A centurion applies to Christ ST. MATTHEW. to heal his servant. b A D. 27. A.M. 4031 sick of the palsy, grievously tor- come under my roof: but speak A. M.401. An. Olymp. mented. the word only, and my servant shall An.Olymp. A. D 27. CCL. 3. 7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will be healed. come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, • I am not worthy that thou shouldest 2 Luke 15. 19, 21. Sick of the palsy] Or paralytic. See chap. iv. 24. This centurion did not act as many masters do when their servants are afflicted, have them immediately removed to an infirmary, often to a work-house; or sent home to friends or relatives, who probably either care nothing for them, or are unable to afford them any of the comforts of life. In case of a contagious disorder, it may be necessary to remove an infected person to such places as are best calculated to cure the distemper, and prevent the spread of the contagion. But in all common cases, the servant should be considered || as a child, and receive the same friendly attention. If by a hasty, unkind, and unnecessary removal, the servant die, are not the master and mistress murderers before God? Verse 7. I will come and heal him.] Eyw snowy begaπsʊow avToy, I am coming, and will heal him. This saying is worthy of observation. Jesus did not positively say, I will come and heal him; this could not have been strictly true, because our Lord healed him without going to the house, and the issue shews that the words ought to be taken in the most literal sense thus understood, they contained a promise which it seems none of them distinctly comprehended. Foreseeing the exercise of the centurion's faith, he promises that while he is coming, ere he arrives at the house, he will heal him, and this was literally done, verse 13. There is much beauty in this passage. CCI. 3. 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, Ps. 107. 20. manipuli or companies; and every manipulus made two centuries or companies of one hundred men. Every manipulus had two centurions, but these were very far from being equal in rank and honour, though possessing the very same office. The Triarii and Principes were esteemed the most honourable, and had their centurions elected first; and these first clected centurions, took precedency of the centurions of the Hastati who were elected last. The centurion in the text was probably one of this last order, he was under the authority of either the Principes or Triarii, and had none under him but the hundred men whom he commanded, and who appear to have been in a state of the most loving subjection to him. The argument of the centurion seems to run thus. If I who am a person subject to the controul of others, yet have some so completely subject to myself, that I can say to one, Come, and he cometh, to another, Go, and he goeth, and to my slave (Tw dovλw pov) do this, and he doeth it; how much more then canst thou accomplish whatsoever thou willest, being under no controul, and having all things under thy command. He makes a proper use of his authority, who by it, raises his mind to the contemplation of the sovereign power of God, taking occasion from it to humble himself before him who has all power in heaven and earth ; and to expect all good from him. There are two beautiful passages in Arrian that tend much to illustrate this speech of the centurion. Καταταγείς Αγαμέμνων, λέγει μοι, πορεύου προς τον Αχιλλέα, και αποσπασον The Betonida, gevoμas. Egxou, esxoμai. "He who personates Agamemnon, says to me, Go to Achilles, and bring hither Briseis: I go. He says, Come hither; I come." Dissert. l. i. c. 25. P. 97. Verse 8. But speak the word only] Or instead of ειπε λόγον, read, we hoyw, Speak by word or command. This reading is supported by the most extensive evidence from MSS. versions and fathers. See here the pattern of that living faith and genuine humility which ought always to accompany the prayer of a sinner: Jesus can will away the palsy, and speak away the most grievous torments. The first degree of humility | is to acknowledge the necessity of God's mercy, and our own mability to help ourselves: the second, to confess the freeness of his grace, and our own utter unworthiness. Ignorance, unbelief, and presumption will ever retard our spiritual cure. Verse 9. For I am a man under authority] That is, under the|| authority of others. This verse has given considerable embarrassment to commentators and critics. I believe the paraphrase given above to be the true meaning of the evangelist. To make this matter more plain, let it be observed, that the Roman foot This mode of speech fully marks supreme and unconwas divided into three grand parts, Hustati, Principes, and Tri || trouled power, and that power put forth by a sovereign arii. Each of these grand divisions was composed of thirty will to effect any purpose of justice or mercy. And God Όταν ο Θεος είπη τοις φυτοίς ανθειν, ανθεί. Οταν ειπη βλαςάγειν, βλασάνει. Όταν εκφέρειν τον καρπον, εκφέρει. Όταν πεπαίνειν, πεπαινει. Οταν παλιν αποβάλλειν, και φυλλορροείν, και αυτά εις αυτα συνειλούμενα εφ' ησυχίας μενειν, και αναπαύεσθαι, μενει και αναπαυται. "When God commands the plants to blossom, they bear blossoms. When he commands them to bear seed, they bear seed. When he commands them to bring forth fruit, they put forth their fruits. When he commands them to ripen, they grow ripe. When he commands them to fade, and shed their leaves, and to remain inactive, involved in themselves, they thus remain, and are inactive." Cap. 14. p. 62. See Raphelius. said, Let there be light, and there was light, is a similar ex-dades, hauales, auxrua, Qavoi, Torches, lamps, candles and lanpression. Verse 10. I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.] That is, I have not found so great an instance of confidence and faith in my power, even among the Jews, as this Roman, aGentile, has shewn himself to possess. From Luke vii. 5. where it is said of this centurion, "he loved our nation, and has built us a synagogue;" we may infer, that this man was like the centurion mentioned Acts x. 1. A devout Gentile, a proselyte of the gate, one who believed in the God of Israel, without conforming to the Jewish ritual, or receiving circumcision. Though the military life is one of the most improper nurses for the christian religion, yet in all nations there have been found several instances of genuine humility, and faith in God, even in soldiers; and perhaps never more in the British military, than at the present. A. D. 1812. Verse 11. Many shall come from the east and west] Men of every description, of all countries, and of all professions; and shall sit down, that is, to meat, for this is the proper meaning of avazhibncortai, intimating the recumbent posture used by the Easterns at their meals. The Rabbins represent the blessedness of the kingdom of God under the notion of a banquet. See several proofs of this in Schoetgenius. This was spoken to soften the unreasonable prejudices of the Jews, which they entertained against the Gentiles, and to prepare them to receive their brethren of mankind into religious fellowship with themselves, under the Christian dispensation.. With Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob] In the closest communon with the most eminent followers of God. But if we desire to inherit the promises, we must be followers of them who through faith and patience enjoy them. Let us therefore izitate Abraham in his faith, Isaac in his obedience unto death, and Jacob in his hope and expectation of good things to come, amidst all the evils of this life, if we desire to reign with them. Verse 12. Shall be cast out into outer darkness] As the enjoyment of that salvation which Jesus Christ calls the kingdom of heaven, is here represented under the notion of a nuptial festival, at which the guests sat down in a reclining posture, with the master of the feast; so the state of those who were excluded from the banquet is represented as deep darkness; because the nuptial solemnities took place at night. Hence at diese suppers, the house of reception was filled with lights called thorns, by Athenæus and Plutarch: so they who were admitted to the banquet, had the benefit of the light; but they who were shut out, were in darkness, called here outer darkness, i, e. the darkness on the outside of the house, in which the guests were; which must appear more abundantly gloomy, when compared with the profusion of light within the guest-chamber. And because they who were shut out, were not only exposed to shame, but also to hunger and cold; therefore it is added, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. As these feasts are often alluded to by the Evangelists, I would observe once for all that they who were invited to them, entered by a gate designed to receive them; whence Christ, by whom we enter into the marriage feast, compares himself to a gate, John x. 1, 2, 7,9. This gute at the time the guests were to come, was made narrow, the wicket only being left open, and the porter standing there, that they who were not bidden to the marriage might not rush into it. Hence Christ exhorts the Jews to enter in at the strait gate, ch. vii. 13, &c. When all that were invited were once come, the door was presently shut, and was not to be opened to any who came too late, and stood knocking without: so after the wise virgins had entered with the bridegroom, the gate was shut, and was