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came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ter pounds, The Hebrew maneh and the Greek, answering to it, was a sum of money weighing an hundred common shekels, each of: which was about the fourth part of an ounce. The a there fore in silver, was in value 5: 10:3; in gold it was equal to £. 955 as may be seen by comparing. 1 Kings x. 17 with 2 Chron. ix. 16. where three manehs of gold, spoken of in the history of the Kings, are expressed by three hundred shekels of gold. However, the value of the maneh was fluctuating, as we learn from Ezek. xiv. 12. The first servant having been very diligent and successful, was greatly applauded by his lordy who' rewarded him, by raising him to a considerable dignity in the kingdom which he had lately received. Luke xix. 17. And he said unto him, Well, thou goed servant; because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. In like manner, the faithful apostles and ministers of Christ, shall be rewarded with great honour and authority in his kingdom. 18, And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. The modesty of this and the former servant is remark able. They do not say, that they themselves had gained the ten or the five pounds; but they say, "Thy pound hath gained ten pounds," attributing their success not to themselvss, but to the gifts of his grace. 19. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also ruler over five cities. This servant having been both diligent and successful, though in an inferior degree, was approved and rel warded accordingly; for his lord gave him authority over five cities. Thus, the least of Christ's faithful ministers and servants shall be rewarded with a proportionable share of the pleasures of his kingdom. 20. And another came, saying, Lord, behold here is thy pound which I have kept laid up in a napkin. 21. For I ! feared thee, because thou art an austere man; thou takest up that: thon layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. is a proverbial description of an unjust rigorous character.: Thei slothful servant, by applying it to his lord, aggravated his crimen not a little. He impudently told him, that knowing his severe and griping disposition, he thought it prudent not to risk his money in trade, for fear he should have lost it; that he had hide it in a napkin, in order to deliver it to him safe at his return and that this was the true reason why he had not increased his talent as the others had done theirs. Thus slothful ministers of religion, and pretended servants of Christ, will be ever ready to throw the blame of their unfaithfulness on God himself. . 22.0 And he saith, Out of thine own mouth will. I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knowest, or rather, didst thou know, that i was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow. See on Matt. xxv. 26. § 124. 23. Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that`at my com•••

ing I might have required mine own with usury? (our Toxw, with interest.) Thou hast been slothful in the highest degree; for if thou really hadst believed me to be the rigorous person thou sayest I am, thou certainly wouldst have been at the pains to lend out my money; a method of improvement of thy talent, which would have occasioned thee no trouble at all; thy excuse therefore is a mere pretence. In like manner, all the excuses which wicked ministers offer in their own behalf, shall at the bar of God stand them in no stead, whether they be drawn from the character which they affixed to God, or from his decrees, or from their own inability, or from the difficulty of his service, or from any other consideration whatever. Luke xix. 24. And he said to them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. 25. And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds. They who stood by, the officers of justice who waited on the king, though there was no occasion to give the pound to one who had so much already. Perhaps they thought it was more proper to give it to him who had only five pounds. But the king told them, they should do as he ordered, because it was agreeable to the rules of all wise administrations to bestow the most and greatest trusts on them, who by their fidelity in offices already enjoyed by them, have shewed that they best deserve them. 26. For I say unto you, that unto every one which hath, shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. The opportunities and advantages which he enjoys, shall be taken from him, and given to such as improve those already bestowed on them. 27. But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. Those who were guilty of rebellion against me, by doing all in their power to hinder my obtaining the kingdom, bring hither, and put them to death this instant. The Jews were Christ's enemies, who would not have him to reign over them; and for that crime he destroyed their

nation.

Thus Jesus taught his disciples, that though they might imagine his kingdom was speedily to be erected, and that they were soon to partake of its joys, he was to go away, or die, before he obtained it; and that they were to perform a long course of laborious services, before they received their reward. That having obtained the kingdom at his resurrection, he would return and reckon with his servants, to whom he had given ability, and opportunity for his work, and would treat them according to the fidelity they shewed in the trust committed unto them. Particularly, that he would execute vengeance on those, who, for his conversing familiarly with sinners, or for the difficulty or disagreeableness of his laws, or any other cause whatever, had refused to let him reign over them, or hindered the erection of his kingVOL. II. dom

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dom among others. This Jesus did in some measure, when he destroyed the Jewish nation by the Roman armies; and still con tinues to do, by the extraordinary judgments, with which he sometimes visits mankind. But he will do it more eminently at the end of the world, when he shall come with millions of angels, finally to reward his faithful servants, and to punish his enemies. The kingdom of Christ spoken of in the parable, is his mediatorial kingdom, in which he rules men by his word and Spirit, and exercises the highest acts of kingly power, calls all his subjects without distinction to his tribunal, judges them, and rewards or punishes them according as he knows they de

serve.

