422 Luke XXII. 18. Reflections on the Fervency of the Love of CHRIST. Sect. 168.a Devotion suitable to the distinguished Solemnity which you have now before you: For I fay unto you, that after what paffes this Evening, I will not drink any more with you of the Fruit of the Vine, until the Kingdom of GOD come, and that compleat and fpiritual Redemption which is typified by this Ordinance shall be fulfilled and perfected. Luke xxii. 10,-13. Ver. 15. John xiii. 1. Luke xxii. 16, 18. W will not drink of the Fruit IMPROVEMENT. E may well affure ourselves, that the fame Divine Penetration, and Prophetic Difcernment, which enabled the Bleffed Jefus, thus circumftantially to foretell to his Difciples those most contingent Occurrences, which were to determine the Place where they should prepare the Pallover, would alfo open to him a Profpect of all that was to follow. All the Scenes, that were to be paffed thro' on this fatal Night, and the fucceeding black and bloody Day, were, no doubt, attentively viewed: The Agony of the Garden, the traiterous Kifs of Judas, the cowardly Flight of all the other Apostles, the Infults of his feemingly victorious and fuccessful Enemies, the clamorous Accufations, the infolent Buffetings, the Scourges, the Thorns, the Nails, the Cross, and all that he was to endure upon it from the Hand of Go D, and Men. Yet behold, with all these in his View, he goes on with a holy Alacrity, and this Sun of Righteousness rejoiceth as a Champion to run his Race! (Pfal. xix. 5.) Yea, when he is fitting down to the Pafchal Supper, (tho' therein was exhibited, in a most lively Emblem, the Bitterness of his own Sufferings,) he utters thefe gracious and emphatical Words, With Defire 1 have defired to eat this Passover with you, before I fuffer. So justly might it be faid of him, as we fee it is, that having loved his own, which were in the World, he loved them to the End. Oh Bleffed Jefus, may the Ardour, the Courage, and the Permanency of our Love to thee, bear at least fome little Proportion to that, wherewith thou haft condescended to love us! May we long, from Time to Time, to celebrate with thee that Chriftian Paffover, which thou haft ordained to fucceed the Jewish, as the Memorial of thy Sacrifice! Yea, may we long for the laft Solemnity of this Kind, which will e'er long come, after which we fhall no more drink with thee of the Fruit of the Vine, till it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of GOD! In the mean Time, may we be cheared with thy Love, which is indeed far better than Wine; (Cant. i. 3.) and thus fupported with those reviving Cordials, which thy Gospel adminifters, may we keep ourselves in the Love of GOD, and in the patient Expecta tion of thy final moft glorious and welcome Appearance! (2 Theff. iii. 5. and Jude, ver. 21.) SECT. The Difciples at Supper contend who should be greateft. CHRIST rebukes the Ambition, which his Difciples moft unfeafonably expreffed as they were fitting down to Supper, by washing their Feet, and adding feveral excellent Admonitions to the Exercife of Humility, immediately before the eating of the Pafchal Lamb. Luke XXII. 24,-----27. John XIII. 2,-3,—-—-17. JOHN XIII. 2. ed, 3.p.424. JOHN XIII. 2. 423 AND Supper being end- NOW when our Lord had thus fate down to eat Sect. 169. the Paffover with his Difciples, as was faid before, Supper being come (a), and the Antepast or Joh. XIII. 2. Introduction to it having been dispatched, as above; Juft in the Interval between that, and the ferving Luke XXII. up the Pafchal Lamb, there was a most unfeafon- 24. LUKE XXII. 24.