PRINCETON, N, J. Scrtion ....v/v\.CrSPv>. Shelf.. Nwnbei- D NOTES I 3LS. DN. :ATio]sr, DISQUISITIONS AND NOTES ^^C- tN I to ^XPs '^soci. THE GOSPELS. MATTHEW. BT JOHN H. MORISON STfiirti SSlittion. BOSTON: AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION, 42 Chauncy Street. 1872. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by WALKER, WISE, & CO., in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. CAMBRIDaE'. PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. PEEFACE. The object of this work Is to assist in the interpretation of the Gospels. It does not seek to go beyond the authority of Jesus. It does not undertake to show what the Evangelists ought to have said, and to force their language into accordance with it. If in any case it may seem to go beyond them, it has been only to meet the honest sceptic of our day on his own ground, and show either that he has misinterpreted the words and acts of Christ, or that those words and acts are in accordance with the great prin- ciples of reason, which reach alike through the realms of physical and moral being. The one all-sufficient answer to the unbelief of our age is still the same that Jesus addressed to the Sadducees, who represented the refined and philosophical scepticism of his day : " Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." A true understanding of the Scriptures, with the insight which is gained from them in the light of the highest philosophy into the ways and works and character of God, is the most effec- tual remedy for scepticism, whether it be a disease going on through moral infidelity to intellectual unbelief, or an honest antagonism to doctrines which falsely call themselves Christian or Evangelical. The best antidote to scepticism and to a narrow religious dog- matism, is the same. Both believers and unbelievers read too much about the Gospels in the works of their favorite guides, and study the Gospels themselves too little. We have never known a diligent and thorough study of the New Testament to end either in bigotry or unbelief. There is a truthfulness breathing through its writings which cannot but affect the ingenuous mind that puts itself freely and constantly into communication with iv PREFACE. them, and there is a freedom, a breadth of moral purpose, a largeness of thought, a catholicity of sentiment, about them, which must give something of its own generous and liberal spirit to those who place themselves habitually and unreservedly within their influence. In preparing this work I have sought to avail myself of such helps as have been furnished by the scholarship of past ages ; to take advantage of the improved methods of investigation which have been recently adopted, and to borrow liberally from the varied stores of information which have been gained through the enterprise, the laborious researches, the intellectual culture, and the conscientious love of truth for which many of the Biblical scholars of our day have been so honorably distinguished. For example, the text which is here followed in all the variations which are of consequence enough to warrant a departure from the reading in our Common English Version, is Tischendorfs Stereotype Edition of the New Testament, published in 1850. This work, which, we believCj stands higher than any other edition of the New Testament in the estimation of those most competent to judge, was prepared by a careful comparison of all the most ancient manuscripts of the New Testament to which the editor could gain access. Many years were spent upon it, and no labor or expense was spared which promised any useful results. In regard to the Geography of the Holy Land, and the topography of Jerusalem and its environs, so important in order to a correct understanding and a vivid perception of many incidents in our Saviour's life, almost everything that we know with clearness and certainty has been gained since Dr. Robinson began his Biblical Researches in Palestine, less than thirty years ago. Within less than forty years, since Winer first published his " Grammar of the New Testament Diction" in 1822, a revo- lution hardly less remarkable has taken place in this department of Biblical knowledge, and commentators have been called back from their freaks of utter lawlessness to the orderly rules and principles of grammatical construction. It is a matter of regret, that, in the only English version that we have of Winer's Gram- mar, the text, without any notice of the alterations being given, has been tampered with and changed by the translator for doc- trinal reasons. But the promptness with which this act has been exposed and rebuked in this country, not only by the Christian PREFACE. V Examiner, but by the Bibliotlieca Sacra, is a cheering evidence of the candor as well as vigilance which guards the integrity of sacred learning. Indeed, within the lifetime of the present gen- eration, a more generous spirit has been infused into these studies. They have been taken out from the darkened cell of monkish or sectarian exclusiveness, into the light of the world's advancing intelligence. Critical works, like those of Stanley, Jowett, Trench, and Alford, Schleiermacher, Olshausen, De Wette, Winer, and Meyer, Stuart, Norton, Noyes, Palfrey, Fur- ness, Hackett, and Nichols, show that the finest artistic taste and moral sensibilities, the severest inductions of logic, the nicest dis- criminations of philological science, the most scholarly attainments and accomplishments, together with habits of profound and origi- nal thought, may be worthily employed in throwing light on the sacred writings, and in bringing out the great and momentous truths which they contain. This branch of learning is, therefore, indicating its liberal tendencies, and beginning once more to gain a hearing from classes of men who formerly looked upon it with indifference or contempt. A thorough knowledge of the Gospels is found to enrich the mind and enlarge the heart. While the most effective means of controlling a congregation, in or out of the church, — the arts of rhetoric, and the attractive but superficial attainments which go to furnish the intellectual wardrobe of a popular preacher, — tend towards bigotry and conceit, the study of the Bible, the habit of throwing one's self into the heart of one after another of its great subjects, with the intellectual helps which are essential to it, can hardly fail to quicken the intellect, refine the moral sentiments, and make one's sympathies wider and more generous. The study of the Gospels, pursued in such a spirit, must at least conduce to humility, and that is closely allied to charity. I think that we may see some evidence of this liber- alizing tendency in theological seminaries, where the greatest attention is paid to Biblical studies, as well as in the tone of works, hke the BIbliotheca Sacra, which treat such subjects most thoroughly. Ecclesiastical history, dogmatic theology, the spec- ulative doctrines of metaphysics and of morals, may be enlisted in the service of a party ; but the Gospels more than an)i:hlng else refuse to be confined within a sect, to sen^e its exclusive pur- poses, or to do its work. This volume was begun more than five years ago, at the sugges- VI PREFACE. tion of the Rev. Henry A. Miles, D. D., to meet what was sup- posed to be a want in this department of religious instruction. In its plan it differs materially from Livermore'a Commentary, leaving more room for the extended discussion of subjects, and following each verse of the text less closely in its remarks. If I could be sure that in my Notes I have made as faithful and intelligent a use of the materials accessible to scholars now, as Mr. Livermore did of those which were within his reach in the preparation of his work twenty years ago, I should give it to the public with comparatively few misgivings. If this volume should be favorably received, it will probably be followed by another on the three remaining Gospels, though this forms a complete work in itself Nearly all the difficult questions which are likely to come up in Mark and Luke have been already considered. But the Gos- pel of John will require an extended preparation, and, in many respects, a distinct and original mode of treatment. In the mean time, and as a most important part of the same series with this, our readers will be glad to learn that a volume on the other books of the New Testament may be expected from the Kev. A. P. Pea- body, D. D. J. H. M. Milton, February 14, 1860. CONTENTS. FAGB Introduction 11 The Gospel according to Matthew 31 CHAPTER I. The Lineage or Genealogy of Jesus ...... 33 Miraculous Conception 35 Prediction of Christ's Buth 39 CHAPTER II. Visit of the Wise Men, or Magi 45 Murder of the Children in Bethlehem 50 Quotations from the Prophets 52 CHAPTER III. John the Baptist 60 CHAPTER IV. The Temptation in the Wilderness ,70 Makes his Home in Capernaum 78 The Call of Simon Peter and Andrew his Brother, and of John and his Brother James 79 CHAPTER V. Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount 85 The Beatitudes 87 Fulfilling the Law and the Prophets 88 CHAPTER VI. General Design 101 Lord's Prayer 102 Perfect Trust in God 107 Viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. Analysis 117 CHAPTER VIII. Gospel View of Miracles 126 Healing tlie Leper 135 Healing the Centurion's Servant 141 Bearing our Infinnities 143 Let the Dead bury their Dead 147 Stilling the Tempest . . . . " 148 Angelic Existences and Agencies 152 Evil and Disorderly Spirits 157 CHAPTER IX. Christ's Way of vievring Death 174 CHAPTER X. Directions to the Apostles 183 The Coming of the Son of Man 186 Further Directions to the Apostles 188 Life or Soul 191 Different Degrees of Reward 193 CHAPTER XI. John the Baptist and his Message 201 Great Privileges unimproved visited by a heavier Condemnation 207 Christ's Thankfulness, and his Call to the Heavy Laden . 208 CHAPTER XII. Christ's View of the Sabbath 216 Hatred of the Pharisees against Jesus 219 Casting out Satan by Satan 219 The Unpardonable Sin 222 Further Remarks of Jesus 223 Jesus and his Mother 224 CHAPTER XIII. Parables 232 The Parable of the Sower 237 Teaching in Parables 238 The Tares and the Wheat 240 The Wicked One 245 CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER XIV. Herod Antipas ^ . . 260 Feeding the Five Thousand 264 Jesus walking on the Water 266 CHAPTER XV. Jesus and the Jewish Traditions 273 Fulfihnent of Prophecy 274 The Syro-Phcenician Woman 278 Feeding the Four Thousand 279 CHAPTER XVI. A Sign from Heaven 288 On this Rock I build my Church 289 The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven 290 The Humiliation and Sufferings of the Messiah . . . 292 CHAPTER XVII. The Transfiguration 305 The Coming of Elijah . . . 312 The Tribute-Money and the Fish 313 CHAPTER XVIII. The Primitive Church of Christ 320 CHAPTER XIX. The Christian Law of Divorce 332 Christ Blessing the Children 335 The Young Man who came to Jesus 336 Hard for the Rich to enter Christ's Kingdom . . . 338 Gaining by Renouncing 340 CHAPTER XX. The Laborers in the Vineyard 348 CHAPTER XXI. Reckoning of Time 361 Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem 364 CHAPTER XXII. The Wedding Feast 376 Paying Tribute to Ccesar 377 The Resurrection from the Dead • • 379 The Two Great Commandments 381 Christ the Son of David 382 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIII. Christ's Denunciation of the Pharisees 391 The Cumulative Guilt of a Nation 394 CHAPTER XXIV. Our Saviour's Gift of Prophecy 401 The Coming of the Son of Man in Judgment to the Jews . 407 The Coming of the Son of Man in Judgment to All . . .418 Conclusion 422 CHAPTER XXV. Purpose of these Parables 432 Parable of the Virgins 432 Parable of the Talents 434 Parable of the Sheep and the Goats 434 The General Resurrection and Day of Judgment . . . 437 CHAP'TER XXVI. The Supper at Bethany. — Judas 444 The Last Supper 445 Warning Peter -. 449 The Agony of Gethsemane 450 The Apprehension of Jesus 458 Jesus taken before the High-Priest 460 Peter's Denial 461 CHAPTER XXVII. Preliminary Trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrim . . . 479 Repentance and Death of Judas 480 Jesus before Pilate 481 The Crucifixion 483 Precautions against his Resurrection 488 CHAPTER XXVIII. The Gospel Narratives of the Resuirection .... 503 The Different Accounts not Contradictory .... 505 The Different Times of his Appearance .... 508 Each Account Independent of the Rest 511 The Resurrection of Jesus ^^^ The Formula of Baptism 515 Concluding Remarks 519 Index 537 INTKODUCTION, HOW TO STUDY THE GOSPELS. "We are more and more convinced that the Gospel of Christ is to be the great source of moral and religious in- struction and improvement to the world. The writings of the New Testament stand apart from all others. No works of man's genius pretend to an equal fellowship with them. They reach now, as they always have done, above the high- est thought and experience of our race. As the sky rises as far above us when we are on the loftiest mountain as in the lowest valley, so they rise as far above the ideas and civilization of the world now, as they did in the days of Tiberius and Nero. There can hardly be a more convinc- ing proof of their Divine authority than this ; we mean, in the words of a profound and original thinker. Dr. Nichols, " the Gospel's sun-like solitude in the moral firmament. The vast space around it is clear of all light but its own." And this suggests a most important principle of interpre- tation. As these writings rise above all others, and shine in a vast space " clear of all light" but their own," so it must be in that light, more than by any helps drawn from inferior sources, that we are to learn and to apply their truths. It is wonderful how our Saviour imbued with the universality of his own mind every transient incident and word into which his thought or life passed, so that it has become, hke himself, to us " the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." 12 INTRODUCTION. " The grass which to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the oven," " the sower " who " went forth to sow," " the fields " " white ah-eady to harvest," " the hght and gladness of the marriage feast " contrasted with " the outer darkness " where " shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth," the " grain of mustard-seed," the children at their sports in the market- place, " I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink," his taking little children into his arms, his inspection of the tribute- money, are, by means of the virtue which went into them from him, taken up from the sphere of limited and tran- sient expressions or incidents, and stand out forever as em- blems of universal and undying truths. He who could thus imbue the most ephemeral forms of speech with an imperishable life, and who could place a slight act of grateful reverence, or a casual conversation with a sinful woman by the side of a well, among the memorable events in the world's history, must have been charged with life and power beyond all others. And his language, passing from its earthly uses into a medium for the communication of divine and heavenly truths, and of an influence more sub- tile and life-giving than any truths in their naked presenta- tion to the intellect, can borrow little from subsidiary illustra- tions and analogies. We have only to open our souls to it, as we do our eyes to the light, and it will come in. If we give ourselves up to it, we shall not be left in darkness or in doubt. It speaks with its own authority, and explains and enforces its own decisions. Often when we try to explain it, we shall only turn the attention away from it, or darken and obscure it by our words of inferior wisdom. A great part of our Saviour's language, and most of the lessons taught by his life, are of this character. He is the one Mediator between God and man, and it is worse than vain for us to interpose ourselves as his interpreters. This is one of the reasons why all commentaries are read with a sense of disappointment. They are expected to throw new light on the great essential teachings of Christ ; INTRODUCTION. 13 and that is what no commentators can ever do. They might as well hope to throw new light upon the sun. Happy are they if they can to some extent remove from his teach- ings the obscurations which men have thrown over them. They are expected to give new efficacy to the " virtue " that goes out from them ; and that they can never do. We may hope to clear up some of the obscurities which obsolete cus- toms, or modes of speech foreign to our habits of thought, have caused. We may analyze our Saviour's discourses, and show the underlying principles by which the different parts are united. We may bring together expressions, such as " the kingdom of Heaven," " the coming of the Son of man," " the end of the world," which with slight modifica- tions are scattered through the accounts of his ministry, and, by a careful comparison of the different conditions and cir- cumstances under which they were used, may detect the dif- ferences of meaning which were put upon them, and the central idea which gives a unity to these different meanings. We may free some of the fresh and beautiful expressions of Scripture from their subjection to the canting phraseology of a formal piety, and some of its sublime enunciations of truth from their cruel bondage to the " decrees " of meta- physical speculations or ecclesiastical councils. We may compare the different narratives of the same events, and by combining them into one may harmonize what to the super- ficial reader seem to be contradictions. We may bring out the relations of time and space to the Gospel narratives, and thus make the acts and words of Jesus more consistent with one another, and more real to the reader. Above all, we may come back to the simple and natural methods of in- quiry which are employed in the interpretation of all other Avritings. What Bacon and Newton, and other great philoso- phers, have done for the study of the mind of God in the book of nature, by breaking loose from arbitrary and un- natural methods of investigation, and applying the most direct and simple processes, is what the ablest religious 2 14 INTRODUCTION. thinkers and scholars must do, and to some extent are doing, for the study of the mind of God in the volume of that other book, in which he would reveal himself to us with greater fulness and a more affecting power. As what Bacon and Newton did most of all was to call men back to nature it- self, as it exists in the world around us, so what we have to do most of all is to call men back to the Gospel itself, as it lies before us, dimly prefigured in the Old Testament, and embodied in the New. There are two things essential in order to a right under- standing of the Gospels; — 1. A fitting preparation of heart; and, 2. A mind free from all preconceived opinions which may bias or mislead us in our investigations. The first is a moral and spiritual preparation ; the second is that, but it is also and mainly an intellectual preparation. 1. There is the fitting preparation of heart. This is what our Saviour meant by the faith, which he always regarded as essential to salvation. It was not an intellectual belief such as men have made it since, but a disposition of heart, a readiness to receive and to obey him in whatever he might teach or command. With this faith in the heart showing itself by obedience and fidelity in the life, our Christian con- sciousness will be enlarged, and we shall take in more and more of the truth. All that is most essential in the Gospels may be received. Its holiest precepts will direct us in our lives ; its richest promises will be fulfilling themselves in our experience. Its great words of comfort and of power, which lie beyond the reach of criticism or commentary, will take up their abode in us, and become to us spirit and life. It is through this preparation of heart that the family Bible gains such a hold on the affections, instils into the soul its divinest influences, guides us in our duties, and teaches us how to turn sorrow and weariness and pain, and even sin itself, into the means of deliverance and triumph. Thus it is that Jesus introduces himself to us as our Teacher and Saviour. The Holy Spirit enters our souls, and renews INTRODUCTION. 15 them with a perpetual influx of hfe. And God reveals him- self to us in whatever is great or beautiful in nature, in the dear and sacred relations which bind us to one another, and in all the gracious and merciful, though to us often mys- terious and painful orderings of his providence. This use of the Bible — its daily and familiar companionship, its confidential communications to us in our retired moments — is worth more than all its more elaborate and learned lessons. 2. But there is also to be a preparation of the intellect, and in order to this, first of all, we must allow no precon- ceived opinions to stand in the way of a perfectly free and fair investigation. "We must remember that, as students of the New Testament, one is our Master, even Christ, and that as no want of faith can be an excuse for setting aside any- thing that he has taught, so neither should any precon- ceived opinions of ours, or creeds drawn up and estab- lished by human authority, stand as a barrier between his words and us. If our views are not broad enough to take in any doctrine that he has taught, then we must make them broad enough. There is a freedom, a greatness, not merely an elevation but a breadth of thought, in his instruc- tions, strangely in contrast with the narrow and enslaving opinions which metaphysical divines have elaborated " in order to satisfy the demand of unity in the Christian con- sciousness and in the activity of the dialectic reason," or which ambitious rulers in the Church have established as an engine of administrative authority. Christ has set our feet in a large place, and our allegiance to him requires that, in the study of his words and life, we should jealously assert and exercise the liberty wherewith he has made us free. A mournful spectacle, in this respect, has been presented by the Christian world. Advantage is taken of the new convert, in the most impressible moment of life, when he has no time or heart to examine for himself, when he is rejoicing in the advent of new hopes and a new experience, and his 16 INTRODUCTION. whole nature is fluent with emotion, — advantage is taken of him, in the unsuspecting confidence of his first enthusiasm, to impose upon him the sectarian stamp which is to fix his theological opinions, and be henceforth a bar, on the right hand and the left, in all his Biblical and theological investi- gations. Assuming those opinions to be true, he must study the Scriptures, not as a disciple of Jesus, but as the partisan of a sect. The word of God is in bondage. It can teach only what a human creed allows it to teach. In this re- spect, the Church of Rome, if it has a wider despotism than all the rest, is more consistent with itself. It does not pro- fess to leave the people free to read for themselves. It claims for itself the right and the authority to be the sole interpreter of the Scriptures. But in most of the Protes- tant denominations, while there is professedly the greatest reverence for the Scriptures and the rights of the individual reason and conscience, no man is allowed to study the Scrip- tures freely under the guidance of his own reason and con- science. If he finds in them doctrines not in accordance with " the standards " or " articles " of his church, he is called to account. If he continues so to read the Scriptures, and see those doctrines there, he is excommunicated, and shut out from the ordinances of his religion. — A generous and catholic faith, which would leave the Bible open to all, that they may read it as they do the book of nature, in perfect freedom, accountable only to God, — this faith in Christ and his instructions rather than in man and his traditions ; — if the Son of man should come now, would he find it on the earth? Yet none the less is it our duty so to learn and so to speak. In all branches of the Church we hear generous voices from men seeking a larger liberty for others, and using it themselves. Some, like Henry Ward Beecher, without any great amount of learning or any remarkable fitness for critical studies, take up the great truths of the Gospel into their capacious souls, and speak them out with INTRODUCTION. 17 a power that breaks through sectarian restraints and finds an earnest response from thronging multitudes. Others, like Dr. Bushnell, with a riper scholarship, finer powers of anal- ysis, and the same hearty devotion to Christ, not as he lies bound up corpse-like in church creeds, but as he reveals himself through the writings of Evangelists and Apostles, and to the Christian consciousness of each individual soul, are preaching a more generous and living Gospel. Others again, like Jowett and Stanley and Williams and Archbishop Whately, from the great centres of religious inteUigence to our Anglo-Saxon race, from Oxford and Cambridge and the metropolis of Ireland, are using a larger liberty, and in works of Biblical criticism or religious inquiry are giving to the world examples of a freer thought, and a more faithful exposition of writings, which rise above and pass beyond the limitations of scholastic theologians and sectarian creeds, as the heavens, which shine on all, rise above and stretch beyond every earthly distinction of individual proprietorship or national domain. It is a comfort to be able to quote lan- guage like this from a sermon preached before the Univer- sity of Oxford by the author of the Life of Dr. Arnold: " The true creed of the Church, the true Gospel of Christ, is to be found, not in proportion as it coincides with the watchwords or the dilemmas of modern controversy, but rather in proportion as it rises above them, and cuts across them The very peculiarity, the very proof of the divinity of his doctrine, was that they could not square it with any of their existing systems And it is both a confirmation and illustration of this character of Evangelical doctrine, that, if we look into some of the earthly repre- sentations of it which have met with most universal ac- ceptance, they also share in this freedom from the bonds in which the world is anxious to confine us." (Stanley's Can- terbury Sermons, pp. 113-115.) There is a healthful ring in these words, which is full of encouragement and hope. Not only are we, in the study of the Gospels, to beware 2# B 18 INTRODUCTION. of every human authority that would interpose itself be- tween them and us, but we must also take heed to our- selves. We may be as much enslaved to our own way of viewing things, or to the personal feelings by which we are led in one direction or another, as to the estab- lished creed of a church. Whatever the motive, we must be careful not to twist and torture our Saviour's words to bring them into harmony with our ideas. A single example will illustrate what we mean. A writer, speaking of Christ in his mediatorial humiliation, says (Huntington's "Christian Believing and Living," p. 364): "Voluntarily, to this end, and for the time, things which only the Father knoweth are veiled from the Son, and he says (in language which we have only to suppose put into the meuth of any other being to find it in fact a proof of his divinity), ' My Father is greater than I.' " By the divinity of Christ the writer has just explained that he means his equality with the Father. To say then, that his declaration, " My Father is greater than I," is in fact a proof of his divinity, that is, a proof that his Father is not greater than he, is flatly to con- tradict the Saviour. To assert that we have only to sup- pose this language " put into the mouth of any other being to find it in fact a proof of his divinity ,'* is to assert that in our opinion the language of Jesus, in its simple and ob- vious meaning, is so extravagant that we can accept it only in a sense directly opposite to what it says. Is this honor- ing Christ ? St. John (1 John iii. 20) uses a form of ex- pression precisely like this of Jesus, " God is greater than our heart." Is his language therefore a proof of his or of our divinity? In Job xxxiii. 12 we find it asserted, with no appearance of impiety or extravagance, " that God is great- er than man." We are not arguing, or speaking even by implication, against the doctrine in support of which this delaration of our Saviour is so distorted from its plain and natural meaning. We quote the passage simply as an illus- tration of what seems to us a vicious, arbitrary, and most INTRODUCTION. 19 dangerous method of interpretation. Our reverence for Christ is shocked by such a way of dealing with his words. We solemnly believe that, except from a perversion of the moral sentiments, there is no greater bar in the way of a true understanding and application of the Gospels, than this habit of forcing them into conformity with our preconceived ideas. We must remember that they are to guide us, and not vfe them. If our capacity for Divine truth is to be the measure of what we receive, it must not be, even in our own minds, the measure of what Christ has taught, so that all his teachings must be forced into conformity with it. We must not let the limitations of our human thought turn aside from its only direct and natural meaning any clear and explicit statement of his. If we find ourselves tempted to do tliis, we may be sure that there is something wrong, not in his instructions, but in our opinions. We are, then, with all humility before him, to re-examine our opinions, and see if we cannot readjust them in such a way as to make them harmonize with the text. A less violent wrench than that which is here applied to the words of Christ would probably bring our views into accordance with his words. But if our opinions are fixed as one of the immutable terms in this controversy, then let us remember that so plain a declara- tion of his cannot be altered for our accommodation ; and, without attempting to make it mean precisely the opposite of what it says, as plainly as language can say anything, let us leave the two — his assertion and our opinion — con- fronting one another, and acknowledge that it requires a higher wisdom than ours 'to bring them into harmony. But, after all, as a matter of interpretation not less than of Christian faith, our human inference is more likely to be wrong than the words of Christ. The opinion of over- whelming majorities in his Church can have no weight against his decisive and unqualified declaration. We, — all men, — the doctrine " which always, everywhere, and by all men" has been maintained, if any such contro- 20 INTRODUCTION. verted doctrine can be found, — may be wrong, but he CANNOT. We must then be on our guard against this forced method of interpretation, which has prevailed in past centuries almost as extensively as forced methods of interpreting the phenomena of nature before the time of Bacon and Galileo, and which has its influence still, though the ablest Christian scholars and thinkers are protesting against it more and more. It has its influence just where it will be most widely disseminated and most fatal. It enters into the apparently superficial, but nevertheless powerful and lasting, means of religious education for the young. The creed is taught first, and then the Bible in conformity with the creed. In some churches, at the end of every chapter that is read, and of every Psalm that is rehearsed, a doxology, which is in fact a creed in miniature, is repeated, as if the words of Scripture could not be trusted without it. How much more in harmony with nature and with truth, as well as with Christ's method of teaching, is that suggested by the generous and manly Robertson in a Confirmation Lec- ture. " Let the child's religion," he says, (Sermons, 1st Series, pp. 73, 74,) " be expansive, — capable of expan- sion, — as little systematic as possible ; let it lie upon the heart like the light, loose soil, which can be broken through as the heart bursts into fuller life. If it be trodden down hard and stiff in formularies, it is more than probable that the whole must be burst through, and broken violently and thrown off altogether, when the soul requires room to germi- nate. And in this way, my young brethren, I have tried to deal with you. Not in creeds, nor even in the stiffness of the catechism, has truth been put before you. Rather has it been trusted to the impulses of the heart ; on which, we believe, God works more efficaciously than we can do. A few simple truths : and then these have been left to work, and germinate, and swell. Baptism reveals to you this truth for the heart, that God is your Father, and that Christ ha? INTRODUCTION. 21 encouraged you to live as your Father's children. It has revealed that name which Jacob knew not, — Love. Con- firmation has told you another truth, that of self-dedication to Him. Heaven is the service of God. The highest blessed- ness of hfe is powers and self consecrated to His will. These are the germs of truth : but it would have been miserable self-delusion, and most pernicious teaching, to have aimed at exhausting truth, or systematizing it. We are jealous of over-systematic teaching. God's love to you, — the sacrifice of your lives to God, — but the meaning of that ? Oh ! a long, long life will not exhaust the meaning, — the name of God. Feel him more and more, — all else is but empty words." In all our studies, and especially in all our religious teach- ings, we must leave room for growth, and be more earnest to implant the principles of righteous living, and a reverence for the truth as it is in Jesus, than to prove any doctrines on which the Christian world is divided to be true. And if at any time, we are to hold our dogmatic theology in abeyance, it is when we are engaged in interpreting for ourselves, or teaching to others, the words and the acts of Christ. Perhaps the forced methods of interpretation have for no single purpose been carried to a more unwarrantable extent than in the attempts which have been made to produce a literal conformity between different accounts of the same event by the different New Testament writers, so as not to violate the doctrine of a plenary verbal inspiration. But now that doctrine is no longer held to be respectable among enlightened Biblical critics and scholars. Dr. Cureton, the learned Canon of Westminster, in the preface to his " Syriac Gospels," p. Ixxxix., speaks of " the verbal inspiration of the Gospels " as " a theory long since abandoned by all scholars and critics, which, indeed, could only be maintained by those who are entirely ignorant of the way in which the New Testament has been transmitted to our own times, and which, 22 INTRODUCTION. if persisted in, must involve very serious objections against these inspired writings, and tend to infidelity." Alford, in the Prolegomena to his learned and valuable Commentary on the New Testament, thus speaks of the theory of verbal inspiration : " Much might be said of the a priori unworthi- ness of such a theory as apphed to a Gospel whose character is the freedom of the spirit, not the bondage of the letter ; but it belongs more to my present work to try it by applying it to the Gospels as we have them. And I do ngt hesitate to say, that being thus applied, its effect will be to destroy altogether the credibility of our Evangelists The fact is, that this theory uniformly gives way before intel- ligent study of the Scriptures themselves ; and is only held, consistently and thoroughly, by those who have never un- dertaken that study." But the same violence which has been employed in for- cing the language of the Gospels into harmony with a creed or an unnatural theory of inspiration, has also been used to force their statements into accordance with some favorite theory of the writer. Thus Paulus has endeavored to ex- plain the miracles of Christ in accordance with a theory which excludes all miraculous influences, and according to which neither the ruler s daughter nor Lazarus was actu- ally dead. The great value of Dr. Furness's charming writings on the Gospels is, we think, in some cases, seri- ously impaired by the restraint that is put upon him, and which he imposes upon the accounts of the Evangelists, in consequence of his favorite theory in regard to the man- ner in which miracles must be wrought. The same unnatural perversion of the language of the Gospels has been effected by sceptics and unbelievers, who exercise as much ingenuity in forcing the accounts of the different Evangelists into a contradiction, as the old commentators did in forcing them away from it. They find it easier thus to discredit the authority of the sacred writ- ings altogether, than to explain them away in such a manner INTRODUCTION. 23 as to confiim their naturalistic theories. The critical writings of Strauss and Baur are of this sort. They begin with theories about the Gospels, to which the Gospels themselves are forced to submit. There is no question in regard to the learning, the ability, or the consummate generalship of the men who lead the movement from within against the authority of the Gospels. And they have been of immense service in calling the attention of sensible and educated men to the Gospels, and inducing them to examine them for themselves, not through the perverse optics of these framers of theories, but with their own calm and unbiassed judgment. This of itself is a great gain. All that is needed in order to estab- lish the truthfulness of the Gospels is that they should be thus examined. And here we cannot too earnestly urge the great body of intelligent men and women to refuse to take any one's theory about the Gospels without first studying, not specious writings in support of it, but the Gospels themselves. Let them test every assumption of the theorist by a careful reference to the record, and not admit this or that assertion in regard to what is found in them, until they see it there with their own eyes. The study of the Gospels is a simple thing. The knowledge which has a direct and important bearing on the most important subjects in them is contained wathin a small compass. The comparison of one narrative with another, in order to satisfy ourselves in regard to their true relations, is easily effected by a little care, and the ap- plication of a reasonable amount of intelligence. There is a vast deal of humbug in the pretensions of our modern neologists. The cloud of words thrown round their theories, like the cloud of mysticism which enveloped the old doctrines of the Church in its pretensions to an infallible inspiration and authority, has only to be tried in the light of reason and common sense by the truthful words of the Evangelists, and it will vanish away. Extraordinary pretensions, however, have always, for a 24 INTRODUCTION. geason, an influence altogether disproportionate to the real power that is in them. A sceptical thought is easily lodged In the mind. Delicate and sensitive natures, who wish to Relieve, are afraid to examine, lest the foundations of their faith should sink under them. Strong-minded, efficient men, who ought to study into these things, and thus satisfy them- selves, as they easily might, are deterred from so doing by a secret misgiving lest the grounds of their faith should not bear investigation. Some retreat into the straiter sects, from a less to a more rigid form of Congregationalism, from Congregationalism to Episcopacy, from Episcopacy to the Church of Rome, or directly, for extremes meet on the other side, from the Absolutism of Rationalism to the Absolutism of Romanism. There is everywhere, even in the Roman Catholic communion itself, a sentiment of unrest, coming from an inward unbelief, which men try to cover up and hide from themselves by stricter articles of faith, by more imposing forms of worship, by Church authorities, instead of healing it by letting in upon it the simple truths of the Gospel, as examined in the light of reason, and tested by conscientious and faithful lives. But change of position is not change of heart. The inward unrest, the hidden un- belief, which durst not trust God's truth unless guarded by human defences, fclings to them still. These make-believe methods of finding a religious faith, and with it health and peace of mind, answer no good end. The sudden and un- natural marriages which are sometimes sought in the des- peration of disappointed affections are seldom blessed. There is a hidden element of falsehood, or self-deception, at the centre of them all. If we have doubts, we must meet them fairly and honestly for ourselves. If they are practical doubts, relating to the essentials of Christianity, the efficacy of prayer, the presence and the power of God in the soul, the mediatorial office of Christ between God and, men, we must read the Gospels for practical guidance, and, seeking to give ourselves up INTRODUCTION. 25 entirely to their instructions by prayer, by humility of heart, by a warmer charity towards others, by more faithful and obedient lives, with the help which God will certainly give to us if we seek it thus, in our renovated affections, and the deeper, purer life of the soul, we shall find the faith, and with it the inward tranquillity and repose, which we crave. That is, we shall find enough of them to serve as a foretaste and pledge of the perfect love and peace which shall be fulfilled to us only in the kingdom of Heaven. And this is all that has been gained by the greatest saints, — by Madame Guyon and Fenelon, Archbishop Leighton and Bax- ter, Charles Wesley and Channing and William Croswell, as we see when we are admitted to a knowledge of their interior lives. " The perfect," we once heard Dr. Channing say, " is what we must always seek, but never hope to gain." If, on the other hand, our doubts are of an intel- lectual character, we must meet them fairly on intellectual grounds, and not push them aside for others, whether sceptics or bigots, philosophers or Christian believers, to do our work for us. It is better to read the Gospels ourselves, not through the creed of a church or a philosophical dogma, but with our own eyes and minds, such as God has made them, and judge of them by the principles of reason and common sense. If they give way under the examination, let us meet the facts of the case like brave and honest men, and not like children, who blind their eyes from fear of seeing a ghost. But they will not give way. They only ask to be tried on their own merits. The reason why they seem to us so un- substantial is, that we do not rest our weight upon them. They are like the bridge across the St. Lawrence at Mon- treal, which sensitively vibrates to the slightest breeze, and therefore the timid traveller may fear to trust himself upon it ; but ten thousand tons of human beings and costly mer- chandise resting upon it, only shoAv how firm and strong it is. The more severely we test the Gospels, the more securely shall we find ourselves sustained by them. " Come, and see, 3 26 INTRODUCTION. and know for yourselves," is their appeal to us. Only let us examine thera as they are in themselves, giving ourselves up to their great thoughts, opening our souls to the holy spirit which is proceeding from them, and the divine life which is embodied in them, and which by an eternal genera- tion is born from them into the heart and life of our race. If we have doubts or fears, let us search the Scriptures till we are satisfied in regard to them. We have never known a man to have his faith shaken by a thorough and impartial investigation of the New Testament ; but thousands have in this way had it confirmed and established. It does not require any great amount of learning to study the Gospels intelligently. The deepest thought and the widest amplitude of knowledge may find room for exercise, if we undertake to explore them in all their fulness, and in all the curious details connected with them. We may lose ourselves amid the wonders and mysteries of the Divine nature, if we undertake to fathom them in our speculations. But a clear mind, faithfully applying itself to the study of the Gospels in a truthful spirit, is all that is required in order to gain from them the knowledge that is most valuable to us. An acquaintance with ancient customs, with oriental productions, modes of living, and forms of speech, may give us a more precise idea of what is meant in some cases. But even then, except in a very few instances, the essential truth is not affected. It may be pleasant to us, and may gratify a reasonable curiosity, to know precisely what were the lilies of the field and the fowls of the air to which our Saviour called attention, as emblems and proofs of the paternal providence of God, — to know that it was the fruit of the carob-tree, "with a hard, dark outside, and a dull sweet taste," and not husks, which the Prodigal longed to eat as he fed it enviously to the swine, while he was perishing with hunger, — to know how the houses were constructed so that the paralytic might be taken up by an outside staircase to the flat roof, and let down through it on his bed into INTRODUCTION. 27 the inner room or open court, where Jesus sat surrounded by a throng of people. But the lesson taught, in each one of these cases, to our minds and hearts, is wholly independent of such knowledge. And there is danger lest, in seeking for the adventitious information, we should have our interest absorbed in that which was intended only as an illustration, and drawn away from the vital truth which it was employed to convey. The geography of Palestine is intimately connected with our Saviour's ministry. As we follow him back and forth, from place to place, on the map, events start up before us, distinct and alive, each one with its own individuahty upon it. Almost any person may learn enough of the geography of Palestine for this purpose. In getting a clear view of his life, and in comparing the different Evangelists with one another, it will be a great help to connect each event with the spot where it occurred, and thus make it real to us. It will give the Gospels a firmer hold on our minds, and free us from the indistinct and dreamy notions with which we regard them, and through which they are so easily turned into myths. We are thus enabled to feel and handle them, and see that they are not bodiless apparitions, but substantial facts. But we may study the geography of Palestine so as to know all about the various localities in their relation to the Gospels, and yet be all the while so absorbed in the geography itself as to have no perception of the moral influ- ences which have made those places holy and immortal in the affections of mankind. Much of our Sunday-school teaching, we fear, is of this sort. One difficulty in the way of our studying the Gospels arises from the fact that we are so familiar with them that their words pass through our minds without making any im- pression. This difRculty may be obviated by reading them in some foreign language, or, if we cannot do that, in some translation different from our common version. Norton's or Campbell's translation, or even Sawyer's, notwithstanding 28 INTRODUCTION. the severe criticisms which it has called out, will sometimes reveal to us a sentiment or a thought which had escaped us in our daily reading. We have endeavored in this work to assist the student by analyzing in some cases, e. g., in the Sermon on the Mount, our Saviour's discourses, and thus bringing out the depth, the ajQfluence, the comprehensiveness and completeness of the thought. After such an analysis we may come back to the familiar language with new interest ; And while we see in it a deeper and richer meaning than before, we may find in the old words an aroma of Christian sentiment whicli had escaped in the process of analyzing the thought, and which can be embodied in no other Avords but those around which the religious associations of our own lifetime, and of centuries before, have been gathering. We would ask the attention of those who have a taste for such investigations, and particularly, if it may be done with- out presumption, the attention of men of a legal training, to the narratives which we have constructed from the different Evangelists, of the events connected with the last days of our Saviour's life, and the morning of the Resurrection. No external evidence has ever produced such undoubting con- fidence in our mind as the way in which these four distinct narratives, now approaching and now diverging from one another, — now almost united in one, and now apparently inconsistent with each other, — keep on, each one in its inde- pendent course, while all combine to set forth the same great facts with no real inconsistency even in their minutest details. We would particularly ask that the accounts of the denials by Peter, the trial of Jesus, and the events on the morning of the Resurrection, may be subjected to the severest test of a judicial investigation, by the aid of a topographical plan of Jerusalem and its vicinity, and of a Jewish palace, with a careful attention to the precise words of the original Greek (disregarded in our English version), by which the writers denote the different parts of a palace, — the house itself, the inner court or hall, the gateway or entrance to the court, and INTRODUCTION. 29 the tessellated pavement in front of the palace, on which Pilate erected the judgment-seat, from which he unwillingly pronounced the sentence of death on the Saviour of the world. Those who maj be inchned to follow out this inter- esting and conclusive method of inquiry under the guidance of a powerful, discriminating, and appreciative mind, are referred to the very able work entitled " Plours with the Evangelists," by I. Nichols, D. D. " The more," says Da Costa, " we examine the Gospels in detail, as with a mi- croscope, the more diversities will multiply under our eyes ; but the more also shall we find these diversities consistent, and so consistent that they constitute in each of the four Gospels a particular and distinctive character. And when once we have found this special character of each Gospel, we have also found the way to bring all these real diversities and apparent contradictions into one final and harmonious unity." But after all, even in an intellectual point of view, the most effective method of studying the Gospels is with a direct application of their precepts to the duties and cir- cumstances of life. The philosophy of our day is experi- mental. Its truths and their value in each case are tested by experiment under the guidance of known facts. So the precepts of Christ, both in regard to their truthfulness and their value, are to be tested by being applied and carried out in practice. • The great interior principles of faith and love must be tried in our hearts ; and they must be carried out in our fidelity to the precepts and commands by which our external lives are to be regulated. In this way, the intellectual study of the Gospels, which often turas aside into eccentric vagaries or degenerates into lifeless and heart- less speculations, is tested by our own experiences, and the truths which it places before us as abstractions are filled out with the warmth and enthusiasm which are essential to them, and without which we can no more see them as they are, than we can understand the beauty of the flowering fields 3* 30 INTRODUCTION. as they are in June, from the dried specimens in the hands of a botanist, or the diagrams in his book. There is a spir- itual life flowing through every part of the Gospels, which have been created as living organisms, and not put together as pieces of mechanism ; and when in our own souls we have experienced that inward life, we see it in them and them in it. Every word that our Saviour spoke, every act that he did, has an organic completeness in itself, and is endowed with the power of perpetuating its own life ia the lives of others. Every portion of the Gospels has this essential vitality, a living and perpetual witness, to the soul which receives it, of the source from w^hich it came. Cut oft any one precept, and it grows out again from the parent stock. You cannot make it dead, so long as you test its vitality in your own soul. The separation of the intellectual study of the Gospels from the life in which their truths live and bloom, is a sad necessity, if it be a necessity, in the scientific education of theological students. It leads them, like the wandering spirit of old, into dry and desolate places, and opens before them the dreariest visions of holiness and faith. He who studies our Saviour's precepts about prayer, and never prays, can have, even intellectually, but a meagre idea of the subject. He who studies the great law of pre-eminence among his disciples (Matt. xx. 26) will make poor work with the doc- trine until he has sought to realize it in himself, not only by an outward show of obedience, but an inward subjection of his whole nature to its spirit. It is only by the union of study and practice that the highest ends of religions teaching can be gained. Then the marriage between the intellect and the heart will be completed, and from it will be born a life of faith and holiness and charity, which will grow up as the true and worthy offspring of such a union. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. It does not enter Into the design of this work to determine the authenticity or genuineness of the Gospels. We take that for granted, referring those who may wish to examine the matter thoroughly to Mr. Norton's " Genuineness of the Gospels " for the external evidence, and to Dr. Nichols's " Hours with the Evangelists " for the Internal evidence. We suppose the Gospel of St. Matthew to have been written by him in the language which was then spoken In Palestine and which is usually called the Aramaean or Aramaic, and to have been afterwards translated into Greek, either by the Apostle himself or by some other com- petent person. In the year 1842 a copy of the greater part of the Gospel of St. Matthew In the Syrlac language was obtained by Archdeacon Tattam from a Syrian monastery In the valley of the Natron Lakes, which was published In 1858 by William Cure- ton, D. D., Canon of Westminster, &c., which Is regarded by the very learned editor as among the oldest manuscript copies of the Gospel now known, and respecting which he does not hesitate to express his behef, that " It has, to a great extent, retained the Identical terms and expressions which the Apostle himself em- ployed ; and that we have here, In our Lord's discourses, to a great extent, the very same words as the Divine Author of our holy religion himself uttered In proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation In the Hebrew dialect to those who were listening to him, and through them to all the world." (Cureton's Syrlac Gospels, Pref , p. xclii.) The precise time when the Gospel was written is uncertain. "Were we," says Davidson (Introduc- tion to the New Testament, p. 136), "to express an opinion, we should be inclined to adopt A. D. 41, 42, or 43 as the most 32 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. probable." " The place where the Gospel was written is uni- formly said to have been Judaea." Davidson supposes it to have been written in Hebrew, and that the Greek version " must have been made before the close of the first century ; probably before the appearance of the Gospel of John." It is one of the tradi- tions respecting it, and it bears internal evidence to the same effect, that it was written particularly for the Jews. We sec marks of this intention, especially in the first chapters; but throughout the Gospel there is evidently a peculiar adaptation to the Jewish mind, particularly Avhen speaking of events as neces- sary in order to the fulfilment of the prophecies, and in the pains which are taken to set forth the ncAv religion as a fulfihnent, while the traditions of the Pharisees were only a perversion and abuse, of the Law and the Prophets. MATTHEW. CHAPTER I. 1-17. — The Lineage or Genealogy of Jesus. The Gospel of Matthew bears internal evidence of having been written by a Jew, and with particular reference to his own countrymen. We see marks of this design especially in the first chapters, which open the whole subject from a Jewish point of view, and in a manner particularly adapted to the feelings and habits of thought then existing among the Jews. The writer is not, as has been charged against him, imbued with their prejudices and their erroneous ideas re- specting the Messiah. But he has been educated as a Jew, and in sympathy with the Jewish mind. If he has also been introduced into a higher realm of spiritual life and thought, he is able to enter, as no one but a person born and brought up in a Jewish atmosphere could, into the views and feelings of his countrymen. By his appreciation of their state of mind, and his sympathy with them in their religious expec- tations, he is able to gain a hearing from them, while he turns in the direction of their strongest expectations, and shows how the prophetic writings find their fulfilment in Jesus. His quotations and allusions, his local and historical references, his mode of presenting what they would regard as objectionable subjects, his forms of expression and meth- ods of appeal through their early religious associations, are 34 MATTHEW I. 1-17. all adapted to the Jewish mind, and fitted to lead them, without any needless shock to their prejudices, into a recog- nition of Jesus as the Messiah. We have an instance of this in the opening words of the Gospel, " The lineage of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham." The term " son of David " seems to have been one held in the highest reverence among the Jews, even if it were not used, as it probably was, hke the word Messiah, to designate " him who was to come," their great "deliverer" and " redeemer." By the use of this term, therefore, Mat- thew at the beginning appeals to a national expectation, which he still encourages when, in a genealogy, probably copied from public registers whose authority was recognized by tlie Jews of his day, he traces step by step the descent of Jesus from their most powerful monarch, and through him from their most illustrious ancestor. The prejudice which otherwise might have led them to put aside with contempt the claims of a poor young man from Galilee, is thus removed at the very outset. Though Jesus of Naza- reth was despised and rejected of men, yet he was descended from a race of kings and patriarchs. We can scarcely con- ceive how this dry catalogue of hard words should rouse the national enthusiasm of a Jew by its roll of mighty names, and awaken his respect for one whose advent into the world had been prepared through such a line of an- cestors. In order that it should have any weight with the Jews, this table of names must have been copied from family registers which they recognized as authentic. Whatever view, therefore, we may take of the inspiration of the writer, our confidence In his accuracy cannot be affected by any omissions or mistakes that may be pointed out in the list of names. It is not on his authority as that of an inspired writer, but on their authority as records preserved and accepted by the Jews, that Matthew presents them to his countrymen. If he had been inspired to correct every MATTHEW I. 18-25. 35 mistake and supply every omission, every alteration that he made would serve only to destroy their authority with those for whom he was writing, and to excite their preju- dices against him. This view of the matter takes away altogether the force of objections to the accuracy of the Gospels, which are drawn from apparent discrepancies be- tween the genealogy here and that in Luke iii. 23-38. We have only to suppose them to be, as they unquestion- ably are, copies of different records, which had been kept in different places, and which varied from one another, either through want of exactness in the records, or in con- sequence of the different methods by which the line of an- cestors was brought down from a common original. The labored attempts, therefore, to reconcile these two lists of names with each other, or with records found in the Old Testament, however interesting they may be to ingenious scholars, can have no important bearing on the trustworthi- ness of the Gospels. 18-25. — Miraculous Conception. The account of the birth of Jesus which is given here and in the second chapter of Luke, has been a stumbling- block to many sincere minds, and is rejected as in itself incredible by some who accept as authentic the other evan- gelical accounts of miracles. But is there anything in the nature of things incredible in what is here recorded ? The great naturalists of our day recognize a succession of creative epochs, when higher types of physical life were introduced. The different orders of animals which have appeared from time to time were not slowly evolved by a process of de- velopment from lower orders previously existing, but one after another they have been introduced by separate and original acts of creation. Now, as the physical advance- ment of the world has thus been marked by distinct crea- tive epochs, might we not expect something of the same 36 MATTHEW I. 18-25. kind in its spiritual advancement ? " But how is it possible," we are asked, "that such an event as that recorded here and in the second chapter of Luke could take place?" How is it possible, we ask in reply, that a new order of animals should be introduced, or the first man created? We cannot understand these things, and our ignorance should make us slow in setting limits, not only to what is possible, but to what is probable, in the exercise of God's almighty and creative power. "Within certain spheres of creative action, where facts enough are ascertained to de- termine what is the estabhshed order of development and progress, as, for example, in the sciences of natural history, chemistry, and astronomy, we may draw our inferences with a good degree of certainty, and foretell what is to be from our knowledge of what has been. But even here we are not competent to decide beforehand when a new crea- tive epoch shall supervene upon the existing order of things in time to come, as it has in time past, or whether it shall come at all. Our knowledge does not reach far enough, — we have not ascertained facts enough, or with a sufficient degree of exactness, — to comprehend these widely separat- ed and therefore apparently extraordinary interpositions, or to reconcile them with what we know of the laws of nature. There was a time when the motion of comets was supposed to be wholly eccentric, and inconsistent with the laws of planetary motion. It only required a wider and more pre- cise knowledge of facts to reduce them all to the same law. So, unquestionably, it is in regard to the widely separated creative epochs in the physical universe. And have we not a right to infer, at least as not im- possible or in itself extremely improbable, something of the same kind in regard to those apparently anomalous inter- ventions by which a higher spiritual life has from time to time been brouglit into the workl ? Is it the part of a true philosophy to deny the alleged fact, because Ave can- not see far enough to reconcile it with our preconceived and MATTHEW I. 18-25. 37 limited ideas of nature and the natural order of events? In regard to the miraculous conception of Jesus by an immediate creative act of the divine spirit, may we not regard it as analogous to tho.^e creative epochs when new orders of plants or animals are first introduced ? As to the vulgar objection, that it involves an act which is in itself impossible, or at least utterly incredible, we may allow it to have some weight with us, when those who urge it show wherein the birth of a soul into the world by the immediate act of God, as here related, is in itself more impossible, or more utterly inexplicable to us, than the ordinary process by which a plant, an animal, or a human being is produced. The precise means by which hfe is perpetuated is just as much a mystery to us as the means by which it was origi- nally introduced with the first plant, or man, or with Jesus, who stands at the head of a new and spiritual creation. This much may be urged from their own stand-point against the conclusions of those who, on scientific grounds, reject this whole class of facts as lying outside of the order of nature. There are others, who believe in the Christian miracles, but reject the account of the miraculous conception as something plainly unnatural and improbable. Among these, perhaps at the head of this class of writers, is Dr. Furness, in the views which he has taken of this matter in the fresh, original, and beautiful works which he has pub- lished on Jesus of Nazareth. He lays great emphasis on the naturalness of the Christian miracles, — the ease with which they were evidently performed by Jesus in the natural exercise of his own faculties. But why were they so easy to him, unless because of the extraordinary powers with Avhich he was endowed ? He came to introduce a new epoch of spiritual life ; and, that it might be in conformity with the order of nature, must it not have been by a new act of creation ? He who stood at the head of this new era, by the natural exercise of his own powers uttering thoughts and doing deeds man never had done before, must 38 MATTHEW I. 18-25. have been endowed as man never had been before. And could these extraordinary endowments have been bestowed upon him in any way more in accordance with the order of nature than by the method here indicated, i. e. by a new act of creative power ? When speaking of nature as containing within itself all the powers and agencies of the universe, we must not con- fine ourselves to the limited operations which take place within our ordinary experience, but must leave room for those great secular interpositions which are equally a part of the divine system of nature, and which, at widely dis- tant intervals in the fulness of time, bring in new orders of beings and new eras of life. Immeasurably the greatest religious epoch since the creation of man was that which was introduced by Jesus. When we speak of it merely as of a new revelation, we fail utterly to express either its character or its greatness. Matthew and Luke, in their ac- count of the conception of Jesus by an immediate act of God's creative spirit ; the introduction to the Gospel of John respecting the word made flesh ; the language of Paul, as, e. g. in Col. i. 15 - 20, where he speaks of Christ as the first-born of every creature, and, not the revealer alone of divine truth, but the creator of new worlds of spiritual life and power, — are in this way brought into harmony with one another, with the account of his miracles, and witli the otherwise extraordinary language which he applied to himself. The Gospel account of the conception of Jesus comes as the fitting and natural introduction into the world of a divine life, which, growing up under the laws of our mortal and human condition, should, as a new creation, stand at the head of a new era in man*s history. Here, at its beginning on the earth, is a fountain high and large enough to fill all the streams of action, thought, and life which flow through the Gospel narratives. The knowl- edge, holiness, and power of Jesus, so far transcending all that man had known or been or done, are only on the same MATTHEW I. 22, 23. 39 high level as his birth. The beginning is needed, in order to account for that which follows. Without it, the miracles, and still more the terms in which Jesus constantly spoke of himself, would seem to us unnatural and monstrous. We accept, then, the account of the miraculous conception, not only because it is an undisputed part of the Gospel narratives, but because something of the kind is required by the higher and broader analogies of nature, and in order to the completeness of the Gospels themselves. 22, 23. — Prediction of Christ's Birth. The account of the miraculous conception of Jesus by a virgin would undoubtedly appear harsh and offensive to the Jewish mind. To soften this impression, the writer introduces from one of the most honored among the Jew- ish prophets language which so exactly describes the case before them that the whole matter presents itself as a fulfil- ment of the ancient prediction. The passage quoted from Isaiah vii. 14 is taken from the Septuagint version, where the word napOeuos, vii'gin, is used instead of a literal transla- tion of the less decisive Hebrew word, which means damsel, or a young and unmarried woman. This particular word, in the connection in which it is here given, is just the one to meet the Jewish feeling caused by the account of the birth of Jesus, and meet it all the more effectively because the purpose for which the passage is introduced is not stated. It is as if the writer, seeing how his Jewish read- ers were likely to be affected by an account so extraor- dinary, had said, " Here we may apply the words of the prophet, 'A virgin shall conceive and bear a son,'" — thus, in the very language of their sacred writings, describing that feature in the birth of Jesus which must have been most offensive to them. We are to regard the quotation as primarily brought forward less for the purpose of arguing from a prophecy fulfilled, than to soften their prejudices by 40 MATTHEW I. 22, 23. the literal application to the objectionable features of the case before them of language which they held sacred. Is the passage here quoted from Isaiah a prediction of the Messiah? To answer this question we must examine it in its original connection. There we find that Syria and Samaria have combined against Ahaz, king of Judah, who is greatly terrified and discouraged. The prophet an- nounces, as a sign to Ahaz, that a woman then unmarried shall bear a son, and call his name Immanuel (God-with- us, in token of God's presence), and before the child shall be old enough to know good from evil, the land whose two kings so terrified Ahaz should be desolate. This, as any one who reads the whole chapter (Noyes's Translation) must see, is the only application required or suggested by the language. May it not, however, in accordance with the divine in- tention, be taken up out of its original surroundings, and as a prophetic declaration find its highest and truest fulfil- ment in some remote and entirely different class of events ? " Often," says Bengel, " predictions are quoted in the New Testament which the original hearers were undoubtedly re- quired by the divine purpose to apply to events then taking place. But the same divine purpose, looking farther on, so framed the language that it might fit more exactly the times of the Messiah, and this divine purpose, the Apostles teach, we are readily to accept." "The difhculty," says Olshausen, (Commentary on Gospels, Matthew i. 22, 23,) "can be removed by our acknowledging in the Old Testa- ment prophecies a twofold reference to a present lower subject and to a future higher one. With this suppo- sition, we can everywhere adhere to the immediate, simple, grammatical sense of the words, and still recognize the quotations of tlie New Testament as prophecies in the full sense. And it belongs to the peculiar adjustment and arrangement of the Scripture, that the life and substance of the Old Testament were intended as a mirror of the MATTHEW I. 41 New Testament life, and that in the person of Christ par- ticularly, as the representative of the New Testament, all the rays of the Old Testament ideas are concentrated as in their focus." We may admit the general principle here stated. The only objection to applying it in the case before us is the want of sufficient evidence that this particular passage was intended, either by the prophet or the evangeHst, to be so understood. On reading carefully the whole passage in Isaiah, from the beginning of the seventh chapter to the eighth verse of the ninth chapter in Dr. Noyes's Transla- tion, we cannot free ourselves from the impression, that though the seventh chapter standing by itself might indi- cate no allusion to the Messiah, yet the extraordinary pas- sage beginning with the last verse of the eighth and reach- ing through the first seven verses of the ninth chapter can hardly be understood in any other way than as pointing on to the times of the Messiah ; and if so, as giving some countenance to those who interpret vii. 14 as in a secondary sense applying to the same distant event. For the opposite view, see Dr. Palfrey's able, ingenious, and elaborate work on " The Relation between Judaism and Christianity." NOTES. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of Da- 2 vid, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac ; and Isaac begat Jacob ; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren. 1. Jesus Christ] In the body truthfulness in the writers of the of the Gospel, where Jesus is spoken New Testament. the sou of as present and actins:, he is never of David] i. e. the true Messiah, called by his official title, Christ, ihe " For by no more common or more Messiah^ or ikea7iointed,thou(r:h he is proper iiame did the Jewish nation constantly so called in the Acts and point out the iSIessiah, than by the the Epistles. This is one of the son of David. See Matt. xii. 23, slight but unmistakable marks of xxi. 9, xxii. 42 ; Luke xviii. 38 ; 4* 42 MATTHEW I. And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar. And Phares 3 begat Esrom ; and Esrom begat Aram ; and Aram begat 4 Aminadab ; and Aminadab begat Naasson ; and Naasson begat Sahnon ; and Salmon begat Booz of Rachab. And Booz be- 5 gat Obed of Ruth. And Obed begat Jesse ; and Jesse begat 6 David the king. And David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias. And Solomon begat Roboam ; 7 and Roboam begat Abia ; and Abia begat Asa ; and Asa be- s gat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias ; and Ozias begat Joatham ; and Joatham begat Achaz ; 9 and Achaz begat Ezekias ; and Ezekias begat Manasses ; and lo Manasses begat Amon ; and Amon begat Josias; and Josias ii begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon. — And after they were brought to 12 Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel ; and Salathiel begat Zoro- babel ; and Zorobabel begat Abiud ; and Abiud begat Elia- 13 kim ; and Ellakim begat Azor ; and Azor begat Sadoc ; and 14 Sadoc begat Achim ; and Achim begat Eliud ; and Eliud be- 15 gat Eleazar ; and Eleazar begat Matthan ; and Matthan begat Jacob ; and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of 16 whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. So all the 17 generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations ; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are four- teen generations ; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise : when as his is mother Mary Avas espoused to Joseph, before they came to- gether, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then 19 Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make and everywhere in the Talmudic ]\Ianasseh, &:c. 17. from writers." "^ Lightfoot. 8. and Abraham to David are four- Joram begat Ozias] Ozias was teen generations] Only thirteea not the son of Joram, but there are here given. One name may have were three kings between them, — slipped out of the account; but, as Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah. In Lightfoot states, literal exactness in the Syriac version edited by Dr. numbers was not regarded by the Cureton, these names are supplied. Jews. 19. Then Joseph In these genealogical tables it was her husband] It was the cus- not unusual to omit several genera- tom among the Jews for a man tions, and to reckon the legal grand- to be betrothed to a woman some son or great-grandson as if he were time before he actually took her a son. Ozias is tlie Greek name from her father's house to live with for Uzziah, as Achaz is for Ahaz, her as his wife. During this inter- Ezekias for Hezekiah, Manasses for val she was considered his wife, MATTHEW I. 43 her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. 