1

word spoken in due season, how good is it!" St. Paul we find feeding with milk those who were not as yet able to bear meat. The Lord describes the blessedness of such a servant, of one who labours in his vocation and perseveres. He has been faithful in a few things; the Lord will make him ruler over many things. Here is his promotion; from labour to rest, from serving to ruling. But the Lord describes also the doom of the indolent and oppressive, of the servant who acts as if the charge were given him only for his own advantage; 3 who beginning by self-indulgence, ends in excess. Awful is the description of the surprise that awaits him. Not a day's, not an hour's notice even. He who neglected to give the proper and seasonable portion appointed for the household, shall find his own portion appointed with the unbelievers.5

CCIII.

RESPONSIBILITY.

St. Luke xii. 47, 48.

And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required : and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

"Here seems to be an allusion to the Law, which made a distinction between sins committed through ignorance, and presumptuous sins;" as also to another enactment of the Law, as to the number of stripes to be given to an evil-doer.

11 Cor. iii. 2; Heb. v. 12-14.

2 Rev. iii. 21; Gen. xli. 39-44. 3 Ezek. xxxiv. 2-4, 8, 10. Deut. xxix. 19, 20.

5 St. Matt. xxiv. 51; Heb. iv. 11, 12; Rev. xxi. 8.

Henry. Lev. v. 15-19; Num. xv.

29, 30.

These were to be "according to his fault."1 "Ignorance of duty is an extenuation of sin.” 2 But this plea will hardly avail those who might have known. "It is in vain for the sinner to encourage himself in sin from such a declaration as this; for the very knowledge of the declaration excludes him from the exemption."3 Ignorance may excuse in part, but not altogether. St. Peter says to the Jews concerning their crime in crucifying the Lord of Glory, "I wot that through ignorance ye did it ;" and yet he adds, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out."4 Our Lord Himself prayed from His Cross, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." And St. Paul says of himself "who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." But if allowance may be made for ignorance, none can be made for carelessness and contempt. The Lord is a God of equity, and will judge men according to their opportunities.

CCIV.

PERSECUTION.

St. Luke xii. 49-53.

I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: for from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her

Deut. xxv. 2.

2 Henry.

Alford, who refers here to The Christian Year for the Eighteenth

Sunday after Trinity, "Fain would our lawless hearts escape, &c." Ezek. xx. 32.

Acts iii. 17, 19; 1 Cor. ii. 8.

daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

2

It is not so much of the purpose as of the effect of His coming that the Lord here speaks. His purpose, as proclaimed by the Angels that first Christmas-day, was "peace on earth," and "good will towards men;" but such is the corruption of our nature, that one result was as if one had kindled a fire. And Christ Himself was the first to feel its flame. But as But as "everyone shall be salted with fire," as "the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is,"1 the Lord had for Himself no will to put it off. He was ready to be offered. It must come; and so the sooner it comes the better. It is like His saying afterwards to the traitor Judas, "That which thou doest, do quickly." He does but hasten the executioner. And as He had employed this figure of fire, He now changes the figure, and speaks of, as it were, a deluge or flood of water. He went, as all His must follow after Him, "through fire and water." 3 Or rather, this baptism is a baptism of blood. To this He alludes again when addressing the sons of Zebedee, who had looked for the crown without the cross. Instead of being pained by the prospect, the Lord rather pants for its arrival. And He returns to those "unhappy divisions "5 which should result from the self-will of man, rebelling against that unity in religion which is according to the will of God. The Lord shows, in the very language of the ancient prophet,' the results of this spirit of self-will even in families, which is seen on a still sadder and more extended scale in the Church. "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to

4

3 Ps. lxvi. 11.

4 St. Mark x. 38.

5 A Prayer for Unity in a Form of Prayer for the Twentieth of June. 6 St. John xvii. 20, 21.

7 Micah vii. 6.

8"It has been ingeniously pointed out that only five persons are mentioned in verse 53, since the 'mother' and the 'mother-in-law' are one and the same person."-A Plain Commentury.

dwell together in unity!" But the breach of it must be laid to the charge, not of Christ's religion, but of those who resist it.

CCV.

THE DAY OF GRACE.

St. Luke xii. 54-59.

And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.

Our Lord now turns His discourse to the people. They pretended that they could not recognise the signs, the time, of the Messiah in Him. These He tells them are as plain as those signs of the weather which they all understood. If they failed to perceive these, it could only be because they shut their eyes. They professed to be on the look out for the Messiah, and yet refused to recognise Him when He came. They seemed eaten up with hypocrisy. It seemed to have eaten all honesty out of them. So he upbraided also their leaders,' whom the people were content to follow. And here He asks them why they will not form an independent and honest judgment in so plain a matter, and decide for themselves what it is right to do in this matter of accepting or of rejecting His claim; plain as the earth and sky, about which they would not be misled. He concludes by repeating

1 St. Matt. xvi. 1-3.

that brief parable which He had already given them in His Sermon on the Mount, as to the wisdom of making the most of their day of grace; this interval, as it were, between summons and judgment. In temporal matters they were often prudent enough in such interval to settle the case on the most favourable terms, and so escaped being dragged1 before the Judge, and cast into that prison where the very last mite would be exacted of them. Let them be as wise in the matter of the soul. "It is a fearful thing to die without reconciliation." 2

CCVI.

RASH JUDGMENT.

St. Luke xiii. 1-5.

There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilæans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilæans were sinners above all the Galilæans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Our Lord had been speaking of a time of judgment. Some of the by-standers proceed to tell Him, as they suppose opportunely, of what they evidently considered a judgment on some men of Galilee, who while offering sacrifice in the Temple had been slain by order of Pilate. Their contempt of Galilee seems to have prevailed even over their dislike of Pilate. Our Lord, here as elsewhere, answers the unuttered thought of their heart. "They had put their own intepreta

3

1 Hale = haul, French haler. Compare Acts viii. 3.

70.

2 See the heading of the chapter. St. John vii. 52; St. Mark xiv. The event in question might

have led to the enmity between Pilate, Roman Governor of Judæa, and Herod the Tetrarch of Galilee, of which we read in this Evangelist, cb. xxiii. 6,7

12.