mh_parser/vol_split/40 - Matthew/Chapter 22.xml

<div2 id="Matt.xxiii" n="xxiii" next="Matt.xxiv" prev="Matt.xxii" progress="25.57%" title="Chapter XXII">
<h2 id="Matt.xxiii-p0.1">M A T T H E W.</h2>
<h3 id="Matt.xxiii-p0.2">CHAP. XXII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Matt.xxiii-p1">This chapter is a continuation of Christ's
discourses in the temple, two or three days before he died. His
discourses then are largely recorded, as being of special weight
and consequence. In this chapter, we have, I. Instruction given, by
the parable of the marriage-supper, concerning the rejection of the
Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.1-Matt.22.10" parsed="|Matt|22|1|22|10" passage="Mt 22:1-10">ver. 1-10</scripRef>), and, by the doom of the guest
that had not the wedding-garment, the danger of hypocrisy in the
profession of Christianity, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.11-Matt.22.14" parsed="|Matt|22|11|22|14" passage="Mt 22:11-14">ver.
11-14</scripRef>. II. Disputes with the Pharisees, Sadducees, and
scribes, who opposed Christ, 1. Concerning paying tribute to Cæsar,
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.15-Matt.22.22" parsed="|Matt|22|15|22|22" passage="Mt 22:15-22">ver. 15-22</scripRef>. 2.
Concerning the resurrection of the dead, and the future state,
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.23-Matt.22.33" parsed="|Matt|22|23|22|33" passage="Mt 22:23-33">ver. 23-33</scripRef>. 3.
Concerning the great commandment of the law, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.34-Matt.22.40" parsed="|Matt|22|34|22|40" passage="Mt 22:34-40">ver. 34-40</scripRef>. 4. Concerning the relation of
the Messiah to David, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.41-Matt.22.46" parsed="|Matt|22|41|22|46" passage="Mt 22:41-46">ver.
41-46</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Matt.xxiii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22" parsed="|Matt|22|0|0|0" passage="Mt 22" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Matt.xxiii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.1-Matt.22.14" parsed="|Matt|22|1|22|14" passage="Mt 22:1-14" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Matt.22.1-Matt.22.14">
<h4 id="Matt.xxiii-p1.9">The Parable of the Marriage
Feast.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Matt.xxiii-p2">1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again
by parables, and said,   2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto
a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,   3 And
sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the
wedding: and they would not come.   4 Again, he sent forth
other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have
prepared my dinner: my oxen and <i>my</i> fatlings <i>are</i>
killed, and all things <i>are</i> ready: come unto the marriage.
  5 But they made light of <i>it,</i> and went their ways, one
to his farm, another to his merchandise:   6 And the remnant
took his servants, and entreated <i>them</i> spitefully, and slew
<i>them.</i>   7 But when the king heard <i>thereof,</i> he
was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those
murderers, and burned up their city.   8 Then saith he to his
servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not
worthy.   9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as
ye shall find, bid to the marriage.   10 So those servants
went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as
they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with
guests.   11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he
saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:   12 And
he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a
wedding garment? And he was speechless.   13 Then said the
king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away,
and cast <i>him</i> into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.   14 For many are called, but few
<i>are</i> chosen.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p3">We have here the parable of the guests
invited to <i>the wedding-feast.</i> In this it is said (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.1" parsed="|Matt|22|1|0|0" passage="Mt 22:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), <i>Jesus answered,</i>
not to what his opposers <i>said</i> (for they were put to
silence), but to what they <i>thought,</i> when they were wishing
for an opportunity to <i>lay hands on him,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.21.46" parsed="|Matt|21|46|0|0" passage="Mt 21:46"><i>ch.</i> xxi. 46</scripRef>. Note, Christ knows how to
answer men's thoughts, for he is a Discerner of them. Or, He
<i>answered,</i> that is, he continued his discourse to the same
purport; for this parable represents the gospel offer, and the
entertainment it meets with, as the former, but under another
similitude. The parable of the vineyard represents the sin of the
rulers that persecuted the prophets; it shows also the sin of the
people, who generally neglected the message, while their great ones
were persecuting the messengers.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p4">I. Gospel preparations are here represented
by a feast which a king made <i>at the marriage of his son;</i>
such is <i>the kingdom of heaven,</i> such the provision made for
precious souls, in and by the new covenant. The <i>King</i> is God,
<i>a great King, King of kings.</i> Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p5">1. Here is <i>a marriage made for his
son,</i> Christ is the Bridegroom, the church is the bride; the
gospel-day is <i>the day of his espousals,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Song.3.11" parsed="|Song|3|11|0|0" passage="So 3:11">Cant. iii. 11</scripRef>. Behold by faith <i>the church
of the first-born, that are written in heaven,</i> and were given
to Christ by him whose they were; and in them you see <i>the bride,
the Lamb's wife,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.21.9" parsed="|Rev|21|9|0|0" passage="Re 21:9">Rev. xxi.
9</scripRef>. The gospel covenant is a marriage covenant betwixt
Christ and believers, and it is a marriage of God's making. This
branch of the similitude is only mentioned, and not prosecuted
here.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p6">2. Here is <i>a dinner prepared for this
marriage,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.4" parsed="|Matt|22|4|0|0" passage="Mt 22:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
All the privileges of church-membership, and all the blessings of
the new covenant, pardon of sin, the favour of God, peace of
conscience, the promises of the gospel, and all the riches
contained in them, access to the throne of grace, the comforts of
the Spirit, and a well-grounded hope of eternal life. These are the
preparations for this feast, a heaven upon earth now, and a heaven
in heaven shortly. God has prepared it in his counsel, in his
covenant. It is a dinner, denoting present privileges in the midst
of our day, beside the supper at night in glory.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p7">(1.) It is <i>a feast.</i> Gospel
preparations were prophesied of as <i>a feast</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.25.6" parsed="|Isa|25|6|0|0" passage="Isa 25:6">Isa. xxv. 6</scripRef>), <i>a feast of fat
things,</i> and were typified by the many festivals of the
ceremonial law (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.8" parsed="|1Cor|5|8|0|0" passage="1Co 5:8">1 Cor. v.
