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Christ's Sermon

MATTHEW, V.

on the Mount.

the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all is everywhere taught. Nor is the vision of God' times" (Psalm 119. 20): and in similar breathings does strange to the Old Testament; and though it was an he give vent to his deepest longings in that and other understood thing that this was not possible in the Psalms. Well, our Lord just takes up here this present life (Exodus, 33. 20; and cf. Job, 19. 26, 27; blessed frame of mind, representing it as the surest | Isaiah, 6. 5), yet spiritually it was known and felt to pledge of the coveted supplies, as it is the best pre- be the privilege of the saints even here (Genesis, 5. parative, and indeed itself the beginning of them. 24; 6. 9; 17. 1: 48. 15; Psalm 27. 4; 36. 9; 63. 2; Isaiah, They shall be saturated," He says; they shall not 38. 3, 11. &c.). But, O with what grand simplicity. only have what they so highly value and long to pos- brevity, and power is this great fundamental truth sess, but they shall have their fill of it. Not here, here expressed! And in what striking contrast would however. Even in the Old Testament this was well such teaching appear to that which was then current, understood. "Deliver me," says the Psalmist, in in which exclusive attention was paid to ceremonial language which, beyond all doubt, stretches beyond purification and external morality? This heartthe present scene, from men of the world, which purity begins in a "heart sprinkled from an evil conhave their portion in this life: As for me, I shall be- science," or a "conscience purged from dead works" hold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, (Hebrews, 10. 22; 9. 14; and see Acts, 15. 9); and this when I awake, with thy likeness" (Psalm 17. 13-15). also is taught in the Old Testament (Psalm 32. 1, 2; The foregoing beatitudes- the first four-represent cf. Romans, 4. 5-8; and Isaiah, 6. 5-8. The conscience the saints rather as conscious of their need of salvation, thus purged-the heart thus sprinkled-there is light and acting suitably to that character, than as pos- within wherewith to see God. "If we say that we sessed of it. The next three are of a different kind- have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we representing the saints as having now found salvation, lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light. and conducting themselves accordingly. 7. Blessed as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with the are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Beautiful other"- He with us and we with Him-"and the is the connection between this and the preceding be- blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us"— us who atitude. The one has a natural tendency to beget the have this fellowship, and who, without such continual other. As for the words, they seem directly fetched cleansing, would soon lose it again-"from all sin" from Psalm 18. 25. "With the merciful thou wilt (1 John, 1. 6. 7). "Whosoever sinneth hath not seen show thyself merciful" Not that our mercifulness Him, neither known Him" (1 John, 3. 6); “He that comes absolutely first. On the contrary, our Lord doeth evil hath not seen God" (3 John, 11). The inHimself expressly teaches us that God's method is ward vision thus clarified, and the whole inner man to awaken in us compassion towards our fellow-men in sympathy with God, each looks upon the other by His own exercise of it, in so stupendous a way with complacency and joy, and we are "changed and measure, towards ourselves. In the parable of into the same image from glory to glory." But the the unmerciful debtor, the servant to whom his lord full and beatific vision of God is reserved for that forgave ten thousand talents was naturally expected time to which the Psalmist stretches his views--“ As to exercise the small measure of the same compas- for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness: sion required for forgiving his fellow-servant's debt I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness" of a hundred pence; and it is only when, instead of (Psalm 17. 15. Then shall His servants serve Him: this, he relentlessly imprisoned him till he should and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in pay it up, that his lord's indignation was roused, and their foreheads (Revelation, 22. 3, 4). They shall see he who was designed for a vessel of mercy is treated Him as He is (1 John, 3. 2). But, says the apostle, as a vessel of wrath (ch. 18. 23-35; and see ch. 6. 23, 24; expressing the converse of this beatitude-"Follow 6. 15; James, 2, 13). According to the view given in holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" Scripture,' says TRENCH inost justly, 'the Christian Hebrews, 12. 14). 9. Blessed are the peacemakers-who stands in a middle point, between a mercy received not only study peace, but diffuse it-for they shall be and a mercy yet needed. Sometimes the first is called the children-shall be called sons'-of God. Of urged upon him as an argument for showing mercy- all these beatitudes this is the only one which could "forgiving one another, as Christ forgave you" (Colos- hardly be expected to find its definite ground in the sians, 3. 13: Ephesians, 4. 32); sometimes the last- Old Testament; for that most glorious character of "Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain God, the likeness of which appears in the peacemercy:" "Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven" (Luke, makers, had yet to be revealed. His glorious name, 6 37: James, 5. 9). And thus, while he is ever to look indeed-as "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and back on the mercy received as the source and motive gracious. long-suffering, and abundant in goodness of the mercy which he shows, he also looks forward and truth, forgiving iniquity and transgression and to the mercy which he yet needs, and which he is sin"-had been proclaimed in a very imposing manassured that the merciful-according to what BEN- ner (Exodus, 34. 6), and manifested in action with GEL beautifully calls the benigna talio (the gracious affecting frequency and variety in the long course requital of the kingdom of God-shall receive, as of the ancient economy. And we have undeniable a new provocation to its abundant exercise.' The evidence that the saints of that economy felt its foretastes and beginnings of this judicial recompense transforming and ennobling influence on their own are richly experienced here below: its perfection is character. But it was not till Christ "made peace reserved for that day when, from His great white by the blood of the cross" that God could manifest throne, the King shall say, "Come, ye blessed of my Himself as "the God of peace, ithat brought again Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd the foundation of the world; for I was an hungered, of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting and thirsty, and a stranger, and naked, and sick, and covenant" (Hebrews. 13. 20)-could reveal Himself as in prison, and ye ministered unto me." Yes, thus "in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not he acted towards us while on earth, even laying down imputing their trespasses unto them," and hold His life for us; and He will not. He cannot disown, Himself forth in the astonishing attitude of beseechin the merciful, the image of Himself. 8. Blessed are ing men to be "reconciled to Himself” (2 Corinthians, the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Here, too, 5. 19, 20). When this reconciliation actually takes we are on Old Testament ground. There the differ-place, and one has "peace with God through our ence between outward and inward purity, and the acceptableness of the latter only in the sight of God,

