124 The Gospel would occafion violent Contentions, Sect. 114. abandon themselves to a Life of Idleness and Luxury; who ftain their Sacred Character by Intemperance; who proudly cenfure their Brethren, and either call, or wifh, for the Secular Arm to fmite their Fellow-Servants, perhaps more faithful than themselves; let fuch hear and tremble. Their Lord may come in a very unexpected Hour; (as indeed, when do fuch expect him?) and what are the Stripes they have given others, when compared with those, which they shall themselves receive; Stripes, which shall cut them afunder, and pierce deep into their very Souls? How much more tolerable will it be, even for the worst of Gentile Sinners, than for such! Ver. 46. Let all, who are in any Measure diftinguished by the Gifts of the Divine Bounty to them, or by their Stations, whether in Civil of Sacred Offices, attentively dwell on this great Truth, fo folemnly repeated again and again; let them confider it with a View to their own Account: To whomVer. 48. foever much is given, of him will much be required. May Divine Grace fo imprefs it on their Hearts, that they may be diftinguished by prefent Fidelity, and future Rewards, in Proportion to the Difference which Providence has already made in their Favour! And may they never have Reason to reflect with Confufion and Anguish, on what is now their Honour and their Joy! Sect. 115. 49. SECT. CXV. CHRIST obferves the Evils which would be occafioned by his Coming, yet declares his Defire to compleat his Work; and warns the Jews of the great Danger of neglecting the short Remainder of their Time of Trial. Luke XII. 49, to the End. O LUKE XII. 49. UR Lord farther added in his Difcourfe to I LUKE XII. 49. Am come to fend Fire on the Earth, and what dled? Luke XII. that I have faid to promote Humanity and Cha- will I, if it be already kinrity, yet it will in Fact appear, that I am come to fend Fire on the Earth; fo oppofite is my Doctrine to the Prejudices and the Lufts of Men, and fuch are the violent Contentions that my Gospel will occafion, thro' the Wickedness of those among whom it is preached: And yet what do I wish? that the Gofpel might be fuppreffed? nay, but I rather fay, Oh that this Fire, fierce as it shall be, were and be followed, not with Peace, but with Division. 50 But I have a Baptifm to be baptized with, and how am I ftraitened till it be accomplished ! 51 Suppofe ye that I am come to give Peace on Earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather Divifion. 125 But thefe Benefits are to be fecured in a very 51 am (a) And what do I wish? oh that it were already kindled ?] I think, Sir Norton Knatchbull has abundantly established this Verfion. Dr. Whitby (who here, as in many other Places, tranfcribes from Grotius,) feems fully to have proved, that es fometimes has this Force.. Compare Luke xix. 42. and Numb. xxii. 29. Joh. vii. 7. Pfal. lxxxi. 13. Septuag. (Perhaps we may add Luke xxii. 42.) See Grotius, in loc. (b) How am I ftraitened and uneafy, till it be compleated?] The Word ouvexual feems to import, an Ardor of Mind, with which a Perfon is fo borne on towards the Object of his Affection and Purfuit, that the neceffary Impediments which lie in his Way are uneafy to him. Compare 2 Cor. v. 14. Mr. Locke understands it, of a Kind of Embarrament which Christ was under, to know how, faithfully to fulfil his Ministry, without giving fuch Umbrage to the Roman Power, as would have drawn Perfecution and Death upon him before the appointed Time. (See Mr. Locke's Reasonableness of Chriftianity, pag. 134.) But that feems to me a very foreign and unnatural Senfe.That which I take it in, is alfo favoured by Luke xvii. 15. Sect. 168. But if Grotius, whofe Sense I have hinted in the Parar phrafe, judge rightly of the particular Force and Beauty of the Word ouvexqual, it may be συνεχομαι, illuftrated by John xvi. 21. Sect. 178. (c) Or immediately to establish that Temporal Tranquility, &c.] There are fo manyProphecies of the Peaceful State of the Maffiah's Kingdom, (compare Pfal. lxxii. 