23. Luke vi, 1.

Matth. xvii. 14.

where it was not; that before he could enter into his glorified state, he was to suffer From Maftk. many things, and be rejected by the Jews; but that after his death, he would give in-xii. 1. Mark ii. contestable proofs of his power and dominion, by the wonderful propagation of his Go-John v. 1. to spel, and by the speedy and amazing vengeance which he intended to take of that na- Mark ix. 14. tion. He therefore exhorted them not to imitate the security of the people in Noah's Luke is. 37. time, or of the inhabitants of Sodom, nor to express any concern for the destruction of John vii. 1. their country, as did Lot's wife for the burning of Sodom †; but to use their utmost care and diligence (when they saw the Roman †2 armies advancing) not to be involved in the general calamity: and because, in involving some, and preserving others, there would be much of God's distinguishing Providence concerned, he therefore exhorted them to pray without fainting, or being discouraged at any thing; and to this purpose propounded a parable of a poor woman, who, by her continued importunity alone, prevailed with an unjust judge +3 to vindicate her wrongs, "though he feared neither God

nor man."

Shortly after this Jesus crossed the river Jordan into Perea +4, where he was followed

so very severe, that there "hardly a day passed with out the execution of some of them. Antiq. lib. xx. c..6.

+ Instead of making haste to save herself, as the angel had commanded her, she, out of a vain curiosity, must needs look back, either regretting what she had left behind her in the city, or concerned for those that were destroyed in it, till she was overta ken with the flames, and changed into a statue of salt, or into the condition of a corps salted and embalmed, which continued as a monument of her disobedience for many ages after. And, in like manner, if any of our Saviour's disciples neglected the advice which he here gave them, and continued in Je rusalem, when the Roman army had closely invested it, they, very likely, were involved in the common destruction. Calmet's Commentary.

+ The words in the text are," Wheresoever the body, or the carcase is, there will the eagles be ga thered together," Matth. xxiv. 28. Luke xvii. 37. These words, which our Saviour here makes prover bial, seem to have been borrowed from that passage in Job, where he speaks of the eagle in this manner: "She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place; from thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. Her young ones also suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is she," Job xxxix. 28, &c. Upon the account of the swiftness, the strength, and invincibleness of this bird, no doubt it was that the Romans made the eagle their ensign in war: And therefore our Saviour, by making use of this expression, gives us to understand that the Romans would come upon the Jews with a sudden destruction; surround them so, that there should be no escaping their hands; and in whatsoever country they found them, there put them all to the sword. For the eagle, mentioned in Job, our translators have rendered by a word which signifies a vulture, a bird consecrated to Mars, because it loves to feed upon man's flesh, and therefore, by a kind of natural instinct, travels along with armies, in expectation of the carcases that fall there. Nor is it an uncommon thing for the prophets to ex

press the day of God's vengeance under the idea of
a feast, which he hath prepared for the ravenous
birds and beasts of the field; for thus saith the Lord,
"Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every
beast of the field; assemble yourselves, and come,
gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice, that
I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the
mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink
blood, even the flesh of the mighty and the blood of
the princes of the earth," Ezek. xxxix. 17, 18. Vid.
Isaiah xxxiv. 6. and Jer. xlvi. 10. Hammond's An-
notations and Calmet's Commentary.

+3 Though it were blasphemy to think that God
acts upon the same motives with this unjust judge,
yet this we may learn from the nature of the para-
ble, that if a person, who neither fears God nor re-
gards man, who had neither any sense of religion or
humanity, may be supposed to be so far prevailed
upon by the earnest prayer of a miserable necessitous
creature, as to grant the request made to him, and to
administer relief to the supplicant, merely upon the
continuance and importunity of the petitions that are
put up; how much more ought we to think that God,
who is infinite goodness itself, who is always kind and
bountiful to his creatures, who delights to do them
good, even without their desiring it, and who is able
to do them good with much less pains than they can
request it; how much more ought we to think, I say,
that this God, upon our earnest and hearty prayer to
him, (especially if we be importunate and perseve-
ring in our devotions), will return us a kind answer,
and grant us such supplies, such protection or assist-
ance, as shall be needful for us. Bishop Smalridge's
Sermons.

1

πέραν,

+4 This word is derived from the Greek beyond, and signifies the country beyond Jordan, or on the east side of that river. It was bounded (according to Josephus) to the west by Jordan; to the east, by Philadelphia; to the north by Pella; and to the south by Macheron; and was a fruitful country, abounding with pines, olive trees, palm trees, and o ther plants, that grew up and down in the fields, in great plenty and perfection; and in the excessive

&c. or 5441.

