TAKE AWAY THE DROSS FROM THE SILVER, AND THERE SHALL COME FORTH A VESSEL FOR THE FINER.-Prov. xxv. 4. curred; for the belief in the resurrection of the dead, so far at least as it was implied by a belief of the immortality and metempsychosis of the human soul, was a point of distinction between them and the Sadducees, of which Ac. xxiii. 6, 8, alone is a proof... With regard to the harmony of the several accounts, every discrepancy is trifling, except what concerns the terms or the order of our Lord's reply. ....The concluding words of St. Luke's account, Távτes yap air too, are parallel in point of construction to this passage of Josephus, οἳ τεθνήκασι τὸ πλέον 'AVTITάTρ (B. i. xxxii. 2); or to this, sidóres öri ol dià τὸν Θεὸν ἀποθνήσκοντες ζῶσι τῷ θεῷ, ὥσπερ Αβραάμ, Ἰσαάκ, καὶ Ἰακώβ, καὶ πάντες οἱ πατριάρχαι (De Maccabeis 16). 'The answer, as we learn expressly from St. Luke, and by implication from St. Mark, gave so much satisfaction to certain scribes present, doubtless of the sect of the Pharisees, as to draw forth an open avowal of their approbation, Aidaoxoλe, kas sinas [Lu. xx. 39]. Its effect upon the multitude is stated by St. Matthew only; but the impression it produced upon the interrogators, as the sect of the Sadducees in particular, that they durst not ask him anything more, that is, try to renew the dispute, either on that, or on any other subject, is noticed most distinctly by St. Luke. This sect therefore was now put to silence. 'One of the above-mentioned scribes, as we may collect from St. Mark, it was consequently who put the next question concerning the greatest commandment in the Law, which St. Luke has omitted altogether, and St. Matthew has recorded only in part. The motive of this inquirer I believe was good; and, therefore, that St. Matthew's repáčov, in reference to his act, must be literally interpreted of making trial only, and with a sincere desire of information. Nor when he says, just before, that the Pharisees were collected together, is it implied that this man was put forward by the rest, or acted as their spokesman and not of his own accord. It may be inferred from both evangelists, that the terms of the question were probably these, Ποία ἐστὶ πρώτη πασῶν ἐντολὴ, καὶ μeɣáλn ev τ vón; and the terms of our Lord's decision, as a categorical answer to a categorical question, Αὕτη ἐστὶ πρώτη, καὶ μεγάλη, ἐντολή, [Mt. xxii. 38, p. 305,] do so far confirm the inference. After this, we learn from St. Mark, No man durst ask him any more questions; an observation which comes somewhat later in St. Matthew, viz., at the end of the next transaction; but is clearly to be understood reflexively of the effect of this. The whole time hitherto taken up it may not be possible exactly to determine; but the last particular could not be much earlier than the incident relating to the widow's mite; nor that incident than the commencement of evening service, one of the stated times when such oblations were wont to be made, viz. from the ninth hour of the day to the eleventh. soned more at length, Πῶς λέγουσιν οἱ Γραμματεις ; κ. τ. λ. with which the residue of St. Matthew's account is obviously reconcileable. . . . . After this we must place Mk. xii. 38-40, and Lu. xx. 45-7, [p. 308,] the first personal and direct attack upon the scribes, as recorded by St. Mark and by St. Luke, in terms almost the same; and which it is impossible to confound with that longer and later invective, Mt. xxiii. throughout..... This was addressed, as we learn from St. Luke, to our Lord's own disciples in particular; that, to the multitude at large, or to others as well as to them. . . . . This is levelled against a single vice, the pride or arrogance of the parties addressed; that, against a complication of vices..... This can, on no principle, be considered merely as an epitome of that; and if it is not an epitome of it, it must be distinct from it..... After the delivery of that longer invective, it is morally certain that our Lord immediately left the temple, and never returned to it again; whereas St. Mark and St. Luke both attest that, when he had made an end of the former address, he spent some time in contemplating the resort of the people, with their respective contributions, to the treasury; upon which occasion they record the anecdote of the poor widow's mite.