_CHRIST REPROVETH THE PHARISEES' BLINDNESS ABOUT THE OBSERVATION OF THE SABBATH, BY SCRIPTURE, REASON, AND MIRACLE: CHOOSETH TWELVE APOSTLES: HEALETH THE DISEASED: PREACHETH TO HIS DISCIPLES BEFORE THE PEOPLE, PRONOUNCING BLESSINGS AND WOES: HOW WE MUST LOVE OUR ENEMIES; AND JOIN THE OBEDIENCE OF GO... [ Continue Reading ]
ON THE SECOND SABBATH, &C.— _On the first sabbath after the second of the passover._ Commentators are much at a loss to understand what St. Luke means by _the second sabbath after the first;_— Σαββατω δευτεροπρωτω. Some think the proper translation of his words is, _the first second-day's sabbath;_... [ Continue Reading ]
AN HUNGERED— Or _Hungry._... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD ALSO OF THE SABBATH.— _Lord even,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO SAVE LIFE, OR TO DESTROY IT?— That our Lord might expose the malice and superstition of the Pharisees, he appealed to the dictates of their own minds, whether it was not more lawful to do good on the sabbath-day than to do evil; to save than to kill? He meant—"more lawful for him on the sabbath t... [ Continue Reading ]
IN PRAYER TO GOD.— 'Εν τη προσευχη του Θεου, in a _proseucha, oratory,_ or _prayer-house of God._ These _proseuchas,_ or houses of prayer, were common in Judea: it is well known that they were open at the top, planted round with trees, and often situated by the sides of seas or rivers. See Acts 16:1... [ Continue Reading ]
ZELOTES,— Or, _The Zealot._... [ Continue Reading ]
AND STOOD IN THE PLAIN;— Dr. Macknight is of opinion that this sermon was not the same with that declared in the fifth and following Chapter s of St. Matthew. Amongst other reasons which he urges to shew the difference, he remarks, that the sermon recorded by St. Matthew was delivered on a _mountain... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE UNTO YOU THAT ARE RICH!— We may observe another circumstance in this discourse, in which also it differs from that in St. Matthew, namely, that our Lord not only pronounced blessings, but likewise maledictions, in it. As poverty, which is neither good nor bad in itself, cannot be acceptable to G... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE UNTO YOU THAT LAUGH NOW!— Our Lord's malediction is not inconsistent with the apostle's precepts which command Christians _always to rejoice;_ neither is the mirth, against which the woe is here denounced, to be understood of that constant cheerfulness of temper, which arises to the true Christi... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE UNTO YOU, WHEN ALL MEN SHALL SPEAK WELL OF YOU!— "Woe unto you, ifby propagating such doctrines or sentiments as encourage and nourish the vain spirit of the world, you shall gain to yourselves the applause and flattery of the generality of men; for thus in old times did the false prophets and d... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE TO EVERY MAN THAT ASKETH OF THEE;— As the words _ask not again,_ are used by the LXX to express a claim of interest due upon money and goods, some interpreters have chosen to render the words _lend to every man that asketh of thee; and from him that receiveth thy goods, exact not interest._ But... [ Continue Reading ]
HOPING FOR NOTHING AGAIN;— _Distrusting nothing._ "Shew these acts of kindness to your brethren, not at all despairing either of your present sustenance, or of your future reward." See Beza.... [ Continue Reading ]
GOOD MEASURE, &C.— Our Lord makes use of three phrases to express all the different kinds of good measure, according to the different natures of the things measured. Some of them, to make the measure good, must be _pressed_ and trodden; some of them must be _shaken,_ as the several kinds of grain; a... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY ONE THAT IS PERFECT, SHALL BE, &C.— "Whatever difficulties and sufferings may attend my followers in observing and communicating the instructions that I have given them in my doctrine and example, let them not think much of it: for the disciple should not expect to be exempted from doing what... [ Continue Reading ]