36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. 37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. be altogether on the wing towards a participation in divine benefits, that so, when death comes, leaving upon earth the mortal body, and putting off its nature, we may be properly girt for the heavenly march, προς την ουρανιαν πορείαν ωσιν ευζωνοι.” The disciples are here compared to servants waiting for the coming of their Lord, that is, of Christ, to judgment, which is a further proof that our Lord is addressing his disciples generally, as well as those immediately about him. They are commanded therefore to be girt, that is, in perfect readiness for service. And your lights burning. Here the allusion is to the marriage ceremony. Their Lord having gone to conduct his bride home, the servants here spoken of are those left in the house, to be ready to open to the nuptial train, upon the first signal, and to mingle their lights and acclamations with those of the attendants. See have referred for illustrations to the farfetched and inapposite examples of the Roman Saturnalia, the Cretan Hermæa, and the Babylonian Saccas, when the servants sat at table, and were waited upon by their masters. But the true illustration lay much nearer at hand. It was customary in ancient times for the host to do honour to distinguished guests, by performing some services, on ordinary occasions done by servants; after which he might sit down in his own place: and we see that, not only when our Lord was entertained at Martha's own house, she, the hostess, served; but that when he dined at the house of Simon the leper, six days before the passover, whose residence was at Bethany, and a neighbour to Martha, it is said that "Martha served," doubtless in honour of the guest. So our Lord tacitly reproves Simon the Pharisee with having given him no water to wash his feet, which had been a mark of respect shown to him by others who had intended to receive him with honour and affection. The import of the promise, therefore, is, that their Lord would not treat them in that heavenly state as even favoured servants; but as chosen guests, to whom he would show marks of peculiar love and honour. Christ will, in fact, SERVE his faithful servants for ever; as he ministers grace, so will he delight to minister the honours, the blessedness, and the rewards of his kingdom; and that with a con descension which shall stoop to the meanest and most unnoticed by the world, who have served him in any line of duty with zealous affection. He will select the most laborious, persevering, and watchful servants for singular honour. 38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. 39' And this know, that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. 40 Be ye therefore ready also for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. 41 Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? 42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? 43 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. i Matt. xxiv. 43. Verse 38. And if he shall come in the second watch. The second watch was nine o'clock in the evening; and, a watch being three hours long, the third was twelve. That the marriage processions were so long delayed as midnight, is not probable; but the great duty of watchfulness was impressed by Christ upon his disciples from the uncertain time of his coming. Even should his coming be delayed, should the time of our death, the time of any threatened national calamity, the time of the final advent, be postponed beyond our calculations, the solemn lesson is, BE VIGILANT. In other words, we are always to remember, that our Lord will come and call us to account; and that this accountability of ours is a most solemn and momentous reality. Verse 39. If the good man of the house. -See the note on Matt. xxiv. 43, 44. Verse 41. Unto us, or even to all.—Our Lord, according to his frequent custom, was addressing his disciples in the presence of the multitude. On some occasions, he speaks directly to the people, on others, to the disciples alone; but often to the latter, whilst the others stand by. In the last case, the discourse is so constructed as to teach the multitude, through the lessons enjoined upon the disciples; but sometimes the words spoken have more special reference to the disciples, than to any other. This should be remembered, in order the better to interpret many parts of the discourses of our Lord which were so delivered. The sermon on the mount thus derives considerable illustration. It shows also the reason of Peter's question, Speakest thou this parable, respecting watching, unto us exclusively, or even unto all? This question our Lord does not answer, but immediately proceeds with another parable, evidently and wholly applicable to them and to all ministers; from which we may conclude that the former was addressed to all, but though generally expressed, still with special reference to those in the sacred office. 44 Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. 45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken : 46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. 47 And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. 49 ¶ I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? *Or, cut him off. Verse 47. And the servant which knew his Lord's will, &c.-The object of this passage is to impress, in the strongest manner, upon all, the practical application of the instructions they had received, by assuring them that, though the government be merciful, it is also just they were now among fully instructed servants, and are thus warned, And that servant who knew the will of his master, and prepared not himself, held not himself ready for every kind of service, and was actually disobedient to the commands laid upon him, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not. This is not to be taken absolutely, but comparatively; he that knew not so fully his Lord's will, who had not received instructions so explicit. We must suppose some general knowledge, or there would be no pretence for inflicting stripes at all. 1. The intention was to teach, that, in inflicting many stripes, God does not act arbitrarily, but with deliberative justice, since where the offence is less, the punishment is milder; so that from this proof of the calm judicial character of Christ's administration before us, we may be fully guarded against all carelessness and presumption. 2. To lay down this important axiom of God's moral government, which we ought never to forget, and with which every new privilege and blessing conferred upon us ought to impress us the more deeply, that from him to whom much is given, much shall be required. Verses 49, 50. I am come to send fire upon earth, &c.