* 'After this event, but before the next, it seems the most convenient place to insert Jno. xii. 37, to the First, because from the end; alluded to above. express testimony of verse 36; what is afterwards recorded must have happened subsequently to the tenth of Nisan, the day of our Lord's first visit to, and first departure from, the temple; and subsequently also to the evening of that day, which we have shewn to have been the time when he quitted the temple. Secondly, because it is equally certain from xiii. 1, [§ 87, p. 365.] that it must have transpired before the thirteenth of Nisan, when St. John, as we shall see, resumes the thread of his account, upon the evening prior to the passion. If so, it must have come between these extremes exactly; later than the tenth, but earlier than the thirteenth of Nisan; and consequently either on the eleventh or on the twelfth. This point being presumptively established, we may much more confidently assume that the next transaction-the denunciation of woes against the scribes and Pharisees which takes up the whole of Mt. xxiii. [p. 312], was immediately followed by the departure from the temple.-See NOTE, p. 321. The particulars subsequent to this, on the same day, were first, the observation made by some one or more of the disciples, as they were passing out of the temple, and personally addressed to our Lord, on the beauty and magnificence of its structure; an observation, memorable not only for the immediate answer which it drew forth from him, but also for its connection with the prophecy on the mount; which all the three Evangelists are agreed. Secondly, the seems to have ultimately been due to it. In this fact prophecy upon mount Olivet, delivered, as we learn from St. Mark, to four of the apostles, Peter and Andrew, James and John, apart from the rest; and recorded also, either wholly or in part, by each of the same Evangelists. Yet the proceedings on the evening of this day are not, perhaps, completed even with the close of this prophecy itself; for, if I mistake not, another incident not less important, and not less distinctly recorded, than any of the rest is still to be referred to it: preparatory to which, however, it is necessary we should first say something on the several accounts of the unction at Bethany. Observing, therefore, simply that the place and purport of the remark, subjoined to St. Luke's relation of the prophecy, [ch. xxii. 37, .8, § 85, p. 357,] are a proof that he considered our Lord's public ministry to have been concluded this day, and, consequently, with the evening of Wednesday in Passion week.' While the Pharisees were still assembled together, as we learn from the same authority, and consequently not long after the last question, our Lord in his turn began to interrogate them, by demanding publicly whose son the Christ was to be. Now it appears from St. Mark, and from St. Luke, who do not mention his personally addressing himself to the scribes and the Pharisees in the first instance, but suppose him to argue directly from some tenet or admission of their's, that his motive in putting the question was to make them commit themselves by returning the answer; upon which, without continuing to speak to them, he must have turned to the people, and reasoned on the answer, as St. Mark and St. Luke describe him to have done. Nor is St. Matthew at variance with them; for first, in direct refutation of the answer of the Pharisees, we may suppose our Lord to have said to them, Ilas our Aavid, è veuμari, Kupiov avтov xaλei; [Mt. xxii. 43,] and then, turning to the auditors, as St. Mark [ch. xii. 35] and St. Luke [ch. xx. 41] each imply, to have rea*If he was sitting at the time in the women's court (which Jno. viii. 20, renders probable), his position was favourable to that survey; for the treasury, or corban, was situated in that court, and over against its porches (Jos. B. Jud. v. v. 2). Αἱ στοαὶ δὲ μεταξὺ τῶν πυλῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους ἔνδον ἐστραμμέναι πρὸ τῶν γαζοφυλα Kicov, K. T.λ. Between the time of that address, then, and the time of the next in St. Matthew, there must have been some interval; and it is a further proof of this fact that, with the account of the widow's offering, the other two conclude their history of the transactions in the temple altogether; and what they next relate is our Lord's passing out of it for the night. The anecdote of the widow's mite was consequently one of the last, but it was not the very last of these transactions; it could not have followed after Mt. xxiii. at least; it must have come, therefore, between that and Mk. xii. 40, or Lu. xx. 47.' VOL. II.] DISCOVER NOT A SECRET TO ANOTHER:-Prov. xxv. 9. [299 TAKE AWAY THE WICKED FROM BEFORE THE KING, AND HIS THRONE SHALL BE ESTABLISHED IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.