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[Sect. 68. or any inclination to know the truth, they could not have been at a loss to judge in this matter, especially as in the ordinary affairs of life, they shewed abundance of acuteness. The truth is, their not acknowledging our Lord as Messiah, was owing neither to want of evidence, nor to want of capacity to judge of that evidence. This Jesus signified in the reproof which he gave them, for discerning so accurately by the face of the earth and sky, what sort of weather would be, whilst they were so stupid as not to understand by the accomplishment of the ancient prophecies, (Gen. xlix. 10. Isa. xi. 1. xxxv. 5. Dan. ix. 24.) and by the miracles which he performed, that the time foretold by the prophets and expected by all ages, even the time of the Messiah, was come. Matt. xvi. 2. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather, for the sky is red. 3. And in the morning, it will be foul weather to-day, for the sky is red and lowering. (See on Luke xii. 56. § 89.) O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times? The Pharisees being more expert in forming a judgment of the weather, than in discerning the signs of the times, it plainly appeared that their thoughts were much more employed about matters relative to the present life, than to the future; wherefore, our Lord's reproof was well founded, and no more severe than the nature of their folly deserved. Withal, having a disposition absolutely incorrigible, the Saviour of the world felt the bitterest grief on their account, sighed deeply in his spirit, and solemnly declared that the sign they were seeking should not be given them. They were to have no sign but that of the prophet Jonas, or the miracle of his own resurrection, a sign greater than any of those shewed by the ancient prophets and messengers of God, and consequently a sign which proved Jesus to be superior unto them all. Mark viii. 12. And he sighed deeply in his spirit (see on Luke i. 47. § 4. Luke x. 21. § 81.) and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign, viz. from heaven? (Mat. a wicked and an adulterous generation seeketh af ter a sign. (See on Mark viii. 38. § 71.) Verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given to this generation (Mat. xvi. 4.) Lut the sign of the prophet Jonas. The sign of the prophet Jonas

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* Ver. 12. Verily I say unto you, &c.] Aur Aryw cuir, ei do‡nterai on yeVER TRUTĄ ONILEIGv, Verily I say unto you, I am not alive if a sign, viz from bewen, shall be given to this generation. That a dorostar is an elliptical fern of an oath, is evident from Heb. iii. 11. In ordinary cases, it may be supplied out of the ancient forms of swearing, thus, God do so to me, and more a to, if a sign shall be given. But in the mouth of God, such an dath must be supplied thus: Let me not be true, if they shall enter into my rest; if a sign shall be given, &c Or as in Ezek. xiv. 16. Zw yw, VIGL Duyuriga CaSurova. Ilive rot if sons or daughters be delivered. θυγατέρες ζώνης

our Lord had explained on a former occasion. See on Matt. xii. 40. And he left them and departed.

When Jesus left the Pharisees, he went with his disciples into the boat. Mark viii. 13. And he left them, and entering into the ship again, departed to the other side. 14. Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf. (Matt. And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.) It seems they tarried so long in Dalmanutha, that they had cousumed the seven baskets of fragments which they had taken up at the late miraculous dinner. Mark viii. 15. And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod, (Matt. of the Sadducees. See Jewish Ant. Disc. i. c. 4. § 1.) While they sailed to the other side, Jesus bade his disciples beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees, which he called leaven, because of its pernicious influence to sour mens tempers with pride and other evil passions. For as those hypocrites chiefly enjoined the observation of frivolous traditions, their doctrine was a great enemy to the principles of true piety, and puffed men up with an high conceit of their own sanctity. But the disciples having accidentally forgotten to take bread into the boat with them, and having often heard the doctors prohibir the use of the leaven of heathens and Samaritans, they thought he forbade them to buy bread from bakers of either sect, lest it might be made with leaven somehow impure; and so looked on the advice as an indirect reproof of their carelessness. 16. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because que have (Matt. have taken) no bread: They talked privately among themselves about the meaning of their Master's exhortation, and agreed that it was a reproof for their neglecting to take bread along with them. 17. And when Jesus knew it, he saith unts them (Matt. O ye of little faith) Why reason ye because ye have no bread? Why should your neglecting to bring bread with you, make you put such an interpretation upon my words? Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? After having been so long with me, are ye still ignorant of my power and goodness? Have ye your heart yet hardened? Is there no abiding impression madę

