s iii. Acts xiii. 10. 1 John iii. 8. t Joel iii. 13. Rev. xiv. 15. t Gen. 15. good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it 'be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man shall send uch. xviii. 7. forth his angels, "and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 and shall cast them into a a furnace of fire: there wch. vii. 12. shall be bwailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then shall 42, the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears [ to hear], let him hear. 2 Pet. ii. 1, 2. v ch. iii. 12. Rev. xix. 20: xx. 10. ver. 50. x Dan. xii. 3. Por 43, 58. 44 [ Again,] the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, y Phil. iii. 7, 8. and for joy thereof goeth and ' selleth all that he hath, and z Isa. lv. 1. . Rev. iii. 18, buyeth that field. rable has an historical importance, having (these) are the sons strikingly sets forth 41. things that offend] generally understood of those men who give cause of offence, tempters and hinderers of others: it is better to understand it rather of things, as well as men, who are afterwards designated. 43.] shall shine, literally, shine out (their light here being enfeebled and obscured), as the sun from a cloud. of their Father, answering to the sons, ver. 38. This sublime announcement is over and above the interpretation of the parable. 44.] FIFTH PARABLE. THE HIDDEN TREASURE. Peculiar to Matthew. This and the following parable are closely connected, and refer to two distinct classes of persons who become possessed of the treasure of the Gospel. Notice that these, as also the seventh and last, are spoken not to the multitude, but to the disciples. In this parable, a man, labouring perchance for another, or by accident in passing, finds a treasure which has been hidden in a field; from joy at having found it he goes, and selling all he has, buys the field, thus (by the Jewish law) becoming the possessor also of the treasure. hiding of treasure is common even now, and was much more common in the East (see Jer. xli. 8: Job iii. 21: Prov. ii. 4). Such This sets before us the case of a man who unexpectedly, without earnest seeking, finds, in some part of the outward Church, the treasure of true faith and hope and communion with God; and having found this, for joy of it he becomes possessor, not of the treasure without the field (for that the case supposes impossible), but of the field at all hazards, to secure the treasure which is in it: i. e. he possesses himself of the means of grace provided in that branch of the Church, where, to use a common expression, he has "gotten his good:" he makes that a 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls: 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, a Prov. ii. 4: and bought it. iii. 14, 15: viii. 10, 19. 47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind : bch. xxii. 10. 48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad 49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels away. shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the ccb. xxv. 37. just, 50 and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there field his own. 45, 46.] SIXTH PARABLE. THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE. In this parable our Lord sets before us, that although in ordinary cases of finding the truth as it is in Jesus,' the buying of the field is the necessary prelude to becoming duly and properly possessed of it; yet there are cases, and those of a nobler kind, where such condition is not necessary. We have here a merchantman,— one whose business it is,-on the search for goodly pearls; i. e. a man who intellectually and spiritually is a seeker of truth of the highest kind. "He whom this pursuit occupies is a merchantman; i. e. one trained, as well as devoted, to business. The search is therefore determinate, discriminate, unremitting. This case then corresponds to such Christians only as from youth have been trained up in the way which they should go. In these alone can be the settled habits, the effectual self-direction, the convergence to one point of all the powers and tendencies of the soul, which are indicated by the illustration." (Knox's Remains, i. 460.) But as the same writer goes on to observe, even here there is a discovery, at a particular time. The person has been seeking, and finding, goodly pearls; what is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report but at last he finds one pearl of great price-the efficacious principle of inward and spiritual life. We hear of no emotion, no great joy of heart, as before; but the same decision of conduct: he sells all and buys it. He chooses vital Christianity, at whatever cost, for his portion. But here is no field. The pearl is bought pure-by itself. It is found, not unexpectedly in the course of outward ordinances, with which therefore it would become to the finder inseparably bound up, but by diligent search, spiritual and immediate, in its highest and purest form. Trench instances Nathanael and the Samaritan woman as examples of the finders without seeking :-Augustine, as related in his Confessions (we might add St. Paul, see Phil. iii. 7), of the diligent seeker and finder. Compare with this parable Prov. ii. 3-9, and to see what kind of buying is not meant, Isa. lv. 1: ch. xxv. 9, 10. Also see Rev. iii. 18. 47-52.] SEVENTH PARABLE. THE DRAW-NET. Peculiar to Matthew. 