text here, as in some other instances, (see Luke vi. 32. § 38. Mat.. zii. 37. § 48. John v. 31, 34, 45. § 45. vi. 27. § 62. vii. 22. § 76.) requires the addition of the particle only to limit it, appears from this, that our Lord cannot be supposed to exclude from the entertainments of the rich all who are not objects of charity, or to forbid every sort of expence which hath not the poor for its im mediate object. His going to entertainments frequently, as well as his suffering himself to be thrice anointed with precious ointment, shew plainly that the obligations we are under of being charitable to the poor, does not hinder us from doing honour to those we esteem, though it should be attended with considerable expence. From this example, therefore, as well as from many others which might be mentioned, it appears that in the reve lation which God has made of his will to men, he considers them as national creatures, having left them, in the explication and application of his laws, to use the faculties of reason and understanding which he has bestowed on them. 13. But when thou makest a feast, call also the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: Have tables also for the poor, that they may partake of thy entertainments; or rather call them to attend at thy gate, and receive a portion; for he does not mean that they are to be set down at the principal table, but that they are to be desired to come and receive the offals. Now, as in all our Lord's precepts, there is the highest wisdom, so in this. He designed that objects of distress should appear before the rich, even during their greatest mirth and jolity, in order that at such seasons they might be sensible of the exceeding instability of human affairs; a sentiment which can scarce fail to restrain them within due bounds. least it will soften their hearts with pity, and fill them with gratitude to the bountiful Giver of all good, who has graciously been pleased to render their condition thus happy. These however were not the topics whereby Jesus enforced his advice to the Pharisee, they were drawn from the consideration of the more immediate effects of the charity. Persons of this sort, said he, being fed from thy table thou shalt be blessed; because, though they cannot make thee any recompence, thou shalt have dant reward at the resurrection of the just. Luke xiv. 14. And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannet recompence thee, for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. 15. And when one of them that set at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. The Jews were accustomed to think of the felicity of good men in the life to come, under the notion of a sumptuous entertainment; see on Matt. viii. 11. § 28. - Wherefore, when Jesus mentioned the resurrection of the just, one of the guests, ravished with the delightful prospect, cried out, Blessed is he, who being admitted into heaven, shall enjoy the conversation

At

an abun

of

of the inhabitants of that glorious place; for these spiritual repasts must regale and invigorate his mind beyond expression. Perhaps in this exclamation the Pharisee meant both to congratulate the felicity of his countrymen, who looked upon themselves as the children of the kingdom, and to condole the lot of the heathens, who, as he imagined, were all to be excluded from heaven. Therefore, to shew him his error, our Lord delivered the parable of the marriage-feast, in which, by the invitations of the guests, and the success of these invitations, he described the success which the gospel, the invitation to the great feast of heaven, should meet with among the Jews; and foretold, that though it was to be offered to them with every circumstance that could recommend it, they would reject it with disdain, preferring the present life to that which is to come; while the Gentiles would embrace the gospel with cheerfulness, and thereby be prepared to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the abodes of the blessed. 16. Then said he unto him, A certain man, possessed of an opulent fortune, and endued with generous dispositions, made a great supper, at which he designed his friends and acquaintance should be happy for an evening, both in the elegance of the entertainment and in one another's conversation, and bade, many. The number of guests he proposed to entertain was suitable to the generosity of his disposition, the opulence of his fortune, and the greatness of this particular feast. Withal, that they might have time to disengage themselves from business, and to dress themselves suitably to the occasion, an invitation was sent them on the day preceding the feast. Supper then being prepared, and the appointed hour being come, a servant was sent to the guests to give them notice that every thing was ready, and that their presence was wanted. 17. And sent his servant at supper-time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. But those men, who when they were invited did not any of them refuse to come, were so ill-mannered and so ungrateful, that at the very time when supper was going to be served up, they all with one consent began to tell the messenger they would not come, and excused themselves on the most frivolous pretences imaginable. 18. And they all with one consent, i. e. as if they had before-hand agreed among themselves to put this affront upon their friend, began to make excuse: the first the servant spoke to id, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it; I pray thee have me excused. 19. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused. 20. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. If the first had had so impor tint an affair to transact as the purchasing of a farm, or the second the buying of five yoke of oxen, or the third the marrying of wife, and if these affairs had come upon them unexpectedly, the VOL. II.

M m

very

very evening they had promised to spend at their rich neighbour's house, but especially if these affairs could not have been delayed without missing the opportunity of doing them, their excuses would have been reasonable. But none of all these was the case. The farm and the oxen were already purchased, and the wife was married; so that the seeing of the farm and the proving of the oxen were pieces of unseasonable curiosity, which might easily have been referred till next morning. And with respect to the new married man's pretending that he could not leave his wife for a few hours, it was such an excess of fondness as was perfectly ridiculous; not to mention that he ought to have thought of this when the invitation was sent him the preceding day. Wherefore, their refusing so late to come to their rich friend's supper on such trifling pretences, was the height of rudeness, in as much as it implied the greatest disrespect to their friend, and contempt of his entertainment. No wonder therefore that he was very angry when his servant returned and brought him their answer. 21. So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. The rich lord who made this feast, being of a generous disposition, determined that preparations so great should not be made in vain; and seeing those for whom they were first intended slighted the favour, he resolved that a great number still should be made happy with his supper, though they were of the poorer sort, nay, and diseased too; and the rather, that the persons of this class, upon whom he proposed to bestow his supper, had never partaken of such a meal before. He therefore ordered his servant to go as fast as he could into the streets and lanes of the city, where the poor used to be, and to bring them all in, however maimed, or halt, or blind they might be. 22. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. The supper being great, and the hall of entertainment spacious, all those whom the servant happened to find in the streets and lanes of the city, did not fill the tables, Wherefore, knowing that his lord's intention was to make as many happy with this feast as possible, he came and told him, there was still room. 23. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and * compel them to come in,

that

Ver. 23. Compel them to come in ] Avayxutov eireλdev does not necessa rily imply that any external violence was to be used with the beggars in the highways and hedges. A single servant only was sent out to them, who surely was not capable of forcing so great a multitude of beggars to come in, as was necessary to fill his lord's house. The proper meaning of the expression is, use the most powerful persuasion with them; and so it fitly denotes the great efficacy of the apostles preaching to the idolatrous Gen

