true and hearty obedience to the revealed will of God. "Not every one," says our Lord,-"not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name cast out devils, and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.'

Having thus distinctly set forth spiritual obedience as essential to true holiness, our Lord proceeds, in a peroration of the most striking character, to declare the absolute necessity to salvation of rendering this prompt and unquestioning obedience directly to Him and to His words, as henceforth the supreme law of all religious life. "Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.Ӡ

Brief as is this passage, it is impossible to conceive of anything more terribly explicit and energetic. Standing forth in the full majesty and power of His divine authority as the new Prophet, Priest and King, our Lord seizes upon the terrors of a tropical tempest, and with all the fervor of an oriental imagination, presses them into the service of His oratory,-a transition which, compared with the previous unimpassioned didactic character of His dis

* Matthew vii. 21-23.

† Matthew vii. 24–27.

course, must have startled if not appalled His hearers, like a burst of thunder from a cloudless sky. We can not but believe that it revealed to them the certain presence of the Godhead in Jesus; and that it impressed upon them the awful conviction that under the new dispensation, so full of grace to the willing and obedient, to the unbelieving and rebellious, to those who should trample under foot the blood of the covenant and count it an unholy thing, there was not less near at hand than of old, a Sinai whose thunders were a voice of doom, and whose lightnings were "a consuming file."

CHAPTER XI.

THE SERMON ON THE PLAIN.

JESUS DESCENDS TO THE PLAIN AND DELIVERS THE SERMON TO THE MULTITUDE-THE PERPLEXITY OF COMMENTATORS WITH REGARD TO THE TWO ACCOUNTS OF THE SERMON GIVEN BY MATTHEW AND LUKETHE TRUE EXPLANATION OF THEIR APPARENT DISCREPANCIES-THE TWO EVANGELISTS CONSISTENT WITH EACH OTHER-DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO SERMONS AS TO THE 66 BEATITUDES OTHER DIVERGENCIES—THESE, PROOFS THAT THE SECOND SERMON WAS DELIV, ERED TO THE MULTITUDE-CHRIST NOW ABOUT TO ENTER ON A NEW AND MORE IMPORTANT PHASE OF HIS MISSION.

HAVING finished the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord descended to the plain or lower plateau of the mountain, where the multitude awaited His coming. Here, according to Luke, whose statements are of the most explicit character,* He addressed the substance of the discourse to the multitude, in a more popular style and with some important variations. Commentators, from Augustinę down, have been much perplexed by these variations, involving as it has appeared to them, certain discrepancies between the accounts of Matthew and Luke. A plain, intelligent reader would, however, be puzzled to find any discrepancy.

That Jesus should deliver the substance of the same discourse to different audiences on the same day, is altogether credible. To assume that He did not is to overlook

*Luke vi. 17.

the fact that He was presenting fundamental doctrine which must be communicated to all. As a Teacher of new ideas, especially as a Teacher of illiterate disciples and followers, almost constant repetition was necessary. It was thus only that His spiritual and sublime doctrines could be made clear to the understanding of His hearers, and be indelibly impressed on their memory. Doubtless, many of His most striking maxims and several of His parables were frequently repeated, and with such variations as were suggested by the immediate circumstances. This hypothesis harmonizes a large number of the alleged discrepancies.

In regard to the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the evangelists are so explicit that we can only wonder at the difficulty which so many learned writers have made rather than found in the inspired history. Matthew, always concise. in the relation of facts, says that Jesus, seeing the multitude, went up into a mountain, and sitting there delivered the Sermon to the disciples. But He plainly intimates at the close that the same sayings were substantially repeated in the hearing of the people.* Luke speaks of His going up into the mountain, and there calling to Him His disciples; but he omits the more extended and esoteric discourse there delivered; recording, however, the popular version of the same, spoken by our Lord while standing with His disciples and the multitude on the plain. Surely here is no discrepancy,—not even a difficulty.

The second Sermon on the Mount differs from the first, in the omission of much that a promiscuous audience, in which were doubtless many Pharisees and cavilers, might have construed into an attack on the law, and in the amplification of certain passages of a more hortatory

*Matthew vii. 28, 29.

character. Thus we find nothing of the authoritative interpretation of the Mosaic precepts, which constitutes a principal feature of the earlier address. On the other hand, the Beatitudes,-which are much abridged,—are followed by a series of woes: "Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you: for so did their fathers to the false prophets."* Thus, too, the paragraphs relating to love to enemies, and to uncharitable judging, are beautifully expanded. It is significant also that our Lord says nothing to the multitude about prayer, and He does not give them that inimitable model which He had just before given to the disciples on the Mount. The truth is, the former were not yet prepared to come to God in a filial spirit. They knew not God as their Father; how could they then address Him as such?

These variations in the Sermon on the Plain furnish indubitable internal evidence of the truth of the hypothesis adopted. To this proof may be added its brevity. Addressed to a restless multitude, more eager to witness His miracles and to, be healed by His touch, than to hear His words and to be made wise unto salvation, this brevity is precisely what we should expect from the divine sagacity of Jesus, as adapting Himself to the circumstances of the

case.

Having thus completed our study of these two memorable discourses, we are prepared to enter with the sacred historians upon a new period in our Lord's ministry. He had now, in calling the apostles and giving to them these definite instructions, practically organized the new church, and put Himself before the world as the founder of a new

*Luke vi. 24-26.