8</scripRef>); <i>Let us keep the feast.</i> A <i>feast is a good
day</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Esth.7.17" parsed="|Esth|7|17|0|0" passage="Es 7:17">Esth. vii. 17</scripRef>); so
is the gospel; it is a continual feast. <i>Oxen and fatlings are
killed</i> for this feast; no niceties, but substantial food;
enough, and enough of the best. The day of a feast is <i>a day of
slaughter,</i> or sacrifice, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Jas.5.5" parsed="|Jas|5|5|0|0" passage="Jam 5:5">Jam. v.
5</scripRef>. Gospel preparations are all founded in the death of
Christ, his sacrifice of himself. A feast was made for love, it is
a reconciliation feast, a token of God's goodwill toward men. It
was made <i>for laughter</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.10.19" parsed="|Eccl|10|19|0|0" passage="Ec 10:19">Eccl. x.
19</scripRef>), it is a rejoicing feast. It was made for fulness;
the design of the gospel was to fill every <i>hungry soul with good
things.</i> It was made for fellowship, to maintain an intercourse
between heaven and earth. We are sent for <i>to the banquet of
wine, that we may tell what is our petition, and what is our
request.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p8">(2.) It is a <i>wedding feast.</i> Wedding
feasts are usually rich, free, and joyful. The first miracle Christ
wrought, was, to make plentiful provision for a wedding feast
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:John.2.7" parsed="|John|2|7|0|0" passage="Joh 2:7">John ii. 7</scripRef>); and surely
then he will not be wanting in provision for his own wedding feast,
when <i>the marriage of the Lamb is come, and the bride hath made
herself ready,</i> a victorious triumphant feast, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.19.7 Bible:Rev.19.17 Bible:Rev.19.18" parsed="|Rev|19|7|0|0;|Rev|19|17|0|0;|Rev|19|18|0|0" passage="Re 19:7,17,18">Rev. xix. 7, 17, 18</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p9">(3.) It is a <i>royal wedding feast;</i> it
is <i>the feast of a king</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.25.36" parsed="|1Sam|25|36|0|0" passage="1Sa 25:36">1 Sam.
xxv. 36</scripRef>), at the marriage, not of a servant, but of a
son; and then, if ever, he will, like Ahasuerus, show <i>the riches
of his glorious kingdom,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Esth.1.4" parsed="|Esth|1|4|0|0" passage="Es 1:4">Esth. i.
4</scripRef>. The provision made for believers in the covenant of
grace, is not such as worthless worms, like us, had any reason to
expect, but such as it becomes <i>the King of glory</i> to give. He
gives like himself; for he gives himself to be to them <i>El
shaddai—a God that is enough,</i> a feast indeed for a soul.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p10">II. Gospel calls and offers are represented
by an invitation to this feast. Those that make a feast will have
guests to grace the feast with. God's guests are the children of
men. <i>Lord, what is man,</i> that he should be thus dignified!
<i>The guests</i> that were first invited were the Jews; wherever
the gospel is preached, this invitation is given; ministers are the
<i>servants</i> that are sent to invite, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.9.4-Prov.9.5" parsed="|Prov|9|4|9|5" passage="Pr 9:4,5">Prov. ix. 4, 5</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p11">Now, 1. The guests <i>are called,
bidden</i> to the wedding. All that are within hearing of the
joyful sound of the gospel, to them is the word of this invitation
sent. The servants that bring the invitation do not set down their
names in a paper; there is no occasion for that, since none are
excluded but those that exclude themselves. <i>Those that are
bidden to the dinner are bidden to the wedding;</i> for all that
partake of gospel privileges are to give a due and respectful
attendance on the Lord Jesus, as the faithful friends and humble
servants of the Bridegroom. They are <i>bidden to the wedding,</i>
that they may <i>go forth to meet the bridegroom;</i> for it is the
Father's will that <i>all men should honour the Son.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p12">2. The guests are called upon; for in the
gospel there are not only gracious proposals made, but gracious
persuasives. <i>We persuade men, we beseech them in Christ's
stead,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.11 Bible:2Cor.5.20" parsed="|2Cor|5|11|0|0;|2Cor|5|20|0|0" passage="2Co 5:11,20">2 Cor. v. 11,
20</scripRef>. See how much Christ's heart is set upon the
happiness of poor souls! He not only provides for them, in
consideration of their want, but sends to them, in consideration of
their weakness and forgetfulness. When the invited guests were
slack in coming, the king <i>sent forth other servants,</i>
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.4" parsed="|Matt|22|4|0|0" passage="Mt 22:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. When the
prophets of the Old Testament prevailed not, nor John the Baptist,
nor Christ himself, who told them the entertainment was almost
ready (<i>the kingdom of God was at hand</i>), the apostles and
ministers of the gospel were sent after Christ's resurrection, to
tell them it was come, it was quite ready; and to persuade them to
accept the offer. One would think it had been enough to give men an
intimation that they had leave to come, and should be welcome;
that, during the solemnity of the wedding, the king kept open
house; but, because <i>the natural man discerns not,</i> and
therefore desires not, <i>the things of the Spirit of God,</i> we
are pressed to accept the call by the most powerful inducements,
<i>drawn with the cords of a man, and all the bonds of love.</i> If
the repetition of the call will move us, <i>Behold, the Spirit
saith, Come; and the bride saith, Come; let him that heareth say,
Come; let him that is athirst come,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.22.17" parsed="|Rev|22|17|0|0" passage="Re 22:17">Rev. xxii. 17</scripRef>. If the reason of the call will
work upon us, <i>Behold, the dinner is prepared, the oxen and
fatlings are killed, and all things are ready;</i> the Father is
ready to accept of us, the Son to intercede for us, the Spirit to
sanctify us; pardon is ready; peace is ready, comfort is ready; the
promises are ready, as <i>wells of living water</i> for supply;
ordinances are ready, as golden pipes for conveyance; angels are
ready to attend us, creatures are ready to be in league with us,
providences are ready to work for our good, and heaven, at last, is
