26 Fear them not therefore: 'for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid that shall not be known.

27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light and what ye hear in the ear that preach ye upon the housetops.

28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without Father.

your

30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many

sparrows.

Luke x. 3. Rom. xvi 19. Eph. v. 15. 21 Cor. xiv. 20. Phil. ii. 15. Or, simple-a ch. xxiv. 9. Mark xiii. 9. Luke xii. 11; & xxi. 12. b Acts v. 40.e Acts xii. 1; & xxiv. 10; & xxv. 7, 23. 2 Tim. iv. 16. -Mark xiii. 11, 12, 13. Luke xii. 11; & xxi. 14, 15 Ex. iv. 12. Jer. i. 7.-f2 Sam. xxiii. 2. Acts iv. 8; vi. 10. 2 Tim. iv. 17.-g Mic. vii. 6; ver. 35, 36. Loke xxi. 16.- Luke xxi. 17. Dan. xii. 12, 13. ch. xxiv. 13. Mark xiii. 13.-kch. ii. 13; & iv. 12; & ri 15. Acts. viii. 1; & ix. 25; & xiv 16. Or, end, Anish. Ich. xvi. 28.-m Luke vi. 40. John xiii. 16; xv. 20.- ch. xii. 24. Mark iii. 22. Luke xi. 15. John viii. 48, 52. Gr. Beelzebul.-o Mark iv. 22. Luke viii. 17; & xii. 2, 3.-p Is. viii. 12, 13. Luke xii. 4. 1 Pet. iii 14.-|| It is in value halfpenny farthing in the original, as being the tenth part of the Roman penny: See on ch. xviii. 28.-q1 Sam. xiv. 45. 2 Sam. xiv. 11. Lake xxi. 18. Acts xxvii. 34.

Reader. Beelzebub, or Beelzebul, (Fly-god), was the name of an idol worshipped at Ekron, 2 Kings i. 2. The Jews applied it to the prince or chief of evil spirits, Luke xi. 15; Mark iii. 22.

The farthing mentioned in v. 29,

is the tenth part of a Roman Denarius; it was equal in value to about three farthings of our money. The word was proverbially used to denote a very small sum.

READER. Sheep in the midst of wolves. Such was their danger; but, I send you forth,-this was their comfort.

Wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.-Prudent and cautious, as reless and inoffensive to other men.— spects your own safety; but harmMost lovely and blessed, and in effect most powerful and triumphant, is this prescribed union of prudence and simplicity. It is the Lord who teacheth man this knowledge.

They will deliver you up to the councils, &c.-Religious persecution has often called in the aid of the civil power. The disgrace of a formal condemnation by constituted authorities, forms part of the sufferings to which many of Christ's faithful servants have been exposed. But their Master endured the same grief before them.

They will scourge you.-See 2 Cor. xi. 24; and compare John xvi. 2; Isa. lxvi. 5; Zec. xi. 4, 5.

Take no thought.-Be not anxiously careful in seeking for words or arguments with which to defend your cause. Be ready with a willing and honest mind to testify what you know; and trust in God to support.

you.

The brother shall deliver up, &c.How lamentable are the proofs of human depravity,-how sad the effects of pride, self-will, and self-con

ceit, as displayed in religious intolerance and bigotry!

Hated of all men for my name's sake. -See John xv. 25; 1 Cor. iv. 13.Why so? Because men of unconverted hearts hate godliness and Christ.

He that endureth unto the end shall be saved. The prospect of the end may well alleviate the sufferings of the way. This precept concerns us all. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." See Jude xxiv. 25.

When they persecute you in this city flee ye into another. It is right and prudent to avoid persecution by flight, when such a precaution becomes necessary in consequence of the active hostility of wicked men.-Christ's soldiers, says one, may quit their ground, but they must not quit their colours.

It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord.-Jesus Christ is our great Teacher, and our honoured Lord. Let us learn of him who was meek and lowly in heart. By his grace, in following the example of his great humility, we shall possess our souls in patience.

How much more shall they call them of his household?—The use of opprobrious names and epithets is another feature of religious persecution, even to this day.

There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed.-God is our witness; his eye is continually upon us; and he rewardeth every man according to his work. See Eccl. xii. 14; Rom. ii. 16; 1 Cor. iv. 5.

What ye hear in the ear.-Ministers are to preach publicly that which they hear from Christ, by studying his word with private meditation and prayer.

Fear not them.-See Rom. viii. 35-37.

