" There were pi-esent at that season some that told hun of the Gahleans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus, answering, said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Gali- leans, because they suffered such things ? I tell you. Nay : but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem ? I tell you. Nay : but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." — Luke xiii. 1-5.
It is a part and duty of spiritual wisdom, as also an evidence of a due reverence of God, to take notice of extraordinary occurrences in the dispensations of his providence ; for they are instructive warnings, and of great importance in his government of the world. In them the " voice of the Lord crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see his name." And there is a mark left on them, — as pi'ofligate per- sons,— who will not see when his hand is so lifted up. An example of this wisdom is given us here in our blessed Saviour, Avho, on the report that was made unto him of some severe providential accidents, then newly fallen out, gives an exposition of the mind of God in them, with an application of them unto the present duty of them that heard him, and ours therein.
Some things may be observed in general, to give light into the context, and the design of our Saviour in this holy discourse.
I. The time when the things mentioned did fall out, and wherein our Saviour passed his judgment on them.
1. It was a time oi great sin, — of the abounding of all sorts of sins. The nation as such, in its rulers and rule; the church as such, in its officers, order, and worship ; and the generality of the p>Gop)le, in their personal capacities, were all overwhelmed in provoking sins. Hypocrisy, oppression, cruelty, superstition, unclcanness, persecution,
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impenitency, and security, — all proceeding from unbelief, — liad filled tlio Lind, and defiled it. We have a sufficient account of this state of things in the story of the gospel, so as that it needs no other con- firmation. Yea, so wicked were the people, and so corrupt the church- state, and so impenitent were the generality of them therein, that it suited the righteousness and holiness of God to revenge on that gene- ration, not only their own sins, but the sins also of all v/icked perse- cutors from the foundation of the world ; — a thing which he doth not do but on high provocations. Luke xi. 50, 51, "That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may bo required of this generation ; from the blood of Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple : verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation."
There is in this commination an appearance of severity beyond the rule established, Exod. xx. 5. There, God declares that he is " a jealous God;" which title he assumes to himself with respect unto the highest provocations; — that he "will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third 2JCidi fourth generation of them that hate him." But here, the vengeance and punishment due unto the sins of a hundred generations, is threatened to be inflicted on that which was present.
Something, in our passage, may be spoken for the vindication of divine justice herein, seeing we may be more concerned in that divine commination than the most are aware.
(1.) The case here \& 'particular. That in the commandment re- spects the common case of all false Avorshippers and their posterity ; but this respects persecution, unto blood and death, of the true wor- shippers of God. Now, though God be very much provoked with the sins of false worshippers, yet he can either bear with them, or pass over their sins with lesser punishments, or at least for a long season; but when they come to persecution, and the blood of them who worship him in spirit and in truth, in his appointed season he will not spare them; — their own, and the iniquities of their prede- cessors, shall be avenged on them ; which will be the end of the anti- christian church-state after all its present triumph.
(2.) All those who, from the beginning of the world, suffered unto blood on the account of religion, suffered in the cause of Christ, for their faith in him, and confession of him ; namely, as he was pro- mised unto the clnu-ch. Unto him and his office did Abel, by faith, bear testimony in the bloody sacrifice that he offered. So it is said that Moses, in his danger for killing the Eg}^tian, bare " the reproach of Christ," because he did it in faith of the promised seed ; which was Christ. They were, therefore, all slain in the cause of Christ. And whereas this generation was to slay Christ himself, and did so, they
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