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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>M A T T H E W.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXII.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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This chapter is a continuation of Christ's discourses in the temple,
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two or three days before he died. His discourses then are largely
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recorded, as being of special weight and consequence. In this chapter,
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we have,
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I. Instruction given, by the parable of the marriage-supper, concerning
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the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:1-10">ver. 1-10</A>),
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and, by the doom of the guest that had not the wedding-garment, the
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danger of hypocrisy in the profession of Christianity,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:11-14">ver. 11-14</A>.
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II. Disputes with the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes, who opposed
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Christ,
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1. Concerning paying tribute to Cæsar,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:15-22">ver. 15-22</A>.
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2. Concerning the resurrection of the dead, and the future state,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:23-33">ver. 23-33</A>.
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3. Concerning the great commandment of the law,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:34-40">ver. 34-40</A>.
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4. Concerning the relation of the Messiah to David,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:41-46">ver. 41-46</A>.</P>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Parable of the Marriage Feast.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and
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said,
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2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made
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a marriage for his son,
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3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to
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the wedding: and they would not come.
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4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which
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are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and <I>my</I>
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fatlings <I>are</I> killed, and all things <I>are</I> ready: come unto the
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marriage.
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5 But they made light of <I>it,</I> and went their ways, one to his
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farm, another to his merchandise:
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6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated <I>them</I>
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spitefully, and slew <I>them.</I>
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7 But when the king heard <I>thereof,</I> he was wroth: and he sent
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forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up
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their city.
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8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they
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which were bidden were not worthy.
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9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall
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find, bid to the marriage.
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10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered
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together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the
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wedding was furnished with guests.
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11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a
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man which had not on a wedding garment:
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12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not
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having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
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13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot,
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and take him away, and cast <I>him</I> into outer darkness; there
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shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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14 For many are called, but few <I>are</I> chosen.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We have here the parable of the guests invited to <I>the
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wedding-feast.</I> In this it is said
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>),
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<I>Jesus answered,</I> not to what his opposers <I>said</I> (for they
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were put to silence), but to what they <I>thought,</I> when they were
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wishing for an opportunity to <I>lay hands on him,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+21:46"><I>ch.</I> xxi. 46</A>.
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Note, Christ knows how to answer men's thoughts, for he is a Discerner
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of them. Or, He <I>answered,</I> that is, he continued his discourse to
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the same purport; for this parable represents the gospel offer, and the
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entertainment it meets with, as the former, but under another
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similitude. The parable of the vineyard represents the sin of the
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rulers that persecuted the prophets; it shows also the sin of the
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people, who generally neglected the message, while their great ones
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were persecuting the messengers.</P>
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<P>
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I. Gospel preparations are here represented by a feast which a king
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made <I>at the marriage of his son;</I> such is <I>the kingdom of
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heaven,</I> such the provision made for precious souls, in and by the
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new covenant. The <I>King</I> is God, <I>a great King, King of
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kings.</I> Now,</P>
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<P>
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1. Here is <I>a marriage made for his son,</I> Christ is the
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Bridegroom, the church is the bride; the gospel-day is <I>the day of
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his espousals,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+3:11">Cant. iii. 11</A>.
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Behold by faith <I>the church of the first-born, that are written in
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heaven,</I> and were given to Christ by him whose they were; and in
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them you see <I>the bride, the Lamb's wife,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+21:9">Rev. xxi. 9</A>.
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The gospel covenant is a marriage covenant betwixt Christ and
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believers, and it is a marriage of God's making. This branch of the
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similitude is only mentioned, and not prosecuted here.</P>
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<P>
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2. Here is <I>a dinner prepared for this marriage,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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All the privileges of church-membership, and all the blessings of the
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new covenant, pardon of sin, the favour of God, peace of conscience,
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the promises of the gospel, and all the riches contained in them,
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access to the throne of grace, the comforts of the Spirit, and a
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well-grounded hope of eternal life. These are the preparations for this
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feast, a heaven upon earth now, and a heaven in heaven shortly. God has
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prepared it in his counsel, in his covenant. It is a dinner, denoting
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present privileges in the midst of our day, beside the supper at night
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in glory.</P>
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<P>
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(1.) It is <I>a feast.</I> Gospel preparations were prophesied of as
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<I>a feast</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+25:6">Isa. xxv. 6</A>),
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<I>a feast of fat things,</I> and were typified by the many festivals
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of the ceremonial law
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+5:8">1 Cor. v. 8</A>);
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<I>Let us keep the feast.</I> A <I>feast is a good day</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Es+7:17">Esth. vii. 17</A>);
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so is the gospel; it is a continual feast. <I>Oxen and fatlings are
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killed</I> for this feast; no niceties, but substantial food; enough,
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and enough of the best. The day of a feast is <I>a day of
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slaughter,</I> or sacrifice,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+5:5">Jam. v. 5</A>.
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Gospel preparations are all founded in the death of Christ, his
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sacrifice of himself. A feast was made for love, it is a reconciliation
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feast, a token of God's goodwill toward men. It was made <I>for
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laughter</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+10:19">Eccl. x. 19</A>),
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it is a rejoicing feast. It was made for fulness; the design of the
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gospel was to fill every <I>hungry soul with good things.</I> It was
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made for fellowship, to maintain an intercourse between heaven and
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earth. We are sent for <I>to the banquet of wine, that we may tell what
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is our petition, and what is our request.</I></P>
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<P>
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(2.) It is a <I>wedding feast.</I> Wedding feasts are usually rich,
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free, and joyful. The first miracle Christ wrought, was, to make
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plentiful provision for a wedding feast
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+2:7">John ii. 7</A>);
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and surely then he will not be wanting in provision for his own wedding
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feast, when <I>the marriage of the Lamb is come, and the bride hath
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made herself ready,</I> a victorious triumphant feast,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+19:7,17,18">Rev. xix. 7, 17, 18</A>.</P>
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<P>
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(3.) It is a <I>royal wedding feast;</I> it is <I>the feast of a
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king</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+25:36">1 Sam. xxv. 36</A>),
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at the marriage, not of a servant, but of a son; and then, if ever, he
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will, like Ahasuerus, show <I>the riches of his glorious kingdom,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Es+1:4">Esth. i. 4</A>.
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The provision made for believers in the covenant of grace, is not such
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as worthless worms, like us, had any reason to expect, but such as it
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becomes <I>the King of glory</I> to give. He gives like himself; for he
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gives himself to be to them <I>El shaddai--a God that is enough,</I> a
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feast indeed for a soul.</P>
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<P>
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II. Gospel calls and offers are represented by an invitation to this
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feast. Those that make a feast will have guests to grace the feast
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with. God's guests are the children of men. <I>Lord, what is man,</I>
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that he should be thus dignified! <I>The guests</I> that were first
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invited were the Jews; wherever the gospel is preached, this invitation
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is given; ministers are the <I>servants</I> that are sent to invite,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+9:4,5">Prov. ix. 4, 5</A>.</P>
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<P>
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Now,
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1. The guests <I>are called, bidden</I> to the wedding. All that are
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within hearing of the joyful sound of the gospel, to them is the word
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of this invitation sent. The servants that bring the invitation do not
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set down their names in a paper; there is no occasion for that, since
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none are excluded but those that exclude themselves. <I>Those that are
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bidden to the dinner are bidden to the wedding;</I> for all that
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partake of gospel privileges are to give a due and respectful
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attendance on the Lord Jesus, as the faithful friends and humble
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servants of the Bridegroom. They are <I>bidden to the wedding,</I> that
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they may <I>go forth to meet the bridegroom;</I> for it is the Father's
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will that <I>all men should honour the Son.</I></P>
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<P>
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2. The guests are called upon; for in the gospel there are not only
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gracious proposals made, but gracious persuasives. <I>We persuade men,
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we beseech them in Christ's stead,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+5:11,20">2 Cor. v. 11, 20</A>.
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See how much Christ's heart is set upon the happiness of poor souls! He
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not only provides for them, in consideration of their want, but sends
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to them, in consideration of their weakness and forgetfulness. When the
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invited guests were slack in coming, the king <I>sent forth other
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servants,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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When the prophets of the Old Testament prevailed not, nor John the
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Baptist, nor Christ himself, who told them the entertainment was almost
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ready (<I>the kingdom of God was at hand</I>), the apostles and
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ministers of the gospel were sent after Christ's resurrection, to tell
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them it was come, it was quite ready; and to persuade them to accept
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the offer. One would think it had been enough to give men an intimation
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that they had leave to come, and should be welcome; that, during the
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solemnity of the wedding, the king kept open house; but, because <I>the
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natural man discerns not,</I> and therefore desires not, <I>the things
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of the Spirit of God,</I> we are pressed to accept the call by the most
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powerful inducements, <I>drawn with the cords of a man, and all the
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bonds of love.</I> If the repetition of the call will move us,
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<I>Behold, the Spirit saith, Come; and the bride saith, Come; let him
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that heareth say, Come; let him that is athirst come,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+22:17">Rev. xxii. 17</A>.
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If the reason of the call will work upon us, <I>Behold, the dinner is
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prepared, the oxen and fatlings are killed, and all things are
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ready;</I> the Father is ready to accept of us, the Son to intercede
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for us, the Spirit to sanctify us; pardon is ready; peace is ready,
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comfort is ready; the promises are ready, as <I>wells of living
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water</I> for supply; ordinances are ready, as golden pipes for
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conveyance; angels are ready to attend us, creatures are ready to be in
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league with us, providences are ready to work for our good, and heaven,
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at last, is ready to receive us; it is <I>a kingdom prepared, ready to
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be revealed in the last time.</I> Is all this ready; and shall we be
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unready? Is all this preparation made for us; and is there any room to
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doubt of our welcome, if we come in a right manner? Come, therefore, O
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<I>come to the marriage; we beseech you, receive not</I> all this
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<I>grace of God in vain,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+6:1">2 Cor. vi. 1</A>.</P>
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<P>
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III. The cold treatment which the gospel of Christ often meets with
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among the children of men, represented by the cold treatment that this
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message met with and the hot treatment that the messengers met with, in
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both which the king himself and the royal bridegroom are affronted.
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This reflects primarily upon the Jews, who rejected the counsel of God
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against themselves; but it looks further, to the contempt that would,
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by many in all ages, be put upon, and the opposition that would be
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given to, the gospel of Christ.</P>
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<P>
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1. The message was basely slighted
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>);
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<I>They would not come.</I> Note, The reason why sinners come not to
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Christ and salvation by him is, not because they <I>cannot,</I> but
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because <I>they will not</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+5:40">John v. 40</A>);
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<I>Ye will not come to me.</I> This will aggravate the misery of
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sinners, that they might have had happiness for the coming for, but it
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was their own act and deed to refuse it. <I>I would, and ye would
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not.</I> But this was not all
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>);
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<I>they made light of it;</I> they thought it not worth coming for;
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thought the messengers made more ado than needs; let them magnify the
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preparations ever so much, they could feast as well at home. Note,
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Making light of Christ, and of the great salvation wrought out by him,
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is the damning sin of the world. <B><I>Amelesantes</I></B>--<I>They
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were careless.</I> Note, Multitudes perish eternally through mere
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carelessness, who have not any direct aversion, but a prevailing
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indifference, to the matters of their souls, and an unconcernedness
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about them.</P>
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<P>
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And the reason why <I>they made light of the marriage feast</I> was,
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because they had other things that they minded more, and had more mind
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to; <I>they went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his
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merchandise.</I> Note, The business and profit of worldly employments
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|
prove to many a great hindrance in closing with Christ: none turn their
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back on the feast, but with some plausible excuse or other,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+14:18">Luke xiv. 18</A>.
