The heart too, is not that God's due in the first place? When we are disposed, by the renewal of our wills in Christ Jesus, to render to God his due tribute of veneration and worship, love and obedience, we shall give all the world their due.

SECTION LIX.

Chap. xxii. ver. 23—33.

CHRIST CONFUTES THE SADDUCEES.

23. The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,

24. Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother:

25. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:

26. Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.

27. And last of all the woman died also.

28. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

29. Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.

Men of worldly minds, who are more disposed to cavil than believe, cannot know the Scriptures; they must, of all necessity, pervert them. Our Lord's inference is plain; if you would not err, you must know them. And all who read them in simplicity, and with an honest heart, to know the will of God that they may do it, shall know them. They are able to make all wise unto salvation, through faith that is in Jesus, being God's gift to men for this end; and not to know them, is to put out our own eyes. If we had

a deed of gift, though but of a small property, which depended upon our knowing what was contained in it, what should we do?

30. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

31. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,

32. I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

He is the

God, is not their God for this world, chiefly. God of the faithful for better things. It is their glory and distinction to believe in him for them; and as they do this, upon the warrant of his word and promise, he cannot deceive them.

God is the God of those who are alive after death, as to their souls. But the soul is not the man. The conclusion, therefore, is certain, that the body must be raised to make the perfect man which God created.

33. And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.

SECTION LX.

Chap. xxii. ver. 34-46.

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT.

34. But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

35. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

This was not a lawyer in our sense of the word; but one who supposed himself well skilled in the law of Moses,

and all scripture, and qualified to be a teacher of it. “Tempting him," with design to sound him as to his knowledge and principles.

36. Master, which is the great commandment in the law ?

37. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38. This is the first and great commandment.

39. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Love of God with all the heart, and of our neighbour with such a sanctified love as we should love ourselves, is our duty and happiness; we were made for it, are in an unnatural state in the want of it, and must have it restored to us. Now be a sincere man, and confess that thou hast lost this paradise. When thou knowest it, and findest there is no help in thyself, thou wilt be in pain to know how to regain it. The Bible tells thee, by faith in the pardoning love of God in Christ, warming thy heart with gratitude and love to him, and charity to mankind, for his sake. This is your light from heaven, the point in which all the rays of scripture meet, and the heart of God opened to us for our renewal to a state of unfeigned regard to the two great commandments. I pray God we may all be supported continually with the thought, that we are travelling under the guidance of the Spirit to the region of perfect love.

40. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

It is the great end of them to establish these duties; and, if we are not convinced of the necessity of them, and aiming at them in sincerity, and with a perfect heart, all scripture is lost upon us.

41. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

42. Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David.

He now in his turn proposes a question to them, to con

vince them of their ignorance of scripture, and withal to open a way for their acknowledgment of him as the Christ, David's son, and yet his and their Lord.

43. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord? saying,

Is he only David's Lord? And can any call him Lord but in and by the Spirit, as David did?

44. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

He is only so far our Lord, as we believe in him for salvation, and go to him for help to subdue our sins, which are his and our greatest enemies.

45. If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?

46. And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man, from that day forth, ask him any more questions.

Now, therefore, O Lord, let this be the effect of our reading, that we may never again answer thee a word; that when thou makest inquiry for sin, we may confess the charge that is against us; when thou offerest to help our infirmities, and give rest to our souls, we may gladly receive thee as our peace-maker; when thou teachest, we may submit to thy infallible wisdom; when thou commandest, we may obey from the heart.

SECTION LXI.

Chap. xxiii. ver. 1—22.

ADMONITIONS.

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

All being concerned in what he had to say of the scribes and Pharisees.

2. Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:

He does not deny them to be authorized teachers, and expounders of the law.

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.

"All therefore," &c. Not with respect to their traditions; for he tolerated his disciples in the neglect of some of them, if he did not enjoin it, chap. xv.; but with respect to the more substantial and unquestionable matters of duty, "That observe and do." Make the right use of this for yourselves; if the command is God's, receive it as such, notwithstanding the ill example of the teacher. "Do not

ye after their works," wherein soever they transgress any of the commandments. "For they say, and do not." What they should do, or think they do, to be just in the sight of God. Notwithstanding a show of strictness in some things, their practice was corrupt, and their hearts more so

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.

What were these heavy burdens? Not their traditions. It is true, they would not give the people any ease or relaxation from them, and were scrupulous observers of them themselves. But it will appear throughout this chapter, that the controversy which Christ had with them, was concerning weightier matters. Not the moral law: for they could not carry it to a greater height, nor require a more punctual obedience to it than he himself did. The difference, therefore, betwixt them was, they bound the law, together with their traditions, upon men for salvation, and tied them strictly up to a covenant of works. This it was which made their burden heavy, as St. Peter plainly tells us, Acts xv. 10; and was, in effect, pronouncing their own damnation, as they came short of it. Whereas Christ, without diminishing from the obligation of the law, has