not opened to the foolish virgins, who stood knocking without, chap. xxv. 11. And in this sense we are to understand the words of Christ, Luke xii. 24, 25. Many shall seek to enter in, but shall not be able. Why? because the master of the house hath risen up and shut to the door, they would not come unto him when they might, and now the day of probation is ended, and they must be judged according to the deeds done in the body. See Whitby on the place. How many of those who are called christians, suffer the kingdom, the graces, and the salvation which they had in their hands, to be lost; while West-India negroes, American Indians, Hindoo Poly-theists, and atheistic Hottentots obtain salvation! An eternity of darkness, fears and pains, for comparatively a moment of sensual gratification, how terrible the thought! What outer darkness, or, To σXotos To Eğwregov, that darkness, that which is the outermost, may refer to, in eternal damnation, is hard to say: what it alludes to I have already mentioned: but as the words Beuyμos Twy coorTwy, gnashing or CHATTERING of teeth, convey the idea, not only of extreme anguish, but of extreme cold; some have imagined that the punishment of the damned consisted in. sudden transitions from extreme heat, to extreme cold; the extremes of both, I have found to produce exactly the same sensation. assume the forms of beasts continually miserable, and suffer alternate afflictions from extremities of cold and heat; surrounded with terrors of various kinds. They shall have old age without resource; diseases attended with anguish; pangs of MILTON happily describes this in the following inimitable verses, which a man can scarcely read, even at Midsummer, || innumerable sorts, and lastly, unconquerable death.” without shivering. Beyond this flood a frozen continent Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms Of whirlwind and dire hail the parching air Burns frore, and cold, performs the effect of fire. Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change Parad. Lost, book ii. line 586. There is a passage in the Vulgate, Job xxiv. 19. that might have helped Milton to this idea. Ad nimium calorem transeat ab aquis nivium. "Let him pass to excessive heat, from waters of snow." This reading which is found only in this form, in the Vulgate, is vastly expressive. Every body knows that snow-water is colder than snow itself. Another of our Poets has given us a most terrible description of perdition, on the same ground. The once pamper'd spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In thrilling regions of thick ribbed ice; Similar to this is that dreadful description of the torments of the wicked given in the Institutes of Menu; "The wicked shall have a sensation of agony in Tamisra, or utter darkness, and in other seats of horror; in Asipatravana, or the swordleaved forest, and in different places of binding fast, and of rending: multifarious tortures await them: they shall be mangled by ravens and owls, and shall swallow cakes boiling hot; and shall walk over inflamed sands, and shall feel the pangs of being baked like the vessels of a Potter: they shall Institutes of MENU, ch. xii. Inst. 75-80. In the Zend Avesta, the place of wicked spirits is termed The places of darkness, the germs of the thickest darkness." An uncommonly significant expression: Darkness has its birth there: there are its seeds and buds, there it vegetates everlastingly, and its eternal fruit is—darkness ! See Zend Avesta, vol. i. Vendidad sadi, Fargard. xviii. p. 412. And is this, or any thing as bad as this, HELL? Yes, and worse than the worst of all that has already been mentioned. Hear Christ himself. There their worm dieth not, and the fire is NOT QUENCHED! Great God! save the Reader from this damnation! Verse 13. As thou hast believed, so be it done] Let the mercy thou requestest, be equal to the faith thou hast brought to receive it by. ACCORDING to thy faith be it done unto thee, is a general measure of God's dealings with mankind. To get an increase of faith, is to get an increase of every grace which constitutes the mind that was in Jesus; and prepares fully, for the enjoyment of the kingdom of God. God is the same in the present time which he was in ancient days; and miracles of healing may be wrought on our own bodies and souls, and on those of others by the instrumentality of our faith. But, alas! where is faith to be found! And his servant was healed in the selfsume hour.] En we Ex, in that very hour. Faith is never exercised in the power and goodness of God till it is needed; and when it is exercised, God works the miracle of healing. Christ never says, believe now for a salvation which thou now needest, and I will give it to thee