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The country people have their farms to look after, about which there is
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always something or other to do; the town's people must tend their
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shops, and be constant upon the exchange; they must <I>buy, and sell,
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and get gain.</I> It is true, that both farmers and merchants must be
|
|
diligent in their business but not so as to keep them from making
|
|
religion their main business. <I>Licitis perimus omnes--These lawful
|
|
things undo us,</I> when they are unlawfully managed, when we are so
|
|
<I>careful and troubled about many things</I> as to neglect the <I>one
|
|
thing needful.</I> Observe, Both the city and the country have their
|
|
temptations, the merchandise in the one, and the farms in the other; so
|
|
that, whatever we have of the world in our hands, our care must be to
|
|
keep it out of our hearts, lest it come between us and Christ.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The messengers were basely abused; <I>The remnant,</I> or the rest
|
|
of them, that is, those who did not go the <I>farms,</I> or
|
|
<I>merchandise,</I> were neither husbandmen nor tradesmen, but
|
|
ecclesiastics, <I>the scribes, and Pharisees, and chief priests;</I>
|
|
these were the persecutors, these <I>took the servants, and treated
|
|
them spitefully, and slew them.</I> This, in the parable, is
|
|
unaccountable, never any could be so rude and barbarous as this, to
|
|
servants that came to invite them to a feast; but, in the application
|
|
of the parable, it was matter of fact; they whose <I>feet</I> should
|
|
have been <I>beautiful,</I> because they brought <I>the glad tidings of
|
|
the solemn feasts</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Na+1:15">Nahum i. 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
were <I>treated as the offscouring of all things,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+4:13">1 Cor. iv. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
The prophets and John the Baptist had been thus abused already, and the
|
|
apostles and ministers of Christ must count upon the same. The Jews
|
|
were, either directly or indirectly, agents in most of the persecutions
|
|
of the first preachers of the gospel; witness the history of <I>the
|
|
Acts,</I> that is, the sufferings <I>of the apostles.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. The utter ruin that was coming upon the Jewish church and nation is
|
|
here represented by the revenge which the king, in wrath, took on these
|
|
insolent recusants
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>He was wroth.</I> The Jews, who had been the people of God's love
|
|
and blessing, by rejecting the gospel became the generation of his
|
|
wrath and curse. <I>Wrath came upon them to the uttermost,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Th+2:16">1 Thess. ii. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now observe here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. What was the crying sin that brought the ruin; it was their being
|
|
<I>murderers.</I> He does not say, he destroyed those <I>despisers of
|
|
his call,</I> but <I>those murderers of his servants;</I> as if God
|
|
were more jealous for the lives of his ministers than for the honour of
|
|
his gospel; he that <I>toucheth them, toucheth the apple of his
|
|
eye.</I> Note, Persecution of Christ's faithful ministers fills the
|
|
measure of guilt more than any thing. <I>Filling Jerusalem with
|
|
innocent blood</I> was that sin of Manasseh which <I>the Lord would not
|
|
pardon,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+24:4">2 Kings xxiv. 4</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. What was the ruin itself, that was coming; <I>He sent forth his
|
|
armies.</I> The Roman armies were his armies, of his raising, of his
|
|
sending against the people of his wrath; and he <I>gave them a charge
|
|
to tread them down,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+10:6">Isa. x. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
God is the Lord of men's host, and makes what use he pleases of them,
|
|
to serve his own purposes, though they <I>mean not so, neither doth
|
|
their heart think so,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+10:7">Isa. x. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+4:11,12">Mic. iv. 11, 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>His armies destroyed those murderers, and burnt up their city.</I>
|
|
This points out very plainly the destruction of the Jews, and the
|
|
burning of Jerusalem, by the Romans, forty years after this. No age
|
|
ever saw a greater desolation than that, nor more of the direful
|
|
effects of fire and sword. Though Jerusalem had been a <I>holy city,
|
|
the city that God had chosen, to put his name there, beautiful for
|
|
situation, the joy of the whole earth;</I> yet that city being now
|
|
<I>become a harlot, righteousness being no longer lodged in it, but
|
|
murderers, the worst of murderers</I> (as the prophet speaks,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:21">Isa. i. 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
judgment came upon it, and ruin without remedy; and it is set forth for
|
|
an example to all that should oppose Christ and his gospel. It was the
|
|
Lord's doing, to avenge the quarrel of his covenant.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. The replenishing of the church again, by the bringing in of the
|
|
Gentiles, is here represented by the furnishing of the feast with
|
|
guests <I>out of the high-ways,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:8-10"><I>v.</I> 8-10</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here is,
|
|
|
|
1. The complaint of the master of the feast concerning those that were
|
|
first bidden
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>The wedding is ready,</I> the covenant of grace ready to be sealed,
|
|
a church ready to be founded; <I>but they which were bidden,</I> that
|
|
is, the Jews, <I>to whom pertained the covenant and the promises,</I>
|
|
by which they were of old invited to the <I>feast of fat things,</I>
|
|
they <I>were not worthy,</I> they were utterly unworthy, and, by their
|
|
contempt of Christ, had forfeited all the privileges they were invited
|
|
to. Note, It is not owing to God, that sinners perish, but to
|
|
themselves. Thus, when Israel of old was within sight of Canaan, the
|
|
land of promise was ready, the milk and honey ready, but their unbelief
|
|
and murmuring, and contempt of that pleasant land, shut them out, and
|
|
their carcases were left to perish in the wilderness; and <I>these
|
|
things happened to them for ensamples.</I> See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+10:11,Heb+3:16-4:1">1 Cor. x. 11; Heb. iii. 16-iv. 1</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The commission he gave to the servants, to invite other guests. The
|
|
inhabitants of the <I>city</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>)
|
|
|
|
had refused; <I>Go into the high-ways</I> then; into <I>the way of the
|
|
Gentiles,</I> which at first they were to decline,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+10:5"><I>ch.</I> x. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus by the fall of the Jews salvation
|
|
is come to the Gentiles,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+11:11,12,Eph+3:8">Rom. xi. 11, 12; Eph. iii. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, Christ will have a <I>kingdom in the world,</I> though many
|
|
reject the grace, and resist the power, of that kingdom. <I>Though
|
|
Israel be not gathered, he will be glorious.</I> The offer of Christ
|
|
and salvation to the Gentiles was,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Unlooked for and unexpected; such a surprise as it would be to
|
|
wayfaring men upon the road to be met with an invitation to a wedding
|
|
feast. The Jews had notice of the gospel, long before, and expected the
|
|
Messiah and his kingdom; but to the Gentiles it was all new, what they
|
|
had never heard of before
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+17:19,20">Acts xvii. 19, 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
and, consequently, what they could not conceive of as belonging to
|
|
them. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:1,2">Isa. lxv. 1, 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) It was universal and undistinguishing; <I>Go, and bid as many as
|
|
you find.</I> The highways are public places, and there <I>Wisdom
|
|
cries,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+1:20">Prov. i. 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
"Ask them that go by the way, ask any body
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+21:29">Job xxi. 29</A>),
|
|
|
|
high and low, rich and poor, bond and free, young and old, Jew and
|
|
Gentile; tell them all, that they shall be welcome to gospel-privileges
|
|
upon gospel-terms; whoever will, let him come, without exception."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The success of this second invitation; if some will not come, others
|
|
will
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>They gathered together all, as many as they found.</I> The servants
|
|
obeyed their orders. Jonah was sent <I>into the high-ways,</I> but was
|
|
so tender of the honour of his country, that he avoided the errand; but
|
|
Christ's apostles, though Jews, preferred the service of Christ before
|
|
their respect to their nation; and St. Paul, though sorrowing for the
|
|
Jews, yet magnifies his office as the apostle of Gentiles. <I>They
|
|
gathered together all.</I> The design of the gospel is,
|
|
|
|
(1.) To gather souls together; not the nation of the Jews only, but
|
|
<I>all the children of God</I> who were <I>scattered abroad</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+11:52">John xi. 52</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>the other sheep that were not of that fold,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:16">John x. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
They were gathered into one body, one family, one corporation.
|
|
|
|
(2.) To gather them together to the wedding-feast, to pay their respect
|
|
to Christ, and to partake of the privileges of the new covenant. Where
|
|
the dole is, there will the poor be gathered together.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Now the guests that were gathered were,
|
|
|
|
[1.] A multitude, <I>all, as many as they found;</I> so many, that the
|
|
guest-chamber was filled. The sealed ones of the Jews were numbered,
|
|
but those of other nations <I>were without number, a very great
|
|
multitude,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+7:9">Rev. vii. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+60:4,8">Isa. lx. 4, 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
[2.] A mixed multitude, <I>both bad and good;</I> some that before
|
|
their conversion were sober and well-inclined, as the devout Greeks
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+17:4">Acts xvii. 4</A>)
|
|
|
|
and Cornelius; others that had run to an excess of riot, as the
|
|
Corinthians
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+6:11">1 Cor. vi. 11</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>Such were some of you;</I> or, some that after their conversion
|
|
proved bad, that <I>turned not to the Lord with all their heart,</I>
|
|
but feignedly; others that were upright and sincere, and proved of the
|
|
right class. Ministers, in casting the net of the gospel, enclose
|
|
<I>both good</I> fish <I>and bad;</I> <I>but the Lord knows them that
|
|
are his.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VI. The case of hypocrites, who are <I>in</I> the church, but not
|
|
<I>of</I> it, who have a name to live, but are not alive indeed, is
|
|
represented by <I>the guest that had not on a wedding garment;</I> one
|
|
of the bad that were gathered in. Those come short of salvation by
|
|
Christ, not only who refuse to take upon them the profession of
|
|
religion, but who are not sound at heart in that profession. Concerning
|
|
this hypocrite observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. His discovery, how he was found out,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) <I>The king came in to see the guests,</I> to bid those welcome
|
|
who came prepared, and to turn those out who came otherwise. Note, The
|
|
God of heaven takes particular notice of those who profess religion,
|
|
and have a place and name in the visible church. Our Lord Jesus
|
|
<I>walks among the golden candlesticks</I> and therefore <I>knows their
|
|
works.</I> See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+2:1,2,So+7:12">Rev. ii. 1, 2; Cant. vii. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let this be a warning to us against hypocrisy, that disguises will
|
|
shortly be stripped off, and every man will appear in his own colours;
|
|
and an encouragement to us in our sincerity, that God is a witness to
|
|
it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Observe, This hypocrite was never discovered to be without <I>a wedding
|
|
garment,</I> till <I>the king himself came in to see the guests.</I>
|
|
Note, It is God's prerogative to know who are sound at heart in their
|
|
profession, and who are not. We may be deceived in men, either one way
|
|
or other; but He cannot. The day of judgment will be the great
|
|
discovering day, when all the guests will be presented to the King:
|
|
then <I>he will separate between the precious and the vile</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+25:32"><I>ch.</I> xxv. 32</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>the secrets of all hearts will then be made manifest,</I> and we
|
|
shall infallibly discern <I>between the righteous and the wicked,</I>
|
|
which now it is not easy to do. It concerns all the guests, to prepare
|
|
for the scrutiny, and to consider how they will pass the piercing eye
|
|
of the heart-searching God.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) As soon as he came in, he presently espied the hypocrite; <I>He
|
|
saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment;</I> though but one,
|
|
he soon had his eye upon him; there is no hope of being hid in a crowd
|
|
from the arrests of divine justice; he had not on a wedding garment; he
|
|
was not dressed as became a nuptial solemnity; he had not his best
|
|
clothes on. Note, Many come to the wedding feast without a wedding
|
|
garment. If the gospel be the wedding feast, then the wedding garment
|
|
is a frame of heart, and a course of life agreeable to the gospel and
|
|
our profession of it, <I>worthy of the vocation wherewith we are
|
|
called</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+4:1">Eph. iv. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>as becomes the gospel of Christ,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+1:27">Phil. i. 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>The righteousness of saints,</I> their real holiness and
|
|
sanctification, and Christ, <I>made Righteousness to them, is the clean
|
|
