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ALBERT H CHILDS
YALE '61
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MEMORIAL COLLECTION
COMMENTARY

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW.

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THE REV. W. BRUCE.

BOSTON :
H. H. & T. W. O ART Ji i(,
1.3 BEACON STREET.
1870.

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PREFACE.

This Work has been -written •wit'h the intention of supplying the
members of the Ne-w Church -with a Commentary on the largest and
most comprehensive of the Gospels, suitable for private and family
reading. It is therefore almost purely explanatory and practical in
its character, all questions that have no direct tendency to edifica
tion being as far as possible avoided.
The author is indebted for some of his materials to the iinpublishetl
sermons of the late Rev. S. Noble. For the use of these manuscripts
of his revered friend and colleague, his thanks are due to the Society
of -which Mr. Noble -was so long the distinguished minister. To these
manuscripts he owes, besides one or two smaller items, the explanatiou
of almost the -whole of chapters v. and vi., the greater part of chapter
xviii., verses 14-16 of chapter xxiv., and the parable of the talents,
in chapter xxv.
That the Work, such as it is, may, by the Divine blessing, contribute
to the spiritual improvement of those for -whose use it is designed, is
the Author's earnest prayer.

LoKDON, December, 1S86,

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW.

INTEODFCTION.
The Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the most directly,
if not also the most deeply, interesting and instructive portion of the
Di-vine Word. It records the greatest of all earthly events — the
manifestation of God in the flesh. It unfolds the mystery of redemp
tion, and shows us the -way in -which we must be saved. It brings to
light the immortality of the soul, and the nature of the future life.
It sho-ws us our nearness to and connection -with the eternal -world,
and the influences -which act upon i-is both from the kingdom of light
and the kingdom of darkness. It exhibits before us humanity in its
-widest possible contrasts, in its greatest moral beauty in the person of
the Saviour, and in its greatest moral deformity in the persons of those
he came to seek and to save. It supplies us -with the purest lessons
of spiritual -wisdom and the highest example of practical goodness in
the teaching and life of our blessed Lord; in -whose sufferings and
death we have the most perfect pattern of patient endurance and
forgiving love, and in -whose resurrection and ascension we have the
highest hope of spiritual life and eternal glory.
The -word of the Old Testament is not silent on these all-important
subjects. Predictions of the Lord's coming are numerous, and some
of them are unmistakably plain and singularly graphic. Still, like
every future event, his advent -was seen as through a glass darkly.
So -were all the subjects ofthe kingdom he came on earth to establish.
It is only -when the light of the Ne-w Testament is shed back upon the
predictions and doctrines of the Old, that they stand out in their
proper distinctness, and that their high import is clearly and fully
understood. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, thus com
bined, contain the kno-wledge of that great salvation -which the Lord,
in his infinite mercy, has -wrought out for, and no-w freely offers to all
his people. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a life according to
his commandments, are the sum and substance of the Christian
B

2 INTEODUCTION.
religion, the essential means and conditions of salvation; and these
are set before us in the very letter -with so much plainness that he
may run that readeth.
But -within the literal there is a spiritual sense, -which exalts all the
truths of the Word, and intensifies all the means of salvation. God
has stored up in his Word, as he has in his Works, inexhaustible
treasures of -wisdom and knowledge ; and has only, -when the time has
come, to open the seals of his Sacred Volume, -which is -written
¦within and on the back side, and to unrol it before the nations, that
they may " come and see '' the wonders which have lain hid in its
recesses, from the time of its revelation, till men were prepared, by a
higher development of their faculties, to perceive and acknowledge
them. During the past ages of the church the Word has been understood
in its literal sense only. The existence of a spiritual sense has always
indeed been acknowledged in the church, although little success has
attended the numerous attempts that have been made to unfold it.
It was important that a belief in the existence of an inner sense in
the Scriptures should be preserved, though the time for its manifesta
tion was not yet come. The literal sense was adapted to the genius
and adequate to the wants of the church of the Lord's first advent;
the spiritual sense is revealed for the use of the church of his second
advent. His first coming was in feebleness and obscurity; his
second coming is with power and great glory. As it is from the
literal sense of the Word that we acquire a knowledge of the Lord's
coming in the flesh, it is from the spiritual sense that we acquire a
knowledge of his coming in the spirit. The time of the Lord's
second coming — a coming not in person but in power — having now
arrived, the spiritual sense of the Word, which reveals it, is now
made known, and may be understood, because the event and the
revelation are the correlatives of each other.
The use of this inner sense of the Holy Word consists chiefly in
its unfolding two great subjects— the glorification of the Lord's
humanity, and the regeneration of man. These two works are
related to each other as cause and efl'ect. The Lord's glorification
is the origin ancl pattern of man's regeneration. It is because the
Lord was glorified that man can be regenerated. By glorification the
Lord became a Saviour; by regeneration we become saved. Glori
fication and regeneration are the same in their nature; they differ
only in degree. By glorification the Lord made his humanity
Divine; by regeneration he makes man siiiritual. These two works,

Chap. I.] ST. MATTHEW, 3
which are the beginning and the end of the Incarnation, are the
leading subjects of the inner sense of the Holy Word. The inmost
or celestial sense treats of the Lord's glorification, the internal or
spiritual sense treats of man's regeneration. As the subject of
regeneration has the nearest, because an immediate personal interest
for us, and comes more within the scope of our apprehension, it will
chiefly engage our attention, and will most conduce to our edification.
There is one other subject treated of in the inner sense of the
Word — the church or religious dispensation, whose states both of
advancement and retrogression form the subject of "the internal
historical " or " proximate " sense, which is nearest to the sense of
the letter.
In explaining the Word it may be useful at times to consider it as
it refers to the Lord, or to man, or to the church, leaving the reader
to trace out its other applications, which he may readily do, since
there is a correspondence between them.
One word of caution for those who are not acquainted with the
sjjiritual interpretation of the Word. It may be supposed that the
spiritual sense supersedes the literal sense. This is by no means
the case. There are some parts of the Word that are not to
be literally understood. With the exception of these, the literal sense
is at least as much believed in ancl reverenced by us as if no spiritual
sense existed All doctrine is to be drawn fi-om the literal sense of
the Word; and all spiritual truth rests upon it as its necessary
foundation. It is only necessary to add, that as the Holy Word, in which the
fulness of wisdom dwells, is sufficient for the supply of all our spiritual
¦wants, we have only to go to it earnestly and in a teachable spirit,
looking to Him who is the Light itself for illumination, to derive
from its sacred pages whatever is most suitable to our spiritual states,
and most conducive to our eternal welfare.

CHAPTER L

The Old Testament begins with " the generations of the heavens and
the earth," and the New Testament begins with " the generation" of
him by whom the heavens and the earth were ci-eated. In the
Incarnation the Creator took upon himself by birth that nature which
had originally derived its birth from him. He by whom man was made
¦v\'as himself made man. God assumed man's natui-e to effect what

4 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. L
man was designed but had failed to accomplish. As the world came
from God, it was designed to return to him again, and to return
through man, for whose sake it was created, and in whose spiritual
and eternal happiness alone the purpose of its creation would be
realized. God could have no other end in view in creating the world
— the universe itself— than to form from the human race a heaven of
immortal beings, to whom he might impart a measure of his own
infinite blessedness, and in whose ever-increasing numbers and per
fection he might behold a not unworthy image of his own immen
sity and glory. The fall of man threatened the frustration of this
beneficent end. The catastrophe could only be averted and the
breach repaired by God becoming man, and in the humanity he
assumed restoring what man had lost in himself. In the Lord's
humanity at the ascension creation returned to him from whom it
originaUy came. The link in the chain of connection between the
Creator and his creature was more than supplied by man's Restorer.
By his Divine Humanity God has connected his creation in this and
all other worlds with himself; and by a new and living way, which
he has consecrated through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, man
has for ever access to him, and he to man.
The Incarnation was thus the beginning of a new creation. Jesus
is therefore called the Beginning of the creation of God; the First
born of every creature. He is the beginning of that new and spir
itual creation which is to consist of those who become "new
creatures;" he is the first-begotten and the head of that new
generation which is to consist of those who are "born again" of him.
The Lord has become the second Adam, the Father of a new and
endless race of regenerate beings. In him what was God's imperfect
image has become man's perfect Exemplar.
It is, in fact, this spiritual creation which the Genesis of the Yford
describes — a creation which made primeval man a spiritual image and
likeness of his Maker. This image of the Divine properly con
stitutes humanity, for we are truly human only so far as we are
images of God as to his moral perfections. It was this image that
was lost by the fall, and which the Creator came to restore by the
Incarnation, — that transcendently glorious event which forms the
theme of the Gospel of peace, the beginning of which announces the
birth of the Saviour,— the glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to
all people.
1-17. The book of tlie generation of Jesus Christ comprehends in it
much more than an enumeration of his natural progenitors; and its

Chap. I.] ST. MATTHEW. 5
purpose is much higher than to establish the historical fact that he
was the son of David, ihe son of Abraham. It is not our purpose to
enter into a consideration of its literal sense, nor to attempt to clear
up its historical difficulties. These will be found treated, in many
instances with care and ability, in commentaries devoted to the
elucidation of the literal sense, of which we may particularize The
Critical English Testament. We have no doubt of the truth and con
sistency of the sacred writers, and are convinced that a defective
knowledge of the times and circumstances in which the genealogies of
Matthew and Luke were produced, is the sole cause of their apparent
discrepancies and inconsistencies. Some of these we shall have
occasion to allude to in treating of their spiritual signification.
The Lord's genealogy has far higher claims on our attention than
as a record of his natural descent. It is an inspired revelation for
conveying to us divine and holy truths relating to the great mystery
of the Lord's incarnation and glorification, and, in a secondary sense,
to our own regeneration. In heaven, where the natural sense of the
Word does not exist, but where the Word is written in purely
spiritual language, and is understood in a purely spiritual sense, every
name in this table must be substituted by a purely spiritual truth,
conveying to the minds of angels a distinct and luminous idea. In
the natural world, where our views of divine and spiritual things are
necessarily much more general, and therefore much more obscure, we
must rest satisfied with a few leading ideas on such subjects as the
present, where a long array of names is presented before us.
In the spiritual sense of Scripture natural signify spiritual births,
and natural mean spiritual generations. Between the natural and the
spiritual there is an exact analogy. There is a common perception
of this. We all ascribe conception and birth to the mind as well as
to the body. Affections and thoughts are as truly the offspring of
the will and understanding as sons and daughters ai-e of human
pairs; and there are successive generations of the one as well as of
the other. These are the births and generations to which the internal
sense of the Word relates. The Lord's genealogy treats of the
successi^¦e conception and birth in him of divine affections and
thoughts, or, what is the same, of divine goods and truths. It was
by the successive birth of the Divine in the human that the human
became at length divine. This glorification of the l^orJ may be
illustrated by the regeneration of man, in which it may be seen as in
its image. The regeneration of man begins at his birth, and con
tinues to the end of life, and, indeed, goes on to eternity. The Lord's

6 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. L
glorification commenced at his birth, and was only completed at his
resurrection and ascension. Let us endeavour to trace the greater in
the less.
The earlier period of human life is employed by the Lord in effect
ing in the mind a spiritual work preparatory to regeneration, ancl
without which actual regeneration in adult age would be impossible —
as impossible as a virtuous and intelligent manhood would be without
the educational stages of infancy, childhood, and youth. This work
consists in implanting the germs of principles and forming the rudi
ments of states that are to constitute the new life in the regenerate
soul. These are spiritually meant in the Word by the remnant which
is saved, and through which there is salvation (Isa. x. 20 ; i. 9). As
a remnant of holy persons must be left in every expiring church, to
form the neucleus of a new one (Rom. ix. 27; xi. 5); so must a
remnant of holy principles be preserved in the mind of every child of
fallen man, to form the initiament of the new or regenerate state,
which is the church or kingdom of the Lord in him. " Remains are
truths and goods stored up by the Lord in man's interiors; by
which he is prepared and initiated to receive the influx of good
and truth from the Lord, and thus to become regenerated." That
man may acquire these remains, he is "from first infancy to first boy
hood introduced by the Lord into heaven, and indeed amongst the
celestial angels, by whom he is kept in a state of innocence ; when
the age of boyhood commences, he by degrees puts off the state of
innocence, but still is kept in a state of mutual charity towards his
like, a state which continues in some instances to youth : he is then
amongst spiritual angels. But as he has not yet acquired truths, the
good things of innocence and charity which he had received in those
two states have not yet been qualified, for truth gives quality to good,
and good gives essence to truth, on which account he is from this age
imbued with truths by instruction, and especially by his own thoughts
and consequent confirmations." He is then amongst angels of the
ultimate heaven. Tlius " good things of a threefold kind are signi
fied by remains,- the good things of infancy, the good things of
ignorance, and the good things of intelligence. The good things of
infancy are insinuated into man from his first nativity to the ao-e in
which he begins to be instructed and to know something; the o-ood
things of ignorance are what are insinuated when he beo-ins to
be instructed and to know something; the good things of intelli
gence are what are insinuated when he is capable of reflecting on
what is good and true. The good of infancy is insinuated from

Chap. I.] ST. MATTHEW. 7
infancy to the tenth year; the good of ignorance from the tenth to
the twentieth year; from this year man begins to become rational,
and to have the faculty of reflecting on good and truth, and to
procure for himself the good of intelligence."
As the human being descends through all the heavens, he thereby
acquii-es the faculty of " ascending up where he was before," to become
an inhabitant of that particular heaven for which he prepares himself
by actual regeneration. He thereby also acquires the germs of those
principles and the rudiments of those states which constitute the
kingdom of the Lord in the human soul. While amongst the celestial
angels he acquires the germ of the celestial principle, which is love
to the Lord; while amongst the spiritual angels he acquires the germ
of the spiritual principle, which is love to the neighbour; and while
amongst the angels of the ultimate heaven he acquires the germ of the
natural principle, which is use, as an intelligent manifestation of love
and charity.
The germination of the seeds thus sown in the mind forms the
commencement of regeneration, their growth its progress, and their
fructification its completion. As seeds may lie for a long period in
the bosom of the earth without their vitality being destroyed ; so may
the seeds of heavenly principles remain long undeveloped in the mind,
yet preserved by divine goodness for future use. And as seeds sown
in the earth begin to germinate whenever they come under the in
fluence of the vernal sun, so do the seeds of the kingdom, whenever
they come under the influence of the Sun of Righteousness, which is
the case when man, like the earth in spring, turns himself to the
source of his life and the author of his salvation, to receive into his
heart the rays of divine love and light. Divine mercy and grace
have left nothing undone which may provide for this blessed con
summation. They have from the first moment of the soul's existence
been engaged in making all things ready, that man may, when he
arrives at adult age, enter into the heavenly marriage.
As in all things it behoved Jesus to be made like unto his
brethren — as the end for which the Lord was manifested in the
fleah, required that he should be glorified by the same process as
that by which man is regenerated — he had, from infancy, to pass
through all the states of preparation common to his rational crea
tures. He had to be initiated into all human states and to make all
human acquisitions; and only differed from others in having acquired
and made them in greater fulness and perfection. "He increased
ill wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." Even in

8 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. I.
this we see the " goods of a threefold kind " acquired, as remains, by
him as by others. The remains which he acquired were, however,
pure goods and truths from the Word, and were in themselves divine,
— divine-celestial, divine-spiritual, and divine-natural.
To describe this representatively, the Lord's progenitors are di-vided
into three groups of fourteen generations each. AU the generations
from Abraham- to David are fourteen generations; and from David
to the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generation ; and from
the carrying aioay into Babylon imto Christ are fourteen generations.
The generations from Abraham are celestial remains, those from
David are spiritual remains, and those from the carrying away into
Babylon are natural remains. These are divided into three groups of
fourteen generations each, to signify that the remains which they
represented are most holy; for seven is a number which signifies
what is holy, and fourteen, which is twice seven, signifies what is
most holy. The Evangelist says all the generations of each of the
three groups are fourteen generations; yet it is well known that
several persons are omitted from this list, and in it David is num
bered twice. Some commentators are of opinion that the compression
of the Lord's progenitors into three times fourteen generations is only
a contrivance of Matthew's for the sake of assisting the memory !
What then beco-mes of his inspiration, and of the divinity of the
book ? Is it not rather an evidence — and a very striking one — that
the mere literal form of the Scriptures is determined by a higher law
than literal accuracy, and that the literal sense is sometimes made to
yield to it, for the purpose of embodying and expressing a spiritual
truth ? Although it is not literally true that all the generations in
each series were fourteen, it is spiritually true that all the remains, of
every class, stored up in the mind of Jesus,, were most holy and most
perfect; and three times fourteen were required to express this
important truth.
It is to be observed that in the first series of this genealof^y the
actual and the formal numbers are the same, from Abrahana to David
being actually fourteen generations; in the other two series they are
different. This no doubt points to a corresponding fact in re<^ard to
the regenerate. Only in celestial things, and in the celestial man is
there an exact correspondence between the essential and the formal
or between the internal and the external. This was true even of the
Lord himself before he was fully glorified, and especially durino- that
period and in that state to which the genealogy of Matthew relates.
He acquired not only real, but also apparent truths; but these as

Chap. I.] ST. MATTHEW. 9
such, could not be appropriated as remains, and were therefore passed
by, as some persons were omitted in the genealogy. What was holy
was extracted from the entire series, as the three times fourteen were
taken out of the whole of the Lord's progenitors. The genuine truths
contained in the apparent truths were, however preserved, and were
brought forth in the process of glorification, as persons omitted by
Matthew re-appear in the genealogy of Luke.
It -was on account of the divine work of acquiring remains that
Jesus did not enter on his public ministry till he was thirty years of
age. For "by thirty is signified a full state of remains; and .since
man cannot be regenerated, that is, admitted into spiritual combats,
by which regeneration is effected, until he has received remains to the
full, it was ordained that the Le-vite .should not perform work in the
sanctuary until he had completed thirty years. From these con
siderations it is also evident why the Lord did not manifest himself
until he was thirty years of age, for he was then in the fulness of
remains; but the remains which the Lord had he procured to himself,
and they were divine, by which he united the human essence to the
divine, and made it divine."
Such is the momentous truth contained in the Lord's genealogy.
That it was intended to teach some higher truth than that which is
assigned to it in the letter, may appear from the fact that it does not
really prove Jesus to be the descendant of those whose names are
given as his progenitors, since the genealogy is not traced in the line
of Mary, whose son, according to the flesh, he was, but in the line
of Joseph, whose son he was not. But there is a spiritual reason
for his genealogy being traced in the line of the husband of Mary.
Genealogies were traced in the male line because the male rej)resent3
the intellect and the truth which belongs to it, while the female repre
sents the will and the good which it contains. And all spiritual
distinctions, and therefore all spiritual generations, owe their existence
to the intellect and to truth. Good in itself is one and the same ;
truths are many and various. Discriminations and distinctions,
degrees and series, thus individualities and generations, in one word,
all multiplications, are effected by truth. It is the intellectual
principle of the church that produces them. Joseph, the husband of
Maiy, represented that principle ; and therefore, though he was not
actually the father of Jesus, the genealogy of the Lord is traced
through his line, to express spiritually what was true of the principle
he represented.
There is one particular expression which occurs in this genealogy

10 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. 1.
that is deserving of attention, as bearing on the present subject.
It is not said of the persons of the genealogy that they were born,
but that they were begotten. Their birth of course is understood ;
but the language of inspiration is in itself significative, and the literal
expre.ssion is often important, as forming the basis of the spiritual
sense. Now the implanting of remains in the mind is rather a begetting
than a birth, rather an in.seinination than a growth and fructification.
Strictly speaking and spiritually understood, birth is the bringing of
the principles previously received in the mind into the outward life.
It is only then that they truly exist ; for no spiritual principle has
actual and permanent existence till it is "born into the world" ia the
actions of a holy life. The remains that are laid up in the mind are
therefoi-e goods and truths " begotten " and " conceived," to be after
wards "bi'ought forth" by actual regeneration.
It may not be irrelevant or uninteresting to notice here, and briefly
consider in its relation to that of Matthew, the genealogy of the Lord
as given by Luke. These differ on three main points. Matthew
traces the Lord's genealogy downward, while Luke traces it upward;
Matthew traces it down only from Abraham to Jesus, while Luke
traces it up from Jesus to Adam, and even to God : the genealogies
differ from each other.
As to the first point. The glorification of the Lord, like the regen
eration of man, had both a downward and an upward progression.
From infancy to manhood the progression with every one is down
ward. As we have seen, there is first the celestial state, then the
spiritual, and lastly the natural— that is, celestial remains are im
planted and the rudiment of the celestial state is formed first, and
the others follow in succession. But when, in manhood, actual
regeneration commences, the progression is upward, from natural to
spiritual, from spiritual to celestial. By actual regeneration the
previously existing rudimentary states are developed in the inverse
order to that in which they were formed. This twofold order is
described in the two genealogies. The genealogy of Matthew describes
the downward progression from the higher to the lower : that of Luke
describes the upward progression from the lower to the higher, and
even to the highest. This last is especially applicable to the Lord,
to whose glorification the genealogies eminently refer.
As to the second point. Matthew begins his descending series of
the Lord's progenitors with Abraham; but Luke ends his ascending
series with Adam, and finally with God. There is a profound truth
in this. Remains, so far at least as they come to human conscious-

Chap. L] ST. MATTHEW. 11
ness, are implanted in the natural mind, though in its inmost part —
"in the interiors of the interior natural principle." The implanting
and laying up of remains in the natural or ultimate degree of the
mind is treated of in the genealogy of Matthew.
There are reasons for this. One reason is, that the natural mind is
the seat of hereditary evil, by which it is entirely possessed; and
unless the remains of goodness and truth were stored up in fulness
here, reformation would be impossible. Another reason is, that the
natural mind is the ultimate and the common basis of the two higher
degrees, the spiritual and the celestial; and it is only as the lowest
degree of the mind is regenerated that the higher degrees can be
opened and perfected. In order that it may be such an ultimate and
basis, the natural mind itself consists of three degrees; and this is
according to the law of order, that all successive degrees exist simul
taneously in the lowest degree. As the natural mind consists of three
degrees, so do the remains of goodness and truth, of which it is
receptive. Every good and truth that comes from God to man
descends through all the heavens, and consequently through all the
corresponding degrees of the human mind; and in the natural mind
all the successive degrees of good ancl truth exist simultaneously, as in
the Word all the higher degrees of revealed truth are contained in
and rest on its literal sense.
Now the natural mind, or degree of the mind, was represented by
that dispensation of the church which commenced with Abraham.
For, vie-wing all tlie dispensations of the church which have existed
in this world as different manifestations of the one universal church,
the most ancient was celestial, the ancient was spiritual, and the
Israelitish was natural ; and this dispensation commenced with the
call of Abraham. But in the genealogy this dispensation is itself
divided into three periods, which we have called celestial, spiritual,
and natural, because the natural mind, being the ultimate and common
basis of the higher degrees, consists itself of three degrees.
In the early period of life, during which remains are being stored
up in the natural mind, the higher degrees of the spiritual mind are
yet unopened and undeveloped. And as these higher degrees corre
spond to the ancient and most ancient dispensations of the church, the
genealogy of Matthew, which describes the storing up of remains in
the natural mind, begins -with Abraham. But as in the upward and
inward progress of actual regeneration, not only the natural but the
spiritual and celestial degrees of the mind are opened and perfected,
the genealogy of Luke, which describes this upward progression, goes

12 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. L
up not only to Abraham, but to Noah and to Adam, and finally to
God, as the origin of all. In relation to the Lord, this is most signi
ficant; for the Lord's humanity was made not only spiritual and
celestial, but divine. He came from God, and went to God. He
ascended up where he was before, far above all heavens, into the light
that no man can approach unto. In a word, the Lord took man's
nature upon him by birth of a human mother, and made that humanity
divine. The third point relating to the genealogies is, that they differ from
each other. We have already alluded to the fact that some names
are omitted in Matthew which are given in Luke. That which we
here speak of is a difference of another kind. From David to Joseph,
the two evangelists trace the Lord's genealogy in two different lines ;
ancl one calls Joseph the son of Jacob, while the other calls him ths
son of Heli. This difference is accounted for in this way : — By the
Mosaic law, when a husband died without issue, his nearest kinsman
was required to marry his widow, to raise up seed to his "brother."
If, for instance, the mother of Joseph was in this way twice married,
the first husband would be his legal father, and the second his actual
father; and the name of the legal father might be given in one
genealogy, and the name of the actual father in the other. This dii-
ference might therefore alter the entire line from David downwards.
Even this part of the Mosaic law was fulfilled, or ultimated, in the
case of the Lord himself. He had a legal and an actual father. His
legal father was Joseph, his actual father was God. His genealogy is
also traced in the line of his legal father, which is entirely consistent
with the Jewish i^raotice, and was no doubt required for the sake of
the literal sense of the word, as the basis of a spiritual meaning.
The spiritual sense is that which chiefly concerns us; and the
different lines in which the genealogies of the Lord are partly traced,
when understood spiritually, as descriptive of regeneration and glorifi
cation, teach us that the downward differs from the upward pro
gression. In the progress of the new life the regenerate man returns
not by the way which he went. This, at least, is the case in the more
external part of his spiritual progress. His first obedience is from
truth, his second is from good; his first is from doctiine, his second is
from love. There is in the regenerate life an inversion of state; but
while the second state, like the second progression, is the inverse of
the first, its character is different. The circle of regeneration returns
into itself; but it returns neither by precisely the same line, nor to
precisely the same point. True as this is of man, it was still more

Chap. L] ST. MATTHEW. 13
true of the Lord. Although he was glorified as man is regenerated,
his glorification infinitely transcended the highest degree of regenera
tion to which any and every finite being can attain. Between his
states of humiliation and his states of glorification there was also a
much greater difference than between the corresponding states of man;
and in states of humiliation we include every state which is prepara
tory, for every such state is comparatively one of servitude or pupilage,
and looks to a higher as its end. .The Lord, as a son, learned
obedience by the things which he suffered. Made of a woman under
the law, in his first states he obeyed the law as one under subjection
to it ; but in his second and ascending states he acted by the law, and
not from it, except from it as the law of eternal righteousness and
order, which, as the Word, he in himself was, and which he became
as to the humanity he assumed and glorified, for the redemption and
salvation of the human race. This greatest of all events, the mani
festation of God in the flesh, by birth of a human mother, comes now
to be considered.
18, 19. Now tlie birth of Jesus was on this wise, &c. If when
Hoses approached the burning bush he was admonished by the Lord
out of the midst of it to put off his shoes from off his feet, for the
place whereon he stood was holy ground, so does the voice of God call
on us to remove every carnal feeling and unworthy thought when we
approach the subject of the miraculous conception; for here, indeed,
we stand on holiest ground. We may well go aside, and must
indeed go aside, out of the ordinary course of nature, to see this great
sight, the antitype of the burning bush, — how Divine Love, in its
ardour for the salvation of man, could be manifested in frail human
nature without consuming it, and out of the midst of that lowly
tabernacle could proclaim redemption to a captive race. This great
event should be contemplated with the profoundest reverence. By
none other could redemption be effected, but by One who was the
offspring of a divine Father and of a human mother. So the evan
gelist is careful to record the divine paternity of the child Jesus.
And not only was the incarnation of Jehovah necessary for redemp
tion, but faith in Jesus as Jehovah is necessary for salvation. The
Lord works his salvation in us through our faith in him as the divine-
human Saviour.
By the leadings of Divine Providence Mary had been espoused to
Joseph. Whatever may have been the immediate purpose of this
providential arrangement, there were no doubt spiritual reasons both
for the betrothal of Mary to Joseph and for Joseph being legally

14 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. L
recognized as the father of Jesus, as well as for' the Lord's descent
being traced through his line, which all admit it is in one of the
genealogies at least.
Mary, the "highly favoured among women," represented the church.
Joseph .shared with her in this representation. Considered as husband
and wife, Mary represented the church as to good, and Joseph the
church as to truth. They were not, however, married, but espoused.
And espousals or betrothings represent the conjunction of good and
truth in the internal man, whilst marriage represents their conjunc
tion in the external man also. But there was something peculiar in
the connection of Mary and Joseph in relation to Jesus. They stood
not in the ordinary connection of husband and wife, so far as respected
him. It was before they came together that Mary was found
imth child of the Holy Ghost. The relation of Joseph to Mary,
in reference to the child Jesus, was like that of the dispensation to
the church. By the church we mean the sjjiritual principles that
constitute vital religion in the soul; and by the dispensation we
mean the ecclesiastical form which these principles assume externally
in the world. The church is one; dispensations are various. The
one indivisible church has been embodied in several dispensations,
differing widely from each other. There have existed in this world
the Adamic, the Noetic, the Israelitish, and the Christian dispen
sations. Each of these was the outward -visible form of the one
invisible church, and was so far a church as the church was within
it. While dispensations pass away, the church remains. Were
the churcli to expire with the dispensation, there would be an
end of religion, and universal ruin would ensue. Divine mercy
provides that some remnant of the church shall be saved; and
from this a new beginning is made. This remnant of the vital
element of religion is the church— the "woman" to whom the
promise was originally given, that her seed should bruise the
serpent's head. This living principle, preserved in and descending
through all the ages, was represented by the Virgin, the second
Eve, whose seed was to bruise the serpent's head. In relation
to this vital principle, which constitutes the church, and of which
the Virgin Mary was the symbol, Joseph represented the outward
dispensation with which it was connected. Hitherto the church
had been representative; now it was to be actual. Hitherto
the church had only been a virgin, a bride; now she was to
become also a wife. Mary, as the bride of Joseph, represented
that condition of the church. No true and completed marriao-e

Chap. I.] ST. MATTHEW. 13
could exist between the Lord and the Church, nor between good
and truth in the human mind, until the Lord had effected the
marriage of divine good and truth in his humanity, and
thence the union of the Di-vine and the human in his own
person. Since the time of the Incarnation the church is both the
Bride and Wife of the Lamb. In Joseph's espousals with Mary,
and his guardianship of her and ofher infant son, we see a beautiful
type of the connection of the old dispensation with the new church,
while her doctrine is yet in its infancy. We therefore hear little
of Joseph after the early life of Jesus. He passes away from the
scene unnoticed. And as if to show that the old dispensation
had completed its appointed use in succouring the young church
with her "man-child," and that the time had come when the
church should be placed under another and higher guardianship,
the Lord on the cross assigned Mary to the care of the beloved
Apostle John, "and from that hour that disciple took her to his
own house." John was not, indeed, to be unto Mary as a husband,
but as a son. For when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple
standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, "Woman,
behold thy son ! Then saith he to the disciple. Behold thy mother."
Beautiful is this display of tenderness, in the hour of his agony, by
the Lord towards his mother, Mary ! But while it affords a great
example, it has a high and holy significance. John represented
the good of charity — that grace by which the Christian church is
to be characterized. When the Lord consigned Mary to the care
of John, he instructed all succeeding ages, through a symbolical
act, that where the good of charity is, there is his living church.
And although Mary was consigned to the care of John as a mother
to her son, John thus representing the Lord rather than Joseph,
yet he supplied the place of both, since he afforded Mary that
home and protection which she had enjoyed as the wife of Josej}h
and as the mother of Jesus. We need not say how lovingly and
tenderly the beloved disciple must have fulfilled the sacred charge
he had received from his dying Saviour, and how beautiful a type
his household must have presented of the church, when she has
found her dwelling-place in love to the Lord, as manifested in
charity to man.
This is the internal historical sense. We now come to the strictly
spiritual rneaning. We have already spoken of the conception as a
divine and holy event, having for its object the redemption of the
world. We now speak of it as it is realized in the experience of

16 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. I.
those to whom the Lord comes as a Saviour. .Je,sus, as the supreme
good and truth, is still conceived in the heart of every regenerate one ;
and this is the beginning of the new life. And the same law presides
over the less as over the greater. Every living spiritual principle
that is begotten in the soul has a divine Father and a human mother :
it has its soul from God as a Father, and its body from the church as
a mother. The soul of life, which is love, comes from, God; the body
of truth, by which that soul is clothed, is derived from the church.
And this body, which the church provides as a covering for the
heaven-derived soul, is at first, like the Lord's maternal humanity,
frail and imperfect, and subject to trial, suff'ering, and death. The
Saviour begotten and born in us still goes through the trials and
temptations of the personal Christ, and must die in us, and in us rise
again, before regeneration is completed. And that in the Lord which
was tempted and which suffered is that which is tempted and which
suffers in us. Truth was that in the Lord which was tempted; not
truth in its divine state, but truth finited by reception in finite
minds, as in Jesus divinity was clothed with finite and imperfect
humanity. This was the Son of Man, the name always given to the
Lord in the gospels when his temptations and sufferings are spoken
of Good in him was above all temptation : and this was the Holy
Thing, the Son of God, or that in him which he inherited from the
Father. So with us. The truth which we derive from the church
as our spiritual mother, as we at first comprehend it, is external and
imperfect, and therefore open to assault, and, even subject to death,
and must die to make way for the rising into life of that which has
been conceived in us by our Father in heaven. In this individual
and practical sense, the woman — the virgin — is love in the heart and
her seed — her son— is faith; and it is faith derived from love that
crushes in us the dominion of evil, which is the head of the serpent.
19. But the living principle begotten in the heart is not at first
acknowledged by the understanding, nor is it intellectually accepted
till after doubt and temptation. These are the trials of Joseph.
Mary's conception was Joseph's temptation. When he became aware
that his betrothed was with child, he resolved to put her away; and
the only favour he intended to show to his supposed unfaithful bride
was to do it privily. How wonderful are the ways of the Most
High ! She who carried in her womb the future Messiah, the Holy
Thing, the Saviour of the world, is exposed to the suspicioii, even by
her betrothed husband, of being an adulteress, and is in danger of
being sent forth into the world with the brand upon her forehead of

Chap. L] ST. MATTHEW. 17
the deepest infamy that can fall to the lot of woman ! But such are
the ways of God's dealing with his children. Whom he loves he
rebukes and chastens. His truth begotten in them exposes them to
chastisement. It brings into manifestation their deep hereditary
corruptions, from which suspicion springs, and conflict is the only
means by which they can be overcome.
20. But he who permits the trial opens a door of escape. But
while lie thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to
take unto tliee Ma/ry thy wife : for that which is conceived in her is
of the Holy Ghost. Human wisdom may suggest that this message
might have been sent, and this assurance given, before the dark
suspicion had clouded the mind of the just and seemingly injured
Joseph, and saved him all the perplexity and mental agony he
endurecL But here we have another instance of God's way of dealing
with his ci-eatures. He sees not as man sees, and therefore acts not
always as man would act. He knows the times and the seasons when
suffering should be permitted and when relief should come. He
suffers us to be tempted, because he knows the necessity and use of
temptation ; but he suffers us not to be tempted above that we are
able to bear, and with the trial he provides a way of escape. The
door — not of hope, but of assurance — was opened to Joseph, and will
be opened in the heaviest trials to every "just man."
The assurance came to him in sleep — was embodied in a dream ;
and that dream was inspired by an angel, who appeared to him in it,
and conveyed to him a message of peace from the God of consolation.
That which comes in a dream is spiritually that which enters the
mind, not in the clear light of direct perception, but in the dim
twilight of indirect apprehension — in an obscure state. The angel
salutes him as a son of David. David represented the Lord as to
divine truth, and a son of David is one who is born of the Lord's
truth — that is, one who is born of the good of truth, by doing what
truth teaches him to do. And this did Joseph. The angel tells him
to fear not to take unto him Mary his wife, for that which is con
ceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. This is just what the under
standing, from its natural side, when the world acts upon it, rebels
against; but when the Lord enters the mind by an internal way,
through heaven, and acts upon it, then, from its spiritual side, it sees
and acknowledges that which the Spirit of God produces in the
heart. 21. The angel further instructs Joseph that Mary, who had
c

18 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. L
thus conceived, shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call Ms name
JESUS: for he shall save liis people from their sins. Conception
is the reception of a principle in the mind, and birth is the
bringing forth of that principle into the life. When brought
forth into the life it first exists actually. When Mary brought
forth her first-born son, Joseph was to name him. The function
of the understanding is to know and acknowledge, and also to
give a quality to that which belongs to the will— and all this
is implied in giving a name. Adam gave names to all creatures,
spiritually to teach us that man in his primeval state knew, as
man in a regenerate state knows, the quality of all his own affections.
The church gives the Lord his name when she sees and acknowledges
him in his true character, and embodies the truth as it is in Jesus,
not only in true doctrine, but in a holy life. Yet the name, as
well as the instructions on whom he was to bestow it, came from
heaven. That name was JESUS — the highest, the holiest, the
most beloved name that angels can pronounce or men can utter. And
the reason for calling the child by this name, as it was proclaimed
in heaven, is worthy of being echoed upon earth — "for he shall save
his people from their sins." The name expresses the purpose
and the work on the part of God, and the deliverance to be ex
perienced on the part of man. Sin is the curse, the root of all
disorder and misery both in this world and in the next. What
deliverance can compare with this? Deliverance from sin, not merely
from the guilt or the punishment of sin, but from sin itself, is
that which is promised. And, indeed, what else could be promised ?
How is it possible that guilt and suffering can be severed from
sin? The supposed possibility arises from the notion that sin is
from ourselves, and its punishment is from God, and that if God
will but remit the punishment, the sinner will be safe. But
God is not the author of punishment. The punishment of sin is
in the sin itself, and flows from it as an effect from its cause,
as bitter waters from a bitter fountain. There is no salvation,
therefore, but salvation from sin. If the remission of punish
ment had been all that was required, there would have been no
need for the Lord to have come into the world, for he is infinite
in mercy, and desires the happiness of all his creatures, even of
those who are in hell. Nor is there any obstacle arising from his
attribute of justice. The theological scheme of God findino- out
a way of reconciling his mercy and his justice, by layin<^ the
guilt and the punishment of sin on Jesus as a substitute for sinners

Chap. I.] ST. MATTHEW, 19
is merely an ingenious device of school logic for solving a difficulty
of man's own creating. The divine attributes of mercy and justice
can never be at variance. And if they were, they never could
be reconciled by any such artificial means as that which human
wisdom has proposed. How can God satisfy his justice by that
which is in itself unjust? But supposing the demands of justice
were set aside, infinite mercy could not save sinners from misery
without saving them from sin. This salvation was the purpose
of God's coming into the world, and the incarnation was the only
means by which he could effect it.
The angel limits this salvation to the people of the Lord. In
one sense, all people are included in this promise, in accordance
with the words of the angels to the shepherds, who proclaimed
tidings of great joy which should be to all people. But the Lord's
people, in a restricted, or in the internal sense, are the spiritual,
as distinguished from the celestial, who are meant by nations.
And the Lord came to save the spiritual, or those who had fallen
from the celestial state, in which man was created. We become the
Lord's saved people when we receive him as the Truth and Good
of spiritual life; or, he is Jesus, our Saviour, and we are his people,
saved from our sins, when we receive his love in his truth. For
Jesus is the Lord's name as Love itself, as Christ is his name as the
Truth itself; and his people are those who receive his love by his
truth. Truth itself does not save, but the reception of the Lord's
love in his truth saves. In brief, those who are in the knowledge
of his truth are his people, and when these receive his love they
are saved from their sins.
22, 23. We are told that all this was done, that it might be fulfilled
which was spohen of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin
shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his
name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. This
famous prophecy received its accomplishment in the Lord's being
born of a virgin mother. There is nothing said in the prophecy of
the virgin being overshadowed by the power of the Highest, but the
divine agency is implied in the fact of a virgin conceiving and giving
birth to a son. The fact itself is all-important. Without it there
could have been no redemption. A mere man could not have
redeemed the world. And it is to be considered that Jesus, even as
to his humanity, was, by conception, entirely different from any other
man. He was not different, as some suppose, by being without hereditary
evU, but by inheriting a divine principle from the Divinity, by whom

20 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. L
the humanity was begotten. It was by -virtue of the humanity being,
as to the internal man, derived from God, and being divine, that God
could be actually and personally manifested in the person of Jesus
Christ, and be truly and savingly therein Emmanuel, God with us.
By assuming our nature God came near to us, and so became our
Redeemer and Saviour. This nearness is not of space, for in this
respect God's presence is ever the same. By incarnation God came
savingly near to us as fallen human beings, near to our thoughts and
affections. This is not identical with the Lord's sensible presence,
as in the days of his flesh. His nearness to us was increased, instead
of being diminished, by his resurrection and ascension. For by his
gloriflcation the Lord became more, instead of less, human; and the
more perfectly human his humanity became, the more intimately
present was he, and is he, with his creatures. In his divine humanity
he is, intimately and savingly, God with us. Jesus was not actually
named Emmanuel, but in Scripture names were given to express the
character of those who bore them ; and therefore, when prophecy says
that Jesus was to be called Emmanuel, it means that he was to be
Emmanuel, or God with us. It is a matter of no consequence to us
that Jesus was not called by this name; but it is a matter of the
greatest consequence to us, and to all men, that he was what the name
expresses. The peculiar importance and blessedness of the incarnation
consists in it making Jehovah God with us — not simply God on our
side, as some interpret the name, but God present with us in his
divine humanity. The name may be understood to express both these
meanings. Literally fulfilled as this prophecy was in the birth of the Lord, it
is capable of being spiritually accomplished in every one of us. The
virgin is the emblem of the pure affection, in the minds of the faithful,
through which the Lord's divine truth can descend and be manifested
as their Emmanuel. Love in the heart is that by which the truth is
conceived and brought forth. But what in our individual experience
are the promise and the fulfilment ? Knowledge is promise, life is
fulfilment; the states formed in us in early life are prophetic of states
to be accomplished in us by regeneration. Hope is promise; possession
is fulfilment. In us, indeed, the promise may fail. Many who give
early promise of a virtuous and religious manhood never fulfil it.
Failure is the result of our own faithlessness. The Lord cannot fail
If we trust in him, and work together with him, he will bring it tci
pass. 24. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as ihe angel of tlie Lord

Chap. I.] ST. MATTHEW, 21
had bidden him, &;c. Sleep is a natural state, waking is a spiritual
state; sleep is a state of the external man, waking is a state of the
internal man. The reason of this signification of sleep is, that when
the external man is active, the internal, which is the real man, is as if
asleep. When eagerly engaged in the business or pleasures of the
world, sensuous affections and thoughts are awake, but the spiritual
are asleep. These alternations of state are necessary and useful.
Even in our state of spiritual sleep the angel of the Lord is with
us, telling us what we should do ; and we fulfil his commands if,
when we are raised from sleep, we do as the instructing angel bids us.
The expression, to rise from sleep, is significative ; for to pass from
an external to an internal, or from a natural to a spiritual state, is to
experience an actual elevation of the thoughts and affections above
the things of time and sense, and thus to become awake to the con
cerns of eternity and the requirements of the spiritual life. Being
raised from sleep, Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him;
dismissing his suspicions, he took unto him Mary his wife. In states
of temptation, such as Joseph had experienced, truth is as if separate
from good; but when the temjitation is ended, truth, which has been
tempted, and tempted to suspect and reject good, takes that good to
itself as its true partner in the heavenly marriage, but enters not into
full conjunction -with it till the first-born comes into the world. It is
important to consider what, in relation to the Lord, is meant by the
first-born. In Jesus as the first-born was realized all that had been
represented by the first-born in the representative church of the
Israelites. A peculiar sanctity and importance attached to the first-
bom, both of man and animals, and even to the first-fruits of the
earth. Every first-born son was to be holy unto the Lord, every beast
that opened the womb was to be sacrificed to him, and the first-fruits
were to be presented to him. All these rejjresented the Lord as the
first-born. But this cannot be merely in reference to Jesus as the
son of Mary ; for he is called the first, as well as the only, begotten of
God : " I will make him my first-born (or begotten), higher than the
kings of the earth;" and he is "the first-begotten from the dead."
We have already indicated that Jesus was the first-born of every
creature, as being the first of every creature spiritually born, and the
first-fruits of the resurrection from the death which the fall had
brought upon the human race. It is similar with him as the first-born
son of Mary and of God. In the supreme sense the first-born among
the Israelites represented the Lord as to divine love, or essential
goodness; the Lord was therefore the first-born in the divine sense

22 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. L
when his humanity was fully glorified, and made divine goodness itself.
In respect to man, his first-born in the regeneration is the principle of
goodness, which, indeed, is first both in the order of time and of rank.
" With infants the Lord first infuses the good of innocence, by virtue
of which man is man." Innocence is the first-born quality in man;
the Lord was the first-born, as innocence itself The innocence of
infancy, which is the first, is also the last; for by regeneration man
returns into the innocence of his infancy, perfected by knowledge and
experience, by which the innocence of ignorance becomes the innocence
of -wisdom. The good of innocence is therefore twice born ; and this
was the case with the Lord as well as with man. He was the first
born of Mary by nativity, and the first-born of God by glorification;
in him innocence was the first and the last.
25. The historical fact respecting Joseph and Mary, that he Icnem her
not till she had brought forth her first-born son, contains the spiritual
truth, that complete union of the will and understanding is effected,
not by the conception, but by the birth of the living principle. They
are united in their fruits. Charity and faith are united in good works.
Their union is indeed necessary to produce them ; but only in good
works, and especially in that work meant by the first born is their
union complete and permanent.
The infant Saviour born into the world, Joseph called his name
Jesus. Luke, in relating this circumstance, adds, " which was so
named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb."
The record of an act previously commanded or announced is
intended to express effect, and in this all previous ends and efforts
are comprehended. Hence, in the naming of the holy child, God
and the church in heaven and the church on earth were acting
in unison; as the purpose of the Lord's becoming what the name
Jesus implied, the Saviour, was to bring all things in heaven and
earth into harmonious action with himself
The Lord's advent into the world, which we have now considered,
is one of the loftiest and holiest themes that can engage the attention
of man. The birth into the world of one who is to repair the ruin
brought upon mankind by the fall, must be regarded as an event
of unspeakable importance and transcendent glory. The promise
of the Most High, repeated by the prophets in a thousand forms,
heightened by the brightest imagery and most glowing descriptions
and the hopes of the faithful cherished through a thousand genera
tions, are at last to be realized. The seed of the woman who
is to bruise the head of the serpent, is now born into the world.

Chap. I.] ST. MATTHEW. 23
The peculiar condition of the infant Saviour is marvellous in itself,
and wonderfully adapted to the purpose for which the Lord is
manifested. Man had fallen, and his sins had separated between
him and his God. The separation of man from the Supreme
Good and Truth had produced darkness, disorder, and misery in
the world. In the Saviour, begotten of a Divine Father and born
of a human mother, the divine and human natures, so long and
so completely estranged, are again brought together, and in him
they are to be reconciled and united into one, by the divine be
coming human and the human divine. The union of the divine
and the human in the person of the Lord is the grand central
truth of Christianity. The reconciliation of man to God is the
purpose of the incarnation, and the aim of Christianity. The
reconciliation of the human to the divine is first to be effected in
the person of Christ, and this constitutes the great work of
At-one-ment. This work of atonement, first accomplished in the
person of the Saviour, is the means by which we receive the atone
ment, and become reconciled to God; for the reconciliation, effected
once for all in the person of the Lord himself, may now be effected
in us. But this great work of reconciliation or atonement is yet
before the infant Saviour. In the first-born son of Mary the union
of the divine and human exists only potentially, or in its germ.
They are now, indeed, one person, but they have not yet become one
essence. Jesus is even now God and man, but he has yet to become
God-man. He is divine and human, but he has to become divine-
human. He is the first-born of Mary, but he has yet to become the
first-born of God. In one word, his humanity, now natural and
finite, has to be glorified, and made divine and infinite. The painful
process by which this glorification is to be effected is yet to come.
The infant, so feeble, is to become a man of war; so peaceful, is td
become a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The wilderness,
and Gethsemane, and the cross are still before him. He is to be
tempted in all points as we are, yet, unlike us in our temptations, he
is to be without sin ; he is to pour out his soul unto death, that he
may overcome him that has the power of death, and make death
the gate of life, not only to himself, but to all who will' follow him
in the regeneration. Born in human weakness of a frail human
mother, he is yet to be declared the Son of God with power by the
resurrection from the dead. Such is the child born, such is his great
work, and such its glorious end. To reconcile us unto himself is
the beneficent purpose of his incarnation, the end of his labours, his

24 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. II.
sufferings, his triumphs. He was born into the world that he might
be born in us; he was tempted that he might succour us in our
temptations; he died that we might become dead indeed unto sin.;
he rose that we might rise from the dead, become new creatures, and
walk with him in newness of life ; and he ascended into heaven that
he might elevate us to the mansions he has prepared for us, that
where he is, there we may be also. Well may we hail his coming in
the words of the angels' song, " Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good will toward men."

CHAPTER IL

1. Now when Jesus wa,s born in Bethlehem. The birth of the Lord
in Bethlehem was accidental, yet providential ; it took place where it
was neither intended nor expected, but where prophecy had fixed it.
" But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that
is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old,
from everlasting" (Mioah v. 2). But the Lord's birth took place in
Bethlehem, not merely to fulfil a divine prediction, but to teach a
spiritual truth. In Scripture place signifies state; for the reason
that in the spiritutd world place is determined by state; so that
heaven is a place of happiness because it is the abode of those who
are in a state of happiness. To present this truth representatively
upon earth, Canaan was chosen as a type of heaven, and every spot
in the holy land became the symbol of some particular state or
principle that enters into the general state.
This signification of Bethlehem appears from the first circumstance
recorded in connection with it. As Jacob journeyed from Bethel to
Mamre, to go to his father Isaac, he passed through Ephratah,
where Rachel gave birth to Benjamin. This journey signified
progression from a less to a more perfect state, Ephratah represent
ing an intermediate state, through which it is necessary to pass from
one to the other. In particular, it signified the progression of the
external man, who is Jacob, towards union with the internal man,
who is Isaac ; and Benjamin, who was born in the way, represented
the principle which serves as a uniting medium between them.
Bethlehem and Benjamin have, therefore, the same general significa
tion. The representative character of Benjamin was exemplified at
a later period in his being the medium through whom Joseph and

Chap. IL] ST. MATTHEW. 25
his brethren were reconciled to each other, or rather, through whom
the .loving and forgiving Joseph reconciled and united his unmerciful
brethren to himself Bethlehem was also the birth-place of David,
of whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, and who was a type of
the Lord in his regal character, as the Ruler who was to bring all
things into harmonious subordination to himself Da-vid therefore
uttered the prediction, "I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or
slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord,
an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Lo, we heard of it
at Ephratah : we found it in the fields of the wood " (Ps. exxxii.
4-7). The signification of Bethlehem is further indicated by its
situation. It was in the land of Judah, but on the border where it
was connected with the land of Benjamin ; and as Judah and
Benjamin, when they formed the kingdom of Judah, represented the
internal and external of the celestial church, and of the celestial man,
Bethlehem signified the uniting medium between them. As a
uniting medium, Bethlehem represented, in an exalted sense, the
-wiitten Word, as the medium for uniting God and man. And
here we see the significance of its name — the house of bread — the
Word being the store-house of the bread of heaven, which feeds
the soul.
Everything, therefore, conspired to make Bethlehem the appro
priate birth-place of the Saviour, with whom all that was historical
was also representative. Jesus was born in Bethlehem to represent
that he was the Word made flesh, the Mediator between God and
man, the true Bread that came down from heaven, to give life unto
the world. The human nature which the Divine assumed and
glorifled in the world is the very form of God, the medium through
which he reconciles his rebellious children to himself, the fountain
from which he imparts to them of his love, which is life.
Understood in reference to the Lord, there is a deep significance
in the name -of his birth-place being changed from Ephratah to
Bethlehem, and in the name of Rachel's son, born there, being
changed from Benoni to Benjamin. Bethlehem (the house of bread)
is spiritually distinguished from Ephratah (fruitful) in thi.s, that
bread is more expressive of the divine good as it is in the Lord's
humanity, adequate to the wants and accommodated to the reception
of fallen man. The change of name in the case of Benjamin, as a
type of the Lord, is not less significant. The name Benoni (son of
my sorrow), given him by his mother, is expressive of the state
of humiliation incident to the Lord as the son of Msjy, for it was in

26 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IL
respect to the maternal humanity that he was the man of sorrows;
while the name Benjamin (son of my right hand), given him by his
father, is expressive of the Lord's state of exaltation, which belongs
to him as the Son of God, or to the divine humanity, which exaltation
is expressed in the gospel by the Son sitting at the right hand of
the Father.
While Bethlehem represented the Lord's humanity as the great
medium of communion and conjunction between God and man, it
signified in a more particular sense that which served as a medium for
liniting the divine and the human in the person of the Lord himself.
The Lord inherited by birth the principle and power by which that
union was effected. In this respect he differed from all other men.
" All men whatsoever are born natural, with the ability to become
spiritual or celestial, but the Lord alone was born spiritual-celestial.
From his birth he had a propensity to good and a desire for truth,
every other man being naturally inclined to evil and falsity." The
reason of this is obvious; every man derives his ruling love from his
father, and this in fallen humanity is nothing but evU. But the Lord
had not a human but a divine Father ; and therefore he had those
inclinations in favour of good and truth of which all others are
naturally destitute. The Lord alone was thus the true Bethlehemite.
While the Lord was born in the town of Bethlehem, he was born
in the days of Herod the king. He who was born King of the Jews
was born in the days of one who disputed his claim to that title, and
endeavoured by the most diabolical means to prevent his making his
way to the throne. How fitting an agent was this cruel and un
scrupulous king of the power of hell, whose dominion was threatened
by the coming of the Lord ! How natural a symbol of the powers of
the church and the world, that had made a covenant with death, and
with hell were at agreement ! (Isa. xxviii. 15.)
The days of the wicked Herod represented the states of the Je-ws
at the time the Lord was born. The Lord had come to restore the
government of truth and righteousness in the earth, and it is evident
how much the world stood in need of his interference. He had come
as a Lamb in the midst of wolves, as innocence in the midst of the
foulest corruption, and it is not surprising that his infancy was one of
danger and his life one of persecution.
In those days there came unse men fi-om the east to Jerusalem. The
visit of these Orientals is a very interesting feature in the historv of
our Lord's birth into the world. It shows that a knowledge of
ancient prophecy respecting the coming of the Messiah had been

Chap. IL] ST. MATTHEW. 27
preserved in regions distant from the land of Israel. We need not
suppose that these wise ones among the nations had derived all their
knowledge of the Lord's coming from the Jews, or the Jewish Scrip
tures. It may, in part, have descended to them from a more ancient
and widely diffused revelation, from which portions of our present
Word have been derived, some of the principles and facts of which were
embodied in the mythologies of the nations of antiquity, and traces
of which are still found in almost every comer of the earth. In the
time of that ancient Word, a clearer knowledge of divine truth and
of spiritual things prevailed. Men knew the true nature of inspira
tion, and saw in revelation spiritual truth clothed in natural images
as their corresponding and expressive forms. It was some remnant
of this knowledge that enabled the wise men to recognize in the new
born star a sign of the birth of the promised Saviour. They knew a
star to be a symbol of the knowledge of truth, and eminently of him
who is the truth itself. The star, we may infer, was a spiritual
object, and their spiritual sight was opened to behold it. It was a
star that shone out in the heaven of angels, not in the heaven of men.
None on earth, so far as appears from the gospel, beheld it but the
magi, whose spiritual discernment enabled them to interpret its
meaning. The wise men among the Gentiles, and the shepherds among the
Jews, were the only ones who received any outward intimation of
the Sa-viour's birth, and were the only ones who came to- salute the
Lord at his coming. The wise men represented those out of the
church who possess spiritual intelligence, the shepherds, those within
the church who are principled in spiritual charity. The means by
which they were directed to the infant Saviour correspond to their
different characters and circumstances. The shepherds were directed
by the audible voice of the angels, the wise men by the silent
language of the star; the one by hearing, the other by sight. Both
announcements came to them by night, for the day of the church
had closed, and the whole world lay in darkness. There is another
difference. The angels directed the shepherds to Bethlehem; the star,
if it guided the magi at all, led them to Jerusalem. Those within
the church receive direct information respecting the Lord, and can
go directly to him ; those who are without must first be led into the
church, to be initiated into its doctrines, before they can come to the
Lord and worship him, not in spirit only, but in truth. The wise
men had come from the East, -which has a high signification. The
East, in the highest sense, is an emblem of the Lord, and of love to

28

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IL

him; but, as here, of the Lord in his rising, when religious light first
dawns in the heart. And to come from the East to Jerusalem^ is
spiritually to advance from the first general perception of divme
truth to its distinct and certain knowledge, thence to proceed to the
practical attainment of the greatest and highest of all truths— that
the Lord is our Saviour.
Were it not that some higher signification is involved in this
circumstance, we can hardly suppose but that the star would have
led the magi at first, as it did at last, to Bethlehem. According to
all human appearance another advantage would have resulted from
their being led directly to the Lord's birth-place. The jealousy and
wrath of Herod would not have been excited, and the innocents of
Bethlehem would have been spared. But here again we must
acknowledge the hand of an over-ruling providence; and here again
we may see revelation proving its o-wn spirituality.
2. Come to Jerusalem, the magi inquired, Wliere is lie tliat is lorn
King of the Jews ? They did not ask if the Saviour was born ; of
this they were convinced; they only inquired where he "was to be
found. This is the first time that the Lord is spoken of in the
gospels as a king. The Lord, we have seen, is a king as Divine
Truth, which is his regal principle; for by this he rules in his
kingdom. But the question of the magi, 'Where? is an important
one even to us. What with them was a question of place, with us is a
question of state. This is the moral meaning of where in Scripture.
When God called to Adam, and said. Where art thou? it was to demand
of fallen man where, morally, his disobedience had placed him. More
hopeful is the question respecting him who was born to restore the
kingdom of righteousness. It is a question that every one has to
ask for himself As the kingdom of God is within us, so is its king,
who must be born within us, that the throne of his dominion may be
established in our hearts. If our desire to know where the Lord is
born be, that we may come and worshij] him, we may learn where he
is to be found. But there are discouraging effects which this inquiry
produces, and its object cannot be attained without tribulation.
This knowledge we obtain by the doctrines of the Word, as the magi
did through the priests in Jerusalem.
3. When Herod heard of the coming of the magi, and of their
object, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with liim. In this we see
the beginning of the hostility of the Jewish nation to the Lord. The
jealousy of Herod was excited, and his wrath was provoked by the
remote probability, perhaps the bare possibility, of a rival claimant

Chap. II.] ST. MATTHEW. 29
to his throne. "Whether we regard Herod as a sample or a symbol of
the people he reigned over, his feelings, like his conduct, are highly
significant. They exhibit, we cannot say an awakened conscience, but
a sense of guilt, and that indescribable fear which often arises from a
too certain but yet hidden cause. But we do not need to look back
to the events of eighteen centuries ago to study this problem. We
have the ground of this fear in our own hearts, and can trace it in
our own experience. In the little world within there is, if we are
converted, not only a Bethlehem, but a Jerusalem, and not only the
magi and the shepherds, but a Herod and a compliant hierarchy.
In our own selfhood there are all the evils and falsities that have
ever been exhibited by the worst of men ; and if they have not come
out in our conduct, they slumber in our hearts, though we may be
little aware of their existence till they are aroused by something
opposed to their ends and inimical to their rule. But it is for our
good that they are excited ; and in this fact we > may see the
¦wisdom of Providence in guiding the wise men to Jerusalem, which
troubled Herod and all connected with him. Indeed, we see in this,
as in many other instances in the Word, that the mere presence
of good arouses evil, as in the world and in the church, so in the
human heart. It is expedient that it should. How else could evU
be cast out ? It is not enough that we receive good ; the good must
overcome and disinherit the evil, for without this, good itself would
be disinherited, or, what is still worse, corrupted. In this trouble of
Herod and all Jerusalem, we have therefore a representation of the
trouble our own corrupt selfhood experiences when the day star that
ushers in the sun of righteousness has risen in our hearts, and we
desire to see the fulness of its glory. The disturbance and excite
ment both of the evils of the will and of the falses of the understand
ing is here meant ; for evil in the will is meant by Herod, and falses
in the understanding by Jerusalem, the people of the city being
understood. 4. Herod complied with the wish of the wise men. He gathered all
the chief priests and scribes of tlie people together, and demanded of them
where Christ should be horn. God makes the wrath of man to praise
him. E-vil men for selfish ends can perform good uses ; of which
Herod is an examjDle.
The natural man for natural ends employs sacred agencies and
means to compass his evil ends. The chief priests and scribes of the
people are the interpreters of the Word, and abstractly the interpreta
tion itself, by which its doctrines are kno-wn, especially those relating

30

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IL

to the Lord, which the righteous use to promote his glory, and the
wicked to advance their own. The wise men call Jesus the King of
the Jews, but Herod calls him Christ. This name, "Anointed," is
expressive of the Lord as the Truth anointed with the "holy oil" of
the Divine love; but when used by the evil, as by Herod, it expresses
in their minds the Lord's truth separate from his love, and thus
opposed to it.
5. In answer to Herod's demand where Christ should be born, the
priests say unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea. We have already seen
the meaning of Bethlehem in reference to the Lord himself, who was
born there; but it is symbolical of the Lord's birth-place as respects
the regenerate. Whether we speak of the birth within us of Jesus,
as the object of faith, or the birth of the faith of which Jesus is the
object, it amounts to the same; for the Lord dwells in us by faith;
nay, in the very truths which we believe, for these are from himself
Bethlehem within us is faith derived from charity, or, -what is the
same, truth derived from good. The faith which is not of charity,
the truth which is not of good, is not yet actual and living. Faith
is new born when it first begins to live from charity. This is Beth
lehem, where Jesus is born within us as the Saviour of our souls.
The Lord has a still more interior habitation within us, to which the
star, if it has risen in our hearts, will finally conduct us.
6. The priests cited the prophet, by whom the Lord's birth had
been foretold. And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the
least among the princes of Juda : for out of thee shall come a Governor,
tliat shall rule my people Israel. The explanation of this verse has
been anticipated, and need not be repeated. But there is a difference
between the prediction as it occurs in the prophet and as given by
the evangelist, which, as one of several similar divarications, it may
not be without interest or instruction to notice. It may be presumed
that the difference in such cases is that which exists between a truth
in its first reception, and in its complete development. In the pre
sent case, in the prophet Bethlehem is said to be little among the
thousands of Judah ; here it is said to be not the least among its
princes. Commentators have remarked that there is no real dis
crepancy in these two statements, since a place may be little and
yet not the least. But it is a poor complimeiit to an inspired book
to be able to say that two different statements are not contradictory :
we should be able to see that the difference is instructive and this
we think, may be seen to be the case in the present instance.
(1.) In the prophet the place of the Lord's birth is called Beth-

Chap. IL] ST. MATTHEW. 31
lehem-Ephratah ; in the gospel it is called Bethlehem in the land of
Juda. Bethlehem and Ephratah are two different names of the same
place ; they therefore signify the same principle : but Ephratah, as
already remarked, signifies the principle in an earlier and less perfect
state. In the gospel Ephratah is left out ; and instead of Bethlehem-
Ephratah we have Bethlehem in Juda. Bethlehem, instead of being
joined to a less, is joined to a more perfect name, and therefore
describes a more perfect and elevated state. (2.) In the prophet,
Bethlehem is said to be one among the thousands of Judah ; in the
gospel it is said to be one among the princes (or rulers) of Juda.
Rulers present the idea of superior principles that govern ; thousands,
that of inferior principles that are governed. Here again we have a
more exalted idea in the gospel than in the prophet. (3.) In the
prophet, Bethlehem is called little ; in the gospel it is said to be not
the least. Little expresses the positive idea of what is small; not the
least expresses the comparative idea of what is greater than some
others. Altogether, then, the gospel version of the passage seems to
exalt the sense of that given in the prophet, as if to express the fact
that Jesus had magnified the prophets as well as the law. The
proj)het adds, that as governor the Lord should rule his people Israel.
To rule means also, here as elsewhere, to feed. The Lord's govern
ment, of the faithful at least, who are his people Israel, is not only
over them but in them. His love and truth rule in their affections
and thoughts, which they also feed. He rules as a shepherd, who at
once pastures and protects his flock.
7. When Herod had ascertained where Christ should be born, he
privily called the wise men, and inquired of them diligently what time
the star appeared. Place and time both signify state ; but place
signifies state in relation to good, and time, state in relation to truth.
The inquiry of Herod, whose secret object — meant by his privily
calling the wise men — was the destruction of the infant Saviour,
implies that the ungodly desire the extinction both of the Lord's
goodness and truth. Although as regards the Lord himself this
is beyond their power, though not beyond their desires, they seek to
destroy these principles in themselves and others. And the better
to effect this, they endeavour to trace the knowledge of divine
things to its beginning, as Herod wished to know when the star first
appeared. 8. When the king sent the magi to Bethlehem, he said, Go, and
search diligently for the young child, and when ye have found him,
bring jne word again, that I may come and worship him also. He

32 ST, MATTHEW. [Chap. II,
desired to learn from them where in Bethlehem the infant king was
to be found. Particulars which illustrate general truths are com
municable only to the good : they are hid from the worldly wise and
prudent, who, if they possessed them, would use them to destroy
everything good and true, root and branch. By Divine Providence,
that which Herod above all things desired to know was hid from him.
The magi were led to the spot where the Saviour was, without any of
that diligent search which Herod had so earnestly enjoined.
9. Wlien they heard the king they departed; and, lo, the star,
which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over
where the young child was. The re-appearance of the star at the
moment when its encouragement and direction were needed shows
that it was not a natural but a supernatural object, sent to conduct
them to the very spot where the infant Saviour was.
This star in the heavens symbolizes knowledge respecting the Lord.
Its second appearance is an instructive circumstance, considered in
relation to its first. The first knowledge is general, the second is
particular. Particular illustrates general knowledge, and guides to
the object which we desire and are in search of. The star, when it
first appeared, indicated the birth of the Saviour ; at its second
appearing it conducted them to where the young child was. When
the day star first arises in our hearts, its presence is a kind of general
dictate; but when it appears to us after instruction, it is an open
vision and manifest revelation.
10. No wonder that the magi, when they saw the star, rejoiced unth
exceeding great joy. The internal perception of truth — especially the
greatest of all truths, that which relates to the Lord as their Sa-viour —
is a source of the highest and purest joy to the hearts of those who
have earnestly desired life, and are eager to pursue the path which
leads to it.
11. And when they were come into the liouse, they saw the young child
with Mary his mother. In speaking (v. 5) of Bethlehem as spiritually
meaning the faith of charity, we mentioned that the Lord had a still
more interior habitation than that in the regenerate mind. That
more interior habitation is charity itself, which is within faith as its
soul or vital principle. The faith which is from charity being signi
fied by Bethlehem, the charity which is in faith is signified by the
house. Faith is as a city, and charity is as a house within it. The
Lord dwells with us in our faith, but our charity is his habitation.
It is over here where the star of heavenly knowledge stands, and tells
U.S to enter. Nor is this part of the narrative without an instructive

Chap. IL] ST. MATTHEW. 33
lesson to us. We too must come into the house. The journey of the
wise men is a history of our spiritual progress, and the last .step not
less significant than the rest. We must not only advance from know
ledge to faith, but from faith to charity; and we must enter into and
be in charity itself, before we can be in the actual presence of the
Lord, and worship him as our King and Saviour. Let us see in what
his true worship consists.
When the wise men had entered into the house, and saw the young
child, they fell down and worshipped him : and when they had opened
their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense,
and myrrh. Before we explain, let us pause to contemplate those
pious heathens, from whose conduct we may learn wisdom.
Out of the church, which possessed the oracles of God, and with
nothing but the dim light of tradition to guide them, thc-iy had yet a
sufficient knowledge of, and a strong enough faith in, the promise of the
Lord's coming, to give them a perfect reliance on its accomplishment,
and to enable them to look forward to it as an event in which they had
a deep and personal interest. Their knowledge of the correspondence
between natural and spiritual things enabled them at once to recogniza
in the celestial messenger an announcement of the event for which
they were eagerly looking. When the joyful tidings came, with what
readiness did they set out in their long and arduous journey, carrying
with them the most costly gifts as an offering to the infant King!
And when they found him, not in a splendid palace, surrounded with
regal pomp, but in an obscure dwelling, cradled in his mother's arms,
they had no misgivings or repugnances, but prostrated themselves in
profound homage before him, and presented him their precious gifts,
the symbols of a far more precious adoration. How much may we
learn from their example ! Do they not teach us to love the Lord for
his own sake, independent of external considerations? May their
conduct not justly lead us to inquire how far our devotion to the
Saviour is influenced by the popularitv of his cause, the pomp of his
service, the dignity and wealth that his name confers? Nations now
own his sway, and kings bow down before him. How deserving of
honour, how worthy of imitation, those who worshipped hiin when he
had neither name nor power ! True, our eye is not attracted by a star,
nor our ear by a choir of angels ; but we have the constant testimony
of still more eminent witnesses in the written Word of God, and only
require to look and listen, to find ourselves in the presence of mes
sengers proclaiming the same glad tidings, and inviting us to render
the same homage to our King and Saviour.
D

34 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IL
But let us attend to the purely spiritual wisdom which the incidents
teach us. We spiritually fall down before Jesus when we abase our
self-hood : we worship him when we exalt his love and truth in our
hearts : we open our treasures when we open our hearts, in which we
have received and in which we have treasured up the riches of the
Divine mercy and grace; and we present unto our Saviour gifts when,
in humble and grateful acknowledgment, we return to him, as their
Donor, the blessings which in his bounty he has bestowed upon us.
The gifts offered by the magi were gold, frankincense, and myrrh —
the offerings of love, faith, and obedience. These are the spiritual
treasures which the truly wise in all lands seek after and prize, and
which they offer to the Lord in worship — not only in the worship of
their lips or in the service of the temple, but in the love of their hearts
and the service of their lives. The man who employs the talents which
Divine Providence has bestowed upon him, to promote the glory of
God in the happiness of men, offers gifts more precious in the Divine
estimation than the incense of oral praise.
12. The wise men no doubt intended to return and give Herod
information respecting the young child; but being warned of God in
a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their
own country another way. God frequently revealed his will to men in
dreams : no doubt for one reason, that in sleep they were more pas
sively recipient of heavenly monitions. Hence dreams signify revela
tions given in an obscure state. The magi were warned not to return
to Herod. This would have represented the immersing of what is
holy in what is profane, which would have been the destruction of
innocence, as it would have enabled Herod to destroy Jesus. The
magi therefore departed into their own country anotlier way. This
returning by another way is mentioned in another part of the Word.
The prophet sent to denounce the altar which had been idolatrously
erected by Jeroboam in Bethel, was commanded not to return by the
same way that he came (1 Ki. xiii. 9). This teaches us an interesting
and important lesson relating to the regenerate life.
In Scripture a way is the symbol of truth and faith; for truth leads
to good and faith to charity. Now, there is a truth that leads to good
and a truth that is derived from good— a faith which leads to charity
and a faith which is derived from charity; but the one is essentially
different from the other. We have first of all to learn the truth •
and the truth teaches us what good is, and how to attain it. This
truth, therefore, looks and leads to good as something out of and above
itself But when we have acquired the good which truth had tau"'ht

Chap. IL] ST. MATTHEW. 35
us to esteem and strive after, the good enters into the truth, and acts
out its beneficent and useful purposes by means of it. Truth is
first the pioneer, and then the minister of goodness ; so is faith of
charity. The way by which we return is another way than that by
which we go up. We go up by the way of instruction, and sorrow,
and conflict; we return by the way of intelligence, and joy, and
triumph. We have seen the king in his beauty; we have worshipped
at his footstool; we have presented our gifts; and we depart to our
own country by a new way which the Lord himself has commanded.
13. The warning of the wise men in a dream not to return to
Herod, was not the only means Divine Providence employed to pre
vent the evil which the wicked king meditated. When they were
departed, behold, the angel of tlie Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream,
saying. Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and fiee
into Egypt. The flight into Egypt is one of the many memorable
incidents in the Lord's life which have fixed themselves in the
imagination as well as in the heart of Christendom, and the ideal
of which Christian poetry and art have done their utmost to embody
in images of tenderness and forms of beauty. It is, moreover, an
incident which possesses internal evidence of some higher purpose
than that which it bears on its front. For why this flight into Egypt
to save the holy child from the wrath of an earthly potentate? He
who in manhood could have procured for his protection more than
twelve legions of angelg, which is nothing less than omnipotence,
could have been surrounded with such a sphere of protection that the
po-wer neither of earth nor of hell could injure him. The flight into
Egypt has a spiritual meaning, and one of great interest and im
portance. The historical event, so prominently set before us in the
Old Testament, of Israel going down into Egypt and sojourning there
affords the key-note to the meaning of the Lord's flight into that land
of Israel's nurture as well as of his deliverance. Israel's deliverance
from Egypt is generally admitted to have been typical ofthe Christian's
deliverance from the bondage of sin; but seldom is his journey thither
thought of as having any reference to Christian experience. Yet the
one is as signiflcant as the other. According to that great system of
correspondence which mapped out the ancient world, so far as it found
a place in sacred history, of which Canaan was the centre and the
suiTounding countries the circumference, Egypt represented, as it cul
tivated, science, — not only natural, but spiritual science, — understand
ing by it the knowledge which comes from without, especially such as
is suited to the faculties of a chUd, or to the mind in the early states

36

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IL

of the religious life. Our Lord was canied down to Egypt when a
child, to represent his initiation into external knowledge, not merely
the knowledge of external things. As the Lord came into the worid
to save man by first perfecting man's nature in himself, he assumed
human nature as it is in other men, that he might pass through all
human experience. Like every other man, he was born in ignorance,
and had to acquire knowledge in the ordinary way.
It may seem that if the Lord was God manifest in the flesh, he
could have no need of human instruction, but must have had all
knowledge and wisdom directly imparted to him by the Divinity that
dwelt within. We know from the gospel history that this was not
the case. The fact, as it was, is consistent with the nature, and was
necessary for the purpose, of the Incarnation. The divine was in the
human, in the person of Christ, as the soul is in the body in the
person of man. The soul does not inspire the body — or rather the
external man, which includes the body — with knowledge, but only
gives him the faculty of acquiring it. Nor does the soul manifest its
powers in and through the body, till the body, or rather the external
man, is prepared, by gro-wth " in wisdom and in stature,'' to become a
suitable instrument for its use. Reason and liberty are faculties of
the soul; but without knowledge, rationality would not be able to
judge nor liberty to choose. Knowledge is the body of which reason
is the soul; and reason can no more act without knowledge than the
soul can act -without the body — a natural body in the natural world,
a spiritual body in the spiritual. As in all respects the Lord was
truly man, so was he in all that may be called learning.
He was therefore carried down into Egypt, that his outward his
tory might represent the progress of his inward life. The conduct of
this sacred journey was confided to the faithful Joseph, who was again
instructed in a, dream, to arise, and take the young child and his mother,
and fiee into Egypt. Arising, .spiritually, is elevation of mind — rising
above the things of time and sense; and fleeing is the eager pursuit of
the object that is set before us. In this instance it is also fleeing from
danger, which the Omniscient saw and his wisdom provided against.
The child and his mother are the Lord and the church, whose security
is to be provided for. But, in the particular sense, the young child is
the Lord as essential innocence, and Mary his mother, who is also his
nurse, is the affection by which that innocence is nourished, and from
which science or knowledge is acquired. When they were sent down
to Egypt, they were to remain there till the angel brought Josepli
word. For as this instruction in the soientiflcs of the Church was of

Chap. IL] ST. MATTHEW. 37
divine appointment, so it was to be continued till the Divine Wisdom
saw its completion. In fine, this inling by the angel of all the
particulars connected with the journey was designed to instruct us
that the process itself, from beginning to end, was wholly under the
Divine direction and guidance. A reason is given for the flight —
for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. To bruise the
serpent's head, he required to have the wisdom of the serpent as well
as the harmlessness of the dove, and the strength of the lion as well
as the innocence of the lamb. As, then, the Lord when a child was
carried down into Egypt to escape the wratli of Herod, so he was
initiated into the science of heavenly things as a defence against all
liis diabolical enemies. Innocence is not a sufficient protection
against ingenious wickedness; cunning must be met by wisdom, and
wisdom must begin from knowledge.
14. Joseph, in obedience, to the heavenly vision, arose, and took
tlie young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt.
This was done by night, to represent both the spiritual night of the
church and the mental darkness from which Jesus commenced the
journey of his momentous life, that he might advance by degrees
from the innocence of ignorance to the innocence of wisdom.
15. And was there until the death of Herod. The death is here
mentioned by anticipation. The death of Herod represents, not
simply the end of the representation which that king sustained, but
the death or removal of the particular evil of which Herod was the
type. The prophecy which was fulfilled by the Lord's return from
Egypt is also mentioned by anticipation ; but as it is not repeated, we
may here consider it. Like several other prophetic declarations
relating to the Lord, this had had a previous fulfilment. It was ful
filled in the deliverance of Israel. " When Israel was a child, then I
loved him, and called my son out of Egypt " (Hos. xi. 1). But Israel
and his deliverance were typical, and therefore prophetical ; for types
are the shadows of coming events. In the supreme or inmost
sense of the Holy Word, all historical persons and events were
representative of the Lord and of his glorification. Both in his
going down into Egypt and in his coming up, Israel represented the
Lord and his redeeming work. As the Israelites came up out of-
Egypt enriched with all its spoils, Jesus enriched his mind with all
the wealth of knowledge; and as the Israelites gave their gold and
silver to furnish and adorn the tabernacle, the Lord sanctified all
knowledge of goodness and truth, by using it to enrich and adorn the
temple of his humanity, as the habitation of his eternal Divinity.

38 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IL
16. But while the young child was in Egypt, concealed and secure
from the wrath of Herod, a scene was enacted by that remorseless
tyrant which has for ever coupled his name with one of the most
atrocious deeds that darken the page of history. This was the mas
sacre at Bethlehem. But this inhuman act, though historical, is also
representative. Then Herod, when lie saw that he was mocked of the
wise men, was exceeding wroth. The evU are never so gratified as
when they can make wisdom or goodness subservient to their own
diabolical ends, and are never so wroth as when they elude their
grasp, and disappoint them of their prey. Wrath in Scripture is
expressive of the greatest contrariety of state, and, in relation to the
wicked, of the deepest malignity against those whom they believe to
mock them. So of Herod. He sent forth, and slew all the children
that ivere in Bethlehem, and all the coasts thereof. Infants are the
emblems of innocence; but those mentioned here were infant boys,
and represented spiritual truths in which there was innocence. The
slaughter of the innocents by Herod was a sign that when the Lord
came into the world there was not any spiritual truth remaining.
Bethlehem, we have seen, signified the Word; and to slay all the
children in it and in its coasts, is to destroy all the truths of
the Word, both internal and external, so far as the knowledge
and power of the evil extend ; but that knowledge can only
be acquired by them from others who are in a state of good, is inti
mated by its being said, according to the time which he had
diligently inquired ofthe wise men. The children slain being from
two years old and under, means, in the language of inspiration, all
the truths of the Word which were in any conjunction with good,
of which union the number two is a symbol. Thus in the Jewish
church every pure truth was destroyed, and nothing remained to it
but the dead, because perverted, letter.
17, 18. The evangelist declares this slaughter to have been a fulfil
ment of what was written in Jeremiah (xxxi. 15). This reference of
the event to that particular passage is very instructive. It shows
that even the historical parts of the Old Testament are prophetical, or
what is the same thing, typical. The passage in the prophet relates
to the carrying away of the children of Judah and Benjamin into
Babylon ; and Rachel, the mother of Benjamin, is represented as
bewailing her sons when carried away captive. Ramah, too, was a
city of Benjamin, being one of those originally given to the Benjamites
(Josh, xviii. 25) when the land was divided among the tribes. It was
to this place also that Jeremiah was " taken, being bound in chains

Chap. IL] ST. MATTHEW. 39
among all that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah
into Babylon" (Jer. xl. 1). It is exceedingly appropriate and affect
ing, historically, to make Rachel weep for the fate of her unhappy
descendants, and to make the voice of her lamentation come from
Ramah. But if the narrative is beautiful historically, much more
so is it spiritually. Of the two wives of Jacob, Rachel represented
the spiritual, and Leah the natural affection of truth; and Ramah,
a city of Benjamin, represented spiritual truth from a celestial
origin. The captivity of Babylon, with the destruction of the temple,
and of Jerusalem (2 Kings xxv. 9, 10), typified the consummation of
the Jewish church, which took place at the time our Lord came into
the world. It is on this account that Matthew applies circumstances
connected with the captivity to an event connected with the Lord's
incarnation. Well, therefore, might Rachel weep ; for the spiritual
affection of truth was indeed bereaved of her children : for the off
spring of that affection are the truths of innocence, which the infants
slain in Bethlehem represented. In whatever mind any remains of
such an affection survived, there would be lamentation, and weeping,
and great mourning.
But amidst that destruction a seed was preserved, from which there
should spring a higher and more enduring race. He whose death was
intended escaped the hand of the destroyer. Several instances occur
in the Word of one escaping from what was intended as a complete
slaughter, as in Judges ix., 2 Kings xi. In all such instances, ancl
¦ especially in the case of our Lord, a consolatory truth is contained.
In all human destruction the Divine Providence conceals and preserves
a remnant for salvation. The infant Saviour was preserved as the
seed and the beginning of all perfection. In him was the comforting
exhortation and promise addressed to Rachel to be realized : " Refrain
thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for they shall come
again from the land of the enemy."
19, 20. The king did not long survive the massacre of the infants.
But wlien Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth
in a dream, to Joseph, sa^ying, Arise, and take the young child
and his mother, and go into tlie land of Israel; for they are dead
which sought tlie young child's life. Herod's death represented
the end of the particular state, or of the predominance of the
particular principle, which he represented. Not that it was alto
gether extinguished; for, as we shall see, the same evil rises up in
another form. But the particular state, with the activity of the
principle he represented, was ended; and with it therefore came a

40 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IL
change of state in Jesus himself, implied by his going up to the land
of Israel.
This land, as distinguished from the land of Egypt, was a type of
the church itself, instruction in its truths being represented by the
Lord's going up and residing there. The reason for this removal was,
because they are' dead which sought the young child's life. Herod's
desire to destroy the infant Messiah must have been instigated by, as
it represented, an effort of the lowest hell, which is diametrically
opposed to innocences, and by which the Lord was infested and
tempted in his childhood; and as, even then, no temptation could
prevail against him, but ended in the defeat of the tempting power,
this was indicated by the death of Herod; and the Lord's progress in
glorification, as a result of his conquest, was represented by Joseph
again arising, and going with him into the land of Israel.
22. When Joseph went up out of Egypt into the land of Israel, it
was his intention to proceed at once to Judea. But here a second
Herod awaited and deterred him. When he heard that Archelaus did
reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go
thither. He was relieved by divine aid from a state of doubt and
perplexity. Being ivarned of God in a dream, he turned aside into tlie
parts of Galilee. In this turning aside into Galilee, which, naturally
considered, owes its origin to a natural cause, there is an important
spiritual sense. At this period the " land of Israel" was divided into
three regions — Judea, Samaria, and Galilee — which represented the
celestial, the spiritual, and the natural principles of the church. It is
easy to see in this a similarity to the temple. The temple consisted
of the inmost, or holy of holies, the middle, or holy place, and the
court. The inmost of the temple was analogous to Judea, the middle
to Samaria, and the court to Galilee. There is a still further simi
larity. The court of the temple was divided into two, called the
inner and outer court, the outer being also called the court of the
Gentiles. So was Galilee divided into two, called Upper and Lower
Galilee, Upper Galilee being called Galilee of the Gentiles. These
divisions are not without a meaning in reference to New Testament
history. We find, for instance, that the Lord was born in Bethlehem
of Judea, and that, in returning from Egypt, he passed throu-h
Samaria to Nazareth, in Lower GalUee, where he abode tUl the timerf
his baptism, after which he came and dwelt in Capernaum, in Upper
GalUee (iv. 13) ; his change of place thus representing change of state
from the mmost of the celestial to the outermost of the natural He
abode during his public ministry in Upper or GentUe GalUee also

Chap. II.] ST. MATTHEW. 41
to represent that he was about to raise up his church among the
gentiles. But the land of Israel, and the temple also, represented
heaven as well as the church, and the regenerate mind as the epitome
of both. The whole heaven consists of three lesser heavens, — the
highest, or celestial, the middle, or spiritual, and the lowest, or natural ;
and as the lowest heaven is the ultimate of the two others, it consists
of angels of two distinct characters, called celestial-natural and
spiritual-natural. WhUe the universal heaven is distinguished into
three heavens, it is also distinguished into two kingdoms. The
celestial angels of the highest heaven, with the celestial-natural in the
lowest heaven, form the celestial kingdom ; ancl the spiritual angels of
the middle heaven, with the spiritual- natural angels of the lowest
heaven, form the spiritual kingdom. This twofold distinction of
heaven did not exist actually until the time of the incarnation. The
distinction of heaven into two kingdoms had been typified by the
division of the kingdom of Israel, commenced with Saul, into the two
kingdoms of Israel and Judah, in the reign of Rehoboam ; and this
division of the kingdom of Israel into two kingdoms originated the
division of the land of Canaan, as we find it spoken of in the New
Testament. Both these changes, therefore, were providential. The
kingdom, originally one, was rent into two ; and the land, originally
one, was divided into three ; and even the lowest of these into two, to
make them in this, as in all other respects, the patterns of things in the
heavens. The reason why the Saviour, on his return from Egypt, was
carried, not into Judea, but " into the parts of GalUee,'' will now be
evident. Even he, in the progress of his glorification, had to pass
through a lower state before he could enter into a higher, and lastly
into the highest. The Lord did everything according to order.
Though he advanced in every kind of human progress more rapidly
than any other man, yet he advanced in the same order as another
man — so inconceivable was his love, so great his condescension !
Willing, for our sakes, to be instructed in the goods and truths of the
church, as revealed in the Word, he despised not to begin at the
lowest. Well may we learn from his example to be wUling to take
the lowest place, that we may ascend through every orderly stage to
the highest of whichever degree we can attain to.
23. We have a further evidence of there being a divine purpose in
directing Joseph to Galilee, in his being providentially led to the city
of Nazareth. He came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall he called a
Nazarene. That this prophecy refers to the Nazariteship, is, indeed.

42 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IL
disaUowed by most and by very eminent critics. There are reasons,
however, which seem to sanction, if not to require, that the city
Nazareth should have been intended by the evangelist, or the Spirit
under which he wrote, to be identified with the institution of the
Nazariteship. He tells us that Jesus dwelt there that it might be ful
filled which was spoken by the prophets. He shaU be called a Nazarene.
Now, there is no such prediction in the prophets, nor does the name
of the city, nor consequently the term expressive of citizenship, occur
at all in the Old Testament. It has, indeed, been conjectured, that as
the name of the city can be traced to a root signifying " the despised
one," the evangelist had only the intention of alluding generally to
the prophecies relating to his humiliation, as " he was despised and
rejected of men." But it seems more reasonable to suppose that the
reference is to the parts of the Old Testament which relate to the
Nazariteship. These are not, indeed, in the prophets, properly so
called ; but we know that the name of prophet is not Umited to those
who wrote the prophetical books. Nor are the passages themselves
prophetical, much less have they the specific shape which the prophecy
assumes in the gospel. But, as we have had occasion to remark, the
historical parts of the Word are prophetical, because representative.
It is hardly necessary to allude to the objection that the Lord never
assumed any of the characters of a Jewish Nazarite. He did not
assume the hairy garment of the prophet, nor the robe of the king,
nor the ephod of the priest; and yet he was the One who filled all
these offices; but he filled them spiritually. ' Might not he be also the
spiritual, who is the true Nazarite, though he assumed nothing of the
outward form, which was only typical of the character ? The passages
to which the inspired evangelist seems to allude are those which relate
to Samson and Samuel. When the angel appeared to the wife of
Manoah, he said to her, " Thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no
razor shall come on his head : for the child shall be a Nazarite unto
God from the womb" (Judg. xiii. 5). Hannah does not, indeed, vow
to call her son a Nazarite ; but her vow involves his Nazariteship :
" I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall
no razor come upon his head" (1 Sam. i. 11). The term Nazarite
means separation ; and all the days the Nazarite separated himself to
the Lord he was to abstain from all the produce of the vine, from the
kernel even to the husk; he was to come at no dead body, and not to
defile himself even for his father or mother, and should let the locks
of the hair of his head grow, (Num. vi.) But even supposing that the
Lord was to be called a Nazarene, not because he was to be a Nazarite

Chap. IL] ST. MATTHEW. 43
but because he was to be called after the city of that name, he was yet
a Nazarite, and, indeed, the Nazarite of whom all others were types.
Therefore, on this ground alone, we may consider what the Nazariteship
represented. We cannot suppose that his dwelling there was merely
to fulfil a prophecy, or that the prophecy and its fulfilment were for no
other purpose than to prove him to be the Messiah. More consistent,
surely, is it with the dignity and spirituality of the subject to consider
these circumstances as designed to teach us something of the history
of the Lord's inner life, as the perfect pattern of our own. Something
of this may be learnt from liis going to Nazareth, that he might be
called a Nazarene. Although this city may have had no historical
connection with the Nazariteship, the Lord's dwelling there, and being
called by its name, would seem as if intended to be equivalent to his
being a Nazarite. The Lord was a Nazarite from his mother's womb :
he was holy, undefiled, and separate from sinners; he was lent, given,
devoted to the Lord. In him was spiritually fulfilled all that was
naturally practised by the Nazarite. The Nazarite represented a
celestial man, and the Lord as the celestial Man. The celestial man is
one who acts from love; and the principle from which the Lord acted
in his work of redemption was the love of the human race. It was
because the vine was symbolical of- the spiritual principle, that the
Nazarite was so strictly prohibited from partaking of its fruit. But
the Nazarite represented the celestial man while he is undergoing
temptation and practising self-denial. He represented the Lord,
therefore, in his days of temptation and humiliation. And in this
sense, how true and expressive is the prophecy, " He shall be called a
Nazarene !¦" But it was during this time, and by these means, that
his redeeming power was manifested in his conflicts with the powers
of darkness. " In his love and in his pity he redeemed them." Yet
it was Love by means of Wisdom, or Good by means of Truth, that
conquered. And not only so; it was love by means of truth of the
lowest order, or in its ultimate form, that overcame. It was not
merely the Word, but the Word made flesh, that had the power of
redeeming from the dominion of hell. Truth of the lowest degree,
such as that contained in the letter of the Word — humanity in its
ultimate form, such as that which the Lord assumed, were represented
by the hair of Samson, in which his great power lay. And that even
infinite love and truth could have no power against hell ancl evil,
without that ultimate which it assumed in the world, we are taught
representatively in the fact of Samson becoming powerless against his
enemies when his locks were shaven. Yet there was a period when the

44 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IL
Nazarite was allowed to shave his head, and lay aside all the other cere
monials to the observance of which he was bound by his vow. And
this was when the term of his vow was ended, and his Nazariteship
ceased. Then he cut off his hair, and burned it in the fire which was
under the peace offering, and returned to the ordinary condition of life.
And so did our Lord, when he had conquered human redemption, put
off the humanity he took from the mother, and put on a humanity from
the Father, and returned where he was before. He was a Nazarite from
his mother's womb; but when he was born of God, by the resurrection
from the dead, then his Nazariteship ceased. Yet he did not become
as he was before. Although he put off the humanity from the mother,
he did not cease to be human, even in the ultimate degree; for although
he put off materiality, he glorified his humanity even to that degree
which materiality had occupied. Therefore was the Nazarite's hair,
when out off', not vilely cast away, but burned in the fire of the altar,
so that while its grossness was consumed, its virtues, or the virtues
acquired by it, were preserved, and consecrated to God, and entered
by the refining fire of love into the offering that was the sign of the
restoration of peace between man and his God.
WhUe this exalted meaning of the Lord's being a Nazarite is to be
understood, it is not necessary to exclude from it the idea of his
humiliation. His Nazariteship was a time of humiliation as well as
of power. For the Lord's state was in this respect like ours, that his
weakness was his strength. The more the human was humbled under
a sense of its own nothingness, the more the divine was exalted in it
and was its power. Therefore our Lord declared, " Of myself I can
do nothing: the Father that dwelleth within me he doeth the works."
Could any greater humiliation be expressed, even by a mere man?
But he not only expressed himself like a man, but his acknowledg
ment expressed an immeasurably profounder humUiation than any
mere man ever felt. He was in very deed, in his own sight, "a worm,
and no man." His humility was humility itself; ours, comparatively,
is but the shadow and the name. In this, as in all other things, he
was our Exemplar. His humiliation was as much lower than ours as
his exaltation is higher. He was the true Nazarene, as vifell as the
true Nazarite. We speak now of a Nazarene as he was estimated in
the days of our Lord, when the best things had acquired the worst
character. Then, even the Lord himself, the pattern of all exceUence,
was despised. The long years during which the Saviour lived in retire
ment, unknown to the world, and of which no record exists, with the
single exception of that which tells us he went up when twelve years

Chap. III.] ST. MATTHEW. 45
old, and sat in the midst of the doctors in Jerusalem, these were the
years of his Nazariteship, separated from the world unto God. We
are not, indeed, to suppose that these years were lost, or were spent in
activity having no immediate bearing on the great work he came to
perform. When we know that his work was essentially of so sjiiritual
and sublime a nature as to be beyond the sight of human eye — that
his life was essentially an inward life, and his works essentiaUy inward
works — temptations and victories, changes of state that angels could
but dimly perceive — we may well conceive that Nazareth was the
scene of some of those stupendous operations that were but faintly
shadowed by those of the Nazarite whom the Lord raised up as a
deliverer of Israel.

CHAPTER IIL

The preaching of John the Baptist is an epoch in the history of
Christianity, if it may not be regarded as its actual commencement.
Thirty years had now passed since the shepherds were directed and
the wise men were guided to the town of Bethlehem, where the infant
Saviour lay. Now a voice is heard in the wilderness, calling men to
repentance, as the means of preparing the way of the Lord, who is
about to come forth as the Great Teacher and Exemplar of the Law,
and to finish the work which the Father had given him, or his own
divine Love had prompted him, to do.
1. In those days. There is no connection of time between the
incident with which the previous chapter ends and that with which
this begins. But times are, spiritually, states; and the states indicated
by the days in which John appeared are those of the Jewish church,
afterwards described by the place where John preached.
John the Baptist filled a most important ofiice, personally and
representatively, as the Forerunner of the Lord. The last of the
prophets concludes his prophecy by saying, " Behold, I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of
the Lord : ancl he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite
the earth with a curse." John was this Elijah; and he prepared the
people for the appearing of the Lord among them, by administering to
them the baptism of repentance. Unless this had been done, the
Lord's presence would actually have smitten the whole Jewish people,
nay, the whole human race, with a curse. Not that the people were

46 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. III.
made personally pure by baptism, though repentance had no doubt
its effect. Baptism acted representatively. The Jewish was a repre
sentative church, and was connected with heaven by the correspond
ence, not of their lives, but of their worship. It was to supply that
link of connection, which had been broken, that the Baptist came to
baptize them with water unto repentance. By this means the Lord
could come amongst men without destroying them. This we shall see
more clearly by considering the representative character of John and
the signification of baptism. The Lord came into the world as the
Word. He was the Word made flesh, or the Eternal Wisdom clothed
in human nature. John was a representative of the written Word.
He came to prepare the way of Jesus, to represent that the revealed
Word is the means by which men are prepared for receiving the Lord
as the Eternal Word itself, of whom the written Word is a revelation.
John is called the Baptist, because baptism was a rite symbolical of
spiritual purification, which, like repentance, prepares men for the
Lord's coming into their hearts. The days in which John came are
the states of the church at the time of the Lord's advent; and the
character of these is representatively described by the wilderness of
Judea. The church was in a wilderness state. This image conveys
no indistinct idea to the mind of the condition in which the Jewish
church then was. But what is it that produces and constitutes this
state, so often spoken of under this flgure in Scripture 1 The church
is a wilderness when there is a defect or a want of goodness and truth,
of charity and faith. The union of charity and faith is the origin of all
beauty and fruitfulness. When that union is imperfect, spiritual life
languishes ; when it is dissolved, life ceases : and with life everythino-
of the church and heaven decays or expires. The wilderness in which
John appeared being that of Judea, implies that barrenness and
desolation had invaded the very centre of the church, and was wastin»
its inner life. In this waste wUderness the voice of the divine mes
senger was heard preaching to the chUdren of men. And in every
general or individual state of desolation the voice of the .Eternal Truth
may be heard; for God never leaves himself without a witness. And
even when the church, or the man of the church, has induced upon
himself a state analogous to that of the Jewish church when the
prophets had ceased. Divine Providence permits a crisis to come when
a voice proclaims anew the day of salvation. This preachino- of the
Baptist is still going on. The mind of every unregenerate man is a
wilderness, and in every one the Word comes preaching; for in every
mind Divine mercy provides a remnant of the hearing ear and the

Chap. IIL] ST. MATTHEW. 47
understanding heart, on which the teachings of the divine Word may
fall, and awaken an interest in eternal things.
2. Supposing an interest awakened in the realities of eternal life,
let us listen to the theme on which this infallible preacher addresses
us, and the duty to which he calls us. Christianity, as first preached
to the world, and as the revealed Word stUl preaches it to the
unconverted, is expressed in the single word — Bepent. Repentance
is the beginning of religion in the heart of man, and thence the
beginning of the church iu the world. Repentance is the gate
through which the soul passes from death unto life, the path which
leads from the broad into the narrow way, the step which carries us
over the boundary line between hell and heaven. Repentance, in
fact, is an actual conversion of the mind, of all its faculties and
powers, its ends and activities, from a downward to an upward
course. Prone by nature to the world and self, man is raised by
repentance to God and heaven. Repentance requires both devotion to
the end and perseverance in the use of means. The very essence of
repentance is to shun evil as sin against God. Without a sense
of sin there can be no repentance. The world may restrain, but it
cannot convert ; it may cause remorse, but it cannot inspire repent
ance. The bonds which the world imposes are upon the members,
those which religion imposes are upon the conscience.
WhUe the preacher calls men to repentance, he gives them a reason
why they should repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We
need hardly inquire what is meant by this kingdom, and by its near
approach. The Lord's kingdom is the government of his love ancl
truth in the hearts and minds of men. This constitutes the kingdom
of heaven; for heaven is a state — a state of heavenly-mindedness.
The kingdom of heaven was brought near by the coming of the Lord.
It was brought near to men in his own person, and was about to be
declared in his teaching and exhibited in his beneficent works. The
judgment, too, was approaching, by which the power of hell would be
diminished and that of heaven increased, and the perverted and
obstructive dispensation of the Jews be succeeded by the pure and
progressive Christian church ; and when, above all, the work of
redemption being completed, and the Lord's humanity glorified,
there would be a new power and influence operating on the
human mind, enduing it with power from on high to receive and
act upon the teaching of Christ and his ministers. All this, and much
more, is comprehended in the kingdom of heaven, into which men
were called to enter through repentance.

48 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. Ill,
3. In calling men to repentance, the Baptist (for these words formed
])art of his address, as ajjpears from John i. 23) cites his authority.
For this is he that ivas spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying. The
voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make his patlis straight. The prophecy in which this occurs is one
of the sublimest of the predictions of the Lord's advent. " The voice
of him that crieth in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of Jehovah.
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength;
lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your
God ! Behold, Jehovah will come with strong hand, and his arm shall
rule for him" (Isa. xl. 9). As John takes his credentials from this
prophecy, his hearers are referred back to it for the character of the
personage whose way he came to prepare. That personage was
Jehovah. In the person of Jesus, Judah and Jerusalem were called
upon to behold their God. In citing the passage, John substitutes
the name Lord for Jehovah. As this is the constant practice in the
New Testament, Jesus as Lord is Jehovah incarnate. And if he is
divine, he can be none else; for besides Jehovah there is no God and
no Saviour. Such is the Being whose forerunner John the Baptist
was. Well might he fall back upon ancient prophecy for the
authority by which he assumed so high an office. And when John's
representative character is considered, his reference to the prophet is
peculiarly appropriate. For as the revealed Word is the voice that is
alone adequate to proclaim the coming of the Lord, and to prepare
his way, so is it the source whence all true knowledge of the Lord can
be derived. Therefore John does not speak of the Messiah in his
own words, but first introduces him to the attention of his hearers in
the words of the grandest yet plainest prophecy that was ever
uttered respecting him, and one that reveals him in his true character
of Jehovah our Redeemer. The voice calls upon us to prepare the
way of the Lord, and to make his paths straight. Where two things
are spoken of that have a similarity of meaning, one relates to the will
and the other to the understanding. These are the faculties in the
human mind into which the Lord enters, and in which he is received.
His way into the will is prepared by our ceasing from evil and doing
good, and his way into the understanding is made straight by our
rejecting error and believing truth.
4. We now have a description of John himself, and one that bears
testimony to his representative character. The same John had his
raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and

Chap. IIL] ST. MATTHEW. 49
Lis meat was locusts and wild honey. That which John wore was
the garment of a prophet, for a " hairy garment" was a badge of the
prophetic ofiice. Both the hairy garment and the leathern girdle are
specifically mentioned (2 Ki. i. 8) as having been worn by the pro
phet Elijah, in whose spirit and power John the Baptist came. And
he so came because Elijah represented the Word. The literal sense
of the Word, which is the clothing of its spiritual sense, was specifi
cally represented by the garment in which these prophets appeared,
the leathern girdle about their loins signifying the bond of connection
between the spiritual sense and the literal sense. The literal and
the spiritual senses of the Word, lite the natural and the spiritual
worlds, and the human body and soul, have nothing in common ; the
one is natural and the other is spiritual ; and yet they exist in the
closest connection. What is it that forms the bond of connection
and union betwixt them ? This is an interesting question ; and the
true answer to it supplies a profound theological as well as philo
sophical truth. The literal and the spiritual senses of the word, like
the natural and the spiritual worlds, and the body and soul, are
united by correspondence. And correspondence is the mutual relation
which exists between a spiritual cause and its natural effect. Corre
spondence is the "girdle" that unites the natural and the spiritual
senses of the Word. The genuine truths of the literal sense of the
Word are included in the meaning of John's girdle ; for from these
truths doctrine is derived and the apparent truths of the Word are
explained. The spiritual sense is revealed to none but those who are
in genuine truths. John's garment was of camel's hair, because the
camel on the land, like the whale in the sea, is the symbol of that
general kind of truth which is expressed in the letter of the Word.
It was in reference to this symbolical character of the camel that oui-
Lord said, " a camel cannot go through the eye of a needle," meaning
that the mere literalist cannot discern spiritual truth. There is
another interesting part in this description of the Lord's forerunner.
His meat was locusts and wild honey. Without being a necessary,
this was a natural result of his living in the wilderness ; and, spir
itually understood, has a meaning in harmony with it. For as the
-wilderness represented the desert state of the church, the locusts and
wild honey which it aff'orded John for food represented the spiritual food
v\'hich the church then supplied to her children. The locust was among
the lowest kind of winged creatures that Vv'ere permitted to be eaten
by the " holy people " (Lev. xi. 22), and therefore signifies what serves
as food for the intellect. Honey, from its sweetness, signifies what is
E

50 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IIL
spiritually delightful. "Thy words are sweeter than honey to my
mouth." Wild honey signifies what is delightful to the natural mind,
John's meat, therefore, represented that in the church at that time
the soul's food was the lowest possible by which spiritual life could
be sustained. When John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness,
he was, like the prophets of old, a sign unto the childi-en of Judah.
His abode, his raiment, his meat, all spoke, in the symbolic language
with which the Jews were acquainted, of the state of the church
among them ; and in the language of correspondence these will
speak to all ages of the state of those who are in a gross and be
nighted condition of mind. And as this was a state from which John
came to rouse the carnal Jews, so is it a state from which the Word
of God is ever striving to awaken the sinner.
6. John's preaching was so effective that there went out to him
Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan.
We cannot suppose that this is to be understood in the strictly literal
sense. It cannot be supposed that the whole population of these
places went out and were baptized. Like many other seemingly
hyperbolical expressions in Scripture, this has been written for the
sake of the internal sense. Jerusalem signifies the spiritual principle
in the church and in man, Judea the celestial, Jordan the natural.
The record teaches us that all in whom there is anything of spiritual
truth, good, and obedience go out unto John, or obey the voice of
the divine Word, which caUs them to repentance, and go out from
their unconverted state to one of new life and light — go to the divine
Word for instruction, to learn what and where that kingdom is
which is at hand, that they may be prepared to enter it.
6. The multitudes who went out to John, after being instructed by
him respecting the Messiah and his kingdom, sealed their faith in
him by receiving the sign of baptism. They were baptized of him in
Jordan, confessing their sins. It is hardly necessary to say anything
respecting the origin of baptism as an initiatory rite. Washings
existed in the Israelitish church ; and these, like many others of their
ceremonies, would seem to have descended frorn the ancient, which
was a representative church. Hence lustration came to form a cere
monial in all the nations, contemporary with the Jews, descended
from those who formed the Noetic dispensation. It appears that the
Jews, from whatever source they derived the opinion, understood that
the advent of the Messiah would be ushered in by baptism. They
demanded of John, " Why baptizest thou, if thou be not the Christ
nor Elias, neither that prophet?" This we learn from the Forerunner

Chap. III.] ST. MATTHEW. 51
of the Lord's second advent ; that all the ceremonials of the Israelitish
church were collected into the two sacraments of the Christian church
— all washings into the sacrament of baptism, and all feasts into that
of the Holy Supper.
The baptism of John had two distinct uses. It is declared in
Malachi (iv. 5, 6) that Elijah's coming was to prevent the Lord's
smiting the earth with a curse. Had the Lord come among the Jews
without signing and sealing them with the ordinance of baptism,
through which they were connected with heaven and surrounded
with an angelic sphere of protection, his presence would have con
sumed them. The church, signified by the earth, would have perished
prematurely, and no remains would have been left from which to
form the beginning of a new dispensation.
Baptism had a second use : it represented purification. Water is
the symbol of truth, and baptism is the sign of washing the heart from
wickedness. John's baptism being performed in Jordan added to the
significance of the rite. Through Jordan the children of Israel passed
into Canaan; and as Canaan was a type of the chui'ch and heaven,
baptism in Jordan was a sign that our passage into the church and
heaven lies through purification. He who is baptized with this living
baptism has put off the old man and put on the new — he is passed
from death unto life, has been buried with Christ and risen with him.
7. Besides the numbers who were drawn to the baptism of John by
feelings of true penitence, there were others who sought baptism from
unworthy motives. Wlwn he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
come to his baptism, he said unto them, 0 generation of vipers. Persons
belonging to these sects might have come and been accepted; but
these had come without manifesting the spirit which would have
rendered their acceptance of baptism profitable to themselves. Of
these two sects, so frequently mentioned in the New Testament, it
may be useful in this place, where they are first mentioned, to say a
few words. The Pharisees and the Sadducees may be regarded as the
ritualists and the rationalists of the Jewish church. The Pharisees
not only accepted the Scriptures, but the traditions of the elders, as
their authority in matters of religion, which they made to consist
chiefly in multiplied ceremonial observances. The Sadducees, on the
other hand, rejected all tradition, and adhered rigidly to the written
law, which they so interpreted as to deny the immortality of the soul
and the existence of angels and spirits. The Pharisees formed the
pious, the Sadducees the philosophical section of the churcli. Taking
their character and their systems as the basis of their spiritual repre-

52 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. III.
sentation, we cannot fail to see in the Pharisees and Sadducees the
symbols of the will and understanding of the natural man, not merely
unconverted, but perverted by self-righteousness and intellectual
pride. John called them vipers, not from similitude, but from corre
spondence. The whole serpent tribe are emblematical of the sensuous
part of man's nature. Originally this was very good; but when it had
accomplished man's faU, it became degraded ; the serpent walked on
its belly, and dust became its meat. Sensuous wisdom, which should
have been a protection to innocence, having become its destroyer, it is
only now, when the seed of the woman has bruised the serpent's head,
that it can, through his work and by his power, be deprived of its
dominion in the heart of man. How complete that dominion had
become, the Pharisees and Sadducees too fully exemplified. What
was their state is that of every unconverted man as to his sensuous or
carnal mind. This is that old serpent called the devil and Satan;
and from these are produced a generation of vipers, in the endless
reasonings in favour of self and the world.
John demands of his Pharisaical and Sadducean hearers. Who hath
ivarned you to fiee from the wrath to come ? This is a question of the
utmost consequence, and should be asked of himself by every one
who wishes to flee from the wrath to come. In the first place, what
was this coming wrath from which these men were induced to flee ?
Perhaps they understood him, as many Christians understand him, to
mean the wrath of God. Divine wrath is indeed mentioned in the
Scriptures; but this is the language of appearances : the reality is, that
there is no wrath in God. Yet there is a wrath that overtakes the
sinner, and as surely as if God could himself be angry. Wrath is iu
all evil loves as burning is in fire ; and every one who loves and lives
in sin carries in his own bosom the flre of his future torment. This
is the wrath to come. Who hath warned you to flee from this coming
wrath? — God or yourself, the Word or the world, sorrow for sin or
fear of punishment? What is the thought that induces you, the
motive that impels you ? Is it the voice of God speaking through
your conscience, or the voice of the world speaking through your
interests ? These are practical inquiries involved iu the demand of
John. 8. He who proposed the inquiry gives the test by which to know
whether we can give the true answer. B-ring forth therefore fruits
meet for repentance. If we are really desirous to flee from the wrath
to come, the way lies through repentance. The purpose in the heart
must show itself by amendment in the life. If our purpose is of God

Chap. III.] ST. MATTHEW. '53
he will infallibly lead us to work it out by acts of self-dSnial. These
are the works meet for repentance. "Cease to do evil" is the first
great work of the repentant sinner. There can be no true holiness
without it. To do acts of piety and goodness, without hating and
shunning evil, is to cover and gild corruption. Merely to desist from
evil may seem to be but negative virtue; yet the negative is the only
foundation of the positive. Eight out of the ten commandments are
prohibitory. Thou shalt not steal, nor bear false witness, nor commit
adultery, are the forms in which Divine wisdom teaches us honesty,
sincerity, and purity. And this is the way in which we are to bring
forth fruits meet for repentance.
9. But while the Word demands practical, we are all inclined to
trust in hereditary and nominal religion. The Jews presumed upon
'oeing the descendants of the faithful — children of the promise. Divine
Truth raises its voice against this vain confidence. Think not to say
within yourselves. We have Abraham to our father. WhUe they were
the children of Abraham according to the flash, they were far from
being his children according to the spirit. When, afterwards, the
Jews boasted that Abraham was their father, Jesus answered them,
" If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham."
He then told them, too, that their father was the devil, whose deeds
they continued to do. It is this hereditary relationship to Abraham
which John warns them against as a ground of confidence, as
answering all claims of religious obligation upon them. And as the
same evil exists now under a different name, what is this plea in our
time and on our part? Do not we Christians trust to the name of
Christ, when we have not his spirit and do not his works ? What
virtue or profit can there be in this nominal religion, when God is
able of these stones to raise up children unto A braham ? We need
not trouble ourselves with the question of natural possibility; the
spiritual lesson is that which concerns us.
Stones are types of truths. The apostle speaks of the members of
the church as living stones: these are the true members of the body
of Christ, who is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel. But the stones
out of which God can raise up children to Abraham — that is, such
children as the Jews — are not living, but dead stones — truths without
life, because without love and goodness. Nominal members of the
church can be raised up from the knowledges of truth; real members
only from the love and practice of the truth. The stones from which
God could raise up chUdren to Abraham are also the statutes and
ceremonial laws of the Jewish church,as a representative and shadowy

54 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IIL
dispensation. The law of the ten commandments was written upon
tables of stone, to represent that in the Jewish church the law of
Divine order and righteousness could only be impressed upon the
outward man. Therefore, when the new covenant which the Lord
should make with his church is treated of, he says, " This is the cove
nant that I will make with the house of Israel : I will put my law in
their inward parts, and write it in their hearts" (Jer. xxxi. 33).
And so Paul : " Ye are the epistle of Christ, written with the Spirit
of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the
heart" (2 Cor. iii. 3).
10. As nothing spiritual and useful could grow out of that dead
root, which was never intended to be more than temporary, now also,
said John, the axe is laid unto the root ofthe trees. Judaism was to be
cut up by its roots, and all presumptuous hopes founded upon it to be
overturned. Such was the sentence of divine truth upon the Jewish
church, and upon all who clung to it in its then showy but fruitless
condition. But there is a lesson here for us. Our motives are the
roots from which our actions spring. Christianity lays the axe at the
root of the tree ; for it is not only a law to regulate our actions, but
a lirinciple to guide our motives; and whatever grows out of the
ends of our life, that does not bear the fruits of holy living, must be
cut down. Our selfhood constitutes the first root of our life. What
sort of tree would man become if that root were not extirpated ?
But the evil root is not removed, and a new one implanted in its
stead, unless man regards the evils which constitute the root as
destructive to his soul, and on that account is desirous of removin"- o
them. As, however, they belong to his selfhood, and are conse
quently delightful to him, he cannot effect their removal but with a
degree of unwillingness and of struggle against them, and thus of
combat. The truth, which is the instrument of combat, is meant by
the axe, and the combat itself by hewing down the tree. But the
tree after being hewn down i's to be cast into the fire.
These two acts have reference to the understanding and the will.
To cut down the tree has reference to the removal of evil from the
understanding; to cast it into the fire, to the removal of evil from the
will. The axe and the fire, too, are symbolical — the axe of truth, the
fire of love. As the removal of evil is not effected but by tempta
tion, the hewing down of the tree refers to intellectual labour or
combat against evil, and the casting it into the fire to conflict in the
will. The imagery is expressive and instructive. The evil principle
is cut down in the understanding, but is consumed in the will

Chap. IIL] ST. MATTHEW. 55
Faith prostrates the evil principle, love burns it up. Fire as a
symbol of love and zeal, and burning, of the severest trials and the
completest vastation, often occur in the Word. The Lord's conflict
with the powers of darkness, in his zeal for the salvation of the
human race, was to be "with burning and fuel of flre" (Isa. ix. 5);
and even as a Regenerator, he was to be " like a refiner's fire'' (Mai.
iii. 2). He "came also to send fire on the earth" (Luke xii. 44);
and to "baptize with fire" (Luke iii. 16). In all which there is
reference to conquest and removal through the fiery trials of tempta
tion, in which holy overcomes unholy love.
11. John proceeds to speak of the true means and agencies by
which this work is carried on and completed, and of the last as
greater than the first. I indeed ha-p>tize you with water unto repent
ance : but lie that cometh after me is miglitier than I, whose shoes I am
not worthy to bear : he shall baptize you with tlie Holy Ghost, and with
fire. John's baptism represented reformation; the Lord's baptism
represented regeneration. The first is the removal of evil; the
second is the implantation of good. John's baptism precedes and
prepares the way for that of Jesus.
Man must learn from the written Word what evil is, and abstain
from it; and so far as he does so, he receives new life from the Lord.
John's baptism comes from without; the Lord's comes from within.
John's baptism removes outward impurities ; the Lord's inspires new
inward life. Thus does the Lord baptize with the spirit of his truth
and with the fire of his love all who faithfully follow the teachings of
his Word, by ceasing to do evil. The second baptism is a greater
work than the first, and a mightier power is required to effect it. So
much mightier is he who comes after him, that John declares himself
not worthy to bear his shoes. The lowest good of love is worthier
than the highest good of repentance. But on this point we shall see
something more in the next verse.
We cannot leave these words of John without a remark on the
important testimony thus borne to the rank of Jesus, between whom
and himself he admits of no comparison. If among those bom of
women a greater had not arisen than John the Baptist, who could
that one be whose sandals John was not worthy to bear? His rank
may be described in John's own words: "He that cometh from
heaven is above all" (John iii. 3). And not only above all, but
before all. Not only was he before John (John i. 15), but before
Abraham (John vui. 58). He who was all this could be no other
than the Highest and the First,

56

ST. MATTtlEW. [C-'iap. HI.

12. The Lord's baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire is to be
followed by a thorough outward cleansing. His fan is in his hand,
and he will throughly purge his fioor. This purification is to be
distinguished from that represented by John's baptism. For as there
is a truth which leads to goodness, and a truth which is derived from
goodness, so there is a purification that precedes and one that foUows
regeneration. The first is a purification of the actions, from motives
of obedience, the second is a purification of the actions, from motives
of love. The first was represented by John's baptism, the second
by the Lord's washing his disciples' feet, when he spoke to them
as being already inwardly clean. This second purification is that
by which the Lord "throughly purges his floor," making a full
and final separation of good and evU. The floor is the outer
memory, the common receptacle of acquired objects of thought
and affection. The Lord's truth is the means by which separation
is effected. The garner into which the wheat is gathered is the
inner memory, the storehouse of ends and principles, which form our
life, and remain with us for ever. The chaff is burnt up in the fire of
an unquenchable zeal for singleness and purity. The wicked, who
never judge themselves in this life, are judged in the next, and
being themselves like chaff, are cast into the fire of burning lusts, in
their own evil hearts, that nothing can quench.
13. Among those who came to John, to receive his baptism, was no
less a personage than the Saviour himself Then cometh Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan to John, to be baptized of him. Jesus, it would appear, had
resided in Galilee till now. Thirty years of a life the most momentous
to the world, though not in the world's sense, that had ever been
lived by man on earth, had been passed in private, if not in seclusion.
But now he publicly appears as the Saviour of the world, the great
Teacher and Exemplar of the law. Before entering on a life conse
crated to the highest use, Jesus came to Jordan to be baptized of
John. The Lord as the Incarnate Word comes to him who repre
sented the written Word, to receive at his hands this initiatory and
representative rite. He came from Galilee to Jordan, to symbolize
that progression of state from good to the truth which gives it quality
and power — power to subdue. The primary idea involved in John's
baptism was purification, especiaUy that of the external man. The
means by which this purification is effected are the truths of thi
Word, which are meant by the waters of Jordan. But these truths
purify the mind in two ways — by repentance and temptation.
Repentance is necessary for the removal of actual evil, temptation for

Chap. IIL] ST. MATTHEW. 57
the removal of hereditary evil also. As every human being is defiled
both with hereditary evil and by actual evil, which is sin, every one
requires to be purified both by repentance and temptation. In this
respect there was an essential difference between the Lord and every
mere man. He had no sin, and therefore needed no repentance.
14. Well then might John forbid him to come to his baptism ; for
to Jesus it could be no baptism unto repentance, which John had pro
claimed it to be. But although the Lord had no sin, and therefore
needed no repentance, he had evil derived from his fallen mother,
and required to undergo temptation. And to represent this means of
purification, Jesus was willing to receive, at the hands of his own
messenger, the rite -which symbolized it. But John not only for
bade Jesus, but said, / have need to he baptized of thee. There is
one particular in this relation that it may be difficult to under
stand. If John represented the written Word, why did he say
to Jesus, " I have need to be baptized of thee?" Is the word of God
impure, and does it need purification? In itself it is pure and holy,
but as it had become in the Jewish church, and as it is in the mind
of everyone not yet fully regenerate, it is more or less impure, by reason
of their impure perversions of its meaning, and the sanctions of evil
which they thence draw apparently from it. The Jews had thus
perverted and defiled the Word ; and it is more or less defiled in the
mind of every child of Adam. These defilements needed to be
removed; and no one could in the first instance remove them but he
who was himself the Word. There was an analogy between the
incarnate and the written Word. The Lord took human nature
upon him, not fair as it came from the hand of God, but marred as it
had been by the hand of man. And just so marred as was the
nature of man, so marred was the Word of God. Corruption among
the members of the church brings with it a corresponding corruption
of the revealed truths of the Word, as the Pharisees made the com
mandments of God of none effect by their traditions. It was through
these perversions that the truths of the written Word became instru
ments in the hand of Satan for tempting the Incarnate Word to do
wrong. The Lord and the powers of darkness contended over the
truths of the Word, as Michael and Satan are said to have done over
the body of Moses. EvU spirits assaulted the Lord through the
appearances of truth in the letter of the Word, which are capable of
perversion, and the Lord overcame them by its genuine truths, which
they could neither pervert nor resist. These conflicts were the
liOrd's temptations, represented by his baptism. With every tempta-

58

ST. MATTHEW, L^hap. III.

tion, when ended, the Lord put off some of the infirmities of his
humanity, and put on, or put forth, some of the perfections of his
divinity, till at last he became the Word in ultimates, as from
eternity he had been in first principles.
15. When John forbade Jesus to be baptized, the Lord answered.
Suffer it to be so now : for thus it hecometh us to fulfil all righteous
ness. In fulfilling the least of the requirements of righteousness
the Lord showed that he would fulfil them all. He came to fulfil the
whole Jaw of righteousness, and thereby to become Righteousness,
This is a great and important truth. He not only fulfilled the law
of the commandments, but the law in its widest sense, which is the
whole Word. He, by fulfilling, magnified the law and made it
honourable. Through his fulfilUng the law we can in our mea,sure
fulfil it also; through his becoming Righteousness we can become
righteous. By fulfilUng the whole law, or the Word, he became, as
to his humanity, the Word. The fulfilling the Word means, not
only that he obeyed its laws, but that he so transcribed the whole
Word, internally and externally, into his own life, that he became
the living form of all the eternal principles which it contains. All
this is included in the Lord's words to John, " Thus it becometh us
to fulfil all righteousness." And as the law which he desired to fulfil
by submitting to baptism was but a law of ceremonial righteousness,
we learn from the Lord's condescending to it, that he fulfilled the
ceremonial as well as the moral law, and that all its ceremonials had
relation to him in his work of glorification and salvation.
16, 17. The immediate results of the Lord's baptism foi'eshadow
the glory he would attain when he arose out of the trials which his
baptism represented. And Jesus, when he was hap>tized, went up
straightway out ofthe water: and, lo, tlie heavens were oj>ened unto Mm,
cfec. Going down into and coming up out of the waters of baptism
were recognized in the apostolic church as significative acts. Paul
speaks of the Colossians as being " buried with him in baptism,
wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation
of God, who hath raised him from the dead." Baptism was then
regarded as the symbol of burial and resurrection — not of the body,
but of the soul — the putting off the old man and putting on the new.
Jesus coming up out of the water represented his resurrection, or,
what is the same, his glorification. It also represented the result of
every single temptation, his coming up straightway representing his
emergence from the trial, and entering into a new and higher state
of glory. The opening of the heavens is one of the blessed results of

Chap. III.] ST. MATTHEW, 59
emerging from the flood, which has not overflowed the soul. In the
spiritual sense the opening of the heavens of the internal man is here
meant. For the object of the baptism of temptation is to remove evil
from the external man ; and every purification of the external man
has the effect of so far opening the internal man. Just as the world
is overcome is heaven brought near to us. To us as followers of the
Son of Man heaven is opened as often as we overcome in temptation.
And through the open or rent heaven he saw tlie Spirit of God
descending like a dove, and lighting upon him. The Spirit of God is
God himself as a Spirit acting upon the human mind. The Scriptures
speak indeed of the Spirit proceeding from God; yet even this is but
an accommodation to our feeble intellects, as developed in a world of
space : for he who is omnipresent, how can he proceed through space ?
It must be evident to every mind raised but a little above the sphere
of the bodily senses, that both the shape and motion of the Spirit are
figurative or representative. It appeared as a dove, because a dove is
an emblem of pure and holy affections and thoughts, and in reference
to God, of divine affections and thoughts, which are those of divine
love and wisdom. And more especially do those gentle animal forms
shadow forth the gentleness and purity of regenerate souls — symbols
therefore of the descending love and truth of the Divine upon the
human nature of the Saviour, by which also it became divine. The
Spirit of divine love and wisdom is therefore the winged messenger
sent from on high, with a message of peace to the soul that overcomes
in temptation.
Besides the descent of the dove, there came also down from the
opened heaven a voice, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased. To those who think of divine as they think of human
subjects, of spiritual as of natural things, this will present the simple
natural thought of two Beings, one on earth and one in heaven — a
Father declaring his love for his Son. The voice to the ear, like the
dove to the eye, was the adaptation of the Divine, which is above all
sense, to sensuous apprehension. Our Lord himself declared, after
this, that no man had heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor
seen his shape. This, then, could not be the Father's own voice, as
the dove could not have been the Spirit's own shape. Both were
representative — representative of realities, but of realities far above
the mundane and sensuous appearances. The two were intended to
teach us, representatively, that the Lord, coming out of the depths
of his temptations, brought down to him, as the Man who was
made perfect through suffering, a new measure of divine truth and

60 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IV.
divine love. We do not, in this view of the subject, by any means
ignore the doctrine of the Sonship of Christ. But we beUeve that his
Sonship can only be jjredicated of his humanity; for the humanity
it was that was born of the Virgin, and this is declared to be the
only begotten Son of God. The human nature of Christ could alone
receive the Spirit of God. But by receiving that Spirit without
measure, the humanity came to have infinite fulness; and that ¦which
has infinite fulness must be divine. The human was made divine by suc
cessive acts of glorification. And it was when the human was fully
glorified that Jesus was truly the Son of God ; for by glorification he was
born of God, as by regeneration we are : and then Jesus was the Son
of the Father's love. And if he who dwells in love dwelleth iu God,
infinitely more must Jesus dwell in love; for he is the infinite wisdom
of infinite love, the infinite form of the infinite essence — he in whom
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily — he who has the
Father as his very soul and life, and sends the Spirit as the emanating
life of his love and light of his wisdom — one God in one glorious
Person for ever.

CHAPTER IV.
We have had occasion in our remarks on the previous chapter to point
out the difference between the baptism of Jesus and that of every
mere man, and to explain that in our Lord's case baptism involved
the idea, not of repentance, but of temptation. Accordingly, no
sooner does the Lord receive baptism than he engages in those con
flicts which the rite represented. Then was Jesus led up (or away)
of the Spirit into the wilderness, to he tempted of the devil. There
is one particular in this which may strike the mind as singular, the
Lord's being led into temptation by the Spirit — that Sjsirit which had
descended like a dove upon him. Yet in this very fact is the law of
progress exemplified. There is, however, nothing more surprising in
this than in Israel being led up by Moses into the wilderness to be
tempted. There is indeed an apparent inconsistency between the fact
and the Scripture declaration, that " God tempts no man, but that
every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lusts and
enticed." But the truth is, that although temptation does not come
from the Spirit of God, it comes of receiving it. The Spirit does not
tempt, but it leads into that state in which temptation is experienced.
Temptation is an inward spiritual confiiot between good and evil
truth and falsity. There can therefore be no inward conflict except

Chap. IV.] ST, MATTHEW. 61
in minds in which these opposites are present and active. ¦ The
natural or unconverted man, who has no spiritual good and truth,
and has no concern about eternal life, knows nothing of spiritual
temptation; there is nothing in him to tempt. He follows unre
sistingly the impulse of his natural affections, and pursues his
temporal aims undisturbed by eternal considerations. It is when
the Spirit of the Lord descends upon him, and enters into his heart,
that his false peace is first disturbed. A new life, which is spiritual
and eternal, has commenced in his soul ; and the old life, which is
natural and temporal, rises up against, and enters into conflict with
it. The Lord has come, but it is not to send peace, but a sword.
The Spirit has lighted and abode upon him; but it leads, nay, drives
him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. The conflict,
once begun, continues, though not without intervals of repose, till
the natural and temporal submit to and serve the spiritual and the
eternal. Then victory is followed and rewarded with peace, peace
which the Prince of peace bestows, which the world could not give,
and which it cannot take away. We seek to explain this subject, in
relation to the Lord, by human experience, because Jesus was in all
points tempted as we are.
We are not to suppose that this was the Lord's first reception of
the Spirit, or that this was his first temptation. No doubt this was
an epoch in the Lord's life and experience, the beginning of a new
state, of a new stage in the progress of his glorification. His glorifica
tion had hitherto been chiefiy that of his internal man, according to
the law in regard to human progress, that the internal is first
regenerated, and the external afterwards. As the Lord's work
had hitherto been chiefly internal, his life had as yet been chiefly
private; and his experience is unrecorded in the gospels, because,
being that of the inner man, it does not belong to the outward his
torical sense of the Word. His gloriflcation was now about to be
brought more fully into the external, or, so to speak, into the body.
Therefore the Lord received external baptism, and entered into
the temptations which it symbolized, and came out into public life,
and did outward and miraculous works, and taught lessons of truth
in parables to the multitudes — the record of all which forms the out
ward or literal sense of the gospels. The work of glorification in the
Lord, like the complete regeneration of man, consists not only of
continuous, but of distinct degrees. Like man, the Lord passed
through three distinct states, which we call natural, spiritual, and
celestial. These may be considered to be represented, if not marked.

62 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IV.
by the Lord's baptism, his transfiguration, and his resurrection ; and
his progression in them perhaps representatively described by the
three journeys he made, during his ministry, to Jerusalem. His
temptations in the wUderness were also three in number. These
temptations of our Lord were not so much three acts, as three kinds,
of temptation. Indeed, we are not to regard the historical relation
as strictly literal. It contains the history of aU his temptations.
Excepting his agony in the garden and his sufferings on the cross,
these are the only temptations of the Lord mentioned in the gospels.
And yet his whole life was one of confiict and victory. His temptations
could not be adequately described as they actually occurred, because,
unlike his teachings and his works, they did not, except in a few
instances, come under human observaticm. Although, on this account,
they are not recorded in the New Testament, they are described in
the Old. As the spiritual sense of the Word is the history of man's
regeneration, the celestial sense is the history of the Lord's glorifica
tion. Everywhere, therefore, the Lord's temptations are the subjects,
where war and conflict are mentioned in divine Revelation. In
many parts they shine throiigh the letter, and in the Book of Psalms
they are often openly revealed. And when David is regarded as a
type of the Lord, then in " David and all his afflictions" may be
traced the Lord and all his temptations. The Lord's temptations
were various as well as numerous, yet they may all be classed under
the three kinds that form the subject of this chapter. A clear idea
of these will enable us to have some faint conception of the nature of
our Lord's trials, and also of his triumphs. To the remarks we have
offered on the general subject, as introduced in the first verse, it may
only be necessary to add, that the wilderness is a general representa
tive of temptation ; for the state which lays us open to the assaiUts of
the enemy is one in which the mind has in it waste places, which
regeneration makes to bud and blossom like the rose.
2. The particulars of the Lord's temptations come now to be
described. When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was
afterward an hungered. Forty is a common term used to express the
duration of temptation, whether short or long, and expresses the
continuance and succession of states rather than of times. For even
temptation has its alternations and successions of state within itself.
It has its successions of state, indicated by its forty days, and its
alternations of state, indicated by its days and nights. There are no
states without progressions and distinctions. Without them no state
could come to an end, or leave its impressions behind. The worst

Chap. IV.] ST, MATTHEW. 63
states through which man can pass are not of uniform darkness: there
is variety — and variety even in suffering is a relief and a lesson.
There is alternation ; and if there is day and night, however long the
night and short the day, in the winter of our trial, hope is never
utterly lost in despair.
During the forty days and nights of our Lord's continuance in the
wilderness he fasted. A fast of such duration was not a circumstance
peculiar to him, though all such fastings had no doubt reference to
his. Fastings were either voluntary or involuntary, and signified
either the abstaining from evil or the deprivation of good. Voluntary
fasts generally were signs of self-denial. Involuntary fasts were
generally signs of the deprivation of the good which is the spiritual
food of the soul. The soul has its food as well as the body. The
Lord's soul had its food as well as his body ; for he declared, " My
meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."
Temptation was just the time when fasting from this meat would be
forced upon him. For temptation is a state when delight in the law,
and power to do the will of God, seem to be taken away. The
tempter tries to bring us over to love and do our will instead of
the di-vdne will ;• — first to love it, then to do it. First, the evil influ
ence acts secretly upcm the love, and this produces the soul's fasting.
This is the state which is here described. The history leads us to
believe that Jesus during these forty days not only ate nothing, but
had no desire to eat; for it was not till the forty days were ended that
he hungered. His appetite was taken away. We know that distress
of mind takes away the natural appetite. And, correspondently, dis
tress of soul takes away the spiritual appetite. The lamentation of the
afflicted soul is therefore, " I have eaten ashes for bread, and drunken
tears in great measure." " I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh
nor wine in my mouth" (Dan. x. 3). And as human experience
was, in every particular, inconceivably increased in intensity in our
Lord's case, what must have been the fasting of him whose very meat
was to do his Father's will ! But every state has its termination.
When the Lord had fasted forty days, he was afterward an hungered.
The object of the tempter is to take away the appetite for good, that
he may create an appetite for evil. And this is the first part of
the conflict. Actively to desire evil is the first step to doing it.
If the inspired desire is resisted, the first object of tempting
spirits is defeated; for if the inclination is neither approved by
the understanding nor cherished by the will, but on the contrary
condemned and restrained, the soul will gradually recover itself,

64 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IV.
and the good desire will return, and the soul will hunger after
righteousness. 3, 4. But the tempter, who acts secretly upon the desire and the
motive, does not give up the contest when he has failed to bend them
in favour of evil. From acting secretly on the love he proceeds to
act openly on the life. The soul's hunger — its relish for good, its
desire to do the will of God — has returned, and tlie temptation now
consists in the adversary pressing the famished soul to satisfy its
hunger witli that which is not bread. When the tempter came to Mm
lie said, If tliou he the Son of God, command that these stones be made
bread. The stones which the devil asked Jesus to change into bread
were the stones of the wilderness, and represented, as we have seen,
the truths of the Jewish church. As bread signifies good, to have
made these stones into bread would have represented the changing of
such truth into good; for truth is changed into good by doing it; and
such as the, truth is, such is the good which it produces. But even
supposing that the truths which were revealed to the Jewish church had
been preserved in their purity, the good produced from them would
have been at the best but Jewish good — the righteousness of the law,
the virtue of the letter — and could only have satisfied the Jewish
appetite for the good of Judaism. This natural good was rather a
substitute for gooduess than goodness itself — a temporary means of
preserving the remains of the last and lowest degree of spiritual life,
till the spiritual truths of a spiritual church could be revealed for its
real sustenance. For the Lord to have satisfied his hunger with such
bread would have been to feed his senses and leave his soul unsatisfied.
It would not have been doing the will of him that sent him, and
finishing his work, but doing the will of him wliose object it was to
defeat that work, yet to defeat it under the guise of promoting it.
The Lord was himself the bread that came down from heaven, to
give life unto the world. Jesus fed a multitude of people in the
wilderness, not by turning its stones into bread, but by multiplying
the loaves and fishes. But even this divinely-created bread was not
the only nourishment he gave them; for he had already satit.'ied their
souls with his words, with good things out of the treasures of his
wisdom : he had fed their inner man with spiritual good, and now fed
tJieir outer man v,'ith its corresponding natural good — showing, by
his own twofold means of satisfying tlieir wants, that man does not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God. In referring to the place in the Old Testament, where
the saying which our Lord repeats against his adversary occurs, we

Chap. IV.] ST. MATTHEW. 65
find this truth involved in the meaning. Moses says, " The Lord
thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, and suffered
thee to hunger, and fed thee with maima ; that he might make
thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live" (Deut.
viii. 2, 3). The Lord Jesus was typified by the manna, he being the
true bread; he, therefore, is eminently the Word of God by which man
lives. This first temptation of the Lord, as the second Adam, was of
the same nature as that of the first Adam — it was a temptation by
the serpent to eat of the tree of knowledge instead of the tree of life.
In his temptation the first Adam fell, introducing sin into the world ;
in his corresponding temptation the second Adam overcame, providing
in his triumph for man's restoration.
5. We have already remarked that the Lord's temptations
describe three classes, and not merely three acts, of temptation,
and that they advance progressively from lower to higher, as those
of man do, from natural to spiritual, from spiritual to celestial.
The temptation to turn stones into bread describes the first class
of temptations, those which belong to the natural class, or which
apjjeal to the natural affections and perceptions. The next temptation
is one of another and deeper kind, being spiritual in its character,
but connected with that which precedes it, as one of a series. If,
when tempted to appease its hunger by turning stones into bread,
the soul maintains its integrity, in full conviction of the truth
that man cannot live by broad alone, but by every word that pro
ceedeth out of the mouth of God, it will next be tempted to place its
confidence in the truths of the VsTord, to the exclusion of its goods.
Or, to express it in its relation to man : when Satan cannot overturn
a man's faith, he tempts him to trust in faith alone. For this pur
pose he takes him up into the holy city, and sets him on a pinnacle
of the temple. A city signifies doctrine, and holy is predicated of
truth. The holy city is therefore the doctrine of truth, but such as it
is in the church. The temple, too, has reference to truth, or to the
understanding as its receptacle. When it is called the houce of God,
it relates to the will; when named the tem.ple, it relates to the under
standing. To take the Lord up into the holy city, was to draw and
abstract his mind from other things, and fix it on the doctrines of
truth in the church; and to set him on a pinnacle (literally, a wing)
of the temple, was to seek to inspire him with the pride of intellect,
or elation of mind. We are not, of course, to suppose that such a
temptation was capable of actually producing these effects in the mind

66 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IV.
of the Saviour, in the same sense and degree as it would in the mind
of an ordinary man. We have to describe and conceive of these
states as they are in frail humanity, without which it would be
impossible to describe them at all; but we mu.st never forget that
at best they can give but an exceedingly imperfect idea of the Lord's
states; and to conceive of them as identical with those of mere man,
would be to profane a subject in itself most holy. The Lord,
although tempted in all points as we are, never allowed the least of
sin to enter into his holy mind : but we never are tempted without
betraying our frailty; and even when we overcome, which we do by the
power of him who overcame before us, we are but as brands plucked
from the fire.
6. Whatever we may conceive to have been the Lord's state, as
signified by his being set on the pinnacle of the temple, that did but
form the prelude of his trial. The temptation itself consisted in his
being tempted to cast himself down, in the confidence that he would
be borne up. If thou he the Son of God, cast thyself down : for it is
written, He shall give Ms angels charge concerning thee; and in their
hands tliey shall hear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against
a stone. It is a singular fact that some, at least, when raised to a
giddy height, are seized with an impulse to cast themselves down. If
natural effects are the results of spiritual causes, there must be some
analogy to this natural impulse, if natural it may be called, in the
spiritual Ufe. In the spiritual world we know this is the case.
Spirits, when raised above the level of their proper life, are seized
with an impulse to cast themselves down, and actually do so. Had
the Lord been raised above the level of his proper Ufe— had Satan
been able to exalt him into a state above that to which his o-lorifica-
tion had raised him, the Lord could not have maintained his elevation,
but must have cast himself down. But Satan has no power to raise
men, but only to make them proud of their elevation. And " pride
cometh before a fall." It was this pride that Satan sought to excite
in the mind of Jesus, as a means of his downfall : for Satan only
seeks to raise up, that he may cast down. To understand what
is meant by the Lord casting himself down, it may be useful to
turn our attention to some of the particulars in the Word that bear
upon it. One of the statutes of the Mosaic law declared, '¦' When
thou buUdest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy
roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from
thence" (Deut. xxU. 8). This civU law contains a spiritual truth.
The house is a symbol of the mind, the highest or inmost of which is

Chap. IV.] ST. MATTHEW, 67
meant by the roof. The spiritual calamity which this law was intended
to guard against is that of a man falling from a higher into a lower, or
from a superior to an inferior state of spiritual life — which is to fall
from a state of good to a state of truth, or from a state of charity to a
state of faith ; and he who does so violates or profanes what is holy,
which is to bring blood upon his house. It was because of this
important principle being involved in the Mosaic law that our Lord,
treating of perilous times that were coming on the church, when men
were exhorted to flee from Judea into the mountains, exhorted them
that were on the house-top not to come down to take anything out of
the house — that is, those who are in a state of good or love are not to
come down into a state of truth or faith, for by doing so they come
from a superior to an inferior state, and so pervert divine order, and
destroy both good and tmth in themselves. The great law of life is
progression, and the order of progression is from truth to good, from
faith to love. The divine command is, " Go forward — go up higher."
This is the law of divine order, because it is the order of human
improvement, and therefore of human happiness. But the efforts of
the tempter, or of the whole powers of darkness, are to reverse this
law. Not progression, but retrogression — not higher, but lower — not
nobler, but baser, is the order which hell recognizes and acts upon,
and endeavours with all its power and cunning to promote. Evil and
hell are what they are, because they are in every respect the opposites
of good and heaven. The tendency of hell is to go down lower and
lower, that of heaven is to go up higher and higher. When, therefore,
the devU tempted Jesus to cast himself down from the pinnacle of the
teraple, he desired him to cast himself down from the holy elevation
on which he stood ; and only fulfilled what had been written in the
prophetic psalm, " They only consult to cast him down from his
excellency" (Ixii. 4). The devil endeavoured to strengthen his cause
by appealing to Scripture. EvU spirits do not tempt men to do evil
as evil, but to do it either as good or as an act which has the sanction
of what the tempted recognize as authority. Before they can use the
truth in their evil cause, they must pervert it. It had, indeed, been
written (Ps. xci. 11), " He shall give his angels charge over thee, to
keep thee in all thy ways. They shaU bear thee up in their hands,
lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." But this promise was given
to those who walk in the right way. The angels bear up and protect
those who desire their support and protection, and those who live in
harmony with, not those who violate, the laws of order, within
which suppoit and protection lie. Hence the importance of under-

68 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IV.
standing, that we may obey, the Scripture, and that we may resist
temptation, which often comes to us under the guise of liberty sanc
tioned by divine authority. The truth makes us free from sin, not
from the law which condemns it; free to do good, but not to do evil.
In regard to the passage quoted from the Psalms, though prophetic
of the Lord, it is to be understood of him in a spiritual sense. He
needed not the support of angels; for angels, like men, are dependent
on him. But angels, when mentioned in the Word, signify something
of his own divinity; for all that makes them angels they derive from
him. Angels, therefore, signify divine truths, and their hands are the
power of truths. These truths were the Lord's supports, and these
prevented him from stumbling over the falsities that prevailed in the
church, which were the stones, against even one of which he was to
be preserved from dashing his foot. No mere man walks in this
world without stumbling. The Lord alone walked in it, through all
its perils and temptations, and stumbled not.
7. Jesus answered the tempter by saying, It is written again. Thou
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Men are said in Scripture to
tempt God when they doubt or dare his power; and they no doubt
tempt him when they presume on divine support in doing wrong.
We may thus be tempted by the devil to tempt God. Our Lord
overcame the tempter by appealing to the law against tempting God.
There is another sense in which our Lord's use of this law of the
Word is to be taken. The devil tempted Jesus to cast himself
down, to prove that he was the Son of God. He was thus himself
tempting the Lord God in the person of Jesus Christ, who was God
incarnate. And our Lord's answer includes this idea. Indeed, as
the tempter acknowledged Jesus to be the Son of God, he must
have known that he whom he tempted was the very Being who was
not to be tempted. There is another truth contained in this circum
stance. The Lord said, " Thou shalt not teini)t the Lord thy God," to
instruct us that the Divine itself is above all temptation. As the
Son of God, the Lord himself was beyond temptation. The Lord is
called the Son of God and the Son of man. And whenever he speaks
of temptations and sufferings, he calls himself the Son of man, because
the Lord was tempted as to his divine truth; but he never, in
speaking of his temptation and sufferings, calls himself the Son of
God, because this name is expressive of his divine good. And that
divine good is incapable of being tempted, the Lord meant when he
answered the tempter by the words of Moses, " It is written a<^ain.
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

Chap. IV.] ST. MATTHEW. 69
8. The last temptation is still more dreadful and daring than the
preceding. The intensity of temptation increases as it proceeds.
Again, tlie devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain. A
mountain is the symbol of love, and exceeding height is the symbol of
what is exceedingly intense, because exceedingly interior.
This is a symbolical mode of saying that this class of temptations
is grounded in the love which forms the inmost of man's life. Tlie
inmost love of man's life, in his natural state, is the love of self; and
the next, which is like unto it, is the love of the world. Our Lord
inherited from his human mother the seeds of this as of every other
love; and it formed in him, as in other men, the ground of tempta
tion. Strange indeed it may seem, -that he, who was the meekest, and
the humblest, and the most disinterested among men, should have had
in his humanity the seeds of such evils as the love of dominion and of
gain ; but we need not be astonished at what in itself is .so natural,
nor even at the result, which is so reasonable. Our Lord's merit
consisted in his displaying such exalted goodness, while yet, like other
men, he was born with the seeds of evil. Merit arises from or con
sists in being good where there are inclinations and temptations to be
evil. The Lord was perfected through suffering. And he suffered
because he had in his nature that which was the ground of suffering.
He had the hereditary love which formed the ground of this tempta
tion, and he experienced it in its greatest possible intensity : " he
was taken up into an exceeding high mountain.'' From the top of
the lofty mountain the devil showeth him all the kingdoms ofthe world,
and the glory of them. This particular is an evidence of the symbolical
nature of this relation. Sundry explanations have been offered, but no
satisfactory one has been given. Besides, if Jesus was truly the Son
of God, he did not require to be carried Vjy Satan to the top of an
exceeding high mountain, to have the sight presented to him. He
knew more than the devil could show him; and Satan himself must
have known that too well to be gnilty of such an absurdity. Such
conduct must have done much more to defeat his scheme than to
advance it. But though it cannot have been true literally, it is
instructively true spiritually. The exceeding high mountain and the
kingdoms of the world were in the mind of the Saviour himself. The
whole world was there, with its passions and its interests, but
slumbering in the depths of his human consciousness, till called into
activity by an influx from the kingdom of darkness. And when,
under the strong pressure of its influence, self-love is excited in the
wUl, all the kingdoms of the world ^ire seen by the understanding;

70 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IV,
for the fire of love in the wUl becomes a flame of Ught in the under
standing. In this way it ¦B'as that the devU took Jesus up into an
exceeding high mountain, and showed him aU the kingdoms of the
world. But this did not constitute the temptation. Indeed, there is
nothine evil in the love of self and the love of the world themselves.
They are necessary elements in the constitution of human nature; for
while man lives in the world he must take his part in the affairs of
the world, its government and acquisitions; and he could not engage
in them unless he had a love for them, for without love there can be
no action. Our temptation in the world is, not to love and use the
things of the world, but to fall down and worship the devil, that we
may possess them. So long as we acknowledge the world to be God's
world, and use it as his, we sin not; nay, we would sin in not using
it. It is not its use, but its abuse, that forms the subject of tempta
tion; and all abuse comes from evil, which, abstractly, is the devil.
Evil claims the world and everything else as its own, and wishes to
be worshipped as its owner. Our temptation, therefore, is to worship
self instead of God, and possess and use the world for the sake of
ourselves and our own glory. He whom we serve is the object of our
worship. And we serve whoever or whatever is the object of our
ruling love. If we supremely love self or the world, self or the world
is the object of our worship. The devil is ever striving to excite this
love in our hearts. The love of self and the world are not, in our
fallen state, disposed, as they were intended, to find their happiness
in serving God ; they desire to usurp his authority and claim his
possessions as their own. This is the ground of our temptations.
Whether shall we serve and obey God or self? this is the question.
To decide this great practical question of life or death is, in fact, the
use of temptation, and the Divine purpose in permitting it. The
devil is ever suggesting to us — All these things vdll I give thee, if thou
vjilt fall down and worship me; while God through his Word is ever
answering this seductive appeal, by saying, Thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Jesus overcame the
temptation with this divine truth, which proved an antidote to the
poison which the old serpent was attempting to infuse into his mind.
The Word is the armoury from which we must draw the weapons
of our warfare in our conflicts with the world and self And he who
does this faithfully shall never be moved. The Lord, who permits us
to be tried, never allows us to be tempted above what we are able to
bear; and with every trial he provides a way of escape : and that way
will be found in the truths of the Word and obedience to them.

