He exclaims, How many instances of the tenderest affection, how many offers of conversion and grace, of protection and defence from the calamities now approaching, have I laid before you!--but ye rejected them all. The various warnings both of expostulation and of judgment, which God had sent by the prophets; the summons to repentance began by John, and repeated since by Me, had been, as it were, the anxious callings of the parent bird, which would gather her brood under her wings," and ye would not!" Behold now the time of mercy is past, and the final desolation of your city and Temple, with the terrible destruction of the Jewish people, is irreversibly decreed by God". From henceforth ye shall not benefit from the consolations of a Messiah, nor have Me your propitiator of mercy for your city and nation; nevertheless the time shall yet come "when ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord;" alluding, probably, to the ultimate conversion of the Jews to the Christian faith, in the words of the cxviiith Psalm, which formed a portion of the great Hallel, or hymn, sung at the solemn festivals, and the same, as it is considered, that our Saviour and His disciples sung at the close of His last Supper, just before He suffered'. 4 Dean Stanhope. 6 Dr. S. Clarke. 5 7 Archbishop Sumner. SECT. XC.-Christ healeth the Dropsy on the Sabbath. Luke xiv. 1-6. UNDISMAYED by the fear of Herod, Jesus therefore continued still in Galilee; and, on the recurrence of the Sabbath, He takes an opportunity, when eating bread with one of the rulers, who was of the sect of the Pharisees, to set them right on the proper observance of the Sabbath day. It appears He was also watched, to see whether He would heal on the Sabbath day, that they might have a ground of accusation against Him. He could not but observe with how ill an eye they regarded Him, and would not allow that in Him which was unregarded in another man. He had been frequently twitted for healing on the Sabbath day; but as He did this by the power of a word, He could not violate the Sabbath even according to their own canons. A person afflicted with the dropsy excited the compassionate regard of Jesus, who, knowing that the Lawyers and Pharisees were watching Him, appealed directly to them, whether it was, in their opinion, a violation of the Sabbath to heal on the Sabbath day: “and they held their peace." Regardless, then, of what they might think, since they could not determine the point for Him, He restored the man to health, pleading the lawfulness of the action by their own pity to a beast who might have "fallen into a • Dr. Whitby. pit on the Sabbath day." By which remark our Lord implies, that they were sufficiently ready to dispense with their scruples in their own necessities,-whatever they might pronounce against His act of mercy,-and to do what they might claim to be one, where their own interests were concerned. They felt the force of His words, and were confounded". SECT. XCI.-Christ teacheth Humility by a Parable.Luke xiv. 7-14. man. OUR Saviour displayed on all occasions His preference for a meek and humble character in He frequently admonished His disciples that greatness was to consist with humility, and censured that love of distinction and greediness of superiority which the chief persons amongst His countrymen were wont to display'. He now, therefore, puts forth a parable, calling on them not to be bold and forward in thrusting themselves into notice; but to be modest, waiting to be invited to honour rather than to seek it. In the East, on festive occasions, such as a wedding, it is usual to fill all the apartments with the acquaintances of the master of the house, and the manner in which the more honourable seats were coveted had already been noticed by Solomon, of whose advice our Lord reminds them, "It is better that it be said unto thee, Come up hither, than that thou Archdeacon Paley. Bp. Patrick. Dr. Robinson. 2 66 shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince," all which He enforces with a general truth, Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." This spirit, which so well becomes men, and is so approved by God, Jesus further illustrates by another example3. He addresses Himself more particularly to the person who had invited Him, and makes allusion to the religious feasts which the Jews were in the habit of giving. He says, When thou makest a religious feast let it be truly of a religious character: ask not the rich as to a common entertainment; but the poor, who cannot repay thee. Thou canst not, indeed, render equal the different conditions of men; do what you may, you shall always have the poor with you. But He, who has in His providence ordained this, has likewise commanded, that what is superfluous to one should supply the wants of others. He will not that the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind, "be left without regard." You must, therefore, deny yourself, that you may gratify those, who, "though they cannot recompense thee, yet thou shalt be recompensed" for thy charity at the great and general resurrection, with all other holy, just, and charitable men in the kingdom of God". It is not to be supposed, however, that Christ here forbids His disciples to invite their kinsfolk and friends to participate of mutual charity and friendship. He only forbids them to do so from the narrow selfish desire of compensation. The expressions here are to be understood in a comparative, not in an absolute, sense. The rich are not forbidden to make entertainments on proper occasions, suited to their condition and circumstances; but they are cautioned against acting from motives of vanity, and ostentation, or self-interest; and are exhorted, on the contrary, to take pity on the poor, and to relieve their wants'. Both this and the former remark of our Saviour tend to the same purport and conclusion,-that we should humble ourselves and exalt others, and that we should look to the great end of life for our reward, the resurrection of the dead, and the sentence of God at the last 8. SECT. XCII.-The Parable of the Great Supper. Luke xiv. 15-24. 66 ONE of the company, struck with the glorious vision which the idea of a recompense of the resurrection of the just" brought before his mind, is led to observe, "Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." Our Lord, in the parable that follows, seems to admit that this is indeed true'; and proceeds 'Bishop Mann. 8 Archbishop Sumner. 9 9 Ibid. |