Luke 12

Luke 12:13

Christ, being desired to interpose in a dispute between two brethren about property, declines the decision of the case; and takes occasion to advance a caution against covetousness, which he enforces by the parable of the rich fool.

LUKE XII. 13.

AND while he was discoursing thus to his CXI. disciples, one of the crowd that was then Luke about Jesus, said to him, Master, I desire thou xii. 13 wouldst speak to my brother, that he would agree to divide the inheritance with me, which since the death of our father he injuriously detains to himself; for thou art well known to be a Person of such an extraordinary character, that I would hope his reverence to thine authority may induce him to do me justice.

LUKE XII. 13.

AND one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.

rist delivers the parable of the rich ool.

But Jesus, as he did not come to meddle in such matters, prudently replied,ᵃ Man, what dost thou mean by such a rash appeal to me? Who constituted me a judge in temporal concerns, or set me up as a divider over you? My kingdom is of a spiritual nature; and as to the civil rights and properties of men, I intermeddle not with them, but leave them just as I found them. (Compare Exod. ii. 14.)

And upon this occasion, though he would not interpose in the affair, yet, to prevent their being fond of the enjoyments of the world, and to preserve them from a covetous disposition, Jesus said to his disciples, and to them that were present, See to it, that with the utmost care and resolution you be upon your guard against all kinds and degrees of covetousness;ᵇ for though it be a common, it is a very unreasonable vice; since it is evident, that the comfort and happiness of a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions; nor can the continuance of his life, even for the shortest period of time, be secured by that abundance.

And, to enforce and illustrate this remark, he spake a very instructive parable to them, and said, There was a certain rich man, whose ground bore fruit so plentifully that he had not room to receive and lay up in store the vast produce of his harvest. And he found all his plenty an encumbrance to him, so that he reasoned with himself, not without some considerable anxiety of mind, saying, What shall I do? for I have not room at present to store up my crop, should I stow it ever so close. And, after some pause, he came to a resolution, and said, I will do this, as what appears to me the wisest scheme; I will pull down my old barns, and

ᵃ He prudently replied.] This appellant probably thought that, as the Messiah, he would act in the character of a prince, who would decide controversies relating to poverty. My rendering the phrase, he said unto him, by the equivalent word replied, will not, I hope, be thought to need any apology.

ᵇ See to it, that with the utmost care you be upon your guard against all kinds and degrees of covetousness.] Ogai! na! qu! accer! di

is a lively phrase, the full force of which have endeavoured to express in the paraphrase, not being able exactly to do it in the version. (Compare note 5 on Mat. xvi. Vol. I. p. 479.) Some old versions and very good copies read it, from all covetousness; to which I have shewn so much regard, as to insert the word all in the paraphrase; as it is certain, at least, that our Lord intended the caution in this extent, whether he did or did not so particularly express it

The folly of laying up treasure, and not being rid

build new, which shall be larger, and much more commodious than they; and there I will gather in all my rich increase this year, and all my goods that I already have in store: And then I will retire from business, and sit down and enjoy the fruits of my former labours, and will say to my soul with complacency and confidence, O my soul, thou hast now an abundance of goods laid up, on which thou mayest comfortably subsist for many future years; repose thuself therefore after all thy fatigues; eat and drink freely, without any fear of exhausting thy stores; and be as merry as corn, and wine, and oil, shared with thy most jovial companions, can make thee. But God beheld him with just displeasure, and by the awful dispensation of his Providence in effect said to him, amidst all this gaiety of heart, in the variety of his schemes and hopes, Thou fool, who dost thus stupidly forget both the dignity and the mortality of thy nature, and thy continual dependance upon me, thy supreme Lord! know to thy terror, that while thou art talking of a long succession of pleasurable years, this very night thy soul shall be demanded of thee, and be hurried away to its place; and then, where will all its boasted entertainments be, or who shall possess what thou hast thus laboriously provided, but shalt thyself never enjoy? And accordingly the unhappy creature died that night, and all his wealth could do no more for him than furnish out the expenses of his funeral. And so, or such a fool in the Divine account, [is] he that heaps up treasures to himself here on earth, and is not rich with respect to Godᵈ in acts of charity and piety, which would secure a fund of celestial treasures lodged in his almighty hand, and therefore inviolably safe from such calamitous accidents as these.

*Thy soul shall be demanded of thee.] It is in the original, ἀπώλεσιν, They shall demand thy soul. Elmer thinks it alludes to the messengers sent to fetch away the soul; and produces a remarkable and well known passage from Plato, to prove that Socrates thought this the office of a spirit superior to men: see Elmer, Observ. Vol. I. p. 231.

Rich with respect to God.] There is a force and propriety in the phrase de Oser, which our language will not exactly express. It represents God as a depositary, in whose hands the good man has lodged his treasure; and who has, as it were, made himself accountable for it in another and better world. Compare Prov. xix. 17.

Reflections on a covetous desire of earthly riches.

IMPROVEMENT.

