mh_parser/vol_split/40 - Matthew/Chapter 23.xml

<div2 id="Matt.xxiv" n="xxiv" next="Matt.xxv" prev="Matt.xxiii" progress="26.91%" title="Chapter XXIII">
<h2 id="Matt.xxiv-p0.1">M A T T H E W.</h2>
<h3 id="Matt.xxiv-p0.2">CHAP. XXIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Matt.xxiv-p1">In the foregoing chapter, we had our Saviour's
discourses with the scribes and Pharisees; here we have his
discourse concerning them, or rather against them. I. He allows
their office, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.2-Matt.23.3" parsed="|Matt|23|2|23|3" passage="Mt 23:2,3">ver. 2, 3</scripRef>.
II. He warns his disciples not to imitate their hypocrisy and
pride, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.4-Matt.23.12" parsed="|Matt|23|4|23|12" passage="Mt 23:4-12">ver. 4-12</scripRef>. III. He
exhibits a charge against them for divers high crimes and
misdemeanors, corrupting the law, opposing the gospel, and
treacherous dealing both with God and man; and to each article he
prefixes a woe, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.13-Matt.23.33" parsed="|Matt|23|13|23|33" passage="Mt 23:13-33">ver.
13-33</scripRef>. IV. He passes sentence upon Jerusalem, and
foretels the ruin of the city and temple, especially for the sin of
persecution, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.34-Matt.23.39" parsed="|Matt|23|34|23|39" passage="Mt 23:34-39">ver.
34-39</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Matt.xxiv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23" parsed="|Matt|23|0|0|0" passage="Mt 23" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Matt.xxiv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.1-Matt.23.12" parsed="|Matt|23|1|23|12" passage="Mt 23:1-12" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Matt.23.1-Matt.23.12">
<h4 id="Matt.xxiv-p1.7">The Scribes and Pharisees Condemned;
Cautions against Pride.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Matt.xxiv-p2">1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his
disciples,   2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in
Moses' seat:   3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you
observe, <i>that</i> observe and do; but do not ye after their
works: for they say, and do not.   4 For they bind heavy
burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay <i>them</i> on men's
shoulders; but they <i>themselves</i> will not move them with one
of their fingers.   5 But all their works they do for to be
seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the
borders of their garments,   6 And love the uppermost rooms at
feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,   7 And
greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
  8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master,
<i>even</i> Christ; and all ye are brethren.   9 And call no
<i>man</i> your father upon the earth: for one is your Father,
which is in heaven.   10 Neither be ye called masters: for one
is your Master, <i>even</i> Christ.   11 But he that is
greatest among you shall be your servant.   12 And whosoever
shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble
himself shall be exalted.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p3">We find not Christ, in all his preaching,
so severe upon any sort of people as upon these <i>scribes and
Pharisees;</i> for the truth is, nothing is more directly opposite
to the spirit of the gospel than the temper and practice of that
generation of men, who were made up of pride, worldliness, and
tyranny, under a cloak and pretence of religion; yet these were the
idols and darlings of the people, who thought, if but two men went
to heaven, one would be a Pharisee. Now Christ directs his
discourse here <i>to the multitude, and to his disciples</i>
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.1" parsed="|Matt|23|1|0|0" passage="Mt 23:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>) to rectify
their mistakes concerning these scribes and Pharisees, by painting
them out in their true colours, and so to take off the prejudice
which some of the multitude had conceived against Christ and his
doctrine, because it was opposed by those men of their church, that
called themselves the people's guides. Note, It is good to know the
true characters of men, that we may not be imposed upon by great
and mighty names, titles, and pretensions to power. People must be
told of <i>the wolves</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.20.29-Acts.20.30" parsed="|Acts|20|29|20|30" passage="Ac 20:29,30">Acts xx.
29, 30</scripRef>), <i>the dogs</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.2" parsed="|Phil|3|2|0|0" passage="Php 3:2">Phil. iii. 2</scripRef>), <i>the deceitful workers</i>
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.11.13" parsed="|2Cor|11|13|0|0" passage="2Co 11:13">2 Cor. xi. 13</scripRef>), that they
may know here to stand upon their guard. And not only the mixed
multitude, but even the disciples, need these cautions; for good
men are apt to have their eyes dazzled with worldly pomp.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p4">Now, in this discourse,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p5">I. Christ allows their office as expositors
of the law; <i>The scribes and Pharisees</i> (that is, the whole
Sanhedrim, who sat at the helm of church government, who were all
called <i>scribes,</i> and were some of them Pharisees), they
<i>sit in Moses' seat</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.2" parsed="|Matt|23|2|0|0" passage="Mt 23:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>), as public teachers and interpreters of the law; and,
the law of Moses being the municipal law of their state, they were
as judges, or a bench of justices; teaching and judging seem to be
equivalent, comparing <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.17.7 Bible:2Chr.17.9 Bible:2Chr.19.5-2Chr.19.6 Bible:2Chr.19.8" parsed="|2Chr|17|7|0|0;|2Chr|17|9|0|0;|2Chr|19|5|19|6;|2Chr|19|8|0|0" passage="2Ch 17:7,9,19:5,6,8">2
Chron. xvii. 7, 9, with 2 Chron. xix. 5, 6, 8</scripRef>. They were
not the itinerant judges that rode the circuit, but the standing
bench, that determined on appeals, special verdicts, or writs of
error by the law; they sat in Moses's seat, not as he was Mediator
between God and Israel, but only as he was chief justice, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.26" parsed="|Exod|18|26|0|0" passage="Ex 18:26">Exod. xviii. 26</scripRef>. Or, we may apply it,
not to the Sanhedrim, but to the other Pharisees and scribes, that
expounded the law, and taught the people how to apply it to
particular cases. <i>The pulpit of wood,</i> such as was made for
Ezra, <i>that ready scribe in the law of God</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Neh.8.4" parsed="|Neh|8|4|0|0" passage="Ne 8:4">Neh. viii. 4</scripRef>), is here called
<i>Moses's seat,</i> because Moses had those in every city (so the
expression is, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Acts.15.21" parsed="|Acts|15|21|0|0" passage="Ac 15:21">Acts xv.
21</scripRef>), who in those pulpits preached him; this was their
office, and it was just and honourable; it was requisite that there
should be some at whose mouth the people might <i>enquire the
law,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.7" parsed="|Mal|2|7|0|0" passage="Mal 2:7">Mal. ii. 7</scripRef>. Note,
1. Many a good place is filled with bad men; it is no new thing for
the vilest men to be exalted even to <i>Moses's seat</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p5.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.8" parsed="|Ps|12|8|0|0" passage="Ps 12:8">Ps. xii. 8</scripRef>); and, when it is so, the
men are not so much honoured by the seat as the seat is dishonoured
by the men. Now they that sat in Moses's seat were so wretchedly
degenerated, that it was time for the great Prophet to arise, like
unto Moses, to erect another seat. 2. Good and useful offices and
powers are not <i>therefore</i> to be condemned and abolished,
because they fall sometimes into the hands of bad men, who abuse
them. We must not <i>therefore</i> pull down Moses's seat, because
scribes and Pharisees have got possession of it; rather than so,
<i>let both grow together until the harvest,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p5.8" osisRef="Bible:Matt.13.30" parsed="|Matt|13|30|0|0" passage="Mt 13:30"><i>ch.</i> xiii. 30</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p6">Hence he infers (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.3" parsed="|Matt|23|3|0|0" passage="Mt 23:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), "<i>Whatsoever they bid you
observe, that observe and do</i> As far as they <i>sit in Moses's
seat,</i> that is, read and preach the law that was given by Moses"
(which, as yet, continued in full force, power, and virtue), "and
judge according to that law, so far you must hearken to them, as
remembrances to you of the written word." The scribes and Pharisees
made it their business to study the scripture, and were well
acquainted with the language, history, and customs of it, and its
style and phraseology. Now Christ would have the people to make use
of the helps they gave them for the understanding of the scripture,
and do accordingly. As long as their comments did illustrate the
text and not pervert it; did make plain, and not <i>make void, the
commandment of God;</i> so far they must be observed and obeyed,
but with caution and a judgment of discretion. Note, We must not
think the worse of good truths for their being preached by bad
ministers; nor of good laws for their being executed by bad
magistrates. Though it is most desirable to have our food brought
by angels, yet, if God send it to us by ravens, if it be good and
wholesome, we must take it, and thank God for it. Our Lord Jesus
promiseth this, to prevent the cavil which some would be apt to
make at this following discourse; as if, by condemning the scribes
and Pharisees, he designed to bring the law of Moses into contempt,
and to draw people off from it; whereas he <i>came not to destroy,
but to fulfil.</i> Note, It is wisdom to obviate the exceptions
which may be taken at just reproofs, especially when there is
occasion to distinguish between officers and their offices, <i>that
the ministry be not blamed</i> when the ministers are.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p7">II. He condemns the men. He had ordered the
multitude to do as they taught; but here he annexeth a caution not
to do as they did, to beware of their leaven; <i>Do not ye after
their works.</i> Their traditions were their works, were their
idols, the works of their fancy. Or, "Do not according to their
example." Doctrines and practices are spirits that must be tried,
and where there is occasion, must be carefully separated and
distinguished; and as we must not swallow corrupt doctrines for the
sake of any laudable practices of those that teach them, so we must
not imitate any bad examples for the sake of the plausible
doctrines of those that set them. The scribes and Pharisees boasted
as much of the goodness of their works as of the orthodoxy of their
teaching, and hoped to be justified by them; it was the plea they
put in (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.11-Luke.18.12" parsed="|Luke|18|11|18|12" passage="Lu 18:11,12">Luke xviii. 11,
12</scripRef>); and yet these things, which they valued themselves
so much upon, were an abomination in the sight of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p8">Our Saviour <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.3-Matt.23.32" parsed="|Matt|23|3|23|32" passage="Mt 23:3-32">here, and in the following verses</scripRef>,
specifies divers particulars of their works, wherein we must not
imitate them. In general, they are charged with hypocrisy,
dissimulation, or double-dealing in religion; a crime which cannot
be enquired of at men's bar, because we can only judge according to
outward appearance; but God, who searcheth the heart, can convict
of hypocrisy; and nothing is more displeasing to him, for he
desireth truth.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p9">Four things are in <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.4-Matt.23.7" parsed="|Matt|23|4|23|7" passage="Mt 23:4-7">these verses</scripRef> charged upon them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p10">1. Their saying and doing were two
things.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p11">Their practice was no way agreeable either
to their preaching or to their profession; for <i>they say, and do
not;</i> they teach out of the law that which is good, but their
conversation gives them the lie; and they seem to have found
another way to heaven for themselves than what they show to others.
See this illustrated and charged home upon them, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.17-Rom.2.24" parsed="|Rom|2|17|2|24" passage="Ro 2:17-24">Rom. ii. 17-24</scripRef>. Those are of all sinners
most inexcusable that allow themselves in the sins they condemn in
others, or in worse. This doth especially touch wicked ministers,
who will be sure to have their portion appointed them with
hypocrites (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.51" parsed="|Matt|24|51|0|0" passage="Mt 24:51"><i>ch.</i> xxiv.
