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for this is the law and the prophets.

13 Enter ye in 2 at the strait gate for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

1 Lev. xix. 18. Rom. xiii. 8-10. Gal. v. 14. 2 Luke xiii. 24.

Saviour's golden rule, a name given to it on account of its great value. All that you expect or desire of others in similar circumstances, do to them. Act not from selfishness or injustice, but put yourself in the place of the other, and ask what you would expect of him then. This would make you impartial, and candid, and just. It would destroy avarice, envy, treachery, unkindness, slander, theft, adultery, and murder. It has been well said that this law is what the balancewheel is to machinery. It would prevent all irregularity of movement in the moral world, as that does in a steam-engine. It is easily applied, its justice is seen by all men, and all must acknowledge its force and value. This is the law and the prophets. That is, this is the sum or substance of the Old Testament, It is nowhere found in so many words, but it is a summary expression of all that the law required. The sentiment was in use among the Jews. Hillel, an ancient rabbi, said to a man who wished to become a proselyte, and who asked him to teach him the whole law, "Whatever is hateful to you, do not do to another." Something of the same sentiment was found among the ancient Greeks and Romans.

13, 14. Enter ye in at the strait gate. Christ here compares the way to life to an entrance through a gate. The words straight and strait, have very different meanings. The former means not crooked; the latter pent up, narrow, difficult to be entered. This is the word used here, and it means that the way to heaven is pent up, narrow, close, and not obviously eutered. The way to death is open, broad, and thronged. The Saviour here referred probably to ancient cities. They were surrounded with walls, and entered through gates. Some of those, connected with the great avenues of the city, were

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broad, and admitted a throng. Others, for more private purposes, were narrow, and few would be seen entering them. So, says Christ, is the path to heaven. It is

narrow.

It is not the great highway that men tread. Few go there. Here and there one may be seen, travelling in solitude and singularity. The way to death, on the other hand, is broad. Multitudes are in it. It is the great highway in which men go. They fall into it easily, and without effort, and go without thought. If they wish to leave that, and go by a narrow gate to the city, it would require effort and thought. So, says Christ, diligence is needed to

enter into life. See Luke xiii. 24. None go of course. All must strive to obtain it; and so narrow, unfrequented, and solitary is it, that few find it. This sentiment has been beautifully versified by Watts:

"Broad is the road that leads to death, And thousands walk together there; But wisdom shows a narrower path, With here and there a traveller."

future events.

were

15. False prophets. The word prephet originally means, one who foretells As prophets, however, were commonly regarded as public instructors on the subject of religion, the word came to denote all who religious teachers. In this sense it is probably used here. A false prophet is à teacher of incorrect doctrine, or one falsely and unjustly laying claims to divine inspiration. It probably had reference to the false teachers then among the Jews.

Who come in sheep's clothing. The sheep is an emblem of innocence, sincerity, and harmlessness. To come in sheep's clothing, is to assume the appear ance of sanctity and innocence, when the heart is evil. Ravening wolves. Rapacious; or disposed to plunder. Applied

A.D. 31.

ing, but inwardly they are ravening 1 wolves.

16 Ye shall know them by their 2 fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ?

17 Even so every good tree 3 bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

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to the false teachers, means that they
assumed the appearance of holiness, in
order that they might the more readily
get the property of the people. They
See
were full of extortion and excess.
Matt. xxiii. 25.

16. Ye shall know them by their fruits. He gives the proper test of their character. Men do not judge of a tree by its leaves, or bark, or flowers, but by the fruit which it bears. The flowers may be handsome and fragrant; the foliage thick and green; but these are merely ornamental. It is the fruit that is of chief service to man; and he forms his opinion of the nature and value of the tree by that fruit. So of pretensions to religion. The profession may be fair; but the conduct-the fruit in the eye of the world-is to determine the nature of the principles.

17. A corrupt tree. The word corrupt here does not signify, as our translation would seem to indicate, that the tree had been good, but had become vitiated; but that it was a tree of a useless character, of a nature that produces nothing beneficial.

