chief of the devils. Luke xi. 16. And others tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven: By asking a miracle immediately after the demon was banished, they signified their contempt of dispossessions; for they thought devils might cast out devils, the stronger being always able to expel the weaker; and therefore the language of their demand was, that the ejection of devils never could prove any person to be the Messiah. 17. But he knowing their thoughts said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house, that is, according to the Hebrew idiom," against itself," falletk. 18. If

to persons whose prejudices and interests were favoured by it. Accordingly, among other causes, it contributed not a little to the infidelity of the Jews; which, to any thinking person, cannot but be matter of great wonder, considering what multitudes were witnesses of the many miracles performed by Jesus on the sick of all sorts, on the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the maimed and the lame, on paralytics, lunatics, demoniacs, and other miserable objects, nay, and on dead persons whom he raised again to life; on the winds, and on the seas; in a word, on every part of na

ture.

The evangelists have mentioned only three instances of the calumny under consideration; but we may naturally suppose, that our Lord's enemies would propogate it every where, and on all occasions, to blast the credit of his miracles with the common people. The composers of Harmonies, therefore, must be much mistaken, who fancy that it was never mentioned but once, or at most twice; and who, to support their opinion, have confounded the miracle, Matt. xii. 22. on occasion of which it was formerly uttered, with this under our consideration. For though the answer which was now returned to the calumny of the Pharisees be the same with that given in Galilee, (see § 48.) it will not follow, that the miracles were the same in point of time and place. This answer was a valid confutation of the calumny in all places, and at all times, and the most proper that could be given to it, so would naturally be repeated as often as the calumny was thrown out. But that the answer was twice spoken, may reasonably be supposed, not only because the order and connection of the history makes such a supposition necessary, but because the arguments of which it is composed, though the same in both instances, are differently arranged in each. For here our Lord, after observing that a kingdom, or house, divided against itself cannot stand, ver. 17,-20. and delivering the parable of the strong man in armour, who guarded his own house, ver. 21,23. as in the other answer, produced immediately the parable of the ejected demon, ver. 24,-26. with which the former defence was concluded. Thus far only he had proceeded, when a woman in the crowd, ravished with the justness and beauty of the things which he said, cried out, 27. Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the pups which thou hast sucked. Happy is she who gave birth to a man so wise and good as thou art. 28. But he said, Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the sword of God and keep it. A sentiment very different from that which he uttered at the conclusion of the former defence, in answer to the person who told him, that his mother and his brethren desired to speak with him, Whosoever shall do the will of my Father, which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. Then turning to the people in general, he spake to them concerning the queen of the South, and the men of Nineveh. But the chief circumstance which distinguishes this defence from the former, is the parable of the lighted candle with which is was concluded, and which is peculiar to it.

18. If Satan also be divided against himself, if he wars against the evil spirits which are under his empire, and destroys their power over the souls and bodies of men, how shall his kingdom stand? I say this to you, because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. Luke xi. 19. And besides this, if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. If Jesus does not mean here the prophets, as we supposed in the explication of the parallel passage, Matt. xii. 27. § 48. he must have in his eye those vagabonds, who went about exercising the devils by incantations and charms. On that supposition his argument will run in this manner: If those among yourselves, who cast out devils by charms and incantations, are reckoned by you to do it through God's assistance, because the immediate intention of the miracle is to deliver the possessed from misery; I, who cast out devils with the finger of God, I, who in this matter act as God, casting out the evil spirits merely by commanding them to be gone, should be considered by you as the Son of God come down to erect the kingdom of God among you. 20. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. Others think, that by the sons of the Jews who cast out devils, our Lord meant those who even in his own life-time went about ejecting devils by his name, of which there is one example recorded Mark ix. 38. In this view, his argument will stand thus: How is your supposition, that I cast out devils by Beelzebub, consistent with what you behold? Some of your own disciples cast out devils by my name. Could they do so, if I myself cast them out by a derived power, a power from Beelzebub? 21. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace, they are safe. 22. But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils: No strong man is ever disturbed in the possession of his estate, but by some stronger person, who comes upon him and subdues him. The moral meaning of this allusion is, that the Son of God by coming down to the world, the devil's house, and by taking away from him the armour wherein he trusted, the power of deceiving mankind by false miracles and other delusions, hath demonstrated himself to be a much stronger person than the devil: He is the conqueror of the devil, and the deliverer of the world. 23. He that is not with me, is against me, and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth. See on Matth. xii. 30. § 48. 24. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places (deserts) seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. 25. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished, better prepared than ever for his reception. 26. Then goeth he and taketh to him seven other spi

rits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and davell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first, See on Matt. xii. 43, 44, 45. § 48.

Luke

While Jesus thus reasoned in confutation of the Pharisees, a woman of the company, ravished with his wisdom and eloquence, and perhaps believing him to be their long expected Messiah, expressed her admiration of his character in a manner suitable to her sex. She brake forth in an exclamation upon the happiness of the woman who had the honour of giving him birth. xi. 27. And it came to pass as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lift up her voice and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But Jesus not at all moved with her praise, gave her an answer, which at the same time that it shewed his humility, did the greatest honour to virtue. The blessedness, said he, which you prize so much, and which could be enjoyed by one woman only, however great, is far inferior to a blessedness which is in every one's power, namely, that which arises from the knowledge and practice of the will of God. 28. But he said, yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.