linen,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+19:8">Rev. xix. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
This man was not naked, or in rags; some raiment he had, but not a
|
|
wedding garment. Those, and those only, who <I>put on the Lord
|
|
Jesus,</I> that have a Christian temper of mind, and are adorned with
|
|
Christian graces, who live by faith in Christ, and to whom he is all in
|
|
all, have the wedding garment.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. His trial
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>);
|
|
|
|
and here we may observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) How he was arraigned
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment?</I>
|
|
A startling question to one that was priding himself in the place he
|
|
securely possessed at the feast. <I>Friend!</I> That was a cutting
|
|
word; a seeming friend, a pretended friend, a friend in profession,
|
|
under manifold ties and obligations to be a friend. Note, There are
|
|
many in the church who are false friends to Jesus Christ, who say that
|
|
they love him while their hearts are not with him. <I>How camest thou
|
|
in hither?</I> He does not chide the servants for letting him in (the
|
|
wedding garment is an inward thing, ministers must go according to that
|
|
which falls within their cognizance); but he checks his presumption in
|
|
crowding in, when he knew that his heart was not upright; "How durst
|
|
thou claim a share in gospel benefits, when thou hadst no regard to
|
|
gospel rules? <I>What has thou to do to declare my statutes?</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+50:16,17">Ps. l. 16, 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
Such are spots in the feast, dishonour the bridegroom, affront the
|
|
company, and disgrace themselves; and therefore, <I>How camest thou in
|
|
hither?</I> Note, The day is coming, when hypocrites will be called to
|
|
an account for all their presumptuous intrusion into gospel ordinances,
|
|
and usurpation of gospel privileges. <I>Who hath required this at your
|
|
hand?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:12">Isa. i. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
Despised sabbaths and abused sacraments must be reckoned for, and
|
|
judgment taken out upon an action of waste against all those who
|
|
<I>received the grace of God in vain.</I> "How camest thou to the
|
|
Lord's table, at such a time, unhumbled and unsanctified? What brought
|
|
thee to sit before God's prophets, as his people do, when thy heart
|
|
went after thy covetousness? <I>How camest thou in?</I> Not by the
|
|
door, but <I>some other way, as a thief and a robber.</I> It was a
|
|
tortuous entry, a possession without colour of a title." Note, It is
|
|
good for those that have a place in the church, often to put it to
|
|
themselves, "How came I in hither? Have I a wedding-garment?" If we
|
|
would thus <I>judge ourselves, we should not be judged.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) How he was convicted; <I>he was speechless:</I>
|
|
<B><I>ephimothe</I></B>--<I>he was muzzled</I> (so the word is used,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+9:9">1 Cor. ix. 9</A>);
|
|
|
|
the man stood mute, upon his arraignment, being convicted and condemned
|
|
by his own conscience. They who live within the church, and die without
|
|
Christ, will not have one word to say for themselves in the judgment of
|
|
the great day, they will be without excuse; should they plead, <I>We
|
|
have eaten and drunk in thy presence,</I> as they do,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+13:26">Luke xiii. 26</A>,
|
|
|
|
that is to plead guilty; for the crime they are charged with, is
|
|
thrusting themselves into the presence of Christ, and to his table,
|
|
before they were called. They who never heard a word of this wedding
|
|
feast will have more to say for themselves; their sin will be more
|
|
excusable, and their condemnation more tolerable, than theirs who came
|
|
to the feast without the wedding garment, and so sin against the
|
|
clearest light and dearest love.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. His sentence
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>Bind him hand and foot,</I> &c.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) He is ordered to be pinioned, as condemned malefactors are, to be
|
|
manacled and shackled. Those that will not work and walk as they
|
|
should, may expect to be bound hand and foot. There is a binding in
|
|
this world by the servants, the ministers, whose suspending of persons
|
|
that walk disorderly, to the scandal of religion, is called binding of
|
|
them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+18:18"><I>ch.</I> xviii. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
"Bind them up from partaking of special ordinances, and the peculiar
|
|
privileges of their church-membership; bind them over to the righteous
|
|
judgment of god." <I>In the day of judgment,</I> hypocrites will be
|
|
bound; <I>the angels shall bind up these tares in bundles for the
|
|
fire,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+13:41"><I>ch.</I> xiii. 41</A>.
|
|
|
|
Damned sinners are bound hand and foot by an irreversible sentence;
|
|
this signifies the same with the fixing of the great gulf; they can
|
|
neither resist nor outrun their punishment.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) He is ordered to be carried off from the wedding feast; <I>Take
|
|
him away.</I> When the wickedness of hypocrites appears, they are to be
|
|
taken away from the communion of the faithful, to be cut of as withered
|
|
branches. This bespeaks the punishment of loss in the other world; they
|
|
shall be taken away from the king, from the kingdom, from the wedding
|
|
feast, <I>Depart from me, ye cursed.</I> It will aggravate their
|
|
misery, that (like the unbelieving lord,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ki+7:2">2 Kings vii. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>they shall see all this plenty with their eyes, but shall not taste
|
|
of it.</I> Note, Those that walk unworthy of their Christianity,
|
|
forfeit all the happiness they presumptuously laid claim to, and
|
|
complimented themselves with a groundless expectation of.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) He is ordered into a doleful dungeon; <I>Cast him into utter
|
|
darkness.</I> Our Saviour here insensibly slides out of this parable
|
|
into that which it intimates--the damnation of hypocrites in the other
|
|
world. Hell is utter darkness, it is darkness out of heaven, the land
|
|
of light; or it is extreme darkness, darkness to the last degree,
|
|
without the least ray or spark of light, or hope of it, like that of
|
|
Egypt; <I>darkness which might be felt; the blackness of darkness, as
|
|
darkness itself,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+10:22">Job x. 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, Hypocrites go by the light of the gospel itself down to utter
|
|
darkness; and hell will be hell indeed to such, a condemnation more
|
|
intolerable; <I>there shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth.</I> This
|
|
our Saviour often uses as part of the description of hell-torments,
|
|
which are hereby represented, not so much by the misery itself, as by
|
|
the resentment sinners will have of it; there shall be <I>weeping,</I>
|
|
an expression of great sorrow and anguish; not a gush of tears, which
|
|
gives present ease, but constant weeping, which is constant torment;
|
|
and the <I>gnashing of teeth</I> is an expression of the greatest rage
|
|
and indignation; they will be <I>like a wild bull in a net, full of the
|
|
fury of the Lord,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+51:20,Isa+8:21,22">Isa. li. 20; viii. 21, 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let us therefore hear and fear.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Lastly,</I> The parable is concluded with that remarkable saying
|
|
which we had before
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+20:16"><I>ch.</I> xx. 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Many are called, but few are chosen,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
Of the many that are called to the wedding feast, if you set aside all
|
|
those as unchosen that make light of it, and avowedly prefer other
|
|
things before it; if then you set aside all that make a profession of
|
|
religion, but the temper of whose spirits and the tenour of whose
|
|
conversation are a constant contradiction to it; if you set aside all
|
|
the profane, and all the hypocritical, you will find that they are few,
|
|
very few, that are chosen; many called to the wedding feast, but few
|
|
chosen to the wedding garment, that is, to <I>salvation, by
|
|
sanctification of the Spirit.</I> This <I>is the strait gate, and
|
|
narrow way,</I> which <I>few find.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_22"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Question Respecting Tribute.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might
|
|
entangle him in <I>his</I> talk.
|
|
16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the
|
|
Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and
|
|
teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any
|
|
<I>man:</I> for thou regardest not the person of men.
|
|
17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give
|
|
tribute unto Caesar, or not?
|
|
18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye
|
|
me, <I>ye</I> hypocrites?
|
|
19 show me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a
|
|
penny.
|
|
20 And he saith unto them, Whose <I>is</I> this image and
|
|
superscription?
|
|
21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render
|
|
therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God
|
|
the things that are God's.
|
|
22 When they had heard <I>these words,</I> they marvelled, and left
|
|
him, and went their way.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
It was not the least grievous of the sufferings of Christ, that <I>he
|
|
endured the contradiction of sinners against himself,</I> and had
|
|
snares laid for him by those that sought how to take him off with some
|
|
pretence. In these verses, we have him attacked by the Pharisees and
|
|
Herodians with a question about paying tribute to Cæsar. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. What the design was, which they proposed to themselves; <I>They took
|
|
counsel to entangle him in his talk.</I> Hitherto, his encounters had
|
|
been mostly with the chief priests and the elders, men in authority,
|
|
who trusted more to their power than to their policy, and examined him
|
|
concerning his commission
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+21:23"><I>ch.</I> xxi. 23</A>);
|
|
|
|
but now he is set upon from another quarter; the Pharisees will try
|
|
whether they can deal with him by their learning in the law, and in
|
|
casuistical divinity, and they have a <I>tentamen novum--a new
|
|
trial</I> for him. Note, It is in vain for the best and wisest of men
|
|
to think that, by their ingenuity, or interest, or industry, or even by
|
|
their innocence and integrity, they can escape the hatred and ill will
|
|
of bad men, or screen themselves from <I>the strife of tongues.</I> See
|
|
how unwearied the enemies of Christ and his kingdom are in their
|
|
opposition!</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. <I>They took counsel.</I> It was foretold concerning him, that
|
|
<I>the rulers</I> would <I>take counsel against him</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+2:2">Ps. ii. 2</A>);
|
|
|
|
and <I>so persecuted they the prophets. Come, and let us devise devices
|
|
against Jeremiah.</I> See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+18:18,20:10">Jer. xviii. 18; xx. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, The more there is of contrivance and consultation about sin, the
|
|
worse it is. There is a particular <I>woe to them that devise
|
|
iniquity,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+2:1">Mic. ii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
The more there is of the wicked wit in the contrivance of a sin, the
|
|
more there is of the wicked will in the commission of it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. That which they aimed at was <I>to entangle him in his talk.</I>
|
|
They saw him free and bold in speaking his mind, and hoped by that, if
|
|
they could bring him to some nice and tender point, to get an advantage
|
|
against him. It has been the old practice of Satan's agents and
|
|
emissaries, to make a man an offender for a word, a word misplaced, or
|
|
mistaken, or misunderstood; a word, though innocently designed, yet
|
|
perverted by strained inuendos: thus they lay a snare for him that
|
|
<I>reproveth in the gate</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+29:21">Isa. xxix. 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
and represent the greatest teachers as the greatest troublers of
|
|
Israel: thus <I>the wicked plotteth against the just,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+37:12,13">Ps. xxxvii. 12, 13</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
There are two ways by which the enemies of Christ might be revenged on
|
|
him, and be rid of him; either by law or by force. By law they could
|
|
not do it, unless they could make him obnoxious to the civil
|
|
government; for <I>it was not lawful for them to put any man to
|
|
death</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+18:31">John xviii. 31</A>);
|
|
|
|
and the Roman powers were not apt to concern themselves about
|
|
<I>questions of words, and names, and their law,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+18:15">Acts xviii. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
By force they could not do it, unless they could make him obnoxious to
|
|
the people, who were always the hands, whoever were the heads, in such
|
|
acts of violence, which they call the beating of the rebels; but the
|
|
people took Christ for a Prophet, and therefore his enemies could not
|
|
raise the mob against him. Now (as the old serpent was from the
|
|
beginning <I>more subtle than any beast of the field</I>), the design
|
|
was, to bring him into such a dilemma, that he must make himself liable
|
|
to the displeasure either of the Jewish multitude, or of the Roman
|
|
magistrates; let him take which side of the question he will, he shall
|
|
run himself into a premunire; and so they will gain their point, and
|
|
make his own tongue to fall upon him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The question which they put to him pursuant to this design,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
Having devised this iniquity in secret, in a close cabal, behind the
|
|
curtain, when they went abroad without loss of time they practised it.
|
|
Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The persons they employed; they did not go themselves, lest the
|
|
design should be suspected and Christ should stand the more upon his
|
|
guard; but they sent their disciples, who would look less like
|
|
tempters, and more like learners. Note, Wicked men will never want
|
|
wicked instruments to be employed in carrying on their wicked counsels.
