men of this generation? and to what are they like?" "Suppose ye that I am come to send peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but only division." "Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch ?" "How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and go into the mountains, and seek that which is gone astray?" "What went ye out into the wilderness to see? a reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea I say unto you and more than a prophet."

In the fourth beatitude the figure is strong, and expressively continued: "Blessed are they who' hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." He censures the doctrines and practices of the Pharisees under a striking allegory: "m Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted out." And he beautifully uses the same figure to shew the propriety of displaying his

e Luke xii. 51. So da' great divisions would be the consequence of his religion. Luke vi. 39. Matt. xviii. 12. iib. xi. 7-9. * An inhabitant of the desert, exposed to the injuries of the weather; like a reed beaten to and fro by the wind. To this there is an opposition, v. 8. a man clothed in soft raiment, living in a palace. Majorem vim accipit, says Quinctilian, Usque adeone mori miserum est ? quam per se, mors misera non est. Inst. viii. c. v. And Longinus observes that this figure makes what is said active, rapid, impetuous, enthusiastic, and pathetic, in an easy and natural way. Sect. xviii. 1 Matt. v. 6. 13.

signifies. The meaning is, that very

m Matt. XV.

miraculous power on a particular occasion: "I must "work the works of him that sent me, while it is day the night cometh, when no man can work." The large return, likely to be received by the bountiful man, is thus described with a very pertinent amplification: "Give, and it shall be given unto you good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your ⚫bosom. In the same style is the following reproof to the Apostles: "Why reason ye because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?"

When our Lord had spoken a parable denouncing a fearful destruction of the Jews, which the Chief Priests and Scribes deprecated with horror, "he looked on them, and said; What is this then which is written, “The 'stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?" And the image is thus pursued by him with great sublimity: "Whosoever shall fall upon that stone, shall

n

John ix. 4.

Luke vi. 38. An allusion to the flowing garments of the east. See Ps. lxxix. 12. Jer. xxxii. 18. Isai. xl. 11. Prov. vi. 27. This is well explained by the action of Quintus Fabius in the Carthaginian senate. Tum Romanus, sinu ex toga facto, Hic, inquit, vobis bellum et pacem portamus: utrum placet sumite. Liv. xxi. 18. Polybius's expression is, δείξας τοῖς ἐν τῷ συνεδρίῳτὸν κόλπον : having shewn to those in the senate the bosom of his gown, iii. 33. See Wetstein. P Mark viii. 17, 18. 9 Quinctilian (1. viii. c. iv.) thus expresses himself about this figure. Potest ascribi amplificationi congeries quoque verborum ac sententiarum idem significantium. Nam, etiamsi non per gradus ascendant, tamen velut acervo quodam allevantur. Luke xx. 17, 18.

be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." Whosoever shall strike against it in a hostile manner, will prove a ' vain and defeated assailant: the gospel will prevail against all opposition, with damage or destruction to its opposers: but on whomsoever this stone shall fall, it shall crush him to powder: against whomsoever the vengeance of the Messiah shall be exerted, he shall perish exemplarily.

There is an elegant antithesis in the address to Simon the Pharisee: "Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house; thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. Mine head with oil didst thou not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment."

The similitudes with which the discourse on the mount is concluded please the imagination by the justness and strength of the colouring. "u Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man who built his house on a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.

Offendet solido. Hor.

Luke vii. 44, 5, 6.

Classics, mentions the beauty of this passage,
Luke vi. 38,

"Matt. vii. 24-7.

Blackwall, Sacred of Matt. Y. 6. and of

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house: and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

A " writer of very superior taste has this remark : "Where is there so just and so elegant a reproof of eagerness and anxiety in worldly pursuits, closed with so forcible an exhortation to confidence in the goodness of our Creator, as in these words? "* Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them: are not ye much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: : they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

Our Lord's discourses are occasionally raised and animated by short comparisons. Speaking of the final judgment he says, "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father." "Before the Son of man shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd separateth his sheep from the

a

w Soame Jenyns's Internal View, &c. p. 33. ed. Dubl. vi. 26-30.

γ. Ως δὲ λέων επόρεσεν, εικών εςι.

* Matt.

Χρήσιμον δὲ ἡ εικών καὶ ἐν λόγῳ ολιγάκις δέ· ποιητικὸν γάρ. "He as a lion rushed," is an image. And the image is useful in prose also: but it must be sparingly used for it is poetical. Arist. rhet. iii. c. 4. §1, 2.

* Matt. xi.

goats." He shews by an apt image that the day of God's vengeance on the Jews would be sudden and

b

unexpected: "As a snare, shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole land." And their general and swift destruction is thus described by him: "As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." He thus strongly illustrates the specious hypocrisy and inward pollution of the Scribes and Pharisees: "Ye are as graves that appear not and the men that walk over them are not aware of them."

"Ye fare like unto & whited

sepulchres; which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." When he had privately explained many parables to his disciples, so that they understood them, he adds: "Every scribe, who is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like an householder who bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." And speaking of the sanctity which the Apostles would derive from his doctrine,

e

b Luke xxi. 35. Matt. xxiv. 27. d Luke xi. 44. • Legal pollution was contracted by touching a grave. Numb. xix. 16. Matt. xxiii. 27. 8 The most curious things in these burying grounds are some little square pavillions, about fifteen feet high, topt with a little dome, or with a very flat cap. The whole is of these pavillions is the tomb of some saint. lee. Lond. 1778. Dilly. But the reader may terpretation in Hammond, that the Jewish sepulchres were washed over with white lime, that they might be discerned and avoided.

white washed, &c. Each Cassini's voyage to Salprefer Dr. Pocock's in

Matt. xiii. 52. i The eastern custom of collecting furniture and vestments, for grandeur and for presents, was also in use among the Romans. See Hor. ep. i. vi. 434: and the beautiful comparison in Cic. de oratore i. 35.