Matthew 23 commentary

The scribes and Pharisees explained the law of Moses, and enforced obedience to it. They are charged with hypocrisy in religion. We can only judge according to outward appearance; but God searches the heart. They made phylacteries. These were scrolls of paper or parchment, wherein were written four paragraphs of the law, to be worn on their foreheads and left arms, Ex 13:2–10; 13:11–16; De 6:4–9; 11:13–21. They made these phylacteries broad, that they might be thought more zealous for the law than others. God appointed the Jews to make fringes upon their garments, Nu 15:38, to remind them of their being a peculiar people; but the Pharisees made them larger than common, as if they were thereby more religious than others. Pride was the darling, reigning sin of the Pharisees, the sin that most easily beset them, and which our Lord Jesus takes all occasions to speak against. For him that is taught in the word to give respect to him that teaches, is commendable; but for him that teaches, to demand it, to be puffed up with it, is sinful. How much is all this against the spirit of Christianity! The consistent disciple of Christ is pained by being put into chief places. But who that looks around on the visible church, would think this was the spirit required? It is plain that some measure of this antichristian spirit prevails in every religious society, and in every one of our hearts.

The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from him. Yet it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety will be reckoned double iniquity. They were very busy to turn souls to be of their party. Not for the glory of God and the good of souls, but that they might have the credit and advantage of making converts. Gain being their godliness, by a thousand devices they made religion give way to their worldly interests. They were very strict and precise in smaller matters of the law, but careless and loose in weightier matters. It is not the scrupling a little sin that Christ here reproves; if it be a sin, though but a gnat, it must be strained out; but the doing that, and then swallowing a camel, or, committing a greater sin. While they would seem to be godly, they were neither sober nor righteous. We are really, what we are inwardly. Outward motives may keep the outside clean, while the inside is filthy; but if the heart and spirit be made new, there will be newness of life; here we must begin with ourselves. The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was like the ornaments of a grave, or dressing up a dead body, only for show. The deceitfulness of sinners' hearts appears in that they go down the streams of the sins of their own day, while they fancy that they should have opposed the sins of former days. We sometimes think, if we had lived when Christ was upon earth, that we should not have despised and rejected him, as men then did; yet Christ in his Spirit, in his word, in his ministers, is still no better treated. And it is just with God to give those up to their hearts' lusts, who obstinately persist in gratifying them. Christ gives men their true characters.

Our Lord declares the miseries the inhabitants of Jerusalem were about to bring upon themselves, but he does not notice the sufferings he was to undergo. A hen gathering her chickens under her wings, is an apt emblem of the Saviour's tender love to those who trust in him, and his faithful care of them. He calls sinners to take refuge under his tender protection, keeps them safe, and nourishes them to eternal life. The present dispersion and unbelief of the Jews, and their future conversion to Christ, were here foretold. Jerusalem and her children had a large share of guilt, and their punishment has been signal. But ere long, deserved vengeance will fall on every church which is Christian in name only. In the mean time the Saviour stands ready to receive all who come to him. There is nothing between sinners and eternal happiness, but their proud and unbelieving unwillingness.

Matthew 23:1. Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes. This warning was highly useful, that, amidst contentions and the noise of combats, amidst the trouble and confusion of public affairs, amidst the destruction of proper and lawful order, the authority of the word of God might remain entire. The design of Christ was, that the people might not, in consequence of being offended at the vices of the scribes, “Offensé et scandalizé des vices qu’on voyoit és scribes;” — “offended and scandalized at the vices which they saw in the scribes.” throw away reverence for the Law. For we know how prone the minds of men are to entertain dislike of the Law; and more especially when the life of their pastors is dissolute, and does not correspond to their words, almost all grow wanton through their example, as if they had received permission to sin with impunity. The same thing happens — and something worse — when contentions arise; for the greater part of men, having thrown off the yoke, give utterance to their wicked desires, and break out into extreme contempt.

At that time the scribes burned with covetousness and swelled with ambition; their extortions were notorious; their cruelty was formidable; and such was their corruption of manners, that one would think they had conspired for the destruction of the Law. Besides, they had perverted by their false opinions the pure and natural meaning of the Law, so that Christ was constrained to enter into a sharp conflict with them; because their amazing rage hurried them on to extinguish the light of truth. So then, because there was danger that many persons, partly on account of such abuses, and partly on account of the din of controversies, would come to despise all religion, Christ seasonably meets them, and declares that it would be unreasonable if, on account of the vices of men, true religion were to perish, or reverence for the Law to be in any degree diminished. As the scribes were obstinate and inveterate enemies, and as they held the Church oppressed through their tyranny, Christ was compelled to expose their wickedness; for if good and simple men had not been withdrawn from bondage to them, the door would have been shut against the Gospel. There was also another reason; for the common people think themselves at liberty to do whatever they see done by their rulers, whose corrupt manners they form into a law.

But that no man might put a different interpretation on what he was about to say, he begins by stating, that whatever sort of men the teachers were it was altogether unreasonable, either that on account of their filth the word of God should receive any stain, or that on account of their wicked examples men should hold themselves at liberty to commit sin. And this wisdom ought to be carefully observed; for many persons, having no other object in view than to bring hatred and detestation on the wicked and ungodly, mix and confound every thing through their inconsiderate zeal. All discipline is despised, and shame is trampled under foot; in short, there remains no respect for what is honorable, and, what is more, many are emboldened by it, and intentionally blazon the sins of priests, that they may have a pretext for sinning with less restraint. But in attacking the scribes, Christ proceeds in such a manner, that he first vindicates the Law of God from contempt. We must attend to this caution also if we desire that our reproofs should be of any service. But, on the other hand, we ought to observe, that no dread of giving offense prevented Christ from exposing ungodly teachers as they deserved; only he preserved such moderation, that the doctrine of God might not come to be despised on account of the wickedness of men.

To inform us that he spoke publicly about their vices, not to raise envy against their persons, but to prevent the contagion from spreading more widely, Mark expressly states that he spoke to them in his doctrine; by which words he means that the hearers were profitably warned to beware of them. Now, though Luke appears to restrict it to the disciples, yet it is probable that the discourse was addressed indiscriminately to the whole multitude; which appears more clearly from Matthew, and, indeed, the subject itself required that Christ should have his eye on all without exception.

2. In the chair of Moses. Reasons were not wanting for inserting here what Luke relates at a different place. Besides that the doctrine is the same, I have no doubt that Luke, after having said that the scribes were sharply and severely reproved by our Lord, added also the other reproofs which Matthew delayed till the proper place; for already we have frequently seen that the Evangelists, as occasion required, collected into one place various discourses of Christ. But as the narrative of Matthew is more full, I choose rather to take his words as the subject of exposition.

Our Lord gives a general exhortation to believers to beware of conforming their life to the wicked conduct of the scribes, but, on the contrary, to regulate it by the rule of the Law which they hear from the mouth of the scribes; for it was necessary (as I have lately hinted) that he should reprove many abuses in them, that the whole people might not be infected. Lest, through their crimes, the doctrine of which they were the ministers and heralds should be injured, he enjoins believers to attend to their words, and not to their actions; as if he had said, that there is no reason why the bad examples of pastors should hinder the children of God from holiness of life. That the word scribes, agreeably to the Hebrew idiom, denotes the teachers or expounders of the Law, is well known; and it is certain that Luke calls the same persons lawyers “Docteurs de la loy;” — “teachers,” or “doctors of the law.” Harmony, vol. 1, p. 281.

Now our Lord refers peculiarly to the Pharisees, who belonged to the number of the scribes, because at that time this sect held the highest rank in the government of the Church, and in the exposition of Scripture. For we have formerly mentioned that, while the Sadducees and Essenes preferred the literal interpretation of Scripture, the Pharisees followed a different manner of teaching, which had been handed down, as it were, to them by their ancestors, which was, to make subtle inquiries into the mystical meaning of Scripture. This was also the reason why they received their name; for they are called Pherusim, that is, expounders. Harmony, vol 1, p. 281. And though they had debased the whole of Scripture by their false opinions, yet, as they plumed themselves on that popular method of instruction, their authority was highly esteemed in explaining the worship of God and the rule of holy life. The phrase ought, therefore, to be thus interpreted: “The Pharisees and other scribes, or, the scribes, among whom the Pharisees are the most highly esteemed, when they speak to you, are good teachers of a holy life, but by their works they give you very bad instructions; and therefore attend to their lips rather than to their hands.”

It may now be asked, Ought we to submit to all the instructions of teachers without exception? For it is plain enough, that the scribes of that age had wickedly and basely corrupted the Law by false inventions, had burdened wretched souls by unjust laws, and had corrupted the worship of God by many superstitions; but Christ wishes their doctrine to be observed, as if it had been unlawful to oppose their tyranny. The answer is easy. He does not absolutely compare any kind of doctrine with the life, but the design of Christ was, to distinguish the holy Law of God from their profane works. For to sit in the chair of Moses is nothing else than to teach, according to the Law of God, how we ought to live. And though I am not quite certain whence the phrase is derived, yet there is probability in the conjecture of those who refer it to the pulpit which Ezra erected, from which the Law was read aloud, (Nehemiah 8:4.) Certainly, when the Rabbis expounded Scripture, those who were about to speak rose up in succession; but it was perhaps the custom that the Law itself should be proclaimed from a more elevated spot. That man, therefore, sits in the chair of Moses who teaches, not from himself, or at his own suggestion, but according to the authority and word of God. But it denotes, at the same time, a lawful calling; for Christ commands that the scribes should be heard, because they were the public teachers of the, Church.

The Papists reckon it enough, that those who issue laws should possess the title and occupy the station; for in this way they torture the words of Christ to mean, that we are bound to receive obediently whatever the ordinary prelates of the Church enjoin. But this calumny is abundantly refuted by another injunction of Christ, when he bids them beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, (Matthew 16:6.)

If Christ pronounces it to be not only lawful, but even proper, to reject whatever of their own the scribes mingle with the pure doctrine of the Law, certainly we are not bound to embrace, without discrimination or the exercise of judgment, whatever they are pleased to enjoin. Besides, if Christ had intended here to bind the consciences of his followers to the commandments of men, there would have been no good ground for what he said in another passage, that it is in vain to worship God by the commandments of men, (Matthew 15:9.)

Hence it is evident, that Christ exhorts the people to obey the scribes, only so far as they adhere to the pure and simple exposition of the Law. For the exposition of, Augustine is accurate, and in accordance with Christ’s meaning, that, “the scribes taught the Law of God while they sat in the chair of Moses; and, therefore, that the sheep ought to hear the voice of the Shepherd by them, as by hirelings.” To which words he immediately adds: “God therefore teaches by them; but if they wish to teach any thing of their own, refuse to hear, refuse to do them.” With this sentiment accords what the same writer says in his Fourth Book of Christian Doctrine: “Because good believers do not obediently listen to any sort of man, but to God himself; therefore we may profitably listen even to those whose lives are not profitable.” It was, therefore, not the chair of the scribes, but the chair of Moses, that constrained them to teach what was good, even when they did not do what was good. For what they did in their life was their own; but the chair of another man did not permit them to teach what was their own.

4. For they bind heavy and intolerable burdens. He does not charge the scribes with oppressing and tyrannizing over souls by harsh and unjust laws; for, though they had introduced many superfluous ceremonies — as is evident from other passages — yet Christ does not at present refer to that vice, because his design is, to compare right doctrine with a wicked and dissolute life. That the Law of God should be called a heavy and intolerable burden is not wonderful, and more especially in reference to our weakness. But though the scribes required nothing but what God had enjoined, yet Christ reproves the stern and rigid manner of teaching which was usually followed by those proud hypocrites, who authoritatively demand from others what they owe to God, and are rigorous in enforcing duties, and yet indolently dispense with the performance of what they so strictly enjoin on others, and allow themselves to do whatever they please. In this sense Ezekiel (34:4) reproaches them for ruling with sternness and rigor. For those who truly fear God, though they sincerely and earnestly endeavor to bring their disciples to obey Him, yet as they are more severe towards themselves than towards others, they are not so rigid in exacting obedience, and, being conscious of their own weakness, kindly forgive the weak. But it is impossible to imagine any thing that can exceed the insolence in commanding, or the cruelty, of stupid despisers of God, because they give themselves no concern about the difficulty of doing those things from which they relieve themselves; and therefore no man will exercise moderation in commanding others, unless he shall first become his own teacher. “Si premierement il ne se regle luy-mesme, et s’assul jetit aux mesmes choses qu’il commande;” — “if he do not first rule himself, and submit to the same things which he commands.”

5. And all their works they do that they may be seen by men. He had lately said that the scribes live very differently from what they teach; but now he adds that, if they have any thing which is apparently good, it is hypocritical and worthless, because they have no other design than to please men, and to vaunt themselves. And here zeal for piety and a holy life is contrasted with the mask of those works which serve no purpose but for ostentation; for an upright worshipper of God will never give himself up to that empty parade by which hypocrites are puffed up. Thus not only is the ambition of the scribes and Pharisees reproved, but our Lord, after having condemned the transgression and contempt of the Law of God in their whole life, that they might not shield themselves by their pretended holiness, anticipates them by replying, that those things of which they boast are absolute trifles, and of no value whatever, because they spring from mere ostentation. He afterwards produces a single instance, by which that ambition was easily perceived, which was, that by the fringes of their robes they held themselves out to the eyes of men as good observers of the Law.

And make their phylacteries broad, and enlarge the fringes of their robes. For why were their fringes made broader, and their phylacteries more magnificent, than what was customary, except for idle display? The Lord had commanded the Jews to wear, both on their forehead and on their raiment, some remarkable passages selected out of the Law, (Deuteronomy 6:8.) As forgetfulness of the Law easily creeps upon the flesh, the Lord intended in this manner to keep it constantly in the remembrance of his people; for they were likewise enjoined to inscribe such sentences

on the posts of their houses, (Deuteronomy 6:9,)

that, wherever they turned their eyes, some godly warning might immediately meet them. But what did the scribes do? In order to distinguish themselves from the rest of the people, they carried about with them the commandments of God more magnificently inscribed on their garments; and in this boasting there was displayed an offensive ambition.

Let us also learn from this, how ingenious men are in mixing up vain deception, in order to conceal their vices under some pretext and cloak of virtues, by turning to the purposes of their own hypocrisy those exercises of piety which God has enjoined. Nothing was more profitable than to exercise all their senses in the contemplation of the Law, and it was not without good reason that this was enjoined by the Lord. But so far were they from profiting by these simple instructions, that, by making perfect righteousness to consist in the adorning of robes, they despised the Law throughout their whole life. For it was impossible to treat the Law of God with greater contempt, than when they imagined that they kept it by pompous dress, or pronounced masks contrived for enacting a play to be a keeping of the Law.

What Mark and Luke say about the robes relates to the same subject. We know that the inhabitants of Eastern countries commonly used long robes, — a custom which they retain to this day. But it is evident from Zechariah (13:4) that the prophets were distinguished from the rest of the people by a particular form of a cloak. And, indeed, it was highly reasonable that the teachers should dress in this manner, that there might be a higher degree of gravity and modesty in their dress than in that of the common people; but the scribes had made an improper use of it by turning it into luxury and display. Their example has been followed by the Popish priests, among whom robes are manifestly nothing more than the badges of proud tyranny.

6 And love the first places at entertainments.. He proves, by evident signs, that no zeal for piety exists in the scribes, but that they are wholly devoted to ambition. For to seek the first places and the first seats belongs only to those who choose rather to exalt themselves among men, than to enjoy the approbation of God. But above all, Christ condemns them for desiring to be called masters; for, though the name Rabbi in itself denotes excellence, yet at that time the prevailing practice among the Jews was, to give this name to the masters and teachers of the Law. But Christ asserts that this honor does not belong to any except himself; from which it follows that it cannot, without doing injury to him, be applied to men. But there is an appearance of excessive harshness, and even of absurdity, in this, since Christ does not now teach us in his own person, but appoints and ordains masters for us. Now it is absurd to take away the title from those on whom he bestows the office, and more especially since, while he was on earth, he appointed apostles to discharge the office of teaching in his name.

If the question be about the title, Paul certainly did not intend to do any injury to Christ by sacrilegious usurpation or boasting, when he declared that. he was

a master and teacher of the Gentiles, (1 Timothy. 2:7.)

But as Christ had no other design than to bring all, from the least to the greatest, to obey him, so as to preserve his own authority unimpaired, we need not give ourselves much trouble about the word. Christ therefore does not attach importance to the title bestowed on those who discharge the office of teaching, but restrains them within proper limits, that they may not rule over the kith of brethren. We must always attend to the distinction, that Christ alone ought to be obeyed, because concerning him alone was the voice of the Father heard aloud from heaven, Hear him, (Matthew 17:5;) and that teachers are his ministers in such a manner that he ought to be heard in them, and that they are masters under him, so far as they represent his person. The general meaning is, that his authority must remain entire, and that no mortal man ought to claim the smallest portion of it. Thus he is the only Pastor; but yet he admits many pastors under him, provided that he hold the preeminence over them all, and that by them he alone govern the Church.

And you are all brethren. This opposite clause must be observed. For, since we are brethren, he maintains that no man has a right to hold the place of a master over others; and hence it follows, that he does not condemn that authority of masters which does not violate brotherly intercourse among the godly. In short, nothing else is here enjoined than that all should depend on the mouth of Christ alone. Nearly to the same purpose does Paul argue, when he says that we have no right to judge one another, for all are brethren, and

all must stand before the judgment seat of Christ, (Romans 14:10.)

9. And call no man on earth your Father. He claims for God alone the honor of Father, in nearly the same sense as he lately asserted that he himself is the only Master; for this name was not assumed by men for themselves, but was given to them by God. And therefore it is not only lawful to call men on earth fathers, but it would be wicked to deprive them of that honor. Nor is there any importance in the distinction which some have brought forward, that men, by whom children have been begotten, are fathers according to the flesh, but that God alone is the Father of spirits. I readily acknowledge that in this manner God is sometimes distinguished from men, as in Hebrews 12:5, but as Paul more than once calls himself a spiritual father, (1 Corinthians 4:15; Philippians 2:22,) we must see how this agrees with the words of Christ. The true meaning therefore is, that the honor of a father is falsely ascribed to men, when it obscures the glory of God. Now this is done, whenever a mortal man, viewed apart from God, is accounted a father, since all the degrees of relationship depend on God alone through Christ, and are held together in such a manner that, strictly speaking, God alone is the Father of all.

10. For one is your Master, even Christ. He repeats a second time the former statement about Christ’s office as Master, in order to inform us that the lawful order is, that God alone rule over us, and possess the power and authority of a Father, and that Christ subject all to his doctrine, and have them as disciples; as it is elsewhere said, that Christ is the only

head of the whole Church, (Ephesians 1:22)

because the whole body ought to be subject to him and obey him.

11. He who is greatest among you. By this conclusion he shows that he did not, after the manner of the sophists, dispute about words, but, on the contrary, looked to the fact, that no man, through forgetfulness of his rank, might claim more than was proper. He therefore declares that the highest honor in the Church is not government, but service. Whoever keeps himself within this limit, whatever may be the title which he bears, takes nothing away either from God or from Christ; as, on the other hand, it serves no good purpose to take the name of a servant for the purpose of cloaking that power which diminishes the authority of Christ as a Master. For of what avail is it that the Pope, when he is about to oppress wretched souls by tyrannical laws, begins with styling himself the servant of servants of God, but to insult God openly, and to practice shameful mockery on men? Now while Christ does not insist on words, he strictly forbids his followers to aspire or desire to rise any higher than to enjoy brotherly intercourse on an equal footing under the heavenly Father, and charges those who occupy places of honor to conduct themselves as the servants of others. He adds that remarkable statement which has been formerly explained, Harmony, vol. 2, p. 165. he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

MATTHEW 23:13-15; MARK 12:40 LUKE 11:52; 20:47

Matthew 23:13-15

Mark 12:40

Luke 11:52

13. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you do not enter yourselves, and do not permit those who come to enter. 14. And woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widows’ houses, and that under the disguise of a long prayer; therefore you will be the more severely punished. 15. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make “Afin de gaigner un proselyte;” — “in order to gain one proselyte.” one proselyte; and when he is made, “Et quand il est gaigné;” — “and when he is gained.” you make him twice as much the child of hell as yourselves.

40. Who devour widows’ houses, and that under the disguise of a longprayer. These shall receive a severer condemnation.

52. Woe to you, lawyers! for you have taken away the key of knowledge: you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.

Luke 20:47

47. Who devour widows’ houses, and by way of pretence make long prayers “Lesquels devorent les maisons des vefues, sous ombre de faire longue oraison;” — “who devour the houses of widows, under the pretense of making a long prayer.” . These shall receive greater condemnation.

He breaks out into still stronger language of condemnation, and he does so not so much on their account, as for the purpose of withdrawing the common people and simple-minded men from their sect. “De suyvre telle maniere de gens;” — “from following that sort of people.” For though we see frequently in Scripture the judgment of God pronounced against the reprobate, so as to render them the more inexcusable, yet in their person the children of God receive a useful warning, not to involve themselves in the snares of the same crimes, but to guard against falling into similar destruction. Certainly, when the scribes, after overturning the worship of God and corrupting the doctrine of godliness, would endure no correction, and with desperate madness, to their own destruction and that of the whole nation, opposed the redemption which was offered to them, it was proper that they should be held up to the hatred and detestation of all. And yet Christ did not so much consider what they deserved, as what would be useful to the uneducated and ignorant; for he intended, towards the close of his life, to leave a solemn testimony, that no man might, except knowingly and willingly, be deceived by persons so base and wicked.

We know how powerfully a foolish reverence for false teachers hinders simple people from getting clear of their erroneous views. The Jews were at that time deeply imbued with false doctrine, and had even imbibed from their earliest years many superstitions. While it was hard and difficult in itself to bring them back to the right path, the chief obstacle lay in the foolish opinion which they had formed about the false teachers, whom they regarded as the lawful prelates of the Church, the rulers of divine worship, and the pillars of religion. Besides, they were so strongly fascinated, that they could scarcely be drawn away from those teachers but by violent fear. It is not therefore for the purpose of cursing the scribes that Christ pronounces against them the dreadful vengeance of God, but to withdraw others from their impostures. In like manner, we are compelled at the present day to thunder loudly against the Popish clergy, for no other reason than that those who are tractable, and not quite desperate, may direct their minds to their salvation, and, moved by the judgment of God, may break the deadly snares of superstitions by which they are held captive.

Hence we may infer how cruel is the mildness of those who dislike our vehemence. They are displeased to see harshness and severity used towards the wolves, which are constantly, with open mouth, tearing and devouring the sheep; and yet they see the poor sheep deceived by a vain disguise, freely throwing themselves into the jaws of the wolves, unless the pastor who desires to save them, and endeavors to rescue them from destruction, drive them away with a loud voice. We must therefore follow out the design of Christ, by copying out his example in severe threatenings against wicked despisers, and in boldly exclaiming against them, that those who are capable of being cured may be led by the fear of destruction to withdraw from them. For though we gain nothing by addressing the enemies of the truth, yet they must be summoned to the judgment-seat of God, and others must be warned, that they may know that the same destruction awaits themselves, if they do not speedily withdraw from a wicked league with them.

Matthew 23:13. You shut up the kingdom of heaven. Christ pronounces a curse on them, because they pervert their office to the general destruction of the whole people; for since the government of the Church was in their hands, they ought to have been, as it were, porters for the kingdom of heaven. What purpose is served by religion and holy doctrine but to open heaven to us? For we know that all mankind are banished from God, and excluded from the inheritance of eternal salvation. Now the doctrine of religion may be said to be the door by which we enter into life, and therefore Scripture says metaphorically, that the keys of the kingdom of heaven are given to pastors, as I have explained more fully under Matthew 16:19. And we ought to abide by this definition, which appears still more strongly from the words of Luke, in which Christ reproaches the lawyers with having taken away the key of knowledge, which means that, though they were the guardians of the Law of God, they deprived the people of the true understanding of it. As, therefore, in the present day, the keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed to the custody of pastors, that they may admit believers into eternal life, and exclude unbelievers from all expectation of it, so the priests and scribes anciently under the Law held the same office.

From the word knowledge we infer how absurdly the Papists forge false keys, as if they possessed some magical power apart from the word of God; for Christ declares that none but those who are ministers of doctrine have the use of keys. If it be objected, that the Pharisees, though they were perverse expounders of the Law still held the keys, I reply: Though, in respect of their office, the keys were entrusted to them, yet they were suppressed by malice and deceit, so that they no longer retained the use of them. And therefore Christ says, that they took away, or stole that key of knowledge, by which they ought to have opened the gate of heaven. In like manner, heaven is shut by Popery against the wretched people, while the very pastors—or, at least, those who hold that office—prevent them by their tyranny from being opened. If we are not excessively indifferent, we will not willingly enter into a league with wicked tyrants, who cruelly shut against us the entrance into life.

14. For you devour widows’ houses. He now proceeds farther, for he not only accuses them of open crimes which demand hatred and detestation, but even tears away the disguises of virtues, by which they deceived the common people. If it be objected, that there was no need of reproving those things which could do no harm by their example, we ought to recollect that it was impossible to promote the salvation of those who were held bound by the errors of the scribes, unless they turned away entirely from such persons. This reason, therefore, constrained Christ to expose the vain appearance of virtues, which nourishes superstitions.

And that under the pretense of a long prayer. He says in general that, even when they appear to do what is right, they wickedly abuse the pretense of religion. Long prayers contained some evidence of remarkable piety; for the more holy a man is, the more eminently is he devoted to prayer. But Christ says that the Pharisees and scribes were so impure, that even the chief part of the worship of God was not used by them without committing sin, because constancy in prayer was with them, trap for base gain. For they sold their prayers in exactly the same manner as hirelings dispose of their daily labor. “Que les mercenaires et ouvriers ont accoustumé de vendre leur labeur, et se loer à la journee;” — “as hirelings and laborers are wont to sell their labor, and to hire themselves out for the day.” Hence also we infer that our Lord does not exactly reprove long prayers, as if in itself it were an impropriety—particularly since pastors ought to be eminently devoted to prayer—but to condemn this abuse, because a thing laudable in itself was turned to a wicked purpose. For when men aim at gain by means of hired prayers, the more fervent the appearance of what they call devotion becomes, the more is the name of God profaned. And as this false conviction had been long and deeply seated in the minds of the common people, on this account Christ employs harsher threatenings; for the pollution of so sacred a thing was no light offense. That it was chiefly widows that were imposed on need not excite surprise, because silly women are more prone to superstition, and therefore it has always been customary for base men to make gain of. them. Thus Paul brings a charge against the false teachers of his age, that they

lead captive silly women laden with sins, (2 Timothy 3:6.)

15. For you compass sea and land. The scribes had also acquired celebrity by their zeal in laboring to bring over to the Jewish religion the strangers and uncircumcised. And so, if they had gained any one by their false appearances, or by any other stratagem, they gloried wonderfully over it as an increase of the Church. On this account also they received great applause from the common people, that by their diligence and ability they brought strangers into the Church of God. Christ declares, on the contrary, that so far is this zeal from deserving applause, that they more and more provoke the vengeance of God, because they bring under heavier condemnation those who devote themselves to their sect. We ought to observe how corrupt their condition at that time was, and what confusion existed in religion; for as it was a holy and excellent work to gain disciples to God, so to allure the Gentiles to the Jewish worship—which was at that time degenerate, and was even full of wicked profanation — was nothing else than to hurry them from Scylla to Charybdis. “Ce n’estoit autre chose que de les oster d’un danger, pour les precipiter en un plus grand;” — “it was nothing else than to rescue them from one danger to plunge them into a greater.” The allusion in the text is to Scylla a rocky promontory on the Italian side of the Strait of Messina, and to Charybdis, a whirlpool opposite to it, on the coast of Sicily. Either of them singly would have rendered the navigation formidable, but their vicinity to ly aggravated the danger; for the very exertions which kept the mariner at a distance from the one unavoidably brought him nearer to the other. This appalling scene meets us frequently in the ancient mythology, in the allusions of poets and orators, and on many other occasions. He who, by avoiding one evil, fell into one still greater, was proverbially said to have avoided Scylla and fallen into Charybdis. — Ed. Besides, by a sacrilegious abuse of the name of God, they drew down upon themselves a heavier condemnation, because their religion allowed them grosser licentiousness of crime. An instance of the same kind may be seen at the present day among the monks; for they are diligent in culling proselytes from every quarter, but those proselytes, from being lascivious and debauched persons, they render altogether devils: for such is the filthiness of those puddles, within which they carry on their reveling, that it would corrupt even the heavenly angels. “Les anges de Paradis;” — “the angels of Paradise.” Yet the monk’s habit is a very suitable mantle for concealing enormities of every description.

MATTHEW 23:16

Matthew 23:16-22

16. Woe to you, blind guides! who say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but he who shall swear by the gold of the temple is guilty. 17. Fools, and blind! for which is greater, the gold, or the temple which sanctifieth the gold? 18. And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift which is upon it is guilty. 19. Fools, and blind! for which is greater, the gilt, or the altar which sanctifieth the gift? 20. Whosoever therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are on it. 21. And whosoever shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth in it. 22. And whosoever shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth upon it.

Matthew 23:16. Woe to you, blind guides, As ambition is almost always connected with hypocrisy, so the superstitions of the people are usually encouraged by the covetousness and rapacity of pastors. The world has, indeed, a natural propensity to errors, and even draws down upon itself, as if on purpose, every kind of deceit and imposture; but improper modes of worship come to gain a footing only when they are confirmed by the rulers “Quand les prelates les conferment;” — “when the prelates confirm them.” themselves. And it generally happens, that those who possess authority not only, by their connivance, fawn upon errors, because they perceive that they are a source of gain to them, but even assist in fanning the flame. Thus we see that the superstitions of Popery were heightened by innumerable expedients, while the priests opened their mouths for the prey; and even now they daily contrive many things by which they delude still more the foolish multitude. And when minds have once fallen under the darkening influence of the enchantments of Satan, nothing is so absurd or monstrous as not to be eagerly swallowed.

It was on this account that the Jews had more reverence for the gold of the temple, and for the sacred offerings, than for the temple and the altar. But the sacredness of the offerings depended on the temple and the altar, and was only something inferior and accessory. It may readily be believed that this dream proceeded from the scribes and priests, because it was a scheme well fitted for collecting prey. And this was not only a foolish but a highly dangerous error, because it led the people into ridiculous fancies. There is nothing to which men are more prone than to fall away from the pure worship of God: and therefore, under the covering of this veil, it was easy for Satan to withdraw from the contemplation of God those who were too strongly inclined to foolish imaginations. This is the reason why Christ so severely chastises that error. And yet the Papists were not ashamed to prostitute the sacred name of God to a mockery still more detestable; for they reckon it of more importance to touch a morsel of a stinking carcass, than to peruse the sacred volume of the Old and New Testaments, or even to raise their hands towards heaven. And in this way arises a carnal worship of God, by which the proper fear of God is gradually obliterated.

It is nothing. By this phrase he does not mean that they entirely took away the honor of the temple, but he speaks comparatively. For when they represented in extravagant terms the sacredness of offerings, the common people were led to entertain such veneration for them, that the majesty of the temple and of the altar was undervalued, and they reckoned it a less heinous crime to violate it by perjuries than to swear by the sacred offerings with too little reverence.

18. And whosoever shall swear by the altar. Here our Lord does what ought to be done in correcting errors; for he leads us up to the source, and shows, by the very nature of an oath, that the temple is far more valuable than the gifts which are offered in it. He accordingly assumes this principle, that it is not lawful to swear but by the name of God alone. Hence it follows that, whatever forms men may employ in swearing, they must give to God the honor which is due to him; and hence also it follows in what manner and to what extent we are at liberty to swear by the temple, namely, because it is the residence or sanctuary of God; and by heaven, because there the glory of God shines. God permits himself to be called as a witness and judge, by means of such symbols of his presence, provided that he retain his authority unimpaired; for to ascribe any Divinity to heaven would be detestable idolatry. Now so far as God holds out to us a brighter mirror of his glory in the temple than in offerings, so much the greater reverence and sacredness is due to the name of the temple. We now perceive, therefore, in what sense Christ says that we swear by him who inhabits heaven, when we swear by heaven itself. His design is, to direct all forms of swearing to their lawful end and object.

MATTHEW 23:23-28; LUKE 11:42, 44

Matthew 23:23-28

Luke 11:42, 44

23. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cumin and have omitted the more important points of the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith. The latter you ought to have done, and not to have omitted the former. 24. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat, but swallow the camel. 25. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you cleanse the outer part of the cup and of the dish, but within they are full of extortion and intemperance. 26. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first what is within the cup and dish, that the outer parts of them also may be made clean. 27. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitened sepulchers, which outwardly indeed appear beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and of all filthiness. 28. So you also outwardly indeed appear righteous to men; but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

42. But woe to you, Pharisees! for you pay tithe of mint, and rue, and every kind of herb, and pass by judgment and the love of God. The latter you ought to have done, and not to have omitted the former. (A little after.) 44. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are as tombs which do not appear, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.

Christ charges the scribes with a fault which is found in all hypocrites, that they are exceedingly diligent and careful in small matters, but disregard the principal points of the Law. This disease has prevailed in almost all ages, and among all nations; so that men have, in most cases, endeavored to please God by observing with exactness some trivial matters. Finding that they cannot entirely release themselves from all obedience to God, they have recourse to this second remedy of expiating any heinous offenses by satisfactions which are of no value. Thus we see that the Papists, while they transgress the chief commandments of God, are extremely zealous in the performance of trifling ceremonies. Hypocrisy of the same kind is now reproved by God in the scribes, who, while they were very diligent and careful in paying tithes, cared little about the principal points of the Law. To expose more fully to ridicule their offensive ostentation, he does not say generally that they paid tithes, but tithes of mint, and anise, and (as Luke has it) of every kind of herb, so as to make a display of extraordinary zeal for piety at the least possible expense.

But as Christ makes the chief righteousness of the Law to consist in mercy, judgment, and faith, we must first, see what he means by these words; and, secondly, why he left out the commandments of the first table, which strictly relate to the worship of God, as if godliness were of less value than the duties of charity. Judgment is taken for equity, or uprightness, the effect of which is, that we render to every man what belongs to him, and that no man deceives or injures others. Mercy proceeds farther, and leads a man to endeavor to assist his brethren with his property, to relieve the wretched by advice or by money, to protect those who are unjustly oppressed, and to employ liberally for the common good the means which God has put into his hands. Faith is nothing else than strict integrity; not to attempt any thing by cunning, or malice, or deceit, but to cultivate towards all that mutual sincerity which every man wishes to be pursued towards himself. The sum of the Law, therefore, relates to charity.

The word faith, I am aware, is interpreted by some persons differently, as including, by synecdoche, the whole worship of God; but Christ, according to his custom, here brings the true test of holiness to brotherly love, and therefore does not refer to the first table. Nor is it inconsistent with this view that, instead of faith, Luke uses the expression, the love of God; for the design of Christ was, to show what it is that the Lord chiefly requires of us in his Law. It is well known that the Law was divided into two tables, so as to point out, first, what we owe to God, and next, what we owe to men. Luke expresses both parts as if Christ had said, that the chief design of the Law is, that we should love God, and that we should be just and merciful towards our neighbors. Matthew satisfies himself with one part; and there is no absurdity in calling the duties of charity the principal points of the Law, since charity itself is pronounced by Paul to be the perfection of the Law; as he also says, that

the Law is fulfilled if toe love our neighbors, (Romans 13:10.)

And Christ, when formerly interrogated as to the commandments of the Law quoted none but those which belonged to the second table.

If it be objected, that in this way men are preferred to God, because charity, which is performed towards them, is reckoned more valuable than religion, the answer is easy. Christ does not here contrast the second table of the Law with the first, but, on the contrary, draws from the manner in which the second table is kept the proof whether or not God is truly and sincerely worshipped. As piety lies within the heart, and as God does not dwell amongst us in order to make trial of our love towards Him, and does not even need our services, it is easy for hypocrites to lie, and falsely to pretend to love God. But the duties of brotherly love fall under the senses, and are placed before the eyes of all, and therefore in them the impudence of hypocrites is better ascertained. Christ, therefore, did not intend to enter into subtle inquiries about the particular parts of righteousness, or their order, but, so far as the ordinary capacity of men allowed, intended simply to show that the Law is kept only when men are just, and kind, and true, towards each other; for thus they testify that they love and fear God, and give proper and sufficient evidence of sincere piety. Not that it is enough to discharge our duties towards men, if we do not first render to God what we owe to him, but because he who regulates his life according to God’s commandment must be a sincere worshipper of God.

And yet the question is not fully answered; for tithes, which Christ places inferior to judgment and mercy, were a part of divine worship, and some part of them was usually bestowed on the poor, so that tithes contained a double sacrifice. I reply: Tithes are not simply compared to alms, and faith, and judgment, but the pretended holiness of the scribes is compared with the sincere and pure feeling of charity. Why were they so ready and willing to pay tithes, but in order to pacify God a, the least expense and trouble? For they did not regard the principal point; and therefore those light matters, by which they attempted to deceive God and men, ought not to be reckoned along the duties of charity.

Matthew 23:23. The former you ought to have done. This is intended to anticipate their calumny; for they might have put an unfavorable interpretation on his discourse, and charged him with setting no value on what the Law of God had enjoined. He therefore acknowledges that whatever God has enjoined ought to be performed, and that no part of it ought to be omitted, but maintains that zeal for the whole Law is no reason why we ought not to insist chiefly on the principal points. Hence he infers that they overturn the natural order who employ themselves in the smallest matters, when they ought rather to have begun with the principal points; for tithes were only a kind of appendage. Christ therefore affirms that he has no intention to lessen the authority even of the smallest commandments, though he recommends and demands due order in keeping the Law. It is therefore our duty to preserve entire the whole Law, which cannot be violated in any part without contempt for its Author; for He who has forbidden us to commit adultery, and to kill, and to steal, has likewise condemned all impure desire. Hence we conclude that all the commandments are so interwoven with each other, that we have no right to detach one of them from the rest. Wherefore it is also written,

Cursed is every one that performeth not all things that are written, (Deuteronomy 27:26; Galatians 3:10;)

by which words the righteousness of the whole Law, without exception, is enforced. But this reverence, as we have said, does not take away the distinction between the commandments, or the true design of the Law, to which those who truly observe it direct their mind, that they may not merely amuse themselves on the surface.

24. Blind guides. This is s proverbial saying, by which he beautifully describes the affected scrupulousness of hypocrites about trifling matters; for they utterly shrink from very small faults, as if a single transgression appeared to them more revolting than a hundred deaths, and yet they freely permit themselves and others to commit the most heinous crimes. They act as absurdly as if a man were to strain out a small crumb of bread, and to swallow a whole loaf.

Straining out In rendering the words, οἱ διυλιζοντες τὸυ κύνωπα, Campbell resorts to a circumlocution, who strain your liquor, to avoid swallowing a gnat; and he adds the following note:— E.T. Who strain at a gnat. I do not understand the import of this expression. Some have thought that it has sprung originally from a mere typographical error of some printer, who has made it strain at, instead of strain out.” — The conjecture mentioned by Campbell is strongly confirmed by the earlier English versions. “Blinde leders; clensenge a gnat, but swolowynge a camel.” — (Wyclif, 1380.) “Ye blinde gydes, which strayne out a gnat, and swalowe a cammyll.” — (Tyndale, 1534.) “Ye blynde gydes, which strayne out a gnat, and swalowe a camell.” — (Cranmer, 1539.) “Ye blynde gydes, which strayne out a gnate, and swalow a cammel.” — (Geneva, 1557.) “Blinde guides, that strain a gnat, and swallow a camel.” — (Rheims, 1582.) The coincidence of those versions in supporting the true reading is very remarkable, and the substitution of at for out is more likely to have been the effect of accident than of design. — Ed. a gnat, and swallowing a camel. We know that a gnat is a very small animal, and that a camel is a huge beast. Nothing therefore could be more ridiculous than to strain out the wine or the water, so as not to hurt the jaws by swallowing a gnat, and yet carelessly to gulp down a camel. “Et cependant ne faire point de difficulté d’engloutir un chameau tout entier;” — “and yet make no difficulty about swallowing a whole camel.” But it is evident that hypocrites amuse themselves with such distinctions; for while they pass by judgment, mercy, and faith, and even tear in pieces the whole Law, they are excessively rigid and severe in matters that are of no great importance; and while in this way they pretend to kiss the feet of God, they proudly spit in his face.

25. For you cleanse the outer part. Our Lord follows out the same statement, and employs a figure for reproaching the scribes with being eagerly bent on this single object of making a brilliant appearance before men. For by the outer part of the dish he metaphorically expresses the outward appearance; as if he had said, “You give yourselves no concern about any cleanness but what appears outwardly, which is quite as if one were carefully to wash off the filth of the dish without, but to leave it filthy within.” That the expression is metaphorical is evident from the second clause, in which the uncleanness within is condemned, because within they are full of intemperance and extortion. He therefore reproves their hypocrisy, in not endeavoring to regulate their life, except before the eyes of men, in order to procure for themselves an empty reputation for holiness. Thus he recalls them to the pure and sincere desire of a holy life. Cleanse first, he says, that which is within; for it would be ridiculous to feast your eyes with outward splendor, and yet to drink out of a cup full of dregs, or in other respects filthy. “Plene de lie et de bourbe, ou autrement orde et sale;”—full of dregs and of mud, or otherwise nasty and filthy.”

27 You are like whitened sepulchers. This is a different metaphor, but the meaning is the same; for he compares them to sepulchers, which the men of the world ambitiously construct with great beauty and splendor. As a painting or engraving on sepulchers draws the eyes of men upon them, while inwardly they contain stinking carcasses; so Christ says that hypocrites deceive by their outward appearance, because they are full of deceit and iniquity. The words of Luke are somewhat different, that they deceive the eyes of men, like sepulchers, which frequently are not perceived by those who walk over them; but it amounts to the same meaning, that, under the garb of pretended holiness, there lurks hidden filth which they cherish in their hearts, like a marble sepulcher; for it wears the aspect of what is beautiful and lovely, but covers a stinking carcass, so as not to be offensive to those who pass by. Hence we infer what I have formerly said, that Christ, with a view to the advantage of the simple and ignorant, tore off the deceitful mask which the scribes held wrapped around them in empty hypocrisy; for this warning was advantageous to simple persons, that they might quickly withdraw from the jaws of wolves. Yet this passage contains a general doctrine, that the children of God ought to desire to be pure rather than to appear so.

MATTHEW 23:29-39 LUKE 11:47-51; 13:34-35; 11:53-54

Matthew 23:29-39

Luke 11:47-51

29. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you build the sepulchers of the prophets and embellish the monuments of the righteous, 30. And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been their associates in the blood of the prophets. 31. Thus you testify against yourselves, that you are the children of those who killed the prophets. 32. Do you also fill up the measure of your fathers. 33. Serpents, offspring of vipers, how shall you escape the judgment of hell? 34. Therefore, lo, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and some of them you will slay and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: 35. That upon you may come all the righteous blood which hath been shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Barachiah, whom you slew between the temple and the altar. 36. Verily I say to you, All these things shall come on this generation. 37. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who slayest the prophets, and stonest those who were sent to thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and you would not! 38. Lo, your house is left to you desolate. 39. For I tell you, that you shall never see me henceforth, till you say, Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

47. Woe to you, for you build the monuments “Les sepulchres;” — “the sepulchers.” of the prophets, and your fathers slew them. “Lesquels vos peres ont occis;” — “whom your fathers slew.” 48. Truly you testify that you approve of the actions of your fathers; “Que vous consentez aux œuvres de vos peres;” — “that you consent to the actions of your fathers.” for they indeed slew them, and you build their sepulchers. 49. Therefore also the Wisdom of God hath said, I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will slay and persecute: 50. That the blood of all the prophets, which hath been shed since the creation of the world, may be demanded from this generation; 51. From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the temple. Assuredly I tell you, That it shall be demanded from this generation.