|
|
Pharisees have their disciples at their beck, who will go any errand
|
|
for them, and say as they say; and they have this in their eyes, when
|
|
they are so industrious to make proselytes.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
With them they sent the Herodians, a party among the Jews, who were for
|
|
a cheerful and entire subjection to the Roman emperor, and to Herod his
|
|
deputy; and who made it their business to reconcile people to that
|
|
government, and pressed all to pay their tribute. Some think that they
|
|
were the collectors of the land tax, as the publicans were of the
|
|
customs, and that they went with the Pharisees to Christ, with this
|
|
blind upon their plot, that while the Herodians demanded the tax, and
|
|
the Pharisees denied it, they were both willing to refer it to Christ,
|
|
as a proper Judge to decide the quarrel. Herod being obliged, by the
|
|
charter of the sovereignty, to take care of the tribute, these
|
|
Herodians, by assisting him in that, helped to endear him to his great
|
|
friends at Rome. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were zealous for the
|
|
liberty of the Jews, and did what they could to make them impatient of
|
|
the Roman yoke. Now, if he should countenance the paying of tribute,
|
|
the Pharisees would incense the people against him; if he should
|
|
discountenance or disallow it, the Herodians would incense the
|
|
government against him. Note, It is common for those that oppose one
|
|
another, to continue in an opposition to Christ and his kingdom.
|
|
Samson's foxes looked several ways, but met in one firebrand. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+83:3,5,7,8">Ps. lxxxiii. 3, 5, 7, 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
If they are unanimous in opposing, should not we be so in maintaining,
|
|
the interests of the gospel?</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The preface, with which they were plausibly to introduce the
|
|
question; it was highly complimentary to our Saviour
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in
|
|
truth.</I> Note, It is a common thing for the most spiteful projects to
|
|
be covered with the most specious pretences. Had they come to Christ
|
|
with the most serious enquiry, and the most sincere intention, they
|
|
could not have expressed themselves better. Here is <I>hatred covered
|
|
with deceit,</I> and a <I>wicked heart with burning lips</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+26:23">Prov. xxvi. 23</A>);
|
|
|
|
as Judas, who kissed, and betrayed, as Joab, who kissed, and
|
|
killed.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Now,
|
|
|
|
(1.) What they said of Christ was right, and whether they knew it or
|
|
no, blessed be God, we know it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] That Jesus Christ was a faithful Teacher; <I>Thou art true, and
|
|
teachest the way of God in truth.</I> For himself, <I>he is true, the
|
|
Amen, the faithful Witness;</I> he is the Truth itself. As for his
|
|
doctrine, the matter of his teaching was the way of God, the way that
|
|
God requires us to walk in, the way of duty, that leads to happiness;
|
|
that is the way of God. The manner of it was in truth; he showed people
|
|
<I>the right way, the way in which they should go.</I> He was a skilful
|
|
Teacher, and knew the way of God; and a faithful Teacher, that would be
|
|
sure to let us know it. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+8:6-9">Prov. viii. 6-9</A>.
|
|
|
|
This is the character of a good teacher, to preach the truth, the whole
|
|
truth, and nothing but the truth, and not to suppress, pervert, or
|
|
stretch, any truth, for favour or affection, hatred or good will,
|
|
either out of a desire to please, or a fear to offend, any man.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] That he was a bold Reprover. In preaching, he <I>cared not for
|
|
any;</I> he valued no man's frowns or smiles, he did not court, he did
|
|
not dread, either the great or the many, for he <I>regarded not the
|
|
person of man.</I> In his evangelical judgment, he did not know faces;
|
|
that <I>Lion of the tribe of Judah, turned not away for any</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:30">Prov. xxx. 30</A>),
|
|
|
|
turned not a step from the truth, nor from his work, for fear of the
|
|
most formidable. He <I>reproved with equity</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+11:4">Isa. xi. 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
and never with partiality.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) Though what they said was true for the matter of it, yet there was
|
|
nothing but flattery and treachery in the intention of it. They called
|
|
him <I>Master,</I> when they were contriving to treat him as the worst
|
|
of malefactors; they pretended respect for him, when they intended
|
|
mischief against him; and they affronted his wisdom as Man, much more
|
|
his omniscience as God, of which he had so often given undeniable
|
|
proofs, when they imagined that they could impose upon him with these
|
|
pretences, and that he could not see through them. It is the grossest
|
|
atheism, that is the greatest folly in the world, to think to put a
|
|
cheat upon Christ, who searches the heart,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+2:23">Rev. ii. 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those that mock God do but deceive themselves.
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+6:7">Gal. vi. 7</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The proposal of the case; <I>What thinkest thou?</I> As if they had
|
|
said, "Many men are of many minds in this matter; it is a case which
|
|
relates to practice, and occurs daily; let us have thy thought freely
|
|
in the matter, <I>Is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar or not?</I>"
|
|
This implies a further question; Has Cæsar a right to demand it? The
|
|
nation of the Jews was lately, about a hundred years before this,
|
|
conquered by the Roman sword, and so, as other nations, made subject to
|
|
the Roman yoke, and became a province of the empire; accordingly, toll,
|
|
tribute, and custom, were demanded from them, and sometimes poll-money.
|
|
By this it appeared that <I>the sceptre was departed from Judah</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+49:10">Gen. xlix. 10</A>);
|
|
|
|
and therefore, if they had understood the signs of the times, they must
|
|
have concluded that <I>Shiloh was come,</I> and either that this was
|
|
he, or they must find out another more likely to be so.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Now the question was, Whether it was lawful to pay these taxes
|
|
voluntarily, or, Whether they should not insist upon the ancient
|
|
liberty of their nation, and rather suffer themselves to be distrained
|
|
upon? The ground of the doubt was, that they <I>were Abraham's
|
|
seed,</I> and should not by consent be <I>in bondage to any man,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+8:33">John viii. 33</A>.
|
|
|
|
God had given them a law, that they should not <I>set a stranger over
|
|
them.</I> Did not that imply, that they were not to yield any willing
|
|
subjection to any prince, state, or potentate, that was not of their
|
|
own nation and religion? This was an old mistake, arising from that
|
|
<I>pride and</I> that<I>haughty spirit</I> which bring <I>destruction
|
|
and a fall.</I> Jeremiah, in his time, though he spoke in God's name,
|
|
could not possibly beat them off it, nor persuade them to submit to the
|
|
king of Babylon; and their obstinacy in that matter was then their ruin
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+27:12,13">Jer. xxvii. 12, 13</A>):
|
|
|
|
and now again they stumbled at the same stone; and it was the very
|
|
thing which, in a few years after, brought final destruction upon them
|
|
by the Romans. They quite mistook the sense both of the precept and of
|
|
the privilege, and, under colour of God's word, contended with his
|
|
providence, when they should have kissed the rod, and accepted the
|
|
punishment of their iniquity.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
However, by this question they hoped to entangle Christ, and, which way
|
|
soever he resolved it, to expose him to the fury either of the jealous
|
|
Jews, or of the jealous Romans; they were ready to triumph, as Pharaoh
|
|
did over Israel, that <I>the wilderness had shut him in,</I> and his
|
|
doctrine would be concluded either injurious to the rights of the
|
|
church, or hurtful to kings and provinces.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The breaking of this snare by the wisdom of the Lord Jesus.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He discovered it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>He perceived their wickedness;</I> for, <I>surely in vain is the net
|
|
spread in the sight of any bird,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+1:17">Prov. i. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
A temptation perceived is half conquered, for our greatest danger lies
|
|
from snakes under the green grass; <I>and he said, Why tempt ye me, ye
|
|
hypocrites?</I> Note, Whatever vizard the hypocrite puts on, our Lord
|
|
Jesus sees through it; he perceives all the wickedness that is in the
|
|
hearts of pretenders, and can easily convict them of it, and set it in
|
|
order before them. He cannot be imposed upon, as we often are, by
|
|
flatteries and fair pretences. He that searches the heart can call
|
|
hypocrites by their own name, as Ahijah did the wife of Jeroboam
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+14:6">1 Kings xiv. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Why feignest thou thyself to be another? Why tempt ye me, ye
|
|
hypocrites?</I> Note, Hypocrites tempt Jesus Christ; they try his
|
|
knowledge, whether he can discover them through their disguises; they
|
|
try his holiness and truth, whether he will allow of them in this
|
|
church; but if they that of old <I>tempted Christ,</I> when he was but
|
|
darkly revealed, <I>were destroyed of serpents, of how much sorer
|
|
punishment shall they be thought worthy</I> who tempt him now in the
|
|
midst of gospel light and love! Those that presume to tempt Christ will
|
|
certainly find him too hard for them, and that he is of more piercing
|
|
eyes than not to see, and more pure eyes than not to hate, the
|
|
disguised wickedness of hypocrites, that dig deep to hide their counsel
|
|
from him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. He evaded it; his convicting them of hypocrisy might have served for
|
|
an answer (such captious malicious questions deserve a reproof, not a
|
|
reply): but our Lord Jesus gave a full answer to their question, and
|
|
introduced it by an argument sufficient to support it, so as to lay
|
|
down a rule for his church in this matter, and yet to avoid giving
|
|
offence, and to break the snare.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) He forced them, ere they were aware, to confess Cæsar's
|
|
authority over them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:19,20"><I>v.</I> 19, 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
In dealing with those that are captious, it is good to give our
|
|
reasons, and, if possible, reasons of confessed cogency, before we give
|
|
our resolutions. Thus the evidence of truth may silence gainsayers by
|
|
surprise, while they only stood upon their guard against the truth
|
|
itself, not against the reason of it; <I>Show me the tribute-money.</I>
|
|
He had none of his own to convince them by; it should seem, he had not
|
|
so much as one piece of money about him, for for our sakes he emptied
|
|
himself, and became poor; he despised the wealth of this world, and
|
|
thereby taught us not to over-value it; silver and gold he had none;
|
|
why then should we covet to load ourselves with the thick clay? The
|
|
Romans demanded their tribute in their own money, which was current
|
|
among the Jews at that time: that therefore is called the
|
|
<I>tribute-money;</I> he does not name what piece but the <I>tribute
|
|
money,</I> to show that he did not mind things of that nature, nor
|
|
concern himself about them; his heart was upon better things, the
|
|
kingdom of God and the riches and righteousness thereof, and ours
|
|
should be so too. They presently <I>brought him a penny,</I> a Roman
|
|
penny in silver, in value about sevenpence half-penny of our money, the
|
|
most common piece then in use: it was stamped with the emperor's image
|
|
and superscription, which was the warrant of the public faith for the
|
|
value of the pieces so stamped; a method agreed on by most nations, for
|
|
the more easy circulation of money with satisfaction. The coining of
|
|
money has always been looked upon as a branch of the prerogative, a
|
|
flower of the crown, a royalty belonging to the sovereign powers; and
|
|
the admitting of that as the good and lawful money of a country is an
|
|
implicit submission to those powers, and an owning of them in money
|
|
matters. How happy is our constitution, and how happy we, who live in a
|
|
nation where, though the image and superscription be the sovereign's,
|
|
the property is the subject's, under the protection of the laws, and
|
|
what we have we can call our own!</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Christ asked them, <I>Whose image is this?</I> They owned it to be
|
|
Cæsar's, and thereby convicted those of falsehood who said, <I>We were
|
|
never in bondage to any;</I> and confirmed what afterward they said,
|
|
<I>We have no king but Cæsar.</I> It is a rule in the Jewish Talmud,
|
|
that "he is the king of the country whose coin is current in the
|
|
country." Some think that the superscription upon this coin was a
|
|
memorandum of the conquest of Judea by the Romans, <I>anno post captam
|
|
Judæam--the year after that event;</I> and that they admitted that
|
|
too.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) From thence he inferred the lawfulness of paying tribute to Cæsar
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>Render therefore to Cæsar the things that are
|
|
Cæsar's;</I> not, "<I>Give</I> it him" (as they expressed it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>),
|
|
|
|
but, "<I>Render</I> it; Return," or "Restore it; if Cæsar fill
|
|
the purses, let Cæsar command them. It is too late now to dispute
|
|
paying tribute to Cæsar; for you are become a province of the
|
|
empire, and, when once a relation is admitted, the duty of it must be
|
|
performed. <I>Render to all their due,</I> and particularly <I>tribute
|
|
to whom tribute is due.</I>" Now by this answer,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] No offence was given. It was much to the honour of Christ and his
|
|
doctrine, that he did not interpose as a Judge or a Divider in matters
|
|
of this nature, but left them as he found them, for <I>his kingdom is
|
|
not of this world;</I> and in this he hath given an example to his
|
|
ministers, who deal in sacred things, not to meddle with disputes about
|
|
things secular, not to wade far into controversies relating to them,
|
|
but to leave that to those whose proper business it is. Ministers that
|
|
would mind their business, and please their master, must not
|
|
<I>entangle themselves in the affairs of this life:</I> they forfeit
|
|
the guidance of God's Spirit, and the convoy of his providence when
|
|
they thus to out of their way. Christ discusses not the emperor's
|
|
title, but enjoins a peaceable subjection to <I>the powers that be.</I>
|
|
The government therefore had no reason to take offence at his
|
|
determination, but to thank him, for it would strengthen Cæsar's
|
|
interest with the people, who held him for a Prophet; and yet such was
|
|
the impudence of his prosecutors, that, though he had expressly charged
|
|
them to <I>render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's,</I>
|
|
they laid the direct contrary in his indictment, that he <I>forbade to
|
|
give tribute to Cæsar,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+23:2">Luke xxiii. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
As to the people, the Pharisees could not accuse him to them, because
|
|
they themselves had, before they were aware, yielded the premises, and
|
|
then it was too late to evade the conclusion. Note, Though truth seeks
|
|
not a fraudulent concealment, yet it sometimes needs a prudent
|
|
management, to prevent the offence which may be taken at it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] His adversaries were reproved. <I>First,</I> Some of them would
|
|
have had him make it unlawful to give tribute to Cæsar, that they
|
|
might have a pretence to save their money. Thus many excuse themselves
|
|
from that which they must do, by arguing whether they may do it or no.