Lord Jesus Christ"-even "the peace of God which passeth all understanding"-the peace-receivers be

Christ's Sermon

MATTHEW, V

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on the Mount. passage of Luke (6. 22, 23), where every indignity trying to flesh and blood is held forth as the probable lot of such as were faithful to Him. the word is even stronger than here, leap," as if He would have their inward transport to overpower and absorb the sense of all these affronts and sufferings; nor will anything else do it. for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you:-q.d.. You do but serve yourselves heirs to their character and sufferings, and the reward will be common.' 13-16. We have here the practical application of the foregoing principles to those disciples who sat listening to them, and to their successors in all time. Our Lord, though He began by pronouncing certain characters to be blessed-without express reference to any of His hearers-does not close the beatitudes without intimating that such characters were in existence, and that already they were before Him. Accordingly, from characters He comes to persons possessing them, saying, "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you,' &c. And now, continuing this mode of direct personal address, He startles those humble, unknown men by pronouncing them the exalted benefactors of their whole species. 13. Ye are the salt of the earth-to preserve it from corruption, to season its insipidity, to freshen and sweeten it. The value of salt for these purposes is abundantly referred to by classical writers as well as in Scripture; and hence its symbolical significance in the religious offerings as well of those without as of those within the pale of revealed religion. In Scripture, mankind, under the unrestrained workings of their own evil nature, are represented as entirely corrupt. Thus, before the flood (Genesis, 6. 11, 12); after the flood (Genesis, 8. 21); in the days of David (Psalm 14. 2, 3); in the days of Isaiah (Isaiah, 1. 5, 6); and in the days of Paul (Ephesians, 2. 1-3; see also Job, 14. 4; 15. 15, 16; John, 3. 6: compared with Romans, 8. 8; Titus, 3. 2, 3). The remedy for this, says our Lord here, is the active presence of His disciples among their fellows. The character and principles of Christians, brought into close contact with it, are designed to arrest the festering corruption of humanity and season its insipidity. But how, it may be asked, are Christians to do this office for their fellowmen, if their righteousness only exasperate them, and recoil, in every form of persecution, upon themselves? The answer is. That is but the first and partial effect of their Christianity upon the world: though the great proportion would dislike and reject the truth. a small but noble band would receive and hold it fast; and in the struggle that would ensue, one and another even of the opposing party would come over to His ranks, and at length the Gospel would carry all before it.

