Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 13, verses 25-32
14 Paul preacheth at Antioch that Jesus is ChristMark, Chapter 4, verses 14-30
14 and the meaning thereof, 21 We must communicate the light of our knowledge to others, 26 The parable of the seed growing secretly, 30 and of the mustard seed4
4:19 The desire of other things choke the word - A deep and important truth! The desire of any thing, otherwise than as it leads to happiness in God, directly tends to barrenness of soul.Entering in - Where they were not before. Let him therefore who has received and retained the word, see that no other desire then enter in, such as perhaps till then he never knew.It becometh unfruitful - After the fruit had grown almost to perfection.
4:21 And he said, Is a candle - As if he had said, I explain these things to you, I give you this light, not to conceal, but to impart it to others. And if I conceal any thing from you now, it is only that it may be more effectually manifested hereafter. Mat 5:15; Luk 8:16; Luk 11:33.
4:24 Take heed what ye hear - That is, attend to what you hear, that it may have its due influence upon you. With what measure you mete - That is, according to the improvement you make of what you have heard, still farther assistance shall be given.And to you that hear - That is, with improvement.
4:25 He that hath - That improves whatever he has received, to the good of others, as well as of his own soul. Mat 13:12; Luk 8:18.
4:26 So is the kingdom of God - The inward kingdom is like seed which a man casts into the ground - This a preacher of the Gospel casts into the heart. And he sleeps and rises night and day - That is, he has it continually in his thoughts. Meantime it springs and grows up he knows not how - Even he that sowed it cannot explain how it grows. For as the earth by a curious kind of mechanism, which the greatest philosophers cannot comprehend, does as it were spontaneously bring forth first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear: so the soul, in an inexplicable manner, brings forth, first weak graces, then stronger, then full holiness: and all this of itself, as a machine, whose spring of motion is within itself. Yet observe the amazing exactness of the comparison. The earth brings forth no corn (as the soul no holiness) without both the care and toil of man, and the benign influence of heaven.
4:29 He putteth in the sickle - God cutteth down and gathereth the corn into his garner.
1 Corinthians, Chapter 16, verses 13-24
10 commendeth Timothy, 15 and after friendly admonitions, 16 shutteth up his Epistle with diverse salutations16
16:13 To conclude. Watch ye - Against all your seen and unseen enemies. Stand fast in the faith - Seeing and trusting him that is invisible. Acquit yourselves like men - With courage and patience. Be strong - To do and suffer all his will.
16:15 The first fruits of Achaia - The first converts in that province.
16:16 That ye also - In your turn. Submit to such - So repaying their free service. And to every one that worketh with us and laboureth - That labours in the gospel either with or without a fellow - labourer.
16:17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaiacus - Who were now returned to Corinth but the joy which their arrival had occasioned remained still in his heart. They have supplied what was wanting on your part - They have performed the offices of love, which you could not, by reason of your absence.
16:18 For they have refreshed my spirit and yours - Inasmuch as you share in my comfort. Such therefore acknowledge - With suitable love and respect.
16:19 Aquila and Priscilla had formerly made some abode at Corinth, and there St. Paul's acquaintance with them began, Act 18:1-2.
16:21 With my own hand - What precedes having been wrote by an amanuensis.
16:22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ - If any be an enemy to his person, offices, doctrines, or commands. Let him be Anathema. Maran - atha - Anathema signifies a thing devoted to destruction. It seems to have been customary with the Jews of that age, when they had pronounced any man an Anathema, to add the Syriac expression, Maran - atha, that is, "The Lord cometh;" namely, to execute vengeance upon him. This weighty sentence the apostle chose to write with his own hand; and to insert it between his salutation and solemn benediction, that it might be the more attentively regarded.
Matthew, Chapter 21, verses 33-42
28 and rebuketh them by the similitude of the two sons, 35 and the husbandmen who slew such as were sent unto them21
21:33 A certain householder planted a vineyard - God planted the Church in Canaan; and hedged it round about - First with the law, then with his peculiar providence: and digged a wine press - Perhaps it may mean Jerusalem: and built a tower - The temple:and went into a far country - That is, left the keepers of his vineyard, in some measure, to behave as they should see good. Mar 12:1; Luk 20:9.
21:34 He sent his servants - His extraordinary messengers, the prophets: to the husbandmen - The ordinary preachers or ministers of the Jews.
21:41 They say - Perhaps some of the by - standers, not the chief priests or Pharisees; who, as St. Luke relates, said, God forbid, Luk 20:16.
21:42 The builders - The scribes and priests, whose office it was to build up the Church. Is become the head of the corner - Or the chief corner stone: he is become the foundation of the Church, on which the whole building rests, and is the principal corner stone, for uniting the Gentiles to it, as the chief corner stone of a house supports and links its two sides together. Psa 118:22.
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13:25 His course - His work was quickly finished, and might therefore well be termed a course or race. Luk 3:16.
13:27 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers - He here anticipates a strong objection, "Why did not they at Jerusalem, and especially their rulers, believe?" They know not him, because they understood not those very prophets whom they read or heard continually. Their very condemning him, innocent as he was, proves that they understood not the prophecies concerning him.
13:29 They fulfilled all things that were written of him - So far could they go, but no farther.
13:31 He was seen many days by them who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem - This last journey both presupposes all the rest, and was the most important of all.