They should contentedly eat what was fet before them. rest upon it: if not, it fhall turn to you again. 7 And in the fame House remain, eating and drinking fuch Things as they give; of his Hire. Go not from for the Labourer is worthy Houfe to House. 8 And into whatsoever City ye enter, and they re- 10 But into whatsoever City ye enter, and they receive you not, go your Ways out into the Streets of the fame, and fay, Luke X. 6. 39 And when you are entered into any Lodgings, 7 And I repeat it again, Into whatever Town or 8: But into whatfoever City you come, and they do 10 never (e) Wipe off the very Duft of your City, &c.] For the Import of this folemn Action, fee Sect. 74. Note (0), pag. 460. from whence it will appear, that Dr. Edwards's fingular Interpre 40 The dreadful Cafe of those who would not receive them. Se&t. 97. nevertheless, know this affuredly, that the Kingdom fure of this, that the Kingof GOD is come near unto you, and in the Midftdom of GOD is come nigh Luke X. II. of all the Calamities which are to befal you, let 13 unto you. 12 But I fay unto you, that it fhall be more tolerathan for that City. ble in that Day for Sodom, 13 Wo unto thee, Chorazin, Wo unto thee, Bethfaida; for if the mighty Works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had great while ago repented, fitting in Sackcloth and Athes. your Confciences witnefs, that Mercy hath been 12 offered and refufed. And I Say unto you, as I formerly did to your Brethren, that in that Day of the final Judgment it shall be more tolerable, even for the accurfed Inhabitants of Sodom itself, than for that City, wherefoever it fhall be found. Now while our Lord was thus mentioning to his Seventy Difciples the wretched Cafe of thofe that rejected the Gospel, he could not forbear refecting, that this was the Condition of fome of thofe Cities, where he himself had made the most frequent Vifits, and the longest Abode: He therefore repeated the pathetick Lamentation he had before taken up for them (f), and faid, On this Account Wee unto thee, ch thou obftinate Chorazin, Woc unto thee, ob thou incorrigible Bethfaida; for if the Wonders which have been wrought in you, bad been done in Tyre and Sidon, degenerate as they were, they would have repented long fince, fitting in Sackcloth, and lying down in Alkes, to expreis the Depth of their Humiliation and Sorrow. 14 But tho' Vengeance has long fince been executed upon them, GOD will make manifeft the Impar- tolerable for Tyre and Sidon tiality of his Juftice, and it shall be more tolerable in the Day of his tremendous Judgment for Tyre 15 and Sidon, than for you. And thou, oh most ungrateful and rebellious Capernaum, who kaft been diftinguished from all the reft by my longest Refidence in thee, fo that thou haft (as it were) been lifted up to Heaven in that Refpect, as well as in Magnificence and Wealth, fhalt be brought down even to Hell, and funk into the deepest and most 14 But it fhall be more at the Judgment, than for you. 15 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to Heaven, fhalt be thrust down to Hell. terpretation, (Edw. on Script. Vol. ii. pag. 189,—193.) is not only foreign, but contrary to our Lord's Purpofe. He ftrangely fuppofes it an Allufion to thofe Courts, where, as in what we call Pie-Powder (or Pieds poudres) Courts, Controverfies were immediately decided, as it were before People could wipe the Duft off their Shoes. (f) He repeated the pathetick Lamentation, &c.] Confidering the affectionate Temper of our Lord, it is no Wonder, that he should renew his Lamentations over those unhappy Places, where he had fo intimately converfed; and that he should do it in fuch Words as thefe, fo well calculated to alarm, and imprefs, all that fhould hear, or read them. Oh that they might now have their due Weight with thofe, who might pafs them over too flightly, when they occurred before, from Mat. xi. 20,-24. (See Sect. 59. pag. 357,-359-) Oh that every impenitent Creature who reads them, might know that the Sentence of his own Condemnation is now before his Eyes! Reflections on the Conduct that becomes Minifters. 16 He that heareth you, heareth me: and he that defpifeth you, despiseth me: and he that defpifeth me, defpifeth him that fent me. S 41 most irrecoverable Ruin, fince thou hast heard Sect. 97. my Gospel only to despise it. And then turning to the Seventy Difciples, Luke X. 16. who ftill ftood around him, he concluded his Instructions to them in these important Words, (to the fame Purpose as he before had faid to the Apoftles, Mat. x. 40. pag. 471.) He that heareth you, in the Discharge of this your Embaffy, heareth me, and on the other Hand, he that rejecteth you, in like Manner rejecteth me; and he that rejecteth me, rejecteth him that fent me, even the Father himself, whofe Credentials I bear, and who will punish the Defpifers of the Gospel, as impious Rebels, who prefume to contemn his Infinite Majefty, and provoke his Almighty Power. IMPROVEMENT. O unwilling was the Blessed Jefus, to give over his kind Attempts for Luke x. 1. Men's Salvation! He projected another Circuit thro' the Country, and fends forth other Messengers, more numerous than the former Company. He renews his Invitations to perishing Sinners, and his Lamentations over Ver. 13,-15. thofe, who had hitherto rejected the Counfel of GOD against themselves. (Luke vii. 30.) Thus let us love the Souls of Men; thus let us use repeated Endeavours to deliver them; Endeavours, which would probably be much more fuccessful than they are, if these wife and gracious Directions of Chrift to his Minifters were more attentively obferved, by those who are honoured with that important Office. Let all fuch caft their Care upon GOD; let them go forth chearfully, Ver. 3, 4. in a Dependance on his Protection and Favour; let them carry about with them Hearts full of Affection for the whole Human Race, feeking and praying for the Peace of all around them; chearfully contenting them- Ver. 5. felves with fuch Things as they have; (Heb. xiii. 