51</scripRef>); for what greater hypocrisy can there be, than to
press that upon others, to be believed and done, which they
themselves disbelieve and disobey; pulling down in their practice
what they build up in their preaching; when in the pulpit,
preaching so well that it is a pity they should ever come out; but,
when out of the pulpit, living so ill that it is a pity they should
ever come in; like bells, that call others to church, but hang out
of it themselves; or Mercurial posts, that point the way to others,
but stand still themselves? Such will <i>be judged out of their own
mouths.</i> It is applicable to all others that say, and do not;
that make a plausible profession of religion, but do not live up to
that profession; that make fair promises, but do not perform their
promises; are full of good discourse, and can lay down the law to
all about them, but are empty of good works; great talkers, but
little doers; <i>the voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the
hands of Esau. Vox et præterea nihil—mere sound.</i> They speak
fair, <i>I go, sir;</i> but there is no trusting them, for <i>there
are seven abominations in their heart.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p12">2. They were very severe in imposing upon
others those things which they were not themselves willing to
submit to the burthen of (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.4" parsed="|Matt|23|4|0|0" passage="Mt 23:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>); <i>They bind heavy burthens, and grievous to be
borne;</i> not only insisting upon the minute circumstances of the
law, which is called <i>a yoke</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.15.10" parsed="|Acts|15|10|0|0" passage="Ac 15:10">Acts xv. 10</scripRef>), and pressing the observation of
them with more strictness and severity than God himself did
(whereas the maxim of the lawyers, is <i>Apices juris son sunt
jura—Mere points of law are not law</i>), but by adding to his
words, and imposing their own inventions and traditions, under the
highest penalties. They loved to show their authority and to
exercise their domineering faculty, lording it over God's heritage,
and saying to men's souls, <i>Bow down, that we may go over;</i>
witness their many additions to the law of the fourth commandment,
by which they made the sabbath a burthen on men's shoulders, which
was designed to be the joy of their hearts. Thus with force and
cruelty did those shepherds <i>rule the flock,</i> as of old,
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.34.4" parsed="|Ezek|34|4|0|0" passage="Eze 34:4">Ezek. xxxiv. 4</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p13">But see their hypocrisy; <i>They themselves
will not move them with one of their fingers.</i> (1.) They would
not exercise themselves in those things which they imposed upon
others; they pressed upon the people a strictness in religion which
they themselves would not be bound by; but secretly transgressed
their own traditions, which they publicly enforced. They indulged
their pride in giving law to others; but consulted their ease in
their own practice. Thus it has been said, to the reproach of the
popish priests, that they fast with wine and sweetmeats, while they
force the people to fast with bread and water; and decline the
penances they enjoin the laity. (2.) They would not ease the people
in these things, nor put a finger to lighten their burthen, when
they saw it pinched them. They could find out loose constructions
to put upon God's law, and could dispense with that, but would not
bate an ace of their own impositions, nor dispense with a failure
in the least punctilio of them. They allowed no chancery to relieve
the extremity of their common law. How contrary to this was the
practice of Christ's apostles, who would allow to others that use
of Christian liberty which, for the peace and edification of the
church, they would deny themselves in! They would lay no other
burthen than necessary things, and those easy, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.15.28" parsed="|Acts|15|28|0|0" passage="Ac 15:28">Acts xv. 28</scripRef>. How carefully doth Paul spare
those to whom he writes! <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.28 Bible:1Cor.9.12" parsed="|1Cor|7|28|0|0;|1Cor|9|12|0|0" passage="1Co 7:28,9:12">1 Cor.
vii. 28; ix. 12</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p14">3. They were all for show, and nothing for
substance, in religion (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.5" parsed="|Matt|23|5|0|0" passage="Mt 23:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>); <i>All their works they do, to be seen of men.</i>
We must do such good works, that they who see them may glorify God;
but we must not proclaim our good works, with design that others
may see them, and glorify us; which our Saviour here chargeth upon
the Pharisees in general, as he had done before in the particular
instances of prayer and giving of alms. All their end was to be
praised of men, and therefore all their endeavour was to be seen of
men, to <i>make a fair show in the flesh.</i> In those duties of
religion which fall under the eye of men, none ere so constant and
abundant as they; but in what lies between God and their souls, in
the retirement of their closets, and the recesses of their hearts,
they desire to be excused. The <i>form</i> of godliness will get
them a name to live, which is all they aim at, and therefore they
trouble not themselves with the <i>power</i> of it, which is
essential to a life indeed. He that does all to be seen does
nothing to the purpose.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p15">He specifies two things which they did to
be seen of men.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p16">(1.) <i>They made broad their
phylacteries.</i> Those were little scrolls of paper or parchment,
wherein were written, with great niceness, these four paragraphs of
the law, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.2-Exod.13.11 Bible:Exod.13.11-Exod.13.16 Bible:Deut.6.4-Deut.6.9 Bible:Deut.11.13-Deut.11.21" parsed="|Exod|13|2|13|11;|Exod|13|11|13|16;|Deut|6|4|6|9;|Deut|11|13|11|21" passage="Ex 13:2-11,13:11-16,De 6:4-9,11:13-21">Exod. xiii. 2-11; xiii.
11-16; Deut. vi. 4-9; xi. 13-21</scripRef>. These were sewn up in
leather, and worn upon their foreheads and left arms. It was a
tradition of the elders, which had reference to <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.9" parsed="|Exod|13|9|0|0" passage="Ex 13:9">Exod. xiii. 9</scripRef>, and <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.7.3" parsed="|Prov|7|3|0|0" passage="Pr 7:3">Prov. vii. 3</scripRef>, where the expressions seem to be
figurative, intimating no more than that we should bear the things
of God in our minds as carefully as if we had them bound between
our eyes. Now the Pharisees made broad these phylacteries, that
they might be thought more holy, and strict, and zealous for the
law, than others. It is a gracious ambition to covet to be really
more holy than others, but it is a proud ambition to covet to
appear so. It is good to excel in real piety, but not to exceed in
outward shows; for overdoing is justly suspected of design,
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.27.14" parsed="|Prov|27|14|0|0" passage="Pr 27:14">Prov. xxvii. 14</scripRef>. It is the
guise of hypocrisy to make more ado than needs in external service,
more than is needful either to prove, or to <i>im</i>prove, the
good affections and dispositions of the soul.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p17">(2.) <i>They enlarged the borders of their
garments.</i> God appointed the Jews to make borders or fringes
upon their garments (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.38" parsed="|Num|15|38|0|0" passage="Nu 15:38">Num. xv.
38</scripRef>), to distinguish them from other nations, and to be a
memorandum to them of their being a peculiar people; but the
Pharisees were not content to have these borders like other
people's, which might serve God's design in appointing them; but
they must be larger than ordinary, to answer their design of making
themselves to be taken notice of; as if they were more religious
than others. But those who thus enlarge their phylacteries, and the
borders of their garments, while their hearts are straitened, and
destitute of the love of God and their neighbour, though they may
now deceive others, will in the end deceive themselves.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p18">4. They much affected pre-eminence and
superiority, and prided themselves extremely in it. Pride was the
darling reigning sin of the Pharisees, <i>the sin that did most
easily beset them</i> and which our Lord Jesus takes all occasions
to witness against.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p19">(1.) He describes their pride, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.6-Matt.23.7" parsed="|Matt|23|6|23|7" passage="Mt 23:6,7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>. They courted, and
coveted,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p20">[1.] Places of honour and respect. In all
public appearances, as <i>at feasts, and in the synagogues,</i>
they expected, and had, to their hearts' delight, <i>the uppermost
rooms, and the chief seats.</i> They took place of all others, and
precedency was adjudged to them, as persons of the greatest note
and merit; and it is easy to imagine what a complacency they took
in it; <i>they loved to have the preeminence,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:3John.1.9" parsed="|3John|1|9|0|0" passage="3John 1:9">3 John 9</scripRef>. It is not possessing the
uppermost rooms, nor sitting in the chief seats, that is condemned
(somebody must sit uppermost), but <i>loving</i> them; for men to
value such a little piece of ceremony as sitting highest, going
first, taking the wall, or the better hand, and to value themselves
upon it, to seek it, and to feel resentment if they have it not;
what is that but making an idol of ourselves, and then falling down
and worshipping it—the worst kind of idolatry! It is bad any
where, but especially in the synagogues. <i>There</i> to seek
honour to ourselves, where we appear in order to give glory to God,
and to humble ourselves before him, is indeed to mock God instead
of serving him. David would willingly lie at the threshold in God's
house; so far was he from coveting <i>the chief seat</i> there,
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.84.10" parsed="|Ps|84|10|0|0" passage="Ps 84:10">Ps. lxxxiv. 10</scripRef>. It savours
much of pride and hypocrisy, when people do not care for going to
church, unless they can look fine and make a figure there.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p21">[2.] Titles of honour and respect. They
<i>loved greetings in the markets,</i> loved to have people put off
their hats to them, and show them respect when they met them in the
streets. O how it pleased them, and fed their vain humour,
<i>digito monstrari et dicier, Hic est—to be pointed out, and to
have it said, This be he,</i> to have way made for them in the
crowd of market people; "Stand off, here is a Pharisee coming!" and
to be complimented with the high and pompous title of <i>Rabbi,
Rabbi!</i> This was meat and drink and dainties to them; and they
took as great a satisfaction in it as Nebuchadnezzar did in his
palace, when he said, <i>Is not this great Babylon that I have
built?</i> The <i>greetings</i> would not have done them half so
much good, if they had not been in the markets, where every body
might see how much they were respected, and how high they stood in
the opinion of the people. It was but a little before Christ's
time, that the Jewish teachers, the masters of Israel, had assumed
the title of <i>Rabbi, Rab,</i> or <i>Rabban,</i> which signifies
<i>great or much;</i> and was construed as <i>Doctor,</i> or <i>My
lord.</i> And they laid such a stress upon it, that they gave it
for a maxim that "he who salutes his teacher, and does not call him
Rabbi, provokes the divine Majesty to depart from Israel;" so much
religion did they place in that which was but a piece of good
manners! For him that is taught in the word to give respect to him
that teaches is commendable enough in him that gives it; but for
him that teaches to love it, and demand it, and affect it, to be
puffed up with it, and to be displeased if it be omitted, is sinful
and abominable; and, instead of teaching, he has need to learn the
first lesson in the school of Christ, which is humility.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p22">(2.) He cautions his disciples against
being herein like them; herein they must not do after their works;
"But be not ye called so, for ye shall not be of such a spirit,"
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.8" parsed="|Matt|23|8|0|0" passage="Mt 23:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>, &amp;c.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p23">Here is, [1.] A prohibition of pride. They
are here forbidden,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p24"><i>First,</i> To challenge titles of honour
and dominion to themselves, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.8-Matt.23.10" parsed="|Matt|23|8|23|10" passage="Mt 23:8-10"><i>v.</i> 8-10</scripRef>. It is repeated twice; <i>Be
not called Rabbi, neither be ye called Master or Guide:</i> not
that it is unlawful to give civil respect to <i>those that are over
us in the Lord,</i> nay, it is an instance of the honour and esteem
which it is our duty to show them; but, 1. Christ's ministers must
not affect the name of <i>Rabbi</i> or <i>Master,</i> by way of
distinction from other people; it is not agreeable to the
simplicity of the gospel, for them to covet or accept the honour
which they have that are in kings' palaces. 2. They must not assume
the authority and dominion implied in those names; they must not be
magisterial, nor domineer over their brethren, or over God's
heritage, as if they had dominion over the faith of Christians:
what they received of the Lord, all must receive from them; but in
other things they must not make their opinions and wills a rule and
standard to all other people, to be admitted with an implicit
obedience. The reasons for this prohibition are,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p25">(1.) <i>One is your Master, even
Christ,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.8 Bible:Matt.23.10" parsed="|Matt|23|8|0|0;|Matt|23|10|0|0" passage="Mt 23:8,10"><i>v.</i> 8, and again,
<i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Note, [1.] Christ is our Master, our
Teacher, our Guide. Mr. George Herbert, when he named the name of
<i>Christ,</i> usually added, <i>My Master.</i> [2.] Christ only is
our Master, ministers are but ushers in the school. Christ only is
the Master, the great Prophet, whom we must hear, and be ruled and
overruled by; whose word must be an oracle and a law to us;
<i>Verily I say unto you,</i> must be enough to us. And if he only
be our Master, then for his ministers to set up for dictators, and
to pretend to a supremacy and an infallibility, is a daring
usurpation of that honour of Christ which he will not give to
another.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p26">(2.) <i>All ye are brethren.</i> Ministers
are brethren not only to one another, but to the people; and
therefore it ill becomes them to be masters, when there are none
for them to master it over but their brethren; yea, and we are all
younger brethren, otherwise the eldest might claim an <i>excellency
of dignity and power,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.3" parsed="|Gen|49|3|0|0" passage="Ge 49:3">Gen. xlix.
3</scripRef>. But, to preclude that, Christ himself is <i>the
first-born among many brethren,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.29" parsed="|Rom|8|29|0|0" passage="Ro 8:29">Rom. viii. 29</scripRef>. Ye are brethren, as ye are all
disciples of the same Master. School-fellows are brethren, and, as
such, should help one another in getting their lesson; but it will
by no means be allowed that one of the scholars step into the
master's seat, and give law to the school. If we are all brethren,
we must not be <i>many masters.</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p26.3" osisRef="Bible:Jas.3.1" parsed="|Jas|3|1|0|0" passage="Jam 3:1">Jam. iii. 1</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p27"><i>Secondly,</i> They are forbidden to
ascribe such titles to others (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.9" parsed="|Matt|23|9|0|0" passage="Mt 23:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>); "<i>Call no man your father upon
the earth;</i> constitute no man the father of your religion, that
is, the founder, author, director, and governor, of it." The
fathers of our flesh must be called <i>fathers,</i> and as such we
must <i>give them reverence;</i> but God only must be allowed as
<i>the Father of our spirits,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p27.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.9" parsed="|Heb|12|9|0|0" passage="Heb 12:9">Heb.
xii. 9</scripRef>. Our religion must not be derived from, or made
to depend upon, any man. We are born again to the spiritual and
divine life, <i>not of corruptible seed, but by the word of God;
not of the will of the flesh, or the will of man, but of God.</i>
Now the will of man, not being the rise of our religion, must not
be the rule of it. We must not <i>jurare in verba magistri—swear
to the dictates of any creature,</i> not the wisest or best, nor
pin our faith on any man's sleeve, because we know not whither he
will carry it. St. Paul calls himself <i>a Father</i> to those
whose conversion he had been an instrument of (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p27.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.4.15 Bible:Phlm.1.10" parsed="|1Cor|4|15|0|0;|Phlm|1|10|0|0" passage="1Co 4:15,Philem 1:10">1 Cor. iv. 15; Phil. 10</scripRef>); but he
pretends to no dominion over them, and uses that title to denote,
not authority, but affection: therefore he calls them not his
<i>obliged,</i> but his <i>beloved,</i> sons, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p27.4" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.4.14" parsed="|1Cor|4|14|0|0" passage="1Co 4:14">1 Cor. iv. 14</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p28">The reason given is, <i>One is your Father,
who is in heaven.</i> God is our Father, and is All in all in our
religion. He is the Fountain of it, and its Founder; the Life of
it, and its Lord; from whom alone, as the Original, our spiritual
life is derived, and on whom it depends. He is <i>the Father of</i>
all <i>lights</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.17" parsed="|Jas|1|17|0|0" passage="Jam 1:17">Jam. i.