Chap. IV.] ST. MATTHEW. 71
We find that the tempter is called both the Devil and Satan.
These two names are expressive of two kinds of evil spirits. As
heaven consists of the good and the true, hell consists of the evU and
the false. The evil are caUed the DevU, and the false are called
Satan. The tempter is called by both these names, to indicate that
the Lord was tempted by both these classes of evil spirits, and conse
quently from both the evils which distinguish them.
It is of the utmost importance that we should have some clear
view on the subject of the Lord's temptations, and should avoid the
mistake which our imperfect knowledge of their nature and purpose
is likely to cause. A knowledge of the purpose for which the Lord
assumed human nature lies, of course, at the foundation of all right
views respecting the nature and use of his temptations. The opinion
entertained by many, that Jesus assumed man's nature to suffer in
it, as man's substitute, the punishment due to man's transgressions,
reduces the Lord's temptations to a judicial infliction. And in order
that he might bear it in man's stead, it is supposed that he himself
must have been free from the common ground of temptation and
suffering, which is evil It is therefore assumed that, though born of
a fallen women, he himself was unfallen, having, by the miraculous
conception, received a manhood pure as that of Adam. To say that
the Lord assumed human nature in its fallen state will seem to those
who hold the opinion that he was born pure, as virtuaUy calling the
Lord a sinner. Some suppose that if Jesus had inherited moral
imperfection, he could not have made atonement for other men's sins,
but only for his own. The nature of the Lord's work in the flesh
required that he should assume human nature in its fallen state,
having in it the seeds of all human infirmity. It was to do the very
work that man has to do that the Lord assumed man's nature. And
the purpose of the Lord's doing that work in himself was, that he
might afterwards do it in us, according to the nature of the work he
first effected in himself In reference to the present subject it is
therefore said that he was tempted in all points as we are; and it is
further declared, that he was made perfect through suffering. And
in regard to the purpose, in relation to us, for which the Lord
endured temptation, it is said to have been, that he might succour
those that are tempted. Both these truths were declared by the
Lord himself when he said, " For their sakes I sanctify myself, that
they also might be sanctified by the truth." The Lord's temptations
were among the means by which this sanctification or glorification of
his humanity was effected, and by which he became the Author of

72 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IV.
sanctification and regeneration to men. Had not the Lord assumed an
imperfect humanity, having in it the seeds of evU, he could not have
been tempted as other men are, nor could he have been perfected
through the suffering of temptation. The opinion that these seeds of
evU made the Lord a sinner is a mistake. Every man inherits evil ; but
no man is a sinner till he has committed sin ; for sin is the transgression
of the law. The grand distinction between Jesus and every other man
consisted, not in the difference of their state by birth, but in thedifference
of their state by life. Jesus, like other men, was born with heteditary
evil; but, unlike every other man, he was entirely free from actual
Fin. He is indeed called, by birth, a holy thing; but this is applied
to him as the Son of God, and not as the sou of Mary or the son of
n-ian. It is remarkable that his sinlessness is spoken of in the
Scriptures, not in reference to his birth but his life — in fact,
in reference to his trials and temptations. " He was tempted in
all points as we are, yet without sin." Had such a remark been
introduced in connection with his birth, there might have been some
ground for the opinion that he was born absolutely free from moral
infirmity. Had it been said, for instance, that he was born of a
woman, yet without sin, the objection would have had some force ;
l)ut when we find his sinlessness associated with temptation, in
which all other men to some extent fail, we may conclude that
practical, and not hereditary freedom from evil is meant. This
constituted the great value, as well as the great merit of our Lord's
sinlessness. He was tempted, but he never yielded in temptation.
He met the whole power of evil, both on earth and in hell, on the
liattle ground of a frail humanity, but, notwithstanding its frailty,
he conquered in every temptation, and crowned his work with com
plete victory. Thus did the Lord subjugate the powers of darkness
and glorify his humanity. As he conquered, so has he now the keys
of hell and of death. And now does he say, " To him that over-
cometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also
overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne" (Rev.
iii. 21).
11. When the Lord's temptations were ended, Then the devil
leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. We
find here another hint of the existence of an inner sense in the
Scriptures. The Lord did not require the assistance of angels, who,
however exalted above the condition of men, are but finite beings, and
could afford no aid to him, who, being from above, was above all.
But there is deep truth in this, although it is not to be literally

Chap. IV.] ST. MATTHEW. 73
understood. The condition of mankind at the time of our Lord's
coming was so deeply evil that hell was near, and heaven was far
from them. The Lord came to reverse this order. He came to drive
back the powers of darkness, and restore man's connection with
heaven. He overcame hell by admitting temptations into himself
When he overcame these temptations, then was hell removed, and
heaven came near. This was a general result of the Lord's con
quests. But it is said that the angels came and ministered unto
him. The angels ministered unto him, as men in their devotions
and virtues serve him, not by giving him anything he did not already
posse.-iS, but by satisfying, by their ministrations, his desire for their
happiness. This desire is his hunger; and our doing his will is our
ministering unto it. There is another and more practical lesson
which we learn from this relation. The Lord was our Example.
What is recorded of him is to be realized by us. This record
describes the result of our overcoming in temptation. When we
resist the devil he flees from us, and when the devil leaveth us
angels come and minister unto us. Here are hope and consola
tion for those that are toiling in the upward path of regeneration.
Tempted Christians, who feel themselves beset on every side by evil
spirits and evil influences, which shut out the light and love of
heaven, may gain strength and take courage, knowing that if they
continue to hold bravely on in the day of trial, their perseverance
will be . rewarded with deliverance from the oppression of the enemy,
when angels will come near as ministering spirits, sent to minister
unto them who have shown themselves worthy of being heirs of
salvation. 12. The circumstance which is next related, apparently in con
tinuance of the series of historical events, is yet separated from the
Lord's temptation by a considerable interval of time. Yet the two seem
to be connected in character; and this, no doubt, is the reason that
these events, although they have no historical connection, are here
brought together. Who would suppose that an event that did not
take place till about three years after the Lord's temptation in the
wilderness, should be introduced in the form. Now, when Jesus had
heard that John was cast into prison, lie departed into Galilee ? Yet
may we not find a reason for this in the similarity of our Lord's being
in the wUderness, as it were the prisoner of Satan, and John's being
cast into prison by one who may justly be regarded as an emissary of
the kingdom of darkness? This bringing together of these distant events
wiU be seen to be all the more appropriate and significant when we re-

74 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IV.
fleet, that a similar treatment of the Incarnate Word by the powers of
darkness, and of him who represented the written Word by the powers
of the world, are related in signification to each other. As it was the
aim of the tempter to overcome the power and frustrate the object
of the Incarnate Word, so was it the purpose of the corrupt church,
of which Herod was the type, to deprive the written Word of influ
ence and authority. As this was done in Judea, where the church
had her chief seat and her ruling power, Jesus departed into GalUee.
This was to represent that, the Word having been perverted and
rejected by the Jews, the Lord, as the Incarnate Word, betook him
self to the Gentiles, to raise up among them a new spiritual church, in
place of that which had ceased to exist among the Jews.
13-15. But although the Lord departed into the country whence he
had come to Jordan unto John to be baptized, he did not return to
the city where he had previously dwelt. On his return from Egypt,
Joseph, to avoid Judea, where Archelaus reigned, " turned aside into
the parts of Galilee, and came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth :
that it might be fulfiUed which was spoken by the prophets. He shall
be called a Nazarene;" but now, when, on Herod's imprisonment of
John, he returns to GalUee, he leaves Nazareth, and comes and dwells
in Capernaum, that another prophecy may be fulfilled: Tlie land of
Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by tlie way of the sea, beyond
Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw
great light; and to them which sat in tlie region and shadow qf death
light is sprung up. The cities or vUlages in which the Lord dwelt being
made the subjects of prophecy, indicates a higher meaning than appears
on the surface of these divinely-inspired Writings. Besides their
minuteness in very inconsiderable things, there is another particular
that may impress us with a conviction of their spirituality. GalUee is
spoken of as being beyond Jordan. Galilee was not on the east of
Jordan, out of the land of Canaan, although "beyond Jordan" gen
erally has this meaning. Understood with some degree of latitude,
the words may mean that the Lord's work was to extend to the
Gentiles on both sides of the Jordan, as we find from this chapter that
it did. For the fame of Jesus' teaching and healing went through
out all Syria, which was on the other side Jordan; and among the
great multitudes that foUowed him some were " from beyond Jordan"
(v. 25). May we not suppose, however, that Zabulon and Neph
thalim were described as situate beyond Jordan, to express the dis
tinctly gentile character of those to whom the Lord now turned ? 
cut of the land being equivalent to out of the church. Whether this

Chap. IV.] ST. MATTHEW. 75
be the case or not, there can be no doubt that we are here to understand
the Lord's turning to the Gentiles. Two particulars enable us to ascer
tain the spiritual meaning of Capernaum. It was upon the sea coast.
The sea signifies the external of heaven and the church, in which
are the simple who have thought naturally, and but little spiritually,
about sacred things. It was also in the borders of Zabulon and
Nephthalim. In reference to the people among whom the Lord
had now come, besides being called Gentiles, the description indicates
that they were in an external state, being on the " coast" and on the
" borders.'' The land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim, also
GalUee of the Gentiles, as nations, signify that a church was to be
established among the Gentiles, who are in the good of life, and
receive truths, and thus are in the conjunction of good and truth, and
in combat against evils and falsities. That the establishment of the
church and the reformation of such Gentiles are understood, is also
evident from the series of expressions, as that the land was beyond
Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, and also that ihe people which sat in
darkness saw great light, and io them which sat in the region and shadow
of death light had sprung up. Such being the signification of the
country or land where Capernaum was, we have 'only to reflect on the
signiflcation of a city, to arrive at a knowledge of the place which this
one holds in reference to the present subject. " In the universal
sense, cities signify the doctrinals of the church; but in the singular
sense they signify the interiors of (the natural mind of) man, where
doctrinals are, or rather where truths are, conjoined with good. For
the truths and goods pertaining to man form as it were a city;
hence a man in whom is the church is called the city of God. The
signification of a city is like that of a house. In the universal sense
a house signifies good; but in the singular sense it signifies a man,
and specifically his mind as to good and truth there conjoined; and a
house, with its apartments, circumjacent buildings, and courts, is a
city in the least form." Capernaum, then, represented the doctrinals
of Christianity as adapted to the state of the well-disposed Gentiles,
and the natural mind in which they are received. For the Lord
dwells in that region of the human mind where his truth and good
are received, and, indeed, where they are conjoined. The connection
of Capernaum with the church which the Lord was about to raise up
from among the Gentiles is indicated by the circumstances connected
with the very next mention of that city by Matthew. For when the
Lord, after his sermon on the mount, " entered into Capernaum, there
came unto him a centurion beseeching him to heal his servant," and

76 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap IV.
whose humility drew forth from him the remark that he had not
found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
The state of the Gentiles at the time of our Lord's coming was
widely different from that into which the Jews had so deeply plunged
themselves. All, both Jews and Gentiles, were included under sin,
but as the Gentiles, unlike the Jews, sinned, not against the clear
light of Revelation, but against the dim light of tradition, their spiritual
condition was much less deplorable. They sat in darkness, and in the
region and shadow of death; but their darkness was the error of ignor
ance, and their death was the evil of natural concupiscence. They
were in the region of death in regard to the unregenerate state of the
will; and as evil in the will, by intercepting the light of truth flowing
in from heaven, casts its dark shadow on the understanding, they
were intellectually in the shadow of death. And not only were they
in this region and shadow of death, but they "sat" therein, an expres
sion which aways implies a degree of confirmation in the particular
state of life to which it relates. Yet the evils and errors of those who
are out of the church, and even of the ignorant and simple-minded
within it, are not of so deeply malignant a character as those of the
well instructed, who have entered deeply into the mysteries of faith.
They, therefore, who sit in this dai-kness are capable of seeing great
light, when it is revealed to them, and to them who sit in the region
and shadow of this death light springs up when it shows them the
way of life; for they are more disposed than the wise and prudent to
receive the light of truth, and to be led by it into a true faith, and
into genuine charity.
But this subject deserves to be considered in reference to the Lord
himself; for Capernaum, as his new place of abode, must have the
same relation to his public life as Nazareth had to his private life.
"In the supreme sense, Zabulon and Nephthalim (as the sons and tribes
of Israel) signified the union of the Divinity itself with the Lord's
divine humanity, by means of temptation admitted into himself, and
victories therein obtained by his own inherent power." For this union
in the Lord is analogous to the conjunction of good and truth in man.
When we consider the difference between the Lord's two states and
modes of life, before and after his baptism, and the different significa
tions of Nazareth and Capernaum, we must see the appropriateness of
his leaving that " where he was brought up" for one which henceforth
became " his own city." In the Lord's private and public life we
cannot fail to see a correspondence with the two successive states of
man's regeneration. The internal is first to be regenerated, and after-

Chap. IV.] ST. MATTHEW. 77
wards the external. Nazareth, signifying separation, represented that
state and period of the Lord's life when his internal was regenerated
— his state as a celestial man separate from the world. Capernaum
represented that state and period of his life during which his external
man was regenerated. To this Capernaum, being " on the sea coast"
and "on the borders" of the land of Zabulon and Nephthalim,
answered. But there are other instructive circumstances besides
these. Between the Lord's abode in these two places lay his baptism
and his temptation in the wilderness. The baptism of John repre
sented the purification of the external; and temptation, which was
included in the signification of that rite, and into which our Lord
entered immediately after his baptism, is the means by which evil in
the external man is subdued, and by which the internal and external
are united. And here we see the suitableness of the Lord, after his
temptations in the wilderness, coming into the land of Zabulon and
Nephthalim, which, we have seen, signify the conjunction of good
and truth by means of temptation, and, in reference to the Lord, the
union of his divinity and humanity through temptations from the
powers of darkness and victories over them. WhUe, therefore,
Nazareth was the place where he was " brought up," Capernaum was,
in a divine as well as in a natural sense, " his own city," for he
became what Capernauni represented. It is not to be understood
that the Lord's temptations were ended before he entered into Caper
naum. On the contrary, he suffered much from the Capernians
themselves, among whom he had done many of his greatest works.
But we are to remember that even among the Gentiles there were, as
there still are, the evil as well as the good, and consequently the
unbelieving as well as the believing. And it was against Capernaum,
as consisting of and representing these, that our Lord afterwards
uttered such severe censures and denunciations.
17. The state on which the Lord had now entered being one in
which the Word came forth from its interior recess in the internal of
the Lord's humanity into a more outward development and manifesta
tion, he began to take up the thread of John the Baptist's discourse,
and preach the same doctrine to mankind. From tliat time Jesus
began to preach, and to say. Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at
ha,nd. This is indeed an epoch in our Lord's history. It forms the
commencement of his ministry — the first of the sublime teachings
which make up the incomparable code of interior and spiritual
wisdom that stamps the Gospel as the power of God unto salvation.
The time from which Jesus began to preach was that in which " he

78 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IV,
learnt experience from the things which he suffered." He had been
tempted, and had passed through the fiery ordeal refined and tem
pered. And now he was prepared to give the world the fruits of his
practical wisdom. Time is the emblem of state ; and the state which
results from successful temptation is, as we have seen, a state of
conjunction — in the Lord's case, the union of goodness and truth, and
a proportional union of his divine and human natures. Preaching
is appropriate to the state on which the Lord had now entered ; for
it is the function of the internal to think and feel, of the external to
speak and act. It is worthy of remark that the theme of the
beginning of the Lord's preaching is precisely the same as that of
John the Baptist's. It is said by some that repentance is not the
gospel. No doubt the gospel includes much besides the doctrine of
repentance, but there can be no gospel without repentance. Repent
ance, we repeat, as it was the first duty preached, is the first to be
performed. It is the gate of introduction to that kingdom of heaven
which was declared to be near at hand. It is not " believe," but
" repent and believe," that forms the enlarged teaching of the gospel.
" Repent" was the first word uttered by the Divine Preacher, and
stands as the Portal of the True Christian Temple of religion.
Whoever would enter in, must pass through the gate of Repentance.
Although there is no literal difference, there is a spiritual distinction
between preaching and saying; mentioned together, they imply that
the Lord addresses himself to the will and to the understanding; and
repentance respects both, for we have to repent of our evUs and also
our errors.
18. But when the Lord appeared before the world as the Preacher
of the gospel, he was pleased to employ other instruments to carry on
the great work. Walking hy the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brethren,
Simon called Peter, and Andrew Ms brother, casting a net into the sea:
for they were fishers. The calling of the apostles is an interesting and
instructive circumstance. The selection of the men who were to be,
so to speak, the companions of the Saviour in his life, and labourers
with him in his beneficent work, is a matter of deep interest. But
when we know that the apostles, as a body and as individuals,
sustained a representative character, the choice becomes instructive as
well as interesting. The apostles were the first-fruits of the church,
and represented it. There is an evident resemblance of the twelve
apostles to the twelve patriarchs and tribes of Israel, which is
rendered evident by the names of both being inscribed, one on the
foundations, the other on the gates of the Holy Jerusalem, (Rev. xxi.)

Chap. IV] ST. MATTHEW. 79
The twelve apostles, like the twelve patriarchs, represented all of every
class who constitute the church on earth and in heaven, of which the
sealing ofthe twelve tribes in the Revelation (ch. vii.) may convince us.
As the apostles represent all the members ofthe church, abstractly, they
represent all the principles of the church, or all the graces and virtues
that constitute the church or heaven in the regenerate mind. Under
stood in this sense, each apostle represents a particular grace. And
the order in which they were chosen, like that in which the sons
of Israel were born, represented the order in which the corresponding
graces are received into the mind in the progress of the spiritual life.
The New Testament does not give the history of the calling of all the
twelve apostles, as the Old Testament does that of the birth of the
twelve sons of Israel, but so far as the history goes, the parallel is com
plete. The first four apostles are similar to the first four patriarchs.
The call of the one and the birth of the other are correspondent.
Like Simon Peter, Reuben signifies faith in the understanding; like
Andrew, Simeon signifies faith in the heart; like James, Levi signifies
charity; and John, like Judah, signifies love. It was when Jesus
walked by the Sea of Galilee that he saw the brethren, and called
them. The scene which this part of the gospel presents is touching
and beautiful in its simplicity. Jesus, choosing out men for his work
of evangelizing the world, walks along the shores of the Sea of
Galilee, and calls unto him some of the fishermen engaged in their
humble calling, that they may become fishers of men. The sea, we
have seen, signifies the external of heaven and the church; and those
who dwell by the sea are such as are of an external but simple char
acter. The Sea of Galilee represented the heathen world as to its
intellectual character and condition, and those who were fishers in it
were, by analogy, suited to become fishers of men. But the sea has
another and kindred signification. As "the gathering together of
waters," which are emblematical of truths, the sea signifies the literal
sense of the Word, which is the ultimate receptacle of all divine
truth; and the fi-sh in the sea signify the living, literal truths
which it contains. Fishers in this sense are such as study the
Divine Word, to draw from it the truths that sustain the religious
life both of themselves and others. This is a qualification required in
those who become fishers of men. And, indeed, the catching of men
is effected by the acquisition and communication of the truths of the
Holy Word ; so that none but those who search the Word can evan
gelize the world. It was because both these meanings were included
in the Sea of Galilee that the Lord walked on its shores, to choose

so ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IV.
from among its fishermen those who were required to go forth to
teach and to preach in his name As he walked he saw two brothers.
And there was a reason for those he then chose being brothers.
Truth and good are brothers, or, what is the same thing, faith and
obedience are brothers; for truth in the understanding is faith, and
truth in the will is obedience. In choosing Peter first, our Lord
teaches us that faith is the first grace that finds a place in the minds
of the regenerate. Repentance, we have said, is the gate of introduc
tion into the church; but repentance is rather an act and a state than
a grace— it is a general turning of the mind away from sin, which
prepares it for the reception of the graces of religion, or of the ]a'in-
ciples which form it. Repent and believe. Repentance, Uke John
the Baptist, precedes and prepares the way of the Lord; faith, like
Peter, comes after him, and follows up his work. Hence our Lord
said, " FoUow me." Faith is not mere inteUectual belief, but is
the faith of truth grounded in good. He who was first chosen is
therefore called Simon Peter, though the surname had not then been
given, because these two names indicate faith as an intellectual state
resting on the will ; and Andrew expresses its fulness by being mani
fested in the life. When the Lord called these brethren, they were
casting a net into the sea. They were in the very act which repre
sented the exercise of the function they were called to assume, ancl
using the instrument that corresponded with the means they were so
successfully to employ, in drawing truths from the Word and men into
the church. A net, like a hook, signifies doctrine, because it is an appli
cation of science to obtain results that men's unaided powers could not
effect. Doctrine is necessary both to draw truths from the Word
and men into the church ; for without it we can neither rightly under
stand nor apply truths. Therefore " fishers," which Peter and Andrew
are said to have been, are "those who search out and teach, first
natural truths, and afterwards spiritual truths, in a rational manner."
19. When Jesus saw Peter and Andrew, he saith unto them. Follow
me, and I will make you fishers of men. In the time of our Lord's
sojourn on earth, men who received the Lord as the Messiah were
frequently required literally to follow him. Spiritually, all require
to follow him by walking in the truth and imitating his holy
example. And this the disciple must do if, from being a learner
and teacher of natural truth, he would become a learner and teacher
of spiritual truth. This progression is meant by becomino- a fisher of
men. Fish signify natural truths, and men rational truths. To be
fishers of men, the discijdes must be able to teach spiritual truths after

Chap. IV.] ST. MATTHEW, 81
a rational manner. And this can only be done by following the Lord
as the Divine Truth itself, and as that Divine Truth manifested in
human nature; for the Lord became man, that he might become the
fisher of men, both immediately and by means of others.
Faith in the understanding, however clear and bright, will not
alone suffice for our salvation. Peter has indeed the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, and can open it to our view; but he must be
accompanied by his brother Andrew before we can fully enter into it.
For as Peter signifies faith in the understanding, so Andrew his
brother signifies faith in the will, as a wilUng devotedness of oneself
to the practice of what faith teaches.
It is to such characters as these, or to those who ai-e earnest in
connecting faith and obedience, that the Lord peculiarly addresses
himself, saying, " FoUow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
This injunction is of the utmost weight and importance. We follow
the Lord when we become his disciples, more especially when we follow
his example; but the deep import of this command can only be seen
when it is understood that the Lord alludes to the process through
which he passed in glorifying his humanity and uniting it to his
divinity, of which transcendent process the regeneration of man, or
the process by which man acquires a spiritual quality and attains
conjunction with the Lord, is an image and imperfect copy.
20. It is surprising, and shows the infiuence which the Lord
exercised over well-disposed minds, that when he called the two
brothers, they straightway left their nets, and followed him. It is to
be understood, that while the Lord was raising up a church among
the Gentiles, the first fruits of his ministry were Jews who were in a
Gentile state, for such were necessary to be instruments of reaching
others through the Scriptures. The doctrines and truths of the
Word were the net by which they were to draw men into the
church. But in order that they might receive and use the " gospel
net," they must leave their Jewish net behind. And such only as
were willing to do this could become apostles of the new dispensation.
New wine cannot be put into old bottles. New truths cannot be put
into old doctrinals. The doctrinals of the Jewish church related in a
gi-eat measure to ceremonials, which were to be abolished. As bottles
they had served their use, and new bottles were to be provided for
new wine. The old nets were not more required than old bottles.
These two disciples, leaving their nets, followed the Lord — followed
him in the regeneration, in performing works of love, and in teaching
truths of wisdom. G

82 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IV.
Happy are they who have advanced to the state represented
by Simon and Andrew when they obeyed the Lord's call; for they
have entered into a state of conjunction with the Lord, and secured,
if they faint not, a place in his kingdom.
21. But excellent as this state is, it is not the highest that the Lord
has prepared for them that serve him. For we find that Jesus went
on further. And going on from thence, he saw oilier two brethren,
James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother. By going on is meant
a progression or advancement in the state treated of This, with
respect to the Lord himself, is a progression towards more intimate
union with the Essential Divine, called the Father; and with re.spect
to man, it is progression towards more interior conjunction with the
Lord, or a deeper and more interior reception of him in the mind —
the opening of a principle in the mind in which he can more inti
mately dwell. Accordingly, we find that a very distinct state is
alluded to; for it proceeds to say that he saw other two brethren.
The reason of this particular distinction is because Peter and Andrew,
considered together, represent here the first state of the regenerate
life, in which the understanding dictates and the will obeys : but the
calling of James and John represented a state in which the will itself
is renewed, and, no longer requiring to be led by the understanding,
asserts its pre-eminence, and needs only to consult the understanding
to draw thence the means of executing the good purposes which it
now intends. James, accordingly, is the type of the heavenly prin
ciple of charity, or of love towards the neighbour; and John is that
spontaneous determination of love into action by virtue of which a
benevolent purpose is no sooner conceived in the heart than the
hands and all the outward faculties are put into requisition for its
jierforinance. How elevated a state that is in which love and charity
immediately influence the will, and good is done from spontaneous
affection ! and how superior it is to the doing of good from motives of
obedience only, and from intellectual conviction, must be evident to all.
Still more superior is it to that state in which men do good from the
promptings of good natural dispositions, without any spiritual charity
in the heart or any spiritual truth in the understanding. Natural
good is indeed a medium for receiving spiritual good, but cannot be a
substitute for it. This good seems to be denoted by Zebedee, the father
of James and John. When good from the Lord is received, this natural
good as a principle of action is no longer wanted, nor, indeed, admis
sible ; and therefore James and John, when they received the Lord's
caU, left their father and foUowed him. That Zebedee represented

Chap. IV.] ST. MATTHEW. 83
the will-principle in general as to the good natural affections which
are received by birth, would appear from another important occasion
on which James and John are named as his sons. When the mother
of these two disciples came to ask of the Lord that they might sit, the
one on his right hand and the other on his left in his kingdom, she is
called the mother of Zebedee's children, no doubt to mark the natural
origin of the request, in which there was something of self-exaltation
which required to be crucified — for the Lord said to the sons, " Can ye
drink of the cup that I drink of, and be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with?" but which had so much good in it as to
be able and willing to endure the trial — for they said, "We are able."
22. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed
him. The Lord required of his disciples that they should leave
father and mother, and wife and children, and all that they had, and
foUow him. This, which was literally done in the days of his flesh, is
to be done spiritually now. For these natural relations were the types
of the natural principles which constitute our selfhood. It is in
reference to these that the Divine Teacher also says, that " a man's
foes shall be they of his own household ;" and from whom he is there
fore required to separate himself The two brethren leaving the ship
and their father to follow Jesus, was thus a natural act, representing the
spiritual duty of giving up all things, both of the natural understanding
and the natural wUl, that we may become the Lord's disciples. And
this is done " immediately," when it is done without hesitancy or re
servation; for as the spiritual sense has no relation to time, but only to
state, " immediately'' means certainly, as the result of strong affection
and unwavering faith.
23. The Lord, though he had chosen labourers to work in his vine
yard, did not on that account cease to work in it himself. Jesus
went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the
gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all
manner of disease among the people. Galilee, we have seen, repre
sented, in relation to man, the natural mind. And when the Lord,
after choosing these four disciples, went about all GalUee, we are
instructed that when the Lord, as the Divine Truth, is received in
faith and love in the inner man, his Divine presence and power
descend into the external, carrying light and joy and healing into
every faculty and principle therein. The Lord's labours there are
particularly described. He was employed in teaching, preaching,
and healing — teaching truth to the intellect, preaching good to the
wiU, and healing the disorders of evU and falsity in the Ufe. He

84 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IV,
taught in their synagogues, for a synagogue signifies the church as to
doctrine; he preached the gospel of the kingdom, for the gospel
signifies the truths and goods of the Word, revealed at the coming of
the Lord and governing in the heart; he healed aU manner of sickness
and all manner of disease among the people, for sickness and disease
signify the practical disorders of the life, arising from evU lusts and
false persuasions being brought into act; and their existence among the
" people " signifies that the disorders had an intellectual origin : for
evil may either pass from the understanding into the will, or from the
will into the understanding ; and those which originate in the intellect
are less malignant and deadly than those which originate in the ¦will.
Sins of error are less destructive than sins of intention. And this
more especially is the character of evil among the Gentiles, or those in
the church who are in a GentUe state; and these are meant especially
by the Galileans, who dwelt in the land, which represented the
church, and were yet in a GentUe state.
24. And his fame went throughout all Syria. Syria, or Aram, was
out of the holy land, on the other side of Jordan. But it was in this
country that the Hebrew church commenced, and some remains of the
knowledges of which still existed in the time of Abraham, who was
of Padan-aram, and even in the time of Balaam, who knew Jehovah,
and made a perverse use of the knowledge he possessed, by using
divination against the children of Israel. The remains of the
Hebrew, or second ancient church, continued in Syria a long time;
but it at last became idolatrous. Syria has therefore two opposite
significations. Considered as the seat of the Hebrew church, it
signifies the knowledges of good and truth ; but considered as
idolatrous, it signifies the opj)Osite, or these principles perverted.
When, therefore, the Lord's fame went into all Syria, it went
among a people who were not pure Gentiles, but who had affinity
with the church. And the result showed that the Syrians were
ready to receive the gospel, and to acknowledge the Lord as the
Messiah ; for they brought unto Mm all sick people that were taken
with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed
until devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had
the palsy. Sickness is a universal term, including under it general
and particular evils of every kind. EvUs generally are those of the
will and the understanding, which are here meant by diseases and
torments. Particular evils are those of the will, the understandino-,
and the life, and these are meant by the three afflictions that follow.
Devils are evils of the will; lunatics are falses of the understandinn-J

Chap. IV.] ST. MATTHEW. '85
and palsies are evUs of the lU'e. These include, indeed, almost all the
maladies that are mentioned in the New Testament, as those -with
which the multitudes were afflicted that came to Jesus for a cure.
His power was equal to the greatest demand that was made upon it.
The present relation gives us the impression, if not the assurance,
that the maladies were not only diverse, but numerous, — they came
from all parts of Syria, and were additional to those who came from
GalUee. Yet he healed them all. And he is still the same merciful
and infaUible Physician. He heals the spiritual disorders and
diseases of all who come to him, and who trust in his power to save.
25. Besides the numerous sick and afflicted that were healed,
there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from
Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond
Jordan. These great multitudes represented the numerous thoughts
and affections of the mind that the Lord, by heaUng and regenerating
the soul, draws into connection with himself, and conforms to the
laws of his own Divine Ufe, which is specially meant by following
him. The regions from which these multitudes came indicate the
kind of thoughts and affections they represent. Those from Galilee
and Decapolis signify the inner and outer, or celestial and spiritual-
natural ; for Decapolis was out of the land, lying between Canaan
and Syria ; Jerusalem and Judea signify the spiritual and celestial ; and
those beyond Jordan signify the sensual and corporeal. Thus these
multitudes include all classes of persons and principles, spiritually
considered, that receive love and light from the Lord, and that follow
him in the regeneration. Taken in connection with the caUing of the
four disciples, and making them flshers of men, and their foUo-wing
him as their Lord, this great multitude from all parts represented
affections and thoughts of all kinds, brought under the influence of
the Divine Love and wisdom of Jesu.s, the Saviour, now received as
the Supreme Object of faith and love into the understanding and will.
These are the great multitudes to whom, with the disciples, the Lord
addressed his Sermon on the mount. The sublimity and universality
of the truths he then delivered deserved an audience drawn together
from all parts, both within and beyond the land of Canaan. And so
with us individually ; all our best thoughts and affections should be
turned to the Lord, every faculty and power should be devoted to
him, when he discourses to us of those high and holy principles that
he came on earth to reveal, and which he is ever teaching through his
Word, and continually operating by his Spirit to implant in the hearts
of men.

85 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
CHAPTER V.
This forms the commencement of that sublime series of sa-ving
wisdom, the whole of which has ever been the theme of general
admiration, as known by the name of the " sermon on the mount."
This appears to have been the first regular and continued discourse
that feU from the lips of the living Word of God — of Jehovah, as
incarnate for human salvation. For until he had been baptized by
John, at which time the gloriflcation of his Humanity was so far
advanced as to admit of an immediate communication between his
divine Essence and his external man — represented by the opening of
the heavens, the descent of the Spirit as a dove, and the voice of
divine acknowledgment then heard — he did not enter upon any pubUc
ministry at all. He then underwent the temptation in the wilder
ness, after which he returned to Galilee, " and from that time," as we
are informed in the previous chapter, " Jesus began to preach, and to
say. Repent : for the kingdom of heaven" is at hand." This is pre
cisely the same as John the Baptist had proclaimed before, the burden
of whose preaching is described in the very same words. " Jesus,"
however, it is said, " went about all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues,
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of
sickness and disease among the people." But the first specimen that is
given of his teaching, beyond the general announcement that the king
dom of heaven was at hand, is that which is here recorded. And how
admirably in accord with the character of the Divine Speaker, and
with the errand of love on which he has descended into the domains
of fallen humanity, are these heavenly sentences ! It is to pronounce
blessings that he opens his lips; and the first word which issues from
them is the encouraging word " Blessed." And how truly, how
sweetly encouraging is this blessing! In the sequel he abundantly
declares how high is the tone of morals and true exceUence which his
religion requires; but, instead of beginning with this, or putting it in
a form implying reproof and condemnation, he encourages his disciples
to engage with cheerfulness in the duties which he shows to be those
of true religion, by pouring out blessings upon the humble, the
afflicted, and the well-disposed. He begins with evincing that the
human race are the objects of his tender affection; that all that is
good in them he desires to foster and increase; that their miseries are
regarded by him with the softest pity; and that the delight of his
heart is to remove evil and sorrow, to impart good, and eternally to
bless.

Chap. V,] ST, MATTHEW. 87
1. As he thus so characteristically begins his divine teaching by
manifesting his love — by e^vincing that it is from the purest Divine
Love that all his instructions and requirements, all his words and
actions, all his communication and dealings with the human race
proceed — so this was represented by the circumstances and situation
in and from which he delivered this discourse. Seeing the multitudes,
he went up into a mountain: am,d, when he was set, his disciples came
unto htm : and he opened his mouth, and taught them. His seeing the
multitudes not only signifies that he beheld them with the eyes of his
natural body, but also, according to the spiritual import of the phrase,
that he perceived the state or condition of the wandering objects of
the chUdren of men — how, as is said in another place, they are " scat
tered abroad as sheep not having a shepherd" — his discernment of all
their wants and needs, and his providence over them, keeping them
under his care, and providing, in the best manner that their situation
would permit, for their real and eternal good. Divine sight is
especially foresight and providence. The Lord's being said, then, to
see the multitude, is expressive of his exercise of this providence over
the human race according to their state. For all the actions of the
Lord Jesus Christ were representative, no less than his words were
expressiv-e, of divine and spiritual things — of some activity of his
divine love and wisdom, either as existing within himself, or as going
forth upon the human objects of his care and compassion. On
account of this representative character of all his actions it was, that,
when about to deliver the instructions of love composing this dis
course, he went up into a mountain. This, indeed, in a natural point
of view, gave him the advantage of the better seeing and being seen
by the multitude that he was to address, and conveyed his words
more audibly to their organs of hearing : but the action was never
theless correspondent to the state or principle in himself from which
he addressed these encouragements and instructions to the people.
We have seen that, as the style of the commencement of his discourse
most plainly evinces, he uttered it from the impulse of his divine
love, and of this a mountain is a correspondent emblem. Frequent
mention is made in the Holy Word, especially in its prophetic parts,
of mountains and hills; because, in a good sense, a mountain is repre
sentative of celestial love, or love to the Lord, and a hill, of spiritual
love, or the love of our neighbour. For it is from love that all spiritual
elevation proceeds; and the more exalted and ardent the nature of
the love in which man is principled, the more truly elevated is his
internal state — the nearer to heaven and to the Lord. Thus, when

88 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V;
the prophet declares that in the last days the mountain of the Lord's
house should be established in the top of the mountains, and bo
exalted. above the hills, it is evidently the principle of love, as revealed
in the new church, and its supremacy over every lower celestial and
spiritual affection, that are signified; and when the Lord is said to go
up into a mountain, preparatory to his addressing the people, the
signification is, that he entered into the depths and heights of his own
unfathomable love, and that from that divine and infinite love flowed
his divine words— all the truths which he communicates for the
edification and regeneration of the human race.
When lie was set, it is added, Ms disciples came unto him. It was
the custom with teachers in the Jewish representative church to
deliver their instructions in a sitting posture, and not that of standing,
which most nations have regarded as the most convenient for that
jjurpose. The reason of the former choice was because sitting is signi
ficant of permanence and confirmation, Thus, to deliver instructions
sitting, impUed that the doctrines delivered were the dictates of
permanent and immutable truth. How truly was this applicable
to the instructions of the Lord Jesus Christ ! With strict propriety
and weight of meaning is it therefore recorded that he seated himself,
and that in a mountain, when he delivered this divine discourse.
The doctrines he then delivered were the dictates of eternal and
immutable divine truth — eternal and immutable because grounded in
the purposes of infinite beneficence and love.
2. Thus it was that lie opened his mouth, and taught — revealed the
doctrines and communicated the life-giving instructions of that
infinite wisdom which is constantly directed to the promotion of the
true welfare of man, the salvation of the human race.
3. When the Lord was thus set upon the mountain, with the
disciples around and the multitude before him, he began his divine
discourse by saying, Blessed are the poor in spnrit: for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
Before we proceed to consider the beatitudes, we may offer a
few remarks on the connection that exists between them. There
can be no doubt that, like all things stated in the Divine Word,
there is a regular order and series in these beatitudes, and that,
though each appears in the letter to stand by itself, and not to be in
any wise dependent on those which follow and precede it, they never
theless are all connected by divine principles of arrangement, whence
each has relation to the others in the series, and each occupies its
proper place in it, so that it could not with the same propriety stand

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW. 89
anywhere else. What the principle of the arrangement is, however, is
not so plain here as in many of the discourses, narratives, and precepts
of the Holy Word ; and as I have never met with anything in which
this matter is illustrated, what I shall offer upon it shall be proposed
with great diffidence. I cannot discern that the several blessings fall
throughout into classes either of two or of three each, as is usuaUy the
case with series of subjects in the Word of God. They are commonly
reckoned eight in number, because the two last, both relating to
enduring persecution, are usually regarded as composing but one. In
form, however, the two last are distinct, making nine in the whole :
thus, the distinguishing word "Blessed" is nine times repeated.
Hence they cannot be divided throughout into classes of tivo each.
They might be di-vided into classes of three each, but, as appears to
me, not without -violence — not without separating parts that are
most closely connected, and uniting others which are obviously more
distinct. I incline, therefore, to conclude that the first four are
connected together, forming two specific classes of two each, but each
two having also a plain reference to the other two, so as to compose
altogether a general class of two gi-eat portions, each again consisting
of two members. Thus, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs
is the kingdom, of heaven, and Blessed are they that mourn : for ihey
shall he comforted, are plainly united, the one having respect to the
good and the other to the truth of the same order or state, and
composing thus that heavenly marriage, the existence of which we
have often occasion to notice in the Divine Word. The one clause
has reference to those who regard themselves as destitute of good, and
the other to those who regard themselves as destitute of truth. But
the two next clauses are connected together in the same way, and also
answer respectively to the two first. Blessed are the meek : for they
shall inherit the earth — Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness : for they shall he filled, are clauses which relate to those
who are in the desire for goodness and truth; and there aj)pears a
relation between the meek, in the first of these clauses, and the poor
in spirit in the first clause of the preceding class : whilst there
is a relation no less plain in the beatitude promised to each, the
inheriting of the earth clearly answering to the possessing of the
kingdom of heaven. So the hungering and thirsting after righteous
ness, in the second clause of this second class, is closely allied to the
mourning mentioned in the second clause of the preceding class; and
the being filled answers to the being comforted.
Thus, while each of the two classes contains a clause relating more

90 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
to truth, and a clause relating more to good, the two classes have the
same relation taken together. The poor in spirit and they that moum,
both have relation to the principle of truth, if viewed in connection
with the meek, and with those who hunger and thirst after righteous
ness, which have relation, so viewed, to the principle of good ; but to
good more as looked to and desired than yet actually attained.
The three next clauses are closely related with each other, and so
little connected with the preceding and following that they appear to
me to form one general class together, and by themselves. Blessed
are tlie merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure
in heart : for they sliall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers : for
they shall be called the cMldren of God. All these terms — the
merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers — seem to belong
properly to the states of the will or love, and thus to those who are in
the enjoyment, respectively, of three degrees of good from the Lord,
and thence are principled in pure divine truth, or gifted with its
perceptions. The two last clauses, relating to those who are persecuted for
righteousness' sake, and for the Lord's sake, evidently belong to each
other, and form a class by themselves. They relate to those who, by
temptations, both as to good and as to truth, attain to states of good
and of truth through purification from evils. Thus they relate to the
means by which are effected the conjunction of the internal and the
external man, and the conjunction of man himself with the Lord.
I know not whether, by this slight sketch, I have been able to
convey any clear idea of the mode in which, as it appears to me, the
clauses of these beatitudes are to be classifled. I think, however, it
will be seen that the two first clauses, relating to the poor in spirit
and to them that mourn, form a pair; the second two, relating to the
meek ancl them that hunger and thirst after righteousness, another
pair, and these two pairs a compound pair together ; that the three
next, touching the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers,
form a class by themselves; and the two last, respecting the persecuted
and reviled, a class likewise. Thus the whole may be viewed as falling
into three general portions : the first consisting of two compound, or
of four single, members ; the second of three single members, and the
last of two.
However, whether this attempt at classifying the clauses be seen to
be just or not, there is another principle which prevails in the Holy
Word, where a general series of subjects is delivered, which cannot fail
to be perceived to be applicable here. That is, that the first mentioned

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW. 91
in order is a universal principle, which reigns through all the others,
and determines their specific uality. That principle here, then, is
the being poor in spirit. Evidently, to explain the phrase in one
word, this denotes the principle of humility, which is the only
ground in which heavenly graces can truly grow. We are therefore
taught, by its being here mentioned first, that in order to the enjoy
ment of any of the beatitudes which follow, humility must first be
established, and made a universaUy reigning principle in the heart
and mind.
But what is this humility? Humility is the opposite of pride and
arrogance. Unfortunately, in our language we cannot express the
quality of being poor in spirit by any one term which does not,
according to the genius of the language, convey the notion of what is
abject and mean, and which therefore implies rather selfishness than
self-abnegation. Yet this cannot be the character of those whom the
Lord pronounces to be blest for being poor in spirit, when, in the
sequel of this very discourse, he condemns all selfish views in the
most decided manner, when he expressly commands his disciples to
" do good and lend, hoping for nothing again." It is true that he
says to those who do act in this disinterested manner that their
reward shaU be great in heaven ; but this does not mean an external
recompence or repayment independent of the state of good, and thence
of happiness in the person's o-wn mind, but the blessedness which is
inherent in that good itself, and which becomes greater and greater in
proportion to the degree in which a person is capable of doing good
for its own sake, or from the pure love of goodness, irrespective of any
reward or any recompence whatever.
But they who are the most capable of acting with real disinterest
edness, without regard to recompense, either in the shape of a return
of the same kind, or of credit, reputation, and applause in its stead,
will most heartily acknowledge that they possess nothing which they
have not received ; that there is but one source of all real goodness,
and of all real greatness ; and, consequently, that whatever of these
may be exhibited in the conduct of a created being, only has a
residence in him by gift and communication from his Creator. To
separate man from God would be equally to separate him from aU
good, and then he could neither cherish any feelings nor do any
actions but such as are altogether e-vil. And the only way in which
man can be in the reception of pure goodness, truth, or any heavenly
attribute from the Lord, is, by being habitually in the acknowledg
ment that whatever he has of that kind is from this divine Source — •

92 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V,
thus, that nothing of it is from himself, unconnected with his Maker.
And in proportion to the depth and fullness of the feeUng and convic
tion which man has, that nothing good or true is from himself alone,
wUl be his capacity of receiving ennobling gifts from his Creator and
Redeemer. Therefore it is that the Lord pronounces the first of his
beatitudes in favour of those that are poor in spirit, and affirms that
their' s is the kingdom of heaven. For to be poor in spirit is to be in
the heartfelt acknowledgment of our spiritual poverty and destitution
in and of ourselves; specifically, to see and feel that nothing of true
knowledge, understanding, and wisdom is of ourselves, or is self-
derived. In proportion as there is this heartfelt acknowledgment,
there is the capacity of receiving the corresponding gifts from the
Lord, and of enjoying and exercising them by derivation from him.
These, consequently, are imparted in abundance to such a mind ; in
other words, there is the kingdom of heaven — the reign of Divine
Truth, with all the graces which it brings. And if by reason of
temptations from beneath, or from the activity of the evils of man's
nature striving to engross his affections, the kingdom of heaven is not
at all times felt by such a person to be his in possession, it nevertheless
is, even in his darkest states, his in property, or in right, and by the
best of all rights, that of gift- and endowment from its Divine Origi
nator and indefeasible Proprietor.
4. One with the promise made to the poor in spirit is that to those
who mourn. For if one of these terms refers more specifically to. the
acknowledgment and perception, on the part of man, that he has no
knowledge, understanding, or wisdom of himself, the other refers to
the corresponding acknowledgment that he has no good, no charity, no
heavenly love of his own; that, viewed as he is in and of himself, and
separate from his connection with the Lord, he is destitute of the graces
of the heavenly kingdom in regard to the furniture of his will, as well
as in regard to that of his understanding. Therefore, again, man being
thus emptied of self, there is room for the Lord to enter, and to fill him
with his good. Wherefore, also, it is said of those who mourn, that
they shall he comforted— fhut all their wants shall be supplied— that
the destitution of which they are sensible in themselves shaU be re
moved — and that, being weU aware that they can prel-eud to nothing
good of their own, or originating in themselves, they shall be supplied
with good in all abundance, and according to the utmost of their
capacity of reception, from the Lord.
It is, however, a fact, that man is not only negatively destitute of
aU truth and of all good in and of himself, but also, that positively in

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW. 93
and of himself, he is nothing but evU — that, by what is called the fall
of man, and the accumulation of evil which has thence gone on through
innumerable generations, man brings into the world with him an
immense mass of tendencies to every direful and abominable enormity,
so that his selfhood is entirely made up of such evil tendencies ; and
that every one has, to a greater or less extent, allowed these tendencies
to come into act, and so has alienated himself farther from the pure
reign of the Lord and of goodness. Here is abundant ground, when a
man becomes sensible that such is re illy his state, for mournful sensa
tions literally; and grief on account of the privation, absence, or
perversion of good; is the proper spiritual signification of mourning
when mentioned in the Holy Word. No one, however, can truly
mourn over the evils which he perceives in himself but from something
good interiorly received from the Lord. Whenever, therefore, there
is real sorrow for sin, — not merely alarm on account of its expected
punishment, — there, to a certainty, a principle of good, of mercy, or of
grace, is present from the Lord, operating to effect a cure. That cure
is effected when the good thus present with man from the Lord has
accomplished the removal of the evil opposed to it — when it has
become paramount in the soul ; and not only so, but when it fills the
whole heart, mind, and life, so that, being consciously loved, it is at
tended with a corresponding sense of delight and happines,?. And
this is what is strictly signified by the assurance, that he that
mourneth is blessed, because he shall be comforted.
5. As the two first beatitudes relate to those who, from a principle of
good in the internal, see the disorders of the external, in which they
discern there is nothing but evil and falsity, so the two next beatitudes
which answer to them, relate to those in whom goodness 'and truth
are implanted in the external also, evil and falsity being removed.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. The earth
is used in Scripture to signify the church, and, in relation to man
individually, his external man : here it denotes the external man in a
state of regeneration and order. The meek denote those who are
principled in charity, and who, from charity in the internal man, are
mild and forbearing in the affections of the external man, towards
those who oppose or ill-treat them, instead of acting, as the unre
generate man does in such cases, with resentment, passion, and vio
lence. Thus it is said of Moses, in reference to the causeless sedition
against him of Miriam and Aaron — "Now the man Moses was very
meek above all the men which were on the face of the earth," (Num.
xii. 3). And the Lord takes the character himself when he says in

94 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
that pathetic address to the weary and heavy laden, "Take my yoke
upon you, and learn of me : for I am meek and lowly of heart." They,
then, who are meek are they who, from a principle of charity, are able
so to direct the feelings and conduct of the external man as that no
emotions of anger and bitterness shall arise or break out on any
occasion whatever— who, partaking of the long-suffering attribute of
the Divine Master, are able in their patience to possess their souls.
This is a state, not merely of acknowledgment of evU, and of grief on
account of it, but of good, which succeeds upon its removal in conse
quence of such acknowledgment. And the happy ones who thus
cultivate this grace of meekness shaU assuredly inherit the earth.
This does not mean, what many have dreamed, that the saints shall
become the sole possessors of what are called the good things of the
world, and that a temporal kingdom over the realms of the earth shall
be conferred upon them : what it means is, that the external man,
which by natural birth is the seat of all evils, shall be reformed and
regenerated, and all its evils be removed and so controlled by the
prevalence and dominion of heavenly principles, as to be in complete
subjection and quiescence.
I have observed that the meek are they who are principled in charity,
and thence regulate the emotions of the external man according to the
principles of charity. But it is to be remembered that charity in its
essence is truth, being the affection of living according to what truth
teaches. Moses also, who was said to be the meekest of men, repre
sents the law divine, or truth divine, in its internal ground. So that
strictly, the term meek describes the quality of internal truth, which
is not contentious, but pacific. In this view the clause wiU answer
very exactly to that respecting those who are poor in spirit, they being
specifically such as acknowledge that nothing of knowledge, intelligence,
and wisdom is from themselves, thus, that of themselves, they are desti-
tuteof truth. This acknowledgment of destitution is indue time followed
by the communication of truth; or the poor in spirit, to whom belongs
the kingdom of heaven, or who have the internal man opened, in due
time become the meek who shall inherit the earth — those who, being
in internal truth and the good of it, come into the possession of all the
graces of the regenerate external man.
6. The next beatitude. Blessed are tliey that hunger and thirst after
righteousness : for they sliall he filled, relates to the blessedness of beint^
in the affection of goodness and truth; which affection is sure to be
gratified, according to the degree of its intensity, by the communi
cation of aU the good and of aU the truth which there is a capacity

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW, 95
for receiving. Hunger, when applied to the Lord, is the earnestness
of his desire to communicate good to mankind thus, for their salvation.
So hunger, when applied to man in the sense of having an appetite for
food, denotes his desire to be endowed with goodness, which is the
proper food of the will; and in like manner thirst, thus applied, is his
desire to appropriate truth, which is the proper food of the under
standing. Righteousness is evidently goodness. Thus to hunger and
thirst after righteousness is to desire and look to good with all the
powers of the will and the understanding.
This is a desire which in a manner fulfils itself, since truly to desire
to become better is actually to become so : only we must take care
not to mistake a barren wish, the result of a mere intellectual convic
tion of the superiority of the state regarded, for that real desire of
affection which alone is true spiritual hunger and thirst. Thus desiring,
we shall know what it is to be happy. The happiness promised to
such states wiU begin its development even in this life, by inspiring
an inward peace and contentment : and it wUl expand hereafter into
the utmost fulness of delight and joy.
We have observed of the first four beatitudes, that they seem to
constitute two double clauses, answering in each of their members
respectively to each other; agreeably to that species of heavenly
marriage, or union of goodness and truth, so often observable in the
structure of the Divine Word. But besides the arrangement of the
clauses into pairs, and into double pairs, which are so often found in
the more poetical parts of the Word of God, triple clauses also not
unfrequently occur, expressive of the three degrees of divine order
existing in everything that proceeds from the Lord, by reason that
such a trine or trinity exists in his own nature; and thence by
derivations in the nature of man, his image, and thus also in heaven
and in the church, and in anything whatever that is full and com
plete; whence the number three itself, also, in the divine style of
writing, signifies what is full and complete. In agreement with this
order the three next beatitudes appear to be arranged; all which
seem to relate more especially to states of good, and thus to denote
three classes of persons who are distinguished by their attainments in
heavenly good and love; and also to the three degrees of those
excellencies as opened in the mind which is regenerated throughout
its faculties. " Blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, the
peacemakers.'' All these terms — merciful, pure in heart, peace
makers — certainly refer primarily to states of good; and most admir-

96

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.

able and exalted must be the states which are properly described
by such heavenly characteristics,— and they are used in reference to
what our doctrines caU the celestial man, through aU the powers of
his mind.
As the preceding beatitudes evidently describe an upward progress,
it might be supposed that the ascending order would be stUl observed;
but there are several points, not necessary to be mentioned, which
indicate that this is not the order in which these three beatitudes are
to be taken. We will now attempt to ascertain what is denoted by
these three beatitudes respectively.
7. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Mercy, as
we commonly use the word, is the affection of the mind which is
exercised towards those who have been guilty towards us of some
injury or offence, and whom we forgive and do good to notwith
standing. But the original term, though containing this meaning, is
of still more extensive import, as it includes all that we mean by
compassion and jiity — that is, all benevolence exercised towards those
who are unhapi^y or distressed. If we remit to a person who has
injured us the punishment he has deserved, we call it having mercy on
him ; if we sympathize with and relieve, where the case admits of relief,
a person in distress, we call it having compassion on him. Both are
included in the Scripture idea of mercy: indeed, the highest degree of
tender benevolence, exercised especially towards those who are in afflic
tion or distress, is what is called mercy in Scripture. Thus, as man,
of himself, is a helpless creature, exposed to great miseries, and, if left
to himself, to eternal ruin; therefore the Lord's love, as exercised
towards him, is properly mercy; hence we find his love so continually
spoken of, especially in the Old Testament, under the name of mercy;
and his mercy is what is so continually supplicated in the inspired
petitions of the Psalms. And they who are most sensible of their
lost and wretched condition by nature and birth, and of the utter
impossibility of their attaining real happiness, or any permanent good,
except it be imparted to them as a free gift by the Lord, the most
truly receive all the communications of his love and bounty as
being of pure mercy. His love, as received by them, and exercised
towards them, is felt and acknowledged to be mercy. The inmost
feeling of their hearts is expressed in that divine saying of Jeremiah
(Lam. iii. 22), " It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not." They know well, that if his love
the communications of his mercy, were to be withheld from them a
single moment, in that moment the evU of their selfhood would break

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW. 97
forth and sink them into ruin. And the more profoundly man feels
this, the more fully are those gifts conferred upon him; because, though
the Lord never withholds them, it is only thus that room is made for
their more fully flowing into him. He thus becomes most fully the
recipient and the subject of the Lord's all-embracing love. Thus
they who receive the Lord's love in the greatest degree, and thence
are most especially the objects of his love, are they who ascribe
all to his mercy. This, then, is eminently the characteristic of the
celestial man — of the man who is most intimately principled in love
to the Lord.
Now, it is an unquestionable fact, that they who thus are most
replenished with the Lord's love in their own souls will necessarily
overflow most with love and compassion towards others. Such then
are " the merciful" spoken of in this beatitude. They are those who
feel compassion from an internal, a celestial ground, for the miseries
and infirmities of others. They will be merciful towards those who
have injured or offended them, ever ready to forgive and to do them
good. Yet their charity in this respect will be guided by prudence,
and while they look upon the misconduct, even of their bitterest
enemies, with pity, and cherish no inclination to do them injury in
return, they yet will not so act as to encourage them in their wicked
ness, or to give them the means of perpetrating it to a greater extent.
They will cherish feelings of benevolence towards all, and of mercy
and compassion even towards the greatest sinners; but they will
exercise charity in externals to every one according to his state, — thus,
in one way towards a wicked man, and in another towards a good,
knowing that the Lord's love towards mankind, to be exercised at all,
necessarily takes the form of mercy; and feeling this experimentally
in themselves, they will desire to act, in their finite degree, and
according to their feeble ability, in a similar way towards their fellow
creatures. They will view them, in some degree, as the Lord views
them : they will feel compassion on beholding them wander from the
paths of real good and happiness, and will thence desire above all
things to contribute in some degree to reclaim them from their blind
ness and evil ways, and to promote in them the reception of the Lord's
love and mercy. Thus, in every respect, they will cherish towards all
the feelings of compassion and tenderness — of external compassion for
those who are in outward calamities, of internal for those who are in
spiritual destitution; and they will desire to do good in both respects
as far as their ability extends. Thus receiving the Lord's love, though
in comparative obscurity, while in the world, and cultivating the
H

98 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
merciful spirit which it inspires, they shall enjoy it openly and fully
after death, and shall experience for ever the inestimable blessing of
having obtained niercy.
8. The blessedness of the pure in heart, though also belonging to
those who are of a celestial character, yet appears to partake more
of an intellectual quality, and to relate rather to the understanding
of those who are grounded in celestial good, while the being merciful
describes the quality of their will itself The intellectual part, however,
of those who are in the celestial state, or whose ruling love is love to
the Lord, is completely one with their will, so that they never can
think of anything from a mere inteUectual view of it, but always in
connection with their love and affection : hence their very thoughts
are in a manner nothing but affections, being derivations, in a con
scious form, of the love which occupies their inmost will. Thus to be
pure in heart denotes to have a will purified, or cleansed, by the
operation of Divine Truth, because it is the character of the celestial
man, when he hears any truth, not to deposit it in his memory as a
matter for occasional thought or speculation, but to appropriate it
immediately in the life, thus making it the means of the still further
purification of the will. The heart is always mentioned in Scripture
as an emblem of the will; and to be pure in heart is to have a will
purified from the defilements of evil, through the continual practice of
appropriating divine truths, the only effectual purifiers, in the life,
and thus, by their means, continually removing aU impurity and evil
more and more.
That there is here a reference to the intellectual state of those who
are grounded in celestial good, is obvious from the blessing promised
to this state, ¦«'hich is, that they who thus are pure in heart shall see
God. This clearly relates to the intuitive perception of Divine Truth,
which they enjoy who are princii)led in celestial good — whose state of
good is grounded in the will itself, and not in the intellectual part
only. To see is always spoken in the Word of the perceptions of the
understanding, and the Lord is called God more especiaUy in regard
to that essential of his nature called Divine Truth : to see God, then,
spiritually means, not only to behold a manifestation of the Lord
in person (though this also is a privilege which such as are here
treated of frequently enjoy), but also to see or apprehend the
Lord's Divine Truth by an interior sort of sight or perception.
And none really have such perception but they who are pure in
heart— who apply all the truth they learn to the purification of
the will and its affections, thus aUowing it effectually to cleanse

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW. 99
them from evils, by immediately incorporating it in the life and
practice. 9. In the two former of these beatitudes we have a descrijition
of the state and blessedness of the celestial man, both as to his
will and as to his understanding, or rather his perceptive faculty,
as making a perfect one with his will. It will easily be seen that
the third beatitude in order — Blessed are the peacemakers : for tliey
shall be called the children qf God — relates to the life and practice of
such heavenly-minded characters. What conduct can be conceived
more expressive of the outward operation of an inward principle of
pure and exalted love — more appropriate to such a ground in the heart
— than that of making peace ! Love, it is obvious, is the great pacifi
cator; and where its operation is extended and received there will be
peace. There no doubt is also a reference to the Hebrew form of
speaking, in which to seek the peace of any person or place, means, as
we often see in the Old Testament, to promote their welfare in general.
In this view the original term would be rendered in English, "peace-
doers,"' a meaning which it bears equally with that of peacemakers :
and a peacedoer, or a doer of peace, would be one, all whose actions
tend to good and usefulness — to promote the prosperity of all with
whom he has to deal ; whose actions universally tend to good. I have
no doubt that both the sense of doers of peace, and that of makers of
peace, are here intended ; and in both of them we have a full and most
characteristic representation of the life of a man who is influenced in
all he does by celestial love. All that such a man does tends to peace.
If all mankind were influenced by the same heavenly love, there would
be nothing but peace throughout the earth. None would do an act
which tended to the injury of another; and where, by any means, such
an act was done, all would hasten to repair it, and to heal the breach
which had been made. To do and to make peace, then, is undoubtedly
the characteristic in act of him whose life in the will is constituted by
love to the Lord and mutual love ; who is merciful by the reception of
the Lord's mercy; and who, by continually applying divine truths to
the life, is pure in heart.
But no doubt a more interior meaning still is couched in the term
peacemakers. The term relates, in the purely spiritual sense, to those
who remove the contrariety wliich exists, by natural birth, between
the natural man and the spiritual, and thus, also, between man him
self and God. By inheritance and birth, as the apostle has informed
us, the natural man lusteth continually against the spiritual ; and
the opposition can only be removed by the subjugation and regen-

100 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
eration of the natural man, by which it first submits, and then
receives, in its degree, an affection for the same things as are loved by
the internal or spiritual man ; and then, whatever the spiritual man
dictates, the natural man executes with promptitude and deliglit. This
making of peace, then — by which, at the same time, peace is made, or
conjunction is effected, between man and the Lord — is what is meant
in the purely spiritual sense, when those celestial characters who are
here spoken of are called peacemakers ; and the result of this internal
pacification is, the performance, by the external man from the internal,
of such works of good and peace as have been spoken of before. It is
also to be observed, that the estimation in which love in act is held
by the Lord, is indicated here, as in various other places, by this
circumstance — that the highest blessing mentioned is ascribed to these
peacemakers. It is said, that " they shall be called the children of
God;" and by the children of God are meant they who are born of
Him by regeneration ; and regeneration is not complete with any, till
what the internal man wills the external does, and feels in the doing
of it that delight which only results when the action is free and
spontaneous. In these three beatitudes, then, we see, in a coherent series, a
picture of the most exalted state that can be attained by a finite being.
Its purity ancl holiness may perhaps, at first, have a discouraging
aspect, as if it were such as no man could hope to attain. Yet,
certainly, this is not the case. It is a description of a state which is
open to every sincere and humble follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The way of attaining it is that which is pointed out in the second of
these three beatitudes — the becoming pure in heart by immediate
application of divine truths to the life. FaithfuUy employing the
truths which it is our privilege to know, there is no state of heavenly
blessedness which we may not hope to realize ; and no degree of
angelic excellence which, by the mercy of the Lord, may not even
tually be ours.
But while the first seven beatitudes, taken separately, form a series
complete in itself; considered as part of a continuous discourse, they
form only a branch of a more comprehensive whole. Regarding the
Sermon on the mount under one view, the first seven beatitudes
describe the formation of the graces of religion in the heart and
mind, whUe its subsequent part, relating to the law and its duties,
describes the manifestation of those graces in the virtues of a relio-ious
life. Thus the first part relates to the regeneration of the internal
man, and the second to the regeneration of the external man. Now

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW, 101
the regeneration of the external, and its union with the internal,
cannot be effected but by means of temptation ; for the external man
is contrary to the internal, and cannot be reduced to obedience, and
brought into harmony with it, without repeated and severe conflicts.
This is the reason that, between the first seven beatitudes and the
exposition and enforcement of the law, the Lord introduces the
subject, and speaks of the blessedness, of persecution, which we now
come to consider.
10. Blessed are tliey which are persecuted for righteousness' sake.
Persecution signifies temptation. Temptation is inward spiritual
persecution. This is a kind of persecution to which the Christian
disciple is liable in all ages, which exists independently of outward
trials, and which he will have to endure when all outward persecution
has for ever ceased. Were not this the case, the Lord's words would
have no practical meaning for most Christians of the present time,
and for all Christians of the coining age. This inward persecution is
that which is truly endured for righteousness' sake and for the Lord's
sake. It is descriptive of temptation in which the conflict is for the
principle of righteousness or goodness, and for the Lord's love in the
heart, as the very life and joy of the soul. Temptation is intense
in the degree that it is interior. The higher the prize the severer the
contest. The more precious the good which the heart loves, the
deeper the anguish when its loss is threatened. But all such trials
tend to make goodness more precious, and its possession more secure,
to make it enter more deeply into the affections of the heart, by
removing the opposite evil. The more our self-love is subdued, the
more the love of God is exalted; and with its exaltation there is an
increase of all true joy and happiness. It is almost unnecessary to
say that this blessing is not promised to us for being tempted, but for
overcoming in temptation. This is implied; for temptation is but a
means to an end, and only when the end is attained is the reward
experienced. Here, again, the reward is the kingdom of heaven. The
beatitudes end as they begin. The kingdom of heaven is the first and
the last of our spiritual blessings. First heaven is opened in us, and
then it is perfected.
1 1. But the Lord proceeds to say. Blessed are ye, when 'men shall
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against
you falsely, for my sake. It is only necessary to remark on this, that
the extent of the temptation is here described, its nature being indi
cated in the previous words of our Lord. And the temptation here
covers the whole man. For to revile is expressive of opposition to

102 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
good in the will ; to persecute is expressive of opposition to truth in
the understanding; and to say all manner of evil falsely is expressive
of opposition to good in the life. The persecutor also says this falsely
" for the Lord's sake." Those who are persecuted are the disciples, who
represent all the Christian graces and virtues, or all the principles of
good and truth. And these are persecuted when the principles they
represent are opposed in us by evil and malignant spirits ; and evU
spirits hate and oppose and desire to destroy good and truth in us,
because tlie Lord is in them ; for the Lord dwells in us by the graces
and virtues which we receive and do from him, and the divine sphere
of the Lord, as the supreme good and truth, produces the deadliest
hatred in the spirits of the kingdom of evil.
12. The Lord not only promises, but he exhorts. Rejoice, and he
exceeding glad — that is, when ye are persecuted. We find the same
sentiment expressed by the apostles to whom these words had been
addressed. "Count itall joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience " (James
i. 2). Paul, too, utters the same truth. " We glory in tribulations
also : knowing that tribulation worketh patience ; and patience, expe
rience; and experience, hope'' (Rom. v. 3). To joy in tribulation and
temptation is no doubt a sign of a high state of Christian perfection.
Adversity in any of its forms, internal or external, is one of the
sharpest trials of our faith — a stone of offence on which many stumble,
and on which some fall and are broken. But what is the state of mind
which enables us to rejoice in it? Many of the early martyrs displayed
this state in a remarkable degree. Yet it is perhaps more difficult to
rejoice in inward temptation than in outward trial. The mind may be
calm when the body is tortured. In temptation it is the mind that
suffers ; the body meanwhile may be free from pain. This kind of
affliction is therefore not joyous, but grievous afthe time. Its fruits
are joyful. When the storm has passed away, and the sun shines out
in the heavens, cleared of the impurities with which they had been
surcharged, new life and vigour animate the soul. This in-ward joy
is the great reward in heaven promised to the tempted soul ; for the
heaven in which the reward is experienced is the heaven of the inner
man, whereinto the delights of heaven descend and are felt as joy that
passeth aU understanding. The disciples are exhorted to " rejoice"
and "be glad;" for joy is an affection of the will, and gladness is an
affection of the understanding. And they are to rejoice and be "^lad,
because the prophets had been so persecuted before them. Understood
spiritually in reference to one person, this previous persecution of tho

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW. 10^
prophets relates to previous temptations of a lower order and more
external kind. A prophet has relation to truth, as a righteous man
has to good. And temptation as to truth is spiritual tempta
tion, and temptation as to good is celestial temptation. The first
prepares the way for the second; and he who has overcome in the less
has the prospect of overcoming in the greater.
13. The four verses which immediately follow the conclusion of the
beatitudes form together one connected subject. " Ye are the salt of
the earth: but if the salt liave lost his savour, wherewith shall it he
salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but fo be cast out, and to be
trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that
is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put
it under a busliel, hut on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that
are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see
your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Salt
signifies the desire that is inherent in all genuine truth for conjunc
tion with good, and in all genuine good for conjunction with truth.
They who are addressed are the professing members of the church,
who are salt by virtue of their possessing the knowledge of divine
truth. But if the truth, as received in their minds, is unattended by
any desire for conjunction with goodness, it is compared to salt which
has lost its savour, and which is fit for nothing but to be thrown
away; indicating, that such unfruitful members are cast by the Lord
out of his church.
The disciples personally were the means of spiritually seasoning and
preserving the world in their day. All true disciples perform this
service to the world in their generation. In dark and corrupt
times the righteous few are the means of preserving the connection
of the race with heaven, and so of preserving the mass from utter
corruption. In the spiritual sense the Lord's words to his disciples
have, of course, a higher meaning. The disciples represent the truths
and goods of the church, and the church itself is represented by the
earth and the world. In its particular application the earth and the
world represent the natural mind, the spiritual principles in which are
represented by the disciples. Viewing the subject in this particular
appUcation, let us see what the language of correspondence teaches us.
Salt, as symbolical of affection, was extensively used in the ceremonial
worship of the Jews. It was also ordained that salt should be offered
with every meat offering, and that the salt of the covenant of their
God should not be lacking (Lev. ii. 13). The Lord, who showed how
Christians were spiritually to fulfil the ceremonial law, pointed out its

104 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. V.
application when he said, "Have salt in yourselves, and have peace
one with another." The way to live in peace with each other is to
have affection for eadi other. In his words to his disciples on the
mount there is an instructive signification. The natural mind, meant
by the earth, is the seat of spiritual corruption. This is its hereditary
state, and without some corrective, the corrupt disposition would
adopt principles and induce habits conformable to itself The correc
tion is truth in which there is affection — salt in which there is salt-
ness. " But if the salt have lost his savour, wherewithal shall it be
salted?" If truth have lost its affection, or its goodness, wherewith
shall the mind be seasoned and preserved in health and activity?
What is truth, or thought, or act, or word, or even life itself, without
affection? Affection is the true salt of life. Without it the relish of
life would be gone. Truly, if the salt have lost its savour, it is thence
forth fit for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot
of men. If affection, which is the essence of religion, is gone, truth,
which is the form of religion, is fit only to be cast out and to be trodden
under foot; and indeed it is so, if not in this world, at least in the next.
For men reject truth for which they have no affection, and trample it
under their feet. The feet correspond to the natural and sensual
part of man's mind ; and that which is trampled under foot is that
which, instead of being a power to influence the natural mind, is
rejected from it as vile, and contemned, and cursed. There is a
striking version of this same saying of our Lord's in Luke xiv. 34,
where the savourless salt is said to be fit neither for the land nor for
the dunghill. The state here treated is the extinction of spiritual
affection which has once been cherished in the heart. This constitutes
profanation. As salt which has lost its savour is neither fit for the
land nor for the dunghill, but to be cast out, so profaners are neither
fit for heaven nor hell, but are cast out into a region separate from all
others, where they exist as things, but do not live as human beings.
14. The Lord next says to the disciples, and of them, Ye are the
light ofthe world. Light is always used in Scripture to signify truth ;
of which it is so plain an emblem, that every one intuitively sees the
correspondence. Light makes natural objects manifest, and causes
them to appear in their true forms and colours ; and truth does tho
same in regard to the objects of thought and affection. They, then,
who possess a correct knowledge of divine truth, and whose minds are
so formed by it, that they always think and speak in conformity with
its dictates, are thereby qualified to lead the opinions and guide the
practices of those who have not derived the same gift immediately

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW. 105
from the fountain-head. Therefore the Lord says of his true dis
ciples, "Ye are the light of the world!" What an exalted privilege
does such a title describe and imply ! But there can be no privilege
without a corresponding duty; and assuredly it can be no mean duty
which they have to perform who are to act as the lights of the world !
There certainly ought to be something about them distinguishing
them from the mere people of the world. It is not in following in
the common track of worldly men, nor yet by going before them in
their own way, outdoing the common herd in the practices delighted
in by the external man, that anyone can become what Divine Wisdom
calls a light of the world. It is not by conforming in all things to
the ways of the world that a person acquainted with divine truth
can follow his vocation to be a light of the world. What is necessary,
beyond a mere knowledge of truth, to make him such, the Divine
Instructor proceeds to show.
A city (he says) that is set on an hill cannot he hid. This is a very
obvious natural fact; but how it iUustrates the case of those who,
possessing the knowledge of divine truth, are to act as lights to
the world, cannot be seen, except in a very general ancl indistinct
manner, till the correspondence of the natural image is known, and
the spiritual sense thus deciphered. A city is constantly mentioned
in Scripture to denote the doctrine of divine truth, or the church, or
the mind of a member of the church, as framed according to doctrine.
A hill is always used as a symbol of love or charity, or, in an opposite
sense, of worldly or selfish attachment. It here obviously bears its
good signification. A city set on a hill, then, is the doctrine of truth
,grounded in love and charity; and when it is said that a city so
situated cannot be hid, the meaning is, that the church, or the
member of the church with whom the doctrine of truth is grounded
in love and charity, cannot but exercise an illuminating and beneficial
influence on those around. Where truth is inspired by love, it must
be active and useful; and benefits to the church, to society, and to
the world at large, cannot but ensue according to the extent
of the sphere in which such a church, or such a member of the
church, has the means and opportunity of exercising an influence.
Most assuredly, a city that is set upon a hill cannot be hid : neither
will they be hid among mere people of the world whose faith or
knowledge of truth is united with love, and thus with zeal and
the desire to be useful. And as a city on a hUl is visible at a less
or greater distance according to the height of the hill on which it
stands, so will the light of him who possesses the knowledge of divine

106 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
truth the farther extend its influence according to the magnitude or
degree of the affection with which it is united.
15. The divine Admonisher next Ulustrates, by a comparison of
an opposite nature, what is necessary in order that a church, or its
members, should be the Ught of the world. Neither, says he, do men
light a candle, and put it under a bushel, hut on a candlestick ; and
it giveth light to all that are in the house. The general meaning of
this illustration is as obvious as it is striking. A candle certainly is
always lighted for the express purpose of giving light to those in the
room where it is; and it would indeed be the height of folly, on
having lighted one, to put it under a bushel measure, so as to render
it quite as useless as if it had not been lighted at all. Just as useless
to the person himself, as well as to all others, is the light of truth,
when it has been kindled in the mind, if it is kept there as mere
matter of thought and speculation, without producing any effects upon
the conduct and life of the person himself, or any that can conduce
to the advantage and edification of others. A bushel, or any other
hollow measure of capacity, has reference to the receptive faculty in
man ; and all measures or vessels generally signify the same as what
they contain, as when a cup is mentioned to signify wine. But a
measure, to hold anything, must be placed with the open side upwards,
when it is representative of that in the mind which receives the truths
and graces of the Lord's kingdom, and thence of those truths and
graces themselves : whilst a measure, to have a candle put under it,
must be turned upside down ; and then it represents not that which
receives the truths and graces of the Lord's kingdom, but that which
rejects and excludes them ; and then, if any nevertheless find admis
sion, it is by entering from beneath, thus in inverted order, and only
to be suffocated, perverted, and destroyed. In such a mind the light
of truth, when it has entered, is immediately immersed in the self
hood, and rendered incapable of iliuminating the mind, directing the
actions, or effecting any saving and beneficial purpose. To have
such efficacy it must be placed in its proper situation, raised aloft
upon a candlestick so as to diffuse its rays unobstructed around. The
candlesticks, or rather lamp-stands, of the ancients were not the small
articles -avhich we use for the purpose, made to stand upon a table :
they were lofty pillars and branches, of ornamental construction,
standing on the floor, so that the lamp placed on the top shed its
light on all sides, with the least possible interception ; and a lamp so
placed corresponds to truth in the mind in a state of elevation, by
virtue of being conjoined with the affection for goodness— the desiie

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW. 107
of applying it to its proper use. So situated, as the Lord observes,
" it giveth light to all that are in the house," throwing its rays both
on things and persons, and sho-wing what and who they are — corre
sponding to the effect of divine truth in showing the nature and
quality of all the furniture of the human mind (of which a house is
the symbol), and enabling the man to arrange everything in due order,
and to make the proper use of all.
16. The Lord closes the subject with a most forcible admonitory
application of the images just employed. Let your light so shine before
men, that they may see your good works, and glorify yowr Fatlier which
is in heaven. What then ? are we to do good works purposely to be
seen of men — to obtain the good word of those who witness them ?
What is here meant is, not that we are to do good works purposely to
be seen of men, making that our object and aim; but that we are to
do them in obedience to the will of God. We are to allow the light
that is in us to produce its proper operation, by manifesting itself in a
life and conduct of corresponding order and purity. Such a life, indeed,
though not cultivated with the view of gaining favour from men,
cannot but be seen by them, and procure respect for the principles
by which they see we are actuated ; thus disposing them, seeing that
we act from sincerity and not from ostentation, to give the glory to
him to whom we shall most heartily give it ourselves — our Father
who is in heaven — and encouraging them to go and do likewise. The
main object of the sincere Christian must ever be to allow the light of
truth in his own mind to become instrumental in effecting in him, and
by him, the will of the Lord its Author, accomplishing his own re
generation, and bringing his life and conduct into heavenly order,
making him an instrument of use to his fellow-creatures, and thus
causing everything within him to give glory to his Father who is in
heaven. 17. Having pressed upon his hearers the uselessness of unpractised
knowledge, and the necessity of showing their faith in their works,
the Lord now proceeds to declare the stability and show the spirit
uality of the law which imposes upon them the perpetual obligation
of obedience. Think not thai I am, come to destroy the law and the
prophets. No religious apophthegm more weighty, and at the same time
obviously just, was ever enunciated, than that which holds a con
spicuous place among the doctrinal tenets of the New Church, and
which affirms, " That all religion has relation to life, and that the life
of religion is to do good." Religion is justly defined to be the bond of

108 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
connection between man and his Maker : and what can possibly con
nect man with his Maker, in any real and reciprocal manner, but con
formity on the part of man to his Maker's will, producing, in a finite
manner, similarity of character? What is God but the Source of all
good— Goodness itself, that has given origin to aU things with a view
to their enjoyment of the blessings suited to their nature, and to man
especially, that he might be the subject of blessings of the highest
order, having a capacity to reflect on his condition and his privUeges,
to know his God, and to be made a partaker, in his finite measure, of
the perfections, and thus of the feUcity, of his Creator? The Author
of all good, then, himself, what can God look to, in his rational off
spring, but that they should apply themselves to receive of the good
that is imparted from him ? But the passive reception of good from
God, that is, of spiritual and moral good, is a thing impossible. Man
must re-act to and from the good that flows into him from the Lord,
or it cannot become in any respect his own — be imputed to him, or
even dwell in him at all.
No revelation ever was or could be given by God of which this
was not the grand burden. The Old Testament, consequently,
throughout is full of precepts and admonitions, plainly testifying that,
in the estimation of its Divine Author, "all religion has relation to life,
and the life of religion is to do good." When the Jewish Church, and
the revelation given under it, had become wholly perverted, and He
came to found the Christian Church, to accompUsh the work of man's
redemption, and to give a further revelation of his will and wisdom,
he did not intend to abrogate the revelation he had given before, but
only to clear away the Jewish corruptions of it, and to develope more
of its true nature, meaning, and design, than had ever been known in
the Jewish Church at all : these things compose the substance of the
declarations — which the Lord commences with the words, "Think not
that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets; I am not come
to destroy, but to fulfil."
18. And yet notwithstanding the Lord's statement, there have not
been wanting among professing Christians those who have maintained
a doctrine exactly opposite to what is here so explicitly delivered;
and have even availed themselves of these words to confirm a
sentiment directly contrary to that which the words themselves so
plainly affirm, — that justification and salvation are by faith alone,
and do not depend upon either charity or good works. " I am not
come to destroy, but to fulfil." By that very circumstance, they
reply, Jesus Christ came to fulfil the law, and did fulfil it in his own

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW. 109
person, which no one had ever been able to do before : and this ful
filment of it by him is imputed to all believers as if it had been done
by them : and though no actual fulfilment of it is required of any one
of them, and thu.s, as to such actual fulfilment by them, it is com
pletely abrogated, yet it is not to be considered as destroyed for all
that; God accounting it as fulfilled by every one of them, because he
imputes to them the fulfilment of it by his Son. Thus again is the
Word of God made of none effect by man's tradition or invention.
And they confirm this as the true meaning of the passage by
extending it to the next verse, in which the Divine Speaker says.
For verily I say unto you. Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be ftdfilled. Here,
because it is said that " one jot or one tittle shall not pass from the
law, till all be fulfilled," they argue, that when all was fulfilled, as
was done by the Lord Jesus Christ, the whole did pass away, and was
of no force against believers afterwards. So far is this from being the
meaning of the Lord's words, his declaration, that nothing shall pass
from the law, till all be fulfilled, is a solemn pledge of the perpetual
duration and conservation ofthe law in every jot and tittle. The true
import of these divine sayings, and that which alone is consistent with
the context, is, that the moral law, delivered in the Old Testament, such
as that of the Ten Commandments, and similar precepts regarding life
and practice, are not abolished, but opened and enforced by the gospel
of Jesus Christ. As to the spiritual sense, the law and the prophets
are mentioned together for the sake of indicating that union of good
ness and truth so constantly attended to in the language of the Word
of God. The law is a term which has relation to good, and prophets
is a term which has relation to truth ; for by the law is spiritually
denoted all such divine truth as has more relation to the duties of life,
and by the prophets all such divine truth as has more relation to
points of doctrine. Now, it must be abundantly clear that the Lord,
who is the Truth itself, never could come to destroy or abrogate his
own Divine Truth, either as defining the duties of life or laying down
points of doctrine. 'What is once true, on either subject, is eternally
so, and can never be done away with. Destroyed by its Author it
never can be: but it may be opened; and, by new aid imparted from
him, in consequence of accommodating himself to his creatures by
assuming the Humanity, it may be introduced more deeply into the
heart and mind of man, rendering both his inward and outward life
more conformable to its heavenly dictates. In these respects, it is
fulfilled in regard to man : and it is most true that the Lord fulfilled

no ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
every tittle of it in his own person: and as he thus glorified his
Humanity, it is thus that he enabled man to fulfil it likewise.
" Heaven and earth" is a phrase that includes the whole universe;
but by them is spiritually meant the Lord's church in heaven and on
earth. These never can absolutely cease; and therefore to say that tUl
heaven and earth pass not one jot or one tittle of the law shall fail, is
the same as to say, that the Divine Law or Word can never faU; or, in
other words, that the Divine Truth is eternal; and that it really is so,
is obvious of itself
19. The perpetual obUgation of the law of God, and the necessity
of obeying it from an internal principle, as well as in mere outward form,
is further enforced in the words : Whosoever therefore shall break one of
these least (or one of the least of these) commandments, and shall teach
men so, he shall he called the least in the kingdom of heaven : but whosoever
shall do and teach them, the sams sliall be called great in tlie kingdom of
heaven. This does not mean that a person may habitually break some
of the Divine commandments, and teach others to do the same,- and
yet go to heaven, though he will occupy one of the lowest places : it
means that all who are in heaven will think little or meanly of such a
person, so that he cannot enter into their society at all — that the low
station he will occupy will not be within heaven, but out of it. The
angels are not beings who will despise one another, so that the most
exalted angel will never think meanly of the lowest. They who are
called least, that is, who are of the quality expressed by that term, are
such as are least and lowest in every characteristic of human nature
— who occupy the meanest of stations among all who belong to the
class of rational and immortal creatures — who retain least of the traces
of true humanity, and are not in heaven, but in hell. But observe the
Divine tenderness : it is not said, as some say, that whosoever has once
broken one of the least of the commandments has incurred irrevocable
condemnation, but whosoever shall break one commandment, and shall
teach men so, evidently meaning, who treats the commandments as of
no authority or obligation, and teaches others to do the same, arguing
or ridiculing them out of regard for di-vine things. The same is obvious
fram the use and proper signification of the word rendered " break,"
which does not mean to transgress, or to infringe a commandment by
a casual or passing act, which may afterwards, if not repeated, be
repented of for the future ; but it means the same as the word before
translated " destroy," which is the same word in a compound form.
Tt means to dissolve, to abolish as to obligation from the authority of
a thing. In the two acts mentioned by the Lord in tlUs declaration

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW, 111
of his, there is reference to the two faculties of man, the will and
the understanding. Purpose from the will is meant by breaking the
commandment, and confirmation from the understanding is meant by
teaching men so. Every such person, whether the sins he comnUts be
little or great, is one of those who are called least in the kingdom of
heaven. The converse foUows of itself: Whosoever shall do and teach them,
tlie same shall be called great in tlie kingdom of heaven. It will thus
be seen that he who is of a character truly good is adapted for eleva
tion to heavenly greatness, this solely depending on man's state as to
goodness ; whence, in the spiritual sense of Scripture, great means
good. Whoever keeps one of the least of the Lord's command
ments, from a truly reverential regard to the will of their Author,
is in the perpetual effort to do all the commandments, and to do
so more and more perfectly. And in heaven, where these inten
tions are seen, and are what alone are regarded, such a person is
called great, or is accounted good, notwithstanding the imperfections
which may still adhere to him, and which he is himself in the con
tinual endeavour to surmount. Therefore the being called great, like
the being called least, is not made to depend upon conformity to the
greatest of the commandments, but to the least, or those which it
requires least effort, least resistance to the natural inclinations to
comply with : because it is seen that he who keeps even these from a
sincere regard to God in his heart, is in the Ufe of goodness received
from him, and would on no account offend him by sinning against the
greater. 20. The Lord sums up his whole doctrine on the subject of the law
by the solemn declaration ; For I say unto you, That except your righ
teousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall
in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. The scribes and Pharisees,
indeed, were strict in requiring, and punctilious in attending to, the
external observances of the divine law, even in little matters ; but they
often contrived to evade its obligations in things of greater importance.
As the Lord says of them, they paid tithe of mint, and anise, and
cummin, but omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, and
the love of God; on which the Di-vine Reprover says, "These things ye
ought to have done, and not leave the others undone." They generaUy,
however, evaded these weighty obligations under some specious pretence
of conformity to another commandment, as when they refused to assist
their friends in distress by making a fictitious donation of their property
to God, calling it corbaii, because it was not lawful to apply things

112 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
reaUy devoted to God, or made a sacred gift of, to any purpose
whatever. Usually, however, they kept the commandment in the
external form, but positively maintained that, provided this was done,
the state of mind in doing it was of no consequence. Thus, David
Kimchi, one of the most learned and judicious of the rabbins and com
mentators on Scripture, positively says, that the meaning of these
words, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord wUl not hear me,"
is not, what every one sees is their real import, that the Lord can pay
no regard to outward prayers while evil is intentionally cherished in
the heart, but that, if evil is only cherished in the heart, and does not
come into outward actions, the Lord will pay no regard to it ; for it is
only actions that are condemned, not thoughts. The righteousness,
then, which is to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
is that which extends to the heart and thoughts, as Avell as to the out
ward actions. This is the righteousness which the Lord regards, who
looks far more at the heart and thoughts than at the words and
actions. How plain is it, then, to see that the Lord did not come to
destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfil them, and to enable us
to fulfil them also ; that there is no abrogation of the Divine law by
the gospel, and no contrariety, but tlie most perfect harmony, between
them. Under the gospel we are not to abide in the mere letter of the
law, but must enter into its spirit; knowing that, as the apostle
observes, the righteousness of the law is fulfiUed in them who walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit ; and that the power thus to
walk is given to those who look to, and exercise true faith in, Jesus
Christ. 21. Having laid down these general jirinciples respecting the law,
the Divine Speaker proceeds to illustrate them by contrasting the
genidne import of the commandments of the ancient law, and its
Divine infilUngs as now opened by himself, with the lax and super
ficial, and in fact make-believe manner in which it was interpreted by
the Jewish teachers and observed by the people. Ye have heard that
it was said by them of old time. Thou shalt not kill. A very singular
sort of mistranslation occurs here, and in the repetition of the same
phrase in subsequent parts of the chapter, in saying. Ye have heard
that it was said hy them of old time. All the learned agree that this
ought to be, as it is given in the margin, " Ye have heard that it was
said to them of old time." And, indeed, common sense shows this must
be the meaning intended: for it is one of the ten commandments
which is referred to; and these were not delivered by the Israelites of
old, but to them by Jehovah. Another defective translation occurs in

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW. 113
the repeated use of the phrase, in danger of, as if the ensuing punish
ment were not certain to follow ; whereas the original implies that the
person has become subject to the penalty alluded to. Whosoever shall
kill, shaU be not only in danger of the judgment, but liable or subject
to it : and so in other places.
The Lord now proceeds to show the difference between the mere
letter and the spirit of the Divine law. The Jews had received the
Divine command, " Thou shalt not kill," and had understood it pro
hibited only the act of murder. The Lord teaches his disciples that
this law was in reality designed to prohibit not only the criminal
act, but every disjiosition which tends to produce it. To represent, as
the scribes and Pharisees did, all sorts of malignant and revengeful
feelings as lawful, while they were restrained solely by the fear of
punishment from proceeding into the most atrocious of outward acts,
is to break or destroy the authority of the Divine requirements in
a very awful way indeed. The Lord therefore proceeds to show that
states of mind partaking of what is opposite to love, which is the ful
filling of the law, such as hatred and malice, and actions thence pro
ceeding, though not including the commission of murder in the external
form, may nevertheless bring upon the person, as to his spirit, and as to
his external state hereafter, consequences as awful as can result from
the outward commission of murder itself He further shows that
there are three degrees of such states, the slightest of which involves
eternal condemnation equally with external murder. In other words,
that there are three degrees of spiritual murder, involving all the eternal
consequences, from the mildest to the most grievous, that can follow
the commission of natural murder, whether the external crime be
committed or not. — (1.) The first of these is causeless anger. He that
is angry with his hroth&r without a cause shall he liable to ilie judgment.
It is plain that this must be with regard to the sinner's state here
after; for none but the Divine Judge can know whether anger
includes the principle of murder or not. But by the eye of Infinite
Wisdom it is seen that such anger as is here alluded to is a crime of
the same nature, and if left unchecked, would terminate in the same
end, and therefore brings the person into the same state, and cannot
but draw upon him the same eternal punishment. But the words
must be looked at a little more interiorly, in order that their purport
may be truly seen. All evUs are either milder or more malignant in
proportion as they include, in a greater or less degree, the confirmed
and intentional rejection of the opposite good. Thus all offences
against others are milder or more malignant in proportion as they

114 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
include less or more of a deliberate rejection of charity, and disregard
for the Divine law, which enjoins charity, and forbids all violation of
it. The term brother is always used in the Divine Word, when under
stood as to its spiritual sense, to denote charity, because charity, or
mutual love, is the principle of brotherly union. To be angry with a
brother means, therefore, to be in a state contrary to charity, either
absolutely so, or only in appearance. Therefore the state of condem
nation here treated of is mercifully Umited by the being angry with a
brother without a cause, anger without a cause being a sure mark of a
state contrary to charity. It is true that opposition to charity must
always be without a cause ; but there may be cause for being angry
with persons who are nevertheless our brethren, either more nearly or
more remotely, and who are to be regarded with charity. There are
few persons in this world who are such perfect forms of charity as
never to say or do anything calculated to give offence or provocation
to others; and there are equaUy few so highly graduated in charity as
never to feel offended or provoked at inconsiderate conduct or language
in others, much less at what is said or done with a view to offend or
provoke them. Self-preservation is an indelible instinct in every being
that has conscious life: hence every animated being instinctively repels
aggression, and, when suddenly assaulted, feels resentment or anger.
Such resentment or anger, which passes away with the occasion that
momentarily excited it, is not incompatible with charity; it only
becomes so when it is cherished afterwards, and is suffered to degenerate
into revenge. There is also a feeling of anger which is without
malignity, being directed rather against e^vil, than against the person
who commits it. This is more properly zeal than anger, for the love
of good, and even the love of the evil-doer, lies at the foundation of the
emotion. This feeling is attributed to the Lord himself. Jesus looked
round on the Jews with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their
hearts (Mark iii. 5). So when grief is the origin of anger, it is the
warmth of love and not the fire of hatred, and therefore incurs no
condemnation. When, on the contrary, the heart feels and cherishes
the anger of uncharitableness, the state which is induced upon the
mind exposes the soul to the same judgment or condemnation that the
Divine Truth has decreed against murder. (2.) The second degree of
opposition to charity is expressed by one saying to his brother, Raca.
This was a name of reproach and contempt, equivalent to calling a
person a worthless fellow. Here, again, it is evident that it is not
according to the literal sense that the words are to be understood.
For though it may easily be true that one man may call another a

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW, 115
worthless fellow in a spirit of hatred, that would bring him under the
condemnation here treated of, yet it is evident that such condemnation
cannot be the result of the mere utterance of the word. But we are
to remember that the brother thus revUed is the principle of charity:
thus, spiritually understood, to say, Raca, means to hold charity in utter
contempt; to consider a regard to charity as a thing too ridiculous for
attention, as conduct only fit for a weak or silly person. Thus, a re
jection of charity, and total opposition to it, from a deeper ground
than was signified by the first example, is here implied. On this
accou.nt it is said, that he who acts thus shall be in danger of the
council. This is an allusion to the supreme court of judicature among
the Jews, which for great crimes awarded the punishment of stoning
to death. This is referred to, to indicate the loss of all spiritual life
incurred by those who spiritually say to a brother, Raca. It expresses
the present and eternal state of those who confirm themselves intel
lectually in opposition to charity, and thence act against it without
any concern or remorse. (3.) The Lord adds. But whosoever shall say,
Thou fool, shall he in danger of hell fire. The term fool is constantly
applied in Scripture, not to the weak-minded, but to the most obsti
nately and desperately wicked. To call a brother a fool, then, means
to be in such direct opposition or contrariety to everything of charity
and goodness as to regard good as evil, and to act against it with the
utmost malignity and determination of purpose. It implies opposition
against it from the deepest ground of the will; not merely contempt
for it, but the utmost aversion and hatred against it. Therefore, also,
the punishment of it is declared to be hell fire, or the fire of Gehenna,
which means the most direful raging and tormenting lusts of evil, with
the distracting anguish that ever attends their presence. We see,
then, of what immense importance it is that we should ever be careful
to guard against the admission into our bosoms of any feelings contrary
to those of charity, especially how all-important it is that we should
never allow the tendencies of that kind which exist in us by nature
to obtain indulgence and confirmation. On the contrary, we should
resist everything in our hearts and conduct that is opposite to charity,
and assiduously cultivate the heavenly grace of charity itself, till love
to the Lord and mutual love become the animating principle of our
Uves. Thus, not only shall we escape the judgment, and the council,
and hell fire, but become prepared for the society of those happy beings
who never experience any opposite emotion, and who dwell around the
throne of divine love in the interchange of kind offices and affections
for ever.

116 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
23, 24. Having shown the direful nature of aU lusts of evil that partake
' of enmity or hatred, or anything that opposes or makes no account of the
principle of charity, the Divine Instractor now admonishes his disciples
of the need of looking into their own hearts, to see if anything incon
sistent with the most genuine charity lies lurking there; of the
indispensable necessity of making such investigation, in order that
any of our exercises of external worship may be acceptable to the
Lord; and of the importance, therefore, of practising self-exami
nation, especially connecting it with the most solemn acts of our
devotion. " Therefore," he says, — seeing, that is, that the indulgence
of bad feelings in the heart, and the allowing them to appear in what
are usuaUy regarded as deeds of little importance, have eternal conse
quences as fatal as the actual commission of the greatest external
crimes, — on this account, if tliou bring thy gift to the altar, and there re-
memherest that thy brother hath ought against thee ; leave there thy gift
before the altar, and go thy way ; first he reconciled to thy brother, and
then come and offer thy gift. To bring our gift to the altar is to offer
to the Lord the homage of prayer and praise, which ought to proceed
from affections of love to him and charity towards our neighbour : all
the good and blessing of which, in any form, we may be partakers, is,
in all sincere worship, ascribed to the Lord as his gift. There to re
member that our brother hath ought against us, is on such occasions
to be made sensible that we cannot worship the Lord in an acceptable
manner, or from such love and charity as alone can give to worship a
quality that he can approve, through the cherishing of some affection
inconsistent with charity in our bosom. A brother, as already ob
served, is always named in the Word as a type of that charity which
ought to reign in the breasts of aU mankind, and especially in the
hearts of the members of the Lord's church, towards each other. In
reality, all mankind are brethren, being all the children of the
Almighty Father, and all creatures of the same nature, designed for
the same eternal end; but most especially are all they brethren who
have been born again of their heavenly Father, through the reception
of his divine truth and the formation thereby of a principle of
spiritual life in their souls. A brother, therefore, in the true sense
ofthe name, is one who feels as a brother — who cherishes the affection
which brethren, both natural and spiritual, ought to feel and show for
each other. Abstract, then, in idea, the affection itself from the
person in whom it exists, and you see that a brother is a proper term
in the Holy Word to express the grace of charity itself, which only can
be given from the Lord, since it is quite obvious that He who formed

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW, 117
mankind to exist, both in famUies and in large communities, in the
relation of brotherhood, is, -together with the relation, the Author of
the affection which is its distinguishing characteristic. To remember,
then, at the altar, that our brother hath ought against us, is to be made
conscious, when before the Lord, and reviewing our state by the light
of he.aven, that something contrary to charity both possesses our
minds and infiuences our practice. We cannot be in a state to offer
acceptable worship to the Lord so long as we cherish any malignant
feeling towards any one, however much he may have injured us. We
cannot indeed be in a state capable of presenting with acceptance our
offering at the Lord's altar, or coming before him in worship, till we
have removed the offending principle from our minds, and can feel a
consciousness that we entertain no affection or emotion incompatible
with charity in regard to anything that exists. The course, then, of
this state of the mind, in regard to the principle of charity, is what is
directed by the Lord when he says, "Leave there thy gift before the
altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then
come and offer thy gift." It is remarkable that the Lord does not
direct the gift to be taken away again. He is addressing a sincere,
though erring disciple, who comes to worship him from some degree
of good received from him, but which, the mind being in other
respects not sufficiently purified from evils, is defiled by their presence,
and cannot be in such good as the Lord can be acceptably worshipped
from, till the evils that render it not genuine are put away. Thus no
one is ever to think, because, as we hear people sometimes say, he is
not yet good enough for any particular service, that he may as well
disregard it altogether. He still must bring his gift before the altar —
must engage in acts of divine worship — and must perform the preU-
minaries necessary to prepare him for doing it with saving benefit to
his soul. He must meditate, for instance, on the Divine will and
Word; he must explain his own state in the light which will thence
open his mind; he must allow the beams of divine truth to discover
him to himself ; and leaving his gift before the altar, — that is, stUl
having his mind directed, with devotional feelings, to the Lord, and
looking to him for help, — he must go his way, and be reconciled to his
brother — he must set earnestly upon the work of removing from his
affections every principle, feeling, or sentiment which is inconsistent
with genuine charity. He will find the brother eager to be reconciled,
for the brother is the principle of charity itself
25. The next duty which our Lord enforces on his disciples forms
a counterjiart to that which we have just considered, although this

118 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
does not clearly appear from the literal sense. Agree with thine
adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with Mm. The adversary
here is expressed in the original by a word which properly and strictly
means the opposite party in a question of right, or in a suit at law.
It is evidently supposed in the present case that the claim is a just one,
and that, if brought into court, the judgment would be against us.
AVe are advised, therefore, not to let it come to this, but to settle
with the claimant in time, either by satisfying the whole demand at
once, or coming to such an agreement or compromise with him as he
wUl accept; otherwise, the decision of the judge wUl be given against
us. We have said that this passage is the counterpart of the preced
ing one. As we are to be reconciled to our brother by removing the
cause of offence, we are to agree with our adversary by settling his
equitable demand. The brother, spiritually, is the principle of charity,
the legal antagonist is the principle of truth. Divine truth — the
precejits of which compose the Divine law — demands attention and
obedience to all its requirements ; and so long as we neglect to pay
regard to them, it stands to us in the relation of an adversary at law.
We must agree with this adversary quickly, while time yet remains;
we must be well-minded towards him, acknowledging his claim to be
just, and satisfying it to the best of our abiUty. And who can dis
pute the justice of the demand, or the perfect reasonableness of all that
it includes? Who can imagine that the divine truth of the Lord can
require anything of man which the Lord does not at the same time
enable him to perform ? The Divine law does not utter requirements
of truth alone, but of truth in union with goodness and love ; and
when truth, if alone, would irreversibly condemn, love steps in, and
offers pardon and peace on faith and repentance. Accordingly we
find, that even while divine truth stands to us in the character of
a legal adversary, in consequence of our not paying due regard to its
requirements, it still is presented under the aspect of a peaceable one,
who is willing to come to an agreement with us, accepting what, on
acknowledging the justice of its demands, we may be enabled to do
towards discharging them, without rigorously exacting the penalties
that might otherwise be levied. We are exhorted to agree with our
adversaiy while we are in the way with Mm. Naturally, this means
while the suit is pending, and has not gone beyond the preliminary
steps. But spiritually, to be in the way with our adversary means, to
be in a state capable of receiving instruction from divine truth
which is meant by the way; of listening to its claims and admonitions,
and applying ourselves to attend to them, and so profit by them.

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW. 119
Divine goodness has provided that every debtor to the law may come
to an agreement with his legal adversary while he is in the way with
him. This may be done, because divine truth is ever so tempered
by its union with divine love as to remit all its claims for the past
as soon as their justice is heartily acknowledged, repentance is sincerely
felt and made operative in amendment, and such a change is effected
as will regard its requirements for the future. Unless this state of
agreement with divine truth, regarded as our legal adversary, is in
some good measure attained, it will change the character of a legal
opponent into a much more formidable one. The Lord not only says.
Agree with thine adversary quickly, but he adds, lest at any time tlie
adversary deliver thee to ihe judge, and the judge deliver thee io tlie ofiicer,
and thou be cast into prison: This means, that unless divine truth
be reconciled to us, or rather we to it, as our adversary, we shall
hereafter meet it as our judge — that is, as the word here implies, as
passing on us sentence of condemnation. Then, in the further charac
ter of the officer, to whom it belongs to carry the sentence into
execution, it wUl transfer us to some one of the dungeons' of the
prison-house below.
26. And verily, the Divine Truth incarnate adds. Thou shalt hy no
means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing — which
is only a figurative way of saying that we shall remain in the infernal
prison for ever. If we pay no share of our debt of obedience here,
while in the way of probation, how can we do so when our evils are
confirmed by continued impenitence, and the life of them is become the
unalterable life of our souls — the very principle of our existence? To
say, then, that we should by no means come out thence till we have
I)aid the uttermost farthing, when we are in a state and place where
we can procure nothing to pay with, is the same as t.i say that we
must abide in it for ever. How solemn an appeal is this to us to use
all dUigence to agree with the truth while we have the opportunity
which life constantly affords, and escape the consequences of dis
regarding or resisting its just demands.
27. From the law again.st kiUing, the Divine Teacher proceeds to
speak of the law against another evil that may well be associated with
it. Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time. Thou
shall not commit adultery. Although among Christian nations this
evil is not punished as a criminal offence, it is yet one of the worst
crimes, as well as one of the deepest sins, of which a Christian can be
guilty. Unlike other evils, it can rarely be committed without in
volving another in its guilt, as well as in the ruin which it brings.

120 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
It is the enemy and destroyer at once of domestic and social, of moral
and religious virtue and happiness. Justly, therefore, did the pro
hibition against it find a place in the decalogue, as the most holy
portion of the law revealed by Jehovah amidst the thunders of Sinai.
Marriage is a divine institution, and was designed to be, not a natural
and temporary, but a spiritual and eternal union. He, therefore, who
commits adultery violates that which is holy, and cuts himself off from
all communication with heaven.
28. The Jew regarded this commandment, as he did most others,
only as a rule for the regulation of his outward conduct ; but the
Christian is to esteem it as a law for the government of his inward
life. Therefore the Lord says to his disciples. But I say unto you.
That ivhosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed
adultery with her already in Ms heart. If hatred is murder, lust is
adultery. Civil laws or outward considerations may prevent the desire
from becoming an act ; but if it is secretly cherished, the evil has
already been committed in the heart. And as God looks upon the
heart, and judges men by their intentions as well as by their acts, sins
intended are as condemnatory as sins committed. Christianity, which
goes to the root of every evil, requires men to judge themselves by the
desires by which they are inflamed, as much as by the actions they
commit. Whatever is wilfully and deUberately cherished is an act
of the mind, and would become an act of the body also, if outward
circumstances were favourable. There is, however, a wide difference
between the evil that is cherished and the evil that is only excited.
Every heart has its concupiscence; but every heart does not approve or
cherish it. Instead of encouraging the lust, the mind may condemn
and strive against it, in which case the evil will not become sin, even
although there may be the opportunity and enticement to commit it.
As, in the spiritual sense, to kill is to destroy the principles of
s;)iritual life in ourselves or others, to commit adultery is to pervert
and profane them. The principles which constitute spiritual life in
the soul are goodness and truth, or love and faith. These are the
partners of the spiritual and heavenly marriage, of which truth is the
husband, and good is the wife; and from whose union are produced
all the virtue and blessedness of human and angelic beings. The
opposite of this heavenly marriage is the union of falsity and evil, from
which spring all the sin and misery that prevail in the world and in
the kingdom of darkness. But spiritual adultery consists?, not simply in
the union of evil and falsity, but in the union of truth and evil, or of
falsity and goodness, which is as the union of heaven and hell. The

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW. 121
first is the profanation of truth, the second is the profanation of good
ness. The natural evil corresponds to and results from the spiritual;
and they are ever united as cause and effect. He, therefore, who
looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath, in his heart, committed
both the spiritual and the natural sin.
29, 30. The Lord foUows up his remarks on this subject by saying.
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out; if thy right hand offend thee,
cut it off. The eye is the symbol, as it is more especially the organ^
of the intellect, as the hand is of the will And as thought is an act
of the intellect, and desire is an act of the will, these are included in
the signification ofthe eye and the hand. It is the offending thought
and desire, therefore, that are to be removed. The eye that looks upon,
and the desire that lusts after, prohibited objects and pleasures, are
the causes of offence; and these must be rejected, that we may be
guiltless of the offence, by its being no longer in the intention. If
these, as the causes of offence, are not rejected, we are guilty of the
sin, although we may never commit the act. — But the offending mem
bers that are removed are the right eye and the right hand. Of the
members of the body, those on the right side correspond to faculties
and powers of the will, and those on the left side, to faculties and
powers of the understanding. The right eye and hand offend us, or
rather cause us to offend, when impure thoughts and desires are
grounded in the will — are not simply the offspring of the natural
weakness and corruption of the flesh, but proceed from evil, known
to be such, and wUfuUy cherished in the heart.
The Lord tells us what we are to do with the offending member.
We are to pluck out ihe eye, and cut off the haiid, and cast them,
from us. If impure thoughts arise in our minds, we are to check and
reject them, so that they may form no part of our intellectual life;
and if impure desires are excited in our hearts, we are to condemn
and resist them, so that they may form no part of our voluntary life.
The two distinct acts of cutting them off and casting them from us
are expressive of two distinct operations of the mind, which are
necessary to effect the full rejection of evil. The separation of evil
cannot be complete unless it be the joint operation of the understand
ing and will. Evil may be said to be plucked out and cut off when
the understanding first sees and opposes it as evil ; but it is not oast
out from the mind until the will or love is also against it, and thus
unites with the understanding to effect its full rejection.
The Lord concludes his exhortation to pluck out tho eye and cut off
the hand that offend by saying. For it is profitable for thee that one of thy

, 122 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
According to the literal sense it would seem as if the excision of these
members was to leave the body mutilated, which, indeed, is plainly
stated in another place, where the Lord says, " It is better for you to
enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands and two
feet to be cast into hell." It does not, however, follow that those who
enter into life halt or maimed remain for ever so. The body of which
all this is said is not the natural but the spiritual body, the external
man, where all evils reside. It is the eye, and the hand, and the foot
of this body that offend or scandalize us, that obstruct and prevent
the operations of the internal man, and which therefore have to be
maimed by self-denial, that we may enter into the life of love and
faith, and finally into heaven. Self-denial consists in resisting evil in
its active states, either in acts of the mind or of the body ; and there
fore we are required to pluck out the eye and cut off the hand, and so,
by losing one of our members, save the whole body from being cast
into hell, or becoming a confirmed form of evil. But in the
spiritual life there is a process of renewal as well as of excision. Self-
denial jiluoks out and cuts off, active goodness restores and renews.
He who lays down his life by crucifying the lusts of the flesh, takes it
up again by walking in the newness of the Spirit. The old members
are removed by ceasing to do evU, the new are acquired by learning
to do well. Halt and maimed are conditions of the spiritual body
when goodness and truth, or charity and faith, are unequal and divided.
As these twain graces become one, the body acquires its true symmetry
and beauty, becoming the perfect organ and instrument of the new life
into which the cross-bearing Christian has entered.
31, 32. The Lord extends his remarks on the law against adultery,
as understood by the Jews, to the law of divorce. Under the Mosaic
law men were permitted to put away their wives, which they some
times did for very trivial causes. This law, be it remembered, did not
originate the practice, which was in its very nature hateful to the
Divine mind (Mai. ii. 16). Why, then, did not the law prohibit it?
Our Lord gives the answer—" Moses, because of the hardness of your
hearts, suffered you to put away your wives, but from the beginning
it was not so" (ch. xix. 8). It is important to distinguish, in the Scrip
tures, between laws of command and laws of permission. God, by his
very nature, can command nothing but what is good; but it is consistent
with a wise and beneficent providence to permit a less evil to prevent
a greater. Permission, therefore, forms a necessary part of the laws of
God's moral government. A prohibition of divorce amonfr the Jews

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW, 123
would have been unavailing, or would have produced a greater evil
than it prevented. What the law could not prevent, and therefore
did not forbid, it moderated, by subjecting divorce to prudent and
stringent regulations. This was the state of the case when our Lord
explained and enforced the Christian law of divorce, which was to
supersede that of Moses. It hath been said. Whosoever shall put away
his loife, let him give her a writing of divorcement : but I say unto you.
Thai whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for ihe cause of fornica
tion, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her
that is divorced committeth adultery. In this law the Lord lays down
the important principle, that adultery is the one only legitimate cause
of divorce. There may be other just causes of separation, but there is
no other legitimate cause for the absolute dissolution of the marriage
tie. True, there is no real marriage without a union of heart ancl
soul ; but to make the want of such a union a ground of divorce, would
be to introduce into the church and society disorders that would in
evitably work their ruin. It is of the utmost consequence, therefore,
that the Lord's teaching on this point should be a fundamental prin
ciple in all ecclesiastical and civil law.
The purely spiritual sense of this law relates not to persons, but to
principles in one person — the principles of goodness and truth, or love
and faith, the union of which constitutes the spiritual and heavenly
marriage. The spiritual law which is the origin of the law of
marriage consists in this, that every truth has its own good, and
every good has its own truth. A good and a truth may be pure, and
yet unsuited to each other — in which case their tendency is to separate.
This is the case even in heaven, where the blest are distinguished into
societies accorcUng to the differences or distinctions of goodness and
truth ; but these distinctions are not discords, but harmonies. Divorce,
which is complete opposition and separation, cannot take place between
pure good and truth, but between pure truth and adulterated good, or
between pure good and falsified truth, which is as the separation which
exists between heaven and hell. If separation were to take place for
any other cause, good, deprived of the instruction and protection which
it should find in truth, might unite itself with some false principle,
and so be profaned.
33. Another subject is brought before us by the divine Teacher.
Again, ye have heard that ii hath been said to them of old time. Thou
shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
but I say unto you, Swear not at all. It has been thought by some
that the giving testimony upon oath is here prohibited. There is.

124 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
however, nothing profane, and therefore nothing sinful, in judicial
swearing. It would appear, from the forms of oath which the Lord
adduces, that his object was to prohibit those which the Jews had
added to the law, and not to affirmation upon oath in questions at law.
Spiritually to swear is to confirm Divine truth. Jehovah sware by
himself, to teach us that as he only is the author of the truth, so he
only is the witness of the truth. This is a character which Jehovah
incarnate likewise sustains. " Jesus is the faithful and true witness,"
and as such is the author and finisher of our faith. He who reveals
the truth by his Word convinces us of the truth by his Spirit. We
cannot con-vince ourselves from ourselves. We are indeed condemned
for unbelief, because if the Lord does not convince us, it is because we
reject his Spirit, which is always ready to give us the spirit of belief.
W-hile we reject his Spirit, we may yet labour to confirm what we
regard as the truth. Some vain or selfish motive may prompt us to
confirm the truth; but such confirmation is superficial, and does not
enter into the inner life of our spirit.
34. The first thing by which men are commanded not to swear is
heaven : — Swear not ai all : neither hy heaven; for it is God's throne.
To swear by heaven is equivalent to swearing by the Lord himself,
because heaven is and can be heaven only because of the presence in it
of the Lord. The Lord himself is indeed above heaven, in the centre
of the Divine glory, which constitutes the sun of heaven, and which is
the first emanation of his divine love ; but, nevertheless, if he were
not present in heaven, heaven would have no existence. The angels
have nothing of their own that can constitute heaven : they are
angels — human beings in a state of the most exalted finite glory and
happiness— purely because they are recipients of the Lord's divine love
and wisdom, by the proceeding emanation of which he is present with
them, and is actually in them ; and this it is which constitutes heaven.
The Lord's divine love and wisdom, as existing in himself, are the
divine good; and the same principles emanating from him, and
abiding in the angels, or in heaven, are called the divine truth. The
divine truth is the Lord in heaven : and this is one with the sun of
heaven, being the divine proceeding thence of spiritual heat and
light adapted to the capacity of the angels for receiving it. Thus in
heaven the Lord is aU, and the angels respectively are nothing; of
which they have an inmost conviction and sense, though it is "iven
them to feel the gifts ofthe Lord's love and wisdom in them as if they
were their own, whilst they know most assuredly, and acknowledge
most heartily, that nothing of them is truly their own, but all of the

Chap. V.] * ST. MATTHEW, 125
Lord, as present with and in them. Thus they perfectly know, and
are delighted to have it so, and to acknowledge, that the Lord is the
all in all of heaven. Most evidently it follows from all this that to
swear by heaven is to swear by the Lord himself, and must, as to the
literal act, be unlawful in the same manner and in the same circum
stances. In the purely spiritual sense, to swear by heaven is to
confirm any sentiment by the Lord's di-vine. truth in heaven. This
can only be done from the Lord, and not from man himself For, as
before explained, none but they whose internal man is opened can see
genuine truths in the Word, and confirm them by the truth of any
sentiment which may be presented to their minds ; and such persons
know and acknowledge, as we have seen the angels of heaven do, that
all they thus perceive, and are enabled to confirm, is from the Lord,
and thus that the confirmation itself is from him, and not from
themselves, or from man. In this sense, therefore, of prohibiting
man from confirming truths, or any notions which he regards as
truths, from himself (and if they are not truths they can only be
confirmed from himself), every such person dreads to offend against
the Lord's command, " Swear not by heaven; for it is God's throne.''
Heaven is called God's throne because by that expression is spiritually
signified the divine truth which proceeds from the Lord, and which is
what fills heaven, with all the angels, and makes the angels to be
angels, and heaven to be heaven.
35. In the same manner, to swear by the earth means by the church,
and thus by the divine truth which proceeds from it — and in its
essence is the Lord himself — as it dwells in and constitutes the church.
For if heaven is not heaven by virtue of anything belonging to the
angels, which is truly their own, but solely from the presence and resi
dence of the Lord with them and in them, most certainly the church
on earth is not the Lord's church by virtue of anything belonging to
the professing members as their own, but altogether from the presence
and residence of the Lord by his divine truth or divine proceeding
with and among them. To swear, then, by the earth, in the purely
spiritual sense, is to swear by the church — that is, to confirm truths
received as truths divine by the divine truths as known and under
stood in the church. This, again, to be truly done, can only be done
from the Lord, and not from man, as explained already. The earth, or
church, is said to be God's footstool, as being below heaven, which is
called his throne; and the divine truth by which it is constituted
appears in the form of the Holy Word in its literal or natural sense,
upon which rests divine truth such as it exists in heaven in its

126 ST. MATTHEW. " [Chap. V.
purely spiritual sense. The foot, also, from which a footstool takes
its name, always signifies, in the Holy Word, the natural principle of
man, upon which all interior things re.st, and by which they are
sustained. For although the church, while in a state of order, is
enlightened to understand the letter of the Word, so as to distinguish
the genuine truths which it presents from the mere appearances of
truth, and to draw from it pure doctrine ; and although its members
may in some measure apprehend its spiritual senses, which are what
are perceived, and are alone perceived by the angels, — still the ideas
of spiritual things capable of being perceived by man while in the
world are not purely spiritual ideas, as are those of the angels, but
are spiritual ideas conceived in a natural manner, according to the
unavoidable condition of the spirit of man while an inhabitant of the
natural world. Thus the church on earth, however pure and elevated
the dispensation under which it exists, can never be in any other
state than that which is spiritually denominated God's footstool, — can
never acquire the character which belongs to heaven itself, which
constitutes God's throne. If, however, while here, we truly belong
to the church, in the sense in which it is God's footstool — how
ever humble a part of the footstool we may constitute, — when
we go hence we shall have a place in his throne — shall constitute
some portion or atom of that glorious seat, and have the Lord him
self, in his pure divine truth, perceived by us, not as now in a
natui-al manner, but in a purely spiritual one, eternally present with
us, in us, and over us.
It is further enjoined that we swear not by Jerusalem, for it is the
city ofthe great king.
To swear by Jerusalem is to confirm divine truth, or what ought to
be such, by the doctrine of truth existing in the church, and drawn
from the Holy Word. It may easily be concluded that when mention
is first made of the earth, to signify the church, and then of Jerusalem,
called the city of the Great King, and considered, therefore, as the
capital city of the earth, then Jerusalem must denote the doctrine of
the church, according to which everything belonging to the church is
regulated and determined. Here, then, again, truths can only be really
confirmed by the doctrine of the church from the Lord : and therefore
man is prohibited so to confirm them from himself, by the command
not to swear by Jerusalem. As heaven, the abode of angels, is deno
minated God's throne, and the earth, or the church, his footstool, so
Jerusalem, as the doctrine of the church, is called the city of the Great
King. The Lord is caUed a King, and the Great King, because he is

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEVA 127
the governor of all things, by his divine truth proceeding from his divine
good; and Jerusalem, as denoting the doctrine ofthe church, is called
the city of the Great King, because, as just remarked, it is by its
doctrines that all things of the church are regulated or governed, as
the Lord himself is the universal Governor by his divine truth. The
doctrine of the church cannot be separated from the Lord as the Divine
Truth itself: and as to swear by Jerusalem involves swearing by the
Great King, whose royal city it is, so to confirm anything by the
doctrine of the church is the same, in effect, as confirming it by the
Lord's divine truth, which cannot possibly be done by man from
himself — to attempt which is therefore prohibited by the command.
Swear not by Jerusalem.
36. The last oath specifically prohibited is, swearing by one's own
head. The head is often mentioned to signify intelligence ; and also
what is chief and primary. Thus, for a man to swear by his own
head, is to confirm anything by the truth which he accounts as the
chief point of intelligence, and which he makes the truth of his faith.
But man has no intelligence and believes no truth of faith from himself,
but only from the Lord : consequently, no truth can thus be confirmed
by man from himself, but only from the Lord. The folly of thinking
to confirm any truth from self-intelligence is expressed by the observa
tion, that man cannot make one hair of his own head either white or
black. The hair signifies the truth of the external or natural man, such
as is possessed by those who hold a true faith, not because they see it
to be true by light in their own minds, but because the doctrine of the
church so teaches. Because they believe it, not because they see it,
but only because they have been taught it, they are commanded not
to swear by it, or confirm by it from themselves anything as true,
because they cannot make one hair white or black; for to make one
hair white signifies to say and to see that truth is truth from them
selves ; and to make a hair black is to say and to see, from themselves,
that falsity is falsity. As this can only be done from the Lord,
man is forbidden to swear by his head, because this signifies to confirm
truth from himself, or from self-derived inteUigence. It will thus be
seen that the prohibition against swearing extends to all thino-s, from
the greatest and highest to the least and lowest— from heaven to the
very hairs of our heads. And as all these are under the immediate
care of the Most High — who numbers the stars of heaven and the
very hairs of our heads — the command not to swear by any of them,
is a command not to confirm or uphold, by our own wisdom, the
authority of the divine wisdom, and not to obtrude ourselves, or our

128 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
own wisdom, into the domain of the eternal government, where the
wisdom of God is aU.
37. Having prohibited swearing, the Lord concludes by saying.
But let your communication be. Yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is
more than these cometh of evil. This is a description of the state of the
highest celestial angels, whose perception of truth is so clear that there
is no room to doubt about it whatever. It is like seeing an object
before our eyes in the clearest daylight, respecting which no one enters
into any reasonings as to whether such an object is before him, or
attempts to convince others of it by any asseverations, since he knows
that they see it as well as himself. All reasoning, or any sort of mode
of confirming any truth, arises from there being some degree of obscurity
respecting it in our own minds, or in the minds of others whom we
wish to convince of it; and all obscurity of the understanding in
regard to truths originates in a defect of the will in regard to good.
If we loved good with our whole heart, and always followed it; if we
hated evil in every form, and constantly shunned it, we would possess
such light in our minds that we should recognize every truth to be
truth as soon as we heard it, and should have no need to be convinced
of it, or to be confirmed in it, by any reasons, or by any corroborating
considerations whatever. Thus the cause of every degree of obscurity
in regard to truths is the existence of evil in the will : consequently,
every help we have need of to assist us in our understanding of truth,
and to obtain a thorough conviction respecting it, is needed, and is
exercised from that cause. No legitimate means that can be employed,
whether reasoning or asseveration, are themselves evil : on the contrary,
everything that tends to assist us in the understanding of truth is good,
and is granted by the Lord's mercy; but that which makes any such
assistance necessary is the darkening influence of e^sdl, so that, thus
considered, it is most true that whatsoever is more than the simple
affirmation, which is the result of so clear a perception as requires no
argument to assist it, cometh of evil. No mathematical truth, how
ever clearly demonsti-ated, is so clear as its axioms; and were the human
mind in genuine order, all spiritual truths would be in it as axioms
perceived by intuition, and only capable of being made less clear, and
not more so, by any mode of reasoning and demonstration.
38, 39. The law of retaliation is that to which our Lord next directs
the attention of his hearers. Ye have lienrd thai it hath been said. An
eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth : but I say unto you. That ye
resist not evil. The law of retaliation deUvered to the children of
Israel was derived from the universal law of order — " All thinn-s

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW. 129
whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to
them." This being " the law and the prophets,'' it is the law of
heaven, and thence of the church. But in descending into the
Israelitish Church, it assumed a form in accordance with the charac
ter of the people. Yet the lex taliones is substantially the law of
Christian nations. Punishment must be awarded to crime, and with
some relation to its nature and extent. The spirit of our Lord's
teaching in respect to this law is nevertheless observed when crime is
punished solely with a -view to the protection of society, and to the
amendment, as far as possible, of the offender. But in all the laws
of the Word, of God there is a spiritual element and an eternal
object. The laws ctf retaliation were not intended only for evil men
in the natural world, but for evil spirits in the spiritual world. The
law of heaven, "Do to others as ye would that others should do to
you," becomes in hell, " As ye do to others, it shall be done to you."
In heaven all are actuated by benevolence, in hell by malevolence.
And as every principle carries within it its own reward, happiness is
the result of the one and misery of the other. Every evil has along
with it a corresponding punishment. That punishment is not a
divine retribution; it is not inflicted to satisfj' any divine attribute;
but is a permission for the purpose of restraint and correction — we do
not say of amendment, because this can have no existence in the
regions of darkness. The law of retaliation acts in the spiritual
world precisely as it acted among the Israelites in the natural world.
The punishment is demanded and inflicted by the blood avengei^the
Lord, as the universal Judge, like his prototype, only doing what the
judge of Israel did, regulating and moderating the punishment, that
it exceed not the limits assigned by the law of retaliation. There also
the retribution of evil takes place according to the law of contraiies,
as opposite to the reward of good in heaven. Good willed or done by
any one in heaven opens the heart to receive an influx of good, with
its deUght, from every side, so that the delight of all is imparted to
each. Evil done by any one in hell draws upon him the wrath of
the whole society, just as among the Israelites the claimant for
vengeance was tracked by the congregation, who only waited for the
avenger to throw the flrst stone, to rush simultaneously upon the
offender. And it is in relation to the spiritual life of man, and not to his
outward natural life that he lives in the world, that the Lord delivers
these precepts, when understood in their spiritual meaning, which is
the only meaning in which they are to be strictly observed. An eye
K

130 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, signifies that it is a law of divine
origin, that so far as any one takes away, or desires to take away,
from another the understanding of truth, or the sense of truth, so far
they shall ' be taken away from him ; and this is an effect which is
seen to follow the effort or intention. The eye signifies the under
standing of truth, and a tooth what may be called the sense of truth ;
for tooth signifies what is true or false as it appertains to the sensual
man, or as it is perceived by the ultimate region of the human mind,
called its sensual principle. That the evil, or the doer of evil, is not
to be resisted, signifies that the good, upon whom such spiritual assault
is made, are not to fight in return, and recompense e-vil with evil.
Angels, we may be sure, do not fight with the evil, still less do they
recompense evil for evil; but they permit evil spirits to hurt them if
they can, because it is impossible for them to do it, on account of the
protection which surrounds the angels from the Lord, which is such
that no evil from hell can hurt them. So when the Lord proceeds to
say, in illustration of the precept not to resist evil, whosoever shall smite
thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also, it is because the cheek
signifies the perception and understanding of interior truth (as the
tooth does of exterior truth), the right cheek signifying the affection,
and thence perception of it ; to smite the right clieek is to endeavour to
injure such affection and perception; ancl the command to turn the
other implies that the attempt is to be permitted, because it is im
possible, as just remarked, that the evil can do real injury to the per
ception and understanding of interior truth in those who, being grounded
in such perception and understanding from genuine good, are encom
passed with the sphere of the Lord's divine protection. In the original,
the word used properly signifies the cheek-bone, or the upper jaw, of
which the cheek is the covering, consisting of the muscles by which
it acts. The jaws form the opening of the mouth ; and the mouth and
all the parts connected with it, as the throat, the lips, the cheeks
and jaws, and the teeth, signify such things as relate to the per
ception and understanding of truth, because these principles in the
mind correspond, or answer by correspondence, to these organs of
the body, on which account they are named to express those mental
faculties in the literal sense of the word, which is entirely written by
such correspondences. So when the Lord says farther, And if any
man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let Mm have thy
c'oak also, the meaning is, that if any endeavour to take away the
internal truth of which we are in possession, he may be aUowed to
take the external truth likewise; for the coat, or inner garment.

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW. 131
signifies interior truth, and the cloak, or outer garment, signifies
exterior truth. We are informed that the angels do this with the
evil; for the evil cannot take away anything of truth and goodness
from those who are really principled in them, as the angels are, but
they can take away from those who, in resentment of the attempt,
burn with enmity, hatred, and revenge, because those evils avert
from him who cherishes them the Divine protection of the Lord.
So, again, when the Lord further says. And whosoever shall compel thee
to go a mile, go with Mm twain, the spiritual and only true signifi
cation is, that he who wishes to draw away from truth to falsity is
not to be resisted, because he cannot do it — a mile being the
measure of a road or way, which signifies that which leads to truth,
or from it. When the Lord says, finally. Give to him that asketli thee,
and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away, the
meaning is, that whatever we possess or know of goodness and truth
is to be communicated to all who wish for it ; and this whether he
desires it in sincerity or only to pervert it, and deprive others of the
truth by such perversion. This, however, they are not able to do ;
and all who derive instruction of us, whether for a good or a bad end
or object, of which we can seldom judge with certainty, are to receive
it. Even also when the object at the time may be a bad one, we
cannot tell what benefit the inquirer may derive from the information
imparted: it may possibly be the means eventually of his refor
mation. It is quite evident that all these injunctions may be carried out
spiritually without our losing anything of good or truth, or any
mental or spiritual endowment, by doing so. We may freely let a man
take our spiritual coat and cloak without losing them ourselves ; and
we may give to him who would ask or borrow of us without being in
any respect the poorer. We ought ever to be willing to do good in
all ways, even to the evil ; and most assuredly the greatest good that
can be done to the evil is to communicate to them that instruction,
imparted with compassionate kindness, which may be instrumental to
their reformation.
43. The previous sections of this Divine discourse begin with
quotations either from the ten commandments or from other precepts
ofthe Mosaic law ; but this passage continues with a citation from the
law, a precept which nowhere occurs in the sacred writings. The
Divine Speaker says. Ye have heard that it hath heen said. Thou shalt
love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. The first clause is certainly
a Divine command. It is found in Lev. xix. 1 8, where it is written,

132 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
" Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; " and in conjunction with
the command to love the Lord with all the heart and soul, it is
repeatedly quoted by the Lord Jesus Christ, who declares that " on
these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." But no
where is to be found in any part of the Old Testament — of the law and
the prophets — any more than in the New, any precept which .says,
" Thou shalt hate thine enemy." In the margin of our Bibles we are
referred to Deut. xxiu. 6, where the children of Israel are enjoined
not to seek the peace nor the i^rosperity of the Ammonites and
Moabites all their days for ever. But this is a special case ; and the
very fact that it was an exception proves the rule that they were to
love, or at least not to hate their enerhies. But even this does not
enjoin hatred. It does not come within the spirit of the Christian
precept to love their enemies: it only excludes these enemies from the
benefit of the active seeking of their peace and prosperity by Israel.
Another passage referred to, in illustration of the Lord's statement,
is the 10th verse of the 4lst Psalm, " O Lord, be merciful unto me, and
raise me up, that I may requite them." This is indeed a prayer of
David in relation to his enemies. But this is no precept commanding
hatred. It is in the spirit of other Old Testament utterances, but it
expresses the mind of man and not of God ; nor is anything to be
found, even in the Scriptures addressed to the Israelitish people, that
can be construed into a Divine command to hate their enemies.
When, therefore, the Lord says, "Ye have heard that it hath been said.
Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy," it is plain
that he must mean, as to the latter clause, that it has been said by the
Jewish doctors — the scribes and Pharisees — who, it is well known,
have always repeated this as a doctrine of the law of Moses, though, in
reality, the law of Moses never says any such thing. It is true they
were commanded to drive out or exterminate the previous inhabitants
of Canaan; but in this they were to act as the executors of Divine
judgments, called down by the extreme wickedness of those nations,
which, as is expressly stated, had grown to such a height that the land
itself could bear them no longer, but absolutely, in the strong symbolic
language of the Word of God, vomited out its inhabitants. The Israelites
were to hold no communion with such a people, because this could not
be held without contamination ; and as communication could not be
avoided if they lived together with them, they were, as just remarked,
commanded to exterminate and drive them out, as executors of the
Divine judgments on their wickedness; but this is very different from
being commanded personally to hate them, and to execute the awful

Chap. V] ST. MATTHEW. 133
commission assigned them in a spirit of malignity. It is true that the
Jews were not content to live separate from the nations, but cherished
hatred towards them ; yet this was due to their own character, and
not to any recommendation of, or authority for, such a principle from
the Word, which comprises many precepts whose tendency is directly
the contrary. Thus, not only was the commandment given (Lev.
xix. 18), "' Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," which the Jews
consider includes none but their own nation; but in verse 34 of the
same chapter it is added. The stranger (that is, the foreigner) that
sojourneth with you shall be as one home-born among you, and thou
shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
So in Deut. x. 18, "God loveth the stranger, in giving him food and
raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger : for ye were strangers in the
land* of Egypt." Evidently, then, the Mosaic law teaches no such
principle as hatred of enemies, but directly the contrary. Yet it is
certain this was a grand precept of the Jewish doctors, and heartily
received by the whole nation.
44. In correction, then, of this feature of the righteousness of the
scribes ancl Pharisees, the Divine Author of the Christian religion
says to his disciples, Bui I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them
tliat curse you, do good to tliem thai hate you, and pray for them which
despitefuUy use you, and persecute you. It may be asked. Why should
a Divine teacher, who knew that his church would not be formed of
Jews, few of whom were capable of receiving pure Christianity, address
so much of his instructions to the correction of Jewish errors and
principles of conduct? The answer is, because those Jewish errors
and principles — if not the very same doctrinal errors, corresponding
sins, and the very same principles of affection, life, and practice — are
deeply rooted in the heart and mind of the natural man, and con
stitute his principles of thought and action in all ages. Therefore
the Lord say.s, " But I say unto you. Love your enemies."
The command, " Love your enemies," certainly appears as a hard
saying to the natural man. How we can actually love those who,
we know, hate us, and would, if they had the power, destroy us,
is certainly a problem of which mere nature cannot suggest the
solution. It is true that duty does not require us to love them
as to that principle and state in them from which they are our
enemies, and would, if they could, injure or destroy us ; for no one
is an enemy to another, and wishes to injure or destroy him, but from
some principle of evil — some overweening impulse of self-love or the
love of the world, which are the basis of aU evU; and evU in no one

134 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
is to be the object of our love, but always of our aversion. But duty
requires us to remember that there is no one who is altogether evil.
If all have evil inherent in them from self, and present with them
from will, all likewise have good present with them from the Lord
and from heaven. All are human beings, our fellow-creatures,
possess the human endowments of rationality and liberty, and
thus retain somewhat, however disfigured, of the image and like
ness of God. The desire and the will of the Lord is, that the good
which is present in every one from him should be brought forward
and increased, ancl appropriated by the person, and acted from as his
own, and exalted to the supremacy in his affections; and that the e-vil
which is in him from himself and from hell should be subdued and
removed before it. And what is the will of the Lord respecting any
or every individual of the human race must be also the will, or must
be made the will, of every one who would traly be the Lord's disciple
or his servant, his friend or his son. How then can we act — even
in the lowest of these capacities — as the Lord's servant or disciple,
if, in regard to any one of whom we know that such is the will of
the Lord — that is, any one of the human race, any fellow creature —
we allow the petty consideration, that the e-vdl which is in him, ancl
which he shares with ourselves and with every one, happens to be
specially directed against us, and induces him, mistaking us, to act
as our enemy — if, I say, we allow this feeling, this merely selfish
consideration, to prevent us from complying with the will of the
Lord, and from acting as his chUdren or disciples, by constituting
ourselves enemies of that individual in return, and hating him
because he has fallen into the error, and is injuring himself by
appropriating the evil of hating and wishing to do injury to us ?
The grand thing we have to attend to, and never to forget, is, to
distinguish between a man's evils and his person, because he is a
human being — by creation our brother — capable of becoming an
angel, equally with ourselves the offspring of our Creator, and the
object of his paternal tenderness ; while we regret and lament his
evil conduct or principles, we should on no account do anything to con
firm him in them, but should gladly do everything in our power to pro
mote their removal. In fact, the true definition of what is meant by
loving our enemies is to feel and act towards them under the influ
ence of charity. However truly a person may be an enemy to us, we
are never to suffer feelings of enmity against him in return to
establish themselves in our hearts ; and though we may do whatever
is necessary to defeat his endeavours to do us injury, we must never

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW, 135
admit the wish to do him injury in return. Everything is comprised
in the direction, that we are ever to regard him with the feelings of
true charity, and to act towards him with such feelings alone.
That it is in this manner that we are to love our enemies is
evident from the additions with which the Divine Speaker accom
panies that precept. After saying, "Love your enemies," he con
tinues his precepts on the subject by saying further, Bless them that
curse you, do good to them thai hate you, and pray for them that
despitefuUy use you, and persecute you. These are all marks and
manifestations of charity. The end which all charity has in view is
to promote the good of those towards whom it is cherished, and to do
them good in whatever way we are able, so as to contribute really to
their benefit. One way of doing such good is to bless them that
curse us. To bless implies desiring blessing from the Lord ; and it
includes, where there is opportunity of doing so with effect, the
imparting such advice and instruction as may tend to bring them
into a state admissive of the Di-vine blessing. To do good to them
that hate us is evidently to return good for evil, and thus to convince
them how little reason they have to hate us, and to bring them to
feel the evil of doing so. To pray for them that despitefuUy use us
and persecute us cannot, in the spiritual sense, mean anything very
different from what the letter expresses. Wlien so ill treated by an
enemy as to have no means of doing anything directly good to him,
we can only elevate our souls in devout desire for his true welfare
to the Lord, and intercede at the throne of mercy on his behalf;
and, little as human reason may be able to discern the probable use
of such a course, we may be sure that it would not be enjoined by
Infinite Goodness and Wisdom, did not that Wisdom see how it
may be beneficial, and were not that Goodness disposed to make it
so. Doubtless, in many cases, no human intercession on behalf of
others can be of any avail ; but if the Word of God is to be believed,
there certainly are cases as numerous, whatever philosophy may argue
to the contrary, in which it may. And as it is impossible for us to
know what cases may belong to this class, and what to the other, it
is doubtless our duty in all, from .special emotions of charity, to
comply with the Lord's command, and to pray for them that
despitefuUy use us and persecute us. The Lord himself prayed
for his enemies on the cross. His prayer could neither be formal
nor unavailing; and if we are true disciples we wUl follow his
example, believing sincerely in the blessedness of the result.
45. But the Divine Speaker does not confine himself to simply

136 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. V.
commanding us to love our enemies : he adds to the command the
strongest motives, reasons, and inducements to the love of enemies :
Thai ye may he the children of your Father who is in heaven: for he
maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain
on the just and on the unjust. The not regarding of injuries, so as to
seek to requite them ; the not hating, but the loving of our enemies,
so as to regard them with entire charity, and to desire nothing but
their good, is, beyond everything else, that which makes man, in his
finite measure, like God, insomuch that God regards such a man as
his son, and gives him this title. The reason of this is, because
such genuine, disinterested charity — charity thus free from all
contamination by the love of self— is the very Divine principle as
received by and dwelling in man ; and though man can never have
anything divine in him as his own, so as to be himself a god, yet in
the form of such charity it is imparted to him, as if it were his own;
and though it cannot make him a god, it unites him, in his finite
manner, with God, and effects a real conjunction of life for him
with the Lord himself With it he receives power to be, and is
accounted as, a son of God. He has an intimate conjunction
with the Lord Jesus Christ as to his Divine humanity, and in
the humanity with the essential divinity— the inmost divine essence
and nature.
For the Lord, in his unfailing bounty, maketh his sun to rise on
the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the
unjust. Not only does he do this literally, communicating all
needful benefits to all, but spiritually likewise, by communicating to
all the means of salvation, together with ability to make saving use of
them. The rising of his sun is the communication of the influences
of his love, conveying all spiritual good ; the rain that he sends is
the influence of his truth, making the mind receptive of the
knowledge conveyed through his Word ; and both are the gifts of
his Holy Spirit, which are constantly present with every one, and
when received and appropriated, replenish the soul with spiritual
life, and prepare the man for the blessed enjoyment of life ever
lasting. Other reasons are offered by the Divine Speaker and Benefactor,
to convince man how readily he should comply with the Divine
desires in his behalf, by acquiring that charity which can love its
enemies, and thus become an inheritor of all heavenly excellences
and joy.
46. And, first, he shows that reUgious men have no advantacfe

Chap. V.] ST. MATTHEW, 137
over the men of the world unless they show a better example of un
worldly love. For if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye ?
do not even the publicans the same ? As natural men hate, so do they
love. As they hate those that hate them, they love those who love
them. In thus loving others they only love themselves. They love
others so far and so long as others minister to their self-love or
self-interest. Christian love is entirely different from this. A
Christian loves his neighbour for his neighbour's sake. And this
he does whether his neighbour love him or not in return. His
principles prompt him to desire the welfare and happiness of others,
and to do what he can to promote them. Not self-love, but the love
of God, is the principle from which he loves and acts. And as God
loves all, and dispenses his bounty to all, he who loves God must
love as God loves. There is another duty inculcated — that of
saluting others besides our brethren.
47. And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than
others ? do not even the publicans so ? The distinction is that which
exists between loving and doing, and, spiritually, is one that so
often occurs to mark the distinction and the union of the will and
the understanding in all our intercourse with our fellow-creatures —
that heavenly marriage of the good and the true from which all
spiritual virtue springs. Unless the Christian acts from these
heavenly principles, what reward has he ? The publicans have
selfish gratification, and sometimes worldly advantage, as the re
ward of loving and saluting those who love and salute them. The
reward to which the Christian looks is inward satisfaction and
advantage ; but it is the satisfaction of doing good, and the advan
tage of increasing his own capacity for usefulness and happiness.
48. As the Lord pointed to the Father in heaven as the pattern
for men in their love for and conduct to each other, he concludes
by exhorting his disciples to imitate him even in his perfection.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect. This must seem to many an impracticable lesson. The
Lord cannot, of course, mean to teach us that we can be perfect in
the degree that God is perfect ; but he certainly intended to teach
us that there is a perfection to which the Christian can attain which
is an image of the Divine perfection. What is it that, apart from
his infinity, constitutes the perfection of God's nature ? It is the
perfect union in him of love and wisdom. The same union con
stitutes human perfection ; the only difference being, that while the
perfection of God is infinite, that of man is finite. Love from God

138 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
in man's will, and wisdom from God in man's understanding, make
man an image of God ; and man is a perfect image so far as these
principles are united in his mind and in his life. According to this
idea of perfection, the humblest member of the Lord's body can be
as perfect in degree as the most exalted. For he who has little
of love and of wisdom may have that little in as perfect a state of
union as the greatest. The union of love and wisdom, or of good
and truth, of charity and faith, of will and understanding, of doc
trine and life — this is perfection; and to this perfection all can
attain. What a beautiful conclusion do these verses form to the series of
Divine lessons which this portion of the Lord's sermon conveys!
How excellent and amiable does the religion of Jesus Christ appear,
according to its nature, as here described and insisted on by himself I
How far surpassing anything ever imagined is here presented, as the
character of the true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, when, as
necessary to distinguish him from men of the world, and to evince
that he is a true disciple of his Divine Master, we are told that he
must love even his enemies, and return blessings and jirayers for
curses ancl injuries; and when, after a picture of our heavenly Father
as the Author of good to all, we are instructed that, in this respect,
we are to take him for onr pattern, and strive after a perfection
imitative of his ! In practice how few of us appear to think that
such precepts are given in earnest, as intended to be obeyed, and that
unless we are at heart in the sincere effort to obey them, and to
govern our affections and habits of life in conformity with their
directions, we have no claim to be accounted as Christians, or to
assume the name, and expect the consequent blessing, of him as the
disciples and foUowers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER VL

This chapter, while it forms part of the series of the Lord's discourse,
forms at the same time a series which is distinct by itself; and which
again consists of distinct parts, forming again other distinct series.
Thus, the first eighteen verses obviously constitute one series of sub
jects, consisting again of three parts, intimately connected together:
the first treating of the duty of almsgiving, the second of that of
prayer, and the third of fasting.

