The Deftruction of others fhould be a Warning to us. 129 prevented, and that Sentence of his Wrath averted, which would other- Sect. 115. wife plunge us into endless Ruin and Mifery; for when could we pretend to have paid the last Farthing of the Debt of Ten Thousand Talents, which we have been daily contracting, and which is charged to our Account in the Book of his Remembrance! SE C T. CXVI. CHRIST on the Mention of fome Calamities which had befallen others, warns his Hearers of the Danger they were in, if they did not repent; and illuftrates it by the Parable of the barren Fig-tree. Luke XIII. 1,---9. LUKE XIII. 1. HERE were prefent that Seafon, fome that told him of the Galileans, whose Blood Pilate had min gled with their Sacrifices. LUKE XIII. 1. 1. at NOW while our Lord was thus difcourfing of Sect. 116. 2 And Jefus answering, Laid unto them, Suppofe ye that And Jefus, without making any Remarks on the Caufe in which they were engaged, endeavoured with his usual Wisdom and Piety, to lead the Minds of his Hearers into fome profitable Reflections Told him of thofe Galileans, the Followers of Judas Gaulonites.] Jofephus has given us the Story of this Judas Gaulonites at large, Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 1. §. 1. (See alfo Bell. Jud. lib. ii. cap. 8. (al. 7.) §. 1. cap. 17. §. 8. & lib. vii. cap. 8. (al. 28.) Havercamp.) It appears, he was the Head of a Sect, who afferted GOD to be their only Sovereign, and were fo utterly averse to a Submiffion to the Roman Power, that they accounted it unlawful to pay Tribute unto Cafar, and rather would endure the greatest Torments than give any Man the Title of Lord. This Judas is probably the Perfon, whom Gamaliel refers to, Acts v. 37.—Jofephus does not mention the Slaughter of thefe Galileans; (which, by the Way, makes Zegerus's Interpretation very improbable, that they were actually flain at the Altar, in Contempt of the Temple ;) but he records an Action of Pilate that much resembles it, of the Manner of his treating the Samaritans. Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 4. (al. 5.) §. 1. Perhaps this Story of the Galileans might now be mentioned to Chrift, with a Design of leading him into a Snare, whether he should justify, or condemn, the Perfons that were lain. VOL. II, R (b) You Luke XIII. 2. that thefe Galileans were Sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered fuch Things? 3 I tell you, Nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewife perifh. 130 Except we repent, we shall all perish. Sect. 116. flections upon the Event; and in Reply faid to them, Do you think that thefe Galileans were notorious Sinners above all the rest of the Galileans, that they fuffered fuch fad Things as these, and were 3 cut off in fo miferable a Manner? If you do, you are much mistaken, and very unfit to judge of the Conduct of Providence: For how foever you may cenfure them, I tell you, No, you are not to conclude this was the Cafe; but except you repent, you shall all perish thus (b); Vengeance will overtake you in your evil Ways, and in the defolating Judgments that will fhortly come on your whole Nation, the Blood of many of you fhall be mingled with your Sacrifices. 4 Or to instance in another unhappy Case that has lately occurred, I mean, that of thofe Eighteen Men, on whom the Tower in Siloam fell, and flew them (c), do you think, they were greater Offenders than all the other Inhabitants of Jerufalem, that they were thus fingled out for Deftruction? 5 I tell you, No; and you would judge very rafhly, if you were in general to draw fuch Conclufions for the best of Men may be involved with others in Temporal Calamities: But remember what I told you before, that except you repent, you shall all perish thus; you fhall be preffed under the infupportable Load of the Divine Vengeance, and ; be 4 Or thofe Eighteen, uploam fell, and flew them, on whom the Tower in Sithink ye that they were Sinners above all Men that dwelt in Jerusalem ? 5 I tell you, Nay: but except ye repent, ye fhall all likewife perifh. (b) You shall all perish thus: woulws aroλes.] Some content themselves with rendering it, You shall all perish, as well as they; and poffibly no more may be intended: Yet the Rendering I prefer appears to be more literal; and I the rather chufe it, because (as Grotius, Tillotson, Whitby, and many others have obferved,) there was a remarkable Refemblance between the Fate of thefe Galileans, and that of the whole Jewish Nation; the Flower of which was flain at Jerufalem by the Roman Sword, while they were affembled at one of their great Festivals; (fee Jofeph. Bell. Jud. lib. vi. cap. 9. (al. vii. 17.) §. 