17</scripRef>), that <i>one Father, from whom are all things, and
we in him,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p28.2" osisRef="Bible:Eph.4.6" parsed="|Eph|4|6|0|0" passage="Eph 4:6">Eph. iv. 6</scripRef>.
Christ having taught us to say, <i>Our Father, who art in
heaven;</i> let us <i>call no man Father upon earth;</i> no man,
because <i>man is a worm, and the son of man is a worm,</i> hewn
out of the same rock with us; especially not upon earth, for man
upon earth is a sinful worm; <i>there is not a just man upon earth,
that doeth good, and sinneth not,</i> and therefore no one is fit
to be called <i>Father.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p29">[2.] Here is a precept of humility and
mutual subjection (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.11" parsed="|Matt|23|11|0|0" passage="Mt 23:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>); <i>He that is greatest among you shall be your
servant;</i> not only call himself so (we know of one who styles
himself <i>Servus servorum Dei—Servant of the servants of God,</i>
but acts as Rabbi, and father, and master, and <i>Dominus Deus
noster—The Lord our God,</i> and what not), but he shall be so.
Take it as a promise; "<i>He</i> shall be accounted greatest, and
stand highest in the favour of God, that is most submissive and
serviceable;" or as a precept; "He that is advanced to any place of
dignity, trust, and honour, in the church, <i>let him be your
servant</i>" (some copies read <b><i>esto</i></b> for
<b><i>estai</i></b>), "let him not think that his patent of honour
is a writ of ease; no; <i>he that is greatest</i> is not a lord,
but a minister." St. Paul, who knew his privilege as well as duty,
though <i>free from all, yet made himself servant unto all</i>
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p29.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.9.19" parsed="|1Cor|9|19|0|0" passage="1Co 9:19">1 Cor. ix. 19</scripRef>); and our
Master frequently pressed it upon his disciples to be humble and
self-denying, mild and condescending, and to abound in all offices
of Christian love, though mean, and to the meanest; and of this he
hath set us an example.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p30">[3.] Here is a good reason for all this,
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.12" parsed="|Matt|23|12|0|0" passage="Mt 23:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Consider,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p31"><i>First,</i> The punishment intended for
the proud; <i>Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased.</i> If
God give them repentance, they will be abased in their own eyes,
and will abhor themselves for it; if they repent not, sooner or
later they will be abased before the world. Nebuchadnezzar, in the
height of his pride, was turned to be a fellow-commoner with the
beasts; Herod, to be a feast for the worms; and Babylon, that sat
as a queen, to be the scorn of nations. God made the proud and
aspiring priests contemptible and base (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.9" parsed="|Mal|2|9|0|0" passage="Mal 2:9">Mal. ii. 9</scripRef>), and the lying prophet to be
<i>the tail,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p31.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.9.15" parsed="|Isa|9|15|0|0" passage="Isa 9:15">Isa. ix.
15</scripRef>. But if proud men have not marks of humiliation set
upon them in this world, there is a day coming, when they shall
<i>rise to everlasting shame and contempt</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p31.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.12.2" parsed="|Dan|12|2|0|0" passage="Da 12:2">Dan. xii. 2</scripRef>); <i>so plentifully will he reward
the proud doer!</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p31.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.31.23" parsed="|Ps|31|23|0|0" passage="Ps 31:23">Ps. xxxi.
23</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p32"><i>Secondly,</i> The preferment intended
for the humble; <i>He that shall humble himself shall be
exalted.</i> Humility is that <i>ornament which is in the sight of
God of great price.</i> In this world the humble have the honour of
being accepted with the holy God, and respected by all wise and
good men; of being qualified for, and often called out to, the most
honourable services; for honour is like the shadow, which flees
from those that pursue it, and grasp at it, but follows those that
flee from it. However, in the other world, they that have humbled
themselves in contrition for their sin, in compliance with their
God, and in condescension to their brethren, shall be exalted to
inherit the throne of glory; shall be not only owned, but crowned,
before angels and men.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Matt.xxiv-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.13-Matt.23.33" parsed="|Matt|23|13|23|33" passage="Mt 23:13-33" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Matt.23.13-Matt.23.33">
<h4 id="Matt.xxiv-p32.2">The Crimes of the Pharisees.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Matt.xxiv-p33">13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for
ye neither go in <i>yourselves,</i> neither suffer ye them that are
entering to go in.   14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make
long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
  15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye
make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.   16
Woe unto you, <i>ye</i> blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall
swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by
the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!   17 <i>Ye</i> fools
and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that
sanctifieth the gold?   18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the
altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is
upon it, he is guilty.   19 <i>Ye</i> fools and blind: for
whether <i>is</i> greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth
the gift?   20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar,
sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.   21 And whoso
shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth
therein.   22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by
the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.   23 Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of
mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier
<i>matters</i> of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought
ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.   24
<i>Ye</i> blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a
camel.   25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but
within they are full of extortion and excess.   26 <i>Thou</i>
blind Pharisee, cleanse first that <i>which is</i> within the cup
and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.   27
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like
unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but
are within full of dead <i>men's</i> bones, and of all uncleanness.
  28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but
within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.   29 Woe unto
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs
of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
  30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we
would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the
prophets.   31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that
ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.   32
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.   33 <i>Ye</i>
serpents, <i>ye</i> generation of vipers, how can ye escape the
damnation of hell?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p34">In these verses we have eight woes levelled
directly against the scribes and Pharisees by our Lord Jesus
Christ, like so many claps of thunder, or flashes of lightning,
from mount Sinai. <i>Three</i> woes are made to look very dreadful
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p34.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.8.13 Bible:Rev.9.12" parsed="|Rev|8|13|0|0;|Rev|9|12|0|0" passage="Re 8:13,9:12">Rev. viii. 13; ix.
12</scripRef>); but here are <i>eight</i> woes, in opposition to
the eight beatitudes, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p34.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.3" parsed="|Matt|5|3|0|0" passage="Mt 5:3">Matt. v.
3</scripRef>. The gospel has its woes as well as the law, and
gospel curses are of all curses the heaviest. These woes are the
more remarkable, not only because of the authority, but because of
the meekness and gentleness, of him that denounced them. He came to
bless, and loved to bless; but, if his wrath be kindled, there is
surely cause for it: and who shall entreat for him that the great
Intercessor pleads against? A woe from Christ is a remediless
woe.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p35">This is here the burthen of the song, and
it is a heavy burthen; <i>Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites.</i> Note, 1. The scribes and Pharisees were hypocrites;
that is it in which all the rest of their bad characters are summed
up; it was the leaven which gave the relish to all they said and
did. A hypocrite is a stage-player in religion (that is the primary
signification of the word); he personates or acts the part of one
that he neither is nor may be, or perhaps the he neither is nor
would be. 2. That hypocrites are in a woeful state and condition.
<i>Woe to hypocrites;</i> so <i>he</i> said whose saying that their
case is miserable makes it so: while they live, their religion is
vain; when they die, their ruin is great.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p36">Now each of these woes against the scribes
and Pharisees has a reason annexed to it containing a separate
crime charged upon them, proving their hypocrisy, and justifying
the judgment of Christ upon them; for his woes, his curses, are
never causeless.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p37">I. They were sworn enemies to the gospel of
Christ, and consequently to the salvation of the souls of men
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p37.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.13" parsed="|Matt|23|13|0|0" passage="Mt 23:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>); <i>They
shut up the kingdom of heaven against men,</i> that is, they did
all they could to keep people from believing in Christ, and so
entering into his kingdom. Christ came to <i>open the kingdom of
heaven,</i> that is, to lay open for us <i>a new and living way</i>
into it, to bring men to be subjects of that kingdom. Now the
scribes and Pharisees, who sat in Moses's seat, and pretended to
the key of knowledge, ought to have contributed their assistance
herein, by opening those scriptures of the Old Testament which
pointed at the Messiah and his kingdom, in their true and proper
sense; they that undertook to expound Moses and the prophets should
have showed the people how they testified of Christ; that Daniel's
weeks were expiring, <i>the sceptre was departed from Judah,</i>
and therefore now was the time for the Messiah's appearing. Thus
they might have facilitated that great work, and have helped
thousands to heaven; but, instead of this, they shut up the kingdom
of heaven; they made it their business to press the ceremonial law,
which was now in the vanishing, to suppress the prophecies, which
were now in the accomplishing, and to beget and nourish up in the
minds of the people prejudices against Christ and his doctrine.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p38">1. They would not go in themselves; <i>Have
any of the rulers,</i> or <i>of the Pharisees, believed on him?</i>
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p38.1" osisRef="Bible:John.7.48" parsed="|John|7|48|0|0" passage="Joh 7:48">John vii. 48</scripRef>. No; they were
to proud to stoop to his meanness, too formal to be reconciled to
his plainness; they did not like a religion which insisted so much
on humility, self-denial, contempt of the world, and spiritual
worship. Repentance was the door of admission into this kingdom,
and nothing could be more disagreeable to the Pharisees, who
justified and admired themselves, than to repent, that is, to
accuse and abase and abhor themselves; therefore they <i>went not
in themselves;</i> but that was not all.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p39">2. They would not <i>suffer them that were
entering to go in.</i> It is bad to keep away from Christ
ourselves, but it is worse to keep others from him; yet that is
commonly the way of hypocrites; they do not love that any should go
beyond them in religion, or be better than they. Their not going in
themselves was a hindrance to many; for, they having so great an
interest in the people, multitudes rejected the gospel only because
their leaders did; but, besides that, they opposed both Christ's
entertaining of sinners (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p39.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.7.39" parsed="|Luke|7|39|0|0" passage="Lu 7:39">Luke vii.
39</scripRef>), and sinners' entertaining of Christ; they perverted
his doctrine, confronted his miracles, quarrelled with his
disciples, and represented him, and his institutes and economy, to
the people in the most disingenuous, disadvantageous manner
imaginable; they thundered out their excommunications against those
that confessed him, and used all their wit and power to serve their
malice against him; and thus they <i>shut up the kingdom of
heaven,</i> so that <i>they who would enter</i> into it must
<i>suffer violence</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p39.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.11.12" parsed="|Matt|11|12|0|0" passage="Mt 11:12"><i>ch.</i> xi.
12</scripRef>), and <i>press into it</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p39.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.16.16" parsed="|Luke|16|16|0|0" passage="Lu 16:16">Luke xvi. 16</scripRef>), through a crowd of scribes and
Pharisees, and all the obstructions and difficulties they could
contrive to lay in their way. How well is it for us that our
salvation is not entrusted in the hands of any man or company of
men in the world! If it were, we should be undone. They that shut
out of the church would shut out of heaven if they could; but the
malice of men cannot <i>make the promise of God</i> to his chosen
<i>of no effect;</i> blessed be God, it cannot.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p40">II. They made religion and the form of
godliness a cloak and stalking-horse to their covetous practices
and desires, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p40.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.14" parsed="|Matt|23|14|0|0" passage="Mt 23:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>.
Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p41">1. What their wicked practices were; they
<i>devoured widows' houses,</i> either by quartering themselves and
their attendants upon them for entertainment, which must be of the
best for men of their figure; or by insinuating themselves into
their affections, and so getting to be the trustees of their
estates, which they could make an easy prey of; for who could
presume to call such as they were to an account? The thing they
aimed at was to enrich themselves; and, this being their chief and
highest end, all considerations of justice and equity were laid
aside, and even widows' houses were sacrificed to this. Widows are
of the weaker sex in its weakest state, easily imposed upon; and
therefore they fastened on them, to make a prey of. They devoured
those whom, by the law of God, they were particularly obliged to
protect, patronise, and relieve. There is a woe in the Old
Testament to those that <i>made widows their prey</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p41.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.1-Isa.10.2" parsed="|Isa|10|1|10|2" passage="Isa 10:1,2">Isa. x. 1, 2</scripRef>); and Christ here
seconded it with his woe. God is the judge of the widows; they are
his peculiar care, he <i>establisheth their border</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p41.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.25" parsed="|Prov|15|25|0|0" passage="Pr 15:25">Prov. xv. 25</scripRef>), and <i>espouseth their
cause</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p41.3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.22-Exod.22.23" parsed="|Exod|22|22|22|23" passage="Ex 22:22,23">Exod. xxii. 22,
23</scripRef>); yet these were they whose houses the Pharisees
devoured by wholesale; so greedy were they to get <i>their bellies
filled with the treasures of wickedness!</i> Their devouring
denotes not only covetousness, but cruelty in their oppression,
described <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p41.4" osisRef="Bible:Mic.3.3" parsed="|Mic|3|3|0|0" passage="Mic 3:3">Mic. iii. 3</scripRef>,
<i>They eat the flesh, and flay off the skin.</i> And doubtless
they did all this under colour of law; for they did it so artfully
that it passed uncensured, and did not at all lessen the people's
veneration for them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p42">2. What was the cloak with which they
covered this wicked practice; <i>For a pretence they made long
prayers;</i> very long indeed, if it be true which some of the
Jewish writers tell us, that they spent three hours at a time in
the formalities of meditation and prayer, and did it thrice every
day, which is more than an upright soul, that makes a conscience of
being inward with God in the duty, dares pretend ordinarily to do;
but to the Pharisees it was easy enough, who never made a business
of the duty, and always made a trade of the outside of it. By this
craft they got their wealth, and maintained their grandeur. It is
not probable that these long prayers were extemporary, for then (as
Mr. Baxter observes) the Pharisees had much more the gift of prayer
than Christ's disciples had; but rather that they were stated forms
of words in use among them, which they said over by tale, as the
papists drop their beads. Christ doth not here condemn long
prayers, as in themselves hypocritical; nay if there were not a
great appearance of good in them, they would not have been used for
a pretence; and the cloak must be very thick which was used to
cover such wicked practices. Christ himself <i>continued all night
in prayer to God,</i> and we are commanded to <i>pray without
ceasing</i> too soon; where there are many sins to be confessed,
and many wants to pray for the supply of, and many mercies to give
thanks for, there is occasion for long prayers. But the Pharisees'
long prayers were made up of vain repetitions, and (which was the
end of them) they were for a <i>pretence;</i> by them they got the
reputation of pious devout men, that loved prayer, and were the
favourites of Heaven; and by this means people were made to believe
it was not possible that such men as they should cheat them;, and,
therefore, happy the widow that could get a Pharisee for her
trustee, and guardian to her children! Thus, while they seemed to
soar heaven-ward, upon the wings of prayer, their eye, like the
kite's, was all the while upon their prey on the earth, some
widow's house or other that lay convenient for them. Thus
circumcision was the cloak of the Shechemites' covetousness
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p42.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.22-Gen.34.23" parsed="|Gen|34|22|34|23" passage="Ge 34:22,23">Gen. xxxiv. 22, 23</scripRef>),
the payment of a vow in Hebron the cover of Absalom's rebellion
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p42.2" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.15.7" parsed="|2Sam|15|7|0|0" passage="2Sa 15:7">2 Sam. xv. 7</scripRef>), a fast in
Jezreel must patronise Naboth's murder, and the extirpation of Baal
is the footstool of Jehu's ambition. Popish priests, under pretence
of long prayers for the dead, masses and dirges, and I know not
what, enrich themselves by devouring the house of the widows and
fatherless. Note, It is no new thing for the show and form of
godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But
dissembled piety, however it passeth now, will be reckoned for as
double iniquity, <i>in the day when God shall judge the secrets of
men.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p43">3. The doom passed upon them for this;
<i>Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.</i> Note, (1.)
There are degrees of damnation; there are some whose sin is more
inexcusable, <i>and whose ruin will therefore be more
intolerable.</i> (2.) The pretences of religion, with which
hypocrites disguise or excuse their sin now, will aggravate their
condemnation shortly. Such is the deceitfulness of sin, that the
very thing by which sinners hope to expiate and atone for their
sins will come against them, and make their sins more exceedingly
sinful. But it is sad for the criminal, when his <i>de</i>fence
proves his <i>of</i>fence, and his pleas (<i>We have prophesied in
thy name, and in thy name</i> made long prayers) heightens the
charge against him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p44">III. While they were such enemies to the
conversion of souls to Christianity, they were very industrious in
the perversion of them to their faction. They shut up the kingdom
of heaven against those that would turn to Christ, but at the same
time <i>compassed sea and land to make proselytes</i> to
themselves, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p44.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.15" parsed="|Matt|23|15|0|0" passage="Mt 23:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>.
Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p45">1. Their commendable industry in making
proselytes to the Jewish religion, not only proselytes of <i>the
gate,</i> who obliged themselves to no more than the observance of
the seven precepts of the sons of Noah, but proselytes of
<i>righteousness,</i> who addicted themselves wholly to all the
rites of the Jewish religion, for that was the game they flew at;
for this, for one such, though but one, they compass sea and land,
had many a cunning reach, and laid many a plot, rode and run, and
sent and wrote, and laboured unweariedly. And what did they aim at?
Not the glory of God, and the good of souls; but that they might
have the credit of making them proselytes, and the advantage of
making a prey of them when they were made. Note, (1.) The making of
proselytes, if it be to the truth and serious godliness, and be
done with a good design, is a good work, well worthy of the utmost
care and pains. Such is the value of souls, that nothing must be
thought too much to do, to save a soul from death. The industry of
the Pharisees herein may show the negligence of many who would be
thought to act from better principles, but will be at no pains or
cost to propagate the gospel. (2.) To make a proselyte, sea and
land must be compassed; all ways and means must be tried; first one
way, and then another, must be tried, all little enough; but all
well paid, if the point be gained. (3.) Carnal hearts seldom shrink
from the pains necessary to carry on their carnal purposes; when a
proselyte is to be made to serve a turn for themselves, they will
compass sea and land to make him, rather than be disappointed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p46">2. Their cursed impiety in abusing their
proselytes when they were made; "Ye make him the disciple of a
Pharisee presently, and he sucks in all a Pharisee's notions; and
so <i>ye make him twofold more the child of hell than
yourselves.</i>" Note, (1.) Hypocrites, while they fancy themselves
heirs of heaven, are, in the judgment of Christ, the children of
hell. The rise of their hypocrisy is from hell, for the devil is
the father of lies; and the tendency of their hypocrisy is toward
hell, that is the country they belong to, the inheritance they are
heirs to; they are called <i>children of hell,</i> because of their
rooted enmity to the kingdom of heaven, which was the principle and
genius of Pharisaism. (2.) Though all that maliciously oppose the
gospel are children of hell, yet some are twofold more so than
others, more furious and bigoted and malignant. (3.) Perverted
proselytes are commonly the greatest bigots; the scholars outdid
their masters, [1.] In fondness of ceremony; the Pharisees
themselves saw the folly of their own impositions, and in their
hearts smiled at the obsequiousness of those that conformed to
them; but their proselytes were eager for them. Note, Weak heads
commonly admire those shows and ceremonies which wise men (however
for public ends they countenance them) cannot but think meanly of.
[2.] In fury against Christianity; the proselytes readily imbibed
the principles which their crafty leaders were not wanting to
possess them with, and so became extremely hot against the truth.
The most bitter enemies the apostles met with in all places were
the Hellenist Jews, who were mostly proselytes, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p46.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.13.45 Bible:Acts.14.2-Acts.14.19 Bible:Acts.17.5 Bible:Acts.18.6" parsed="|Acts|13|45|0|0;|Acts|14|2|14|19;|Acts|17|5|0|0;|Acts|18|6|0|0" passage="Ac 13:45,14:2-19,17:5,18:6">Acts xiii. 45; xiv. 2-19; xvii. 5;
xviii. 6</scripRef>. Paul, a disciple of the Pharisees, was
<i>exceedingly mad against the Christians</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p46.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.26.11" parsed="|Acts|26|11|0|0" passage="Ac 26:11">Acts xxvi. 11</scripRef>), when his master, Gamaliel,
seems to have been more moderate.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p47">IV. Their seeking their own worldly gain
and honour more than God's glory put them upon coining false and
unwarrantable distinction, with which they led the people into
dangerous mistakes, particularly in the matter of oaths; which, as
an evidence of a universal sense of religion, have been by all
nations accounted sacred (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p47.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.16" parsed="|Matt|23|16|0|0" passage="Mt 23:16"><i>v.</i>
16</scripRef>); <i>Ye blind guides.</i> Note, 1. It is sad to think
how many are under the guidance of such as are themselves blind,
who undertake to show others that way which they are themselves
willingly ignorant of. <i>His watchmen are blind</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p47.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.56.10" parsed="|Isa|56|10|0|0" passage="Isa 56:10">Isa. lvi. 10</scripRef>); and too often the
people love to have it so, and say to the seers, <i>See not.</i>
But the case is bad, when the leaders of the people <i>cause them
to err,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p47.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.9.16" parsed="|Isa|9|16|0|0" passage="Isa 9:16">Isa. ix. 16</scripRef>. 2.
Though the condition of those whose guides are blind is very sad,
yet that of the blind guides themselves is yet more woeful. Christ
denounces a woe to the blind guides that have the blood of so many
souls to answer for.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p48">Now, to prove their blindness, he specifies
the matter of swearing, and shows what corrupt casuists they
were.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p49">(1.) He lays down the doctrine they
taught.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p50">[1.] They allowed swearing by creatures,
provided they were consecrated to the service of God, and stood in
any special relation to him. They allowed swearing by the temple
and the altar, though they were the work of men's hands, intended
to be the servants of God's honour, not sharers in it. An oath is
an appeal to God, to his omniscience and justice; and to make this
appeal to any creature is to put that creature in the place of God.
See <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p50.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.13" parsed="|Deut|6|13|0|0" passage="De 6:13">Deut. vi. 13</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p51">[2.] They distinguished between an oath by
<i>the temple</i> and an oath by the <i>gold of the temple;</i> an
oath by <i>the altar</i> and an oath by <i>the gift upon the
altar;</i> making the latter binding, but not the former. Here was
a double wickedness; <i>First,</i> That there were some oaths which
they dispensed with, and made light of, and reckoned a man was not
bound by to assert the truth, or perform a promise. They ought not
to have sworn by the temple or the altar; but, when they had so
sworn, they were taken in the words of their mouth. That doctrine
cannot be of the God of truth which gives countenance to the breach
of faith in any case whatsoever. Oaths are edge-tools and are not
to be jested with. <i>Secondly,</i> That they preferred the gold
before the temple, and the gift before the altar, to encourage
people to bring gifts to the altar, and gold to the treasures of
the temple, which they hoped to be gainers by. Those who had made
gold their hope, and whose eyes were blinded by gifts in secret,
were great friends to the Corban; and, gain being their godliness,
by a thousand artifices they made religion truckle to their worldly
interests. Corrupt church-guides make things to be sin or not sin
as it serves their purposes, and lay a much greater stress on that
which concerns their own gain than on that which is for God's glory
and the good of souls.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p52">(2.) He shows the folly and absurdity of
this distinction (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p52.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.17-Matt.23.19" parsed="|Matt|23|17|23|19" passage="Mt 23:17-19"><i>v.</i>
17-19</scripRef>); <i>Ye fools, and blind.</i> It was in the way of
a necessary reproof, not an angry reproach, that Christ called them
<i>fools.</i> Let it suffice us from the word of wisdom to show the
folly of sinful opinions and practices: but, for the fastening of
the character upon particular persons, leave that to Christ, who
knows what is in man, and has forbidden us to say, <i>Thou
fool.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p53">To convict them of folly, he appeals to
themselves, <i>Whether is greater, the gold</i> (the golden vessels
and ornaments, or the gold in the treasury) <i>or the temple that
sanctifies the gold; the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the
gift?</i> Any one will own, <i>Propter quod aliquid est tale, id
est magis tale—That, on account of which any thing is qualified in
a particular way, must itself be much more qualified in the same
way.</i> They that sware by the gold of the temple had an eye to it
as holy; but what was it that made it holy but the holiness of the
temple, to the service of which it was appropriated? And therefore
the temple cannot be less holy than the gold, but must be more so;
for the less is blessed and sanctified of the better, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p53.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.7" parsed="|Heb|7|7|0|0" passage="Heb 7:7">Heb. vii. 7</scripRef>. The temple and altar were
dedicated to God fixedly, the gold and gift but secondarily. Christ
is our altar (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p53.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.10" parsed="|Heb|13|10|0|0" passage="Heb 13:10">Heb. xiii.
10</scripRef>), our temple (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p53.3" osisRef="Bible:John.2.21" parsed="|John|2|21|0|0" passage="Joh 2:21">John ii.
