60

observed the law himself, and required his followers to observe it so long as its authority continued; and, in the verses which follow, he states that a neglect of any of its institutions, would be anything rather than a recommendation of a person to a high place in that kingdom of God which was, about to be established. "Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of the least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."" These words have generally been interpreted as if they meant, 'Whosoever shall wilfully and habitually transgress any of the requisitions of the moral law, even those which may appear the least important, that person shall be considered as the least, the most contemptible, in the christian church; while, on the other hand, the person who shall fully and honestly expound all these requisitions, and illustrate his expositions by his example, that man shall be highly esteemed, greatly honored, in the christian church.' Viewed in their connection, our Lord's words appear to me to be intended to convey a somewhat different mean

ing.

The Jewish doctors were held in estimation, and admired for the dexterity with which they "rendered void the commandments of God by their traditions." "But," says our Lord, "the teacher who explains away any of the requisitions of the Mosaic law, and who encourages others in their violation of them by his example, that teacher shall be little thought of; he shall be despised and condemned in the kingdom of heaven,"-under the new dispensation which the Messiah is to introduce; while, on the other hand, the teacher who fully and faithfully expounds the law of Moses, and pays a strict attention himself to its statutes, that man shall be called great-he shall be highly honored and esteemed-in the kingdom of heaven,-under the New Testament dispensation. Instead of encouraging his followers to disregard the law of Moses, our Lord insists on the most scrupulous adherence to it, "till all things should be fulfilled;" and when all things should be fulfilled, and not only an iota and a tittle, but the whole law, should pass away, and the kingdom of heaven should be introduced, not the neglecter or violator of the law of Moses, but the person who had strictly and conscientiously observed it, would be accounted truly honorable, worthy of all respeet; so that, instead of requiring less from his disciples than the Scribes and Pharisees did from theirs, so far as the law of Moses was concerned, our Lord required more.

** Campbell's rendering is preferable, "were it the least of these command. ments."

"Matt. v. 19.

IV. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRISTIANS SUPERIOR TO THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES.

§ 1. Introductory statement.

"For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scripes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.""

These words in the 20th verse are not only deserving of our most considerate attention, as embodying a most important practical truth, but as being, so to speak, the text of a large portion of the remainder of the discourse, occupied in illustrating, by examples, how the righteousness of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven was to exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees.

To understand a discourse, nothing is of greater importance than a clear apprehension of its object and design. If this be not distinctly understood, the most perspicuous statements may appear obscure, the most conclusive arguments unsatisfactory, and the most apposite illustrations irrelevant. A great deal of the obscurity which, in most men's minds, rests on very many passages of the holy Scriptures, is to be accounted for on this principle. They do not distinctly perceive, or they altogether misapprehend, the object of the inspired writer; and while they do, it would be wonderful if they should clearly understand his particular statements, arguments, and illustrations. The object of the inspired writers, in any particular part of their writings, may generally, without much difficulty, be discovered; and when it is found out, it is the best key for unlocking the treasures of wisdom and knowledge therein contained. It is often distinctly stated in so many words, and when it is not so, it may usually, by a heedful perusal of the context, be satisfactorily as certained.

I apprehend a good deal of misinterpretation has prevailed in reference to that paragraph of our Lord's sermon on the Mount, in the exposition of which we are about to engage, in consequence of mistakes as to its object or design.

It has been supposed by some, that our Lord's object is to expound the law of the ten commandments, and to show, by a few examples, its exceeding breadth and spiritual reference. They suppose that our Lord asserts that the sixth commandment for bids not only murder, but malignant feeling; and the seventh not only adultery, but impure desire. That the divine law does take cognizance of the thoughts and intents of the heart, there can be no doubt, and that malignant feeling and impure desires are sins in the estimation of Him who looks on the heart; but whether the sixth and seventh commandments, strictly speaking, do forbid anything but what, in plain terms, they prohibit, is a

62 Matt. v. 20

totally different question, and one which, I apprehend, our Lord's statements do not furnish us with the means of answering. There is nothing, either in the way of direct statement or otherwise, to lay a foundation for the conclusion that our Lord, in the remarks which we are about to illustrate, had it for his object to show that the law of the ten commandments had a hidden, recondite, spiritual meaning, besides the literal signification of the words in which it is couched.

Others have supposed that our Lord's design is to contrast the morality of the law with that of the Gospel, the morality of Judaism with the morality of Christianity. But the morality of the law, and the morality of the Gospel, the morality of Judaism, as Judaism is taught in the Old Testament, and the morality of Chrstianity, as Christianity is taught in the New Testament, are substantially the same. Moses requires supreme love to God, and disinterested love to man, and Jesus Christ requires no more. The details of religion and moral duty, in the two volumes of inspired Scriptures, are, no doubt, modified by the circumstances. in which the church, under the old and new dispensations, was placed; but the principles of religious and moral duty appear in both to be what they are, what they cannot but be, unchanged and unchangeable, like him in whose nature they originate, and whose will they express, "without variableness or shadow of turning." "That which is of the Old Testament can never be un-christian, it is only proto-christian.'