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> They all withheld from God his dues, and are reproved
|
|
for that: while they were vainly contending about their civil
|
|
liberties, they had lost the life and power of religion, and needed to
|
|
be put in mind of their duty to God, with that to Cæsar.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[3.] His disciples were instructed, and standing rules left to the
|
|
church.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>First,</I> That the Christian religion is no enemy to civil
|
|
government, but a friend to it. Christ's kingdom doth not clash or
|
|
interfere with the kingdoms of the earth, in any thing that pertains to
|
|
their jurisdiction. By Christ kings reign.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> It is the duty of subjects to render to magistrates
|
|
that which, according to the laws of their country, is their due. The
|
|
higher powers, being entrusted with the public welfare, the protection
|
|
of the subject, and the conservation of the peace, are entitled, in
|
|
consideration thereof, to a just proportion of the public wealth, and
|
|
the revenue of the nation. <I>For this cause pay we tribute,</I>
|
|
because <I>they attend continually to this very thing</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+13:6">Rom. xiii. 6</A>);
|
|
|
|
and it is doubtless a greater sin to cheat the government than to cheat
|
|
a private person. Though it is the constitution that determines what is
|
|
Cæsar's, yet, when that is determined, Christ bids us render it to
|
|
him; my coat is my coat, by the law of man; but he is a thief, by the
|
|
law of God, that takes it from me.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Thirdly,</I> When we render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's,
|
|
we must remember withal to render to God the things that are God's. If
|
|
our purses be Cæsar's, our consciences are God's; he hath said, <I>My
|
|
son, give me thy heart:</I> he must have the innermost and uppermost
|
|
place there; we must render to God that which is his due, out of our
|
|
time and out of our estates; from them he must have his share as well
|
|
as Cæsar his; and if Cæsar's commands interfere with God's <I>we must
|
|
obey God rather than men.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Lastly,</I> Observe how they were nonplussed by this answer; they
|
|
<I>marvelled, and left him, and went their way,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
They admired his sagacity in discovering and evading a snare which they
|
|
thought so craftily laid. Christ is, and will be, the Wonder, not only
|
|
of his beloved friends, but of his baffled enemies. One would think
|
|
they should have marvelled and followed him, marvelled and submitted to
|
|
him; no, they marvelled and left him. Note, There are many in whose
|
|
eyes Christ is marvellous, and yet not precious. They admire his
|
|
wisdom, but will not be guided by it, his power, but will not submit to
|
|
it. <I>They went their way,</I> as persons ashamed, and made an
|
|
inglorious retreat. The stratagem being defeated, they quitted the
|
|
field. Note, There is nothing got by contending with Christ.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_28"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_29"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_30"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_31"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_32"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_33"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Question Respecting Marriage.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there
|
|
is no resurrection, and asked him,
|
|
24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no
|
|
children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed
|
|
unto his brother.
|
|
25 Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when
|
|
he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his
|
|
wife unto his brother:
|
|
26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.
|
|
27 And last of all the woman died also.
|
|
28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the
|
|
seven? for they all had her.
|
|
29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing
|
|
the scriptures, nor the power of God.
|
|
30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in
|
|
marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
|
|
31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not
|
|
read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
|
|
32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God
|
|
of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
|
|
33 And when the multitude heard <I>this,</I> they were astonished at
|
|
his doctrine.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here Christ's dispute with the Sadducees concerning the
|
|
resurrection; it was the same day on which he was attacked by the
|
|
Pharisees about paying tribute. Satan was now more busy than ever to
|
|
ruffle and disturb him; it was <I>an hour of temptation,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+3:10">Rev. iii. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
The truth as it is in Jesus will still meet with contradiction, in some
|
|
branch or other of it. Observe here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The opposition which the Sadducees made to a very great truth of
|
|
religion; they say, <I>There is no resurrection,</I> as there are some
|
|
fools who say, <I>There is no God.</I> These heretics were called
|
|
<I>Sadducees</I> from one Sadoc, a disciple of Antigonus Sochæus, who
|
|
flourished about two hundred and eighty-four years before our Saviour's
|
|
birth. They lie under heavy censures among the writers of their own
|
|
nation, as men of base and debauched conversations, which their
|
|
principles led them to. They were the fewest in number of all the
|
|
sects among the Jews, but generally persons of some rank. As the
|
|
Pharisees and Essenes seemed to follow Plato and Pythagoras, so the
|
|
Sadducees were much of the genius of the Epicureans; they denied the
|
|
resurrection, they said, There is no future state, no life after this;
|
|
that, when the body dies, the soul is annihilated, and dies with it;
|
|
that there is no state of rewards or punishments in the other world; no
|
|
judgment to come in heaven or hell. They maintained, that, except God,
|
|
there is not spirit
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:8">Acts xxiii. 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
nothing but matter and motion. They would not own the divine
|
|
inspiration of the prophets, nor any revelation from heaven, but what
|
|
God himself spoke upon mount Sinai. Now the doctrine of Christ carried
|
|
that great truth of the resurrection and a future state much further
|
|
than it had yet been revealed, and therefore the Sadducees in a
|
|
particular manner set themselves against it. The Pharisees and
|
|
Sadducees were contrary to each other, and yet confederates against
|
|
Christ. Christ's gospel hath always suffered between superstitious
|
|
ceremonious hypocrites and bigots on the one hand, and profane deists
|
|
and infidels on the other. The former abusing, the latter despising,
|
|
the <I>form</I> of godliness, but both denying the <I>power</I> of
|
|
it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The objection they made against the truth, which was taken from a
|
|
supposed case of a woman that had seven husbands successively; now they
|
|
take it for granted, that, if there be a resurrection, it must be a
|
|
return to such a state as this we are now in, and to the same
|
|
circumstances, like the imaginary Platonic year; and if so, it is an
|
|
invincible absurdity for this woman in the future state to have seven
|
|
husbands, or else an insuperable difficulty which of them should have
|
|
her, he whom she had first, or he whom she had last, or he whom she
|
|
loved best, or he whom she lived longest with.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. They suggest the law of Moses in this matter
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>),
|
|
|
|
that the next of kin should marry the widow of him that died childless
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+25:5">Deut. xxv. 5</A>);
|
|
|
|
we have it practised
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ru+4:5">Ruth iv. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was a political law, founded in the particular constitution of the
|
|
Jewish commonwealth, to preserve the distinction of families and
|
|
inheritances, of both which there was special care taken in that
|
|
government.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. They put a case upon this statute, which, whether it were a <I>case
|
|
in fact</I> or only a <I>moot case,</I> is not at all material; if it
|
|
had not really occurred, yet possibly it might. It was of seven
|
|
brothers, who married the same woman,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:25-27"><I>v.</I> 25-27</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now this case supposes,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) The desolations that death sometimes makes in families when it
|
|
comes with commission; how it often sweeps away a whole fraternity in a
|
|
little time;: seldom (as the case is put) according to seniority (the
|
|
land of darkness is without any order,) but <I>heaps upon heaps;</I> it
|
|
diminishes families that had multiplied greatly,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+107:38,39">Ps. cvii. 38, 39</A>.
|
|
|
|
When there were seven brothers grown up to man's estate, there was a
|
|
family very likely to be built up; and yet this numerous family leaves
|
|
<I>neither son nor nephew, nor any remaining in their dwellings,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+18:19">Job xviii. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Well may we say then, <I>Except the Lord build the house, they labour
|
|
in vain that build it.</I> Let none be sure of the advancement and
|
|
perpetuity of their names and families, unless they could <I>make a
|
|
covenant</I> of peace <I>with death,</I> or be at an <I>agreement with
|
|
the grave.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) The obedience of these seven brothers to the law, though they had
|
|
a power of refusal under the penalty of a reproach,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+25:7">Deut. xxv. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, Discouraging providences should not keep us from doing our duty
|
|
because we must be governed by the rule, not by the event. The seventh,
|
|
who ventured last to marry the widow (many a one would say) was
|
|
a<I>bold</I> man. I would say, if he did it purely in obedience to God,
|
|
he was a <I>good</I> man, and one that made conscience of his duty.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
But, <I>last of all, the woman died also.</I> Note, Survivorship is but
|
|
a reprieve; they that live long, and bury their relations and
|
|
neighbours one after another, do not thereby acquire an immortality;
|
|
no, their day will come to fall. Death's bitter cup goes round, and,
|
|
sooner or later, we must all pledge in it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+25:26">Jer. xxv. 26</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. They propose a doubt upon this case
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>);
|
|
|
|
"<I>In the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven?</I> You
|
|
cannot tell whose; and therefore we must conclude <I>there is no
|
|
resurrection.</I>" The Pharisees, who professed to believe a
|
|
resurrection, had very gross and carnal notions concerning it, and
|
|
concerning the future state; expecting to find there, as the Turks in
|
|
their paradise, the delights and pleasures of the animal life, which
|
|
perhaps drove the Sadducees to deny the thing itself; for nothing gives
|
|
greater advantage to atheism and infidelity than the carnality of those
|
|
that make religion, either in its professions or in its prospects, a
|
|
servant to their sensual appetites and secular interests; while those
|
|
that are erroneous deny the truth, those that are superstitious betray
|
|
it to them. Now they, in this objection, went upon the Pharisees'
|
|
hypothesis. Note, It is not strange that carnal minds have very false
|
|
notions of spiritual and eternal things. The natural man receiveth not
|
|
these things, <I>for they are foolishness to him.</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+2:14">1 Cor. ii. 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let truth be set in a clear light, and then it appears in its full
|
|
strength.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. Christ's answer to this objection; by reproving their ignorance,
|
|
and rectifying their mistake, he shows the objection to be fallacious
|
|
and unconcluding.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He reproves their ignorance
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>Ye do err.</I> Note, Those do greatly err, in the judgment of
|
|
Christ, who deny the resurrection and a future state. Here Christ
|
|
reproves with the meekness of wisdom, and is not so sharp upon them
|
|
(whatever was the reason) as sometimes he was upon the chief priests
|
|
and elders; <I>Ye do err, not knowing.</I> Note, Ignorance is the cause
|
|
of error; those that are in the dark, miss their way. The patrons of
|
|
error do <I>therefore</I> resist the light, and do what they can to
|
|
take away the key of knowledge; <I>Ye do err</I> in this matter, <I>not
|
|
knowing.</I> Note, Ignorance is the cause of error about the
|
|
resurrection and the future state. <I>What</I> it is in its particular
|
|
instances, the wisest and best know not; it doth not yet appear what we
|
|
shall be, it is a glory that is to be revealed: when we speak of the
|
|
state of separate souls, the resurrection of the body, and of eternal
|
|
happiness and misery, we are soon at a loss; we cannot order our
|
|
speech, by reason of darkness, but that it <I>is</I> a thing about
|
|
which we are not left in the dark; blessed be God, we are not; and
|
|
those who deny it are guilty of a willing and affected ignorance. It
|
|
seems, there were some Sadducees, some such monsters, among professing
|
|
Christians, <I>some among you, that say, There is no resurrection of
|
|
the dead</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:12">1 Cor. xv. 12</A>)
|
|
|
|
and some that did in effect deny it, by turning it into an allegory,
|
|
saying, The <I>resurrection is past already.</I> Now observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) <I>They know not the power of God;</I> which would lead men to
|
|
infer that there <I>may be</I> a resurrection and a future state. Note,
|
|
The ignorance, disbelief, or weak belief, of God's power, is at the
|
|
bottom of many errors, particularly theirs who deny the resurrection.