Most prudently did our Lord decline the invidious office of an arbitrator in civil affairs; and wisdom will require his ministers generally to avoid it likewise. It is more suitable to our office, like our blessed Master, to endeavour to draw off and disengage the minds of men from covetousness, and to pluck up the root of those eager contentions which so often divide even the nearest relations, and inspire them with mutual aversions, more invincible than the bars of a castle. (Prov. xviii. 19.)

And that a covetous desire of the enjoyments of the world may not create contentions, and engage us in pursuits that will be fatal to our souls, let us seriously consider the true value of things, and reflect how little riches can do to make us happy if we obtain them; and how very uncertain that life is, on the continuance of which our possession of them does so evidently depend. But, alas, how many are there, who are now as deeply engaged in their worldly schemes as this rich fool in the parable, to whom God will, in a few weeks, or days, if not this very night, say, by the awful voice of his irresistible providence, Thy soul is required of thee! And then what will all these treasures do to purchase life, or to allay the agonies of death? So far will they be found from being capable of this, that they will rather serve to increase and imbitter the surprise and anguish of those agonies.

Let it then be our labour and care that we may be rich towards God; rich in works of piety and charity. So shall we safely consign over our treasure to the bank of heaven, and shall be enriched by it when we leave the world as naked as we entered upon it, and lose all but what has been so wisely and happily spent.

Luke 12:22-34

Christ repeats the cautions and arguments against an anxious and covetous temper, which he had formerly given in his sermon on the mount. Luke XII. 22—34.

LUKE XII. 22. AND he said unto his disci-

LUKE XII. 22. THUS Jesus cautioned his followers against setting their hearts on worldly treasures; but as most of them were in such low circumstances as to be in greater danger of immoderate solicitude about the necessary supplies of life, he proceeded to caution them against this,

VOL. 2.

Christ cautions his disciples against anxious

by repeating some of those admonitions which he had formerly delivered in his sermon on the mount.ᵃ And accordingly he said to his disciples, For this cause, that is, considering the great uncertainty of riches, I say to you, and strictly charge it upon you, That you be not anxious about your life, what ye shall eat, or how you shall procure food to support it; nor or the body, what you shall put on to cover, defend, and adorn it. For you must needs be sensible, the life itself, which you have received from God without any care or thoughtfulness of yours, is much more important than meat, and the body than raiment; and well then may you hope that the great Author of your life, and the Former of your body, will maintain his own work, in a proper manner, without your anxiety and solicitude about it. Especially may you expect it, when you see the care which he takes of the inferior creatures: as, for instance, consider the ravens, how they are subsisted; for they neither sow, nor reap, and have neither storehouse nor barn, to lay up any thing against a time of want; nay, their young ones are early deserted by their dams; and yet, voracious as they are, God one way or other, feedeth them, so that you see the species is still continued: now how much more are you better than they? and how much rather may you hope to be supplied with the necessaries of life, than any kind of birds? (Compare Mat. vi. 25, 26, Vol. I. p. 238.)

And moreover, as this care is unnecessary, it will also be unprofitable; for which of you, by taking the most solicitous thought, can add a single cubit, or the least measure or moment, either to his age or stature? (Compare Mat. vi. 27, and note ᵇ on that text, sect. xli.) If then you cannot do the least matter,ᵇ as in this proverbial expression you grant, why are you anxious about the rest, as if you were to hold

ᵃ Repeating some of those admonitions, [etc.] Most of the thoughts and expressions used here occurred before, sect. xli. and are, I hope, sufficiently explained there. I content myself therefore with referring the reader to it.

ᵇ If then you cannot do the least matter. This proves, that to add one cubit to a thing was a proverbial expression for making the least addition to it.

he lilies, and will much more take care of them.

your life by a kind of perpetual lease, and were secure against all danger of a sudden ejectment?

But, to pursue the argument I began before, Do but consider God’s providential care, even of the vegetable creation: survey, for instance, the fair and beautiful lilies, and reflect how they grow; they neither labour to prepare the materials of their dress, nor spin it into that curious form; and yet Providence clothes them in so elegant and splendid a manner, that I say unto you, Even Solomon, when on some grand festival he appeared in all its utmost magnificence, was not arrayed in so beautiful a white as one of these. And if God so clothe and adorn the grass of the field, among which the lilies grow, though it is [flourishing] today in all its verdure, and by tomorrow is cut down and thrown into the furnace or still (see note¹ on Mat. vi. 30, sect. xli. p. 239), how much more [will he clothe] you, O ye of little faith, who thus suspect his care?

