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They should contentedly eat what was fet before them. 39 rest upon it: if not, it shall in the House, your Prayer for Peace and Profpe- Sect. 97. turn to you again.

7 And in the fame House remain, eating and drinking fuch Things as they give; for the Labourer is worthy of his Hire. Go not from

House to House.

8 And into whatsoever City ye enter, and they re

ceive you, eat fuch Things 9 And heal the Sick that are therein, and say unto them, The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

as are before you :

to But into whatsoever City ye enter, and they receive you not, go your Ways out into the Streets of the fame, and say,

11 Even the very Duft of your City, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against

you; notwithstanding, be ye fure

rity shall be answered, and shall rest upon it; but
if not, it shall not be entirely lost, but shall re-
turn upon you, and you shall be the better for those
kind and friendly Sentiments, even tho' the Wishes
they dictate be not exactly answered.

Luke X. 6.

And when you are entered into any Lodgings, 7
continue in the fame House as long as you stay in
the Town, chearfully and contentedly eating and
drinking what you find with them; for as on the
one Hand, the common Labourer is worthy of bis
Reward, and therefore you, who take so much
Pains to bring them to the greatest Blessings, have
much more Right to your Entertainment; so on
the other, it is beneath you to be very folicitous
and nice about the Manner of it; and therefore
do not create an unnecessary Trouble in the Family,
or go from one House to another, in Hope of better
Accommodations, during the short Stay you make
in a Place.

And I repeat it again, Into whatever Town or 8
City you come, and they entertain you freely and
chearfully, eat and drink fuch Things as are fet
before you : And I am fure I put it into your 9
Power, to make them an abundant Recompence,
when I commission you, as I do now, to heal the
Sick that are in it, and to say unto them, The long
expected Kingdom of GOD is come near unto you,
and therefore prepare yourselves thankfully to re-
ceive the Blessings of it, which are freely offered
to you by the Meffiah.

But into whatsoever City you come, and they do 10
not entertain you, nor regard your Meslage, go out
into the Streets of it, and fay in a most publick
and folemn Manner, Since you reject so gra- 11
cious and important a Message, we cannot but
confider you as rejected by God, and devoted to
certain and inevitable Destruction; we therefore
separate ourselves from all that belongs to you,
and wipe off from our Feet against you even the
very Duft of your City which cleaves to us (e)

never

(e) Wipe off the very Duft of your City, &c.] For the Import of this folemn Action, see Sect. 74. Note (o), pag. 460. from whence it will appear, that Dr. Edwards's fingular In

terpre

40

The dreadful Case of those who would not receive them.

sure of this, that the King

dom of GOD is come nigh unto you.

Sect. 97. nevertheless, know this affuredly, that the Kingdom
~ of GOD is come near unto you, and in the Midft
Luke X. 11. of all the Calamities which are to befal you, let
your Confciences witness, that Mercy hath been
offered and refufed.
And I say unto you, as I
formerly did to your Brethren, that in that Day
of the final Judgment it shall be more tolerable, than for that City.
even for the accursed Inhabitants of Sodom itself,
than for that City, wheresoever it shall be found.

12

13

Now while our Lord was thus mentioning to
his Seventy Disciples the wretched Cafe of those
that rejected the Gospel, he could not forbear re-
fecting, that this was the Condition of fome of
those Cities, where he himself had made the most
frequent Vifits, and the longest Abode: He there-
fore repeated the pathetick Lamentation he had
before taken up for them (f), and faid, On this
Account Woe unto thee, oh thou obstinate Chorazin,
Woc unto thee, ob thou incorrigible Bethfaida ; for
if the Wonders which have been wrought in you, bad
been done in Tyre and Sidon, degenerate as they
were, they would have repented long fince, fitting
in Sackcloth, and lying down in Ashes, to exprefs
the Depth of their Humiliation and Sorrow.

14 But tho Vengeance has long fince been executed
upon them, GOD will make manifest the Impar-
tiality of his Justice, and it shall be more tolerable
in the Day of his tremendous Judgment for Tyre

15 and Sidon, than for you. And thou, oh most
ungrateful and rebellious Capernaum, who hast been
diftinguished from all the rest by my longest Re-
fidence in thee, so that thou hast (as it were)
been lifted up to Heaven in that Respect, as well
as in Magnificence and Wealth, fhalt be brought
down even to Hell, and funk into the deepest and

12 But I fay unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom,

13 Wo unto thee, Cho

razin, Wo unto thee, Bethfaida; for if the mighty Works had been done in

Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, fitting in Sackcloth and Athes.

