prejudices of the Jewish converts to this part of the Messiah’s
character. For, though the prophets had given frequent, and sometimes
the most clear, descriptions of it: yet, so possessed were they with the
notion of their _being_, and of their _continuing_ to be, even under the
dispensation of their Messiah, a chosen and peculiar people, that they
never could hear (no, not the Apostles themselves, till enlightened by
the holy Spirit, and by a special revelation for that purpose; they could
never hear, I say) without the utmost indignation, _That God had opened
the door of faith to the Gentiles_[337]. This indirect information was
then in condescension to the weakness of his own disciples and followers.
And of this tenderness to their infirmities we have a remarkable instance
in the case of the _fig-tree_, so often mentioned; the drift of which
was unquestionably to denote the approaching _rejection of the Jews_, for
their unfruitfulness under the means of grace, and their rejection of
the Messiah. But, the minds of the disciples being too infirm, at this
time, to bear the open communication of so mortifying a truth, Jesus
purposely diverts them from the main purpose of that miracle (though
it was wrought, and the _sign_ given, for their future information and
recollection) and turns their attention on another and very remote
circumstance, _the efficacy of faith_ to enable them to work this and
greater miracles[338]. But it was a _general_ rule with our Lord to
consult the infirmities of his disciples, and to communicate to them only
so much of his purposes and councils, as they could bear; leaving the
rest to be collected by them, in due time, from casual hints and obscure
passages, when they should afterwards call them to mind, and be in a
condition, under the influence of the holy Spirit, to profit by them.
Thus, in John xvi. 12. _I have yet many things to say to you, but_ YE
CANNOT BEAR THEM NOW: and then refers them to the spirit of truth, for
further information.
Connected with this tenderness for his disciples,
2. A _further_ reason, without doubt, was a prudential regard to the
general _success_ of his ministry, with the rest of the Jews.
For that great event, the call of the Gentiles, was not to take place
during the life of Jesus; _who was sent only to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel_[339]; that is, he was _personally_ to address himself
only to THEM; the conversion of the Heathen being to be effected, after
his ascension, by the ministry of his Apostles and followers. Hence, had
our Saviour plainly unfolded this secret to the Jews, he would certainly
have indisposed them for paying any regard to his mission. And yet, so
important a part of his character was not to be wholly concealed. It was
therefore signified in this covert way; and (being itself a prophecy of
something yet to be deferred) in the mode, and with the usual obscurity,
of a prophetic information.
What I have just now observed of the caution with which our Lord revealed
his purpose of calling the Gentiles, explains the reason why St. John’s
account of the _first_ transaction in the temple, differs so much from
that which the other Evangelists give of the _second_. Jesus had just
entered on his prophetic office, when he used the _sign_ of purging
the temple, of which St. John speaks: he therefore leaves the Jews to
their own interpretation of that sign, saying only, _Take these things
hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandize_; as though
a zeal for that house had been his sole inducement to make use of it:
and accordingly the disciples, as I before observed, so understood
him. But, when he thought fit to employ this _significative action_ a
second time, of which the other Evangelists only speak, his ministry
was then drawing to a conclusion. So that he is now less scrupulous of
giving offence, and does all but directly interpret the sign himself, by
referring his hearers to the prophecy of Isaiah, which was the proper
key to it—_He taught them, saying, Is it not written, My house shall be
called the house of prayer for all the nations_[340]? Still, there was
some obscurity, which he did not think fit altogether to remove: but he
had said enough to correct their former hasty conclusion. For we are
not told by those other Evangelists, as we are by St. John, that the
disciples considered what they had seen their Master do, as a pure act
of _zeal_ for the honour of the temple: the prophecy, without doubt,
suggested something to their minds, which led them to apprehend a farther
and higher purpose in that transaction.
3. Lastly, we may suppose, that the information was given in this
_symbolic way_, that, when men saw the event, they might be the more
strongly convinced of its being Christ’s intention it should come to
pass, by calling to mind the sensible and striking manner, in which it
had been predicted by him.
