Tuesday of the 17th week of Ordinary Time

My. Septuagint, "your eyes." Jeremias shews by his tears the future misery. (Calmet) --- Virgin. Though many were sinners, the Church had some just souls. (Worthington)

Famine. Under Jechonias many were slain, and the chiefs carried into captivity, 4 Kings xxiv. 12. --- Into. Hebrew, "through the land, and are ignorant." Chaldean, "they apply to their business, to earthly concerns, and care not," chap. v. 31.

Glory; heaven, the temple or Jerusalem. How will infidels blaspheme!

Rain. Let not the people have recourse to idols, (Calmet) in despair. (Haydock)

17 Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow. 18 If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not. 19 Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul loathed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble! 20 We acknowledge, O Lord , our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee. 21 Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us. 22 Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.

The present deplorable state of Judah and Jerusalem is here made the matter of the prophet's lamentation ( v. 17, 18 ) and the occasion of his prayer and intercession for them ( v. 19 ), and I am willing to hope that the latter, as well as the former, was by divine direction, and that these words ( v. 17 ), Thus shalt thou say unto them (or concerning them, or in their hearing ), refer to the intercession, as well as to the lamentation, and then it amounts to a revocation of the directions given to the prophet not to pray for them, v. 11 . However, it is plain, by the prayers we find in these verses, that the prophet did not understand it as a prohibition, but only as a discouragement, like that 1 John v. 16 , I do not say he shall pray for that. Here,

I. The prophet stands weeping over the ruins of his country; God directs him to do so, that, showing himself affected, he might, if possible, affect them with the foresight of the calamities that were coming upon them. Jeremiah must say it not only to himself, but to them too: Let my eyes run down with tears, v. 17 . Thus he must signify to them that he certainly foresaw the sword coming, and another sort of famine, more grievous even than this which they were now groaning under; this was in the country for want of rain, that would be in the city through the straitness of the siege. The prophet speaks as if he already saw the miseries attending the descent which the Chaldeans made upon them: The virgin daughter of my people, that is as dear to me as a daughter to her father, is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow, much greater and more grievous than any she has yet sustained; for ( v. 18 ) in the field multitudes lie dead that were slain by the sword, and in the city multitudes lie dying for want of food. Doleful spectacles! " The prophets and the priests, the false prophets that flattered them with their lies and the wicked priests that persecuted the true prophets, are now expelled their country, and go about either as prisoners and captives, whithersoever their conquerors lead them, or as fugitives and vagabonds, wherever they can find shelter and relief, in a land that they know not. " Some understand this of the true prophets, Ezekiel and Daniel, that were carried to Babylon with the rest. The prophet's eyes must run down with tears day and night, in prospect of this, that the people might be convinced, not only that this woeful day would infallibly come, and would be a very woeful day indeed, but that he was far from desiring it, and would as gladly have brought them messages of peace as their false prophets, if he might have had warrant from heaven to do it. Note, Because God, though he inflicts death on sinners, yet delights not in it, it becomes his ministers, though in his name they pronounce the death of sinners, yet sadly to lament it.

II. He stands up to make intercession for them; for who knows but God will yet return and repent? While there is life there is hope, and room for prayer. And, though there were many among them who neither prayed themselves nor valued the prophet's prayers, yet there were some who were better affected, would join with him in his devotions, and set the seal of their Amen to them.

1. He humbly expostulates with God concerning the present deplorableness of their case, v. 19 . It was very sad, for, (1.) Their expectations from their God failed them; they thought he had avouched Judah to be his, but now, it seems, he has utterly rejected it, and cast it off, will not own any relation to it nor concern for it. They thought Zion was the beloved of his soul, was his rest for ever; but now his soul even loathes Zion, loathes even the services there performed, for the sake of the sins there committed. (2.) Then no marvel that all their other expectations failed them: They were smitten, and their wounds were multiplied, but there was no healing for them; they looked for peace, because after a storm there usually comes a calm and fair weather, after a long fit of wet; but there was no good, things went still worse and worse. They looked for a healing time, but could not gain so much as a breathing time. "Behold, trouble at the door, by which we hoped peace would enter. And is it so then? Hast thou indeed rejected Judah? Justly thou mightest. Hath thy soul loathed Zion? We deserve it should. But wilt thou not at length in wrath remember mercy?"

2. He makes a penitent confession of sin, speaking that language which they all should have spoken, though but few did ( v. 20 ): " We acknowledge our wickedness, the abounding wickedness of our land and the iniquity of our fathers, which we have imitated, and therefore justly smart for. We know, we acknowledge, that we have sinned against thee, and therefore thou art just in all that is brought upon us; but, because we confess our sins, we hope to find thee faithful and just in forgiving our sins."

3. He deprecates God's displeasure, and by faith appeals to his honour and promise, v. 21 . His petition is, " Do not abhor us; though thou afflict us, do not abhor us; though thy hand by turned against us, let not thy heart be so, nor let thy mind be alienated from us." They own God might justly abhor them, they had rendered themselves odious in his eyes; yet, when they pray, Do not abhor us, they mean, "Receive us into favour again. Let not thy soul loathe Zion, v. 19 . Let not our incense be an abomination." They appeal, (1.) To the honour of God, the honour of his scriptures, by which he has made himself known—his word, which he has magnified above all his name: "Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, that the name of thine by which we are called and which we call upon." The honour of his sanctuary is pleaded: "Lord, do not abhor us, for that will disgrace the throne of thy glory " (the temple, which is called a glorious high throne from the beginning, ch. xvii. 12 ); let not that which has been the joy of the whole earth be made a hissing and an astonishment. We deserve to have disgrace put upon us, but let it not be so as to reflect upon thyself; let not the desolations of the temple give occasion to the heathen to reproach him that used to be worshipped there, as if he could not, or would not, protect it, or as if the gods of the Chaldeans had been too hard for him. Note, Good men lay the credit of religion, and its profession in the world, nearer their hearts than any private interest or concern of their own; and those are powerful pleas in prayer which are fetched thence and great supports to faith. We may be sure that God will not disgrace the throne of his glory on earth; nor will he eclipse the glory of his throne by one providence without soon making it shine forth, and more brightly than before, by another. God will be no loser in his honour at the long-run. (2.) To the promise of God; of this they are humbly bold to put him in mind: Remember thy covenant with us, and break not that covenant. Not that they had any distrust of his fidelity, or that they thought he needed to be put in mind of his promise to them, but what he had said he would plead with himself they take the liberty to plead with him. Then will I remember my covenant, Lev. xxvi. 42 .

4. He professes a dependence upon God for the mercy of rain, which they were now in want of, v. 22 . If they have forfeited their interest in him as their God in covenant, yet they will not let go their hold on him as the God of nature. (1.) They will never make application to the idols of the heathen, for that would be foolish and fruitless: Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? No; in a time of great drought in Israel, Baal, though all Israel presented their prayers to him in the days of Ahab, could not relieve them; it was that God only who answered by fire that could answer by water too. (2.) They will not terminate their regards in second causes, nor expect supply from nature only: Can the heavens give showers? No, not without orders from the God of heaven; for it is he that has the key of the clouds, that opens the bottles of heaven and waters the earth from his chambers. But, (3.) All their expectation therefore is from him and their confidence in him: " Art not thou he, O Lord our God! from whom we may expect succour and to whom we must apply? Art thou not he that causest rain and givest showers? For thou hast made all these things; thou gavest them being, and therefore thou givest them law and hast them all at thy command; thou madest that moisture in nature which is in a constant circulation to serve the intentions of Providence, and thou directest it, and makest what use thou pleasest of it; therefore we will wait upon thee, and upon thee only; we will ask of the Lord rain, Zech. x. 1 . We will trust in him to give it to us in due time, and be willing to tarry his time; it is fit that we should, and it will not be in vain to do so." Note, The sovereignty of God should engage, and his all-sufficiency encourage, our attendance on him and our expectations from him at all times.

17. ( Jr 9:1 ; La 1:16 ). Jeremiah is desired to weep ceaselessly for the calamities coming on his nation (called a "virgin," as being heretofore never under foreign yoke), ( Is 23:4 ).

18. go about-- that is, shall have to migrate into a land of exile. Horsley translates, "go trafficking about the land (see Jr 5:31 , Margin; 2Co 4:2 ; 2Pe 2:3 ), and take no knowledge" (that is, pay no regard to the miseries before their eyes) ( Is 1:3 ; 58:3). If the literal sense of the Hebrew verb be retained, I would with English Version understand the words as referring to the exile to Babylon; thus, "the prophet and the priest shall have to go to a strange land to practise their religious traffic ( Is 56:11 ; Eze 34:2 , 3 ; Mi 3:11 ).

19. The people plead with God, Jeremiah being forbidden to do so.

no healing-- ( Jr 15:18 ).

peace ... no good-- ( Jr 8:15 ).

20. ( Da 9:8 ).

21. us-- "the throne of Thy glory" may be the object of "abhor not" ("reject not"); or "Zion" ( Jr 14:19 ).

throne of thy glory-- Jerusalem, or, the temple, called God's "footstool" and "habitation" ( 1Ch 28:2 ; Psa 132:5 ).

thy covenant-- ( Psa 106:45 ; Da 9:19 ).

22. vanities-- idols ( De 32:21 ).

rain-- ( Zec 10:1 , 2 ).

heavens-- namely, of themselves without God ( Mt 5:45 ; Ac 14:17 ); they are not the First Cause, and ought not to be deified, as they were by the heathen. The disjunctive "or" favors Calvin's explanation: "Not even the heavens themselves can give rain, much less can the idol vanities."

(ver. 8). He saith not bygone, which might have even been recent; but "of old," that is, coming from parents. For to such iniquities judgment, not correction, is owing. "Speedily let Thy mercies anticipate us." Anticipate, that is, at Thy judgment. For "mercy exalteth above in judgment." Now there is "judgment without mercy," but to him that hath not showed mercy. But whereas he addeth, "for we have become exceeding poor:" unto this end he willeth that the mercies of God should be understood to anticipate us; that our own poverty, that is, weakness, by Him having mercy, should be aided to do His commandments, that we may not come to His judgment to be condemned.

12. Therefore there followeth, "Help us, O God, our healing One"

(ver. 9). By this word which he saith, "our healing One," he doth sufficiently explain what sort of poverty he hath willed to be understood, in that which he had said, "for we have become exceeding poor." For it is that very sickness, to which a healer is necessary. But while he would have us to be aided, he is neither ungrateful to grace, nor doth he take away free-will. For he that is aided, doth also of himself something. He hath added also, "for the glory of Thy Name, O Lord, deliver us:" in order that he who glorieth, not in himself, but in the Lord may glory. "And merciful be Thou," he saith, "to our sins for Thy Name's sake:" not for our sake. For what else do our sins deserve, but due and condign punishments? But "merciful be Thou to our sins, for Thy Name's sake." Thus then Thou dost deliver us, that is, dost rescue us from evil things, while Thou dost both aid us to do justice, and art merciful to our sins, without which in this life we are not. For "in Thy sight shall no man living be justified." But sin is iniquity. And "if Thou shalt have marked iniquities, who shall stand?"

13. But that which he addeth, "lest at any time they should say among the Gentiles, Where is their God?"

(ver. 10) must be taken as rather for the Gentiles themselves. For to a bad end they come that have despaired of the true God, thinking that either He is not, or doth not help His own, and is not merciful to them. But this which followeth, "and that there may be known among the nations before our eyes the vengeance of the blood of Thy servants which hath been shed:" is either to be understood as of the time, when they believe in the true God that used to persecute His inheritance; because even that is vengeance, whereby is slain the fierce iniquity of them by the sword of the Word of God, concerning which hath been said, "Gird Thou Thy sword:" or when obstinate enemies at the last are punished. For the corporal ills which they suffer in this world, they may have in common with good men. There is also another kind of vengeance; that wherein the Church's enlargement and fruitfulness in this world after so great persecutions, wherein they supposed she would utterly perish, the sinner and unbeliever and enemy seeth, and is angry; "with his teeth he shall gnash, and shall pine away." For who would dare to deny that even this is a most heavy punishment? But I know not whether that which he saith, "before our eyes," is taken with sufficient elegance, if by this sort of punishment we understand that which is done in the inmost recesses of the heart, and doth torment even those who blandly smile at us, while by us there cannot be seen what they suffer in the inner man. But the fact, that whether in them believing their iniquity is slain, or whether the last punishment is rendered to them persevering in their naughtiness, without difficulty of doubtfulness is understood in the saying, "that there may be known before our eyes vengeance among the nations."