5.) and neither pursuing Ver. 7, 8. the Grandeurs, nor the Delicacies of Life, with any eager Attachment. Send forth, Oh Lord, fuch Labourers into thine Harveft; and animate Ver. 2. them to a becoming Zeal in their Work, by a deep Senfe of that dreadful Condemnation, which thofe will incur, who defpifing them, pour Contempt on their Divine Mafter, and his Heavenly Father, in whofe Name he was Ver. 16. fent! May GoD preferve our Country from that Guilt and Ruin! The Kingdom of GOD is come nigh unto us, and we are lifted up to Heaven by Ver. 11. our Privileges: May we not, after all, be caft down to Hell for the Abufe Ver. 15. of them! but may Divine Grace make fuch a Way for the Gospel into our Hearts, that we may cordially receive all that faithfully proclaim it, and bid them welcome in the Name of the Lord! SECT. 42 His Brethren urge him to go up to the Feast of Tabernacles. SECT. XCVIII. CHRIST difcourfes with his Brethren about his going up to the Feast of Tabernacles, and ftays fome Time after them. John VII. 1,-13. Sect. 98. AFTER JOHN VII. 1. FTER thefe Things, that is, after he had miraculously fed the Five thoufand, walked on the Sea to his Difciples, and difcourfed with the Multitude concerning the Bread of Life (a), Jefus for fome Time walked, or travelled, as we before obferved, in Galilee, and there instructed his Disciples; (fee pag. 14.) for he would not then walk, or converfe familiarly in Judea (b), because the Jews, and especially their Rulers, incenfed by the growiug Fame of his Miracles, and the Freedom of his Difcourfes, fought an Opportunity to flay him, either by private Affaffination, tumultuous Affault, or legal Process. JOHN VII. I. AFTER thefe Things walked in Galilee; for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews fought to kill him. And a very noted Feast of the Jews was then 2 Now the Jews Feaft of near, which is [called] the Feast of Tabernacles; Tabernacles was at hand. instituted in Commemoration of their dwelling in Tents in the Wilderness, and celebrated in Booths erected for that Purpose, with great Solemnity and Joy. (See Lev. xxiii. 34, & feq.) Therefore his Brethren, or near Kinsmen in Galilee, faid unto him, We would advise thee to remove from bence, and go into Judea, that thy Difciples alfo who are there, may, for the Confirmation of their Faith in thee, behold thy Miracles, and fee the mighty Works which thou performeft here: 3 His Brethren therefore faid unto him, Depart hence, Difciples alfo may fee the and go into Judea, that thy Works that thou doeft: (a) After thefe Things, &c.] Thofe that I have mentioned here, are the laft, which had been recorded by John. See a more particular Account of them, Sect. 78,-82. (b) He would not walk in Judea.] This may be an Intimation, either that he was not at Jerufalem the preceding Paffover, or at least made no publick Appearance, or long Abode there. I am inclined to think, the former was the Cafe.Undoubtedly his Omiffion of a Journey thither, at fome of the great Feafts, might be vindicated by his extraordinary Character, and thofe Intimations, he might have from his Heavenly Father, of being difpenfed with, for Reasons not particularly known to us, who have no Concern with them. See Note (b), Sect. 83. Vol. i. pag. 516. (c) That He at firft refufes, as his Time was not yet come : that doth any Thing in feto be known openly: If thou do thefe Things, fhew thyfelf to the World. cret, and he himfelf feeketh 43 4 For there is no Man here: For this Retirement feems not at all Sect. 98. to fuit the great Pretenfions thou art making to a publick and extraordinary Character, as it is well John VII. 4. known, that no Man will chufe to act any remarkable Thing in Secret, that is himself defirous, like thee, to be publickly known and talked of (c): If therefore thou art really the promised Meffiah, and doft thefe Things, which we so often see at Home, by a Divine Commiffion, go up to Jerufalem, and there manifeft thyself to the great Men of the World, and appear in Places of the most publick Concourfe; and thou canst not have a better Opportunity of doing it, than at this celebrated Feaft, which brings together fo many, not only from the Land of Ifrael, but from neighbouring Countries. This they faid, not out of any 5 real Friendship and Refpect, but to make farther Trial of him, and in fome measure to upbraid him with those Precautions which he thought it neceffary to obferve; for, notwithstanding all the Evidences he had given of his Divine Miffion, yet neither did his Brethren and Kindred themselves believe in him, when they faw that he took no fuch Method to raise himself and his Family, as they thought infeparable from the Character of the Meffiah, whenever he should appear (d). 5 For neither did his Brethren believe in him.` 6 Then Jefus faid unto them, My Time is not yet come: but your Time is alway ready. 7 The World cannot hate Then Jefus faid unto them, My Time, either 6 You 7 the (c) That is bimfelf defirous to be publickly known and talked of.] This feems to be a very invidious and groundless Infinuation, as if he was acted by oftentatious Views; the contrary to which appeared fo evidently in the whole of his Conduct, that nothing but base Envy could fuggeft fuch a Charge. (d) Neither did his Brethren believe in him, &c.] It is aftonishing, that these near Relations of Chrift, who must have had fo many Opportunities of feeing the Glories, both of his Character, and Miracles, (which laft they here exprefsly acknowledge,) fhould continue in Unbelief. But they unhappily laid it down as a firft Principle, that the Meffiah must be a Temporal Prince; and finding this Mark of his Miffion wanting, and seeing (more ftrongly than others, not fo intimately converfant with him, could do,) his Averfion to any fuch Scheme, they would yield to no other Proofs; and are, I fear, on the fatal Lift of thofe, who perifhed, as Thousands now do, by oppofing Hypothefis to Fact. See Dr. Sykes on the Truth of Chriftianity, pag. 128. F 2 (e) The |