For these, or other reasons, the method here employed by Christ to
signify his intended favour to the Gentiles, might be most proper. In the
mean time, as I said, this intention was not wholly to be concealed: for
then the call of the Gentiles might be deemed an afterthought, and not to
have been originally in his commission. Accordingly, it is intimated very
frequently in our Lord’s discourses to the Jews, and opened more clearly
on many occasions to his Apostles; and was, in truth, so much in his
view, and so constantly present to him, that, as we now find, it was one
of the _first_, and _last_ things he did, to go into the temple, and, by
an expressive sign, to declare his gracious purpose towards the Heathen.
We may, further, observe (so intent was The Divine Providence on
gradually unveiling _the glory of this mystery_[341], as St. Paul terms
it) that the moment our blessed Lord expired on the cross, _the veil of
the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom_: a _sign_, to
some purpose, of that great event which Jesus had foretold, and which God
himself held forth to the astonished Jews, as the clearest emblem of his
purposed favour to the Gentiles; when the Sanctuary itself, as well as
the outermost court of their temple, was thus laid open to the access,
and vindicated to the use, of all nations.
_Finally_, in due time, this purpose was clearly and explicitly made
known to Peter, in his famous vision: and thus it pleased God to
reveal this adorable mystery, “The salvation of the Gentile world,”
(which, though not the _immediate_, was the most important end of
Christ’s commission) by every mode of communication, which he had ever
employed in his intercourse with mankind; by the _word of prophecy_—by
_similitudes_, _by the hand of Jesus_—by an _extraordinary sign from
heaven_—and by _Vision_.
After so minute a commentary on this famous act of _Christ’s driving the
buyers and sellers out of the temple_, may I be permitted to conclude,
that it, now, stands clear of those difficulties, which have been usually
found it?—It was no indecent start of zeal in our Lord: it was no violent
invasion of the rights of any: it was no act of civil authority, usurped
by him: but a _prophetic information_, conveyed in a _prophetic form_,
of an event, the most important to mankind, and to the accomplishment of
his own office and ministry. It was a calm, rational, inoffensive act;
not unworthy the person of our blessed Lord; or, rather, full of that
wisdom, which adorned his character, and shone out in all his conduct and
conversation.
THE END OF THE SEVENTH VOLUME.
Printed by J. Nichols and Son, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The substance of this Discourse was delivered in a Sermon at
Lincoln’s-Inn, May 15, 1768.
[2] Annal. xii. c. 54. Hist. v. c. 9.
[3] Antiq. Jud. L. xx. c. 5.
[4] Acts xvi. 30.
[5] Heb. iii. 13.
[6] Gen. ii. 17.
[7] Ephes. iii. 11.
[8] 1 Pet. i. 3.
[9] Matth. xx. 28.
[10] 1 Cor. vi. 20.
[11] Heb. ix. 26.
[12] 1 John ii. 2.
[13] 1 Thess. v. 10.
[14] 1 Pet. ii. 24.
[15] 1 Pet. iii. 18.
[16] Heb. ii. 9.
[17] Eph. v. 2.
[18] Rom. v. 9.
[19] 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. 1 Cor. vi. 20.
[20] 1 Cor. xv. 22.
[21] Rev. xiii. 8.
[22] 1 Tim. iv. 10.
[23] 1 Cor. xv. 41.
[24] Matth. xxv. 46.
[25] Phil. ii. 11.
[26] John xv. 15.
[27] John xv. 13.
[28] Matth. xxiii. 8.
[29] Rev. v. 9. 1 Tim. ii. 5.
[30] Acts x. 42.
[31] John iii. 18.
[32] John xx. 28.
[33] John v. 23.
[34] Rom. vi. 22, 23.
[35] 2 Tim. i. 9.
[36] 1 Cor. xv. 22.
[37] Gal. ii. 21.
[38] Heb. xii. 14.
[39] Heb. v. 9.
[40] Eph. iv. 22.
[41] Tit. iii. 5.
[42] Tit. iii. 7.
