After this introduction, he proceeds to show that it is his work to fulfil the law and the prophets. (5: 17-19; § 133. 1.) The Pharisaic mode of interpreting the law by referring it merely to the external act, is next contrasted with his own mode of interpretation which directs the view to the state of man's heart (killing, 5 21-26; adultery and divorce, 5: 27-32; swearing, 533-37; retaliation, 5: 38-42; love to enemies, 5: 42-48). He expresses his judgment of the Pharisaic righteousness which is derived from outward works (alms, 6:1-4; prayer, 6 : 5–15; fasting, 6 16-18). He warns against the accumulation of earthly treasures (6 : 19–21), against the cares and anxieties of Gentiles or pagans (6 : 24–34), and against uncharitable judgments. (7:1-5.) He invites his hearers to enter into heaven through the strait gate on the narrow road (7 : 13, 14), and warns against false doctrine and a faith which is without fruit (7:15-23). He concludes by comparing hearers of his word who are not also doers, to a house built upon the sand, and those who hear and do his sayings, to a house built upon a rock. (7:24-27.)

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OBS. The chief difficulties which occur in the explanation of this sermon are those which are occasioned by the declarations referring to oaths (5 : 33, &c.), and to the law of retaliation (5 : 38, &c.), an eye for an eye, &c." The Redeemer seems to prohibit absolutely the swearing of an oath, and nevertheless responds to one uttered by the high-priest (Matt. 26: 63, 64); thus too, he seems to abolish the law of retaliation, and nevertheless, he did not, at a later period, turn the other cheek to the officer who struck him, but said: "Why smitest thou me?" (John 18: 22, 23.) The magistrate, who can read no man's heart, is compelled, if he desires to ascertain the truth in the surest manner, to require an oath, which even the unbeliever fears to violate, and which the Christian is not at liberty to decline. In the eyes of the latter, his mere "yea, yea" ought to be invested with the sanctity of an oath, and when that word is found to be sufficient, he is not permitted to have recourse to an oath. Christ's commandment respecting swearing is transgressed in the case of that oath alone which a man swears who would not speak the truth in its purity without an oath. Similar principles apply to the law of retaliation which is the basis of all legal rights; the abrogation of it would destroy all order and discipline, and, nevertheless, the declarations of Christ respecting it are positively obligatory and

valid in the case of the Christian. For, even as an individual can transgress a command (in the heart) without doing outwardly that which it prohibits, so too he can fulfil these commandments before God (who looketh at the heart) even without doing outwardly that which they enjoin, when other considerations constrain him to adopt this latter course. Considerations proceeding from civil order and discipline may often render it proper to omit an external compliance with these demands. Like all prohibitions, all commands refer immediately and chiefly not to the external action, but to the sentiments or feelings from which actions proceed. It is however of the utmost importance that the individual should exercise special care and prudence in guarding against self-deception, which is, in all these cases, most easily practised, but is always full of danger.

§ 135. The Gospel preached by Christ.—His Witness of Himself.

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OBS. Two declarations of Christ respecting his witness of himself occur, which seem to contradict each other. On one occasion he said: "Though I bear record (or witness, μaprup) of myself, yet my record (witness) is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I On another occasion he said: go." (John 8: 14.) 'If I bear witness (uaptop of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me, ...the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me." (John 5 : 31, 32, 36.) Both declarations are, however, reconciled by a third: “Believe me (my own witness) that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake (that is, believe the witness of my Father)” (John 14:11). For the witness which an individual bears respecting himself is, according to the estimation in which he is held, the most worthy or the least worthy of credit of all classes of testimony. To the disciples and to all who did not close their eyes and hearts to the voice of that truth and holiness which invested his whole being, no witness respecting Christ could appear to be more worthy of credit and more unerring than his own: these he required to believe him for his word's sake. To those, on the contrary, on whom the holiness of his appearance had made no impression, either through their own fault, or through other causes, his witness of himself was not an absolute demonstration of his truth: in their case the perfect credibility of his words could not be substantiated unless by evidence presented in another form- they are, consequently, referred to his works.