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW, 139
1. The first verse is a general introduction, not only to the subject
of almsgiving, but also to those of prayer and fasting. In our version
the Lord is made to say. Take heed tliat ye do not your alms before
men; but in the margin righteousness is given instead of alms. The
reason of this is, that in a great number of manuscripts, including
those that are most ancient, and in some of the most ancient versions,
the word properly meaning righteousness, or justice,' is here found.
This would appear to be the correct reading. For righteousness being
a general term, denoting any kind of reUgious duty whatever, includes
the three different duties, of which almsgiving is one, and which,
therefore, comes appropriately in the next verse. The general precept,
then. Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be
seen of tliem; otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is
in heaven, implies, that no kind of religious duty whatever is to be
done for the sake of the applause of men, or on account of any
external consideration whatever; and that when so done, it ceas'es to
be truly an act of religion, and brings no blessing upon the hypo
critical performer.
2. Having taught that in the performance of religious duty in
general, regard is not to be had to men, otherwise no reward attends
them from our heavenly Father, the Divine Instructor draws from the
general precept an inference relating to the specific duty of almsgiving.
Therefore, when thou doesi thine alms, do noi sound a trumpet before thee,
as the hypocrites do in tlie synagogues and in the streets, thai they may
have glory of men. Almsgiving, as one of the most obvious good
deeds which spring from a principle of charity, is here mentioned to
denote all good in general, — every sort of performance which has, or
ought to have, charity or love as its origin, — all good which man can
will or do. That almsgiving is one of the forms of such good, there.
can be no doubt ; although, in a corrupt and artificial state of society,
there is need of prudence and caution in its exercise; lest by this
means the unworthy should be supported in idleness and profligacy,
and, by importunity and hypocritical pretences, should monopolize
the bounty which is only well be.stowed upon those whom misfortune,
and not vice, has reduced to a situation to require it. But almsgiving
alone is not what is here intended in the spiritual sense, but, as
remarked, all good whatever that man can will and do. Nothing of
the kind is to be done for the sake of outward appearance. Do not
sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and
in the streets, that they may have glory of men. To sound a trumjiet is
a flgurative form of speech, denoting, when applied to divine things.

140 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
revelation by truths grounded in celestial love : here, therefore, where
it is applied to a subject of an opposite nature, it denotes publication
and boasting, grounded in self-love, and the love to obtain the glory of
men, and to desire reputation by such means among those who only
behold the outward appearance, but cannot look into the heart.
Thus it is to do good only for the sake of appearance, without any
regard for good in itself The synagogues and the streets, where the
trumpet is blown, signify, in the good sense, doctrines and truths;
and therefore point to the nature of the act as being one of intellect,
and not of the heart, the result of study and contrivance with a view
to self-glory. It implies also the practice of selflsh benevolence under
the cloak of religion. Verily, they have their reward. But what is this
but the bubble reputation, which death at least must burst, leaving
the miserable performer to shame and everlasting disgrace.
3. This, therefore, being not the mode of doing good which is
acceptable to the Lord, or truly beneficial to the performer, the Lord
says to his disciples. Therefore, wheii thou doesi alms, let not thy left
hand know what thy right hand doeth. This is doubtless a proverbial
phrase, implying great secrecy ; but when employed by the Lord it
becomes significant likewise. All the organs on the right side of the
body have, as we have seen (ch. v. 29, 30), relation, in the symbolic
language of Scripture, to the principles of goodness; and those on the
left to that of truth. These, with a good man, act in union ; but not
with a wicked man, or with one who does good only for the sake of
appearance. The hand always signifies power or abUity. To act,
then, with the right hand denotes to act from a principle of truth
grounded in goodness. But the left hand here denotes the power of
truth separate from goodness: and to consult this, would be to act
from the understanding alone, without regard to any concurrence on
the part of the will — thus to do what truth dictates, but without any
motive of goodness in the doing of it ; in which case self-love or evil
mu.st be the moving principle, and the good outwardly done would
be for the sake of appearance and character. Not to let the left hand
know what the right hand doeth is to do good from a principle of
goodness itself, without any respect to any consideration not grounded
in genuine goodness.
4. Good must be thus done that our alms may be in secret — that
is, that our good deeds may proceed from the inmost recesses of the
soul, and be kept separate from all external considerations. And for
such good. Thy Father vjhich seeth in secret himself shall reward tliee
openly. By which is meant, that the delight and blessedness inherent

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 141
in all genuine good, or in all good which is lived, will be communi
cated to us by the Lord, the only Source of all real good and of all
true felicity. And when this is promised from the Lord as our Father,
we are instructed that this reward will come from his fatherly love,
the fountain of the purest bliss. How desirable to come into the
possession of such a principle of goodness, and to be influenced by it
alone in whatever we do ! If we do good according to our abilities
and opportunities, our heavenly Father himself will give us a reward
— the reward which all pure love of good carries in its bosom, the
deUght and blessedness of heaven, not the heaven only which is
without, but of that which is within us ; for good itself is heaven,
and in this our Father dwells.
5. From the subject of almsgi-ving the Lord passes on to that of
prayer. This is a subject in which all are most deeply interested.
Prayer is discourse with God. Love is the fire that burns perpetually
upon the altar, and devoutness of spirit is unceasing woi'ship. There
are times and seasons, however, when the devout man pours out his
soul to God in oral prayer. Nor can true piety exist without the
exercise of outward devotion, any more than true holiness can exist
without the practice of good works. Prayer is therefore introduced
among the active -virtues which the Lord enjoins in his sermon on the
mount. As in the duty of almsgiving, so in the performance of
devotion the Lord instructs us both negatively and positively. And
when thou jjrayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. We must not,
as the word hypocrite implies, with our lips use words, or assume any
outward appearance, of devotion or holines.s, while our heart believes
or thinks in opposition to the form of goodness assumed before the
world. The Lord, it is plain, does not speak of the infirmities which
may attend the performance of our acts of worship, such as accidental
and unintentional wanderings of thought or distraction of mind, but
of that studied simulation of a piety to which the heart is an utter
stranger, and which it even abhors. The Lord explains what he
means by the command to be not as the hypocrites, by proceeding to
explain what such a hypocrite is : for they love to pray standing in the
synagogues and in the corners of the streets, thai they may he seen of men.
The Lord does not in this discourage public worship. He himself
worshipped in the synagogue. Social worship is not implied here.
Synagogues were made in imitation of the temple. And the Lord
represents the Pharisee and the publican going up into the temple to
pray, and each as praying alone. The point of our Lord's exhortation,
to avoid the example of the Pharisees, is in their praying in public

142 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
places, to be seen of men. And nothing, surely, can be a more profane
mockery than seeking human praise by the very act of offering homage
to God. All our Lord's description of the practice of the hypocrite is,
in the spiritual sense, expressive of activity of the intellect, and, in
this case, without the co-operative infiuence of the will. Standing is
expressive of a state ofthe thought; the synagogue signifies doctrine ;
a street signifies truth or its opposite ; and the corner of a street the
ultimate where truth closes, and on which it rests. We thus pray
when from the understanding alone we go through the forms which
truth prescribes as the means of acquiring good, for the purpose of
acquiring the reputation of goodness. We do it to be seen of men, that
is, to deceive their understandings, which is meant by the sight, to
make that seem good which in itself is evU. Of all such worshippers
the Lord says. Verily I say unto you. They have their reward. Their
present reward is to obtain a character for piety, and secure respect
and credit with others. Their reward is of this life, and here it ends.
Their reward in the other life is "shame and everlasting contempt."
6. Pharisaic worship is to be shunned by every true disciple of the
Lord. He is to seek the favour of the Lord alone. No view to any
merely external advantage is to be made the end of his devotions. He
is to worship primarily from the internal man, and by internal wor
ship give a spiritual and internal nature even to its outward expres
sions. Therefore the Lord says, Bui thou, when thou pray est, enter into
iliy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which
is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
By the direction to enter into the closet is not meant that all worship
is to be performed in solitude. The closet is here put to signify the
interior recesses of the mind. We are to worship the Lord from the
internal man, and thus from states of inward faith and love, and not
from the external man and his natural desires. Therefore we are also
commanded to shut the door, which means to exclude all the influences
that arise from the body and the world — to shut out completely every
suggestion and desire that arises from below, and to seek the blessing of
our Father, that is, of the Lord as pure Divine Love, who is only to be
approached in such states of interior affection and spiritual desire, and
who has his residence iu secret, in the inmost recesses of the purified
soul. The blessings of which we shall be made partakers wUl, while
here, be stored up in the interiors of the mind; but when we depart
hence, we shall enter into their manifest enjoyment and full fruition.
Our Father, who seeth in secret, and who notes every desire and
aspiration truly directed to him, will, we may be assured, reward us

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 143
openly. But even in this world we shall not be entirely without our
open reward. Heavenly graces will be drawn down from the Lord in
the internal man into the external by every act of true worship, and
we shall be made partakers more and more fully of our heavenly
Father's love.
7, 8. Having entered into our closet, and shut the door, we must
attend to the matter of the prayer we offer up to our Father in
heaven. On this important point our Lord says. But when ye pray
use not vain repetitions, as tlie heathen do : for they think that they shall
he heard for their much speaking. As the word rendered "vain repeti
tions" occurs in no other passage in the New Testament, and, according
to Tholuck, only once in any classical author, its precise meaning is
not easily determined. The context, however, sufficiently shows its
meaning. It evidently includes the idea of "much speaking," for
which the heathen "think they shall be heard;" and it probably
includes also the idea of asking many particular things ; since one
reason for our not being like the heathen in our prayers is, that your
Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. In
both these particulars our Lord's own prayer, which he delivered to
his disciples as an example, is instructive. Few things are asked in
few words. Even in its simple literal sense it craves but one blessing
for the body; all the others are for the souL The Lord's prayer is no
doubt to be our pattern, though its use does not exclude that of other
suitable forms. In itself it includes all — all that we can think or
ask ; but this in its spiritual sense. It certainly most emphatically
teaches us that we should not approach the Divine Being with long,
unmeaning, or worldly-minded prayers. But these exhortations have
some deeper meaning than that which the letter expresses. It wiU
be observed that the Lord first warns us against the practices of the
hypocrites, and then against that of the heathen. The hypocrites are
those who do not pray, but only pretend to pray ; the heathen pray,
but are mistaken in the nature and objects of prayer. The hypocrites
represent those who are in truth without good; and the heathen
represent those who are in good without truth. This good is what is
called spurious good. It is not false and deceitful like that of the
hypocrites, but it is natural, and therefore impure and misdirected.
Truth is that which purifies good and makes it spiritual. And by the
good we here speak of we are to understand the good of well-disposed
persons, who yet have not the truth which is necessary to direct their
good dispositions to their proper objects, by the use of proper means.
Such persons are liable to think they shaU be heard for much speak-

144 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VI.
ing, and who use vain repetition, and think more of the body in their
prayers than of the soul. Be not ye therefore like unto them. Our
prayers are not only to be sincere, but intelligent and sj)iritual ; asking
always to be supplied according to the Divine will and wisdom, and
not according to our own, except so far as our own are in harmony
with those of our heavenly Father. The divine prayer which he him
self taught us we now come to consider.
9. After this manner therefore pray ye : Our Father. What an
inexpressible charm is included in this affecting and tender com
mencement, especially when it is borne in mind that it is the Lord
himself who authorizes and prescribes the form of approaching him,
and commands us to think of and address him as Our Father ! What
an evidence is there, and an example, in this instance alone, of the
grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ — of the nearer and per
ceptibly kinder relation which the Infinite and Most Holy Creator
assumed towards his creatures when he himself assumed humanity
for their redemption ! In the Old Testament there are a few instances
of the Lord being spoken of as the Father of his j)eople ; but it is in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ alone, in his Divine Humanity,
that the Eternal Creator can be truly known as the Father of those
who call upon him. The natural idea conveyed in the title of Father
is, that he is the Author of our existence. This is the most general
idea which is presented when we are instructed to call upon the
Divine Being as Our Father. Yet every one of any feeling perceives
that there is something involved in the epithet more than this, and
associates with the title the notion of paternal tenderness and care.
This arises from an obscure perception which all have of the spiritual
sense of the term Father, — of the spiritual reality which answers by
exact correspondence to the natural relationship of a Father. The
Lord is called Our Father in reference to that primary constituent of
his essence, the Divine Love. Divine Love is the universal parent.
It was to satisfy the yearnings of divine love, and the intense desire
inherent in it to impart itself to others, and to bless them from the
infinite fountain of beatitude in itself, that all creation was produced.
For all the natural creation is produced for the sake of man, or that
man might have the means of existence. And man was produced
that heaven riiight exist, to be peopled with human beings, exalted to
all the perfection and blessedness of which a created nature is capable,
and enjoying these blessings by conjunction with the Lord and the
fruition of his love. That the Divine Love is what is specifically meant
when he is called our Father is thus sufficiently obvious from

Chap. VL] ST, MATTHEW. 145
rational considerations ; and it is affirmed, almost in express terms,
in the Holy Word. The psalmist says, " Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him ;" where the word
rendered " pitieth," is one which denotes the deepest tenderness and
mercy, which are the feelings of the softest love. We are thus to
look at him, to our inexpressible comfort, as actuated by these
emotions towards us, when we are encouraged to address him in
prayer as our Father.
But we are instructed to address the Object of our worship not only
as our Father, but as our Father who art in the heavens. As with
respect to the Lord, the inmost Divine Essence, which is the same
as the Divine Love, is called the Father — the Divine Existence or
manifestation, which is the same as the Di-vine Truth, is what is
called the Son ; so the whole Divinity, only as existing in and
manifested by the Divine Humanity of Jesus Christ, is " our Father,"
and only by communications of spiritual graces thence can we be sons
of God ; as it is written, " To as many as received him, to them gave
He power to become the sons of God, even to as many as believed in
his name." This is expressly indicated when He whom we are to
address is defined to be " our Father wlio art in the heavens." For
the Father in ihe heavens is specifically the Divine Truth, the sphere
of which fills all the heavens, and is the source of all the perfection
and blessedness that the heavenly inhabitants enjoy. And it is only
the Divine Humanity of the Lord which is thus in the heavens —
which there is known, experienced, and worshipped, and which fills
the inhabitants with their angelic endo-wmeints ; for the Essential
Divine Principle, which Jesus Christ calls his Father, is utterly
inapprehensible to angelic as well as to human minds.
But who is it that we are to address as our Father? What is the
NAME by which he has been manifested to us, and in what person
has he revealed himself to us, and evinced that he is actuated by a
Father's tenderness ? It is only when clothed with humanity that we
can truly know him in this character; it was when he actually
assumed humanity that he first instructed us to address him as our
Father. When he is spoken of or addressed by this title in the Old
Testament, it is done prophetically, and in the anticipation of his
drawing near to man, by taking on him human nature and becoming
a Redeemer. It is tme, indeed, that he was the Father of his creatures
from eternity, and it is because he was so that they were called into
existence. Yet he could not be fully known in all the nearness and
tenderness of this relationship tUl he had put on the humanity for

146 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
the purpose. " No man (says the Lord) knoweth the Father, save the
Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.'' So when Philip desired
to see the Father, Jesus referred him to himself, and said, " Have I
been so long time with thee, and yet ha.st thou not known me, Philip 1
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou,
then, Show us the Father?" Although, then, the divine principle
specifically called the Son is not the same as that called the Father,
yet when the union between the divinity and humanity was fully
effected, that union was so complete that they formed but one person,
and the whole fulness of the Godhead dwelt in the person of .lesus
Christ. It is therefore a great error to suppose that he whom we
are commanded to address in the Lord's prayer as our Father is any
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He, after his glorification, is the
Father as well as the Son. Hence he speaks of himself (when he
speaks without a parable) as the Father. So, when the prophet
announces his expected birth, saying, " Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given," he not only affirms that "the government shall be
upon his shoulder," and gives him the titles, " Wonderful, Counsellor,
and the Mighty God," but he declares him also to be "the everlast
ing Father." So when the same prophet addresses him as the Father
it is when the Lord Jesus Christ is meant, because he is addressed at
the same time as the Redeemer : " Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our
Redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.'' The name of the Father,
which the Lord teaches his people to pray may be hallowed, is the
humanity in which Jehovah appeared in the world, and in which he
now dwells. The humanity is called the Divine name, because it was
in it that God was manifested, or came forth to view. That in the
supreme sense Jesus is meant by the name of Jehovah, is evident
from his own words. " Jesus said, Father, glorify thy name : there
came a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will
glorify it again." In this form our Lord prayed for the glorification
of his humanity, because this is truly the name of God, meaning by a
name that by which God is known to angels and men. The Lord
prayed that the Father's name might be glorified, and he requires us
to pray that it may be hallowed. God glorified his name when he
glorified his humanity; and we hallow his name when we acknowledge
the sanctity and divinity of his humanity. And this acknowledgment
is to be made for the sake of worship. It is the glory of the Christian
religion that it enables us to worship a visible God. The Essential
Divinity itself — that divine principle which Jesus Christ calls his
Father — is utterly unapproachable by angelic as well as human minds.

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 147
The humanity is the name by which the otherwise incomprehensible
Divinity is known and worshipped. The end of divine worship is,
that we may be like the Object of our worship. For no other purpose
does God require us to worship him. Our homage can add nothing
to his glory : it is only useful as it sheds his glory upon us. How
reasonable, on this ground, is the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ !
Not only is he a visible and comprehensible Object, but he is the
Pattern, as he is the Fountain, of all perfection — a perfection that has
been manifested in a life such as that by which we are to serve him,
and by which we are to worship him; for we worship him when we
live to his glory, as truly as when we bow in the profoundest humi
liation before him. As all the good and blessing with which the
human soul can be recreated solely proceeds from the Divine Human
ity of the Lord, and can only be given to those who are in the sincere
acknowledgment of its divinity, therefore the devout veneration of the
Lord's humanity must be the centre of all true and acceptable worship.
It is the peculiar sentiment of the angels of the highest heavens, and
to the inmost faculties of the regenerate human mind. Of every
prayer that we can offer, this sentiment must form the soul, and,
whether expressed in words or not, must have existence and life
within, to give acceptableness and efficacy to all our petitions. There
fore the Lord's prayer opens its petitions with the expression of this
sentiment, in the words Hallowed be thy name. And who can
think of the mercy of the Lord in assuming human nature even to
the uttermost, or as to the lowest principles in which it exists in man
in the world, for the sake of accomplishing in it a work of redemption,
and of making it the medium of communicating to us the quaUties of
the heart and mind, as to truth and goodness, in which is salvation,
which is truly the giving to us the power to become the sons of God •
¦ — who can think of such blessings, of which the Lord Jesus Christ in
his Di-vine Humanity is the Author, without most sincerely venerating
and hallowing his blessed name !
10. The sentiment of devotion which follows next in order is the
petition which, also, if rightly appreciated, should express the ardent
desire of every feeling heart: Thy kingdom come. Every one sees
that the kingdom of the Lord must denote, or at least include, his
divine government. And if his government truly reigned in the
hearts of all, it is no less evident that the most desirable blessings o
would prevail among mankind. For, looking to the natural sense of
the phrase alone, as obvious to every one, the coming of his kingdom
must mean the establishment of that kingdom on earth. And if it

148 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
were fully established, so that no corrupt passions might rebel in the
breast of any one, — much less any individuals, or whole masses of
men, set themselves in opposition to the merciful government of the
Lord, — what blessings must that gracious government diffuse through
out the earth ! How ardently, then, viewed only in this general way,
should all desire, and how sincerely should they pray, that this
blessed kingdom may come.
But a kingdom implies a king. And who is the king of this
kingdom? The incontrovertible testimony of Scripture is, that the
kingdom belongeth to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is '- King of kings
and Lord of lords." His kingdom upon earth, in its peculiar sense,
as spoken of in the New Testament, commenced with his assumption
of humanity, and his beginning openly to manifest himself therein by
his mighty works of divine love and his words of divine wisdom,
which his intimate union with the Divine Essence enabled him to do
and to utter. The kingdom of God having commenced with the
manifestation of God in the flesh, it is truly the kingdom of him who
thus showed himself to mankind. His kingdom is not of this world,
though intended also to be established in the hearts of men in this
world. For, as is announced respecting him by the prophet, " His
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and
his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."
But with respect to the petition, Thy kingdom come, as well as all
other speoiflc terms and phrases used in the Word of God, there must
also be a speciflc sense intended, besides that natural one which
results from the common sense of the words in natural l-anguage.
What then is the proper spiritual idea that belongs to the word
kingdom? In what respect is the Lord spiritually denominated a
king? All his Divine titles refer to some distinct attribute or essen
tial principle in his nature; so, consequently, must the title of king.
But how is it that a king on earth exercises his authority over his
subjects? or how is every kingdom maintained in order as such?
Every kingdom is a society of men bound together by the circum
stance of their living under the same laws. Under every kind of
government, the kingly, that is the sovereign power, is administered
by means of laws; in fact, the essential sovereignty resides in the law.
We have only to apply this to the Divine government to see in what
respect the Lord is called a king, and what is meant in the spiritual
sense by his kingdom. How does he exercise his government but by
his divine laws ? and what are these laws but the laws of his divine
order? And what are these but the dictates of his divine truth?

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 149
These laws are the immutable appointments of inflnite wisdom
grounded in infinite love. Love being his essence, he cannot will
anything but the purest good : and wisdom being, in his essence, in
perfect union with love, he cannot aim at the accomplishment of his
purposes by any but the best and wisest means. And his love and
wisdom being infinite, he sees from eternity to eternity what the best
and the wisest means are. The consequence is, that his laws are as
eternal and immutable as his own love and wisdom, or as himself
To be laws of his divine truth they cannot be otherwise ; for truth
itself can admit of no variation. As the Author, then, of the laws of
eternal truth, and as administering the government of heaven and of
his church, of the human race, and of the universe, according to them,
the Lord is called a King; and his government,- — the order and course
of such administration, and the beings who are the subjects of it, are
denominated his kingdom. In praying, then. Thy kingdom come,
we particularly pray that the government of the Lord's divine truth,
grounded as it is in divine goodness, may be established both in our
own hearts and in the hearts of mankind at large. And as the
aspiration, "Hallowed be thy name," is pre-eminently the sentiment of
the celestial angels, and of the celestial degree of man's mind, so the
petition, Thy kingdom come, is pre-eminently the sentiment of the
spiritual angels, or of the spiritual degree of the mind. These spiritual
angels are themselves called "kings," while the celestial are called
"priests." The heaven in which the spiritual dwell is specifically
the kingdom for whose coming we are taught to pray. To become
the subjects of this kingdom every thought must be brought into
obedience to the divine truth of the Lord, and he himself, by the laws
of his order, which are the truths of his Word, must reign with unre
sisted authority throughout our souls. Not only so : his laws must
be loved, and thence willingly obeyed. When obedience is thus
yielded with affection, it is accompanied with delight. How de
voutly, then, and with what earnestness of desire, ought we to offer
the petition. Thy kingdom come, making it the habitual -wish of our
souls !
The next petition of the Divine prayer. Thy will he done, may
appear much the same in import as the one we have just considered.
Wherever the Lord's kingdom is estabUshed, there undoubtedly his
will is done ; wherever his will is done, there assuredly he reigns as
King, and his government is established. Yet there must be a
decided distinction between the purport of one petition and the
other, In a divine composition there can be no real tautology.

150 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
That absence of sameness, amid the most admirable harmony, which
is apparent in the works of the Creator, must be equaUy character
istic of his words. What has been already said about the sense of
the petition, " Thy kingdom come," will show that there is nothing
approaching to a "vain repetition" in the addition of the clause.
Thy will be done. The Divine Truth, which is the principle of
the Lord's government, in the true reception of which consists the
estabUshment of his kingdom, is e-vidently the proper attribute of the
Divine understanding; whereas the will of the Lord must relate to
the other great essential of the Divine mind : comparatively as the
mind of man, who was created according to the image and likeness
of God, consists of the two universal faculties of will and under
standing. But as the attribute of the infinite understanding of the
Lord is Divine Truth or Divine Wisdom, so his infinite will is
Divine Goodness or Love. To pray that the Lord's Divine will may
be done, is to pray that the benevolent, the gracious, the merciful
desires, the unbounded love of our heavenly Father may take effect
in moulding the hearts of men according to its own nature, and in pro
ducing the fruits of goodness in their lives. The will of God can be
nothing but pure love and mercy ; and it prevails in us when we
are animated by no other affections than those of love to him and
charity towards our neighbour ; and it properly is done by us when
all our conduct is regulated in conformity with these blessed prin
ciples — when we do what they declare, and nothing but what they
sanction. But this petition is marked by the circumstance that it jiar-
ticularly desires that the Divine will may be done on earth as well as
in heaven : Thy will be done, as in heaven so upon the earth. This
is the order according to which the words follow each other in the
original, and according to which what is superior comes first, and
what is inferior follows after. That the Divine will is done in
heaven no one can doubt ; that it ought to be done on earth, and
that this ought to be our ardent desire, is no less obvious. But
heaven also denotes not only the heaven without, but also the heaven
within — the internal man — and consequently the earth denotes the
external man ; and it is the external man which requires to be brouo'ht
into obedience, and conformed to the Lord's will, being by natural
inheritance in a state of contrariety and rebellion. When the Lord's
will is thus done on earth as it is in heaven, the regeneration of man
is complete; and without it he is not qualified for any of the mansions
of heaven. This petition seems, then, to contain the peculiar senti-

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 151
ment of those in the heavenly kingdom who occupy the lowest of the
three general mansions assigned to the blest, and through which the
Lord, and heaven in genei-al, flow into the world and into men on
earth. The angels of this heaven are particularly in the principle of
obedience. Their especial life is in doing the Lord's will ; and
through them the conformity of the external man, in those who are
regenerated, to the same holy determination is more especiaUy
carried on. In order that we may experience the Lord's saving
operation, and be prepared for a place in his heavenly kingdom, our
prayer must most devoutly be. Thy will he done, as in heaven so
upon the earth. There is a princijile of our internal man of which
this is the proper sentiment. We must allow it to be opened, and
must thence look continually to our Father in the heavens for the
conformity of our external man to the spirit of the petition. We
must, to this end, join determination to goodness in life and act with
our aspirations towards heaven, never ceasing till the blessed fruit is
experienced, and, doing the Lord's will on earth, we are prepared
for that heaven where it is done spontaneously and unceasingly for
ever. 11. The petition of the divine prayer which we are now to con
sider is one that expresses our constant dependence on the bounty
of our heavenly Father. Glive us this day our daily bread. This
forms the middle petition of the Lord's prayer : above it, all relates
to the Lord and his kingdom ; below it, all relates to ourselves and
the world. In the first three petitions we address our Father in
heaven ; we pray that his name may be hallowed, that his kingdom
may come, and his will be done on earth as in heaven. In the last
three petitions we pray for forgiveness, for protection against or
support in temptation, and for deliverance from evil. In the first
three petitions we look, as it were, above us to the Lord and heaven ;
in the last we look below us to the world and hell. The present
petition — Give us this day our daily bread — occupies the middle
place, as it appears to be of an intermediate character.
Now the reason of this change of strain, so to speak, in the
varying petitions of the prayer— of its passing from the contempla
tion of the highest good and blessedness, by a regular gradation,
to the lowest evU and misery, is because it is so framed as to be
adapted to the whole nature, faculties, and composition of man, from
first to last. It is the production of Him who knoweth how " fear
fully and wonderfully we are made," and in whose "book aU our
members are written." It therefore expresses the sentiments both of

152 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
that part of our spiritual and mental constitution by virtue of which,
if duly opened, we become inhabitants of the heavenly kingdom, and
of that also by the abuse of which, when unreformed, we find our
sad home in the realms of darkness. We have mentioned that the
petitions of the first class contain in an especial manner the devo
tional sentiments of the various orders of angelic beings, and also of
the corresponding provinces and powers of the mind of man, which
are those that belong to what is called in theology the internal man.
In the heavenly kingdom the Lord is all in all; and so also in
everything belonging to the internal man. Therefore, in the class
of petitions which we have already considered, there is such a
direction of thought and affection to the Lord as prevents the
appearance of any other idea. So in the last class of petitions we
have the devotional sentiments, not certainly of the inhabitants of
the infernal kingdom — for there no such sentiments can exist — but
we have in those petitions the devotional feelings of the various
faculties and provinces of the external man, as regenerated or regener
ating, or the feelings of the man himself when contemplating this
part of his nature, and the liabilities which he derives from it. For it
is that part of man's nature, or mental frame, which is denominated,
in the language of theology, the external man, which alone is subject
to evils, is defiled with them, or is susceptible of them. Without it,
a finite intelligent being, or accountable creature, could not have
been produced ; and having it, the necessity of obtaining the removal
of its evils, and protection against the ruin to which it, and the man
who makes it his all, is exposed, prevents us in our supplications at
the throne of grace from abiding wholly in the contemplation of the
Lord and his perfections, and obliges us to have respect also to our
own deficiences, infirmities, and dangers.
Distinct, however, from these last great constituents of the frame
of human beings — the external ancl internal man — is the rational
faculty or principle; or rather, it is an intermediate which partakes
of both. This is the highest seat of man's conscious perception while
he lives in the world; and it is given him, that by means of it, as a
rational free agent, he may be capable of appropriating the things that
belong to the internal man, and thus have his internal man opened
and prepared for heaven, which takes place in proportion as the
external man is taught obedience, and is made what the Scripture
calls regenerate, by the removal of its evils. The rational faculty of
man, then, ought to be in the perpetual desire to receive and appro
priate good from the Lord, with every help requisite for these objects.

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 153
Here, then, our constant prayer must be, Give us this day our daily
bread: which clause we are now particularly to consider.
The exact literal sense of this passage has been a subject of great
controversy among the learned, the word here translated daily
being formed by the evangelists themselves, and existing in no other
work than the gospels, and in them only in this place, and in the
corresponding passage in Luke. It is only, therefore, from the
etymology of the term, and from the sense requked by the context,
that any conclusion can be formed as to its meaning. In the Latin
Vulgate it is rendered super-substantial ; but this is rather a spiritual
than a literal sense. Others, with our translators, have rendered it
daily, not that there is any direct reference to days in the original,
but because no modern language can accurately express what the
original term implies. The original term, according to what appears
to be its most probable etymology, denotes that which is suited to, or
required for, our substance or being; thus, when joined to bread, the
phrase signifies, the bread which is for our substance, being, or sub
sistence. This is our necessary bread; ancl the idea of our necessary
bread is not badly, though not literally conveyed by the phrase — our
daily bread.
It is plain, that in praying for our daily bread, the word bread
must have, even in the literal sense, a wider signification than one
article of food. It is used figuratively to denote food in general, and
indeed all that is necessary to the maintenance of life. Yet after all,
this is not what is truly meant by the divine words. The whole
purport of the divine exhortations which follow is to withdraw us
from a regard to natural things, which are promised to be given freely
where superior blessings are duly regarded. " Seek ye first the king
dom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added
unto you." Doubtless we ought to look to the Lord as the Author
of all our natural comforts, to acknowledge with gratitude his mercy
in bestowing them, and to look to him for their continuance. But
what he wishes us to desire with earnestness, and to ask of him as an
indispensable means of obtaining, is the good, and the spiritual gifts in
general, which are requisite to our spiritual support — to the life and
nourishment of our souls. This is the spiritual sense which the word
" bread" contains throughout the whole of the Word of God. Its
proper spiritual sense is good, or goodness. For as bread is that
-wdiich nourishes the body, so real good from the Lord is the proper
nourishment of the soul. And when, as here, bread in the natural
sense signifies all food in general, and not only so, but everything

154 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VI.
necessary for the support of bodUy life, it denotes in the spiritual
sense not good simply, but truth also, and these in all the varieties,
and under every form, suited to our spiritual state. Hence we say,
" Give us this day our daily bread :" for by days are signified, in the
spiritual sense, states through which we pass, or in which we are.
And when the idea of succession of days is involved in the natural
expression — for we are to pray every day — the idea of eternity, of suc
cession of states without end, is also included. What then we are
earnestly to desire when we say to our heavenly Father, Give us
this day our daily bread, is that he would bestow upon us every
spiritual good and gift necessary, as our varying states require, to the
support of our spiritual life, and to our well-being in and to eternity.
Among other things, the regulation of our thoughts, the supplying us
with profitable subjects of thought and affection, is particularly
involved in the petition ; for these constitute in a particular manner
the food of the mind. The Lord continuaUy gives the angels what to
think; and thus do they receive from him their daily bread. When
we offer up this form of words we should desire to partake of the
same privilege. But in using this petition, what do we not pray for,
when the Lord himself is the bread of Ufe, the true bread that came
down from heaven, to give life unto the world? He that eateth
of this bread shall live for ever. DaUy should we look up to him as
the source and the substance of all good for our needful supply. And
knowing that he still comes down from heaven as the bread of Ufe,
that we may eat and not die, causing his love and truth to descend
upon our hearts, as the manna descended upon the wilderness around
the camp of Israel, let us gather it, and gather it daily, that we may
go on by the strength of this angel's food in our journey to the pro
mised land.
12. The petition which now demands our consideration is that in
which we are directed to pray. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive
our debtors. This, in more respects than one, may be regarded as one
of the most remarkable of the whole series of sacred supplications.
That every human being stands in need of forgiveness at the hands of
his Divine Judge ; or that no one can stand up and claim the rewards
of eternal life as matter of right, pleading the unforfeited title of unde-
-viating obedience and holiness ; but that all must receive a favourable
decision of their final lot as matter of grace and mercy, there can be
few so blinded by self-love and self-conceit as not to be disposed most
humbly to acknowledge. " There is no man that sinneth not — In
many things we all offend — All have sinned and come short of the

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 155
glory of God," are declarations of the Old and New Testaments, to the
truth of which every one must feelingly assent. And none can be
humbled with the consciousness that he is thus a debtor — a sinner —
without most earnestly desiring that his deficiencies and offences may
not be brought against him, but may be covered over with the mantle
of forgiveness. Without forgiveness for what we have done amiss,
accorded from pure mercy, dark indeed were the prospect which we
should have to look upon in eternity. Accordingly, in some form or
other, supplications for forgiveness form a principal part in the devo
tional exercises, or religious worship, of every people, and of every
individual that cherishes any feeling of religion whatever. " Forgive
us our debts " is the humble supplication of all. But to this simple
sentiment, however briefly or verbosely expressed, all petitions of
merely human composition for the forgiveness of sins would, it may be
presumed, be confined. Few persons, conscious of being sinners, would
think of asking forgiveness on the ground that they had forgiven
others. Forgiveness absolute, and in all respects unconditional, is
what we should regard as most agreeable, and at the same time most
suitable to our condition. In framing the petition for ourselves, our
natural inclination would not lead us, and regard for our own interest
would not suffer us, to say, " Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive
our debtors.'' Yet this is the form in which we are directed to prefer
our entreaty in this divinely communicated prayer. Here, then, is a
feature in the prayer, given for use by the Lord Jesus Christ himself,
which is truly remarkable, and of most weighty consideration. A
form of forgiveness which, if invented by ourselves, would be pre
sumptuous, is by him enjoined as of indispensable necessity. Using it
after his direction, all idea of presumption iu it disappears. And how
momentous is the instruction which remains in its stead. Forgiveness
of our debts, upon condition of our forgiving our debtors, is still of free
grace and mercy on the part of the Lord ; for our disposition to forgive
others is itself the fruit of divine grace. Conditional forgiveness is
grace for grace. But though forgiveness of our sins is pure mercy on
the Lord's part, even where a condition is annexed to it, how truly
salutary is it calculated to be to us, that we should be reminded of the
condition in a way the most likely to produce its proper effect on our
minds. The condition annexed to forgiveness must, in the very nature
of things, be an indispensable one; for how can it be possible that we
can obtain forgiveness of our sins past, while we continue to make
them sins present? To pray for forgiveness of our sins, without
cherishing the full purpose of desisting from them, and seriously

156 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
endeavouring to do so, is mere mockery and vain babbling. The
cherishing feelings of revenge against those who have injured us, is one
of those sins which, while we continue to entertain and practise them,
cannot be forgiven. But, plain as this is in itself, our self-love would
here be very apt to blind us, and prevent us from making the dis
covery: it is, therefore, of mercy that the Lord makes the discovery,
and reminds us of it continually, by continuing the acknowledgment
of it with the very words of his prayer itself.
But what is the reason that our forgiveness of those who are de
ficient in the discharge of their duty to us, or who trespass against us,
is made the condition on which alone we are encouraged to hope for
forgiveness ourselves ? And what is the proper meaning of the for
giveness of sins? The forgiveness of others is made, in the literal
sense of the petition, the ground of our obtaining forgiveness, because
no one can truly forgive those who injure him, so as to regard them
with perfect complacency and kindness of heart, except in proportion
as the love of self and the love of the world, which are the roots of all
evil, have ceased to exercise a preponderating influence over him, and
thus in proportion as evils in general are removed from his affections,
and consequently from his practice. The Lord instructs us, in the beati
tudes, that the merciful obtain mercy ; and on the same principle
we are here taught that the forgiving obtain forgiveness. Tliis
shows us what the nature of forgiveness truly is. It does not consist
in the pronouncing of a pardon by the Lord. If this were sufficient
to enable the sinner to enjoy the blessing intended, every child of
man would receive it. Jesus Christ, who is mercy in its very essence,
could refuse it to none. But how can sins be forgiven, so as to free
us from their deplorable consequences, unless they are at the same
time removed — removed from their seat in the affections, desisted from
in the habit of our lives ? The removal of evils is what we ought to
think of when we pray for their forgiveness. As we, by Divine aid, de
sist from and remove them in desire and practice, they are truly remitted
to us by the Lord, who then removes them also from our affections
and thoughts. The desire for the Divine aid for this purpose is ex
pressed when we say, "Forgive us our debts :" the acknowledgment
of the necessity of our own fighting against and desisting from them
is implied when we add, " as we also forgive our debtors." If this be
our prayer and our practice, we shall assuredly obtain from the Lord
the blessing of complete forgiveness.
13. The next petition of the Lord's prayer. Lead us not into temp
tation, is not free from difficulty. Many have found in it what appears

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 157
to contradict their apprehensions of the Divine nature and the
economy of the Lord's dispensations in regard to men, while leading
them through the wUderness of this world to their home in heaven.
In the first place, the words seem to imply that when man falls into
temptation the Lord is the author of it; when yet genuine doctrine in
forms us that God tempts no man, but every man is tempted when he is
drawn away of his own lusts and enticed. Another apparent difficulty
is, that, as no man that is saved can avoid undergoing temptation, ancl
as even the Saviour himself, when engaged in the work of glorifying
his humanity, was "in all points tempted as we are," it seems extraordi
nary that this prayer would seem to deprecate the idea of being exposed
to temptations in any shape. A general and satisfactory answer will
probably be given to both these difficulties when the remarkable -
peculiarity we have already noticed is kept in view — namely, that its
various petitions have a specific reference to the various constituent
principles of the human mind. Now, it is only through the medium
of the lower principles of the natural man that we can be assailed
with temptations strictly and properly so called. They originate
from e-vil spirits, who delight in falsities grounded in evil lusts, and
they are carried on, on their part, by the injection of false suggestions
into the thoughts. But the part of the human mind which is liable to
be thus influenced is that which, if separated from the higher principles,
and made the chief seat of man's affections and thoughts, gives him
a quality of the same gross and evil nature, and sinks him after death
to the state of those who thus deUght to destroy the soul. It is, in
fact, the part of man that thinks according to the apprehension ofthe
external senses which is the inlet by which temptations approach him ;
and the apprehensions of this, which may be properly caUed the sensual
part of the mind, in regard to divine and spiritual subjects, are of
themselves naturally imperfect and obscure. Hence, those whose minds
are not elevated above the sphere of the senses, when they acknow
ledge and worship God, have but gross and defective notions respecting
him. They regard him, indeed, as a Being of infinite power ; but not
having so clear an idea of his unmixed goodness, they suppose him
to be the author of everything they experience — of evil and misery, as
weU as of good and happiness. And this idea, though not agreeable
to the genuine truth, is yet useful to such persons, as leading them to
think of the necessity of rendering such an aU-powerful Being pro
pitious, by attending to his commandments. Accordingly, the idea
of God as thus the Author of all things, though not the true idea, yet
being one of the natural apprehensions of the human mind, and, when

158 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
entertained in simpUcity, adapted to produce beneficial effects, is
what may be called an apparent truth, though not a genuine truth.
According to such apparent truths, or according to the natural appre
hensions of mankind, when their minds are not elevated above the
sphere of the ideas suggested by the senses, many things are expressed
in the Uteral sense of the word. Thus, in regard to this very subject
of evU apparently coming from the Lord as well as good, we find the
Lord himself saying, " I form the light, and create darkness : I make
peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things," (Isaiah xlv. 7.)
Here the Lord speaks in the letter according to the apprehensions of
the simple, the genuine truth being, not that darkness and evil
come from the Lord, but that they cannot take place -without his per
mission, which is conceded, not for the promotion of evil, but for its
abatement and removal, and thus for the promotion of good. In
severe trials it is scarcely possible to abstain from thinking according
to the appearance : and the afflicted person is oppressed with the ap
prehension that the Lord takes part against him, and thus that the
temptation is actually induced by him. Still, this is not the real
truth ; and this, in states of any degree of illustration, the mind per
ceives. Accordingly, in all ages, from the earUest times of Chris
tianity, as is evinced by the -writings of those called the fathers of the
church, the true sense of this clause has been explained to be, " Suffer
us not to be overcome by temptation."
It has sometimes appeared to us, from the mode of expression in the
original, that the force of the words which we translate, "lead us not
into,'' is nearly equivalent to that of " rescue us from." For in the
original the term denoting noi is in juxtaposition with that signifying
lead, and precedes it, though the genius of our language does not
permit us to put the words in the same order, and to say " Not lead
us into temptation." Now it is remarked by critics, that in the
idiom both of the Old and New Testaments the particle not often
coalesces with the word that follows, so as to form one idea, and as it
were one word, being the contrary of that which the other word would
convey by itself: only this happens more frequently with nouns than
with verbs. Thus the translators in the common version have very
properly given the words of the Lord to Martha in this form : " He
that liveth and believeth in me shall never die." In the original it
is, "shall not die for ever," being equivalent in sense to "never." If,
then, we consider, in this part of the Lord's prayer, noi as coalescing
with lead, the sense of not lead into must be, rescue from. But this is
offered with diffidence as a suggestion, it never, so far as we are

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 159
aware, having occurred to any one else. All agree that the true sense
of the passage is to this effect, though they have not deduced it, in the
same manner, from the very words. And if this be the true sense of
the passage, whether Uterally expressed or not— if the idea intended
by it, when viewed in the light of genuine truth, and above the veil of
appearances, is, " rescue us from temptation," the other objection also
disappears, which is, that since temptations are both unavoidable and
necessary to salvation, it seems strange that we should be directed to
pray not to be exposed to them. Here, again, several of the literal
commentators have seen that the words cannot, in their real design,
be intended to deprecate all approach of temptation, but only to en
treat that we may not be immersed in it, or swallowed up by it. And
this, they say, is involved in the term into — ^that according to the pecu
liar force of this expression, as here used, to enter into temptation is to
be overcome and carried away by it. Thus to pray, as Augustine of
old expresses the sense of the petition, "Sufter us not to be led into
temptation," is quite different from what it would be if we were to
say, "Suffer us not to be assailed by temptation;" yet it is through
supposing these two phrases to be exactly synonymous that all the
difficulty has arisen. The Lord does not direct us to pray not to be
exposed to the assaults of temptation, because this would be the same
thing as to pray not to be made regenerate, since without temptation
regeneration cannot be accomplished; but we are most earnestly to
pray not to be suffered to be led into temptation, because if we do
come into it, in the Scripture sense of the phrase, we become a one
with the tempting agency, by adopting the false and evil suggestions
thence presented, and so confirming them that they cannot be re
moved. Such, assuredly, is the genuine idea intended to be produced
by this mode of expression, though, doubtless, when suffering tempta
tion, the mind is sufficiently ready to desire to have it removed, or to
be spared the trial altogether. The only proper sense in which the
prayer is authorized by the dictates of genuine truth is, " Suffer us
not to be overcome in temptation," or, " Rescue us from it by giving
us the -victory."
We come now to the last petition of this divinely dictated prayer.
But deliver us from evil. As the divine form of words delivered by
the Lord, as a guide for the devotion of Christians, begins with the
contemplation, attended -with the veneration, of the supreme good, so
does it, after passing through the whole series of intermediate senti
ments in the most orderly progression, terminate with the contempla
tion, attended with the shuddering aversion, of the principle of evil.

160 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
As in its contemplation of the supreme good it elevates the mind
to the Lord, even the Lord Jesus Christ, as being that supreme
good, and excites our love for him by presenting him as the tender
Father of our race, and the beneficent Author of all good to man ; so,
in adverting to the principle of evil, it regards it as one with the devil
and with hell, and presents it as the more an object of dread and horror
by identifying it with an existing being, or rather an innumerable
assemblage of beings, the very principle of whose life consists in the
love of destroying and doing hurt. As this prayer, in the commence
ment, desires that the Lord's name may be hallowed, which is the
sentiment, in its most direct form, of the pure love of the Lord, so
does it close with desiring to be deUvered from the opposite of this
principle — from evil in its deepest ground, which is the mere love of
self For it is only as self-love is removed, or ceases to exercise its
baneful infiuence on the heart, that the love of the Lord, which is
the love of pure goodness, can come into exercise and into actual
existence. Such, in a few words, is the purport of this concluding petition of
the Lord's prayer, as placed in contrast or in parallelism with its first.
We say, in contrast or parallelism ; for the things prayed against in
the latter clauses of the prayer are the exact opposites, respectively,
of those prayed for in the clauses which precede ; but the sentiments
which breathe in these latter petitions themselves, ancl which depre
cate the evil things adverted to, are the exact counterparts or
parallels of those which rise towards the Lord, in direct aspirations
for good in the former. Thus, as we have just seen, the evU prayed
against in the last petition is the exact opposite of the good which
is desired in the first aspiration ; and thus the request, " DeUver us
from evil," is the proper counterpart of the aspiration, " Hallowed be
thy name." So the petition, "Lead us not into temptation," which
expresses the desire to be rescued from the influence of false prin
ciples grounded in evil, is the exact counterpart of the aspiration,
" Thy kingdom come," which denotes the desire for the establishment
of the empire of truth grounded in goodness; just as falsity grounded
iu evil and truth grounded in goodness are the perfect opposites of
each other. So, again, the petition, "Forgive us our debts, as we also
forgive our debtors," is the proper counterpart of the aspiration, "Thy
will be done, as in heaven, so upon the earth ;" since debts and defalca
tions in regard to the performance of the Lord's will, or trespasses
against it, are the exact opposites to the doing of it; and the senti
ment which desires the forgiveness or remission of these debts is the

Chap. VL] ST, MATTHEW, 161
exact counterpart of that which desires that the Lord's wUl be done,
or that good from him may prevail, in the external man as well as in
the internal. The intermediate petition, "Give us this day our daily
bread," has not another answering to it, because it is truly interme
diate, partaking of the nature of both the other classes; since bread
denotes everything whatever which is necessary for the support and
j)reservation of spiritual life, and power to resist the evil by which it
would be destroyed. Thus we see, further, what has been shown in
explaining the several petitions, how this prayer applies to the wants
and sentiments of every faculty and principle of the human mind,
internal and external, from the highest to the lowest, including every
thing that can possibly be required for the establishing of the soul
in good, and its withdrawal from evil, and thus for the highest ex
altation of human nature ; and is suitable for every state which man
can experience in the whole process of his regeneration.
The petition now under consideration is not, like that which im
mediately precedes it, attended with any sort of difficulty, or liable to
misapprehension ; yet the particulars it involves may be set in a
clearer light by explanation. First, if viewed in connection with the
jietition which precedes, and with which its connection is very close,
"Lead us not into temptation," it tends powerfully to remove the
obscurity with which this is attended, and to establish the view of its
meaning which we have taken. For it is well known that it is cus
tomary in many parts of the Holy Word, particularly in those which
consist of prayers or praises, to connect two clauses together in such
a manner as to appear in the letter to be perfectly synonymous with
each other, only expressing the same thing in other words ; although
such passages are in reality not synonymous, but one of them
always expresses something that has relation to the principle of good,
and the other to something relating to the principle of truth. To
take one of a multitude — the Psalmist, addressing the Lord, says,
" Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path " (Ps.
cxix. 105). Though this sort of parallelism is not so observable in
the Lord's prayer, the clauses of which do not run in pairs, yet it
exists most perfectly in the clauses, " Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil." Lead us not into, in the one clause, being
exactly equivalent to deliver us from, in the other ; whence we may
conclude that the former phrase is more positive in its sense than the
words as they stand in English might induce us to imagine, and that
they amount in signiflcation to Rescue us from temptation. So temptor
tion in the one clause answers to evil in the other; whence, again.

162 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
we may conclude that it is not temptation, considered as a mere trial,
that is the thing represented as so dreadful, but the consequence of
falling in it, or being overcome by it. The temjjtaiion which we are
to pray against coming into must be something ecpiivalent to the
evil which we pray to be delivered from; which would not be the
case if entering into temptation, in Scripture phrase, meant no more
than being assaulted by it. We must be assaulted by it, otherwise
we can never overcome evil and falsity; and without overcoming
them we can never be delivered from them. Without having our
evils excited by temptation, we should be ignorant that we had any
in our nature, and that which is not known cannot be removed.
But that which we specifically pray against in the petition, " Lead
us not into temptation,'' is the power, dominion, and influence of
falsity grounded in evil ; but when we add, but deliver us from evil,
we pray against the power, dominion, and influence of evil itself This
is going to the root of the tree. EvU is properly the delight and con
cupiscence of thinking and acting contrary to Divine order, the laws
of which are summarily expressed in the precepts of the Decalogue.
The seeds of aU evils are inherent with every one in his natural or
external man, so that the delight of them is natural to him ; and
if not withheld from acquiring the habit of yielding to them, he is in
danger of conflrming them, and becoming enslaved to their power.
How ardently, then, should we pray, "Deliver us from evil!"
But, as already remarked, there is reason to believe that the idea of
evil is here meant to be united with that of an evil being, or rather an
assemblage of evil beings, whose very life is the love of destroying and
doing hurt. The word here rendered evil is in a form which may
equaUy mean the evil one. In the parable of the sower it is said of one
class of recipients, " Then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away
that which was sown in his heart;" where the word rendered wicked
one is the same as in the last petition of the Lord's prayer is simply
rendered evil. The same occurs in the parable of the tares. In this
petition, therefore, we pray also, " Deliver us from the evil one." In
the spiritual idea evil and the de-^dl, or what is the same thing, evU
and heU, are a one ; or, evil and the whole mass of evil spirits are a
one, and they act as one for the destruction of the human soul. Such
being the case, nothing but the divine power of the Lord can effect
our deUverance. Yet we are not to suppose it is unnecessary or
useless for us to attempt to use any resistance. The law of divine
order is, that we resist evU or the devil, altogether as if we were able
to do so of ourselves, yet heartily acknowledging that all the power of

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 163
resistance is given us from the Lord, and is the Lord in us. He who
does this wUl not pray to be deUvered from evil, or the evil one, in
vain. But, finaUy, evil in its deepest ground consists in self-love, which is
the proper principle of man's selfhood, from which all other forms of
evil have their rise and manifestation. Self-love consists essentially in
the desire to rule over others — to make others subservient to ourselves ;
and it burns -with revenge and hatred against all who do not submit.
This is, in fact, the principle which reigns in the lowest hell, into which
all descend who make it the ruling principle of their life here, ancl
yield to it without check. Specifically this is the root of all evil which
we pray against when we say, " Deliver us from evil." And he who
completely overcomes it, and becomes regenerate even to this part of
his external man, in which it has its seat, becomes after death a celestial
angel, whose ruling love is the love of the Lord, and the predominant
sentiment of whose heart, rising towards him, is expressed in the
aspiration, " Hallowed be thy name." Such is the state of perfection
and bliss which is consequent on the complete accomplishment of the
prayer which entreats, " Deliver us from evil." Complete deliverance
from evU, and the rejection of evU in its deepest ground, make one
¦with exaltation into the highest angelic good and felicity.
As a close to the whole prayer are added, in the common Bible, the
words. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for
ever. Amen. But it is now the general opinion of those who have
examined the subject, that this formed no part of the prayer as de
livered by the Lord himself ; but that it was added as a suitable ex
pression of devotion in the liturgies of the early Christians, and was
from thence taken into the text by some of the transcribers. Certain
it is that the chief of the mo.st ancient manuscripts and versions are
without it; whence it was never generally received till after the
Reformation. It is not contained in the Bibles used by the Roman
CathoUcs to this day. But although the words are not, we may
conclude, properly a part of the sacred formulary, the sentiment
intended to be expressed by them ought to be that of every heart. All
ought to acknowledge both that everything true, and everything good,
and every blessing that we enjoy, come from the Lord above, and to
ascribe them to him in devout veneration and heartfelt gratitude.
14, 15. After deUvering that divine prayer which has now been con
sidered, the Lord returns to the subject of one of the petitions he had
taught his disciples to address to the throne of mercy. The subject of
that one is forgiveness. He bad taught them to pray to their Father iu

164 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap, VL
heaven to forgive them, as they forgave one another. He now assures
them. If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you: but if ye forgive not men tlieir trespasses, neither will your
Father forgive your trespasses. Forgiveness is the only thing we are
instructed to pray for conditionally. Our Lord tells us that unless we
comply with the condition, our prayer will not be answered. How
impressive is this lesson ! There is perhaps no passion more powerful
than revenge ; no vice so common as unforgiveness. How quick are
we to take offence — how ready to resent an injury. Yet this is the
very evil our Lord singles out for reprobation, and forgiveness is the
very virtue which he insists upon as the necessary channel of recei^ving
forgiveness. " How often shall my brother offend me, and I forgive
him? till seven times? I say not unto thee until seven times, but
until seventy times seven." We must cultivate a forgiving spirit.
Forgiveness must not be an act merely, but a state — an abiding
disposition to give to others that which we seek for ourselves.
16. Alms-giving and prayer are succeeded by fasting. Moreover,
lohen ye fast. The Lord does not in his sermon teach his disciples to
give alms, to pray, and to fast : he teaches them how to perform these
necessary duties. Fasting was an institution of the Israelitish church ;
but no specific directions were given how to fast. We learn how they
fasted. They rent their garments, and sprinkled ashes on their heads,
and otherwise mortified their flesh. Yet even through their own
prophets they are reproved for the manner in which they fasted, and
are taught a better way. " Is it such a fast that I have chosen ? a day
for a man to affiict his soul ? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a
fi,st, and an acceptable day unto the Lord? Is not this the fast that
I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy
burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every
yoke ? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring
the poor that are cast out to thy house ? when thou seest the naked,
that thou cover him ; ancl that thou hide not thyself from thine own
flesh?" (Isaiah Iviii. 5-7.) Even in the Old Testament we often see
the spirit of the New. The Spirit looks at times through the cloud
of ceremonies, and utters the broad and noble truth. The Lord's fast
is here declared to be indeed a divine institution. Not empty forms,
but deeds full of charity, were the duties the Lord required of Israel
in their fasts. And this is the character of fasting even under the
sense of mortification. For what is the mortification which fasting
impUes? It is mortification of the mind, not of the body; the

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 165
abstaining from the delights of sin — from the gratification of selfish
and worldly loves — from the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life.
And the true sign of mortifying ourselves is in doing disinterested
service to others. The mortification and the deeds of charity are
indeed distinct, but they cannot be separated. We cannot do disin
terested good to others without denying ourselves, and we cannot deny
ourselves without doing good to others. For what is self-denial but
the effort to be unselfish ? Abstinence from evU in mind and practice,
and thus the mortification of self and all its corrupt lusts, is what is
spiritually meant by the fasting of which our Lord here speaks ; and
as this is always accompanied by a sense of our deficiency in ourselves,
in regard to everything that is good, and by mourning and humiliation
on that account, this also is included in the signification of fasting.
Such fasting we are commanded not to perform as the hypocrites do.
Indeed, such fasting cannot be performed by hypocrites at all, who
only substitute something in its place for the sake of appearance.
They are of a sad countenance; for they disfigure their faces, thai they
may appear unto men to fast. They assume an outward appearance of
mortification and austerity, being loud in the acknowledgment that
they are sinners, and exhibiting such other features of external peni
tence as appear before the world. In the spiritual sense, the counte
nance and the face are the affections and thoughts of the mind, for
these are expressed in them. Sadness is a state of the affections;
disfigurement, of the thoughts. Assumed, not real states are here
understood. Under the appearance of godly sorrow and self-aban
donment they concealed callous hearts and contemptuous thoughts.
17. The true Christian is not to be like unto these hypocrites. He
is to anoint his head and wash his face. He is to perform the duty of
spiritual fasting with cheerfulness. The practice of anointing the head,
common in ancient times, was representative of cheerful goodwUl and
social benevolence, because the oil with which it was done was a
representative of all good, kindness, and love in general. And to
wash the face was representative of interior purification, produoinw
effects in a life of comeliness and order. The import of the direction is,
that while practising abstinence from evUs, and maintaining a constant
guard against their influence, we are not to do this as a grievous
requisition, rendering the mind melancholy from the opposition of the
duty to its most cherished desires. We are to do it cheerfully and
wUUngly, not with regret that we are obUged to surrender our darling
evUs, but only with sorrow that there should be anything in us that
would plead for their retention.

166 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
18. We are not to appear unto men io fast, but unto our Father
which is in secret. As already explained (v. 5, 6), we are not to act
from truth in the external man, but from good in the internal; thus,
not from self, but from the Lord. And whUe the hypocrite, who
acts from and for the sake of self, has the poor and transient reward
of a reputation for being what he is not, the true penitent will receive
a reward of divine approval, and of inward peace and satisfaction.
His heavenly Father, who sees what is within, will bless him with
his grace. His sorrow for his evils will be within; and this cannot
exist there at all in sincerity without producing a state capable of
the reception of good from the Lord. The good thus appropriated,
through the rejection of evil, will, after the trial is over, be productive
of delight, which will be consummated in heaven, when the joy
inherent in all good from the Lord wUl ever be communicated to
him, together with the good itself from him. Thus again his happy
experience will be, that his Father, who seeth in secret, will reward
him openly.
19-21. The subject to which our Lord now directs the attention ofhis
hearers is one that comes home to us in our every-day Ufe, and enters
into our habitual thoughts and feelings. Lay not up for yourselves
treasures on earth, hut lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Every
one has a general perception of what this language means, and of the
lesson which the exhortation was intended to convey. The Lord
teaches us that not temporal but eternal things should be the chief
objects of our pursuit and affection.s. Those who have any real
belief in their own immortality, and any sincere conceiTi for their
eternal state, must be aware of the importance of acting in conformity
with this principle. The wealth of this world and the riches of
heaven are to each other as the body is to the soul, and as time is to
eternity. They have nothing in common. There is no projiortion
between them. They are connected only by correspondence. The
lower was designed to be subservient to the higher. The treasures of
this world are to be sought after and esteemed as things whose final
cause is not on earth, but in heaven. It is true that natural things
have a natural use ; but this is not their only nor their princii-)al use.
Nothing that we love and pursue affects the body only, or terminates
in this world. Our ends are in heaven or in hell; and there, where
they begin, our works terminate, for everything returns to its origin.
Nothing is better calculated than such reflections to regulate the
desire and sanctify the use of temporal things, and at the same time
to lead us to devote our best thoughts to the acquirement of heavenly

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 167
things, and make them the objects of our best affections. In them
selves earthly treasures are corruptible and precarious. In some way
the moth and the rust are ever at work upon them ; and if some turn
in the wheel of fortune do not rob us of them, yet death, when he
comes as a thief in the night, will sweep them all away. Heavenly
treasures are incorruptible and certain; and if we possess these, death,
who at last deprives us of the temporal, will open the gate which intro
duces us into the full enjoyment of the true riches.
But there is a spiritual sense in the Lord's words. In the language
of the correspondence between natural and spiritual things, riches is a
term denoting the knowledge of goodness and truth, or all points of
knowledge respecting spiritual subjects. The earth, in the same
expressive language, denotes the external or natural man, and
heaven, the internal or spiritual. Here, then, we are told how we are
to proceed in regard to the knowledge of divine things with which
we are brought acquainted from the Word, and from preaching, and
other mediums of instruction derived from that source. We are not
to lay such precious treasures up among ordinary matters accumulated
in the memory of the external man, or merely to speculate upon them
with the natural understanding. If we make no better use of our
acquisitions than this, they are sure to be corrupted and perish, and
to leave the mind as destitute of any advantage from theu- seeming
possession as if they had never been known at all. Moth and, rust
will corrupt, and thieves will break through and steal. These denote
the evU lusts and false persuasions which belong to the natural man
separate from the spiritual; the tendency of which is to prevent,
destroy, and render useless every acquisition of a spiritual nature
which the mind may externaUy have obtained, to check its influence
to change or pervert its tendency, and at last completely to take it
away. For whatever is merely deposited in the memory, and is not
made matter of Ufe and practice, never enters the spirit, or the man
himself that lives after death. In this state the proper and natural
state of the person, which is one of evil and falsity, is continually
endeavouring to break through from without, as thieves are said to
do, and to remove and abolish the knowledges respecting heaven and
divine things, and every spiritual appearance which the mind had
externally taken up, and had not truly appropriated by love and
life. Nothing of the kind can be permanent, or can accompany man
into eternity, which has thus been admitted into the outer chambers
or the threshhold of the mind. Every appearance, every possession,
every apparent intellectual attainment, wUl then be abolished, and

168 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
the man will remain in eternity the mere subject of those unholy and
purely earthly attachments which he had here supremely cherished.
These treasures, therefore — those sacred and, as they are intended to
be, sa-ving knowledges — are to be laid up in heaven, — to be made truly
the possessions of the internal man, or to be estabUshed in man's
spirit, where no evil influence can come to hurt them, and where he
will retain the enjoyment of them for ever. This is done by the
good to which they point and lead being made the supreme object of
regard. The heart being in them, or the will being conformed to them,
will be elevated with them ; and the life of heaven being established
in the soul, man will live in heaven for ever. Where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also. How true is this I That only is a treasure
in which the ruling affections of the heart are interested. How
important is it to make spiritual things the chief objects of our
affections, which we do when we lay them up in our inner man, and
make them the delight and end of our life !
22, 23. From the heart the Lord comes to the eye. The light of
the body is ihe eye. More properly. The lamp of the body is the eye.
What a lamp is to a room, the eye is to the body. The eye is not
itself luminous ; it is only a recipient of light. Or it may, like the
lamp, be considered as an instrument that may be the means of
lighting up the body. But its power of lighting the body depends on
the state of the organ. If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be
full of light. The term single, or simple, unmixed or uncompounded,
as the word properly signifies, appUed to the eye, means clear, pure,
or perfect — free from anything that obstructs or distorts the vision.
When the eye is thus adapted to the proper discharge of its functions,
small as the organ is, it is all that is requisite to give the perfect
enjoyment of light to the whole man : it is as if the body were all
eye, so completely is he blessed with the perception of light, and all
the beauties and glories that it reveals. Bui, if ilie eye he evil, ihe
whole body shall be full of darkness. If the eye be afflicted with any
malady or malformation that deprives it of its functions, the whole
body is plunged into darkness. And if the light (and here the word
for light itself is used) that is in tliee he darkness, how great is tliat da/rk-
nessl — that is, naturally, if that in us which should be the perception
of light be only a perception of darkness, great indeed is that darkness,
for the whole body is full of darkness.
But what is its application ? — what the true lesson conveyed by it
to the soul? The sense of the whole depends upon the spiritual
signification of the eye. And of this there is a common perception.

Chap, VL] ST. MATTHEW. 169
Tbe eye is an ob-vious and natural symbol of the understanding.
There is an exact correspondence between them. Sight is in a lower
sphere what understanding is in a higher. As the eye is the lamp of
the body, the understanding is the lamp of the mind; because, by
another obvious correspondence, light, or anything that gives light, is
to the natural world what truth is to the intellectual and moral
world. Here then we see that the manner in which a person will
enjoy the perception of truth will be according to the state of his
faculty of understanding; just as a man's perception of light depends
on the state of his eye. His understanding must be sound, or must
be in the state which is most accurately described by singleness of
eye. The understanding is single when, in all that it meditates, it
has good as its end, and thus when the truth it knows and thinks is
grounded in goodness in the wUl. According to this beautiful, plain,
and obviously true meaning of the Lord's words, we are taught that
the only way to have the mind filled with perceptions of divine
truth, and to live in the cheering radiance of its heavenly light, is to
maintain in the understanding, in all we think, and thence in all we
say or do, a constant regard to the principle of goodness, of charity
and love, instead of allo-wing our faith to be defiled by the con
taminating influence of selfish and worldly love. Then our whole
body will be full of light — the body here denoting the whole mind or
the whole man. But if the eye be evil, if the understanding be per
verted or disordered by the mixture of e^vil ends, there can be no
true perception of di-vine things, no genuine enjoyment of the light of
pure truth, but the mind will be occupied -with false per.suasions,
regarded as true, and the truths that are known will be falsified and
perverted, which is the worst darkness of all. This is the sort of
darkness which is here alluded to, which is the reason of the solemn
exclamation at the close, " If therefore the light that is in thee be
darkness, how great is that darkness!" In these divine words of our
Lord we are presented with the reason of all the darkness in respect
to the things of his Word and kingdom which prevails among man
kind; and the true ground is opened to us of all determined opposi
tion to divine truth. When men truly love darkness rather than
light, it is because their deeds are evil. On the other hand, the love
of truth has its true ground in goodness. " A good understanding
have all they that do his commandments."
24. The two preceding subjects, combined with the present, may be
said to teach singleness of heart, singleness of eye, and singleness of
choice and action. No man can serve tvjo masters. Naturally it may

170 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
be possible, but this must be when the service required by one is not
incompatible with that demanded by the other. In the jiresent case
the masters are two whom the metaphor regards as being opposite
in their wills, and therefore in their commands. The two masters
are the figures for God and mammon, who are opposite as light
and darkness, as good and evil. These two no one man can serve
at the same time. For either lie will hate the one, and love the oilier; or
else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. There can be no com
promise between the service required by the one and that demanded
by the other. Some, indeed, are disposed to make the attempt ; but it
can only be intended to please men. There can be no true knowledge
of the service that each requires where there is any idea or attempt
to combine them. What we require to love in the one we require to
hate in the other. The love of God and the love of the world are
opposite and discordant. But the opposition and discordance are in
these loves as ruling loves or ends of life. We cannot serve any
spiritual master without loving him. But how can we serve God from
the love of God, and at the same time serve mammon from the love of
mammon ? God and mammon are not indeed incompatible if we
make mammon our servant instead of our master. Our Lord in
another place instructs us to make unto ourselves friends of the
mammon of unrighteousness. And this we do when we serve God,
and make wealth subservient to the end which the service of God
implies. All Ungering between two objects and halting bet-ween
two opinions is dangerous. If we attempt to unite two things, so
destructive of each other, in our own minds, we attempt to unite Ught
and darkness, heaven and heU ; and the consequence must be the de
struction of all true life in ourselves. Let us be warned, therefore, to
serve that God who deserves as well as requires our service ; and who
will richly reward us for our singleness of life, flowing from singleness
of will and understanding.
25. The exhortation with which our Lord follows up these instruc
tive lessons, and with which he closes what may be called this branch
of his discourse, is one of the most important, and one of the most
beautiful and persuasive, to be found in the whole of revelation.
Therefore I say unto you. Take no thought for your life, what ye shall
eat, or ivhat ye shall drink ; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.
Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment ? It is impossible
to expose in more striking and affecting terms than the Lord does in
the exliortation of which these words are a part, the futility of those
cares under the influence of which people rush into self-love and the

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW, 171
love of the world, and make external things the primary objects of
their attachment : it is impossible, by more touching and beautiful
considerations, to urge to a reliance on Divine Providence. But we are
not hence to suppose that all thought about our future weU-being in
this world, and all provident foresight in the disposal of our temporal
affairs, are hereby prohibited. To imagine so, and to act accordingly,
would be to fall into fanaticism, and to go the directest way to in
capacitate ourselves for the performance of uses in the world. All
we are prohibited from doing is, to set our hearts upon worldly and
external things, to give in to such anxieties as are incompatible with
reUance on the Lord, and so to depend upon our own prudence as to
cUsown and disregard the Divine Providence. It is not all thought and
care whatever about things future that is forbidden, but all undue
solicitude, all such anxiety as unvoidably arises when natural and
worldly things are loved in the first place, and are made the primary
objects of purauit. And this, indeed, the Lord's exhortation Uterally
expresses ; for the word " thought," at the time our translation was
made, meant "anxiety," which correctly expresses the sense of the
original. But the mind has, and needs, its provision as well as the body; and
in the spiritual sense it is in regard to this provision that the Lord
here speaks. For here, also, man may look too much to himself, and
too Uttle to the Lord, and may seek to obtain that by his own self-
derived power and self-derived intelligence which is only to be received
by gift from his all-provident Father. Every spiritual endowment
and communication that man can have or enjoy, conducive to the life
and weU-being of his soul, and thus to his welfare in eternity, is a free
gift to him from the Lord, and is by no means self-derived. All desire,
then, to procure such things by one's own power, and all anxiety on
that account, are here condemned in the spiritual sense of the natural
images made use of In this point of view we proceed to consider
the subject.
Is not ihe life more than meat, and the body than raiment ? The life and
the body are to be the chief objects of our concern, not the food by which
the former is nourished, and the dress by which the latter is clothed.
Yet obviously the life cannot be sustained without nourishment, nor the
body without clothing. These, however, are to be given us from the
Lord ; whatever, for this purpose, we should take from self, would be
destructive of the true life and well-being of both — yea, would deprive
both, properly considered, of their very existence. The life is the life of
the soul, as to its intellectual faculties, which can only be sustained by

172 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VI.
principles of good affections and true faith and intelligence, which are
the gifts of the Lord ; and anything self-derived cannot be really either
good or true. By the body is here specifically meant the good of love
and of the wiU; and the clothing of the body is truth investing such
good, or the sentiments as to spiritual subjects which spring out of
and harmonize with it: these again are derived from the Lord alone;
for if from man himself, they are founded in and compose the clothing
of his own self-love, not of any love of goodness. These are provided
and given freely to us by the Lord when we regard the life of the
understanding itself, and the love of goodness, as the things to be
chiefly cultivated and pursued, and when we look to the Lord for that
purpose, applying ourselves to the use of the means which the Lord
has provided — that is, to the practice of the commandments. This
is all that we have to do — and it cannot be too often repeated— to look
to the Lord and to keep his commandments. Doing this, we may
safely leave all the rest to him, assured that our minds wiU be con
tinually replenished -with every affection of goodness, and every per
ception of truth suited to our states, while we abstain from the desire
to draw anything of this sort from a self-derived origin, but live per
petually in the conviction that the life is more than meat and the
body than raiment, and that he who has given the greater will also
give the less, provided we thus depend upon him.
26. The Lord confirms the truth of this doctrine, and encourages
us to rely upon him, by an argument (and a most affecting one it is)
drawn from the case of the bird. Behold the fowls of the air : foi- tliey
sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns : yet your heavenly
Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than ihey? Considered
only as a natural image and comparison, this is truly beautiful, and
most appropriate to the subject which it is introduced to Ulustrate;
but when the spiritual import of it is seen, it becomes more beautiful
stUl. Fowls, or birds, throughout the Word of God, are mentioned to
describe things inteUectual, such as the thoughts upon whatever sub
ject — to which they answer by a beautiful and obvious analogy. They
have the power of I'aising themselves towards heaven, and soaring
aloft in the sky, as our thoughts have the power of rising above earthly
and external things, and soaring into most exalted contemplations.
They are affected in a wonderful manner by the light, so as to be in a
state of life and acti-vity, or of torpor and sleep, according to its pre
sence or absence. And light, we have seen {v. 22), is the natural
emblem of truth, which in some form or degree is what gives
activity to the thoughts. Now, nothing is so irrepressible as the

Chap, VL] ST, MATTHEW. 173
thoughts. So long as we are alive and awake, our thoughts are
incessantly in exercise. It is always something of love or affection,
connected ¦with the object of the thoughts at any particular time, that
puts them into activity, and sustains them in their powers of flight.
And this is never absent. We cannot, if we wished it, cease to think,
because the love which animates us, whatever be its nature, cannot be
withdrawn without death ; and to suppress it is entirely beyond the
reach of our power. The reason is, because the Lord, as being Love
itself, is also Life itself ; and he imparts life to us by imparting to us
love; and by giving us love he continually supplies us with the food
of thought. Thus our thoughts are entirely kept alive, without their
doing anything themselves to cause it, by the flre of love with which
they are nurtured by the Lord, as our heavenly Father feedeth the
fowls of the air. It is true, indeed, that we are often influenced by
love of an evil nature, which calls forth evil thoughts; and nothing of
evU can have its origin in the Lord. But that love which flows forth
from the Lord as the love of gooduess and truth is perverted by man
himself, when wicked, into its opposite : thus the love, considered
abstractedly from its evil quality, is from the Lord; the evil form
which it assumes is by perversion in the man. Thus it is from the
Lord that every man derives the faculty of thought, and that this
faculty is nourished and kept alive ; the evil use that he makes of it
alone is from himself. But the wonderful provision by which it is
ordered that thought can never cease but ¦with consciousness of exist
ence, is purely from the Lord, who thus alone spiritually feedeth the
fowls of the air, and maintains them in life and being. The fowls,
therefore, as denoting the thoughts, are said not to sow, nor reap,
nor gather into bams : by which images is meant, to provide for
their own support by the acquisition of knowledge, the insemina
tion of these in the mind, and the storing of them in the memory.
These operations are necessary to afford materials for thinking, but
not for the existence of thought itself; for thought, as already
remarked, is in existence and activity from the first dawn of con
sciousness, purely by virtue of the principle of love which exists in
every human being ; and tho matters of knowledge which the
mind acquires in early life, first by the medium of the senses, and
afterwards by instruction from others, are things on which thought are
exercised, and are provided for the purpose, but are not the products
of the thoughts themselves. If, then, the Lord provides for the con
stant existence of thought, will he not, as of stUl more importance,
provide for his rational creatures, that look to him, everything necessary

174 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
to their support and well-being as spiritual and immortal existences ?
As such, are not men much superior to fowls? Are not the spiritual
gifts, the endo-wments of spiritual love and wisdom, by which we
properly are human creatures, better than the mere thoughts which
we enjoy in a natural manner, independently of our character as to
spiritual advantages? Should we not then rely that he who has so
wonderfully provided that we should ever think, whether our thoughts
be true or false, or good or evil, will equally provide for us all that
can be necessary to the perfection of the higher endowments of our
nature, and every good, both spiritual and natural, that we ever can
stand in need of, if we place our life and good in the first place, and
look to him for its support and preservation? And can it be sup
posed that since, by our own power alone, we can neither cause
ourselves to think nor cease from thinking, we can derive from self
anything that is truly good for us, and especially what is necessary
for our spiritual welfare ?
27. Such is the argument which the Lord urges, by his appeal to the
case of the fowls of the air, when spiritually understood : with which
he connects another strong appeal, expressed in the words. Which of
you hy taking thought can add one cubit to his stature. By the stature
is here spiritually meant our spiritual stature, or our state as to the
things of love and wisdom of a heavenly nature, which every one sees
is not to be increased in improvement by anxieties — by seeking any
resources in ourselves, instead of drawing all from the care, mercy, and
providence of the Lord, from whom alone all good can flow. As our
spiritual stature is altogether according to the measure of excellent
graces which we have received from the Lord, to think to add to it by
any other means, and especially by such means as involve a casting
away of all reliance on the Lord, from whom alone the growth can
come, were absurdity indeed. The thing is manifestly impossible : so,
if we are sincerely desirous to maintain a state of spiritual- life, of
heavenly intelligence, and of the will of goodness, we must look to the
Lord for the proper nutriment, and rely on his providence to supply
it to us.
28, 29. The Divine Instructor now takes up the subject respecting
care and anxiety about raiment. And why take ye thought for raiment ?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil not, neither do
they spin : And yet I say unto you. That even Solomon in all Ms glory
was not arrayed like one qf these. This passage owes its exquisite
beauty, unparalleled in the whole circle of human composition to the
images used being correspondences of spiritual things, and communi-

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW, 175
eating with heaven. According to this correspondence of natural with
spiritual things, raiment, or garments, throughout the Word of God
are mentioned to denote, specifically, such principles of truth in the
mind as flow from the state of good in which a man is principled, and
which occasion such language and conduct as are the natural and
spontaneous manifestations of the good within. This is the significa
tion of raiment, or garments, in a genuine sense; for truth is that in
which goodness manifests its existence and presence, as the affections
of the will first come clearly to Ught to the man himself in the
perceptions and thoughts of the understanding. Sometimes, however,
garments are mentioned to denote the mere faith or profession of truth,
separate from all proper connection with the will or affections of the
wearer ; and sometimes, like most other natural images employed in
the Word, they are mentioned in an opposite sense, to denote principles
of falsity grounded in evU. In their genuine sense they are attributed
to the Lord himself : as when it is said that he covereth himself with
light as with a garment. Here, because light is the most obvious
symbol of truth, it is said to compose the garment of the Lord, as
flowing forth from the body of his di-vine love, and truth being in
him truth itself From the same cause, when the Lord Jesus Christ
was transfigured, not only did his face " shine as the sun," to express
the ardour of his divine love, but his raiment became " white as the
Ught," to represent the inexpressible beauty of his divine truth. It is
impossible to desire more conclusive evidence to evince that garments,
or raiment, in their most proper and genuine sense, denote truth flow
ing from and investing the principle of good, as garments invest the
body. If this be the case — if all truth, to be genuine, or, to belong properly
to the man himself who makes profession of it, be grounded in a
principle of good, must flow from the feelings of love and charity in
corporated in his own mind — we see how truly the Lord says that the
body, as denoting such a principle of good, must be more than raiment;
as truly so, though in a case of immensely more importance, as the
natural body is of more dignity and importance than the clothes that
cover it. We see, also, how justly we are warned not to be anxious
about raiment, since no spiritual raiment that we could procure by any
anxiety of our own could be of that genuine kind which forms the
proper investiture of the principle of goodness. Let this only be dUi
gently attended to, and the other wiU follow of course, as a free gift
from our heavenly Father. Therefore the Lord Ulustrates the doctrine
by the case of the lilUes of the field, which neither toil nor spin, be-

176 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. VI,
cause by these are represented such perceptions of truth as are of a
celestial origin, or such as spring spontaneously in the mind of him
who has attained what may be called the celestial degree in the regene
rative process, so as to have his mind continuaUy recreated with
beautiful perceptions of truth and wisdom springing forth from the
ever- varying play of celestial affections. To be able thus to see truth
intuitively — to have its sweetest and most beautiful perceptions
spontaneously opening in the mind — is a very different state from that
of those who arrive at it flrst by the accumulation of facts as matters
of knowledge and faith, and by the inferences of reason deduced from
these facts. To express this difference, it is said of these lilies that
they toil not, neither do they spin, because by toiUng is spiritually
meant the accumulation of truths merely as facts, or things known
by study and learning; and by spinning is meant the composing of
coherent systems of doctrine or opinion by reasonings from such facts.
In this process there is much of man himself mixed up with the
acquisitions he may have made; in the other, all is from the Lord.
They differ also in intrinsic exceUence and in genuine beauty, just as
the works of man and the works of God. The works of man possess
no other beauty than that which is exhibited on the surface. The
most exquisite painting is inwardly nothing but a rude assemblage of
earthy matters, having no correspondence to the beauty of form and
colour which the artist's skill has pourtrayed upon the surface. The
most perfect statue still has no beauty but that which is artiflcial, there
being, again, no correspondence between the particles of stone or metal
wlUch compose its substance, and the exterior shape which, by the
sculptor's genius, they have been made to assume. Not so the works
of the Almighty hand. Here, from its inmost principles, there is a
determination towards the form the plant or the animal exhibits to the
eye, and there is nothing in it but what harmoniously conspires to the
production of the form, and of no other; while even the utmost beauty
that appears upon the surface is impressed by the wonderful adaptation
of the interior parts by which its texture is composed. What an
immense difference is there between the flower itself and the imitation
of it by the artist, though to the eye, and at a sufficient distance, the
resemblance may be perfect! But touch the leaf of a rose or any other
flower— let the exquisite delicacy and softness of its texture be felt,
and then let it be observed that these are produced by the harmonious
arrangement of myriads of myriads of fibres and of threads of feathery
pUe, to which those of the finest velvet bears no comparison for deli
cacy — and the exquisite perfection of the works of the Divine hand is

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 177
seen to be admirable indeed. So it is, correspondently, with the
perceptions which spontaneously arise in the minds of those who are
in such a state of Ufe as to enjoy what may be properly denominated
perception indeed, as being, in a manner, immediate revelations from
the Lord himself, and of which the lUies of the field, which in the
East flourish in extraordinary splendour, where the lily is esteemed the
queen of flowers, are here mentioned as the appropriate natural
symbols. Therefore it is said, that even Solomon, in all his glory, ivas
not arrayed like one of these. That no splendour of clothing manu
factured by human skill can equal in intrinsic beauty and loveliness
the delightful flowery products of the hand of Omnipotence, follows
from the remarks just made upon the difference between the works of
man and the works of God, so that it Uterally is true that neither
Solomon nor the most powerful earthly prince that ever existed could
boast of robes that equalled the clothing of the lily. But the compa
rison is made to express an important truth. Solomon, as king of
Judah and Israel, represented, as all kings do, the spiritual principle
properly so called, which is especially the principle of truth; and the
clothing of this principle are all truths of intelUgence and knowledge,
or truths seen and understood. But this principle is separated by a
discrete degree from the celestial principle, which is essentially the
principle of love, the clothing of which are perceptions of wisdom, or
truths felt and perceived. The spiritual truths belong to the under
standing, considered as distinct by itself; the celestial belong to the
will, even when they enter the understanding. Now, the highest
degree of spUitual intelUgence, though very beautiful and excellent, is
inferior to the lowest degree of celestial wisdom, which is truly simple
and altogether lovely; and these are what are signified respectively by
the raiment of Solomon and of the lily. The difference is precisely as
that between the gorgeous robes of a king and the delicate simplicity
of a flower.
30. But the Lord immediately changes his terms in speaking of the
flower : From naming the lily he adverts to the grass ; and speaks
of it as of little account. If God so clothe tlie grass of the field, which
to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven. He here calls it the
grass of the fleld, to intimate that he is speaking of the lowest percep
tions of celestial wisdom, but stUl of such as are truly celestial in their
nature, or the immediate products of love. But where love or goodness
is accounted as everything, nothing of truth, not even the highest per
ceptions of the most exalted mysteries, are regarded in themselves
N

178 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VI.
as anything, except so far as they tend to fan the flame of love, and
promote the perception and appropriation of those celestial affections
which the man of this character feels as constituting his life, his all.
Therefore the use of the grass of celestial perception is described to be,
to be " cast into the oven" — that is, to feed the heat by which the sup
port of man's life, the good, of which the products of the oven is the
symbol, is prepared. By him who truly loves the Lord above all
things, nothing of truth, even the most delightful perceptions ¦with
which his mind can be recreated, are at all prized for their own sake,
but only for the sake of the good which is seen to be in them, and which
they are adapted to nourish and keep alive. To this use he constantly
applies them. Thus never abiding in truth by itself, but always ap
plying it immediately to the purposes of life, and the exaltation of
the flame of love, or of his affection for goodness, he is continually
supplied with new stores of it from its Divine Author. His Ulies
toil not, neither do they spin : as the grass of the field, they are cast
into the oven ; but he knows that they ¦will continually grow again in
still more luxuriant abundance, being watered with the dew of heaven.
As these perceptions of truth, communicated solely for the sake of
good, are thus continually provided and taken care of by the Lord's
bountiful hand, should not the man himself who Uves continually in
tent upon the good which is thus essential be effectually provided for
with every perception of truth that the welfare of his state may require
at the hands of his heavenly Father ? This is what the Lord teaches
when he says. Shall he noi much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith?
Assuredly we may rely upon his Word.
31, 32. Having, by the exquisitely beautiful and tenderly affecting
comparisons and appeals which have now been considered, placed the
subject of his admonition in the most striking and engaging manner
before his hearers, the Divine Speaker repeats the proposition with which
he set out, though now as a conclusion from the premises advanced, and
in a somewhat different form, affirming the needlessness of the con
duct condemned : Tlierefore take no thought, saying. What shall we
ent? or. What shall uie drink? or. Wherewithal sliall -we be clothed? (for
cfter all tliese things do the Gentiles seek:') for your lieavenly Fatlier
knoweth that ye have need of all these things. A double reason is
assigned by the Lord why this conduct should not be pursued. First,
a negative and deterring one : for after all these things do the Gentiles
seek. A powerful reason certainly it ought to be to the spiritually
minded, not to seek after those things which are sought by the
natural minded, meant by the Gentiles, especiaUy the positively

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 179
wicked, which the nations more particularly denote. This is the
deterring reason. But a more affecting and convincing one is added :
for your heavenly Father knoweth tliat ye liave need of all these things.
What tenderness is implied in this mode of stating the providential
care of our heavenly Father I The Lord does not directly say that
whatsoever we have need of shall be given us; but he conveys this
delightful assurance in a way that makes it tenfold more affecting.
He assumes this as a fact universaUy known, and which we cannot
be so ignorant or so credulous as to doubt; and thence he argues, we
may be assured, as the greater includes the less, or the whole the part,
that he will supply to us freely, and without any anxiety on our part,
those things which the natural man prizes so highly as to make them
the objects of his exclusive regard. It is sufficient to assure us that
he knows we have need of them, to assure us that we shaU not be left
without them.
33. But now he tells us, in direct terms, how we are to proceed to
secure the attainment of all things that can be necessary for our real
welfare, even of those which the natural man makes his exclusive
goods. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto you. The kingdom of God, as we
have seen, is a phrase which denotes the government of the Lord's
divine truth both in heaven and on earth ; and his righteousness is a
-term expressive of his divine goodness, or of such goodness as owns
him for its Author. Applied to ourselves individually, the kingdom
of God which we are to seek is the government of the Lord's truth
in our understanding; and his righteousness, which we are also to
seek, is the presence of his love or goodness in our wULs. But how
are we to seek these two great elements of all blessing? Not simply
by asking God to bestow them upon us. We must indeed seek them
by prayer, but we must also seek them by the still more practical
means of self-denial and active virtue. To obtain the kingdom we
must apply the divine truth to the government of our thoughts, with
the -view of bringing every thought under obedience to Christ; and to
obtain the Lord's righteousness, we must cultivate the divine good in
our affections and in the duties of a righteous life. But we are not
only to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, but we are to
seek fiiemfi/rst. It is easily seen that the expression^srsi refers to what
is chief and primary. And nothing is chief and primary with us but
what is regarded with overruling or governing love. To seek
effectually the kingdom of God and his righteousness, we must seek
them with the ruling determination of soul — to make them the objects

ISO ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VL
of the ruling or governing love and desire. To seek them firet is to
put them in the first place; to exalt the Lord's truth above all other
kinds of truth, and the Lord's goodness above all other kinds of good
ness; to give them the first place in our understandings and hearts,
in our minds and lives. Then will all other things be added to us.
Every kind and degree of truth and good will then be added to the
supreme good and truth; because, according to right order, every
other good descends and is derived from the First. So far from
having to give up anything orderly that is inferior to the First,
everything will come to be possessed in greater abundance, and
enjoyed with greater zest. The spiritual does not abolish, but sanctifies
the natural : and spiritual men glorify the Lord with their souls and
with their bodies, which are his.
34. We come now to the closing words of this beautiful discourse,
against indulging in anxious thoughts about meat, and drink, and
clothing. Take therefore no thought for the morrow : for the morrow
shall take thought for fhe things of itsdf. Sufficient unto ihe day is
ihe evil thereof. Looking at these words even in the most general
manner, when the truth on which they are founded — the per
petual care of the Lord's divine pro-vidence, rendering human caro
respectively needless — is beUeved, how admirably adapted is the
injunction conveyed in them to soothe the human breast. Man's
proneness to torment himself with unavailing cares for futurity has
always afforded a copious theme for the declamations or reasonings of
the moralist and philosopher. No considerations can be of any real
avail for its cure but those which rest on the doctrine of a Divine
Providence; and these, again, cannot come with any power of con
viction but when they proceed authoritatively from a divine source.
It argues the knowledge of Omniscience as to the inmost wants of
human nature, together with the benevolence of Infinite Goodness
desiring to remove them, when the Lord Jesus Christ so positively
declares, and so plainly demonstrates through the whole of this
discourse, the existence of a Divine Pro-vidence over all human
affairs — yea, over the whole creation, providing for the real necessities
ofaU. But they who have rightly learned the lesson inculcated in the
words under consideration, and, in reliance on the Lord's Providence,
have banished that care for the mon-ow which is here condemned, do
not make this renunciation in the fanatical manner which a literal
adherence to the Lord's words, as given in the common version,
might seem to recommend. They know that to provide things

Chap. VL] ST. MATTHEW. 181
necessary for the morrow, both for themselves and their families, is
not contrary to the order of the Lord's providence and will, provided
such things are not made the primary objects of regard, are not pur
sued with anxiety, or with reUance on selfish prudence, nor in any
way that would foster in the bosom the love of the world, a disposition
to avarice or self-seeking. As a reason for not being anxious for the
morrow, the Lord says, for the morrow will take thought for the things
of itself. And he adds, as a further reason. Sufficient unto the day is
the evil thereof. Considered as to the literal expression, these sentences
contain truth which all experience of human Ufe confirms. As mere
matter of prudence, it is undoubtedly unwise to load the present
moment with anxious cares about futurity, when every future day,
when it comes, will bring cares of its own. And the evils or
troubles which may be pressing upon us at the present moment are
enough to bear of themselves, without being aggravated by the antici
pation of ills to come. But spiritually, as well as naturaUy, the
sentiments are most true, and the lesson they involve is most
important. In every new state on which we may enter, spiritually
signified by the morrow, there will be new trials or temptations,
arising from the opposition made by the corrupt part of our nature,
excited from an infernal source. From that part of us which is the
seat of all anxiety and distrust of the Divine Providence, or from the
influence of which it is that all such anxiety arises, there will be
trials and temptations, thus occasioned, to be encountered. But we
are not to fall into despondency by anticipating these. Sufficient for
our present state is the evil which is therein to be experienced, — the
opposition which selfish and worldly desires and appetites present to
the establishment of the kingdom of God and his righteousness within
us. It is enough for us to be steadily engaged in resisting evil
which is present, and requires to be overcome at the present moment
and in the present state, through the whole course of our pilo-rimage.
If we do this, we need not be anxious about what is to come upon us
hereafter. Resisting evil whenever it is present, we may rely that
the Lord wUl never suffer it to prevail against us. Just as we rely
on him, and combat in his strength, we will prevail. But if we fall
into doubts and anxieties, which always arise from the influence of
our own selfhood, and yield to them, we shaU not overcome. And
the same renunciation of care for the morrow which will make all the
occurrences of Ufe acceptable to us, and prosperous for our real good,
will have the same influence on our spiritual states. When we dis
cover in ourselves what is evil and wrong, we shall not fight to retain

182 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIL
it, and so either sink downward with it, or bring upon ourselves a
severer course of discipline to force it from us ; but we shall let it go
at once: putting ourselves herein in the stream of providence, and
wilUngly going where that leads. Thus all things wUl truly concur
for our well-being in time and in eternity. Setting, as we know the
Lord does, eternal ends in view, we shall willingly part with what
is incompatible with them, gladly complying with whatever will
advance them, and so finally realize them to our inexpressible
beatitude.

CHAPTER VIL
1. In continuing his sublime discourse the Lord comes to ti-eat of
judgment as exercised by men upon one another; and of the conse
quences of the judgment pronounced, not upon the person judged, but
upon the person who judges. Judge not, thai ye be not judged. It
is almost unnecessary to say that the Lord does not here intend to
interdict all judgment. We know too well that society could not
exist without the exercise of private judgment and of public judi
cature. Our Lord himself authorized judgment when he laid .down a
rule for its exercise : " Judge not according to the appearance, but
judge righteous judgment." But we are to reflect that our Lord
always spoke with reference, not merely to the moral, but the
spiritual states of men; and not to temporal, but eternal retribution.
In this respect his words, "judge not," express a direct and positive
prohibition. WhUe it is necessary to judge men as to their moral
character, it is not allowable to judge them as to their spiritual state;
and while it is lawful and necessary to inflict temporal punishment
for moral crimes, it is neither lawful nor necessary to punish for
religious opinions, much less to pronounce upon " heretics" an eternal
malediction. Both society and the church may judge, and in their
own modes inflict penalties upon unworthy members ; for their conduct
lies open to public view, and to pass over immoral conduct would
relax the bonds of civil and ecclesiastical law. But this is entirely
different from judging the internal states of men. No eye but His
which " looks upon the heart " can see the state of the interior mind,
and none but the Judge of all the earth can pronounce upon the
eternal condition of the soul a righteous judgment. It is a law of
Divine Providence that the essential spiritual state of no one shall be
known with certainty by another during his abode in the present
world. Every human being is left in a state of freedom to form for

Chap. VIL] ST. MATTHEW. 183
himself the character and destiny which are to be truly and eternally
his own. To judge the outward conduct, and even the proximate
motive, does not interfere with internal and essential freedom, but
rather assists it, by keeping the extemal in some degree of order; but
if the internal itself could be interfered with, spiritual reformation
would be prevented, because human would usurp the place of divine
authority. But although it is not permitted us to judge of the
spiritual state of others absolutely, it is permitted us to judge of them
conditionally. We may say of or to any one, that if he really is
what he appears to be, he will be lost or saved ; but we may not say
that he is what he seems to be, therefore he will be lost or saved.
There is a sense in which our Lord may be understood as uncondi
tionally prohibiting judgment. That against which he warns us is
condemnatory judgment. This appears more clearly from his words,
as given by Luke — " Judge not, that ye be not judged; condemn not,
that ye be not condemned." The judgment which is interdicted is
the judgment of truth without good, or that of an enlightened under
standing without a regenerated will. It is the function of the under-
stancUng to judge, and truths are the laws according to which judg
ment should proceed; but the judgments of the understanding are
influenced by the inclinations of the will, and its decisions are just or
unjust according as the higher faculty is under the influence of charity
or uncharitableness. The judgment therefore which the Lord pro
hibits is that of justice without mercy. There is one other lesson we
may learn from this solemn injunction. We are but too ready not
only to judge, but to prejudge. One bad consequence is likely to
follow from this. Having an interest in the success of our pre
judgment, which is a sort of prediction, we may be either actively or
passively instrumental in procuring its fulfilment. We should be
careful, therefore, to avoid judging unfavourably of the future of any
one ; we should ever desire and hope the best; and then we shall have
every motive to second our hopes by our prayers and efforts. In the
higher sense, or abstractly considered, we are prohibited from judging,
not persons but principles — as all judgment, in fact, resolves itself into
this. We are required to "judge not," and therefore to "condemn
not," the principles of goodness and truth, either as they are revealed
in the Word or as they are acknowledged in the church and anions
men. It is lawful and necessary for us to judge for ourselves as to
what is, or is not, the truth; but our judgment in this important
matter cannot be just unless it be influenced by a sincere love of
truth. And here it is necessary for us to "judge not according to the

184 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. VIT,
appearance, but to judge righteous judgment." Judge noi, that ye he
not judged. This teaches us at once both the nature of the judgment
interdicted and its consequence.
2. Our judgment, whatever it is, returns upon ourselves. With
loliai judgment ye judge, ye shall he judged: and with ivhat measure ye
mete, it shall be measured to you again. This is of the same character,
and is determined by the same law, as " the merciful shall obtain
mercy." Those who judge, shall also be judged, without mercy. It
is unnecessary to exp)lain again the law by which this result is deter
mined. It is enough to say, that it is not by any arbitrary or sove
reign appointment of the Almighty, but flows from the laws of eternal
order, which the Creator introduced into all his works, and which rule
in all his dominions. It is not the Lord who judges without mercy;
as men are judged, not by what is without, but by what is within
them, they who have no mercy must be judged without any. But
the measure of retribution is that which our Lord here speaks of
The measure of our reward, whether fbr good or evil, is determined
by the capacity we have acquired in the world for happiness or misery.
Goodness is the caj-jacity for happiness, evil is the capacity for misery;-
and the measure of happiness or misery received in the other life is
determined by the measure of good or evil we have acquired in this.
God does not, by any sovereign appointment, fix either the nature or
extent of our bliss or woe. This is fixed by a law of order, by which
certain causes produce certain effects, and which measures our experi
ence by our state and conduct. Every one who is either condemned
or saved has a certain measure which is capable of being filled. This
measure is filled in the other life; but with some it is more, with some
less. It is procured in the world by the affections which are of love;
for the more any one has loved what is evil and false, or what is good
and true, so much the greater a measure has he procured for himself.
That measure cannot in the other life be transcended, but may be
filled. With those who have been in the affection of what is good
and true, it is filled with goodnesses and truths; and with those who
have been in the affection of what is evil and false, it is filled with
e-vil and falsity. And as in heaven the apostolic principle of a com
munity of goods is carried out in aU its perfection, he who is raised
into one of the mansions of the blest comes into the enjoyment ofthe
common good by which its inhabitants are distinguished ; so that the
happiness of aU becomes the happiness of each. And on the same
principle, evil is strengthened and its misery is increased by the
wicked assembUng with their like in the kingdom of darkness.

Chap. VIL] ST. MATTHEW. 185
3. Proceeding with his teaching as to the wrong and the right mode
of deaUng with our neighbour, the Lord says. And why beholdest thou
the mote tliat is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not ihe beam tlicd is in
thine own eye? The idea which our Lord here presents is similar to
that which he expressed when he told the Jewish moralists that they
strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel. On that occasion the con
duct he censured was that which the Pharisees practised in regard to
themselves. The same principle is here exemplified in relation to the
neighbour — the hypocrite sees not the beam that is in his own eye,
but detects the mote that is in his brother's. The Lord here intro
duces the term brother, because the subject relates to charity, which
a brother denotes. A mote in the eye of a brother is a trifling error
or false persuasion in the understanding of one who is, nevertheless,
in the life of charity ; whUe the beam in our own eye is an evil in the
will inteUectually confirmed, which perverts our vision. How just
and necessary is the reproof conveyed in our Lord's words! NaturaUy
and habituaUy we are too blind to our own faults, and too keenly per
ceptive of the faults of others. If we need anything beyond our own
conscience and experience to con-vince us of this fact, we shall find it
too abundantly exemplified in the world in which we Uve. The evil
are the readiest to detect evil, the severest to judge it, the most unre
lenting to punish it. The spiritual sense reveals the origin of this
seeming inconsistency. The eye is the emblem of the understanding,
the perceptive faculty of the mind ; the mote is a symbol of error, and
the beam of evil. When the understanding is under the dominion of
an evil will, it is blind to its own evil, but is keenly perceptive of error
or falsity in another, when these do not favour its own desires. The
difference between the spiritual and the natural man supplies an
answer to the Lord's question, " Why beholdest thou the mote that is
in thy brother's eye, and considerest not the beam that is in thine own
eye?" The natural man looks outwards, and marks the faults of
others ; the spiritual man looks inwards, and observes his own. And
he who examines himself and discerns his o-wn evils and imperfections,
will be less disposed to drag those of his neighbours into the light, or
to judge them severely.
4, 5. Our Lord continues, — Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,
Lef me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is
in thine own eye? To see the mote is one thing, to cast it out
is another. It is no doubt an act of charity to point out and
assist in removing error from the mind of another. But this
office cannot be performed by those who look at their neighbour's

186 ST, MATTHEW. [Chap. VII.
errors and failings with an evil eye, and with whom there can be no
true regard for their neighbour's welfare. How can one remove error
from another's mind who has not even discovered the root of error in
his own? What is to be expected from the labours of one who strives
to convict his brother of error, rather than to convince him of the
truth ? To correct what is wrong in another requires moral principle
as well as intellectual discernment. Take the case of a parent, who so
often has occasion to correct faults in his child. It requires no great
amount of intelligence to see a child's faults, but it requires great
moral wisdom rightly to correct them. Gentleness, kindness, patience,
with firmness, are essentially necessary to be possessed and exemplified
by the parent who would be the real improver of his child. The
parent whose temper is irritable or violent, who is harsh, unkind,
impatient, infirm of purpose — how can he draw out from tbe young
mind, delicate and sensitive as the eye in which is the mote, the errors
and evils that are incident to it as that of a fallen and imperfect
being? Just so is it in all the relations of life. The same qualities are
required in the brother, the friend, the teacher, the pastor. Not only
a clear sight, but a kind heart — not truth only, but goodness— must
be employed in the work of correction and reformation. To cast the
beam of evil out of our own eye is therefore the first and principal
duty we have to perform, even to our neighbour, and the only means
of enabling us to see clearly to remove the mote from his eye.
6. While the Divine Teacher warns us against acting from truth
without goodness, he warns us also against acting from goodness with
out truth. Of these two opposite states one is about as defective in
itself, and about as faulty in its consequences, as the other. As truth
alone is all light and severity, good alone is all feeling and tenderness.
So far as men are in good without truth, they give evil men the fruit
of the tree of life for food, without applying its leaves to them for
medicine. They would present the pure goods and truths of the Holy
Word to the lustful and the sensual, who are disposed to profane and
destroy them. Against this the Lord warns us when he says. Give
not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they tram2}le them under their feet, and turn again and rend
you. Those are compared to dogs and swine who are the slaves of their
passions and panderers to their senses. The goods of charity and the
truths of faith, which are holy things, and the knowledge of truth and
good from the Word, which are pearls, are not to be cast before such
characters. These heavenly things, cast injudiciously before the grossly
sensual, are more likely to exasperate and provoke than to reprove and

Chap. VIL] ST. MATTHEW. 187
repress their evU lusts and appetites. They trample them under their
feet — they scoff at them, degrade them beneath the very lowest of their
own low thoughts and impure affections, and trample upon the holy
principles they inculcate. And ha-ving subjected the spiritual principles
of the Word to this treatment, they turn again and rend those who
have dispensed them. The disciples whom they rend are, abstractly,
the living principles of the Word which constitute the church, the
dissipation and destruction of which is meant by rending. Our Lord
was a pattern to all teachers. He accommodated himself not only
to the capacities, but to the states of his hearers. To those who were
without, he delivered his truth in parables ; and he condescended to
adapt his instruction to the infirmities of the disciples themselves,
leading them by visions of glory suited to their external states, as
when he promised as a reward for foUowing him in the regeneration,
that they should sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. In a more abstract sense these words teach us, that if the
external man remains sensual, holy things that flow down from the
interna], where they may have been received, into the sensual external,
will there be perverted and profaned, and will only be the occasion of
the external turning more fiercely against and rending the internal,
and so destroying all spiritual life in both.
7. From the subject of giving, the Lord turns to that of asking.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye sliall find ; knock, and
it shall be opened unto you. We are constantly taught that the grace
of God, though freely offered, must yet be earnestly and actively
sought to be obtained. There is a philosophy that harmonizes these
seemingly discordant facts. Our prayers are not to induce God to
give, but to fit us to receive. And to fit us to receive the gifts of God,
all our faculties must be brought into activity. We must ask with
the heart, seek with the understanding, knock with the life. All
these are to be employed, and their operation continued, in order that
we may receive. God delights to give. He waits to be gracious. All
that is required on our part is to be earnest in our desire and efforts
to receive,
8. The promise of receiving is as certain as the duty of asking is
imperative, and is as significantly expressed. Every one thai asketh
receiveth : for asking and receiving, which are the briefest and directest
modes of communication, express the desire for good from God, and its
reception by the will. And he that seeketh findeth : for the under
standing searches and seeks for the means of salvation, and finds the
object of its search in the riches of wisdom and knowledge. And to

188 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIL
Mm that knocketh it shall be opened : for the bringing of the principles
of the will and the understanding into the Ufe and conversation
opens the door of communication between the Lord and man, and
between the spiritual and natural degrees of man's own mind, and not
only brings them into communion, but into conjunction with each
other. 9-11. It is worthy of remark that, in teaching us the character
of our Father in heaven, and his deaUngs with his children, the
Lord does not employ abstract terms or use the arguments of reason,
but simply appeals to those affections of our nature which he himself
has implanted, and which, being possessed alike by all, are the ground
of universal perception. He appeals to our instincts, rather than to our
reason, in proof of his Fatherly tenderness and beneficence. And this
appeal will be seen to be the more appropriate when we reflect that
the love of parents for their children is an offshoot from his own love
for his chUdren of the human race, and is implanted in all human
hearts, notwithstanding their hereditary corruption, as it is in the
nature of all the inferior creatures, the fiercest as well as the gentlest.
The Lord does not therefore refer us to those parents who are regen
erate and holy, and in whom the image of their Father has been
restored, but to the fallen race of men without distinction. If this
simple fact had been always kept in view, how much obscurity would
have been avoided and controversy prevented respecting the character
and dealings of God. The universality and unchangeableness of the
Divine Love could not have been for a moment doubted. What
encouragement does this give us to come to the Lord in all our
necessities, in the confidence that he will listen to us not only with
all a father's love, but that he will supply our wants with all a
father's wisdom. Let us see what his language involves,
9, 10. What m,an is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, vnll he
give him a stone ? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent ?
What parent, indeed, would thus mock the wants and abuse the confi
dence of his hungering and pleading chUd? The force of this appeal
as a comparison consists in the fact, that natural affection is sufficient
to prompt a father to supply the natural wants of his son, when those
wants are expressed. But these words have a spiritual meaning.
Like the loaves and fishes with which the Lord fed the multitude, the
bread and fish are symbolical of the two essential principles of good
ness and truth, which sustain the voluntary and intellectual life of
the soul. So we read in the Word of "bread that strengtheneth
man's heart" (Ps. civ. 14); for the heart is the symbol of the wUl,

Chap. VIL] ST. MATTHEW. 189
and good, which is specifically meant by bread, is that principle by
which the life of the will is sustained. The will, thus sustained, is
caUed a heart of flesh, which is the Uving goodness into which the
appropriated bread of life is turned. But whUe in the Word we read
of a heart of flesh, we read also of a heart of stone (Ezek. xi. 19).
These are not mere figures to express penitence and impenitence of
heart, but are real correspondences. And as the heart of flesh denotes
a wiU renewed by the reception of principles of goodness, the stony
heart is the unrenewed -will, hardened by unbelief and its result
ing evil, as is expressed in Zechariah,' — " They have made their hearts
as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law" (vU. 12). To
give a stone to a son who asks bread would therefore be to give him
a false good for a true one, and so turn the will into a heart of stone.
So in regard to the fish, which signifies truth that nourishes the
understanding and forms a true faith. A serpent is the emblem of
sensual truth. But these things are here evidently to be understood
in a sense opposite to that of their genuine meaning — the stone of
what is false grounded in e-vil, and the serpent of self-derived pru
dence. These given for bread and fish torment and destroy spiritual
life. But before a son can desire, and a father can give spiritual
food, which is the knowledge of spiritual things, they must themselves
be to some extent spiritually-minded : and then they are the emblems
of the Lord and his children. V/e are the children of our heavenly
Father when we desire that he will feed our hungering souls with
heavenly goodness and truth, as while on earth he fed the bodies of
the fainting multitude with loaves and fishes.
11. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children, hovj much m,ore shall your Father which is in heaven give good
things io them that ask Mm ? It is the result and evidence of a merci
ful Providence that, notwithstanding man's state of moral evU, he
is endowed with natural affection for his offspring, which prompts
him to love them tenderly, and anxiously supply their natural wants,
and in every possible way to provide for their temporal welfare.
This, it is true, is an affection common to man and animals ; yet it is
inspired by the Author of nature, and is given alike to the mild and
ferocious among animals, and to the best and worst among men.
The fact, therefore, that men, being evil, yet know how to give good
gifts to their chUdren — gifts that are good as natural means for a
natural end — is a proof and assurance to us that God will much more
give good things to them that ask him. It is not possible that he
who is goodness itself can withhold any good thing from any one who

190 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIL
sincerely asks him. As he has implanted natural affection in all
human hearts, both good and e-vil, so has he bountifully pro-vided for all
men's natural wants, without respect of persons, and without solicita
tion. Those things which God requires to be asked before he gives
are spiritual things, such as are necessary for sustaining the life of
good in the soul, and securing its spiritual and eternal welfare.
These are not given unasked — that is, undesired and unsought for;
because desire is to the soul what hunger is to the body, and the
desire for heavenly good must exist before that good can be supplied.
The mind has an inherent desire for food as well as the body; but here
the moral condition of the mind determines the nature of the desire,
and consequently of the kind of good which is craved. Those who
have become conscious of their spiritual wants, and desire the spiritual
good which is necessary to supply them, wUl find the Lord, as their
heavenly Father, infinitely more ready to give the good things which
are neoessai-y for sustaining the true Ufe of the soul than any earthly
parent can be to give temporal gifts unto his children.
12. The Lord concludes this series of lessons on mutual benefits be
tween man and man by laying do-wn this grand principle, — Therefore all
things whatsoever ye would that vien should do to you, do ye even so to them:
for this is the law and ihe prophets. This has been called the " Golden
rule ; " yet it belongs rather to the silver than to the golden age. The
celestial principle prompts men to love others better than themselves;
the spiritual principle prompts them to love others as themselves. Even
in these days we see the higher principle emulated, if not exemplified,
by parental and filial love, and imitated in the forms of ordinary
politeness. But this may be done from natural affection and conven
tional usage, without any of the spirit of religion. Such acts may
proceed from selfish as well as from disinterested affection. The
principle which our Lord lays down does not require disinterested love
for its recognition and application. It is to be considered in connection
with what the Lord had just said, that men, being evil, knew how to
give good gifts unto their chUdren. The law which he now lays
down is for the natural man as well as for the spiritual. It appeals
not only to every man's sense of right, but to his self-love, and
requires only to be honestly applied to make every one a law of
equity unto himself What God has revealed through Moses and the
prophets is intended, therefore, to change a natural law into a
religious obligation, in order to give men a conscience to do what
their own judgment may teU them is their duty. Every man can
see, and can be brought to admit, that he ought to do to another as

Chap. VIL] ST. MATTHEW. 191
he would that another should do to him. Before he acts towards
another, he has only to consider how he would wish or expect another
to act towards him under the circumstances. In all our intercourse
and transactions -with others — in all the duties and relations of life,
we have only to reverse the position in which we stand to another, to
know what we ought to render to him, and what we ought to expect
from him. And what we would consider it right to do or expect, if our
case were his, we must see it is our duty to do. It is not necessary to
cite instances, for no case is exemiit from the law. Its appUcation is
universal and invariable. "All things whatsoever ye would that man
should do to you, do ye even so to them.'' But although there is no
need for illustration, there is some need for explanation. It is
thought by some that the law requires not only that you put yourself
in the other's place, you must put yourself also in his state. Not so.
This would be to change not your place only, but your identity with
another, which would make things precisely as' they were. If such
could be done, every one would of course act precisely as the other
acts, and judge as he judges.
The law requires us only to take another's place, ancl to consider what
our principles would require us to do under the other's circumstances.
If one is a seller, he is to consider what, if he were a buyer, he would
consider it right that a seller should do; if he is a master, what, if a
servant, he would expect a master to do. By thus placing ourselves
in the position of those with whom we have to do, we learn to be
more just and merciful — to demand less and give moreen a word, to
be more equitable. What a different world it would be if this great
law were, in any considerable measure, the rule of conduct ! And not
only would it affect the state and condition of men and nations in
this world, but, what is of infinitely more consequence, it would affect
the state and condition of men in the world to come. The law of
equity is the practical form of the law of love to the neighbour:
practicaUy to love our neighbour as ourselves is to do to him as we
would that he should do to us. This is the law of heaven. In
heaven, therefore, all are united in the bond of mutual love and
service. Unless we cultivate love to the neighbour, how can we live
in that kingdom where this law universally prevails ?
13. Our Lord proceeds to show how this law of eqiuty is to be
carried out, and how we are to act, so as to bring ourselves under its
government. Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate,
and broad is the way, thai leadeth to destruction, and many there be
which go in thereat : because strait is the gate, and narrow is tlie way,

192 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIL
which leadeth unto life, and few there be tliat find it. The strait gate
can only be entered by self-denial, and the narrow way can only be
walked in by circumspection and perseverance. In Luke, therefore,
we read, " Strive to enter." The gate of life has become strait by
that which has made the gate of death wide — our natural aversion to
good and our natural aptitude for evU. That which is deUghtful is
easy; that which is undelightful is difficult. And that which is
difficult is strait, and that which is easy is wide. Straitness, in a
moral sense, is anxiety, anguish, difficulty. The gate of life can only
be entered through straitness of spirit — striving with the devil,
the world, and the flesh, being the agonistic conflict through which
the passage lies to victory. On the other hand, the gate of destruc
tion is wide, because no striving is required to enter it. So far from
self-resistance being necessary for entrance into the way that leads
to destruction, self-indulgence opens the gate; and the more we
indulge, the wider the gate and the broader the way become. But
-where and what are these gates and ways? They are in our own
minds. In that rational faculty that stands midway between the
spiritual and the natural mind there is a gate that opens and a way
that leads upward to heaven, and another gate that opens and a way
that leads downwards to the world and hell. During the early part
of Ufe these gates are not open, and yet are not shut. That is to
say, the thoughts and affections are not determinately bent in either
direction previous to the mind's deliberately and practically choosing
good or evil as a principle of Ufe. There is in every one a hereditary
tendency to the downward road; but the Lord in his mercy provides
that the gate that leads to destruction shall not be actually opened,
nor the gate that leads to life be actually closed, till man, as a free
agent, shall knowingly and deliberately open one and close the other.
To open and enter into the gate that leads to destruction is easy,
because congenial to man's fallen nature; but the Lord gives him
aids and means, and inspires him with motives, and supplies grace
sufficient to enable him, if he is willing, to enter the strait gate and
walk in the narrow way which lead to life. We enter the gate of
life by repentance, and advance in the way of life by persistent
holiness. We enter the gate of death by impenitence, and walk in the
road to destruction by persistent sinfulness. If there are Uterally
many that enter the wide, and few that find the strait gate, it is not
from necessity, but from choice. All walk more or less in the down
ward road. While the Lord provides against our being betrayed
unwarily into any confirmed .state of evil, his grace so abounds, that

Chap. VIL] ST. MATTHEW. 193
whenever we sincerely desire to return from our evil ways, and
enter into the right path, all things will work together in our favour.
But although it may be literally true that at the time our Lord spoke,
and even now, more may enter the wide than the strait gate, the
Lord's declaration does not teach that it is a necessary state of things.
On the principle that numbers in the Word spiritually express quality,
and not quantity, few signify those who are in the faith of charity;
and many signify those who are in faith without charity.
15. That we may enter into the strait, and avoid the wide gate, we
must be careful what counsel we take or listen to. We must beware
of false prophets. Personally, these are false teachers ; abstractly, they
are false principles. Care to avoid these last is the more necessary,
beciause we may be our own teachers; and prejudice or inclination
may lead us to adopt and follow the false, as if it were the true. We
ought, indeed, to cultivate the faculty of distinguishing between the
false and the true, without respect of the persons who utter them ; to
accept truth and reject error, whoever may teach them. It is the
more necessary to beware of false prophets since they come to you in
slxeep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. False prophets
are hypocritical teachers, who conceal a devouring selfishness under an
appearance of disinterested kindness. But abstractly they are false
principles that seem outwardly to teach charity, but inwardly are as
destructive of it as the wolf is of the sheep. All errors in religion
avow as their object, " Glory to God in the highest, good will towards
men;" for no one teaches or adopts what is false as falsehood, but as
truth, much less as leading to evil, but to good. It is important,
therefore, to beware of false prophets ; for though they come under
the aspect of charity, they in their very nature are cruel and de
structive. 16. But the question comes. How are we to know false prophets?
Our Lord gives the answer, — Ye shall know them hy their fruits. This
is the moral test. The Word gives another, — " To the law and to
the testimony : if they speak not according to this Word, it is because
there is no light in them." It may be difficult to detect individual
teachers of falsity, or hypocritical teachers of truth, by their outward
lives. As a general test it is an entirely true and certain one. The
natural, and therefore the general, result of falsity is evil, and the
natural and general result of truth is goodness. Life is, without
doubt, the great test ; and it is one that every person may apply and
judge by. Yet it is more important to be able to test principles than
persons. And the question with each of us is. What fruits do certain
o

194 ST. MATTHEW. [Ch.a.p. VIL
principles produce in ourselves? We can know our own principles by
their fruits, because we can see our inward as well as our outward
life. The inward life is more especially meant by the grapes, and the
outward life by the figs; for grapes are the goods of charity pro^
ceeding from the internal man, and figs are the goods of obedience.
But, Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? If the falsities
of concupiscence, which are the 'thorn and the thistle, are rooted in
the mind, there can be no genuine good produced in the life. The
appearance may be put on, as the wolf may appear in sheep's clothing,
but the reality cannot be there. Such principles cannot produce the
inward fruit of peace and goodwill to our neighbour, nor the outward
fruit of consistent and disinterested goodness.
17, 18. But whatever outward similarity there may be between the
actions of a good and those of an evil man, their deeds, viewed from
within, by means of spiritual light, are essentially different. Every
good tree hringeth forth good fruit; hut a corrupt tree hringeth forth evil
fruit. This is absolutely true. The fruit must correspond to the
tree. Good principles cannot produce bad practice; and evU princi
ples cannot produce good practice. A good man, it is true, may do
some evil, and an evil man may do some good; but the reason of this
is, that, in this world, there is no man so good as to be entirely free
from evil or error, and no man so evil as to be entirely destitute of
goodness and truth. But good itself, as a principle in the mind, must
of necessity produce good ; and evil, as a principle, must jiroduce evil.
This is as much a law of mind as that a vine must produce grapes is
a law of nature. Our Lord declares this to be the case. A good tree
cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit. " To -will e-vil and to do good are in their nature opposite to
each other, for evil is derived from hatred towards our neighbour,
and good from love towards him ; in other words, evil is our neigh
bour's enemy, and good is his friend, which two cannot possibly exist
together in the same mind : evil cannot exist in the internal and
good in the external. In such circumstances man is like a tree
whose root is decayed through age, but which yet produces fruit
that appears outwardly like fruit rich in flavour and fit for use, but
which inwardly is unsavoury and useless." The good which a man
does from evil — that is, from a selfish motive — is not good, but
evil; for the end determines the quality of the deed. This may
not be seen clearly by men in this world; but when men enter the
spiritual world, the quality of men's works is obvious to all. And
as our Lord spoke eternal, and therefore spiritual, truth — truth for

Chap. VIL] ST. MATTHEW. 195
the spiritual world — this is the essential truth which he taught in
these words.
19. The lesson we may derive from the necessary connection
between the internal and the external is most important. Every tree
thai hringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
On this declaration, which is a repetition of one made by John the
Baptist (ch. iiL 10), it is sufficient here to remark, that if we allow
evil and false principles to take root in our hearts whUe we Uve in
this world, the tree which has grown up and produced its evil fruits
cannot be changed in the other Ufe, but must be hewn down and cast
into the fire. The evU man himself is such a tree : for such as a man's
ruUng principles are, such is his whole being. The good which a man
does in the body proceeds from his spirit, or from the internal man,
this being his spirit which Uves after death; consequently, when man
casts off his body, which constituted his external man, he is then
wholly immersed in the evils of his life, and takes delight in them;
whUe he holds good in avereion, as being offensive to his life.
20. Our Lord concludes by repeating the principle he had already
laid down. Wherefore by tlieir fruits ye shall know them. To know
the fruit is to know its quaUty, not merely its appearance. If we
thus know the fruit, we know the tree. It is our duty, therefore,
to look to results; and as far as we can know these truly, we
shall be able to judge correctly of the principles that produce them.
We may regard this exhortation of our Lord as designed to correct
the tendency to judge our brother by his opinions, and look at the
mote in his eye rather than at the blemish in his life.
21, 22. The Divine Speaker brings this subject of sinning and living
home to us most powerfully by carrying us by anticipation into the
scene of our final judgment. Not every one that saith unto me. Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; hut he that doeth the will
of my Fatlier which is in heaven. The time of decision will indeed
show the difference between saying and doing, between profession
and practice. It is plain that the contrast the Lord here makes is
between those who have lived in the mere profession and those who
have Uved in the practice of his religion. Nor are the professed dis
ciples those only who have named themselves by the name of Christ
but those who have been zealous in his cause — for they say. Have we
not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and
in thy name done many wonderful works? What more, apparently,
could they have done to commend themselves to his favour? One
thing have they lacked — sincerity. All these things have they done

196 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. VIL
for to be seen of men. They have not done the will of their Father
who is in heaven. The Father's will is, that they should be perfect
even as he is perfect : that they should love him above all things,
and their neighbour as themselves, manifesting that love in all
manner of good works. Instead of this, they have rendered to the
Lord a Up service, in formal and ostentatious prayers, thus saying.
Lord, Lord : they have taught the Word and the doctrines derived
from it, and it may be with eloquent persuasiveness, thus prophesying
in the name of Christ: they have liberated other minds from errors of
religion, thus, casting out demons : they have effected numerous con
versions, thus doing many wonderful works. But this they have
done, not for the Lord's sake, nor for the salvation of souls, but for
the sake of themselves and the world. Those who are of this
character are in what may be called persuasive faith. They have no
inward perception of truth, and no inward faith in it, or love for
it, but adopt a creed, and confirm it by reasons grounded in self-
interest, as a means by which they may obtain reputation, wealth,
and honours. The worst of men may have this persuasive faith, and
maintain it with zeal, condemning all who differ from them without
regard to the good which they exhibit in their lives. Many of the won
derful works of party zeal have no doubt this origin and character.
23. The Lord therefore says, Then will I profess unto them, I never
knew you. He never knew them as his own. His saving knowledge
was not in them. They are not his chUdren. He knows them not.
He never knew them : their whole Ufe has been a deception. Can any
other conclusion be expected from such a life of hollow pretence than
that expressed in the Lord's words. Depart from me, ye workers qf ini
quity? They have wrought iniquity. Whatever good they may have
done for others, they have done none for themselves. Their motive
has been evil, because selfish ; and an evil tree cannot produce good
fruit. The Lord's sentence upon them to depart expresses the necessary
result of their real state. His love is not in them ; there is no mutual
sympathy between him and them : his truth is not in them; there is no
mutual knowledge. Separation is the inevitable consequence. The
evU and the false must depart from him who is goodness itself and
truth itself This is the cause of removal from the presence and
exclusion from the kingdom of God. He does not cast them out :
their own state of contrariety to his holy nature excludes them. They
gravitate to their own centre, which is the kingdom of evil, and fall
into the abyss, not because justice demands, but because mercy cannot
prevent, their ruin.

Chap. VIL] ST. MATTHEW. 197
24. Having in his sermon enunciated the great principles of his
church and kingdom, the Lord concludes his sublime discourse by a
most striking description of the two opposite results which his teaching
would have with the multitude whom he addressed, and with aU
future generations of men, according as they use or abuse the mercies
of the gospel of righteousness and peace. Therefore, wfiosoever heareth
tliese sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man;
and every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not,
I will liken him unto a foolish man. The whole difference between the
wise and the foolish, and between the eternal consequences of -wisdom
and folly, consists in one thing, and is described by one word, and
that one word is doeth. This word holds a most prominent place in
the whole of the Scriptures of truth, and an all-important place in the
economy of the religious life. To do or not to do decides the question
of order and disorder, of weakness and power, of salvation and con
demnation, of life and death. Doing is the use and end of religion.
Hearing the Lord's sayings, which includes knowing and understand
ing them, is but a means to an end, and that end is to do them. To
do what we hear is wisdom ; to hear and not do is folly. Wisdom
and folly in Scripture do not mean intellectual, but moral states. Wis
dom is not knowledge, but the right use of it; folly is not the absence
of knowledge, but its abuse. He that heareth these sayings of mine,
and doeth them, I wUl liken him to a wise man. Let us see what this
man did as an evidence of his wisdom. He built his house upon a rock.
The expressive word edification means buUding up, and has been
borrowed to express the idea of practical education, as a building up
of the mind in knowledge and virtue. In this sense it is used in
Scripture. The only difference is, that the materials here are spiritual,
and the building is not for time but for eternity. Every one builds
in this world the house in which he shall live for ever. The materials
of this house are the truths of the Word, and these may be built up
by practical wisdom into a holy habitation, iu which grace and truth
may dwell together — yea, in which the Lord himself, by his love and
wisdom, may take up his abode, according to his own divine promise :
"If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love
him, and we wUl come unto him, and make our abode with him."
But the stability of the house depends on the foundation on which it
is built. The wise man buUds his house upon a rock. This rook is
eminently the Lord himself. A rock, in Scripture is the symbol of
truth; and the Lord is called a rock, as being the truth itself; and he
is especially the Rock of Ages as the truth manifested — the Word made

198 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. VIL
flesh. Faith in this Truth — or this Truth held in faith — is the rock
on which the wise man builds his house. It is that of which the Lord
declared to Peter, — after his ever-memorable confession, "Thou art
the Christ," — " On this rock I will build my church." And the house
which the Christian builds upon this foundation is the church in him.
25. The advantage of building the house ujion a rock our Lord
describes by expressive figures. And tlie rain descended, and tliefioods
came, awl the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not:
for it was founded upon a rock. The power of resisting trials and
temptations is the great advantage which results from a faith which
rests on the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no regen
eration without temptation. Temptation is the trial of our faith.
Temptation confirms a true faith and overturns a false one. A true
faith is not only a faith in the truth, but a faith that is true — sincere.
A true faith is one that is of the thought from affection, and a false
faith is one that is of the thought without affection. A true faith,
therefore, not only resists in temptation, but is increased and con
firmed by it. The temptations to which faith is subjected are described
by the storm that fell upon the house. And no images could more
expressively depict the danger to which the mind is exposed by the
trials and temptations of life than that which threatens the house
by the combined action upon it of the rain, the flood, and the wind.
The temptation arising from false suggestions are meant by the rain;
for rain, when it falls upon the earth in gentle and fructifying
showers, is the expressive symbol of truth; when it beats upon the
house, and threatens it with destruction, is the equally expressive
symbol of falsity. And as the subject of the Lord's words is the
foundation of a true faith, the temptations come from what is
opposite to, and tends directly to invalidate the truth, and destroy
faith in it. But not only does the rain descend, but the floods come.
Rain is that kind of temptation that comes in gradually-increasing
torrents of false suggestions; but floods are those temptations that
arise from the accumulation of such false suggestions, and when they
come in a body, like an inundation of waters, bear down every
thing that is not capable of the greatest resistance. The wind indi
cates that kind of temptation that flows into the thoughts — for wind
is more subtUe than water — and is the stormy -wind that sweeps over
the mind Uke a tornado, and threatens to root up and cast do^wn
everything before it. But there is one object that resists them all —
the house that is founded upon a rock. The church of the Lord
that is buUt in the human mind upon the rock of a U^ving faith —

Chap. VIL] ST. MATTHEW. 19"J
against it the very gates of hell sliaU not prevaU. And these tempta
tions of which our Lord here speaks are induced by the powers of
darkness, and are the means which the spirits of darkness employ for
the purpose of effecting their purpose of destroying the soul, by
pulling down what the Saviour has built up. But the assurance
which the Saviour gives to his faithful ones is, that having built
their faith upon him as its foundation, all the combined powers
of the kingdom of darkness, in the severest temptations, will not
be able to overturn it. A nd it fell not : for it was founded upon
a rock. 26. The Divine Speaker contrasts with these wise ones the persons
who build on an unstable foundation. And every one thai heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish
man, which built his house upon the sand. The description of these is
simply the reverse of the others. The mere hearer of the Lord's
v,rords builds a house, but he builds it on the sand. We commonly
speak of those building in the air who place their hopes of happiness
on visionary or unpractical schemes. Answering to them are those
who build their hopes of eternal happiness on their being hearers of
the words of Jesus Christ. They build upon the sand. Considered
simply as a figure, it is sufficiently suggestive of the baselessness of
the fabric of a mere verbal and persuasive faith.
But the sense obtained by correspondence is more specific and
instructive. While a rock and a stone signify truth as a principle,
sand signifies knowledge as a simple acquirement. The sand is to the
rock as the dry bones that lay scattered in the valley of Jehoshaphat
were to the exceeding great army that the prophet's voice raised up
from them. Religious facts and opinions laid up in the memory, or
even in the natural understanding, are mere shifting sands, on which
no rational hope can be placed. A faith of the intellect, which is not
at the same time of the heart, is dead, and can avail nothing in the
day of trial. Our Lord tells us, therefore, that when the storms
assailed the house buUt upon the sand it fell, and great was ihe fall
of it. The house which the religious professor builds becomes a ruin,
however fair it may have been. So will the faith of every hearer of the
Word who does it not; and a ruin complete, according to the pains
that have been taken to make it great and admirable in the eyes of
men. The fall of those who have known and professed the truth is
great compared with that of those who have known and assumed less.
We may learn from this similitude how important it is to be doers of
the words of Divine Wisdom, and especially of those heavenly prin-

200 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIIL
ciples which our blessed Lord deUvered in his ever-memorable sermon
on the mount.
28. And ii came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the
people were astonished at his doctrine. Those who had been accustomed
to the superficial, trifiing, and lifeless addresses of the Jewish scribes
might well be astonished at the doctrine which they had just heard
from the lips of Jesus. But the word expresses something more, or
rather something other than a.stonishment : it means that the people
were inwardly moved or affected. The teaching of Jesus did not play
upon the outside, but penetrated into the inmost depths of their being.
He taught them as one having authority — more properly, as one having
power, not the po-wer of authority only, but the power of convincing
the understanding and moving the heart. Supposing the law had
been taught by the scribes in its original simplicity and purity, the
spirituality which Jesus showed it to possess, and which he so clearly
and practically set forth, must have presented it to every well-dis-
posed mind in a new light of unspeakable beauty, and with a force
that must have brought it home to every conscience. But when we
refiect that the Jewish teachers had made the commandments of none
effect by their traditions, the Lord's enforcement and exposition of the
law must have produced on the minds of his sincere and earnest
hearers a wonderful impres.sion indeed, such as that which led his
mercenary hearers to exclaim, " Never man spake like this man."

CHAPTER VIIL

1. Having finished his sermon on the mount, Jesus now comes
down to exemplify in works of mercy and benevolence the spiritual
principles he had enunciated as those of the kingdom he had come to
establish upon earth. His coming down from the mountain does not
mean descent from a more to a less perfect state, but the bringing
down of his holy principles into beneficent acts, and enforcing by
example what he had taught by precept. This also is the order of
individual experience. The Lord first implants the principles of
righteousness in the mind, and then causes them to come down into
the actions of a holy life, that the external may be an image of the
internal, and both together form the regenerate or new man. No
wonder that when the Lord came down great, multitudes followed him.
The miUtitudes that gathered about the Lord — the common people
who heard him gladly— are types of the common affections and

Chap. VIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 201
thoughts of our nature that give us a sense and perception of natural
justice and truth, and which, when unbiassed by interest or unawed by
authority, can see and admire reUgious truth when presented to them
in its own light and power. Those who had been astonished at his
doctrine could not now be less astonished at his works. And as the
works which the Lord performed, beneficent ancl marvellous as they
were, are to be regarded as but the natural types of spiritual opera
tions, which he is ever performing in the souls of the penitent and
believing, we have a deeper interest in them than those who beheld
them -with their eyes and experienced them in the restoration to
health and strength of their diseased and enfeebled frames.
2. When Jesus came down from the mountain, behold, there came a
leper and worshipped Mm. Leprosy was one of the most dreadful and
loathsome diseases with which the Jews were afflicted. Under that
representative dispensation evils in the mind produced corresponding
diseases in the body. The disposition of the people to de])art from
the worship of the Lord and the ordinances of the law, to worship
false gods and observe their unholy rites, led them into acts of pro
fanation, which brought upon them the disease of leprosy. Leprosy
therefore represents profanation — the mixing of the holy and the im
pure. Of this greatest of sins there are two kinds — the profanation of
truth and profanation of good. These are expressed in the New
Testament by a word against the Son of Man and blasphemy against
the Holy Spirit. We are guilty of the first sin when we profane or
pervert the letter of the Word ; we are guilty of the second when we
violate its spirit. The first is pardonable, like the leprosy which
could be cured ; the second is unpardonable, like the leprosy which
cleaved to its victim for ever. The leper who came to Jesus repre
sented one who has been guilty of the milder degree of profanation.
He came to him with the prayer to be made clean. This, spiritually,
is the confession of sin, and an active desire for its removal. Every
such prayer implies a knowledge and sense of sin, and the acknow
ledgment that the Divine power alone can remove it. That is true
penitence and true worship which produces the prostration of self, the
exaltation of the Lord, and the submission of the human to the divine
wUL The new creature is born, not of the will of man, but of the will
of God. So the leper says to Jesus, " If thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean." Blessed is the state when the suppliant for divine aid
confides solely in the Lord's will;
3. In answer to the leper's prayer, Jesus put forth Ms hand, and
touched him, saying, I mil ; he thou clean. The Lord's hand is the

202 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. VIIL
symbol of his power, especially as it now operates upon men from or
through the Divine humanity; and the Lord's wUl is his love in union
with his -wisdom. The will and the power of the Lord are one.
Whatever the Lord wUls he can do. Yet there are some things that
he wills that are not done. He wills that all men should be saved,
yet all are not saved. He wills that all should be saved ; but he wUls
that they should be saved by their own consent, and cannot will that
they should be forced — therefore cannot exert his power to force them.
For the Lord to force men to accept salvation would be to contradict
himself, which is impossible. He bestowed freewill upon man, and
preserves him in possession of it every moment of his life ; how, then,
can he at once preserve freedom and employ force ? The Lord is both
wiUing and able to save to the uttermost, but he must save in accord
ance with the laws of his divine order, which are the laws his wisdom
inscribes upon his love, and according to which his love ever acts. If
all are not saved, it is because all do not desire and will not accept
salvation. To those only whose will accords with his own can the
Lord's hand be extended to cure them of their spiritual maladies.
His hand is put forth when his power, ever present in the inmost of
their souls, above the seat of their consciousness, is allowed to come
forth into the thoughts and affections of their minds, and thence into
the actions of their lives. It is then that the divine hand " touches,"
that is, affects them, communicating to them the power and virtue of
bis humanity, in which his love and truth are brought near to save
them. When the Lord's will and his power are thus unitedly active
within the soul their action must be effective. When Jesus can at
once put forth his hand and touch the leper, and say, " I will, be thou
clean," the effect foUows — immediately his leprrosy was cleansed. To
show the miraculous nature of the Lord's cures it was necessary that
they should be instantaneous. Had they been gradual, those who
saw the beginning of a miracle might never see its end, nor might they
be able to distinguish between a miraculous and an ordinary cure.
But those instantaneous cures do not represent instantaneous salva
tion. What is instantaneous in regard to time represents what is
certain in regard to state ; for the soul is not subject to time. For
"immediately" we have only to read "certainly," and we have the
assurance which the spiritual language of revelation expresses, that to
those who sincerely desire it, and co-operate with the Lord to receive
it, his salvation is sure.
4. After the leper was cleansed Jesus laid on him a double injunc
tion. See tliou tell no man; but go thy way, show thyself to the jniest.