[43] Eph. iv. 24.
[44] John xvi. 13.
[45] John xvi. 13.
[46] Thess. ii. 13.
[47] Acts ix. 31.
[48] Matth. x. 20.
[49] Gal. iv. 6.
[50] 2 Cor. iii. 17.
[51] Eph. i. 14.
[52] Ps. lxxxiv. 7.
[53] Gen. vi. 3. Rom. viii. 16.
[54] Phil. ii. 13.
[55] 1 Cor. ii. 14.
[56] Athanasian creed.
[57] So the word πρόγνωσιν means in this place; as it likewise does in
Acts ii. 23. where the sense of it is clearly explained and defined
by the words, τῇ ὡρισμένῃ βουλῇ, which introduce it. The participle
προεγνωσμένου has the same sense in 1 Pet. i. 20.
[58] Ch. v. 1. v. 18. And vi. 16, 18.
[59] Heb. v. 9.
[60] See Sermon XXVI. in the preceding volume, p. 378.
[61] 2 Cor. vi. 16. 1 Cor. iii. 16.
[62] ἡ δὲ ἐλπὶς οὐ καταισχύνει. Rom. v. 5.
[63] For which reason it is not necessary for me to enter into the
controversy, that divides the critics, concerning the authentic reading
of this part of the text.
[64] 2 Pet. i. 21.
[65] Matth. i. 18.
[66] Matth. iii. 16.
[67] Matth. iv. i.
[68] Matth. xii. 28.
[69] Rom. i. 4. 1 Pet. iii. 18.
[70] Acts ii. 4.
[71] 1 Cor. xii. 11.
[72] 1 Cor. vi. 11. John xv. 26.
[73] Heb. xii. 22.
[74] 1 Pet. i. 10, 11, 12.
[75] Heb. i. 6.
[76] Luke ii. 13.
[77] Matth. iv. 11.
[78] Luke xxii. 43.
[79] Matth. xxviii, 3. Luke xxiv. 4. ἐν ἐσθήσεσιν ἀστραπτούσαις.
[80] Acts i. 10.
[81] Heb. i. 3.
[82] Milton.
[83] Rom. xvi. 25.
[84] 1 Tim. iv. 10.
[85] Acts xi. 18. ἡσύχασαν.
[86] Acts v. 14.
[87] Luke xvi. 16.
[88] Matth. xi. 12.
[89] Ps. xix. 4. Matth. xxiv. 14.
[90] Acts xix. 20.
[91] Acts ii. 24.
[92] 1 Cor. xv. 28.
[93] 1 Tim. iv. 6. ἐντρεφόμενος τοῖς λόγοις τῆς πίστεως, καὶ τῆς καλῆς
διδασκαλίας.
[94] “What this or that philosopher delivered, was but a saying of his.
Mankind might hearken to it, or reject it, as they pleased; or, as it
suited their interest, passions, principles, or humours. They were under
no obligation; the opinion of this, or that philosopher, was of no
authority.” LOCKE, V. II. p. 578. fol. Lond. 1759.
[95] The Stoics. Ὁ σοφὸς—μόνος εἰδὼς εὔξασθαι. See Casaub. ad Sat. 11.
Persii.
[96] Plato. Alcib. 11.
[97] The Epicureans of old and modern times.
[98]
—incoctum generoso pectus honesto.
PERSIUS.
[99] Luke xvii. 4.
[100] See this argument urged by Mr. Locke, V. II. p. 574. fol. Lond.
1759.
[101] John iii. 19.
[102] Ibid. 20, 21.
[103] John iii. 18.
[104] Ferte fortiter: hoc est, _quo Deum antecedatis_: Ille extra
patientiam malorum est, vos supra patientiam. _Sen. de Prov._ c. vi.
[105] _Cic. Nat. Deor._ iii. 36.
[106] Lord Shaftesbury, and others.
[107] Acts xvii. 31.
[108] Heb. ii. 3.
[109] Mark xvi. 20.
[110] Job xxii. 2.