304.) and many Thousands of them perifhed in the Temple itself, and were (as their own Hiftorian reprefents it at large,) literally buried under its Ruins. Jofeph. Bell. Jud. lib. vi. cap. 4. (al. vii. 10.) §. 6. & cap. 5. (al. vii. 11.) §. 1, 2. (c) On whom the Tower in Siloam fell, and flew them.] From the Fountain of Siloam, which was without the Walls of Jerufalem, a little Stream flowed into the City, (Ifa. viii. 6.) which was received in a Kind of Bafon, which fome have thought to be the fame with the Pool of Bethesda. (See 2 Kings xx. 20. Neh. iii. 16. Ifa. viii. 6. and John v. 2. ix. 7.) Being near the Temple, it is no Wonder that many frequented it for Purification; but the Calamity occafioned by the Fall of the neighbouring Tower, is not, that I can find, mentioned any where, but here. Probably it had happened at fome late Feaft; and fome of Chrift's Hearers might then have been at Jerufalem.Erafmus indeed takes this Siloam to have been Shiloh, the Place where the Tabernacle was first fettled, (Job. xviii, 1. Pfal. Ixxviii. 60.) but without fufficient Reason. See Drufius, in loc. (d) Thefe CHRIST delivers the Parable of the barren Fig-tree. 6 He fpake alfo this Parable A certain Man had a Fig-tree planted in his Vineyard, and he came and fought Fruit thereon, and found none. 7 Then faid he unto the Dreffer of his Vineyard, Behold, thefe three Years I come feeking Fruit on this Fig-tree, and find none: cut it down, why cumbereth it the Ground? 8 And he answering, faid unto him, Lord, let it alone this Year alfo, till I fhall dig about it, and dung it : 9 And if it bear Fruit, that, thou shalt cut it down. well: and if not, then after 131 be destroyed under the Ruins of that Holy City, Sect. 116. in which you trust. And in order to awaken them more effectually Luke XIII. to fuch deep and ferious Repentance, he spake 6. this Parable to them, There was a certain Man who had a Fig-tree planted in his Vineyard, and came for feveral fucceffive Seafons, fearching for Fruit upon it, but he found none. And at length, 7 defpairing of any better Succefs, he faid to the Keeper of the Vineyard, Behold, thefe Three Years together (d), I have come to look for Fruit upon this Fig-tree, and still I find none: Cut it down therefore immediately; for why does it thus cumber the Ground, filling up the Place of more profitable Plants with its ufelefs Bulk, and drawing away Nourishment from those that grow around it? But fuch was the Concern of the Vine-dreffer for 8 its Prefervation, that he faid to him in Reply, Sir, I defire thou wouldst let it alone this Year allo, till I fhall dig up the Ground about it, and lay Dung to the Root of it: And then perhaps it 9 may bear Fruit (e), and if so, it is well, and thou preferveft thy Tree; but if not, after this thou fhalt, if thou pleafeft, cut it down, and I will fay nothing farther to prevent it. By which Parable our Lord did plainly represent to the Jews the Divine Displeasure against them, for having neglected the many Opportunities they had enjoyed, as planted in the Vineyard of GOD'S Church; (compare Ifa. v. 1, 2. xxvii. 2, 3.) and in an awful Manner intimated, that tho' they had hitherto, at his Interceffion, been fpared, yet if they continued unfruitful under the additional Culti (d) Thefe Three Years.] Many have fuppofed, that these Words allude to the Time of Chrift's perfonal Miniftry, which, as moft have computed the Chronology of the New Testament, had now lafted Three Years: But it is certain, the Patience of GOD bore with them much longer than another Year. Grotius therefore thinks it more probable, it may refer to the Nature of a Fig-tree, which, if it bear at all, generally begins to do it within Three Years after it is planted; but might, to be fure, be looked upon as barren, if it had difappointed the Expectation of the Planter Three Years together, after the Time in which it fhould have yielded Fruit, which was yet worse. (e) Perhaps it may bear Fruit: nav per woman xaprov.] It is in the Original fomething of an abrupt Way of speaking, of which Raphelius has produced many Examples: (Annot. ex Xen. pag. 102, 103.) But I think the Way of rendering the Idiom, I have here ufed, would fuit it in moft of those Inftances. R 2 (f) Under 132 Luke XIII. Reflections