Chap. VIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 203
There is something peculiar in the first command. It has been sup
posed that the man was only required not to tell any one till he had
shown himself to the priest. But the same command was given when
no such condition existed (ch. ix. 30 ; Mark v. 43). It appears from
the record of the same miracle in Mark (i. 40) that there was a reason
entirely separate from this. We there find that the cleansed leper,
like others on whom silence had been enjoined, " went out, and began
to publish it much, and blaze abroad the matter," the result of which
was, " that Jesus could no more enter into the city, but was without
in desert places." It appears, therefore, that it was to prevent the
necessity of his withdrawing himself from the chosen scene of his
labours that Jesus wished these works of his not to be publicly known.
But how could the public knowledge of a miracle have the effect of
driving him, so to speak, from the city into the desert ? It would
seem that two causes con.spired to produce this effect. A report of the
miraculous cure would excite the opposition of the rulers on the one
hand, and throng him with supplicants for similar favours on the other.
It is easy to see how the first of these circumstances might operate as
a cause, but the second does not at first sight appear likely to act in the
same manner ; it would rather, it might seem, have an opposite ten
dency. We are to remember, however, that these works were not the
primary, but the secondary object of the Lord's ministry. His first
object was to teach, his second to cure. Miracles cUd not produce
faith, but faith was necessary to the production of miracles ; and faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. It was there
fore, it would appear, contrary to order for the miracle to be proclaimed
by man before the gospel of the kingdom had been preached by the
Lord. John, who was the forerunner of the Lord, did no miracle
doubtless to teach us that instruction must precede regeneration. We
may therefore suppose the Lord addressing each cleansed sinner thus :
" Go thy way. Live according to the truth. Speak not to men but
act towards God. Turn not thy thoughts earthward, but thy steps
heavenward. Before thou go into the world, enter into the sanctuary •
give thy heart to the Lord before thou give thy experience to men."
Another reason for sUence is given in this Gospel (ch. xii. 1 7), which we
shall consider in its place — that it was to fulfil a prophecy. But the
second command which the Lord gave to the leper wUl still further
explain the first : " Show thyself to the priest." In this command
the Lord, as our Prophet, directs us to himself as our Priest — as the
Truth he leads us to himself as the Good ; as the Human to the Divine.
To show ourselves to the Lord as our Priest is to see ourselves as he

204 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIIL
sees us, and to see his truth from good. As our Priest, the Lord sees
us savingly when he gives us to know that he dwells in us, and we in
him, by the love we have received from him ; for he that dwelleth in
love dwelleth in God, and God in him. He sees and pronounces us
clean when he whispers to us through our conscience that the plague
of sin no longer cleaves to us. When the conscience is purified from
dead works, we can offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony
unto them. The gifts and offerings commanded in the Levitical law
were types of the purified thoughts and affections that are offered to
God, in gratitude for deliverances experienced and mercies received,
and wliich become sanctified to the worshipper by being dedicated to
the service of him who gave them. The offering of the cleansed leper
consisted of lambs without blemish, fine flour, and oil — symbols of
innocence, charity, and love: innocence unblemished by conscious
guilt, charity that envieth not, love that is without dissimulation.
These are the gifts which the purifled soul offers as a testimony to tlie
Lord as the Author of all good, and which are the means of effecting
conjunction of life with him as the supreme good.
5, 6. The Lord, having cleansed an Israelite, is now besought to cure
a Gentile. When Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto
him a centurion, beseeching Mm, and saying. Lord, my servant lieth
at' home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. A servant signifies
the natural or external part of the mind, because this serves the
internal, as a servant his lord. The word here used is not that
which means a bond-servant. In Luke vii. 2 this servant is said to
be dear to his master — a fact which may be inferred from his soli
citude for his recovery. But this loved servant was sick of the
palsy, grievously tormented. Palsy represents a state where there
is the will, but not the power to do. The will to do is from good ;
but good has no power of acting but by truth. Truth is in the
mind what the muscular system is in the body. Good can no more
act spiritually without the ministry of truths, than the will can act
naturally without the concurrence of the muscles. Paralysis is the
symbol of that state of the mind when, from some opposing influence,
truth refuses to obey the behests of goodness ; or, what is the same,
when the external is unable to do what the internal wills to be
done. Such a state is described by the apostle, where he says : " To
will is present with me ; but how to perform that which is good I flnd
not" (Rom. vii. 18). Such a condition of mind is attended with
torment ; for what can be more afflictive to one who desires to do
good than to find that evil is present with him ? How pathetically

Chap. VIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 205
does the apostle lament this state, when he exclaims, " 0 wretched
man that I am I who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?"
(Rom. vii. 24.)
7. The state which this case represents and the apostle describes is
oue that is not without hope. There is a physician in Israel to whose
healing power every disease must yield. So knew the apostle when,
turning his thoughts from his own feeble and wretched condition to a
powerful and blessed One in whom there was help, he said, " I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord." The centurion had learnt
where to look for help in his time of need ; and this help he found.
His prayer was answered before it was expressed. To his simple
declaration that his servant was sick, the Lord responded, I will
come and heed him. He comes by influx and revelation, and heals
by reformation and regeneration. The Lord comes by a knowledge
of his truth, and restores by obedience to it.
8. But the centurion answered and said. Lord, I am not worthy that
thou sliouldesi come under my roof ; but speak the word only, and my
servant shall he healed. A sense of unworthiness is a sign of worth.
It is one of the first results of distinguishing in ourselves between what
is from the Lord and what is from self; and this feeling deepens as
the distinction is more perfectly perceived. This is the ground of true
humility. The highest angels are the most humble. Those who are
in the deepest humiliation are in the highest exaltation. Those who
are farthest from self are nearest to the Lord. Yet true humility
among men, as arising not only from a sense of evil and nothingness,
but from a conviction of sin, rather deprecates than craves the Lord's
intimate and immediate presence. " Depart from me, for I am a sinful
man, 0 Lord," was the prayer of Peter, on a signal manifestation of
the Lord's power, contrasted with his own unavailing labour ; and a
sudden sense of the Lord's loving condescension made the centurion
feel and declare his unworthiness to receive Jesus under his roof. The
mind that has a deep sense of the Lord's goodness has, at the same
time, a deep sense of its own unworthiness : the one is proportioned to
the other. It feels itself too mean for such a guest — too disorderly,
dark, and impure to endure the presence of him who is order and
light and purity itself Speak the word only, is its language, and my
servant shall he healed,. Unworthy to receive, and unable to bear thy
immediate presence and power, give me thy mediate presence and
operation. Come to me through thy Word, out of which virtue goes
to heal all manner of sickness and disease.
9. The centurion's humUity and faith were enhanced by his posi-

206 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIIL
tion. I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me : and I
say io this man, Go, and he goeth; and io another. Come, and lie
cometh ; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. The centurion
representing the rational man, or the rational faculty, his hundred
soldiers are rational truths, existing in adequate fulness, in orderly
arrangement, and in due subordination to the ruling principle of the
mind. As soldiers, they signify also truths combating, not only, as
is too much the case with the natural rational man, against error in
others, but against doubt and unbelief in himself The subordination
of all the principles of the mind, born of the will, the understanding,
and the outward life, is meant by this one going, another coming,
and the servant doing. Faith becomes conspicuous in the submission
of the mind, with all its powers and possessions, to the Lord.
10. It was when the centurion, after his entreaty, had made
this statement of his condition, that the Lord marvelled, and said
to them tliat followed. Verily I say unto you, I liave not found so
great faith, no, not in Israel. We are not of course to imagine
that the Lord was taken by surprise. He who knew what was
in man, knew all the centurion told him before he uttered a word.
His was an expression of admiration. It expresses the sympathy
which existed between the spiritual truth of the Lord and the rational
truth in the mind which acknowledges and is desirous to receive the
higher light. The Lord's saying to them that followed him, that he
had not found so great faith in Israel, was literally to express to them
how much more believing and receptive he found this Gentile than
he had found any among the Jews, and how much better disposed
towards him were those beyond than those within the pale of the
church. 11, 12. From the case of the Gentile centurion whose faith surpassed
any he had found in Israel, the Lord proceeds to speak of the state of
the Gentile world, as compared with that of the Jews. And I say
unto you. That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit
down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
But tlie cMldren of tlie kingdom shall he cast out into outer darkness :
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The subject is not limited
to any particular people or time. The contrast is between those who
are in good without truth, and those who are in truth without good.
The first are spiritually meant in the Word by the GentUes, and may
be found within as well as out of the church ; the second is the state
of all who have been unfaithful to the knowledge they possessed. Of
those spiritual GentUes it is said that " many shall come from the east

Chap. VIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 207
and west," because east and west signify states of good, as south
and north signify states of truth. East is a state of interior good, as
it begins in the heart ; and west is a state of exterior good, where it
ends in the life. East and west, therefore, are expressive of all states of
good, internal and external. But these are states of natural good,
having in it, like aU sincere good, the desire to receive truth, by which
it becomes, spiritual. This truth is meant by the term " kingdom ;" for
a kingdom is under the government of laws, and these Jaws are truths.
-But that here spoken of is the kingdom of heaven, which is heavenly
or spiritual truth. For Gentiles to come into the kingdom of heaven,
therefore, is for those who are in natural good to come into spiritual
truth. This, in fact, is the same as coming into heaven itself. All
who are principled in good, who live and die without the truth, receive
it in the other life, and so enter heaven; nor can they come into
heaven till their good receives and is united to truth ; for heaven is the
conjunction of good and truth. But heaven is a state as well as a
place; and being in man, it can exist in this world as well as in the
other. All true members of the church are in the kingdom of heaven
while they yet live on earth. The Lord, therefore, taught, and com
manded his disciples to teach, that the kingdom of heaven was at
hand. All the good, when they receive the truth, enter the church,
and all who enter the church enter the kingdom of heaven. But it
is said of those who come from the east and from the west, that they
sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
There are three degrees of perfection to which the good are capable of
attaining, which are called celestial, spiritual, and natural ; and there
are three heavens formed respectively of those who are in these states.
These are meant in the Word by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who
represented the Lord himself as he is present with men and angels in
his Divine Humanity. To sit down with these patriarchs is to sit
down with the Lord in his kingdom, as he accommodates his attributes
to the states of his people. To sit, we have seen, is exijressive of a
confirmed and permanent state of Ufe, and includes the idea of serenitj'
and peace. Such is the blessed end of those who cherish affections of
goodness, however they may be deficient in the knowledge of the truth.
The children of the kingdom are those who have been bom and nur
tured in the church, but who have sinned against the light of truth.
These shall be cast out into outer darkness. As truth is the symbol
of light, darkness is the symbol of falsity. The degree of falsity into
which the evil ultimately come is proportioned to the degree of truth
against which they have sinned. Outer darkness is expressive of that

208 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIIL
degree of falsity which is opposed to the clearest light of truth ; and
those who are cast, or whose evils cast them into it, are such as have
extinguished all truth in their minds, and confirmed themselves in
that falsity which is grounded in evil. The weeping and gnashing of
teeth which prevail in the region into which they are cast are no
doubt expressive of the misery they endure; but they also signify
active states of the affections and thoughts, weeping bein^ expressive
of the absence of all true satisfaction of heart, and gnashing of teeth,
of sensual reasonings and disputations, by which they confirm them
selves in the evils they love.
13. When the Lord had concluded his address to those who followed
bim, he said unto the centurion. Go thy way ; and as thou hast be
lieved, so he it done unto tliee. This often-repeated command, " Go thy
way," is an injunction to live as the Lord directs — to order our lives
according to the dictates of his truth. Thus our faith becomes prac
tical, being exemplified in our life and conversation. When we have
thus believed, so will it be done unto us. Although salvation is in
goodness, it comes through truth ; although it is in love, it is received
through faith, — not through faith alone, which is dead, but through
faith in conjunction with love, which is living. Faith is the medium
through which the Lord's power becomes operative ; for truth is the
power by which the Lord works, and truth is the object of faith.
Therefore faith was a common condition of salvation, and of the Lord's
miraculous cures, which represented it. According to our faith in the
Lord as the Saviour, so is the saving virtue we receive from him.
Such was the centurion's faith that his servant was healed without the
Lord's personal presence, and in the moment of his declaring the cure.
The self-same hour in which the cure was effected was symbolical of
the state of the centurion's faith, which secured the blessing, for time
is the symbol of state.
14, 15. A third miraculous cure was that performed on Peter's
wife's mother. And wlien Jesus was come into Peter's house,
he saw Ms wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. The Lord's
coming into Capernaum represented his presence with man in doctrine,
which a city signifies ; his coming into Peter's house represented a
further progression, and his presence with man in the good of faith ;
for Peter represented faith, and a house signifies good, and Peter's
house, the good in which faith dwells. As Peter represented faith, his
wife signifies the affection of faith, which is charity, or neighbourly
love. The mother of Peter's wife represented the affection of love to the
Lord ; for love to the Lord is the parent of love to the neighbour. But

Chap. VIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 209
Peter's wife's mother was laid, and sick of a fever. A fever is expres
sive of the burning lust of evil. The evil of self-love is the opposite
of love to the Lord; and a state like that of a burning fever is pro
duced in the mind when the evil of self-love rises up in the heart in
opposition to the good of love to the Lord. The state here described
is not one in which the evil of self-love predominates in the mind, but
is one in which that hereditary affection is excited by evil spirits,
giving rise to a state of temptation. The two expressions " laid " and
" sick" indicate the operation of this temptation as active both in the
will and the understanding. When the Lord saw her, he touclied her
hand, and the fever left her. This teaches us not only that the Lord's
divine power is that by which deliverance from the influence of evil
love is effected, and love to him is restored to health ancl established
in its supremacy in the heart, but also how this deliverance is effected.
The hand is the emblem of power, because it is that member of the
body by which power is manifested. The hand also signifies, there
fore, the natural principle, which is the instrument by which the
spiritual acts. The Lord's touching the hand was emblematical of his
[)Ower flowing into and restoring to order the natural principle, so that
the spiritual could act in an orderly manner through it. The natural
mind is the seat of evil; and when the evil that resides therein is
excited into activity, the natural mind reacts against the spiritual,
which produces spuitual disorder and disease, one form of which is
here meant by a fever. When Jesus touched her hand the fever left
her. Here again was an instantaneous cure, intended to teach us the
certainty of restoration when the Lord's power is invoked or received.
The completeness of the cure is indicated by the circumstance that she
arose, and ministered unto them — indicating the return of complete
health and strength. But this represents that when opposing lusts
are removed, the oppressed and diseased affection of love to the Lord is
elevated to a still higher place in the heart, and thence proceeds into
act in ministering to the Lord and men in works of piety, charity, and
mercy. 16, After the Lord had performed these three miracles on indivi
dual persons. When ihe even was come, they brought unto him many
tliat were possessed with devils : and he cast out the spirits with his word,
and healed all tliat were sick. The demoniacal possessions so common
at the time of our Lord's manifestation in the flesh were the result of
the dominion which the kingdom of darkness had then acquired over
mankind,— a dominion so complete that evil spirits ruled not only the
iimids but the bodies of men. And had not the Lord in this crisis
p

210 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIIL
come into the world, by assuming our nature and receiving the
assaults of evil spirits into his own humanity, and by overcoming
in temptation, conquered the heUs, no flesh could have been saved.
His casting out demons was a part of his work of redemption. But
these deliverances of men from external possessions represented
deliverance from internal possessions, to which all men are subject.
For evil spirits still dwell in our impure affections, and possess our
souls as truly as demons then possessed the bodies of men. It
is said that they brought unto him many that were possessed
with devils. The many here mentioned are spiritually the numerous
affections of the natural mind or external man, and those who
brought them are the affections and perceptions of the spiritual
mind or internal man. When the Lord gives us internally to see
the real state of the natural mind as it is by nature, and to know
him as our Saviour, we may draw near to him with our sufferings
and sorrows, with the hope and even the certainty of having them
removed. When the possessed ones were brought to him, he cast out
ihe sinriis with his word, and healed all thai were sick. How does he
cast out with his Word the evils in our minds, in which evU spirits
dwell 1 By his Word, which is divine truth, being received by us and
loved and obeyed. No word of the Lord can deliver us except by
our active co-operation with it in affection and thought, by word ancl
deed. In all who become workers together with him the Lord works
effectually in casting out the spirits of evU from our hearts, and heaUng
all the sicknesses of our understandings.
These last miracles were done when even was come, both to indi
cate an obscure state of the mind, and to mark completion of the
general state of the regenerate mind, meant by the day in which the
several works were performed, of which these were the last.
17. These last works were performed, %ha,t it might he fulfilled which
was spoken by Esaias the propliet, saying, Himself took our infirmities,
and bare our sicknesses. This important prophecy has been interpreted
to mean that Jesus, as our surety and substitute, assumed the guilt
of our moral infirmities, and suffered the punishment due to our sins.
In the practical exposition which the evangelist gives of this predic
tion no such idea is expressed, or even alluded to. It is a great truth
delivered by the prophet, where he says, "The Lord hath laid on him
(or, as expressed in the margin, hath made to meet on him) the
iniquity of us aU " (Isa. Uii. 6). But how did our iniquities meet upon
him ? Not certainly by God imputing to him the guilt of our sins,
and punishing him in our stead, but by his taking upon himself our

Chap. VIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 211
faUen nature, with all its hereditary evUs, or its moral infirmities and
sicknesses. The Lord took our evUs upon him, that he might have in his
humanity the common ground of human temptation, and be able, by
overcoming those temptations, to subdue the powers of darkness, and
glorify his humanity. Thence he is able to succour us in our tempta
tions, and to effect our regeneration. The casting out of devUs from
the minds and bodies of others was the result of his having first over
come them in their attempts to possess humanity as he had taken it
upon himself The Gospel, therefore, in this case gives an instance of
the effect of the Lord's work of glorification, and of his having him
self taken our infirmities and borne our sicknesses.
18. Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave com
mandment io depart unto ihe oilier side. This commandment indicates
a purpose to extend his saving operations to another sphere of the
human mind, one which may be understood by the place to which he
proposed to repair. The other side of the sea of Galilee was out of
Palestine, being on " the other side Jordan." In the original settlement
of the Israelites two tribes and a half received their inheritance on
the farther side of the river. Under this division Canaan represented
the internal man, and the land beyond the river the external. The
tribes that dwelt in Canaan represented the spiritual principles that
reside in the internal man, and those beyond the river represented the
natural principles that reside in the external man ; while the tribe of
Manasseh, half of which dwelt on either side the river, represented
the principle of goodness which unites them. The Lord's command
ment to depart unto the other side expresses his desire to proceed
from the internal to the external of the mind, that he may there
manifest the power of his truth to deliver, and the virtue of his love
to save, even unto the uttermost.
19, 20. But this purpose operates as a test and trial in two ways.
First, it brings to a decision what affections in the mind are disposed to
adhere to and follow the Lord through the self-denying labours of the
Christian life — what good affections and thoughts, which his teaching
has awakened and his works have strengthened, are ready to leave the
things that are behind, and press onward to the things that are be
fore. One comes to the Lord with the noble profession, — Master, I will
follow thee whithersoever thou goesi. And now the Lord discloses to
him the kind of experience that awaits every one who undertakes so
serious a duty. The foxes have holes, and tlie birds of ihe air have
nests; but the Son of man hath not wliere to lay His head. True as

212 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIIL.
this was naturally at the time, not less true will every one find it
spiritually who follows the Lord in the regeneration. The natural
mind of man, in its yet unregenerate state, is the den of every wild
beast, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Its affections
and thoughts are only evil, and that continually. But not only are
evils there by nature, which no one can help, but that which is to be
mourned over is, that they are more or less cherished in every heart
and mind. Here the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have
nests, where they live in security and increase. The foxes are the
types of all evil affections, the birds of all false thoughts. And when
these are cherished, to the exclusion of good affection and right
thoughts, the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. The
Lord's sacred head should be pillowed on every heart — his truth
should find a place in our best aff'ections. We lament the state ofthe
world that produced the necessity for the Lord's declaration, and sym
pathize with the Son of man. Let us look within; and then may we
remedy, if we will, the corresponding state in ourselves, and so render
our sorrow and sympathy practical and availing.
But the point of this declaration consists in its being addressed to a
would-be-disciple, as a test of his sincerity, whether he was disposed to
follow a Master who had nothing in the meantime to promise but
hardship and privation. Though this test may no longer exist natu
raUy, it still exists spiritually ; for the disciple must follow his
Lord " whithersoever he goeth" — through privation and suffering, as
well as in doing.
21, 22. When the Lord had addressed these words to the first who
offered to follow him, another of his disciples said unto him. Lord,
snfier me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him.
Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. This is one of those
passages which Christians intuitively perceive have a deeper sense
than that which lies on the surface. This they perceive from the
Lord's answer, rather than from the man's request. For there seems
nothing either extraordinary or unreasonable in the desire which the
disciple expressed ; and some objectors have assumed that the
request was more humane than the answer. But we are to reflect
that the soul and eternity, not the body and the world, were ever in
the Lord's thoughts, and were really the subjects of his discourse on
all occasions, the temporal events of which others spoke beinf made
by him images and the vehicles of corresponding spiritual truths.
Thus in the Lord's mind the body was an image of the soul and
natural were images of spiritual death and burial. In the spiritual

Chap. VlU.J ST. MATTHEW. 213
sense, a father signifies, in relation to man in his natural state, the
principle of self-love, this being the origin of the affections of our
unrenewed nature ; and this is the father we are required in the
gospel to leave and hate. But when this love dies within us, why
should it be wrong to desire to bury it ? One reason is, burial
signifies resurrection, or rising again into new life. The disciple's
request to be allowed to bury his father involved the existence of
a lingering desire to restore, rather than to reject, this principle of
self-love, now dead within him. And this was more especially the
case as he desired to " go'' and do it, which was spiritually a desire to
turn away from the living to the dead. The singular phrase, " let
the dead bury their dead," is instructive ; for Jesus never spake
¦without a solemn and important meaning. In the work of regenera
tion evil spirits are made the instruments of removing evU. They
excite evil in the human mind, and when their assaults are resisted,
and the temptation is overcome, the evil is removed along with those
who excited it. Nay, they themselves remove it. The spirits of
darkness cling to the evil which they excite in our hearts, and
they never leave us till we let the evil go. Then they go with it
to their own dark abode, and become the dead that bury the dead.
When, therefore, the Lord said, " Follow me ; and let the dead bury
their dead," he inculcated the Divine lesson, that it is the duty of the
disciple to walk onward with Him who is the life, and not turn back
to dead principles and works, but leave them to return to the regions
of darkness from whence they came.
23, 24. There are trials before us in the onward path of regenera
tion which require the energies we are often disposed to waste on
things and states that are past. The incident we now come to con
sider teaches us this. And when lie was entered into a ship, his dis
ciples foUowed him. A ship signifies the knowledge of goodness and
ti-uth : for knowledge is not truth, much less is it in itself goodness, but
is only the vessel which contains them, and conveys them to the under
standing, and thence to the will, of the mind. The Lord's entering
into a ship, and his disciples following him, represented his enterinf
into, and his presence in, the knowledge of good and truth which we
have derived outwardly from his Word. The sea on which the Lord
and his disciples were now embarked was an expansion of the Jordan,
through which Israel passed on their way to Canaan, and has a
simUar signification. In relation to man, both signify the natural
mind, or more strictly, perhaps, the natural rational, which is inter
mediate between the spiritual and natural degrees of the mind, as

214 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIIL
Jordan and the sea were between Canaan and the region on the east.
Here the disciples experienced tribulation, which is the symbol of
temptation. For, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea. The
tempest produced by the stormy wind was a type of the tumult of
evil passions excited in the natural mind by influx from the kingdom
of darkness. But in the midst of all this agitation and alarm Jesus
is asleep,— in a state of tranquil and peaceful repose while the
tempest- rages. So in the mind of the tempted one there is inward
peace while there is outward tribulation ; for the Lord is in the in
most of the soul as its peace and security. We may be unconscious
for the moment of the inward secret peace which we possess. These
tribulations arise partly from our too great attention to and immersion
in outward things, so that the inward principle is laid asleep, and
seems as if it were not. A natural state of the mind is also called
sleep, compared with a spiritual state, which is called wakefulness.
This of course is still more the case when we fall into tribulation,
which indeed can only happen when the spiritual principle is less
active than the natural. But these tribulations are permitted in order
to lead us to a sense of our danger and of our weakness, and to prompt
us to flee for succour to Him who only has power to control and sub
due the angry passions of the human heart, and to awaken within us
the Divine love and truth that our own carelessness and carnality have
cast into a deep sleep. The disciples, when they awoke the Lord, ex
claimed, Lord, save us ; we perish. It is only when we feel ourselves
to be perishing sinners that we truly feel the need of a Saviour. It is
not that we are without the Saviour's presence ; but these times of
peril awaken up the slumbering consciousness of his indwelling life
into activity, and bring the preciousness of his mercy home to our
hearts. So is it with us in regard to every object of our love. In
ordinary circumstances there may be little sensible emotion in regard
to our most loved ones ; but bring us into the fear of losing them, and
the deepest solicitude is excited for securing what we now doubly feel
we so greatly prize and cherLsh. Yet our fear originates in a want of
faith. Every temptation indicates the weakness of our principles, and
the use of the trial is to strengthen them. Temptation is an overshadow
ing of our convictions, a deadening of our love. It is the temporary as
cendancy ofthe natural over the spiritual principles within, us. Fear is
the offspring of doubt — the want of perfect confidence in or reliance on
the Lord's providence. Why are ye fearful ? is a question the Sa-viour
asks every trembling heart. Were we in every time of trial able confid
ingly to say, " The Lord is my strength,'' we should be able also to say,

Chap. VIII.] ST. MATTHEW. 215
" Of whom shall I be afraid ? " The Lord, who asked the question, gave
the answer when he said, 0 ye qf little faith. Yet the threatening of the
tempest gave distinctness and direction to the faith of the disciples,
since it led them to Jesus, to allay the storm which their lack of faith
had produced, and which it disclosed. Then the Lord arose, and re
buked the winds and the sea. How sublime is this spectacle of Jesus
speaking peace to the raging elements, manifested in the result — and
there was a great calm I We should let no occasion pass of recognizing
the wonder-working power of the Divine Saviour. And hardly any
one more strikingly presents evidences of his superhuman power than
the rebuking of the storm, and causing the raging tempest to subside
at once into a profound calm. But great as that work undoubtedly
was, still greater and infinitely more blessed in its results is the power
which the Lord exercises over the spirit of man when tossed upon a
sea of spiritual trouble, when the tempest and the whirlwind are such
as threaten to engulf the soul in spiritual evils, and finally in hell
itself. The rebuking the wind and the calming of the storm in the
soul is the result, not only of the Lord's awaking, but of his arising-—
that is, his elevation in our hearts and minds, by which he acquires the
power to bring the lower thoughts and affections into subordination
and submission to himself, and thereby into the tranquillity of spiritual
repose. That which our Lord produced was called a great calm, because
greatness is predicated of a state of love and goodness, from which all
true peace exists.
27. When the Lord had quelled the tempest, ihe men m.arvelled,
saying. What manner of man is this, that even tlie winds and the sea
obey Mm! And must not spiritual deliverance from such tribulation
and peril lead the devout mind to marvel and say. What manner of
man is this ? Must he not be a divine man? To be a divine man, his
manhood must be divine ; for in no other way can divinity be possessed
by a man than by his being divine as man. Every act of his saving
mercy and power which we experience should lead us to adore the
Lord in his divine humanity; for it is by his humanity being divine,
and having been made divine through tribulation, that he is able
to enter into our human trials and tribulations, and bring us out
of them with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. It is by
this also that he can rule the kingdom of darkness, and that he
can tranquillize the mind in its greatest temptations. Even the
winds and the sea obey him. The thoughts and affections of
the mind, although, when excited by the influence of evil spirits,
they may be beyond our own control, are completely under the

216 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIII,
power of him who rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a
great calm.
28-34. And when he was come io the other side into the country ofthe
Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, dsc. This is so
extraordinary a case of demoniacal possession, and discloses so much
the nature of the connection between the spiritual and the natural
worlds, that it deserves a few words in its simply historical sense.
The spiritual and the natural worlds are as closely connected with
each other as the soul and the body. The ordinary connection of
men with the inhabitants of the spiritual world, though intimate, is
not, however, sensible. The two worlds, like the spiritual and the
material parts of man, have nothing in common : they are united by
correspondence; and such a union, however close, is not sensible
either to men or to spirits. The only circumstance that was pecuUar
in the possessions mentioned in the New Testament was, that the
ordinary laws of spiritual intercourse were overborne, and spirits
entered not only into the affections of men's minds, but into the
sensories and organs of their bodies. This arose from the prevalence
of evil in the world, and the grossly sensual state into which men had
fallen, which enabled wicked and sensual spirits to descend into the
very ultimates of human nature. Such was evidently the case in the
possession here recorded. The men did not speak as free agents
under the influence of the evil spirits, but the evil spirits spoke
through the men as passive instruments, showing that they had
possession of their physical organs, and used them at their pleasure.
But this singular narrative shows that spirits were not only able to
possess human beings, but the inferior creatures. Animals as well as
men live by virtue of their connection with the spiritual world ; for
the souls of beasts are spiritual, though not immortal, and they are
capable, like men, of being the subjects of an extraordinary as well as
of an ordinary influx from the spiritual world, or through it from the
Divine and only Fountain of life. Animals and the animal nature
of man are, by the ordinary laws, governed by a common or general
influx from the spiritual world. Gentle and clean animals, like
regenerate men, receive their life through heaven, while ferocious
and unclean animals, like wicked men, receive their life through hell.
In the present instance it is evident that the swine became the
subjects of an extraordinary spiritual influx, the devils being per
mitted to possess them and use them as the involuntary instruments
of their will.
It is remarkable that these evil .spirits knew and acknowledged

Chap. VIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 217
Jesus to be the Son of God and the Redeemer, at a time when even
his disciples had but an obscure perception of his true character, and
of his object in becoming incarnate. This is not surprising. The
nature and purpose of the Incarnation were, at that particular time,
better known in the spiritual than in the natural world. The Lord's
redeeming work had more immediate relation to the spiritual than
to the natural world. Redemption consisted in the subjugation of
hell, and in the performance of a judgment in the world of spirits, or
intermediate state, on those who had lived in the world from the
time of the Noetic dispensation, as well as in the establishment of a
new church on earth. Subjugation and judgment in the spiritual
world were even then in progress ; and therefore spirits knew more
of the Lord and of his work than men upon earth as yet knew.
The language of these spirits bespeaks some knowledge and dread of
the approaching day of decision. Judgment is effected by the Lord's
more immediate presence, or by an extraordinary influx of his divine
truth, which lays open the interior states of those who are subjected to
it, and which, by divesting them, or rather by inducing them to divest
themselves, of everything that is opposite or extraneous to their true
character, consigns them to their final and everlasting abode. To the
evil this is attendant with torment; not because it is the nature of
the Lord's truth, or the will of the Lord himself, to cause pain or
misery even to the worst of devils, but because their corrupt and
perverted state is in direct opposition to the purity and order of his
truth, which acts upon their deranged spiritual organism as light does
upon a diseased eye. Such was the torment which these demons
experienced from the presence and words of Jesus. This teaches us
the important truth, that those only whose state of Ufe is iu harmony
with the Divine life, which is pure love, can enjoy happiness in his
presence, and that to those whose ruling love is opposite to his, the
Lord's presence can only be productive of torment.
We now come to consider this miracle according to its spiritual
meaning. 28. And when he was come io ihe other side into tlie country of ihe
Gergesenes, ihere met Mm two possessed with devils, coming out ofthe
tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. In this
simple relation we have a tme but awful picture of the state of man
as to his natural mind, signified by Gergesenes, at the time our Lord
came into the world, and at the time of his first coming to every man
as his Redeemer and Sa-viour. The two possessed with devils are the
will and the understanding of the natural mind, as, in every unre-

218 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIIL
generate man, they are possessed and ruled by evils, and by the false
persuasions connected with them. Although at this day evil spirits
do not possess the bodies of men, they possess their minds; and in
this way they may possess and rule men as completely as they did at
the time of the Lord's incarnation. This kind of possession makes
men even more culpable than the demoniacs of old. The possessed
with devils, like lunatics, ceased for the time to be responsible beings;
but those who give their minds to demons, while they retain their
liberty and reason, are responsible for their actions. According to
the ordinary law, spirits dwell in the affections of men. They are
not allowed to enter directly into men's thoughts, and can only influ
ence their thoughts through their affections; so that every man is left
free to think, and therefore to decide and choose between good and
evil. Although less obvious, possessions at this day are not less real
or deplorable than they were of old. Every evil man is possessed
with devils; nay, every evil passion in every man is a body which
some wicked spirit inhabits, and every depraved appetite is a tomb
in which some unclean spirit dwells. Every evil man inwardly
cherishes hatred and breathes destruction against all who are not his
slaves; and is exceeding fierce, so that no man may safely pass by the
way, or cross the path of his interest or ambition. But in the
spiritual sense, " man " is the expression of what is truly human,
which is the image of God in man ; and the fierce hatred against men
by these dwellers in the tombs is expressive of the direful hatred
that is in all evil against what is truly human, or what is good and
true, whether in themselves or in others. This hatred against men
must have been still more intense against Jesus, as Man in the highest
and holiest sense. But he came to moderate the fierce hatred of evil
spirits against mankind, or at least to deprive them of the power to
possess and destroy them. His great and beneficent power was
exemplified on the present occasion. The men, under the control of
the devUs who possessed them, came out of the tombs when Jesus
approached them, and, according to Mark v. 6, ran and worshipped him.
This abject submission of the demons to the power of Jesus exem
plifies the complete subjugation of the powers of darkness by the Lord
as man's Redeemer. Redemption itself, as the great work of the
Lord in the flesh, is well represented in this case. The Lord
redeemed mankind by delivering them from the overwhelming power
of hell, and restoring them to a state of spiritual freedom. Such was
then the ascendancy of the power of hell over the power of heaven,
that men were in a state of bondage, which deprived them of

Chap. VIIL] ST. MATTHEW 219
spiritual liberty. They had, like the demoniacs, become to some
extent the involuntary subjects of demoniacal power. It was not to
cast off all communication between men and evil spirits that the
Lord entered into conflict with the powers of darkness, but only to
remove their ascendancy over mankind, which deprived them of their
freewUl, and to restore the equilibrium between heaven and hell, on
which the freedom of the human will depends.
29. When Jesus came near these demoniacs, behold, they cried out,
saying. What have we fo do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? ai-t thou
come hither to torment us before ihe time ? This cry, though uttered
by the men, was really that of the devils who possessed them. But
the words are attributed to the possessed, to describe spiritually the
exquisite torment experienced by those who are being regenerated,
when the Divine and the diabolic power come into actual conflict
within them. EvU spirits suffer torment on such occasions, but their
torment is communicated to those in whose evils they dwell, and
which they defend with all their power. The kind of temptation is
also indicated by the names of those engaged in it. The demoniacs
address the Lord as " -lesus, thou Son of God." Both these divine
names are expressive, not only ofthe Lord in his humanity, by which
he is our Saviour, but speciflcally of the Lord in respect to his
essential attribute of goodness, as the Son of Man is expressive of the
Lord, not only as the Word, but in respect to his essential attribute
of truth. The principle of evil, and the class of infernal spirits that
are directly opposed to the Lord's goodness, are also expressed in the
Word by the de"vil, the name by which the evil spirits who possessed
the men are designated; while false principles, and spirits that are
directly opposed to the Lord's truth, are named Satan. Temptation
conflicts between good and evil are attended with much greater tor
ment than those between truth and falsity; as all mental trials which
have relation to love are more afflictive than those which have rela
tion to faith : for truth and faith, are means, and belong to the under
standing, but goodness and love are ends, and belong to the will. In
addressing Jesus the demoniacs say, "art thou come hither to torment
us before the time?" Time signifies state; and the state here alluded
to, as the anticipated time of torment, is the climax of temptation,
when suffering is so direful that it induces something of despair as to
the result. It was when looking to the extremity of his temptation,
in the passion of the cross, that Jesus prayed that the cup might
pass from him, and that, when the hour of his conflict came, he
uttered the despairing cry, " My God, my God, why hast thou for-

220 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIII.
saken me!" The cry of the demoniacs was of the same character,
though far inferior in degree, to that of the Lord himself To con
sider the subject more precisely. " Before,'' in regard to time, means
principal in regard to state. Torment before the time signifies, there
fore, suffering arising from temptation as it acts upon the principal or
ruling affections of the mind, and not on those of an inferior degree ;
and the more interior temptation is, the more exquisite is the torment
with which it is attended.
30. And ihere was a good way off from them an herd of many swine
feeding. As, in the spiritual sense, the relation has reference to one
person, and to every person in a particular stage of the regenerate
life, the " men " represent the rational, and the " swine " the sensual
part or principle of man's nature. The sensual part of man's nature
being the lowest and grossest, it is " a good way off" from the rational,
which, though not a spiritual, is an interior natural principle. The
sensual affections and appetites, with all the impressions and ideas
that have been acquired through the medium of the senses, which
form the sensual principle, are " many," and form a " herd," being
drawn and held together by a common bond that is rather animal
than human. But the swine were feeding at the time the devils
entreated to be sent away, or suffered to go into them ; for the state
here described is one in which man is as yet living in the indulgence
of his sensual appetites. We cannot but call to mind in this connec
tion that beautifully expressive description of the sinner's descent
into the lowest state of spiritual degradation, in the prodigal's being
reduced to the last degree of destitution, when he hired himself to a
citizen of the far country iu which he had wasted his substance with
riotous Uving, and who sent him into his fields to feed swine. It was
here, however, that the prodigal came to himself, and resolved to
return as a penitent to his father. It is here, too, in the spiritual
sense of the present narrative, that the men's deliverance from
demoniacal possession was effected, the swine serving as the channels,
so to speak, through which the devUs were sent to their own con
genial abode.s.
31, 32. -So the devils besought him, saying, Iffliou cast us out, suffer
us to go away into the herd qf swine. And he said unto them. Go.
And when they were come out, ihey went into tlie herd of swine. When
evil spirits are expeUed from the inner or rational part of the mind,
they still seek and find a refuge in the lower or sensual part. Their
own desire, and the divine permission, though diametrically opposite
in end and purpose, nevertheless work together to produce the same

Chap. VIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 221
beneficent result. The spirits of darkness can only operate upon man
by Di-vine permission. But we must remember that, in the government
of the Divine Providence, the permission of evil is regulated by this
principle, that the Lord only permits a less evil to prevent a greater,
and, as far as possible, to bring ultimately some good out of the evil
permitted. Evil spirits are allowed to enter into men's evil affections,
not only because man in his present state could not live and act as a
free agent without connection with the spirits of hell as well as with
the angels of heaven, but because evil spirits excite men's evils, so as
to bring them to his knowledge, as a necessary means of his being
induced and led to remove them, or rather to consent to their removal.
When we consider that evil spirits are permitted to enter into man's
evils that they may excite them, and so be made the negative instru
ments of removing them, we can see the divine wisdom and goodness
of the Lord in suffering the devils to go away into the herd of swine
when cast out from the men they had so completely possessed. Re
generation, too, proceeds from higher to lower. The interior of the
mind is first regenerated, and the exterior afterwards and through
it. The lower evils are therefore excited last; and when these are
removed regeneration is completed. With this purpose and order of
the Lord's saving operation the very inclinations and purposes of the
spirits of darkness are made to conspire, to work out the final cause of
temptation. The tenacity with which evil spirits cling to the lusts and
phantasies of the human mind is such, that they never relinquish their
hold, and can only be cast out by the evil itself, in which they dwell,
being renounced and removed. Thus are the evils of the human heart
and mind removed by the evil spirits who dwelt within them, and carried
away to the kingdom of darkness, to which they belong. This kino--
dom is meant by the sea, in the waters of which the swine perished.
The whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the
sea, to express the downward inclination of evil and evil spirits, and
the avidity with which they plunge into the lowest depths of iniquity,
and, as a consequence, into the abyss where all evil has its ultimate
and endless abode. Those who Uve and die in a state of impeni
tence are dragged, with their cherished evils, down into the regions
of eternal woe. The penitent have a far different end. Re
pentance and amendment separate their evils and evU spirits from
them, so that what is intended and expected to be their destruc
tion proves their salvation; for the devUs carry away their evUs,
while they themselves, deUvered by the Lord's power, are restored
to their right mind, and after having witnessed the Lord's mercy

222 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. VIIL
and goodness here, enter into his kingdom of peace and blessedness
hereafter. 33. When the herd of swine had rushed into the sea, and perished
in the waters, ihey that kept fliem fied, and went their ways into ihe
city, and told every thing, and what was befallen fo the possessed of the
devils. It is not said of these, as it is of the prodigal, that they fed
the swine, but that they kept them. The swine-herds, too, although
terror-stricken at the catastrophe, were awed into wonder by the
miracle. They fled from the scene of the disaster ; but they entered
the city in a calmer mood, and were not so entirely occupied with
their own loss as to forget to relate what had befallen to the possessed
of the devils. Spiritually understood, the possessors and the keepers
of these unclean animals are related to each other as affection and
thought. It is the affections that possess, and the thoughts that
keep watch over the mind's possessions, whatever they may be.
When man is merely sensual, his affections are lusts, and his thoughts
are devices to secure the means of their gratification. This is not
exactly the state described in the present narrative. It represents
man as alive, indeed, to sensual gratification, but not dead to a sense
of higher things. It describes the state of one whose thoughts have
been directed to the Lord as the Redeemer, come to destroy the
works of the devil by the subjugation of hell, not only as it is in
itself, but as it is in man, thereby restoring the rational mind to a
sound state. The conveyance of this to the affections is meant by
the keepers relating everything, and that which had befallen to the
possessed of the devils, to those in the city.
34. On hearing the tidings, behold, the whole city came out io meet
Jesus : and when ihey saw him, they besought hiin that he would depart
out of their coasts. The citizens, like their informants, seem to have
regarded Jesus with mingled feelings of fear and wonder. Although
they desired him to depart from their coasts, they did not offer to employ
force, but used entreaty. They quailed before one who had given
them so severe a proof of his power; but there was no manifestation
of rage or enmity. The Lord also complied with their petition, and
departed. PersonaUy, they represent those who see in the Lord a
Being of power rather than of goodness, and who worship him from
fear, rather than from love, and are more distressed than comforted
by the idea of his near presence. This is characteristic of those who
are in an external state in regard to religion. They see in God even
as revealed in the Word, an angry and vindictive Being, and tremble
at his presence, believing that no man can see him and live. In a

Chap. IX.] ST. MATTHEW. 223
more particular sense, the circumstances describe a state in which the
whole affections, suddenly brought under a powerful Divine influence,
are moved to separate themselves from the dogmas of their sensuous
faith to meet the Lord at his coming. Yet this very state, which
brings man's evils more vividly to his mind, makes him unable to
bear the nearer presence of the Lord, or makes the clear light of
truth terrible to him. The case and the language of these Gentiles
may be compared with those of the GentUe woman whose son died
whUe she nourished EUjah, and who said unto him, "What have I to
do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my
sin to remembrance, and to slay my son" (1 Ki. xvU. 18).

CHAPTER IX.

1. When Jesus, in compliance with the Gergesenes, departed out
of their coasts, he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into
his own city. Capernaum is now called the Lord's own city, and was
during his public ministry what Nazareth had been during his private
life. As a city signifies doctrine, the Lord's own city is the doctrine
which relates personally and immediately to him, and which teaches
that he is God manifest, and that in his Divine humanity he is the
Redeemer and Saviour of men. This heavenly doctrine in us is the
Lord's own city of habitation, from which he goes forth to carry
his saving virtue into every faculty and affection of the mind,
and to which he returns with renewed strength, to proceed again
and again on his mission of salvation. The Lord can only dwell with
man in that which is his own. Divine good can only dwell in divine
truth; genuine good must have genuine doctrine for its place of abode.
When the Lord's power brings deliverance to the good, and inspires
teiTor into the evil of the external man, he returns into the internal,
where there are purer affections and truer thoughts, that can bear his
presence, and can recognize him as a benefactor.
2. When he had entered into, his own city, iliey brought to him a
man sick of the palsy. This disease represented, as we have seen
(viii. 6), the state of one who has the will but not the power to do good,
or in whose external there is such a want of conformity and corre
spondence with the internal as to prevent him from manifesting in
and by it the thoughts and intentions of the heart. This man was
lying on a bed. A bed signifies the particular reUgious doctrine or
persuasion in which a man confides, and in which he seeks rest for

224 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IX.
his weary soul. So the Psalmist exhorts, "Commune with your
own heart upon your bed, and be stUl" (Ps. iv. 4); and declares for
himself, " My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and
my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips : when I remember thee
upon my bed, and meditate upon thee in the night-watches" (Ps.
Ixiii. 5, 6). The wicked, on the contrary, " deviseth mischief upon his
bed " (Ps. xxxvi. 4). And so the Lord, to teach us that it is not any
one's religious doctrine or persuasion that saves him, tells us that in
the last days of the church " there shall be two men in one bed; the
one shall be taken, and the other shall be left" (Luke xvii. 34). Two
may be in one doctrine, and while to one it may be a living faith,
to the other it may be lifeless persuasion. The sick of the palsy
was brought on his bed of languishing to Jesus by his friends.
The best affections of our hearts prompt us to come, and the best
thoughts of our understandings bring us to Jesus, for the removal of
our spiritual maladies and our restoration to health. And Jesus,
seeing their faith (the faith no doubt both of the paralytic and his
friends), said unto the sick ofthe palsy. Son, he of good cheer: thy sins he
forgiven thee. The man sought health for his body, and the Lord gave
him salvation for his soul. This, however, was but preparatory to
the restoration of his body also. From this we may leam that
there is a connection between sin and disease. We must be careful
rightly to understand this doctrine. We must not, like the Jews at
the time of our Lord's incarnation, suppose that every man's particular
maladies are the results of his particular sins. Disease is the general
etfect of general corruption, but not always the effect of particular sin.
The Lord, who sees the connection between causes and effects, knows
when a particular natural disease proceeds from a particular spiritual
cause; and when this is the case, the removal of the sin is the way
to cure the disease. This may, have been the case in the present
instance. But when we understand the diseases of the body to be
types of diseases of the mind, we can see that spiritual disease ia
invariably the result of spiritual evil. In the spiritual body outward
disease is always the effect of inward corruption. Diseased action is
the effect of corrupt motive. When these co-exist as cause and effect,
the removal of the first is preparatory to the cure of the second.
When the Lord, therefore, desired the man to be "of good cheer," and
declared his sins to be forgiven, he uttered words of comfort and
assurance to every humble and penitent supplicant for his mercy, that
a true and sincere faith is that through which the Lord inspires con
fidence and gives pardon.

Chap. IX.] ST. MATTHEW, 225
3, 4. In forgiving the sins of this man, certain of the scribes, knowing
that none can forgive sins but God only, said uoithin themselves, This
man blasphemdh. The Lord gave these objectors what they ought to
have accepted as a proof of his possessing the divinity and power they
denied him. Jesus knowing their thoughts said. Wherefore think ye
evil in your hearts? In telling them their unuttered thoughts the
Lord gave them a proof of his power to forgive sins, and of being
God, who only, according to their own faith, could claim the power
of forgiveness. But he condescended to give them another proof, in
the cure of the disease with which the man was afflicted.
5. Before performing this miracle the Lord demanded of the scribes,
Wheilier is easier to say. Thy sins he forgiven thee; or io say. Arise,
and vialk ? The Lord received no answer, and required none. His
question implies that he who, with a word, could instantly restore
an impotent man to sound and vigorous health, could cure the
maladies of the soul, and restore it to a state of righteousness. It
was no doubt equally easy to say the words that Jesus uttered, but
he showed that it was equally easy to do the works which his words
expressed. But in the spiritual sense the connection of these two
acts is still more obvious. The spiritual connection between the for
giveness of the man's sins and his rising up and walking is so inti
mate, that, although distinct, they are not separate or isolated acts,
but form two parts of the same divine work. The forgiveness of sins
does not consist in pronouncing them pardoned, but in removing from
the heart the inclination to commit them. When the Lord said to
the palsied man, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," he intimated the removal
of the sinful inclination from the heart, and the communication to it
of the love of goodness; and when he further said, " Arise, and walk,"
he intimated the deliverance of the external life from the effects of
inward evil, and the descent into it of the life and activity of the
love of goodness, which had been inspired into the inner man. Thus
the Lord first brought the internal into a state of order, and then
as a consequence, restored the external to a state of correspondence
with it; so that, in the best sense, the man might have a sound mind
in a sound body.
6, 7. The Lord, stiU addressing the scribes, continues : But that ye
may know thai flie Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins,
(then saith lie io Hie siek qftlie palsy,) Arise, talte up thy bed, and go
unto thine liouse. And he arose, and departed to Ms house. We
cannot well conceive that such a miracle as this could produce any
effect but awe on the minds of impartial spectators. To see a man
Q

2S:6 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IX.
entirely palsied rise at once from his couch, and stand before them in
all the vigour of health, and take up the bed on which, but a moment
before, he lay utterly prostrate, and depart with it to his own house,
were surely enough to awe men into holy fear, and cause them to
bow down in profound reverence before him who had performed so
mighty a work. There is no record to tell that these scribes, though
utterly silenced, were at all convinced; on the contrary, the relation
leaves it to be inferred that they continued in the obduracy of sinful
and determined unbelief
One purpose the Lord had in performing this miracle was, that
those who heard him pronounce the man's sins forgiven might know,
by beholding his work, that the Son of man had power on earth to
forgive sins. There is a great and consolatory truth involved in this
fact. The Lord assumed human nature, and thus became the Son of
man, or Divine Truth in its ultimate degree, that he might deUver
man from evils which his Divine Truth, such as it was in relation to
man on earth, could not reach before the incarnation. Divine Love
exercises its saving power by means of Divine Truth; but love has
power by truth only so far as it is accommodated to the states of the
human mind. The Word, which in the beginning was with God, —
Eternal Wisdom, as it dwelt in the bosom of Eternal Love, — was all-
sufficient for the spiritual generation of unfallen man ; but man's fall
rendered it necessary that the Word should be made flesh, and so
come down to his level, and accommodate itself to his altered state of
affection and perception. By this means the Son of man had power
on earth to forgive or to remove sin. But this language expresses
still more. For earth, in the purely spiritual sense, means the earthly
or natural mind of man. This region of the mind is the seat of all
man's evils. And as the Lord by incarnation took this earthly mind,
or this part of man's organization, upon himself, he thereby brought
his Divine Truth down into it, and so dwelt among us as Man
among men. And not less, but even more, .is he among us now as
the Son of man who has been lifted up, or glorified, that he may draw
all men unto him. And this he does by removing from our natural
man, or earthly mind, the sins which separate us from him as our
God. 8. But when the multitudes saw it, ihey marvelled, and glorified God,
which had given such poiver unto men. The simple, less spoiled
through vain phUosophy, and less influenced by intellectual pride,
were more ready to draw the proper conclusion which the evidence
of their senses justified, and even demanded. They did not, it is true,

Chap. IX.] ST. MATTHEW. 227
recognize in Jesus the Supreme Being, clothed, though not entirely
concealed, by the fraU garment of humanity. They marveUed, or, as
some read, were afraid, and glorified God; but they glorified him
because he had given such power unto men. They regarded Jesus as
a man, but as one who had his power to do these wonderful works
immediately from God; and were therefore much better than the
scribes and Pharisees, who ascribed the Lord's power, when they could
not deny it, not to the Most High, but to Beelzebub. The science,
falsely so called, which leads men to ascribe everything to nature, and
the pride of intellect, which persuades them that they can see in
secondary causes the beginnings of things, blind them to the percep
tion of the truth, which simplicity of mind, though it be that of
comparative ignorance, disposes and prepares men to receive and
reverence. Singleness of mind can alone see the Divine in the
human of the Lord, which is truly and spiritually to glorify God that
gives such power unto men. The Divine gives its power to the
human, and that power is manifested by it in the salvation of man.
The union of the Divine and the human in the person of the Lord is
the source of his saving power.
9. And as Jesus passed forth from tlience, he saw a man, named
Matthew, sitting at tlie receipt of custom: and he saith unto him.
Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. The calling of the twelve
apostles, like the birth of the twelve patriarchs, represented the order
in which the regenerate acquire the graces of religion. The calUng
of the first four, as recorded in chap, iv., has already been con
sidered. Peter, we have seen, signifies faith in the understanding,
and Andrew, his brother, signifies faith in the will; James signifies
charity or love to the neighbour, and John, his brother, signifies love
to the Lord, — but love as a practical principle, such as the Lord
describes it when he says, " He that hath my commandments, and
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me" (John xiv. 21). As we
shall see, when we come' to the enumeration of the apostles on their
being sent forth to preach the Gospel, as recorded in chap, x., the
apostles form three groups of four members each. Matthew be
longs to the second group. The first four were fishermen, whose
worldly occupation corresponded to the spiritual function they were
to exercise — that of being fishers of men. Matthew's occupation at
the time of his call was different from that of the four we have named ;
but, no doubt, had as close an analogy to the special use he was
intended to perform as he himself had to the grace he represented.
He was a pubUcan, or collector of the tax which the Romans levied

228

ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. IX.

on the Jews, which was felt as an oppressive burden; and, what
rendered it still more obnoxious, was an undeniable badge of their
subjection to a foreign yoke. The Roman power represented the
natural rational principle, and the taxes which they levied from the
Jews symbolized the making of .spiritual knowledge subservient to
the ends of man's natural reason. The Lord himself recognized it as
a duty to render unto Csesar the things which are Caesar's ; but he
declared it at the same time to be a no less imperative duty to render
unto God the things which are God's. When, to avoid giving offence,
Jesus consented to pay the tribute money, he so ordered it that the
money should be obtained from the mouth of a fish in the sea, to
represent that the natural, but not the spiritual principle, should be
subject to the rational — that scientific, but not inteUectual truth,
should be subservient to its uses. When the Lord called Matthew
from the service of Csesar to his own, he did representatively what he
does spiritually, when he delivers the spiritual principle in man from
the dominion of the rational, and brings it into immediate connection
with himself Matthew was obedient to the call: he rose up, ancl
followed -Jesus. To obey the Lord when he calls us is a dutiful act,
and shows a desire to do his will and make it our own. There is one
act recorded of Matthew which teaches us the secret of the wUling-
ness of all whom he represented to follow the Lord. " He rose up,"
and foUowed him. If, when we are called, we raise our affections
from worldly to heavenly things, and from temporal to eternal ends,
we, too, will, with readiness and cheerfulness, follow the Lord where-
ever he is pleased to lead us.
10. Jesus, after he had called Matthew, entered into his house. And
it came to pass, as Jesus sat ai meat in the house, behold, many publicans
and sinners came and sat down with Mm and his disciples. No part
of the Lord's character stands out in more beautiful relief from that
of the Pharisees of those and pf all other times, than the tender regard
he manifested for the despised and rejected among men, and his
readiness to mix with them even in their feasts. But this com
passionate tenderness and divine condescension was one of the very
things for which the Pharisees accused and contemned him. The
merit of the Lord's condescension consisted, of course, in the beneficent
end he had in view ; but this the Pharisees were unable to compre
hend. Religion with them was a thing of mere ceremony and
ostentation, and in their estimation it would only have been deoraded
by being brought do-wn to the condition of the poor and miserable.
But the religion which the Lord came to establish and to exemplify

Chap. IX.] ST. MATTHEW. 229
among men, was one whose very object it was to save the degraded
and lost. Jesus, therefore, mingled with men in every condition, and
entered into their houses as the means of entering into their hearts.
Such was his purpose in coming into the house of Matthew. But to
regard this subject spiritually: a house is an emblem of the mind;
and Jesus is spoken of as having sat down there, to express the
interior reception, by the obedient mind, of the Lord as the truth and
the life. His entertainer sat with him, to indicate community of
state, which is necessary to make the Lord truly the guest of the
humble but wUling mind. The Lord sat at meat in the house ; be
cause meat for the body is typical of food for the mind, especially of the
principle of good, which constitutes man's spiritual meat. And the
Lord sitting at meat is expressive of the Lord's communion through
good with man, and with all the affections and thoughts of his mind.
The spiritual affections which the Lord introduces into the mind are
meant by his disciples, who (Mark ii. 15) entered and sat down in the
house with him. But besides these spiritual affections which the
Lord introduces, there are other and natural affections which belong
to man. These are the " many publicans and sinners that came and
sat down with Jesus and his disciples." The name sinners is not, we
may remark, always used in the New Testament in a moral sense,
but frequently indicates no more than that those to whom it was
applied were lax in their observance of the numerous ceremonials
which the Pharisees had added to the law. The disrepute, too, in
which the pubUcans were held, had no necessary reference to their
moral character, but only to their office as tax-gatherers, whom the
Jews regarded with extreme abhorrence. Those, therefore, who came
and sat down with Jesus and his disciples may have been morally
better than the Pharisees who despised them. The publicans repre
sented affections or inclinations of the will — thus the affections and
thoughts that belong to the natural mind of man. Spiritually, these
are evil in every one by inheritance, for in this respect all men are
alike; but when the heart and mind are turned heavenward, these
are disposed to meet the Lord as an instructor and a Saviour. They
come and sit down with Jesus and his disciples ; they are inclined to
come under his influence and receive his teaching, that they may be
brought into conformity with the laws of his divine tmth, as the
principles of his kingdom, and have the same mind in them which is
also in him.
11. And when ilie Pharisees saw it, ihey said unto his disciples. Why
eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? The self-righteous

230 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap, IX.
man shuns "sinners" from contempt; the man of the world for the
sake of reputation; the sensual man enters their company for gratifi
cation; the spiritual man only as a means of doing them good. Our
Lord was a perfect pattern of what every minister of the Word, and
every Christian in private life should be. The Christian should seek
to save souls, by drawing men away from sin, which he can do only
by imitating the Lord in hating the sin and loving the sinner.
This the self-righteous do not. Why eateth your Master with pub
licans and sinners ? is still the demand of the Pharisee, The Lord
himself, as we shall see, answers the question. Here we only attend
to the spiritual idea in his eating with them. To eat with any one
is to enter into communion with him by the reciprocation of good
ness. This is expressed by the Lord himself where he says, " If any
man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and
will sup with him, and he with me '' (Rev. iii. 20). The Lord at
all times is urgent to enter the hearts, as he was willing to enter the
homes, of publicans and sinners, to accept their good and impart his
own. Not that men have any good self-derived; but in whatever
mind there is anything good which the Lord has already implanted,
he desires to draw it forth, and make it the channel of conveying to
the mind good of a still higher and purer kind. There is no salva
tion without reciprocation. If men could be saved by the Lord
operating in them and upon them, all would be saved; for he desires
the salvation of all. Man's co-operation is that which brings hini
salvation. The Lord is in every man, but every man is not in the
Lord. In order to be saved, not only must the Lord dwell in
us, but we must dwell in him. This is the reason that, in the days
of his flesh, the Lord condescended to eat with publicans and sinners.
To the spiritual Pharisee this is still a cause of offence. He denies
the necessity for man's co-operation in the business of salvation, and
deems it only consistent with the majesty and omnipotence of God
that sinners should be saved by irresistible grace, or left by justice as
vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. To aU such we may say. Hear
what the Lord saith.
12. But wlien Jesus heard that, he said unto them. They that be whole
need noi a physician, but they that are sick. No answer could better
meet such an objection. That which the Pharisees blindly considered
a reason why Jesus should avoid sinners, was the very reason he had
for eating with them. They were sick— 7ie was a physician. They
were the objects of whom he was in search, the persons he had come
to seek and to save. Do we sufficiently reflect upon this as eminently

Chap. IX.] ST. MATTHEW. 231
the work of the Divine Saviour, and of the Christian's mission? If
we despise, or neglect, or shun our degraded brethren of the human
race, do we not practically make the same accusing demand as the
Pharisees? W^hat we ourselves think it a degradation to do, we
must think it a degradation for the Lord to have done. If, on the
other hand, we have the Lord's spirit dwelling within us, we will
desire and act towards sinners as the Lord himself acted, and as he
still acts, towards them. The whole family of fallen man are included
in the number of the sick who need a physician. Yet our Lord
speaks as if there were some who are not in this condition. As we
shall see in explaining the words which follow, the distinction is to
be understood, not as applicable to fallen men in any age, but to
humanity in its primeval and present state.
13. The Lord further exhorts the Pharisees, saying. But go ye and
leam what thai meaneih, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I
am not come io call tlie righteous, but sinners io repentance. Naturally
understood, sacrifice is worship offered to God, and mercy is good
clone to man. The Lord wills mercy, and not sacrifice. Divine
worship was instituted not as an end, but as a means. The end of
worship is to make the worshipper like the Object of his worship — to
make him good and just, merciful and forgiving. These are the
things that the Lord wills. Not only does he will mercy in preference
to sacrifice, but mercy is the only thing in sacrifice which he either
wills or accepts. He can receive nothing from man. The homage
he asks is only intended as a means for conveying the riches of his
grace to the mind of the worshipper, and to inspire him with and
keep him in the desire of doing mercy to his fellow-creatures. The
Lord gives a reason for addressing to the Pharisees what had been
written in the Word, — for his requiring mercy, and not sacrifice. He
came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He there
fore, as man, and the pattern for men, did what the Divine will
desires. He showed mercy, and freely admitted into his presence,
and entered into communion with, sinners who required it. Mercy
is love grieving and forgi-ving; sacrifice is truth demanding and
exacting. Had man not fallen, God would not have required mercy.
Man would have been the subject and the object of divine love, and
would have rendered to the Lord the sacrifice of thanksgiving and
praise, and spontaneously paid his vows unto the Most High. But
man's state is changed, and with it the divine economy in relation to
him. The men of the first or celestial church are meant by the
whole, who need not a physician — the righteous, whom the Lord came

232 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IX.
not to call. The spiritual, who lived after the time of the primeval
church, are the sick whom the Lord came to heal, the sinners whom
he came to call to repentance, the lost whom he came to save. When
the celestial church ended, a spiritual church began. A miraculous
change was then effected in the mental condition of men, — the intellect
was separated from the will, and conscience was substituted for per
ception. A lower standard of duty was consequently introduced.
The Lord does not require from his imperfect creatures all that the
laws of eternal order required of him in his unfallen state; but he
deals with him in conformity with the merciful accommodation of his
truth to his fallen condition. That the law teaches more than man
can ever realize, is true ; that it demands perfect obedience, or the
death of the sinner, is not. Nor is it a truth that Jesus came to live
a life of holiness, and to offer himself as a sacrifice for sin, in our
stead. Jesus came to fulfil the law, as a means of enabling us to
fulfil it; and now, with all the aid that a Saviour perfected through
suffering, can give us, what we are required to render, the Lord gives
us power to perform. We are required to come up to the standard
as it is set up in our conscience, formed by the truths contained in the
divine law, but the Divine mercy and justice require no more. The
Lord will have mercy, and not sacrifice : he desires that men should
be not only the objects but the subjects of his mercy, receiving his
mercy into their hearts, and exhibiting it in their lives in deeds of
mercy and charity to each other.
14. After the Lord had thus gently rebuked and instructed the
Pharisees, Then came to Mm the disciples of John, saying. Why do we
and the Pharisees fast ofl, hut thy disciples fast not? John's disciples,
strict observers of the ritual law, agreed with the Pharisees on the
subject of fasting, and were scandaUzed at the idea of Jesus and his
disciples neglecting to fast. Looking at the subject spiritually, this
question contains a deeper meaning. John represented the written
Word, especially as to its literal sense, while the Lord was the Word
itself, as the Divine Wisdom from which the written Word pro
ceeded, and which it contains. John's great mission was to preach
repentance, as the means of preparing the way of the Lord. His
foUowers are therefore disciples of the letter, and as such are pre
paring the way, by self-denial, for the Lord's entrance into their
hearts and minds. This work of self-denial is signified in the Word
by fasting; and with those who are in this preparatory stage of the
regenerate life, spiritual fasting is not only a necessary, but seems to
them a paramount duty. The Lord's work, as succeeding that of

Chap. IX.] ST. MATTHEW, 233
John, represented the doing of good rather than the ceasing to do
evil, — the supplying of the mind with the principles of goodness and
truth, for which fasting from everything evil and false has pre
pared it.
15. In answer to the disciples of John, Jesus said unto them, Gan
the children of the hridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is
until them ? hut the days will come, when ihe bridegroom shall be taken
from them, and then shall they fast. The Lord does not say that the
children of the hridechamber do not mourn, but that they cannot
mourn so long as the bridegroom is with them. He does not there
fore say that his disciples do not fast ; he only says that their time of
fasting had not yet come, but that, when it did arrive, it would be
more severe than that which John's disciples practised. The Lord
deUvered his lesson to John's disciples in a parable beautifuUy ex
pressive of the truth he intended to convey to them, and to those
whom they represented. The heavenly marriage in the Christian mind,
which is the union of goodness and truth, is that which is everywhere
meant in the Word by nuptials, in the genuine sense, and as a true
internal union. The marriage of the Lord and the church is also
included iu its signification; but the church consists of those only in
whom the marriage of good and truth exists. The children of the
hridechamber are those who are in the affection of goodness and truth,
and who receive into these affections the joys and deUghts of love and
truth from the Lord's presence with them. In the state here spoken
of, the Lord is with his disciples as a bridegroom, which indicates a state
preparatory to marriage, or to the complete and confirmed union of the
principles of goodness and truth. But even in this preparatory state
the children of the hridechamber cannot mourn, for the bridegroom
is with them. They are in the hridechamber, or in the internal
affection of truth, and the bridegroom is with them in that affection
as the principle of good. Yet this itself is but a state of preparation.
The actual conjunction of goodness and tmth cannot be effected in
the mind without trial and temptation. The bridegroom in whom
they now rejoice must be taken away from them, and then shall they
fast in those days. This taking away of the bridegroom, in reference
to the Lord's disciples, literally refers to his being taken away from
them by the death of the cross, which blasted all their cherished hopes
of his restoring Israel as a temporal kingdom. But every Christian
disciple passes through states corresponding to those which the Lord's
first disciples underwent. Between the joyful reception and the
happy union of goodness and truth there is an intervening state of

234 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IX.
trial and sorrow, in which the Lord seems to be taken away, and in
which the disciple fasts indeed. This fast is of a different character,
and of much greater severity, than that of the disciples of John : it is
not a voluntary abstinence from sinful gratifications, but an involun
tary deprivation of the delights of goodness, which the soul has come
to esteem as its Ufe. But as the Lord, after his crucifixion, rose in
greater glory than that in which he had previously appeared, so is this
trial succeeded by a state of higher perfection and greater joy than
any which the disciple had previously experienced.
16, 17. The Lord proceeds by another parable to instruct the disciples
of John why his disciples, unlike them and the Pharisee.s, did not
then fast. No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment,
J'or thai which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the
rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles : else
the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and ihe bottles perish : but
they pmt new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. The old
garment is Judaism, the new piece is Christianity; the old bottles are
the rituals of the Jewish church, the new wine is the truth of the
Christian dispensation. The entire system of Judaism was alien to
the spirit of the Christian religion. The moral law is indeed the
same; but what was peculiar to the Jewish church was incapable of
being combined with the principles of Christianity. These parables
have, however, reference to the church in our day as well as to that
v/hich existed when they were first uttered. The principles of the
new church cannot be engrafted on the doctrines of the old, as they
now are. " The imputation of the former church does not correspond
with the new church, not as to the twentieth part." The name of the
Christian doctrines remains, but the reality has ceased to be. But
there is a still more practical lesson for us contained in these words of
the Lord. It is possible for those who know the true doctrines of the
church to fail in the duty which the Lord intended to teach them.
The old garment is the righteousness of the old and unregenerate
nature — the moral vesture which men put on to cover their spiritual
corruption, We cannot become religious by merely inserting a piece
of the new into the old, in order to repair this world-made vesture;
but we must buy of the Lord new raiment, that the shame of our
spiritual nakedness may not appear; we must put on the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness, the white robe, which is the
righteousness of saints. Nor must we put the new wine of spiritual
truth into the old maxims of moral expediency and worldly prudence ;
but we must put our new principles into their only suitable rece-i taolcs

Chap. IX.] ST. MATTHEW. 235
— honesty, integrity, and sincerity — under the conviction, that only by
doing so can we have either true morality or true religion, and that
only when both are new can both be preserved. But there is an idea
expressed in the Lord's similitudes that we must attend to. The new
piece properly means cloth that has come from the loom, but has not
yet passed through the hands of the fuller, and symboUzes a righteous
ness which has been acquired, but is not yet perfected by trial and
temptation. It is this kind of righteousness which, when put unto
the old garment, takes from it, and makes the rent worse. The other
similitude includes the same idea. The danger to old bottles from
filling them with new wine arose from the wine fermenting, and so
exerting a pressure on the old skin receptacles whicli they were
unable to bear. Fulling and fermenting signify temptation, by which
man is purified and perfected. By these two expressive parables we
are instructed that temptation tests the soundness of our principles,
and that unless our external is made new, and thus a suitable vesture
and receptacle of new internal principles, we cannot stand in the day
of trial.
18. While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a
certain ruler, and worshipped Mm, saying, My daughter is even now
dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. This
man is an honourable exception to the general class of Jewish digni
taries. Though not so distinguished for his faith as the Roman cen
turion, he had confidence in the Lord's power to prevent death, if not
to restore life. For although, as appears from Mark vi. 23, the ruler's
daughter was not then actuaUy dead, but was only dying, the case
may be regarded as nearly the same. Regarded spiritually, a daughter
is a type of an affection for good, as a son is a tyjie of an affection for
truth. Thus understood, the dying out of such an affection in the
mind, and the apprehension of its total loss, is that which the feeling
of this father for the dreaded loss of his daughter is intended to
express. But it may be asked, how can a cherished affection die out
ofthe heart? or if it is suffered to die out, how can this be a cause of
distress, and how can there be such solicitude for its restoration? In
the cases recorded in the Gospel, of disease and death, and of solicitude
and prayers to the Lord for their recovery and restoration, two states
of mind are represented. Either the mind has become diseased and
dead in regard to spiritual things, and has been awakened to a sense
of its disordered and lost condition, or it has become the subject of
spiritual tribulation, in which state evils and falsities invade the
affections and thoughts, and sometimes to such an extent as to cause

236 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IX.
everything good and true in the mind to languish or die. These
conflicts take place in the natural mind, where evils and falsities
reside, and where evil and false spirits excite them into opposition to
what is good and true. The faith which, in such states, turns to the
Lord as the Saviour, is the faith of the inner man, where the Lord
himself dwells in the heavenly goods and truths which he has there
implanted. Faith, as a living principle, confides in the Lord's power,
and is that through which his power is manifested. The faith of the
ruler enabled him to say to Jesus, " Come and lay thy hand upon her,
and she shall live.'' The Lord's hand is the symbol of the power
which resides in his humanity, and when laid upon and received by
any one, heals spiritual infirmities and restores spiritual life.
19. And Jesus arose, and followed Mm, and so did his disciples.
Spiritually, Jesus arising is the elevation of his divine love in the
heart and its affections. But when Jesus arose, he and his disciples
foUowed the ruler. Jesus and his tUsciples are, spiritually, the Lord's
divine love and the truths derived from it. The Lord's following the
ruler signifies his descent, by the influx of his divine love and truth,
into the inferior or natural degree of the mind, where the evil which
is to be removed resides.
20, 21. But while Jesus was on his way, before he came to the
ruler's house. Behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue qf
blood twelve years, came behind Mm, and touched the hem ofhis gar
ment: for she said within herself. If I may hut touch his garment, I
shall be whole. This case is extremely interesting, not so much from
the nature of the woman's disease, as from her confidence that so
great was the healing virtue which proceeded from the person of
Jesus that she had only to touch the hem of his garment to be made
whole. The issue of blood, with which she had so long been afflicted,
signifies natural love separate from spiritual love, and a degree of pro
fanation as the result. The spiritual signification of the disease may
be known from its nature, considered in the light of the Scriptures.
In the Word the blood is called the life or the soul of the flesh, beinff
the vital fluid from which the substance of the body is derived, and
by which it is constantly renewed. The blood therefore signifies
truth pervaded by the life of love, from which the good that consti
tutes the very spiritual body is derived and constantly renewed. A
diseased condition of the blood, or a drain of that stream of life, is
symbolical of a deficiency of the love which is the life of truth, and
a consequent perversion and dissipation of the truth itself by which
the soul Uves. The period of twelve years, during which the woman

Chap. IX.] ST. MATTHEW. 237
was afflicted, is expressive of a full state in relation to the truths of
faith, — in the present instance, a habitual condition of the mind in
opposition to the truths of faith. But it may again be naturaUy
asked, how it is that such a condition of mind is consistent with the
undoubting faith which this woman displayed? The whole of the
cases of disease recorded in the Gospel, as brought to the Lord to
cure, are intended to show the deplorable state of human nature, as it
is in itself, and more or less in all by practice, and also, and princi
pally, to impress upon us this great truth, that mere human power is
utterly unavailing for the removal of diseases of the soul, and that the
Lord alone is able to cure them, what is impossible with man being
pos.sible with God. All things, it is true, are possible to him that
believeth; but the possible with man is from the power of the
Lord, acting through his faith, and delivering him from evil,
and gifting him with good, according to the measure of his belief.
But that which is peculiar in the present case is the manner of the
cure. The woman's disease was cured simply by her touching the
hem of the Lord's garment. Virtue went out of the Lord and restored
her to health. As the woman's disease was the type of a spiritual
malady, so was the Lord's garment, as the means of her cure, repre
sentative of a divine medium of salvation. When the Lord appeared
before John the Revelator, he was clothed with a garment down to
the feet; and when he was transfigured, he appeared in raiment white
as light. This garment with which the Lord, as the Word, clothes
himself, is its literal sense, and the hem of this garment is the
extremity or lowest part of the letter of the Word — its simplest
truths of faith and plainest precepts of life. What, then, do we learn
from the present beautiful incident? That he who takes hold of the
lowest truths of the Word, if his faith in its divinity be sincere, shall,
through that holy medium, receive from the Lord, who dwells within
it, sa-ving virtue sufficient to restore him to health and bless him with
happiness. 22. After the woman was cured of her disease by touching the
hem of his garment, Jesus turned him about. The woman came
behind the Lord to touch the hem of his garment. The back signifies
the external, and the face the internal. The back also signifies the
will, and the face the understanding; because in the head, the lesser
brain, which is the organ of the will, is behind, and the larger brain,
which is the organ of the understanding, is before. In relation
to the Lord, the back and the face signify the Divine will and
understanding, which are infinite love and wisdom. The woman's

238 ST, MATTHEW, [Chap. IX,
coming behind Jesus is spiritually expressive of a deep sense of un
worthiness, and of a feeling that the mind admits of no more than an
external and obscure perception of the Lord through his Word.
Coming behind the Lord signifies also a desire to come into his
presence rather as the object of his love and mercy than of his
wisdom and omniscience— of his love, which covers, rather than of his
wisdom which discovers our sins. This, however, is a state which is
preparatory to another and more perfect one. When the woman had
touched the Lord, and virtue had gone out of him to heal her, he
turned himself toward her, — she received internally what she had
previously received externally ; and to the influence of the Lord's love
on her heart was now added the perception of his wisdom in her
understanding ; for the Lord not only turned himself to her, but saw
her; and when the Scriptures speak of the Lord's seeing any one, they
spiritually mean that his wisdom or truth enters into the understand
ing, and gives an internal perception of the good which his love had
inspired. An interesting instance of this occurs in Revelation (i. 10).
John heard a voice behind him, and he turned to see the voice that
spake to him ; by which we are instructed that when the Lord's
love, which flows into the will, is heard or obeyed, it turns the under
standing to the Lord, to receive a perception of his wisdom. The
same truth is expressed in the Lord turning to man, or in man
turning to him, and in the present case, of Jesus turning himself
about and seeing the woman. When the Lord saw her, he said,
Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made tliee whole. This
endearing salutation contains within it the blessed assurance of being
born of God. The Lord's sons and daughters are they who have
become his children by regeneration. The reception of his love gives
joy of heart and comfort after affliction, and the reception of his truth
into the understanding becomes, through faith, the power of saving
health. The actual existence of this state is the hour of restoration,
and which is that mentioned by the evangelist : And the woman was
made whole from that hour.
23, 24. The history now returns to the ruler's daughter. We are
not to regard the account of the cure of the issue of blood as an
interruption to the history of the restoring to life of the ruler's
daughter, or to view it as an incidental and isolated circumstance ;
for in the spiritual sense everything is connected and in series. And
this connection will be seen in the present instance, if we consider the
subject iu relation to one mind, of which the woman with the issue is
an interna] affection, and the ruler's daughter an external affection.

Chap. IX.] ST. MATTHEW. 239
The obstruction to the Divine influx being removed by the cure
he had performed on his way to the ruler's house, the life of his love
and truth can now descend into the external, to restore life to the
affection of good which is therein. And when Jesus came into the ruler's
house, and saw the minstrels and ilie people making a noise, he said
unto them, Give place. The house is a symbol of the mind — in the
present case, of the natural mind, to which the affection of good
which Jesus had come to restore to life belongs. The minstrels and
the people making a noise, whom the Lord saw when he entered the
house, and who were the professional mourners, piping their requiem
over the dead maiden, and the crowd of professional wallers and
others who attended on such occasions, represent the crowd of natural
and worldly affections and thoughts that obstruct the operation of the
divine life of love and truth in the soul. The Lord's seeing them
denotes the discovery by the mind itself, from the Ught of divine
truth, of the true character of such affections and thoughts, and the
necessity of their being removed before his divine Ufe can be received
into the good affection thus surrounded and obscured. When the
Lord commanded the crowd to give place, he gave as a reason, for the
maid is not dead, hut sleepeih. We need hardly say that the distinc
tion which the Lord makes between death and sleep is for the sake of
a higher than the Uteral sense. It is evident from what Jesus said to
his disciples respecting Lazarus — ^flrst intimating that he was asleep,
and then telling them plainly that he was dead — that by sleep he
meant death. But there are two kinds or degrees of spiritual death,
— the extinction of the Ufe of faith and the extinction of the life of
love; or, what is the same, the extinction of the affection of truth in
the understanding and the extinction of the affection of good in the
wiU. The first is meant by the sleep of death, the second by death
itself The first is like suspended animation, when, though the lungs
no longer move, the heart continues to beat; the second is like the
complete cessation of life, when the motion of both these organs has
ceased. What, therefore, the Lord calls sleep is a more external and
less confirmed state than that which he calls death. He did not
therefore mean that the maid was not dead, but that her state repre
sented a spiritual death which has not entirely extinguished the life
of love in the soul — that the aff'ection itself of good in the heart is
not dead, but asleep. When the Lord had said to the crowd that the
maid was not dead, but asleep, they laughed him to scorn — implying
that the mere natural and worldly afi'eotions and thoughts not only
deny, but deride the declarations of divine wisdom, and reject both

240 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. IX.
the idea and the hope of resurrection. For the merely natural affec
tions, while they mourn over the death of better affections in the
mind, do not desire their resuscitation into a newer and higher life.
25. But when the people were put forih, he went in, and took lier hy
the hand, and the maid arose. The putting forth of the people is the
removal of those tumultuous and worldly feelings that indispose the
mind for the reception of the peaceful influences of the Lord's spirit,
with its restoring and renewing power. That these merely natural
affections and worldly thoughts occupy a lower place in the mind
than the aff'ection of spiritual good, represented by the maid, appears
from the relation itself; for when the people were put forth, the Lord
went in: having removed the crowd from the outer apartment, he
went into the inner room where the maiden lay. He then took her
by the hand, indicating again the communication from the Lord oi
new Ufe by the power of his Divine Humanity, in which all saving
virtue dwells. And this virtue is communicated through the hand of
the maiden, which signifies the ultimate degree of the mind, where its
faculties manifest themselves in power. The efficacy of this mode of
operation arises from the circumstance that the influx of the Lord's
love and truth from his Humanity is his divine life accommodated
or brought down to the lowest degree of the human mind. Life and
action were the result of the Lord's touch. The maid arose. This
does not imply merely that the spiritually dead are raised by the
Lord to their former Ufe, but to a new and higher one. They arise,
as the Lord himself rose, into a degree of perfection and glory far
exceeding all they had previously kno-wn, or that had entered into
their heart to conceive.
26. And fhe fame hereof went abroad into all that land. The fame
of the Lord's wonderful work goes abroad into all the land when the
whole mind is brought under his influence, and acknowledges his
goodness and power in raising up into new and spiritual life the
affection of good in the will, and the consequent perception of truth
in the understanding, which had, by the prevalence of those evils
and errors that belong to the corrupt selfhood, been cast into a dead
sleep. Considered in reference to the regenerate, this death, like that
of the body, is not to be considered as anything more than an apparent
evU; for it represents, in their case, the putting oft' of something that
is old, preparatory to the putting on of something that is new  the
laying down of their life, that th«y may take it again ; giving up a
lower and viler life for one higher and more glorious.
27. From the raising of the dead to life, the Lord next proceeds to

Chap. IX.] ST. MATTHEW, 241
restore the blind to sight. And when Jesus departed thence, two blind
men followed him, crying, and saying. Thou son of David, have mercy
on us. Mental, or rather spiritual blindness, is that which is spoken
of in the Scripture in reference to men as immortal beings. There
are, however, several kinds and degrees of spiritual blindness, — as
the blindness of ignorance, the blindness of error, and the blindness
of falsity. The blindness of ignorance is represented by that with
which these two men were afflicted. Simple ignorance is without
sin; but in those who have reached mature years, ignorance is never
unaccompanied with error, and with evil as a consequence. As there
are two distinct objects of knowledge, ignorance is twofold — ignorance
of truth and ignorance of good. These were represented by the two
blind men. Considered in connection with the previous miracle, the
opening of the understanding to the perception of truth, after the
awakening of the affection of good in the will, is represented by this
opening of the eyes of the blind. This miracle was an exhibition, in
a representative form, of one of the great objects for which the Lord
came into the world — to give man power to understand spiritual truth.
By the prevalence of evil, the human understanding had been closed
to the perception of Divine truth, as their hearts had become closed
to the reception of his Divine love; and the Lord's coming was to
unseal the eyes as well as to open the hearts of men. Those mighty
works which the Lord performed on the bodies of men were but the
outworks and the symbols of still mightier and more beneflcent works
which he, as the Saviour, performed, and will continue to perforin, in
the souls of all who come to him. Truth is to the intellect what
Ught is to the eye; and the bestowal of spiritual sight is a blessing as
much greater than the giving of natural sight, than eternal life is
greater than temporal.
In the account of this miracle there are some particulars that demand
our attention. The blind men follow the Lord, which spiritually means
to follow his teaching and example. The perseverance of these men
proved the means of their obtaining the object of their prayer, and
teaches us the necessity of foUowing on to do the Lord's will, that we
may know of his doctrine, or have a knowledge and perception of his
truth. While they followed the Lord, they kept crying, and saying,
" Thou Son of David, have mercy on us." Crying is expressive of
affection, and saying of thought, teaching us that both must be
directed to the Lord when we desire his mercy. Their addressing
the Lord as the Son of David shows that they acknowledged him as
the Messiah ; but in the spiritual sense the Son of David signifies the

242 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IX,
Lord as Divine Truth; and the blind appropriately address him by
this name, it being their desire to receive from him the power of
seeing, that is, of understanding. They crave his mercy, for mercy is
love grieving and brought down to the aid of the fallen and helpless.
The celestial ask for mercy, the spiritual for grace ; thus the prayer
for mercy is expressive of a deeper sense of imperfection and a
stronger desire for the needed salvation.
28. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came fo Mm.
It would appear that the Lord did not comply with the blind men's
petition ; nor does it seem that he even attended to it while he was
on the way. Although the Lord generaUy granted the prayers of the
afflicted at once, yet on several occasions he either seemed unwilling
to listen to their petitions or delayed compliance with them. We
cannot suppose that this arose from any want of compassionate ten
derness towards these suffering and helpless supplicants, much less
from anything like disregard to their wants and entreaties. Such
cases teach us an important lesson. The Lord's seeming neglect of
our petitions, or his slowness to grant them, does not proceed from his
unwillingness to give, but from our unpreparedness to receive. How
many of those who follow the Lord, confessing their blindness and
praying him in mercy to open their eyes, would be startled by the
question. Believe ye that I am able io do this? If they were
required to answer it in the presence of him who knows the heart,
how few would be able to say, with the blind men. Yea, Lord. The
purpose of the Lord's inquiry is to enable us to know whether we are
able, in the sincerity of our hearts, to make this affirmation before
him. If we do not receive an answer to our prayer for enlighten
ment — to have our eyes opened to see the wondrous things contained
in his Divine law, and to see him as the Divine Lawgiver — it is because
we do not truly beUeve that he is able to do this for us and in us.
But it was not tUl Jesus came into the house, and the blind came
to him there, that the question was asked, and was affirmatively
answered. The Lord's coming into the house with us is his comin<T
into the mind, and specifically into the will, or into the good which
has its dweUing there ; and our coming to him is our enterino- iuto
communion with him through the good in which he is present
with us.
29, 30. Then touched lie their eyes, saying. According to your faith
be it unto you. And their eyes were opened. The Lord's touchinn-
their eyes signifies his communicating the power of understanding
and seeing the truth. If the giving of natural sight opens the gate-

Chap. IX.] ST. MATTHEW. 243
way that admits the blessed light of this world, which reveals so
many scenes of beauty and sources of instruction and delight, un
known and therefore unappreciated before, how immeasurably greater
the beauty, instruction, and delight that are disclosed to us by the
opening of the understanding to admit the light of spiritual and
eternal truth ! How impressive and even sublime are the words,
" And their eyes were opened ! " The natural sublimity of the com
mand, " Let there be light," has often been dwelt upon. These words
express the same spiritual idea, and describe the same spiritual state,
as the less striking words in which is described the restoration of
sight to the two blind men. When he had opened their eyes, Jesus
straiily charged fliem, saying. See that no man know it. Here, again,
the Lord imposes silence on those on whom he had bestowed one of
his most precious blessings. We have already (ch. viii. 4) considered
the sense and meaning of this often-repeated command. There is,
however, we confess, some obscurity in it, or rather in our apprehen
sion of its spiritual meaning. Why the injunction should have been
laid upon some, and not upon others — why persons, on whom silence
had been solemnly enjoined by one who had conferred on them so
great a boon, should, when they were departed, spread abroad Ms fame
in all that country, — and why this should be recorded by the evangelist
without any expression of disapproval, are points that do not appear
to us perfectly clear. We can well understand how strong the im
pulse to publish the matter must have been in the hearts of those who
had received such extraordinary cures, and how it must have con
tributed to the fame of Jesus as a healer in Israel. We can compre
hend also how the experience of his divine mercy, in the cure of our
spiritual maladies, should incite us to extend, through our whole
hearts and minds, with all their affections and thoughts, the fame of
his great goodness.
32. After the Lord restored the blind to sight. As they went out,
behold, they brought to Mm a dumb man possessed with a devil. Dumb
ness is usually the result of deafness. In the New Testament cases
are mentioned of persons being deprived of the power of speech, appar
ently without their hearing being taken away ; and this appears to be
one of these. Whether they are found together or separately, there
is a distinction between deafness and dumbness, which it is important
to attend to as the symbols of spiritual conditions of mind. Deafness
closes the channel of influx, dumbness closes the channel of efflux.
Receiving and giving are the two great functions of Ufe. One cannot
exist in perfection without the other. Dumbness signifies a state of

244 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IX.
obstructed efflux, in which the understanding is prevented from going
forth in the performance of its use, in glorifying God and imparting of
its gifts to men. This dumb man was possessed with a devil, who
seems to have been what is called elsewhere a dumb spirit, which is
indeed plainly declared in Luke xi. 14, where the same miracle is
recorded. This case is appropriately recorded after the case of the
blind men. Nor is it without a meaning that the blind men followed
Jesus into the house, where they were restored to sight, and that this
man was brought to him, and that he cured him as he went out of
the house; for this cure restored that faculty by which man is enabled
to give utterance to the thoughts of his heart, and was symbolical of
the casting out of the dumb spirit which sometimes possesses us, under
the pressure of some severe trial or temptation; a state described so
accurately by the Psalmist : " I was dumb with silence ; I held my
peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. I was dumb,
I opened not my mouth : because thou didst it " (Ps. xxxix. 2, 9).
Zacharias was made dumb because he believed not the words of
Gabriel, when the angel promised him a son iu his old age, and
remained so till the promise had been fulfiUed; for how can we
praise God, and proclaim the power of his name, when we disbelieve
his sacred promises on our behalf? Therefore it was that, in the time
of the Lord's natural presence, faith was so essential a condition of
deliverance even from physical ills. How much more so for the cure
of spiritual evils !
33. But how is spiritual dumbness to be cured? By the Lord
casting out the spirit which had produced it. And wlien the devil was
cast out, the dumb spake. But how does the Lord cast him out ? His
alone is the power to deliver from this and every other spiritual
affliction; but our free will and active concurrence are indispensably
necessary to bring his power to work effectually for our deliverance.
We only require to come with our afflictions to him, having faith in
his mercy and omnipotence, and nothing will prevent his casting out
the spirit of evil from our hearts. And then shall we experience the
benefit of our restoration to a sound condition of mind, as exjiressed
in the present CAse—tlie dumb spake. If, with the Psalmist, we
pray, " O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth
thy praise" (Ps. li. 16), our prayer shall be answered, and we shall be
enabled to praise the Lord with joyful lips. Like Zacharias, too,
when his mouth was opened, and his tongue loosed, we will speak,
and praise God. The spirit of unbelief and distrust being cast out the
Holy Spirit wiU enter into us, and prompt us to show forth the c^ood-

Chap. IX.] ST. MATTHEW, 245
ness of the Lord, and to rejoice in the power of blessing and serving
him. Another result of such a manifestation of the power of our
Saviour is expressed in that which followed the dumb being enabled
to speak : and the multitudes marvelled, saying. It was never so seen in
Israel. This, spiritually, is expressive of the recognition and acknow
ledgment of the Lord's wonder-working power by the whole of the
affections and thoughts of the natural mind, now brought under the
influence of the Divine Love, and gifted with a perception of his wis
dom, as exhibited in the superior faculties of the mind being restored
to order. The declaration of the marvelling multitude, that " it was
never so seen in Israel," teaches also a spiritual lesson. The Lord
came to do in his spiritual Israel what had never been done before.
He came to open the blind eyes, to unstop the ears of the deaf, and
cause the dumb to shout for joy. In his humanity he brought his
saving power down to men, and it was to them nearer than, in their
fallen and marred condition, it had ever been or could be brought
before. And the same may be said now of and from individual
experience. Never before could the Lord's regenerating power be
manifested so fully and beneficently as since his incarnation. And
never was spiritual truth itself so enlightening as now, when the light
of the moon has become as the light of the sun, and the light of the
sun has become sevenfold, as the light of seven days.
34. But there is a dark side to this picture. This ready and hearty
acknowledgment of the Lord's marveUous and benevolent works by
the multitude was met by the Pharisees saying. He casteth out devils
through the pirince of tlie devils. It may not be unjust to class with this
Pharisaical theory of a demoniacal origin of the Lord's miracles the
philosophical one of tracing them to natural causes. The natural man
avails himself of any argument to evade their force, and enable him
to deny their divinity, and to bring the most marvellous operations
of Divine power clown to the level of ordinary natural phenomena, that
the claim of Jesus to divine, or even to supernatural power, may be
rejected, and his religion deprived of its high claims and of its benefi
cent character. WhUe the learned are often, on the.se high questions,
spoiled through vain philosophy, the multitude, who judge of plain
facts ancl simple testimony by common sense, are often right. No
answer of the Lord to this accusation is here mentioned; but on
another occasion he refuted it by simply saying, " If Satan cast out
Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom
stand?" But this objection, as a suggestion from Satan, may enter
into our own hearts; for the Pharisees have their representatives

246 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IX.
there. And whenever a heavenly influence awakens our good affec
tions to an acknowledgment of the Lord's power and goodness, an
opposite influence from the kingdom of darkness is sure to excite
some suggestions against it.
35. After this Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in
their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing
every sickness and every disease among the peopile. We cannot realize
an idea of this simple fact without a deep sense of our Saviour's love
for his creatures, which prompted him to come to seek and to save
that which was lost. The Divine Author of their existence himself
labouring to turn them from sin unto righteousness, and healing every
malady to which their frail bodies had become subject, as a symbol
and promise of the spiritual health that he above all things desired to
impart to their souls, is truly a matter of wonder and admiration.
Spiritually significant and instructive as these circumstances are, they
are not on that account less deserving of our devout attention and
adoring gratitude as simple historical facts. This reverence for the
historical circumstances helps us to enter more profitably into their
spiritual meaning, which again sheds its purer light back upon the
great facts of the letter.
The Lord, in this higher sense, is still going into all our to-wns and
villages preaching the gospel. He is .still spreading, by his Spirit and
through his Word, throughout every receptive mind, the glad tidings
of his great salvation. He goes about our cities and villages, when
divine truth, proceeding immediately from himself, enters into the
truths, both internal and external, which we have acquired from the
literal sense of the Word, and built up into systems of doctrine; and
he enters into our synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom,
when his divine truth fiows into the truths we have acquired from the
Word, and have understood with some degree of spiritual light,
and communicates through them a perception of the gospel of the
kingdom, which is the good of spiritual and heavenly truth — thus
bringing to the mind glad tidings of great joy. When the Lord, as
the Saviour, has thus been received into the things that are in some
degree of order in the interior of the mind, he can, with his divine
truth, flow down into, and bring into order the things that are in
disorder in the exterior of the mind— thus healing every sickness and
every disease among the people, or removing everything evil and
false, as the cause of spiritual disease, from the more external and
common affections and thoughts meant by the people, especially those
of an intellectual kind.

Chap. IX.] ST. MATTHEW. 247
36. But wherever the Lord went there was a numerous class of
objects to whom his mercy was intensely directed. But when he saw
the midlitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because tliey
fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
The multitudes are descriptive of man himself as to his natural
state and condition ; and more particularly still, they denote the
innumerable principles of affection and thought, all confused and
unarranged, which occupy his will and understanding. This their
unarranged and disordered state is expressed by their " fainting" —
more strictly unloosed — "and scattered abroad." In the spiritual
sense the first has reference more particularly to the affections of the
will, and the second to the persuasions thence derived in the under
standing: thus they imply, that while man remains yet in his
natural state, regardless of divine things, and unsolicitous of obtaining
conjunction of life with the great Source of life and love of a spiritual
and truly human nature, his affections and desires, unloosed from any
connection with eternal goodness as their proper object, wander at
random, in dissolution and disorder, towards anything, however un
worthy, that offers them gratification, whilst his opinions and thoughts,
underived from eternal truth as their proper source, are in like manner
scattered abroad, and espouse every icUe fallacy that the senses suggest.
StUl, we are capable of better things. Even in our natural state we
are capable of feelings of humanity and some regard for others, the fault
being, not that we are wholly insensible to such emotions, but that
they are not strong enough to act with sufficient force to counteract
the impulses of our selfish propensities, the good dispositions only
making themselves attended to when the selfish are for the moment
asleep, and in all cases yielding when these require it. It is on this
account that we are here compared to sheep; for sheep in the Word
properly signify the principle of charity, or love to our neighbour; but
when, as here, the sheep are presented as undirected by a shepherd
they signify the good natural affections which, for want of being
united with genuine principles of truth, are not yet in connection with
their proper centre, and are easUy perverted and led astray. But we
find, for our consolation, that notwithstanding, in our natural state,
we are loosed and scattered abroad, if we are desirous to escape from
the defilements of our selfhood, and to become the real subjects of the
Lord's kingdom, his divine compassion, by which such desire is first
implanted, immediately becomes operative in our behalf The proper
exciting cause of compassion is wretchedness; and whenever we be
come sensible of our wretched condition, the Divine compassion is

248 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. IX.
excited, not towards us, but in us. This state is what is here described
by its being said that the Lord was moved with compassion : for he
who is compassion itself cannot be the subject of emotion. In Scrip
ture divine emotion means human emotion from the Divine. When
we become sensible of the divine compassion working in us, then is
the state signified by Jesus being moved with pity.
37. Then, too, we become sensible of the value of heavenly blessed
ness, and affected with the spiritual things in which that blessedness
resides, which is impUed by the Lord's saying, The harvest truly is
2]lenteous. The disciifles represent all the truths of the Word taken
collectively ; and as it is only by means of the truths of his Word
that the Lord imparts spiritual instruction to man, therefore it is
here stated that the Lord said to his disciples, " the harvest truly is
plenteous," to denote that it is by means of the truths of the Word
that man receives a conviction of the value of heavenly attainments.
The harvest also signifies that completion of the regenerate state when
a judgment is performed within us, and a separation is finally made
between the principles of heavenly life and love and the opposite
prinoijoles of infernal life and love, and when man becomes fixed in
goodness and truth, and is liberated from evil and falsity. To effect
this, much labour and combat is requisite. And this labour is to be
carried on by means of truths derived from the Word, which are
meant by the labourers; and these truths, so long as they are only
learnt and stored up in the memory, have not the power to accomplish
the work; therefore it is said of this state, that the labourers are few.
Truths are said also to be few, and thus inadequate to the work of
gathering in the harvest, because as yet the mind in acquiring them
has acted too much under the influence of self, and has used them too
much in reliance on its own power.
38. Therefore the Lord says. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,
that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. We are thus in
structed to turn from ourselves to the Lord, to recognize the harvest
as his, and the labourers as his, and to pray him to send them forth.
We are thus instructed that the truths of the Word, by which the
harvest is to be reaped and the wheat separated from the tares, are
from the Lord alone, and are to be acknowledged as his. Only when
this is the case are his Spirit and his power in the truths of our faith ;
and then only are they sufficient for the important work of gathering
in the abundant harvest which his bounty pro-vides. To this end the
interiors of the mind must be continually directed to him, and thus
kept open to the reception of influences from him. A devout acknow-

Chap. X.] ST. MATTHEW. 249
ledgment must be impressed on the inmost of the soul, that he is the
Lord of the harvest, that all the blessedness of heaven is from him,
and that the work of separating between good and evil in the human
mind, and conflrming the one and casting out the other, is his alone.
This is the internal prayer of the true disciple — a prayer which the
Lord himself inspires and answers.
If we keep the interiors of our minds continually turned to the
Lord, which is to obey the Scripture injunction, to pray without
ceasing — always to pray, and not to faint — at the same time learning
truths from the Word, and making them our own by loving and
obeying them, they will prove efficient labourers in the Lord's
harvest, will root out everything that offends, gather the wheat into
his garner, and constitute in us the feUcity of his kingdom for ever.

CHAPTER X.

The last chapter closed with the divine declaration that the harvest
is plenteous, but that the labourers are few, and the divine exhorta
tion to the disciples to pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth
labourers into his harvest. This chapter begins with Jesus, as the
Lord of the harvest and shepherd of the sheep, calling unto him his
twelve disciples, to send them on the great mission of gathering souls
into his church.
1. Jesus first called unto him his twelve disciples. The twelve
represented all the principles which constitute the church, under
standing the church to be a state of spiritual love and faith, or
goodness and truth, in the heart and understanding of man. As
these heavenly graces and spiritual principles are derived from the
Lord through his revealed Word, the twelve (Usciples represent also
all the goods and truths of the Word, these being the powers by which
the Lord works out his saving purposes, whoever be the personal
instruments who use them. 'When the Lord had called his twelve
apostles, he gave them povjer against unclean spirits, io cast them out,
and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. In
sending his servants forth on this mission of mercy, the Lord gave
them power to do what he himself had done. The power which
Jesus exerted for the benefit of mankind he derived from the
Father — that is, from his own indwelling divinity. The power of
healing conferred upon his disciples was entirely different from that
power as it existed in the Lord. They wrought their miracles in his

250 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. X.
name ; and in that name, as expressive of the divine humanity of the
Saviour, was all the power of which they were but the finite mediums.
StUl, the result of their labour was the same as if they had possessed
that power in their own persons. The reason of this was, they were
representative characters. The principles of goodness and truth
contained in the Word, which they represented, are truly the Lord's
apostles or ambassadors; and it is only these in the minds of teachers
that makes them servants of the Lord. The Lord's calling his
twelve disciples unto him spiritually means, his drawing into a
most intimate connection with himself the goods and truths of his
Word, and endowing them with new power to evangelize the world
and regenerate the human soul. But this subject, and the explana
tions we have offered, cannot be rationally understood without
reflecting that this relates to the Lord in his humanity. When the
Lord was made flesh, and his humanity was glorifled, a more intimate
connection was estabUshed between himself, as the eternal Word, and
the written Word, and a power from him was imparted to its truths
which they did not before possess, or could not exert. There was a
reason for this. When the Lord was born into the world he passed,
during his sojourn in it, through all the states of human life.
E.specially did he, as a man, acquire a knowledge of the truths of the
Word, and these, in the first instance, as apparent truths. But as he
advanced in gloriflcation, as a mere man advances in regeneration,
he elevated, or called unto him, the truths which he had acquired,
putting off their appearances successively, until in him they were
purely divine. And having ascended through all the degrees of truth,
as they are in the Word, he is now enabled to descend through them,
thus giving them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out from
every human mind into which the truths of his holy Word have been
admitted, and to heal therein all manner of sickness, and all manner
of disease. This caUing of the truths of the Word unto him, and
giving them power over evils and falsities, the Lord also does in every
one who is regenerated; for the truths acquired from the Word, flrst
laid up in the memory, are gradually caUed forth by the Lord, and
elevated nearer to himself; and as they are elevated, so are they
endued with power to make all things new in the mind and life of
man. And so is it with the church as a body, which was also repre
sented by the disciples. Her power to correct disorder, and introduce
order into the world, is exactly in proportion, not merely to the abstract
purity of her principles, but to the actual elevation they have
obtained in the hearts and understandings of her members.

Chap. X.]

ST. MATTHEW.

251

2-4. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these. Before we pro
ceed to consider the reason for enumerating the apostles by name, we
shall offer a few remarks on their general arrangement. We have
already observed that the apostles, as enumerated in the Word, form
three groups, consisting each of four numbers. This general arrange
ment is common to all the three gospels in which the twelve are
named in series. To present this to the eye, we will give the lists
placed side by side : —

Matthew, x. 2.

Mark iii. 16.

Luke -vi. 14.

1. 2. 3.4.

Simon and
Andrew, James and
John,

1. 2.
3.4.

Simon and
James and
John and
Andrew and

1. 2.
3.4.

Simon and
Andrew,
James and
John.

5.
6.7.8.

Philip and
Bartholomew,Thomas and
Matthew,

5.
6. 7.8.

Philip and
Bartholomew and
Matthew and
Thomas and

5.6.7.
8.

Philip and
Bartholome-w-,
Matthew and
Thomas,

9.
10. U. 12.

James the sou of Al-
phffius and
Lebbssus, Simon the Ganaanite
and
Judas Iscariot.

9.
10. 11.
12.

James the son of Al-
phseus and
Thaddaeus and
Simon the Ganaanite
and
Judas Iscariot.

9.
10.11.
12.

James the son of Al-
phseus and
Simon Zelotes,
Judas the brother of
James and
Judas Iscariot.

It will be seen that whUe the three lists differ from one another in
the particular arrangement of the apostles, they all agree in this, that,
taken in fours, each cori-esponding group consists of the same four
names, and each group begins with the same name. As in the Word
there is nothing accidental, there must be a purpose and a meaning in
this general similarity with particular diversity. As the apostles
represent all the principles of goodness and truth in the Word, and
thence in the church and in the human mind, this trinal arrangement
of their names may be considered to represent that trinal order in
which, we know, all the goods and truths of the Word exist, which we
call celestial, spiritual, and natural. There are other similarities and
distinctions that may be seen in these sacred namings of the apostles.
There is the general agreement among all the evangeUsts of placing
the name of Simon flrst, and that of Judas last. There is also the
connecting them in pairs, as it will be seen is done in Matthew and
Luke, and is according to the order in which the Lord sent them
forth, as recorded in Mark vi. 7. Matthew's connecting them, and the
Lord sending them forth, two and two, represented that good and
truth are partners, every good having its own truth, and every truth
its own good ; and that they ever proceed from the Lord united, how
ever they may be divided in their finite recipients. So naming the

252 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. X.
twelve disciples is spirituaUy to express the quality of the principles
they represent ; for in ancient times names were generally given, not,
as now, to distinguish one person from another, but to express some
thing peculiar to or characteristic of the person named. To trace the
connection between Scripture names, where their meaning can be
determined, and the spiritual signification of the persons named,
would be a most useful study, and would yield most valuable results.
This has been done to some extent, in the case of the apostles, by
Noble, in the Intellectual Repository for 1839, to which we must be
content to refer the reader.
5, 6. After naming the apostles, the evangelist says — These twelve
Jesus sent forth. In its reference to the regeneration and spiritual
progress of man, this circumstance of the calling to him and sending
forth his twelve apostles appears to describe that period in man's
regenerative process in which his mind has been already furnished
with a sufficient store of the knowledge of goodness and truth, or of
the truths of the Word, and these have been united with their proper
affections in the internal man, and endued with power by conjunction
with the Lord, and thus stand ready to descend into the external
man, to bring this into due correspondence with them. The com
mand which the Lord gave the twelve when he sent them forth,
expresses the law of order according to which the principles which
the apostles represent operate, so as to effect the objects for which
they are sent forth. Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any
city of ihe Samaritans enter ye not : but go rather to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel. If these directions be only looked at externally, they
must appear rather singular. The Lord came into the world, among
other purposes, expressly to extend to the Gentiles the privUege of
admission into his church, which had long been confined to the Jews;
and while on earth, Samaritan and GentUe people shared his love, atten
tion, and approbation. Whatever reason the Lord had forthis limitation
of the sphere of the apostles' labour, it was only a temporary arrange
ment, and can afford no ground for the charge of partiality, since the
full and final command of the Lord was, to go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. It is in the spiritual sense, and
its individual application, we propose to consider it. In this view, both
the apostles, the GentUes, the Samaritans, and the Israelites, all have
reference to certain principles, powers, and faculties existing in our
selves. The apo.stles, we have seen, are all the principles of truth and
goodness operating in our minds from the Divine Word, all the graces
of heaven striving for fuU transmission into, and influence over the

Chap. X.] ST; MATTHEW. 253
whole man. The Gentiles, when mentioned in Scripture in an un
favourable manner, and as in opposition to the Israelites, or Jews,
always signify the evils belonging to the natural mind. And as in
the Word, when evil is treated of, falsity is usually treated of at the
same time, therefore by the Samaritans, who were the descendants of
the people whom Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, planted in Samaria
-ft-hen he carried the Ten tribes into captivity, and who mixed with the
nation, and adopted a corrupt form of the Jewish religion, are meant
all the false sentiments to which the human understanding is naturally
prone. But the apostles are commanded not to go into the way of
the GentUes, by which is meant not to turn aside to any false senti
ment, having its origin in evil, and not to enter into any dty of the
Samaritans, by which is meant not to support any doctrine having its
origin in false principles. But why this prohibition, if it is to be
understood as relating to heavenly principles ? These, in themselves,
can have no tendency to go out of the right course or countenance
anything evil or false. But as they are in us frail and fallible creatures
they may turn, or rather be turned aside by being perverted, as
many truths of Scripture sometimes are, to countenance the sins and
practices that are inconsistent with the principles of pure Christianity.
In this command we have the momentous direction, that on no account
are the gifts of heaven to be deflled and abused. They are to be
regarded as sacred in all the variations of our affections and thoughts,
and preserved unsullied in all their native purity. On no account
are they to be presented so as to seem to favour any evil lust -which
the heart is prone to, or any false persuasion which the mind is
disposed to adopt. Our duty is to " go not in the way of the
Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans; but to go
rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." By this is meant
that the spiritual apostles — the reclaiming principles of goodness
and tmth present with us from the Word — are to be applied to the
cherishing and puiifying of everything in us that partakes of good — -
of every power and faculty of our constitution into which good can
enter. As the Israelites, in a general sense, are all the members of
the true church, so, in a particular sense, they are all the principles
and faculties in the human mind into which the graces constituent
of the church in man can enter. Sheep are constantly mentioned
in Scripture as types of the principle of charity, which is the same
thing aa goodness; for genuine charity is the affection of spiritual
love, and it is what a man loves that he denominates good. All the
sheep of the house of Israel are all the affections of charity or goodness

254 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. X.
which have an affinity with the principles constituent of the church
in man. But those here mentioned are the lost sheep of the house of
Israel ; by which are meant affections of charity as existing in a state
not genuine, in consequence of not being in union with genuine truth ;
for without the guidance and purifying efficacy of genuine truth,
charity is blind natural affection, capable of being easily led astray
and drawn into connection even with grievous evils. Truth, in fact,
is the keeper of good — the shepherd of the sheep, without whose
guardianship they wander from the fold or become scattered abroad.
These lost sheep are to be reclaimed by the preaching of the
gospel ; our natural charity is to be made spiritual by admitting the
influence and operation of the divine emanation of pure goodness and
truth constantly proceeding from the Lord, and communicated to our
minds through the medium of the instructions of his life-giving
Word. 7. When the apostles were sent forth, the flrst thing they were to
do, as they went, was to preach, saying. The kingdom of heaven is af
hand. How momentous and blessed the announcement of the first
preaching of the gospel ! And how beautifully and emphatically is
here pointed out, spiritually, the first impression and impulse under
which man acts in the beginning of his regeneration, and whicli con
tinues to urge him on through the whole course of his progress in the
heavenly life ! The preaching of the apostles denotes the impressions
which the truths of the Lord's Word make upon man's mind ; it is
the perception and dictate, accompanied with an impelling influence,
which is felt by every one who is awakened to a sense of the import
ance of eternal things, caUing and prompting him to attend to the
things that are essential above all others to his real welfare ; it is the
truths which he hears, reads, and learns from the Word, accompanied
with suitable affection and desire, and filled with an influence from
above, continually reminding him that but one thing is needful — to
provide for his eternal salvation. Hence the constant theme of this
genuine preaching is, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom
of heaven is the government of the Lord's divine truth — that is, of his
wisdom united with his love, as it proceeds from heaven into the
human mind. This kingdom is pre-eminently heaven itself, where
the Lord's divine love and wisdom ever reign, and when received in
heaven by the angels, makes heaven to be really heaven.
8. But it is not only by proclaiming these good tidings that the
.spiritual apostles, or the graces of heaven communicated by the Word,
are commissioned to beneflt us. They are to act as well as to teach;

Chap. X.] ST. MATTHEW. 255
and the beneficent acts which they are empowered and enjoined to
perform are expressed by the command. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers,
raise the dead, cast oui devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
These are the ills from which we are to be deUvered by the ministry
of the apostles, if we will accept their aid for the puipose ; and
whether we are aware of it or not, their assistance herein is of the
most indispensable necessity to us all ; for whether we are aware of it
or not, we are all the subjects of those deplorable miseries. Spiritually,
and by birth and inheritance, we are all sick, leprous, and dead ; and
being dead, we are animated by a life worse than death : we are pos
sessed and actuated by demons. By these miseries are summarily
described the selfish nature of man, or the exact state of the natural
mind as it exists by birth. The term here rendered sick is one that
properly means weak or infirm. Owing to the corruption which
reigns in his natural mind, he is mere weakness and infirmity in
regard to all that is good, and has no power to resist evil; but
would, if he allowed himself to be led by his natural inclinations and
prudence, surrender at the first assault ; and not only so, but would
yield himself up a wUling slave. Man is in his natural state called a
leper, because, owing to the same ingenerate corruption, he is in the
continual tendency to pervert and profane the truth : for, as we have
seen (viii. 2), the terrible disease called leprosy is representative of the
state of profanation. In the same manner, also, man is what the
Scriptures call dead ; he is void of all spiritual life, being alive only to
the objects of sense and nature, but dead to everything of God and
heaven. This is the hereditary and natural state of every one. It is
being dead in trespasses and sin; for, viewed in itself, the life of the
natural man is, in its real quality, a life of mere evil and of false
sentiment. What a man loves supremely is his life. The ruling
love which constitutes man's life comes either from heaven or from
hell. If his love or life be merely natural, and therefore evil, it con
nects him with the kingdom of darkness, makes him the organ of
infernal influence, and he is possessed as to all the active faculties of
his mind by " de-vils," or, as the original expresses it, demons, by
which are speciflcally meant those evil spirits who are in a life of false
])ersuasions springing from evil lusts. Such is the picture of all man
kind as they actually are in themselves, as drawn by him who knows
the heart, and who has declared that it is naturaUy deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked. But the Lord only portrays this
state that we may be delivered from it, and restored to Ufe and
health. He sends forth from himself agencies for our deliverance from

256

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. X.

the ills under which we labour, and for our restoration to a state of
soundness and true enjoyment. He has given his Word, wherein is
laid open the path of salvation. He has endowed us with faculties
for receiving its divine truths; and as we yield to his leading, he
accompanies those with a living influence from himself These are
the living and active apostles whom he sends forth to purify us from
our corruptions, and restore us to the order into and for which we
were created. These living agents he empowers and employs to heal
the sick, to cleanse the lepers, to raise the dead, to cast out devUs.
By this means he bestows upon us the power of resisting evU, and of
receiving truth -without perverting or profaning it ; he raises us from
the death of our natural corruptions, and casts out those principles and
agents of living death which, by an influx from the lower world, cause
us to regard such death as life.
9. When the Lord commanded his apostles to take neither gold,
nor silver, nor brass in their purses, his meaning, in a general sense,
is that nothing of their own was to be mixed with what was from
him. Gold, silver, and brass are the three kinds or degrees of love
and goodness of which man is receptive from the Lord, — gold exi^ress-
ing the highest degree of pure goodness or love, which is love to the
Lord; silver, pure spiritual truth, which in itself is love to the
neighbour ; and brass, natural good, which is the good of obedience ;
and which may be otherwise expressed as charity, faith, and good
works. To have these in our purses is to have and claim these things
as our own, and not depend upon the Lord as their Source and Giver.
Besides, gold, silver, and brass in purses do not represent the graces
of charity, faith, and good works as living and quickening principles,
but only as knowledge in the memory, of which faculty a purse,
like any other similar receptacle, is the symbol.
10. Neither were they to have scrip for their journey, neither two
coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves. The scrip was a bag for carrying
food. They were not only to take with them no money, but no food
or extra clothing. Food is the symbol of the good which supports the
soul, clothing, of the truth which protects it, and the staff, of the ulti
mate power on which it rests. Here, again, there are three things not
to be taken, — food, clothing, a staff; representing things that belong to
the will, to the understanding, and to the outward life; the prohibition
implying that nothing that ministers to the life of either must be
self-derived, but derived solely from the Lord, whose gifts and graces
are to be preserved single, unmixed with anything of our own.
In this simple injunction surely all Christians may see there must

Chap. X.] ST. MATTHEW, 257
have been some other than the mere literal meaning, since this law,
literally interpreted, is seen to be not now applicable to the preachers
of the gospel. Yet how beautifully instructive is it in its spiritual
sense, and how true is it in that sense, since nothing is more necessary
to the members of the church, and to the minister of the gospel, than
simplicity of character and a single eye to the Lord's glory in all the
labours of the Christian life ! The Lord, while he prohibits the dis
ciples from taking their scrip, teaches them to depend on their labour
for their daily bread — -for the workman is worthy qf his meat. In
spiritual and heavenly things labour is its own reward. We acquire
good by doing good. Use is the channel through which the Lord
supplies us witli the bread of life. So the Lord testifies of himself:
" My meat is to do the will of him that sent me."
11. While the apostles were enjoined to attend to those rules that
were necessary to quaUfy them for being suitable agents for preach
ing the gospel, they were also required to attend to certain rules in
regard to those to whom they were sent. Into whatsoever city or
town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye
go tlience. Cities are constantly mentioned in the Word to signify
doctrine, because it is always in some general jprinciples, assumed as
positive truths or settled conclusions, which are matters of doctrine,
that the mind, and every distinct faculty in it, feels at home. And
when, as here, cities and towns (or vUlages) are mentioned, cities
denote what is interior and principal, and villages what is respectively
exterior and subordinate. A city symbolizes the mind itself, especially
the intellectual faculty, in which all the affections and thoughts, as its
living inhabitants, are contained. To this the apostles are to come,
and they are to inquire who in it is worthy. Understanding this in
relation to the mind itself, we are instructed that in the work of
regeneration we are to seek to embody our principles in suitable
and worthy forms of doctrine and life. To be more precise, when
we seek to bring down the holy truths and goods from, the inner
into the outer man, we are to examine ourselves to see that they
enter into worthy thoughts and affections, which will afford them a
habitation suitable to their heavenly character, and a centre from
which they can extend their influence and operation in all directions
outward. And who are these worthy ones that are thus to be selected
from the general mass ? In every mind, as in e-very land, God has
reserved a witness for himself There is some good ground in
every heart. Not, indeed, by birth has man this witness and ground
in himself; but it is of providence that every human being shall

258 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. X.
receive the faculty of understanding and loving the good and truth
of heaven — a faculty which is formed by the Divine operation upon
the soul during the innocence of infancy and youth, and preserved by
the Spirit of God in every subsequent period of life. In every faculty
and principle of the human mind, both interior and exterior, there
is something that is of the Lord. Every part of the human mind, by
virtue of creation, is good, however it may have been perverted and
misapplied ; every one has a proper use ; and in its use the Lord
can be present and his apostles received. That which is worthy iu
any faculty of the human mind must be the end for which, when
man was created, such a faculty was bestowed upon him, — it must be
the proper use of the faculty, separate from the abuse of it ; and
there can be nothing in the whole man, either in his mind or body,
which has not a proper use belonging to it. It is even indubitable
that no evil can be committed by man but by the exercise of power
entrusted to him for a nobler purpose. It is the perversion of something
which by creation is good, and to which a proper use is annexed ;
whereas when use is duly regarded, the faculty is restored to order, it is
the abode of such heavenly principles as are represented by the apostles,
and is made co-operative with them and by them for condvicing to man's
eternal benefit. It is in the proper use of the faculty that the apostles
are to abide till they go thence. This abiding, or dwelling, has always
reference to a state of good, and confirmation in it. To abide tUl they
go thence means that the heavenly principles must continue their
presence in every recipient faculty or jirinciple till a state of good is
completed and confirmed, and are thence to proceed into use in good
deeds. For it is not the purpose of the Lord that good .should be
confined to one faculty of the mind, or be locked up in the heart,
but that it should pervade the mind, and extend itself to the outer
most activities of man's life. The apostles are to go through the
cities of Israel, and everywhere do the will of their divine Master.
12. The apostles received the command. And when ye come into an
house, salute it. As the city has relation to the intellectual part of
the mind, the house has more especial relation to the wUl. The saluta
tion refers, therefore, to the exploration which the sacred principles
of goodness and truth are to make in the affections of the will. The
salutation which was used, as we learn from Luke, was, " Peace be to
this house." How heavenly and happy this gospel salutation ! Yes
peace is the wish and aim of the gcspel, and such should be the spirit
and end of its propagation. The principles of heaven, as they flow
into the human mind, bring this heavenly sphere with them. The

Chap. X.] ST. MATTHEW. 259
Lord's " doctrine drops as the lain, his speech distills as the dew,
as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon
the grass." " The wisdom that cometh from above is peaceful,
gentle, meek." But not only is the message one of peace, but when it
gives its peaceful salutation, it desires to receive an answer of peace.
"If the house be worthy,'' says the Lord to his apostles, "let your
peace come upon it." Its worthiness is expressed in Luke by, " If the
son of peace be there." It appears from this, that heavenly peace, to
be received, must find the son of peace already in the recipient mind.
But whence is this pre-existing element ? We have had frequent
occasion to remark that the Lord, when he comes to man as his
Regenerator, comes to complete a work which he has already begun
. — to call out those latent affections and perceptions which he has
already produced and laid up in the heart and understanding as the
germs of the heavenly life. Without these there could be no
ground of reception, no sympathetic feeling, no reciprocating thought,
no answering voice to the heavenly salutation. The son of peace
must already be there, to make the home worthy, before the heavenly
messengers can enter and take up their abode. And what is this son
of peace but the perception which is the offspring of the peace and
innocence of childhood. He that would enter into the kingdom of
heaven inust become a little child. Regeneration changes the inno
cence and peace of ignorance into the innocence and peace of wisdom.
The first peace is that to which the second appeals — is that which
must give the welcome, and with which alone it can abide. In the
mind without this, there can be no tarrying.
13. If the house be worthy. Id your peace come upon it. The peace of
the apostles coming upon the house which was worthy, wherein was
the son of peace, describes the imparting of spiritual peace to the will
in which there is reciprocating natural peace ; for the good qualities of
the mind before actual regeneration, though in themselves spiritual, are
naturally apprehended and loved. They do not constitute the kingdom
of heaven, but only bestow the faculty of acquiring it, the stems on
¦which its principles may be grafted. But if the house he not worthy,
lei your peace retu/rn to you. A principle of the utmost importance,
and a lesson of the greatest moment, are contained in this rather
singular injunction. If spiritual principles are allowed to enter into
natural principles that are not in harmony or correspondence with
them, they become weakened and finally dissipated, since it is a law
of influx, that life is modified a'nd even changed by the forms into
vvhich it flows. Goodness and truth, as they flow from the internal

260 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. X.
can only find their proper abode in honesty and decorum in the
external. If these are not found, the heavenly principles must return
to the internal, till they find suitable receptacles for them in the
natural man. For the meaning of the Lord's words is, not that this
return of peace into their own bosom was to be permanent, but only
till a worthy house was found for their reception.
14. A contingency of a more general and of a more serious character,
involving a rejection of a more aggravated kind, and demanding a
more solemn protest against it, is now spoken of And whosoever shall
not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house
or city, shake off the dust of your feet. In the instances of unworthy
persons already mentioned, there is nothing .said of their refusing to
receive the apostles into their houses, but only of the unfitness of
these holy men being their guests. The Lord now speaks of those
who will not receive them, nor even hear their words. We have seen
that the inquiry of the apostles, as to who in a city or house is worthy,
is intended to teach us that it is necessary carefully to scrutinize the
character of the doctrinal sentiments and moral principles that have
entered the external part of our minds from the world, and to do this
under the influence of higher principles and the direction of a higher
intelligence, before we allow the spiritual to enter into the natural,
and "there abide." The refusal being in the present case on the part
©f the householders ancl citizens, we are to understand not only incon
gruity, but a moral hostiUty on the part of the external man or natural
mind. Such a condition of the whole of the natural mind is not to
be supposed ; for only some of the cities and houses visited are assumed
to be hostile. It is possible for the natural mind generally to be
debased, and yet the voice of the inquiring apostle to be heard asking
who in it ia worthy; for heaven sometimes speaks through the con
science of the sinner even when he is meditating the darkest crimes.
But this is not the state represented here. The apostles are here
going not only on a mission of saving mercy, but on a journey of
spiritual progression. And it is possible that they may find in their
progress not only unworthy but hostUe inhabitants among those they
seek to benefit. Do not all of us imbibe from the world, and more or
less adopt as our own, intellectual doctrines and moral principles that
are directly opposed to the truths and goods of religion ? A different
duty is imposed on the disciples in regard to these, from that which
is laid upon them with respect to the unworthy. They are not simply
to let their peace return to them, but they are to shake off the dust of
their feet. This, in Mark vi, 11, is commanded to be done for a

Chap. X.] ST. MATTHEW. 261
testimony against them. The literal sense speaks of judgment and
retaliation, but the spiritual sense, of the defence and preservation of
what is good and true. The apostles were to shake the dust off their
feet, to prevent it from adhering to and defiling them. Dust signifies
what is in the lowest degree earthly. Since the fall, dust has been
the serpent's meat : the sensual man, and the sensual principle in man,
have no higher than earthly aims and satisfactions. The lesson our
Lord designed to teach us by his command to the disciples is this, that
if we find in our natural will and understanding any sensual inclina
tion or sentiment that is directly opposed to our spiritual principles,
we must not allow it to cleave to them, but must shake it off — separate
it from all connection with the spiritual principle within — nor allow it
to affect our life and practice, which are especially the part of the new
man which must be preserved free from all contamination from the
world and the flesh.
15. Speaking of the cities that should refuse to receive the disciples,
the Lord says. Verily I say unto you. It shall be more tolerable for ihe
land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment than for that city.
Those who sin against the clear light of revelation are more guilty,
and will bring upon themselves greater condemnation, than those who
sin against the dim light of tradition. But this declaration of our
Lord has a more interior meaning. Every one may see tliat a whole
city could not be condemned because they did not receive the disciples,
and instantly acknowledge the new doctrine which they preached.
By Sodom and Gomorrha are meant those who are in evil of life, but
have known nothing of the Lord and of the Word; while by the house
or city which would not receive the disciples are meant those who are
within the church, but do not live according to the truth. In a more
particular application, the Lord's words relate to the members of his
church individually, and to a judgment which takes place within
them. Their day of judgment is the time of separation between good
and evil in their own minds, with the condemnation and rejection of
the evil, and the approval and confirmation of the good. In this
judgment the deeper evils must be the subjects of a severer condemna
tion. Those that belong to early life, which may be considered as
sins of ignorance, are less grievous than those committed at a more
advanced age, when the mind is more enlightened. As it is necessary
for us to judge ourselves, that we may not be judged, we must, if we
would escape final condemnation, bring our own evils into judgment,
and subject them to the condemnation of divine truth.
16. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. The

262 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. X.
sheep are the principles of charity in the spiritual mind, and the
wolves are the lusts of evU in the natural mind. This and the whole
history of the opposition and persecution which the disciples were to
experience from the world, to which they were sent on a mission of
peace, is strikingly true as an outward representation or type of the
enmity that exists in our own natural mind against the sj)iritual.
The labour of regeneration consists in bringing the natural mind
into obedience to the spiritual. The necessity for this, the way in
v/hich it is to be effected, and the conflicts and trials with which it is
attended, as described by corresponding circumstances in the expe
rience of the disciples, are most interesting and instructive to those at
least who are foUowing the Lord in the regeneration. The spiritual
principles which the Lord implants in the inner man are truly like
sheep in the midst of wolves, when they first descend into the external,
for the purpose of making this an image of itself It is not, how
ever, until good comes into actual contact with evil, that the malig
nity of the evil, as the opposite and enemy of goodness, is fully
exhibited. And as evil works by means of what is false, it is as
cunning as it is malignant. That they may be prepared to meet
this opposition without being overcome by it, the Lord exhorts
them in the memorable words. Be ye therefore wise as serpents,
and harmless as doves. How worthy was such an advice of Him
who is Wisdom itself and Goodness itself, and in whom, and in
all whose works, these attributes are perfectly united. The Chris
tian, whether contending with evil in the world or in himself, is
to aim at uniting these two elements of a perfect character. The
union of wisdom and simplicity is the surest means of success, as
well as of defence, against the evils that assail us in our upward course.
But the wisdom of the serpent is, in a more .specific sense, that
which the children of this worid so largely possess, and which makes
them wiser in their generation than the chUdren of light. In the
Word the serpent is emblematical of the sensual part or principle of
man's nature, — that which is most external, and by which he communi
cates immediately with the world. The serpent is in consequence the
emblem of circumspection, which man exercises through the sensual
principle of his nature. The sensual principle performs the same office
to the mind that the senses do to the body, which act as sentinels to
guard the avenues to the seats of life, to warn them against evil as well
as to minister to them for their good. It was through the sensual prin
ciple, meant by the serpent, that man was betrayed to his fall, and it
was through this principle also that he was redeemed and pro\-ided

Chap. X.] ST. MATTHEW. 263
with the means of restoration. " And as Moses Ufted up the serpent in
the wUderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoso
ever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John iii.
14). It was by assuming and glorifying the sensual principle of human
nature that the Lord can regenerate man even as to this principle.
And it is through this principle, now glorified, that the Lord exercises
cUvine circumspection over the human race, and protects them from the
cunning and malice of their spiritual enemies. When, therefore, he
exhorted his disciples to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, he
exhorted them to be in this, as in everything else, imitators and images
of himself.
17. The Lord proceeds to show the necessity that would arise for
the exercise of this wisdom. Beware of men; for they will deliver you
up to ihe councUs, and ihey will scourge you in their synagogues. As
the distinguishing faculty of man is reason, natural men specifically
signify, in relation to ourselves, natural reason. The disciples are
exhorted to beware of men, to teach the Christian disciple that the
greatest danger he has to encounter is from the opposition of his own
natural reason to the truth of the Word and religion. The subtle
reasonings of the natural mind are as the Pharisees and Sadducees, who
contrived ingenious devices to entangle in his talk him who was the
Word and the Truth itself, and from whose sensual and subtle reasonings
the Lord called them a generation of vipers. This reasoning character
of the " men" of whom the disciples were to beware is indicated in
the Lord's words, — " they will deliver you up to the councUs ;" for what
are those councils to whom the disciples were to be delivered up, but
those reasonings by which the natural-rational man tries to invalidate
the truth of the spiritual man, and give a show of judgment and
justice to its premeditated condemnation ? As the award of their
seemingly impartial and dispassionate but unjust judgments, the dis
ciples were to be scourged in their accusers' synagogues — indicating
that good and truth are often subjected to violence under the influence
of superstition or in the name of religion. For the natural man and
the natural mind have their religion as well as the spiritual ; and we
know, both from history and experience, that conventional religion
not unfrequently comes into conflict with that which is universal and
essential, and makes men, by no very remote figure, scourge the dis
ciples in their synagogues, — since all false doctrines of the church and
religion, which these synagogues of Satan signify, oppose the divine
truths of the Word, which is meant by scourging the disciples. But
there is a synagogue in ourselves in which the disciples may be

264

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. X.

scourged. Every man has a religious princiide of his own, which has
its root in his self-love, and is supported, even when not confirmed, by
his own self-intelligence ; and his synagogue is that spurious or false
conscience in which his religion finds its sanctuary and its worship.
Here the truth may be scourged, and is scourged when it is pre
sented. 18. Besides the religious, there is a worldly side of men's opposition
to the truth. After telling the disciples that they would be scourged
in the synagogues, the Lord adds, — And ye shall be brought before
governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against tliem and the
Gentiles. When in an orderly state, governors and kings signify
governing principles of goodness and truth ; but here they denote evils
and falsities opposed to good and tmth. The opposition here spoken
of is that which evils and falsities, originating in worldly love, offer to
the Christian principles that originate in the Lord's humanity — that is,
to the Lord's government in the heart and mind. The disciples were
to be brought before kings and governors, for a witness to them and the
Gentiles. The -Jews and the Gentiles were those within and those
out of the church, and represented those principles in us that are
acquired and those that are natural. The disciples witnessing to them
of Jesus, is a communication of the divine truth and its influence to
the intellectual and moral principles of the natural man, and is one
of the leading uses of the operation of the internal upon the external
man. The Lord said of himself, that for this end he came into the
world, that he might bear witness unto the truth. And the witness
of him is the witness of the truth. But what is the tmth that is thus
witnessed ? It is the truth that exposes and condemns evil, and that
teaches the good that is to be introduced in its place. The witness of
Jesus is the testimony which the Word bears to the Lord in his
humanity — the great truth that comprehends all salvation in itself
19, 20. But when they deliver youup, take no thought how or what ye
shall speak : for it shall he given you in that same hour what ye sliall
speak. There was, no doubt, with the apostles in their teaching the
presence of a divine influence not given to ordinary men ; but the pre
sent promise had reference to extraordinary occasions. This was the
promise rather of inspiration than enlightenment. And no better
idea of the inspiration by which the Word was given can be obtained
than the Lord's words express : it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit oj
your Father which speaketh in you. It is somewhat surprising it should
be believed that the apostles should be gifted with this plenary inspi
ration when they testified of their Lord before kings and governors.

Chap. X.] ST. MATTHEW. 265
and that they should be left partly, if not wholly, to themselves when
writing the sacred truths of the gospel for the use of the church in all
future ages of the world. No just idea of the Scriptures as the Word
of God can be obtained but by admitting the fact, that the sacred
writers wrote not from guidance, but from the Spirit of the Lord. In
regard to the spiritual sense of these words ; when divine principles
are brought to the bar of human opinion, in the world or in the indi
vidual mind, as the disciples wei-e before kings ancl governors, it is for
the purpose of exhibiting to the understanding the purely spiritual
and heavenly — nay, the divine, character of the principles which the
Lord has implanted in the inner man, and of causing their power to
be felt and their authority to be acknowledged both by the ruling
affections and thoughts of the natural mind — the governors and kings —
and by the common and subordinate principles, which are the nations
over whom the kings bear rule. The injunction to the disciples to
take no thought, not to be anxious or solicitous, about what they should
speak, implies the absence of man's own will, and also of his own
wisdom, in such a case. For so far as our own will and wisdom enter
into the witness we bear to the truth, so far it fails to produce its
desired effect — con-viction. The Spirit of our Father is the truth that
is from love ; and as this is the spirit that is constantly flowing into
the heart ancl mind of every one that will receive it, so should we
endeavour to allow it to have free course to run and be glorified,
preserving it, as far as our frailty admits, pure and inviolate. Such
should be our inward desire. But the very purity and spirituality of
the principles of the new life, as they exist in the inner man, must, as
a necessary consequence, excite the greater opposition to them in the
outer man, when they descend into the natural mind for the purpose
of bringing it into order. Therefore the Lord proceeds further to
say— 21. And fhe brother shall deliver up the brotlier to death, and the
father the child : and ihe cMldren shall rise up against their parents,
and cause them io he put to death. There are here three difierent kinds
of opposition. Brother against brother is falsity against truth, the
father against the son is evil against truth, and the children against
their parents are falsities against goods. The enmity between these is
described as being carried out even to the death of the good and true —
that is, to their extinction. In those who are being regenerated this
does not involve the idea of actual extinction, but the extreme of con
flict, in which death is the means of life, the passage into the new life,
the true resurrection. This enmity of the natural to the spiritual is so

266 ST. MATTHEV^^. [Chap. X.
great that the disciples themselves are spoken of as suffering the
extreme of human dislike.
22. And ye shall he hated of all men for my name's sake : but lie
that endureth to ilie end shall be saved. This is expressive of a
repugnance of the whole natural mind to the principles of heavenly
truth and good, or a conflict in which all the selfhood is exercised
in opposition to what is the Lord's in the mind. It is promised,
however, that he that endureth to the end shall be saved, which
means that those spiritual principles that do not yield in temptation
shall become conflrmed principles of both the inward and outward life.
This is to be saved ; for what is salvation but the Lord's saving prin
ciples of love and truth wrought into the mind by persevering stead
fastness in faith and obedience against all the aUurements and
temptations that our own corrupt selfhood can use to draw us away
from the path of duty. But, to be able to persevere unto the end, we
must have wisdom as well as harmlessness ancl fortitude. The serpent
must direct while the dove must influence.
23. When they persecute you in this city, fiee ye into another. Clowes,
on this passage, which he renders, "When they persecute you in this
city, flee into the other,'' remarks, — "The internal meaning appears to
be this, that when man is opposed in the doctrine of faith, he ought to
take refuge in the doctrine of charity; and when he is opposed in the
latter, he should take refuge in the former : in other words, when he is
opposed in truth, he should flee to good; and when opposed in good, he
should seek refuge in truth. This alternation is of the Divine Provi
dence, and is probably intended for the perfecting of each principle in
the regenerate, since without it man might be induced to rest in one
principle separate from the other, or to cherish one at the expense of
the other ; whereas the end of regeneration is, they should be both
distinctly perfected and both distinctly conjoined." The Lord gives a
reason for the disciples fleeing from oue city to another, — Verily I say
unto you. Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till ihe Son oj
man be come. According to the literal sense, this is generaUy under
stood to mean that before the disciples liad been persecuted in every
city, the Lord would have come as an avenger in the destruction of
Jerusalem. In the internal historical sense it means that the days of
persecution and of the Jewish church should be shortened, not as a
work of vengeance, but of love; for unless those days should be
shortened there should no flesh be saved. No church or reIi<^ious a"-e
is allowed to come naturally to a full end ; for if it should, there would
be no possibility, because no means, of forming a new one which must

Chap. X.] ST. MATTHEW. 267
be raised up out of the remains of the old. That a remnant may be
saved, to become the initiament of a new church, the days of every
expiring church must be hastened by the performance of a judgment
upon it, signified by the Son of man coming before the disciples had
gone over the cities of Israel, before the church had completed its con
summation, by extinguishing every principle of good and truth. In
the internal sense, in which it relates to the work of regeneration, it
may, when appUed to the doctrinals of the church signified by the
cities of Israel, denote the consummation and perfecting of those
doctrinals ; and in proportion as this is effected the Son of man comes,
or, what is the same thing, divine truth is manifested.
24, 25. The disciple is not above Ms master, nor-the servant above his
lord. It is enough for the disciple tliat he be as his master, and tlie
servant as his lord. This truth was uttered for the immediate purpose
of reconciling the disciples to the treatment they were to receive at
the hands of those whom they were sent to bless with the tidings of
joy and peace, kno-wing that their Lord and Master had been treated
no better than themselves. But the Lord's declaration is not to be
understood as being limited to his immediate disciples, but as appli
cable to those of all times. In a universal sense it signifies that man
ought not to make himself equal with the Lord, but that it is sufficient
for him that he has everything that he possesses from him, — and thus
the disciple is as his master, and the servant as his lord; for the Lord
is in him, and enables him to will what is good and think what is true.
The call is similar in the particular sense, as relating to any individual
man who is led of the Lord ; the external or natural man in such a
person is a disciple and servant, and the internal or spiritual man is a
master and lord ; and when the external or natural man serves the
internal or spiritual by obeying ancl effecting, then he also is a master
and lord, for they act in unity, as it is said of the principal and instru
mental causes that they act as one cause. This particular sense
coincides with the universal sense, that when the spiritual and natural
act in unity, then the Lord himself acts; for the spiritual man acts
nothing of himself, but when he acts, he acts solely from the Lord ;
for so far as the spiritual man or mind is open into heaven, so far he
does not act from himself, but from the Lord. And as disciple and
master, servant and lord, have reterence to good and truth, or will and
understanding, we are instructed that as the interior things of the will
and understanding suffer from the opposition of the loves of self and
the world in the natural mind, so must exterior things suffer also.
If they have called ilie master qf the house Beelzebub, how much more

268 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. X.
sliall they call them of Ms household? The master of the house is the
ruling piinciple of the mind : to call him Beelzebub is to oppose and
endeavour to pervert essential principles ; for to call the Lord Beel
zebub was in the highest possible degree to call good evil, and light
darkness. And those who thus pervert the primary things of good
and truth, much more will they pervert their secondary things, which
are them of the household.
26. Fear them not therefore : for there is nothing covered, that shall
not be revealed ; and Md, thai sliall not he known. The disciple is
not to fear his persecutors. This does not exhort them to have con
fidence in themselves, but to have confidence in the Lord. The
Christian is like the Israelite, — he is not to fear his enemies, however
strong and numerous they may be ; for it is the Lord that fights for
him, and delivers him, and gives him the victory. Fear indicates
that the disciple is one of little faith. The reason the Lord gives
for dismissing fear is, that " there is nothing covered, that shall not be
revealed ; and hid, that shall not be known." This is a universal truth
with regard to man — the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed in the
eternal world, and all outward disguises shall be stripped off, and every
thing, even the darkest and most hidden thoughts and intentions,
come into open day. So, correspondingly, everything covered and
hidden shall be brought to light in our own minds; and nothing in
the minds of the regenerate shall remain covered or concealed by the
fallacies of the senses, or falsities, but everything shall be brought
under the influence of the light of truth, and its true value revealed.
In a more interior degree the remains of goodness and truth shall be
uncovered and brought into manifestation, to the succour of the
heavenly principles that act upon the outer mind, in the interiors of
which those remains are stored up and concealed till the regeneration
brings them forth for use.
27. The result of thus uncovering what is evil and false on the
one hand, and what is good and true on the other, is spoken of. What
I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light : and. what ye hear in the ear,
thai preach ye upon the liousetops. What the Lord speaks to his disciples
in dai'kness is the truth which he reveals interiorly to their under
standings, and what they hear in the ear is the good which they
receive interiorly in their wills. What is given in the interior is
obscurely seen and indistinctly felt, and only becomes clear and sen
sible when it comes forth into the understanding and will of the
rational faculty of the mind. This meaning appears plain from the
same words, used on a different occasion and for a different purpose,

Chap. X.] ST. MATTHEW. 269
in Luke xii. 3, where we have an additional clause, that serves as a
key to the explanation, — " that which ye have spoken in the ear in
closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops." The closets are the
interiors of the mind, and, relatively to them, the housetops are the
exteriors on which there is manifestation. So with regard to light.
" Light does not exist in wisdom itself, but in the thought of the
understanding, and thence in speech," just as heat does not exist in
love itself, but from it in the will, and thence in the body. Love and
wisdom are the essence of heat ancl light ; heat and light are things
proceeding. The Lord is said to dwell in the thick darkness, not
only because he is in his own essential nature incomprehensible, but
also because he is so to the mind in its highest habitation. The
teachings of the Lord through the inner man come first as whisper
ings in the ear and mutterings in the darkness; and it is not till
they descend into the will and thought that they become sonorous
and intelligible, perceptible and communicable. In the upper
regions of the atmosphere sound is tacit, and light is imper
ceptible; it is when they descend into the lower air that sound
becomes audible and light truly visible. The tme preacher, like
the true disciple, is one who receives from his Master impressions
and ideas, faint in their outline, but pregnant with meaning, — souls
not yet clothed with bodies, ideas not yet formed into visible
images. These he brings down into the region of conscious feeling and
distinctive thought, and there gives them intellectual form and moral
expression, and, clothing them in intelligible language, makes them
perceptible to others. What he hears in the darkness he speaks in
the light ; what he hears in the ear he proclaims upon the house
tops. But the disciple is to be a teacher to himself as well as to
others ; and what he has learnt from his Lord he is to proclaim in
deeds as well as in words. He must bring forth the inward dictates
of divine truth clearly into the thoughts of his own understanding,
and the inmost impressions of divine love into the affections of his
own will, and must thus bring them out into manifestation in his own
life and conversation, that we may see his good works, and glorify
Him who is their true Author.
28. In laying this duty on his disciples the Lord speaks of two
opposing influences that would act upon them — one from the world
and one from himself — and exhorts them accordingly. And fear not
ihem which kill the body, hut are not able io kill the soul : but rather
fear him which is able io destroy both soul and body in hell. We are to
act, not with the fear of men, but with the fear of God before our

270 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. X,
eyes. The power of man extends only to the body, that of God to
soul and body alike. But the literal sense of these words express
an apparent, not a real truth. God destroys not the soul in
hell, and the material body in all alike is kiUed by death, and
survives not beyond the gi-ave. Its spiritual sense is that which dis
closes the true meaning and real force of this rather singular declara
tion. Soul and body are predicated of the spirit, and signify the
internal and the external man, which are indeed as soul and body to
each other. In the spiritual sense him we are to fear does not mean
the Divine Being, who never destroys, but some principle in ourselves
which is the cause of our destruction. What, then, is it that kUls
the external, but cannot reach the internal ? and what is it that
reaches and can destroy both ? The partial destroyer is falsity, the
entire destroyer is evil. False persuasions may greatly injure the
external man by perverting the understanding, but evil alone is
able to destroy the whole man, for the man is wholly such as
his will is. This destruction is not only wider but deeper than
the other. For the Lord says of him whose power extends only
to the body, that he kills it ; but of him whose power extends to
both body and soul, that he destroys them both in hell. Hell implies
a deeper state of immersion, in the state opposite to what is expres
sively called life in the Word, than death. This appears from the
Lord's words as given in Luke xii. 4, where the disciples are warned
to beware of him who, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into
hell. Death and hell are therefore mentioned distinctly ; and
where both mean final states, death is the abode of satans, hell of
devils. How solemn a lesson is this, and how practical in its inner
meaning !
29. To show them how little cause they had to fear men, the Lord
directs his disciples to the Providence that is ever over them, and
which enters into the minutest particulars of their lives. Are not two
sparrows suld for a farthing ? and one of them shall not fall on the
ground without your Father. If the la.st was to excite fear, this is to
inspire hope and trust in God and in his goodness. Birds are the
emblems of thoughts, and sparrows of the commonest and least precious ;
and when two are mentioned, they mean thoughts of truth and thoughts
of good, or true and good thoughts. Two sparrows are sold for one
farthing, or are worth only one farthing, when the lowest of our
thoughts of good and truth are united to the lowest degree of the
knowledge of good and tmth, of which knowledge money is the emblem.
Yet it is declared that even one of these shall not fall to the ground

Chap. X.] ST. MATTHEW. 271
without your Father. We are to reflect that the trials and persecu
tions of the disciples is the subject to which these beautiful analo
gies relate. A sparrow falls to the ground when, in times of trial,
the thoughts, instead of soaring into the heaven of the inner man
fall drooping and even dead to the earth of the outer man. The reason
of this is obvious. Affection is the life of thought ; and when the affec
tions or the feeUngs are depressed, the thoughts languish and even die.
Every one knows the effect of natural trial. The death of some beloved
one in whom the affections are bound up seems for the moment to leave
the world a blank, and the thoughts seem as if they had fallen to the
ground, never to rise again. How much more in severe spiritual
trial ! Yet even in these states we are under the care of our heavenly
Father, who controls and overrules even the least of our thoughts, if
we are his disciples. The promise is, therefore, that when in these
states the thoughts, or rather one such thought, falls, it shall
not fall without our Father. Where there is sincere trust in God,
the divine love enters into and preserves the least of our thoughts, so
as that even in their depression to the earth they shall not be without
its influence to sustain them.
30. But tlie very hairs of your head are all numbered. The hairs of
the head are the ultimate things of wisdom, or of the rational prin
ciple, as sparrows are of the natural. And here again the minuteness
of the Lord's providence is declared and promised to watch over us,
especially in times of temptation. The declaration teaches us that all
things, even to the least ancl lowest, are not only known to God, but
ordinated (numbered) by him, and are thus under the superintending
care of an all-provident Father. How much reason have we, there
fore, to take courage from the words of the Lord in the next verse !
31. Fear ye not, therefore, ye a/re of more value than many sparrows.
If the Lord takes care of the least and lowest, he will assuredly not
forget the highest and the best. The disciples represent these highest
and best principles. Those principles that are nearest to the Lord
and heaven, that love him above all things, and seek to carry out his
purposes and fulfil his commandments, are of more value than many
lower thoughts and affections that concern themselves with matters
of less importance — that relate to the concerns of the world and the
body. And, indeed, some of our trials relate to these ; some of our
temptations come through them. It is about these things that we are
inclined to take thought for the morrow, and that brings our thoughts
down ito the dust, when they should be elevated to the Lord in trust
and thanksgiving. It is these that lead us to inquire "What shall we

272 ST, MATTHEW, [Chap. X.
eat, and what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed?"
not remembering, or rather not fully beUeving, that our Father
knoweth that we have need of all these things, and that he who feeds
the fowls of the air and clothes the grass of the fleld will not leave
unprovided those who are much better than the fowls, and more
enduring than the grass, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into
the oven.
32. Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him unll I
confess cdso before my Father which is in heaven. If we confess the
Son before men, the Son will confess us before his Father. The Son
is the Divine truth, the Father is the Divine good. If we do the truth,
the truth will lead us to good. We confess the Son not only by openly
avowing our faith in him, but by faithfully doing his commandments.
This is practical confession. And this is the confession of the truth
that leads to good. For the truth itself is then in us as a witness, and
it acknowledges us as sons, and gifts us with the good of truth as the
result and reward of our consistent profession. The Father is said to
be in heaven, and the Son is understood to be on earth. The promise
further implies, therefore, that a consistent and presevering practical
acknowledgment of truth in the external man will be the means of
raising that truth into the internal man, and so change the govern
ment of wisdom into the government of love.
33. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny
before my Fatlier which is in heaven. The denial of the Son
before men involves the denial of the denier by the Son before
the Father. If truth is practically denied in the life, it cannot lead
to the good to which it continuaUy points and was intended to con
duct us. But we find here a more serious consequence of denying
the Son than his not confessing us before his Father : he will deny us.
And this denial means that when the truth is known and yet dis
honoured, the truth itself condemns us, and deprives us of all the
good which it teaches, resulting in a greater opposition against both
truth and good than if we had never known and professed the truth.
34. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth : I came
not to send peace, hut a sword. The literal meaning of this
declaration is not that the Lord came to create discord among men,
but that a necessary result of his teaching was difference of opinion,
and division as a consequence. The world could not be awakened
from its lethargy and sinfulness without causing commotion and
conflict among men. In the spiritual sense it teaches, in a very
striking manner, the result, in the mind of the believer, of the coming

Chap. X.] ST. MATTHEW. 273
of the Lord to him as his Saviour. That result is, to excite into
hostility the whole of the thoughts and affections of the natural mind
against the spiritual. This is the subject we have already said is
treated of in this chapter. And here it is directly declared, and as
plainly as directly, to those who look at this declaration spiritually.
For the natural mind of man is meant by the earth. The Lord came
not to give peace, nor does he ever come to give peace, to the natural
mind of man in its state of disorder and corruption. The sword of
divine truth must go forth against the principles of evil and falsity in
the mind, which are equally the enemies of God and of the man him
self. Before regeneration, there is peace; but it is the false peace
which is not peace, but the mere acquiescence of the whole mind in
the disorder, and infidelity, and sin which are the natural man's
chosen inheritance. The coming of the Lord to the soul, and his
acceptance as the Saviour, introduces the sword, and initiates a war
that continues till victory is obtained over evil, and peace established
on the principles of justice and truth. The war which the Lord's
reception creates is between the external and the internal man. The
e-vils of the external being no longer acknowledged as the ruling prin
ciples of the mind and life, but another law — the law of God — being
now acknowledged in the inner man, the lusts and imaginations of the
natural mind rise up in hostility against the new and inward law, and
strive in all the bitterness of hatred to wage a successful war against
it. The nature of this warfare is described in some of the verses that
now follow.
35. For I am come to set a man at variance against his fatlier, and
ilie daughter against her mother, and fhe daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law. The man, a son, the daughter, ancl the daughter-in-
law are the new principles and affections of good and truth in the
internal man ; and the father, mother, and mother-in-law are the old
principles and affections of evil and falsity in the external man.
The man is truth, and the daughter and daughter-in-law are the affec
tions of good and truth. These are the principles of the inner man.
The father is evil, and the mother and mother-in-law are the affections
of evil and falsity ; and these are the principles of the external man.
The Lord's coming to the soul sets these at variance ; for the mind
that has been enslaved to what is evil and false cannot receive the
truth, whose very nature it is to make its recipients free, without
striving to be freed from the bondage of sin, and resisting therefore
the tyranny of his evil passions. In this struggle the Christian finds
the truth of the Lord's words as expressed in the next verse.
T

274 ST, MATTHEW. [Chap. X.
36. And a man's foes shall he they ofhis own household. The house
is the man's own mind. And truly are his foes they of his own
house. His hereditary nature is nothing but evil. To love himself
and the world before the Lord and his neighbour is his very nature.
The loves of self and the world are always his enemies, since they
deprive him of the true riches and of true happiness. But they are
not known and regarded as enemies so long as the principles of truth
and life are unknown. When a man becomes in purpose a friend of
God, and of men as the images of God, he soon finds how deep is
the enmity of his yet unregenerate heart. His foes are truly seen
and felt to be those of his own house.
37. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of
me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of
me. When a man has made the discovery that his enemies are they
of his own house, there is a danger to which he is exposed, as indeed
all trial and conflict are attended with danger. For the conflict or
warfare of the Christian life is between the love of God and the love
of self — the love of the neighbour and the love of the world ; and the
very fact that there is a conflict between these opposite loves indi
cates a balance of power that makes it possible for either side to
gain the victory. If self and the world were not deeply rooted in
our affections, there would be no ground ia: a serious contest, nor
any danger of the natural overcoming the spiritual. As it is, this
result is possible. Therefore our Lord guards us against such a
calamity: "He that loveth father ormother more than me, is not worthy
of me ; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy
of me." Father and mother are the loves of self and the world, which
are the parents of all evil loves ; an d son and daughter are the affections
of all falsity and evil, which are the offspring of these two principal
loves ; thus they include all evil, hereditary and actual. The object
of the conflict is to determine whether self is to be loved more than
the Lord, or the Lord more than self And in this warfare we have
need to be reminded of the truth, that he that yields, and gives the
predominance to self is no more worthy of Him whose love is life.
Evil is the devU, especiaUy the evil of self-love ; and if we are of our
father the devil, we are utterly unworthy, because utterly unflt, to be
called or to be the sons of God.
38. ^ nd he that taketh not his cross, and foUoweth after me, is not worthy
of me. A necessary duty, and one that is essential to success in the
Christian warfare, is that work of self-denial of which the cross is the
expressive symbol. To crucify the world and the flesh is the Christian's

Chap. X.] ST. MATTHEW, 275
daily labour, and to follow the Lord is his daily duty. He must not
only struggle against the evil lust within, but against the evil habit
without; and must not only cease to do evil, but he must also learn
to do well. He must take up his cross by resisting evil, and follow
the Lord by imitating his holy example. And if he do not, he is not
worthy of him who at once bore his cross and lived a life of beneficence
and love. To perform the important duty of bearing the cross, it is
necessary to know what that duty is, or to understand what the cross
means. Bearing the cross does not consist in afflicting the body, but
in purifying the mind ; not in denying either body or mind its proper
and natural gratifications, but in resisting whatever is impure and
selfish iu them ; so that whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do,
we may do all to the glory of God. Bearing the cross means more
especiaUy to endure temptation; and temptation is an inward struggle
against spiritual evil, as it rises up in our hearts against the good
which the Lord has implanted there.
39. To bear the cross implies constant self-denial ; but it includes
also, as its end and final result, the crucifixion and death of the self
hood; and if it effect not this, we have borne it in vain. He that
findeth his life sliall lose it ; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall
fnd it. Love is life. The love of self and the world is our own or
unregenerate life; the love ofthe Lord is our new, our regenerate Ufe.
He that findeth his life, by allowing self-love to rule in his heart, must
lose his life, which is the love of God, and which alone is true life.
But he that for the Lord's sake loses or lays down his life shall find
it in love to him. For to lay down our life for the Lord's sake is to
die to self, that we may live to God; it is to exchange evil for good and
falsity for truth, and to do this because the Lord's will is thereby
done and his glory advanced. It may be remarked that the original
word for life in this passage is one of two that are both rendered by
this term in the New Testament. But there is a distinction between
them, and the propriety, if not necessity, of attending to it will appear
from an example. We read of our Lord that " in him was life, and
the Ufe was the light of men" (John i. 4) ; and we read also that our
Lord himself said, " I lay down my life for the sheep. I have power
to lay it down, and I have power to take it again'' (John x. 15, 18).
The life he derived from the Father was not the same as the life he
laid down, and is not expressed by the same term. The life which
the Lord laid down is expressed by the same word as that which he
used when he said, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."
The reason of the distinction will at once be seen when we reflect that

276 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. :S.
the life which the Lord had in him, by virtue of his being begotten
by the Father, was the Divine love ; and that the life which was
sorrowful, and which he laid down, was the Divine tmth : for the Lord
was tempted and put to death as divine truth; but as divine love or
good, he was above all temptation, and incapable of death. Let us
here remark that, when we speak of him suffering and dying as divine
truth, we do not mean divine truth as it is in itself, but of di-vine
truth as clothed with appearances of truth derived from his descent
into the world by means of a finite and frail humanity. We may
express the doctrine otherwise by saying, that the life which the Lord
had in him from the Father was the life of his internal man, ancl
that the life which he laid down, and which he derived from the
mother, was the life of his external man. The life, therefore, which
he that findeth shall lose, and which he that loseth, for the Lord's
sake, shall find, is the life of his external man, specifically the life of
his intellectual mind. To lay down this life is to put off the falsities
and fallacies with which the truth we possess is surrounded, and thus
remove from our faith the doubt and unbelief which adhere to it
from the natural man. Intellectual pride is, in this application, the
life or soul that we are required to lose ; and when this life is laid
down we find a new life, which is the living soul that God breathes
into us, and which makes us new creatures. We may remark, in con
clusion, that these two promises express summarily the doctrine of
cUvine providence, which includes that of the Lord's permissions, as
well as of his provisions, in regard to us as his disciples. We have
remarked that the Lord never permits any evil to befall us but for
the purpose of jireventing a greater, and for our good as an end.
A sparrow never falls to the ground without his permission and
control; and the very hairs of our head are all numbered. The num
bering of the hairs of our head signify not only the preservation but
the arrangement by the Lord, and in agreement with his divine order,
of all the least things and minutest activities of our natural mind and
life. It is by this, indeed, that the Lord preserves ; for he operates by
order, and order is power.
40. We come now to another and still brighter side of the subject
of the process by which the natural mind, and consequently the man
himself, is regenerated. He tliat receiveth you, receiveth me; and he that
receiveth me, receiveth him tliat sent me. The disciples were sent of
Jesus, and Jesus was sent of God. We are not to understand that
Jesus Christ was a separate person from the Father, as the disciples
were separate persons from him. The Divine Essence is one and indi-

Chap. X.] ST. MATTHEW. 277
visible, and that which is begotten of God is God, and therefore
infinite. But men are created, and therefore finite; and between the
infinite and the finite there is no comparison : the infinite is Ufe itself,
the finite is a mere receptacle of life — a life which cannot exist for a
moment separate from its source. But although the Divine Essence
is one and indivisible, yet there is in it a plurality of Divine Essentials.
Love and wisdom, or goodness and truth, in God are distinct, though
inseparable, as are the will and understanding in man. This distinc
tion in God is expressed in the New Testament as that of Father and
Son — the Father being the Divine Love or Goodness, the Son being the
Divine Wisdom or Truth. Wisdom proceeds from love, or truth from
goodness, comparatively as a son proceeds from a father; this, at least,
is the natural similitude by which this divine subject is expressed to
men in the natural world. Divine wisdom is thus sent by divine love.
In this sense Jesus is the sent of God. In a corresponding sense the
disciples are sent of Jesus; for the disciples whom the Lord sent in
bis name represented the truths that proceed from the Lord as the
Truth itself — truths accommodated to the lower apprehensions of the
human mind. Thus, we may say, there is a gradation of life from
God to man. Divine truth is sent of divine good, and truth divine is
sent of divine truth. So also the spiritual principle proceeds from the
celestial, and the natural from the spiritual. The lower leads to the
higher, and the higher to the highest; and not only so, but the lowest
includes the higher in it. He, therefore, who receives the lowest in
all sincerity receives the others also. So with respect to the Word :
all its interior senses are contained in its ultimate or natural sense.
So is every one*hat is taught of God. He who receives the truth in
its simplest sense receives in it its higher wisdom. He who is in
simple obedience to God has in that obedience both the love of the
neighbour and the love of God ; and if he continues to progress in the
religious life, those loves which are potentially in his obedience will
successively come to be active principles in his mind, and raise him
into a correspondingly perfect life. " If a man love me, he will keep
my words : and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him,
and make our abode with him'' (John xiv. 23). Here we have the
blessed promise, that if we hear — that is, hearken to and obey — the
Lord's words, our minds will become the habitation both of his love
and wisdom, and thus the tabernacle of God will be with us, and we
shall be his people, and the Lord himself shall be with us, and be
our God.
41. The Lord proceeds to say, — He that receiveth a prophet in the

278 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap, X.
name of a propliet shall receive a prophets reward; and lie tliat receiveth
a righteous man in tlie name of a righteous -man sliall receive a righteous
mail's reward. A prophet, who taught the truth, and a righteous man,
who did it, signify truth and righteousness. To receive a prophet in
the name of a prophet is to receive truth for its own sake ; and to
receive a righteous man in the name of a righteous man is to receive
good for its own sake. The reward of receiving what is true and good
for their own sake is to have the affection of truth and goodness. In
love is happiness, for spiritual love is the Lord's love in us, and in
this love are contained, and in it are bestowed, both happiness and
heaven. 42. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one qf tliese little ones a cup
of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he
shall in no unse lose Ms reward. Little children are the emblems of
innocence ; and to give the Uttle ones to drink is to instruct the
ignorant who are in innocence, and to insinuate truth into innocence
itself But the reward which is promised for this duty extends to
those who give to drink only a cup of cold water. As warmth is love
or affection, cold is the absence of love, or rather a defect of love.
Cold water is the truth, not of love, but of obedience. And
the promise that he who gives even a cup of cold water to a little
one shall not lose his reward, is an assurance that even the simplest
act of goodness done from a dutiful obedience to the Lord's will shall
have its own reward, as well as the highest, and not less in its degTee
than the most loving virtue. But to be entitled to a reward, this
simple duty must be done in the name of a disciple; it must not be
done in our own name. It must have respect to the^teaching of the
Word, and not be the offspring of natural benevolence. To give it a
spiritual quality and a heavenly result, duty must proceed from a
spiritual principle. Christians often lament their want of love to
God. If they have not much love, they need have no lack of obedience.
No one can force himself to love, but every one can compel himself to
obey. And he who begins with honest, though it be but cold obedi
ence, will, by a conscientious discharge of duty, gradually come to
have and to feel that love the absence of which he laments. Although
love cannot be willed into existence, it can be wrought into existence.
If we give God obedience, he will give us love.

Chap. XL] ST. MATTHEW, 279

CHAPTER XL
1. And it came to pass, wlien Jesus had made an end of commamding
(or ordaining) his twelve disciples, lie departed thence, to teach and to
preach in their cities. The Lord's operations are of two kinds — mediate
and immediate. He acts mediately through his Word and through
his church, in heaven and in the world, and immediately from
himself His immediate operation is into the inmost of the soul, and
thence as far as possible into the faculties of the mind below. But
this inmost and immediate operation must, to effect its purpose in our
regeneration, be seconded by outward agencies, by whom knowledge
and other means are supplied for opening the way for the descent of
Ufe and light from within, thus far preparing the way of the Lord.
This two-fold operation is treated of in these chapters. When the
Lord disposes in heavenly order the principles of goodness and truth
in the inner man — which is meant by ordaining the twelve disciples —
and causes them to descend into the outer man, to bring him into a
corresponding heavenly order — which is meant by sending the dis
ciples forth to gather in the lo.st sheep — the Lord himself operates
from within to accomplish his beneficent end in our salvation ; and
this is meant by his departing thence to teach and to preach. The
cities into which he went to preach are doctrines, these being the
receptacles of his divine influx, and the ground of his operation.
2. Now when John had heard in ihe prison the works of Christ, lie
sent two of his disciples. Historically considered, the fact of John's
sending to inquire of Jesus if he were the Messiah, or onl}'-, like him
self, a forerunner of the expected Saviour, seems rather unaccountable,
seeing that he had himself pointed out Jesus to the people as " the
Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." Various con
jectures have been made on the subject, which it would profit little to
repeat. Our object is to derive from the circumstances of the history
some lesson of spiritual wisdom. John had been shut up in prison
for bearing noble testimony to the truth, in reproving the reigning
tyrant, Herod, for having taken his brother Philip's wife. This
criminal connection well represented the state of the Jewish church ;
and John's imprisonment as fitly represented the treatment by that
church of the Word, which John represented, for its testifying against
the gross and glaring sinfulness into which the Jews had fallen. But,
considered in reference to the regeneration of the man of the true
church, this subject has another meaning. John representing the
written Word, or the truth which it teaches, the imprisonment of John

280 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XL
represents a state of temptation, when the truth is shut in and
deprived of its freedom of action by the enmity and oppasition of the
natural man, whose evils it condemns. In this state doubts regarding
the Lord in his humanity arise in the mind, and these doubts relate
to the salvation which the Incarnate Word has provided. In
these states of spiritual trial the Lord appears to be absent, and it
seems as if he had forgotten to be gracious, and that he comes not to
give deliverance. These doubts do not, indeed, originate in the Word
itself, which John represented; but the truths ofthe Word not unfre
quently, in times of temptation, are so construed by us as seemingly
to favour them. But there is a time of light in the darkest states of
trial, which comes when the mind seeks and is prepared to receive it.
This time is when the thoughts and affections, like the two disciples
of John, are sent forth to the Lord himself, to see if he will remove our
doubts, and give us from his lijis, or by immediate influx, an assurance
of the truth.
3. But the Lord himself is the subject of the doubt. Art thou he
that should come, or do we look for another ? To understand this in
relation to ourselves, we must reflect that the period to which this
belongs represents a transition state in the regenerate life. John's
life and ministry, in relation to the Lord's, represented the state of
reformation, the Lord's own life representing the state of regeneration ;
and the end of John's ministry, and the beginning of the Lord's,
represented the transition state which is between them. John's own
words were now about to be fulflUed : " He must increase, but I must
decrease." The one state is the inverse of the other. As the second
increases, the first decreases. The truth which leads to good, which
John's ministry represented, decreases in its influence and power, as
truth derived from good, which the Lord's ministry exemplified,
increases. The office of the first is superseded by that of the second.
The ministry of the letter gives way to that of the spirit ; the ministry
of repentance, to that of holiness ; the labour of sowing, to the work
of reaping. In the trial attending this change of state, the doubt
of John is felt. This question then arises in the mind, — Is this the
very Good itself, and the very Truth itself — the Lamb that removes
the sins and sorrows of the soul ? Is this the very principle and state
which the soul, through her repentance and tribulation, has looked
for? or is it but another stage in the preparatory state of labour
which is to prepare the way of Him who is yet to come as the Prince
of Peace ?
4. How significant was the Lord's answer to John's disciples ! Go

Chap. XL] ST. MATTHEW, 281
and show John again those things which ye do hear and see. This was
saying in effect, " If you are looking for one whose coming is not in
word but in power, judge whether I am the Christ or no." And if
we interpret aright what our affections hear and what our thoughts
see, allowing experience to be the interpreter, no other evidence will
be required to convince us that He whom we look for has indeed come ;
for what more convincing e-vidence can we receive of the Lord having
come to us, than his beneficent works being wrought in us ? But the
lesson which it teaches is most consoling and encouraging to those
who are passing through states of temptation, represented by John in
prison. It tells them that even while their external man is bound in
affliction and iron, and is darkened by doubt and opj>ressed with the
worst apprehensions, tempted even to doubt if the Lord is a Saviour
or no, that Lord is at the very time present with them, working
deliverance for them by his miracles of goodness, healing all their
diseases, and restoring their souls. Let us see what those beneficent
works are.
5. Tlie blind receive their sight — the understanding, blind from igno
rance or error, is restored to the power of perceiving truth ; and ihe
lame walk — the Ufe, distorted with the evil of ignoi-ance and error, is
restored to rectitude ; tlie lepers are cleansed — the truths that wei-e
known, but falsified and profaned by perverse interpretation so as to
countenance sin, are purified from defilement; and ihe deaf hear —
the will, deaf to the v-oice of truth and love, is brought to hearken and
obey; ihe dead are raised up — natural love, which is death, gives place
to spiritual love, which is life ; and fhe poor have tlie gospel preached to
ihem — poverty of spirit becomes the ground of a new and higher recep
tion and love ofthe truth, while the gospel becomes to the soul truly the
glad tidings of salvation. This brief enumeration ofthe Lord's works,
which the disciples of John beheld, includes almost all the kinds of
miracles He performed, and are such as prophecy had declared the
Messiah would perform. To John, therefore, if he had doubts, these
wonders must have been sufficient testimony that • Jesus was the
Christ. To those who, Uke John, are in prison, tempted with doubts
as to the Saviour, in relation to themselves as the objects of his saving
mercy, the testimony here given is that which is to be seen in them
selves, in the removal of the very evils in which temptations originate,
or with which they are connected.
6. 'When the Lord had shown John all these things, he pronounced
the words. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not he offended in me.
While prophecy had foretold the Lord's works of mercy and power, it

282 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XI.
had also declared that he would be a stumbling-stone and rock of offence.
The time in which our Lord came was one when trial and decision were
necessary. He -was the stone on which men were to fall, the Truth
by which they were to be tried. To the evil, or those confirmed in
sin, he was a stone of offence, to the repentant he was a rock of
safety. Blessed are they who are not offended in him. This blessing
is ours when, having cast out all things that offend, and brought our
minds into a state of holy submission to the laws of divine order, the
Lord's love and truth rule in our hearts and understandings, and
thence govern the life and conversation. The Lord had given testimony
to John respecting himself as the Eternal Word in human nature,
and he now turns to the multitude to give his testimony to them re
specting him who represented the written Word in its literal sense.
This will be seen to be appropriate when we reflect that the out
ward coverings with which divine truth, in descending from God out of
heaven to men on earth, had clothed itself, was analogous to the
Inimanity which Jesus, as the Word itself, had put on to come into the
world. What went ye oui into the uiilderness io see ? This question is
addressed to us as truly as it was to the Jews. For, as John was a
type of the revealed Word — which is still the subject of numerous
opinions, all which are comprehended in the Lord's descriptions of the
different notions and expectations of those ¦who went out to see John
in the wilderness — so we may each flnd a revelation of our o^wn state
of mind in relation to the Word of truth. The wilderness — which
describes the desolate state of the Jewish church, where the revealed
Word was — describes also the state of the human mind when in a cor
responding state of spiritual desolation or temptation. We go out to
see and examine the Divine Word with different expectations of what
it is and teaches,- — too often with preconceived opinions; not content,
as we should be, to see and hear in simplicity what the Lord com
municates through that sacred medium concerning himself and his
kingdom. These different views, the false as well as the true, are
accurately expressed by the Divine Speaker, who had a perfect know
ledge of the state of the church, as he has of the human heart. We
should therefore listen to his words of wisdom, that we may learn of
him respecting ourselves.
What went ye out to see ? A reed sliaken with the wind ? This
describes with great exactness and force the state of a lai-ge class as
to their ideas regarding the Divine Word. The Divine Word is " a
reed shaken with the wind" to those who regard it merely in its
Uteral sense, and who are dependent for their views of its teaching on

Chap. XL] ST. MATTHEW. 283
the opinions of others. The hollow reed is an exact emblem of the
Word when its outward literal sense is considered to be all that con
stitutes it. As the Uteral sense of the Word consists for the most
part of apparent truths, it is capable of every different interpretation
which human expositors may be disposed to give it, and may be
made apparently to teach not only difl'erent but opposite doctrines, as
we know is actually the case. To all such the Word is as " a reed
shaken with the wind," a revelation, in its origin Divine, made to yield
to the breath of human opinion. This character of the Word in the
letter adapts it to the states of all, and by admitting of different iiiter-
])retations, serves as a protection to its internal sense, being in this
i-espect the flaming sword that turns every way to guard the way of
the tree of life. But even if the Word in the letter is interpreted
erroneously, yet, if this is done sincerely, it is not seriously injurious
to or destructive of faith, for even "the bruised reed will he not break.''
If, on the other hand, it is subjected to a sinister interpretation, it
becomes "the staff of a broken reed, whereon if a man lean, it will
go into his hand and pierce him " (Isa. xxxvi. 6). If men wilfully
pervert it, so as to make it oppose its own essential principles, then do
they, Uke the blaspheming Jews, put a reed in the right hand of the
Son of man, and take a reed and smite him on the head, and spit
upon him, and mock him (ch. xxvii. 29, 30). When, however, the letter
is honestly interpreted, it becomes like the reed cm which the sponge
with the vinegar was raised to the lips of the Lord upon the cross, by
which men minister to interior truth, when suffering at the hands of
its enemies.
8. Another class who go out into the wilderness are those who go
to see a man clothed in soft raiment. This class consists of those who
think that, to be worthy of God and attractive to men, the Word
should be clothed in more than the graces of the most perfect human
composition, and who are therefore offended with its hairy garment.
But our Lord teaches us that they who wear soft clothing are in kings'
houses. The kings' houses are the mansions of heaven, which is the
house of the King of kings ; and consequently not in its literal, but
in its spiritual sense, is the Word to be found in the soft and gorgeous
attire in which some unwisely desire to see it in this lower world.
In this world, indeed, it is possible to behold the Word in some
thing of this soft and flowing apparel. To those who are in heavenly
states of mind. Divine Truth will disclose some of its heavenly
beauties. Those who are in kings' houses are spiritually those who
are in the good of spiritual truth; for houses signify the affections

284 ST, MATTHEW. [Chap. XI.
of the wUl, and kings the spiritual truths of the understanding,
and those truths which reside iu these affections are soft and beautiful.
They have cast off the rough garment of the prophet, when, as a
preacher of repentance, he reproves, and prohibits, and threatens the
sinner with divine wrath and judgment, and have put on the soft
raiment of those in kings' houses, where, the reign of order being
established, God is felt as well as seen to be love, and his kingdom to
be the rule of righteousness and peace.
9. Besides these two classes who form a wrong estimate of the
essential character of the Word, by judging of it from their own
disordered states, there is a third class who regard it with a juster
appreciation of its nature, and who are meant by those of whom
the Lord says — But what went ye out for to see ? A prophet ? yea,
I say unto you, and more than a propliet. It is difficult to see what
can be meant by its being said that John was not only a prophet,
but more than a prophet ; unless it be aUowed that the term prophet
has some spiritual meaning, and that John was not merely a man
entrusted with a divine commission, but a man who was invested
with a rej^ji-esentative character. A prophet, whose office it was to
teach the doctrines of the Word, signifles doctrine derived from the
Word. We regard the Word of God in its true character when we
look to it as the source of all true doctrine, and seek earnestly and
honestly to learn its doctrines from it. But the Lord said of John,
not only that he was a prophet, but that he was more than a prophet.
Although the Word contains all doctrine, the Word itself is more
than all doctrine; it is, even in the letter. Divine Wisdom itself revealed
for the use of men, to serve for their instruction and edification in all
states of the regenerate life, and through all generations.
10. In consequence of the Word being more than all doctrine, and
thus more than a prophet, it is the Lord's forerunner as well as mes
senger to the church, and to every member of the church. For this is
he, of whom it is written. Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
which shall prepare thy way before thee. The Word, we have seen
(iii. 3), which John represented, is the voice of him that crieth in the
wilderness, " Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight."
The truths of the Divine Word, by whoever preached, are alone
capable of preparing the Lord's way into the human heart. The
Lord speaks in the passage before us as if another sent the messenger
to prepare his way, as if Jehovah had sent John to prepare the way of
Jesus. But Jehovah and Jesus are the same Being, yet distinct as the
Divinity and the Humanity of the one Lord and Saviour, and as the

Chap. XL] ST. MATTHEW. 285
Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. Jehovah may here be said to
send his messenger before the face of Jesus, since it is the Divinity
that is the sender or the origin of the Word, while the whole Word
has reference to Jesus as God manifest in the flesh, the Redeemer and
Saviour of men. It is said that John came before the face of Jesus ;
for the Lord's face is the internal of the Word, which Jesus was, and
the letter of the Word, and true doctrine as its interpreter, go before
the internal truths of its spiritual sense, to prepare the mind for its
reception. 11. But not only is the Baptist more than a prophet, but Among
them tliat are born of women ihere hath not risen a greater tlian John
tlie Baptist. Those who are born of women are opposed to and dis
tinguished from those who are bom of God. The letter of the Word
is formed of images taken from nature, and is thus adapted to the
natural apprehensions of men. Its literal truths are therefore meant
by those bom of women. As the truths revealed to us in the Word,
even in its literal sense, are greater than those to be found in the
vrritings of men, it is said of the Word even in the letter, that a
greater hath not risen than John the Baptist. Yet immeasurably
greater as the Word is than all human compositions, its literal sense
is far less glorious than its spiritual sense. The highest apprehension
of divine truth by men can bear no comparison to the lowest appre
hension of divine truth by angels. Therefore, although " Among them
that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than ,John the
Baptist;" notwithstanding lie that is least in the kingdom of heaven is
greater than he.
12. The Lord proceeds to say. And from tlie days of John the
Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the
violent fake it by force. Assuming, as we think we justly may, that
the authorized version expresses the true meaning of the passage, the
•question is. What does it mean ? The common interpretation is, that
the violence used and the force exerted are such as holy men can
employ. This interpretation may be considered as on the whole
correct. But it may be understood that the violence and force here
spoken of, though such as indeed are consistent with the nature of the
heavenly kingdom and of the heavenly life, are 3'et of a character
such as belongs to the church, and to the member of the church, in
that stage of their progression meant by the days of John the
Baptist, which is a state of initiation. In the beginning of the
Christian dispensation, as in that of every other, its truths were
received intellectually rather than morally, or men endeavoured by

286 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XL
the power of intellect alone to enter into the mysteries of faith.
Some seized on the tmth with avidity, but did not, as they ought to
have done, unite to it the good which makes it truly useful, except,
indeed, that many whose first reception this describes might come to
accept the good as they advanced in the knowledge of what the
gospel required. According to Luke, the first reception of the gospel
was the same with all. " The law and the prophets were until John;
since that time every one presseth into it," or enters into it by
violence. This does not mean that all men entered it, but that those
who did so, entered by force. The language seems also to imply, in
the spiritual sense, that entrance was not effected without severe trial,
and that temptation, of an external but violent kind, is a means by
which every one, in the days of John, enters into the kingdom
of God.
13. For all flie prophets and the law prophesied until John. It is
the time of the prophets with us when we are yet only learning of
the Lord ; it is the time of John when the Lord has indeed been
born in the inner man, but has not yet been fully manifested in the
outer man, in which, however, a way is being prepared by repentance
and obedience for his coming into it and passing through it into
the life.
\i. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
Why was it promised (Mai. iv. 5) that Elijah should come to prepare
the way of the Lord ? It may be admitted that Elijah was a type of
John ; but the reason he was selected from among the prophets to be
so was, because, like John, he was an eminent representative of the
written Word. It is the Word itself that prepares the Lord's way
both into the church and into the human mind. It is, moreover, the
function of the prophet, and not the prophet himself, that represents
what is divine and holy; and therefore the personal question is one of
no moment.
15. When the Lord had finished his address to the people re.spect-
ing John, he added these words. He tliat hath ears io hear, lef him
hear. This was to call their attention to what he bad said to them,
and also to remind them that his words demanded a wUling and
attentive hearing. The ear, as being the sense through which the
sound as well as the meaning of articulate language is conveyed,
is the organ that more especially communicates with the will, as the
eye is the organ that communicates more especially with the under
standing. He that hath ears to hear is one whose will is inclined to
hearken to the lessons of divine wisdom, and who has a disposition

Chap, XL] ST, MATTHEW. 287
to obey. This submission of the will to the Lord's teaching is better
than any offering we can make ; for " to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to hearken than the fat of rams."
16, 17, Few, it would appear, were ready to incline their ear to
either the Lord's teaching or to John's, which the Lord proceeds to
point out in a parable. Bat whereunto shall I liken this generation ?
It is like unto children sitting in ihe markets, and calling unto ilieir
fellows, and saying. We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced;
we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. The Jews had
refused to mourn with John or to rejoice with Jesus. John had
appeared as an ascetic, living in retirement, clothed in his hairy
garment, and feeding on locusts and wild honey, and teaching the
hard lesson of self-denial. He mourned unto men, but they refused
to lament. The Lord came without any sign of austerity, ancl
mingled with the people in the ordinary concerns and even the pleasures
of life. He piped to them, but they refused to dance. Besides this
meaning, as applicable to the Jews, this beautiful parable has a mean
ing still more instructive for us. The little boys here spoken of^
sitting in the mavkets, are manifest figures of the truths of love and
innocence contained in the holy Word ;. and their calling to tlieir
companions is a figure equally plain of the application of those truths
for reception with man, " We have piped unto you," denotes the
celestial affection with which they are replenished, and which they
are calculated to inspire, for pipers and piping signify such affection,
"Ye have notdanced" denotes thatthat affection had not been admitted,
so as to produce a corresponding joy in the natural mind, for dancing
denotes such joy and deUght. " We have mourned unto you,"
denotes tmth without affection. " Ye have not lamented," denotes
that they had not acted in conformity with such truth, by obeying it,
as they ought to have done. A still more personal application of it
may bring its lesson nearer to our common spiritual states and expe
rience. The want of sympathy between the children and their
juvenile companions, expresses a want of harmony between the
internal and external affections of our own minds. The children
that piped and mourned are the affections of. the spiritual mind,
which call to their companions, the affections of the natural mind,
to reciprocate their joys and their sorrows; for the joys ofthe spiritual
mind should be reciprocated by pure delights of good and truth in
the natural mind, and its sorrows should be reciprocated by contrition
and humility. It is the Lord's purpose in his divine operations to
produce harmony between the spiritual and the natural affections

288 ST. MATTHEW. , [Chap. XL
and thoughts in our minds, to bring the natural mind to respond
to and co-operate with the spiritual. The slowness of our natural
disposition to yield a ready and hearty compliance with the calls of the
spiritual affections is a matter which most of us must have learnt
by abundant experience. The Lord's parable may remind us of our
natural want of sympathy with what is spiritual, and should lead us
to listen to the calls and pleadings of the conscience, whieh has been
formed within us by the good of truth.
18, 19. The Lord openly applies and explains the parable in refer
ence to himself and John the Baptist. John came neither eating nor
drinking, and ihey say. He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating
and drinking, and ihey say. Behold a man gluttonous, and a viine-
hihber, a friend of publicans and sinners. We see this disposition to
magnify ancl distort, so as even to turn virtues into vices in those we
are disposed to condemn. Its spiritual meaning is our principal object.
John came neither eating nor drinking, because the work of refor
mation, which John's ministry represented, consists essentiaUy in the
removal of evil by self-denial. The Son of man came eating and
drinking, because the work of regeneration, which the ministry of
Jesus, as distinguished from that of John, represented, consists essen
tially in the doing of good. Self-denial, or desisting from evil, is spiritual
fasting, and doing good is spiritual eating and drinking. The Jews
said of John that he had a devil, for the natural man regards self-
denial as an evil, and as destructive of all true life and enjoyment;
and they said of the Son of man that he was gluttonous and a wine-
bibber, for the natural man has so little relish for the good and truth
of religion that the very idea of them is surfeiting to his spirit. But
this objection to the Lord was no doubt made chiefly by the Pharisees,
wlio affected great sanctity, and who regarded the Lord's Ufe as that
of a man of tlie world, because he refused and condemned nothinar of
the world but its evil and hypocrisy. They therefore coupled with
this accusation that of his being a friend of publicans and sinners.
He was indeed their friend, for his object, in his intercourse with them,
as with all others, was to do them good. In tins feature of his
character, our Lord was the pattern of the perfect man. He did not
shun sinners, as many do, either because they contemn them or fear
contempt. His love for their souls was so great as to draw him towards
them, and so pure as to prevent his being contaminated by contact
with them. The Lord concludes by saying. But Wisdom isjustified of
her children. In the literal sense, the children of wisdom are the wise ¦
and of all these, but of these only, is wisdom justified. Pie who is

Chap, XI,] ST. MATTHEW. 289
Wisdom itself is ju,stified only of those who have become wise from
him; for who but the wise can appreciate wisdom? In the spiritual
sense, the children of wisdom are the truths and goods of wisdom. In
Scripture usage, wisdom is not so much an intellectual as a moral
quality. As folly means depravity, so wisdom means goodness
grounded in intelUgence. Wisdom is justified of her children when
the fruits of wisdom bear testimony before men of the excellence of
the principles that produce them.
20-24. The Lord now turns to those cities in which most of his
mighty works had been done, and upbraids them because they did
not repent. Woe unto iliee, Chorazin I woe unto tliee, Bethsaida I for
if tlie mighty works, which were done in you, liad been done in Tyre and
Sidon, they would liave repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But
I say unto you. It shall he more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon ai the day
of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted
unto heaven, shalt he brought down to hell : for if the mighty works,
which have been done in tliee, had been done in Sodom, it would have
remained until this day. But I say unto you, That ii shall he more
tolerable for flie land of Sodom in tlie day of judgment, than for thee.
These cities afforded solemn examples of the truth he had just delivered
in his parable. How striking and solemn an answer is this to those
who demand signs and wonders that they may believe. The mighty
and beneficent works of the Saviour did not produce conviction or
conversion generally in the cities in which they were done. Men
could witness the greatest and most beneficent miracles ever performed,
and yet remain in unbelief and sin. External evidence cannot
produce internal con-viction; there must be an internal witness before
there can be internal belief There is only one way in which the
Lord's miracles can produce saving faith — by being spiritually wrought
in our owu souls. The Lord's miracles represented the saving works
which are the means of restoring the soul to a sound state ; and these
are the only works that carry their own evidence with them, since
they give us an experimental knowledge of the Lord as our Saviour.
Those who do not thus witness the works of the Lord are the
Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, on which rests the woe of
unbelief and unrepented sin.
In the Uteral sense of this passage some find a difficulty. If those
works would have led Tyre and Sidon to repent, why were they not
done in them ? The answer to this is, had the Lord saved Tyre and
Sidon, he could not have saved Chorazin and Bethsaida. Had he come
into the world at an earlier period, he could not have provided for the
U

290 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XL
salvation of those who lived after his coming. Iniquity had to be
consummated or full before the remedy for it could be appUed, that
the remedy might be a complete one. Yet the Lord's mercy provides,
as far as possible, against any disadvantage to those who lived before
his coming. It was to be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day
of judgment than for the cities who rejected the Saviour. " To whom
much is given, of them much is required." "This is the condemnation,
that Ught is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than
light." The spiritual sense teaches a still more solemn and important
lesson. It appears evident that the inteUectual principle of the
natural man in general is represented in this passage by Tyre and
Sidon, and the false persuasions in that principle by Chorazin and
Bethsaida. In like manner, the will principle of the natural man in
general seems to be signified by Sodom, and the e^'ils inherent in it
by Capernaum. According to this view, we find that the intellectual
principle itself of the natural man, represented by Tyre and Sidon, is
capable of being saved by the "mighty works'' or redeeming mercy ot
the Lord ; whilst the false persuasions of it, represented by Chorazin
and Bethsaida, being diametrically opposed to the divine truth of the
Lord, must be rejected and condemned. A woe is pronounced against
them, and we can only escape being subject to it by separating our
selves from them, and concurring in the judgment by which they are
anathematized. So also we find that the mighty works of the Lord's
redemption extend even to the saving of the will principle of the
natural man, represented by Sodom; but the evils of it, represented
by Capernaum, being diametrically opposite to the divine love of the
Lord, must be extirpated and removed. A woe is here also pro
nounced, and we can only avoid being included in it by leaving every
evil, especially that of self-love, to sink into hell ; whilst, by appro
priating principles from heaven which have an opposite gravitation,
we are borne up and saved from sinking into perdition with them.
25, 26. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, 0 Father,
Lord qf heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from ilie
wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so.
Father : for so it seemed good in thy sight. The subject we have been
considering has another side, a divine and heavenly one. Whilst
men reject the overtures of divine mercy, that mercy is employed
in tempering both the malignity and the consequences of their
rejection, by hiding from them, as far as may be, the knowledge that
would aggravate their state and criminality. When Omniscience sees
that the impenitent will not accept the good that would make them

Chap. XL] ST. MATTHEW. 291
happy, mercy withholds from them the truth that would but increase
their sin and misery. It is a part of God's providential operation that
man shall not be admitted into the interior acknowledgment of truth
further than that he can be preserved in it to the end of his life.
Such being the case, God's goodness hides the things of salvation from
the wise and prudent. But it reveals them unto babes — to those who
have innocence of heart and simplicity of spirit sufficient to enable
them to receive it. How can God at once conceal and reveal the truths
of life? One way is this. The letter of the Word conceals its spiritual
truths from the wise, and reveals them to the simple. It is Uke the
cloudy pillar that came between the camps of the Egyptians and of
Israel — it was light to the one and darkness to the other. This
thank.sgiving is addressed to the Father, and the concealing and
revealing is said to have seemed good in his sight. As the Father
signifies the Lord as to his divine love, we are instructed that this
j-.rovidential dealing is one of pure love, which is further indicated by
its being good in his sight ; for all good is of love. Yet the Lord's
love acts by wisdom, which is meant by his sight, in which it seemed
good. ¦ 27. From addressing the Father as one distinct from and superior
to himself, the Lord turns to the multitude and instructs them respect
ing the true nature of the relation existing between them. All things
are delivered unto me of my Fatlier : and no man knoweth the Son, but
tlie Father; neitlier knoweth any man the Fatlier, save the Son, and he to
whomsoever tlieSon will reveal Mm. If his thanksgiving seems to acknow
ledge his inferiority to the Father, his address claims equality with
him. "AU things" include "aU that the Father hath"— aU the
attributes and prerogatives of Deity. These the Father delivered to
the Son. It is almost needless to say that it was impossible for one
divine person to impart these personal attributes and rights to another.
When we know that the Father is the Lord's indwelling divinity,
and that the Son is the humanity in which his divinity dwells, we
can see the possibUity and reasonableness of " all things" belonging to
the divinity being delivered to the humanity. We see an image of this
in the soul delivering all things that it hath to the body. The soul
does not by this act divest itself of any of its attributes or authority,
but only invests the body with them — at once gi-ving them to another
and retaining them in itself The Lord's deUvering the attributes of
his divine to his human nature made the human itself cUvine — a
fitting divine body for the habitation of a divine soul. The human
thus became the very form and manifestation of the divine. In Jesus

292 ST, MATTHEW, [Chap. XL
the Divine is human, and the Human is divine. Both are alike infinite.
Hence, " no one knoweth the Son, but the Father ; neither knoweth
any one the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal
him." If no one knows the Son, but the Father, and no one knows
the Father, but the Son, their knowledge of each other must be infinite.
But the Son is the only source of our knowledge of the Father. We
cannot know the Divine but in and through the Human. How appro
priate, therefore, is the invitation which now follows !
28. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest. This blessed invitation and assurance brings Jesus
before us as the Divine Man, who himself has passed through all
states of spiritual labour, laden with the burden of all human infirmity
and sorrow, and who is therefore able to comfort poor sinful creatures
in their afflictions, and sustain them under their heaviest trials. Evil
and error are the two oppressive burdens which depraved humanity
bears, and under which it groans. But it is only those who have
come to feel these as a hindrance to their entrance on the spiritual
Ufe who will answer the Lord's call, for they only can be disposed to
exchange their own burden, oppressive as it i.s, for the easy yoke of
the meek and lowly Jesus. We must see evil -to be sin before we will
listen to the Lord's exhortation— before we will seek that rest which
he promises to the weary souls that come to him. "I will give you
rest." There is none but the Saviour can give that which the sinner
needs, and he needs rest. "There is no rest for the wicked."
Rest is only to be obtained in righteousness, and righteousness can
be found only in him who is Righteousness itself. To obtain his rest
we must " come unto " him by forsaking the way of sin, and bringing
forth fruits meet for repentance. But we must advance beyond this,
by doing his commandments from love ; for it is love that draws us
to him as the Author of rest.
29. He who invites men to seek from him rest from their burden,
invites them likewise to take his yoke upon them, and learn of him.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and
lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest unto your souls. When
we throw off the yoke of Satan, we must take upon us the yoke
of Christ. The yoke of sin must be exchanged for the yoke of
righteousness. To take the Lord's yoke is to accept his love as the
guiding principle of our wills, and to learn of him is to accept his
truth as the directing principle of our understandings. The Lord
himself is meek and lowly of heart. He is meekness and lowliness
itself He who is greatest is least ; he who is the highest is also the

Chap. XIL] ST. MATTHEW. 293
lowest : " I am among you as him that doth serve." Thdse who
imitate his blessed example will find rest to their souls; for there is
rest only in him who has conquered all the powers and cast out
from his humanity aU principles of discord, and has made peace
in his reconcUed humanity, now the Fountain of peace to all who
seek it.
30. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. If the Lord's yoke is
the yoke of love, it cannot be but easy ; if his burden is the burden
of truth, it cannot be but light. Tmth makes us free, and love is
perfect liberty. Where these are there can be no sense of oppres
sion or weariness, but a feeUng of happiness and freshness, the
service which the state of our hearts prompts us to render being a
delight. Such must be the experience of all who take upon them
the yoke of Jesus. It is not so difficult to live for heaven as many
suppose. The Lord came into the world that he might make the
way to heaven more easy, and our entrance into it more certain. He
did this by first making the burden and the yoke of the law his
own, and then enabling us to bear it. He did not fulfil the law in
our stead, but on our behalf, not as one who relieves us of the duty,
but as one who, by doing the duty, makes it more easy for us to do
it. We are to take his yoke upon us ; and it is easy because it is
his. He has done all that he requires us to do, and he gives us
strength to do it, because he is with us as our Sustainer, as -well as our
Example. The exhortation of the Psalmist is truly applicable to the
Christian and his Saviour : " Cast thy burden on the Lord, and he
will sustain thee." He does not say that the Lord will bear our
burden for us, but that he will sustain us under it. Such is the
Lord to us — a Friend and Helper, who -will go with us in all our
journey, and will succour us, and hold us up in our goings, till he
introduce us into his own kingdom of joy and peace.

CHAPTER XII.

1. In the previous chapter we find our Lord severely censuring
some of the cities of Judah for remaining unmoved by the mighty
works he had done in them; and in the very beginning of this
chapter we find the same people exhibiting their zeal for a traditional
observance of the Sabbath, condemning the Lord for an assumed
breach of its requirements. At tliat time Jesus went on the sabbath
day through the com ; and his disciples were an hungred, and began

294 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIL
io pluck ihe ears of corn, and to eat. It is the mark of a fallen church
that it is zealous for external observances, and careless about internal
principles, or, as our Lord expresses it, that its members pay tithe of
mint and anise and cummin, but neglect the weightier matters of the
law, judgment, mercy, and truth. This the Pharisees so completely
did, that they found great fault with the Lord for doing works of
mercy on the Sabbath day, as well as for walking through the corn
fields. Our Lord did not, however, violate the Jewish sabbath, as
established by the Jewish law. He observed all the duties connected
with its rightful observance, but he did not conform to the ceremonial
additions that the church had made to them. But our Lord's con
duct, while consistent with the law, had a deeper cause and purpose
than the Pharisees dreamt of The Sabbath was a representative
institution as well as a day of rest. The day is said to have been
instituted to commemorate God's having rested on the seventh day,
after the six days of creation. This assigned reason involves an
important spiritual idea. The account of the creation in Genesis is a
symbolical description of the spiritual creation or regeneration of
man, while in the highest sense it describes the glorification of the
Lord, which is regeneration in its divine degree. The six days' work
are expressive of the states of spiritual labour which precede and
are preparatory to the state of spiritual rest. In the case of the Lord,
to whom the subject eminently relates, the six days' work signifies
his states of temptation in his conflicts with the powers of darkness ;
while the sabbath signifies his state of glorification, which is rest
itself, and the origin of rest to heaven and to those who follow him
in the regeneration. All that the Lord did on the Sabbath day,
including his going through the corn, had therefore special reference
to the two works of glorification and regeneration. The Lord's
glorification was the union of divinity and humanity in his own
person ; but this is a result of the union of goodness and truth in his
humanity. The image of this in man is the conjunction of goodness
and truth, or of charity and faith, in his external man, and the con
sequent conjunction of the external with the internal, which completes
his regeneration. The corn-field is an emblem of the church, and
consequently of the human mind, in an advanced stage of the regen
erate life, the corn being a symbol of the spiritual good which the
church provides for thesupport ofher children,and a type of that harvest
which the Lord had just before sent his disciples forth to gather in.
And while we see in the corn a representative of the provision which
Jesus, as the Lord of the harvest as weU as of the Sabbath, had made

Chap. XIL] ST. MATTHEW. 295
for the members of his church, the hunger of his disciples is expres
sive of the desire or spiritual appetite which the Lord's true disciples
have for the " com of heaven." Standing or growing corn signifies
good as conceived and increasing in the mind, but not yet fully
brought forth into the life, and gathered into the garner of the
inner memory. The ears of corn signify the knowledge of what is
good ; while eating the corn is expressive of the actual reception and
appropriation of the principles of goodness thus acquired, so as to
incorporate them with the inner life.
2. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy
disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. The
Pharisees represent those persons whose religion consists in mere
formality and profession, and therefore also signify such thoughts
and feeUngs themselves in the natural mind. These offer opposition
to the spiritual principles there ; but this opposition only serves to
bring out the true spiritual ground of the orderly operation which
they oppose. All such opposition to what is good and true acts by
means of some perversion and misapplication of the truth, as was
in fact the case in the present instance. There was no violation of
the law in going through the corn on the Sabbath day ; while the act
of the disciples, when there, is expressly authorized : " When thou
comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest
pluck the ears with thine hands " (Deut. xiii. 25).
3, 4. The Lord justified the conduct of his disciples by what David
did, when he ivas an hungred, and ihey that were with him ; How he
entered into the house qf God, and did eat the shewhread, which was not
lawful for Mm to eat, neither for them which were with him, hut only
for tlie priests. The Lord introduces this reference by asking the
Pharisees if they had not read what David did ; and it is presented
in this form for the purpose of teaching that the Lord desires to
excite inquiry in the minds of those with whom such suggestions arise.
That which the Lord cited was a very apposite case, for it was repre
sentative, and therefore projihetic, of himself David's entering into
the house of God, and there receiving sacred bread from the officiat
ing priest, represented the union of good and truth in the Lord's
humanity. For the priest represented the principle of divine love or
goodness, and the king represented the principle of divine wisdom or
tmth in the Lord's humanity, the humanity itself being represented
by the house of God, in which the priest and the king were together
present. The union of divine good and truth in the Lord's humanity
is described by the priest giving David the sacred bread — the bread

296 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIL
representing the principle of good; the priest giving this bread to David
signifies the communication of divine good to divine truth, by which
union is effected between them. This does not, however, represent
complete and final union, for the Lord's humanity was perfected suc
cessively, or by distinct degrees, and one of those degrees is represented
in this historical fact. Besides receiving the hallowed bread, David
on that occasion received from Abimelech the priest the sword of
Goliath the Philistine, whom he had slain. As David represented the
Lord as divine truth, he represented him also as the Redeemer, and in
this character he engaged in conflict with the powers of darkness.
Therefore David received from the priest, and in the Lord's house,
both the hallowed bread and approved sword — the bread represent
ing good and the sword truth — one for supporting, the other for
combating. 5. The Lord gives another case. Or have ye not read in ihe law,
how thai on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the
sabbath, and are blameless? What the Lord calls profaning the
Sabbath, consisted in preparing the sacrifices that were offered on that
day, this being servile work, like that of which the Pharisees accused
Jesus. This, like the previous case, is not to be regarded as being
adduced merely to justify what the Lord did, but also to describe
representatively his own divine work. For as the priest represented
the Lord as to divine good, so the priestly office represented the
Lord's work of salvation. As the case of David and the priest,
which the Lord had previously mentioned, is descriptive of the union
of good and truth in the Lord's humanity, the present case describes
the succeeding state, which is that of the Lord as divine good, in the
temple of his humanity, engaged in the work of salvation — the priests
representing the Lord in his priestly character, and the temple in
which they officiated representing the divine humanity. The Lord
speaks of their work on the Sabbath, because, as we have seen, the
Sabbath was the most sacred representative of the union of the
divinity and the humanity in the person of the Lord, and the conse
quent divine rest into which the Lord entered after his temptation
confiicts. But this rest into which the Lord entered is not inaction,
but the most perfect activity. It is not labour, indeed, but work, and
is the great work of salvation, for the sake of which the Lord laboured
in effecting the work of redemption. The work of the priests in the
temple on the Sabbath eminently represented this work of salvation
as did the Lord's own works on the Sabbath, he having on that sacred
day performed many of his beneficent miracles, and on that day

Chap. XIL] ST. MATTHEW. 297
walked through the corn-fields, his disciples plucking the ears of
corn, that they might eat, and thus enter into the enjoyment of that
abundant provision which the Lord of the harvest and of the Sabbath
had made for them.
6, The Lord, however, justifies himself not only by paraUel instances,
but by asserting his authority. But I say unto you. That in this place is
one greater than the temple. This assertion must have greatly offended
Jewish prejudice. One of the charges brought against the Lord, and
that on which he was condemned, was, that he had declared he would
destroy the temple and rear it up in three days ; on hearing which
the high priest rent his clothes, and pronounced the words to be blas
phemy, when the whole Sanhedrim at once condemned him to be
guilty of death (Mark xiv. 58-64). The Lord spake of the temple of
his body (John ii. 21). In the Lord we are indeed to behold one
greater than the temple. How grand is the truth declared in the
Lord's words ! The temple, the glory of the Jewish church, when
seen to be a type of him who was to come, discloses the wonderful
truth, that the whole of the elaborate and splendid ceremonial revealed
from heaven was but the shadow of good things to come, whose sub
stance Christ was. But the Lord is greater than the temple in a
higher sense. When he declared, "The Father is greater than I"
(John xiv. 28), he taught that the divinity was then greater than the
humanity, ancl that in heaven and the church divine good is greater
than divine truth. But when the Lord speaks of himself as greater
than the temple, his words, spirituaUy understood, are assertive of his
being the Father as well as the Son^the divine as well as the human,
the essential Divine Good as well as the essential Divine Truth. He
is greater than the temple, as his habitation in us, when in our
estimation and experience his love is greater than his truth, or when
charity is greater than faith.
7. The Lord proceeds to point out to the Pharisees the real origin
of their having condemned tlie guiltless, which they would not have
done if they had known what this meaneih, I will have mercy, and not
sacrifice. This we have already considered (ch. ix. 13). This passage
occurs in Hosea vi. 6 : " I desired mercy, and not sacrifice, and the
knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." Sacrifice, we have
seen, is here put for worship or piety, which the Pharisees regarded as
reUgion. This di-vine declaration shows that, even under the Jewish
dispensation, the superiority of mercy to sacrifice, or of charity to
piety, was distinctly taught. To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with God, is really all that God requires. Other things are

298 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIL
included in human duty, but they are the means, of which these are
the end ; for without these there is no religion. If the Pharisees had
cultivated the grace of mercy, as that which God requires both in
worship and in Ufe, they would not have condemned the guiltless; nor
will those condemn the guiltless who render mercy to God in their
conduct towards their fellow-creatures.
8. But how much less would they have been disposed to censure
the act ofthe Lord's disciples on the Sabbath if they had known that
tlie Son of man is Lord even of fhe sabbath day 1 The Lord's claim to
this character is a claim to divinity : for no one can be Lord of the
Sabbath but he by whom the Sabbath was instituted. Spiritually, he
is Lord of the Sabbath, as being he whom the Sabbath represented,
and as being, through his divine work in the flesh, the Author of that
state of spiritual rest which the Sabbath signifled. He is also the
Lord of the Sabbath as the Author and Pattern of the conjunction of
goodness and truth in the minds of his regenerate children. When
this, the sabbatical state, is formed in us, and the Lord's love is the
mling principle in our heaits and lives, then is Jesus practicaUy to us
.Lord of the Sabbath. This .state of spiritual rest and peace is not
attained except by the overthrow of the kingdom of darkness within
us, and the submission of our natural thoughts and affections to the
laws of eternal order, the effecting of which is our six days' work of
regeneration. The state of rest which succeeds is meant by the
Sabbath day, of which Jesus says he is the Lord; for day signifies
state. 9. The miracle and the circumstances connected with it, which come
now to be considered, afford a further exemplification of the difference
between the Lord's doctrine and that of the Pharisees respecting the
Sabbath. When he was departed thence, he went into tlieir synagogue. This
was on a Sabbath, though not the same day as that on which he and his
disciples walked through the corn (Luke vi. 6). A change of place is
a change of state. A synagogue being the symbol of doctrine, the
Lord's entering into it signifies the infiux of his divine truth into
the doctrine of the church, as it is in the minds of her members.
10. This influx is productive of different effects upon those who are
in the same doctrine, but in opposite states of life— the evU, like the
Pharisees, being excited to opposition, the good, like the inflrm man,
brought into submission. Behold, ihere was a man which had his hand
withered. Palsied frames and withered members signify, as we have
seen, a state of the extemal man in which it refuses to obey the behests
of the internal. The hand is withered when any infirmity of temper,

Chap. XIL] ST. MATTHEW. 299
or other evil that has become habitual, prevents the concordant action
of the internal and of the external man, of the will and the life. But
the peculiar circumstance in this case was the tempting of Jesus by
the Pharisees. Before, it would appear, either the man had asked or
Jesus had spoken of a cure, the Pharisees proposed the question
whether it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath days. According to
Luke vi. 8, the Pharisees did not utter this question ; but Jesus read
it in their thoughts, and addressed them accordingly — a singular
instance, showing that in the Lord's sight speech and thought are one.
The question of the Pharisees proceeded from the evil intention of
drawing from the Lord a declaration that might injure him in the
estimation of the people. But every e-vil intention endeavours to effect
its purpose by ingenious reasonings, and some of these may even be
urged in the name of reUgion and virtue. So did the Pharisees when
they condemned the Lord's merciful works of healing on the Sabbath
day. The insidiousness of such reasonings is marked by the Pharisees
attempting to carry out their opposition even to the Lord's destruction ;
for false reasonings may proceed even to the destruction of truth.
These enemies of truth and goodness, as these principles were incar
nated in the person of Jesus, asked him. Is it lawful io heal on the
Sabbath days ? that iliey might accuse him. Although Jesus had as
yet performed no miracle on the Sabbath day, the Pharisees, who had
seen him walk through the corn-fields, supposed he would not be
more scrupulous about performing cures on that day, and therefore
resolved to try to draw from him a declaration that might be used
against him.
11, 12. One of the remarkable features in our Lord's history is the
marveUous facility with which he defeats the attempts of the most
cunningly-devised schemes of his many and skilful enemies to entrap
him in his words ; and he defeats them generally, as he did the
tempter when he came to him, by means of that very Word in whose
laws they trusted, and by which they sought to betray him. When
asked, " Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day ?" he answered by
demanding of them. What man shall there be among you that shall have
one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold
on it, and lift it out ? This answer was sufficient not only to silence
them, but to put them to shame. In the law to which the Lord
refers (Deut. xxii. 4), there is nothing said about the Sabbath day, but
only about the duty of helping a brother's beast out of the pit into
which it had fallen; yet the Jews did not scruple to do this on the
Sabbath day. How much more might the Lord on the Sabbath day

300 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIL
deliver from a more painful and helpless condition a much more
precious object ! But let us look at this as it applies to ourselves.
The sheep and the man are the symbols of two diff'erent affections — a
natural affection being meant by the sheep, and a rational or spiritual
affection, by the man. Thus understood. How much is a man better
than a sheep ? Of how much greater value are the affections that have
spiritual and eternal things for their objects, than those that are fixed
upon the things of sense and time ? Of how much more importance
is it also to attend to the spiritual than to the natural, both in others
and in ourselves? The natural man, even when from motives of bene
volence he seeks the improvement of his neighbour or himself, seeks
only to elevate the natural affections, and place them on higher natural
objects. But the spiritual man, while he does not neglect the natural
affections in himself or others, makes the sjsiritual the object of his
chief regard. Thus he esteems the man as better than the sheep
ancl seeks to deliver those whom disease has disabled or whom Satan
has bound (Luke xiii. 14). Like his Lord, he is ever ready to do this
on the Sabbath day. For while the Sabbath of the Pharisee is but an
outward sanctity, that of the true Christian is a spiritual state, in
which he works the works of God.
The conclusion which our Lord established from his address to the
Pharisees was, that it was lawful to do well, or rather to do good, on
the Sabbath day. Looking at the subject only in its literal sense,
this is a principle that it were happy for us faithfully to act upon.
The Sabbath is a day for religious instruction and for the exercise of
charity. This is the description of the Christian Sabbath, and it
accords with our Lord's declaration and with his practice. And his
words are applicable to the Sabbath as a heavenly state of life, and to
heaven itself as well; for doing good is the essential of spiritual life
both on earth and in heaven.
13. When Jesus had ended his address to the Pharisees, who seem
to have made no attempt to gainsay his heavenly doctrine, Then saith
he to ihe man. Stretch forth thine hand. How -was he to stretch forth
that withered hand ? Faith in him who gave the command induced
him to make the effort to obey, and in the effort he received the power
to do as he was commanded. Thus it ever is with the willing and
faithful. The power to do the Lord's will is always given. The
power comes in the attempt to use it. But why attempt to use what
we seem not to possess? The impotent man did not reason thus.
He knew his hand to be powerless; he had often essayed to use it,
and had as often faUed. So do we fail when our attempts originate in

Chap. XIL] ST. MATTHEW, 301
our own strength; but so soon as we make the effort in obedience to
the Lord's command, his strength is imparted to us, and the successful
result follows in due course. In the effort and the act the withered
hand was restored; nor is it simply said to have been restored, but
restored whole like as the other. The two hands, like the two feet,
correspond to the power of the two faculties of will and understanding
— ^the hands to the power of these faculties in the internal man, the feet
to their power in the external man. When one of these two members
is diseased or powerless, it represents the want of correspondence
between the state and activity of the two faculties, which injures or
destroys their harmony and their use. When the will refuses to act
concordantly with the understanding, or the understanding with the
will, there we see a withered hand ; and when divine mercy effects
the removal of the obstructing cause, the hand is restored whole "like
as the other.''
14. The Pharisees, so far from being convinced by this exhibition of
the Lord's power, or conciliated by the benevolence of his act, become
more stubborn in their unbelief and more exasperated in their opposition.
Then tlie Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, hovj they
might destroy him. EvU shuns the presence of goodness, falsehood the
presence of truth. It is thus that the evil, inwardly in this life and
outwardly also in the other, go out from the presence of the Lord. It
is thu.s, too, that the malignant thoughts of the unregenerate mind shun
the true light, and retire into their own darkness to plot against the
tmth, how to destroy it. Falsity is the opposite of truth; but its destruc
tive tendency is proportioned to the evil by which it is actuated. As
error may be redeemed by purity of intention, so falsity is rendered
more destructive in proportion to the mind's hatred of goodness. And
when this hatred takes possession of the heart, the intellect becomes
inventive of means for accomplishing its purposes. Yet, however
cunningly devised the schemes ofthe unrighteous may be, there is no en
chantment against Jacob, neither is there any di-vination against Israel.
How much less against Him whom Jacob and Israel represented, and
who is the Author of all that makes the church, both in its external
and internal principles !
15. The action of our Lord in reference to the proceedings of the
Pharisees is deserving of our attention in its literal as well as in its
spiritual sense. When Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence.
This is not the only instance of the Lord withdrawing from a place of
threatened danger. He had at his command divine power; yet,
although he was God, he acted as a man, both because it behoved him

302 ST. MATTHEW [Chap XIL
to do so, and because in all things he was to be a pattern to men.
He instructs us in this practical way that we are to act with prudence,
and not leave ourselves to the machinations of our enemies. Even
when we may have the power to defend ourselves, it is not always wise
to use it. It is often better both for ourselves and our enemies to
imitate the example of Him who was as wise as he was good, and as
merciful as he was powerful, — to avoid rather than to resist evil. In
the spiritual sense, as this circumstance applies to individual man,
Jesus withdraws himself from the sphere of evil, by drawing his truth
inward towards the interiors of the mind, when evil in the extemal
is excited into active opposition to good, in order to draw after him
man's better thoughts and affections, and there to carry on his divine
work of restoring them to a state of healthy activity. These are the
grecU multitudes that followed him, and of whom it is said, he healed,
tliem all. May these believing multitudes be found in us, and be
ready to follow the Lord, when evil influences compel him, so to sjDcak,
to withdraw himself from the more open and ordinary scene of his
saving operations ; and may they be delivered by him from the evils and
disorder that still adhere to them !
16, 17. Those whom the Lord cured he charged tliat they should
not make him known. This charge differs from that given to the leper
(viii. 4), which we have already considered. The leper was desired to
" tell no man" that Jesus had cured him : here the multitudes that he
cured are charged not to make him known. It cannot be supposed
that the Lord was literally afraid of the Pharisees, yet it is not incon
sistent to suppose that the Lord's reason for withdrawing himself from
them might also dictate the command that he should not be made
known. The Lord's charge not to make him known was no doubt
grounded in the same benevolent cause that led him to thank the
Father that he had hid these things from the wise and prudent, and
had revealed them unto babes. To the well-disposed, knowledge is a
power for good ; to the ill-disposed, it is a power for evil — and there
fore to the one it is a means of salvation, to the other, of condemna
tion. The same mercy that grants it to the good withholds it from
the evil. That this is the distinction the Lord had in view would
seem to be indicated by the prophecy quoted from Isaiah ; for the
Gentiles are there the only ones mentioned to whom the Lord had
come to showjudgment, and the Gentiles signify those who are in
simple good, and thence in the desire and capacity of receiving truth;
while the Jews, as they then were, have a contrary representation,
and may be said to have almost destroyed that capacity in themselves.

Chap. XIL] ST. MATTHEW. 303
18. The projAecy relating to the Lord, as quoted by Matthew,
says, — Behold my servant, whom I liave chosen; my beloved, in whom
my soul is well pleased. The Lord is called a servant — the servant of
Jehovah — with respect to his divine humanity, because he served his
Father by doing his will, as he frequently declared ; by which is meant
that he brought all things in the spiritual world into order, and at the
same time taught men the way to heaven. It is, therefore, the Divine
Humanity which is meant by " my servant, whom I have chosen,'' or
on whom I have laid hold, and by " my beloved, in whom my soul is
well pleased." The Lord is called a servant in respect to the Divine
truth hy which these effects were produced, and beloved, with resjject
to the Divine good from which they were produced. From this being
the case, the Lord is called chosen of the Father, and his beloved in
whom his soul is well pleased. To see the true meaning and force of
these words, we must reflect that all these expressions of relationship
and endearment between the Father and the Son are descriptive of
the relationship, and the infinite sympathy and infinitely perf'ect union,
that exist between the Divine and Human of the Lord, by which the
salvation of the human race, is provided for. And when Jehovah
speaks of Jesus, those principles in the human which had been
received from the Divine, and by which union was effected between
them, are to be understood. Thus the Divine truth in the Son was
the servant, and the Divine good from the Father in the Son was
the beloved. It is therefore said of the servant that the Father had
chosen, or taken hold of him; for it was by the Divine truth in the
humanity that the Divine love took hold of man, both in the person of
the Saviour, and through him of the saved ; and therefore, also, is it
said of the beloved that the soul of the Father was well pleased in him,
because the "soul" is the Divine wisdom, and good pleasure is the
Divine love. The soul of Jehovah was the Divine truth, which the
Lord was as to his humanity in the world, and in this was the Divine
love. The same great truth is expressed in these words of the prophet
as in those of the Father, — " This is my beloved Son," or the Son of my
love, " in whom I am well pleased." The Son of the Father's love is
the Divine wisdom from the Divine love, which was and is the Sou.
The prophet proceeds to say, — / will put my spirit upon him, and he
shall show judgment to the Gentiles. The Spirit of Jehovah is the Divine
proceeding, which, it is said (John iii. 34), the Father gave without
measure to the Son ; for the humanity received the Spirit of Jehovah,
or all the divine attributes, infinitely, and so became divine. But the
Spirit of God is, distinctively, the Divine truth; and in reference to

304 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIL
the Lord having this put upon him, it is said that he would bring forth
"judgment to the Gentiles" — meaning that the Lord would impart of
his saving truth to all, who are in good, or who have in them the good
ground of an honest heart; and would thereby effect in them that work
of individual saving judgment which consists in separating their good
from their evil — gathering their good as wheat into the gamer, and dis-
piersing the chaff, which "the wind driveth away.''
19. As a further effect of the Lord's being the servant and beloved
of the Father, and receiving his Spirit, it is declared. He shall not strive
nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in die streets. This does
not mean that the Lord would not teach in the streets; for the
unfaithful are represented as saying to him in the judgment, " Thou
hast taught in our streets." It only means, literally, that he would
not teach with noise and vehemence, but with gentleness and meekness.
The streets of a city are the truths of doctrine, or, personally con
sidered, the thoughts of the understanding. In these the Lord teaches :
they are the avenues to the will, which it is the great purpose of his
labours to reach. But while the Lord teaches, he does not strive nor
cry, — he does not strive with or force the will, nor does he cry to or
overbear the understanding; neither does anyone hear his voice in the
streets, — he does not act compulsorily on the affections of truth, so as
to compel assent.
20. Therefore it proceeds to say, A bruised reed shall he not
break, and ihe smoking fiax shall lie not quench. The reed, as we
have seen (xi. 7), is a symbol of truth such as it is in the letter
of the Word. A bruised reed is such truth, as apprehended by
the Gentiles and by the young and the simple, who see it through
the fallacies of the senses, and therefore apprehend it sensuously.
Flax is also a symbol of truth, but of a higher order ; and the
slumbering fire, whose existence is faintly indicated by the smoke,
signifies some small degree of love in truth, feebly burning and
struggling for existence. That the Lord will not break the bruised
reed nor quench the smoking flax, is a promise that in acting on the
young and the Gentile mind, he does not break down their simple
faith, though not in agreement with the genuine truths of his Word,
nor will he extinguish their feeble love, though it be more natural
than spiritual. On the contrary, the Lord in his goodness leads his
creatures by whatever in their hearts is not opposed to his love, and
by whatever in their understandings is not hostile to his truth. Were
it not for this stooping to our infirmities, and taking hold of us by
our imperfect thoughts and feelings, we never could be brought to

Chap. XIL] ST. MATTHEW, 305
know and love God as he is. The Lord thus leads us till he send
forth judgment unto victory — that is, until genuine truth can be im
planted in the mind, and its power can be exerted so as to overcome
our errors and evils.
21. Then in his name shall the Gentiles trust. The GentUes trust
in the Lord's name when good, at first natural, is made spiritual by
the reception of truth ; for truth spiritualizes good by directing it to
true objects and guiding it to right ends.
22. Tlien was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind and
dumb. This double calamity, we ought thankfully to acknowledge,
is one of rare occurrence. Two cases only are known to have
occurred in recent times, of which that of Laura Bridgman, in
America, is the most interesting. In her case we see how much can
be done by intelligent Christian philanthropy to mitigate the worst
states of physical imperfection, and reach the mind through the
densest covering which Providence has permitted to be cast over it.
Such rare instances are sufficient to show us how great a blessing we
possess in sight and hearing, as the two great avenues to the heart
and intellect, and how much we should be disposed to do to aid
others in whom they are closed. The one whom our Lord cured had
not, however, been blind and dumb from birth ; but, Uke other of
the maladies then prevalent, this was the result of demoniacal posses
sion. There is nothing directly stated in the narrative to authorize
this conclu.sion ; but in Luke xi. 14, where the same case is recorded,
we read that "when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake." We
read of evU spirits taking possession of the organs of the human body,
but here we find that they can not only use them for their own ends,
but, when it suits their purpose, can entirely suspend their functions.
Great as such a calamity as this is, that which it represents is far
greater. For that which this singular case represents is nothing less
than the suspension of the functions of the understanding and will in
everything relating to spiritual life. A mind whose affections and
perceptions of the good and truth of heaven are dead, rendered of none
effect by the overpowering influence of some demoniacal principle,
combining in itself both falsity and evil, is the spiritual state represented
by the blind and dumb. The afflicted pereon does not represent one
whose heart and intellect are wilfully closed against the voice of love
and the light of truth, but one who is labouring under some strong
temptation, or under the pressure ol circumstances that lay him open
to the seductive power of evil and deceitful spirits, by whom he is
held for the time in spiritual thraldom. Jesus healing this afflicted

306 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIL
man teaches us again, that he who came to destroy the works of the
devil is able to deliver from the power of evil spirits, and, curing the
most dreadful and hopeless of spiritual disorders, to restore the powers
of the soul to the freest exercise of their functions, insomuch that even
the blind and dumb both speak and see.
23. So extraordinary was this miracle felt to be, that thepeople were
amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? Amazement is the
effect of beholding some extraordinary and unexplained phenomenon,
and may be produced by beholding or contemplating the exhibition of
some extraordinary instance of moral excellence, as well as of physical
power. Amazement at our Lord's works must have combined these
two; for his goodness was as great as his power. His beneficent
works could not fail to produce in the well-disposed of the beholders
reverence and admiration as well as amazement. We therefore fine!
that this miracle forced upon the minds of the multitude a conviction
of the true character of Jesus, as expressed in the affirmative question,
" Is not this the son of David ?" This is equivalent to saying that he
was the Messiah. But the form in which it was expressed involves a
particular meaning. David was a type of the Lord as a king, or as
the Divine Tmth, conquering and governing — conquering his enemies,
the powers of darkness, and governing his church — and, individually
considered, overcoming men's evils and ruling in their hearts. The
Lord is called the son of David, the offspring of David, the branch or
germ that grows out of the roots of Jesse ; and this idea of derivation
directs us to the Lord as divine truth in us, which subdues our evils
and enmity, and makes us his willing and obedient subjects, — branches
that grow out of and live in him as the true vine.
24. But if the people or multitude are thus led by his wonderful
works to acknowledge and receive him, not so the Pharisees. A
negative state is only made more negative by that which brings con
viction or confirmation to the willing mind. And even the greatest
and most beneficent miracles, which some suppose so powerful to con
vince, can do nothing to create belief The Pharisees could not deny
the miracle which our Lord performed. They did not even attempt
to evade its force, or explain it away; but they showed that what men
cannot deny they will pervert. When the Pharisees heard ii ihey said.
This fellow doth not cast out devils hut by Beelzebub, the prince of the
devils. By Beelzebub, who was the god of Ekron, is understood the
god of all falses, for the name of this Beelzebub literally means the
god of flies, and flies signify the falses of the sensual mind — thus all
falses. This is further evident from the Lord substituting Satan for

Chap. XIL] ST. MATTHEW, 307
Beelzebub, " If Satan cast out Satan" (v. 26), and opposing to this the
real power by which he cast out demons, the Spirit of God (v. 28) ; for
Satan means all falsities, and the Spirit of God all truth. And here,
indeed, iu the conduct of the Pharisees was both exemplified and
represented the sum and the essence of all falsehood, not simply the
denial of the Lord's power to work miracles, but the ascription of his
miracles, and of this as one of the most marvellous and benevolent, to
the demoniac power itself Can so great a wickedness be the symbol
of anything in us, or in any who confess the name of Jesus? This
crime is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and its nature and possi
bility will come to be considered under verses 31, 32.
25. And Jesus knew their thoughts. This is one of those instances
that bring to view the divinity of the Saviour. " Thou knowest my
thoughts afar off," is one of the characteristics of Deity. From this
knowledge of their thoughts the Lord proceeds to show the fallacy of their
explanation, and then the wickedness of their charge. He answered
their explanation by saying. Every kingdom divided against itself is
brought io desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall
noi stand. The argument here is plain and conclusive. It is only sur
prising that the hatred of the Pharisees should so blind them as to lead
them to propose the idea that Satan should overturn his own kingdom.
Leaving the literal sense, which carries its own weight with it, both as a
refutation of the Pharisees and an instance of the extraordinary wisdom
of Jesus, we turn to the spiritual sense, which is more profitable for
our spiritual instruction. The kingdom signifies the church, and a
city and house signify the truth and good of its doctrine, which do not
stand, but fall to pieces, if they are not in unanimous agreement.
This is to be understood of the church in its least form in the mind, as
weU as of the church in its largest form in the world. This, too, must
be in harmony within itself, in order that it may stand; but if it be
divided against itself it must come to desolation. In this particular
sense, the house is a correspondent of the will, the city, of the under
standing, and the kingdom, of both together in the life. Each must
be harmonious in itself and with the others, that there may be
stability; but if each and all are divided, there must be dissolution.
26. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how
shall ilien his kingdom stand ? Although the kingdom of darkness is
one of discord, yet it is not divided against itself as a power that is
opposed to its own principles, and one that desires and labours to
effect their destruction. In the practical appUcation of the Lord's
declaration we see its absolute truth. Falsehood and evil cannot, and

308 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIL
if they could they would not, deliver us from their own power and
dominion. Truth only can cast out what is false, good only can cast
out what is evil. Therefore, in casting out demons the Lord mani
fested his true character as the enemy of Satan, and of all hell and
evil, and the only Deliverer of the world and of the soul from their
dominion. 27. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children
cast them out? This is oue of those touching appeals which
the Lord in his wisdom and goodness sometimes makes to the
heart and conscience of man for the truth of his doctrine and
the beneficence of his acts. Therefore ihey shall be your judges.
How can men condemn in another what they justify in their
own? But let us see what is the spiritual sense of these words.
Whether the sons or disciples of the Pharisees really were able, or
only professed to be able, to cast out evil spirits is of no consequence.
If they were able to do it, it was aS the Egyptian magicians were able
to perform wonders imitative of the miracles of Moses, — by means of
the truth which they possessed, and perverted to their own ends. But
if truth in the hands of a human and even insincere instrument was
able to cast out devils, how much more the Truth itself ! How much
more unreasonable and wicked, therefore, was the imputation of
sorcery against him who was the Truth in person ! The sons in this
case are their judges ; for the truths that the evil possess are the
witnesses that convict and the judges that condemn them.
28. But how different the case when it is acknowledged that devils
are, and can only be, cast out by the Spirit of God — that is, by the
power of divine truth proceeding from the Lord's divine humanity.
This is the truth ; for none can really cast out evil spirits, and the evils
and falsities in which they reside, but the Spirit of God, that leads into
all truth, and makes us free from the slavery of sin. And when this
is experienced and acknowledged, then is the kingdom of God come
nigh unto us; forthe government of the Lord's truth and love can
only be estabUshed in the mind when the government of what is evil
and false is destroyed.
29. The Lord gives another illustration of the same general truth.
Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his qoods
except he first hind the strong man ? and then he will spoil his house.
Without recurring to the literal meaning, which is sufficiently obvious
and striking, we turn at once to the spiritual sense. And as falsity
as opposed to truth, and truth as opposed to falsity, is the subiect of
the verses immediately preceding, evil as opposed to good, and good as

Chap. XIL] ST, MATTHEW, 309
opposed to evil is the subject of the present verse. The house here
mentioned is the mind, especiaUy the will, the strong man is self-love,
and his goods are evils, which are the objects of that love. But how
can love to God enter into the will as its habitation, and remove the
evils that are there, unless self-love be brought under subjection,
bound by those truths which are the laws of order, and thus deprived
of the dominion which it has hitherto exercised ?
30. When the Lord had delivered these momentous truths, he laid
down this principle as a conclusion, — He thai is not with me is against
me; and lie that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. In Mark ix.
40 we have the inverse of this : " He that is not against us is on our
part." He that is not with me in principle is against me, and he that
is not against us in principle is on our part. The end determines the
state of every one. This end is evil or good, and essentially determines
whether we are with the Lord as the essential good and truth. This
end has its seat in the will. And such as is the state of the will, such
is the state of the understanding. And as the will is either with or
against the Lord, the understanding either gathereth with him or
scattereth abroad. If the will is in good, the understanding gathers
truths which are in favour of the Lord, and gives the intellect harmo
nious and united action with the Divine wisdom ; but if the will is not
in good, the understanding scatters truths — disperses and dissipates
them, leaving that faculty a prey to falsities.
31, 32. The Lord comes now, after refuting the Pharisees' explana
tion, to set forth the spiritual character of their accusation. Wherefore
I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto
men : but tlie blaspliemy against the Holy Ghost shall not he forgiven
unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against tlie Son of man, it
sliall he forgiven him : but whosoever speaketh against tlie Holy Ghost, it
shall not he forgiven Mm, neither in this world, neither in the world io come.
The sin against the Holy Spirit, especiaUy as distinguished from a word
against the Son of man, with the unpardonable nature of the one and the
pardonable nature of the other, has been felt to present some difficulties.
The sin of the Pharisees was directed against the Lord himself, and
yet it is treated as a sin against the Holy Spirit. It is true that their
charge against him — that he performed his miracles by Beelzebub —
involved the denial that he did them by the Spirit of God, but in this
charge Jesus himself was implicated. The truth is, that the accusa
tion which the Pharisees brought against the Lord involves both these
sins, since Jesus was and is at once the Holy Spirit and the Son of
man. The subject can only be understood by a knowledge of the dis-

310 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap.

XII.

tinction between the Spirit and the Son of man, not as divine persons,
but as divine principles. In relation to the Lord himself, the Holy
Spirit is his Divine spiritual principle, and the Son of man is his Divme
natural principle. But this distinction may be best seen by consider
ing the subject in relation to the Word; for whatever relates to the
Lord relates to his Word also. Thus considered, the Holy Spirit is
the spiritual sense of the Word, and the Son of man is its literal
sense. To violate the sanctity and pervert the meaning of the Word
in its spiritual sense is to be guilty of blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit ; but wrongly to interpret the literal sense is to speak a word
against the Son of man. The former sin cannot be forgiven, but the
latter may. The reason is this, — The spiritual sense of the Word
consists of naked and genuine truths, or of divine truths as they are
seen in the light of heaven; but the literal sense consists of truths
clothed with appearances — truths as seen in the light of the world.
The obscure and apparent truths of the literal sense of the Word may
be misunderstood, and may therefore be misinterpreted without a sinful
intention, and without producing errors of doctrine destructive of
spiritual life. The numerous sects among Christians are a standing
evidence of how various interpretations may be given ofthe letter of the
Word, ancl the history of the church is no less prolific in examples. In
many of the systems of Christian doctrine there is a word, in some of
them a cruel word, against the Son of man. Yet this can be forgiven ;
for in every doctrine and sect men may be saved — because in every one
the heart may be sincere, though the understanding may be in error.
The case is different with those who receive and acknowledge the
spiritual sense. The truths of this sense being real and not apparent,
naked and not clothed, they cannot be misunderstood, and therefore
cannot be misinterpreted. He, therefore, who would evade their
meaning or their force has no alternative but to deny or pervert them.
This was the sin of which the Pharisees were guilty. The work which
the Lord performed by the Spirit of God was so plainly supernatural,
if not divine, that they could not deny it to be miraculous ; but in
order to evade its force, they impiously ascribed it to diabolical powers,
and thus perverted the truth, even to a denial of the Lord — to believe
in whom is life eternal. The Lord provides, as far as can be done
consistently with man's free-will, against this greatest of all sins; and
that men may not presumptuously enter into the spiritual sense, and
profane its pure and holy truths, he has covered it with a vail of
apparent truths, as a protection and guard. This special providence
is the cherubim that stand at the gate of Paradise; and the flamino-

Chap. XIL] ST. MATTHEW. 311
sword that turns every way to guard the way to the tree of life is
the Word in its literal sense. This serves as a protection to the internal
sense, because it is capable of being variously interpreted without
being destroyed; and is thus a means in the hand of the Lord for
guarding the way to the living truth of its spiritual sense, lest the
hand of the profane should be put forth to take of the fruit of the tree
of life, to eat of which would bring upon the evil a never-ending
living death. It has been a question whether the unpardonable
nature of this sin is to be under.stood as implying that one who com
mits it is placed beyond the reach of possible forgiveness. The language
of the Lord is certainly peculiar, — Neither in this world, neither in the
world io come. Yet there is nothing inconsistent in it. It is literally
true in the contrasted cases ; for a wrong interpretation of the letter,
if not corrected in this life, can be corrected in the next; but not so a
violation of the spirit of the Word. In the spiritual sense, by " this
world" is understood the natural mind, and by the next world, the
spiritual mind. This sense teaches us that "a word against the Son
of man" may be confined to the natural mind, but that the sin against
the Holy Ghost extends to both the spiritual and natural. That which
is only of the natural mind can be removed in the other world, but
that which is engraven ou both the natural and the spiritual parts of
the mind cannot, but remains to eternity. It is possible, however,
that the greater sin may be repented of in the present world, and
tlierefore forgiven.
33. One kind or degree of profanation is hypocrisy, which consists
in speaking and acting well and thinking and willing ill. This was
one of the sins of which the Pharisees were guilty. It is in reference
to this that our Lord said. Either make the tree good, and his fruit good;
or else make tlie tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the free is known
hy his fruit. The tree itself is the man and the fruit is his works. Our
Lord teaches in these words that it is less sinful to be openly evil than
hypocritically good. It is not to be inferred from this that the evil
should be allowed freely to practise wickedness. The Lord's words
only mean that, spiritually, an evil heart is hardened in evil by the
outward pretence of holiness. In the other world the universal law
is, that the tree and the fruit must be alike, both good or both evil :
the extemal and the internal make one ; the mind can no longer be
divided. In the more precise spiritual sense the tree is the will, the
leaves are the understanding, and the fmit is the outward life. As
we are not to judge of a tree by its leaves, but by its fmit, so we are
not to judge a man by his faith, but by his works. In this world,

312 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIL
indeed, even works may deceive; but it is enough for us that we judge
so far as we can see. No doubt, on the large scale, principles are
known by their results, though individually we may not always be
able to discover the true character of a man by his actions. This,
however, is a truth by which we are to judge ourselves more than
others, and by which we shall all be judged in the other Ufe.
34. Our Lord now addresses the Pharisees in their true characters.
0 generation of vipers. The cunning and malignant, who deceive by
fair appearances, are spiritual serpents and vipers. The serpent is an
emblem of the sensual part of man's nature ; and in this have origin
ated all the fallacies that have ever presented evil under the guise of
good, or error under the name of truth, since man was first persuaded
by it to eat of the tree of knowledge, that he might be as God, know
ing good and evil. To ascribe the Lord's beneficent works to the
prince of the devils, was truly to put evil for good and darkness for
light. Error may be unintentional, but falsehood has its root in
cherished evil. How can ye, being evil, speak good things ? In the sight
of God nothing that evil men speak or that they do can be good — an
evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit. The word and the work are
essentially such as the will and intention are. Truth that is spoken
to deceive is falsehood ; good that is done from dissimulation is wicked
ness. This was not, however, the case in the present instance with
the Pharisees : they spake the falsehood which their hearts prompted
and their thoughts conceived. Out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaketh was true of them. And it is true of all, though not
always discerned by all, except by Him who discerns the thoughts and
intents of the heart.
35. A good man out of the good treasure qf the heart hringeth forth
good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure hringeth forth evil
things. The heart is the treasury whence issue the good or evil that
the lips utter or the hands perform ; and as our words and works are
effects from the good or evil intentions of the will, and of the true
or false thoughts of the understanding, so do they contain them.
Our words and works are reproductive of the good or evil that produces
them ; they, like fruit, have the seed within themselves that produce
trees of the same quality as that by which they were produced. The
tree which exists from a seed, exists again in the seed that it produces.
In the small seed treasured up in the heart of the fruit the whole tree
is comprehended ; its whole history is written ; its whole experience
is expressed. So in our words and works our whole being is embodied
But to read our entire life and character in what we say and do, is the

Chap. XIL] ST, MATTHEW, 313
prerogative of Him only who is to judge every man according to his
works. Men and angels may see something of one's true character iu
his works, but these are only gleams of Ught from Him who is the
light itself
36. The Lord therefore proceeds to say. But I say unto you. That
every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in
the day of judgment. These words are spoken with immediate refer
ence to the sin of which the Pharisees had been guilty. They are
designed to teach us how carefully we should guard the door of our Ups.
Not only blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and a word against the
Son of man, but every idle word that men speak shall be brought into
judgment. We are not to include in these idle words everything we
say that is not .solemn or important. Words may be trivial ancl yet
innocent. We are to make a distinction, too, between the lighter
conversation that serves as ¦ an intellectual recreation, and the idle
talk that forms the business and delight of Ufe. One of the most per
nicious and sinful kinds of idle words is that of using the language of
Holy Scripture to garnish idle talk. When seriously and judiciously
introduced, the language of Scripture serves both to adorn and invigo
rate human composition ; but nothing is so indicative of bad taste and
the absence of true religious sentiment, and, above all, of the want
of reverence for the most sacred things, as to drag in the language of
Scripture to give a quaint or ludicrous turn of expression. One
great evil arising out of this is, that sacred language becomes so con
nected with profane ideas, that their separation is a matter of difficulty
even in the other life,
37. The Lord continues : For by thy words thou shalt be justified,
and by thy woi-ds tliou shalt be condemned. That is but a part of the
doctrine that we shall be judged according to our works. Words are
acts, and come forth from the will as much as deeds. Whatever any
one wUls from the love principle, he wills to do, to think, to under
stand, and to speak. Words are verbal acts, and they reflect the
character as faithfully and completely as the deeds which the hand
performs. Every word we utter, as well as every act we do, is in
scribed on the memory as distinctly and much more indelibly than
if written in a book, and will be read aloud in the day of our judo--
ment, as if it came from the hands, instead of the lips. How much
good and how much evil, how much sweetness and how much bitter
ness, flow from the tongue ! How much may the tongue do to enlighten
and comfort, to promote harmony and peace ; and how much may it
do to darken counsel and disturb peace, to create discord and conten-

314 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIL
tion! In the words which our Lord addressed to the Pharisees there
is something deserving of our particular attention. In nothing is
Christianity more distinguished from Judaism than in considering
words and actions as deriving their character from the motive which
gives them birth — the end they are intended to serve. The motive is
not measured by the act, but the act by the motive. Yet motive is
not the only thing taken into account. The will, as the motive power
of the mind, does not of itself determine the character of an action.
The understanding, as the directing power, has its share in every act
performed. It is to include both these faculties, which are united in
everything we say or do, that both words and works are spoken of as
certain to be brought into judgment. Good and e-vil are not of the
will alone, nor are truth and falsity of the understanding alone,
although we ascribe them distinctively to these faculties. Good and evU
are produced by the will acting through the understanding, and truth
and falsity are produced by the undei-standing acting from the will.
Both faculties are concerned in producing every word we speak and
every action we do, and both are included in every word and
action when produced. Whether, therefore, we are judged by our
words or works, or by both, we are judged as to our whole mind
and life.
38, 39. As if to show how little impression these solemn words had
made upon them, Tlien certain of ihe scribes and of the Pharisees
answered, saying. Master, we would see a sign from thee. They had
seen the Lord perform a great miracle, yet they ask him to give them
a sign. There would be no real meaning in this demand, nor in the
Lord's answer to it, if there was no difference between a sign and a
miracle. By a miracle is meant that which excites, strikes, and occa
sions amazement ; but by a sign is meant that which declares, testifies,
and persuades concerning what is inquired after. Thus, a sign moves
the understanding and its faith, and a miracle moves the will and its
affections; for the will and its affection are excited, struck, and
amazed, and the understanding and its faith are persuaded, and to
them declaration and testification are applied. The Lord's miracles
were works of benevolence ; and their spiritual purpose, with regard to
those who beheld them, was to affect their hearts with a sense of the
Divine goodness, and incline them to listen to the teaching of his
truth. A sign, on the other hand, is a work of power, having nothing
in its character to affect the hearts of the spectators, but is a direct
appeal to their understandings, so as to produce conviction. The
Lord refused to give a sign, because it is no part of his providential

Chap, XIL] ST. MATTHEW, 315
economy to compel men to believe, or even persuade them to believe
with the understanding only. This it would be easy for Omnipotence
to do : if it pleased the Lord, he could exhibit every truth so clearly
before men's minds that unbelief would be impossible. Their in
tellects could be raised into such clear light as would enable them to
see the tmth. This would be giving them a sign. But what would
it avail ? It would not produce true or lasting faith, but it would
render unbelief or error more inexcusable, and only increase their
condemnation. True faith is not produced by signs, but by reasons —
by the truth being rationally apprehended and spiritually discerned.
Nor does saving faith come from without, but from within ; nor by
tmth alone, but by truth and love united. Truth must, indeed, enter
the understanding from without, but unless love comes into the will
from within, there can be no true faith. The Scriptures give the
knowledge of the truth, and without revelation there would be noth
ing to believe, no means of belief in God and in spiritual and eternal
things ; but faith itself comes from the Spirit of the Lord acting upon
the heart, and inspiring it with the love of the truth which has been
acquired from the Word. If the Holy Scriptures themselves cannot
give faith, how much less any outward sign that neither informs the
understanding nor improves the heart ! An evil and adulterous
generation seeketh after a sign. This is the case individually as well
as generaUy. It is only those in whose minds unbelief has been gen
erated by evil and impure affections that seek faith through other
means than the Word and the Spirit of the Lord. Such a demand is,
in fact, nothing else than asking God to convince us of the truth by
suspending the functions of that very faculty which he has given to
enable us to understand it.
40. The demand which the unbelieving make for a sign cannot
even for then- own sake be granted. But there is one sign, and one
only, which the Lord grants. Tliere shall no sign be given to it, hut the
sign of the prophet Jonas : for as Jonas was three days and three
nights in ihe whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and
three nights in the heart of the earih. That which completed and for
ever sealed the Lord's great work of redemjDtion is the historical evi
dence of the truth of the gospel ; and those who refuse to receive this
are not in a state to accept any other sign, even if it were given them
from heaven. Yet this is a sign which natural men are unwilling to
receive. But the Lord's death and resurrection were themselves but
the outward sign of an inward glorious work. The Lord's resurrec
tion was the effect and the sign of his glorification. The Lord's

316 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIL
glorification is eminently the sign of the prophet Jonas. The three
days and nights during which the Lord was in the tomb represented,
because they completed, the glorification of his humanity. The glori
fication of the Lord's human nature is in the highest sense the sign
which is given to all men, in all ages, in testimony of the truth.
Through that divine work the means and the power of faith were
provided ; and the Lord in his humanity, as he is the only true Object,
so is he the only Author of saving faith. But this pre-eminent sign
produces another, which is its reflected image. This other sign is
regeneration. The prophet Jonas was, therefore, the sign not only of
the Lord's glorification, but of man's regeneration, which is its effect and
image. The new birth is to us and all men the practical sign, the
inward and living witness, of the truth. If we would believe the
truth, we must both receive and live it. " If any man will do his
will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God." The evil
heart of unbelief must be removed before any sign can avail to pro
duce faith, for faith is of the heart as well as of the understanding.
The sign of the prophet Jonas is, therefore, the only sign that can be
given unto men ; but it is one that cannot fail to produce conviction
of the truth, if they only admit it as the foundation and evidence of
their faith.
41, 42. The Lord now contrasts the men of that generation with
some of earUer tim es, who, without their advantages, manifested religious
qualities of which they were destitute. Tlie m,en of Nineveh shall rise
in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it : because iliey
repented at tlie preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is
here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this gener
ation, and shall condemn it : for she came from the uttermost parts of the
earih to hear the unsdom of Solomon ; and, behold, a greater than Solomon
is here. In this and some other instances the Lord cites the case of
Gentiles, to show that they were more ready to receive the truth than
the Jews, who possessed the Word, and had even the presence and
teaching of Him who was the Word itself The singular circumstance
of a Jewish prophet being sent to preach to a heathen nation, and the
Ninevites repenting at his preaching, typified the calling ofthe GentUes
at the time of the Lord's advent, and the successful preaching of the
gospel after his resurrection, the Christian apostles having at first
shown no less reluctance than the Jewish prophet to carry the great
tidings to the heathen. The Queen of Sheba, here called the queen of the
south, coming to Solomon at Jerusalem, with exceeding great riches,
with camels carrying spices, gold, and precious stones, like the wise

Ch.-^p. XIL] ST. MATTHEW. 317
men who came from the east to present their gifts to the infant Saviour,
represented the wiser Gentiles coming to the Lord to offer him the
precious gifts of their best affection.?, and to receive from him in return
the riches of his wisdom. The Queen of Sheba also represented the
celestial affection by which the Lord acquired all wisdom and intelli
gence, meant by the queen's precious gifts, the camels denoting the
knowledges of the natural man by which they were introduced.
Wherefore, when he whom they represented is come, truly may we
say. Here is one greater than Jonah, Solomon, and the temple
itself Yet the change from the representation to the actual in
ourselves is not effected without opposition and conflict. Considered in
reference to ourselves, the Ninevites and the queen of the south,
Jonah and Solomon, are representative of different affections and
principles, as they exist in our own minds in early life, before the
commencement of regeneration. As actual regeneration commences
with the Lord's birth in the soul, corresponding to his birth into the
world, the religious element which exists in the mind before this, is
rather representative of the kingdom of heaven than the kingdom
itself. Like the persons and events of the Old Testament, they are
the shadow of good things to come, whose substance Christ is, when
he makes his advent into the little world of the human mind. The
old man with his affections and lusts, of which the Pharisee and the
Sadducee, and the priest and the scribe, are the flt representatives, offer
a determined resistance to the new man, with his heavenly affections,
through whom the Lord shows his power by casting out demons and
healing all manner of sickness and disease, and his wisdom by teach
ing and reproving. What, then, is specifically to be understood by
the men of Nineveh and the queen of the south rising up in the judg
ment against this generation and condemning it? The judgment in
which they rise up with the men of this generation is the judgment
which takes place in the mind of every one who becomes regenerate,
by which a separation is effected in his mind between good and evil.
In the process of this judgment all states return, and the early states
of life rise up in judgment against the later, and condemn them. Our
contrition for the errors we committed in our youth, when, like so
many among the Ninevites, we could not distinguish between our
right hand and our left, rises up and condemns our impenitence for
the evils we have committed since we had the guiding power of a
clearer light ; and the simple affections of chUdhood, innocent though
natural, rise up, as experience often testifies, and condemn the loves
of our after-life. And what are the grounds of this condemnation?

318 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIL
The men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonas, but those of
a later age could not be moved to penitence by the preaching of Jesus.
And so it is still. Not only were the sins of our youth more venial
than those of our manhood, but, when reproved by the Word, our
repentance was more ready and earnest. The queen of the south
came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, but the men of a later age
turned away from the wisdom of Jesus. And so it is still. The
affections of our chUdhood drew us to the Word, and made us listen
with delight to its lessons of wisdom, as conveyed in its ch-arming
narratives and simple precepts ; and even when, like the Queen of
Sheba, we tried it with hard questions, we received from the lips of
parents solutions of all our difficulties, while its higher wisdom is
neglected or contemned by us in our riper years. When those rudi
mentary states of penitence and affection are made to "rise up" in the
judgment with the impenitence and deadness of our after-life, they
cannot but condemn them ; and it is for condemnation that they are
brought into the judgment against them, that they ma.y bring to light,
in order that we may condemn, our errors and evils, and so lead us to a
true and loving acknowledgment of the Lord as the supreme good
and truth, of whom all inferior goods and truths are the types and
foregleams. 43. The Pharisees, we have seen (v. 38), demanded a sign, and the
Lord declared that no sign should be given them. He now returns
to the subject, and describes what the state of an impenitent man
would be, supposing he were brought by a sign to a conviction of the
truth. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through
dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. By the power of a sign, the
spirit of unbelief would indeed be driven out for a time, but it would
eventually return with seven-fold greater force than before. The spirit
is here to be identified with the man, for a man's heart-belief or unbe
lief is himself, and in going out of this, unless from a sincere conviction,
he goes out of himself The spirit wandering in "dry places, seeking
rest, and finding none," aptly describes the mental condition of one
in whom the singular contradiction exists of having obtained faith
without having received the truth — truth being meant by water, of
which there is none. The outcast spirit seeks rest, but finds none, in
the waste places of the soul. The mind can find no rest in a faith which
is forced upon it from without. The knowledge and the evidences
of truth come from without ; but faith, as a living principle, comes
from within, and is produced by the Spirit of the Lord operating upon
, the heart. Faith which is impressed upon the understandin", with-

Chap. XIL] ST. MATTHEW. 319
out changing the heart, passes away with the force which produced it,
and leaves the mind more hardened in its infidelity.
44, 45. As the effect of the sign begins to pass away, as it must do, or
life would cease, the spirit begins to say, — / will return into my house
from wlience I came out. And what a picture does the house present
of the faculty on which the sign had taken effect ! The spirit finds it
empty, swept, and garnished — em[)ty of everything true, swept of every
thing good, and garnished or disposed, brought into conformity of
state with evil and falsity, which the absence of everything good
and true implies. The spirit is represented as first returning to the
house alone, and then, when he found it empty, going and taking with
him seven other spirits more viicked than himself, and tliey enter in and
dwell tliere. By the former spirit returning, is signified the return of
the original spirit of unbelief; but his going out and returning with
seven others, indicates that circle of life which every principle makes
before it is confirmed. It is like the blood that flows from the heart
and returns to the heart again, and may return either pure or defiled.
The mind thus empty becomes the prey of greater infidelity and
wickedness than before; for the seven other spirits more wicked than
the former one signify a complete and confirmed state of unbelief and
profanation. And this greatest of all sins makes the last state worse
indeed than the first. Our Lord concludes with the terrible declara
tion, — Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. The genera
tion to which these descriptions apply is the whole congregated mass
of evil and falsity, which not only deny the Lord's love and wisdom
in the salvation of man, but pervert them to the destruction of
spiritual life and to the everlasting misery of the soul.
46-49. As if to reUeve this dark picture by shedding upon it a ray
of divine light, we read that While he yet talked to the people, behold, his
m,otlter and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Yet
here, too, there is a claim put in— not, it is true, by the evil and the
false, represented by the Pharisees, but by the naturaUy good and true,
represented by the mother and brethren of the Lord. Therefore, when
one told him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without,
desiring io speak with thee, the Lord did not comply with their desire,
but continued his discourse to the multitude, and changing the natural
into a spiritual idea, showed who were truly his mother and who were
his brethren. It is well known that the Lord never addressed Mary
by the name of mother. The name " woman," by which he addressed
her at the marriage in Cana, was expressive of respect. The Lord's
avoiding the use of " mother '' in relation to Mary had a deep spiritual

320 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIL
ground. Jesus was indeed the son of Mary according to the flesh, but
he was the Son of God according to the Spirit. The humanity he
derived from his human mother was but a natural and temporary
covering to the humanity he derived from his Divine Father; and it
was eventually put off, and so entirely, that not the least vestige of it
remained ; so that when his gloriflcation was completed, at the time of
his resurrection, the Lord, as to his humanity, was purely the Son of
God — born, as he had been begotten, of the Essential Divinity. Even
at the time when he addressed Mary, as we first read of it in the
gospel, the Lord's consciousness was so far in the paternal humanity,
and he so far spake immediately from it, that to have called Mary his
mother would have been to express an idea and a feeling that did not
at the time exist. But whatever the Lord spake was not to express
natural and temporary, but spiritual and eternal truth. One great
23urpose the Lord had in never caUing Mary by the name of mother
was to teach the church, in all ages, that the Lord's humanity is
purely divine, and no longer the son of Mary. Another purpose was
to teach the important spiritual lesson which he delivered to the
multitude on this occasion, when he said. Who is my mother? and
who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward Ms
disciples, and said. Behold my mother and my brethren I There is no
real relationship between the Lord and men but a spiritual relation
ship. He has no saving relationship with men according to the flesh.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. To come into saving relation
ship with him, men must be born of the Spirit, for that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit. And in this new birth Jesus is not our God
only, but our Father. Whatever other degrees of relationship may exist
between the Lord and mankind, they are all derived from this, and com
prehended in it. On our part, sonship lies at the foundation of brother
hood, and of every other degree of relationship with Him who is ail in
all to us. The disciples to whom the Lord stretched forth his hand
are all the true members of the church. His brethren are those who
are in the good of charity from him; his sisters are those who are in
truths derived from that good ; and mother signifles the church derived
and formed from those principles.
50. The question the Lord asked of the one who told and the many
who heard him he still asks of us, — "Who is my mother? and who are
my brethren?" And it behoves us to prepare ourselves to learn frona
him the true answer. And the answer is, — Whosoever shall do the will
of my Father which is in heaven, ihe same is my brotlier, and sister and
mother. To do his Father's will is to keep his commandments from

Chap. XIII.] ST. MATTHEW. 321
love — from his own love in us. His Father's will is his own divine
love. This closing declaration of the Lord's discourse is an answer to
all demands made of him, as recorded in this chapter. Those who do
the Lord's will require no sign, for it wUl enable them to know the
truth ; and tliey who do the Lord's will will be recognized by him as
his true relations, and will not only be permitted to speak with him,
but to dwell with him in the mansions of heaven — the home which he
has prepared for his family, consisting of the faithful, the loving, and
the obedient. There will the blessed truth which these words contain
be truly and fully realized. In heaven, where all is spiritual, natural
relationshi]) is not even known. Those who were related to each
other on earth may indeed dwell together in heaven ; but it must be
on the basis of spiritual, not of natural affinity. In heaven there is
but one Father, and all existing degrees of affinity are but degrees of
nearness to each other in him.

CHAPTER XIIL

1. Luke mentions, what Matthew has not recorded, that while
the Lord was delivering the preceding discourse, "a certain Pharisee
besought him to dine with him : and he went in, and sat down to meat"
(oh. xi. 37). It is in reference to this that the evangelist relates that
The same day went Jesus out ofthe house, and sat by the sea side. The
jiresent discourse being delivered upon the same day with the preceding
one, imjilies its being adapted to the same general state, with the
difference, that in this instance the divine teaching is accommodated
to the mind in its more external condition. The sea is emblematical
ofthe Word in its natural sense; and when the sea and the land are
mentioned together, they refer to the two distinct jirinciples of truth
and good, of which it consists. The Lord's sitting by the sea side,
where the land and water meet, denotes his presence where there is
conjunction of good and truth in the letter ofthe Word, sitting also
denoting an interior state, the result of that conjunction.
2. A nd great multitudes were gathered together unto liim, so that he
went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
A ship signifies knowledge, and thence doctrine. The Lord spirituaUy
teaches from a ship in the sea when he instructs us from doctrine as
it is in the literal sense of his Word. And when he sits in the ship,
as he sat on the mount, we are instructed that he is in the inmost of
all the doctrine which he teaches from the Word ; the whole multi-
Y

322 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIIL
tude standing on the shore denoting a state of external good which
is receptive of true doctrine, their standing being expressive of an
active state of thought to Usten to the teaching of divine truth.
3. And he spake many things unto them in parables. The present dis
course consists almost entirely of parables. These were delivered to teach
men by similitude the nature of the kingdom of heaven. They are not
to be considered as different illustrations of the same thing, or the plac
ing the same subject in many different lights. The kingdom of heaven,
as a state of heavenly-mindedness and holiness of life, is formed progres
sively, and is made up of many different and various graces and virtues,
the growth of years and the result of manifold experience. Every
different parable has, therefore, a meaning of its own, as descriptive of
a particular state. And the parables, as a whole, contain a circle of
instruction applicable to the entire religious life. It is not necessary
to assume that the whole may be matter of common experience to
every one who reads them ; yet there is something in each that
comes home to all. They teach us much relating to regeneration
that may be useful to every Christian, as showing the nature
and magnitude of tliat divine work in the soul, and providing
spiritual knowledge that may aid us materially in our future Ufe.
The first which the Lord delivers is the parable of the sower — one
on which more has been preached and written than on any other
in the New Testament; which is due to the circumstance, that the
delineations it gives of the characteristic differences of the several
classes of the hearers of the Word are so wonderfuUy confirmed by
observation and experience. The Lord begins by saying. Behold, a
sower went forth to sow. The Lord is the sower, and this character
belongs to him as the Author of all truth. As the sower, the Lord has
gone forth in every age of the world, and into every land. There is
no heart in which the truths of his kingdom have not been sown.
But the character and office of the sower are more especiaUy ap
plicable to the Lord in his humanity. He went forth as the sower, in a
peculiar sense, when he came into the world as the Word in person, that
he might accommodate his eternal tmth to the altered states of men.
The Lord also inseminates his truth in the mind from the earliest
period of life, and afterwards to eternity. The Saviour is therefore
ever going forth to sow, and in all souls are the seeds of truth
scattered with a bountiful and impartial hand. There are, however,
various and very different kinds as well as degrees of reception, but
these depend on the recipient, not on the dispenser of the blessing.
The divine speaker describes four different kinds of ground, as sym-

Chap. XIIL] ST, MATTHEW. 323
bolical of four different states of mind among those who constitute the
visible church. We shall consider these separately, together with the
explanation which the Lord gave to the disciples, when they asked
him why he spake unto the multitude in parables.
4-19. The first class is described in these words : And wlien he sowed,
some seeds fell hy tlie way side, and tlie fowls came and devoured them up.
In the Lord's explanation of the parable, he that received seed by the
way side is one who heareth the word, and understandelh it not.
Understanding is not mere intellectual apprehension. A right appre
hension of divine truth is most important; but that which our Loid
means is, " to understand with the heart," which consists in receiving
the truth in love. Love or goodness forms the ground in which the
seeds of the eternal truth are sown. A difference of minds, in respect
to the principle of goodness, is that which is so graphically set before
us in the parable. The way side is where there is no proper soU, or
where it is so trodden down that the seeds that fall upon it never
enter it, but lie unchanged upon its hardened surface. These are
they in whom the good acquired from the Lord through parents and
others in early life has been so trampled upon by the practical errors
of later years as to have hardened the heart into a careless uncon
cern about eternal life. Of the seeds that fell by the way side it is
said that " the fowls came and devoured them up." These the Lord
explains to mean the wicked one. Fowls are the emblems of thoughts,
and are the wicked thoughts originating, in the present case, in evil,
which is the wicked one that catcheth away that which was sown in his
heart. It is one of the temptations of early manhood to forget their
Creator, whom they had been taught to remember in the days of their
youth, and allow light pleasures and a vain philosophy to catch away
that which pious hands had been sowing in their hearts, and which
the Lord's providence is continually scattering, although it be upon
an ungrateful soil. Let them reflect that there is a harvest as well as
a seed time, that the reaping is according to the sowing, and that he
who sows the wind shall reap the whirlwind.
5, 6-20, 21. The second class of unprofitable receivers of the truth
are those whose minds are like stony places, where they had not much
earth: and forthwith ihey sprung up, because they had no deepness of
earth: and when the sun was up, ihey were scorched; and because they
had no root, they withered away. In his. exposition the Lord tells us,
the same is he that heareth ihe word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet
liath he noi roof in himself, but durethfor a while: for when tribulation
or persecution ariseth because of tlie word, by and by lie is offended. No

324 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIIL
class is better known than this, its characteristics being so open to
observation. The readiness with which some persons accept views
and receive impressions is only equalled by the readiness with which
they part with them, and their warmth and zeal are quickly succeeded
by indifference, and their goodness is as the early dew that passeth
away. The reason is to be found in their ground being stony, where
there is not much earth. They have more intellect than heart; they
have a keen appreciation of the beautiful, but a small love of the
useful. Yet the seed which quickly germinates in the slender but
genial soil might come to a weak maturity were it fanned by zephyrs,
and refreshed with dews, and warmed by the tempered rays of the
sun of heaven. But this is not the unvarying course of Nature nor
of Providence. Nature has her floods and her tempests, her dense
clouds and her beaming sunshine ; and Providence has its tribulations
and persecutions. These strengthen the strong and healthy, but
destroy the feeble and sickly ; they soon prostrate or wither that
which has no root in itself, however promising its beginning may be
in the eyes of men. No heavenly plant can be reared without tempta
tion, and those which are unable to eudure this ordeal must perish.
Some of those who, when they hear the word, anon with joy receive
it, sometimes have so little root in themselves that they fall away
under the outward tribulation of contempt or opposition; but still
more liable are they to fail when the inward persecution of tempta
tion comes. Then it is that they are offended; the sun, not of
heaven, but of their own self-love, arising, scorches up everything
green and living in the mind.
7-22. The third class of unproductive recipients consists of those of
whom it is said And some fell among thorns; and ihe thorns sprung up,
and choked them. The Lord explains the thorns to mean the care of
this world, and the deceitfulness of riches. Temporal care and a desire
to be rich doubtless have a tendency to stifle the spiritual affections
and repress the soul's aspirations. We are, however, to distinguish
between distrustful care and mere absorbing worldly occupation, and
between the honourable pursuit of wealth and an ambitious or
avaricious desire to be rich. There is, however, another world
and other riches, the care and deceitfulness of which may
choke the Word and render it unfruitful. This world, individually
considered and spirituaUy understood, is the natural mind, and the
riches whicli belong to it are the knowledges of religion ; and its
liches are deceitful when we deceive ourselves with the false idea
that the knowledge of religion is reUgion itself The Lord's desorip-

Chap. XIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 325
tion of this class leads us to suppose that they do not want capacity
but culture. The ground was neither deficient nor barren. The soil
which produces weeds can support something better. Wheat would
have grown where the thorns flourished. But the thorns required to
be rooted up, and the ground prepared to receive the good seed.
And here we see the great defect of those whose state is here described.
It is not enough to know the truth ; if we would be happy, we must
do it. And even here we may deceive ourselves. For it is not
enough to do good, we must cease to do evil. We must root out the
thorns as well as sow the wheat. And this is just what the class -^'e
are considering neglect to do. And a large class it is, if theory be an
indication of practice, which it is not always, even when doctrine is
unfavourable to virtue. They may be pious, and studious, and exem
plary, but they do not examine themselves to discover, with the view
to put away, the inborn and inbred evils of their neglected hearts.
The seed is indeed received and grows, but it never comes to perfec
tion, but becometh unfruitful.
8-23. We come at last to those with whom the seed fell into
good ground. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth
fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some ihirtyfold. The
di\'ine Sower himself explains it thus : He that received seed into
the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it ;
which also heareth fruit, and hringeth forth, some an hundredfold,
some sixty, some thirty. Some hear, but do not understand; some
understand, but fail to perform : but here we have one who, after he
has taken the first step, goes on perseveringly till he has reached the
end, from the sowing of the seed to the ingathering of the harvest.
The distinguishing mark of this class is — they bear fruit ; the other
parts of the process are necessary to precede, but this is the end and
fulfilment of them all. "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear
much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples" (John xv. 8). The fruit-
fulness of religion is different in different members of the church.
Every branch of the vine must bear fruit, otherwise the husbandman
taketh it away; but every branch is not alike productive, nor does
the husbandman demand that it should be. All that bear fruit are
branches of the true vine, but they may bear some thirty, some sixty,
some an hundredfold. Yet this does not mean a difference only in the
quantity of the fruit, but of the quality also. With some, good works
are the fruits of simple obedience; with some, they are the fruits of
charity; with others, they are the fruits of love. These are the three
degrees of perfection pointed out by our Lord in his thirty, sixty.

326 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. Xllt
and an hundredfold. The thirty, sixty, and an hundredfold are
expressive both of three distinct states and degrees of the regenerate
life, and of three distinct classes of regenerate persons. The numbers
are significative of the character of these states, and of those distin
guished by them. These numbers are three tens, six tens, and ten
tens. Ten has perhaps the most comprehensive signification of any
number that occurs in Scripture. God gave his representative people
ten commandments, and he required of them a tenth of their produce;
the one being expressive of all their moral duties, the other of all their
divine worship. Ten therefore signifies a full or complete state, the
other numbers with which it is combined signifying the quality of the
state. These signify the three states and degrees which we call
natural, spiritual, and celestial. Ten signify remains; three tens,
the remains of good and truth acquired by instruction; six tens,
remains of good and truth confirmed by temptation ; and ten tens, the
remains of good and truth confirmed by life : this last is a complete
and perfect state, in which good and truth are equal and united.
We may remark in conclusion that, although we have explained
the parable in reference to different classes in the church, it is not
without an application to different but successive states in the regen
eration of one. You will perceive from the parable that the ground
improves in each succeeding state, and the seeds enter more deeply
into the soil, and make a more successful effort to grow up, till the
effort is crowned with success in the producing of fruit. And then,
also, the threefold fruitfulness may be found in the fully regenerate
man .
As, in order to avoid prolixity and repetition, we have given the
spiritual sense and practical application of the parable of the sower as
our Lord explained it, combining with it whatever is peculiar in the
parable itself, we shall now return to verse 10, where we find the
disciples inquiring, and the Lord declaring, the reason of his teaching
by parables.
10. After the Lord had deUvered the parable of the sower, ilie dis
ciples came and said unto Mm, Why speakest thou unto them in parables ?
The disciples and the multitude are those who are within and those
who are without the church, and the question is, why those who are
without, differently from those who are within, are taught by parables.
This question and the Lord's answer cover more than what is strictly
caUed the parabolic portion of the Word. The whole of the literal
sense of the Word, considered in relation to the spiritual, is parabolic,
— truth vaUed, so as to make it apprehensible by the natural mind.

CH.4.P. XIIL] ST, MATTHEW, 327
To those within the church who are in genuine doctrine from the
letter of the Word, the spiritual sense can be opened. Not that a
mere intellectual reception of true doctrine can prepare the mind for
seeing the internal sense ofthe Divine Word; forthe real reception of
genuine doctrine itself presupposes a state of love and holiness, since
they only who do his wiU know savingly of the doctrine. Those who
by goodness have received the genuine doctrines of the Word, and
have been introduced into the church, are prepared to see and receive
the spiritual sense. To them it is given to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven; but to those who are without it is not given.
12. For whosoever hath, to Mm shall be given, and he sliall liave more
abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him. sliall be taken away even
tluvt lie hath. The meaning of which seeming paradox is this — that
whoever has goodness will receive spiritual truth, and receive it
abundantly ; but whoever has not goodness, from him will be taken
away even the truth of doctrine that he hath. This law is fulfilled
in its perfection in the other life. Those who in this world have Uved
in love to God and to their neighbour, although in comparative ignor
ance, or even in error, will receive as much truth as their good admits
or requires ; rich in goodness here, they wUl abound in wisdom here
after ; but they who have not lived in love and charity will be deprived
of that truth, however much it may be, which they had known in the
world. 13. Therefore, continues our Lord, speak I to tliem in parables;
because they seeing see not; and liearing ihey hear not, neitlier do iliey
understand. Man has an internal and an external wiU and under
standing, and there are internal and external goods and truths adapted
to them : the first are spiritual, the second are natural We may see
with our natural understanding, and hear with our natural will, and yet
have no inward discernment or love of truth and goodness. Nay, the
internal will and understanding may be opposed to the external. The
outward will may prompt us to learn and even to teach the truths of
religion, and the understanding labour intelligently and unweariedly
in the work, and yet our inner natural mind may disbelieve and
contemn them. There is no real understanding where there is no
inward discernment, for the outward sight is derived from the inward
perception. 14. This, in the Jews, was the fulfilment of a prophecy by Isaiah,
the first part of which is simUar to the statement of the Lord in the
preceding verse, and on which it is unnecessary to enlarge.
15. In this verse, however, it is declared that the heart of the

328 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap.

XIIL

people had waxed gross, intimating that the will had become sensual,
which is the ground of all other morbid conditions; for when the will
is debased, men close their ears and their eyes against the truth.
And their object in doing so is, lest at any time ihey should see unth
tlieir eyes, and hear with their ears, a.nd understand with their heart,
and be coyiverted and be healed. To understand with the heart — that
is, from the will — is true discernment, and the gate of true conversion
and health. Conversion is a change of the understanding; healing is
a restoration of the will. When this salvation is deliberately and
determinately i-efused, it is a mercy to speak to men in parables — to
address the truth to them in dark sayings. Were it presented to
them in clear light, they would pervert and profane it. But why
present it to them at all ? Because, in the first place, the Word is of
much indirect benefit to even natural men; and in the second place,
salvation being possible with, and therefore offered to all, the Lord
provides all with his truth as they are able to bear it and are most
likely to profit by it.
16. But happy are those whose state is the reverse of all this, and
to whom the Lord can say, blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your
ears, for ihey hear. To have the understanding and the will open to
the admission of heavenly light and love must be a blessed state
indeed. In this is realized the Lord's desire towards his creatures, and
their own true happiness.
17. The blessing connected with this state is spoken of as being
enhanced by the circumstance. That many prophets and righteous men
have desired to see those things which ye see, ancl have not seen them; and,
fo hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. This
refers to the fulfilment of the prophecies and promises to which the
wise and good of all ages had looked forward with hopeful desire, but
which the disciples were privileged to behold in the person ancl work
of the Incarnate God. But, as we have seen, there is a spiritual state
in the life of every regenerate man corresponding to that which pre
ceded the Lord's advent; and there is a looking forward of truth in
the intellect, and a desiring of good in the will — which are the prophet
and the righteous in us — to the time and state in which the things
which once were objects of faith and hope shall be the realized
possession of the heart and life; when, indeed, things that existed
abstractly in the remote conceptions of the inner man will exist
actuaUy in the practical experience of the outer life. To the former
state belongs the parable, to the latter its explanation ; for the second
state is the unfoldin" of the first.

Chap. XIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 329
18-23. These verses contain the Lord's explanation of the parable
of the sower, which has been incorporated with the parable itself, as
explained in verses 1-9.
24-30. Another parable put he forth unto ihem, saying. The king
dom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field :
hut while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and
went his way. In the previous parable there is one sower and one
kind of seed; in this there are two sowers and two kinds of seed.
The Divine Sower is here followed by his enemy, who sows tares
where he had sown wheat. In the foriner parable there were pre-exist
ing in the mind obstacles enough to the success of the sower's labours ;
here there is a new and extraneous aspect and element employed to
neutralize his work. This particular feature in the parable describes
a circumstance in the regenerate life similar to that recorded in the
4th chapter, where we read that Jesus was led of the Spirit into the
wUderness, to be tempted of the devil. The reception of the Lord's
truth and of the Spirit of tmth lays the mind open to temptation, as
induced by the spirits of darkness. Temptation is not, however, the
result of the mere admission of truth into the mind, even when
intellectually apprehended. There can be no temptation where there
is no goodness, for temptation is essentially a conflict between good
and evil ; yet evil assails good by means of falsity, and good defends
itself by means of truth. It is therefore the truth of good that lays
the mind open to temptation. That which the man of the present
parable sowed in his field is therefore called good seed, to indicate that
the implantation of the truth of good, and its confirmation by tempta
tion, is the subject treated of As this parable of the Lord contains
in it arcana relating to the separation of the evil from the good, and
concerning the last judgment as it took place in the spiritual world, it
is of importance it should be minutely explained. The kingdom of
heaven is the Lord's church in heaven and on earth, for the church is
in both worlds. The man, called in ver. 37 the Son of man, who
sowed good seed in his field, is the Lord as to divine truth, which is
the Word; the good seed is the divine truth, and the field is the
church, where the Word is. " But while men slept, his enemy came
and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way," signifies that
whilst men lead a natural life, or the life of the world, then secretly,
or when they are not aware, evils from hell insinuate and implant
falsities. To sleep signifies to lead a natural life, or a life in the world,
which life is sleep compared with spiritual life, which is wakefulness.
The enemy signifies evils from hell, which affect the natural life

330 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIIL
separate from spiritual Ufe; to sow tares is to insinuate and implant
falsities ; and his going his way signifies that it was done secretly, or
whilst they were unaware. But when the blade was sprung up, and
brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also, means, when truth
grew and good was produced, falsities from evil were intermixed; for
the blade springing up signifies truth, such as it is when first received,
fruit signifies good, and tares signify falsities derived from evil, in this
case intermixed. So the servants of tlie householder came and said unto
him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field ? from whence tlien
hath it tares ? By this is to be understood that those who are in
truths derived from good, perceiving that falses from evil were inter
mixed, then make complaint; for the servants of the householder
signify those who are in truth from good; the householder signifies
the Lord as to truths from good ; the good seed, the field, and the
tares signify the same as already explained. He said unto them. An
enerny (or adversary) hr.itli done this, signifies that those falsities were
from evil in the natural man. The servants said, unto Mm, Wilt tliou
then that we go and gather them (the tares) My; ? signifies the separation
and ejection of falsities derived from evil before truths derived from
good are received ancl increased. But he said. Nay ; lest while ye
gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with tliem, signifies that
tlius truth derived from good, and its increase, would also perish ; for
with the man of the church truths are intermixed with falsities, which
cannot be cast out and separated until they are reformed. Let both
grow together until ihe harvest : and in the time of harvest I will say to
the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind tliem in bundles
io burn them : hut gather the wlieat into my barn. The separation of
false principles derived from evil, and their ejection, cannot be effected
until it is the last state of the church; for then such falsities are
separated from the truths of good, and these falsities are delivered to
hell, and the truths of good — or, what is the same, tho.se who are in
them — are conjoined to heaven. These things are done in the
spiritual world, where all who are of the church, from its beginning
to its end, are in such a manner separated and judged. The harvest
is the end or last state of the church; binding in bundles signifies to
conjoin together the several species of falsities derived from evU; to
bum signifies to deliver to heU; and to bring together into the barn
to be conjoined to heaven.
31, 32. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying. The
kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man
took, and sowed in his field : which indeed is the least of all seeds;

Chap. XIlL] ST. MATTHEW. 331
hut when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and hecomeili
a free, so that ihe birds of the air come and lodge in the branches
thereof. When the Divine Word declares the deep depravity of
the human heart, and points out the long and severe labour of the
regenerate Ufe, we are sometimes disposed to be overwhelmed and
discouraged. There are not wanting, on the other hand, lessons that
give us relief and encouragement. The parable of the mustard seed
is one of these. It tells us, in language which every one can under
stand, that if the kingdom of heaven is really received into the heart,
the smallest possible beginning is sufficient to ensure a successful
issue, if we only persevere. In its spiritual sense the parable teaches
this lesson still more clearly. Tbe mustard seed is the symbol of
truth in which there is something of spiritual good. If only a little,
however little, of spiritual good has taken root in the heart, it grows
as seed in good ground. In the process of its growth the mustard
seed becomes first the greatest among herbs, and then a tree. When
faith is being conjoined to love, the spiritual principle within us is an
herb or a shrub, but when faith and love are actually united, it is a
ti-ee. And then the birds of the heavens come and make their nests
in its branches. Birds are thoughts, branches are knowledges; in
which, when man is regenerate, thoughts, or intellectual truths, are
multipUed. Nor is the encouraging lesson of this parable confined to the growth
of spiritual principles in the present life. For any one who, by com
bating against evil, as sin, has in the world procured anything
spiritual, however small, is saved, and his uses afterwards grow like a
grain of mustard seed into a tree.
"For so long as man lives in the body, the seed is in corporeal
ground, and is there entangled and obscured by scientifics and plea
sures, and by cares and solicitudes ; but when these are put off, as is
the case when he passes into the other life, the seed is loosened from
them and grows, as the seed of a tree grows when it rises out of the
ground to grow into a shrub, and then into a tree, and next to be
multiplied into an orchard of trees; for all science, intelligence, and
wisdom, with their delights and felicities, thus fructify and are multi
plied, and thereby increase to eternity, and this from the smallest seed,
as the Lord teaches respecting the grain of mustard seed; which may
be sufficiently manifest from the science, intelligence, and wisdom of
the angels, which was ineffable to them at the time they were men."
33. Another parable spake he unto them : The kingdom of lieaven is
like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal.

332 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIII.
This parable describes the formation of the heavenly state in the mind,
as effected or promoted by temptation. Leaven itself signifies what
is false derived from evil; and meal or flour, truth, from which good
is derived. Meal or flour has two significations. Considered as
the product of wheat, meal signifies truth derived from good ; but,
considered as that from which bread is made, it signifies truth
from which good is derived. As bread-making is the subject
of the present parable, the meal signifies truth from which
good is derived. The leavening process, which is the i)rominent
idea of the parable, is an expressive symbol of temptation. The
use of temptation is analogous to that of leavening or fermen
tation : it serves to purify good and truth. The purification
of truth from falsity in the mind cannot be effected, without that
tribulation to which fermentation cori'esponds, ancl which is the
combat of falsity with truth, and of truth with falsity. After the
conflict, when truth has triumphed, falsity falls down Uke dregs, and
leaves the truth pure like wine, which becomes clear after fermenta
tion. This conflict, meant by leavening and fermentation, belongs
chiefly to that turning-point or transition state in the regenerate life
where the Christian, who has hitherto acted from the truth of faith,
begins to act from the good of charity; or when his religion, which
has been hitherto chiefly of the head, begins to be of the heart. This
distinction between a state of truth and a state of good was repre
sented in a singular distinction ordained by the Jewish law between
the general meat offerings and that of the first-fruits. The pas.sover
and other feasts were required to be celebrated with unleavened bread,
leaven being strictly forbidden; but in the new meat offering at the
feast of the first-fruits, the wave-bread was commanded to be baked
leavened. The first-fruits, it is easy to see, represent a new state in
the regenerate Ufe. This new state is the state of good which succeeds
a state of truth, or of love that succeeds a state of faith. And to mark
this distinction, the preceding feasts were to be celebrated with bread
unleavened, but this with leavened bread. Thus, when we have sown
our seed, and have succeeded in bringing our harvest to that degree
of maturity which enables us to offer the first-fruits to tlie Lord, who
has crowned the year with his goodness, we have at lea.st entered on
that state which enables us to eat and to offer leavened bread— good
purified from e-vil by temptation. So is the kingdom likened unto
leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of meal. Let
us attend to the particulars. A woman represents affection; here the
aflection of that good on which the regenerate soul is entering, which

Chap. XIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 333
it desires, and to which it looks forward, as the woman did to the
bread for which she was preparing. The woman's taking the leaven
and hiding it does not imply that the regenerating man knowingly
adopts what is false, but that the false principle insinuates itself
into tlie mind through the affections. Her hiding it teaches that
falsity, when it has thus insinuated itself, lies concealed among the
truths which have been acquired, signified by the meal. And there
being three measures of meal, indicates that the mind, having attained
a full state of truth, is prepared to enter on a state of good ; and the
attainment of this state is indicated by the leaven remaining in the
meal till the whole was leavened. It is only when the whole is
leavened that the kingdom of heaven is realized.
Another lesson contained in this parable may be useful. Fermenta
tion not only signifies the purification of the individual man, but of
the coUective or social also. Spiritual fermentations are effected by
various methods, both in heaven and on earth. They are evils and
falsities together, which, being let into societies, produce effects similar
to those produced by leaven put into meal and new wine, by which
heterogeneous things are separated, and homogeneous things con
joined, and purity and clearness are effected.
36. We here read that when Jesus had sent the multitude awaj',
he went into a house, and his disciples came unto him, saying. Declare
unto us the parable of the tares of the field. This sending of the
multitude away, and going into a house with his disciples, evidently
signifies a change of state in which the natural thoughts and affections
recede, while the higher affections and thoughts are elevated into a
higher region or faculty of the mind. It describes a state, indeed, in
which man retires from the world, and enters into a more immediate
communion with the Lord, and is enlightened by him respecting those
external truths which had been addressed to him while in a more
external state of apprehension. The Lord, therefore, expounds the
jiarable to his disciples. His exposition we shall now consider.
37-43. He that soweth tlie good seed is the Son of man, .signifies
divine truth from the Lord; the field is tlie world, signifies the church
everywhere; tlie good seed are the children (or sons) of the kingdom,
signifies that divine truth is with those who are of the church ; ihe
tares are tlie children of the wicked one, signifies falsities with those
who are in evil; the enemy that sowed them is the devil, signifies that
they have falsities from evil which is from hell; the harvest is the end
ofthe world (consummation of the age), signifies the last time of the
church; and fhe reapers are the angels, signifies that divine truth from

334 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIIL
the Lord effects separation. The Son of man shall send forth Ms
angels, and ihey shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend,
signifies that divine truths from the Lord are about to remove those
who shall hinder separation ; and tliem which do iniquity, signifies that
they are those who live in evil; and shall cast ihem into ajurnace oJ
fire, signifies into hell, where they are who are in self-love, in hatred,
and revenge : there shall he wailing and gnashing of teeth, signifies
where there is what is direful arising from evils and falsities. Then
shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Fatlier,
signifies that they who have done the Lord's precepts will Uve in
heavenly loves and in their joys in heaven : they are called righteous
who acknowledge the Lord and do his precepts.
44. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure Md in afield;
the which when a man hath found, he liidelh, and for joy thereof goeth
and selleth all that he hath, and buyetli thai field. In the previous
parable the kingdom is compared to leaven hid in meal; here it is
compared to treasure hid in a field. In the former case the worse is
hid within the better; here the better is hid within the worse — at
least, the precious within the common. Does not this point to tliat
inversion of state of which we have spoken in treating of the last
parable ? The internal was occupied by an evil and disturbing
element; now, when tribulation has spent its force and done its
purifying work, a treasure is found where impurity dwelt. And now
also the treasure is appreciated, and is a source of joy; and to obtain
possession of it, the discoverer is disposed to sell all that he has. But
to obtain the treasure it is necessary to purchase the field in which it
lies hid. The treasure which the man found are the treasures of
v/isdom and knowledge as revealed in the Divine Word, and the field
is the church and heaven, not the church that is without him, but the
church that is within him — the principles that constitute the church,
especiaUy the good in which is tmth. But if the church containing
the treasure is within, why should he sell all that he hath to obtain
it ? Because these jirinciples are as yet only in the inner man, and
they are not truly a man's own till they have become principles of the
outer man also. And they cannot become so tiU the evils of self-love
and the love of the world, which have their abode in the outer man,
are removed to make room for them. These evils of the selfhood are
man's own and only property — the all that he hath ; the treasure and
the field are the Lord's. And these can be purchased and possessed
only by seUing all that he hath, which is to give up his own will and
wisdom, that he may make the divine -will the motive of his heart,

Chap. XIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 335
the divine wisdom the guide of his understanding, and both the rule
of his life. Nor is this now felt to be so very difficult a work ; for the
joy which he has in the newly-found treasure makes him wilUng to go
away and part with his old possessions. And when he has sold all,
the treasure is his, and he is the Lord's.
45. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man
seeking goodly pearls. The man of the previous parable found the
treasure ; this man goes in search of the pearls. After the mind has
been freed by tribulation from its obscurity and deadness, truths are
seen and joys are felt to which the mind was before a stranger. And
when these hid treasures, thus brought to light, have been acquired,
they give the mind a desire for more, and prompt it to seek after them.
Now, too, there is a definite object in view : goodly or beautiful pearls
are the objects of his search. These pearls are the beautiful and
precious truths that enlarge the mind's view of spiritual life and
eternal things, and that lead to a more perfect practice; and like the
pearly gates of the holy city, introduce the mind into the glories and
beatitudes of the second paradise. But this searcher also becomes a
finder : in seeking for pearls he finds one pearl of great price. This
pearl of pearls, this tmth of truths, is the truth as it is in Jesus —
the knowledge of him whom to know is life eternal. It is not the
merely intellectual, but the saving knowledge of the Lord, the
saving truth, that makes him to us, not the Saviour of the world
only, but the Saviour of our souls. This is the pearl of great price
for which the merchant man sells all that he hath. But what has
the regenerate man to sell if he has already sold all ? A man may
part with all that is opposed to religion so far as he has become
religious, but a new advance in truth or goodness brings some new
principle ofthe mind into action, and discloses some new evil or error
hostile to it which requires to be removed. And that which is
opposed to the love of the Lord, which has now been found, is the
love of self; as that which is opposed to the love of the neighbour, as
already remarked, is the love of the world. As there are two distinct
posse.ssions that belong to the selfhood, so there are two distinct acts
of alienation ; the aUenation of the lesser evil being meant by the
selling of the man's all in the last parable, and the alienation of the
greater e-vil by the selling of his all in this.
47-50. The Lord gives still another parable, which forms the last
ofthe present discourse. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a
net, that was cast into fhe sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when
it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into

336 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIIL
vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it he af the end of the world :
the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and
.'ihall cast them into the furnace of fire: ihere shall be wailing and gnash
ing of teeth. In a general sense the sea signifies the Word, and the fish
in the sea signify the living truths which the Word contains. Fishers
are' teachers who draw truths from the Word that they may impart
them to others ; and their net is the science or knowledge they em
ploy for the double jiui-pose of acquiring truths and converting men.
The general subject, or the internal historical sense of this passage,
relates to the end of the church, and the judgment by which that
event is attended in the spiritual world. " The separation of the evil
and the good is here likened to a net cast into the sea, which gathered
fish of every kind, because fish signify natural men as to scientifics
and knowledges ; and they, in the consummation of the age, or the
time of the last judgment, are separated from each other, for there are
natural good men and natural evil men. Their separation in the
spiritual world appears as a net cast into the sea, gathering and
ch-awing fish to the shore : this appearance is also for correspondence,
wherefore the kingdom is likened by the Lord to a net gathering fish."
Judgment being the subject of the parable, we may extend the a]-)pli-
cation. Consider it first in application to those who draw truths from
the Word, and judge, and separate between them. When we first
learn from the Word, we draw truths of every sort, consisting, how
ever, of two general kinds, which are genuine and apparent truths.
In the minds of the young, these are mixed or undistinguished ; but
when reason assumes its sway, it judges between them, gatheiing the
genuine into the vessels of true doctrine, and casting the apparent
away, — that is, removing them from the others, and placing them out of
the field of active use. But there is still another judgment, more prac
tical, because entering deeper in the life than this. A time comes
when it is required of us to judge of principles, not as they relate to
doctrine, but to life ; not to the understanding, but to the wUi. So
far as we are natural, we cast our net into the sea of life, and take up
all that comes, indulging without distinction in lawful and unlawful
pleasures, gains, likes and dislikes, ends and means ; or if we
distinguish between them, it is by a worldly rule applied by worldly
motives. As we acquire, not the knowledge, but the conscience of
good and truth, and act from the will, which is meant by sitting down,
we gather the good into the vessels of the inner memory, which is
into the life, and cast the bad away, or remove worldly ends away from
the life's love. That this judgment proceeds from a high spiritual

Chap. XIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 337
principle is indicated in the parable. There is nothing said in the
parable as to who cast the net into the sea, or who drew it to the
shore ; but in the Lord's explanatory application we leam that the
separation is effected by the angels. " In the consummation of the
age the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from an-iong the
just." That is to say, when we come to act from spiritual or heavenly
principles, the spiritual or heavenly principles of the internal man
" come forth " into the external, where the good and bad have been
mixed, and where the separation between them is to be effected.
Besides separating the wicked from the good, they are to cast them
into a furnace of fire, where shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
As the scriptural descriptions of the final place, and sufferings in the
other life, is only a description of their final state, operations, and ex
perience, so, when understood of separated principles, these descriptions
are only revelations of their real character. This casting into the fur
nace of fire means that these wicked principles are in themselves
burning lusts, and that it is their very nature to give birth to evil and
falsity, signified by wailing and gnashing of teeth.
The way to know the final state of the evil and the good is to know
the nature of evil and goodness ; and the way to avoid the furnace of
fire in the other world is to quench the fire of evil lusts while we live
in this.
In treating of this series of parables we have not always traced their
connection. This has been done by Clowes, whose remarks -we
quote, as a summing up of the whole. The serious and inteUigent
reader will be at once edified and delighted at observing that the
several parables contained in this chapter stand in a connected order
as to their internal sense, and thus follow each other in a regular
series, expressive ofthe whole process of regeneration, commencing with
the first reception of heavenly truth from the Word, and advancing
through all the gradation of its growths to the full maturity of heavenly
love and life. Accordingly, the^si parable, ofthe sower, describes the
first insemination of truth, whicli is the first step towards the heavenly
Ufe. The second parable, of the tares ofthe field, describes the mani
festation of evils and falses in consequence of such insemination, which
is a second step, and an effect of the first. The third parable, of the
grain of mustard seed, describes the small increment of heavenly life,
whilst man supposes that he does good from himself alone, and not
from the Lord, which is the third state in the regeneration. The
fourth parable, of the leaven, &c., describes the temptation consequent
on the reception of heavenly truth and good, which is a fourth state.