14. And this indeed, as we have said, is a prophecy, not a wish....And the Lord in the Gospel hath set before us the widow for an example, who longing to be avenged, did intercede with the unjust judge, who at length heard her, not as being guided by justice, but overcome with weariness: but this the Lord hath set before us, to show that much more the just God will speedily make the judgment of His elect, who cry unto Him day and night. Thence is also that cry of the Martyrs under the altar of God, that they may be avenged in the judgment of God. Where then is the, "Love your enemies, do good unto them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute you"? Where is also the, "Not rendering evil for evil, nor cursing for cursing:" and, "unto no man rendering evil for evil"? ...For when the Lord was exhorting us to love enemies, He set before us the example of our Father, who is in Heaven, "who maketh His sun to rise upon good men and evil men, and raineth upon just men and unjust men:" doth He yet therefore not chasten even by temporal correction, or not condemn at the last the obstinately hardened? Let therefore an enemy be so loved as that the Lord's justice whereby he is punished displease us not, and let the justice whereby he is punished so please us, as that the joy is not at his evil but at the good Judge. But a malevolent soul is sorrowful, if his enemy by being corrected shall have escaped punishment: and when he seeth him punished, he is so glad that he is avenged, that he is not delighted with the justice of God, whom he loveth not, but with the misery of that man whom he hateth: and when he leaveth judgment to God, he hopeth that God will hurt more than he could hurt: and when he giveth food to his hungering enemy, and drink to him thirsty, he hath an evil-minded sense of that which is written, "For thus doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head." ...In such sort then under the appearance of one asking in this Psalm, future vengeance on the ungodly is prophesied of, as that we are to understand that holy men of God have loved their enemies, and have wished no one anything but good, which is godliness in this world, everlasting life in that to come; but in the punishments of evil men, they have taken pleasure not in the ills of them, but in God's good judgments; and wheresoever in the holy Scriptures we read of their hatreds against men, they were the hatreds of vices, which every man must needs hate in himself, if he loveth himself.

15. But now in that which followeth, "Let there come in before Thy sight," or, as some copies have it, "In Thy sight, the groans of the fettered:" not easily doth any one discover that the Saints were thrown into fetters by persecutors; and if this doth happen amid so great and manifold a variety of punishments, so rarely it doth happen, that it must not be believed that the prophet had chosen to allude to this especially in this verse. But, in fact, the fetters are the infirmity and the corruptibleness of the body, which do weigh down the soul. For by means of the frailty thereof, as a kind of material for certain pains and troubles, the persecutor might constrain her unto ungodliness. From these fetters the Apostle was longing to be unbound, and to be with Christ; but to abide in the flesh was necessary for their sakes unto whom he was ministering the Gospel. Until then this corruptible put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality, like as it were with fetters, the weak flesh doth let the willing spirit. These fetters then not any do feel, but they that in themselves do groan being burthened, desiring to be clothed upon with the tabernacle which is from Heaven; because both death is a terror, and mortal life is sorrow. In behalf of these men groaning the Prophet doth redouble his groaning, that their groaning may "come in in the sight of the Lord." They also may be understood to be fettered, who are enchained with the precepts of wisdom, the which being patiently supported are turned into ornaments: whence it hath been written, "Put thy feet into her fetters." "According to the greatness," he saith, "of Thy arm, receive Thou unto adoption the sons of them that are put to death:" or, as is read in some copies, "Possess Thou sons by the death of the punished." Wherein the Scripture seemeth to me to have sufficiently shown, what hath been the groan of the fettered, who for the name of Christ endured most grievous persecutions, which in this Psalm are most clearly prophesied. For being beset with divers sufferings, they used to pray for the Church, that their blood might not be without fruit to posterity; in order that the Lord's harvest might more abundantly flourish by the very means whereby enemies thought that she would perish. For "sons of them that were put to death" he hath called them who were not only not terrified by the sufferings of those that went before, but in Him for whose name they knew them to have suffered, being inflamed with their glory which did inspire them to the like, in most ample hosts they believed. Therefore he hath said, "According to the greatness of Thine arm." For so great a wonder followed in the case of Christian peoples, as they, who thought they would prevail aught by persecuting her, no wise believed would follow.

16. "Render," he saith, "to our neighbours seven times so much into their bosoms"

(ver. 13). Not any evil things he is wishing, but things just he is foretelling and prophesying as to come. But in the number seven, that is, in sevenfold retribution, he would have the completeness of the punishment to be perceived, for with this number fulness is wont to be signified. Whence also there is this saying for the good, "He shall receive in this world seven times as much:" which hath been put for all. "As if having nothing, and possessing all things." Of neighbours he is speaking, because amongst them dwelleth the Church even unto the day of severing: for not now is made the corporal separation. "Into their bosoms," he saith, as being now in secret, so that the vengeance which is now being executed in secret in this life, hereafter may be known among the nations before our eyes. For when a man is given over to a reprobate mind, in his inward bosom he is receiving what he deserveth of future punishments. "Their reproach wherewith they have reproached Thee, O Lord." This do Thou render to them sevenfold into their bosoms, that is, in return for this reproach, most fully do Thou rebuke them in their secret places. For in this they have reproached Thy Name, thinking to efface Thee from the earth in Thy servants.

17. "But we Thy people" (ver. 14), must be taken generally of all the race of godly and true Christians. "We," then, whom they thought they had power to destroy, "Thy people, and the sheep of thy flock:" in order that he that glorieth may glory in the Lord, "will confess to Thee for an age." But some copies have it, "will confess to Thee for everlasting." Out of a Greek ambiguity this diversity hath arisen. For that which the Greek hath, eis ton aiona, may be interpreted both by "for everlasting," and "for an age;" but according to the context we must understand which is the better interpretation. The sense then of this passage seemeth to me to show, that we ought to say "for an age," that is, even unto the end of time. But the following verse after the manner of the Scriptures, and especially of the Psalms, is a repetition of the former with the order changed, putting that before which in the former case was after, and that after which in the former case was before. For whereas in the former case there had been said, "we will confess to Thee," instead of the same herein hath been said, "We will proclaim Thy praise." And so whereas in the former case there had been said, "for an age," instead of the same herein hath been said, "for generation and generation." For this repetition of generation doth signify perpetuity: or, as some understand it, it is because there are two generations, an old and a new....But in many places of holy Scriptures we have already made known to you that confession is also put for praise: as in this passage it is, "These words ye shall say in confession, That the works of the Lord are very good.'" And especially that which the Saviour Himself saith, who had not any sin at all, which by repentance to confess: "I confess to Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes." I have said this, in order that it may be more clearly perceived how in the expression, "We will proclaim Thy praise," the same hath been repeated as had been said higher up, "We will confess to Thee."

Former iniquities, which we and our fathers have committed. The Hebrews generally pray for the remission of their parent's faults, Lamentations v. 7., Baruch iii. 5., and Daniel ix. 5. (Calmet) --- But here the penitents' own transgressions may be meant. (Berthier) --- God is ready to pardon such. (Worthington)

Help. The necessity of grace, and the co-operation of free-will, are here plainly asserted. (St. Augustine)

Put. Chaldean, "consigned." (Calmet) --- Protect the successors of the martyrs. (Worthington)

6 Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name. 7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place. 8 O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. 9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name's sake. 10 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed. 11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die; 12 And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord. 13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will show forth thy praise to all generations.

The petitions here put up to God are very suitable to the present distresses of the church, and they have pleas to enforce them, interwoven with them, taken mostly from God's honour.

I. They pray that God would so turn away his anger from them as to turn it upon those that persecuted and abused them ( v. 6 ): " Pour out thy wrath, the full vials of it, upon the heathen; let them wring out the dregs of it, and drink them." This prayer is in effect a prophecy, in which the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Observe here, 1. The character of those he prays against; they are such as have not known God, nor called upon his name. The reason why men do not call upon God is because they do not know him, how able and willing he is to help them. Those that persist in ignorance of God, and neglect of prayer, are the ungodly, who live without God in the world. There are kingdoms that know not God and obey not the gospel, but neither their multitude nor their force united will secure them from his just judgments. 2. Their crime: They have devoured Jacob, v. 7 . That is crime enough in the account of him who reckons that those who touch his people touch the apple of his eye. They have not only disturbed, but devoured, Jacob, not only encroached upon his dwelling place, the land of Canaan, but laid it waste by plundering and depopulating it. (3.) Their condemnation: " Pour out thy wrath upon them; do not only restrain them from doing further mischief, but reckon with them for the mischief they have done."

II. They pray for the pardon of sin, which they own to be the procuring cause of all their calamities. How unrighteous soever men were, God was righteous in permitting them to do what they did. They pray, 1. That God would not remember against them their former iniquities ( v. 8 ), either their own former iniquities, that now, when they were old, they might not be made to possess the iniquities of their youth, or the former iniquities of their people, the sins of their ancestors. In the captivity of Babylon former iniquities were brought to account; but God promises not again to do so ( Jer. xxxi. 29, 30 ), and so they pray, "Remember not against us our first sins," which some make to look as far back as the golden calf, because God said, In the day when I visit I will visit for this sin of theirs upon them, Exod. xxxii. 34 . If the children by repentance and reformation cut off the entail of the parents' sin, they may in faith pray that God will not remember them against them. When God pardons sin he blots it out and remembers it no more. 2. That he would purge away the sins they had been lately guilty of, by the guilt of which their minds and consciences had been defiled: Deliver us, and purge away our sins, v. 9 . Then deliverances from trouble are granted in love, and are mercies indeed, when they are grounded upon the pardon of sin and flow from that; we should therefore be more earnest with God in prayer for the removal of our sins than for the removal of our afflictions, and the pardon of them is the foundation and sweetness of our deliverances.

III. They pray that God would work deliverance for them, and bring their troubles to a good end and that speedily: Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us, v. 8 . They had no hopes but from God's mercies, his tender mercies; their case was so deplorable that they looked upon themselves as the proper objects of divine compassion, and so near to desperate that, unless divine mercy did speedily interpose to prevent their ruin, they were undone. This whets their importunity: " Lord, help us; Lord, deliver us; help us under our troubles, that we may bear them well; help us out of our troubles, that the spirit may not fail. Deliver us from sin, from sinking." Three things they plead:—1. The great distress they were reduced to: " We are brought very low, and, being low, shall be lost if thou help us not." The lower we are brought the more need we have of help from heaven and the more will divine power be magnified in raising us up. 2. Their dependence upon him: "Thou art the God of our salvation, who alone canst help. Salvation belongs to the Lord, from whom we expect help; for in the Lord alone is the salvation of his people. " Those who make God the God of their salvation shall find him so. 3. The interest of his own honour in their case. They plead no merit of theirs; they pretend to none; but, " Help us for the glory of thy name; pardon us for thy name's sake." The best encouragements in prayer are those that are taken from God only, and those things whereby he has made himself known. Two things are insinuated in this plea:—(1.) That God's name and honour would be greatly injured if he did not deliver them; for those that derided them blasphemed God, as if he were weak and could not help them, or had withdrawn and would not; therefore they plead ( v. 10 ), " Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? He has forsaken them, and forgotten them; and this they get by worshipping a God whom they cannot see." ( Nil præter nubes et cœli numen adorant. Juv.— They adore no other divinity than the clouds and the sky. ) That which was their praise (that they served a God that is every where) was now turned to their reproach and his too, as if they served a God that is nowhere. "Lord," say they, "Make it to appear that thou art by making it to appear that thou art with us and for us, that when we are asked, Where is your God? we may be able to say, He is nigh unto us in all that which we call upon him for, and you see he is so by what he does for us." (2.) That God's name and honour would be greatly advanced if he did deliver them; his mercy would be glorified in delivering those that were so miserable and helpless. By making bare his everlasting arm on their behalf he would make unto himself an everlasting name; and their deliverance would be a type and figure of the great salvation, which in the fulness of time Messiah the Prince would work out, to the glory of God's name.

