SCRIPTURE OBSERVATIONS. I. ORD, in the parable of the four sorts of was alone proved fruitful.* There the bad were more than the good: but amongst the servants two improved their talents,† or pounds, and only one' buried them. There the good were more than the bad. Again, amongst the ten virgins, five were wise and five foolish :§ there the good and bad were equal. I see that concerning the number of the saints in comparison to the reprobates, no certainty can be collected from these parables. Good reason, for it is not their principal purpose to meddle with that point. Grant that I may never rack a scripture simile beyond the true intent thereof, lest, instead of sucking milk, I squeeze blood out of it. II. LORD, thou didst intend from all eternity to make Christ the heir of all. No danger of disinheriting him, thy only son, and so well de *Matth. xiii. 8. + Matth. xxv. 18. serving. Yet thou sayest to him, Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance,* &c. This homage he must do for thy boon, to beg it. I see thy goodness delights to have thy favours sued for, expecting we should crave what thou intendest we should have; that so, though we cannot give a full price, we may take some pains for thy favours, and obtain them, though not for the merit, by the means of our petitions. III. LORD, I find that Ezekiel in his prophecies is styled ninety times, and more, by this appellation, Son of man; and surely not once oftener than there was need for. For he had more visions than any one (not to say than all) of the prophets of his time. It was necessary, therefore, that his mortal extraction should often be sounded in his ears, Son of man, lest his frequent conversing with visions might make him mistake himself to be some angel. Amongst other revelations it was therefore needful to reveal him to himself, Son of man, lest seeing many visions might have made him blind with spiritual pride. Lord, as thou increasest thy graces in me, and favours on me, so with them daily increase in my soul the monitors and remembrancers of my mortality. So shall my soul be kept in a good temper, and humble deportment towards thee. * Psalm ii. 8. L IV. ORD, I read how Jacob (then only accom : panied with his staff) vowed at Bethel, that if thou gavest him but bread and raiment, he would make that place thy house.* After his return, the condition on thy side was over-performed, but the obligation on his part wholly neglected for when thou hadst made his staff to swell, and to break into two bands, he, after his return, turned purchaser,† bought a field in Shalem, intending there to set up his rest. But thou art pleased to be his remembrancer in a new vision, and to spur him afresh, who tired in his promise. Arise, go to Bethel, and make there an altar, &c. Lord, if rich Jacob forgot what poor Jacob did promise, no wonder, if I be bountiful to offer thee in my affliction what I am niggardly to perform in my prosperity. But O! take not advantage of the forfeitures, but be pleased to demand payment once again. Pinch me into the remembrance of my promises, that so I may reinforce my old vows with new resolutions. L V. ORD, I read when our Saviour was examined in the high priest's hall, that Peter stood without, till John (being his spokesman to the Gen. xxviii. 20-22. † Gen. xxxiii. 19. maid that kept the door*) procured his admission in. John meant to let him out of the cold, and not to let him into a temptation; but his courtesy in intention proved a mischief in event, and the occasion of his denying his master. O let never my kindness concur in the remotest degree to the damage of my friend. May the chain which I sent him for an ornament never prove his fetters. But if I should be unhappy herein, I am sure thou wilt not punish my good will, but pity my ill success. VI. LORD, the apostle saith to the Corinthians, God will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able. But how comes he to contradict himself, by his own confession in his next epistle? where, speaking of his own sickness, he saith, We were pressed out of measure above strength. Perchance this will be expounded by propounding another riddle of the same apostle's : who, praising Abraham,§ saith, That against hope he believed in hope. That is, against carnal hope he believed in spiritual hope. So the same wedge will serve to cleave the former difficulty. Paul was pressed above his human, not above his heavenly strength. Grant, Lord, that I may not mangle and dismember thy word, but study it entirely, comparing one place with another. For * John, xviii. 16. + 1 Cor. x. 13. diamonds can only cut diamonds, and no such comments on the scripture as the scripture. VII. LORD, I observe that the vulgar translation reads the apostle's precept thus: Give diligence to make your calling and election sure by good works.* But in our English Testaments these words, by good works, are left out. It grieved me at the first to see our translation defective; but it offended me afterwards, to see the other redundant. For those words are not in the Greek, which is the original. And it is an ill work to put good works in, to the corruption of the scripture. Grant, Lord, that though we leave good works out in the text, we may take them in in our comment. In that exposition which our practice is to make on this precept in our lives and conversations. VIII. ORD, I find the genealogy of my Saviour+ strangely chequered with four remarkable changes in four immediate generations. 1. Roboam begat Abia; that is, a bad father begat a bad son. 2. Abia begat Asa; that is, a bad father a good son. * 2 Peter, i. 10. + Matth. i. 7, 8. |