CHAPTER XXIII. 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, A.D. 30. LAST DAY IN THE PHARISEES 6. And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, Tides in the Bay of Fundy. 3. THEY SAY AND DO NOT.-An American privateer was once chased by an English man-of-war in the Bay of Fundy, and the latter was gaining on the privateer, when the American captain thought of the swiftness of the tide in that bay, which sometimes rises to the height of 60 feet, and he cast anchor. The tide had been carrying both ships back faster than the wind had driven them forward, so that the anchored ship really got ahead faster over the surface of the water than the pursuing vessel with all sails set, and in a short time the English vessel was out of sight. So, oftentimes, a bad life, an imperfect example, a wrong character, carry those whom we would influence in the wrong direction, faster than our advice and our words move them in the right. THE ASSISTANT TEACHER.-Edward Everett Hale has a story called "My Double and How he Undid Me." Every one of us has his double, and he often goes a long way toward our undoing. In an article addressed to teachers, in one number of Mr. Cook's Primary Teacher, the subject was "Our Assistant Teacher,”—Our character and conduct, both in the class and in our daily life, as contrasted with what we teach by words. This assistant teacher is the making or marring of our influence. If the teacher does not prepare his lesson, how can he expect his scholars to? If he is inattentive to the opening exercises, or to the prayer, if he does not sing, if he does any of the things he wishes his scholars not to do, all 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. he can say will have far less power for good than his example will have for evil. ESCHINES ON THE CROWN.-In that great argument, says Wendell Phillips, which gave us the two most consummate orations of antiquity, the question was whether Athens should grant Demosthenes a crown. "Demosthenes' speech is the masterpiece of all eloquence. Of the Accusation by Æschines it is praise enough to say that it stands second only to that." Demosthenes wished to be crowned before the people, as one worthy of that highest honor. But he had run away in the time of battle, and Æschines declared that it was fatal to crown such a man. "You know well," he said, "that it is not music, nor the gymnasium, nor the schools that mould young men; it is much more the public proclamations, the public example. If you take one whose life has no high purpose-one who mocks at morals-and crown him in a theatrum; every boy who sees it is corrupted. . . . . The character of a city is determined by the character of the men it crowns." .... REFERENCE.-On verse 11. See chapter xx. 28. 11. HE THAT IS GREATEST AMONG YOU SHALL BE YOUR SERVANT. "Thyself and thy belongings Are not thine own so proper as to waste Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched 13. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men for ye neither in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entergo ing to go in. 14. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widow's houses, and for a pretense 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. A.D. 30. LAST DAY IN THE PHARISEES 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 ! The smallest scruple of her excellence, But like a a thrifty goddess, she determines Both thanks and use." -Measure for Measure. LIBRARY.-Hawthorne's “Mosses from an Old Manse,” where he imagines a new Adam and Eve coming to earth after the Day of Doom has swept away the whole of mankind. 13. WOE UNTO YOU.-An infidel came to Dr. Chalmers, and said that Christ could not be as good as was claimed, or he Woe Unto would never have spoken such harsh words as he did to You of Love. the scribes and Pharisees. Dr. Chalmers asked him to point out the words. He did so; and, taking the words of our lesson, the doctor read them so tenderly, with such infinite pathos and love, that the unbeliever acknowledged that Christ might so have uttered them. Jesus put this sign upon hypocrisy, Woe unto you, as Christian and Hopeful, in "Pilgrim's Progress," put up a signboard over the way that led to Giant Despair's castle, from which they had just escaped, warning men not to go that way. ACTORS ON FIRE.-" Some persons are like children, who, often seeing in the theatres malefactors in gold-embroidered tunics and purple mantles, crowned and dancing, admire and applaud them as 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? happy beings, until they appear on the stage goaded and scourged, and with fire streaming from their gay and finely wrought apparel." -Plutarch. THE TOUCHSTONE.-Jesus' words were like Ithuriel's spear, as described by Milton, which made everything it touched to appear in its true nature; as the toad at the ear of the sleeping Eve, had to take its real form of Satan. In William Allingham's "Touchstone," a man comes, bringing a touchstone in his hands "The heirloom jewels prized so much, HYPOCRITES.-VπокρITαì, actors, those who play a part upon a stage, usually, in ancient times, in a mask. The player appears in one character, while he is really another; the beggar may be dressed like a king, and a fool act the part of a wise man. Hence the word came to mean "the assuming of a false appearance of virtue and religion." COMPARISONS.-Christ compares hypocrites to wolves in sheep's clothing; sepulchres adorned above, but full of corruption; to dishes cleansed without, but foul within. St. Jude Hypocrites. likens them to clouds without water. William Secker says that hypocrites resemble looking-glasses, which present the faces which are not in them. How desirous are men to put the fairest gloves upon the foulest hands, and the finest paint upon the 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. rottenest posts! Hypocrites are like counterfeit "Oh, serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face! A.D. 30. LAST DAY IN THE PHARISEES -Shakespeare. BRIGHT SAVINGS.-I. Some hypocrites and mortified men that held down their heads like bulrushes, were like the little images that they place in the very bowing of the vaults of churches, that look as if they held up the church, but are but puppets.-Bacon. 2. When a man puts on a character he is stranger to, there's as much difference between what he appears, and what he is really in himself, as there is between a vizor and a face.-La Bruyere. 3. Saint abroad and devil at home.—Bunyan. 4. He stole the livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in.-Pollock. 5. He was all false and hollow, though his tongue dropped manna.—Milton. LIBRARY.-Rogers' "Greyson Letters," "The Proper Punishment of Hypocrisy." The cure of hypocrisy is not by the giving up the outward forms and professions, but by a right heart and pure motive within. It is not in taking off the mask of virtue,—that is the punishment of hypocrisy. The cure is to become really what one would like to appear. LIBRARY.-One of the best illustrations of hypocrisy is "The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan," in Moore's "Lalla Rookh." To men he always appeared in a shining silver veil. His young follower "Kneeling, pale With pious awe before the silver veil, Believes the form to which he bends the knee, Some pure redeeming angel sent to free This fettered world from every bond and stain, |