492 xciii. Reflections on the need of self-denial and mortification. SECT. salt in yourselves; and, as one instance of it, be Have salt in yourselves, my present discourse. with another. Mat. IMPROVEMENT. How deeply is pride rooted in the heart of fallen man; when XVIII.1 neither the daily instructions, nor edifying example of the humble Jesus could prevent it from appearing, even among the apostles themselves, in so mean and unworthy a manner! Still did worldly interest and grandeur so intoxicate their minds, that they seemed even against hope to have hoped for it, and to have found out a strange kind of method of grafting these expectations, even on the very cross of Christ, which was intended to destroy them. Mark XVIII.3 How edifying and affecting are these lessons, which the meek IX. 36 and lowly Redeemer gave us, with this little child in his arms, whose example we are required to copy! Lord, give us of thy Mat. regenerating grace, that we may do it; that we may be converted, and become as little children, free from avarice and ambition, malice and prejudice! How melancholy is it to think, that many, who have by their office been employed to read and explain this lesson to others, and who have not been children in understanding, seem to have learnt so little of it themselves; as if it had never been at all intended for that order of men, to whom indeed it was immediately addressed! If there be any such yet remaining in the Christian ministry, let them seriously weigh the woe de7nounced on that man by whom the offence cometh. May the infinite mercies of God be extended to all professing Christians, who give themselves up to worldly pursuits and projects; and especially to those who make the church of Christ only a kind of porch to the temple of mammon, and the sacred office itself merely a convenient vehicle for swallowing down riches and honours! May Divine grace deliver us from such fatal snares, and form us to that selfdenial and mortification, without which we cannot be the true disciples of Christ; but, after having pierced ourselves through with many unnecessary sorrows here, shall plunge ourselves deep into eternal perdition! Mark IX 43-48 May these repeated and dreadful representations of future misery, which we have now been reading, impress our souls in a becoming manner! Blessed Jesus! thou bringest good tidings; yet which of the prophets under the legal dispensation ever represented the terrors of the Lord in so awful a light, as that in which thou hast placed them! Let none of thy ministers be afraid to imitate thee herein! nor let any of thy followers presume to cen sure 1 Christ will not have his little ones despised. 493 xciii. sure them for it! May we all be effectually warned to flee from SECT. the wrath to come; and, as we would not another day be salted with fire, may our hearts now be seasoned with thy grace! and Mark may we, by a modest and peaceful, a benevolent and useful life, IX. be daily bearing a testimony to it, and, as the salt of the earth, may we be labouring to cure the growing corruption of the world about us ! 49,50 SECT. XCIV. Our Lord farther enforces condescension and humility, and gives rules for the accommodation of disputes and offences among Christians. Mat. XVIII. 10-20. MAT. XVIII. 10. TAKE heed that ye despise not one of these little ones: for which is in heaven. FA MAT. XVIII. 10. PARTHER to promote the humility and mo- SECT. deration of his disciples, our Lord proceeded xciv. I say unto you, That in the discourse which he began (as in the for- Mat. in heaven their angels mer section) with the little child in his arms, XVIII. do always behold the face of my Father and said, Take special heed, that you despise not 10 one of these little ones, or that you do not cast contempt on the weakest and meanest of my servants, nor slight even the soul of a child; for I say unto you, that their attendant angels, while in heaven, do incessantly behold the face of my heavenly Father; and if the highest courtiers in the world above do not disdain, on proper occasions, to minister unto them, much less 1 For the Son of should you disdain it. Especially when you !! man is come to save consider, how much greater an instance of con that which was lost. descension you have continually before you, a Their attendant angels while in heaven, &c.] The fathers looked on this as an argument, that each good man has his particular guardian angel: (see Suicer. The saur. meanest Christian; but, as St. Paul says, Vol. I. p. 43.) And Grotius also seems to allow the force of it. I apprehend this passage rather intimates, that the angels who sometimes attend the little ones spoken of, at other times stand in God's immediate presence; and consequently that different angels are at different times employed in this kind office, if it be