ready to receive us; it is <i>a kingdom prepared, ready to be
revealed in the last time.</i> Is all this ready; and shall we be
unready? Is all this preparation made for us; and is there any room
to doubt of our welcome, if we come in a right manner? Come,
therefore, O <i>come to the marriage; we beseech you, receive
not</i> all this <i>grace of God in vain,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.6.1" parsed="|2Cor|6|1|0|0" passage="2Co 6:1">2 Cor. vi. 1</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p13">III. The cold treatment which the gospel of
Christ often meets with among the children of men, represented by
the cold treatment that this message met with and the hot treatment
that the messengers met with, in both which the king himself and
the royal bridegroom are affronted. This reflects primarily upon
the Jews, who rejected the counsel of God against themselves; but
it looks further, to the contempt that would, by many in all ages,
be put upon, and the opposition that would be given to, the gospel
of Christ.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p14">1. The message was basely slighted
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.3" parsed="|Matt|22|3|0|0" passage="Mt 22:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>); <i>They would
not come.</i> Note, The reason why sinners come not to Christ and
salvation by him is, not because they <i>cannot,</i> but because
<i>they will not</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:John.5.40" parsed="|John|5|40|0|0" passage="Joh 5:40">John v.
40</scripRef>); <i>Ye will not come to me.</i> This will aggravate
the misery of sinners, that they might have had happiness for the
coming for, but it was their own act and deed to refuse it. <i>I
would, and ye would not.</i> But this was not all (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.5" parsed="|Matt|22|5|0|0" passage="Mt 22:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>); <i>they made light of
it;</i> they thought it not worth coming for; thought the
messengers made more ado than needs; let them magnify the
preparations ever so much, they could feast as well at home. Note,
Making light of Christ, and of the great salvation wrought out by
him, is the damning sin of the world.
<b><i>Amelesantes</i></b>—<i>They were careless.</i> Note,
Multitudes perish eternally through mere carelessness, who have not
any direct aversion, but a prevailing indifference, to the matters
of their souls, and an unconcernedness about them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p15">And the reason why <i>they made light of
the marriage feast</i> was, because they had other things that they
minded more, and had more mind to; <i>they went their ways, one to
his farm, and another to his merchandise.</i> Note, The business
and profit of worldly employments prove to many a great hindrance
in closing with Christ: none turn their back on the feast, but with
some plausible excuse or other, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.14.18" parsed="|Luke|14|18|0|0" passage="Lu 14:18">Luke
xiv. 18</scripRef>. The country people have their farms to look
after, about which there is always something or other to do; the
town's people must tend their shops, and be constant upon the
exchange; they must <i>buy, and sell, 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p16">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> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Nah.1.15" parsed="|Nah|1|15|0|0" passage="Na 1:15">Nahum i. 15</scripRef>), were <i>treated as the
offscouring of all things,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.4.13" parsed="|1Cor|4|13|0|0" passage="1Co 4:13">1 Cor.
iv. 13</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p17">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 (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.7" parsed="|Matt|22|7|0|0" passage="Mt 22:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>); <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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.2.16" parsed="|1Thess|2|16|0|0" passage="1Th 2:16">1 Thess. ii. 16</scripRef>. Now observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p18">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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.24.4" parsed="|2Kgs|24|4|0|0" passage="2Ki 24:4">2 Kings xxiv.
4</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p19">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>
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.6" parsed="|Isa|10|6|0|0" passage="Isa 10:6">Isa. x. 6</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.7" parsed="|Isa|10|7|0|0" passage="Isa 10:7">Isa. x. 7</scripRef>.
See <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Mic.4.11-Mic.4.12" parsed="|Mic|4|11|4|12" passage="Mic 4:11,12">Mic. iv. 11, 12</scripRef>.
<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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.21" parsed="|Isa|1|21|0|0" passage="Isa 1:21">Isa. i.
21</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p20">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>
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.8-Matt.22.10" parsed="|Matt|22|8|22|10" passage="Mt 22:8-10"><i>v.</i> 8-10</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p21">Here is, 1. The complaint of the master of
the feast concerning those that were first bidden (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.8" parsed="|Matt|22|8|0|0" passage="Mt 22:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), <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 <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.11 Bible:Heb.3.16-Heb.4.1" parsed="|1Cor|10|11|0|0;|Heb|3|16|4|1" passage="1Co 10:11,Heb 3:16-4:1">1 Cor. x. 11; Heb.
iii. 16-iv. 1</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p22">2. The commission he gave to the servants,
to invite other guests. The inhabitants of the <i>city</i>
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.7" parsed="|Matt|22|7|0|0" passage="Mt 22:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>) 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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.10.5" parsed="|Matt|10|5|0|0" passage="Mt 10:5"><i>ch.</i> x. 5</scripRef>. Thus by the fall of
the Jews salvation is come to the Gentiles, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.11-Rom.11.12 Bible:Eph.3.8" parsed="|Rom|11|11|11|12;|Eph|3|8|0|0" passage="Ro 11:11,12,Eph 3:8">Rom. xi. 11, 12; Eph. iii. 8</scripRef>.
