(On Matthew 3:9)
These sects (the Pharisees and Sadducees) John compares to broods of vipers; a subtle and malicious creature, — a character which, it appears from history, was extremely well suited to them. He also expresses his surprise that they should do a thing corresponding so little with their temper and inclinations, as to come to his baptism, in order to avoid the impending punishment in the destruction of the Jewish state, which I suppose to be referred to by " the wrath to come." ' Expos. in loc. to " repent and be baptized," he addeth, " save yourselves from this untoward generation."' (Acts ii. 40.) (Harm. Evan. sec. ix.)

(On Matthew 3:10)
"The national calamities with which you are threatened are no light evils, but such as, if you do not repent, shall be like cutting up the tree by the roots ; for as barren trees which bring forth no fruit, are hewn down and cast into the fire, so shall it be with you, if you perform not good works ; your kingdom shall be overthrown, and the inhabitants of the land utterly extirpated." (Expos. in loc. )

(On Matthew 3:12)
"In this whole verse, the destruction of Jerusalem is expressed in the terms of husbandmen. The worthless part of the nation, disliking that excellent system of religion which he (Jesus) introduced, would reject him ; but the virtuous part of the people would believe in him. The former are to be visited with the most terrible judgments, which are expressed in prophetic language, by inextinguishable fire; (see Isa. xli. 16 ;) which prophecy was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans ; but the Christians were preserved in safety; having, in conformity with the warning and directions of Christ, retired from the city when it was besieged." (Expos. in loc.)

(On Matthew 10:22)
"These last words are usually referred to final salvation, which is supposed to be here promised to those who continue in the profession of the Christian faith to the end of life, through all the persecutions to which they may be exposed. But, as the same words  are applied in another part of the evangelist Matthew, to the end of the Jewish state by the destruction of Jerusalem, (See Matt. xxiv. 13,) they may easily admit of the same construction here ; and Christ will then refer to a well known fact, which took place 'when Jerusalem was destroyed. The Christians, being 'warned of their danger by immediate revelation from heaven, or the preceding prophecies of Christ relating to that event, departed from the city, and were hereby preserved. It is as if he had said : he that continueth constant to the Christian faith, to the end of the Jewish state, shall escape all further persecution from that people; their power being then at an end, and they themselves dispersed through all nations." (Expos. in
loc.)

(On Matthew 11:23)
"Thou who art rich and flourishing by thy trade, shall be entirely ruined and destroyed; which happened in the wars between the Jews and Romans so that there are no vestiges of it remaining ; nor of Bethsaida and Chorazin. To be lifted up to heaven is a proverbial expression for being in a flourishing condition, or in an exalted station: the opposite to this, to be degraded and ruined, is expressed by being brought down to hell; not to the place of punishment reserved for the wicked, but to the grave, to the lowest place. The prophet Isaiah says of the king of Babylon, (xiv. 13,) "for thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven : I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.' Thus he expresses the prosperity that monarch once enjoyed ; but he adds, (ver. 15,) " yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." (Expos. in loc.)

(On Matthew 12:43)
"The sense of these verses may be thus expressed : It is commonly supposed, that if demons leave a man but return to him, the disorder, which is no other than madness, comes upon him with sevenfold 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 demons, 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 demon 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.)

(On Matthew 19:23)
"The kingdom of heaven here means, as in several other parts of the evangelists, the body of Christians. To come into this kingdom, therefore, is to become the disciple of Christ. Christ says that the rich are unwilling to do this ; riches generally corrupted the manners, and made men averse to the pure precepts of the gospel, as a yoke which they were unable to bear. This aversion was further strengthened by the losses to which men in those times were exposed, by assuming the name of Christians. Two instances are mentioned in the gospel, of rich men becoming the disciples of Christ; the one is, Joseph of Arimathea, and the other Nicodemus; but the difficulty which they felt in doing it, is evident in both cases : for the former was a disciple of Christ secretly, for fear of the Jews ; and the other, no doubt from the same motive, came to him by night: but the young ruler, of whom we have here an account, had not resolution to do either the one thing or the other." (Expos. in loc.)