Luke 13:34-35

34. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who slayest the prophets, and stonest those who are sent to thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a bird gathereth its brood under its wings, and you would not! 35. Lo, your house is left to you desolate. But I tell you, that you shall not see me, until the time come when you say Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Luke 11:53-54

53. And while he was saying these things to them, the lawyers and Pharisees began to press him closely, and cunningly to interrogate him about many things; 54. Laying snares for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, to accuse him.

Matthew 23:29. For you build the sepulchers of the prophets. An unfounded opinion is entertained by some, that the scribes are here reproved for superstition, in foolishly honoring the deceased prophets by splendid sepulchers, as the Papists now transfer the honor of God to departed saints, and even are so perverse as to adore their images. They had not yet arrived at such a pitch of blindness and madness, and therefore the design of Christ was different. The scribes endeavored to gain the favor of the ignorant multitude, and indeed of all the Jews, by this additional hypocrisy, that they cherished with reverence the memory of the prophets; for while in this manner they pretended to maintain their doctrine, any one would have supposed that they were faithful imitators of them, and very keen zealots for the worship of God. It was a proposal, therefore, which was likely to prove highly acceptable, to erect monuments for the prophets, because in this way religion might be said to be drawn out of darkness, that it might receive the honor which it deserved. And yet nothing was farther from their design than to restore doctrine, which might appear to have been extinguished by the death of the prophets. But though they were not only averse to the doctrine of the prophets, but most inveterate enemies to it, yet they honored them—when dead—with sepulchers, as if they had made common cause with them.

It is customary, indeed, with hypocrites thus to honor, after their death, good teachers and holy ministers of God, whom they cannot endure while they are alive. Nor does this arise merely from the common fault, which Horace thus describes: “We hate virtue while it is in safety, but when it has been removed from our eyes, we seek it with envy;” Virtutem incolumm odimus, Sublatam ex oculis quærimus invidi

Lib. III. Carm. XXIV. but as the ashes of the dead no longer give annoyance by harsh and severe reproofs, they who are driven to madness by the living voices of those men are not unwilling, by adoring them, to make an empty display of religion. It is a hypocrisy which costs little to profess warm regard for those who are now silent. “Qui ne peuvent plus cier contre les vices;” — “who can no longer exclaim against vices.” Thus each of the prophets, in his own age, was contemptuously rejected, and wickedly tormented, by the Jews, and, in many instances, cruelly put to death; while posterity, though not a whit better than their fathers, pretended to venerate their memory, instead of embracing their doctrine; for they too were actuated by equal hostility towards their own teachers. “Car aussi ils ne traittoyent pas mieux ceux qui les enseignoient fidelement que leurs peres avoyent fait aux autres;” — “for they too acted no better towards those who taught them faithfully than their fathers had done to others.” As the world—not venturing altogether to despise God, or at least to rise openly against him—contrives this stratagem of adoring the shadow of God instead of God, so a similar game is played in reference to the prophets.

A proof of this—far too striking—may be seen in Popery. Not satisfied with paying just veneration to Apostles and Martyrs, they render to them divine worship, and think that they cannot go too far in the honors which they heap upon them; and yet, by their rage against believers, they show what sort of respect they would have manifested towards Apostles and Martyrs, if they had been still alive to discharge the same office which they anciently held. For why are they inflamed with such rage against us, but because we desire that doctrine to be received, and to be successful, which the Apostles and Martyrs sealed with their blood? While the holy servants of God valued that doctrine more highly than their own life, would their life have been spared by those who so outrageously persecute the doctrine? Let them adorn the images of the saints as they may think fit, by perfumes, candles, flowers, and every sort of gaudy ornament. If Peter were now alive, they would tear him in pieces; they would stone Paul; and if Christ himself were still in the world, they would burn him with a slow fire.

Our Lord, perceiving that the scribes and priests of his age were eager to obtain the applause of the people, on the ground of their being devout worshippers of the prophets, reproves them for deceit and mockery, because they not only reject, but even cruelly persecute, the prophets that are now present, “Et lesquels ils voyen devan leurs yeux tous les jours;” — “and whom they see before their eyes every day.” and whom God has sent to them. But it is a display of base hypocrisy, and shameful impudence, to desire to be thought religious on account of worshipping the dead, while they endeavor to murder the living.

30. If we had been in the days of our fathers. Not without good reason did Christ introduce this sentiment; for though he does not blame them for the conduct of their fathers, and does not make it the chief ground of accusation that they are the children of murderers: yet he takes a passing glance of their foolish boasting, in being accustomed to glory in their ancestors, while they were descended from the bloody enemies of God. The appeal may be thus stated: “You look upon the veneration which you pay to the deceased prophets as some sort of expiation for the wickedness of your fathers. Now then I have this to urge, that it is in vain for you to boast of a sacred ancestry, since you are descended from wicked and ungodly parents. Go now, and screen your crimes by the piety of those whose hands, you acknowledge, were stained with innocent blood. But it is an additional and far more heinous crime, that the sacrilegious fury of the fathers, which you condemn by raising sepulchers for the dead, is imitated by you in the murder of the living.”

32. Do you then fill up the measure of your fathers. He at length concludes that they are not, in this respect, degenerate from their fathers; as if he had said, “It is not now that your nation begins to treat with cruelty the prophets of God; for this is the ancient discipline, this is the custom handed down from the fathers, and, in short, this way of acting is almost natural to you.” And yet he does not bid them do what they are doing, to put to death holy teachers, but states figuratively that they have a hereditary right to rise against the servants of God, and that they must be permitted to oppose religion, because in this way they fill up what is wanting in the crimes of their fathers, and finish the web which they had begun. By these words he not only pronounces themselves to be desperate, and incapable of being brought to a sound mind, but warns simple people that there is no reason to wonder, if the prophets of God are ill-treated by the children of murderers.

33. Offspring of vipers. After having demonstrated that the scribes are not only base enemies of sound doctrine, and wicked corrupters of the worship of God, but likewise deadly plagues of the Church, Christ, being about to close his discourse, kindles into more vehement indignation against them; as it is necessary to shake off by violence the flatteries in which hypocrites indulge, and to drag them, as it were, to the judgment seat of God, that they may be filled with alarm. And yet Christ did not keep them alone in his eye, but intended to strike terror into the whole people, that all might guard against a similar destruction. How harsh and intolerable this roughness of language must have been to these reverend instructors may easily be inferred from the long period during which they had held a peaceful dominion, so that no one dared to mutter against them. And there can be no doubt that many were displeased with the great freedom and sharpness which Christ used, and, above all, that he was looked upon as immoderate and outrageous in venturing to apply such reproachful epithets to the order of the scribes; as many fastidious persons of the present day cannot endure any harsh word to be spoken against the Popish clergy. But as Christ had to deal with the worst of hypocrites, who not only were swelled with proud contempt of God, and intoxicated with careless security, but had captivated the multitude by their enchantments, he found it necessary to exclaim against them with vehemence. He calls them serpents both in nature and in habits, and then threatens them with a punishment, which it will be in vain for them to attempt to escape, if they do not speedily repent.

34. Therefore, lo, I send to you. Luke introduces it in a still more emphatic manner, Wherefore also the Wisdom of God hath said; which some commentators explain thus: “I, who am the eternal Wisdom of God, declare this concerning you.” But I am more inclined to believe that, according to the ordinary custom of Scripture, God is here represented as speaking in the person of his Wisdom; so that the meaning is, “God foretold long ago, by the prophetic Spirit, what would happen with regard to you.” This sentence, I acknowledge, is nowhere to be found literally: but as God denounces the incorrigible obstinacy of that people in many places of Scripture, Christ draws up a kind of summary of them, and by this personification “En introduisant la Sapience de Dieu parlant;” — “by introducing the Wisdom of God as speaking.” expresses more clearly what was the judgment of God as to the incurable wickedness of that nation. For if those teachers would have no success, it might have appeared strange that Christ should have desired them to weary themselves to no purpose. Men argue thus: “God labors in vain, when he sends his word to the reprobate, who, he knows, will continue obstinate.” And hypocrites, as if it were sufficient of itself to have preachers of the heavenly doctrine continually with them, though they show themselves to be disobedient, entertain the conviction that God is reconciled and favorable to them, provided that the outward word be heard amongst them.

Thus the Jews fiercely boasted that, in comparison of other nations, they had always enjoyed the best prophets and teachers, and, as if they had deserved so great an honor, they considered this to be an undoubted proof of their own excellence. “Comme un certain tesmoignage qu’ils estoyent gens de bien;” — “as an undoubted proof that they were good people.” To put down this foolish boasting, Christ not only affirms that they do not excel other nations on the ground of having received from God distinguished prophets and expounders of his Wisdom, but maintains that this ilk requited favor is a greater reproach, and will bring upon them a heavier condemnation, because the purpose of God was different from what they supposed, namely, to render them more inexcusable, and to bring their wicked malice to the highest pitch; as if he had said, “Though prophets have been appointed to you by heaven in close succession, it is idly and foolishly that you claim this as an honor; for God had quite a different object in his secret judgment, which was, to lay open, by an uninterrupted succession of gracious invitations, your wicked obstinacy, and, on your being convicted of it, to involve the children in the same condemnation with the fathers.”

With regard to the words, the discourse as related by Matthew is defective, but its meaning must be supplied from the words of Luke. The mention of scribes and wise men along with prophets tends to magnify the grace of God; by which their ingratitude becomes more apparent, since, though God left nothing undone for their instruction, they made no proficiency. Instead of wise men and scribes, Luke mentions apostles, but the meaning is the same. This passage shows that God does not always bestow salvation on men when he sends his word to them, but that he sometimes intends to have it proclaimed to the reprobate, who, he knows, will continue obstinate, that it may be to them

the savior of death unto death, (2 Corinthians 2:16.)

The word of God, indeed, in itself and by its own nature, brings salvation, and invites all men indiscriminately to the hope of eternal life; but as all are not inwardly drawn, and as God does not pierce the ears of ally—in short, as they are not renewed to repentance or bent to obedience, those who reject the word of God render it, by their unbelief, deadly and destructive.

While God foresees that this will be the result, he purposely sends his prophets to them, that he may involve the reprobate in severer condemnation, as is more fully explained by Isaiah, (6:10.) This, I acknowledge, is very far from being agreeable to the reason of the flesh, as we see that unholy despisers of God seize on it as a plausible excuse for barking, that God, like some cruel tyrant, takes pleasure in inflicting more severe punishment on men whom, without any expectation of advantage, he knowingly and willingly hardens more and more. But by such examples God exercises the modesty of believers. Let us maintain such sobriety as to tremble and adore what exceeds our senses. Those who say, that God’s foreknowledge does not hinder unbelievers from being saved, foolishly make use of an idle defense for excusing God. I admit that the reprobate, in bringing death upon themselves, have no intention of doing what God foresaw would happen, and therefore that the fault of their perishing cannot be ascribed to His foreknowledge; but I assert that it is improper to employ this sophistry in defending the justice of God, because it may be immediately objected that it lies with God to make them repent, for the gift of faith and repentance is in his power.

We shall next be met by this objection, What is the reason why God, by a fixed and deliberate purpose, appoints the light of his word to blind men? When they have been devoted to eternal death, why is he not satisfied with their simple ruin? and why does he wish that they should perish twice or three times? There is nothing left for us but to ascribe glory to the judgments of God, by exclaiming with Paul, that they are a deep and unfathomable abyss, (Romans 11:33.) But it is asked, How does he declare that the prophecies will turn to the destruction of the Jews, while his adoption still continued to be in force towards that nation? I reply, As but a small portion embraced the word by faith for salvation, this passage relates to the greater number or the whole body; as Isaiah, after having predicted the general destruction of the nation, is commanded

to seal the law of God among the disciples, (Isaiah 8:16.)

Let us know then that, wherever the Scripture denounces eternal death against the Jews, it excepts a remnant, (Isaiah 1:9; Romans 11:5;) that is, those in whom the Lord preserves some seed on account of his free election

35. That upon you may come. He not only takes away from them their false boasting, but shows that they had received prophets for a totally different purpose, that no age might be free from the criminality of wicked rebellion; for the pronoun you embraces generally the whole nation from its very commencement. If it be objected, that it is not consistent with the judgment of God that punishment should be inflicted on the children for the sins of the parents, the answer is easy. Since they are all involved in a wicked conspiracy, we ought not to think it strange if God, in punishing all without reserve, make the punishment due to the fathers to fall upon the children. Justly then is the whole nation — in whatever age individuals may have lived — called to account, and likewise punished, for this unceasing contempt. For as God, by an uninterrupted course of patience, has unceasingly contended with the malice of the whole people, so the whole people is justly held guilty of the inflexible obstinacy which continued to the very last; and as every age had conspired to put to death its own prophets, so it is right that a general sentence should be pronounced upon them, and that all the murders, which have been perpetrated with one consent, should be avenged on all.

From the blood of Abel. Though Abel (Genesis 4:8) was not slain by the Jews, yet the murder of Abel is imputed to them by Christ, because there is an affinity of wickedness between them and Cain; otherwise there would have been no propriety in saying that righteous blood had been shed by that nation from the beginning of the world. Cain is therefore declared to be the head, and leader, and instigator of the Jewish people, because, ever since they began to slay prophets, they succeeded in the room of him whose imitators they were.

To the blood of Zechariah. He does not speak of Zechariah as the latest martyr; for the Jews did not then put an end to the murder of the prophets, but, on the contrary, their insolence and madness increased from that period; and posterity, who followed them, satiated themselves with the blood which their fathers only tasted. Nor is it because his death was better known, though it is recorded in Scripture. But there is another reason, which, though it deserves attention, has escaped the notice of commentators; in consequence of which they have not only fallen into a mistake, but have likewise involved their readers in a troublesome question. We might suppose it to have arisen from forgetfulness on the part of Christ, that, while he mentions one ancient murder, he passes by a prodigious slaughter which afterwards took place under Manasseh. For until the Jews were carried to Babylon, their wicked persecutions of holy men did not cease; and even while they were still under affliction, we know with what cruelty and rage they pursued Jeremiah, (32:2.) But our Lord on purpose abstains from reproaching them with recent murders, and selects this murder, which was more ancient—which was also the commencement and source of base licentiousness, and afterwards led them to break out into unbounded cruelty—because it was more suitable to his design. For I have lately explained, that his leading object was to show that this nation, as it did not desist from impiety, must be held guilty of all the murders which had been perpetrated during a long period. Not only, therefore, does he denounce the punishment of their present cruelty, but says that they must be called to account for the murder of Zechariah, as if their own hands had been imbrued in his blood.

There is no probability in the opinion of those who refer this passage to that Zechariah who exhorted the people, after their return from the Babylonish captivity, to build the temple, (Zechariah 8:9,) and whose prophecies are still in existence. For though the title of the book informs us that he was the son of Barachiah, (Zechariah 1:1,) yet we nowhere read that he was slain; and it is, forced exposition to say, that he was slain during the period that intervened between the building of the altar and of the temple. But as to the other Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, the sacred history relates what agrees perfectly with this passage; that when true religion had fallen into decay, after the death of his father, through the wicked revolt of the king and of the people, the Spirit of God came upon him, to reprove severely the public idolatry, and that on this account he was stoned in the porch of the temple, (2 Chronicles 24:20, 21.) There is no absurdity in supposing that his father Jehoiada received, in token of respect, the surname of Barachiah, because, having throughout his whole life defended the true worship, he might justly be pronounced to be the Blessed of God. But whether Jehoiada had two names, or whether (as Jerome thinks) there is a mistake in the word, there can be no doubt as to the fact, that Christ refers to that impious stoning of Zechariah which is recorded in 2 Chronicles 24:21, 22

Whom you slew between the temple and the altar. The crime is rendered still more heinous by the circumstance of the place, since they did not revere the sacredness of the temple. Here the temple is put for the outer court, as in other passages. Near it was the altar of burnt offerings, (1 Kings 8:64; 18:30,) so that the priest offered the sacrifices in presence of the people. It is evident, therefore, that there must have been furious rage, when the sight of the altar and of the temple could not restrain the Jews from profaning that sacred place by a detestable murder.

37. Jerusalem, Jerusalem. By these words, Christ shows more clearly what good reason he had for indignation, that Jerusalem, which God had chosen to be his sacred, and — as we might say — heavenly abode, not only had shown itself to be unworthy of so great an honor, but, as if it had been a den of robbers, (Jeremiah 7:11,) had been long accustomed to suck the blood of the prophets. Christ therefore utters a pathetic exclamation at a sight so monstrous, as that the holy city of God should have arrived at such a pitch of madness, that it had long endeavored to extinguish the saving doctrine of God by shedding the blood of the prophets. This is also implied in the repetition of the name, because impiety so monstrous and incredible deserves no ordinary detestation.

Thou who killest the prophets. Christ does not reproach them with merely one or another murder, but says that this custom was so deeply rooted, that the city did not care to slay every one of the prophets that were sent to it. For the participle, (ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας), (killing the prophets,) is put for an epithet; as if Christ had said, “Thou who oughtest to have been a faithful guardian of the word of God, a teacher of heavenly wisdom, the light of the world, the fountain of sound doctrine, the seat of divine worship, a pattern of faith and obedience, art a murderer of the prophets, so that thou hast acquired a certain habit of sucking their blood.” "En sorte que tu est toute accoustoumee a humer leur sang, sans en faire conscience;" — "so that thou art quite accustomed to suck their blood, without any scruple of conscience." Hence it is evident, that they who had so basely profaned the sanctuary of God deserved every kind of reproaches. Yet Christ had likewise the intention to obviate the scandal which soon after arose, that believers, when they saw him basely put to death at Jerusalem, might not be confounded by the novelty of such an exhibition. For by these words they were already warned that it was not wonderful if a city, which had been accustomed to strangle or stone the prophets, should cruelly put to death its own Redeemer. This shows us what value we should attach to places. There never certainly was a city in the world on which God bestowed such magnificent titles, or such distinguished honor; and yet we see how deeply it was sunk by its ingratitude.

Let the Pope now compare the abode of his robbery with that holy city; what will he find worthy of equal honor? His hired flatterers boast to us that the faith flourished there in ancient times. But admitting this to be true, if it is evident that it has now, by wicked rebellion, revolted from Christ, and is full of innumerable deeds of sacrilege, what folly is it in them to maintain that the honor of primacy belongs to it? Let us, on the contrary, learn from this memorable example, that when any place has been exalted by uncommon instances of the favor of God, and thus has been removed from the ordinary rank, if it degenerate, it will not only be stripped of its ornaments, but will become so much the more hateful and detestable, because it has basely profaned the glow of God by staining the beauty of his favors.

How often would I have gathered together thy children. This is expressive of indignation rather than of compassion. The city itself, indeed, over which he had lately wept, (Luke 19:41,) is still an object of his compassion; but towards the scribes, who were the authors of its destruction, he uses harshness and severity, as they deserved. And yet he does not spare the rest, who were all guilty of approving and partaking of the same crime, but, including all in the same condemnation, he inveighs chiefly against the leaders themselves, who were the cause of all the evils. We must now observe the vehemence of the discourse. If in Jerusalem the grace of God had been merely rejected, there would have been inexcusable ingratitude; but since God attempted to draw the Jews to himself by mild and gentle methods, and gained nothing by such kindness, the criminality of such haughty disdain was far more aggravated. There was likewise added unconquerable obstinacy; for not once and again did God wish to gather them together, but, by constant and uninterrupted advances, he sent to them the prophets, one after another, almost all of whom were rejected by the great body of the people.

As a hen collecteth her brood under her wings. We now perceive the reason why Christ, speaking in the person of God, compares himself to a hen. It is to inflict deeper disgrace on this wicked nation, which had treated with disdain invitations so gentle, and proceeding from more than maternal kindness. It is an amazing and unparalleled instance of love, that he did not disdain to stoop to those blandishments, by which he might tame rebels into subjection. A reproof nearly similar is employed by Moses, that God, like

an eagle with outspread wings, (Deuteronomy 32:11,)

embraced that people. And though in more than one way God spread out his wings to cherish that people, yet this form of expression is applied by Christ, in a peculiar manner, to one class, namely, that prophets were sent to gather together the wandering and dispersed into the bosom of God. By this he means that, whenever the word of God is exhibited to us, he opens his bosom to us with maternal kindness, and, not satisfied with this, condescends to the humble affection of a hen watching over her chickens. Hence it follows, that our obstinacy is truly monstrous, if we do not permit him to gather us together. And, indeed, if we consider, on the one hand, the dreadful majesty of God, and, on the other, our mean and low condition, we cannot but be ashamed and astonished at such amazing goodness. For what object can God have in view in abasing himself so low on our account? When he compares himself to a mother, he descends very far below his glory; how much more when he takes the form of a hen, and deigns to treat us as his chickens?

Besides, if this charge was justly brought against the ancient people, who lived under the Law, it is far more applicable to us. For though the statement—which I quoted a little ago from Moses—was always true, and though the complaints which we find in Isaiah are just, that

in vain did God spread out his hands every day to embrace a hard-hearted and rebellious people, (Isaiah 65:2)

that, though he rose up early, (Jeremiah 7:13) he gained nothing by his incessant care of them; yet now, with far greater familiarity and kindness, he invites us to himself by his Son. And, therefore, whenever he exhibits to us the doctrine of the Gospel, dreadful vengeance awaits us, if we do not quietly hide ourselves under his wings, by which he is ready to receive and shelter us. Christ teaches us, at the same time, that all enjoy safety and rest who, by the obedience of faith, are gathered together to God; because under his wings they have an impregnable refuge. “Un refuge quine peut faillir, et contre lequel il n’y a point de puissance qui ait lieu;” — “a refuge which cannot fail, and against which no power can succeed.”

We must attend likewise to the other part of this accusation, that God, notwithstanding the obstinate rebellion of his ancient people, was not all at once so much offended by it, as to lay aside a father’s love and a mother’s anxiety, since he did not cease to send prophets after prophets in uninterrupted succession; as in our own day, though he has experienced a marvelous depravity in the world, he still continues to dispense his grace. But these words contain still deeper instruction, namely, that the Jews, as soon as the Lord gathered them together, immediately left him. Hence came dispersions so frequent, that they scarcely remained at rest for a single moment under the wings of God, as we see in the present day a certain wildness in the world, which has indeed existed in all ages; and, therefore, it is necessary that God should recall to himself those who are wandering and going astray. But this is the crowning point of desperate and final depravity, when men obstinately reject the goodness of God, and refuse to come under his wings.

I said formerly that Christ speaks here in the person of God, and my meaning is, that this discourse belongs properly to his eternal Godhead; for he does not now speak of what he began to do since he was manifested in the flesh, (1 Timothy 3:16,) but of the care which he exercised about the salvation of his people from the beginning. Now we know that the Church was governed by God in such a manner that Christ, as the Eternal Wisdom of God, presided over it. In this sense Paul says, not that God the Father was tempted in the wilderness, but that Christ himself was tempted, “Mais que Christ luy-mesme a esté tenté au desert par le peuple deliveré d’Egypte;” — “but that Christ himself was tempted in the wildrness by the people that had been delivered from Egypt.” (1 Corinthians 10:9.)

Again, when the sophists seize on this passage, to prove free will, and to set aside the secret predestination of God, the answer is easy. “God wills to gather all men,” say they; “and therefore all are at liberty to come, and their will does not depend on the election of God.” I reply: The will of God, which is here mentioned, must be judged from the result. For since by his word he calls all men indiscriminately to salvation, and since the end of preaching is, that all should betake themselves to his guardianship and protection, it may justly be said that he wills to gather all to himself. It is not, therefore, the secret purpose of God, but his will, which is manifested by the nature of the word, that is here described; for, undoubtedly, whomsoever he efficaciously wills to gather, he inwardly draws by his Spirit, and does not merely invite by the outward voice of man.

If it be objected, that it is absurd to suppose the existence of two wills in God, I reply, we fully believe that his will is simple and one; but as our minds do not fathom the deep abyss of secret election, in accommodation to the capacity of our weakness, the will of God is exhibited to us in two ways. And I am astonished at the obstinacy of some people, who, when in many passages of Scripture they meet with that figure of speech “Anthropopathie; c’est, quand Dieu s’attribue des affections semblables à celles des hommes, comme quand il dit (Genesis 6:6) qu’il s’est repenti d’avoir fait l’homme; et semblables passages.” — “Anthropopathy; that is, when God ascribes to himself feelings similar to those of men, as when he says (Genesis 6:6) that he repented of having made man; and similar passages.” (ἀνθρωποπάθεια) which attributes to God human feelings, take no offense, but in this case alone refuse to admit it. But as I have elsewhere treated this subject fully, that I may not be unnecessarily tedious, I only state briefly that, whenever the doctrine, which is the standard of union, “De vraye union;” — “of true union.” is brought forward, God wills to gather all, that all who do not come may be inexcusable.

And you would not. This may be supposed to refer to the whole nation, as well as to the scribes; but I rather interpret it in reference to the latter, by whom the gathering together, “Ce rassemblement et ceste reunion;” — “this gathering together and this union.” was chiefly prevented. For it was against them that Christ inveighed throughout the whole of the passage; and now, after having addressed Jerusalem in the singular number, it appears not without reason that he immediately used the plural number. There is an emphatic contrast between God’s willing and their not willing; “Quand ildit, Dieu a voulu, vous ne l’avez point voulu;” — “when he says, God would, you would not.” for it expresses the diabolical rage of men, who do not hesitate to contradict God.

38 Lo, your house is left to you desolate. He threatens the destruction of the temple, and the dissolution of the whole frame of civil government. Though they were disfigured by irreligion, crimes, and every kind of infamy, yet they were so blinded by a foolish confidence in the temple, and its outward service, that they thought that God was bound to them; and this was the shield which they had always at hand: “What? Could God depart from that place which he has chosen to be his only habitation in the world? And since he dwells in the midst of us, we must one day be restored.” In short, they looked upon the temple as their invincible fortress, as if they dwelt in the bosom of God. But Christ maintains that it is in vain for them to boast of the presence of God, whom they had driven away by their crimes, and, by calling it their house, (lo, your house is left to you,) he indirectly intimates to them that it is no longer the house of God. The temple had indeed been built on the condition, that at the coming of Christ it would cease to be the abode and residence of Deity; but it would have remained as a remarkable demonstration of the continued grace of God, if its destruction had not been occasioned by the wickedness of the people. It was therefore a dreadful vengeance of God, that the place which Himself had so magnificently adorned was not only forsaken by Him, and ordered to be razed to the foundation, but consigned to the lowest infamy to the end of the world. Let the Romanists now go, and let them proceed, in opposition to the will of God, to build their Tower of Babylon, while they see that the temple of God, which had been built by his authority and at his command, was laid low on account of the crimes of the people.

39. For I tell you. He confirms what he had said about the approaching vengeance of God, by saying that the only method of avoiding destruction will be taken from them. For that was the accepted time, the day of salvation, (Isaiah 49:8; 2 Corinthians 6:2,) so long as that very person who had come to be their Redeemer, attested and proclaimed the redemption which he had brought. But at his departure, as at the setting of the sun, the light of life vanished; and therefore this dreadful calamity, which he threatens, must of necessity fall upon them.

Until you say. We come now to inquire what period is denoted by this phrase. Some restrict it to the last day of judgment. Others think that it is a prediction, which was soon afterwards fulfilled, when some of the Jews humbly adored Christ. But I do not approve of either of these interpretations. And I am certainly astonished that learned men should have stumbled at so small an obstacle, by taking great pains to inquire how unbelievers can say concerning Christ, Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord; for he does not declare what they will be, but what he himself will do. And even the adverb until extends no farther than to the time which goes before. Joseph did not know his wife until she brought forth Christ, (Matthew 1:25.) By these words Scripture does not mean, that after Christ had been born they lived together as husband and wife, but only shows that Mary, before the birth of her son, was a virgin that had not known man.

So then the true meaning of the present passage, in nay opinion, is this: “Hitherto I have lived among you in humility and kindness, and have discharged the office of a teacher; and no having finished the course of my calling, I shall depart, and it will not be possible for you any longer to enjoy my presence, but him whom you now despise as a Redeemer and a minister of salvation, you will find to be your Judge.” In this manner the passage agrees with the words of Zechariah, They shall look on him whom they pierced, (Zechariah 12:10; John 19:37.) But Christ appears also to make an indirect allusion to their vain hypocrisy, because, as if they ardently longed for the promised salvation, they sung daily the words of the psalm,

Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord, (Psalm 118:26;)

while they treated with scorn the Redeemer that was offered to them. In short, he declares that he will not come to them until, trembling at the sight of his dreadful majesty, they shall exclaim—when it is too late—that truly he is the Son of God. And this threatening is addressed to all despisers of the Gospel, more especially to those who falsely profess his name, while they reject his doctrine; for they will one day acknowledge that they cannot escape the hands of him whom they now mock by their hypocritical pretensions. For the same song is now sung by the Papists, who, after all, care nothing about Christ, until, armed with vengeance, he ascends his tribunal. We are also reminded, that so long as Christ exhibits himself to us in the name of the Father as the herald of salvation and Mediator, we ought not only to honor him with our lips, but sincerely to wish that he would make us and the whole world subject to himself.

CHAPTER 23

Mt 23:1-39. Denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees--Lamentation over Jerusalem, and Farewell to the Temple. ( = Mr 12:38-40; Lu 20:45-47).

For this long and terrible discourse we are indebted, with the exception of a few verses in Mark and Luke, to Matthew alone. But as it is only an extended repetition of denunciations uttered not long before at the table of a Pharisee, and recorded by Luke (Lu 11:37-54), we may take both together in the exposition.

Denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees (Mt 23:1-36).

The first twelve verses were addressed more immediately to the disciples, the rest to the scribes and Pharisees.

1. Then spake Jesus to the multitude--to the multitudes, "and to his disciples."

2. Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit--The Jewish teachers stood to read, but sat to expound the Scriptures, as will be seen by comparing Lu 4:16 with Lu 4:20.

in Moses' seat--that is, as interpreters of the law given by Moses.

3. All therefore--that is, all which, as sitting in that seat and teaching out of that law.

they bid you observe, that observe and do--The word "therefore" is thus, it will be seen, of great importance, as limiting those injunctions which He would have them obey to what they fetched from the law itself. In requiring implicit obedience to such injunctions, He would have them to recognize the authority with which they taught over and above the obligations of the law itself--an important principle truly; but He who denounced the traditions of such teachers (Mt 15:3) cannot have meant here to throw His shield over these. It is remarked by Webster and Wilkinson that the warning to beware of the scribes is given by Mark and Luke (Mr 12:38; Lu 20:46) without any qualification: the charge to respect and obey them being reported by Matthew alone, indicating for whom this Gospel was especially written, and the writer's desire to conciliate the Jews.

4. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them--"touch them not" (Lu 11:46).

with one of their fingers--referring not so much to the irksomeness of the legal rites, though they were irksome enough (Ac 15:10), as to the heartless rigor with which they were enforced, and by men of shameless inconsistency.

5. But all their works they do for to be seen of men--Whatever good they do, or zeal they show, has but one motive--human applause.

they make broad their phylacteries--strips of parchment with Scripture-texts on them, worn on the forehead, arm, and side, in time of prayer.

and enlarge the borders of their garments--fringes of their upper garments (Nu 15:37-40).

6. And love the uppermost rooms at feasts--The word "room" is now obsolete in the sense here intended. It should be "the uppermost place," that is, the place of highest honor.

and the chief seats in the synagogues. See on Lu 14:7, 8.

7. And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi--It is the spirit rather than the letter of this that must be pressed; though the violation of the letter, springing from spiritual pride, has done incalculable evil in the Church of Christ. The reiteration of the word "Rabbi" shows how it tickled the ear and fed the spiritual pride of those ecclesiastics.

8. But be not ye called Rabbi; for one is your Master--your Guide, your Teacher.

9. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven, &c.--To construe these injunctions into a condemnation of every title by which Church rulers may be distinguished from the flock which they rule, is virtually to condemn that rule itself; and accordingly the same persons do both--but against the whole strain of the New Testament and sound Christian judgment. But when we have guarded ourselves against these extremes, let us see to it that we retain the full spirit of this warning against that itch for ecclesiastical superiority which has been the bane and the scandal of Christ's ministers in every age. (On the use of the word "Christ" here, see on Mt 1:1).

11. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant--This plainly means, "shall show that he is so by becoming your servant"; as in Mt 20:27, compared with Mr 10:44.

12. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased--See on Lu 18:14. What follows was addressed more immediately to the scribes and Pharisees.

13. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men--Here they are charged with shutting heaven against men: in Lu 11:52 they are charged with what was worse, taking away the key--"the key of knowledge"--which means, not the key to open knowledge, but knowledge as the only key to open heaven. A right knowledge of God's revealed word is eternal life, as our Lord says (Joh 17:3; 5:39); but this they took away from the people, substituting for it their wretched traditions.

14. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, &c.--Taking advantage of the helpless condition and confiding character of "widows," they contrived to obtain possession of their property, while by their "long prayers" they made them believe they were raised far above "filthy lucre." So much "the greater damnation" awaits them. What a lifelike description of the Romish clergy, the true successors of those scribes!

15. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte--from heathenism. We have evidence of this in Josephus.

and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves--condemned, for the hypocrisy he would learn to practice, both by the religion he left and that he embraced.

16. Woe unto you, ye blind guides--Striking expression this of the ruinous effects of erroneous teaching. Our Lord, here and in some following verses, condemns the subtle distinctions they made as to the sanctity of oaths--distinctions invented only to promote their own avaricious purposes.

which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing--He has incurred no debt.

but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple--meaning not the gold that adorned the temple itself, but the Corban, set apart for sacred uses (see on Mt 15:5).

he is a debtor!--that is, it is no longer his own, even though the necessities of the parent might require it. We know who the successors of these men are.

but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty--It should have been rendered, "he is a debtor," as in Mt 23:16.

19. Ye fools, and blind! for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?--(See Ex 29:37).

20-22. Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, &c.--See on Mt 5:33-37.

23. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise--rather, "dill," as in Margin.

and cummin--In Luke (Lu 11:42) it is "and rue, and all manner of herbs." They grounded this practice on Le 27:30, which they interpreted rigidly. Our Lord purposely names the most trifling products of the earth as examples of what they punctiliously exacted the tenth of.

and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith--In Luke (Lu 11:42) it is "judgment, mercy, and the love of God"--the expression being probably varied by our Lord Himself on the two different occasions. In both His reference is to Mi 6:6-8, where the prophet makes all acceptable religion to consist of three elements--"doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God"; which third element presupposes and comprehends both the "faith" of Matthew and the "love" of Luke. See on Mr 12:29; Mr 12:32, 33. The same tendency to merge greater duties in less besets even the children of God; but it is the characteristic of hypocrites.

these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone--There is no need for one set of duties to jostle out another; but it is to be carefully noted that of the greater duties our Lord says, "Ye ought to have done" them, while of the lesser He merely says, "Ye ought not to leave them undone."

24. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat--The proper rendering--as in the older English translations, and perhaps our own as it came from the translators' hands--evidently is, "strain out." It was the custom, says Trench, of the stricter Jews to strain their wine, vinegar, and other potables through linen or gauze, lest unawares they should drink down some little unclean insect therein and thus transgress (Le 11:20, 23, 41, 42)--just as the Buddhists do now in Ceylon and Hindustan--and to this custom of theirs our Lord here refers.

and swallow a camel--the largest animal the Jews knew, as the "gnat" was the smallest; both were by the law unclean.

25. within they are full of extortion--In Luke (Lu 11:39) the same word is rendered "ravening," that is, "rapacity."

26. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also--In Luke (Lu 11:40) it is, "Ye fools, did not He that made that which is without make that which is within also?"--"He to whom belongs the outer life, and of right demands its subjection to Himself, is the inner man less His?" A remarkable example this of our Lord's power of drawing the most striking illustrations of great truths from the most familiar objects and incidents in life. To these words, recorded by Luke, He adds the following, involving a principle of immense value: "But rather give alms of such things as ye have, and behold, all things are clean unto you" (Lu 11:41). As the greed of these hypocrites was one of the most prominent features of their character (Lu 16:14), our Lord bids them exemplify the opposite character, and then their outside, ruled by this, would be beautiful in the eye of God, and their meals would be eaten with clean hands, though much fouled with the business of this everyday world. (See Ec 9:7).

27. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like whited sepulchres--or, whitewashed sepulchres. (Compare Ac 23:3). The process of whitewashing the sepulchres, as Lightfoot says, was performed on a certain day every year, not for ceremonial cleansing, but, as the following words seem rather to imply, to beautify them.

which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness--What a powerful way of conveying the charge, that with all their fair show their hearts were full of corruption! (Compare Psa 5:9; Ro 3:13). But our Lord, stripping off the figure, next holds up their iniquity in naked colors.

Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets--that is, "ye be witnesses that ye have inherited, and voluntarily served yourselves heirs to, the truth-hating, prophet-killing, spirit of your fathers." Out of pretended respect and honor, they repaired and beautified the sepulchres of the prophets, and with whining hypocrisy said, "If we had been in their days, how differently should we have treated these prophets?" While all the time they were witnesses to themselves that they were the children of them that killed the prophets, convicting themselves daily of as exact a resemblance in spirit and character to the very classes over whose deeds they pretended to mourn, as child to parent. In Lu 11:44 our Lord gives another turn to this figure of a grave: "Ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them." As one might unconsciously walk over a grave concealed from view, and thus contract ceremonial defilement, so the plausible exterior of the Pharisees kept people from perceiving the pollution they contracted from coming in contact with such corrupt characters.

33. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?--In thus, at the end of His ministry, recalling the words of the Baptist at the outset of his, our Lord would seem to intimate that the only difference between their condemnation now and then was, that now they were ripe for their doom, which they were not then.

34. Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes--The I here is emphatic: "I am sending," that is, "am about to send." In Lu 11:49 the variation is remarkable: "Therefore also, said the wisdom of God, I will send them," &c. What precisely is meant by "the wisdom of God" here, is somewhat difficult to determine. To us it appears to be simply an announcement of a purpose of the Divine Wisdom, in the high style of ancient prophecy, to send a last set of messengers whom the people would reject, and rejecting, would fill up the cup of their iniquity. But, whereas in Luke it is "I, the Wisdom of God, will send them," in Matthew it is "I, Jesus, am sending them"; language only befitting the one sender of all the prophets, the Lord God of Israel now in the flesh. They are evidently evangelical messengers, but called by the familiar Jewish names of "prophets, wise men, and scribes," whose counterparts were the inspired and gifted servants of the Lord Jesus; for in Luke (Lu 11:49) it is "prophets and apostles."

unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar--As there is no record of any fresh murder answering to this description, probably the allusion is not to any recent murder, but to 2Ch 24:20-22, as the last recorded and most suitable case for illustration. And as Zacharias' last words were, "The Lord require it," so they are here warned that of that generation it should be required.

36. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation--As it was only in the last generation of them that "the iniquity of the Amorites was full" (Ge 15:16), and then the abominations of ages were at once completely and awfully avenged, so the iniquity of Israel was allowed to accumulate from age to age till in that generation it came to the full, and the whole collected vengeance of heaven broke at once over its devoted head. In the first French Revolution the same awful principle was exemplified, and Christendom has not done with it yet.

Lamentation over Jerusalem, and Farewell to the Temple (Mt 23:37-39).

37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, &c.--How ineffably grand and melting is this apostrophe! It is the very heart of God pouring itself forth through human flesh and speech. It is this incarnation of the innermost life and love of Deity, pleading with men, bleeding for them, and ascending only to open His arms to them and win them back by the power of this story of matchless love, that has conquered the world, that will yet "draw all men unto Him," and beautify and ennoble Humanity itself! "Jerusalem" here does not mean the mere city or its inhabitants; nor is it to be viewed merely as the metropolis of the nation, but as the center of their religious life--"the city of their solemnities, whither the tribes went up, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord"; and at this moment it was full of them. It is the whole family of God, then, which is here apostrophized by a name dear to every Jew, recalling to him all that was distinctive and precious in his religion. The intense feeling that sought vent in this utterance comes out first in the redoubling of the opening word--"Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" but, next, in the picture of it which He draws--"that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee!"--not content with spurning God's messages of mercy, that canst not suffer even the messengers to live! When He adds, "How often would I have gathered thee!" He refers surely to something beyond the six or seven times that He visited and taught in Jerusalem while on earth. No doubt it points to "the prophets," whom they "killed," to "them that were sent unto her," whom they "stoned." But whom would He have gathered so often? "Thee," truth-hating, mercy-spurning, prophet-killing Jerusalem--how often would I have gathered thee! Compare with this that affecting clause in the great ministerial commission, "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem!" (Lu 24:47). What encouragement to the heartbroken at their own long-continued and obstinate rebellion! But we have not yet got at the whole heart of this outburst. I would have gathered thee, He says, "even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings." Was ever imagery so homely invested with such grace and such sublimity as this, at our Lord's touch? And yet how exquisite the figure itself--of protection, rest, warmth, and all manner of conscious well-being in those poor, defenseless, dependent little creatures, as they creep under and feel themselves overshadowed by the capacious and kindly wing of the mother bird! If, wandering beyond hearing of her peculiar call, they are overtaken by a storm or attacked by an enemy, what can they do but in the one case droop and die, and in the other submit to be torn in pieces? But if they can reach in time their place of safety, under the mother's wing, in vain will any enemy try to drag them thence. For rising into strength, kindling into fury, and forgetting herself entirely in her young, she will let the last drop of her blood be shed out and perish in defense of her precious charge, rather than yield them to an enemy's talons. How significant all this of what Jesus is and does for men! Under His great Mediatorial wing would He have "gathered" Israel. For the figure, see De 32:10-12; Ru 2:12; Psa 17:8; 36:7; 61:4; 63:7; 91:4; Is 31:5; Mal 4:2. The ancient rabbins had a beautiful expression for proselytes from the heathen--that they had "come under the wings of the Shekinah." For this last word, see on Mt 23:38. But what was the result of all this tender and mighty love? The answer is, "And ye would not." O mysterious word! mysterious the resistance of such patient Love--mysterious the liberty of self-undoing! The awful dignity of the will, as here expressed, might make the ears to tingle.

38. Behold, your house--the temple, beyond all doubt; but their house now, not the Lord's. See on Mt 22:7.

is left unto you desolate--deserted, that is, of its Divine Inhabitant. But who is that? Hear the next words:

39. For I say unto you--and these were His last words to the impenitent nation, see on Mr 13:1, opening remarks.

Ye shall not see me henceforth--What? Does Jesus mean that He was Himself the Lord of the temple, and that it became "deserted" when He finally left it? It is even so. Now is thy fate sealed, O Jerusalem, for the glory is departed from thee! That glory, once visible in the holy of holies, over the mercy seat, when on the day of atonement the blood of typical expiation was sprinkled on it and in front of it--called by the Jews the Shekinah, or the Dwelling, as being the visible pavilion of Jehovah--that glory, which Isaiah (Is 6:1-13) saw in vision, the beloved disciple says was the glory of Christ (Joh 12:41). Though it was never visible in the second temple, Haggai foretold that "the glory of that latter house should be greater than of the former" (Hag 2:9) because "the Lord whom they sought was suddenly to come to His temple" (Mal 3:1), not in a mere bright cloud, but enshrined in living humanity! Yet brief as well as "sudden" was the manifestation to be: for the words He was now uttering were to be His very last within its precincts.

till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord--that is, till those "Hosannas to the Son of David" with which the multitude had welcomed Him into the city--instead of "sore displeasing the chief priests and scribes" (Mt 21:15)--should break forth from the whole nation, as their glad acclaim to their once pierced, but now acknowledged, Messiah. That such a time will come is clear from Zec 12:10; Ro 11:26; 2Co 3:15, 16, &c. In what sense they shall then "see Him" may be gathered from Zec 2:10-13; Eze 37:23-28; 39:28, 29, &c.

The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat - Εκαθισαν. - They sat there formerly by Divine appointment: they sit there now by Divine permission. What our Lord says here refers to their expounding the Scriptures, for it was the custom of the Jewish doctors to sit while they expounded the law and prophets, (Mat 5:1; Luk 4:20-22), and to stand up when they read them.

By the seat of Moses, we are to understand authority to teach the law. Moses was the great teacher of the Jewish people; and the scribes, etc., are here represented as his successors.