IV. They pray that God would avenge them on their adversaries, 1. For their cruelty and barbarity ( v. 10 ): "Let the avenging of our blood" (according to the ancient law, Gen. ix. 6 ) "be known among the heathen; let them be made sensible that what judgments are brought upon them are punishments of the wrong they have done to us; let this be in our sight, and by this means let God be known among the heathen as the God to whom vengeance belongs ( Ps. xciv. 1 ) and the God that espouses his people's cause." Those that have intoxicated themselves with the blood of the saints shall have blood given them to drink, for they are worthy. 2. For their insolence and scorn ( v. 12 ): " Render to them their reproach. The indignities which by word and deed they have done to the people of God himself and his name let them be repaid to them with interest." The reproach wherewith men have reproached us only we must leave it to God whether he will render to them or no, and must pray that he would forgive them; but the reproach wherewith they have blasphemed God himself we may in faith pray that God would render seven-fold into their bosoms, so as to strike at their hearts, to humble them, and bring them to repentance. This prayer is a prophecy, of the same import with that of Enoch, that God will convince sinners of all their hard speeches which they have spoken against him ( Jude 15 ) and will return them into their own bosoms by everlasting terrors at the remembrance of them.

V. They pray that God would find out a way for the rescue of his poor prisoners, especially the condemned prisoners, v. 11 . The case of their brethren who had fallen into the hands of the enemy was very sad; they were kept close prisoners, and, because they durst not be heard to bemoan themselves, they vented their griefs in deep and silent sighs. All their breathing was sighing, and so was their praying. They were appointed to die, as sheep for the slaughter, and had received the sentence of death within themselves. This deplorable case the psalmist recommends, 1. To the divine pity: " Let their sighs come up before thee, and be thou pleased to take cognizance of their moans." 2. To the divine power: " According to the greatness of thy arm, which no creature can contest with, preserve thou those that are appointed to die from the death to which they are appointed." Man's extremity is God's opportunity to appear for his people. See 2 Cor. i. 8-10 .

Lastly, They promise the returns of praise for the answers of prayer ( v. 13 ): So we will give thee thanks for ever. Observe, 1. How they please themselves with their relation to God. "Though we are oppressed and brought low, yet we are the sheep of thy pasture, not disowned and cast off by thee for all this: We are thine; save us. " 2. How they promise themselves an opportunity of praising God for their deliverance, which they therefore desired, and would bid welcome, because it would furnish them with matter for thanksgiving and put their hearts in tune for that excellent work, the work of heaven. 3. How they oblige themselves not only to give God thanks at present, but to show forth his praise unto all generations, that is, to do all they could both to perpetuate the remembrance of God's favours to them and to engage their posterity to keep up the work of praise. 4. How they plead this with God: "Lord, appear for us against our enemies; for, if they get the better, they will blaspheme thee ( v. 12 ); but, if we be delivered, we will praise thee. Lord, we are that people of thine which thou hast formed for thyself, to show forth thy praise; if we be cut off, whence shall that rent, that tribute, be raised?" Note, Those lives that are entirely devoted to God's praise are assuredly taken under his protection.

8. former iniquities-- literally, "iniquities of former times."

prevent us-- literally, "meet us," as in Psa 21:3 .

9. for ... glory of thy name [and for] thy name's sake-- both mean for illustrating Thy attributes, faithfulness, power, &c.

purge ... sins-- literally, "provide atonement for us." Deliverance from sin and suffering, for their good and God's glory, often distinguish the prayers of Old Testament saints (compare Ep 1:7 ).

11. prisoner-- the whole captive people.

power-- literally, "arm" ( Psa 10:15 ).

13. sheep ... pasture-- (Compare Psa 74:1 ; 78:70 ).

verse 31.

The kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, &c. Instead of the birds of the heaven lodge in the branches of it the Arabic has they are overshadowed by its branches. This is Christ's third parable, the occasion and cause of which S. Chrysostom gives as follows: "Because the Lord had said that of the seed three parts perish, and one is preserved, and again of that which is preserved, there is great loss on account of the tares which are sown above it, lest people should say, who then and how many will believe? he removes this fear by the parable of the grain of mustard seed, and therefore it is said, Another parable put He forth unto them, the kingdom of Heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, &c."

You will enquire in the first place, what it is which is here compared to the kingdom of Heaven, and likened to a grain of mustard seed? 1. S. Hilary understands it of Christ Himself. He says, "The Lord compares Himself to a grain of mustard seed, which is very sharp and the least of all seeds, and whose virtue and power are increased by bruising and pressure. After this grain had been sown in the field, when it was taken by the people and delivered to death, as though in a field by a sort of sowing, there was the burial of its body, it grew above the measure of all herbs, and exceeded the glory of all the prophets. For like a herb the preaching of the prophets was given to Israel as being sick: but now in the branches of the tree, raised from the ground on high, the birds of the air dwell: by these we understand the Apostles, lifted up by the power of Christ, and they overshadow the world with their branches. To them the Gentiles flew for the hope of life; and when they are vexed with whirlwinds, that is by the blasts of the devil, they rest as in the branches of a tree." In like manner S. Gregory (lib. 19 Moral. c. 11.) expounds this whole parable, "Christ Himself is the grain of mustard seed, who was planted in the sepulchre of the garden, and rose again a mighty tree. He was but a grain when He died; a tree when He rose again. A grain through lowliness of the flesh; a tree by the power of His majesty. A grain, because we saw Him, and there was no comeliness; but a tree because He was fairer than the children of men. The branches of this tree are sacred preachers. And let us see how widely they are spread. For what is spoken concerning them? Their sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words unto the end of the world. The birds rest in their branches, because holy souls who lift up themselves from earthly thoughts by the wings, as it were, of virtues are refreshed after the fatigue of this life by their words and their consolations." You will say, how can Christ be called the kingdom of Heaven, when He is not the kingdom, but its King? It is replied: as a king is as it were the head in a kingdom, so a kingdom is as the body of a king. Wherefore a king represents the whole state or kingdom. Hence according to the rule of Ticonius, often in Scripture what belongs to the Church, which is the kingdom of Christ, is attributed to Christ, and vice versa.

2. More plainly and aptly, the kingdom of Heaven and the grain of mustard seed are the Church, especially the Primitive Church.

You will enquire, (2). Why the Gospel is compared to a grain of mustard seed, and what are the resemblances between the two things? I answer, the first is that Christ by this parable intends to signify the immense power and fruitfulness of Evangelical preaching, insomuch that what had a very small beginning with Christ, and by a few Apostles, diffused itself over the whole world. For a grain of mustard seed is less than all seeds, i.e., the least of all seeds; as the Syriac and Arabic have it. The Greek is μικρότερον πάντων σπερμάτων, i.e., less than all seeds, meaning very little. This must be understood according to the common usage of speech, by which we call what is very little, or one of very small things, the least; for otherwise to speak precisely, poppy seed, and the seed of rue, and of some other herbs, is less than mustard seed. Thus the preaching of the Gospel by Christ and the Apostles was at first very circumscribed.

2. A grain of mustard seed, especially in Syria, grows into a tree, so that birds dwellSyriac, build their nestsin its branches. Thus the Gospel grew, and filled the whole world, so that the birds of Heaven, i.e., men lofty in knowledge and understanding as well as kings and princes dwelt in its branches. (See Dan_4:9 and Dan_4:19). Some understand by the birds, the angels, because they have wings, and are very swift. Hear S. Augustine (Serm. 33 de Sanc.). "Peter is a branch; Paul is a branch; blessed Laurence, whose festal day we are celebrating, is a branch. All the Apostles and martyrs of the Saviour are branches; and if anyone will bravely lay hold of them, they will escape being drowned in the waves of the world. He who dwells under their shadow shall not feel the fire of hell, and shall be secure from the storm of the tempest of the devil, and from being burnt up in the day of judgment."

3. And chiefly by mustard is denoted the igneous force and efficacy of the Gospel. "Pythagoras," says Pliny (l. 20, c. 22), "considered that mustard holds the chief place amongst those things whose force is borne upward; since there is nothing which more thoroughly penetrates the nose and the brain." A grain of mustard refers to the fervour of faith, says S. Augustine.

4. Mustard seed must be bruised; for when it is bruised it emits its igneous force and flavour. Thus the preaching of the Gospel was as it were, bruised by a thousand oppressions and persecutions, which the Apostles suffered; and then it breathed forth its igneous force and strength.

5. Mustard seed, as Pliny says, is sharp and biting. It draws tears, purges away phlegm and cerebral secretions; it is masticated for toothache; when bruised and mixed with vinegar it is applied to the stings of scorpions and the bites of snakes; it is an antidote to the poison of fungi; it is beneficial for the breast and lungs; it is useful against epilepsy, dropsy, asthma, lethargy, and many other diseases. Thus the Gospel expels poisons, that is sins, by the emetic of confession; it is sharp and biting, because it teaches penance and the cross; it excites the tears of compunction; it is medicine for all the faculties of the soul, and especially it dries up concupiscence, and animates to virtue. "The bitterness of its words is the medicine of souls," says S. Augustine.

6. Mustard seed by its sharpness seasons food, and renders it palatable. So also the Gospel renders palatable everything which is hard and difficult by means of the example of Christ, and by the hope of future glory which it promises.

S. Augustine says, "A grain of mustard seed is great, not in appearance, but in virtue. At first appearance it seems small, worthless, despised, not possessing savour, nor odour, nor sweetness; but when it is bruised, it sheds abroad its odour and exhales nourishment of a fiery taste. It is so inflamed with the fervour of heat that there might be enclosed in it so much fire, by which men could (especially in the winter-time) drive away cold, and warm themselves inwardly." After this he applies the qualities of mustard to the Gospel and the Christian faith, thus: "Thus too the Christian faith, at first sight, appears small and worthless, not manifesting its power, not carrying any semblance of pride, neither furnishing grace. But as soon as it begins to be bruised by divers temptations, immediately it manifests its vigour, it indicates its sharpness, it breathes the warmth of belief in the Lord, and is possessed with so great ardour of divine fire, that both itself is hot and it compels those who participate to be fervent also. As the two disciples said in the Gospel, when the Lord spoke with them after His Passion, "Did not our hearts burn within us by the way, while the Lord Jesus opened to us the Scriptures?" A grain of mustard, then, warms the inward members of our body, but the power of faith burns up the sins of our heart. The one indeed takes away piercing cold; the other expels the devil's frost of transgressions. A grain of mustard, I say, purges away corporeal humours, but faith puts an end to the flux of lusts. By the one, medicine is gained for the head; but by faith our spiritual Head, Christ the Lord, is often refreshed. Moreover, we enjoy the sacred odour of faith, according to the analogy of mustard seed, as the blessed Apostle saith, "We are a sweet savour of Christ unto God."

Tropologically; All these things may be applied to a faithful soul, and especially to an Apostle, and to a suffering Christian, or to a martyr. Wherefore the Church adapts this parable to S. Laurence, as the Gospel for his festival. As S. Augustine says, in the work already cited, "We may compare the holy martyr Laurence to a grain of mustard seed; for he, being bruised by various sufferings, deserved to become fragrant throughout the whole world by the grace of his martyrdom. He, when he was in the body, was humble, unknown, and held in low estimation; but after he had been bruised, torn, and burnt he diffused the odour of his nobleness in the churches in all the world. Rightly, therefore, is the comparison applied to him. For Laurence, when he suffers, is inflamed. The fervour of its attrition moves the one; Laurence breathes forth fire in his manifold tribulations. Mustard, I say, is cooked in a small vessel; Laurence is roasted on the gridiron by the fiery flame. Blessed Laurence the martyr was burnt outwardly by the flames of the raging tyrant, but he was inflamed inwardly by the far greater fire of the love of Christ." The Arabians have a proverb"A grain of pepper is more powerful than many large gourds;" because if it be bruised it emits a fiery force, and makes itself felt in everyone's nostrils. You may say the same of a grain of mustard. A believer, therefore, should be a grain of pepper or mustard, and breathe everywhere, and upon all, a divine fire, and so pepper all men, and make them like himself, zealous that is, and ardent in the love of God.

