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the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

ཨཱུ ༔

And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words: when ye depart out of that house, or city, shake off the dust, of your feet.

Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha, in the day of judg. ment, than for that city.

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harm. less as doves.

But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their syna. gogues.

And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them, and the Gen. tiles.

But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in the same hour what ye shall speak.

For it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end, shall be saved.

But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye unto another for verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over t! cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come.

The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord: if they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household ?

Fear not them therefore; for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.

What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light : and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the house-tops.

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear Fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. which Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute.

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That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation. :

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword.

For I am come to set a màn át variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is

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not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.

cross, and followeth after

He that findeth his life,

And he that taketh not his me, is not worthy of me. shall lose it: and he that loseth his life, for my sake, shall find it.

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He that receiveth you, receiveth me: and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me.

He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward: and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward.

And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones, a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

And they went out and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.

ANNOTATIONS AND REFLECTIONS.

At thirty years of age, men in the Jewish church might be made doctors, and become teachers of the law's CHRIST being past that age, had a legal right to expound in their synagogues; and he took these occasions of preaching the Gospel, and confirmed the truth of it by many miracles. In his progress through the villages, our LORD was moved with compassion at seeing numbers who stood in need of spiritual instruction, desirous of knowing the truth, but separated and divided by the different opinions of the Pharisees and Sadducees, &c. uncertain what doctrine to rely on. Our LORD pointed them out to his disciples as objects of pity, deserving of

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their prayers; and when he had excited, in the minds of his apostles, sentiments of benevolence, he commissioned them to go and preach in different places; but previous to their departure, he gave them authority over all unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every kind of distemper through his name. Our LORD sent them out two and two, that they might be agreeable companions, and assistants to each other in their work. He commanded them to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, because it was ordained, that the Gospel should be first preached to the Jews; and he enjoined them not to receive any recompence for the cures they should per form, but to exert their power in an honourable manner, freely imparting to all, as he had imparted to them. To relieve his disciples from solicitude in respect to means for their support, he desired them not to make the usual preparations for their journey, but trust cheerfully to the providence of God, who would sooner work a miracle for their relief, while they were thus immediately engaged in his service, than suffer them to want subsistence. The only circumstance they were to attend to, in respect to their places of abode, was, to make enquiry concerning the character of the inhabitants, as their own reputations would be endangered by an intimate connection with disreputable families; and our LORD assured them, that whoever should entertain them with hospitality, would be repaid with blessings, and that those who rejected them would incur the divine displeasure.

It was customary for the Jews to shew their veneration for their native land, by wiping the dust off their feet, when they returned from a journey to any Gentile country in allusion to this, our LORD commanded his disciples to do the same, in order to intimate, that those who rejected the Gospel were no longer to be re

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garded as the people of God, but upon a level with heathen idolators. Such persons were worse than the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha, because they sinned. against more light and greater favour.

Our LORD warned his disciples of the hardships they would encounter, not only in the present expedition, but in future; and cautioned them to avoid unnecessary dangers, and to be harmless and inoffensive in their conduct. All that related to the persecutions they would meet with was prophetic, and was afterwards amply fulfilled.

From our LORD's expression, that he was come to send FIRE on earth, &c. we must not infer, that the end of his coming was to disturb the peace of the world, it only meant to foretel the cruel dissensions that would arise in families on account of the Gospel, from its being embraced by some individuals and rejected by others, and to warn his followers to prepare themselves for great rials; and also to exhort them to part with their dearest interests rather than renounce their faith.

Thus commissioned and instructed, our LORD's Apos das went forth to preach, and soon found his promise fulfilled; for, though ignorant and illiterate, they were enabled to preach the Gospel in a persuasive and affecting manner. Devils came out of the possessed, when commanded in the name of CHRIST; and many sick, whom they apointed with oil, as an emblem of our SAVIOUR'S healing power, recovered of their diseases. This ceremony seems to have been peculiar to the Apostolic age, and used as a sign of a miraculous power of healing; but as practised by the Roman Catholics now, it has no efficacy.

Though our LORD's discourse was particularly addressed to his twelve Apostles, there are many parts of it useful to all Christians...

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