20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying : Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife ; for that 21 which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS; for he 22 shall save his people from their sins. (Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the find was legally liable for any mis- conduct, the same as if tliey had actually come together in marriage. If Joseph, therefore, had instituted proceedings against Mary for con- jugal infidelity, the legal penalty, a disgraceful divorce or perhaps death, would have been exacted. The word translated j«/s<, diKaios, does not bear the meaning viercifal, which is sometimes put \ipon it. A paraplu-ase closer to the original would be : " But Joseph, her "hus- band, though a just man, [and there- fore unable to countenance what seemed to him a violation of the law,] yet not wishing to expose her [to unnecessary shame or suffer- ing], had made" up his mind to put her away privately ; " not, however, without" a Avriting of divorce, as that would have been unlawful. For the law of divorce, see Deut. xxii. 23, xxiv. 1. 20. in a dream] This mode of divine com- munication, i. e. through a dream, is mentioned nowhere in the New Testament but here and in the next chapter, unless we regard the dream of Pilate's wife, xxvii. 19, as of the same character. 21. and thou shalt call his name Jesus] i. e. Saviour, — in Hebrew, the same name as Joshua. for he shall save his people from their sins] The true character of his salvation, namely, salvation from sin rather than from its penal- ties, is here distinctly set forth. his people] not the' Jews alone, but all who accept him as their Sav- iour. 22. that it might be fulfilled, &c.] "lua, that. " It is impossible," says Alford, "to in- terpret tva in any other sense than ' in order that.' The words ' all this was done,' and the uniform usage of the New Testament, in which ifa is never used except in this sense, forbid any other." We are surprised at so unqualified a state- ment. Winer, the ablest writer on the Grammar of the New Testa- ment, though he insists on design as the primary and almost iiniforra meaning of the Avoi-d, is yet obliged to allow that there are cases (e. g. John i. 27, iv. 34, vi. 7, xv. 8, xvi. 7 ; Matt, xviii. 6; Luke xi. 50, xvii. 2, &c.) where ''the original import of the particle of design entirely dis- appears." Winer, xliv. 8, c. (Mas- sou's Tr., Am. ed. p. 354). Sophocles, in his learned work, " A Glossary of Later and Byzantine Greek," Intro- duct., § 95, says : " hi later and By- zantine Greek, iva often denotes a result; that is, it has the force of (oare, that, so that, so as.'^ And this he proves by many examples. Purpose or design is not then neces- sarily implied by the word Lva. On the contrary, it is also used to de- note result as well as purpose ; e. g. Luke ix. 45 : " But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that [lva, so that] they per- ceived it not." This passage, we think, furnishes the key to the pas- sage here, and to the same form of exi^ression. Matt. ii. 15, iv. 14, xxi. 4, xxvii. 35. In every one of these instances, so that is a better trans- lation of lva than in order that. It is equally in conformity Avith the orammatical usage of the Greek word, and evidently better describes the use that is made of the prophe- cies. The Evangelist does not mean to sav, these events occuired in order'^that the words of the prophet 44 MATTHEW I. prophet, saying: "Behold, a virgin shall be "with child, and 23 shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanu- el;" which, being interpreted, is, God with us.) Then Joseph, 24 being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bid- den him ; and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till 25 she had brought foi-th her first-born son; and he called his name Jesus. might be fulfilled," but " they occurred in such a manner that US a resul*^ the words of the proph- et were fulfilled in them." 22. might be fulfilled] TrXTjpcodf]. AVhat is meant by fulji lied f The literal meaning of this word hjilled, or filed aut. Thus :Matt. v. 17: " Think not that I come to destroy the law or the prophets : I come not to destroy, but to fulfil;" i. e. I come to carry out to its complete and spirituaf fulfilment the law whose burdensome forms, once a help, are now a hindrance to the Avork for which it Avas given. To fulfil, in this case, is not, therefore, a literal fulfilment, — for in the lit- eral sense of the Avords, Jesus did come to destroy the law ; but it Avas to fulfil the laAv in a different and higher sense than had preAiously been thought of The same, Ave suppose, is also true in regard to the prophets. Not always in a literal sense, but in their deepest and highest meaning, in the diA'ine truth and life, the spiritual re- demption and deliA'crance towards Avhich they Avere pointing, their Avords are fulfilled in Jesus. So, in other waj^s, in an inferior sense, BA'en one Avhich though literal may lacA^er haA-e occurred to them, spe- cific Avords Avhich they ixsed may liaA'e been fulfilled in particular in- cidents connected Avith his life, i. e. may be used to describe them, as in the passage before us. See also Notes on ii. 5, 15, 17, 23 ; xxi. 4. For a fuller exposition of the subject of Prophecy, see xxiv. 23. Behold^ a virgin] The first clause of this sentence is the emphatic one. The name Em- manuel, Avhich is found noAvhere else in the New Testament, Avas not giA'- en to Jesus. He Avas not so named by his parents. He never assumed the name himself, and Avas never so called by his disciples. It Avas di- rected to be given to a child men- tioned in Is. vii. 14, Avho Avas to be born in the reign of Ahaz, and Avho Avas to be to him a sign that God Avas Avith him. " The mere use of such a name." says Dr. Barnes, " Avould not proA'e that he had a di- vine nature," especially, Ave might add, Avhen there is no evidence that he CA'^er bore the name. It does, hoAvever, unquestionabl}'- describe the mission of our Saviour, in Avhom God Avas Avith us, manifesting him- self in the flesh, and reconciling the Avorld to himself. The JeAvs Avere in the habit of giving significant ti- tles to their great men. Thus the original name of Joshua Avas O.-^hea or Saviour, and Moses, Num. xiii. 16, called liim Jehoshua, Avhich means the salvation of God. FJi moans .lAy God; Elijah, ^fy God Jthovuh ; Eli- sha, God the Saviour. iJo. her first-born son] Tischendorf, in conformity Avith the reading in some of the best manuscripts, leaves out the Avord frst-born ; but Alford re- tains it, with the remark that the omission " Avas evidently made from superstitious veneration for Ma- ry." The perpetual virginitv of the mother of Jesus, as held by the Roman Catholic Chm-ch, is not implied or iutiniuted here by either reading. MATTHEW II. 1-12. 45 CHAPTER II. 1-12. — Visit of the AVisp: Men, or Magi. The remarkable event in this chapter, at least that which gives the greatest trouble to those who would understand in all its bearings every particular connected with the Gos- pel narratives, is the visit of the Magi, or wise men, under the guidance of a star, or some extraordinary luminous appearance in the heavens. A vast deal of learning has been expended upon the subject without coming to any satisfactory results. It has never been definitely ascer- tained who these wise men were, or what was the precise appearance in the heavens that brought them to Bethlehem. All that can be learned is, that there was at that time a widely extended expectation in the East of the birth, in that part of the world, of some one who was to have an extraordinary influence on human affairs. Jews, in their various national misfortunes, and the migrations consequent upon them, had mingled as permanent residents with the people beyond their eastern borders. They had undoubt- edly carried with them their religious notions, and par- ticularly the prophetic expectations of the Messiah, which had entered so deeply into the heart of the nation. Their ablest and wisest men would naturally be brought into connection with the corresponding classes whom they might meet in foreign lands, and in the interchange of ideas with one another whatever was most remarkable in the science or religious systems of either would become the common property of all. Thus there may have been in those Eastern regions men of devout and earnest hearts, waiting anxiously 46 MATTHEW II. 1-15^. for pome new manifestation from Heaven, and for pome new and higher agency to go forth amid the confused and otherwise hopeless affairs of the world. When the fulness of time had come, a sign was given to them. As, to the shepherds at Bethlehem, who as Jews were accustomed to the idea of angelic ministrations, a vision of angels an- nounced the birth of the Messiah, so to the Magi, who were accustomed to look to the heavenly bodies for por- tents of earthly changes, a star or other brilliant light in heaven was given as an indication of the great event for which they had been waiting. Probably they had already fixed on Judaea, and of course on Jerusalem, the capital of Judcea, as the scene of the long-expected events. The often quoted passages from the Roman historians, Suetonius and Tacitus, both refer to Judaea as the place from which, according to expectations generally prevalent in the East, a man was destined, about that time, to come and obtain the empire of the world. Pliny not improbably had refer- ence to something of the same kind in calling Jerusalem (H. N., 1. 5, c. 15) "by far the most illustrious city, not only of Judiea, but of the East," since in outward splendor it was greatly inferior to other Eastern cities. The place, therefore, was fixed and known. When the unusual ap- pearance in the sky was seen, which the wise men ac- cepted as a signal to announce the birth of the expected deliverer, they knew at once to what place it would lead them. Carrying the gifts which, with their Eastern ideas and habits, they regarded as most worthy to be offered on such a visit, they hastened to Jerusalem, and made known the object of their journey. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were deeply moved by the report of their coming. The hoary -headed monarch, whose long reign of cruelty and blood was soon to find a fitting termination in the horrible and loathsome disease which closed his miserable life, had, of course, his cruel suspicions excited by any reference at that time to the birth of a MATTHEW II. 1-12. 47 king. Only a short time before, more than six thousand of the Pharisees (Josephus, Ant. 17. 2. 4) had refused the oath of allegiance to him, and foretold " how God had de- creed that his government should cease, and his posterity be deprived of it." He put to death their leading men ; but, sitting on a throne to which as a foreigner he could have no rightful claim, the Iduma^an Herod was not the man to forget their predictions, or anything else that might stand in the way of his regal power and its continuance in his family. But it would not do to let his fears be known. Cloaking, therefore, his murderous intention under an affectation of reverence for the predicted Messiah, he called together the chief priests and the scribes, who as teachers of the law were most thoroughly versed in the sacred writings, and asked them where the Christ, or the Messiah, was to be bora. The inquest which he made, and the manner in which it was received and answered, prove how general and how strong among the Jews the expectations of the Messiah were. The leading minds of the nation evidently felt, themselves to be on the eve of the extraordinary series of events which had been foretold by their prophets centu- ries before, and which had always been kept up in the expectations of the people. Having learned the particular place of the Messiah's birth, the wise men set out for Bethlehem. While on their way, they were gladdened exceedingly by seeing again the star which they had seen while in the East, and which now showed itself in such a direction that it seemed to be leading them forward, till on their reaching the place it appeared to stand over the spot where the young child was. The expression, "to stand over a place," in its ap- plication to a heavenly body, was not foreign to ancient modes of speech. Josephus, in enumerating the portents which went before the destruction of Jerusalem, speaks of a comet which "stood over the city," in precisely the same form of words that is here applied to the star. 48 MATTHEW II. 1-12. Bethlehem was a small town six or seven miles south of Jerusalem, but endeared to the Jewish heart by many precious historical associations. Within its limits, on the Avay to Jerusalem, Rachel, the favorite wife of Jacob, had died and was buried. There was the scene of most of the affecting events recorded in the beautiful pastoral of Ruth. There was the residence of Jesse, and there the genius and the devotions of David had been called out while tending his father's flocks amid its hills. There, by the consecrating oil of the aged Samuel he had been set apart for the kingly office. And there, five hundred years later, according to Jewish traditions, but we know not on what authority, Avas the birthplace of Zerubbabel, who led back the captive Jews from Babylon, and rebuilt their temple. Bethlehem abounds in high hills, from which the Dead Sea, and the mountains beyond its eastern shore, are visi- ble. Some have supposed that the star which attracted the wise men in the East was the luminous appearance (the glory of the Lord shining round about them) which the shepherds, Luke ii. 9, saw on the night of the nativity, and which from those lofty hills might have been seen far to the eastward. But this will not account for the star which the Magi saw on reaching Bethlehem. Some have supposed that it was a comet; others, and Trench among them, have thought that it was a peculiar star, like that which shone out suddenly in Cassiopeia, Novem- ber 11, 1572, and which, after surpassing in apparent size all the fixed stars, and even the planet Jupiter, being sometimes distinctly seen at midday, gradually decreased, till, sixteen months after it was first seen, it seemed to go out entirely, and no traces of it have been discov- ered since. This star was observed and reported by Tycho Brahe, the most illustrious astronomical observer of his day. Another star, yet more remarkable, appeared in 1604, at the same time with, and in the immediate neigh- MATTHEW II. 1-12. 49 borliood of, a remarkable conjunction of the planets Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, — " such a conjunction," says Trench, (in his " Star of the Wise Men," p. 32,) "as, occurring at rarest intervals, must yet have occurred as regarded the first two planets in 747, and all three in 748 A. U. C. ; in years, that is, either of them very likely to have been, and one of which most probably was, the true Annus Domini." But these speculations, though they may possibly j^oint to a true solution of the phenomena in question, do not seem to us of much consequence. "With the birth of Christ we are introduced into a sphere of higher than material agencies. From the first inception of his earthly being, in the overshadowing power and spirit of the Most High, to the time when he " was taken up " from his disciples, " and a cloud received him out of their sight," Jesus was at- tended by powers which come not usually within the cog- nizance of the senses, and of which our natural philoso- phy, limited as it is by the observation of physical facts through the senses, can render no adequate account. They belong to a province of divine agencies into which we have not been permitted to enter far enough to be able to speak with any certainty of the conditions or the ex- tent of their influence on human affairs or the material universe. When once we are brought, as we are by the life of Jesus, into the realm of miraculous manifestations, it is idle to attempt to explain them by principles drawn from the narrow and unwieldy phenomena of physical sci- ence. The anniversary of the wise men offering their gifts to the infant Jesus has been celebrated in most Christian churches as the Epiphany, or manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. The wise men are regarded by the Roman Catholic Church as kings who came from different parts of India, and to them has been applied the language of the seventy-second Psalm, " The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts," " and to him shall be given of the gold 5 D 50 MATTHEW 11. 16 -IS. of Sheba," Each of the gifts also has its mystical signifi- cation,— the gold, a royal offering, indicating his kingly office, the frankincense denoting his heavenly origin, and the myrrh (in about a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes his body afterwards was laid, John xix. 39) prefiguring his death. These are fanciful interpretations, but probably they come nearer to the reverential feeling which they were employed to express, than any meaning that we can arrive at through the researches of natural history. In all ages of the world, especially in those Eastern regions, the devout and lowly in heart have delighted in offering up whatever was most beautiful and precious, as a token of inward reverence and affection. In this way gold and gems and precious gums and ointments became invested with hallowed associations, and spoke to the soul with a grace and charm that we in our cold climate can poorly comprehend. A Judas might count the pecuniary cost of such gifts, and wise men in our day, whose wisdom is wholly absorbed in estimating their outward value, may exclaim about the waste in matters of sentiment. But the Saviour has recognized in such gifts a deeper and holier worth than any merely pecuniary value, even though it were to be expended upon the poor. 16-18. — Murder of the Children in Bethlehem. The account of the murder of the innocents has been set aside as unhistorical, because it is mentioned by no other historian, and because it has been thought to be a crime too foolish and too atrocious even for the crafty and cruel Herod. But the craftiest men are often taken in their own craftiness. Their roundabout, underhanded, complicated plans for the accomplishment of what might be done so much more easily by some direct means, often fail of their purpose, and in the result appear like folly. "Any one," says Trench, "who is acquainted with, and MATTHEW II. 16 - 18. 51 calls to mind, the cruel precautions of Eastern monarchs, in times past and present, in regard of possible competi- tors for their throne, often making an entire desolation, even of their own kindred round them, will see in this what many an Eastern monarch would have done, — what certainly a Herod would not have shrunk from doing." His jealousy, which had been excited by the errand of the wise men, was changed to rage when he found that they had eluded, and, as he proudly considered it, "mocked" him. He determined therefore, in his wrath, to secure the destruction which he had designed for one of the chil- dren of Bethlehem by a summary act of vengeance on all. This was entirely in keeping with all that we know of Herod. " The man," says Trench, " who could put his wife and three of his own sons to death, who made a soli- tude round him by the slaughter of so many of his friends, who could kill, under semblance of sport, as he did, the youthful high-priest, Aristobulus ; who, when he was him- self dying by horrible and loathsome diseases, so far from being softened, or owning the hand of God, which every one else saw therein, could devise such a devilish wicked- ness as that narrated by Josephus, to secure weeping and lamentation at his death,* would have had little scruple in conceiving or carrying out an iniquity such as the sacred historian lays here to liis- charge." Nor would the crime be one of so remarkable a character that historians like Tacitus or Josephus would be unlikely to omit it in their * According to Josephus, Antiq., Lib. XVII. c. 6, s. 6-8, " It troubled him greatly to anticipate the joy which there Avould be among the Jews at his death ; and with the purpose of turning this joy into weeping, he got together from every city the chief personages of the land, whom he shut up in the Hippodrome of Jericho, where he lay dying. He then obtained a promise from his sister Salome and her husband, that, the instant he expired, these all should be slain, so that, although none wept and la- mented him, there should yet be abundant weeping and lamentation at his death. His intentions were not better fulfilled than those of tp-ants after their deaths commonly are." 52 MATTIIEAV II. 6, 15. imperfect catalogue of his crimes. The act was one of no i^ohtical imjDortance. The number of children mur- dered has been greatly exaggerated in the popular mind. " From two years old, and under," in the Jewish mode of reckoning, probably means, downward from those who have entered on their second year, or, as we should say, under one year old. In a small place like Bethlehem they could hardly have numbered more than ten or fifteen, and these might have been put out of the way without any public commotion by the practised and accomplished agents of a tyrant like Herod. Quotations from the Prophets. G. The references to the Old Testament in this chapter are Avorthy of notice. The quotation here from Micah v. 2 is given, not merely as an important historical fact in its relation to the inquiries of Herod, but as showing that the great Jewish council, or Sanhedrim at Jerusalem, com- posed of the chief priests and the men most learned in the law, had fixed on Bethlehem, Avhere Jesus had just been born, as the birthplace of the jMessiah. The ancient prophet, therefore, as interpreted by the highest relig- ious authority recognized among the Jews, accorded with the writer as to the place of the Messiah's birth. This must at the outset have had great weight with those whose favorable attention Matthew wished particularly to gain. It is not Ms opinion of the application of the prophecy that is given, but the deliberately expressed opinion of those whom they looked up to as their authorized teachers in such matters. See John vii. 42. 15. The second quotation, " Out of Egypt have I called my Son,'' Hos. xi. 1, is given as one of the coincidences in language and in fact which could not but strike those who regarded both as sacred, and who thus through their relijjious associations would be led on in the narrative MATTHEW II. 17, 18. 53 with less violent antipathies. "Whether Israel, (whom God here calls his son,) coming up out of Egypt to receive and to perpetuate the knowledge of the true God through the laws and institutions appointed by him, was or was not held forth by the 25i*ophet as a type of that greater Son of God now coming from Egypt, who was to exercise a yet mightier influence in the advancement of God's kingdom through the earth, is of little consequence, so far as the writer's purpose or the pertinency of the quotation is concerned. 17, 18. The third quotation is from Jeremiah xxxi. 15. Jerusalem had been taken and destroyed by Nebuzaradan. The Jewish nobles had been slain, and after the sons of the king, Zedekiah, had been murdered in his sight, his own eyes were put out. The people were gathered together in chains at Ramah, a city of Ephraim, probably about six miles northward from Jerusalem, whence they were to be- gin their wearisome and sorrowful journey towards Babylon, the land of their long captivity. The prophet Jeremiah, who had been one of the captives, and who is now pre- dicting the joyful return of his people from their bondage, contrasts their future gladness with the feelings of that dismal day when they were taking their departure from Ramah with such lamentation and bitter weeping, that it seemed as if Rachel, the wife of their common ancestor, were there, as a mother, weeping for her children, and re- fusing to be comforted because they were not. This strik- ing and beautiful figure the Evangelist has transferred to Bethlehem, to represent the lamentation, weeping, and great mourning caused by the murder of the children. The image of Rachel rising from her tomb and weeping there is rendered more appropriate by the fact that her grave was near Bethlehem, in the midst of those who had been sacrificed by that barbarous act of cruelty. Whether Jere- miah used language which, besides describing the sorrows at Ramah and tlie joyful return of the Jews from Babylon, pointed on in prophetic vision to the sorrows of Bethlehem, 5* 54 MATTHEW II. 23. and the more joyful deliverance whicli should thence ensue, is not clearly announced, though the chapter, taken as a "whole, seems to abound in words expressive of a grandeur and magnificence too rich and vast to find their entire ful- filment in the restoration of the Jews from Babylon. There is n'othing distinctly said in the Gospel beyond the appli- cation of the passage to the mourning at Bethlehem ; but if the Jews regarded it as being in some sense one of their Messianic prophecies, the few words quoted might carry their minds unconsciously on, from the parallel be- tween the sorrows at Ramah and at Bethlehem, to the higher coincidence between the joys of the deliverance from the captivity at Babylon and the grander deliverance for which they were looking forward to the Messiah. The force of such allusions comes through the fine but power- ful associations which cannot be expressed in words, far more than through any direct or logical appeal to the un- derstanding. Dr. W. M. Thomson, in his work on Palestine, says (Vol. II. p. 503) in regard to this quotation: " The poetic accom- modation of Jeremiah was natural and beautiful. Of course it is accommodation. The prophet himself had no thought of Herod and the slaughter of the infants." That is, in his opinion (and the facts of the case, as far as known, certainly go to sustain him in it), the language of Jere- miah is here quoted, not as a prediction of this event, but merely as furnishing words Avhich describe the sharp- ness of the sorrow caused by Herod's cruelty. 23. The fourth apparent quotation from the Old Testa- ment is of a different kind. " That it might be fulfilled Avhich was spoken by the prophets, ' He shall be called a Kazarone.' '* No such passage is to be found in the Old Testament. Dr. Palfrey supposes that the reference is to Judges xiii. 5, " He shall be a Nazarite." Tischendorf makes the reference to Isaiah xi. 1, where the word translated Branch is in Hebrew Netser or Nazer. But MATTHEW II. 55 the term Nazarene was one of contempt and disgrace, as the place, and everything belonging to it, John i. 46, were despised among the Jews. When, therefore, St. Matthew speaks of Jesus as dwelling in Nazareth, and of course bearing the despised name of Nazarene, he would soften the jirejudice thus awakened, by intimating, though in ob- scure terms, that even thus he was fulfilling in himself what had been spoken by the prophets of the Messiah, as one despised and rejected of men. The form of speech, " by the prophets," is unlike that which occurs anywhere else in the Gospels when a quotation is made from a par- ticular Avriter, and of itself would seem to imply that an idea expressed by different prophets, rather than the spe- cific language of any one writer, was what was referred to as fulfilled in Jesus, Avhen he was called by that mean and offensive name. This is the interpretation given by Kuinoel, Olshausen, Trench, and others, and seems to us more natural than any other. But we are too far re- moved from the times and habits of the writer, and those for whom he wrote, to speak with certainty of allusions which appealed so delicately to their finer sensibilities through the associations growing out of their religious culture NOTES. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judsea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east 2 to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the 1. Herod the king] " Herod the days after he had put to death his Great, son of Antipater, an Iduma^an son Antipater, in the seventieth year by an Arabian mother, made king of his age and the thirty-eighth of of Judaea on occasion of his having his reign, and the 750th year of fled to Rome, being driven from his Rome. The events here related tetrarcliy by the pretender Antigo- took place a short time before his mis, and confirmed in his office by death." Alford. 2. Where Augustus Caesar after the battle of is he that is born King of the Actium. He died miserably, five Jews ?] " There had prevailed in 56 MATTHEW II. Jews ? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. "When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him ; and when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judtea ; for thus it is written by the prophet : " And thou, Be'thlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda ; for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.'* Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared, and he sent them to Bethlehem, and said : Go and search dili- gently for the young child ; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed. And, lo, the all tlie East an ancient and con- stant expectation that, according to the fates, men comina: from ' Judrea should rule the -world,' rerwn poti- rentur." Suetonius, Yesp. c. 4. " ]\Iany had been persuaded that it was contained in the ancient Avrit- inor- of the priests, that the East should prevail, and that men com- ing from Judiea should rule the w6rld." Tacitus, Hist. V. 13. to worship him] " To do homage to him in the Eastern fash- ion of prostration." Alford. 2. Some readers may be interested in the following statement, which is borrowed from astronomical calcu- lations, by Alford: — "In the year of Home '747, on the 20th of May, there was a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the twentieth degree of the constellation Pisces, close to the first point of Aries, which was the part of the heavens noted in as- trological science as that in Avhich the signs denoted the greatest and most noble events. On the 27th of October, in tlic same year, another conjunction of the same planets took place, in the sixteenth degree of risces; and on the 12th of Novem- ber a third, in the fifteenth degree of the same sign. On these last two occasions the planets were so near, that an ordinary eye would regard them as one star of surpassing brightness. Supposing the magi to have seen the^rsf of tliese conjunc- tions, they saw it actually ' in the east;' for on the 20th of ^lay it would rise shortly before the sun. If they then took their journey, and arrived at Jerusalem in a little more than five months, (the journey from Babylon took Ezra four months, see Ezra vii. 9,) if they performed the route from Jerusale'm to Bethlehem in the evening, as is implied, the No- vember conjiuiction in the fifteenth degree of Pisces Avould be before them in the direction of Bethlehem, coming to the meridian about eight o'clock, P. M. These circumstan- ces would seem to form a remarka- ble coincidence with the history in our text." 4. And when he [Herod] had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together] This was prob- ably a meeting of the Jewish San- hedrim, which consisted of seventy- one members, and was at that time the highest religious tribunal known among the Jcavs, being composed of priests, Levitcs, and Israelites. The scribes were the teachers and inter- preters of the law. fl. And thou, Bethlehem] This free ver- sion of !Micah v. 2 is given as the report or answer of the Sanhedrim MATTHEW II. 57 star, wliicli they saw In the east, went before tliem, till it came 10 and stood over where the young child was. When they saw 11 the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy ; and when they were come Into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him ; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto 12 him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. 13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying : Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word ; for Herod will seek the young 14 child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child 15 and his mother by night, and departed Into Egypt ; and was there until the death of Herod ; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying : " Out of 16 Egypt have I called my Son." Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth ; and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethle- hem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired 17 of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by IS Jeremy the prophet, saying: "In Eama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weejiing, and great mourning ; Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because 19 they are not." But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel 20 of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying : Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel ; for they are dead which sought the young 21 child's life. And he arose, and took the young child and his 22 mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard to Herod. 9. the star] " If ular language is so universally in- it is to be understood as standing accurate, and the Scriptures so over the house, and thus indicating generally use popular language, it to the maf^i tlie position of the ob- is surelv not the letter, "but the ject of their search, the whole inci- spirit ol^ the nan-ative with which dent must be i-egarded as miracu- we are concerned.'" Alford. lous. But this is not necessarily 14. and departed into implied, even if the -words of the Egypt] where, at no very great text be litei-ally imdcrstood; and in distance from Jerusalem, and witli- a matter like astronomy, where pop- in a Eoman province, he would be 58 MATTIIEAV IT. that Arclielaus did reign in Judsea, in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither; notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth ; 23 safely beyond Herod's jurisdiction. '22. Archelaus] succeed- ed his father, and at first claimed to be a king; but he never had the title of king conferred upon him by the Iioman Emperor. In the ninth year of his government he was re- moved from office. 23. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth] Had we only this Gospel, "vve should certainly infer that Joseph and ilary had previously lived in Bethlehem, and now Avent into Galilee to reside as in a strange place, while Luke (ii. 4, 39) speaks of them as coming up from Nazareth to Bethlehem imme- diately befoi-e the birth of Jesus, and retiu-ning again to Nazareth, ap- parently without any delay after the rites of purification had been perfonned, which, according to the law, Avould be forty days after his birth. How is this account of Luke's to be reconciled Avith Mat- thew's account of the flight into Egypt, Avhich covered the whole time between the birth of Jesus and the death of Herod ? It is impossi- ble to determine how long a time that was, because it cannot be de- termined with certaintv in what year Jesus was bora. I^ut on any hypotliesis it is difficult to recon- cile the accounts of the two Evan- gelists. The magi could hardly have reached Bethlehem before the purification in the temple; for the remarkable circumstances connect- ed with that event (Luke ii. 22-30) must in that case have attracted the now awakened and jealoiis atten- tion of Herod. Both the visit of the magi and the residence in Egypt then probably occurred after the purification and before the return to Nazareth. But if Luke had been aware of these events, would he have omitted all notice of them? Does his account, " And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they re- turned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth," leave room for the iii- tervening residence in Egypt? The subject will be ni-re fully discussed when we come to treat of the Gos- pel of Luke. In the mean time, it is well to remember, that, in these very brief and rapid sketches of events in our Saviour's life, there must, from the very character of the nar- rative, be abiiipt transitions from one event to others which occurred at a wholly different time, and un- der entirely different circumstances. The Gospel of Matthew or Luke is not much longer than a eulogy on some eminent man. One Evange- list, in his bi-ief sketch, having his mind particiilarly interested in one class offacts connected with the birth of Jesus, might speak of tlie visit of the magi, the ciaieltj'- of Herod, and the consequent flight to Egypt, while another might select a wholly dif- ferent class of facts, and speak of the annunciation, the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the vision seen by the shepherds, the circum- cision, the purification, and the sub- sequent removal back to Nazareth, without giving any ground to infer that either was ignorant of what the other has recorded, or that be- cause one has related one class of events, therefore the other class of events, which purjiorts to have oc- curred at nearly the same time, coidd not have taken place. Both the Evangelists together fail to relate a hundredth part of the inciden's which interested those then living in Palestine within two years of the birth of Jesus. Nothing' is more un- safe than to infer a contradiction from a want of coincidence in two ."uch narratives; for in each of them, from a great abundance of facts and sayings, — so many, says John, that the world could not colitain them if they should all be written, — the wn-iter makes such selections as may best suit his purpose, and uses them, MATTHEW II. 59 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. generally without indicating the precisie time to which they relate. We shall find, as we go on, that it will not do to take any one of the Gospels as a precise chronological statement of events; still less as an account intended to embrace all the facts belonging to any one period of our Saviour's life. As respects the birth of Jesus, Mark and John say nothing; Matthew relates one series of events intimately connected, and Luke another, while both, except- ing a single incident, Luke ii. 41 - 52, pass over the whole period of his childhood and youth till he was about thirty years of age. 60 MATTHEW III. CHAPTER III. John the Baptist. There was, as we have already seen, among the Jews, a general but indefinite expectation of the Messiah, which had only been strengthened by their national vicissitudes and misfortunes. While they were scattered through distant lands, mingling with other nations, and in some measure adopting their philosophical ideas, the particular form which this expectation assumed varied with the place of their sojourn and their individual habits of thought. " Each region," says Milman, "each rank, each sect: the Baby- lonian, the Egyptian, the Palestinian, the Samaritan ; the Pharisee, the lawyer, the zealot, arrayed the Messiah in those attributes which suited his own temperament." Some one was needed in Judasa .to give consistency to these vary- ing expectations, and especially to give them new intensity and power by announcing as already at hand that kingdom of God to which they had been pointing forward through so many centuries. This was the ofhce assigned to the Bap- tist. He was not a follower of Christ, but only the herald to announce his coming. It was not given to him as it was to the disciples of Jesus, (Matt. xiii. 11,) "to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven," but " the least in the kingdom of God," (Luke vii. 28,) i. e. the humblest Chris- tian, was declared by Jesus to be " greater than he." We must, therefore, be careful not to ascribe to him ideas which could be entertained only by those who had learned them from the Messiah himself. He had been brought up among the mountains of Judaea, MATTHEW HI. 61 about as far to the south as Jesus was to the north from Jerusalem. His habits of hfe were probably those of a religious recluse, with a conviction borne in upon him that he had been born and set apart for some great and holy purpose. Like the mighty prophet Elijah of old, he was rude in dress, simple in diet, and severe in speech, dwelling in religious thought and prayer amid the solitudes of nature. When the time had at length arrived, he came down from the mountains to the valley of the Jordan. He announced the approaching kingdom of Heaven in terms of startling decision and severity. He warned men to flee from the wrath that was impending over the ungodly, and to prepare themselves, by change of heart and newness of life, to meet the Messiah at his coming. Crowds from all quarters gath- ered round him. Even Pharisees and Sadducees came to witness his baptism. He sees their national delusion in supposing that, because they are descended from Abraham, they must therefore be admitted into the Messiah's kingdom. This new kingdom, he tells them, is not thus easily to be entered. " Ye generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the coming wrath ? Bring forth then fruit worthy of repentance, and do not think to say, ' We have Abraham for our father.' From these stones [that are lying round us] God can raise up children, or successors, to Abraham." And then, to impress them with a sense of the urgency of the occasion, as if not a moment were to be lost, he exclaims, with vehement and terrible earnestness, that the axe even now is lying at the root of the tree, and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is cut [chopped] down and cast into the fire. "I, indeed," he continues, " baptize you with water unto repentance," receiving none to my baptism but those who repent, and confess their sins ; " but here is coming one mightier than I, who will subject you to a more searching ordeal, baptizing you, not in water alone, but in the holy spirit [wind] and fire," " for," he says, continuing the same thought still under the imagery 6 62 MATTHEW III. of wind and fire, " with his winnowing instrument in his hand, he will clear up his threshing-floor, gathering the wheat into his storehouse and burning the chaff with un- quenchable fire." Some have supposed that John here, by these different kinds of baptism, describes the different degrees of spiritual attainment in his disciples and those of the Messiah. " Bap- tism with water," says Olshausen, " implies repentance, and purification from sin ; baptism with the spirit refers to the inward cleansing in faith, (the Holy Spirit being conceived of as the regenerating principle,) and, lastly, baptism with fire expresses the glorification of the regenerated higher life into its own peculiar nature." But these ideas, however familiar they may be to us, belong, in the higher develop- ment of our Christian experience, to a plane of spiritual life and thought which we have reason to suppose that John, who was only the herald or forerunner of Christ, had never reached. As the humblest disciple of Jesus, he " who is least in the kingdom of God," knows more of its interior life and economy than he who was not only " a prophet, but more than a prophet," under the old dispensation, it would be a serious anachronism to assign to John, at that time, so profound a knowledge of the religion of Jesus. The same remark applies also, though with less force, to the interpre- tations by which the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire are referred to the tongues of flame on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 3, compared with Acts i. 5, xix. 2, 3). For this would be to ascribe to the Baptist, before the ministry of Je- sus had begun, a degree of knowledge which the disciples of Jesus did not have till some time after its close. So also the explanation of the baptism of fire by a reference to the " much tribulation " of Acts 'xiv. 22, and " the fire " (1 Cor. iii. 13) which "shall try every man's work, of what sort it is,'" implies in John a sort of knowledge which we have no reason to suppose that he possessed. Besides, any one of these interpretations interferes with the straightforward, direct, and vehement earnestness of his speech. MATTHEW III. 63 "Why did Jesus come, to be baptized by John? The question is one which we cannot fully and confidently answer. But as John had been raised up to announce the immediate coming of the Messiah, and by his preach- ing had excited such an ex23ectation in the minds of thou- sands, the object of all this movement on the part of the Baptist would be lost to the cause, unless his predictions should in some way be connected with Jesus. Jesus, there- fore, in the fulness of time, came to John at the Jordan. Whether they had pr-eviously had any personal acquaint- ance with each other is not quite certain. Though their mothers were related, the two families lived in the opposite extremities of Palestine, and probably their only oppor- tunities of meeting would be in Jerusalem, at the great religious festivals. The extraordinary circumstances at- tending their birth would naturally draw their parents to- gether. The probability, therefore, is that they had had some personal knowledge of each other, and that the expression of the Baptist (John i. 33), " I knew him not," means that he did not till then know him as the Messiah. But in order that the testimony of John should have its due weight -with the people, it was important that it should come from him, not as a personal friend and companion of Jesus, but as an independent witness and prophet of God. John, therefore, was brought up under the old dispensa- tion, having only a slight personal acquaintance with Jesus, and came forth, as he was moved by the spirit of God, to herald the coming of that kingdom in which the law and the prophets alike were to 'find their fulfilment. Like Moses, he was to lead the people out of their ancient bondage through the wilderness to the very borders of the promised kingdom, seeing it near, pointing it out to his followers, indicating and setting apart their future and greater leader, but himself, for wise and weighty reasons, not permitted to enter within its borders. As he was the G4 aiATTHEW III. last, and in some respects the greatest of the prophets belonging to the ancient dispensation, Jesus, who submitted to all the requirements of that dispensation, came to re- ceive from him its solemn sanctions, and it has been thought in the very place where Joshua, or Jesus (for the names are the same) led the tribes of Israel on dry ground through the Jordan, there he went down to its baptismal M'aters, and in his own person consecrated forever the rite which througli all coming ages should stand as the sign, if not the seal of admission into his kingdom. As he went up from the water, and stood (Luke iii. 21) pray- ing, his countenance we may suppose radiant with the emotions of the hour, behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he perceived' the spirit of God, pure and peaceful as a dove (the sacred bird of Syria) descend- ing, and (John i. 32) resting upon him; and behold, a voice from the heavens saying, 'This is my son, the beloved, in Avhom I am well pleased." When John saw Jesus, he was awed by him as in the presence of a superior being, and shrunk from ad- ministering to him the rite of baptism. He felt his own inferiority. The "former things" to which he belonged were now to be fulfilled by passing away, through a species of dissolution, into the higher kingdom which is to be in- augurated. With the modest humihty which becomes a true servant of God, he submits to the request of Christ, and in so doing receives from heaven the proof that the Messiah has come. He sees, that, like the star which has been the harbinger of a fairer day, he must decrease, (John iii. 30,) while the SiAi of Righteousness which he has announced as rising upon the world must increase in brightness and power. In that new kingdom no office was assigned to him. It was appointed in the counsels of Infinite Wisdom that he should stand apart fis the ap- pointed herald, but not be a follower of the Messiah. From that day the ministry of John was in fact ended. MATTHEW III. 65 "For this purpose," he said, (John i. 31,) "am I come baptizing with water, that he should be made manifest in Israel," and in proportion as lie is made known must the Baptist retire before him. " I am," he said, (John i. 23,) " the voice of one crying in the wilderness," and now that voice having waked the solitudes of Judasa, and turned the expectations of the nation towards the Messiah, re- cedes again into silence. There is something very touch- ing and very beautiful in the readiness with, which this great man, so honored and reverenced among all the people as a prophet of God, humbled himself before Jesus from the first moment of his appearance. And, in all the cir- cumstances of our Saviour's coming, in the blended dignity and humility which marked his personal deportment, and the tokens of divine love and approbation which came down to him from heaven, we see how befitting the work which had been given him to do was this his first entrance on the field of his labors. NOTES. Ix those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilder- 2 ness of Judaea, and saying : Repent ye, for the kingdom of 1. Ill those days] An indefinite eral proclamation, somewhat in the expression nearly corresponding to style of Isaiah's exhortation, to all our at lengthy or in the course of the inhabitants to assemble along time. In this case it refers to Avhat the proposed route, and prepai'e the took place nearly thirty years after way before him. The same was the events spoken of in the para- done in 1845 on a grand scale, when graph next preceding it. In Ex- the present Sultan visited Brusa. odus ii. 11 it is used as a form of The stones were gathered out. crook- introduction to events which oc- ed places straightened, and rough curred forty years after those de- ones made level and smooth." The scribed in the previous sentence. Land and the Book, Thomson, II. preaching] proclaim- 106. Sometimes they sent forward ing as a herald who goes befoi'e to heralds to announce their approach, announce the coming of a king, and to require the people to make " When Ibrahim Pasha proposed to this preparation for their coming, visit certain places in Lebanon, the in the wilderness] emeers and sheiks sent forth a gen- not strictly a desert, but compara- 6* E 66 MATTHEW III. heaven is at hand. For tins is he that was spoken of by the 3 prophet Esaias, saying, " The voice of one crying in the wil- derness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." And the same John had his raiment of camel's 4 hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins ; and his meat was tively an uninliabited region round the Jordan. 2. Repent ye] The Greek word hterally re- fers to a change of mind or thought, and inipHes a change so deep that it reaches the very fountain of thought, and therefore touches the inmost motives which give their shape and coloring to the hfe. Dr. Campbell and ilr. Norton translate it, Reform ; but this to most minds conveys the impression of an external change rather than of one which, beginning in the soul, works outward through the conduct, till mind and heart and life alike are transformed. The word Repent is confined too exclusively to the inward feeling of sorrow, which is only the beginning of the change that is required. 2. the kingdom of heaven] literally, the kingdom of the heavens, — a form of expression used only by Matthew, the other Evangelists using the term kingdom of God. Some stress has been laid, and perhaps not without reason, on this expression as indi- cating a plurality of heat-ens, corre- sponding to the many mansions in his Father's house "which Jesus speaks of (John xiv. 2), and adapted to the sons of God in the different stages of their spiritual progress. The idea of the kingdom of Heaven or kingdom of God as synonymous with the Messiah's kingdom Avas probably familiar to the Jews, bor- rowed, perhaps, from passages like Daniel ii. 44. It is used in the New Testament with different shades of meaning to indicate the Messiah's kingdom: 1. as an inward principle of life in the soul (the kingdom of God is within you, Luke xvii. 21); 2. as a divine power extending through the world and changing its whole chai-acter (a little leaven which leaveneth the whole mass, Matt. xii. 33); 3. as an organized polity, like a net cast into the sea, Mutt. xiii. 47, 48, and taking into itself the good and the bad till they shall at length be separated in the end of the world; 4. as the Messiah's kingdom when it shall take the place of the Jewish dispensation after the destruction of Jerusalem, Luke ix. 27; or, 5. as it shall appear in its consummation amid the brighter glories of a higher world, when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory. Matt. xxv. 31, when it shall be fulfilled in the kingdom of God, Luke xxii. 16, or when through much tribiilation we shall enter the kingdom of God, Acts xiv. 22. These diftcrent meanings melt in- sensibly into one another. We have no reason to suppose that John the Baptist understood the expression at all in its higher signification, but only as indicating an outward, visi- ble kingdom, founded on the prin- ciples of righteousness, but exercis- ing an earthly authority and power. 3. For"^ this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias] The quotation is from the Septuagint. The whole passage should be read (Isaiah xl.) in order to understand the effect intended by the introduction of a few of the words here. The Bap- tist, in John i. 23, describes himself by these same words. 4. his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins] The Jews expected Elijah as the forerunner of the Messiah, and this description corresponds to that of Elijah in 2 Kings i. 8, " He [Elijah] Avas an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins." Elijah was intimately associated in the Jewish mind with the Messiah as his forerunner, and Jesus liimself xvii. 10 - 13, distinctly declares that this expected Elijah is none other than John the Bajjtist. The proph- ecy which probably gave rise to the MATTHEW III. 67 fi locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, 6 and all Juda3a, and all the region rourd about Jordan ; and 7 were baptized of liim in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Phai'isces and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them : O generation of vipers, who hatli 8 warned }'ou to flee from the wrath to come V Bring forth expectation is a remarkable one, and, from its place at the very end of the Jewish Scriptm-es, Malachi iv. 5, 6, must have attracted pai- ticular attention: "Behold, I Avill send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the chil- dren, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." This de- scribes the influence of John in preaching his doctrine of repent- ance, and thus preparing the hearts of the people, parents and children, for the coming of Christ. ar.d Ills meat ^vas locusts and wild honey] Locusts, first boiled and then dried in the sun, and carried like parched corn in bags, are still sometimes used as an article of food by the Bedouin on the frontiers of Syria. The insects were gi-asshop- pers, and not locusts, and should be so read Avherever the word occurs in the Bible. Jaeger. The tc'dd honey was not, as some have thought, a vegetable product exuding from trees, but honey made by wild bees. "• Wild honey," says Tliomson, " is still gathered in large quantities from trees in the wilderness, and from rocks in the Avadies, just Avhere the Baptist sojourned, and Avhere he came preaching the baptism of re- pentance." 6. And ^vere baptized of him in Jor- dan] " When mull were admitted as proselytes, three rites were per- formed, — circumcision, baptism, and oblation; Avlieu women, two, — baptism and oblation. The whole families of proselytes, including in- fants, were baptized." Alford. *' Baptism, symbolical or ceremonial washing, such as the Mosaic law prescribed as a sign of moral reno- vation, and connected with the sac- rificial types of expiation. It Avas from these familiar and significant ablutions that John's baptism was deriA'cd, and not from the practice of baptizing proselytes, the antiqui- ty of Avhich as a distinct rite is dis- puted." Alexander on Mark. " It Avas in itself," says Stanley, " no ncAV ceremony. Ablutions,* in the East, have always been more or less a part of religious AA'orship, easily performed and ahvays Avelcome. Every synagogue, if possible, Avas by the side of a stream or spring; every mosque, still, requires a foun- tain or basin for lustrations in its court." 7. Pharisees and Sadducees] Josephus repre- sents these two sects as originating about one hundred and fifty years before Christ. They overlaid tlie laAV and the prophets by their tra- ditions, and, like all sects Avho trust to forms and traditions, they neg- lected the spirit of their religion, and became remarkable for their super- stition and hypocrisy. They had great influence, as their rcpresent- atiA'es in all ages haA'e among their OAvn people, and, like their succes- sors noAV, Avere the most malignant enemies of Jesus, as he appeared in the simplicity of his instnictions and the purity of his life. The Sad- ducees, AA'ho Avere supposed to be so called from a HebreAV Avord, meaning righteousness, rejected all tradition, and, though it was not originally one of their distinguishing features, yet in our Saviour's time they denied the reality of a future life. By confining themseh'es to a bare, li'teral, moral conformity to the law of Moses, they lost all spirit- ual ■ life, and Avith it all belief in si)ii-itual influences or spiritual be- ings. They are the type of the car- nal unbelief Avhich prevails among the philosophical classes, and those 68 MATTHEW UI. tlicreforc fruits meet for repentance, and tLink not to say with- 9 in yourselves, Wo liave Abraham to our father ; for I say un- to you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of lo the trees ; therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize ii you with water, unto repentance ; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear ; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his 12 floor ; and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan, unto John, to be 13 whose thoughts are " bound up in a materialistic prosperity." 11. The Holy Ghost] The word translated Ghost or Spirit means also air or wind, and the comparison is between Avater with which John baptized and the more searching elements wind and fire, by which the Messiah should try his follow- ers. Whose shoes, &c.] In the Talmud it is said, *' Eveiy office a servant will do for his master, a scholar should perform for his teacher, except loosing his sandal thong." Milman's Historv of Christianity, Book I. Chap. 3. the office lower than that of a disciple to the Iklessiah, which the Baptist speaks of as still too high for him, is used to indicate, not only his rever- ence for that exalted being, but also his consciousness of the remai-kable foct, that, in the purposes of the Almighty, it was not appointed for him to hold even the lowest place in the new kingdom which he had announced. According to Lightfoot, it was the token of a slave having become his master's propei'ty, to loose his shoe, to tie the stuiie, or to carry the necessary articles for him to tlie bath. and with fire] " The double symbolic refer- ence of fire, elsewhere found, e. g. IMark ix. 49, as purifying the good and consuming the evil, is hardly to be pressed into the interpretation of Jire iu this verse, the prophecy here being solely of that higher and more Serfect baptism to Avhich that of ohn was a mere introduction." Alford. 12. Whose fan] the winnowing shovel with ■which the grain when thrashed was tossed into the air so as to separate the chaff from the wheat. he will thoroughly purge his floor] The threshing-floor may sometimes have been a large, flat rock, but usually it was a level spot of earth trodden or rolled smooth and hard. The grain was beaten out by flails, or trodden out by oxen. 13. to Jordan] " It was the one river of Palestine, — sacred in its recollections, — abun- dant in its watei-s; and yet, at the same time, the river, not of cities, but of the wilderness, — the scene of the preaching of those who dwelt not in king's palaces, nor wore soft clothing. On the banks of the rush- ing stream the muKitudes gathered, — the priests and scribes from Jeni- salem, down the pass of Adummin; the publicans from Jericho on the south, and the Lake of Gennesareth on the north ; the soldiers on their way from Damascus to Petra, through the Ghor, in the war with the Ai-ab chief Haretli, the peasants from Galilee, with Oxe from Naza- reth, through the opening of the plain of Esdraelon. The tall ' reeds ' or canes in the jungle waved, ' shaken by the wind ' ; the pebbles MATTHEW III. 69 14 baptized of him. But John forbade bim, saying : I have need 15 to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me ? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now ; for thus It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water ; and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting up- 17 on him. And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. of the bare clay hills lay around, to which the Baptist pointed as capa- ble of being transformed into ' the cliildren of Abraham ' ; at their feet rushed the refreshing stream of the never-fiviling river. There be- gan that sacred rite, which has since spread throughout the world, through the vast baptistries of the southern and Oriental churches, gradually dwindling to the little fonts of the north and Avest; the plunges beneath the Avater dimin- ishing to the few drops which, by a Avise exercise of Christian free- doin, are now in most churches the sole representative of the full stream of the Descending River." Stanley. to be baptized of him] We know too little of the significance of this rite at that time among the Jews, and especially as it was administered by John, to un- derstand why Jesus should himself have observed it. In addition to what we have suggested in our gen- eral remarks on the subject, it may also be tnie, as Alford says, that he did it " as bearing the infirmities and canying the sorrows of man- kind, and thus beginning here the triple baptism of Avater, fire, and blood, tAvo parts of Avhich Avere now accomplished, and of the third of Avhich he himself speaks, Luke xii. 60, and the belov^ed Apostle, 1 John v. 8, Avhere spirit stands for fire.'''' Great stress is laid on the manner in Avhicli Jesus Avas baptized, Avheth- er it Avas by immersion, eflfusion, or sprinkling. The coming up out of the water seems to imply that he Avent doAvn into the Avater, Avhere he Avas either immersed, or had Avater povired upon him Avhile he stood in the river near its bank. We liave no certain knoAvledge on tlie sub- ject. If it had been important Ave probably should haA^e had it. But Avhy should his precise mode of baptism be of consequence any more than the particular garment\vhich he then Avore '? If it is essential to baptism that Ave should enter the Avater precisely as he did, Avhy is it not essential to the Lord's Supper that in partaking of it Ave should recline upon a couch as he did? It is foreign to the Avhole tone of his instructions to lay any stress on the external and incidental adjuncts of a form. 15. Suifier it to be so now] Let it be so for the present, just noAV. It is fitting that Ave both of us should fulfil all right- eousness, i. e. all requirements of the laAV. For the present, therefore, permit me as the fulfiller of the laAV to receiA'e this rite Avhile you as its agent administer it. ' 16. aiid he sa^v the Spirit of God descending like a dove] This may have been a mental A'ision, open to the spiritual perceptions of Jesus and of the Baptist, John i. 32, or it may have been the actual bod- ily shape of a doA-e appearing to them as symbolical of the pure and peaceful spirit of God and of him Avho that day Avas first publicly set apart for his great and sacred Avork. We should translate the verse as folloAvs : And the moment that Jesus, being baptized, Avas gone up out of the Avater, lo, the heavens Avere opened to him, and he saAv the spirit of God, descending like a dove, coming upon him. 70 MATTHEW IV. 1-11. CHAPTER IV. 1-11. — The Temptation in the Wilderness. We suppose that very few able scholars of our day regard the account of the Temptation as an account of events which actually took place according to the letter of the narrative. Some — Schleiermacher, for example — look upon it as a parable by which Jesus would impress most important lessons on the minds of his disciples. "Three leading maxims of Christ," he says, in his Critical Essay on the Gospel of St. Luke, "for himself and for those who were invested by him with extraordinary powers for the promotion of his kingdom, are therein expressed: the first, to perform no miracle for his own advantage, even under the most pressing circumstances ; the second, never to undertake, in the hope of extraordinary Divine aid, anything which, like the dropping from the pinnacle of the temple, as it does not lie in the natural course of things, would be merely prodigious ; lastly, never, though the greatest immediate advantage were by that means attainable, to enter into fellowship with the wicked, and still less into a state of dependence upon them; and Christ could not express himself more strongly against the opposite mode of conduct than by ascribing it to Satan. In such a sense, then, Christ delivered this parable to his disciples." These undoubtedly are in part the lessons taught by the temptation in the wilderness. But it is doing violence to the language and spirit of the narrative to interpret it as applying in no way to the inward personal expe- MATTHEA7 IV. 1-11. 7% rience of Jesus. Jesus, "conceived of the Holy Spirit," had nevertheless been subjected to the mental as well as physical conditions of our human nature, and, instead of attaining at once, by reason of his divine origin, to " all the fulness of God," grew not only "in stature," but "in wisdom, and in favor with God and man." This sense of intimate union with God must have grown up in him with the unfolding consciousness of inward life and power, and have been dependent in some measure on the influ- ences which usually affect our human sensibilities. In taking upon himself our infirmities, he was of course sub- ject in some degree to our fluctuations of feeling, and exposed, as we find in his history, to periods of unusual elevation or depression of spirit. Though living "in the bosom of the Father," "not alone because the Father was with him," yet there were times when, under the pressure of severe mental or bodily anguish, his sense of oneness with God was for the moment disturbed or lost, and he prayed in agony of spirit that the cup might pass from him, or, as if wholly deserted, uttered his cry of com- plete desolation upon the cross. At the time of his baptism Jesus seems to have been lifted up into a state of unusual spiritual exaltation, and being (Luke iv. 1) full of the Holy Spirit, he was led away, as by a divine impulse, — " led up of the Spirit," — into the solitary and mountainous regions about Jericho, and there gave himself to the thoughts suitable to his nature and condition, and to the great and solemn work on which he was now to enter. Mark describes the savage features of the country by saying that Jesus was there "with the wild beasts." He remained forty days. So Moses was in the mountain (Ex. xxxiv. 28) "forty days and forty nights," and "he did neither eat bread nor drink wine," and Elijah (1 Kings xix. 8) went in the strength of what he had eaten " forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the mount of God." It is impossible to say how long without 72 MATTHEW IV. 1-11. any natural or supernatural sustenance the body may con- tinue, while the mind is withdrawn from outward interests and wholly absorbed in matters pertaining to its own sphere and life. By such an absorption of mind, the body may be thrown out of its normal condition, and as, in some ex- traordinary cases of swooning, may remain in what would seem almost a temporary suspension of the animal func- tions. However this may be, Jesus was in the wilderness forty days, either wholly without food, or with only such scant and insufficient nutriment as the mountain solitudes might offer, without thought or care on his part. The soul, abstracted from the body and material things, dwelt apart in a world of its own. But at last, the body, over- come by its long privations and the strain to which its finer organs had been subjected, sunk down, and the mind was called away from its own meditations and emotions to sympathize with the pangs of bodily suffering. The soul which had been lifted up to such heights of spiritual insight, and burdened with such a weight of duty and of glory, was now brought down to a keen and painful sense of earthly weakness, and the first thought that occurred to him was to employ the miraculous powers with which he had been gifted as the Son of God to turn the stones around him into loaves. From whatever source the thought may have come, it was pro'bably entertained in that half- unconscious state, which we sometimes experience when the mind is so occupied Avith other matters that we me- chanically assent to what is proposed for our physical comfort or relief There was nothing of itself sinful in the act suggested. But when the attention of Jesus was awakened, he saw whither the suggestion tended, and that, in employing his miraculous powers to satisfy his personal wants, he should stoop from his perfect disinterestedness, and spend on a low and selfish object gifts bestowed on him for the higliest good of all. No craving of hunger should make him for;]ret the hi^jher Avants of his nature. MATTHEW lY. 1-11. 73 " Not by bread alone," he replies, in language borrowed from tlie great lawgiver of Israel (Deut. viii. 3), "but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, doth man live." Having thus appealed from the exactions of hunger to the sources of a higher life in God, he is next tried by a suggestion of an entirely different character. He knew how gross and earthly were the expectations of the Messiah which prevailed among his countrymen, and how impossi- ble it would be to overcome their prejudices, change all their ideas and habits of thought, by the life of humilia- tion and sorrow whicli he was to lead among them. Why shall he not seek to reach their hearts in some other way ? Instead of shockhig their most dc^arly cherished hopes, and repelling them forever from his kingdom, why shall he not enforce upon them the terms of liis great mission by some public and extraordinary display of his miraculous endow- ments, and so overcome them with wonder and astonish- ment that they will hail him at once as the deliverer who had for so many centuries been foretold by prophets and longed for by patriarchs and kings ? In thought, he is borne to the summit of a lofty wing of the temple, while hun- dreds of thousands are gathered there at one of the great national festivals. As they are gazing upward towards him he is tempted to ask why he shall not cast himself down, knowing that as the Son of God he will be upborne by his angels and permitted to come to no harm? Thus he would show his confidence in God, and at the same time inaugurate his kingdom on the earth under the most favorable circumstances. The thought evidently had power to move and disturb him. But instantly he detects the dark design which lies concealed under this specious pro- posal. He sees that, instead of showing confidence in God by this vain and presumptuous display of his powers, he would only be tempting his providence. As the tempta- tion was enforced by words taken from the Psalms, so he 7 74 MATTHEW IV. 1-11. replies in language taken also from the Scriptures (Deut. vi. 16), "Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God." In the first temptation, the motive, the desire to appease his hunger, was innocent, but the object was unworthy the intervention of his miraculous powers. In the second temp- tation, the object, the speedy establishment of his kingdom, was worthy, but the motive which lay concealed under it, the love of immediate distinction, coupled with an unwillingness to wait God's time, was wrong. There yet remains another form in which the temptation may come. The question which might be supposed to be uppermost in the mind of Jesus was, how he might most effectually accomplish his work. The great changes which had been wrought, even in the religious ideas and institutions of mankind, had been accompanied, if not actually brought about and impressed on the common mind, by great pohtical and social rovolutions. It was so that Moses, placed in the exercise of his mirac- ulous powers at the head of the Jewish people, led them out of Egypt, and established a higher worship and a more be- neficent law. Why then may not Jesus, in establishing a still purer faith and worship, enlist on his side the powers of this world through the universal dominion to which he may attain by the exercise of his marvellous endowments ? It was no dream of earthly ambition, no vulgar thought of royal or imperial magnificence, that could be permitted even to approach the mind of Jesus, still less to throw a momentary shadow over it, or awaken one disturbing emotion or desire. But by placing himself at the head of the nations, at that grand crisis of human affairs, might he not more speedily and more effectually establish the kingdom of God among men than through the ignominious path of weakness, sorrow, humiliation, and death ? May he not in this way save his followers from the mortification and sorrows to which they must be exposed ? For a moment the thought came over him. But then, how shall such power over the nations be gained ? How secure the earthly throne through which his MATTHEW IV. 1-11. 