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 (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p22.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.17.19-Acts.17.20" parsed="|Acts|17|19|17|20" passage="Ac 17:19,20">Acts xvii.
19, 20</scripRef>), and, consequently, what they could not conceive
of as belonging to them. See <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p22.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.1-Isa.65.2" parsed="|Isa|65|1|65|2" passage="Isa 65:1,2">Isa.
lxv. 1, 2</scripRef>. (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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p22.6" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.20" parsed="|Prov|1|20|0|0" passage="Pr 1:20">Prov. i. 20</scripRef>. "Ask them that go by the way, ask
any body (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p22.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.29" parsed="|Job|21|29|0|0" passage="Job 21:29">Job xxi. 29</scripRef>),
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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p23">3. The success of this second invitation;
if some will not come, others will (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.10" parsed="|Matt|22|10|0|0" passage="Mt 22:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>); <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> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:John.11.52" parsed="|John|11|52|0|0" passage="Joh 11:52">John xi. 52</scripRef>), <i>the other sheep that were
not of that fold,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:John.10.16" parsed="|John|10|16|0|0" passage="Joh 10:16">John x.
16</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p24">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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.7.9" parsed="|Rev|7|9|0|0" passage="Re 7:9">Rev. vii.
9</scripRef>. See <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.60.4 Bible:Isa.60.8" parsed="|Isa|60|4|0|0;|Isa|60|8|0|0" passage="Isa 60:4,8">Isa. lx. 4,
8</scripRef>. [2.] A mixed multitude, <i>both bad and good;</i>
some that before their conversion were sober and well-inclined, as
the devout Greeks (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p24.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.17.4" parsed="|Acts|17|4|0|0" passage="Ac 17:4">Acts xvii.
4</scripRef>) and Cornelius; others that had run to an excess of
riot, as the Corinthians (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p24.4" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.6.11" parsed="|1Cor|6|11|0|0" passage="1Co 6:11">1 Cor. vi.
11</scripRef>); <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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p25">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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p26">1. His discovery, how he was found out,
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.11" parsed="|Matt|22|11|0|0" passage="Mt 22:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p27">(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
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.1-Rev.2.2 Bible:Song.7.12" parsed="|Rev|2|1|2|2;|Song|7|12|0|0" passage="Re 2:1,2,So 7:12">Rev. ii. 1, 2; Cant. vii.
12</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p28">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> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.25.32" parsed="|Matt|25|32|0|0" passage="Mt 25:32"><i>ch.</i> xxv. 32</scripRef>), <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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p29">(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> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Eph.4.1" parsed="|Eph|4|1|0|0" passage="Eph 4:1">Eph. iv. 1</scripRef>),
<i>as becomes the gospel of Christ,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p29.2" osisRef="Bible:Phil.1.27" parsed="|Phil|1|27|0|0" passage="Php 1:27">Phil. i. 27</scripRef>. <i>The righteousness of
saints,</i> their real holiness and sanctification, and Christ,
<i>made Righteousness to them, is the clean linen,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p29.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.19.8" parsed="|Rev|19|8|0|0" passage="Re 19:8">Rev. xix. 8</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p30">2. His trial (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.12" parsed="|Matt|22|12|0|0" passage="Mt 22:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>); and here we may observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p31">(1.) How he was arraigned (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.12" parsed="|Matt|22|12|0|0" passage="Mt 22:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>); <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>" <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p31.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.16-Ps.50.17" parsed="|Ps|50|16|50|17" passage="Ps 50:16,17">Ps. l.
16, 17</scripRef>. 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>
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p31.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.12" parsed="|Isa|1|12|0|0" passage="Isa 1:12">Isa. i. 12</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p32">(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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.9.9" parsed="|1Cor|9|9|0|0" passage="1Co 9:9">1 Cor. ix.
9</scripRef>); 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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p32.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.13.26" parsed="|Luke|13|26|0|0" passage="Lu 13:26">Luke
xiii. 26</scripRef>, 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p33">3. His sentence (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.13" parsed="|Matt|22|13|0|0" passage="Mt 22:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>); <i>Bind him hand and foot,</i>
&amp;c.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p34">(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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p34.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.18.18" parsed="|Matt|18|18|0|0" passage="Mt 18:18"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 18</scripRef>. "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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p34.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.13.41" parsed="|Matt|13|41|0|0" passage="Mt 13:41"><i>ch.</i> xiii.
41</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p35">(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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p35.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.7.2" parsed="|2Kgs|7|2|0|0" passage="2Ki 7:2">2 Kings vii.
2</scripRef>), <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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p36">(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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p36.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.10.22" parsed="|Job|10|22|0|0" passage="Job 10:22">Job x. 22</scripRef>.