7. Ifa. ii. 4.. xi. 6,-9. lxv. 25.) that it is hard to fay, how Chrift could compleatly anfwer the Character of the Meffiab, if he fhould never give Peace on Earth: But the Error of the Jews lay in fuppofing, he was immediately to accomplish it; whereas the Prophecies of the New Teftament, especially the Revelations, fhew, and thofe of the Old Testament moft plainly intimate, that this profperous State of his Kingdom was not only to be preceded by his own Sufferings, but by a Variety of Perfecutions, Trials, and Sufferings, which should in different Degrees attend his Followers, before the Kingdoms of the Earth became by a general Converon the Kingdoms of the Lord, and of his Christ. (Rev. xi. 15.) See Dr. Leland's Anfwer to the Moral Philofopher, pag. 353,-366.. (d) The 52. 126 The Jews were inexcufable in not knowing him to be the Meffiah. Sect. 115.am rather come to occafion the most unnatural m Divifion. For fuch are the contentious Heats Luke XII. that will attend the Publication of the Gofpel, that e'er long Five in one Family fhall be fo divided, that there fhall be Three against Two on the one Side, and Two against Three on the other : 53 And this fhall be the Cafe, when those Families confift of Perfons in the nearest Relations to each other: The Father, for Inftance, shall differ with the Son, and the Son with the Father; the fondeft Mother with the Daughter, and the Daughter with the Mother; the Mother-in-Law with her Son's Wife, and the Daughter-in-Law with her Hufband's Mother (d); and fo inveterate fhall their Hatred against all that embrace my Gofpel appear, that they fhall break the Bands of Nature, as well as of Friendship, to exprefs it. (Compare Mat. x. 34, 35. Vol. i. pag. 469.) 54 And he faid alfo to the People, This Perversenefs already fhews itself, in your overlooking fo many Proofs of the Meffiah's Appearance among you: For when you fee a Cloud arifing out of the Weft, or coming from the Mediterranean Sea, you prefently fay, A heavy Shower is coming (e); 55 and it is fo. And when you find] the South Wind blowing from the Defart of Arabia, and other hot Climates, you fay, There will be fultry Heat; 56 and it comes to pass. Ye Hypocrites, that pretend to ask farther Signs, as if you were really defirous to know, whether I be, or be not, a Divine Teacher; you know how by fuch Remarks as these, to diftinguish the Face of the Earth, and of the Heavens, fo as to foretell the Changes in the Weather before they come; but how is it, that you do not 52 For from henceforth there fhall be Five in one Houfe divided, Three againft 53 The Father fhall be divided against the Son, and the Mother against the the Son against the Father: Daughter, and the Daughter against the Mother: the Mother-in-Law against her 54 And he faid alfo to Cloud rife out of the Weft, the People, When ye fee a ftraightway ye fay, There cometh a Shower; and fo it is. (d) The Mother-in-Law with her Son's Wife, and the Daughter-in-Law with her Hufband's Mother] The original Words, bega, and ruuon, are exactly expressed in this Tranflation. The English Words Mother-in-Law, and Daughter-in-Law, are more extenfive, and rather, tho' not neceffarily, lead us to think of [Noverca, palevia,] a Step-Dame, or Father's fecond Wife, and her Hufband's Daughter.Our Lord might mention this Relation, because, in Confequence of the Obligation which the Jewish Children were under to maintain their aged Parents, a young Man might, when he fettled in the World, often take his Mother, if a Widow, into his Family, and her Abode in it might occafion lefs Uneafinefs, than that of a Mother-in-Law in any other Sense. (e) A heavy Shower is coming ] OCpos properly fignifies a beavy Shower; and navowy, in the next Verfe, fultry or fcorching Heat. (f) Why The Danger of neglecting to be reconciled to GOD. is it, that ye this Time? do not difcern 57 Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? Wa 58 When thou goeft with thine Adverfary to the Magiftrate, as thou art in the Vay, give Diligence that thou mayeft be delivered from him; left he hale thee to the Judge, and the Judge deliver thee to the Officer, and the Officer caft thee into Prifon.. 