come transformed into peace-diffusers. God is thus
wen reflected in them; and by the family likeness
these peacemakers are recognised as the children of
God In now coming to the eighth, or supplementary
beatitude, it will be seen that all that the saints are
in themselves has been already described, in seven
features of character; that number indicating com-
pieteness of delineation. The last feature, accordingly,
is a passive one, representing the treatment that the
characters already described may expect from the
world. He who shall one day fix the destiny of all
men here pronounces certain characters "blessed;"
bat He ends by forewarning them that the world's
estimation and treatment of them will be the reverse
of His. 10. Blessed are they which are persecuted for
nghteousness' sake, &c. How entirely this final beati-
tade has its ground in the Old Testament, is evident
from the concluding words, where the encouragement
held out to endure such persecutions consists in its
being but a continuation of what was experienced by
the Old Testament servants of God. But how, it may
be asked, could such beautiful features of character
provoke persecution? To this the following answers
should suffice: "Every one that doeth evil hateth the
light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved." "The world cannot hate you;
bat me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works
thereof are evil." "If ye were of the world, the world
would love his own: but because ye are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, there-
fore the world hateth you." "There is yet one man
said wicked Ahab to good Jehoshaphat), by whom we
may enquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he never
prophesied good unto me, but always evil" (John, 3.
7.7; 16. 19; 2 Chronicles, 18. 7). But more particu-
larly, the seven characters here described are all in
the teeth of the spirit of the world, insomuch that
such hearers of this Discourse as breathed that spirit
must have been startled, and had their whole system
of thought and action rudely dashed. Poverty of
spirit runs counter to the pride of men's heart; a pen-
give disposition, in the view of one's universal de-
fciences before God, is ill relished by the callous,
indifferent, laughing, self-satisfied world; a meek and
quiet spirit. taking wrong, is regarded as pusillani-
mous, and rasps against the proud, resentful spirit of
the world; that craving after spiritual blessings re-
bakes but too unpleasantly the lust of the flesh, the
hat of the eye, and the pride of life; so does a merci-
fal spirit the hardheartedness of the world; purity of
beart contrasts painfully with painted hypocrisy; and
the peacemaker cannot easily be endured by the con-
tentions, quarrelsome world. Thus does "righteous-
ness" come to be "persecuted." But blessed are they
who, in spite of this, dare to be righteous. for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. As this was the reward property.
mised to the poor in spirit-the leading one of these
seren beatitudes-of course it is the proper portion
emch as are persecuted for exemplifying them. 11.
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you-or abuse you
to your face, in opposition to backbiting. (See Mark,
12. and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely, for my sake. Observe this. He had
before said, "for righteousness' sake." Here He iden-
thes Himself and His cause with that of righteous-
nes, binding up the cause of righteousness in the
world with the reception of Himself. Would Moses,
er David, or Isaiah, or Paul have so expressed them-
scives? Never. Doubtless they suffered for right
evusness' sake. But to have called this" their sake,"
would, as every one feels, have been very unbecoming.
Whereas He that speaks, being Righteousness incar-
tate see Mark, 1. 24: Acts, 3. 14; Revelation, 3. 7), when
He so speaks, speaks only like Himself. 12. Rejoice,
and be exceeding glad exult.' In the corresponding

