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the dumb both spake and saw," rather than, "The blind and the dumb both saw and spake." And an English poet furnishes an example in few words : The soldier's, courtier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword;" where eye, tongue, sword, must be referred back to the scholar, courtier, and soldier, as the sense directs So here, "Lest they trample them under their feet," refers to the swine; and, "Lest they turn and rend" or tear "you," must be connected with the dogs in the first member of the sentence; but the turning and rending may be attributed to the swine, as well as the trampling under foot. Wild swine, at least, are ferocious, and turning well expresses their mode of attack.

Verse 7. Ask, and it shall be given you, &c. We have here a short but most important discourse on prayer; not philosophically argued, not entering into the reasons of the duty, or the advantage, but authoritative and persuasive, and founded upon those affecting views of the love and condescension of God, which give so great a charm to the words of Christ in this divine sermon. Ask, seek, knock, all expressive of the same act. This is our duty; God requires this as an acknowledgment of our dependence, and as the expression of our faith; but ask with entire and unlimited confidence, for EVERY ONE that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, &c. There is no respect of persons with God. Ask, as painfully sensible of your wants; seek with diligence, as those who would recover some great thing lost; and knock at the door of the appointed refuge, that you may obtain admission, and be safe from all danger. Words of inimitable simplicity, but of weightiest import! They forcibly describe the nature of true prayer, asking until the supply is given; seeking until the good

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sought for is found; knocking with persevering earnestness until admission is granted. Here is no resting in means as the END, which is the essence of formality, and one of the most fatal and general religious delusions; but a persevering use of prayer, till prayer be answered. firm ground for the most assured confidence is here also laid; and whoever rightly understands these words knows the way to God, to salvation, to heaven. And here let it be remembered that the Teacher is the Promiser; and he who promises is the Being who "cannot lie," and who is able to give exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." Nor is there anything exclusive in the promise: it is the word of mercy and eternal truth to all, without respect of persons. "Even the poor man's prayer," says one, "pierceth the clouds; and weak and contemptible as he seems, he can draw down the host of heaven, and arm the Almighty in his defence, so long as he can but utter his wants, or turn the thoughts of his heart to God." But, since it is so manifestly the main intent of this discourse to turn the desires of men wholly into the channel of spiritual things, these ABSOLUTE promises must be understood chiefly as intended to give us full assurance of the success of our prayers for spiritual blessings. These can never be denied; and they are bestowed according to the proportion of our faith. As to external good, also, whatever is really beneficial for those who put a filial confidence in God's mercy shall be infallibly bestowed, and nothing withheld but for some reason which respects our real interests upon the whole. This is the clear doctrine of scripture; and when fully received, it becomes the source, not only of content, but of thankfulness, in every lot. For as to blessings of a temporal kind, we

cannot tell what, in all its bearings and issues, is good for us; and we are therefore to ask them with submission. Still "all our requests are to be made known unto God;" and the reward of prayer, even as to matters which affect us in relation to the present life, is a frequent and sometimes a signal interposition of God.

Verse 9. Or what man is there of you, .—Η τις εστιν. The particle answers here to the Latin an: n Tis, "Is there any of you?" Av@pwños, man, is emphatic; but not as some take it, that the stress is laid upon the excellence of human nature in respect of its natural affections; but emphatic in the way of contrast with God. The sense is, "Is there any of you, although a man," and therefore subject to selfishness and morosity, answering to the 11th verse, "If ye then, being evil," &c. Still, evil as you are, it would be a rare thing to find any one among even the worst who would deny the requests of his children for things necessary to their sustenance and comfort.

Verse 10. If he ask a fish, will, &c.Bread and fish are mentioned because they were the common food of the people in that part of Galilee, bordering on the lake. By a fish Bishop Pearce understands an eel, to which the serpent would bear some resemblance; but these are proverbial expressions, not to be interpreted too strictly.

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GOOD, and subject to no evil passions whatever, "give good things to them that ask him!" See Luke xi. 13.

