210 clv. Reflections on the certainty of the resurrection. SECT. to the angels! Adored be the riches of that grace which redeems us from this degenerate and miserable state, in which we had made Ver, ourselves so much like the beasts that perish (Psal. xlix. 12 ) to 35, 36 raise us to so high a dignity, and marshal us with the armies of heaven! 34 Let us esteem so glorious a hope aright, and with the greatest intenseness of soul pursue and insure it. And as for those enjoyments of this present world, which are suited only to the mortality and imperfection of it, let us moderate our regards to them, and cultivate those higher entertainments with the most solicitous care, which will be transplanted into the paradise of God, and ever flourish for the delight of his immortal children. 37 Christ, we see, argues a very important point of doctrine from premises, in which, perhaps, we might not have been able to have discovered it without such a hint. Let us learn to judge of scripture arguments, not merely by the sound, but by the sense of the words. And as our Lord chose a passage from the Pentateuch, rather than from the prophets, for the conviction of the Sadducees, let us be engaged to study the tempers, and even the prejudices, of those with whom we converse; that we may, if possible, let in the light of Divine truth on their hearts on that side by which they seem most capable of receiving it. Mark xx. 38 In a word, let us with pleasure think of the blessed God under xii. 26 that gracious title by which he manifested himself to Moses at the bush. Still he is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; the God of our pious ancestors, the God of all our Luke departed friends who are now sleeping in Jesus: for all their souls now live unto him, and their bodies shall ere long be awakened by him. In like manner, if we are followers of them who through faith and patience are now inheriting the promises, when we are gathered to our fathers, and our names, perhaps, forgotten among succeeding generations, he will still be our God. He will shew us, by the blessed experience of eternity, that when he treated with us by that title, and admitted us into the covenant by which he bears it, he intended for us something far nobler and better than the transient scenes of earth and of time could admit. SECT. The first and great commandment is to love God. 211 SECT. CLVI. Christ discourses of the first and great command of the law, and confounds the Pharisees with a question relating to David's calling the Messiah his Lord. Mat. XXII. 34, to the end. Mark XII. 28-37. Luke XX. 41-44. MAT. XXII. 34. BUT when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together, 35 Then one [of the scribes, which was perceiving that he had MAT. XXII. 34. THUS Jesus defended the great doctrine of the SECT. And one of the learned scribes [who was] also 35 saying, [MARK XII. 28.-1 great commandment [of al!] in the law [MARK XII.-28.] MARK XII. 29. And And Jesus answered him, The question thou Mark The first of all the hast put may easily be resolved; for surely the XII. 29. commandments is, first, that is, the most comprehensive and imHear, O Israel, the portant of all the commandments of the law, [is] Lord our God is one that which is contained in Deut. vi. 4, 5. x. 12. Lord; [MAT. XXII. 37.-] "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is the one 212 clvi. Mark The next is the love of our neighbour. And upon all oc And the 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy strength: 31 And the second SECT. great and only Lord; casions thou shalt regard and honour him as with all thy heart, and such, and love the Lord thy God with all thine with all thy soul, and XII. 30. heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy with all thy mind, and mind, and with all thy strength;" that is, this is the first [and thou shalt consecrate to him all the united pow- great commandment. ers and faculties of thy nature; and thy under- [MAT. XXII. 57, standing and will, thine affections and executive powers, shall be all in the most vigorous manner employed in his service. (See note c on Luke x. 27. sect. cvii.) This is the first and great commandment, the principal and fundamental precept of the law, and there is no other which may not be considered in its degree as subordi 31 nate to this, and reducible to it. second, in its sublime and comprehensive nature, is like [unto it), name[is] much like unto it, as well as given by the same authority, [even] this contained in Lev. xix. 18. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" For all the duties you owe to your fellow-creatures may be reduced to this; and where this undissembled and generous principle of love is, the rest will easily and naturally follow. On the whole, therefore, there is no other Mat. commandment greater than these. And inXX11.40 deed I may say, that all the law and the prophets on these two depend upon these two commandments; that is, it mandments hang all is the design of the whole revelation, in its dif- the law and the proferent periods and circumstances, to promote that virtuous and holy temper which may be expressed by the love of God and our neighbour. Mark ly this, Thou shalt love self: there is none thy neighbour as thy other these. commandment than greater [MAT. XXII. 39.] MAT. XXII. 40. phets. com XII. 32. MARK And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God, and there is noue other but he : And the scribe who had proposed the question XII. 32. with a design to try him, was struck with the solidity and spirit of his answer, and said to him, Truly thou deservest to be owned as a Master in Israel; for thou hast spoken to this important question excellently well for there is indeed 33 one God, and there is no other beside him: And to love him, as thou hast said, with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the with all the understanding, and with all soul, and with all the strength, to consecrate all b The second is like unto it.] By quoting this with the former he sufficiently guarded against a foolish notion, which some say the Pharisees had, that the observation of one excellent precept of the law would excuse the transgression of many others. It is certain the Pharisees were ready to magnify duties of the first table, the 33 And to love him with all the heart, and te to the neglect of those of the second; on which account it was exceedingly proper to use such language as this. Excellently well.] It is in the ori ginal anws, beautifully, or finely, which expresses his high satisfaction in the reply much more strongly than the word well. Jesus asks how the Messiah is the Son and the Lord of David. the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. 