75 heavenly kingdom is to be advanced ? There is but one reply. Only by falling down and worshipping the prince of this world, only by submitting to its spirit and maxims, only by stooping to such considerations and measures as may injfluence worldly minds, can he bring the powers of the world under him. The cross, which he has seen loominjr ' up in the divine majesty of humiliation and suffering at the very entrance into his kingdom, must be lowered before the ensigns of earthly greatness. The crown of righteous- ness, which shines Avith no earthly splendors and for no mor- tal eyes, must grow dim and pale before the dazzling glories of an earthly diadem. Those great words hereafter to be uttered, and to carry terror into the hearts of kings, " My kingdom is not of this world," the sublime and perfect trust, which in the very hour and power of darkness would not call in even the legions of obedient angels to enforce his authority or defend him from wrong, must give way to the appeal to human prejudices and passions, to the marshalling of hosts and the bloody caparisons of war, that so the Prince of Peace may establish his reign of peace upon the earth. The thought is one abhorrent to every principle of his na- ture and his religion. The motive appealed to was high and pure ; the end was the very one for which he was born into the world ; but the means Avere bad. Instantly the disguise of the tempter is torn off, and his dark purposes are un- masked. " If only thou wilt fall down and worship me." He repels alike the temptation and the tempter with an energy of expression which shows how much he had been disturbed by the thought, and how vehemently he abhors and detests the blasphemous condition which had been so artfully concealed within it. " Get thee hence, Satan ; for it is written [Deut. vi. 13], Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." It is remarkable, that the only other instance in which our Saviour used this ener- getic expression of abhorrence occurred w^hen, in reply to his prediction of the sufferings and shameful death which 76 MATTHEW IV. 1-11. awaited him, Peter (Matt. xvi. 23) began to rebuke liim in * words which implied that the Messiah could not thus meanly and ignobly die. This wa^ the one suggestion of evil, veil- ing itself in garments of light,, which he met with the sharp- est exhibition of sensibility and impatience. Here the Devil left him, as St. Luke says, " for a season," and " behold, angels came and ministered unto him." There is nothing in either of the Evangelists to imply that the tempter came in bodily shape, or that such a presence was rec- ognized in any other way than by the nature of the sug- gestions that were made. Whether there really is a prince of darkness, a malignant and mighty spirit, who had access to the mind of Jesus, with power to instil into it thoughts of evil under the guise of holiness and faith, is a question that we shall consider more fully hereafter. See xiii. 24 — 30. We know, however, too little of the unseen world of spiritual ex- istences, and especially of the dark background of evil Avhich lies behind all actual sin, to be able to speak with confidence on such a subject. How far that invisible realm of life may be peopled by spiritual beings good and bad, how far, if at all, the two orders of spiritual beings may be allowed to in- termingle and carry on their various works, what limitations are assigned to their free action, and how the kingdoms of light and darkness may be arrayed one against the other, are questions which we cannot sj)eciiically answer. An evil man separated from the body is an evil spirit. There is then, so far as we can see, no more reason why evil spirits should not exist than that evil men should not. " There is nothing," says Mr. Norton, (Translation of the Gospels, Vol. II. pp. Gl, G2,) " in the idea of daemons being allowed to affect the minds and bodies of men irreconcilable with any- thing we see in the moral government of God. Tliere is no proof a priori against such agency." It narrows down the world in which Jesus moved, far more than reason gives us any warrant for doing, to cut him off from connection with all existences, except God on the one hand, and man with MATTHEW IV. 1 - 11. 77 the laws and forces of the material universe on the other. We cannot say how far the work of redemption in which he was engaged allied to itself the sympathy and employed the assistance and fellowship of angels, such as here came and ministered to him, or of holy men in their spiritual estate, SLicli as Moses and Elijah who tallxcd with him on the moun- tain of Transfiguration. Neither can we say how far his mighty work of redemption may have reached down through realms of spiritual darkness, and arrayed against him the active malignity of evil spirits as well as of wicked men. With- out the recognition of such existences both above and below, passages in his life, such as the temptation, the transfigura- tion, the agony, the cry upon the cross, to which the won- dering and trusting instincts of his followers have turned in all ages, lose much of their sublime moral significance, and their mysterious spiritual power. The victory which he gained in the wilderness was over something more than a passing thought of evil, which of itself could have had no power to shake his firm and sinless mind. It was the first of that series of struggles and victories through which he was to overthrow the very empire of darkness, and " destroy him that had the power of death." While we thus view the temptation as one which actually occurred to Jesus in the suggestion of thoughts which for the time disturbed and agitated his spirit, we may see in it an epitome of the heaviest temptations that can assail his dis- ciples, and of the way in which they should be overcome. There are the temptations of desire, — the love of enjoyment, the love of admiration, and the love of power, not presenting themselves to us in their coarse and selfish colors, as self-indul- gence, vanity, and ambition, but clothing themselves in hue^i borrowed from^heaven, and insinuating themselves into our hearts by false appeals to high and generous and holy ends. There is no sin in laboring to satisfy our bodily wants ; but to concentrate our highest and best gifts on this work is to lose sight of the more essential truth, that we are to live not 7* 78 MATTHEW IV. 12-16. by bread alone, but by all the influences and teachings of God. In that way the soul will be impoverished by the low and narrow acts to which it is devoted. On the other hand, in a high and religious act, throwing ourselves as favored ones of heaven on the special providence of God, that through the wonder thus excited we may gain over advocates to his cause, we may be led by hidden motives of personal vanity unconsciously to tempt and provoke that Providence whose leadings we ought to wait for and obey. Or while both the end and the motive are right, in our impatient zeal to ad- vance what we believe to be the cause of righteousness and God, we may be tempted to stoop to unsanctified means, and to consent for the time to worship even the Devil in his disguise, if only he, with the powers which have been com- mitted to him, will help us on in our work. 12 -IG. — Makes his Home in Capernaum. From the Avay in Avhich the narrative goes on, we should suppose that the events recorded in the twelfth and follow- ing verses succeeded immediately to the Temptation. But from the first five chapters of John, we find that a considera- ble period of time and some important acts here intervened. Jesus, immediately after the Temptation, had come' to John the Baptist, who on seeing him j^ronounced to his followers the remarkable words, " Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Jesus then returned to Galilee where his first miracle was performed, and after- wards came up to Jerusalem to the Passover. It was probably while he was at Jerusalem that he heard of John's imprisonment, which led him to hasten his return to Galilee. On his way back to Galilee he had the con- versation with the woman of Samaria, which is related in the fourth chapter of John. He now left Nazareth and took up his abode at Capernaum, which was near the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee, though its pre- MATTHEW IV. 17-22. 79 cise locality is not known with certainty. The quotation from the Old Testament is part of the remarkable passage already alluded to in the first chapter of Matthew, and might well be employed by the writer to call the atten- tion of his Jewish readers to the extraordinary events which he is about to record as in some sense a fulfilment of the hardly less extraordinary prediction. Isa. viii. 22 ; ix. 1-7. 17-22. — The Call of Simon Peter and Andrew his Brother, and of John and his Brother James. The readiness with which this call was obeyed would indicate some previous knowledge of Jesus on their part, such as we find (John i. 35-42) that they actually had. The expectations excited by John the Baptist were kept intensely alive by Jesus, though he had not yet publicly declared himself to be the Messiah. His proclamation (iv. 17) is the same as that of the Baptist : " Repent ; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." But while he used and continued to use words familiar to the Jews as de- scribing an earthly kingdom, he took them up, as he did so many other Jewish phrases, into a higher plane of thought, and gradually invested them with a higher mean- ing and a purer spirit. He did not institute a new re- ligious language; but by a change of heart and life and thought through the great truths which he proclaimed, he would fill out old and familiar expressions with new ideas, and make them glow with the new light which he had thrown into them. 23 - 25. The nature of the diseases which are here speci- fied, and the character of his miracles, will be more prop- erly considered in the specific cases as they occur hereafter. 80 MATTHEW IV. NOTES. THEiSr "was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wiklerness, to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said : If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said. It is written, "Man shall not hve by bread alone. 1. Led up of the Spirit] Luke says : " Aiid Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness;" i. e. Jesus, filled with the spirit of God, and therefore de- siring a season of solitude, was led up into the wilderness, whei*e he might give himself up entirely to the thoughts and emotions which pressed tipon him, and rapt him as it were in an ecstasy so absorbing that for the time all consideration of eai-thly things, even of his own bodily wants, was forgotten. the Avilderness] Probably the wild and mountainous region above Jericho, which, from the forty days, is called Qunrantaria. Others sup- pose it to liave been the Arabian des- ert of Sinai, where Moses and Elijah each fiisted forty days. We do not think that Jesus attached any im- portance to such coincidences in time or place. His teachings and his life belong to a higher sphere of thought. to be tempted] Ja order, or so as to be tempted; the result put as if it had been the design. He was so filled with the spirit of God, that he sought for himself a solitaiy place where he might give himself up entirely to Him, and there, after his physical energies had become entirely ex- hausted, was a reaction in his mind. of the devil] For this word see Dis. here and XHI., and Note xiii. 39. 2. fasted forty days and forty nig^hts] In regard to the Oriental use of language in our day, Thomson, I. 132, says : " You may take this as a general canon of interpretation, that any amount much less than iisual means ' nothing ' in their dia- lect ; and if you understand more by it, you are misled. Li fact, their ordinary fasting is only abstaining from certain kinds of food, not from all, nor does the word convey any other idea to them." It may, how- ever, be taken here in its stricter meaning. Luke says, iv. 2, " And in those days he did eat nothing." 3. And Avhen the tempter came to him] He was hungry, and in his hunger the temj^t- er came to him. Oppressed with hunger, his mind reverted to the words spoken at his baptism, " This is my beloved son ; " and the thought was suggested to him, '' If thovi art really the Son of God, turn these stones into bread, and relieve thy necessities." But immediately he replies to the suggestion, from what- ever source it may have come ; 4. It is Avritten, Man shall not live by bread alone] " Even ill bread man lives not by bread only, for is not the life more than meat ? Is not the word, the will, the power of God in everything ; so that we do not inhale our very breath from the air [alone], but from the breath of God ? In the deepest meaning of the essential and only truth, all ihinffs in the world, after their kind, are only variously embodied words of the Creator, inasmuch as by his mighty Avord alone they are upheld in being What is man ? Not the body with its earthly, animal soul, but the true and proper man, that is, the living spirit which came forth from God, which onlv lives in and by the spirit of God, Avhich con- MATTHEW IV. 81 but by every word tbat proceedetli out of the mouth of God." 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth 6 him on a pinnacle of the temple ; and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down ; for it is written, " He shall give his angels charge concerning thee ; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy 7 foot against a stone." Jesus said unto him: It is written again, 8 " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and 9 saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt 10 fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him : Get thee hence, Satan ; for it is written, " Thou shalt worship the tinually goes forth as rcord for the preservation of the creature , But this leads us further and fiu-- ther ; and ' not alone ' vindicates again the true life of man in God, against such as in their error cleave to any institution of the means of life, as if it Avas not God alone in them that gave them efhcacy. As a general rule the word of God, externally "WTitten and preached, is given for the food of the inner man ; but inas- much as the living word of God in the word is the true word, thou mayest, if it be his will, Avithout Scripture and preaching, live by his spirit; without intercourse with brethren be connected with the Church; even Avithout the physical bread of the sacrament, receive, nevertheless, the heaA-enly bread. Every manna given by God in the creatm-ely form is a Avitness that points beyond itself to the imme- diate outgoing of God's life for the life of man." Stier. 5. pinnacle of the temple] vrre- pvyiov^ loing^ " spoken of the high- est point of the temple buildings, probably the elevation of the middle portion of the triple portico or colon- nade along the southern wall, Avhich at its eastei-n end impended OA'cr the A^alley of Kidron ; so that if from its roof one attempted to look doA\-n into the gulf beloAv, his eyes became dark and dizzy before they could penetrate the immense deptii; Jos. Axit. XV. 11. 5. The actual height aboA-e the bottom of the valley Avas probably not less than three hun- dred and ten feet." Robinson. 7. " Wherein consists the tempting of God on the part of man? It is the complete opposite of the seeking in fliith, of the AA-ait- ing upon God in the obedience and confidence of trust, a self-Avilled demand of the mighty help of God; and consequently unbelief, disobe- dience, and distrust are its inner- most principles EA^ery sin in its innermost principle is, properly si^eaking, a tempting and challeng- ing of God; since he A\-ho should obey tests the Almighty Avhether the Avay of his OAvn seli-Avill shall not prosper. But then, particularly, Avlieu the unbelief and disobedience of sclf-Avill presses forAvard in Avhat is folse presumption, though seem- ingly only a firm confidence in promised assistance, as if God must and should hearken to it; this is the marked aggravation of sin, to Avhich Satan here allures." Stier. 10. Get thee hence, Satan] The term Satan may here be applied to the evil suggestion, as it is in xvi. 23. and him only] Dent. vi. 13; x. 20. The quotation, like most of the quotations in Mat- thcAv, is from the Septuagint, and not from the HebreAV, Avhcre the Avord meaning only is not to be foimd. li. Then the devil leaveth g2 MATTHEW IV. Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." Then the devil ii leaveth him ; and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, 1-2 he departed into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, he came 13 and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea-coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim ; that it might be fulfilled u Mm, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him] The presence of the evil spirit and the ministry of the angels rest here on the same authority. But we must not confound our popular idea of the devil with that of the Evange- list. Still less are we to confound with it the philosophical idea bor- rowed from the East, which makes the prince of darkness the almost equal antagonist of God. Whatever else they may teach on this sub- ject, the Gospels lend no counte- nance to any such doctrine as tliis. The most that can be legitimately inferred from them is, that there are evil spirits, and one at their head, " the devil and his angels," xxiv. 41, who, within certain limits al- lowed by God, may have the power of suggesting evil thoughts. There is nothing in this chapter to show that Satan appeared in bodily form or to the outward eye, even if we suppose the language to mean that he was personally present. All that is implied, even on that supposition, is, that Satan, seeing our Saviour's helpless condition, — " 111 wast thou shrouded then, 0 patient Sonof God!" — took advantage of his weariness, exhaustion, and consequent de- pression, and suggested to him the thoughts here recorded, as if they had been the spontaneous sug- gestions of his own mind. There is nothing Avhich proves it to have been the Avriter's intention to say that he transported Jesus bodily to the tem- jDle and mountain. Tlie most that can be inferred is, that he took him away in thought or in spirit, pre- senting to him these objects and suggestions so vivid Iv that the whole transaction seemed as if it had ac- tually passed before him. " The temptation of Jesus," says Olshau- sen, " stands as one of those decisive events, such as are met with in a lower degree in common life also, and which,' by the determination that Ave take in them, give a direc- tion to the whole after-life. The Saviour here appears as standing between the two Avorlds of light and darkness. As the hostile powers fled, heavenly powers surrounded him, and joined in celebrating the victory of good." " Since," he con- tinues, " the temptation of Jesus took place in the depth of his in- ward life without Avitnesses, we must regard the narration of Jesus as the only somxe of information and tes- timony to its reality." 13. And leaving "Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Caperna- um] " Nazareth, Kefr, Kenna, Kana, and all the regions adja- cent, Avhere our Lord lived, and where he commenced his ministry, and by his miracles 'manifested forth his glory,' Avere Avithin the limits of Zebulon; but Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida Avere in Naphtali. It AA-as this latter tribe that Avas ' by the Avay of the sea be- yond Jordan', Galilee of the Gentiles.' Zebulon did not touch the sea at any point, but the territories of these tAvo tribes met at the northeast corner of the Biittauf, not for from Kana, and Avithin these tAvo tribes thus united our Lord passed nearly the whole of his Avonderful life." Thomson, IL 122, 123. 14, 15. which Avas spoken by Esaias] The passage here folloAving is a fre3 quotation from Isa. ix. 1, 2. Dr. Noyes's translation from the He- brcAV is as folloAvs: — MATTHEW IV. 83 15 which was spoken by Esalas the prophet, saying : " The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the 16 sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which sat in darkness saw great light ; and to them which sat in the 17 region and shadow of death light is sprung up." From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say : Hepent ; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter; and Andrew his brother, casting a net 19 into the sea ; for they were fishers. And he saith unto them : 20 Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they .21 straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zeb- edee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, 22 mending their nets ; and he called them. And they imme- diately left the ship and their father, and followed him. 23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their syna- gogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the 24 people. And his fame went throughout all Syria ; and they brought unto him all sick people, that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with 1 "But the darkness shall not remain 7 " His domain shall be great. where no.v is distress ; And peace without end shall rest Of old he brought the land of Zebuloa Upon the throne of David and his and the land of Nephtali into con- kingdom, tempt ; lie shall fix and establish it In future times shall he bring the land Through justice and equity, of the sea, bevond the Jordan, the Henceforth and forever." circle of the Gentiles, into honor. ^, . ,.«, li. i. . i . .i . It la dimctilt to suppose that this 2 " The people that walk in darkness language was intended to express be .old a great light ; nothing more than the temporal They who d«ell in the land of death- pvosperitv of the land under anv Upon uS'; light shineth. one of its kings. 23. in their synagogues] " Synagogues are 5 " For the greaves of the warrior armed not mentioned till after the captivi- for the contiict, tv. See Jos. Ant., XIX. 6. 3 ; De Bel. And the war-garments rolled in blood. Jufl VH. 3. 3. In the time of Jesus ^ food for'^theflri: ^''''' ^^^"^ ''''''^ ^^ ^^'^y '^'^^'^ spread all over Palestine, ire. as well as among the dispersed Jew^ 1 " For to us a child is born, in Jerusalem there are said to have To u.s a son is given, been four Imndred and eightv of And the government shall be npnn his them." Ol.^hau^en. The officers of AndTe'sSu be called the synagogue appear to have been, AVonderful, counsellor, mighty poten- —1- tlie ruler of the synagogue, tate ; Luke viii. 49; xiii. 14, who had the Everlasting father, prince of peace. care-of public order, and the arrange- 84 Mx\.TTIIEW IV. devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy ; and he healed them. And there followed him great 25 multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan. ment of the service ; 2. the elders, -who -with the ruler formed a sort of council; 3. the substitute or angel of the assembly, — legatus. or angdus eccltske, — who was the reader of prayers, &c. ; 4. the VTrTjfi€Tr]s, or chapel clerk, to prepare the books for readiug, to sweep, &c. There were seats, the first row of which appear to have been coveted, Matt, xxiii. 6; a pulpit for the reader, lamps, and a chest for keeping tlie sacred book." From this account it is easy to see how the Christian Church, with its service, grew out of the Jewish synagogue. MATTHEW v^ 85 CHAPTER Y. Introduction to the Sermon on the ]\Iount. The precise order of events is not observed by St. Matthew. He does not distinctly point out the time when the Sermon on the Mount was given. After a passage, iv. 23 - 25, which, in its general terms applying to Christ's manner of life and the extent of territory which he visited, may cover no small part of his ministry in Galilee, this particular discourse is specified ; but, except what might be inferred from the part of the narrative in which it occurs, no reference is made to the time when it was given. It is very much as if the writer had said, Jesus went for a considerable period of time through an extensive region, performing miraculous cures and attended by great multi- tudes of people. On one occasion, when he saw an immense concourse of people who had come from Galilee and De- capolis, from Jerusalem and Judoea, and from beyond the Jordan, he went up into a mountain. Luke vi. 12-18, on the other hand, indicates the time and the circumstances. It was just after Jesus had chosen his twelve disciples. He had retired into a mountain to spend the night in prayer. And in the morning, having set apart his twelve disciples, he came down to a level spot on the mountain, and there, when great multitudes had come to him, and he had healed their sick, " he lifted up his eyes on his dis- ciples," and, addressing himself particularly to them, uttered these words. The fact of his speaking particularly to his disciples must be borne in mind, in order to understand the extent and bearing of some of the directions. Though containing principles applicable to all his followers in all 86 MATTHEW V. ages, they were primarily addressed to the Apostles, and have some specific rules which api)ly particularly to them and to those who may be situated as they were. Jesus had as yet made no public proclamation of the character of his kingdom. The multitudes were gathering round him in eager expectation of the time when he would raise the standard under which they should march on to victory and universal dominion. They thought only of an outward, visible kingdom, whose throne should be estab- lished by overthrowing existing governments, and placing the Jewish people, under their divine leader, at the head of all the nations of the earth. The visions of warlike conquest, of earthly glory and power, which had attended them through so many centuries, sweetening the cup of present sorrow, defeat, and captivity with the hope of future triumph over all their enemies, were now about to be realized. The long-expected Messiah had made his advent at last. Thousands were thronging about him, anxiously awaiting from him the signal for their national deliverance. Under circumstances of extraordinary solem- nity he was now about to inaugurate his kingdom. The excitement is intense and overpowering. The terms used by the Evangelists Matthew and Luke would seem, as Tholuck and Olshausen say, to indicate the peculiar solemnity of the occasion. " He lifted up his eyes on his disciples," as if aware that the great crisis in man's liistory had come, and that he was now about to proclaim for the first time a kingdom such as never before had been established on earth. The expression, " having opened his mouth," implies a previous silence, in which the impatient expectations of the people were painfully suppressed. At last he opened his mouth, and what are the words which come to them ? They are ready for deeds of violence. They would take up arms to throw off the Roman yoke. Tiiey have come to receive the benedic- tion of their great deliverer before enlistinsr under his MATTHEW V. 3 - 16. 87 banner for the wars in which he is to lead them on to what the prophet Daniel had described when he said, vii. 14, " There was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all j^jeople, nations, and languages should serve him : his dominion is an everlasting dominion, whicli shall not pass away, and his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed." 3-16. — The Beatitudes. But all these expectations, all their hopes of external dominion and glory, are thrown down and destroyed for- ever by the first words that fall from the lips of him to whom they had looked as their Messiah. His benedic- tions are not for the mighty men of war, for those who make their way to positions of wealth and power, and who are honored among men. But, " Blessed are the poor in spirit ; Blessed are they that mourn ; Blessed are they wdio hunger and thirst after righteousness ; Blessed are the meek ; Blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers." And, as if this were not enough to crush all the worldly hopes with which they had come to him, he still more pointedly adds, " Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." Here, in his prophetic mind, seeing as already present the spiritual victories which are to be gained through ol)- loquy, persecution, and death, he breaks out, for the moment, into a lyric strain of exultation such as we find only on two or three other occasions in his life. He calls on his follow- ers to rejoice, and be exceeding glad. He sees in them even now the grand conservative element of society, the salt of the earth, which, amid the general corruption and decay, shall save the 'world from death. Amid the almost universal darkness they are to be the light of the world, — a light so shining before men that they, seeing their good works, shall glorify their Father who is in heaven. 88 MATTHKW V. 17-48. And from that day to this how true have these words of Jesus been in their apphcation to those who have done most for the advancement of his kingdom ! " Holy men," says Mr. Norton, Tracts on Christianity, p. 144, "have suffered and died to procure for us the privileges which we enjoy. They have followed in the track of pure splendor, in which their great Master ascended to heaven There is something very solemn and sublime in the feeling produced by considering how differently these men have been estimated by their contemporaries, from the manner in which they are regarded by God. We perceive the appeal which lies from the ignorance, the folly, and the iniquity of man to the throne of Eternal Justice. A storm of calumny and reviling pursued them through life, and continued, when they could no longer feel it, to beat upon their graves. But it is no matter. They have gone where all who have suf- fered, and all who have triumphed, in the same noble cause, receive their reward ; but where the wreath of the martyr is more glorious than that of the conqueror." This triumph through death, this crown of martyrdom more joyful and glorious than all the insignia of earthly greatness or success, was first announced by Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, and held up by him as the last and highest of the Beatitudes. 17-48. — Fulfilling the Law axd the Prophets. But this mode of teaching looks like an attempt to do away with the old dispensation, or to make it of no account. Such a purpose would prejudice against him, not Pharisees alone, but even the humble-minded and devout Jews who have been waiting for his coming. He therefore declares that he has not come to destroy, but to fulfil, the law and the prophets. *' Till heaven and earth shall pass away, not one jot or one tittle [jot, the least letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and tittle, a flight mark or corner of a letter], not the small- MATTHEW V. 17-48. 89 est letter or stroke, shall pass away from the law, till all be fulfilled." But he did destroy the ceremonial law of Moses. In what sense then did he come to fLilfil it ? In that sense, we may reply, in which it Avas intended from the beginning that it should be fulfilled. It came from God. It embodied its holy principles and its prophetic life in outward ceremo- nies adapted to a rude and idolatrous age. It spoke to the coarse, dull minds it met, through such a language as they could understand, of symbols, types, and sacrificial obser- vances. It went on from age to age, with judges and proph- ets, unfolding its deeper meaning with the advancing intel- ligence of the nation, writing out its expanding history of obedience and disobedience with their swiftly following retri- butions, in the progress of the race, pouring out its devo- tions in hymns and psalms and spiritual songs, giving utter- ance to its hopes in prophecies wdiich flashed on with their sublime anticipations through distant centuries, till at length all law and history, hymn and prophecy, should be taken up into the life towards which they had always been pointing, and find their fulfilment in the spiritual religion, the kingdom of God, which Jesus came to establish on earth, and which in its saintly fellowship reaches up from earth to heaven. Thus, the law, according to its sacred and original design, was not destroyed but fulfilled, when in the fulness of time it left behind its now wearisome and ineffectual forms, and took up its sinless abode in Jesus Christ, condensing its instructions into his words, appealing to men through him as a divine life, and concentrating into his death the infinite treasures of divine love, mercy, and forgiveness, which had been poorly symbolized to the burdened heart of man by the ark of the covenant, the mercy-seat, and the sacrifices, in the wilder- ness or the temple, through so many centuries. Jesus fulfils the law and the prophets first, of all by tak- ing up and condensing into his own w^ords the life-giving spirit which pervaded them. Thus, as Cyprian long ago remarked, he has sometimes given one or two precepts, e. g. 8* 90 MATTllKW V. 17-48. Matt. vii. 12, or xxii. 37-40, on which, as he said, "hang all the law and the prophets." In this way he shows in the Sermon on the Mount how the law and the prophets are to be fulfilled, not by a literal, heartless, and formal observance ; for unless their " righteousness," i. e. in this connection, their obedience to the law, should be something more than that of the Scribes who taught and the Pharisees who formally ob- served its precepts, they could not enter into the kingdom of the heavens. Then, by a few illustrations which go to the very root of the matter, in a manner more masterly than anything else in the range of legal or metaphysical analysis, he seizes on the principle which underlies the form and gives its mean- ing to the enactment, and shows how the law, defeated often and made of none effect by an obedience which is confined to a literal observance of its j)recepts, is really to be fulfilled only by obedience to its spirit and intention. The law, 21, forbids the act of murder. But do they therefore keep the law in its purest intention who observe this precept and yet cherish an angry, contemptuous, or malicious spirit, which is in itself the soul and essence of murder ? The law, 27, forbids adultery, and so far has respect to our human weakness and hardness of heart, xix. 8, as to allow the separation of man and wife, provided that certain legal forms are observed. But the true intention of the law, which looks to chastity as belonging to the soul as well as to the body, goes beyond the outward act. It would pluck out the eye that tempts to sin, cut off the offending hand, and allow nothing but death, or that violation of the great and essential law of conjugal fidelity which is in itself a dissolu- tion of the marriage tie, to interfere with the permanency of that relation, which, as an Apostle has said, Eph. v. 32, "is a great mystery," which enters the inmost springs of social and domestic purity, and touches at its source the fountain of life to every child that comes into the world. MATTHEW V. 17-48. Ol The law, 33, forbids perjury. But obedience to this neg- ative precept does not answer the intention of the law, which finds its fulfilment only in such a state of inward integrity and reverence for God and the truth, that a man's word will be as sacred as an oath ; and consequently oaths themselves in the dealing of Christians with one another will be super- fluous, and therefore, according to the spirit of the third commandment, profane. Especially will this principle cut off those foolish forms of oaths then common among the Jews, which were made for evasion and dishonesty, and which, as Jesus declared in another place (Matt, xxiii. IG — 22), are sacrilegious and profane. "If," says Philo Judajus, " a man must swear, and is so inclined, let him add, if he pleases, not indeed the highest name of all, and the most im- portant cause of all things, but the earth, the sun, the stars, the heaven, the universal world," &c., &c., (Bohn's Philo Judffius, III. p. 256,) so as to evade the third command- ment. There does not seem to be any reference here, in our Saviour's words, to judicial oaths. The law, 38, allows retaliation, " an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." But he who has been wronged is not hound thus to aven^ie himself. The highest intention of the law, the principle of justice which by the injured party is to be blended with mercy, finds its fulfilment, not in a literal observance of the precept and the revengeful spirit thus cherished, but in that state of mind which would rather suf- fer evil than inflict violence in return, and submit even to an unreasonable demand rather than forcibly to resist it. While the principle here involved is to be of universal ap- plication, the specific directions were undoubtedly intended particularly for the disciples. Nor even by them, as Jesus showed in his own conduct, John xviii. 23, when smitten on the face, were they to be literally observed. The pure intention of the law, 43, which, in commanding to love our neighbor, would seem also to command us to hate our enemies, is fulfilled only in such an extension of the 92 M.\.TTIi::W Y, 17-48. literal precept as may embrace all mankind, and lead us to love even our enemies, and pray for those who persecute and wrong us, that so we may strive to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect, who causeth his sun to shine and his rains to descend on the evil and the good. This train of thought runs through the whole Sermon on the Mount. There is no repeal of the old law, but a more thorough application and universal extension of its prin- ciples. If it left many of its forms and specific rules behind, it was only that it might be fulfilled, according to its original and divine intention, by being taken up into a higher realm, and, as a spiritual power and influence, establishing its king- dom in the heart, and reaching the fountains of thought and life. The Jewish altar and temple must be overthrown. The smoke of the mornin"; and evenin<]c sacrifice shall no longer rise from Mount Moriah. The Jews shall be dis- persed through all the nations, and the Mosaic observances, as living institutions, be swept away from the earth. But till heaven and earth pass away, not one iota of the law in its essential characteristics shall pass away, till all its pur- poses are fulfilled. It came from God. It is the source of all true order and harmony in civil communities, and in the souls of men. It would lead by its divine precepts and its divine life through all the constraints and oppositions and changes of our mortal condition to the attainment of peace and harmony and spiritual joy. This law of God Jesus found stifled beneath endless traditions and restraints, like Lazarus in his tomb. He called it into life. He loosed it from its grave-clothes, and sent it forth a free, beneficent, and living spirit, with words of holy benediction, forgiveness, life, and peace to weary, sorrowing, and sinful hearts, who were sitting in darkness, and waiting for the kingdom of God. And in whatever age the Pharisees among Christian sects have sought by their traditionary doctrines or forms to bind and bury it, and to build up in its place a system of ceremonial observances and articles of faith which lead to MATTIIEAY V 93 superstition and liypocrisy, the simple words and acts of Jesus, tlie Gospels in their simplicity and power, and es- pecially this great Sermon on the Mount, are always the most terrible as they are the most elfectual protest against them. NOTE S. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain ; and when he was set, his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying : Blessed are the poor in spirit , for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are they 1. a mountain] This is pup- i)Osed to be a mountain known us veerun Hattin, the Horns of Hattin ; but there is no certainty in regard to it. The phice most probably was on the west side of the Lake of Galilee. 2. In regard to the disappointment caused to all the Jewish prepossessions and am- bitious hopes by these Beatitudes, Dr. Palfrey says: "I think we may see that Jesus designed to break the force of the blow, by hinting that the view which he was presenting was not without warrant from those same Old Testament Scriptures which it seemed to oppose. To this end not a little of the phraseology employed by him on this occasion appears to have been assumed." Among the instances which he gives, compare Matt. v. 3 with Ps. li. 17 ; Isa. Ixvi. 2, V. 4, with Ps. cxxvi. 5; Isa. Ixi. 2, v. 5, with Ps. xxxvii. 11, v. 6, with Ps. xvii. 15, V. 7, with Ps. xxxvii. 25, 26, xli. 1. 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit] Not the }>oor in this world's goods, though the idea is founded on a reference to them, but they who so feel their spiritual wants as to long for the riches of God's spiritual kingdom; for theirs, m a peculiar sense, is the kingdom of God. It is not im- probable, as has been suggested, that "our Lord may have had a refer- ence to the poor and subjugated Jewish people around him, once members of the theocracy, and now expectants of the Jlessiah's tempo- ral kingdom, and, from their condi- tion and hopes, taken occasion to pi-each to them the deeper spirirual truth." 4. This verse carries on the same idea, and gives its benediction, not only to the jjoor, but to tliov, what is needed for our subsistence. By the -word bread is meant everything that is required for oiu' support, — all tiae needful things of time. This un- doubtedly is the primary meaning of the petition; but it may also ex- tend itself so as to include the higlier nutriment, — those things which are requisite and necessary as well for the soul as the body. 13. and lead us not into temp- tation] There is a sense, and that a profound one, in which all actions and events proceed from God. With tliis comprehensive view of the Di- vine agency reaching through all things, these words mean, ' so order all events connected with us, and so assist us in the government of our own thoughts, that we may not be led into temptation.' The two clauses of the petition must be ta- ken together : ' lead us not into temptation, but [on the contrary] deliver us from evil.' The first 10* clause, growing out of our con- sciousness of weakness and expos- iire, gives foi-ce to the second. Feeling keenly our liability to evil, we ask with more intense earnest- ness that God will deliver us. It is said, James i. 13, ' God cannot be tempted Avith evil, neither tempteth he any man.' But this which im- plies direct personal solicitation to sin, is not inconsistent with the foct that, in the vast and manifold order- ings of God's providence, he should sometimes give rise to contingencies Avhich lead men into temptation, so that, with philosophical strictness of speech, he may be said to lead men into temptation. But that is an in- cidental result, gi'owing out of com- plicated causes intended for other purposes, and therefore allowed by God; but not designed by him for the purpose of tempting us. The substance of the whole matter is stated by St. Paul, 1 Cor. x. 13; ' but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but uill with the tempta- tion also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it. For thine is the kingdom, and the poAver, and the §:lory, for- ever. Amen.] There is no trace of this ascription in early times, in any family of manuscripts, or in any exposition. It is excellent in itself; but we have no reason to supposij that it originally formed any part of the Lord's Prayer. 17. anoint thine head] i. e. do as you are in the habit of doing; let there be nothing unusual in 114 MATTHEW VI. wash thy face ; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto is thy Father wliich is in secret ; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Lay not up for your- 19 selves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal ; but lay up for 20 yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be 21 also. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine 2a eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light ; but if 23 thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness ! No man can serve two masters ; for either he 24 will hate the one, and love the other ; or else he will hold to your appearance to attract atten- tion. The disfiguring of the face, in v. 16, refers to the habit of cover- ing the face with ashes, or leaving it unwashed and neglected in times of fasting. 19. treasures upon earth] No small part of the " treasures " in the I^ast con- sisted of sumptuous and magnificent garments. " I had," says Bartolo- nio, " put my effects into a chest, and opening it afterwards, I dis- covered an innumerable multitude of termites (or ants). They had perforated my linen in a thousand places, and gnawed my books, my girdle, my amice, and my shoes." rust] /3pa)(7ts', — a more general term than rust: anything that corrodes, that eats into and con- sumes what is valuable. break through] Prof. Hackett, speaking of the unsubstantial character of many of the houses in the East, built as they are of small stones and clay, says that " the labor of digging through such walls cannot be dii!i- cult. Those who Avished to plunder a house would be apt to select a place where the partition was ap- parently thin, and then stealthily remove' the stones or clay, so as to open a passage. In some parts of our English vei'sion ' breaking through ' should be changed to • digging through.' " Illustrations of Scripture, p. 95. 22. sing:le] clear, with no foreign sub- stance to obstruct the passage of tlie light through it. The eye, i. e. the niedium through which the light passes, is put for the light itself, as in our common speech Ave use the word cup to express the wine which is contained in it. As the pure, clear eye is the medium through which the light finds its way into the body, and fills it with light, so the conscience, when it is clear of every foreign influence, lets the light of God's truth into the soul. But if, 23, thine eye be evil, i. e. the opposite of clear, no light can enter, and the whole body is full of darkness. And if the very light that is in you be darkness, how great must the dakkxess be ! Man's lower nature is enlightened, spiritualized, and sanctified by the spiritual light Avhich comes into it through the eye of the soul ; but if that light, through the perversion of the eye, be darkness, now great must the darkness of the sensuous life be. There are none so mourn- fully dark as they who, claiming to be Christians, thus distort, pervert, and turn into darkness the very light of God's truth. How many professed teachers of righteousness, their intellectual and spiritual per- ceptions clouded by their own pre- conceived opinions,Vefuse to receive the Gospel in its simplicity, and MATTHEW VI. 115 the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and 25 INlammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than 26 meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not 27 much better than they ? Which of you by taking thought can 28 add one cubit unto his stature ? And why take ye thought for raiment ? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; spend all their ingenuity and strength in turning its light into darkness! 24. Mammon] According to Augustine this was a Carthaginian name for lucre or gain. The researches of scholars have thrown no further lifrht u])on it. 25. Take no thought] This word, fie[)ifivaT€, from a root implying division, admirably ex- presses the divided and distracted state of mind which is here con- demned as directly opposed to the entire consecration of the whole man to God, with perfect tiiist in him. The transition is a natural one from the single eye of v. 22, to the divided allegiance of v. 24, and fx-om that to the distracted, anxious state of mind which is produced when the simple, trusting devotion of the soul to God is disturbed by too fond a regard for lower things: "This 'take no thought' is cer- tainly an inadequate translation, in our present English, of the Greek original. The words seem to ex- clude and to condemn that just for- Avard-looking care which belongs to man, and differences him from the beasts, which live only in the pres- ent; and most English critics have lamented the in-advertence of our authorized version, which, in bid- ding ixs ' take no thought ' for the necessaries of life, prescribes to us what is impracticable in itself, and would be a breach of Christian duty, even were it possible. But there is no ' inadvertence ' here. "When our translation was made, 'take no thought' was a perfectly correct rendering of the original. ' Thought ' was then constantly used as an equivalent to anxiety or solicitous care; as let us Avitness this passage from Bacon : ' Han-is, an alderman in London, was put to trouble, and died with ihouylit and anxiety before his business came to an end.' Or, still better, this from cme of the ' Somers Tracts' (its date is that of the reign of Queen Elizabeth): 'In five hundred years, only two queens have died in child- birth; Queen Catherine Parr died rather of thoiKjht.' A better exam- ple than either of these is that oc- curring in Shakespeare's ' Julius CiBsar,' (' take thviujht and die lor Ci3esar ' ) where ' to take thought ' is to take a matter so seriously to heart that death ensues." Treiich. for your life] "^vxfj, a word which has no equivalent in our language, and is translated life, in this place, ii. 20, x. 39, xvi. 25, and XX. 28, but is rendered soul, xi. 29, xii. 18, xvi. 26, xxii. 37, and xxvi. 38. It means the vital, sen- tient principle which constitutes our identity, and wdiich may be thought of in its relation to our physical nature, as our physical, mortal life, or in its relation to our spiritual nature, as the soul. See x. 39, xvi. 25, 26. 27. one cubit unto his stature] The primary meaning of the word here rendered stature is age, which is the more forcible teiTn of the two. Who, by anxietv, can add a cubit to his term of life? 28. the lilies of the field] We cannot tell pre- cisely what flowers these were. " But if, as is probable, the name 116 MATTHEW VI. they toil not, neither do they spin ; and yet I say unto you 29 that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. AVherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which so to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no 3i. thought, saying, AVhat shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed ? (For after all these 32 things do the Gentiles seek ;) for your Heavenly Father know- eth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first 33 the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought 34 for the morrow ; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. may indude the numerous flowers of the tulip or amarvllis kind, which appear in the early summer, or the autumn of Palestine, the expression becomes more natural, — the red and golden hue fitly suggesting the comparison with the proverbial gorgeousness of the robes of Solo- mon." " Whatever was the special flower designated by the lily of the field, the rest of the passage indi- cates that it was of the gorgeous hues which might be compared to tlie robes of the great king." Stanley. " As the beauty of tiie flower"^ is unfolded by the divine Creator-Spirit from within, from the laws and capacities of its own uidividual life, so must all true adornment of man be unfolded from within by the same Almighty Spirit." Alford. 30. cast into the oven] The slight an- nual plants, which are called grass, are still used for fuel in the East. The oven is a sort of earthen pot (the mouth downward, and taper- ing towards the top) in which a fire is kindled that heats it easily, and the bread, rolled out thin, is spread over the outside siu'face and quickly baked. 33 the kingdom of God, and his righteousness] Tischeudorf has it: " But seek ye first his righteousness and his king- dom," which reading is sustained by the best manuscripts, and indi- cates the true order in which we are to seek, first, the righteousness, and then, through that, the kingdom of God. " By the kingdom of God," says Swedenborg, " in its universal sense, is meant tlie universal heav- en; in a sense less universal, the tnie Church of the Lord ; and in a particular sense, every particular person of a .true faith, or who is regenerated by the life of faith ; wherefore, such a person is also called heaven, because heaven is in liim; and likewise the kingdom of God, because the kingdom of God is in him, as the Lord him- self teacheth in Luke xvii. 20, 21," 34. for the morrow] For to-morrow will have cares and troubles enough of its own, just as to-day has. It has no claims to ex- emption from evil more than to-day, and therefore we are not to increase the burdens of to-day by uselessly forestalling the troubles of to-mor- row. Do what we can, it will have trials enough of its own. Leave it, therefore, as 3'ou do whatever else is unavoidable, submissively and trustingly m the hauds of God. MATTHEW VII. 117 CHAPTER YII. Analysis. Most readers are accustomed to regard the Sermon on the Mount as made up of disconnected maxims and precepts. But on a critical examination, nothing perhaps strikes us more than the intimate relation of the parts, bound together as they all are, and making one orderly and consistent whole. After the benedictions in the fifth chapter, Jesus shows how the law is to be more strictly observed by obedience to the spirit rather than the letter. In the sixth chapter, he shows how improper motives may vitiate our religious acts, darken the light that is in us, break up our allegiance to God, and disturb our faith. The seventh chapter, after a few specific rules particularly applicable to the disciples, but involving principles of con- duct which can ne\'er be out of season, closes with con- siderations of momentous interest and importance in their application to those who would be his followers in all coming times. First, 1-5, he warns those who are going forth to re- generate and reform the world, that they must beware of cherishing a censorious temper or habit of mind, and especially be careful to have their own souls pure before they should dare to arraign the conduct of others or ex- hort them to cast out their sins ; lest like hypocrites they should condemn in others faults which they themselves cherish in more aggravated forms. Only purity in their own hearts and lives will enable them to aid others in putting away their sins. Still, 6, they are to exercise their discretion in regard to others, and not waste their 118 MATTHEW VII. time and precious gifts on those who will listen only to what appeals to tlieir impure, coarse, and sensual appe- tites. Lest, however, they should be discouraged by such persons, they are exhorted, 7-10, to look to One who will always hear, and never refuse to assist them. Ask, seek, knock, express the different degrees of earnestness in prayer, which will not be in vain. Therefore, 11 — 12, since God, even more than an earthly father, will give good things to them that ask him, they are in some meas- ure to imitate his beneficence, and do to others as they would have others do to them. For here, in doing thus to others with a constant and prayerful reference to God, is the fulfilment of all that has been enjoined by the law, or taught by the prophets. See xxii. 40. The question is sometimes asked, how far the Golden Rule is original in this place. Similar precepts have been quoted from other writers, but no one wliich has the same fulness of meaning as this. In Tobit iv. 15, we read, " Do to no man that which thou hatest." Kuinoel quotes from the Talmud a similar precept, " Do not to anothei^ that Avhich is hateful to yourself." Seneca, Ep. 94, says, " Expect from another the same that you do to him." Each of these, and indeed all of them combined fail to come up to the precept of Jesus. At best, they cover only the negative and least important side of the great rule of disinterested and active beneficence wliich he has laid down. But independently of the precise meaning of the precept standing by itself, he has infused into it a religious power which takes it up out of the region of moral precepts and endows it Avith his own spiritual life. The warm religious atmosphere which is thrown around his instructions gives them a new vitality. Take, e. g. the first of the beatitudes, " Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." Here is a precept relating to a disposition or habit of mind, and, as far as the ethical rule is concerned, it might be trans- MATTHEW VII. 119 lated, Cultivate a lowly, unambitious spirit. Who does not see that the words of religious benediction and joy in which it is here imbedded lift it up out of the sphere of prudential or ethical rules, animate it with a religious life, and press it upon us with the holy and beneficent sanctions of a divine authority ? It is so with all our Saviour's moral instructions. They are never presented as naked precepts. The spiritual life which enters into them, and the religious sanctions which are thrown around them, and which mould them into conformity with the will of God, bring them to us, not as formal rules, but as spirit and life. They do not stand outside as stern moni- tors to remind us of our duties and enforce obedience ; they enter our hearts as vitalizing influences. They quicken our affections, subdue us to themselves, and lead to obe- dience as the spontaneous act of souls thus prepared. In this way, the Golden Rule, urged from a religious motive on hearts already touched by a sense of God's infinite condescension and kindness, is filled out with a divine life, which gives it inspiration and power. But it is no easy work to which the followers of Jesus are called. They are to strive, Luke xiii. 24, — dycoviCea-de, struggle, as in a crowd and a contest, — on account of the multitudes that are pressing into the broad way that leads to destruction, and the narrow, afflictive way that leads to life. Especially they must beware of the false teachers, who would come as prophets to deceive them, and who could be known only by their works. Here he warns his followers against the danger of ostentatious and heart- less professions. "Not every one that saith unto me. Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in the heavens." In that kingdom, and in the great day of its consummation to each individual soul, when the secret thoughts and acts of men are revealed, to the astonishment of themselves most of all, 120 MATTHEW VII. ^hen shall they who have lived in outward formalities and professions cling still to their old protestations, and endeavor by them to shut out the new and dreadful revelations that are breaking in upon them. "Then will I confess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work unlawfulness " duofilav, i. e. ' ye violators of the law. ' We should note the force of this word which in this connection shows what he means by the violation of the law which he ■ came to fulfil. They who, instead of doing the will of God, i trust to their professions of honor and respect for him, are Hhe violators of the law whom he drives away from his presence. How grand and awful these words, in which Jesus as the representative of the divine justice announces the rejec- tion of those who, honoring him with their lips, had yet refused to submit themselves to the will and the law of God. But these words of terrible warning to one class of offenders are not sufficient. Referring back to his whole discourse, in which all that is significant and vital in the law has been condensed and set forth, by images borrowed from that land of mountain-torrents, and sudden, violent, and destructive floods, he tells them that he who hears and does these words of his, is like a wise man who built his house upon a rock, and rain and floods and winds fell upon it in vain, for it was founded on a rock. But he who hears and does them not, is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and rain and floods and winds beat violently against it, and it fell in a ruin great and terrible in propor- tion to the expectations and hopes which he had been building on that precarious and deceitful foundation. Here is the solemn and appalling close of the greatest, the most comprehensive and most important discourse ever spoken to man. The multitudes were filled with astonish- ment at his instructions. The extraordinary ascendency of Jesus over them is shown by the fact, that, though he had so utterly disappointed them in all their most deeply cher- MATTHEW VIT. 121 ished expectations, they nevertheless recognized his author- ity, and were astonished at the power with which he spoke. It has been questioned by critics whether the words here brought together were actually spoken at one time. It has been suggested that Matthew may have put together as one discourse words spoken on different occasions. But those who have carefully followed us in our analysis will, we think, come to a different conclusion. The intimate connec- tion of the parts; the orderly Avhole which they make; the touching and beautiful introduction ; the body of the sermon freighted with profound and various instructions, yet all bearing upon the same subject, viz. the fulfilment of the law in its highest and most comprehensive sense; — the solemn and almost overpowering close.;* are to us an un- answerable proof that the whole was spoken on one occasion and as one discourse, though there may have been a pause here and there to mark the succession of topics. NOTES. 2 Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judg- ment ye judge ye shall be judged ; and with what measure ye 3 mete it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou, the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not 1, 2. A general law of retribution tence of allegiance to the truth, is here announced. As we give, so " It has been made known to me," shall we receive. "Justice," says says Swedenborg, "by much ex- Tholuck, "is elastic; the unjust peVience, that persons of every relig- blow I inflict upon another recoils ion are saved, if so be, by a life of upon myself." He who is kind, charity, they have received the re- merciful, and gentle to others, will mainsof good and of apparent truth, disarm them of their severity, ana The life of charity consists in man's make them kind, merciful, and gen- thinking well of others, and desiring tie to him. Especial! v are we to good to others, and receiving joy remember this in the judgments we in himself at the salvation of others; pass on those who ditfer from us whereas they have not the life of in their religious views, where Ave charity who are not Avilling that sometimes indulge our personal or any should be saved but such as sectarian animosities under the pre- believe as they themselves do, and 11 122 MATTHEW VII. the beam that is In thine own eye ? or how wilt thou say to thy 4 brother. Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye ; and, be- hold, a beam Is In thine own eye ? Thou hypocrite, first cast 5 out the beam out of thine own eye ; and then shalt thou sec clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Give not that which Is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your 6 especially if they are indignant that it should be otherwise." 3, 4. Only the eye that is single can see clearly. The fiiults which offend lis most in others are often those of which we are gnilty ourselves. The proud man is most annoyed by the pride of others, and the quickest to see it. The offences which we sus- pect in others are often only faults of character or of temper projected from our own minds, and having no substantial existence except in our- selves, the mote the beam] From qiiotations given by Lightfoot, this Avould appear to have been a proverbial form of ex- pression among the Jews. 5. to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye] Before, 3, it was only looking, or staring at the mote in the brother's eye; but now, with clear sight, and a charitable intent, we help him to put it away. The lesson taught in these five verses is a rebuke to the faidt- finding, satirical spirit, in which the pharisees and hypocrites of all times delight to indulge. One of the few legends res j)ec ting Jesus, which are not iitterly woi'thless, is to the same effect, and, as told by Mrs. Jameson, is nearly as follows: " Jesus arrived one evening at the gates of a certain city, and he sent his disciples forward to prepare supper, while he himself, intent on doing good, Avalked through the streets into the market-place. And he saw at the corner of the market some people gathered together look- ing at an object on the ground; and he drew near to see what it might be. It was a dead dog with a halter round its neck, by which it ap- peared to have been dragged through the dirt; and a viler, a more abject, a more unclean thing never met the eye of man. And those who stood by looked on with abhorrence, and gave vent to strong expressions of disgust. And Jesus heard them, and, looking down compassionately on the dead creature, he said, ' Pearls are not equal to the whiteness of his teeth.' Then the people turned to- wards him with amazement, and said among themselves, ' Who is this? This must be Jesus of Naz- areth, for only he could find some- thing to pity and approve even in a dead dog ; ' and, being ashamed, they bowed their heads befoi*e him and went each on his wav." 6. dogs] Dogs (Phil. iil. 2 ; Eev. xxii. 15) stand as a type of the shameless, passionate, and profane, while swine were abhon-ed as im- pure, sensual, and obscene. This passage. Dr. Barnes says, " gives a beautiful instance of the introverted parallelism." In Hebrew poetry, one member of a sentence generally answers to another, expressing the same thing with some slight modi- fication : " The heavens declare the glory of God ; And the iinnament showeth his handy work." — Ps. xix. 1. ' Create in me a clean heart, 0 God ; And renew a right spirit within me." — Ps.li 10. In these examples, as is usually the case, the parallelism is between the first clause and the second. Sometimes, where there are four clauses, it is between the first and third, and the second and fourth, as in the following: " On her house-tops. And to tlie open streets, Every one howleth, Descendeth with weeping." Isa. XT. 3. Sometimes, but rarely, the first and fourth, and the second and third correspond. In Matt. xii. 22, MATTHEW VII. 123 pearls before swine ; lest they trample them under their feet, 7 and turn again and rend you. Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto 8 you. For every one that asketh receiveth ; and he that seek- 9 eth findeth ; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he 10 give him a stone ? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a ser- 11 pent ? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in 12 heaven give good things to them that ask him ? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to }'ou, do ye even so to them ; for this is the law and the prophets. \3 Enter ye in at the strait gate ; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction ; and many there be 14 which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the forms of expression correspond in tliis Avay. He liealed him, inso- much that " The blind And dumb Both spake And saw." So in the passage before us : " Give not that which is holy unto dogs, Neither cast ye your pearls before swine, Lest they [the swine] trample them under their feet. And [the dogs] turn again and rend you." T, 8. Ask, seek, knock] Usually supposed to refer to diller- ent degrees of earnestness in prayer. Tlie following, from Clowes's notes on this passage, may possibly sug- gest a better interpretation : " To ask has relation to the desire of heavenly good in the will, to seek has relation to the desire of heav- enly truth in the understanding, and to knock has relation to the joint effect of such desire in oi)ening com- munication with the Lord and his kingdom. In like manner, in the succeeding verse, 8, to receive has relation to the appropriation and possession of heavenly good, to firul has relation to the appropriation and possession of heaveidy tnith, and to have it opened has relation to the communication therebyeffectedwith the Lord's kingdom and the Lord himself." The limitation to tiie promise is in James iv. 3. 11. If ye then, being evil] " i. e, in comparison with God." Alford. 13. The gate is put before the way, and refers to that decisive exercise of will by which we enter on a Christian course, and the nar- row way indicates the perseverance which IS also needed in order that we may enter into life. 14. Because strait] Strait means narrow, and the word translated nar- row has a more intense signification. It is from the same root — to squeeze, bruise, crush — as the word rendered ^^ tribulation'^ (Acts xiv. 22), " Wc must through much tribulation en- ter into the kingdom of God," and Avithout doubt has here something of the same meaning. It was a way so narrow as to be afflictive. There is almost always a contrast between the narrowness, the straits, the trib- ulation, through which tlie Christian must pass in the eyes of the Avorld, and the spiritual freedom and joy in which he walks. life] "^ In the New Testament death is often regai-ded as the offspring of sin (James i. 15), and life as the effect or consequence of holiness. The term death, therefore, often stands for sin and its son-owful conse- quences, as life is made to stand for lioliness and its blissful results. 124 MATTHEW VII. the way, which leadeth unto life ; and few there be that find it. ^Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's 15 clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall 16 knoAv them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? Even so every good tree bringeth forth n good fruit ; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A is good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree, that bringeth not forth 19 good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore 20 by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith 21 unto me. Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many Avill say to me in that day. Lord, Lord, have we not 22 will say to me in that day] Here is one of those indefinite ex- pressions, Avhicli, like life, denih, kingdom of Heaven, outer darhiess, &c., have a more powerful eflect on the imagination and the heart than any precise terms could ever have, even if it -were possible to apply them to this class of subjects. They draw us into the realm of in- finite being. Its vast background of light or darkness is thrown around them. They cannot be de- fined because they are employed in relation to mattei's Avhich have no bounds, and which in our present state of existence, we can but im- perfectly comprehend. In " that day," when the Son of !Man shall coine (John xiv, 20) ; in '• that day " when the crown of righteousness shall be given to him who has fought a good fight and finished his course (2 Tim. Tv. 8); in "the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ " (Rom. ii. 16); in "the day of judgment" (Matt, xi. 24), Avhen " it "shall be more toler- able for the land of Sodom than for thee," — in " that day " only those who do the Avill of God shall be al- loAved to enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Wien " that day " shall be, or what precisely shall "be the sign of its coming, is wisely hidden from us. But it has been fully revealed to us by what means we shall best prepare to meet it. " Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he Cometh, shall find so doing." See Absolute life is absolute holiness and blessedness. This is the com- mon, though not the only use of the Avord C^Tji Avhich is here ti'anslated life. It refers to the life of the soul, a jn-inciple of divine life with its at- tendant blessedness and peace, and hardly more thi\n two or three times, as Luke xvi. 25 and James \v. 14, to the life of the body. See Trench's Synonymes of the New Testament. 16. by their fruits] Sol- emnly repeated at v. 20. " The fruit is that which a man, like a tree, piits forth, from the good or evil dispo- sition which pervades the whole of his inward being. Learning, com- piled from every quarter, and com- bined with language, does not con- stitute fruit; which consists of all that Avhich the teacher puts forth from his heart, in his language and conduct, as something flowing from his inner being." Bengel. of thorns] " Although'their hemes resemble grapes, as the heads of thistles do figs." Bengel. 17. Every ^ood (dyadov) tree hring^eth forth good (kciXovs) fruit.] There is a peculiar fitness of adaption in the use of these two epithets, which is lost in our version. The tree is good, the fruit Avhicli it bears is not only good, but beautful. A good and faithful life brings forth its good and beautiful fruits, not only in good deeds, but in the knowl- edge to which it leads of what is true and fair. 22. Many MATTHEW VII. 125 prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, 23 and in thy name done many wonderful works ? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you ; depart from me, 24 ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise 25 man, which built his house upon a rock ; and the rain de- scended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell not , for it was founded upon a 26 rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which 27 built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell ; and great was the fall of it. 28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, 29 the people were astonished at his doctrine. For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. XXV. 31 - 46. 23. I never knew you] Never recognized them as his disciples. For all their loud professions and words of honor and reverence to him, he knows them not. Only those who receive his ti'uth into^ their hearts and show it forth in righteous living are recog- nized as his. With what sublime and majestic authority are these words uttered ! No king or prophet could ever have iised such language without an almost insane presump- tion. 24. whosoever heareth these sayings of mine] To hear the woras of Jesus implies something more than to perceive them with the outward ear. When on the mountain of Transfiguration, the words, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye 7?i'»t," were spoken, the command implied that the disciples should hear Avith loving and believing hearts, that they should bring them- selv_^s so into sympathy with him, or rather into such an attitude of lov- ing submission before him, that his words should find a welcome in their minds. When Mary, sitting at his feet, heard his word (Luke X. 39), it was with reverential aff"ec- tion that she received his instnic- tions. And this loving reverence 11* for Christ is still needed in order that we may truly hear his words. upon a rock] The living rock. Is there not here an alhision to Christ himself as the foundation ? The expression was one familiar to the Jews in relation to the Messiah: " Behold, I lay in Zion for a foun- dation a stone, a tried stone, a pre- cious corner-stone, a sm-e founda- tion " (Isa. xxviii. 16). " He founds his house on a rock," says Alford, " who, hearing the words of Christ, brings his heart and life into ac- cordance with his expressed will, and is thus by faith in union with him founded on him. Whereas he who merely hears his words, but does them not, has never dug down to the rock, nor become united with it, nor has any stability in the hour of trial." 25,27. and beat upon that house] In verse 25, the Greek woi-d TrpocreTreaav means to fall upon; in 27, irpoaiKoy^av means to sirike or dash against. The two words are wisely chosen to describe the diflerent effects pro- duced by the same temptations on diflerent persons; falling upon the good to purify and confinn them, but dashing violently on others so as entirely to overthrow in them every principle of faith and love. 126 3IATTHEW VIII. 3IIRACLES, CHAPTER YIII. Gospel Yiew of INIiracles. In this and the next four chapters we have detailed accounts of our Saviour's actions, and particularly of his miracles. There lie in some minds objections so strong against miracles, and the assaults on the credibility of the Gospel narratives have rested so much on these objec- tions, that it may be well here to look carefully into the subject. What is a miracle ? Not a violation or suspension of the laws of nature. " If," says Olshausen, Vol. I. p. 236, " we start from the Scriptural view of the abiding pres- ence of God in the world, the laws of nature do not admit of being conceived of as mechanical arrangements, which would have to be altered by interpositions from without ; but they have the character of being based, as a whole, in God's nature. All jDhenomena, therefore, which are not explicable from the known or unknown laws of the development of earthly life ought not for that reason to be looked upon as violations of law and suspensions of the laws of nature ; rather, they are themselves compre- hended under a higher general law, for what is Divine is truly according to law. That which is not Divine is against nature ; the real miracle is natural, but in a higher sense. It is true, the cause of the miracle must not be sought within the sphere of created things ; the cause of it exists rather in the immediate act of God." A miracle, then, is not a violation of the laws of nature. MATTHEW VIII. MIRACLES. 