|
|
When we are told of the soul's existence and agency in a state of
|
|
separation from the body, and especially that a dead body, which had
|
|
lain many ages in the grave, and is turned into common and
|
|
indistinguished dust, that this shall be raised the same body that it
|
|
was, and live, move, and act, again; we are ready to say, <I>How can
|
|
these things be?</I> Nature allows it for a maxim, <I>A privatione ad
|
|
habitum non datur regressus--The habits attaching to a state of
|
|
existence vanish irrecoverably with the state itself.</I> If a man die,
|
|
shall he live again? And vain men, because they cannot comprehend the
|
|
<I>way</I> of it, question the <I>truth</I> of it; whereas, if we
|
|
firmly believe in God the Father Almighty, that nothing is impossible
|
|
with God, all these difficulties vanish. This therefore we must fasten
|
|
upon, in the first place, that God is omnipotent, and can do what he
|
|
will; and then no room is left for doubting but that he will do what he
|
|
has promised; and, if so, <I>why should it be thought a thing
|
|
incredible with you that God should raise the dead?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:8">Acts xxvi. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
His power far exceeds the power of nature.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) <I>They know not the scriptures,</I> which decidedly affirm that
|
|
there shall be a resurrection and a future state. The power of God,
|
|
determined and engaged by his promise, is the foundation for faith to
|
|
build upon. Now the scriptures speak plainly, that the soul is
|
|
immortal, and there is another life after this; it is the scope both of
|
|
the law and of the prophets, <I>that there shall be a resurrection of
|
|
the dead, both of the just and of the unjust,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+24:14,15">Acts xxiv. 14, 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
Job knew it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+19:26">Job xix. 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
Ezekiel foresaw it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+37:1-28">Ezek. xxxvii.</A>),
|
|
|
|
and Daniel plainly foretold it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+12:2">Dan. xii. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
Christ rose again <I>according to the scriptures</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:3">1 Cor. xv. 3</A>);
|
|
|
|
and so shall we. Those therefore who deny it, either have not conversed
|
|
with the Scriptures, or do not believe them, or do not take the true
|
|
sense and meaning of them. Note, Ignorance of the scripture is the rise
|
|
of abundance of mischief.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. He rectifies their mistake, and
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:30"><I>v.</I> 30</A>)
|
|
|
|
corrects those gross ideas which they had of the resurrection and a
|
|
future state, and fixes these doctrines upon a true and lasting basis.
|
|
Concerning that state, observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) It is not like the state we are now in upon earth; <I>They neither
|
|
marry, nor are given in marriage.</I> In our present state marriage is
|
|
necessary; it was instituted in innocency; whatever intermission or
|
|
neglect there has been of other institutions, this was never laid
|
|
aside, nor will be till the end of time. In the old world, they were
|
|
<I>marrying, and giving in marriage;</I> the Jews in Babylon, when cut
|
|
off from other ordinances, yet were bid to <I>take them wives,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+29:6">Jer. xxix. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
All civilized nations have had a sense of the obligation of the
|
|
marriage covenant; and it is requisite for the gratifying of the
|
|
desires, and recruiting the deficiencies, of the human nature. But, in
|
|
the resurrection, there is no occasion for marriage; whether in
|
|
glorified bodies there will be any distinction of sexes some too
|
|
curiously dispute (the ancients are divided in their opinions about
|
|
it); but, whether there will be a distinction or not, it is certain
|
|
that there will be no conjunction; where God will be <I>all in all,</I>
|
|
there needs no other <I>meet-help;</I> the body will be
|
|
<I>spiritual,</I> and there will be in it no carnal desires to be
|
|
gratified: when the mystical body is completed, there will be no
|
|
further occasion to <I>seek a godly seed,</I> which was one end of the
|
|
institution of marriage,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+2:15">Mal. ii. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
In heaven there will be no decay of the individuals, and therefore no
|
|
eating and drinking; no decay of the species, and therefore no
|
|
marrying; <I>where there shall be no more deaths</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+21:4">Rev. xxi. 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
there need be no more births. The married state is a composition of
|
|
joys and cares; those that enter upon it are taught to look upon it as
|
|
subject to changes, <I>richer and poorer, sickness and health;</I> and
|
|
therefore it is fit for this mixed, changing world; but as in hell,
|
|
where there is no joy, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the
|
|
bride shall be heard no more at all, so in heaven, where there is all
|
|
joy, and no care or pain or trouble, there will be no marrying. The
|
|
joys of that state are pure and spiritual, and arise from the marriage
|
|
of all of them to the Lamb, not of any of them to one another.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) It is like the state angels are now in in heaven; <I>They are as
|
|
the angels of God in heaven;</I> they <I>are</I> so, that is,
|
|
undoubtedly they shall be so. They are so already in Christ their Head,
|
|
who has made them <I>sit with him in heavenly places,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+2:6">Eph. ii. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
The spirits of just men already made perfect are of the same
|
|
corporation with the innumerable company of angels,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+12:22,23">Heb. xii. 22, 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
Man in his creation was <I>made a little lower than the angels</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+8:5">Ps. viii. 5</A>);
|
|
|
|
but in his complete redemption and renovation will be as the angels;
|
|
pure and spiritual as the angels, knowing and loving as those blessed
|
|
seraphim, ever praising God like them and with them. The bodies of the
|
|
saints shall be raised incorruptible and glorious, like the
|
|
uncompounded vehicles of those pure and holy spirits
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:42">1 Cor. xv. 42</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c.), swift and strong, like them. We should <I>therefore</I> desire
|
|
and endeavour to do the will of God now as the angels do it in heaven,
|
|
because we hope shortly to be like the angels who always behold our
|
|
Father's face. He saith nothing of the state of the wicked in the
|
|
resurrection; but, by consequence, they shall be like the devils, whose
|
|
lusts they have done.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. Christ's argument to confirm this great truth of the resurrection
|
|
and a future state; the matters being of great concern, he did not
|
|
think it enough (as in some other disputes) to discover the fallacy and
|
|
sophistry of the objection, but backed the truth with a solid argument;
|
|
for Christ <I>brings forth judgment to truth</I> as well as victory,
|
|
and enables his followers to give a reason of the hope that is in them.
|
|
Now observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Whence he fetched his argument--from the scripture; that is the great
|
|
magazine or armoury whence we may be furnished with spiritual weapons,
|
|
offensive and defensive. <I>It is written</I> is Goliath's sword.
|
|
<I>Have ye not read that which was spoken to you by God?</I> Note,
|
|
|
|
(1.) What the scripture speaks God speaks.
|
|
|
|
(2.) What was spoken to Moses was spoken to us; it was spoken and
|
|
<I>written for our learning.</I>
|
|
|
|
(3.) It concerns us to read and hear what God hath spoken, because it
|
|
is spoken to us. It was spoken to you Jews in the first place, for to
|
|
them were committed the oracles of God. The argument is fetched from
|
|
the books of Moses, because the Sadducees received <I>them</I> only, as
|
|
some think, or, at least, them chiefly, for canonical scriptures;
|
|
Christ therefore fetched his proof from the most indisputable fountain.
|
|
The latter prophets have more express proofs of a future state than the
|
|
law of Moses has; for though the law of Moses supposes the immortality
|
|
of the soul and a future state, as principles of what is called natural
|
|
religion, yet no express revelation of it is made by the law of Moses;
|
|
because so much of that law was peculiar to that people, and was
|
|
therefore guarded as municipal laws used to be with temporal promises
|
|
and threatenings, and the more express revelation of a future state was
|
|
reserved for the latter days; but our Saviour finds a very solid
|
|
argument for the resurrection even in the writings of Moses. Much
|
|
scripture lies under ground, that must be digged for.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. What his argument was
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:32"><I>v.</I> 32</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>I am the God of Abraham.</I> This was not an express proof,
|
|
<I>totidem verbis--in so many words;</I> and yet it was really a
|
|
conclusive argument. Consequences from scripture, if rightly deduced,
|
|
must be received as scripture; for it was written for those that have
|
|
the use of reason.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Now the drift of the argument is to prove,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) That there is a future state, another life after this, in which
|
|
the righteous shall be truly and constantly happy. This is proved from
|
|
what God said; <I>I am the God of Abraham.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] For God to be any one's God supposes some very extraordinary
|
|
privilege and happiness; unless we know fully what God is, we could not
|
|
comprehend the riches of that word, <I>I will be to thee a God,</I>
|
|
that is, a Benefactor like myself. The God <I>of</I> Israel is a God
|
|
<I>to</I> Israel
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ch+17:24">1 Chron. xvii. 24</A>),
|
|
|
|
a spiritual Benefactor; for he is the Father of spirits, and blesseth
|
|
with spiritual blessings: it is to be an all-sufficient Benefactor, a
|
|
God that is enough, a complete Good, and an eternal Benefactor; for he
|
|
is himself an everlasting God, and will be to those that are in
|
|
covenant with him an everlasting Good. This great word God had often
|
|
said to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and it was intended as a recompence
|
|
for their singular faith and obedience, in quitting the country at
|
|
God's call. The Jews had a profound veneration for those three
|
|
patriarchs, and would extend the promise God made them to the
|
|
uttermost.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] It is manifest that these good men had no such extraordinary
|
|
happiness, in <I>this</I> life, as might look any thing like the
|
|
accomplishment of so great a word as that. They were strangers in the
|
|
land of promise, wandering, pinched with famine; they had not a foot of
|
|
ground of their own but a burying-place, which directed them to look
|
|
for something beyond this life. In present enjoyments they came far
|
|
short of their neighbours that were strangers to this covenant. What
|
|
was there in this world to distinguish them and the heirs of their
|
|
faith from other people, any whit proportionable to the dignity and
|
|
distinction of this covenant? If no happiness had been reserved for
|
|
these great and good men on the other side of death, that melancholy
|
|
word of poor Jacob's, when he was old
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+47:9">Gen. xlvii. 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been,</I> would
|
|
have been an eternal reproach to the wisdom, goodness, and
|
|
faithfulness, of that God who had so often called himself <I>the God of
|
|
Jacob.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[3.] Therefore there must certainly be a future state, in which, as God
|
|
will ever live to be eternally rewarding, so Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
|
|
will ever live to be eternally rewarded. That of the apostle
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:16">Heb. xi. 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
is a key to this argument, where, when he had been speaking of the
|
|
faith and obedience of the patriarchs in the land of their pilgrimage,
|
|
he adds, <I>Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God;</I>
|
|
because <I>he has provided for them a city,</I> a heavenly city;
|
|
implying, that if he had not provided so well for them in the other
|
|
world, considering how they sped in this, he would have been ashamed to
|
|
have called himself <I>their God;</I> but now he is not, having done
|
|
that for them which answers it in its true intent and full extent.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) That the soul is immortal, and the body shall rise again, to be
|
|
united; if the former point be gained, these will follow; but they are
|
|
likewise proved by considering the time when God spoke this; it was to
|
|
Moses at the bush, long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were dead and
|
|
buried; and yet God saith, not, "<I>I was,</I>" or "<I>have been,</I>"
|
|
but <I>I am the God of Abraham.</I> Now <I>God is not God of the dead,
|
|
but of the living.</I> He is a living God, and communicates vital
|
|
influences to those to whom he is a God. If, when Abraham died, there
|
|
had been an end of him, there had been an end likewise of God's
|
|
relation to him as his God; but at that time, when God spoke to Moses,
|
|
he was the God of Abraham, and therefore Abraham must be then alive;
|
|
which proves the immortality of the soul in a state of bliss; and that,
|
|
by consequence, infers the resurrection of the body; for there is such
|
|
an inclination in the human soul to its body, as would make a final and
|
|
eternal separation inconsistent with the bliss of those that have God
|
|
for <I>their God.</I> The Sadducees' notion was, that the union between
|
|
body and soul is so close, that, when the body dies, the soul dies with
|
|
it. Now, upon the same hypothesis, if the soul lives, as it certainly
|
|
does, the body must some time or other live with it. And besides, the
|
|
Lord is for the body, it is an essential part of the man; there is a
|
|
covenant with the dust, which will be remembered, otherwise <I>the
|
|
man</I> would not be happy. The charge which the dying patriarchs gave
|
|
concerning their bones, and that <I>in faith,</I> was an evidence that
|
|
they had some expectation of the resurrection of their bodies. But this
|
|
doctrine was reserved for a more full revelation after the resurrection
|
|
of Christ, who <I>was the first-fruits of them that slept.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Lastly,</I> We have the issue of this dispute. The Sadducees were
|
|
<I>put to silence</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:34"><I>v.</I> 34</A>),
|
|
|
|
and so put to shame. They thought by their subtlety to put Christ to
|
|
shame, when they were preparing shame for themselves. But the multitude
|
|
<I>were astonished at this doctrine,</I>
|
|
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:33"><I>v.</I> 33</A>.