[111] Hence the name of Theophrastus, or _the divine speaker_, given to
the favourite scholar and successor of Aristotle; And hence the stories
told of Plato, whose eloquence Quintilian so much admired, that he
thought it more than human—_Ut mihi, non hominis ingenio, sed quodam
Delphico videatur oraculo instinctus_. Quintil. l. x. c. 1.—Hence too,
the name of _Chrysostom_, given to the famous Greek Father.
[112] Heb. i. 2.
[113] Phil. ii. 7.
[114] John v. 26.
[115] 1 Cor. i. 30.
[116] Mark i. 22.
[117] John iii. 11.
[118] John xii. 50.
[119] John vi. 40.
[120] Rev. ii. 10.
[121] John v. 26.
[122] John viii. 28.
[123] John xvi. 15.
[124] John x. 30.
[125] _Non imitabile fulmen._ Virg.
[126] Luke ii. 47.
[127] Luke xx. 26.
[128] Luke xx. 40.
[129] See LOCKE’S _Works_, vol. II. fol. p. 545-7. Lond. 1759.
[130] LOCKE’S _Works_, vol. II. fol. p. 543. Lond. 1759.
[131] Every one may observe a good many truths, which he receives at
first from others, and readily assents to, as consonant to Reason, which
he would have found it hard, and perhaps beyond his strength, to have
discovered himself. Native and original truth is not so easily wrought
out of the mine, as we, who have it delivered, ready dug and fashioned
into our hands, are apt to imagine. And how often, &c. LOCKE’S _Works_,
Vol. II. fol. p. 577 and 579. _Lond._ 1759.
[132] Luke v. 22. vi. 8. xi. 17.
[133] Luke vi. 11.
[134] Luke ix. 47.
[135] Luke xxii. 61.
[136] Matthew xxvii. xiv. and xxiv.
[137] John xviii. 4-6.
[138] Luke vii. 40. ix. 47.
[139] Prov. xxi. 1.
[140] Luke xi. 27, 28.
[141] See John ix. 39.
[142] Matth. x. 26, 27.
[143] See D. L. Vol. V. p. 339, &c. Lond. 1765.
[144] D. L. Vol. V. p. 341. n.
[145] See more on this subject in Dr. Warburton’s Sermons, Vol. I. p. 325.
[146] Luke xxiv. 45.
[147] Luke xxiv. 27.
[148] John xvi. 12. Mark iv. 33, 34.
[149] John xi. 47.
[150] Luke iv. 43.
[151] Luke iv. 29.
[152] Matt. x. 23.
[153] Mark vi. 5.
[154] Matth. vii. 6.
[155] Matth. xxvi. 56.
[156] St. Paul. 1 Cor. xv. 9.
[157] St. Peter. Mark xiv. 71.
[158] Luke xxii. 51.
[159] Luke ix. 54.
[160] Luke ix. 46.
[161] See the Essais of _Montaigne_.
[162] Pensées de M. Pascal, c. xvi. § 3.
[163] Acts xxii. 15. and xxvi. 22.
[164] Matthew v. 3.
[165] Compare, _Luke_ vii. 21, 22.
[166] Matthew xv. 6.
[167] Matt. xi. 25.
[168] Luke xviii. 9.
[169] ὄχλος, _the mob_. John vii. 49.
[170] Eph. ii. 12.
[171] Matth. xxii. 15.
[172] Matth. xii. 37.
[173] Luke xix. 48.
[174] John vii. 46.
[175] Matth. vii. 28.
[176] Matth. xii. 23.
[177] Matth. ix. 33.
[178] Matth. ix. 8.
[179] St. James ii. 6, 7.
[180] 1 Cor. i. 26.
[181] ἐσκυλμένοι—_vexati_.
[182] ἐῤῥιμένοι—_projecti_.
[183] Matth. ix. 36.
[184] Matth. xi. 28, 29.
[185] 1 Cor. i. 27-9.
[186] Isaiah lix. 8.