127 It is not an effect without an adequate cause, but in a miraculous act the usual course of physical events is changed, the usual succession of physical causes and effects is stayed, by the intervention of a higher power. When a man raises his hand, the law of gravitation is not sus- pended in its action upon the hand ; but its influence is resisted and overcome by the higher power which in- tervenes through an act of the will. If^ as may be the fact in some cases of animal magnetism, a man is able, by a simple act of the will, to raise not only his own arm but the arms of another, in opposition to the law of gravitation, there would be no violation or suspension of that law. He would merely overcome its resistance in this particular case by the intervention of another and superior power. So if, by a yet more effective exercise of the will, he could stay the progress of disease, quicken again the stagnant current of life in the veins, or bring back to the physical organs the functions of a suspended vitality, it might all be, so far as we can know, in harmony with the laws of nature, and in conformity with what is everywhere recognized as an established fact or law ; viz. that where two influences or forces come into collision, the weaker must yield to the stronger. Now, according to the Gospel narratives, Christ was endow^ed with powers through which he was able to cleanse the leper of his foul disease, quench the fever in its fiery progress, calm the winds, restore the maniac to his right mind, and expel demons, by an exercise of the will to him as easy and as natural as that by which we raise an arm, or with a word silence the noise of playful children. There are no thaumaturgical displays, such as we always find with professed wonder-workers. There are no marks of violent effort. He never, in performing a miracle seems to go out from his usual and normal condition. So far as his methods of action are concerned, there is nothing to sepa- rate these from his other works. 128 MATTHEW YIII. MIRACLES. In conformity with this supposition, there is a peculiar fitness in the term which Jesus usually applied to his miraculous acts. In the Gospels there are four diiferent words applied to miracles, 1. prodigies or wonders^ repara; 2. poivers or mighty works, Bvvafieis ; 3. signs, a-qixfla ; and, 4. ivorh, fpya. The only instance in which the word repara, corresponding to our word miracles, is applied to miracu- lous acts by Jesus is where he speaks of them (Matthew xxiv. 24; Mark xiii. 22) as performed by false prophets, with whom they must indeed have been prodigies or wonders, and (John iv. 48, " Except ye see signs and won- ders, ye will not beheve,") where he speaks of them as they appear to those who, not believing in him, could regard them only as prodigies. The similar word, wonder- ful things, Bavfidaia, occurs but once (Matthew xxi. 15), and there when mention is made of the acts of Jesus as they appeared to the chief priests and scribes who did not be- lieve in him. Jesus himself never used either of these words as jiroperly describing what he had done. It is to be regretted that the distinction which is so carefully observed in the original should not have been retained in the translation, and especially that the word miracle, in which the idea of something wonderful etymologically predominates, should not have been confined, as it is in the original Gospels, to tlie few cases where such a mean- ing was specially applicable. This would have cut off* at once the whole class of objections which arise from the habit of viewing these acts as something monstrous and unnatural. " The very word Miracle," says Mr. Emerson, in his Divinity College Address, p. 1 2, " as pronounced by Christian churches, gives a false impression ; it is Monster. It is not one with the blowing clover and the falling rain." But this "false impression" is not authorized by any lan- guage of Christ, or any name or view of miracle which has been used by the Evangelists. Usually, Jesus places his miracles among his other acts MATTHEW VIII. MIRACLES. 129 without any word to distinguish them from the rest, as in his message to John the Baptist (Matthew xi. 5), or where he alludes to them by a single word, he calls them simply his deeds or works ipya. To him, if we may judge from his language, they were neither wonders nor acts requiring an extraordinary exertion of power, nor signs, but simply actions performed in the natural exercise of his faculties. He seldom refers to them at all. And when he does refer to them, except on two or three occasions when the state of mind in those to whom or of whom he was speaking required him to hold them up in the light in which they appeared to others, he speaks of them merely as his ivorhs. He never calls them signs, except that twice (Matthew xii. 39, xvi. 4; Luke xi. 29) he alludes to his death and resurrection as a sign like that of the prophet Jonah, and once (John vi. 26) he says that the multitudes seek him not because they saw the signs, o-T^^iela, but because they ate of the loaves and were filled. Nor does he speak of them as powers or mighty acts, except Matthew xi. 21, 23, and Luke x. 13, when upbraiding the faithless cities in which most of them had been wrought. Ten times in the Gospel of John (v. 20, 36; vii. 21; x. 25, 37, 38; xiv. 10, 11, 12; xv. 24) he speaks of them, but always with the single exception already noticed (vi. 26) the same term, works, is used. This use of language is significant in many ways. 1. It gives an indication of the construction which our Saviour himself put upon these extraordinary acts. They were such as man had never done before (John xv. 24), but still they were only his works, not wonders, monsters, or prodigies, which by the very name would indicate a violation of the laws of nature. 2. If Jesus had been an impostor, seeking to impose on men by the display of such marvellous powers, he would have been inclined to make the most of them as signs and wonders, and to refer to them constantly as such. 3. If, on the other hand, as Strauss and others suppose, Jesus, a pure and gifted teacher of sublime moral and relig- 130 MATTHEW VIII. MIRACLES. ious truths, never performed such miraculous acts as are ascribed to him in the Gospel, but they gradually, as myths or legends, grew up round his life in the minds of those who came after him, and thus became at length a part of his personal history, then they who put the Gospels into their present shape, whether they invented these stories themselves, or honestly received them as traditions from an earlier age, must always have viewed them as wonders and prodigies, and spoken of them as such, whether refer- ring to them in their own assumed character as evangelists or in the person of Jesus. From their point of view they could not have regarded them, nor could they have con- ceived of Jesus as regarding them, in the easy, natural, and subordinate relation which they now hold to him. Ko one but him who had himself lived within the sphere of powers adequate to such works, and to whom they were only his fit- ting and appropriate acts, could teach men to regard them in such a light, or stand as the original model for such a conception. And writers who had not been conversant with such a being, or known these to be the real facts of the case, could never so represent him and them, and pre- serve throughout on such a scale the grand but harmonious proportions of his divine thought, life, and acts. Especially would this have been impossible on the mythical hypoth- esis, which implies that the writers must have wrought their accounts of miraculous events into the life of Jesus from a conviction, on their part, of the superior dignity and importance of those events, and from a desire through them to make the strongest possible impression on the minds of others. Ahvancis, powers, is applied to miracles seven times in Matthew, four times in Mark, twice in Luke, and not at all in John ; arjixelov. sign, twice in Matthew (xii. 39 ; xvi. 4), twice in Mark (xvi. 17, 20), twice in Luke (xi. 29 ; xxiii. 8), and fourteen times in John ; epyov, twelve times in John, but not at all in any other Gospel, and in John, in every MATTHEW VIII. MIRACLES. -^ 131 instance but one, it is used by Jesus himself. The dramatic propriety in the use of these words by Jesus is remarkable. The name wonders is given to miracles from their effect; powers, from their cause ; signs, from their purpose. Works, the only word literally describing them as they are, is the one used by Jesus. To him, living in the bosom of the Father, by whom all power had been given to him, there was nothing wonderful or extraordinary in the fact that he should still the tempest or raise the dead. From the deeper spiritual insight which he possessed, and the higher spiritual powers which he had come into the world to exercise and to impart, he regarded the power of working miracles as among the inferior gifts, not only of himself, but of his disciples (Luke x. 20), and declared that they who believed in him (John xiv. 12) should [in the exercise of their spiritual endowments] per- form even greater works than those which he had done. And if he had actually lived in the conscious exercise of such powers, looking out on the world of matter and of spirit, as with the eye of God, from the central point of life and thought, and so impressing himself on the minds of his followers, he would stand betore them as the great reality which they were to describe. The ascendency which he would have over them would bring their minds into har- mony with his. His modes of thought would become theirs. The miracles which at first awakened their astonishment, and seemed to stand out as prodigies, would at length, through his higher influences and instructions, gradually subside into a subordinate place,* and there, in concert with his diviner words and acts, give their modest testimony to his authority. Here we are enabled to show the peculiar office of the miracles of Jesus in testifying to the truth of his religion. 1. They served then, as they have in all ages since, to attract the attention of those whose spiritual natures were not yet sufficiently unfolded to see the moral beauty of 132 MATTHEW VIII. MIRACLES. his life or to feel the spiritual power of his instructions. 2. He referred to them (John v. 36; x. 25; xiv. 11) as a proof of the divine authority with which he spoke. Stand- ing hy themselves, tliey coukl furnish no such proof. Tliey might excite our wonder, but they could not gain our con- fidence. We should painfully feel the want of a moral basis for their support, and therefore would find it hard to free ourselves from a suspicion of fraud. But the sjjotless purity which marked the conduct of Jesus, the moral grandeur of his instructions, and the whole tendency and bearing of his ministry, give a perfect assurance that he could not have meant to deceive Avhen he appealed as he did to his miracles. And the fact that they were actually performed would take away all suspicion of his having been imposed upon himself. AYhen he announced the doctrine of man's immortality, for example, as if it were a fact known to him through spiritual powers of vision more than human, we should feel that, however lofty his genius and pure his life, he might be deceived. The habit of dwelling so earnestly and exclusively on sub- jects of this kind might lead him into a state of ecstasy, in which the conceptions of his own mind would be mis- taken for objective realities, or facts. But when he who announces such a doctrine stands by the grave of one who has been dead three days, and at his voice the dead man comes forth alive, this work, the effect of more than human powers of action, prepares us to receive the doc- trine which professes to come from more than human powers of spiritual perception. He cannot be mistaken as to the miraculous fact whicli he places before us ; and this takes away all reasonable suspicion of self-delusion or mistake in regard to the doctrine. The more than human powers of action which the miracle has put beyond question must, when taken in connection with the purity of his life, oblige us to recognize the more than human powers of spiritual perception which he claims to possess, MATTHEW VIII. MIRACLES. 133 and to receive on his authority the doctrines which he announces as revealed to him in the exercise of those powers. Restoring a dead man to Ufe by an effort of the will is in itself no evidence of our immortality ; but it is evidence of superhuman powers of action on the part of him who has performed it, and, as such, taken in con- nection with a life of perfect purity, constrains us to ad- mit his claims to superhuman powers in other directions. Man could not have done such deeds without assistance from some power or agency mightier than his own. Jesus says (Luke xi. 20) it was by the finger of God that he cast out devils, and (John xiv. 10) that it was the Father dwellino- in him who did the works. The nature of the o doctrines to be confirmed and of the kingdom to be estab- lished by them shows, as he justly reasoned (Luke xi. 17) that they could not have been wrought by any Satanic agency. They must then have been wrought by a power (Matthew xi. 27, xxviii. 18) specially derived from God, and in attestation of his authority as a teacher from God. In this way the miracles confirm, beyond all possibility of doubt or suspicion, the divine authority with which he spoke, — an authority which without them could not have been so firmly established on any just principles of reasoning, or by any other agencies that were likely to act so powerfully on the human mind or heart. 3. There is a sense of harmony and completeness which the miracles are needed to fill out and sustain, in our con- ception of Christ. AYithout the superhuman endowments implied by them, words such as we find on almost every page of the Gospels would seem to us almost like blas- phemy. When he says (John vi. 41), "I am the bread which came down from heaven,-' or (John xi. 25), "I am the resurrection and the life," or (Matthew xi. 28), " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," the words seem to proceed from the depths of a profound humility. They are the natural utterance 12 134 MATTHEW VIII. MIRACLES. of a being divinely endowed, and condescending with in- expressible dignity and tenderness to our weaknesses and sorrows. If they had been spoken by a man of the most exalted piety and genius, by Milton or Fenelon, or by the greatest among the prophets or apostles, by Moses or Elijah, by Peter, John, or Paul, they Avould fall harshly upon us. As spoken by Jesus, they awaken a sense of harmony and repose. They are in character with all that he did and was. But if the divine endowments through which his miracles were wrought should be taken from him, and he should be to us in this respect like other men, the words to which we turn now for comfort and support, and which draw us so affectingly and reverently to him, would be emptied of their indwelling life and power. They would no longer come to us as the pledges of God's mercy and his presence among men, but would mock our dearest affections and our hopes. When, after announcing on the Mount truths such as man had never uttered, speaking with an authority which awed and subdued those who heard him, though by those very words he was breaking up and disappointing all the ideas and expectations of the Messiah which had been cherished for centuries in the heart of the nation, — when from the utterance of divine truths such as these he came down and commanded the leper to be cleansed or the centurion's son to be healed, he was only exercising in another direction the same divine power that he had already manifested in words which stand a perpetual sign and proof of his more than mortal endowments. The whole bearing of Christ, as he appears in the Gospels, is simple and consistent with itself. It everywhere testi- fies to his identity. Whosoever recognizes the miracles, and enters into their meaning, is prepared to receive his instructions. He who understands his words most thorough- ly, and who enters most deeply into his spirit, will find him- self admitted there within " the hidings of a power " wholly MATTHEAY YIII. 1-4. 135 adequate to the performance of any deeds which are re- corded as his. For he who with a divine authority uttered truths kept secret from the foundation of the world, and who in his Hfe so far transcended the loftiest ideals of virtue and holiness that ever dawned upon the soul, was only acting in perfect consistency with himself when he did works "which none other man" had ever done. 1-4. — Healing the Leper. When Jesus came down from the mountain — it prob- ably was not till the morning after the sermon — he was still followed by vast numbers of people. Among others a leper, one full of leprosy (Luke v. 12), cut off by his unclean disease from familiar intercourse with others, hanging upon the skirts of the crowd, and having perhaps heard the kind words of Jesus to them that are afflicted, watched his oppor- tunity, and, as soon as, he could reach him without com- ing into immediate contact with the crowd, approached him, and, with the mark of respect usually paid by an infe- rior to a superior, throwing himself before him, said, " Sir, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." And Jesus, stretch- ing out his hand, touched him, and said, " I will ; be thou clean." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. There is nothing, it will be observed, in the manner of the narra-» tive to distinguish this from any other act of Jesus, or to indicate any unusual exertion or exercise of power on his part. He charged the man to say nothing about it to any one, but to go show himself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses had commanded for a testimony to them. The reason for enjoining silence may have been to secure from the priest a certificate of the cure before his jealousy was excited by a knowledge of the manner in which it had been effected. The certificate once obtained would be a testimony unto them — whether " them " refers to the priests or the people, or, as it well may, to both — that the mirac- 136 MATTHEW VTTT. 1-4. ulous cure had actually been wrought. The caution may have been given because Jesus foresaw the danger either to the man's person or character to which he would be exposed by the notoriety that must follow such a disclosure, or, as would seem from Mark i. 45, Jesus wished himself to avoid the notoriety and the increasing crowds Avliich were likely to be caused by the report of such a miracle, and which, according to Mark, were such as to oblige him to withdraw into unfrequented and desert places. One or all of these reasons may have influenced Jesus, and he may also, as Ambrose has said, have wished to set to his disciples an example of the unostentatious way in which they were to exercise their miraculous powers. It has been supposed that leprosy was set apart by the Jewish law from all other diseases as in a peculiar sense the emblem of sin. All diseases in some way and degree imme- diately or remotely come from sin or a violation of God's law. But this, as the most fearfijl and revolting form of disease, was selected from all the rest, and held up as a proof of the Divine displeasure, and to excite the religious horror of men against all sin and uncleanness. The cases of Miriam (Numbers xii. 10-15), Gehazi (2 Kings v. 27), and Uzziah (2 Chronicles xxvi. 16-21) served to connect it in a forcible manner with the direct inflictions of Divine .justice. " The Jews themselves," says Trench on Miracles, p. 177, "termed it 'the finger of God,' and emphatically, ' the stroke.' They said that it attacked first a man's house, and, if he did not turn, his clothing ; and then, if he persisted in sin, himself: a fine symbol, whether the fact was so or not, of the manner in which God's judgments, if men refuse to listen to them, reach ever nearer to the centre of their life." Even the Persians, according to Herodotus, Lib. I. cap. 138, cut off the leper from intercourse with other men as if he were suffering for some peculiar offence against their divinity. The disease assumed different forms, and the marks by MATTHEW VIII. 1-4. 137 which the diiFerent kinds are distinguished are pointed out with great minuteness in the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of Leviticus. Sometimes it covered the whole body as with shining scales of snow, and when these flakes were rubbed off the flesh appeared raw and inflamed underneath. Sometimes it did not seriously aifect the general health, and sometimes the whole system wasted away, toes and feet, fingers and arms falling off joint by joint. " The best au- thors of the present day, who have had an opportunity of observing the disease," says Dr. Kitto, " do not consider it to be contagious." But when the Crusades threw hundreds of thousands of Europeans into Asia, the seat of this plague, it spread like an epidemic over all Europe, and in France alone there were no less than two thousand leper-houses set apart for its victims, who were viewed with a sort of relig- ious horror, " looked upon," says Calvin, " as already dead," and clothed in shrouds while the masses for the dead were said for them. In Palestine these miserable beings are now confined to a spot near Jerusalem, and to Nablous which occupies the site of the ancient Shechem. A little south of Jerusalem, " and hard by the city gate," says Williams, Holy City, Vol. I. Sup. p. 24, " are the Lepers^ Huts. They are allowed to intermarry, and thus propagate this loathsome malady which is hereditary. And a most pitiable sight it is to see the poor wretches, laid at the entrance of the gates of the city, asking alms of the passengers, with outstretched hands or stumps, in various stages of decay, under the influence of this devouring disease, for which, I believe, no effectual remedy is known. I saw no case of that whiteness, wliich is mentioned in Scripture as the symptom of this disorder ; but I own that my eyes shrunk with horror from the con- templation of such misery, and I avoided contact with them as I would with one plague-stricken." " The children," says Dr. Robinson, Vol. I. p. 359, " are said to be healthy until puberty or later ; when the disease makes its appear- 12* 138 MATTHEW VIII. 1-4. ance in a finger, on the nose, or in some like part of the body, and gradually increases so long as the victim survives. They are said often to live to the age of forty or fifty years." These probably are afflicted by that variety of the dis- ease which is called Elephantiasis. But in whatever form we regard it, and whether it was contagious or not, we see enough in it that was terrible and revolting to justify Moses in setting it apart by itself, and in making it, if any disease were to be used for tliat purpose, an emblem of the unclean, revolting, and deadly nature of sin, creep- in 2: in from the extremities to the centre of life. The leper, says Trench, " was himself a dreadful parable of death. It is evident that Moses intended that he should be so contemplated by all the ordinances which he gave concerning him. The leper was to bear about the em- blems of death (Lev. xiii. 45), the rent garments, that is, mourning garments, he mourning for himself as for one dead ; the head bare, as they were wont to have it who were in communion with the dead (Num. vi. 9 ; Ezek. xxiv. 17), and the hp covered (Ezek. xxiv. 17). In the restoration, too, of a leper, exactly the same instru- ments of cleansing were in use — the cedar-wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet — as were used for the cleansing of one de- filed through a dead body, or aught pertaining to death, and which were never in use upon any other occasion. (Compare Num. xix. 6, 13, 18 with Lev. xiv. 4-7). -' The leper was as one dead, and as such was to be put out of the camp (Lev. xiii. 46 ; Num. v. 2 — 4 ; 2 Kings vii. 3), or afterwards out of the city ; and we find this law to have been so strictly enforced, that even the sister of Moses might not be exempted from it (Num. xii. 14, 15), and kings themselves, Uzziah (2 Chron. xxvi. 21) and Azariah (2 Kings xv. 5), must submit to it." The eminent Jewish writer, Philo Judaius, whose Plato- nizing habits of thought, however, allow little weight to his authority in matters of this kind, whenever he refers to the MATTHEW VIII. 1-4. 139 Mosaic accounts of leprosy speaks of them (Unchangeable- ness of God, xxvii., xxviii.) as describing the taint of sin in the soul ; and there is little doubt that the disease was re- garded by the Jews as in a peculiar manner caused by the Divine displeasure in punishment for sin, and to be healed, not by the skill of man, but by the immediate act of God. When Jesus, therefore, healed the leper, he, in their eyes, not merely cured liim of his disease, but cleansed him from his sin. Evidently this idea of cleansing him in the sight of the law is that which is uppermost in the mind of Matthew, who is writing for Jewish readers ; while Mark and Luke, writing for those who might not understand the full force of the Jewish expression to cleanse, add that " the leprosy departed from him." This view of the disorder, and of the light in which it was regarded by the Jews, will enable us to understand something of the feeling with which the wretched man who believed himself smitten of God, and cut off by a moral taint as well as by a most loathsome and terrible dis- ease from the companionship of man, threw himself before Jesus, and looked up to him with that supplicating ex- pression of confidence, " Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." It may enable us to see how Jesus, when he touched him, and said, " I will ; be thou clean," must have appeared to the Jews as standing in the place of God, and as by the finger of God removing, not only a foul disease, but at the same time and by the same act the moral taint which was connected with it as cause with effect. And it may also enable us to see in this what is characteristic of all his miracles, that the moral influences are inseparably connected with the physical power which he put forth, so that when "himself took," V. 17, "our infirmities and bare our sicknesses," he also, in a deeper sense, as our version of the passage in Isaiah has it (Isa. liii. 4), " hath borne our griefs and carried our 140 MATTHEW VIII. 1-4. sorrows," or even, according to the vSeptuagint version, "bears our sins, and is afflicted in our behalf." In its primary meaning, the expression, " be thou clean," or "his leprosy was cleansed," refers to the law. He was clean who was pronounced to be so by the priest. There was therefore a special propriety in using the word cleanse in connection with the command to go to a priest. But in its secondary meaning, which was undoubtedly uppermost in the mind both of Jesus and of the sufferer, it referred to the removal, not of a legal restraint, but of the disease itself. Whether Jesus at the same time had reference to the moral cleansing from sin, the renovation of soul as well as of body, cannot with certainty be in- ferred from anything that is related by either of the Evan- gelists, though, if the view above given of leprosy being set apart in the Mosaic law as a visible type and ex- pression of sin and its consequences be true, it is probable that this idea was also included in the words of Jesus. This passing from things sensible to things spiritual and the reverse, without changing the language, or changing the language without a corresponding change in the thought, is very common with Jesus, and is often the occasion of perplexity to those commentators who would determine in each case precisely what Avas his meaning. Familiar instances will occur to every diligent student of the Gos- pels. Indeed it is characteristic of all figurative language, especially when that language, suggested by immediate objects or events, is charged with a new meaning, and made to contain and perpetuate thoughts of wide applica- tion and extent. " The light of the body is the eye." "Whosever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." " Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." " Lift up your eyes and look on the fields ; for they are white already to harvest." Here are examples in which familiar images stand before us as representatives of an outward and material, or of an inward and soiritual fact. MATTHEW VIII. 5-13. 141 5-13. — Healing the Centurion's Servant. Jesus had now come into Capernaum, which might be regarded as his home, though, as he says, v. 20, he had no home of his own. He only accepted the hospitahty that was offered him. The centurion who met him as he entered the city was not (Luke vii. 1 - 10) a Jew, though from his kindness in helping the- Jews to build a synagogue he probably was a believer in their relig- ion. From his acquaintance with heathen forms of worship and of faith, in which he had doubtless been educated, and which could hardly have been effaced from his mind, the idea of spiritual beings occupying different subordinate positions, and ready, as the inferior heathen gods were supposed to be, to do the bidding of their superiors, must have been familiar to him. It is difficult to determine precisely what idea he, from his peculiar religious associa- tions and habits of thought, may have had of Jesus. He evidently regarded him as one endowed with more than human attributes, whom he felt himself unworthy to have under his roof, but who might command his agents, as inferior spirits, to remove the disease from his servant. All that he asks is that Jesus will only say the word, for then he is sure that his servant will be healed. Since even he, in his subordinate position as a man under author- ity, had soldiers under him who would go and come and do as he commanded them, it must be that Jesus could by a word send his unseen agents to do whatever he might command. It was this perfect confidence, connected as it was with his sense of personal unworthiness, that called out from Jesus the strong language of commen- dation which he used. Such faith, — such a readiness to believe and trust in him, — he had not found, no, not in all Israel. And in this humble-minded believer, who is not of the seed of Abraham, he sees a type of the thousands, from 142 MATTHEW VIII. 5-13. the Gentile nations, who shall crowd into his kingdom, and be accepted as his friends. From the east and the west, from the north and the south (Luke xiii. 29), they shall come to the feast, and recline at the table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of Heaven, while the sons of the kingdom who reject his offers will be cast out into the outer darkness. The allusion- is to a great feast held in the evening, where the worthy guests are admitted to partake of its joys, while they who come without the fitting qualifications are turned out from the pleasant light and festivity within the banqueting-hall, into the darkness of night, which pre- vails without. The image, viewed in the light of Oriental usage, is an exceedingly striking one, and is often repeated by our Saviour under different forms. They who believed them- selves the exclusive sons of the kingdom, entitled above all others to its honors and its joys, in the day of its festal triumph and rejoicing, when their king, the long- expected Messiah, should be seated on his throne and invite the faithful to partake of his feast, should see him whom they had rejected exalted over all, and those whom they had despised as outcasts called in to take their honored places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, while they themselves should be thrust out from the light and splendor and festivity of the banquet-hall to the outside darkness that was pressing upon them, and the shame, sorrow, indigna- tion, and contempt which awaited them there. No image could be more full of meaning or of terror to the Jews, than to be not only excluded from the great company of illustrious men, — patriarchs and prophets and kings, — whom they professed to reverence ; but to be cast out into darkness and despair at the very hour when those whom they had despised as outcasts from the kingdom should be brought in to the royal banquet. Jesus then spoke the word, and the centurion's servant, MATTHEW VIII. 14-17. 143 whom he had never seen, was healed at that very hour. Here, again, we see how intimately the exercise of his miraculous power was connected with the high religious purposes of his mission. Not merely was that power put forth to relieve the sufferings of a painful disease and to reward the kind-hearted master by restoring to him the dying servant to whom he was fondly attached, but it was so put forth as to confirm his religious faith, and give the weight of his authority to the sublime in- structions by which it was accompanied, and which reached through temporal disease and death to the festive light of spiritual joy and the outer darkness, which lie in realms beyond. 14-17. — Bearing OUR Infirmities. After healing the leper and the centurion's servant, Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law, at the house (Mark i. 29) which was owned by Simon [Peter] and Andrew. Jesus, evidently (Mark i. 33, 35) spent the night there, and it may have been his usual place of abode while in Caper- naum. He probably arrived there in the morning, and according to the custom of the place had remained un- occupied through the hottest part of the day. Towards night, when the heat had so far abated that the sick could be taken abroad without exposure to its severity, many feeble and suffering persons, especially those who were called demoniacs, were brought to him, and the whole city was gathered together in the court by the door, to witness the cures that he wrought. As the evening shad- ows began to fall, and those afflicted with various fevers and violent madness we^e borne to him, he took away their diseases, and thus, in the view of the writer, fulfilled in himself the remarkable words of the prophet (Isaiah liii. 4). Matthew translates the words literally from the Hebrew, " Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sick- 144 MATTHEW VIII. 14-17. nesses." But in our translation of Isaiah liii. 4, it reads, " Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." In the Septuagint it is rendered, " He bears our sins and is pained in our behalf," from which undoubtedly is bor- rowed (Heb. ix. 28), " Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many," and (1 Pet. ii. 24), "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." But which of these meanings is the true one, or may we accept them all ? Throughout the Scriptures, as in- deed in all the writings (particularly those of an imagina- tive character) which affect us most deeply, Avords primarily expressing ideas connected with matter and our physical condition or sensations, extend their influence into the region of mental or moral and religious ideas. The differ- ent shades of meaning melt insensibly into one another, or the w^ords are placed in such relations that we may with almost equal propriety regard them as standing for ideas belonging to any one, or to all, of these classes. .The passage just quoted is an instance of this. In its primary and literal signification (Lowth, Noyes, Barnes, &c.) it undoubtedly applies to bodily sufferings (infirmi- ties and sicknesses), and therefore furnishes Matthew from the Messianic prophecies with a striking illustration of the cures which he had just described as performed by Jesus. But these same words (infirmities and sicknesses), in their secondary meaning, pass over into the region of mental affections, and, as expressing the disorders and sufferings of the mind, are properly translated, as in our common version, griefs and sorrows. Again, the same words may with equal propriety be taken in their relation to the moral nature, and then, as expressing moral disorders and the suflferings consequent upon them, they may be ren- dered, as in the Septuagint, by words which mean sins and sorrows : " He bears our sins, and endures sorrows in our behalf" The interpretation given by Matthew, which is un- MATTHEW VIII. 14-17. 145 questionably tlie true, as it is the literal one, in its applica- tion to the scene before him, is important as showing in what sense the Apostle, writing after the resurrection of Jesus, understood him to have taken upon himself our infirmities and our sicknesses. When he healed the sick and took away from them their diseases, then, so far as bodily infirmities and sicknesses were concerned, the words of the prophet were fulfilled. If therefore the infirmities and sicknesses which the prophet speaks of should have a deeper meaning and refer also to diseases which afflict the soul, i. e. to our sins and the sorrows which proceed from them, we are authorized by the Apostle's example to infer that Jesus takes them upon himself in the same way in which he takes our bodily diseases, and that, as in healing our bodily infirmities and removing our sick- nesses from us, "himself bare" them, so in healing the diseases of the soul and removing our sins from us, he in like manner bears them in his own body and takes them upon himself. In this last expression, however, from Peter, as also in Hebrews ix. 28, the view which impressed Matthew so strongly is intensified by the great and ad- ditional thought of the crucifixion. But while the passage admits of these three different meanings without doing violence to its language, can we suppose that such language was used by the prophet in order that M^e might deduce from it any one or all of these different meanings ? There is nothing in the con- text to decide this question, and, in the absence of any such aid, the literal interpretation is the most natural, and therefore the one to be preferred in a translation. But is there, considered by itself, any absurdity or any violent improbability, in the supposition that language may in- tentionally be so used as to express a fact, which, accord- ing to our state of mind and the light in which we view it, may be taken either in its physical, its mental, or its spiritual bearings and relations, especially in writings so 13 146 MATTHEW VIII. 14-17. intensely imaginative as those of the Hebrew prophets, or in words made to bear such unaccustomed and hitherto unknown burdens of thought and hfe as those which Je- sus was obhged to employ ? From the beginning to the end of his mission Christ was obliged to impose upon M^ords meanings which they had never borne before, and which, however familiar they may be to us, were perpetually misunderstood and stumbled over, not only by the Jews, but by his own immediate dis- ciples. The expression kingdom of Heaven was used by him in a sense entirely different from that in which they understood it. And yet there must have been some com- mon point of intelligence, or the expression could not have been used as a medium of communication between his mind and theirs ; it could only have misled them, or been to them as a strange tongue. That common point was the Messiah's kingdom. Both he and they used the words kingdom of Heaven to express that idea. But while he meant that they should understand it in that sense till they were capable of something better, and used the expression, knowing that they would so apply it, how infinitely above their conceptions was the thought which to his mind radiated from those words and threw its divine glories around them, and which by and by should open on their minds to enlarge and spiritualize their gross, earthly conceptions. There is then in this case, understood and intended by Christ, a double mean- ing,— one, the primary meaning, adapted to their present condition, making a lodgement in their minds ; and the other, a higher spiritual meaning which should unfold itself from the germ lodged there with the higher spiritual develop- ment of their natures. In this way may not material images, borrowed from an earthly kingdom, have been employed by the ancient prophets to familiarize the minds of the people with conceptions as pure as they could un- derstand, and thus keep alive the heart and expectation MATTHEW VIII. 18-22. 147 of the nation through the long and desolate days of theii preparation, till at last, in a higher spiritual light, and witl? a purer type of character, they see in those words a mean' ing which they had never dreamed of before ? The sub' ject is mentioned here only to call the reader's attention to it, but will be recurred to hereafter more than once. 18-22. — Let the Dead bury their Dead. A somewhat similar use of language occurs almost imme-- diately in the narrative before us. Jesus, oppressed by the multitudes, had commanded his disciples to prepare to pass over the lake, when a scribe, i. e. a teacher of the law, and therefore a man of some consequence, offered to follow him whithersoever he might go. Jesus, perhaps seeing that motives of worldly ambition may have influ- enced him, announced to him his own homeless condition. Then another person came and asked to be excused from following him till he had gone and buried his father. Jesus replied, " Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead." The first dead is used in a spiritual sense, of those who, having no interest in Christ, are spirit- ually dead. The second part of the sentence takes up the word in the literal and bodily sense in which it has just been used. Thus there is a passing from one mean- ing to another, and a commingling of different meanings of the same word within the limits of a very short, and, in its grammatical construction, a very simple, sentence. The probability is, that the disciple, wishing to make his filial duty an excuse for not immediately following Christ, of whose success or divine mission he may have had doubts, and therefore asking to be permitted to tarry at home till he had buried his father, i. e. till his father had died, found his secret motives laid bare and his tempo- rizing policy rebuked, by Christ's suddenly turning upon him in its higher and more awful application, the very 148 MATTHEW VIII. 23-27. word which he had used. " Suffer me first to hury my father." No, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead," " but go thou (Luke ix. 60) and preach the kingdom of God." It is impossible to bring out the whole force that is compressed into these few words. It was as if he had said : " If you are really my disciple, you have received a higher life, and it is your part to go forth with the words of eternal life, causing the dead to live, and not linger here by your earthly home, waiting till your father dies, in order that you may perform the rites of sepulture for him. It is a higher duty to save the living than to bury the dead." The condensed force and pungency of the command, which rings with such power even in the ears of those who cannot analyze it, is lost in every attempt to explain it by amplification. The force con- sists very much in the sudden retort of the word hury, the rapid change from a literal to a figurative meaning, and the blending of both in one with such a compressed energy of utterance. It is not probable that the father was already dead ; for the burial usually took place in the evening after the decease. But if he were dead, the Avords of Jesus will express all the more earnestly the uncompromising urgency of the call. 23-27. — Stilling the Tempest. The Lake or Sea of Galilee, of Tiberias, or of Genes- areth, is about fourteen statute miles long, and in its widest part about seven miles wide. Except on the north- western side, about Capernaum and northward, where the ascent is a gradual one, and reaches to a height of from 300 to 500 feet, the hills on its borders rise steep, but seldom precipitous, till they attain to an elevation of 800 or 1,000 feet above the lake. Beyond the hills on the north, the snowy summit of Mount Hermon rises 10,000 feet MATTHEW VIII. 23-27. 149 or more above the level of the sea. The impression made by the lake and the surrounding scenery is diiFerently described by different writers. Dr. Robinson says that the attrac- tion lies more in the associations than in the scenery. "The hills," he says, Voh III. p. 253, "are rounded and tame, with little of the picturesque in their form; they are decked by no shrubs or forests "Whoever looks here for the magnificence of the Swiss lakes, or the softer beauty of those of England and the United States, will be disappointed." Again, at p. 312, he says, "The form of its basin is not unlike an oval ; but the regular and almost unbroken heights which enclose it bear no com- parison, as to vivid and powerful effect, with the wild and stern magnificence around the caldron of the Dead Sea." Prof. Hackett, on the other hand, says, p. 318, " For myself, I cannot hesitate to say that the appearance of the lake, reposing so quietly in its deep bed, the frame- work of hills which encase it on almost every side, the steep precipices coming down in some cases so boldly to the shore, the cloudless sky above, having its every hue and variation reflected back from the watery mirror be- neath, formed in my eye a combination of landscape beauty equal, to say the least, to any other which it has been my privilege to see in any land." It was one of the sudden gusts which sweep down through mountain gorges that threatened to destroy the little vessel in which Jesus and his disciples, with a few others, were crossing the lake from the northwestern to- wards the southeastern shore. It was in the evening (Mark iv. 35, 36), after he had sent the multitude away, and probably at a later period in the ministry of Jesus than its place in the narrative of Matthew would indicate. Jesus entered the boat just " as he was," without any prepara- tion for the journey ; and being doubtless fatigued by the exhausting labors of the day, he had fallen asleep at tlie stern, lying on a pillow (Mark v. 38), or rather a "seat 13* 150 . MATTHEW VIII. 23-27. cover," which was probably (Smith's Dis. on the Gos- pels, p. 287) " a sheep-skin with the fleece, which when rolled up served as a pillow." A sudden " squall of wind," }ialXayj/ dvtfxov, (Luke viii. 23,) came down upon the lake. There was a violent commotion in the sea, 24, " the waves beating into the vessel," (Mark iv. 37,) so that it was hidden by them, and filling with water. -The danger was imminent and instant. The disciples came, one of them crying out, " Lord, save us, we perish ; " another, " Rabbi, carest thou not that we perish?" (Mark iv. 38;) and an- other, with yet more emphatic urgency, " Master, master, we perish." (Luke viii. 24.) He, though suddenly awak- ened, mildly expostulated with his disciples, "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith ? " Then he arose, and, re- buking the winds and the sea, — " the wind and the raging of the water," (Luke viii. 24.) — he said, " Peace, be still," and immediately there was a great calm. Some modern writers have endeavored to throw dis- credit upon the narrative by denying that these storms on the lake are dangerous, and even Dr. Robinson has said, that in our day they are neither frequent nor severe. But Mr. Bartlett, in his " Footsteps of our Lord and his Apostles," thus describes a storm which he witnessed there on one occasion after sunset : " As it grew darker, the breeze increased to a gale, the lake became a sheet of foam, and the white-headed breakers dashed proudly on the rugged beach." If such storms were unusual, they would on that account be all the more terrific when they did come, and this circumstance would account for the extreme terror of the disciples. We cannot help quoting here, slightly transposed, a few sentences from a discourse by a friend whose pure mind and spiritual insight, united with earnest and untiring habits of study, would have done much for Biblical learn- ing if his life had been spared. "This incident in the Saviour's life," says Rev. George F. Simmons in his Ser- MATTHEW VIII. 23-27. 151 mon on Christ in the Storm, "lies, like the mirror of the lake on which it transpired, amidst the solemnities and eventfulness of the Gospel history. It lies by itself, form- ing a little picture of bounded outline. Though a mere glimpse, — as it were a stream of sunlight upon distant water, that comes out for a moment, and is over, — yet it impressed itself upon all the reporters ; for each of the Gospels has given it, with but slight circumstances of difference. The imperturbable calmness of the great lead- er's mind makes the scene itself as placid as a summer's day. It raises in us a momentary commotion, and then quiets us with the stillness of his heaven-fast mind. The fear of the disciples was by no means unreasonable, so far as the circumstances were concerned. But in the midst of it all, we see the man Jesus, whose name is to become a heavenly name to all the world, and who first is to go through such a cruel martyrdom, sunk in the unconsciousness of natural slumber. Neither respon- sibility nor the unquiet lake disturbed him. While the water was still, much might have occurred to him as to the danger of losing an opportunity of exhortation and teaching. But he knew that Divine Providence needed not that means should be pressed beyond their natural measure. A lesson for all whose care allows them no rest. The bed is hard ; the wind is bleak ; the waves dash over the little craft. But Jesus sleeps on. We see there the child of innocence and nature. We see there the child of labor and simplicity. Heaven is to him what the sky and air are to the natural man. His sleep therefore has this double side. It is the sleep of nature and the repose of holiness. All sweet affections, all good desires, the deep calm of prayer, the prophetic vision of piety, both natural and heavenly graces, — are garnered up in that heart which now lives only in holy dreams, — that steadfast will taking rest from the watch- ful guidance of the magnificent powers intrusted to it. 152 MATTHEW VIII. 32-38. Too soon that sleep will be disturbed. Too soon they who now call to him will not be able to watch with him one little hour. Rest, holy child! Saviour and Guide of the innocent, rest! It is well for us to covet that capacity for sweet and perfect sleep. We should aim at that tranquillity which care shall not disturb; at that sweetness of a trustful disposition which anxiety shall not embitter." 32-38. — Angelic Existences and Agencies. The subject here introduced brings us into one of the most obscure departments of theological and metaphysical discussion. The region of pure intelligence, and the prov- ince of physical laws and forces, have been explored with great care, and many mature and satisfactory results 'have been reached. In both these departments we have well- estabHshed facts as a scientific basis for further investiga- tions, even if we have not arrived at any thorouglily digested and perfected system of philosophy. But the border region, in which mind and matter are connected and acting on one another, is particularly difficult of ex- ploration, as is the whole realm of being between man and God. How the mind is here united with a physical organization, how it acts upon the nerves and brain, or is acted upon by them, so as to gain through them a knowl- edge of material things, are questions of great interest, but involved in much obscurity. Whether, under abnor- mal conditions, particularly when the finer parts of our physical organization are unusually excited by disease or powerful mental emotions, the sensibilities may be so quick- ened as to lay open to the mind new avenues of informa- tion, or new senses may be awakened, are questions which belong to a still more delicate and difficult province of inquiry. Allowing these preternatural sensibilities, or, as they seem to us, these new senses, to exist in some extraor- MATTHEW VIII. 32-38. 153 dinary instances, and that through them knowledge may be gained of what is passing in the minds of others or what is going on in distant places, have we any reason to suppose that here is anything more than an extraor- dinary quickening of the perceptive faculties, and through that the recognition and employment of some new phys- ical agent? Or are we to suppose that, as our spirits act through our physical organizations, and in ways here- tofore unknown make impressions on other minds, or under certain conditions are admitted to a knowledge of what they think or believe, so also we may be brought into connection with spirits divested of their material forms, and receive communications or impressions from them? Can we, especially in certain extremely delicate or dis- ordered states of the nerves, lay ourselves open to these spirits, or put ourselves under their influence, so that we, as passive instruments or mediums, may be swayed and moved by them, consciously or unconsciously uttering their words, thrilled by their emotions, imparting their thoughts? These questions, which in all ages have more or less exercised the m-inds of men, have been pressed upon us under new names and forms by the still unsatisfactory ex- perience and experiments of the last quarter of a century. There are two ways of looking at the universe. 1. According to one, we recognize the existence of God and men, and the world of material laws and forces. Know- ing them, we know all that it is worth our while to know. "We have only to worship God, to be just and true to our fellow-men, to study and obey the laws of nature. All beyond this we reject as fanciful and unreal, and there- fore unworthy the attention of a strong, enlightened, and philosophical mind. 2. On the other hand, while admitting these facts as containing what it is most essential for us to know, we may believe in the existence and agency of intervening spirits between man and God. We know that the earth 154 MATTHEW VIII. 32-38. is intimately connected with all the heavenly bodies, seen or unseen, bound by the same laws, acted upon by influ- ences from them, and that it would be left in utter dark- ness and desolation if they should be withdrawn. These bodies, reaching through the infinite realms of space, arc but parts of one vast and orderly system of worlds, mutually dependent one upon another, as all depend on Him who is the Creator and Governor of all. Now, as the earth is thus united in fellowship with all the heavenly constella- tions, and is affected by every motion in their distant spheres, may it not be that we also, as spiritual and intelligent beings, are in like manner connected with a vast community of spirits, rising in well-ordered ranks one above another, all bound together by the same laws, sympa- thizing with one another, worshipping the same Father, and seeking to accomplish his ends ? As in all that we know of his works here we see his designs carried on by his ministers and agents, — the sun diffusing his light, the earth bringing forth his plants, the lightnings his messengers, and man employed to accomplish his ends, — so, beyond what our eyes can see, may not his higher purposes still be carried on by intervening agents, by the ministry of angels, and the watchfulness and care of attendant spirits ? As the severest rules of mathematical reasoning lead to the conclusion that the most distant star is affected by every motion on the earth, might we not, from the analo- gies of the physical universe, be led to infer that there is a living sympathy between the highest order of spiritual beings and their brethren of kindred nature who are passing through the infancy of their being upon the earth ? When Jesus speaks (Matthew xviii.. 10) of the intimate re- lation between his Father in heaven and the angels of little children, and when he speaks (Luke xv. 10) of the joy there is in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth, he implies nothing inconsistent with reason, but by those few words lights up the realms of MATTHEW VIII. 32-38. 155 spiritual being, and reveals to us relations which the analogies of nature might suggest as existing between us and God's unseen ministering spirits. The fact that they are invisible furnishes no presumption against their existence ; for some of the most important agents in nature, as electricity or magnetism, were, in their constant and essential operation, so hidden from the cognizance of man, that for thousands of years he had no knowledge of their existence. The doctrine then of the existence of intelligent beings, intermediate between man and God, employed by their Creator and ours in carrying out his purposes, and sustain- ing important relations to us, is one not unreasonable in itself, though it belongs to a class of facts which lie beyond the cognizance of our perceptive faculties. Which of the views given above is most in accordance with the language of the New Testament ? The question is one of interpretation. In the first chapter of Matthew we twice meet the expression angel of the Lord^ and the word angel occurs three times (once, v. 9, with a peculiar ex- planation ) in the last chapter of the Apocalypse. Through- out the Gospels the existence of angels is constantly recog- nized, and it evidently enters into the religious consciousness of nearly every writer in the New Testament. An angel (Luke i. 13, 31) foretold the coming of John the Baptist and of the Messiah ; an angel (Luke ii. 9, 13) announced the birth of Jesus, and a multitude of the heavenly host joined in the song of gladness Avhich welcomed that event. After the Temptation in the AVilderness angels came and minis- tered to Jesus. In the mountain of transfiguration (Luke ix. 30, 31) Moses and Elijah appeared in glory talking to him of his departure which he was about to accom- plish at Jerusalem. In the agony of the garden (Luke xxii. 43) there appeared unto him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. According to Matthew and John, angels at the sepulchre announced his resurrection, while, evi- 156 MATTHEW YIII. 32-38- " dentlj referring to the same thing, Mark speaks of a young man at the sepulchre clothed in a long white robe, and Luke, of two men in shining gamnents. At the as- cension, while the disciples were looking steadfastly to- wards heaven, two men stood near them, in white raiment (Acts i. 10), and as beings from another world spoke to them. In accordance with these accounts were the teachings of Jesus. "We learn from our Lord's discourses," says Archbishop Newcome, in his Observations on our Lord, Chap. I. Sec. 6, " that the heavenly angels are a numerous host (Matthew xxvi. 53), that they are raised above the imperfect condition of humanity (Matthew xxii. 30), and are holy (Matthew xxv. 31 ; Mark viii. 38), glorious (Luke ix. 26), and immortal (Luke xx. 36) beings; that they are acquainted (Matthew xxiv. 36 ; Mark xiii. 32) with many of God's counsels, though not with all, that they are occasionally ministering spirits to mankind, both in this life (Matthew xviii. 10) and the next (Luke xvi. 22) ; that at the last day our Lord will come to judgment, and all the holy angels with him (Matthew xxv. 31), and that in their presence he will confess those (Luke xii. 8, 9) who boldly confess him before men, and deny those Avho timidly deny him." It is impossible to explain these expressions aAvay as figurative on any just grounds of interpretation. The language both of Jesus and of the Evangelists is often specific and minute ; it is used, not merely in passages of an imaginative and poetical character, but in the plainest liistorical details, and is applied under circumstances which admit of no other construction. Where there is no specific and formal reference to tliem, their existence is sometimes implied by undesigned and spontaneous allusions which show how the thought of them entered into the religious conceptions, and made a part of what is called the re- lio-ious consciousness of Jesus and the Evangelists. MATTHEW VIII. 23-34. 157 28 - 34. — Evil and Disorderly Spirits. But what shall we say of the existence and agency of other spirits than those of an angelic character ? The subject has already been opened in the chapter on the Temptation in the Wilderness. To deny the existence of evil spirits is not to destroy the kingdom of evil. So long as sin actually exists in the world, and evil spirits are allowed to dwell as wicked men in human bodies, and under the limitations and restraints of our nature, the moral objection to the existence of evil or disorderly spirits under other forms is wholly without force. The objection lies against sin itself and its fatal influences. But as sin does exist and prevail, why may it not show itself in other modes of being as well as in that with which we are familiar ? By denying the existence of the devil, we, as Goethe says, " get rid of the wicked one, but the wicked ones remain." Besides, what becomes of all the wicked men who are constantly going from this present mode of life to another ? We cannot suppose the bare act of dying, or changing the form of life, to work an essential change of character, and transform them from sin to holiness. If they exist at all, they exist, at least for a time, as evil spirits. Are they then permitted to go at large for a season ? As in this world good and bad grow up together, and are open to influences whether of good or of evil from one another, as a bad man often is permitted to have access to inno- cent minds and to corrupt their virtue, may it not also be, as Swedenborg has supposed, in those modes of being which lie next beyond us, that the good and the bad are for a season allowed to live, to be employed in their different spheres, and, within the rules and limits estab- lished by the all-wise Creator and Ruler of all, to labor for the establishment of their kingdom, and to hold out its influences to those who are still upon the earth, that they may receive or reject them ? May there not be a 14 158 MATTHEW Vlll. 28-34. kingdom of evil as well as a kingdom of righteousness having its seat beyond us, but, within the conditions and limitations assigned by God, reaching down its poisonous influences into the sphere of our human interests and re- lations ? The great and terrible fact that sin with its baleful influences does exist cannot be denied. Its enticements and seductions, its pestilence that walketh in darkness, and its destruction that wasteth at noonday, meet us at every turn. The world groans under a sense of the degra- dation and misery and sorrows which it inflicts. Where is its source ? In the soul of man or in the world beyond ? Is there a kingdom of darkness, — the devil and his angels, as there is a kingdom of light, — the Son of Man and the holy angels with him? When Christ came to save the world from sin, did he have to contend only with wicked men, their passions and crimes, and to infuse into men's minds the elements of a diviner life ? Or did he have to contend with and overthrow a kingdom of darkness, lying beyond this world, and yet intimately associated with it, sending out its emissaries of wrong with every form of temptation to take advantage of the weaknesses of our nature and lead us into sin ? Did the Prince of Dark- ness with his agents, recognizing Jesus as one who had come to destroy their kingdom, meet him in the wilder- ness, follow him through his ministry, incite Judas to betray him, and throw every obstruction that they could in his path? By the reference which Jesus so often makes to Satan, his kingdom, and his messengers; in the terrible depth of his anguish at Gethsemane and his cry of desola- tion upon the cross ; are we to recognize merely the ex- istence of sin in its impersonal influence and authority, seated deeply in the heart of the race, and incorporated into all its institutions and habits ; or are we also to rec- ognize a Prince of Darkness with his attendant and obe- dient subjects constituting a kingdom of iniquity, and per- MATTHEW VIII. 28-34. 159 mitted for a season, in the wise providence of God, to range at large through the world ? In this supposition we are always to remember that wicked ones are not omnipotent because they are spirit- ual, and that, as wicked men here, so wicked spirits there, must be limited by the laws of God, and by the very conditions of their being, in the sphere and mode of their operations. The moral freedom of man, which God him- self respects in all his dealings with him for his salva- tion, he will unquestionably constrain wicked spirits to respect and leave untouched in all their efforts to injure and destroy him. Whatever Jesus may have taught in regard to the agency of evil spirits, the whole force of his instructions goes to show, that, if we only are on our guard, they can have no influence over us for evil. The question of the existence and agency of evil spirits, like that of good spirits, is not one embarrassed by any physical impossibility or moral improbability. It is simply a question of fact, which lies open to evidence, and is to be treated by commentators on the New Testament as a question of interpretation. What then is taught by Jesus on this subject ? In the account of the Temptation, which must have been derived from him, he speaks of Satan as a personal being. The wicked one (Matthew xiii. 19), Satan (Mark iv. 15), and the devil (Luke viii. 12), are used as equivalent terms. Jesus (John viii. 44) tells the Jews that they are of their father the devil, and (Matthew xii. 26) he speaks of Satan as establishing a kingdom. in opposition to the kingdom of God. He speaks (John xiv. 30) of the prince of this world, who hath nothing in him, who (John xvi. 11) is judged, and (John xii. 31) shall be cast out. He says (Luke x. 17, 18), "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven," and (Matthew xxv. 41) he speaks of the " everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." It is possible that this may be figurative language, used 160 MATTHEW YIII. 28-34. to express in vivid terms the power of evil. But in read ing the Gospels, and the whole of the New Testament with care, seeking, without any prepossessions on our part, to enter into the conception of Christ and his disciples on this subject, we should hardly fail to jnfer that, to their minds, Satan and his angels were personal beings, acting in opposition to them, and exercising a dominion which it was Christ's office to overthrow. The lanjruajre of the New Testament, its direct expressions and indirect allusions, harmonize more readily with this than with any other hypothesis. For further considerations, see chapter xiii. 39. There is still another class of beings referred to in language which is to be taken either literally or figura- tively. As there are the Son of ]Man and the holy angels with him, and the devil and his angels, so there are demons, bai^ovia or dalfioues, and demoniacs, or persons sup- posed to be possessed by demons. The word Devil, see Whately on " Good and Evil Spirits," pp. 57, 80, is a proper name, always in the singular number. Wherever the word devils occurs in the New Testament it should read demons, that being the word in the original. It is unfortunate that in our version these beings are called devils. They were considered by the Jews to be dis- orderly, mischievous, and, as they are sometimes called (Matthew x. 1, xii. 43, Mark iii. 11, 30, &c.), unclean spirits. The idea seems to have been, that they were Avandering about the earth, seeking, as the language of Jesus (Matthew xii. 43 - 45) suggests, a dwelling-place in some human being, " whose will they might control, and whose mental and physical organs they might succeed in subordinating to their own uses. Two different views of this subject have been taken. On the one side, it has been maintained, that demoniacs were persons affected by nervous diseases of different kinds, especially when those diseases were so severe as MATTHEW VIII. 28-34. 161 to unsettle the powers of reason and of self-control. In short, they were either subject to fits, or belonged to that large class of sufferers who now find a home, and often, from physical and moral treatment combined, a cure, in our hospitals for the insane. The other view is, that while the demoniacs were un- questionably diseased, suffering particularly from those ner- vous affections which are induced by sensual indulgence, and through which the whole system, physical, mental, and moral, is disordered and deranged, they were actually besieged and taken possession of by these mischievous spirits, who were wandering about in quest of a dweiling- place. The spirits, taking advantage of the utter dis- harmony in their natures, enter through the rents that have been made, usurp the place which their own wills have held so unsteadily, and exercise over them in body and mind a control more or less entire according to the degree of disorder and incapacity that they find. These unhappy victims of demoniacal influence are not repre- sented as adepts in sin. They are not wholly given over to what is evil. They are rather imbecile, or without self-control, given over perhaps to habits of sensual in- dulgence, and the disorders growing out of it, with a per- ception, as the Gadarene had, of their unhappiness, but waging a feeble war against temptation, and making a feeble and therefore ineffectual resistance to the tyrannous power which has taken possession of them, and which substitutes his will and at times his consciousness in the place of theirs. He inflames their passions, arms them, as paroxysms of insanity sometimes arm men now, with an almost preternatural strength, drives them into unfre- quented and desolate places, weans them from the compan- ionship of man, fills them with delusions and evil thoughts, or forces them to isolate themselves in the midst of their friends by refusing to see or to speak. In support of the opinion that these cases as described 14* 162 MATTHEW VIII. 28-34. in the New Testament are only cases of insanity and other severe diseases, particularly nervous affections, it is said, — 1. That language similar to that which is applied to these cases in the New Testament was applied by classical writers of Greece (Xenophon, Mem. I. 9 ; Aristoph. Plut. II. 3, 38) to sick persons who were to be cured by medical prescriptions. 2. That the symptoms, as they are brought out in the narratives, are such as truly describe those classes of diseases. 3. That the Evangelists apply the same language to sick, melancholy, and insane per- sons; e. g. (John X. 20), "He hath a demon, and is mad." 4. That as the Jews were accustomed to attribute all effects proceeding from unknown causes to invisible personal agents, they attributed these mysterious diseases particularly to demons, and Jesus and his disciples, in speaking of them as they did, only used the popular lan- guage by which those diseases were generally designated, just as we use the words lunatic (moonstruck), sunrise, and sunset, without any regard to their literal and erroneous meaning. 5. The demoniacs are the only insane persons whom Jesus is said in the Gospels to have cured, which is very remarkable, if the two words, demoniacs and in- sane, do not describe the same class of sufferers. 6. If these were really cases of demoniacal possession, how happens it that they were so numerous then, and so en- tirely unknown now ? On the other side it is said, — 1. That as these cases were usually attended by disease, the medical prescrip- tions were not out of place ; and, 2. Of course the symp- toms would, for the most part, be such as would characterize the disease, whatever it might be. 3. That in the ex- pression (John X. 20), " lie has a demon, and is mad," there is no more reason to consider the second clause an explanation of the first than in the expression, " He has a fever, and is delirious." Considering how general and unqualified the belief in demoniacal influences was MATTHEW VIII. 28-34. 163 among the Jews, there can be no doubt that they in their anger against Jesus did intend to describe him as one possessed by an evil spirit, and therefore raving, when he spoke to them in language so utterly beyond their comprehension. 4. Though Jesus often used the popular language without stopping to explain the errors involved in it, yet he applies this language to demoniacs in ways and under circumstances hardly consistent with his per- fect veracity, if he knew that they were only cases of insanity. Let any one read carefully the whole passage (Luke xi. 14- 2G), and ask whether on such a supposition this language is quite consistent with our ideas of perfect truthfulness. Even if the first part of the passage should be regarded as an argiimentum ad hominem, reasoning with the Jews on their own ground, as it might be, it is impossible so to understand the last three verses, where he describes the unclean spirit, after he is gone out of a man, as wandering through deserts, in search of a resting- place, and finding none. Not only in public, but in private conversations with his disciples, Jesus uses similar lan- guage, ^n private directions to them, he says (Matthew X. 8), not "heal demoniacs," but "cast out demons," and (xvii. 21) when they come to him confidentially for in- structions in regard to a case of this kind over which they had no power, he says, " This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting," — language which must have confirmed them in the belief that it was a case of de- moniacal possession, and which it is very difficult to recon- cile with his veracity unless he so regarded it. 5. To the question why demoniacs were so common then, and so unknown now, the reply is, that, in the moral as in the physical world, particular periods are marked by the preva- lence of particular forms of evil. Why was the plague of Athens, of Florence, or of London a disease so fatal once, and so unknown now ? " In looking over the past history of the world, with reference to this kind of phe- 164 MATTHEW Vni. 28-34. nomena," says an able Swedenborgian writer, Ilayden on Spiritualism, p. 43, " we shall find that they have been exceedingly active in periods preceding great changes in the religious state of the world, and have been the fore- runners of events that have powerfully affected the minds of men on a variety of subjects, especially in regard to their religious sentiments." If such beings do exist around us, we should expect them to show their power most of all in a time of moral disorder and chaos like that which preceded our Saviour's coming, and be excited by the fiercest desire to extend their power over men at the time when he was about to put down these disorderly agents, and establish the kingdom of Heaven. " If," says Trench, on The Miracles, p. 134, "there was anything that marked the period of our Lord's coming in the flesh, and that immediately succeeding, it was the wreck and confusion of men's spiritual life which was then, the sense of utter disharmony, with the tendency to rush with a frantic eagerness into sensual enjoyments as the refuge from despairing thoughts It was exactly the crisis for such soul maladies as these, in ^^lich the spiritual and the bodily should be thus strangely inter- linked, and it is nothing wonderful that they should have abounded at that time ; for the predominance of certain spiritual maladies at certain epochs of the world's history which were specially fitted for their generation, with their gradual decline and disappearance in others less congenial to them, is a fact itself admitting no manner of question." "We must not," says Neander, "Life of Jesus," p. 146, " take the spirit of an age of materialism or rationalism as a rule for judging of all phenomena of the y{/vxr} [soul] which veils within itself the Injimte, which is capable of such manifold excitement, and whose various powers are alternately dormant and active, — now one pre- vailing, and now another." If it was one important part of the mission of Christ to overthrow here the dominion of MATTHEAV VHI. 28-34. 