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1. Because it was new to them. See to what a sad pass the exposition of
|
|
scripture was come among them, when people were astonished at it as a
|
|
miracle to hear the fundamental promise applied to this great truth;
|
|
they had sorry scribes, or this had been no news to them.
|
|
|
|
2. Because it had something in it very good and great. Truth often
|
|
shows the brighter, and is the more admired, for its being opposed.
|
|
Observe, Many gainsayers are silenced, and many hearers astonished,
|
|
without being savingly converted; yet even in the silence and
|
|
astonishment of unsanctified souls God magnifies his law, magnifies his
|
|
gospel, and makes both honourable.</P>
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|
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|
<A NAME="Mt22_34"> </A>
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|
<A NAME="Mt22_35"> </A>
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|
<A NAME="Mt22_36"> </A>
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|
<A NAME="Mt22_37"> </A>
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|
<A NAME="Mt22_38"> </A>
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|
<A NAME="Mt22_39"> </A>
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|
<A NAME="Mt22_40"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
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|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Substance of the Commandments.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the
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Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
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35 Then one of them, <I>which was</I> a lawyer, asked <I>him a
|
|
question,</I> tempting him, and saying,
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|
36 Master, which <I>is</I> the great commandment in the law?
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|
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
|
|
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
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|
38 This is the first and great commandment.
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|
39 And the second <I>is</I> like unto it, Thou shalt love thy
|
|
neighbour as thyself.
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40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
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|
</FONT></P>
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|
<P>
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Here is a discourse which Christ had with a Pharisee-lawyer, about the
|
|
great commandment of the law. Observe,</P>
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<P>
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|
I. The combination of the Pharisees against Christ,
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:34"><I>v.</I> 34</A>.
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|
They heard <I>that he had put the Sadducees to silence,</I> had stopped
|
|
their mouths, though their understandings were not opened; and they
|
|
were <I>gathered together,</I> not to return him the thanks of their
|
|
party, as they ought to have done, for his effectually asserting and
|
|
confirming of the truth against the Sadducees, the common enemies of
|
|
their religion, but to <I>tempt him,</I> in hopes to get the reputation
|
|
of puzzling him who had puzzled the Sadducees. They were more vexed
|
|
that Christ was honoured, than pleased that the Sadducees were
|
|
silenced; being more concerned for their own tyranny and traditions,
|
|
which Christ opposed, than for the doctrine of the resurrection and a
|
|
future state, which the Sadducees opposed. Note, It is an instance of
|
|
Pharisaical envy and malice, to be displeased at the maintaining of a
|
|
confessed truth, when it is done by those we do not like; to sacrifice
|
|
a public good to private piques and prejudices. Blessed Paul was
|
|
otherwise minded,
|
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+1:18">Phil. i. 18</A>.</P>
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|
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|
<P>
|
|
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|
II. The lawyer's question, which he put to Christ. The lawyers were
|
|
students in, and teachers of, the law of Moses, as the scribes were;
|
|
but some think that in <I>this</I> they differed, that they dealt more
|
|
in practical questions than the scribes; they studied and professed
|
|
casuistical divinity. This lawyer <I>asked him a question, tempting
|
|
him;</I> not with any design to ensnare him, as appears by St. Mark's
|
|
relation of the story, where we find that this was he to whom Christ
|
|
said, <I>Thou are not far from the kingdom of God,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mk+12:34">Mark xii. 34</A>,
|
|
|
|
but only to see what he would say, and to draw on discourse with him,
|
|
to satisfy his own and his friends' curiosity.</P>
|
|
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|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The question was, <I>Master, which is the greatest commandment of
|
|
the law?</I> A needless question, when all the things of God's law are
|
|
great things
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+8:12">Hos. viii. 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
and the wisdom from above is without partiality, partiality in the law
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+2:9">Mal. ii. 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
and hath respect to them all. Yet it is true, there are some commands
|
|
that are the principles of the oracles of God, more extensive and
|
|
inclusive than others. Our Saviour speaks of the <I>weightier matters
|
|
of the law,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:23"><I>ch.</I> xxiii. 23</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The design was to try him, or tempt him; to try, not so much his
|
|
knowledge as his judgment. It was a question disputed among the critics
|
|
in the law. Some would have the law of circumcision to be the great
|
|
commandment, others the law of the sabbath, others the law of
|
|
sacrifices, according as they severally stood affected, and spent their
|
|
zeal; now they would try what Christ said to this question, hoping to
|
|
incense the people against him, if he should not answer according to
|
|
the vulgar opinion; and if he should magnify one commandment, they
|
|
would reflect on him as vilifying the rest. The question was harmless
|
|
enough; and it appears by comparing
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+10:27,28">Luke x. 27, 28</A>,
|
|
|
|
that it was an adjudged point among the lawyers, that the <I>love of
|
|
God</I> and our <I>neighbour</I> is the great commandment, and the sum
|
|
of all the rest, and Christ had there approved it; so the putting of it
|
|
to him here seems rather a scornful design to catechise him as a child,
|
|
than spiteful design to dispute with him as an adversary.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. Christ's answer to this question; it is well for us that such a
|
|
question was asked him, that we might have his answer. It is no
|
|
disparagement to great men to answer plain questions. Now Christ
|
|
recommends to us those as the great commandments, not which are so
|
|
exclusive of others, but which are <I>therefore</I> great because
|
|
inclusive of others. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Which these great commandments are
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:37-39"><I>v.</I> 37-39</A>);
|
|
|
|
not the judicial laws, those could not be the greatest now that the
|
|
people of the Jews, to whom they pertained, were so little; not the
|
|
ceremonial laws, those could not be the greatest, now that they were
|
|
waxen old, and were ready to vanish away; nor any particular moral
|
|
precept; but the love of God and our neighbour, which are the spring
|
|
and foundation of all the rest, which (these being supposed) will
|
|
follow of course.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) All the law is fulfilled in one word, and that is, <I>love.</I>
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+13:10">Rom. xiii. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
All obedience begins in the affections, and nothing in religion is done
|
|
right, that is not done there first. Love is the leading affection,
|
|
which gives law, and gives ground, to the rest; and therefore that, as
|
|
the main fort, is to be first secured and garrisoned for God. Man is a
|
|
creature cut out for love; thus therefore is the law written in the
|
|
heart, that it is a <I>law of love.</I> Love is a short and sweet word;
|
|
and, if that be <I>the fulfilling of the law,</I> surely the yoke of
|
|
the command is very easy. Love is the rest and satisfaction of the
|
|
soul; if we walk in this good old way, we shall find rest.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) The <I>love of God</I> is the first and great commandment of all,
|
|
and the summary of all the commands of the first table. The proper act
|
|
of love being complacency, good is the proper object of it. Now God,
|
|
being good infinitely, originally, and eternally, is to be loved in the
|
|
first place, and nothing loved beside him, but what is loved for him.