And do not you then, who are acquainted with the care of Providence, and are particularly interested in it, be solicitous to seek what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor be like meteors in the air, that are tossed about by every blast of wind, hurried with anxious cares, and agitated with a variety of restless and uneasy thoughts.ᶜ For the Gentile nations of the world, who know little of Providence, or of a future state, seek after all these lower things with great solicitude; and they are more excusable in doing it: but you are directed to much nobler objects of pursuit, and furnished with a more substantial support against such anxieties, in that paternal relation which God avows to you; and as your heavenly Father well knows that you have need of these things, he will certainly provide them for you in a proper degree. Leave them therefore to his care; and, low as

ᶜ Nor be agitated with restless thoughts.] After all the various and perplexed things which critics have said on this word, ἀνεξέλεξι (of which a very large account may be seen in the learned Wolfius), the sense I have taken is the most simple, and, specially here, the most natural. The authorities produced by Elsner (Observ. Vol. I. 233, 234, and several of those

mentioned by Raphelius (Annot. ex Xen. p. 97, 98), seem to me to favour this sense, though some of them are produced to establish another. It appears from them, that any speculations and musings, in which the mind fluctuates, or is suspended in an uneasy hesitation, might well be expressed by such a word.

They should seek the kingdom of God, and treasure

our condition is, be not uneasy and disquieted about them ; but seek ye rather the kingdom of God, and labour to promote its interest among men ; and then you may depend upon it, not only that you shall obtain that most important prize, but likewise, that all these other necessary things shall be added to you, without your anxiety. (Compare Mat. vi. 31—33, Vol. I. p. 240.)

I repeat the encouraging thought ; Fear not, ye little flock, my dear property and charge, however feeble you may seem ; fear not, I say, that you shall be left destitute of these common blessings of Divine Providence ; for it is your heavenly Father’s gracious pleasure to give you what is infinitely more valuable, even the kingdom of eternal glory : and can you possibly imagine that, while he intends to bestow that upon you, and even takes pleasure in the thought of making you so great and happy there,ᵈ he will refuse you those earthly supplies which he liberally imparts even to strangers and enemies ?

Animated therefore by such a hope and confidence, instead of being solicitous to increase your possessions to the utmost, rather be prepared, when Providence shall call you to it, to sell what you already have, and distribute [it] in charity;ᵉ and so you may provide for yourselves purses which do not grow old and wear outᶠ even

ᵈ Takes pleasure in the thought of making you so great and happy there.] This is the beautiful and wonderful import of the word wɔkɔkɔsɔv in this connection ; which generally signifies a pleasurable acquiescence. And agreeably to this it is most edifying and delightful to observe how God is represented in scripture as enjoying his own prescience, as it were, with a peculiar relish, in the view of those glories which he has prepared for his people. Hence those emphatical phrases of wisdom rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth, or in the prospect and idea of them, before they were actually made (Prov. viii. 31) ; of God’s knowing the thoughts he thinks towards his people (Jer. xxix. 11) ; and of his rejoicing over them with joy, and silently resting in his love to them (Zeph. iii. 17). The tenderness and energy of innumerable scriptures depends on this remark ;

and many of those relating to election, predestination, &c. which have been as dry rods of controversy, when considered in this view, bud out into a thousand fair leaves and fragrant blossoms of hope and joy.

ᶠ Sell what you have and distribute it in charity.] These words were probably as a fruitful seed in the minds of some who heard them ; and the liberal sale of estates a few months after, by which so many poor Christians were subsisted, might be in a great measure the harvest which sprung up from it under the cultivation of the blessed Spirit. Nothing is more probable than that some of the many myriads now attending our Lord (ver. 1) might be in the number of the thousands the converted ; see Acts ii. 41—45.

ᶠ Purses which do not grow old, and wear out.] This may be fully taken as an

Reflections on the duty of casting all our care upon God.

the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

a never failing treasure in heaven, that region of security and immortality, where no thief approaches to plunder the riches of its inhabitants, nor doth the moth corrode and spoil the robes of glory in which they appear. And the more careful should you be about this heavenly treasure, because it is certain that where that which you account your chief treasure is laid up, there will your heart be also fixed, and the whole tenor of your thoughts and affections will naturally flow in that channel. (Compare Mat. vi. 20, 21, Vol. I. p. 236.)

IMPROVEMENT.

ARE we not all conscious to ourselves that on such topics as these we need line upon line, and precept upon precept, as being too deficient in our regard, though God speak once, yea twice? (Job xxxiii. 14.) We see our heavenly Father crowning the earth with his goodness: to this day does he clothe the grass and the flowers with the same profusion of ornament; to this day does he feed the young ravens when they cry (Psal. cxlvii. 9), nor is the meanest species of insects perished. Still does he know our necessities; and still he addresses us in the same gracious language, and avows the same endearing paternal relation. The experience of his power, goodness, and fidelity, is increasing with every succeeding generation, with every revolving day. The life that he has given is supported by his care; and the same hand that formed the body nourishes and clothes it. Let us then cast all our care on him, as being persuaded that he careth for us. (1 Pet. v. 7.) Feeble as his little flock is, it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom; and we are unworthy our share in so glorious a hope, if we cannot trust him for inferior blessings, and refer it to him to judge in what manner our present wants are to be supplied.

