there is due unto us no reward of justice | O holy and happy violence that is thus but of free mercy." From the whole offered to heaven! How can we want blessnote, 1. That we are wholly the Lord's, ings, when so many cords draw them both by a right of creation and redemption down upon our heads? also. 2. That as his we are, so him we ought to serve, by doing all those things which he hath commanded us. 3. That when we have done all, we are to look for our reward, not of debt, but of grace. 4. That were our service and obedience ab solutely perfect, yet it could not merit any thing at the hand of justice: When ye have done all, say, &c. 11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Observe here, 1. Though the Samaritans were bitter enemies to the Jews, and had been guilty of great incivility towards our Saviour, yet our Saviour in his journey to Jerusalem balks them not, but bestows the favour of a miracle upon them. Civil courtesy and respect may and ought to be paid to those that are the professed enemies of us and our holy religion. Observe, 2. Though the leper by the law of God was to be separated from all other society, (God thereby signifying to his people, that the society of those that are spiritually contagious ought to be avoided,) yet the law of God did not restrain them from conversing with one another: accordingly these ten lepers get together, and are company for themselves. Fellowship is that we all naturally affect, though even in leprosy; lepers will flock together; where shall we find one spiritual leper alone? Drunkards and profane persons will be sure to consort with one another. Why should not God's children delight in an holy communion, when the wicked join hand in hand? Observe, 3. Though Jews and Samaritans could not abide one another, yet here in leprosy they accord; here was one Samaritan leper with the Jewish: common sufferings had made them friends, whom religion had disjoined. O what virtue is there in affliction to unite the most alienated and estranged hearts! Observe, 4. These lepers apply themselves to Christ the great Physician; they cry unto him for mercy, with respect to their afflictions; they jointly cry, they all lifted up their voice with fervent importunity. Teaching us our duty to join our spiritual forces together, and set upon God by troops. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. Observe here, 1. The preventing grace and mercy of Christ; their disease is cured ere it can be complained of: Go, show yourselves unto the priests, says Christ, and in their going they were cleansed, they were healed before they could come at the priests, that as the power that healed them was wholly Christ's, so might the praise be also. Observe, 2. A two-fold reason why Christ commanded them to go to the priests. 1. In compliance with the cere monial law, which required the leper to be brought to them, to judge whether healed or not; and if so, to receive the offering prescribed in token of thankful ness. 2. For the trial of their obedience: had they stood upon terms with Christ, and said, Alas! to what purpose is it to show ourselves to the priests; what good can their eyes do us? We should be glad to see ourselves cured; but why should we go to them to see ourselves loathed? Had they thus expostulated, they had not been healed: what command soever we receive from Christ, we must rather consider the authority of the commander, than the weight of the thing commanded, for God delights to try our obedience by small precepts; happy for these lepers, that, in obe dience to Christ, they went to the priests, for as they went they were healed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God: 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks; and he was a Samaritan. Observe here, I. All were healed, but only one was thankful; the cure is wrought upon the bodies of all, thankfulness is found but in the heart of one: the will makes the difference in men, but he makes the difference in wills, who at first made the will. All these lepers were cured, all saw themselves cured; their sense was alike, their hearts were not alike. Observe, 2. The person that made this return of thankfulness to Christ, He was a Samaritan: that is, none of the Jewish nation, but one that was a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel: neither place nor parentage can block up the way, or stop the current, of God's free mercy, which reaches the unworthy and the ill-not with observation: 21 Neither deserving. Observe, 3. How singly he shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! returns his thanks; he gets away from for, behold, the kingdom of God is his fellows to make his acknowledgment: within you. there are cases wherein singularity is not only lawful, but laudable; instead of subjecting ourselves to others' examples, it is sometimes our duty to resolve to set an example to others; for it is much better to go the right way alone, than to err with company. Observe, 4. How speedily he returns his thanks: no sooner doth he see his cure; but he hastes to acknowledge it; a noble pattern of thankfulness. What speed of retribution is here! late payments of our thankfulness