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While they sailed.] Matthew's account indeed seems to contradict this supposition, xvi. 5. And when his disciples were come to the other side, they bad forgotten to take bread. But if that was the evangelist's meaning, the interpretation which the disciples put upon their Master's reproof must have been improper; because they might easily have supplied themselves with bread in the country to which they were come. In the original the words are, και ελθοντες οι μαθηται αυτε εις το πέραν, επιλαίοντο αρτες λαβείν. The proper translation of which is, Now the disciples going to the other side, bad forgotten to take bread That A signifies to go as well as to come, see proved in the note on Matt. xvi. 28. § 7. Besides, it is more agreeable to the nature of the thing to suppose that this conversation happened as they sailed.

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yet upon your minds, by the many and great miracles I have performed? 18. Having eyes, see ye not ? having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? My miracles being all the objects of sense, no extraordinary degree of capacity was requisite to enable you to judge of them. How came it then, that possessing your senses of seeing and hearing entire, you were not struck with the miracle of the loaves so as to remember it? 19. When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, How many baskets full of fragments took ye up? Certainly you are very stupid if you have forgotten how that with five loaves I fed five thousand men, who after being fully satisfied, left a great deal more than the quantity that was at first set before me to divide among them. Without doubt you remember how many baskets full of the broken pieces of meat you took up on that occasion. They say unto him, Twelve. 20. And when the seven among four · thousand, How many baskets full of fragments took ye up? and they said, Seven. 21. And he said unto them, How is it that do not understand? How come ye not to know, that he who on those different occasions fed such multitudes of people with a quantity of food next to nothing, can never be at a loss to provide a meal for twelve? and by consequence, Matth. xvi. 11. That I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? The instances of our Lord's power, which he now mentioned, having happened lately, especially the second miraculous dinner, the disciples were so much the more to blame, for their gross inattention and stupidity. They deserved therefore the sharp rebuke which their Master gave them on this occasion. His reproof had the designed effect; for it brought the disciples to understand that their Master designed to caution them against the corrupt doctrines of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Matth. xvi. 12. Then understood they, how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, the leaven with which bread is made, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, the pernicious nature of whose opinions may be learned from many instances taken notice of and condemned by Jesus himself in the course of his ministry. See his sermon on the mount, § 26.

LXIX. Jesus lands at Bethsaida, and gives sight to a blind man near that town. Mark viii. 22,-26.

HAVING crossed the lake, Jesus landed at Bethsaida, or went thither very soon. For in the next passage of the history, we find him curing a blind man who was brought to him there. Mark viii. 22. And he cometh to Bethsaida, and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. 23. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town, proposing to perform this miracle in private; and when he had spit

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on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, to make him sensible by action, that the miracle was to happen by his volition, he asked him if he sarv aught. 24. And he looked up and said, I see men as trees, walking. 25. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up; and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. 26. And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town. Two things are remarkable in this miracle: 1. Our Lord led the man out of the city before, he would heal him; and when the cure was performed, he forbade him to return thither, or so much as to tell it unto any who lived in the town. The reason was, the people had of a long time been solicitous to have him ac-knowledged as the Messiah, and every new miracle which they beheld, moved them afresh to make the attempt. Nor could the inhabitants of Bethsaida complain of being ill used, though they were not permitted to be witnesses of the cure, since they had brought this mark of Christ's displeasure upon themselves, by their ingratitude, impenitence, and infidelity, Mat. xi. 21. And as for the man, he could not think it any hardship to be hindered from returning into the city, since it was not the place of his abode, ver. 26. 2. In giving sight to this blind man, Jesus did not, as on other occasions of a like nature, impart the faculty all at once, but by degrees. For at the first, the man saw things but obscurely; then by a second imposition of Christ's hands, he had a clear sight of every object in view. Our Lord's intention in this might be, to make it evident that in his cures he was not confined to one method of operation, but could dispense them in what manner he pleased. In the mean time, though the cure was performed by degrees, it was accomplished in so small a space of time, as to make it evident that it was not produced by any natural efficacy of our Lord's spittle or touch, but merely by the exertion of his miraculous power. The blind man's expression, after the first imposition of Christ's hands, may easily be accounted for, on supposition that he was not born blind, but had lost his sight by some accident; for if that was the case, he might have retained the idea both of men and trees. In which light his words, " I see men as trees walking," express the indistinctness of his vision very properly.

