them! How forcibly does He persuade men to self-denial and contempt of the world! How excellent and holy are all His precepts. How serviceable to the best interest of men in this life and that to come! How suitable and desirable to the souls of good men are the rewards He promises! What exact rule of righteousness hath He prescribed to men, in doing, as they would be done by ! With what vehemency doth He rebuke all hypocrisy and Phariseeism ! With what tenderness and kindness does He treat those, that have any real inclinations to true goodness! With what earnestness does He invite, and with what love doth He embrace, all repenting sinners! With what care doth He instruct, with what mildness doth He reprove, with what patience doth He bear with His own disciples! Lastly, with what authority did He both speak and live, such as commanded a reverence, where it did not beget a love! And yet, after a life thus spent, all the requital He met with was to be reproached, despised, and at last crucified. v. 16; xii. 49, 50; S. Mark i. 22; S. Luke iv. 22.-Bp. Stillingfleet.

I have been somewhat acquainted with men and books; I have had long experience in learning and in the world; but there is no book, like the Scriptures, for excellent wisdom, learning, and use: and it is the want of understanding its objects and contents, that makes any speak otherwise. vi. 68, 69; xvii. 17; xx. 30, 31.-Lord Chief Justice Hale.

There are no songs, comparable to the songs of Sion;

no orations, equal to those of the Prophets; no politics, equal to those, which the Scriptures teach.-Milton.

V. 48. The Pharisee makes use of his own authority to deny Christ. It was the Pharisees, that said, "Have any of the Pharisees believed in Him?" There is not a more dangerous mother of heresies, in the midst of piety, than this one, that our fancy first assures us, that we have the Spirit; and then that every fancy of ours is Theopneust, the work of the Spirit. Ps. xii. 4.-Dr. Hammond.

V. 49. The more false any man is in his religion, the more fierce and furious he is in maintaining it; the more mistaken, the more imposing; the more any man's religion is his own, the more he is concerned for it, but cool and indifferent enough for that, which is God's. Acts vii. 54; xxvi. 9–11; Gal. v. 15.-Dr. Whichcote.

Who knoweth not the Law. What availeth knowledge without the fear of God? An humble ignorant man is better than a proud scholar, who studies natural things, and knows not himself. The more thou knowest, the more grievously thou shalt be judged. Many get no profit by their labour, because they contend for knowledge, rather than for holy life; and the time shall come, when it shall more avail thee to have subdued one lust, than to have known all mysteries. Ps. cxix. 97-104.-Bp. J. Taylor.

V. 50.-Nicodemus, when he had but little faith, came to Jesus by night; but yet in the night by stealth; he durst not openly appear for Christ: but afterwards, as

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he grew in grace and knowledge of Christ, so he grew in courage for Christ. A weakly constitution dares not go out, unless the weather be fair; but a strong body can endure the hardest weather. xix. 39.-Chr. Love.

V. 51.-Men's moral probation may be, whether they will take due care to inform themselves by partial consideration; and, afterwards, whether they will act, as the case requires, upon the evidence, which they have. And this, we find by experience, is often our probation in our temporal capacity. Numb. xxii. 20, 21.—Bp. Butler.

V. 53. Now follows a marvellous termination of this whole affair. That so strong a combination should of itself melt away, and all these persons, like waves of the sea, be broken asunder by their own impetuosity—who does not recognize in it the hand of God bringing them to this pass? But God remains ever like Himself. Ps. cxviii. 23; S. Matt. viii. 26.-Calvin.

When the greatest and those, that should be the gravest councils and courts in a commonwealth, are ordered tumultuously and contentiously, it is an apparent symptom of a sick and languishing state: for, when the chief and those, that are the first moving wheels, keep not true time, all the rest are misled.-S. Matt. xxiv. 29; Ps. ii. 1-5.-Lord Capel.

His own house. Quietness under one's own roof, and quietness in our own conscience (viii. 9), are two substantial blessings, which whoever barters for show and pomp will find himself a loser by the exchange. Abroad, we must more or less find tribulation; yet, as long as

our home is a secure and peaceful retreat from all the disappointments and cares, which we meet within that great scene of vexation, the world, we may still be tolerably happy: but, if that, which should be our main sanctuary from uneasiness, becomes, our principal disquietude, how great must our uneasiness be! 2 Sam. vi. 20; Prov. iii. 33; S. Luke ix. 58.-J. Seed.

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CHAPTER VIII.

VERSE 2.—It is a certain sign that our hearts are set upon a work, when the thoughts of it cause sleep to depart from us, and we awake readily, constantly, and early, to the performance of it. He, who is in good earnest, and hath his heart fully bent upon the work of salvation, like other skilful and diligent artificers, will be early in his application to it: he will get the start of the world, and take the advantage of the "sweet hour of prime," to dispose and set himself in order for the day. What is a slothful sinner to think of himself, when he reads concerning the holy Jesus, that "in the morning, &c.-S. Mark i. 35.-Bp. Horne.

V. 4.-Beware of curiously prying into the conduct of your neighbour, or judging rashly of it. Even should you see him do something wrong, do not judge him; if you cannot excuse his act, excuse at least his intention; attribute it to ignorance, to inadvertence, to accident. But, if the thing be so certain, that there is no other account to be given of it, nevertheless, persuade yourself, and say; "The temptation was too strong; what should I have done myself, had I been in like manner exposed to its power?" S. Luke xxiii. 40, 41; Gal. vi. 1, 2.-S. Bernard.

V. 6. As the old commentary says, "He noted down their sins." Of such power was that writing, that each