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and checks him in his presumptuous vanity: "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee "."

Our Lord then turns again to His disciples, and draws this moral from what He had expounded to the company, that they ought not to be over solicitous for any thing in this life; for that immoderate carefulness is, after all, but useless. "The life is more than meat, and the body than raiment :" the real thing to be sought for being, after all, the attainment of the "kingdom of God." Our Almighty Father has promised, that He will give us this eternal kingdom; and, therefore, we may be certain, that nothing can keep us from it; nothing can happen that will not bring us nearer to it'. This expression, "the kingdom of God," comprehends the whole business of religion. When we are required to seek it, we are required to maintain a fixed design and resolution as to the end, incessant care and diligence as to the means, an earnest zeal and persevering patience in the pursuit of it. It is not meant by any of the expressions employed by our Saviour, that we should, in a literal sense, take no thought for our life, or the means of supporting it. Christianity forbids no necessary occupations, no reasonable indulgences, no innocent relaxations. It allows us the full use of the world, so that we do not abuse it; but our

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liberty must not be, like that of the rich man in the parable,—selfish enjoyment; our amusements must not degenerate into dissipation; nor our industry be incessant toil after the good things of this life; nor our carefulness, extreme anxiety and endless solicitude for the end of this life, and indifference to that of the future 1. We should be prepared and ready to receive Christ at His coming to judgment, which must be the end of every man's existence; and we should always be "girded about," as diligent servants are, when they wait to receive their Master at whatsoever hour He may come 2. "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching." It is this vigilance which comprehends under it the whole care of a Christian life. We must not be

surprised by the summons, "This night thy

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soul shall be required of thee," nor be found in the condition of slothful and negligent servants, when our Lord comes suddenly upon So when Peter desires to know whether these directions were only applicable to the Apostles and disciples, or to all, Our Saviour answers, I speak to every wise and faithful servant who wishes to recommend himself to his master's favour; but, undoubtedly, the more light and grace that is bestowed by God on a "steward, who is a ruler 1 Bishop Porteus. 2 Bishop Mann. Archbishop Tillotson.

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over his house," the more Christian performances will be required of him. Let none of us trust, then, to the deceitful inventions of those who pretend to have power to control and set aside the judgment of God. "Can ye not discern the signs of the times, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?” Give diligence to be "faithful and wise," to procure forgiveness with your offended God, before He proceeds against you, and summons you to judgment, when nothing but rigorous justice can be looked for, and the everlasting punishment due to your iniquities shall be inflicted *.

SECT. LXXXV.-Christ preacheth Repentance.

Luke xiii. 1—5.

As our Lord was proceeding through the cities and villages teaching, He journeyed towards Jerusalem, a little before the feast of Dedication; and they tell Him of "the Galilæans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices." This event is not mentioned by any other writer; nor is it easy to determine who these Galilæans were, nor the offences for which they were slain. The feud and enmity, however, that was between Pilate and Herod, (whose subjects these Galilæans were,) might have incensed the former to some slaughter, under the circumstances mentioned. These

4 Dr. Robinson.

miserable men were probably slain in their own Temple, whilst they were offering their own sacrifices; as it was a very usual thing for those that brought the sacrifice, to kill it themselves". It is most probable that these were zealots, of the sect of Judas of Galilee, (named in the Acts,) who had taught the people that they were only to acknowledge God as their Sovereign, and were not to pay tribute to Cæsar, or to submit to any census which might be commanded by the Roman government. It seems that the slaughter of these Galilæans, while they were performing the solemn acts of their religion, was thought to have the appearance of something extraordinary, different from common providences, and so gave occasion to a suspicion, that the dreadful usage they had experienced, was a judgment of God upon them for some great impieties'.

Nothing is recorded in history as to the tower of Siloam, nor of its fall; but it may have been one, built over the porticos of the pool of Bethesda, which might have overwhelmed some eighteen men, while they were busied about purifying themselves, or laying about the pool, expecting to be healed, at the troubling of the waters. Our Lord probably availed Himself of these, and other similar instances of recent

Dr. Lightfoot.

7 Dr. Waterland.

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• Mant and D'Oyly.

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• Dr. Lightfoot.

occurrence, to give point and illustration to His
doctrine. The feeling which disposed people,
and does still dispose them, to regard such events
as judgments from heaven, upon those who suffer
by them, is common in all countries; and ap-
pears to be a feeling entertained, as well in our
own times, as in those of our Lord". He there-
fore instructs His hearers, not to judge hardly
of those who suffer by the common accidents
and misfortunes of life, but to let such examples
teach them to amend their own lives, knowing
how fearful a thing it is to die in their sins, and
to fall into the hands of the living God'.

SECT. LXXXVI.-Parable of the Fruitless Fig-Tree.-
Luke xiii. 6-9.

THIS truth Jesus further enforced by a parable
allusive to the Jewish nation, in order to ex-
plain why many sinners are spared, though
others fall. This people are here regarded
as a "fig-tree planted in a vineyard;"
"the
dresser of the vineyard" is the Lord Jesus; and
He"
came and sought fruit thereon, and found
none." Thus God chose the nation for His pe-
culiar people, and sent His Son, who, "for three
years had come seeking fruit on this fig-tree,
and finding none." The just judgment from
heaven cries, "Cut it down, why cumbereth it
the ground?" But the dresser of the vineyard
advocates the mercy of affording a yet longer
1 Bishop Mann.

9 Pictorial Bible.

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