LXX. Jesus makes a tour by land, and goes into the country of Casarea Philippi. He bestows on Peter the power of the keys, and fortells his own suffering and resurrection a second time. See 20, 72. Matthew xvi. 13,-23. Mark viii. 27,-33, Luke ix. 18,-22.

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FROM Bethsaida Jesus went north into the territory of Cæsarea Philippi. Here he asked his disciples, what the people's opinion of him was. Mark viii. 27. And Jesus went out, and his disciVOL. II.

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ples, into the towns of Casarea Philippi. Matth. xvi. 13. When Jesus came into the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi, (Mark, And by the way: Luke, as he was alone, praying, his disciples were with him, it seems our Lord in journeying with his disciples, sometimes retired for prayer. And he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men (Luke, the people) say that I am? the Son of man? Do they say that I am the Son of man, the Messiah? So the words ought to be placed and pointed, as is plain from the question afterwards proposed to the disciples; namely, but whom say ye that I am? Which I think implies, that Jesus had not as yet directly assumed the title of the Messiah, at least in their hearing. In answer to the question concerning the people, the disciples replied as follows. 14. And they said, Some say that thou

Mark 27. Cesarea Philippi ] This city, while in the possession of the Canaanites, was called Lesheim, Josh. xix. 47. and Laish, Judges xviii. 27. But when the children of Dan took it, they named it after their progeni tor. In latter times, it was called Paneas, from the mountain beneath which it stood. The situation of Paneas pleased Philip the tetrarch so exceedingly, that he resolved to make it the seat of his court. For which purpose he enlarged and adorned it with many sumptuous buildings, and called it Cesarea, in honour of the Roman emperor. The tetrarch's own name however was commonly added, to distinguish it from the other Cesarea, so often mentioned in the Jewish history.

The city named simply Cesarea, was a fine sea-port on the Mediterranean sea, between Dora and Joppa, and was formerly called Straton's Tower. It was rebuilt by Herod the first, who greatly enlarged and beautified it with many fine edifices of polished marble, some of them for public and others of them for private use. But the greatest and most beneficial of all his works here, was the harbour, which he made equal in largeness to the Piræus at Athens. Naturally it was an open bay, and so exposed to the southeru stormis, that ships were obliged to anchor in the deep. To reme dy this inconvenience, Herod inclosed as much of the harbour as was fit to receive a large fleet, by throwing into the sea, where it was twenty fathom deep, huge stones, most of which were fifty feet long, eighteen broad, and nine thick. The mole that was thus raised was 200 feet long, and sweeped round in a circle, so as to leave the harbour open to the north, whence in those countries the fair weather cometh. That part of the mole which was nearest to the land had a wall erected upon it with turrets; also it had inns built for the reception of sailors. The whole port was surrounded with a row of superb edifices of polished marble, and on a rising ground in the middle was the temple of Cesar, which shewed itself at a distance to those who sailed into the harbour. On this temple were fixed two statues, one for Rome and the other for Cesar. The common sewers, which emptied themselves into the haven, were admirable for their length, greatness and workmanship. There was also a theatre of stone, and on the south side of the port a large amphitheatre, which commanded an extensive prospect towards the sea. In executing these great undertakings, Herod spent only twelve years; and having finished them, he named the city Cesarea, in compliment to his patron Augustus. Such is the account which Josephus gives of the rebuilding of Straton's tower. The beauty of this Cesarea, and the conveniencies of its situation were so extraordinary, that when the Romans reduced Judea into the form of a province, they made it the seat of their government, preferably even to Jerusalem itself.

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