healed

him.

The promised Messiah: one of whose titles was, "Son of David."

How could they evade the force of this argument? In the parallel passage in Luke, it is said, "If I by the finger of God cast out devils," &c. the meaning is, that it was by a divine power that he wrought miracles.

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not with me, is against me; and he that, gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad.

Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be 32 forgiven unto men.* And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it may be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to 33 come. Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its 34 fruit. O generation of serpents, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart, bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth 36 evil things. But I say unto you, that every

idlet word that men shall speak, they shall give 37 account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.‡

They who continue in unbelief and opposition to Christ, after being made acquainted with the miracles which he performed which were evidently of the divine spirit of God; or who attributed those works to an evil spirit, could have no greater proofs to convince them: And such conduct, shewing their wilful and obstinate opposition to divine truth and light, they were given up as incorrigible, and not to be convinced.

† False or calumniating.

That is, words profane, blasphemous and impious; for they indicate a most perverse and malignant disposition.

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Then some of the scribes and of the Pharisees spake, saying, Master, we would see 39 a sign from thee.* But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. 40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly: so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of 41 the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and behold, a greater than 42 Jonas is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solo43 mon is here. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, 44 seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it 45 empty, swept and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in, and

*Strange that they should make such a request, when Christ had already performed so many miracles! They had seen enough to convince them: And it was perfectly rational to refuse working any more miracles to gratify their perverse disposition."

This shows the extreme difficulty of giving up bad habits, and admonishes us against supposing that the mere reforming from some evil practice,without a thorough change of heart and affections, will make us real Christians.

dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.*

46 While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother, and his brethren stood without, 47 desiring to speak with him.

Then one said unto him, Behold thy mother, and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee. 48 But he answered and said unto him that told

him, Who is my mother? and who are my 49 brethren? And he stretched forth his hand

towards his disciples, and said, Behold my 50 mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

CHAP. XIII.

1 THE same day Jesus went out of the house,. 2 and sat by the sea-side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he

*It does not appear from Scripture, we think, that men are blinded arbitrarily and without regard to their moral character-but that those, who disregard the instructions and neglect the privileges given them, who oppose the moral light afforded them, become prejudiced against religious truths in consequence of their sins, and are judicially blinded, or given up of God to error and evil, to their final

ruin.

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went into a ship, and sat; and the whole 3 multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables,† saying, 4 Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them. 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had not root, they 7 withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them. 8 But other fell into good ground, and brought

forth fruit, some an hundred fold, some sixty 9 fold, some thirty fold. Who hath ears to 10 hear, let him hear. And the disciples came

and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto 11 them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of 12 heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall more abound: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away

By ship here, we must understand some boat or small vessel. For this was on the lake of Tiberias or Gennesereth. This our Lord did to avoid the crowd which was pressing about him. He thus had a better opportunity to address the people assembled.

It was common in the East, to communicate instruction in parables. The sentiments conveyed were frequently less likely to excite prejudices, and more powerful in their ef fect.

That is, the gospel.

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