Matthew Poole and continuators on Luke 12:59

59 I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence till thou hast paid the very last mite .

Our Saviour made use of this expression, Matth. 5.25. to perswade Peace betwixt Brethren, here he useth it to perswade Men to acquaint themselves with God, and be at Peace. He had been treating of the last Judgment, there was no fitter foundation, upon which he could build an exhortation to Repentance, and making our Peace with God. In not doing of it, he telleth his hearers that they did not of themselves judge what was right, for if they did, they would judge themselves as much concerned to come to an agreement with God, as they did ordinarily to come to an agreement with Men. Now if amongst Men they had an Adversary, they did not judge it Prudence to stand out with them till the Sentence of the Judge were past, and they were imprisoned, not to come out till they had paid every farthing of the Debt, and Charges wherein they were Condemned; but to agree while they were in the way, before they came to a final judgment in the case, that so having compounded the case, they might avoid the judgment. So in the case betwixt God and their Souls, if they judged right they would judge that it was not their Wisdom to stand out till the irrevocable Sentence of Condemnation was passed upon them, but in the way, during the time of this Life, they would make their Peace with God, and reform their Lives before that great and terrible day c[illegible: 1 letter]me. It is a Sign the Papists are at a woful loss for Arguments to prove Purgatory, when they make use of this Text, because it is said, thou shalt not depart thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing, as if this Text spake of a Prison for Souls from which there is an out let, such another Argument will prove from Psal. 110.1. That Christ shall not sit at the right hand of his Father, because God only said to him sit there until I make thine Enemies thy foo[illegible: 1 letter]stool. And that Ioseph knew Mary after Christ was born, because it is said, Matth. 1. he knew her not, till she had brought forth her first born Son. But we have before shewed that that term, tho it be exclusive of a time past, yet doth not determine a future time.

Marginal references: See Mark 12.42.