man receiveth sinners, The parable of the lost piece of mony. cxxii. 33 mured, saying, This others, who had lain under the most aggravated SECT. and eateth with them.' guilt. But the proud Pharisees and scribes, who, were present, murmured when they saw such a Luke crowd around him, and said, This man, while he xv. 2. sets up for a religious Teacher, unaccountably gives access to the most profligate sinners, and sometimes eats with them, and makes no scruple to accept of invitations to their houses. (Compare Mark ii. 16. Vol. VI. p. 372.) 3 And he spake this parable unto saying, having an them, sheep, if he lose one of after that which is lost, until he find it? 5 And when he hath found it, he lay eth it on his shoulders, rejoicing: But [Jesus] for the encouragement of these 3 poor penitents, as well as to rebuke the censorious and uncharitable Pharisees, spake to them 4 What man of you this parable, and said, What man is there of you 4 hundred that has a flock of an hundred sheep, who will them, doth not leave not, upon loosing one of them, immediately leave the ninety and nine in the ninety-nine that were feeding together in the the wilderness, and go pastures of the desert, and go from place to place in search after that which was lost, till he find it? And having at length found it, he lays 5 it on his shoulders, greatly rejoicing, as a man in such a circumstance naturally would: (compare Mat. xviii. 12, 13, sect. xciv. Vol VI. p. 494.) And when he cometh home, he calls together his 6 friends and neighbours, and says unto them with the greatest pleasure, My friends, you may now rejoice with me; for my labour and search have not been in vain, but I have found my sheep which was lost. And as he thus is more delight7 I say unto you, ed with the recovery of the sheep which he had that likewise joy shall lost, than with the safety of the rest, which had 7 one sinner that repent- not wandered; so, I that greater eth, more than over and more sensible joy will be in heaven, among ninety aad nine just the blessed and benevolent spirits that dwell there, over one penitent sinner, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need such deep repentance, or such an universal change of mind and character. 6 And when he com. eth home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. be in heaven over persons which need no repentance. b In the pastures of the desert.] Uncultivated ground, used merely as common of pasture, was called wilderness, or desert, by the Jews, in distinction from arable, or inclosed land. Compare Josh. xv. 61. 1 Kings 1. 34. 2 Kings ii. 8. Mat. iii. 1. and Mark vi. 31. (Compare also note c, on Mat. xviii. 12. sect. xciv.) Greater joy will be in heaven, &c.] Alluding, says Mons. L'Enfant (a little too coldly,) to the style of the Jews, with whom it was usual to represent the angel's weeping, for the corruption of men, and rejoicing at their conversion. But it seems very unwarrantable to suppose Christ thus unto say you, Or, asserting a thing merely because the Jews d Than over ninety-nine righteous per sons, 34 SECT. exxii. Luke Reflections on the joy in heaven over a penitent sinner. seek diligently till she 9 And when she hath found it, she S Either what wo Or, to illustrate the matter by another obvious similitude, that it may yet more powerfully of silver, if she lose man having ten pieces strike your minds, What poor woman having ten one piece, doth not XV. s. pieces of silver money, though they were each light a candie, and of them but the value of a drachma, if she lose sweep the house, and one of them out of her little stock, will not pre- find it? sently light a lamp, and take the pains to sweep out the house, and search carefully in all the cor9 ners till she find it? And when she has found it, she joyfully calls her female friends and neigh calleth her friends, and bours together, to acquaint them with her good her neighbours togesuccess; and concluding it will be agreeable ther, saying, Rejoice news to them, she says, Rejoice with me, my found the piece which with me, for I have friends for I have found the piece of money which 1 had lost. 10I had lost. And, so I say unto you, that there is 10 Likewise I say in like manner a peculiar joy in heaven, among in the presence of the unto you, There is joy the angels of God over one repenting sinner. angels of God over one Do not therefore wonder if I labour to promote sinner that repenteth. their joy on this account, and condescend to familiar converse with those, whom you proudly despise as unworthy your regard.. Ver.1. IMPROVEMENT. How graceful and lovely does our Lord appear, while thus opening his compassionate arms and heart, to these wretched out-casts, for whose souls no man cared! Who can choose but rejoice at this jubilee, which he proclaimed among them, and at the cheerful attention which they gave to these glad tidings of great joy? May we, who are his followers, never despise the meanest or the worst of men, when they seem disposed to receive religious. instruction; sons, &c.] It cannot be our Lord's mean- version of the most abandoned sinners, and the great Father of all so readily forgives and receives them, that he may be represented as having part in the joy."Thongh, by the way, when human passions are ascribed to God, it is certain they are to be taken in a figurative sense, entirely exclusive of those sensations which result from the commotions of animal nature in ourselves. e She calls her female friends [ras pinas] and neighbours together.] It might seem hardly worth while to ask the congratulation of her friends on so small an occasion as finding a drachma, (for that is the piece of coin here mentioned, in value not above nine-pence ;) but is represented as the tenth part of her little stock, and the impressible and social temper of the sex may be perhaps thought of as adding some propriety to the representation. The parable of the prodigal son, cxxii. instruction; but rather exert ourselves with a distinguished zeal, SECT. as knowing that the joy of the heavenly world in their recovery will be in some measure proportionable to the extremity of their Ver. former danger. 