صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

Therefore, whofoever heareth thefe fayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wife man which built his houfe upon a rock?

And the rain defcended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house: And it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.

And every one that heareth thefe fayings of mine, and doeth them not, fhall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the fand. And the rain defcended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that houfe: And it fell, and great was the fall of it... p. 389, 390.

The CONCLUSION.

MATT. vii. 28, 29.

And it came to pass, when Jefus had ended thefe fayings, the people were aftonished at his doctrine. For be taught them as one having authority, and not as the Scribes.

.P. 402.

THE

THE

INTRODUCTION.

MATTH. V. I, 2.

And feeing the multitudes he went up into a mountain; and when he was fet, his dif ciples came unto him, And he open'd his mouth and taught them, faying, &c.

T

HESE words are the preface to the narrative of our Saviour's fermon on the mount, when having lately enter'd upon his prophetick office, he began to discharge his authority by delivering a new and more excellent, a more refin'd and fpiritual Law than that of Mofes; a nobler and more perfect fyftem of morality than either Jews or Gentiles understood before. As he came down from the eternal glory to enlighten, as well as from the everlasting arms of mercy to redeem the world; 'twas neceffary he should not only die a facrifice for us on the cross, that we might be admitted to the

B

inhe

inheritance of life and happiness above, but by his inftructions alfo fhew us the way to that better Country where our hopes and inheritance are; and fo direct us how to qualify our felves for that heavenly ftate of purity and perfection, that we may be capable of it; that the moft abfolute holiness of God may not be rafhly encroach'd upon, in confidence of his infinite mercy. Now all this is fufficiently provided for in the laws and precepts of Chriftianity, laid down in the New Teftament, in the writings of the Apoftles, but especially in the fermons of our Lord himself, and more particularly in this before us, which as it is the longeft, fo it is one of the clearest and most practical of all his pub lick difcourfes, and plainly lays the foundation of the whole Chriftian moral law. Now by way of introduction to what the following volume will present you with, I think it neceffary to confider, (1.) The folemnity obferv'd by our Saviour in the publication of this part of his doctrine. (2.) The auditors to whom he deliver'd it. And (3.) The fermon it felf, with refpect to two general obfervations which ought to be made upon it.

I. THE folemnity of the publication: And to this the circumstances of it lead us. It is here to be obferv'd,

FIRST, That he laid fo great a ftress upon the matter of thefe inftructions, that he would not entirely leave them to the after-care of his Apoftles, tho' they in the discharge of their miniftry, for the edification of his Church, were to be guided by the holy Spirit, which fhould lead them into all truth; but to ftamp the more awful character upon them, made use of the authority of his own Perfon in delivering them out to his Difciples; as God had done before, when he pronounced the Ten Commandments from mount Sinai. And this ob

fervation

fervation will receive greater force if we confider that it was GOD who ftill fpake perfonally to them, tho' veil'd and fhrouded in our human nature. It was not indeed deliver'd with that pomp and terror as before; because, as the * Ifraelites were not then, mankind is ftill not able to bear the luftre and majefty of the divine prefence without fome allay. And God had promis'd, when he gratify'd the people of Ifrael in their request upon that occafion, iffuing out the other remainder of his will to them by the intervention of Mofes, that when he should blefs them with a fecond more compleat revelation of his will in the future age of the Church, he would in like manner, comply with their infirmity. I will raife them up a prophet (faid the Lord to Mofes) from among their brethren like unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he fhall fpeak unto them all that I fhall command him. This promise was now fulfill'd in Chrift, who was both GOD and MAN in one perfon. His divine nature gave folemnity and fanction to his law; for, as the Evangelift takes notice at the conclufion of this fermon on the mount, He taught them as one having authority, and not as the fcribes: His human nature, by which he was of the feed of Ifrael, reprefented him as that Prophet from among their brethren like unto Mofes, and render'd the delivery of it more gracious in the hands of fuch a Mediator. But,

SECONDLY, We may obferve that in farther imitation of that folemn precedent, the giving of the moral law to the Jews from mount Sinai, Chrift deliver'd his inftructions alfo from a mountain: He retir'd from the promifcuous multitude, who crouded after him to gaze upon his perfon only, or to fee his miracles, and not to be inftructed

* Exod. xx. 18, 19.

f Deut. xviii. 17, 18.

In the way to happiness, and went up into a moun tain, where only those would take the pains to follow him who were acted by confcience more than curiofity, and defir'd rather to learn their duty, than be furnifh'd with furprizing things to be talk'd of. And hither accordingly fuch as these came to him: For the true Chriftian muft ftick at no difficulties in following Chrift, however fteep the accefs may be, and however fingular they may feem in leaving the multitudes behind them.

THIRDLY, Having thus provided that none but pious ears fhould hear him, (fuch only being worthy of thefe fublime inftructions) He fate down, a pofture, us'd indeed by the Jewish doctors in their fchools and fynagogues, but becoming only him, who had, and fhew'd hereby, the authority of a Legiflator. And being thus feated, he began to teach his auditors. But,

[ocr errors]

II WHO these auditors were is next to be confider'd. And by them we are here to understand, not only the twelve, who were afterwards ftil'd Apoftles, but the whole body of his Difciples, all fuch of that. mix'd multitude in the plain as were touch'd with a belief, that he was a Prophet fent from God, and heard him, as Herod heard the Bap tift, gladly, and were willing to embrace the doctrine he.fhould teach them. For that the whole multitude of fuch as had this good difpofition in them, are call'd his Difciples, as well as the twelve, is evident from several paffages in the hiftory of our Saviour. And that his auditors here are to be taken in fuch a latitude, is plain,

[ocr errors]

1. FROM this, That the Apostles were not nam'd and chofen, nay, fome of them were not then fo much as call'd to be Difciples. For St. Matthew*, who

* Matth. ix. 9.

beft

« السابقةمتابعة »