mercy was his neighbour; Jesus dismissed him with this charge, ver. 37, Go, and do thou likewise."

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Luke xi. 41, " Give alms of such things as ye have: behold, all things are clean unto you."

Luke xii. 15," Take heed, and beware of covetousness. Ver. 22, "Be not solicitous what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor what ye shall put on;" be not fearful, or apprehensive of want; "for it is your Father's pleasure to give you a kingdom. Sell that you have, and give alms: and provide yourselves bags that wax not old, a treasure in the heavens, that faileth not: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for the Lord, when he will return. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Blessed is that servant, whom the Lord having made ruler of his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season, the Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But if that servant say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the men-servants, and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; 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 unbelievers. And that servant who knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 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 much be required and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."

Luke xiv. 11, "Whosoever exalteth himself, shall be abased and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted."

Ver. 12, When thou makest a dinner, or supper, call "not thy friends, or thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen,

nor thy neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor and maimed, the lame and the blind; and thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."

Ver. 33, "So likewise, whosoever he be of you, that is not ready to forego all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."

Luke xvi. 9, "I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. If ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your

own ?"

Luke xvii. 3, "If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again unto thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him."

Luke xviii. 1," He spoke a parable to them, to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint."

Ver. 18, "One comes to him, and asks him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He says, Which? Jesus said, Thou knowest the commandments. Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; defraud not; honour thy father and thy mother; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. He said, All these have I observed from my youth. Jesus hearing this, loved him; and said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and give it to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." To understand this right, we must take notice, that this young man asks our Saviour, what he must do to be admitted effectually into the kingdom of the Messiah? The Jews believed, that when the Messiah

came, those of their nation that received him should not die; but that they, with those who, being dead, should then be raised again by him, should enjoy eternal life with him. Our Saviour, in answer to this demand, tells the young man, that to obtain the eternal life of the kingdom of the Messiah, he must keep the commandments. And then enumerating several of the precepts of the law, the young man says, he had observed these from his childhood. For which, the text tells us, Jesus loved him. But our Saviour, to try whether in earnest he believed him to be the Messiah, and resolved to take him to be his King, and to obey him as such, bids him give all that he has to the poor, and come, and follow him; and he should have treasure in heaven. This I look on to be the meaning of the place; this, of selling all he had, and giving it to the poor, not being a standing law of his kingdom; but a probationary command to this young man; to try whether he truly believed him to be the Messiah, and was ready to obey his commands, and relinquish all to follow him, when he, his Prince, required it.

And therefore we see, Luke xix. 14, where our Saviour takes notice of the Jews not receiving him as the Messiah, he expresses it thus: "We will not have this man to reign over us." It is not enough to believe him to be the Messiah, unless we also obey his laws, and take him to be our King, to reign over us.

Matt. xxii. 11-13, he that had not on the weddinggarment, though he accepted of the invitation, and came to the wedding, was cast into utter darkness. By the wedding-garment, it is evident good works are meant here; that wedding-garment of fine linen, clean and white, which we are told, Rev. xix. 8, is the Sinaiara, "righteous acts of the saints;" or, as St. Paul calls it, Ephes. iv. 1, "The walking worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called." This appears from the parable itself: "The kingdom of heaven," says our Saviour, ver. 2, "is like unto a king, who made a marriage for his son." And here he distinguishes those who were invited into three sorts: 1. Those who were invited, and came not; i. e. those who had the Gospel,

the good news of the kingdom of God proposed to them, but believed not. 2. Those who came, but had not on a wedding-garment; i. c. believed Jesus to be the Messiah, but were not new clad (as I may so say) with a true repentance, and amendment of life: nor adorned with those virtues, which the apostle, Col. iii. requires to be put on. 3. Those who were invited, did come, and had on the wedding-garment; i. e. heard the Gospel, believed Jesus to be the Messiah, and sincerely obeyed his laws. These three sorts are plainly designed here; whereof the last only were the blessed, who were to enjoy the kingdom prepared for them.

Matt. xxiii. "Be not ye called Rabbi; for one is your Master, even the Messiah, and ye are all brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even the Messiah. But he that is greatest amongst you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted."

Luke xxi. 34, "Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be at any time overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life."

Luke xxii. 25, "He said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so. But he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve."

John xiii. 34, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another: as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another." This command, of loving one another, is repeated again, chap. xv. 12, and 17.

John xiv. 15, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Ver. 21, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and manifest myself to him." Ver. 23,

"If a

man loveth me, he will keep my words." Ver. 24, "He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings.”

John xv. 8, "In this is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." Ver. 14, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."

Thus we see our Saviour not only confirmed the moral law, and, clearing it from the corrupt glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees, showed the strictness as well as obligation of its injunctions; but moreover, upon occasion, requires the obedience of his disciples to several of the commands he afresh lays upon them; with the enforcement of unspeakable rewards and punishments in another world, according to their obedience or disobedience. There is not, I think, any of the duties of morality, which he has not, somewhere or other, by himself and his apostles, inculcated over and over again to his followers in express terms. And is it for nothing that he is so instant with them to bring forth fruit? Does he, their King, command, and is it an indifferent thing? Or will their happiness or misery not at all depend upon it, whether they obey or no? They were required to believe him to be the Messiah; which faith is of grace promised to be reckoned to them, for the completing of their righteousness, wherein it was defective: but righteousness, or obedience to the law of God, was their great business, which if they could have attained by their own performances, there would have been no need of this gracious allowance, in reward of their faith: but eternal life, after the resurrection, had been their due by a former covenant, even that of works; the rule whereof was never abolished, though the rigour was abated. The duties enjoined in it were duties still. Their obligations had never ceased, nor a wilful neglect of them was ever dispensed with. But their past transgressions were pardoned, to those who received Jesus, the promised Messiah, for their king; and their future slips covered, if, renouncing their former iniquities, they entered into his kingdom, and continued his subjects with a steady resolution and endeavour to obey his laws. This righteousness, there