But I say unto you
What may be depended upon as true, and which shall certainly come
to pass, however the inhabitants of these cities might flatter
themselves; or in whatsoever light they might look upon their
neighbours, the Tyrians and Sidonians; and fancy themselves to be
the favourites of heaven, and these as the most execrable of
creatures;
it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day
off
judgment, than for you.
Their punishment in another world will be more mild and moderate;
they will not have such severe stings of conscience, nor have
reason to make such bitter reflections on themselves, as those
will who have had the advantages of a Gospel revelation: all sins
are not alike, nor will the punishment of them be the same; there
will be degrees of torments in hell, and which the justice of God
requires. These words suppose, that the men of Tyre and Sidon
will be punished for their many abominable sins, committed
against the law and light of nature; but that the inhabitants of
Chorazin and Bethsaida, having rejected the Messiah, and the
doctrines of the Gospel, against all the evidence of miracles,
and convictions of their own minds, and probably sinned the sin
against the Holy Ghost; as their sins are aggravated, their
condemnation will be the greater, and their punishment the more
intolerable.