14 But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Judgment, than for you.

15 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to Reflections on the Conduct that becomes Ministers.

most

Heaven, shalt be thrust down to Hell.

terpretation, (Edw. on Script. Vol. ii. pag. 189, 193.) is not only foreign, but contrary to our Lord's Purpose. He strangely supposes it an Allufion to those Courts, where, as in what we call Pie-Powder (or Pieds poudres) Courts, Controverfies were immediately decided, as it were before People could wipe the Dust off their Shoes.

(f) He repeated the pathetick Lamentation, &c.] Confidering the affectionate Temper of our Lord, it is no Wonder, that he should renew his Lamentations over those unhappy Places, where he had fo intimately conversed; and that he should do it in such Words as these, so well calculated to alarm, and impress, all that should hear, or read them. Oh that they might now have their due Weight with those, who might pass them over too flightly, when they occurred before, from Mat. xi. 20,-24. (See Sect. 59. pag. 357,-359-) Oh that every impenitent Creature who reads them, might know that the Sentence of his own Condemnation is now before his Eyes!

16 He that heareth you, heareth me: and he that despiseth you, despiseth me: and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that fent me.

S

41

most irrecoverable Ruin, since thou hast heard Sect. 97. my Gospel only to despise it.

And then turning to the Seventy Disciples, Luke X. 16. who still stood around him, he concluded his Instructions to them in these important Words, (to the fame Purpose as he before had faid to the Apostles, Mat. x. 40. pag. 471.) He that heareth you, in the Discharge of this your Embassy, heareth me, and on the other Hand, he that rejetteth you, in like Manner rejecteth me; and he that rejetteth me, rejecteth him that fent me, even the Father himself, whose Credentials I bear, and who will punish the Despisers of the Gospel, as impious Rebels, who prefume to contemn his Infinite Majesty, and provoke his Almighty Power.

IMPROVEMENT.

O unwilling was the Blessed Jefus, to give over his kind Attempts for Luke x. 1. Men's Salvation! He projected another Circuit thro' the Country, and sends forth other Messengers, more numerous than the former Company. He renews his Invitations to perishing Sinners, and his Lamentations over Ver. 13,-15. those, who had hitherto rejected the Counsel of GOD against themselves. (Luke vii. 30.) Thus let us love the Souls of Men; thus let us use repeated Endeavours to deliver them; Endeavours, which would probably be much more fuccessful than they are, if these wife and gracious Directions of Christ to his Ministers were more attentively observed, by those who are honoured with that important Office.

Let all such caft their Care upon GOD; let them go forth chearfully, Ver. 3, 4. in a Dependance on his Protection and Favour; let them carry about with them Hearts full of Affection for the whole Human Race, seeking and praying for the Peace of all around them; chearfully contenting them- Ver. 5. felves with fuch Things as they have; (Heb. xiii. 5.) and neither pursuing Ver. 7, 8. the Grandeurs, nor the Delicacies of Life, with any eager Attachment.

Send forth, Oh Lord, such Labourers into thine Harvest; and animate Ver. 2. them to a becoming Zeal in their Work, by a deep Sense of that dreadful Condemnation, which those will incur, who defpifing them, pour Contempt on their Divine Master, and his Heavenly Father, in whose Name he was Ver. 16. fent! May God preserve our Country from that Guilt and Ruin! The Kingdom of GOD is come nigh unto us, and we are lifted up to Heaven by Ver. 11. our Privileges: May we not, after all, be caft down to Hell for the Abuse Ver. 15. of them! but may Divine Grace make such a Way for the Gospel into our Hearts, that we may cordially receive all that faithfully proclaim it, and

bid them welcome in the Name of the Lord!

VOL. II.

F

SECT.

:

42

John VII. VII. 1. 1.

His Brethren urge him to go up to the Feast of Tabernacles.

SECT. XCVIII.

CHRIST discourses with his Brethren about his going up to the Feast of Tabernacles, and stays Some Time after them. John VII. 1,--13.

JOHN VII. I.

Sect. 98. AFTER these Things, that is, after he had miraculously fed the Five thousand, walked on the Sea to his Disciples, and discoursed with the Multitude concerning the Bread of Life (a), Jefus for fome Time walked, or travelled, as we before observed, in Galilee, and there instructed his Disciples; (see pag. 14.) for he would not then walk, or converse familiarly in Judea (b), because the Jews, and especially their Rulers, incenfed by the growiug Fame of his Miracles, and the Freedom of his Discourses, fought an Opportunity to flay him, either by private Assaffination, tumultuous Affault, or legal Process.