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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p36.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.51.20 Bible:Isa.8.21-Isa.8.22" parsed="|Isa|51|20|0|0;|Isa|8|21|8|22" passage="Isa 51:20,Isa 8:21,22">Isa. li. 20;
viii. 21, 22</scripRef>. Let us therefore hear and fear.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p37"><i>Lastly,</i> The parable is concluded
with that remarkable saying which we had before (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p37.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.20.16" parsed="|Matt|20|16|0|0" passage="Mt 20:16"><i>ch.</i> xx. 16</scripRef>), <i>Many are called, but
few are chosen,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p37.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.14" parsed="|Matt|22|14|0|0" passage="Mt 22:14"><i>v.</i>
14</scripRef>. 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>
</div><scripCom id="Matt.xxiii-p37.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.15-Matt.22.22" parsed="|Matt|22|15|22|22" passage="Mt 22:15-22" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Matt.22.15-Matt.22.22">
<h4 id="Matt.xxiii-p37.4">The Question Respecting
Tribute.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Matt.xxiii-p38">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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p39">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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p40">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 (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p40.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.21.23" parsed="|Matt|21|23|0|0" passage="Mt 21:23"><i>ch.</i> xxi.
23</scripRef>); 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p41">1. <i>They took counsel.</i> It was
foretold concerning him, that <i>the rulers</i> would <i>take
counsel against him</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p41.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.2" parsed="|Ps|2|2|0|0" passage="Ps 2:2">Ps. ii.
2</scripRef>); and <i>so persecuted they the prophets. Come, and
let us devise devices against Jeremiah.</i> See <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p41.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.18.18 Bible:Jer.20.10" parsed="|Jer|18|18|0|0;|Jer|20|10|0|0" passage="Jer 18:18,20:10">Jer. xviii. 18; xx. 10</scripRef>. 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>
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p41.3" osisRef="Bible:Mic.2.1" parsed="|Mic|2|1|0|0" passage="Mic 2:1">Mic. ii. 1</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p42">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> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p42.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.29.21" parsed="|Isa|29|21|0|0" passage="Isa 29:21">Isa. xxix.
21</scripRef>), and represent the greatest teachers as the greatest
troublers of Israel: thus <i>the wicked plotteth against the
just,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p42.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.37.12-Ps.37.13" parsed="|Ps|37|12|37|13" passage="Ps 37:12,13">Ps. xxxvii. 12,
13</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p43">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> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p43.1" osisRef="Bible:John.18.31" parsed="|John|18|31|0|0" passage="Joh 18:31">John xviii. 31</scripRef>); and the Roman powers were
not apt to concern themselves about <i>questions of words, and
names, and their law,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p43.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.18.15" parsed="|Acts|18|15|0|0" passage="Ac 18:15">Acts xviii.
15</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p44">II. The question which they put to him
pursuant to this design, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p44.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.16-Matt.22.17" parsed="|Matt|22|16|22|17" passage="Mt 22:16,17"><i>v.</i>
16, 17</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p45">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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p46">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 <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p46.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.83.3 Bible:Ps.83.5 Bible:Ps.83.7 Bible:Ps.83.8" parsed="|Ps|83|3|0|0;|Ps|83|5|0|0;|Ps|83|7|0|0;|Ps|83|8|0|0" passage="Ps 83:3,5,7,8">Ps. lxxxiii. 3, 5,
7, 8</scripRef>. If they are unanimous in opposing, should not we
be so in maintaining, the interests of the gospel?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p47">2. The preface, with which they were
plausibly to introduce the question; it was highly complimentary to
our Saviour (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p47.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.16" parsed="|Matt|22|16|0|0" passage="Mt 22:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>);
<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> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p47.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.26.23" parsed="|Prov|26|23|0|0" passage="Pr 26:23">Prov. xxvi.
23</scripRef>); as Judas, who kissed, and betrayed, as Joab, who
kissed, and killed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p48">Now, (1.) What they said of Christ was
right, and whether they knew it or no, blessed be God, we know
it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p49">[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 <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p49.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.8.6-Prov.8.9" parsed="|Prov|8|6|8|9" passage="Pr 8:6-9">Prov. viii. 6-9</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p50">[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> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p50.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.30" parsed="|Prov|30|30|0|0" passage="Pr 30:30">Prov. xxx. 30</scripRef>), turned not a step from the
truth, nor from his work, for fear of the most formidable. He
<i>reproved with equity</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p50.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.11.4" parsed="|Isa|11|4|0|0" passage="Isa 11:4">Isa. xi.
4</scripRef>), and never with partiality.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p51">(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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p51.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.23" parsed="|Rev|2|23|0|0" passage="Re 2:23">Rev. ii.
23</scripRef>. Those that mock God do but deceive themselves.
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p51.2" osisRef="Bible:Gal.6.7" parsed="|Gal|6|7|0|0" passage="Ga 6:7">Gal. vi. 7</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p52">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> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p52.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.10" parsed="|Gen|49|10|0|0" passage="Ge 49:10">Gen. xlix.
10</scripRef>); 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p53">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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p53.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.33" parsed="|John|8|33|0|0" passage="Joh 8:33">John viii.
33</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p53.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.27.12-Jer.27.13" parsed="|Jer|27|12|27|13" passage="Jer 27:12,13">Jer. xxvii. 12, 13</scripRef>): 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p54">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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p55">III. The breaking of this snare by the
wisdom of the Lord Jesus.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p56">1. He discovered it (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p56.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.18" parsed="|Matt|22|18|0|0" passage="Mt 22:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>); <i>He perceived their
wickedness;</i> for, <i>surely in vain is the net spread in the
sight of any bird,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p56.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.17" parsed="|Prov|1|17|0|0" passage="Pr 1:17">Prov. i.