in some future time. That salvation which is expected through works or sufferings, must of necessity be future, as there must be time to work or suffer in: but the salvation which is by faith, must be for the present moment, for this simple reason, IT IS BY FAITH, that God may be manifested and honoured; and not by works or by sufferings, lest any man should boast. To say, that though it is of faith, yet it may, and must in many cases, be delayed, (though the person is coming in the most genuine humility, deepest contrition, and with the liveliest faith in the blood of the Lamb) is to say that there is still something necessary to be done, either on the part of the person, or on the part of God, in order to procure it; neither of which positions has any truth in *. Verse 14. Peter's house] That Peter lived at Capernaum, and that Christ lodged with him, is fully evident from this terse compared with chap. xvii. 24. Peter's wife's mother] Learn hence, says Theophylact, that marriage is no hindrance to virtue, since the chief of the Apostles had his wife. Marriage is one of the first of divine Institutions, and is a positive command of God. He says, the state of celibacy is not GooD, Gen. ii. 18. Those who pretend to say that the single state is more holy than the other, slander their Maker, and say in effect," we are too holy to keep the commandments of God." Verse 15. He touched her hand] Can any thing on this side the unlimited power of God, effect such a cure with only a touch? If the Scriptures had not spoken of the divinity of Christ, these proofs of his power must have demonstrated it to the common sense of every man, whose creed had not preriously blinded him. Ministered unto them.] Avross them, is the reading of most of the printed editions, but avrw, to him, has the utmost evidence in its support from MSS. Versions and Fathers. Serving Christ in his ordinances and in his members is the best proof we can give to others of our being soundly restored to spiritual health. Verse 16. When the even was come] The Jews kept their sabbath from evening to evening, according to the law, Lev. xxiii. 32. From evening to evening shall ye celebrate your subbath. || And the Rabbins say, The sabbath doth not enter but when the sun is set. Hence it was that the sick were not brought out to our Lord till after sun-set, because then the sabbath was ended. Secondly, Because they were then strongly addicted to Magic, and so, as it were, invited evil spirits to be familiar with them, It seems strange to find men at this distance of time questioning the truth of that, which neither Scribes nor Pharisees then doubted; nor did they ever object against the pretensions of Christ and his apostles to cast them out. And, if the whole business of Damonism had been only a vulgar error (as wise men now tell us) what a fine opportunity had the wise men then, to unmask the whole matter, and thus pour contempt on the pretensions of our blessed Lord and his followers, who held it to be one proof of their divine mission, That Dæmons were subject to them? And healed all that were sick] Not a soul did the Lord Jesus ever reject, who came to him soliciting his aid. Need any sinner despair who comes to him, conscious of his spiritual malady, to be healed by his merciful hand? Verse 17. Himself took our infirmities] The quotation is taken from Isa. liii. 4. where the verb v nasa signifies to bear sin, so as to make atonement for it. And the Rabbins understand this place to speak of the sufferings of the Messiah, for the sins of Israel; and say that all the diseases, all the griefs, and all the punishments due to Israel shall be borne by him. See Synopsis Sohar. Christ fulfills the prophecies in all respects, and is himself the completion and truth of them, as being the lamb and victim of God, which bears and takes away the sin of the world. The text in Isaiah refers properly to the taking away of sin; and this in the Evangelist, to the removal of corporeal afflictions: but as the diseases of the body are the emblems of the sin of the soul, Matthew referring to the prediction of the prophet, considered the miraculous healing of the body, as an emblem of the soul's salvation by Christ Jesus. Verse 18. Unto the other side.] Viz. of the lake of Genesareth, whence he proceeded to the country of the Gergesenes, ver. 28. Many that were possessed with devils] Dr. Lightfoot gives two sound reasons why Judea, in our Lord's time, abounded with Dæmoniacs. First, Because they were then advanced to the very height of impiety; see what Josephus, their own Verse 19. A certain scribe] Though yeaμμateus, ONE historian, says of them: There was not (said he) a nation scribe, may be considered as a Hebraism; yet