25 And Jeſus * went about all the cities an villages, teaching in their ſynagogues, and preach- ing the goſpel of the kingdom, and healing every fickneſs, and every diſeaſe amongſt the people.
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Chap. X. Ot.
Gatiles , by which probably this Text ought to be expounded: ſee the Notes there. 26 Bur when he ſaw the multitudes, he was moved t Were ti- with compaſſion on them, becauſe they fainted : ||and red, and 1-9 were ſeartered abroad.as * ſheep having no {hepherd. ring _ Mark hach ſomething of this, chap. 6. 34. It piried him, who L he 'y came down trom Heaven to Earth to ſeck and to fave loſt Souls, ?7. Ec. to fee what a Company of People tollowed him, willing to be cr inſtructed , becauſe they were &Aa:avutcr, Or as ſome read 1t, £74v+44: v0, tired and wearied with running atter hum ro hear the Goſpel , and epprumwiyir, ſcattered abroad as ſheep having no Shepherd, Had then the Fews ar this time no Miniſtry ? They had the Temple at Feruſalem, Scribes, and Pharhees, and Prieſts, Synagngues 1n other places, where the Law was read and inter- prered. Chriſt accounts thoſe People to have no Miniſters, who have no Good ones; bur eirher Dumb Dogs, that cannor Bark, or Lazy ones, that will not. Such was the Generality of the Jewiſh Miniſtry at this time. This moved the Bowe!s of Chriſt, (fo the word fignifies.) It is a great Miſery when the Congregation ot rhe Lord are as Sheep which h.rve no Shepherd, Numb. 27. 17. And fo they are when they have no true Prophets ot the Lord to 1n- ſtru& them, 1 King. 22. 17. | 27 Then ſaith he unto his diſciples, * The harveſt truly 7s plenteous, but the labourers are tew. 28 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harveſt that
he will ſend forth labourers into his harvelt.
The plain Senſe of theſe rwo Verſes is this; John the Baptis?, and Ch;:4, had now been Preaching for ſome time ; God 1ncli- ned the Hearts of great Mulcitudes to follow both the one and the other: There was a great People prepared for the Lord, Mat. 11.12. From the days 0 = the Baptiſt, the Kingdom of Hea- wen had ſuffered Violence, and the Violent took it by Force : Men were excecding fond of hearing the Goſpel. The Fields were white to the Hurve$t, (as our Saviour expreflcrh it) Foh. 4. 35. Bur chere were few that would faichtully deliver the Mind of God ; there were abundance of idle Phariſees, and Scribes, and Prieſts, that ſpent cheir rimes in teaching People their Rites, and Ceremonies, and Traditions; but the Eabourers were few : Such muſt be God's Gift to che People, and they muſt be thruſt our. No Argu- ments will be ſufficient to perſwade Men to che weighty Work of the Miniſtry, with an intention to fulfil ir, but the Power of God inclining their, Hearts ro ir: You had need therefore pray unto God, that he would ſend,nay, that he would exCaan, thrus? out Labourers into his Harve8. 1. The Inclination and Deſire of Mulritudes to hear Divine Truth, 1s God's Harvesf, 2. Mi. niſters Work is a Labour, Gal. 4. 11. Phil. 4.3. 1 Tim. $. 17. It righcly diſcharged, ic muſt be with Labour, 3. God 1s the Lord of the Harveſt, Miniſters oughr to look upon him as fo. 4. None ought to thruſt chemſelyes into the Work of the Miniftry, cill God thruſt them our, Heb. 5.4. 5. There always were but a few Labourers in God's HarveF. Hence Chryſoſtome choughr that bur a few Miniſters would be ſaved. Our Saviour in this Chapter pre- faceth his Work; of which we ſhall Diſcourſe in the next Chapter, viz. His Sending forch his Twelve Apoſtles,
CHAP. X.
Chrift giveth his Diſciples power to work Miracles : Their Names and Number, 1—5s. His Charge and Inftruion of them for their Four- ney, 6—15. Comforteth them again Perſecutions, and what they might do in ſuch times, 16—31. Heſheweth the Bleſſeaneſs of thoſe that confeſs him before Men, with the Mijcry of thoje that deny him, 32, 33- The End of his Coming to the World , to ſend War, and not Peace, 34—39. The Reward of thoſe that receive and refreſh his Diſciples, 49—42+
*Mar. 6.7. 1 A ND * when he had called unto him his
Luk. 5. 13. twelve diſciples,he gave them power || ag47/?
{| Or, ov. ynclean ſpirits to caſt them our, and to heal all man- ner of ſickneſs, and all manner of diſcaſcs.
Mark , chap. 3. 14. ſaith, And he ordained twelve, that they ſhould be with vim, and that he might ſend them forth to Preach, V. Is. And to have Power to heal Sickneſſes, and to caſt out Devils. Lube repeats almoſt the ſame words, Lub., 9. 2. only he faith, he gave them Power and Authority over Devils, — and to Preach the Kingdom of God. This was the firſt Miffion which the Apoſtles had, much different from that given them after his Reſurrefion : They were now ſent only #o the los? .Sheep of the Houſe of 1ſrael, then they were ſent fo all Nations : They were nor called Diſci- ples, as thar term ſignified, only che common Hearers of Chrift, but in a more Emphatical Senſe. He chuſerth our twelve, that as the twelve Patriarchs begat the Jewiſh Church, ſo theſe twelve Men mighr be the Fathers to all the Goſpel-Church, The num- ber of Twelve ſeems a Sacred Number. The New Feruſalcm, Rev. 21. 12, deſcribed,as having twelve Gates, and at the Gates twelve Angels,and to have wricten on the Gares the Names of the twelve Tribes; and, v. 14. The Wall of the City 1s ſaid to have had twelve Fundations, and in them the Names of the twelve Apo- les, the Dimenſion of it twelve Thouſand Furlongs. The Power he gave to the Apoſtles was, 1. To Preach the Kingdom, that 1s, the Goſpel; which as it ſhewerh the way to the Kingdom of Glo- ry, ſo it was the means to gather the Chriſtian Church, which 1s the Kingdom of Grace , and to tubdue Men's Hearts to the Obe- dience of Chriſt. 2. To c2ſt out Devils, and heal all manner of Sickneſſes. By which they gained repure among{t People, con- firming People that they were ſent of God, doing ( tho'nor as Chriſt did them) things which none bur God could do, by a de- rivation of Power from him: Chriſt did the ſame things, bur by a Power inherent in himſelf. Theſe twelve were ordinarily to be wich Chriſt, and ro go forth (as occaſion ſerved) cloathed with his Power to Preach, and ro work Miracles,
*Luk.10.2,
MATTHE W. Ch: