Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

There is no serving God and mammon.

227

xli.

thee be darkness, how that is in thee be darkness, how great is that SECT. great is that darkness! darkness! and if the maxims you lay down to yourselves are wrong, how very erroneous must your conduct be!

24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the

other. Ye cannot

serve God and mam

mou.

25 Therefore I say

body than raiment ?

Mat.

VI. 23.

And do not impose upon yourselves so far as 24 to imagine that your hearts can be equally divided between heaven and earth: for as no man can serve two masters whose interests and commands are directly contrary to each other; but will quickly appear, either comparatively to hate the one, and love the other; or, by degrees, at least, will grow weary of so disagreeable a situation, so as to adhere entirely to the one, and quite neglect and abandon the other: so you will find you cannot at the same time serve God and mammon, that unworthy idol to which so many are devoting their hearts and their pursuits.

And I would charge you therefore to take heed 25 unto you, Take no that your affections be not engaged in a service thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or so inconsistent with religion and true happiness; what ye shall drink; and in particular, I say unto you, Be not disnor yet for your body, tressed with anxious cares about your subsistence what ye shall put on. Is not the life more in life what you shall eat, and what you shall than meat, and the drink, when your present stock of provisions is gone; nor with respect to your body, what you shall put on, when the garments you have are worn out. Is not life a better and more valuable gift than food, and the body than raiment? And if it be, why should you not trust that almighty and gracious Being who formed your bodies. and inspired them with life, to maintain the work of his own hands?

e God and mammon.] Mammon is a Syriac word for riches, which our Lord beautifully represents as a person whom the folly of men had deified. It is well known the Greeks had a fictitious god of wealth; but I cannot find that he was ever directly worshipped in Syria under the name of

mammon.

d Therefore I say unto you, &c.] A late writer, who takes upon him, by the strength of his own reason, to reject at pleasure what the apostles believed and taught, strangely complains of a want of connection between this and the preceding verse. But can there be any better reason assigned against immoderate anxiety than this, that such a subjection to mammon as this expresses is utterly inconsistent with the love and service of God?

eBe not anxious about your subsistence in life.] It is certain that the word vw generally signifies an excessive anxiety (see Luke x. 41. xii. 11. xxi. 34. and Phil. iv. 6.

You

and indeed almost every other place where
it is used); which is agreeable to the
derivation of it. There is no need therefore
to say (as Archbishop Tillotson, Vol. II.
p. 255, and Dr. Clarke in his Sermons,
Vol. III. p. 116, & seq. do) that our Lord
only addresses this to his apostles, who were
to cast themselves on an extraordinary Pro-
vidence, without being any wise concerned
themselves for their support. Mr. Blair has
well proved the contrary at large in his ex-
cellent Appendix to his fourth Sermon, Vol.
I. p. 55, & seq. and it is easy to observe
that the arguments our Lord urges contain
nothing peculiar to their case, but are built
on considerations applicable to all Christi-
ans; compare Phil. iv. 6. and 1 Pet. v. 7.
as also Luke xxii. 35, 36. and Acts xx. 54.
from whence it appears that the apostles
themselves were not entirely to neglect a
prudent care for their own subsistence in
dependence on miraculous provisions.

f The

228

SECT.

xli.

Mat.

Anxious care is unreasonable and useless,

you

reflect on

You may surely do it when
his care of the inferior creatures. Look on the
birds of the air, for instance, that are now flying

26 Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they

venly Father fecdeth

reap, nor gather into VI. 26. around youf: for though they are gay and cheer- barns; yet your heaful to a proverb, yet do they neither sow nor them: are not ye much reap: nor do they, like some other animals, better than they? gather a stock of food into hoards, to lay up for winter; and yet the rich providence of your hea venly Father plentifully feedeth them; and are not you, his children, much more valuable in his sight than they? as well as much better furnished with means of providing for yourselves & ? Why then should you at any time suspect his 27 care? And after all, this immoderate care- 27 Which of you by fulness is useless, as well as unnecessary; for taking thought, can which of you can, by [all his] anxiety, add to his add one cubit unto his age or vigour so much as one cubit, or even the smallest measure or moment beyond what God shall appoint? Nay, it is much more probable you should rather impair than strengthen your constitution by indulging such a temper, which sometimes brings on grey hairs and death. before their time.

28

h

stature?

