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getting one mercy; when thou hast received numberless, and most signal proofs of the Divine goodness and no day passes without

refreshing thy memory with new demonstrations of it 2.

SECT. C.-Christ's Signs; and Manner of His coming to Judgment. Matt. xxiv. 23-31; Mark xiii. 21—31; Luke xvii. 20-37.

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PERHAPS Jesus was now arrived at the great city, or, at least, was in its immediate neighbourhood, when the Pharisees inquired of Him what time God would establish the kingdom of which He had spoken so much3. If we consider the state of the Jewish nation at the time when Christ appeared, we cannot wonder that their minds were earnestly bent upon temporal deliverance. Oppressed by the power of a foreign country, paying tribute to a foreign monarch, their city held by foreign soldiers, and commanded by a foreign governor, we can readily conceive that they would gladly lay hold of the notion, that the Messiah, so long promised and predicted, should be designed to redeem them from this foreign yoke: so much were they expecting that the Redeemer's kingdom of glory should have its beginning, at least in this world below 1. His answer now is, "The cometh not with observaAbp. Sumner.

kingdom of God

2 Dean Stanhope.

3 Dr. Robinson.

tion." It comes not with outward marks of splendour and triumph, but is of a moral and spiritual nature, ruling over the affections of the soul to reform and purify them. It is, therefore, in your hearts and lives you must look for it, where, by My preaching, it ought long since to have been established". "And He said unto the disciples, The days will come,' when the impending calamities shall fall on the nation of the Jews, and ye will wish in the time of your distress for the comfortable enjoyment of My presence again, which then ye cannot have. He warns them not to be led by impostors, who would arise in great numbers. The general purport of this discourse is to declare, first, the certainty of the things which awaited the Jewish people in the day when He should come to judgment, and His power should be manifested in the destruction of Jerusalem 7. And then our Lord rebukes the thoughtlessness, indifference, and unbelief which should generally prevail, in terms which are too applicable to all times, as well as to the destruction of Jerusalem. "As it was in the days of Noah," when God had revealed His intention to destroy the world, which He had made; yet for a long season delayed it whilst the ark was preparing, a practical admonition, enforcing the remonstrances which he, a preacher of righteousness, was ut5 Bishop Mann.

Dr. S. Clarke.

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Bishop Mann.

tering. So "in the days of Lot they did eat; they drank, they bought, and they sold," when thousands perished, cut off in the midst of their gaiety, their business, and sensuality: in the one case, by a flood; in the other, by fire from heaven. God had declared His purpose to Lot, and, in mercy to him, would have delivered all that belonged to him; but his wife showed an undue fondness for the things which she had left, and became a monument of God's anger against those who mind earthly things. Remember ye, by the example of Lot's wife, the folly of looking back at small and temporal things, when your life and happiness, your greatest, and most lasting concerns are at stake'. "In the day when the Son of Man is revealed," the mass of the Jewish people will turn their eyes from testimony, and their ears from warning, till the eagles come and prey upon the carcases of their large and wealthy city; meaning that, as the eagles collect wherever they find their prey, so shall the Roman armies follow the call of Divine vengeance. This expression contains a beautiful allusion to the eagles of the Roman standard'.

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Archbishop Sumner.

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Archbishop Newcome.

Dr. S. Clarke.

341

SECT. CI.-Parable of the Importunate Widow.-
Luke xviii. 1-8.

PROBABLY with a view to encourage His disciples under the coming troubles, Jesus “spake a parable to them, to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint." A poor distressed woman, under great oppression, earnestly solicited the interference of a magistrate in her behalf, that she might obtain justice. He, being destitute of every good principle, both towards God and man, refused for some time to undertake her cause; but at length he consented, merely that he might be freed from the trouble of her importunity. It must have been very far from our Lord's intention, when He describes the unjust conduct of this judge, to recommend his behaviour to the imitation of His followers, or to imply that they should be overcome by mere importunity; but the moral of the parable is the point alone to be considered,—that prayer will, in the end, prevail, and must be persevered in, till the object we desire is obtained 3.

SECT. CII.-Parable of the Pharisee and Publican.-
Luke xviii. 9-14.

BUT Jesus, teaching us, at the same time, that we may draw near to God in prayer with confidence, and yet must not

2 Dr. Robinson.

do so with pre

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sumption, as if we might claim our requests by virtue of our own merits,-" spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others." He represents two men who went up to worship at the Temple; one of whom was a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The devotions of the former, if such they might be called, did not contain one single petition. Insolent and boasting in his style, even the thanks, which he would seem to offer up, bespeak sufficiency and self-satisfaction, and do not so much render praise to God, as they proclaim his own merit. This was the character of the Pharisees in general. The foundation of the reproach they frequently cast upon our Lord was, that He consorted with publicans and sinners. They not only "trusted in themselves that they were righteous," but "they despised others," saying, "Come not near me; I am holier than thou °. Accordingly, the Pharisee is here represented as despising a poor publican, who is, like himself, occupied in prayer to God. What right had he, or any man, to come before God with accusations in his mouth against other men? The sins or failings of others were no concern of his in his prayers; but he would dwell only on his own imaginary perfections, and throw a vail over his sins. He says, I observe the Archbishop Sumner.

Dr. Robinson.

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Dean Stanhope.

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