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 Redeemer; 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 scriptural authority. The "compelle" of the Vulgate, from which our "compel them" is borrowed, is still less favourable to their view; and it is evident from the use of the original term avaynalov,* that no other compulsion was designed than earnest entreaty. 91. 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 himself, to interfere with his superior claims upon his love : and that, as his dis ciple must take up his cross and imitate him, 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. 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 perfectly useless. 92. Being reproached by the Scribes and Pharisees for associating with persons of bad character, he illustrates his anxiety to bring back sinners from the error of their way, by their own similar conduct in the ordinary transactions. of life; for the shepherd of a hundred sheep took more pains in recovering one sheep that had wandered from the fold, than in watching the remainder in their pasture ; and a woman who owned ten drachma would spare no pains, if she should lose, one, till she had recovered it. He proceeded to shew the nature of genuine repentance, and the gracious reception which it would find from God's mercy, however vile the former conduct of the penitent had been, by the parable of the prodigal son. His amendment is strikingly expressed by the term of coming to himself, which shews .. * "He constrained (avayxat) his disciples to go out into a ship," Matt. xiv. 22. "Why compellest thou (avayxas) the Gentiles to live as the Jews?" Gal. xi. 14. the absurdity and madness of the excess of riot to which he had run ;" and the riches of God's pitying love, which is more ready to grant than we to ask, is represented by the affecting circumstance that his father does not wait for his return, nor merely forgive him, but as soon as ever he sets out, runs to meet him, embraces and kisses him. His return is the signal for rejoicing; thus 'the sins of the penitent will be as it 66 were, cast into the depths of the sea," never to be mentioned any more, (Micah vii. 19. Ezek. xxxiii. 16.) and his reformation will even add to the happiness of heaven. In the primary application of the parable, the prodigal stands for the penitent sinner, such as frequently came to the Saviour while on earth; the elder brother for the hypocritical and supercilious pharisee. But it has lost none of its force among the changes that more than eighteen centuries have produced; for under every modification of society we shall find the two characters here delineated, the returning prodigal and the self-righteous formalist, who repines at the forgiveness of the former. 93. It is the observation of an ancient rhetorician, that "in comparisons it is not necessary that there should be a perfect resemblance in the objects, but only in the qualities for the sake of which they are compared. And this is exemplified in similies; for the poet, when he likens, for instance, his hero to a lion, does it merely that he may bring to our mind the idea of courage common to both." Thus our Saviour is compared to a thief, certainly not from any resemblance in character, but from the unexpectedness of his coming; and the parable of the unjust steward is designed to teach us prudence, not to recommend dishonesty. We must also remember that circumstances merely ornamental are introduced into parables, lest, like some mystical writers, we should expose the word of God to the ridicule of the scoffer, by giving a spiritual interpretation to every minute particular. The object the steward had in view was his maintenance; the means he employed were iniquitous; but they answered his purpose, and he is brought forward to shew the greater sagacity and perseverance of the children of this world than of the children of light; and to shame the latter for not pursuing with equal consistency their good aim,-the securing a happy eternity. As he by fraudulent dealings with his master's tenants, suggesting to them alterations of his leases, secured to himself a home, we are invited so to make use of the perishable goods of this life, that when our stewardship is terminated by death, we may be admitted * Ad. Heirenium, iv. into everlasting habitations. As the disciples were poor, they might think themselves unconcerned in the parable, Jesus therefore assured them, that he who is faithful in the management of a little, will be faithful if entrusted with much; and adds, that "if they were not faithful in the unrighteous mammon,"* (i. e. in the perishable riches of this world,) how could they expect to be entrusted with the true riches which might be called their own, because they would be held by an unalienable tenure. The following parable illustrates an awful truth, on which so many professing Christians wilfully shut their eyes ;-the guilt of selfishness: for the wealth of the rich man, does not appear to have been acquired unjustly, nor to have been spent profligately; it is merely stated, that he lived splendidly and enjoyed himself; and Abraham does not accuse him of any wicked abuse of riches; he merely tells him that he had had his reward; "Son, thou hast received thy good things." We must also suppose, that Lazarus had lived a life of faith and resignation; for simple poverty and misery would never have procured his admission into Abraham's bosom, that is, into a place of the highest distinction; for the metaphor is taken from a feast, where the person most honoured reclined nearest to, and, as it were, in the bosom of the master he who not only sits down with the father of the faithful, but is placed next to him, must partake largely of his faith. This parable overturns the notion of the sleep of the soul from death till the day of judgment, entertained by some divines. But if it should be objected that a dogma requires stronger support than a parable, we reply, that the intermediate state of the departed spirits of the faithful, has been generally believed by the church, and appears to be acknowledged in the New Testament under the name of Paradise, by St. Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 4; and by our Lord, Luke xxiii. 43. The rich man's request is natural, and we feel inclined to think with him; but we are assured by him who knew what was in man, that they who are unconvinced by the Scriptures would not be persuaded even by an apparition from the dead. This very proof was indeed not long afterwards afforded to many by the resurrection of another Lazarus, and its inefficacy confirms the remark. Such evidence, supposing it not to be rejected as an imposition, might alarm, but it would not change the heart; it would not therefore effect any real reformation. "Hence perhaps we may learn the reason why this sort of intercourse * Called unrighteous, because deceiving the expectation of its owners, both in the enjoyments it promises, and its fleeting and transitory nature. between the other world and ours is so rare, because it could serve no good end; for God having already given sufficient evidence of all things we are concerned to know, there is no room to expect or hope for such admonitions."* The parable also teaches, that man's condition is unalterably fixed at death, and consequently that purgatory is "a fond thing vainly invented," and that the punishment of sin in a future state has no purifying quality. 94. Jesus then tells them, that believers will meet with stumbling blocks; and declares the awful guilt of those who occasion them. He next commands forgiveness to a repenting brother, however often he may have injured us. And to check the self-righteous feelings that might be springing up in their hearts, he shews them by a simile, that they must obey not some, but all his commands. The servant who ploughed, or tended sheep, when he came in was expected to wait at table, nor was he thanked for his compliance; so when they had done all that they were ordered could claim no merit, they were still but unprofitable (xg) servants; that is, they had rendered to him nothing above their stipulated service. Of his own only had they given him. t 95. The sectarian bigotry of some of the Samaritans appeared from their refusing to receive Jesus and his disciples, because he was travelling to Jerusalem. His rebuke of the fiery zeal of the sons of Zebedee, and his leading forward his disciples to another village even without a remonstrance, is a decisive protest against the propagating of the truth by force, and suppressing heresy by the secular power. James and John would have had fire descend from heaven to consume these Samaritans, as it had at the supplication of Elijah, (2 Kings i.) to destroy the soldiers sent to apprehend him, probably near the same spot. But the disciples in their resent ment overlooked the difference of the cases. The Samaritans were highly blameable, but their inhospitality arose from national bigotry, not from personal enmity to Jesus; nor did they persecute or ill treat, though they refused to receive him. Above all, the disciples were unconscious that they were influenced more by resentment than zeal for their Master; nor was their indignation probably quite free from bigotry, though that vice disgusted them in those on the opposite side. He therefore assured them that they knew not what spirit they were of, for he was come to pro Sherlock's Discourses. xxxiv. p. 144. The same word in the parable of talents evidently has a worse meaning; here it describes one who has only done his duty, there one who had neglected it, and justifies his omission. mote the temporal as well as the eternal happiness of mankind; to save and preserve the (taxas) bodies as well as the souls of men. Unhappily this warning prophetic voice has been little heeded amid the turbulence of passion. Men, professing to be the followers of Jesus, have kindled fires to burn not only idolaters and infidels, but even those who worshipped the same Saviour; and have designated the cruel gratification of their religious fury "Acts of Faith." Papal no less than imperial Rome has been often "drunk with the blood of saints and martyrs ;" Rev. xvii. 6. and alas, there are few churches that have had the power, that can plead not guilty to the charge of persecution. Our own is not free from the stain, for not a single reign can be named from the Reformation till that of James the First inclusive, in which persons were not burnt for their religion. 96. As if it were to shew that this bigotry was not universal, the behaviour of these Samaritans is contrasted with that of another of the nation, who was one of ten lepers that besought his mercy, but the only one that when cured, gave glory to God. He threw himself at the feet of Jesus, and thanked him, when he assured him that his faith had saved him. All had been cleansed, all then must have had faith in his miraculous power; but he alone believed in him as a Saviour, and alone received the spiritual blessing-deliverance from the dominion of sin, the leprosy which defiles and corrupts the soul. 97. Being asked by the Pharisees when this reign of heaven, which he had so often announced, should begin, he answered that it would not be ushered in as they conceived, with any outward display, but that it was in fact already arrived. He intimated that they would hereafter wish in vain for the opportunities which they had neglected; they would desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man. He then warned his disciples not to be deluded as the nation would be, by false Messiahs, for he would come again after his sufferings and rejection, with the rapidity of lightning, and with the unexpectedness of the flood, and of the overthrow of Sodom. He would come to execute vengeance, but he informed them that Providence would interpose to preserve his faithful followers, and to separate them from their companions. When asked the precise time of this visitation, he intimates by a proverb, that like causes will always produce like effects-wherever a dead carcase lies, birds of prey will assemble to devour it; so when the measure of a nation's iniquity is full, divine vengeance will reach it. 98. Strong encouragement to frequent earnest prayer is Y |