21</scripRef>); for it is he that sanctifies all our gifts, and
puts an acceptableness in them, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p53.4" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.5" parsed="|1Pet|2|5|0|0" passage="1Pe 2:5">1 Pet.
ii. 5</scripRef>. Those that put their own works into the place of
Christ's righteousness in justification are guilty of the
Pharisees' absurdity, who preferred the gift before the altar.
Every true Christian is a living temple; and by virtue thereof
common things are sanctified to him; <i>unto the pure all things
are pure</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p53.5" osisRef="Bible:Titus.1.15" parsed="|Titus|1|15|0|0" passage="Tit 1:15">Tit. i. 15</scripRef>),
and <i>the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the</i> believing
<i>wife,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p53.6" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.14" parsed="|1Cor|7|14|0|0" passage="1Co 7:14">1 Cor. vii.
14</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p54">(3.) He rectifies the mistake (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p54.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.20-Matt.23.22" parsed="|Matt|23|20|23|22" passage="Mt 23:20-22"><i>v.</i> 20-22</scripRef>), by reducing all
the oaths they had invented to the true intent of an oath, which
is, By the name of the Lord: so that though an oath by the temple,
or the altar, or heaven, be formally bad, yet it is binding.
<i>Quod fieri non debuit, factum valet—Engagements which ought not
to have been made, are yet, when made, binding.</i> A man shall
never take advantage of his own fault.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p55">[1.] He that swears by the altar, let him
not think to shake off the obligation of it by saying, "The altar
is but wood, and stone, and brass;" for his oath shall be construed
most strongly against himself; because he was culpable, and so as
that the obligation of it may be preserved, <i>ut res potius valeat
quam pereat—the obligation being hereby strengthened rather than
destroyed.</i> And therefore an oath by the altar shall be
interpreted by it and by all things thereon; for the appurtenances
pass with the principal. And, the things thereon being offered up
to God, to swear by it and them was, in effect, to call God himself
to witness: for it was the altar of God; and he that went to that,
went to God, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p55.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.43.4 Bible:Ps.26.6" parsed="|Ps|43|4|0|0;|Ps|26|6|0|0" passage="Ps 43:4,Ps 26:6">Ps. xliii. 4;
xxvi. 6</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p56">[2.] He that swears by the temple, if he
understand what he does, cannot but apprehend that the ground of
such a respect to it, is, not because it is a fine house, but
because it is the house of God, dedicated to his service, the place
which he has chosen to put his name there; and therefore he swears
<i>by it, and by him that dwells therein;</i> there he was pleased
in a peculiar manner to manifest himself, and give tokens of his
presence; so that whoso swears by it, swears by him who had said,
<i>This is my rest, here will I dwell.</i> Good Christians are
God's temples, and the Spirit of God dwells in them (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p56.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.16 Bible:1Cor.6.19" parsed="|1Cor|3|16|0|0;|1Cor|6|19|0|0" passage="1Co 3:16,6:19">1 Cor. iii. 16; vi. 19</scripRef>), and God
takes what is done to them as done to himself; he that grieves a
gracious soul, grieves it and the Spirit that dwells in it.
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p56.2" osisRef="Bible:Eph.4.30" parsed="|Eph|4|30|0|0" passage="Eph 4:30">Eph. iv. 30</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p57">[3.] If a man swears by heaven, he sins
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p57.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.34" parsed="|Matt|5|34|0|0" passage="Mt 5:34"><i>ch.</i> v. 34</scripRef>); yet he
shall not therefore be discharged from the obligation of his oath;
no, God will make him know that the heaven he swears by, is his
throne (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p57.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.1" parsed="|Isa|66|1|0|0" passage="Isa 66:1">Isa. lxvi. 1</scripRef>); and
he that swears by the throne, appeals to him that sits upon it;
who, as he resents the affront done to him in the form of the oath,
so he will certainly revenge the greater affront done to him by the
violation of it. Christ will not countenance the evasion of a
solemn oath, though ever so plausible.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p58">V. They were very strict and precise in the
smaller matters of the law, but as careless and loose in the
weightier matters, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p58.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.23-Matt.23.24" parsed="|Matt|23|23|23|24" passage="Mt 23:23,24"><i>v.</i> 23,
24</scripRef>. They were <i>partial in the law</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p58.2" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.9" parsed="|Mal|2|9|0|0" passage="Mal 2:9">Mal. ii. 9</scripRef>), would pick and choose
their duty, according as they were interested or stood affected.
Sincere obedience is universal, and he that from a right principle
obeys any of God's precepts, will have respect to them all,
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p58.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.6" parsed="|Ps|119|6|0|0" passage="Ps 119:6">Ps. cxix. 6</scripRef>. But
hypocrites, who act in religion for themselves, and not for God,
will do no more in religion than they can serve a turn by for
themselves. The partiality of the scribes and Pharisees appears
here, in two instances.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p59">1. They observed smaller duties, but
omitted greater; they were very exact in paying tithes, till it
came to <i>mint, anise,</i> and <i>cummin,</i> their exactness in
tithing of which would not cost them much, but would be cried up,
and they should buy reputation cheap. The Pharisee boasted of this,
<i>I give tithes of all that I possess,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p59.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.12" parsed="|Luke|18|12|0|0" passage="Lu 18:12">Luke xviii. 12</scripRef>. But it is probable that they
had ends of their own to serve, and would find their own account in
it; for the priests and Levites, to whom the tithes were paid, were
in their interests, and knew how to return their kindness. Paying
tithes was their duty, and what the law required; Christ tells them
they ought not to leave it undone. Note, All ought in their places
to contribute to the support and maintenance of a standing
ministry: withholding tithes is called <i>robbing God,</i>
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p59.2" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.8-Mal.2.10" parsed="|Mal|2|8|2|10" passage="Mal 2:8-10">Mal. ii. 8-10</scripRef>. They that
<i>are taught in the word,</i> and do not <i>communicate to them
that teach them</i> that love a cheap gospel, come short of the
Pharisee.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p60">But that which Christ here condemns them
for, is, that they <i>omitted the weightier matters of the law,
judgment, mercy, and faith;</i> and their niceness in paying
tithes, was, if not to atone before God, yet at least to excuse and
palliate to men the omission of those. All the things of God's law
are weighty, but those are most weighty, which are most expressive
of inward holiness in the heart; the instances of self-denial,
contempt of the world, and resignation to God, in which lies the
life of religion. Judgment and mercy toward men, and faith toward
God, are the weightier matters of the law, the <i>good things</i>
which the <i>Lord our God requires</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p60.1" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.8" parsed="|Mic|6|8|0|0" passage="Mic 6:8">Mic. vi. 8</scripRef>); to do justly, and love mercy, and
humble ourselves by faith to walk with God. This is the obedience
which is better than sacrifice or tithe; judgment is preferred
before sacrifice, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p60.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.11" parsed="|Isa|1|11|0|0" passage="Isa 1:11">Isa. i.
11</scripRef>. To be just to the priests in their tithe, and yet to
cheat and defraud every body else, is but to mock God, and deceive
ourselves. Mercy also is preferred before sacrifice, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p60.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.6.6" parsed="|Hos|6|6|0|0" passage="Ho 6:6">Hos. vi. 6</scripRef>. To feed those who <i>made
themselves fat with the offering of the Lord,</i> and at the same
time to shut up the bowels of compassion from a brother or a sister
that is naked, and destitute of daily food, to pay tithe-mint to
the priest, and to deny a crumb to Lazarus, is to lie open to that
judgment without mercy, which is awarded to those who pretended to
judgment, and showed no mercy; nor will judgment and mercy serve
without faith in divine revelation; for God will be honoured in his
truths as well as in his laws.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p61">2. They avoided lesser sins, but committed
greater (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p61.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.24" parsed="|Matt|23|24|0|0" passage="Mt 23:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>);
<i>Ye blind guides;</i> so he had called them before (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p61.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.16" parsed="|Matt|23|16|0|0" passage="Mt 23:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), for their corrupt
teaching; here he calls them so for their corrupt living, for their
example was leading as well as their doctrine; and in this also
they were blind and partial; they <i>strained at a gnat, and
swallowed a camel.</i> In their doctrine they strained at gnats,
warned people against even the least violation of the tradition of
the elders. In their practice they strained at gnats, heaved at
them, with a seeming dread, as if they had a great abhorrence of
sin, and were afraid of it in the least instance; but they made no
difficulty of those sins which, in comparison with them, were as a
camel to a gnat; when they devoured widows' houses, they did indeed
<i>swallow a camel;</i> when they gave Judas the price of innocent
blood, and yet scrupled to put the returned money into the treasury
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p61.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.27.6" parsed="|Matt|27|6|0|0" passage="Mt 27:6"><i>ch.</i> xxvii. 6</scripRef>); when
they would not go into the judgment-hall, for fear of being
defiled, and yet would stand at the door, and cry out against the
holy Jesus (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p61.4" osisRef="Bible:John.18.28" parsed="|John|18|28|0|0" passage="Joh 18:28">John xviii.
28</scripRef>); when they quarrelled with the disciples for eating
with unwashen hands, and yet, for the filling of the Corban, taught
people to break the fifth commandment, they strained at gnats, or
lesser things, and yet swallowed camels. It is not the scrupling of
a little sin that Christ here reproves; if it be a sin, though but
a gnat, it must be strained at, but the doing of that, and then
swallowing a camel. In the smaller matters of the law to be
superstitious, and to be profane in the greater, is the hypocrisy
here condemned.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p62">VI. They were all for the outside, and not
at all for the inside, of religion. They were more desirous and
solicitous to appear pious to men than to approve themselves so
toward God. This is illustrated by two similitudes.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p63">1. They are compared to a vessel that is
clean washed on the outside, but all dirt within, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p63.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.25-Matt.23.26" parsed="|Matt|23|25|23|26" passage="Mt 23:25,26"><i>v.</i> 25, 26</scripRef>. The Pharisees
placed religion in that which at best was but a point of
decency—the <i>washing of cups,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p63.2" osisRef="Bible:Mark.7.4" parsed="|Mark|7|4|0|0" passage="Mk 7:4">Mark vii. 4</scripRef>. They were in care to eat their
meat in clean cups and platters, but made no conscience of getting
their meat by extortion, and using it to excess. Now what a foolish
thing would it be for a man to wash only the outside of a cup,
which is to be looked at, and to leave the inside dirty, which is
to be used; so they do who only avoid scandalous sins, that would
spoil their reputation with men, but allow themselves in
heart-wickedness, which renders them odious to the pure and holy
God. In reference to this, observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p64">(1.) The practice of the Pharisees; they
made clean the outside. In those things which fell under the
observation of their neighbours, they seemed very exact, and
carried on their wicked intrigues with so much artifice, that their
wickedness was not suspected; people generally took them for very
good men. But within, in the recesses of their hearts and the close
retirements of their lives, they were <i>full of extortion and
excess;</i> of <i>violence and incontinence</i> (so Dr. Hammond);
that is, of injustice and intemperance. While they would seem to be
godly, they were neither sober nor righteous. Their <i>inward part
was very wickedness</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p64.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.9" parsed="|Ps|5|9|0|0" passage="Ps 5:9">Ps. v.
9</scripRef>); and that we are really, which we are inwardly.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p65">(2.) The rule Christ gives, in opposition
to this practice, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p65.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.26" parsed="|Matt|23|26|0|0" passage="Mt 23:26"><i>v.</i>
26</scripRef>. It is addressed to the blind Pharisees. They thought
themselves the <i>seers of the land,</i> but (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p65.2" osisRef="Bible:John.9.39" parsed="|John|9|39|0|0" passage="Joh 9:39">John ix. 39</scripRef>) Christ calls them <i>blind.</i>
Note, those are blind, in Christ's account who (how quick-sighted
soever they are in other things) are strangers, and no enemies, to
the wickedness of their own hearts; who see not, and hate not, the
secret sin that lodgeth there. Self-ignorance is the most shameful
and hurtful ignorance, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p65.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.17" parsed="|Rev|3|17|0|0" passage="Re 3:17">Rev. iii.