savour of ingratitude: it were happy for us Christians, did we learn our duty of this Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said; Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. The generality of the Jews, and particu larly the Pharisees, expected that the promised Messias should be a temporal prince, and deliver them from the Roman yoke, under which they groaned. Accordingly the Pharisees here demanded of our Saviour, When the kingdom of God, of which he had so often spoken, should come? Christ answers them, That his kingdom cometh not with observation: that is, with pomp and splendour, which men may observe and gaze upon; but he tells them, the kingdom of God was now among them, by the ministry of John Baptist and himself; and was already set up in the hearts of his people, by the secret operations of his Holy Spirit. Learn hence, That the false notion which the Jews had of the Messiah and his kingdom, (that he himself was to be a temporal prince, and his kingdom a secular kingdom, to be set up with a great deal of In the face of these ten lepers we may, noise, pomp, and splendour,) did hinder as in a glass, behold the face and com- the generality of them from believing in plexion of all mankind. How few are him. Secondly, That the kingdom which there, O Lord! scarce more than one in Christ designed to set up in the world, was ten, who after signal mercies return suita- altogether spiritual, not obvious to human ble thanks. Men howl to God upon their senses, but managed in the hearts of his beds, but run away from God as soon as people by the sceptre of his Spirit. My they are raised up by him. Observe far-kingdom cometh not with observation, but is ther, What an exact account Christ keeps within you. of his own dispensed favours: Were there not ten cleansed? He forgets our sins, but records his own mercies. It is one of his glorious titles, A God forgiving and for-sire to see one of the days of the Son getting iniquity; but his mercies are over of man, and ye shall not see it. 23 all his works, and deserve everlasting re- And they shall say to you, See here; membrance. God keeps a register of his or see there: go not after them, nor mercies towards us. O shall we not re- follow them. 24 For as the lightning cord the favours received from him, at that lighteneth ont of the one part unonce declare his bounty towards us, and our thankfulness towards him! Observe der heaven, shineth unto the other lastly, The thankful leper was a Samari- part under heaven; so shall also the tan, but the nine that were unthankful Son of man be in his day. 25 But were Israelites. Learn thence, That the first must he suffer many things, and more we are bound to God, the more be rejected of this generation. shameful is our ingratitude towards him; where God may justly expect the greatest returns of praise and service, he sometimes receiveth least. God has more rent, and better paid him, from a smoky cottage, than he has from some stately pal aces. 20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh 22 And he said unto the disciples, The days will come when ye shall de In the remaining part of this chapter, our Saviour acquaints his disciples with what days of tribulation and distress were coming on the Jewish nation in general, and on Jerusalem in particular. "Days of sufferings (as if our Saviour had said) are not far off, when you will wish for my bodily presence again among you, to sup port and comfort you; and when many seducers will rise up, pretending to be deliverers, but go not you after them; for field, let him likewise not return back. 32 Remember Lot's wife. Here our Saviour advises them, that after this generation have rejected and crucified me, my coming (says Christ) to execute vengeance upon my enemies and murderers at Jerusalem by the Roman soldiers, will be sudden, and like the light- when they shall see the judgments of God breaking out upon Jerusalem, that they ning that shines in an instant from one part of the heavens to the other." From make all possible speed to get out of it, as this coming of Christ to judge Jerusalem, Lot and his family did out of Sodom: and which was an emblem of the final judg-looking back became a pillar of salt, Gen. to take heed of imitating Lot's wife, who ment, we may gather this instruction, That the coming and appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the judging of wicked and impenitent sinners, will be a very certain, sudden, and unexpected appear auce. 26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In these verses our Saviour declares, That Jerusalem's destruction, and the world's final desolation at the great day, would be like the destruction of the old world in the days of Noah, and like the destruction of Sodom in the days of Lot, and that both in regard of unexpectedness, and in regard of sensuality and security, as they before the flood were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage; that is, wholly given up to sensuality and debauchery; and did not know, that is, did not consider, the floods coming, till it swept them away; thus was it before the destruction of Jerusalem, and will be before the end of the world. Hence we learn, That as the old world perished by infidelity, security, and sensuality, so will the same sins be prevailing before the destruction of this present world. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man. 31 In that day, he which shall be upon the house-top, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away; and he that is in the xix. Where observe, 1. Her offence, She looked back. offence, She became a pillar of salt. Her 2. The punishment of her offence in looking behind her was mani fest disobedience to the divine command, which said, Look not behind thee; and proceeded either from carelessness or from covetousness, or from curiosity, or from her, and was undoubtedly the effect of compassion to those that she left behind great infidelity, she not believing the truth of what the angel had declared, as touching the certainty and suddenness of Sodom's destruction. The punishment of her offence was exemplary, She became ment of divine severity for her infidelity a pillar of salt: that is, a perpetual monu and disobedience. Where note, 1. The suddenness of her punishment: the justice of God surprises her in the very act of sin, with a present revenge. 2. The seeming the offence: her offence was a forbidden disproportion betwixt the punishment and look. From whence carnal reason may plead, "Was it not sufficient for her to lose her eyes, but must she lose her life?" but the easiness and reasonableness of the command aggravated her disobedience; and though her punishment may seem severe, it was not unjust. Now, says our Saviour, Remember Lot's wife: that is, let her example caution all of you against unbelief, disobedience, worldly-mindedness, contempt of God's threatenings, and lin gerings after the forbidden society of lewd and wicked persons. 33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. 34 I tell you, In that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. 35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. In this hour, when judgment is come upon Jerusalem, Christ declares, that who soever shall take any unchristian course to preserve his life, by denying him and his holy religion, he shall lose eternal life; but he that for Christ's sake shall lose his natural life, instead of a mortal, shall en joy an immortal life in bliss and glory. Here we learn, 1. That the love of temporal life is a great temptation to men, to deny Christ and his holy religion, in a day of trial. 2. That the surest way to attain eternal life, is cheerfully to lay down our temporal life, when the glory of Christ, and the honour of religion, requires it of us. Christ farther adds, that in this terrible night of Jerusalem's calamity, when destruction comes upon her, the providence of God will remarkably distinguish between one person and another: true believers, and constant professors, shall be delivered, and none else; such shall escape the danger, others shall fall by it. 37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. The disciples hearing our Saviour speak of such tremendous calamities, enquire, Where these judgments should fall? He answers them figuratively, and by a proverbial speech, That where the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together: signifying, that Jerusalem, and the obdurate nation of the Jews, was the carcass which the Roman armies, whose ensign was the eagle, would quickly find out and feed upon; and that Judea in general, and Jerusalem in particular, would be the theatre and stage of those tragical calamities. Learn thence, That the appointed messengers of God's wrath, and the instruments of his vengeance, will suddenly gather together, certainly find out, and severely punish, an impenitent people devoted to destruction. Where the carcass is, (that is, the body of the Jewish nation,) there will the eagles, that is, the Roman soldiers, be gathered together. There is no duty in Christianity, the practice of which our Saviour presseth upon us more frequently than this duty of prayer. To encourage his disciples, (and us in them,) to fervency, importunity, and perseverance in this duty, he projudge, who was overcome by an importupounds here the parable of an unjust nate widow, to do her justice contrary to his own inclination; from whence our Saviour argues, That if importunity will tions offered to him; how much more prevail with a sinful man, to grant petiprevalent will such importunity be with the infinitely good God, to relieve the ne cessities of such as devoutly implore his help? And the force of the argument lies thus: "The judge in the parable was an inferior and subordinate judge, was an unrighteous and unjust judge, was a merciless and hard-hearted judge; and yet, upon her importunity, he avenged her: how much more will the sovereign and supreme Judge, the holy and righteous, the merciful and compassionate Judge of all the earth, hear and help his praying people, and be the just Avenger of those that fear him?" From the whole note, 1. That prayer, or a liberty of making our requests known to God, is an inestimable favour and privilege. He that considers the nature of God, and the nature of man, cannot question it: God is a being of infinite fulness and perfection; a self-sufficient, and an all-sufficient good; and man an indigent, helpless, dependent creature, full of wants, and obnoxious to dangers. 