Interpret → Preach
For the service
John Wesley’s own Explanatory Notes Upon the Old and New Testament on the day’s readings — his verse-by-verse commentary, not a summary of it. Read the full edition ↗
first Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18
- v.7Hold thy peace — Thou that murmurest against God, stand in awe. The day - A day of vengeance from the Lord. A sacrifice - The wicked Jews, whom he will sacrifice by the sword. His guests - summoned the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air, to eat the flesh, and drink the blood.
psalm Psalm 90:1-8, (9-11), 12
- v.1Dwelling place — Although we and our fathers, for some generations, have had no fixed habitation, yet thou hast been instead of a dwelling-place to us, by thy watchful and gracious providence. And this intimates that all the following miseries were not to be imputed to God but themselves.
- v.2Thou — Thou hadst thy power, and all thy perfections, from all eternity.
- v.3Turnedst — But as for man, his case is far otherwise, though he was made by thee happy. and immortal, yet for his sin thou didst make him mortal and miserable. Saidst - Didst pronounce that sad sentence, return, O men, to the dust out of which ye were taken, Gen. iii, 19.
- v.4Past — Indeed time seems long when it is to come, but when it is past, very short and contemptible. A watch - Which lasted but three or four hours.
- v.5Them — Mankind. Away - Universally, without exception or distinction. A sleep - Short and vain, as sleep is, and not minded 'till it be past.
- v.7Are consumed — Thou dost not suffer us to live so long as we might by the course of nature.
- v.8Hast set — Thou dost observe them, as a righteous judge, and art calling us to an account for them. Secret sins - Which though hid from the eyes of men, thou hast brought to light by thy judgments.
second 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
- v.1But of the precise times when this shall be.
- v.2For this in general ye do know; and ye can and need know no more.
- v.3When they — The men of the world say.
- v.4Ye are not in darkness — Sleeping secure in sin.
- v.6Awake, and keep awake — Being awakened, let us have all our spiritual senses about us.
- v.7They usually sleep and are drunken in the night — These things do not love the light.
- v.9God hath not appointed us to wrath — As he hath the obstinately impenitent.
- v.10Whether we wake or sleep — Be alive or dead at his coming.
gospel Matthew 25:14-30
- v.14Our Lord proceeds by a parable still plainer (if that can be) to declare the final reward of a harmless man. May God give all such in this their day, ears to hear and hearts to understand it! The kingdom of heaven — That is, the King of heaven, Christ. Mark xiii, 34; Luke xix, 12.
- v.15To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one — And who knows whether (all circumstances considered) there be a greater disproportion than this, in the talents of those who have received the most, and those who have received the fewest? According to his own ability - The words may be translated more literally, according to his own mighty power. And immediately took his journey - To heaven.
- v.18He that had received one — Made his having fewer talents than others a pretense for not improving any. Went and hid his master's money - Reader, art thou doing the same? Art thou hiding the talent God hath lent thee?
- v.24I knew thou art a hard man — No. Thou knowest him not. He never knew God, who thinks him a hard master. Reaping where thou hast not sown - That is, requiring more of us than thou hast given us power to perform. So does every obstinate sinner, in one kind or other, lay the blame of his own sins on God.
- v.25And I was afraid — Lest if I had improved my talent, I should have had the more to answer for. So from this fear, one will not learn to read, another will not hear sermons!
- v.26Thou knewest — That I require impossibilities! This is not an allowing, but a strong denial of the charge.
- v.27Thou oughtest therefore — On that very account, on thy own supposition, to have improved my talent, as far as was possible.
- v.29To every one that hath shall be given — So close does God keep to this stated rule, from the beginning to the end of the world. Matt. xiii, 12.
- v.30Cast ye the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness — For what? what had he done? It is true he had not done good. But neither is he charged with doing any harm. Why, for this reason, for barely doing no harm, he is consigned to outer darkness. He is pronounced a wicked, because he was a slothful, an unprofitable servant. So mere harmlessness, on which many build their hope of salvation, was the cause of his damnation! There shall be the weeping - Of the careless thoughtless sinner; and the gnashing of teeth - Of the proud and stubborn. The same great truth, that there is no such thing as negative goodness, is in this chapter shown three times: 1. In the parable of the virgins; 2. In the still plainer parable of the servants, who had received the talents; and 3. In a direct unparabolical declaration of the manner wherein our Lord will proceed at the last day. The several parts of each of these exactly answers each other, only each rises above the preceding. 31. When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him - With what majesty and grandeur does our Lord here speak of himself Giving us one of the noblest instances of the true sublime. Indeed not many descriptions in the sacred writings themselves seem to equal this. Methinks we can hardly read it without imagining ourselves before the awful tribunal it describes.