21. Not every one that saith, &c. He goes on to say that many, on the ground of that profession, will claim admittance into his kingdom. Many will plead that they had done miracles, and preached or prophesied much, and will demand an entrance into heaven. The power of working miracles had no necessary connexion with piety. God may as well, if

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21 ¶Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,5shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied 6 in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess

5 Ch. xxv. 11, 12. Isa. xlviii. 1, 2. Luke vi. 46; xiii. 25. Rom. ii. 13. 6 Num. xxiv. 4. 1 Kin. xxii. 11-14. Jer. xxiii. 13-17. Acts xix. 13-15. 1 Cor. xiii. 2.

In

he chooses, give the power of raising the
dead, to a wicked man, as the skill of
healing to a wicked physician. A miracle
is a display of his own power through the
medium of another. An act of healing
the sick is also a display of his power
through the agency of another.
neither of these cases is there any necessary
connexion with moral character. So of
God may use
preaching, or prophesying.
the agency of a man of talents, though
not pious, to carry forward his purposes.
Saving power on the mind is the work of
God; and he may convey it by any
agency which he may choose. Accord-
ingly, many may be found in the day of
judgment who were endowed with powers
of prophecy, or miracle, as Balaam, or
the magicians of Egypt; in the same way
as many men of distinguished talents may
be found, yet destitute of piety, and shut
out of his kingdom. See Mark ix. 38.
Luke ix. 49. I Cor. xiii. 1-3. In this
last place, Paul says, that though he
spoke with the tongue of angels, and had
the gift of prophecy, and could remove
mountains, and had not charity or love,
all would be of no avail. See my Notes
on 1 Cor. xiii. 1-3.

22. In that day. That is, in the last day, the day of judgment; the time when the principles of all pretenders to prophecy and piety shall be tried.

23. Profess unto them. Say unto them; plainly declare. I never knew you. That is, I never approved, loved, or reHI 2

99

unto them, I never knew you: | the floods came, and the winds depart from me, 1 ye that work ini- blew, and beat upon that house; quity. and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

24 ¶ Therefore 2 whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise 3 man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended, and

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garded you as my friends. See Psa. i. 6. 1 Cor. viii. 3. 2 Tim. ii. 19. This proves that, with all their pretensions, they had never been true followers of Christ. Jesus will not then say to false prophets and false professors of religion, that he had once known them and then rejected them, that they had been once Christians and then had fallen away; that they had been pardoned, and then had apostatized -but that he had never known themthey had never been true Christians. Whatever might have been their pretended joys, their raptures, their hopes, their self-confidence, their visions, their zeal, they had never been regarded by the Saviour as his true friends. I know not a more decided proof that Christians do not fall away from grace than this text. It settles the question; and proves that whatever else such men had, they never had any true religion. See 1 John ii. 19. 24-27. Jesus closes the sermon on the mount by a beautiful comparison, illustrating the benefit of attending to his words. It was not sufficient to hear them; they must be obeyed. He compares the man who should hear and obey him, to a man who built his house on a rock. Palestine was to a considerable extent a land of hills and mountains. Like other countries of that description, it was subject to sudden and violent rains. The Jordan, the principal stream, was annually swollen to a great extent, and became rapid and furious in its course. The streams which ran among the hills, whose channels might have been dry during some months in the year, became suddenly swollen with the rain, and would pour down impetuously into the plains below. Every thing in the way of these

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish5 man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds

4 Psa. xc. 13-15. 51 Sam. ii. 30. Jer. viii. 9.

torrents would be swept off. Even houses erected within the reach of these sudden inundations, and especially if founded on sand, or any unsolid basis, would not stand before them. The rising, bursting stream would shake it to its foundation; the rapid torrent would gradually wash away its base; it would totter and fall, and be swept away. Rocks in that country were common, and it was easy to secure for their houses a solid foundation.

