THE

COTTAGER'S GUIDE,

&c.

EIGHTY-SECOND PORTION.

I. BEGINNING PRAYER.

MAY GOD, for the sake of JESUS CHRIST, give me the HOLY SPIRIT, that I may understand this portion of his Holy Word, and profit by it. AMEN.

II. THE SCRIPTURES.

Read St. Matthew's Gospel, chap. ix. verses 35 to 38; and chap. x. ver. 1, and 5 to 15; St. Mark's Gospel, chap. vi, ver. 6 to 11 and St. Luke's Gospel, chap. ix. ver. 1 to 5.

III. THE MEANINGS;

or sense of some words as used in this portion. MATTHEW ix. verse

36. fainted means here were weak from being tired.

chap. x. verse

5. the way. 10, &c. scrip

his meat.

11. worthy

12. salute

13. the house

MARK VI. verse

9. sandals

.. the country

bag to carry victuals in his maintenance

.. a person of worth

pray for a blessing upon the family, or people living in a house

.. light kind of shoes

IV. THE EXPLANATION.

Upon leaving Nazareth, our Lord set forth upon a journey, in which he visited all the large towns

and their neighbouring villages in that part of the country. Wherever he travelled, as soon as he came to a place where there was a synagogue (see vol. i. page 210.), he took the opportunity of teaching the people in it; and preached every where the good news, that God was about to set up his power as a King in the hearts of his people, all over the earth. (See vol. i. page 103. Matt.iii. 2. John iii. 3, 5.) As he went along, the people brought him those that were afflicted with any kind of sickness or disease, and He healed them all.

:

In the course of this journey Jesus was deeply affected with the state in which He found the people, and felt much pity for their miserable condition. Disregarding all bodily fatigue they flocked to Him from great distances, out of anxiety to be taught for though the word of God had been written for them, and given to their fathers, by the Holy Ghost (2 Pet. i. 21.), yet they knew little or nothing about it; and the Scribes and Pharisees, who pretended to teach them, gave them false instruction instead of true; (see vol. i. page 288. Matt. xxiii. 13.) and therefore, the poor ignorant people were exposed to all the devices of Satan, being weak and unable to stand against them they were just in the same situation as a flock of sheep would be without a shepherd to take care of them, wandering about and scattered every where. (Numb. xxvii. 17. Ezek. xxxiv. 5, 31. Žech. x. 2.)

With these feelings he spoke to his disciples; and, comparing the multitude of people to the ripe standing corn ready for harvest, (as he had done once before, John iv. 35. vol. i. page 193.) he told them that this harvest of souls was indeed very

plentiful, but that there were few labourers to gather it in; and he bid them pray to God, as "the Lord of the harvest," intreating Him to employ more labourers in collecting and securing this precious harvest.

And our Lord at once acted upon His feelings of compassion for the miserable state of the people, in the very manner which He had directed his disciples to pray for. He assembled the twelve whom he had already ordained to be his Apostles, (or, as the word would be called in our language, Missionaries) and determined to send them now upon the business for which he had then specially appointed them. For this purpose he gave them right to command the evil spirits, so as to send them away from the bodies of men; even as Christ by his own word had already frequently done (see vol. i. page 22. vol. ii. pages 159, 164, 274) He also gave them power to cure people who had any kind of disease or sickness. And then, having arranged them in pairs, he desired them to go, two by two, into different parts of the country round about and there preach the Gospel, and give proof that they were properly authorized to do so, by using the powers he had given them.

He gave them particular instructions for their journey; explaining to them, in the first place, what they were to do under their present circumstances; and afterwards giving them such general information, concerning the way in which their ministry would be received, as suited not only the occasion upon which he spoke, but also the circumstances of the Gospel-ministry ever afterwards.

In the first place then, he told them not to go out of the country where the Jews lived, into places inhabited by other nations. And as, because when travelling from one part of the Jews' country to another, they would have to pass through Samaria, he told them not to go into any of the towns belonging to the Samaritans: but that, in preaching the Gospel, they were to speak first of all to their own countrymen, the people of Israel; whose wretched condition he had just compared to the state of a flock of sheep that had strayed and were lost. It must be remembered that God had chosen the family of Abraham and their children, to be the particular people whom He called his own people; and that He had specially promised to them the blessing of the Saviour of the world. (Gen. xii. 2, 3; xxii. 18. Gal. iii. 16.) He had also made a covenant with them, to which he had joined the sign of circumcision; and this covenant was to last until its object was fulfilled by the death of Christ, the true "Lamb of God." (Isaiah xxv. 7. John i. 29.)

This great event had not yet taken place; and therefore it was not yet the proper time for preaching the Gospel to every nation in the world. This however was afterwards to be done, as is plain from the very words of the first promise to Abraham, that in his seed should "all the nations of the earth be blessed." (Gal. iii. 8.) The same Apostles therefore, who were now forbidden to go into the countries of the Gentiles (which word means other nations besides the Jews, see vol. i. page 61), were afterwards specially commanded to "teach all nations" and to "go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature". (Matt.

xxviii. 19. Mark xvi. 15.) It has been already explained who the Samaritans were (vol. i. page 186); and our Lord seems to have particularly mentioned them upon the present occasion, because they were more connected with the Jews than any other nation was, and their country lay just in the middle of that which belonged to the children of Israel.

In the course of our Lord's life upon earth, and therefore before the general opening of the gospel to all the world, He himself was indeed pleased to explain the way of salvation to some Samaritans, and also to bless the faith of some Gentiles. (John iv.1-42. Matt.viii.5-13; xv, 21-28.) But these were only exceptions to the general rule he gave his disciples; and the remembrance of them may have been very useful in settling their minds respecting the alteration of this rule after his death.

Having told them to whom they were to go, he next explained to them what they were to do. As they went along they were to preach; and the subject of their preaching would be to warn their hearers, that before long, God would set up the spiritual power of His kingdom in the hearts of people upon earth. (See vol. i, page 103.) While this was their principal business, they were to confirm their preaching by making use of the power which he had just given them. They were to cure sick people, and especially to remove that dreadful disease the leprosy; which was beyond the power of medicine to relieve, and to declare clean from which was, by the appointment of God, the work of the Priest alone. (See vol. ii. page 11.) They were to call the dead to life again; and to command evil spirits who had taken possession of