Let the heathens abandon themselves to these low anxieties; but as for us, let us thank God, and take courage, opening our hearts wide to every sentiment of faith in God, and charity to men; and while we have this inexhaustible bank to draw upon, let us be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, so laying up in store for ourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that we may lay hold on eternal life

allusion to the danger of losing money out of a hole worn in an old purse. Such is frequently the gain of this world, and so are its treasures hoarded up, and put into a bag

with holes. (Compare Hag. i. 6.) The rich men of Judea, so soon ravaged and destroyed by the Romans, particularly found it so.

Christ exhorts his disciples to watch lines,

SECT. (1 Tim. vi. 18, 19); the very hope and expectation of which CXVIII. if our heart be set upon it, will give us incomparably sweete crse delight than the securest possessions of this empty world, an 34 the most ample magazines of its richest stores.

Luke 12:35-48

Christ exhorts his disciples to watchfulness and fition of his coming, and of the final account to their advantages. Luke XII. 35—48.

LUKE XII. 35.

OUR Lord having thus exhorted his disciples to a due moderation as to their worldly possessions, proceeded to press upon them a serious preparation for their final remove from earth, and for the awful solemnities of death, judgment, and eternity.ᵃ He therefore went on to say, Consider yourselves always as servants, who have a Master in heaven; and, that you may approve your diligence and fidelity to him, let your loins be still girded up in a posture for active service, and your lamps be continually burning in a readiness to receive him:ᵇ And be you, on the whole, like men in a waiting posture, who, as good servants left with a proper charge, attending to the work appointed them, wait for their Lord’s return from a marriage feast,ᶜ or any other late entertainment; that when ever he comes and knocks at the door, they may immediately open it to him, and not be surprised in any disorder. Happy are those servants, whom, when [their] Lord

ᵃ A serious preparation for — death, gment, and eternity.] I shall give the reason for my interpreting this passage thus, a little below, in note ᶜ, though I am sensible the generality of readers would rather have expected an apology if I had gone about to interpret it otherwise.

ᵇ Let your loins be girded up, and your lamps burning.] As the Easterns wore long garments, it was necessary that when they had any thing to do which required them to exert their strength or agility, they should tuck them up and gird them close; a practice to which there are frequent references, both in the Old Testament and the New. (See 1 Kings xviii. 46; 2 Kin s

iv. 29; Job xxxviii. 3; Jer. i. 17; Eph. vi. 14; and 1 Pet. i. 13.) That the lamps should be found extinguished might be an inconvenient circumstance to the master, and would be a demonstration of the servant’s idleness. The expressions taken together may intimate the care we should take to inform ourselves in our duty, and the resolution with which we should apply to the performance of it.

ᶜ From a marriage feast.] There is no particular mystery in this circumstance. Our Lord might probably instance in this, because marriage feasts were generally the most splendid, and so prolonged to the latest hours.

be ready at whatever hour he sh come.

comes, he shall find thus watching for him: and happy also will you be, if this shall be your case: for verily, I say unto you, So condescending is your Lord and Master, that, if you answer this character, he will reward you as graciously as if some great man, absent on such an occasion as I have supposed, finding his servants diligently waiting for him at his return, should gather up his clothes and gird himself, and cause them to sit down to supper, and should come forth himself and wait upon them.ᵈ And, at whatever hour the time of his arrival be, whether he shall come early in the second watch, or come late in the third watch of the night,ᵉ and find [them] thus employed, blessed and happy are those faithful servants. But do not think it is enough, if you would then be happy, to make some sudden preparation upon notice of his coming; for the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night; and you know this, that there is none so negligent and stupid, where a house is plundered, but if the housekeeper, who is intrusted with the care of it, had been aware at what hour the thief would have come, he would undoubtedly have watched at that time, and would not have permitted his house to be broke open: he then that acts with prudence will be always on his watch, that, as he knows not when the thief will come, he may not find him unprepared. Be you therefore also ready; for at such a season as you think not of, and may least of all expect it, the Son of man cometh;ᶠ and as the day of final

ᵈ And should come forth himself, and wait upon them.] It is true (as Grotius and many others observe) that the Roman masters did sometimes, during the Saturnalia, practise some condescensions like these to their slaves: but that was, perhaps, chiefly for their own diversion; and it is difficult to judge how far Christ’s hearers might be acquainted with it; at least the words would be very intelligible without supposing any such reference. ᵉ In the second or third watch of the night.] This included all the time from nine in the evening to three in the morning; and was, as if he had said, whether he come early or late.

ᶠ At such a season as you think not, the Son of man cometh.] The coming of the Son man often signifies his providential interposition for the destruction of Jerusalem (See Mat. x. 23, note v, Vol. I. p. 415.) But here I think it cannot be taken in such a sense, because our Lord speaks of an immediate reward to be bestowed on all faithful servants, and an immediate punishment to be executed on all that were unfaithful; and expressly declares this to be a matter of universal concern: all which particulars have very little sense or propriety when applied to the destruction Jerusalem. It must therefore be understood of his coming to remove them from

The faithful servant shall be greatly rewarded.

judgment will be a surprise to the world in general, so the day when particular persons are called out of this life is often a sudden thing, and too frequently a fatal surprise to the persons most intimately concerned in it. (Compare Mat xxiv. 43, 44, sect. clxiii.)

