a suppliant knee? Could not my pity on thee move thee to compassion?' This reasoning together, shews that the trial was held at the bar of equity, and not at the bar of judgment; nor will the Lord use such expostulations with reprobates, but make the heavens reveal their iniquity, and the earth rise in judgment against them; set their sins before their eyes; make conscience do his office, and appear himself a swift witness against them; appoint them their portion, and fix their doom at once: which is not the case here, although it be said,

"And his Lord was wroth." Not in a vindictive way, for, "God has not appointed us to wrath," but in a fatherly way it is not the wrathful indignation of the judge, but the wrath and displeasure of a father; for God cannot be perjured in his oath. "For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I will not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." "I will not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." I will neither appoint thee to vindictive wrath, nor rebuke thee with flames of fire," Isaiah lxvi. 15. And I have sworn to this. Nor can God be thus wroth with us; for we are redeemed from the curse of the law, and delivered from the wrath to

come.

But the wrath here intended is the great heat of fatherly displeasure: as it is written, "For the Lord hath called thee, as a woman forsaken and

grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer," Isaiah liv. 6-8. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses; and the Lord met him, and sought to kill him, Exod. iv. 14, 24. And again, "For I will not contend for ever; neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him; I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart." And now mind what follows; “I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him, and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him,' Isaiah lvii. 16-19. If the Lord was wroth with Zion, his own spouse, although he had with everlasting kindness gathered her out of the world, and was wroth with his son Ephraim for the iniquity of his covetousness, why should we wonder at his being wroth with this unmerciful servant? Elihu told Job that judgment was before him; that he had fulfilled the judgment of the wicked; that judgment and justice took hold on him; and bade him beware, because there was wrath, lest

the Lord took him away with his stroke," Job xxxvi. 17, 18. Thus it appears that this wrath is fatherly anger, which endureth but a moment. "In his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." "Though thou wast angry with me," says Zion, "thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me," Isaiah xii. 1. Thus his Lord was wroth,

"And delivered him to the tormentors." Mark that! His Lord still, though he delivered him to the tormentors; not to be tormented in hell, for pardoned sinners, made free indeed, never go there; God himself has pronounced the man blessed whose iniquity is forgiven, and whose sin is covered; and to whom the Lord will not impute sin, such are blessed with faithful Abraham, and it cannot be reversed. God has blessed them, and declared that he will bless those that bless them, and curse those that curse them: and, if he will curse those that curse them, he will not curse them himself; for against such there is no law, and upon such there is no more curse. The Lord does not cut this servant asunder; nor say, Depart from me! nor, Go, ye cursed! Nor does he appoint him his portion with hypocrites and unbelievers; nor deliver him to the officer to be cast into prison, not to come out thence till the utmost mite is paid.

"But he delivered him to the tormentors." He delivered him to be tormented, or tempted, and buffeted by devils; as Peter was left in

Satan's sieve, who desired to have him that he might sift him as wheat; and the Lord left him there, that he might know what self-confidence would do for him: but the Saviour had prayed before that Peter's faith might not fail. The incestuous person was delivered unto Satan, 1 Cor. v. 5; and the Devil shewed him no favour. "Sufficient," saith the apostle, "to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many; so that, contrariwise, ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him; lest, perhaps, such a one should be swallowed up with over much sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you, that ye would confirm your love towards him. To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgive any thing, to whom I forgive it, for your sakes forgive I it, in the person of Christ; lest Satan [the tormentor,] should get an advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices," 2 Cor. chap. ii. Thus he was delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus, as it really was, when Paul forgave him in the person of Christ. And if this incestuous person met with forgiveness, so did the unmerciful one, who is the subject of this parable. By the tormentors, therefore, is meant the buffetings or temptations of devils: as it is written, "And they brought unto him [Jesus] all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those that were possessed with devils, and those that were luna

tic," Matt. iv. 24. This servant might have other torments besides the buffetings of Satan; and I think he had, because he is delivered to the tormentors; not in the singular, but plural number, more than one; and he might be smitten also with bodily affliction, which is called a tormentor; as the centurion told the Lord, "My servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented," Matt. viii. 6. He might also be left with his life hanging in doubt before him, given up to a spirit of bondage, and remain under dreadful apprehensions of wrath to come: as Job felt it, when not only Satan had killed his children, and servants, and cattle, and smote Job with sore boils; but the arrows of God were within him, and the terrors of God set themselves against him. These things will fill a man with all manner of torments: For he that feareth, hath torment, 1 John iv. 18. If the fiery darts of Satan, bodily affliction, the horrors of hell, and the fears of damnation, got hold of him, he was in the hands of the tormentors with a witness; and there he continued,

"Till he should pay all that was due unto him." The difficulty lies in finding out what this sum is that is due from a pardoned sinner. The Saviour, in one of his parables, represents God as the creditor; Mary Magdalen as a five hundred penny debtor; and Simon as owing fifty pence; but this man was ten thousand talents deep. The law's requirements are, perfect obedience, as hath been observed; and, in case of failure, trans