Luke nath the ſame words, chap. 7. er. 33,34, 35. The Senſ? of the Words is this ; God hatk by his Providence uted all means © WI this People to the Goſpel. The DoGirine of 7:5n the B.up- tis, and Ci, was the fame, bur their Temper and Converſe was very difierent: 7ohn was an auſtere and morote Man ; Chris was Or a more iree and familiar Converſation : Bur thele Men would neither give the one, nor the other, a good word : They reviled both of tiiem, and rejefFed them both , and the Do&rine which they brought. { ohn came neither Eating nor Drinking :] Tat 1s, nor as other Men ordinarily doy he was a Man that lived moſt in che Wilderneſs, and ted upon very ordinary Diec, not Eating with Publicanes and Sinners, nor coming at any Feaſts, gc. and they ſaid of him, He hath a Devil, he is a Me- lancholick,Hypochondriack Fellow, a kind of a Mad-man.{ 7he Sort of Man came Eating and Drinking ,| he was of a more attable, plea- 1:nr Temper, of a more free, and lefs referyed Converſe; Eating and Drinkinz as other Men, ( tho' keeping to the Law of 7em- perarce,) ſuch things as the Country afforded; nor retuſing to be prefenc ar Feaſts, tho' Publicanes and Sinners were there. They faid to him, | Behold » Man gluttonous, a Wine-bibber, a Friend of Publicanes and Sinners :) He dilpleaſed them wich che coo grear Freedom of his Converſation; ( from hence by che way chey may be better inſtruted, who place foine Yer f2&on, or Merit, 1n living like Monks and Hermits ; by thar Rule 7ohn the Baptist was to be preferred before Chris? : ) Bur Chrift could pleaſe rhe Phari- ſees and Lawyers, and their Followers, no more than 7ohn did. They couid not fay he was Melancholick cr Moroſe 3 bur they Blaſphemed him ro a higher degree, calling him a Glutton, and Drunkard, and a Friend of Publicanes and Sinners. A Godly Man, ler his Temper and Converfe be whar it will, pleaſerh none ; who hareth rhe Truth of the Gofpel , and the Power of Godlineſs, If he be Reſerved , then he 1s a Moroſe, Melancho- lick Man : It he be of a more tree and open Converſe, chen he is a Drunkard, or a Glutton; ſomething or other they muſt have to ſay againſt a Man, that will not run wich them to the ſame Exceſs of Kiot ;, tho” they lay to their Charge, things chat they know not. The Buſinels is, they hare che Power of Godlineſs in them. This Inſtance of theſe Men's thus treating 7chn the Byptist, and Chrit, 1s of mighty uſe to ſtrengthen choſe who meet with the very ſame things. | But Wiſdom » juſtified of her Children, ] There is a great Variety amongſt Interpreters, in 21ving the Senſe of theſe Words. Some thiak them ſpoken T[;4- nically,for the Phariſees went tor the Children of Wiſdom. Some think them ſpoken plainly, and think ic ſhould be Wijd-m is judged, or condemned of her Children : Bur tho' the word accord- ing ſiznitying to Faſtice, or do Zuſtice ro another, which ;uftify- inz, to che Merit or Demerit of the Perſon nay be, by 4140450 114t Or condemning ; upon which account ic was true here , that tiſdom was condemned of thoſe who pretended to be her Chil- dren, and the word is to uſed in other Authors; yer we have no ſuch uſage of it in Scripture. Not to reckon the various Senſes others put upon the Words, the plain Senſe or them ſeems co be this. Ir 1s a Proverbial Speech, fomerhing like thar, Ars nn habet inimicum preter ignorantem; Learning hath no Enemies, bur che Ignorant. I, who am the Wiſdom of God , am juſtified by y94 , who truly believe on me: You know I am no Glutron, no Wine-bibber, no Friend of Publicanes and Sinners. 2. Or, Grac? is juſtified of all that are partakers of it. Godly Men, that are Wiſe, will own the Grace of God in all Men, whether they be of 7ohn's Temper, or of mine, whether of more auſtere, or more pleaſanr Tempers. Or, 3. The wiſe Counſel of Got, making uſe of ſveral Inſtruments of ſeveral Tempers , t9 win theſs People unto his Goſpel, will be juſtified; thar is, acquirtcd, defended, praifed,adored of thoſe who belong unto Gol, and are acquainted v.irh his Wiſdom and Counſels. Luke ſaich, The People nultifixd God, chap. 7. 29, Some, by the Children of Wiſtm, underitand rhe Scribes and Phariſees themſelves, ( who choughr themſelves rhe Children of Wiſdom,) or the Generalicy of the Fes, who were condemned tn their own Conſciences, and could nor bur in Hearr juſtifie ChriF, cho' in their Speeches they condemned him. *Buc Chris never called them the Children of Wiſdom. Tis Interpre-
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tation tiercfore feemeth ſomerhing ſtrained, That which ſeems eth the moſt natural, is whar I betore hinred. Tho' thoſe that ptetend to be the Children of Wiſdom, thus ſpeak of Fobn , and of me ; yet thoſe who are truiy Wiſe will juſtifie me, and alſo the Counſels and Wiſdom of my Father in the Ule of all Means, tO brin them to receive the Glad-Tidings of Salvatio, brought to them borh by my more auſtere and reſerved Fore-runner and by my Self, who have choſen, tho' an holy and unblameable, yet a more free and ple.zſant Way of Converſe with them.
20 * Then began he to upbraid the cities, where- in moſt of his mighty works were done , becauſe
they repented not. 4