-Prov. XXV. 5. SINCE BY MAN CAME DEATH, BY MAN CAME ALSO THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD.-1 Cor. xv. 21. SECTION 85.*—(G. 71—.7.)—[Lessons 79-81.]-JESUS ANSWERS THE INQUIRY OF ANALYSIS. Mt. xxii. 23-33. Mk. xii. 18-27. Lu. xx. 27-40. Jesus answers the quibble of the Sadducees respecting the resurrection. -xxii. 34-40.xii. 28-34. Jesus re Mt. xxii. Mk. xii. Lu. xxi. Jno. xii. 42, .3. Even the chief rulers among the Jews which did believe were unworthy of their name (Judah meaning confession and praise). -xii. 44-50. plies to the Pharisees, regarding the first and great Jesus declares the responsibility of those who saw and commandment. heard him, and who did not believe. -xxii. 41-.6. xii. 35-.7. xx. 41-.4. He questions the Pharisees on the sonship of Christ. - xxiii. I-12. The character of the scribes and Pharisees described, as seeking to magnify themselves before men, and occupy the largest share of public attention. - xxiii. 13-32. In eight Woes, contrasting with the eight Beatitudes, Jesus describes the counterfeit religion of the scribes and Pharisees. -xxiii. 33-.9. Jesus declares the overwhelming guilt and the incorrigible state of Jerusalem. He passes sentence accordingly, intimating its speedy destruction, and the desolation of the temple: until they are ready to receive Jesus as the Sent of God, the Jews cannot see their Messiah. No. 85.-(G. 71.)-[Lesson 79.]-Jesus answers the inquiry of the Sadducees, concerning the woman married to seven brethren in succession; in which was involved the question of a resurrection to come. In the temple.+ Lu. xx. 27. deny.... any resurrection-This doctrine of theirs is noticed also, Ac. xxiii. 8-Their leaven seems to have begun early to work in the christian church, 1 Co. xv. 12; 2 Ti. ii. 18, saying that the resurrection is passed already ;' &c. SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS. Mt. xxii. 23. Sadducees-Some of them, just before | the transfiguration, came tempting Jesus, asking a sign from heaven,' ch. xvi. 1, § 47, p. 28-Jesus bade his disciples beware of their leaven, ver. 6-12, § 48, pp. 32-4-and taught plainly the truth, as opposed to their doctrine, ver. 27, .8, § 50, pp. 43, .4-A confirmation was immediately afterwards given the disciples on the holy mount, xvii. 3, § 51, p. 53. 28. Moses wrote-The Sadducees pretended to be great sticklers for Moses, and are said not to have ad NOTES. Mt. xxii. 23. Sadducees. They were the richest sect amongst the Jews.-See on ch. iii. 7, § 7, p. 52, and ADDENDA, p. 56. Resurrection. Raising up the body to life after it is dead, Jno. xi. 24, § 58, p. 129; v. 28, .9, § 23, p. 178; 1 Co. xv. 22. Throughout the whole of this narra SECT. 1xxxv. includes Lessons 79, 80, and 81, in the Graduated Simultaneous System,' &c. LESSON 79. Mt. xxii. 23-46; Mk. xii. 18-37; Lu. xx. 27-44. + See ADDENDA, p. 298, col. 2, par. 5. 300] GOD IS NOT... OF CONFUSION,-1 Cor. xiv. 33. [VOL. 11. FOR AS IN ADAM ALL DIE, EVEN BO IN CHRIS CARNAL AFFECTIONS DEPRAVE THE SOUL, CORRUPT THE MIND, AND MISLEAD IT. mitted as of Divine authority any of the sacred writings except the Pentateuch, or first five books of the Bible-It is from the fifth of these books that they quote, De. xxv. 5, 6-and it is from the second of these books that our Lord replies to them, Mt. xxii. 31, .2, infra, p. 303. Mt. xxii. 24. marry his wife-To this custom of marrying a deceased brother's wife, Naomi refers, Ru. i. 11. Lu. xx. 31. left no children-Thus according to the Sadducees, their existence was entirely cut off, the only way in which they could perpetuate their life being the renewal of it in their offspring; a life which the wicked have in common with the righteous, Ps. xvii. 14-The psalmist could not be satisfied without the continuance of his personal existence; and that, as being transformed into the Divine likeness, ver. 15 -see also the contrast, xlix. 11-.5. unto-them, Mk. xii. 24. Do ye not therefore err-see his correction of their mistake, Lu. xx. 34-.6, supra. know not, &c. Like modern sceptics, they pretended to superior knowledge; such as made them despise the prejudices of the multitude respecting the spiritual world and a future state-Their knowledge, as our Lord here tells them, was ignorance; and their wisdom, as Paul intimates, was that of the fool, 1 Co. xv. 35, .6. fundamental truth of a resurrection unto life through the scriptures, &c.-Job confesses his belief in the the Redeemer; and that, as intimating his sense of the deep importance of the subject, ch. xix. 23-.8Ixxiii. 23-8-so the prophets, Is. xxvi. 19; Hag. so the Psalmist as before, xvii. 15; xlix. 15-also, ii. 23, &c. the power of God-In the beginning, the Spirit of NOTES. deceased brother, and enjoy his estates. The Hindoos have a similar law. [28. Whose wife shall she be? Here they thought was an absurdity which would be presented in the resurrection, sufficient to prove that no such change was likely to take place. The difficulty arose from their supposing, that if man were given a resurrection, he must necessarily be replaced in all the relations belonging to this mortal state.] 29. Ye do err, &c. "That is, " ye deceive yourselves by assuming a false hypothesis," namely, that if there be PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS. Mt. xxii. 23-.8. Slily opposing the truth by imaginary difficulties, is a sort of logic, which infidels, both ancient and modern, have been prone to use; and by which they are apt to prevail with those who know but little, or who are proud of the little they think they do know. 29 ver. Those who are most proud of their reasoning VOL. II.] powers form often the most absurd ideas of spiritual things. [29, 30 ver. If we would be kept from error, let us endeavour to become well acquainted with the scriptures of truth, and earnestly seek to have communion with God by his Holy Spirit, who leadeth into all truth, and upholdeth therein.] BE NOT DECEIVED;-Gal. vi. 7. HIDE ME FROM THE SECRET COUNSEL OF THE WICKED;-Psa. lxiv. 2. [301 MUCH SCRIPTURE TREASURE LIES UNDERGROUND THAT MUST BE DIGGED FOR. OF THE RESURRECTION. MARK Xii. 25. 25 For when they-shall-rise they-neither-marry, nor are- but are as the-angels SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS. God moved upon the face of the waters,' and produced order out of confusion, Ge. i. 1, 2, &c.Abraham accounted that God was able to raise Isaac up, even from the dead, He. xi. 19-Job acknowledged, ch. xlii. 2, I know that thou canst do every thing,' &c. That with God nothing shall be impossible,' Lu, i. 37, § 2, p. 10, has been shewn in the birth, death, and resurrection, of the Son of God, Rom. viii. 32-9-2 Ti. i. 10, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:'-. Rom. i. 16-see also 1 Co. i. 24; 2 Co. vi. 7; xiii. 4; ...the power of God,' 2 Ti. i. 8; 1 Pe. i. 5; Ac. xxvi. 8, Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?" Lu. xx. 36. Neither can they die any more, &c.1 Co. xv. 42, It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption :'-ver. 43, As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also boar the image of the heavenly.'-ver. 52, 'In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.'-See on children of the resurrection,' infra. angels-Jesus here implies, that the argument they opposed to the resurrection, did not hold against the existence of angels, although that also was denied by the Sadducees, Ac. xxiii. 8. children of God - The being made children of God, as Jno. i. 12, .3, § 7, p. 47, is a pre requisite to the enjoyment of a blessed resurrection, 1 Jno. iii. 1, 2; PART IV. LUKE XX. 35, .6. The children of-this world του αιώνος τούτου marry, and are-given-inmarriage: but they which-shall-be- 35 accounted-worthy to-obtain that world του αιώνος εκείνου, and the resurrection from the-dead, neither marry, nor aregiven-in-marriage: neither can-they die any- 36 more: for they-are equal-unto-the-angels; and are the-children of God, being the-children ofthe resurrection. Rom. viii. 19, the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.'livered from the bondage of corruption into the glover. 21, Because the creature itself also shall be deGod, as in fellowship with the Lamb, are to manifest rious liberty of the children of God.'