passage: "But which beareth thorns and briars is re jected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned." Hebrews vi. 8.-The supposition, then, of those persons, that Jesus, in cursing the tree, uttered execrations against it, is as ill-founded as it is impious. But his motive for cursing the tree, that is, pronouncing it unfruitful, was to instruct the spectators of this miracle, that the Jews, a mere professing people, and who were just like that leaf-tree, without fruit, were to expect speedy destruction from him, if they persisted in their unfruitfulness.

This short elucidation I prefer to that of Whitby and other commentators.

* The fig-tree, observes Dr. Jortin, in his admirable Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 270, was plainly a figure of the Pharisaical religion, which was only outside shew; and of the rejection and fall of the Jewish nation.

"+Some cavillers at Christianity," says Gilbert Wakefield, "have made great objections to this miracle of our Saviour, and have asked, what right he had to destroy this fig-tree. Now it is sufficient to observe, în answer to this cavil, that the tree appears to have been barren, and therefore of no use to any one; and that it could hardly be private property, because it grew in the high road. (iwi ng id)"-See his Commentary on St. Matthew, p. 296.

+ See Hammond's works, vol iii, p. 168—Annot.,on St. Mark.

If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." Luke xiv. 26.

EVERY thing in our religion, has undoubtedly a reference to a future life. It is, therefore, the supreme concern of the pious believer, to please God in all his thoughts and actions. But surely, if we were compelled to interpret literally this sentence, we should see just cause to object to the morality of the Gospel, and its suitableness as well to the government of mankind, as to the exercise of the best affections of our nature. In those words, Jesus then could only be considered as saying, that, if you do not prefer me to those with whom you are bound in the dearest domestic ties; if my doctrines are not able to draw off your attention from the things of this world, and to affix them on those above; you must not hope to be ranked among the number of my disciples*. Perhaps, also, as the

* By 'hating,' our Lord does not mean the passion of the mind so called, but an inferior consideration, and regard, such a forsaking of the nearest relations, and such an exposing of life to the rage of persecution, as resembled the effects of hatred. All must perceive that this sacrifice of worldly connections, this severe self-denial, and daily danger of death, were peculiar to the times when the rancour of the Jews and Heathens was so hot against the first preachers of the Gospel.-See Archbishop Newcombe's Observations on our Lord's conduct, p. 44.

High Priest was a type of our Lord, and as it was considered, according to Philo Judæus*, his duty to put off all natural affection for his father and mother, children and brothers, if it interfered with the service of God, Jesus might have looked to that maxim, when he made the above declaration.

"And the Lord commended the unjust Steward because he had done wisely."-Luke xvi. 8.

IT is the characteristic mark of excellence in the parables of our Saviour, to be alike adapted to the comprehensions of the ignorant and prejudiced, for whom they were originally designed, and at the same time equally fitted for the instruction of the most learned and judicious. Yet, the friends of religion cannot help observing, that men, of heated imaginations, have been led, by this figurative manner of composition, into the most extravagant expositions, and thereby have furnished irreligious persons with a plausible pretext to object against an unnecessary obscurity in

* Προσκεκληρωμενος Θεω, και της ίερας τάξεως γεγονως ταξίαρχος, ὀφειλει πανίων ἀλλοῖριεσθαι των ἐν γενέσει, μη γονεων, μη τεκνών, μη ἀδελφων ἔννοιας ὅπως ἡτλωμενος ὡς ἡ παρελθειν ἢ ὑπερθεσθαι τι των όσιων. See his Treatise de Monarch. Lib. ii. p. 230.

some discourses of our Saviour, which they eagerly insinuate to be inconsistent with his wisdom and goodness. The above parable is one therefore which profane cavillers have never failed to select, as it is remarkable for the extreme difficulty of its solution, and susceptible of the most perverse and dangerous misconstruction.

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To offer a suitable explanation of it then, will be an attempt perfectly according with the professed object of this essay. In the first place, we must point out to the attention of our readers, that Jesus, aware of the improper inferences that might be drawn from this rable, without an immediate explication of it, did not suffer the multitude to depart, as he did upon some other similar occasions, but directly shewed to them the uses and reflexions which were to be gathered from the story; and the true moral and design of the parable in the master's commending the criminal scheme of his servant, is to prove to us, how the conduct of wicked, as well as of good men, may supply us with the most important instruction; for the failings and imperfections of the one, call on us as much for our avoidance, as we are bound to imitate what is praise-worthy in the other. To imagine that the unjust steward is held up to us as a pattern for imitation, in any

other sense, would be subjecting this parable to the charge of countenancing the practice of fraud and injustice in the most extensive degree. Properly speaking, however, the approbation of his Lord did not extend to the action or to the actor, but was solely confined to the ingenuity of his device; for it is worthy of remembrance, that he still gives him the title of the unjust steward. As the steward then provided houses where he might be received upon his dismissal, by secretly making considerable abatements of the debts which his master's tenants owed for their possessions; so ought we, as our Lord most forcibly inculcates, to imitate his provident care for his future interest, by exerting ourselves with the same vigilance and solicitude, to obtain an everlasting habitation in Heaven, which can only be done, by the employment of our riches to such honourable purposes, as may be conducive to future and eternal happiness.

"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee, mine hour is not yet come.” —John ii. 4.

THIS answer is particularized by some, as inconsistent with that affectionate and dutiful respect, which