On this occasion, the multitude gathered round in a great crowd, and pressed upon him, in expectation that he was going to shew them the sign from heaven, which some of them had required from him. But he repulsed them, by telling them, that they were an evil race of men, who discovered a very perverse disposition in seeking signs, after so many miracles had been wrought by him; for which reason no greater sign should be given them, than those they were daily beholding, except the sign of the prophet Jonas. Luke xi. 29. And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation; they seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. 30. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation : You shall have the miracle performed before you, which was prefigu red by Jonah's preservation in the belly of the whale. See on Matt. xii. 40. § 48. 31. The queen of the South shall rise up (wygdnotrai) in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them; for she came from the utmost part of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon is here. 32. The men of Niniveh shall rise up in the judgment with (usta, along with) this generation, and shall condenin it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and beh:ld a greater than Jonas is here. See on Matt. xii. 41, 42. § 48. Withal, to make these men sensible of the great evil they were guilty of, in overlooking the evidences which he had already given of his mission, and in resisting the dictates of their own consciences, he spake a parable to them, in which he shewed

them

them the end for which God had given them the faculty of rea son, and pointed out to them in what manner they ought to use it. Luke xi. 33. No man when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it into ʼn secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light: As he who lights á lamp, does not put it under a bushel, but on a stand, that it may give light to all in the house; so God who has lighted up the faculty of reason in the human mind, that it may illuminate and direct all the faculties, does not mean, that men should suffer it to lie hid and useless; much less does he mean that they should extinguish it. He wills them to keep this light always burning, to attend to it carefully, and to guide all their actions by it. The Pharisees, therefore, and their adherents were greatly to blame in not following the light of reason; and much more in suffering their passions to extinguish that candle of the Lord. And that they might understand his parable, and be excited to make a proper improvement of the noble faculty whose use he had been describing, he put them in mind that reason performs for the soul of man the office which the eye does for his body. 34. The light of the body is the eye; therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body is full of light but when thine eye is evil, thy whole body also is full of darkness. See on the sermon on the mount, Matt. vi. 22. § 26. 35. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness: Keep thy reason as free as possible from the influence of prejudice, pride, revenge, lust, covetousness, and other evil passions, for they will hatch swarms of vain and foolish thoughts, by which thy reason will be pervert-ed, and the light that is in thee be turned into darkness. 36. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light: If thy mind is so completely enlightened by reason, that no evil passion or affection interrupts the emanations of its light m any degree, the whole faculties of thy soul shall be as much enlightened, enlivened, and assisted, as the members of thy body are, when the bright shining of a candie gives thee light, and puts thee in a capacity of using them. Wherefore, thus comparing the direction of reason to the shining of a candle, he shewed that by the parable of the lighted candle, he had intended to explain wherein the proper use of one's rea

son consists.

:

See

ý LXXXVII. Jesus dines with Pharisees a second time. § 43, 92. He denounces heavy woes against the Scribes and Pharisees. See § 121. Luke xi. 37,--54.

truth of his mis

In this manner did our blessed Lord prove the sion against the malicious cavils of his enemies. When he had made an end of speaking, one of the Pharisees present invited

ner.

him to dinner. It is not told, whether he gave him the invitation as a mark of his respect for him, or with an insidious design. The severity with which Jesus reproved the superstition of the Pharisees while he sat at meat with them, and the malice which they discovered in urging him to say things offensive to the magistrate or to the people, make it probable that the latter rather was the case. Nevertheless, he accepted the invitation, and went along with the Pharisee, and sat down at table, but without washing, as all the other guests had done. When the Pharisee who invited him observed this, he expressed great surprise at his shewing such an open contempt of their traditions. Luke xi. 37. And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in and sat down to meat. 38. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before din39. And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward' part is full of ravening and wickedness: Ye are at great pains to keep every thing clean that touches your food, lest your body should be defiled in eating; but ye are at no pains to keep your mind clean from pollutions that are incomparably worse, the pollutions of rapine, and covetousness, and wickedness. 40. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without, make that which is within also? Did not he who made the body, make the soul also? Wherefore, ye are grossly stupid and foolish, not to see that if God requires purity of body, because it is his workmanship, he will much more insist on purity of mind, which is the nobler part of human nature. And, therefore, instead of that scrupulousness with respect to meats and washings, which engrosses so much of your attention, you ought to apply yourselves to the duties of charity, and then it will not be in the power of any external thing to defile you, but ye shall at all times be acceptable to God. 41. But rather give alms of such things as you have, and behold all things are clean unto you: We are not to imagine that alms-giving was particularly mentioned by Christ in his exhortation to the Pharisees, because it is of greater value and necessity than the other virtues. He recommended it to that

sect,

* Ver. 41. But rather give alms, &c.] πλην τα ενοντα δότε ελεημοσυνην supple xara ra word, give as much alms as you can: so we find the phrase used by Epictetus, who advises his disciples to abstain from oaths, i Ty

To, as much as they could. Raphelius indeed affirms, that Te tort is a different phrase from ex TV, STOYTHY. He thinks it refers to the meat in their cups and platters, because, Matt. xxiii. 26. we have to EVOVTAS TY ποτήριες και Tagoides. According to this interpretation, our Lord told the Pharisees, that they needed not be at a great deal of pains about the ceremonial cleanness of the dishes in which their meat was served up, provided they made the meat and drink itself clean, by giving liberally of it to the poor.