17</scripRef>. The rule is, <i>Cleanse first that which is
within.</i> Note, the principal care of every one of us should be
to wash our hearts from wickedness, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p65.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.4.14" parsed="|Jer|4|14|0|0" passage="Jer 4:14">Jer. iv. 14</scripRef>. The main business of a Christian
lies within, to get cleansed from the <i>filthiness of the
spirit.</i> Corrupt affections and inclinations, the secret lusts
that lurk in the soul, unseen and unobserved, these must first be
mortified and subdued. Those sins must be conscientiously abstained
from, which the eye of God only is a witness to, who searcheth the
heart.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p66">Observe the method prescribed; <i>Cleanse
first that which is within</i> not that <i>only,</i> but that
<i>first;</i> because, if due care be taken concerning that, the
outside will be clean also. External motives and inducements may
keep the outside clean, while the inside is filthy; but if
renewing, sanctifying grace make clean the inside, that will have
an influence upon the outside, for the commanding principle is
within. If the heart be well kept, all is well, for <i>out of it
are the issues of life;</i> the eruptions will vanish of course. If
the heart and spirit be made new, there will be a newness of life;
here therefore we must begin with ourselves; first cleanse that
which is within; we then make sure work, when this is our first
work.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p67">2. They are compared to <i>whited
sepulchres,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p67.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.27-Matt.23.28" parsed="|Matt|23|27|23|28" passage="Mt 23:27,28"><i>v.</i> 27,
28</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p68">(1.) They were fair without, like
sepulchres, <i>which appear beautiful outward.</i> Some make it to
refer to the custom of the Jews to whiten graves, only for the
notifying of them, especially if they were in unusual places, that
people might avoid them, because of the ceremonial pollution
contracted by the touch of a grave, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p68.1" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.16" parsed="|Num|19|16|0|0" passage="Nu 19:16">Num. xix. 16</scripRef>. And it was part of the charge
of the overseers of the highways, to repair that whitening when it
was decayed. Sepulchres were thus made remarkable, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p68.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.16-2Kgs.23.17" parsed="|2Kgs|23|16|23|17" passage="2Ki 23:16,17">2 Kings xxiii. 16, 17</scripRef>. The
formality of hypocrites, by which they study to recommend
themselves to the world, doth but make all wise and good men the
more careful to avoid them, for fear of being defiled by them.
<i>Beware of the scribes,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p68.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.20.46" parsed="|Luke|20|46|0|0" passage="Lu 20:46">Luke xx.
46</scripRef>. It rather alludes to the custom of whitening the
sepulchres of eminent persons, for the beautifying of them. It is
said here (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p68.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.29" parsed="|Matt|23|29|0|0" passage="Mt 23:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>),
that they <i>garnished the sepulchres of the righteous;</i> as it
is usual with us to erect monuments upon the graves of great
persons, and to strew flowers on the graves of dear friends. Now
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was like the
ornaments of a grave, or the dressing up of a dead body, only for
show. The top of their ambition was to <i>appear righteous before
men,</i> and to be applauded and had in admiration by them.
But,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p69">(2.) They were <i>foul</i> within, like
sepulchres, <i>full of dead men's bones, and all uncleanness:</i>
so vile are our bodies, when the soul has deserted them! Thus were
they full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Hypocrisy is the worst
iniquity of all other. Note, It is possible for those that have
their hearts full of sin, to have their lives free from blame, and
to appear very good. But what will it avail us, to have the good
word of our fellow-servants, if our Master doth not say, <i>Well
done</i>? When all other graves are opened, these whited sepulchres
will be looked into, and the dead men's bones, and all the
uncleanness, shall be <i>brought out,</i> and be <i>spread before
all the host of heaven,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p69.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.1-Jer.8.2" parsed="|Jer|8|1|8|2" passage="Jer 8:1,2">Jer.
viii. 1, 2</scripRef>. For it is the day when God shall judge, not
the shows, but the secrets, of men. And it will then be small
comfort to them who shall have their portion with hypocrites, to
remember how creditably and plausibly they went to hell, applauded
by all their neighbours.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p70">VII. They pretended a deal of kindness for
the memory of the prophets that were dead and gone, while they
hated and persecuted those that were present with them. This is put
last, because it was the blackest part of their character. God is
jealous for his honour in his laws and ordinances, and resents it
if they be profaned and abused; but he has often expressed an equal
jealousy for his honour in his prophets and ministers, and resents
it worse if they be wronged and persecuted: and therefore, when our
Lord Jesus comes to this head, he speaks more fully than upon any
of the other (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p70.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.29-Matt.23.37" parsed="|Matt|23|29|23|37" passage="Mt 23:29-37"><i>v.</i>
29-37</scripRef>); for that toucheth his ministers, <i>toucheth his
Anointed,</i> and toucheth the <i>apple of his eye.</i> Observe
here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p71">1. The respect which the scribes and
Pharisees pretend for the prophets that were gone, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p71.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.29-Matt.23.30" parsed="|Matt|23|29|23|30" passage="Mt 23:29,30"><i>v.</i> 29, 30</scripRef>. This was the
varnish, and that in which they outwardly appeared righteous.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p72">(1.) They honoured the relics of the
prophets, they built their tombs, and garnished their sepulchres.
It seems, the places of their burial were known, David's sepulchre
was with them, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p72.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.29" parsed="|Acts|2|29|0|0" passage="Ac 2:29">Acts ii. 29</scripRef>.
There was a title upon the sepulchre of <i>the man of God</i>
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p72.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.17" parsed="|2Kgs|23|17|0|0" passage="2Ki 23:17">2 Kings xxiii. 17</scripRef>), and
Josiah thought it respect enough not to <i>move his bones,</i>
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p72.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.18" parsed="|Matt|23|18|0|0" passage="Mt 23:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. But they
would do more, rebuild and beautify them. Now consider this, [1.]
As an instance of honour done to deceased prophets, who, while they
lived, were counted as the off-scouring of all things, and had all
manner of evil spoken against them falsely. Note, God can extort,
even from bad men, an acknowledgment of the honour of piety and
holiness. Them that honour God he will honour, and sometimes with
those from whom contempt is expected, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p72.4" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.6.22" parsed="|2Sam|6|22|0|0" passage="2Sa 6:22">2 Sam. vi. 22</scripRef>. <i>The memory of the just is
blessed,</i> when the names of those that hated and persecuted them
shall be covered with shame. The honour of constancy and resolution
in the way of duty will be a lasting honour; and those that are
manifest to God, will be manifest in the consciences of those about
them. [2.] As an instance of the hypocrisy of the scribes and
Pharisees, who paid their respect to them. Note, Carnal people can
easily honour the memories of faithful ministers that are dead and
gone, because they do not reprove them, nor disturb them, in their
sins. Dead prophets are <i>seers that see not,</i> and those they
can bear well enough; they do not torment them, as the living
witnesses do, that bear their testimony <i>viva voce—with a living
voice,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p72.5" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.10" parsed="|Rev|11|10|0|0" passage="Re 11:10">Rev. xi. 10</scripRef>.
They can pay respect to the writings of the dead prophets, which
tell them what they <i>should</i> be; but not the reproofs of the
living prophets, which tell them what they <i>are.</i> <i>Sit
divus, modo non sit vivus—Let there be saints; but let them not be
living here.</i> The extravagant respect which the church of Rome
pays to the memory of saints departed, especially the martyrs,
dedicating days and places to their names, enshrining their relics,
praying to them, and offering to their images, while they make
themselves drunk with the blood of the saints of their own day, is
a manifest proof that they not only <i>suc</i>ceed, but
<i>ex</i>ceed, the scribes and Pharisees in a counterfeit
hypocritical religion, which builds the prophets' tombs, but hates
the prophets' doctrine.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p73">(2.) They protested against the murder of
them (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p73.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.30" parsed="|Matt|23|30|0|0" passage="Mt 23:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>); <i>If
we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been
partakers with them.</i> They would never have consented to the
silencing of Amos, and the imprisonment of Micaiah, to the putting
of Hanani in the stocks, and Jeremiah in the dungeon, to the
stoning of Zechariah, the mocking of all the messengers of the
Lord, and the abuses put upon his prophets; no, not they, they
would sooner have lost their right hands than have done any such
thing. <i>What, is thy servant a dog?</i> And yet they were at this
time plotting to murder Christ, <i>to whom all the prophets bore
witness.</i> They think, if they had lived in the days of the
prophets, they would have heard them gladly and obeyed; and yet
they rebelled against the light that Christ brought into the world.
But it is certain, a Herod and an Herodias to John the Baptist,
would have been an Ahab and a Jezebel to Elijah. Note, The
deceitfulness of sinners' hearts appears very much in this, that,
while they go down the stream of the sins of their own day, they
fancy they should have swum against the stream of the sins of the
former days; that, if they had had other people's opportunities,
they should have improved them more faithfully; if they had been in
other people's temptations, they should have resisted them more
vigorously; when yet they improve not the opportunities they have,
nor resist the temptations they are in. We are sometimes thinking,
if we had lived when Christ was upon earth, how constantly we would
have followed him; we would not have despised and rejected him, as
they then did; and yet Christ in his Spirit, in his word, in his
ministers, is still no better treated.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p74">2. Their enmity and opposition to Christ
and his gospel, notwithstanding, and the ruin they were bringing
upon themselves and upon that generation thereby, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p74.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.31-Matt.23.33" parsed="|Matt|23|31|23|33" passage="Mt 23:31-33"><i>v.</i> 31-33</scripRef>. Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p75">(1.) The indictment proved; <i>Ye are
witnesses against yourselves.</i> Note, Sinners cannot hope to
escape the judgment of Christ for want of proof against them, when
it is easy to find them witnesses against themselves; and their
very pleas will not only be overruled, but turned to their
conviction, and <i>their own tongues</i> shall be made to <i>fall
upon them,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p75.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.64.8" parsed="|Ps|64|8|0|0" passage="Ps 64:8">Ps. lxiv.
8</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p76">[1.] By their own confession, it was the
great wickedness of their forefathers, to kill the prophets; so
that they knew the fault of it, and yet were themselves guilty of
the same fact. Note, They who condemn sin in others, and yet allow
the same or worse in themselves, are of all others most
inexcusable, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p76.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.32-Rom.2.1" parsed="|Rom|1|32|2|1" passage="Ro 1:32-2:1">Rom. i. 32-ii.
1</scripRef>. They knew they ought not to have been partakers with
persecutors, and yet were the followers of them. Such
self-contradictions now will amount to self-condemnations in the
great day. Christ puts another construction upon their building of
the tombs of the prophets than what they intended; as if by
beautifying their graves they justified their murderers (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p76.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.11.48" parsed="|Luke|11|48|0|0" passage="Lu 11:48">Luke xi. 48</scripRef>), for they persisted in
the sin.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p77">[2.] By their own confession, these
notorious persecutors were their ancestors; <i>Ye are the children
of them.</i> They meant no more than that they were their children
by blood and nature; but Christ turns it upon them;, that they were
so by spirit and disposition; <i>You are of those fathers, and
their lusts you will do.</i> They are, as you say, <i>your</i>
fathers, and you <i>patrizare—take after your fathers;</i> it is
the sin that runs in the blood among you. <i>As your fathers did,
so do ye,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p77.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.51" parsed="|Acts|7|51|0|0" passage="Ac 7:51">Acts vii. 51</scripRef>.
They came of a persecuting race, were <i>a seed of evil doers</i>
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p77.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.4" parsed="|Isa|1|4|0|0" passage="Isa 1:4">Isa. i. 4</scripRef>), <i>risen up in
their fathers' stead,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p77.3" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.14" parsed="|Num|32|14|0|0" passage="Nu 32:14">Num. xxxii.
14</scripRef>. Malice, envy, and cruelty, were bred in the bone
with them, and they had formerly espoused it for a principle, to
<i>do as their fathers did,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p77.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.17" parsed="|Jer|44|17|0|0" passage="Jer 44:17">Jer.
xliv. 17</scripRef>. And it is observable here (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p77.5" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.30" parsed="|Matt|23|30|0|0" passage="Mt 23:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>) how careful they are to mention
the relation; "They were <i>our</i> fathers, that killed the
prophets, and they were men in honour and power, whose sons and
successors we are." If they had detested the wickedness of their
ancestors, as they ought to have done, they would not have been so
fond to call them <i>their fathers;</i> for it is no credit to be
akin to persecutors, though they have ever so much dignity and
dominion.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p78">(2.) The sentence passed upon them. Christ
here proceeds,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p79">[1.] To give them up to sin as
irreclaimable (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p79.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.32" parsed="|Matt|23|32|0|0" passage="Mt 23:32"><i>v.</i>
32</scripRef>); <i>Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.</i>
If Ephraim be joined to idols, and hate to be reformed, <i>let him
alone. He that is filthy, let him be filthy still.</i> Christ knew
they were now contriving his death, and in a few days would
accomplish it; "Well," saith he, "go on with your plot, take your
curse, walk in the way of your heart and in the sight of your eyes,
and see what will come of it. <i>What thou doest, do quickly.</i>
You will but fill up the measure of guilt, which will then overflow
in a deluge of wrath." Note, <i>First,</i> There is a measure of
sin to be filled up, before utter ruin comes upon persons and
families, churches and nations. God will bear long, but the time
will come when he can <i>no longer forbear,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p79.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.22" parsed="|Jer|44|22|0|0" passage="Jer 44:22">Jer. xliv. 22</scripRef>. We read of the measure of the
Amorites that was to be filled (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p79.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.16" parsed="|Gen|15|16|0|0" passage="Ge 15:16">Gen.
xv. 16</scripRef>), of the <i>harvest</i> of the earth <i>being
ripe for the sickle</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p79.4" osisRef="Bible:Rev.14.15-Rev.14.19" parsed="|Rev|14|15|14|19" passage="Re 14:15-19">Rev. xiv.