28 And why take ye

Consider the lilies of

And as for raiment, why are ye anxious [about that?] Observe not only the animal, but what thought for raiment? is yet much lower, the vegetable part of the the field, how they creation; and particularly, consider there the grow; they toil not, lillies of the field, how they grow; they toil not neither do they spin: to prepare the materials of their covering, nor 29 do they spin or weave them into garments: Yet 29 And yet I say I say unto you, That even the magnificent Solomon unto you, That even Solomon in all his in all his royal glory, when sitting on his throne glory was not arrayed of ivory and gold, (1 Kings x. 18.) was not ar- like one of these. rayed in garments of so pure a white', and of

f The birds of the air now flying around you.] It is not so proper to render wave fowls, as that word generally signifies the larger kind of birds, and especially those under the care of men. For mentioning the birds, as then in their sight, see the latter part of note o on Mat. v. 14. p. 203,

g Are you not much more valuable than they, as weil as much better furnished with means of providing for yourselves?] Ovx υμείς μάλλον διαφέρετε αυτών; may be rendered Have not you greatly the advantage of them? which may refer to men's being capable of sowing, reaping and gathering into barns, which the birds are not and though I rather prefer the former sense, I thought it not improper to hint at the other; as I have done in many other places where such ambiguities have occurred,

such

h Can add to his age.] It is well known that this is frequently the signification of the word mix; there being many places where it is evident that it is used for age (as John ix. 21, 23. and Heb. xi. 11.) and certainly it makes the best sense here; for it is seldom found that persons are solicitous about growing a cubit taller.-1 confess a cubit of age is not a common phrase among us, though an inch of time be sometimes used; and in this view, had I rendered cubit by moment, as a learned friend who remarked on this passage advised, it would have been very justifiable.

i Was not arrayed in garments of so pure a white.] As the eastern princes were often clothed in white robes, and they were generally counted a magnificent appare! (compare Esth. viii. 15. and Dan. vii. 9.) I think

We should seek first the kingdom of God.

229

such curious workmanship as one of these lillies SECT. 30 Wherefore, if presents to your view. And if God so clothe xli. God so clothe the the grass of the field, and shelters and adorns the

grass of the field, which

more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

k

Mat.

to-day is, and to-mor- flower that grows wild amongst it, which is VI. 30. row is cast into the [flourishing] to-day, and perhaps to-morrow is oven, shall he not much thrown into the furnace or the still', [will he] not much more [clothe] you, his servants and his children, O ye of little faith? that you should be so diffident as to distrust his care, or in the least to doubt of it!

31 Therefore take

What shall we eat? or

Be not ye therefore any more distracted and 31 po thought, saying, torn in pieces (as it were) with anxious and unwhat shall we drink? believing thoughts, saying, What shall we eat, or wherewithal shall or what shall we drink? How is it we shall be we be clothed?

provided for, or what shall we wear, in the re52 (For after all mainder of our lives? (For it is really be- 32 these things do the neath your character as my disciples, thus to your heavenly Father distress yourselves on this account: the heathen, knoweth that ye have who are strangers to the promises of God's coneed of all these venant and to the hopes of his glory, do indeed

Gentiles seek :) for

things.

33 But seek ye first

and his righteousness,

seek after all these things: and it is no wonder
that their minds are taken up with them: but
you have greater business to employ you, and
higher hopes to animate and encourage you ;)
for you may be assured that as your heavenly
Father knows that you need all these things
while you dwell in the body, he will not fail to
provide them for you.

But I exhort you that you turn your cares 33.
the kingdom of God, into a nobler channel and seek, in the first place,
and and with the greatest earnestness and concern,
the kingdom of God and his righteousness";
Jabouring

I think it more natural to explain the words thus (as Calmet does in his Dissert. Vol. II. p. 250), than to suppose with Ray (on the Creation, p. 107), that xva signified tulips of various colours, or a purple kind of hly. Some have indeed quoted Cant. v. 13. in support of the last interpretation; but that text may refer to the fragrancy of those flowers, rather than their hue.

k Shelters and adorns the flower.] The word aus.mbon, which we render clothe properly expresses the putting on a complete dress that surrounds the body on all sides; and is used with peculiar beauty for that elezant yet strong external membrane, which (like the skin in the human body) at once adorns the tender structure of the vegetable, and likewise guards it from the injuries of the weather. Every microscope in which a flower is viewed affords a lively comment on this text.

VOL. VI.

1 Is thrown into the furnace or the still.] I apprehend that this may be as properly the signification of the word bavov as oven, and that the sense will thus appear to be more easy; for it can hardly be supposed that grass or flowers should be thrown into the oven the day after they are cut down; unless it was the custom to heat their ovens with newe hay, which seems not very natural. Elsner indeed renders your stubble; but that seems not to suit the context.

m The kingdom of God, and his righteousness.] By righteousness Dr Sykes here understands the Messiah; the righteous Branch who was to rule in righteousness, and in whose days the righteous were to flourish, (see Dr. Sykes on Christianity, p. 35, 36): But it seems more natural to interpret it of that way of becoming righteous which the gospel proposes, and which St. Paul, D d

by

230

Reflections on the prohibition of anxiety.