They who affix a more general meaning to this parable, suppose that the character and end of three sorts of persons are described in it. 1. The character of those who profess themselves the servants of Christ, and who act in a manner suitable to their profession. 2. The character of those who take on them the tiile, but do not act up to it. 3. The character of those, who, though they be Christ's natural subjects, neither profess themselves his servants, nor yield him obedience; but endeavour to shake off his yoke, and oppose him with all their might. The first sort are the true disciples of Christ. The second sort are hypocrites. The third are the openly profane. The treatment which the servants in the parable met with from their lord, represents the judgment and end of the different sorts of Christians just now mentioned. True disciples shall be munificently rewarded with the honours and pleasures of immortality; hypocrites shall be spoiled of all the advantages on which they relied, and stripped of those false virtues for which they valued them selves; so that being shewed to all the world in their proper co lours, their pride shall be utterly mortified, and they themselves loaded with eternal infamy. Lastly, the detection and punishment of hypocrites shall add to the honours of the truly virtu ous, whose merit shall thus shine more conspicuously; for as the houses and lands, which our Lord promised to those who follow. ed him in the regeneration, (Mark x. 30. § 105.) signify not the things themselves, but the satisfaction arising from them; so the pound in the parable given to him that had the ten pounds, sig nifies, that virtuous persons in heaven shall have satisfactions as great as those which hypocrites enjoy in their advantages and supposed virtues, but upon a much more solid foundation, namely, the consciousness of real virtues, and the continual encrease of grace. Thus shall the men who possess true goodness be reward ed. Having in their own eyes always appeared as nothing, they shall, by the approbation of God, be raised to a becoming sense of the excellent qualities with which they are adorned; and having been sorely distressed with the motions of sin, while they con

stantly

stantly struggled against them, they shall now be made more than conquerors, and have infinite satisfaction in the victory. And as for the open enemies of Jesus, they shall be punished with exemplary punishment, severe in proportion to the degree of their guilt.

Having finished the parable, our Lord left the house of Zaccheus, and proceeded in his journey to Jerusalem. 28. And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem. By his alacrity in the journey, he shewed how willing he was to undergo those heavy sufferings which he knew were to befal him in Jerusalem.

JCX. Jesus is anointed by Mary in Bethany. See § 43, 125. John xi. 55,-57. xii. 1,—11.

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OUR Lord was now on the road to Jerusalem, where he proposed to celebrate the passover. But the people who were come up early to purify themselves, wondering that he was not arrived, inquired for him, and said to one another as they stood in the temple, Is he afraid, and will not come to the feast? John xi. 55. And the Jews passover was nigh at hand; and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, purify themselves. 56. Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast? This delay was occasioned by the chief priests, who after the resurrection of Lazarus, had issued out a proclamation, promising a reward to any who would dis cover the place of his retirement. 57. Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that if any man knew where he were, he should show it, that they might take him.

At length Jesus came to Bethany six days before the passover. And because it was evening when he arrived, he turned in to lodge with Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. John xii. 1. Then Jesus, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2. There they made him a supper, and Martha

served,

Ver. 5.5. To purify themselves.] Those who were under any legal incapacity of celebrating the great solemnities of the Jewish religion, usually went up to Jerusalem before the feasts to cleanse themselves, by offering the sacrifices appointed for their purification. Moreover, those who were under vows of Nazaritism, usually ordered matters so, as that they were concluded at one of the great feasts. These things occasioned a great concourse of people at Jerusalem before the feasts, but especially before the passover. The time necessary to many purifications was seven days; this occasioned the people to come to Jerusalem early. Accordingly, when Jesus came six days before the passover, he found great multitudes in the city.

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† Ver. 2. There they made him a supper, &c.] Although this supper is supposed

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served, but Lazarus was one of those that sat at the table with him. 3. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with

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supposed by many to have been the same with that mentioned Matt. xxvi. 6. upon examination they will appear to have been different. This happened in the house of Lazarus, that in the house of Simon the leper, ver. 6. At this, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anointed our Lord's feet, and wiped them with her hair; at that, a woman, not named, poured the ointment on his head, ver. 7. Here Judas only found fault with the action; there he was seconded by some of the rest, ver. 8. It seems all the disciples but Judas had let this first anointing pass without censure. But when they saw so expensive a compliment repeated, and that within a few days the one of the other, they joined with him in blaming the woman, and might think themselves warranted to do so, as they knew that their Master was not delighted with luxuries of any kind. After the anointing mentioned by Matthew, Judas went and bargained with the priests, to deliver his Master into their hands, ver. 14. Yet two days before the passover they consulted among themselves how they might take him by subtilty, ver. 3. This deliberation was absolutely unnecessary, if the anointing mentioned by Matthew, had been the same with that in John. For the anointing being expressly fixed by John to the sixth day before the passover, the bargain which Judas struck with the priests to betray his Master, is of course fixed to the same day, having happened immediately after the anointing, ver. 14. If so, the priests, six days before the passover, knew of a method to take Jesus by subtilty, and therefore had no occasion formally to consult about it two days before the passover. To conclude, the place in the history which Matthew has assigned to his anointing, implies that it happened two days before the passover; whereas the anointing mentioned by John is expressly said to have been six days before that feast. Matt. xxvi. 1. " And it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, 2. Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. 3. (Tde ovunxinoav) Then assembled the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high-priest, who was called Caiaphas 4. And consulted, that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him." They assembled about the time that Jesus finished his discourses on the mount of Olives. But considering the nature and number of the things which he did in the temple, before he came out to the mount of Olives (see on Matt. xxvi. 2. § 125.) where the words, (Matt. xxvi. 1.) were spoken, it must then have been toward sun-setting. This, I suppose, was the reason that the council did not meet at the temple as usual, but at the high-priest's palace; it was the reason also that Jesus left the mount immediataly, and went to Bethany, where, on his arrival, he sat down to supper, and was anointed. With this anointing, the traitor's bargain to betray Jesus is so connected by Matthew, as to imply that it happened in consequence of the anointing. Being rebuked for censuring the woman that anointed his Master, he rose up in a passion, and went into the city to the high-priest's, where he found the council assembled, deliberating about the proper method of apprehending Jesus by stratagem, as the evangelist had told in the beginning of the chapter. This the particle of connection made use of, plainly suggests, ver. 14. (roli mogudus) “then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests," &c. Wherefore the anointing, after which Judas bargained with the priests, happened only two days before the passover, and consequently was differ

ent

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