that many would seek in vain admission, and that they must (dywvige) make every effort, and force, as it were, a passage through the narrow gate. Thus we learn from the highest authority, what yet few seem disposed to attend to, that notwithstanding conviction, temporary earnestness, and partial reformation, many will at last come short of salvation. The causes of failure are as various as the temptations that beset us; but none but procrastination is fatal; for no one will be rejected that applies while opportunity is afforded; or (as it is figuratively expressed)" till the Master of the house hath arisen, and fastened the entrance." But as the hour of death is unknown to us, and ill adapted for the business of preparing for eternity, we should, instead of abusing mercy, and despising the "long-suffering of God, which leadeth us to repentance," act upon our Lord's advice in another place, "Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh." Our Lord here so expresses himself, as to teach that many Jews, who thought their admission into the kingdom of God certain, would be rejected, while Gentiles from every land should sit down with their father Abraham.

Jesus was still within Galilee, Herod's jurisdiction, and was warned by certain of the Pharisees to depart, because that prince was desirous of killing him. Their motive does not appear; but their advice was not followed. He told them to inform that prince, whose craft he designates by calling him a fox, and who perhaps only wished to frighten him to a distance, that he should proceed in his active course of beneficence for his appointed time; and that when that was finished, he should be put to death, not in his dominions, but in Jerusalem, which had shed the blood of the ancient prophets, and was thus "to fill up the measure of its iniquity." This recollection of his destined place of suffering, however, raised not his resentment but his pity; and he spoke of his willingness to shelter and protect her inhabitants with the affection of the maternal bird to her brood, not only now, but on former occasions; language inexplicable in the mouth of

a mere human teacher, but suitable to the God of Israel, who is compared by Moses to an eagle fluttering over her young, and whom the Psalmist entreats to hide him under the shelter of his wings. He had long besought them through his prophets, he now beseeches in person, and afterwards besought by his Apostles; but all laboured in vain; they would not, their ruin therefore was wholly from themselves. He then solemnly announced that the Psalmist's imprecation, "Let their habitation be desolate," was about to be verified in the fate of the nation; and drew their attention to the 118th Psalm, that memorable prophecy of his sufferings and triumph, by quoting from it the words, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord;" thereby declaring, that they should see him no more till they were willing to hail him as the Messiah.

89. Jesus dines with a Pharisee on the Sabbath, and relates the parable of a supper, which those who had been invited excused themselves from attending. Luke xiv.

THE Jewish Sabbath, not only as originally instituted, but even with all the additional regulations of the traditional law, was not so burthensome as many suppose. The nation scrupulously abstained from whatever the most rigid interpreter could show to be a manual work; and the kindling of a fire, and the dressing of victuals on it, are expressly forbidden by Moses; yet still it was not a fast, but a feast. A chief Pharisee, who is called a ruler, a member therefore of the Sanhedrin, invited our Lord to dine with him on that day, and he did not scruple to attend. It appears to have been a grand entertainment, and that many had been previously invited; and Michaelis conjectures, that it was a feast of tenths and firstlings, which will throw light upon some of the conversation. According to the Mosaic law, beside the tenth assigned to the Levites, a second tithe was presented as a thankoffering at the great festivals; and after deducting the parts consumed, and those destined to the priests, the remainder

was appropriated to entertainments, to which they were bound to invite the stranger, the widow, and the orphan. The day was not divided by the Jews as it is by us, but commenced with sunset; and began with the principal meal, which might be plentiful, without in any degree interfering with the rest required, as the dressing of it would be on the preceding day. There was a man present who had the dropsy, and our Saviour first asked them, if it were lawful to heal on the sabbath. They were silent, and he, laying his hand on him, healed him, and sent him away. He might, as in many other instances, have effected the cure by a word, but he preferred an action, though as little laborious as possible, that he might reprove their superstition and malignity, which he did by the same comparison which he had lately used in the synagogue.