Ann. Dom.

31, &c.

A. M. 4035, again by vast multitudes of people, whom he both taught and cured of such distempers as they had, insomuch, that several of the company, perceiving how ready he was to do good to all that came unto him, brought their little children † with them in orVulg. Br. 30. der to partake of his Divine benediction; but his disciples, thinking it below the dignity of their Master to be disturbed and interrupted by infants, at first refused admittance to those who brought them, until Jesus, having reproved them for so doing, and withal recommended the innocence and simplicity of these babes as a pattern for their imitation, commanded them all to be introduced, and taking them up in his arms, he laid his hands upon them, and blessed them, and so departed from the place where this transaction happened.

As he was on his journey, a young person of distinction, who was very rich and wealthy, desired to know of him what he was to do in order to attain eternal life. Our Saviour proposed to him the observation of the moral law, and remitted him, in particular, to the commandments of the second table †2, as a certain sign of his keeping those of the first; but when the young gentleman told him, that all these he had made it his study to observe from his youth; and our Lord, who knew his covetous temper, and was willing to touch the secret sore of his mind, told him, that if he aimed at perfection in religion, his only way would be to sell his estate †3, and give it to the poor, in hopes of a greater treasure in heaven, and to come and be one of his disciples; the young man

heats was well watered and refreshed with springs
and torrents from the mountains. De Bello Jud. lib.
iii. c. 2.

+ The parents who brought their children to Christ
were doubtless such as believed him to be a prophet
sent from God, and were persuaded that the touch
or imposition of his hand would be of great benefit
to them, both to draw down a blessing from heaven
upon them, and to preserve them from diseases
which they saw him cure in persons more advanced
in years.
We may observe, therefore, that though
these children were no more than infants, (as appears
by our Saviour's taking them up in his arms, Mark
x. 15.), yet their parents thought them capable of
spiritual blessings, and of receiving advantage by our
Saviour's prayers. They however might bring them
with no farther intent than what is customary among
the Jews even now, when they present their children
to any of their famous doctors, viz. to obtain his bles.
sing; but by the reason which our Saviour gives for
their admission into the kingdom of heaven, it ap-
pears, that he perceived something in them (besides
their being emblems of humility) that qualified them
to come unto him; and what could that be but a fit-
ness to be dedicated to the service of God, and to
enter into covenant with him early (as the Jewish
children did) by the rite of baptism (which was his
institution), even as the other did by that of circum-
cision? Calmet's Commentary, and Whitby's Anno-

tations.

+ We must not imagine, because our Saviour refers this young man to the precepts of the second table only, that therefore they are of more obligation to us than those of the first, or that, by performing them alone, we may attain eternal life: Our Lord has else where determined, that the great commandment of all is," to love the Lord our God with all our hearts;" and here he instances in those of the second table,

not only because the love of our neighbour is an excellent evidence of our love to God, but because the Pharisee (of which sect very probably this person was one) thought these commandments of trivial account, and easy performance; and yet by some of these it was that our Saviour intended, by and bye, to convince this enquirer, that he neither had nor could keep them. Pool's Annotations.

+3 Since our Blessed Saviour here requires of this young man, not only to withdraw his heart from an inordinate love of his possessions, but to sell them all and give the money to the poor, we may be sure that this was a particular command to him, in order to convince him of the insincerity of his pretended love to life eternal, and not a precept common to all Christians. That there were rich men in the church, we learn from several passages in Scripture, 1 Tim. vi. 17. James i. 10. and ii. 2. St Peter, in his speech to Ananias, permits Christians to retain what is their own, Acts v. 4. and St Paul does not enjoin the Corinthians to sell all, and give alms, but only requests them to administer to their brethrens wants out of their abun dance, 2 Cor. viii. 14. So that if riches fall into the hands of one who knoweth how to use them to God's glory, and the relief of indigent Christians, as well as to supply his own needs, it seems a contradiction to conceive, that God requires him to part with them, and so divest himself of any farther opportunity of promoting his glory, and doing good to his needy members. This precept therefore of selling all we have, can only take place when we are in the same situation with this young man, i. e. have an express command from God so to do, or when we find that our riches are an impediment to the security of our eternal interest; for in that case we must part with a right-hand, or a right eye, the nearest and dearest things we have," rather than be cast into hell fire." Whitby's Annotations.

xii. 1. Mark ii.

went away very pensive and melancholy, being loth to part with his present possessions From Matth. for any treasure in reversion. Whereupon our Lord, turning to his disciples, began to 23. Luke vi. 1. declare what an insurmountable obstacle riches, without the grace of God, were to any John v. 1. to man's salvation, and that "it was easier (according to the Hebrew proverb) for a camel Matth. xvii. 14. to go through the eye of a needle † than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of Luke ix 37. heaven" At which expression, when his disciples were not a little startled, to remove John vii. 1. their fears, he let them know, that the salvation of the rich (though a matter of some difficulty) was not impossible with God, who could change the hearts and affections of men as he pleased.