incessantly performed. The general sense is plain, that the highest angels do not disdain, on proper occasions, to perform services of protection and friendship for the 30 VOL. VI. b For the Son of man himself.] The particle for here introduces another reason to enforce the caution not to despise these little ones, and not a proof of their angels beholding God's face. See note d on Luke xi. 36. p. $36. c Leave 494 12. It is the Father's will, that none of them be lost. con 12 How think ye? If a man have an hun. goeth into the mous. SECT. but by all the offices of humility and enxciv. dearment to save that which was lost and undone; and he takes a gracious and Mat. stant oversight of the least, as well as the greatXVIII. est, of his redeemed ones. Compare Luke xix. 10. sect. exliii.) What do you think would be the conduct of a faithful shepherd? If a man had dred sheep, and one of a flock of an hundred sheep, and but one of them them be gone astray, should wander from the rest, would he not leave doth he not leave the the ninety-nine in their pasture or fold on the ninety and nine, and mountains, and go out with the most solicitous tains, and seeketh that care and labour to seek that which is gone astray? which is gone astray? 13 And if he happen to find it, I assuredly say unto that he finds it, verily you, that he will bring it back with greater plea- I say unto you, be sure, and the recovery of it will give him a more rejoiceth more of that sensible joy, than the safety of the ninety-nine sheep, thau of the ninewhich had not wandered at all. (Compare Luke not astray. 14 xv. 4, 5, sect. cxxii.) Even so the love and tenderness of God for those, who are regarded by Father which is in hea him as his children, is such, that you may be as- ven, that one of these sured it is not the will of your heavenly Father little ones should pethat any one of these little ones should be lost, for rish. want of your care in attending it, or through your negligence in seeking its recovery. 13 And if so he ty and nine which went 14 Even so it is not the will of your brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 15 And, as in order to the recovery of your weak- 15 Moreover, if thy er brethren, admonition will frequently be necessary, let me lay down a rule, which, when larger societies are formed among you, it will be of great importance to attend to with the utmost care: If thou shalt know thy brother to be guilty of a fault, and he shall sin against thee, go and reprove him in the most convincing, yet the most gentle manner that thou canst ; and that he may take it the better, let it be done between thee and him alone: if he will hear thee with due regard, it is well, for by this means thou hast gained thy brother; he will return to the way of his duty, and the friendship between you will thus be established on firmer foundations than ever, in consequence of this substantial token of thy impartial sincerity and frankness of temper. c Leave the ninety-nine on the mountains.] The original will bear either this construction, or that which is given in our common translation; but I have rather chosen to express it thus, as most agreeable to what we find in Luke, chap. xv. 4, sect. cxxii. d Reprove him in the most convincing -manner that thou canst.] The word yo signifies to convince as well as to (Compare How an offending brother should be dealt with. with thee one or two established. 495 XCIV. 16 But if he will (Compare Prov. xxviii. 23.) But if he will SECT. not hear thee, then take not hearken [to thee] take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth more, who are persons of character and reputa- Mat. of two or three witness- tion in the society, that their presence may add XVII. es every word may be greater weight to the admonition given, and may 16. be of service, either to silence his objections, and bring him to a sense of his fault, or to prevent disputes, and justify thy conduct, if the matter should be carried farther; as in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established more effectually, than it could otherwise have been. (See Deut. xix. 15.) But if he shall 17 be still incorrigible in his fault, and disregard them in the advice they offer him for peace, then tell it to the whole church, or society of worshipping Christians to which he belongs, and among whom he has immediate communion in gospel ordinances; and if they concur in any admonition to the offender, and he be so far hardened as to disregard the whole church, or society of Christians, you have then done your utmost to reclaim him; and while he continues in this obstinate temper, you will do well to enter your protest against it, by forbearing any intimate 17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, but if he neglect to hear the church, let tell it unto the church: him be unto thee as an heathen man, and a publican, e Tell it to the whole church.] This is one of those many scriptures, which would have been very intelligible, if they had not been learnedly obscured by ingenious men, whose interest it has been to spread a cloud over them. I am more and more convinced that the vulgar sense of the New Testament, that is, the sense in which an honest man of plain sense would take it on his first reading the original, or any good translation, is almost every where the true general sense of any pas age; though an acquaintance with language and antiquity, with an attentive meditation on the text and context, may illustrate the spirit and energy of a multitude of places in a manner, which could not otherwise be learned. The old English editions of 1539 and 1541 render it, Tell it to the congregation; and, I think, properly enough. The word church is unhappily grown into a term of art, and has by different persons a variety of secondary ideas annexed to it; as Dr. Watts has beautifully shewn in his Essay on Uncharitableness, p. 7-10. But it signifies in general, an assembly, or number of people, called together on whatever occasion, as is well known. (Compare Acts xix. 32, 39.) It is in the New Testament generally used, as here, for a particular assembly (Acts xiv. 23; 1 Cor. iv. 17; xiv. 23; xvi. 19); but sometimes 496 Where two or three assemble in his name, he is with them. xciv. SECT. intimate friendship with such a person; and let him therefore in this case be to thee even as a Mat. heathen, and a publican, or other most notorious XVIII. sinner, to whom you would perform only 17 the common offices of humanity, but would avoid his intimate society as scandalous, and to whom you are not under those peculiar obligations, whereby Christian brethren are bound to each other. 18 19 shall be bound in hea ven., These are the maxims which you, my apostles, 18 Verily I say unare to inculcate on my other followers, and let to you, Whatsoever ve them see to it, that they duly regard you; for shall bind on earth, verily I say unto you, You shall be furnished with ven and whatsoever such Divine illumination and assistance, as shall ye shall loose on car's, abundantly confirm the authority of your deci- shall be loosed in licasions on every case and question which may occur; and fully prove (as I formerly told you) that whatsoever you shall bind even in this course of your humble ministry, on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. (See note h on Mat. xvi. 19, sect. lxxxviii. p. 463.) 19 Again I say un of you shall agree on for them of my F2 ven. And further, as a convincing token and demonstration of this, I say unto you, That this au- to you, That if two thority and power not only shall attend the ac- carth, as touching any tions of your whole united body, but even if thing that they shall any two of you shall agree together here on earth, ask, it shall be done concerning any thing which they shall think it ther which is in hea proper to ask in prayer for the miraculous confirmation of any of their determinations, it shall be immediately done for them by my Father in 20 heaven. For where but two or three are assembled in my name, with a regard to my authority, together in my name, and to the purposes of my glory, whatever the there am 1 in the peculiar occasion be, I am there by my speci- midst of them. al, though invisible, presence, in the midst of f As a heathen, and a publican, or other most notorious sinner.] If I am not much mistaken, that celebrated text in Titus relating to heretics (chap. iii. 10), which requires that a man who disturbs the peace, or subverts the faith of his Christian brethren, should be twice admonished, and then discarded by the society, may be much illustrated by this passage. When such a case occurs (as well as when an offended brother has just cause of complaint) cach particular person concerned must judge as well as he can, remembering he is answerable to Christ for the impartiality of such judg ment. If any two of you shall agree together here on earth.] The text so expressly refers them, 20 For where two or three are gathered to agreeing in a petition, that I wonder the learned and judicious editors of the Prussian Testament should render it, If any two of you shall live on earth in a good understanding with each other. Perhaps there may be a reference to the notion the Jews had, that it was necessary at least ten should concur in social prayer, if any extraordinary success was expected. Sce Trigland. de Secta Kararum, cap. x. page 172. h It shall be done for them, &c.] That this refers to a miraculous answer of prayer may appear from comparing Mat. xxi. 21, 22; Mark xi. 23, 24; John xiv. 15, 14; 1 John iii. 22; v. 14, 15; and Jam. v. 16. See Tillotson's Works, Vol. III. page 307. |