15-19</scripRef>), and of sinners <i>making an end to deal
treacherously,</i> arriving at a full stature in treachery,
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p79.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.33.1" parsed="|Isa|33|1|0|0" passage="Isa 33:1">Isa. xxxiii. 1</scripRef>.
<i>Secondly,</i> Children fill up the measure of their fathers'
sins whey they are gone, if they persist in the same or the like.
That national guilt which brings national ruin is made up of the
sin of many in several ages, and in the successions of societies
there is a score going on; for God justly visits the iniquity of
the fathers upon the children that tread in the steps of it.
<i>Thirdly,</i> Persecuting Christ, and his people and ministers,
is a sin that fills the measure of a nation's guilt sooner than any
other. This was it that brought wrath without remedy upon the
fathers (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p79.6" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.36.16" parsed="|2Chr|36|16|0|0" passage="2Ch 36:16">2 Chron. xxxvi.
16</scripRef>), and wrath to the utmost upon the children too,
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p79.7" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.2.16" parsed="|1Thess|2|16|0|0" passage="1Th 2:16">1 Thess. ii. 16</scripRef>. This was
that fourth transgression, of which, when added to the other three,
the Lord <i>would not turn away the punishment,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p79.8" osisRef="Bible:Amos.1.3 Bible:Amos.1.6 Bible:Amos.1.9 Bible:Amos.1.11 Bible:Amos.1.13" parsed="|Amos|1|3|0|0;|Amos|1|6|0|0;|Amos|1|9|0|0;|Amos|1|11|0|0;|Amos|1|13|0|0" passage="Am 1:3,6,9,11,13">Amos i. 3, 6, 9, 11, 13</scripRef>.
<i>Fourthly,</i> It is just with God to give those up to their own
heart's lusts, who obstinately persist in the gratification of
them. Those who will run headlong to ruin, let the reins be laid on
their neck, and it is the saddest condition a man can be in on this
side hell.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p80">[2.] He proceeds to give them up to ruin as
irrecoverable, to a personal ruin in the other world (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p80.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.33" parsed="|Matt|23|33|0|0" passage="Mt 23:33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>); <i>Ye serpents, ye
generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?</i>
These are strange words to come from the mouth of Christ, into
whose lips grace was poured. But he can and will speak terror, and
in these words he explains and sums up the <i>eight</i> woes he had
denounced against the scribes and Pharisees.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p81">Here is, <i>First,</i> Their description;
<i>Ye serpents.</i> Doth Christ call names? Yes, but this doth not
warrant us to do so. He infallibly knew what was in man, and knew
them to be subtle as serpents, cleaving to the earth, feeding on
dust; they had a specious outside, but were within malignant, had
poison under their tongues, the seed of the old serpent. They were
a <i>generation of vipers;</i> they and those that went before
them, they and those that joined with them, were a generation of
envenomed, enraged, spiteful adversaries to Christ and his gospel.
They loved to be called of men, <i>Rabbi, rabbi,</i> but Christ
calls them <i>serpents</i> and <i>vipers;</i> for he gives men
their true characters, and delights to put contempt upon the
proud.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p82"><i>Secondly,</i> Their doom. He represents
their condition as very sad, and in a manner desperate; <i>How can
ye escape the damnation of hell?</i> Christ himself preached hell
and damnation, for which his ministers have often been reproached
by those that care not to hear of it. Note, 1. The damnation of
hell will be the fearful end of all impenitent sinners. This doom
coming from Christ, was more terrible than coming from all the
prophets and ministers that ever were, for he is the Judge, into
whose hands the keys of hell and death are put, and his saying they
were damned, made them so. 2. There is a way of escaping this
damnation, this is implied here; some are <i>delivered from the
wrath to come.</i> 3. Of all sinners, those who are of the spirit
of the scribes and Pharisees, are least likely to escape this
damnation; for repentance and faith are necessary to that escape;
and how will <i>they</i> be brought to these, who are so conceited
of themselves, and so prejudiced against Christ and his gospel, as
they were? How could they be healed and saved, who could not bear
to have their wound searched, nor the balm of Gilead applied to it?
Publicans and harlots, who were sensible of their disease and
applied themselves to the Physician, were more likely to escape the
damnation of hell than those who, though they were in the high road
to it, were confident they were in the way to heaven.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Matt.xxiv-p82.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.34-Matt.23.39" parsed="|Matt|23|34|23|39" passage="Mt 23:34-39" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Matt.23.34-Matt.23.39">
<h4 id="Matt.xxiv-p82.2">The Doom of the Pharisees; The Guilt and
Doom of Jerusalem.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Matt.xxiv-p83">34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets,
and wise men, and scribes: and <i>some</i> of them ye shall kill
and crucify; and <i>some</i> of them shall ye scourge in your
synagogues, and persecute <i>them</i> from city to city:   35
That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth,
from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of
Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.   36
Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this
generation.   37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, <i>thou</i> that
killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee,
how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a
hen gathereth her chickens under <i>her</i> wings, and ye would
not!   38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.  
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye
shall say, Blessed <i>is</i> he that cometh in the name of the
Lord.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p84">We have left the blind leaders fallen into
the ditch, under Christ's sentence, into the damnation of hell; let
us see what will become of the blind followers, of the body of the
Jewish church, and particularly Jerusalem.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p85">I. Jesus Christ designs yet to try them
with the means of grace; <i>I send unto you prophets, and wise men,
and scribes.</i> The connection is strange; "<i>You are a
generation of vipers,</i> not likely to <i>escape the damnation of
hell;</i>" one would think it should follow, "Therefore you shall
never have a prophet sent to you any more;" but no, "<i>Therefore I
will send unto you prophets,</i> to see if you will yet at length
be wrought upon, or else to leave you inexcusable, and to justify
God in your ruin." It is therefore ushered in with a note of
admiration, behold! Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p86">1. It is Christ that sends them; <i>I
send.</i> By this he avows himself to be God, having power to gift
and commission prophets. It is an act of kingly office; he sends
them as ambassadors to treat with us about the concerns of our
souls. After his resurrection, he made this word good, when he
said, <i>So send I you,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p86.1" osisRef="Bible:John.20.21" parsed="|John|20|21|0|0" passage="Joh 20:21">John xx.
21</scripRef>. Though now he appeared mean, yet he was entrusted
with this great authority.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p87">2. He sends them to the Jews first; "I send
them to <i>you.</i>" They began at Jerusalem; and, wherever they
went, they observed this rule, to make the first tender of gospel
grace <i>to the Jews,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p87.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.13.46" parsed="|Acts|13|46|0|0" passage="Ac 13:46">Acts xiii.
46</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p88">3. Those he sends are called <i>prophets,
wise men,</i> and <i>scribes,</i> Old-Testament names for
New-Testament officers; to show that the ministers sent to them now
should not be inferior to the prophets of the Old Testament, to
Solomon the wise, or Ezra the scribe. The extraordinary ministers,
who in the first ages were divinely inspired, were as the prophets
commissioned immediately from heaven; the ordinary settled
ministers, who were then, and continue in the church still, and
will do to the end of time, are as the wise men and scribes, to
guide and instruct the people in the things of God. Or, we may take
the apostles and evangelists for the prophets and wise men, and the
pastors and teachers for the scribes, <i>instructed to the kingdom
of heaven</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p88.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.13.52" parsed="|Matt|13|52|0|0" passage="Mt 13:52"><i>ch.</i> xiii.
52</scripRef>); for the office of a scribe was honourable till the
men dishonoured it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p89">II. He foresees and foretels the ill usage
that his messengers would meet with among them; "<i>Some of them ye
shall kill and crucify,</i> and yet I will send them." Christ knows
beforehand how ill his servants will be treated, and yet sends
them, and appoints them their measure of sufferings; yet he loves
them never the less for his thus exposing them, for he designs to
glorify himself by their sufferings, and them after them; he will
counter-balance them, though not prevent them. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p90">1. The cruelty of these persecutors; <i>Ye
shall kill and crucify them.</i> It is no less than the blood, the
life-blood, that they thirst after; their lust is not satisfied
with any thing short of their destruction, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p90.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.9" parsed="|Exod|15|9|0|0" passage="Ex 15:9">Exod. xv. 9</scripRef>. They killed the two James's,
crucified Simon the son of Cleophas, and scourged Peter and John;
thus did the members partake of the sufferings of the Head, he was
killed and crucified, and so were they. Christians must expect to
resist unto blood.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p91">2. Their unwearied industry; <i>Ye shall
persecute them from city to city.</i> As the apostles went from
city to city, to preach the gospel, the Jews dodged them, and
haunted them, and stirred up persecution against them, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p91.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.14.19 Bible:Acts.17.13" parsed="|Acts|14|19|0|0;|Acts|17|13|0|0" passage="Ac 14:19,17:13">Acts xiv. 19; xvii. 13</scripRef>. They
that <i>did not believe in Judea</i> were more bitter enemies to
the gospel than any other unbelievers, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p91.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.15.31" parsed="|Rom|15|31|0|0" passage="Ro 15:31">Rom. xv. 31</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p92">3. The pretence of religion in this; they
scourged them in their synagogues, their place of worship, where
they kept their ecclesiastical courts; so that they did it as a
piece of service to the church; cast them out, and said, <i>Let the
Lord be glorified,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p92.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.5 Bible:John.16.2" parsed="|Isa|66|5|0|0;|John|16|2|0|0" passage="Isa 66:5,Joh 16:2">Isa.
lxvi. 5; John xvi. 2</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p93">III. He imputes the sin of their fathers to
them, because they imitated it; <i>That upon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon the earth,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p93.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.35-Matt.23.36" parsed="|Matt|23|35|23|36" passage="Mt 23:35,36"><i>v.</i> 35, 36</scripRef>. Though God bear long
with a persecuting generation, he will not bear always; and
patience abused, turns into the greatest wrath. The longer sinners
have been heaping up treasures of wickedness, the deeper and fuller
will the treasures of wrath be; and the breaking of them up will be
like breaking up the fountains of the great deep.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p94">Observe, 1. The extent of this imputation;
it takes in <i>all the righteous blood shed upon the earth,</i>
that is, the blood shed for righteousness' sake, which has all been
laid up in God's treasury, and not a drop of it lost, for <i>it is
precious.</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p94.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.72.14" parsed="|Ps|72|14|0|0" passage="Ps 72:14">Ps. lxxii.
14</scripRef>. He dates the account <i>from the blood of righteous
Abel,</i> thence this <i>æra martyrum—age of
martyrs</i>—commences; he is called <i>righteous</i> Abel, for he
obtained witness from heaven, that he was <i>righteous, God
testifying of his gifts.</i> How early did martyrdom come into the
world! The first that died, died for his religion, and, <i>being
dead, he yet speaketh.</i> His blood not only cried against Cain,
but continues to cry against all that walk in the way of Cain, and
hate and persecute their brother, <i>because their works are
righteous.</i> He extends it <i>to the blood of Zacharias, the son
of Barachias</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p94.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.36" parsed="|Matt|23|36|0|0" passage="Mt 23:36"><i>v.</i>
36</scripRef>), not Zecharias the prophet (as some would have it),
though he was <i>the son of Barachias</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p94.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.1.1" parsed="|Zech|1|1|0|0" passage="Zec 1:1">Zech. i. 1.</scripRef>) nor Zecharias the father of John
Baptist, as others say; but, as is most probable, <i>Zechariah the
son of Jehoiada,</i> who was <i>slain in the court of the Lord's
house,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p94.4" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.24.20-2Chr.24.21" parsed="|2Chr|24|20|24|21" passage="2Ch 24:20,21">2 Chron. xxiv. 20,
21</scripRef>. His father is called <i>Barachias,</i> which
signifies much the same with Jehoiada; and it was usual among the
Jews for the same person to have two names; <i>whom ye slew,</i> ye
of this nation, though not of this generation. This is specified,
because the requiring of that is particularly spoken of (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p94.5" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.24.22" parsed="|2Chr|24|22|0|0" passage="2Ch 24:22">2 Chron. xxiv. 22</scripRef>), as that of
Abel's is. The Jews imagined that the captivity had sufficiently
atoned for the guilt; but Christ lets them know that it was not yet
fully accounted for, but remained upon the score. And some think
that this is mentioned with a prophetical hint, for there was one
Zecharias, the son of Baruch, whom Josephus speaks of (<i>War</i>
4. 335), who was a just and good man, who was killed in the temple
a little before it was destroyed by the Romans. Archbishop
Tillotson thinks that Christ both alludes to the history of the
former Zecharias in <i>Chronicles,</i> and foretels the death of
this latter in Josephus. Though the latter was not yet slain, yet,
before this destruction comes, it would be true that they had slain
him; so that all shall be put together from first to last.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p95">2. The effect of it; <i>All these things
shall come;</i> all the guilt of this blood, all the punishment of
it, it shall <i>all come upon this generation.</i> The misery and
ruin that are coming upon them, shall be so very great, that,
though, considering the evil of their own sins, it was less that
even those deserved; yet, comparing it with other judgments, it
will seem to be a general reckoning for all the wickedness of their
ancestors, especially their persecutions, to all which God declared
this ruin to have special reference and relation. The destruction
shall be so dreadful, as if God had once for all arraigned them for
all the righteous blood shed in the world. It shall <i>come upon
this generation;</i> which intimates, that it shall come quickly;
some here shall live to see it. Note, The sorer and nearer the
punishment of sin is, the louder is the call to repentance and
reformation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p96">IV. He laments the wickedness of Jerusalem,
and justly upbraids them with the many kind offers he had made
them, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p96.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.37" parsed="|Matt|23|37|0|0" passage="Mt 23:37"><i>v.</i> 37</scripRef>. See
with what concern he speaks of that city; <i>O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem!</i> The repetition is emphatical, and bespeaks abundance
of commiseration. A day or two before Christ had wept over
Jerusalem, now he sighed and groaned over it. Jerusalem, <i>the
vision of peace</i> (so it signifies), must now be the seat of war
and confusion. Jerusalem, that had been <i>the joy of the whole
earth,</i> must now be <i>a hissing, and an astonishment, and a
by-word;</i> Jerusalem, that has been <i>a city compact
together,</i> shall now be shattered and ruined by its own
intestine broils. Jerusalem, <i>the place that God has chosen to
put his name there,</i> shall now be abandoned to the spoil and the
robbers, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p96.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.1.1 Bible:Lam.4.1" parsed="|Lam|1|1|0|0;|Lam|4|1|0|0" passage="La 1:1,4:1">Lam. i. 1, iv.