Rather fear Him.—The right fear of God is the true antidote against the wrong fear of man. Isa. li. 12,

13.

Able to destroy.-See Rom. ix. 22; 2 Thess. i. 9.

One of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father, i. e. without the knowledge and permission of God. How watchful is divine Providence! How does its care extend to objects apparently most minute and insignificant!

The very hairs of your head are all numbered.-Such is the special or particular providence of God in favour of all his faithful people. See Rom. v. 1-5.

Ye are all of more value than many sparrows. How gracious is this word of Christ! How amply was it confirmed by the shedding of his most precious blood!

HYMN.

Lord, who hast suffer'd all for me,

My grace and pardon to procure, The lighter cross I bear for Thee, Help me with patience to endure.

Let me not angrily declare

No pain was ever sharp as mine; Nor murmur at the cross I bear; But rather weep, remembering thine! COWPER.

1 came not to send peace, but a sword. Such was the effect of our Saviour's coming, in consequence of the wickedness and perverseness of

man.

Mercies abused draw after them corresponding judgments.—If our Lord referred to the design of his coming, his meaning probably was that he did not come to send temporal prosperity to the Jews by working a deliverance from the Roman yoke, but rather to be the means of manifesting their final impenitence, and to be the signal of their national destruction.

A man's foes shall be they of his own household.-What a proof of the total and irreconcileable variance which subsists between Christ and the world!—It was a tradition among the Jews that family dissensions should be carried to this extreme height in the age of the Messiah.How literally was this fulfilled during the siege of Jerusalem!

Is not worthy of me.-Christ must be supreme in our affections; else we do not honour him as God.

He that findeth his life, &c.-He who supremely loves, desires, and preserves the things of this life will lose the happiness of that which is to come: but he who prefers the service of Christ to all temporal considerations, will receive that eternal life which he bestows upon his faithful people.

A prophet in the name of a prophet;-i.e. a Christian minister and teacher in his sacred character and capacity, and with regard to his office. -The Lord knows that hatred to the ministers of the Gospel as

such, is a consequence and an indication of want of love to their message and its author. And a sincere attachment to Christ and bis cause is accompanied with proper respect for the Christian ministry.

A cup of cold water only.-Respect is had not to the value of the gift, but to the motives and disposition of the giver.-Love consecrates every gift; and none are holy and acceptable to God without it. See Luke xxi. 3, 4; Heb. vi. 10.We see here that even the poor may be rich in charity and good works, proceeding from faith in Christ.The same principle which may prompt the poor to give small things out of their poverty, ought to excite the rich to give largess out of their abundance.

2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,

3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?

4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:

d

5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and 'the poor have the gospel preached to them.

6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. 7¶And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? "A reed shaken with the wind?

8 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment ? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. 9 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, ‘and more than a prophet.

10 For this is he, of whom it is written, *Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which

thee.

15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

a Luke vii. 18, 19, &c. b ch. xiv. 3.-c Gen. xlix. 10. Num. xxiv. 17. Dan. ix. 24. John vi. 14.-d Is. xxix. 18; & xxxv. 4, 5, 6; & xlii. 7. John ii. 23; & iii. 2; & v. 36; & x. 25, 38; & xiv. 11. e Ps. xxii. 26. Is. lxi. 1. Luke iv. 18. Jam. ii. 5.-f Is. viii. 14, 15. ch. xiii. 57; & xxiv. 10; & xxvi. 31. Rom ix. 32, 33. 1 Cor. i. 23; & ii. 14. Gal. v. 11. 1 Pet. ii. 8.-g Luke vii. 24.

h Eph. iv. 14.-i ch. xiv. 5 ; & xxi. 26. Luke i. 76; & vii. 26.- Mal. iii. 1. Mark i. 2. Luke i. 76; & vii. 27. - Luke xvi. 16. || Or, is gotten by force, and they that thrust men.-m Mal. iv. 6.-n Mal. iv. 5. ch. xvii. 12. Luke i. 17.-0 ch. xiii. 9. Luke viii. 8. Rev. ii. 7, 11, 17, 29; & iii. 6, 13, 22.

Reader. We cannot suppose that John sent these disciples to Christ for his own satisfaction, unless we fear that his faith had been shaken by the circumstance of his imprisonment, or that he had partaken in the false expectations of the Jews respecting the temporal kingdom of the Messiah, of which no indication had yet been given. It is usually considered that the Baptist sent this message for the sake of his disciples,