His Difciples fhould learn Humility of him. 427 Luke XXII. 25. merly told you, but what you feem fo ready to Sect. 169. You (f) Have the Title of Benefactors.] It is indeed poffible, that our Lord may here refer to the Title of ausgelas, given to fome of the Ptolemies and Seleucide, or to the Ambiguity of the Hebrew Word 3, which (as Beza has obferved,) fignifies both Princes and Benefactors: But the general Senfe given in the Paraphrafe feems to me much more probable, especially on comparing it with the Syriac Verfion, where there is no fuch Ambiguity, tho' one would moft of all have expected it. (g) Who is eldest among you, &c.] As μ is here opposed to veleg, the youngest, I render it eldeft, as it is rendered Rom. ix. 12. See Gen. xxv. 23. 1 Sam. xvii. 14. Septuag. and compare Kings ii. 22. (b) Performing one of the loweft Offices &c.] This was fo to a Proverb. See 1 Sam. xxv. 41. and Grotius, in loc.Dr. Evans well obferves, (Chriftian Temper, vol. i. p. 81.) that our Lord chofe this kind Office, tho' not abfolutely neceffary in itself, more strongly to imprefs the Minds of his Difciples; and to fhew that they ought to regard, not only the neceffary Preservation, but the mutual Comfort of each other. Hhh 2 (i) 1 428 John XIII. 13, 14. He gave them an Example, that they should do as he had done. JOHN XIII. 13. Ye call me Mafter, and Lord: and ye fay well; for fo I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Mafter, have washed your Feet, ye alfo ought to wash one another's Feet. Sect. 169. You call me indeed your Teacher and Lord; and therein you fay well; for [fo] I am, and fuch Authority have I received of my Father. If therefore I, who am [your] Lord and Master, and whom you know to be a divinely inspired Teacher, have condefcended to fo mean an Office, and have thus washed your Feet, and in all other Instances have fhewn my Readiness in Love to ferve you; furely you also ought to wash one another's Feet, and fhould be ready to fubmit to all the humblest Offices of mutual Friendship. For I have in this Inftance given you an Example, that as I have an Example, that ye fhould done to you, you also should do on all 16 fions to one another (i). 15 17 proper OccaAnd to engage you to the like Humility, verily, verily I fay unto you, I fay unto you, as I have formerly faid, (Luke vi. 40. and Mat. x. 24. Vol. i. pag. 332, 465.) The Servant is not greater than his Lord, nor is the Messenger greater than be that fent him; it will therefore very ill become you, to difdain any Thing which I have not difdained. These are plain Inftructions, but remember they are capable of being improved to the noblest practical Purposes; and if indeed know thefe Things, and form a right Conception of them, you are happy if you practise them: For nothing will conduce more to your Honour and Comfort, than an obedient Regard to my Inftructions and Example, efpecially in all the Inftances of Humility and Condefcenfion; but if you neglect to act agreeably to them, your feeing them, and hearing them, will be worfe than in vain. you 15 For I have given you do as I have done to you. 16 Verily, verily I fay unto you, The Servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is fcnt, great er than he that sent him. 17 If ye know these Things, happy are ye if ye do them. 18.431 (i) I have given you an Example, &c.] Some have understood thefe Words, as ordaining this to be a continued Rite among Chriftians; and Barclay infifts in his Apology, (pag. 467,470.) that this Ceremony of Washing the Feet has as much to recommend it for a ftanding Ordinance of the Gofpel, as either Baptifm, or the Breaking of Bread. But tho' fome antiently conceived the Practice of it to be thus enjoined, (fee Dr. Cave's Primitive Chriftianity, book ii. chap. 14.) and the Moravian Churches ftill retain it: Yet as no fuch Rite as this has ever generally prevailed in the Chriftian World; and as in many Places and Circumftances it would be an Inconvenience, rather than a Kindness, to do it for our Friends; I cannot think these Words of our Lord, fo plainly capable of another Senfe, are to be interpreted with so much Strictnefs. See Itigii Differt. de Pedilavia, &c. Into what a Farce this is turned at Rome on fome Occafions, may be feen in the ReLigious Ceremonies of all Nations, Vol. i. dag. 417. 3 IMPROVE Reflections on CHRIST's washing his Difciples Feet. W IMPROVEMENT. 4.29 HAT a mournful Reflection is it, that corrupt Nature fhould Sect. 169. ftill prevail fo far, even in the Hearts of fuch pious Men, as the Apostles in the main were, that after fo long a Converfe with Christ, they should ftill be fo unlike him, and bring their eager Contentions Luke xxii. about Superiority, in a State of Temporal Grandeur they were never to 24. fee, into the laft Hours they spent with their Mafter, and even to one of the most holy and folemn Ordinances of Religion! Such are the vain Dreams of Ambition, and with fuch emyty Shadows does it amuse the deluded Mind." But let us turn our Eyes to him, whom we justly call our Teacher John xiii. and our Lord; for furely, if any Thing can effect a Cure, it must be 13, 14. Actions and Words like these. The great Heir of all Things, invested Ver. 3. with univerfal Dominion, and just returning to his Heavenly Father to undertake the Administration of it; in what a Habit, in what an Attitude, do we fee him! Whom would a Stranger have taken for Ver. 4, 5the lowest of the Company, but him who was High over all created Nature? Bleffed Jefus, it was not fo much any perfonal Attachment to these thy Servants, as a Regard to the Edification of thy whole Church, which engaged thee to this aftonishing Action; that all thy Minifters, Ver. 15. that all thy People, might learn from hence a Readiness to ferve each other in Love! But why