صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

*

of the ancient worthies "had trial of cruel mockings." The words of Peter are always, in some degree, fulfilling, "There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?" If, then, we are to be faithful, we must expect something of this treatment, according to the circumstances in which we are placed. Let us study not to deserve it by imprudence and rashness; but let us not be surprised, or discouraged, if it should come on us, notwithstanding all our care. Let us consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest we be wearied and faint in our minds. The shameful conduct of the Pharisees, on this occasion, should also be considered as warning all scoffers of their sin and danger. God may bear with such despisers for a time, but he will visit them heavily at last. Of the Jews, it is said, "The Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy." Let all who are ready to scoff at the Word take warning, and forbear to provoke the Lord. "Now, therefore, be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong."- "If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it."- "Wisdom crieth, How long will the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn ye at my reproof."-" Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful."

Though the Pharisees thus derided Christ, it was not he, but they themselves, that deserved to be despised; and therefore, without imitating their contemptuous manner, he addressed them in the language of well merited and severe rebuke. "And he said unto them, Ye are they who justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." They justified themselves before men, that is, they declared themselves to be just; they assumed, and constantly asserted, the character of righteous persons before the people. It is true that real believers, like Abraham, are justified in the sight of men, or proved to be in an

* 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15.

accepted state, by their works; but our Lord is here speaking of a quite different thing-he is reprehending the Pharisees for an ostentatious display of pretended goodness, and especially, for defending every part of their conduct, and claiming to themselves a high degree of sanctity, whatever their real character might be. They denied the charges which Christ brought against them; and they laboured to impress on the public mind an idea of their eminent piety notwithstanding their covetousness and worldliness. The lawyer, "willing (desiring) to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?"* The foolish youth said, "All these" commandments "have I kept from my youth up. What lack I yet?" Our Lord declared that the scribes and Pharisees “did all their works to be seen of men." We may also observe, that, with this excessive desire to justify themselves in the sight of men, there was united, in the Pharisees, the desire to justify themselves in the sight of God, or a spirit of self-righteousness. "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men," was the language of the Pharisee.

Now, we are here reminded that it ought not to be our object to justify ourselves in the sight of men, in this sense, or to show off and proclaim our own goodness before the world. If, indeed, we are misrepresented, in a way plainly injurious to ourselves and to the truth, it will be our duty to try to clear up our character, and to put men right, like Job, who said to those who accused him of gross hypocrisy and wilful sin, "God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove my integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live." But, let us beware of making the thought that men will see and applaud us the mainspring of our actions, otherwise we shall have no reward of God. Let it be with us a very small thing that we should be judged of man's judgment; and let it be enough for us to know that God sees and will judge us. In the sight of men, let our works speak for us, rather than our words. And, as for justification in the sight of God, let us ever remember the apostolic declaration, that "by deeds of law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight," and that if we are in this sense to be justified at all—that is, pardoned, accepted, and entitled to eternal life-it must be "freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

[blocks in formation]

whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood."

"Ye are they who justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts." With regard to these Pharisees, this intimated that, whatever might be their outward appearance, and however they might impose on their fellowcreatures an opinion of their excellence, God not only knew their hearts, but knew them to be false and impure. On another occasion Jesus said, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so, ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." More generally, however, we are here reminded that God knows the hearts of all men, and estimates their character accordingly. When Samuel looked on Eliab, he said, " Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." So, in Jeremiah,* "I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." How little, then, can any of us gain by deceiving men, when we cannot impose upon God! Let us remember that he knows our inmost thoughts; and let us think of his coming to judge us, when he will "bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." Lord grant that we may have new, honest, and pure hearts, that we may love and serve him in sincerity and truth. Lord grant that we may savingly know the God of our fathers, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if we seek him, he will be found of us; but if we forsake him, he will cast us off for ever.

"For," adds our Lord, "that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." It was so as to these Pharisees, whose counterfeit goodness was admired and extolled by the generality of their ignorant countrymen, but odious to the Searcher of hearts, who saw through the veil that covered their inward baseness. More

* Jer. xvii. 10.

generally, it holds true, in many instances, that what is highly esteemed among men of the world is lightly esteemed by God, and, of course, should be lightly esteemed by his people. The assumed character of sanctity, for example, in the midst of actual wickedness, for which the Pharisees were so notorious, though it may be applauded by some, is truly worthless and despicable in itself, and offensive to God. "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord."-" Your new moons, and your appointed feasts my soul hateth."- "When ye make many prayers I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes: cease to do evil, learn to do well." The same may be said of covetousness; for the passion of acquiring gain, provided it do not appear in the very worst form of plain injustice, or excessive parsimony, is admired and applauded by the world, as the first point of human wisdom, if words, and especially if actions, have any meaning. Men praise each other, when, in this sense, they "do well" for themselves; and yet the Lord pronounces the love of money to be the root of all evil." "The wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth."* Pride, too, if not offensively overbearing to themselves, is admired by men of the world, and is a favourite word in their vocabulary; and yet we read in Scripture,† "Every one that is proud in heart, is an abomination to the Lord." The same holds true of the thirst for human glory, the ambition of conquest, and the desire of revenge; for each of which many have been enrolled in the list of heroes, and extolled to the very skies, by the world, though they were, doubtless, an abomination to a holy God, and a curse to our suffering race. So, on the contrary, some things which are despised by men are highly esteemed by God; and some persons who are disliked and vilified by the world, are loved and honoured by the Lord. Men of the world often despise and trample on the meek and lowly, but "a meek and quiet spirit" is truly ornamental, and, "in the sight of God, of great price." We are told that "not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." How different, then, in almost every point, the judgment of God, and the judgment of the world, as to what constitutes true excellence! Let this fact remind us not to be swayed by the opinion of

* Ps. x. 3.

+ Prov. xvi. 5.

worldly men as to what we should admire in others, or prosecute most keenly for ourselves, but to be careful to form a correct estimate, according to the unerring standard of God's Word.

[ocr errors]

Verse 16: 66 The law and the prophets were until John since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it." Very similar to this passage is the following, in Matthew, 11th chapter, from the 12th verse: "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John." The law and the prophets are here put for the whole Old Testament, as in various other places. The books of the Old Testament were the sole guide in religion till the mission of John the Baptist. He occupied, as it were, an intermediate station between the Old and New Testaments; and the burden of his preaching was, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The kingdom of God, or of heaven, is put for the gospel dispensation. Of this dispensation the Baptist was the harbinger, or forerunner; and Jesus Christ and his apostles actually introduced, and more fully and clearly unfolded it. The last three verses of the Old Testament may be justly considered as fixing, and foretelling, what is stated as matter of fact in the verse now under consideration. "Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb, for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." What our Lord here said will appear the more appropriate, when it is remembered he was addressing himself to Pharisees, who professed a high veneration for the law and the prophets, and who ought, therefore, to have been prepared, by their contents, to receive Christ, as well as his fore

runner.

Since the time of John's preaching "every man presseth into the kingdom of God. This is a description of the success of that preaching, in the general and deep interest which it excited. It excited a very general concern about salvation. "Every man," though a term of universality, is plainly here, as in some other places of Scripture, to be understood as intended to apply to kinds, and not to indi.

« السابقةمتابعة »