but if the salt have lost his savour-'become unsavoury' or 'insipid;' losing its saline or salting proThe meaning is. If that Christianity on which the health of the world depends, does in any age, region, or individual, exist only in name, or if it contain not those saving elements for want of which the world languishes, wherewith shall it be salted?-how shall the salting qualities be restored to it? (Cf. Mark, 9. 50.) Whether salt ever does lose its saline propertyabout which there is a difference of opinion-is a question of no moment here. The point of the case lies in the supposition-that if it should lose it, the consequence would be as here described. So with Christians. The question is not, Can, or do, the saints ever totally lose that grace which makes them a blessing to their fellow-men? But. What is to be the issue of that Christianity which is found wanting in those elements which can alone stay the corruption and season the tastelessness of an all-pervading carnality? The restoration or non-restoration of grace, or true living Christianity, to those who have lost it, has, in our judgment, nothing at all to do here. The question is

Christ's Sermon

MATTHEW, V.

not. If a man lose his grace, how shall that grace be restored to him? but, Since living Christianity is the only "salt of the earth," if men lose that, what else can supply its place? What follows is the appalling answer to this question. it is thenceforth good for nothing. but to be cast out-a figurative expression of indignant exclusion from the kingdom of God (cf. ch. 8. 12; 22. 13; John, 6. 37: 9. 34. and to be trodden under foot of men-expressive of contempt and scorn. It is not the mere want of a certain character, but the want of it in those whose profession and appearance were fitted to beget expectation of finding it. 14. Ye are the light of the world-This being the distinctive title which our Lord appropriates to Himself (John, 8. 12; 9. 5; and see John, 1. 4, 9; 3. 19; 12. 35, 36-a title expressly said to be unsuitable even to the highest of all the prophets (John. 1. 8)-it must be applied here by our Lord to His disciples only as they shine with His light upon the world, in virtue of His Spirit dwelling in them, and the same mind being in them which was also in Christ Jesus. Nor are Christians anywhere else so called. Nay, as if to avoid the august title which the Master has appropriated to Himself, Christians are said to "shine"-not as "lights," as our translators render it, but "as luminaries in the world" (Philip-is the expression, manifestly, of supreme legislative pians, 2. 15); and the Baptist is said to have been" the burning and shining"-not "light," as in our translation, but-lamp" of his day (John, 5. 35). Let it be observed, too, that while the two figures of salt and sunlight both express the same function of Christians-their blessed influence on their fellow-menthey each set this forth under a different aspect. Salt operates internally, in the mass with which it comes in contact; the sunlight operates externally, irradiating all that it reaches. Hence Christians are warily styled "the salt of the earth"-with reference to the masses of mankind with whom they are expected to mix: but "the light of the world"-with reference to the vast and variegated surface which feels its fructifying and gladdening radiance. The same distinction is observable in the second pair of those seven parables which our Lord spoke from the Galilean lake-that of the "mustard seed," which grew to be a great overshadowing tree, answering to the sunlight which invests the world, and that of the "leaven," which a woman took and, like the salt, hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened (ch. 13. 31-33). A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid -nor can it be supposed to have been so built except to be seen by many eyes. 15. Neither do men light a candle-or lamp'-and put it under a bushel-a dry measure-but on a candlestick - rather, 'under the bushel, but on the lamp-stand.' The article is inserted in both cases to express the familiarity of every one with those household utensils. and it giveth light-shineth'-unto all that are in the house. 16. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. As nobody lights a lamp only to cover it up, but places it so conspicuously as to give light to all who need light, so Christians, being the light of the world, instead of hiding their light, are so to hold it forth before men that they may see what a life the disciples of Christ lead, and seeing this, may glorify their Father for so redeeming, transforming, and ennobling earth's sinful children, and opening to themselves the way to like redemption and transformation.