The Person of Christ is the central point of all evangelical knowledge and preaching, for the whole efficacy of the work of redemption which he performed, depends on the divinity of his person. That work of redeeming and renewing the human race could have been accomplished by him as God-man alone, and it is only through faith in him as the Son of God who became man, that we can obtain eternal life. It was, therefore, first of all necessary that the Redeemer should direct attention to the significance of his own Person. While he frequently and in the most unequivocal terms, particularly by using the favorite appellation of "the Son of Man," gave prominence to the reality as well as the sinlessness of his human nature, he also ascribed to himself as frequently, distinctly and absolutely, the possession of a true divine nature, and of a perfect equality of being with the Father. "Which of you," he asked the Jews, "convinceth me of sin?" (John 8: 46.) He ascribes to himself a divine nature, and divine attributes, and claims divine adoration, in equally clear He called himself the only-begotten Son of God, and the Jews took up stones to stone him because he said "that God was his Father, making himself equal with God." (John 5: 18; 10: 33.) He said: "I and my Father are one." (John 10: 30.) "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." (14 : 9.) the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." (5: 26.) "The Father. . . . hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." (5: 22, 23. "Before Abraham was, I am." (8 58.) In the prayer which he offered as our high-priest, he speaks of "the glory which he had with the Father before the world was." (17: 5.) He attested his divine Messiahship with an oath before the high-priest, shortly before his death (Matt. 26: 63), and, referring to his exaltation, he said: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matt. 18: 20.) "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (28: 20.) "All power is given to me in heaven and in earth" (28: 18), &c.

terms.

26

"As

§ 136. Continuation. Of his Redeeming Work.

OBS.-With respect to the mystery of the Redemption which was to be accomplished, Christ did not give full and complete instructions, but only certain intimations occasionally, which were generally expressed in a gnomic or sententious form, as well as in parables; even when these were not fully understood by the hearer, they were still retained with ease in his memory, and guided his subsequent meditations. For this subject was pre-eminently one of the "many things" (John 16: 12) which his disciples could not yet bear, and even the few expressions which he uttered in reference to it, were not altogether understood by them, until after the completion of his work. The Redeemer therefore contented himself with sowing in the hearts of his disciples the living and productive seed of the Word, which in its own season brought forth, by the watchful care of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of saving knowledge and doctrine.

1. The most comprehensive and significant of his declarations occurs in Matt. 5 : 17, 18 (see above, § 134), in which he shows that it is his work to fulfil the law and the prophets. He also said that he had come into the world, in order "that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16.) He compared his work to that of a physician, and said: "They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5: 31, 32.) He applies the name of a shepherd to himself: "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." (John 10:11.) He describes himself as "the way, and the truth, and the life" (John) 146); as "the light of the world" (8 12; 9: 5; 12: 46); and as "the bread of life." (6:35.) He showed the importance and necessity of his sufferings, death and resurrection (Mark 8 : 31, and John 3: 14, the lifting up of the serpent in the wilderness, § 55. 3, OBS.; the sign of the prophet Jonas, Matt. 12: 39-41, § 100. 5, OBS.), and declared that his death would be a vicarious death and sacrifice; "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Matt. 20: 28.) "This is my blood; shed for many for the remission of sins." (26: 28.) "The bread that I will give

is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." (John 6:51.) "I lay down my life for the sheep." (10 : 15.)

OBS. - When Christ used the following language, which his disciples did not fully understand until after his resurrection: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2: 19), he not only announced his death and resurrection, but also referred to the essential relation of the temple of stone to the temple of his body. For when his body was broken, in which the whole fulness of the Godhead dwelt in reality and truth, as it had dwelt symbolically in the Tabernacle and the Temple, that Temple of stone with its worship lost all significance and was broken in all its internal purposes, although it continued to stand outwardly forty years longer. For by the sacrifice and death of Christ a sacrifice of eternal validity was offered and the typical sacrifice was abolished. And when, on rising from the dead on the third day, he resumed the temple of his body, renewed and glorified, he thereby raised up a new and glorified temple, wherein "the true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth" (John 4: 23), and wherein all have access unto the throne of grace. (Heb. 4: 16.)

2. The original and permanent demands which the Lord addresses to all who desire to partake of the redemption that is in him (Rom. 3:24), are-Repentance and Faith (Matt. 4: 17; Mark 1: 15), unconditional self-denial, and renunciation of the world, and a complete dedication of themselves to his cause. (Matt. 10 37, 38.) He taught that his people must necessarily enter into an essential communion of life with him, and, indeed, in a certain manner, grow into his life: "I am the vine," said he, "ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (John 15: 5.) The means which he sets forth to all as those by which they may enter into this communion of life with him, and be established and maintained therein, are regeneration of water and of the Spirit (John 3: 3-6, § 189), and the eating and drinking of his flesh and blood: "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." (John 6: 53-55. § 190.)