Observe the watchful care which the blessed" Keeper of Israel" hath over His own; before the evil seed of this proud thought can strike root downward or bear fruit upward, He proceeds to eradicate it.

took a child and set him by Him.

48 And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in My Name receiveth Me; and whosoever shall receive Me receiveth Him that sent Me:

And, as it surely follows, he who has GOD, he truly is great, he only is great.

for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.

Our LORD seems to mean, Do not raise a question of comparative greatness, leave that to the righteous Judge, "Who shall render to every man according to his deeds;" let it suffice for you to know that the very lowest of you shall by abiding in Me be great with God's greatness. Or His meaning may be, He who makes himself little in comparison with others, he shall be great: he who does so the most, shall be greatest, for that lowliness shall win for him the perfect indwelling of the Holy God, Father, SON, and SPIRIT.

49 And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy Name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.'

50 And JESUS said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.

The mistake of the Apostles lay in this; they forbad one to exercise the power, which GOD for His own ends, had given him, because he was as yet but imperfect in faith and obedience. "Forbid him not," our LORD says, "but rather," as His words seem to imply, “as GOD has shown him so much favour, look upon that as a token of His loving purpose towards him; and instead of checking, seek to lead him on, show him the more excellent way.'"

1 Numb. xi. 28, 29.

51 And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,

"The time" here means the last few months of His life on earth. His being "received up" means His Ascension into heaven: but first He must be crucified, and rise again at Jerusalem. Thither, therefore, He now goes, that "for the joy that was set before Him, He might endure the Cross, despising the shame."

52 And sent messengers before His face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for Him.

53 And they did not receive Him, because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem.

They were jealous apparently, and angry, that One so holy and so mighty, should go for the appointed feasts, not to their schismatical place of worship on Mount Gerizim, (see S. John iv. 20); but to GOD's hallowed house at Jerusalem.

54 And when His disciples James and John saw this,

These two Apostles may have been the messengers, whom He had sent before His face on this occasion, and it is therefore, perhaps, that they speak.

they said, LORD, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?

See 2 Kings i. 10, 12.

55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.

56 For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.

Our LORD's rebuke may be understood in two ways; He may

mean, Ye little know that it is only the spirit of hatred and malice, which could in your case prompt such a question to Me; or He may mean, Ye do not as yet understand that the All-holy Spirit, Who has sealed you, calls you to forbear one another in love, and reserves to Himself alone, to punish such acts: "Vengeance is Mine, saith the LORD, I will repay."

And they went to another village.

"O LORD JESUS CHRIST, Who, on the Samaritans, when they refused to receive Thee, didst not avenge Thyself, but didst patiently endure it, and turn to another place; grant to me, unworthy, O loving Guest of my soul, that expelling all vices, I may be able to prepare a grateful reception for Thee in my heart; and if at any time Thou comest to me, and in my folly and hardness of heart, I receive Thee grudgingly, or even not at all, be not angry with me, nor revenge Thyself on me; but since Thou didst come not to destroy men's lives, but to save them, do Thou reconcile me to Thyself, through Thy mercy, that I may open mine heart, and Thou mayest enter in, and with Thy mercy, bless me."

57 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto Him, LORD, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.

58 And JESUS said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.

From these words, we may gather that this man, (he was a scribe, see S. Matt. viii. 19) desired to follow the blessed JESUS, simply for gain, and earthly credit's sake: to him, therefore, our LORD reveals His deep poverty; and, so far as earthly gain and honour are concerned, His utterly hopeless condition; "foxes have holes," to which they may betake themselves, and escape their pursuers; "and birds of the air have nests," to which they may "flee away and be at rest," but for the Son of the Virgin, God though He be, there is on earth, neither escape, nor rest, nor home.

The very form of our LORD's answer, may also have been meant to appeal directly to the man's heart; He may be understood to say, "If cunning crafty plans, like foxes, abide in thy heart, if vain and light thoughts, like birds of the air, have built their

L

homes within thee, how canst thou abide with Me, or how can the Son of Man, pure, and true, and guileless, take up His abode in thee ?"

59 And He said unto another, Follow Me.

Thus did He reject one, and choose another, according to what He found within them, "for He is a Discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

But he said, LORD, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

This he said, not as declining to follow, but as desiring to do what GOD had commanded, to honour his father; apparently he did not clearly see, that He, Who in old time, had given that general commandment, had now some particular work for him to do.

60 JESUS said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead but go thou and preach the kingdom of GOD.

Let those, to whom the Life-giving Spirit hath not spoken, work for those to whom they are like, the lifeless; GOD calls thee to higher duties, go thou to the living, that they may live for ever.

61 And another also said, LORD, I will follow Thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.

He would follow JESUS, but not at once, nor with quite a whole heart: like the famous saint of old, who tells us of himself that when he was yet a heathen, his prayer was "give me chastity and continence, only not yet;" but afterwards he made haste and prolonged not the time to keep GOD's righteous judgments.

But in this man's case, observe how the All-loving One, Who knew what a temptation his home would be to him, seeks to save him from it.

62 And JESUS said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of GOD.

As he that plougheth must look before him, else his work will

go wrong; so he that tilleth GOD's vineyard, (whether that vineyard be the Church, or his own soul) must forget those things which are behind, must give his whole self to the work, else is he unworthy. Alas, my GOD, have mercy upon me!

Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

CHAPTER X.

1 After these things the LORD appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before His face into every city and place, whither He Himself would come.

Seventy was the number of the heads of Israel, (Gen. xlvi. 27), and of the elders instituted by Moses (Num. xi. 16), and of those who went up with him into the mount, (Ex. xxiv. 9), and of the palm trees at Elim, (Ex. xv. 27), where also there were twelve fountains; a type, we may suppose, of the twelve Apostles, and of these seventy, Moses and Aaron in their several offices, being types of our LORD Himself. It is possible also that the number seventy may have been an intimation to the Jews, that the Gospel was destined for the whole world, for they divided the world into seventy nations.

They were sent forth two and two, that they might support and aid each other, and because, "the testimony of two men is true."

2 Therefore said He unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the LORD of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest.

The harvest is great, there are many only waiting to be gathered in: "Have mercy upon us, O LORD GOD of all, and behold us: and send Thy fear upon all the nations that seek not after Thee. As Thou wast sanctified in us before them; so be Thou magnified among them before us, and let them know Thee, as we have known Thee, that there is no GOD, but only Thou, O God.”