Ex

17-48. IDENTITY OF THESE PRINCIPLES WITH THOSE OF THE ANCIENT ECONOMY, IN CONTRAST WITH THE REIGNING TRADITIONAL TEACHING. position of Principles (v. 17-20). 17 Think not that I am come-that I came'-to destroy the Law, or the Prophets -.e., the authority and principles of the Old Testament.' (On the phrase, see ch. 7. 12; 22. 40: Luke, 16. 16, Acta, 13. 15.) This general way of taking the

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on the Mount. phrase is much better than understanding "the Law" and "the Prophets" separately, and enquiring, as many good critics do, in what sense our Lord could be supposed to meditate the subversion of each. To the various classes of His hearers, who might view such supposed abrogation of the Law and the Prophets with very different feelings. our Lord's announcement would. in effect, be such as this-Ye who "tremble at the word of the Lord," fear not that I am going to sweep the foundation from under your feet: Ye restless and revolutionary spirits, hope not that I am going to head any revolutionary movement: And ye who hypocritically affect great reverence for the Law and the Prophets, pretend not to find anything in my teaching derogatory to God's living oracles.' I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. Not to subvert, abrogate, or annul, but to establish the Law and the Prophets-to unfold them, to embody them in living form, and to enshrine them in the reverence, affection, and character of men, am I come.' 18. For verily I say unto you. Here, for the first time, does that august expression occur in our Lord's recorded teaching, with which we have grown so familiar as hardly to reflect on its full import. It authority; and as the subject in connection with which it is uttered is the Moral Law, no higher claim to an authority strictly divine could be advanced. For when we observe how jealously Jehovah asserts it as His exclusive prerogative to give law to men (Leviticus, 18. 1-5; 19. 37; 26. 1-4, 13-16, &c.), such language as this of our Lord will appear totally unsuitable, and indeed abhorrent, from any creature-lips. When the Baptist's words-"I say unto you" (ch. 3. 9) -are compared with those of his Master here, the difference of the two cases will be at once apparent. Till heaven and earth pass. Though even the Old Testament announces the ultimate "perdition of the heavens and the earth," in contrast with the immutability of Jehovah (Psalm 102. 24-27), the prevalent representation of the heavens and the earth in Scripture, when employed as a popular figure, is that of their stability (Psalm 119. 89-91; Ecclesiastes, 1. 4: JereIniah, 33, 25, 26). It is the enduring stability, then, of the great truths and principles, moral and spiritual. of the Old Testament Revelation which our Lord thus expresses. one jot-the smallest of the Hebrew letters-or one tittle-one of those little strokes by which alone some of the Hebrew letters are distinguished from others like them-shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. The meaning is, that not so much as the smallest loss of authority or vitality shall ever come over the law.' The expression, "till all be fulfilled," is much the same in meaning as it shall be had in undiminished and enduring honour, from its greatest to its least requirements.' Again, this general way of viewing our Lord's words here seems far preferable to that doctrinal understanding of them which would require us to determine the different kinds of "fulfilment" which the moral and the ceremonial parts of it were to have. 19. Whosoever therefore shall break-rather, dissolve,' 'annul,' or 'make invalid'-one of these least commandments-an expression equivalent to 'one of the least of these commandments'-and shall teach men so-referring to the Pharisees and their teaching. as is plain from the next verse, but of course embracing all similar schools and teaching in the Christian Church-he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. As the thing spoken of is not the practical breaking, or disobeying, of the law, but annulling or enervating its obligation by a vicious system of interpretation, and teaching others to do the same; so the thing threatened is not exclusion from heaven, and still less the lowest place in it, but a degraded and