165 evil spirits, and to break up their dangerous intercourse with man, this alone will account for the fact that such moral disorders as demoniacal possessions should no longer be found. 6. Such expressions as (Mark i. 3-i) are hardly consistent with any other conception on the part of the writer than that of an actual possession by demons ; Jesus " did not suffer the demons to speak, because they knew Mm.^" The argument is not decisive on either side. Each per- son will be likely to adopt that view which accords best with his opinions in regard to the existence and influence of spirits. If we believe in the ministry of angels, — that the spirits of the departed may still linger for a season near their accustomed abodes and friends, — if we believe that "this world of ours stands not isolated, not rounded and complete in itself, but in living relation with two worlds," a higher and a lower, — that we are not only to welcome eveiy impression from the world above, but to keep the gate of the soul closed against influences from the world below, — we shall find no difficulty in admitting, that at that momentous crisis when the moral faculties of the race were so dislocated and disordered, evil and unruly spirits may have had an extraordinary sway, and that just at the time when their kingdom was about to receive a blow which must prove fatal in the end, they may have been excited to put forth unusual efforts in order to fortify and extend their authority. This view of the case seems to us upon the whole best to harmonize the different terms used in the New Testa- ment, both those directly connected with demoniacal pos- sessions, and those which refer in different relations to the connection between this and other worlds. We have very little doubt that this was the belief of the Evan- gelists themselves. Whether it was entertained by Jesus is not so certain. The whole subject is an obscure one. It can be known to us only through a divine revelation. From its very nature, and our acknowledged ignorance 166 MATTHEW VIII. 28-34. of such matters, we must expect to find in it things which we cannot fully comprehend. We shall endeavor to explain the narrative before us, 28-34, in accordance with each of these views. On the first supposition we may say that the symptoms, as they are minutely described in Luke viii. 26-37, and more vividly still in Mark v. 1-17, are those of extreme in- sanity. The fierce and habitual violence, the almost pre- ternatural strength, the shrinking from the society of men, living naked among the sepulchres and in the mountains, the savage outcries, and fierce tearing of his flesh with stones, are symptoms of the most violent insanity. So is his double consciousness, speaking now in his own person, as when he came and threw himself down before Jesus, and then, in the violence of the struggle which ensued when Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out of him, speaking in the person of the spirit, and afterwards in his still more violent ravings identifying himself with an army of demons by whom he supposes himself to be possessed. These are the wild, rapid, inconsistent starts of a madman. The whole narrative, so natural and life- like, bears indisputable marks of truth. Even the transfer of the disease to the swine is as easily accounted for on this supposition as on any. Perhaps there is no one feature of the case which may not be thus explained, ex- cept his recognition of Jesus as the Son of the Most High God, and his falling down in reverence before him. It is possible, but very improbable, that in his fierce and iso- lated condition he should have heard reports to produce such an impression on his mind. We will now explain it on the other theory. We will suppose that, in addition to the insanity which had been brought upon himself and aggravated in all its symptoms by habits of sensual indulgence and the attendant disorders of his inward life, he was actually possessed by a demon whom he, having once admitted, has no longer the power MATTHEW VIII. 28-34. 167 to expel. This evil spirit has taken possession of his faculties, fills out his consciousness, excites in him the fiercest enmities and passions, drives him away from the abodes of men, and subordinates his nature to his own mischievous and disorderly will. There may be moments of awakening consciousness, when the despotic tyranny is relaxed, and the poor man returns to himself and feels his misery. Such a moment may have come, when the spirit, recognizing with awe the presence of Jesus, was thrown off his guard, and the man, thus made aware of the character of Christ and seizing at orice on the hope of deliverance, ran and threw himself at his feet. But immediately the spirit regained his control, the frenzy returned upon his victim, and believing himself now to be the demon by whom he was possessed, the act of homage by which he had thrown himself down in the hope of re- lief was turned into a fierce cry of rage and despair. " What hast thou to do with me, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God. Hast thou come hither to torment me before the time ? I adjure thee by God, torment me not." For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Then, as if to call him to himself, Jesus asked him his name. But the power that had dominion over him was not then relaxed, and, as if he were a Avhole army of demons, he said, "Legion is my name." And still, under the same control, in the person of the demons whom he supposes himself to be and whose words he speaks, he besought Jesus that he would not (Mark v. 10) send them away out of the place, or command them (Luke viii. 31) to go out into the abyss, but allow them to ente^ a vast herd of swine that was feeding in the distance (Matthew viii. 30) there on the mountain near the sea (Mark v. 11). The request is not refused. The swine, seized with a sudden fury, rush headlong down the preci-. pice into the sea, and perish in the waters. The whole account, on this supposition, is perfectly natu^ 168 MATTHEW VIII. 28-34. ral and consistent. It places before us in terrible colors the features of that disjointed and discordant life which must belong to a human being subjected to such a for- eign control before his whole nature is consciously and voluntarily surrendered to what is evil. There are one or two remarkable expressions here which, on this supposition, may throw a little light on a dark and difficult subject. " What hast thou to do with us (Matthew viii. 29), Jesus, thou Son of God?" indicates their knowledge of Christ as of a superior being who has authority over them. But how could the maniac have known him by this title ? The second clause of the same sentence, " Hast thou come to torment us before the time ? " would seem to indicate that they knew that they could be allowed to range at liberty only for a season. The same fact is also indicated yet more strongly by their beseeching Jesus (Luke viii. 31) that he would not com- mand them to go out into the deep, the abyss, which word, wherever it is used in the New Testament, refers to the abode of the dead (Romans x. 7) or the abode of wicked spirits (Rev. ix. 1, 2, 11 ; xi. 7 ; xvii. 8; xx. 1, 3). The same idea is probably implied in the request of the demons (Mark v. 10), that Jesus would not send them out of the place. The inference is that these spirits, who were perhaps, as Swedenborg asserts, the souls of de- parted men, were allowed to linger for a time about the earth before they entered the abyss. It ought to be added that this is the strongest case to be found in the Gospels, on the side of actual demon- iacal possession. MATTHEW VIII. 1G9 NOTES. When he was come down from the mountain, great multi- 2 tudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make 3 me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will ; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy 4 was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him. See thou tell no man ; but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that JNIoses commanded, for a testimony unto them. 5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came 6 unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying. Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously torment- 7 ed. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and said : Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only, 9 and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under author- ity, having soldiers under me ; and I say to this man. Go, and he goeth ; and to another. Come, and he cometh ; and to my 10 servant. Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed. Verily I say unto 11 you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit doAvn with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in 5. there came unto him a 8 and 9. It is not unusual to repre- centurion] In the Koman armv ^ent a man as donig InmseJf wliat he for a Ions tune each legion contained does througli others. 6. Lord] sixtv centuriffi, and each centuria, A term by which, according to Gro- as the name implies, was supposed tms and Kiimoel, the Jews Avere to consist of a liundred men. The accustomed to address even stran- commander of one of these com- gers. It was also a term which, panies was called a centurion, and hke our Sir, might be used in the according to Polvbius (VI. 24), he most respectful salutations, was usuallv remarkable less for his 8. my servant] Literally, " my daring valor than for his calmness H." or ''my son;'' but in Luke and sagacity. He sat as a judge in it is explained as servant, boiikov. mhior ofieiices, and was, of course, 10. faith] The first use in a province like Galilee, a man of this word in the Gospels, though of considerable distinction and im- the corresponding adjective is found portance. According to Luke (vii. (vi. 30). The noun here, as is sug- 1-10), the centurion sent elders of gested by the adjective there, and the Jews to Jesus, and did not him- viii. 26, means trust, confchnce, and self meet him, till Jesus had come implies a believing, trusting heart, near his house, Avhen he spoke to 11. and shall sit down him substantially as here in verses with] shall rtdiue with. At their 15 170 MATTHEW VIII. the kingdom of Heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall 12 be cast out into outer darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go 13 thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his 14 wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her 15 hand, and the fever left her ; and she arose and ministered unto them. When the even was come, they brought unto 16 him many that were possessed with devils ; and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick ; that it 17 might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sick- Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave is commandment to depart unto the other side. And a certain 19 scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him. The 20 foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests ; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. And another of 21 meals the Jews, in common with other Oriental people, reclined on couches. 12. there shall be weeping] There shall be the weeping ; " a remarkable article used emphatically," " as though that were the true ideal of soitow, the normal standard of suffering, the archetypal reality of agony." " In this life, grief is not yet really grief." Bengel. 12. gnash- ing of teeth] " from impatience and bitterest remorse. Self-love in- dulged on earth will then be trans- formed into self-hate; nor will the sufferer be ever able to depart from himself." " Another exposition is, the soft will weep, the stern will rage." Bengel. This whole im- agery is from the marriage feast, — a favorite similitude with our Lord, — lamps and torches within, the dark- ness of night without. 16. tlie even] The Jews reckoned two evenings, the first evening beginning with the declining sun, or about three o'clock, P. M. ; the ^econd evening beginning with the setting sun. The hour of evening sacrifice and prayer was the ninth hour, or about three o'clock. See Robinson's Lexicon. 19. a certain scribe] one scribe. Few of that class came to Jesus with a disposition to receive and follow him. He probably saw the mis- taken motive, or the infirmity of purpose with which this scribe had come; and knowing that such fol- lowers could only Aveaken his cause, gave him such an answer as would reveal him to himself, and lead him voluntarily to go away, though he may, like'the young man (xix. 22), have gone away disappointed and sorrowful. 20. the Son of Man] Dr. Palfrey supposes that Jesus used this phrase " as con- taining a reference to a forni of conception and of speech derived from (or at least according with) a passage in the Book of Daniel (vii. 13, 14), where it is said, 'I saw in the night visions, and behold, one MATTHEW VIII. 171 his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and 22 bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead. 23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed 24 him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, in- somuch that the ship was covered with the waves ; but he Tvas 25 asleep. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, say- 26 ing. Lord, save us, we perish. And he saith unto them. Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith ? Then he arose, and re- buked the winds and the sea ; and there was a great calm. 27 But the men marvelled, saying. What manner of man is this, that even the Avinds and the sea obey him ? 28 And when he was come on the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed Avith devils, like a [or ihel son of man came with the clouds of heaven,' &c. In these words, the subject in the wri- ter's contemplation was the coming of the Messiah to establish the king- dom of Heaven. Occurring in a passage of such brilliancy, the phrase Son of JIan, though by no means sufficiently specific in its meaning to be restricted into a des- ignation of the Messiah, yet was likely to take a place among those titles Avhich might properly be ap- ?Hed to him." — Relation between udaism and Christianity, pp. 66, 67. 22. let the diead bury tlieir dead] It may be, as Bengel suggests, that this is meant to im- ply that even the most imperative offices of life — such as the burying of the dead — should be left to be performed by others, since the com- mand to follow him was too imme- diately urgent and imperative to be put aside on any such grounds. " But go, thou, and preach the king- dom of God; that is, arouse those who are dead; being called to this, leave bm-ying to others, who, alas ! do it naturally enough, as long as they themselves are as dead as ihei?" dead." " Ye are called, as the living, to diffuse life; leave every- thing else as bm\ying-work to the dead." Stier. ' 23. into a ship] The size of the ship or boat may be inferred from the size of the lake. There is great weight in a remark of Bengel, which might be carried out more fully than" in his words : " Jesus had a moving school (scholam ambulant em) ; and in that school his disciples were instructed much more solidly than if they had dwelt under the roof of a single college, without any anxietv or temptation.'" 26. ani rebuked the winds] Tiiished them, or commanded them to be silent. The word rebuke, eTriTLfidto, is not used to express displeasure or anger, but as a command to cease from what one is already doing or saying. " And he charged [rebuked, eTriri/xjycrej/] them not to make him known." (xii. 16.) 28. the Gergesenes] In Tischendorf, Gadarenes. In Luke it is Gadarenes, but according to Tischendorf, Gerasenes. It is diffi- cult to decide among these different readings. If Um Keis occupies the same spot as the ancient Gadara — and of that there seems to be little doubt — Gadara could not have been the scene of this miracle; for it is, according to Thomson, " about three hours," i. e. about seven or eight miles, " to the south of the extreme shore of the lake in that direction." But Gersa or Chersa, savs Thom- son, Vol. II. pp. 35, 36, '' is within 172 MATTHEW VIII. coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, 29 What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God ? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time ? And there w was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. a few rods of the shore, and an im- mense mountain rises directly above it, in which are ancient tombs, out of some of which the two men pos- sessed of the devils may have issued to meet Jesus. The lake is so near the base of the mountain that the swine, nishing madly down it, could not stop, but Avould be hurried on into the water and drowned. The place is one which our Lord would be likely to visit, having Capernaum in full view to the north, and Galilee ' over against it,' as Luke says it was (Luke viii. 26). The name, however, pronounced by the Beda- win Arabs, is so similar to Gergesa, that to all my inquiries for this place they invariably said it was at Chersa, and they insisted that they were identical, and I agi-ee with them in this opinion." two possessed Avith devils] ]\hirk and Luke speak of only one, and represent him as so wild and ungovernable, that he dwelt Avith- out clothing among the tombs, driv- en by the demon into desert places, (Luke viii. 29), continuing day and night among the sepulchres and on the mountains, crying out and cut- ting himself with stones (Mark v. 5), so fierce that chains and fetters had been broken by him, and no man was able to subdue him. Yet when he saw Jesus coming, while he was yet afar off (Mark v. 6), he ran and prostrated himself before him, and shrieked out the Avords, " What hast thou to do with me, Jesus, thou Son .of the Most High God? Art thou come hither to tor- ment us before the tnne ? I adjure thee by God, torment me not." Matthew (xx. 30) speaks of two blind men, where Mark and Luke mention but one. Li each case their attention may have been confined to the more conspicuous of the two as the one on whoin our Saviour's poAver Avas most decisively exer- cised. MatthcAv, from his office as a publican or tax-gatherer, Avould be likely to be moi-e precise in the use of numbers, and therefore to mention both, even though the par- ticulars of the account Avhich the other Evangelists have preserved actually applied only to one. 30. a good way off] fiaKpav, far from them. j\Iark nnd Luke say, €^61, " There, on the mountain." Tliere is no inconsistency. They Avere there, in the distance, on the mountain. This miracle, Avhich has more the air of a legend than any other in the Gospels except the tak- ing of money from the mouth of a fish (xvii. 27), is nevertheless re- markably lifelike and natural in its details, especially as they are giA^en by Mark aiuf Luke. 'With the exception of his destruction of the fig-tree (xxi. 19), it is the only miracle of Jesus that Avas not Avholly beneficent in its effects. But the very destruction of property, as in a similar case (Acts xvi. 16 -19), may have been to shoAv hoAV much more A-aluable and sacred is a human soul than any amount of gain. It may have been intended as a rebuke to those Avho, if JeAvs, Avere keeping SAvine in violation of the laAv. It may, in some Avay unknown to us, have been necessary, in order to effect the cui-e and'^ make it per- manent. Or still more probably, it may have been intended, by the very considerable magnitude of the loss', to attract the attention of the communitv, as the cure of the ma- niac alone'coukl not do, and prepare them to receive the Gospel at some future day. For such a loss Avould produce 'a lasting impression on their sordid minds; and evidently the people in the vicinity were moved Avith aAve and dread by this more than by any other of his mir- MATTHEW VIII. 173 31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer 32 us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said unto them. Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine. And, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. 33 And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told everything, and what was befallen to the pos- 34 sessed of the devils. And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus ; and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts. acles. As to any injustice to the owners, it Avas " God' who inflicted this loss; and, viewed in this light, all inquiry respecting the particular cause Avhy it was inflicted, and all discussion of its reason or justice in reference to the owner, are as much out of place as they would be concerning a fire, or a shipwreck, or an earthquake." Norton's "In- ternal Evidences of the Genuineness of the Gospels," p. 282. That the miracle was intended to produce a very strong impression is a sugges- tion couiiteuanced by the fact that Jesus directed the man (Luke viii. 39) to go home and declare what great things God had done for him. The leper, v. 4, luid been command- ed to tell no one. But this was on the opposite side of the lake, where Jesus had not the same need of privacy as on the western side. As he was immediately to leave the place, and seldom it" ever to visit it again, he may have been desii-ous of doing what he might to extend the knowledge of his mission in that region. 15* 174 MATTHEW IX. 18-26. CHAPTER IX. 18-20. — Christ's Way of viewing Death. The explanation of these miracles will belong more prop- erly to Mark v. 22 - 43. A single expression will here be noticed (24), " The maiden is not dead, but sleeping." 01s- hausen supposes that Jesus intended by these words to say that she really was not dead, but only " in a deep trance." "We think the expression is rather to be regarded as in- dicating the view which Jesus took of death. To him who looked through the shadowy envelopments of mortal- ity, and saw in its higher experience the ongoings of the life here begun, death could not appear as it did to others ; and, except when he was specially obliged, as in John xi. 14, and Matthew xvi. 28, to adapt him- self to their understanding, he would naturally apply to it forms of speech diiferent from those Avhich Avere then in use. Here is one of those forms, borrowed possibly from the Old Testament (Deut. xxxi. 16 ; 2 Icings xx. 21). But the limited expression there, " He slept ivith Ms fathers^^ is taken without any such qualification, and the act of sleep is held up as the peaceful and fitting emblem of death. " Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep." The expression fixed itself among his followers. " Many bodies of saints Avho had fallen asleep arose." (Matthew xxvii. 52.) " And having said this, he fell asleep." (Acts vii. 60.) " Of whom the greater j^art remain to this day, but some have fallen asleep." (1 Cor. xv. 6.) " They who have fallen asleep in Christ." (1 Cor. xv. 18.) This softened mode of expression, entering the Christian consciousness, has changed the whole aspect of the grave. The pall of death is but a veil of slumber thrown over the mortal MATTHEW IX. 18-26. 175 form of those who, having lived in Christ, have now- fallen asleep in him. How in harmony is all this with the character of Jesus ! He to whom the issues out of this life into a higher realm were as real and visible as its ordinary transactions here, could hardly accept as truthful accounts of death the terms which were employed by men on whom the shadows of the tomb fell with their deep and hopeless mystery. Sometimes he is obliged to adapt himself to the comprehension of others. But usually he speaks of death in other ways. It is a sleep. It is rendering back a gift (Matthew x. 39 ; Luke xvii. 33 ; John xii. 25), that it may be safely preserved, or the laying down of a possession* (John x. 17), that it may be taken again. It is the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew xxv. 13, 31.) It is the harvest at the end of the world (Matthew xiii. 39), where the reapers are the angels. " The beggar died (Luke xvi, 22), and was car- ried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." (Luke xxiii. 46.) There is nothing constrained in his language. The whole sub- ject is transfigured by it ; but it flows so easily from his own higher point of view, that we hardly see what power there is in his words, unless our attention is particularly called to them. He does not formally announce the Con- tinuance of our being beyond this world, but rather takes it for granted. The doctrine enters into all his conceptions of life, makes up a part of his daily consciousness, and shows itself spontaneously in his words and acts. " God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." So, not Moses and Elias alone, but Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the maiden here, and his friend Lazarus at Bethany, together with the faithful of all times, were still among the living inhabitants of a living world. Death, in his view, belonged to the soul as a consequence of sin, and not to the body. As life with him means spiritual life, so death (a word he seldom uses) means spiritual death. 176 MATTHEW IX. NOTES. And lie entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of 2 the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy. Son, be of good cheer ; thy sins be forijiven thee. And, behold certain of the scribes said 3 1. This verse belongs properly to the preceding nan-ative, and should be placed at the end of the eighth chapter. his own city] Capei-naiim. 2 Jesus see- ing their faith] Matthew speaks of tlieir faith. Mark (ii. 2-4) and Luke (v. 18-19) explain how they showed their faith by the extraor- dinary exertions they made to bring the sick man thi-ough the roof. The crowd was such that they could not enter the door. They carried him up, therefore, by an outside stair- way to the roof,' and " unroofing the roof [over] where he was," they "having broken it up, let him down." " The horizontal apertui-e m the flat roof had. necessarily a secondary roof or porch over it, to keep out the rain. The aperture may be compared to the cabin hatchway of a ship, and the porch to the companion. The main roof is covered with cement, but, if my memoiy serves me right, the sec- ondary I'oof is not unfrequeutly sloping, and covered with tiles. It is fitted to allow persons in an up- right position to enter; but we can easily conceive that it might not be fitted to admit of a person recum- bent on a couch without removing the porch." Smith's Diut be- yond this, with a keener edge and a more pungent personal applica- tion, he turns the same words against them, and lays bare the emptiness of their pretensions to righteousness, by pressing upon them the language of a prophet { Hosea vi 6 ) Avhose authority they could not reject, and who, by the words, " I will have mercy, and not sacrifice," unmasks them to them- selves, and rebukes their imforgiv- ing and uncharitable judgments. At the same time that Hosea is made to expose and condemn tlie Pharisees, he also shows the char- acter and office of Jesus, who mer- cifully came, not to call the righte- ous, but sinners. 13. I will have mercy, and not sacrifice] The Hebrew form of comparison, instead of " I will have mercy rather than sacrifice," — the spirit indi- cated by sacrifice, which was only a form, rather than the form without the spirit. the righteous] This Avord, dUaios, it has been said, is used to express an outside, for- mal, or self-righteousness. We can find no such use of it. It is an epi- thet for what is right in the sight of God. " Pi-ophets and righteous men desired to see my day." (Matt, xiii. 17 ) "Then shall the right- eous shine forth as the sun." (xiii. 43.) "Then shall the righteous answer him." (xxv. 37. ) " The just [righteous] shall live by faith." (Rom. i. 17.) "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die : though for a good man perhaps one even dares to die. But God commended his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us," (Rom.\. 7, 8.) Here righteous and good, as synonymous terms on the one hand, are contrasted Avith sin- ners on the other to re- pentance] is omitted by Tischen- MATTHEW IX. 179 14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, "Why do 13 we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not ? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them ? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and 16 then shall they fast. No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment ; for that which is put in to fill it up tak- 17 eth from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles; else the bottles break, and dorf, and the sense is greatly im- proved by tlie omission. 14. Then] Not necessarily at that very time (though it may have been so),"^ but about that time, the dis- ciples of John, who had not then risen far enough above the old dis- pensation to comprehend the new, in its true character, came to ask why he did not fast as they and the Pharisees did? 15. chil- dren of the bride -chamber] Not ordinary guests, but tlie par- ticular friends of the bridegroom, who go to fetch the bride from her father's house to the bride-chamber, or who go with the bridegroom to the house where the festival is pre- pared and the bride is to be found. John the Baptist had already pub- licly spoken of Jesus (John iii. 29) as the " bridegroom." This gives f)eculiar force to the illustration lere used by Jesus in his reply to John's disciples. " How," he asks, " shall the very sons of the bride- chamber, during the days of the marriage festivities, while the bride- groom is with them, fast?" It would be a forced, unnatural, and unseemly act. But the days will come Avhen the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then, in their loneliness and sorrow, they will have no heart for feasting, but will fast. The meaning is, that fasting is not to be a forced, external ob- servance at stated times, whatever the condition of a man's soul, but that Avheu he feels his desfjl.ition and sinfulness, then he will mourn, and, in the true sense of the word, fjvst. " Fasting should be the genu- ine oflfspring of inward and spiritual sorrow, of the sense of the absence of the bridegroom in the soul, — not the forced and stated fasts of the " old covenant now passed away." " It is remarkable how uniformly a strict attention to artificial and prescribed fasts accompanies a hankering after the hybrid cere- monial system of Rome." Alford. 16. Then, following out the same thought with illustrations, — the garments and the wine, — borrowed still from the wedding feast, he asks John's disciples, how it is possible to patch up an old, worn-out, cere- monial system with something new and stronger, but still of the same sort, of the same outside, super- ficial, ceremonial character? By patching this piece of strong, un- billed, badly-matched cloth on the old and rotten garment you do not remedy the defect, but, on account of the strain that is put upon it, you enlarge the rent, and by the con- trast make the jioverty of the old garment appear even worse than it did before. 17. new Avine into old bottles] And not only can you not preserve the old ceremonial obsei'vances by patch- ing new rites and ceremonies upon them, but you cannot preserve them by infusing new life into them. The old bottles, made of skin, smeared perhaps on the inside with pitch, growing stiff and Aveak and brittle as they grow old, are not fit to hold the new wine in its state of vehe- ment fermentation. No more is the new religion, with its restless and boundless activities, coming as a new life into the world, to be com- pressed within the old and now de- 180 MATTHEW IX. the wine runneth out, and tlic bottles perish ; but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came 13 a certain ruler and worshipped him, saying, ]\Iy daughter is even now dead ; but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. And Jesus arose and followed him, and so did his 19 disciples. And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with 20 an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment. For she said within herself, If I may 21 but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him 22 about, and when he saw her, he said. Daughter, be of good comfort ; thy faith hath made thee Avhole. And the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus came 23 into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels, and the people making a noise, he said unto them. Give place ; for the maid 24 bilitated forms ; for so it would burst them asunder. Tlie forms Avould perish, and with them the rehgioii which had souglit sheUer, expres- sion, and the means of activity and influence in tliem. The new faith must assume the new and eh\stic forms adapted to tlie living energies with which it is endowed; and then both will be preserved. 18. My daughter is even now dead] Not, as some commentators say, is just dying ; but she is just dtad ; apTL €T€\evTt](Tev, by this time she is dead. 23. the min- strels and the i>eople making a noise] " During my stay in Jerusalem," savs Professor Hackett, "111. of Scrip.," p. 113, "I fre- quently heard a, singular cry issu- ing from the houses in the neigh- borhood of the place where I lodged, or from tho^e on the streets through Avhich I passed I ascer- tained, at length, that this peculiar cry was, no doubt, in most instances, the signal of tlie death of some per- son in the house from which it was heard. It is customary, Avhen a member of the family i's about to die, for the friends to assemble around him, and watch the ebbing away of life, so as to remark the precise moment when he breathes his last; upon which they set up instantly a united outcry, attended with weeping, and often Avith beat- ing upon the breast, and tearing out the hair of the head. How exactly, at the moment of the Saviour's ar- rival, did the house of Jairus cor- respond with the condition of one, at the present time, in which a death has just taken place ! It re- sounded with the same boisterous expression of grief for which the natives of the East are still noted. The lamentation must have com- menced, also, at the instant of the child's decease; for when Jesus ar- rived he found the mourners already present and singing the death-like dirge. (See Mark v. 22, &c.) The account discloses another mark of accm-acy which may be worth point- ing out."^ ]\Iatthew speaks of 'min- strels ' as taking part in the tumult. The use of instruments of music at such times is not universal, but depends on the circumstances of the family. It involves some expense, wliicii cannot always be afforded. Mr. Latic mentions that it is chiefly at the funerals of the rich, among tlie Egyptians, that musicians are em))Ioyed to contribute their part to the" mournful celebration. The ' minstrels,' therefore, appear very properly in this particular history. Jairus, "the father of the damsel MATTHEW IX. 181 is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. 25 But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her 26 by the hand ; and the maid arose. And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land. 27 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on 28 us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus saitli unto them. Believe ye that 1 am 29 able to do this ? They said unto him. Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it 30 unto you. And their eyes were opened. And Jesus straitly 31 charged them, saying. See that no man know it. But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country. 32 As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man, 33 possessed with a devil. And w^hen the devil was cast out, the dumb spake. And the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was 34 never so seen in Israel. But the Pharisees said, he casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. 35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching whom Christ restored to life, since he was a ruler of the synagogue, must have been a person of some rank among his countrymen," 24. And they laughed him to scorn] A most vivid contrast, — these hired mourners scornfully laughing at him who had interrupt- ed their noisy demonstrations of grief ; and Jesus, with serene be- nignity, going in, taken the little maiden by the hand, and calling to her to arise from the sleep of death. 27. Thou son of David] It is a little remarkable that this ex- pression should be used in each of the three cases of healing the blind Avhich are mentioned by Matthew (xii. 23; XX. 30). " have mercy on us] A confession of misery and a cry for mercy, which has become a part of the solemn and atfecting litany for all suffer- itig and penitent soids. 'EXeT^o-oi/, eleeison, has been transplanted by music and poetry into the devotions of all languages.' ( See Longfellow's 16 Blind Bartimeus. 30. Jesus charged them on pain of liis dis- plcasiue, saying, " See that no man know it." " Whv the prohibition here, when he had already com- manded the Gadarene demoniac (Mark v. 19) to go home to his friends and tell them how great things the Lord had done for them? That was on the east side, near the farther end of the lake, m a remote place which Jesus never probably visited except at that time. The report there of what he had done could therefore cause him no incon- venience. Besides the ditierent characters of the men may have been such that the Gadarene would advance his cause, and the others bring discredit upon it, by being its advocates. The condvxct of the two men, who when they had received their sight did the opposite of what he had strictly commanded them, shows that they were not men to be depended upon 34. prince of the devils] (See xii. 182 MATTHEW IX. in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the peo- ple. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with 36 compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his 37 disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will 38 send forth laborers into his harvest. 24). 35. and healings every sickness] Every kind of sickness and disease. 36. fainted] Tischendorf substi- tutes for this word anotlier which is still more significant, cVicuX/xeVoi, worried, harassed, torn in pieces, distracted, for want of true and com- petent guides. How toucliing a picture do these verses (35 - 38) give of the extent of our Saviour's labors and the intensity of liis sympathy for the multitudes whom he saw worried and scattered abroad like sheep without a shepherd! The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are "few, &c. No one takes these words in a literal sense; and no one can fail to recognize some- thing of their exquisite beauty in our English version, which adniira- bly preserves, not only the meaning, but almost exactlv tlie musical rhythm of the Greek. With such a command from Him, how can we help praying the Lord of the harvest that lie will send forth laborers into his harvest? MATTHEW X. 5-15. 183 CHAPTER X. 5-22. — Directions to the Apostles. Jesus here gives his disciples specific directions for their conduct during the present journey ; though even these directions are marked by a wisdom which belongs to all times. 5 — 15. He directs them to confine their ministry to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This was not owing to a Jewish prejujiice on the part of Jesus. The disciples were now entirely inexperienced. They were not yet educated and prepared to go forth to evangelize the world. They must not yet go out beyond the reach of their Mas- ter. The object now, as Chrysostom suggests, was not so much to make converts, though that also was a part of his plan, as to train and exercise and educate the disciples within the narrow limits of Palestine, as in a school, that, when the time should come, they might be prepared for the larger work that was before them. Be- sides, it was important to have a nucleus somewhere. And where could it be so well as among the people, who, during so many centuries under Moses and the prophets, and more recently from the preaching of John the Baptist, had been in training for the dispensation which was now at hand ? The disciples were to go forth not to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah. The time for that had not yet come. They were to complete the work which John had begun, of preparing the popular mind for his advent, by proclaim- ing as his heralds or preachers that the kingdom of the heavens was at hand. And they were to give weight to their message by the miracles which they wrought in the name of their Master. 184 MATTHEW X. 16-20. They are to receive nothing for the cures they may effect. As the gift, 8, is one freely bestowed on them, so are they to exercise it without reward. But as they go forth thus endowed with power from on high, so, 9, 10, they are not to burden themselves with any provisions for their journey. No money, no wallet (scrip), no extra garments or shoes or staves are to be purchased so as to encumber them in their movements. Kor were they, on entering a village, to go about from house to house. Where, 10, they found one worthy and willing to receive them, with him they were to stay till their ministry in that village was ended. They, 12, 13, were not to be unmindful of the courtesies due to those who should re- ceive them. If the house were worthy, their peaceful salutation would rest upon it; and if the house were not worthy, no harm would be done ; the blessing which they had bestowed upon it would return in peace to their own bosom. They were not to waste their time and gifts on those, 14, who would not receive them; but by the symbolic act of shaking the very dust from their feet were to show that they regarded them as heathen and aliens. But a heavy retribution would fall on the city which should reject them. Not even Sodom and Gomorrah, which had refused to listen to Lot and Abraham, had been given over to so terrible a destruction in their day of retri- bution, as at length, in its day of judgment and condem- nation, w^ould fall on that city. 16-20. In the 16th verse, it has been thought, Jesus rises from specific directions for the j^resent journey to considerations which apply to them and those who shall come after them in future ministrations. " Behold / send you," — the / emphatic, as if to inspire and strengthen them by the thought who it is that sends them forth as lambs in the midst of wolves. He dwells upon the dangers that he before them, and points out distinctly what they are, partly to put them on their guard and MATTHEW X. 16 - 20. 185 make tliem feel how circumspect and unoffending they must be, and partly, that, when the trials should come, they, remembering how he had foretold them, should not be cast down and disheartened by them. " Beware of men," he says, "for they will deliver you up, or betray you to councils, or Jewish courts of justice in provincial towns, and they will scourge you in their synagogues, and ye shall be brought before governors (the Roman pro-consuls, like Pilate) and kings (tetrarchs or viceroys, ruling as kings under the Roman government, like Philip and Herod) for a testimony or witness (iiaprvpcov) to (not against) them and the nations or Gentiles," as they were in their time, and as Christian martyrs in all subsequent times have been. But here, lest. from these warnings they should carry their prudence and precautions too far, he, v. 19, reminds them of the opposite dangers, and tells them to make no anxious preparation as to how or what they should say when arraigned. It is as if he had said, " Be wise and unoffending. Go forth in thoughtful simplicity and faith, as my disciples, as the agents and messengers of God. And then, when perils come, better than any labored forethought or preparation of yours, it shall be given you in that very hour what ye shall speak." " A new spirit," says Mr. Norton, " was to be breathed into them. God would elevate their souls, and would inform their minds with religious truth With this confidence, this knowledge of the truth, and this moral elevation, what they should speak would always be given them ; the spirit of their Father would speak in them." " It is to be ob- served," says Alford, "that, in the great work of God in the world, human individuality sinks down and vanishes, and God alone, his Christ, his Spirit, is the great worker." Does not the promise apply to all times, and does it not rebuke the unbelief and hesitating fidelity of those who, in seeking to advance the highest interests of man, trust 16* 186 MATTHEW X. 21, 22. only to their own wisdom and strength? And does not this vanishing away of the human individuahty in Christ, by his entire surrender of himself to the Divine will, show in what sense he and his Father were one? 21, 22. Having thus confirmed their faith, Jesus places before them a yet darker picture of impending dangers. Members of the same household shall be divided in deadly hostility against one another. And not only in your own homes, he goes on to say, but everywhere, ye shall be hated of all men on my account. But he who endureth to the end shall be saved. He who endureth as the early martyrs Stephen and James did, to the end of life, shall be saved. In this sense it applies to the faithful of all times and places. But as in the previous verses especial notice is given of the domestic feuds which should precede the destruction of Jerusalem, dividing the inmates of the same household in mortal enmity against one an- other, and turning the common hatred of the Jews with peculiar fierceness against the Christians, " the end " here in its primary application probably denotes the end of the Jewish polity, which may be said to have terminated with the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the Roman general, A. D. 70. For at that time the political existence of the Jews was blotted out, and their national religious observances, "the sacrifice and the oblation" (Daniel ix. 27) ceased. In this sense the deliverance here announced, V. 22, refers to the freedom which the Christians should then enjoy from the persecutions to which they had been so cruelly subjected by the Jews, and of which some in- stances are given in the Book of Acts. 23. — The Coming of the Son of Man. " Till the Son of Man come." This expression probably means the same here as "the end" in the previous verse. " Till his religion is established and fully confirmed," says MATTHEW X. 23. 187 Mr. Norton. The words are used by Jesus and the Evan- gehsts with entirely different meanings at different times. Matthew (xi. 19, "The Son of Man came eating and drinking,") speaks of him in the ministry in which he was then engaged. So (xviii. 11), "For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost." On the other hand, in xvi. 27, xxiv. 30, xxv. 31, When the Son of Man shall come " in the glory of his Father with his angels,'* " in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory," " in his ^lory, and all the holy angels with him," the expression evidently reaches on to some future, and, in one case (xvi. 27, 28), not far distant event. For it is there distinctly and emphatically asserted by Jesus, that there were those then standing by him who should not taste of death till they had seen him coming in his king- dom. What is meant by this coming which was then so near at hand ? Primarily it meant the establishment of Christ's religion consequent upon the removal of the Jewish polity at the destruction of Jerusalem. But may it not also be, that he used language which, while fore- shadowing the establishment of his religion on earth, should also, under the most solemn figures of speech, set forth the more thorough and decisive establishment of its princi- ples in their retributive application to every soul that goes out from its mortality to meet him in his glory ? " Through- out this discourse," says Alford, " and the great prophecy in chap, xxiv., we find the first Apostolic period used as a type of the whole ages of the Church, — and the vengeance on Jerusalem, — which historically put an end to the old dispensation, and was in its place with refer- ence to that order of things, the coming of the Son of Man, as a type of the final coming of the Lord. These two subjects accompany and interpenetrate one another in a manner wholly inexplicable to those who are un- accustomed to the wide import of Scripture prophecy, which speaks very generally, not so much of events them- 188 MATTHEW X. 24-38. selves, points of tiine, — as of processions of events, all rang- ing under one great description. Thus in the present case there is certainly direct reference to the destruction of Jerusalem; the "end" directly spoken of ' is that event, and the " shall be saved " the preservation provided by the warning afterwards given in chap. xxiv. 15-18. And the next verse directly refers to the journeys of the Apos- tles over the actual cities of Israel, territorial, or Avhere Jews were located. But as certainly do all these ex- pressions, look onwards to the great final coming of the Lord, the " end " of all prophecy ; as certainly the " shall be saved " here bears its full Scripture meaning, of ever- lasting salvation ; and the endurance to the end is the finished course of the Christian, and the precept in the next verse is to apply to the conduct of Christians of all ages with reference to persecution, and the announce- ment that hardly will the Gospel have been fully preached to all nations (or, to all the Jewish nation, i. e. effectually) when the Son of Man shall come. It is most important to keep in mind the great prophetic parallels, which run through our Lord's discourses, and are sometimes sepa- rately, sometimes simultaneously, presented to us by him." 24 - 38. — Further Directions to the Apostles. If the most contemptuous of names, v. 25, is given to the lord of the house, how much more will it be given to those Avho, as his inferiors, belong to his house. The scholar must be satisfied if he is treated as well as his teacher ; the servant, if he is treated as well as his master ; But fear them not, v. 26. The time of darkness cannot last. The real condition of things, and with it the nature of your mission and of the truths you teach, will be brought- to light. " Why," says Chrysostom in his paraphrase, " do ye grieve ? Because they call you impostors and deceivers ? Wait a little, and all men w^ill declare you saviours and MATTHEW X. 24-38. 189 benefactors of the world." Proclaim, then, in the light and from the house-tops Avhat I have told you in our obscurity and in secret. Fear not them who can kill only the body, and have no power over the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehen- na. We can see no reason to believe, with some modern critics, as Olshausen and Stier, that Satan or Beelzebub is the one whom the disciples are directed to fear. It is not Satan, but God alone, Avho has the power which is here held up as the cause of dread. Yet not alone by images like this of his power to destroy body and soul alike is their reverence for him to be strenirthened. Calling: their attention to the little birds around them, of which two were sold for an assarion, or half a cent, Jesus tells them that not even one of these should fall upon the ground unnoticed by their Father. [The sparrows, according to a recent traveller, Hackett, p. 86, are still numerous in Palestine, and are sometimes sold for food.] Why then shall they who are of so much more value than many spar- rows, and the hairs of whose head are all numbered, — why shall they distrust the Providential care of God, or fear what man can do to them ? In v. 32, by a con- nection so natural that it is hardly noticed, Jesus rises from actions here to their consequences in higher worlds; and, in order to confirm his disciples in their fidehty to him, he emphatically declares that they who confess or deny him before men, will be confessed or denied by him before his Father in the heavens. Still he wishes them (34 - 39) to understand fully what their trials and their sacrifices here must be. " I come, not to send peace, but a sword." Here, as in other passages of Scripture, the consequences of an action are mentioned as if they were the intended results. In Exodus iv. 21 God says of Pharaoh, "I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go," i. e. the effect of all these fearful exhibitions of the Divine power will be only to 190 MATTHEW X. 24-38. harden his heart and confirm him in his wicked purposes. In 1 Kings xxii. 19-23, God is represented as putting a lying spirit into the mouth of the king's prophets ; i. e. as they were all wicked and deceitful men, he allowed them to be deceived and misled by the lying spirit which they sought. So in the passage before us, one of the consequences of Christ's coming is put as if it were a part at least of his design in coming into the world to effect it. The connection is this. Notwithstanding that God suffers not a sparrow to fall unnoticed, and every one of you who confess me on earth shall be recog- nized and accepted by me in heaven, still, you are not to expect that I shall quiet at once the warring elements of the w^orld. On the contrary, I shall introduce a new cause of hostility, and thus send, not peace, but a sword, setting a man at variance against his father, and the daujT^hter acjainst her mother. This is the inevitable re- suit. The bitterest hostility of their friends will be roused against the disciples because of their allegiance to him. And here, 37, is to be a new test of their fidelity. In the contests w^hich are to come up they must decide which they will choose, him or their friends ; and he that loveth father or mother, son or daughter, more than him, and who, besides that, is not willing even to take up his cross and follow him, giving up friends and life for his sake, is not worthy of him. That is, they must be ready to give up and to endure everything in his service. This w^as the primary idea, and probably the only one that impressed the disciples at the time. But the cross was not a Jewish instrument of punishment, and there- fore would not naturally sug2;est to the Jewish mind the imagery by which it would describe the extreme degra- dation and sufferings of a cruel and infamous death. It is probable that Jesus employed this then unusual form of expression, not only to convey the idea of the per- sonal sacrifices which his followers must make for his MATTHEW X. 39. 191 sake, but also to familiarize their minds beforehand with the terrible images of torture and death which he was to meet. Here, as in other places (Matthew xvi. 24, John iii. 14, viii. 28, xii. 32), though they did not fully under- stand him at the time, the cross threw its darkening shadow before them, and he was thus preparing their minds, un- consciously to themselves, that when he had been crucified, and had risen from the dead, these words, which at first had awakened only vague and unintelligible forebodings, should stand out in their prophetic character, as pointing all to the same result. 39. — Life or Soul. He who findeth, i. e. who seeketh to find, his life, shall lose it; and he who loseth, i. e. who is Avilling to lose it, shall find it. Here is another instance, in which Jesus, whose soul was full of thoughts which the earthly language that he spoke had no terms to express, used the same word to express very different meanings. At least the Evange- lists so represent him. The word V'^X^j which is here rendered life, like nuevna, and the Latin words anima and spiritus, as well as the corresponding Hebrew words K/^A and n^'^, means primarily breath or air. It is used in the New Testament : 1. For the animal life, common to beasts and men (Matthew ii. 20, vi. 25, xx, 28). 2. It stands for the rational as well as sensitive, animating principle, — a something, it has been thought, between the animal and spiritual principle of life. " The first man Adam was made a living soul," psyche, in contradistinction to the second Adam, who was a life-making spirit, pneuma. 3. It is used as nearly synonymous with our word soul. " Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades." (Acts ii. 27.) "I saw under the altar the souls of them that Avere slain for the word of God." (Rev. vi. 9 ; see also Rev. xx. 4 ; 1 Peter iv. 19 ; Matt. x. 29.) It naturally bears all these meanings ; 192 MATTHEW X. 39. for Strictly speaking, the word yj^vxr} stands for the vital, sen- tient principle in which our consciousness resides, and with it our sense of personal identity. It is that which con- stitutes a man's self, and might better be translated by the word self than by any other single word in our language. It is the sentient, conscious principle which pervades our whole being, animal, intellectual, and spiritual, and which may be considered in its relation to either one, or to all, of these departments of our nature. It may, therefore, refer to our physical, our intellectual, or our spiritual life. In V. 20 of this chapter Jesus uses it as we do the word soul, as something distinct from our physical life. In v. 39, he passes from one meaning to the other ; and the better trans- lation would be : He who findeth, or (John xii. 25) loveth himself, shall be lost, and he who loseth himself shall be saved. That is : He who is bound up in himself shall perish ; but he who, in his devotion to me, is willingly ex- posing himself to death, as if (John xii. 25) he hated himself, shall hve. The expression goes deeper than is intimated in our common version. There may be a selfish regard to our souls and spiritual interests, as well as to our earthly life and bodily interests. The Saviour's words are directed against every form of selfishness and self-seeking, whether in rela- tion to body or soul, to this world or the world to come. "Whosoever seeketh first himself, though it be his own soul, shall perish ; and he who is willing to cast away everything, even his care for his own soul, in his devotion to* me, shall be saved. He who is saving his soul in this selfish way shall lose it ; and he who is losing his soul, in this unselfish devotedness to me, shall save it. At the same time the con- nection with the cross of v. 38 implies that there is a reference here to the loss of life, in our sense of the word life ; and so there is a passing from the lower to the higher meaning of the word, from the mortal to the immortal life, and the verse may be thus paraphrased, " AYhosoever seeks first of all his life (an earthly one), shall lose it (as an im- MATTHEW X. 40-42. 193 mortal inheritance) ; and he who (in his supreme devotion to higher things) is ready to cast his Hfe (his earthly life) away, shall find it (as an immortal inheritance). This practice of so using language that it shall reach from its primary and narrow meaning, spiritually up into higher realms of life, or prophetically on to more distant scenes and events, is one of the greatest difficulties in the way of the commentator, who would give a precise and definite meaning, and only one, to every expression that he meets. The charm, as well as much of the power that lies in the words of Jesus, consists in the fact that they open before us Avorlds of thought and being into which we may enter, but which are too full to be emptied of all their treasures, and too vast to be bounded by any exact defini- tions of ours. 40-42. — Different Degrees of Reward. And while men may thus save or lose their souls, there are different degrees of recompense, and not the smallest act shall be permitted to go unrewarded. To receive the Apostles is, of course, not merely to give them a hospitable reception, kindly supplying them with food and shelter ; it is to receive them with their instructions into the heart and life. In so doing men receive Christ, who is represented by them, and whose life-giving doctrines they teach ; nay, they receive God himself The reward would depend on the kind of reception that was given. He who is far enough advanced in the Jewish religion to recognize and welcome a prophet or righteous man as such, because he is a prophet or a righteous man, shall receive the reward of a prophet or righteous man. In receiving him as a prophet, he is made partaker of the prophet's thought and life, and of course will share the prophet's reward. But he who has enough of the spirit of Christ to receive a little child as his disciple or repre- 17 l'J4 MATTHKAV X. sentative, shall in no wise lose a disciple's reward, for in so doing he is receiving the spirit and the life of Jesus into himself. Perhaps there were children present. The term "little ones" is applied by Jesus to children (xviii. 2-6). Or it may be, as Mr. Norton and others suppose, that by " little ones " Jesus means his own in- experienced disciples ; as if he had said, " whosoever shall give a cup of cold water to one of these, my children," &c. In either case the fundamental meaning is the same. There is a climax from the prophet, who, though a special messen- ger of God, was sometimes meagre in spiritual attainments, through the just man in his legal righteousness to the disciple in whom, as coming from Christ, is the fulness of a diviner life and through it of a larger reward. " Many a benevolent, pious Jew," says Olshausen, "might receive the Apostles as prophets or righteous men, because, from his point of view, he could not recognize anything higher in them ; but he who was able to recognize in the messen- gers of Christ that specifically new thing which they brought, and who, from love to it, would receive them, received the full blessing from Him." The prominent idea in these sentences relates to the different kinds and degrees of re- ward which men shall receive according to their different attainments in the Jewish or the Christian life. NOTES. And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease. 1-4. We have four different cata- ferent accounts may be easily coni- loc;Ties of the Apostles, viz. : Matt, pared, we subjoin the following x.'9-4; ]\I:\rk iii. 16-19; Luke vi. table: — 14 -IG; Acts i. 13. That the dif- MATTHEW X. 195 2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these : the first, Simou, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James 3 the son of Zebedee, and John his brother ; Philip and Bar- tholomew ; Thomas, and Matthew the publican ; James the son of Alpheus, and Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus ; 4 Simon tlie Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed MATTUEW. Simon A lid row James John Philip Biirtholomew Thomas Muttlie\r James of Alpheus Leiibeus Si.iiou Cananaios J u Jus Iscariot MARK. Peter James John Andrew Philip B.irtholomew Matthew Thomas James of Alpheus Thaddeus Simon Cananaios Judas Iscariot hi .ill these catalogues the names may naturally be divided into three fhisses. In the first two classes the names in the different accounts are the same; and in tlie third class there is no difference of statement in rejjard to the first name and the last. Simon Cananaios is only the Hebrew name correspondino; to Simon Zelotes, in Greek. Probably before being; called by Jesus, he Avas a member of the sect called Zealots, who, according to Josephus (B. J. 4. 3. 9 ; ib. 4. 5. 1 - 4 ; ib. 4.6.3; and 7. 8.1), were guilty of the greatest excesses and crimes a short time before the destruction of .Jerusalem. The only name about Avhich there is any difficulty is that of Lebbeus, or Tiiaddeus, or Judas [the son or brother] of James. " Thaddeus," says Lightfoot, " is a warping of the name ' Judas,' that this apostle might be the better distinguished from Iscariot." Like Elijah and Klias, they were only different forms of the same name'. In John xIa*. 22 we find a "Judas," not " Iscariot," among the Apostles. Lebbeus and Thaddeus have been supposed to mean the same thing; but, accord- ing to De Wette and Alford, this view is not sustained by the ety- mok)gy of the words. I'he proba- bility is that Lebbeus was a sur- ACTS. Peter James John Andrew Philip Thomas Bartholomew Matthew James of Alpheus Simon Zelotes Judas of James LUKE. Simon Andrew James John Philip Bartholomew Matthew Thomas James of Alpheus Simon Zelotes Judas of James Judas Iscariot name, borrowed possibly, as Light- foot conjectures, from his place" of residence, and given to him, as the name Iscariot was given to the other Judas, from his place of residence, to distinguish them from one an- other. " Whose surname Avas Thad- deus," the reading of our common version is marked as doubtful by Griesbach, and omitted by Tischen- dorf. If Ave kncAv nothing about Simon's name, beyond Avhat Ave find liere, Ave should think there was a contradiction in the accounts, Mark, and the author of the Acts saying Peter, A\diere i\hxttheAV and Luke say Simon. Simon Peter, and Andrew his brother, sons of Jonas, and John the son of Zebedee, Avith James liis brother, Avere (Luke v. 10) partners in the fishing-trade, and, together Avith Pliilip (John i. 44) belonged to Bethsaida. This .James is the one put to death by Herod (Acts xii. 2). Bar- tholomew is, Avith reason, supposed to be the same as Nathaniel, avIio is mentioned by John tAvice (i. 46; xxi. 2) among the Apostles. He Avas from Cana of Galilee. Without any good reason, it has been conjectured that Philip and BartholomcAV Avere brothers ; and that Thomas and IMatthcAV Avere tAvin-brothers. The himiility of MatthcAV has been in- fen-ed from his applying to himself 19G MATTHEW X. him. These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, 5 saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not. But go rather to the lost 6 sheep of the house of Israel. And, as ye go, preach, saying, 7 The kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the 8 lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils ; freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in 8 your purses ; nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, 10 neither shoes, nor yet staves. For the workman is worthy of his meat. And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, in- 11 (juire who in it is worthy ; and there abide till ye go thence. And 1-2 here the reproachful epithet " pub- lican." Jame-J, tlie son of Alphaeus (Alphfeus and Cleopas or Clopas, being only different ways of turn- ing the same Hebrew woixl into Greek), presided over the church at Jerusalem, and " from the aus- tere sanctity of his character Avas commonly called, both by Jews and Christians, "James the Just." Mention is made (Matt. xiii. 55, and Gal. i. 19) of James, a brother or kinsman of Jesus. ( See note to xiii. 55.) If Judas of James is Judas the brother of James, this suppo- sition agrees with xiii. 55, where we read of James and Judas as among tlie brethren of Jesus ; and Avith Jude 1, Avhere we read of "Judas, the servant of .Jesus Christ, and the brother of James." 3. Mat- thew, the publican] a collector of taxes. ]\Iatthew's humility is seen in his applying to himself in his catalogiie of the apostles the odious name, which no other Evangelist applies to him in this connection. " On no point," says Milman, Hist. Christ. B. I. c. IV.,'" Avere all orders among the Jcavs so unanimous as in their contempt and detestation of the publicans. Strictly speaking, the jiersons named in the EA-ange- lists were not publicans. These were men of property, not beloAv the equestrian order, avIio farmed the public revenues. Those in question [those mentioned in the Gospels] Avere the agents of these contractors, men, often freed slaves, or of low birth and station, and throughout the Roman Avorld proverbial for their extortions; and in Juda-a still more hateful, as among the mani- fest signs of subjugation to a foreign dominion. The Jew Avho exercised the function of a publican Avas, as it Avere, a traitor to the national in- dependence." 5. Gentiles] The nations, — those Avho are not JeAvs. Samaritans] Samaria lay between Galilee and Judaea, and Avas inhabited by the Samaritans, Avho Avere descended from the ten tribes, and from people of heathen nations Avho at different times had been sent as colonists Avith them. Their religion Avas draAvn partly from the laAV of ]\Ioses, and partly' from pagan supersti- tions. 9. Provide neither gold] Provide is the emphatic Avord. Take no pains to provide or purchase anything for your joiir- ney; but go as you are, trusting in God. Purses were girdles Avorn about the Avaist, in Avhich money Avas carried. 10. scrip] a Avallet usually of leather, in wliith shepherds and travellers carried pro- visions, neither shoes] " but be shod Avith sandals " (Mark vi. 9). Lightfoot says that there Avas a marked distinction betAveea shoes and sandals, the former being more like an article of luxury than the latter. nor yet staves] Do not take pains to pro- vide them. [Mark says Jesus com- manded them to take nothing for their iournev, except a staff. 11. aiid there abide] With him MATTHEW X. 197 13 when ye come into an house, salute It. And If the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it ; but if it be not wor- 14 thy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that 15 house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city. 16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be 17 ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men. For they will deliver you up to the councils, 18 and they will scourge you in their synagogues ; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testi- 19 mony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak ; for It 20 shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your Father which 21 speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child ; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death ; 22 and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But he who is worthy, and when ye come into the house (not an house, as in our translation), i. e. with him into his house, salute it. Be courteous. Observe the customary forms of salutation. " A sei-vant of the Lord is truly courteous, for he has learned to be so in the high court of his king." 13. if the house be worthy] Hei-e house^ passing from its meaning in the previous verse, is used as comprehending the family who lived in it. let your peace rest upon it] pray for its good, and if it be un- worthy the blessing that you ask for, it will return into your own bosom. Thus, if those for whom we pray do not allow our prayers for their good to be answered as it regards them, still we shall not pray in vain. The peace we ask for them will come to us. 14. shake off the dust of your feet] The dust of heathen land defiled. By shaking off the dust of a city, the disciples were to show 17* that they esteemed it heathenish, profane, and impure. 16. harmless as doves] Not harm- less, but pwe. The dove, an em- blem of the Holy Spirit, stands for Christian gentleness and purity of soul. Let your wisdom, of which you will have abundant need, never degenei'ate mto a selfish prudence or cunning ; but let it be united with the purity of soul which in- cludes within itself singleness of purpose and the love " which seek- eth not her own," and '^ which thinketh no evil." 9. take no thought] give yourself no anxietv about what you shall sav. (See VI. 25.) 22. for niy name's sake] By the name of Jesus is meant the spirit, the quali- ties, and attributes belonging to him. To come together in his name, is to come together in his spirit; to ask anything in his name, is to ask it as in his stead or in his spirit; and to be hated for his name's sake, is to be hated on ac- 198 MATTHEW X. that cndureth to the end shall be saved. But when they per- 23 sccute you in this city, flee ye into another. For verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come. The disciple is not above his mas- 24 ter, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disci- 25 pie that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household ? Fear them not 26 therefore. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed ; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you 27 in darkness, that speak ye in light ; and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the house-tops. And fear not them 28 which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul ; but rath- er fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing V and one of them 29 shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the 30 very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not there- 3i fore ; ye are of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever 32 therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father, which is in heaven. But whosoever shall 33 deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father, which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace 34 count of the qualities which be- longed to him. " It is to be observ- ed," says Swedenborg, " that the ancients, by the name of a thing, understood'nothing but its essence ; and by seeing and calling by name, they meant the knowledge of its nature and quality." 23. flee ye into another] not only, as Mr. Norton suggests, that they may escape persecution, but that they mav carry on their work more effectually. 24, 2^. The diflerent relations of Christ to the Apostles, viz. the teacher to his pupils, the master [lord] to his ser- vants, and the lord or head of the house to his dependents ; literally, his domestics. 27. What ye hear in the ear] " Allusion is here made to the manner of the schools, where the doctor whispered out of the chair into the ear of the interpreter, and he with a loud voice repeated to the whole school that which was spoken in the ear." Lightfoot. the house- tops] the flat roofs of the houses, where trumpets were sounded to at- tract attention, and proclamations were made. 32. him will I confess also] The emphatic I. What personal dignity and authority must lie under it, to sustain it iii such a connection! Who is this that promises to recognize and ac- kr.owledge us before the throne of God, in the presence of his Father who is in the heavens? Could any prophet or righteous man, — G ideon or Barak, Abraham or Samuel, — promise thus to confess before God those Avho had confessed him before men? Only the "one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus," (1 Tim. ii. 5) can stand in this relation between us and God. 34. not to send peace, but a sword] Not my wish, but the inevitable i-esult. MATTHEW X. 199 35 on earth ; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daugh- ter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her 3C mother-in-law : and a man's foes shall be they of his own 37 household. He that lovetli father or mother more than me is not worthy of me ; and he that loveth son or daughter more 38 than me is not worthy of me ; and he that taketh not his cross, £9 and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth liis life shall lose it ; and he that losetli his hfe for my sake 40 shall fmd it. He that receiveth you receiveth me ; and he that Think i;ot liiat yoii can escape the trial. The throne of peace is to be established in the midst of discord and Avar. Love enters with its divine message, its rebuke against sin, its offers of mercy, but men turn against it, and strife and wars ensue. *' What now follows," says Stiei*, " down to ver. 39, form ' a circle of ideas Avliich,' as Winzen- mann says, 'ncv.n- came from the mind of fnortal, before Jesus.' It is the sublimin.g of all the prophetic expectations concerning tlie king- dom of God into the transcendent and future and heavenly; in per- fect correspondence with the true sense of all prophecy, which never could, however, till now be so clear- ly apprehended and expressed. This is a testimony which is effectually thrown in the way of all Avho would build up the kingdom of peace on this side But, although everything in his kingdom looks forward to the beyond and the fu- ture, to the finding of life, in respect to all who shall be found worthy of him, this heavenly kingdom does not give up the earth. Upon it, and in hot conflict, must the heirs of everlasting peace secure and pre- pare for their inheritance." This is an effectual answer to those timid sentimentalists and pi'udent con- servatives, who think more of peace and present security than of right- oous)iess and truth, \vhich, however mildly urged, awaken the anger and deadly opposition of those whose intere'sts they would compromise, and whose lives they rebuke. 