All therefore whatsoever - That is, all those things which they read out of the law and prophets, and all things which they teach consistently with them. This must be our Lord's meaning: he could not have desired them to do every thing, without restriction, which the Jewish doctors taught; because himself warns his disciples against their false teaching, and testifies that they had made the word of God of none effect by their traditions. See Mat 15:6, etc. Besides, as our Lord speaks here in the past tense - whatsoever they Have commanded, ὁσα ειπωσιν, he may refer to the teaching of a former period, when they taught the way of God in truth, or were much less corrupted than they were now.

They bind heavy burdens - They are now so corrupt that they have added to the ceremonies of the law others of their own invention, which are not only burdensome and oppressive, but have neither reason, expediency, nor revelation, to countenance them. In a word, like all their successors in spirit to the present day, they were severe to others, but very indulgent to themselves.

All their works they do for to be seen of men - In pointing out the corruptions of these men, our Lord gives us the distinguishing characteristics of all false teachers, whether Jewish or Christian.

1. They live not according to the truths they preach. They say, and do not, Mat 23:3.

2. They are severe to others, point out the narrowest road to heaven, and walk in the broad road themselves. They bind on burdens, etc., Mat 23:4.

3. They affect to appear righteous, and are strict observers of certain rites, etc., while destitute of the power of godliness. They make broad their phylacteries, etc., Mat 23:5.

4. They love worldly entertainments, go to feast wherever they are asked, and seek Church preferments. They love the chief places at feasts, and chief seats in the synagogues, Mat 23:6.

5. They love and seek public respect and high titles, salutations in the market-place, (for they are seldom in their studies), and to be called of men rabbi - eminent teacher, though they have no title to it, either from the excellence or fruit of their teaching. When these marks are found in a man who professes to be a minister of Christ, charity itself will assert he is a thief and a robber - he has climbed over the wall of the sheepfold, or broken it down in order to get in.

Phylacteries - φυλακτηρια, from φυλασσω, to keep or preserve. These were small slips of parchment or vellum, on which certain portions of the law were written. The Jews tied these about their foreheads and arms, for three different purposes.

1. To put them in mind of those precepts which they should constantly observe.

2. To procure them reverence and respect in the sight of the heathen. And

3. To act as amulets or charms to drive away evil spirits.

The first use of these phylacteries is evident from their name.

The second use appears from what is said on the subject from the Gemara, Beracoth, chap. 1., quoted by Kypke. "Whence is it proved that phylacteries, (תפילין, tephilin), are the strength of Israel? - Ans. From what is written, Deu 28:10. All the, people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name [of יהוה Jehovah] - and they shall be afraid of thee.

The third use of them appears from the Targum, on Sol 8:3 : His left hand is under my head, etc. "The congregation of Israel hath said, I am elect above all people, because I bind my phylacteries on my left hand, and on my head, and the scroll is fixed to the right side of my gate, the third part of which looks to my bed-chamber, that Daemons may not be permitted to Injure me."

An original phylactery lies now before me. It is a piece of fine vellum, about eighteen inches long, and an inch and quarter broad. It is divided into four unequal compartments: in the first is written, in a very fair character, with many apices, after the mode of the German Jews, the first ten verses of Exod. 13; in the second compartment is written, from the eleventh to the sixteenth verse of the same chapter, inclusive in the third, from the fourth to the ninth verse, inclusive, of Deut. 6., beginning with, Hear, O Israel, etc.; in the fourth, from the thirteenth to the twenty-first verse, inclusive, of Deut. 11.

These passages seem to be chosen in vindication of the use of the phylactery itself, as the reader will see on consulting them: Bind them for a Sign upon thy Hand - and for Frontlets between thy Eyes - write them upon the Posts of thy House, and upon thy Gates; all which commands the Jews took in the most literal sense.

Even the phylactery became an important appendage to a Pharisee's character, insomuch that some of them wore them very broad, either that they might have the more written on them, or that, the characters being larger, they might be the more visible, and that they might hereby acquire greater esteem among the common people, as being more than ordinarily religious. For the same reason, they wore the fringes of their garments of an unusual length. Moses had commanded (Num 15:38, Num 15:39) the children of Israel to put fringes to the borders of their garments, that, when they looked upon even these distinct threads, they might remember, not only the law in general, but also the very minutiae, or smaller parts of all the precepts, rites, and ceremonies, belonging to it. As these hypocrites were destitute of all the life and power of religion within, they endeavored to supply its place by phylacteries and fringes without. See the note on Exo 13:9.

To be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi - רבי רבי, i.e. My teacher! my teacher! The second rabbi is omitted by several excellent MSS., by most of the ancient versions, and by some of the fathers. Griesbach has left it in the text, with the note of doubtfulness.

There are three words used among the Jews as titles of dignity, which they apply to their doctors - Rabh, Rabbi, and Rabban; each of these terms has its particular meaning: rabban implies much more than rabbi, and rabbi much more than rabh.

They may be considered as three degrees of comparison: rabh great, rabbi greater, and rabban greatest. These rabbins were looked up to as infallible oracles in religious matters, and usurped not only the place of the law, but of God himself.

But be not ye called Rabbi - As our Lord probably spoke in Hebrew, the latter word rabbi, in this verse, must have been in the plural; but as the contracted form of the plural sounds almost exactly like the singular, the Greek writer would naturally express them both in the same letters.

None of the prophets had ever received this title, nor any of the Jewish doctors before the time of Hillel and Shammai, which was about the time of our Lord; and, as disputes on several subjects had run high between these two schools, the people were of course divided; some acknowledging Hillel as rabbi, - infallible teacher, and others giving this title to Shammai. The Pharisees, who always sought the honor that comes from men, assumed the title, and got their followers to address them by it. See on Mat 19:3 (note).

One is your Master - Instead of καθηγητης, guide or leader, (the common reading here, and which occurs in Mat 23:10), the famous Vatican MS., upwards of fifty others, and most of the ancient versions, read διδασκαλος, master. The most eminent critics approve of this reading and, independently of the very respectable authority by which it is supported, it is evident that this reading is more consistent with the context than the other, - Be not ye called Masters, for one is your Master.

Even Christ - Griesbach has left this out of the text, because it is wanting in many of the most excellent MSS., versions, and fathers. Mill and Bengel approve of the omission. It might have been brought into this verse from Mat 23:10. Our Lord probably alludes to Isa 54:13, All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.

Ye are brethren - No one among you is higher than another, or can possibly have from me any jurisdiction over the rest. Ye are, in this respect, perfectly equal.

Call no man your Father - Our Lord probably alludes to the Ab, or father of the Sanhedrin, who was the next after the nasi, or president. See on Mat 20:21 (note). By which he gives his disciples to understand that he would have no Second, after himself, established in his Church, of which he alone was the head; and that perfect equality must subsist among them.

Neither be ye called masters - Καθηγηται, leaders. God is in all these respects jealous of his honor. To him alone it belongs to guide and lead his Church, as well as to govern and defend it. Jesus is the sole teacher of righteousness. It is he alone, (who is the word, light, and eternal truth), that can illuminate every created mind; and who, as Savior and Redeemer, speaks to every heart by his Spirit.

Though the title of Rabbi, mentioned above, was comparatively recent in the time of our Lord, yet it was in great vogue, as were the others - father and master, mentioned in this and the following verse: some had all three titles, for thus in Bab. Maccoth, fol. 24. It is feigned," says Dr. Lightfoot, "that when King Jehosaphat saw a disciple of the wise men, he rose up out of his throne, and embraced him, and said, אבי אבי רבי רבי מרי מרי, Abbi, Abbi! Rabbi, Rabbi! Mori, Mori! - Father, Father! Rabbi, Rabbi! Master, Master!" Here then are the three titles which, in Mat 23:7, Mat 23:8, Mat 23:10, our blessed Lord condemns; and these were titles that the Jewish doctors greatly affected.

Your servant - Διακονος, deacon. See on Mat 20:26 (note).

Whosoever shall exalt himself, etc. - The way to arrive at the highest degree of dignity, in the sight of God, is by being willing to become the servant of all. Nothing is more hateful in his sight than pride; to bring it into everlasting contempt, God was manifest in the flesh. He who was in the likeness of God took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man, and humbled himself unto death. After this, can God look upon any proud man without abasing him? Spiritual lordship and domination, ecclesiastical luxury, pomp, and pride, must be an abhorrence in the sight of that God who gave the above advices to his followers.

Another lesson, which our blessed Lord teaches here, is, that no man is implicitly to receive the sayings, doctrines, and decisions of any man, or number of men, in the things which concern the interests of his immortal soul. Christ, his Spirit, and his word, are the only infallible teachers. Every man who wishes to save his soul must search the Scriptures, by prayer and faith. Reader, take counsel with the pious; hear the discourses of the wise and holy: but let the book of God ultimately fix thy creed.

Wo unto you, scribes - I think the fourteenth and thirteenth verses should be transposed. This transposition is authorized by some of the best MSS., versions, and fathers. The fourteenth is wanting in the BDL., and in many others of inferior note, as well as in several of the versions. Griesbach has left it out of the text, in his first edition; I hesitated, and left it in, thus transposed. I am happy to find that a more extensive collation of MSS., etc., afforded proof to that eminent critic that it should be restored to its place. In the second edition, he has transposed the two, just as I had done. The fifteenth reads best after the thirteenth.

Ye devour widows' houses - On this subject I am in possession of nothing better than the following note of Dr. Whitby. "This sect," says Josephus, (Ant. l. xvii. chap. 3), "pretended to a more exact knowledge of the law, on which account the women were subject to them, as pretending to be dear to God. And when Alexandra obtained the government, (Jewish War, b. I. ch. 4), they insinuated themselves into her favor, as being the exactest sect of the Jews, and the most exact interpreters of the law, and, abusing her simplicity, did as they listed, remove and dispose, bind and loose, and even cut off men. They were in vogue for their long prayers, which they continued sometimes three hours; that perhaps they sold them, as do the Roman priests their masses, or pretended others should be more acceptable to God for them; and so might spoil devout widows by the gifts or salaries they expected from them.

Now this being only a hypocritical pretense of piety, must be hateful to God, and so deserve a greater condemnation."

Long prayer - For proofs of long prayers and vain repetitions among Jews, Mohammedans, and heathens, see the notes on Mat 6:7.

Ye shut up the kingdom - As a key by opening a lock gives entrance into a house, etc., so knowledge of the sacred testimonies, manifested in expounding them to the people, may be said to open the way into the kingdom of heaven. But where men who are termed teachers are destitute of this knowledge themselves, they may be said to shut this kingdom; because they occupy the place of those who should teach, and thus prevent the people from acquiring heavenly knowledge.

In ancient times the rabbins carried a key, which was the symbol or emblem of knowledge. Hence it is written in Semachoth, chap. 8., "When Rab. Samuel the little died, his key and his tablets were hung on his tomb, because he died childless." See Schoettgen.

The kingdom of heaven here means the Gospel of Christ; the Pharisees would not receive it themselves, and hindered the common people as far as they could.

Wo unto you, scribes - I think the fourteenth and thirteenth verses should be transposed. This transposition is authorized by some of the best MSS., versions, and fathers. The fourteenth is wanting in the BDL., and in many others of inferior note, as well as in several of the versions. Griesbach has left it out of the text, in his first edition; I hesitated, and left it in, thus transposed. I am happy to find that a more extensive collation of MSS., etc., afforded proof to that eminent critic that it should be restored to its place. In the second edition, he has transposed the two, just as I had done. The fifteenth reads best after the thirteenth.

Ye devour widows' houses - On this subject I am in possession of nothing better than the following note of Dr. Whitby. "This sect," says Josephus, (Ant. l. xvii. chap. 3), "pretended to a more exact knowledge of the law, on which account the women were subject to them, as pretending to be dear to God. And when Alexandra obtained the government, (Jewish War, b. I. ch. 4), they insinuated themselves into her favor, as being the exactest sect of the Jews, and the most exact interpreters of the law, and, abusing her simplicity, did as they listed, remove and dispose, bind and loose, and even cut off men. They were in vogue for their long prayers, which they continued sometimes three hours; that perhaps they sold them, as do the Roman priests their masses, or pretended others should be more acceptable to God for them; and so might spoil devout widows by the gifts or salaries they expected from them.

Now this being only a hypocritical pretense of piety, must be hateful to God, and so deserve a greater condemnation."

Long prayer - For proofs of long prayers and vain repetitions among Jews, Mohammedans, and heathens, see the notes on Mat 6:7.

Ye shut up the kingdom - As a key by opening a lock gives entrance into a house, etc., so knowledge of the sacred testimonies, manifested in expounding them to the people, may be said to open the way into the kingdom of heaven. But where men who are termed teachers are destitute of this knowledge themselves, they may be said to shut this kingdom; because they occupy the place of those who should teach, and thus prevent the people from acquiring heavenly knowledge.

In ancient times the rabbins carried a key, which was the symbol or emblem of knowledge. Hence it is written in Semachoth, chap. 8., "When Rab. Samuel the little died, his key and his tablets were hung on his tomb, because he died childless." See Schoettgen.

The kingdom of heaven here means the Gospel of Christ; the Pharisees would not receive it themselves, and hindered the common people as far as they could.

Compass sea and land - A proverbial expression, similar to ours, You leave no stone unturned; intimating that they did all in their power to gain converts, not to God, but to their sect. These we may suppose were principally sought for among the Gentiles, for the bulk of the Jewish nation was already on the side of the Pharisees.

Proselyte - Προσηλυτος, a stranger, or foreigner; one who is come from his own people and country, to sojourn with another. See the different kinds of proselytes explained in the note on Exo 12:43 (note).

The child of hell - A Hebraism for an excessively wicked person, such as might claim hell for his mother, and the devil for his father.

Twofold - the child of - The Greek word διπλοτερον, which has generally been translated twofold, Kypke has demonstrated to mean more deceitful. Απλοῦς is used by the best Greek writers for simple, sincere, απλότης for simplicity, sincerity; so διπλοῦς, deceitful, dissembling, and διπλόη, hypocrisy, fraudulence, and διπλοτερον, more fraudulent, more deceitful, more hypocritical. See also Suidas in Διπλοη.

Dr. Lightfoot, and others, observe, that the proselytes were considered by the Jewish nation as the scabs of the Church, and hindered the coming of the Messiah; and Justin Martyr observes, that "the proselytes did not only disbelieve Christ's doctrine, but were abundantly more blasphemous against him than the Jews themselves, endeavoring to torment and cut off the Christians wherever they could; they being in this the instruments of the scribes and Pharisees."

Whosoever shall swear by the gold - The covetous man, says one, still gives preference to the object of his lust; gold has still the first place in his heart. A man is to be suspected when he recommends those good works most from which he receives most advantage.

Is bound thereby, i.e. to fulfill his oath.

Whoso - shall swear by the altar - As an oath always supposes a person who witnesses it, and will punish perjury; therefore, whether they swore by the temple or the gold, (Mat 23:16), or by the altar or the gift laid on it, (Mat 23:18), the oath necessarily supposes the God of the temple, of the altar, and of the gifts, who witnessed the whole, and would, even in their exempt cases, punish the perjury.

Whoso shall swear by the temple - Perhaps it is to this custom of swearing by the temple, that Martial alludes, lib. xi. epist. 95.

Ecce negas, jurasque mihi per templa Tonantis; Non credo; jura, Verpe, per Anchialum. "Behold, thou deniest, and swearest to me by the temples of Jupiter; I will not credit thee: swear, O Jew, by the temple of Jehovah."

This word probably comes from היכל יה heical Yah, the temple of Jehovah. This seems a better derivation than אם חי אלהים im chai Elohim, as God liveth, though the sound of the latter is nearer to the Latin.

By him that dwelleth therein - The common reading is κατοικουντι, dwelleth or Inhabiteth, but κατοικησαντι, dwelt or Did inhabit, is the reading of CDEFGHKLM, eighty-six others; this reading has been adopted in the editions of Complutum, Colineus, Bengel, and Griesbach. The importance of this reading may be perceived by the following considerations. In the first Jewish temple, God had graciously condescended to manifest himself - he is constantly represented as dwelling between the cherubim, the two figures that stood at each end of the ark of the covenant; between whom, on the mercy seat, the lid of the ark, a splendor of glory was exhibited, which was the symbol and proof of the Divine presence. This the Jews called שכינה Shekinah, the habitation of Jehovah. Now the Jews unanimously acknowledge that five things were wanting in the second temple, which were found in the first, viz.,

1. The ark;

2. The holy spirit of prophecy;

3. The Urim and Thummim;

4. The sacred fire; and

5. The שכינה Shekinah.

As the Lord had long before this time abandoned the Jewish temple, and had now made the human nature of Jesus the Shekinah, (see Joh 1:14, the Logos was made flesh, εσκηνωσεν, and made his tabernacle - made the Shekinah, - among us), our Lord could not, with any propriety, say that the supreme Being did now inhabit the temple; and therefore used a word that hinted to them that God had forsaken their temple, and consequently the whole of that service which was performed in it, and had now opened the new and living way to the holiest by the Messiah. But all this was common swearing; and, whether the subject was true or false, the oath was unlawful. A common swearer is worthy of no credit, when, even in the most solemn manner he takes an oath before a magistrate; he is so accustomed to stake his truth, perhaps even his soul, to things whether true or false, that an oath cannot bind him, and indeed is as little respected by himself as it is by his neighbor. Common swearing, and the shocking frequency and multiplication of oaths in civil cases, have destroyed all respect for an oath; so that men seldom feel themselves bound by it; and thus it is useless in many cases to require it as a confirmation, in order to end strife or ascertain truth. See the note on Mat 5:37.

Ye pay tithe of mint, etc. - They were remarkably scrupulous in the performance of all the rites and ceremonies of religion, but totally neglected the soul, spirit, and practice of godliness.

Judgment - Acting according to justice and equity towards all mankind. Mercy - to the distressed and miserable. And faith in God as the fountain of all righteousness, mercy, and truth. The scribes and Pharisees neither began nor ended their works in God, nor had they any respect unto his name in doing them. They did them to be seen of men, and they had their reward - human applause.

These ought ye to have done, etc. - Our Lord did not object to their paying tithe even of common pot-herbs - this did not affect the spirit of religion; but while they did this and such like, to the utter neglect of justice, mercy, and faith, they showed that they had no religion, and knew nothing of its nature.

Blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. - This clause should be thus translated: Ye strain out the gnat, but ye swallow down the camel. In the common translation, Ye strain At a gnat, conveys no sense. Indeed, it is likely to have been at first an error of the press, At for Out, which, on examination, I find escaped in the edition of 1611, and has been regularly continued since. There is now before me, "The Newe Testament, (both in Englyshe and in Laten), of Mayster Erasmus translacion, imprynted by Wyllyam Powell, dwellynge in Flete strete: the yere of our Lorde M.CCCCC.XLVII. the fyrste yere of the kynges (Edwd. VI). moste gracious reygne." in which the verse stands thus: "Ye blinde gides, which strayne out a gnat, and swalowe a cammel." It is the same also in Edmund Becke's Bible, printed in London 1549, and in several others. - Clensynge a gnatte. - MS. Eng. Bib. So Wickliff. Similar to this is the following Arabic proverb: He eats an elephant and is choked by a gnat.

Ye make clean the outside - The Pharisees were exceedingly exact in observing all the washings and purifications prescribed by the law; but paid no attention to that inward purity which was typified by them. A man may appear clean without, who is unclean within; but outward purity will not avail in the sight of God, where inward holiness is wanting.

Extortion and excess - 'Αρπαγης και ακρασιας, rapine and intemperance; but instead of ακρασιας, intemperance, many of the very best MSS., CEFGHKS, and more than a hundred others, the Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, Slavonic, with Chrysostom, Euthym., and Theophylact, have αδικιας injustice, which Griesbach has admitted into the text instead of ακρασιας. The latter Syriac has both. Several MSS. and versions have ακαθαρσιας, uncleanness; others have πλεονεξιας, covetousness; some have πονηριας, wickedness; and two of the ancients have iniquitate, iniquity. Suppose we put them all together, the character of the Pharisee will not be overcharged. They were full of rapine and intemperance, injustice and uncleanness, covetousness, wickedness, and iniquity.

For ye are like - Παρομοιαζετε, ye exactly resemble - the parallel is complete.

Whited sepulchres - White-washed tombs. As the law considered those unclean who had touched any thing belonging to the dead, the Jews took care to have their tombs white-washed each year, that, being easily discovered, they might be consequently avoided.

Even so ye also - appear righteous unto men - But what will this appearance avail a man, when God sits in judgment upon his soul? Will the fair reputation which he had acquired among men, while his heart was the seat of unrighteousness, screen him from the stroke of that justice which impartially sends all impurity and unholiness into the pit of destruction? No. In the sin that he hath sinned, and in which he hath died, and according to that, shall he be judged and punished; and his profession of holiness only tends to sink him deeper into the lake which burns with unquenchable fire. Reader! see that thy heart be right with God.

Ye build the tombs of the prophets - It appears that, through respect to their memory, they often repaired, and sometimes beautified, the tombs of the prophets. M. De la Valle, in his Journey to the Holy Land, says, that when he visited the cave of Machpelah, he saw some Jews honoring a sepulchre, for which they have a great veneration, with lighting at it wax candles and burning perfumes. See Harmer, vol. iii. p. 416. And in ditto, p. 424, we are informed that building tombs over those reputed saints, or beautifying those already built, is a frequent custom among the Mohammedans.

We would not have been partakers - They imagined themselves much better than their ancestors; but our Lord, who knew what they would do, uncovers their hearts, and shows them that they are about to be more abundantly vile than all who had ever preceded them.

Ye be witnesses - Ye acknowledge that ye are the children of those murderers, and ye are about to give full proof that ye are not degenerated.

There are many who think that, had they lived in the time of our Lord, they would not have acted towards him as the Jews did. But we can scarcely believe that they who reject his Gospel, trample under foot his precepts, do despite to the Spirit of his grace, love sin, and hate his followers, would have acted otherwise to him than the murdering Jews, had they lived in the same times.

Fill ye up then - Notwithstanding the profession you make, ye will fill up the measure of your fathers - will continue to walk in their way, accomplish the fullness of every evil purpose by murdering me; and then, when the measure of your iniquity is full, vengeance shall come upon you to the uttermost, as it did on your rebellious ancestors. The 31st verse should be read in a parenthesis, and then the 32d will appear to be, what it is, an inference from the 30th.

Ye will fill up, or fill ye up - πληρωσατε· but it is manifest that the imperative is put here for the future, a thing quite consistent with the Hebrew idiom, and frequent in the Scriptures. So Joh 2:19, Destroy this temple, etc., i.e. Ye will destroy or pull down this temple, and I will rebuild it in three days - Ye will crucify me, and I will rise again the third day. Two good MSS. have the word in the future tense: and my old MS. Bible has it in the present - Ge (ye) fulfillen the mesure of youre (your) fadris.

Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers - What a terrible stroke! - Ye are serpents, and the offspring of serpents. This refers to Mat 23:31 : they confessed that they were the children of those who murdered the prophets; and they are now going to murder Christ and his followers, to show that they have not degenerated - an accursed seed, of an accursed breed. My old MS. translates this passage oddly - Gee serpentis, fruytis of burrownyngis of eddris that sleen her modris. There seems to be here an allusion to a common opinion, that the young of the adder or viper which are brought forth alive eat their way through the womb of their mothers. Hence that ancient enigma attributed to Lactantius: -

Non possum nasci, si non occidero matrem

Occidi matrem: sed me manet exitus idem

Id mea mors faciet, quod jam mea fecit origo

Cael. Firm. Symposium, N. xv

I never can be born, nor see the day,

Till through my parent's womb I eat my way

Her I have slain; like her must yield my breath;

For that which gave me life, shall cause my death

Every person must see with what propriety this was applied to the Jews, who were about to murder the very person who gave them their being and all their blessings.

Wherefore - To show how my prediction, Ye will fill up the measure of your fathers, shall be verified, Behold, I send (I am just going to commission them) prophets, etc. and some ye will kill, (with legal process), and some ye will crucify, pretend to try and find guilty, and deliver them into the hands of the Romans, who shall, through you, thus put them to death. See on Luk 11:49 (note). By prophets, wise men, and scribes, our Lord intends the evangelists, apostles, deacons, etc., who should be employed in proclaiming his Gospel: men who should equal the ancient prophets, their wise men, and scribes, in all the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit.

Upon the earth - Επι της γης, upon this land, meaning probably the land of Judea; for thus the word is often to be understood. The national punishment of all the innocent blood which had been shed in the land, shall speedily come upon you, from the blood of Abel the just, the first prophet and preacher of righteousness, Heb 11:4; 2Pet 2:5, to the blood of Zachariah, the son of Barachiah. It is likely that our Lord refers to the murder of Zachariah, mentioned 2Chr 24:20, who said to the people, Why transgress ye the commandments of God, so that ye cannot prosper? Because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath forsaken you. And they conspired against him and stoned him - at the commandment of the king, in the court of the house of the Lord. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon and require it: 2Chr 24:21, 2Chr 24:22.

But it is objected, that this Zachariah was called the son of Jehoiada, and our Lord calls this one the son of Barachiah. Let it be observed,

1. That double names were frequent among the Jews; and sometimes the person was called by one, sometimes by the other. Compare 1Sam 9:1, with 1Chr 8:33, where it appears that the father of Kish had two names, Abiel and Ner. So Matthew is called Levi; compare Mat 9:9, with Mar 2:14. So Peter was also called Simon, and Lebbeus was called Thaddeus. Mat 10:2, Mat 10:3.

2. That Jerome says that, in the Gospel of the Nazarenes, it was Jehoiada, instead of Barachiah.

3. That Jehoiada and Barachiah have the very same meaning, the praise or blessing of Jehovah.

4. That as the Lord required the blood of Zachariah so fully that in a year all the princes of Judah and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Syrians, and Joash, who commanded the murder, slain by his own servants, 2Chr 24:23-25, and their state grew worse and worse, till at last the temple was burned, and the people carried into captivity by Nebuzaradan: - so it should also be with the present race. The Lord would, after the crucifixion of Christ, visit upon them the murder of all those righteous men, that their state should grow worse and worse, till at last the temple should be destroyed, and they finally ruined by the Romans. See this prediction in the next chapter: and see Dr. Whitby concerning Zachariah, the son of Barachiah.

Some think that our Lord refers, in the spirit of prophecy, to the murder of Zacharias, son of Baruch, a rich Jew, who was judged, condemned, and massacred in the temple by Idumean zealots, because he was rich, a lover of liberty, and a hater of wickedness. They gave him a mock trial; and, when no evidence could be brought against him of his being guilty of the crime they laid to his charge, viz. a design to betray the city to the Romans, and his judges had pronounced him innocent, two of the stoutest of the zealots fell upon him and slew him in the middle of the temple. See Josephus, War, b. iv. chap. 5. s. 5. See Crevier, vol. vi. p. 172, History of the Roman Emperors. Others imagine that Zachariah, one of the minor prophets, is meant, who might have been massacred by the Jews; for, though the account is not come down to us, our Lord might have it from a well known tradition in those times. But the former opinion is every way the most probable.

Between the temple and the altar - That is, between the sanctuary and the altar of burnt-offerings.

Shall come upon this generation - Επι την γενεαν ταυτην, upon this race of men, viz. the Jews. This phrase often occurs in this sense in the evangelists.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem -

1. It is evident that our blessed Lord seriously and earnestly wished the salvation of the Jews.

2. That he did every thing that could be done, consistently with his own perfections, and the liberty of his creatures, to effect this.

3. That his tears over the city, Luk 19:41, sufficiently evince his sincerity.

4. That these persons nevertheless perished. And

5. That the reason was, they would not be gathered together under his protection: therefore wrath, i.e. punishment, came upon them to the uttermost.

From this it is evident that there have been persons whom Christ wished to save, and bled to save, who notwithstanding perished, because they would not come unto him, Joh 5:40. The metaphor which our Lord uses here is a very beautiful one. When the hen sees a beast of prey coming, she makes a noise to assemble her chickens, that she may cover them with her wings from the danger. The Roman eagle is about to fall upon the Jewish state - nothing can prevent this but their conversion to God through Christ-Jesus cries throughout the land, publishing the Gospel of reconciliation - they would not assemble, and the Roman eagle came and destroyed them. The hen's affection to her brood is so very strong as to become proverbial. The following beautiful Greek epigram, taken from the Anthologia, affords a very fine illustration of this text. Χειμεριαις νιφαδεσσι παλυνομενα τιθας ορνις Τεκνοις ευναιας αμφεχεε πτερυγας Μεσφα μεν ουρανιον κρυος ωλεσεν η γαρ εμεινεν Αιθερος ουρανιων αντιπαλος νεφεων. Προκνη και Μεδεια, κατ' αΐδος αιδεσθητε, Μητερες, ορνιθων εργα διδασκομεναι

Anthol. lib. i. Titus. 87: edit. Bosch. p. 344

Beneath her fostering wing the Hen defends

Her darling offspring, while the snow descends;

Throughout the winter's day unmoved defies

The chilling fleeces and inclement skies;

Till, vanquish'd by the cold and piercing blast,

True to her charge, she perishes at last!

O Fame! to hell this fowl's affection bear;

Tell it to Progne and Medea there: -

To mothers such as those the tale unfold,

And let them blush to hear the story told! -

T. G.

This epigram contains a happy illustration, not only of our Lord's simile, but also of his own conduct. How long had these thankless and unholy people been the objects of his tenderest cares! For more than 2000 years, they engrossed the most peculiar regards of the most beneficent Providence; and during the three years of our Lord's public ministry, his preaching and miracles had but one object and aim, the instruction and salvation of this thoughtless and disobedient people. For their sakes, he who was rich became poor, that they through his poverty might be rich: - for their sakes, he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross! He died, that They might not perish, but have everlasting life. Thus, to save their life, he freely abandoned his own.

Behold, your house - Ο οικος, the temple: - this is certainly what is meant. It was once the Lord's temple, God's Own house; but now he says, Your temple or house - to intimate that God had abandoned it. See the note on Mat 23:21; see also on Luk 13:35 (note).

Ye shall not see me - I will remove my Gospel from you, and withdraw my protection.

Till ye shall say, Blessed - Till after the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in, when the word of life shall again be sent unto you; then will ye rejoice, and bless, and praise him that cometh in the name of the Lord, with full and final salvation for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. See Rom 11:26, Rom 11:27.

Our Lord plainly foresaw that, in process of time, a spiritual domination would arise in his Church; and, to prevent its evil influence, he leaves the strong warnings against it which are contained in the former part of this chapter. As the religion of Christ is completely spiritual, and the influence by which it is produced and maintained must come from heaven; therefore, there could be no master or head but himself: for as the Church (the assemblage of true believers) is his body, all its intelligence, light, and life, must proceed from him alone. Our forefathers noted this well; and this was one of the grand arguments by which they overturned the papal pretensions to supremacy in this country. In a note on Mat 23:9, in a Bible published by Edmund Becke in 1549, the 2nd of Edward VI., we find the following words: - Call no man your father upon the earth. Here is the Bishoppe of Rome declared a plaine Antichrist, in that he woulde be called the most holye father; and that all Christen men shoulde acknowledge hym for no lesse then their spyritual father, notwithstandinge these playne wordes of Christe. It is true, nothing can be plainer; and yet, in the face of these commands, the pope has claimed the honor; and millions of men have been so stupid as to concede it. May those days of darkness, tyranny, and disgrace, never return!

From the 13th to the 39th verse, our Lord pronounces eight woes, or rather pathetic declarations, against the scribes and Pharisees.

1. For their unwillingness to let the common people enjoy the pure word of God, or its right explanation: Ye shut up the kingdom, etc., Mat 23:13.

2. For their rapacity, and pretended sanctity in order to secure their secular ends: Ye devour widows houses, etc., Mat 23:14.

3. For their pretended zeal to spread the kingdom of God by making proselytes, when they had no other end in view than forming instruments for the purposes of their oppression and cruelty: Ye compass sea and land, etc., Mat 23:15.

4. For their bad doctrine and false interpretations of the Scriptures, and their dispensing with the most solemn oaths and vows at pleasure: Ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing, etc., Mat 23:16-22.

5. For their superstition in scrupulously attending to little things, and things not commanded, and omitting matters of great importance, the practice of which God had especially enjoined: Ye pay tithe of mint and cummin, etc., Mat 23:23, Mat 23:24.

6. For their hypocrisy, pretended saintship, and endeavoring to maintain decency in their outward conduct, while they had no other object in view than to deceive the people, and make them acquiesce in their oppressive measures: Ye make clean the outside of the cup, Mat 23:25, Mat 23:26.

7. For the depth of their inward depravity and abomination, having nothing good, fair, or supportable, but the mere outside. - Most hypocrites and wicked men have some good: but these were radically and totally evil: Ye are like unto whited sepulchres - within full - of all uncleanness, Mat 23:27, Mat 23:28.

8. For their pretended concern for the holiness of the people, which proceeded no farther than to keep them free from such pollutions as they might accidentally and innocently contract, by casually stepping on the place where a person had been buried: and for their affected regret that their fathers had killed the prophets, while themselves possessed and cultivated the same murderous inclinations: Ye - garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been, etc., Mat 23:29, Mat 23:30.

It is amazing with what power and authority our blessed Lord reproves this bad people. This was the last discourse they ever heard from him; and it is surprising, considering their wickedness, that they waited even for a mock trial, and did not rise up at once and destroy him. But the time was not yet come in which he was to lay down his life, for no man could take it from him.

While he appears in this last discourse with all the authority of a lawgiver and judge, he at the same time shows the tenderness and compassion of a friend and a father: he beholds their awful state - his eye affects his heart, and he weeps over them! Were not the present hardness and final perdition of these ungodly men entirely of themselves? Could Jesus, as the Supreme God, have fixed their reprobation from all eternity by any necessitating decree; and yet weep over the unavoidable consequences of his own sovereign determinations? How absurd as well as shocking is the thought! This is Jewish exclusion: Credat Judaeus Apella-non ego.

Then - Leaving all converse with his adversaries, whom he now left to the hardness of their hearts.

The scribes sit in the chair of Moses - That is, read and expound the law of Moses, and are their appointed teachers.

All things therefore - Which they read out of the law, and enforce therefrom.

Luke 11:46.

Their phylacteries - The Jews, understanding those words literally, It shall he as a token upon thy hand, and as frontlets between thine eyes, Exod 13:16. And thou shalt bind these words for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, Deut 6:8; used to wear little scrolls of paper or parchment, bound on their wrist and foreheads, on which several texts of Scripture were writ. These they supposed, as a kind of charm, would preserve them from danger. And hence they seem to have been called phylacteries, or preservatives. The fringes of their garments - Which God had enjoined them to wear, to remind them of doing all the commandments, Num 15:38. These, as well as their phylacteries, the Pharisees affected to wear broader and larger than other men. Mark 12:38.

The Jewish rabbis were also called father and master, by their several disciples, whom they required, To believe implicitly what they affirmed, without asking any farther reason; To obey implicitly what they enjoined, without seeking farther authority. Our Lord, therefore, by forbidding us either to give or receive the title of rabbi, master, or father, forbids us either to receive any such reverence, or to pay any such to any but God.

Mt 20:26.

Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled, and he that shall humble himself shall he exalted - It is observable that no one sentence of our Lord's is so often repeated as this: it occurs, with scarce any variation, at least ten times in the evangelists. Luke 14:11; 18:14.

Wo to you - Our Lord pronounced eight blessings upon the mount: he pronounces eight woes here; not as imprecations, but solemn, compassionate declarations of the misery, which these stubborn sinners were bringing upon themselves. Ye go not in - For ye are not poor in spirit; and ye hinder those that would be so.

Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47.

Wo to you, ye blind guides - Before he had styled them hypocrites, from their personal character: now he gives them another title, respecting their influence upon others. Both these appellations are severely put together in the 23d and Mt 23:23,25. 25th verses; and this severity rises to the height in the 33d verse. The gold of the temple - The treasure kept there. He is bound - To keep his oath.

He that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon - Not only by the gift, but by the holy fire, and the sacrifice; and above all, by that God to whom they belong; inasmuch as every oath by a creature is an implicit appeal to God.

Judgment - That is, justice: Faith - The word here means fidelity.

Ye blind guides, who teach others to do as you do yourselves, to strain out a gnat - From the liquor they are going to drink! and swallow a camel - It is strange, that glaring false print, strain at a gnat, which quite alters the sense, should run through all the editions of our English Bibles.

Full of rapine and intemperance - The censure is double (taking intemperance in the vulgar sense.) These miserable men procured unjustly what they used intemperately. No wonder tables so furnished prove a snare, as many find by sad experience. Thus luxury punishes fraud while it feeds disease with the fruits of injustice. But intemperance in the full sense takes in not only all kinds of outward intemperance, particularly in eating and drinking, but all intemperate or immoderate desires, whether of honour, gain, or sensual pleasure.

Ye build the tombs of the prophets - And that is all, for ye neither observe their sayings, nor imitate their actions.

We would not have been partakers - So ye make fair professions, as did your fathers.

Wherefore ye testify against yourselves - By your smooth words as well as devilish actions: that ye are the genuine sons of them who killed the prophets of their own times, while they professed the utmost veneration for those of past ages. From the 3d to the 30th verse Mt 23:3 - 30 is exposed every thing that commonly passes in the world for religion, whereby the pretenders to it keep both themselves and others from entering into the kingdom of God; from attaining, or even seeking after those tempers, in which alone true Christianity consists. As, Punctuality in attending on public and private prayer, ver. 4 - 14. Mt 23:4 - 14 Zeal to make proselytes to our opinion or communion, though they have less of the spirit of religion than before, ver. 15. Mt 23:15 A superstitious reverence for consecrated places or things, without any for Him to whom they are consecrated, ver. 16 - 22. Mt 23:16 - 22 A scrupulous exactness in little observances, though with the neglect of justice, mercy, and faith, ver. 23, 24. Mt 23:23,24 A nice cautiousness to cleanse the outward behaviour, but without any regard to inward purity, ver. 25, 26. Mt 23:25,26 A specious face of virtue and piety, covering the deepest hypocrisy and villany, ver. 27, 28. Mt 23:27,28 A professed veneration for all good men, except those among whom they live.

Fill ye up - A word of permission, not of command: as if he had said, I contend with you no longer: I leave you to yourselves: you have conquered: now ye may follow the devices of your own hearts. The measure of your fathers - Wickedness: ye may now be as wicked as they.

Ye serpents - Our Lord having now lost all hope of reclaiming these, speaks so as to affright others from the like sins.

Wherefore - That it may appear you are the true children of those murderers, and have a right to have their iniquities visited on you: Behold, I send - Is not this speaking as one having authority? Prophets - Men with supernatural credentials: Wise men - Such as have both natural abilities and experience; and scribes - Men of learning: but all will not avail. Luke 11:49.

That upon you may come - The consequence of which will be, that upon you will come the vengeance of all the righteous blood shed on the earth - Zechariah the son of Barachiah - Termed Jehoiada, 2Chron 24:20, where the story is related: Ye slew - Ye make that murder also of your fathers your own, by imitating it: Between the temple - That is, the inner temple, and the altar - Which stood in the outer court. Our Lord seems to refer to this instance, rather than any other, because he was the last of the prophets on record that were slain by the Jews for reproving their wickedness: and because God's requiring this blood as well as that of Abel, is particularly taken notice of in Scripture.

Luke 13:34.

Behold your house - The temple, which is now your house, not God's: Is left unto you - Our Lord spake this as he was going out of it for the last time: Desolate - Forsaken of God and his Christ, and sentenced to utter destruction.

Ye - Jews in general; men of Jerusalem in particular: shall not see me from this time - Which includes the short space till his death, till, after a long interval of desolation and misery, ye say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord - Ye receive me with joyful and thankful hearts. This also shall be accomplished in its season.

3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do: but do not ye after their works, for they say, and do not.

Our Lord having now done with the Pharisees, turneth his D[illegible: 1 letter]scourse to the more Docible People, who (as we heard before) heard him attentively, and gladly, Mark 12.37. Luke 19.48. Our Saviour fore-saw, that some unwary Hearers might make two ill uses of what he had spoke against the Scribes and Pha[illegible: 1 letter]isees. 1. Some might report him an Enemy to the Law t[illegible: 1 letter]e Interpreters of which the Pharisees were. 2. Others mig[illegible: 1 letter]t contemn the Authority of the Law, because he had represented these Men, in whose Hand the Interpretat[illegible: 1 letter]on of it at present, was so truly Contemptible. Whereas on the other side, many might run into Errors of Practice, from the Example of the Scribes, and Pharisees, their Magistrates and Teachers. Against all these mistakes, he Cautions them in this Chap. Shewing, that he did not undervalue the Law of Moses, nor would have his Reflections on the Pharisees prejudice any thing which they taught them of it, and according to it; neither would he have his People take the Copy of the Law from their Actions. The Scribes, and Pharisees sit in Moses seat. These Men were the ordinary Readers, and Interpreters of the Law of God. Moses is here put for the Law, as Luke 16.31. If they hear not Moses, and the Prophets, and so v. 29. They have Moses and the Prophets. Moses his Seat signifieth the Seat appointed for those, that gave the Sense of the Law, or Judgment upon it, thus Acts 15.21. 2 Cor. 3.15. Moses in old time, hath in every City those that Preach him, being Read in the Synagogue every Sabbath Day. Their way was, while they Read the Scriptures, they Stood up, (paying a particular Reverence to the pure Word of God) Luke 4.16. when they had done Reading, they sate down and opened it. Their sitting in the Seat of Moses did not signifie a Succession to Moses, for he had no Successor, being the Mediator of the Old Testament. But the delivering and interpreting the Doctrine, and Law of M[illegible: 1 letter]ses. Dr. Lightfoot thinks it is rather to be understood of the Chair of M[illegible: 1 letter]gistracy, than the Doctrinal Chair. The Phar sees being Exercised in that, it may be understood of both, for the Reading, and Interpreting the Law, chiefly belong'd to the Scribes. All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, observe and do. That is, whatsoever is in M[illegible: 1 letter]ses, which they bid you observe, and do. The Term All is to be understood restrainedly, with respect to the Subject, matter or Persons spoken of, in Multitudes of Scriptures. OurSaviours cautioning his Disciples, so often against the Leaven of these Men, and their Traditions, plainly sheweth us, that must be here the Sense of it. Let not the Law of God lose its Authority with you, because of these wicked Men. He doth not Command them to hear none but them, for then to what purpose did he himself Preach, or send out the Twelve, if none might hear them. All that can be concluded from this Text is, That the Law of God, or Word of God, is not to be dispised whoever Reads, or delivereth it, he goeth on. But after their Works do not, for they say and do not. We are Naturally more led by Example, than by Precept. Men had therefore need be Cautioned against ill living Teachers. Odi Philosophum qui non sapir sibi. A Man had need very well know the Medicine, which he taketh from a Physician, he seeth Sick of the same Disease, when he himself refuseth and Abominates it. He that sa[illegible: 1 letter]s and doth not, may be heard, but not imitated. There may be a time, when Men can ordinarily hear no others, which was the present Case.

Marginal references: Rom. 2.21.22.

4 For they bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be born, and lay them upon mens shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

Our Saviour saith the same of the Lawyers, Luke 11.46. The Burdens here mentioned, were not their Traditions and Ritual things, Christ would never have before commanded his Disciples to observe and do them, but the things truly commanded by the Law of God, especially the Ceremonial Law, called a Yoke, Acts 15.10. which (say the Apostles) neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear. They are, saith our Saviour, Riged Exactors, aed Pressers of the Law of God, upon others, but will not themselves use the least endeavours (such as the putting to of a Finger) themselves to do them. 1. He blameth them that their own Lives, no way answered their Doctrine. 2. It may be, he also blameth their too Riged pressing the Law in all the Minute things of it: There may be a too Rigorous Pressing of the Law. Good Teachers will be faithful in delivering the whole Counsel of God, yet Teaching no more than themselves will endeavour to practise, and being Conscious of Humane Infirmity, they will do it, with great Tenderness, and Compassion, joyning Law, and Gospel both together.

Marginal references: Gal. 6.13▪

5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteryes, and inlarge the borders of their garments.

Our Saviour had v. 4. blamed the Pharisees for not living up to what they taught, pressing the Law of God on others, but not doing nor indeavouring to observe it themselves. Here he blames them, for doing what good things they did for Ostentation, to be seen of Men, and abounding in their Ritual Performances of more minute Concernment, in the mean time neglecting their Moral Duties. All they do, they do to be seen of Men; this is their main end to be seen of Men; for this he had reflected on them, Chap. 6. They make broad their Phylacteryes, and inlarge the borders of their Garments. For the right understanding of this we must have recourse to Num. 15.37, 38. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, spake unto the Children of Israel, and bid them that they make them Fringes in the Borders of their Garments, throughout their Generations, And that they put upon the Fringe of the Borders, a Ribband of Blew; And it shall be unto you for a Fringe, that you may look upon it, and remember all the Commandements of the Lord, and do them, and that you seek not after your own Heart, and your own Eyes, after which you use to go a Whoring. That you may remember, and do all my Commandments. Deut, 22.12. Thou shalt make thee Fringes upon the four Quarters of thy Vesture, wherewith thou coverest thy self. In obedience to this Law, the Jews did generally wear such Garments that had Fringes, and Blew Ribbands annexed to them. The Jews at this Day do it not, because, as they pretend, they have lost the true way of Dying the Blew Colour, required in the Law. The End why God commanded them, is expressed. That they might look upon it, and remember all the Commandements of the Lord and do them, and be restrained from their own Inventions, and Imaginations in Gods Service. They were also a Note of Distinction of the Jews from other People, Besides these, God Commanding that they should Bind his Laws, for a Sign upon their Hands, and as frontlets between their Eyes, Deut. 6.6, 7, 8. they made them Parchments, in which the Precepts of the Law were written, which they bound to their Foreheads, and Arms. These were called Phylacteryes from [non-Latin text not transcribed] to keep. Things wherein the Law was kept, the Pharisees for a Boast how zealous keepers they were of the Law of God (than which they did nothing less) made these Phylacteries and Ribbands broader, their Fringes much longer than other Mens, this is that making broad their Phylacteryes, and inlarging the Borders of their Garments, which our Lord here reflects upon, done only for Ostentation, and that they might be seen of Men.

Marginal references: Chap. 6 [illegible: 1 letter] ▪ 2, 5.16.

7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men Rabbi, Rabbi.

We have the same applyed to the Scribes. Mark 12.38, 39. Luke 11.43. Mark addeth, which love to go in long Clothing. Our Saviour in these Words doth not blame a Distinction in Habits, and places; for he himself hath taught us, that those who are in Kings Palaces wear soft Rayment, and being often called Master and Lord, never reflected on them, who called him so, as having done amiss, he only blameth the Pharisees Ambition, and silly Affectation of these little things, seeking their own Honour, and Glory, or an undue Domination; there is therefore an Emphasis to be put upon the Word Love. They might take Salutations, and the upper Rooms, if offered them as their due, for keeping Civil orders, but not affect them.

10 Neither be ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ.

It is most certain that our Saviour doth not here forbid the giving of the Titles of Masters and Fathers to his Ministers. for then Paul would not have given himself the Title of Father, 1 Cor. 4.15. nor called the Galathians his little Children, Gal. 4.19. nor called Timothy his Son, and himself his Father, Phil. 2.22. nor call'd himself a Doctor of the Gentiles, 1 Tim. 2.7.2 Tim. 1.11. That which he forbids, is 1. An Affectation of such Titles, and hunting after them. 2. Rem Ti[illegible: 4 letters] the Exercise of an absolute Mastership, or a Paternal absolute Power. So as to require any to believe things because they said them, or to do things because they bid them, without seeing the things asserted, or first commanded in the Word of God. For in that Sense God alone is Mens Father. Christ alone their Masters. Pastors and Teachers in the Church, are all but Ministers, Ministers of Christ to publish his Will; and to injoyn his Laws, nor must any be owned as Masters and Fathers to impose their Laws, and Doctrines. This is twice repeated, because such is the Corruption of humane Nature, that it is very prone, not only to affect these swelling Titles, but also to exercise these Exorbitant Authorities.

12 And whosoever shall exalt himself, shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself, shall be exalted.

We have what is v. 12. twice in Luke, Ch, 14.11. & 18.14. These Verses expound what went before, and let us know. 1. That it was not a Title, but the Affectation of a Title which he blamed. 2. Not a Doctorship, or Mastership, but such a Doctorship, or Mastership, as made a man too big for the Ministry of the Church; such Honour as lifted up the Mans Heart above his Work. He is an Infamous Doctor in the Church of Christ, who thinks himself too High, or too great to be a Minister in it. For God will abase, and Men shall abase him who exalteth himself. God resisteth, and Men usually contemn and despise the Proud, especially Ministers who are so. Both God shall Exalt, and Men shall Honour those that humble themselves both to Men, Condescending to those of low Degree, and to their Work thinking not the meanest Ministry to Souls, a Work beneath them.

Marginal references: Prov. 29.23. [illegible: 3 letters]. 4.6. 1 Pet. 5.5.

13 But woe unto you Scribes, and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in your selves, neither will ye suffer them that are entring, to go in.

Our Saviour now cometh to denounce Eight Woes against the Teachers of those times, the Scribes and Pharisies, Luke saith. Ch. 11.52. Woe unto you Lawyers, for you take away the Key of knowledge, you entred not in your selves, and them that were entring you hindred. It was written of old, that the Priests Lips should preserve knowledge, God hath committed the Key of Knowledge to the Ministers and Guides of his Church, not that they should take it away, but that the people might seek the Law at their Mouths, because they are the Messengers of the Lord of Hosts. Mal. 2.7. Now saith our Saviour, you have taken it away, this Matthew calls a Shutting up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men. Doing what in them lay to keep Men from the Knowledge of the Mind and Will of God, neither themselves Teaching them the Knowledge of God, which yet was their Office and Duty, nor suffering others to do it who would. You will neither go in your selves, neither will you suffer them that are entring to go in. Your selves are too Proud, or Lazy to Preach the Gospel, which is the way to the Kingdom of Heaven, and when others would, you suffer them not, nor yet will you suffer the People, who have an Heart to it, to hear it. For this he calls them Hypocrites seven times in this Chapter, they pretending to be Teachers, and openers of the Door to the Kingdom of Heaven, when indeed they did shut it, and de [illegible: 1 letter]ounceth a Woe to them, comprehending that ruin which soon after came upon them, and their City by the Roman Armies, and that Eternal Damnation which slept not, and was due to them. There are no worser Men in the World than Hypocries, Men pretending highly to God, yet neither themselves doing their Duty in imbracing the Gospel, nor suffering others to do it, but doing what in them lye, to hinder People from the means, by which they might come to the Kingdom of Heaven.

14 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.

Mark hath the same, Ch. 12.40. and Luke Ch. 20.47. If any should think that Long Prayers are here condemned, he will be Confuted, by Luke 6.12. where he will find that our Saviour continued all Night in Prayer to God. It is the end of their long Prayers, which alone our Saviour blameth, their making them a Pretence to devour Widows Houses. Which whether they did as interested in the Civil Power (in which it is certain the Pharisees amongst the Jews were imployed) or by Vertue of their Ecclesiastical Power, or Influence, perswading silly Women to give them their E[illegible: 1 letter]tates, or at least to give them a great part of them, to the Service of the Tabernacle, that they might pray for their Souls, was an Abomination to God, not only for the Hopocrify of such Prayers designed for another end than they pretended, but because God had taken upon him the special care[illegible: 1 letter] and protection of the Widows. As our Saviour had before blamed their Religious Acts for the Ostentation in them, seeking only their own Honour, and Applause: So he here blameth them for their Covetous design in them.

Marginal references: 2 Tim. 3.6. Tit. 1.11.

15 Woe unto you scribes, and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye compass sea and land, to make one proselyte: and when he is made, ye make him two fold more the children of hell than your selves.

A third Woe followeth, expressed in this Verse, because they Corrupted their Proselytes, both as to Doctrine and Manners, so as they were twice more the Children of the Devil, and in danger of Hell than before. A Proselyte was one, who coming from some Pagan Nation Relinquished Idols, and worshipped one true, and living God. Of these Writers tell us there were two sorts: One that only professed to believe and Worship one God. tho he did not embrace the Jewish Religion, such a one they suffered to live among[illegible: 1 letter]t them, and called him a Proselyte of the Gate. Others imbraced the Jewish Religion, and were admitted into their Church, by Circumcision, and Baptisme and Sacrifice (as their Writers tell us) These they called Proselytes of Righteousness. Our Saviour saith the Scribes, and Pharisees, Compassed Sea and Land, that is, would take any pains (it is a Proverbial Expre[illegible: 1 letter]sion) to make one a Prose[illegible: 1 letter]yte, nor was this blame-worthy in them, but that which followeth, That they made him twice more the Children of Hell, than before. Corrupting them with their false Doctrine, and setting them Examples of an ill Life. Their business was not to turn them from Sin unto God, but meerly to convert them to an Opinion, if they had once got them into their Church, so as they could make their Markets of them, never regarding their Souls more, nor to press upon them the Reformation of their Lives, that they might be saved. Thus Priests and Iesuites at this Day go to China, Iapan, to Proselyte Men to the Roman Faith, and use all imaginable Arts to seduce Persons Born and bred under the Profe[illegible: 1 letter]sion of the Protestant Religion, in Protestant Countries, and boast much of their Converts, but he who looks upon the Scriptures, and considereth the Lives of the most of their Converts, will easily see they are but twice more the Children of Hell, being Licensed, by their Indulgences, pardons, Absolutions, nay by their very Casuilts to live most Prodigious Impious Lives, to say nothing of their Damnable Errors in matters of Faith.

22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

Our Saviour here sheweth the false Doctrine, which the Pharisees for their own Gain taught the People, concerning Oaths. God had Commanded that they should fear and serve the Lord their God, and swear by his Name. Deut. 6.13. & 10.20. He that sweareth by any Person, or thing, doth two things. He attributeth to the thing, or Person, by which he sweareth a knowledge of the Heart, and the secret intention. [illegible: 1 letter] He calleth upon the Person or thing▪ by which he sweareth to be his Judge; or to take a revenge upon him, in Case, he doth not believe in his Heart, what he affirmeth, or denieth with his Words, to be true or false, otherwise an Oath is no security at all. From whence appeareth, that it is unreasonable for any to swear by any other than God, who alone can have a knowledge of the Truth, and security of the Heart; and that he, who sweareth by any Creature, committeth Idolatry in his Heart, and in his Heart doth indeed Blaspheme, paying a Divine Homage to a Creature, and attributing to the Creature, what only agreeth to the Creature. The Pharisees as it seemeth had taught the People, that it was Lawful to swear by the Creature; but all Oaths by Creatures did not bind to the performance of the thing promised by such Oaths: If a Man swear by the Temple, or by the Altar, It was nothing, no Man was bound by such Oaths, to perform the thing, for which such Oaths was given as a security. But if any Man swear by the Gold of the Temple, or by a Gift, which he brought to the Altar, these Oaths did bind him. By the Gold of the Temple, is not to be understood the Golden Vessels used in the Temple; nor the Golden Plates, with which the several parts of the Temple shined; but the Gold which was brought as an Offering into the Temple, and put into the Treasury there, of which and of the Gifts the Priests and Officers about the Temple, had a considerable share, which made them Equalize an Oath by these, to an Oath made by the Name of God it self: Our Saviour here sheweth the unreasonable Folly o[illegible: 1 letter] the Tradition, and calleth them for it, Blind Guides, for in reason: The Temple Sanctifying the Gold▪ must it self be more especially Holy, that is, separate for an Holy use. The Temple was Holy, so was the Altar before the Gold was brought into it, but the Gold was not Holy, till it was brought into the Holy place, and there offered. 2. Secondly, [illegible: 1 letter]e lets them know, that Oaths by the Creatures once made did oblige, as much as if they had been made by God himself. They were indeed sinfully made, for Men ought not to have sworn by Creatures, but being made, those who made them were bound to perform them, if the matter of them were not sinful. For he that swears by the Altar, swears by it, and all the things thereon: And he who swears by the Temple, swears by it, and him that dwelleth therein: And he who swears by Heaven, swears by the Throne of God, and him that sitteth thereon. For none who sware by inanimate things, could possibly be imagined to call these things which he knew had no Life, no Sense, no knowledge to be a Witness to the Truth of his Heart, as to what he believed, or what he intended. So as though he that sweareth by the Creature, be a profane Swearer, yet he is bound by his Oath, he indeed swearing by the God of those Creatures. He hath reason to repent or the profane, and unlawful form of his Oath; but if the matter be, what he may without sin perform, he is bound by his Oath to the performance of it.

Marginal references: Chap. 5.34. Acts 7.49.

23 Woe unto you scribes and pharisees, hypocrites, for ye pay tithe of mint, and Annise 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.

We have much the same, Luk. 11.42. only there it is, Ye Tithe Mint, and Rue, and all manner of Herbs, and pass over Iudgment, and the Love of God. It is manifest by our Saviours words in the latter part of the Verse: These ought you to have done; that he doth not blame the Pharisees exactness in Tithing Mint, Annise, Rue, Cummin, and all manner of Herbs. But their neglecting the Weightier matters of the Law▪ Faith and Love to God, Iudgment and Mercy. The Levites having no Inheritance, God ordained Tithes for their Maintenance; of which also the poor were to have a share, Lev. 27.30. Num. 18.23. The Pharisee boa[illegible: 1 letter]ted, Luk. 18.12. That he paid Tithe of all he possest; Christ here acknowledgeth, that the Pharisees were exact in their paying Tithes. But he blames them for their Partiality, neglecting the weightier things of the Law. 2. For their Hypocrisie, they were only exact in these little things, that they might be taken notice of, as Scrupulous observers of the Divine Law; while they omitted those things, which were of much more weight, which he reckoneth up: Faith by which some understand Faith in God, but the most, Faithfulness, and sincere and honest dealings with Men, in opposition to Fraud, and Cheating, and Circumventions, Iudgment, by which he means Iustice, giving to every one what is their own: Mercy, by which he meaneth a Charitable behaviour, in helping such as are miserable, and afflicted. Love to God, which is the true Root, out of which all things should flow, and is indeed comprehensive of all our Duty toward God, as well as the Root of all our Good Works towards Men.

Marginal references: Gr. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Dill.; 1 Sam. 15.22. Hos. 6.6. Mic. 6.8. Chap. 9.13. & 12.7.

24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a[illegible: 1 letter]gnat, and swallow a camel.

It is a Proverbial Expression used amongst them, against such as would pretend a great Niceness and Scrupulosity, about, and Zeal for, little things, but in matters of much higher Concern, and moment were not Nice, and Scrupulous at all, and this indeed is both a certain Note, and an ordinary Practice of Hypocrites: There is no man that is sincere in his Obedience to God, but hath respect to all Gods Commandements, Psal. 119. v. 6. Tho some Duties be greater, of more moment for the Honour and Glory of God than others, which a good Man will lay the greatest stress upon, yet he will neglect nothing which the Law of God enjoyneth him: But concerning Hypocrites, these two things are always true. 1. They are partial in their pretended Obedience. 2. They always lay the greatest stress upon the least things of the Law, bodily Labour, and Exercise, and those things which require least of the Heart, and least self-denial.

26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Luke hath this, Ch. 11.39, 40. as occasioned by the Pharisees, wondring that he washed not before Dinner, instead of Extortion and Excess, he hath ravening and Wickedness, and addeth, You Fools, did not he that made that which is without, make that which is within also? But the same thing might be spoken at two speveral times: He speaketh there to the Pharisee, with whom he Dined, v. 37. Here he speaks to the Disciples, and the Multitude. Our Saviours design here seemeth to me not to be a Condemning of their Legal, or Traditional washings of Pots and Cups, which he elsewhere reflecteth upon, but by way of allusion only; to blame them that in their whole Conversation, they rather studied an external Purity, than the inward Purity of the Heart, whereas if they would first have looked at Purity of Heart, the other would have followed that. A man may be outwardly pure, and inwardly filthy and impure: But no man can have a pure Heart, but he will live a Pure and Holy Life; for the External Acts, are but the Imperate Acts of the Soul: Out of the abundance of the Heart, the Mouth speaketh, and according to the Inclinations, and Affections of the Heart the Foot moveth, the Hand, and all the bodily Members act. For our Saviours Application of this to their Traditional washings, I shall speak to it when I come to, Luk. 11.39.

28 Even so ye also appear outwardly righteous unto men, unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisie, and iniquity.

The Similitude is of the same import, with the other to shew, that the Pharisees had only a Vizour of strictness, and Holiness, when in the mean time their Hearts were full of Lusts, Hypocrisie and Iniquity. The Iews had two sorts of Graves; some for ordinary Persons which appeared not (to which our Saviour likened the Pharisees, Luk. 11.44.) Others that were covered with Tombes, which were wont to be kept whited, so as they looked very fair outwardly, but had within nothing but Rottenness and Putrefaction. To these he compareth them in this place. They were Men that made a great shew, but had nothing of any inward Purity or cleanness, but were full of Iniquity: Thus Paul called Ananias a w[illegible: 2 letters]ted Wall, and Psal. 5.9. The Psalmist saith of the Throat of the Wicked, that it is an open Sepulcher.

30 And say, if we had been in the days our Fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

Luke hath it, Ch. 11.44. Woe unto you, for you Build the Sepulchers of the Prophets, and your Fathers killed them: Truly you bear Witness, that you allow the Deeds of your Fathers, for they indeed killed them, and you build their Sepulchers. It is plain by our Saviours discourse, that the Pharisees were at great Charge oft times, to rebuild or adorn the Sepulchers of the Lords Prophets, who had been slain by the Iews in former Ages, for testifying the Truth of God, and the Sepulchers of other Righteous Men dying for their Righteousness. This they did like a Company of Hypocrites, to perswade the World of what they also said. That had they lived in the times of those Prophets, and other good Men, they would have had no Hand in their Blood.

33 Ye serpents, ye generation of Vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

You (saith our Lord) confess that you are lineally descended from those who killed the Prophets: You have not only their Blood communicated to you, but their Spirit, your Behaviours and Carriages towards me, and my Disciples have witnessed, and will yet further testifie, that you are the Children of those who killed the Prophets in a Moral, as well as a natural Sense; you inherit the same Spirit, and are full of the same Malice and Rancor. They killed them, and you bury them: Seeing there is no reclaiming you, Go you on, Fill up the measure of your Fathers sins. There is something more to be added, to make the Iniquity of this Nation full; you are a Company of Serpents, Vipers, that cannot escape the Damnation of Hell.

Marginal references: [illegible: 2 letters]ap 3.7.

36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

Luke saith, Ch. 11.49.50. Therefore also said the Wisdom of God, I will send them Prophets and Apostles, and some of them they shall slay, and persecute. That the Blood of all the Prophets, which was shed from the Foundation, of the World, may be required of this Generation. From the Blood of Abel, to the Blood of Zacharias, who perished between the Altar and the Temple. Verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this Generation. Luke saith, Therefore also said the Wisdom of God. Matthew saith, Behold I send. Christ is the Wisdom of God, he here tells them, he would send them Prophets, Wise men, Scribes. Luke expounds it by Prophets and Apostles. Men Authorized by Christ, to reveal unto Men the Will of God, and Men that should be extraordinarily inspired to inable them thereunto. Scribes, that is Persons instructed to the Kingdom of God, a new sort of Scribes, but much sitter for their Work, than the present Scribes. And some you shall kill, and crucifie, &c. Our Lord in this only fore-tells, what usage both himself and his Apostles should meet with from them, which was fulfilled, in what the Scripture telleth us, of the scourging of Paul, the stoning of Stephen, the killing of Iames, &c. beside the Crucifying of himself. That upon you; that is, as he expounds it, v. 38. Vpon this Generation may come all the Righteous Blood, that is, the Blood of righteous men, from the Blood of Abel, to the Blood of Zachariah, shed upon the Earth, &c. Here arise two Questions. 1. Who this Zachariah the Son of Barachiah was? 2. How it could stand with Gods justice, to bring the Guilt of the Blood of former Generations, upon that Generation. As to the first, some have guest the Person spoken of, to have been one Zachariah the Son of Baruch, who was the last slain upon the taking of Ierusalem, as Iosephus tells us, but our Saviour here speaks of a thing past, not to be afterwards done: Others think, it was Zachariah the Father of Iohn Baptist, but we have no Proo[illegible: 1 letter] that he dyed a violent Death: Others think, it was Zachariah, who was one of the small Prophets, but there was no Temple in his time. It is most probably concluded to be Zachariah, the Son of Iehojada, whom the Iews stoned with Stones, at the Commandement of Ioash: In the Court of the House of the Lord, 2 Chron. 24.21. The Fathers name indeed doth not agree, but first, Iehojada (as many of the Iews had) might have two Names, some think it was this same Zechariah, who is called the Son of Ie Berechiah, Isa. 8.2. Our Saviour nameth Abel, who lived before the Law, and Zachariah, who lived under the Law, both slain for Righteousness sake; that under them he might comprehend all the Martyrs slain in those two Periods, others Judge, that these two are named, because we read of Abels Blood crying, Gen. 4.10. and Zechariah's praying (when he dyed) That the Lord would require his Blood. For the other Question. It is but Righteous with God, to punish the sins of Parents upon their Children; and tho such Vengeance doth not ordinarily reach further than the Third and Fourth Generation, yet where succeeding Generations, go on in the same sinful Courses, it may reach further, and oft does, Isa. 65.6. I will (saith God) Recompence into their Bosom your iniquities, and the iniquities of your Fathers together. That was the Case here. They filled up the measure of their Fathers sins. Therefore Christ tells them, that Vengeance should sleep no longer, but come upon that Generation, which hapened in the utter Destruction of Ierusalem, within less than forty years after. Our Lord concludes with a Pathetical Lamentation over Ierusalem, and a further Confirmation of what he had said about their Ruin.

39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

We have the same, Luk. 13.33, 34. O Ierusalem! Ierusalem! The doubling of the word, sheweth the vehemency of our Saviours Affection. Thou killest the Prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee. That hast killed, and abused, and art yet going on to do the like not taking notice of the Vengeance of God upon thee before for this very sin, 2 Chron. 36.16, 17. Neh. 9.26. How often would I have gathered thee? Giving thee all External means, proper to have reformed thee, and reconcile thee to God, as an Hen gathereth her Chickens under her Wings: Which if thou hadst accepted, and imbraced, the Chickens are not safer under the Wings of the Hen, from the danger of a Kite, than thou wouldst have been from Enemies. But thou wouldst not. Instead of hearkening to my Prophets, thou killedst them, and didst stone those sent unto thee, and so didst voluntarily reject me, and all my offers, and tenders of Grace, Mercy, and Protection, through the meet obstinacy of thy perverse[illegible: 1 letter] Will. Behold your House is left unto you desolate. Both the Temple, in which you place such a Confidence, and your own dwelling Houses shall be destroyed, burnt and razed down, or at least left without you as Inhabitants. For I say unto you, you shall not see me henceforth, till you shall say, Blessed is he that comes in the Name of the Lord. I will appear no more to you as a publick Preacher, after two or three days for ever; and you, that the other day so envied the Peoples Acclamations to me, Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord. Shall be glad your selves, to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and shall say the same thing, Blessed is he, &c. for whereas some interpret the term Till, &c. of the day of Judgment, or the time when the Iews shall be converted, I take them to be strained Interpretations. Till here certainly is to be interpreted, as Psal. 110.1. and Math. 1.25. and this Comporteth with the History, for after this time, our Saviour appeared in the Temple publickly no more. For the Disputes raised from v. 7. About Gods secret Will, whether he seriously willed the Salvation of the Iews, &c. I take the Affirmative part, to have no Foundation in this Text, for would I, is plainly enough here interpreted by the foregoing Word, Sending them Prophets, and other Ministers, to perswade them to Repentance, and Reconciliation with God. As the use of means proper to an end appear to us, Indications of the Will of him that useth them.

Marginal references: Psal. 118 26. Chap. 21.9.

The Scribes and Pharisees Condemned; Cautions against Pride.

1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, 2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: 3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. 4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, 6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. 8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. 11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

We find not Christ, in all his preaching, so severe upon any sort of people as upon these scribes and Pharisees; for the truth is, nothing is more directly opposite to the spirit of the gospel than the temper and practice of that generation of men, who were made up of pride, worldliness, and tyranny, under a cloak and pretence of religion; yet these were the idols and darlings of the people, who thought, if but two men went to heaven, one would be a Pharisee. Now Christ directs his discourse here to the multitude, and to his disciples (v. 1) to rectify their mistakes concerning these scribes and Pharisees, by painting them out in their true colours, and so to take off the prejudice which some of the multitude had conceived against Christ and his doctrine, because it was opposed by those men of their church, that called themselves the people's guides. Note, It is good to know the true characters of men, that we may not be imposed upon by great and mighty names, titles, and pretensions to power. People must be told of the wolves (Acts xx. 29, 30), the dogs (Phil. iii. 2), the deceitful workers (2 Cor. xi. 13), that they may know here to stand upon their guard. And not only the mixed multitude, but even the disciples, need these cautions; for good men are apt to have their eyes dazzled with worldly pomp.

Now, in this discourse,

I. Christ allows their office as expositors of the law; The scribes and Pharisees (that is, the whole Sanhedrim, who sat at the helm of church government, who were all called scribes, and were some of them Pharisees), they sit in Moses' seat (v. 2), as public teachers and interpreters of the law; and, the law of Moses being the municipal law of their state, they were as judges, or a bench of justices; teaching and judging seem to be equivalent, comparing 2 Chron. xvii. 7, 9, with 2 Chron. xix. 5, 6, 8. They were not the itinerant judges that rode the circuit, but the standing bench, that determined on appeals, special verdicts, or writs of error by the law; they sat in Moses's seat, not as he was Mediator between God and Israel, but only as he was chief justice, Exod. xviii. 26. Or, we may apply it, not to the Sanhedrim, but to the other Pharisees and scribes, that expounded the law, and taught the people how to apply it to particular cases. The pulpit of wood, such as was made for Ezra, that ready scribe in the law of God (Neh. viii. 4), is here called Moses's seat, because Moses had those in every city (so the expression is, Acts xv. 21), who in those pulpits preached him; this was their office, and it was just and honourable; it was requisite that there should be some at whose mouth the people might enquire the law, Mal. ii. 7. Note, 1. Many a good place is filled with bad men; it is no new thing for the vilest men to be exalted even to Moses's seat (Ps. xii. 8); and, when it is so, the men are not so much honoured by the seat as the seat is dishonoured by the men. Now they that sat in Moses's seat were so wretchedly degenerated, that it was time for the great Prophet to arise, like unto Moses, to erect another seat. 2. Good and useful offices and powers are not therefore to be condemned and abolished, because they fall sometimes into the hands of bad men, who abuse them. We must not therefore pull down Moses's seat, because scribes and Pharisees have got possession of it; rather than so, let both grow together until the harvest, ch. xiii. 30.

Hence he infers (v. 3), "Whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do As far as they sit in Moses's seat, that is, read and preach the law that was given by Moses" (which, as yet, continued in full force, power, and virtue), "and judge according to that law, so far you must hearken to them, as remembrances to you of the written word." The scribes and Pharisees made it their business to study the scripture, and were well acquainted with the language, history, and customs of it, and its style and phraseology. Now Christ would have the people to make use of the helps they gave them for the understanding of the scripture, and do accordingly. As long as their comments did illustrate the text and not pervert it; did make plain, and not make void, the commandment of God; so far they must be observed and obeyed, but with caution and a judgment of discretion. Note, We must not think the worse of good truths for their being preached by bad ministers; nor of good laws for their being executed by bad magistrates. Though it is most desirable to have our food brought by angels, yet, if God send it to us by ravens, if it be good and wholesome, we must take it, and thank God for it. Our Lord Jesus promiseth this, to prevent the cavil which some would be apt to make at this following discourse; as if, by condemning the scribes and Pharisees, he designed to bring the law of Moses into contempt, and to draw people off from it; whereas he came not to destroy, but to fulfil. Note, It is wisdom to obviate the exceptions which may be taken at just reproofs, especially when there is occasion to distinguish between officers and their offices, that the ministry be not blamed when the ministers are.

II. He condemns the men. He had ordered the multitude to do as they taught; but here he annexeth a caution not to do as they did, to beware of their leaven; Do not ye after their works. Their traditions were their works, were their idols, the works of their fancy. Or, "Do not according to their example." Doctrines and practices are spirits that must be tried, and where there is occasion, must be carefully separated and distinguished; and as we must not swallow corrupt doctrines for the sake of any laudable practices of those that teach them, so we must not imitate any bad examples for the sake of the plausible doctrines of those that set them. The scribes and Pharisees boasted as much of the goodness of their works as of the orthodoxy of their teaching, and hoped to be justified by them; it was the plea they put in (Luke xviii. 11, 12); and yet these things, which they valued themselves so much upon, were an abomination in the sight of God.

Our Saviour here, and in the following verses, specifies divers particulars of their works, wherein we must not imitate them. In general, they are charged with hypocrisy, dissimulation, or double-dealing in religion; a crime which cannot be enquired of at men's bar, because we can only judge according to outward appearance; but God, who searcheth the heart, can convict of hypocrisy; and nothing is more displeasing to him, for he desireth truth.

Four things are in these verses charged upon them.

1. Their saying and doing were two things.

Their practice was no way agreeable either to their preaching or to their profession; for they say, and do not; they teach out of the law that which is good, but their conversation gives them the lie; and they seem to have found another way to heaven for themselves than what they show to others. See this illustrated and charged home upon them, Rom. ii. 17-24. Those are of all sinners most inexcusable that allow themselves in the sins they condemn in others, or in worse. This doth especially touch wicked ministers, who will be sure to have their portion appointed them with hypocrites (ch. xxiv. 51); for what greater hypocrisy can there be, than to press that upon others, to be believed and done, which they themselves disbelieve and disobey; pulling down in their practice what they build up in their preaching; when in the pulpit, preaching so well that it is a pity they should ever come out; but, when out of the pulpit, living so ill that it is a pity they should ever come in; like bells, that call others to church, but hang out of it themselves; or Mercurial posts, that point the way to others, but stand still themselves? Such will be judged out of their own mouths. It is applicable to all others that say, and do not; that make a plausible profession of religion, but do not live up to that profession; that make fair promises, but do not perform their promises; are full of good discourse, and can lay down the law to all about them, but are empty of good works; great talkers, but little doers; the voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. Vox et præterea nihil—mere sound. They speak fair, I go, sir; but there is no trusting them, for there are seven abominations in their heart.

2. They were very severe in imposing upon others those things which they were not themselves willing to submit to the burthen of (v. 4); They bind heavy burthens, and grievous to be borne; not only insisting upon the minute circumstances of the law, which is called a yoke (Acts xv. 10), and pressing the observation of them with more strictness and severity than God himself did (whereas the maxim of the lawyers, is Apices juris son sunt jura—Mere points of law are not law), but by adding to his words, and imposing their own inventions and traditions, under the highest penalties. They loved to show their authority and to exercise their domineering faculty, lording it over God's heritage, and saying to men's souls, Bow down, that we may go over; witness their many additions to the law of the fourth commandment, by which they made the sabbath a burthen on men's shoulders, which was designed to be the joy of their hearts. Thus with force and cruelty did those shepherds rule the flock, as of old, Ezek. xxxiv. 4.

But see their hypocrisy; They themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. (1.) They would not exercise themselves in those things which they imposed upon others; they pressed upon the people a strictness in religion which they themselves would not be bound by; but secretly transgressed their own traditions, which they publicly enforced. They indulged their pride in giving law to others; but consulted their ease in their own practice. Thus it has been said, to the reproach of the popish priests, that they fast with wine and sweetmeats, while they force the people to fast with bread and water; and decline the penances they enjoin the laity. (2.) They would not ease the people in these things, nor put a finger to lighten their burthen, when they saw it pinched them. They could find out loose constructions to put upon God's law, and could dispense with that, but would not bate an ace of their own impositions, nor dispense with a failure in the least punctilio of them. They allowed no chancery to relieve the extremity of their common law. How contrary to this was the practice of Christ's apostles, who would allow to others that use of Christian liberty which, for the peace and edification of the church, they would deny themselves in! They would lay no other burthen than necessary things, and those easy, Acts xv. 28. How carefully doth Paul spare those to whom he writes! 1 Cor. vii. 28; ix. 12.

3. They were all for show, and nothing for substance, in religion (v. 5); All their works they do, to be seen of men. We must do such good works, that they who see them may glorify God; but we must not proclaim our good works, with design that others may see them, and glorify us; which our Saviour here chargeth upon the Pharisees in general, as he had done before in the particular instances of prayer and giving of alms. All their end was to be praised of men, and therefore all their endeavour was to be seen of men, to make a fair show in the flesh. In those duties of religion which fall under the eye of men, none ere so constant and abundant as they; but in what lies between God and their souls, in the retirement of their closets, and the recesses of their hearts, they desire to be excused. The form of godliness will get them a name to live, which is all they aim at, and therefore they trouble not themselves with the power of it, which is essential to a life indeed. He that does all to be seen does nothing to the purpose.

He specifies two things which they did to be seen of men.

(1.) They made broad their phylacteries. Those were little scrolls of paper or parchment, wherein were written, with great niceness, these four paragraphs of the law, Exod. xiii. 2-11; xiii. 11-16; Deut. vi. 4-9; xi. 13-21. These were sewn up in leather, and worn upon their foreheads and left arms. It was a tradition of the elders, which had reference to Exod. xiii. 9, and Prov. vii. 3, where the expressions seem to be figurative, intimating no more than that we should bear the things of God in our minds as carefully as if we had them bound between our eyes. Now the Pharisees made broad these phylacteries, that they might be thought more holy, and strict, and zealous for the law, than others. It is a gracious ambition to covet to be really more holy than others, but it is a proud ambition to covet to appear so. It is good to excel in real piety, but not to exceed in outward shows; for overdoing is justly suspected of design, Prov. xxvii. 14. It is the guise of hypocrisy to make more ado than needs in external service, more than is needful either to prove, or to improve, the good affections and dispositions of the soul.

(2.) They enlarged the borders of their garments. God appointed the Jews to make borders or fringes upon their garments (Num. xv. 38), to distinguish them from other nations, and to be a memorandum to them of their being a peculiar people; but the Pharisees were not content to have these borders like other people's, which might serve God's design in appointing them; but they must be larger than ordinary, to answer their design of making themselves to be taken notice of; as if they were more religious than others. But those who thus enlarge their phylacteries, and the borders of their garments, while their hearts are straitened, and destitute of the love of God and their neighbour, though they may now deceive others, will in the end deceive themselves.

4. They much affected pre-eminence and superiority, and prided themselves extremely in it. Pride was the darling reigning sin of the Pharisees, the sin that did most easily beset them and which our Lord Jesus takes all occasions to witness against.

(1.) He describes their pride, v. 6, 7. They courted, and coveted,

[1.] Places of honour and respect. In all public appearances, as at feasts, and in the synagogues, they expected, and had, to their hearts' delight, the uppermost rooms, and the chief seats. They took place of all others, and precedency was adjudged to them, as persons of the greatest note and merit; and it is easy to imagine what a complacency they took in it; they loved to have the preeminence, 3 John 9. It is not possessing the uppermost rooms, nor sitting in the chief seats, that is condemned (somebody must sit uppermost), but loving them; for men to value such a little piece of ceremony as sitting highest, going first, taking the wall, or the better hand, and to value themselves upon it, to seek it, and to feel resentment if they have it not; what is that but making an idol of ourselves, and then falling down and worshipping it—the worst kind of idolatry! It is bad any where, but especially in the synagogues. There to seek honour to ourselves, where we appear in order to give glory to God, and to humble ourselves before him, is indeed to mock God instead of serving him. David would willingly lie at the threshold in God's house; so far was he from coveting the chief seat there, Ps. lxxxiv. 10. It savours much of pride and hypocrisy, when people do not care for going to church, unless they can look fine and make a figure there.

[2.] Titles of honour and respect. They loved greetings in the markets, loved to have people put off their hats to them, and show them respect when they met them in the streets. O how it pleased them, and fed their vain humour, digito monstrari et dicier, Hic est—to be pointed out, and to have it said, This be he, to have way made for them in the crowd of market people; "Stand off, here is a Pharisee coming!" and to be complimented with the high and pompous title of Rabbi, Rabbi! This was meat and drink and dainties to them; and they took as great a satisfaction in it as Nebuchadnezzar did in his palace, when he said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built? The greetings would not have done them half so much good, if they had not been in the markets, where every body might see how much they were respected, and how high they stood in the opinion of the people. It was but a little before Christ's time, that the Jewish teachers, the masters of Israel, had assumed the title of Rabbi, Rab, or Rabban, which signifies great or much; and was construed as Doctor, or My lord. And they laid such a stress upon it, that they gave it for a maxim that "he who salutes his teacher, and does not call him Rabbi, provokes the divine Majesty to depart from Israel;" so much religion did they place in that which was but a piece of good manners! For him that is taught in the word to give respect to him that teaches is commendable enough in him that gives it; but for him that teaches to love it, and demand it, and affect it, to be puffed up with it, and to be displeased if it be omitted, is sinful and abominable; and, instead of teaching, he has need to learn the first lesson in the school of Christ, which is humility.

(2.) He cautions his disciples against being herein like them; herein they must not do after their works; "But be not ye called so, for ye shall not be of such a spirit," v. 8, &c.

Here is, [1.] A prohibition of pride. They are here forbidden,

First, To challenge titles of honour and dominion to themselves, v. 8-10. It is repeated twice; Be not called Rabbi, neither be ye called Master or Guide: not that it is unlawful to give civil respect to those that are over us in the Lord, nay, it is an instance of the honour and esteem which it is our duty to show them; but, 1. Christ's ministers must not affect the name of Rabbi or Master, by way of distinction from other people; it is not agreeable to the simplicity of the gospel, for them to covet or accept the honour which they have that are in kings' palaces. 2. They must not assume the authority and dominion implied in those names; they must not be magisterial, nor domineer over their brethren, or over God's heritage, as if they had dominion over the faith of Christians: what they received of the Lord, all must receive from them; but in other things they must not make their opinions and wills a rule and standard to all other people, to be admitted with an implicit obedience. The reasons for this prohibition are,

(1.) One is your Master, even Christ, v. 8, and again, v. 10. Note, [1.] Christ is our Master, our Teacher, our Guide. Mr. George Herbert, when he named the name of Christ, usually added, My Master. [2.] Christ only is our Master, ministers are but ushers in the school. Christ only is the Master, the great Prophet, whom we must hear, and be ruled and overruled by; whose word must be an oracle and a law to us; Verily I say unto you, must be enough to us. And if he only be our Master, then for his ministers to set up for dictators, and to pretend to a supremacy and an infallibility, is a daring usurpation of that honour of Christ which he will not give to another.

(2.) All ye are brethren. Ministers are brethren not only to one another, but to the people; and therefore it ill becomes them to be masters, when there are none for them to master it over but their brethren; yea, and we are all younger brethren, otherwise the eldest might claim an excellency of dignity and power, Gen. xlix. 3. But, to preclude that, Christ himself is the first-born among many brethren, Rom. viii. 29. Ye are brethren, as ye are all disciples of the same Master. School-fellows are brethren, and, as such, should help one another in getting their lesson; but it will by no means be allowed that one of the scholars step into the master's seat, and give law to the school. If we are all brethren, we must not be many masters. Jam. iii. 1.

Secondly, They are forbidden to ascribe such titles to others (v. 9); "Call no man your father upon the earth; constitute no man the father of your religion, that is, the founder, author, director, and governor, of it." The fathers of our flesh must be called fathers, and as such we must give them reverence; but God only must be allowed as the Father of our spirits, Heb. xii. 9. Our religion must not be derived from, or made to depend upon, any man. We are born again to the spiritual and divine life, not of corruptible seed, but by the word of God; not of the will of the flesh, or the will of man, but of God. Now the will of man, not being the rise of our religion, must not be the rule of it. We must not jurare in verba magistri—swear to the dictates of any creature, not the wisest or best, nor pin our faith on any man's sleeve, because we know not whither he will carry it. St. Paul calls himself a Father to those whose conversion he had been an instrument of (1 Cor. iv. 15; Phil. 10); but he pretends to no dominion over them, and uses that title to denote, not authority, but affection: therefore he calls them not his obliged, but his beloved, sons, 1 Cor. iv. 14.

The reason given is, One is your Father, who is in heaven. God is our Father, and is All in all in our religion. He is the Fountain of it, and its Founder; the Life of it, and its Lord; from whom alone, as the Original, our spiritual life is derived, and on whom it depends. He is the Father of all lights (Jam. i. 17), that one Father, from whom are all things, and we in him, Eph. iv. 6. Christ having taught us to say, Our Father, who art in heaven; let us call no man Father upon earth; no man, because man is a worm, and the son of man is a worm, hewn out of the same rock with us; especially not upon earth, for man upon earth is a sinful worm; there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not, and therefore no one is fit to be called Father.

[2.] Here is a precept of humility and mutual subjection (v. 11); He that is greatest among you shall be your servant; not only call himself so (we know of one who styles himself Servus servorum Dei—Servant of the servants of God, but acts as Rabbi, and father, and master, and Dominus Deus noster—The Lord our God, and what not), but he shall be so. Take it as a promise; "He shall be accounted greatest, and stand highest in the favour of God, that is most submissive and serviceable;" or as a precept; "He that is advanced to any place of dignity, trust, and honour, in the church, let him be your servant" (some copies read esto for estai), "let him not think that his patent of honour is a writ of ease; no; he that is greatest is not a lord, but a minister." St. Paul, who knew his privilege as well as duty, though free from all, yet made himself servant unto all (1 Cor. ix. 19); and our Master frequently pressed it upon his disciples to be humble and self-denying, mild and condescending, and to abound in all offices of Christian love, though mean, and to the meanest; and of this he hath set us an example.

[3.] Here is a good reason for all this, v. 12. Consider,

First, The punishment intended for the proud; Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased. If God give them repentance, they will be abased in their own eyes, and will abhor themselves for it; if they repent not, sooner or later they will be abased before the world. Nebuchadnezzar, in the height of his pride, was turned to be a fellow-commoner with the beasts; Herod, to be a feast for the worms; and Babylon, that sat as a queen, to be the scorn of nations. God made the proud and aspiring priests contemptible and base (Mal. ii. 9), and the lying prophet to be the tail, Isa. ix. 15. But if proud men have not marks of humiliation set upon them in this world, there is a day coming, when they shall rise to everlasting shame and contempt (Dan. xii. 2); so plentifully will he reward the proud doer! Ps. xxxi. 23.

Secondly, The preferment intended for the humble; He that shall humble himself shall be exalted. Humility is that ornament which is in the sight of God of great price. In this world the humble have the honour of being accepted with the holy God, and respected by all wise and good men; of being qualified for, and often called out to, the most honourable services; for honour is like the shadow, which flees from those that pursue it, and grasp at it, but follows those that flee from it. However, in the other world, they that have humbled themselves in contrition for their sin, in compliance with their God, and in condescension to their brethren, shall be exalted to inherit the throne of glory; shall be not only owned, but crowned, before angels and men.

The Crimes of the Pharisees.

13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. 15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. 16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! 17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? 18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. 19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. 21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. 22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. 23 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. 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25 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. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 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. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

In these verses we have eight woes levelled directly against the scribes and Pharisees by our Lord Jesus Christ, like so many claps of thunder, or flashes of lightning, from mount Sinai. Three woes are made to look very dreadful (Rev. viii. 13; ix. 12); but here are eight woes, in opposition to the eight beatitudes, Matt. v. 3. The gospel has its woes as well as the law, and gospel curses are of all curses the heaviest. These woes are the more remarkable, not only because of the authority, but because of the meekness and gentleness, of him that denounced them. He came to bless, and loved to bless; but, if his wrath be kindled, there is surely cause for it: and who shall entreat for him that the great Intercessor pleads against? A woe from Christ is a remediless woe.

