position to their Master had made them extremely sensitive; and, when they remembered his glory, as they had recently seen him talking with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, their indignation was kindled against these despised Samaritans. James and John were only human, but their Master was divine, and he rebuked them.

There may be doubt as to the genuineness of the record in King James' Version, in which Jesus is represented as adding, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; for the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them;" nevertheless, he probably said all this and much more. The suggestion of these two disciples was utterly inconsistent with the spirit of him who came into the world to seek and to save the lost, and not to punish the guilty.

After telling us that Jesus and his disciples went to another village for entertainment, Luke goes on to say that a certain man came to Jesus, saying, "I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest;" and that Jesus said in reply, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." Matthew tells us that this man was a scribe; but neither of the evangelists give any information as to why our Lord discouraged this would-be disciple. It is evident, however, that he saw in him something that needed correction, and he would not encourage him to become his disciple by permitting him to cherish false notions as to the character of his kingdom. Whether the man ever became a disciple is not known, for Luke proceeds to tell .of another man to whom Jesus said, "Follow me;" and the man replied, "Lord suffer me first to go and bury my father." This man did not decline the invitation, but he did not accept it. He wished to be a disciple some time,

but not until after the death of his father when the old home would be broken up. To this one Jesus said, "Leave thou the dead to bury their own dead; but go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God." Nothing more is known of this man, for the evangelist again proceeds to tell of another, who said to Jesus, "I will follow thee, Lord; but suffer me first to go and bid farewell to them that are at my house." To this man Jesus replied, "No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." This one also disappears without our knowing what became of him.

This brief record of these three men disappoints the reader. We would know what became of each one. But it may be only our curiosity that is not satisfied. Taking these three incidents together one can hardly fail to learn the great lesson our Lord would teach. In each and all of them Jesus demands a faith that finds in him. a compensation for all worldly loss.

In view of the time and circumstances it is not strange that Jesus should place such emphasis on the necessity for whole-heartedness on the part of those who would be his disciples. He was on his way to Jerusalem to be betrayed, arrested, forsaken, denied, condemned, scourged and crucified. As he looked forward to his own selfsacrifice to save men, is it remarkable that he should warn his disciples, and his would-be disciples, against low and false ideas of the importance of religious duties? He was looking death in the face; he was feeling the power of an endless life; he was in the conscious presence of eternal verities and was thinking of the eternal years. He would not have any one follow him for the hope of earthly gain. He was about to lay down his own life, to be forsaken of his Father in order to redeem his people, and if any one would place temporal, earthly,

sensual affection above the interests of the kingdom of God, he could not be his follower. This record is adapted to deeply impress men with the infinite importance of their religious duties. God in Christ must have the first place or he will not have any place. Between atheism, that says there is no God, and the professions of religion that give to religious duties a secondary place, there is only an imaginary line. Both are practical atheism. The fundamental facts of the Christian religion summon men into the presence of the invisible God and the eternal world, and should make every one who believes them more enthusiastic than Peter, more devotedly loving than John, more consecrated than Paul. God and the eternal years are everything or they are nothing, and religion includes all the facts and experiences that concern our relation to God.

XLII

MISSION OF THE SEVENTY, THE GOOD SAMARITAN AND FIRST VISIT TO BETHANY

Luke 10: 1. "Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself was about to come."

(Luke 10:1-42; Mat. 9:36-38; 11:20-30.)

I

NSTEAD of following the order of events as they

are recorded in the tenth chapter of Luke, Farrar and others place the mission of the seventy, the parable of the good Samaritan and the first visit of Jesus to Bethany between the feast of tabernacles in September and the feast of dedication in December. The reasons assigned for doing this are first, our Lord's rapid and secret journey to Jerusalem to the feast of tabernacles would not afford sufficient time nor fitting opportunity for all these events. Second, the words of Luke 17:11, indicate that Jesus returned to Galilee at a later period to complete his ministry there.

These reasons, however, are not convincing. The sending out of the seventy, two by two, to visit every place Jesus was about to visit, could not mean that they would go directly in advance of him as he journeyed; for, going, two by two, the seventy could have made arrangements for him to visit a great many different places simultaneously. It is reasonable to suppose that they went to the different places that Jesus expected to visit afterwards. They could in this way visit many places

during the week or ten days as they journeyed to Jerusalem to the feast of tabernacles, while Jesus would be left to go his own way unattended by the usual multitude. The statement of Luke is not conclusive evidence that Jesus ever returned to Galilee. The words, "He was passing through the midst of Samaria and Galilee," may be more accurately rendered "passing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee." We, therefore follow the order indicated by Luke, and place the mission of the seventy, the parable of the good Samaritan and the first visit to Bethany, prior to the feast of tabernacles.

While Matthew, Mark and Luke tell of the sending out of the twelve, Luke alone tells of the mission of the seventy. If Luke had not recorded the choosing of the twelve there are points of resemblance that might have led to the inference that he was only giving a different account of the sending out of the twelve; but, since the same evangelist records both events, no such explanation is possible. Moreover, the expression "seventy others" evidently refers to the former sending out of the twelve.

The mission of the twelve and the mission of the seventy have several points of resemblance and some points of contrast. In both there is the command to pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into the harvest; in both there is the assurance that the messengers go forth "as sheep amongst wolves;" in both the command to carry no purse is coupled with the assurance that "the labourer is worthy of his hire," and there is direction to salute the households into which they entered with the salutation of peace; in both power is given to heal the sick, and there is the assurance that it will be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment than for the city that refuses to receive the divinely commissioned messengers of the kingdom of God.