38. that taketh not his cross] This is the first mention that is made of the cross, that great sym- bol of Christian self-denial and self- sacrifice and death, and through death of victory. The word must liave fallen with a strange chill on the hearts of the disciples. All that they could then understand by it savored of humiliation and pain and infamy. It was not till after the resurrection of Christ that the hallowed and triumphant associ- ations, now connected with it, could have power over them, or anv mean- ing for them. 39. He that findeth his lifej " We have once more V'^X'/ ^^ that deeper sense in Avhich we found it at v. 28, point- ing from the life of the body to a yet higher life. This striking decla- ration contains, if both sayings are taken literally, a perfect contradic- tion ; consequently the Jindiny and hsing must obviously, in the first place, be understood in different senses. In the second place, ^^xh also must be used in two opposite senses. The "^vxh which is to be killed, which must be cnicified, is the sinful self-life of the old man, which is truly death ; and this dead hfe must be mortified and lost by an internal, continual cmcifixioh and self-denial (of wliich the taking up of the external cross is only an external expression), in order that we may find the living life, — our sanctified, glorified, and eternal life. He who gives up, in the fellowship of the cross of Christ, 200 MATTHEW X. receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He that recelveth 41 a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward ; and he that receiveth a righteous man, in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones 42 a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. all that which mnst die and pass Mount, the peroration goes up and away, has by such loss obtained the finds its solemn climax in the great- gain of eternal blessedness." Stier. est and most terrible consequences 42. verily I say unto of unfaithfulness and sin ; here it you] This impressive form of comes down and finds its affecting affirmation comes in at the close anti-climax in the certain reward of each separate train of thought of the smallest act of kindness per- in this discourse, viz. at verses 15, formed in the spirit of a disciple to 23. and 42. In the Sermon on the any one of Christ's little ones. MATTHEW XI. 201 CHAPTER XI. John the Baptist and his Message. Jesus continued in Galilee. John the Baptist had been for some time imprisoned by Herod. This was Herod An- tipas, the son of Herod the Great, who is mentioned in the second chapter of Matthew. His father had once by will named him as his successor in Judsea ; but he afterwards changed his mind, and leaving his son Archelaus, king of Judaea, appointed Herod to the inferior dignity of tetrarch or viceroy of Galilee to the north, and of Perea which lies on the east side of the Jordan. Herod Antipas was a cunning, unscrupulous man. His usual place of residence was at Tiberias, a name which, in honor of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, he had given to a town on the southwestern bor- der of the Lake of Galilee, probably somewhere from eight to eleven miles south from Capernaum. In the other ex- tremity of his kingdom, only a few miles eastwardly from the place where the Jordan empties into the Dead Sea, he had a castle called Machoerus, which had been enlarged and fortified by his father, and in w^hich, as appears, Herod Antipas sometimes resided. In this castle, according to Josephus (Ant. XVIII. 5. 2), John was imprisoned. He had never quite comprehended the nature of the kingdom of Heaven which he had announced as near at hand, nor could he fully understand either the character or the office of Jesus, to w^hom he pointed his disciples (John i. 29) as " the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world,'* and of whom he had afterwards said (John iii. 30), " he must increase, but I must decrease." In this respect he was like other prophets chosen for a specific purpose, who sometimes 202 MATTHEW XI. (Dan. xii. 8) had but an imperfect understanding of the symbolical images which they saw, and the words they used. Even to the seers themselves "the words were closed up and sealed " for the time. We sometimes attribute a sort of omniscience to men raised up by God, and inspired only for a particular pur- pose. And when a man has once been set apart in this way, we are too apt to suppose that he must be entirely unlike otlier men, and free from human infirmities and passions. But even Moses, who was favored with a nearer and more frequent access to God than any other of the prophets, had his seasons of distrust (Ex. iii. iv.), of unrestrained passion (Ex. xxxii. 19), and unbelief (Num. xx. 12). Elijah, the greatest of the prophets who came after him, showed him- self to be of like passions with other men, and (1 Kings xix. 4-10) had his time of almost angry impatience, despond- ency, and doubt. In this they were only subject as men to the laws of our physical and mental constitution. The more they were raised above themselves in their moments of re- ligious exaltation, the more severe would the reaction be likely to be, and the greater the depression that followed. John the Baptist, who in his public ministry had been fol- lowed by thousands to whom he had been devoting himself with all the zeal and energy of his earnest and powerful nature, proclaiming the near approach of the long-expected kingdom of Heaven, and having the head of that kingdom jjointed out to him by a voice from heaven, was now cut off from his public labors, and shut up in a prison far away from the scene of Christ's ministry. He had been urging the necessity of immediate repentance as a preparation for the immediate coming of the kingdom of G^d. He waits in awe and expectation, but the silence is not broken by the sound of its coming. What can be the meaning of this delay ? The energies of his active and powerful nature are thrown in upon themselves. He is moved by strong and violent emotions. He broods over the unpromising condi- MATTHEW XI. 203 tion of things, and is disturbed by the tardy development of t!ie Divine plans. He becomes impatient and distrustful. '• Can it be," he may have asked himself amid the many thoughts that rushed upon his mind, " that there is any mis- take in this matter ? " The slightest doubt is too painful to be borne, when the whole thing can so easily be set at rest by one word from Jesus himself. The impatient doubt could hardly have gone further than this. His faith in Jesus could not have been seriously disturbed, or he would not have sent his followers to ask Jmn the question which he put. He would have sent them rather to see for themselves, and to inquire of others. But tired of the delay, brooding over the possibilities of mistake, with apprehensions and forebod- ings which bear some proportion to the grandeur of his previous anticipations, in his forced inactivity and confine- ment, he sends two of his disciples across the whole length of the province, to ask Jesus whether he is really the one who was to come, or whether they were to look for another ? In these few words, John intimated his impatience of delay, his secret misgivings, and his desire that Jesus would adopt some more decided and effective course. The whole pro- ceeding on the part of John is perfectly natural, and in no way inconsistent with the assurance which had been mirac- ulously given to him in regard to the office and person of the Messiah. Such alternations of feeling, and such convul- sive movements of the mind, leading them for the moment to question the reality of their most cherished convictions, and even of what their eyes have seen, belong to men of his temperament, even where, as in the case of Martin Luther, there is the strongest faith and the most courageous and de- termined energy of will. How admirable the course which Jesus took to satisfy John, and how in its calmness does it show his infinite supe- riority, and the ea^y, majestic ascendency which he had over men ! Merely to declare in words that he was the Messiah would not have satisfied the prisoner in his present state of 204 MATTHEW XI. mind. " Why then," he might have asked, " if he is the Messiah, does he so long delay ? " Nor had the time yet come for Jesus publicly to announce himself as the Messiah. He knew that whenever that announcement was made, his earthly ministry must be brought speedily to an end, and, therefore, in the presence of John's disciples, in that same hour (Luke vii. 21) he performed many and various kinds of miracles ; and, having thus impressed them with a convic- tion of more than earthly authority and power, he directed them to go back and tell their master what they had seen and heard, — how the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good tidings proclaimed to them, — in this message using just enough of the old prophetic language (Isaiah XXXV. 5, 6, xlii. 7, Ixi. 1) to give, in the mind of John, ad- ditional significance and solemnity to his message. Then he added, in words of mild rebuke and encouragement, coupling a benediction with his reproof, "And blessed is he who shall not be offended in me," — who does not allow himself to be disturbed, or to lose his faith in me, because, in my divinely appointed work, I am not pursuing precisely the course which he had expected. No reply could have been better fitted to the state of John's mind, which was impatient because it was so earnest, — disappointed and doubting be- cause it had believed and expected so much. Then, 7-14, turning to the multitude, Jesus made this an occasion of admonition and instruction to them. At the same time he would renew their respect for John, which might have been lessened by the doubts into which he would appear, from his questions, to have been betrayed. There is nothing which the multitudes bear with less patience than any seeming vacillation, or want of steadfastness in their great men. " What went ye out into the wilderness to see ? " Did ye go out expecting to find one who would bend to your changing wishes, as a reed to the wind ; or one who would gratify your voluptuous tastes, like courtiers who are in MATTHEW XI. 205 kings' houses, with their soft, effeminate garments ? Or did you go into that solitary place to find a prophet ? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. He is one who has been foretold by prophets as the herald who should be raised up to announce the new dispensation, and to prepare the way for its coming. Among those born of women no greater man than he has ever been raised up. And yet, he adds, with solemn emphasis, calling their attention to the higher kingdom which is now to be established, the least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. That higher kingdom is of such transcendent dignity and power, that its lowest subject shall be greater than he who stood foremost in the old dispensation. Possibly Jesus may have had in his mind the Roman empire, whose citizens were greater, and bore with them the ensigns of a mightier power, than kings of other nations. But what does he mean in saying that the least of his own disciples is greater than John the Baptist ? He means that the humblest of those who really belong to his kingdom are made the partakers of a diviner life, and better understand the nature of his kingdom, and the ele- ments of a true spiritual greatness, than even the greatest of those who had gone before. " They are greater," says Lightfoot, " in respect of clear and distinct knowledge in judging of the nature and quality of the kingdom of Heaven." The knowledge of a divine life unfolded in the Sermon on the Mount, and set before the humblest of his followers in the words, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, is be- yond all that the prophets and righteous men of old were able to attain to. They indeed, 13, — i. e. the law and the prophets until John, — only predicted the coming of the heavenly kingdom, — only pointed on to it in the remote and distant future. John, in this respect greater and more favored than they, proclaimed it as already at hand, and from his time (the idea is drawn from a besieged city) men are forcing their way into it, and taking it as by violence. In these words Jesus alludes to the crowds who, first attracted 18 20G MATTHEW XI. 15-19. by John's preaching, were now, from their misapprehension of his kingdom, pressing round him, and seeking as it were to force their way in. "And this," he adds, 14, "if ye will only receive it," i. e. not take the language literally, but understand it as it should be understood, is Elijah, whose coming (see note xvii. 10) before the Messiah was generally looked for among the Jews. 15-19. The comparison here in our common version is rendered obscure. The children who say to their com- panions, " We have piped to you, and ye have not danced ; mourned to you, and ye have not lamented," are sometimes thought to represent John and Jesus, while the others, who were so unreasonable as to respond to them neither in their merriment nor their mourning, represent those who condemned both the Saviour and his forerunner. The objection to this is, that it is precisely the opposite of what Jesus says : It — this generation — " is like children sitting in the market-places, and saying," &c., &c. On the other hand, it is difficult to see how the unbelieving Jews were represented by the children, who complained that their companions would sympathize with them neither in their make-believe mirth nor their lamentation. Luke (vii. 32) says, " They were saying to one another," &c., &c. And Tischendorf adopts a similar expression as the correct read- ing in Matthew. The true interpretation is thus made easy. To what shall I compare this generation? It is like a crowd of children in some public place, seeking amusement, and able to agree upon nothing, but chiding one another as hard to please, and by their mutual re- proaches only adding to the general confusion and dis- content. Such a capricious, dissatisfied, complaining race is this generation, who complain of John as a half-crazed demoniac because of his austere and ascetic life ; and yet when Jesus came eating and drinking as others did, re- ject and stigmatize him as self-indulgent and intemperate, the companion of the low and the abandoned. But, he MATTHEW XI. 20-24. 207 continues, 19, whatever these may say or do, wisdom is justified, i. e. is recognized and honored, by those who in spirit are really her children. Whatever the outward form under which she may come, however she may be despised and rejected among men, they who are her chil- dren, whose hearts are open to her influence, will hear her voice, and hold her in honor. To them she needs no word of commendation or defence, whether she come under the severe guise of John, the preacher in the wilder- ness, or in the more divinely attractive life and teachings of the Son of man. 20-24. — Great Privileges unimproved visited by a HEAVIER Condemnation. These words were probably spoken after a pause. The word "then" with which they are introduced rather in- timates that some time, minutes or days, had intervened. The idea is the same as in Matthew x. 15. In propor- tion to our privileges are our responsibilities ; and the greater the opportunities that we cast aside or neglect, the heavier the condemnation that must fall upon us "in the day^ of judgment," i. e. as Mr. Norton translates it, "when sentence is passed." As to the cities Tyre and Sidon, they had, many centuries before our Saviour, been among the most opulent and enterprising cities in the world. At the present time, and for centuries past, they have been places of no importance, and remain in a com- paratively desolate and ruinous condition. But in the time of Jesus they were populous and flourishing cities, and con- tinued so for generations afterwards. "Why then are they mentioned, in connection with Sodom, as examples of a Divine retribution ? They were noted, even among heathen nations, for the profligacy, licentiousness, and degrading superstitions to which they were given over. The force of the comparison lies in this. It is as if Jesus had said, 208 MATTHEW XL 25-30. "You know how utterly degraded and abandoned these cities are, to what lewd, debasing superstitions they have bound tliemselves, and how hopeless their moral and re- ligious condition is. And yet, notwithstanding all this, I declare unto you, that if the mighty works which have been done here had been done long ago in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in dust and ashes, and even Sodom, if it had witnessed such works of divine goodness and power, would have remained to this day. And thou Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, which art above all others in privileges, shalt be brought down to hell, — to Hades, i. e. to the abode of the dead, to utter destruction. It was the strongest lan- guage that could be framed to express the privileges which Christ was offering, and the heavy condemnation and sorrow which must fall on those who reject them. As a matter of fact, the words of Jesus have been fulfilled in regard to the places themselves. Tyre and Sidon, thouofh in a ruinous and degraded condition at the end of the last century and the beginning of this, are now more prosperous, and have never been so utterly blotted out from the knowledge and memory of man as Chorazin and Bethsaida, of which no trace can be found by the most careful researches. Nor have modern travellers been able to fix with any degree of certainty on the site of Capernaum, which was favored above all other cities during our Saviour's ministry as the place of his residence. 25 - 30. — Christ's Thankfulness, and his Call to the Heavy Laden. According to Luke (x. 17-21), who in this case marks the time more particularly than Matthew, these words were spoken after the return of the seventy dieciples. They had come back with joy on account of the miracles which they had performed. In this their first success Jesus sees the MATTHEW XI. 25-30. 209 token of the ultimate triumph over the powers of dark- ness. " And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as light- ning fall from lieaven." Yet he warns them not to rejoice in their miraculous powers, but rather that their names are written in heaven. Then, at the thought of the way in which these simple, unlearned men, these babes in knowledge," have received and proclaimed his truth, he breaks out into the sublime exclamation of thanksgiving which is here recorded by Matthew. Though his instruc- tions were hidden from men whose wisdom is only the blinding prudence of this world, and though he may have been pained to find his offers rejected by them, and to foresee the sorrows which they who would not hear him must bring upon themselves, he nevertheless bows in thank- fulness : " Even so. Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." He turns with a perfect trust to the infinite and holy Father, and rests in his will with gratitude and joy. He stops in no lower sphere. He asks not and he ex- plains not how the hiding of these things from the wise and prudent, to their overthrow and destruction, though they were revealed unto babes, should be a reason for rejoicing ; but he goes to the good pleasure of his Father in heaven as the centre of all that he could wish. The benignant will of God was so entirely his will, — that central Fountain of life and joy so filled to overflowing his own soul, that whatever might come was to him a source of thankfulness, because it came from Him. " Even so. Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." And, as an additional cause for gratitude, he goes on to say, " All things are delivered or taught unto me by the Father. "Everything has been given to me by the Father." Though man can- not understand me, the Father does ; and so, though men do not understand the Father, yet I and they to whom I shall reveal Him, do understand him. Then, in the fulness of the Divine wisdom, power, and love which had been given to him, he uttered, 28-30, the words of in- 18* 210 MATTHEW XI. vital ion, and the promise of relief and rest, which, from that day to this, have fallen with such infinite tenderness on lahoring and burdened souls. No commentary can add to or bring out their meaning. They jDour out their sweet- ness, with ever-increasing freshness and power, into the souls of those who accept his offer, and who, giving themselves up entirely to him, take his yoke upon them, and learn of him in meekness and lowliness of heart. NOTES. And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of com- manding his twelve disciples, he departed thence, to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, 2 he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him. Art thou he that 3 should come, or do we look for another ? Jesus answered and 4 said unto them, Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see ; the blind receive their sight, and the lame 5 walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them ; and blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in mc. 6 2. the Avorks of Christ] of are not recorded. The Gospels can the Christ or Jlessiah. This is the hardly be regarded as containing only instance, except in the first more than samples of the diff'ei-eiit verse of the first chapter, where sorts of icorks which he performed. Matthew in his own narrative ap- We must not, therefore, be surprise. I plies this name to Jesus. It proba- that single acts, such as raising the bly is used here as particularly ap- Avidow's son at Nain (Lukevii. 11- proprlate, in consequence of John's 15), and the raising of Lazarus (John state of mind in regard to Jesus as xi. 1-46), should be mentioned oidy the Messiah. In that case it liar- by one writer. 6. ofiended] monizes with the view we have The root from which this expression taken of John, and the object of his comes in Greek means a tra]) or message. 5. Ithe dead snare, and thence a stumbling-block. are raised up] ^latthew has spe- Whatever might trip one up or eified only one case (ix. 24, 25) of cause him to stumble. Blessed is raising a person from tlie dead. The he who is not offended in me, i. e. expression here implies more, and who finds nothing in my course should remind us of the multitude wliich may serve as a stumbling- of his extraordinary acts which block or impediment in the way of MATTHEW XI. 211 7 And, as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John : What went ye out into the wilderness to 8 see ? a reed shaken with the wind ? But what Avent ye out for to see V a man clothed in soft raiment ? Behold, they that wear 9 soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see ? a prophet ? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. 10 For this is he of whom it is written, " Behold, I send my mes- senger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before 11 thee." Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist ; notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of Heaven is 12 greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent his faith, in me. " When persecu- tion and tribulation arise because of the word, immediately he is oftended (Matt. xiii. 21), 'i. e. he finds an impediment or stumbling- block in the way of his fidelity to Christ. So xiii. 57, xv. 12, xvii! 27. Lest we should offend them, i. e. put a stumbling-block in their way. 10. Behold, I send my messenger before thy face] Tills is taken, with a slight altera- tion, from Malachi iii. 1 : " Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall ])repare the' way before me •, and the Lord [not Jehovah], whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple." John, therefore, is represented as the forerunner of the Lord, or the ]\Iessiah, The word here translated " the Lord," says Dr. Noyes, '' when used without the article, is every- where applied to human beings in the Old Testament. And though with the article, which it has here, it denotes the Sapi-eme Being as the Lord of all the earth, when no other use of the article can be as- signed except to denote the Supi-eme Being; yet in this verse the article may be used merely to denote that particular lord avIio was an object of expectation and desire." 11. Among them that are born of women] Possibly this expression is used, as Oldshausen asserts, by way of contrast to those who are born of God in the higher and Christian sense. 12. the kingdom of Heaven suf- fereth violence] This is one of the obscure and ditficult passages, ou which very different constructions have been put. We have given one in our general remarks above, p. 205; but are by no means sure tliat the following is not a more satisfoctory explanation. The verb may be con- sidered in the passive voice, and translated is foi-ced, or sufftreth violence ; or it may be taken as in the middle voice,"^ and transhited, forces itself, or makes its oivn toay by force. INIr. Norton renders it, " until now the kingdom of Heaven is forcing its way." Stier adopts the same interpretation. " The king- dom of Heaven," he says, " pro- claims itself loudly and openly, breaking in with violence ; the poor are compelled (Luke xiv. 23) to enter in ; those who oppose it are constrained to take offence. In short, all things proceed urgently Avith it; it goes with 'mighty move- ment and impulse ' (as Draseke preaches), it works effectually upon all spirits in both directions, and ou all sides. The first [clause of the sentence] speaks of that mighty excitement which the breaking in of the kingdom of Heaven in itself occasions ; the second points out inferentially the result. Its con- straining power does violence to all ; but it excites at the same time, 212 MATTHEW XI. take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied, 13 until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which u was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 15 But whereunto shall I lilcen this generation ? It is like unto 16 children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fel- lows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not n danced ; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lament- ed. For John came neither eating nor drinking ; and they 18 say. He hath a devil. The Son of Man came eating and i9 in the case of many, obstinate op- position. He who will not submit to it must be offended and resist, and he who yields to it must press and struggle through this offence. Thus the kingdom of Heaven does and suffers violence, both in its two- fold influence: it exerts a mighty power itself, and a mighty power must be put forth towards it, wheth- er it be of faith or of unbelief." 15. He that hath ears] A solemn call of attention to what has been said. 16. It is like unto children] According to Tischendorf 's reading, this should be translated, '* It is like children sitting in the markets, who, calling to one another, say," &c. 17. We have piped] . Hired mu- sicians were employed at weddings and at funerals (ix. 23). The chil- dren are represented as imitating in their sports these hired minsti-els; and in their vehement recrimina- tions crying out against one another, they only add to the general con- fusion and inconsistency. This gen- eration reject at one time the Bap- tist, because of his ascetic habits ; and at another time the Son of Man, because of hLs free and liberal course of life, and add to the gen- eral confusion and to their own in- consistency by their divisions among themselves, accusing one another; one party exclaiming, " You refuse to have this," and the other retort- ing, " You refuse to have that," like noisy, unreasonable children, who are crying out against each other; one party exclaiming, " We have given you merry music, and you have not danced," and the other party replying in anger, *' We have given you funei-al music, and you have not lamented ; " so that in'the disturbance both strains alike — the merry and the mournful — are re- jected. The picture is given to the life; and the comparison is a most interesting one, showing as it does how our Saviour, with the weight of his great mission upon him, entered into the amusements of boys, as he did with a deeper sym- pathy into the disposition and tem- per of babes. 18. He hath a devil] a demon. The Jews be- lieved insanity to be caused by evil spirits, or demons. To say that a man has a demon might with them mean either that he was a wicked man, given over to an evil spirit, or that he was a maniac, or not im- probably, as in this case, a union of the two. " Thou hast a devil, and art crazy " (John x. 20); — the first expression representing the cause, and the second the effect. 19. is justified] This woi*d oc- curs in the Gospels six times, and always with the same meaning, viz. in the active voice, to cause to be recognized as just or approved. " By thy w^ords thou shalt be justi- fied," i.' e. approved, or recognized as just. (xii. 37.) " The people justified God," i. e. approved of what he had done, or declared him to be just. ( Luke vii. 29.) " He, wishing to justify himself," i. e. to cause himself to be recognized as just. (Luke x. 29.) " Ye are they who jiistify yourselves before men," i. e. would cause men to recognize you as just. (Luke xvi. 15.) " This man went down to MATTHEW XI. 213 drinking, and they say, Behold, a man gluttonous and a wine- bibber, a fi'iend of publicans and sinners. But Wisdom is jus- 20 tified of her children. Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they 21 repented not : Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! woe unto thee, Beth- saida ! for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long lii.s house justified," i. e. approved 1)V (iiod, reco2;iiized by him as riVht. (Luke xviii. 14.) 2 i. Tyre and Sidon] It has been usual with travellers to point out the literal fulfilment of ancient proph- ecies (Isa. xxiii. 1 - 15 ; Ezek. xxvi. xxviii.) in regard to these places. We quote a few passages on this subject from Stanley's " Sinai and Palestine": " TheVe is one point of view in which this whole coast is specially remarkable. ' A mourn- ful and so'litaiy silence now prevails along the shore which once re- sounded with the Avorld's debate.' This sentence, with which Gibbon solemnly closes his chapter on the CiTisades, Avell sums up the genei*al impression still left by the six days' ride from Be^TOot to Ascalon; and it is no matter of surprise that in this impression travellers have felt a response to the strains in which Isaiah and Ezekiel foretold the des- olation of T^Te and Sidon. Li one sense, and that the highest, this feel- ing is just. The Phoenician power which the prophets denounced has entirely perished; even whilst 'the world's debate ' of the middle ages gave a new animation to these shores, the brilliant Tyre of Alex- ander and Barbarossa had no real connection with the Tyre of Hiram ; and perhaps no greater stretch of imagination in ancient history is reqiiired than to conceive how the two small towns of Tyre and Sidon, as they now exist, could have been the parent cities of Carthage and Cadiz, the traders with Spain and Britain, the wonders of the East for luxury and magnificence. So total a destruction, for all political pur- poses, of the two great commercial states of the ancient world has been frequently held up to com- mercial states in the modern world, as showing the pi-ecarious teniu-e by which purely mercantile great- ness is held ; and in this respect the prophecies of the Hebrew seers were a real revelation of the coming for- tunes of the woi-ld, the more re- markable because experience had not yet justified such a result. But to narrow the scope of these sub- lime visions to the actual buildings and sites of the cities is as uuAvar- ranted by facts as it is mistaken in idea. Sidon has probably never ceased to be a populous, and, on the whole, a flourishing town; small, indeed, as compared w^ith its ancient grandeur, but never desolate, or without some portion of its old traffic; and still encompassed round and round with the lines of its red silk manufacture. Tyre may per- haps have been in a state of ruin shortly after the Chaldajan, and sub- sequently after the Greek conquest of Syria. But it has ahvays been speedily rebuilt The period during which it sunk to the lowest ebb Avas during the last years of the past and the fii-st years of the present century; and the compara- tive desolation w^hich it then ex- hibited no doubt presented some of the imagery on which so much stress has been laid, in order to con- vey the impression of its being a desolate rock, only used for the dry- ing of fishermen's nets. But as this was not the case before that period, and is certainly not the case now, it is idle to seek for the fulfilment of the ancient prediction within those limits ; and the ruin of the empire of Tyre, combined with the revival and continuance of the town of Tyre, is thus a striking instance of 214 MATTHEW XI. ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall bo -n more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto 23 heaven, shalt be brought down to hell ; for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, that 24 it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, in the day of Judgment, than for thee. At that time Jesus answered and 25 said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, be- cause thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so. Father, for so 26 the moral and poetical, as distinct from the literal and prosaic, accom- pllslimeiit of the Prophetical Scrip- ture<." pp. 266, 267. 23. And thou, Capernaum ] " It Avonld almost seem," says Stanley, pp. 376, 377, '' as if the woe pro- nounced against Capernaum had been literally fulfilled, as if the doom of the cities of the southern sea had been visited upon those of the north, as if it had been more tolerable for the land of Sodom, in the day of its earthly judirment, than for Capeiniaum. It has indeed been more tolerable in one sense; for the name, and perhaps even the ]-emains, of Sodom are still to be found on the shores of the Dead Sea, whilst that of Cai^ernaum has, on the Lake of Genesareth, been utterly lost Still, it would be contrary to the general spirit of prophecy, whether in the Old or Kew Testament, to press this argu- ment too far. The woe, here as elsewhere, was dovibtless spoken, not against the walls and houses of these villages, but against those who dwelt within them; and, as a matter of fact, it would appear that they [the Avails and houses] did survive the terrible cui-se for many generations." 23. to hell] to Hades. The abode of the dead, — not like Gehenna, — a place of tor- ture for the wicked alone. The ex- pression, shnlt be brought doicn to hell,, means, shall be ntterly destroijed. 25. and hast revealed them unto babes] Pure and childlike persons, — those who in singleness of heart, without prejudices or pre- possessions of their own, receive the words of Jesus. The worldly pru- dence of the wise blinds them to truths which require the entire sur- render of themselves to Christ. The philosophical wise men have their minds too much circumscribed by their speculations to take in spiritual truths like those taught by Jesus, which transcend the bounds'^of their reasoning, and take them into higher and broader worlds of intelligence. Distinct from these are the babes, to Avhom the kingdom of God is re- vealed, and to whom in all ages of the world the Saviour's words apply. But in his exclamatFon of thanks- giving, he probably had more im- mediately in his mind at the time the seventy who had just returned rejoicing from their first evange- lizing mission. " These unlearned, sincere, and childlike men, who," to use the langitage of a friend, " had no previously cherished system to support, — no abundant treasury of words, which they Avere liable, con- sciously or unconsciously, to sub- stitute for the very words of Jesus ; no habits of abstract reasoning Avhich might lead them to state the results of "reasoning for the facts of observation, — had been present at the giving of sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. They had seen the lame freed from their infirmity, the sick healed, the dead raised, and those possessed of evil spirits restored to sanity and self-control MATTHEW XI. 215 27 it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father ; and no man knoweth the Son but the Father ; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to 28 whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me all ye 29 that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly 30 in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. by His word. They continually had wondered at the 'gracious ' words which proceeded out of his mouth. Tiiey were full of expectation and reverence and adniiratiou and of love. And they had gone out tell- ing just what they had seen and heard, just as, at the time, it had impressed their receptive minds and moved their hearts. The name of their Master was continually upon their tongues, and, by the power of the Spirit of Jesus, their whole being became, for the time, merged in his; they were one with liim, and, in his name, they had performed his works. Now they were full of joy, and said, ' Lord, even the devils are subject to us, through thy name.' And Jesus himself rejoiced in spirit, thankfully acknowledging the wis- dom which had led, not the lettered and logical, not pre-occupied and, trained minds, not the Pharisee or Sadducee, but the fishermen of Galilee, — the Seventy, and such as they, — to be at first* his followers and witnesses to receive the true im- pression of Him, and to give it un- changed to others, — that the world might have transmitted to it, not a plan, a philosophy and abstract sys- tem, but a Avhole, concrete Gospel of salvation." 27. All things are delivered unto me of my Father] " I have been instructed in all by my Father." Norton. " My Father hath impart- ed everything to me." Campbell. " All things appertaining to my office are delivered to me of my Father." Whitby. Of these trans- lations Campbell's is the most ex- act, the Avord " imparted " bearing the double meaning, delivered and taught^ which belongs to the original TrapcboOr). and no man knoweth the Son but the Fa- ther] The blindness of most com- mentators to the explicit assertion of Jesus here is very remarkable. There is no more distinct, unequivo- cal, and unqualified assertion in the New Testament. And yet, in di- rect opposition to it, creeds have been formed, defining the meta- physical nature of Christ, and en- forcing their distinctions on a sub- ject which Jesus expressly declares that no man understands, as the only condition of church-membei- ship in this world or of salvation in the world to come. It Avould be difficult to find a more aiidacious and presumptuous violation of the words of Jesus than the Athana- sian Creed, with its thrice repeated curses against those who do not re- ceive its doctrines. Jesus here de- clares, that, while the Son reveals the Father, his own nature is not known except by the Father. He reflects the image of God, as the perfect mirror reflects the sky so entirely that it remains itself" un- seen. 29. loAvly in heart] " This expression describes the humility of the Redeemer, as in entire accordance Avith the bent of his holy Avill, and originating in the very depth of his heart; hence hu- mility appears in Him as the cheer- ful result of free choice." Olshau- sen. Poverty of spirit comes from a sense of want; loAvliness of heart arises from a cheerful, unquestion- ing, and almost unconscious sub- mission to the Avill of God ; or rather it comes from so living in the pres- ence of God, that his love reaches into the soul, and calls out its powers in hai-fnony with his Avill. 216 MATTHEW Xll. 1-14. CHAPTER XII. 1-14. — Christ's View of the Sabbath. It is exceedingly difficult to get from the Gospels a clear idea of the order of events, or the length of time that elapsed between different events. The expression, "then," or "at that time," which recurs frequently in Matthew, does not, as in our language, indicate that what is now to be related belongs to the same occasion with that which has gone immediately before, but rather, that it belongs to a different time and occasion. It is merely a transition clause, nearly equivalent to the phrase, " and it came to pass," or " about that time." " It came to pass in those days" (Matthew iii. 1) applies to an event which took place after an interval of thirty years. 1-8. According to a humane provision of the Mosaic law (Deut. xxiii. 25), those who were passing through a neighbor's field were allowed to pluck the ears of grain with their hand, though not to use a sickle. Dr. Robinson says, that when near Hebron, passing by the fields of ripening wheat, " We had here a beautiful illustration of Scripture. Our Arabs *were an hungered,' and going into the fields, they 'plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.' On being questioned, they said this was an old custom, and no one would speak against it." The offence of the disciples consisted, not in taking the grain, but in doing it on the Sabbath. " He that reaps on the Sabbath," says a Jewish authority quoted by Lightfoot, "though never so little, is guilty. And to pluck the ears of corn is a kind of reaping ; and who- soever plucks anything from the springing of his own MATTHEW XII. 9-14. 217 fruit is guilty, under the name of a reaper." It was to sweep awaj all sophistries of this kind, and to re-establish the substance and spirit of the law in the place of the trifling and superstitious observances which had grown out of it, that Jesus, in this instance, replies to the fault- finders by facts, which they as Jews must admit to be right, and then (verse 8, Mark ii. 27) lays down the true principle by which all ceremonial rites and institutions are to be interpreted. 1. Necessity knows no laws of this kind, and cannot be bound by their authority. Have ye not read, he asks, how David (1 Sam. xxi. 6) and those who were with him, when driven by hunger, took bread, which by the law (Ex. xxix. 33) only the priests were allowed to eat? 2. Where the worship of God requires the violation of the Sabbath, the lesser should yield to the greater. The form must give way, that the sub- stance may be retained. " Have ye not read in the law," (Num. xxviii. 9, 10,) he says, addressing them still as Jews, " that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the temple, and are guiltless ? And I say unto you, that something greater than the temple is here." He then (Mark ii. 27) lays down the great principle by which all these rites are to be determined. " The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Wherever, therefore, it interferes with man's highest good, its severity must be relaxed. " If," he adds, " ye had recognized the meaning and the authority of the divine precept," (Hosea vi. 6,) ' Mercy is more to me than sacrifice,' ye would not, as you are now doing, condemn the innocent." The Son of Man has power to regulate the observance even of the Sabbath-day. 9-14. On another occasion (another Sabbath, Luke vi. 9) he, under the general principle already quoted from Mark, brought up a third case, not wholly distinct per- haps from the first, in which the letter of the law is to be relaxed, and its spirit observed by works of charity 19 218 MATTHEW XII. 9-14. and mercy. There was present in the synagogue a man whose right hand was withered. The Pharisees were eagerly watching, with the hope that they might catch him violating the law. They ask him, therefore, whether it is allowable to perform cures on the Sabbath ! Jesus, knowing their thoughts (Luke vi. 8), asked the man to rise up and stand in the midst, which he did. Then, in reply to their question, he asked, which of the two is allowable on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill ? If any one among you have one sheep, and it fall into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not lay hold on it and lift it out ? But is not a man of far more consequence than a sheep ? So that it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath. They, unable to answer him, were silent. And Jesus, having looked round on them with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts (Mark iii. 5), directed the man to stretch forth his hand. And he stretched it forth ; and it was restored whole as the other. The principle on which Jesus here reasoned is, that it is a sin to neglect the opportunity to do a good deed, and therefore works of mercy must not be neglected even on the Sabbath. He has thus clearly taught, 1. that a man's own necessities, 2. that the offices of public worship, and 3. that works of charity, may justify what would otherwise be a violation of the Sabbath. Jesus is recorded to have performed cures on the Sab- bath at seven different times ; — the cure of the demoniac (Mark i. 21) ; of Peter's wife's mother (Mark i. 29) ; of the impotent man (John v. 9) ; of the man born blind (John ix. 14) ; of the woman with a spirit of infirmity (Luke xiii. 10-17) ; of the man who had a dropsy (Luke xiv. 1) ; besides the one related above. Unquestionably one object which he had in performing so many miracles on the Sabbath, was to do away the narrow superstitious formalities in which that merciful institution had become incrusted, and by which its beneficent design was per- verted or impaired and destroyed. MATTHEW XII. 14-37. 219 14-37. — Hatred of the Pharisees against Jesus. 14-21. Here is the first allusion to any conspiracy against his life by the enemies of Jesus. It was evident that he was producing a decided and powerful impression on the minds of the people, and that he carefully abstained from any violation of the law, yet his principles of inter- pretation, and the feelings with which he regarded its observances, were diametrically opposite to theirs. In this case, feeling the pungency of his rebuke, and unable to say a word in reply to his reasoning, the Scribes and Pharisees were (Luke vi. 11) inflamed with rage, and took counsel (Mark iii. 6) with the Herodians, who were probably the adherents of Herod, and rather political than religious partisans, how they might destroy him. Jesus, knowing their designs, withdrew to the Sea of Galilee, where immense multitudes gathered round him from all the neighboring country, — from Jerusalem, from Idumea and beyond the Jordan on the east, and from Tyre and Sidon on the west. This would only increase the appre- hensions and malice of his enemies. Jesus did all that he could consistently with the great purpose of his ministry to avoid notoriety. He severely charged those on whom his healing miracles were wrought not to make him known. 22-37. — Casting out Satan by Satan. About this time, when the popular mind was wrought up to a high pitch of expectation and excitement, there was brought to Jesus a demoniac, blind and dumb, whom he healed, so that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. There is nothing mentioned that would indicate in- sanity, nor is it possible to discover what the symptoms were that marked the case as one of demoniacal posses- sion. It seems, however, to have been regarded as an extraordinary case, and the cure caused an unusual sensa- 220 MATTHEW XII. 22-37. tion of astonishment among the multitudes, who ask if this is not tlie Son of David, i. e. the Messiah ? Such a sugges- tion could not be endured by the Pharisees. In the ex- tremity of their malignant jealousy and scorn, hardening themselves against the holiness of his life and the merciful character of his acts, they contemptuously reply, that he does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. He, knowing all that was passing in their minds, overthrew their taunt by reasoning which they from their point of view could not answer, and then, 31, 32, exposed their unpardonable wickedness in the severest sentence that ever fell from his lips. The 21st verse is one of some difficulty. " If I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your children, i. e. your disciples, cast them out ? wherefore they shall be your judges." There is no doubt that there were at that time men who practised among the Jews the pre- tended art of expelling demons. Josephus, Antiq., VIII. 2. 5, appeals to an extraordinary proof of this fact which one of these exorcists had given before Vespasian in the presence of a part of the Roman army. There was a belief among the Jews that these men actually expelled demons by their art, and it was from this their point of view that Jesus addressed his argument to the Phari- sees. If I, in my cures, which shake to its very centre the dominion of Satan, am in league with him, by whom do your disciples perform their cures? Let them answer the question, and be your judges. Jesus was doing nothing more than they were pretending to do. Why then should he be adjudged as guilty of a greater crime ? But does not he, in using such language, countenance the belief that they had the power to cast out demons ? This brings up a very interesting and important subject of inquiry. How far could a being with the more than human endowments and knowledge which Jesus possessed, looking through men's thoughts, and the shadows around MATTHEW XII. 22-37. 221 them, be among the Jews, and converse freely with them, without suffering their false ideas and conceptions to pass uncorrected ? Parents are every day pursuing this course with their children, knowing that it would be a vain thing to try to correct them in regard to many false ideas which they are not yet able to understand, but which they will outgrow in the natural progress of their minds. It is not by specific corrections now, but by the gradual unfolding and enlightenment of their minds, that they are to be set free from these mistaken notions. So Christ came, not to correct specific errors, one by one, but to brinji; into the world those g-reat elements of moral and religious life and thought, which, as they are received and applied, may lift men up above their errors, and set them free from their mistaken ideas. In order to gain access to them, he must meet them as they are, and reason with them from premises which they believe to be true. By seeking to correct their established convictions and habits of thought in regard to common and comparatively unimportant matters, he would rouse their prejudices, and close their minds against him in his more important influ- ences and instructions. Their errors, therefore, he some- times uses as illustrations or arguments by which to intro- duce into their minds truths which, once lodged there, and acting through their lives, shall at length set them free, and drive out the very errors by which they gained ad- mittance. It is evident that this must essentially modify the form of any revelation from God to men, in its adap- tation to the existing wants and limitations of their nature. The reasoning of this whole discourse proceeds in this way. It meets the Pharisees on their own ground, with- out one word to show whether that ground be tenable or not. In this way, he brings before them the momentous truth which it is his purpose to declare. If the very centre of Satan's kingdom is shaken by these works of mine, and if, as I have shown from your own point of 19* 222 MATTHEW XII. 31, 32. view, I have done these works, not by the aid of Beelze- bub, but, 28, by the spirit, and Luke xi. 20, -the finger of God, then in this overthrow of the powers of darkness you may be sure that the kingdom of God has come upon you unawares. For how can the house of the strong man, thoroughly armed and on his guard (Luke xi. 21), be entered, unless a stronger than he overcome, and disarm, and bind him ? But, in this warfare, he continues, he who is not with me is against me. " Wherefore," he says, 31, 32, referring to the whole course of reasoning by which he has proved that these are the works of God against which they have set themselves, — " wherefore, though every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men, yet blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven to men, either in this world [atw^t, — <^on'] or the world to come." 31, 32. — The Uxpaedonable Sin. What is the sin thus fearfully and hopelessly condemned ? All enlightened modern commentators, we believe, agree that "it is not one particular act of sin which is here condemned, but a state of sin, and that a wilful, deter- mined opposition" to what is highest and holiest. He who speaks against the Son of Man may do it ignorantly, or through traditional prejudices, or from a sudden im- pulse, and may repent and be forgiven. " But he," to use the words of the Greek father Euthymius, " who, seeing my Divine w^orks which God alone can perform, ascribes them to Beelzebub as you now do, and so blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, or the Divinity itself (for he now calls it the Holy Spirit), — he, plainly determined and fixed on what is evil, and knowingly insulting God, sins with- out excuse, and shall not be forgiven." His sin is not one of impulse, ignorance, or weakness. But he has gone on knowingly sinning and hardening himself against the Holy Spirit, maligning its influences, and attributing them MATTHEW XII. 38-50. 223 to a diabolical agency, till he has reached such a degree of hardihood in wickedness that he is beyond all hope of repentance or amendment, and therefore beyond all hope of forgiveness. The settled frame of his mind is so wil- fully and knowingly turned against God in his plainest and holiest influences and teachings, that he has made re- pentance, and through it reformation, an impossibility to him, whether in this world Ijcboii] or the world to come. Jesus then turns again to their blasphemous charge against the Holy Spirit, in ascribing actions such as they had witnessed to the Prince of demons. Do at least, he says, be consistent with yourselves. Allow either that the tree and fruit are both good, or that they are both bad together. The tree is known by its fruit. But, 34, how, on this principle, can we expect anything good from you, since, as is the heart, so must the words be. So true is this law of our nature, so is even the careless, idle word imbued with the spirit, and so does it indicate the disposition, from which it comes, that, "I say unto you, for every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account in the day of judgment." The careless, idle words which men utter are perhaps the truest mdex to their character. 38-50. — Further Remarks of Jesus. 38-40. On another occasion the Scribes and Pharisees, in a captious, unbelieving spirit, asked of him a sign. He knew their motives, and declared to them that no sign should be given except that of the prophet Jonah, as foreshadowing his own death. It is remarkable, as Dr. Furness has said, that whenever a sign was asked of Jesus, he invariably referred to his death, " as the greatest sign that he could possibly give of his truth." (John vi. 30, 51.) The reference to the book of Jonah proves nothing conclusively respecting the view that Jesus 224 MATTHEW XII. 46-50. might have of it, whether as an historical narrative, or an instructive allegory, framed like some of his own parables, to set forth important lessons of truth and duty. He then, 41 - 45, as he had done twice before in different connections, spoke of the way in which the generation must be condemned by those who had gone before, if they should slight the greater privileges which were granted to them. And finally he likens them to a demoniac who is for a time apparently cured, but with a relapse of his malady is in a far worse condition than before. The picture, which is in accordance with the prevalent ideas of the Jews, is full of life and interest. The unclean spirit, cast out of its comfortable abode, wanders, 43, into dry, i. e. desert, uncultivated, and desolate places, seeking rest, and finding none. And at last, tired of this he joins to himself seven other spirits worse than himself, and finding his old abode empty, swept, and furnished, they enter in and dwell there. So with this genera- tion. However the Jews may have been freed for a time by their afflictions from their old idolatries, yet the old spirit and others far worse had returned, and now their last end (xxiii. 45) is worse than all that had gone before. The same remarks aj^ply to an individual, re- formed for a season, and then relapsing into his old sins, with others still worse added to them. 46 - 50. — Jesus and his Mother. Any impression that we might get here of apparent harshness in the conduct of Jesus towards his mother will be removed by attending to all the circumstances. Not only was the house where he sat full of people, but probably, as in another case (Mark ii. 2) the way of approach to the door was crowded, so that those who were out could not get at him (Luke viii. 19) on account of the multitude. While he was in the midst of his MATTHEW XII. 46-50. 225 weighty and impressive discourse, word was passed in to him (Luke viii. 20) that his mother and brethren were without desiring to speak to him. Immediately he turned this incident into an occasion of teaching the higher spirit- ual relationships which he had come to establish, and asked, " Who is my mother, and who are my brethren ? " Then looking round about on those who were sitting around him (Mark iii. 34) he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples, and said, " Behold my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother." We learn from John vii. 5, that his brethren did not believe in him, and Mark, iii. 21, tells us that when his friends or relatives heard how he was situated and what he was doing, they went out to lay hold on him ; for they said, "He is beside himself." They evidently at that time did not at all understand him. It is more difficult to enter into the feelings of his mother. His past history and his character, as it showed itself to her in the intimate relations of life, must, we infer from the few ghmpses that are given to us (Luke ii. 41-52, John ii.1-12) have been such as to fill her with wonder and expectation. She pondered these things in her heart. But, as a human being, she doubtless had her alternations of feeling. She knew not how his work should be accom- plished or what it was. When her relatives and possibly even her own sons declared that he was beside him- self, her maternal feelings must have been touched, and, without sympathizing with them in their unbelief, she may have been painfully moved by vague apprehensions of impending danger, and hopes of coming greatness, so that she went with them to ease her anxieties by seeing him, and perhaps to persuade him to withdraw himself for a season from the perils that were gathering round him. If such were her feelings, nothing could do more to as- suage her feai's, awaken her reverence, and re-establish 226 MATTHEW XII. her faith, than the words here uttered, which in their calm dignity lifted him above all earthly interests and relationships. NOTES. At that time Jesus went on the sabbath- day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungered, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, 2 they said unto him. Behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath-day. But he said unto them, 3 Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungered, and they that were with him ? how he entered into the house 4 of God, and did eat the shew-bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests ? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the 6 sabbath-days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless ? But I say unto you, that in this place is one 6 greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this mean- 7 eth, "I will have mercy and not sacrifice," ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord 8 even of the sabbath-day. 2. when the Pharisees saiv Strictly speaking, there was no it] They must have been follow- house of God at that time, but only ing him 'through the fields in that a tent in which the Ark of the hvpocritical spirit of ceremonial Covenant was kept. But, as in Ex. observance that would be ready to xxiii. 19, the tent was sometimes measure his steps after him, and called the house of God. find it out, if he should walk one which is not lawful for him vard bevond the prescribed length to eat] Ex. xxix. 33. For tlie of a sabbath-day's journev. this s/?ew-6rert(Z, see Leviticus xxiv. 5 -8. whole chapter, 'down to the 46th From this reference and verse 8, as verse, is taken up in showing this well as from a Jewish authority trait of the Pharisees, and the terri- cited by Lightfoot, it is rendered ble severity with which it was re- probable that David went there buked by Jesus. 3. Have either on the sabbath, or just as ye not read] " At that very the sabbath was going out, Avhich time of year Leviticus was being would make his example still more read on sabbaths, the book in Avhich pertinent in this case. ^ 8. there occur so many precepts as to for the Son of man] " Why is sacrifices which were required to be Christ called the Son of man, but performed, even on the sabbath." just because he represents humanity BeugeL 4. house of God] as a whole, — because, as a second MATTHEW XII. 227 9 And when he was departed thence, he went into their syna- 10 gogue. And, behold, there was a man which had his hand Avithered. And they asked him saying, Is it lawful to heal on 11 the sabbath-days ? that they might accuse him. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath-day, 12 will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out ? How much then is a man better than a sheep ! Wherefore it is lawful to do well 13 on the sabbath-days. Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth ; and it was restored 14 whole, like as the other. Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. 15 But Avhen Jesus kncAv it, he withdrew himself from thence ; and great multitudes followed him ; and he healed them all, 16 and charged them that they should not make him known ; 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the 18 prophet, saying : " Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased ; I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. Adam, he bears in himself and sets up a new humanity? This is the key to the Avhole statement, ac- cording to which, in the first place, ]\Iark ii. 27, as the words stand, contain a truth as profound as it is simple. So, in the Talmud, R. Jonatlian says, literally, ' The sab- bath is in your own hands, not you in its hands, for it is said: The sab- bath is for you.' ( Ex. xvi. 29 ; Ezek. XX. 12.) It is, according to God's design, an ordinance and institution of mercy for the good of man, ap- pointed, in the first instance, for rest and refreshment (Deut. v. 14; Ex. xxiii. 12); and then fm-ther for blessing and sanctification." Stier. 11. and lift it out] " Our Lord evidently asks this as a thing allowed and done at the time when he spoke ; but subsequently (perhaps, suggests Stier, on account of these words of Christ) it was forbidden in the Gemara; and only permitted to lay planks for the beast to come out.'''' Alford. 15. and great multitndes] The pop- ulousness of Galilee at that time, compared with what it is at present, was very great. According to Jose- phus, it had more than 200 cities, the least of which contained 15,000 inhabitants ; and the whole province contained more than 3,000,000 of people. According to Strabo, Gali- lee was full of Egyptians, Arabians, • and Phoenicians. '(Lib. XVL) See Milman's Hist. Christianitv, L 4. 18-20. " This quotation," says Dr. Palfrey, " from the proph- ecy of Isaiah (xlii. 1-4) accords pre- cisely with neither the Hebrew nor the Septuagint." The Hebrew is thus translated by Dr. Noyes: "Behold my servant, whom I uphold, My chosen,ia whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him ; He shall give laws to the nations. He shall not cry aloud, nor raise a clamor, Nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. The bruised reed he shall not break, And the glimmering flax he shall not quench ; He shall give laws according to truth. He shall not fail, nor become weary, Until he shall have established laws in the earth, And distant nations shall wait for his instruction." 228 MATTHEW XII. He shall not strive, nor cry, neither shall any man hear his 19 voice in the streets ; a bruised reed shall he not break, and 20 smoking flax shall he not quench ; till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust." 21 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind 22 and dumb ; and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, 23 and said, Is not this the son of David ? But when the Phari- 24 sees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew 25 their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation ; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out 26 Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his king- dom stand ? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom 27 do your children cast them out ? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the spirit of God, then the 28 kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else, how can one enter 29 into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man ; and then he will spoil his house. He 30 that is not with me is against me ; and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad. Wherefore I say unto you, all 31 manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men ; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven 20. a bruised reed t^e Philistines (2 Kings i. 2). The smoking flax] introduced here to Jews applied it to the prince of sliow the merciful and compas- devils, as the most contemptuous of sionate nature of Jesus in his deal- ^^^ names. 25. their ing with the broken-hearted and the thoughts] their thoughts, imagi- contrite. Lightfoot, however, savs: nations, and feelings; i. e. he knew " He shall not make so great a noise the secret motives from which thev as is made from the breaking of a ?poke, Avhen they charged him witli reed now alreadv bruised and half doing his beneficent and divine broken, or from the hissing of smok- works with a diabolical design, and ing flax only, when water is thrown ^y the aid of the prince of devils, upon it." ' 23. Is not this The Greek word, evdvfir)(reis, is the son of David ?] A name much stronger and more compre- Avhich evidently among the Jews hensive than the EngUsh word was applied to the Messiah (ix. 27; thoughts, including as it does the XV. 22; xxi. 9; and especiallv xxii. emotions and purposes connected 42), 24. Beelzebul] (for with the thoughts. 28. is such is the established reading here, come unto you] "Wesley, who as well as x. 25) means Lord of avowedly copied from Rengel, ex- mire, or Lord of place, as Beelzebub plains the passage: " The kingdom does Lord of flies. It was the name of God is come upon you — una- of a God worshipped, at Ekron, by wares, before you expected : so the MATTHEW XII. 229 3i unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him ; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in 33 this world, neither in the world to come. Either make the tree good, and his fruit good ; or else make the tree corrupt, 34 and his fruit corrupt ; for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good word implies." 32. speak- eth against the Holy Ghost] " This probably refers to the Divine nature of Christ, — the power by wliich he Avrought his miracles. There is no evidence that it refers to the third person of the Trinity." Barnes. " It was blasphemy against tlie Spirit of God to ascribe acts which bore the manifest impress of the Divine Goodness in their essen- tially beneficent character to any other source but the Father of Mercies." Alilman. " Against the Holy Ghost means against the most direct and conclusive testimony by Avhicli the person is entirely convinced, and consequently sins with the most complete knowledge and will ; and this is the idea most essentially belonging to the unpar- donable sin It is committed when the man knows, with entire conviction, what he is doing It is distinguished from every other pardonable sin of man by this, that in it there is not even a minimum of Satanic deceit practised upon the understanding, or compulsion of any nature, or by any creature upon the will; but the purely evil is willed, spoken, and done instead of the known and rejected good, the lie as such instead of the blas- phemed truth." Stier. in this world, neither in the world to come] The Avord alcov (ceon), which is here translated woi^d, can be rendered by no cor- responding ord in our language. It means a period of time, an age, or a dispensation. In 2 Tim. i. 9 we read, " before the world began," more exactly, " before the worlds began," and still more literally, "before the times of the worlds," ages, ce(ms. In 1 Cor. ii. 7 we read of 20 the wisdom " which God ordained to our glory before the tcorkls,'' i. e. the aeons, ages, or dispensations. These passages imply in the past a succession of asons, ages, or dispen- sations. Jesus speaks more than once (xiii. 39, 40, 49) of "the end of the world ; " more exactly, the winding up or consummation of the a?on, the age, or dispen'sation then existing. In Heb. ix. 26 we read, " in the end of the world," literally, at "the completion," or "consum- mation of the ages." As the word seon, in its application to the past and present condition of things im- plies only a limited duration of time, the natural inference is that in its application to the future con- dition of things, it does not neces- sarily involve the idea of endless duration. As the word is apjilicd to the past in the plural nunjjer, and thus denotes a succession of aeons in the past, so when ap])lied to the future in the plural number (Eph. ii. 7, "in the a^ons, or ages which are to come,") it in like man- ner denotes a succession of seons. These ceons thus extend from the past into the future, each one at its completion giving way to that which is to succeed, and each, whether in the past or the future, being only one in the succession of ages. When, therefore, we read in the passage before us of a sin Avhicli shall be forgiven neither in this world (fBon) nor the world (a?on) to come, we find in the language noth- ing that necessarily involves the idea of eternity, since the age to come may, like" each of those which have gone before, at length fulfil its Eurpose, and give place to a yet igher dispensation beyond. See XXV. 46. 230 MATTHEW XII. things ? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man, out of the good treasure of the heart, 35 bringeth forth good things ; and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, that 3G every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt 37 be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Then certain of the Scribes and of the Pharisees answered 38 saying, Master, we Avould see a sign from thee. But he an- 39 swered and said imto them. An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign ; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was three 40 days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this genera- 41 tion, and shall condemn it ; because they repented at the preaching of Jonas ; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this 42 generation, and shall condemn it ; for she came from the utter- most parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. When the un- 43 clean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry 36. every idle Avord] at last the measure of iniquity is There is no authority for giving any full, and hopeless ruin ensues. For worse meaning to the adjective, the same thought more fully cairied The idle woi*a may be a wicked, out, see xxiii. 35. 43'. When or it may be a good, word. To give the unclean spirit is gone out account does not necessarily imply of a man] Man, the individnal, condemnation. The meaning is, stands here for the Jewish nation, that for everything we say, down who are represented as being then even to our idle words, we are to sevenfold worse than ever before, be held responsible, when in the day The connection Avith the previous of reckoning the account of our sentences is unbroken. You wicked lives shall be rendered tip. men seeking a sign, shall find none 40. three days and three nights] except the sign of the prophet By the Hebrew reckoning, the day Jonah ; and even that, wliile it when the account begins, and that foreshadows my death, shall like- when it ends, are included in the wise testify to your condemnation, mmiber of days. " A day and a as will also the ^ueen of the South, night," says a Jewish tradition. But what better could be expected? " make an onah, and a part of an When the unclean spirit is gone out onah is as the whole." 41. of a man, and the man fails to for- ivith this generation] Here is tify himself by religious thoughts an indication of the cumulative and faithful cleeds, and remains nature of sin in a community, and empty, and thus prepared for the of the judgments visited upon it return of what is evil, then that from generation to generation, till spirit, with seven others worse than MATTHEW XII. 231 44 places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house, from whence I came out. And when he 45 is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits, more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there ; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. 46 While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and 47 his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand 48 without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother V and who are 49 my brethren V And he stretched forth his hand toward his dis- 60 ciples, and said, Behold, my mother, and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, which is in heaven, tlie same is my brother, and sister, and mother. iti^elf, shall enter in and dwell xi. 31), to denote a near relative, as, there. So shall it be with this evil e. g. a nephew or cousin, and even generation, as compared with the to denote a friend. It has been generations which have gone before, supposed that the word is so used 47. thy brethren] The here; but its connection with the word brother is still used in the word mother would imply that it East, as it was in the days of Abra- is used in its stricter sense. See ham ( Gen. xiv. 16, compared with xiii. 55. 