47.] The net spoken of is a drag, or drawnet, drawn over the bottom of the water, and permitting nothing to escape it. The leading idea of this parable is the ultimate separation of the holy and unholy in the Church, with a view to the selection of the former for the master's use. We may notice that the fishermen are kept out of view and never mentioned: the comparison not extending to them. A net is cast into the sea and gathers of every kind (of fish: not of things, as mud, weeds, &c., as some suppose); when this is full, it is drawn to shore, and the good collected into vessels, while the bad (the legally unclean, those out of season, those putrid or maimed) are cast away. This net is the Church gathering from the sea (a common Scripture similitude for nations: see Rev. xvii. 15: Isa. viii. 7: Ps. lxv. 7) of the world, all kinds (see Rev. vii. 9); and when it is full, it is drawn to the bank (the limit of the ocean, as the end [literally, consummation] is the limit of the world [literally, age]), and the angels (not the same as the fishers; for in the parable of the tares the servants and reapers are clearly distinguished) shall gather out the wicked from among the just, and cast them into everlasting punishment. It is plain that the comparison must not be strained beyond its limits, as our Lord shews us that the earthly here gives but a faint outline of the heavenly. Compare the mere “cast shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 51 [g Jesus saith unto them,] Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea [, h Lord]. 52 Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, d Cant. vii. 13. Which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. f render, the wailing and the gnashing. g omit. d homitted in some of the oldest authorities. away" of the one, with the fearful anti- Gennesaret:-the field-paths, the stony e 53 And it came to pass that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. 54 And when he was ech. ii. 23. come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? 55 f Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, : up the wheat also. Notwithstanding this (3) the little seed waxed on ward-the kingdoms of the earth came gradually in -(4) the leaven was secretly penetrating and assimilating. Then is it, (5) during the period of dissensions, and sects, and denominations, that here and there by this man and that man the treasure shall be found then is it, (6) during the increase of secular knowledge, and cultivation of the powers of the intellect, that merchantmen shall seek goodly pearls up and down the world, and many shall find, each for himself, the Pearl of Price. And thus we are carried on (7) through all the ages during which the great net has been gathering of every kind, to the solemn day of inspection and separation, which will conclude the present state. In 53-58.] TEACHING, AND REJECTION, AT NAZARETH. Mark vi. 1-6. See Luke iv. 16-29 and notes. 53, 54.] his own country, viz. Nazareth. Perhaps the proceedings of ch. viii 18-ix. 34 are to be inserted between those two verses. Mark iv. 35, the stilling of the storm and voyage to the Gadarenes are bound to the above parables by what appears a distinct note of sequence: the same day, when the even was come."' The teaching was on the Sabbath (Mark). 55. his brethren] It is an enquiry of much interest and some difficulty, who these were. After long examination of the evidence on the subject, I believe that the truth will best be attained by disencumbering the mind in the first place of all à priori considerations, and traditions (which last are very inconsistent and uncertain), and fixing the attention on the simple testimony of Scripture itself. I will trace "His brethren," or "the brethren of the Lord," through the various mentions of them in the N. T., and then state the result; placing at the end of the note the principal traditions on the subject, and the difficulties attending them. (I) The expression "His brethren," occurs nine times in the Gospels, and once in the Acts. Of these the three first are in the narratives of the coming of His mother and brethren to speak with Him, Matt. xii. 46: Mark iii. 31: Luke are and Luke iii. 23. 8 ch. xii. 46. John vi. 42. g viii. 19 the two next are the present passage and its in Mark vi. 3, where they mentioned in connexion with His mother and sisters; the four others are in John ii. 12; vii. 3, 5, 10; in the first of which He and his mother and brethren and disciples are related to have gone down to Capernaum: and in the three last His brethren are introduced as urging Him to shew Himself to the world, and it is stated that they did not believe on Him. The last is in Acts i. 14, where we read that the Apostles continued in prayer and supplication with the women, and with Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.' In another place, 1 Cor. ix. 5, Paul mentions "the other Apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas." Such are all the places where the meaning is undoubted, that persons called, and being in some usual sense, brethren of the Lord, are mentioned. (Besides these the Lord, Himself uses the words " my brethren," Matt. xxviii. 