17</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p56.3" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.6" parsed="|1Kgs|14|6|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:6">1
Kings xiv. 6</scripRef>), <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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p57">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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p58">(1.) He forced them, ere they were aware,
to confess Cæsar's authority over them, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p58.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.19-Matt.22.20" parsed="|Matt|22|19|22|20" passage="Mt 22:19,20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p59">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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p60">(2.) From thence he inferred the lawfulness
of paying tribute to Cæsar (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p60.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.21" parsed="|Matt|22|21|0|0" passage="Mt 22:21"><i>v.</i>
21</scripRef>); <i>Render therefore to Cæsar the things that are
Cæsar's;</i> not, "<i>Give</i> it him" (as they expressed it,
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p60.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.17" parsed="|Matt|22|17|0|0" passage="Mt 22:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p61">[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 go 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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p61.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.23.2" parsed="|Luke|23|2|0|0" passage="Lu 23:2">Luke xxiii.
2</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p62">[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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p63">[3.] His disciples were instructed, and
standing rules left to the church.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p64"><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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p65"><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> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p65.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.13.6" parsed="|Rom|13|6|0|0" passage="Ro 13:6">Rom. xiii. 6</scripRef>); 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p66"><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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p67"><i>Lastly,</i> Observe how they were
nonplussed by this answer; they <i>marvelled, and left him, and
went their way,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p67.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.22" parsed="|Matt|22|22|0|0" passage="Mt 22:22"><i>v.</i>
22</scripRef>. 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>
</div><scripCom id="Matt.xxiii-p67.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.23-Matt.22.33" parsed="|Matt|22|23|22|33" passage="Mt 22:23-33" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Matt.22.23-Matt.22.33">
<h4 id="Matt.xxiii-p67.3">The Question Respecting
Marriage.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Matt.xxiii-p68">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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p69">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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p69.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.10" parsed="|Rev|3|10|0|0" passage="Re 3:10">Rev. iii.
10</scripRef>. The truth as it is in Jesus will still meet with
contradiction, in some branch or other of it. Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p70">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 (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p70.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.23.8" parsed="|Acts|23|8|0|0" passage="Ac 23:8">Acts xxiii. 8</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p71">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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p72">1. They suggest the law of Moses in this
matter (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p72.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.24" parsed="|Matt|22|24|0|0" passage="Mt 22:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>), that
the next of kin should marry the widow of him that died childless
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p72.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.5" parsed="|Deut|25|5|0|0" passage="De 25:5">Deut. xxv. 5</scripRef>); we have it
practised <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p72.3" osisRef="Bible:Ruth.4.5" parsed="|Ruth|4|5|0|0" passage="Ru 4:5">Ruth iv. 5</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p73">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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p73.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.25-Matt.22.27" parsed="|Matt|22|25|22|27" passage="Mt 22:25-27"><i>v.</i>
25-27</scripRef>. Now this case supposes,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p74">(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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p74.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.107.38-Ps.107.39" parsed="|Ps|107|38|107|39" passage="Ps 107:38,39">Ps. cvii. 38, 39</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p74.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.19" parsed="|Job|18|19|0|0" passage="Job 18:19">Job xviii. 19</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p75">(2.) The obedience of these seven brothers
to the law, though they had a power of refusal under the penalty of
a reproach, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p75.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.7" parsed="|Deut|25|7|0|0" passage="De 25:7">Deut. xxv. 7</scripRef>.
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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p76">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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p76.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.25.26" parsed="|Jer|25|26|0|0" passage="Jer 25:26">Jer. xxv.
26</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p77">3. They propose a doubt upon this case
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p77.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.28" parsed="|Matt|22|28|0|0" passage="Mt 22:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>); "<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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p77.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.2.14" parsed="|1Cor|2|14|0|0" passage="1Co 2:14">1
Cor. ii. 14</scripRef>. Let truth be set in a clear light, and then
it appears in its full strength.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p78">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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p79">1. He reproves their ignorance (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p79.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.29" parsed="|Matt|22|29|0|0" passage="Mt 22:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>); <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> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p79.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.12" parsed="|1Cor|15|12|0|0" passage="1Co 15:12">1 Cor. xv. 12</scripRef>) 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p80">(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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p80.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.26.8" parsed="|Acts|26|8|0|0" passage="Ac 26:8">Acts xxvi. 8</scripRef>. His
power far exceeds the power of nature.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p81">(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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p81.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.24.14-Acts.24.15" parsed="|Acts|24|14|24|15" passage="Ac 24:14,15">Acts xxiv. 14, 15</scripRef>. Job knew it (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p81.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.26" parsed="|Job|19|26|0|0" passage="Job 19:26">Job xix. 26</scripRef>), Ezekiel foresaw it
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p81.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.37.1-Ezek.37.28" parsed="|Ezek|37|1|37|28" passage="Eze 37:1-28">Ezek. xxxvii.</scripRef>), and
Daniel plainly foretold it, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p81.4" osisRef="Bible:Dan.12.2" parsed="|Dan|12|2|0|0" passage="Da 12:2">Dan. xii.
2</scripRef>. Christ rose again <i>according to the scriptures</i>
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p81.5" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.3" parsed="|1Cor|15|3|0|0" passage="1Co 15:3">1 Cor. xv. 3</scripRef>); 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p82">2. He rectifies their mistake, and
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p82.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.30" parsed="|Matt|22|30|0|0" passage="Mt 22:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>) 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p83">(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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p83.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.29.6" parsed="|Jer|29|6|0|0" passage="Jer 29:6">Jer. xxix. 6</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p83.2" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.15" parsed="|Mal|2|15|0|0" passage="Mal 2:15">Mal. ii. 15</scripRef>. 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> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p83.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.21.4" parsed="|Rev|21|4|0|0" passage="Re 21:4">Rev. xxi. 4</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p84">(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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p84.1" osisRef="Bible:Eph.2.6" parsed="|Eph|2|6|0|0" passage="Eph 2:6">Eph. ii.