338 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIIL
T!he fifth parable, of treasure hid in afield, describes the further effect
of heavenly truth and good, in leading man to renounce his proprium,
or his own proper life, that he may appropriate the life of heaven,
which is signified by selling all that he hath, and buying that field,
which is a fifth state. The sixth parable, of the merchant man seeking
beautiful pearls, describes the effect of heavenly truth in leading man
to the acknowledgment of the Lord as the alone source of all good and
truth, and the consequent renunciation of self-love and its guidance,
which is a sixth state. The seventh parable, of a net cast into the sea,
describes the last effect of the reception of heavenly truth and good,
in accomplishing a full and final separation between goods and evils;
and between truths and falses, so that goods and truths are brought
into conjunction with heaven, v.rhilst evils and falses are cast down
into hell; and this is the seventh and last stage of the regenerate life,
51. When he had finished his parables, Jesus saith unto them.
Have ye understood all these things ? Addressed to tbe disciples, this
question is still asked of every one by the Spirit of the Lord, that
dwells within him ; and every true disciple must be able to answer.
Yea, Lord. Question and answer express reciprocation. Love asks,
and wisdom answers. And when the answer and the question corre
spond, there is unity of heart and undestanding.
52. Then said he unto him. Therefore every scribe which is instructed
unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man tliat is an householder,
which hringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. Literally,
a scribe was one skiUed in the law ; a scribe instructed unto the king
dom of heaven is one versed inthe gospel. Things new and old, which
the disciples, as scribes instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, were
to bring out of their treasures, are the truths of the Old and New
Testaments. Every heaven-instructed scribe must bring out of both
these treasure-houses the precious things, new and old, in such due
proportion as may be required for edification ; for the law and the
gospel are intimately connected, forming but two parts of one great
whole. There are, however, other two things included in these, which the
heaven-instructed scribe must bring forth ; which are the letter and
the spirit of the Word. In the Scriptures these are called old and
new, as where the apostle speaks of serving God, not accordino- to the
oldness of the letter, but according to the newness of the spirit. The
letter without the spirit is not only old, but dead, and therefore killeth.
The letter and the spirit together afford the means of perfect instruc
tion ; and these new and old things every scribe instructed unto the

Chap. XIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 339
kingdom of heaven will bring unitedly to bear on the eternal concerns
of men, and not less on his own, which it is his duty and his privilege
to promote.
53. And it came to pass, that wlien Jesus had finished these parahl&i,
he departed thence. When Jesus teaches men, and departs from the
scene of his labours, it is to represent that he first instructs his chil
dren, and then withdraws himself, leaving them freely to act upon the
lessons of Ufe he has imparted to them. We feel ourselves more in
the presence of the Lord when reading his Word ; but when we are
engaged in the business of the world, we feel as if we were alone We
are not then less in his presence, but are permitted to feel as if we
were alone, that we may act from liberty according to reason, and so
confirm by practice what he has taught us by precept.
54. But when the Divine Teacher withdraws from one place, he
goes to another. In the pi-esent instance he went to Nazareth, where
he had been brought up (Luke iv. 16). And when lie was come into
his own country, he taught them in ilieir synagogue. The Lord comes
to his own country in us, where he was brought up, when we con
template him as he appeared to us in our early life, when our thoughts
of Him, though reverential, were yet natural, when we saw him as
man, but knew him not as God. When he returns, it is in the power
of the Spirit, to preach a new doctrine in our old synagogues, to infuse
iuto our eariy religious notions higher ideas, to emancipate us from
the dominion of the senses, as well as from the slavery of sin. This state
is accurately described in the narrative, which is instructive in itself
If the Lord's words and works did not produce belief, they caused
astonishment. The people were astonished, and said. Whence liafh this
man this wisdom, and these mighty works ? The wisdom of the Lord's
words, and the might of his works, were not questioned ; the doubt
ing question was, whence he had obtained them. The inquiry is one
that may be legitimately and usefully made ; but we should strive to
obtain the true answer, which the Lord himself has given, — " Of my
self I can do nothing. As I hear I judge. The Father that dwelleth
in me, he doeth the works."
55, 56. The Nazarenes had seen Jesus as an ordinary man, and they
could not bring themselves to believe that he was anything more. Is
•not this ilie carpenter's son ? is not his mother called Mary ? and his
brethren James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas ? and Ms sisters, are
ihey not all with us ? Whence then lialh this man all these things ?
They who asked these questions were more excusable than those in the
present day who look upon Jesus as a mere man ; for these obstacles

340 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIIL
to a belief in his divinity are now removed out of the way of the senses,
which draw down the mind to sensual judgment, and the record of his
whole life is presented in the gospels, while to the evidences which his
words and works presented to the people of his own country are added
his resurrection and ascension, which raise him out of the category of
ordinary men, and, truly considered, declare him to be God in a
divine humanity. But the Spirit of inspiration, in adopting these in
quiries as a part of revelation, has embodied in them spiritual and
eternal truths. Joseph is not mentioned by name in this passage.
Jesus is called the carpenter's son. " His being apparently the son
of a carpenter, or worker in wood, confirmed the jseople in a natuial
idea respecting him, not understanding its divine signification, as
being representative of the good of life derived from the doctrine of
truth.'' In the general sense, Mary, the mother of Jesus, signifies the
church ; and the church is constituted by life, and not by doctrine
without it. To teach this representatively, the Lord on the cross con
signed Mary to John as his mother, and John to Mary as her son ;
ancl John, who represented the good of love, took her to his own
home, to represent that where the good of love is, there is the church.
Those called the brethren and sisters of the Lord represented rational
good and truth. " In the Lord himself is the celestial marriage,
being the essential divine good, and at tho same time divine truth.
Angels and men are in the celestial marriage so far as they are in love
to the Lord, and in charity towards the neighbour, and thence in
faith — that is, in the Lord's good, and thence in truth. Then they are
called daughters and sons, and amongst themselves sisters and brothers.
The reason why rational truth is called a sister is, because it is con
ceived by an infiux of divine good into rational truths ; the good
which is thence in the rational principle is called brother, and the
truth thence is called sister.'' The contemptuous ascription of mere
natural descent and relationship to the liOrd, when understood by
angels, as they may be obscurely by men, are changed into ideas of
spiritual affinity with him, according to his own declaration, " He
that doeth the will of my Father, the same is my brother, and sister,
and mother."
57. Those who pointed to his natural relationships were offended in
him. This is an example of the proneness of the natural mind to
judge of the Lord and his Word by appearances, and its repugnance
to connect visible effects with divine causes. The Word, as divine
truth, is precisely analogous to the Lord himself when on earth : it is
clothed with a natural body, which is its literal sense ; and those who

Chap. XIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 341
judge of the Word by the letter alone are similar to those who judged
of Jesus by the outward humanity alone. In both cases, within
those human appearances, from which the natural man judges the
whole to be human, there is a true spirituality and divinity that raise
them entirely above ordinary men and ordinary writings. When the
Lord saw the effects of the reasonings of the people, he said unto
them, A propliet is not witliout honour, save in Ms own country, and in
Ms own house. The literal truth of this is well illustrated by the case
of the Lord himself If any one could have escaped this common
fate of prophets, our Lord must have been that one ; yet even he was
no exception to the rule. If such was the experience of the Perfect
One, how much more the frail members of his household. As to the
spiritual meaning of this, the prophets represented the doctrine of
truth which they taught. The native country and the house of the
prophet are the understanding and will of the natural mind. The
doctrines and truths of the Word are, at their first reception, laid up
in the memory as knowledge, having the same place, and being on the
same level, as other knowledge relatUig to the world. So long as
they occupy this part of the mind they are not honoured above the
other matters of science with which they are mingled. It is only when
they are separated from other and inferior things, and made the sub
jects of a higher thought, and connected with higher ends, that they
obtain the honour that is due to them ; for they are then elevated
into the spiritual mind, and exalted in the affections and thoughts,
and invested with the authority which belongs to them. It is
possible, on the other hand, that when the time for decision comes,
the truths and doctrines of religion thus laid up in the natural memory
may be rejected and degraded, instead of being chosen and honoured ;
when the early disciple becomes offended in Jesus, and regards him
only as a man among men.
58. And lie did not -many mighty v)orks diere because of their unbelief.
It is a very common opinion that one great purpose of the Lord's
miracles was to produce belief. Here we find that unbelief was an
impediment to his performing miracles. Hence the question so
often put to applicants for cures, " Dost thou believe that I am able
to do this ? " Miracles may confirm and exalt belief, but they cannot
[iroduce it. The grouud of belief is in an honest and good heart, and
this miracles cannot create. The same principle holds good in our
individual experience in regard to the Lord's mighty works of regener
ating power. He can do no mighty work in us if our unbelief is such
as to hinder the operation of his love and truth within us. The Lord

342 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIY.
works in us through our faith. And if his mighty working in our hearts
and minds and lives is not exjierienced by ourselves, and made manifest
to others, it is assuredly because of our unbelief

CHAPTER XIV.

In the eleventh chapter we read of John, in prison, sending two of
his disciples to Jesus, to ask him if he was the promised Saviour, or
if they were to look for another. The cause of that eminent servant
of the Lord being shut up in the prisoner's cell, and the cause and
manner of his violent death, are brought to Ught in the beginning of
this chapter. Like many other teachers sent from God, he suffered
for his faithfulness and integrity. Although it may seem inconsistent
with an overruling providence that the just should suffer for their
righteousness, it evinces at least that God does not show any partiality
even in favour of these who serve him, but that it is the order of his
government that events should take their natural course, uninter
rupted by his special interference. So far on the circumstances relat
ing to John the Baptist as historical facts. As part of the Divine
Word, they contain a deeper sense, and convey a more instructive
lesson, which we no-w come to consider.
1, 2. At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame qf Jesus, and
said unto his servants. This is John the Baptist : he is risen from the
dead; and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him.
Herod, as the ruler of Galilee, represented the ruling principle in the
unregenerate natural mind, and the natural man, of which Galilee
was the symbol (eh. ii. 22). He heard of the fame of Jesus. Evil is no
insuperable obstacle to men acquiring the knowledge of spiritual ancl
divine things. But the effect is very different on them and on the
good. With Herod the knowledge of the fame of Jesus revives in his
mind the recollection of his crime against John ; and superstition,
which is the natural man's reUgion, leads him to see in this new power
the increased potency of an old and hated, and now dreaded enemy.
This is no unfaithful representation of the case of the evil in the other
life, where judgment follows crime. When they themselves are
risen from the dead, the Word wliich, because of its testimony against
their sins, they had destroyed in themselves, rises from the dead
with greater than its former power, as a testimony against them. For
the words which the Lord has spoken, and which he speaks in our
conscience, though silenced, are not absolutely destroyed, but will rise

Chap. XIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 343
against us even out of our own minds in the day of judgment. But, in
regard to the regenerate, this circumstance has another aspect. With
these, when in temptation, the truth is imprisoned in their own
natural minds, among the evUs and falses of the selfhood ; and when
the appearances of truth die, or are put off, the truth itself rises into
new life in a higher region of the mind ; and then it is no longer John,
but Jesus— not the letter, but the spirit of truth. Herod did not keep
his conviction of the identity of Jesus with John in his own heart,
but expressed it to his servants. His servants signify the thoughts
of the natural mind, and his telling them signifies the feeUngs of a
cormpt and guilty will finding utterance in the thoughts of a subser
vient understanding.
3. The evangelist then begins to relate the events which had given
rise to this surmise of the guilty tetrarch. For Herod had laid hold
on John, and bound him, and put him in pnsonfor Herodias' sake, his
brotlier Philip's wife. This aggravated crime of Herod represented the
complete adulteration of good and truth in the church. Herod's
hostile conduct towards John describes the sinner's determination to
sUence and repress the testimony of the Word against himself And
in the description of Herod's acts the completeness of this activity is
represented, for laying hold of .John signifies opposition of the wiU
to the divine truth, binding him signifies opposition of the under
standing, and putting him in prison signifies the ultimate effect of
both in the life.
4. For John said unto him. It is not lawful for thee to have her.
Jolm's noble testimony against Herod's aggravated and unnatural
crime represented the condemnation of sin, by the Word, as contrary
to divine order and to human happiness. When the lusts of the flesh,
or other natural concupiscences, tempt us to forbidden because debas
ing pleasures, we should Usten to the voice of God's truth, which ever
speaks to us in the words of him who still comes to prepare in our
minds the way of the Lord — " It is not lawful for thee to have her."
5. In the disposition of Herod to put John to death, we see the
effect of the Divine testimony on the hardened sinner, who desires not
only to silence, but to destroy the truth. That there was some faint
trace of conscience even in the mind of Herod, appears from the record
ofthe evangelists; but the outward consideration was stronger than the
inward dictate. And when he would have put him to death, he feared
the midtitude. The fear of man is not without its use : it prevents the
perpetration of many crimes. Yet the fear of man only restrains ; the
fear of God constrains. Of this truth Herod is a striking example.

344 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIV.
Spiritually, the multitude are the affections and thoughts of tho
natural mind — those which have been brought under the influence of
the principles of religion in early or in simpler states of life. Although
the lessons of truth may not have taken root in the heart, they yet
check us in our sinful career. Because they counted him as a propihet.
The Word is still acknowledged as a teacher of truth and righteous
ness, whose authority is not to be entirely defied.
6. When the soul is progressing in sin, these suggestions of external
truth are easily and effectually silenced by the influence of inward
passion. The history of Herod's crime against John, naturally and
spiritually understood, teaches this. But when Herod's birthday was
kept. Birth signifies the coming into actual existence in the external
of what has been purposed and deliberated in the internal — thus, the
bringing an intention into act. Here, indeed, we have not a birth,
but the celebration of a birthday ; but we celebrate birthdays only
because we rejoice in the birth, and our joy includes rejoicing in the
continuance and progress of a life which was commenced on the day
we keep in its honour. The rejoicing on a birthday denotes also a
state of the delight of the aflections, which disposes the mind to yield
to the ruling tone of the person or principle born. The new state
represented by that of Herod on his birthday is pregnant -with warn
ing. A crime, from which he had been restrained by the fear of the
multitude, he is now led to commit through a promise to an unscru
pulous woman. When the restraining influence of fear yields to the
promptings of corrupt affection, we have entered on a new stage of
sinful indulgence. The daughter of Herodias danced before them, and
pleased Herod. What is here rendered " before them," literally means
in the midst of them ; and this spiritually signifies what occupies the
centre of the affections and thoughts, and exercises a commanding in
fluence over them. Dancing has been employed in the most profane,
as well as in the most sacred rites, acquiring a character from the
object it is designed to promote. It signifies the pleasantries and
joy of the affections, whether they be good or evil. The daughter of
Herodias signifies the affection of evil in the will ; and when this
puts itself, so to speak, into the most graceful or alluring attitudes
and exciting action, its influence on an already yielding intellect mav
easily be imagined.
7. The eff'ect of her dancing upon Herod is most striking, and
reads us a most useful lesson. He is first fascinated, and then blindly
abandons himself to the dominion of his enchantress, even bindino-
himself by an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. Ancl such is

Chap. XIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 345
the progress of evil. The analogy with the spiritual life is easily
seen. The principal point here is the promise upon oath. An oath
signifies confirmation, either in good or evil, as the case may be. Con
firmation belongs to the understanding. Consent is dangerous, but
confirmation is fatal. And the understanding may be so influenced
as to blindly give up the reins to passion, regardless of consequences,
V/hen the understanding says to the will, " Ask what thou wilt, and
I will give it thee," we may be sure the result will be sinful and
disastrous. 8. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said. Give me here
John Baptist's head in a charger. The affection of evil, which is the
daughter, acts under the direction, or from the prompting, of the evil
and depraved will, which is the mother. And what should such a
will desire of the understanding? To give up to its power that
truth which had reproved it, to deny and reject the Word itself,
which is as a standing condemnation, to deprive it of all authority and
rule in matters of life — this is to give the head of John the Baptist.
She desired it should be given in a charger. All vessels signify know
ledges or scientifics. When truths are received into false scientifics,
they themselves become falses, being falsified ; so that even the
highest and principal truths are turned into the lowest and deadliest
of falsities.
9. And the king was sorry : nevertheless, for the oath's sake, and them
ivhicli sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. A new
step in sin is seldom made without compunction. Nay, some never
repeat an old sin without awakening a feeling of remorse ; but the
sin is repeated nevertheless. The intellect may see an act to be
wrong, and yet consent to it, and lend itself to its commission. This
weak and sinful compliance arises from the fact that the intellect has
already bound itself as if with an oath to the corrupt will. Another
consideration that swayed Herod's mind was what the world calls
honour, for them that sat at meat with him — those who are joined by
the appropriation of a common good or evil. All the affections,
therefore, that participated in the prevaUiug evil bound the mind
still more firmly to its sinful promise. When Herod, bound by his
oath and his honour, commanded that John's head should be given to
her, he acted as those he represented act, from both evil and falsity.
10. And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. This wreat crime
committed against the law of God and man, on one who was more
than a prophet, because he had honestly reproved sin in the cause of
holines,s, and in love for the sinner, represented a crime still greater

346 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIV.
¦ — the separation of the internal of the Word from its external, and
the consequent destruction of both, which is the beheading of him
who represented the Word. This separation of the principles from
the laws of truth reduces the divine laws to a dead letter, and
makes righteousness either lifeless or hypocritical.
11. And Ms head was brought in a charger, and given to tlie damsel :
and site brought it to her mother. The purjjose was the mother's, and,
after its accomplishment through various agencies, it returns to her
in its present horrid shape — such, one might suppose, as would cause
the most obdurate sinner to tremble. Can it be supposed that any
one not utterly abandoned could be guilty of such a crime ? If
under the law of Christ hatred is murder, and hatred of a person is
hatred of his principles, there is the possibility of this crime being
committed in another form, even by those who jjrofess veneration for
that Word which John represented. Practically to deny any of the
great principles of the Word is spirituaUy to do as the wife of
Herod did. When an evil, proceeding as an intention from the will,
has been carried out into act, and obtains the approval of the v/ill
which purposed it, the circle has been completed which makes it com
pletely our own. Evil has returned to its origin, and that which in
this world gratifies the love of evil will in the next produce wretched
ness and woe. We cannot think of the death of John the Baptist with
out reflecting on the seeming inscmtablenessof Divine Providence. One
who was devoted from his mother's womb to be the messenger sent to
prepare the way of the promised Saviour, and who went before him in
the spirit and 23ower of Elias, we see smitten down by an unprincipled
ruler to gratify the personal revenge of a wicked woman. May we
not say with David, in his lamentation over Saul, " How are the
mighty fallen!" But if we lament, need we be astonished? Was
not the fate of John also the fate of Jesus ? And, no doubt, there is
some analogy between the case of the messenger and that of the Lord
whose way he came to prepare. John represented, and Jesus was, the
Word. John represented the written Word, Jesus was the V/ord in
carnate. The rejection, like the reception, of the written Word pre
ceded, and always precedes, the rejection of the incarnate Word,
John prepared the Lord's way in his life ; he prepared his way also
iu his death. There is some difference, however. John fell a victim
to the kingly power ; Jesus to the priestly power. John was put to
death in Galilee ; Jesus in Judea. All these circumstances, repre
sentative as they were, point to the fact that the men of the church
treat the Lord as they treat his Word. Those who deny the divinity

Chap. XIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 347
of the Word deny also the divinity of the Lord. Those who be
head John come also to crucify the Son of Man.
12. When Herod had put John to death, his disciples came, and took
upthe body, and buried it,and went and told Jesus. Thedisciplesof John,
taking up his body and burying it, represented the transfer of the church
to others, when the former has been utterly perverted ; and also the
preservation of the Word, so as that its pure truths shall be capable
of restoration in the interval between the end of a former church and
the establishment of a new one. The body of John is the letter of
the Word itself. Hence, then, we are taught that, while the Word
is utterly rejected in the minds of the corrupt members of a former
church, it is nevertheless preserved and reinstated among a new body
of people, who are wiUing to be disciples indeed. It has, how
ever, a more particular application. In regard to the disciples of
John, it is to be considered that John's imprisonment was to them a
trial, and their trial represented a temptation. The death of John,
though it represented the extinction ofthe Word or the Divine truth
in the minds of the evil, represented its exaltation in the minds of
the good. And the exaltation represented is effected by the putting
off of the letter, and the raising up of the spirit of the Word, as it is
received and acknowledged in the mind. And whether we speak of
putting off the letter of the Word, and raising it up in the spirit, or
raising the Lord's truth out of the natural mind into the spiritual, it
amounts to the same ; for divine truth in the letter is adapted to our
natural apprehension, and in the spirit to our spiritual apprehension ;
and its resurrection in us is its elevation into the perception of our
spiritual mind. This elevation of the Word brings the mind into
more immediate connection with the Lord as the divine good, indi
cated by John's disciples coming and telling Jesus — this name being
expressive of the Lord as to his divine love or goodness.
13. When Jesus heard of it, he departed tlience by ship into a desert
place apart. This retirement of Jesus into the solitude of the desert
was, we learn from Mark and Luke, because of the multitudes which
were " coming and going." Yet why should the Lord himself propose
(Mark vi. 31) to go with his disciples into a desert place apart, and
rest awhile, when he knew that the multitudes would follow him, and
even outgo him ? Does not this teach us that the Lord had another
purpose, and that his departure has another meaning ? The Lord some
times leaves us, that we may follow him. He withdraws into the desert
solitudes of our own minds, that we may go with him, there to behold
the wonders of his power, and see a table spread for us even in the wil-

348 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIV.
derness, that, where all natural and human resources faU, his power and
goodness may become more conspicuous in our deliverance and support.
This desert place also represents a lower or more external part of the
mind ; for it was on the east of the sea of Galilee, external to the land
of Palestine itself, though on that side where the two tribes and a half
had originally settled. And in descending into a more external part
of the mind, his purpose is to bring his regenerating po-n'er and opera
tion down into our lower affections and thoughts, and into the words
and actions of our lives. It is in the ultimate degree of the mind,
also, that his power is most fully manifested. No doubt, also, the
Lord's departure was on account of the death of John, to represent
that the rejection of his truth deprives the guilty mind of his presence.
The Lord, therefore, when he went into a desert place, not only knew,
but intended, that the multitude should follow him, as they eagerly did.
To follow the Lord is to follow the teachings of.his truth, and imitate
his example ; to go out of the cities on foot is to live a life of natural
obedience from the doctrines of truth.
14. Those who follow the Lord will find the tmth of the Divine
promise, that if they draw near to him he will draw near to them.
And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with
compassion toward them, and lie healed their sick. As these great
multitudes represent the numerous affections and thoughts of the
natural mind, which have sought to be elevated to a more interior
communion and conjunction with the Lord, he whom the activity of evil
had caused to retire inwards now comes forth to communicate the
blessings desired and so much needed. When he saw the multitude
be "was moved with compassion toward them." Jesus, as the Divine
Man, cannot be moverl with compassion, for he is mercy itself His
compassion is said to be moved when it moves us — when it works in us
penitence and humility, a sense of our own inherent destitution, and a
sincere desire to be replenished with the blessings of spiritual and
eternal life. And here we may point out the reference to the two
essential attributes ofthe Lord's divine nature. For "to come forth"
refers to the activity of his love, while "to see" refers to the activity
of his wisdom ; and, again, to be "moved with compassion" has
reference to the saving operation of his love, while "to heal their
sick'' has reference to the saving operation of his wisdom.
15. When the Lord had healed their sick, and vilien it was evening,
his disciples came to him, saying. This is a desert place, and tlie time is
now past ; send the multitude away, that they may go into fhe villages,
and buy themselves victuals. The disciples did not yet understand, or

Chap. XIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 349
did not on the occasion reflect upon, the Lord's infinite resources. But
these circumstances were ordered, as they are recorded, to convey a
spiritual lesson. The suggestion of the disciples describes the state of
the regenerate while they are yet in an obscure perception of the
truth, signified by evening, which leads them to think that man must
acquire good by an extemal way, meant by going away into the
vUlages, and by his own power, meant by buying themselves victuals.
They are like Israel in the desert, — they turn to Egypt, insiiead of look
ing to heaven, for the supply of their wants.
16, 17. But Jesus said unto ihem. They need not depart. The disciples
did not perceive the Lord's meaning : their hearts were yet hardened.
When the Lord said, give ye them fo eat, they looked to themselves,
and thought of their own small store, without reflecting on the Lord's
power and resources, and more especially on what he himself had just
commanded them to do. And they say unto Mm, We have here but
Ave loaves, and two fishes. The bread and fish signify the spiritual
food, consisting of good and truth, which sustains the soul. They
here signify the remains of goodness and truth ; and the miracle, with
all the particulars connected with it, contains a most beautiful
description of the way in which these are brought out, and increased,
and appropriated, so as to make them the elements of the spiritual
body — of the life and character. The disciples are here to be con
sidered as sustaining a twofold representation. On one side they
represent the interior affections of the natural mind, where the
remains of good and truth are stored up; while the multitude repre
sent the exterior affections, among which the increase of these
remains are distributed. The interior natural principle, where re
mains are stored up and preserved for future use, is more specifically
pointed out in John's account of the miracle, and is signified by the
" lad," who had the flve loaves and two small fishes. On the other
hand, the disciples represented the truths proceeding immediately
from the Lord, as the Truth itself, and the fountain of all
blessing, 18. When the disciples told the Lord of the scanty means thev
possessed — but five loaves and two fishes — He said. Bring fhem hither
to me. This is the first, and an all-important condition of spiritual
increase. Stored up during early life, good and truth remain in the
mind as the means of commencing and forming the spiritual life in
mature years; but they never enter into the life until, in obedience to
his command, they are brought to the Lord, or until the things
we have learned and imbibed relating to the Lord and to eternal life

350 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIV.
are turned to him as their Author, and are acknowledged to be
his. 19. When remains, and, by their means, the mind that contains
them, are turned to the Lord, and are thus consciously connected
with him, he can bring into orderly arrangement the principles of the
natural mind, represented by his commanding the midtitude to sit down
(or recline) on the grass. Gi-ass signifies the lowest kind of knowledge,
and the people sitting on the grass represent the arrangement of
truths in knowledges. Another significant act follows. The loaves
, and fishes that had been brought to the Lord he now takes. The
Lord's taking the loaves and fishes signifies to adjoin to himself, as the
es,sential Good and Truth, the good and truth of remains in the human
mind. And then, looking up to heaven, he blessed, to represent the
opening of the spiritual mind — the heaven of the inner man, and the
descent through it, from the Lord's Divine Love, which is the Father
in heaven, of that mercy and peace which bless our acquired good
and truth with spiritual life, and give them the power of supplying
all our spiritual wants, and satisfying our highest desires. When the
Lord had blessed, he brake the bread, and gave the loaves io-liis disciples,
and the disciples to the multitude. This breaking of bread is a beauti
fully significant act, and has descended from the earliest times, when
every act had a distinct and understood meaning. In those times
bread was broken, when given by one to another, symbolically to
express the imparting of one's own good to another; or when one piece
was broken among many, it expressed the communion of good; and
in both cases it was given and received as a token of brotherly love
and conjunction. And such was the meaning ancl the purpose of the
breaking of bread in the early Christian church. When, therefore,
our Lord brake the bread, he symbolically expressed his love for his
people; while, by distributing the broken bread among the multitude,
he expressed his desire that they should be conjoined to him, and also
to each other, by their reception from him, and their partaking with
each other, of a common good — the good of love to him and to one
another. The Lord gave the loaves to the disciples to distribute to
the multitude, to rejiresent that his good is communicated through
heaven and the church, by which it is accommodated to the different
states of human reception, and, more abstractly considered, that his
gifts descend by distinct degrees from himself to his creatures, lu
the particulars recorded in these two verses we may observe a circle,
or an ascending and descending series, of operations. The loaves are
brought by the disciples to the Lord. By him they are, as it were.

Chap XIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 351
raised from earth to heaven, whence they descend with the blessing of
eternal love, to be given, thus enriched, to feed the hungering souls of
those who occupy the sphere from whence they came.
20, 21. We now come to that part of the transaction which places
it, in the Ust of miracles, as one of the greatest. And they did all eat,
and were filled. Here was a mighty work. Ten thousand fed to
fullness by a provision sufficient for a few persons ! This miracle is no
doubt of the same character as that of the manna, that for forty yeai's
daily fed the ten thousands of Israel in the desert. Nor is the miracle
very difficult to explain. When we know that creation is an out-
birth from God, that the order of creation is from spirit to matter,
and that matter is but the natural form and covering of what is
spiritual, we can see that material forms may at any time be
instantaneously produced by an extraordinary infiux of Divine Truth
from the Lord through the .spiritual into the natural world. .We need
not, however, suppose a creation of new matter, or of something out of
nothing; for the spiritual principle descending into the sphere of
nature clothes itself with the substances already existing, concreting
that which was previously abstract or diffused. This implies, of
course, a creation, and therefore a divine power; and this our Lord
possessed. What act could be more appropriate for the Lord Jesus
Christ to do than to multiply the loaves and fishes? "All things
were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that
was made " (John i. 3). It is, however, with the spiritual meaning of
the miracle that we have mainly to do. Spiritually regarded, it tells
us of a work of divine goodness and wisdom not less wonderful, and
.still more interesting to us, than the multiplication of the loaves and
fishes. It tells us that the remains of good and truth, small though
they be, and inadequate, as the acquisitions of youth, to supply the
spiritual wants of the full-grown man, are yet, when called forth
into use, and brought under the influence of him by whose providence
they were implanted, capable of immense and indefinite increase ; so
as to be not only sufficient to supply the immediate demands of the
soul, however great, but to leave a remnant greater than that from
which the supply was produced. For they took up of the fragments
that remained twelve baskets full. The twelve baskets of fragments
that remained signify fulness of instruction and appropriation. The
quantity left indicates the abundance of the supply. Naturally, the
abundance of the fragments of a feast is not of necessity a true index
of the quantity consumed. Spiritually, however, the more that is
taken the more there is left. The more we appropriate, the more

352

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIV,

fragments remain to be gathered up into the receptacles of the mmd,
that nothing that God has blessed and multiplied may be lost, but
that all remains may be stored up in the affections of the will, ot which
the baskets are the types. Baskets denote things of the will, because
they are vessels to contain meats, and because meats signify celestial
and spiritual goods, and these are of the wUl. It is worthy of remark,
that the multiplication of the loaves and fishes was not effected by a
single act, so as to produce the necessary quantity at once, before the
food was distributed, but was increased in the eating, to teach us the
momentous truth, that spiritual good is multiplied in the using. It is
like the cruse of oil and the barrel of meal : one continued to flow
while there was a vessel to receive it; the other never faUed whUe
there was a use that required it. The extent of the demand but
increases the supply, for the source is infinite. Of the few loaves and
fishes, they that had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women
and children. These signify all who are of the church in truths from
sood : men, those who are in tmth ; women and children, those who
are in good.
22. After performing this miracle, straightway Jesus constrained his
discipiles to get into a ship, and to go before him unto ihe other side, while
he sent the multitudes away. The circumstance which comes now to
be considered is of a singularly interesting character. It manifests
the Lord's divinity in a most striking manner, and teaches us a lesson
of humUity that it is most important for us to learn. We need not
dwell on the particulars that merely resemble those that have already
been explained. The leading features of the narrative are the Lord's
walking on the sea and Peter's unsuccessful attempt to imitate his
Master's example. The scene presented before us in this and the next
verse is entirely different from. that which we have just contemplated.
Here we have the Lord alone upon a mountain, the disciples on the
sea, and the multitude sent away to their own homes. This separa
tion between those who were so near to each other is attended with
results which are descriptive of the Christian's experience in corre
sponding circumstances. Changes of state like the present, though
painful, are beneficial. They are under the directing hand of Pro
vidence. And so the Lord constrained his discijiles to get into a ship,
and go before him unto the other side. They were now passino- over
into Canaan, and were therefore progressing from a less to a more
perfect state.
23. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a
mountain apart to pray : and wlien the evening was come, he was there

Chap. XIV.] ST. MATTHEW, 353
alone. The Lord's sending the multitude away, as well as the dis
ciples, while he himself went up into a mountain apart to pray,
presents to our minds, if they are in any degree enlightened by
his tmth, a scene of solemn grandeur, which we may see shadowed in
our own active duty and experience in corresponding circumstances,
when all lower thoughts and feelings are dismissed, and we ascend
into the holy mountain, to seek communion with God in contempla
tion and prayer. The Lord's desire for this communion was incon
ceivably ardent; his prayers were inconceivably fervent; the union he
sought with God was inconceivably intimate. When we reflect that
the Divinity with whom he sought to be united was the Divinity that
dwelt within him, how much more intense must all his human feeUngs
have been than any that mere man ever experienced ! Apart from
its connection witli the other particulars of the history, the scene
here presented to our view is sublime and impressive. Jesus in the
mountain, alone all night, and in prayer ! As the Lord was truly
man as well as truly God, the feelings that prompted him to withdraw
from the world, and spend a night in solitude and prayer, were real
human feeUngs ; and his doing so is instructive to us as human crea
tures, who are to learn from his example. It teaches us that, however
useful and innocent our life may be, we yet require occasionally to
raise our minds above the cares and temporaUties of the world, that
we may be alone with God, and enter into solemn communion with
him. These were among the means by ¦which the humanity of the
Lord progressed towards that perfect union with his Divinity, which
is the origin and the pattern of the union of the external with the
internal in ourselves, and our consequent conjunction with him; and
a similar course is necessary for us, who have a corresponding work to
perform. Nor is this lesson from the circumstance at all inconsistent
with, or even separate from, the representative character of our Lord's
actions. The representative does not lessen, but greatly exalts the
actual While we understand that all these events are transacted
spiritually in the human mind during regeneration, we see that if the
Lord is really in our understandings and hearts as the Truth and the
Life, his Spirit will constrain us to do as he has done, while passing
through the very states which he underwent. Not that we are to
imitate the Lord with a presumptuous literaUty, but to follow at that
distance which our finite nature and our feeble powers enable us to do.
To have these events realized in our experience is the object of the
spiritual sense which they contain. To have the Lord's saving truth
exalted in our hearts — ^to have it there alone as our only ruling prin-
2 A

354 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIV.
ciple— alone from worldly, but not from that heavenly love which is its
true life, and to which its aspirations ascend, — this is to realize in our
experience the scene presented to our minds in the Lord's going up
into the mountain. There may, indeed, be obscurity in this state, for
all prayer implies a desire for comfort and illumination ; and in some
cases it is the evening, to be foUowed by the night, through which wc
long for the morning.
24. But while the Lord was on the mountain in solitude and prayer,
his disciples were in the ship ; and the ship was now in the midst of
ihe sea, tossed with waves : for the wind was contrary. We have here
a representative description of the lower region of the human mind, as
subjected to the trial of temptation, when agitated by conflicting
passions — when the wind is contrary, and the sea is tossed with waves?
and sometimes even raised into a storm that threatens to shatter our
frail bark, or swallow it up, with every living affection it contains.
Temptation is a confiict between good and evil, thus between the
good affections and evU passions excited into action by an influx from
the kingdom of darkness, which, like the wind that raised the
waves in the sea of Galilee, is contrary to our progress towards the
holy land.
25. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them,
walking on tlie sea. The disciples had spent the night in tribulation, but
the dawning of the day brings them relief The Lord descends from
the mountain, and comes to them walking on the sea. We may
perceive iu this beautiful ancl evidently symbolical incident a historical
representation of a matter of Christian experience. The Christian
disciple has sometimes the experience of a state at once of outward
tribulation and inward peace. The Lord, with his divine truth, may
be in the inward man, raising the affections and thoughts to heaven,
while the spirits of darkness may be exciting the lusts and passions of
the natural mind, and producing a feeling of apprehension almost
amounting to despair. And this sorrow may endure for a night, but
joy cometh in the morning. This sense of danger arising from
tribulation, and the tribulation itself, are the result of the difference
and separation, or want of correspondence and conjunction, between
the internal and external man, or the natural and the spiritual mind.
But these tribulations are permitted for the purpose of producing the
desired correspondence as the means of conjunction. It is when the
tribulation has so far produced this effect that the morning dawns,
and the Lord descends from the mountain of the inner man, walkino-
upon the very element whose tempestuous heavings had caused the

Chap. XIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 355
danger and alarm, to give the troubled soul a sense of security and
promise of deliverance. And the correspondence and connection
between the spiritual and the natural is expressed by the fourth
watch — a number which, like two, signifies conjunction.
26. And when ilie disciples saw him walking on the sea, ihey were
troubled, saying, It is a spirit : and ihey cried out for fear. The sphere of
the Lord's immediate presence sometimes troubles the mind and inspires
fear. The feelings of the disciples arose, however, partly at least,
from misapprehension. They saw, but jierceived not. They saw the
form, but did not perceive that it was the Lord who had come to
rescue them from their perilous situation. Tiiey supposed it to be a
spirit or apparition. In spiritual danger arising from temptation,
when the mind is in the dim twilight of intellectual percejition, the
truth is seen, but not understood ; and not only not understood, but
misunderstood, and seen rather as a phantom to terrify, than a real
being to comfort. Sometimes, too, conscience invests an object with
a shape and character which are the coinage of its own apprehensions,
the Nemesis of its own state. The disciples were in such extreme
fear that they cried out ; and, as the utterance of an oppressive feeling
brings relief, so, when spiritual fear finds expression, the mind is
prepared for deliverance. The extreme or ultimate of any state of
spiritual trial opens the way to a state of tranquiUity. But while
considering this circumstance in its spiritual sense, we must not pass
it over as a literal fact.
27. But straightway Jesus spake unto ihem, saying. Be of good
cheer : it is I; be not afraid. By a word, the deepest fear was turned
at once into the highest joy. So do the Scriptures describe, as well as
represent, the transition from one extreme to the other in the
experience of the righteous. " Light shall arise in the darkness, your
sorrow shall be turned into joy," are among the promises to those who
are plunged by spiritual tribulation into darkness and anguish of
spirit. And this is but the reaping of a harvest which they have
themselves prepared ; for " light is sown for the righteous, and
gladness for the upright in heart." The Lord's night upon the
mountain prepared for the deUverance he was now about to afford his
suffering and terrified disciples; for it is when the truth has been
exalted in the inner man, and more fully united with its own good,
that it can descend into the outer man, and first walk in safety and
majesty upon its turbulent waters, and then hush the wind into silence,
and the waves into profound repose. How assuring and comforting in
the midst of the storm must be the voice of one who has so often helped

S56 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIV,
us hitherto, our confidence in whom has grown out of our experience!
And even when the eye, as the emblem of the intellect, may be
deceived, as was Mai-y Magdalene's, yet the ear no sooner hears the
familiar voice than recognition, with all its joy, ensues, " It is I : be
not afraid," is sufficient to cheer the heart in its deepest despondency,
as must have been the experience of the disciples.
28. And Peter answered Mm and said. Lord, if ii be thou, bid me
come unto thee on the water. Among the disciples there was one who,
unlike the rest, was not satisfied with being restored to confidence
from a state of alarm, and wUling to wait till the Lord should come to
them into the ship, but whcse eagerness to meet his Divine Master
prompted him to ask to be invited to come to him on the water.
Peter represented faith, or that reception of the truth which makes the
Lord the object of faith. When that disciple said, " If it be thou, bid
me come unto thee on the water," he wished to do naturally what we,
through faith, desire to do spirituaUy in corresponding circumstances.
When the truth is revealed to us through the affection of truth, our
intellectual zeal is excited to attempt what we are not always able,
because not prepared, to perform — to come to the Lord on the water —
without reflecting sufficiently whether our faith is strong enough to
support us on its troubled waves, and enable us to make our way to
the Lord through the angry element that he, in his strength, is able
to tread upon.
29, 30. Yet the Lord, in his providence, sometimes permits us to try
our strength, that we may discover our weakness. Jesus indulged
Peter's impetuous temper by inviting him to Come. Nor was there
anything inconsistent with his love and truth in answering Peter
according to the disciple's love and faith. The Lord desires that all
should come unto him, and the attempt on our part is often the only
effectual means of teaching us the causes of our failure and the
conditions of success. Peter's attempt to walk upon the sea has
left on record a lesson that will teach humility wherever the gospel
is preached. When Peter was come down oui oJ tlie ship, he walked
on the water, io go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous,
he was a/raid; and, beginning to sink, he cried, saying. Lord, save
me I How strikingly does this represent a feature in our Christian
conduct and experience ! Peter in the ship was bold and confident ;
but when he came down from the ship, and planted his footsteps
on the angry sea, he became timid and doubting, and then he began
to sink. While we are in doctrine, and think and speak from
it, we have great faith in ourselves, which assumes to us the appear-

Chap. XIV.] ST. MATTHEW, 357
ance of faith in the Lord, and we suppose that in the strength of that
faith we are able to do anything. But when we come down out of
doctrine, and enter on the labours, and face the difficulties and trials
of life, we soon find that doctrinal faith and practical faith are two
different things. This untried, and so far merely intellectual faith,
may endure for awhile, as Peter's did, for its first impulse carries us
forward and upholds us for a time ; but when we see the wind bois
terous, the thoughts excited into turbulent commotion by the influence
of the kingdom of darkness, fear seizes the mind, and we begin to fail.
This experience of our weakness is the lesson the Lord intends to
teach, by permitting us to make the trial. And it has the good effect
of leading us to feel our need of the Saviour, and to call upon him to
save us. When we can be brought by experience to such a sense of
our feebleness as to cry out from the depth of broken and contrite
hearts, "Lord, save me!" we have arrived at a state of mind, far
nearer to the kingdom of God than when we boldly, in self-confidence,
confronted the danger.
31. We therefore find that when Peter cried out for the Lord to
save him, immediately Jesus stretched forth Ms hand, and caught him.
That hand, able to save to the uttermost, is ever ready to be stretched
out to take hold of the perishing sinner, or the self-confident disciple,
when the Lord's power is sincerely and humbly invoked. The (Uvine
power has been brought savingly near to us by the Lord's assuming
our nature ; but before his power can be manifested and magnified in our
salvation, it must have an humbled mind and contrite heart to act upon.
The Lord's power is always with us, but it can only be manifested in
our weakness. It is through our sense of the need of his support that
he stretches out his hand ; and through our desire to be saved that
he takes hold of us. When the Lord had saved Peter, he administered
the loving and gentle reproof, 0 ihou of little faith, wherefore didst
fliou doubt ? The Lord's words implicitly teach that, if Peter's faith
had been sufficiently strong, he might have walked upon the sea. The
Lord's reproof should remind us that failure in any attempt which has
his sanction originates in want of faith, and in the doubts that arise
in our hearts.
32. When ihey were come into the ship, ihe wind ceased. In this
second time of calming the storm we see another instance of the
Lord's power over the elements of the outer world, and have another
assurance of his power over those of the inner also, whose tribulation
he can still, if we but admit him into our hearts through love, and
into our minds through faith. But the wind ceased when Jesus and

358

ST. MATTHEW, [Cjap. XI V.

Peter came into the ship. When the Lord enters through faith into
doctrine, or into our knowledge of his truth, the contrary influence of
falsity ceases, and prosperity attends us in our religious life.
33. The miracle of making the wind cease had the happy effect of
confirming the Lord's disciples in the belief in his divinity. They
thai were in the ship came and ivorshipped him, saying. Of a truth thou
art the Son qf God. Whatever this worship and acknowledgment
included in the minds of the disciples at the time, we are instructed
by the divine record that deliverance by the Lord produces in the
mind a conviction of his being the true Object of worship, and leads to
the profound worship of him as such. But when can we, as disciples,
•say, "Of a truth thou art the Son of God"? V/hen the power ofhis
Divine humanity has been displayed in working the truly divine
miracle of restoring tranquilUty to the mind, which the prince of the
power of the air has been able seriously to disturb. But this title of
the Son of God is also expressive of the principle of Divine Good in the
Lord's humanity; so that he is the Son of God to us experimentally,
when the good of his love has been received in our will, and has thus
become the ruling principle of our life. And we worship him as the
Son of God, when our worship is not only directed to him as love and
goodness, but when it springs from his love and goodness in our hearts.
We can only worship the Lord, as he is in himself, from what he is in
us — only as far as his love is in us can we worship him as Love.
34-36. And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gen-
nesaret. And when the men of that place had knowledge of Mm, they
sent out into cdl that country round about, and brought unto him all that
ivere diseased ; and besought Mm that they might only touch ihe hem of
his garments : and as many as touched were made perfectly whole. No
sooner did the ship reach the western shore of the lake than the
Lord's work of mercy was renewed, in healing the multitudes of sick
that were eagerly brought to him from all parts of the surrounding
country. The scene of these cures is called the land of Gennesaret.
The sea of Galilee, or of Tiberias, was named also the lake of Gen-
nesareth. Gennesareth was in lower Galilee, and in it was Caper
naum, the spot to which, accorcUng to John (vi. 17, 24, 59), ,7esus and
his disciples came. As lower ;or southern Galilee signifies the in
ternal of the external man (ch. ii. 22), Gennesareth must sio-nify
a division of this region of the mind, the particular of which is meant
by Capernaum. Gennesareth represents the natural affection of truth
but of tmth connected with good, because called the land of Gen
nesareth, which may therefore be considered as representino- the f^ood

o'^

Chap. XV.] ST. MATTHEW, 359
of natural truth. This receives confirmation from Gennesareth, the
ancient Chinnereth, having been part of the lot that fell to the
tribe of Naphtali (Josh. xix. 35), which tribe represented the quality
of temptation by which man overcomes, and by whicli, therefore,
the internal is united to the external man. This multitude of
particular miracles are such as have been already explained, with
the virtue derived from the Lord through touching the hem of
his garment. The cure of the diseased represented the removal
of evils and errors, by which our faculties are restored to a healthy
state, and enriched with goodness and truth ; and touching the
hem of the Lord's garment signifies taking hold of him through the
lowest truths of his Word. Virtue never fails to come forth thence
to the humble and contrite heart : "as many as touched him were
made whole." This eagerness ofthe people of Gennesaret, and of all the
country round, to collect all that were diseased, arose, no doubt, from
the effect of his miracle of feeding the multitude ; and shows the
result of the inward reception of the Lord's goodness and truth, in
creating a desire to have outward evils removed, and producing that
faith in the Lord the Saviour which is necessary to his working a
cure.

CHAPTER XV.

1. This chapter commences with recording one of those transitions,
from the faith of the simple to the unbelief of the learned, which are
of frequeut occurrence in the gospels. Then came io Jesus scribes
and Pliarisees, — those, spiritually, who are principled in falsities and
evils. These were of Jerusalem, to indicate that they represent such
as are in the interior doctrines of the church, which Jerusalem repre
sented. Yet those who are in the doctrine of the church can oppose
the truth, as these rulers of the Jewish church opposed themselves to
the Lord.
2. They assailed him in this instance through his foUowers. Why
do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders f for they wash not
their hands when iliey eat bread. It is surprising how much import
ance men of cultivated understanding can attach to outward forms
and ceremonies, which are but the shadow, of which religion is the
substance, and are nothing without it. The Jews had, indeed, cere
monies prescribed to them by their law, and these they were bound to
observe. But the ceremony that formed the subject of the present

360 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XV.
question was a " tradition of the elders." These traditions are like
parasites, that live upon the body that produces them. Like things
of the imagination, that are treasured up in the memory without
any view to use, they are rather hindrances than aids to vital religion.
This washing of the hands was but a sign of that kind of purifica
tion which the natural man practises — the washing of the hands
instead of the heart. Washing the hands was, indeed, a testification
of innocence; but when it was practised as a virtue in itself, the
neglect of which was a sin, it then became the emblem of an outward
assumption of purity to which there is no corresponding condition
of the heart. The demand of the Lord is, " Wash thy heart from
wickedness ;" the command of the elders is, " Wash thy hands
as an appearance of innocency."
3-6. The arbitrary and hypocritical rites of the Pharisees were set
aside by the Lord, the object of whose teaching was to induce his dis
ciples to cleanse the inside, that the outside may be clean also. When,
therefore, the Jewish authorities asked him why his disciples trans
gressed this mere ceremonial rite, he demanded of them. Why do ye
also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition ? For God
commanded, saying. Honour thy father and mother : and, He that
curseth father or mother, let Mm die ihe death. Bui ye say. Whosoever
shall say to his father or his mother. It is a gift, by whatsoever tliou
mightest be profited by me ; and honour noi his father or Ms mother, he
shall he free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none
effect hy your tradition. It may be useful to understand what this
transgression consisted in. The Divine law required children to
honour their parents ; but the Jewish authorities had placed the
claims of the church above the claims of parents. Anything de
voted to the church was sacred, and could not be diverted to
any other purpose. By this law unnatural children were able to
refuse the claims of their parents for aid, on the plea that any
thing by which they might be profited by them was already corbau
—that is, a gift, devoted, though not yet given, to the service of
religion. Thus the priesthood made the commandment of God of
none effect by their tradition. But what is the spiritual evil to which
this corresponds? The father and mother whom God commanded
chUdren to honour are, spiritually, the Lord and the church. In an
abstract sense they are the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. To
honour these is to reverence and serve them ; and we reverence and
serve them when we love God and keep his commandments. But
when we exalt our own natural love and wisdom above those of

Chap. XV.] ST, MATTHEW. 361
God, and devote that to the service of man, or to our own service,
which we ought to devote to the service of God, we make the
Divine commandment of none effect. And we do more if we evade
the requirement of God's law under the pretence or in the name of
religion. We then profane what is holy ; for we make religion itself an
apology for sin.
7-9. The Lord, therefore, concludes his address to the Pharisees by
calling them hypocrites; for such conduct is hypocrisy, which is mock
ing God with outward service, while the heart is devoted to self and
the world. The Lord, therefore, proceeds to expose such heartless
wickedness. Well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying. This people
draweth nigh unto 7ne with ilieir mouth, and Iwnoureth me with their
lips ; but their heart is far from me. The mouth and the lips signify
the thought, which they are instruments for expres.sing, and the heart
is the -wiU. When the will or love is far from God, and devoted to
what is opposite to him, as the Supreme Love and Wisdom, what is
the service of the lips, proceeding from the thought, but emptiness
and profanity ? Worship in such a state is vain. For what is
Divine worship but vanity, when the doctrines we teach, the prin
ciples that rule us, are the commandments of men — the dictates of our
o-wn natural lu.sts and worldly prudence ?
10-13. Turning to and caUing the multitude, the Lord summed up
the discourse he had delivered to the Pharisees in a parabolic statement
of the doctrine he had been teaching. Hear, and understand. Not
that which goeth into ihe mouth defileth a man ; hut that which
cometh out of the mouth, this dehleth a man. When the Lord had
delivered this parable, the disciples came to him and said, Knowest
fliou tliat the Pharisees were offended, after ihey heard this saying?
But he answered and said, Every plant, which my lieavenly Fatlier
hath not planted, shall be rooted up. The Lord's Father in heaven is
the Lord himself as to his divine love or goodness ; and no good in
the human mind but that derived from the Divine Good can remain,
but must, in the judgment, be rooted up. " There is none good but one,
that is God." From the one Good all real good is derived, as a stream
from its fountain, as a branch from its parent stem : and the stream
must dry up, and the branch must wither, that has not its source or
its root in the Divine Love.
14. Yet where hypocrisy exists there is no ground to work upon,
with the hope of producing reformation, especially when it is considered
that e-vU is united to and defended by what is false. Our Lord
therefore said. Let tliem alone : and added, as a reason, tliey be

362 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. XV.
blind leaders of tlie blind. Their blindness was not that of involuntary
ignorance, but of voluntary error, or rather deliberate falsification of
the truth. A blind understanding led a bUnd will, and both fell into
the pit of infernal falsehood, as the prelude to the pit of everiasting
perdition. This is Pharisaic blindness— blindness of understanding
and blindness of heart. The understanding is the eye of the mind,
and was given as a guide to the will. The light of the body is the
eye ; but if the eye be not single, and if the light that is in the
intellect be darkness, how great is that darkness !
15-16. Then answered Peter and said unto him. Declare unto us this
parable. That to which the apostle referred was the parable the Lord
had delivered to the multitude in relation to the Pharisees, and which
we have passed over, to consider it as our Lord explained it. When
the Lord addressed the parable to the people, he prefaced it by saying,
as he so often did, "Hear and understand;'' and he now asks the
disciples, on whose behalf Peter spoke. Are ye also yet without under
standing ? And this Divine inquiry is intended, like all that the Lord
addresses to his disciples, to awaken in them reflection and self-
examination, for the purpose of preparing them understandingly to
receive the knowledge they desire to obtain, and dispose them to
receive the truth at the Lord's mouth.
17-18. Do noi ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the
mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught ? But those
things which proceed out of tlie mouth come forth from the lieari; and
they defile the man. The lesson which our Lord here teaches is most
instructive. The mouth signifles the thought or the thinking faculty,
and the heart signifies the will. That which entereth in at the mouth
is everything that enters into the thought from the world ; but that
which proceeds out of the mouth from the heart is that which the
thought expresses from the will. How is it that what enters in at the
mouth does not defile, and that what comes forth from the mouth
does ? That which enters into the thouglit, but is not permitted
to enter into the will, but is thrust out or rejected as unclean, does
not defile the man ; only that which is freely chosen, and so admitted
into the will, and is thence brought forth into the life, defileth a man.
This is a truth of very great importance, because of great practical
value. It serves as a guide to determine what is sinful and what is
not sinful in the operations of the mind. We have two faculties a
will and an understanding ; and nothing is imputed to us, because
nothing becomes our own, till it has obtained the joint consent of
both. The understanding is given us to examine and judge whether

Chap. XV.] ST. MATTHEW. 363
anything that presents itself from without, or even anything that
rises as an impulse from within, is good or evil, and to tell us wliether,
therefore, we should accept or reject it. The subject which our Lord
speaks of is the admission or rejection of evil. Now, there are many
evil suggestions and impure images that obtrude themselves into the
thought from the world, both directly and indirectly — both from what
we read, and hear, and see, and from what is already in the memory,
having entered through the senses. We cannot altogether prevent
these entering, nor would it be well if we could, for the mind is
thereby exercised, and may be perfected. Their entering the thought
does not defile us. It gives us the opportunity of discovering their
character, of ascertaining whether we like or dislike them, of knowing
ourselves, and exercising self-denial, if we are disposed to do so. If wo
condemn the evils that thus obtrude themselves into our thought, and
resist any rising desire they may provoke, that which entered " in at the
month goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught" — is
rejected as unclean, and so separated from the life. The evils which
are thus resisted and cast out never enter into the heart, and therefore
never came forth out of the mouth, and therefore do not defile the
man. They rather tend to purify him; for an evil condemned is a good
justified, and an evil refused is a good accepted. This is plainly taught
in Mark vii. 14, where it is added that this going out into the
draught purges all meats ; which evidently means that good of every
kind is purified by this exercise of the mind. The understanding is
an alembic in which the affections are purified ; for, when subjected
to the operation of the thoughts, the evil is detected, and may thus be
separated from the good to which it adheres, and which it defiles.
But, on the other hand, if we admit evil into the will, and bring it
forth into the life, this is, indeed, to defile ourselves. In the heart
there are inherent tendencies to evil of all kinds. " The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Such is the
testimony of him who made man, and knows what is in man. By
nature, man is nothing but evil ; and if he remains natural, his heart
is in the disposition to bring forth those hereditary evUs into act. Yet
hereditary tendencies to evil are not condemnatory. Inherited evil is
involuntary, as in the case of infants and Uttle children, who know-
not the nature of evil as sin. Before evil can become sin it must have
the sanction of the understanding : it must be known to be evil, and
to be sin against God. Only the evil that comes forth from the heart
through the understanding or the thought is sin in the sight of God.
Our Lord, therefore, says those things that proceed out of the mouth

3 64 ST, MATTHEW, [Chap. XV,
come forth from the heart. The mouth is the thought, and the things
that proceed out of the thought are the things that defile the man. It
is not their being in the heart, nor even their coming out oi the heart,
that defiles the man ; but their coming into act out of the heart, with
the consent of the understanding, that defiles the man. It is their
coming out of the mouth which gives evils their sinful character.
19. For out of flie liearf proceed evil thoughts (or reasonings), m-urders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. The seven
general classes of evils here mentioned by the Lord all merit the most
profound consideration, especially on account of their connection with
each other in their internal sense and signification ; for "evil reason
ings," which is the first class, denote a perverted state of the will
and understanding, through self-love and the love of the world ;
hence come, secondly, "murders," or the destruction of charity;
thirdly, "adulteries," orthe perversion of good; fourthly, "fornica
tion," or the perversion of truth; fifthly, "thefts," or -the claiming to
self what belongs to the Lord; sixthly, " false witnessings," orthe
calling good evil, and evil good; seventhly, "blasphemies," orthe
total rejection of what is divine. What a catalogue of evils is here !
These evils exist in the world, and therefore must come forth from
the heart, which is their only fountain. And what a corrupt fountain
must that be which spontaneously produces them ! Yet the sin does
not consist in their being there, but in their being allowed to come
forth into act.
20. These are the things which defile a man. Whether we consider
them as natural or spiritual, they are such sins as pollute the soul ;
and it may be well to observe that the natural sin is not overlooked
or under-rated by attending to the spiritual evil. Indeed, the natural
,sin is grounded in the spiritual evil, the spiritual being the cause in
which the natural originates ; for the spiritual sense of the Word,
properly considered, contains the knowledge of causes, as the literal
sense contains the knowledge of effects. The spiritual sense of this
series of e-vils which the Lord enumerates exhibits the evUs in their
real character. It not only shows that every sin originates in the
spirit, but it points out the particular spiritual evil in which every
particular sin has its origin ; and it teaches us further, that the only
effectual way to prevent natural sin is to resist the spiritual evil. If
they are not rooted out by being resisted from spiritual principle but
are only restrained by worldly considerations, they remain and defile
the man — that is, the inner man, which is the real man ; and when
he casts off his outer covering, and appears in the eternal world all

Chap. XV.] ST. MATTHEW. 365
his spiritual impurity wiU be disclosed. These truly are the things
that defile a man, but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
"O Jerusalem ! wash thine heart from wickedness."
21, Tlien Jesus went tlience, and departed into the coasts qf Tyre and
Sidon. Tyre and Sidon represented the interior and exterior know
ledge of siiiritual things, or of things good and true. The description of
Tyre in Ezekiel xxviii. answers to its representative character. "With
thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee
riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures. , . . Thou
hast been in Eden the garden of God ; every precious stone was thy
covering.'' But as Tyre and Sidon were situated on the borders of
Philistia, and were near the sea, they signify knowledges of a
relatively external kind. More especially was this the case at the
time of the gospel history, for Hiram, with his Sidonians, who had
hewed wood for the temple, and his Tyrians, who had wrought in
brass for it, had been long dead, and the plains were now inhabited by
ordinary Gentiles.
22. Behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts (or
borders), and cried unto him, saying. Have mercy on me, 0 Lord, thou
son of David. This woman was one of these Gentiles; she was not,
however, ignorant of the Lord being the promised Messiah, and was
therefore actually in possession of the knowledge which Tyre and
Sidon represented. She entreated the Lord to have mercy on her,
and this she sought for the sake of her daughter, who was grievously
vexed with a devil. Her daughter, like the daughters of Canaan
mentioned in Genesis xxviii. 8, signify an affection for truth, but
from a ground not genuine. By this we mean an affection sincere
but unenlightened — the affection of a well-disposed but uninstructed
mind. She comes to Jesus, and appeals to him as the son of David,
a name which is expressive of his divine truth, and entreats him to
show mercy to her daughter, which, spiritually, is to ask that the
Divine truth may enter into the human love of truth and goodness, and
deliver it from the evil whose presence and power it laments. But
the peculiar and interesting part of this miracle is the apparent
inattention of the Lord to this loving mother's prayer, and his appa
rent reluctance to extend his beneficent aid to the poor sufferer. No
one who reads this relation with any reverence for the Lord and his
Word, can for a moment doubt that there was a purpose — a wise and
merciful purpose — in his manner of acting towards the Canaanitish
woman ; and those who believe in the spirituality of his Word, know
that the record contains some hidden spiritual meaning. His seeming

366 ST, MATTHEW. [Chap. XV.
inattention to the woman's prayer was no doubt to increase her
fervency and her faith. But in the spiritual sense, her being a GentUe
furnishes a key to the meaning of the Lord's demeanour towards her,
so unusual, and so unlike himself There is one other instance Uke it
in the New Testament, which serves to account for and explain it.
When the Lord was asked by Pilate "What is truth ?" he gave him
no answer. It has been said that Pilate did not wait for an answer —
a human inference for which there is no good ground. The reason
the Lord did not answer was, that Pilate was a Gentile, and was
not in a state to receive a direct answer to his own question.
Rather, he represented the Gentiles who have a desire for truth, but
liave no immediate divine revelation, and cannot therefore be answered
without preparation, even by the Word itself One purpose of what
the Lord did when on earth was also to teach his church and people,
in all future ages, how their states retard or accelerate the manifesta
tion in them of the love which he ever and infinitely has for them.
Tt is our state that hinders, not his will that holds back, any good
thing that we ask or need.
23. When the woman cried to him for mercy, lie answered her not a
word. How strange soever this may seem, it is plain the Loid
intended it only as a trial. He himself knew what he would do. But
he also acted in this manner to represent that there are states in
which prayers return into our own bosom, and the Divine oracles give
out no sound ; when some evil or imperfection in our mind prevents,
for the time, that communion with the Lord which gives the heart a
sense of his love, and the understanding a perception of his truth,
which conveys the assurance that he is indeed our deliverer from the
power of the devil. If our prayer proceedeth not out of feigned lips,
but expresses the real desire of the heart, "importunity" has the
promise of ultimate success. To our earnest prayer the Lord may
answer us not a word, and yet our redemption may be nigh. When
the agonized mother continued to plead with the Lord for her
daughter, his disciples came and besought him, saying. Send her away ;
for slie crieth after us. The disciples now add their prayers to the
petition of the woman ; for they wished their Master to do as he was
wont — to send the supplicant away with the assurance of a cure. The
disciples representing divine truths as revealed in the Word their
beseeching Jesus on the woman's behalf is expressive of the mind's
looking to the Lord through the truths of the Word, which have been
received and acknowledged. This, therefore, is a step in the proo-ress of
the regenerate life.

Chap, XV] ST, MATTHEW, 367
24. StUl, this appeal docs not succeed. The mind, though receptive
of the truths represented by the disciples, is not yet prepared to
receive the Supreme Truth, which the Lord himself is. So he
answers, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
The lost sheep of the house of Israel are the spiritual affections of
charity which have departed from the fold of the shepherd, or from
under the guidance of heavenly truth, which alone can lead them in
the way to heaven, which is their true sheep-fold. And to restore
these — which was to seek and to save that which was lost — was the
object for which the Lord was sent into the world ; for divine love
sends divine truth to redeem and save. But this affection was in the
mind of the supplicant herself, and it was to awaken and draw this
affection into connection with himself that the Lord thus addressed her;
for in every mind there are some remains of these spiritual affections,
and through them the Lord enters the wilUng mind.
25. When the Lord had uttered these words, which, though they
do not express a positive denial, give but Uttle ground for hope. Then
came she and worshipped him, saying. Lord, help me. Utterance,
though not encouraging, gives more hope than silence. And, indeed,
the Lord speaking spiritually describes the voice of truth speaking in
the heart. And does not this voice sometimes tell us, in our anguish
of spirit, that we are not included in the number of those whom the
Lord came to seek and save ? But this should not tempt us to utterly
despair. To doubt the Lord's mercy may arise from a sense of our
own unworthiness ; to disbelieve it arises from a denial of the divine
perfection. Such doubts, when they arise in the minds of the penitent,
only stimulate them to more earnest and persistent prayer, with the
persevering use of all other means. The woman, who had followed
the Lord, now comes before him and worships him, entreating his
help. Thus his seeming refusal to cure her daughter only increased
the depth of her humiliation and the earnestness of her prayer,
26. Still, these deep movings of the spirit within her do not bring
her the desired relief He answered and said. It is not meet to take the
children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. LiteraUy, this sounds some
what harsh in our ears ; yet we know how much tenderness there
may and must have been in the tone in which it was uttered. Nor
does the language itself seem to have been regarded as offensive by
her to whom it was addressed. Times and usages give a peculiar
sense to such expressions. There is, however, a spiritual ground for its
being employed. Those out of the church were called dogs, because
dogs correspond to those who are natural, and even sensual, as sheep

368

ST, MATTHEW, [Chap. XV,

do to those who are spiritual. Expressing himself in the sacred
language of correspondence, the Lord applied this name to the Gentile
woman without any purpose of reproach, much less of contempt.
" The chUdren's bread " is the good of innocence such as it is in those
who are spiritual ; and this cannot be given to those who are only in
the good of innocence such as it is in those who are yet natural.
27. But the woman showed, by her willingness to accept the epithet
which Jesus had applied to her, that she possessed true humility, and
that she acknowledged the truth of his declaration. She therefore
said, Truth, Lord : yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their
masters' table. To be content with the crumbs is to be content with
the least of the divine mercies — the smallest measure and lowest degree
of the good which the Lord bestows ; for the bread on the table
signifies spiritual good, but the crumbs that fall from the table signify
natural good, or good in the natural mind from a spiritual origin ; the
crumbs falling from the table, and being eaten under it, expressing the
idea of good derived from the internal and appi-opriated in the external.
This was the good, therefore, which was adapted to the woman's state,
and that which she was content to receive ; and so it brought her to a
state callable of receiving what she had so perseveringly and trustingly
sought. 28. When, therefore, she had made this speech, whicli bespoke as
much wisdom as humility, Jesus answered and said unto her, 0 woman,
great is thy faith : he it unto thee even as thou wilt. Her faith was
great, because grounded in humility and love, and confirmed by trial
and perseverance ; and through that faith her daughter was made
luholefrom that very hour. That very state which brought her mind
into confoi-mity with her Saviour's will was that in which her
daughter was delivered, and restored to soundness of mind and health
of body.
29. And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto tlie sea of
Galilee. From those in the external knowledges of good and truth, he
turns or accommodates himself to those who are in a more interior
state. And went up into a mountain, and sat down there — the symbol
of love — that from the depth and ardency of his love he may dispense
the blessings of his goodness, as from the mount he delivered in his
memorable sermon, the lessons of his wisdom.
30. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that
were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many otliers, and cast ihem down,
at Jesus' feet ; and lie healed ihem. Here, again, these maladies repre
sent the different kinds of spiritual infirmity with which the souls of

Chap. XV] ST. MATTHEW, 369
men are afflicted ; the lame, tho.se in whom good and truth are
disjoined ; the blind, those whose understandings are in ignorance of
the truth, or in error ; the dumb, those who are not in the acknow
ledgment of tmth ; and the maimed, those whose faculties and powers
are impaired.
31. The Lord cured the numbers of diseased and afflicted, insomuch
that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, tlie
maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see : and
iliey glorified the God of Israel. The wonder excited in the multitude
implies the admiration of the affections, arising from the experience of
the Lord's healing and restoring power, and the exaltation in the heart
of the Lord in his humanity as the origin of these blessings.
32-38. When Jesus had performed these beneficent cures, he turned
to the multitude, for the purpose of feeding them. So, when the Lord
removes our evils, he communicates his goodness. This miracle
resembles that recorded in the previous chapter, and does not require
to be explained, further than it contains points of difference. It seems
less wonderful than the other, since the number of people was smaller,
and the number of loaves was greater. Spiritually, this difference is
very significant, and shows at once a reason for this miracle, which some
critics are disposed to identify with the other, and the important relation
it bears to the first. In the other miraculous feeding of the multitude
there were five loaves and five thousand men ; here there are seven loaves
and four thousand men. The fragments that remained also, though
naturally less, are spiritually more. Twelve baskets were gathered up
on the former occasion, and seven on this. Now, five signifies remains,
and a few ; but seven signifies what is- holy, and at the same time
ample, complete ; while the number four, like two, signifies conjunc
tion — the conjunction, that is, of the will and the understanding, and
of goodness and truth. Seven is a holier, if not a more complete
number than twelve, and has more relation to a state of good, like the
Sabbath, from which its holy signification is derived. The second
describes, therefore, a more advanced state than the other, and so
i-enders this more complete as the representation of such a state. It
is mentioned by the Lord that the multitude had now been with him
three days, and had had nothing to eat — three days describing an
entire state of truth ; that is, the multitude had been led by the Lord
through a circle of intellectual instruction and self-denial, meant by
their fasting or having nothing to eat, and now they were brought to
a state of hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and wei-e about
to be filled with good in union with truth.
2b

370 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVL
39. When the divine Saviour had sent away the multitude, thus
fed with the bread of heaven, he took ship, and came into the coasts
of Magdala. This place is famous as the town of that Mary who has
become the type, if not the pattern, of all that is most loving and
devoted to the Lord. Yet, in reference to the people generaUy of the
place, it has not so exalted a signification, or, rather, the principle it
represented is lower in degree than when the name is coupled with
that of Mary. Magdala seems to signify a principle of natural good.
Mary, who represented celestial good, when called, as she always is,
Mary Magdalene, represents celestial good in natural good, or the
union of tlie highest and lowest good, which forms the most perfect
state and character. When the Lord went by ship to Magdala, he
performed a natural journey, which represented a spiritual progres
sion, by the doctrine of truth, to natural or external good — a pro
gression in the mind which brings his divine truth, and his divine
presence and infiuence, down, by means of knowledge, into the outward
life.

CHAPTER XVL

1. Again we find the adversaries of Jesus present, and at their
daringly evil work of tempting him. And if we look within our
own hearts, and into our own experience, shall we not find too many
of these subtle foes of the Lord's love and truth ? The Pharisees also
with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him thai he would show
them a sign from heaven. We have already considered a similar in
stance of this (xii. 38). It was there shown that a sign is some won
der that acts directly upon the understanding, whereas a miracle is a ¦
wonder that acts directly upon the will ; and that Jesus refused a
sign, because it is contrary to divine order, and would be most injuri
ous to man, to carry absolute conviction to his intellect by any evi
dence that would leave his heart unchanged ; and that, therefore, no
sign is given but the sign of the prophet Jonas, because this is a sign
of regeneration, which is the only real confirmation of the Lord's
truth to the mind. The additional particulars in the present narra
tive are very interesting. The former demand was made by the
scribes and Pharisees ; this is by the Pharisees with the Sadducees.
And as the Sadducees, though less hypocritical, were more material
and infidel, so the present indicates a tempting of the Lord from a more
determined negation of his truth, while requiring a sign that mio'ht

Chap. XVL] ST. MATTHEW. 371
convince them against their will. While there is this difference, there
is an important addition, which is contained in the 2d and 3d verses.
2-4. He answered and said unto them, Wlien it is evening, ye say. It
will be fair weatlier : for the sky is red. And in tlie morning. It will he
foul weatlier fo day : for the sky is red and lowering. The reason our
Lord expressed himself thus was, because evening and morning sig
nify his coming. And so the Lord says to the Pharisees, ye can dis
cern the face of tlie sky ; but can ye not discern the signs of the times ?
The church being then devastated, a superficial serenity prevaUed, be
cause its members Uved securely in an evil life, concealed by false per
suasions ; this was their evening, when the weather was fair and the
sky red. But when they had come to know the Lord, but denied
and persecuted him, then was their morning, when the sky was red
and lowering. This is true of the individual in corresponding states.
While he lives without God in the world, he has that kind of serenity
which arises from the absence of concern for eternal life and of
spiritual temistation ; but when, having come to the saving know
ledge of the Lord, the false and evil principles of the natural mind
rise in opposition to him, then does the horizon become red and lower
ing, charged with the elements of an impending storm. If he endures
the shock, it will clear his moral atmosphere, and make his day briglifc
and heavenly; but if, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, he will not see
the signs of the times — signs of his own state — then will he harden
himself in a state of guilt, and become like the hypocrites whom the
Lord accuses of wilful blindness. The final consequence may be that
solemn one here recorded : and he left them, and departed. Beware
lest this departure be for ever.
5, 6. Wlien the disciples were come over to the other side, they had
forgotten to take bread, tlien Jesus said fo them. Beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Y/e forget to take bread
when we neglect to provide ourselves with the spiritual good by
which the soul is fed. It is because we do not sufficiently hunger after
the true bread that we forget to take it when we pass over to the other
side ; for the disciples were now in Canaan, the type of the church and
heaven. It is then we are to " take heed and beware of the leaven of
the Pharisees and of the Sadducees," because it is then we are most
Uable to be tempted to accept the false for the true bread, and to admit
it iuto our hearts. It is then, therefore, that we are to beware of this
leaven. 7. But the disciples did not understand what the Lord meant. And
they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no

372 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVL
bread. The Lord intended to direct their minds to something higher
than they themselves were yet prepared to perceive. He therefore
proceeds to remind them that although they had forgotten to take
bread, he did not require to warn them against taking of the bread
of the Pharisees. Had they forgotten the two miracles of the loaves
and fishes, with which the Lord had fed so many thousands, and how
many baskets they took up ? He who had done these wonders could
supply the bread which they had forgotten, without the necessity of
taking of the leaven of the Pharisees. Then understood they that he
did not bid them beware of the leaven, but the doctrine of the
Pharisees, of which leaven was the symbol. And what is the lesson
it teaches us ? That the Lord warns us against false doctrine, of
which we are to beware, especially when our moral goodness is not
present to our minds as a safeguard. But even then, if we call to re
membrance the manifestation of the divine mercy, in giving us
spiritual good in all fulness, then the Lord, speaking to us through
the remains of good stored up within, at once enlightens and comforts
us. The whole of this relation shows that divine language is expressed
in the natural world according to the correspondence which exists be
tween natural and spiritual things.
13, 14. The next subject that occurs in this chapter is one ofthe most
interesting and important that occurs in the whole of the New
Testament history — Peter's famous confession of the Lord. Jesus, we
find, goes to Csesarea Philippi, one of the most northern ports of
Palestine; and as he approaches the borders, he asks his disciples.
Whom do men say that I the Son of man am ? The Lord thus led his
disciples to refiect ancl decide on the great question, as to who the
Lord was that had come into the world; and the first question was
to ascertain what men thought of him. These were not men of the
world generally, but men of the Jewish church ; for their opinions
respecting the Son of man were such as only the members of the
church would form. Some thought the Lord to be John the Baptist,
some Isaiah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. None, it
appears, acknowledged Jesus to be what he really was. Many
thought him to be a prophet, but none thought him to be the prophet.
Some thought him to be the forerunner of the Messiah, but none
thought him to be the Messiah himself, although it is doubtful
whether those who thought Jesus to be John the Baptist thou^-ht
John to be the Elias who was for to come. Spiritually understood, a pro
phet signifies doctrine from the Word, and John the Baptist sio-nifies
the Word itself— that is, the Word as existing in the church, but not

Chap. XVL] ST. MATTHEW, 373
the Word, or the very divine truth itself, which was made flesh. Every
one of these opinions, even the highest, made Jesus human and flnite.
Another remarkable fact in all these opinions respecting Jesus is this :
all those persons whom they supposed the Lord to be, were men who
bad once lived on the earth. Jesus they therefore beUeved to be one
of those holy men raised from the dead. They were of those, there
fore, who sought the living among the dead, as, indeed, all do who
¦seek or place Jesus among flnite beings as one of them ; for all finite
beings are in themselves dead, having no life in them but what they
derive every moment from God, who is the only being who has life in
himself And Jesus was and is that being, for he said, " As the
Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life
in himself" All these opinions of Christ, therefore, were and are of
the earth earthly.
15, 16. Well then might Jesus turn from all these conjectures and
inquire of the disciples. But whom say ye that I am ? And now comes
the true and ever-memorable answer. Simon Peter answered and
said. Thou art ilie Christ, the Son of tlie living God. Let us see the
true and full import of this confession. The acknowledgment of
Jesus as the Christ was Uterally the acknowledgment of him as the
Messiah — the Saviour whose coming into the world had been the
theme of prophecy from the beginning of Genesis to the end of
Malachi. And whatever had been foretold of the Messiah, either as
to his character or work, was included in that acknowledgment.
SpirituaUy, the Christ is expressive of the Lord's character as the
Essential Divine Truth, by whom the world was created, and by
whom, as the Incarnate Word, it was to be redeemed. The confes
sion of him as the Son of the living God is the acknowledgment of
him as having been the begotten of God, as the child born into th.e
worid by the -virgin Mary. And this acknowledgment of his Divine
paternity is, properly considered, the acknowledgment of his being
God, and, of course, the supreme and only God, as to his divine
nature, and the true and only Son of God as to his human nature.
For there can be no God but one, and that which is begotten of God
must, so far as derived from him, be divine, and one with himself
But the Lord, as born of a human mother, was, of course, so far as he
partook of her nature, merely human, that is, finite. His internal
man or soul, as being from the Divine Father, was divine or infinite ;
but the external or body, as being from the human mother, was
human or finite. Now, this merely human part was gradually
glorified, and this glorification was completed by the passion of

374 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVL
the cross ; and when the Lord rose from the dead, he rose in a
humanity wholly and purely cUvine. This is the humanity that is,
in the complete and exclusive sense, the Son of God. And Jesus be
came the Son of God by glorification, as we become sons of God by
regeneration, by being born of God. Jesus was begotten of God
when he came into the world, and he was born of God when he went
out of the world. He was declared to be the Son of God with power,
by the resurrection from the dead. He then ceased entirely, and for
ever, to be the son of Mary, and was solely and purely the Son of the
Uving God. Not, of course, that he was, according to the crude and
erroneous notion, a distinct divine person from the Father, but that
his humanity was divine, and one with his eternal divinity, as the
body is one -with the soul. The writer of the Hebre-^'-s seems to
have had a clear view of this great truth when he spoke of Jesus, as
represented by Melchisedec, being "Without father, -without mother,
without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life "
(vii. 3) ; for the Lord was himself the Father as to his divine nature.
He had no mother, for he entirely ceased to be the son of Mary as to
his human nature ; and in himself he has neither beginning of days
nor end of life; for he is the first and the last, the beginning and the
end, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. Such
is the great truth confessed by Peter- — the truth of Christianity,
which comprehends in itself the whole of salvation, as the design and
result of the incarnation.
17. And Jesus answered and said unto him. Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-jona : for fiesh ancl blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father
lohich is in heaven. The Lord here teaches that this great truth can
not be seen and acknowledged by mere human wisdom grounded in
the human wUl. Flesh and blood — the will and wisdom of man—
cannot reveal this truth to any human soul ; and hence it is that mere
human reason cannot see the di-vinity of the Lord's humanity, but can
only see Jesus as the son of Mary, and sometimes even as the son of
Joseph. The perception of this truth must come from God out of
heaven, entering as divine light through the interior of the human soul.
And, indeed, its true and spiritual acknowledgment comes in mostly,
not from the light, but from the love of God, not from divine light in
the intellect, but from divine love in the heart. This love in the will
of the inner man, in our heart of hearts, is the Father in heaven, by
whom alone it is revealed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
living God. He is to us the Christ as the Divine truth in our under
standing. He is to us the Son of God as the Divine good in our wills.

Chap. XVL] ST. MATTHEW. 375
And the interior knowledge of this makes us blessed, for it has in it
all the blessings of redemption and salvation.
18. This blessing is not, however, left to be inferred. I say also
unto thee, Tliat thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my
church. We need not dwell upon the mistaken notions and false appli
cations of this declaration of the Lord to Peter, or rather to Simon
Barjona, for here Simon's name was changed to Peter. It was
as Simon that he made the confession, but it was as Peter that he
became the foundation of the church, and the keeper of the keys of
the kingdom. Simon signifies hearing, hearkening, and obedience,
and is therefore expressive of faith as grounded in the affection of
truth in the will. Jona, which literaUy means a dove, signifies the
principle of spiritual love or charity ; - so that the name Simon, son of
Jona, is expressive of faith derived from spiritual love, which is charity.
But his name was changed to Peter in consequence of the confession
he made of the Lord as the Son of God ; for Peter, literally a rock,
signifies the truth. As Simon is expressive of faith in the will, Peter
is expressive of that clear perception of truth in the understanding
which gives to faith the evidence of intellectual sight. When from
the heart we have made confession of the Lord as the Son of God — as
God in his humanity — this great truth becomes in the mind the sure
foundation, the chief corner-stone, on which all the principles of the
church rest. Peter represents faith as well as truth; and, indeed, the
one implies the other, for truth has no actual existence in the mind
except as the truth of faith. Thus the spiritual sense teaches, that
what the Lord addressed literally to Peter is spiritually applicable to
all whom Peter represented — to those who confess the Lord from the
heart, and trust in him with the confidence of a true and Uving faith.
Abstractly, it is applicable to the principle of truth and the grace of
faith themselves, so that it is upon them in the heart and mind of the
believer, and not upon him personally, that the gifts are conferred.
The heart's confession ofthe Lord as the Son of God develops itself into
a living faith in his truth in the understanding, and this change in
our state is analogous to the change of Simon's name to Peter, and the
change of .lacob's name to Israel, by a further development of the
spiritual principle, and advance in the spiritual life. When from being
Simon we become Peter, the truth of Jesus becomes the rock on which
he builds his church ; for he, as the eternal truth revealed to and
dwelling in a sincere faith, is that on which all Christian graces and
virtues repose as on a foundation. These graces and virtues constitute
the church in the human mind. And when we have the true founda-

376 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVI.
tion of the church within us, then do we receive the divine assurance —
and the gates qf hell shall not prevail against it. Jesus came into the
world to overcome heU and hold it in subjection. And when he
himself is the foundation, how can the power of hell prevail against
the building that is reared and that rests upon it ? This assurance
implies, that the powers of hell make the attempt to overthrow the
church in the mind of the Christian disciple. Of this the Lord's
disciples, and Peter in particular, had sufficient experience after this
assurance was given ; but they found, with the exception of one who
never had this foundation in himself, that the Lord's strength was
sufficient to enable them to overcome the greatest assaults of the
enemy. And such will be the experience of every Christian who
carefuUy preserves the same sure and tried stone as the foundation of
his hopes.
19. With this power of resisting the gates of hell there is also
given to the Christian the power of opening the gates of heaven. I
will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; and whatsoever
ihou shalt hind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever ihou
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. As. there is a connection
and series iu the internal sense, we may see it here. Evil resides in
the natural mind, which is meant by earth in the Word ; and, indeed,
evil constitutes hell; so that the natural mind, in its unregenerate state,
is a miniature hell, the image of the greater. In the natural mind are
the gates by which evil enters from the world and the kingdom of
darkness, and by which it goes out to assault the good ofthe kingdom
we have received from God. These are the gates of hell in our own
minds that assail the church when it has been built upon the Rock of
Ages. And it is when, by successful combat against evil, we have
shut these gates of hell in the natural mind, that we can use the keys
of the kingdom to open the gates of heaven iu the spiritual mind ; for
the shutting of the one is the opening of the other. The keys of
heaven are not actuaUy given to us tUl we have resisted evil and shut
the gates of hell. It is by the natural truths, precepts, and laws ofthe
Word, and, indeed, by those truths that say, "Thou shalt not," that
we resist and overcome evil, and so close the gates of hell. But it is by
the .spiritual truths of the Word, and those laws that say, " Thou shalt
love the Lord above all things, and thy nei.ghbour as thyself," that we
are enabled to open the gate of heaven. Repentance shuts the gates of
heU ; holiness opens the gate of heaven. These spiritual and eternal
truths are the keys of the kingdom, and they are given to us when
we have faithfully employed the prohibitory laws of the letter of the

Chap. XVL] ST. MATTHEW, 377
Word in resisting evil. The keys of the kingdom were given to bind
and to loose. This mode of expression is a Hebraism for prohibiting
and allowing, as authority and power are meant by having the keys.
In the spiritual sense, binding and loosing are expressive of very
important acts in the regenerate life. By earth and heaven, as we
have already seen, we are to understand the natural and the spiritual
mind, or the internal and the external man. To bind on earth is to
restrain and control the evil lurts of the natural mind, and to loose
on earth is to give liberty and frje action to its good affections.
We are to bring our bad thoughts and affections under subjection
to the authority of divine truth ; and by the power of the same
divine truth we are to deliver our good thoughts and affections that
are imprisoned and oppressed. For in the natural mind, in its
unregenerate state, evil rules and good serves — the natural rules
the spiritual, the temporal the eternal. Thus the state of man is
inverted, and regeneration restores it to order, which consists in
the lower serving the higher. The keys of the kingdom give
us the power of binding the evil and loosing the good, giving
dominion to the good, and reducing the evil to subjection. What
soever is bound and loosed on earth is also bound and loosed in
heaven. One of the grand features of regeneration consists in
the spiritual and natural minds being brought into harmony and
unity, and this is effected by bringing the natural into correspon
dence with the spiritual, the earthly into, harmony with the heavenly.
In man the spiritual mind acts and the natural mind re-acts. In his
unregenerate state the natural re-acts against the spiritual, and so
overcomes or neutralizes its action ; when regenerated, the natural
re-acts in obedience to and in harmony with the spiritual. Whatever,
therefore, is bound and loosed in the natural mind is bound and
loosed in the spiritual mind. Not that evil ever actually gains
admission into the spiritual mind, but the effect is the same as if it
did ; for every unrepented evil in the natural mind turns into evil the
good that flows into it from the spiritual mind. But when the evil is
bound in the natural mind, the effect is that it no longer perverts the
good that flows into it, so that what is bound on earth becomes bound
in heaven. On the other hand, the good affections and thoughts in
the natural mind, being loosed from bondage, become loosed and free
in the spiritual mind also ; for good can flow into the natural affec
tions and thoughts, and act through them, so as to come forth, as it
ever desires to do, in words of truth and works of goodness. This
may be seen by the analogy between the less and the greater. We

378 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVI.
know that no one can enter heaven unless he is made heavenly while
he Uves upon earth. Only those persons who have fought the good
fight, and have bound the evU and liberated the good in themselve.s,
can ascend into heaven. In like manner, only those things that we
have loosed and bound on earth wUl be loosed and bound in heaven ;
for our works follow us. No evil can be bound, no good can be
loosed, in the other world, that is not first loosed or bound in this.
So is it in our own heaven and earth. As men are made angelic on
earth before they become angels in heaven, so our thoughts and
affections must be made angelic in the natural mind before they can
exist as such in the spiritual mind. As there is not an angel in
heaven who was not once an angelic man upon earth, so there is not
an angelic principle in the spiritual mind that was not flrst au angelic
principle in the natural mind. That is first which is natural, and
afterwards that which is spiritual. When we speak of a work being
done on earth before it is done in heaven, or in the natural mind
before it is done in the spiritual, we mean that it has no positive and
permanent existence in the higher till it is done in the lower. No
work is complete till it comes into its ultimate state. The reason our
Lord came into the world and assumed a natural humanity was, that
he might operate from first by last principles, and so accomplish
the v/ork of redemption. And having while on earth bound hell
itself, and loosed mankind from spiritual bondage, and glorified his
humanity, he ascended far above all heavens. And now he has the
keys of hell and of death ; and he it is who opens, aud no man can
shut ; ancl who shuts, and no man can open. He it is therefore who
binds and looses in us, and to whom belongs the glory.
20. When Jesus had delivered and expounded this great truth of
his kingdom to his followers, when he had been acknowledged by
them openly in his true character, and had deUvered to them the keys
of his kingdom. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no
man that he was Jesus the Christ. The time was not yet come for the
full preaching of this truth to the world. But there is a sense in
which it applies to us also. This injunction is to be understood in a
simUar way to that which he gave to some when cured of their
diseases— to tell no man that he had done it — that this truth could
not yet be received rightly and profitably by the natural man— meant
by the men without— the Lord's humanity being not yet glorified to
that degree which corresponded with the degree of life and receptivity
in which they were. The disciples afford an example of this them
selves, on the very subject which the Lord next introduces to them ¦

Chap. XVL] ST. MATTHEW. 379
for although it seems evidently to have made an impression upon
them, and was several times repeated to them, they had so entirely
forgotten it that even its fulfilment failed to bring it to their remem
brance. Yet there were reasons for this truth being made known at
this time to the disciples themselves.
21. From that time forth began Jesus io show unto his disciples, how
that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and
chief priests and scribes, and he killed, and he raised again the third
day. This was one of the means by which his purpose in coming into
the world was to be effected, yet the Lord now only began to
show it to those who were to be the instruments of preaching Christ
and him crucified, yea, rather, risen again. This shows that it formed
no part of their first preaching of the gospel. Their commission then
was to preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand, and to
heal the sick and cleanse lepers. The preaching of the gospel in the
fulness of its .spirituality and glory was yet to come. Jesus only now
"began" to show unto them the mystery of the cross, and through
this the majesty and glory of his kingdom. Gradually, and wisely,
and tenderly, as they were able to bear it, did the Lord unfold unto
them the mysteries of his kingdom. Through Peter they had confessed
the grand truth that he was the Christ, the Son of the Uving God, and
they were now prepared to hear, though not yet to understand, the
ultimate means of his glorification. In all this we see the progressive
unfolding of the Christian principle in the mind of every true
Christian, the history of the disciples being the history of every true
follower of the Lord. When a truth is once received and acknow
ledged, it begins to unfold itself The great truth of the Lord's being
the Christ, when once received, must work itself out into a practical
principle. Between the reception and the realization of this truth
stands the cross — first, as an offence to the intellect, and then of terror
to the heart, but finally to become an object in which to glory, as the
symbol of the gate of life.
In directing the disciples to look forward to the cross, Jesus
told them he must go to Jerusalem, out of which it cannot be that
a prophet perish. Jerusalem represented the church. The Lord
went up to the holy city, not to provoke the hostility of the Jewish
priesthood, but to represent his entering into the interior states of
good and truth, which were the necessary parts of his glorification.
The opposition which there assailed him was the inevitable result of
that awful perversion of the sanctities of religion which then had
desecrated the holiest place. Jerusalem— or, rather, the elders, chief

380 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVL
priests, aud scribes of the church there— represented also the perverse
reUgious element in our own minds, — the old life, with its lusts, errors,
and prejudices, that opposes itself to the Lord's new life in the soul,
especially to the humiliating means by which it is to be perfected, and
against which the natural mind revolts. The Lord, indeed, directs his
disciples to look beyond these means to the glorious end, when he
should be raised again the third day. But at this stage the disciple
cannot look to the end ; he does not relish it, and he cannot compre
hend it. He questions what the rising from the dead can mean.
He cannot see Christ's glory as an end, so long as he cannot see his
suffering and death as means. He understands nothing of these
things. They are hid from him. Yet it is necessary that the disciple
should hear them, that they may be laid up in his mind as knowledge,
to be brought forth when the time comes for him to realize them as
truth. 22. We now see how it was that Peter took him, and began to rebuke
him, saying. Be it far from thee. Lord : this shall noi he unto thee.
Peter here, as is usual, represents faith, but it is intellectual faith, and
so far faith alone, and therefore a false faith. The offence of the cross
is one of universal experience in the early stages of the Christian life.
The cross is repugnant to our unrenewed nature ; and the old man,
yet unsubdued, casts his malign influence over our new faith, and
darkens our confession of Christ with a denial of his sufferings, and
therefore of the true glory that lies beyond them.
23. The Lord therefore turned, and said unto Peter, Get ihee behind
me, Satan : thou art an offence unto me ; for thou savourest not tlie
things that be of God, but those thai he of men. The Lord turned to Peter,
to bring the direct light and full force of his truth to bear upon him,
to disclose to him the depth and malignity of the error he had
expressed, and, calling the apostle by the name of Satan, commanded
him to get behind him, as an offence unto him. The gravity of Peter's
error is evident from the severity of the Saviour's language. Yet this
is to be understood of the sentiment rather than of the man. It is
evident from Peter's speech to his Divine Master, that he knew nothing
of the true nature of the Lord's redemption. He was a fitter type
of the disciple who has yet learnt nothing of the true nature of the
cross of Christ in himself The Lord called Peter Satan, to indicate
the origin and character of man's offence at the cross. Satan is the
name which is applied to designate the spirits of darkness who are in
false principles, and to express the root of false persuasions in our own
minds. Peter still represents faith, but a false faith— faith alone—

Chap. XVL] ST. MATTHEW. 381
which practically deprecates the passion of the cross. This was the
Lord's final victory over all the powers of darkness, and at the same
time the full union of his humanity with his divinity. This being
unknown to those who are in the faith of what is false, our Lord said
further to Peter, " Thou savourest not the things that be of God, but
those that be of men."
24. How appropriate and instructive is the address which the Lord
next delivers to his disciples ! // any man will come after me, lef him
deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Peter had depre
cated his Master's suffering the death of the cross : the Lord now
tells his disciples that if they would come after him, they must them
selves endure it. This strikes at the very root of our offence at his
cross. We are offended at the idea of Jesus suffering, because we
ourselves are unwilUng to suffer. As the Lord himself was to suffer
many things, so we are to deny ourselves, and take up our cross ; for
we must, like him, resist and subdue evil, as the means of acquiring
goodness. We must also follow him, by living accorcUng to his truth
and after his example. We are to deny ourselves by resisting self-
love; we are to take up our cross by crucifying the lusts of the flesh ;
and are to follow the Lord by forsaking all, and devoting ourselves to
his service. The duty of taking up our cross involves the bearing it
even to the death of our corrupt selfhood.
25. The Lord therefore proceeds to say. For whosoever will save his
life shall lose it : and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find
it. The seeming paradox contains a very plain and momentous truth.
Love is life. The life of the natural mind is the love of self and the
world ; the life of the spiritual mind is the love of the Lord and the
neighbour. It is not, therefore, the same life that we save and lose,
nor that we lose and find. He that saves the life of selfish and
worldly love loses the life of love to the Lord and the neighbour ; but
whosoever for the Lord's sake loses his carnal and worldly life gains
spiritual and eternal life. These two lives are present in the mind of
every disciple in the early period of the regenerate hfe. Were it not
so, there would be no conflict; for all conflict is between opposite
loves, thus between opposite Uves. It is the carnal Ufe and the
spiritual Ufe that contend with each other. The contest continues till
one is overcome, and one yields up the dominion to the other, when
that which conquers becomes the animating principle of the whole
mind and life. Our Lord speaks in the same way respecting himself
Of his own life he says, " I have power to lay it down, and I have
power to take it again" (John x. 18). That which he laid down

382 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVL
was not the same life that he took again. The life he laid down was that
which he inherited from his human mother, and the life he took up
was that which he inherited from his Divine Father, and which became
the life of his whole humanity by glorification, completed in his
resurrection. 26. The Lord brings out his meaning and his lesson more fuUy in
what he now says. For what is a man profiled, if he shall gain the
whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul ? Truly the soul, or the life (for the word is the
same), is more precious to a man than the whole world, and nothing
would he take for it in exchange. If a man will not give his natural
life for the world, how much less should he be disposed to give spiritual
and eternal life in exchange for it. If spiritual life is as much superior
to natural life as natural life is to the whole world, how ready should
we be to lay down the natural, that we may take up the spiritual,
which is also eternal. The Ufe to be laid down is self-love, and the
world that profits nothing is the love of the world ; thus the two con
stitute the whole natural man.
27. A powerful reason for laying down the life of self-love, and
rejecting the love of the world, is the certainty of final judgment.
For fhe Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father unth his
angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. A
general judgment is no doubt meant in these words, but not such as is
generally expected. The words are commonly understood to refer to
the end of the world, when all the dead shall be raised, and judged to
heaven or hell. This notion is derived from a misunderstanding of
the Scriptures, which nowhere teach that the worid shall have an end,
nor tbat the bodies of the dead shall be raised, nor that this world is
the scene of the judgment. All judgment takes place in the spiritual
world, upon the souls which have passed out of the natural world, and
are still in the intermediate state, and at the end of the church, which
is meant by the end of the age. We need not, however, take up the
subject of the judgment in the eternal world, in which all are judged
according to their works, but will consider the Lord's words in their
purely spiritual sense, as being applicable to the regenerate. The Lord
introduces the subject of his coming to judgment, to teach us that when
we have taken up our cross, and resisted the life of selfish and worldly
loves, and have iilaced above them the love of God and the neighbour,
the Lord will come as a judge, to effect a separation between the evil
and the good, and assign each a place according to its character. The
Son of man is the Lord as the Divine truth, which is the principle

Chap. XVL] ST. MATTHEW. 383
that judges ; for the Father judges no man, but hath committed all judg
ment unto the Son, because he is the Son of man (John v. 21, 27). Yet
the Lord never judges from truth alone, separate from love ; therefore he
is to come in the glory of his Father, or of his own divine love, and of
angels, which are the truths of the Word and of heaven. These come
to the man who successfully resists evil, and give the reward of righteous
ness and peace for the labours of self-denial which he has performed.
28. The Lord concludes by giving this promise : Verily I say unto
you, Tliere he some standing here wliich shall not taste of death, till they
see ilie Son qf man coming in his kingdom. That coming could not be
at the end of the world. The declaration must be spiritually under
stood. The' Lord is, in regard to the general church, speaking pro
phetically of the last times, which are the last states of religion, both
as to purity of doctrine and Ufe. In John xxi. 22 we read that
Jesus said to Peter, respecting John, " If I will that he tarry till I
come, what is that to thee?" and we read that a saying went abroad
among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. Did John tarry
till the Lord came ? Those did whom John represented. This, there
fore, was spoken of John in his representative character, as the Lord
had previously spoken to Peter as a representative man. The beloved
apostle represented the principle of love, but of practical love, which
is charity, and he therefore represented, also, those who are in this
love, and continue in it to the end. Those who should not see death
till they had seen the Son of man coming in his kingdom are those
whom John represented. The Lord's meaning is, that amidst the
general corruption, when even faith itself should perish, some remains
of love and charity should survive, till the time of his second coming,
to form the rudiment of a new dispensation. It is persons of this
character, also, that see the Son of man coming in his kingdom ; for
they who are in charity see the truth and acknowledge it, and the
Lord's truth is the Son of man ; and the Son of man comes in his
kingdom when his truth is admitted into the mind, and entrusted
with the government of the will and understanding. In the particular
application of the Lord's words they relate to the regenerate, to whom
the Lord comes as a Judge ancl a Saviour. Love and charity are the
principles in the minds of the regenerate which see the Son of man
coming in his kingdom ; and the Lord provides that some of these
shall be preserved in every mind, and shall not taste of death till thev
see the coming of the Son of man. It is through these that the Lord
at his second coming enters into the mind, and it is among these that
he sets up his kingdom.

384 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIL
CHAPTER XVIL
This chapter records the Lord's transfiguration, which gave his
disciples a glimpse of his glory, aud foreshadowed the coming splen
dour of his resurrection and ascension, when the humanity, now par
tially glorified, should be wholly divine. It is a fitting sequel to the
subject of the preceding chapter. There the Lord was confessed, here
he is exhibited, in his true character. There he began to reveal to
his disciples something of his sufferings and death ; here he manifests
before them something of his succeeding life and glory. There he pre
sented to them the Son of man in his weakness and obscurity; here in
his power and majesty. In this, too, we shall find instruction for
ourselves individually, both in connection with preceding states and
as a distinct subject of experience.
1, 2. The relation begins by saying. And after six days Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John his brother, and hringeth them up into an high
mountain apart, and was transfigured before ihem. How significant
is this mystic number of six days, as pointing to the states of labour
and self-denial that precede and usher in the state of succeeding rest
and peace, when the beatific vision is opened to the soul's spiritual
sense ! These preparatory states are the subject of the preceding dis
course. After these have been completed, the glory of the Lord is
revealed. But why is it that this glory is revealed only to these three
of the disciples ? Did not the rest require this assurance and confir
mation of their faith in Jesus ? Did they not deserve it ? The cause
is spiritual. These three disciples represent the three cardinal graces,
which, in a- manner, include all the others, or to which they all
belong. Peter, James, and John represent faith, charity, and good
works. It was for this reason that these three were selected by the
Lord to accompany him on particular occasions, aud as one, and the
most important, of these, on the occasion of the Lord's transfigura
tion. This teaches us that those who are principled in faith, charity,
and works are those who, after their six days' labour and trial in the
vale of humiliation, are raised by the Lord into the mountain of his
love and holiness, and there enabled to see the Lord in the splen
dour of his glory, in the divinity of his humanity.
2. In the form in which he appeared on the mount his face did
shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. The glory in
which the Lord appeared on the mount, so entirely different from the
ordinary appearance he presented during the time of his humiliation,
is an evidence that his frail humanity covered a glory that required

Chap. XVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 385
only to be unveiled to be seen by those who were prepared to behold
it. The glory which he exhibited was not that of his divine nature,
for no man can see God as he is. It was the glory of his humanity
in which the Lord was seen on the mount of transfiguration. But
how should his humanity exhibit itself in so different an aspect from
that which it usually presented ? The humanity ofthe Lord could not
have done so, had it been the same as that of an ordinary human being.
The humanity of the Lord was derived from a Divine Father as well
as from a human mother. Internally, therefore, his humanity was
divine from his birth, and during his life it became externaUy divine
also, on the same principle and in the same way that during regenera
tion our external becomes graduaUy formed to the image of our in
ternal. At the time of the transfiguration the Lord's humanity had
become so far glorified as to be capable of being seen by the eyes of his
chosen apostles. The apostles themselves were prepared for the sight.
Their preparation consisted in opening their spiritual sight ; which
was simply to place them for the time in the state in which man is
when he lays aside his material body and becomes an inhabitant of
the spiritual world. Such a change may be effected in an instant ;
but there are indications of a gradual change of state in those who
saw the Lord in his glory. Luke records that " Peter and they that
were with him were heavy with sleep : and when they were awake,
they saw his glory " (ix. 32). The appearance which Jesus pre
sented was not, tlierefore, any glory that was shed upon him, but a
glory that was inherent in him, and was but a manifestation of a de
gree of the fulness of glory to which he was advancing, and in which
he afterwards appeared to John in Patmos, when " His head and his
hairs were white like wool, as white as snow ; and his eyes were as a
flame of fire ; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a
furnace ; and his voice as the sound of many waters ; " and at the
sight of whom John "fell at his feet as dead" (Rev. i. 14-17).
Such was Jesus in himself when he appeared to Peter, James, and
John. The appearance he then presented is full of meaning. The
Lord's face signifies his divine love, and his raiment his divine truth.
And the Lord's love is as the sun, which in itself is pure fire, and his
truth is as the light proceeding from it ; for the Lord in himself is
pure love or goodness, while divine truth flows from him as light
from the sun.
3. While the disciples saw Jesus in his glory, behold, there appeared
unto ihem Moses and Elias talking with him. These two men were
eminent representatives of the Word. Moses represented the histo-
2c

386 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIL
rical Word, and Elias the prophetical. We are told by Lulce
(ix. 31) that they " spake of his decease which he should accomplish
at Jerusalem" — that is, of his redemption and glorification, which was
completed by the passion of the cross. Their talking with him repre
sented that the whole Word, both historical and prophetical, treats uf
the Lord and the glorification of his humanity. In many parts of the
Uteral sense of the Word, the Lord's coming and his work in the
flesh are openly treated of ; but in the inmost or celestial sense, the
Lord's glorification is the only theme. This may seem surprising, but
there is a sufficient reason for it. The written Word is not only a
revelation, but an emanation, from the eternal Word, and contains
within it divine Ufe and Ught, divine good and truth. The written
Word in its essential nature is therefore divine, its spiritual and
natural senses, known to angels and men, being no other than a ves
ture which covers its ineffable divine glory, and makes it perceptible
to finite minds. Before the incarnation, the Lord, as the eternal
Word, was clothed with a vesture which made him visible to angels ;
but when he assumed humanity in the world, he covered himself with
a garment which enabled men to behold him. The natural humanity,
in which the eternal Word appeared in the world, was analogous to
the natural sense of the -wi-itten Word ; and then the written and the
incarnate Word corresponded to each other from first to last. As the
vestures in which both the written and the eternal Word clothed
themselves, so as to be visible in heaven and on earth, were taken
from the finite nature of angels and men, they necessarily consisted of
all that constitutes angelic and human nature, and therefore of angelic
and human thought and affection. As the Lord's Ufe was a fulfilment
of the Word, the Word must have been a revelation or history of his
life. The whole Word, then, both historical and prophetical, must
have treated of his glorification ; so that Moses and Elias could talk
with him of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
And the disciples who are able to ascend with the Lord into the
mount of transfiguration, may still hear them talk with Jesus concern
ing that work of infinite love and mercy in which they have a
t;piritual and eternal interest.
4. When the disciples beheld this glorious sight. Then answered
Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us fo be here : if ihou
wilt, let us make here three tabernacles ; one for ihee, and one for
Moses, and one for Elias. In Luke's account it is remarked that
Peter spoke thus, " not knowing what he said," an evidence that he
spoke under a higher influence than that of his own thought — from

Chap. XVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 387
divine inspiration. And the sentiment and purpose are worthy of
their diviue origin, and are those of every devout mind when the
glory of the Lord is revealed, by the opening of his holy Word, in
its spirit and power. " It is good for us to be here," must be the
sentiment of every regenerate soul when the Lord is seen in his
Word, and when its relation to him and his beneficent work for the
redemption and salvation of sinners is open to the spiritual sight.
And the making three tabernacles in the mind for these divine and
saintly guests is expressive of a desire to build up in the inmost of
the soul a tabernacle for the Lord, as God in his humanity, and in
the mind and life tabernacles for Moses aud Elias — habitations for the
Lord and the holy principles of his Word to dwell in. When the
regenerate will is a tabernacle for the Lord's love, and the regenerate
understanding is a tabernacle for his wisdom, and a regenerate Ufe
is a tabernacle for his holiness, the purpose of Peter is accomplished.
5. But, WhUe he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadoioed them :
and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased; liear ye him. The literal sense of the Word
is as a cloud, for it veils the glory and moderates the light of its
internal sense : the cloud of the letter is dark or bright according to
the state of the mind that looks upon it. The letter of the Word is a
bright cloud when illuminated by the indwelling light of the spiritual
sense, which is when its truths are spiritually discerned. Such is the
cloud that overshadows the disciples who have seen the Lord in his
glory. It is out of this cloud that the divine voice comes which
proclaims to us -who and what he is whose glory we have beheld, for
all revelation comes from the Word ; and, indeed, from its literal
sense, but from the literal sense illuminated by the light and glory of
its spiritual sense. And what is the divine testimony respecting Jesus
that proceeds from this bright cloud that overehadows us on the mount ?
The voice out of the cloud said of Jesus, " This is my beloved
Son." The truth thus declared from heaven is the same that Peter
had so recently uttered upon earth. We have already examined
these divine words as uttered at the Lord's baptism (ch. Ui. 17).
The Father, we have seen, is the Lord's divinity, and the Son is his
humanity, which are actually related to each other as Father and
Son. Viewed more interiorly, the Father is the Lord's love, and the
Son is his wisdom ; for -wisdom is the offspring of love. The Father
aud the Son are therefore the divine and. the human in one person 
love and wisdom, life and light, in Jesus Christ, in whom all fulness
dwells. The Father also says of the Son, " la whom I am weU

388 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIL
pleased." The Father's pleasure in the Son is the satisfaction of the
divine in the human, as the power of effecting man's salvation.
This is the pleasure of Jehovah which should prosper in the hands of
the Messiah (Isa. liii. 10). The love of the human race was the
love which prompted the Lord to accomplish the work of redemp
tion ; and this work finds its reward in the salvation of men. How
lofty and weighty, then, the command, " Hear ye him ! " He is the
power of God, the wisdom of God (1 Cor. i. 24) ; he is God manifest
in the flesh ; he is the Divine Wisdom, in which is the Divine Love ;
he is the Fountain of evei-y saving grace, the Author of every saving
virtue ; and he alone hath the words of eternal life. Then let all
who would know the truth, and obtain this Ufe, hear him !
6. The effect of this divine voice on the disciples .shows what effect
it will have on all who receive it sincerely. When the disciples heard it,
tliey fell on their face, and were sore afraid. Hearing the voice is
expressive of the Divine love entering into the will and its affections ;
and this produces profound humiliation and holy fear, meant by
faUing on the face and being sore afraid. Prostration and fear also
imply the renunciation of our own will and wisdom, and a consequent
sense of our unworthiness and ncjthingness in the presence of Him to
whom belong all goodness and power.
7. When we thus profoundly humble ourselves, and renounce self-
righteousness, and present ourselves before the Lord in our own
inherent weakness, he can exalt us in his own power, and inspire us
with the love which casteth out fear. And Jesus came and touched
them, and said. Arise, and he not afraid. To arise in the Lord's
might, and rejoice in his love, this is the privUege of those only who
practically acknowledge Jesus to be the Lord of life and glory. The
touch of Jesus is the communication of his power, the inflowing of
his Spirit into the lowly mind. To arise spiritually, is to raise the
affection from earthly to heavenly and divine things ; and to fear not,
is to have the confidence of a sincere and Uving faith.
8. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus
only. The view which the disciples had of the Lord in his glory, and
of Moses and Elias, was given them by the opening of their spiritual
sight. The closing of their spiritual sight shut out the glorious
spectacle, and they saw Jesus only, and him as he was wont to appear
amongst them. In the spirUual sense these words teach an exalted
truth. When, after being raised up by the Divine power from the
dust of humiliation, we lift up the eyes of our understanding, we see
no man but Jesus only. He to us is aU and in all. He is also the all

Chap. XVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 389
of his Word. Moses and Elias may testify of him, but he himself is
the only true witness. He testifies by them. He is the truth itself,
which, when all human mediums and finite forms have been removed,
remains alone the sole Object of love and perception.
9. Here again, in the vision, as in the confession, of Jesus, silence is
enjoined on the disciples. And as they came down from the mountain,
Jesus charged them, saying. Tell tlie vision to no man, until the Son of
man he risen again from the dead. The disciples representing the
affections and perceptions of the spiritual mind, the divinity and
glory of the Lord could be perceived by them, because the Lord's
humanity was already so far glorified as to be capable of being brought
down to their degree of perception. But as the multitude, even the
beUeving multitude, represented the affections and perceptions of the
natural mind, these were not to be told of the confession and vision,
because the Lord's humanity was not yet so far glorified as that this
truth could be brought down to the apprehension of the natural mind.
The Lord's glorification was completed in his resurrection, and hence
the command to tell the vision to no man till the Son of man was
risen from the dead. This, too, is our experience. In us the trans
figuration must precede the resurrection. As with the Lord the
first took place in the spirit, and the second in the body ; so in us the
first takes place in the spiritual mind, and the second in the natural ;
and in each, acknowledgment must arise from actual reception. The
truth exhibited on the mountain of the inner man cannot be imparted
to the outer man till that truth has come down to his state and
apprehension — till after the Lord has there risen from the dead.
We have an exemplification of this law in the circumstance that
only the three leading disciples were taken up into the mount to see
the transfiguration, the rest of the disciples being left below.
10. The disciples now put a question to the Lord. Why then say
ilie scribes that Elias must first come? The scribes would demand,
" How can the Messiah be come, when Elias has not appeared ? "
The disciples believed in Jesus as the Messiah, but saw and felt the
difficulty about Elias ; for they themselves evidently knew not the
truth on this subject — that the prophecy was fulfiUed in John the
Baptist. And for what purpose were they allowed to remain in,
ignorance on this point till after the transfiguration ? Because it
represents the experience of every disciple who follows the Lord in the
regeneration. The Christian disciple does not truly understand the
means till he has attained the end. When he is with Christ in the
mount, it seems to him as if a new light had broken in upon his mind,

390 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIL
the coming of which no herald had ever proclaimed ; and that a new
joy had sprung up in his heart, that no experience had ever taught
him to expect. He can say, " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God
hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them
unto us by his Spirit" (1 Cor. ii. 9, 10).
11-13. Nevertheless, no state of light and joy, however much it may
exceed our previous states of knowledge and experience, is without its
harbinger. In every coming of the Lord to the mind, his way has been
prepared by the truths of his Word, however unperceived their agency
or silent their operation, as they are in the days of infancy, childhood,
and youth. Our Lord, therefore, answers the inquiry of his disciples
by saying, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. This
restoration of all things is the forming in the human mind of the
rudiments of all states which can afterwards exist by being developed
and perfected by regeneration. To all who have reached maturity
Elias hath already come, even although ihey knew Mm not, but have
done unto him whatsoever they listed,— ior the corrupt selfhood too
often, and to some extent always, treats the Lord's messenger as the
Jews treated John the Baptist. Likewise shall also the Son of man
suffer qf ihem, — for this hostiUty of the proprium continues till it
dies together with the Lord's body, that the new man may rise with
him from the dead. But this rising from the dead is also unknown to
the disciple ; indeed, it is, Uke every other actual state of life, hid
from his eyes, so far as relates to its real character, till it comes into his
experience. When the Lord had explained the prophecy respecting
Elias, Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John fhe
Baptist. The light of experience, shed back upon the path by which
we have reached it, reveals the true character of the means and
instrumentality by which the Lord has prepared it for bringing us to
him, and him to us.
14-17. And when ihey were come to the multitude, there came to him a
certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying. Lord, lio,ve mercy on
my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed. In his picture of the trans
figuration, Raphael has skilfully introduced this case below the
mountain, as a contrast to the scene of glory which was bein"-
exhibited u[ion it above. Nothing could more strikingly exhibit the
spiritual glory of that great event, and the degraded state and deplor
able condition of humanity which the Lord had come into the world to
redeem. The Lord took human nature upon him, to deliver his
human creatures from spiritual bondage and wretchedness, of which

Chap. X7II.] ST. MATTHEW. 391
this case presented so appalling and affecting a type. Below, we see
fallen humanity in its utter helplessness as well as degradation;
above, we behold it in its greatest power and glory, the pattern of that
to which the Saviour came to raise it. And here, also, we see the
absolute necessity of his immediate divine interference. For while
the Lord is on the mount, the father has brought his child to the dis
ciples, who are utterly powerless to cast the demon out. The Lord
lias now come down from the scene of his glory in the interior of the
mind, to be present and diff'use his influence amongst the multitude of
thoughts and affections in the natural mind ; where, in man's un
regenerate state, evil and disorder reign. But the subject relates to
the mind in which regeneration has commenced, and is in progress.
The kneeling father is spiritual love, producing profound humiliation
of heart before the Lord, as the only deliverer of natural love from the
infestation of evil and falsity. The son was a lunatic. Lunacy, or
insanity, although it may be a physical disease, has generally a mental
cause, which therefore it represents. The present case was produced
by the agency of evil spirits, who, indeed, in all instances, act through
the evils of the human mind. There is a spiritual as well as a natural
lunacy. We do not mean insanity on the subject of religion, but a
spiritual derangement which incapacitates the mind for judging and
acting sanely in spiritual things, however sound it may be in natural
affairs. And as, when reason is dethroned, the will becomes rather an
involuntary than a voluntary faculty — for there is no real volition
without reason, no liberty without rationality — the mind becomes
iilternately the sport of ardent ungovernable feelings and of delusive
thoughts. The poor lunatic, ofttimes he falleih into the fire, and oft into
tlie water. Those possessed by evil spirits were not responsible for
what they did. Spiritual insanity, which is the result of internal
possession, is different. E-vil spirits can now have no more power over
us than we give them. They cannot, at their pleasure, cast us into the
fire of evil and into the water of falsity ; we run into them of our own
accord. This freedom, however, may lead us into hopeless misery;
for by long indulgence we may bring ourselves into the most complete
thraldom to our lusts and imaginations. The cure of such cases
requires more than ordinary means and agencies. The father of the
child, as a reason for applying to Jesus, said, / brought him fo thy
disciples, and iliey could not cure Mm. The Lord then exclaimed, 0
faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I he with you ? how
long shall I suff'er you ? As the subject comes up again, we need not
speak of it here, further than to remark, that the Lord's words of

392 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVII.
lamentation and reproof have reference to that twofold condition ol
the mind so often treated of in the divine Word, and of which several
instances occur in the present relation. The youth was lunatic and
sore vexed, and often fell into the fire, and into the water ; and the
Lord calls the generation faithless and perverse, and asks, " How
long shall I be with you ? how long shall I suffer you ? " All these
refer to the two faculties ofthe human mind — the wiU and the under
standing — and to the principles of which they are receptive. Faithless
has relation to the want of truth or faith, and perverse to the want
of good or charity ; and the Lord's question, " How long shall I be
with you ? " relates to the Lord's presence with man by the good of his
love ; and the question, " How long shall I suffer you ? " has relation
to his presence with man by the truth of his wisdom. But to show
that in judgment the Lord remembers mercy, he foUows his reproof by
saying to them, of the child. Bring him hither io me, — at once showing
compassion, and his desire that his creatures should act reciprocally
with him in his will and operation to save.
18. And Jesus rebuked ihe devil, and he departed out of him ; and
ihe child was cured from that very hour. The Lord's rebuke contains
in it the power of divine truth ; and when this finds faith as a medium,
which we learn from Mark ix. 24 it did with the father of the child,
evil cannot resist it. The devil departs, and the mind is restored from
that same hour, or the state of the reception of the power of the
Lord's truth in faith, which the hour signifies.
19, 20. When the disciples saw the Lord eject the evil spirit, they
asked him privately. Why could not we cast him out ? He answered.
Because of your unbelief. The disciples to whom the father brought his
child were those who had remained with the people on the plain be
low, while Jesus and the three went up into the mountain. When the
disciples are regarded as thus divided, the three represent the cardinal
principles or graces of religion, while the others represent the subor
dinate common principles that belong to them. When in the inferior
or natural mind, amongst the natural thoughts and affections, away
from the higher principles and from the Lord, who dwells more
immediately in them, they cannot act with effect on the evUs of
the natural mind. The reason is, because of their want of faith ; for
effective faith is from the presence of internal in external principles,
The Lord said unto them, indeed, that if they had faith as a grain
of mustard seed, they would be able to say unto this mountain,
Remove hence to yonder place, and it would obey them. The mustard
seed is faith in which there is love, which is life. No matter how

Chap. XVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 393
small the truth is which men know, if that Uttle has the germ of
heavenly love within it, it will perform any work, even the rooting
up and casting out of self-love — the mountain which faith removes.
But had the disciples no faith of this character ? Those who formed
the life of their faith were separate, and these, who had been left below,
could do nothing without them. Yet the lesson which the words
of our Saviour teach is one that may be jii'ofitably studied and
practised by every one, — that a living faith finds nothing impossible.
Indeed, possibility is on the side of virtue. All power, and con
sequently all possibility, belong to God and to those who co-operate
with him. All is possible that is according to order. To the faithful,
therefore, who live according to divine order, nothing is impossible.
21. Jesus expresses this, in reference to the disciples, with the
reservation, Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Prayer is the aspiration of the internal man to God ; fa.sting is the
turning away of the external man from the world. The combined effect
of these must be to expel the worst of demons, for what can be more
conducive to thorough reformation than seeking strength from God to
resist the devil ? Spiritual lunacy can be removed by no other means.
The demon by which the child was possessed represents a life of evil of a
grievous kind. And though, naturally, a child was not capable of any
grievous evil, yet, spiritually understood, a child being expressive of
innocence, the demon by whom the child was possessed mvist represent
the opposite of innocence, which is malignant evil. This, it is evident,
cannot be removed merely by grief on account of its existence, or on
account of the want of the opposite life of innocence and goodness.
Fasting, therefore, here means a steady abstinence from every act in
which the evil disposition would seek to vent itself This is the
fasting enjoined as effectual for the casting out of the worst of
demons. But this is more than man is able to do of himself. There
fore prayer is mentioned as equally necessary with fasting ; or looking
to the Lord is ever to be united with abstinence from evil by man as
of himself. Doing both, he will be enabled to surmount the greatest
obstacles ; and no evil so direful but may thus be cast out, as to its
influence on the mind and conduct, for ever.
22, 23. While they abode in Galilee, Jesus instructed the whole of
the disciples on that subject which he had begun to teach the three as
they descended from the mount of transflguration. It is unnecessary
again to dwell on this prediction, further than to consider why it
should have been imparted to the disciples in Galilee. And as
Galilee represents the natural mind, and the Lord's suffering and

394 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. XVIL
death have more especial reference to the glorification of the natural
or ultimate of his humanity, he chose the corresponding place to
reveal it to his disciples,
24. Wlien ihey were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute
money came to Peler, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute ? The
tribute money was a tax le-vied for the support of the temjile service,
but not imposed by the law of Moses, The Jews, though they hated
Jesus, were not averse to accepting tribute from him, A corrupt
church, while it despises and persecutes the truth, is willing to
recognize the Word, so far as it can be made tributary to it, and
subservient to its interests. But to be able to make the Word
tributary to a corrupt worship it is necessary first to obtain the
sanction of some of its secondary truths, which is to come through
Peter to his Master,
25, 26. When the Jews asked Peter if his Master paid tribute. He
saith. Yes. And lohen he was come info the house, Jesus prevented him,
saying. What ihinkest thou, Simon ? of whom do the kings of the earth
take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? We
see in this an illustration of the circumstance that the truths of the
Word give different testimony according as they are looked at from
without or from within, as they are interrogated by custom or by
principle. We learn also that even the faithful, of whom Peter was
a type, see the truth differently when they are in an external state,
in intercourse with men, and when they are in an internal state, in
communion with the Lord, Peter was without when he was asked
and consented to pay the tribute money ; it was when he was come
into the house that, in reply to the Lord's question, he declared that
kings levied custom, not of their own chUdren, but of strangers. When
Peter had given this answer, Jesus saith unto him. Then are ihe
children free. The principle which the Lord lays down is one of
much importance in relation to the church and its members, but one
which the Jews had, as in many other instances, violated. By paying
tribute or custom was signified to be subject or to serve, wherefore
tribute was imposed upon strangers, who were not of the children of
Israel, as is evident from the historicals of the Word. By the sons
of Israel, among whom was the church, were signified the spiritual,
and by strangers the natural ; and the natural principle is subject to the
spiritual and serves it, for the spiritual man is as a lord, and the natural
man is as a servant ; and since the natural are servants, and hence are
meant by tributaries, therefore it was effected that neither the Lord nor
Peter gave tribute, but a fi«h, by which is signified the natural man.

Chap. XVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 395
27, But although the Lord did not acknowledge that himself or his
disciples were tributary, he said unto Peter, Notwithstanding, lest we
should offend them, go thou to tlie sea, and cast an hook, and take up the
fish that first cometh up ; and when thou hast opened his mouih, ihou
shalt find a piece of money : thai take, and give unto them for me and
thee. The whole of the Lord's minute directions to Peter are signi
ficant and instructive. The sea, being a type of the Word in its
literal sense, the fish of the sea are the natural truths which the literal
sense contains. In the vision of the new temple seen by Ezekiel, the
waters that issued from under the threshold of the house went down
into the sea, the result of which was " a very great multitude of
fish " (xlvii. 1-9). The opening of the spiritual sense of the Word,
and its effect in communicating life to the truths of the letter, which
by themselves are dead, are described by the river flowing into the
sea. We spiritually obey the command, "go thou to the sea," when
we go to the Word in our trials and emergencies, to obtain the means
of relieving our troubles or supplying our wants. And we " cast an
hook,'' into the sea when we intelligently search the Scriptures, with
a confiding faith in the Divine promise that we shall obtain what we
require, however much appearances may be against its fulfilment.
What could be more unlikely than that the first fish that came to
Peter's hook should carry in its mouth the coin that was required to
pay the tribute money? What more unlikely, in our times of spiritual
perplexity and need, than to find in the Word the very truth which
shall relieve and comfort us ? We must not, however, interpret the
promise too literally. Not the first text that meets our eye, or comes
up in our mind, is to be expected always to have the needed and
promised piece of silver in its mouth. Not necessarily that which is
first in regard to time, but that which is first in regard to state, brings
us the tribute money. Truth must be first in our estimation before
it can yield the desired supply. And when the truth that bears the
treasure in its bosom has been, by the Lord's providence, brought to
us, we must " take it up," or raise it out of the general treasure-
house of the Word into the particular treasure-house of our own
mind, and elevate it in our thoughts and affections. Then we must
further "open his mouth," for the literal sense must be opened by
right interpretation, to discover in it and obtain from it the treasure
it contains, and which we require. The reason the Lord gave to
Peter for paying the tribute money at all was, " lest we should offend
them." The collectors of the tax, no doubt, knew nothing of the
miracle that had been performed to discharge the debt which Peter had

396

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIII.

mistakenly acknowledged ; they beUeved that his Master had paid it.
And those who pervert order, by making tributary the chUdren who
should be free, are under a corresponding delusion. They pervert
order, indeed, in themselves; and it seems to them as if things
spiritual and divine were tributary to them, when yet they themselves
are only in the knowledge of what is spiritual ; and think they have
drawn down wealth from heaven, when they have in reality derived
it from the waters under the earth.
Before concluding, we would offer a remark on the miracle itself.
It certainly is one of the most striking exhibitions which the New
Testament supplies of the Lord's divinity. One who performed it by
his own internal power could be no other than the omniscient and
omnipotent, the ruler of the world and controller of events.

CHAPTER XVIIL

1. This chapter commences with an incident tender and beautiful
in itself, and one in which, Uke so many others recorded in the gospel,
the wisdom of the Lord Jesus is seen to flow as a living stream from
the fountain of his love. Children of frailty, the disciples had been
contending among themselves for pre-eminence, and they come to
their Master, that he may settle the dispute, and ask him, Who is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven ? Each of the disciples desired to be
greatest, and to rule; none were willing to be least, and to serve.
This is the condition of the natural man, and continues to be that of
every man till he is brought under the dominion of him who was
himself the least of all and the servant of all.
2, 3. In appealing to the Lord as the arbiter in this dispute, the
disciples acknowledged his authority as supreme, and were disposed to
abide by his decision. They expected, however, that he would decide
for them what they had been unable to agree upon among themselves
— which of them should be greatest in his kingdom. Great must
have been their surprise and humiliation when Jesus called a little
child unto him, and set him in the midst of ihem, and said, Verily I say
unto you, Excepit ye he converted, and become as little children, ye shall
not enter into ihe kingdom of heaven. This was a question that had
not entered into their thoughts, much less into their discussion.
Believing they had been called to the kingdom, they only concerned
themselves about the stations of dignity they were to occupy in it.
But the little child in the midst of them, and the Lord's few words

Chap. XVIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 397
told them that the love of dominion, which had led them to contend
for the highest place, unfitted them even for the lowest; and that
unless they were converted, and became as little children, they could
not so much as enter into the kingdom of heaven. This conveys
a most instructive lesson. Without conversion there is no salvation.
The ruling love must be turned from self to the Lord, and from the
world to heaven. But the disciples are also to become as little children.
Bom anew, they are to be innocent, confiding, teachable, in all things
conforming to their heavenly Father's will. In the spiritual sense,
the Lord's beautiful and significant act teaches us that innocence, of
which a Uttle child is the emblem, must be in the midst, or be the
inmost, of all the graces and virtues that form the kingdom of heaven
in the mind and life of man. Without conversion of the soul to God,
and a childlike dependence upon him, no one can enter into his kingdom.
4. But the question of the disciples did not directly relate to what
was required to gain admission into the kingdom, but to who should
be greatest in it. It was necessary, and our Lord saw good, first to
instruct them in what was required in order to their being admitted
into the kingdom at all. Now he comes to the subject of their
inquiry, concerning which they had contended among themselves, —
"Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" The Lord had
already (ch. v. 19) taught his disciples that whosoever should do and
teach his commandments should be great in the kingdom of heaven ;
this was the first time he had occasion to instruct them respecting who
was the greatest. The same image that served to illustrate the nature
of heaven serves to illustrate greatness in it. Whosoever therefore shall
humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. Innocence is the grace which qualifies us for heaven, and our
greatness in it depends on the depth and fulness in which that grace
is received. Heaven most intimately dwells in innocence, and where
there is more of innocence there is more of heaven; and he who is
most deeply imbued with this, the essence of all heavenly virtues,
must possess the largest share of all the excellencies in which heaven
consists. As innocence is the essence, humility is the soil, of every
grace and vu-tue. Our growth in grace is in proportion to our
humility. The most humble is the most exalted, the least is the
greatest. This is more than a figure. Every regenerate one has
within him the old man and the new. The more the old man is
humbled, the more the new man is exalted ; he in whom the old is
least is he in whom the new is greatest. The highest angels are they
who have most completely humbled self; they are, therefore, the most

398 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIIL
innocent; they are, spirituall}', the little children to whom we are
sent to learn wisdom, and like whom we must humble ourselves if we
wish to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5. They who are in this state of innocence, which is a state far
removed from self and self-seeking, are pre-eminently in the Lord and
the Lord in them. This is meant by the words. Whoso shall receive one
such little child in my name receiveth me. To receive one such little
child is to receive such a principle of innocence from the Lord ; and
to do this in the name of the Lord is to do so, not in outward
appearance only, by a mere affectation of humility, but really and
from the heart. And as in such genuine innocence the Lord himself
dwells, it being only attainable by gift from him, it is evident that he
who receives it receives with it the Lord himself, and with him every
angelic grace and virtue.
6. Since the reception of this principle of innocence is of such
indispensable necessity, no wonder that the rejection and destruction
of it is attended with such awful consequences, expressed in the
remarkable words. But whoso shall offend one qf these little ones which
believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about
his neck, and that lie were drowned in the depjtii of the sea. The word
offend is used in the sense of causing to stumble. Hence, in the
spiritual sense, to offend one of these little ones which beUeve in the
Lord, is wilfully to pervert and turn aside from his innocence one of
the faithful ; and also to pervert in ourselves any principle of
innocence in which the Lord is, by turning to self, the world, and the
flesh. The figurative expressions which follow describe the dreadful
state occasioned. " It were better for him that a millstone were hanged
about his neck," means, that it were better he had always remained
confirmed in evil lusts and false persuasions — confirmation being
meant by a millstone — so that no communication had ever been
opened between his internal man and his corrupt external, the neck
denoting the communication between them ; and to be " drowned in
the depth of the sea," is to be immersed in the false persuasions of the
natural mind, and plunged, in consequence, into the abyss of woe.
Dreadful as a confirmed state of evil is, it is yet less so than that
which is incurred by perverting any divine principle — anything
in which is innocence received from the Lord; because the state
induced is one of profanation, which is far worse than any that can
result from unmixed evil, when goodness and tmth have never been
received into the affections, and consequently are not sinned against
and rejected, after having once been known and loved.

Chap. XVIIL] ST. MATTHEY/. 399
7. The Lord now exclaims, Woe unto the world because of offences !
for it must needs be that offences come ; hut VMe to thai man by whom
tlie offence cometh 1 To offend, we have seen, is to cause to stumble ;
and an occasion of stumbling is given to the weak when one who
makes a profession of religion acts in such a manner as shows that
religion has but little infiuence on his mind ; and this takes place
always in consequence of his religion not being genuine, because his
heart is a stranger to the scriptural grace of innocence. From this
cause what great injury has in all ages been done to the cause of
religion! But what is the reason of this "needs be" that offences
will come ? Does it mean that there are any persons who are so
utterly enslaved to Satan that they have no power to break their
bonds, and must be the cause of scandal to the religion they profess,
whether they will or not ? Nothing like this is meant. It is
a certain truth that man has grace given to him every moment, by
which he may turn from his evil ways and come to a better state, if
he would make use of it, which also he has continual power given
him to do. The meaning is, that Divine Providence sees it necessary,
in order that man may be kept in a state capable of salvation, that he
should be left at liberty either to cultivate sincerity in his religious
profession or not, since, if it were attempted to infuse heavenly graces
into him by compulsion, the injury would be still greater. But
there is a possibility of becoming a stumbling-block in a different
and still worse way than this ; and that is by designedly turning the
simple from their integrity, by teaching them to imbibe sentiments
subversive of the doctrines of genuine truth, or to indulge in evil
practices that destroy or injure their capacity of receiving the
heavenly graces of the Lord's kingdom. But whoever is guilty of
such infatuation does it at his peril ; for it is expressly said, " woe to
that man by whom the offence cometh !" Woe is an expression used in
Scripture to express lamentation for any deplorable perversion of the
sacred things of the church, and also to indicate the grievous penalties
which they incur who are agents in such perversions. In the present
case such penalties, it is declared, are unavoidable by those who have
been the occasion of throwing a stumbling-block in the way of others.
Woe is the result of offence even to those who stumble, for suffering
is ever and unavoidably the fruit of sin. But the woe is especially to
that man by whom the offence or stumbling cometh. This shows
the wise and merciful discrimination which the Lord makes between
degrees of guilt, as well as the difl'erence of results arising out of the
nature of the case itself.