No comparison could, to a Jew, have been more striking. So, tempests, and storms of affliction and persecution, beat around the soul. Suddenly, when we think we are in safety, the heavens may be overcast; the storm may lower; and calamity beat upon us. In a moment, health, friends, comforts, may be gone. How desirable then to be possessed of something that the tempest cannot reach! Such is an interest in Christ; attention to his words; reliance on his promises; confidence in his protection; and a hope of heaven through his blood. Earthly calamities do not reach these ; and, possessed of religion, all the storms and tempests of life may beat harmlessly around us.

There is another point in this comparison. The house built on the sand is beat upon by the floods and rains; its foundation gradually is worn away; it falls, and is borne down the stream, and is destroyed. So falls the sinner. The floods are wearing away his sandy foundation; and soon one tremendous storm shall beat upon him, and he and his hopes shall fall, for ever fall. Out of Christ, perhaps having heard his words from very childhood; perhaps having taught them to others in the Sunday school; perhaps having been the means

blew,' and beat upon that house; and it fell and great was the fall of it.

11 Cor. iii. 13. Heb. x. 26, 27.

of laying the foundation on which others shall build for heaven, he has laid for himself no foundation; and soon an eternal tempest shall beat around his naked soul. How great will be that fall! What will be his emotions when sinking for ever in the flood, and destined for ever to live and writhe in the peltings of that ceaseless storm that shall beat when God shall rain snares, fire, and a horrible tempest upon the wicked?

28, 29. His doctrine. His teaching. As one having authority and not as the Scribes. The Scribes were the learned men and teachers of the jewish nation, and were principally Pharisees. They taught chiefly the sentiments of their rabbins, and the traditions which had been delivered; they consumed much of their time in useless disputes, "vain jangling." Jesus was open, plain, grave, useful; delivering truth as became the oracles of God; not spending his time in trifling disputes, and debating questions of no importance; but confirming his doctrine by miracles and argument; teaching as having power, as it is in the original, and not in the vain and foolish manner of the jewish doctors. He showed that he had authority to explain, enforce, and change the ceremonial laws of the Jews. He came with authority such as no man could have, and it is not remarkable that his explanations astonished them. From this chapter we may learn :I. The evil of censorious judging, ver. 1-5. We cannot see the heart. We have ourselves possibly greater faults than the persons that we condemn. They may be of a different kind; but it is not strange for persons to be very censorious towards faults in others, which they have to much greater extent themselves.

II. We see how we are to treat men who are opposers of the gospel, ver. 6. We are not to present it to them when we know they will despise it, and abuse us. We should, however, be cautious in forming that opinion of them. Many men may be far more ready to hear the gospel than we imagine; and a word seasonably and kindly spoken, may be the means of saving them. Prov. xxv. 11.

28 ¶ And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the

Ecc. xi. 6. We should not meet violent and wicked opposers of the gospel with a harsh, overbearing, and lordly spirit; a spirit of dogmatizing and anger; nor should we violate the laws of social intercourse under the idea of faithfulness. Religion gains nothing by outraging the established laws of social life. 1 Pet. iii. 8. If men will not hear us when we speak to them kindly and respectfully, we may be sure they will not when we abuse them, and become angry. We harden them against the truth, and confirm them in the opinion that religion is of no value. Our Saviour was always mild and kind; and in not a single instance did he do violence to the laws of social intercourse, or fail in the respect due from one man to another. When with harshness men speak to their superiors; when they abuse them with unkind words, and coarse epithets, and unfeeling denunciations; when children and youth forget their station, and speak in harsh, authoritative tones to the aged, they are violating the very first principles of the gospel, meekness, respect, and love. Give honour to whom honour is due, and be kind, be courteous.