Peter then said unto him, Lord, dost thou speak this awakening parables to us thine apostles in particular? or is it also unto all in general, that what thou hast been saying is directed?

And the Lord said in reply, Though none are entirely unconcerned, yet you my ministers are more peculiarly to apply it to yourselves, and to consider me as asking each of you, Who is that faithful and prudent steward, whom [his] Lord shall set over all the servants of his family, to deal out to each of his domestics the stated allowance of food in its proper season? As the guilt of such an officer will be greater than that of a common servant, if he prove negligent; so the reward of his fidelity will be proportionably great. Peculiarly happy is that servant in so eminent a station, whom his Lord at his arrival shall find thus employed in a faithful discharge of the trust committed to him. Truly I say to you, that he will prefer him to a much higher station of honour and importance; as if a person finding his domestic steward thus faithful, should upon that appoint him to take the care of all that he hath, abroad as well as at home. (Compare Gen. xxxix. 4, 5, 6.)

he capacities of service here, to give up their account. And if we suppose it to relate to death as well as judgment (which, by a consequence at least, it undoubtedly does), it strongly intimates his having such a dominion over the invisible world, that every soul removed into it might be said to be fetched away by him. Compare Rev. i. 18.

This awakening parable.] It may signify particularly the similitude of the Lord and his servants, or may extend to the whole of the discourse.

Who is that faithful and prudent steward?] This interrogation had a lively force to turn their thoughts inward, that each might ask himself, Whether he was he man? The Prussian version therefore (and that English one which follows it so

close) loses much of the spirit of the passage in rendering it, If there be any faithful steward, &c.

The servants of his family.] So I render Sigamus, which (as Elsner shews at large, Observ. Vol. I. p. 235) exactly answers to the Latin famulitium, all the servants of a family; for which we have no one English word, any more than for all religion, which strictly signifies a determinate measure of wheat, but here is put for all the daily food. (See Erasmus here.) By such a version the distinction between this and the 44th verse is set in a clearer light than critics have generally given it. To be raised from the care of giving out food to the servants, to have the charge of the whole estate, was a noble preferment.

n of man comes at an hour we think not of.

But, on the contrary, if that servant I spoke of before as set over the family,ᵏ should say in his heart, My Lord delays his coming, so that I have nothing to apprehend from it; and, on that foolish presumption, shall grow so insolent and wanton, as to begin to beat and abuse the men and maidservants, and to eat and drink in a riotous and extravagant manner, so as to debauch [himself] with it: I assure you, that the lord of that servant will come upon him in a day when he does not expect him, and in an hour which he is not aware of, and will scourge him with such severity, that he will even cut him asunder,ˡ and, notwithstanding the profession he has made, God will appoint him his portion with the infidels,ᵐ nay, in some respects, his case shall be worse than theirs, as his opportunities and engagements have been so much greater.

And that servant who, like him I have been speaking of, knew his Lord’s will by a particular declaration of it,ⁿ and, disregarding the

ᵏ If that servant I spoke of before, &c.] It is necessary thus to go back to verse 42 for the explication of this; for it is most evident, from the whole tenor of scripture, that the servant who at his Lord’s coming has passed his account in an honourable manner will never afterwards be in danger of incurring his displeasure.

ˡ Scourge him with such severity, that he will even cut him asunder.] Dr. Whitby has so clearly proved this to be the sense of ἀγώναση, that I am surprised that any should since have coldly rendered it, shall separate him from the rest. But this is one instance of many, in which the version of 1727 has followed the Prussian Testament in some of those parts of it which are the least judicious. I know not on what authority it has been asserted that the word may only signify confiscating his estate. Wherever it, or any of its derivatives, occur in the Septuagint, it has always the signification which is here given it by our version, and generally answers to the Hebrew nry. See Exod. xxix. 17; Lev. i. 8; Ezek. xxiv. 4, Septuag.

ᵐ And appoint him his portion with infidels.] It has been suggested to me by a person of great worth and eminence, that ἀπὶν signifies unfaithful; and that had infidelity, or the disbelief of the gospel, been referred to here, the word would have been

ἀπὶν But I must beg leave to observe, that ἀπὶν does in several places evidently signify unbelieving: compare John xx. 27; 1 Cor. vii. 12—15; x. 27; xiv. 22—24 (where there is an express opposition in ver 22 between ἀπὶν and πὶν); 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15; 1 Tim. v. 8. And I cannot but think that the spirit of this text is much better expressed by such a rendering; especially when the next verse is compared with it, which shews that, though this wicked servant shall have his portion and abode with such (who, by the way, had they not been unfaithful, would not have been unbelievers), yet his punishment shall be more grievous; as there may be a great difference in the condition of criminals confined in the same prison.