Verse 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would, &c.-These words, which form a distinct subject, are not connected with what precedes. The ovv, therefore, may be considered as an expletive, or it marks a transition. Sometimes, indeed, it indicates a return to a subject which has been for some time suspended by a digression. Hence it may be taken as a continuation of verses 1 and 2; a general rule, growing out of the injunction of the particular caution against rash and uncharitable judging. This rule has justly been called a golden rule, and something resembling it is found in several Greek and Roman, and also in Jewish, writers. Christ did not teach a new morality; but explained more perfectly that which, in its principles and particulars, was from the beginning, and placed it on its true foundation, from which it had been so generally removed. This very rule must necessarily have been as ancient as the first revelations of God to man; being necessarily included in the precept, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," and is, in fact, the foundation of all social morals. With the religion of the patriarchs it passed with other great principles into the different ancient nations; but soon became commingled with a variety of false and selfish maxims, which destroyed its efficacy. For it is to be remarked, that, though we may occasionally find this and other just or benevolent sentiments in the writings of heathen sages, yet, being broken off from their connexion with the divine revelations which originated them,

they were regarded merely as the opinions of men, and, wanting the authority of God, their original author, they had not the force of LAW. But Christ, by taking this great rule into his own moral code, has restored the authority; and it now stands as a part of the law of his religion, enforced by his enactment, and guarded, like all other divine laws, by the sanctions of life or death. This makes one of the grand distinctions between the sayings of wise men among the Gentiles, and those of our Lord and his apostles, in the few instances in which they most agree. But there is another. Such sentiments were the sounder parts of a generally corrupt and false system, noble relics of a better age; just as we still see the broken but beautiful sculpture of the Greeks and Romans sometimes built up into the mud walls of those barbarian nations which subverted their empire. These moral maxims, however, were either useless, or their influence was greatly counteracted by the lax and vicious notions and prejudices which were held along with them, and which took hold of corrupt human nature much more deeply than the little truth which remained in the heathen world. Such rules of obvious equity, for instance, were, among them, generally limited to certain classes of

men.

A Greek philosopher, when asked how a man should conduct himself to his friends, answered, in words approaching those of our Lord, "As he wishes they should conduct themselves to him;" but he would not have applied this rule to his enemies. A Roman would say to the same effect as the text, Quod tibi fieri vis, fac alteri; but he would not include his slaves within the rule. And though among the Jews, Maimonides has been quoted as furnishing a similar maxim, partially imitated, no doubt, from the New Testament, "All things whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, do you the same to your brethren in the law, and in the commandment; " the bigotry of the

Jew puts in the emphatic limitation, To YOUR BRETHREN, meaning those of his own nation. It is not, therefore, considered simply in itself, that this precept of our Lord is to be admired, but as it is a part of a moral system, throughout perfectly pure and benevolent, comprising truth without countenancing error, and making its rules universal in their application to all mankind. Perhaps it was with some reference to the full and ample meaning which it derived from the principles and spirit which run through the whole discourse in which it stands, that it was commended to the convictions of Alexander Severus, although a heathen; for in preference to similar sentences, found among the writers of his own nation, with which he must have been acquainted, he caused this saying of Christ to be written on the walls of his palace, and would sometimes order it to be pronounced aloud by a public officer. The rule, however, is to be soberly interpreted. "Whatsoever ye WOULD that men should do to you," signifies not a blind and wayward will or desire on our part, but one which is reasonable in itself, and consistent with the principles of religion. The maxim, also, must have respect to circumstances; and signifies what in like relations and conditions we would have done to ourselves; but even then not what another might lawfully do to us or for us, but what we should have a right to expect him to do, on the ground of duty and obligation, whether arising from equity or Christian charity. When this precept is said to be the law and the prophets, we are to understand the phrase in the same way as when St. Paul says, "LOVE is the fulfilling of the law;" that is, as charity leads necessarily to the discharge of all the duties we owe to our neighbour, so this great rule of equity “is the law and prophets," by leading to the practice of all that charity and justice which both require of us in our conduct towards our fellow-creatures.

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f Luke xiii. 24.

Verses 13, 14. Enter ye in at the strait gate, &c.-These words commence the hortatory conclusion of our Lord's sermon, in which he enforces the vigorous application of the whole soul to the great duties which he had so clearly taught, and so strikingly illustrated. The metaphor he here employs is that of a low and strait gate, at the entrance of a narrow path, such paths as led to strongly fortified citadels, in which all who fly from danger might find "life" and safety in times of military invasion. But one access was usually allowed to such places, and that not only narrow, but often precipitous and rocky, that so it might be the more easily defended. The opposite to this is the wide and lofty gate, and the broad way leading to undefended cities, where the careless inhabitants could easily be surprised by an invading enemy, and be suddenly destroyed. Palestine had places answering to each description. By these allusions we are taught, that all are in danger; that there is but one way to life and safety, and that narrow and difficult, requiring care to find, and vigour to pursue; that there is also a broad, smooth, and inviting path, easy to discover, and recommended, too, by the choice of the greater number; and that the result of preferring temporary ease and convenience will be in the end certain destruction. The metaphor of the strait gate, and the narrow path, has reference to the previous doctrines which our Lord had delivered. The principles unfolded, and the duties enjoined in them, indicated the only way to eternal life. Yet they are difficult to our corrupt nature to practise, and require a constant course of selfdenial and vigorous exertion. The enrance itself is said to be strait. In some cases the gates leading to the hill forts and

• Or, how.