—Most commentators take this to refer to the persecutions and dissensions of which the propagation of Christ's religion would prove the innocent cause. For this, however, there appears no better reasons than that such dissensions are mentioned a few verses lower down; and that fire, which is used as an emblem of many other things, is also used as an emblem of dissension and violence. No doubt, also, this interpretation has been 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I' straitened till it be accomplished! Or, pained. aided by the common interpretation of the next verse; which, however, appears to be equally erroneous. It is a fatal objection to the notion, that by fire, in this place, Christ means persecutions and divisions, that the kindling of it is made the object of his most earnest wish. I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, ei ndn avnpon, but that it were already kindled; for a often expresses a wish, as, "If thou hadst known," for, "O that thou hadst known!" The phrase may be turned several ways; but, in all, an eager anticipation or a strong desire must be understood, or no consistent sense can be given to the words: Now surely no reason can be given why our Lord should strongly wish *for the instant kindling of that fire of persecution and dissension which should "divide a house against itself, and set three against two, and two against three." Such dissensions indeed he predicted would be the result of his ministry, but could, in no degree, long for them, as though impatient for their arrival; the precise emotion which the text indicates. The fire therefore must be understood of the FIRE OF HIS WORD, a figure of speech not strange to the Jews, because found several times in the Old Testament, and by our Lord most aptly applied to his own gospel in its full and perfect revelation, which took place at the day of Pentecost, and was accompanied by the descent of the Spirit "in cloven tongues as of fire," emblematical of the intense power, the purifying, testing, and consuming qualities of Christianity; its power being discovered in all these respects, in purging men from vice, in bringing every thing to the test of an infallible standard, and revealing its good or its evil, and in its mightily destructive tendency as to all things contrary to itself. The last has, in all ages, been confessed by the attempts made ever since its introduction to escape from or to extinguish its light and influence, when any corruption in religion or society at large was to be spared or encouraged. To send this holy fire abroad upon earth was the very object of our Lord's mission; and from the fulness of his benevolence he expresses his earnest wish that it were already kindled, and all its blessings fully bestowed on men. But he adds, I have a baptism to be baptized with; I must be baptized with blood, before I can "baptize with fire; " and how am I straitened, confined, restrained, from the giving of the most ex cellent gifts I came to impart, "from baptizing with the Holy Ghost and fire," to which I am appointed, from the full revelation of truth to my disciples and to the world, until that baptism is accomplished! A metaphorical signification of σvvexoμaι is preferred by many, because it best agrees with the sense they would put upon the text, which is an undefinable, distressful longing for the accomplishment of his death, as though he were almost impatient to get through an inevitable appointment, and know the worst of the case. This scarcely consists with the perfect patience ascribed to our Lord; nor could the avowal of it apparently teach any important lesson. Whereas, nothing is more natural than that our Lord should feel himself restrained and confined, in giving his instructions, by the necessity arising out of his unaccomplished death, that much of truth should be veiled in parable, and much postponed; and nothing more consistent with his character than that he, "the Sun of Righteousness," now under a cloud, should long to break forth upon his disciples and the nations" with healing in his wings," whilst yet he was restrained. And the lesson, too, is highly important. We are taught that Christianity, as a revelation, was not perfected until after he had sent his fire upon the earth, the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon his apostles; and that we must connect THE APOSTLES' DOC 51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: 52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. k 54 And he said also to the people, * When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. 55 And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. 56 Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time? j Matt. x. 34. TRINE With his own, as contained in the EVANGELISTS, in order to have THE Whole EFFICIENT GOSPEL. Socinians and others are fond of confining their attention chiefly to the Gospels, and neglecting the Epistles: the reason is, that when the whole gospel was revealed, and the light of Pentecost thrown upon the previous discourses of our Lord, those doctrines are unequivocally found there, which before the death of Christ, and the key afforded by that to his own words, could only be generally and figuratively expressed. Here our Lord explains the whole case the fire could not be fully kindled upon earth until he had gone through the baptism of his sufferings; in other words, he must accomplish a sacrificial death, in order to give light and life to the world, and by the full knowledge of that character and peculiarity of his death alone could his doctrine be fully understood. Verse 51. Suppose ye that I am come to send peace on earth? Here an entirely different subject is introduced; though it takes its rise from the former. I am k Matt. xvi. 2. indeed come to send fire upon earth, the illuminating purifying influences of heavenly truth; but suppose ye that I am come only to send blessings, that peace only will be the result? I tell you, Nay; but, through the perverseness of men, and in opposition to my intention, and in despite of my authority and doctrine, rather division. This appears to be the true connexion. See the note on Matt. x. 34. Verse 55. There will be heat.-The heat which is produced by the blowing of the south wind in Judea is very oppressive. Verse 56. Face of the sky and earth.The Jews paid great attention to the indications of weather; and their wise men abounded with rules for prognosticating it from the different aspects of the sky and the earth, that is, from the appearance of the atmosphere, and whether affecting the face of the sky, or that of the earth. Their skill in this respect arose from their attention to the subject; and if they had exercised the same attention to the evidences of Christ's mission, they would |