|
|
<I>Love</I> is the first and great thing that God demands from us, and
|
|
therefore the first and great thing that we should devote to him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Now here we are directed,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] To love God as ours; <I>Thou shalt love the Lord they God</I> as
|
|
thine. The first commandment is, <I>Thou shalt have no other God;</I>
|
|
which implies that we must have him for our God, and that will engage
|
|
our love to him. Those that made the sun and moon their gods, loved
|
|
them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+8:2,Jdg+18:24">Jer. viii. 2; Judges xviii. 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
To love God as ours is to love him because he is ours, our Creator,
|
|
Owner, and Ruler, and to conduct ourselves to him as ours, with
|
|
obedience to him, and dependence on him. We must love God as
|
|
reconciled to us, and made ours by covenant; that is the foundation of
|
|
this, <I>Thy God.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] To love him <I>with all our heart, and soul, and mind.</I> Some
|
|
make these to signify one and the same thing, to love him with all our
|
|
powers; others distinguish them; the heart, soul, and mind, are the
|
|
will, affections, and understanding; or the vital, sensitive, and
|
|
intellectual faculties. Our love of God must be a sincere love, and not
|
|
in word and tongue only, as theirs is who say they love him, but their
|
|
hearts are not with him. It must be a strong love, we must love him in
|
|
the most intense degree; as we must <I>praise</I> him, so we must
|
|
<I>love</I> him, with <I>all that is within us,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+103:1">Ps. ciii. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
It must be a singular and superlative love, we must love him more than
|
|
any thing else; this way the stream of our affections must entirely
|
|
run. The heart must be united to love God, in opposition to a divided
|
|
heart. All our love is too little to bestow upon him, and therefore
|
|
all the powers of the soul must be engaged for him, and carried out
|
|
toward him. <I>This is the first and great commandment;</I> for
|
|
obedience to this is the spring of obedience to all the rest; which is
|
|
<I>then</I> only acceptable, when it flows from love.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) To <I>love our neighbour as ourselves</I> is the <I>second</I>
|
|
great commandment
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:39"><I>v.</I> 39</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>It is like unto that first;</I> it is inclusive of all the precepts
|
|
of the second table, as that is of the first. It is <I>like</I> it, for
|
|
it is founded upon it, and flows from it; and a right love to our
|
|
brother, whom we have seen, is both an instance and an evidence of our
|
|
<I>love to God, whom we have not seen,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+4:20">1 John iv. 20</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] It is implied, that we do, and should, love ourselves. There is a
|
|
self-love which is corrupt, and the root of the greatest sins, and it
|
|
must be put off and mortified: but there is a self-love which is
|
|
natural, and the rule of the greatest duty, and it must be preserved
|
|
and sanctified. We must love ourselves, that is, we must have a due
|
|
regard to the dignity of our own natures, and a due concern for the
|
|
welfare of our own souls and bodies.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] It is prescribed, that we <I>love our neighbour as ourselves.</I>
|
|
We must honour and esteem all men, and must wrong and injure none; must
|
|
have a good will to all, and good wishes for all, and, as we have
|
|
opportunity, must do good to all. We must love our neighbour as
|
|
ourselves, as truly and sincerely as we love ourselves, and in the same
|
|
instances; nay, in many cases we must deny ourselves for the good of
|
|
our neighbour, and must make ourselves servants to the true welfare of
|
|
others, and be willing to <I>spend and be spent for them,</I> to <I>lay
|
|
down our lives for the brethren.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Observe what the weight and greatness of these commandments is
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:40"><I>v.</I> 40</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets;</I>
|
|
that is, This is the sum and substance of all those precepts relating
|
|
to practical religion which were written in men's hearts by nature,
|
|
revived by Moses, and backed and enforced by the preaching and writing
|
|
of the prophets. All hang upon the law of love; take away this, and all
|
|
falls to the ground, and comes to nothing. Rituals and ceremonials
|
|
must give way to these, as must all spiritual gifts, for love is the
|
|
more excellent way. This is the spirit of the law, which animates it,
|
|
the cement of the law, which joins it; it is the root and spring of all
|
|
other duties, the compendium of the whole Bible, not only of the law
|
|
and the prophets, but of the gospel too, only supposing this love to be
|
|
the fruit of faith, and that we love God in Christ, and our neighbour
|
|
for his sake. All hangs on these two commandments, as the effect doth
|
|
both on its efficient and on its final cause; for <I>the fulfilling of
|
|
the law is love</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+13:10">Rom. xiii. 10</A>)
|
|
|
|
and <I>the end of the law is love,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ti+1:5">1 Tim. i. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
The law of love is the nail, is the <I>nail in the sure place, fastened
|
|
by the masters of assemblies</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+12:11">Eccl. xii. 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
on which is hung all <I>the glory of the law and the prophets</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+22:24">Isa. xxii. 24</A>),
|
|
|
|
a nail that shall never be drawn; for on this nail all the glory of the
|
|
new Jerusalem shall eternally hang. <I>Love never faileth.</I> Into
|
|
these two great commandments therefore let our hearts be delivered as
|
|
into a mould; in the defence and evidence of these let us spend our
|
|
zeal, and not in notions, names, and strifes of words, as if those were
|
|
the mighty things on which the law and the prophets hung, and to them
|
|
the love of God and our neighbour must be sacrificed; but to the
|
|
commanding power of these let every thing else be made to bow.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_41"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_42"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_43"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_44"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_45"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Mt22_46"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec5"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Pharisees Silenced.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked
|
|
them,
|
|
42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say
|
|
unto him, <I>The Son</I> of David.
|
|
43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him
|
|
Lord, saying,
|
|
44 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
|
|
said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till
|
|
I make thine enemies thy footstool?
|
|
45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?
|
|
46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any
|
|
<I>man</I> from that day forth ask him any more <I>questions.</I>
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Many questions the Pharisees had asked Christ, by which, though they
|
|
thought to pose him, they did but <I>ex</I>pose themselves; but now let
|
|
him ask them a question; and he will do it when they are gathered
|
|
together,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:41"><I>v.</I> 41</A>.
|
|
|
|
He did not take some one of them apart from the rest (<I>ne Hercules
|
|
contra duos--Hercules himself may be overmatched</I>), but, to shame
|
|
them the more, he took them all together, when they were in confederacy
|
|
and consulting against him, and yet puzzled them. Note, God delights to
|
|
baffle his enemies when they most strengthen themselves; he gives them
|
|
all the advantages they can wish for, and yet conquers them.
|
|
<I>Associate yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+3:9,10">Isa. iii. 9, 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Christ proposes a question to them, which they could easily answer;
|
|
it was a question in their own catechism; "<I>What think ye of Christ?
|
|
Whose Son is He?</I> Whose Son do you expect the Messiah to be, who was
|
|
promised to the fathers?" This they could easily answer, <I>The Son of
|
|
David.</I> It was the common periphrasis of the Messiah; they called
|
|
him <I>the Son of David.</I> So the scribes, who expounded the
|
|
scripture, had taught them, from
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+89:35,36">Ps. lxxxix. 35, 36</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>I will not lie unto David; his seed shall endure for ever</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+9:7">Isa. ix. 7</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>upon the throne of David.</I> And
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+11:1">Isa. xi. 1</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>A rod out of the stem of Jesse.</I> The covenant of royalty made
|
|
with David was a figure of the covenant of redemption made with Christ,
|
|
who as David, was made King <I>with an oath,</I> and was first humbled
|
|
and then advanced. If Christ was the Son of David, he was really and
|
|
truly Man. Israel said, <I>We have ten parts in David;</I> and Judah
|
|
said, <I>He is our bone and our flesh;</I> what part have we then in
|
|
the Son of David, who took our nature upon him?</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>What think ye of Christ?</I> They had put questions to him, one
|
|
after another, out of the law; but he comes and puts a question to them
|
|
upon the promise. Many are so full of the law, that they forget Christ,
|
|
as if their duties would save them without his merit and grace. It
|
|
concerns each of us seriously to ask ourselves, What think we of
|
|
Christ? Some think not of him at all, he is not in all, not in any, of
|
|
their thoughts; some think meanly, and some think hardly, of him; but
|
|
<I>to them that believe he is precious;</I> and <I>how precious then
|
|
are the thoughts of him!</I> While <I>the daughters of Jerusalem</I>
|
|
think no more of Christ than of <I>another beloved;</I> the spouse
|
|
thinks of him as <I>the Chief of ten thousands.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He starts a difficulty upon their answer, which they could not
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easily solve,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:43-45"><I>v.</I> 43-45</A>.
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Many can so readily affirm the truth, that they think they have
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knowledge enough to be proud of, who, when they are called to confirm
|
|
the truth, and to vindicate and defend it, show they have ignorance
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|
enough to be ashamed of. The objection Christ raised was, <I>If Christ
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be David's son, how then doth David, in spirit, call him Lord?</I> He
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did not hereby design to ensnare them, as they did him, but to instruct
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them in a truth they were loth to believe--that the expected Messiah is
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God.</P>
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<P>
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1. It is easy to see that David calls Christ <I>Lord,</I> and this in
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spirit being divinely inspired, and actuated therein by a spirit of
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prophecy; for it was <I>the Spirit of the Lord that spoke by him,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+23:1,2">2 Sam. xxiii. 1, 2</A>.
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David was one of those <I>holy men that spoke as</I> they were <I>moved
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by the Holy Ghost,</I> especially in calling Christ <I>Lord;</I> for it
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was then, as it is still
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+12:3">1 Cor. xii. 3</A>)
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that <I>no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy
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Ghost.</I> Now, to prove that David, in spirit, called Christ
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<I>Lord,</I> he quotes
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+110:1">Ps. cx. 1</A>,
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which psalm the scribes themselves understood of Christ; of him, it is
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|
certain, the prophet there speaks, of him and of no other man; and it
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|
is a prophetical summary of the doctrine of Christ, it describes him
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executing the offices of a Prophet, Priest, and King, both in his
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humiliation and also in his exaltation.</P>
|
|
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|
<P>
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|
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Christ quotes the whole verse, which shows the Redeemer in his
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exaltation;
|
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(1.) <I>Sitting at the right hand of God.</I> His sitting denotes both
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|
rest and rule; his sitting at God's right hand denotes superlative
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|
honour and sovereign power. See in what great words this is expressed
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+8:1">Heb. viii. 1</A>);
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<I>He is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty.</I> See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+2:9,Eph+1:20">Phil. ii. 9; Eph. i. 20</A>.
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He did not take this honour to himself, but was entitled to it by
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covenant with his Father, and invested in it by commission from him,
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and here is that commission.
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(2.) Subduing his enemies. There he shall sit, till they be all made
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|
either his friends or his footstool. <I>The carnal mind,</I> wherever
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|
it is, <I>is enmity to Christ;</I> and that is subdued in the
|
|
<I>conversion of the willing people that are called to his foot</I> (as
|
|
the expression is,
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+41:2">Isa. xli. 2</A>),
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|
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and in the confusion of his impenitent adversaries, who shall be
|
|
brought under his foot, as the kings of Canaan were under the feet of
|
|
Joshua.</P>
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|
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<P>
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|
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But that which this verse is quoted for is, that David calls the
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|
Messiah <I>his Lord; the Lord,</I> Jehovah, <I>said unto my Lord.</I>
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|
This intimates to us, that in expounding scripture we must take notice
|
|
of, and improve, not only that which is the main scope and sense of a
|
|
verse, but of the words and phrases, by which they Spirit chooses to
|
|
express that sense, which have often a very useful and instructive
|
|
significance. Here is a good note from that word, <I>My Lord.</I></P>
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|
<P>
|
|
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|
2. It is not so easy for those who believe not the Godhead of the
|
|
Messiah, to clear this from an absurdity, if Christ b David's son. It
|
|
is incongruous for the father to speak of his son, the predecessor of
|
|
his successor, as his <I>Lord.</I> If David call him <I>Lord,</I> that
|
|
is laid down
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:45"><I>v.</I> 45</A>)
|
|
|
|
as the <I>magis notum--the more evident truth;</I> for whatever is said
|
|
of Christ's humanity and humiliation must be construed and understood
|
|
in consistency with the truth of his divine nature and dominion. We
|
|
must hold this fast, that he is David's Lord, and by that explain his
|
|
being David's son. The seeming differences of scripture, as here, may
|
|
not only be accommodated, but contribute to the beauty and harmony of
|
|
the whole. <I>Amicæ scripturarum lites, utinam et
|
|
nostræ--The differences observable in the scriptures are of a
|
|
friendly kind; would to God that our differences were of the same
|
|
kind!</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. We have here the success of this gentle trial which Christ made of
|
|
the Pharisees' knowledge, in two things.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. It puzzled them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:46"><I>v.</I> 46</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>No man was able to answer him a word.</I> Either it was their
|
|
ignorance that they did not know, or their impiety that they would not
|
|
own, the Messiah to be God; which truth was the only key to unlock this
|
|
difficulty. What those Rabbies could not then answer, blessed be God,
|
|
the plainest Christian that is led into the understanding of the gospel
|
|
of Christ, can now account for; that Christ, as God, was David's
|
|
<I>Lord;</I> and Christ, as Man, was David's <I>son.</I> This he did
|
|
not now himself explain, but reserved it till the proof of it was
|
|
completed by his resurrection; but we have it fully explained by him in
|
|
his glory
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+22:16">Rev. xxii. 16</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>I am the root and the offspring of David.</I> Christ, as God, was
|
|
David's <I>Root;</I> Christ, as Man, was David's <I>Offspring.</I> If
|
|
we hold not fast this truth, that Jesus Christ is over all God blessed
|
|
for ever, we run ourselves into inextricable difficulties. And well
|
|
might David, his remote ancestor, call him <I>Lord,</I> when Mary, his
|
|
immediate mother, after she had conceived him, <I>called him, Lord and
|
|
God, her Saviour,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+1:46,47">Luke i. 46, 47</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. It silenced them, and all others that sought occasion against him;
|
|
<I>Neither durst any man, from that day forth, ask him any more</I>
|
|
such captious, tempting, ensnaring <I>questions.</I> Note, God will
|
|
glorify himself in the silencing of many whom he will not glorify
|
|
himself in the salvation of. Many are convinced, that are not
|
|
converted, by the word. Had these been converted, they would have asked
|
|
him more questions, especially that great question, <I>What must we do
|
|
to be saved?</I> But since they could not gain their point, they would
|
|
have no more to do with him. But, thus all that strive with their
|
|
Master shall be convinced, as these Pharisees and lawyers here were, of
|
|
the inequality of the match.</P>
|
|
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|
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