SECT. labouring to secure an interest in the promises and all these things
xli.__ of the gospel yourselves, and to promote its shall be added unto
Mat. reception among others, that by submitting to
VI. 33. the righteousness of God you may be thus ac-

you.

34 Take therefore

morrow; for the mor

cepted as righteous before him: in that you will be sure of success; and as for all these little things of which I have now been speaking, they shall be added to you over and aboven, and, as it were, thrown in amidst a crowd of far more 34 valuable blessings. And therefore, while you faithfully attend to this, be not anxious even for no thought for the the morrow, and much less for future years; for row shall take thought indeed the morrow shall provide for itself; that for the things of itself: Providence which hath taken care of you for- sufficient unto the day merly, shall send in new supplies and suggest new expedients, as new necessities and difficulties require them: and, in the mean time, you need not anticipate future trials; for without such an addition, sufficient for the present day [is] the evil of it, and it is well if you have wisdom and grace proportionable even to that.

is the evil thereof.

Ver.

IMPROVEMENT.

How kind are these precepts of our blessed Redeemer! the sub34 stance of which is indeed but this, Do thyself no harm. Let us not be so ungrateful to him and so injurious to ourselves, as to 31, 32 harrass and oppress our minds with that burden of anxiety which he has so graciously taken off. Every verse and clause we have been reading speaks at once to the understanding and the heart. We will not therefore indulge these unnecessary, these useless, these mischievous cares; we will not borrow the anxieties and 34 distresses of the morrow to aggravate those of the present day: but rather will we cheerfully repose ourselves on that heavenly Father who knows that we need these things, and has given us life, which 25 is more than meat; and the body, which is more than raiment; and thus instructed in the philosophy of our heavenly Master will 26, 28 learn a lesson of faith and cheerfulness from every bird of the air and every flower of the field.

Let the Gentiles that know not God perplex their minds with unworthy suspicions, or bow them down to the ignoble servitude

by a phrase exactly equivalent to this, calls
the righteousness of God. Compare Rom.
x. 3. and Phil. iii. 9.

Added over and above.] This seems to
be the exact import of the word wanda,
than which expression nothing could have

of

been more proper; for these temporal blessings are by no means essential to the stipulations of the covenant of grace, but are entirely to be referred to the Divine good pleasure to add or with-hold as God shall see fit. Compare 1 Kings iii, 11-13.

a Place

Christ cautions them against rash judgment.

231

xli.

of mammon, that base rival of our living Jehovah: but we, far SECT. from desiring to share our hearts and our services between two such contrary masters, will cheerfully devote them to him, whose Ver. right to them is so infinitely beyond all room for any contest.

us take heed and beware of covetousness, and make it our business 19, 20 not to hoard up earthly and corruptible treasures, but first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness: so shall other things be 33' added for present subsistence; and so shall we lay up in store an incorruptible treasure in heaven, in which we shall be rich and happy, when the riches of this world are consumed with their owners, and the whole fashion of it is passed away.

While these divine maxims are spreading their light about us, 22, 23 let our eye be clear to behold them, and our heart open to receive them; and let us cautiously guard against those deceitful principles of action which would give a wrong bias to all our pursuits, and turn the light which is in us into a fatal and incurable darkness.

SECT. XLII.

Our Lord proceeds in his discourse to caution his disciples against rash judgment, and to exhort them to impartiality, prudence, prayer and resolution; and warns them against seducers. Mat. VII. 1—20.

MAT. VII. 1.

not

MAT. VII. 1.

xlii.

Mat.

Jube judged ye YOU, my disciples, live in a very censorious SECT. age, and the scribes and Pharisees, who are in the highest esteem for the strictness of their lives, place a great part of their own religion in vII. 1. condemning others; but see to it that you do not judge those about you in this rigorous and severe manner, nor pass such unnecessary or uncharitable censures upon them, that you may not yourselves be judged with the like severity. For 2 in this respect you will find, that according to the judgment with which you judge others, you shall be judged; and by that very measure that ye mete to them, it shall be measured back to you: God and man will make great allowances to the character of the candid and benevolent; but they must expect "judgment without mercy who have shewed no mercy;" nor can they deny the equity of such treatment. (Jam. ii. 13.)

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

a Place a great part of their own religion in condemning others.] Though Christ does not so directly level his discourse against the Pharisees in this chapter as in the two foregoing, he seems to glance upon them in this and other expressions which he uses in

The

it. That they were very culpable on this
head appears from such passages as Luke
xviii. 9-14. xvi. 14, 15. and John vii.
47-49. (Compare Isa. lxv. 5.) Their
unjust censures of Christ are the strongest
instances of it that can be conceived.
Dd 2
b Look

« AnteriorContinuar »