-There was also a Strife among them, which able (a) Supper being come. The Reafons brought by Bishop Kidder, (in his Demonstration of the Meffiah, part iii. chap. 3. pag. 60, 61.) by Dr. Lightfoot, (Hor. Heb. on Mat. xxvi. 6.) and fince by Dr. Whitby, (in his Notes on this Place,) to prove that this Supper was not the Paffover, but another Supper at Bethany a Night or two before, I have briefly obviated in the Paraphrafe or Notes on the Places on which they are grounded; and therefore cannot think it material to trouble the Reader with a particular Detail of them. The chief Reasons, which determine me to the contrary Opinion, (befides fome others, of which a good Summary is given in Dr. Guyfe's valuable Note on this Place,) are thefe: Such a Difpofition of the Story beft fuits feveral of the Circumftances of the Pafchal Supper; (particularly, the Contention about Superiority, and the Enquiry about Judas, both which must on the other Hypothefis have been fuperfeded;) and the Propriety of it is especially evinced from John xiii. 38. where our Lord fays to Peter, The Cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice; which must be fpoken the very Night Jefus was betrayed, and yet is fo connected with this Story of washing the Difciples Feet by ver. 21. and ver. 31. that they cannot without great Violence be feparated: And it is certain, John xiii. 1. will have a peculiar Energy according to this Plan; which therefore moft Criticks have followed.—————— The Reader will obferve here, that I have rendered de vouers, Supper being come; which is the Senfe, in which the Word is often used elsewhere: Thus John xxi. 4. @paras γενομένης is when Morning was comè; Acts xii. 18. xvi. 35. nμepas gevoμevns, when Day was come; and Acts xxi. 40. ons gevouens, when Silence was made: In all which Places, and in many more, that might easily be collected from the Greek Writers, it would be abfurd to tranflate the Word ended. Nay, Luke iv. 42. evouens nuspas fignifies when the Day was. coming on. (Compare Mark i. 35. Note (f), Vol. i. pag. 214.) It is indeed an ambiguous Term; but the Rendering above is here to be preferred, (1.) Because it was much more natural to wash the Feet of Guests before, than after Supper. (2.) Because it is exprefsly faid in ver. 1. to have been done before the Paffover; which, if the preceding Reafon be admitted, determines the Point. (3.) Because Part of the Difcourfe, which John mentions as happening after the Feet were wafbed, is mentioned by the other Evangelists, as paffing at: Supper; nay, John himself, when he speaks in ver. 26. of Christ's dipping the Sop, and giv-. ing it to Judas after this, plainly fhews that Supper was not ended. (b) There Luke XXII. 424 Sect. 169. able Contention among them (b), as they fate at Table with Jefus, which of them should be accounted the greatest, in that Kingdom of which he had been fpeaking, and which they interpreted of a Temporal Dominion to fucceed his approaching Sufferings. (Compare Mark ix. 34. and Luke ix. 46. pag. 18. CHRIST rifes from Supper, and washes their Feet: 24. John XIII. 3. 4 [And] upon this, tho' Jefus knew, that the Father by the fure Engagements of an immutable Covenant had given the Government of all Things into his Hands, and that he was juft going to inveft him with all Power both in Heaven and upon Earth; and that as he came forth from GOD as his Messenger to Men, fo he was returning to GOD again; yet conscious as he was of fo great a Dignity, he was nevertheless willing to give his Difciples an Example of the deepest Humility in this his laft Interview with them before his Paffion: With this Defign, and in order to shame them out of their ambitious Contention, in a more forcible Manner than any Words alone could do, he rifeth from Supper (c); and whereas it was only usual for the Head of the Family at fuch a Time to wash his own Hands, he lays afide his upper Garments, and taking a Towel, tied it round him like a Kind of Apron. And which of them should be ac counted the greateft. (b) There was a Contention among them.] If the Reasoning above be allowed, we muft certainly tranfpofe Luke's Account of this Contention about Superiority; for none can ima gine, it fhould follow immediately after Chrift had been giving them fo affectiug a Leffon of Humility. But Luke feems less exact in the Order of this Story, than the other Evangelifts; and particularly, relates what paffed concerning the Person that was to betray him, after the Eucharift, tho' both Matthew and Mark place it before. As the latter Part of ver. 2. in this Chapter of John comes in by way of Parenthefis, I have tranfpofed it, to introduce what relates to Judas in the next Section; a Freedom, which will, I hope, be eafily excufed. (c) He rifeth from