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Sect. 156.

29.

30

JESUS directs him to the Love of GOD, and of his Neighbour.

And Jefus anfwered him, The Queftion thou haft put may eafily be refolved; for furely the Mark XII. First, that is, the most comprehenfive and important of all the Commandments of the Law, [is] that which is contained in Deut. vi. 4, 5. X. 12. Hear, ob Ifrael, Jehovah our GOD is the one And great and only Lord; all Ocupon "cafions thou shalt regard and honour him as "fuch, and love the Lord thy GOD with all "thine Heart, and with all thy Soul, and with "all thy Mind, and with all thy Strength;" that is, thou fhalt confecrate to him all the united Powers and Faculties of thy Nature; and thy Understanding 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. pag. 86.) This is the First and great Commandment, the principal and fundamental Precept of the Law, and there is no other which may not in its Degree be reduced to this. 31 And the Second, in its fublime and comprehenfive Nature, is much like unto it, as well as given by the fame Authority (b), [even] this, contained in Lev. xix. 18. "Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thyself:" For all the Duties For all the Duties you owe to your Fellow - Creatures may be reduced to this; and where this undiffembled and generous Principle of Love is, the reft will eafily and naturally follow. On the whole therefore, there is no other ComMat. XXII. mandment greater than thefe. And indeed I may fay, that all the Law and the Prophets depend upon these two Commandments; that is, it is the Defign of the whole Revelation, in its different Periods and Circumstances, to promote that virtuous and holy Temper, which may be expreffed by the Love of GoD and our Neighbour.

40.

Mark XII. 32.

MARK XII. 29. And

Jefus anfwered him, The ments is, Hear, O Ifrael, the Lord our GOD is one Lord; [MAT.XXII.37.—]

30 And thou fhalt love

the Lord thy GOD with all thy Heart, and with all thy Soul, and with all thy Mind, and with all thy Strength this is the first [and great] Commandment. [MAT. XXII.-37, 38.]

31 And the second is like

[unto it,] namely this, Thou thyfelf: there is none other Commandment greater than these. [MAT. XXII. 39.]

halt love thy Neighbour as

MAT. XXII. 40. On

thefe two Commandments hang all the Law and the

Prophets.

MARK XII. 32. And

And the Scribe who had put the Question to him with a Design to try him, was ftruck with the Scribe said unto him,

the

Well,

(b) The Second is like unto it.] By quoting this with the former, he fufficiently guarded against a foolish Notion, which fome fay the Pharifees had, that the Obfervation of one excellent Precept of the Law would excufe the Tranfgreffion of many others. It is certain, the Pharifees were ready to magnify Duties of the First Table, to the Neglect of thofe of the Second; on which Account it was exceedingly proper to use fuch Language as this.

(c) Excel

Jesus afks, how the Well, Mafter, thou haft faid the Truth: for there is one GOD, and there is none other but he.

33 And to love him with all the Heart, and with all the Understanding, and with all the Soul, and with all the Strength, and to love his Neighbour as himself, is more than all Whole-Burnt

Offerings and Sacrifices.

34-And when Jefus faw

Meffiah is the Son, and yet the Lord of David.

that he answered difcreetly, he faid unto him, Thou art not far from the Kingdom

of GOD.

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MAT. XXII. 41. [And] while the Pharifees were gathered together, Jefus [while he taught in the Temple,] afked them, faying, [How fay the Scribes, that Chrift is the Son of David?] [MARK XII. 35. LUKE XX. 41.]

353

Mark XII.

32.

the Solidity and Spirit of his Answer, and faid to Sect. 156.
him, Truly thou deferveft to be owned as a Mafter
in Ifrael; for thou haft spoken to this important
Question excellently well (c): For there is indeed
one GOD, and there is no other befides him :
And to love him, as thou haft faid, with all the 33
Heart, and with all the Understanding, and with
all the Soul, and with all the Strength, to confe-
crate all the intellectual and active Powers of our
whole Nature to him; and for a Man to love [his]
Neighbour as himself, from a Senfe of Piety to
GOD, as well as Benevolence to Man; is far
more important than all the Burnt Offerings and
Sacrifices, which the greatest Prince on Earth
could prefent at his Altar; nor could the most
exact and pompous Ritual Obfervances be accep-
table without fuch Virtues and Graces as these.

And Jefus, feeing that he anfwered thus wifely, 34
faid unto him, It appears from these just Senti-
ments of thine on this important Head, that thou
art not far from the Kingdom of GOD; and fuch
Views of Religion as thefe may be the happy
Means of preparing thee to receive the Gospel,
in that fuller Manifeftation of it which is now
approaching.

