use of his name, and those who were on the side of Shammai made use of his. Scarcely ever would they venture to say any thing as of themselves. But Christ spake boldly, of himself, and did not go about to support his doctrine by the testimony of the elders.-Burder's O. Customs, vol. ii. page 299.

VIII.-2. "And behold, there came a leper and worshipped him." Here we have a prominent example of the design of St. Matthew in writing his Gospel chiefly for the Jews. The leprosy was generally supposed by the Jews, to be inflicted from God as a punishment for some horrible crime. It does not appear that Moses prescribes any remedy for it, or that the Jews themselves applied any; but they looked to God alone for a cure. The power, therefore, to cure this dreadful disease, was a proof of the divine mission of him possessing it. Accordingly St. Matthew breaks in upon the order of our Lord's miracles by introducing to the notice of the Jews the cure of a leper. On the other hand, because the Gentiles sacrificed to devils, St. Luke introduces first to their notice a person possessed (Luke iv. 33.) to shew that Christ had power over those spirits.

VIII.5. "There came unto him a centurion, beseeching him." According to the Hebrew style, a person is said to do a thing when he pronounces, esteems it to be, or causes it to be done. See those passages where God is said to harden Pharoah's heart, and compare them to that in Leviticus xiii. 3. On the present passage, see St. Luke vii. 6.

VIII.-12. -12. "The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness." This phrase, which is often used after the kingdom of heaven had been compared to a banquet, contains a beautiful allusion to the lustre of those illuminated rooms, in which such feasts were generally celebrated, as opposed to that darkness which surrounded those who by night were turned out. But it also, sometimes goes yet farther, when the persons excluded, are supposed to be thrown into a

dark dungeon. Compare Matt. xxii. 13. also xxv. 30. and Jude 13.-Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. i. page 267.

"There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." "In antient times," says the learned and judicious Dr. Macknight, "the stewards of great families were slaves as well as the servants of a lower class, being raised to that trust on account of their fidelity, wisdom, sobriety, and other good qualities. If any steward, therefore, in the absence of his lord, behaved as is represented in the parable, it was a plain proof that the virtues on account of which he was raised were counterfeit, and by consequence that he was a hypocrite. Slaves of this character, among other chastisements, were sometimes condemned to work in the mines. And as this was one of the most grievous punishments, when they first entered, nothing was heard among them but weeping and gnashing of teeth, on account of the intolerable fatigue to which they were subjected in these hideous caverns without hope of release. There shall be weepand gnashing of teeth."-Horne. vol. iii. page 426.^

VIII.- -20. "The son of man hath not where to lay his head." This expression has been interpreted to mean that Christ literally had no home of his own. But considerable light is thrown upon it by two passages from the Arabic History of Abulpharagius; in the first of which having stated that Saladin had animated his soldiers to the storming of Tyre, he says, that no place now remained to the Franks, where they could lay their head, except Tyre; and again, after relating that the Arabs had stormed Acca, or Ptolemais, he says that no place was left to the Franks, on the coast of this (the Mediterranean) Sea, where they could lay their head. From these two passages it is evident that the evangelist's meaning is, that Jesus Christ had no secure and fixed place of residence.-Horne, vol. ii. page 522.

VIII.32. "And he said unto them, go." As there was a mixture of Jews and Gentiles in those towns which

bordered upon Judæa, so, many of the Jews who lived there, complied in some things with the Gentiles, as we find by Josephus, and, among others of their customs, very probably in eating swine's flesh; and if this were the case, part of those swine might belong to them, which by the number two thousand according to St. Mark, seem to have been a common or town herd it was therefore a just punishment upon them when Christ permitted their swine to be thus destroyed: and as to the other inhabitants, it was nothing more than what often happens in common calamities, that all suffer alike, and was abundantly made up to them by a favor of infinitely greater importance.-See Ostervald.

IX.-1. 66 And came into his own city." This was Capernaum, where Christ chiefly dwelt and paid tribute as an inhabitant. According to the Jewish canons, he was entitled to citizenship by dwelling there twelve months, or by purchasing a dwelling house. One or other of these things it is probable Christ had done, on which account the city is denominated his. Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. ii. page 299.