Supper.] As it is here afferted, that Chrift rofe from Supper, we must allow, that, in fome Senfe, Supper was begun, that is, as I fuppofe, the Antepaft had been taken, which is mentioned by the Jews as preceding the Pafchal Lamb; (fee Ainsworth's Note quoted above, Note (e), pag. 420.) They tell us, that is was then ufual for the Mafter of the Family to wash his Hands; and if I am rightly informed, the Jews continue the Custom ftill. This feems a more natural Manner of explaining the Claufe before us, than to fuppofe with Grotius, or Voffius, (Harm. Evang. lib. i. cap. 14. §. i.) or Dr. Edwards, (Exercit. on Luke xxii. 21.) that after the Pafchal Lamb they eat another diftinct Supper; and that this washing happened in the Interval between them. Tho' Voffius is pleated to call this a very little Lamb, (unus Agniculus,) I cannot but think, (especially confidering how early the Ewes yean in Judea,) that it might be big enough plentifully to fup Thirteen People; and as all which remained uneaten till Morning was to be burnt, (Exod. xii. 10.) one cannot fuppofe, that our Lord would be inclined to multiply Dishes on this Occafion, especially as the former Part of the Night was to be spent in Watching and Prayer. (d) H But Peter is unwilling he should wash his Feet. 5 After that, he poureth Water into a Bason, and began to wash the Disciples Feet, and to wipe them with the Towel wherewith he was girded. 6 Then cometh he to Si mon Peter and Peter faith unto him, Lord, doft thou wash my Feet? 7 Jefus anfwered and faid unto him, What I do, thou knowest not now; but thou fhalt know hereafter, 8 Peter faith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my Feet. Jefus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou haft no Part with me. 9 Simon Peter faith unto him, Lord, not my Feet only, but also my Hands and my Head. John XIII. 425 Then, when he had done with those who fate VOL. II. Hhh Then 5. 6 7 8 9 426 Sect. 169. IO. He explains his Defign, and cautions them against Ambition. Then Jefus, willing to lay hold on a Hint, which gave him an Opportunity of pursuing fo John XIII. ufeful a Thought, fays further to him, He that is washed already, or that has just been bathing (d), needs only to wash his Feet, which may indeed easily be foiled by the shortest Walk, and when that is done, he is entirely clean; as if he should have said, The truly good Man needs not that deep Repentance, and univerfal Change, which is abfolutely neceffary to others; tho' he fhould by renewed Acts of Penitence and Faith be cleanfing himself from smaller Pollutions, which are in fome Degree infeparable from the Infirmity of Human Nature: And in this Senfe, I know, that you, my Apoftles, are clean; but 11 yet I must add, you are not all fo. For as 12 he was acquainted with the fecret Difpofitions of When therefore he had thus washed their Feet, 25. you merly 10 Jefus faith to him, He that is washed, needeth not, fave to wash his Feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. II For he knew who fhould betray him; therefore faid he, Ye are not all (d) He that has been bathing.] This rendering of the Word ev is confirmed by Elfner, (Obferv. vol. i. pag. 337, 338.) and gives as it were a compendious Paraphrafe upon it. Clarius has well obferved, that as the amounpiov, or Room in which they dreffed themselves after bathing, was different from that in which they bathed, the Feet might be fo foiled in walking from one to the other, as to make it neceffary immediately to wash them again. (e) You are not all clean.] Some have obferved, that Judas did not decline the Honour of having his Feet washed by Chrift, tho' Peter did; and have confidered it as an Inftance of his Pride. But if the Difcourfe between Chrift and Peter happened before he came to Judas, it had been indecent for Judas to renew an Objection, which had just been thus overruled: And if Chrift came to Judas before Peter, he might be unwilling to be the first to difpute the Point, left Chrift fhould confound him, by enquiling whether he declined it from a Confcioufnefs of any peculiar Unworthinefs. Guilt naturally fuggefts fuch Sufpicions and Precautions. (f) Have |