This is here the burthen of the song, and it is a heavy burthen; Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Note, 1. The scribes and Pharisees were hypocrites; that is it in which all the rest of their bad characters are summed up; it was the leaven which gave the relish to all they said and did. A hypocrite is a stage-player in religion (that is the primary signification of the word); he personates or acts the part of one that he neither is nor may be, or perhaps the he neither is nor would be. 2. That hypocrites are in a woeful state and condition. Woe to hypocrites; so he said whose saying that their case is miserable makes it so: while they live, their religion is vain; when they die, their ruin is great.

Now each of these woes against the scribes and Pharisees has a reason annexed to it containing a separate crime charged upon them, proving their hypocrisy, and justifying the judgment of Christ upon them; for his woes, his curses, are never causeless.

I. They were sworn enemies to the gospel of Christ, and consequently to the salvation of the souls of men (v. 13); They shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, that is, they did all they could to keep people from believing in Christ, and so entering into his kingdom. Christ came to open the kingdom of heaven, that is, to lay open for us a new and living way into it, to bring men to be subjects of that kingdom. Now the scribes and Pharisees, who sat in Moses's seat, and pretended to the key of knowledge, ought to have contributed their assistance herein, by opening those scriptures of the Old Testament which pointed at the Messiah and his kingdom, in their true and proper sense; they that undertook to expound Moses and the prophets should have showed the people how they testified of Christ; that Daniel's weeks were expiring, the sceptre was departed from Judah, and therefore now was the time for the Messiah's appearing. Thus they might have facilitated that great work, and have helped thousands to heaven; but, instead of this, they shut up the kingdom of heaven; they made it their business to press the ceremonial law, which was now in the vanishing, to suppress the prophecies, which were now in the accomplishing, and to beget and nourish up in the minds of the people prejudices against Christ and his doctrine.

1. They would not go in themselves; Have any of the rulers, or of the Pharisees, believed on him? John vii. 48. No; they were to proud to stoop to his meanness, too formal to be reconciled to his plainness; they did not like a religion which insisted so much on humility, self-denial, contempt of the world, and spiritual worship. Repentance was the door of admission into this kingdom, and nothing could be more disagreeable to the Pharisees, who justified and admired themselves, than to repent, that is, to accuse and abase and abhor themselves; therefore they went not in themselves; but that was not all.

2. They would not suffer them that were entering to go in. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but it is worse to keep others from him; yet that is commonly the way of hypocrites; they do not love that any should go beyond them in religion, or be better than they. Their not going in themselves was a hindrance to many; for, they having so great an interest in the people, multitudes rejected the gospel only because their leaders did; but, besides that, they opposed both Christ's entertaining of sinners (Luke vii. 39), and sinners' entertaining of Christ; they perverted his doctrine, confronted his miracles, quarrelled with his disciples, and represented him, and his institutes and economy, to the people in the most disingenuous, disadvantageous manner imaginable; they thundered out their excommunications against those that confessed him, and used all their wit and power to serve their malice against him; and thus they shut up the kingdom of heaven, so that they who would enter into it must suffer violence (ch. xi. 12), and press into it (Luke xvi. 16), through a crowd of scribes and Pharisees, and all the obstructions and difficulties they could contrive to lay in their way. How well is it for us that our salvation is not entrusted in the hands of any man or company of men in the world! If it were, we should be undone. They that shut out of the church would shut out of heaven if they could; but the malice of men cannot make the promise of God to his chosen of no effect; blessed be God, it cannot.

II. They made religion and the form of godliness a cloak and stalking-horse to their covetous practices and desires, v. 14. Observe here,

1. What their wicked practices were; they devoured widows' houses, either by quartering themselves and their attendants upon them for entertainment, which must be of the best for men of their figure; or by insinuating themselves into their affections, and so getting to be the trustees of their estates, which they could make an easy prey of; for who could presume to call such as they were to an account? The thing they aimed at was to enrich themselves; and, this being their chief and highest end, all considerations of justice and equity were laid aside, and even widows' houses were sacrificed to this. Widows are of the weaker sex in its weakest state, easily imposed upon; and therefore they fastened on them, to make a prey of. They devoured those whom, by the law of God, they were particularly obliged to protect, patronise, and relieve. There is a woe in the Old Testament to those that made widows their prey (Isa. x. 1, 2); and Christ here seconded it with his woe. God is the judge of the widows; they are his peculiar care, he establisheth their border (Prov. xv. 25), and espouseth their cause (Exod. xxii. 22, 23); yet these were they whose houses the Pharisees devoured by wholesale; so greedy were they to get their bellies filled with the treasures of wickedness! Their devouring denotes not only covetousness, but cruelty in their oppression, described Mic. iii. 3, They eat the flesh, and flay off the skin. And doubtless they did all this under colour of law; for they did it so artfully that it passed uncensured, and did not at all lessen the people's veneration for them.

2. What was the cloak with which they covered this wicked practice; For a pretence they made long prayers; very long indeed, if it be true which some of the Jewish writers tell us, that they spent three hours at a time in the formalities of meditation and prayer, and did it thrice every day, which is more than an upright soul, that makes a conscience of being inward with God in the duty, dares pretend ordinarily to do; but to the Pharisees it was easy enough, who never made a business of the duty, and always made a trade of the outside of it. By this craft they got their wealth, and maintained their grandeur. It is not probable that these long prayers were extemporary, for then (as Mr. Baxter observes) the Pharisees had much more the gift of prayer than Christ's disciples had; but rather that they were stated forms of words in use among them, which they said over by tale, as the papists drop their beads. Christ doth not here condemn long prayers, as in themselves hypocritical; nay if there were not a great appearance of good in them, they would not have been used for a pretence; and the cloak must be very thick which was used to cover such wicked practices. Christ himself continued all night in prayer to God, and we are commanded to pray without ceasing too soon; where there are many sins to be confessed, and many wants to pray for the supply of, and many mercies to give thanks for, there is occasion for long prayers. But the Pharisees' long prayers were made up of vain repetitions, and (which was the end of them) they were for a pretence; by them they got the reputation of pious devout men, that loved prayer, and were the favourites of Heaven; and by this means people were made to believe it was not possible that such men as they should cheat them;, and, therefore, happy the widow that could get a Pharisee for her trustee, and guardian to her children! Thus, while they seemed to soar heaven-ward, upon the wings of prayer, their eye, like the kite's, was all the while upon their prey on the earth, some widow's house or other that lay convenient for them. Thus circumcision was the cloak of the Shechemites' covetousness (Gen. xxxiv. 22, 23), the payment of a vow in Hebron the cover of Absalom's rebellion (2 Sam. xv. 7), a fast in Jezreel must patronise Naboth's murder, and the extirpation of Baal is the footstool of Jehu's ambition. Popish priests, under pretence of long prayers for the dead, masses and dirges, and I know not what, enrich themselves by devouring the house of the widows and fatherless. Note, It is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety, however it passeth now, will be reckoned for as double iniquity, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men.

3. The doom passed upon them for this; Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Note, (1.) There are degrees of damnation; there are some whose sin is more inexcusable, and whose ruin will therefore be more intolerable. (2.) The pretences of religion, with which hypocrites disguise or excuse their sin now, will aggravate their condemnation shortly. Such is the deceitfulness of sin, that the very thing by which sinners hope to expiate and atone for their sins will come against them, and make their sins more exceedingly sinful. But it is sad for the criminal, when his defence proves his offence, and his pleas (We have prophesied in thy name, and in thy name made long prayers) heightens the charge against him.

III. While they were such enemies to the conversion of souls to Christianity, they were very industrious in the perversion of them to their faction. They shut up the kingdom of heaven against those that would turn to Christ, but at the same time compassed sea and land to make proselytes to themselves, v. 15. Observe here,

1. Their commendable industry in making proselytes to the Jewish religion, not only proselytes of the gate, who obliged themselves to no more than the observance of the seven precepts of the sons of Noah, but proselytes of righteousness, who addicted themselves wholly to all the rites of the Jewish religion, for that was the game they flew at; for this, for one such, though but one, they compass sea and land, had many a cunning reach, and laid many a plot, rode and run, and sent and wrote, and laboured unweariedly. And what did they aim at? Not the glory of God, and the good of souls; but that they might have the credit of making them proselytes, and the advantage of making a prey of them when they were made. Note, (1.) The making of proselytes, if it be to the truth and serious godliness, and be done with a good design, is a good work, well worthy of the utmost care and pains. Such is the value of souls, that nothing must be thought too much to do, to save a soul from death. The industry of the Pharisees herein may show the negligence of many who would be thought to act from better principles, but will be at no pains or cost to propagate the gospel. (2.) To make a proselyte, sea and land must be compassed; all ways and means must be tried; first one way, and then another, must be tried, all little enough; but all well paid, if the point be gained. (3.) Carnal hearts seldom shrink from the pains necessary to carry on their carnal purposes; when a proselyte is to be made to serve a turn for themselves, they will compass sea and land to make him, rather than be disappointed.

2. Their cursed impiety in abusing their proselytes when they were made; "Ye make him the disciple of a Pharisee presently, and he sucks in all a Pharisee's notions; and so ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." Note, (1.) Hypocrites, while they fancy themselves heirs of heaven, are, in the judgment of Christ, the children of hell. The rise of their hypocrisy is from hell, for the devil is the father of lies; and the tendency of their hypocrisy is toward hell, that is the country they belong to, the inheritance they are heirs to; they are called children of hell, because of their rooted enmity to the kingdom of heaven, which was the principle and genius of Pharisaism. (2.) Though all that maliciously oppose the gospel are children of hell, yet some are twofold more so than others, more furious and bigoted and malignant. (3.) Perverted proselytes are commonly the greatest bigots; the scholars outdid their masters, [1.] In fondness of ceremony; the Pharisees themselves saw the folly of their own impositions, and in their hearts smiled at the obsequiousness of those that conformed to them; but their proselytes were eager for them. Note, Weak heads commonly admire those shows and ceremonies which wise men (however for public ends they countenance them) cannot but think meanly of. [2.] In fury against Christianity; the proselytes readily imbibed the principles which their crafty leaders were not wanting to possess them with, and so became extremely hot against the truth. The most bitter enemies the apostles met with in all places were the Hellenist Jews, who were mostly proselytes, Acts xiii. 45; xiv. 2-19; xvii. 5; xviii. 6. Paul, a disciple of the Pharisees, was exceedingly mad against the Christians (Acts xxvi. 11), when his master, Gamaliel, seems to have been more moderate.

IV. Their seeking their own worldly gain and honour more than God's glory put them upon coining false and unwarrantable distinction, with which they led the people into dangerous mistakes, particularly in the matter of oaths; which, as an evidence of a universal sense of religion, have been by all nations accounted sacred (v. 16); Ye blind guides. Note, 1. It is sad to think how many are under the guidance of such as are themselves blind, who undertake to show others that way which they are themselves willingly ignorant of. His watchmen are blind (Isa. lvi. 10); and too often the people love to have it so, and say to the seers, See not. But the case is bad, when the leaders of the people cause them to err, Isa. ix. 16. 2. Though the condition of those whose guides are blind is very sad, yet that of the blind guides themselves is yet more woeful. Christ denounces a woe to the blind guides that have the blood of so many souls to answer for.

Now, to prove their blindness, he specifies the matter of swearing, and shows what corrupt casuists they were.

(1.) He lays down the doctrine they taught.

[1.] They allowed swearing by creatures, provided they were consecrated to the service of God, and stood in any special relation to him. They allowed swearing by the temple and the altar, though they were the work of men's hands, intended to be the servants of God's honour, not sharers in it. An oath is an appeal to God, to his omniscience and justice; and to make this appeal to any creature is to put that creature in the place of God. See Deut. vi. 13.

[2.] They distinguished between an oath by the temple and an oath by the gold of the temple; an oath by the altar and an oath by the gift upon the altar; making the latter binding, but not the former. Here was a double wickedness; First, That there were some oaths which they dispensed with, and made light of, and reckoned a man was not bound by to assert the truth, or perform a promise. They ought not to have sworn by the temple or the altar; but, when they had so sworn, they were taken in the words of their mouth. That doctrine cannot be of the God of truth which gives countenance to the breach of faith in any case whatsoever. Oaths are edge-tools and are not to be jested with. Secondly, That they preferred the gold before the temple, and the gift before the altar, to encourage people to bring gifts to the altar, and gold to the treasures of the temple, which they hoped to be gainers by. Those who had made gold their hope, and whose eyes were blinded by gifts in secret, were great friends to the Corban; and, gain being their godliness, by a thousand artifices they made religion truckle to their worldly interests. Corrupt church-guides make things to be sin or not sin as it serves their purposes, and lay a much greater stress on that which concerns their own gain than on that which is for God's glory and the good of souls.

(2.) He shows the folly and absurdity of this distinction (v. 17-19); Ye fools, and blind. It was in the way of a necessary reproof, not an angry reproach, that Christ called them fools. Let it suffice us from the word of wisdom to show the folly of sinful opinions and practices: but, for the fastening of the character upon particular persons, leave that to Christ, who knows what is in man, and has forbidden us to say, Thou fool.

To convict them of folly, he appeals to themselves, Whether is greater, the gold (the golden vessels and ornaments, or the gold in the treasury) or the temple that sanctifies the gold; the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Any one will own, Propter quod aliquid est tale, id est magis tale—That, on account of which any thing is qualified in a particular way, must itself be much more qualified in the same way. They that sware by the gold of the temple had an eye to it as holy; but what was it that made it holy but the holiness of the temple, to the service of which it was appropriated? And therefore the temple cannot be less holy than the gold, but must be more so; for the less is blessed and sanctified of the better, Heb. vii. 7. The temple and altar were dedicated to God fixedly, the gold and gift but secondarily. Christ is our altar (Heb. xiii. 10), our temple (John ii. 21); for it is he that sanctifies all our gifts, and puts an acceptableness in them, 1 Pet. ii. 5. Those that put their own works into the place of Christ's righteousness in justification are guilty of the Pharisees' absurdity, who preferred the gift before the altar. Every true Christian is a living temple; and by virtue thereof common things are sanctified to him; unto the pure all things are pure (Tit. i. 15), and the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife, 1 Cor. vii. 14.

(3.) He rectifies the mistake (v. 20-22), by reducing all the oaths they had invented to the true intent of an oath, which is, By the name of the Lord: so that though an oath by the temple, or the altar, or heaven, be formally bad, yet it is binding. Quod fieri non debuit, factum valet—Engagements which ought not to have been made, are yet, when made, binding. A man shall never take advantage of his own fault.

[1.] He that swears by the altar, let him not think to shake off the obligation of it by saying, "The altar is but wood, and stone, and brass;" for his oath shall be construed most strongly against himself; because he was culpable, and so as that the obligation of it may be preserved, ut res potius valeat quam pereat—the obligation being hereby strengthened rather than destroyed. And therefore an oath by the altar shall be interpreted by it and by all things thereon; for the appurtenances pass with the principal. And, the things thereon being offered up to God, to swear by it and them was, in effect, to call God himself to witness: for it was the altar of God; and he that went to that, went to God, Ps. xliii. 4; xxvi. 6.

[2.] He that swears by the temple, if he understand what he does, cannot but apprehend that the ground of such a respect to it, is, not because it is a fine house, but because it is the house of God, dedicated to his service, the place which he has chosen to put his name there; and therefore he swears by it, and by him that dwells therein; there he was pleased in a peculiar manner to manifest himself, and give tokens of his presence; so that whoso swears by it, swears by him who had said, This is my rest, here will I dwell. Good Christians are God's temples, and the Spirit of God dwells in them (1 Cor. iii. 16; vi. 19), and God takes what is done to them as done to himself; he that grieves a gracious soul, grieves it and the Spirit that dwells in it. Eph. iv. 30.

[3.] If a man swears by heaven, he sins (ch. v. 34); yet he shall not therefore be discharged from the obligation of his oath; no, God will make him know that the heaven he swears by, is his throne (Isa. lxvi. 1); and he that swears by the throne, appeals to him that sits upon it; who, as he resents the affront done to him in the form of the oath, so he will certainly revenge the greater affront done to him by the violation of it. Christ will not countenance the evasion of a solemn oath, though ever so plausible.

V. They were very strict and precise in the smaller matters of the law, but as careless and loose in the weightier matters, v. 23, 24. They were partial in the law (Mal. ii. 9), would pick and choose their duty, according as they were interested or stood affected. Sincere obedience is universal, and he that from a right principle obeys any of God's precepts, will have respect to them all, Ps. cxix. 6. But hypocrites, who act in religion for themselves, and not for God, will do no more in religion than they can serve a turn by for themselves. The partiality of the scribes and Pharisees appears here, in two instances.

1. They observed smaller duties, but omitted greater; they were very exact in paying tithes, till it came to mint, anise, and cummin, their exactness in tithing of which would not cost them much, but would be cried up, and they should buy reputation cheap. The Pharisee boasted of this, I give tithes of all that I possess, Luke xviii. 12. But it is probable that they had ends of their own to serve, and would find their own account in it; for the priests and Levites, to whom the tithes were paid, were in their interests, and knew how to return their kindness. Paying tithes was their duty, and what the law required; Christ tells them they ought not to leave it undone. Note, All ought in their places to contribute to the support and maintenance of a standing ministry: withholding tithes is called robbing God, Mal. ii. 8-10. They that are taught in the word, and do not communicate to them that teach them that love a cheap gospel, come short of the Pharisee.

But that which Christ here condemns them for, is, that they omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith; and their niceness in paying tithes, was, if not to atone before God, yet at least to excuse and palliate to men the omission of those. All the things of God's law are weighty, but those are most weighty, which are most expressive of inward holiness in the heart; the instances of self-denial, contempt of the world, and resignation to God, in which lies the life of religion. Judgment and mercy toward men, and faith toward God, are the weightier matters of the law, the good things which the Lord our God requires (Mic. vi. 8); to do justly, and love mercy, and humble ourselves by faith to walk with God. This is the obedience which is better than sacrifice or tithe; judgment is preferred before sacrifice, Isa. i. 11. To be just to the priests in their tithe, and yet to cheat and defraud every body else, is but to mock God, and deceive ourselves. Mercy also is preferred before sacrifice, Hos. vi. 6. To feed those who made themselves fat with the offering of the Lord, and at the same time to shut up the bowels of compassion from a brother or a sister that is naked, and destitute of daily food, to pay tithe-mint to the priest, and to deny a crumb to Lazarus, is to lie open to that judgment without mercy, which is awarded to those who pretended to judgment, and showed no mercy; nor will judgment and mercy serve without faith in divine revelation; for God will be honoured in his truths as well as in his laws.

2. They avoided lesser sins, but committed greater (v. 24); Ye blind guides; so he had called them before (v. 16), for their corrupt teaching; here he calls them so for their corrupt living, for their example was leading as well as their doctrine; and in this also they were blind and partial; they strained at a gnat, and swallowed a camel. In their doctrine they strained at gnats, warned people against even the least violation of the tradition of the elders. In their practice they strained at gnats, heaved at them, with a seeming dread, as if they had a great abhorrence of sin, and were afraid of it in the least instance; but they made no difficulty of those sins which, in comparison with them, were as a camel to a gnat; when they devoured widows' houses, they did indeed swallow a camel; when they gave Judas the price of innocent blood, and yet scrupled to put the returned money into the treasury (ch. xxvii. 6); when they would not go into the judgment-hall, for fear of being defiled, and yet would stand at the door, and cry out against the holy Jesus (John xviii. 28); when they quarrelled with the disciples for eating with unwashen hands, and yet, for the filling of the Corban, taught people to break the fifth commandment, they strained at gnats, or lesser things, and yet swallowed camels. It is not the scrupling of a little sin that Christ here reproves; if it be a sin, though but a gnat, it must be strained at, but the doing of that, and then swallowing a camel. In the smaller matters of the law to be superstitious, and to be profane in the greater, is the hypocrisy here condemned.

VI. They were all for the outside, and not at all for the inside, of religion. They were more desirous and solicitous to appear pious to men than to approve themselves so toward God. This is illustrated by two similitudes.

1. They are compared to a vessel that is clean washed on the outside, but all dirt within, v. 25, 26. The Pharisees placed religion in that which at best was but a point of decency—the washing of cups, Mark vii. 4. They were in care to eat their meat in clean cups and platters, but made no conscience of getting their meat by extortion, and using it to excess. Now what a foolish thing would it be for a man to wash only the outside of a cup, which is to be looked at, and to leave the inside dirty, which is to be used; so they do who only avoid scandalous sins, that would spoil their reputation with men, but allow themselves in heart-wickedness, which renders them odious to the pure and holy God. In reference to this, observe,

(1.) The practice of the Pharisees; they made clean the outside. In those things which fell under the observation of their neighbours, they seemed very exact, and carried on their wicked intrigues with so much artifice, that their wickedness was not suspected; people generally took them for very good men. But within, in the recesses of their hearts and the close retirements of their lives, they were full of extortion and excess; of violence and incontinence (so Dr. Hammond); that is, of injustice and intemperance. While they would seem to be godly, they were neither sober nor righteous. Their inward part was very wickedness (Ps. v. 9); and that we are really, which we are inwardly.

(2.) The rule Christ gives, in opposition to this practice, v. 26. It is addressed to the blind Pharisees. They thought themselves the seers of the land, but (John ix. 39) Christ calls them blind. Note, those are blind, in Christ's account who (how quick-sighted soever they are in other things) are strangers, and no enemies, to the wickedness of their own hearts; who see not, and hate not, the secret sin that lodgeth there. Self-ignorance is the most shameful and hurtful ignorance, Rev. iii. 17. The rule is, Cleanse first that which is within. Note, the principal care of every one of us should be to wash our hearts from wickedness, Jer. iv. 14. The main business of a Christian lies within, to get cleansed from the filthiness of the spirit. Corrupt affections and inclinations, the secret lusts that lurk in the soul, unseen and unobserved, these must first be mortified and subdued. Those sins must be conscientiously abstained from, which the eye of God only is a witness to, who searcheth the heart.

Observe the method prescribed; Cleanse first that which is within not that only, but that first; because, if due care be taken concerning that, the outside will be clean also. External motives and inducements may keep the outside clean, while the inside is filthy; but if renewing, sanctifying grace make clean the inside, that will have an influence upon the outside, for the commanding principle is within. If the heart be well kept, all is well, for out of it are the issues of life; the eruptions will vanish of course. If the heart and spirit be made new, there will be a newness of life; here therefore we must begin with ourselves; first cleanse that which is within; we then make sure work, when this is our first work.

2. They are compared to whited sepulchres, v. 27, 28.

(1.) They were fair without, like sepulchres, which appear beautiful outward. Some make it to refer to the custom of the Jews to whiten graves, only for the notifying of them, especially if they were in unusual places, that people might avoid them, because of the ceremonial pollution contracted by the touch of a grave, Num. xix. 16. And it was part of the charge of the overseers of the highways, to repair that whitening when it was decayed. Sepulchres were thus made remarkable, 2 Kings xxiii. 16, 17. The formality of hypocrites, by which they study to recommend themselves to the world, doth but make all wise and good men the more careful to avoid them, for fear of being defiled by them. Beware of the scribes, Luke xx. 46. It rather alludes to the custom of whitening the sepulchres of eminent persons, for the beautifying of them. It is said here (v. 29), that they garnished the sepulchres of the righteous; as it is usual with us to erect monuments upon the graves of great persons, and to strew flowers on the graves of dear friends. Now the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was like the ornaments of a grave, or the dressing up of a dead body, only for show. The top of their ambition was to appear righteous before men, and to be applauded and had in admiration by them. But,

(2.) They were foul within, like sepulchres, full of dead men's bones, and all uncleanness: so vile are our bodies, when the soul has deserted them! Thus were they full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Hypocrisy is the worst iniquity of all other. Note, It is possible for those that have their hearts full of sin, to have their lives free from blame, and to appear very good. But what will it avail us, to have the good word of our fellow-servants, if our Master doth not say, Well done? When all other graves are opened, these whited sepulchres will be looked into, and the dead men's bones, and all the uncleanness, shall be brought out, and be spread before all the host of heaven, Jer. viii. 1, 2. For it is the day when God shall judge, not the shows, but the secrets, of men. And it will then be small comfort to them who shall have their portion with hypocrites, to remember how creditably and plausibly they went to hell, applauded by all their neighbours.

VII. They pretended a deal of kindness for the memory of the prophets that were dead and gone, while they hated and persecuted those that were present with them. This is put last, because it was the blackest part of their character. God is jealous for his honour in his laws and ordinances, and resents it if they be profaned and abused; but he has often expressed an equal jealousy for his honour in his prophets and ministers, and resents it worse if they be wronged and persecuted: and therefore, when our Lord Jesus comes to this head, he speaks more fully than upon any of the other (v. 29-37); for that toucheth his ministers, toucheth his Anointed, and toucheth the apple of his eye. Observe here,

1. The respect which the scribes and Pharisees pretend for the prophets that were gone, v. 29, 30. This was the varnish, and that in which they outwardly appeared righteous.

(1.) They honoured the relics of the prophets, they built their tombs, and garnished their sepulchres. It seems, the places of their burial were known, David's sepulchre was with them, Acts ii. 29. There was a title upon the sepulchre of the man of God (2 Kings xxiii. 17), and Josiah thought it respect enough not to move his bones, v. 18. But they would do more, rebuild and beautify them. Now consider this, [1.] As an instance of honour done to deceased prophets, who, while they lived, were counted as the off-scouring of all things, and had all manner of evil spoken against them falsely. Note, God can extort, even from bad men, an acknowledgment of the honour of piety and holiness. Them that honour God he will honour, and sometimes with those from whom contempt is expected, 2 Sam. vi. 22. The memory of the just is blessed, when the names of those that hated and persecuted them shall be covered with shame. The honour of constancy and resolution in the way of duty will be a lasting honour; and those that are manifest to God, will be manifest in the consciences of those about them. [2.] As an instance of the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, who paid their respect to them. Note, Carnal people can easily honour the memories of faithful ministers that are dead and gone, because they do not reprove them, nor disturb them, in their sins. Dead prophets are seers that see not, and those they can bear well enough; they do not torment them, as the living witnesses do, that bear their testimony viva voce—with a living voice, Rev. xi. 10. They can pay respect to the writings of the dead prophets, which tell them what they should be; but not the reproofs of the living prophets, which tell them what they are. Sit divus, modo non sit vivus—Let there be saints; but let them not be living here. The extravagant respect which the church of Rome pays to the memory of saints departed, especially the martyrs, dedicating days and places to their names, enshrining their relics, praying to them, and offering to their images, while they make themselves drunk with the blood of the saints of their own day, is a manifest proof that they not only succeed, but exceed, the scribes and Pharisees in a counterfeit hypocritical religion, which builds the prophets' tombs, but hates the prophets' doctrine.

(2.) They protested against the murder of them (v. 30); If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them. They would never have consented to the silencing of Amos, and the imprisonment of Micaiah, to the putting of Hanani in the stocks, and Jeremiah in the dungeon, to the stoning of Zechariah, the mocking of all the messengers of the Lord, and the abuses put upon his prophets; no, not they, they would sooner have lost their right hands than have done any such thing. What, is thy servant a dog? And yet they were at this time plotting to murder Christ, to whom all the prophets bore witness. They think, if they had lived in the days of the prophets, they would have heard them gladly and obeyed; and yet they rebelled against the light that Christ brought into the world. But it is certain, a Herod and an Herodias to John the Baptist, would have been an Ahab and a Jezebel to Elijah. Note, The deceitfulness of sinners' hearts appears very much in this, that, while they go down the stream of the sins of their own day, they fancy they should have swum against the stream of the sins of the former days; that, if they had had other people's opportunities, they should have improved them more faithfully; if they had been in other people's temptations, they should have resisted them more vigorously; when yet they improve not the opportunities they have, nor resist the temptations they are in. We are sometimes thinking, if we had lived when Christ was upon earth, how constantly we would have followed him; we would not have despised and rejected him, as they then did; and yet Christ in his Spirit, in his word, in his ministers, is still no better treated.

2. Their enmity and opposition to Christ and his gospel, notwithstanding, and the ruin they were bringing upon themselves and upon that generation thereby, v. 31-33. Observe here,

(1.) The indictment proved; Ye are witnesses against yourselves. Note, Sinners cannot hope to escape the judgment of Christ for want of proof against them, when it is easy to find them witnesses against themselves; and their very pleas will not only be overruled, but turned to their conviction, and their own tongues shall be made to fall upon them, Ps. lxiv. 8.

[1.] By their own confession, it was the great wickedness of their forefathers, to kill the prophets; so that they knew the fault of it, and yet were themselves guilty of the same fact. Note, They who condemn sin in others, and yet allow the same or worse in themselves, are of all others most inexcusable, Rom. i. 32-ii. 1. They knew they ought not to have been partakers with persecutors, and yet were the followers of them. Such self-contradictions now will amount to self-condemnations in the great day. Christ puts another construction upon their building of the tombs of the prophets than what they intended; as if by beautifying their graves they justified their murderers (Luke xi. 48), for they persisted in the sin.

[2.] By their own confession, these notorious persecutors were their ancestors; Ye are the children of them. They meant no more than that they were their children by blood and nature; but Christ turns it upon them;, that they were so by spirit and disposition; You are of those fathers, and their lusts you will do. They are, as you say, your fathers, and you patrizare—take after your fathers; it is the sin that runs in the blood among you. As your fathers did, so do ye, Acts vii. 51. They came of a persecuting race, were a seed of evil doers (Isa. i. 4), risen up in their fathers' stead, Num. xxxii. 14. Malice, envy, and cruelty, were bred in the bone with them, and they had formerly espoused it for a principle, to do as their fathers did, Jer. xliv. 17. And it is observable here (v. 30) how careful they are to mention the relation; "They were our fathers, that killed the prophets, and they were men in honour and power, whose sons and successors we are." If they had detested the wickedness of their ancestors, as they ought to have done, they would not have been so fond to call them their fathers; for it is no credit to be akin to persecutors, though they have ever so much dignity and dominion.

(2.) The sentence passed upon them. Christ here proceeds,

[1.] To give them up to sin as irreclaimable (v. 32); Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. If Ephraim be joined to idols, and hate to be reformed, let him alone. He that is filthy, let him be filthy still. Christ knew they were now contriving his death, and in a few days would accomplish it; "Well," saith he, "go on with your plot, take your curse, walk in the way of your heart and in the sight of your eyes, and see what will come of it. What thou doest, do quickly. You will but fill up the measure of guilt, which will then overflow in a deluge of wrath." Note, First, There is a measure of sin to be filled up, before utter ruin comes upon persons and families, churches and nations. God will bear long, but the time will come when he can no longer forbear, Jer. xliv. 22. We read of the measure of the Amorites that was to be filled (Gen. xv. 16), of the harvest of the earth being ripe for the sickle (Rev. xiv. 15-19), and of sinners making an end to deal treacherously, arriving at a full stature in treachery, Isa. xxxiii. 1. Secondly, Children fill up the measure of their fathers' sins whey they are gone, if they persist in the same or the like. That national guilt which brings national ruin is made up of the sin of many in several ages, and in the successions of societies there is a score going on; for God justly visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children that tread in the steps of it. Thirdly, Persecuting Christ, and his people and ministers, is a sin that fills the measure of a nation's guilt sooner than any other. This was it that brought wrath without remedy upon the fathers (2 Chron. xxxvi. 16), and wrath to the utmost upon the children too, 1 Thess. ii. 16. This was that fourth transgression, of which, when added to the other three, the Lord would not turn away the punishment, Amos i. 3, 6, 9, 11, 13. Fourthly, It is just with God to give those up to their own heart's lusts, who obstinately persist in the gratification of them. Those who will run headlong to ruin, let the reins be laid on their neck, and it is the saddest condition a man can be in on this side hell.

[2.] He proceeds to give them up to ruin as irrecoverable, to a personal ruin in the other world (v. 33); Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? These are strange words to come from the mouth of Christ, into whose lips grace was poured. But he can and will speak terror, and in these words he explains and sums up the eight woes he had denounced against the scribes and Pharisees.

Here is, First, Their description; Ye serpents. Doth Christ call names? Yes, but this doth not warrant us to do so. He infallibly knew what was in man, and knew them to be subtle as serpents, cleaving to the earth, feeding on dust; they had a specious outside, but were within malignant, had poison under their tongues, the seed of the old serpent. They were a generation of vipers; they and those that went before them, they and those that joined with them, were a generation of envenomed, enraged, spiteful adversaries to Christ and his gospel. They loved to be called of men, Rabbi, rabbi, but Christ calls them serpents and vipers; for he gives men their true characters, and delights to put contempt upon the proud.

Secondly, Their doom. He represents their condition as very sad, and in a manner desperate; How can ye escape the damnation of hell? Christ himself preached hell and damnation, for which his ministers have often been reproached by those that care not to hear of it. Note, 1. The damnation of hell will be the fearful end of all impenitent sinners. This doom coming from Christ, was more terrible than coming from all the prophets and ministers that ever were, for he is the Judge, into whose hands the keys of hell and death are put, and his saying they were damned, made them so. 2. There is a way of escaping this damnation, this is implied here; some are delivered from the wrath to come. 3. Of all sinners, those who are of the spirit of the scribes and Pharisees, are least likely to escape this damnation; for repentance and faith are necessary to that escape; and how will they be brought to these, who are so conceited of themselves, and so prejudiced against Christ and his gospel, as they were? How could they be healed and saved, who could not bear to have their wound searched, nor the balm of Gilead applied to it? Publicans and harlots, who were sensible of their disease and applied themselves to the Physician, were more likely to escape the damnation of hell than those who, though they were in the high road to it, were confident they were in the way to heaven.

The Doom of the Pharisees; The Guilt and Doom of Jerusalem.

34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: 35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. 37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

We have left the blind leaders fallen into the ditch, under Christ's sentence, into the damnation of hell; let us see what will become of the blind followers, of the body of the Jewish church, and particularly Jerusalem.

I. Jesus Christ designs yet to try them with the means of grace; I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes. The connection is strange; "You are a generation of vipers, not likely to escape the damnation of hell;" one would think it should follow, "Therefore you shall never have a prophet sent to you any more;" but no, "Therefore I will send unto you prophets, to see if you will yet at length be wrought upon, or else to leave you inexcusable, and to justify God in your ruin." It is therefore ushered in with a note of admiration, behold! Observe,

1. It is Christ that sends them; I send. By this he avows himself to be God, having power to gift and commission prophets. It is an act of kingly office; he sends them as ambassadors to treat with us about the concerns of our souls. After his resurrection, he made this word good, when he said, So send I you, John xx. 21. Though now he appeared mean, yet he was entrusted with this great authority.

2. He sends them to the Jews first; "I send them to you." They began at Jerusalem; and, wherever they went, they observed this rule, to make the first tender of gospel grace to the Jews, Acts xiii. 46.

3. Those he sends are called prophets, wise men, and scribes, Old-Testament names for New-Testament officers; to show that the ministers sent to them now should not be inferior to the prophets of the Old Testament, to Solomon the wise, or Ezra the scribe. The extraordinary ministers, who in the first ages were divinely inspired, were as the prophets commissioned immediately from heaven; the ordinary settled ministers, who were then, and continue in the church still, and will do to the end of time, are as the wise men and scribes, to guide and instruct the people in the things of God. Or, we may take the apostles and evangelists for the prophets and wise men, and the pastors and teachers for the scribes, instructed to the kingdom of heaven (ch. xiii. 52); for the office of a scribe was honourable till the men dishonoured it.

II. He foresees and foretels the ill usage that his messengers would meet with among them; "Some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and yet I will send them." Christ knows beforehand how ill his servants will be treated, and yet sends them, and appoints them their measure of sufferings; yet he loves them never the less for his thus exposing them, for he designs to glorify himself by their sufferings, and them after them; he will counter-balance them, though not prevent them. Observe,

1. The cruelty of these persecutors; Ye shall kill and crucify them. It is no less than the blood, the life-blood, that they thirst after; their lust is not satisfied with any thing short of their destruction, Exod. xv. 9. They killed the two James's, crucified Simon the son of Cleophas, and scourged Peter and John; thus did the members partake of the sufferings of the Head, he was killed and crucified, and so were they. Christians must expect to resist unto blood.

2. Their unwearied industry; Ye shall persecute them from city to city. As the apostles went from city to city, to preach the gospel, the Jews dodged them, and haunted them, and stirred up persecution against them, Acts xiv. 19; xvii. 13. They that did not believe in Judea were more bitter enemies to the gospel than any other unbelievers, Rom. xv. 31.

3. The pretence of religion in this; they scourged them in their synagogues, their place of worship, where they kept their ecclesiastical courts; so that they did it as a piece of service to the church; cast them out, and said, Let the Lord be glorified, Isa. lxvi. 5; John xvi. 2.

III. He imputes the sin of their fathers to them, because they imitated it; That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, v. 35, 36. Though God bear long with a persecuting generation, he will not bear always; and patience abused, turns into the greatest wrath. The longer sinners have been heaping up treasures of wickedness, the deeper and fuller will the treasures of wrath be; and the breaking of them up will be like breaking up the fountains of the great deep.

Observe, 1. The extent of this imputation; it takes in all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, that is, the blood shed for righteousness' sake, which has all been laid up in God's treasury, and not a drop of it lost, for it is precious. Ps. lxxii. 14. He dates the account from the blood of righteous Abel, thence this æra martyrum—age of martyrs—commences; he is called righteous Abel, for he obtained witness from heaven, that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. How early did martyrdom come into the world! The first that died, died for his religion, and, being dead, he yet speaketh. His blood not only cried against Cain, but continues to cry against all that walk in the way of Cain, and hate and persecute their brother, because their works are righteous. He extends it to the blood of Zacharias, the son of Barachias (v. 36), not Zecharias the prophet (as some would have it), though he was the son of Barachias (Zech. i. 1.) nor Zecharias the father of John Baptist, as others say; but, as is most probable, Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, who was slain in the court of the Lord's house, 2 Chron. xxiv. 20, 21. His father is called Barachias, which signifies much the same with Jehoiada; and it was usual among the Jews for the same person to have two names; whom ye slew, ye of this nation, though not of this generation. This is specified, because the requiring of that is particularly spoken of (2 Chron. xxiv. 22), as that of Abel's is. The Jews imagined that the captivity had sufficiently atoned for the guilt; but Christ lets them know that it was not yet fully accounted for, but remained upon the score. And some think that this is mentioned with a prophetical hint, for there was one Zecharias, the son of Baruch, whom Josephus speaks of (War 4. 335), who was a just and good man, who was killed in the temple a little before it was destroyed by the Romans. Archbishop Tillotson thinks that Christ both alludes to the history of the former Zecharias in Chronicles, and foretels the death of this latter in Josephus. Though the latter was not yet slain, yet, before this destruction comes, it would be true that they had slain him; so that all shall be put together from first to last.

2. The effect of it; All these things shall come; all the guilt of this blood, all the punishment of it, it shall all come upon this generation. The misery and ruin that are coming upon them, shall be so very great, that, though, considering the evil of their own sins, it was less that even those deserved; yet, comparing it with other judgments, it will seem to be a general reckoning for all the wickedness of their ancestors, especially their persecutions, to all which God declared this ruin to have special reference and relation. The destruction shall be so dreadful, as if God had once for all arraigned them for all the righteous blood shed in the world. It shall come upon this generation; which intimates, that it shall come quickly; some here shall live to see it. Note, The sorer and nearer the punishment of sin is, the louder is the call to repentance and reformation.

IV. He laments the wickedness of Jerusalem, and justly upbraids them with the many kind offers he had made them, v. 37. See with what concern he speaks of that city; O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The repetition is emphatical, and bespeaks abundance of commiseration. A day or two before Christ had wept over Jerusalem, now he sighed and groaned over it. Jerusalem, the vision of peace (so it signifies), must now be the seat of war and confusion. Jerusalem, that had been the joy of the whole earth, must now be a hissing, and an astonishment, and a by-word; Jerusalem, that has been a city compact together, shall now be shattered and ruined by its own intestine broils. Jerusalem, the place that God has chosen to put his name there, shall now be abandoned to the spoil and the robbers, Lam. i. 1, iv. 1. But wherefore will the Lord do all this to Jerusalem? Why? Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, Lam. i. 8.

1. She persecuted God's messengers; Thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee. This sin is especially charged upon Jerusalem; because there the Sanhedrim, or great council, sat, who took cognizance of church matters, and therefore a prophet could not perish but in Jerusalem, Luke xiii. 33. It is true, they had not now a power to put any man to death, but they killed the prophets in popular tumults, mobbed them, as Stephen, and put the Roman powers on to kill them. At Jerusalem, where the gospel was first preached, it was first persecuted (Acts viii. 1), and that place was the head-quarters of the persecutors; thence warrants were issued out to other cities, and thither the saints were brought bound, Acts ix. 2. Thou stonest them: that was a capital punishment, in use only among the Jews. By the law, false prophets and seducers were to be stoned (Deut. xiii. 10), under colour of which law, they put the true prophets to death. Note, It has often been the artifice of Satan, to turn that artillery against the church, which was originally planted in the defence of it. Brand the true prophets as seducers, and the true professors of religion as heretics and schismatics, and then it will be easy to persecute them. There was abundance of other wickedness in Jerusalem; but this was the sin that made the loudest cry, and which God had an eye to more than any other, in bringing that ruin upon them, as 2 Kings xxiv. 4; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16. Observe, Christ speaks in the present tense; Thou killest, and stonest; for all they had done, and all they would do, was present to Christ's notice.

2. She refused and rejected Christ, and gospel offers. The former was a sin without remedy, this against the remedy. Here is, (1.) The wonderful grace and favour of Jesus Christ toward them; How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings! Thus kind and condescending are the offers of gospel grace, even to Jerusalem's children, bad as she is, the inhabitants, the little ones not excepted. [1.] The favour proposed was the gathering of them. Christ's design is to gather poor souls, gather them in from their wanderings, gather them home to himself, as the Centre of unity; for to him must the gathering of the people be. He would have taken the whole body of the Jewish nation into the church, and so gathered them all (as the Jews used to speak of proselytes) under the wings of the Divine Majesty. It is here illustrated by a humble similitude; as a hen clucks her chickens together. Christ would have gathered them, First, With such a tenderness of affection as the hen does, which has, by instinct, a peculiar concern for her young ones. Christ's gathering of souls, comes from his love, Jer. xxxi. 3. Secondly, For the same end. The hen gathered her chickens under her wings, for protection and safety, and for warmth and comfort; poor souls have in Christ both refuge and refreshment. The chickens naturally run to the hen for shelter, when they are threatened by the birds of prey; perhaps Christ refers to that promise (Ps. xci. 4), He shall cover thee with his feathers. There is healing under Christ's wings (Mal. iv. 2); that is more than the hen has for her chickens.

[2.] The forwardness of Christ to confer this favour. His offers are, First, Very free; I would have done it. Jesus Christ is truly willing to receive and save poor souls that come to him. He desires not their ruin, he delights in their repentance. Secondly, Very frequent; How often! Christ often came up to Jerusalem, preached, and wrought miracles there; and the meaning of all this, was, he would have gathered them. He keeps account how often his calls have been repeated. As often as we have heard the sound of the gospel, as often as we have felt the strivings of the Spirit, so often Christ would have gathered us.

[3.] Their wilful refusal of this grace and favour; Ye would not. How emphatically is their obstinacy opposed to Christ's mercy! I would, and ye would not. He was willing to save them, but they were not willing to be saved by him. Note, It is wholly owing to the wicked wills of sinners, that they are not gathered under the wings of the Lord Jesus. They did not like the terms upon which Christ proposed to gather them; they loved their sins, and yet trusted to their righteousness; they would not submit either to the grace of Christ or to his government, and so the bargain broke off.

V. He reads Jerusalem's doom (v. 38, 39); Therefore behold your house is left unto you desolate. Both the city and the temple, God's house and their own, all shall be laid waste. But it is especially meant of the temple, which they boasted of, and trusted to; that holy mountain because of which they were so haughty. Note, they that will not be gathered by the love and grace of Christ shall be consumed and scattered by his wrath; I would, and you would not. Israel would none of me, so I gave them up, Ps. lxxxi. 11, 12.