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citadels would admit little more than only the person himself,-he could take in with him no load of goods, no cumbrous apparatus for luxury, and might be thankful to save himself, and leave all the rest behind. If this be the allusion, the remunerations of worldly interest and honour, of self and pride, which the very entrance into the Christian life requires, may be figuratively represented. But this strait gate once entered, we have still a narrow path-way before us, and a toilsome ascent; for those commentators greatly err who take the straitness to be the difficulties to the entrance merely, and tell us that these being surmounted, and good habits formed, the rest of the way will be smooth and delightful. The pleasures of piety are indeed a reality; the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness; but the joys of religion lessen not its difficulties: they only animate us to surmount them and no such habits are or can be formed as shall render our nature prone to hard and self-denying services; so that we shall daily have to practise the same lessons of self-denial, of vigilance, of resistance to evil. We must be always toiling up the steep in vigorous effort, until we reach the place of safety, when only we can be said to enter into "life." Hence it is that the way itself, evidently meaning the whole way, is said to be narrow. Difficulties and dangers will beset us through our whole course, requiring constant effort on our part to resist the temptation to strike out into bye-paths, or to climb the mounds on either side, in order to gain a broader and easier path. The followers of Pythagoras justly said, that there are various ways of sinning, and that evil is indefinite; but that good consists in one precise and determined point: so that the one must be easy, the other difficult; just as

it is easier to miss a mark than to hit it. To this notion Origen seems to allude when he says, in reference to our Lord's words in this place, "Good is one; but moral turpitude is various : truth is one; but the contrary, falsehoods, are many genuine righteousness is one; but there are many forms of hypocrisy." Both the gate and the way are strait and narrow; but, on the other hand, nothing is easier or more gratifying to our fallen nature than to neglect all these precepts of Christ; to make a show of religion rather than practise it; to hate our enemies rather than love them; to keep our alms rather than distribute them; to seek the things of this life" first," rather than the kingdom of God first ;" and to judge severely rather than charitably. The ease with which vice is practised, and the struggles which virtue requires, are subjects of common remark among heathen moralists: how much more would they have complained had they carried their notions of virtue to the extent of these precepts of Christ! There is, however, here nothing to discourage to strive to enter in is ours; but we shall never be left to strive in our own strength, if we remember the words of our divine Teacher, "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find." And whatever self-denial and struggles may be called for, even these destroy not, but increase, the joys of piety. Narrow, obstructed, and precipitous as the way may be, it is yet a way of pleasantness, and a path of peace;" for this very reason, that it is the sure way to life; and that every step brings us nearer to that city of God into which no enemy can enter, and where the security of our immortal interests shall be confirmed for ever.

The or, because, in verse 14, Bengelius, Whitby, and others render but, which continues the reason for the exhortation: "Enter ye in at the strait gate," that is, strive to enter in, Luke xiii. 24. The reading, TI σTEV, how narrow is the gate! rests, however, upon weighty evidence of

MSS. and versions; yet exclamations are very unusual in our Lord's style.

And few there be that find it." And if," says an ancient father, " there are but few that find it, how much smaller still the number of those who pursue it to the end! some falling off in the beginning, others in the middle of their course, and others when just upon the point of finishing it." But let no one consider the narrowness of the way as any thing but a proof of divine wisdom and mercy. License could be no favour; for restraint falls upon what is injurious to ourselves, and hurtful to society. But this is its benevolent rule, for the religion of Christ is not ascetic. Monkish austerity only nurtures the vices of the mind, whilst it seems to castigate those of the flesh. The mortification prescribed in the New Testament is the direct mortification of sin; and this must be universal, whether of the flesh or of the spirit. Every thing is left to us unprohibited by which human felicity can be connected with glorifying God.

Verse 15. Beware of false prophets, &c. —The word prophet is here to be taken in the sense of a public religious teacher, a sense in which the term prophet is frequently used. The scribes and Phari sees seem intended in the first instance; but the caution lies equally strong against all false teachers, and teachers of falsehood, both of whom are to be rejected by Christians, who violate this very rule of our Lord whenever they encourage their ministry. ПgоσEXEтe, rendered beware, when followed by ano, signifies "to guard against," so as to avoid, and is not to be considered as a mere caution, but a strong prohibition against giving them the least

countenance.

In sheep's clothing.-Some suppose a reference here to the long robes made of fine wool worn by those of the Pharisees and scribes who professed the greatest sanctity, and the deepest skill in the law, or to the unλwrn, the hairy mantle of the