[187] ψεύστης—ἀνθρωποκτόνος—John viii. 44.
[188] Matth. v. 11, 12.
[189] John xiii. 1.
[190] Matth. x. 32, 3. and 38, 9. Luke xiv. 26. 1 John iii. 16.
[191] John xvi. 2, 33.
[192] Matth. vii. 12.
[193] Luke xix. 41. John xi. 35.
[194] ἡ ἐλπὶς τῆς δόξης·—Col. i. 27.
[195] εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν ἀληθείαν.
[196] Rom. i. 21.
[197] Tim. ii. 14 and 16.
[198] Coloss. ii. 18.
[199] 2 Tim. ii. 18.
[200] Rom. xv. 13.
[201] _Divine prescience_, _absolute decrees_, &c.
[202] Bacon, Boyle, Locke, Newton.
[203] Barrow, Clarke, Butler, Warburton, &c.
[204] “It hath been the common disease of Christians from the beginning,
not to content themselves with that measure of faith, which God and the
Scriptures have expressly afforded us: but out of a vain desire to know
more than is revealed, they have attempted to discuss things, of which we
can have no light, neither from reason nor revelation.” J. HALES _Works_,
Vol. I. p. 125. _Glasg._ 1765.
[205] Matth. xiii. 57.
[206] John i. 46.
[207] John vii. 52.
[208] Acts iv. 13. See Whitby on the place.
[209] John vii. 48.
[210] Matth. ix. 11.
[211] Matth. xv. 2.
[212] Luke xxiv. 21.
[213] Acts XIX.
[214] Acts xvii.
[215] Celsus, Porphyry, Julian.
[216] In his famous book, _De Civitate Dei_.
[217] Acts vi. 8.
[218] John xii. 31.
[219] Ephes. ii. 2.
[220] 2 Cor. iv. 4.
[221] James ii. 19.
[222] Gen. iii. 14, 15.
[223] Matth. xxv. 41.
[224] Eph. ii. 2.
[225] James iv. 7.
[226] Matth. xvii. 21.
[227] 1 Pet. v. 9.
[228] John xii. 31.
[229] Luke x. 18.
[230] Job i. 12.
[231] Matth. viii. 21.
[232] Luke ix. 1. and x. 17.
[233] Luke x. 18.
[234] John xiii. 2.
[235] ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ· Matth. vi. 13.
[236] 1 John iv. 4.
[237] 1 Cor. x. 13.
[238] Heb. ii. 14.
[239] St. John iii. 8.
[240] Rom. viii. 26.
[241] Eph. xiv. 16.
[242] Eph. xi. 2.
[243] 1 Peter v. 8.
[244] τοῦ πονηροῦ· Eph. vi. 16.
[245] Eccles. i. 17. and vii. 25.
[246] SIGNA, TABULAS PICTAS, VASA CÆLATA MIRARI—reckoned, by the
philosophical historian, among the prognosticks of falling Rome.
[247] Homo, res sacra. Seneca.
[248] Neque enim ita generati à naturâ sumus, ut ad ludum et jocum facti
esse videamur; sed ad severitatem potiùs, et ad quædam studia graviora
atque majora.
Cic. Off. L. i. 29.
[249] Fastidio illis esse cœpit vita, et ipse mundus; et subit illud
rabidarum deliciarum, QUOUSQUE EADEM? Seneca, de tranq. anim. c. xi.
[250] SAPIENS, SIBIQUE IMPERIOSUS—are convertible terms in the moral poet.
[251] Val. Max. IV. 3.
[252] 1 Cor. ix. 25.
[253] Ludo—uti quidem licet; sed, sicut somno et quietibus cæteris, tùm
cùm gravibus seriisque rebus satisfecerimus.
Cic. Off. L. i. 29.
[254] Exod. xxi. 24.
[255] John xviii. 22, 23.
[256] χιτῶνα.
[257] ἀγγαρεύσει. See Grotius on the place.
[258] Luke xii. 57.
[259] Acts xvi. 37. xxv. 11.