-The sons of his Father's name, written upon their foreheads, Rev. xiv. 1-comp. with Ho. i. 10; Rom. ix. 26; and Is. viii. 18; and with Heb. ii. 13-and as to the Name of the Father, which the children of God are to maniovercometh-(that prevaileth, see Ge. xxxii. 28)fest, see on Jno. xvii., § 87; Rev. xxi. 7, He that shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.' children of the resurrection- Having been now raised to spiritual life, as Jno. v. 24, § 23, p. 177; of the body, Jno. v. 25, § ib., p. 178; vi. 39, 40, § 43, Col. iii. 1-3, they will also be given a resurrection p. 329, &c.; Col. iii. 4-It is on the resurrection, or at the second coming of Christ, that the sons of God of God, which remain to the coming of Christ, are will appear as they are, 1 Jno. iii. 2-The children not to have the advantage of them that are asleep; for when, 1 Th. iv. 16, .7, the Lord himself shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall descend from heaven.... the dead in Christ shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be they sat upon them,' (as promised to the twelve, with the Lord.'-Rev. xx. 4, ' And I saw thrones, and that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus,' . . . . Mt. xix. 28, § 75, p. 228,) and.... the souls of them NOTES. a future state it must be like the present, and by your ignorance of the true sense of the scriptures; and not considering the omnipotence of God.'-Bloomf. Mt. xxii. 30. In the resurrection. Here means in the state to which men are introduced by the resurrection. As the angels of God. Not as to their incorporeal substance, but as to the qualities of their bodies, and the condition of their celestial life, being in that blessed state exempted from all the imperfections of animal life. As the angels of God in heaven. The words 'in heaven,' refer to the angels,' as appears from Mk. xii. 25. It is worthy of observation that our Lord's discourses exhibit no particular description of the invisible world. He affirms generally the happiness of the good, and the miseries of the bad; but maintains a solemn reserve as to anything further. the saints shall have the dominion under the whole Lu. xx. 35. That world. The world to come, when heaven. 36. Neither can they die any more. Upon such the second death hath no power, Rev. xx. 6, Blessed and such the second death hath no power, but they shall be holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.' The children of God. Their adoption in Christ, and their likeness to him, will be perfected, by their being made partakers of the resurrection to eternal life. See Rom. viii. 23. in Christ, will Christ bring with him when he comes The children of the resurrection. All who have died to judge the nations; and all who at his coming are looking for his appearing, will be caught up and be for ever with him. PRACTICAL REFLECTION. Lu. xx. 35. By being raised from the death of sin, | evidence that we shall be accounted worthy to obtain and satisfied with the Lord as our Portion, let us give that world, and the resurrection from the dead.' 302] GOD IS NOT MOCKED:-Gal. vi. 7. [VOL. II. THE SENSES ARE THE OPEN PORTS INTO WHICH MEN ADMIT TEMPTATIONS. FOR I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVETH, AND THAT HE SHALL STAND AT THE LATTER DAY UPON THE EARTH: SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS. (as noticed, vi. 9-11,) and which had not worshipped the beast,' &c. .. .. (as xiii. 7-15,) and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.' -Rev. xxii. 5, and they shall reign for ever and ever.' Mk. xii. 26. book of Moses, &c.-As he had confounded the worldly-minded Herodians from their own text, a penny,' Mt. xxii. 19-22, § 84, p. 297, so he now does the Sadducees, from that portion of the Divine testimony which they professed to admit-see on Mt. xxii. 24, p. 300, supra. in the bush-Ex. iii. 2, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.'-A fit emblem of the meek and lowly, whom the Lord deigns to preserve in the midst of consuming judgments, Is. lxvi. 2, to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.'-The first humble followers of the Lamb, 2 Co. iv. 8-11, were 'troubled on every side, yet not distressed; 10, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.'-Ps. ix. 9, The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.'-xlvi. 1, 2, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed,' &c. spake unto him-Ex. iii. 6-The saying is referred to by Stephen, Ac. vii. 31, .2. the God of Abraham-God had promised Abraham, saying, Ge. xvii. 8, I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.'