91 lines
6.2 KiB
XML
91 lines
6.2 KiB
XML
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<div2 id="Mark.i" n="i" next="Mark.ii" prev="Mark" progress="36.73%" title="Introduction">
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<h2 id="Mark.i-p0.1">Mark</h2>
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<hr/>
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<pb id="Mark.i-Page_449" n="449"/>
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<div class="Center" id="Mark.i-p0.3">
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<p id="Mark.i-p1"><b>AN</b></p>
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<h3 id="Mark.i-p1.1">EXPOSITION,</h3>
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<h4 id="Mark.i-p1.2">W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E
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R V A T I O N S,</h4>
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<h5 id="Mark.i-p1.3">OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO</h5>
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<h2 id="Mark.i-p1.4">S T. M A R K.</h2>
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<hr style="width:2in"/>
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</div>
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<p class="indent" id="Mark.i-p2"><span class="smallcaps" id="Mark.i-p2.1">We</span> have
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heard the evidence given in by the first witness to the doctrine
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and miracles of our Lord Jesus; and now here is another witness
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produced, who calls for our attention. The second <i>living
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creature</i> saith, <i>Come, and see,</i> <scripRef id="Mark.i-p2.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.6.3" parsed="|Rev|6|3|0|0" passage="Re 6:3">Rev. vi. 3</scripRef>. Now let us enquire a little,</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Mark.i-p3">I. Concerning <i>this witness.</i> His name
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is <i>Mark. Marcus</i> was a Roman name, and a very common one, and
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yet we have no reason to think, but that he was by birth a Jew; but
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as Saul, when he went among the nations, took the Roman name of
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<i>Paul,</i> so he of <i>Mark,</i> his Jewish name perhaps being
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<i>Mardocai;</i> so Grotius. We read of John whose surname was
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<i>Mark,</i> sister's son to Barnabas, whom Paul was displeased
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with (<scripRef id="Mark.i-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.15.37-Acts.15.38" parsed="|Acts|15|37|15|38" passage="Ac 15:37,38">Acts xv. 37, 38</scripRef>),
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but afterward had a great kindness for, and not only ordered the
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churches to receive him (<scripRef id="Mark.i-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Col.4.10" parsed="|Col|4|10|0|0" passage="Col 4:10">Col. iv.
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10</scripRef>), but sent for him to be his assistant, with this
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encomium, <i>He is profitable to me for the ministry</i> (<scripRef id="Mark.i-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.4.11" parsed="|2Tim|4|11|0|0" passage="2Ti 4:11">2 Tim. iv. 11</scripRef>); and he reckons him
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among his fellow-labourers, <scripRef id="Mark.i-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Phlm.1.24" parsed="|Phlm|1|24|0|0" passage="Philem 1:24">Philemon 24</scripRef>. We read of Marcus whom Peter
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calls his <i>son,</i> he having been an instrument of his
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conversion (<scripRef id="Mark.i-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.5.13" parsed="|1Pet|5|13|0|0" passage="1Pe 5:13">1 Pet. v. 13</scripRef>);
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whether that was the same with the other, and, if not, which of
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them was the penman of this gospel, is altogether uncertain. It is
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a tradition very current among the ancients, that St. Mark wrote
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this gospel under the direction of St. Peter, and that it was
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confirmed by his authority; so Hieron. Catal. Script. Eccles.
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<i>Marcus discipulus et interpres Petri, juxta quod Petrum
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referentem audierat, legatus Roma à fratribus, breve scripsit
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evangelium—Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, being sent
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from Rome by the brethren, wrote a concise gospel;</i> and
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Tertullian saith (Adv. Marcion. lib. 4, cap. 5), <i>Marcus quod
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edidit, Petri affirmetur, cujus interpres Marcus—Mark, the
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interpreter of Peter, delivered in writing the things which had
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been preached by Peter.</i> But as Dr. Whitby very well suggests,
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Why should we have recourse to the authority of Peter for the
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support of this gospel, or say with St. Jerome that Peter approved
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of it and recommended it by his authority to the church to be read,
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when, though it is true Mark was no apostle, yet we have all the
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reason in the world to think that both he and Luke were of the
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number of the seventy disciples, who <i>companied with the apostles
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all along</i> (<scripRef id="Mark.i-p3.6" osisRef="Bible:Acts.1.21" parsed="|Acts|1|21|0|0" passage="Ac 1:21">Acts i. 21</scripRef>),
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who had a commission like that of the apostles (<scripRef id="Mark.i-p3.7" osisRef="Bible:Luke.10.19 Bible:Mark.16.18" parsed="|Luke|10|19|0|0;|Mark|16|18|0|0" passage="Lu 10:19,Mk 16:18">Luke x. 19, compared with Mark xvi.
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18</scripRef>), and who, it is highly probable, received the Holy
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Ghost when they did (<scripRef id="Mark.i-p3.8" osisRef="Bible:Acts.1.15 Bible:Acts.2.1-Acts.2.4" parsed="|Acts|1|15|0|0;|Acts|2|1|2|4" passage="Ac 1:15,2:1-4">Acts i. 15;
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ii. 1-4</scripRef>), so that it is no diminution at all to the
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validity or value of this gospel, that Mark was not one of the
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twelve, as Matthew and John were? St. Jerome saith that, after the
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writing of this gospel, he went into Egypt, and was the first that
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preached the gospel at Alexandria, where he founded a church, to
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which he was a great example of holy living. <i>Constituit
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ecclesiam tantâ doctrinâ et vitæ continentiâ ut omnes sectatores
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Christi ad exemplum sui cogeret—He so adorned, by his doctrine and
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his life, the church which he founded, that his example influenced
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all the followers of Christ.</i></p>
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<p class="indent" id="Mark.i-p4">II. Concerning <i>this testimony.</i>
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Mark's gospel, 1. Is but short, much shorter than Matthew's, not
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giving so full an account of Christ's sermons as that did, but
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insisting chiefly on his miracles. 2. It is very much a repetition
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of what we had in Matthew; many remarkable circumstances being
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added to the stories there related, but not many new matters. When
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many witnesses are called to prove the same fact, upon which a
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judgment is to be given, it is not thought <i>tedious,</i> but
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highly <i>necessary,</i> that they should each of them relate it in
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their own words, again and again, that by the agreement of the
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testimony the thing may be established; and therefore we must not
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think this book of scripture needless, for it is written not only
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to confirm our belief that <i>Jesus is the Christ the Son of
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God,</i> but to put us in mind of things which we have read in the
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foregoing gospel, that we may <i>give the more earnest heed to
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them,</i> lest at any time we let them slip; and even <i>pure
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minds</i> have need to be <i>thus stirred up by way of
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remembrance.</i> It was fit that such great things as these should
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be spoken and written, once, yea twice, because man is so
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<i>unapt</i> to <i>perceive</i> them, and so <i>apt</i> to
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<i>forget</i> them. There is no ground for the tradition, that this
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gospel was written first in Latin, though it was written at Rome;
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it was written in Greek, as was St. Paul's epistle to the Romans,
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the Greek being the more universal language.</p>
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</div2>
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