ⁿ Knew his Lord’s will by a particular declaration of it.] There is a force and propriety in these words beyond what is usually observed. A servant, without express instruction, might know, that to beat his fellowservants, and plunge himself into debauchery, would be offensive to his master; and he would therefore deserve some correction: but such a conduct in a servant, to whom his master had committed some particular charge, with suitable instructions for performing it, was most monstrous, and consequently deserved severer punishment.

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Where much is given, much will be republished.

instructions given him, did not keep himself ready, nor set himself to do according to his will, shall have the sorest punishment inflicted on him, and be beaten with many [stripes]. (Compare Deut. xxv. 2, 3.) But he who, like the heathen, did not know the particulars of his duty by a clear revelation, and yet, sinning against that degree of light he had, committed things which deserved stripes, shall be beaten indeed, but with fewer and lighter [strokes] than the other. For it is a received maxim among men, and God will make it the rule of his final judgment, that much improvement shall be required from every one to whom much is given; and where much is deposited, the more will be demanded in proportion to it. (Compare Numb. xv. 29, 30.)

IMPROVEMENT.

MAY our souls be awakened by these awful truths! and may 35, 36 we be engaged to gird up the loins of our mind, to be sober, and watch to the end! (1 Pet. i. 13.)

Great are our encouragements to diligence, on the one hand; and, on the other, dreadful will be the punishment of our neglect.

• Did not keep himself ready.] So Mons. L’Enfant renders the word ἄκμαρα, I suppose to distinguish it from the following clause; and I follow him, though not without some hesitation. Perhaps both may be joined thus, Did not prepare or set himself to do according to his will. But since I wrote this I perceive a great emphasis in these words, which I did not before observe. The sense rises on that of the foregoing verse; as if our Lord had said, “Think not that I merely intend to forbid such gross immoralities as drunkenness, riot, oppression, &c. but be assured, that sins of omission, where there have been fair opportunities of learning your duty, will expose you to the Divine correction.” The opposition here and in the next verse is between a servant who receives an express message from his master, which he contradicts; and another who, though he receive no such express message, yet falls into such instances of misbehaviour as he cannot but know to be inconsistent with his duty and office in general; by which he exposes himself justly to some punishment, though, other things being equal, he is less criminal than the former.

• Shall be beaten with many stripes.] Scourging was a usual punishment for negligent servants; but I cannot find that what is properly called giving the bastinado was in use among the Jews, though some suppose it to be referred to here. Brennius thinks that these words have a peculiar reference to the case of ministers, who have such singular advantages for knowing Christ’s will; so that they will certainly be in the number of the most happy or the most miserable of mankind. May they seriously consider it, and rejoice with trembling in those distinctions of their office which will draw after them such solemn and weighty consequences!

• Shall be beaten indeed, but with fewer strokes.] This strongly intimates that ignorance will not entirely excuse any who have neglected God’s service, since they might in general have known at least the main branches of their duty; as every servant may know in the main what kind of conduct his master will approve, though some may be much more fully instructed than others as to his particular pleasure.

Reflections on the faithful and unfaithful servant.

The time of our Lord’s appearance is uncertain; let us therefore always be ready; solicitous that when he comes he may find us so doing, as he has required; living not to ourselves, but to him, and employing ourselves about that particular thing, whatsoever it may be, which, all circumstances considered, we are verily persuaded may most promote the great ends of life, and the important purposes of his glory.

How glorious are the rewards promised to such! How justly may they awaken our emulation! He will prefer them to stations of more honourable and important service. He will set them down at his table, and minister (as it were) himself to their delight, bringing forth the choicest dainties of heaven, and spreading before them an eternal banquet. Lord, may we, through thy grace, be found worthy to taste of that supper! May the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne feed us, and guide us to fountains of living water! (Rev. vii. 17.)

On the other hand, let us seriously consider the punishments to be inflicted on the unfaithful servant. Let ministers, if such there are, who abandon themselves to a life of idleness and luxury; who stain their sacred character by intemperance; who proudly censure their brethren, and either call, or wish, for the secular arm to smite their fellowservants, perhaps more faithful than themselves; let such hear and tremble. Their Lord may come in a very unexpected hour; (as indeed, when do such expect him?) and what are the stripes they have given others, when compared with those which they shall themselves receive? stripes which shall cut them asunder, and pierce deep into their very souls! How much more tolerable will it be, even for the worst of Gentile sinners, than for such!

Let all who are in any measure distinguished by the gifts of the Divine bounty to them, or by their stations, whether in civil or sacred offices, attentively dwell on this great truth, so solemnly repeated again and again; let them consider it with a view to their own account: To whomsoever much is given, of him will much be required. May Divine Grace so impress it on their hearts, that they may be distinguished by present fidelity, and future rewards, in proportion to the difference which Providence has already made in their favour! And may they never have reason to reflect with confusion and anguish on what is now their honour and their joy!

The gospel would occasion violent content

Luke 12:49

Christ observes the evils which would be occasioned yet declares his desire to complete his work, and of the great danger of neglecting the short re time of trial. Luke XII. 49, to the end.

LUKE XII. 49.