10; John xx. 17, but apparently with a wider meaning, including at least the eleven Apostles in the term, as He does in Matt. xii. 49, and parallels.) Now I would observe (a) that in all the mentions of them in the Gospels, except those in John vii., they are in connexion with His mother the same being the case in Acts i. 14. (b) That it is nowhere asserted or implied that any of them were of the number of the Twelve; but from John vii. 5, following upon vi. 70 (by "after these things," vii. 1), they are excluded from that number. St. John would certainly not have used the words "for neither did his brethren believe on him," had any of them believed on Him at that time (see this substantiated in note there) :-and again in Acts i. 14, by being mentioned after the Apostles have been enumerated by name, and after the mother of Jesus, they are indicated at that time also to have been separate from the twelve, although, then certainly believing on Him. (c) Their names, as stated here and in Mark vi. 3, were JACOB (JAMES), JOSEPH, (or JOSES), SIMON, and JUDAS, all of them among the commonest of Jewish names. Of JOSEPH (or JOSES;-cer : h ch. xỉ. 6. Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 56 And his sisters, are they not all with us ? Whence then hath this man all these things? 57 And they h were offended 1 in him. But k read, Joseph: some MSS. have John. 1 render, at. : tainly not the Joseph Barnabas Justus of Acts i. 23 see ib. ver. 21) and SIMON (not Simon Cananæus or Zelotes: see above) we know from Scripture nothing. Of the two others we have the following traces-(d) JACOB (JAMES) appears in the apostolic narrative as the Lord's brother, Gal. i. 19: he is there called an apostle. This however determines nothing as to his having been among the Twelve (which is a very different matter); for Paul and Barnabas are called apostles, Acts xiv. (4) 14, and Paul always calls himself such. See also Rom. xvi. 7; 1 Thess. ii. 7 compared with i. 1. That he is identical with the James of Gal. ii. 9, whom Paul mentions with Cephas and John as having given him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, fourteen years after the visit in ch. i. 19, does not appear for certain, but has been pretty generally assumed. (See this whole subject discussed in the Introduction to the Epistle of James.) (e) The JUDE who has left an epistle, and was brother of James, not only does not call himself an apostle, ver. (as neither does James, nor indeed John himself, so that this cannot be urged), but in ver. 17 (see note there) seems to draw a distinction between himself and the Apostles. Whether this indicates that the James and Jude, the authors of the Epistles, were two of these brethren of the Lord, is uncertain; but it may at least be mentioned in the course of our enquiry. I shall now state the result of that enquiry, which has been based on Scripture testimony only. (1) That there were four persons known as "His brethren," or "the brethren of the Lord," NOT OF THE NUMBER OF THE TWELVE. (2) That these persons are found in all places (with the above exception) where their names occur in the Gospels, in immediate connexion with Mary, the mother of the Lord. [It is a strange phænomenon in argument, that it should have been maintained by an orthodox writer, that my inference from this proves too much, because Joseph is here introduced as His father: as if a mistake of the Jews with regard to a supernatural fact, which they could not know, invalidated their cognizance of a natural fact which they knew full well.] (3) That not a word is any where dropped to prevent ns from inferring that these brethren were His relations in the same literal sense as we know His mother to have been; but that His own saying, where He distinguishes His relations according to the flesh from His disciples (ch. xii. 50 and parallels), seems to sanction that inference. (4) That nothing is said from which it can be inferred whether Joseph had been married before he appears in the Gospel history ;or again, whether these brethren were, according to the flesh, older or younger than our Lord. (5) That the silence of the Scripture narrative leaves it free for Christians to believe these to have been real (younger) brethren and sisters of our Lord, without incurring any imputation of unsoundness of belief as to His miraculous conception. That such an imputation has been cast, is no credit to the logical correctness of those who have made it, who set down that, because this view has been taken by impugners of the great Truth just mentioned, therefore it eventually leads, or may fairly be used towards the denial of it; for no attempt is made to shew its connexion with such a conclusion. The fact is, that the two matters, the miraculous conception of the Lord Jesus by the Holy Ghost, and the subsequent virginity of His mother, are ESSENTIALLY AND ENTIRELY DISTINCT; see note on Matt. i. 25: see also respecting a supposed difficulty attending this view, note on John xix. 27. (II) I will now state the principal traditionary views respecting the brethren of the Lord. (1) That they were all sons of Alphæus (or Clopas) and Mary the sister of the mother of our Lord; and so cousins of Jesus, and called agreeably to Jewish usage His brothers. This is the view taken in a remarkable fragment of Papias, adopted by Jerome, and very generally received in ancient and modern times. But it seems to me that a comparison of the Scripture testimonies cited above will prove it untenable. One at least of the sons of this Alphæus was an apostle, of the number of the twelve, viz. James the son of Alphæus (see all the lists, on ch. x. 3); which (see above) would exclude him from the number of the brethren of the Lord. But even if one of the four could be thus detached (which, from John vii. 5, I cannot believe), it is generally assumed that " Judas of James" (so in the Greek) (see Luke's two lists as above) is Jude the brother of James; and if so, this would be another |