Christ's Sermon

MATTHEW, V

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rontemptuous position in the present stage of the kiardom of God. In other words, 'they shall be reduced by the retributive providence that overtakes them, to the same condition of dishonour to which, by their system and their teaching, they have brought down those eternal principles of God's law.' but who scever shall do and teach them-whose principles and teaching go to exalt the authority and honour of God's law, in its lowest as well as highest requirements-the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven-shall, by that providence which watches Over the honour of God's moral administration, be raised to the same position of authority and honour to which they exalt the law.' 20. For I say unto vou, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. The superiority to the Pharisaic righteousness here required is plainly in kind, not degree; for all Scripture teaches that entrance into God's kingdom, whether in its present or friture stage, depends, not on the degree of our excellence in anything, but solely on our having the character itself which God demands. Our righteousress, then-if it is to contrast with the outward and formal righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees--to must be inward, vital, spiritual. Some, indeed, of the scribes and Pharisees themselves might have the very righteousness here demanded; but our Lord is weaking, not of persons, but of the system they represented and taught. ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. If this refer, as in the preceding ⚫ verse, rather to the earthly stage of this kingdom, the meaning is, that without a righteousness exceeding that of the Pharisees, we cannot be members of it at ali, save in name This was no new doctrine Romans, 1 28, 29; 9. 6; Philippians, 3. 3). But our Lord's teaching here stretches beyond the present scene, to that everlasting stage of the kingdom, where without *parity of heart" none "shall see God."

The spirituality of the true righteousness, in contrast with that of the Scribes and Pharisees, illustrated from the S rth Commandment (v. 21-26. 21. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time-or, as in the margin, *to them of old time.' Which of these translations is the right one has been much controverted. Either of them is grammatically defensible, though the latter-"to the ancients"-is more consistent with New Testament usage (see the Greek of Romans, 9. 12. 26; Revelation, & 11; 9. 4; and most critics decide in favour of it. But it is not a question of Greek only. Nearly all who would translate "to the ancients" take the speaker of the words quoted to be Moses in the law; "the ancients" to be the people to whom Moses gave the law; and the intention of our Lord here to be to enntrast His own teaching, more or less, with that of Moses; either as opposed to it-as some go the length of affirming-or at least as modifying, enlarging, elerating it. But who can reasonably imagine such a thing, just after the most solemn and emphatic proclamation of the perpetuity of the law, and the honcur and glory in which it was to be held under the new economy? To us it seems as plain as possible that our Lord's one object is to contrast the traditional perversions of the law with the true sense of it as expounded by Himself. A few of those who assent to this still think that "to the ancients" is the only legitimate translation of the words; understanding that our Lord is reporting what had been said to the ancients, not by Moses, but by the perverters of his law. We do not object to this: but we incline to think with BEZA, and after him with FRITZSCHE, OLKHAUSEN, STIER, and BLOOMFIELD) that "by the ancients" must have been what our Lord meant here, referring to the corrupt teachers rather than the perverted people. Thou shalt not kill:-q.d., This being all that the law requires, whosoever has im

