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among a hundred only one goes astray. It may be added that the rest of the servants are represented as P very sorry at the unmerciful conduct of their fellow servant; that the rich man is described as solicitous about the eternal welfare of his brethren; that, among many guests, one only is said to be without a wedding garment; that Jesus does not himself commend the worldly prudence of the unjust steward, but introduces his Master as commending it; and that, in the similar parables of the great supper and of the marriage feast, there is a striking difference arising from our Lord's different situation : earlier in his ministry, "all with one consent began to make excuse to a certain man who made a great supper ;" and the parable concludes thus; "I say unto you, that none of those men who were bidden shall taste of my supper :" but, when the iniquity of the Jews was more aggravated, and our Lord's death at hand," a certain king made a marriage feast for his son ;" and when the king heard that his invitation was scorned, and his servants contumeliously treated and slain, "he was angry, and sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burnt up their city."

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9 Luke xvi. 27, 28.

Matt. xxii. 11.

P Matt. xviii. 31. These instances serve to shew that our Lord did not give gloomy) pictures of human nature: which further appears from Matt. v. 45. ix. 13. Luke xv. 7.

Matt. xxii. 2, &c.

• Luke xvi. 8.

tib. xiv. 16, &c.

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It is also a striking observation made by Bishop * Pearce, after * Chrysostom, and Tillotson, that in "the parable of the marriage feast, though the fact was plain respecting him who had not on a wedding garment, yet the king addressed him with the mild appellation of friend, in the sense of one to whom good will and civility were due: and that Abraham called the rich man, even when in the place of torment, by the name of Son: a Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime, receivedst thy good things. What an useful lesson have we here of gentleness and mildness towards one another!"

Our Lord has explained two parables; and he has given the moral of four others. After that of the covetous rich man he adds, "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God." To that of the merciless servant he subjoins, "So likewise a shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." And two parables being capable of misconstruction, he carefully guards against a perversion of their design. He is very large in

w Sermons, vol. iii. 104, 5. p. 241. ed. Eton.

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* Hom. 2. in Lazarum, vol. v.

Ουκ είπεν, Απάνθρωπε καὶ ὡμὲ καὶ παμπόνηρε, τοσαῦτα. [κακα] διαθεις τὸν ἄνθρωπον, φιλανθρωπίας μέμνησαι νῦν καὶ ἐλέκ καὶ συγγνώμης ;

ἐκ ἐρυθριᾶς, ἐδὲ αἰσχύνῃ; ἀλλὰ τί ; τέκνον κ. τ. λ.

He did not say, inhuman and cruel and profligate, after having acted thus towards Lazarus, dost thou now make mention of humanity and pity and pardon? Dost thou not blush? Art thou not ashamed? But what? Son, &c.

y On Luke xvi. 19, 20. vol. i. 535. fol.

* Matt. xxii. 12.

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applying that of the unjust steward; deducing an inference that "the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light;" and exhorting his hearers to make themselves friends of riches by a faithful use of them. And he thus applies the parable of the unjust judge overcome by the importunity of a widow: "And shall not God avenge his own elect, who cry day and night unto him, and will he be long suffering with respect to them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily:" [by bringing the Roman armies upon the Jews their persecutors.]

The subject matter of our Lord's parables, recommending pious resignation in a state of poverty, humility, forgiveness, humanity, fruitfulness in good works, prayer, watchfulness, a prudent and beneficent use of wealth, a due improvement of religious advantages, and such like worthy actions and dispositions, shews the excellence of our Lord's doctrines and the amiableness of his character: their beauty, decorum, variety, and pertinency, on occasions which did not admit of premeditation, furnish a strong presumption of his more than human wisdom and the completion of the prophecies which they contain directly proves his divine mission. So that on the whole they constitute no mean part of the internal evidence of Christianity.

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f Luke xviii. 7, 8. 8 I read καὶ μακροθυμεί. See Grot. and Bengelius. The present is put for the future. Et patientiam habebit in illis Vulg. That is, says Grotius, et in eorum causa lentus erit ?

SECTION XI.

THAT OUR LORD SOMETIMES INSTRUCTED BY ACTIONS.

SPEAKING, as it were, to the eye by sensible representations is a very ancient kind of language. Types may be called prophecies by action. Thus the manner of our Lord's death, and the benefits of it to mankind, were presignified by the brazen serpent raised on a pole; the sight of which restored those who had been bitten by serpents.

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The Hebrew prophets sometimes borrowed illustrations from casual objects; sometimes they seem to supply the action themselves; and sometimes God expressly commanded them to supply it. To give a single instance of each. "As Samuel turned about to go away from Saul, the king laid hold on the skirt of the prophet's mantle, and rent it. And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day." When Joash, king of Israel, visited Elisha in the sickness whereof the prophet died, Elisha said, " Take arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed." This was to denote that Joash should thrice vanquish the Syrians. In this and similar instances there is no doubt but that the mode of prophecy was suggested by the Spirit, though the divine agency is not recorded. Again: in the beginning of

Numb. xxi. 8, 9. John iii. 14, 15.

2 Kings xiii. 18.

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1 Sam. xv. 27, 28.

Jehoiakim's reign God commanded

Jeremiah to

put bonds and yokes on his neck, and send them to certain kings; thus denoting the bondage of Jerusalem, and of some particular kingdoms, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

Examples of significant signs occur also in the New Testament. Pilate seems to have adopted a ceremony in the Jewish law, when he took water and washed his hands before the multitude; intending to declare by this action, as he did in express words, that he was innocent of the blood which he was compelled to shed. When our Lord expired, "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;" to signify that the way into the true holy of holies was made manifest by the death of Christ.

I allow this interpretation: but yet I am unwilling to allow "that h the darkness which was spread over the land [while our Lord was on the cross] shewed the spiritual blindness of the Jews: and that the earthquakes at the death and resurrection of Christ shewed the great revolutions which should come to pass in the establishment of the gospel, and in the fall of Judaism and Paganism." I infer the reason of rending the veil from the reason of erecting it: but my mind is satisfied with contemplating the other events as wonders designed to excite awe and attention at the periods when they happened.

* Jer. xxvii. 2, 3, &c. See Cler. on Jer. xix, 10.

instances in Sir Isaac

Matt. xxvii. 24.

Eccl. Hist. i. 274.

Newton on Daniel, p. 148.

Matt. xxvii. 51. Heb. ix. 8.
Heb. vi. 19. ix. 8.

• See more

f Deut. xxi. 6.

h Jortin:

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