When the apostles heard their Master bidding the "young man sell all, and give it to the poor, and follow him;" and promising him, for a reward, a treasure in heaven, they began to think, that possibly it might be their case, and the promise, in like manner, concern them; and therefore, when (in the name of the rest) Peter desired to know of him what reward they were to expect, who had actually relinquished all, and followed him; his reply was, that, at the general resurrection †2," when himself should be seated upon his throne of glory, they also should sit upon twelve thrones f3, judging the twelve tribes of Israel; and that not only they, but all others likewise, who, for his

+ There are three different opinions among interpreters concerning the meaning of this proverbial say ing. Some imagine, that, at Jerusalem, there was a gate, so very low and narrow, that a loaded camel could not pass through it, and that, by reason of its littleness, it was called the needle's eye; but all this is a mere fiction, devised on purpose to solve this seeming difficulty. The Jews indeed, to signify a thing impossible, had a common proverb among them, that "an elephant cannot pass through the eye of a needle." Now, our Saviour, say some, was pleased to change this proverb from an elephant (which was a beast that few had seen) to a camel, a creature very common in Syria, and whose bunch on his back hindered him from passing though any strait entrance. But others, not able to discern any analogy between a camel and a needle's eye, think, that the word K. penos, here signifies a cable, or thick rope, which mariners use in casting their anchors; and that the ra ther, not only because there is some similitude be. tween a cable and a thread, which is usually drawn through the eye of a needle, but because the Jews (as the learned Buxtorf acquaints us) have a proverb of the like import relating to the cable as they have to the elephant; for so they say, that as "difficult is the passage of the soul out of the body, as that of a cable through a narrow hole." Whether of these two interpretations takes place, it is a matter of pure indifferency: Only we may observe, that the application of the proverb to the rich man's entering into the kingdom of heaven, must not be understood absolutely, but only so as to denote a thing extremely difficult, if not impossible, without an extraordinary influence of the Divine grace. Calmet's Commentary, Hammond's and Pool's Annotations.

+ The word, in the original, is waλyysia, which properly signifies a new and second state, and is used among the Pythagoreans for the return of the soul, after it had left one body to take possession of another: And agreeably hereunto it is used, by sacred writers, to denote either the future resurrection,

which will be the reunion of the soul and body, or
that great change which was to be effected in the
world by the preaching of the Gospel, and more es.
pecially by the mission of the Holy Ghost after our
Lord's ascension into heaven. Hammond's Annota-
tions.

+3 Some interpreters refer these words to that au-
thority, both in matters of discipline and doctrine
which the apostles, after the descent of the Holy
Ghost upon them, were, by our Lord's commission
and appointment, to exercise in the Christian church;
but most understand them of the honours that are
to be conferred upon them in a future state. And
here some have taken great pains to determine what
judgment these persons shall pass; as that they shall
condemn the errors of wicked men by their doctrines,
and the malice and obstinacy of infidels by their per-
secutions, &c. while others have undertaken to as-
sign them their parts in the process of the last great
day, and represent them as so many assessors to the
supreme Judge, sitting upon the examination and trial
of mankind, while all the rest stand at the bar. But
though we are well assured that such a judgment
shall be, yet, as to the particular circumstances and
formalities of it, the Scripture seems to give us but a
slender insight; and therefore, setting aside all dark
conjectures about this matter, the most safe and pro-
bable way of applying this passage is, to look upon it
as spoken after the manner of men, to signify in ge-
neral a brighter crown, or more exquisite degree of
happiness and glory. The apostles accompanied
and stuck close to Christ in his low estate. They
kept the faith, under the greatest pressures and temp-
tations. They were indefatigably diligent, undauntedly
constant in their labours and sufferings for the truth,
and most eminently serviceable in advancing the
kingdom of Christ upon earth; and therefore they
shall receive an eminent distinction in the kingdom of
heaven. Stanhope on the Epistles and Gospels, vol.
iv.

Mark ix. 14.

Ann. Dom.

31, &c.