1. Their house shall be deserted; It is left unto you. Christ was now departing from the temple, and never came into it again, but by this word abandoned it to ruin. They doated on it, would have it to themselves; Christ must have no room or interest there. "Well," saith Christ, "it is left to you; take it, and make your best of it; I will never have any thing more to do with it." They had made it a house of merchandise, and a den of thieves, and so it is left to them. Not long after this, the voice was heard in the temple, "Let us depart hence." When Christ went, Ichabod, the glory departed. Their city also was left to them, destitute of God's presence and grace; he was no longer a wall of fire about them, nor the glory in the midst of them.

2. It shall be desolate; It is left unto you desolate; it is left eremos—a wilderness. (1.) It was immediately, when Christ left it, in the eyes of all that understood themselves, a very dismal melancholy place. Christ's departure makes the best furnished, best replenished place a wilderness, though it be the temple, the chief place of concourse; for what comfort can there be where Christ is not? Though there may be a crowd of other contentments, yet, if Christ's special spiritual presence be withdrawn, that soul, that place, is become a wilderness, a land of darkness, as darkness itself. This comes of men's rejecting Christ, and driving him away from them. (2.) It was, not long after, destroyed and ruined, and not one stone left upon another. The lot of Jerusalem's enemies will now become Jerusalem's lot, to be made of a city a heap, of a defenced city a ruin (Isa. xxv. 2), a lofty city laid low, even to the ground, Isa. xxvi. 5. The temple, that holy and beautiful house, became desolate. When God goes out, all enemies break in.

Lastly, Here is the final farewell that Christ took of them and their temple; Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh. This bespeaks,

1. His departure from them. The time was at hand, when he should leave the world, to go to his Father, and be seen no more. After his resurrection, he was seen only by a few chosen witnesses, and they saw him not long, but he soon removed to the invisible world, and there will be till the time of the restitution of all things, when his welcome at his first coming will be repeated with loud acclamations; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Christ will not be seen again till he come in the clouds, and every eye shall see him (Rev. i. 7); and then, even they, who, when time was, rejected and pierced him, will be glad to come in among his adorers; then every knee shall bow to him, even those that had bowed to Baal; and even the workers of iniquity will then cry, Lord, Lord, and will own, when his wrath is kindled, that blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Would we have our lot in that day with those that say, Blessed is he that cometh? let us be with them now, with them that truly worship, and truly welcome, Jesus Christ.

2. Their continued blindness and obstinacy; Ye shall not see me, that is, not see me to be the Messiah (for otherwise they did see him upon the cross), not see the light of the truth concerning me, nor the things that belong to your peace, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh. They will never be convinced, till Christ's second coming convince them, when it will be too late to make an interest in him, and nothing will remain but a fearful looking for of judgment. Note, (1.) Wilful blindness is often punished with judicial blindness. If they will not see, they shall not see. With this word he concludes his public preaching. After his resurrection, which was the sign of the prophet Jonas, they should have no other sign given them, till they should see the sign of the Son of man, ch. xxiv. 30. (2.) When the Lord comes with ten thousand of his saints, he will convince all, and will force acknowledgments from the proudest of his enemies, of his being the Messiah, and even they shall be found liars to him. They that would not now come at his call, shall then be forced to depart with his curse. The chief priests and scribes were displeased with the children for crying hosanna to Christ; but the day is coming, when proud persecutors would gladly be found in the condition of the meanest and poorest they now trample upon. They who now reproach and ridicule the hosannas of the saints will be of another mind shortly; it were therefore better to be of that mind now. Some make this to refer to the conversion of the Jews to the faith of Christ; then they shall see him, and own him, and say, Blessed is he that cometh; but it seems rather to look further, for the complete manifestation of Christ, and conviction of sinners, are reserved to be the glory of the last day.

CHAP. XXIII.

Verse 1. Then spake Iesus to the multitude, &c.] CHrist having confuted and confounded the Scribes and Pharisees, turns him to the people and to his Disciples: and that he might do nothing to the detriment of the truth, he here [illegible: 1 word], that they despise not the doctrine of the Pharisees, so far [illegible: 1 word] it was sound and sincere without leaven; but try all things, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. [illegible: 3 words]. Deligas [illegible: 2 words]. [illegible: 1 word] fast that which was good. Be advised, and remember to search into the truth of what you hear, was the counsell of Epicharmus.

Verse 2. Sit in Moses chair] i. e. Have the ordinary office of teaching the people, but quo iure, he questioneth not. The Preists and Levites should have done it, but the Scribes and Pharisees had [non-Latin text not transcribed]. [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word]. for present taken it upon them, stept into the chair, and there set [illegible: 1 word]. R m. 2. 20. So Hildebrand and his successours, have invaded Peters chair, as they call the sea of Rome, but what said an Ancient? Non habent Petri haereditatem, qui [illegible: 1 word] non [illegible: 1 word]. They have no right to Peters chaire, that have not Peters faith. The Index [illegible: 1 word], commands (sublestâ fide,) instead of Fidem Petri, to print it Sedem Petri. [illegible: 1 word] Quintil. lib. 9. [illegible: 1 word] 2. [illegible: 1 word], said Calvus to Vatinius, & digniorem [illegible: 1 word] dic qui Praetor [illegible: 1 word] Catonem. Put on a good face, and say that thou art [illegible: 1 word] for the office then Cato himself. But what a bold face had [illegible: 1 word] the [illegible: 1 word] who meeting the devil, required his chair of [illegible: 5 words]. him, as one that better deserved it? He had his desire I doubt not. But if [illegible: 1 word] and Pharisees sat in [illegible: 1 word] chair, it's no news [illegible: 1 word] for bad men to succeed better; as Timotheus Herulus did Proterius the good Bishop of Alexandria, and as Arminius did Junius in the [illegible: 1 word] place at Leyden.

Verse 3. All therefore whatsoever] Not their traditions, superstitions, and corrupt glosses upon the Law, but whatsoever they teach that is agreable to truth: so long as they sit close to Moses chair, and keep it warm, as it were, hearken to them. Gods good gifts are to be acknowledged and improved even in the worst, as David made Sauls epitaph, 2 Sam. 1. though the devil preached his funerall, 1 Sam. 28. 19. But do not ye after [illegible: 1 word] works] If Ministers do well, saith Chrysostom, it is [illegible: 1 word] own gain, if they say [illegible: 1 word], it is [illegible: 1 word]. Take [illegible: 5 words]. thou what thine own is, and let alone what is another mans. Sylla and K. Richard the third commanded others, under great penalties, to be vertuous and modest, when themselves walked the [illegible: 1 word] contrary way. A deformed painter may draw a goodly [illegible: 1 word] quod tuumest, [illegible: 1 word] alienum. picture, a stinking breath, sound a mighty blast, and he that hath but a bad voice, shew cunning in descant. A blinde man may bear [illegible: 1 word]. a torch in a dark night, and a harp make musick to others, which it self is not sensible of. Posts set for direction of [illegible: 1 word] by the highway-side, do point out the way which themselves go not: And signe-posts [illegible: 1 word] the travellour there is wholesome diet or warm lodging within, when themselves remain in the storms without. Leud preachers are like spirie-steeples, or high-[illegible: 1 word], which point up to heaven, but presse down to the center. For they say, and do not] They had tongues which spake by the talent, but their hands scarce wrought by the ounce; like that ridiculous actour at Smyrna, who pronouncing ô caelum, ô heaven,Of this actour, [illegible: 1 word] chafing said [non-Latin text not transcribed]. pointed with his finger toward the ground: so these Pharisees had the heaven commonly at their tongues end, but the earth continually at their fingers-end. In a certain battel against the Turks, there was a Bishop that thus encouraged the army. Play the men fellow-souldiers, to day; and I dare promise you that if ye dye fighting, ye shall sup to night with God in heaven. Now after the battel was begun, the Bishop withdrew himself: And when some of the souldiers enquired among themselves what was become [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word]. com. p. [illegible: 1 word]. of the Bishop; and why he would not take a supper with them that night in heaven, others answered, Hodie sibi jejunium indixit, ideo que non vult nobiscum in caelo caenare. This is fastingday with him, and therefore he will eat no supper, no not in heaven. Epictetus was wont to say, that there were many Philosophers [non-Latin text not transcribed], &c. [illegible: 1 word] ap Di. onem. (we may say, Divines) [non-Latin text not transcribed], as far as a few words would go. But is religion now become a word? goodnesse a name (as Brutus once cryed out?) Should it be said of holinesse, as it was once in another place, Audivimus famam; Iob. 28 22. [illegible: 2 words]. we have heard the fame thereof with our ears, and that's all? The foolish Virgins were found with their sic dicentes, but the good servants shall be found with their sic facientes. Christ wasIob. 1. 16. full of grace, as well as truth. John Baptist was both a burning and shining light. Origens teaching and living were said to be both one. That's the best Sermon [illegible: 1 word], that's digg'd out of a [non-Latin text not transcribed]. [illegible: 1 word] Quod [illegible: 1 word] &. gessit. [illegible: 1 word]. ep [illegible: 1 word]. mans own brest, when he practiseth what he preacheth, non [illegible: 1 word] solum praedicans sed exemplis, as Eusebius testifieth of Origen, and Mr Gataker of Mr Stock. As the want hereof [illegible: 1 word] Campian to write Ministris corum nibil vilius, their [illegible: 1 word] are most base.

Verse 4. For they binde heavy burdens, &c.] Their humane [illegible: 1 word]: so do the Popish Doctours (heires herein to the [illegible: 1 word], of whom this Sermon is not more historicall, then of the other it is propheticall,) The inferiour Clergy they make preach every day in Lent without intermission, throughout all Italy in the greater cities: so as six daies in the week they preach on the Gospel of the daies, and on the Saturday in honour and praise of our Lady. Whereas the Pope and Bishops preach not at all. So Sands his Surv. sect. 27. for the Laity; they must fast with bread and water; when the Priests have their suckets and other sweet meats three or four times on their mock-fast-daies. What should we speak of their pilgrimages to Peru, Ierusalem, &c. penances, satisfactions, &c. And no man must question, but obey without sciscitation. Walter Mapes sometimes Archdeacon of Oxford, relating the Popes [illegible: 1 word] simony concludes, Sit tamen Domina mater que [illegible: 1 word] Roma baculus in aquâ fractus, & absit credere quae vidimus. In things that make against our Lady-Mother Rome, we may not beleeve our own eyes.

Verse 5. To be seen of men] Theatrically, thrasonically, and for ostentation, as stage-players or painted-faces. See notes on, chap. 6. verse 2. 5. Saints more seek to be good, then seem to be so. They make broad their Phylacteries] That is, Conservatories, so called 1. Because of the use of them, the law was kept in remembrance. 2. Because the superstitious Pharisees conceited, that by the wearing of them about their necks, themselves might be kept from danger, as by so many spels: what they were, see the Notes above on, Matth. 22. 40. Enlarge the borders of their garments] God had charged the [illegible: 1 word] to binde the law to their hand, and before their [illegible: 1 word], [illegible: 1 word]. 6. 8. wherein (as Hierom and Theophylact well interpret it) he meant the meditation and practice of his law. They (saith a learned Author) like unto the foolish patient, which when the [illegible: 1 word] si puellus [illegible: 1 word] patris pij vestigijs in fistendum, patris iter sacient is sirgula vestigia observaret, & in ijsdem pedes suos poneret. Physitian bids him take the prescript, eats up the paper, if they could but get a list of parchment upon their left arme next their heart, and another scroll to tye upon their forehead, and four corners of fringe, or (if these be denied) a red threed in their hand, thought they might say, Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have done the commandment of the Lord. What was this but as Mr Tindall said in another case, to think to quench their thirst by1 Sam, 16. 13. sucking the Ale-powl.

Verse 6. And love the uppermost rooms] Which is a singular vanity, and yet hath bred greatest contestation in the Church; as between the Bishops of Rome and Constantinople, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York justling in Parliament for precedency, even unto blows and bloodshed: what dolefull effects followed upon the contention between the Lord Protectour and his brother in K. Edward the sixths daies, raised by their [illegible: 1 word] wives, who could not agree about place? The Apostles rule is, in honour to pre [illegible: 1 word] one another, Rom. 12. 10. And true humility is like true balm, that still in water sinks to the bottome: like the violet, the sweetest but lowest of flowers, which hangs the head downwards, and hides it self with its own leaves.

Verse 7. And to be called of men Rabbi] They were tickled with high titles, and thought it a goodly thing to be held and stiled Magnifico's, to be flie-blown with flatteries. There is not a more vainglorious people under heaven then the Jews. Hence that [illegible: 1 word] Chronol. pag. 432. rabble of titles amongst them in this order ([illegible: 1 word] in a little before the nativity of our Saviour) Rabbi Rabban, Rab, Rabbi, Gaon, Moreh, Morenn and Moreh tsedek. So the Friers proceed Sands his Surv. in their vain-glorious titles from Padre benedicto to Padre Angelo, then Archangelo, Cherubino, and lastly Cerephino, which is the top of perfection. Are not these those [non-Latin text not transcribed] the Apostle inveighs against, those great swelling titles 2 Pet 2. 18. of vanity? [illegible: 1 word] 16.

Verse 8. Be not ye called Rabbi] Do not ambitiously affect such a title, as if you were the only ones, and others not worthy to be named in the same day with you. Swelling in the body is an ill symptom, but worse in the soul. For one is your master] Your guide to godlinesse, and happinesse, [non-Latin text not transcribed] your Doctour and dictatour, your Oracle, your Ipse dixit, whose bare word you are to take, without further proof or pawn. And all [illegible: 1 word] are brethren] Not as the Pope calls his Cardinalls brethren, when in creating them, he useth this form, [illegible: 1 word] fratres nostri, & Principes [illegible: 1 word]. Odi fastum illius Ecclesiae, saith Basil, which caused the lamentable seperation of the Eastern or Greek Church, from communion with the Latine, the other four Patriachs dividing themselves from the Bishop of Rome, for his encroaching upon them.

Verse 9. Call no man your father] i.e. Give no man absolute power over you; be not the servants of men, or slaves to their opinions or mandates, as Friers are to their superiours, to argue or debate on whose commands is held high presumption: to search their reasons, proud curiosity: to detract or disobey them, breach of vow equall to sacriledge.Quibus nibil placet nisi quod e capitis sui lirippio ipsi protulerint.

Verse 10. One is your master] Where then are Magistri nostri Parisienses? our Doctores resolutissimi? our Masters of opinions, whose word must stand for a law, whose tenets must passe for Oracles? By the Canon-law, Omnes sanctiones Apostolicae Muchesius. Dist 19 c. In memoriam. sedis irrefragabilitèr [illegible: 1 word] observandae. The Pope may not be disobeyed.

Verse 11. Shall be your servant] The word signifies one that is ready prest to raise dust, to do his utmost endeavour with all possible expedition in any businesse, that he is set about.q d. [illegible: 1 word], expeditus, paratus, promptus.

Verse 12. And whosoever shall exalt himself, &c.] Loe here a great miracle, saith Augustin. God is on high, and yet the higher thou liftest up thy self, the farther thou art from him: Videte magnum miraculum: Altus est Deus, &c. the lower thou humblest thy self, the nearer he draweth to thee. Low things he looketh close upon, that he may raise them: proud things he knows. afarre off, that he may depresse them. The proud Pharisee pressed as [illegible: 1 word] God as he could: the poor Publican,Aug. de temp. not daring to do so, stood aloof off: yet was God far from the Pharisee, near to the Publican.

Verse 13. [illegible: 1 word] unto you Scribes, &c.] By these eight dreadfull woes, as by so many links of an adamantine chain, our Saviour draws these hypocrites down to hell their place, and there leaves them to be reserved unto judgement. St Hierom was called Fulmen [illegible: 1 word], the Churches thunderbolt. How much more might this be attributed to Christ? How terribly doth he here thunderstrike these stupid Pharisees though he saw well (with Father Latimer) that whosoever will be busie with [illegible: 1 word] Act. and Mon. sol. [illegible: 1 word]. vobis, shall shortly after come coram nobis. Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven] By hiding heavenly truths, teaching damnable errours, excommunicating the well affected, or corrupting them by evil counsell and example: and all this, [non-Latin text not transcribed] cor àm & in os, before men, and to their faces, making fools of them, even whiles they look on, casting a mist before their eyes, as those Egyptian juglers did, Exod. 7. and keeping from them that collyrium, that should cure, and clear up their eye-sight, Revel. 3. 18. Thus did Arundell Archbishop of Canterbury, Quod verbum Dei [illegible: 1 word], ne [illegible: 3 words] Tho [illegible: 1 word]. in [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word]. who bound up the word of God, that it might not be preached in his time (as the Historians words are,) and was therefore (according to this woe here denounced) so smitten in his tongue, that he could neither swallow, nor speak for certain daies afore he died. Steven Gardiner was plagued in like manner, for like reason. And generally, the Popish Clergy are vexed with that grievous and noisome sore of develish spite against the Reformation, Revel. 16. 2. which they therefore oppose with might and main, till wrath come upon them to the [illegible: 1 word]. And albeit many of them escape the visible vengeance of God, yet this terrible Woe, as a moth, doth secretly [illegible: 1 word] them up like a garment, and as a worm, eateth them up like wood, Isa 51. 8. as it did these Pharisees; on whose outside nothing could be discerned, all was as before, but their soules were blasted, seared, and sealed up to destruction. He that hath drunk poison, falles not down dead presently in the place, but he hath his death about him, as we say. Saul lived and reigned long after he was cast off by God: and the very devils are respited in regard of their full torment, but the more is behinde.

Verse 14. Ye devoure widdows houses] Though they pretended to be great fasters, Luk. 18. 12. yet. their [illegible: 1 word] prepared deceit, as Eliphaz hath it, Job 15. 35. and their throats (those open sepulchres swallowed up whole houses (such was their covetousnesse) and that of widows (such was their cruelty) and that under a pretence of long prayers, which was their hypocrisie: for while their lips seemed to pray, they were but chewing that morsell, that murthering [illegible: 1 word] that made them receive the greater damnation. Multi in terris [illegible: 1 word], quod apud inferos digerunt, saith Augustin. Many [illegible: 1 word] that on earth, that they must digest in hell, where the never-dying worm will feed greedily upon all such covetous caitiffs, as have the greedy worm under [non-Latin text not transcribed] their tongues, and their ill-gotten goods gotten already into theirLuk. 11. 41. bowels, [illegible: 1 word] these Pharisees had: which therefore God shall fetchIob 20. 15. thence again with a [illegible: 1 word]. Make long [illegible: 1 word]] God takes not mens praiers by tale, but by weight. He respecteth not the Arithmetike of our praiers, how many they are, nor the Rhetorike of our praiers, how eloquent they are, nor the Geometry of our praiers, how long they are, nor the Musick of our praiers, the sweetnesse of our voice, nor the Logick of our praiers, or the method of them, but the divinity of our praiers, is that which he so much esteemeth. He [illegible: 1 word] not for any James with horny knees through [illegible: 1 word] in praier: nor for any [illegible: 1 word] with a century of praiers for the morning, and as many for the evening: but S. Paul his frequency of praying with fervency of spirit, without all [illegible: 1 word] prolixities and vain bablings; this is it that God maketh most account of. It is not a servants going to and fro, but the dispatch of his businesse that pleaseth his master. It is not the loudnesse of a preachers voice, but the holinesse of the matter, and the spirit of the preacher, that moveth a wise and intelligent hearer. So herenot gifts, but graces in praier move the Lord. But these long [illegible: 1 word] of the Pharisees were so much the worse, because thereby they sought to entitle God to their sin, yea, they meerly mocked him, fleering in his face.

Verse 15. Ye compasse sea and land] They walked the round, as the devil doth, to gain proselytes; they spared for no pains to pervert men (as now the Jesuites those Circulatores & [illegible: 1 word];) should not we be as diligent and indefatigable to convert them to God? Shall we not be as [illegible: 1 word] in building stair-cases for heaven, as seducers are in digging descents to hell. If Saul seeking Asses found a Kingdom, shall not we by seeking others finde heaven? Ye make him two-fold more [illegible: 1 word] the childe of hell] Either because they relapse to Gentilisme, as finding you so vile and vitious in your lives: Or, because ye teach them only Ceremonies and superstitions: Or, because you keep them ignorant of Christ, andAmbros. de [illegible: 1 word] & [illegible: 1 word]. cap. 12. plant in them an hatred of the truth, as the Jesuites do in their proselytes. So that of them we may say as Ambrose did of Polemo, who, of a drunkard, by hearing [illegible: 1 word], [illegible: 1 word] a Philosopher, Si [illegible: 1 word] a vino, [illegible: 2 words] tamen [illegible: 1 word] sacrilegio, Though he be now no drunkard, yet he remains drunk [illegible: 1 word] with superstition.

Verse 16. Ye blinde guides which say] His watchmen are blinde, [non-Latin text not transcribed] was an old complaint, Isa. 56. 10. Which that it is a foul fault theVbi Tsaddi est majusculum. Rabbines have there noted from one letter (in the Originall) ofBuxtor. Tiber. the word rendered Watchmen, bigger then his fellows. How many are there that thrust into the Ministery, wanting both heart and art to teach the people? These lead their flocks to the pits brink, wherein if they perish, themselves lie lowermost. Whosoever shall swear by the gold of the Temple] So by the gift on the altar, vers. 18. these, they taught, were tied: the other [illegible: 1 word] for a summe of money be dispensed with, that swore by the Temple, or the altar. Not so those that swore by the gold of the Temple, that is, decicated to the Temple, or by the gift on the altar: for these oaths brought these blinde guides in commodity, which the swearer was forced presently to pay down. The people also were hereby made more free and forward to offer gold for the Temple, sacrifices for the altar; because they were made believe, that those presents were more precious then either Temple or altar. Pretty devices these were to get money; and are they [illegible: 1 word] still practised by Papists? Philip Brasier was abjured in Henry Act. and Mon. the eighths time, for saying, That when any cure is done the Priests do noint the Images, and make men believe the Images do sweat in labouring for them. The rood of Grace, and bloud [illegible: 1 word] Hails is not orious. Our Lady of Loretto hath her Churches so Sands his relat. stuffed with vowed presents and memories, that they are fain to hang their cloysters and Church-yards with them. They teach the people, that as they may sooner go to Christ by S. Dominick then by S. [illegible: 1 word]: so to swear by holy reliques, and in swearing to lay hand on them, is a more binding oath, then to swear by God, laying hand on the Bible.

Verse 17. Whether is greater the gold, &c.] The cause must needs be more noble then the [illegible: 1 word]. But the dust of covetoulnes had put out the eyes of these buzzards, and expectorated their [illegible: 1 word]. It is a besotting sin, and bereaves a man of right reason. Avidus [illegible: 1 word] non videndo. Papists, our modern Pharisees, are most corrupt in those things, where their honour, [illegible: 1 word], or profit is ingaged. In the doctrine of the Trinity that [illegible: 1 word] not upon these, they are sound enough. Or [illegible: 4 words] the gold?] Solomons Temple was stone without, and gold within, to shew, saith one, the resplendent glory of divine Majesty, lurking within a humane and humbled Moses unveiled body. Quid est templi illius aurum sive aurea claritas, nisi ad dextram [illegible: 1 word] sedentis immortalitas at que impassibilitas? saith Rupertus, What is the gold of the Temple, but the glory of Christ at Gods right hand?

Verse 18. But whosoever sweareth by the gift, &c.] Vbi utilitas, [non-Latin text not transcribed] [illegible: 2 words], saith Epictetus, where there is gain, there is godlinesse. And, Deos quis que sibi utiles [illegible: 1 word], [illegible: 1 word] another. All the worldlings plowing, sailing, building, buying, buts upon commodity, [illegible: 1 word] knows no other deity. These Pharisees strove to reduce all [illegible: 1 word] to their own purses and paunches, though they rendred men thereby not only irreligious, but unnaturall, Mat. 15. 5, 6. See the Notes there.

Verse 19. Ye fools and blinde] The second time so. For behold they have rejected the word of the Lord (yea the Word, the Lord Christ) and what wisdom was in them? Jer. 8. 9. True it is, they were accounted the only [illegible: 1 word] men: Where is the wise, 1 Cor. 1. [illegible: 1 word] is the Scribe? saith S. Paul. As if wise and Scribe were terms convertible. And for the Pharisees, they did so carry away the hearts of the people, that there was no holy man that was not termed a Pharisee, as we finde in their [illegible: 1 word]. And, [illegible: 1 word] the most straitest sect of our religion, I [illegible: 1 word] a Pharisee, saith Paul, Act. 26. 5. They were [illegible: 2 words], and did utterly out-shine and obscure those other sects of Sadduces and Essenes, the later whereof are not so much as mentioned in the Gospel: And yet we see what esteem Christ had of them, and what titles [illegible: 1 word] here bestows upon them: To teach us not to rest in [illegible: 2 words], nor to think it sufficient that others think well of [illegible: 1 word]. But let every man prove his own work, Galat. 6. 4. and know, that not he that commends himself, or is commended by others, is approved, but he whom the Lord [illegible: 1 word], 2 Cor. 10. 18.

Verse 20. Whoso therefore shall [illegible: 1 word] ] It was not lawfull to swear by the altar, or by any creature whatsoever, Jer. 5. 7. (much [illegible: 1 word] by idols, Amos 8. 14. I my self, saith Latimer, have used in mine earnest matters to say, Yea by S. Mary, which indeed isSerm. in 3. Sun. in Advent. naught.) But though these oaths be formally naught, yet they are finally binding: and being broken they are plain perjury, becauseFieri non debuit factum valet. they are all reduced to God himself, no otherwise then if they had been taken expressely by the name of God. Hence it is that the oaths of Papists, Turks, Heathens (though superstitious) are obligatory, [non-Latin text not transcribed], quasi [non-Latin text not transcribed], An oath is an hedge, which a man may not break.

Verse 21. And by [illegible: 1 word] that dwelleth therein] By his grace in his ordinances, yea [illegible: 1 word] his glory, which sometimes filled the temple. This temple at Jerusalem, together with that of Diana at Ephesus (which was also built of Cedar in an apish imitation of Gods temple, as Vitruvius [illegible: 1 word] others witnesse) were destroy'd much about one and the same time; Believe me, saith Christ, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, not yet at Jerusalem worship the father. Demosthenes saith, ThatIoh. 4. 21. mans heart is Gods best temple, where he dwels with delight,Contra Arist, [illegible: 1 word]. so it be beautified with modesty, piety, justice, &c. And this is the end of our creation, saith another, that man should be the Temple of God, and God the Altar of man.

Verse 22. By the throne of God] Heaven is his throne, and earth his footstool: yet may we not conceive that God is commensurable by the place, as if he were partly here, and partly elsewhere: but he is every where all present. See more in the Notes on Mat. 5. 34.

Verse 23. Ye pay tithe of mint] The Chaldee word for mint [non-Latin text not transcribed] signifies also a book of histories: because in that one poor herb large stories of Gods wisdom, might, and love, are described unto us. In tithing this and other pot-herbs the Pharisees were over and above sollicitous, and even superstitious, and all for a name. So in the year of grace, 1435. Capistranus the Minorite, being sent into Germany and other countreys by Pope Nicolas to preach obedience to the Sea of Rome, gat a great deal of credit and respectFuncc. [illegible: 1 word]. to his Doctrine by putting down dicing, carding, dancing, feasting, masking, enterludes, &c. although he taught not one syllable of sound doctrine, touching Christ and his merits, [illegible: 1 word] of faith, patience of hope, &c. There are both Magnalia & [illegible: 1 word] legis, the great and the lesser things of the law: both must be looked to. Hypocrites are nice in the one, but negligent of the other. Judgement, mercy and faith] So of old, to those bodily exercises and externall rites, so stood upon by the hypocrites in their [illegible: 1 word], Isaiah opposeth judgement and justice, Chap. 1. Hosea opposeth mercy and kindenesse, Chap. 4. Zachary opposeth truth and fidelity, Chap. 8. as more to be looked after, and [illegible: 1 word] for.

Verse 24. Which strain at a gnat, &c.] A proverbiall speech warranting the lawfull use of such expressions, for illustration of a truth. The Greeks have a like proverb; to gargle down an image, statue or colosse; that is, to make no bones of a foul fault, [non-Latin text not transcribed] when matters of lesse moment are much scrupled. Saul kept a great stir about eating the flesh with the bloud, when he made nothing of shedding innocent bloud. Doeg was deteined before 1 Sam. 14. 33. the Lord, by some voluntary vow belike. But better he had been1 Sam. [illegible: 1 word] 7. further off, for any good he did there. The Priests made [illegible: 1 word] of putting the price of bloud into the treasury, Matth. 27 6. Fernicaripecca [illegible: 2 words] esse [illegible: 1 word]: At mu ieri osculum sigere mortale acinus arbitrab. Funcc. who yet made no conscience of imbruing their hands in the innocent bloud of the Lamb of God. The Begardi and Beginnae, a certain kinde of heretikes, Anno 1322. held this mad opinion, that a man might here attain to perfection, and that having attained to it, he might do whatsoever his nature led him to: That [illegible: 1 word] Chronol ex Massei, l. 18. was no sin, but to [illegible: 1 word] a woman was a mortall wickednesse, &c.

Verse 25. Ye make clean the out-side] True Ephraimites or rather Canaanites, so they are called, Hos. 12. 7, 8. that is, meer naturall men, Ezek. 16. 4. the balances of deceit were in their hands, they loved to oppresse, yet so long as thereby they grew rich, they flattered themselves and said, In all my labours they shall [illegible: 1 word] none iniquity in me; that were sinne. Hypocrites if they can but make fair to the worldward it is enough. But as the fish Sepia is bewraied by the black colour, which she casteth out to cover her: so the hypocrite is convinced by the very shew of godlinesse, under which he hoped to have lurked. God so discovers his deceitfull courses, as that his wickednes is shew'd before the whole Congregation, Pro. 26. 26.

Verse 26. Cleanse first that which is within] God loveth truth in the inwards, Psal. 51. 6. O Jerusalem wash thy heart, Jer. 4. 14. (not thy hands only, as Pilate did:) this breeds constancy and evennesse in all our outward behaviours, Iam. 4. 8. Grace and nature both begin at the heart, at the center, and from thence goes to the circumference. Art and hypocrisie, begin with the face and outward lineaments.

Verse 27. Ye are like unto whited Sepulchres] The Jews had their vaults or caves for buriall. These the wealthier sort would paint, garnish, beautifie at the mouth or entrance of them. And [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word]. Heb [illegible: 1 word]. hereunto our Saviour alludeth, Intùs Nero, foris Cato: [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 2 words]. hic ut Piso, vivit ut Gallomus, &c. It was said of the Sarmatians, [illegible: 4 words] Tac. lib. [illegible: 1 word]. cap 10. that all their vertue was outward: And of Sejanus, that he had only a semblance of honesty, Intùs summa adipiscendi libido, within he was full of extortion and [illegible: 1 word]. Hypocrites seem as gloworms, [illegible: 3 words], &c. to have both light and heat: but touch them, and they have neither. The AEgyptian temples were beautifull on theTac. out-side: when within ye should finde nothing, but some serpent or crocodile. Apothecaries boxes oft have goodly titles, when yet they hold not one dram of any good drug. A certain stranger coming on [illegible: 1 word] unto the Senatours of Rome, and colouring his hoary hair and pale cheeks with vermilion hiew, a grave Senatour espying the deceit, stood up and said, What sincerity are we to expect at this mans hands, whose locks and looks, and lips do lie? Think the same of all painted hypocrites.

Verse 28. But within ye are full, &c.] Fair professours they were, but foul sinners, not close, but grosse hypocrites, such as knew themselves to be so; like as Ieroboams wife knew her self to be disguised, when she went to the Prophet: and as the whore that offered sacrifice to cover her whoredom, Prov. 7. 14. This hypocrisie goes worthily coupled [illegible: 1 word] with iniquity. It ariseth from secret Atheisme, as in Ananias and Saphira that noble pair of hypocrites, and paveth a way to the unpardonable sin, as in these Pharisees.

Verse 29. [illegible: 1 word] build the Tombs, &c.] And lost their cost, because [illegible: 1 word] est [illegible: 3 words] sancti [illegible: 1 word], vivi [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word]. they received not their doctrine. So do the Papists at this day in their pretended honouring the ancient Saints and Martyrs, whose religion and practices they persecute in the true professours. How much better Rabus, Crispin, the French Chronicler, [illegible: 1 word], Fox, and others, who have raised the Martyrs, asAlan [illegible: 1 word] us. [illegible: 2 words]. ex cont. [illegible: 1 word]. so many Phaenices, out of their ashes again, by recording their holy lives and Christian deaths? And how shall Cope and Kemp stink for ever in the nostrils of all good people? The former [illegible: 1 word] fouling so much fair paper in railing at, and casting reproach upon the holy Martyrs of the Protestant religion, in his sixth dialogue especially: The later, for disgracing them some few years since, excusing [illegible: 1 word] of [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 3 words]. p. 15. the powder traitours at same time, in a Sermon at S. Maries in Cambridge.

Verse 30. If we had been in the daies] Either these men grosly dissembled, or their hearts greatly deceived them; For certainly, an Herod and Herodias to Iohn Baptist, would have [illegible: 1 word] an Ahab and Iezabel to Elias. But as it was said of Demosthenes, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. [illegible: 1 word]. that he was excellent at praising the worthy acts of [illegible: 1 word], [illegible: 1 word] so at imitating of them: In like sort may we say of the [illegible: 1 word], they could well declaim against their fore-fathers [illegible: 1 word], but not so well disclaim them. They were adversus sua ipsorum [illegible: 1 word] facundi [illegible: 1 word], as one speaketh in a like case. Shrill accusers of themselves.

Verse 31. Wherefore ye be witnesses, &c.] Here our Saviour casts all their cost in their teeth, as if thereby [illegible: 1 word] had meant to commend [illegible: 1 word] fathers curelty in killing the Prophets, sith they [illegible: 1 word] it, by persecuting him and his to the death. [illegible: 1 word] is commonly hereditary, and runs in the bloud: and (as we use to say of [illegible: 1 word]) The older it is, the stronger; as in the deadly feud of Scotland, taken away by K. [illegible: 1 word].

Verse 32. Fill ye up then the measure] Ironicè [illegible: 1 word]. It gives us to understand, that sinners are stinted, and cannot do what mischief they would. If at any time they exceed their commission (as they are apt) and help forward the affliction, as out of their innate malice they will, God will soon grow jealous for [illegible: 1 word], and take them off, Zech. 1. 14, 15. When [illegible: 1 word] hath [illegible: 1 word] her ephah, God will soon transport it into the [illegible: 2 words] [illegible: 1 word], Zech. 5. 8. - - 11. When it is once ripe in the field, God will not [illegible: 1 word] it to shed to grow again, but cuts it up by a just and seasonable vengeance.

Verse 33 Ye Serpents] Serpentum tot sunt venena, quot genera, Lib. 12. cap. [illegible: 1 word]. saith Isidore, tot pernicies, quot species, tot [illegible: 1 word], qnot colores. See how our Saviour sharps up these [illegible: 1 word], that, if possible, they might be made sound in the [illegible: 1 word]. So deals Peter by Simon Magus, Paul by Elymas, many of our Champions by their Popish Antagonists. Before God you are deceivers of the people (said M. Philpot Martyr, to his persecutours) afore God there is no truth in you. And to mocking Morgan, he said, I must tell Act. and Mon. fol. 1653. thee, thou painted wall and [illegible: 1 word], in the name of the living Lord, that God shall [illegible: 1 word] fire and brimstone upon [illegible: 2 words] of his word, and [illegible: 1 word] of his people, as thou art. And afterward, Thou art but an Asse in the things of God, in that thou kickest against the truth, and art void of all godly understanding. Thou hast seduced others (said Bonner to Philpot) and madest them rejayce and sing with thee. Yea, my Lord, quoth he, we shall sing when you shall cry, Woe, woe, except ye repent. What an arrogant fool is this (said the Bishop) I will handle Ibid. 1654. thee like an heretike, and that shortly. I fear nothing, I thank God (said the other) that you can do unto me. But God shall destroy such as thou art, and that shortly, as I trust. Likewise Ibid 1567. to the Bishop of Chichester he spake thus. I perceive you are [illegible: 1 word] certè [illegible: 4 words] quàm diabolus, quia Arrianus. blinde guides and leaders of the blinde, and therefore, as I am bound to tell you, very hypocrites tvrannously persecuting the truth, which you are not able to disprove. Thus Hilary called Constantius Antichrist, and [illegible: 1 word] devil, because they were Arrians. Ye generation of vipers] Quarum morsus insanabilis. Sic [illegible: 1 word] Plin. l. 11. c. 37. sycophantarum morsum non est remedium. See my Notes on Mat. 3. 7. Vipers teeth are buried in their gums, that one would think they could not bite: so hypocrites.

Verse 34. Wherefore, Behold I send you] O the infinits goodnes of God, in striving by his Spirit with refractory sinners in the use of the means, waiting their return! Sed pensare solet vi graviore moram. Prophets, wise-men, and Scribes] That is, Apostles, Pastours and Teachers, Eph. 4. 11. whom he here calleth by the customary names of that countrey. Scribe was an honourable name, till Pharisees dishonested it by their hypocrisie. Ye shall kill and crucifie] If therefore we have not yet resisted unto bloud, be content with lighter crosses, and look for heavier. Omnis Christianus crucianus. It is but a delicacy to divide betwixtLuther. Christ and his crosse.

Verse 35. From the bloud of righteous Abel] God reckons of men by their righteousnesse, Rom. 10. The righteous (let him dwell where he will, and by whom) is better then his neighbour, saith Solomon. This was Cains grief, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother: And wherefore slew he him, but because his own works were evil, and his brothers righteous? So Alphonsus Diazius, that Cain the second, slew his brother John, because he could not win him to Popery. And I would1 [illegible: 1 word]. 3. [illegible: 1 word]. this patriarch of the devil (as one cals Cain) did not still live in his sons and successours, who carry about his club that is red with Abels bloud, Imò ut [illegible: 1 word] sacram adorans & venerantur, think they do a goodly act in killing up the poor lambs of Christ. Caesar Quòd melior vir erat quam esse quenquam [illegible: 1 word] expediret. Senec. 2 [illegible: 1 word] benefic. [illegible: 1 word] said to have slain Grecinus Julius for this reason alone, for that he was a better man, then that it was for the tyrants behoof, to suffer him to live. Unto the bloud of Zacharias] Most unworthily slain by his pupill Joas (as Linus likewise was by his scholar Hereules for a2 Chron 24. 20, [illegible: 1 word]. few sharp words that he gave him, as he was teaching him.) OurCum ille Herculem verbulo asperiore inter [illegible: 2 words] esset, &c. Saviour instanceth in this Zacharias as the last Prophet mentioned in the Scripture to have been slain by them, though they slew many more, not elsewhere mentioned, unlesse it be in that little Book of Martyrs, as one fitly calleth the eleventh to the Hebrews. Bucholc. [illegible: 1 word].

Verse 36. Shall come upon this generation] In that last desolation of Jerusalem, whereof more in the next Chapter. God will not fail to punish persecutours. See Acts and Mon. of the Church, fol. 1902. to 1950. Good for them therefore is the counsellSi nobis non parcis, tibi parce: [illegible: 1 word] non tibi, Carthagini. that Tertullian gave Scapula a bloudy persecutour, If thou wilt not spare us, yet spare thy self: If not thy self, yet thy City Carthage.

Verse 37. How often would I, &c.] How then could they perish, whom God would have saved? It is answered, Voluntas Dei alia est praecepti, revelata Antecedens, alia beneplaciti, arcana Consequens. By the former God willed their conversion, but not by the later. A King wils the welfare of all his Subjects: yet he will not acquit those that are laid up for treason, [illegible: 1 word], and the like foul crimes. A father is willing to give his son the inheritance: yet if he prove an unthrift, he'l put him beside it, and take another. How oft would I have gathered? that is (say some) by the externall Ministery of the Prophets, sent unto thee, vers. 34, 35. Not by internall regenerating operation of the spirit. Even as a hen gathereth her chickens] Columbarum masculus Chytraeus in Levit. 12. ipse ovis incubat, [illegible: 1 word] Christus ipse ecclesiam suam fovet. Of unreasonable creatures birds, and of birds the hen excels in kindnes to her young: so that she doubts not, in their defence, to encounter a Kite, a dog, &c. Iniquo & impari praelio, though with greatest disadvantage. And ye would not] Men may nill their conversion then, thoughPareus. called by God, Quo nihil est verius, sed & nihil turpius, saith one. Men are not damned, because they cannot do better, but because they will doe no better. If there were no will, there would [illegible: 1 line] be no [illegible: 1 word], Joh. 12. 39. Therefore they could not believe; They could not, that is, they would not, saith Theophylact out of Chrysostom, who yet usually extolleth mans free-will more then is meet.

Verse 38. Behold, your house is left, &c.] City and temple both. God will not alway stand men for a sinning-stock. They [illegible: 1 word] will not hear his word, shall hear his rod, and feel his sword too. Elisha hath his sword as well as Jehu and [illegible: 1 word], 1 King. 19. 17. and the one usually precedes the other. They therefore that say, Following of Sermons will make men beggars, forget that [illegible: 1 word] take away the Gospel from Jerusalem [illegible: 1 word] to leave their houses, as well as Gods house, [illegible: 1 word].

Verse 39. Till ye shall say, Blessed, &c.] That is, Ye shall never see me, or not till the generall Judgement: whenas you that would not obey that sweet voice of mine, Come unto me, ye that are weary, &c. [illegible: 1 word] have no other command of mine to obey but that dreadfull Discedite, Go ye cursed into everlasting fire, &c.

Scribes and Pharisees. Mt 3:7.

Moses' seat, Moses was a legislator of the Jews. By him the law was given; and the office of explaining that law devolved on the scribes and Pharisees. In the synagogues they sat while expounding the law, and rose when they read it. By sitting in the seat of Moses we are to understand authority to teach the law. Or, as he taught the nation by giving the law, so they taught it by explaining it.

(r) "The Scribes" Mal 2:7

All therefore whatsoever, etc, That is, all that they teach consistent with the law of Moses; all the commands of Moses which they read to you and properly explain. The word all could not be taken without such a restriction, for Christ himself accuses them of teaching many things contrary to that law, and of making it void by traditions, Mt 15:1-6.

They say, and do not. The interpretation they give to the law is in the main correct, but their lives do not correspond with their teaching. It is not the duty of men to imitate their teachers unless their lives are pure; but they are rather to obey the law of God than to frame their lives by the example of evil men.

(s) "for they say" Rom 2:21-23

They bind heavy burdens, etc. This phrase is derived from the custom of loading animals. The load or burden is bound up, and then laid on the beast. So the Pharisees appoint weighty burdens, or grievous and heavy precepts, and insist that the people should obey them, though they lent no assistance. The heavy burdens refer not here to the traditions and foolish customs of the Pharisees, for Jesus would not command the people to observe them; but they clearly mean the ceremonies and rites appointed by Moses, which Peter says "neither our fathers nor we were able to bear," Acts 15:10. Those rites were numerous, expensive, requiring much tune, much property, and laborious. The Pharisees were rigid in requiring that all the people should pay the taxes, give of their property, comply with every part of the law with the utmost rigour, yet indulged themselves, and bore as little of the expense and trouble as possible; so that, where they could avoid it, they would not lend the least aid to the people in the toils and expense of their religious rites.

With one of their fingers. In the least degree, They will not render the least aid.

(t) "burdens" Acts 15:10

Their phylacteries. The word phylactery comes from a word signifying to keep, preserve, or guard. The name was given because phylacteries were worn as amulets or charms, and were supposed to defend them from evil. They were small slips of parchment or vellum, on which were written certain portions of the Old Testament. The practice of using phylacteries was founded on a literal interpretation of that passage where God commands the Hebrews to have the law as a sign on their foreheads, and as frontlets between their eyes, Ex 13:16, Prov 3:1,3 Prov 6:21. One kind or phylactery was called a "frontlet," and was composed of four pieces of parchment; on the first of which was written, Ex 12:2-10; on the second, Ex 12:11-21; on the third, De 6:4-9; and on the fourth, De 11:18-21. These pieces of parchment, thus inscribed, they enclosed in a piece of tough skin, making a square, on one side of which is placed the Hebrew Ω letter shin --and bound them round their foreheads with a thong or riband, when they went to the synagogue. Some wore them evening and morning; and others only at the morning prayer.