127 Luke XII. not difcern and judge of the much more evident Sect. 115. This, however you may neglect it, is a Mat- 58 he (f) Why is it you do not even of yourselves, &c.] The Phrafe a' saula, does not feem here to fignify, From the like Principles of good Senfe, which you ufe in common Affairs, "or in Matters relating to yourfelves;" but it seems an Advance on that Thought, as if our Lord had faid, "Even tho' I had not fo exprefsly drawn the Confequence, yet from the "Tenor of my Doctrine and Character, as well as from my Miracles, you might have "difcerned yourselves, that it must be a very wrong and very dangerous Thing, to reject. "and flight me."- -Caftalio and Grotius connect this Verfe with the two following, I think without any Reafon. 1 (8) Ufe your utmoft Endeavour to make up the Affair with him.] Theophylact intimates, and Salmafius, and after him La Cene, largely infilt upon it, that dos pastav fignifies, "Pay the Intereft, as well as the Principal, of thy Debt, in order to procure Deliverance?' But Luke makes ufe of another Word [Toxos] for Ufury, (Luke xix. 23.) which I think a confiderable Argument for the common Rendering, which is alfo more extenfive.Araba fignifies, not merely any Kind of Deliverance, but fuch an Agreement, as fecures the Defendant from any farther Danger of Profecution; as Elfner accurately fhews, Obferv. vol. i. pag. 237.· It is well known, that adnos properly fignifies a Profecutor, of one: who has a Suit at Law against another, whether in a Civil, or Criminal Cafe. (b), The 599 128 Sect. 115. Reflections on the Regard we should fhew to the Gospel. he has thee at fuch an Advantage, thou shalt not not depart thence, till thou Luke XII. the very last Mite of the Debt thou oweft (b). be able to come out from thence, till thou hast paid haft paid the very last Mite. 59. Luke xii 49. And thus if you trifle with the Propofals of IMPROVEMENT. O what a lamentable Degree is Human Nature corrupted, that fo noble a Remedy as the Gospel feems, fhould in fo many Instances only irritate the Disease! How monftrous is it, that any should hate their Ver. 51,-53. Neighbours, yea, and their nearest Relatives, for that which might recommend Strangers to their Esteem and Affection! Yet let not thofe, who meet with fuch Treatment, be discouraged; knowing they have a Father and a Saviour in Heaven, whofe Love is ten thousand Times more than all: Nor let others be offended, as if Chriftianity had been the Occafion of more Evil, than Good; for fuch is the Nature of Eternity, that the Salvation of one immortal Soul will be more than an Equivalent for the greatest and most lafting Temporal Evils, which the greatest Number of Perfons can fuffer for Confcience fake. Ver. 50. Let this awaken our Zeal to fave Souls, in Proportion to the Rage with which the Enemy is endeavouring their Destruction. May we be animated in it, by the Example of Jefus, who with a View to this, even longed for thofe Sufferings, which innocent Nature could not but regard as the Object Ver. 54,-56. of strong Averfion! May we be fo wife, as to difcern the Evidences, and to comply with the Purposes, of the Gofpel; elfe our Knowledge in Natural Things, fhould it extend, not only to the most common, but the most curious Appearances, on the Face of the Earth, or the Heavens, will turn to no other Account, but to fhame and condemn us! Ver. 58. If we have any Reason to fear, that thro' obftinate Impenitency, the Bleffed GOD is ftill an Adverfary to us, let us make it our firft and greatest Care, that by an humble Submiffion of Soul to him, in the Methods of his Gospel Grace, that ftrict Scrutiny of his Juftice may be prevented, (b) The very laft Mite of the Debt thou oweft.] The Mite [lov] was the leaft valuable of their Coins, (fee Mark xii. 42.) containing no more than Half of their leaft Kind of Farthing, or of their nad parins, or Quadrans; which was itfelf but the Fourth Part of the As, or dosaplov, or of the larger Farthing, mentioned Mat. x. 29. and Luke xii. 6. So that the Mite was but little more, than the Third Part of an English Farthing, and a Sparrow was reckoned worth Four of them. |