-Yet during Abraham's former sojourn on earth, Ac. vii. 5, he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not... to set his foot on:' He. xi. 9, By faith he [Abraham] sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:'-The promise, therefore, was not fulfilled to Abraham nor to his son, nor to his son's son, nor for four generations after, as predicted, Ge. xv. 16-Yet God still recognises himself as the God of those individuals unto whom he had they required to be raised again-Their resurrection, made promises, in order to their enjoyment of which therefore, was clearly implied in God's recognition of these men, as being those unto whom he was yet to firmation of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, prove a faithful covenant-keeping God-In conand Jacob, the God of their fathers brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, and through the Red Sea, in which their pursuers were left to perish; all which God had in view, ver. 13-.6, at the very time that the land was promised to Abraham, ver. 7 -The resurrection of Abraham must, therefore, have been contemplated when such promises were afterwards given to him, as in xvii. 7; and the whole of the promises previously made to him were included in the blessing of the oath, xxii. 16-8; He. vi. 17-20, Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath :' &c. Lu. xx. 38. all live unto him-Jno. xi. 25, § 58, p. 129, Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:'-Rom. iv. 17, &c., NOTES. [Mk. xii. 26. In the bush. rì rns Bárov. This is usually taken as if there were a transposition, for s εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Θεὸς ἐπὶ τῆς βάτου. But Wolf, Michaelis, Rosenmuller, and Kuinoel, more properly adopt the view taken by Bezer and Jablonski; who regard this as a form of citing scripture usual, in that age, with the Jewish doctors; namely, of referring to any particular part of the Old Testament, by naming some remarkable circumstance therein narrated. Thus the sense will be, in the section which treats of the burning bush, i.e., Ex. iii. 6; so in Rom. xi. 2, oùx οἴδατε ἐν Ηλίᾳ τί λέγει ἡ γραφή.Bloomf.] [Mt. xxii. 32. I am the God, &c. From this passage of Ex. iii. 6, 16, the doctrine of the resurrection is proved, more Judaico, and that inferentially and by legitimate consequence from what has been said. The argument (as stated by Mr. Horne) is as follows:"Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been long dead when these words were spoken, wherein God says, 'I am-(not I was)-the God of Abraham,' &c.; and as he is not the God of the dead, but of the living,' these patriarchs must have been existing in some [God of Abraham,.... of Isaac, &c. God's calling himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, after they had been long dead, plainly imported that they continued still the sons of God, waiting for the redemption of their bodies; and that their bodies, which still remained in covenant with him, as well as their souls, could not be suffered always to abide in a state of death.] Lu. xx. 37. When he calleth, &c. That is, when in his history the Lord is spoken of as "the God," &c. In the passages here referred to, Ex. iii. 6, 15, .6: iv. 5, it is not Moses who calls the Lord "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," but the Almighty, who thus speaks of himself to Moses.'-Lonsdale and Hale. PRACTICAL REFLECTIONS. [Lu. xx. 37. While endeavouring to convince men of the truth, it is good to take them upon ground which is common to us and to them, as our Lord does the Sadducees, who admitted only the five books of Moses, from which both they and our Saviour here quote.] [God is not only King of saints, but King of the saints individually; with whom, and not merely in VOL. H.] behalf of whose cause, he hath entered into covenant. He hath engaged to do for them what he hath not yet fully done, but what he hath fully shown his determination to accomplish.] Mk. xii. 24-7. Let us beware of receiving the Divine revelation in word only; treating it with such indifference and neglect, that we are even unacquainted with its contents. LET ISRAEL HOPE IN THE LORD:-Psa. cxxx. 7. AND THOUGH AFTER MY SKIN WORMS DESTROY THIS BODY, YET IN MY FLESH SHALL I SEE GOD:-Job xix. 25, .6. [303 |