213 clvi. the soul, and with all the intellectual and active powers of our whole SECT. nature to him; and for a man to love [his] neighbour as himself, from a sense of piety to God, as Mat. well as benevolence to man, is far more impor-XXII.33 tant than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices which the greatest prince could present at his altar; nor could the most exact and pompous ritual observances be acceptable without such virtues and graces as these. 34 And when Jesus saw that he an swered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. MA T. XXII. 41. [And] while the Pha Jesus asked them, say ing, How say the [MARK XII. 35. is he? They say unto vid. And Jesus, seeing that he answered thus wisely, 34 And while the Pharisees were gathered together Mat. risees were gathered during this conference, expecting to have found XXII.41 together [while he an opportunity to ensnare him, as he was still taught in the temple,] teaching the people in the temple, Jesus turned to the scribes and doctors of the law who were scribes, that Christ is present, and asked them, saying, How say the the Son of David;] scribes so commonly as they do, that the Messiah LUKE XX. 41.] is the Son of David? Let me ask you of 42 What think ye that profession who are now here, What think 42 of Christ? whose Son ye concerning the Messiah in this respect? Whose him, The Son of Da- Son is he? They say unto him, Nothing can be plainer than what thou representest as the general opinion; he is undoubtedly to be [the Son] of 43 He saith unto David. He saith unto them, How then does 43 them, How then doth David [himself] in David himself, speaking by the inspiration of the spirit for by the Holy Holy Spirit, in the book of Psalms, acknowledge Ghost] [LUKE, in the him to be superior to himself, and call him book of Psalms] call Lord? for you cannot but know that there is [MARK XII. 56.- a passage expressly to this purpose, (Psal. cx. 1.) which you readily allow to refer to the Messiah, 44 The Lord said in which you find David saying, "The Lord 44 thou on my right-hand said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand till I make thine ene- in exalted power and glory, with all the mamies thy footstool? [MARK XII.-36.] jesty and honour of a King, till I make all thine LUKE XX. 42, 43. enemies thy footstool, and cause thee to trample him Lord, saying, LUKK XX. 42. unto my Lord, Sit How then does David himself by the Holy Spirit, &c.) Our Lord, we see, always takes it for granted, in his arguments with the Jews, that the writers of the Old Testament were under such an extraordinary guidance of the Holy Spirit as to express themselves with the strictest propriety on al pccasions. (Compare Jolin x. 55. upon sect. cxxxiv.) And I look on this as no 214 SECT. clvi. Reflections on the command to love God and our neighbour. upon them at pleasure.' If David himself 45 If David [himtherefore call him Lord, and speak of him as his self then call him Mat. superior, as you see he doth, how is he then his XXI. 45 Sone? Lord, how is he LUKE then] his Son? [And the common people heard him gladly.] MARK XX. 37. LUKE XX. 44. Now as the scribes and Pharisees were ignorant of the great doctrine of the Divine nature of the Messiah, with respect to which, even before his incarnation, he was the Lord of David, and of the whole church, they were quite confounded with the question. And the vast crowd of common people that was about him heard him 46 with great pleasure. And all his adversaries were at such a loss, that no man could answer him so much as a word; neither did any one any man (from that presume, from that day forward, to ask him any day forth) ask him any more such ensnaring questions as those by which more questions.[MARK they had now contrived to assault, and, if possible, to confound him. 46 And no man was able to answer him a word neither durst XII.-34. Mark 29 IMPROVEMENT. WHATEVER might be the design of the scribe in putting this xii. 28. question to Christ again (which was in effect the same with what another had proposed before, (Luke x. 25. sect. cvii.) we have reason to rejoice in the repetition of so important an answer. Oh that it might be inscribed on our hearts as with the point of a diamond! The first and great commandment requires us to love the Lord our God, with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength; and the second, which is like unto it, to love our neighbour as ourselves. But alas, what reason have we to complain of our own deficiency on both these heads! and how much need of being taught again even these first principles of the oracles of God! (Heb. v. 12.) 30 Can we say, with regard to the first, that the blessed God has the whole of our hearts? Is the utmost vigour of our faculties exerted in his service? Do we make him the end of all our actions, of all our wishes, of all our pursuits?-Or are we indeed such 31 equitable judges between ourselves and others as the second of these e If David himself therefore call him Lord, how is he then his Son?] This implies both the existence of David in a future state, and the authority of the Messiah over that invisible world into which that prince was removed by death. Else, how great a Monarch soever the Messiah might have been, he could not have been properly called David's Lord, any more than Julius Cæsar could have been called the Lord of Romulus, because he reigned in Rome 700 years after his death, and vastly extended the bounds of that empire which Romulus founded.- -Munster's Note on this text shews, in a very for cible manner, the wretched expedients of some modern Jews to evade the force of that interpretation of the cxth Psalm which refers it to the Messiah. f Presume from that day forward to ask him any more questions.] The plain meaning is, they asked him no more such captious questions; for the memory of this confusion impressed their minds during the short remainder of Christ's continuance among them; and he was soon removed from them, so that they had no farther opportunities of doing it when that impression wore off. |