42

And while the Pharifees were gathered together Mat. XXII. during this Conference, expecting to have found 41. an Opportunity to infnare him, as he was still teaching the People in the Temple, Jefus turned to the Scribes and Doctors of the Law who were prefent, and asked them, faying, How fay the Scribes fo commonly as they do, that the Meffiah is the Son of David? Let me afk you of that Profeffion who are prefent, What think ye concerning the Meffiab in this Respect? Whofe Son is be? They fay unto him, Nothing can be plainer than what thou reprefenteft as the general Opinion; he is undoubtedly to be [the Son] of David. He faith unto them, How then does David 43 felf] in Spirit [or by the Ho- bimfelf, fpeaking by the Infpiration of the Holy

42 What think ye of Chrift? whofe Son is he?

They fay unto him, The Son of David.

43 He faith unto them, How then doth David [him

ly

Spirit,

(c) Excellently well.] It is in the Original, naλws, beautifully, or finely, which expreffes his high Satisfaction in the Reply, much more ftrongly than the Word well.

VOL. II,

Y y

(d) How

Mat. XXII.

43.

་་

any more Questions.

Lord, faying, [MARK XII. Book of Pfalms,] call him 36.-LUKE XX. 42.-]

44 The LORD faid unto

my Lord, Sit thou on my thine Enemies thy FootRight Hand, till I make ftool? [MARK XII.—36. LUKE XX. —42, 43.]

45 If David [himself] then call him Lord, how is

354 They are unable to reply, and dare not ask him Sect, 156. Spirit, in the Book of Pfalms, call him Lord (d)? ly Ghoft] [LUK. in the for you cannot but know, that there is a Paffage expressly to this Purpose, (Pfal. cx. 1.) which you readily allow to refer to the Meffiah, in 44 which you find David faying, "The LORD faid unto my Lord, Sit thou on my Right Hand "in exalted Power and Glory, and exercife Do"minion there, till I make all thine Enemies thy Footstool, and caufe thee to trample upon them 45 at Pleasure." If David himself therefore call him Lord, and fpeak of him as his Superior, fee he doth, how is he then his Son (e)? And as the Scribes and Pharifees were ignorant of the great Doctrine of the Divine Nature of the Meffiah, 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 a vaft Croud of the common People that was about him beard him with 46 great Pleafure. And no Man could anfwer him fo much as a Word; neither did any one prefume, from that Day forward, to ask him any more fuch infnaring Questions (f) as thofe by which they had now contrived to affault, and, if poffible, to confound him.

as you

he [LUK. then] his Son? [And the common People heard him gladly.] [MARK XII. 37. LUKE XX. 44.]

46 And no Man was able

to anfwer him a Word; neither durft any Man (from that Day forth) afk him any more Questions. [MARK XII.-34.]

(d) How then does David himself by the Holy Spirit, &c.] Our Lord, we fee, always takes it for granted in his Arguments with the Jews, that the Writers of the Old Testament were under fuch an extraordinary Guidance of the Holy Spirit, as to exprefs themfelves with the Atrictest Propriety on all Occafions. (Compare John x. 35. Sect. 134.) And I look on this as no contemptible Argument for the Infpiration of the New Teftament; for we can never think the Apostles of Chrift to have been lefs affifted by the Divine Spirit in their Writings, when they were in other Refpects fo much more powerfully endowed with it.

(e) If David himself therefore call him Lord, how is he then his Son ?] This implies both the Exiftence of David in a future State, and the Authority of the Meffiab over that invifible World, into which that Prince was removed by Death. Elfe, how great a Monarch foever the Meffiah might have been, he could not have been properly called David's Lord; any more than Julius Cæfar could have been called the Lord of Romulus, because he reigned in Rome 700 Years after his Death, and vaftly extended the Bounds of that Empire which Romulus founded.-Munfter's Note on this Text fhews in a very forcible Manner, the wretched Expedients of fome modern Jews, to evade the Force of that Interpretation of the exth Pfalm, which refers it to the Meffiah.

(f) Prefume from that Day forward to afk him any more Queftions.] The plain Meaning. is, they afked him no more fuch captious Questions; for the Memory of this Confufion impreffed their Minds during the fhort Remainder of Christ's Continuance among them; and he was foon removed from them, so that they had no farther Opportunities of doing it, when that Impreffion wore off.

IMPROVE

Reflections on the Command to love GOD and our Neighbour. 355

W

IMPROVEMENT.

HATEVER might be the Defign of the Scribe, in putting this Sect. 156. Question to Chrift again, (which was in effect the fame with what another had propofed before, Luke x. 27. pag. 86.) we have Reafon Mark xii. to rejoice in the Repetition of fo important an Anfwer. Oh that it might be inscribed on our Hearts, as with the Point of a Diamond!

28.

The First and great Commandment requires us, to love the Lord our GOD Ver. 29. with all our Heart, and Soul, and Mind, and Strength; and the Second, to love our Neighbour as ourselves. But alas, what Reafon have we to complain of our own Deficiency on both thefe Heads! and how much Need of being taught again even these firft Principles of the Oracles of GOD! (Heb. v. 12.)