on the Mount. brued his hands in his brother's blood, but he only, is guilty of a breach of this commandment:' and whoseever shall kill shall be in danger of-liable to'-the judg ment-i.e., of the sentence of those inferior courts of judicature which were established in all the principal towns, in compliance with Deuteronomy, 16. 16. Thus was this commandment reduced, from a holy law of the heart-searching God, to a mere criminal statute, taking cognizance only of outward actions, such as that which we read in Exodus, 21. 12; Leviticus, 24. 17. 22. But I say unto you. Mark the authoritative tone in which-as Himself the Lawgiver and Judge-Christ now gives the true sense, and explains the deep reach, of the commandment. That whosoever is angry with his brother without e cause shall be in danger of the judg ment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca! shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool! shall be in danger of hell fire. It is unreasonable to deny, as ALEXANDER does, that three degrees of punishment are here meant to be expressed, and to say that it is but a threefold expression of one and the same thing. But Romish expositors greatly err in taking the first two-"the judgment" and "the council" refer to degrees of temporal punishment with which lesser sins were to be visited under the Gospel, and only the last-"hell fire"-to refer to the future life. All three clearly refer to divine retribution, and that alone, for breaches of this commandment; though this is expressed by an allusion to Jewish tribunals. The "judgment," as already explained, was the lowest of these: the "council," or 'Sanhedrim' which sat at Jerusalem was the highest; while the word used for "hell fire" contains an allusion to the "valley of the son of Hinnom" (Joshua, 18. 16). In this valley the Jews, when steeped in idolatry, went the length of burning their children to Moloch "on the high places of Tophet"-in consequence of which good Josiah defiled it, to prevent the repetition of such abominations (2 Kings, 23, 10); and from that time forward, if we may believe the Jewish writers, a fire was kept burning in it to consume the carrion, and all kinds of impurities, that collected about the capital. Certain it is, that while the final punishment of the wicked is described in the Old Testament by allusions to this valley of Tophet or Hinnom (Isaiah, 30. 33; 66. 24), our Lord Himself describes the same by merely quoting these terrific descriptions of the evangelical prophet (Mark, 9. 43-48). What precise degrees of unholy feeling towards our brother are indicated by the words "Raca" and "fool" it would be as useless as it is vain to enquire. Every age and every country has its modes of expressing such things; and, no doubt, our Lord seized on the then current phraseology of unholy disrespect and contempt, merely to express and condemn the different degrees of such feeling when brought out in words, as He had immediately before condemned the feeling itself. In fact, so little are we to make of mere words, apart from the feeling which they express, that as anger is expressly said to have been borne by our Lord towards His enemies, though mixed with "grief for the hardness of their hearts" (Mark, 3. 5), and as the apostle teaches us that there is an anger which is not sinful (Ephe sians, 4. 26); so in the Epistle of James (2. 20) we find the words, "O vain" or 'empty' man; and our Lord Himself applies the very word "fools" twice in one breath to the blind guides of the people (ch. 23. 17, 19) - although, in both cases, it is to false reasoners rather than persons that such words are applied. The spirit, then, of the whole statement may be thus given-*For ages ye have been taught that the sixth commandment, for example, is broken only by the murderer. to pass sentence upon whom is the proper business of the recognised tribunals: but I say unto

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MATTHEW, V.

on the Mount.

say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out." &c.-manifestly show that though the language is drawn from human disputes and legal procedure, He is dealing with a higher than any human quarrel, a higher than any human tribunal, a higher than any human and temporal sentence. In this view of the words-in which nearly all critics worthy of the name agree-the spirit of them may be thus expressed :In expounding the sixth commandment, I have spoken of offences between man and man; reminding you that the offender has another party to deal with besides him whom he has wronged on earth, and assuring you that all worship offered to the Searcher of hearts by one who knows that a brother has just cause of complaint against him, and yet takes no steps to remove it, is vain: But I cannot pass from this subject without reminding you of One whose cause of complaint against you is far more deadly than any that man can have against man; and since with that Adversary you are already on the way to judgment, it will be your wisdom to make up the quarrel without delay, lest sentence of condemnation be pronounced upon you, and then will execution straightway follow, from the effects of which you shall never escape as long as any remnant of the offence remains unexpiated.' It will be observed that as the principle on which we are to "agree" with this "Adversary" is not here specified, and the precise nature of the retribution that is to light upon the despisers of this warning is not to be gathered from the mere use of the word "prison;" so, the remedilessness of the punishment is not in so many words expressed, and still less is its actual cessation taught. The language on all these points is designedly general; but it may safely be said that the unending duration of future punishment-elsewhere so clearly and awfully expressed by our Lord Himself, as in v. 29 and 30, and Mark, 9. 43, 48-is the only doctrine with which His language here quite naturally and fully accords. (Cf. ch. 18. 30, 34.)

