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righteous will be righteous still; and he that is holy will be holy still.' Rev. xxii. 11.1 I shall then command you to depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.

Vers. 28, 29. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye (the Jews) shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they (the Gentiles) shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. That the kingdom of God signified the spiritual reign of the Messiah, all commentators have conceded; and this we have shown in the notes on the parable of the offending hand or foot, pp. 12-14. The Jews, when the time of sober reflection came, would see that Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, did in reality embrace Christ, by faith in the promises made to them, and in this sense, they entered the kingdom of God. These patriarchs, and the prophets, the Jews held in the highest estimation; and nothing could be a greater grief to them, than to see them in the kingdom of God, and they themselves cast out; and when that took place, therefore, it is well said, 'there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,' the most demonstrable signs of sorrow; and this was heightened by the reflection, that they should see the Gentiles, whom they had always despised, enjoying in this kingdom the fellowship of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is the view taken of this subject by Dr. Whitby, whose authority in this case will not be inpaired by the suspicion, that he was biased by his

1 That this passage had its fulfillment at the coming of Christ to destroy the Jewish state, is evident from comparing Rev. xxii. 10,

11 and 12.

creed in the interpetration. "To lie down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven, doth not signify to enjoy everlasting happiness in heaven with them, but only to become the sons of Abraham through faith, Gal. iii. 7, and so to be blessed with faithful Abraham, ver. 9, to have the blessing of Abraham coming on them, that they may receive the promise of the spirit, ver. 14 through faith in Christ to be the seed of Abraham and heirs according to the promise, ver. 29, viz: the promise made to Abraham, Gen. xii. 3. renewed to Isaac Gen. xxvi. 4, and confirmed to Jacob Gen xxviii. 14, and to be, according to Isaac, the children of promise, Gal. iv. 28. This, says Christ, shall be the blessing of the believing Gentiles; they shall be sons of Abraham, and heirs of the promises made to the patriarchs, and mentioned by all the holy prophets of the Old Testament, whereas, the unbelieving Jews, wanting the faith of Abraham, shall be deprived of the blessings promised to his seed; for they who seek to enter, and shall not be able, because the master has shut to his door, Luke xiii. 24, 25, are those Jews who sought for righteousness by the works of the law and not by faith, and therefore found it not, Rom. ix. 31, 32, vi. 7, who entered not into the rest prepared for them, by reason of their unbelief, Heb. iii. 18, 19, iv. 2, 5, 8, from whom the kingdom of God was taken away, Matt. xxi. 43, they are they who shall say to Christ, we have eaten and drunk before thee, and thou hast taught in our streets,' Luke xiii. 26, which could be said only by the Jews."

Various figures were employed by the Saviour, to represent the Jews as excluded from the blessings of the Gospel. They were said to be cast into

1 Com. and Annot. on Matt. viii, 11, 12.

Gehenna,-their last state was worse than the first -they were the tares that were bound in bundles and burned-the bad that were cast away when the net was drawn on shore-and those cast into outer darkness at the wedding feast. All these figures were employed to represent them, as left in the darkness of ignorance, and suffering the most grievous punishments, while others entered into the kingdom of God, and had rest. The Bible does, however, teach us, that they shall at last all know God. Paul repeatedly declared this fact. "All Israel shall be saved," Rom. xi. 26. "All shall know me from the least to the greatest," Heb. viii. 11. The parable under consideration had no reference to the eternal state of the Jews, their condition in immortality; but described the great and leading feature in their history, which occupies so prominent a place in all the parables, their rejection and destruction at the time heaven gave them up, the victims of their own wickedness, and of the wrath of the Roman armies.

Parable of the Supper.

LUKE XIV. 16-24.

"A certain man made a great supper, and bade many : And sent his servant at supper time, to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: Ipray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife: and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men who were bidden, shall taste of my supper."

This parable may be considered under the following heads:

1. What is signified by the " great supper ?" 2. Who were those bidden to the supper ?

3. Who were represented by "the poor, and the maimed, and the halt and the blind," bidden afterwards to the supper?

4. In what sense was it true that none of those first bidden should taste of the supper ?

The parable forms a part of a train of instructions which seem to have been drawn from the Saviour by a circumstance of trivial importance in itself. At the commencement of the chapter we are informed, that Jesus "went into the house of

one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day." After mixing with the guests, he perceived that some were engaged in seeking out the chief places, that they might hold an honorable station at the repast. He, on another occasion, described the Pharisees as "loving the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues."-Matt. xxiii. 6. This circumstance led him to give the following judicious advice, recorded in verses 8-11 -"When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him; And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this inan place, and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, "Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." From the Pharisees who were engaged in choosing the chief places, Jesus turned to the man into whose house he had entered, and who had invited the distinguished men, viz: the "lawyers and Pharisees," of whom the company was composed. "When thou makest a dinner or a supper," said he, addressing this man, "call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the mained, the lame, the blind; And thou shalt be blessed: for they cannot recompence thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."-Verses 12

14. At this one of the guests seems incidentally

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