Can we say, that the Bleffed GOD has the whole of our Hearts? Is Ver. 30. 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? -Are we indeed fuch equitable Judges between ourselves and others, as the Second of these great Commandments would require; fo as to feek Ver. 31. our own particular Interefts no farther, than they may be fubfervient to, or at least confiftent with, the Good of the whole? Do we make all those Allowances for others, which we expect, or defire, they should make for us? Surely we muft own, we are far from having yet attained, or from being already perfect. (Phil. iii. 12.)-But if this be not, in the main, the prevailing and governing Temper of our Minds, in vain are our Burnt-Offerings and our Sacrifices; in vain are all the Solemnities of Ver. 33. Publick Worship, or the Forms of Domestic and Secret Devotion; and by all our most pathetic Expreffions, of Duty to GoD, and Friendship to Men, we do but add one Degree of Guilt to another. Let us then moft earnestly intreat, that GOD would have Mercy upon us, and by his Holy Spirit write thefe Laws in our Hearts.

On these Subjects let Scribes inftructed to the Kingdom of Heaven infift, Ver. 32. left they be condemned by this Expofitor of the Jewish Law. And let those, whose Notions are thus wifely regulated, take heed left while Ver. 34. they feem near to the Kingdom of GOD, by refting in mere Notions they come fhort of it, and fink into a Ruin aggravated by their near Approach to the Confines of Salvation and Glory.

As for that Question of Chrift, with which the Pharifees were per- Mat. xxii. plexed, the Gofpel has given us a Key to it. Well might David in 41,--43. Spirit call him LORD, who according to the Flesh was to defcend from his Loins. For before David, or Abraham was, he is. (John viii. 58.) Let us adore this myfterious Union of the Divine and Human Natures in the Perfon of our glorious Emmanuel; and be very careful that we do

Y y 2

356

CHRIST warns them against the Scribes and Pharifees, Sect. 156. do not oppose him, if we would not be found Fighters against GOD. Already is he exalted at the Right Hand of the Father: Let his Friends rejoice in his Dignity and Glory, and with Pleasure wait the Day of his compleat Triumph, when all his Enemies fhall be put under his Feet, and even the last of them be fwallowed up in Victory. (1 Cor. xv. 25, 54.)

Ver. 44.

I.

SECT. CLVII.

CHRIST difcourfes with the Pharifees in the Temple, repeating the Charges and Cautions, which he had formerly advanced at the Houfe of one of that Sect. Mat. XXIII. Mark XII. 38,40. Luke XX. 45, to the

I,---22.

End.

MAT. XXIII. 1.

MAT. XXIII. 1.

THEN fpake Jefus [in in the Audience of all the his Doctrine,] [LUK. People, unto his Difciples,] [MARK XII. 38.-LUKE XX. 45.]

Sect. 157. THEN HEN Jefus, in the Progrefs of bis Doctrine and Difcourfe, pake to bis Difciples, in the Au Mat. XXIII. dience of all the People who were prefent, and took Occafion (as he had done formerly, Luke xi. 39, & feq. Sect. 110.) to expofe, and caution them againft, the Pride and Hypocrify of the Scribes 2 and Pharifees, Saying openly and freely to 2 Saying, The Scribes and them, The Scribes and the Pharifees fit in the the Pharifees fit in Mofes Chair of Mofes (a), and are the publick Teachers 3 and Expounders of his Law: All therefore whatfoever they shall charge you to obferve in Virtue of that Law (6), pay a becoming Deference and Regard to, and be ready to obferve

and

Seat.

3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you obferve, that obferve and do; but do

not

(a) Sit in the Chair of Mofes.] Some think here is an Allufion to thofe Pulpits, which Ezra made for the Expounders of the Law; (Neh. viii. 4.) and which were afterwards continued in the Synagogue, from whence the Rabbi's delivered their Difcourfes fitting. It is probably called Mofes's Chair, because it was that, from whence the Books of Mofes were read and explained; fo that he seemed to dictate from thence. It is ftrange, that Lightfoot (Hor. Heb. in loc.) and Guffatus, should explain this of a Legislative Authority; fince the Scribes and Pharifees, as fuch, had no peculiar Authority of that Kind.

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(b) In Virtue of that Law.] If this Limitation be not fuppofed, this Paffage will be inconfiftent with all thofe, in which he condemns the Doctrines of the Scribes and Pharifees. Had he meant, (as Orobio, and fome Popish Writers have unaccountably pretended,) to affert their Infallibility, and to require an abfolute Submiffion to their Dietates, he muft have condemned himself, as being rejected by them. See Limborch. Collat. Amic. p. 58, r14.

(c) Be

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