Another parable, &c. This is Christ's fourth parable, of leaven, by which (as by the former parable) He shows the power and efficacy of the preaching of the Gospel. As S. Chrysostom says, "Like as leaven communicates its own virtue to a great quantity of meal, so shall ye, 0 ye Apostles, transforn the whole world." S. Chrysostom observes, with regard to the word hid: "Thus also ye, when ye shall be subjected to your persecutors, shall overcome them. And as leaven indeed is buried but not destroyed, but by degrees transforms everything to its own state; so shall it happen with your preaching. Do not ye, therefore, fear because I said, Many troubles shall happen unto you; for by this means shall ye shine, and shall overcome all." You will ask why Christ compares the Gospel to leaven? I reply, because leaven is a portion of the meal that has become a little sour, which takes place through fermentation. Hear how Pliny describes the manner in which leaven is made (l 18, c. 11): "Now" (because formerly it was made in another way, as he had related a little before) "leaven is made of the meal itself, which is first kneaded before salt is added, after the manner of pottage, and left until it becomes a little sour. Commonly, indeed, they do not warm it, but only make use of what has been kept from the day before. And evidently it is the nature of heat to cause fermentation; as of bodies that are nourished with fermented bread to become stronger. Thus it was, that among our ancestors the greatest healthiness was attributed to the heaviest wheat."

Again, leaven, although it be small in bulk, with its heat moistens the whole mass of dough; and as it were effects a change in its entire substance. It makes it palatable and digestible, so that it becomes wholesome bread for nourishing, sustaining and strengthening man. In like manner the Gospel by means of a few Apostles, who suffered many tribulations, converts the whole world to itself and makes the heart of each to be warmed with the love of God. The woman who kneads is the Church, or the power and wisdom of God says S. Augustine.

Tropologically: S. Augustine says, "Christ calls love leaven, because it excites to warmth. The woman he calls wisdom. By the three measures of meal we may understand either these three things in manthe whole heart, the whole soul, and the whole mind; or the three degrees of fruit-bearing, an hundred, sixty, and thirty fold; or the three sorts of men, represented by Noah, Daniel and Job." (l 1. q. q. Evang. q. 12.) Rabanus adds, "He says until the whole was leavened: because charity being hid in our minds ought to grow there until it transmutes the whole mind into its own perfection: that which is begun here, is perfected hereafter."

S. Ambrose says, that like as leaven is disseminated through the whole mass of the meal, being as it were broken up; "so Christ was broken, torn and dissolved by His various sufferings: and His moisture, that is His precious Blood was poured out for our salvation, that it might by mingling itself with the whole human race, consolidate that race, which lay scattered abroad." See also S. Chrysostom, who says among other things, "If twelve men leavened nearly all the meal of the world, consider diligently in your minds, how great must be our wickedness and sloth, who, although we are so many, are not able to convert the remnant of the Gentiles, when we ought to be sufficient for a thousand worlds." S. Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, was wont to weep over the same thing. His was the saying, "That formerly priests of gold celebrated in chalices of wood, but now wooden priests celebrate in golden chalices."

Three measures: a measure was equal in quality to a bath which is a liquid measure, containing an Italian bushel, or as S. Jerome and Josephus say, a bushel and a half. The measure contained three Attic bushels.

These three measures are the quarters of the world, Asia, Africa, Europe. These were designated by the three sons of Noah. For the posterity of Shem inhabited Asia; the posterity of Ham, Africa; and of Japhet, Europe. So Cæsarius, brother of S. Gregory Nazianzen. (Dial. 4.)

Symbolically; S. Hilary says, the grace of the Gospel was hid in the Law, the Psalms and the Prophets; now it hath appeared in the faith, hope and love of the Holy Trinity, that what the Law constituted, and the Prophets announced, the same might be fulfilled by the advent of the Gospels. Or as others say, that it might be confirmed by the threefold work of God, viz. of creation, redemption and glorification.

Allegorically: S. Bernard, (l. 5. de Consider.) says the Blessed Virgin joined and united in her womb the three natures of Christ, namely soul, body and divinity to the one Hypostasis of the Word.

All these things spake Jesus in parables, meaning in a parabolical manner: things kept secret, Heb. הידות chidoth, i.e. enigmas, as the Chaldee trans. and S. Jerome (Psa_78:2.). The Arabic has, I will speak things hidden before the foundation of the world. Christ cites the psalm of David, Psa_78:2  (lxxviii. 2), who, according to the letter, through the whole psalm, celebrates God's benefits to the Synagogue, i.e., the people of Israel, from the beginning, i.e. from their going forth out of Egypt under Moses their leader, until David's own time, in order that he might stir up the people to be grateful to God, and to love and worship Him. But mystically, says S. Jerome, David was there a type of Christ, who celebrates the benefits granted by God through Himself to His Church, and before-time hid. These things were concerning the promised land in heaven, mysteries declared by parables. Observe that the Hebrew word for parables is mashal, which signifies any weighty and famous saying, such a one as predominates over others. For mashal means to rule: thus it came to signify what was obscure and recondite, whether it were an enigma, an allegory, a parable, or a sentence properly so called. Therefore the sentences in that seventy-eighth Psalm are not properly parables, but only weighty sentences. But here there are like weighty sentences and parables properly so called. Thus this verse of the Psalm applies to Christ in both its meanings, but to David only one of them. For in Scripture many things are spoken which are more suitable to the things signified by the allegory, than to the allegory itself and its literal meaning.

When the multitudes were sent away, &c., . . . declare unto us the parable of the tares. For this seemed more obscure than the others, and to contain severer threats.

The field is the world, &c. The field is the world, not the Church; for by the tares of this field many understand heretics, who are not in the Church, especially when they are public and manifest.

Children of the kingdom: These are faithful, righteous, and persevering in justice, and therefore elected by God to be heirs of the kingdom of Heaven. Whence, in

verse 43, they are called the righteous. These are the sons of the Heavenly Father, "which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (Joh_1:13).

Observe: the righteous are here called seed, because although the seed which Christ sows is the Word of God, spoken as well outwardly by the lips, as inwardly in the heart by grace; nevertheless, because the fruit of this seed is the conversion of the faithful, and their justification, therefore the righteous also are called seed, i.e., the fruit of the seed, and the harvest.

But the tares, &c. Gr. υίοὶ του̃ πονηρου̃, i.e., the says of that wicked, namely the devil: thus the Syriac and Arabic. Therefore they themselves are evil, for the offspring follow their father. As the sons of God are good and divine, so are the sons of the devil wicked and diabolical.

Observe: by tares and children of the wicked one, some understand heretics, because they are the most injurious kind of tares, inasmuch as they choke and destroy the faithful and faith from their foundation. So S. Chrysostom, Euthymius, and S. Augustine (4 quest. in Matth. q. 11) who, however, retracts (l. 2 Retract. c. 27) and teaches from S. Cyprian, that tares denote all the wicked in the Church. SS. Gregory, Ambrose, and Theophylact teach the same. For all wicked persons, by their evil life, hurt the faithful and the Church, as tares injure wheat, and choke it. Falsely then from this passage (

verse 29), where Christ forbids these tares to be plucked up, and subjoins, Let both grow together, the Innovators infer that heretics are not to be punished and extirpated. For by parity of reasoning they might conclude that murderers and thieves must not be punished; for they too are tares. And I say that Christ does not here absolutely forbid these tares to be plucked up, but says that no one must attempt to root them all up together; nor at a time when they came to be distinguished from the wheat; or when there is danger of pulling up the wheat at the same time with them. But all this does not apply when anyone is a manifest heretic, especially if he teaches and infects others with his heresy. For such a one does more harm to the Church than a murderer, for the one only kills the body, but the other the soul. See 1 Cor. v. 13, Gal. v. 12, where the Apostle commands impious persons, especially false teachers, to be taken away and extirpated. Thus Origen and S. Augustinethe latter indeed was at first of opinion that heretics ought not to be put to death, yea, that they ought not even to be compelled to resume the faith, which they have professed in baptism. But afterwards, which he had been taught by experience how perverse and obstinate heretics are, he changed his opinion and taught the contrary. He says, "I had not yet learnt either what

he field is the world, &c. The field is the world, not the Church; for by the tares of this field many understand heretics, who are not in the Church, especially when they are public and manifest.

Children of the kingdom: These are faithful, righteous, and persevering in justice, and therefore elected by God to be heirs of the kingdom of Heaven. Whence, in

verse 43, they are called the righteous. These are the sons of the Heavenly Father, "which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (Joh_1:13).

Observe: the righteous are here called seed, because although the seed which Christ sows is the Word of God, spoken as well outwardly by the lips, as inwardly in the heart by grace; nevertheless, because the fruit of this seed is the conversion of the faithful, and their justification, therefore the righteous also are called seed, i.e., the fruit of the seed, and the harvest.

But the tares, &c. Gr. υίοὶ του̃ πονηρου̃, i.e., the says of that wicked, namely the devil: thus the Syriac and Arabic. Therefore they themselves are evil, for the offspring follow their father. As the sons of God are good and divine, so are the sons of the devil wicked and diabolical.

Observe: by tares and children of the wicked one, some understand heretics, because they are the most injurious kind of tares, inasmuch as they choke and destroy the faithful and faith from their foundation. So S. Chrysostom, Euthymius, and S. Augustine (4 quest. in Matth. q. 11) who, however, retracts (l. 2 Retract. c. 27) and teaches from S. Cyprian, that tares denote all the wicked in the Church. SS. Gregory, Ambrose, and Theophylact teach the same. For all wicked persons, by their evil life, hurt the faithful and the Church, as tares injure wheat, and choke it. Falsely then from this passage (

verse 30, bind them together in bundles, which S. Gregory explains thus: "The angel-reapers bind the tares in bundles for burning, when they join like with like in similar tormentsas the proud with the proud, the luxurious with the luxurious, liars with liars, unbelievers with unbelieversthat they may burn together."

And shall cast them, &c. The furnace denotes that the damned shall be confined in hell as in a furnace, as wood and straw are confined in a furnace.

Then shall the righteous, &c. Then, because now, says Remigius the just shine for an example to others; but then they shall shine as the sun for the praise of God. He alludes to Daniel xii 3: "They that are learned (Heb. mascilim, i.e., wise and prudentsuch, namely, as shall live wisely and prudently) shall shine as the splendour of the firmament; and they that shall instruct many to justice, as the stars for everlasting eternities." See what I have there said. From this passage some heretics were of opinion, that in the resurrection our bodies will be transformed into globes, so as to be like the solar orb. The emperor Justinian ascribes this heresy to Origen, and condemns it. (See Baronius, tom. 7, A. C. 538, pp. 289 and 293.)

The kingdom of Heaven is like, &c. For he who knows that a treasure is lying hid in any place, and buys the place, becomes the master of the treasure, and is not bound to point it out to the former owner, but may use his knowledge for his own advantage by buying the field for as much as it is worth by common estimation; with which the hid treasure has nothing to do.

Which when a man has found. The Greek has the Aorist, εύρὼν.

Observe: Christ, in the preceding four parables (namely, of the Sower, of the Seed, of the Grain of Mustard, and of Leaven) has declared the nature, power, and efficacy of the Gospel; now, in the two following parables, of the Treasure, and of the Pearl, He declares its price, how great it is, that all things are deservedly counted as loss in comparison of it. So SS. Chrysostom, Hilary, and others. In a similar way, Wisdom is spoken of by Solomon in the Proverbs (viii. 11, 19): "For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it . . . My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver."

Literally. By this treasure S. Jerome understands Christ Himself; and S. Augustine, Holy Scripture. (Quest. in Matt. q. 13). "For when anyone has attained partly to the understanding of it, he feels great mysteries lie hid in it, and he sells all he has, and buys it; that is, by despising things temporal, he procures rest for himself, that he may be rich in the knowledge of God."

Tropologically. S. Gregory, by the treasure, understands heavenly desire. He says: "The treasure being found is hid that it may be preserved, because it is not enough for a man to guard the zeal of his heavenly desire from the wicked spirits, who does not hide the same from the praise of men. In this present life we are, as it were, in a road, by which we are going to our country. Wicked spirits, like robbers, beset our path. He, therefore, who openly carries his treasure in the way desires to be robbed of it."