III. Christ gives peculiar encouragement to prayer; ver. 7-11. Especially his remarks apply to the young. What child is there that would not go to his parent, and ask him for things which were necessary? What child doubts the willingness of a kind parent to give what he thinks will be best for him? But God is more willing to give than the best parent. We need of him gifts of far more importance than we ever can of an earthly father. None but God can forgive, enlighten, sanctify, and save us. How strange that many ask favours of an earthly parent daily and hourly, and never ask of the great universal Father a single blessing, for time or eternity!

IV. The danger of losing the soul; ver. 13, 14. The way to ruin is broad; the road to heaven is narrow. Men naturally and readily go in the former; they never go in the latter without design. When we enter on the journey of life, we naturally fall into the broad and

people were astonished at his doctrine:

1 Jer. xxiii. 29. Mark vi. 2.

thronged way to ruin. Our original propensity; our native depravity; our disinclination to God and religion, lead us to that. And we never leave it without effort. How much more natural to tread in a way in which multitudes go, than in one where there are few travellers, and which requires an effort to find it! And how much danger is there that we shall continue to tread in that way until it terminates in our ruin! No man is saved without effort. No man enters on the narrow way without design; no one by following his natural inclination and propensities. And yet how indisposed we are to effort; how unwilling to listen to the exhortations which would call us from the broad path to a narrower and less frequented course! How prone are men to feel that they are safe if they are with the many, and that the multitude that attend them constitute a safeguard from danger!

"Encompassed by a throng,

On numbers they depend,
They say so many can't be wrong,
And miss a happy end."

Yet did God ever spare a guilty city because it was large? Did he spare the army of Sennacherib from the destroying angel because it was mighty? Does he hesitate to cut men down by the plague, the pestilence, and by famine, because they are numerous? Is he deterred from consigning men to the grave because they swarm upon the earth, and because a mighty throng is going to death? So in the way to hell. Not numbers, nor power, nor might, nor talent, in the broad way, will deter him or make that way safe; nor will the path to heaven be a dangerous road because few are seen travelling there. The Saviour knew and felt that men are in danger; and hence with much solemnity he warned them when he lived, and now warns us to strive to enter into the strait gate.

V. The necessity of sincerity in religion. ver. 15-23. Profession is of no value without it. God sees the heart. And the day is near when he shall cut down and destroy all those who do not bring forth the fruits of righteousness in their

29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes.

lives. If in any thing we should be honest and sincere, surely it should be in the things of religion. God is never deceived. Gal. vi. 7. And the things of eternity are of too much consequence to be lost by deluding ourselves or others. We may deceive our fellow men, but we do not delude our Maker; and soon he will strip off our thin covering, and show us as we are to the universe. If any thing is of prominent value in religion, it is honesty ;-honesty to ourselves, our fellow men, and to God. Be willing to know the worst of your case. Be willing to be thought of by God and men as you are. Assume nothing which you do not possess; and pretend to nothing which you have not. Judge of yourselves as you do of others, not by words and promises, but by the life. Judge of yourselves as you do of trees, not by leaves and flowers, but by the fruit.

VI. The importance of building our hopes of heaven on a firm foundation. ver. 24-27. No other can any man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ. 1 Cor. iii. 11. He is the tried cornerstone. Eph. ii. 20. 1 Pet. ii. 6. On an edifice raised on that foundation, the storms of persecution and calamity will beat in vain. Hopes thus reared sustain every adversity; are unshaken by the terrors of death; and secure us from the tempests of wrath that shall beat upon the guilty. How awful in the day of judgment, will it be to have been deceived! How dreadful the shock to find then the house built on the sand! How dreadful the emotions, to see our hopes totter on the brink of ruin! to see sand after sand washed away, and the dwelling reel over the heaving deep, and fail into the abyss, to rise no more! Ruin, awful and eternal ruin, awaits those who thus deceive themselves, and trust to a name to live, while they are dead.

VII. Under what obligation are we for this sermon on the mount. In all languages there is not a discourse to be found that can be compared with it for purity, and truth, and beauty, and dignity. Were there no other evidence of the divine mission of Christ, this alone would be sufficient to prove that he was sent from

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