A. M. 4035, and the Gospel's sake, should quit any worldly advantages or possessions, should receive &c. or 5441. such comforts in this world, as would vastly surpass their losses, and, in the world to come, eternal life: But then, to shew them that such high rewards proceeded from Vulg. Er. 30. the bounty of heaven, and no other title, he represented the freedom of God, in the distribution of his favours, under the emblem of a certain master of a family, sending labourers into his vineyard +2, some sooner, and some later, but giving them all the same wages Wherein, though he seemed kind to some, yet was he unjust to none, because he paid them all according to his agreement, and (having done so) was then certainly left to his option whom to make objects of his liberality.

Our Saviour had not been long in Perea before he received a message out of Judea, from two sisters in Bethany +5, Martha and Mary, of the dangerous sickness of their brother Lazarus, a person highly beloved and esteemed by him; but he proposing, on this occasion, to manifest the glory of God, as well as his own Divine power and mission, by a greater miracle than a simple cure would be, delayed his going until Lazarus was dead +4, and then set forward.

While he was in his journey, he took his apostles aside, and † told them still more

That is, the comforts of an upright conscience, a full content of mind, the joys of the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and hopes of glory. They should have God for their Father, and Christ for their spouse, and all good Christians for their friends and brethren, who would honour, succour, and support them more than those that were allied to them by the strictest bonds of nature. Whitby's Annotations.

This parable is in a great measure taken from the Jerusalem Talmud, where we have an account of a king's hiring labourers, and paying one for a few hours work the whole day's hire, which occasioned great murmuring among the rest. It is our Saviour's custom, we may observe, to make frequent use of Jewish proverbs in his discourses; and some learned men have taken notice, that the form of prayer which he taught his disciples is chiefly compiled from the Jewish Liturgies. Since therefore he was to teach the people in a parabolical way, he thought it no disparagement to his parts to employ such of their parables as were proper to his purpose of illustrating the spiritual matters of his kingdom; as well knowing that these parables which were in common use, and familiar to them, would be less offensive, and better remembered by them, than those of his own invention. Whitby's and Hammond's Annotations.

+3 Bethany took its name from the tract of ground wherein it stands, so called from the word, which signifies the dates of palm trees, that grew there in great plenty. It was a considerable place, situated at the foot of the Mount of Olives, about fifteen furlongs, or near two miles eastward from Jerusalem; but at present it is but a very small village. One of our modern travellers acquaints us, that at the first entrance into it there is an old ruin, which they call Lazarus's castle, supposed to have been the mansionhouse where he and his sisters lived. At the bottom of a small descent, not far from the castle, you see his sepulchre, which the Turks hold in great venera. tion, and use it for an oratory or place of prayer. Here, going down by twenty-five steep steps, you come at first into a small square room, and from thence creep into another that is less, about a yard

and a half deep, in which the body is said to have been laid. About a bow-shot from hence, you pass by the place which they say was Mary Magdalen's habitation: and then descending a steep hill, you come to the fountain of the apostles, which is so called, because (as the tradition goes) these holy persons were wont to refresh themselves here, between Jerusalem and Jericho, as it is very probable they might, because the fountain is both close to the road's side, and is very inviting to the thirsty traveller. Whitby's Alphabetical Table, Wells's Geography of the New Testament, and Maundrell's Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem.

+4 Our Saviour's stay for two days after the message and modest address of the two mournful sisters, kept them indeed a little longer in suspence and grief, but it shewed his perfect wisdom and goodness, as it made the wonderful work more remarkable, and conducive to the fuller conviction of the spectators. Had he gone before Lazarus was dead, they might have attributed his recovery, rather to the strength of nature than to Christ's miraculous power; or had he raised him as soon as he was dead, they might peradventure have thought it rather some trance or ecstacy, than a death or dissolution: But now, to raise a person four days dead, offensive, and reduced to corruption, was a surprise of unutterable joy to his friends; removed all possible suspicion of confederacy; silenced the peevish cavilling, and triumphed over all the obstinacy of prejudice and infidelity. Bishop Blackhall's Sermons.

+ In the course of the Gospel, we find our Lord forewarning his disciples, no less than three times, of his approaching sufferings and resurrection. The first intimation of this kind was in the coasts of Casarea Philippi, when, after St Peter's confession of him to be "the Christ, the Son of the living God, he began to shew unto his disciples how that he must suffer many things, &c." Luke ix. 22. The next we meet with was immediately after his transfiguration in the Mount, when, as he came down from thence with the three apostles, who were the companions of his privacies, he reminded them of what he had told

ii. 23 Luxe vi. 1.