*

that my house may be filled. The generosity of this great lord was such, that he could not be easy till as many people were brought in to eat his supper as his house would hold; that is, not the hall only, but all the apartments where tables could be. placed. Wherefore, he ordered his servant to go even out of the city, to the highways and hedges leading into it, where beggars usually have their stations, and to use the most earnest intreaties with those who shewed any unwillingness, in order that his house. might be filled with guests. He wanted his house so full, that if any of those who were first bidden should alter their mind and come, there might be no room to admit them; for, to shew his displeasure with them, on account of the high affront which they had put upon him, he declared in the hearing of all his servants that not one of them should taste of his supper, though they came and desired it. 24. For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden, shall taste of my supper. The servant doing as he was ordered, brought the beggars in from the highways; so there was a much more numerous company gathered than was at the first intended, and a great deal of joy occasioned. See the moral interpretation of this parable, as it was delivered a second time in the temple, Matt. xxii. § 116. To that interpretation nothing needs be added, except the explication of a circumstance mentioned here, which is not in the parable as it was then delivered, namely, the two distinct calls to the beggars, first to those in the streets and lanes of the city, and then to those in the highways and under the hedges leading into it. The former are supposed to be the Gentile proselytes, to whom the gospel was preached after it was rejected by the Jews. The latter are the idolatrous Gentiles, who had the gospel offered to

them

tiles, whereby vast numbers of them were prevailed with to embrace the gospel. We have an undoubted instance of this use of the word avaynacoy, LXX. Prov. vii. 21. With her much fair speech, nvaynate, she compelled him. Nay, Tagabiagopal, which is a stronger word still than avayxaga, is used to denote powerful persuasion. For example, Luke xxiv. 29. mugiCiætarto autor Ásyortes, μevor, &c. See also LXX. Gen. xix. 3. Acts xvi. 15. To conclude, force has no manner of influence to enlighten mens consciences; so that though one should pretend to believe, and should ac tually practise a worship contrary to his opinion, it can never please God, being mere hypocrisy. Wherefore Augustin and others, who suppose that this passage of the parable justifies the use of external violence in matters of religion, are grossly mistaken.

Ver. 24. None of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper ] In the repetition of the parable, Matt. xxii. this circumstance is wanting. The thing signified by it is, that because the Jews rejected Jesus and his apostles, they were given over by God to a hardened and reprobate mind; only the reader must remember, that not the condition of individuals, but the general state of the nation is here described; in which view, the parabolical representation is perfectly just, notwithstanding many individual Jews believed on Jesus, and obtained eternal life.

them last of all, the proselytes not being in number sufficient to compose the church of God.

XCIII. Self-denial is again inculcated; see § 71.

The para

ble of the rash builder and warrior, and of salt that hath lost his savour. See § 26. Luke xiv. 25,-35.

THE multitude now accompanied Jesus from place to place, with eager desire to have the Messiah's kingdom erected, proposing to find therein all manner of sensual pleasures. One day, therefore, as they were on the road with him, he thought fit to shew them their mistake plainly. Luke xiv. 25. And there went great multitudes with him; and he turned and said unto them, 26. If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. As all the hopes of temporal felicity under his reign, which his disciples entertained, were to be blasted, as he himself was to suffer a public ignominious death, and as they were to be exposed unto all manner of persecutions, he declared publicly to the multitude, that if they proposed to be his disciples, it was absolutely necessary that they should prefer his service to every thing in the world, and by their conduct shew that they hated father and mother, and wife, and children, that is to say, loved the dearest objects of their affections less than him. Luke xiv. 27. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. See on Matth. x. 38. $40. To illustrate the necessity of their weighing deliberately, whether they were able and prepared to bear all the losses and persecutions which the profession of the gospel would expose them to, which indeed was the only term on which they could be his disciples, he desired them to consider how prudence would direct them to act in other cases of importance. 28. For which of you intending to build a tower (Le Clerc contends that the Greek word rugs here as the signification of the Hebrew migdol, which denotes any great building whatever) sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? 29. Lest haply after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, 30. Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish: The most thoughtless person among you will not resolve on a matter of such impor

tance

* Ver. 26. And hate not his father, &c.] As in this, so in several other passages, the word hatred significs only an inferior degree of love. For example, Gen. xxix. 31. When God saw that Leah avas hated, i, e. less beloved, as appears from the context, Deut. xxi. 15. If a man-have two cives, the one beloved, the other batea, i. e. kss beloved Rom. ix. 13. Jacob bave ! loved, but Esau bare I hated, i. e. loved him less than Jacob. Father, and mother, and other relations, were particularly mentioned by our Lord, be cause, as matters then stood, the profession of the gospel was apt to set a man at variance with his nearest relations.