400 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIII.
8-9. But we do not need to go out of ourselves to look for the
stumbling-block : the hand, and the foot, and the eye may offend us.
And although this fact brings the criminality of offending home to us,
it also affords opportunity of removing the cause of offence, which we
are able to do by removing the offending member. Wherefore if thy
hand or thy foot offend iliee,cuitliemoff,and cast them from thee . . . and
if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. Every one
can see that this is not to be understood and acted on literaUy, and yet
that it teaches us the lesson of self-denial. We have already considered
a passage similar to this in the Lord's sermon on the mount (ch. v. 29),
where it is shown that by removing the offending members is meant
to prevent the intentions of the mind from coming into act. There
is, however, some difference between the two passages. In the sermon
on the mount the order in which the members are mentioned is the
reverse of that which is observed hei-e. And as the first in a series
gives its character to the whole, we conclude that the precept, as
given in the fifth chapter, where the eye, a symbol of the intellect, is
mentioned first, relates to the spiritual class ; and that, as it occurs
here, where the hands and feet, symbols of the will, are first spoken
of, it relates to the celestial. In regard to the place of punishment,
there it is hell, here it is hell-fire ; and as fire is emblematical of
love, the fiery hell is that where the love of self reigns, and this is
opposite to the highest heaven, where love to God is the ruling prin
ciple. 10. Since innocence is that which is to be restored, it is that also
which above all things is to be preserved. How important, then, the
warning, Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones 1 We are
guilty of this when we despise innocence and simplicity. Some regard
these excellences as weaknesses, and are therefore little inclined to
cultivate them. But the warning here is not to the natural man, but
to the spiritual ; and is intended to guard him against allowing any
thing of self-conceit and self-confidence to insinuate itself into his
mind, which cannot fail to injure or destroy that purity of heart
which enables him to see God. Hence the reason the Lord gives why
we should not despise one of these Uttle ones. For I say unto you,
Tliat in heaven their angels do always behold ihe face of my Father
which is in heaven. No doctrine of Scripture is more clearly taught
than the ministry of angels. Unconscious as we are of their presence,
we are constantly attended by these celestial beings, who are mediums
tlirough whom the Lord conveys his gifts to u.s, and instruments by
whom he protects us against the spirits of darkness. The angels

Chap. XVIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 401
attendant on men are such as are suited to their state and character.
Infants and little chUdren are attended by angels of the highest
heaven, and these constantly see the Lord as a sun ; for they are in
love to him, and in innocence, and this is meant, in the sense nearest
to that of the letter, by their always beholding the face of the Father,
The face of the Lord is the divine love which was in the Lord, conse
quently the essential divinity, which is Jehovah; for the Father was
in him, and he in the Father, and they were one. But in the purely
spiritual sense these words mean that the Lord, as to his divine good,
is in the good of innocence ; for the good of innocence is meant by
a little child, and the Divine good by the face of the Father.
Whether, therefore, we regard the Lord's words in the immediate or
remote sense, the warning is solemn, and should teach us to take heed
that we despise not either the infant innocents or the innocence of
which they are the emblems.
11. The words which the Lord now addresses to his disciples do
not, in their natural sense, seem to be connected with the subject on
which he had been instructing them, but, when it is spiritually con
sidered, will be found to have an intimate relation to it. Tlie Son of
man is come to save that which was lost. In these beautiful words how
strongly is expressed the intense ardour and boundless universality of
the Divine love ! Who can read or hear them without being in
some measure impressed by the love which breathes through them,
without beholding his God and Father in the amiable light in which
they so plainly present him — as a God of boundless mercy, whose will
is gratified when his creatures receive liis saving grace, and, returning
from their wanderings in the paths of evil, find their true home in the
shelter of his arms ? When it is said that the Son of man is come to
save that which is lost, it seems plain that the words must refer, not
so much to persons as to principles, or rather to one grace, which it
was the Divine purpose to restore, and the restoration of which to its
true place in the human heart is the restoration of man to a state of
salvation and happiness. Innocence was that which man lost by the
fall, and innocence was that which the Lord came to restore by his
redemption. 12. The Lord illustrates the truth he had been declaring, by a
parable. How think ye ? if a mAn have an hundred sheep, and one of
tliem he gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth
into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray ? There is a
beautiful truth in this as illustrative both of the Lord's love and the
unity of his flock. What love does it bespeak in the Infinite to
^ 2d

402 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIIL
come down from heaven, by assuming human nature, to seek those
who had wandered from his fold I In the Lord's sight angels and
men form but one flock, having one fold and one shepherd. Their
safety and felicity result from their unity. When one sheep wanders
from the fold, the whole flock suffers. If man's happiness is de
pendent on his connection with angels, the happiness of angels must
be proportionally dependent on their connection with men. If there
is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, there must be sorrow
in heaven over those who live on in impenitence. The shepherd is
therefore represented (Luke xv. 4) as leaving the sheep in the wilder
ness, when going to seek the wanderer whose feet had stumbled upon
the dark mountains (Jer. xiii. 16). Look now at the subject in its
individual application. The Lord comes down from heaven to earth,
in us, when he comes from the internal down into the external, there
to seek and restore the affection of innocence and charity, which had
been lost in consequence of having separated itself from the corre
sponding principles in the internal. The remains of heavenly prin
ciples are preserved in the internal of every one, but the external in
every one goes more or less astray. The shepherd leaves the ninety
and nine, and goes after that which is lost, that he may restore it to
the fold, and make that completeness which can only result from the
union of the principles of the internal and external man.
13. And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth
more of thai sheep, than ofthe ninety and nine which went not astray.
Why should there be more joy over the lost one recovered than over
those who remained in the fold? Because the affections of the inner
man flnd their true joy only in their connection with the corre
sponding affection of the outer man. While the internal affections
are alone, they are like the ninety and nine sheep left by the shepherd
in the wilderness; and it is not until he has retm-ned to them, bring
ing the lost sheep upon his shoulders, and restoring it to his fold, that
there is joy in heaven ; for the Lord's rejoicing is his glory imparted
to us and felt in us. It is evident that the Lord cannot rejoice
more in one than in another ; but when we know that what is spoken
of in the Word as his feeling is to be understood as his love as it
affects us, we can see both the propriety and instructiveness of the
language of inspiration.
14. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in lieaven, that
one of these little ones should perish. The parable of the lost sheep had
lieen delivered to iUustrate this truth. It embraces within its mean
ing and purpose the bringing of little chUdren ultimately to the

Chap. XVIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 403
kingdom of heaven, and imposes upon parents and others concerned
in the education of the young, the church as a body included, the
duty of devoted attention to their true welfare ; for what God wills,
he requires our agency to effect. But how is this result to be secured,
but by securing a state of innocence ? We cannot, it is true, by the
best teaching and example, make the salvation of a human being a
matter of certainty ; but we, no doubt, can do much to promote it.
And the best way to do our part in this important work is to cultivate
in our cliildren, and no less in ourselves, the innocence which makes
men the children of God. The more of this celestial grace we have,
the more we are of the character of those " little ones " of whom our
Lord says, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven.'' How beautiful, how
tender is the love which expressed itself in the words of the Lord
regarding little children ; and how anxious should we be to be able to
feel and act according to it I
15-17. But the Lord turns to a duty seemingly of another kind, and
one most difficult to perform — the duty of forgivenes.s. Moreover if
thy brother sliall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between
ihee ancl him alone. We need not expect to pass through life without
both giving and receiving offence. We must carefully distinguish
between real and fancied injuries. The sense of injury is often the
result of sensitive self-love. When we are satisfied that our brother
has really trespassed against us, our conduct in regard to him is to be
regulated by this law. We are to tell him his fault personally and
privately. If this rule were acted upon, much scandal would be swept
away, and our social atmosphere cleared of one of its most pestilential
vapours. If lie shall hear thee, fliou hast gained thy brother. We
must, of course, have told him his fault for the purpose of gaining
him. And this implies that we have told him the truth in love —
neither magnifying his fault nor showing resentment against him on
account of it. And we must be desirous, not only of gaining him as a
friend, but gaining him as a Christian brother — gaining him from
his evil, and thus gaining him to God as well as to ourselves. If this
effort fail, and we are convinced it has failed through no fault of ours,
we are then to seek the aid of others. But if he will not hear thee,
then take with ihee one or two more, that in the mouth qf two or three
witnesses every word may be established. These are not intended to be
simply witnesses against the offender, but they are to witness between
the parties — to see that the complainant has acted justly and kindly
in his cause, as well as to testify on what ground the eff'ort to gain his
brother has been unsuccessful. These also are understood to be

404 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIIL
brethren, aud to use their brotherly influence to effect an amicable
adjustment of the difference. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell
it unto the church : but ifi he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto
ihee as an heathen man and a publican. The church must exercise a
firm but temperate discipline, that a sickly sheep may not be unneces
sarily driven from the fold, nor a diseased one be allowed to remain
in it to infect the whole flock. So much on the literal sense of this
important law. We now turn to its spiritual sense. In the spiritual
sense, brethren are those who are united in the bond of charity, and
belong to the household of faith. Abstractly, brethren are the prin
ciples of charity and faith themselves ; they are also the will and the
understanding, and also the internal and the external man. The
trespass in this case is a trespass of charity against faith, or of faith
against charity, and is one that takes place in ourselves. Nor does
this deprive it of its personal application, for it is just in proportion
as we commit this inward sin in ourselves that we are liable to
commit the outward sin against a brother. But can charity and faith
sin against each other ? True charity and faith cannot, but these
graces exist in their perfection in no human mind, and the corruption
that adheres to them sometimes makes one offend against the other;
and as there is offence, so may there be reproof ; foE-chaiity may act
undirected by faith, and faith may act uninfluenced by charity.
Every act of self-reproach is an instance of this. It is our faith
reproving our charity, or our charity reproving our faith, for some tres
pass it has committed against its brother. These are called the acts of
an acciLsing conscience, and they are rightly so called. Conscience is
formed by the union of charity and faith. So far as this union extends,
so far conscience exists ; and conscience condemns acts done contrary to
its dictates. How does the law, to tell the offending brother alone,
apply in this case ? It teaches us that in any disagreement that may
arise between our charity and faith, or, what is the same, between our
wHl and understanding, we are to employ the one who has received
the offence to correct the one who gave it. If our will acts against
our understanding, so as to cause a breach of charity, we are to employ
our understanding to convince and gam the offending brother ; and if
our understanding gives way to doubt or error, so as to cause a breach
of faith, we are to employ the will to correct our understanding; and
the desired result is that, by removing the cause of offence and
estrangement, the two may be reconcUed. If this first and direct
attempt fail, the next step is to seek for aid and testimony from the
truths of the Word. " One or two " of these mean truths of faith

Chap. XVIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 405
and truths of charity. These are to be employed, that in the mouth
of two or three witnesses every word may be established. The two
witnesses have been explained to mean the will and the understand
ing, and the three to mean will, understanding, and action. Men will
be judged from the testimony of these three, or from the witness of two.
But in the purely spiritual sense the two or three witnesses are the
goods and truths of the Word. And the idea here set forth is, that
if evil or falsity cannot be removed by the action of its opposite good
or truth alone, testimony is to be sought from collateral goods and
truths, that every word may be established. If the evil or error do
not yield to this, the ultimate appeal is to the church. As the church
includes all who are in the goods and truths of religion, the church,
spirituaUy, signifies all these goods and truths themselves. To tell
the complaint against an offending brother to the church is to call iu
the whole testimony of the Word; and if this do not succeed, then
the resisting member is to be rejected, as opposed to all the laws of
goodness and truth, of heaven and the church. In the nearest
application of this law, understood iu reference to those who are
being regenerated, the offending brother is not positive evil or falsity,
but spurious good or truth, or the principle of charity or faith. Spurious
good is good which is not united to truth, and spurious truth is truth
not united to good ; so, spurious charity is that which is not united to
faith, and spurious faith is that which is not united to charity. So
far as either of these is spurious, it trespasses against the other; and
so far as either is genuine, it endeavours to correct and seek recon
ciliation with the other. But if the spurious principle is so opposed
to the genuine that it cannot be brought into compliance and agree
ment with it, it must be rejected, as having in it no real agreement
with either the good or truth of the church, which is meant by being
an heathen man and a publican.
18. In connection with this disciplinary law, there is again intro
duced the declaration of the Lord to Peter, after his confession of
Jesus as the Christ. Verily I say unto you. Whatsoever ye shall bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on
earth shall he loosed in heaven. In explaining these words as they
occur in ch. xvi. 19, we have seen that heaven and earth are the
internal and external man, or the spiritual and the natural mind.
Whatever is bound and loosed in the external, is bound and loosed
in the internal. By this the internal and the external are brought
into agreement, and so form one mind. This result foUows the estab
lishment of an agreement between good and truth, charity and faith,

406 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIIL
wUl and understanding; for, in reality, good and charity and will are
internal, and truth aud faith and understanding are external. Our
Lord, we may conclude, introduced this statement here for the sake
of the connection which the truth it teaches has with the present
subject. The internal and the extemal of the mind being the
brethren who may offend and be at variance with each other, we
are here instructed that the way to bring the internal and extemal
into harmony, is to bring the external into order, by binding and
loosing the principles that require these operations — to bind the evil
and set the good at liberty. This subject our Lord continues to treat
of in the words which now follow.
19. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth
as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall he done for them of
my Father which is in heaven. These words clearly instruct us that
whatever man can do for himself amounts to no more than putting
(iimself in the attitude in which the mercies that the Lord is eyer
¦willing to bestow can be imparted to him, but that everything really
good that he enjoys is afforded him as a free gift from the Lord alone.
When man asks, that which he needs is done for him of his Father
who is in heaven. We need not insist on the necessity of prayer ;
the point here that demands our attention is the promise, that the
harmonious petition of two or three shall secure an answer. There is
a special lesson taught in these divine words. It does not follow that
every prayer that two on earth may agree to offer shall certainly be
answered ; but the two that are meant in the spiritual sense must
agree in the prayer, both in him who prays in his closet and in every
one who prays in the church. Numbers, as we have seen, do not
mean quantity, but quality. The number two denotes conjunction or
union, and as all conjunction results fronj love, which is the same
thing as goodness, the number two denotes the quality of a thing in
respect to goodness. The number three denotes what is full and com
plete, because there are three essentials, answering to love, wisdom,
and use, or to soul, body, and operation, which enter iuto the consti
tution of everything that exists, — from the Lord himself— in whom
this unity is called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— to man, who
was created in his image and Ukeness, and to everything in creation,
all of which, in some way or other, bears a reference to man.
And as this threefold arrangement of everything in the universe
is the result of the eternal laws of divine order, which are the
laws of divine truth, therefore, as the number two, in a good sense,
denotes the quality of a thing as to good, the number three denotes

Chap. XVIIL] ST. MATTHEW, 407
the quality of a thing as to truth. The nuniber two here bears its
primary signification, that of conjunction, and also its secondary signi
fication, that of good ; and the meaning of the declaration is, that if
man desires anything good, not with a divided but with a united
mind — that is, if he desires it with the whole heart, and asks it from
the Lord from such desire — he shall obtain it. Whatsoever is
asked from a state and principle that is truly good, and from the
conjunction of goodness and truth in the mind, as this is under the
control of the man himself, signified by the two being agreed on earth
touching anything they shall ask, shall assuredly be done for us of
jour Father which is in heaven, — the term Father being used to
Idenote, not another divine being separate from the Lord Jesus Christ,
but the divine love of his own essence ; divine love being the uni-
Iversal Father, and it being from that love as its only source that any
knd all good can be experienced and received by man.
20. To those encouraging words the Divine speaker adds the
reason of this assurance : For where two or three are gathered together
in my name, ihere am I in ilie midst of tliem. These words do
assuredly, in the sense nearest to the letter, convey the promise of
the Lord's continual presence with his church, wheresoever anj' branch
of it, however small, is assembled in his love and fear; and thus
iUustrate the advantage and necessity of united worship. But in their
purely spiritual sense the words carry on the same general subject
respecting effectual individual worship as the preceding verse, and teach
us that, in everything good and true that is genuine, in the mind of
man, the Lord himself is present, filling it with his divine life, and
making it fruitful of continual and eternal peace and blessedness.
The two gathered together, we have seen, are goodness and truth
conjoined; the three signify a state that is full and complete, in
consequence of the good in the will and the truth of the understand
ing being determined to action. The name of the Lord is his nature
and quality, and is applied to whatsoever is truly from him, and by
which, therefore, he is truly worshipped. And where there are such
s ;ates as have been described, deriving their character from the Lord's
nature and quality, there is the Lord himself, with all his divine
}.erfections, ever filling with his divine fulness what has been
received, and eternally conjoining the happy subject of it with himself.
21, 22. Peter, who had heard the Lord speak of one brother
trespassing against another, now inquires of him. Lord, how oft shall
my brotlier sin against me, and I forgive him ? till seven times ? Jesus
saith unto Mm, I say not urdo ihee, Until seven times: but, UntU seventy

408 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIIL
times seven. Considered literaUy, the Lord here teaches unlimited
forgiveness. He does not mean to inculcate forgiveness to a brother
who is always sinning and repenting. The Lord's words are to be
understood to inculcate a merciful and forgiving disposition, an ever-
readiness to forgive, in imitation of him who is mercy itself and
forgiveness itself The same truth is taught in a higher degree in
the spiritual sense. Here, too, forgiveness is to be perpetual. The
inclination of truth to good and of good to truth is to be constant,
and the desire for union to be unceasing. The numbers seven and
seventy times seven express the character of this forgiveness, as well
as its extent and con.stancy. Seven is a holy number. And our
Lord's answer to Peter's question implies that we are not only to
forgive from the holy principle of faith, which Peter represented, but
from the most holy feeling of love, which Jesus expressed, — for this
name is expressive of the Lord's love, as Christ is of his truth.
23. The momentous lesson which the Lord delivered on the subject
of forgiveness he now illustrates by a parable, and one of the most
instructive and edifying that occur in the Word. Therefore is the king
dom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account ofhis
servants. The king is the Lord, his servants are the human race;
more specifically, they are the professing members of his church,
who, being in possession ofthe Word, and thus in the knowledge
respecting the Lord and their duties, are more peculiarly qualified to
be his servants: and in the particular sense, all the principles which
are from the Lord in the human mind. The king reckoning with his
servants denotes a state of reflection, into which man is brought
when regeneration commences, upon his spiritual state and his
prospects in eternity, with the anxiety which arises upon a perception
of his deficiencies, and of his consequent liability to eternal ruin.
No one who has learnt from the Word something of his true
state, of the eternal world, and of the innumerable benefits he has
received from the Lord, can, if he ever reflects at all, avoid regarding
himself in the Ught of a debtor who owes to the Lord all that he is
or has. And when he reflects further upon the use he has made of
the Divine mercies, he must be strongly blinded by self-love and pride
indeed, if he does not feel how iU a requital he has made for such
beneflts, and how impossible it is that he should ever make such a
requital for them as they deserve. When he reflects upon the matter,
under the Ulumination of divine truth, he will perceive that, while
the talents with which he has been intrusted have been confided to
him for this one end — to enable him to attain eternal life and happi-

Chap. XVIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 409
ness — he has directed them chiefly to worldly and transient objects;
and that though he may have laid up treasures for himself in this
life, he is not rich towards God. Such must be the reflections of
every man when first awakened to a serious consideration of the
things of eternity. The excitement of such reflections as these, by an
influx from the Lord himself, is the experimental form of the king's
reckoning with his servants.
24. And when he had begun io reckon, one was brought unto him,
which owed Mm ten thousand talents. Its being said that one was
" brought unto him," denotes the first perception in the mind of man
of the infinite obligation he owes to the Lord. This debtor owed his
lord the debt before he was "brought unto him ;" just as man has
received from his birth immense natural and spiritual endowments,
whether he ever reflects thereon or not ; but the bringing the servant
under the eye of his lord, in the character of a debtor to this great
amount, expresses a vivid perception awakened in the mind of man
of the state in which he stands.
25. It is found that the debtor, while he owes this incalculable sum,
has noi to pay, which denotes the perception which man has in this
state of trial — for such it is — of his nothingness and worthlessness.
This is a perception that these talents have not been put into the
bank, or employed in any other profltable way, so that the Lord, at
his coming, might have received his own, and that with usury. The
consequence is, that his lord commanded him io he sold, and Ms wife,
and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. This
denotes a further perception, presented to the mind of man in this
state, that he is liable to have all the ennobling excellences of his
nature taken away, and to be consigned, a wretched slave, to the
regions of eternal darkness ; and that this must be his lot if he makes
no better a return for the Divine bounties than he has hitherto done.
The lord's commanding the servant to be sold does not mean that the
Lord is disposed to exact with severity all that is due to him ; but it
denotes a perception, on the part of man, that such consequences as are
here stated must follow from a perseverance in a course of im
penitence. Although the servant is a great debtor, yet he is con
sidered as being still in the service of his lord ; by which we learn
that, notwithstanding man's rebellion and ingratitude, still, until he
has finally confirmed himself in his refusal to make that return to his
bountiful Lord and Saviour which his mercy requires, he is regarded
as being in his service — a subject of his kingdom. To be sold is to
be entirely aUenated from the service of so good a Master, which is

410 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIIL
perfect freedom, and consigned irrecoverably to the dominion of another
master, all whose servants are most abject and cruelly-treated slaves ;
in other words, to be consigned to the dominion of hell and the powers
of darkness. And not only is the servant himself to be sold, but his
wife, and chUdren, and aU that he has. The man and his wife denote
the two leading and general powers of the mind, which are the wUl
and understanding ; his children denote all the sentiments respecting
what is good and true that are spontaneously produced in the mind
from the activity of the will and the understanding ; and all that he
has denotes all determinations to action thence resulting, and every
thing of a lower degree that belongs to his mind. For these to be
sold is to be for ever alienated from the Lord and his kingdom : it
denotes a state in which the will is utterly incapable of loving any
thing but what is evil, which it regards as its only good, and the
understanding is incapable of any apperceptions but what are fantas
tical and false, which it regards as true ; and in which, whatever
sentiments are produced by the activity of these principles are of the
same perverted order, to which everything that has a place in the
mind tends, and which it confirms.
26. The parable proceeds to describe representatively the effect pro
duced in the mind by the discovery that has been made to it of its
state, and the dreadful ruin to which it is exposed by its neglect
of the duties it owes in return for the great mercies received. This
is expressed by its being said. The servant therefore fell down, and
ivorshipped him, saying. Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay
tliee all. These words express the dread that has been excited by
the view, before perceived, of the lost state in which man is while he
i-emains immersed in merely natural pursuits, without any regard to
higher things ; and they also express the first commencement of a-
desire and attempt to make the return required by the Lord for his
mercies, accompanied with most earnest supplication to him for a
continuance of those bounties without which man can do nothinc. o
The servant's faUing down before his lord denotes deep humiliation
on the part of man before his God, with those feelings of the heart
without which no real humUiation can exist, which are, that in and
of himself he is utter worthlessness and helplessness. To worship the
Lord from this state is to acknowledge, with lively conviction, that
all good is from him alone. To say to the Lord, " Have patience
with me, and I wUl pay thee aU," is to entreat to be allowed to con
tinue under the government, not of divine truth alone, as is the case
with those who are condemned, but of the Divine goodness and

Chap. XVIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 411
tnercy, being the result of a perception that nothing but pure mercy
in the Lord can bear with the multiplied provocations of man. And
to say, " I will pay thee all," does not mean to undertake to cease to
be a debtor to divine bounty, for this no man can do, and no man in
the possession of his reason can think he can do it, but it denotes an
engagement to make that return for boundless mercies which the
Lord accepts as payment, — which is to appropriate by actual life the
good which the Lord offers to our acceptance, living to him alone, or
making the pure goodness and truth of which he is the author the
supreme object of our affections, and referring all our mercies to him, in
heartfelt gratitude and love.
27. Nothing, however, it is evident, was yet done by the convicted
servant — this type of man in general — towards the payment of his
debt, beyond entreaties and resolutions. But how were these accepted ?
Tlien the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed
him, and forgave him tlie debt. Here we have a true picture of the
boundless universality of the Lord's divine love and mercy towards
every individual of the human race. Great as are our delinquencies,
the Lord freely remits them all, not imputing our transgressions unto
us. And this he in fact does whether we are sincere penitents or not —
¦whether we remain immersed in our evils, or, in compliance with soli
citations for our real welfare, we relinquish them, and accept his
saving graces indeed. That such is the unbounded nature of the
Lord's mercy is evident from the part of the parable which now
follows. 28. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-
servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on
him, and took him by the throat, saying. Pay me that thou owesf. It is
important to mark the transition of state here expressed by the signi
ficant act of the servant, after the tender scene that had taken place
between him and his master, — the servant "went out." All that has
hitherto been recorded of the servant and his lord is descriptive of a
transaction that had taken place in the mind ; the conviction, the
remorse, the prayer, the forgiveness, have as yet been acts of the inner
man. The concurrence of the outer man is necessary to give effect
and endurance to these inward operations ; the thoughts and affections
of the mind must be confirmed by the words and actions of the life.
It is not how we think and feel, but how we speak and act, which
determine our real state. How different may we be in our conduct,
when we " go out " into the world, from what we are when within in
pur closet, — when the internal man, which is in immediate connection

412 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIIL
with heaven, is active, and when the external man, which is in im
mediate connection with the world, is active ! When it is so ex])licitly
said of the servant that he went out, it is intended to express descent
from an interior into an exterior state ; and that in this state he was
not prepared to bring the mercies he had experienced into act, and to
exhibit that love and disposition to forgiveness which, he had just
learned, dwell so infinitely in the breast of the Lord, whom man ought
to take for his pattern, is evinced in the manner in which he imme
diately behaved. His fellow-servant whom he found denotes the
external man as to the faculty of receiving divine grace from tbe
Lord ; for that the external man has also such a faculty must be
evident, otherwise it never could be conformed to the image of the
internal, and then man could never be regenerated and saved. The
one hundred pence which this servant owed to the other denotes the
fulness of the capacity of reception in the external or natural man ;
the number one hundred denoting fulness, and a penny, or denarius,
denoting what is peculiar to the natural man — all the truths suited to
its nature, and, in fact, all its capacities and talents. The hundred
pence, then, have a similar signification, in regard to man as a natural
being, to that which the ten thousand talents bear to the whole man,
more particularly when he is i-egarded as a spiritual being. And
these hundred pence are said to be owing by this fellow-servant to the
first, because all man's capacities as a natural being are designed to
minister to his use as a spiritual being ; or because all the endow
ments of the external man are designed to be subservient to the
spiritual man, and are considered as the property of the internal.
The second servant has the same relation to the first servant as the first
has to his lord. As the internal man receives his gifts and endow
ments immediately from the Lord, the external man receives them
immediately from the internal. Strictly speaking, the internal man
receives his endowments from the Lord immediately, and the extemal
receives his endowments from the Lord mediately through the
internal ; as we should say, the soul receives life directly from the
Lord, and the body i-eceives life from the soul. But the internal man
has no more right to claim these endowments of the external man as
his own, than he has to claim as his own those which he has received
immediately from the same Divine source of all power and virtue. Yet
this, we find, is what he does, and what man is prone to do. This
claim is meant by its being said of the servant that he laid hold of his
fellow-servant. And the way in which he laid hold of him was by
taking him by the throat — literally, he strangled or choked him. How

Chap. XVIIL] ST, MATTHEW, 413
strikingly does this expression present to us what man does when he
desires to possess the gifts and endowments of his natural man in a
disorderly manner, not submitting them to higher ends, or enjoying
them in dependence on the Lord ! For the neck, as we have seen
(v. 8), denotes the communication between the internal and the
external man ; wherefore, whatever intercepts the passage by the
neck from the head to the body represents the closing of the commu
nication from the internal man ; and as natural death results in the
one case, so spiritual death results in the other. Such interruption,
then, of the communication between the internal and external man is
represented by the one servant taking the other by the throat, or
choking him. And the words with which the merciless creditor
accompanied his significant action, " Pay me that thou owest," imply
more explicitly still a demand on the natural powers for all the
enjoyments they can give, and a determination to arrogate all the
endowments of the natural man to ourselves, as if we had a right to
indulge unrestrictedly in all the pleasures they can afford — as if to
live as merely natural or animal beings were the sole end of our
existence. In this state, also, whatever divine graces may have been
internally received will all appear as if they belonged to the natural
man ; and hence, in the demand, " Pay me that thou owest," is
included an idea as if all that man had in any way received from
the Lord were his own, and a claim to himself of merit for every good,
whether real or apparent, that he posses.ses.
29. But, it may be asked, is man, then, to make no use of his
natural endowments ? Are all natural pursuits prohibited by religion,
all natural pleasures regarded by it as criminal ? The Lord has given
an answer — "Render unto Csesar the things which are Ceesar's, and
to God the things that are God's." The same doctrine of the allow-
ableness of natural pursuits, when kept in subordination to spiritual
ones, and that it is then only that man's natural endowments are
truly valuable to him, and afford him true enjoyment, is taught in the
fellow-servant's answer upon being thus roughly handled. It is said
that he fell down at his feet, by which is signified acknowledgment that
the faculties of the natural man are designed for man's use ; and he
besought Mm, saying, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all;
being the same words as the other servant had used when called to
account by his Lord. In that case they implied a determination and
engagement on the part of man to fulfil the duties required of him by
the Lord ; here the meaning must necessarily be modified to adapt
them to the case of their being given to a fellow-servant, who denotes,

414 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIIL
not the man himself, but a certain faculty of his mind. Here, then,
they express the great tmth, that man's natural powers only render
him their proper use when he does not arrogate them to himself, and
apply them merely to minister to his natural man without regard to
anything further. The request, " Have patience with me," denotes a
perception, which is even in this state communicated to man, that he
is not to subject his natural endowments to this cruel bondage : and
the promise, "I will pay thee all," denotes the further perception
that in this case he will derive from them that just use which they
are given to afford ; that when they are made subordinate to eternal
ends, they convey the greatest delight that can be derived from them,
at the same time that they conduce to the well-being and support of
his internal man, and thus to man's true happiness.
30. This limited, though in reality more full use of the faculties of
the natural man does not satisfy the desires of man while he is in this
external state : unless he makes his natural gifts his all, it appears to
him as if they were nothing. This is represented when it is said of
the first servant that he would not accede to his fellow-servant's
request. On the contrary, he cast him into prison till lie should pay
ihe debt; by which is meant, that when man regards external and
worldly things only, he makes the endowments of his natural man
slaves to his perverted lusts and corrupt inclinations, and that while
he continues to view these as his all, he is always requiring of them
more assistance in the prosecution of his gross pursuits than they are
able to give. He deprives them of their proper liberty by turning
them from their proper use, and continually regards them as his
debtors, to whose service he has an unbounded right.
31. However, it appears, through the (Uvine mercy of the Lord,
that these abuses, which, if they continued unchecked, would destroy
the man entirely, do not pass unnoticed, and divine means are
employed to bring the sinner to a sense of his error. There are
fellow-servants, we find, who note what is done, and who bring upon it
the animadversions of the lord. These other fellow-servants denote all
the truths which man has received in his mind and memory from the
Holy Word, and from the Lord by means of the Holy Word, whether
immediately or otherwise. By these the principle called conscience is
formed in the mind, and with them and it there is a comniunication
stUl preserved with the Lord and heaven. For as man of himself is
utterly corrupt and evU, it is evident that the Lord cannot commu
nicate with anything that is man's own ; wherefore there are insinuated
into the mind of every one knowledges of divine truth, and affections

Chap. XVIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 415
therewith conjoined, which are not man's own, but are of the Lord
with him. From this source it is that a sense of pain and remorse is
often felt when man falls into the practice of evil, or confirms himself
in the inclination of the natural man alone ; and into these the Lord
can flow, to operate what is necessary for man's reformation, so far as
he does not decidedly confirm himself against it : if he does, after a time,
the truths received from the Word become in a manner abolished from
his mind, and the remonstrances of conscience, having long been stifled,
at last cease to be made. The pain then which is first felt when man
plunges into evil and disorder, after his mind has been furnished with
such knowledge from the Word as might teach him better, is denoted
by its being said that the fellow-servants, when they saw what was
done, were very sorry, their sorrow denoting contrariety between the
man's conduct and the dictates of divine truth.
32. But this not being sufficient to withhold him, it is necessary
that he should be subjected to a severe discipline, which is denoted
by the servants telling their lord, and his rebuking and punish
ing the servant. Tlien his lord, after that he had called him, said
unto him, 0 tliou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because
thou desiredst me. This evidently denotes the perception com
municated to man of the enormity of his conduct — a conviction of
the judgment which is based upon it by the Divine truth ; and bitter
indeed are the pangs of conscience which are endured by this con
viction. " O thou wicked servant." What can this imply, when
pronounced by the Lord, but a declaration and discovery of his own
utter depravity and liability to eternal ruin ! And what can it
imply as apprehended by man but a perception of the corruption of his
entire nature both by inheritance and choice — a perception that in
himself he is indeed nothing but evil ! " I forgave thee all that debt,
because thou desiredst me." This evidently is a bringing to mind of
the pure mercy of the Lord, which giveth liberally and upbraideth not,
and which is such as requires nothing of man but a desire on his part to
receive it. This is introduced to point out what is the conduct which
is plainly the duty of man, and without a compliance with which even
the boundless mercy ofthe Lord is not sufficient for his salvation.
33. For the Lord adds, Shouldest noi thou also have had compassion
on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee ? This instructs us
that man is to make charity the rule of his conduct as to his extemal
man, even as the Lord acts from love towards him, and is wUling to
communicate charity to his internal man. Certainly nothing can be
stronger, more pathetic, more impressive, than the mode in which

416 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XVIIL
this remonstrance is stated in the literal sense. It is impossible to
convey in a more forcible manner the precept, that man is to culti
vate in his bosom the feelings of charity and forgiveness. And to
remind him of this duty, he has the Lord's divine words before him,
" I forgave ihee all that debt." Does it not assure him of the con
stant presence of the Divine mercy, love, and forgiveness, from
whence he may take as much as is sufficient to enable him also to act
under the principle of love, and so to remove his evils that they may
be forgiven or remitted indeed.
34. The consequence of man's not doing so is stated in its being
said. His lord was wroth. Such expressions do not mean that there
really are any vengeful passions in the Source of all good, but by such
language the contrariety between the state ofthe wicked and the Lord's
divine love is what is intended, and their inability to view him such
as he really is, because they do not receive his love in their ovfXi. hearts
and minds ; for it is always through the medium of his own state that
man forms his interior ideas of the Divine nature. So, by the ex
pression of the Lord being wroth, we are taught that when man *¦
plunges into evil, or desires to enjoy the powers of his natural man to
promote merely selfish designs, he so averts himself from the Lord
that he can no longer, as before, enjoy an inward perception of him
as a God of love, remitting his debts and deficiencies. Before this can
be restored, states of severe temptation are to be undergone ; for it is
only by means of temptations that evils can be removed from the
affections, so that the heart shall lust after them no longer. This
process is what is described by its being said that the lord de
livered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto
him. The payment of all that was due unto him, in this view of the
subject, is that species of payment -which is that alone which the Lord
requires, which consists in the grateful acceptance of the Lord's
mercies, the appropriation of them to the use for which they are given,
and the return of all to the Lord, in the sincere acknowledgment that
all are from him. But should man determine to continue iu the con
firmation of his evils, then these words describe, not the temptations
by which evils are removed, but the desolations by which he is
deprived of every real good which he had received, and every noble
faculty which he had abused ; and the payment ofthe debt is then to
be understood in the other sense which we have seen it bears, — that of
the resumption, as it were, by the Lord, of all the endowments which
man continues to pervert. When once evil has been confirmed in the
mind, it can only be removed by the discipline of temptation ; and

Chap. XVIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 417
removed it must be before good can become predominant, and the
man prepared for a state wherein good ever reigns. So when once
any good or tmth has been received in affection, and confirmed, it
only can be removed, if evil obtains the mastery, by desolations ; and
it must be removed before the wretched victim can be consigned to
his final home in the abodes of darkness ; and if it cannot be
removed, it is because a state of profanation has been induced, which
is attended with worse horrors even than one of unmixed evil.
35. Since, even at the best, evils once confirmed can never be re
moved from the interiors but by painful temptations, how strongly
should come home to us the divine words with which the Lord
makes the appUcation of his parable, — So likewise shall my heavenly
Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his
brother their trespasses. In the natural sense this teaches us that we
cannot be in the reception of the Lord's love towards ourselves, but
in proportion as we are in the exercise of charity towards others.
And, spiritually, we are reminded by it of the necessity of putting
away e-vils, by man himself, in order to their removal and remission
by the Lord. In the Lord's prayer we are desired to pray, " Forgive
us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;" thus the forgiveness of debts
by us is prescribed as the measure of the forgiveness which will be
awarded to us by our Divine Judge; and we are in the strongest
manner forbidden to look for forgiveness on any other ground, when
we are even commanded in our prayers to recognize the unalterable
nature of this rule of the Lord's divine order. The meaning is, that
so far as we have ourselves power over our conduct and inclinations,
we are to regulate them by the dictates of the laws of eternal truth
and goodness. Now we have such power over all that belongs to
our natural man. We can control our actions so as to refrain from
the commission of actual evils. We can control our inclinations and
thoughts so far as not to encourage and wilfully dwell upon such
tendencies or imaginations as we know to be evil. So far as this, we
can spiritually forgive our brother his trespasses ; we can make good
or charity our rule of action, and remit or remove whatever would
violate it. So far then our heavenly Father will forgive our tres-
jiasses ; will remit or remove the tendencies and lusts towards evil
which exist in our interior, and will pass upon us eventually the
judgment of charity and mercy.

2e

418 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap.

SIX.

CHAPTER XIX.
Two most momentous questions are settled in the present chapter
one on the nature of marriage, the other on the conditions of salvation.
To hear the truth on these subjects from the lips of Him who created
man, and who came to redeem him, and thus to restore marriage to its
primeval purity, and man to his original order and happiness, is a
privUege we should greatly prize.
1. And it came fo pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he
departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan.
This describes a progression of the Lord's love or goodness in man from
the external, which is Galilee, to the internal, which is ,Judea, through
the knowledges of good and truth, which is Jordan. Yet it was only
to the coasts of Judea that the Lord came, implying an elevation of the
Lord's love, not into the internal itself, but to its externals or borders.
2. Here the Lord, as was his wont, engaged in works of benevolence.
Great multitudes followed him,; and he healed ihem there. Those affec
tions and thoughts in us that follow the Lord with a desire to be freed
from their hereditary and acquired infirmities, and to be elevated by
him, and into conjunction with him, are restored to soundness, and
brought into heavenly order, so as to fit them for useful and happy
activity. 3. But where good is present, there evil shows itself. Tlie Pharisees
also came unto him, tempiting him, and saying unto him. Is it laiofulfor
a man io put avMy his wife for every cause? When the good affections
and thoughts are attracted to the Lord for instruction apd teaching,
the evil are excited into opposition, seeking too often to overturn the
authority of divine truth by insidious reasonings. Like Satan among
the sons of God, the Pharisees, or some other enemies of the truth, are
sure to appear where the good and faithful assemble. But these at
tempts are turned by the Lord to advantage, and are made to end in the
clearer perception and fuller confirmation of the truth. And such is
the result of all the doubtings and reasonings of our rebellious selfhood,
if we are faithful to the Lord and to our own best interests. The
questions here raised by the Pharisees, and answered by the Lord, are
of great importance as general principles, and deserve our most serious
attention. The question about the law of divorce has already been
considered in ch. v. 31, where the Lord himself introduces the subject.
It is only necessary here to notice the opinion and practice in the
Jewish church which gave rise to the present question. As Moses
assigned no precise cause of divorce, it came to be a question amono-

Chap. XIX.] ST. MATTHEW. 419
the Jews of a later period what were the legitimate causes of divorce,
or whether a man might not put away his wife for any cause what
ever. The difference of opinion on this question came to be repre
sented by two distinct schools of divinity among the Jews, one of
which restricted the causes of divorce to what was scandalous and
dishonourable, while the other held the husband's displeasure to be
a sufficient reason. When the Pharisees came to the Lord it was to
hear which of these opinions he maintained.
4, 5. When the Lord answered the Pharisees he did not so much as
notice their opinions and disputes, he did not even go back to Moses
to point out the true meaning of the law on which their different
opinions rested. Instead of referring to the temporary law of divorce,
he went back to the primeval law of marriage, and showed that both
creation and the law of the Creator rendered the bond of marriage
indissoluble, except for one cause. Have ye not read, that he which
made them af tlie beginning made them male and female, and said. For
this cause shall a man leave fatlier and mother, and shall cleave io
his wife : and ihey twain shall he one fiesh ? These di-vine words
establish marriage on its original and true foundation. The man and
the woman were created for each other, and their union -was designed
to be spiritual, like theu' nature, and eternal, like their existence. Of
all God's creatures man only was formed in his image and likeness. His
image and likeness are stamped upon his whole nature aud constitu
tion. And as God in the beginning made them male and female, the
Divine image has a profound reference to the characteristic difference
on which their union rests. The man may be said to have been
created in the image of God, and the woman in his likeness. The
double resemblance in -vi'hich man is said to have been formed can only
be understood when it is known that God in his essence is Love itself
and Wisdom itself, and that man was created to be a recipient of love
and wisdom from God. God's wisdom in man makes him God's
image ; God's love in man tnakes him God's likeness. In order that
male and female might be so closely united as to be " no more twain,
but one flesh,'' the man was created to be an image of God and the
woman to be a likeness : in other words, the man was created to be a
recijjient and a form of God's wisdom, and the woman to be a reci
pient and a form of his love. And as love and wisdom in God are
perfectly united, so love in the woman and wisdom in the man were
designed to become so intimately united as to be spirituaUy and eter
nally one — the image of the union of Love and Wisdom in God. The
image in the man and the likeness in the woman aspire after union.

420 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIX.
The union of love and wisdom in the Divine mind gives rise to this
aspiration after union in human minds. And two whose union in
marriage has been the result of this united aspiration, untainted by
impure desires and unworthy motives, are those whom God hath
joined together, and whom man may not put asunder. We have
spoken of the nature of marriage, as derived from its first and highest
origin in the union of love and wisdom in the Lord, but true marriage
has its immediate origin in the union of love and wisdom, or of charity
and faith, in the minds of the married partners themselves. Those only
who are in the heavenly marriage of love and faith are capable of that
union of heart and soul which is true marriage. True marriage is a
spiritual union, and it is evident that none but the spiritually-minded
can be united in true marriage. No wonder, then, that divorce was
so common among the Jews, who were a natural-minded people;
nor is it surprising that in the world there are so many unhappy
matrimonial connections. Unhappy marriages do not result so much
from unsuitable pairs, as from ill-conditioned individuals, who could
not be happy partners in marriage under any circumstances. If
oue or both of the parties in the marriage covenant have neither
the principles of true union nor the elements of true happiness in
themselves, how can the bond that unites them be otherwise than
superficial or galling ? Tme and happy marriage can only exist in
connection with true religion. Such marriages, and such only, are
spiritual and eternal : for that only which descends from heaven can
ascend to heaven again, and that only which comes from the Eternal
can endure for ever. The remarks we have made upon marriage, as
the union of male and female, of a youth and a maiden, drawn to each
other by love truly conjugal, has, to some extent, anticipated our
exposition of the Lord's words according to the spiritual meaning.
The subject of their spiritual sense is the union of love and wisdom,
or of charity and faith, in the human mind, of which we have already
spoken. This union is the marriage to Vhich heaven is compared,
and which makes heaven, for heaven is love and faith, and love and
faith are heaven. Heaven as a place derives it character from heaven
as a state.
5. The conditions on which true marriage, both as a union of
principles and of persons, exists, are stated by our Lord in the purpose
which he, as our Creator, had in making them at the beginnino- male
and female. For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and
shall cleave to his wife; and they twain shall he one fiesh. Marriao-e
does indeed alter a man's condition, since it makes him the head of a

Chap. XIX.] ST. MATTHEW. 421
new household ; but more than this is involved in the Lord's words.
Father and mother, in the internal sense, mean the nature which we
inherit from our parents, which is comprehended in the two ruling
affections of the natural mind, the loves of self and of the world.
As the old nature which we inherit is meant by father and mother,
the new nature which we choose is meant by the wife. The wife is
the spiritual love of what is good and true, which the Lord provides
for those who desire to become new creatures. It is the appointed
order of our Creator and Regenerator, that we leave the old and
cleave to the new. The husband and wife of this new and spiritual
household are the new understanding and will which form the new
mind, and thus the new man. This leaving of father and mother —
this relinquishing of our corrupt selfhood — is equally necessary to our
entering into spiritual and natural marriage; since, as we have seen,
there is no true marriage but the union of the good and the true
either in one mind or between two. In human pairs nothing is
truly married but truth in the husband and good in the wife; every
thing opposite to these is the cause of division, not of union — of
discord, not of happiness.
6. When two are thus joined together, they are no more twain, but
one fiesh. The Lord's declaration, both here and in Genesis, of the
unity of husband and wife, is as striking as it is emphatic. " No
more twain, but one flesh," — what could be more expressive of two
becoming one? Their duality is quite as emphatic as their unity.
Man and woman are much more twain than man and man, or than
woman and woman ; and so much the more twain, so much the more
one. They are not different shades of the same colour, but are com
plementary colours; rather, they are the two elements of light and
heat, whose union is the origin of all colour. They are two parts of
one humanity, each having what the other wants to make the perfect
man. Sex is of the soul as much as of the body; ancl every thought
and affection of the man is masculine, and every thought and
affection of the woman is feminine, not copies, but counterparts of
each other, so diverse are they. But their diversity is the ground
of their unity. It is because they are so distinctly two that they
can become so completely one. And when two, created by Infinite
Love and Wisdom for each other, are united in true marriage, they
are no more twain, but one flesh, being one man, having one will
and one way. Of such may it be truly said that God hath joined
them together. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man
put asunder. Without dweUing on this prohibition in reference

422 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap.

XIX.

to judicial separation.s, let us rather advert to its more interior
sense. In every sense and in every case marriage is of God, and
separation is of man. God is the author of union, man is the author
of division. Let us be-«'are then of admitting anything of our own
self-will into that which is of the Divine will. What fhereforre God
hath joined together, whether it be love and faith in our hearts, or
husband and wife in our homes, let not man put asunder.
7-9. When the Lord had thus shown that marriage, being of God,
is not to be dissolved by man, the Pharisees objected — Why did Moses
then command to give a waiting of divorcement, and to put her away ?
To which our Lord answered, Moses because of the hardness of your
hearts siffered you io put away your wives: hui from the beginning ii
was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away Ms wife,
except it he for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adul
tery : and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit
adultery. Having already considered the subject and law of divorce
(ch. V. 31), we need not enter on it here. The fact which the Lord
here states, that the permissive law of divorce owed its origin to the
hardness of heart of those to whom it was given, is most important.
God, as we have remarked, never permits a lesser evil but to prevent
a greater. To consider this subject spiritually, the dispensation of
Moses represented the natural state of man as preparatory to the
spiritual state. In that state there is no true marriage of goodness
and truth ; there is not conjunction, but adjunction, and this admits
of loosing as well as binding. Yet this arises from there being as yet
no spiritual will, but "hardness of heart," which is a state at variance
not only with man's original state, but with the first principles of
spiritual order, signifled by "the beginning," which spiritually means,
not first in respect to time, but first in respect to state. With the
spiritual man, therefore, there is no putting away, except for the cause
of fornication.
10. But when the Lord had declared the indissoluble nature of
marriage, the disciples themselves were astonished, and their Jewish
prejudices being shocked, they said. If the case of tlie man he so with
his wife, it is not good to marry. The disciples were as yet more
Jewish than Christian in their ideas and character, and represented
man in a transition state, while passing from his natural to a spiritual
state. And to one in this state the pure truth relating to the
heavenly marriage cannot appear as good, but seems to impose a
burden that is heavy to bear — a bond that is inconsistent with true
freedom. And so with the heavenly marriage of love and faith.

Chap. XIX.] ST. MATTHEW, 423
11, To this the Lord answers. All men cannot receive this saying,
save they to whom it is given. One would think there could be no
great difficulty in admitting the rectitude of the law which the Lord
had delivered. Yet the Divine law of marriage is repugnant to the
natural man. The polygamy of the heathen world affords too abun
dant evidence of this ; and the Jews themselves, who were natural
men, were in the same gross and dark state in regard to marriage.
Those only to whom it is given can see the true law,
12. The Lord proceeds to show who these are. For there are some
eunuchs, which were so bom from their mother's womb : and there are
some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men : and ihere be eunuchs,
which have made tliemselves eunuchs for the kingdom of lieaven's sake.
He that is able fo receive it, let him receive it. The eunuchs, then, are
they to whom it is given to receive the Lord's saying respecting the
law of marriage, NaturaUy, these are incapable of marriage. That
the Lord intended to convey, under this imagery, some profound
truth respecting those who become fit for his kingdom, is evident, not
only from the declaration itself, but from the concluding remark, "He
that is able to receive it, let him receive it," and which more correctly
means, "He that is able to comprehend it, let him comprehend it."
Does not this direct us to a hidden meaning ? The Lord's words yield a
consistent and instructive meaning only in the spiritual sense. Other
wise, what can be meant by eunuchs bom, made of men, and made of
themselves ? And yet in the spiritual sense all this yields a mean
ing as beautiful as it is edifying. By these are described the three
classes of the regenerate — the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural.
The celestial are meant by those who have been bom eunuchs from
their mother's womb ; the spiritual, by those who have been made
eunuchs of men ; and the natural, by those who have made themselves
eunuchs. The womb signifies celestial love and innocence ; and they
who are eunuchs from their mother's womb are those who are born
again into a state of celestial love, which is love to the Lord. Man
signifles the understanding ; and those who are made eunuchs of men
are those who are regenerated into a state of spiritual love, which is
love to the neighbour. Those who make themselves eunuchs for the
kingdom of heaven's sake are those who acquire truth in the memory,
and by a life according to it are regenerated into the good of obedience.
The description of male purity which our Lord here gives is analogous
to that of female purity given in the Revelation (ch. xiv. 4), where the
regenerate are described as virgins, who have not been defiled with
¦women, and who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. As men

424 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIX.
signify intellect, and women will, these two different descriptions of
masculine and feminine chastity relate to purity of intellect and of
will, or of thought and of affection ; and, combined under one view,
describe the regenerate mind, or full man, as consisting of the new
understanding and will, or the new heart and the right spirit, which
God creates in those who suffer themselves to be born again from
above. 13. When we understand the - passage as relating to spiritual
purity, and the different degrees of excellence to which the regenerate
attain by subduing the lusts of the flesh, we can see the connection of
the subject with the incident which immediately foUows the Lord's
discourse. Then were ihere brought unto him Utile children, thai lie
should put his hands on ihem, and pray. The distinguished place
which little children hold in the gospel history is one of the most
beautiful of its truly human features. It is but natural that these
little innocents should stand forth prominently in a history which
begins with the birth of the infant Saviour as innocence itself incar
nate. This bringing of little chUdren to Jesus represented the ascrip
tion to the Lord of all the innocence we have received from him, that
his blessed influence may descend through it into our hearts and
minds. This is spiritually to bring little children to Jesus, and to ask
him to lay his hands on them and pray. And the disciples rebuked
ihem. Little sympathy had they with these little innocents, because
as yet they had little of that spiritual innocence of which these little
ones were the types. And they exemplified in their conduct the
character of that principle and state which they represented. The
Lord's love flows immediately into innocence in the will, and not into
it through intellectual good or truth ; and therefore the disciples, who
as yet represented these inteUectual principles, rebuked those who
brought the little children to Jesus.
14, 15. Bui Jesus said. Suffer little children, and forbid ihem not,
to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid
his hands on them. These gracious words, how much do they express,
how much do they teach ! The innocence of infancy and childhood is
a remnant of that which existed in paradise— the only good, perhaps,
that has survived the fall ; not that this innocence has been trans
mitted, but that the capacity for receiving it has been preserved. In
the innocence of childhood we see a faint outline of what man has
been, as well as the shadow of what he may become, by being created
anew, and restored to the image and likeness of God. We soe in it,
moreover, something of that which the Lord can infuse into the human

Chap. XIX.] ST. MATTHEW. 425
mind when the selfhood is not active, and which he does impart to
the angels of that heaven with which infants are connected, and
through which their innocence descends. We may learn, lastly, how
much we are influenced by innocence, through a disinterested love for
little children, which our Lord exhibited in such perfection. Only
the disinterested love for children can have this effect. The natural,
as well as the spiritual, may adopt the first half of the Lord's address
to his disciples, "Suffer little children to come unto me;" but the
spiritual only can use the second, "for of such is the kingdom of
heaven." The true love of little children is for the sake of their inno
cence as the gift of heaven, and forthe sake of leading them to heaven
by the innocence with which heaven inspires them. Their innocence
is the object of all true love, and their happiness in heaven is the end
of all true education. It is on the innocence of childhood that the
Lord still lays the hand of his Omnipotence, to keep the little ones
under his influence and protection, and lead them if possible to the
kingdom of heaven. " And he laid his hands on them," and departed
ilience. And this brings us to a new state, and introduces us to a
new subject.
16, 17. And, behold, one came and said unto Mm, Good Master,
what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life ? The subject
of this inquiry is, like that of the Pharisee on marriage, so important
as a plain and practical truth, that we propose to view it first and
principally in this aspect. We have first to consider the young man's
salutation of the Lord — "Good Master;" and what has been con
sidered the Lord's refusal of the title in his answer — Why callest thou
me good ? there is none good but one, that is, God. These words are
capable of two literal interpretations compatibly with the divinity of
the Lord. Either the Lord speaks with reference to the intelUgence
of his questioner (who probably had no idea of the relation that Jesus
had to God), and wishes to remind him that, if such a teacher be
called good, it can only be from his having and exhibiting any of the
goodness of him who alone is good; and then the words (so far from
denying that the Lord was good) tacitly assert that his goodness must be
from God, and might lead the questioner to suspect a higher character
in the Lord than he presupposed. Or, the Lord speaks under the
human consciousness of his not yet complete oneness with the Father —
that is, realizes at the time the view that the Essential Divinity is
alone goodness, and that it is not yet, or then, conscious of being one
with the Father. In any case it does not follow, because the Lord
asked him why he called him good, that the Lord refused to be so

426 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIX.
called by any one. Suppose an emphasis on the ihou, and the ques
tion would not in the least imply a refusal to be so called. We only
mention this last as an argument, for there is no emphatic thou in the
Greek. Or place the emphasis on why, then the sentence need not
imply any refusal. If the questioner were one whose heart, as known
to the Lord, did not love keeping the commandments, to ask him why
he called the Lord good might be due wholly to the character of the
questioner. It has been well observed that the Lord calls himself
(John X. 11) "the Good Shepherd," which is itseU sufficient to con
vince us that he could not intend to refuse, as too exalted for him, the
title of " Good Master." The design of the Lord was rather to excite
in the mind of the young man who uttered the salutation, and in the
mind of every one who reads it, an inquiry as to the real import of the
term in reference to Jesus. As if the Lord had said, " Thou callest
me good : there is none good but one, that is, God. Dost thou
acknowledge me to be that one — to be that God who alone is good ? "
Such Jesus was, and such the acknowledgment of him as the Good
legitimately implies. He is the supreme, the only Good, and as such
the Giver as well as the Teacher of eternal life. The Lord's words,
more literally rendered, are — "Why askest thou me concerning good?
there is one good, God." This does not, however, materially affect
the sense, or the ground of the opinion or argument we have noticed.
The Lord, we know, questioned men to excite them to reflection; and
the demand which he here makes is one which it is most necessary
every one who proposes to be a disciple of Jesus should answer for
himself But the Lord, without waiting for a reply to a question which every
one will answer according to his state, proceeded to give an answer
to this momentous inquiry; and that answer contains one of the
most momentous truths which the Lord ever uttered or revealed.
If ihou wilt enter into life, keep the com,mandmeiits. It is most worthy
of our consideration that this question should have been providentially
put to our Lord, who, as the Saviour, was best able and entitled to
give the full and final answer. And his answer, stating the condition
of salvation, is in harmony with the often-repeated declaration, that
he wiU judge every one according to his works. It is true that faith
is also given as a condition of salvation : " Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts xvi. 31); and some, supposin"
that faith and works are opposed to each other, have, to reconcile these
two apparently opposite statements, assumed that the Lord in
answering the inquiry of a Jew, stated the legal, but not the gospel

Chap. XIX.] ST, MATTHEW, 427
conditions of salvation. It is true that Judaism, as the dispensation
of the law, is entirely different from Christianity, as the dispensation
ofthe gospel; but the works of the moral law are not opposed to the
faith of Jesus Christ. The conditions of salvation are the same under
both covenants. The keeping of the commandments is as much a
Christian as it was a Jewish condition of Ufe. The difference is, that
the Jew was to live according to the letter of the law ; the Christian
is to live according to its spirit. The old covenant was the law as
written upon tables of stone; the new covenant is the same law as
written upon the table of the heart. " This shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel ; After those days, saith the
Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their
hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people," (Jer.
xxxi. 33; Heb. viu. 8, &c.) This is the covenant under which we
Uve, as expressed by our Lord when he said, " If thou wilt enter into
life, keep the commandments."
18-21. When the young man had been told that he must keep the
commandments, he inquired. Which ? Jesus said, Thou shall do no
murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal, Thou
shalt not bear false witness. Honour thy father and thy mother : and.
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. This was a singular question,
since the Lord's answer included the whole, and no partial obedience
can be considered as the fulfilment of the law. Our Lord points out
some which, however, may be considered as representing the whole ;
in the spiritual sense this is the case. To kill is to extinguish in
one's self the love of good, which is life, and to commit adultery is to
profane it ; to steal is to alienate tmth, and to bear false witness is to
falsify it; to honour father and mother is to love the Lord as the
supreme good and truth ; and to love his neighbour as himself is to
love good in another, and another's good as he loves his own. In the
supreme sense, all these acts that are forbidden and required have
immediate reference to our relation to the Lord; as for example, to steal
is to claim for ourselves the merit of doing good and beUeving truth,
which belongs to God only. And this is just one of the evils, as we
shall see, of which the young man had been guilty. He had lived up
to the standard of the law according to the letter. He could respond
to the Lord's enumeration ofthe commandments. All tliese things have
I kept from my youth up. He answered in sincerity, and according to
truth, so far as he knew it. Our Lord did not dispute his claim to
having lived a righteous Ufe. Indeed, we are told (Mark x. 21) that
the Lord regarded him with love, as he loves all sincere obedience,

428 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. XIX,
liowever imperfect it -may be. But that the righteousness oi this
man wanted the inward spiritual life which makes obedience perfect,
is evident from its being unable to bear the test which Jesus applied
to it, and by which all righteousness is to be tried. When he had
declared that he had done all the things which the law demanded, he
asked. What lack I yet? Jes'os said unto him. If ihou wilt be perfect,
go and sell that ihou hast, and give io tlie poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. Those who believe that
the law is no longer a condition of salvation have supposed that the
one thing this man lacked was faith. But from the requirement of
our Lord it would seem as if he rather lacked charity; for the Lord
did not ask him to believe, but to do — to sell his possessions and give
to the poor. He had obedience, but he lacked charity or love; this
he required to make his obedience perfect; and this was what the
Lord demanded of him. He required him to give up the inordinate
love of the world, and love his neighbour as himself. It is possible
to fulfil with exemplary fidelity the whole law in the letter, without
having the love of self and of the world removed from the heart.
Obedience to the commandments comprehends two thing.s — self-
denial and active virtue, which is ceasing from evil and doing good.
Nor is it necessary only to put away evU before the eyes of man, but
to put away the evil of our doings from before the eyes of God (Isa.
i. 1 6). And this evil is that which enters into our good deeds, and
defiles them with the hidden impurity of our unregenerated nature.
The young man, while scrupulous in his observance of the law, had
never, perhaps, thought that he was still under the dominion of the
love of the world. Our Lord, who knew his heart, touched this
tender part, and immediately it shrunk as a punctured fibre, or as the
apple of the eye when covered with a flood of light. Here was
something to be undone and to do which he had never dreamt of as
coming within the requirement of the law. To become poor on earth
that he might be rich in heaven had not occurred to him as a duty.
And, indeed, this is the difference between legal and Christian righ
teousness, and between the religion of the natural and of the spiritual
man. Poverty of spirit is, however, that which the spirit of our
Lord's teaching inculcates. For a man may even part with all his'
wealth, and yet not be poor in spirit. And on the other hand, he may
be poor in spirit without parting with all his wealth, except it be the
possessions which minister to his spiritual pride — the possessions that
constitute his selfhood, which leaves the stamp of self on every thin o-
he does. Only those who sell this can follow the Lord ; for he was

Chap. XIX.] ST. MATTHEW. 429
meek and lowly of heart, and those who follow him must take up
their cross, and walk with him in patient self-denial, and in loving
beneficence. 22. But when the young man heard that saying, he went avjay
sorrowful : for he had great possessions. How natural is such an
answer to one who had never dreamt that the love of the world as a
ruling passion should be .incompatible with the kingdom of heaven !
Yet we are to observe that the young man did not, like some of those
who questioned the Lord, depart impenitent and scoffing. He went
sorrowful. He was desirous of entering into the kingdom of heaven,
but was not yet prepared to make the necessary sacrifice. His great
possessions he was not yet prepared to relinquish. These possessions
included wealth of knowledge, but that knowledge was grounded in
natural love ; ancl it was this love which he was required to sell, that
he might become poor in spirit.
23. When the young man had gone away sorrowful, unable as yet,
because unwilling, to part with his great possessions, the Lord turned
to his disciples, and said unto them. Verily I say unto you. That a
rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. It is almost
self-evident that the Lord intended to convey a higher than the
natural truth in these declarations. In regard to wealth, he himself
so far expounded his own statement by saying, that it was not
possessing but trusting in wealth that excluded men from heaven.
It is not, then, riches themselves, but the selfish or sordid love of
them, that is condemned and is condemnatory. But this judgment
not only applies to natural but to spiritual riches. Spiritual riches
are the knowledges .of spiritual things; for knowledge is mental
wealth, and religious knowledge is but a higher kind, intended to
minister to the purposes of spiritual life. But spiritual knowledge,
like natural and material wealth, may be employed for noble purposes
or used for unworthy ends. It may be treasured up, too, for its own
sake, without a view to any useful end; or, what is more akin to the
present subject, it may be considered sufficient of itself to secure a
place in the kingdom of heaven. Those who thus regard knowledge
are the rich, against whom the Word pronounces such severe judg
ments, and against whom heaven is closed; and their knowledges are
the great possessions in which they trust, but which they must sell
and give to the poor if they would have treasure in heaven. Know
ledge, even of divine and spiritual things, is earthly treasure when laid
up in the natural mind ; and it prevents man from acquiring treasure
in heaven or in the spiritual mind, till it is severed from all connec-

430 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIX.
tion with his own self-love. He sells that which he hath, also, when
he ceases to claim the ownership both of temporal and spiritual riches,
and ascribes them to God, and employs them in his service. He who
thus parts with his posse.ssions, to become poor in spirit, exchanges
empty knowledge for substantial goodness, and is raised by it from
spiritual poverty to eternal wealth.
24. But trust in knowledge is vain. It is easier for a camel fo go
through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man io enter into the king
dom of God. They who think to enter heaven by their riches are
they who think to perceive the truth of heaven by intellectual pene
tration alone,— differently from the apostle, who asserts that spiritual
things must be spiritually discerned. This is trying to make the
camel go through the eye of the needle; fbr a camel signifies know
ledge and science, and the eye of a needle spiritual truth. The
natural cannot enter into the spiritual. No wealth or perfection of
science can ever enable man to discover the things which are above
nature. Spirit and matter are separated by a discrete degree, and are
united by correspondence, and therefore have nothing in common.
So is it with all natural and spiritual thing,s. Those who attempt to
enter into spiritual truth by merely natural means " carry their
riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the
bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. For the
Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose : therefore have I
cried concerning this, Their strength is to stand still " (Isa. xxx. 6, 7).
To enter into spiritual truth from oneself is to enter from without;
to enter from God is to enter from within. In the one case, it is to
endeavour to see spiritual things from natural Ught; in the other, it
is to see them from the light of heaven. If men will but still their
self-intelligence, and listen reverentially to the voice of God as it
speaks to them through his Word, they will find themselves strong,
and their efforts successful, when before they were weak, and were
baffled in all their attempts. They will not need to give up science and
sUence reason; their scope wUl be increased instead of being diminished.
For although reason, by means of science, cannot find out God, or
discover the soul, or discern spiritual things, it can find in nature
abundant means of confirming the truth ou these subjects, when
accepted from revelation. When spiritual truth is once admitted,
science, which seemed only fertile in negations, is found to be bound
less in means of confirmation. When " the glory of the Lord is risen
upon thee : the forces ofthe Gentiles shall come unto thee; the mul
titude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and

Chap. XIX.] ST, MATTHEW. 431
Ephah: all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and
incense: they shall show forth the praises of the Lord" (Isa. Ix. 1, 5,
6). When a man has admitted spiritual wisdom into his mind, all
the wealth of science -will be added to him for glory and praise.
25. When the disciples heard the Lord's declaration, that it was
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich
man to enter into the kingdom of God, iliey were exceedingly amazed,
saying. Who then can be saved? It appeared to them as if the Lord
had made entrance into his kingdom almost an impossibility. And
this at first sight appears to every disciple to be the consequence of
the law of order which our Lord declared. But this arises from their
not understanding what the tmth teaches on the subject. Our Lord
therefore proceeds to explain it.
26. Bui Jesus beheld tliem, and said unto them. With men this is
impossible; but with God all things are possible. That which in its
own nature is contrary to order is still more impossible with God than
it is with men. But the opposition to order in this case consists in
man attempting to do in his own way, and by his own power, what
can only be done in God's way and by his power. Man fails because
he begins from himself; to succeed, he must begin from God.
27. Then answered Peier and said unto Mm, Behold, we have for
saken all, and followed ihee; what shall we have therefore ? This is a
question which faith may ask when it is able to make so honourable
a declaration, — one that contrasts so favourably with the conduct of the
young man. In those days, when spiritual states and truths were to
be embodied in representative acts, those who became the Lord's dis
ciples were sometimes required to leave all their temporal goods and
homes, and follow him iu his pilgrimages. We all have to for
sake self and the world, of which these are the symbols, and to follow
the Lord's divine example in a life of holiness. Can we, in the Lord's
presence, say in truth, "We have left all, and followed thee" ? It would
be well for us were we able to profess truly that we had earnestly
desired and faithfully endeavoured to do the disciple's duty. Then we
might ask with humility, "What shall we have therefore?" Let us
listen to the gracious reply.
28. Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you. That ye which
liave follovjed me in ihe regeneration, wlien tlie Son of man shall sit in
the throne ofhis glory, ye also sliall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel. This is an instance of the Lord addressing his
disciples according to their own notions of things. They were yet in
the belief that the Lord had come to restore Israel, and set up a

432 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XIX.
kingdom upon earth ; and the Lord here answers their question,
according to their views and desires, by promising to make them
judges in Israel. And thus it ever is that the truth ofthe Word falls
into men's ideas. But, as in the present instance, that which they
apprehend naturally when they themselves are natural, they appre
hend spiritually when they become spirituah The Lord's promise
to the disciples speaks for itself, as to its containing a spiritual
meaning, and being intended to have only a spiritual fulfilment. As
the Lord's glorification was the pattern of human regeneration, those
who follow him in the regeneration are those who become like him,
by doing as he did. The life of regeneration is a Ufe of humiliation,
including suffeiing and the death of the old man. This humUiation
leads to glory. And the Son of man sits on the throne of his glory
when his holy truth, glorified in us, is throned on the highest affections
of our hearts. The disciples, who represented all the goods and
truths of the Word, derived from the Lord and ruling under him, sit
on twelve thrones when these principles enter into and govern all our
states of life. The Lord's throne is in the inner man ; the thrones of
the apostles are in the outer man. The tw-elve tribes of Israel are
spiritual truths in the natural mind, which are arranged by and under
the general truths, meant by the apostles, and which arrangement is
meant by judging. For the idea here presented is not that of a single
act of judgment, at the time ofthe end, but continual judgment, like
that of the judges of Israel. The Lord and his apostles are always
judging, and keeping in order the thoughts and affections of the
regenerate mind.
29. If the promise to the apostles to sit on thrones has an evidently
spiritual meaning, that which follows it is still more evidently remote
from a literal fulfilment. For the Lord continues : And every one
(hat hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or
uife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred
fold, and shall inherit everlasting life. By these are not, of course,
meant a man's natural possessions and relations. He who requires us
to love our enemies cannot command us to hate our friends. And,
indeed, if anything like a literal compliance with such a requirement
were meant, why should it be demanded of the man, or husband, and
not of the woman, or wife ? But the truth is, the whole relates to the
spiritual, and not to the natural life of the disciple. These members
of his house are the principles of the old man, the hereditary and
acquired qualities of his unregenerate nature. It begins with houses
and ends with lands, and by these are meant the mind itself as to its

Chap. XIX.] ST. MATTHEW. 433
inmost and outermost recipient faculties. These faculties in our unre
generate state are perverted and corrupt, and their perversions and cor
ruptions are to be rejected. The members of the household are merely
natural affections of our unregenerate nature. Father and mother
are the loves of self and the world, and brethren and sisters are the
thoughts and affections derived from these. The wife is the ruling
love which the understanding has chosen for and united to itself,
and the children derived from this marriage are the worldly affections
and thoughts that spring from this union. To forsake these is
a positive duty ; to forsake our natural relations would be a positive
crime. But the promise is, that every one that forsakes them shall
receive an hundredfold of the same. An hundredfold is the symbol
of comjileteness and perfection. And the promise implies, that he
who puts off the old man with the lusts thereof, and puts on the
new man with his pure and holy affections, will find himself rewarded
an hundredfold for the sacrifice he has made. But to receive this
reward he must forsake these enemies of his own household for the
Lord's sake. To forsake evil for his own sake — that is, for the sake of
his own reputation or interest — is not truly to forsake it, but only
to desist from it ; but to forsake evil because it is sin against God,
is truly to forsake and hate it. With the promise of an hundredfold
is given also that of life everlasting. For this impUes not only
eternal life in heaven, which is the ultimate reward of the righteous,
but new Ufe and deUght, as the i-esult of new principles.
30. Our Lord concludes by saying. But many that are first shall be
last ; and the last shall be first. Many that occupy the first rank in
worldly, and even in religious estimation, shall be in the last place in
the other life ; while many of those who are in the lowest place here
will occupy the highest hereafter. In the spiritual sense it teaches
that regeneration inverts the state of man. It puts in the last place
those things that were first, and in the first place those that were
last. In his unregenerate state the world is first and heaven is last
in his thoughts and affections ; in his regenerate state heaven, which
was last, becomes first, and the world, which was first, becomes last.
And so with body and soul, nature and spirit, time and eternity.
These, as ends, change places with man's change of state. In another
respect, also, things that were first become last, and the last flrst. In
the regeneration, states and principles change places, those first
acquired becoming last, and those last acquired becoming flrst. Thus
is it with truth and goodness, faith and charity, obedience and love.
In the early stage of the new life, truth is before goodness, faith

434 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XX.
before charity, obedience before love ; in the later stage the first of
these becomes last, and the last first. Then are they in their right
' order, as they were in the beginning. And he who came to restore
the order which man inverted by the fall has, in these -vi^ords,
pronounced and given the promise of paradise restored, when all
things that are first in intrinsic worth shall be first in man's esteem,
and those that are in themselves of least value will occupy the lowest
pilace in his affections.

CHAPTER XX.

This chapter commences with the parable of the labourers in the
vineyard. In the general sense it relates to the caUing of the Jews
and Gentiles, the Jews being meant by the labourers first called into
the vineyard, and the Gentiles by those called at the eleventh hour.
In a more interior sense, it relates to the universal call of the gospel,
and the different characters of those who accept it. Those first called
are such as claim merit for their works, and those called last, and,
indeed, all who entered the vineyard after those first hired, are such as
do good from charity and love. The character of the self-righteous
is described by their bargaining for their hire, while the character of
those who do good from charity and love is described by their being
satisfied with the assurance of the householder that they would
receive what was right, and by the murmuring of the first and the
contentment of the others.
As every part of the Word in the internal sense relates to the
regeneration of man, this parable is to be understood as descriptive
of a certain part of that divine work. To see it in this application
we must consider the transaction as taking place in the mind of one
who has entered on the new life; and the various persons mentioned
iu the parable are to be regarded as corresponding principles, in their
relation to, and connection with, each other. These consist of three
different characters — the householder, the steward, and the labourers.
Then there are three different places with which these are more
immediately connected — the house, understood, though not expressed,
from which the householder went out, the vineyard, and the market
place. These correspond to certain principles, and to faculties of the
human mind, to which they belong. The house denotes the will the
vineyard the understanding, and the market-place the memory ; and
the householder, the steward, and the labourers are the three different

Chap. XX.] ST. MATTHEW. 435
kinds of principles that respectively belong to these faculties, or are at
least found in connection with them at that stage of the regenerate life
which the parable describes. There are also three different times, and
three different classes of labourers hired — those hired first, at the dawn,
those hired during the progress of the day, and those hired last, at the
eleventh hour. As these successive times denote successive states, the
first is a state of obedience, the second a state of faith, and the last a
state of love. Having presented this general view of the meaning of
the parable, we proceed to consider the particulars of the parable itself
1. The parable commences by saying that the kingdom of heaven is like
unto a man thai is an householder, which went out early in the morning
to hire labourers into his vineyard. The kingdom of heaven is the
Lord's government in the heart and understanding. The kingdom of
heaven is formed in the mind by regeneration; therefore, whether we
speak of the regeneration of man, or the establishment in his mind of
the kingdom of heaven, it amounts to the same. The kingdom of
heaven is Uke unto a man, an householder, which went out early in the
morning to hire labourers into his vineyard, because this going out of
the householder at the early dawn describes the commencement of
regeneration, or of that stage of it which is here represented. Re
generation, we have often had occasion to remark, consists in bringing
the external man into conformity with the internal. The internal
itself, indeed, has first to be reformed. But as the great labour of the
regenerate life consists in regenerating the external, this is described
in the present parable. This work is begun when a man, no longer
.satisfied with thinking and feeling within himself that religion is true
and good, begins to carry it out in the business and the pleasures of
life — to go with it into the market and the vineyard. It is then that
the regenerating man, like the householder, goes out, by bringing his
principles forth from their place in the interiors of his mind into the
active duties of life, to call into action his lower faculties, with their
acquirements, that by their means he may work out the true end of
life, which is to bring forth the fruit of righteousness. The beginning
of this work is the early morning, the dawn of actual regeneration.
2. The object of the householder in going out early was to hire
labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers
for a penny a day, he sent them into Ms vineyard. We have said that
the market where the householder went to hire the labourers is the
memory. The labourers are the truths which have been acquired
and laid up in the memory, but have not as yet been employed in the
active labour of cultivating the higher faculties of the mind, with a

436 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XX.
view to produce the good things of a useful and righteous life. In
order to enable us to enter into the meaning of this part of the parable,
a few remarks on that jiart of the process of mental development to
which this parables relates, may be offered. Ofthe three faculties ofthe
mind meant by the house, the vineyard, and the market, the highest
and the lowest are the first developed. The wUl and the memory are
the first of the faculties that come into active existence. It is well
known that in children the will and the memory are active and
powerful long before the understanding is in any great measure
developed. Indeed, it is by the united action of the will and the
memory that the understanding is formed. Children must will or love
knowledge, that they may know, and they must know, that they may
understand. It is for this reason that the young are inspired by the
Almighty with the love of knowledge, and that they are gifted with
a memory so capacious, to receive it, and so retentive, to retain it.
The rational faculty is gradually develojied during the years of earlj"-
education; but it is not till a later period of life that it comes to such
maturity and independent action as to make man, in the true and full
sense of the word, an intelligent as well as a knowing creature. It is
then, too, that he finds his previously-acquired knowledges as labourers
that he can hire and send into his vineyard, to do the work of real
life, in producing the fruits that God has ordained to be the means
both of employing and rewarding the faculties that produce them.
Now, as regeneration is a second and higher birth, the spiritual is an
exact antetype of the natural Ufe of man. The Christian has his
infancy and childhood, and the early states of the spiiritual man
are as necessary as are those of the natural man to bring him to
maturity — to bring him to the full measure of the stature of Christ.
His first education, too, is of the same character as that of the
natural man. He has first to learn the principles of the doctrine
of Christ, that he may leave them and go on unto perfection. He
must acquire truths from the Diviue Word, and lay them up in
his memory. There they lemain for a time as knowledge, unem
ployed and unproductive. The beginning of regeneration, as an
active or actual work, consists in, or is marked by, the callin<' forth
of these knowledges out of the memory, and elevating them into
the understanding, and there making them active labourers in advanc
ing the interests of the soul, by contributing to the performance of
deeds of charity. This is the hiring of the labourers in the market
place, and sending them into the vineyard. In agreement with this
view, the labourers are waiting in the market-place, and ready and

Chap. XX.] ST. MATTHEW. 437
even anxious to be employed ; for it is the nature of the truths which
have their origin in the God of truth, that they are not only adapted
to perform works of good use, but that they have an inherent desire to
be actively engaged in the labour of the spiritual life, but they cannot
work in man's vineyard till he hire them. They have no power of
independent action. They do not act, but are acted upon. They do
not operate, but co-operate. Theirs is not action, but re-action.
Action in this matter must begin in the will. And when the will of
the inner man becomes active in the business of salvation, a man will
find that the truths he has learnt will be ready to go and do the work
which he requires to be done. Such is the state which is depicted in
this instructive parable. When the householder went out to hire
labourers, he agreed with the first he engaged to give them a
penny a day. It is laid down as a principle in the Word that the
labourer is worthy of his hire ; for it is a law of divine order, and
therefore of heaven itself, that every heavenly work brings with it its
own reward. In the parable, the reward to be given by the house
holder to the labourers is a penny a day. The denarius, or silver
penny, is the symbol of truth. But here, the penny which is the hire
of the labourer is to be given by the householder to the labourers.
As the labourers were to receive from the householder a penny a day
as their hire, this is intended to express the idea that, when truths are
raised out of the memory into the understanding, and employed in
carrying out the purposes of the internal man, they receive their
reward in a higher perception of truth, and this is communicated to
them on the completion of every state that the mind passes through, —
a state being meant by a day. There is something in the contract
entered into between the householder and the labourers that illus
trates the nature of the state of the regenerate man which this early
period of the day represents. He agrees with the first-hired labourers
for a penny a day, but there is no such agreement entered into with
the others, who go on the simple assurance that they will receive what
is right. We have said that the early morning, when the first
labourers were hired and went to work in the vineyard, is the beginning
of the regenerate life, when a man is in a state of obedience. He does
good from a sense of duty. Good works are not to him as yet a labour
of love. In this state the reward is not reckoned of grace, but of debt
(Rom. iv. 4). He rests on the letter of the law; he must have his
bond. He has not yet entered into the spirit of the law, which leads
him to confide in the goodness of the Lord, and trust to be rewarded
by his righteousness and bounty.

438 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XX.
3-5. But another and better state succeeds this first and initiatory
one. Besides the first, there were other labourers hired afterwards by
the householder at different hours of the day. And he went out about
the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market-place, and
said unto ihem. Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I
ivill give you. Ancl ihey went their way. Again he went out about the
sixth and ninth hour, and did likeioise. The truths that have been
received into the natural mind, and laid up in the memory, are not
all called forth and elevated into the understanding at once. The
truths themselves differ from each other, and the mind passes through
successive states. Every general state consists of many particular
state,s. The day advances from morning to evening ; but besides the
natural periods of morning, noon, evening, and night, we mark it off
into artificial periods of hours and lesser divisions. " Are there not
twelve hours in the day ?" So did our Lord teach that the day,
whether understood as the day of probation or the day of a realized
state of life, has a succession of lesser times, each having a distinct
character and a different use and experience. The day in which the
householder went forth to hire his labourers is divided here into
periods of three hours. He went out at the third, sixth, and ninth
hours. These advancing hours are expressive of advancing states, in
which the particular truths suited to these states are desired and
sought for, and therefore seen and chosen. Truths in the memory are
like truths in the Word. When we search the Scriptures with a par
ticular object, we see or attend to those truths only which relate to it.
At another time, when our object is different, truths which before
passed unobserved are readily seen and eagerly seized upon. So with
those truths which have entered the memory, and there await the
calls of the higher and active faculties of the mind — calls that are
made and answered according to its changing and advancing states.
But the successive times of the day here mentioned not only express
successive mental states, they express also the nature, quality, or
character of those states. The number three, whenever it occurs in
the Word, is expressive of states of faith as distinguished from states
of love ; and this number, while it forms the first of the series, enters
into the two others. Yet the more a number is increased, the hio-her
the state which it describes ; so that the present progression by
periods of three is expressive of progress into higher or more interior
states of faith and inteUigence. The nature of the states through
which the regenerate pass, and which are successively formed in them
is also indicated by the different hours at which the labourers were

Chap. XX.] ST. MATTHEW. 439
hired. Three is expressive of a holy state, of which truth is the
foundation and faith the superstructure. This state, once com
menced, is purified by temptation, which is signified by the number
six, and is perfected by experience, which is meant by the number
nine. 6, 7. But another stage in the regenerate life, and the formation of
another state of the heavenly life, follows that which has now been
explained, and is described by the hour at which the last of the
labourers were hired. And about ilie eleventh hour he went out, and
found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all
tlie day idle ? They say unto him. Because no man hath hired us.
He saith unto fhem. Go ye also into the vineyard ; and whatsoever is
right, that shall ye receive. It seems as if the householder hired at the
different hours all he found waiting in the market-place. After hiring
some at day dawn, when he " went out about the third hour, he saw
others standing idle in the market-place.'' Yet he asks those he
found at the eleventh hour, " Why stand ye here all the day idle ?"
and they answer, " Because no man hath hired us." Understood as it
commonly is, the parable presents, in this particular, either a serious
difficulty or a very extraordinary doctrine. If it relates to the caU
ing of persons into the church, and the exercise of God's right to
bestow the same reward on those who are converted at the last
hour of life and those who have borne the burden and heat of
the day, we are constrained to believe that these late converts
are the victims of divine neglect, since they had remained all the
day idle, only because no man had hired them. But if we under
stand the parable as applicable to every regenerate man, and as
descriptive of the progress of his regeneration, we can see not only the
consistency, but the beauty and truthfulness of the imagery. As the
labourers in the market-place are the truths which have entered the
memory during the early period of life, or, indeed, at any period of life
before regeneration has actuaUy commenced, the labourers hired at the
eleventh hour not only may, but must, have been standing all the day
idle. Those truths that are last called into the vineyard are really
those which have been longest in the market-place, and have stood
there all the day idle, because no man hath hired them. The truths
that are last called out of the memory are really the first that entered
it. We have more than once had occasion to remark that regenera
tion is a retracing of our steps back towards the Eden of our infancy;
and that in this back-ward, or rather upward, progression, truths are
called forth in the inverse order to that in which they were acquired,

440 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XX.
and states are perfected in the inverse order to that in which they
were formed. The rudiments of our best states are formed in our
earliest life, and the best are the last to be realized. The highest state
of the regenerate life is that which a man acquires when he returns
to the innocence of his infancy, enriched with the knowledge and
experience of his after-life. Then does he truly become one of those
little children of whom our Lord said that of such is the kingdom of
heaven. Those labourers, then, that were called into the vineyard at
the eleventh hour, are the truths of innocence that have been in the
mind from the earliest period of life — truths that were then implanted
by the hand of the divine Householder himself, for he only reaps
where and what he has sown, and sends forth labourers he has pro
vided and prepared. Of these labourers it may be said that they have
stood all the day idle ; for the state of the regenerating man, during
the previous stages of his advancement, has not been such as to require,
or even admit, of their being actively employed, nor even of being
observed as labourers standing ready to be engaged for active duty.
The character of these truths, like that of those hired at the third,
sixth, and ninth hours, as distinguished from that of the labourers
first hired, is again expressed by the absence of anything like demand,
on the part of the labourers, of the amount of wages they were to
receive for the time they were to labour ; but the assurance of the
householder, that whatsoever is right, that should they receive, is held
by them to be sufficient guarantee that they would obtain their due.
If anything is wanted, besides the general scope of the parable, to point
out the last of the labourers as the types of the truths of innocence,
and their period of hire and labour as signifying a state of love and
goodness, we may derive additional confirmation from the spiritual
meaning of the hour at which they were hired. When the labourers
are considered as symbols of persons, eleven signifies a state not yet
full, but still a receptive state, such as pertains to well-disposed chil
dren. Therefore, when applied to the regenerate, it signifies the
truths implanted and the rudimentary states formed during early life,
and which, being the purest, because the freest from selfish feelino-s
and worldly considerations, are the germs of the highest and holiest
states that can exist in the human mind, and to which the regenerate
can attain.
8. The kingdom of heaven having been thus gradually formed and
finaUy established in the human heart, the time has come for reward
ing those by whose labours it has been established. So when even was
come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers

Chap. XX.] ST. MATTHEW. 441
and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. There
are some particulars in this part ofthe parable which mark the transition
state which it describes. The householder is now called the lord of the
vineyard, to express the idea that, in the regenerate, the internal man
has obtained the lordship or dominion over the external, having
succeeded in bringing external things into subordination to internal
principles. Now, also, for the first time, his steward is introduced.
He himself hired the labourers ; the steward is commissioned to pay
them their hire. We have said that the steward, as occupying a place
and acting as a medium between the householder and the labourers,
denotes the rational principle, which is a faculty or princijile inter
mediate between the internal man, as a lord, and the external man, as
a servant. The steward is himself a servant, yet he represents his
lord ; for the rational is but an interior natural principle, and exercises
the power and authority of the spiritual {irinciple in the natural
mind, acting at the same time as a medium between them. There is
an important reason for the steward being now first introduced into
the parable. We have remarked (v. 2) that the will and the memory
are more early developed and active than the understanding. The
rational principle, indeed, is formed by the united action of the will
and the memory, and partakes of the nature of both ; and therefore is
qualified to act as a medium between the internal and external man.
As this, which may be called the second part of the parable, describes
the influx of the internal man into the external, for the purpose of
communicating to him something of his own perceptions and affections,
of his own satisfactions and delights, as the reward of his labour, this
influx of the spiritual mind into the natural is through the rational.
The lord of the vineyard desires his steward to call the labourei-s and
give them their hire. But this command is accompanied with the
particular direction that the steward, in paying the labourers, is to
begin from the last, and proceed regularly down to the first. There
is here the introduction of a new arrangement among the labourers.
The last hired are the first paid. The last labourers hired being
types of the truths first acquired, and the truths first acquired, and
the states of life formed by their means, being the highest and best,
they come nearest in perfection to the principles of the inner man,
and therefore they first receive the influx that descends out of the
spiritual mind, through the rational into the natural.
9. And when they came that were hired about fhe eleventh hour, they
received every man a penny. The silver penny which the labourers
received from the householder is the perception, and with it the satis-

442 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XX.
faction and delight, of what is spiritual and heavenly flowing from the
spiritual into the natural mind. This is the reward of the labour by
which the natural mind is brought into harmony with the spiritual, —
that the perceptions and satisfactions of the spiritual mind are im
parted to the natural, so that all the natural thoughts and affections
become animated by a higher life, and as a consequence come into
the possession of a clearer light and purer love, with their perceptions
and delights. This is their reward; for the rewards of the religious lU'e
do not come from without, but from within. They come from the
Lord, who is the fountain of happiness, as well as of everything that
deserves the name of reward ; but they come from him through the
higher down into the lower faculties of our nature, and through the
spiritual into the natural affections of our minds. And th^ delights
of heaven can only be received in their true state into those principles
in us that have been brought into conformity -with the order and life
of truth and love. Every truth that has been thus brought into con
nection with love, as its life and end, becomes receptive of the reward
of its labour. Thus every man receives a penny, so that the measure
of his joy is full.
10. Bui when the first came, they supposed that ihey should have
received more ; and they likewise received every man a penny. The first
had made a special agreement to receive for their labour a penny a
day, and would have been satisfled with their hire had they not seen
others receive comparatively more. It is characteristic of the earliest
state of the regenerate life, in which we do good from obedience, or when
-we do so much work for so much reward, that we are never satisfied
¦with the reward we obtain. Our righteousness is meritorious, and in
this state we think that our merit is never sufficiently rewarded.
Yet, so far as respects the Lord, the reward is impartiaUy dispensed.
Every man receives his penny. Nor does this express only the
impartial goodness of God in giving, but the equal capacity of men
for receiving, the gifts of his mercy and grace. It is like the half
shekel which every Israelite gave as a ransom for his soul unto the
Lord, and respecting which it was ordered that the rich should not
give more, nor the poor less (Exod. xxx. 12). But the first hired
labourers, when they came to receive their hire, supposed that they
should have received more. There is a show of reason in this
expectation, but it is reason in favour of self, and would not be
aUowed, much less suggested, were self-sacrifice, instead of self-interest
concerned. Viewed in relation to the regenerate, it is hio-hly ex
pressive of the character of the state which it describes. The true

Chap. XX.] ST. MATTHEW. 443
religious principle is, that the reward is not of work, but of grace.
We are not rewarded for our work, but through it and in it. The
divine power that rewards us through our works is the same power
that enables us to perform them. Works that are not wrought in
God can bring no reward from him, and for the reason, that the
reward is in the work. So far, therefore, as we are hirelings, or do
our work for the sake of hire as an end, so far will our expectations be
greater than our deserts, and than our capacity of reception. Until
we are in the heartfelt conviction that the lea,st of the divine mercies
exceeds all our deserts, and is of the divine bounty, we are in bondage
to our own self-righteousness.
11, 12. But those who had expected more than their hire, when
they had received it, they murmured against ilie good-man of ihe house,
saying. These last have wrought but one hour, and ihou hast made them
equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. This
murmuring of the labourers against the goodman of the house expresses
contrariety between the external man and the internal. This con
trariety was only on the part of the labourers first hired, these being
the types of the first imperfect thoughts and feelings, or of the truths
first received and not yet united to good, or the first faith not yet
united to charity. But they murmured, not because the householder -
had been unfaithful to them, but because he had been charitable to
others — because those who had wrought but one hour had been made
equal to them, who had borne the burden and heat of the day. Yet,
spiritually understood, the one hour's labour of the last was of more
value than the whole day's labour of the first. One, in its best sense,
is expressive of the principle of goodness. Truths are many, but good
is one. It is the one thing needful — the one thing which the young
man lacked, and without which his great possessions were but a
hindrance to his entering into the kingdom of heaven. Without this,
gi-eat labour, as well as vast wealth, is an obstacle to admission into
the kingdom. Without it, work is tainted with ideas of merit, which
lead men to grudge another's gain, and think they themselves are
never sufficiently rewarded. Their work, too, is a toil to them. They
bear the burden and heat of the day; the pride of self-intelligence
makes labour burdensome, the heat of self-love makes it oppressive.
Such as the self-righteous man is, such is every one in the earUest stage
of his religious life, and such are the early principles themselves : they
rise up and murmur against the higher and purer principle that rules
in the inner man.
13. But he answered one of ihem, and said. Friend, I do tliee no

444 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XX.
wrong : didst not thou agree unth me for a penny? In the individual
application, this is to be understood as a perception of the inner man
as to the quality of the natural mind, as still under the influence of
self-interested feelings. The householder addresses the murmuring
labourer as a friend, but this does not express the correct idea of the
original ; for the natural man is not yet in the state which makes him
the friend of the spiritual, but is only as a companion, being in fact a
hireling, because labouring for the sake of the reward. The householder,
to the complaint of the labourer, answers that he did him no wrong,
since he gave him the penny which had been agreed upon as his hire.
The householder representing the internal, and therefore the right
perception of the truth, his statement to the labourer, that he had
done him no wrong, implies an interior perception and conviction of
rectitude and justice in the abnegation of all self-righteousness and merit.
14. He therefore says to the labourer. Take that thine is, and go
thy way : I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. This expresses
a perception that the natural man should be satisfied with what the
spiritual had agreed to dispense to him; in other words, it expresses a
spiritual perception that the natural desire of undue reward should
be suppressed, and submission to the law of righteousness should be
•cultivated. In order to lead the natural man to this duty, the house
holder says to the labourer, " Go thy way" — that is, he counsels him
to live in agreement with the truth, as the means of realizing it in
practice. This will enable him also to see the justice, as well as
mercy, of the householder's conduct, according to his words, " I will
give unto this last, even as unto thee;" for it is the will and desire
of love and goodness, which form the essential principle of the inner
man, to bestow equally upon all the natural thoughts and affections
the capacity of receiving and enjoying the reward of satisfaction and
delight, which a grateful reception and faithful practice of the tmth
never fail to ensure.
15. The householder further appeals to the labourer's sense of right
by demanding of him. Is it not lawful for me io do what I wiU with
7nine own ? Is thine eye evil, because I am good ? Here we find the
principle laid down, that all reward — all the power of perceiving and
receiving heavenly truth, with its joys and deUghts, which the
natural mind can experience — is derived from the spiritual and is
indeed his own. And when the householder says, " Is it not lawful
for me to do what I will with mine own ?" we are instructed that all
which the natural mind can enjoy ought, by the laws of order, to be dis
pensed according to or in agreement with the will of the internal man ¦

Chap. XX.] ST. MATTHEW. 445
that is, that the spiritual will should rule over the natural will, and
spiritual wisdom should guide and direct natural wisdom, but that
the natural will and wisdom of man should not be aUowed to dictate
to and overrule his spiritual. And when the householder further
says, "Is thine eye evil, because I am good?" we are further in
structed that the natural understanding, meant by the eye, is evil
when it is under the influence of the natural will ; and that in such
case it opposes itself to spiritual good, which forms the will of the
internal man.
16. The householder concludes by saying. So the last shall be first,
and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. We have
already explained the meaning of this flrst statement. The truths
first actuated and the states first formed in the progress of the regene
rate life are the most external and imperfect, and the last are the
most perfect. When man is regenerated, that which was first becomes
last, and that which was last becomes first ; for that which is
most perfect becomes first in his estimation, highest in his regard,
while that which is least perfect he esteems least. It is according to
order, also, that the principles we have acquired should finally have
this arrangement in our minds ; for that which is less perfect should be
subordinate to that which is more perfect. We begin our religious
life with obedience, we end with love, and when this state is attained,
the last should be flr.st, and the first last. The parable is summed
up in the words, " For many be called, but few chosen." Whether
this be tme literally, in regard to the human race, as the called of
God, is not necessary now to be discussed. According to the spiritual
meaning, which we are now considering, numbers express quality, not
quantity. Many mean those who are in truth, and few mean those who
are in good ; and the true are "called," while the good are "chosen."
We are not to understand that those who are only called, but not
chosen, are rejected or excluded from the kiugdom, but only that they
occupy the lowest place. We therefore find them spoken of in the
Word as belonging to the army of the King of kings, for " they that
are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful " (Rev. xvii. 14).
17-19. When the Lord had finished the parable of the labourers,
he went up to Jerusalem, ancl taking tlie twelve disciples apart
in ihe way, he told them of his passion. He said unto them.
Behold, we go up io Jerusalem; and the Sun of man shall be betrayed
unto the chief priests and unto ihe scribes, and they slia,ll condemn him
to death, and shall deliver him io the Gentiles to mock, and io scourge,
and io crucify Mm: and the third day he shall rise again. The

446 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XX.
Lord told the disciples this after Peter's confession (ch. xvi. 21).
But as an important addition is made to what he then said to them,
not to break the connection, it will be well to explain the whole.
" The spiritual sense of these words is, that divine truth in the
church where mere falsities have rule, will be blasphemed, the truth
of the church perverted, and its good destroyed. The Son of man is
divine truth, which is the Word, and Jerusalem the church where
mere falses and evils have rule. The chief priests are adulterations of
good, and the scribes falsifications of truth, both from diabolical love.
By condemning him, and delivering him to the Gentiles, is signified
to adjudge divine goodness and divine truth to hell, and to deUver
them to the evils and falses which are from it. Gentiles signify evils
from hell which destroy the goods and truths of the church. To
mock, to scourge, and to crucify, signify the blasphemation, falsifica
tion, and perversion of truth, and the adulteration of the good of the
church and of the Word. On the third day he shall rise again,
signifies the complete glorification of the Lord's humanity." This
statement differs but little from that which we find in chapter xvi.
21. But to the general statement the Lord adds this particular
information, that he would suffer many things from the elders and
scribes, that they would deliver him up to the Gentiles to mock, and
to scourge, and to crucify. The Lord was now on his last journey to
Jerusalem; and as the event of his passion drew near, he became
more sjiecifio in his description of it. In adding the GentUes, he
introduces a new representative agency into the transaction ; for the
Gentiles represent evils, especiaUy those of an external kind. But
the Gentiles here mentioned are the Roman.s, to whom the Lord was
delivered up by the Jews. And as the Romans represented the
natural rational principle, the evil which they, as Gentiles, signified,
is one of greater malignity than evil that proceeds from minds less
instructed. The elders and scribes denoting interior evils and falsities,
it is said of them that they shall condemn him to death ; but as the
GentUes denote exterior evils, it is said that the Lord shall be delivered
to them to carry out the purpose of the Jews, and that they shall mock,
scourge, and crucify him— mocking having reference to the opera
tion of evil, scourging to falsity, and crucifying to the combined action
of both. But the Divine promise is given, "he shall rise again." Those
very acts of direful hostility, intended to falsify all his claims and
predictions, were turned into the means of their accomplishment, by
their being made instrumental in finishing the Lord's great works of
redeeming the world and glorifying his humanity.

Chap. XX.] ST. MATTHEW. 447
20. Then came io him tlie mother of Zebededs children unth her
sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing qf Mm. This
incident shows how little the disciples knew at that time of the
nature of the Lord's kingdom. Their views and hopes of an earthly
kingdom were not yet overthrown. They had yet to endure the
cross, and rise with the Lord from the dead. But they knew not yet
what was signified by the cross, and questioned among themselves
what the rising from the dead should mean. These things were
mercifully hid from them. The event was now approaching that
was to unseal their eyes and remove the hardness of their hearts.
But even now, when all the powers of evil on earth and in hell were
conspiring to make their last grand effort to prevent the establish
ment of his spiritual kingdom, the two sons of Zebedee, not the least
among the apostles, were seeking, through their mother's agency, to
obtain the two highest places in the temporal kingdom which they
still believed he had come to set up. But theirs was the natural
form of a spiritual ambition that lurks in the heart of every disciple.
The disposition to be exalted to the chief seats is inherent in every
fallen heart, and is carried into the religious life, where it never yields
but to the cross, and never ceases to trouble till buried in the tomb
with the Lord's body. But there is a higher sense in which this
incident is to be under.stood, to see which we must raise our thoughts
from the temporal kingdom of the disciples' early notions to the
spiritual kingdom of the Lord, as it was about to become after his
resurrection. And in this sense it will be seen to be an appropriate
sequel to what precedes it. The Lord had been speaking of his death
and resurrection, when his new kingdom was to be established; and
the circumstance of the mother of James and John coining to Jesus,
to ask that her sons might sit on his right and left hand, representa
tively describes an exaltation that has place in the new and spiritual
kingdom of the Lord. The mother of Zebedee's chUdren represents
the church, and James and John represent charity in will and in
act. The right hand signifies the good of celestial love, which is
the good of love to the Lord ; and the left hand signifies the good of
spiritual love, which is the good of love to the neighbour. The true
church, like the mother of Zebedee's children, still brings her two
sons to Jesus, earnestly desiring that they may sit, the one at his
right hand and the other at his left in his kingdom. It is the con
tinual desire and effort of the Lord's church to see her children
exalted to sit with the Lord in his throne. And the children of the
church are comprised in the two classes whom the two sons of Zebedee

448 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XX.
represented — those who are in charity and in the good of charity, and
these are they who are capable of being exalted in the Lord's
kingdom. 22, 23. But there is a condition that stands between this desire and
its accomplishment, and which must be performed before men can
truly understand the nature of their own prayer. Jesus answered and
said. Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I
shall drink of, and to he baptized with the baptism that I am baptized
loith ? The Lord's cup and baptism are inward and outward tempta
tion. It is only they who " overcome '' in these that the Lord grants
to sit down with him in his throne, as he also overcame, and is set
down with the Father in his throne (Rev. Ui. 21). There is no way
of being with the Lord in his glory without first being with him in
his humiliation and sufferings. Therefore the Lord asked, " Are ye
able ? " They say unto him, We are able, to which the Lord answered.
Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and he baptized with ilie baptism that
I am baptized with. This confirmation by the Lord of their testimony
respecting themselves implies not merely the Lord's promise, but his
power. With man alone it is impossible ; but with God, during man's
co-operation, all things are possible. The disciple can do all things
by Christ strengthening him. But the Lord told the two that even
this -was not enough. He added, hut to sit on my right hand, ancl on
my left, is not mine to give, but for whom it is prepared of my Fatlier.
The Father is the Divine Love, the Son is the Divine Truth. The
Divine Truth cannot exalt without the Divine Love. We must,
indeed, drink of the Son's cup, and be baptized with the Son's
baptism, for it is truth that is tempted, and that supports us in, and
purifies us by means of, temptation ; but we must also be receptive of
the Father's love, for it is love that exalts us, or prepares us for true
exaltation. It may be necessary to remark that the authorized
version makes Jesus say absolutely that the favour the two sons
asked was not his to give; but to make the passage express this idea
a few words have been added in italics, the omission of which is all
that is required to make the sense clear, as we have given it in the
explanation. Jesus himself was and is both Father and Son; but
when we know the spiritual meaning of these two names, we can see
the pecuUar force of the Lord's declaration, and the practical lesson to
be drawn from it — that the Lord, from pure love and mercy, gives
heaven to those who are in the good of love and of faith, thus who
are in celestial and in spiritual good. When the Lord speaks of his
Father, he means his own divine love; and those for whom the

Chap. XX.] ST. MATTHEW. 449
kingdom is prepared of his Father are those who are principled in
love to the Lord, which is the Lord's love in them.
24. And when ihe ten heard ii, they were moved with indignation
against the two brethren. It is not surprising that the other apostles
should be indignant at this request, seeing the whole of the apostles
had disputed among themselves which should be greatest.
25-28. Our Lord took occasion from this to deliver one of those
beautiful lessons which lie like most precious gems among the
general truths of the gospel, and the brilliancy of which these ex
hibitions of human infirmity serve to display. Ye know that ilie
princes of ilie Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and ihey that
are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so
among you; but whosoever will he great among you, let him be
your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your
servant : even as the Son of man came not to he ministered unto, but
io minister, and to give his life a ransom, for many. This expresses
the true spirit of religion, as opposite to the spirit of the world.
It is the spirit of Christianity, as it was the spirit of its Author.
The practicability of the precept he has shown by his own blessed
example, which enabled him to require of his disciples, " ye should
do as I have done to you " (John xiii. 15). True greatness is in
usefulness, and usefulness is service. Outward greatness is but the
outward sign of great usefulness. He is greatest who performs
the highest use. In this sense the Lord was at once the greatest
and the least ; and that disciple comes nearest to his Lord in these
characteristics who most nearly imitates his example. The Lord
did not seek, nor did he need to seek, to be great. He was great.
His disciples need not contend amongst themselves who shall be
greatest. Each must work out his own gi-eatness. He must not
attempt to do it as the princes of the GentUes, by exercising authority
over them. This kind of greatness is a perversion of true greatness.
It arises from exalting the external above the internal, the shadow
above the substance of greatness. Wherever true order prevails,
true greatness will rule, for the greater uses will be exalted to the
higher place. We should seek greatness through usefulness ; or rather,
seek use, and leave the outward greatness that belongs to it to follow
of its own accord. " Whosoever will be great among you, let him be
your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be
your servant ; even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister." There is a spiritual sense in these divine words,
which leads to the spirit and origin of the moral wisdom they

450 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XX.
express. The mother of James and John represents, as we have seen,
the church; and these two disciples represent those who are in charity
and goodness, or in spiritual and celestial love, to whom greatness and
exaltation belong. But these two brethren and the ten represent
those who form the internal and the extemal membei-s of the church,
as Joseph and Benjamin and their ten brethren did before them.
Their being designated as "the two" and "the ten" spiritually
expresses their qualities: for two signifies conjunction, and those who
are in the conjunction of good and truth constitute the internal
church; and ten is expressive of truths, and those who are in
truths form the external church. But each of us has internal and
external principles in himself Good aud truth conjoined in the
internal man form the internal of the church in us, and truths form
the external of the church in us. And we know by experience that,
in the progress of regeneration, the external man has indignation
against the internal, as the ruler of the external as its proper subject.
But the state here described is not one in which the rule of the
internal is established, but in which it is sought to be estabUshed;
and it is then that the indignation on the part of the external takes
place. It is for this reason that the Lord warns them against
imitating the princes of the Gentiles, who here denote evil exer
cising dominion over the natural thoughts and affections. The
Lord said, "It shall not be so among you;" for in those who are
regenerated all principles are in harmonious agreement. All those
jirinciples are not equally important, but all are equaUy necessary ;
and when all look to one end, and co-operate to produce one result,
and each is in its right place, performing its proper use, good minis
tering to truth, and truth serving good, they have peace one with
another. Those which minister are great, and those which serve are
chief; fbr greatness is predicated of goodness, and chief of truth; and
each has eminence in its own function and use.
But what in this application is the meaning in regard to the Lord's
declaration, that " the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but
to minister" ? Good, we have seen, is a minister, and truth is a servant ;
and good ministers to truth, and truth serves good. The Lord's
humanity, before it was glorified, was a servant, because it was divine
truth, and then the Son of man was ministered unto ; but when the
humanity was glorified, it was no longer divine truth and a servant,
but divine good and a minister ; and then the Son of man was no
longer ministered unto, but ministered. And as this glorification of
tbe humanity was the end of the Lord's coining, he came not to be

Chap. XX.] ST. MATTHEW. 451
ministered unto, but to minister. There was another object of his
coming. He came also to give his life (soul) a ransom for many.
The term soul means the intellectual life in the Lord — the life of his
divine truth. It was this life that the Lord gave as a ransom or
redemption ; for by the power of his divine truth the Lord redeemed
the world. The giving his soul as a redemption is a kindred
operation to his ministering ; the first being expressive of the opera
tion of his truth, and the second that of his goodness. Therefore is it
said that he gives his soul a ransom for many, for many is predicated
of truth, and of those who are in truth ; for truths are many, but good
is one. But let us look at this subject more especially in relation to
ourselves. The Son of man is a servant in us during reformation,
when truth is in the first place, and then he is ministered unto ; but
when we are regenerated, the Son of man is a minister in us, for then
good is in the flrst place, and ministers.; and then the truth of good
ransoms or redeems us from all evil and falsity.
The miracle which follows exemplifies the redemption which the
Lord came to accomplish, as indeed all his miracles did, each repre
senting some specific result.
29. The Lord in his progress to Jerusalem had departed from
Jericho, This place is well known as the first station of Israel
on entering the promised land, and represents the first stage of
introduction into the church. It signifies instruction, aud also the
good of life, for no one can be instructed in the truths of doctrine but
he who is in the good of life. The great multitudes which followed
him are those who seek instruction for the sake of this good.
30-34. As the Lord, followed by the multitude, was departing,
behold, two blind men sitting hy the way side, wlien they heard that Jesus
passed by, cried out, saying. Have mercy on us, 0 Lord, ihou Son
of David. A similar circumstance occurs in the ninth chapter (v. 27),
but this is different in some particulars. Spiritual blindness is
ignorance of truth. But these blind men were sitting by the way
side ; and as a way signifies truth, and sitting signifies a state of
the will, this implies a disposition to know and live according to the
truth. As we leam from the corresponding accounts in Mark and
Luke, these men were begging; and to beg is to be dependent
on others for the knowledge of truth, not having the power of
procuring it for themselves. The desire to receive that power is
expressed in the prayer of the blind men to Jesus, that he would open
their eyes. They heard that Jesus passed by. Their first knowledge
of his presence reached them through the ear— that is, through the

452 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXL
will, of which the ear is more especially the symbol. But they desired
to see — to know by the understanding and the light of truth, — and
they cried to him, that he might open their eyes ; and he heard them,
and restored to them the blessing of sight. And tliey followed him.
They no longer sat by the way side, as poor dependents on the bounty
of their fellow-men, but walked in the light and in the footsteps
of him who is the way, the truth, and the life.

CHAPTER XXL

1, 2. The Lord had journeyed from Jericho in his way to Jerusalem,
performing his last journey in the same line, or between the same
extreme points, as the children of Israel had done from the time of
their first entering the Holy Land till their taking possession of
Jerusalem. This resemblance was not accidental, and is not without
a meaning. Both represented the same spiritual journey — the same
heavenly and divine progression, from the lowest to the highest, in
the last and supreme degree of the regeneration of man and of the
glorification of the Lord. And that this last journey of the Lord to
Jerusalem might represent his last progress towards glorification, he
entered the holy city as a king, and took possession of its temple — the
symbol of the temple of his body — and drove out the buyers and sellers,
and in his house healed the blind and the lame. In these acts he
represented the expelling from his humanity of the last remnant of
hereditary evil and infirmity, and his dispensing from the temple of
his glorified humanity the gift of salvation to his lost creatures. Such
being the general import of our Lord's journey to and entry into
Jerusalem, the particulars must be deeply interesting. And when ihey
drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come io Bethphage, unto the mount
qf Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them. Go into the
village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied,
and a colt with lier : loose them, and bring them unto me. Mount
Olivet was the symbol of celestial love, or love in its highest
degree ; and Bethphage, which means the house of figs, was the
symbol of natural love, or heavenly love in the lowest degree. In
the gospel by Mark, Bethany is also mentioned, and the three signify
good of all the three degrees, celestial, .spiritual, and natural. This
completeness is here to be understood, though it is not expressed for
Olivet and Bethphage being the highest and the lowest — the supreme

Chap. XXL] ST. MATTHEW, 453
and the ultimate — include the whole. The Lord had come to this
place, to represent that he had now glorified his humanity as to the
interiors of all the degrees of life, and was about to glorify it as to the
exteriors of those degrees also, that he might be the Word in ultimates,
as from eternity he had been in first principles (John i. 14).
The Lord's sending forth from thence two of his disciples into
the viUage over against them, represented his opening up a commu
nication, by means of good and truth proceeding from himself, meant
by the two disciples, between the internal and external of his
humanity, the external being meant by the village over against them.
The purpose of this communication is, to bring the principles of the
lower into subordination to and harmony with those of the higher,
and so unite them. This is signified by their loosing and bringing the
colt to Jesus, and setting him thereon. The ass signifies the natural
principle and the colt the rational ; and the subordination of both to
the spiritual is meant by the Lord riding upon them. The ass was to
be found tied, and the colt with her. This represented that the
natural principle, with the rational, was yet in bondage, but that the
Lord came to set them free, first in himself, and then in those of his
creatures who suffer themselves to be regenerated, as he was glorified.
And the command, to bring them, when loosed, to Jesus, expresses the
truth, that the natural and rational principles, when liberated, are
to be brought into connection with the Lord's good and tmth in the
inner man, and to be made subservient to them.
3. But in sending the disciples for the ass and the colt, the Lord
desired them, saying. If any man say ought unto you, ye shall say,
Tlie Lord liaih need qf iliem; and straightway lie will send ihem.
Although Matthew does record the circumstance, Mark relates that
certain asked this question, and that when the apostles repeated the
Lord's words to them, they yielded to the divine requirement. He
who, as the Lord foresaw and foretold, asked this question, is man
himself, to whom the natural and rational principles belong, but who
has become wiUing to yield the ownership of them to the Lord, and
to " let them go," to become his, and be employed in his service. The
Lord still sjiiritually sends his disciples to each of us to loosen the ass
with her colt — to make our natural and rational faculties free, and
bring them under a willing submission to his eternal love and truth.
We may feel some inward repugnance to comply with the object of
the heavenly message — some principle within us may say, " Why
loose ye the colt ? " but let the blessed words of Jesus — " The Lord
hath need of them" — be sufficient for us, and induce us joyfully to

454

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXL

consent to the demand, enforced by a reason which expresses at once
the highest honour and the greatest blessing.
4, 5. The evangelist tells us that AU this was done, that it might he
fulfilled which was spoken by the propliet, saying. Tell ye the daughter
of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an
ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. These prophetic annunciations
serve as links to bind the old and the new covenant together. Old
Testament prophecy and New Testament fulfilment are like the
eternal Word, and that Word made flesh : the second is the incarna
tion of the first. They answer, therefore, to each other as the internal
and the external in man. The daughter of Sion is the celestial
church, and therefore that affection in the mind which receives the Lord
as divine truth, but as divine truth that rules from love, for the King is
said to be meek. The meek are they who are in the good of charity;
and as human meekness is from the good of charity, divine meekness is
from the good of love. The Lord comes to the daughter of Sion as a
king, meek, and riding upon all ass, and upon a colt the foal of an
ass, when his divine truth and love are received into the highest
affection of the heart, with the concurrence and co-operation of the
natural and rational principles of the mind. Heavenly order is then
established in the mind, the natural serves the rational, the rational
the spiritual, the spiritual the celestial, and the celestial the divine.
6, 7. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded ihem,
and brought ilie ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes,
and they set him thereon. The garments of the disciples are spiritual
truths. As two of the disciples were sent to bring the ass ancl
the colt to Jesus, to represent that the natural and rational are
liberated and brought to the Lord by the instrumentality of the
spiritual; so when they had brought the ass and the colt, the disciples
put their garments on them, and set Jesus thereon, to represent that
spiritual truths are necessary to connect the natural and rational
truths with the divine.
8. And while the disciples placed their garments on the ass and
the colt, a very great multitude spread their garments in the w.ty; others
cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in tlie way. As trees
signify the perception and knowledge of good and truth, branches
signify truths themselves; and the multitude strawed them in the
way, because the way signifies the truth by which the man of the
church is led to goodness. As the disciples represent the spiritual
the multitude represent the natural affections and thoughts. There
fore, while the disciples placed their garments on the colt the

Chap. XXL] ST. MATTHEW. -455
multitude spread theirs in the way. The multitude is said to be very
great, to express the idea of the whole of the affections and thoughts
of the natural mind uniting with those of the spiritual mind in
celebrating the Lord's entrance into the heart, there to set up his
kingdom, to take up his abode with the daughter of Sion, the
expressive name of the highest affection of love in the souL
9. And the multitud,es that went before, and that followed, cried,
saying, Hosanna to the son of David : Blessed is he that cometh in ihe
na/me of the Lord; Hosanna in ihe highest. They that went before
are the affections, and those that followed are the thoughts; thus all
the natural principles, from first to last, from highest to lowest ; and
these unite, and all conspire, to exalt the Lord, to sing to him the
hosanna of welcome and the blessing of praise. To describe the
exaltation of the Lord both in the affections and in the thoughts, the
multitude are represented as both crying and saying; for crying is
expressive of affection, and saying of thought. To describe further
this sacred duality, so often observable in the Word, the multitude
not only sing hosanna to the Lord, but blessing. And to teach us
that this twofold exaltation of the Lord is the exaltation of his
truth in the understanding, and of his good in the will, hosanna is
sung to him as the son of David, and blessing to hirn as he that
cometh in the name of the Lord ; for the son of David is the Lord as
to divine truth, and he that cometh in the name of the Lord
(¦Jehovah) is the Lord as to divine good. But the multitude sing,
not hosanna only, but hosanna in the highest, expressing the exaltation
of the Divine good and truth above every other good and truth of
which the mind is receptive, making the Lord practically above all
and within all.
10, 11. And wlien he was come into Jerusalem, all tlie city was
moved, saying. Who is this? And tlie multitude said,. This is Jesus the
prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. Jerusalem represents the church and
heaven, and the Lord's entering the holy city as a king means his
ruling in his spiritual kingdom by his divine truth. The spectacle of
Jesus making his triumphant entry into Jerusalem with the symbols
of royalty naturally produced great excitement, and led the people
to inquire who this was, to whom the multitude rendered the homage
due to a king. And here again we have a distinction between
Jerusalem and the city. The city means the people, but the term
by which they are indicated signifies doctrine; and the commotion
which the Lord's entrance into Jerusalefh produced through the city,
signifies the effect of the Lord's presence on those who are in a know-

456 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap.

XXL

ledge of its doctrines. We are not told by what feeling the people
were moved. It could not be a feeling of indignation or hatred
against Jesus, for they knew not at the time who Jesus was, since it
led them to inquire, "Who is this?" They appear to have been
moved by astonishment. The commotion and inquiry represent the
feelings and inquiry in the church, here signified by Jerasalem,
which the Lord's presence produces. The inquiry by those who
belong to the city, and the answer of those who do not, may be under
stood like the responsive voices of those within and those without the
gates of the city, as so graphically described in the 24th Psalm, when
the ark ofthe Lord was introduced into Jerusalem. Those who carried
up the ark, when they came to the entrance of the city, cried, " Lift up
your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and
the King of glory shall come in." And when those within demanded,
" Who is the King of glory ?" those without repUed, " The Lord strong
and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle — the Lord of hosts, he is the
King of glory." The introduction of the ark and the Lord's entry
into Jerusalem have both the same representative signification, and
the first may be regarded as a type of the other. There is this
further resemblance between them, that as the ark was carried into
the tabernacle, so he whom the ark represented went into the temple.
In reference to the Lord, both these events represented his ascension,
when he passed through the Jerusalem which is above into the holy
of holies, thence to send out his light and his truth, to lead all men to
himself PracticaUy, in relation to us, they represented the Lord's
upward progress in the regenerate mind, till he enters into the inmost
of our affections, there to place his law of righteousness, and dwell for
ever in our purified souls as temples of his presence. The answer of
the multitude to the inquiry of those of the city was indeed different
from that of those who accompanied the ark. Their answer to the
inquiry was, "This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee." Jesus
in the New Testament is equivalent to, and has the same significance
as Jehovah in the old. Both signify the Lord as to his divine love.
The Lord, as the prophet, was the Word, or the Divine Truth itself
Jesus, the prophet, is the Lord as divine love and divine truth;
and Nazareth of Galilee, from which he was, signifies the Divine
love and truth in ultimates.
12-14. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them
that sold and bought in tlie temple, and overthrew the tables of the
money-changers, and the seaii of ihem that sold doves, and said unto
them, It is imitten. My house shall be called the house of prayer; but

Chap. XXL] ST. MATTHEW. 457
ye have made it a den of thieves. And ihe blind and the lame came
fo him in the temple; and he healed ihem. We have already men
tioned that this cleansing of the temple represented the final and
complete glorification of the Lord's humanity, by the expulsion of
everything of hereditary evil and infirmity that adhered to him. The
particulars demand our attention. The temple is called the temple of
God. In the next verse it is called " my house of prayer," which
in John ii. 16 is expressed as "my Father's house." The name
temple, like the divine name God, signifies the spiritual church, and
the divine spiritual principle in the Lord ; and the name house, Uke
the divine name Father, .signifies the celestial church, and the divine
celestial principle in the Lord. Or, to express the same truth other
wise, in relation to ourselves, the temple is the understanding, ancl
the house is the will ; and the understanding is the temple of God
when the Lord's truth is in it, and the will is the Father's house
when the Lord's love is in it. And the mind is a house of prayer when
the Lord is worshipped from love. But the human mind, at the time
our Lord was upon earth, had become a den of thieves. Evil had taken
possession of the human will, and falsity of the understanding — those
faculties which God had formed to be the dwelling-place of his own
goodness and truth. But a still greater sin than this had been com
mitted. Evil and falsity had entered into and taken possession of
good and truth, and profaned them, — men claiming for themselves
what belongs to God, which is meant in the spiritual sense by theft.
This had come to be the practice of the church, as it is in every time
of great corruption. By those that sold and bought are signified
those who make gain to themselves of things holy ; the tables of the
money-changers signify those who make gain from holy truths, and
the seats of them that sold doves signify those who make gain from
holy goods : wherefore it is said, that they had made the temple a den
of thieves, for they are called thieves who steal truths from the Word,
and pervert them, and apply them to confirm falses and evils, and
thereby extinguish them. These the Lord cast out of the temple.
For that divine work which the Lord performed in the temple of his
own body, was followed by a corresponding work in man, and in the
church. The humanity which the Lord assumed from the fallen
daughter of a fallen race inherited all human imperfections. When
he had cast them out from his own humanity, he could then cast them
out from men and from the church, and dispense the blessing of salva
tion to suffering humanity.
15, 16. And when the chief p)riests and scribes saw the wonderful things

458 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXL
that he did, and tlie children crying in ihe temple, and saying, Hosanna
to ihe son of David ; ihey were sore displeased. These unspiritual men
seem ever to furnish a dark background to the fairest scenes ever pre
sented before the eyes of men in this sublunary world. But our own
hearts present too often the same sad spectacle The selfhood forms
as dark a background to every heavenly scene which the hand of
Infinite Wisdom traces upon the table of the most yielding heart. The
conduct of these men, while it can hardly fail to excite indignation,
should also produce humility ; for we who condemn them do the same
things. The evil and falsity of the old man are ever ready to oppose
the good and truth of the new. But, of all things, innocence stirs up
in the corrupt mind the bitterest feelings of resentment. When the
chUdren shouted their hosannas, the priests spoke out, and with
mingled feelings of contempt and anger, addressed Jesus in the re
proachful words, Hearest ihou what these say ? We find that during
the Lord's progress to Jerusalem the multitudes shouted hosanna to
him, but when he came into the temple this shout was taken up by
the children. The Lord in the temple represented Jehovah in his
humanity — the temple of his body. Children shouting hosanna to
Jesus in the temple represented that innocence of heart is that from
which springs the acknowledgment of the Lord in his Divine humanity.
Heavenly innocence is the sinlessness which results from overcoming
sin — the good which is acquired by the conquest of evil. This is the
innocence which the Lord became by glorification, and it is his inno
cence in us that enables us to acknowledge him as Innocence itself
But the state here represented is not one of complete glorification on
the Lord's part, nor of complete regeneration on ours. He had been
casting out the mercenary dealers, and healing the diseased in the
temple, representing the removal of evil from his humanity, and also
from the human mind, and the restoration of its faculties to soundness
and right action. But the scribes and the priests of the old and corrupt
dispensation were still present, and watching with malignant jealousy
his good and benevolent works, and the acceptance he found with the
jieople, and with the very chUdren. The priests demanded of the-
Lord, "Hearest thou what these say?" To hear means to hear
approvingly — to accept the homage which this salutation implied.
From the Lord's answer to the Jews, it would seem that, in their
estimation, it involved something reproachful for a wise man to listen
V, ith approbation to the applause of children. But the Lord did hear
them. To the priests' sneering question, Jesus said unto them. Yea.
And as he heard and accepted their innocent and hearty praise he

Chap. XXL] ST. MATTHEW. 459
justified both them and himself Have ye never read. Out ofthe mouth
of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise ? Since their angels
always behold the face of the Father, we may conclude that the
hosanna to the son of David, sung by the children in the temple,
brought angels and men nearer to each other. On this principle, the
praise of the children was more perfect than that which had been
offered by the multitude. But the Lord in this, as in all other cases,
expressed a spiritual truth within the natural truth. The babes and
sucklings out of whose mouth the Lord perfects praise are those who
are in the innocence of celestial and spiritual wisdom. Praise is per
fected when worship proceeds from innocence and wisdom united,
when a good understanding, from a pure heart, gives to the Lord the
praise which is his due, and which includes, as all true praise of the
Lord must, a confession of him as God-man, the root and the offspring
of David.
17. The objections of the chief priests and scribes to the hosannas
of the children showed their depravity, and the hatred of the Jewish
church against the Lord as Innocence itself ; and as such a state
indicates the end of all tme religion amongst them, which is the con
summation of the church, therefore our Lord left them, and went out
of the city into Bethany. The Lord leaves the church only when the
church leaves him, or when she has degenerated so far as to reject all
truth and goodness, for in rejecting these she rejects the Lord, from
whom they proceed, and who is present in them. The Jewish church
was represented by the city Jerusalem, and the evil and false principles
of that church by the chief priests and scribes, whom the Lord left. And
when he left these rulers of the church, and departed from the city,
he went to Bethany, and lodged there. Bethany was the town of
Martha and Mary, whose brother Lazarus the Lord raised from tho
dead. The raising of Lazarus represented the raising up of a church
among the Gentiles. The Lord's leaving Jerusalem and going to
Bethany represented, that when the Lord was rejected by the Jews,
he was received by the GentUes — when the church among the Jews
should have come to a full end, then would the Lord raise up a church
among the nations. When the Lord went from Jerusalem to Bethany,
he did not remain, he only lodged ihere. His sojourn there was tem
porary; his work was not yet finished.
18. When the Lord had passed the night in Bethany he returned
in the morning into the city. This mode of representatively express
ing a new state is connected with an incident which describes, by a
striking symbolism, the state and consummation of the Jewish church.

460 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXI.
notwithstanding the Lord's desire to save it. Now in the morning as
lie returned into the city, he hungered. Natural hunger the Lord might
no doubt feel ; but there was a deeper cause for his hunger, and a
deeper significance in it, than the natural man may be able to conceive.
He had meat to eat that men knew not of : his meat was to do the
will of him that sent him, and to finish his work. The Lord's
hunger was therefore hunger after righteousness. He desired righ
teousness in his church and people. He desired this, because without
righteousness on the part of the church and her members, they can
have no part in the Lord, and he can have no part in them. This
was the hunger which Jesus felt, on returning in the morning to the
city. It was his intense desire to save his people.
19. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found
nothing tliereon, hut leaves only, and said unto it. Lei no fruit grow on
thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
No one who has any faith in the divinity of Jesus, or any conception
of the spirituality of his Word, can suppose that this incident has no
deeper than the literal meaning. In the other gospels where this
incident is recorded, Jesus is represented as expecting to find fruit on
the fig tree, and cursing it for its barrenness, as if in the indignation
produced by disappointment. Does not the whole character and the
omniscience of the Lord entirely set such an idea aside ? He who
knew what was in man could not be ignorant of what was on the fig
tree ; and he who meekly endured the crudest treatment from sinners,
could not be angry at the unoffending and unconscious fig tree. Is it
not obvious that the fig tree which the Saviour met with on his way
to Jerusalem was but a type of the church towards which his desires
were directed ? We need only recognize this general truth, to see the
appropriateness of the symbol which the barren tree presented of the
state of the Je-wish church, and to perceive in the curse pronounced
upon it an annunciation of the fate which awaited the unfaithful di.s-
pensation. In Scripture a tree is the figure of a member of the church,
and thence of the church itself The character of the church is described
by the particular tree selected to represent it. The celestial church is
described by the olive tree, the spiritual church by the vine, and the
natural by the fig tree The most ancient church was an oUve tree,
the ancient was a vine, and the Israelitish church was a fig tree. The
fig tree to which the Lord came on his way to Jerusalem was there
fore a type of the Jewish church. The church was not, however,
rejected or condemned because it was natural. For when we speak
of the Jewish church in its normal state being natural, we do not

Chap. XXI.]. ST. MATTHEW. 461
mean that it was natural as opposed to spiritual, but only as inferior
to it. This church was natural from its commencement; it had no
knowledge of spiritual tmth, and hardly any of life and immortality.
But so long as it continued faithful to the knowledge it possessed, and
was obedient to the laws which had been revealed for its government,
it remained iu a state which gave it conjunction with God, and
secured to its members the blessings of salvation. It was only when
it had departed from the simplicity and sincerity of its original state,
that it became separated from God, and subject to the judgment of
condemnation. This was its state at the time our Lord came into the
world, and this was indeed the immediate cause of his coming. All
that constituted the church had died out among the Jewish people,
and nothing could provide for the existence of a church, as a means of
salvation, but the Lord's coming into the world. The Lord came in
the ardency of divine love, desiring to find the church yielding the
fruits of righteousness, but he found it, as he found the fig tree, having
nothing thereon but leaves only — the leaves of barren knowledge, of a
fair but fruitless profession. And the Lord is represented as being
deceived by its luxuriant growth and promising appearance, and
disappointed in his just expectation of obtaining fruit to satisfy his
hunger, to express that hypocrisy had entered so deeply into the heart
of the church, that it desired to deceive not men only but even God
himself Hypocrisy, or simulated religion, eats into the very heart of
man, and destroys the roots of goodness, or kills the germs of life in
the seeds that have been sown in the heart; and when these have
been destroyed, the means of restoraticm no longer exist. The Lord
taught this when he pronounced upon the fig tree the judgment, " Let
no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever." Divine judgments are
not the awarding of consequences only, but the disclosing of states.
The Lord's judgment on the fig tree was the utterance of divine
truth respecting the Jewish church, that it was utterly devastated —
that it would produce no fruit of spiritual goodness for ever. And
howfuUy has that judgment been accomplished ! The nation continues,
but the church is gone. If the church can be said to exist, it is but
in name — the lifeless form of the once goodly tree under whose shadow
the nations of the earth reposed.
20. And wlien the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon
is ihe fig tree withered away ! Marvellous, indeed, must have been
the change in the tree, transformed at once from a state of luxuriant
beauty to one of blasted uglines,s. No less marvellous, though less
sudden, the change in the state of a church, when stripped of its fair

462 ST. MATTHEW. . [Chap. XXL
appearances, and reduced to its real condition. To change our view
of the subject, not less astonishing and appalling is the change wrciught
upon those in corresponding states, when they are brought into judg
ment — when the fair appearance they have assumed and maintained
in the world is removed, on the soul's entrance into the other life.
The change may not be so sudden, but it is no less certain, as
certainty in the spiritual sense, and in the spiritual world, corresponds
to suddenness in the natural. According to Mark (xi. 20), it was on
the morning of the day after that on which the fig tree had been pro
nounced for ever fruitless that the disciples beheld it dried up from
the roots. So, when our day of probation is done, and the morning
of an eternal day dawns upon us, our state is utterly changed. If we
have had " no root in ourselves," but the growth of the heavenly seed
has only been in the rank soil of our own self-righteousness, the fair
appearance will quickly vanish, and leave nothing but the stump in
the earth, fit only to be cast into the fire and burned.
21. But this subject has another side — one that affords us a lesson
of encouragement after this lesson of warning. The Lord told the
disciples, when they expressed their astonishment at the withering
away of the fig tree, that they might do what he had done ; and he
intimated to them that they could do this by faith. If ye have faiih,
and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done fo tlie fig tree, hut
also if ye shall say unto this mountain. Be thou rem,oved, and be thou
cast into the sea, it shall he done. The Lord mentions the mountain as
well as the fig tree, to intimate to us that there are two kinds of prin
ciples to be removed from the mind. The fig tree signifies a false
principle that has to be removed from the understanding, and the
mountain signifies an evil love that has to be removed from the will.
Our faith and love are at first both natural; the one is tainted with
the pride of intellect, the other with the pride of life. A spiritual
principle underlies the natural, and ultimately, if we persevere, over
comes it. Saving faith, which comes by an internal way, works its
way downwards, ancl expels that historical and scientific faith which
has come from without ; and that faith, grounded in and working by
love to God and man, casts out the love of self and of the world from
the heart, as well as self-confident faith from the understanding. But
the mountain is not only to be removed, but cast into the sea. This
declaration is very significant, and shows how much wisdom is con
tained in those expressions of the Word that seem merely rhetorical.
The sea is a symbol of hell, and to cast the mountain into the sea is to
cast evil love forth into the kingdom of evil, whence it came But

Chap. XXL] ST. MATTHEW. 463
what is meant by doing this, and how are we to do it ? We cast evil
into hell when we believe evil in its origin and nature to be infernal.
If we really believed that all evil comes from hell and all good from
heaven, we would neither appropriate evil nor claim the merit pf good
ness. We make evil our own by identifying it with ourselves; for
what we believe to be our own, we love as a part of ourselves ; and
we fail to make good our own, by claiming the authorship of it, for we
then sever it from God, and defile it with ideas of our own merit. If
therefore we would remove the mountain and cast it into the sea, we
must practically acknowledge evil as in itself diabolical in its nature
and origin, and, as such, resist it in mind and shun it in action.
22. To these particular results of faith, the Lord adds a general
promise as the fruit of believing prayer. All things, whatsoever ye shall
ask in prayer, believing, ye shcdl receive. The previous pi-omise relates
to the removal of evU, this refers to the reception of good. And here
we see the order according to which regeneration proceeds — the bad
must be cast out before the good can be appropriated. We do not say
before the good can be received, for evil could not be removed if thei e
was no good in the he,art to remove it. Satan does not cast out Satan.
We must receive the Spirit of God before we can remove the spirit of
evil; but the Spirit of God does not obtain undisputed possession of
the heart till the spirit of evil has been dislodged from it. Regenera
tion consists, therefore, of two parts, — the removal of evil by good, and
the substitution of good for evil. Christ casts out demons, and then
restores us to a sound mind, by himself dweUing where demons had
been. So when faith has ca,st out the mountain of evil, and withered
the fig tree of falsity up from its roots, then all things are given to
confiding prayer. True prayer springs from good in the heart, and is
directed by truth in the understanding. Such prayer asks only what
is consistent with the will of God, and the welfare of the supplicant.
It is wild enthusiasm to suppose that, ask what we will, if we only
believe, we shall receive it. Every true prayer comes from God, and
therefore ascends to him again. If it is God that worketh in us both
to will and to do of his good pleasure, it is he also that worketh in us
to desire and ask according to his good pleasure. Prayer is the
incense that ascends to God from the altar of a renewed heart, and
the holy fire that burns upon it is kindled from heaven, being tho
Lord's love dwelling in the aff'ections. It is enough for the largest
leo-itimate desire, that whatsoever we ask in faith shall be granted us.
Let us only have the faith of God, and we shall receive whatever
that faith embraces in its petitions.

464 ST, MATTHEW. [Chap. XXL
23-25. When the Lord, after instructing his disciples, was come into
ihe temple, the chief priests and the elders of thepeople came unto him as
he was teaching, and said. By what autliority doesi ihou these things ? and
who gave thee this authority? And Jesus answered and said unto iliem,
I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell
you by what authority I do these things. Tlie baptism of John, whence
was it ? from heaven, or of men ? These functionaries did not con
cern themselves with the character of the Lord's teaching and miracles ;
they questioned his right to do them. In his doings they no doubt
included his casting the buyers and sellers out of the temple. In our
Lord's answer we see the same wisdom that characterized all his replies
to the questions or objections of his subtle adversaries. He would tell
them the origin of his authority, if they would tell him the origin of
John's baptism. But what, may we suppose, was the Lord's object in
submitting this question to their decision, and making his answer
contingent upon theirs ? If Jesus intended only to nonplus these
wily and wary objectors, we can see how well his purpose was
answered by the test to which he subjected them. But he who was
wisdom itself in person, did everything for a -vjise end. He did not
foil cunning with ingenuity, but turned the attempt to defeat the
truth into a means of advancing it. LiteraUy considered, there is no
very intelligible lesson to be learned from it. We must look at the
subject spiritually. Thus regarded, what may we learn from it?
What relation had the origin of John's baptism to the origin of
Christ's authority to purge the temple and heal and teach within its
sacred precincts ? John represented the Word, Jesus was the Word
itself made fiesh. The acknowledgment of the origin of John's bap
tism is still the condition of acquiring the knowledge of the origin of
Christ's authority. Those only who acknowledge the real origin of the
written Word can know the real origin of the incarnate Word ; those
only who recognize the heavenly origin of the purifying truths of
revelation can recognize the saving power of him who was revealed
once for all as the Truth itself The baptism of John in Jordan
represented the purifying of the external man, by which there is in
troduction into the church ; Jesus purging the temple, and heaUng and
teaching in it, represented the purifying of the internal man. The
one work is the necessary precursor of the other. The second cannot
be acknowledged, much less experienced, without the first. The Lord
himself underwent the baptism of John, preparatory to his entrance
on the great work of his ministry. Those who spiritually follow the
Lord must be spirituaUy baptized with the baptism of John; they must

Chap. XXL] ST. MATTHEW. 465
pass through the purifying work of repentance before they can become
the Lord's disciples. Thus understood, the subject is seen to be one
of great practical importance to ourselves. Our own natural reason
still demands of the Lord by what authority or power he does his
works, and whence he derives it. The Lord said to his disciples that,
if they would believe, and doubt not, they would be able to do as he
had done to the fig tree. But we may believe, and yet doubt ; and
active doubt implies latent denial, for doubt is the offspring of belief
and unbelief, and the two opposite natures are iu it struggling for the
mastery, and the result of the conflict is undoubting faith or utter
denial. The priests and the elders are the principles of unbelief
which rise up in the mind against, and question the Divine authority,
even when the Divine power is manifested in ourselves ; and against
this unbelief the Lord still has to contend. Let us see the result, as it
comes out in the present instance.
25, 26. The priests and elders reasoned with themselves. These
dignitaries did not reason which was true, to believe, but which it was
safe to acknowledge. Like the natural man, they no doubt could
have conflrmed eitl^er proposition, as they would evidently have
acknowledged either, according as it might have suited their purpose.
It happened to suit their purpose to confess neither, and therefore they
asserted their inability to decide. They could not tell whence was the
baptism of John. There were two influences acting upon them, which
led to this neutral decision, — that of Jesus on the one hand, and that
of the multitude on the other. If we sliall say. From heaven; he will
say unto us. Why did ye not ilien believe him? but if we shall say. Of
men; we fear ihe people; for all hold John as a propliet. We are told
that -when the highest and the lowest principles in man are in a state
of order, intermediate principles are ruled and brought into order by
their means. Such a state is here represented. The Lord is the
highest, the people are the lowest, the priests and the scribes are the
intermediate. Yet these intermediate principles have a greater affinity
with the lowest than -with the highest, for they are the priests and
scribes of the people. They were not, indeed, convinced by the in
fluences acting upon them, but they were awed into submission ; their
hostility was neutralized, so far as its active operation was concerned.
And such will ever be the case with us individually. The remains of
the old man within us wUl be checked in its operations when the
highest and the lowest, the first and the last things, are in right order.
The highest and lowest things of reUgion are right motives and right
actions ; right motives are those which have respect to the Lord, and
2h

466 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXL
right actions are those which have respect to the neighbour. If our
love and obedience are sincere, however imperfect, no corruptions of
our nature will be able to injure us. The evil promptings and false
suggestions of our selfhood will be defeated or neutralized, and finally

overcome.

27. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said
unto ihem. Neither tell I you hy -what authority I do these things. The
power of right ends and actions operates in two ways, — it restrains the
selfhood from bringing forth falsehood and evU, and from profaning
goodness and truth. When the evil desire to know truth, it is that
they may use it to serve their own evil ends. As the Jewish hierarchy
desired to entangle Jesus in his talk, so they seek tmth to pervert
and destroy it. To prevent this great sin, the Lord's providence is
exerted to hide the things of his Word and the mysteries of his king
dom from the wise and prudent, and reveal them unto babes. For
this end he spake in parables ; for this end he defeated the cunningly
devised questions of the chief among the Jews; and fbr this end he
refused to tell the priests and scribes by what authority he did those
things which they beheld him perform in the temple. This teaches
us that when we find our own perverse reason casting stumbling-
blocks in the way of the Son of man, by insinuating doubts of the
power and authority of his truth, and seeking to evade its chastening
but beneficent operations upon ourselves, we must save the truth from
such profanation, by shutting the mouth of the evil ones speaking in
our hearts, and defeat their end by denying them the means. We
must not encourage evil thoughts respecting the truth and good of
heaven, when they arise in our hearts, but silence them and put them
down by a wise and temperate exercise of the authority with which
the Truth itself has invested us.
28-32. When the Lord in his wisdom had made his haughty
interrogators defeat their own object, he proceeded to instruct them
by parables, that he might lead them to a knowledge of their own
character, and show them the danger to which they were exposed.
The first which our Lord addressed to them was the parable of the
man who had two sons; and he came to tlie first, and said. Son, go
work to-day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but
aftervKird he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and
said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.
Whether of them twain did ihe will qf Ms father ? They say unto Mm,
The first. Jesus saith unto iliem, VerUy I say unto you. That the publi
cans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. On the

Chap. XXL] ST. MATTHEW. 467
Lord's asking the priests and scribes " Whether of them twain did the
wUl of his father ?" they at once answered, " The first." Having drawn
from them an acknowledgment of right and wrong in relation to the
conduct of the persons of the parable, he pointed out to them that
their own conduct to John the Baptist had been that of the fair but
false son of the parable to his father, while the conduct of the publi
cans and harlots had been like that of the cUsobedient but repentant
son, whom they themselves had pronounced to be the one who did
the will of his father. John came unto you in the way of righteousness,
and ye believed Mm not : hut ilie publicans and ilie harlots believed Mm :
and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might
believe him. This parable is instructive, as showing how mere form
alism in religion has a tendency to harden the heart and engender
spiritual pride, and render men less cajiable of being awakened to a
sense of sin than some who live a less correct external life. The
Lord's teaching offers no encouragement to sin, but only gives a
warning against self-righteousness. Difficult as it may be to bring
sinners to repentance, it is still more difficult to produce penitence in
those who " think themselves righteous, and despise others." This
useful lesson lies upon the surface of the parable. There are deeper
truths in its spiritual sense — truths that reveal the causes and nature
of the internal states which are out-n'ardly exhibited as the parable
represents them. That pharasaical element, which says and does not,
and which comes out in professional holiness and formal piety, exists
either as an active or latent principle in every human mind, where
also are the publican and the harlot. Under the smooth and tranquil
surface of ecclesiastical order and religious observance in the church
we see a struggle going on for honour and self-aggrandizement; we
have only to turn our sight inward to see the same condition of
things either in act or in effort in ourselves. All have in them the
same elements of character, the only difference being that some allow
them free course, whilst others strive conscientiously against them.
With all, too, there are some evils that lie more upon the surface, and
are therefore better seen, but which may be less malignant than others
that are more deeply seated and less observed. Infirmities of temper
are less malignant than corrupt dispositions, such as hatred and
revenge ; for the temper may be ruffled by a momentary excitement,
while revenge often lies as a smouldering fire, ready to burst forth
when opportunity occurs. A hasty temper, like the first son of the
parable, may say No to the father's command, but as quickly turn and
do his will; while an evil heart may, Uke the seciond son, say Yes,

468 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXL
without any intention of doing what he requires. The first son of
the parable typifies those persons whose internal is better than their
external ; while the second son typifies those whose external is better
than their internal The first are they who, notwithstanding their
evil lives, have some remains of good left, upon which the Lord can
operate so as to produce repentance ; while the second are they who,
notwithstanding the profession of righteousness they make, are yet
inwardly in the spirit and intention of disobedience, which hardens
the heart, so as to produce intentional and settled impenitence.
Individually applied, evUs of the external man are meant by the first
son ; evils of the internal man are meant by the second. By evils of
the external man we mean evils in act; by evils of the internal we
mean evils in intention. Evil actions cannot, indeed, proceed from
good motives ; but some good actions may proceed from worse motives
than some evil actions. The worst state in regard to spiritual and
eternal life is that of saying and doing not ; more hopeful is the state
of saying No, for it indicates some amount of honesty and consistency
that may be worked upon by the tmth. The difference in these
cases is something like that between a word against the Son of man
and the sin against the Holy Spiri-t — the one is an offence against
the letter, the other against the spirit, of the law; the one offends
against its outward command, the other against its indwelling spirit.
Therefore, when the Word comes to us in the way of righteousness,
calling us to repentance, and offering to wash us from our impurities
in the living stream of divine truth — the Jordan through which we
must pass if we would enter the Canaan of the church and heaven —
we should obey the call, and come with an undivided mind, earnestly
desiring to be made clean, knowing that the righteous only shall pos
sess the land.
33-41. The Lord put forth another parable. A householder lets out
his vineyard to husbandmen, who not only refuse to render the fruit
of the vineyard, but injure or kill those who are sent to receive it.
In the internal historical sense this parable relates to the Jewish
people, who had been entrusted with the Divine oracles, and formed
into a church. To them the Lord sent prophets and other messengers,
to induce them to render to him the fruits of righteousness, but these
messengers they condemned, or persecuted, or destroyed ; and when
at last he sent his Son, or came in the form of a man, they conspired
against him as the heir, that they might make his inheritance their
own. And the conclusion of the parable is, that the kingdom should
be taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits

Chap. XXL] ST. MATTHEW. 469
thereof; which was fulfilled when the church was transferred from
the Jews to the GentUes. The spiritual sense does not relate to any
one particular church, but is of universal appUcation, having reference
neither to time nor place, but to states of spiritual Iffe, which are
states of truth and goodness, or to the opposite states of falsity and
evil In this sense, as in the other, the vineyard signifies the church,
but the church as formed in man by the Lord implanting in his mind
the principles of goodness and truth. These principles constitute the
church, or, what amounts to the .same, religion. Where there is no
reUgion, there is no church. And neither religion nor the church
can exist amongst men except so far as they exist in them. But the
church, while it exists in its principles in the mind, exists in its fruits
in the life. Between the implanting of religion iu the mind, and the
producing of its fruits in the life, the great struggle takes place; for
conflict and sorrow are experienced in bringing forth into actual life
that which has been implanted in the mind. In the purely spiritual
sense, in reference to individual regeneration, this struggle is described
by the resistance of the husbandmen to the will of the householder,
which means the resistance of the external man to the will of the
internal. The servants who were successively sent by the householder
to the husbandmen, to receive the fruit of the vineyard, are the truths
proceeding from the internal iuto the external man, to cause or enable
him to yield the fruits of righteousness, and induce him to ascribe
them, not to himself, but to the internal, and through the internal to
the Lord, by whose power he produces them. The Son, who is sent
last of all, is good proceeding immediately from the internal, and
appealing to the highest affections of the natural mind. In all these
cases the husbandmen are represented as hating, stoning, and killing
those who were sent unto them, and, lastly, casting out and slaying
the Son himself Like the historical facts which this so plainly
describes, this murderous conduct does not represent the actual
rejection or destruction of the good and true principles that come
from the Lord through the inner man, but only the temptations and
trials which those principles undergo in the natural mind, ending in
their dying, and rising into a new and higher life, as our Lord himself
did after he had been crucified by the Jews. The parable ends,
indeed, by the vineyard being taken from those husbandmen to whom
it had been let, and given to others. But when these two different
husbandmen represent different faculties in the same mind, the taking
of the vineyard from one class and giving it to another represents
only the transfer of the church f'l'om one faculty to another. The

470 ST. MATTHEV/. [Chap. XXL
first husbandmen signify the thoughts of the understanding, and the
second signify the affections of the will. The effect of regeneration
is to elevate the principles of the church out of the understanding
into the will. To describe this, the Lord says, " The kingdom shall
be taken from you (the Jewish people), and given to a nation bringing
forth the fruits thereof;" for the term nation, as distinguished from
the term people, signifies the will as distinguished from the under
standing; and as the principles of the church, or of good and truth,
when they are elevated into the will, come forth into the life in works
that are really good, the vineyard is said to be given to a nation
" bringing forth the fruits thereof." This is a brief outline of the
meaning of the parable, when -viewed in its application to the indi
vidual man who is passing through the regenerate life ; but many
significant and interesting particulars are contained in it which it may
be useful to consider.
33. There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and
hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower,
and let it out to husbandmen, and went into afar country. The Lord
no doubt intended to make this parable not simply graphic, but
instructive, every particular having a spiritual meaning. The
planting of a vineyard signifies, we have seen, implanting the prin
ciples of the church in the internal man, and the setting a hedge
about it signifies the establishment of order in the external.
Principles of life and laws of order are to each other as a vineyard
and a hedge, or as a city and its walls. Principles constitute the
kingdom of God in man, and laws are its guard and protection.
Every work of order has its laws. The universe is hedged about with
laws, without which it would fall into confusion and dissolution. The
church and state have their laws, and so have social and domestic
life. Principles and laws are the first and the last things in the
Lord's kingdom in man, and these form its beginning. But there are
intermediate principles necessary to its completeness and perfection,
and these are meant by the winepress and the tower. The winepress
and tower are emblematical of principles of the rational mind. The
pressing of the grape is analogous to the thrashing of the corn, as the
subsequent fermentation of the wine is to the leavening of the bread.
On this account the treading of the winepress is frequently used as an
emblem of judgment, which is called the treading of the winepress
of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God (Rev. xix. 15). Yet
judgment is not only God's general work of separating the good from
the evU in the spiritual world, but his particular work of separating

Chap. XXL] ST. MATTHEW. 471
good from evil in the human mind. When the householder had made
every preparation necessary for the working of the vineyard, he let it
out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. When the Lord,
as the Creator, has formed the human being, and endowed him with
every faculty that belongs to his nature, and provided him with every
means that may be requisite for the proper and profitable exercise of
his faculties, he leaves him to work out his own salvation. His
leaving him to himself is only an appearance, or rather, it is a mode
of expressing the fact of man's being left to act from liberty, and
under a full sense of his responsibility.
34. But although the owner of the vineyard went into a far
country, when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to ihe
husbandmen, that ihey might receive ilie fruits of it. The servants
whom the Lord sends are the truths of his Word, which seasonably
remind us of our stewardship, and require us, while we enjoy the
Divine bounty, to acknowledge whence we derive the blessing. Nor
is it enough to make this acknowledgment in words; we must make it
in deeds; not with the intellect only, but with the heart. This
practical acknowledgment is meant by rendering unto the Lord ofthe
fruit of the vineyard; the verbal and inteUectual acknowledgment
bad been made when the vineyard was hired, for this was the con
dition. Here our real labours and temptations begin. It is easy to
acknowledge with the understanding that all our blessings come from
God; to acknowledge this with the heart and in the life can only be
accomplished with trial and perseverance. The natural mind resists
with all its power, and many struggles are required to overcome its
opposition. This is described in what now follows.
35. And ihe husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed
another, and stoned anotlier. The temptation of which we have spoken
is in some sort the result of the labour; for when by labour we have
procured fruit, we are tempted to think that we owe it entirely to
our own exertions, and may therefore claim it as our own. The
Divine Husbandman sends his messengers to us, to claim his share
of the fruit which the vineyard that his hand has planted in our
hearts has yielded. Although we are left free, we are not left with
out a witness, to remind us of what is our duty, that we may freely
do it. And even then we are left at liberty ; for the husbandman
did not command his servants to take of the fruits by force, but only
to require what was his due. The natural mind manifests its enmity
to the truth in various ways and degrees of malignity. It is disposed
to pervert the truth, which is meant by beating one of the servants;

472

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXL

to reject it, which is meant by kiUing another; and to falsify it,
which is meant by stoning another.
36. But the Divine mercy does not leave them to themselves.
Again, he sent other servants more than tlie first : and fliey did unto
them likewise. As the unregenerate man falls into deeper states of
evU, and as the regenerate man falls into deeper states of temptation,
the Lord applies to them other truths more suited to their states, and
therefore capable of enabling them to resist evil and do good, and to
render to him the fruits of their life and experience. But those to
whom the vineyard had been let out did to the second as they had
done to the first servants. Their state and conduct were not such as
the mercies they had received should have produced.
37. The Divine mercy of the Lord still follows his sinful creatures
with the means and offer of salvation. But last of all he se7it unto
iliem his son, saying. They will reverence my son. The sending
of his son — the coming of the Lord into the world — is the crown
ing act of Di-vine Goodness to his rebellious subjects. The son is
God himself in human nature— the Divine tmth coming forth from
and manifesting the Divine love This truth, the offspring and the
express image of the Divine love, is the truth, the knowledge of which
makes us free indeed, but the rejection of which makes us hopeless
bondmen. Those who reject the truth of doctrine from their under
standings are too Uable to reject the truth of love from their hearts.
This truth it is that puts in the strongest claim for the Lord's share
of the fruit of the vineyard, by urging the practical acknowledgment
of his claim to the merit of our works, and the authorship and owner
ship of the faculties that produce them.
38. But it is this that provokes the natural desire most strongly to
claim that merit and ownership for itself The united cry of the
husbandmen is. This is the heir; come, lei us kill him, and let us seize
on his inheritance. To extinguish the voice of divine love, and set up
our own right to what is the lawful inheritance of the Lord — to claim
righteousness as our own, instead of acknowledging the Lord as our
righteousness,- — this is the sin that separates finally and fully between
us and our God.
39. The rejection ofthe truth, which offers to make us free, is described
by the husbandmen's treatment of the son. And they caught him, and
cast Mm out of the vineyard, and slew him. This is expressive of com
plete rejection : for their taking him is expressive of rejection from
the will; casting him out of the vineyard, of rejection from the under
standing; and slaying him, of rejection from the whole mind and life.