on the Guilt and Danger of Unfruitfulness. Sect. 116. Cultivation they were shortly to receive, on the 9. irrecoverable Ruin, Luke xiii. 6. Ver. 7. Ver. 8. Ver. 9. Ver. 2. W IMPROVEMENT. HICH of us may not learn a Leffon for himself, from this inftructive Parable of the Fig-tree? Have we not long been planted in GOD's Vineyard, and favoured with the Cultivation of his Ordinances, yea, with the Dews of his Grace too; and yet how little Fruit have we borne in Proportion to thofe Advantages? How long has he come seeking it in vain, while we have fruftrated the most reafonable Expectations, perhaps not only for Three, but several of us for more than Thirty Years? Wonderful is it, that the dreadful Sentence has not long fince gone forth against us, Cut them down, why cumber they the Ground? We owe it to the Interceffion of our Bleffed Redeemer, the great Keeper of the Garden of GOD, that this has not long fince been our Cafe. Let us not be highminded, but fear. (Rom. xi. 20.) Let barren Sinners reflect, that this may be the last Year, perhaps indeed the last Month, or last Day of their Trial; for even now also is the Ax laid to the Root of the Tree. (Mat. iii. 10.) And let them remember, that tho' there be Hope of a Tree, when it is cut down, that it may sprout again, (Job xiv. 7.) yet when the Doom is executed on them, their Root will be as Rottennefs, and their Bloom will go up like Duft; (Ifa. v. 24.) and every Tree which brings not forth good Fruit, will be hewn down, and caft into the Fire. Let fuch therefore meditate Terror, when the Judgments of GOD are abroad in the Earth; and when others are overwhelmed in Ruin, let them not harshly cenfure the Sufferers, as if they were greater Sinners, than Ver. 3, 5. any others; but let them apply that falutary, tho' awful Admonition to their own Souls, repeating it again and again, till they are pricked to the Heart by it, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewife perish. Ver. I. Ver. 4. Terrible indeed was the Cafe of thofe, whofe Blood Pilate mingled with their Sacrifices; and of those, who were dashed to Pieces in a Moment by the Fall of Siloam's Tower: But infinitely more dreadful will be the Condition of them, that fall into the Hands of the Living GOD; (Heb. x. 31.) especially of thofe Deceivers, who having furrounded his Altars with (f) Under the additional Cultivation, &c.] The extraordinary Means ufed to bring them to Repentance after the Refurrection of Chrift, by the Effufion of his Spirit, and the preaching of the Apostles, might with great Propriety be expreffed by digging round the barren Tree, and applying warm Compoft, or Dung, to its Roots. CHRIST cures a Crooked Woman in the Synagogue. 133 、, with the hypocritical Forms of Devotion, fhall themselves be made the Sect. 116. Victims of his Justice, and be crushed by the refiftless Weight of his Almighty Vengeance. SE C T. CXVII. CHRIST cures a Crooked Woman in the Synagogue, and vindicates his doing it on the Sabbath-Day; and afterwards repeats the Parables of the Grain of Mustard-Seed, and of the Leaven. Luke XIII. 10,——-22. TH LUKE XIII. 10. Luke XIII. 10. II HUS our Lord went on in his Journey Sect. 117. And Jefus feeing her, and intimately knowing 12: (a) Had been afflicted by a Spirit of Weakness.] It is very evident, the Jews apprehended, that all remarkable Disorders of Body proceeded from the Operation of fome malignant Damon. Perhaps they might draw an Argument from what is faid of Satan's Agency in the Affliction of Fob, (chap. i. and ii.) and from Pfal. xci. 6. (compare Septuag.) and 1 Sam. xvi. 14. They alfo confidered Satan as having the Power of Death. Hebii. 14-And that in fome Maladies this was indeed the Cafe, is intimated by our Lord's Reply here, ver. 16. and by St. Paul's Words, 1 Cor. v. 5. where he speaks of delivering an Offender to Satan. for the Deftruction of the Flefb.The Topick is very judiciously handled by that illuftrious Writer Mr. Howe; (fee his Works, Vol. ii. pag. 360, 361.) and there are fome curious and entertaining Remarks in Wolfius on this Text. (b) Utterly unable to raife herself upright.] This Verfion of un Suvauern avanu far as TO alexes, feems preferable to that other, which the Words es Tawarenes might bear; "She " could not lift herself up, so as to stand perfectly freight." (Compare Heb. vii. 25. Gr.) For on the Rendering I have given, which is equally literal, the Miracle appears much more important, than on the other. (c) A. |