[260] Matth, v. 11. x. 23. xxvi. 52. From the two last passages we learn,
that the Jewish persecutors of Christ and his disciples were reserved for
a _special_ vengeance of Heaven; to be inflicted upon them in no long
time, and here predicted, as it seems, to let the disciples know why, in
this case, _resistance_ was forbidden, God having taken the matter into
his own hands.
[261] The accomplishment of prophecy is given by Jesus himself as
one reason, why he forbad resistance to the Jews—_how then shall the
Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be_, i. e. that the violence
of the Jews should prevail? Matth. xxvi. 54.
[262] Prov. xiii. 10.
[263] Ch. viii. 38.
[264] Mark xvi. 16.
[265] St. John xii. 48.
[266] John iv. 17.
[267] John iii. 20.
[268] John xi. 47. Acts iv. 16.
[269] Mark vi. 3.
[270] John vii. 41. i. 46.
[271] John vii. 48.
[272] John xii. 42.
[273] John xii. 43.
[274] 1 Cor. i. 23.
[275] Luke viii. 13.
[276] Mark x. 17, 23.
[277] Jer. xvii. 9.
[278] Public Baptism, disused.
[279] The Lord’s Supper, neglected.
[280] Family Prayer, omitted.
[281] 2 Tim. i. 8.
[282] 1 John ii. 28.
[283] See Bp. Warburton’s DOCTRINE OF GRACE, Ch. ix.
[284] 1 John iv. 2.
[285] 2 Tim. ii. 18.
[286] 1 Peter ii. 23.
[287] Gen. xvii. 5.
[288] Gen. xxxii. 28.
[289] Ἅδης, or _death_ [see Grotius in loc.] is here personized: and,
the gates of cities, being anciently the places of counsel and judgment,
as well as their chief defence and strength, hence the _gates of death_
are the power and policy, which this person should employ to accomplish
his ends: which is, in other words, to say, that those ends, or
_destruction_, should by no means be effected.
[290] Acts ii. 14.
[291] Acts x. and xv. 7.
[292] An ancient apologist for Christianity seems to think, that, if
a sect of philosophy had been persecuted, as Christianity was, it
would presently have vanished out of the world. His words are—τὴν μὲν
φιλοσοφίαν τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν ἐὰν ὁ τυχὼν ἄρχων κωλύσῃ, οἴχεται παραχρῆμα·
[Clemens Alexandr. Strom. L. vi. p. 827. Oxon. 1715.] Perhaps, the
learned father was mistaken. But a religion, founded on facts, not on
opinions, and persecuted from the beginning, could not have supported
itself, if those facts had been false. This is the case of Christianity.
The subsequent persecutions, when the truth of Christianity was admitted
on the credit of the first martyrs, might tend to advance this religion,
even though it had been originally an imposture. The difference of the
two cases is palpable. The Apostles shewed, by their sufferings, that
they _knew_ what they attested to be a true fact: Succeeding sufferers
shewed, that they _believed_ it to be so.
[293] 1 Peter i. 11.
[294] Of Persecution. John xvi. 2.
Of Heresies. Acts xx. 30. 1 Cor. x. 19.
Of Mahomet’s impiety, ix. 1-12. See Mede.
Of the great Apostasy. 2 Thess. ii. &c.
Of these, and other woes still to come. The Revelation, _passim_.
[295] 1 Peter i. 25.
[296] Matth. vii. 24, 25.
[297] Acts xxvi. 26.
[298] Τοσοῦτός ἐστι τῶν ὑπ’ αὐτῶν γεγραμμένων ὁ γέλως, ὥστε ἀφανισθῆναι
καὶ τὰ βιβλία πάλαι, καὶ ἅμα τῷ δειχθῆναι, καὶ ἀπολέσθαι τὰ πολλά. Εἰ δέ
που τὶ καὶ εὑρεθείη διασωθὲν, παρὰ Χριστιανοῖς τοῦτο σωζόμενον εὕροι τις
ἄν. Tom. II. p. 539. Ed. Bened.
