To see ourselves in this condition, bowed down under a load of sin, and spiritually disabled, makes us fit to experience Christ's healing power. Till then, we only mock him by calling to him for help.

12. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.

Jesus saw her misery, and that was enough. He sees ours, and is ready to relieve us the moment we turn to him for it. Jesus called this woman, and has he not a call for every one of us? Does he not speak aloud, "Thou art loosed," in his gospel to all repenting sinners?

13. And he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

We can then glorify God, when we do it from a sense of our cure not by the strength of our crooked natures.

14. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.

The law of the sabbath was rightly laid down, but he ought to have known that works of mercy, and works of necessity, are not any breach of the sabbath day.

15. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?

Jesus calls him an hypocrite, for blaming what he could not but allow in other cases, and what Christ did with so much better reason.

16. And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

It may be said, that she would have been no worse if her cure had been put off to another day. But help delayed, is a degree of cruelty, and Christ was for losing no time. Let us think how ready he is to help us,-how much worse

it is to have Satan's bond upon our souls, and what a hazard we run by letting him have power over us one day longer.

17. And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

I pray God that we may from our own experience! O that we knew what glorious things he has had to do for us, and in us! What can it signify to us how many are the better for him, if we are not? Let us put the question home? What has Jesus done for me? Has he taken me out of my old state, and given me a power to become a child of God? Has he washed me from my sins in his blood, purified my heart by his Spirit, and set me in the way of his commandments? Has he taught me to pray, and to keep a daily watch over myself? Have I learned of him to seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, in the first place to love God and man,-to deny myself and die to the world, to be meek and lowly?

Have I learned from him patience and resignation? When he does this for us, we shall have cause to rejoice. Then he hath done glorious things indeed: he hath brought down heaven into our hearts.

18. Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?

Here Jesus speaks of God's kingdom of grace under himself, as to its spreading and manner of working, in the world, and in every single soul.

19. It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.

The comparison is between the smallness of the seed and the greatness of the plant, which in the East grows to a great height.

20. And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?

21. It is like the leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

This by degrees turns the whole mass into its own kind and nature. Observe, 1st, That the seed must be sown, and the leaven must be put into our hearts: we have neither ourselves. 2ndly, A christian state is, and must be, a progressive state. We do not attain all at once; but if we have the power and virtue of a seed, or Christ's leaven, in us, we shall always be growing and working on towards perfection.

22. And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.

By the mercy of God, we sit under his teaching, and know that he went to Jerusalem to die for us.

SECTION XLVII.

Chap. xiii. ver. 23—35.

CHRIST EXHORTS TO REPENTANCE.

23. Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,

24. Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

Christ's answer to the question, "Are there few that be saved?" though not direct, implies that there are but few. Let it sink down into our hearts, and let us be in pain for ourselves. Christ bids us to strive earnestly, with deep concern, and with all our might and main, in all manner of ways. And why? Because the gate is strait. If Christ had not told us so, he would have deceived us. soul, however, shall be shut out, that seeks in earnest. But the meaning is, that many would not be made able: many would seek in a wrong way, and think themselves qualified

Not one

to enter in, when they are not. Alas! how many? Even all who rest in an outward profession, without that inward change, which Christ came to work in them.

25. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are :

26. Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.

What shall we say? What have we to say? Lord, we have been baptized, we have heard thy word preached; and we have sometimes come to the sacrament. And is this all? Has Christ nothing to do with our hearts?

27. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.

As much as if he had said, notwithstanding your name, and outward advantages, you do not belong to me. Have we nothing to do with this? "Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity." This is the true character of all who are unrenewed in their hearts and natures, and lying under a sentence of guilt and condemnation, whatever they may think of themselves, or however they may appear to men. This is the condition, till sin is opened to them in its root, and brings them, in the exercises of faith and repentance, to Christ for cleansing, and strength to do the will of God.

28. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.

Excluded, for not being the true children of Abraham, in faith and obedience.

29. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God shall be preached to the Gentiles,

and many in all parts of the world will believe to the saving of their souls.

30. And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.

The Gentiles, though last called, shall be first in faith, and in God's favour. "And there are first which shall be last," the Jews, the first in covenant with God, but all unbelievers among them, shall be last, that is, finally rejected.

31. The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee.

They thought to terrify him with this, and to make him fly. His answer shows that he knew his danger, and would not be frightened by it from following on his work. He knew too that his danger was more from themselves, than Herod.

32. And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Christ spoke this of Herod as a prophet, and he does not hereby authorize any to speak disrespectfully of princes. "And the third day I shall be perfected;" that is, within a few days. This he would attain by finishing the work which he came to do, and by his perfect obedience unto death for our redemption. O blessed Jesus! Perfected! Crucified as a malefactor! What an opening is this of thy heart of love! What thanks can we render to thee for thy unspeakable goodness to us?

33. Nevertheless I must walk to-day, and to-morrow, and the day following for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.

They of Jerusalem had been so notorious for killing them, that it could hardly be the case that a prophet should perish elsewhere: so that he was safe elsewhere, till he came there.

34. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and