you that it is broken even by causeless anger, which | to suggest this. The concluding words-"Verily I is but hatred in the bud, as hatred is incipient mur der 1 John, 3. 15; and if by the feelings, much more by those words in which all ill feeling, from the slightest to the most envenomed, are wont to be cast upon a brother: and just as there are gradations in human courts of judicature, and in the sentences which they pronounce according to the degrees of criminality, so will the judicial treatment of all the breakers of this commandment at the divine tribunal be according to their real criminality before the heart-searching Judge.' O what holy teaching is this! 23. Therefore-to apply the foregoing, and show its paramount importance-if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught-of just complaint against thee; 24. Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother. The meaning evidently is-not. 'dismiss from thine own breast all ill-feeling,' but get thy brother to dismiss from his mind all grudge against thee.' and then come and offer thy gift. The picture,' says THOLUCK, 'is drawn from life. It transports us to the moment when the Israelite, having brought his sacrifice to the court of the Israelites, awaited the instant when the priest would approach to receive it at his hands He waits with his gift at the rails which separate the place where he stands from the court of the priests, into which his offering will presently be taken, there to be slain by the priest, and by him presented upon the altar of sacrifice.' It is at this solemn moment, when about to cast himself upon divine mercy, and seek in his offering a seal of divine forgiveness, that the offerer is supposed, all at once, to remember that some brother has a just cause of complaint against him through breach of this commandment in one or other of the ways just indicated. What then? Is he to say. As soon as I have offered this gift I will go straight to my brother, and make it up with him? Nay; but before another step is taken-even before the offering is presented-this reconciliation is to be sought, though the gift have to be left unoffered be- The same subject illustrated from the Seventh Comfore the altar. The converse of the truth here mandment (v. 27-32). 27. Ye have heard that it was said. taught is very strikingly expressed in Mark, 11. 26, The words "by," or "to them of old time," in this 26. "And when ye stand praying (in the very act), verse are insufficiently supported, and probably were forgive, if ye have aught (of just complaint against not in the original text. Thou shalt not commit any; that your Father also which is in heaven may adultery. Interpreting this seventh, as they did the forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, sixth commandment, the traditional perverters of the neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive law restricted the breach of it to acts of criminal inyou." Hence the beautiful practice of the early tercourse between, or with, married persons exChurch, to see that all differences amongst brethren clusively. Our Lord now dissipates such delusions. and sisters in Christ were made up, in the spirit of 28. But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a wolove, before going to the Holy Communion; and the man to lust after her-with the intent to do so, as the Church of England has a rubrical direction to this same expression is used in ch. 6. 1; or, with the full effect in her Communion service. Certainly, if this consent of his will, to feed thereby his unholy be the highest act of worship on earth, such recon- desires. hath committed adultery with her already in ciliation-though obligatory on all other occasions of his heart. We are not to suppose, from the word worship-must be peculiarly so then. 25. Agree with here used-" adultery"-that our Lord means to thine adversary-thine opponent in a matter cognizable restrict the breach of this commandment to marby law. quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him- ried persons, or to criminal intercourse with such. "to the magistrate," as in Luke, 12, 58; lest at any time The expressions, "whosoever looketh," and "looketh -here, rather, 'lest at all,' or simply 'lest' the ad- upon a woman, seem clearly to extend the range of versary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge-having this commandment to all forms of impurity, and the pronounced thee in the wrong, deliver thee to the counsels which follow-as they most certainly were officer-the official whose business it is to see the intended for all, whether married or unmarried-seem sentence carried into effect, and thou be cast into to confirm this. As in dealing with the sixth comprison. 26. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no mandment our Lord first expounds it, and then in the means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost four following verses applies His exposition, so here, farthing a fractional Roman coin, to which our He first expounds the seventh commandment, and "farthing" answers sufficiently well. That our Lord then in the four following verses applies His expomeant here merely to give a piece of prudential sition. 29. And if thy right eye-the readier and the advice to his hearers, to keep out of the hands of the dearer of the two, offend thee-be a 'trap-spring,' or, law and its officials by settling all disputes with one as in the New Testament, be an occasion of stumanother privately, is not for a moment to be sup- bling' to thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee-impiyposed, though there are critics of a school low enoughing a certain indignant promptitude, heedless of what

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