2

3

And a very noted Feast of the Jews was then near, which is [called] the Feast of Tabernacles; instituted in Commemoration of their dwelling in Tents in the Wilderness, and celebrated in Booths erected for that Purpose, with great Solemnity and Joy. (See Lev. xxiii. 34, & feq.)

Therefore his Brethren, or near Kinsmen in Galilee, faid unto him, We would advise thee to remove from bence, and go into Judea, that thy Disciples also who are there, may, for the Confirmation of their Faith in thee, behold thy Miracles, and fee the mighty Works which thou performest here :

JOHN VII. I.

AFTER these Things Jesus walked in Galilee; for he would not walk

in Jewry, because the Jews fought to kill him.

2 Now the Jews Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. 7

i

3 His Brethren therefore faid unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy Difciples alfo may fee the Works that thou doest :

(a) After these Things, &c.] Those that I have mentioned here, are the laft, which had been recorded by John. See a more particular Account of them, Sett. 78,-82.

(b) He would not walk in Judea.] This may be an Intimation, either that he was not at Jerufalem the preceding Pafssover, or at least made no publick Appearance, or long Abode there. I am inclined to think, the former was the Cafe. Undoubtedly his Omission of a Journey thither, at some of the great Feasts, might be vindicated by his extraordinary Character, and those Intimations, he might have from his Heavenly Father, of being dispensed with, for Reasons not particularly known to us, who have no Concern with them. See Note (b), Sect. 83. Vol. i. pag. 516.

(c) That

i

He at first refuses, as his Time was not yet come :

43

4 For there is no Man here: For this Retirement seems not at all Sect. 98.

that doth any Thing in secret, and he himself seeketh

to be known openly: If thou do these Things, thew thyself to the World.

Brethren believe in him.

01

to fuit the great Pretensions thou art making to a
publick and extraordinary Character, as it is well John VII. 4.
known, that no Man will chuse to act any remark-
able Thing in Secret, that is himself defirous, like
thee, to be publickly known and talked of (c): If
therefore thou art really the promised Messiah,
and doft these Things, which we so often see at
Home, by a Divine Commission, go up to Jeru-
salem, and there manifest thyself to the great Men
of the World, and appear in Places of the most
publick Concourse; and thou canst not have a bet-
ter Opportunity of doing it, than at this celebrated
Feast, which brings together so many, not only
from the Land of Ifrael, but from neighbouring

5 For neither did his Countries. This they said, not out of any 5
real Friendship and Respect, but to make farther
Trial of him, and in some measure to upbraid
him with those Precautions which he thought it
necessary to observe; for, notwithstanding all the
Evidences he had given of his Divine Mission, yet
neither did his Brethren and Kindred themselves
believe in him, when they saw that he took no
such Method to raise himself and his Family, as
they thought inseparable from the Character of
the Meffiah, whenever he should appear (d).

6 Then Jesus said unto

come: but your Time alway ready.

Then Jefus faid unto them, My Time, either 6 them, My Time is not yet to manifeft myself, or to go up to Jerufalem, is not yet come; but your Time is always ready, and such a Circumstance in your Cafe is comparatively of very little Importance. You 7

7 The World cannot

hate have no Reason to fear any Injury, or Assault, as

the

(c) That is himself defirous to be publickly known and talked of.) This seems to be a very invidious and groundless Infinuation, as if he was acted by oftentatious Views; the contrary to which appeared so evidently in the whole of his Conduct, that nothing but base Envy could suggest such a Charge.

(d) Neither did his Brethren believe in him, &c.] It is astonishing, that these near Relations of Chrift, who must have had so many Opportunities of seeing the Glories, both of his Character, and Miracles, (which last they here expressly acknowledge,) should continue in Unbelief. But they unhappily laid it down as a first Principle, that the Meffiah must be a Temporal Prince; and finding this Mark of his Mission wanting, and seeing (more strongly than others, not so intimately conversant with him, could do,) his Aversion to any fuch Scheme, they would yield to no other Proofs; and are, I fear, on the fatal Lift of those, who perished, as Thousands now do, by opposing Hypothesis to Faft. See Dr. Sykes on the Truth of Chriftianity, pag. 128.

F2

(e) The

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