Many at laft shall cry in vain to be admitted. 25. 139 Some of you may perhaps then plead an inti- 26 if any of you can carry it fo far, as that you shall This awful Word, how little foever you may 28 thruft (e) We have eaten and drank in thy Prefence.] Perhaps fome of the Nine Thousand, whom he had fed by Miracle, may at laft be in this miferable Number. (Compare John vi. 26.) Brennius refers it to their having eaten the Sacrifices prefented to Go D, according to the Mofaic Conftitution. But different Perfons may ufe this Plea in different Senses; and they, who while their Hearts were hardened in Impenitence and Unbelief, have profaned the Lord's Supper by an unworthy Participation of it, will find a fad Senfe peculiar to them felves, tho' it might not be chiefly intended. S 2 (f) Herod 140 Luke XIII. 29. Some think to terrify him with a Threatening from Herod : Sect. 118. thrust back with juft Indignation. Yea, they fhall come from the most distant Heathen Lands, even from the Eaft and the Weft, and from the North and the South, and fhall fit down in joyful Multitudes, at this Heavenly Banquet with your pious Ancestors, in the Kingdom of GOD, while you are excluded from any Share in it. (Compare Mat. viii. 11, 12. and Note (f), Vol. i. pag. 339.) 30 31 And behold, this fhall be the Cafe, not only of a few, but of great Numbers; for there are many, who are now laft in point of religious Advantages, that shall then be firft in Honour and Happiness; and there are many who now appear first, that fall then be found last, and on Account of their abufed Privileges, fhall appear as the most infamous and miferable of Mankind. (Compare Mat. xix. 30. and Mark x. 31. Sect. 137.) Thefe Things our Lord faid in his Journey thro' Galilee towards Jerufalem; making many Paufes in his Way, that in Confequence of the Shortness of his Stages, he might have an Opportunity of greater Usefulness. And it came to pafs on that Day, when he uttered these Discourses, Some of the Pharifees came, and that they might, if poffible, intimidate, and drive him to a Distance, they faid to him, Go forth, and depart from hence with all poffible Speed, into the Territories of fome other Prince; for Herod the Tetrarch, who is Master here, is at this very Time determined to kill thee (f), as he did John the Baptist, thy Friend and Affociate, and feeks but an Opportunity to effect it. But 29 And they shall come from the Eaft, and from the Weft, and from the North, and from the South, and shall fit down in the Kingdom of GOD. 30 And behold, there are laft which fhall be first, and there are firft which shall be laft 31 The fame Day there fees, faying unto him, Get came certain of the Pharithee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee. (f) Herod is determined to kill thee: Denes de aronlewat.] For the Force of this Phrafe, compare John vii. 17. pag. 47. and Note (a) on John i. 43. Vol. i. pag. 127. It is very probable, confidering both the wicked Character, and fufpicious Temper of Herod, that tho' he had a Curiofity to fee Chrift, (compare Luke ix. 9. xxiii. 8.) he was uneafy at his fpending fo much Time in Galilee, left he should occafion him fome Embarraffment, either with regard to the Jews, or the Romans; yet fearing, after all the Anxiety which the Murther of John the Baptift had given him, to make any Attempt on his Life, he might think fit thus to endeavour to terrify him with an empty Threatening. In this View there would be a peculiar Propriety, in calling him Fox, rather than Lion, Wolf, or Bear; to which favage Beafts the Prophets had fometimes, with a Plainnefs becoming their Character, compared wicked Princes. Compare Zeph. iii. 3. Ezek. xxii. 27. and Prov. xvii. 12. (8) And But he is not afraid of his Defign against his Life. 141 But Jefus was fo far from being at all alarmed Sect. 118. And upon this, turning in Thought at least to- 34. Stonest (g) And the Third Day I fhall be perfected.] Many fuppofe, and I think very reasonably, that our Lord is not to be understood, as speaking exactly of Three Days, but of a little Period of Time. See Hof. vi. 2. and compare the Original of Gen. xxxi. 2. Exod. iv. 10. Deut. xix. 4. Joh. iii. 4. 1 Sam. xix. 7. and 1 Chron. xi. 2. in all which Places, Yesterday, and the Third Day, fignifies lately, or a little while ago.On this Interpretation, the Word Texeμai, I shall be perfected, may refer to Chrift's finishing the Work of Redemption, and being by Death confecrated to his Office, as the great High-Prieft and Captain of our Salvation; as the Word is ufed, Heb. ii. 10. v. 8, 9, 10. vii. 27, 28. (b) It cannot be fuppofed that a Prophet, &c.] John the Baptift had lately perished in Galilee; fo that the Expreffion sx evdexelas can import no more, than this Verfion expreffes, which Elfner has fhewn to be its proper Senfe. (Elfner. Obferv. Vol. i. pag. 242.)Dru fius, Grotius, Knatchbull, and many other eminent Criticks, refer this to the Right which. the Sanhedrim alone had, to punifh a Perfon as a falfe Prophet. (i). You 34. 