IX.-2. "They brought to him a man sick of the palsy." The palsy of the New Testament is a disease of very wide import, and the Greek word which is so translated, comprehended not fewer than five different maladies, viz. 1st. Apoplexy, a paralytic shock which affected the whole body, 2nd. Hemiplegy, which affects and paralyses only one side of the body; the case mentioned in Matthew ix. 2. appears to have been of this sort. 3d. Paraplegy, which paralyses all the parts of the system below the neck. 4th. Catalepsy, which is caused by a contraction of the muscles in the whole or part of the body; the hands, for instance. This is a very dangerous disease; and the effects upon the parts seized are very violent and deadly. Thus, when a person is struck with it, if his hand happens to be extended, he is unable to draw it back; if the hand be not extended

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when he is so struck, he is unable to extend it. It seems to be diminished in size and dried up in appearance; whence the Hebrews were accustomed to call it a withered hand. See cases of this kind in 1 Kings xiii. 4. to 6. and Matthew xii. 10. 5th, The Cramp. This in Oriental countries is a fearful malady, and by no means unfrequent. It originates from the chills of the night: the limbs, when seized with it, remain immoveable, sometimes turned in and sometimes out, in the very same position as when they were first seized. See St. Matthew viii. 6.-Horne, vol. iii. page 481. "Thy sins be forgiven thee." Physicians, both antient and modern, tell us, that palsies are often occasioned by intemperance therefore if this paralytic brought his disease upon himself by drunkenness or lust, the propriety of the terms in which the cure was pronounced will more fully appear, "thy sins be forgiven thee."-Ostervald.

IX.-6. 66 Arise, take up thy bed and go unto thine house." The furniture of the Oriental dwellings, at least in the earliest ages, was very simple: that of the poorer classes consisted of but few articles, and those such as were absolutely necessary. Instead of chairs, they sat on mats or skins; and the same articles, on which they laid a mattress, served them instead of bed-steads, while their upper gar

Exodus xxii. 26, 27.

ment served them for a covering. Deut. xxiv. 12. This circumstance accounts for our Lord's commanding the paralytic to take up his bed, and go unto his house.-Horne, vol. iii. page 389.

9.

IX."Sitting at the receipt of custom." The provincial tributes were usually farmed by Roman knights, who had under them inferior collectors: Josephus has made mention of several Jews who were Roman knights, whence Dr. Lardner thinks it probable that they had merited the equestrian rank by their good services in collecting some nart of the revenue. The collectors of these tributes were

known by the general name of publicans, or tax-gatherers. Some of them appear to have been receivers-general for a large district, as Zaccheus, who is styled a chief publican. Matthew, who is termed simply a publican, was one who sat at the receipt of custom where the duty was paid on imports and exports.-Horne, vol. iii. page 179.

The publicans had houses or booths built for them at the foot of bridges, at the mouth of rivers, and by the sea-shore, where they took toll of passengers that went to and fro. Hence we read of the tickets or seals of the publicans, which, when a man had paid toll on one side of a river, were given him by the publican to shew to him that sat on the other side, that it might appear he had paid. On these were written two great letters; larger than those in common use.-Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. ii. page 300.

Respecting the circumstance of St. Matthew speaking of himself in the third person, see Horne's Introduction, vol. iv. page 242. where we have the following remark. "It is an undeniable fact that this oblique way of writing is common among profane historians, both antient and modern; who frequently speak of themselves not in the first but in the third person. Moses uniformly speaks thus of himself; as Jesus Christ and his disciples also very frequently did. So that the objection of Faustus falls to the ground for want of proof."

IX.-13. “I will have mercy and not sacrifice." This should be rendered, rather than sacrifice. Sacrifices were of God's own appointment, but when they were not offered up according to the spirit of that appointment, he exclaims 66 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts. Bring no more vain oblations, &c." Isa. i. 12. &c. "For I will have mercy and not sacrifice."

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IX.-14. The Pharisees fast oft." These are not the public fasts, but the private ones, which are referred to.