OUR Lord farther added in his discourse to his disciples and the multitude: After all that I have said to promote humanity and charity, yet it will in fact appear that I am come to send fire on the earth; so opposite is my doctrine to the prejudices and the lusts of men, and such are the violent contentions that my gospel will occasion, through the wickedness of those among whom it is preached: and yet what do I wish? that the gospel might be suppressed? nay, but I rather say, Oh that this fire, fierce as it shall be, were already kindledᵃ by the universal propagation of a religion whose blessings so abundantly counterbalance all the accidental evils which can attend it? But I have indeed, in the mean time, a most dreadful baptism to be baptized with, and know that I shall shortly be bathed, as it were, in blood, and plunged in the most overwhelming distress: yet, far from drawing back on that account, how inexpressibly am I straitened and uneasy through the earnestness of my desire, till, terrible as it is, it be fully completed,ᵇ and the glorious birth produced, whatever agonies may lie in the way to it!

But these benefits are to be secured in a very different manner from what some of you, my disciples, imagine: for do you now suppose that

ᵃ And what do I wish? Oh that it were already kindled! I think Sir Norton Knatchbull has abundantly established this version. Dr. Whitby (who here, as in many other places, transcribes from Grotius) seems fully to have proved that sometimes has this force. Compare Luke xix. 42, and Numb. xxii. 29; Josh. vii. 7; Psal. lxxxi. 13, Septuag. (Perhaps we may add Luke xxii. 42.) See Grotius, in loc.

ᵇ How am I straitened and uneasy till it be completed! The word συνχομαι seems to import an ardour of mind, with which a person is so borne on towards the object of his affection and pursuit, that the necessary im ediments which lie in his way are

uneasy to him; compare 2 Cor. v. 14. Mr. Locke understands it of a kind of embarrassment which Christ was under to know how faithfully to fulfil his ministry without giving such umbrage to the Roman power as would have drawn persecution and death upon him before the appointed time (see Mr. Locke’s Reasonableness of Christianity, p. 134): but this seems to me a very foreign and unnatural sense. That which I take it in is also favoured by Luke xxii. 15, sect. 168: but if Grotius, whose sense I have hinted in the paraphrase, judge rightly of the particular force and beauty of the word συνχομαι, it may be illustrated by John xvi. 21, sect. clxxviii.

allowed, not with peace, but with division.

I am come to give peace on the earth, or immediately to establish that temporal tranquillity and prosperity which you expect should attend the Messiah’s kingdom ?c Nay, but, considering how my gospel, notwithstanding all its tendency to peace, will be opposed, and how it will be perverted, I may say to you, that I am rather come to occasion the most unnatural division. For such are the contentious heats and animosities that will attend the publication of the gospel, that, ere long, five in one family shall be so divided, that there shall be three against two on the one side, and two against three on the other : And this shall be the case when those families consist of persons in the nearest relations to each other : the father, for instance, shall differ with the son, and the son with the father ; the fondest mother with the daughter, and the daughter with the mother ; the mother in law with her son’s wife, and the daughter in law with her husband’s mother ;d and so inveterate shall be their hatred against all that embrace my gospel, that they shall break the bands of nature, as well as of friendship, to express it. (Compare Mat. x. 34, 35, Vol. I. p. 419.)

And he said also to the people, ‘This perverse-ness already shews itself in your overlookin so many proofs of the Messiah’s appearance among you, while you discover such a sagacity in your observations with respect to other

to establish that tem- xi. 15). See Dr. Leland’s Answ c. Moral Philosopher, p. 353-366.

c. ] There are so many useful state of the Mes- pare Psal. lxxii. 7 ; lxv. 25), that it is first could completely r of the Messiah if he ace on earth : but the in supposing he was mplish it ; whereas he New Testament, k of Revelation, shew, Old Testament most at this prosperous state not only to be preced- rings, but by a variety als, and sufferings, erent degrees attend e the kingdoms of the neral conversion, the , and of his Christ (Rev. x. 15). See Dr. Leland’s Answ c. Moral Philosopher, p. 353-366. d The mother in law with her son and the daughter in law with her h mother.] The original words, ἀπὸ νυμοι, are exactly expressed in thi lation. The English words mothe and daughter in law, are more ex and rather, though not necessarily, to think of [noverca, μαζευα,] a ste or father’s second wife, and her h daughter. Our Lord might men relation, because, in consequence obligation which the Jewish childr under to maintain their aged pa young man might, when he settle world, often take his mother, if a into his family, and her abode in i occasion less uneasiness than th mother in law in any other sense.