142 CHRIST laments over Jerufalem. Sect. 118. ftonest as the vileft Malefactors those who are fent Luke xiii. 35. Ver. 34. AN are fent unto thee: how thy Children together, as a Hen doth gather her Brood under her Wings, and ye would not? 35 Behold, your Houfe is verily I fay unto you, Ye left unto you defolate And fhall not fee me, until the Time come when ye fhall fay, Bleffed is he that com eth in the Name of the Lord. IMPROVEMENT. ND who would not welcome fuch a Saviour, when he appears on fo kind a Defign! Who would not bless him that cometh in the Name of the Lord, to gather our Souls with the tenderest Care, and to shelter us from Wrath and Ruin! that Saviour, whofe Bowels yearned over us, and whose Heart poured forth its Blood for us! Too many reject him, and will not hearken to the kindeft Calls of his compaffionate Voice. Unhappy Creatures! the Time will come, when they too late will be convinced of their fatal Error. Let (i) You shall fee me no more, till-you fhall fay, Bleffed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord.] Some fuppofing thefe Words refer to the Congratulations, which Christ received on his Entrance into Jerufalem, (Mat. xxi. 9. Mark xi. 10. Luke xix. 38. and John xii. 13. Sect. 146.) urge them as a Reafon for placing this Section after the ixth and xth Chapters of John, or between the Feast of the Dedication, and his laft Paffover. But as our Lord repeats this Expreffion again, after his triumphant Entry, (Mat. xxiii. 39. Sect. 158.) they muft be capable of another Interpretation, and therefore can afford no fuch Argument; nor is there any Intimation of his Return into Galilee between thefe Two Feafts. -It does not imply, they fhould ever fee Jefus at all; but only, that they should earnestly wish for the Meffiab, and in the Extremity of their Diftrefs be ready to entertain any one, who might offer himself under that Character. Compare Luke xvii. 22, 23. Sect. 128. Reflections on the Neceffity of friving for Heaven. 143 Ver. 23. Let each of us be folicitous for himself. Away with those vain Curiofi- Sect. 118. ties, which ferve only to amufe, and distract our Thoughts. Let us call, and fix them down, to the great Concerns of our own Salvation: And if we would fecure it, let us prepare to encounter Difficulties, and frive as for our Lives, to break thro' all the Oppofition of our Enemies, and refolutely to enter in at the ftrait Gate. How many have fought it, when Ver. 24. the Door has been barred? and how foon may the great Master of the House Ver. 25. arife, and fut it for ever, against those who are yet trifling! Let not Hypocrites truft in vain Words. The Workers of Iniquity fhall Ver. 26, 27. be difowned by Christ at laft, tho' they may have eaten and drank in his Prefence. But oh, who can exprefs the Disappointment, the Rage, and Ver. 28, 29, Despair of those, who fall from fuch towering Hopes, and plunge, as from the very Gates of Heaven, into the lowest Abyss of Darkness and Horror! Their Hearts will endeavour to harden themselves in vain; their doleful Cries fhall be diftinguished in that Region of univerfal Horror; but they shall not penetrate the Regions of the Bleffed, nor interrupt the Delight, with which even the dearest of their pious Relatives fhall fit down in the Kingdom of GOD. If we thro' Grace have more fubftantial Hopes, let us imitate the Zeal Ver. 31-33; and Courage of our Divine Leader; and whatever Threatenings or Dangers may oppose us, let us go on Day after Day, till our Work be done, and our Souls at length perfected in Glory. But let us carefully diftinguish between thofe Things, in which our Lord meant himself as our Pattern, and those which were peculiar to his Office, as a Prophet fent from GOD. That extraordinary Office juftified him, in ufing that Severity of Language, when fpeaking of wicked Princes and corrupt Teachers, to which we have no Call; and by which we should only bring Scandal on Religion, and Ruin on ourselves, while we irritated, rather than convinced or reformed. thofe, whom we undertook fo indecently to rebuke. Our LORD being invited to dine with a Pharifee, cures a LUKE XIV. I. ND it came to pass, as AN LUKE XIV. 1. The we came to as A AND END it came to pass, that just as our Lord was Sect. 119. finishing his Journey thro' Herod's Domi of LukeXIV.1. |