The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 270

a,J,t, d ago.in the words of M11tt. x. 28, "Fear 11t the Anme time should preserve their mnnly not them whioh kill the body," eto. independence. The be.re austere ruetennnr,e, Ver. 4.-Carry neither pune, nor 1orip, the simple lodging,-the,e things they hBd nor shoe■. Thoy were to burden themeel vee surely ee.med. Bnt in addition to this with no useless baggage, nor were they to be meaning, true and appropriRte though it be, cnreful for waye e.nd meana of livelihood. there seems e. quiet recommendation not to Dean Plumptre very benutifully wrilee, on be rigid in it quiring BB to tho cle11nness or the similar words reported in Mo.tt. x. I O, uncleanness of the vi11nds. One very able "Experience (and, we mo.y add, the spirit commentator (Godet) remarks the.t of this tho.t teaches by experience) has led the there is no question, for we are yet in a Christiun Church at large to look on these Jewish world. But remembering only in oomm1mds as binding only during the the la.et chapter a mission w11n speciRl\y sent mission on which the twelve were actuo.lly to e. Samaritan village, snch an assertion can sent. It is impossible not to admire the scarcely be maintained. It seems probable noble enthusiaem of poverty which showed that extreme rigidness in this particular, itself in the literal adoption of such rules by now the.t mission work on a broad scale had the followers of Francis of Assisi, and, to commenced, here began to be relaxed ; and some extent, by those of Wickliffe; but the that in this charge of Jesus we have, 11t history of the mendicant orders and other least, the basis of that yet broader command- like fratemitie~ Corms part of the.t teaching ment set out by St. Paul in I Cor. x. 27. of history which has led men to feel that in Ver. 9.-And heal the sick the.tare therein. the long-run the beggar's life will bring the These were strangely great powers to confer beggar's vices. Yet here, as in the case of upon poor weak men-men, too, only in the the precepts of the sermon on the mount, very dawn of faith-and their naive rurprise the spirit is binding still, though the letter e.nd joy (see ver. 17) show how little they hBB passed a.way. The mission work of she believed in '1ieir possce.eion of such powers, Church hae ever prospered in proportion as even after their Master's words announcing 'that spirit has pervaded it." And -.Blute no to them the gift.. But this prodigality of man by the way. This especially refers to miraculous energy was needful then. The the length e.nd tediousne&S of Eastern BBluta- first beginning of so stupendous e. work as tions, often very unreal, and which would laying securely the ground stories of Chris- consume much valuable time. Men were to tianity-what Ronan, with all hie enmity to see that one absorbing interest possessed revealed religion, calls "l'evenement capital them, and that to them was no time given de l'hietoire du monde" - required this for the ordinary useless amenities of life. special a.id from another sphere. Ver. 5.-Peaoe be to this house. 'l.'hc Ver. 12.-But I 11&y unto you, the.t it Bhall original of the words used in the Church of be more tolerable in the.t day for Sodom, Engl,\nd Office for the Visitation of the Sick. the.n for that city. Such a rejection im- Ver. 6.-The aon of peaoe. An Aramaic plied that they would hn ve nothing to do (Hcbrl'W) expression. Altho,,gh the lan- with the Me.star of these preachers, the piti- guage here ie pure and fairly classical Greek, ful, loving, Ge.lilman Teacher. These were yet the presence of such expressions as this dRys of poHBible mighty blessings, of pro- shows the.t the basis of this part of St. portional terrible punishments. The woe Luke's narrative wo.s probably an AramLLio of Sodom, the.t well-known swift destruc- document. tion, most probably through sudden volcanic Ver. 7.-And in the same houe reme.in. agency, was tolerable in comparison with . , . Go not from house to house. Similar the far more e.wful doom reserved in the instructions were given in the case of the immediate future, at the hands of Rome, sending out the twelve as missionaries. One for these guilty cities of Pulestine (see a house e.nd family were to be selected as the further note on this on ver. 15 ). centre of their work (seo note t-n oh. ix. 4). Ver. 13.-Woe unto thee, Choruin ! woe Eating and drinking suoh thing■ e.s they unto thee, Bethsaide. ! for if the mighty give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. works had been done in Tyre e.nd Sidon, Ver. 8.-Eat suoh things aa e.re set before whioh have been done in you, they had a you. Most commentators have simply seen great while e.go repented, Bitting in aa.ok- in this ~l.ungo (1) e.n instruction to bo con- oloth e.nd e.shea. In St. Matthew'• Gospel tent with wbe.tever their host should set (xi. 20), where the woe of the fair lake- before them, avoiding even the nppearance cities is announ(l('d in similar le.ngue.ge, the of caring or wi.~hing for dainties; (2) that ••woe" is introduced with the words," Then his eervi.11ts should look upon such main- bege.n he to upbraid the cities wherein moat tenance in the light of 11 fairly earned wage, of his mighty works were done." Now, we ri.ther than as an nlms bestowed upon a have no record of ..ny miraoles ho.ving been beggar. In other word1, his servant~, while worked at Chorazin, the first mentioned. (l6tfcctly cont1•nt with tlio most frugal fare, llut fueae cities were in the imnieuitLte  2i2 TIIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [on. x. 1--42.