6</scripRef>. The spirits of just men already made perfect are of
the same corporation with the innumerable company of angels,
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p84.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.22-Heb.12.23" parsed="|Heb|12|22|12|23" passage="Heb 12:22,23">Heb. xii. 22, 23</scripRef>. Man
in his creation was <i>made a little lower than the angels</i>
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p84.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.8.5" parsed="|Ps|8|5|0|0" passage="Ps 8:5">Ps. viii. 5</scripRef>); 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 (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p84.4" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.42" parsed="|1Cor|15|42|0|0" passage="1Co 15:42">1 Cor. xv. 42</scripRef>, &amp;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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p85">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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p86">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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p87">2. What his argument was (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p87.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.32" parsed="|Matt|22|32|0|0" passage="Mt 22:32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>); <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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p88">Now the drift of the argument is to
prove,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p89">(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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p90">[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 (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p90.1" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.17.24" parsed="|1Chr|17|24|0|0" passage="1Ch 17:24">1 Chron. xvii. 24</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p91">[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 (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p91.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.9" parsed="|Gen|47|9|0|0" passage="Ge 47:9">Gen. xlvii. 9</scripRef>), <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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p92">[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 (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p92.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.16" parsed="|Heb|11|16|0|0" passage="Heb 11:16">Heb. xi. 16</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p93">(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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p94"><i>Lastly,</i> We have the issue of this
dispute. The Sadducees were <i>put to silence</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p94.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.34" parsed="|Matt|22|34|0|0" passage="Mt 22:34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>), 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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p94.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.33" parsed="|Matt|22|33|0|0" passage="Mt 22:33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. 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>
</div><scripCom id="Matt.xxiii-p94.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.34-Matt.22.40" parsed="|Matt|22|34|22|40" passage="Mt 22:34-40" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Matt.22.34-Matt.22.40">
<h4 id="Matt.xxiii-p94.4">The Substance of the
Commandments.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Matt.xxiii-p95">34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had
put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.  
35 Then one of them, <i>which was</i> a lawyer, asked <i>him a
question,</i> tempting him, and saying,   36 Master, which
<i>is</i> the great commandment in the law?   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.   38 This is the
first and great commandment.   39 And the second <i>is</i>
like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.   40
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p96">Here is a discourse which Christ had with a
Pharisee-lawyer, about the great commandment of the law.
Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p97">I. The combination of the Pharisees against
Christ, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p97.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.34" parsed="|Matt|22|34|0|0" passage="Mt 22:34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p97.2" osisRef="Bible:Phil.1.18" parsed="|Phil|1|18|0|0" passage="Php 1:18">Phil. i. 18</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p98">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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p98.1" osisRef="Bible:Mark.12.34" parsed="|Mark|12|34|0|0" passage="Mk 12:34">Mark xii. 34</scripRef>, but only to see what he would
say, and to draw on discourse with him, to satisfy his own and his
friends' curiosity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p99">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 (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p99.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.12" parsed="|Hos|8|12|0|0" passage="Ho 8:12">Hos. viii. 12</scripRef>), and the wisdom from above is
without partiality, partiality in the law (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p99.2" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.9" parsed="|Mal|2|9|0|0" passage="Mal 2:9">Mal. ii. 9</scripRef>), 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>
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p99.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.23" parsed="|Matt|23|23|0|0" passage="Mt 23:23"><i>ch.</i> xxiii. 23</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p100">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 <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p100.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.10.27-Luke.10.28" parsed="|Luke|10|27|10|28" passage="Lu 10:27,28">Luke x. 27, 28</scripRef>, 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p101">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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p102">1. Which these great commandments are
(<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p102.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.37-Matt.22.39" parsed="|Matt|22|37|22|39" passage="Mt 22:37-39"><i>v.</i> 37-39</scripRef>); 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p103">(1.) All the law is fulfilled in one word,
and that is, <i>love.</i> See <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p103.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.13.10" parsed="|Rom|13|10|0|0" passage="Ro 13:10">Rom.
xiii. 10</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p104">(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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p105">Now here we are directed,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p106">[1.] To love God as ours; <i>Thou shalt
love the Lord thy 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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p106.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.2 Bible:Judg.18.24" parsed="|Jer|8|2|0|0;|Judg|18|24|0|0" passage="Jer 8:2,Jdg 18:24">Jer. viii. 2; Judges xviii.