Mark ix. 14.

plainly what the event of it would be; namely, that at this time of his going to Jeru From Matth. salem, the chief priests and scribes would apprehend and condemn him, and then " de 1. liver him to the Gentiles, who would scourge, and mock, and crucify him; but that on John v 1. to the third day he would rise again." Upon the mention of his resurrection, which they atth. xvii. 14, vainly imagined would be the beginning of his terrestrial greatness, James and John, Luke ix. 37. by the mouth of their mother Salome †, requested of him to have the first places in his John vii. 1. kingdom. The first places in his kingdom, he told them, were to be disposed of according to the predetermination of his Father; but a proper qualification for them it was, to be able to take the greatest share of the bitter cup of his sufferings*, which very probably might be their fate +2; and when the ambition of these two brothers provoked the indignation of the other ten apostles, he declared to them all, that his kingdom +3 was far different from those of this world, whose princes and governors

them before, viz. "That the Son of Man should be delivered into the hands of men," Luke ix. 44. The third warning was that which he gave his apostles apart, when he was going to Jerusalem to suffer, or, as some rather think, when he was going to Bethany, in order to raise Lazarus from the dead: And it is observed of these several warnings, that they rise by degrees, and grow more full and distinct in proportion as the things drew nearer. Thus the first is delivered in general terms: "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected, and slain, and raised the third day." The second is enforced with this solemn preface, "Let these sayings sink down in your ears," Luke ix. 44.; and the third descends to a more particular description of that tragical scene, "He shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on; and they shall scourge him, and put him to death, and the third day he shall rise again," Luke xviii. 32, 33. Now, whether we consider the danger the apostles were in of being oppressed with an affliction so sensible as the death of their Master, or the general mistake wherewith they were infected, concerning the splendor and worldly pomp of the Messiah's kingdom, or the scandal that would necessarily arise from the notion of a crucified Saviour, this method of forewarning his disciples of what was to come upon him was highly requisite, to sustain them in their tribulation, to rectify their sentiments, and remove all offences; as it shewed, that his death was voluntary, consonant to the predictions of the prophets, and agreeable to the counsel and appointment of God, and the shame of his crucifixion abundantly recompensed by the glories of his resur. rection. Stanhope on the Epistles and Gospels, vol ii. + This their mother might be encouraged to ask, upon the account of her near relation to the Blessed Virgin, her constant accompanying our Saviour, and diligent attendance upon him; and might conceive some hopes of her sons future exaltation, from the pompous name which our Lord had given them, and the great privilege to which he had admitted them (but excluded others) of attending him in his privacies. Whitby's Annotations, and Stanhope on the Epistles and Gospels, vol. iv.

* It was anciently the custom, at great entertainments, for the governor of the feast to appoint to each of his guests the kind and proportion of wine they VOL. III.

were to drink; and what he had thus appointed them,
it was thought a breach of good manners either to
refuse or not drink up. Hence a man's cup, both in
sacred and profane authors, came to signify the por-
tion, whether of good or evil, which befals him in this
world. Homer introduces Achilles thus comforting
Priamus for the loss of his son:

Δοιοί γάρ τε πίθοι κατακείαται ἐν Δίος οὔδει
Δώρων οία δίδωσι, κακῶν· ἕτερος δέ ἑάων

Ω μὲν καμμίξας δώη Ζεύς τερπικέραυνος, &c. Il. xxiv.
Not unlike what we meet with in the Psalmist, "In
the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is
red; it is full mixed, and he poureth out of the same:
As for the dregs thereof, all the ungodly of the earth
shall drink them out," Psal. lxxv. 9, 10. And what
our Saviour means by the expression we cannot be to
seek, since, in two remarkable passages, Luke xxii.
42. and John xviii. 11. he has been his own interpre-
ter; for lethale poculum bibere, or to taste of death,
was a common phrase among the Jews, and from them
we have reason to believe that our Lord borrowed it.
Stanhope on the Epistles and Gospels, vol. iv. and
Whitby's Annotations.

+ This prediction was literally fulfilled in St James, who was put to death by Herod, and so, in the highest sense of the words, was made to drink of our Lord's cup; and though St John was not brought to suffer martyrdom, yet his being scourged and imprisoned by the council at Jerusalem, Acts v. 18, 40. put into a cauldron of burning oil at Ephesus, Euseb. lib. iii. c. 18. and banished into "Patmos for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ," Rev. i. 9. may well be supposed to be some part of that bitter cup which our Saviour drank, and that he who underwent such torments, as nothing but a miracle could deliver him from, may, with very great justice, be esteemed a martyr. Stanhope on the Epistles and Gospels, vol. iv.

+3 The words in the text are," The princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them; but it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister," Matth. xx. 25, 26.; and from hence some have inferred, that our Saviour forbids them who will be his disciples, or 2 D