232 MATTHEW XIII. PARABLES. CHAPTER XIII. Parables. The fountain of life within flows forth into outward acts, and those outward acts are an emblem of the mind from which they come. So in nature, whatever we see proceeds from a fountain of life within, and is an emblem and token of the divine source from which it proceeds. Everything in nature, therefore, is an expression of the Divine Mind, and has its message or its influence from Him for us. The lightest forms of nature associate them- selves with our deepest feelings or our highest thoughts, and the more entirely we are bom into the realm of spiritual things, that is, the more alive our spiritual per- ceptions are, the more shall we be able to see the tokens and to feel the influences of the Divine Mind in our in- tercourse with nature. To him who looks through the visible forms to tlie great spiritual realities which they would express, every object around us, every change in nature, as an expression of the Divine Mind, is the out- shadowing or the foreshadowing of something higher than itself. This great fact finds its way more or less into our common speech. The morning or evening of the day leads us spontaneously to think of the morning and even- ing of life. When we see the sun go down, and as it departs light up the western heavens with a richness and glory which the day has never known, we can hardly help thinking of the good man's life, which when with- drawn from our sight throws around the whole place where he dwelt, in gracious and touching remembrances, afifections, virtues, and prayers more beautiful and holy MATTHEW XIH. PARABLES. 233 than when he was bodilj present with us. So the flower, the fruit, the leaf is each suggestive to us of thoughts and emotions which he in a higher plane of life. Thus it was that Jesus saw all outward objects and events in their higher relations, and made use of them to express the higher facts which thej bodied forth to his mind. No one can understand his language who receives it merely in its literal acceptation ; " for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life " (2 Cor. iii. 6). We have only to open the Gospels to see how in his use of speech material things are made to lift us up into the realm of spiritual being. When he says, " Ye are the salt of the earth," he speaks in no literal sense. When he speaks of light and dark- ness, it is the light and darkness of the soul. When he speaks of hell fire, he speaks of it, not in its material, but its spiritual sense, as an emblem of the anguish into which the souls of the wicked shall be cast, unless they repent and are converted. So when he says, "Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life," it is in the higher and spiritual sense that these expressions are used. The devout heart catches this inner meaning of the Saviour's words, and finds them, as he has said, becoming to him '' spirit and life." He that would read the Gospels in any other way loses all that is most holy and divine. It is as if we should confine our eye to the glass of the telescope, instead of looking through it to the worlds of light which it reveals beyond. These remarks are especially applicable to the chapter before us, which has been called the chapter of parables. The parables, like all figurative language and most of our reasoning from analogy, derive their power from the fact that material things, not only have certain established relations among themselves, but also certain relations to spiritual things, which they may help to illustrate, ex- plain, and enforce. The connection is not one arbitrarily assumed by man, but has its foundation in the constitu- 20* 234 MATTHEW XIII. PARABLES. tion of tlie universe and of the human mind. The analogies which reach from one department of thought to another, from things material to things intellectual or spiritual, have impressed themselves on all languages, and perhaps most decidedly on those which have been used to express the highest spiritual ideas. The simplest mind catches these resemblances, and delights in the higher meanings which are bodied forth in the most common forms of speech. The image borrowed from some familiar object of sense, and standing as the representative of some higher truth, fixes itself in the mind, and acts upon it through the imagination with a power which more literal terms could not have. The greatest poets, the profoundest reasoners, and the common language of mankind alike abound in examples of this kind. Shakespeare, for instance, may be taken to show how, in the highest poetry, images drawn from material things or common life shadow forth to the heart a deeper, higher, or more affecting meaning. " The immortal part needs a physician." — Henry IV. " The benediction of these covering heavens Fall on your heads hke dew,"-^ Cymbeline. *' Death lies on her, like an untimely frost Upon the sweetest flower of all the field." — Romeo and Juliet. No literal terms of description could convey to the mind the ideas here suggested with such exquisite beauty and tenderness. The Scriptures abound in expressions of this sort, which introduce into the mind some image easily com- prehended, that fills the whole soul with sentiments and emotions suggested by it. Take expressions like these: " The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." (Jer. viii. 20.) " The night is far spent, the day is at hand." (Rom. xiii. 12.) "Abide with us ; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." (Luke xxiv. 29.) " I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine : and I lay down my life for the sheep." (John x. 14, 15.) " Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me MATTHEW XIII. PARABLES. 235 and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matt. xi. 29, 30.) We see at once how the simple facts, which are presented in the words, spontaneously awaken other ideas ; and the images, so fa- miliar to us in nature, carry us on to thoughts which lie wholly beyond them. And not merely are other thoughts suggested, but sentiments and emotions, which we can hardly define, are awakened by the words, and lift us up into a higher sphere. " It is not merely," says Trench in the introduction to his Notes on the Parables, " that these analogies assist to make the truth intelligible, or, if intelligible before, present it more vividly to the mind, which is all that some will allow them. Their power lies deeper than this, in the harmony uncon- sciously felt by all men, and by deeper minds continually recognized and plainly perceived, between the natural and spiritual worlds, so that analogies from the first are felt to be something more than illustrations, happily but yet arbitra- rily chosen. They are arguments, and may be alleged as Avitnesses ; the world of nature being throughout a witness for the world of spirit, proceeding from the same head, grow- ing out of the same root, and being constituted for that very end. All lovers of truth readily acknowledge these myste- rious harmonies, and the force of arguments derived from them." All just reasoning from analogy depends on the recogni- tion of a unity of purpose running through all the works of God, and making them all, as parts of one great plan, point upward to the same results. The outward system of things stands forth to the mind as the representative of higher powers than address themselves to the senses. " The heavens declare the glory of God." (Ps. xix.) " The invisible things of Him, even his eternal power and godhead, are clearly seen from the creation of the world being understood by the things that are made." (Rom. i. 20.) " All things here," gays Tertullian, " are witnesses of a resurrection ; all things 236 SIATTHEW XIII. PARABLES. in nature are prophetic outlines of Divine operations, God not merely speaking parables, but doing them." Not only in processes of reasoning, but in the finer and more important processes by which the imagination is quickened and the affections reached, we are constantly drawn up from what is material and temporal to what is spiritual and eternal. Works like those of Dante and Milton borrow their marvel- lous power from this fact. Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress,** and Baxter's " Saint's Rest," delight the heart, and feed the religious sentiments of generation after generation through the mysterious but vital connections which bind what is seen to what is unseen. This alone makes it possible to weave, from scenes and incidents addressed to the eye, a narrative which shall bring us into connection with a higher order of beings and events. The language which has most deeply moved the heart of the world, and especially that which acts most powerfully on the masses, and at the same time on the purest religious minds, partakes largely of this character. The world is, not only a school-room, in which visible objects serve as diagrams by which to prove the reality of spiritual things ; but on every side are pictures addressing themselves to the eye, through the eye to the imagination, and through the imagination to the heart, awakening our spiritual sensi- bihties, and educating our whole natures to a higher Hfe. We can hardly overestimate the influence in the religious training of the world, which has been exercised in this way by the pictures from nature, or from common life, which have been used by Jesus to represent spiritual ideas» excite religious emotions, or help us on in our religious ex- perience. The parables belong to this department of religious in- s.truction. The value of a parable is not to be estimated by the single truth whicli it is employed to set forth, however great that, truth may be. Its accompaniments, its indirect and subtle influences, tlirough the imagination, the new meaning which it thus gives to nature or to life, the atmos- MATTHEW XIII. 1-9,18-23. 237 phere of spiritual beauty, joy, or reverence, in which it en- folds the mind of the child, and by which it ministers to its spiritual and immortal life, are to be taken into account as adjuncts, apart from which the truth would be left compara- tively without interest and without power. The parable of The Sower who went forth to sow, of the Wheat and the Tares, of the Ten Virgins, the Rich Man and Lazarus, The Good Samaritan, and the Prodigal Son, are among the most impressive and influential agencies in our religious education. As to the rules of interpretation, too much stress must not be laid on the details in judging of their relation to the main truth. Their office is rather, by completing the picture, to act on the imagination, to touch the feelings, and subdue the mind to the tone which is needed in order that it may receive the truth. This is a most important office. In the Prodigal Son, for instance, the little details which go to fill out the picture of want and wretchedness are what give its affiscting pathos to the story. And the fact that they per- form this essential office should put us on our guard against trying to force all the minute particulars into our interpreta- tion. A parable is not an allegory. 1-9, 18-23. The Parable of the Sower. It is not improbable that as Jesus, from the boat in which he sat, looked up along the sweep of the hills that converged downward to the lake, he may have seen a sower actually going forth to sow, and pointing to him, or directing the eyes of the multitude towards him for a moment, he may have drawn his instruction from what was actually passing before them. It is also possible that the opening words, " Be- hold, a sower went forth to sow," were made more touch- ingly impressive to the devoiit Jews by calling to mind the affecting language of Psalm cxxvi. : " They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, 238 MATTHEW XIII. 10-23. bearing precious seed, shall, doubtless, come again with re- joicing, bringing his sheaves with him." It may also, there by the waters of the lake, have connected itself with the promise in Isaiah xxxii. 20 : " Blessed are ye that sow be- side all waters." Stanley, in his Sinai and Palestine, pp. 42 - 48, speaks of a field in the plain of Grenesareth, where all the conditions involved in this parable were fulfilled ; — the cornfield running, down to the lake, the trodden pathway through it, the rich soil, the rocky ground protruding into it here and there, large bushes of thorns springing up in it, and countless birds of all kinds. The object of the parable is to show the different states of mind, on account of which different persons hear the same truth with such widely different results. There is the hardened mind, which, hearing the word but not understand- ing it, does not take it in at all, but leaves it on the surface to be carried away at once by the slightest temptation, the first suggestion of the wicked one. There is the shallow mind, quick and transient in its emotions, receiving it with a momentary warmth of joy which causes it quickly to spring up, but the planjt having no depth of character in which to take root, in the first heats of opposition or perse- cution wilts away. There is the rich, strong mind, already preoccupied by other things, which receives it with them. But they, the cares of the world, the deceitful allurements of riches, the pleasures of life, and, as Mark says, the pas- sionate desires for other things, strangle it, and though it struggles along with them, it brings no fruit to perfection. Then there are the good and honest minds which, in pro- portion to their strength, bring forth fruit, a hundred, sixty, or thirty fold. 10-23. — Teaching in Parables. This conversation, see Mark iv. 10, took place privately afterwards, and is introduced here parenthetically by the MATTHEW XIII. 10-23. 239 writer as in the proper place for the explanations which it gives. After Jesus had withdrawn from the multitudes, and the disciples seeing that he had not been understood, asked him why he spoke to the multitudes in parables ? " Because," he replied, " while to you [whose spiritual perceptions are awakened] the hitherto undeclared mysteries of the king- dom of heaven are revealed, yet (Mark iv. 11) to them who are without," i. e. who are not my disciples, "all things are in parables," i. e. are not plain, but veiled and hidden. It made no difference, therefore, to them whether he spoke in parables or not. They would not in any case understand him. But if, in the plainest terms, he should declare the truths which were embodied in these parables, they would misapprehend entirely the nature of his kingdom, and some of them would violently oppose him, while others with equal violence, as in John vi. 15, would endeavor to force him to become their king. In order to avoid this, and at the same time to impart encouragement and instruction to those who in lowliness and simplicity of heart were waiting for his king- dom, he adopted a method of teaching, which, while it taught nothing to those whose views and characters were all wrong, gave the needed help to those who were ready to receive it. Under this kind of instruction, it was peculiarly true, 12, that to him who had, i. e. who had the teachable spirit, it was given, i. e. was given to understand the words of Christ, and from him who had not this spirit was taken away even that which he had, viz. the sort of understand- ing which he might have had, if plain instructions had been given. Thus it was strictly true that Jesus spoke to them in parables, ^^ because they did not," or, as in Mark iv. 12, and Luke viii. 10, " m order that they might not," under- stand, while they saw and heard him. If they had caught the only meaning respecting his kingdom which they were capable of receiving from the plainest instructions, it would probably have led to violence and the premature close of his ministry. The parables were as letters in cipher, intel- 240 MATTHEW XIII. 24-30. ligible to Ills friends, but without meaning to those who did not belong to him. 24-30. — The Tares and the Wheat. The parable of the sower speaks of the different results produced by the same seed according to the different states of mind in those who receive it. This parable of the tares and wheat is to illustrate the different effects produced by different sorts of seed. If we interpret the parable and its explanation, 38, 39, literally, we find that good men proceed from seed sown by the Son of Man* and bad men from seed sown by the Devil. But the Avords are not to be construed so strictly. As, in the parable of the sower, the seed was identified with the man in whom it grew up, so here the man is identified with the seed which essentially modified his whole nature. The tares are a bastard sort of wheat, or a mischievous plant, not easily distinguished from good wheat in the early stages of its growth. Both therefore for a time must be per- mitted to grow up together, since the bad cannot be rooted up without injury to the good. But when they have reached their maturity, and their entirely different characters are manifest, a separation is made. The good wheat is preserved, the bad consumed. The doctrine of the existence of moral evil and the delay in its punishment is her^ compressed into a single sentence. The most labored and profound investigations of philosophy have not been able to go farther, or to throw even a clouded ray of additional light on this dark and terrible problem. Those who are interested to know liow far this problem may be solved without the aid of Christianity by a very able, thoughtful, and devout man, vvould do well to read, in Plutarch's Morals, his fine essay " Concerning those whom God is slow to punish." Among other less weighty considerations which he illustrates with MATTHEW XIII. 24-30. 241 pertinent examples, he says that punishment may be de- layed in order to give those who commit great crimes an opportunity to do what good they will. The man who gains a kingdom by crime may then seek to make up for his crime by using his power for good ends, and tlie world would be the loser if he Avere cut off at once. Or the offender's life may be spared, because his own conscience, in the apprehensions and terrors which it holds over him, may inflict a more dreadful punishment than immediate death. Or if the punishment is deferred in this world, it is only that it may hereafter be inflicted W'ith the greater severity, before its purpose is accom- plished, and the man's sin and guilt purged away. Or it may be in order to allow an opportunity for amend- ment, which is shown by the example of a young man wdio, after a dissolute, dishonest, and cruel course of life, being stunned by a fall and while in a swoon seeing as in another world how crimes are exposed, the souls of the guilty turned inside out, and vengeance wreaked upon them, he determined to reform his character, and lived afterwards purely and uprightly. Jesus goes far deeper than this into the very constitution and nature of things. Without exposure and temptation to evil, we conclude from his teachings, there can be no virtue. Bad deeds and men cannot be extirpated now except by destroying the good with them. Evil does exist. It cannot be rooted out without rooting out also the virtues that are growing with it, and which often in the early period of their growth can hardly be distinguished from it. Nor can bad men be destroyed at once without a fatal influence on the good. But by and by, when their deeds and characters have fully developed themselves, in the con- summation to them of this earthly dispensation, that is, in the end of the world to each of them, a separation shall be made in accordance with the principles of a righteous retribution. In these parables Jesus "gathers 21 242 MATTHEAY XIII. 24-30. up ages into one season of seed-time and of harvest." So the end of the world, or the day of judgment to each individual "when his earthly course is ended, is set forth by one majestic figure in which all the generations of men are brought together to be separated according to what they have done, 41, 42, and been, 48 - 50. There are nowhere more sublime images of moral grand- eur than are placed before us here. Earthly scenes that impress themselves most powerfully on the imagination, earthly thrones and kingdoms and the mightiest displays of human authority shrink away. " The field is the world. The harvest is the end of the world. The reapers are the angels The Son of man shall send forth his angels and he shall gather out of his kingdom all those who cause others to sin, and all who work iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be the wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father." The last sentence would probably come with still greater force to the Jews from its bringing to their minds a most impressive passage in one of their sublimest prophets. " And they that be wise shall shine as the bright- ness of the firmament ; and they that turn many to right- eousness, as the stars for ever and ever." (Daniel xii. 3.) To them at least, language like this used by the sacred writers of old, and for generations educating the hearts of the people to a deeper solemnity, became, when inter- mingled with the speech of Jesus, more impressive than words wholly unfamiliar to them could have been. We do not like to discuss the duration of future punish- ment in the presence of images such as are thrown around the condition of the wicked hereafter. Jesus undoubtedly intended to represent them as full of misery. But he says nothing in this place, if he does anywhere, in re- gard to the period of its continuance ; not one word to show whethei", like tares, the wicked themselves shall be MATTHEW XIII. 24-30. 243 Utterly burned up, or whether the penal fires (taken of course in a figurative sense) shall only consume and purge away their sins, so that at last (as is intimated in 1 Cor. XV. 24-28), after we know not how many years or ages, they may be restored to life and peace, or whether they are left there in endless sin and pain. He places before us in the most impressive and terrible language the dread- ful character and consequences of sin, that we may be warned against it; and it is much Aviser in us, — it shows a deeper reverence for him, to use these expressions as undefined but awful warnings for ourselves and others, than by attempting to lessen or to aggravate their horrors by any speculations of ours in regard to the precise method of inflicting punishment, or the term of its duration. AVhy can we not learn to respect the reserve of Jesus in re- gard to such themes? The field is the world according to our use of the word. The harvest is the end of the world, the consum- mation of the CEon^ age, or dispensation, as applied to the Jewish nation and to each individual soul. See Note. In this great field of the world we are sowing seed, and at the same time are ourselves growing up and ripening for the harvest. Whatsoever we sow, that shall we also reap. " For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life." (Gal. vi. 8.) As in the ripened fruit, every shower that fell upon it, every hour of sunshine, every night that folded it round with darkness, every ingredient in the soil beneath, entered into its texture, and helped to make it what it is in the time of harvest, so with us, every incident in life, the passions we indulge, the actions we perform, the hopes we cherish or reject, the privileges we improve or leave unimproved, are entering into the texture of our souls, and preparing us, or leaving us unprepared, for the harvest. Nothing that has entered into our life's experience shall 244 MATTHEW XIII. 21-30. be lost. Our riches and honors, our j^leasant homes and comfortable situations, except in their influence on the soul, shall pass from us. But every kind deed that we have done, everj pang of contrition, every earnest effort in behalf of what is good, every prayer that we have uttered from the heart, every longing after holiness, every unselfish affection that we have cherished and obeyed, every sorrow that has helped to w^ean us from the world or draw us towards God, every pain or disappointment patiently or meekly borne, — every one of these, in the influences which it is having upon us, shall be gathered in, the only treasures w^e can carry with us, when our harvest, which is the end of the world to each one of us, shall come. And the harvest must be whenever the Son of man shall send forth his reapers, the angels, to gather us in. The little child that without one questioning thought or fear resigns itself into their hands, though but an open- ing bud, is gathered into the harvest of its Lord. The young girl who, through some mysterious sympathy with them or some strange monition to the soul, seems to hear the sound of their coming from afar, and without appre- hension or surprise composes herself for the solemn change, and with encouraging farew^ells and a perfect trust leaves all that she loves on earth, goes already ripe for the harvest. The aged servant of Christ who has long been waiting for his Master's call, departs from us at last as one prepared and ripened for the kingdom of Heaven. He has finished his labors ; he has had his trials. He has been opposed and maligned, he has been praised and honored by man ; but he has done justly, loved mercy, and walked humbly with his God. Nothing that he has once gained in his religious progress is lost. His principles confirmed by a life of scrupulous fidelity ; his mind ex- panded and enriched by a conscientious search after truth ; his affections chastened and mellowed by disappointments and sorrows ; his faith strengthened by every varying ex- MATTHEW XIII. 24-30. 245 perience of life and carried into every department of ac- tivity and thought ; — all growing up and ripening here under the clouds or sunshine of God's love, are gathered in when the revolving years have completed their circuit, and to him the end of the world, — the fulfilment and consummation of the age, — has come. And the wicked too ! — There is no more sublime or beautiful or awful picture than this of the world as a field, and the end of the world as the harvest, in which for joy or sorrow we all of us shall be gathered in. The Wicked One. But how are we here to interpret " the wicked one," " the enemy," " the devil " and " the angels " ? As already stated, we are not to press the adjuncts of a parable too literally. They are to be considered as the surrounding scenery fitted to make an impression on the mind through the imagination, and thus prepare it to receive the truth which is taught. When Jesus speaks of a merchantman finding one pearl of great price, and selling all that he has in order to purchase that, we do not suppose that he asserts this as a fact which had actually taken place. He holds it up as a picture to illustrate an important truth ; and this it does equally well, whether he regarded it as a veritable fact or as an imaginary incident. Some of the parables may have been suggested by passing events ; but the particulars he undoubtedly supplied and arranged in such a way as might most effectually accom- plish his purpose, as a teacher of divine truth. And this is the case, whether he draws his illustrations from familiar and well-known objects here, as the Sower and his Seed, the Good Samaritan, and the Prodigal Son, or from objects which lie beyond our personal cognizance, as the devil, the angels, &c. For example, in the paral)le of th(^ Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke xvi. 19-31), as in the details be 21* 246 MATTHEW XIII. 24-30. longing to tliis world, the crumbs, the dogs, the sores, we do not suppose that Jesus speaks of facts which actu- ally took place m precisely the manner there represented ; so in the details belonging to another world, the being carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom, the con- versation between the rich man and Lazarus, the gulf and the flames, we do not suppose that Jesus intended to set before us a representation of literal facts which actu- ally took place. Are we to give a more strict and literal interpretation to the terms which are used here ? It is impossible to draw a line which shall distinguish precisely between what is literal and what is figurative, what is a matter of fact and what is imaginative. The two provinces are constantly interpenetrating one another, in such a way as to set forth the central truth with the greatest distinctness and power. A few considerations, how- ever, may help us to a just interpretation. In borrowing images from the outward world Jesus never, so far as we know, draws them from fabulous orders of being. The particular man, tares, wheat, pearl, leaven, which he refers to, may be imagined or assumed for the occasion ; but they all belong to species which have an actual existence, and he never attributes to them properties which they do not really possess. There is everywhere this rigid conformity to the great essential facts of nature. Have we not a right to infer that in going beyond this world there will be the same adherence to the great essential facts of existence ? As he never here draws his illustrations from any species of plant, ani- mal, or other being, which does not really exist, will he speak to us of orders of beings the7'e who have only a fabulous existence ? * In going beyond this material world, and placing before us agents of whom we cannot judge from our personal knowledge, but whom he with his spirit- ual powers of vision could recognize, would he be likely to speak of beings wholly fabulous and imaginary as if MATTHEW XIII. 24-30. 247 they really existed, or assign to them in their relation to us very important offices which they do not hold ? We may doubt whether the angels carried Lazarus and placed him in Abraliam's bosom. These are only incidental illus- trations which answer the same purpose, whether they are literally true or not. But, in the face of what Jesus says there and here, can we doubt that there are such beings as angels, and that they, as God's ministers, hold important relations to us ? So, when he speaks of the evil one, the enemy, the devil, Satan, we may doubt as to the special agency assigned to such a being in any particular case ; but are we at liberty to say that the very idea of such a personage is drawn from a wholly fabulous and imaginary order of beings ? When Jesus speaks, 42, of casting the wicked into a furnace of fire, we are not obliged to take it as a literal fact. It may be, and probably is, only a terrific image borrowed from what is most dreadful in this world to describe the intolerable anguish of the guilty in the world to come. The illustration, however, is drawn, not from a fabulous source, but from something which has a substantial basis of reality. Nor can it be shown that in a single instance Jesus has in any of his instructions assumed the existence of anything which belonged to a fabulous class of beings. What right, then, have we to suppose that the moment he goes beyond the reach of our faculties and the limits of this world, he violates the proprieties of truth which he always observes where we have the power to judge, and sets before us orders of beings which have no existence, as if they really existed, and sustained some important relations to us ? Another consideration is entitled to some weight ; though it ought not to be pressed so far as it is by some of our ablest modern commentators. The language here, 19, 39, 41, is taken, not from the parables, but from the explanation which Jesus gave of two of his parables. When, therefore, he says, " He who sows the good seed is the Son of 248 MATTIIEAV XIII. 24-30. man," and "he who sows the tares is the devil," by what principle of interpretation are we justified in accepting one clause of the sentence as true, and rejecting the other as merely an accommodation to the false ideas and preju- dices of the Jews ? His language asserts, as distinctly as language can, the existence and agency of an evil spirit. It does this while explaining the meaning of a parable, in a private and confidential conversation with his disciples. We must not, however, insist on a literal application of his words in all their particulars even here. In verses 19 and 20, we see in a similar explanation how figurative and literal expressions are blended together. The in- sufficiency of a language unused to the expression of ab- stract ideas required a liberal and constant use of figurative terms. Truths relating to the unseen spiritual world must be set forth by such images as can be received b\ those who are addressed. The most exact terms that can be used even now to give an idea of spiritual beings and agencies are doubtless only such clouded images of divine truth as we are able to receive, seeing them, according to St. Paul (1 Cor. xiii. 12), not face to face, but " darkly, as by the reflection of a mirror." When Jesus says, that he will send forth his angels to gather together those who have been stumbling-blocks in the way of others and those who work iniquity, and cast them into a furnace of fire where there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth, we are to consider these as terms which set before us, in language as exact and intelligible as any that could be used, the momentous fact of a future retribution. The images must, from the nature of the case, be borrowed from what is known and experienced in this world. Earthly facts and conceptions are made to set forth " darkly " the higlier facts belonging to our spiritual natures when they shall be transferred to a spiritual world. Still, if the angels and the devil have no personal existence, or no personal MATTHEW XIII. 24-30. 249 ngency in bringing about the results here placed before us, is it easy to suppose that Jesus would have used such language merely by way of accommodating himself to the prejudices and fal.-e conceptions of the Jews ? In meeting the Greeks who are spoken of in John xii. 20, could he have taught them, by conceptions drawn from iheir my- thology, and going necessarily to confirm them in their erroneous habits of belief? Could he have spoken to them of Centaurs, of Rhadamanthus, of Jupiter and Pan, as he does to the Jews, of Satan and the angels ? It is said that the idea of Satan, or, as Dr. Palfrey calls it, " the mythology of an evil spirit (answering to the Oriental Ahrimaii)^ Lectures on the Jewish Scriptures, Vol. IV. p. 21, was learned by the Jews from the Chaldseans during their seventy years captivity in Babylon. This is possible. The word Satan with this signification occurs but two or three times in the Old Testament, viz. 1 Chron. xxi. 1, Zech. iii. 1, 2, and perhaps in the first and second chapters of Job. Before the time of Christ, the doctrine (of which hardly a trace is to be found in the Old Testament) per- vaded the philosophy and religious conceptions of the Jcavs. But may it not be, that, in the providential training of the Jews for the reception of higher religious ideas, the notions of diabolical as well as of angelie agencies, which grew up round the sublime Theism that became more and more the established faith of the nation, may have performed an important work in preparing them for the idea of a great Christian commonwealth, the kingdom of God, or of the heavens ? To them, at the time of our Saviour's coming, the invisible realms were peopled with living beings, acting as God's agents, or in opposition to his will. The contest between good and evil was not confined to this visible world of theirs. Through their long and varied experience, these ideas were added to the Theism taught by Moses, and had become incorporated among their estab- lished religious conceptions and convictions. They held 250 MATTHEW Xlll. 24-30. no small or iiiiimportant place in their religious culture. If they were false, Jesus might have left them, as he did most of the prevailing sins and errors without specific notice, to vanish away and perish, before the higher con- ceptions of truth and duty which he came to reveal. But if they were false, and as false pernicious also, could he, not merely in his reasoning with the Jews, but in his private instructions to his disciples, from the temptation in the wilderness to his last solemn conversation with them the evening before his crucifixion (Luke xxii. 31, John xiv. 30, xvi. 11), have used language which must have confirmed them in the belief that those false ideas and conceptions were true ? He has left no word which condemns or calls them in question. On the other hand, they harmonize with all that he has taught us respecting the unseen world, and God's methods of action there as here through intervening agents. It is sometimes suggested, that Jesus may have shared the opinions of his age in regard to this subject, and so have been mistaken in his views. We know that he emphatically disclaimed for himself (Mark xiii. 32) the gift of omniscience. But in regard to any doctrine which he has taught, we have no disposition to go behind or to question his authority. To us his word, clearly announced and understood, is evidence and authority enough. Those who are interested in this subject are particularly requested to read the note to verse 39 of this chapter, and to remem- ber that, even though such a being or such beings as a devil or devils exist, our popular or even our philosophical notions respecting them are not therefore to be assumed as true or as reasonable. MATTHEW XIII. 251 NOTES. The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the 3 sea-side ; »nd great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat ; and the whole multi- 3 tude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them 4 in parables, saying : Behold, a sower went forth to sow. And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way-side ; and the fowls 5 came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth ; and forthwith they sprung 6 up, because they had no deepness of earth ; and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no 7 root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns ; and 8 the thorns sprung up, and choked them. But other fell into good ground ; and brought forth fruit, some an hundred-fold, 9 some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold. Who hath ears to hear, let 10 him hear. And the disciples came, and said unto him, 11 Why speakest thou unto them in parables ? He answered and said unto them: Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven ; but to them it is not 12 given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he 2. a ship] or rather a boat adapt- of Heaven, in the church abound- ed in its form and dimensions to the ing in Christian virtiies and graces, size of the lake, and the purposes in the community where Christian for wliich it was used. ideas and affections ai-e bringing and sat] while the multitude stood, forth their pure and peaceable and " So was the manner of tlie nation, beautiful fruits, that the truths of that the masters, when they read our religion are to be seen. Their their lectures, sat, and the scholars Aviiole character and influence can stood." Lightfoot. 3. Be- be recognized only in that world hold, a sower Avent forth to where all the harvest matm-ed and sow] The literal translation is perfected is gathered in. more picturesque, and biings the 11. mysteries of the kingdom whole scene more vividly before us, of Heaven] the system of Divine " Bihol'l, the soioer went forth to sow.'''' counsels, doctrines, and ordinances. There is a profound truth conveyed which, as above man's powers of under this image of sowing seed, discovery, was revealed through The truths which Jesus taught were Jesus Christ. The word mystery, not dead and unproductive ; but " when used in the New Testament seeds endowed Avith an inward vi- respecting any doctrine or truth, tality, and to l)e understood and ap- means one which has been secret or predated only in the living j)lants unknown, but is now revealed. It and luxuriant harvests into which never denotes one which is obscure they should groAv up when received or mysterious, because partially in- into good and honest hearts. It is compreliensilile." Norton. in the soul ripened for the kingdom 12. whosoever hath] In proper- 252 MATTHEW XIII. shall have more abundance ; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to 13 them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hQaring they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is 14 fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith : " By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not vmderstand ; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed gross, is and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." But blessed 16 are your eyes, for they see ; and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous 17 men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them ; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. Hear ye therefore the parable of the I8 sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and 19 understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart ; this is he which re- ceived seed by the way-side. But he that received the seed 20 into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it ; yet hath he not root in himself, 21 but dureth for a while ; for when tribulation or persecution tion to a man's spiritual suscepti- Apostles. A great spiritual fact, bility and his fidelity will be what like that which is here announced he gains from the teachings and in the blinding and hardenino; effect life of Jesus. 14. in' them of sin, reaches forward with its pro- is fulfilled] " In them is filled phetic warning to all times, and is lip," or re-fulfilled, " the prophecy fulfilled in the religious experience of Isaiah," i. e. what the prophet of all who belong to the class Avhich said (Isa. vi. 9, 10) of the blind- it points out. In verses 14 and 15, is ing effect, in his day, of disobedi- ascribed to the perverse and unbe- ence and practical infidelity, finds lieving Jews, in the language of the its fulfilment, and is equally true prophet, the effect of such wicked- iiow. John, xii. 38-40, applies the ness as theirs, Avhich was to dull same words on another occasion, their religious sensibilities, " This and many years afterwards, Paul people's heart is waxed gi-oss." — to (Acts xxviii. 25-27) applied them cloud their spiritual perceptions, — with great emphasis to the uiibeliev- " their ears are dull of hearing, and ing Jews in Rome. In these differ- their eyes thev have closed," — so ent applications of the same pro- that they could not at any time — phetic words as beinjr fulfilled in "lest at anv time thev should " — different people, at different times, see and understand their true con- and under different circumstances, dition, and turn in penitence — " he we have an intimation of one of the converted " — to Ood, and be healed ways in which the ancient prophe- bv him. 20. stony places") cies were applied by Jesus and the Eather, rocky ground, — a little MATTHEW XIII. 253 22 ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, 23 choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that re- ceived seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it ; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty. 24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying : The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his 25 field. But while men slept, his enemy came, and sowed tares 26 among the wheat ; and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the 27 tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field ? from 28 whence then hath it tares ? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him. Wilt thou then 29 that we go and gather them up ? But he said. Nay ; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with 30 them. Let both grow together until the harvest ; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers. Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles, to burn them ; but earth scattered on the large rocks is represented, 31, 32, as a plant, ■which lie beneath. 23. he spreading out its branches, and fur- that heareth the word, and nishing shelter to those who seek it. understandeth it] contrasted with Next it is represented, 33, as an in- him, v. 19, who heareth and uiider- fluence, reaching through the man, standeth not. 24. The king- or the -world, subduing and assimilat- dom of Heaven] Literally, the ing all things to itself. Then it ap- kingdom of the heavens, as if to de- pears, 44, as a hidden treasure, to note different spheres of life, one be- set forth its exceeding preciousness, yond another, and all pervaded by as a pearl of great price, to indicate the spirit of God. The widely differ- at once its costliness and its beaiity ; ent applications of the terin in this and finally, 47, 48, as a net drawiiig chapter show how comprehensive good and bad alike into its folds, and how various Avas the thought out of the sea of time to the shores which Jesus set forth, and how rich of eternity, that they may there be and full of meaning his language separated according to what they was. Having ascertained precisely are. 25 - 40. tares] a what his words mean in one case, species of darnel or bastard wheat, we are not therefore at liberty to fix Avhich, according to St. Jerome, who on that as their only interpretation lived in Palestine, was, till the ear ■whenever we may meet them. The was formed, so much like the good kingdom of Henven is here first rep- wheat that it could not, without resented, 24-29, 38-43, as a king- much difl^culty, be distinguished dom embracing, not those alone who from it. His enemy "sowed [the continue good, but also those who field] over a(/ain " [fVeoTretpfi'] are cormpted by evil influences. It -with tares, the force of the origi- 254 MATTHEW XIII. gather the wheat into my barn. Another parable put he 3i forth unto them saying: The kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which indeed is the least of all seeds ; but when it is grown, 32 it is the greatest among herbs, and become th a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Another parable spake he unto them: The kingdom of 33 Heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. All 34 these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables, and without a parable spake he not unto them ; that it might be 35 fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: "I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world." Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the 36 house. And his disciples came unto him, saying. Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said 37 unto them, He that sowetli the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world ; the good seed are the children of 38 the kingdom ; but the tares are the children of the wicked nal word is impaired in our ver- sion. Tlie man, v. 24, j^owed; his enemy sowed over again, or upon what had already been sown. 32. so that the birds of the air come and lodge iu its branches] Haclvet% ''Illus- trations of Scripture," p. 124, speaks* of this plant, which he found in blossom, full grown, in some cases six, seven, and nine feet high. " But still," he says, " the branches or stems of the branches were not very large, or, apparently, very strong. ' Can the birds,' I said to myself, 'rest upon them?' At that very instant one of tlie fowls of heaven stopped in its flight througli the air, alighted down on one of the branches, which hardly moved beneath the shock, and then began, percheil there before my eyes, to warble forth a strain of the richest music." The mustard-seed and the plant growing from it illus- trate the self-developing power by which the religion of Jesus, froiii the smallest beginnings, spreads out its brandies for those who might seek a shelter within them. 33. leaveu] The leaven shows its power of imparting its own proper- ties to those who receive it, and assimilating them till they partake of its own nature. " Another strik- ing point of comparison," says Al- ford, " is the fact that leaven, as used ordinarily, is a piece of the leavened loaf put amongst the dough, just as the kingdom of heaven is the renewal of humanity by the righteous ]M:in Christ Jesus." 38. the field is the world] Koa-fios, the wo rid, thU ont- ward universe or world, according to our use of the word. But in the next verse, in the clause the har- vest is the end of the world] entirely a different word is used. There it is aldiv or (eon, — an age or dispensation, — referring, not to the outward universe, but in this case including our earthly discipline and experience. The harvest is the MATTHEW XIII. 255 39 one ; the enemy that sowed them is the devil ; the harvest is 40 the end of the world ; and the reapers are the angels. As, consummation of the ceon, tlie age, or dispensation in which we now live, and our consequent entrance on another, and (with tlie faithful) higher age or dispensation. Aia)v, as applied to the Jews, includes everything relating to their condi- tion and experience under the Mo- saic dispensation, and the consum- mation of the (eon, — the end of the world, — to them was the overthrow of the Jewish polity at the destnic- tion of Jeiaisalera 'in the year 70, and the consequent advent of a new ceon, — the coming of the Son of man, — in the establishment of the Christian religion, Avhich was the fulfilment or consummation of the Jewish dispensation. But in its wider application, as in the passage before us, ceon refers to our whole earthly dispensation and experience, and includes everything that may act upon us in this life. The con- summation of the ceon, or end of the world, means the consummation of our earthly life, whether for good or for evil. But on leaving this ceon, we enter into another, and the ad- jective, al(i)vioSi or ceonian, which is translated eternal and everlasting (Matt. XXV. 46), is borrowed from this next ceon, and is applied to qualities and conditions, which, whether for weal or woe, shall be- long to ixs in that more advanced stage of our existence. '■'Eternal life " is the blessedness which be- longs to that condition of our being, and which, in its elementary prin- ciples, as .Jesus has said (Jolin vi. 47), may begin within us now; and eternal (not everlasting, for the idea of time is not included in the word), — " eternal punishment " is the son*ow and anguish which shall belong to those who enter unpre- pared into that more advanced ceon or stage of existence, and which, in its elementary principles, may begin Avithin us now. See p. 229. 39. the enemy that sowed them is the devil] We must be careful not to press this matter too fai*. The ex- istence of evil spirits, and especially of one pre-eminent among them as the wicked one, the devil, or Satan, is not to be held to by us as among the facts which Jesus has unquestion- ably taught. Our view of the sub- ject has been stated in Chapters IV. and VIII. We have no doubt that the Evangelists believed in such ex- istences and agencies. From a careful study of the language of Jesus, we incline to think that he also believed in them. But a close and critical examination of all that he has said on the subject has satis- fied us, 1. That he did not directly teach the existence and agency of such beings; and, 2. That in almost every case where he speaks of the devifor Satan, his words are certainly to be taken in a figurative sense. The word Satan is used six- teen times in the Gospels ; but, ex- cept in the passages given below, viz. 1, 4, and 7, where it is used as synonymous Avith devil, it occurs onlv on five different occasions. 1. Matt. xii. 26: "If Satan cast out Satan," Avhere Jesus is arguing Avith the JcAvs from their OAvn point of vicAv. 2. Matt. xA'i. 23: "Get thee behind me, Satan," A\'ords ad- di-essed to Peter. 3. Luke x. 18 : "I beheld Satan as lightning foil from heaven," language evidently figura- tive. 4. Luke xiii. 16: " Whom Satan hath bound, lo ! these eighteen years," language personifying the cause of disease as Satan. "^5. Luke xxii. 31 : " Behold, Satan hath sought for you, that he may sift you as Avheat." The principles of spiritual CAil may be pei'sonified here as that of physical evil in the preAaous passage. In eA-ery one of these cases the expression may be construed as a striking and natural figure of speech Avithout necessarily implying the personal existence of an evil spirit. The Avord devil, Sta/3oXos, not demon, occurs in the Gospels on seven different occasions: 1. In the account of the Tempta- tion. 2. Matt. xiii. 39 : " The ene- 256 MATTHEW XIII. therefore, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this Avorld. The Son of man shall 41 my that sowed them is the devil." 3. Matt. XXV. 41 : " Into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." 4. Luke viii. 12: "Then Cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts," par- allel to Matt. xiii. 19, where the ex- pression "the wicked one" is used, and to Mark iv. 15, where the word "Satan" is used. 5. John vi. 70: " Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" 6. John viii. 44: " Ye are of your fivther, the devil." 7. John xiii. 2: " The devil having put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him." In verse 27 of the same chapter, it reads, " And after the sop, Satan entered into him." The first and seventh of these instances may be set aside as the language of the Evangelists, and not of Jesus. The seventh may be in- terpi-eted figuratively ; and as to the first, we refer to our comments on the account of the Temptation in Chapter IV. The fifth case, " Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" is certainly figurative, and gives a decisive intimation of the way in which the word may have been used by Jesus. It is prob- able that this 'expression refer- ring to Judas may have led to the use of the same term by St. John, wlien speaking of Judas in the sev- enth instance. The sixth case is as follows : " Ye are of your fixther, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye wish to do. He was a murderer from the begin- ning, and stood not in the truth; because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it." The natural and ob- vious interpretation, at first sight, of this rather extended description of the devil, would be a literal one ■ applying to a personal being actu- ally existing and answering to this character ; but on a closer inspec- tion of the passage, we see that the woi'd father cannot be used in a literal, but only in a spiritual sense; and does not this almost require, in order to the harmony and complete- ness of the meaning, that the rest of the passage should likewise be taken, not in its literal, but in its spiritual sense ? Is not the extended description given to show in what sense Jesus used the Avoi-d, devil, viz. as the impersonation of wicked- ness ? — Ye are of your father the devil, that spirit of wickedness, which prompted to the first mur- der, wdiich is the veiy essence and parent of what is false ; and on ac- count of your affinity with it, ye believe me not, because I tell you the tnith. As he had a little while before referred to Judas as a devil (John vi. 70), because of his wick- edness, so he may here call the Jews the children of the devil, because of their affinity Avith what is evil. As in the one case, the word devil as the personification of wickedness is applied to a bad man, why may it not in the other case be used in the same way as the personification of evil, especially of murder and false- hood, to describe the spirit and tem- per of the Jews who Avere seeking his life and refusing to receive the truth? Does not this better adapt itself to the inward and profound thought of Jesus, than the interpre- tation which requires him here to speak literally of a personal devil in his direct and personal relation to them ? Even if Jesus had believed in such a being, Avould not this figu- rative and spiritual application of the term be more natural and more in accordance with his usual mode of speech? In the fourth case, " Then cometli the devil, and taketh the Avord out of their hearts," or, as it is in Matt, xiii. 19 : " Then cometh the Avicked one and catcheth aAvay that Avhich is soAvn in his heart," the Avhole sentence is figurative, and this Avord is plainly used to personify the evil influences Avliich remove from shal- loAV minds the truths Avhich they gladly receive in a moment of re- MATTHEW XIII. 257 send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom 42 all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire ; there shall be wailing and 43 gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth, as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to 44 hear, let him hear. Again the kingdom of Heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field, the which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he 45 hath, and buyeth that field. Again the kingdom of Heav- 46 en is like unto a merchant-man, seeking goodly pearls ; who, Hgious excitement, but which they do not understand. There remain now only two pas- sages to be considered. One is the awful declai'ation, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." The other is the pas- sage before us, " The enemy that sowed them is the devil." It may be, that Jesus meant nothing more in either case than the impersonation of evil. The accompanying lan- guage in both instances is intensely figurative. It is difficult to distin- guish between the main point of his instructions and the images under which it was conveyed. But tlie presumption to our mind is, that in using language such as this, he does imply the actual, personal ex- istence of such beings as are sug- gested by the words, " the devil and his angels." He has never directly taught the existence of such beings. Every passage in which they are spoken of may be interpreted figur- atively, without any violent wrench to tlie"^ language. Still, the impres- sion left upon us is that Jesus did believe in a vast backgTound of evil beyond what we can see, — an em- pire of darkness where evil spirits live, from which evil influences have been permitted to enter, even into this world, and whose power he came to overthrow. The result of this whole investigation, Avhich we have carefully gone through many times, as a matter of Scriptural interpretation, has been to leave us very decidedly with the impression that Jesus did believe in evil spirits, 22* and the disastrous influence which they might exercise over men Avho allowed themselves to be acted upon by them. But we find very little evidence that he believed in Satan or the devil as a real, per- sonal being, who ruled over the realm of evil spirits, as a king over his subjects. It does not seem entirely certain to us ; but we think the most natui-al and satisfactory explanation of his language, on the principles of a just and exact interpretation, is to be found in the supposition that he alluded to Satan or the devil as the personifica- tion of wickedness, and in that sense called him the Prince of Devils, and spoke of Mm and his angeh, as he called him the fiither of the mur- dei'ous and lying Jews, and spoke of him as the prince of this world. (John xii. 31, xiv. 30, xvi. 11.) Evil spirits were his angels and subjects, just as Avicked men were his children, in a figurative, and not a literal sense. 44. treas- ure hid ill a field] The king- dom of Heaven, i. e. the religion of Jesus, is like a hidden treasure, which a man, while employed ou other things, discovers, and with joy secures for himself. His hid- ing it, Avhile he went to purchase the field, is one of the adjuncts, which, though indicating the gi'eat value of what had been found, is not to b'fe construed as having any direct bearing on the main object of tlie parable. 45, 46. As a conti-ast to the man who happened to find the treasure is tlie merchant- man who, while seeking for beauti' 2.'>8 MATTHEW XIII. when he had found one 2:)carl of great price, went and sohl all that he had, and bought it. Again the kingdom of Heaven 47 is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind ; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and 48 sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels 49 shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire ; there shall be so wailing and gnashing of teeth. Jesus saith unto them, 5i Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. Then said he unto them. Therefore every scribe, 52 which is instructed unto the kingdom of Heaven, is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. And it came to pass, that, 53 when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And when he was come into his own country, he taught 54 them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, AVhence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works ? Is not this the carpenter's son ? Is not his mother 55 called Mary ? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, ful pearls, found one very costly, ing that they were not in a state of and went and sold all that he had mind to be benefited by it, refused in order to purchase it. to perform (Luke iv. 24-27) many 52. Therefore] For this reason, miracles among them. Their un- i. e. taking into account the new belief, 58, does not refer so much to truths and hopes and life which the fact that they did not, as tliat have been here set forth, every they Avould not, believe. It indi- Scribe, who is instracted in my cates a spirit of unbelief wliich set religion, being already learned in itself against him, and Avould not the law, is like a householder who be convinced by anything that he brings out from his treasury things might do. " Is not this," they asked both new and old. It was cus- contemptuously, " the carpenter's tomary in the East to pi-eserve in son ? Is not his mother called houses costly garments and other Mary ? and his brethren, James, and articles for many generations; and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And this perhaps is what more particu- his sisters, are they not all with us ?" larly suggested the comparison. 55. aiid his brethren] 53-58. He went into his OAvn Who were the brethren of Jesus? country, i. e. to Nazareth. For a ful- This has been, among commen- ler account of what occurred there, tators, one of the difficult questions, see Luke iv. 16 - 24. Though and the ablest among them have Jesus had astonished them by his given different answers. The breth- wisdom and his mighty works, still ren of Jesus are spoken of on six tbey found a stvunbllng-block to different occasions, viz. Matt. xii. their belief in the fiict, that his 46, and parallel passages in Mark fatlier, the carpenter, and his breth- and Luke; the present passage and ren or kinsmen, were known to its parallel, Mark vi. 3; John ii. 12; them as ordiuary men. Jesus, see- vii. 3, 5, 10; Acts i. 14; 1 Cor. ix. 5. MATTHEW XIII. 259 66 and Judas ? and his sisters, are tliey not all with us ? whence 57 then hath this man all these things ? And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not witliout 68 honor, save in his own country, and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief. Mr. Norton, in his note on this pas- sage, sujiposes that " the brethren" or "kinsmen" of Jesus, — for the original allows either interpreta- tion, — were the sons of Alpheus (the same name in Hebrew as Clopas or Cleopas), whose wife Mary is said (John xix. 25) to be the sister or kinswoman of Mary the Mother of Jesus. In Matt, xxvii. 56, ]\Iark XV. 40, she is said to be the mother of James and Joses, i. e. Joseph. Luke, in his catalogue of the Apos- tles (Luke vi. 16; Acts i. 13), men- tions Judas of James, i. e. the sou or brother of James. Thus we have, applied to the sons either of Alpheus, or of his wife Mary, three of the names, which are here ap- plied to the brethren of Jesus, viz. James and Joses and Judas. Would these tln-ee names be likely to be repeated in two different branches of the same fomily? Is it not more reasonable to suppose that these brethren of Jesus, as they are called, were the sons of Alpheus (Cleopas) and Mary, of Avhom at least two, James and Judas, and possibly, as Mr. Norton supposes, a thix'd, Simon, were among the,Apostles ? The re- ply is: 1. That the names were among the most common Jewish names, and might be repeated in two different branches of the same family.' We are acquainted with three'^different branches of a family in each of which may be found the names William, James, and John. 2. The brethren of Jesus spoken of in John vii. 5, following John ii. 12 ; vii. 3, did not at that time believe on him, and therefore they could not have been among the Apostles. 3. Where- ever they are mentioned in the New Testament, except in the seventh chapter of John, and 1 Cor. ix. 5, they are mentioned in connection with ]\Iary, the JMother of Jesus. For these reasons, we svippose that the brethren of Jesus Avere the sons of Joseph, though they may not have been the sons of Mary. James, the son of Alpheus, was probably the James whom St. Paul speaks of (Gal. i. 19) as "the brother of the Lord." Nor is it improbable that James and Judas, sons of Alpheus, are " the brethren of the Lord," whom he refers to, 1 Cor. ix. 5, as among the Apostles. 2 GO MATTHEW XIV. 1 - 12. CHAPTEH XIY. Herod A^^^tipas. 1-12. Of Herod Antipas some account has already been given in chap. xi. Contemporary records, to those who care to enter into such horrible details, furnish examples enough to show that the beheading of John, with the revolting circum- stances attending it, was no extraordinary instance of cruelty in those times. Lardner, Part I. Bk. I. Chap. I. Plerod seems to have been a weak and crafty, — for the two qualities often go together, — rather than an able and cruel man, as his father, Herod the Great, whom we find in the second chapter of Matthew, had been. When he was on a visit to his half-brother, Philip, a private citizen, and not to be confounded with Philip, the Tetrach of Ituroea and Tracho- nitis, mentioned in Luke iii. 1, he became enamored of his brother's wife, Herodias, whom he persuaded to leave her husband, and to marry him. This act was a violation of the Jewish law, and called down on Herod a severe rebuke from the stern preacher in the wilderness, who thus incurred her lasting displeasure. She was a bold, bad, unscrupulous woman. " Josephus," says Dr. Lardner, " has represented Herodias as a woman full of ambition and envy, as having a mighty influence on Herod, and able to persuade him to things he was not of himself at all inclined to." It is therefore entirely in chai'acter with all that we know of her, that in her anger against John, she should, as we read (Mark vi. 19), seek to destroy him, and that she should have recourse to indirect means for revenging her- self, when she had failed in other ways to accomplish her purpose. It was undoubtedly by her direction, that her MATTHEW XIV. 1 - 12. 261 daughter Salome, at a feast on the birthday of Herod, wlien he was probably heated with wine, won his favor by dancing before him, and gained from him a promise, given with an oath, that he would grant any favor that she might ask of him, even (Mark vi. 23) to the half of his kingdom. She went to her mother, and being instructed by her, came back immediately with earnest haste, and said, " I desire that thou give me forthwith on a dish the head of John the Baptist." This extreme haste probably arose from a fear lest the king, after the . excitement of the hour was over, should relent, or refuse to grant her request. See Robinson's Calmet, art. Antipas. The evident reluctance of Herod, even then, to comply with her demand confirms this view of the case. An executioner Avas sent immediately, and the head of John was brought to the girl, who carried it to her mother. John, as we have seen in chapter xi. was imprisoned near the Dead Sea. The narrative of the Evangelists, partic- ularly that of Mark, indicates that he was not far off from the festive party, Avho must therefore have been in that part of Herod's dominions which was most distant from Galilee. Herod had thus beheaded John from a false sentiment of honor, and grievously against his will, for he feared him, (Mark vi. 20,) " knowing that he was a righteous and holy man ; " and, though he desired to put him to death, he feared the people, for they accounted John as a prophet. The circumstances attendant on the life of John, his uncompro- mising attitude as a prophet of God, the reverence in which he was held, and the strange ascendency which such men sometimes gain over the imagination of the worldly minded and corrupt, may have wrought with peculiar force on Herod, and roused his superstitious apprehensions. So that when he heard of Jesus and his extraordinaiy acts, and the sensation that he was producing in his dominions, he may have been (Luke ix. 7) sorely perplexed, and have broken out in the words which were spoken, half in rage and half in fear, " John have I beheaded ; but who is this ? " And 2C2 JMATTHEW XIV. 1 - 12. in order to allay his appreliensions, to satisfy himself whether the reports that he heard were true, and also, as we might infer from the words and conduct of Jesus (Luke xiii. 31, 32), to get him into his power, he sought to see him. At another time his words, as in the passage before us, took a different turn ; and, as Mr. Norton in his note on Matt. xiv. 1-12, suggests, may be regarded as the excited, figurative language of an angry man ; as if he had said : " John have I beheaded. But what have I gained by it ? Here we have him, the same thing over again, raised from the dead, and therefore showing forth these powerful works." Herod, it has been said, was a Sadducee, and as such (Matt. xxii. 23, Acts xxiii. 8) believed in "no resurrec- tion, neither angel nor spirit." We find no evidence that he was a Sadducee. But even if he were so, it would not have secured him from all dread of the supernatural, under the circumstances in which he was placed. The annals of superstition are marked by no greater absurdities than those which are drawn from the most unbelieving times. Nor have any men, when under the pressure of extraordi- nary circumstances of emotion, shown themselves more the victims of an unreasonable credulity than those who have prided themselves most on their philosophical unbelief. Herod, more than half a Jew, with the superstitious ideas of his nation hanging over his mind, driven by the more powerful will of a woman into crimes at which his own nature revolted, on hearing from all quarters accounts of sick men healed, demoniacs exorcised, and the dead raised to life, may, in spite of his hardness and unbelief, have been so disturbed and conscience-smitten as in amazement and terror, to utter the language attributed to him in the Gospels. In Shakespeare's Macbeth we have, drawn by a master's hand, the inconsistencies, absurdities, and horrors which mark the speech and conduct of a man, betrayed like Herod into crimes which he could never have committed unless im- pelled by the overpowering ambition of an artful, merciless. MATTHEW XIV. 1 - 12. 263 unscrupulous woman. The perplexities which oppressed the mind of Herod, and drew from him the exclamation, " It is John whom I beheaded ; he has been raised from the dead, and by him these mighty works are wrought," may have been not unlike those which wrenched from the terri- fied Macbeth at the appearance of Banquo whom he had murdered : — the words, — " The times liave been, That, when the brains were out, the man would die. And there an end: but now, they rise again. With twenty mortal murders on their crowns. And push us from oui- stools." . The great misdeeds and consequent misfortunes of Herod's life, his repudiating of his wife, the daughter of Aretas, king of Petraea, and his disastrous defeat by that monarch, his murder of John the Baptist, his attempt to supplant the influence of his wife's brother Herod Agrippa with the Roman emperor, Caligula, and to secure for himself the title of king, and his consequent banishment, first to Gaul, A. D. 39, and thence to Spain where he died, were caused by the instigations of the jealous, unprincij^led, ambitious woman, with whom he was united by an adulterous and incestuous marriage. Herod is referred to again on two occasions. The Phari- sees (Luke xiii. 31, 32) tell Jesus to depart; for Herod is seeking his life. The reply of Jesus, " Go ye and tell that fox," &c. shows how well he understood his crafty charac- ter. He appears again in the trial of Jesus. He was (Luke xxiii. 8) exceedingly glad to see him, for he had long desired it on account of the reports which he had heard of him, and, besides, he now hoped to see him perform some miracle. But when Jesus not only refused to do anything to gratify his curiosity, but would not even reply to his wordy questions, he gave way to the natural and cruel levity of his character, and, by the most extravagant marks of homage, subjected him to the heartless mockery and scotfs 2C4 MATTHEW XIV. 13-21. of the soldiers. The Herod who appears in the thirteenth chapter of Acts is Plerod Agrippa I., grandson of Herod the Great, and brother of Herodias. 13-21. — Feeding the Five Thousand. After Jesus knew that Herod was making inquiries con- cerning him, 13, as connected with 1 and 2, he crossed over the lake with his disciples to an uninhabited place, near the city of Bethsaida, which was at the northeastern comer of the lake, not far from the entrance of the Jordan. They sought rest; "for there were many coming and going, and they had not leisure even to eat." (Mark vi. 31.) Jesus probably desired also to have a season of undisturbed inter- course with his disciples. For this purpose he went up into a mountain with them. But the people soon saw which way he had gone. They ran together round the lake, and some of them reached the spot even before Jesus had come to the shore. He could not therefore long be left wnth his disciples. They were flocking towards him from all the neighboring villages. And when, on the mountain where he was sitting with his disciples, he lifted up his eyes, he saw an immense multitude coming towards him. He came out to meet them, and, being moved with compassion for them, he healed their sick, and taught them many things. But seeing that in their haste they had come without their customary supply of food, he asks Philip (John vi. 5) how they are to be fed. Philip probably conferred with the other disciples, and they advise Jesus to send the multitude away, that they may purchase bread in the neighboring fields and villages. " They need not go away," said Jesus. " Give ye them to eat." " But we have nothing here," say they, " except five loaves and two small fishes." And these, according to John vi. 9, belonged to a lad who was wuth them. Jesus directed the multitudes to be seated on the green grass of which there was much there, in MATTHEW XIV. 13-21. 2G5 companies, by hundreds and fifties. They sat down as it were in garden plots, each company making a square by itself. Jesus, having lifted up his eyes to heaven and blessed the food, caused it to be distributed among the people, and they all, five thousand men, besides women and children, ate as much as they desired, and twelve baskets of fragments remained. In the different accounts here, we have the characteris- tics of the different Evangelists. In Matthew there is the plain statement of facts, with his peculiar exactness as to numbers, he being the only one who adds to the 5,000, " besides women and children." Luke's is a clear his- torical account. He mentions the name of the place, Beth- saida. There were two cities of this name, one on the west side, and the other where they now were, near the north- eastern corner of the lake. Mark, on the other hand, throws in those graphic details, which indicate an eye- witness. " For there were many coming and going, and they had not leisure even to eat." He speaks of many finding out whither Jesus had gone, and "running to- gether on foot," so that they reached the place before him. He speaks of the green grass, and of the appear- ance— like garden plots — of the separate groups, as the multitude reclined at their meal. John's account also has the marks of an eyewitness. He alone speaks of Jesus as going up into a mountain and sitting there with his dis- ciples, of his lifting up his eyes and seeing the great multitude coming towards him, of the conversation with Philip, of the lad with his five barley loaves, and two little fishes." These graphic details and the parenthetical clause — " now there was much grass in the place " — are charac- teristic of one who was personally present. 