Observing the Scribes and Pharisees openly contending for precedence, he reproved their desire of distinction, and pointed out the impolicy of their conduct in terms similar to those used in the Proverbs, xxv. 6, 7. "Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men; for better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither, than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen." He then, turning to his host, recommended him when he made an entertainment not to invite his rich relations and neighbours, who would ask him in return, but those to whom it would be an act of charity; but we are not to take the advice so literally as to abjure all exercise of hospitality, which would be in opposition to our social feelings, and was sanctioned on other occasions by our Lord; but it teaches us, that we cannot innocently expend so much in entertainments to our acquaintance, as to deprive us of the power of making due provision for the wants of the distressed; and that we confidently affirm is not due provision, which does not require some self-denial. Neither is it required that, in the present state of society, the poor, the lame, and the blind, should be guests at our table. The spirit of the precept seems to be preserved, if we provide them with dinners at their homes, and the command, like

those of requiring mercy and not sacrifice, and of hating father and mother, may be considered according to the wellknown Hebrew idiom, merely as representing that the relieving the distressed, and love, ought to take precedence of social entertainments. His declaration that such should be blessed at the resurrection of the just, lead one of the guests to exclaim, how blessed it would be to feast in the kingdom of heaven; when our Saviour, to show how little this blessing was really coveted, though men might fancy they wished it, related a parable, in which the rejection of the Gospel by different characters is exhibited under the figure of a marriage feast, which the guests, who had been invited, on various reasons declined to attend. To understand the force of the parable, we must recollect that the invitation did not find them engaged, but had been previously accepted. It is material also to observe, that the guests did not plead amusement, but business. Their occupations were lawful in themselves; but their perverseness appeared by their pursuing them at an improper season; and probably an undue attachment to things in themselves innocent, and even requiring our attention, will be found at last, more than positive sin, to have been the ruin of the great majority of mankind. The invited having excused themselves, the poor, and blind, the maimed, the halt, were brought in from the streets; but still there was room, so that the Master of the feast ordered his servants to go into the roads and fields, that his house might be filled. Those who despised the feast were the leading characters of the Jewish nation; the blind and lame are the minority that welcomed the despised Messiah; the third class, the Gentiles; but in every age it will be found to apply with no less propriety to individuals than to classes of society. Some commentators, who know not what spirit they are of, have caught at the expression, "compel them to come in," in support of the anti-christian doctrine of persecution; but the fair inference from their strained interpretation of a single word in a parable, is the weakness of their cause, and the want of scrip

tural authority; and it is evident, from the use of the original term ȧváyxalov1 on other occasions, that no other compulsion was designed than earnest entreaty, which indeed was all that one servant could use towards a multitude of beggars. Such would be slow to believe that the invitation could be serious, and would therefore require to be repeatedly pressed.

90. Jesus requires his disciples to love him more than their nearest relatives, and to be ready to forsake all that they have for his sake. Luke xiv.

JESUS then declared to the multitude that drew near to him, that no man was able to be his disciple who suffered attachment to his relatives or to himself to interfere with his superior claims upon his love: and that, as his disciple must take up his cross, and be ready at his call to leave his family, his possessions, and occupations, a prudent man, before he engaged in his service, would count the costs, and not expose himself to ridicule like the thoughtless builder, that begins a tower without calculating if he have the means of finishing it; or the improvident sovereign, who rushes upon war with one who is manifestly more powerful. Salt is good, but if it lose its saltness, it is worthless, and consequently thrown away; so the professing Christian, who has the form without the substance of religion, is rejected as perfectly useless.

91. The parables of the lost sheep, of the lost drachma, and of the prodigal son. Luke xv.

BEING reproached by the Scribes and Pharisees for associating with persons of bad character, he shows that his motive was not his own gratification, but their reformation; and illustrates his conduct from that of others in the ordinary

1 He constrained (άvayxáči) his disciples to go out into a ship," Matt. xiv. 22. "Why compellest thou (áváyzagus) the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" Gal. ii. 14. "With her much fair speech she compelled him, ἀναγκάζε” Prov. vii. 21.