Again the kingdom of Heaven, &c.goodly; Syriac, the best; Arabic, a good gem. He means the faithful ought with as great zeal to provide themselves with the doctrine and life of the Gospel (which is the way and the price of the kingdom of Heaven) as a merchant seeks for pearls, and buys the one of them which is most precious: for otherwise the kingdom, or the Gospel itself, is properly compared to a pearl rather than to a merchant man.

And when he had found, &c. For as this pearl was beyond all price, so is the Gospel. See Pliny on the price of pearls (l. 9, 35), where he says, among other things, that pearls have greater affinity with the sky than with the sea. See what I have said on the Apocalypse xxi. 21 (Rev_21:21), where I have enumerated thirteen properties of pearls.

Symbolically. The precious pearl is Christ, also the Blessed Virgin, also the religious state, also charity: "for charity is a precious pearl, without which nothing can profit thee, whatsoever thou mayst have," says S. Augustine. For charity is the necklace of Christ. Also a precious pearl is the contemplative life, concerning which Christ said of the Magdalene, "Mary hath chosen the good part." A pearl is, also, the soul of every man. It is also eternal felicity, as our Salmeron appositely shows (tom. vii. tract. 11); for all these are principal parts of the kingdom of Heaven, i.e., of the doctrine of the Gospel. Such, likewise, is humility, even as our Thomas teaches, being taught of God himself (Imitat. Christi. l. 1, c. 2): "If thou wishest profitably to know and to learn anything, love to be unknown, and to be counted as nothing. This is the loftiest and most useful knowledgetruly to know and despise thy self." This is the most precious Gospel pearl, but its worth is unknown to the proud children of Adam. Such also is the Cross of Christ, and to suffer for Christ. See Hab_3:4: "There were horns in His hands; there was His strength hid." (Vulg.)

The chief and most precious pearl of all, from which all virtues and all the Saints, like pearls are sprung, and from which they derive their beauty and their value, is Christ Himself. For His Deity in His Humanity is as a pearl hid in a shell. It issued forth of the substance of the Virgin, and the dew of the Spirit, most white, through innocence of life. It was exceeding bright through wisdom; round through the possession of all perfection; having the weight of conscience, the smoothness of meekness, the price of blessedness. For says Pliny, "The value of pearls consists in whiteness, size, rotundity, smoothness and weight." Hear what S. Augustine says, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God: for the Word of the Lord shines with the brightness of truth, and is solid with the firmness of eternity, and is every where alike with the beauty of Divinity: when the shell of the flesh is pierced through, God may be perceived." This pearl of Christ, says our Salmeron, is small by humility, but precious in value. Let us bear it on the head of our mind by way of ornament; on our forehead by confessing the faith; in our ears by obedience to the Law, obedience rendered to God in Himself, and our Superiors; on our necks and breasts by love; on our arms by the exercise of good works; in rings on our hands by the gift of discerning spirits; in our girdles by chastity; on our garments by modesty and holy devotion to eternal life; but we ourselves also may become precious pearls, and by this means may induce others to imitate the most holy life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Finally Christ is not only a very precious pearl, but He is also the gem of gems. He is a carbuncle, because He is the light of the world. He is an emerald because He delights the angels by the verdure of His grace. He is strong and invincible as a diamond. He produces joy as a sardius. He heals the leprosy of sin as a chrysoprasus. He assists the bringing forth of good works as a spiritual jasper; He sharpens the intellect as a beryl; He has celestial colour and life, as a sapphire; He resists sleep and drunkenness, as an amethyst; and all the infirmities of the mind, as a hyacinth; He sustained the worry of the passions, as a topaz: He is a sardonyx in brightness and splendour; He is a chrysolite in His golden charity. Whence the foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem are laid with these twelve precious stones, which signify the twelve Apostles of Christ.

Again the kingdom of Heaven is like to a drag-net, &c. The two preceding parables, those viz. of the Treasure and the Pearl denoted the value and dignity of the Gospel. This parable shows its capaciousness, viz. that it embraces all nations and people of the world, bad as well as good. Christ propounded the parable with this object, that the Apostles and Saints should not wonder, if among the faithful they beheld some living wickedly, just as in a great kingdom no one is surprised that murderers, thieves and adulterers are found. Again it was spoken in order that no one should flatter himself, simply on account of being a believing Christian since there are in the Church many who are wicked; but that he should give diligence to be just and holy in the Church.

A drag-net: Gr. σαγήνη, signifying the kind of net commonly called a drag or trawling-net, because of its sweeping the water or the sea in order to catch the fishes. Properly this sagene or drag-net is the bosom of the net. In like manner all the faithful are, as it were, received into the maternal bosom of the Church, and there are cherished, nourished and preserved.

Of every kind: for thus the Gospel is preached to all nations, and of them the Church is formed. The fishes are believers, the fisher-men are the Apostles, and the drag-net is the Church and the Gospel.

Which, when it was full, &c., cast the bad away. They cast them into the sea, or upon the shore. The Arabic is, They colleted the select fish in their vessels. The vessels denote the various mansions in the house of our Father, as Christ says, (Joh_14:2), or the various abodes of Heaven, which, in another place are called the eternal tabernacles. The bad, Gr. σαπρὰ, i.e., putrid, decaying, noisome. From this passage S. Augustine rightly proves against the Donatists that in the Church there are not only good people, or as Calvin says, the elect, but bad and reprobate people.

So shall it be in the end of the world, &c. Arabic, in the end of this time, that is to say, in the day of judgment.

He saith unto them, therefore every Scribe, &c. It is as though He said, Forasmuch as ye, 0 ye Apostles, have understood by these My parables, how great a treasure the kingdom of Heaven is, ye ought to draw forth all things from this treasury, that ye may communicate them to others; yea, to the whole world. Again: because ye have understood my method of teaching the things of Heaven, and things which are new to men, by means of parables borrowed from things in common use; ye too ought to teach and preach the same things in the same manner, that from the old things, which they do understand, they may receive and learn those new things which ye preach.

A Scribe; Arabic, a Scribe, who teathes for the kingdom of heaven, i.e., an Evangelical doctor well instructed to announce the Gospel, and lead believers to the kingdom of Heaven; such as ye are, and shall be, 0 ye Apostles, who are fully taught by Me and the Holy Spirit. He opposes His own Scribes, i.e., Doctors and Preachers, His Apostles in fact, to the Scribes of the Jews, which last only preached the law of Moses, and the earthly advantages flowing from it.

Things new and old. This is a proverb, signifying every kind of food, substance, or goods necessary or useful for sustaining a family. Some of these things are best when new, others when old. Hence the proverb, "New honey, old wine;" i.e., honey is best when fresh, but the oldest wine is the best. Hence too the verse in Pindar's ninth Olympic Hymn, "Praise old wine, but the flowers of new Hymns." The meaning isAs the father of a family provides for his household things new and old, i.e., everything necessary and useful, so ought a Gospel teacher to bring forth, at suitable times, according to the capacity of his hearers, various discourses, knowledge of every kind; and especially to take care to teach them the new and unknown mysteries of the Gospel, by means of old examples, such as parables and similitudes, which his hearers can take in. Moreover, some of the ancients, as SS. Chrysostom, Augustine, Jerome, Hilary, and Bede apply old and new to the Old and New Testaments. For that is the best preaching when the New Testament is confirmed and illustrated from the Old, and proved to be in all points typically agreeable to it. For the Old Testament was the type of the New; the New Testament is the antetype of the Old.

Abul. objects that when Christ said this, the New Testament was not written. I reply that it was already spoken and taught by Christ, and was shortly about to be written by the four Evangelists; and that Christ knew this. Wherefore He bids the Apostles that they should preach themselves what they had heard, but that their successors should preach the same things as written by the Evangelists.

Jesus passed on from thence, i.e., from His house which He had at Capernaum.

And came unto his own country, &c. This country was not Bethlehem where He was born, but Nazareth, where he was brought up.

Is not this the son of the carpenter, &c. The Gr. is, the son of the workman, the Arab. adds, in wood. S. Mark (Mar_6:3.) Is not this she workman? "Nor is it to be wondered at," says S. Augustine, "since both might be said, for they believed Him to be a workman, in that he was the son of a workman." This was because they were accustomed to see Him working with Joseph. It seems therefore that Christ wrought with His father Joseph until He was thirty years of age, when He began to teach and to preach. SS. Hilary and Ambrose think that Christ was a blacksmith; Hugo, a mason, or a goldsmith. The general opinion is that Christ was a carpenter, as S. Thomas, teaches out of S. Chrysostom. S. Justin (Dial. c. Tryph.) says, "He was accustomed to make ploughs and yokes for oxen." Hence Christ in His preaching often takes His similitudes from those objects, as, "Take my yoke upon you," and, "No man putting his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Hence too when a Christian was asked in derision by Julian the Apostate, "what the Son of the Carpenter was doing;" answered wittily, "He is making a bier for Julian." This was shortly before Julian was slain, (See Sozomen. l. 6. c. 2.) Some however say that Christ did not exercise a workman's craft. But I have said more on this subject on S. Luk_2:51.

Mystically: "God is the workman who is the Father of Christ, who framed the works of the whole world, who built the ark of Noah, who set in order the Tabernacle of Moses, who instituted the ark of the Covenant. You might call Him a carpenter, who planes down a rigid mind, and cuts away proud thoughts." (Serm. de Nat.) Moreover, says S. Chrysologus (Serm. 48.) "Christ was the son of a workman; but of Him, who made the frame of the universe, not by a hammer, but by His command; who disposed the composition of the elements, not by skill but by His command; who kindled the sun not by earthly fire, but by His supreme heat; who made all things out of nothing, and made them, 0 man, for thee, that thou mightest reflect upon the artificer by considering His work."

And His brethren, James, &c. Brethren, i.e., cousins, as I have said Chap. xii. 45.

James: This is James the less, called the son of Alphæus, an Apostle, and first Bishop of Jerusalem. I have spoken more at length concerning him in the preface to his Canonical Epistle.

And Joseph: The Greek and Syriac have Joses. He was one of the seventy disciples. See what I have said about him on Acts i. 23.

And Simon: Many think from Abdia, Sophronius, Isidore. and Bede, that this was Simon the Canaanite, the Apostle. As though this last had been the brother of James the less and Jude. But Simon the Apostle came from Cana of Galilee; but these brethren, that is, cousins of Christ, were sprung from Nazareth, together with Christ Himself. Wherefore the inhabitants of Nazareth wondered from whence there was in Jesus, their fellow citizen, such great wisdom, since they knew his brethren and relations to be simple and unlearned persons, as is plain from Mark vi. 1., &c. It seems therefore more probable that this Simon is the S. Simeon who succeeded S. James as Bishop of Jerusalem. For Simeon was the son of Cleophas and his wife Mary, as Hegesippus testifies (Eus. H.E. 3. 11.), whom SS. Chrysostom and Theophylact teach to have been the brother of S. James the less. Although Hegesippus and Epiphanius (Hæres. 66.) are of opinion that he was not the brother, but the cousin of James. He was that Simeon, who was crucified in the tenth year of Trajan, when he was 120 years old, A.D. 109; and astonished everyone by his constancy and fortitude. From this it follows that those writers who thought him to be the same person as Simon the Canaanite are mistaken.

And Jude. He was a brother of James the less. I have spoken of him in the preface to his Epistle.

You will ask whether these four were brethren, strictly so called, born of the same father and mother? In the first place, it is plain that James and Joses were brothers. This appears from Matt. xxvii. 56. As to the other two, Simon and Jude, some think they were brothers of James and Joses, but on the mother's side only. They say that their mother was the Mary who was first married to Alphæus, to whom she bore James and Joses, and that therefore James is called of Alphæus, that is, his son; and after Alphæus was dead, she married Cleophas, to whom she bore Simon and Jude. Thus S. Thomas (c. 1, ad. Galat. Lect 5).