[299] “The Christian religion,” says the finest of our English writers,
whom I need not therefore stay to name, “made its way through paganism
with an amazing progress and activity. Its victories were the victories
of reason, unassisted by the force of human power, and as gentle as the
triumphs of light over darkness.”
[300] This effect of inquiry upon the Gentile religions was foreseen
by men of sense—_Non sunt ista_ [the traditionary tales of the heathen
Gods] _vulgo disputanda, ne susceptas publicè religiones disputatio talis
extinguat_. Cic. Frag. Olivet. T. III. p. 586.
[301] The substance of this Discourse was delivered in a Sermon at
Lincoln’s-Inn, May 15, 1768.
[302] Luke xii. 14.
[303] L. iv. c. 5.
[304] And to the same purpose, our excellent Archbishop Tillotson—“His
[Christ’s] whipping of the buyers and sellers out of the temple, the only
action of his life in which there appears any transport of anger, was no
other than a BECOMING ZEAL for the honour of God’s house, which he saw
so notoriously prophaned; which zeal was WARRANTED, after the example of
Phinehas, by the extraordinary occasion of it.” Works, vol. iii. § 136.
p. 222.
[305] _Numbers_, ch. xxv.
[306] JOSEPHUS, _De Bello Judaico_, l. iv. c. 12.
[307] Certè, quamquam Servator humani generis et Deus et Rex erat,
adeoque ita universi, nedum Judæorum, dominus, ut quicquid ei placeret
illud non licitum fuisse nefas sit putare; attamen, cum cæteras res
omnes etiam et seipsum receptis atque stabilitis reipublicæ formulis
judiciariis, qua Ebraicæ eæ essent, qua Romanæ, permiserit, atque
absolutissimum justitiæ exemplar ab omni vi illicitâ, veluti privatus,
abstinere voluerit; quin et tanta ei imminuerit invidia, ut nihil magis
incidentium in votis esset, quam ut cujuscunque delicti reum eum peragere
potuissent; haud rationi sane ita consonum videtur existimare ejectionem
illam factam seu vim illatam ab eo fuisse sine agnitâ, etiam ab ipsis qui
tam malignè ei invidebant, lege seu more, quo in id genus homines templi
sanctitatem ita polluentes incurrere licuerit, atque vi ejicere. L. iv.
c. 5. p. 464.
[308] Mr. Smith’s Discourses, _Disc._ vi. ch. vi. Bishop Chandler,
_Def. of Christianity_, ch. iii. § 1. and, very lately, the Bishop of
Gloucester, _Div. Leg._ b. iv. § 4.
[309] 1 Kings xxii. 11.
[310] Jeremiah xix.
[311] Hosea xii. 10.
[312] Matth. iii. 4.
[313] Mark xi. 7.
[314] Matth. x. 14.
[315] Luke v. 6.
[316] Mark xi. 14
[317] Matthew viii. 32.
[318] Matthew xxvii. 24.
[319] Isaiah xlii. 1, 6.
[320] Ibid. ver. 7.
[321] Isaiah lx. 10.
[322] Chap. xliii. 8.
[323] Rom. xi. 12.
[324] Mark xi. 14.
[325] Mark xi. 15-20.
[326] Mark xii. Luke xx. Matth. xxi.
[327] Luke xx. 16-19.
[328] Matthew xxi. 23.
[329] John ii. 18.
[330] Matthew xxi. 23.
[331] Luke xi. 54.
[332] Acts xxi. 21.
[333] By _these stones_, the ancient interpreters universally understood
_the Gentiles_. See Whitby _in loc._
[334] Matt. iii. 9.
[335] St. John, ch. ii. 19.
[336] Matthew xxvi. 61.
[337] Acts xiv. 27.
[338] Mark xi. 21, 24.
[339] Matthew xv. 24.
[340] Mark xi. 17.
[341] 1 Coloss. i. 27.
[Transcriber’s Note:
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.
Greek words beginning with ϖ have had the character replaced with π.]