end, the same shall be saved out of this calamity. But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, (chap. ix. 27,) standing where it ought not, i. e., the Roman army compassing Jerusalem, Luke xxi. 20, let him that readeth understand that her desolation draweth near; and then let them that be in Judea flee into the mountains of Peræa.' Par. in Mark xiii. 13, 14.

SECTION XL.

'Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.'-MATT, xxiv. 40-42.

THE parallel place is Luke xvii. 34-36. Many have imagined that this passage is descriptive of a separation to take place at the day of judgment. But the writers quoted below agree in opinion, that Jesus had reference solely to circumstances of a temporal nature, and which were then near at hand.

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1. PEARCE. This (ver. 40,) and the next verse mean, that in the day of Christ's coming to punish the Jews, a distinction will be made in favor of Christians. See ver. 13, 22, 31, and chap. iii. 12, and xiii. 30.' Com. in loc.

2. HAMMOND. Then shall there be many acts of God's providence discerned in rescuing one from that calamity wherein another is destroyed, especially that of departing out of Judea, ver. 16, which the believers generally did, at Gallus' raising the siege, the rest staying behind, and so being destroyed. Two persons in the same field together, shall be thus discriminated in their fate two women grinding together, or turning a handmill, one of them shall stay, and be destroyed, and the other that was in the same place and danger with her, shall, as by the angel that hurried Lot out of Sodom, or

otherwise, by some invisible disposition of that Providence which waits on his faithful servants, be rescued from that destruction, ver. 31.' Par. in loc.

The same writer says on the parallel passage:

When you see this judgment break out, let every man that is in Judea make all possible speed to get out of it, as Lot and his family did out of Sodom. And the least delay or stop in the course—all inclinations of kindness to the sins or company of that place, may be as fatal to any as it was to Lot's wife, who, looking back, became a pillar of salt. He that shall take any unchristian course of compliance, (as the Gnostic christians did afterwards with the Jews to escape their persecutions,) he undoubtedly shall perish in it; and he that, being a disciple of mine, shall, for the testimony of my truth, cheerfully and courageously venture death, is the only person that shall escape this judgment. Then shall it not be in the power of any worldly providence to work any deliverance for any, but as in Sodom an angel came and took Lot by the hand, and led him out, preserved him, when many others were left behind, so shall it be now; those whom God will thus please to seal and preserve, the believers and constant professors, those shall be delivered, and none else.' Par. in Luke xvii. 31-36.

3. WHITBY. This, by Dr. Hammond, seems to be well referred to the especial providence of God, discernable in those times, in rescuing some, who seemed equally exposed to danger, from the destruction which shall fall on others; for that it relates not to the final judgment, but to the time of the destruction of the Jews by the Roman army, is evident from the same words recorded by St. Luke, chap. xvii. 35, 36. For there, the disciples ask their Lord, where shall this be? and Christ answers, ver. 37, that where the carcase (i. e., the Jews,) are, there will the eagles (i. e., the Roman army, whose ensign was the eagle,) be gathered together. And hence it is also evident, that the following words being connected to these by the copulative oun, thus, watch therefore, must refer to the same subject.' Annot. in loc.

4. CLARKE. The meaning seems to be, that so gen

eral should these calamities be, that no two persons, wheresoever found, or about whatsoever employed, should be both able to effect their escape; and that captivity and the sword should have a complete triumph over this unhappy people.' Com. in loc.

5. KENRICK. In these two verses, our Lord declares that the condition of persons who appeared to be exactly alike, who were in the same place, and engaged in the same employment, shall, in consequence of the disposals of Providence, or the effects of forewarnings, be very different; for that one shall be destroyed, while the other is left. The unbelieving Jew shall be destroyed with his unbelieving countrymen, but the Christian, although placed in the same situation with the other, shall be preserved. Since no conclusion, then, could be drawn from external appearances, there was the more ground for watchfulness.' Expos. in loc.

SECTION XLI.

'Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily, I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'-MATT. xxiv. 45-51.