(On Matthew 23:14)
"You make great pretensions to devotion ; but it is only to gain the esteem and confidence of the weak and superstitious, that they may be induced to reward your piety, by giving you freely of their substance. Your long prayers are a cloak to your avarice, which you are willing to gratify at the expense even of widows, from whom, if you had any humanity, you would accept of no gratuity. Your  pretences to piety, therefore, which serve to enhance your character among men, shall only expose you to severer vengeance from God, when he visits the Jews for their sins." (Expos. in loc.)

(On Matthew 24:12)
"He that shall persevere in the profession of Christianity, notwithstanding all the evils of persecution, shall be saved from the calamities impending over the Jews. Christ here foretells the safety of Christians at the destruction of Jerusalem." (Expos. in loc.)

(On Matthew 24:40)
"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 the warnings, 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 lac.)

(On Matthew 25:1)
" The word, then, with which this parable begins, shows that our Lord is still speaking upon the same subject about which he had been discoursing in the last chapter, namely, the period of the destruction of Jerusalem ; and his design is to show, by the conduct and treatment of the ten virgins, the situation of good and bad Christians at that time.'

Ver. 13. ' These last words, as well as what the parable begins with, show that it refers to the coming of Christ, for the destruction of Jerusalem, and not to his coming at the general judgment; for he concludes 'with the same exhortation which he had subjoined to the account which he gave in the former chapter, of the signs of his coming in that event; his language there was, ver. 42, "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." The intention of the parable is to enforce the necessity of watchfulness, by showing the distinction which will be made in that day, between those by whom it was practised, and those by whom it was neglected. The wise virgins, who carried oil in their vessels as well as in their lamps, who were prepared for the bridegroom when he came, and were admitted with him to the marriage- feast, are sincere Christians, who, by the constant practice of the duties of piety and virtue, would secure his favor, and, being always prepared for his coming, would escape the judgments that were coming upon the Jewish nation. The foolish virgins, who took no oil in their vessels, whose lamps were going out at the time when the bridegroom appeared, and were obliged to go to buy more ; who could not, from this delay, attend the bridegroom, and were therefore excluded from the marriage-feast, are those who profess themselves Christians, but want those substantial virtues which are necessary to recommend them to the favor of Christ; and when he came, would be disowned and rejected by him, and suffered to perish with others." (Expos. in loc.)

(On Matthew 25:31)
"This is intended to represent Christ's coming for the destruction of the Jewish state, which was a day of reckoning to Christians as well as to the Jews ; those of them who were sincere and diligent, being preserved from the calamities of that people ; but those who were only nominal Christians, and negligent of their work, being punished together with them In this parable it is said, that the master was a long time before he came to reckon with his servants, which corresponds very well with the representations given of this event in the preceding parables, which have already been shown to be applicable to the destruction of Jerusalem ; for in one of them, Matt. xxiv. 48, the master is represented as delaying his coming ; and in the other, the bridegroom is tarrying, till all the virgins slumbered and slept." (Expos. in loc.)

(John 8:21)
"As the Jews refused to believe in the divine mission of Jesus, and made light of his pretensions, he warns them of the evil consequences of their conduct, telling them, that the time would come when they would be sensible of the value of the Messiah, and seek him with the utmost diligence — that is, when the Roman armies began to ravage their country — but that they would not then be able to find him, since ho should go to a place where they could not come to him, and would leave them to perish by those calamities which they would bring upon themselves by rejecting him." (Expos. in loc.)

(On Acts 3:19)
"The repentance to which Peter here exhorts the Jews did not relate to their ill conduct in general, but only to one particular instance, the rejection of the Messiah. These times of refreshing are supposed to refer to the ease and prosperity which the Jewish converts to Christianity would enjoy, when the persecution of their countrymen ceased, upon the destruction of the Jewish state and government." (Expos. in loc.)

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