2. Baronius (apparat. Annal. c. 46) considers there were three sistersi.e., cousins of the Blessed Virginof the name of Mary. The first, Mary, the wife of Alphæus, and the mother of James and Jude (the Apostles), and Joses. 2. Mary, the wife of Cleophas, the mother of that S. Simeon who succeeded S. James in the Bishopric of Jerusalem. The third was Mary Salome, the wife of Zebedee and the mother of the Apostles James and John.

But it is clear that Mary, the wife of Alphæus is the same as Mary the wife pf Cleophas, if we compare S. John xix. 25 with Matt. xxvii. 56, and Mar_15:40. For John says. "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene." But Matthew says: "Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children." And Mark: "There were also women looking on afar off; among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome."

We see here plainly, that she who is called by John Mary of Cleophas is called by Matthew and Mark, Mary the mother of James and Joses; James, I say, who is called (Acts i. and Matt. x.) not the son of Zebedee, but of Alphæus. Therefore, Mary of Cleophas and Mary of Alphæus are one and the same person. Cleophas and Alphæus are really one and the same Hebrew word, by a common interchange of letters. Unless you prefer to consider that one of them was the husband, the other the father, of this Mary.

Again, you may see, that she who is called Salome by Mark, is called by Matthew the mother of Zebedee's children; this, therefore, was Salome. It seems, then, that the same Mary of Cleophas, or Alphæus, was the mother of these fourviz., James, Joseph, Simon, and Jude. For Matthew and Mark (in the places already cited) call her the mother of James and Joses. But Jude was the brother of James, as he says himself in the beginning of his Epistle. Simon also, or Simeon, who succeeded his brother James at Jerusalem, was also a brother, for he was the son of Cleophas and Mary his wife. Moreover, Hegesippus, S. Chrysostom, and several other Fathers assert that this Mary was not the daughter, but the wife of Cleophas. And the same Hegesippus says this Cleophas was the brother of Joseph, the spouse of the Blessed Virgin. He is the same Cleophas to whom, with his companion, Christ made himself known on the way to Emmaus in the breaking of bread. He was slain by the Jews, in that very house of Emmaus, on account of His confession of Christ. He died a martyr, on the 25th of Sept., as the Roman Martyrology has it.

You will ask, why then do Matthew and Mark call this Mary the mother of James and Joses, but not of Simon and Jude? I reply, for the sake of brevity, and because the two first, viz., James and Joses were accounted at that time more celebrated than the other two. This Mary, the mother of so many saintly sons and daughters, died in sanctity, in Judea, on the 9th April.

And his sisters, &c. The sisters of James, Joses, &c., are called by Hippolytus (Ap. Niceph. l. 2. c. 3.), Esther, and Tama; but by S, Epiphanius (Hæres 78.) and Theophylact they are called Mary, Salome who was the wife of Zebedee, and the mother of S. John and S. James the great, the Apostles, who were therefore nephews, through their sister, of James the less, Joses, &c. (See Christophor. a Castro de Deipaz. c. 1), where he shows that Salome was older than her brothers James and Jude. For she was the mother of John and James who were chosen by Christ, together with their uncles, James and Jude, to be Apostles. For John seems to have been only three years younger than Christ. Hence too, only James, Joses, Simon and Jude, the sons of Cleophas, are called brothers, i.e., cousins of Christ, on the father's side. But John and James the sons of Zebedee, are not called brethren of Christ, because they were not first cousins of Christ, but children of His cousin Salome. Again Christophor. gathers from hence, that James the less, who was the brother of Salome, was senior to James the greater, the son of Salome and Zebedee, by nine or ten years at the least. James the less was the uncle of James the great. For they were not so called, in respect of age but of their vocation, by Christ. It is not doubtful that Christ had many other relations and connections, but these are specially mentioned, both because they were nearer in blood; and because they at length believed on Hirn, and became His Apostles.

They were offended, &c. This is, they were indignant that Christ, who was but a workman, should set himself up for a prophet and teacher; just as men would be offended and indignant now, if they saw any one jump out of a workshop into a Cathedral, and act the Doctor; and would accuse him of the utmost arrogance and folly. But the inhabitants of Nazareth were ignorant that Christ was the Son of God, who, out of His immense love, had not disdained to be born among workmen, and to act as one, that He might redeem us, and teach us humility by His example. Therefore this charity and humility of Christ, which ought to have made them admire and venerate Him, was a stumbling-block to them, because they would not believe that God would be willing to stoop so low.

But Jesus said unto them, &c. This is a common proverb, and generally, but not universally true; for John the Baptist, as well as Isaiah, Elias, Elisha, Daniel, Hosea, &c., were held in great honour by the Jews their countrymen.

Now the first cause why a prophet, that is a teacher, is frequently without honour among his own people, is what S. Jerome gives, "It is almost natural for citizens to have an invidious feeling towards their fellow citizens. For they do not consider a man's present works, but call to mind his frail infancy, as though they themselves had not arrived by the same gradations of age at mature years." Listen to S. Ambrose, (c. 4. Luc.). "No slight envy is that which betrays itself, which forgetful of the charity belonging to citizenship, turns the causes of love into bitter hatred. This is declared both by example and the oracle, that, in vain, do you look for the assistance of heavenly mercy, if you envy the progress of another's virtue. For the Lord despises the envious, and turns away the miracles of His power from those who disparage the divine blessings in others."

2. Because too great familiarity breeds contempt as S. Chrysostom says. And Theophylact says, "We are wont to despise those things which are very common, always paying greater regard to foreign and unaccustomed things. We admire what comes from abroad; we despise what we have at homeeven when what we have at home is better. Thus, we turn up our nose at our own physicians, however learned they may be; and we purchase herbs and flowers brought from India, when we have the very same, or better, in our own woods. Of a truth 'novelty is charming.'"

3. Because by daily conversation with people, their faults, or natural infirmities, are readily disclosed; and this is apt to lessen our veneration for them. But it is otherwise in conversing with God, because the greater converse we have with Him, the more does it conduce to reverence. The inhabitants of Nazareth seeing Christ eat, drink, sleep, work like other men, despised Him, especially when they beheld His relations mean and poor: Nor, indeed, could they believe that He was born of a Virgin Mother, and had God for His Father. Let, therefore, a teacher and preacher avoid familiarity with men, lest he be despised; for, as S. Cyril says. "Preaching is not able to bring forth fruit where the preacher is despised."

And He did not many mighty works there, &c. (Arab.), on account of the paucity of their faith. This caused them to be unworthy of miracles. S. Jerome gives another reason, "That He might not condemn their unbelief by working many miracles." For he who beholds many miracles, and does not believe, sins more gravely than he who has beheld but few, and will be, therefore, more heavily condemned, and punished in hell This was the cause why Christ wrought but few miracles among the Jews, says S. Jerome, "He works greater miracles among the Gentiles, day by day, by His apostles, not so much in healing men's bodies as in saving their souls"

Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, "Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field."37. He answered and said unto them, "He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;38. The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;39. The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.40. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.41. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;42. And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.43. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."

The Lord had spoken to the multitude in parables, that He might induce them to ask Him of their meaning; yet, though He had spoken so many things in parables, no man had yet asked Him aught, and therefore He sends them away; "Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house." None of the Scribes followed Him here, from is which it is clear that they followed Him for no other purpose than that they might catch Him in His discourse.

The Lord sends away the multitude, and enters the house that His disciples might come to Him and ask Him privately of those things which the people neither deserved to hear, nor were able.

Figuratively; Having sent away the multitude of unquiet Jews, He enters the Church of the Gentiles, and there expounds to believers heavenly sacraments, whence it follows, "And his disciples came to him, saying, Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."

Before, though desirous to learn, they had feared to ask; but now they ask freely and confidently because they had heard, "To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven;" and therefore they ask when alone, not envying the multitude to whom it was not so given. They pass over the parables of the leaven and the mustard-seed as plain; and ask concerning the parable of the tares, which has some agreement with the foregoing parable concerning the seed, and shews somewhat more than that.

And accordingly the Lord expounds it to them, as it follows, "He answered and said unto them, He that sows the good seed is the Son of man."

The Lord styles Himself the Son of Man, that in that title He might set an example of humility; or perhaps because it was to come to pass that certain heretics would deny Him to be really man; or that through belief in His Humanity we might ascend to knowledge of His Divinity.

"The field is the world." Seeing it is He that sows His own field, it is plain that this present world is His. It follows, "The good seed are the children of the kingdom."

That is, the saints, and elect men, who are counted as sons.

The tares the Lord expounds to mean, not as Manichaeus interprets, certain spurious parts inserted among the true Scriptures, but all the children of the Evil one, that is, the imitators of the fraud of the Devil.

As it follows, "The tares are the children of the evil one," by whom He would have us understand all the wicked and impious.

For all weeds among corn are called tares.

It follows, "The enemy who sowed this is the Devil."

For this is part of the wiles of the Devil, to be ever mixing up truth with error. "The harvest is the end of the world."

In another place He says, speaking of the Samaritans, "Lift up your eyes, and consider the fields that they are already white for the harvest;" [ Joh 4:35 ] and again, "The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few," [ Luk 10:2 ] in which words He speaks of the harvest as being already present.

How then does He here speak of it as something yet to come? Because He has used the figure of the harvest in two significations;, as He says there that it is one that soweth, and another that reapeth; but here it is the same who both sows and reaps; indeed there He brings forward the Prophets, not to distinguish them from Himself, but from the Apostles, for Christ Himself by His Prophets sowed among the Jews and Samaritans.

The figure of harvest is thus applied to two different things. Speaking of first conviction and turning to the faith, He calls that the harvest, as that in which the whole is accomplished; but when He enquires into the fruits ensuing upon the hearing the word of God, then He calls the end of the world the harvest, as here.

By the harvest is denoted the day of judgment, in which the good are to be separated from the evil; which will be done by the ministry of Angels, as it is said below, that the Son of Man shall come to judgment with His Angels.

"As then the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his Angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all offences, and them which do iniquity."

Out of that kingdom in which are no offences? The kingdom then is His kingdom which is here, namely, the Church.

That the tares are first separated, signifies that by tribulation the wicked shall be separated from the righteous; and this is understood to be performed by good Angels, because the good can discharge duties of punishment with a good spirit, as a judge, or as the Law, but the wicked cannot fulfil offices of mercy.

Or we may understand it of the kingdom of the heavenly Church; and then there will be held out here a two-fold punishment; first that they fall from glory as that is said, "And they shall gather out of his kingdom all offences," to the end, that no offences should be seen in His kingdom; and then that they are burned. "And they shall cast them into a furnace of fire."

The offences are to be referred to the tares.

"The offences", and, "them that do iniquity," are to be distinguished as heretics and schismatics; the "offences" referring to heretics; while by "them that do iniquity" are to be understood schismatics.

Otherwise; By "offences" may be understood those that give their neighbour an occasion of falling, by "those that do iniquity" all other sinners. Rabanus: Observe, He says, "Those that do iniquity," not, those who have done; because not they who have turned to penitence, but they only that abide in their sins are to be delivered to eternal torments.

Behold the unspeakable love of God towards men! He is ready to shew mercy, slow to punish; when He sows, He sows Himself; when He punishes, He punishes by others, sending His Angels to that.It follows, "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

In these words is shewn the reality of the resurrection of the body; and further, the twofold pains of hell, extreme heat, and extreme cold. And as the offences are referred to the tares, so the righteous are reckoned among the children of the kingdom; concerning whom it follows, "Then the righteous shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." For in the present world the light of the saints shines before men, but after the consummation of all things, the righteous themselves shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

That He says, "Then shall they shine," implies that they now shine for an example to others, but they shall then shine as the sun to the praise of God. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

That is, Let him understand who has understanding, because all these things are to be understood mystically, and not literally.

