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faith? For we assert a man to be justified by faith without the works of the law. Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not of the Gentiles also? Since it is one God who justifies the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision* through faith. Do we then destroy the law by faith? By no means! Yea, we establish the law.

WORDS, &c. TO BE EXPLAINED IN LESSON XIX.

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WHAT was the message which we have heard from the beginning?

If we walk in the light, with whom have we fellowship?
What has the blood of Christ done for us?

If we say we have no sin, what is said of us?

What more if we confess our sins, what is God ready to do for us?

Why did John write these things?

If we sin what have we?

Who is our advocate? and what is he more?

How are we to know that we have known him?

If we say we know God and keep not his commandments, what are we ?

If we say that we abide in him, what ought we to do?

In what state were the Ephesians in time past? But what had happened to those of them to whom Paul wrote ?

Who brought them nigh?

By what means?

Between whom did he make peace?

*Circumcision-uncircumcision, i. e. Jews and Gentiles.

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What kept them separate?

What was done with that law consisting in ordinances? What had the Ephesians then become?

What does Paul compare them to?

Did the Jews excel the Gentiles in the sight of God

In what state were both ?

To whom does the law speak?

Can we be justified by the law before God?
Why not?

How must we be justified?

Whom has God set forth as a propitiation ?

Why does he so justify men?

What becomes of boasting?

By what law?

Is God the God of the Jews only?
How does God justify the circumcision?
And how the uncircumcision?

Do we destroy the law by faith?
What then?

LESSON XX.

The ten lepers healed-the Pharisees ask when the kingdom of God should come-Christ's answer the unjust judge-the Pharisee and the Publican-little children brought to Christ— the rich ruler's question-Jesus foretells his sufferings, death, and resurrection-he heals a blind man near Jericho-Zaccheus the pub

lican.

FROM LUKE, XVII. XVIII. AND XIX.

AND it came to pass, as he was going to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were

us.

lepers, who stood afar off:* and they lifted up their voices, saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on And when he saw them, he said to them, Go show yourselves to the priests.+ And it came to pass, that, as they were on their way, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back with a loud voice glorifying God; and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, were not the ten cleansed? but where are the nine?‡ There are none found returning to give glory to God, except this stranger. And he said to him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

And being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: § Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, Lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. And he said to the disciples, The days will come when ye will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they will say to you, See here; or, See

* As lepers could have no society but with one another, both Jews and Samaritans who were thus afflicted, conversed together without any regard to national distinctions and antipathies: but others took care to avoid them, and, therefore, they "stood afar off."

The priests were the appointed judges respecting leprosy. A leprous person was obliged to live apart, and was not permitted to be present at the public worship of God. Jesus therefore directed these lepers, when they were cleansed, to show themselves to the priests, that they might receive the appointed attestation to the reality of the miracle, and that they might be restored to their privileges.

He asks this question as if in astonishment at the ingratitude of his countrymen, whilst the despised and hated Samaritan humbly and gratefully owned the good work rought upon him.

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§ Or, with outward show.

there :* go not after, nor follow them. For as the lightning, flashing out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall the Son of man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation. And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Thus it will be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, whoever shall be upon the roof, and his goods in the house, let him not come down to take them away: and he that is in the field, let him in like manner not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever will seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you that there shall be in that night two

That is, be not induced to follow any pretended Messiah, but be attentive to the tokens which I give you of my coming, which can no more be mistaken than the lightning which illuminates the whole firmament.

"Let him not come down," &c. but hastily escape. The roofs of the houses in the East are flat, and there is usually a thoroughfare all along the house-tops; so that a man might escape from the city without once coming down into the street.

Our Lord in compassion to such persons as were in danger of slighting his advice from a wish to stop and secure their worldly substance, reminds them of the fate of Lot's wife, who, casting a longing look behind her on sinful Sodom, and, perhaps, lingering in its vicinity, was changed into a pillar of salt.

§ Whether we take this passage to relate to the destruction of Jerusalem, or to the dissolution of the world, Christ assures us that in times of distress, God will distinguish between the righteous and the wicked.

men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left. And they answered and said to him, Where, Lord? But he said to them, Wherever the body shall be, thither shall the eagles be gathered together.*

And he spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint; saying: There was in a certain city a judge, neither fearing God, nor regarding man: and there was a widow in that city; and she came to him saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he' would not for a while: but afterwards he said within himself, Though I fear not God nor regard man; yet, because this widow is troublesome to me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God execute judgment for his elect, who cry day and night unto him, although he delay with them? I tell you that he will execute judgment for them speedily. Yet when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on earth?

And he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were just, and despised the rest: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus: God I thank thee that I am not as the rest of men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican: I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the Publican,

This is a proverb intimating that Jerusalem was the carcase, which the Roman armies, whose ensign was an eagle, would soon find out and prey upon.

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