1163

The object of our Lord seems to us very distinctly and clearly stated by himself, in the twentieth verse. That object was to show that the system of religious and moral duty, which was to be taught and exemplified in "the kingdom of God," the new economy, was to be greatly superior to that system of religious and moral duty taught by the Scribes, and exemplified by the Pharisees; and, as the system of duty taught by the Scribes and Pharisees was generally accounted by the Jews the right one, that object was farther to impress on their minds the great truth, which the whole discourse seems to be intended to illustrate and enforce, that they must "repent," change their minds, now that "the kingdom of God was at hand; for unless they, by this change of mind, were "born again," they could not "see it," Bor "enter into it," they could not understand its nature, nor enjoy its blessings. All that follows, from the 20th verse down to the 18th verse of the next chapter, is an illustration by example of the principle here stated. Our Lord's object, then, is not to contrast the true meaning of the ten commandments with the limited signification ascribed to them by the Jewish teachers; still less is it to contrast the morality of the law with the morality of the Gospel; but it is to contrast the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees with the righteousness of the kingdom of God, that is, the system of religious and moral duty taught by the Scribes, and exemplified by the Phari

sees, with the system of religious and moral duty to be taught and exemplified by the true followers of Messiah the Prince.

"The righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees" is just the system of religious and moral duty taught and exemplified by the Scribes and Pharisees. That this is the meaning of the phrase is plain from the specimens of this "righteousness," which our Lord refers to in the succeeding context.

"The Scribes," so often mentioned in the gospel history, were the same class who are termed "masters in Israel," and "doctors of the law," expounders of the Old Testament Scriptures. They did not form a separate sect, though they seem generally to have been of the sect of the Pharisees." The origin of this sect is involved in great obscurity. Their distinctive appellation is equivalent to separatists, and was likely assumed by them to indicate that they were distinguished from other Jews by the greater strictness of their manner of life. At the time of our Lord's appearance, they were the most numerous and, when compared with the infidel Sadducees, and the mystical and enthusiastic Essenes, the most respectable-of the Jewish sects.

The Scribes were looked up to by the Jewish people as the teachers of religious and moral duty; and the Pharisees were considered as the class which, in the most exemplary manner, reduced their lessons to practice. The highest idea which a carnal Jew could form of a religious man, was a person who, in his behavior, conformed himself to the teaching of the Scribes, and to the example of the Pharisees. The first were considered as the best expounders of Scripture; the latter as the most illustrious patterns of holiness. It was a proverb among them that, if but two men were to enter the kingdom of heaven, the one would be a Scribe, and the other a Pharisee."

Our Lord's doctrine of the necessity of repentance, or a change of mind, could scarcely be put in a form more calculated to astonish his countrymen, than that which it wears in these words. They expected that all Jews were, as a matter of course, to enter into the kingdom; they expected that Scribes and Pharisees would occupy high places of distinction and honor in that kingdom. How must they have been amazed to hear it proclaimed that, unless a man's righteousness exceeded that taught by the Scribes, and exemplified by the Pharisees, he could not be a subject of that kingdom at all! The general idea is, 'The religion and the morality which is to distinguish the citizens of the king. dom of heaven, is to be of a far more exalted character than that taught by the Scribes, and exemplified by the Pharisees.'

The prevailing doctrines among the Jewish teachers, ir. the age of our Lord, respecting religion and morality, seem to have been very corrupt. They are said to have maintained, that the doctors of the law, and the high council at Jerusalem, had a power to dispense with Divine requisitions: we are certain that, by unauthorised traditions, and by false interpretations of Scrip

64 Triglandius de tribus Judæorum sectis.

ture, they "made void the commandments of God." And the conduct of the Pharisees was not better than such a course of instruction might be expected to produce. Under an appearance of devotion, they were strangers to the spirit of piety; and, pretending to uncommon worth, they were deficient in ordinary integrity."

The righteousness taught by the Scribes and exemplified by the Pharisees, was almost entirely external, and often hypocritical. It consisted almost exclusively in a round of bodily observances, and even these were often performed to serve a purpose very different from that which was avowed:-"Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.” "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 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."

1166

It was extremely partial. They made a selection among the Divine precepts; and, while they scrupulously obeyed some, and those chiefly of secondary importance, they systematically violated others, and those of prime importance:-"Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."

1767

It proceeded from principles defective or unsound—not from the fear and love of God-from respect to his authority, and a desire to please him-from disinterested benevolence, or even from enlightened self-love; but from low, confined views of selfinterest-from a wish to obtain human applause, and secure wealth and honor for themselves. "But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in te synagogues, and greetin s in the markets, and t be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi."68

And, while in their religion and morality there was thus so much wanting, and so much wrong, they yet plumed themselves on them, as if they gave them a title, not merely to the respect of men, but to the favour of God; not only to the good things of earth, but to the joys of heaven. They thanked God that

55 For many of the thoughts and expressions in this sketch of the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, I am indebted to Dr. Brewster.-Lectures, pp. 121-164. 68 Matt. xxiii. 5-7.

66 Matt. xxiii. 14, 25-28.

67 Matt. xxiii. 23.