2. privilege, but an indispensable duty. So That prayer is not only an inestimable solicitous is God for our welfare and happiness, that he makes our privilege our duty, by the authority of his command; so that we are at once ungrateful to God, and unjust to ourselves, in the most exaltand spread our wants before him. ed degree, if we do not pray unto him, That this duty of prayer is not an occasional, but a constant duty: Men ought 3.. certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 Two men went 14 I tell you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. always to pray; that is, 1. At all seasonable times and fit opportunities. We are said to do a thing continually, when we do it seasonably; now the seasons for prayer are morning and evening. As the morn-up into the temple to pray; the one ing and evening sacrifice was constant a Pharisee, and the other a publican. among the Jews, and the fire was always 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed upon the altar, and never went out; so he thus with himself: God, I thank thee that prays morning and evening, may be that I am not as other men are, exsaid to be instant in prayer, and to pray tortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even without ceasing. 3. Always to pray, is an as this publican: 12 I fast twice in endeavour always to keep the heart in a praying frame, and to be very frequent in the week, I give tithes of all that I offering up pious ejaculations, and short possess. 13 And the publican, standmental prayers to God, as occasion shall ing afar off, would not lift so much as offer; when in the field, in the shop, in his eyes unto-heaven, but smote upon the bed, when sleep departs, in the journey his breast, saying, God be merciful to when alone, this may be done advantageously without loss of time, and acceptably me a sinner. without danger of hypocrisy, which too often mingles itself with our more set prayers. Observe, 4. We must not only pray constantly, but pray fervently, yea, importunately; if we would pray successfully, we must cry to God as the widow to the judge: vehemency and importunity are both helps and ornaments to prayer; they both fortify and beautify our prayers; they pierce the heavens, and offer an holy violence to God: Oratio vincit invincibilem, et l'gat omnipotentem; hæc vis Deo grata est, says Tertullian, "God delights in such importunity."-Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? If by the Son of man's coming we understand Christ's coming in judgment against Jerusalem, then the sense is this; "That when he comes to take vengeance on the obstinate Jews, and to destroy their city, he will find but little faith, and patient waiting for help from God, in the land of Judea, and consequently little importuning him with incessant cries and supplications, as this poor woman did the unjust judge." 2. If by the Son of man's coming, we understand Christ's coming to judge the world at the last day, then the sense is, "When he cometh, he will find but few faithful ones, comparatively speaking; he will find but few sincere and serious Christians, in whom the genuine effects and fruits are found." Learn, That when Christ shall come to judgment, he will find comparatively very few whose hearts have not fainted, and very many, who through the power that temptation has upon the frailty of human nature are falen away: When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Verily, but little faith, and few faithful ones. 9 And he spake this parable unto in this parable is, to reprove and conThe design and scope of our Saviour demn the Pharisees, and in them all other self-justiciaries, who having an high opinion of, and trusting in, their own righteousness, despised others as vile persons, whose religion is not accompa nied with ostentation, and who pretend not to such extraordinary degrees of sanctity as themselves. And the parable further shows, That an humble, self-condemned sinner, who though he has been wicked, is now sensible of it, and with shame and sorrow confesses it before God, is more acceptable than he that vaunts of his virtue, and rests in the outward duties of religion: his pride and exaltation of himself shall abase him, while the other's humility shall exalt him. This is the general scope of the parable; the particu lar observations from it are these: 1. The Pharisee and the publican both pray, they both pray together in the place of prayer, the holy temple, and they both pray, apud se with and within themselves. Where the duty and action is the same, there may be a vast difference in the purpose and intention: Doth an humble saint pray? so may a haughty hypocrite: Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. Observe, 2. The Pharisee's prayer, He stood and prayed with himself, God, I thank thee, &c. Where note, His gesture, He stood and prayed; Standing and kneeling are praying gestures, but sitting is a rude indecency, except in cases of necessity. "In prayer (says pious bishop Hall) I will |