etewl\rd; he ie neither eelf-<ionetitoted nor unnece888ry, Re,ised Version, my lord appointed by those ovor whom he rnles. To ta.rrieth. He brings himself to believe that give them meat ( .,-~, .,-po,P~~. their food) in the day of reckoning is still distant, and due 1eaaon. It was the duty of auoh an that he will have plenty of time to prepare offioer to diapenae the regular allowanoe of his aooounts before the settlement is called dR.ily food to the members of the household, for. So meh put off the day of ropentanoe, So the stewards of the myet.eriee of ChM saying, "To-morrow, to-morrow," when they have to feed his 6.ock with spiritnal food, ought to feel that the present alone ~ with the Word and sacraments, and to do thia theirs in which to prepare for judgment. wisely and dieoreetly, aooording to the Ver. 49.-She.ll begin. As soon ae he ._pacity, adve.ncement., and oircumetancee conoeives the idea of the delay in his lord'• of eaoh reoipient. The exhortation holds arrival, he oba.nges his oondnot, plays the good for others as well as the clergy, civil master, and uses his power for oppression rulers, the rioh, all men. All our endow- and injustice. But he has only time to ments, mental, spiritu&l, physical, m&teria.l, oommence these unrighteous acts, when he are the gift of God, and &re to be 1lB0d in hia is arrested by the very occurrence which service and to the good of othera. he had wilfully ignored. To smite his Ver. 46.-Bleued is that servant. The fellow-servants; i.e. those who are faithful Lord had asked-Who is the faithful and to their master. Applied to Christian wise eervant? be virtually aW1wers-It is ministers, suoh condnot wonld appertain to the one whom hi.a lord when he cometh those who use their authority for oppres- shall find duly performing the dnties of his sion or self-&ggrandizement, "lording it over office. Snch a one be prononnoee "blessed;" the charge allotted to them" (1 Pet. v. 8). and what happier Jot can befall a man in And to eat ( i.,-6/p lil, and ahall eat) and drink a responsible poeition, than to be ta.ken with the drunken. He indulges in lnxury while diligently and rightly performing and intemperance, ohoosing as his com- his appointed work (see eh. xxv. 21)? panions men of dissolute habits. A self- Ver. 47.-B:e shall make him ruler over indulgent minister, or one who is not (1eci.,-IID'MJO"H h-l., with dative, denoting per- discreet in choosing his friends and ao- manency of oocupation; in ver. 45 it is qnaintance, has little influence in checking with genitive, as of temporary superin- the excesses of his 6.ock, and is far from tendence) all hiB goods ; aJJ, that he hath.. being, as he ought to be, "a pattern of good This is the rew&rd. He who before was 11et works " (Titns ii. 7). over only a sm&ll part of his lord's posses- Ver. 50.-Shall come, either aotnally by sions is now m&de snperintendent of all his his appearance, or virtnally by calling the property; for " he that is fe.ithfnl in that gnilty sonl to judgment. When he looketh which is least is faithfnl also in much " not for him ( o& Trpoulio1erj, ezpecteth not). (Luke xvi. 10). How we are to ta.ke this He has put away all thought of the sudden promise as applied to the rewe.rds of the advent of the Lord. The.t he is not a.we.re kingdom of heaven, we know not yet. of (ou -yw,fi.,-,ce,, he kno1.0eth not). The awful • Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hour was utterly unknown: but this has bath it entered into the heart of man to not made him watchfnl ; hence he becomes conceive, what God bath prepared for them unfaithful that love him" (1 Cor. ii. !:I). There a.re Ver. 51.-Shall out him aannder (81xo- similar mysterions statements elsewhere; .,..,.-1,.,.u). This mode of death was inflicted e.g. eh. xix. 28; Rom. viii. 32; Bev. iL 26; in some cases (see 1 Sam. xv. 83; 2 Sam. iii. 21. This may be one of those passages xii.. 31: Dan. iii. 29; Heb. xi. 87; compare in which we are not meant to press or also the account of the execution of Mettius understand e.l.J. the details of the parable. in Livy, i. 28; and Horace, 'Sat.,' L i. 99). Ver. 48.-But and il (Jcl.v li,). "And" Thus in our own conntry " qnartering," is a remnant of an old nee of the word, after hanging at least, was once a usual meaning "if," so that it is here rednndant, penalty for some offences, such as high and the transle.tion should be simply, but treason. The term has been here inter- if; Iii autem. That evil &ervant (6 """os preted to refer to the operation of the crnel lioiil-..os i1<ii11os) is in e. sense the same e.s he scourge, which without metaphor might be who, in ver. 45, we.a regarded as faithful and said to out a man to pieces; or "to dismiss prnde11t. The opposite C&Be is here put; from his employment," which seems to be he is snppo88d to be wicked and untrnst- hardly an adequate punishment. The worthy ; be no longer is al ways watching difficulty is that the utter destruction of for his lord's coming and endeavolll'ing to the malefactor implied in his literal outting be always ready, because he knows that he asunder is not consistent with his sub- m&y at any moment be called to e.coount. sequent comignment to the lot of th;e My lord dela.yeth [his ooming]. B, N, and hypocrites. Hence the Father~ h~ve van- other good manuscripts omit h,6ii11 as ously ex»Iained the term to s1gmfy sepa,. OH, xuv. 1-51,] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. ~S
ration from the company of saints, or from drops the parable, and speaks of the spiritual gmce, or from nll the blessings terrible reality. The hypocrites are the promised to the righteous, But we may faithless and deceitfnl, who, while pretend- take the Lord's words 11s applying first ing to do their lord's work, are mere eye-- to temporal punishment-the nnrighteons servants, and really neglect and injnre it. stewnrd shall suffer death as horrible as The remissful steward shares their pnnieh- dichotomy, a severance of body and soul, ment in the other world. There ( l,c,,) shall acoompanied with nnspeaknble tortnres; as be, etc.; I.e. in the plaoe where the hypo- in the History of Susanna, ver. 55, "The crites receive their pnniahment (eh. viii. angel of God bath received the sentence of 12; xxii 13 ; xxv. 30). The expresaion God to out thee in two," Appoint him his signifies mee.snrel8SII grief end despair. portion with the hypoorite1. The Lord