1</scripRef>. But wherefore will the Lord do all this to Jerusalem?
Why? <i>Jerusalem hath grievously sinned,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p96.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.1.8" parsed="|Lam|1|8|0|0" passage="La 1:8">Lam. i. 8</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p97">1. She persecuted God's messengers; <i>Thou
that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto
thee.</i> This sin is especially charged upon Jerusalem; because
there the Sanhedrim, or great council, sat, who took cognizance of
church matters, and therefore a prophet could not perish but in
Jerusalem, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p97.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.13.33" parsed="|Luke|13|33|0|0" passage="Lu 13:33">Luke xiii. 33</scripRef>.
It is true, they had not now a power to put any man to death, but
they killed the prophets in popular tumults, mobbed them, as
Stephen, and put the Roman powers on to kill them. At Jerusalem,
where the gospel was first preached, it was first persecuted
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p97.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.8.1" parsed="|Acts|8|1|0|0" passage="Ac 8:1">Acts viii. 1</scripRef>), and that
place was the head-quarters of the persecutors; thence warrants
were issued out to other cities, and thither the saints were
brought bound, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p97.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.9.2" parsed="|Acts|9|2|0|0" passage="Ac 9:2">Acts ix. 2</scripRef>.
<i>Thou stonest them:</i> that was a capital punishment, in use
only among the Jews. By the law, false prophets and seducers were
to <i>be stoned</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p97.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.10" parsed="|Deut|13|10|0|0" passage="De 13:10">Deut. xiii.
10</scripRef>), under colour of which law, they put the true
prophets to death. Note, It has often been the artifice of Satan,
to turn that artillery against the church, which was originally
planted in the defence of it. Brand the true prophets as seducers,
and the true professors of religion as heretics and schismatics,
and then it will be easy to persecute them. There was abundance of
other wickedness in Jerusalem; but this was the sin that made the
loudest cry, and which God had an eye to more than any other, in
bringing that ruin upon them, as <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p97.5" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.24.4 Bible:2Chr.36.16" parsed="|2Kgs|24|4|0|0;|2Chr|36|16|0|0" passage="2Ki 24:4,2Ch 36:16">2 Kings xxiv. 4; 2 Chron. xxxvi.
16</scripRef>. Observe, Christ speaks in the present tense; <i>Thou
killest, and stonest;</i> for all they had done, and all they would
do, was present to Christ's notice.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p98">2. She refused and rejected Christ, and
gospel offers. The former was a sin <i>without</i> remedy, this
<i>against</i> the remedy. Here is, (1.) The wonderful grace and
favour of Jesus Christ toward them; <i>How often would I have
gathered thy children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under
her wings!</i> Thus kind and condescending are the offers of gospel
grace, even to Jerusalem's children, bad as she is, the
inhabitants, the little ones not excepted. [1.] The favour proposed
was the gathering of them. Christ's design is to gather poor souls,
gather them in from their wanderings, gather them home to himself,
as the Centre of unity; for <i>to him must the gathering of the
people be.</i> He would have taken the whole body of the Jewish
nation into the church, and so gathered them all (as the Jews used
to speak of proselytes) <i>under the wings of the Divine
Majesty.</i> It is here illustrated by a humble similitude; <i>as a
hen</i> clucks <i>her chickens together.</i> Christ would have
gathered them, <i>First,</i> With such a tenderness of affection as
the hen does, which has, by instinct, a peculiar concern for her
young ones. Christ's gathering of souls, comes from his love,
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p98.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.31.3" parsed="|Jer|31|3|0|0" passage="Jer 31:3">Jer. xxxi. 3</scripRef>.
<i>Secondly,</i> For the same end. <i>The hen gathered her chickens
under her wings,</i> for protection and safety, and for warmth and
comfort; poor souls have in Christ both refuge and refreshment. The
chickens naturally run to the hen for shelter, when they are
threatened by the birds of prey; perhaps Christ refers to that
promise (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p98.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.91.4" parsed="|Ps|91|4|0|0" passage="Ps 91:4">Ps. xci. 4</scripRef>), <i>He
shall cover thee with his feathers.</i> There is <i>healing under
Christ's wings</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p98.3" osisRef="Bible:Mal.4.2" parsed="|Mal|4|2|0|0" passage="Mal 4:2">Mal. iv.
2</scripRef>); that is more than the hen has for her chickens.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p99">[2.] The forwardness of Christ to confer
this favour. His offers are, <i>First,</i> Very free; <i>I would
have done it.</i> Jesus Christ is truly willing to receive and save
poor souls that come to him. He desires not their ruin, he delights
in their repentance. <i>Secondly,</i> Very frequent; <i>How
often!</i> Christ often came up to Jerusalem, preached, and wrought
miracles there; and the meaning of all this, was, he would have
gathered them. He keeps account how often his calls have been
repeated. As often as we have heard the sound of the gospel, as
often as we have felt the strivings of the Spirit, so often Christ
would have gathered us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p100">[3.] Their wilful refusal of this grace and
favour; <i>Ye would not.</i> How emphatically is their obstinacy
opposed to Christ's mercy! I would, and <i>ye would not.</i> He was
willing to save them, but they were not willing to be saved by him.
Note, It is wholly owing to the wicked wills of sinners, that they
are not gathered under the wings of the Lord Jesus. They did not
like the terms upon which Christ proposed to gather them; they
loved their sins, and yet trusted to their righteousness; they
would not submit either to the grace of Christ or to his
government, and so the bargain broke off.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p101">V. He reads Jerusalem's doom (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p101.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.38-Matt.23.39" parsed="|Matt|23|38|23|39" passage="Mt 23:38,39"><i>v.</i> 38, 39</scripRef>); <i>Therefore
behold your house is left unto you desolate.</i> Both the city and
the temple, God's house and their own, all shall be laid waste. But
it is especially meant of the temple, which they boasted of, and
trusted to; that holy mountain because of which they were so
haughty. Note, they that will not be gathered by the love and grace
of Christ shall be consumed and scattered by his wrath; <i>I would,
and you would not. Israel would none of me, so I gave them up,</i>
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p101.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.81.11-Ps.81.12" parsed="|Ps|81|11|81|12" passage="Ps 81:11,12">Ps. lxxxi. 11, 12</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p102">1. Their house shall be <i>deserted; It is
left unto you.</i> Christ was now departing from the temple, and
never came into it again, but by this word abandoned it to ruin.
They doated on it, would have it to themselves; Christ must have no
room or interest there. "Well," saith Christ, "it is left to you;
take it, and make your best of it; I will never have any thing more
to do with it." They had made it <i>a house of merchandise, and a
den of thieves,</i> and so it is left to them. Not long after this,
the voice was heard in the temple, "Let us depart hence." When
Christ went, <i>Ichabod, the glory departed.</i> Their city also
was left to them, destitute of God's presence and grace; he was no
longer <i>a wall of fire about them,</i> nor <i>the glory in the
midst of them.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p103">2. It shall be <i>desolate; It is left unto
you desolate;</i> it is left <b><i>eremos</i></b>—<i>a
wilderness.</i> (1.) It was immediately, when Christ left it, in
the eyes of all that understood themselves, a very dismal
melancholy place. Christ's departure makes the best furnished, best
replenished place a wilderness, though it be the temple, the chief
place of concourse; for what comfort can there be where Christ is
not? Though there may be a crowd of other contentments, yet, if
Christ's special spiritual presence be withdrawn, that soul, that
place, is <i>become a wilderness, a land of darkness, as darkness
itself.</i> This comes of men's rejecting Christ, and driving him
away from them. (2.) It was, not long after, destroyed and ruined,
and <i>not one stone left upon another.</i> The lot of Jerusalem's
enemies will now become Jerusalem's lot, <i>to be made of a city a
heap, of a defenced city a ruin</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p103.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.25.2" parsed="|Isa|25|2|0|0" passage="Isa 25:2">Isa. xxv. 2</scripRef>), <i>a lofty city laid low, even
to the ground,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p103.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.5" parsed="|Isa|26|5|0|0" passage="Isa 26:5">Isa. xxvi.
5</scripRef>. The temple, that holy and beautiful house, became
desolate. When God goes out, all enemies break in.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p104"><i>Lastly,</i> Here is the final farewell
that Christ took of them and their temple; <i>Ye shall not see me
henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh.</i> This
bespeaks,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p105">1. His departure from them. The time was at
hand, when <i>he should leave the world, to go to his Father,</i>
and be seen no more. <i>After his resurrection, he was seen only by
a few chosen witnesses,</i> and they saw him not long, but he soon
removed to the invisible world, and there will be <i>till the time
of the restitution of all things,</i> when his welcome at his first
coming will be repeated with loud acclamations; <i>Blessed is he
that cometh in the name of the Lord.</i> Christ will not be seen
again till he <i>come in the clouds, and every eye shall see
him</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p105.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.1.7" parsed="|Rev|1|7|0|0" passage="Re 1:7">Rev. i. 7</scripRef>); and
then, even they, who, when time was, rejected and pierced him, will
be glad to come in among his adorers; then every knee shall bow to
him, even those that had bowed to Baal; and even the workers of
iniquity will then cry, <i>Lord, Lord,</i> and will own, when his
wrath is kindled, that <i>blessed are all they that put their trust
in him.</i> Would we have our lot in that day with those that say,
<i>Blessed is he that cometh?</i> let us be with them now, with
them that truly worship, and truly welcome, Jesus Christ.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiv-p106">2. Their continued blindness and obstinacy;
<i>Ye shall not see me,</i> that is, not see me to be the Messiah
(for otherwise they did see him upon the cross), not see the light
of the truth concerning me, nor <i>the things that belong to your
peace, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh.</i> They will
never be convinced, till Christ's second coming convince them, when
it will be too late to make an interest in him, and nothing will
remain <i>but a fearful looking for of judgment.</i> Note, (1.)
Wilful blindness is often punished with judicial blindness. If they
<i>will</i> not see, they <i>shall</i> not see. With this word he
concludes his public preaching. <i>After his resurrection,</i>
which was <i>the sign of the prophet Jonas,</i> they should have no
other sign given them, till they should <i>see the sign of the Son
of man,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiv-p106.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.30" parsed="|Matt|24|30|0|0" passage="Mt 24:30"><i>ch.</i> xxiv.
30</scripRef>. (2.) When <i>the Lord comes with ten thousand of his
saints,</i> he will convince all, and will force acknowledgments
from the proudest of his enemies, of his being the Messiah, and
even <i>they shall be found liars to him.</i> They that would not
now come at his call, shall then be forced to depart with his
curse. The chief priests and scribes were displeased with the
children for crying <i>hosanna</i> to Christ; but the day is
coming, when proud persecutors would gladly be found in the
condition of the meanest and poorest they now trample upon. They
who now reproach and ridicule the hosannas of the saints will be of
another mind shortly; it were therefore better to be of that mind
now. Some make this to refer to the conversion of the Jews to the
faith of Christ; then they shall see him, and own him, and <i>say,
Blessed is he that cometh;</i> but it seems rather to look further,
for the complete manifestation of Christ, and conviction of
sinners, are reserved to be the glory of the last day.</p>
</div></div2>