As the token upon the hand was required, as well as the frontlets between the eyes, the Jews made two rolls of parchment, written in square letters, with an ink made on purpose, and with much care. They were rolled up to a point, and enclosed in a sort of case of black calfskin. They were put upon a square bit of the same leather, whence hung a thong of the same, of about a finger in breadth, and about two feet long. These rolls were placed at the bending of the left arm, and after one end of the thong had been made into a little knot in the form of the Hebrew letter yod--it was wound about the arm in a spiral line, which ended at the top of the middle finger. The Pharisees enlarged them, or made them wider than other people, either that they might make the letters larger, or write more on them--to show, as they supposed, that they had peculiar reverence for the law.

Enlarge the borders of their garments. This refers to the loose threads which were attached to the borders of the outer garment as a fringe. This fringe was commanded in order to distinguish them from other nations, and that they might remember to keep the commandments of God, Nu 15:38-40, De 22:12. They made them broader than other people wore them, to show that they had peculiar respect for the law.

(u) "but all their works" Mt 6:1-16 (v) "phylacteries" Nu 15:38

The uppermost rooms at feasts. The word rooms, here, by no means expresses the meaning of the original. It would be correctly rendered the uppermost places or couches at feasts. To understand this it is necessary to remark, that the custom among the Jews was not to eat sitting, as we do, but reclining on couches. The table was made by three tables, raised like ours, and placed so as to form a square, with a clear space in the midst, and one end quite open. On the sides; of them were placed cushions, capable of containing three or-more persons, On these the guests reclined, leaning on their left side with their feet extended from the table, and so lying that the head of one naturally reclined on the bosom of another. To recline near to one in this manner denoted intimacy, and was what was meant by lying in the bosom of another, Jn 13:23; Lk 16:22,23. As the feet were extended from the table, and as they reclined instead of sitting, it was easy to approach the feet behind, and even unperceived. Thus in Lk 7:37,38 while Jesus reclined in this manner, a woman that had been a sinner came to his feet behind him, and washed them with her tears, and wiped with the hairs of her head. She stood on the outside of the couches. So our Saviour washed the feet of his disciples as they reclined on a couch in this manner, Jn 13:4-12. Whenever we read in the New Testament of sitting at meals, it always means reclining in this manner, and never sitting as we do. The chief seat, or the uppermost one, was the middle couch at the upper end of the table. This the Pharisees loved, as a post of honour or distinction. The annexed cut will fully illustrate the custom.

Chief seats in the synagogues. The seats usually occupied by the elders of the synagogue, near the pulpit. They love a place of distinction. Mt 4:23.

(w) "And love" Mk 12:36, Lk 11:43

Greetings in the markets. Marks of particular respect shown to them in public places. Markets were places where multitudes of people were assembled together. They were pleased with particular attention among the multitude, and desired that all should show them particular respect.

Greetings. Salutations. Lk 10:4.

To be called--Rabbi, Rabbi. This word literally signifies great. It was a title given to eminent teachers of the law among the Jews; a title of honour and dignity, denoting their authority and ability to teach. They were gratified with such titles, and wished it given to themselves as denoting superiority. Every time it was given to them it implied their superiority to the persons who used it; and they were fond, therefore, of hearing it often applied to them. There were three titles in use among the Jews--Rab, Rabbi, and Rabban--denoting different degrees of learning and ability, as literary degrees do among us.

Be not ye, etc. Jesus forbade his disciples to seek such titles of distinction. The reason he gave was, that he was himself their Master and Teacher. They were on a level; they were to be equal in authority; they were brethren; and they should neither covet nor receive a title which implied either an elevation of one above another, or which appeared to infringe on the absolute right of the Saviour to be their only Teacher and Master. The command here is an express command to his disciples not to receive such a title of distinction. They were not to covet it; they were not to seek it; they were not to do anything that implied a wish or a willingness that it should be appended to their names. Everything which would tend to make a distinction among them, or destroy their parity; everything which would lead the world to suppose that there were ranks and grades among them as ministers, they were to avoid. It is to be observed that the command is, that they were not to receive the title. "Be not ye called Rabbi." The Saviour did not forbid them giving the title to others when it was customary or not regarded as improper, (comp. Acts 26:25;) but they were not to receive it. It was to be unknown among them. This title corresponds with the title "Doctor of Divinity," as applied to ministers of the gospel; and so far as I can see, the spirit of the Saviour's command is violated by the reception of such a title, as it would have been by their being called Rabbi. It is a literary distinction. It does not appropriately pertain to office. It makes a distinction among ministers. It tends to engender pride, and a sense of superiority in those who obtain it, and envy and a sense of inferiority in those who do not; and the whole spirit and tendency of it is contrary to the "simplicity that is in Christ"

(x) "But be not" Jas 3:1

And call no man your father, etc. This does not of course forbid us to apply the term to our real father. Religion requires all proper honour to be shown to him, Ex 20:12, Mt 15:4, Eph 6:1-3. But the word father also denotes authority, eminence, superiority, a right to command, and a claim to particular respect. In this sense it is used here. In this sense it belongs eminently to God, and it is not right to give it to men. Christian brethren are equal. God only has supreme authority. He only has a right to give laws, to declare doctrines to bind the conscience, to punish disobedience. The Jewish teachers affected that title because they seem to have supposed that a teacher formed the man, or gave him real life, and sought therefore to be called father. Christ taught them that the source of all life and truth was God; and they ought not to seek or receive a title which properly belongs to him.

(y) "your Father" Mt 6:9

Neither--masters. Leaders. Those who go before others; who claim, therefore, the right to direct and control others. This was also a title conferred on Jewish teachers.

Neither of these commands forbid us to give proper titles of civil office to men, or to render them the honour belonging to their station, Mt 22:21, Rom 13:7, 1Pet 2:17. They forbid the disciples of Jesus to seek or receive mere empty titles, producing distinctions among themselves, implying authority to control the opinions and conduct of others, and claiming that others should acknowledge them to be superior to them.

Mt 20:26. He that shall humble himself, etc. God will exalt or honour him that is humble, and that seeks a lowly place among men. That is true religion, and God will and God will reward it.

(y) "But he" Mt 20:26,27

Mt 23:11

(a) "And whosoever" Prov 15:33, Jas 4:6

Woe unto you. You are guilty, and punishment will come unto you. tie proceeds to state wherein they were guilty. This most eloquent, most appalling, and most terrible of all discourses ever delivered to mortals, was pronounced hi the temple, in the presence of multitudes. Never was there more faithful dealing, more terrible reproof, more profound knowledge of the workings of hypocrisy, or more skillful in detecting the concealments of sin. This was the last of his public.discourses; and it is a most impressive summary of all he ever had said, or had to say, of a wicked and hypocritical generation.

Scribes and Pharisees. Mt 3:7.

Hypocrites. Mt 6:2.

Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven. Mt 3:2. They shut it up by their doctrines. By teaching false doctrines respecting the Messiah; by binding the people to an observance of their traditions; by opposing Jesus, and attempting to convince the people that he was an impostor, they prevented many from becoming his followers. Many were ready to embrace Jesus as the Messiah, and were about entering into the kingdom of heaven--i.e. the church--but they prevented it. Luke says Lk 11:52 they had taken away the key of knowledge, and thus prevented their entering in. That is, they had taken away the right interpretation of the ancient prophecies respecting the Messiah, and thus had done all they could to prevent the people from receiving Jesus as the Redeemer.

Devour widows' houses. The word houses is here used to denote property or possessions of any kind. You take away, or get possession of, by improper arts and pretences. This was done in two ways:

(1.) They pretended to a very exact knowledge of the law, and to the poor a perfect observance of it. They pretended to extraordinary justice to the poor, friendship for the distressed, and willingness to aid those who were in embarrassed circumstances. They thus induced widows and poor people to commit the management of their property to them, as guardians and executors, and then took advantage of them, and defrauded them.

(2.) By their long prayers they put on the appearance of great sanctity, and induced many weak women to give them much, under pretence of devoting it to religious purposes.

Long prayer. Their prayers are said to have been often three hours in length. One rule among them, says Lightfoot, was to meditate an hour, then pray an hour, and then meditate another hour--all of which was included in their long prayers or devotions.

Damnation. Condemnation. The word here probably refers to future punishment. It does not always, however. It means, frequently, no more than condemnation, or the Divine disapprobation of a certain course of conduct, as in 1Cor 11:29: "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself." That is, he that eateth and drinketh in an unworthy manner--disorderly, not with reverence--is guilty, and his conduct will be disapproved or condemned by God: referring solely to the impropriety of the manner of partaking of the Lord's Supper, and not at all to the worthiness or unworthiness of the person. 1Cor 11:29. Comp. Rom 14:23.

For a pretence. For appearance or show; in order that they might the better defraud poor people. They would not be condemned for making long prayers, but because they did it with an evil design. Public prayers should, however, be short, and always to the point. A man praying in a Sunday-school should pray for the school, and usually not for everything else.

(b) "widow's houses" 2Ti 3:6, Tit 1:11

Ye compass sea and land. Ye take every means--spare no pains to gain proselytes.

Proselyte. One that comes over from a foreign nation, religion, or sect, to us; a convert. Among the Jews there were two kinds of proselytes:

(1.) Proselytes of righteousness, or those who wholly and fully embraced the Jewish religion, were baptized, circumcised, and who conformed to all the rites of the Mosaic institutions.

(2.) Proselytes of the gate, or those who approved of the Jewish religion, renounced the pagan superstitions, and conformed to some of the rites of the Jews, but were not circumcised or baptized.

Twofold more the child of hell. That is, twice as bad. To be a child of hell was a Hebrew phrase, signifying to be deserving of hell, to be awfully wicked. The Jewish writers themselves say that the proselytes were "scabs of Israel," and "hindered the coming of the Messiah" by their great wickedness. The Pharisees gained them either to swell their numbers, or to make gain by extorting their money under various pretences; and when they had accomplished that, they took no pains to instruct them, or to restrain them. They had renounced their superstitions, which had before somewhat restrained them. The Pharisees had given them no religion in its place to restrain them, and they were consequently left to the full indulgence of their vices.

(c) "child of hell" Jn 8:44, Acts 13:10, Eph 2:3

Whosoever shall swear, etc. Mt 5:33-37.

The temple. Mt 21:12.

It is nothing. It amounts to nothing. It is not binding.

The gold of the temple. Either the golden vessels in the temple, the candlestick, etc., or the gold with which the doors and other parts of the temple were covered; or the gold in the treasury. This, it seems, they considered far more sacred than any other part of the temple, but it is not known why.

He is a debtor. He is bound to keep his oath. He is guilty if he violates it.

(d) "ye blind guides" Mt 15:14

The temple that sanctifieth the gold. To sanctify is to make holy. The gold had no holiness but what it derived from the temple. If in any other place, it would be no more holy than any other gold. It was foolish, then, to suppose that that was more holy than the temple from which it received all the sanctity which it possessed.

(e) "ye fools and blind" Psa 94:8

The altar. The altar of burnt-offerings, in the court of the priests. Mt 21:12. It was made of brass, about thirty feet in length and breadth, and fifteen feet in height, 2Chr 4:1. On this altar were offered all the beasts and bloody oblations of the temple.

The gift that is upon it. The gift or offering made to God, so called because it was devoted or given to him. The gift upon this altar was always beasts and birds.

(1) "is guilty" or, "debtor", or "bound"

The altar that sanctifieth the gift. The altar, dedicated to God, gave all the value or holiness to the offering, and must therefore be the greatest, or of the most importance. If, therefore, either bound to the fulfillment of an oath, it must be the altar.

(f) "sanctifieth the gift" Ex 29:37, 30:29

Him that dwelleth therein. That is, God. The temple was his house, his dwelling. In the first, or Solomon's temple, he dwelt between the cherubims, in the most holy place. He manifested himself there by a visible symbol, in the form of a cloud resting on the mercy-seat, 1Kgs 8:10,13, Ps 80:1.

(g) "him that dwelleth" 2Chr 6:2, Ps 26:8

The throne of God. Heaven is his throne, Mt 5:34. It is so called as being the place where he sits in glory. Jesus says, here, that all who swear at all, do in fact swear by God, or the oath is good for nothing. To swear by an altar, a gift, or a temple, is of no force, unless it be meant to appeal to God himself. The essential thing in an oath is calling God to witness our sincerity. If a real oath is taken, therefore, God is appealed to. If not, it is foolish and wicked to swear by anything else.

(h) "throne of God" Ps 11:4, Isa 66:1, Mt 5:34

Ye pay tithe. A tenth part. The law required the Jews to devote a tenth part of all their property to the support of the Levites, Nu 18:20-24. Another tenth part they paid for the service of the sanctuary, commonly in cattle or grain; but where they lived far from the place of worship, they changed it to money; De 14:22-24 Besides these, there was to be every third year a tenth part given to the poor, to be eaten at their own dwellings, De 14:28,29. So that nearly one-third of the property of the Jews was devoted to religious services by law. This was beside the voluntary offerings which they made. How much more mild and gentle are the laws of Christianity under which we live!

Mint. A garden herb, in the original so called from its agreeable flavour. It was used to sprinkle the floors of their houses and synagogues, to produce a pleasant fragrance.

Anise. Known commonly among us as dill. It has a fine aromatic smell, and is used by confectioners and perfumers.

Cummin. A plant of the same genus, like fennel, and used for similar purposes. These were all herbs of little value. The law of Moses said that they should pay tithes of the fruits of the earth, De 14:22. It said nothing, however, about herbs. It was a question whether these should be tithed. The Pharisees maintained, in their extraordinary strictness, that they ought. Our Saviour says that they were precise in doing small matters, which the law had not expressly commanded, while they omitted the greater things which it had enjoined.

Judgment. Justice to others, as magistrates, neighbours, citizens. Giving to all their just dues.

Mercy. Compassion and kindness to the poor and miserable.

Faith. Piety towards God; confidence in him. Faith in God here means that we are to give to him what is his due; as mercy and justice mean to do to MEN, in all circumstances, what is right toward them.

These ought ye to have done. Attention to even the smallest points of the law of God is proper, but it should not interfere with the higher and more important parts of that law.

(i) "you pay tithe" Lk 11:42 (1) "anise" or, "dill" (k) "weightier matters" 1Sam 15:22, Jer 22:15,16, Hoss 6:6, Mic 6:8 Mt 9:13

Which strain at a gnat, etc. This is a proverb. There is, however, a mistranslation or misprint here, which makes the verse unmeaning. To strain AT a gnat conveys no sense. It should have been, to strain OUT a gnat; and so it is printed in some of the earlier versions; and so it was undoubtedly rendered by the translators. The common reading is a misprint, and should be corrected. The Greek means, to strain out by a cloth or sieve.

A gnat. The gnat has its origin in the water, not in great rivers, but in pools and marshes. In the stagnant waters they appear in the form of small grubs, or larvae. These larvae retain their form about three weeks, after which they turn to chrysalids; and after three or four days they pass to the form of gnats. They are then distinguished by their well-known sharp sting. It is probable that the Saviour here refers to the insect as it exists in its grub or larva form, before it appears in the form of a gnat. Water is then its element, and those who were nice in their drink would take pains to strain it out. Hence the proverb. See Calmet's Dict., Art. Gnat. It is here used to denote a very small matter, as a camel is to denote a large object. "You, Jews, take great pains to avoid offence in very small matters, superstitiously observing the smallest points of the law, like a man carefully straining out the animalculae from his wine; while you are at no pains to avoid great sins--hypocrisy, deceit, oppression, and lust--like a man who should swallow a camel." The Arabians have a similar proverb: "He eats an elephant, and is suffocated with a gnat." He is troubled with little things, but pays no attention to great matters.

The cup and the platter. The drinking cup, and the dish containing food. The Pharisees were diligent in observing all the washings and oblations required by their traditions.

Full of extortion and excess. The outside appeared well. The inside was filled with the fruit of extortion, oppression, and wickedness. The meaning is, that though they took much pains to appear well, yet they obtained a living by extortion and crime. Their cups, neat as they appeared outward, were filled not with the fruits of honest industry, but were extorted from the poor by wicked arts. Instead of excess, many manuscripts and editions of the Greek Testament read wickedness.

(l) "for ye make" Mk 7:4

Cleanse first, etc. Let them be filled with the fruits of honest industry, and then the outside and the inside will be really clean. By this allusion to the cup and platter, he taught them that it was necessary to cleanse the heart first, that the external conduct might be really pure and holy.

Like unto whited sepulchres. For the construction of sepulchres, Mt 8:28. Those tombs were annually white- washed, to prevent the people from accidentally coming in contact with them as they went up to Jerusalem, The law considered those persons unclean who had touched anything belonging to the dead, Nu 19:16. Sepulchres were therefore often whitewashed, that they might be distinctly seen. Thus "whited," they appeared beautiful; but within they contained the bones and corrupting bodies of the dead. So the Pharisees. Their outward conduct appeared well; but their hearts were full of hypocrisy, envy, pride, lust, and malice--fitly represented by the corruption within a whited tomb.

(m) "whited sepulchres" Lk 11:44, Acts 23:3

Ye build the tombs of the prophets. That is, ye build sepulchres or tombs over the prophets that have been slain. This they did professedly from veneration, and respect for their character. This is often done in the East at the present day, and indeed elsewhere. Among the Mohammedans it is a common way of showing respect for any distinguished man to build a tomb for him. By doing this they profess respect for his character, and veneration for his memory. So the Pharisees, by building tombs in this manner, professedly approved of the character and conduct of the prophets, and disapproved of the conduct of their fathers in killing them.

And garnish, etc. That is, adorn or ornament. This was done by rebuilding them with more taste, decorating them, and keeping them neat and clean. The original word means, also, to show any proper honour to the memory of the dead; as by speaking well of them, praying near them, or rearing synagogues near to them, in honour of their memory.

And say, etc. This they professed to say by rebuilding their tombs. They also, probably, publicly expressed their disapprobation of the conduct of their fathers. All this, in building and ornamenting tombs, was a profession of extraordinary piety. Our Lord showed them it was a mere pretence.

Ye be witnesses unto yourselves. The emphasis, here, lies in the words "unto yourselves." It was an appeal to their conscience. It was not by their building the tombs that they were witnesses that they were the children of those who slew the prophets; but in spite of all this pretence to piety--under cloak of all this profession--they knew in their consciences, and were witnesses to themselves, that it was mere hypocrisy, and that they really approved the conduct of those who slew the prophets.

Children of them, etc. Resembling them; approving their conduct; inheriting their feelings. They not only showed that they were descended from them, but that they possessed their spirit, and in similar circumstances would have done as they did.

(n) "which killed" Acts 7:52, 1Thes 2:15

Fill ye up then, etc. This is a prediction of what they were about to do. He would have them to act out their true spirit, and show what they were, and evince to all that they had the spirit of their fathers. This was done by putting him to death, and persecuting the apostles.

The measure. The full amount, so as to make it complete. By your slaying me, fill up what is lacking of the iniquity of your fathers till the measure is full, the national iniquity is complete, as much has been committed as God can possibly bear, and then shall come upon you all this blood, and you shall be destroyed, Mt 23:34,35.

(o) "Fill ye up" Gen 15:16, 1Thes 2:16

Ye serpents. This name is given to them on account of their pretending to be pious, and very much devoted to God, but being secretly evil. At the heart, with all their pretensions, they were filled with evil designs, as the serpent was, Gen 3:1-5.

Generation of vipers. Mt 12:34.

Damnation of hell. This refers, beyond all question, to future punishment. So great was their wickedness and hypocrisy, that if they persevered in this course, it was impossible to escape the damnation that should come on the guilty. This is the sternest language that Jesus ever used to wicked men. But it by no means authorizes ministers to use such language to sinners now. Christ knew that this was true of them. He had an authority which none now have. It is not the province of ministers to denounce judgment, or to use severe names; least of all to do it on pretence of imitating Christ. He knew the hearts of men; we know them not. He had authority to declare certainly that those whom he addressed would be lost; we have no such authority. He addressed persons; we address characters.

(p) "generation of vipers" Mt 3:7

I send unto you prophets, etc. He doubtless refers here to the apostles, and other teachers of religion. Prophets, wise men, and scribes, were the names by which the teachers of religion were known among the Jews; and he, therefore, used the same terms when speaking of the messengers which he would send. I send has the force of the future, I will send.

Some of them ye shall kill. As in the case of Stephen, Acts 7:59, and James, Acts 12:1,2.

Crucify. Punish with death on the cross. There are no cases of this mentioned; but few historical records of this age have come down to us. The Jews had not the power of crucifying, but they gave them into the hands of the Romans to do it.

Shall scourge. Mt 10:17. This was done, Acts 22:19-24, 2Cor 11:24,25.

Persecute, etc. Mt 5:10. This was fulfilled it the case of nearly all the apostles.

(q) "shall kill" Acts 7:59 (r) "ye scourge" Acts 5:40, 2Cor 11:24,25 (s) "city to city" Heb 11:37

That upon you may come, etc. That is, the nation is guilty Your fathers were guilty. You have shown yourselves to be like them. You are about, by slaying the Messiah and his messengers, to fill up the iniquity of the land. The patience of God is exhausted; and the nation is about to be visited with signal vengeance. These national crimes deserve national judgments; and the proper judgments for all these crimes are about to come upon you in the destruction of your temple and city.

All the righteous blood. That is, all the judgments due for shedding that blood. God did not hold them guilty for what their fathers did; but temporal judgments descend on children in consequence of the wickedness of parents--as in the case of drunken and profligate parents. A drunken father wastes the property that his children might have possessed. A gambler reduces his children to poverty and want. An imprudent and foolish parent is the occasion of leading his sons into places of poverty, ignorance, and crime, materially affecting their character and destiny. Rom 5:12, also Rom 5:13-19. So of the Jews. The appropriate effects of their fathers' crimes were coming on the nation, and they would suffer.

Upon the earth. Upon the land of Judea. The word is often used with this limitation. See Mt 4:8.

Righteous Abel. Slain by Cain, his brother, Gen 4:8,9. Zacharias son of Barschias. It is not certainly known who this was. Some have thought it was the Zechariah whose death is recorded in 2Chr 24:20,21. He is there called the son of Jehoiada; but it is known that it was common among the Jews to have two names, as Matthew is called Levi; Lebbeus, Thaddeus; and Simon, Cephas. Others have thought he referred to Zechariah the prophet, who might have been massacred by the Jews, though no account of his death is recorded. It might have been known by tradition.

Whom ye slew. Whom you, Jews, slew. Whom your nation killed.

Between the temple and the altar. Between the temple, properly so called, the sanctuary, and the altar of burnt-offering in the court of the priests. See the plan of the temple, Mt 21:12.

(u) "Abel" Gen 4:8 (v) "Zacharias" 2Chr 24:20,21

Upon this generation. The destruction of Jerusalem took place about forty years after this was spoken. See the next chapter.

O Jerusalem, etc. Lk 19:41,42.

Would have gathered. Would have protected and saved.

Thy children. Thy people.

(x) "gathered thy children" De 32:11.12, Ps 91:4

Your house. The temple. The house of worship of the Jews. The chief ornament of Jerusalem.

Desolate. About to be desolate, or destroyed. To be forsaken as a place of worship, and delivered into the hands of the Romans, and destroyed. Mt 24:1 and following.

(y) "desolate" Zech 6:6

Ye shall not see me, etc. The day of your mercy is gone by. I have offered you protection and salvation, and you have rejected it. You are about to crucify me, and your temple to be destroyed; and you, as a nation, be given up to long and dreadful suffering. You will not see me as a merciful Saviour, offering you redemption any more, till you have borne these heavy judgments. They must come upon you, and be borne, until you would be glad to hail a deliverer, and say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Blessed be he that comes as the Messiah, to bring deliverance. This has not been yet accomplished; but the days will come when the Jews, long cast out and rejected, will hail Jesus as the Messiah, and receive him whom their fathers slew, as the merciful Saviour, Rom 11:25-32.

(z) "shall say" Ps 118:26, Mt 21:9

REMARKS ON MATTHEW CHAPTER 23

(1.) Proper respect should always be shown to teachers and rulers, Mt 23:3.

(2.) We are not to copy the example of wicked men, Mt 23:3. We are to frame our conduct by the law of God, and not by the example of men.

(3.) Men are often very rigid in exacting of others what they fail altogether of performing themselves, Mt 23:4.

(4.) We are to obey God rather than man; not to seek human honours, Mt 23:8, nor to give flattering titles to others, nor to allow others to give them to us, Mt 28:9. Our highest honour is in humility; and he is most exalted who is most lowly, Mt 23:11,12.

(5.) In the descriptions of the Scribes and Pharisees in this chapter, we have a full-length portrait of the hypocrite. 1st. They shut up the kingdom of heaven against others, Mt 23:13. They made great pretensions to knowledge, but they neither entered in themselves nor suffered others.

2nd. They committed the grossest iniquity under a cloak of religion, Mt 23:14. They cheated widows out of their property, and made long prayers to hide their villany.

3rd. They showed great zeal in making proselytes; yet did it only for gain, and made them more wicked, Mt 23:15.

4th. They taught false doctrine--artful contrivances to destroy the force of oaths, and shut out the Creator from their view, Mt 23:16-22.

5th. They were superstitious, Mt 23:23. Small matters they were exact in; matters of real importance they cared little about.

6th. They were openly hypocritical. They took great pains to appear well, while they themselves knew that it was all deceit and falsehood, Mt 23:25-28.

7th. They professed great veneration for the memory of the pious dead, while at the same time they were conscious that they really approved the conduct of those who killed them, Mt 23:29-31. Never, perhaps, was there a combination of more wicked feelings and hypocritical actions, than among them; and never was there more profound knowledge of the human heart, and more faithfulness, than in him who tore off the mask, and showed them what they were. (6.) It is amazing with what power and authority our blessed Lord reproves this wicked people. It is wonderful that they ever waited for a mock trial, and did not kill him at once. But his time was not come; and they were restrained, and not suffered to act out the fury of their mad passions.

(7.) Jesus pities dying sinners, Mt 23:37. He seeks their salvation. He pleads with them to be saved. He would gather them to him, if they would come. The most hardened, even like the sinners of Jerusalem, he would save if they would come to him. But they not; they turn from him, and tread the road to death.

(8.) The reason why the wicked are not saved is in their obstinacy. They choose not to be saved, and they die. If they will not come to Christ, it is right that they should die. If they do not come, they must die.

(9.) The sinner shall be destroyed, Mt 23:38. The day will come when the mercy of God will be clean gone for ever, and the forbearance of God exhausted; and then the sinner must perish. When once God has given him over, he must die. No man, no parent, minister, or friend, no angel or archangel, can then save. Salvation is lost, for ever lost. Oh, how amazing is the folly of the wicked, that they weary out the forbearance of God, and perish in their sins!

[In Moses' seat, &c.] this is to be understood rather of the legislative seat (or chair), than of the merely doctrinal: and Christ here asserts the authority of the magistrate, and persuadeth to obey him in lawful things.

Concerning the chairs of the Sanhedrim there is mention made in Bab. Succah: "There were at Alexandria seventy-one golden chairs, according to the number of the seventy-one elders of the great council." Concerning the authority of Moses and his vicegerent in the council, there is also mention in Sanhedrim: "The great council consisted of seventy-one elders. But whence was this number derived? From that place where it is said, 'Choose me out seventy men of the elders of Israel: and Moses was president over them.' Behold seventy-one!"

What is here observed by Galatinus from the signification of the aorist sat is too light and airy: "He saith, They sat and not, They sit, that he might plainly demonstrate, that their power was then ceased." But if we would be so curious to gather any thing from this aorist, we might very well transfer it to this sense rather: "The scribes and Pharisees, the worst of men, have long usurped Moses' seat; nevertheless, we ought to obey them, because, by the dispensation of the divine providence, they bear the chief magistracy."

Concerning their authority, thus Maimonides: "The great council of Jerusalem was the ground (the pillar and ground) of the traditional law, and the pillar of doctrine: whence proceeded statutes and judgments for all Israel. And concerning them the law asserts this very thing, saying, 'According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee.' Whosoever, therefore, believes Moses our master and his law, is bound to rely upon them for the things of the law."

Christ teacheth, that they were not to be esteemed as oracles, but as magistrates.

[Heavy burdens.] ...a heavy prohibition; Let him follow him that imposeth heavy things. There are reckoned up four-and-twenty things of the weighty things of the school of Hillel, and the light things of that of Shammai. "R. Joshua saith, A foolish religious man, a crafty wicked man, a she-pharisee, and the voluntary dashing of the Pharisees, destroy the world." It is disputed by the Gemarists, who is that crafty wicked man: and it is answered by some, "He that prescribes light things to himself, and heavy to others."

[They make broad their phylacteries.] These four places of the law, Exodus 13:3-10, Exodus 13:11-16, Deuteronomy 6:5-9, Deuteronomy 11:13-21; being writ upon two parchment labels (which they called tephillin), were carried about with them constantly with great devotion, being fastened to their forehead and their left arm. To the forehead, in that place where the pulse of an infant's brain is. This of the forehead was most conspicuous, and made broad: hence came that, "Let nobody pass by the synagogue while prayers are saying there.--But if he hath phylacteries upon his head, he may pass by, because they show that he is studious of the law."--"It is not lawful to walk through burying-places with phylacteries on one's head, and the book of the law hanging at one's arm."

They are called in Greek phylacteries, that is, observatories; because they were to put them in mind of the law; and perhaps they were also called preservatories, because they were supposed to have some virtue in them to drive away devils: "It is necessary that the phylacteries should be repeated at home a-nights, to drive away devils."

Concerning the curious writing of the phylacteries, see Maimonides on Tephellin. Concerning their strings, marked with certain small letters, see Tosaphoth on Megillah. Concerning the repeating of them, see both the Talmuds in Beracoth. How the Jews did swear touching their phylacteries, see Maimonides in Shevuoth: and how God is brought in swearing by the phylacteries, see Tanchum.

Our Saviour does not so much condemn the bare wearing of them, as the doing it out of pride and hypocrisy. It is not unlikely that he wore them himself, according to the custom of the country: for the children of the Jews were to be brought up from their infancy in saying the phylacteries; that is, as soon as they were capable of being catechised. The scribes and Pharisees made theirs very broad and visible, that they might obtain a proportional fame and esteem for their devotion with the people; these things being looked upon as arguments of the study of the law, and signs of devotion.

[Enlarge the borders of their garments.] See Numbers 15:38; Deuteronomy 22:12--"He that takes care of the candle of the sabbath, his children shall be the disciples of wise men. He that takes care to stick up labels against the posts shall obtain a glorious house; and he that takes care of making borders to his garment, shall obtain a good coat."

[And to be called Rabbi, Rabbi.] I. Concerning the original of this title, see Aruch: "The elder times, which were more worthy, had not need of the title either of Rabban, or Rabbi, or Rabh, to adorn either the wise men of Babylon or the wise men of the land of Israel: for, behold, Hillel comes up out of Babylon, and the title of Rabbi is not added to his name: and thus it was with those who were noble among the prophets; for he saith, Haggai the prophet [not Rabbi Haggai]. Ezra did not come up out of Babylon, &c. [not Rabbi Ezra]; whom they did not honour with the titles of Rabbi when they spoke their names. And we have heard that this had its beginning only in the presidents [of the council] from Rabban Gamaliel the old man, and Rabban Simeon his son, who perished in the destruction of the second Temple: and from Rabban Jochanan Ben Zaccai, who were all presidents. And the title also of Rabbi began from those that were promoted [to be elders] from that time, Rabbi Zadok, and R. Eliezer Ben Jacob: and the thing went forth from the disciples of Rabban Jochanan Ben Zaccai, and onwards. Now the order, as all men use it, is this: Rabbi is greater than Rabh, and Rabban is greater than Rabbi; and he is greater who is called by his own (single) name, than he who is called Rabban."

That this haughty title of Rabbi was not in use before the times of Hillel sufficiently appears from thence, that the doctors before that were called by their plain names, and knew nothing of this title. Antigonus Socheus, Shemaiah and Abtalion, Gebihah Ben Pesisa, Calba Savua, Admon and Hanan, Hillel and Shammai, and many others, whose names we meet with in the Jewish story. Yet you shall find these, that were more ancient, sometimes officiously honoured by the writers of their nation with this title, which they themselves were strangers to. They feign that king Jehoshaphat thus called the learned men: "When he saw (say they) a disciple of the wise men, he rose up out of his throne and embraced him, and kissed him, and called him O Father, Father, Rabbi, Rabbi, Lord, Lord." And Joshua Ben Perachia is called Rabbi Joshua...

II. It was customary, and they loved it, to be saluted with this honourable title, notwithstanding the dissembled axiom among them, Love the work, but hate the title.

1. Disciples were thus taught to salute their masters: "R. Eliezer saith, he that prayeth behind the back of his master, and he that salutes his master,--or returns a salute to his master,--and he that makes himself a separatist from the school of his master,--and he that teaches any thing, which he hath not heard from his master,--he provokes the Divine Majesty to depart from Israel." The Glossers on these words, 'He that salutes, or returns a salute to his master,' thus comment; "he that salutes his master in the same form of words that he salutes other men, and doth not say to him, God save you, Rabbi." It is reported also, that the council excommunicated certain persons four and twenty times, for the honour of master; that is, for not having given due honour to the Rabbins.

2. The masters saluted one another so. "R. Akibah said to R. Eleazar, Rabbi, Rabbi."--"R. Eleazar Ben Simeon, of Magdal Gedor, came from the house of his master, sitting upon an ass: he went forward along the bank of the river rejoicing greatly, and being very much pleased with himself, because he had learned so much of the law. There meets him a very deformed man, and said Save you, Rabbi: he did not salute him again, but on the contrary said thus, 'Raca, how deformed is that man! perhaps all your townsmen are as deformed as you.' He answered, 'I know nothing of that, but go you to the workman that made me, and tell him, how deformed is this vessel which thou hast made!'" &c. And a little after, "when that deformed man was come to his own town, his fellow citizens came out to meet him and said, Save you, O Rabbi, Rabbi, master, master. He [R. Eleazar] saith to them, 'To whom do you say Rabbi, Rabbi?' They answer, 'To him that followeth thee.' He replied, 'If this be a Rabbi, let there not be many such in Israel.'"

[Ye devour widows' houses.] The scribes and Pharisees were ingenious enough for their own advantage. Hear one argument among many, forged upon the anvil of their covetousness, a little rudely drawn, but gainful enough: "The Lord saith, 'Make me an ark of shittim wood.' Hence it is decided (say they) in behalf of a disciple of the wise men, that his fellow citizens are bound to perform his servile work for him."--O money, thou mistress of art and mother of wit! So he that was preferred to be president of the council, was to be maintained and enriched by the council! See the Gloss on Babylonian Taanith.

They angled with a double hook among the people for respect, and by respect for gain.

I. As doctors of the law: where they, first and above all things, instilled into their disciples and the common people, that a wise man, or a master, was to be respected above all mortal men whatsoever. Behold the rank and order of benches according to these judges! "A wise man is to take place of a king; a king of a high priest; a high priest of a prophet; a prophet of one anointed for war; one anointed for war of a president of the courses; a president of the courses of the head of a family; the head of a family of a counsellor; a counsellor of a treasurer; a treasurer of a private priest; a private priest of a Levite; a Levite of an Israelite; an Israelite of a bastard; a bastard of a Nethinim; a Nethinim of a proselyte; a proselyte of a freed slave. But when is this to be? namely, when they are alike as to other things: but, indeed, if a bastard be a disciple, or a wise man, and the high priest be unlearned, the bastard is to take place of him. A wise man is to be preferred before a king: for if a wise man die, he hath not left his equal; but if a king die, any Israelite is fit for a kingdom."

This last brings to my mind those words of Ignatius the martyr, if indeed they are his, in his tenth epistle: My son, saith he, honour God and the king: but I say, 'Honour God as the cause and Lord of all: the bishop as the chief priest, bearing the image of God; in respect of his rule bearing God's image, in respect of his priestly office, Christ's; and, after him, we ought to honour the king also.'

II. Under a pretence of mighty devotion, but especially under the goodly show of long prayers, they so drew over the minds of devout persons to them, especially of women, and among them of the richer widows, that by subtle attractives they either drew out or wrested away their goods and estates. Nor did they want nets of counterfeit authority, when from the chair they pronounced, according to their pleasures, of the dowry and estate befalling a widow, and assumed to themselves the power of determining concerning those things. Of which matter, as it is perplexed with infinite difficulties and quirks, you may read, if you have leisure, the treatises Jevamoth, Chetuboth, and Gittin.

Concerning the length of their prayers, it may suffice to produce the words of the Babylon Gemara in Beracoth: "The religious anciently used to tarry an hour [meditating before they began their prayers]: whence was this? R. Joshua Ben Levi saith, 'It was because the Scripture saith, Blessed are they who sit in thy house.' R. Joshua Ben Levi saith also, 'He that prays ought to tarry an hour after prayers: as it is said, The just shall praise thy name, the upright shall sit before thy face': it is necessary, therefore, that he should stay [meditating] an hour before prayers, and an hour after; and the religious anciently used to stay an hour before prayers, an hour they prayed, and an hour they stayed after prayers. Since, therefore, they spent nine hours eery day about their prayers, how did they perform the rest of the law? and how did they take care of their worldly affairs? Why herein, in being religious, both the law was performed, and their own business well provided for." And in the same place, "Long prayers make a long life."

[To make one proselyte.] The Talmudists truly speak very ill of proselytes: "Our Rabbins teach, that proselytes and Sodomites hinder the coming of the Messias. Proselytes are as a scab to Israel." The Gloss; "For this reason, that they were not skilled in the commandments, that they brought in revenge, and moreover, that the Israelites perchance may imitate their works," &c.

Yet in making of these they used their utmost endeavours for the sake of their own gain, that they might some way or other drain their purses, after they had drawn them in under the show of religion, or make some use or benefit to themselves by them. The same covetousness, therefore, under a veil of hypocrisy, in devouring widows' houses, which our Saviour had condemned in the former clause, he here also condemns in hunting after proselytes; which the scribes and Pharisees were at all kind of pains to bring over to them. Not that they cared for proselytes, whom they accounted as "a scab and plague"; but that the more they could draw over to their religion, the greater draught they should have for gain, and the more purses to fish in. These, therefore, being so proselyted, "they made doubly more the children of hell than themselves." For when they had drawn them into their net, having got their prey, they were no further concerned what became of them, so they got some benefit by them. They might perish in ignorance, superstition, atheism, and all kind of wickedness: this was no matter of concern to the scribes and Pharisees; only let them remain in Judaism, that they might lord it over their consciences and purses.

[Whosoever shall swear by the gold of the Temple, he is a debtor.] These words agree in the same sense with those of the Corban, chapter 15:5. We must not understand the gold of the Temple here, of that gold which shined all about in the walls and ceilings; but the gold here meant is that which was offered up in the Corban. It was a common thing with them, and esteemed as nothing, to swear by the Temple, and by the altar, which we have observed at the 31st verse of the fifth chapter: and therefore they thought themselves not much obliged by it; but if they swore Corban, they supposed they were bound by an indispensable tie. For example: if any one should swear thus, 'By the Temple, or, By the altar, my money, my cattle, my goods shall not profit you'; it was lawful, nevertheless, for the swearer, if he pleased, to suffer them to be profited by these: but if he should swear thus, 'Corban, my gold is for the Temple, Corban, my cattle are for the altar,' this could noways be dispensed with.

[Ye pay tithe of mint.] I. "This is the general rule about tithes; whatsoever serves for food, whatsoever is kept [that is, which is not of common right], and whatsoever grows out of the earth, shall be tithed."

II. According to the law, cattle, corn, and fruit were to be tithed: the way and measure of which, as the scribes teach, was this: "Of bread-corn that is thrashed and winnowed, 1. A fifth part is taken out for the priest; this was called the great offering. 2. A tenth part of the remainer belong to the Levite; this was called the first tenth, or tithe. 3. A tenth part again was to be taken out of the remainder, and was to be eaten at Jerusalem, or else redeemed; this was called the second tithe. 4. The Levite gives a tenth part out of his to the priest; this was called the tithe of the tithe." These are handled at large in Peah, Demai, Maaseroth, &c.

III. The tithing of herbs is from the Rabbins. This tithing was added by the scribes, and yet approved of by our Saviour, when he saith, "Ye ought not to have left these undone." Hear this, O thou who opposest tithes. The tithing of herbs was only of ecclesiastical institution, and yet it hath the authority of our Saviour to confirm it, "Ye ought not to have left these things undone": and that partly on account of the justice of the thing itself, and the agreeableness of it to law and reason, partly that it was commanded by the council sitting in Moses' chair, as it is, verse 2.

IV. [Mint.] ...is reckoned among those things which come under the law of the seventh year. Where Rambam saith, "In the Aruch it is minta." It is called sometimes mintha: where R. Solomon writes, "In the Aruch it is minta in the mother tongue, and it hath a sweet smell; therefore they strew it in synagogues for the sake of its scent."

[Anise.] ...R. Solomon, "anise is a kind of herb, and is tithed, both as to the seed and herb itself." Rambam writes thus: "It is eaten raw after meat, and is not to be boiled; while, therefore, it is not boiled, it comes under the law of tithing." The Gloss "in the Roman language is anethum [anise], and is tithed, whether it be gathered green or ripe."

[Cummin.] ...It is reckoned among things that are to be tithed.

[Ye are like whited sepulchres.] Sepulchres are distinguished by the masters of the Jews into a deep sepulchre, which cannot be known to be a sepulchre; graves that appear not [Luke 11:44]; and a painted sepulchre, such as were all those that were known, and to be seen. Our Saviour compares the Scribes and Pharisees to both; to those, in the place of Luke last mentioned; to these, in the place before us, each upon a different reason.

Concerning the whiting of sepulchres, there are these traditions: "In the fifteenth day of the month Adar they mend the ways, and the streets, and the common sewers, and perform those things that concern the public, and they paint (or mark) the sepulchres." The manner is described in Maasar Sheni; They paint the sepulchres with chalk, tempered and infused in water. The Jerusalem Gemarists give the reason of it in abundance of places: "Do they not mark the sepulchres (say they) before the month Adar? Yes, but it is supposed that the colours are wiped off. For what cause do they paint them so? That this matter may be like the case of the leper. The leprous man crieth out, 'Unclean, unclean'; and here, in like manner, uncleanness cries out to you and saith, 'Come not near.'" R. Illa, in the name of R. Samuel Bar Nachman, allegeth that of Ezekiel; "If one passing through the land seeth a man's bone, he shall set up a burial sign by it."

The Glossers deliver both the reason and the manner of it thus: "From the fifteenth day of the month Adar they began their search; and wheresoever they found a sepulchre whose whiting was washed off with the rain, they renewed it, that the unclean place might be discerned, and the priests who were to eat the Trumah might avoid it." Gloss on Shekalim, and again on Maasar Sheni: "They marked the sepulchres with chalk in the likeness of bones; and mixing it with water, they washed the sepulchre all about with it, that thereby all might know that the place was unclean, and therefore to be avoided." Concerning this matter also, the Gloss speaks; "They made marks like bones on the sepulchres with white chalk," &c. See the place.

[Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men.] Such kind of hypocrites are called distained, or coloured. Jannai the king, when he was dying, warned his wife that she should take heed of painted men, pretending to be Pharisees, whose works are as the works of Zimri, and yet they expect the reward of Phineas. The Gloss is "Those painted men are those whose outward show doth not answer to their nature; they are coloured without, but their inward part doth not answer to their outward; and their works are evil, like the works of Zimri; but they require the reward of Phineas, saying to men, That they should honour them as much as Phineas." They had forgotten their own axiom, A disciple of the wise, who is not the same within that he is without, is not a disciple of the wise.