24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. 31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. 33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. 34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: 35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. 36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

In these verses, we have, I. Another reason given why Christ preached by parables, v. 34, 35 . All these things he spoke in parables, because the time was not yet come for the more clear and plain discoveries of the mysteries of the kingdom. Christ, to keep the people attending and expecting, preached in parables, and without a parable spake he not unto them; namely, at this time and in this sermon. Note, Christ tries all ways and methods to do good to the souls of men, and to make impressions upon them; if men will not be instructed and influenced by plain preaching, he will try them with parables; and the reason here given is, That the scripture might be fulfilled. The passage here quoted for it, is part of the preface to that historical Psalm, lxxviii. 2 , I will open my mouth in a parable. What the Psalmist David, or Asaph, says there of his narrative, is accommodated to Christ's sermons; and that great precedent would serve to vindicate this way of preaching from the offence which some took at it. Here is, 1. The matter of Christ's preaching; he preached things which had been kept secret from the foundation of the world. The mystery of the gospel had been hid in God, in his councils and decrees, from the beginning of the world. Eph. iii. 9 . Compare Rom. xvi. 25 ; 1 Cor. ii. 7 ; Col. i. 26 . If we delight in the records of ancient things, and in the revelation of secret things, how welcome should the gospel be to us, which has in it such antiquity and such mystery! It was from the foundation of the world wrapt up in types and shadows, which are now done away; and those secret things are now become such things revealed as belong to us and to our children, Deut. xxix. 29 . 2. The manner of Christ's preaching; he preached by parables; wise sayings, but figurative, and which help to engage attention and a diligent search. Solomon's sententious dictates, which are full of similitudes, are called proverbs, or parables; it is the same word; but in this, as in other things, Behold a greater than Solomon is here, in whom are hid treasures of wisdom.

II. The parable of the tares, and the exposition of it; they must be taken together, for the exposition explains the parable and the parable illustrates the exposition.

Observe, 1. The disciples' request to their Master to have this parable expounded to them ( v. 36 ); Jesus sent the multitude away; and it is to be feared many of them went away no wiser than they came; they had heard a sound of words, and that was all. It is sad to think how many go away from sermons without the word of grace in their hearts. Christ went into the house, not so much for his own repose, as for particular converse with his disciples, whose instruction he chiefly intended in all his preaching. He was ready to do good in all places; the disciples laid hold on the opportunity, and they came to him. Note, Those who would be wise for every thing else, must be wise to discern and improve their opportunities, especially of converse with Christ, of converse with him alone, in secret meditation and prayer. It is very good, when we return from the solemn assembly, to talk over what we have heard there, and by familiar discourse to help one another to understand and remember it, and to be affected with it; for we lose the benefit of many a sermon by vain and unprofitable discourse after it. See Luke xxiv. 32 ; Deut. vi. 6, 7 . It is especially good, if it may be, to ask of the ministers of the word the meaning of the word, for their lips should keep knowledge, Mal. ii. 7 . Private conference would contribute much to our profiting by public preaching. Nathan's Thou art the man, was that which touched David to the heart.

The disciples' request to their Master was, Declare unto us the parable of the tares. This implied an acknowledgement of their ignorance, which they were not ashamed to make. It is probable they apprehended the general scope of the parable, but they desired to understand it more particularly, and to be assured that they took it right. Note, Those are rightly disposed for Christ's teaching, that are sensible of their ignorance, and sincerely desirous to be taught. He will teach the humble ( Ps. xxv. 8, 9 ), but will for this be enquired of. If any man lack instruction, let him ask it of God. Christ had expounded the foregoing parable unasked, but for the exposition of this they ask him. Note, The mercies we have received must be improved, both for direction what to pray for, and for our encouragement in prayer. The first light and the first grace are given in a preventing way, further degrees of both which must be daily prayed for.

2. The exposition Christ gave of the parable, in answer to their request; so ready is Christ to answer such desires of his disciples. Now the drift of the parable is, to represent to us the present and future state of the kingdom of heaven, the gospel church: Christ's care of it, the devil's enmity against it, the mixture that there is in it of good and bad in the other world. Note, The visible church is the kingdom of heaven; though there be many hypocrites in it, Christ rules in it as a King; and there is a remnant in it, that are the subjects and heirs of heaven, from whom, as the better part, it is denominated: the church is the kingdom of heaven upon earth.

Let us go over the particulars of the exposition of the parable.

(1.) He that sows the good seed is the Son of man. Jesus Christ is the Lord of the field, the Lord of the harvest, the Sower of good seed. When he ascended on high, he gave gifts to the world; not only good ministers, but other good men. Note, Whatever good seed there is in the world, it all comes from the hand of Christ, and is of his sowing: truths preached, graces planted, souls sanctified, are good seed, and all owing to Christ. Ministers are instruments in Christ's hand to sow good seed; are employed by him and under him, and the success of their labours depends purely upon his blessing; so that it may well be said, It is Christ, and no other, that sows the good seed; he is the Son of man, one of us, that his terror might not make us afraid; the Son of man, the Mediator, and that has authority.

(2.) The field is the world; the world of mankind, a large field, capable of bringing forth good fruit; the more is it to be lamented that it brings forth so much bad fruit: the world here is the visible church, scattered all the world over, not confined to one nation. Observe, In the parable it is called his field; the world is Christ's field, for all things are delivered unto him of the Father: whatever power and interest the devil has in the world, it is usurped and unjust; when Christ comes to take possession, he comes whose right it is; it is his field, and because it is his he took care to sow it with good seed.

(3.) The good seed are the children of the kingdom, true saints. They are, [1.] The children of the kingdom; not in profession only, as the Jews were ( ch. viii. 12 ), but in sincerity; Jews inwardly, Israelites indeed, incorporated in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ the great King of the church. [2.] They are the good seed, precious as seed, Ps. cxxvi. 6 . The seed is the substance of the field; so the holy seed, Isa. vi. 13 . The seed is scattered, so are the saints; dispersed, here one and there another, though in some places thicker sown than in others. The seed is that from which fruit is expected; what fruit of honour and service God has from this world he has from the saints, whom he has sown unto himself in the earth, Hos. ii. 23 .

(4.) The tares are the children of the wicked one. Here is the character of sinners, hypocrites, and all profane and wicked people. [1.] They are the children of the devil, as a wicked one. Though they do not own his name, yet they bear his image, do his lusts, and from him they have their education; he rules over them, he works in them, Eph. ii. 2 ; John viii. 44 . [2.] They are tares in the field of this world; they do no good, they do hurt; unprofitable in themselves, and hurtful to the good seed, both by temptation and persecution: they are weeds in the garden, have the same rain, and sunshine, and soil, with the good plants, but are good for nothing: the tares are among the wheat. Note, God has so ordered it, that good and bad should be mixed together in this world, that the good may be exercised, the bad left inexcusable, and a difference made between earth and heaven.

(5.) The enemy that sowed the tares is the devil; a sworn enemy to Christ and all that is good, to the glory of the good God, and the comfort and happiness of all good men. He is an enemy to the field of the world, which he endeavours to make his own, by sowing his tares in it. Ever since he became a wicked spirit himself, he has been industrious to promote wickedness, and has made it his business, aiming therein to counterwork Christ.

Now concerning the sowing of the tares, observe in the parable,

[1.] That they were sown while men slept. Magistrates slept, who by their power, ministers slept, who by their preaching, should have prevented this mischief. Note, Satan watches all opportunities, and lays hold of all advantages, to propagate vice and profaneness. The prejudice he does to particular persons is when reason and conscience sleep, when they are off their guard; we have therefore need to be sober, and vigilant. It was in the night, for that is the sleeping time. Note, Satan rules in the darkness of this world; that gives him an opportunity to sow tares, Ps. civ. 20 . It was while men slept; and there is no remedy but men must have some sleeping time. Note, It is as impossible for us to prevent hypocrites being in the church, as it is for the husbandman, when he is asleep, to hinder an enemy from spoiling his field.

[2.] The enemy, when he had sown the tares, went his way ( v. 25 ), that it might not be known who did it. Note, When Satan is doing the greatest mischief, he studies most to conceal himself; for his design is in danger of being spoiled if he be seen in it; and therefore, when he comes to sow tares, he transforms himself into an angel of light, 2 Cor. xi. 13, 14 . He went his way, as if he had done no harm; such is the way of the adulterous woman, Prov. xxx. 20 . Observe, Such is the proneness of fallen man to sin, that if the enemy sow the tares, he may even go his way, they will spring up of themselves and do hurt; whereas, when good seed is sown, it must be tended, watered, and fenced, or it will come to nothing.

[3.] The tares appeared not till the blade sprung up, and brought forth fruit, v. 26 . There is a great deal of secret wickedness in the hearts of men, which is long hid under the cloak of a plausible profession, but breaks out at last. As the good seed, so the tares, lie a great while under the clods, and at first springing up, it is hard to distinguish them; but when a trying time comes, when fruit is to be brought forth, when good is to be done that has difficulty and hazard attending it, then you will return and discern between the sincere and the hypocrite: then you may say, This is wheat, and that is tares.

[4.] The servants, when they were aware of it, complained to their master ( v. 27 ); Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? No doubt he did; whatever is amiss in the church, we are sure it is not of Christ: considering the seed which Christ sows, we may well ask, with wonder, Whence should these tares come? Note, The rise of errors, the breaking out of scandals, and the growth of profaneness, are matter of great grief to all the servants of Christ; especially to his faithful ministers, who are directed to complain of it to him whose the field is. It is sad to see such tares, such weeds, in the garden of the Lord; to see the good soil wasted, the good seed choked, and such a reflection cast on the name and honour of Christ, as if his field were no better than the field of the slothful, all grown over with thorns.

[5.] The Master was soon aware whence it was ( v. 28 ); An enemy has done this. He does not lay the blame upon the servants; they could not help it, but had done what was in their power to prevent it. Note, The ministers of Christ, that are faithful and diligent, shall not be judged of Christ, and therefore should not be reproached by men, for the mixtures of bad with good, hypocrites with the sincere, in the field of the church. It must needs be that such offences will come; and they shall not be laid to our charge, if we do our duty, though it have not the desired success. Though they sleep, if they do not love sleep; though tares be sown, if they do not sow them nor water them, nor allow of them, the blame shall not lie at their door.

[6.] The servants were very forward to have these tares rooted up. " Wilt thou that we go and do it presently?" Note, The over-hasty and inconsiderate zeal of Christ's servants, before they have consulted with their Master, is sometimes ready, with the hazard of the church, to root out all that they presume to be tares: Lord, wilt thou that we call for fire from heaven?

[7.] The Master very wisely prevented this ( v. 29 ); Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Note, It is not possible for any man infallibly to distinguish between tares and wheat, but he may be mistaken; and therefore such is the wisdom and grace of Christ, that he will rather permit the tares, than any way endanger the wheat. It is certain, scandalous offenders are to be censured, and we are to withdraw from them; those who are openly the children of the wicked one, are not to be admitted to special ordinances; yet it is possible there may be a discipline, either so mistaken in its rules, or so over-nice in the application of them, as may prove vexatious to many that are truly godly and conscientious. Great caution and moderation must be used in inflicting and continuing church censures, lest the wheat be trodden down, if not plucked up. The wisdom from above, as it is pure, so it is peaceable, and those who oppose themselves must not be cut off, but instructed, and with meekness, 2 Tim. ii. 25 . The tares, if continued under the means of grace, may become good corn; therefore have patience with them.

(6.) The harvest is the end of the world, v. 39 . This world will have an end; though it continue long, it will not continue always; time will shortly be swallowed up in eternity. At the end of the world, there will be a great harvest-day, a day of judgment; at harvest all is ripe and ready to be cut down: both good and bad are ripe at the great-day, Rev. vi. 11 . It is the harvest of the earth, Rev. xiv. 15 . At harvest the reapers cut down all before them; not a field, not a corner, is left behind; so at the great day all must be judged ( Rev. xx. 12, 13 ); God has set a harvest ( Hos. vi. 11 ), and it shall not fail, Gen. viii. 22 . At harvest every man reaps as he sowed; every man's ground, and seed, and skill, and industry, will be manifested: see Gal. vi. 7, 8 . Then they who sowed precious seed, will come again with rejoicing ( Ps. cxxvi. 5, 6 ), with the joy of harvest ( Isa. ix. 3 ); when the sluggard, who would not plough by reason of cold, shall beg, and have nothing ( Prov. xx. 4 ); shall cry, Lord, Lord, but in vain; when the harvest of those who sowed to the flesh, shall be a day of grief, and of desperate sorrow, Isa. xvii. 11 .