are we fo flow to receive this Leffon? And why is our Practice often fo contrary to it? Surely to cleanfe us from thefe Dregs of Pride and Carnality, we need in afpiritual Senfe to be washed by Ver. 8. him. Let us gladly fubmit to that washing, if we defire to fecure any Part in him. Which of us in this View may not fee Reafon to cry out with Peter, Lord, not our Feet only, but alfo our Hands and our Ver. 9. Head? May our whole Nature be thus purified and warmly emu lous of conforming to fo bright an Example, may we ever be main- Ver. 10. taining a Watchfulness over our own Spirits; correcting the first Appearances of Irregularity, and washing away every lightest Stain, which our Feet may contract in this various Journey! So fhall we be great Luke xxii. in the Sight, and Favour of our Mafter; and numbering ourselves 26. among the least of his Servants, fhall be diftinguished by peculiar Honours, in Proportion to the Degree in which we think ourselves most unworthy of them. SECT. 430 Sect. 170. Luke XXII. 28. He commends his Difciples for their Faithfulness to him: CHRIST, while they are eating the Pafchal Lamb, declares TP LUKE XXII. 28. HEN Jefus went on, as he was eating the Paffover, to inftruct, admonish, and comfort his Difciples, by a Series of most wife and pious Difcourfe; and faid, Depend upon it, you will find that humble and benevolent Temper, which I have recommended to you, the Way to the highest Honours, if you have Patience to wait the proper Time: For as ye are they, who' have continued faithfully and affectionately with 29 me in all my Trials and Afflictions; So by a facred and inviolable Covenant I appoint unto you a Kingdom (a), and folemnly engage myself to bestow it upon you, even as my Father has appointed a Kingdom unto me, and is quickly about 30 to raise me to it. Now the exalted Honours, which I fhall there receive, are incomparably beyond those, about which you feem fo folicitous: Let me therefore awaken a nobler Ambition in you may ex your Minds, while I affure you, that pect (a) I appoint unto you a Kingdom.] It is well known, that the Word Sales proper ly fignifies to covenant, or to beftaw in virtue of a Covenant; and therefore the laft Claufe of this Verfe may probably refer to what Divines commonly call the Covenant of Redemption, to which there are fo many References in Scripture; and concerning the Reality of which we could have no Doubt, if the References were not fo exprefs; confidering, on the one hand, the great Importance of that Undertaking of our Lord's, to which it refers; and on the other, the plain Declarations of thofe Prophecies which his Spirit fuggefted, and the Confidence with which he has promised those Blessings, which as Mediator it impowers him to bestow. It is therefore astonishing, that any fhould treat it as the Creature of a Syftematic Brain. For the Engagements in it on Chrift's Part, fee Pfal. xl. 6,-9. Heb. x. 6,-9. Ifa. lxi. 1,-3. Luke iv. 18, 19. Ifa. 1. 5, 6. And for thofe on the Part of the Father, Lee Heb. x. 5. Isa. xi. 2, 3. l. 8, 9. lii. 13, 15. liii. 10,—12. lv. 4, 5. xlix. I,—IC. Luke ii. 31, 32. xxii. 29. 2 Cor. vi. 2. Rev. vii. 16, 17. (b) Judg and drink at my Table on Thrones, judging the in my Kingdom, and fit Twelve Tribes of Ifrael. Luke XXII. But intimates his Knowledge, that they were not all fo. 431 JOHN XIII. 18. I speak not of you all; I know whom I have chofen: but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth Bread with me, hath lift up his Heel againft me. your But when I speak in this Manner of final John XIII Honour and Happiness, I fpeak not of you all: 118. know the real Character, and all the most secret Views and Tranfactions of those whom I have chofen; and could long ago have fixed a Mark of Infamy on the Traitor, and have put it out of his Power to execute his wicked Purpose: But as I chofe him to be one of my Companions, I leave him to go on, that the Scripture may be fulfilled, which fays, (Pfal. xli. 9.) "He that eateth Bread "with me, and has been nourished by my Care "and Favour, bath lift up his Heel against me, "like an ungrateful Brute, that kicks at the kind "Mafter who feeds him (c)." Such Treatment David met with from those whom he trufted; and fuch I know, that I am to expect. And (b) Judging the Twelve Tribes of Ifrael.] The Interpretation given of this Promife here, (and before on Mat. xix. 28. Sect. 137. pag. 238, 239.) appears to me preferable to that which refers it, only, or chiefly, to the Power which the Apostles had in the Chriftian Church, as the authorized Embaffadors of Chrift.It by no means implies, that Paul and Barnabas, the Apostles of the Gentiles, fhall be excluded from the Honour of being Affeffors with Chrift in his Kingdom; (compare I Cor. vi. 2, 3. Rev. ii. 26, 27, iii. 21.) but feems plainly to allude to the Courts of Judicature among the Jews, where the inferior Judges fate in a Semicircle round the chief Judge, who had his Seat in the middle Point of it. Compare Rev. iv. 4. xxi. 14. (c) He that eateth Bread with me, &c.] When thefe Words are fo plainly to be found Pfal. xli. 9. it seems very unnatural with Mr. Jeffery (in his Review, pag. 187.) to imagine they refer to Pfal. Ív. 12, 13. because fomething like the Senfe of them occurs there. Nor is it neceffary with Mr. Pierce (Differt. iii.) to suppose a Trajection in these two Verses, and render them, I speak not of you all; I know whom I have chofen: But I tell you this before-hand, that when it shall come to pass, that the Scripture fhall be fulfilled, " Óne_that "eateth of my Bread, bath lift up his Heel against me," ye may believe that I am he. I rather think with Brennius, that it is an Accommodation; and that the Senfe and Connection. are to be explained accordingly, as in the Paraphrafe. (d) To 3 |