it is probable under heaven more wicked than they were. See on Rom. i. 1. Į that the literal construction of it was intended, to shew that M few of this class came to the Lord Jesus for instruction or long after they are called; the middle way is the only safe salvation. the Master] Rather teacher, didaonans, from didasaw, I teach, which itself seems to be derived from duxw, I shew, and means person who shews or points out a particular way or science. I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.] A man who is not illuminated by the Spirit of God, thinks himself capable of any thing: he alone who is divinely taught, knows he can do nothing but through Christ strengthening him. Every teacher among the Jews had disciples, and some especially that followed or accompanied them wherever they went, that they might have some person at hand with whom they might converse concerning the divine law. Verse 20. The foxes have holes, &c.] Reader! art thou a poor man? and dost thou fear God? Then, what comfort must thou derive from the thought, that thou so nearly resemblest the Lord Jesus! But how unlike is the rich man, who is the votary of pleasure and slave of sin, to this heavenly pattern! one: not to move a finger in the work till the call be given, and not to delay a moment after. Verse 22. Let the dead bury their dead.] It was usual for the Jews to consider a man as dead who had departed from the precepts of the Law; and on this ground, every transgressor was reputed a dead man. Our Lord's saying being in common use, had nothing difficult in it to a Jew. Natural death is the separation of the body and soul; spiritual death, the separation of God and the soul: men who live in sin are dead to God, Leave the spiritually dead to bury their natural dead. All the common offices of life may be performed by any person; to preach the glad tidings of the kingdom of God is granted but to a few, and to these only by an especial call; these should immediately abandon worldly concerns and employments, and give themselves wholly up to the work of the ministry. Verse 24. Arose a great tempest in the sea] Probably excited by Satan, the prince of the power of the air, who, having got the author and all the preachers of the gospel to purposes of God, and thus to prevent the salvation of a ruined world. What a noble opportunity must this have appeared to the enemy of the human race! Son of man] A Hebrew phrase, expressive of humiliation and debasement; and on that account, applied emphatically together in a small vessel, thought by drowning it to defeat the himself, by the meek and lowly Jesus. Besides, it seems here to be used to point out the incarnation of the Son of God, according to the predictions of the prophets, Psal. viii. 5. Dan. vii. 13. And as our Lord was now shewing forth his Verse 25. And his disciples] THE disciples, In the common eternal Divinity in the miracles he wrought; he seems stu- printed editions, as well as in our translation, it is His discidious to prove to them the certainty of his incarnation, be- ples, but avrov, his, is omitted by the very best MSS., and by cause on this depended the atonement for sin. Indeed our || Bengel, Wetstein, and Griesbach. This is a matter of very Lord seems more intent on giving the proofs of his humanity, sinall importance, and need not be noticed, only every transthan of his divinity, the latter being necessarily manifested by lator and commentator should aim to the uttermost of his the miracles which he was continually working. knowledge and power, to give every particle of the language of the inspired penman that can be expressed, and to insert no one word which he has reason to believe did not come by the inspiration of God. Verse 21. Another of his disciples] This does not mean any of the twelve, but one of those who were constant hearers of our Lord's preaching; the name of disciple being common to all those who professed to believe in him, John vi. 66. Bury my father: probably his father was old, and apparently near death, but it was a maxim among the Jews, that if a man had any duty to perform to the dead, he was, for that time, free from the observance of any other precept or duty. The children of Adam are always in extremes; some will rush into the ministry of the gospel without a call, others will delay Lord, save us: we perish.] One advantage of trials is to make us know our weakness, so as to oblige us to have recourse to God by faith in Christ. It is by faith alone that we may be said to approach him; by love we are united to him, and by prayer we awake him. All good perishes in us without Christ; without his grace, there is not so much as one mo. ment in which we are not in danger of utter ruin. How |