(7.) The reapers are the angels: they shall be employed, in the great day, in executing Christ's righteous sentences, both of approbation and condemnation, as ministers of his justice, ch. xxv. 31 . The angels are skilful, strong, and swift, obedient servants to Christ, holy enemies to the wicked, and faithful friends to all the saints, and therefore fit to be thus employed. He that reapeth receiveth wages, and the angels will not be unpaid for their attendance; for he that soweth, and he that reapeth, shall rejoice together ( John iv. 36 ); that is joy in heaven in the presence of the angels of God.

(8.) Hell-torments are the fire, into which the tares shall then be cast, and in which they shall be burned. At the great day a distinction will be made, and with it a vast difference; it will be a notable day indeed.

[1.] The tares will then be gathered out: The reapers (whose primary work it is to gather in the corn) shall be charged first to gather out the tares. Note, Though good and bad are together in this world undistinguished, yet at the great day they shall be parted; no tares shall then be among the wheat; no sinners among the saints: then you shall plainly discern between the righteous and the wicked, which here sometimes it is hard to do, Mal. iii. 18 ; iv. 1 . Christ will not bear always, Ps. l. 1 , &c. They shall gather out of his kingdom all wicked things that offend, and all wicked persons that do iniquity: when he begins, he will make a full end. All those corrupt doctrines, worships, and practices, which have offended, have been scandals to the church, and stumbling-blocks to men's consciences, shall be condemned by the righteous Judge in that day, and consumed by the brightness of his coming; all the wood, hay, and stubble ( 1 Cor. iii. 12 ); and then woe to them that do iniquity, that make a trade of it, and persist in it; not only those in the last age of Christ's kingdom upon earth, but those in every age. Perhaps here is an allusion to Zeph. i. 3 , I will consume the stumbling-blocks with the wicked.

[2.] They will then be bound in bundles, v. 30 . Sinners of the same sort will be bundled together in the great day: a bundle of atheists, a bundle of epicures, a bundle of persecutors, and a great bundle of hypocrites. Those who have been associates in sin, will be so in shame and sorrow; and it will be an aggravation of their misery, as the society of glorified saints will add to their bliss. Let us pray, as David, Lord, gather not my soul with sinners ( Ps. xxvi. 9 ), but let it be bound in the bundle of life, with the Lord our God, 1 Sam. xxv. 29 . [3.] They will be cast into a furnace of fire; such will be the end of wicked, mischievous people, that are in the church as tares in the field; they are fit for nothing but fire; to it they shall go, it is the fittest place for them. Note, Hell is a furnace of fire, kindled by the wrath of God, and kept burning by the bundles of tares cast into it, who will be ever in the consuming, but never consumed. But he slides out of the metaphor into a description of those torments that are designed to be set forth by it: There shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth; comfortless sorrow, and an incurable indignation at God, themselves, and one another, will be the endless torture of damned souls. Let us therefore, knowing these terrors of the Lord, be persuaded not to do iniquity.

(9.) Heaven is the barn into which all God's wheat shall be gathered in that harvest-day. But gather the wheat into my barn: so it is in the parable, v. 30 . Note, [1.] In the field of this world good people are the wheat, the most precious grain, and the valuable part of the field. [2.] This wheat shall shortly be gathered, gathered from among the tares and weeds: all gathered together in a general assembly, all the Old-Testament saints, all the New-Testament saints, not one missing. Gather my saints together unto me, Ps. l. 5 . [3.] All God's wheat shall be lodged together in God's barn: particular souls are housed at death as a shock of corn ( Job v. 26 ), but the general in-gathering will be at the end of time: God's wheat will then be put together, and no longer scattered; there will be sheaves of corn, as well as bundles of tares: they will then be secured, and no longer exposed to wind and weather, sin and sorrow: no longer afar off, and at a great distance, in the field, but near, in the barn. Nay, heaven is a garner ( ch. iii. 12 ), in which the wheat will not only be separated from the tares of ill companions, but sifted from the chaff of their own corruptions.

In the explanation of the parable, this is gloriously represented ( v. 43 ); Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. First, It is their present honour, that God is their Father. Now are we the sons of God ( 1 John iii. 2 ); our Father in heaven is King there. Christ, when he went to heaven, went to his Father, and our Father, John xx. 17 . It is our Father's house, nay, it is our Father's palace, his throne, Rev. iii. 21 . Secondly, The honour in reserve for them is, that they shall shine forth as the sun in that kingdom. Here they are obscure and hidden ( Col. iii. 3 ), their beauty is eclipsed by their poverty, and the meanness of their outward condition; their own weaknesses and infirmities, and the reproach and disgrace cast upon them, cloud them; but then they shall shine forth as the sun from behind a dark cloud; at death they shall shine forth to themselves; at the great day they will shine forth publicly before all the world, their bodies will be made like Christ's glorious body: they shall shine by reflection, with a light borrowed from the Fountain of light; their sanctification will be perfected, and their justification published; God will own them for his children, and will produce the record of all their services and sufferings for his name: they shall shine as the sun, the most glorious of all visible beings. The glory of the saints is in the Old Testament compared to that of the firmament and the stars, but here to that of the sun; for life and immortality are brought to a much clearer light by the gospel, than under the law. Those who shine as lights in this world, that God may be glorified, shall shine as the sun in the other world, that they may be glorified. Our Saviour concludes, as before, with a demand of attention; Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. These are things which it is our happiness to hear of, and our duty to hearken to.

III. Here is the parable of the grain of mustard-seed, v. 31, 32 . The scope of this parable is to show, that the beginnings of the gospel would be small, but that its latter end would greatly increase. In this way the gospel church, the kingdom of God among us, would be set up in the world; in this way the work of grace in the heart, the kingdom of God within us, would be carried on in particular persons.

Now concerning the work of the gospel, observe,

1. That it is commonly very weak and small at first, like a grain of mustard-seed, which is one of the least of all seeds. The kingdom of the Messiah, which was now in the setting up, made but a small figure; Christ and the apostles, compared with the grandees of the world, appeared like a grain of mustard-seed, the weak things of the world. In particular places, the first breaking out of the gospel light is but as the dawning of the day; and in particular souls, it is at first the day of small things, like a bruised reed. Young converts are like lambs that must be carried in his arms, Isa. xl. 11 . There is a little faith, but there is much lacking in it ( 1 Thess. iii. 10 ), and the groanings such as cannot be uttered, they are so small; a principle of spiritual life, and some motion, but scarcely discernible.

2. That yet it is growing and coming on. Christ's kingdom strangely got ground; great accessions were made to it; nations were born at once, in spite of all the oppositions it met with from hell and earth. In the soul where grace is true it will grow really, though perhaps insensibly. A grain of mustard-seed is small, but however it is seed, and has in it a disposition to grow. Grace will be getting ground, shining more and more, Prov. iv. 18 . Gracious habits confirmed, actings quickened, and knowledge more clear, faith more confirmed, love more inflamed; here is the seed growing.

3. That it will at last come to a great degree of strength and usefulness; when it is grown to some maturity, it becomes a tree, much larger in those countries than in ours. The church, like the vine brought out of Egypt, has taken root, and filled the earth, Ps. lxxx. 9-11 . The church is like a great tree, in which the fowls of the air do lodge; God's people have recourse to it for food and rest, shade and shelter. In particular persons, the principle of grace, if true, will persevere and be perfected at last: growing grace will be strong grace, and will bring much to pass. Grown Christians must covet to be useful to others, as the mustard-seed when grown is to the birds; that those who dwell near or under their shadow may be the better for them, Hos. xiv. 7 .

IV. Here is the parable of the leaven, v. 33 . The scope of this is much the same with that of the foregoing parable, to show that the gospel should prevail and be successful by degrees, but silently and insensibly; the preaching of the gospel is like leaven, and works like leaven in the hearts of those who receive it.

1. A woman took this leaven; it was her work. Ministers are employed in leavening places, in leavening souls, with the gospel. The woman is the weaker vessel, and we have this treasure in such vessels.

2. The leaven was hid in three measures of meal. The heart is, as the meal, soft and pliable; it is the tender heart that is likely to profit by the word: leaven among corn unground does not work, nor does the gospel in souls unhumbled and unbroken for sin: the law grinds the heart, and then the gospel leavens it. It is three measures of meal, a great quantity, for a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. The meal must be kneaded, before it receive the leaven; our hearts, as they must be broken, so they must be moistened, and pains taken with them to prepare them for the word, that they may receive the impressions of it. The leaven must be hid in the heart ( Ps. cxix. 11 ), not so much for secrecy (for it will show itself) as for safety; our inward thought must be upon it, we must lay it up, as Mary laid up the sayings of Christ, Luke ii. 51 . When the woman hides the leaven in the meal, it is with an intention that it should communicate its taste and relish to it; so we must treasure up the word in our souls, that we may be sanctified by it, John xvii. 17 .

3. The leaven thus hid in the dough, works there, it ferments; the word is quick and powerful, Heb. iv. 12 . The leaven works speedily, so does the word, and yet gradually. What a sudden change did Elijah's mantle make upon Elisha! 1 Kings xix. 20 . It works silently and insensibly ( Mark iv. 26 ), yet strongly and irresistibly: it does its work without noise, for so is the way of the Spirit, but does it without fail. Hide but the leaven in the dough, and all the world cannot hinder it from communicating its taste and relish to it, and yet none sees how it is done, but by degrees the whole is leavened.

(1.) Thus it was in the world. The apostles, by their preaching, hid a handful of leaven in the great mass of mankind, and it had a strange effect; it put the world into a ferment, and in a sense turned it upside down ( Acts xvii. 6 ), and by degrees made a wonderful change in the taste and relish of it: the savour of the gospel was manifested in every place, 2 Cor. ii. 14 ; Rom. xv. 19 . It was thus effectual, not by outward force, and therefore not by any such force resistible and conquerable, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, who works, and none can hinder.

30-39. Let both grow together-- that is, in the visible Church.

until the harvest-- till the one have ripened for full salvation, the other for destruction. (See on Mt 13:39 ).

and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers-- (See on Mt 13:39 ).

Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them-- "in the fire" ( Mt 13:40 ).

but gather the wheat into my barn-- Christ, as the Judge, will separate the two classes (as in Mt 25:32 ). It will be observed that the tares are burned before the wheat is housed; in the exposition of the parable ( Mt 13:41 , 43 ) the same order is observed: and the same in Mt 25:46 --as if, in some literal sense, "with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked" ( Psa 91:8 ).

Third and Fourth Parables or Second Pair:

The Mustard Seed and The Leaven ( Mt 13:31-33 ).

The subject of both these parables, as of the first pair, is the same, but under a slight diversity of aspect, namely--

The GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM FROM THE Smallest Beginnings to Ultimate Universality.

The Mustard Seed ( Mt 13:31 , 32 ).

41. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom-- to which they never really belonged. They usurped their place and name and outward privileges; but "the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners [abide] in the congregation of the righteous" ( Psa 1:5 ).

all things that offend-- all those who have proved a stumbling-block to others

and them which do iniquity-- The former class, as the worst, are mentioned first.

42. And shall cast them into a furnace of fire-- rather, "the furnace of fire":

there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth-- What terrific strength of language--the "casting" or "flinging" expressive of indignation, abhorrence, contempt (compare Psa 9:17 ; Da 12:2 ): "the furnace of fire" denoting the fierceness of the torment: the "wailing" signifying the anguish this causes; while the "gnashing of teeth" is a graphic way of expressing the despair in which its remedilessness issues (see Mt 8:12 )!

43. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father-- as if they had been under a cloud during the present association with ungodly pretenders to their character, and claimants of their privileges, and obstructors of their course.

Who hath ears to hear, let him hear-- (See Mr 4:9 ).

Fifth and Sixth Parables or Third Pair: The Hidden Treasure and The Pearl of Great Price ( Mt 13:44-46 ).

The subject of this last pair, as of the two former, is the same, but also under a slight diversity of aspect: namely--

The Priceless Value of the Blessings of the Kingdom. And while the one parable represents the Kingdom as "found without seeking," the other holds forth the Kingdom as "sought and found."

The Hidden Treasure ( Mt 13:44 ).