THE parallel place is Luke xii. 42-46. This passage has often been quoted in proof of punishment after death, chiefly, I believe, because it contains the phrase weeping and gnashing of teeth. For some

reason, utterly unaccountable in my mind, this phrase has been supposed much more appropriate to the next life than to this. It truly appears as easy, so far as I can see, for a man to weep and gnash his teeth, while in the

fleshly body, as when clothed with a spiritual body. There is sufficient orthodox authority, at all events, for interpreting this passage to relate to the present life.

PEARCE. All which follows to the end of the chapter, contains a warning to the disciples, and to all other believers of those days, that they should be found sincere ones; otherwise they would be punished in the time of the Jewish destruction.' Com. in Matt. xxiv. 42.

2. WHITBY.Who therefore is that faithful and wise servant, &c., i. e., the servant who continues constant in the service of his Lord, under all the persecutions and abounding iniquities of those times, he shall make him ruler over all his goods; i. e., shall greatly reward his faithfulness, as this phrase signifies, chap. xxv. 21, 23; for that this phrase cannot import his advancement to the highest dignities in the church, is evident from this, that then all that continued faithful to Christ, in those times of trial, must have been made Bishops. The evil servant here mentioned seems to be the apostatizing Jew, who, having deserted the faith himself, was instrumental to smite his fellow-servants, and to betray them to the enemies of Christianity, as our Lord foretold it would be, Matt. x. 21, xxiv. 10. And that which induced them thus to apostatize, was this very imagination, that our Lord delayed his coming, to deliver them, and execute the judgments here foretold, 2 Pet. iii. 4; whence the apostles encourage them to perseverance, by saying, It is but yet a little while, and he that cometh will come, and will not tarry, Heb. x. 27, and that the Judge stands at the door, Jas. v. 9, and the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, ver. 8.

And shall cut him asunder: This was the punishment inflicted by Samuel on Agag, the enemy of God's people, 1 Sam. xv. 33, and by David on the Ammonites, 2 Sam. xii. 31, and by Trajan, the Roman Emperor, on the rebellious Jews. It was by Nebuchadnezzar threatened to the blasphemers of the true God, Dan. iii. 29, and by young Daniel, to the false accusers of Susanna, ver. 55, 59. It was used of old, to those who were false to their creditors, saith Tertullian; to rebels, and betrayers of their country, and that not only in the east, but among the Romans, as we learn from Suetonius, in the life of

Caius; from Horace, and from Dio; and by the Greeks, as we learn from Homer, from Sophocles, and fromAristophanes; and in Egypt, as we learn from Herodotus. And therefore this punishment, saith Christ, will I inflict on those who are perfidious in their covenant of baptism, and enemies to my government.' Annot. in loc.

3. HAMMOND. 'Whosoever of you, then, shall be entrusted by God in any office of trust or stewardship, especially in that of getting believers to Christ, and shall discharge that trust faithfully, and discreetly, do that which is his duty in times of trial and persecution, (ver. 11, 12,) thrice happy shall he be, if, when his master comes to visit, he continues to be thus employed, and so be found about the duties of his trust, constant and persevering, (ver. 13,) his Lord shall enlarge his trust, and make him steward of all, and not only of his household: either preserve him to be a governor in his church, after these sad times are over, or otherwise reward him as he seeth best. But if that servant shall prove dishonest, and say or think, that Christ means not to come and visit, as he said he would, (2 Pet. iii. 4,) and thereupon join in the persecuting of his brethren, (as the Gnostics did with the Jews against the Christians,) and indulge himself presumptuously to licentious living, (see 2 Pet. iii. 3, Jude 18,) the time of visitation shall come on him, when it is least looked for-when he is in the worst posture to be surprised, and shall deal with him as a false debtor, or deceitful steward—hew him asunder, and assign him the same lot which befals the unbelieving Jews, (Luke xii. 46); bring the same destruction on the Gnostic Christians, and the Jews together, and that shall be an irreversible, and a most miserable destruction.' Par. in loc.

4. KENRICK. This whole passage is interpreted by Kenrick as having relation to the different fate of faithful and unfaithful servants, at the period of the destruction of Jerusalem, when Christ virtually, though not personally, returned.' On the phrase weeping and gnashing of teeth, he has the following remarks:

There he shall experience the greatest anguish, such as is usually expressed by the signs here mentioned.