22, 23. After the miracle Jesus constrained his disciples to enter a vessel, and go back to the other side before him. The language indicates a reluctance to go on their part. Probably they had become aware of the disposition in the multitude 23 2C6 MATTHEW XIV. 21-34. (Joliii vi. 14, 15) to take him by force and make hira a king, and, sympathizing with the movement, were unwilling to go away. For this very reason, in order to prevent their becoming implicated in any such movement, Jesus may have obliged them to enter the vessel. Then, having dismissed the multitudes, he went up into the mountain alone to pray. When the night came on he was there, apart from the confused excitement of the crowds and their ambitious schemes in his behalf, the silent heavens bending over him, and the mountain solitudes around. These retired seasons of meditation and prayer were pecu- liarly grateful to him. " It seems to me that no one can remember how the Holy One found strength and peace in prayer, and ever again doubt that we need it. . Judas did not pray. Herod did not feel the need of it. Pilate felt no need of it. The worldly and the cruel did not pray. But the Holy One, alone on the mountain, by the grave of Lazarus, at his own last hour, felt the need of prayer ; and so long as the record of that example remains, we have an unanswerable evidence of the neces- sity of prayer." — E. Peabody, D. D. Jesus walking on the Water. 21-34. While Jesus was alone on the mountain, in the gray twilight of the dawn, as it broke flxintly into the dark- ness of the night, Jesus saw the disciples tossed about by the waves, and struggling with their oars to make some headway against the opposing wind. At about the fourth watch of the night, which extended from three to six o'clock, he went towards them, walking on the water. As they saw him approaching, they screamed aloud with fear, thinking it a spirit, or an apparition. A word from him calmed their apprehensions. Peter with the vehe- mence and the sudden revulsion of feeling which he showed on other occasions more than once, asked that he might MATTHEW XIV. 2G7 walk to him on tlie waters, and then, in the violence of the wind his courage failing him, and he beginning to sink, he cried to Jesus for help. When they had come into the vessel, the wind ceased. This miracle evidently produced on those who were there (Mark vi. 51, 52) a stronger im- pression of amazement and wonder, than that which they had witnessed the day before with unmoved and hardened hearts. Their sense of personal danger from the storm, the terrors 'of the night heightened by what they feared at the time as a i)hantasm or apparition from another world, had prepared them to recognize with gratitude and wonder the power which interposed to save them. They immediately came to the land of Gennesaret, a rich and beautiful plain on the west side of the lake, lying four or five miles north from Tiberias, and probably a little to the south from Capernaum. NOTES. At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, 2 and said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist ; he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth 3 themselves in him. For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison, for Herodias' sake, his 4 brother Philip's wife. For John said unto him, It is not law- 5 ful for thee to have her. And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a 6 prophet. But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of 7 Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod ; whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would 8 a«k. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, 9 Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. And the kino- was sorry ; nevertheless, for the oath's sake, and them which 10 sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. And 11 he sent and beheaded John in the prison. And his head 10. and beheaded John in likclv to be. con-ect in this mRtter prison ] Joscphus, who is less thau' Matthew, assigns a diflfereut 268 MATTHEW XIV. was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel ; and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took up 12 the body, and buried it ; and went and told Jesus. When 13 Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place reason for the death of John from that which is here given. His ac- count of John is as fohows (Ant. XV'llI. 5. 2) : "Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God ; and that very justly, as a punish- ment of what he did against John, who was called the Baptist. For Herod slew him, who Avas a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteous- ness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come 1fo baptism. For that the washing with water would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to putting away, "or the re- mission of some sins only, but for the purification of the body: sup- posing still that the soul Avas thor- oughly purified beforehand by right- eousness. Now Avhen many others came in crowds about him — for they were greatly moved or pleased by hearing his words — Herod, who fear- ed lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a re- bellion (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise), thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself mto difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it should be too late. Ac- cordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Machaerus, the castle I before men- tioned, and Avas there put to death." 18. When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place ] " The jiPAvs of John's execution," says Mr. Norton, " probably produced a sudden excitement among the peo- ple, and a feeling of strong resent- ment,— for 'all belicA'ed John to be a prophet,' — and might power- fully tend to turn their attention on Jesus, and direct their hopes to him as their expected king, John's disciples came to tell him of it, his OAvn Apostles collected about him, and the multitude flocked to him. From this excited multitude, eager • to force on him an oflSce so foreign from that Avhich he Avas appointed to sustain, our Lord Avas desirous of AvithdraAving himself, till their pas- sions should subside, and he should, in consequence, be able with less difficulty to repress their misdirect- ed zeal. He probably Avished also to AvithdraAV his disciples, who Avere very likely to share in the popular ferment. He therefore passed over from Galilee to the other side of the lake, into the dominions of Philip, a part of the country Avhere he ap- pears to have spent but little time during his ministry. Here, hoAv- ever, a gi-eat number of persons soon collected, Avhom he fed mirac- ulously. The performance of this miracle, with its effect on the mul- titude, AA'hich our Lord must have foreseen, may seem inconsistent with the reasons that haA-e just been assigned for his leaAing Gali- lee. But it is to be obsei'ved, that, Avliile he repressed those feelings or the multitude which arose from false expectations concerning the Messiah, it Avas necessary for him, at the same time, to give the most decisive proofs of his Divine au- thority. As he but seldom visited this part of the country; Ave may suppose that it Avas his purpose to perform a miracle so astonishing and so public that it Avould r«ake a deep impression, and that the knoAvledge of it Avould be spread eveiyAvhere round about. Under this aspect the miracle resembles that of the cure of the demoniacs, related in the eighth chapter of Mat- thcAV, Avhich Avas so remarkable In its circumstances, and Avhich was likewise performed on the eastern MATTHEW XIV. 269 apart ; and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. 14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude ; and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. 15 And whei shore of the lake." In the work of eiUicathig the disciples as Apostles and Evangelists, while it was im- portant tliat they should at times be sent out by themselves, and at times be brought into connection Avith large and excited multitudes of men, it v\-as also important that they should sometimes be alone with Jesus to receive his private and confidential admonitions and instructions, as well as to have the spi.-it and habit of devotion estab- lished in them. We must still re- gard them as a peripatetic school, going abiut with their master, and prei)aring under him for the great and responsible office which is soon to devolve on them. 14. And Jesus went forth] He had probably been with his disciples in some retired part of the mountain from which he now came out. This may not have been the same day as that on which he crossed the lake, ^h". Norton supposes that one or more days had intervened. The naiTative"^ in Mark vi. 33, 3-i, at first sight would indicate that the multi- tudes were fed on the same day that Jesus an-ived there. His account is as follows : " And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cicies, and outwent them and came together unto him. And Jesus wlien he came out, saw much peo- ple." According to the text in fischendorf 's edition, we must read : " And many saw them de- parting and knew them ; and on foot from all the cities they ran together thither, and came before them. And when Jesus came out," &c. This may mean, that when Jesus came out from the boat he saw the multitudes, and then fed them. But considering the circum- stances of the case, and the rapid, sketchy manner in which the 23* Evangelists group events that Avere separated in point of time, it is more probable that Jesus had spent some time there, perhaps a day or more, healing and instructing them, but seeking also for himself and his disciples seasons of retirement; and that once, when he came out from his retirement, and saw the people who had been there so long, weary, scattered, and hungry, — like sheep without a shepherd,' — his compas- sion for them was excited, and he fed them. There has been a differ- ence of opinion in regard to the place where the five thousand were miraculously fed, and which Jesus left to walk upon the lake. We think, however, there can be no longer any doubt that it was, as we have placed it, at the northeast corner of the lake, near Bethsaida, afterwards called Julias, Avhere Philip, the tetrarch, resided at least a portion of the time, and where he died and was buried in a costly tomb. (See Kobinson's Researches, HI. p. 308.) John vi. 23 speaks of other vessels coming that night from Tiberias to the place where they had eaten bread. " The contrary wind," says Stanley in his Geogra- phy, p. 3V4, " which, blowing up the lake from the southAvest, would prevent the boat from returning to Capernaum, Avould also bring ' other boats ' from Tiberias, the chief city on the south, to Julias, the chief city on the noi'th, and so enable the 'multitudes, Avhen the storm had subsided, to cross at once, Avithout the long journey on foot Avhich they had made ' the day befoi-e." This accords Avith the account given by John vi. 22 - 24. 15. And when it was evening] 23. and when the evening was come] From these two verses it Avould seem as if there Avere tAvo evenings 270 MATTHEAV XIV. ing, This is a desert place, and the time is now past ; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. But Jesus said unto them, They need ifl not depart ; give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, AVe n have here but five loaves and two fishes. He said. Bring 18 them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit 19 down on the grass, and took the five loaves and the two fishes, and, looking up to heaven ; he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled ; and they took up of 20 the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. And they 21 that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a 22 ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes 23 away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was 24 now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves ; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus 25 went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples 26 saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying. It is a spirit ; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus 27 spake unto them saying, Be of good cheer, it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be 28 thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, that day. " This," says Trencli on before us ; but the first seems to us the Miracles, p. 224, '"'was an ordi- the most satisfoctory. The words naiy way of speaking among the rendered " evening " or " even " Jews, the first evening being very (Exod. xii. 6, xxx. 8; Levit. xxiii. 5) much our afternoon (compare Luke mean "between the evenings," or ix. 12, where the evening of ]\Iat- " between the twilights." thew and Mark is described as the 20. twelve baskets full] Not day beginning to decline ) ; the improbably these were the baskets second evening being the twilight, in which the disciples canned their or from six o'clock to twiliglxt." provisions. " The Jews," says Mr. Lightfoot, on the other hand, a great Norton, " seem to have been, in some auThoritv in such matters, com- degree, distinguished by the use of paring 15 with 23, says: " That such baskets." Juvenal, Sat. VI. denotes the lateness of tlie day; 542, speaks of Jews at Rome, whose this, the lateness of the niglit. fc>o, " whole furniture is a basket and 'evening' in the Talmudists, signi- some hay." 28. bid me fies not oidy the declining part of the come unto thee] "In the ques- day, but [of] the night also." tionable little word 'me,' always Either explanation meets the case questionable when it too hastily re- MATTHEW XIV. 271 29 Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he 30 walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid ; and beginning to sink, he 31 cried, saying, Lord, save me ! And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, 32 O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ? And when 33 they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying. Of a truth thou art the Son of God. 34 And when they were gone over, they came into the land of plies to Chrift's powerful /, ere it has been specially asked and called, lurks the secret flaw in tlie great faith, on account of which it must soon again become very little. Had Christ of himself called out : ' And thou, Peter, come out to me,' he certainly would not have sunk. But, because he will outi-un the others in showing his ftiith, the real Peter must show himself just as, alas! he still is, and give a warning of the future denial of his Lord ; falling back again as suddenly as he had raised himself." Stier. 29. And he said, Come] But why did he allow him to come? Because the presuming and pi-e- sumptuous disciple needed the les- son, which he could not learn from any words of Jesus so well as from his own precipitate and humiliating experience. And so it is that God deals with us in his providence, often allowing us to adventure on our own rash and foolish schemes, because only by failure and disaster, through our own humiliating ex- perience and exposure, can we come to ourselves, and learn the ti-ue and humble gauge of our own powers. This is a great thing in the training of children and the edu- cation of the young, as well as in the discipline of matiirer life. Not that system which is for the present the safest for the child is most to be desired, but that which will best call out all his powers, and by his own experience teach him the truest measure of himself. In this way only will he attain a true Christian modest}', which is always connected with a nice adjustment of a man's consciousness to all his faculties, so that he will not presume on what lies wholly beyond him, nor shrink from whal lies within his compass. The fitting measure of our faith in ourselves, and, as Mith Peter, of our faith in God, can be gained only in this way by exposures which sometimes end in defeat and humiliation. 30. to sink] KaTaTrovTi^eadm, a stronger word than to sink, — beginning to be buritd in the sea. .31. And Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him] The calmness of Jesus, and the ease and natural- ness of the movement by which the affrighted disciple was rescued, are worthy of notice. There is nowhere in our Saviour's life any indication of surprise. He is never, even for a moment, thrown off" his guard. He does not seek an occasion for the exercise of his wonderful gifts, but accepts them when they come. One woman, of a despised race, at the Avell of Jacob in Samaria (John iv. 1-43), called forth a discourse full of his richest and sublimest in- structions; and here, the violence of the storm and the terror of his disciples, excite him to no un- usual effort. " He reached out his hand, and laid hold of him, and said unto him, ' 0, thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? ' " 32. and wor- shipped him] did homage to him, saying, " Truly thou art God's Son.' 272 MATTHEW XIV. Gennesaret. And when the men of that place had knowledo-e 35 of him, they sent out into all that country round about ; and brought unto him all that were diseased, and besought him that 36 they might only touch the hem of his garment ; and as many as touched were made perfectly whole. MATTHEW XV. 1-20. 273 CHAPTER XY. 1-20. — Jesus and the Jewish Traditions. 1-G. The Scribes and Moses. The Scribes and Pharisees, who had come down from Jerusalem in order to find some serious charge against Jesus, ask him why it is that liis disciples transgress the traditions of the elders as they do by eating with unwashed hands. Jesus replies to them in language of great severity, " Why do ye transgress the commandment of God by your tradition "i For God hath commanded, (Ex. xx. 12,) saying, Honor thy father and thy mother; and (Ex. xxi. 17) He that curseth father or mother shall be put to death. But ye teach. If a man say to his father or mother. Whatever I have which might benefit you is a gift to God, [and cannot therefore be used for your benefit], he shall not honor his father or mother, i. e. he shall even be exempt from the obligation to honor and provide for them. And ye thus annul or render of none effect the commandment of God by your tradition." Lightfoot has shown that the Jewish Talmudists attached greater weight to the Rabbinical traditions than to the law. "The words of the scribes,'* say they, "are lovely, above the words of the law ; for the words of the law are weighty and light ; but the words of the scribes are all weighty." Alford says, "The Jews attached more importance to the traditionary exposition than to the Scripture text itself. They compared the written word to water ; the traditionary exposition to the wine which must be mingled with it. The duty of washing before meat is not inculcated in the law, but only in the traditions of the Scribes. So rigidly did the Jews observe it, that Rabba Akiba, being imprisoned, and having water scarcely sufficient to sustain life given 274 MATTHEW XV. 7, 8. him, preferred dying of thirst to eating without washing his hands." It is customary among the Jews to cut themselves off from the obligation of certain acts by consecrating their property to God as a gift so far as those specific acts were concerned. Their property might be used for anything else, but not for those particular acts. For example, if a man wished to free himself from the obligation to support his parents, he might set aside his whole property as a gift to God, so far as any advantage might accrue to them from it, and, according to the traditions of the elders, he would then have no right to use any part of it for the benefit of his parents, though he might use it for any other purpose. Thus they set at naught the law of God by their quibbling traditions, and justified by their traditions those who did not honor their father or their mother. Jesus has confronted the Scribes by the authority of Moses, their great lawgiver. He here shows how the condemnation of one of their prophets falls on them : " Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said. This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. But in vain do they worship me teaching for doc- lirine the commandments of men." Dr. Noyes's translation of this passage (Isa. xxix. 13, 14) is as follows; — "Since this people draAveth near to me with their mouth, And honoreth me with their hps, While their heart is far from me, And their Avorship of me is according to the commandments of men, Therefore, behold, I Avill pi-oceed to deal marvellously with this people; ]\Iarvel]ously and wonderfully. For the Avisdom of their AA'ise men shall perish, And the prudence of the prudent shall be hid." These words were undoubtedly applied by the prophet to the men of his own day ; and we have no reason to MATTHEW XV. 7, 8. 275 suppose that he had in his mind the thought of any further application. How then could Jesus say, ""Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you when he said, This people," &c. They not only contain a direct message to the Jews, who lived in the time of Isaiah ; but that message is so put as to contain in itself a general truth which is prophetic of the condition of all men, whenever and wherever they may live, who seek to propitiate the favor of God by their distant, outside, hypocritical worship. See above, xiii. 14. But does not this involve a double sense ? Is it right to use the authority of the prophet in applying his words to persons whom he could not have had in his mind at the time he spoke ? This is what Jesus has done in the passage before us. And, notwithstanding the dread many persons have of attributing a double or rather a twofold meaning of this kind to the language of Scripture, it is what is constantly done with other language. Every expression which, originally spoken solely with reference to a spe- cific case, is so put as to involve a general truth, may be used in this way. If the Scriptures more than all other writings have been so applied, it is only because, under the simplest forms of speech, and often with direct reference to specific cases, they more than all other writings express the most profound and universal truth. The Supreme Court of the United States may give a decision which is of little consequence in its application to the case immediately in hand. And that case is the only one which is before the Court, and to which they specifically apply their decision. But that decision may involve considerations of momentous importance in cases to which the principles there established by the authority of the highest judicial tribunal of the land may hereafter be applied. The language which is at first applied spe- cifically only to a single case, nevertheless embraces with- in its scope and within the intention of the Court, all 276 MATTHEW XV. 7, 8. cases of the same character that may arise afterwards. What is said of one is said of all, — that one case is a type of all the rest, and the authority which decides it appHes with equal force to all the rest. So in the decisions of the great Judge of all, as announced by his prophets, the principles involved in the case to which they are spe- citically applied and the consequences flowing from those principles, reach on with the weight of their divine au- tliority, and find their fulfilment in every analogous case tliat may afterwards arise. Whatever may be said of the doctrine of types, and the absurd extent to which it has been carried, or of the interpretation sometimes put on the prediction of specific events, many of the an- cient prophecies stand forth as types or outshadowings and foreshadowings of divine truths, which shall be per- petually fulfilling themselves in the experience of all times. The passage quoted here from Isaiah is one of this kind. The predicted destruction of Sodom and Gomon-ah, imme- diately fulfilled in the fatal retribution which fell on those wicked cities, became, through that fulfilment, a type or sign of the retribution which is in store for every corrupt and ungodly people. The principle of retributive justice, which is involved and announced in that case, holds true always, and applies with more or less force to every new case that may arise. Of this character are the instructions here given to the Pharisees. The question immediately at issue between them and Jesus relates to a matter which is in itself of no sort of interest or importance now. But this specific case of washing before meat is made to stand out as the type or representative of all similar cases, and brings out the great essential principles in such a way as to elucidate the whole subject of a spiritual or formal worship, and to furnish instruction in this matter for all times. Where a sincere and vital religion is dying out, there is always a disposition, with a numerous class of men, to seek refuge MATTHEW XV. 11-15. 277 in forms, and to put their consciences to sleep by multiply- ing religious forms at the expense of the essential principles of devout and holy living. This fatal tendency, belonging alike to unenlightened and to the most luxurious times, making void the law of God by human traditions and observances, is here exposed and condemned. The heart as the centre of the life is the one thing to be kept pure. The thoughts which proceed from that, and not the neglect of outside forms, are what defile the man. Mr. Norton has quoted from Philo Judseus a passage very similar to this. " Through the mouth, as Plato says, mortal things enter, and imperishable things pass out. For food and drink enter it, perishable nutriment of the perishable body ; but words proceed from it, immortal laws of the immortal soul, by which the rational life is governed." — Philo, De Mundi Opificio, 0pp. I. 29. The fact that so plain a statement as that of Jesus, 11, should appear to the disciples, 15, a parable or dark say- ing which needed explanation, shows how dull their spirit- ual perceptions were at that time, and how slow they were to free themselves from the superstitious formalities of the Jews. The same attitude of mind towards Jewish teachers and observances is indicated by the vehemence with which they put the question, 12, " Dost thou know how the Phari- sees were offended by thy words ? " His reply is, " Every plant which my Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." As if he had said. The Pharisees are here the rec- ognized and authoritative teachers of the law. Still, if they teach anything not in accordance with the truth, anything which my Father doth not approve and sustain, it cannot stand, but will be rooted up as a plant which he hath not planted. Give them up as your guides. They are only blind leaders of the blind ; and no good, but mis- chief only, can come of their instructions. Here, 15, Peter asks an explanation of the parable, 11. It was not a parable in one sense of the word ; but the disciples could 24 278 MATTHEW XV. 21-28. not understand it. With an expression of sorrowful sur- prise that they even yet should be unable to understand words so simple, he explains his meaning in such a man- ner as to do away forever, one would think, at least among his followers, all superstitious regard for merely external observances in matters of religion. The Syro-Ph(enician Woman. 21-28. In order to escape from the crowds, with the tumults and controversies connected with them, as well as to prevent any premature and mistaken movement in his behalf, he retired from the lake of Galilee towards the northwest, to the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon. It is a question among commentators whether he actually entered their territory or remained still within the limits of Gali- lee. He sought retirement. " He went (Mark vii. 24, 25) into a house, and would have no man know it ; but he could not be hid ; for a woman, whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him," and came crying after him. The desire to escape observation will account for the anx- iety of the disciples to stop her cries. For in calling after them she must necessarily attract attention. She was a Grecian by descent, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and from her birthplace called, as she is here, a woman of Canaan. At first Jesus paid no regard to her. His object probably was to call out and strengthen her faith, by subjecting it to trial. This is in accordance with the whole discipline of life. He therefore, said within her hearing, "I am sent only," i. e. his personal ministry was confined, " to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'* But instead of being discouraged, she threw herself at his feet, and with affecting earnestness entreated him to assist her. He replied to her, " It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." "Yes, Lord," she exclaimed, "it is; for even the little MATTHEW XV. 32-38. 279 dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table." The humble, trusting character of this speech showed that nothing more was needed for her. " O woman, great is thy faith. Be it to thee as thou wishest." And her daughter was healed from that hour. What was this faith ? Not knowledge ; she had not that. Not a belief in certain theological doctrines. It is certain that she knew nothing of them. Her faith consisted in a readi- ness to believe, — an humble, trusting attitude of mind and heart, — " the tenderest susceptibility for what is heavenly." As to the apparent severity of Jesus towards her, "■ It is," as Olshausen has said, " Christian experience alone which opens our way to the right understanding of this The restraining of his grace, the manifestation of a treat- ment wholly different from what the woman may at first have expected, acted as a check usually does on power when it really exists, the whole inherent energy of her living faith broke forth, and the Saviour suffered him- self to be overcome by her Where faith is weak, he anticipates and comes to meet it ; where faith is strong, he holds himself far off in order that it may in itself be carried to perfection." Feeding the Four Thousand. 32-38. It has been supposed by some modern writers, as Schleiermacher, Neander, &c., that this account and that in xiv. 14 — 21, are but different accounts of the same transaction. The circumstances, it is said, the place, the multitude, the compassion of Jesus, the perplexity of the disciples as to what should be done, the sort of food at hand, are substantially the same in the two accounts. But these would be likely to be substantially the same if the miracle liad been repeated anywhere in that vicinity. Th-e only exception to what we should look for is in the perplex- ity of the disciples. How could they, after witnessing the 280 MATTHEW XV. 32-38. first miracle, be so mucli at a loss here ? The reply is, that, though they had seen Jesus perform many miracles, they, had never, except in a single instance, known him to use his miraculous power for such a purpose as that. Why, then, should they expect it now ? Some of the cir- cumstances are alike in the two cases, but others again are different. In the first, there were 5,000 persons ; in the second only 4,000. In the first, there were five loaves and two fishes ; in the second, seven loaves and a few fishes. In the first, it is not said how long the multitudes were with Jesus ; in the second they were with him three days. In the first, specific mention is made of a storm on the lake and of Jesus walking on the w^ater ; in the second he is represented as crossing the lake in a vessel without any such occurrence. In so concise an account of two similar events we should hardly expect a greater variety in the details, which certainly point to two distinct transactions. Besides (xvi. 9, 10) Jesus explicitly refers to the two miracles. It may also be added, that in the first account the word translated baskets is ko^i'i/ou?, wdiile here it is anvpidas, a long basket, which travellers sometimes used as a bed when they pass the night in the open air, and the same as that in which Saul was let down from tlie wall (Acts ix. 25). The same distinction is observed in our Saviour's reference to the two miracles, and in all these cases the distinction is found in the Curetonian Syriac Gospels. In the repetition of the miracle, there is nothing improbable. When we consider what multi- tudes thronged around the steps of Jesus, and that the east side of the lake was a desert place, at a distance from villages where food could be procured for such a concourse of people, we can hardly think it strange, if more than once towards the close of the day, he should have had compassion on the Aveary multitudes, and fed them by his miraculous power lest they should hunger and faint by the way. MATTHEW XV. 281 39. Having dismissed the multitude, Jesus went into a vessel and passed to the vicinity of Magdala, or, as the best copies have it, Magadan. Magdala is near the southeast corner of the plain of Genesareth. For an interesting and graphic description of this fertile and populous region, see Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, pp. 366-375. After his account of what that country once was, he says, "Of all the numerous towns and villages in what must have been the most thickly peopled district of Palestine, one only remains. A collection of a few hovels stands at the southeastern corner of the plain, — its name hardly altered from the ancient Magdala or Migdol, — so called, probably, from a watch-tower, of which ruins appear to remain, that guarded the entrance of the plain ; deriving its whole celebrity from its being the birthplace of her, through whom the name of ' Magdalen ' has been in- corporated into the languages of the world. A large soli- tary thorn-tree stands beside it. Its situation, otherwise unmarked, is dignified by the high limestone rock which overhangs it on the southwest, perforated with caves, re- calling, by a curious, though doubtless unintentional coin- cidence, the scene of Correggio's celebrated picture." NOTES. Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of 2 Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tra- dition of the elders ? for they wash not their hands, when they 3 eat bread. But he answered and said unto them. Why do ye 1. Avhich were of Jerusalem] encv he has now gained. 2. The fact that Scribes and Pharisees for' they wash not their hands had come from Jerusalem to Avatch Avheii they eat bread] Not that and oppose Jesus, shows incident- they did not liave dean hands, but ally Avhat an impression he had that they did not wash them. It been making, and what an ascend- was a siiperstitious duty to wash 24* 282 MATTHEW XV. also transgress the commandment of God, by your tradition ? For God commanded, saying, " Honor thy father and moth- er ; " and, " He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death." But ye say, " Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother. It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me ; and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites ! well did Esaias prophesy their hands before eating bread, whetlier they were clean or not, — particular!}- before eating bread. 3. Observe the solemn contrast between the command- ment of God, and the tradition of men, even though the tradition was held to by the elders and teachers. 4. Honor thy father and mother] The stress which Jesus lays on this great com- mandment is remarkable. Its ob- servance is to an extraordinary ex- tent a criterion of the morals of a people. There is a saying among the Chinese, " If a man sliow rev- erence for his father and mother in his house, why go farther to burn spices? " There is a place holy enough for sacrifice and woi'ship. Where there is this reverence for parents, the simplicity of the char- acter and the freshness of the heart are preserved. He who honors his father and mother will honor God. 6. he shall be free] These words, inserted by our trans- lators, do not belong here. The second clause of the sentence is the apofhsh to the first, which begins in verse 5 : " Whosoever shall say to his father or mother, ' Anything I have which might be used for your benefit is, so fiir as you are con- cerned, set aside as a consecrated gift [and therefore not to be em- ployed for you],' he shall not honor his' father 'or his mother." Thus setting aside all his property, so ftir as relates to his parents,' "he has freed himself from all obligation to provide for them ; and, therefore, rightly, so the Scribes taught, he shall not be obliged to honor them. " Whosoever shall say to his father or mother, * Let it be a [devoted] gift in whatsoever thou mightest be helped by me ' ; then let him not honor his father and mother at all." Lightfoot. 7. Ye hypo- crites] This is the first time that Jesus directly addresses the Scribes and Pharisees by this term. Hith- erto he has rather reproved them by holding up the principles of righteousness which opposed and overthrew all their superstitious conventionalisms. But now, Avhen they put to him a question which directly involves the principles that separate him and them, he at first states strongly the inconsistency between their tradition and the commandments of God, and then directly charges them with the one crime which vitiated all their relig- ion, and Avhich from that day to this has been the characteristic of their successors. When men sep- arate the forms of religion from its substance, and substitute man's tra- ditions for the commandments of God, however specious the pre- tence, and however artfully dis- guised the processes by which their purpose is to be accomplished, they are led by a superstitious spirit through dishonest methods into hypocrisy, — that hideous crime against man and God, on Avhich the heaviest denunciations of our Saviour fell. Every step away from the simplicity of the truth, as it stands revealed to us by God in Christ, is a step in this direction. It gives to human explanations, glosses, institutions the authority which belongs only to the com- mandments of God.' It substitutes human formulas of faith, and forms of worship, with the idle ceremonies growing out of them, for the wor- MATTHEW XV. 283 8 of you, saying, " This people drawetli nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their Hps ; but their heart is far 9 from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doc- 10 trines the commandments of men." And he called the mul- 11 titude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man ; but that which 1-2 Cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Phari- 13 sees were offended, after they heard this saying ? But he an- swered and said, Every plant which my heavenly Father hath 14 not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone ; they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall 15 fall into the ditch. Then answered Peter, and said unto him, 16 Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said : Are ye also yet 17 without understanding ? Do not ye yet understand that what- soever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast 13 out into the draught ? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts ; murders, adulte- 20 ries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man ; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. 21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of ship and the movahty which Jesus the strong man, hardened into hy- has taught, and thiis renders the pocrisy, knows how to avail him- hiw of God of none effect through self of the timid consciences of the its superstitious and hypocritical weak, and how to turn to his own traditions. So tiiie in regard to ends the pliant, tinisting foith of the them is the language of Isaiali, that unsuspecting. 13. Every their lieart is alienated from God, plant] Not that which has grown and their moral and spiritual per- naturally, but that which is planted ceptions blunted. If the pure and and fostered by man, — the com- devout, who are led away by these mandments of men^ which are taught subtle processes from the simplicity for doctrines. 16. yet of the Gospel, could only give up Avithout understanding] What, the human hindrances which offer still not able to understand so simple themselves to them as helps, and a truth, — ye who have been Avith sit at the feet of Jesus to learn of me so loiig? This conversation him, and thus receive their religion with the disciples (12 -20) was after directly from him, rather tlian from he had entered into the house (]\Iark the perverse and impure channels vii. 17), and when he was probably through which it comes to them, Avith them alone. 20. which how would the face of the world be defile the man] " In the very changed ! But there is always this appellation of ma7i is contahied an tendency and weakness in our hu- argument: for the spiritual nature, man nature; this clinging to helps which is the superior part in man, beyond what God has givgn; and is not reached by outward filth." 284 MATTHEW XV. Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out 22 of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David ; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And 23 his disciples came and besought him, saying. Send her away, for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not 24 sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then 25 r.eiic^el. 23. Send her away] The disciples probably meant to ask of Jesus that he should grant her request, heal her child, and let her go. for she crieth after us] They wished to escape the attention and notoriety which her cries were likely to at- tract. " We may suppose," says Bengel, " that the disciples feared the judgment of men, and made their petition to our Lord, both for their own sake, lest her crying should produce annoyance, and for the sake of the woman herself." 24. I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel] '^ Afltr those Jiocks loklch have strayed away froni^'"' &c., seeking the scattered Israelites in the regions of Tyre and Sidon, Jesus confined his personal ministry almost entirely to the Jews, In his directions to the Apostles he com- manded them (Matt. X. 5) not to go into the way of the Gentiles, or into any city of the Samaritans. Xot, as some have supposed, that his per- sonal sympatiiies were bound in by Jewish" prejudices. His conversa- tion with the woman of Samaria, and his remaining at Sychar two days, show the kindness of his feel- ing towards them, and his readiness to do them good. But the disciples, who were slow to rise above their Jewish prejudices, were not yet pre- pared so as to be trusted with peo- ple or in places where their national antipathies were likely to be ex- cited. '' Jesus," says Dr. Nichols, " plainly intended to i*estrict his laljors, and those of his Apostles also, during his own life, within the limits of the Jewish nation. We may not know his reasons, but one naturally occurs. The Judaic ele- ment Avas important to his church at that period, in several respects. Before Christianity had gained an establishment in the world, it had special occasion for those aids which this element might afford it. One aid was the remarkable attachment of the Jew to his own Scriptures; and to these Scriptures, especially the Prophecies, Christianity appeal- ed as one of its principal supports. The Old Testament was the classic, the ridiric, the oracle, the glory of the Hebrew. He counted its very letters. It was to him the word of God; and let him embrace a relig- ion as being based upon this foun- dation, and no superstition or phi- losophy would occasion any peril to his faith. We cannot overlook this reason, why, in that system of moral harmonies which always character- izes the Divine administration, the Christian seed should have been sown in a Jewish soil. The Gospel was not left to stand alone on its OAvn simple moral claims, which the world was so little prepared to appreciate, — no, nor even on its own mii-aculous testimonials. But there was a religious cultiu-e in the Jewish mind adapted to yield it a powerful support, such as it could derive from no other human source. God was pleased to connect the two systems of Judaism and Christian- ity ; and while the one was a school- master to bring men to Christ, the other was a completion and confir- mation of its predecessor The Jewish convert to Christianity felt an intensity of interest in his new belief such as a Jew only could feel. Accustomed to look upon his own nation as the chosen subject of a Divine administration, familiar with special manifestations in its MATTHEW XV. 285 26 came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me ! But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the ehildren's 27 bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord ; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's fnvor through all his ancestral his- tory, he took up his adopted re- ]\r^\on with a trust and a zeal of Avliich no Gcjitile belief was capa- ble, and which were so necessary to bear it triumphantly over the sea of prejudice and persecution upon which it was then launched. Bless- ings wliich ask no assistance from circumstances are of rare occur- rence in our world." Hours with tJie I^vangelists, Vol. I. pp. 390 - .393. 2G. to dogs] Utile doffs, a diminutive, which may luiA-e been used somewhat as a term of endearment, and which therefore may have taken away something from the appai-ent harshness of our Saviour's language in speaking thus to a distressed mother respect- ing her sntfering child. 27. And she said, Truth, Lord ; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs] Our EngHsh version fails, we think, to give the true meaning of this passage. The exact translation is as follows : " Yea, Lord ; for the little dogs cat," &c. In conformity with the Greek idiom, we are to suppose an ellipsis or omission be- fore the Avord y(ipi for, which must be supplied in English, in order to make the passage intelligible, and may be given as follows : " Yea, Lord [but do not deny roe] ; for even the little dogs," &c. Bengel, whom even Winer regards as a great authority in such matters, says : *' The particle val [ yea ] partly assents ; partly, as it were, places on our Lord's tongue the assent to her prayers, i. e. prays." She puts such a construction on his words, that while by the expression, ' Yea, Lord,' she assents to them, she, at the same time, turns aside tlie ap- parent edge of their denial, and draws from them encouragement to continue her petition, Avhich she does in the most delicate way, by a turn of expression (" Yea, Lord ; for even the little dogs," &c.) which implies a further entreaty on her part, though it does not state it in words. It is impossible to sup- ply the ellipsis in English without maiTing the exceeding fineness and delicacy of the sentiment. The modesty and reverence towards Christ which are here implied, — her humility in regard to any claims Avhich she might have upon him, — her ready assent to the apparently disparaging terms in which he hacl alluded to her and hers, — her per- fect foith in him, and the devoted love for her child Avhich, while it could not accept any refusal, yet pressed its claims with such a deli- cate and reverential reserve towards him from whom she knew that re- lief might come, — give a peculiar and affecting moral beauty to these words, which evidently toiiched our Saviour as indicating to him the finest qualities of character. In Dr. Cureton's Syriac Gospels, a word is added, which is found both in the Peshito and the Jerusalem Syriac, and which heightens the interest and pathos of the passage : " She saith to him, Yea, my Lord ; for even the dogs eat of "^ the cmmbs which fall from their masters' tables, and live.'''' The expression, and live, in allusion to the sick child for whose life she is pleading, is one of those fine touches of nature which can hardly be counterfeited, and which bear in themselves de- cisive marks of genuineness. The whole narrative is worthy of study; this refined and delicate woman, as her language shows her to have been, in her distress on account of her daughter, and her efforts for her relief, forgetting herself and every- thing around her so entirely as to follow after Jesus and his company of men, with cries which Avere bringing on them an unpleasant amoxmt of attention; her following 286 MATTHEW XV. table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, 28 great is thy faith ; be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the 29 Sea of Galilee ; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there. And great multitudes came unto him, liaving with 30 them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others; and cast them down at Jesus's feet, and he healed them ; insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw 3i the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see ; and they glorified the God of Israel. Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have 32 compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat ; and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. And his disci- 33 pies say unto him. Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude ? And Jesus 34 saith unto them. How many loaves have ye ? And they said. Seven, and a few little fishes. And he commanded the multi- 35 tude to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves 36 after him still, and beseeching him to help her, though he answered her not a Avord; the entreaty of the disciples that he would send her aAvay, and his reply to them " that he is not sent except to the lost sheep of the hovxse of Israel; " — all these things, instead of discouraging her, only leading her to pi'ostrate herself before him, and calling out from her a more affecting appeal to him for help ; — every one of the particulai's is worthy of attention, and may furnish an instructive lesson. Such persistency in ask- ing, and yet such submissiveness; such earnestness, and yet such rev- erence and delicacy, are rarely com- bined, and they furnish a beautiful tj'pe of Christian character. We see here as elsewhere how the mira- cle is subordinated to its higher in- fluences and teachings. 30. And great multitudes] Jesus returns to Galilee, and is encom- passed again by multitudes of peo- ple. To those who travel in that region now, it is a matter of wonder where such crowds could have come from. But according to Josephus (See IMilman's Hist, of Christianity, Bk. I. Chap. IV.) the whole province of Galilee was at that time crowded with flourishing towns and cities, beyond almost any other region of the world. According to his state- ments, " the number of towns, and the population of Galilee, in a dis- trict of between fifty and sixty miles in length, and between sixty and seventy in bi'eadth, was no less than 204 cities and villages, the least of Avhich contained 15,000 souls." This would make, for the whole province, a population of more than three millions. There is some reason, we think, to question the exactness of the large mimerical statements Avhich are found in ancient Avriters ; but after all rea- sonable deductions have been made from this account, there will still remain a population sufficiently dense to confirm the Gospel nar- ratives in regard to the ease with which large multitudes were col- MATTHEW XV. 287 and tlie fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to 37 his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled ; and they took up of the broken meat 38 that was left seven baskets full. And they that did eat were 39 four thousand men, beside women and children. And he sent aAvay the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala. Incted in that region. 39. :Magclalum, so some MSS., in Matt. Magdala] In Tischendorf s edi- xv. 39, turn Magdala into :Maga- tion, this is ]\Iagadan. "As Herodo- dan." Stanley. In the Cui-etoniau tus (11. 159) turns Megiddo into Syriac Gospels it is Magadun. 288 MATTHEW XVI. 1-4. CHAPTER XYI. 1-4. — A Sign from Heaven. 1-4. The Pharisees and Sadducees demand a sign from heaven. They had witnessed his miracles, but wished for something more. " In the Jewish superstition," says Alford, " it was held that demons and false gods could give signs on earth, but only the true God, signs from heaven.'' " And thus we find that, immediately after the first miraculous feed- ing, the same demand was made, (John vi. 30,) and an- swered by the declaration of our Lord, that He was the true bread from heaven." Reference to the same habit of the Jewish mind is found in 1 Cor. i. 22, " The Jews demand signs, and the Greeks seek for wisdom." It probably was at the close of the day when the demand for a sign from heaven was made of Jesus, and the sunset glow of the heavens suggested his answer. For the Jews, according to Lightfoot, were curious in observing the seasons, and in fore- telling the state of the weather. They asked of him a sign from heaven. He replies, looking probably to the western sky, " It being now evening, ye say. It will be fair, for the sky is red; and, in the morning, ye say, there will be a storm, for the sky is red and lowering. Ye know how to distinguish the aspects of the sky, and can ye not also un- derstand the signs of the times." As if he had said : " It is your business to understand things spiritual and divine. You profess to be the moral and religious teachers of this people. And here you are asking a sign from heaven. But how is it that ye do not understand the signs which are actually given ? You know how to foretell the state of the MATTHEW XVI. 13-18. 289 weather from the aspect of the sky, and can ye not, in the miracles which I have wrought, and the truths which I have been teaching, and the new hfe that I am awakening, see the signs of the times ? Can ye not see in them the signs of a new era, of a purer and higher kingdom to be estabhshed on earth ? If your minds were open to spiritual, as your eyes are to material things, you would see all around you mani- fest indications of the^ changes that I am to introduce." 0-13. The noticeable fact here is the extreme slowness of spiritual apprehension which is manifested by the disci- ples, especially when their perplexity here about bread is compared with the specific instructions on that point which had just been given to them, (xv. 11,) and repeated with an explanation, (xv. 17-20,) which could not be misunder- stood. 13-18. — On this Rock I build my Church. The above conversation took place on the vessel as they were crossing the lake. They arrived at Bethsaida on the northeast corner of the lake, and in passing from that city to Cnesarea Philippi, which hes far to the north, near Mount Hermon, the remaining incidents recorded in this chapter took place. Who do men say that I the Son of man am ? They re- ply, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and some Jer- emiah, or one of the prophets. These different views pre- vailing at that time show the vague, but at the same time the active and wide-spread expectations of the time. The reply of Peter, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," is the first distinct declaration of faith on the part of the disciples. Jesus excepts this one article of faith as con- taining the true idea of his office, and the foundation of his Church. " Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonah, because flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Fa- ther who is in the heavens. And I say unto thee that thou 25 290 MATTHEW XVI. 19. art a rock (Peter means rock), and on this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of death (Hades, not Ge- henna) shall not prevail against it." There are two explanations of this passage. According to one, Peter is identified with the declaration which he has just made, as the person hearing the word is identified with what he hears (xiii. 20.) When Jesus therefore says, " Thou art a rock, and on this rock will I build my Church," he means that this confession of faith in him as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, is the foundation on which his Cliurch is to be built. According to the other explanation, Peter himself, as the foremost of the disciples, and the first to recognize from the teachings of Jesus this essential truth, is the stone or pillar on which his Church is to be built. '' He was," says Alford, " the first of those foundation-stones (Eph. ii. 20, Rev. xxi. 14,) on which the living temple of God was built ; this building itself beginning on the day of Pentecost by the laying of three thousand living stones on this very foundation." For this sort of reference to the pil- lars and stones of the spiritual building see 1 Peter ii. 4-6, 1 Tim. iii. 15, Gal. ii. 9, Eph. ii. 20, Rev. iii. 12. 19. — The Keys of the Kingdom of Heavex. In verse 19 the figure is changed. "I give to thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." The kingdom of Heaven is, 1. The religion of Jesus, with its Divine influences, entering the individual soul, and establish- ing its dominion over it. 2. When it has entered different souls and united them under its authority into a community, it becomes an outward institution or kingdom, receiving or rejecting men according to its influence over thom individu- ally. 3. But the kingdom of Heaven does not fulfil and complete its work here on the earth. When those who have MATTHEW XVI. 19. 291 submitted to its influence and authority here lay down the burden of the flesh, the kingdom of Heaven is the name applied to the more perfect and glorious condition of being into which they then enter. Jesus uses the expression in these three different ways. When therefore he says to Pe- ter, " I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven," he means, I will give to thee the truths by which my re- ligion shall be unlocked and laid open to the souls of men, so that it may act upon them as a spiritual power, and re- ceive them into itself as an outward institution, or a divinely organized community of souls. And more than this. So far, its work is on the earth. But it is not confined to the earth. What is done here, in this lower sphere of the kingdom of Heaven in accordance with its laws, applies with equal force in its higher sphere, in the heavens, where those same. laws prevail. Whatever is done in accordance with those laws here is recognized as in accordance with them there above, wherever that kingdom extends. Whatever is bound or loosed in accordance with them here, has the sanction of Heaven, and is bound or loosed there. They who, accept- ing the offers of salvation, become members of the kingdom of Heaven on earth, become by that act members of the kingdom of Heaven above ; and they who by rejecting its offers exclude themselves from it here, at the same time close its doors against them in the heavens. In this sense, what is bound or loosed on earth is bound or loosed in heaven. But how is it that Jesus uses this language in his address to Peter alone ? It is addressed to him as the spokesman or representative of the Apostles. As Olshausen has said, "That which at verse 19 is spoken to St. Peter is at Matt, xviii. 18, John xx. 23, addressed to all the Apostles. One cannot therefore find in these words anything that is peculiar to St. Peter ; he merely answers as the organ of the college of Apostles, and Christ, acknowledging him as such, re- plies to him, and speaks through him to them alW " That 292 MATTHEW XVI. 21-28. which is through St. Peter bestowed on the Apostles, was again through the Apostles conferred on the whole Church." " That the Apostles then, and their true successors in the Spirit, turned with the word of truth towards one place, and away from another, that they followed up their labors on one man and not on another, in this consisted the binding and loosing. The whole new spiritual community which the Saviour seems to found took its rise from the Apostles and their labors. No one became a Christian save through them, and thus the Church through all time is built up in living union with its origin. Christianity is no bare summary of truths and reflections to which a man even in a state of iso- lation might attain ; it is a life-stream which flows through the human race, and its fountains must reach every separate individual who is to be drawn within this circle of life. The Gospel is identified and grown into union with the persons. The explanation, therefore, of the passage which the Prot- estant Church usually opposes to the view of the Catholics, according to which the faith of Peter, and the confession of that faith, is the rock, is entirely the correct one, — only the faith itself and his confession of it must not be regarded as apart from Peter himself personally." 21-28. — The Humiliation and Sufferings of the Messiah. 21. Here commences a new era in the ministry of Jesus. He now for the first time openly and plainly (Mark viii. 32) announced to his disciples the sufferings and death and res- urrection from the dead through which he was soon to pass. They could not take in the idea. They remembered his words, but it was not till after his resurrection that they un- derstood what was meant by them. The words were indeed so fearfully distinct, that at first they could not be misinter- preted. Peter, adhering still to his mistaken ideas of the Messiah and his kingdom, and unable to admit the possibil- MATTHEW XVI. 21-28. 293 ity of such degradation and sufferings as have just been foretold, in the ardent impetuosity which so often showed itself in his conduct, laid hold on Jesus, and remonstrated with him as one does with a friend in despondency. (See Whately, Good and Evil Spirits, p. 135.) " God be gra- cious to thee, Lord ; this thing shall not be to thee." As if he had said, " There is no ground for such gloomy appre- hensions. This cannot be." It was an act of ignorant pre- sumption for him to address Jesus in this way. The sugges- tion evidently touched him most keenly. Turning to Peter, and looking at the disciples (Mark viii. 33), he rebuked Pe- ter, and said to him, " Get thee behind me, Satan ; thou art a stumbling-block to me, because thou regardest not the things of God, but the things of men." Why does Jesus show such extreme sensitiveness ? He had used the same expression once before (Matt. iv. 10), in his last reply to the tempter in the wilderness. It has been supposed that it is not applied to Peter so much as to the evil spirit from whom the suggestion came. But the lan- guage is very explicit. " Turning, he said to Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan," thou tempter. Here, as in the other case (iv. 10, see note there), where the same expres- sion is used, there is something which indicates a peculiar sensitiveness, as if Jesus entered enough into the feeling of the disciple to be himself not wholly insensible to the temp- tation which came here under its most insidious form. " Un- questionably," says Olshausen, " the Saviour must be con- ceived of as having maintained one continuous conflict with temptations. The great periods of such temptations at the commencement and termination of his ministry exhibit, merely in a concentrated form, what ran through his whole life. Here then, for the first time, there meets our view a moment in which temptation assails him by holding forth the possibility of escaping sufferings and death. It was all the more concealed and dangerous that it came to him through the lips of a dear disciple, who had just soleranl/ 25* 294 MATTHEW XVI. 21-28. acknowledged his divine dignity. From the clear and pure fountain of Christ's life no unholy thought could flow ; but inasmuch as he was to be a conqueror victorious over sin, it had to draw near, that in every form he might overthrow it; and upon his human nature, which only by degrees received within itself the whole fulness of the divine life, sin, when it drew near, did make an impression." Instantly, however, in this case, on feeling the power of the temptation, he recognized the source from which it came, and by the harsh word which he used in his reply to Peter, he laid open to him the wicked agency or wrong principle and motive by which the suggestion had been prompted. Nor does he stop with the disclosure of what is wrong in the disciple. He lays down, 24 — 28, more strongly, and with words of more fearful and solemn interest, the utter self-renunciation which would be required of his followers. We have no language which comes up to the full force of the idea here set forth. Utterly to deny and renounce themselves, — to take up the cross, that appalling instrument of degradation and torture and death, and fol- low Him — is what he sets before them as their duty now. But he rises into a region of thought which makes even these sacrifices seem small. " For what," he asks, " shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels ; and then shall he reward every man according to his doing." Here we are lifted lip amid the retributions of another world. The sacrifices made here, the obedience, in self-renunciation and holy living, of those who follow him in his conflicts and humilia- tion, will be rewarded by him, when in that higher world he shall meet them with the ensigns of his greatness, in the glory of his Father, and attended by his angels. Then, v. 28, by one of those sudden transitions which are so common with him, he comes down from the thouf^ht MATTHEW XVI. 295 of his kingdom, in its glorious consummation with ran- somed souls above, to the time of its establishment and ascendency on earth, i. e. to the time when, with the destruction of Jerusalem, the dispersion of the Jews, and the overthrow of the whole Jewish polity, the sacrifice and the obhition should cease, the old religion no longer ])e recognized in the region where it had so long pre- vailed, and the religion of Christ, the Son of man coming in his kingdom, should take its place as the only true worship among men. NOTES. The Pharisees also, with the Sadducees, came, and, tempt- ing, desired hun that he would show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, 3 It will be fair weather ; for the sky is red. And in the morn- ing, It will be foul weather to-day ] for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites ! ye can discern the face of the 4 sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times ? A wicked and adulterous generation secketh after a sign ; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them and departed. 1. The Pharisees also, with shows how grieved onr Saviour was. the Sadduceesl The Pharisees " Groaning in his spirit, i. e. with a overlaid the Law with their tradi- deep sigh, he says, ' Why is this tions, and thus made it of none generation seeking for a sign?'" effect through their superstitious It was not anger, but grief, that and hypocritical observances. (See tempered his indignation. 3. XV. 1-20.) The Sadducees bv their O ye hypocrites] These words, unbelief, retaining the letter of the or rather the one word hyixtcntts, is laAv, but exnlainincr it awav in a omitted by Tischeudorf. The term captious and scen^^ical snirit, ren- hyiwcrUes is one which Jesus never dered it of none effect. These hos- in any other case applied to the tile ppo^^s. however, could forset Sadducees; and it is not probable their difference"! lonjr enough to at- that it was so appli.^d here. They tack one whose simple, enersetic, were rather an unbelieving than a and lifp-o-ivin? tniths laid "open self-righteous and hypocritical sect, the emptiness'of their pretensions, He applies the word to the Scribes and overthrew alike the religious and Pharisees, but not to them, reasoninirs of both. 2. 4. the si§rn of the He answered] Mark (viii. 12) prophet Jonas] ( See note to xu. 296 MATTHEW XVI. And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had 5 forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take 6 lieed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Saddueees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, i It is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus 8 perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread ? Do 9 ye not yet undei^stand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up ? neither the lo seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up ? How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it n not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Saddueees ? Then under- u stood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sad- dueees. When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philipjji, he 13 asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am ? And they said. Some say that thou art John 14 the Baptist; some, Elias ; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am ? is 39.) If the ficcount of the prophet then to wonder that he repeated Jonah were, like the parable of the often the same thought in nearly the Good Samaritan or of the Prodigal same words. If, therefore, we find Son, not a historical narrative, but in the different Evangelists nearh' a story invented for the purpose of the same instructions given under teaciiing the impossibility of fleeing different circumstances, we are not from the requirements of God ; it to suppose that one or the other would none tlie less serve as a si(;n of the ^\Titers has made a mistake, of the Saviour's death and resur- but that Jesus, in conformity with rection from the dead. Some holy the wants of his hearers, repeated man may have been inspired of his instructions again and again. God to teach tliis great truth, in the 9, 10. baskets] In the way in which it is tliere taught, as ninth verse it is cophini, and in by a poem or a parable. Tlie lesson the tenth s/wm/es, entirely diflerent is none the less true or important words. The same distinction is because it is thus taught ; nor does found in Mark. In Dr. Cureton's Jesus, in alluding to it in the man- Syriac Gospels, the first word is ner he does, express any opinion as translated baskets, the second pan- to whether it is historical or not. niers. The distinction is important, 7. It is because Ave as indicating two different miracU's. have taken no bread] How could 13. that I, the Son of they have forgotten so soon what man] Observe how often Jesus Jesus had told them V (xv. 16-20.) uses this expression, as if to iudi- Their dulness in this case shows how cate his intimate relationship to our they needed line upon line and pre- humanity. The Son of man, who cept upon precept. We are not stood with the Jews for the Mes- MATTHEW XVI. 297 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the 17 Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not 18 revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. And siah, thoii.ffh it was not a term exclu- sively applied to him. 16. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God] Here is the counterpart to our Saviour's own expression. He was the Sou of God as he was the Son of man, antl thus the mediator between God and man. Here is the first and only Gospel creed respecting Jesus, and it gained liis earnest and em- phatic approval. Perhaps it is in reference to this that St. John more than once in his first Epistle uses this expression : "Wliosoever shall confess that .Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God." " He that believeth in the Son of God, hath the witness in himself." " These things have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe in the name of the Son of God." " Who is he that overcome th the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" It had been well for the peace and unity of the Church, if the successors of the Apostles had been as modest and as truthful as they were in what they required as articles of faith on this great subject. There never can be unity in the Church of Christ till his professed followers consent to come back to the simplicity and power of his instnictions as we find them set forth and expounded in the Gospels, and in the other writ- ings of the New Testament. We accept the words of Peter as in- dorsed and approved by his Mas- ter. They were heard from heaven (" This is my beloved Son," Matt, iii. 17) as "Jesus came up from the baptismal waters of the Jordan, and the heavens were opened to him. They were repeated again from heaven on the Moimtain of Transfiguration. (Ahitthew xvii. 5.) They are dwelt upon with aflecting earnestness by St. John, both in his Gospel and his Epistles. At what was perhaps originally the close of his Gospel (John xx. 31) he says : " But these are written, that' ye might believe that .Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." Why can we not be content with this? Why must we go beneath it with any poor meta- physical analysis of ours to deter- mine precisely what is meant by these great words, and impose our definition on others as an article of faith, without assent to which they cannot be admitted into the Church of Christ, but must, in the blasphe- mous words of the Athanasian creed, " without doubt perish everlast- ingly." It is a presumptuous and awful thing for men to impose con- ditions which Christ never imposed, and to erect barriers which were never authorized by him in the way of admission to his Church. 17. Simon Bar-jona] Simon, son of Jonas. " It is exceedingly probable that this is intended to form a contrast to the foi-egoing Jesus, Son of God. Siinon denotes here, as does Jesus, the human per- sonality of the individual ; son of Jonas is probably used here in a figurative sense. Primarily it is indeed a genealogical designation (John i. 42, xxi. 16, 17 ); but as Hebrew names generally are de- scriptive, Christ here looks to the import of the name. Perhaps he referred it to Jona, a dove ; and in that case this meaning woidd arise, ' Thou, Simon, art a child of the Spirit (alluding to the Holy Spirit under the svmbol of a dove) : God, the Father' of Spirits (Heb. xii. 9), hath revealed himself to thee.' Where God reveals himself there is formed a spiritual man." Olshau- sen. flesh and blood] No man, no merely human faculties, have revealed this to you ; " only 298 MATTHEW XVI. I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter ; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom 19 of Heaven ; and Avhatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples, that they 20 the divine can teach us to know the divine." 18. Thou art Peter [a rock] ; and upon this rock I will build my church] From tlie earliest days of our relig- ion, the Christian Church or com- munity of believers has been repre- sented* as a building. The Greek woi'd ecclesia, like its English syuo- nyme the church, means either the' community of worshippers, or the place in -which they meet for wor- ship. The word synagogue, in its Greek form, is applied either to the congregation or to the building in •which "they assemble. The Greek word fKliic : " When he had turned about, and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter." He first looked at his disciples. He saw liow they v/ere affected by this act of patn/nizing familiarity and re- monstrance on the part of Peter, and that they probably were all moved by the same unworthy view of his words which Peter had 'taken. He may also himself have sympa- thized with them, so far as to feel a momentary shudder at the thought of that which afterwards, at its near approach, brought upon him such an agony of grief. And, therefore, to regain instantly his ascendency over them, and on the same instant to shake off the thouglit which had come to him as the last and sharp- est temptation in the wilderness, he uttered the strong words, Get thee behind me, Satan] The wonl satmi means adversriry ov seducer, and is undoubtedly applied here to Peter, Avho for the' moment iiad put himself in opposition to liis Master, and would sc