10 Let us often recollect the charity and goodness of those per-7 fected spirits, who look down from their own glory with compassion on mortals wandering in the paths of the destroyer, and who sing anthems of thankfulness and joy, when by Divine grace they are reclaimed from them. Let every sinner be touched with a generous desire, that he who has been in so many instances the offence and burden of the earth, may become the joy of heaven by his sincere conversion. And let the solicitude with which the little pos- 4, 6 sessions of this world are sought, when they are lost by any acci- 8, 9 dent, engage us more earnestly to seek what is infinitely more valuable, our own salvation, and that of the immortal souls of others. May we in our different stations labour successfully for their recovery; that we may another day share in that higher joy, which angels and glorified saints shall express, when they see them not only reduced to the paths of virtue and happiness, but fixed in abodes of eternal glory!. SECT. CXXIII. Our Lord farther pursues the design of the preceding parables, by delivering that of the prodigal son. Luke XV. 11, to the end. LUKE XV. 11. AND he said, A certain man had two sons: LUKE XV. 11. 35 Luke WITH the same design of vindicating him- SECT. self in conversing with publicans and sin- cxxiii. ners, of reproving the envy of the Pharisees, and of encouraging every sincere penitent by moving XV. 11, representations of the Divine mercy, our Lord went on to utter another most beautiful and affecting parable. And he said, while this various multitude was standing round him, There was a certain man in plentiful circumstances, and of a very condescending temper, who had two sons 12 And the younger that were now grown up to manhood. of them said to his fae the younger of them, fondly conceited of his own the portion of goods capacity to manage his affairs, and weary of the that falleth to me. And restraints of his father's house, said one day to his indulgent parent, Father, as I am now come to years of discretion, I desire thou wouldst give me into mine own hands that portion of goods, which,according to an equitable distribution,falls to my share. And he, unwilling to make any individious distinction in distributing his effects, divided ther, Father, give me he divided unto them his living. VOL, VII. E And 12 36 Having spent all his substance, he is reduced to want XV. 13. 14 13 And not many son gathered all toge And not many days after this division was made, the younger son gathering all his treasure days after, the younger together, and pretending a design of trafficing ther, and took his jour with it, took a journey into a very distant country; ney into a far country, and there forgetting his relations at home, and living with a knot of companions like himself, living. in a very riotous, debauched, and extravagant manner, he quickly squandered away the whole of his substance. and there wasted his substance with riotous 14 And when he had spent all, there arose that land; and he began to be in want. a mighty famine in 15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that coun And when he had consumed all in this wretched course, it so happened, through the righteous judgment of God upon him, that there was an extreme famine in that country where he sojourn ed; and he soon began to be in want of the very 15 necessaries of life. And, finding no shelter or relief among those who had been the companions of his luxury, and shared in the spoils of try; and he sent him his substance, yet unable to brook the mortifica- into his fields to feed tion of returning home in such circumstances, swine. he went and joined himself as a servant to a citizen of that place; who, thinking such a worthless creature unfit for any better post, sent him away into his grounds belonging to an estate in the country, where he employed him to feed swine; to which, however mean and disagreeable the employment was, this unhappy youth, who had once lived in so much plenty and splendor, 16 was forced to submit: And even then, through the unkindness of his master, and the extremity fain have filled his belly with the husks of the season, he was kept so poorly that he had that the swine did eat: not bread; but would gladly have filled his hungry and no man gave unbelly with the sorriest husks which the swine did to him. b d a Divided his living between them both.] It is plain, no significant sense can be put on this circumstance of the parable, as referring to the dispensations of God to his creatures. It is one of those many ornamental circumstances, which it would be weakness over-rigorously to accommodate to the general design. b Who-sent him into his grounds.] That , in such a construction, should be rendered in this manner, the accurate Elsner has shewn by a variety of convincing instances. (Observ. Vol. I. p. 248.) c However mean and disagreeable the employment was.] It is true, that among the ancient Greeks, the chief swineherd was looked upon as an officer of no inconsiderable rank; as evidently appears from eat: 16 And he would the figure which Eumeus makes in the Odyssey but this was an age of greater refinement; the unhappy youth was oblig ed to tend the swine himself; and if he be considered as a Jew, the aversion of that nation for this unclean animal must render the employment peculiarly odious to him; and probably this circumstance was chosen by our Lord to represent him as reduced to the most vile and servile state that could be imagined. d With the sorriest husks.] A late translation (after Brown, Saubert, Grotius, and many others) renders xpaliwv carraways, or the fruit of the carub-tree, which bore a mean, though sweetish kind of fruit, in long crooked pods; which by some is called St. John's bread; but if the account which Saubert Awakened at last to a sense of his folly, he returns home. 17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 37 And now the infamy and distress of his present 17 18 I will arise, and to whom I have hired myself! before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 20 And he arose, all my little remaining strength can carry me expect the favour of being admitted into thy And accordingly he arose at that very instant, 20 and came to his fa- and set forward on his long journey, passing through all the stages of it with a firm resolution, Providence ther. Saubert himself gives of it be true, swine would hardly have been fed with any thing but the husky part of this, in a time of extreme fanine. I therefore choose to retain our version; but take it, on the whole, to have been the fruit of a tree something of a wild chesnut kind. See Drusius in loc. e Sinned against the great God of heaven] This was, as Dr. Goodman observes (Parable of the Prodigal, p. 207), an acknowledgment that his father's yoke had been so easy, that his throwing it off had been an act of rebellion against God: and it shewed also that his heart was f Make me as one of thine hired ser- |