[But within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.] The masters themselves acknowledged this to their own shame. They inquire, what were those sins under the first Temple for which it was destroyed; and it is answered, "Idolatry, fornication, and bloodshed." They inquire, what were the sins under the second; and answer, "Hate without cause, and secret iniquity"; and add these words, "To those that were under the first Temple their end was revealed, because their iniquity was revealed: but to those that were under the second their end was not revealed, because their iniquity was not revealed." The Gloss, "They that were under the first Temple did not hide their iniquity; therefore their end was revealed to them: as it is said, 'After seventy years I will visit you in Babylon': but their iniquity under the second Temple was not revealed: those under the second Temple were secretly wicked."

[Ye garnish the sepulchres of the righteous.] Let them raise some pillar upon his sepulchre. The Glossers are divided about the rendering of the word pillar. Some understand it of a kind of building or pillar; some of the whiting or marking of a sepulchre above spoken of. The place referred to speaks concerning the remains of the didrachms paid for the redemption of the soul: and the question is, if there be any thing of them due, or remaining from the man now dead, what shall be done with it; the answer is, "Let it be laid up till Elias come: but R. Nathan saith, Let them raise some pillar [or building] upon his sepulchre." Which that it was done for the sake of adorning the sepulchres is proved from the words of the Jerusalem Gemara upon the place; They do not adorn the sepulchres of the righteous, for their own sayings are their memorial. Whence those buildings or ornaments that were set on their sepulchres seem to have been sacred to their memory, and thence called as much as souls, because they preserved the life and soul of their memory.

These things being considered, the sense of the words before us doth more clearly appear. Doth it deserve so severe a curse, to adorn the sepulchres of the prophets and righteous men? Was not this rather an act of piety than a crime? But according to their own doctrine, O ye scribes and Pharisees, their own acts and sayings are a sufficient memorial for them. Why do ye not respect, follow, and imitate these? But neglecting and trampling upon these, you persuade yourselves that you have performed piety enough to them, if you bestow some cost in adorning their sepulchres, whose words indeed you despise.

[The damnation of hell.] The judgment of Gehenna. See the Chaldee paraphrast on Ruth 2:12; Baal Turim on Genesis 1:1; and Midras Tillin.

[Wise men and scribes.] Let them observe this, who do not allow the ministers of the word to have a distinct calling. The Jews knew not any that was called a wise man, or a scribe, but who was both learned, and separated from the common people by a distinct order and office.

[Unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias.] That the discourse here is concerning Zacharias the son of Jehoiada, killed by king Joash, we make appear by these arguments:

I. Because no other Zacharias is said to have been slain before these words were spoken by Christ. Those things that are spoke of Zacharias, the father of the Baptist, are dreams; and those of Zacharias, one of the twelve prophets, are not much better. The killing of our Zacharias in the Temple is related in express words: and why, neglecting this, should we seek for another, which in truth we shall nowhere find in any author of good credit?

II. The Jews observe, that the death of this Zacharias, the son of Jehoiada, was made memorable by a signal character [nota] and revenge: of the martyrdom of the other Zacharias they say nothing at all.

Hear both the Talmuds: "R. Jochanan said, Eighty thousand priests were killed for the blood of Zacharias. R. Judah asked R. Acha, 'Whereabouts they killed Zacharias, whether in the Court of the Women, or in the Court of Israel?' He answered, 'Neither in the Court of Israel nor in the Court of the women, but in the Court of the Priests.' And that was not done to his blood which useth to be done to the blood of a ram or a kid. Concerning these it is written, 'And he shall pour out his blood, and cover it with dust.' But here it is written, 'Her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock, she poured it not upon the ground.' And why this? 'That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance. I have set her blood upon a rock, that it should not be covered.' They committed seven wickednesses in that day. They killed a priest, a prophet, and a judge: they shed the blood of an innocent man: they polluted the court: and that day was the sabbath day, and the day of Expiation. When therefore Nebuzar-adan went up thither, he saw the blood bubbling: so he said to them, 'What meaneth this?' 'It is the blood,' say they, 'of calves, lambs, and rams, which we have offered on the altar.' 'Bring then,' said he, 'calves, lambs, and rams, that I may try whether this be their blood.' They brought them and slew them, and that blood still bubbled, but their blood did not bubble. 'Discover the matter to me,' said he, 'or I will tear your flesh with iron rakes.' Then they said to him, 'This was a priest, a prophet, and a judge, who foretold to Israel all these evils which we have suffered from you, and we rose up against him, and slew him.' 'But I,' saith he, 'will appease him.' He brought the Rabbins, and slew them upon that blood; and yet it was not pacified: he brought the children out of the school, and slew them upon it, and yet it was not quiet: he brought the young priests, and slew them upon it, and yet it was not quiet. So that he slew upon it ninety-four thousand, and yet it was not quiet. He drew near to it himself, and said, 'O Zacharias, Zacharias! thou hast destroyed the best of thy people' [that is, they have been killed for your sake]; 'would you have me destroy all?' Then it was quiet, and did not bubble any more," &c.

The truth of this story we leave to the relators: that which makes to our present purpose we observe: that it was very improbable, nay, next to impossible, that those that heard the words of Christ (concerning Zacharias slain before the Temple and the altar) could understand it of any other but of this, concerning whom and whose blood they had such famous and signal memory; and of any other Zacharias slain in the Temple there was a profound silence. In Josephus, indeed, we meet with the mention of one Zacharias, the son of Baruch, (which is the same thing with Barachias,) killed in the Temple, not long before the destruction of it: whom some conjecture to be prophetically marked out here by our Saviour: but this is somewhat hard, when Christ expressly speaks of time past, ye slew; and when, by no art nor arguments, it can be proved that this Zacharias ought to be reckoned into the number of prophets and martyrs.

There are two things here that stick with interpreters, so that they cannot so freely subscribe to our Zacharias: 1. That he lived and died long before the first Temple was destroyed; when the example would have seemed more home and proper to be taken under the second Temple, and that now near expiring. 2. That he was plainly and notoriously the son of Jehoiada; but this is called by Christ "the son of Barachias."

To which we, after others who have discoursed at large upon this matter, return only thus much:

I. That Christ plainly intended to bring examples out of the Old Testament; and he brought two, which how much the further off they seemed to be from deriving any guilt to this generation, so much heavier the guilt is if they do derive it. For a Jew would argue, "What hath a Jew to do with the blood of Abel, killed almost two thousand years before Abraham the father of the Jews was born? And what hath this generation to do with the blood of Zacharias, which was expiated by cruel plagues and calamities many ages since?" Nay, saith Christ, this generation hath arrived to that degree of impiety, wickedness, and guilt, that even these remote examples of guilt relate, and are to be applied to it: and while you think that the blood of Abel, and the following martyrs doth nothing concern you, and believe that the blood of Zacharias hath been long ago expiated with a signal punishment; I say unto you, that the blood both of the one and the other, and of all the righteous men killed in the interval of time between them, shall be required of this generation; 1. Because you kill him who is of more value than they all. 2. Because by your wickedness you so much kindle the anger of God, that he is driven to cut off his old church; namely, the people that hath been of a long time in covenant with him. For when Christ saith, That on you may come all the righteous blood, &c.; it is not so much to be understood of their personal guilt as to that blood, as of their guilt for the killing of Christ, in whose death, the guilt of the murder of all those his types and members is in some measure included: and it is to be understood of the horrible destruction of that generation, than which no former ages have ever seen any more woeful or amazing, nor shall any future, before the funeral of the world itself. As if all the guilt of the blood of righteous men, that had been shed from the beginning of the world, had flowed together upon that generation.

II. To the second, which has more difficulty, namely, that Zacharias is here called the son of Barachias, when he was the son of Jehoiada, we will observe, by the way, these two things out of the writings of the Jews, before we come to determine the thing itself:

1. That that very Zacharias of whom we speak is by the Chaldee paraphrast called the son of Iddo. For thus saith he on Lamentations 3:20: "'Is it fit that the daughters of Israel should eat the fruit of their womb?' &c. The rule of justice answered and said, 'Is it also fit that they should slay a priest and prophet in the Temple of the Lord, as ye slew Zacharias and the son of Iddo, the high priest and faithful prophet, in the house of the Sanctuary, on the day of Expiation?'" &c.

2. In the place of Isaiah, concerning Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, the Jews have these things: "It is written, 'I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Barachiah,' Isaiah 8:1. But what is the reason that Uriah is joined with Zechariah? for Uriah was under the first Temple; Zechariah under the second: but the Scripture joineth the prophecy of Zechariah to the prophecy of Uriah. By Urias it is written, 'For your sakes Sion shall be ploughed as a field.' By Zechariah it is written, 'As yet old men and ancient women shall sit in the streets of Jerusalem.' When the prophecy of Uriah is fulfilled, the prophecy of Zechariah shall also be fulfilled." To the same sense also speaks the Chaldee paraphrast upon the place: "'And I took unto me faithful witnesses.' The curses which I foretold I would bring, in the prophecy of Uriah the priest, behold they are come to pass: likewise all the blessings which I foretold I would bring, in the prophecy of Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, I will bring to pass." See also there RR. Jarchi and Kimchi.

From both these we observe two things: 1. If Iddo did not signify the same thing with Jehoiada to the Jewish nation, why might not our Saviour have the same liberty to call Barachias the father of Zacharias, as the Chaldee paraphrast had to call him Iddo? 2. It is plain that the Jews looked upon those words of Isaiah as the words of God speaking to Isaiah, not of Isaiah relating a matter of fact historically...

For if it had been to be construed in the preter tense, it should have been pointed by Kamets, And I caused to witness. Which being well observed, (as I confess it hath not been by me heretofore,) the difficulty under our hand is resolved, as I imagine, very clearly: and I suppose that Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah in Isaiah is the very same with our Zacharias the son of Jehoiada; and that the sense of Isaiah comes to this: in that and the foregoing chapter there is a discourse of the future destruction of Damascus, Samaria, and Judea. For a confirmation of the truth of this prophecy, God makes use of a double testimony: first, he commands the prophet Isaiah to write, over and over again, in a great volume, from the beginning to the end, "To hasten the spoil, he hastened the prey": and this volume should be an undoubted testimony to them, that God would certainly bring on and hasten the forementioned spoiling and destruction. "And moreover (saith God), I will raise up to myself two faithful martyrs," (or witnesses,) who shall testify and seal the same thing with their words and with their blood, namely, Uriah the priest, who shall hereafter be crowned with martyrdom for this very thing, Jeremiah 26:20,23, and Zechariah the son of Barachiah, or Jehoiada, who is lately already crowned: he, the first martyr under the first Temple; this, the last. Hear, thou Jew, who taxest Matthew in this place: your own authors assert, that Uriah the priest is to be understood by that Uriah who was killed by Jehoiakim; and that truly. We also assert, that Zechariah the son of Jehoiadah is to be understood by Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah; and that Matthew and Christ do not at all innovate in this name of Barachias, but did only pronounce the same things concerning the father of the martyr Zacharias, which God himself had pronounced before them by the prophet Isaiah.

Objection. But since our Saviour took examples from the Old Testament, why did he not rather say, "from the blood of Abel to the blood of Uriah the priest?" that is, from the beginning of the world to the end of the first Temple? I answer,

1. The killing of Zechariah was more horrible, as he was more high in dignity; and as the place wherein he was killed was more holy.

2. The consent of the whole people as more universal to his death.

3. He was a more proper and apparent type of Christ.

4. The requiring of vengeance is mentioned only concerning Abel and Zechariah: "Behold, the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me." And, "Let the Lord look upon it, and require it."

5. In this the death of Christ agrees exactly with the death of Zechariah; that, although the city and nation of the Jews did not perish till about forty years after the death of Christ, yet they gave themselves their death's wound in wounding Christ. So it was also in the case of Zechariah: Jerusalem and the people of the Jews stood indeed many years after the death of Zechariah, but from that time began to sink, and draw towards ruin. Consult the story narrowly, and you will plainly find, that all the affairs of the Jews began to decline and grow worse and worse, from that time when "blood touched blood," (the blood of the sacrificer mingled with the blood of the sacrifice), and when "the people became contentious and rebellious against the priest."

[Jerusalem, that killest the prophets.] R. Solomon on those words, "But now murderers": "They have killed (saith he) Uriah, they have killed Zechariah." Also on these words, "Your sword hath devoured your prophets"; "Ye have slain (saith he) Zechariah and Isaiah." "Simeon Ben Azzai said, 'I have found a book of genealogies at Jerusalem, in which it was written, Manasseh slew Isaiah,'" &c.

The Scribes and Pharisees, so often mentioned in the gospels, were the great doctors and spiritual guides amongst the Jews. Scribe is the name of an office; Pharisee the name of a sect. They were both learned in the law, and teachers of the law of Moses.

Our blessed Saviour, in the former part of his gospel, held many conferences with these men, and used the most persuasive argument to convince them both of their errors and wickedness. But their obstinancy and malice being such, that neither our Saviour's ministry nor miracles could convince them: hereupon our Lord denounces, in this chapter, eight several woes against them.

But first he charitably warns his disciples and the man, saying, The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat; that is, they teach and expound the law of Moses, which they were wont to do sitting, Whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do.

That is, "What they teach you consonant to the word of God, and agreeable to the writings of Moses and the prophets: if they go not out of Moses' chair into their own unwritten traditions, follow their doctrine, and obey their precepts; but do not after their works, follow not their example, take heed of their pride and hypocrisy, of their ambition and vain-glory. Obey their doctrine wherein it is sound; but follow not their example wherein it is corrupt."

Learn, 1. That the personal miscarriages of ministers, must by no means beget a disesteem of their office and ministry. Charity must teach us to distinguish betwixt the calling and the crime.

2. That the infallible truths of God, recommended to us by a vicious teacher, ought to be entertained and obeyed by us, without either scruple or prejudice. What the Pharisees themselves, says Christ, bid you observe, that observe and do.

3. That no people are obliged to follow their teacher's pattern and example any farther than it is agreeable to scripture-rule, and conformable to Christ's example: Do not after their works, who say, and do not.

These heavy burdens which the Pharisees laid upon the people's shoulders, were counsels and directions, rules and canons, austerities and severities, which the Pharisees introduced and imposed upon their hearers, but would not undergo the least part of those severities themselves. If we do not follow our own counsels, we must not think to oblige others what he is unwilling to perform himself. It is very sinful to give that counsel to others, which we refuse to take ourselves.

In these words our blessed Saviour admonishes his disciples and the multitude to take heed of imitating the Pharisees in their ostentation and hypocrisy, in their ambition and vain-glory; and he instances, in three particulars, wherein they expressed it:

1. All their works, says Christ, they do to be seen of men. To do good works that men may see them, is a duty; but to do all or any of our works to be seen of men, is hypocrisy.

2. They make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments. These phylacteries were certain scrolls and labels of parchment, in which were written the ten commandments, and some sections of the law; these they tied to their foreheads, and pinned upon their left sleeve, that the law of God might be continually before their eyes, and perpetually in their remembrance. This ceremony they judged God prescribed them, Thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes Deut 6:8. By enlarging the borders of their garments, our Saviour points at the fringes and blue ribbons which the Jews did wear upon their garments, in obedience to the command, wear upon their garments, Num 15:37-38. As the threads in those fringes and ribbons close woven together, did represent the connection, complication, and inseparable conjunction of God's commandments among themselves; so the wearing of these fringes was to put them in mind of the law of God, that which way soever they turned their eyes, they might meet with some pious admonition to keep the law of God. Now the vain-glorious Pharisees, that they might be thought more mindful of the law of God than other men, did make their phylacteries broader, and their fringes thicker and longer than other men.

3. They fondly affected and ambitiously contended for the first and uppermost seats in all conventions, as at feast, and in the synagogues, and loved to have titles of honour, such as rabbi, master, father, and doctor, put upon them. Now that which our Saviour condemns, is the Pharisees fond affection of these little things, and unduly seeking their own honour and glory. It was not their taking, but their loving, the uppermost rooms at feasts, that Christ condemns.

From the whole, Note, 1. That hypocrites are fond of affecting ceremonial observations and outward parts of commanded duties, neglecting the substance of religion itself. These Pharisees were carrying a library of God's law on their clothes, scarce a letter of it in their hearts. They wore the law of God, as frontlets before their eyes, but not engraven on the tables of their hearts.

Observe, 2. That the nature of hypocrisy is to study more to seem religious in the sight of men, than to be religious indeed before God. The hypocrite is the world's saint, and not God's: he courts the world's acceptation more than the divine favour and approbation.

The word rabbi signifies a doctor or teacher, eminent, endowed with variety of knowledge, whose place it was to sit in an exalted chair, or chief seat in the synagogue; their disciples and scholars sat upon lower forms at the feet of their teachers. Our Saviour doth not simply condemn the giving or receiving of these titles, of rabbi, master, and father; but the things forbidden, are,

1. A vain-glorious affectation of such titles as these, the ambitious seeking of them, and glorying in them.

2. He condemns that authority and dominion over the consciences of men, which the pharisaical doctors had usurped; telling the people that they ought to believe all their doctrine, and practice all their injunctions, as the commands of the living God. They did in effect assume infallibility to themselves.

Learn, hence, 1. That there have been in all ages of the church a sort of teachers, who, have usurped authority and dominion over the faith and conscience of men.

2. That Christians ought not to sumbit their faith and conscience in matters of religion to any human authority whatsoever, nor give up themselves absolutely to the conduct of any man's judgment or opinion in matters of faith.

3. That Christ alone, the great prophet and infallible teacher of his church, is the only person to whose doctrine and precepts we owe absolute faith and obedience: One is your Master, even Christ.

4. As God will abase, and men will despise the proud, especially ministers who are such; so shall God exalt, and men will honour, them that stoop to the meanest services for the good of souls; Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abused. This was a sentence often used by our Saviour, and was a frequent saying among the Jews.

From the thirteenth verse to the thirtieth, the Pharisees have eight several woes denounced against them by our Saviour; the first is, for perverting the scriptures, and keeping the true sense and knowledge of them from the people. This St. Matthew calls the shutting up of the kingdom of heaven against men. St. Luke calls it, A taking away the key of knowledge from men, which is an allusion to a known custom among the Jews in admission of their doctors; for those that had authority given them to interpret the law and the Prophets, were solemnly admitted into that office, by delivering to them a key and a table-book. So that by the key of knowledge, is meant the interpretation and understanding of the scriptures; and by taking away the key of knowledge is signified, first, that they arrogated to themselves alone the understanding of the scriptures.

Secondly, That they kept the true knowledge of the scriptures from the people, especially the prophecies which concerned the Messias, and so they hindered men from embracing our Saviour's doctrine, who were otherwise well enough disposed for it.

Learn, hence, 1. That the knowledge of the holy scriptures is absolutely and indispensibly necessary in order to salvation. This our Saviour calls the key, which lets men into the kingdom of heaven.

Learn, 2. That great is the guilt, and inexcusable the fault, of those who deprive the people of the knowledge of the scriptures. They shut the kingdom of heaven against men, and do what in them lies to hinder their eternal salvation. Men may miscarry with their knowledge, but they are sure to perish for want of knowledge.

The second woe denounced against the Pharisees, is for their gross hypocrisy, in colouring over their covetousness with a pretence of religion; making long prayers in the temple and synagogues for widows, and thereupon persuading them to give bountifully to the corban, or the common treasure of the temple, some part of which was employed for their maintenance.

Learn, 1. It is no new thing for designing hypocrites to cover the foulest transgessions with the cloak of religion. The Pharisees make long prayers a cover of their covetousness.

2. That to make use of religion in policy for worldly advantage sake, is the way to be damned with a vengeance for religion sake: Woe unto you Scribes &c.

The next woe denounced is for their false-ended zeal and earnestness in proselyting heathens to the Jewish religion; not with a pious intention to save them, but to serve themselves upon them, to have their consciences and purses under their power: and when you have poisoned them, says our Saviour, by your corrupt doctrine, and hardened them in a course of sin by your wicked example, they are more the children of hell than before you practised upon them.

Learn, 1. Great is the diligence and indefatigable the industry which false teachers use in gaining proselytes to their opinion and party: They compass sea and land to make one proselyte.

2. That such as are proselyted to error, are oftentimes faster riveted in their false opinions than their teachers themselves: They are made two-fold more the children of hell than yourselves.

The fourth woe which our Saviour denounceth against Pharisees is for the false and erroneous doctrine concerning oaths.

1. They taught men to swear by the creatures.

2. They taught that some oaths made by the creatures were obligatory and binding, others not; particularly they affirmed, that if a man swear by the temple, or the altar, it was nothing; that is, he was not bound by such an oath: but if a man swear by the gold of the temple and the altar; that is, by the gifts offered to the corban, or treasury of the temple, and by the sacrifices and oblations on the altar; such an oath they affirmed was binding, because it was for their profit that the gifts on the altar, and the gold brought into the treasury, should be accounted most holy, seeing that would encourage the people to be more ready to contribute and offer.

This horrid hypocrisy and covetousness our blessed Saviour here sharply reproves, and shews, that oaths made by the creatures, though unlawful, yet being once made, did oblige, as if the parties had sworn by God himself. For he that swears by the temple, swears by it and him that dwelleth therein.

Learn, 1. That swearing by the creatures is no new sin, but as old as the Pharisees.

2. That swearing by the creatures is a great profanation of the name of God, and a mighty provocation to him.

3. That is notwithstanding, if the matter of such oaths be not sinful, they are obligatory and binding. He that sweareth by the creatures, sweareth indeed by the God of the creatures: for, says our Saviour, he that sweareth by the heavens, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

The next woe denounced is for the Pharisees ostentation of a precise keeping of the law in smaller matters, and neglecting weightier duties: They pay tythe of mint, anise, and cummin; but at the omitted judgment, mercy and faith; that is, just dealing with men, charity towards the poor, and faithfulness in their promises and covenants one with another. This, says our Saviour, is to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. A proverbial expression, intimating that some persons pretend great niceness and scrupulosity about small matters, and none or but little about duties of the greatest moment.

Hence, Note, 1. That hypocrites lay the greatest stress upon the least matters in religion, and place holiness most in those things where God places it least. Ye tythe mint, &c. but neglect the weightier matters of the law. This is indeed the bane of all religion and true piety, to prefer ritual and human institutions before divine commands, and the practice of natural religion. Thus to do, is a certain sign of gross hypocrisy.

Observe, 2. That although some duties are of greater moment than others, yet a good man will omit none, but perform every duty the least as well as the greatest, in obedience to the command of God. These things ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Our Saviour doth not here condemn their legal, or traditional washing of pots of cups, or any external decency and cleanliness in conversation; but his design is to shew them the vanity of outward purity, without inward sancity, and to convince them of the necessity of cleansing the heart, in order to the purifying and reforming the life: plainly intimating,

1. That men's lives could no be so bad, if their hearts were not worse, all the obliquity fo their lives proceeding from the impurity of their hearts and natures.

2. That an holy heart will be accompanied with an holy life. A man may be outwardly pure, and yet inwardly filthy; but he that has a pure heart will live a pure and holy life. Cleanse that which is within the cup, that the outside may be clean also.

Here we have a woe denounced against the Pharisees for cheating and deceiving the people with an outward shew, and external appearance of piety and religion: their lives were seemingly very religious but their hearts were full of hypocrisy and all impurity, like sepulchres painted without, and full of rottenness within.

Whence, Learn, That the great design of hypocrisy is to cheat the world with a vain and empty shew of piety. The ambition of the hypocrite is to be thought good, not to be so; he is the world's saint, not God's.

This is the eighth woe denounced by our blessed Saviour against the Pharisees for their grand hypocrisy, in pretending great honour to the saints departed, building their tombs, and garnishing their sepulchres, and declaring against their fathers impiety, That had they lived in their days, they would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

Now their hypocrisy appeared in three particulars.

1. In that they continued in their own wickedness, and yet recommended the saints departed; they magnify the saints, but multiply their sins, and instead of imitating their virtues, they content themselves with garnishing their sepulchres.

2. In professing great respect to the dead saints, and at the same time persecuting the living. Palpable hypocrisy! And yet as gross as it is, it prevails to this day. The church of Rome, who magnify martyrs, and canonize saints departed, have yet added to their numbers, by shedding of their blood.

3. In taking false measures of their love to the saints departed, from their building their tombs, and garnishing their sepulchres; whereas the best evidence of our love unto them is the imitating their virtues, and cherishing their followers. It is gross hypocisy to pay respect to the relics of saints, and veneration to their images; and at the same time to persecute and afflict their followers.

Learn hence, 1. That the world has all along loved the dead saints better than living ones. Mortui non mordent. The dead saints example, how bright soever, is not so scorching and troublesome at a distance; and he himself no longer stands in other men's light; whereas the living saints example is a cutting reproof to sin and vice.

Observe, 2. That there is a certain civility in human nature, which leads men to a just commendation of the dead, and to a due estimation of their worth. The Pharisees here though they persecuted the prophets whilst alive, yet had they a mighty veneration for their piety and virtue after they were dead, and thought no honour too great to be done unto them.

Note, 3. That it is the grossest hypocrisy to pretend to love goodness, and yet hate and persecute good men. These hypocritical Pharisees pretended highly to piety and religion, and at the same time killed the prophets, and stoned them that were sent unto them.

4. That the highest honour we can pay to the saints departed, is not by raising monuments, and building tombs to their memory; but by a careful imitation of their piety and virtue, following the holiness of their lives, and their patience and constancy at their deaths.

Observe here, A prophetical prediction, and a severe denunciation.

1. A prediction foretelling what cruel usage the apostle should meet with from the Jews, killing and crucifying some, scourging and stoning others; which accordingly was fulfilled in the crucifying of St. Peter, the scourging of St. Paul, in the stoning of St. Stephen, and killing of St. James. The first planters and propagators of the gospel sealed their doctrine with their blood, and the blood of the martyrs has all along been the seed of the church.

Observe, 2. A severe denunciation, That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from Abel to Zacharias, the son of Jehoiada, 2Chr 24:20, who was the last prophet whose murder is related by name in the Old Testament. These words are not to be understood as if the end and intent of Christ's sending the prophets were that the Jews might put them to death, and bring their righteous blood upon themselves. This was the consequence and intent of it.

Learn, 1. That raging persecutors have no regard either to the extraordinary mission, or eminent sanctity of persons who reprove them for their sins. I send unto you prophets, says our Saviour, wise men and Scribes, and some of them ye shall kill and crucify.

2. That as the piety of the person, so neither can the sanctity of the place discourage and deter bloody persecutors from their rage and fury against the prophets of God. In the temple itself, in the court of the house of the Lord, even betwixt the porch and the altar, was Zacharias slain. That it is a righteous thing with God to punish good men for the impieties of their parents:

this is to be understood, 1. Where the children tread in their fathers steps, and continue in their parents sins; which they do, if they do not confess them, abhor them, and be humbled for them.

2. This is to be understood of temporal evils, not of eternal punishments. No man shall for his father's sins lie down in everlasting burnings. As our fathers faith will not let us into heaven, so neither will their impiety shut us into hell. At the day of judgment every man shall be separately considered according to his deeds.

Our Lord concludes this chapter with a pathetical lamentation over Jerusalem. His ingemination or doubling of the word, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, shews the vehemency of Christ's affection towards them, and the sincerity of his desires for their salvation.

Observe, 1. The great kindness and compassion of Christ to the Jews in general, and Jerusalem in particular, set forth by a lively metaphor and similitude; that of a hen gathering her chickens under her wings. As the hen doth tenderly cherish, and carefully hide and cover her young from the eye of the destroyer; so would Christ have shrouded and sheltered his people from all those birds of prey, and particularly from the Roman eagle, by which they were last devoured.

Again, As the hen continueth her call to her young-ones from morning to night, and holds out here wings for shelter to them all the day long; so did Christ wait for his people's repentance and conversion for more than forty years after they had killed his prophets, and murdered himself, before they met with a final overthrow.

Observe, 2. The amazing obstinacy and wilfulness of this people, in rejecting this grace and favour, this kindness and condescension of the Lord Jesus Christ; I would have gathered you, but ye would not.

Observe, 3. The fatal issue of this obstinacy, Behold your house is left unto you desolate.

Is left; that is, certainly and suddenly will be so. The present tense put for the paulo post futurum, it denotes both the certainty and nearness of this people's ruin.

Learn, 1. That the ruin and destruction of sinners is wholly chargeable upon themselves; that is, on their own wilfulness and obstinacy: I would have gathered you, says Christ, but ye would not.

Learn, 2. How deplorably and inexcusably they will perish, who perish by their own wilfulness under the gospel.

3. That there is no desire like unto God's desire of a people's repentance; no longing like unto God's longing for a people's salvation: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thee? When shall it once be? Christ did very seriously desire the conversion of the Jews, who continued still in their impenitency and unbelief. And consequently they whom he so seriously desired to convert, might have been converted, but they would not be so: I would have gathered you, but ye would not.

We are now beginning a chapter which in one respect is the most remarkable in the four Gospels: it contains the last words which the Lord Jesus ever spoke within the walls of the temple. Those last words consist of a withering exposure of the scribes and Pharisees, and a sharp rebuke of their doctrines and practices. Knowing full well that his time on earth was drawing to a close, our Lord no longer keeps back his opinion of the leading teachers of the Jews. Knowing that he would soon leave his followers alone, like sheep among wolves, he warns them plainly against the false shepherds by whom they were surrounded.

The whole chapter is a signal example of boldness and faithfulness in denouncing error. It is a striking proof that it is possible for the most loving heart to use the language of stern reproof: above all, it is an awful evidence of the guilt of unfaithful teachers. So long as the world stands, this chapter ought to be a warning and a beacon to all ministers of religion: no sins are so sinful as theirs in the sight of Christ.

In the twelve verses which begin the chapter we see firstly the duty of distinguishing between the office a false teacher and his example. “The scibes and Pharisees sat in Moses’ seat” rightly or wrongly, they occupied the position of the chief public teachers of religion among the Jews; however unworthily they filled the place of authority, their office entitled them to respect. But while their office was respected, their bad lives were not to be copied. Although their teaching was to be adhered to so long as it was scriptural, it was not to be observed when it contradicted the Word of God. To use the words of a great divine, “They were to be heard when they taught what Moses taught,” but no longer. That such was our Lord’s meaning is evident from the whole tenor of the chapter we are reading: false doctrine is there denounced as well as false peactice.

The duty here placed before us is one of great importance. There is a constant tendency in the human mind to run into extremes: if we do not regard the office of the minister with idolatrous veneration, we are apt to treat it with indecent contempt. Against both these extremes we have need to be on our guard. However much we may disapprove of a minister’s practice, or dissent from his teaching, we must never forget to respect his office: we must show that we can honor the commission, whatever we may think of the officer that holds it. The example of St. Paul on a certain occasion is worthy of notice:” I wist not brethren that he was the high priest: for it is written, thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. Acts 23:5

We see secondly, in these verses that inconsistency, ostentation and love of preeminence among professors of religion are specially displeasing to Christ. As to inconsistency it is remarkable that the very first thing our Lord says of the Pharisees is that “they say and do not.” They required from others what they did not practice themselves. As to ostentation , our Lord declares that they did all their works “to be seen of men:”: they had their phylacteries, or strips of parchment with texts written on them, which many Jews wore on their clothes, made of an excessive size; they had the “borders” or fringes of their garments, which Moses bade Israelites to wear as a remembrance of God, made of an extravagant width; Num 15:38 and all this was done to attract notice and make people think how holy they were. As to love of preeminence, our Lord tells us that the Pharisees loved to have “the chief seats” given them in public places, and to have flattering titles addressed to them. All these things our Lord holds up to reprobation. Against all he would have us watch and pray. can ye believe which receive honour one of another?” (John 5:44). Happy would it have been for the church of Christ if this passage had been more deeply pondered and the spirit of it more implicitly obeyed. The Pharisees are not the only people who have imposed austerities on others and affected a sanctity of apparel and loved the praise of man. The annals of church history show that only too many Christians have walked closely in their steps. May we remember this and be wise! It is perfectly possible for a baptized Englishman to be in spirit a thorough Pharisee.

We see in the third place from these verses that Christians must never give to any man the titles and honors which are due to God alone and to his Christ. We are to call no man ‘father’ on earth.

The rule here laid down must be interpreted with proper scriptural qualification. We are not forbidden to esteem ministers very highly in love for their work’s sake (1 Thessalonians 5:13 ). Even St. Paul, one of the humblest saints, called Titus his “own son in the faith,” and says to the Corinthians, “I have begotten you through the gospel” ( 1 Corinthians ). But still we must be very careful that we do not insensibly give to ministers, a place and an honor which do not belong to them. We must never allow them to come between ourselves and Christ. The very best are not infallible. They are not priests who can atone for us; they are not mediators who can undertake to manage our soul’s affairs with God: they are men of like passions with ourselves, needing the same cleansing blood and the same renewing Spirit; set apart to a high and holy calling, but still after all only men. Let us never forget these things. Such cautions are always useful: human nature would always rather lean on a visible minister than an invisible Christ.

We see in the last place, that there is no grace which should distinguish the Christian so much as humility. He that would be great in the eyes of Christ, must aim at a totally different mark from that of the Pharisees: his aim must be not so much to rule as to serve the church. Well says Baxter, “Church greatness consisteth in being greatly serviceable.” The desire of the Pharisee was to receive honor, and to be called “master” the desire of the Christian must be to do good, and to give himself and all that he has to the service of others. Truly this is a high standard, but a lower one must never content us. The example of our blessed Lord the direct command of the apostolic epistles both alike require us to be clothed with humility (1 Peter 5:5 ). Let us seek that blessed grace day by day. None is so beautiful, however much despised by the world; none is such an evidence of saving faith and true conversion to God; none is so often commended by our Lord. Of all his sayings, hardly any is so often repeated as that which concludes the passage we have now read. “He that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”

We have in these verses the charges of our Lord against the Jewish teachers, ranged under eight heads. Standing in the midst of the temple, with a listening crowd around him, he publicly denounces the main errors of the scribes and the Pharisees, in unsparing terms. Eight times he uses the solemn expression, “Woe unto you;” seven times he calls them “hypocrites;” twice he speaks of them as “blind guides”—twice as “fools and blind”—once as “serpents! And a generation of vipers!” Let us mark that language well. It teaches a solemn lesson. It shows how utterly abominable the spirit of the scribes and the Pharisees is in God’s sight, in whatever form it may be found.

Let us glance shortly at the eight charges which our Lord brings forward, and then seek to draw from the whole passage some general instruction.

The first “woe” in the list is directed against the systematic opposition of the scribes and Pharisees to the progress of the Gospel. They “shut up the kingdom of heaven;” they would neither go in themselves, nor suffer others go in. They rejected the warning voice of John the Baptist; they refused to acknowledge Jesus when he appeared among them as the Messiah; they tried to keep back Jewish inquirers. They would not believe the Gospel themselves, and they did all in their power to prevent others believing it: this was a great sin.

The second “woe” in the list is directed against the covetousness and self-aggrandizing spirit of the scribes and Pharisees. They “devour widows’ houses and for a pretence made long prayer.” They imposed on the credulity of weak and unprotected women by an affection of great devoutness, until they were regarded as their spiritual directors. They scrupled not to abuse the influence thus unrighteously obtained to their own temporal advantage, and, in a word, to make money by their religion: this, again, was a great sin.

The third “woe” in the list is directed against the zeal of the scribes and the Pharisees for making partisans. They “compassed sea and land to make one proselyte.” They laboured incessantly to make men join their party and adopt their opinions. They did this from no desire to benefit men’s souls in the least, or to bring them to God; they only did it to swell the ranks of their sect, and to increase the number of their adherents and their own importance. Their religious zeal arose from sectarianism, and not from the love of God: this also was a great sin.

The fourth “woe” in the list is directed against the doctrines of the scribes and Pharisees about oaths. They drew subtle distinctions between one kind of oath and another; they taught the Jesuitical tenet some oaths were binding on men while others were not; they attached greater importance to oaths sworn “by the gold” offered to the temple, than to oaths sworn “by the temple” itself. By so doing they brought the third commandment into contempt—and by making men overrate the value of alms and oblations advanced their own interests: this again was a great sin.

The fifth “woe” in the list is directed against the practice of the scribes and Pharisees to exalt trifles in religion above serious things—to put the last things first, and the first last. They made great ado about tithing “mint” and other garden herbs, as if they could not be too strict in their obedience to God’s law and yet at the same time they neglected great plain duties, such as justice, charity and honesty: this again was a great sin.

The sixth and seventh “woes” in the list possess too much in common to be divided. They are directed against a general characteristic of the religion of the scribes. They set outward purity and decency above inward sanctification and purity of heart; they made it a religious duty to cleanse the “outside” of their cup and platters while they neglected their own inward man; they were like “whitened sepulchres,” clean and beautiful externally, but within full of all corruption. “Even so, they outwardly appeared righteous but within were full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” This also was a great sin.

The last “woe” in the list is directed against the affected veneration of the scribes and the Pharisees for the memory of dead saints. They built the “tombs of the prophets” and garnished “the sepulchres of the righteous” and yet their own lives proved that they were of one mind with those who killed the prophets” their own conduct was a daily evidence that they liked dead saints better than living ones. The very men that pretended to honor dead prophets could see no beauty in a living Christ: this also was a great sin.

Such is the melancholy picture which our Lord gives of Jewish teachers. Let us turn from the contemplation of it with sorrow and humiliation. It is a fearful exhibition of the morbid anatomy of human nature: it is a picture which unhappily has been reproduced over and over again in the history of the church of Christ. There is not a point in the character of the scribes and in which it might be easily shown that persons calling themselves Christians have often walked in their steps.

Let us learn from the whole passage how deplorable was the condition of the Jewish nation when our Lord was upon earth. When such were the teachers, what must have been the miserable darkness of the taught! Truly the iniquity of Israel had come to the full. It was high time, indeed, for the Sun of Righteousness to arise, and for the Gospel to be preached.

Let us learn, from the whole passage, how abominable is hypocrisy in the sight of God. These scribes and Pharisees are not charged with being thieves or murderers, but with being hypocrites to the very core. Whatever we are in our religion, let us resolve never to wear a cloak: let us by all means be honest and real.

Let us learn from the whole passage, how awfully dangerous is the position of an unfaithful minister. It is bad enough to be blind ourselves; it is a thousand times worse to be a blind guide. Of all men none is so culpably wicked as an unconverted minister, and none will be judged so severely. It is a solemn saying about such an one “he resembles an unskillful pilate: he does not perish alone.”

Finally, let us beware of supposing from this passage that the safest course in religion is to make no profession at all. This is to run into a dangerous extreme. It does not follow that there is no such thing as true profession because some men are hypocrites. It does not follow that all money is bad because there is much counterfeit coin. Let not hypocrisy prevent our confessing Christ, or move us from our stedfastness, if we have confessed him. Let us press on, looking unto Jesus and resting on him, praying daily to be kept from error, and saying with David, “Let my heart be sound in thy statutes” ( Psalm 119:80 ).

These verses form the conclusion of our Lord Jesus Christ’s address on the subject of the scribes and Pharisees. They are the last words which he ever spoke as a public teacher in the hearing of the people. The characteristic tenderness and compassion of our Lord shine forth in a striking manner at the close of his ministry. Though he left his enemies in unbelief, he shows that he loved and pitied them to the last.

We learn in the first place from these verses that God often takes great pains with ungodly men. He sent the Jews “prophets and wise men and scribes.” He gave them repeated warnings; he sent them message after message. He did not allow them to go on sinning without rebuke. They could never say they were not told when they did wrong.

This is the way in which God generally deals with unconverted Christians. He does not cut them off in their sins without a call to repentance: he knocks at the door of their hearts by sicknesses and afflictions; he assails their consciences by sermons, or by the advice of friends; he summons them to consider their ways by opening the grave under their eyes, and taking away from them their idols. They often know not what it all means; they are often blind and deaf to all his gracious messages. But they will see his hand at last, though perhaps too late. They will find that “God spake once yea twice but they perceive it not.” ( Job 33:14 ). They will discover that they too, like the Jews, had prophets, wise men and scribes sent to them. There was a voice in every providence, “Turn ye! Turn ye! Why will you die?” ( Ezekiel 33:11 ).

We learn in the second place from these verses that God takes notice of the treatment which his messengers and ministers receive, and will one day reckon for it. The Jews, as a nation, had often given the servants of God most shameful usage: they had often dealt with them as enemies because they told them the truth. Some they had persecuted, some they had scourged and some they had even killed. They thought, perhaps, that no account would be required of their conduct, but our Lord tells them they were mistaken. There was an eye that saw all their doings, there was a hand that registered all the innocent blood they shed, in books of everlasting remembrance. The dying words of Zecharias, who was “slain between the temple and the altar,” would be found, after 850 years, not to have fallen to the ground. He said, as he died, “the Lord looked upon it and require it” ( 2 Chronicles 24:22 ).Yet a few years, and there would be such an inquisition for blood at Jerusalem as the world had never seen. The holy city would be destroyed. The nation which had murdered so many prophets would itself be wasted by famine, pestilence, and the sword; and even those who escaped would be scattered to the four winds and become, like Cain the murderer, fugitives and vagabonds upon earth. We all know how literally these sayings were fulfilled. Well might our Lord say, “Verily all these things shall come upon this generation.”

It is good for us all to mark this lesson well. We are too apt to think that “bygones are bygones,” and that things which to us are past and done and old will never be raked up again. But we forget that with God “ one day is as a thousand years,” and that the events of a thousand years ago are as fresh in his sight as the events of this very hour. God “requireth that which is past.” ( Ecclesiastes ) and, above all,God will require an account of the treatment of his saints. The blood of the primitive Christians shed by the Roman Emperors; the blood of the Vallenses and Albigenses, and the sufferers at the massacre ; the blood of the martyrs who were burned at the time of the Reformation, and of those who have been put to death by the Inquisition—all, all will yet be accounted for. It is an old saying that “the mill-stones of God’s justice grind slowly, but they grind very fine.” The world will yet see that “there is a God that judges in the earth” ( Psalm 58:11 ).

Let those who persecute God’s people in the present day take care what they are doing. Let them know that all who injure, or ridicule, or mock or slander others on account of their religion commit a great sin. Let them know that Christ takes notice of everyone who persecutes his neighbor because he is better than himself or because he prays, reads his Bible, and thinks about his soul. He lives who said, “He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye.” ( Zechariah 2:8 ). The judgment-day will prove that the King of kings will reckon with all who insult his servants.

We learn in the last place from these verses that those who are lost forever are lost through their own fault.

The words of our Lord Jesus Christ are very remarkable. He says, “I would have gathered thy children together ˆ and ye would not.” There is something peculiarly deserving of notice in this expression: it throws light on a mysterious subject, and one which is often darkened by human explanations. It shows that Christ has feelings of pity and mercy for many who are not saved, and that the grand secret of man’s ruin is his want of will. Impotent as man is by nature, unable to think a good thought of himself, without power to turn himself to faith and calling upon God, he still appears to have a mighty ability to ruin his own soul. Powerless as he is to good, he is still powerful to evil. We say rightly that a man can do nothing of himself, but we must always remember that the seat of impotence is his will. A will to repent and believe, no man can give himself, but a will to reject Christ and have his own way; every man possesses by nature, if not saved at last, that will shall prove to have been his destruction. “Ye will not come to me,” says Christ, “that ye might have life.” ( John 5:40 ).

Let us leave the subject with the comfortable reflection that with Christ nothing is impossible. The hardest heart can be made willing in the day of his power. Grace beyond doubt is irresistible; but never let us forget that the Bible speaks of man as a responsible being and that it says of some, “You do always resist the Holy Ghost!” ( Acts 7:51 ). Let us understand that the ruin of those who are lost is not because Christ was not willing to save them, nor yet because they wanted to be saved but could not, but because they would not come to Christ. Let the ground we take up be always that of the passage we are now considering: Christ would gather men, but they will not to be gathered; Christ would save men, but they will not to be saved. Let it be a settled principle in our religion, that man’s salvation if saved is wholly of God, and that man’s ruin, if lost, is wholly of himself. The evil that is in us is all our own: the good, if we have any, is all of God. The saved in the next world will give God all the glory: the lost in the next world will find that they have destroyed themselves ( Hosea 13:9 ).