SECTION XXII.

'But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.'—MATT. XII. 36.

THESE words seem to have been spoken by Jesus to show the reasonableness of what he had before said in relation to the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and its punishment. He declares that for every idle, or foolish, or unprofitable word, men must render an account: much more then, must they render an account for such malicious words as were used when they attributed the miracles of Jesus to the power of the devil. From the phrase, day of judgment, many have supposed this account must be rendered, and reward or punishment administered, in the future life. But the reader will see from the foregoing notes, that this phrase does not necessarily convey such an idea. Dr. Clarke says the day of judgment to any particular person or city is the day when such person or city receives punishment from God. 'So the day of judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah was the time in which the Lord destroyed them by fire and brimstone,' &c. See his note on Matt. x. 15.

LIGHTFOOT. In Matt. xii. 36, the rema argon, or idle word, for every one of which our Saviour saith men shall give an account, (he doth not say shall be condemned or punished,) may perhaps be of the same importance with that which the Talmudists and Rabbins call, "the talk of those who are idle," at leisure, have little to do; such as is used among people in ordinary conversation, when they meet together:-as, What news? How doth such a person? or the like. Even this may be well or ill done, prudently or foolishly: and therefore even of this an account will be required.' Works (8vo. Ed.) vol. i. 27, 28.

Lightfoot says nothing as to the time when this account should be rendered, and judgment passed, whether in this life or the next. At all events, he could not have

supposed that the invariable penalty annexed to idle words is endless torment; because he expressly says that Jesus doth not say he shall be condemned or punished.' The most that can be made of it is, that, even for such trivial actions as idle words, men are accountable to God, and shall be rewarded or punished according to the goodness or badness of these, as of all other actions. But it by no means follows that this must be done in the future life: for there is a God that judgeth in the earth.'

SECTION XXIII.

'The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and behold a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold a greater than Solomon is here.'-MATT. xii. 41, 42.

THE parallel place is Luke xi. 31, 32. I know not for what reason this text should be supposed to furnish proof of future torment, except the mere fact that it contains the word judgment. This word, many seem to imagine, cannot have legitimate application to any thing in this world, forgetting that there is a God that judgeth in the earth.' But I believe not much reliance is placed on this passage, for the purpose mentioned; hence the fewer quotations may suffice. The reader will notice that in what follows, not a hint is given that Jesus had what is called the day of general judgment in his thoughts.

1. THEOPHYLACT. 'After Jonas was delivered from the whale, and commenced preaching, the men of Ninevah believed. But when I shall have risen from the dead, ye will not believe. Wherefore ye shall be condemned by the Ninevites, who believed on my servant without the testimony of miracles, though they were barbarians: but ye will not believe on me, the Lord, though ye have

the advantage of the ancient prophecies, and my miracles which ye have seen.' Annot. in loc.

2. GILPIN. 'But as Jonas is a type, let the men of Nineveh be an example to you. They repented at the preaching of Jonas, who performed no miracle among them but you turn a deaf ear to one who teaches you under the manifest authority of God. The queen of Sheba took a long journey to hear the wisdom of Solomon; while you reject the voice of heavenly wisdom itself, which even cries in your streets.' Expos. in loc.

3. HAMMOND. 'And they that are not convinced and brought to repentance by my resurrection and the preaching of my apostles, which shall be consequent to that, their sin and condemnation shall be much greater than that of the Ninevites was for upon Jonas' recovery from the whale's belly, and coming to preach to them, they repented, Jon. iii.; whereas the resurruction of Christ, and mission of the Spirit, and preaching of the apostles over all Judea after that, is a far greater way of conviction, than that recovery and preaching of Jonas. For certainly here is that which is infinitely more than all that wisdom of Solomon, manifestations of God infinitely more discernable than ever Solomon's wisdom was, which yet was so talked of that it brought in foreign princes from afar at the news of it.' Par. in loc.

SECTION XXIV.

When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return to my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.'-MATT. xii. 43-45.

THE parallel place is Luke xi. 24-26. Some have supposed this passage to indicate the future torment of those of whom the words were originally spoken, and of all others in like circumstances. But Jesus seems rather

to have spoken of the character of the Jews, as a nation; and of course the consequences implied are to be understood as having regard to the people in their collective, rather than in their individual capacity. Now it is a fact, admitted by all orthodox critics, that, generally, when Jesus denounced the judgments of God on the Jewish nation, he had reference to temporal calamities, and especially to their memorable destruction by the Romans. And I see nothing in the text which leads to the conclusion that he spake of a different kind of punishment here. Of the writers, quoted below, some confine their remarks to the most obvious purport of the text, to wit, its purport, as descriptive of the Jewish character. But as many as speak of the consequences implied, i. e. the punishment the Jews would incur by by their impenitence and obstinacy, evidently understand it to indicate the severe temporal calamities then approaching.

1. BEAUSOBRE and LENFant. The Jews had often experienced the severe judgments of God; they had been in some measure reformed, and had obtained mercy. But at last they incurred entire ruin, by obstinately rejecting the gospel, and crucifying the Lord Jesus Christ.' Note in loc.

2. KENRICK. 'The sense of these verses may be thus expressed It is commonly supposed, that if dæmons. leave a man but return to him, the disorder, which is no other than madness, comes upon him with seven-fold violence; for that is all we are to understand by seven other spirits. So it will be with you; notwithstanding some appearance of repentance and reformation, on the preaching of John the Baptist, and the ministry of the Messiah, your vices will return upon you with double violence, and bring down upon you heavier judgments. Christ here speaks, all along, upon the principles of his hearers, making use of a common notion concerning dæmons, to illustrate the truth of what he was going to say respecting the Jews. The reason of his having recourse to this comparison, seems to have been, his having cast out a dæmon in the presence of the multitude. We should

say, at the present day, when a fever is expelled, if the person cured does not take great care of his health, the same disease returns, and the relapse is much more dangerous and difficult to cure, than the original disease. In like manner it is in regard to the man who has begun to break off vicious habits; if he return to them, they become stronger and more inveterate than before. Peter has expressed the same sentiment: "for if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning," 2 Pet. ii. 20.' Expos. in loc.

It will be observed that Beausobre and Lenfant speak of the entire ruin of the Jewish nation, as the consequence of their greater sinfulness, compared with other severe judgments, they had experienced in consequence of less enormous sins. And Kenrick, in like manner speaks of heavier judgments, compared with others which had before been endured. From the manner of the comparison, it is evident they understood the entire ruin, and the heavier judgments, to be of the same nature as the other severe judgments before experienced i. e. temporal calamities.

3. GROTIUS. 'Christ appears to have had reference to the character of the Jewish people, at the two periods of their captivity in Babylon, and their destruction by Titus. Before their captivity, the people were exceedingly wicked, as may be seen in the Prophets; during their exile many began to reform, and under a superintending Providence, returned to their native land. But in the days of the Asmoneans, having again plunged into excessive wickedness, they added to their other crimes, a contempt of the Messiah, who came to them with a message of mercy, and exercising miraculous power. Having done this, they were abandoned by God, and became the most wicked of all men, as Josephus has described them in his history of their last days.' Annot. in loc.

4. ELSLEY. 'As each man is in a worse state on relapsing to evil, so this generation, numbers of whom have had strong convictions of my doctrine and mira