he Jews are inexcusable in not discerning him to things: for when you see a cloud arising out of the west, or coming from the Mediterranean sea, you presently say, A heavy shower is coming; and it is so. And when [you find] the south wind blowing from the desert of Arabia, and other hot climates, you say, There will be sultry heat; and so accordingly it comes to pass. Te hypocrites, that pretend to ask for farther signs, as if you were really desirous to know whether I be or be not a Divine Teacher; you know how by such remarks as these to distinguish the face of the earth, and of the heavens, so as to foretell the changes in the weather before they come; but how is it that you do not disce.n and judge of the much more evident signs of this time, which are attended with such manifest and unparalleled tokens of the Messiah’s coming? (Compare Mat. xvi. 2, 3, Vol. I. p. 478.) Yea, why is it you do not even of yourselves judge what is fit and right, and gather from such obvious premises, how you ought in reason and conscience to treat so extraordinary a Person as I appear to be from the whole series of my doctrine and conduct, instead of disregarding all the proofs that she me to be sent from God? This, however you may thoughtlessly neglect it, is a matter of the utmost importance: I must therefore enforce the exhortation I formerly gave you (Mat. v. 25, 26, Vol. I. p. 218), and press you to endeavour, with the greatest diligence, that the controversy may immediately be made up between God and your souls. For you count it a rule of human prudence, when you go to the magistrate with your adversary, who has a suit against you, to use your utmost endeavour to make up the affair with him while you are yet on the way; lest heavy shower is coming.] OμGρoc pro- consquence, yet, signifies a heavy shower; and ππνσων, doctrine and char- e next verse, sultry or scorching heat. my miracles, you- hy is it you do not even of yourselves, yourselves, that it- The phrase αφ’ ππνων does not seem and very dangerous to signify, “From the like principles slight me.” Castal- od sense which you use in common this verse with the- s, or in matters relating to your- without any reason- s;" but it seems an advance on that without any reason- ght, as if our Lord had said, “Even the affair with him- h I had not so expressly drawn the mates, and Salmasi

er of neg ecting to be reconciled with God.

force thee before the judge, and the judge, having found thee to be indeed accountable, deliver thee to the custody of the serjeant, and the serjeant throw thee into prison. It will not then be in thy power to compound the matter upon gentler terms, or to get free from thy confinement; but I tell thee that, when he has thee at such an advantage, thou shalt not be able to come out from thence till thou hast paid the very last mite of the debt thou owest. And thus if you are regardless of the proposals of God’s mercy while the day of life and grace is continued, nothing is to be expected from the tribunal of his justice, but a severe sentence, which will end in everlasting confinement and punishment.

IMPROVEMENT.

To what a lamentable degree is human nature corrupted, that ver.4 so noble a remedy as the gospel, so well adapted to the cure of a malevolent and contentious disposition, should in so many instances only irritate the disease! and that a scheme so full of love and goodness, and so well suited to promote peace and harmony in those who cordially embrace it, should be opposed with all the violence of persecution, and be the means of introducing strife and division!

How monstrous is it, that any should hate their neighbours, 51, 53 yea, and their nearest relatives, for that disinterested piety, and regard to conscience, which might recommend strangers to their esteem and affection! Yet let not those who meet with such injurious treatment be discouraged; knowing they have a Father and a Saviour in heaven, whose love is ten thousand times more than all: nor let others be offended, as if Christianity had been the occasion of more evil than good; for such is the nature of

Cene, largely insist upon it, that ὀσθέντιν signifies, “Pay the interest, as well as the principal of thy debt, in order to procure deliverance.” But Luke makes use of another word [τοκ] for usury (Luke xix. 23), which I think a considerable argument for the common rendering, which is also more extensive. Ἀππληκβας signifies, not merely any kind of deliverance, but such an agreement as secures the defendant from any farther danger of prosecution; as Elmer accurately shews, Observ. Vol. I. p. 237. It is well known that αἰδίαφ properly signifies a prosecutor, or one who has a suit at law against another, whether in a civil or criminal case. The very last mite of the debt thou owest.] The mite [λεπλον,] was the least valuable of their coins (see Mark xii. 42), containing no more than half of their least kind of farthing, or of their κοδρανθος, or quadrans; which was itself but the fourth part of the as, or αἰσπασσι, or of the larger farthing, mentioned Mat. x. 29, and Luke xii. 6; so that the mite was but little more than the third part of an English farthing, and a sparrow was reckoned worth four of them.

Reflections on the regard we should shew to the gospel.

eternity, that the salvation of one immortal soul will be more than an equivalent for the greatest and most lasting temporal evils which the greatest number of persons can suffer for conscience sake.

ver.50 Let this awaken our zeal to save souls, however great and terrible the sufferings are to which it may expose us, in proportion to the rage with which the enemy is endeavouring their destruction. May we be animated in it by the example of the blessed Jesus, who, with a view to this, even longed for those sufferings which innocent nature could not but regard as the object of strong aversion!

54, 56 May we at all times be so wise as to discern the evidences, and to comply with the purposes, of the gospel, else our knowledge in natural things, should it extend not only to the most common, but the most curious appearances on the face of the earth or the heavens, will turn to no other account but to shame and condemn us!

If we have any reason to fear that, through obstinate impenitence, the blessed God is still an adversary to us, let us make it our first and greatest care that, by an humble submission of soul to him in the methods of his gospel grace, that strict scrutiny of his justice may be prevented, and that sentence of his wrath averted, which would otherwise plunge us into endless ruin and misery; 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!