24</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p107">[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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p107.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.103.1" parsed="|Ps|103|1|0|0" passage="Ps 103:1">Ps. ciii. 1</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p108">(3.) To <i>love our neighbour as
ourselves</i> is the <i>second</i> great commandment (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p108.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.39" parsed="|Matt|22|39|0|0" passage="Mt 22:39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>); <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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p108.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.20" parsed="|1John|4|20|0|0" passage="1Jo 4:20">1 John iv. 20</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p109">[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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p110">[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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p111">2. Observe what the weight and greatness of
these commandments is (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p111.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.40" parsed="|Matt|22|40|0|0" passage="Mt 22:40"><i>v.</i>
40</scripRef>); <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> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p111.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.13.10" parsed="|Rom|13|10|0|0" passage="Ro 13:10">Rom. xiii. 10</scripRef>) and <i>the end of the law is
love,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p111.3" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.1.5" parsed="|1Tim|1|5|0|0" passage="1Ti 1:5">1 Tim. i. 5</scripRef>. The
law of love is the nail, is the <i>nail in the sure place, fastened
by the masters of assemblies</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p111.4" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.12.11" parsed="|Eccl|12|11|0|0" passage="Ec 12:11">Eccl. xii. 11</scripRef>), on which is hung all <i>the
glory of the law and the prophets</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p111.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.22.24" parsed="|Isa|22|24|0|0" passage="Isa 22:24">Isa. xxii. 24</scripRef>), 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>
</div><scripCom id="Matt.xxiii-p111.6" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.41-Matt.22.46" parsed="|Matt|22|41|22|46" passage="Mt 22:41-46" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Matt.22.41-Matt.22.46">
<h4 id="Matt.xxiii-p111.7">The Pharisees Silenced.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Matt.xxiii-p112">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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Matt.xxiii-p112.1">Lord</span> 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></p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p113">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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p113.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.41" parsed="|Matt|22|41|0|0" passage="Mt 22:41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef>. 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>
<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p113.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.3.9-Isa.3.10" parsed="|Isa|3|9|3|10" passage="Isa 3:9,10">Isa. iii. 9, 10</scripRef>. Now
here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p114">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 <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p114.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.35-Ps.89.36" parsed="|Ps|89|35|89|36" passage="Ps 89:35,36">Ps. lxxxix. 35, 36</scripRef>, <i>I will not lie unto
David; his seed shall endure for ever</i> (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p114.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.9.7" parsed="|Isa|9|7|0|0" passage="Isa 9:7">Isa. ix. 7</scripRef>), <i>upon the throne of David.</i>
And <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p114.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.11.1" parsed="|Isa|11|1|0|0" passage="Isa 11:1">Isa. xi. 1</scripRef>, <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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p115"><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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p116">II. He starts a difficulty upon their
answer, which they could not easily solve, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p116.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.43-Matt.22.45" parsed="|Matt|22|43|22|45" passage="Mt 22:43-45"><i>v.</i> 43-45</scripRef>. Many can so readily
affirm the truth, that they think they have 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 enough to be
ashamed of. The objection Christ raised was, <i>If Christ be
David's son, how then doth David, in spirit, call him Lord?</i> He
did not hereby design to ensnare them, as they did him, but to
instruct them in a truth they were loth to believe—that the
expected Messiah is God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p117">1. It is easy to see that David calls
Christ <i>Lord,</i> and this in spirit being divinely inspired, and
actuated therein by a spirit of prophecy; for it was <i>the Spirit
of the Lord that spoke by him,</i> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p117.1" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.23.1-2Sam.23.2" parsed="|2Sam|23|1|23|2" passage="2Sa 23:1,2">2
Sam. xxiii. 1, 2</scripRef>. David was one of those <i>holy men
that spoke as</i> they were <i>moved by the Holy Ghost,</i>
especially in calling Christ <i>Lord;</i> for it was then, as it is
still (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p117.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.3" parsed="|1Cor|12|3|0|0" passage="1Co 12:3">1 Cor. xii. 3</scripRef>) that
<i>no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy
Ghost.</i> Now, to prove that David, in spirit, called Christ
<i>Lord,</i> he quotes <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p117.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.110.1" parsed="|Ps|110|1|0|0" passage="Ps 110:1">Ps. cx.
1</scripRef>, which psalm the scribes themselves understood of
Christ; of him, it is certain, the prophet there speaks, of him and
of no other man; and it is a prophetical summary of the doctrine of
Christ, it describes him executing the offices of a Prophet,
Priest, and King, both in his humiliation and also in his
exaltation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p118">Christ quotes the whole verse, which shows
the Redeemer in his exaltation; (1.) <i>Sitting at the right hand
of God.</i> His sitting denotes both rest and rule; his sitting at
God's right hand denotes superlative honour and sovereign power.
See in what great words this is expressed (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p118.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.8.1" parsed="|Heb|8|1|0|0" passage="Heb 8:1">Heb. viii. 1</scripRef>); <i>He is set on the right hand
of the throne of the Majesty.</i> See <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p118.2" osisRef="Bible:Phil.2.9 Bible:Eph.1.20" parsed="|Phil|2|9|0|0;|Eph|1|20|0|0" passage="Php 2:9,Eph 1:20">Phil. ii. 9; Eph. i. 20</scripRef>. He did not
take this honour to himself, but was entitled to it by covenant
with his Father, and invested in it by commission from him, and
here is that commission. (2.) Subduing his enemies. There he shall
sit, till they be all made either his friends or his footstool.
<i>The carnal mind,</i> wherever 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, <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p118.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.41.2" parsed="|Isa|41|2|0|0" passage="Isa 41:2">Isa. xli. 2</scripRef>), 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>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p119">But that which this verse is quoted for is,
that David calls the Messiah <i>his Lord; the Lord,</i> Jehovah,
<i>said unto my Lord.</i> 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>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p120">2. It is not so easy for those who believe
not the Godhead of the Messiah, to clear this from an absurdity, if
Christ be 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 (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p120.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.45" parsed="|Matt|22|45|0|0" passage="Mt 22:45"><i>v.</i> 45</scripRef>) 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 class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p121">III. We have here the success of this
gentle trial which Christ made of the Pharisees' knowledge, in two
things.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p122">1. It puzzled them (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p122.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.46" parsed="|Matt|22|46|0|0" passage="Mt 22:46"><i>v.</i> 46</scripRef>); <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 (<scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p122.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.22.16" parsed="|Rev|22|16|0|0" passage="Re 22:16">Rev. xxii.
16</scripRef>); <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> <scripRef id="Matt.xxiii-p122.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.46-Luke.1.47" parsed="|Luke|1|46|1|47" passage="Lu 1:46,47">Luke i. 46,
47</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Matt.xxiii-p123">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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