Chap. XXL] ST. MATTHEW, 473
40. Then comes the judgment. When ihe lord therefore of ihe
vineyard comeih — a coming of the Lord to judgment, which takes place
when the state of evil is full, and ripe for decision. This takes place
with a church only when its state is so completely devastated as to admit
of no restoration. Such was the state of the Jewish church when it
had consummated its wickedness by slaying the Lord, who came in
the character of a Saviour ; then did the Lord return to judgment,
making a complete end. It is only when the evil are guilty of
corresponding conduct that their judgment overtakes them. The
Lord does not himself describe the judgment, but demands of those
who were to be judged what the judgment should be. What unll he
do unto those husbandmen ?
41. And the husbandmen give the answer, — He will miserably destroy
those wicked men, and unll let out his vineyard unto otlier husbandmen,
which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. This involves an im
portant truth in relation to judgment. In the spiritual world no one
is judged till he himself is not only convicted but convinced of the
character of his own state, and of its necessary consequences. Every
one, so to speak, judges himself " I," said the Lord, "judge no man :
the word which I have spoken unto you, the same shall judge you in
the last day." The unpractised truth that we carry with us into the
other world is that which judges us to perdition. Every one is judged
by and according to the light he has received. Here is justice as
well as mercy. The less Ught, the less condemnation to those who do
evil; for it is light that makes evil to be evil — that makes man
responsible for his actions, and blameable for his evil deeds. " To whom
much is given, of them much will be required." To the Lord's ques
tion — "What will he do to those husbandmen?" the Jews answer,
" He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his
¦vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits
in their seasons.'' This expresses another truth or law of judgment,
as enunciated by the Lord himself: "Take from him the talent, and
give it to him that hath ten talents;" "Unto him that hath shall be
given; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that
which he seemeth to have." From those who have only truth, that
truth will be taken away ; to those who have only good, that good
will be enriched with truth. It is therefore said that the vineyard
should be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof; for the
term nation, as distinguished from that of people, signifles those who
are in good, as distinguished from those who are in truth.
42, When our Lord had flnished his parable, and drawn from his

474 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. XXL
auditors its practical meaning, he proceeded to point out an important
prophecy relating to himself, as rejected by the Jews and received and
acknowledged by the Gentiles. Did ye never read in the Scriptures,
Tlie stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of ihe
corner: this is ihe Lord's doing, and it is marveUous in our eyes?
This stone, this precious corner-stone, this sure foundation, is the
Lord Jesus Christ. But there is a profound truth in this symbolism.
The Lord is called a stone because a stone is a symbol of truth — he is
called the Stone because he was the Truth itself And he is called a
foundation and corner-stone because, by assuming humanity as it
exists in the world, he brought himself, as the Eternal Truth, or
the Word, into manifestation in the ultimate sphere of existence,
for the redemption and salvation of the human race, and so became
the foundation on which the church and heaven should rest, the
corner-stone by which they .should be held together As the Stone,
he was rejected by the buUders of the Jewish church, or by the
carnal builders in the church universal; but he, nevertheless, not
only without their aid, but against their will, became the head of the
corner. As this figure relates to the building of the temple, in the
highest sense it refers to the Temple of the Lord's body, the glorifica
tion of which was completed by the stone becoming the head of the
corner, when heaven and the church, angels and holy men, shouted
grace, grace unto it. This was indeed the Lord's doing, for it was a
work purely divine ; and it is marvellous in the eyes of angels and
men, for it is the great mystery of godliness — the great marvel of
divine wisdom as well as of divine love. Subordinately to, and
correspondently with, this work, the Lord becomes the head of the
corner when he is acknowledged in his Divine Humanity as the
head of the church ; and especially when he has become the supreme
good and truth in the heart and mind of man.
43. As a consequence of their refusing him as the chief cor
ner-stone, the Lord said unto them. The kingdom of God sliaU
be taken from you, and given io a nation bringing forth the fruits
thereof Those who receive him form the "nation "to whom the
kingdom is given-the good to whom truth is imparted; while those
from whom the kingdom is taken away are such as have been in evil,
and who, though they had known, had not obeyed the truth.
44. Reverting again to the figure under which prophecv had spoken
of him, the Lord delivers a solemn admonition to all to "whom he as
the Truth, is revealed. Whosoever shall faU on this stone shall be broken ¦
but on whomsoever ii shaU fall, it wiU grind Mm io powder. This no

Chap. XXL] ST. MATTHEW. 475
doubt describes two different kinds of opposition to the truth, with
their different results. We fall upon the stone when our opposition
to the truth arises from falsity, and the stone falls upon us when our
opposition to it arises from evil. Of those who fall upon the stone it is
said they shall be broken ; of those on whom the stone falls, that it
shall grind them to powder. To break in pieces is to divide and
separate the parts which together form one whole ; thus the truths
united under one good may have their connection with that good
broken, which may involve the serious damage or destruction of a
man's faith. To grind or reduce to powder denotes not only the divid
ing of truths from their good, and from each other, but the dissipation
of the truths themselves, and the consequent destruction of every
principle of faith and love. Understood in relation to the regenerate,
it no doubt has a favourable meaning. Judgment is the separation of
the good and the evil, and the determination of both to their flnal
state. Individually, judgment separates all that is good and tme from
the wicked, and everything evil and false from the righteous. What
is here rendered, " ground to powder," Uterally means dissipated like
chaff — a mode of expression applied to the wicked, who are like chaff
which the wind driveth away (Ps. i. 4). But the righteous stand in
the judgment ; the only effect upon them is, that it sifts them as
wheat, removing what imperfections and infirmities have obscured
their excellences.
45, 46. When the chief piiests and Pharisees had heard his parables,
they perceived that he spake qf them. But when they sought to lay hands
on him, they feared the multitude, because ihey took him for a prophet.
In this conduct we see a not uncommon result of reproof Instead of
being humbled, the sinner is too often exasperated by having his sins
pointed out. The enmity manifested in all ages against the written
Word, by wicked and impenitent men, is caused by its laying
open their secret sins, and announcing the condemnation they bring
upon themselves. And many of these, too, would wUUngly lay
hands upon the Word, were it not that they fear the multitude,
whose faith reposes on its teaching and promises. The inward
belief of the faithful secures for the Word and religion the outward
respect of many of the unbelieving. Outward respect or restrained
hatred will not avert, and may not even mitigate, the final judgment;
but it has the effect of aiding the cause of external decency and order
in the present world. But how much do the priest and the Pharisee
in ourselves rise up against reproof; and how often would they seek
to lay unhallowed hands upon the truth, were they not restrained by

476 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIL
the influence of our better feelings. Let us cultivate those feelings,
aud love to bring under their dominion the tempers and dispositions of
our corrupt selfhood, tUl they submit themselves to the Divine will
and wisdom.

CHAPTER XXIL

This chapter, though it introduces a new subject, is a continuation
of the same discourse which our Lord had commenced in the temple
The last chapter concludes with the parable of the householder, who
planted a vineyard and let it out to husbandmen ; the present begins
with the parable of the king who made a marriage for his son. The
moral of this parable is much the same as that of the last. Those
who are called refuse to come, and are rejected; others are invited,
who come, and are accepted. Those who refuse, and lose their elec
tion, are the Jews; those who come, and are chosen, are the Gentiles.
But however similar their moral, the parables teach a different lesson;
however similar in their structure, each delivers a different truth.
Relatively to each other, the parable of the vineyard has more refer
ence to the inteUectual life of man ; that of the marriage of the king's
son has more respect to his moral life. The vineyard produces the
grape, from which is expressed the wine, which is the symbol of spiritual
truth; the marriage is celebrated by a dinner, which is the symbol of
spiritual good ; the drink and the meat being symbolical of nourish
ment for the understanding and for the ¦will.
2. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a
Tnarriage for his son. No symbol for the church and heaven is higher
than that of marriage. Marriage is the highest emblem of the union,
in all its forms and degrees, that constitutes heaven and gives felicity.
Marriage is the union of two souls, which were so created that each
finds in the other what it has not in itself, but which is essential to
complete Ufe and perfect happiness. The masculine and feminine
souls are the impersonations of the two essential principles of all being,
and of all perfection and happiness— the true and the good, the
intellectual and the voluntary. Heaven and the church are, in them
selves, nothing but the union of goodness and truth. This union must
exist in the mind, before any one can be a true member of the church
or an inhabitant of heaven. The church and heaven must be in
man, before he can be in the church and heaven. This is only sayin<^
that every one must have in himself the heavenly marriage of goodness

Chap. XXIL] ST. MATTHEW. 477
and truth, or of love and faith, before he can belong to "the kingdom
of heaven, which is like unto a king who made a marriage for his son."
The son for whom the king made a marriage is Jesus, considered as the
Son of God. The Lord, from the Divine, in and by the human, desires
to enter into a covenant with the church, as his bride and wife. The
consummation of this union was the end for which the Lord came into
the world. The humanity which God assumed and glorified in the world
was the Bridegroom of the divine nujitials; for actual conjunction
between God and fallen man, or a fallen church, could only be effected
through a humanity born of the church, and raised by glorification into
nnion ¦with the Divine nature. The Father, who made the marriage
for the Son, is called a certain king, or rather, a man, a king. These two
titles are expressive of the Divine love and wisdom, as existing united
in the Divine nature ; and they are no doubt introduced in harmony
with the nature and object of the parable, to indicate, that as the
divine marriage of love and wisdom existed eternally and essentially
in God, so it was the object of the incarnation that it might exist also
in man — first in the man Christ Jesus, ancl through him in every man
willing to be saved and made happy.
3. And sent forth his servants io call them that were bidden to the
wedding. This is in accordance with ancient custom. The guests
were invited long before the marriage took place, and even before the
time for its celebration was fixed ; and when the day came, and all
things were ready, servants were sent out to call the guests to the
maiTiage feast. In this respect the symbol accurately corresponds
with the fact. Long before the Lord came into the world, God, by
his servants the prophets, had bidden his people to this approaching
marriage. The invitation had been given to the Jews, but through
them to all others. No time had been fixed for it, but its accomplish
ment was declared to be certain. When, in the fulness of time, the
Bridegroom ajipeared, and sent forth his servants the apostles to
call them that were bidden to the marriage, it was only to give effect
to an invitation which had previously been given and accepted. And
ihey would not come. Those who with pride had accepted the invita
tion, and had longed for the time when they should be called to the
wedding, were found, when the blessed moment had arrived, to be
utterly disinclined to come to it. Something like this comes within
our ordinary experience. Events and occasions that we look forward
to with eagerness sometimes find us indifferent or disinclined when
they come. And if this is the case in natural things, much more is it
so in spiritual things. The Jews refused the call of the apostles,

478 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIL
because the kingdom of Jesus disappointed their expectations. They
looked for a king and a kingdom surrounded with pomp and glory,
and saw nothing but meanness and obscurity. Moral grandeur had
no charms for them. They would not come to a marriage where the
union of love and wisdom was to be solemnized, where mercy and
peace were to meet together, and righteousness and truth kiss each
other, and where the table spread for the guests should present a feast
for the gratification and nourishment of the soul. This conduct is not
peculiar to the Jews. They were too faithful types of the natural
man in all ages of the world. The religion of Jesus is too pure and
unworldly to be otherwise than repulsive to the merely natural mind.
We all know it by experience. And if there were none but the prin-
ciyjles of the natural man in us — if in the little world within there
were none but the chief priest, and the scribe, and the Pharisee — we
should all be as unbelieving and unwilling as the sophisticated Jews,
And so far as we are merely natural, the call to the blessings of the
gospel will remain unheeded. But Divine mercy does not leave us
even when we refuse its call.
4. As in the case of the Jews, so in ours, he sent forth other ser
vants, with a still more urgent call, enforced with still higher induce
ments,- — Tell them which are bidden. Behold, I have prepared my dinner;
my oxen and my fallings are killed, and all things are ready : come unto
the marriage. It is thus we ever find striking and affecting instances
of that long-suffering and abundance in goodness and truth so con
sistent with the Divine nature. As in the former parable, so in this,
we must regard the second message and the second messengers, as
having a di.stinct character from the first. The appeal is now more to
the will than to the intellect; the guests are not called to the marriage
simply, but to the dinner, all things being ready. The king has done
his part to the uttermost, and only waits to receive those for whom
the provision has been made. And what is that provision? It is
first expressed by the one word, dinner. Dinners signify the good of
charity, in which the Lord dwells with man ; their dining and supping
together denoting consociation by love, and all conjunction. The
marriage feast is that good which the Lord's incarnation has provided,
as the means of a blessed consociation and conjunction between his
chUdren and himself And that good proceeds from the Lord's
humanity, the glorification of which was the preparation of the feast,
which stands ready for every willing guest. But the dinner itself is
described : "My oxen and fatlings are kUled." Oxen are emblems of
the good of the natural affections, and fatlings of the good of innocence

Chap. XXIL] ST. MATTHEW. 479
The term killed should rather be sacrificed; and to sacrifice is to
make holy. The Lord made the natural affections and the natural
innocence of the humanity he assumed holy in himself, when he
purified and consecrated them to his indwelling Divinity. And now
they are offered to us as holy and divine things, living aud life-giving.
And has not the Lord said, "He that eateth me shall live by me"?
In him all fulness dwells; all things are ready; and the perpetual
Divine call is, "come to the marriage''
5. But how many imitate the Jews of old, who made light of it,
and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. The
natural man is not only indifferent to the good and truth offered to
him in the gospel, but he turns away from them, his wUl to evil, aud
his understanding to falsity — " one to his farm, and another to his
merchandise.'' It is only the inordinate love of the world that is
antagonistic to the love and life of heaven. It is not by employing
the hands, but by devoting the heart to the world, that we despise
the call, and forfeit our right to the kingdom of God. Here, as in
the Scriptures generally, the effect is put for the cause, the labour for
the love; by mistaking which, some have sought heaven by renounc
ing the active duties of life, which is neither a means nor an evi
dence of being crucified to the world. This neglect of divine and
heavenly things for those that pertain to this Ufe is a too common one.
But we are to reflect at the same time that it is not the world itself,
with its labours aud rewards, that is opposed to the kingdom of God,
with its duties and blessings.
6. When the heart and intellect are turned away from heavenly
things, and devoted to earthly things, a further progress in iniquity
must foUow. The husbandmen were not satisfled with refusing the
call of their lord, and giving themselves up to the world. The rem
nant took his servants, and entreated ihem spitefully, and slew them.
The word remnant here is the same that, in reference to the virtuous,
signifies the remains of goodness and truth, whose awakening in the
mind forms the beginning of regeneration, and which are more and
more developed in its progress. But the evil have remains stored up
in their minds as well as the good. Or rather, remains are stored up
in infancy and chUdhood in all minds, though differing in quality
and quantity. It is through these remains that the well-disposed
are regenerated, and it is through these that the ill-disposed are
called, or by which the call is heard. And when they turn to evil,
it is the remains of goodness and truth in themselves that they
destroy. It is in this way that they lay hold of the Lord's servants,

480 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap, XXIL
and entreat them spitefully, and slay them. For all the evil and
destruction of good and truth that the wicked effect, they effect in
themselves. And these three acts of violence mark the complete
rejection of everything true and good : for the remnant taking the
servants is expressive of violence offered to heavenly truths in the
will; spitefully using them, of violence offered to those truths in the
understanding; and slaying them, of violence offered to them in the
life, which is their death or extinction.
7. But every consummated state of evil is followed by judgment.
Those who destroy heavenly truth in themselves, turn that truth into
an instrument of their own destruction. The servants who were sent
to invite the guests to the wedding are slain, but in their stead there
comes forth an army to avenge them. When the king heard tliereof he
was wroth : and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those mur
derers, and burned up ilieir city. The crime of the guests — for they
had previously accepted the invitation — has armed the truth against
them, and the sword which their sins have unsheathed will not
return to the scabbard till it has cut them off, and wiped out the
stain which they had left upon the law of righteousness. The law of
retaliation, which exists in its perfection in the spiritual life and in
the spiritual world, does not imply anything like vindictive justice in
the mind or dealings of God. It is simply the result of a law of order,
that action and re-action are equal, and that their actual equality is
necessary to the existence of equilibrium, on which the conservation
of all things depends. The king is represented as hearing what those
he had bidden to his son's marriage had done to his servants. Hear
ing is that sense which communicates more immediately with the
will, as sight does with the understanding. The king hearing implies
that the evil committed was not only a crime against the Divine
wisdom, but against the Divine love — not only against the truth, but
against the good of truth. The armies he sent forth are the truths of
the Lord's Word and kingdom, which subdue opposing evils and falsi
ties, and dejirive them of the power of doing violence to the principles,
and through them to the inhabitants, of heaven. The king's armies
kUled those murderers and burned their cities, — everything possessing
or relating to life, both in the wUl and the understanding, is destroyed
and consumed, every truth relating to life or doctrine is removed, and
death reigns in the wiU and desolation in the understanding. Such
is the flnal result of refusing the offers of salvation, and continuing in
enmity and deadly hostUity to the Author and the means of Ufe.
Even this is exhibited to some extent in the present world, if not in

Chap. XXIL] ST. MATTHEW. 481
the case of persons, yet in that of churches. Such a consummation
overtook the Jewish church, whose crimes and devastation are
described in the natural sense of the parable. On that occasion, when
the Jews had refused the call to the kingdom of the Messiah, and had
slain the Messiah himself, the church amongst them was consummated,
and the Lord turned to another people.
8, 9. Tlien saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, hut they
which were hidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into ihe highways,
and as many as ye shall find, hid to the marriage. The freeness
of the gospel, and the offer of salvation to all, could not be more
clearly set forth than in this parable, and especially in this part of it.
Human benevolence often gets soured by disappointments, and the
deserving frequently suffer for the sins of the undeserving. Not so
with the Divine benevolence. In fact, the present parable is con
structed as if to teach us that the Divine benevolence is even enlarged
by human perverseness and malignity — on the principle that where
sin has abounded, grace has much more abounded. Oh the richness
of the wisdom and goodness of God ! its depths are pa,st finding out.
10. When they that were bidden had refused to come, the king's
servants went out into tlie highways, and gathered together all as many
as tliey found, both bad and good : and the wedding was furnished with
guests. Figuratively, those who were called to supply the place of
the first-bidden guests are the Gentiles, who were adopted to form a
visible church, in place of the unbelieving Jews. Spiritually, they
are those who are in ignorance ofthe truth, but who are not indisposed to
receive it. The servants are commanded to go out into the highways
in search of the ne-w guests. These are literally ways of ways, places
where two or more ways meet or cross, places like the Latin compitum,
where the country people assembled to keep their wakes and perform
their sacrifices, where, therefore, numbers of persons were likely to be
found. These central places, into which the converging ways poured
their numerous contributions, represented the rational mind, where
the thoughts assemble, some entering from the natural mind and
some from the spiritual, or some from the world and some from
heaven, and where, therefore, there are "both bad and good."
Viewed in relation to persons, the Gentiles, who are historically
meant, being without the light of revelation, were guided by the light
of nature, thus of reason, with such spiritual aids as tradition and
the reflected light of the Word afforded them. They were, therefore,
in the highways of inteUectual and moral truth when called to the
wedding, to which, whatever their defects, they willingly came.
2 I

482 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIL
11. And when the king came in io see the guests, he saw there a man
which had not on a wedding garment. The prominence given to the
circumstance of a man coming into the guest-chamber without a
wedding garment is striking, and must be instructive. It no doubt
teaches us that besides receiving and accepting the call, there is stUl
something else required to make us children of the marriage. We
must put on the marriage garment. We must be clothed with the
garment of righteousness. The guests were not admitted into the
guest-chamber in their own raiment, but in garments provided for
them by the king. So we are not admitted into the heavenly
marriage in our own righteousness, but must be clothed in a righ
teousness derived from the Lord. This is the only true, and therefore
the only saving righteousness, for all our righteousness is of him. We
must not imagine that the righteousness we receive from the Lord is
put on to cover and conceal our corruptions. Righteousness cannot
be acquired but by living it. " He that doeth righteousness is
righteous." It may seem as if the righteousness we acquire by doing
it is our own righteousness. Self-righteousness and Christ's righ
teousness are both alike acquired by doing righteousness : the difference
is, one is acquired by doing righteousness from self, the other by doing
righteousness from the Lord. Christ does not impart or impute to us
right thoughts and affections, words and works, without any cultiva
tion or practice of our own ; but he, as the Spirit and power of
righteousness, worketh in us to will and do what is righteous, and
that righteousness which we will and do from him is his, because he
is its author. As we do not derive it from ourselves, we are not to
ascribe it to ourselves, but must give him the glory. " Not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy,
and for thy truth's sake" (Ps. cxv. 1). Understood in its particular
sense, the guests who came to the wedding are the thoughts and
affections of the rational mind, and the king coming in to see the
guests is the influx of divine truth into them. The object of
this is to see, or enable us to perceive, the quality of our thoughts
and affections, to distinguish and separate between the good and
the bad, that the good may receive spiritual Ught, and the bad be
ca.st into outer darkness. This is the judgment effected in every
human mind, when brought under the influence of divine truth.
And as every work is like itself in all its degrees, the judgment
which takes place on good and evil persons is of the same character,
and has the same results. The divine, present in the light of truth,
reveals the character, " for whatsoever doth make manifest is light"

Chap. XXIL] ST. MATTHEW. 483
(Eph. V. 13); and the revelation of the inward character brings the
good into the fulness of light, and leaves the evil in the depth of
darkness. The description of the judgment in the parable is written
for our admonition, and it is no doubt profitable to reflect upon it.
12. When the king saw the strange guest, lie saith unto him,
Friend, how camesi thou in hither not having a wedding garment ?
And he was speechless. 'When, in this world, God questions us through
his Word, it is for the purpose of leading us to self-examination, as
the means of forming a just estimate of our own state. In the other
world there is a conformity between state and place which admits of no
violation. No heavenly state, no heavenly place; no heaven within,
no heaven without. Not only the Lord himself sees, but he gives
every soul to see, that there can be no possible violation of this law.
Plausibly as we may reason ourselves into the contrary belief in this
world, in the other world, when all sophistries are removed by the
all-penetrating and revealing light of truth, the self-convicted soul
remains speechless. The evil in the other Ufe are not sent to their final
abode in hell until they are not only convicted but convinced of sin
— till they see their evil condition, and are convinced that they are
unflt for any place but that to which their evil, like a millstone about
their neck, draws them down into the deep. How solemn and
impressive I And how fearful are the consequences !
13. Then said the king to the servants. Bind /t-im hand and foot, and
take him, away, and cast him into outer darkness ; there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. In conformity with the condition of things in
this world, the Lord is represfented in Scripture as casting the wicked
into hell, and in the other world they appear as if cast headlong into
the infernal abodes; while the real truth is, the evil cast themselves
into hell, or rather, evil itself casts or drags them do-wn into hell,
their headlong course being but a symbol of their inverted state.
But there is a gradation in the vastation of the evil, which this
parable unfolds. They are bound hand and foot, and cast into outer
darkness. This implies total deprivation of all seeming good and
truth. The hands are the powers of the internal man, the feet of the
external. In this world these are free ; in the other world, with the
evil, they are bound. In this world the external man can do good,
while the internal man wills eviL This is necessary here for the
preservation of external order, and of man's capability of reformation.
In the other life, where reformation is no longer possible, no seeming
can exist; the external acts as the internal wills. An evil internal
brings the external under subjection to itself, and that subjection is a

484 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIL
state of bondage. And while the powers of the wiU are deprived of
good, and become subject to e-vil, the understanding is deprived of
truth and immersed in falsity, which is meant by being cast into
outer darkness. There are two kinds or degrees of falsity — one that
originates in the will, another in the understanding. Intellectual
falsity is darkness, voluntary falsity is outer darkness. The one is
the negation of truth, the other is its perversion; the one shuts out
the light, the other turns the light into darkness: "And if the light
that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkne.ss!" In this
state of spiritual darkness "there shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.'' These are signs and symbols of anguish, but not simply of
the anguish of suffering. In the other world the wicked no doubt
weep, but theirs are partly the tears of a disappointed devouring sel
fishness and insatiate ambition. Their tears are Uke those of Alex
ander, who, having conquered the world, wept that there were no
more worlds to conquer. They gnash their teeth ; but they do so as
did the infuriated Jews when, rushing on the saintly Stephen, they
" gnashed on him with their teeth." Weeping is expressive of a state
of the will, gnashing the teeth of a state of the understanding. The
will weeps when its desires are resisted; the understanding gnashes
when its notions are opposed. Gnashing of the teeth is the continual
dispute of falses with each other, consequently of those who are in
falses ; these disputes are heard out of hell as gnashings of the teeth,
and are actually turned into gnashings of the teeth when truth from
heaven flows in.
14. Our Lord concludes his parable with the moral: For many are
called, but few are chosen. We cannot, of course, understand this to
apply Uterally to the relative numbers ofthe called and chosen of the
last in-vited guests, although it might seem to be so intended. If it
refers to relative numbers, it must be of the whole of those invited
from first to last. But the remark is understood to be true with
respect to the whole human race. Numbers in the AVord do not,
however, signify quantity, but quality. The few are those who are in
charity and its faith; the many are those who are in faith without
charity. The guest who came without a wedding garment represents
not an individual, but a class — the class who have faith without works,
and who, being destitute of the garment of righteousness, cannot be
admitted to the kingdom of heaven.
15. Not conciliated, but rather exasperated, by the Lord's teach
ing, in which there was an obvious aUusion to the Jews, then went the
Pharisees, and took counsel how tliey might entangle him in his talk.

Chap. XXIL] ST. MATTHEW. 485
The Pharisees representing and even personating those who are religion
ists in name, but not in deed, we see the same opposition to the Lord's
love and tmth that we had so often occasion to observe in these
malignant and deceitful enemies of the Just oue, — their opposition to
the Lord's love being meant by their "going," and their opposition to
the Lord's truth being meant by their "taking counsel," their purpose
to "entangle him in his talk" being expressive of the lust of pervert
ing and destroying the truth. To accomplish this,
16. Tliey sent out unto Mm tlieir disciples with tlie Herodians. The
Lord's disciples represent all the principles of the church, those of the
Pharisees represent all the principles opposed to and subversive of the
church. These signify especially false principles, the kindred evils of
which are meant by the Herodians. These, therefore, are sent out or
put forth to entangle Jesus in his talk. They address him with feigned
respect, saying. Master, we know that thou art true, and teacliesi the way
of God in truth, neitlier caresi thou for any man: for thou regardest not
the person of men. The truth is often spoken by those who in their
hearts deny it. The Lord is indeed true, and teaches the way of
God in truth. He is the truth ancl the way, and he is the good to
which it leads. He cares not for any man, for he regards not the
person of men. He cares not for mere human good, and still less for
mere human truth. He regards not the person of men, is, literally,
he looketh not on the face of men. The same expression occurs in
the Old Testament. Man looketh on the face, but the Lord looketh
on the heart. The face signifies the understanding, the heart signifies
the will. The Lord looks not on the face, on the understanding, at a
man's intelligence and belief only, but he looks on the heart, at a man's
goodness and love. In this, therefore, the deceitful messengers spake
truly. But they had a purpose in speaking and describing the tmth, —
that they might make the truth speak falsehood, or might be able so
to construe the words of truth as to make it appear false, ancl so
compass its destraction. And now comes the grand question, by which
they had hoped their object might be gained.
17. Tell us therefore. What ihinkest fliou ? Is it lawful io give tribute
unto Ccesar, or not? The clever deceitfulness of this question is
universally admitted. It was so framed that either a negative or an
affirmative answer, one of which they supposed must be given, would
equally answer their purpose. Had he said it was lawful to give
tribute to Caesar, he would have become odious to the Jewish people;
had he said it was not lawful, he would have become obnoxious to the
Roman government.

486 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIL
18-22. Bid Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, JVIig tempt
ye me, ye hypocrites ? Shoio me the tribute money. And they brought
unto him a penny. And he said unto them, 'Wliose is this image and
sup)erscription ? They say unto him Ccesar' s. Then saith he unto
them. Render therefore unto Ccesar the things which are Ccesar's, and
unto God the things that are God's. Who can read this answer ¦with
out being struck with wonder and admiration at the wisdom it dis
plays? It is a perfect exemplification of the Lord's own teaching,
when he sent his disciples forth, as sheep in the midst of wolves:
" Be ye, therefore, wise as serpents and harmless as doves." Complete
was the discomfiture of his enemies, and great must have been their
dismay, when Jesus answered their question, so as to close their Ups
in silence, without even approaching the snare they had so cunningly
and confidently laid for him ! But the Lord not only defeated his
enemies, but instructed them. And this wicked attempt has appar
ently procured for the world one of the finest lessons of wisdom that
it possesses. " Render imto Ctesar the things which are Caesar's, and
unto God the things that are God's," has become a maxim that
felicitously expresses in a sentence the whole duty of man, as a
subject of the Divine and of human government. The Christian
religion thus inculcates the duty of rendering obedience and gi-ving
support to the oi-vil government under which we Uve, since by this
we are maintaining the cause of order ; while at the same time, we
are to render unto God the obedience and service which are due to
Him, as the Author of spiritual order, and through this, of civU order
also. The Pharisees and Herodians coming to Jesus with praise upon
their lips and malice in their heaits, to submit to him their pretended
difficulty, spiritually means, that they who are in hypocritical worship,
while they outwardly reverence the Word, inwardly disbelieve and
hate it, secretly labouring to pervert its holy truths, because they
expose and reprove their evils. When they inquire at the Word, it
is about the regulation of the external man, -without any regard to the
government of the internal. The Lord saying to them, when they
acknowledged the image and superscription on the tribute money to be
Cffisar's, " Render, therefore, unto Caesar the things which are Cfesar's,
and unto God the things that are God's," signifies that the Word
teaches, by representatives and significatives, that, as the external man
bears the image and superscription of this world, for which he ¦was created,
he ought therefore to submit to and be regulated by its laws of moral and
civil life ; but that as the internal man bears the image of heaven, for
wliich he was created, he ought to submit to and be regulated by the

Chap. XXIL] ST. MATTHEW. 487
laws of heavenly and spiritual life. When they had heard these words,
tliey marvelled, and left Mm, signifies that the truth which the Lord
taught is incomprehensible to those who are in hypocritical worship,
therefore they reject the internal of the Word.
23-30. The same day came io him the Sadducees, which say thai there
is no resurrection, and asked him, saying, Master, Moses said. If a man
die, having no children, Ms brother shall marry his wife, and raise up
seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren : and ihe
first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left Ms
wife unto his brother: likewise the second also, and tlie third, unto tlie
seventh. And last of all the woman died also. Tlierefore in the resur
rection whose wife shall she be ofthe seven? for they all had lier. Jesus
answered and said unto them. Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor
the power qf God. For in the resurrection ihey neither marry, nor are
given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. The denial
of the resurrection was equivalent in those days to the denial of man's
immortality. This is evident from the argument ; for the impossi
bility of restoring every wife to her own husband was intended to
show the absurd results of the doctrine of immortality. But in the
spiritual seuse, which is here necessary to obtain from the relation its
proper instruction, the denial of the resurrection is the denial of
regeneration. In the spiritual sense resurrection signifies regenera
tion. Regeneration is a resurrection from the death of sin unto the
life of righteousness. The denial of resurrection therefore represents,
and, indeed, involves, the denial of regeneration. If man had no hope
of rising again, he would have no desire to be bom again. The affirma
tion or denial of the one doctrine implies that of the other. The
spiritual Sadducee is one who says there is no spirit, therefore no
sjiirituaUty. Such is the character of those who now come to Jesus,
and endeavour to wrest from him an admission of the truth of their
opinion. It is not to be supposed incredible that men should en
deavour to confirm from the V/ord a doctrine which it was the main
object of the Word to reveal. Did not the Sadducees beUeve in
Moses, and yet disbelieve in the soul's immortality ? But what is
regeneration ? It is the heavenly marriage, or the union of good and
truth in the human mind. Therefore, the Sadducees proceed to speak
about marriage. And as their belief was, that there is no resurrection,
they endeavour to prove their doctrine by a question on the subject
of marriage. If seven men had successively one woman to wife,
whose wife could she finally be of the seven ? It is one of the prin
ciples of regeneration, that in the heavenly marriage every good must

488 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIL
have its own tmth, and every truth its own good. The marriage is
heavenly only in proportion as the good and truth are really each
other's. If a good and a truth, not having this mutual relation, are
externally conjoined, they are not truly united, and remain unfruitful
in good affections and true thoughts, and in the use and happiness that
result from them. In the progress of regeneration there must some
times be repeated external unions and dissolutions, before the true union
takes place. It was in reference to this, and to represent it, that in
the representative church it was a law, that if a man died leaving no
seed, the next of kin should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his
brother. The case which the Sadducees proposed was one in which
a woman had been the wife of seven brothers. In the spiritual sense,
seven does not mean a certain number, but a particular quality ; it
means what is complete, and also what is holy. A woman who had
had seven husbands, and at last herself dying childless, represents a
good, to which truths of every kind and degree had been adjoined,
but between which and itself there had been no real union, and from
which there had been no spiritual offspring — no works of love and
wisdom as the fruits of true marriage. Such a good must be a spurious
good ; perhaps an ardent feeling of natural charity or benevolence,
that may be successively wedded to many different schemes of useful
ness, but all equally unwise and equally fruitless of good results ; and
the end of all may be, that, cheated and baffled, the feeling itself at
last may die out, and leave the heart hardened by disappointment and
disgust. If, instead of learning wisdom, we only increase in folly by
experience, there can be no profitable end of our exertions. The final
state is only a more perfect or complete form of the present. If the
soul has been betrothed on earth, it may be married in heaven ; but if
good has had no real love for truth, or truth for good, on earth, it can
have none in heaven. In the resurrection they neither marry nor are
given in marriage. If the heavenly marriage of good and truth is not
effected here, it cannot be effected hereafter. Greatly do those err
who suppose that any one of a succession of fruitless marriages
between the will and the intellect, while man Uves in the body, can
become the one final and fruitful marriage of the wUl and intellect
when he comes to live in. the spirit. They err, not knowing the
Scriptures ; for it is the unalterable law of divine tmth, that as the
tree falls so it lies. The eternal state is but a continuation of the
temporal state — the heavenly of the earthly. No heavenly marriage
here, no heaven hereafter They err, not knowing the power of God.
Divine love itself, though it can exalt and bless every legitimate union

Chap. XXIL] ST. MATTHEW. 489
of the good and the true, cannot change the false into the true, or the
evil into the good, nor can it change the infernal into the heavenly
marriage. Those who attain the blessed resurrection into the new Ufe
on earth, and into the abodes of the blest in heaven, are as the angels
of God there. An angel-man is already in the heavenly mairiage;
for the union of love and wisdom form the angel, or the angelic state.
With the angel there is no marrying and giving in marriage, — no new
union of the understanding with the will, or of the will with the un
derstanding, for this reciprocal union is already perfect. They are
Hephzibah, and their land Beulah, for the Lord delighteth in them,
and their land is married.
We may observe that resurrection is not only to be understood of
the whole man, but of every part of the man, and in every stage of
his regeneration. Every elevation of a good and truth out of the
natural mind into the spiritual is a resurrection. Every principle
thus raised up puts off the natural body and puts on the spiritual.
Thus it is that the Christian dies daily and rises daily. But the prin
ciples thus elevated out of the natural into the spiritual mind consist
not of single truths or goods, but of goods and truths united. Their
union is essential to their elevation. It is only by living the truth
received into the natural mind, and so uniting it with good, that it
becomes spiritual. Here, too, the marriage takes place on earth, or
in the natural mind, and not in heaven, or the spiritual mind. The
principles thus raised up are neither married nor given in marriage,
but are as the angels of God in heaven; for the union of the good
and the true is as essential to the angelic princijile as to the angel.
We have said nothing here on the subject of marriage in heaven.
Of this we have spoken elsewhere. Our Lord, it is commonly sup
posed, here teaches that marriage does not exist in heaven. It is
true that in heaven they are neither married nor given in marriage.
This does not mean that there is no marriage in heaven, but that
there can be no marriage in heaven but between those who are in tj-ie
marriage of goodness and truth; and as this marriage cannot be given
in heaven excejit to those in whom it existed upon earth, so neither
can tme marriage. As the distinction of the sexes is essentially of
the soul, ancl is therefore spiritual and eternal, so also is the union of
the sexes. In heaven marriage exists in its highest perfection and
blessedness. The kingdom of heaven is compared to a marriage, and
marriage is the most perf'ect type and realization of heaven.
31, 32. But, continues our Lord to the Sadducees, as touching ihe
resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto

490

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIL

you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraliam, and the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob? God is not the God ofthe dead, hut ofthe living.
In the Old Testament there is no very direct revelation of the immor
tality of the soul ; but our Lord shows it to be taught where none had
ever before suspected any evidence of it to exist. When God pro
claimed out of the bush that he was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, these patriarchs had long been dead. Our Lord gives this to
the Sadducees as a proof of the resurrection. These, dead to men,
were alive to God. They were living in the eternal world. Unless
they had been so, God could not have called himself their God ; for he
is not the God of the dead, but of the living ; for all live unto him.
Resurrection, we may here perceive, is applied to the spirit, not to
the body : for the bodies of the patriarchs were in the grave, their
souls had ascended to heaven. This is the resurrection of the Scrip
tures — the rising of the living from the dead, the soul from the
body. In the spiritual sense Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the celestial,
spiritual, and natural principles derived from the Lord in man.
These are formed in him by regeneration, and therefore are living :
what is of man, as an unregenerate being, is dead. God is the God of
the spiritual principles in man, because, being derived from him, they
are in connection with him ; but he is not the God of the natural
principles of man's selfhood, for these have no connection with him
as the Life. In a more specific sense the Lord is the God of the
affections of good and perceptions of truth, because they have his Ufe
in them ; but he is not the God of the outward knowledge in which
they are received and dwell ; for this, being of the world, is put off
like a body, when the spiritual, as the soul, ascends above the regions
of time and space.
33. We read that when the multitude heard this that the Lord
had said, they ivere astonished at his doctrine. WeU they might. He
had opened up a new view of the resurrection, aud drawn a light from
the Scriptures which neither the Sadducees nor the Pharisees had
ever known them to contain. But this astonishment implies admira
tion. And as the multitude represented the simple affections and
unsophisticated thoughts of the human mind, their approbation
teaches us that common feeling and common sense are not so closed
against the admission of heavenly truth as sentiment and phUosophy.
34-36. But when the Pharisees had heard that lie had put the Sadducees
to silence, they were gathered together. Truth, when it does not con
vince, hardens; and even when it silences one faculty, does not satisfy

Chap. XXIL] ST. MATTHEW. 491
another. If the Sadducees represent the natural understanding, and
the Pharisees the natural will, we see how the defeat of the one may
rouse the opposition of the other. The Pharisees, who were antag
onists of the Sadducees, though they could unite with them in pur
suing the common purpose of compassing the Lord's destruction, were
not dissatisfied with the defeat they had sustained. As the Pharisees
were gathered together, so are the affections and thoughts drawn into
closer connection with each other, when their power is to be exerted
to effect a common object. They put forward a lawyer, as the mind
puts forth its science to refute or entangle. Then one of them, vdiich
was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting Mm, and saying. Master,
which is the great commandment in the law? No vain or unimportant
inquiry certainly, if it were honestly intended. It was meant as a
temptation. And do we not sometimes tempt the truth, by endeavour
ing to extort from the Word an answer to our questions that will
enable us to evade the force of its injunctions ? And even then we
sometimes outwardly honour it the most, as the lawyer did when he
addressed Jesus as Rabbi, or Master ; for this title is expressive of the
Lord's character as divine truth, as Lord is of divine good. Thus to
address the Lord is equivalent to saying, " Thou art the Truth itself,
the Great Teacher ; I come to thee as the only authority in questions
relating to eternal life.'' Whether or not the lawyer profited by the
answer, it is one that has settled a great and momentous question, and
must ever remain on the page of revelation as one of the memorable
sayings of Him who spake as never man spake.
37-40. Jesus said unto him. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy sold, and with all thy mind. This is the
first and great commandment. To this the Lord added, the second is like
unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself And he summed up
the declaration by saying. On these two commandments hang all the law
and the prophets. Love to God and love to man are the sum of all
revelation and the essence of all religion. God and man are the only
objects to which our affections can be directed or our services ren
dered. They exhaust all our aims, and employ all our powers. Love
to God and man are, in Revelation and religion, what the heart and
lungs are in the human body. They are the vital principles on which
the life of all the other parts depends. " On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets." The other precepts and truths of
the Word are but the particulars and singulars, of which these are
the generals and universals. The other precepts all proceed from
them, and return into them again. They are as the rays of the sun,

493 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIL
which, while they reveal their source, return not to him void, but
accomplish his purpose, that which he pleases — to clothe the
earth with beauty and enrich it with fruit. Love to God is to be
manifested in love to man. God and man are loved when God's love
to man is manifested in man's love to his neighbour. Love to God
is not strictly a personal affection, but an affection for the attributes
which constitute his nature. God is goodness itself and truth itself.
To love these is to love God. And to love these is to do them. To do
good from him is to love his goodness ; to speak truth from him is to
love his truth. " He that doeth my commandments," said our Lord,
" he it is that loveth me." Love to God is said to be the great require
ment of the law ; for to have respect to God in all we do is the great
essential of religion. To shun evil because it is sin against God,
and to do good because it is agreeable to his will, — this is to love
God; and this is the first and great commandment; because to have
respect to God in all we will, and think, and do, is the first and great
excellence of character. This is to love God with all the heart, and
with all the soul, and with all the mind. V/e love our neighbour as
ourselves when we do to another as we would that another should do
to us. Yet we are to love our neighbour with a love like that with
which we love God. For the second commandment is "like unto''
the first. We love God as goodness itself; we are to love our neigh
bour as the image of goodness. Good in our neighbour is that which
we are to love, for good is our neighbour ; and a human being is only
our neighbour in so far as he has God's goodness in him. Yet we are
to love every man, but we are to love him for his good, that good
may be in him, and that the good in him may be increased and per
fected. We may love a man so as to iujure him, as we love
our chUdren so as to spoil them by injudicious fond indulgence ; in
which case we love the person, but hate the neighbour — we love
him, not for his good, but for our own gratification.
41-46. While the Pharisees, to whom the Lord delivered this gi-eat
lesson, were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying. What think ye of
Christ ? whose son is he ? In teaching his interrogators to love God,
the Lord endeavours to draw their minds to the God they ought to
love His question, What think ye of Christ? may indeed seem to
have no relation to the subject on which he had been speaking. But
there is an important connection between the first of all the com
mandments of the law, and the first of all the doctrines of the Bible,
In some respects they are identical. We therefore find that in the
record of this conversation, as given by Mark, the Lord answers the

Chap. XXIL] ST. MATTHEW. 493
question of the scribe by saying, " The first of all the commandments
is. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord : ancl thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy mind." The question, then, which is the great commandment,
leads us to the supreme Object of love, as well as to the supreme love
with which he is to be regarded. And this is the more evident when
we reflect that Christ was God, yea, the one God whom Israel was
taught to believe in and love as their one Lord. Jesus asks the
Pharisees, " whose son is he ?" But this is the very question by which
the great doctrine of Christ's divinity, consequently his sole divinity,
was and is to be determined. The Pharisees answered that he was
The son of David. Our Lord's object in asking the question was to
refute the error and overturn the belief in his being the son of a finite
being, and therefore himself finite. When he demanded of them, How
then doth David in spiirit call him Lord, saying, Tlie Lord said unto
•my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy foot
stool ? He silenced them as he had done the Sadducees ; for they per
ceived at once that If David then call him Lord, how is he his son ? And
what is the result of this ? It is, tha.t Jesus is the Son of God. This,
indeed, conveys to the natural mind the idea of Christ as the personal
son of a personal father. But properly understood, it conveys the
idea of his identity with the Father; for it involves the idea that the
Son is divine; and as the humanity which the Lord assumed and
glorified in the world is the Son of God, it teaches the great truth
that the Lord's humanity is divine, and one with the essential divinity,
as the body is one with the soul. The Lord's question, therefore, has
an intimate connection with that of the Pharisees. He is, indeed, the
God who is to be loved with all the heart. In him we see the Being
whose love is life. He brought the Father forth to view. He rendered
the invisible Divine visible, the Incomprehensible comprehensible; in
him God was and is brought near to our thoughts, and made dear to
our affections; and the Christian is able, far more perfectly than the
Jew, to love the one God with all his heart and soul, because that God
who was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, has given the
believer an object that he can truly and supremely love. So complete
was the Lord's demon st -ation of his own divinity, that no man, among
the Pharisees, was able io answer Mm a word, neither durst any man
from that day forth ask him any more questions.
So important and so precious is this great doctrine of Christianity
that we have thought it desirable to dwell at some length upon it.
We may offer at the same time a few words having reference to its

494 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIIL
internal sense. There is an actual duality in the Lord, pointed out
in this passage, as in that in the psalm to which it refers. The nature
of this duality is not so clearly preserved in our translation. In the
original of the psalm the Lord who sits at the right hand is not called
by the same name as the Lord at whose right hand he sits. It there
reads, " Jehovah said unto my Adon," Jehovah is the name of the
Lord as to his divine love, while Adonai is a name of the Lord as
to his divine wisdom. And wisdom sits at the right hand of love, for
all the power of love is by wisdom. The enemies of God are placed
under the dominion of wisdom, for it is by wisdom the Divine love
subdues and holds all disorder under subjection. But the subjugation
here spoken of is not only general, but special. It relates to the sub
jugation of the powers of darkness and of nature under the power of
the Lord's humanity. It was Adonai specifically that assumed the
human nature : it was the Word that was made flesh. And the Word
was made flesh, that the enemies of the Word might be subjugated
and made his footstool. The enemies were the powers of darkness
and the refractory powers of human nature. The Lord in the flesh
conquered hell, and glorified himself by making his humanity divine.
In both of these great works he made his foes his footstool. He
reduced all under submission to himself. And as he did so in and to
himself, he does so now in man. His foes in us are the evils that
rise up against the rule of his divine government, and the powers of
the mind that have become perverted. By regeneration the Lord
makes these foes his footstool, so that his rule is established in our
hearts and souls, by evei-y thought being brought into subjection to
the authority of Christ. It is by this that we come experimentally
to know that Christ is not the son of David, but the Son of the living
God. It is by this that the power of his divinity, or of his divine
humanity, is felt within our consciousness and our conscience. It is
this that, from a different cause and in a different way, silences all
questions and completes all the Lord's answers — that ends all mental
controversy between truth and error, and all conflict between good
and evil.

CHAPTER XXIIL

Having defeated the machinations of the Pharisees, aud refuted the
error of the Sadducees, and brought forth from the treasures of his
wisdom some of the most important truths of the Divine religion he

Chap. XXIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 495
came to establish among men, the Lord now turns to the multitude,
and to his disciples, to teach them the character of those sectaries, and
warn them against the sins they concealed under an ostentatious sanc
tity, and the eirors they made plausible by a perverted rationality.
He afterwards addresses the scribes and Pharisees themselves, point
ing out to them the character and consequences of their corruptions.
1. Then spake Jesus io the multitude, and fo his disciples. The
disciples and the multitude represented the internal and external
principles of the new man, or of man so far as he is new ; while the
scribes and Pharisees represent those of the old man, or of man so far
as he is yet unrenewed ; and these, we know, are contrary one to the
other. It may, however, be as well to look at its individual through
its general application.
2, 3. Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Sitting
is a state of the will, as standing is of the understanding. To sit Ui
the seat of any one is to enter into and possess his will, or his loves
and ends of life, of which his will is the seat. This was done by the
scribes and Pharisees with regard to Moses, in whose seat they ,sat.
They taught and enforced the law which Moses represented, but they
did so to promote their own ends. The true end of the law is the
glory of God and the salvation of man ; but they had no other end in
teaching it than their own glory and advantage. When this is the
case, the wiU of man rules, and the truth of God serves. Yet men
can be zealous for the truth even when they are trampling goodness
under their feet, or at least when their heart has no sympathy with it.
The Lord exhorted the people, saying. All therefore whatsoever they hid
you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works : for
they say, and do noi. Their teaching was to be followed, but their
example was to be shunned. This is a distinction which it is highly
necessary to observe. Truth is true, from whose lips soever it pro
ceeds. True it is, that they who instruct by their teaching should
lead by their example. But when the teaching of those who sit in
Moses' seat is better than their lives, it is our duty to accept the truth
and leave the evil. The Lord requires his people to " observe " and
"do'' the tmth, which is to receive it into their understandings and
-wills, and to manifest it in their words and works.
4. The Lord proceeds to describe the conduct of those who had
assumed to themselves the authority of the law. For they bind heavy
burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders.
The Jewish hierarchy, not content with the onerous duties of the law,
refined upon its plain precepts, and multiplied its ceremonial observ-

496 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIIL
ances, laying upon the shoulders of others a burden which they did
not touch themselves. It is the duty of the priesthood to help others
to bear the necessary burden of life; but the Pharisees increased that
burden with unnecessary labours, and left the people unaided to sustain
it. But do we not sometimes lay such burdens on ourselves? Do we
not lay on ourselves the burden of unnecessary observances, even to
the neglect of positive duties? We load our minds with trifles, to the
neglect of solid acquirements; we oppress Ufe with unreasonable cares
ancl anxieties, to the neglect of prudent circumspection. But let us
see what this conduct of the scribes and Pharisees spiritually implies.
The Pharisees were a kind of spiritual taskmasters, who exacted an
unreasonable tale of bricks from the people, and yet required them to
make bricks without straw. And they no doubt represented those
infesting .spirits who endeavour, by fallacious reasonings and deceitful
appearances, to subject the well-disposed to their power. Their require
ments are a burden, because they oppress the spiritual Ufe of the soul;
the burden they impose is heavy and grievous, because, though outwardly
good and true, the requirements are inwardly evil and false, and oppress
the life both of the will and of the understanding; they bind these
burdens, because it is their desire to unite evil and falsity together;
they lay them upon men, for men signify the spiritual princijsles of
good and truth, that make us truly human ; their desire to oppress
and overpower these is meant by laying their burdens on men's
shoulders, for the shoulder signifies the greatest degree of power —
shoulders, the powers both of the will and the intellect. The shoulders
of those who bear the burden are contrasted with the fingers of those
who impose it — the greatest power with the least. The burdens that
the Pharisees laid on others' shoulders, they themselves will not move
ihem with one of their fingers, because those whom they represent, while
they desire to subject to themselves the whole power both of the wiU
and intellect of others, will not, if possible, allow the least aid, either
intellectual or voluntary, to be extended to them.
5. But all their works they do for to he seen of men — not to be seen of
God. Man-pleasers care nothing but for the outward show of piety
and holiness. This is to make broad tlieir phylacteries, and enlarge the
borders qf tlieir garments. The phylacteries were fillets, on which were
written certain passages of Scripture, and bound on the forehead and
hands. The custom, which does not seem to have existed tiU the cap
tivity, was derived from the command of Moses respecting a certain
ordinance, — " It shaU be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for
a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord's law may be in thy

Chap. XXIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 497
mouth" (Exod. xiii. 9). Fringes were worn by the Israelites on the
borders of their garments, as a means of remembering the command
ments of the Lord (Num. xv. 38). As these were but outward signs
of inward principles, the Pharisees, while they narrowed and diminished
the inward spirit of religion, widened and enlarged its outward forms :
they made broad their phylacteries, and enlarged the borders of their
garments. The phylacteries which they made broad signified goods in
the outward form; the hands on which the phylacteries were worn
signifying deeds which the hands are employed to perform ; the
borders of their garments, which they enlarged, signified external
truths, which are those contained in the literal sense of the Word ;
outer garments denoting general truths, the ultimates of which are the
borders. 6, 7. But the Pharisees, like all who enlarge the borders of their
professional garments, looked to something more substantial and
gratifying to their self-love than the reputation of superior sanctity;
for they, it is said, love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats
in tlie synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men,
Rabbi, Rabbi. Here, again, we have the idea of ruling. They who sat
in Moses' seat were also ambitious to occupy the chief places in the
social and religious assemblies of the people, and to receive public
homage and dignified titles. Spiritually, feasts signify the communi
cation of good, and synagogues the communication of truth ; and to
occupy the chief seats at these signifies to insinuate one's own self-will
and self-love into the good and truth of heaven, and so make them the
means of self-exaltation. The market, where goods are bought and
sold, signifies the knowledge of good and truth ; and to receive greet
ings there, is to receive the credit and praise of superior wisdom ; and
therefore it follows, that they loved to be called Rabbi, Master or
Teacher — that is, to be acknowledged as not only excelling in wisdom,
but being its exclusive and authoritative teachers.
8, 9. The Lord then says to his disciples. But he not ye called Rabbi :
for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren; and he
proceeds to say to them. And call no man your father upon ihe
earth : for one is your Father, which is in heaven. This is one of the
many instances which show that our Lord expressed spiritual truth in
his plainest declarations. Our Lord could not mean to prohibit the
use of the language that expressed the ordinary and necessary rela
tions between teachers and their scholars, and between children and
their parents. He who is a doctor or teacher may be so called and
so addressed, and not less he who is a father. But in the spiritual
2k;

498 ST, MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIIL
and exalted sense, Christ is our only Teacher, God our only Father.
A teacher is one who communicates tmth : a father is one who com
municates good. Although one man may be instrumental in leading
another into truth and goodness, the Lord is the only Author and
origin of these heavenly principles. The teacher is in this respect on
a level with the scholar, and both are alike recipients of these gifts
from heaven; the one excels the other only in regard to the time and
measure of reception. Oue is the Teacher of all, and all the taught
are brethren. Christ is a name expressive of the Divine Truth itself;
and whence but from the Truth itself can we receive truth ? By this
declaration of our Lord we are also instructed that all the authority of
truth belongs to the Lord alone. We are not to look to any man as an
authority : Christ is our only authority in matters relating to eternal life.
" To the law and to the testimony " is the rale of Christian evidence,
and to this ultimate test every dogma is to be brought. " If they speak
not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them."
If the Lord alone is our teacher, no less is he alone our Father. He
is especially, because spirituaUy, our Father when we are born again
of him. Can we in this sense call any man our father ? That which
is born of the flesh is flesh ; that which is bom of the Spirit is spirit.
And although human help is required to bring us to the second birth,
yet the human instrument is not the author of the new life. He only
who is the Life can make us alive, and to him alone belongs the glory.
His infinite love is life, and that love in us is life eternal Yet all
this does not prevent the use of language which describes the relative
condition of men. There is no sin in caUing one Rabbi who is our
teacher, nor in caUing one father who is our parent. Nay, there is a
propriety in doing so. The sin is committed only when we put man
in the place of God, and, in the purely spiritual sense, when we put
any human good and truth in the place of the Divine good and truth,
and give them a name and ascribe to them a power which belong to
the Infinite and Eternal only.
10. Our Lord seemingly repeats an exhortation he had previously
given ; but as there are no mere repetitions in the Word, a distinct
meaning is contained in the prohibition, Neither he ye called masters:
for one is your Master, even Christ. There is indeed a difference. In
V. 8 the disciples are not to be called Rabbi ; in this they are not to
be called masters. Though of the same purport. Rabbi involves an
assumption of greater importance and dignity than master, and is
more directiy opposed to the Divine truth itself And when master
is altered to masters, we are directed not to truth as a whole, but to

Chap. XXIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 499
some separate or particular truths, and to the knowledges of truth.
Even these we are not to claim as our own, but ascribe to Him to
whom all knowledge and wisdom belong.
11. It is not our being served and exalted by others that makes
us great or happy. Accordingly, when the Lord said to his dis
ciples. He thai is greatest among you shall be your servant, or minister,
he delivered one of the greatest truths that can be carried out m life,
— one that would work an entire revolution in the practice and condi
tion of the world. This requirement is in harmony with his great
principle — " Seek ye first the kingdom, aud all things shall be added
to you." Let usefulness have the first place, and recompence the
second, and there can be no fear of the result. Seek not honour
and exaltation : leave them to seek thee. If you seek an office, seek
it primarily for the sake of tbe use it will enable you to do for
others, and secondarily for the use it will enable you to do for your
self When we consider that this was arldressed to the disciples, who
represent not only all the members of the church, but all the principles
of ^he church in every member, we learn from it that the principle
which prompts us to do the greatest good is itself the greatest, and
contributes most to the improvement of our character, and to the
advancement of our happiness. And what principle is that which
prompts us to do the greatest good, but the principle of love — love to
God and love to man? Its greatness consists in, or arises from, its
use. It is like the heart in the human body. It is the greatest and
the most laborious: the ruler, and yet the servant of all. Such should
be the measure of human greatness, as that which the Creator has
appointed, and which the Saviour taught.
12. And as with greatness, so with humility. Humility does not
consist in occupying a lowly place, but in cultivating a lowly state :
and a lowly state is one in which there is an abnegation of self Self-
seeking is self-exaltation; self-abnegation is humiliation. And whoso
ever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself
shall he exalted. When self is exalted, self itself becomes abased, and
the whole man degraded. But when self is humbled, by being made
to take the lowest place, it is exalted ; for self-love itself is purified
and dignified by being subordinated and made subservient to the love
of God and the neighbour. And, indeed, when man denies his own
selfhood the Lord gives him a new and heavenly selfhood. A man's
selfhood is really himself — his inner life — the complex of all the thoughts
and affections that form his conscious being — that which he calls m,e.
This by nature is evil. But so far as it is subdued, so far the Lord

500 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXlII.
gives him a new selfliood ; for he makes him a new creature, having
new thoughts and affections, and the me becomes the consciousness of
another and higher life. And this new selfhood which the Divine
power builds up on the rains of the natural selfhood is a traer self
than that which it disinherits and succeeds ; for the more completely
a man becomes the Lord's, the more perfectly he becomes his own.
His conscious life is exalted. His liberty and rationality, his percep
tions and delight.s, are of a higher order : they were natural, now they
are spiritual ; they were earthly, now they are heavenly.
13. While this is the happy experience of those who have found
true greatness in serving, and true exaltation in humility, unhappy is
the experience of those who live in the exaltation of self above all
that is diviue and heavenly. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites I As true Ufe consists in making all that is of self to
humble itself under and serve God, so false life con.s)sts in making all
that is of God submit to and serve self This is hypocrisy, for it makes
the life holy outwardly, and profane inwai'dly. The effect of this our
Lord describes. Ye shut up the kingdom qf heaven against men.
Considered in reference to the individual, heaven is the spiritual mind,
which is an image of heaven, as the natural mind is an image of the
world. This heaven is closed by evil, and especially by the sin of
hypocrisy. The " men " against whom it is closed are the truths of
the Word, which have been learnt, but only admitted into the natural
mind, and there kept to serve a natural purpose. The Lord says
further, ye neither go in yourselves, neithei- suffer ye tliem that are enter
ing to go in. Themselves — their thoughts and affections, which
constitute themselves — they never raise above nature and the natural
mind into the spiritual world and the spiritual mind, that they may
become spiritual, nor do they suffer the truths of the Word, which, in
their very nature, seek an upward course, to enter into that region of
the mind for which they were designed; for as they came down from
God out of heaven, so have they an inherent desire to ascend into
heaven, and return to God again. He who remains natural does not
suffer them to enter there; and both they and their recipient remain
natural and dead — nay, truths, in themselves holy, are profaned, because
made instruments of evil ends. This state of life is that to which
the woe belongs ; for he who shuts his mind against the inward and
sincere reception of gooduess and truth, shuts it against the blessing
which these heavenly principles carry in their bosom.
14. But these are not the only evils they commit, or the only
blessings they exclude Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites 1

Chap. XXIIL] ST. MATTHEW. f-0\
Jor ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer.
Widows signify those who are in good and desire truth ; abstractly,
good which desires truth. The house of the widow denotes the faculty
itself, the will, in which the good resides, and also the means by which
the principle of good is supported ; for the house includes the Uving as
well as the dwelling of the widow. To devour widows' houses is to
take away the very faculty of loving and doing good. This hypocrisy
does. It deprives the will of all good, and even of all the power of
willing good ; for it destroys not only good itself, but the remains of
good, on which the very faculty depends. Connected with the devour
ing widows' houses there is the making of long prayers for a pretence.
What can be more profane than a practice or a single act which at once
mocks God and deceives men ? It was by their long prayers that the
Pharisees deceived and robbed the widows. So it is, when the under
standing becomes the slave of the will, that it garnishes the foulest
deeds with the fairest appearances. But the greater the pretence
the deeper the degradation; he who steals into the hearts of others
eats out his own. Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
This is a warning to avoid that which brings upon the soul the more
grievous punishments.
15. But there are other charges against the hypocrites, and more
woes, as the consequence of their sins. Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites I for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte,
and when lie is made, ye make Mm twofold more the child of hell than
yourselves. This other charge is a severe rebuke to the sectarian spirit
and zeal which seek to make converts, not for their sake, but for the
sake of a particular faith. It does not condemn the propagation of the
truth, but it condemns the making of proselytes for purposes of power
and ostentation. Spiritually, it has a still more practical meaning.
Sea and land are the literal sense of the Word as to truth and good.
To compass sea and land to make one proselyte, is to search the whole
Word to pervert one truth to favour self-love, and assist that love in
attaining its object. The proselyte is said to be made twofold more
the child of hell than those who convert him ; for truth falsified is
worse than simple falsity. It unites in itself what is evil and false,
which is its twofold character; for such is the character implied in
being a child of hell; hell being the evil that gives birth to falsity,
and the child of hell being the falsity that is born of e-vil.
16-19. From the doings of the scribes and Pharisees the Lord
turns to their teaching. Woe unto you, ye blind guides. They were
intellectually blind, — keen-sighted enough to see what related to their

502

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIIL

temporal interest, but unable to discern what concerned their eternal
welfare. Blind guides are all those who are of such a character, and
a blind guide is the understanding that is under such an influence
Which say. Whosoever sli'dl swear by the temple, it is nothing; but vjlio-
soever shall swear by the gold ofthe temple, he is a debtor I Ye fools and
blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the
gold? And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but v)lio-
soever sweareth hy the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. Ye fools and
blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth ihe
gift ? From these words it ajipears that the Pharisees instructed the
peojile that to swear or vow by the temple or the altar was nothing,
but that to swear by the gold of the temple and by the offering upon
the altar made one a debtor. It is difficult to conceive how human
ingenuity could devise such perverse trifles; and this shows how the
learned among the Jews had multipUed observances, and laid upon
men burdens grievous to be borne. It is well for us that these parti-
cukrs have a higher sense, and teach us lessons of deeper interest to
our souls. To swear, in the Word, spiritually means to confirm truth ;
and the question is, Whence is confirmation? We mu.st know tho
spiritual meaning of the things which are here mentioned, as the
objects that were and were not to be sworn by. The temple repre
sented the Lord as to his Divine humanity, which is the temple of
his body, specifically, the Lord as to diviue truth; and the altar re
presented the Lord as to divine good. The temple and the altar
were, for this reason, most holy objects, and the origin of all sancti
fication. And so is the Lord, whom they represented, the origin of
all confirmation. God must be his own witness. He is the author of
faith as well as of truth; of love as well as of good. We must,
therefore, swear by the temple and the altar. To swear by the gold in
the temple, and by the gift upon the altar, is to confirm truth and good
by something lower and less than the Lord's truth and good : it is to
seek in the finite what can only be found in the infinite; it is to place
our trust in something that is not holy in itself, but is dependent for
its sanctity on him who is holiness itself The gold of the temple
had the same signification as the gold of the tabernacle; and this was
contributed by the Israelites themselves out of that which they had
borrowed from the Egyptians. The gold of the temple owed all its
sanctity to the temple, as the offering laid upon the altar owed all its
sanctity to the altar on which it was laid. To swear by the gold of
the temple and the gift that is laid upon the altar, is therefore to
confirm good and truth, not by that which is divine, but by that

Chap. XXIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 503
which, at the best, is sanctified thereby. He that confirms good and
truth by the less excludes the greater, but he who confirms them by
the greater includes the less.
20-22. Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, swea7etli hy it, and
by all things tli^eon, and so with the temple. The supreme authority
includes in it every lower authority in harmony with it, or that is
sanctified by it. But the Lord adds. And whoso shall swear by the
temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. And he that shall
swear by lieaven, sweareth hy the throne of God, and by him that sitteth
thereon. It seems as if this were swearing by the lower, and that the
lower included the higher. We must attend to the meaning of the
Lord's declaration. To swear by something less than the temple, is
to appeal to an authority that is less than divine; and this, as it
excludes the temple of the Lord's body, excludes the divinity that
dwelleth therein; but the acknowledgment of the Lord's humanity
includes the acknowledgment of his indwelling divinity. " He that
hath the Son hath the Father." On tlie same principle the acknow
ledgment of heaven as God's throne includes the acknowledgment of
him that sitteth thereon. Heaven as God's throne is the Lord's divine
truth in heaven, and his government derived from it there. But
heaven signifies also the spiritual sense of the Word, the divine sense
therein is his throne, the Divine itself being him that sitteth thereon.
To swear by heaven is to acknowledge the spirituality and divinity of
the Word, as to swear by the temple is to acknowledge the divinity
of the Lord — that is, the divinity of his humanity. Ancl he who
acknowledges the divinity of the Word and the divinity of the Lord,
swears by none other. To them he looks for all truth and goodness,
and to them for that confirmation that can make them principles of
the heart and life.
23. Our Lord proceeds to pronounce the woe of other evils upon
the scribes and Pharisees, as hypocrites. Woe unto you, scribes
and Pliarisees, hypocrites I for ye pay tithe of mint and anise
and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law,
judgment, mercy, and faith. They were scrupulous about the observ
ance of the ceremonial law, but neglected the observance of the moral
law. While the Lord condemns this conduct, he does not, on the
other hand, teach men to observe the moral and neglect the ceremonial.
These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. The
moral is the essential, the ceremonial is the formal. The formal may
exclude the essential, but the essential does not exclude the formal.
He who does the greater will not leave the less undone. He who

504 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIIL
pays tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin may omit judgment,
mercy, and truth ; but he who does justice, mercy, and truth will not
forget the mint, and anise, and cummin. There may be piety without
reUgion, but there cannot be religion without piety. There must
be the judgment of intelUgence in the understanding, the mercy of
love in the heart, and the works of truth or faith in the life. And
these, while they go forth in service to men, will also go forth in piety
to God.
24. Further, the Pharisees were called blind guides, which strain
at a gnat, and swallow a camel. As the Pharisees' love of virtue was
shown only in trifles, so was their hatred of vice. How much is this
still the case ! Many who would think it a sin to do or permit any
thing inconsistent with a rigid observance of the Sabbath see no sin
in pursuing a devouring selfishness all the other six days of the week.
But all are prone to this inconsistency. The ruling love blinds us to
selfishness, and the love of reputation makes us scrupulous about
little things that come not in the way of our leading object. But
this saying of our Lord has a more interior sense. The gnat and the
camel, considered as food, were both unclean ; but the gnat, as a
winged insect, signifies an object of thought ; and the camel, as a
beast, signifies an object of affection : that belongs to the under
standing, this to the will. In this view we strain at a gnat and
swaUow a camel, when we are scrupulous about trifling errors and
unscrupulous about great evUs.
25. We come to the cause of all this Pharisaic conduct and teach
ing. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make
clean the outside ofthe cup and of the platter, but within they are full of
extortion and excess. The inside and outside of the cup and platter are
the internal and the external man. In the internal are principles, in
the external are rules ; in the internal are motives, in the external
are actions. He who observes rules, but disregards principles— he
who attends to his actions, but pays no attention to his motives  -
cleanses the outside, but leaves the inside corrupt and unclean. But
this difference between the internal and extemal extends both to the
understanding and will, and to things both good and true The cup
is the understanding, because it contains wine or other liquid, which
signifies truth ; and the platter is the wiU, because it contains food,
which signifies good. The cup is clean without but unclean within,
when a man speaks well and thinks ill ; and the platter is clean with
out and unclean within, when a man acts well and intends ill. When
a man utters habitually with his lips what he disbeUeves in his

Chap. XXIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 605
thoughts, and when he habitually does in his outward life what in
his heart he hates or despises, then, however clean the outside may be,
the inside is full of extortion and excess — that is, of evil and falsity.
26. The Lord exhorts the blind Pharisee to cleanse first that which is
within the cup and platter, thai the outside of ihem may be clean also. We
are instructed in these words that the cleansing of the inside secures
the cleansing of the outside, although it does not follow that the cleans
ing of the outside effects that of the inside. There is no purification of
the moral and spiritual life without that of the motives. While the
ends of life remain unchanged, the whole man remains unchanged.
Man is such as his ends are. The ends of life with every one, by
nature, are to love himself and the world above all things. A man
may pursue these ends by a virtuous as well as by a -vicious life and
conversation. If the ends remain and have possession of the mind,
no essential change is effected by a respectable life, even should it be
saintly in appearance. It is above all things necessary, therefore, to
attend to the state of the internal, and remove evil from the motives
as well as from the actions, and falses from the thoughts as well as
from the words, which is, to remove them from the sight of God as
well as of men. We must not, however, run into the error that it is
only necessary to attend to the internal, or to imagine that if we take
care of the motives, the actions may be left to take care of themselves.
It is highly important to attend to the actions as well as the motives.
Although the actions may be good and the end evil, the end cannot
be good and the actions evil. We may do good to serve a bad end,
but we cannot do evil to serve a good end. While evils continue to
disfigure the life, we may be sure that there are evil motives behind
them. But the object of our Lord's present exhortation is, to make
the inside clean where there is an appearance of cleanness outwardly.
And mere outward cleanness is only apparent. Outward goodness is
produced and maintained by pressure from without ; and whenever
that pressure is removed, good gives way, and evil flows from its
fountain in the heart. The really clean external can only be produced
from a clean internal. And the cleansing of the external is, even
when the internal has been cleansed, a distinct and divine work.
The Lord taught this both representatively and verbally when he
washed the disciples' feet. " He that is washed," said our Lord,
" needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit." Though
cleansed within, we still require to be cleansed witliout. And this
cleansing, as well as the other, must be effected by the Lord. " If
I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me"

506 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIIL
27-28. Another and still stronger image ofthe Pharisaic state is pre
sented by the Lord in his address. Woe unto you, scribes and Phari
sees, hypocrites ! for ye are like unto wliited sepulchres, which indeed
appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and
of all uncleanness. In the figure here presented before us we see that
both the internal and external of a man who is spiritually dead are
unclean, and that there is nothing to conceal or relieve the gloom of
the Uving death, and of man's unrenewed nature, but the colour that
has been laid upon the surface of the external, as the sepulchre in
which the internal is entombed, to make it " appear beautiful out
ward." How startling is it to think that mere outward good is but
the gilding of a tomb, and that if sin be our state, when a few short
years shall usher us into eternity, nothing will be seen but death and
corruption. Then will it be revealed that evils, like sepulchres, are
full of falsities, which are as dead men's bones, and of all unclean
thoughts and desires. The expression, " dead men's bones," is signifi
cant ; for men signify truths, and dead men are truths deprived of
good, which is the life of truth ; and the bones of " dead men " are
the mere scientifics or knowledges of truth. As the bones, though
the beautiful framework of a human body as the organ of life, are
in themselves inert, and by themselves serve but to symbolize and
show the work of death, so do the mere knowledges of truth serve
but as a foundation on which to build a body of faith and love that
may live, and breathe, and act, but without which they are but the
.spectral evidences of spiritual and eternal death. Even so ye also out
wardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy
and iniquity.
29, 30. Another woe is pronounced on the Pharisees, because, said
our Lord, ye build ihe tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres
of the righteous, and say. If we had been in the days of our fathers, we
loould not have heen partakers with them in ilie blood ofthe prophets.
The building of these sepulchres seems like a pious acknowledgment
of the merit of the prophets, and a mark of disapprobation of the con
duct of their forefathers for having killed them. But we are to
consider that our Lord, as one who knew the heart, spoke to the
conscience of the Pharisees, and appealed to that inward witness, that
yet, even in these pious acts, they were playing the hypocrite. Like
their other good deeds, these were done to deceive others into a belief
that they were friends of the prophets and righteous men whom their
fathers had slain — that they were doing homage to their worth and to
their faithfulness as servants of GocL

Chap. XXIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 507
31. The Lord therefore says. Wherefore ye he witnesses unto your
selves, that ye are tlie children of them which killed the prophets. Their
conscience bore witness to the truth of his accusation. To understand
the meaning of the accusation, it may be necessary to call to mind the
words of the Lord to a disciple who, in answer to his request to be
aUowed to go and bury his father, was addressed in the striking words,
"Let the dead bury their dead, but come thou and follow me." The
dead Pharisees were burying their dead. They were honouring tho
dead messenger while they were dishonouring his living message. To
see its spiritual lesson, we must consider the spiritual sense of the
particulars. Prophets and righteous men are the principles of ti-uth
aud goodness. The fathers of tbe Jewish people killed the prophets,
and they built their sepulchres. "A sepulchre, in the internal sense of
the Word, signifies life or heaven, and in the opposite, death or hell.
It signifies life or heaven, because the angels, who ai-e in the internal
sense of the Word, have no idea of a sejnilchre, since they have no idea
of death. Instead of a sepulchre, therefore, they perceive the con
tinuation of life, consequently resurrection; for man rises again as to
his spirit, and is buried as to his body. And since burial signifies
resurrection, it signifies also regeneration; for regeneration is man's
first resurrection, inasmuch as he dies as to the old man, and rises again
as to the new. By regeneration, man, from being dead, becomes alive.
Hence the signification of a sepulchre. But a sepulchre, iu the
opposite sense, signifies death or hell, because the wicked do not rise
again to life ; and therefore, when the subject treated of is conceruing
the wicked, and mention is made of a sepulchre, then there occurs to
the angels no other idea than that of hell : this is the reason tbat hell
in the Word is called a sepulchre." The tombs which the Pharisees
built for the prophets, and the sepulchres they garnished for the
righteous, have this last signification. Not that the prophets were
wicked, but that the Pharisees built their sepulchres for the wicked
purpose of making religious capital out of the hypocritical homage
they thus rendered to those whom their fathers had slain. Tiieir
fathers killed the prophets, and they completed what their fathers had
done. And, indeed, their "fathers" signify the evils of self-love aud
the love of the world, and they, as their "son.s," signify the falses
derived from these evUs. And evils kill, and falses cast out and bury,
or, as in the case of the Pharisees, build and garnish the tombs into
which rejected good and truth have been cast. To build the tombs of
the prophets is to rear up false persuasions over the truths that have
been destroyed — yet false persuasions, that have the appearance of

508 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIII.
truth, that seem to honour the dead, whUe they are only intended to
do honour to those who buried them.
32. While blaming the conduct of their fathers, and protesting that,
if they were in the days of their fathers, they would not have been
partakers with them in the blood of the prophets, they were perse
cuting Jesus as the prophet whose blood they finaUy shed, as their
fathers had dcme the blood of them who were but his servants and
representatives. In this did they truly and terribly fulfil the Lord's
words: Fill ye up then ihe measure of your fathers. But this has a
lesson for us. The sons fill up the measure of their fathers when false
principles are replete with evil. There are false persuasions which
have good within them ; but false principles that have an evil purpose,
and are constantly employed to promote it, are of the character of the
descendents of the murderers of the prophets.
33. WeU, therefore, might our Lord, who knew their hearts and
saw their end, address them in the language of an awful condemna
tion. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the
damnation of hell? When the principles of good and truth are
destroyed in the inner man, and their tombs are built and their sepul
chres adorned in the outer man, the man has become entirely sensual
both as to will and understanding, his affections being serpents, and
his thoughts thence derived a generation of vipers, — a state that
cannot escape the judgment of hell, because in itself it is all which
that dreadful word implies.
34. But our Lord not merely shows the scribes and Pharisees
what they were, and what they had done and become : he tells
them also what they would in future do — that they would in fact do
-with the prophets of the new dispensation as their fathers had done
with those of the old. Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prrophets,
and wise men, and scribes. Spiritually, prophets are the truth of
doctrine, wise men are the good of doctrine, and scribes are the truths
of the Word relating to both. In the present instance these are
principles that proceed from the Lord, and testify of him, for he says,
" / send unto you." The proi>hets whom their fathers kUled were those
that Jehovah sent; the prophets the sons killed were those that Jesus
sent. Of the individual, equally as of the race, the Lord's remarkable
words are true, " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." And
this successive working is with tlie children of disobedience as well as
with the children of obedience The Divine love works especially in
early life, and the Divine wisdom works especially in mature
life. He who receives the teaching of love is likely to receive

Chap. XXIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 509
the teaching of wisdom ; but he who rejects the teaching of love is
likely to reject the teaching of wisdom. He who kills the prophets
and righteous men of Jehovah, is likely to kill the prophets and wise
men of Jesus. Our Lord gives a description of this sin. And some
of ihem ye shall kill and crucify. There were two kinds of capital
punishment among the Jews — stoning and crucifying. The flrst of
these represented the extinction of the life of truth by falsity, and the
other represented the extinction of the life of good by evil. The same
is signified here by killing and crucifying. But the Lord says further,
A nd some of tliem ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute ihem
from city to city. It is still true of t'ne evil, that some of the principles
of spiritual life they kill and crucify, and some they persecute and
scourge. That is spiritually killed which is rejected from the heart
and understanding, and has no share in the regulation of the life; that
is scourged and persecuted which, though not entirely rejected, is yet
hated and condemned. A synagogue and a city both signify doctrine;
but one signifies the doctrine of internal, the other of external good
and truth, or, in the opposite sense, of evil and falsity. . To scourge is
to pervert, and to persecute from city to city is to falsify the truth in
every doctrine of the church — always to hate, and ever to oppose the
tmth. Taking the particulars of the passage in a series, we find that
to kill has reference to the truth of the doctrine of the church, wliich
is a prophet ; to crucify has reference to the good of doctrine, which
is a wise man ; and to scourge has reference to the Word, which is a
scribe ; and so, to kill is to extinguish, to crucify is to destroy, to
scoui'ge is to pervert, and to persecute from city to city is to pursue
from oue false doctrine to another. The whole implies, therefore,
every degree of hostility and opposition to the heavenly principles of
good and truth, and to the Word itself, consequently to him from
whom the Word and all its saving principles proceed,
35. The Lord concludes by saying that they had done all thi,s.
That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth,
from ihe blood of righteous Ahel unto the blood of Zacharias son
of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Although this at first sight may seem to favour the notion that the
sins of one generation are sometimes punished on another, yet the
reasonable view of the passage, even in its literal seuse, is, that as
the generation whom the Lord was addressing had filled up the
measure of their fathers' sins, so they had filled up the measure of
their punishment. But the Lord's declaration has a spiritual sense,
which its nature almost necessarily suggests. In the spiritual sense,

510

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIIL

Abel means those who are in the good of charity, and, abstractly, that
good itself; and Cain, who slew Abel, means those who make faith
alone the means or condition of salvation, and disesteem the good of
charity, and therefore slay it. Zacharias signifies those who are in
the truth of doctrine, and, abstractly, the truth of doctrine itself.
Hence the blood of both signifies the extinction of aU good and tmth.
Slaying Zacharias between the temple and the altar signifies all
manner of rejection of the Lord; for the temple signifies the Lord as
to divine truth, and the altar the Lord as to divine good, and
between them signifies both together.
36. When the Lord said, Verily I say unto you. All these things shall
come upon this generation, his words spiritually express the fact, that
with the Jewish church the whole series of dispensations expired.
That which was begun in the first church, and which had gradually
decUned, became extinct by the consummation of the Jewish. The
soul of Uves — the lives of love and faith — breathed into the first
Adam, had been quenched in the blood of the righteous and faithful,
and in the last generation was completed what had been begun in
the first.
37. But this ruin had not progressed to completion without the
efforts of Infinite love to prevent it. Our Lord, apostrophising
Jerusalem as the symbol of the entire church, as well as of the
Jewish, exclaims, 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,
and stonest tliem which are sent unto thee, how often would I have
gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under
lier wings, and ye would not! Not only rhetorically, but morally and
spiritually, sublime and beautiful is this passage of the holy Word —
these words of Him who spake as never man spake, because he felt and
thought as never man did. How full of tenderness, how overflowing
with love, is this marvellous address ! It displays the Divine character
and dealings in the most touching and convincing manner. But let
US venture to look at it more closely, and examine it more minutely.
Notwithstanding Jerusalem killed and stoned the messengers he sent,
the Lord never ceased to desire and endeavour to draw her children
under the shelter of his own loving wisdom. The Lord, as Jehovah,
had done what, as Jesus, he had come to do — to seek and to save that
which was lost. As Jehovah he uses the same language to express
his tender care over his people. " As an eagle stirreth up her nest,
fluttereth over her young, s])i-eadeth abroad her wings, taketh them,
heareth them on her wings : so the Lord alone did lead him, and
there was no strange god with him " (Deut. xxxii. 11, 12). All com-

Chap. XXIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 511
parisons in the Word are grounded in correspondence. The flutter
ing of a bird over her young, and her solicitude to gather the Uttle
wanderers under the shelter of her soft and downy wings, present a
series of beautiful and expressive images. But expressive as the
images are, feebly can they express the infinite, omnipresent, and all-
embracing love of God in his providential care ofhis people. Wings
are the emblems of preservation and defence ; and those are exercised
over us by the Lord from his infinite love by his infinite wisdom.
Since the Incarnation, this imagery has a still more expressive and
comforting significance. As the Lord was the Word or the Wisdom
made flesh, in the humanity we see the wings, the stretching out of
which "shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel" (Isa. viii.
8) ; the wings imder the shadow of which men put theU trust, as
sufficient for their protection (Ps. xxx-vi. 7); in the shadow of which
they make their refuge, till the calamities of trial are overpast (Ps.
Ivii. 1); and in the shadow of which they rejoice when they find in
Jesus their Comforter, after successful temptation aud faithful proba
tion (Ps. IxiU. 7). The Jews refused to be gathered under the ever
lasting wings; but let us accept the call, and place ourselves under
the protecting and cherishing care of Him who invites all to himself.
38. To those whom he would have gathered, but who would not, the
Lord said, Behold, your liouse is left unto you desolate. LiteraUy, this
relates to the temple, as their " holy and beautiful house, where their
fathers praised Jehovah,'' and the desolation of which our Lord declared
to be so complete that one stone should not be left upon another
that should not be thrown down. The taking of Jerusalem and the
destruction of the temple were the poUtical effects, as they were the
awfully expressive symbols, of the complete end and utter desolation of
the Jewish church. Considered in its spiritual application to the evil
individually, the house is an emblem of the mind. And when everj--
thing spiritual and heavenly is destroyed within it, and the Lord
himself is spurned as evil, desolation reigns. Evil and falsehood
desolate; they are the destruction of aU that is good, and beautifiU,
and happy.
39. The Saviour concludes: For I say unto you. Ye shall not see me
henceforth, till ye shall say. Blessed is he tliat cometh in the name ofthe
Lord. This has caused perjilexity to those who think of no sense but
that of the words in their mere litei-al meaning. We shall not enter
into the difficulties of the literal sense, but offer some remarks on the
passage as containing a spiritual meaning. The declaration of our
Lord contains this great lesson, that as evU blinds the understandino-

512 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.
to the perception of the Lord's truth, so good only can open our
intellectual eyes to see the blessed vision of the Lord coming as the
Saviour of the soul. Jesus coming in the name of the Lord is divine
truth coming in the spirit and power of divine love. But we cannot
say " Blessed " to this messenger of peace until we have the love of God
dwelling in us. "No man cometh unto me, except the Father,
which hath sent me, draw hiin." One cause of our not seeing the
Lord with the eye of faith is, that we do not desire him with a heart
of love. In fact, we look at him as coining in his own name, and not
in the name of the Lord, or Jehovah. That is to .say, we regard him as
truth, but not as good. And he who sees Jesus as the truth only,
sees him not — acknowledges him not. It is only when he is seen as
the good also, that he is hailed as the blessed, and that he makes us
blest. And what is the reason of this difference? We see the Lord
as truth alone when we ourselves are in truth alone, or when we
regard the Lord from the intellect ; and we see the Lord as truth full
of goodness and love when we ourselves look at him from the heart,
or from good and love in ourselves. Happy are they who thus regard
the Lord. They indeed can say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the
name of the Lord."

CHAPTER XXIV,

1. After the Lord had delivered his discour.se to the scribes and
Pharisees, in which he described, under their awfully corrupt and
hypocritical character, that of the church of which they were the
representatives, he went oui, and departed from the temple. This was
the Lord's last visit to the temple, and his final departure from it.
How solemn and significant, under such circumstances, are the words,
he "went out, and departed from the temple!" — a sign to the Jews
that their house was left unto them desolate. He was the glory of
their house, and his departure from the temple, after this his last visit
to it, made it truly like Israel when the ark of God was taken —
" Ichabod, the glory is departed." But this symbolical act, as well
as the prophetic discourse that foUowed it, is not to be understood in
reference to the Jewish church only, but is descriptive of the state of
the Christian church — of that dispensation of the church, at least,
v/hich had its commencement at the time of our Lord's first advent.
For the church itself, as consisting of the essential principles of reU
gion, never dies, though dispensations come and disappear. The

Chap. XXIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 513
Christian church will continue for ever; but the dispensation which
was formed after the Jewish had passed away was destined to come
to an end, to be succeeded by another ; that is, the Lord's first coming,
in the flesh, was to be succeeded by his second coming, in the spirit. It
is reasonable, indeed, to suppose that the Christian church should con-
' sist of more than one dispensation. We are to date the upward pro
gress of the church, and of the human race, from the time of the Lord's
birth into the world. From the fall to the Incarnation, the church
and the world had progressively descended, till they had become
so utterly corrupt that the remedy could be no longer delayed.
Yet we know that the church did not decline by imperoejitible, but by
distinctly-marked degrees : it consisted not of one dispensation, but of
several. There was the flrst dispensation, commencing with, or called
Adam ; there was a second, commencing witli, or named Noah ; and
there was a third, commencing with Israel. This last was, however,
rather the representative of a church than a real church : it was the
shadow of what was to come. Excluding this, the Israelitish, there
were two other dispensations possessing the real characters of a church.
If, then, the church descended by two distinct dispensations, it is
reasonable to suppose that it should also ascend by two. And such
may be seen to be the case. The New Testament, while it records the
Lord's first coming, gives the promise of a second. As the progress of
the church and of humanity must be, in a certain sense, a return
towards the state of innocence and wisdom from which they departed,
we find this shadowed forth in the Scriptures themselves. Revelation
ends, as it begins, with the description of an exalted state of the church
and of man ; and, by the same figures, at the end of the Apocalypse,
there is the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. On this new
earth there is a paradise, with the river of the water of Ufe flowing
through it, and the tree of Ufe growing in it. Yet there is a difl'er
ence between this and the first paradise, such as is entirely consistent
v/ith the altered state and condition of man. The second Eden unites
a garden and a city, for man has added science to wisdom; and the
tree of life not only bears fruit that is good for food, but produces
leaves that are good for medicine, for man now requires not only to
be fed but restored. The Lord's second coming is commonly connected
with the end of the world; but this arises from misapprehending the
meaning of the Scriptures, the end of the church being meant by the
end which they predict. The knowledge of this was, no doubt, pro
videntially hid from the members of the first dispensation of the
Christian church, and is only now revealed because the event itself
2 L

514 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.
has revealed it. It is in reference to these dispensations of the
Christian church that we are to understand this rema-rkable prophecy.
It treats of the decline and end of one, and the beginning and progress
ofthe other. It is fraught with matter of the deepest interest and of
the greatest importance. To read it aright will enable us to see some
of the deepest mysteries of the kingdom, in the providential operations
of the Lord, in relation to his church on earth, as an instrument of
liis saving mercy. When Jesus had departed from tlie temple, his
disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. The
Lord knew more of the temple than the disciples could show him, but
this took place and is recorded for the purpose of teaching us that the
Lord explores the church by means of the truths of his Word. E.x;-
ploration always precedes judgment. And when the Lord leaves a
church, which is a consequence of the church having so profaned the
sanctuary that he can no longer dwell therein, he only returns to it as
a Judge ; for when the church completely rejects the Lord's truth, or
places itself in opposition to it, the truth cannot act otherwise towards
it than as a judge. Although the grand object of the Lord's coming
was for salvation, it was also, though secondarily, for judgment
(John ix. 39).
2. After the disciples had shown him the buildings of the temple,
Jesus turns to them and pronounces the doom of the sacred structure
to which his attention had been drawn. See ye not all these things?
verily I say unto you. There shall not be left here one stone upon
another, that shall not he thrown down. How solemn and expressive I
Not less so spirituaUy than naturaUy. The stones of the temple were
symbols ofthe truths which constitute the church — collectively, of those
truths built up into a system of religious doctrine. The temple aptly
represented a system of doctrinal truths framed by the wisdom of
man; for the temple which then existed was not Solomon's, but had
been built by Herod. Nevertheless it rej-iresented the principles of
the church as a unity — such as that which the Jewish hierarchy
elaborated, but which was no more like a heaven-derived form of pure
.-md soimd doctrine than the temple of Herod was like that of Solomon.
Yet there it stood in its entirety and seeming stability. But the
hand of him whose touch reduces things of human creation to their
original elements was upon it. Its stones were to be thrown down
and dispersed. The result in such cases is, that the unity of the
church is broken up, though the elements are preserved. And so we
find even in our own day that amid the desolation of the Christian
sanctuary, many single truths are preserved, though they no longer

Chap. XXIV] ST. MATTHEW. 515
exist in such a unity as to form a whole. Their connection is broken,
their unity is destroyed. We may see and admire many particular
truths, but we no longer see them in combination, such as that which
made them rise in a form of beauty, a house of prayer, the place
where God inscribed his name. There is not left one stone upon
another, that is not thrown down.
3. Having uttered this general declaration respecting the fate of
the temple, the Lord retired, and sat upon the mount of Olives, where
he revealed, in all its length and breadth, the series of events connected
with and leading to that great overthrow of which the destruction
oi the temple was the general type. His flrst prediction regarding
the destruction of the temple was addressed to the disciples generaUy ;
his discourse on the mount appears to have been uttered in the euro
of a few. Mark (xiii. 3) mentions Peter, and James, and John, and
Andrew. These representing the higher graces of the reUgious life
are capable of entering into the deeper mysteries of the kingdom, or
(jf seeing the particulars of those truths that come to the generr.l
apjirehension. Jesus sat on the mount of Olives. This mount itself
was the symbol of a high and holy principle. A mountain means
the piinciple of love ; and as the olive signifles the celestial prin
ciple, the mount of Olives is the symbol of celestial love, — that
is, of the most heavenly of all loves-^love to God. But in
reference to Jesus, who is now upon the mountain, it is the symbol
of divine love ; and when, as now, he sits upon it, and thus speaks
from it, we have a representation of the Lord, from the inmost of his
divine love, uttering the highest truths of his divine wisdom. Such
truly are the Lord's words, spiritually understood. Indeed, he who
sees all the future, and who exercises a wise and beneflcent providence
in all he foresees, must be infinite both in love and wisdom. The dis
ciples came unto Mm privately, and he speaks privately to them. They
enter with him, as it were, within the veil, and are there privileged
to see the unrolling of the book on which is written lamentations,
and mourning, and woe. Aware of the general import of the Lord's
predicted destruction of the temple, the disciples say unto him. Tell
us, wlien shall these things be ? and what shall he ihe sign- of thy coming,
and ofthe end of the world? The disciples speak as persons who
understood the subject, and only ask about the time and the signs of
their occurrence. Time signifies state, for time is not predicable of
spiritual, but only of natural things. States are to the church and
the soul what times are to the world and the body. It is not the
knowledge of time, but of state, that enables us to see the character

516 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.
of the church. The disciples asked also to know the signs of the
Lord's coming, and of the end. What are those signs ? Spiritual
things are exhibited in natural things; and spiritual truths are
revealed in the symbolic language of the natural world by corre
spondence. Correspondences, therefore, are the signs of the Lord's
coming. These, as Luke (xxi. 11) terms them, are signs from heaven,
because correspondence has its origin in heaven. And these signs
are said (v. 25) to be in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars,
for these are symbols of love, faith, and knowledge, which are the
ruling principles of the church, and whose states they mark, having
been appointed for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years.
It is by these correspondences, as signs, that we are able to know the
nature of the Lord's coming and of the end of the world. By them,
as the means of the right interpretation of the Word, we learn that
the coining of the Lord is not a personal coming, but a coming in
spirit, by a revealing of himself as the Truth, and by a perception
and reception of him as the Truth in the hearts and minds of men.
By the same means we learn that his coming is not to be attended by
the end of the world, but by the end of the church. Indeed, the
" world" does not here mean the material frame of our globe : it means
an age or jieriod in the history of the world, as when we speak of the
golden or of the silver age. The end of the world means, therefore,
literally, the consummation or conclusion of the age, or religious dis
pensation. And this is the tme meaning of the end of the world,
when the phrase occurs in the New Testament, as is evident from
other parts. Thus in Hebrews ix. 26, " Now once in the end of tho
world hath he (Christ) appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself" And in 1 Cor. x. 11, "Now all these things happened
unto them for ensamples : and they are written for our admonition,
on whom the ends of the world are come.'' This is not, therefore, a
question of interpretation, but of translation. The end at which our
Lord came was, it is obvious, the end of the Jewish age, or dispensa
tion ; and the passage can have no reference to the end of the physical
¦world. And the times in which the apostles lived were the ends of
the age which had come upon them. That which is connected with
the Lord's second coming is an end of the same kind as that which
attended his first coming. The language in which they are described
is the same. What reason can there be for giving them an entirelv
different signification ? If the end that marked his first cominw was
the end of a church, it is only consistent to beUeve that the end that
is to mark his second coming must be the end of a church also. It

Chap. XXIV] ST. MATTHEW. 517
is difficult, indeed, for the members of the Christian church to believe
that the dispensation to which they belong can have an end as a
church. The Jews to this day reject the idea that their dispensation
has ceased, or can cease, to exist as a church. But the fact that the
first Christian dispensation would have an end ought to be admitted on
the simple ground of consistent interpretation, not to speak of trans
lation. The Lord has promised to come a second time into the
world. That coming is to be accompanied with the end or consum
mation of the age. What can this end be but the end of the age or
period of his first coining ? The end of the first age and the beginning
of the second are the end of the dispensation of his first advent and
the beginning of the dispensation of his second. It is true that the
end, and also the beginning, are described by other "signs" or images,
as the darkening of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars ;
by the passing away of the heavens and the earth, and the creation of
a new heaven and a new earth in their place. We shall see that the
darkening of the luminaries of heaven is the darkening of the lights
of the church — the love, and truth, and knowledge by which the
church is enlightened and sustained. As to the passing away and
re-creation of heaven and earth, unfettered reason and common sense
may give the interpretation. What wisdom can there be in destroy
ing one earth to create another? The material world is not at fault,
nor unfit for its purpose, that another should be required. But the
moral world, or rather the moral and reUgious age, may be at
fault, and require to be replaced by another and a better. The
church may wax old like a garment, and another suited to the
-wants of the body — that body which never dies — may be absolutely
necessary. And such is promised — " a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness.'' 4. To the inquiries of the disciples as to the time of the end and
the signs of his coming, the Lord answered. Take heed that no man
deceive you. This caution is greatly necessary in all matters of spirit
ual and eternal interest, and not least in those which relate to Christ
himself and his kingdom, and still more in relation to his second than
to his first coming. The disciples are those who are principled in the
goods and truths of the church, and, abstractly, these principles them
selves. That such persons require care in perilous times appears from
the Lord's declaration, that in the last times such will be the power of
false Christs and prophets that " if it were possible, they shall deceive
the very elect." And then the truths themselves come to be so
ingeniously explained in favour of that which men love and practise,

518

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXl^

that they lose the quality and power of truths, and virtuaUy become
falsities. 5. WhUe the Lord cautions the disciples against deception, he
describes the character of those who will try to deceive them. For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive
many. In "the second century one appeared who called himself
the Christ — certainly, this has never yet been done by "many."
This, however, is not the Lord's meaning. The Lord's name
signifies that by which he is worshipped, and Christ is especiaUy
expressive of his character as divine truth, as Jesus is of divine good.
False Christs are false doctrines respecting Christ — falses which have
the appearance of truths. AU false systems of Christianity ai-e false
Christs. Chri.st in Christianity is all that is divine and saving in it:
in fact, he is Christianity itself, in its purity and perfection. False
Christs are falsifications of the truth and perversions of the principles
of Christianity, which deprive it of its beneficent character and
saving power. Of such false Christs there may be, and doubtless have
been, and now are, many in the world. A Christianity without Christ
is itself false and deceptive. Emptied of the great truths which
Christ taught for the salvation of sinners, and filled with the ideas of
erring or interested men, such forms of false Christianity deceive
many ; for too many incline to the deception, and too readily fall under
it. Corruptions of Christianity, particularly as respects the character
of Christ, were early introduced into the Christian church; and with
the division of the godhead and the degradation of Christ, the
doctrine of salvation by him has proportionally suffered. The result
is that state of things which our Lord next declares.
6. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. Since it is not
the physical world, but the church, that is the subject of the prophecy,
these are not to be understood as poUtical wars among the nations of
the earth, but spiritual wars among the members and parties in the
church. Natural wars come, indeed, of these spiritual discords, but
it is to the spiritual, and not to the natural, that the spiritual sense
of Scripture relates. The first wars that arose in the Christian church
were wars of opinion, and after them came wars of passion. These
are the wars and rumours of war of which our Lord speaks. Who
ever is acquainted with the history of the early ages of the church,
when these disputes and conflicts prevailed, must be astonished to see
with what violence and bitterness they were conducted. The simple
¦and sincere members of the church mu.st have been shocked and
appalled at the tremendous conflicts, and might well suppose such

Chap. XXIV] ST. MATTHEW. 519
perversions and divisions to be the signs of the final consumma
tion predicted by the Lord, for they well knew it did not mean the
end of the world. To prevent such from being led into delusion, or
having their faith in the truth of Christianity destroyed, when they
thus saw it in a manner torn to pieces before their eyes, the Lord says,
see that ye he noi troubled : for all these things must come fo pass, but
ilie end is not yet. In reference to these, the Lord tells his disciples
to see that they be not troubled. The reason of this exhortation is,
that these first indications of troublous times are debates and
disputations about truth, arising from different views and feelings
respecting what it teaches ; and these are not such as to involve serious
opposition or danger to the principles of truth and good, which the
disciples represented. When the church has begun to decline, all these
things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. In these differences
there is neither the moral end of destroying the truth, nor the end of
the church, as its result.
7. But more serious calamities arise after, and out of these. For
nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom :
and tliere shall he famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in
clivers places. In the spiritual sense of Scripture nations mean
those who are in the love of evil, and, abstractly, evil itself as
sai object of love ; and kingdoms or peoples mean those who are
ia the belief of error or faLsity, and, abstractly, the error or falsity
v/hich is believed. This describes a state of the church in which
there was not simply a war of opinion about the doctrines of
religion, deplorable as that was, but a confiict of evil against
good, and of one evil against another; and also a confiict of
falsity ag.iinst truth, and of one false persuasion against another.
This implies not disputation and contention only respecting the
principles of goodness and truth, which constitute religion and the
church, but the rejection to some extent of these Christian principles,
and the proportionate adoption of evil and error in their place. The
natural and necessary result of these conflicts is, that there are
famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes — that is to say, there is a
defect of the knowledge of good and truth, signified by famines, aud
infestation from evils and falsities, signified by pestileuces, and changes
and inversions in the state of the church, signified by earthquakes ;
and these being in divers places, means that they exist in the church
in various parts — though not an entire, but partial change has as yet
taken place in the state of the church.
8. All these are ihe beginning of sorrows. They describe the first

520

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.

state of tiie jierversion of the church, which is, when men begin no
longer to know what is good and true, but dispute with each other on
these subjects, from which disputes come some errors of doctrine and
evils of life. These are indeed the beginnings of sorrows— sorrow to
the church, sorrow to religion, and sorrow to the soul. Sorrow is ever
the attendant of sin, whether it be against righteousness or truth.
In the description thus far of the sorrows of the church, we see veiy
strikingly the progress and end of the first stage of religious corrup
tion. First men dispute about goodness and truth, then they adopt
and contend for some false principles, and lastly, they proceed to
pervert goodness and truth, so as either to invalidate them or bend
them to favour their own principles and practice. These religious
disputations and contentions, meant by wars, arose early in the
Christian church, and were carried on with great bitterness and
acrimony, as history abundantly testifies ; and could not fail to be
foUowed by a famine, not of bread or water, but of the hearing of the
Word of God, and, as a consequence, by pestilent disease of mind,
and by convulsions and revolutions of both ojiinion and principle.
9. A second state of the decline of the church, and of her sorrows,
is described by what now follows. Then shall they deliver you up to
be afflicted, and shall kill you : and ye shall be hated of all nations for
my name's sake. The disciples represented the principles of goodness
and truth; and this describes the treatment which 'these heavenly
principles would come to experience, after the members of the church
had, by disputations and contentions, obscured their perceptions of
truth and goodness. To afflict, to kill, and to hate the disciples,
means to pervert, deny, and contemn the spiritual principles which
they represented. Nations denote those who are in evils of life ; and
to be hated of them, is to be held in aversion by the men of the
church, on account of the prevalence of such evils amongst them.
But the Lord said not only that they would be hated by all nations,
but that they would be hated for his name's sake. Those within the
church who hate goodness and truth, hate them as religious principles,
as coming from the Lord, and leading to him through the obedience
and worship which he requires. And, indeed, all hatred against the
principles of goodness and truth has in it, and fundamentally is, hatred
against the Lord, who is goodness itself and truth itself, and the origin
of everything good and true in the Word and in the church.
10. The Lord proceeds to say. And then shall many be offended, and
shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. This foUows, and
is a consequence of, the disciples being hated and persecuted. If the

Chap. XXIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 521
principles of goodness and truth, as revealed in the Word, and as they
relate to the Lord, are persecuted, many must be offended, or stumble.
The disciples, or the truths of the Word, are instructors and guides to
the members of the church ; and when these are deprived of their aid,
they cannot but stumble, and even fall The Word is a lamp unto
our feet, and a light unto our path; and when its teaching is obscured
by error, the members of the church must suffer. Aud not only will
they be offended, but they will ofi'end. They shall betray one another,
and hate one another. As mutual love is the result of true and un
defiled religion, and of walking uprightly in it, so mutual hatred is
one of the fruits of error, and of the stumbling which it causes.
11. Betrayal and hatred are followed by falsehood and deception.
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive m,any. In the
New Testament a prophet means a preacher, and, abstractly, the doc
trine which is taught. Therefore, false prophets mean not only false
teachers, but false principles. Error could not fail to be multipUed
when the Lord, who is the Truth, was virtually denied, and a false
Christ was set up in his stead. The true acknowledgment of the
Lord's divinity is an acknowledgment of the divinity of his humanity.
When this is denied, Jesus Christ must either be regarded as a divine
jierson separate from the person of the Father, or a finite being.
Such false persuasions cannot fail to seduce men from the true faith,
and from a righteous life, which have their origin in the Lord God
and Saviour Jesus Christ.
12. And because iniquity shall abound, tlie love of many shall wax
cold. Increase of error never fails to cause an increase of evil ; ancl
when evil abounds, love must wax cold. The love which is here
spoken of is charity, or love to the neighbour. When error leads
men to believe that salvation is attainable by faith without works,
virtue must fail, and as a consequence, charity must wax cold.
Where there is no true faith, there can be no genuine charity. In
the purely spiritual sense, which is abstracted from persons, this
means that many truths would be deprived of love or charity, ancl
thus of all vitality. When this is the case, there is neither charity in
the heart nor faith in the understanding. Faith without charity is
dead, and charity without faith is blind. Love to the Lord is the
origin of love to the neighbour, and holiness of Ufe is its foundation.
13. The Lord now gives encouragement to those who avoid the
prevailing corruptions, and are disposed to go forward in the life of prac
tical religion. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved. The end of these affiictions is one that must be applicable to

522 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. XXIV,
the members of the church in their individual experience Those who
see the perversions of truth in the church must not consent to them,
and suffer themselves to be seduced by them into a careless or evil life,
as men are so liable to be, by a prevailing state of belief and character-
To be saved amid corruption, we must strive against the corruption.
Perseverance is persistent continuance in well-doing, and it is con
stancy in the midst of temptation. Trial is implied in the promise
To fail in fidelity and duty to God, in troublous times, is not only a
])ossibility, but a thing to be feared ; for Uable as we all are to fiill
away, even -with the best influence and example to aid us, how much
more when defect of faith and morality surround us ?
14. A sign of another and very different kind from any of those
which the Lord had as yet pointed to, he now announces. And this
gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness
unto all nations; and tlien shcdl the end come. If these words be
appUed to the time when the corruptions which virtuaUy included the
utter destruction and consequent end of the church — -which is indicated
in the next verse as the abomination of desolation — first gained ad
mission, they will denote the period when the profession of Christianity
was established by the Roman empire, which is often called in the
New Testament (by the word translated as here) the world, ancl which
took place in the reign of Constantine the Great, soon after the end of
the third century. But "end" in Scripture, ancl "the last days,"
often denote a long period of time. There was a period in the history
of the church which formed the beginning of the end, and another
period which formed its completion. The beginning of the end
Vielongs to the reign of Constantine, by whose power and influence the
Christian religion, which is the gospel of the kingdom, was preached
or propagated throughout the whole Roman world ; and the comple
tion of the end belongs to our own times, when the gospel may be said
to be universally proclaimed, especiaUy by the circulation of the letter
of the Scriptures, throughout the whole globe, through the agency of
the Missionary and Bible Societies. Thus, the periods called in
Scripture "the time of the end " and "the last days" were marked
by the setting up of the profession of a nominal Christianity through
the Roman empire ; and its termination is marked by the actual
extension of the Scriptures, through the proclaiming of the gospel over
the whole globe, as we see effected at this day. This is certainly
a very remarkable sign indeed, alone sufficient to convince us, if we
think there is any tmth in the prediction of Omniscience, that we arc
living in the days prophesied of as those in which the Son of man was

CfiAP. XXIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 523
to make his second and spiritual appearing. But it may seem in
credible that two such events as the establishment of the Christian
leligion, or that of the Roman empire, and the circulation of the
Scriptures throughout the whole habitable globe, should be considered
as signs of the end — not of the world, but of the church. In regard to
the first of these events, nothing can be more true. No sooner almost
had the Emperor Constantine declared himself Christian, and made
Christianity the religion of the state, than, to condemn the destructive
doctrine of Arius, the famous general council, at which were present
about 318 bishops, was held at Nice. The Arian heresy -was indeed
then condemned, though it was far from being extinguished. But the
only way which the fathers of the council could flnd of opposing the
Arian doctrine, which denied the proper divinity of Christ, was by
asserting his distinct divinity, and that of the Holy Spirit, thus giving
origin to the notion of three distinct persons iu the godhead, which
cannot be distinguished iu idea from the notion of a trinity of gods.
The establishment of this awful perversion as the orthodox doctrine
of Christianity is, in fact, that which is denoted by the abomination
of desolation set up in the holy place, of which our Lord now speaks,
15. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken
of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let Mm
understand). The holy place, in the language of Scripture, always
means, in its literal seuse, the interior part of the temple, which was
considered as being the immediate seat of the Divine presence. Of
course, it must representatively signify the most holy part of Christian
doctrine and worship. To set up an abomination and desolation, or
an abomination that makes desolate, in this holy place, can be nothing
else than to introduce some principle destructive of all genuine
Christianity. In regard to the doctrines of the church, there is none
so holy as that which relates to the true nature and character of the
God whom the church is to worship. The inmost of the doctrine of
the church — that which occupies her holy place — is the idea she forms
of her God. To set up an abomination in this holy place must be
to introduce a false notion of God, instead of the true one. This is
v/hat the prophecy, understood according to its true meaning, would
lead us to expect to see take place in the professing Christian church.
Accordingly we find by history, and indeed see iu the present day,
that this was done when the doctrine of three separate persons in the
Divine nature was introduced into the Christian church, and decreed
to be the orthodox doctrine by all her leading ministers and members.
This was first effected at the Council of Nice, previous to which the

524 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.
doctrine was entirely unknown to many, and had only been partiaUy
entertained by some. It was then first declared to be the authentic
doctrine of the church, and such it continues to be held at the present
day. As tliis is a subject of the very highest importance, it may be
expedient to point out some of the steps by which the belief of a
Trinity of separate persons or gods, which has desolated the sanc
tuary and driven all true religion out of the church, or at least com
pelled it to quit Judea and take refuge in the mountains, successively
obtained so universal a reception.
The formulary of faith called the Apostles' Creed, though not com
posed by the apostles, is yet the most ancient document in the form
of a creed that has existed in the Christian church. Although no
nice discrimination is attempted in it, and nothing is expressed but
general truths, nearly in the language of Scripture, yet it contains
nothing inconsistent with the genuine truths of Christianity. Nothing
is said about either three persons in the godhead or a Son of God
born from eternity. Respecting the three essentials of the Divine
Trinity, called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the words of the creed
are : " I believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ his
only Son our Lord ; who was conceived of the Holy Ghost, and born
of the virgin Mary." There is no mention here of a Son existing
from eternity, but only of oue begotten and born in time ; nor is any
thing said of the distinct personality of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
According to this, the Son of God is the humanity assumed by
Jehovah through the instrumentality of the Virgin. And as the
divine essence is incapable of division, Jehovah himself is in that
humanity as the soul in the body, by virtue of which, through a pro
cess of temptation and suffering, the humanity itself was made divine.
Thus " Jesus Christ" is the proper name both of the humanity
assumed by incarnation and also, by virtue of the indivisibility of the
divine essence, of Jehovah in that humanity. All this is taught or
implied in the formulary of faith called the Apostles' Creed. The
doctrine of that creed is thus in perfect harmony with the genuine
doctrines of the Word of God. So long as the Christian church
adhered simply to this faitii, and held nothing inconsistent with its
genuine import, it was, so far as faith or doctrine is concerned, the
pure church of the Lord in the world.
However, very strange and extravagant doctrines respecting the
Lord Jesus Christ speedily began to be promulgated, some of which
denied his divinity, and separated him entirely from the Supreme
God. To guard against any mode of explaining the subject which

Chap. XXIV] ST. MATTHEW. 525
would rob the Lord Jesus Christ of his divinity, a teacher named
Praxeas, about the close of the second century, strongly insisted that
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but different names for the One
God, or the One God viewed under different characters or relations.
As none of his writings now exist, it is difficult to know with perfect
accuracy what the views of this leader on the subject were, beyond
the general fact, that he held Father, Son, and Spirit to be one person.
If, from want of being acquainted with the important doctrine of the
progressive glorification ofthe Lord's humanity, he maintained, as his
opponents affirmed, that the Father himself, or the Divinity, suffered
on the cross, he certainly erred in a very important particular. How
ever, his doctrine of One God in one person — the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ — was so consonant with the feelings of all simple-minded
Christians, that it was in a fair way of being acknowledged throughout
the Christian world. Even the Bishop of Rome, who, though without
the popish power assumed by his successors, was regarded as the chief
bishop of Christendom, declared himself in favour of Praxeas. But
Praxeas was soon violently opposed by TertulUan, an eloquent pres
byter of Carthage, but a man of harsh and gloomy temperament, and
whose notions of the distinct personality of Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit were so positive, that he had embraced the monstrous heresy of
Montanus, who had the madness to pretend that he himself was the
Holy Ghost in person, or, at least, that the Holy Ghost as a distinct
person dwelt within him. On the vehement representations of this
TertulUan, who is still venerated as one of the principal fathers of the
church, the Bishop of Rome withdrew his patronage from Praxeas,
and he began to be generally regarded as a heretic ; while the doctrine
of the far greater heretic, TertulUan, was favourably regarded, and at
length was adopted as the standard of orthodoxy in the Christian
church. But the doctrine of TertulUan, in behalf of the notion of three
absolutely distinct persons in the Godhead, though generally favoured
(or though something approximating towards it began to be generally
held), was not yet authoritatively estabUshed, About a hundred
years later, Arius, being imbued with the notion of the completely
distinct personality of the Father and the Son, pursued this to its
proper consequence — the denial of the real divinity of Christ. He
saw that if the Father and Son are two Persons, they must, if each is
God, be also two gods. But as he was fully persuaded of the great
truth, that God is and can be but one, on seeing the incompatibility
of this with the notion cf separate divine persons in the Godhead, he

526 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.
solved the contradiction the wrong way. Instead of inferring that
as God is One, and Jesus Christ is a divine person, Jesus must be that
one God manifested in human nature, he argued, that as God is one,
and Jesus is a distinct person, Jesus cannot truly be God at all. Pie
therefore invented the notion, that, as the Scriptures testify, the
world was created as well as redeemed by Jesus Christ; he was in fact
the first of all created existences— a being invested with great but
delegated powers, and only called God by courtesy.
In modern times this genuine doctrine of Arius has but few
adherents. The notion of a created Creator does such violence to
reason, that the modern deniers of the Lord's divinity deny his
creatorship, and believe him to have been a mere man also, and the
Scripture passages which assert it, they divest of their proper meaning
by violently forced explanations. Indeed, most of those who i-a
modern times deny the Lord's divinity, deny his pre-existence in any
character whatever. This, however, is an excess of daring and of
contradiction to the plainest Scripture evidences to which the early
impugners of his divinity ventured not to go ; and the doctrine of
Arius, irrational as it is regarded to be by modern humanitarians,
repeatedly threatened, during several centuries, to become the reputed
orthodox doctrine of the Christian church. The first serious check
which it received was at the Council of Nice, called by Constantine the
Great. At this council was framed the doctrine afterwards digested
into the famous creed called the Nicene Creed. But the fathers of
the Council of Nice being imbued with the notion of TertulUan about
the distinct personality of the three subsistences of the Trinity, saw
uo other way of maintaining the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and his eternal existence, in opposition to the denial of it by
Arius, than by asserting his existence from eternity in the character
of a Son, or in adopting the doctrine of the eternal sonship.
16. When this great evil is seen to be done, the Lord's direction is,
Then let them which he in Judea fiee into the mountains ; by which is
meant that the church would no more traly exist with those who are
confirmed in its received doctrines, but with those who shunned the
abomination, and, betaking themselves into a state of retiring love,
continued to worship the Lord in simplicity and truth, not dividing
liis divinity from the divinity of the Father, whether or not they had
distinct ideas of the manner of their unity. And this is a direction
now to be regarded by those who witness the corruptions of a perverted
church. When truth of doctrine is in obscurity, they are to flee to
the mountains, which always means, in the language of Scripture, to

Chap. XXIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 527
take refuge in the principle of love, cultivated in the inner recesses
of the soul. They are not to shut themselves up in the beleaguered
city, and defend its errors aud corruptions; neither are they to join
the besieging heathen army of infldel foes, that would fain bring
everything of the church to destruction. They are to stand aloof
from the tumult, cultivating the graces of love and charity, in
dependence on the Lord, and in reliance ou his protection. So will
they be recognized by him as his true disciples, will be admitted to
form the first fruits of his new church in the world, and will certainly
be finally elevated to his kingdom in heaven. Of this class there are
large numbers at the present day. Many who are afraid to look
narrowly into the doctrines of reUgion as held by the professing
church, find a sanctuary in the good of religion, where they can pour
out their hearts in acts of piety to God, and extend their hands in
deeds of benevolence to men.
17. Again, Let Mm which is on ihe house-top not come down io take
anything out ofhis house. It is evident that this exhortation is not
to be literally understood. It is commonly supposed to be a figura
tive mode of expressing haste. But the Word contains no mere
figures of speech. Every figure is a correspondence or spiritual
analogy. The house is an emblem of the mind, the top of the house,
of the highest or inmost faculty and degree of the mind, and the lower
part a lower faculty or degree. The top of the house is the will,
where there is love to the neighbour or charity, and the lower part is
where there is faith or truth. The exhortation, spiritually under
stood, is, that he who is in a state of charity is not to come down to a
state of faith.
18. Neither let him which is in the field return hack to take his clothes.
He who is in the field is one who is in the good of faith and
his clothes are the truths of faith. To return back from the field
to take his clothes, is to recede from the good of faith to the
truths of faith, which is to recede from a good life to mere empty
profession and nominal Christianity. In the three cases we have
now considered there is a receding from a state of good to a state of
truth, or from a religion of the heart to a religion of the intellect ;
but there is a gradation which shows the distinctions that are so
frequently presented in the Word, of which Uttle trace is discernible
in the literal sense. " There are men of three kinds described in the
Word — they who are in love to the Lord, they who are in charity to the
neighbour, and they who are in the affection of truth. They who are
iu love to the Lord are meant by those who flee from Judea iuto the

528 ST. MATTPIEW. [Chap. XXIV.
mountains ; they who are in charity to the neighbour are meant by
those who are not to come down from the house-top to take anything
out of the house ; and they who are in the affection or the good of
truth, are meant Vjy those who are not to return from the field to take
their clothes." It is but another way of expressing it, to say, that
the three classes are the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural ; who
form the three degrees of the Lord's kingdom on earth, and the three
degrees that are still more distinctly marked in his kingdom in heaven.
19. And woe unto tliem that are with child, and io them that give
suck in those days ! It is almost unnecessary to say that this must
have another than the natural sense. In the Word nothing is more
common than to compare man's spiritual to his natural birth. And,
indeed, there is a perfect analogy between them. To be with child
and to give suck is therefore to be understood of the spiritual life.
To be with child is expressive of that state or stage of the regenerate
Ufe when good is conceived in the internal man, but is not yet
brought forth into the external — that is, when reUgion is in the mind,
but not yet in the life. To bear in the womb is to conceive the good
of celestial love. To give suck is to imbue innocence with spiritual
truth from a celestial origin. But why should the woe to which these
are subject be attached to or attendant on these states ? This is not
a woe of punishment, but of affliction ; and most expressive is it when
seen in reference to the present subject, in the troublous times in
which the state exists. As natural birth is attended with anguish
and danger, so is .spiritual. Pain as of a woman in travail is the very
e.xpression in which we recognize the pains of spiritual parturition.
In fact, the time of "labour" and pain in the spiritual life is the
time of " bringing forth " our religion, or religious principles, as con
ceived in the inner, into actual existence in the outer man, or from
the mind into the life. If this is afflictive in the most favourable
circumstanoes, what must it be under circumstances the most un
favourable ? It is sufficiently difficult to bring our religion into the
life, our principles into practice, even when we have the aid and en
couragement of proper teaching and good example ; how much more
so when we are beset on every side by temptation to sin ! But
whence the woe to them that give suck ? If, in evil times, it is
difficult to bring our principles to the birth, it must be also difficult,
after tiiey are born, to sustain and nourish them, and this more espe
ciaUy when they are but new-born, or in their early infancy, and are
tender and susceptible, and unable to bear the cold and privation
from which even a mother's love may not be always able to preserve

Chap. XXIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 529
them. And let us remember that these states derive much of their
affiictive character from being connected with one that immediately
follows, symbolized by flight.
20. But pray ye that your fiight he noi in the winter, neither on fhe
sabbath day. Flight denotes the last time of the church ; it signifies
also the last period of life, when the good flee away and are at rest
from the tribulations of this world ; and the wicked flee from one set
of troubles to meet another. Flight has therefore two opposite
meanings, because it is applicable to two opposite states. SpirituaUy,
it denotes recession from good, or escape from evil. When it denotes
recession from good and innocence, it involves the sin of profanation,
which is the last state of the church ; when it means escape from evil,
it is a deUverance, and is the prelude of a new beginning. In either
case the exhortation is to be attended to. As summer and its
heat are emblematical of love, winter and its cold are emblematical
of the absence of love ; and when there is no love there is no life.
Winter, therefore, denotes a state of the church when there is, indeed,
the light of truth, but not the warmth of love,^when there is
a complete end of vital religion. The Sabbath, the consecrated
emblem of a holy state, is also the emblem of a state of seeming
holiness — of a holy external without a holy internal — of sanctity
in the manner, without piety in the heart. This is descriptive of
the last state of the church, or religion, among men. The end of the
church does not imply a universal, or even a general state of open
infidelity, wickedness, and impiety. On the contrary, the church
may be virtually at an end, while there is greatest outward appearance
of religion — a church establishment, with all its pomp and circum
stance. The church really is as seen by the eye of Omniscience. There
may be abundance of light, but it is the light of winter — without
heat ; there may be abundance of piety, but it is the formal piety of
the Sabbath, without the holiness of every-day life. If the church
does recede from goodness and innocence, it is to be prayed for that it
should not be when the church is in the very last stage of dissolution,
so that no remnant can be saved — no remains left, out of which a new
church can be formed. What the consequences of this would be, we
shall see when we come to the 22nd verse. Those who, on the other
hand, are fleeing from the wrath to come, may pray that ilieir flight
be neither in the winter nor on the Sabbath day — neither in a state of
too much cold nor in a state of too much heat.
21. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the
beginning of the world io this time, no, nor ever shall be. The greatest
2m

530

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.

gOi

^ od is capable of the greatest perversion,— the greatest blessing may
be turned into the greatest curse. Truths of a higher order and of a
more interior kind were revealed to the Christian than had been
revealed to the Israelitish church, and were capable of being more
falsified and profaned. The tribulations are said to be greater than any
that had been from the beginning of the world ; but the world
spiritually means the church, and the beginning, not its first time,
but its first state. Its beginning and its end are spiritually its first
and last principles, and the last are more profaned than the first. The
times and the states of a faUing church, no doubt, to some extent run
parallel; but it is not time, but state, that affects it, and it is only when
its last principles are corrupted that the church comes to an end.
While these remain, the foundations are not entirely destroyed; but
when these give way, the entire fabric falls into ruin. And the last
state is worse than the first : the last affliction is the accumulated
intensity of all the others. But the affliction of these last times is
greater than ever shall be, as well as greater than ever has been. This
is, in fact, a promise that there shall be no more end, or, as the Word
expresses it, that there shall be no more death, no more curse, no more
sorrow nor crying — in a word, no more affliction : for the former things
and states are passed away. The new heavens and the new earth that
the Lord will create shall remain before him. The last shall be the
crown of all dispensations, and shall stand for ever.
22. But in order that better days should begin, the evil days must
be shortened : for except those days should be shortened, there should no
flesh be saved. It is a law of Divine order, or rather an arrangement
of Divine mercy, that no dispensation is ever aUowed to come to a
complete end, or die completely out. Its end must be hastened, or
rather anticipated. It must be brought, and not allowed to come to
its end. If the end of a dispensation were not anticipated — if its days
were not shortened — there should no flesh be saved, for the reason that
there would be none left, — all would be consumed. Flesh spiritually
means the principle of good, and, personaUy, those in whom there is
some principle of good. Every declining church is brought to an end
by a process of judgment, before all the good that belongs to it has
died out, or been consumed, that the small remnant of good saved from
the old may form a germ out of which the new may be produced.
Those in whom this remnant of good exists are the elect, ior whose sake
the evil days shall he shortened. These are not any number chosen
without respect to their merits. Whom God elects, he elects because
they are worthy. Men are not good because they are elected, but

Chap. XXIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 531
they are elected because they are good. The elect are the good, and
the good are the elect. For their sakes the days of affliction are
shortened ; for they are the ones that are to be gathered together, and
out of them the new kingdom is to be formed.
23. The elect are not saved without tribulation. A series of
seducing evils, simUar to those which arose at the beginning of tho
church, are to prevail at its end. When the disciples asked the
Lord what would be the sign of his coming, the first sign he
warned them of was, that many would come in his name, saying,
I am Christ. Here he says, there shall arise false Christs and also
false prophets. There is a difference between the former and the
latter Christs not undeserving of attention, and which will be noticed
as we proceed. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ,
or there: believe it not. Here and there have a similar meaning to
near and distant. Here signifies what is internal, and there signifies
what is external ; and place signifies state. As the state of the
church is treated of, here and there signify the internal and external
of the church, thus of her doctrines and worship. That we are not
to believe a man when he says, Lo, here is Christ, or there, implies
that Christ is not to be found either in the internal or in the external
of the church. Christ signifies divine truth ; and when the church is
corrupted, there is no longer the truth in her doctrines and worshij),
either in their internal essence or in their external manifestation.
24. But although the one true Christ is no longer there, there shall
arise false Christs and false prophets. False Christs are falsified
truths, and false prophets are those doctrines formed from them, as
well as those who teach them. Those here spoken of are called false
Christs; but this is not said of those mentioned at the 9th verse. There
it is only said that many would come in the Lord's name, saying, I
am Christ. The rea«on of this difference no doubt is, that in the
beginning of decline falses prevail, but in the end falsified truths.
And truths falsified or perverted are much more deceitful and dan
gerous than simple errors. It is therefore said of these false Christs
and false prophets, that they shall show great signs and wonders;
insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Signs
and wonders are evidently means that these pseudo- Christs are to
employ to induce people to believe their teaching. And the means
which the designing employ to induce others to believe their doctrines
are persuasion and influence — persuasion for the understanding, and
influence for the will : the flrst appeals to their fallacies, the second
to their cupidities. A sign is that which acts upon the understand-

532 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.
ing; a wonder is that which acts upon the wiU. A sign is not a
means of convincing, but only of persuading. Our Lord therefore
refused the Jews a sign, because he would exert no power over
the understanding to induce upon it a blind, unreasoning, and un-
perceiving faith. He performed wonders or miracles, because they
only impressed the will with a sense of awe, but did not interfere with
man's rational liberty. The very object of the false Christs and pro
phets, in performing their signs and wonders, is to take away the power
of reason and freedom from others, or so bring them under their own
influence as to make them their devoted foUowers. Unscrupulous
men have an extraordinary power over untrained minds, especially
when not balanced by fixed principles, and most of all when religion
is the engine they employ to effect their purpose of decejition. The
best safeguard against such influence is a principle of real, genuine
goodness. Those who have this principle are the elect, whom it is
impossible to seduce. For when the mind is established in goodness
as the very essential element of religion, there is the best protection
against evil. It is true that goodness defends itself by truth ; but
genuine goodness implies the presence of truth and of life as their
embodiment. 25. And while goodness is the best protection against the deceitful
teaching of false Christs, it is the best ground in which to receive
the teaching of the true Christ. It is to such that the Lord gives
salutary warning. Behold, I have told you before. Those who are in
good receive truth. And they also receive it internally. This is
signifled by being told before. For here again we have to translate
the natural into the .spiritual — the natural idea of time into the
spiritual idea of state. For time, Uke place, signifies state. There is
this difference between them, that place or space signifies state in
reference to the will, and time, state in reference to the understanding;
or, what is the same, space refers to states of good, and time to states
of truth. Before and after are correlations of here and there, and of
before and behind ; before, has relation to the internal, and after, to
the external. To be told before is therefore to receive truth from the
Lord by an internal way, and into the internal ofthe mind; and they
who thus receive are prepared to resist the seductive machinations of
the wonder-working prophets.
26. Wherefore if they shaU say unto you. Behold, he is in the desert;
go not forth: behold, he is in ihe secret chambers; believe it not. Some-.
thing similar to there and here are meant by the desert and the secret
chambers. As here and there mean internal and external, the secret

Chap. XXIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 533
chambers and the desert mean what relates to the will and under
standing, or to good and truth. The church is called a desert when it
is devastated as to truth ; and the human understanding is described
by the same figure when it is in the same state. And, indeed, it
amounts to the same, whether we speak of the church or the human
understanding as a desert ; for it is the devastation of truth in the
understanding of her members that brings the church into that state.
It amounts to the same, whether we say that the church is devastated
as to good, or that the human will is ; for it is because there is
devastation of good in the wills or hearts of the members of the
church generally, that the church can be in that state. The will is
meant by the secret chambers, as the understanding is by the desert.
And as the consummated church is devastated both of good and truth,
both as to will and understanding, therefore the truth is neither in
the one nor the other. Christ is neither in the secret chambers of
her moral principles nor in the desert of her intellectual ideas. Her
moral principles, or secret chambers, are full of lewdness, where the
pure good of the Lord's love cannot enter ; and her inteUectual prin
ciples are a desert, where there is only barrenness and desolation, the
haunt of the serpent and the basilisk, with which the lamb cannot
herd together. And when this is the case with the church, it is also
the case with the Word, — not with the Word itself, but with the
Word so far as the church is its expositor. If we look into the secret
chambers of the church, what do we see ? Mysteries that are not only
above, but contrary to reason, rendering the exhortation, "Believe
them not," a necessity as well as a duty. Again, we see the moral
attributes of God so brought into conflict with one another as to
refuse reconcilement, without a satisfaction that involves a violation
of the highest moral principle How can the elect believe that Christ
is there ? On the other hand, has not faith alone made the church a
desert? How can the elect expect to find in the dogma, that man is
saved by an act of faith. Him who said, " If ye would enter into Ufe,
keep the commandments ? " When such is the state of the church
and of religion, the advent of Christ must be at hand ; for truly,
except these days should be shortened, there should no flesh be
savecL 27. For as the lightning cometh out of ihe east, and shineth even unto
ihe west; so shall also the coming ofthe Son of man he. This coming
of the Lord is not his future grand advent, which forms the com
mencement of a new dispensation, and which is described a little
further on, by his coming in the clouds ; but it is his coming to the

534 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.
old dispensation in the last stages of its decline. For the coming of
the .Lord is not according to the literal expression, that he is to appear
again in the world, but it is his presence within every one, which
occurs as often as the gospel is preached, and holy thought is excited.
The Lord, therefore, is constantly coming. The nature of his coming,
or, what is the same, of his reception, differs as the state of the church,
and is described by the different modes in which his Word represents
it. The nature of his coming and reception at the end of the church
being described in this instance, we can derive an idea of its character
and results from the correspondences by which it is described. The
figure here employed by the Divine speaker presents the idea of an
appearance that is sudden and briUiant, but evanescent — a fiash that
lights up the horizon for a moment, but is instantly dissipated, leaving
a profounder darkness than that which it dispelled. And this, in
truth, is just that kind of coming of the Lord which takes place at the
end of a church, when deadness and darkness prevail There is no
continuous spiritual light, no sustained spiritual thought, no reigning
spiritual affection. The prevailing state is deadness of the affections,
darkness of the intellect. By the preaching of the gospel, or rather,
while the gospel is preached, or some exciting cause acts upon the
mind, the faculties may be awakened and lighted up, but it is only for
the moment. If the mind has no light and life in itself, one is only
religious by fits and starts, as some extemal agency moves and per
suades. When the world is within and religion without, religious
states are emotional and imaginative. Vivid impressions and notions
can be conveyed and entertained. The lightning may come out of the
east, and shine even unto the west. Heavenly light from the east
may flash in upon the soul, through the feelings of charity excited in
the mind, but it as soon disappears in the west, where an antagonistic
selfishness prevails. Lightning is the emblem of the heavenly light
of truth ; the east, whence it comes, is love and charity ; and the
west, sometimes the continuation and termination of a holy state, is
also, as here, its opposite, where a good commenced is neutralized.
28. We come now to the last state of the church, represented by a
figure that can at once be recognized : it is that of a dead body. And
what an image of death and desolation does it present ! The carcase and
the vultures are the only remaining objects in the scene of desolation.
The body of the church is dead,— fallen in the desert which she herself
has created ; and the vultures are hastening to the scene, to contend
for their share of the foul banquet which the carcase offers. For
wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. We

Chap. XXIV] ST. MATTHEW. 535
can hardly render the state of the church represented by the dead
body more intelligible or expressive by explanation. But there is
something to be said about the rest of the picture. Although it is only
the vulture that feeds upon carrion, the eagle has no doubt been
employed by the Lord on account of its signification. The vulture
can only have a bad correspondence, but the eagle has both a good
and a bad meaning. And the eagles are here introduced to represent
principles in the church which were once good, having, like everything
else, become perverted aud profaned. Eagles correspond to the rational
principles of the mind. And these may be either tme or false. A
man can reason in favour of truth or error, nay, of good or evil, as the
motives prompt him. Reason is a noble faculty, and when employed in
the service of truth and righteousness, can give them excellent support;
but when it is degraded, and is made the slave of passion and self-
interest, it becomes as mischievous as it was formerly beneficent.
When reason is the minister of good, it is as the wings of eagles, with
¦which the renewed mind mounts up; when the minister of evil, it
is like the eagles that scent the carrion and hasten down to the prey.
Do we not find that such is the case? — that mere reason, which is
rather ratiocination, has been gathered around the Word itself, which
is treated as a dead letter, posse,ssing uo inherent divine life ; and
have not many of those critics in these last days contended over the
soulless body as vultures over their prey ? And when the Word is
thus regarded and thus treated, how can the church and religion fare
better ? for the Word is the origin and support of both.
29. But we now come to the end, out of which comes the beginning.
I-mmediately after the tribulation of those days shall ilie sun he darkened,
and file moon shall not give her light, and tlie stars shall fall from
heaven, and ilie powers of the heavens shall be shaken. This is a
most important prophecy. Considered in connection with the words
which follow it, and which announce its sequel, it foretells the most
momentous future event that the New Testament treats of. Its
importance demands a proportionate share of our attention.
The impression which this prophetic declaration has made upon the
centuries of the Christian church has been almost universally such as the
simplest literal apprehension of the language could convey. It is here
supposed that the event predicted in this address of our Lord is the
end of the material world, and the present passage is understood to
describe the catastrophe. It is not, perhaps, surprising that such a
notion has prevailed. No event can be clearly understood before it is
accomplished ; and it may be assumed that the language in which

536 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV,
future events are announced in Scripture is designedly framed so as to
preserve a belief in their approach, but to conceal their exact nature.
It is a law of Divine order that we cannot see the Divine in his
approach : we can only see him on the back, after he has passed. This
has been the case hitherto. The Jews, who possessed and studied the
whole range of prophecy relating to the end of their dispensation and
the coming of the Lord to estabUsh a new one, were so ignorant of
the exact nature of the events that they refused to recognize them
when they occurred before their eyes. Christians might learn from
their example, both to be less positive in beUeving that they clearly
understand the prophecies relating to the second coming of the Lord,
and more ready to examine the claims of an expositor who offers a
new interpretation, and one professedly founded on or supplied by
their actual fulfilment. If they would adopt a course which is at
once scriptural and reasonable, they might reach a satisfactory con
clusion. That course is, to ascertain how predictions of a similar
character in the Old Testament have received their fulfilment. We
will adopt this course; and the result will show that prophecies in the
Old Testament, almost identical in their character, and even in
their language with this in the New, have never received a literal
accomplishment. In a prophecy in Isaiah (ch. xiii.) relating to the
destruction of Babylon, it is said (v. 10), " For the stars of heaven
and the constellations thereof shall not give their light : the sun shall be
darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to
shine." The same language is employed by Ezekiel in describing the
fall of Egypt (ch. xxxii. 7), "I will cover the heaven, and make the
stars thereof daik; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon
shall not give her light." It is evident that these are not to be
literally understood. There is a prophecy of this class in Joel which
may have more force, since an apostle has declared that it relates to
the Jewish church at the time of its end. When the multitudes that
were gathered together saw the effects of the pouring out of the Spirit
on the apostles on the day of Pentecost, they were amazed, and some
mocked; but Peter, standing up with the eleven, said, " This is that
which was spoken by the prophet Joel ; And it shall come to pass in the
last days, saith G od, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh ... and
I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath :
blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke : the sun shall be turned into
darkness, and the moon into blood, before that gi-eat and notable day
of the Lord come : and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Now, here is a prophecy

Chap. XXIV] ST. MATTHEW. 537
in which precisely the same figures occur. Interpreted literally, the
last days could mean nothing else than the end ofthe world; but the
apostle gives us clearly to understand that these were the "last days''
of the Jewish church ; and the extinction of the sun and moon can
mean nothing else than the extinction of love and light in the church.
As, therefore, this prediction of Joel had only a spiritual fulfilment,
it is but reasonable to conclude that the Lord's prophecy must have a
spiritual fulfilment also. We now know that a literal fulfilment of
such a prophecy is impossible The darkening of the sun would
involve the ruin of our entire solar system ; and the faUing of the
stars the destruction of the whole sidereal heavens — in fact, the literal
fulfilment of the prophecy involves no less a catastrophe than the end
of the natural universe. If the natural sense is utterly impossible,
the prediction must have a spiritual meaning. We must inquire
what that meaning is.
The sun is mentioned in many places in Scripture, and always as an
emblem of love. It is in reference to its vivifying qualities of sup
porting all things on earth by its heat, that the sun has this significa
tion. For as the body is warmed by heat, so is the mind (aud the
body too, very often) by love. The moon, however, which is also
mentioned, gives no perceptible heat, but only light, and that the
reflected light of the sun ; and as light is a clear emblem of truth,
therefore the moon is always employed in Scripture to denote tho
principle of faith, which is a belief of truth. The stars, too, which to
us are lesser lights, denote the knowledge of what is good and true
derived from the Word of God. The symbolical nature of these
luminaries, and almost their exact signification, may be gathered from
a remarkable passage in the twelfth chapter of Revelation, which is also
pro2ihetic in its character. " There appeared a great wonder in heaven ;
a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon
her head a crown of twelve stars." This woman is a symbol of the
church. She is clothed with the sun, to represent the church as in
vested with love ; she has the moon under her feet, to represent that
a true faith is that on which the church rests ; and she has a crown of
twelve stars, to represent that the wisdom and inteUigence of the
church are derived from the knowledges of truth and love revealed in
the Scriptures, When, therefore, the Lord declares that, at the time
of his second coming, "the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall
not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven,'' he teaches
that at the time of his second coming there will be no love to him
and to the neighbour remaining in the church, signified by the

538

ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.

sun's being darkened ; that all true faith in him wiU be lost, signified
by the moon not giving her light ; and that all genuine knowledges of
trath derived from the Word wiU be banished, signified by the stars
faUing from heaven. To the same purpose it is said, in the sixth
chapter of Revelation, that, at the opening of the sixth seal, " the sun
became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and
the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her
untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." Here the mean
ing is the same, except that the moon is said not simply to cease
giving her light, but to be turned into blood ; and as blood, in a bad
sense, always signifies truth falsified, therefore, by the moon's under
going this transformation, is meant that a false faith would be estab
lished instead of a true one. Nearly the same is signified in the
eighth chapter, when it is said that, at the sounding of the fourth
angel, " the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of
the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them
was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the
night likewise.'' In all cases, by such language is implied a mani
festation of the state of the church iu regard to its love, faith, and
knowledge of divine truth derived from the Word. The luminaries
of heaven are the source of light and heat, and as such they are the
svmbols of spiritual principles which are to the church what light and
heat are to the earth. In Scripture, the sun is the emblem of love,
the moon of faith, and the stars of knowledges. The Lord is the
grand source of all the life and light of the church, but he communi
cates these through love, and faith, and knowledge. It is only in the
human mind, too, that the Lord's life and light can be interrupted or
intercepted. The darkening of the sun and moon, and the falling of
the stars, result from the corruptions of the church, or, what is the
same, of the human mind. Self-love intercepts love to God ; false
persuasions intercept the light of faith ; and disregard of knowledge
causes it to fail. The stars are said to fall from heaven, and the
powers of heaven to be shaken. In Genesis we read that, when God
made the two great lights, he set them in the firmament of heaven,
which is an allegorical mode of describing the elevation of love and
faith in the internal of the mind, which heaven signifies. The faUing
of the stars from heaven is the degradation of spiritual knowledge
from the internal to the external man ; which means that spiritual know
ledge is placed on a level with natural knowledge, and is regarded as
earthly, and esteemed for earthly ends. Then it is that the powers of
the heavens are shaken ; for when spiritual things are regarded and

Chap. XXIV] ST. MATTPIEW. 539
loved for natural ends, the foundations of heaven are removed, and
heavenly principles lose their stability and power.
30. When the whole fabric of the church, internal and external,
thus trembles and totters to its fall, then is the time for the Divine
power to be exerted to uphold it, and restore it to a state of stability.
When the luminaries are darkened, and the powers of heaven are
shaken, tlien shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and
then shall all the tribes ofthe earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of
man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. This
is the grand announcement of the Lord's second advent — that event
to which the church has never ceased to look for eighteen centuries.
It seems to have been the purpose of God's providence to keep the
church in uncertainty and constant expectation of the great event.
Watchfulness was required : " Watch ; for ye know not the day nor
the hour when the Son of man cometh." That the nature of the
event is different from the expectation is a point on which we have
already .spoken, and does not affect the question of its vastness and
importance. The first great difference between the reality and the
expectation is, that the Lord's coming is not a personal coming, but
a coming in spirit; not a visible, but an invisible advent. If this is
seen to be true, it alters the entire signification of the description of
his coming. If his coming is not personal and visible, he cannot
come in the clouds of the material heaven. If the circumstances
attending the Lord's coming are entirely different in their nature
from what a literal interpretation of his words would lead us to
suppose, it is but reasonable to beUeve that his coming must be
entirely different also. If one part of the prediction is to be under
stood spiritually, so must the other. A just interpretation of this
particular will reveal to us the true nature of his advent. If the
Lord is not to come in person, but in spirit and power, how is such a
coming to take place ? He can come in the hearts and spirits of his
people , and this, indeed, is his real, his practical and saving advent.
Yet this coming to the minds and souls of men must be effected
through some medium, and the only medium through which it can
take place is the Holy Word, in which the Lord reveals himself to
man. His Holy Spirit operates upon their hearts, but the Spirit
of tmth cannot operate savingly but by the Word of truth. This
Word of trath is the medium through which the coming of the Lord
takes place. The clouds of heaven in which he is to appear are the
truths of the Word in its literal sense. This sense is compared to
and imaged by a cloud, because it covers the inner spiritual sense as

540 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.
a cloud covers the glory of the heavens, or shades the brightness of
the sun. The Uteral sense of the Word is meant by clouds in those
passages where it is said that the Lord's righteousness is in the clouds,
that his truth reacheth unto the clouds, that he maketh the clouds
his chariot, and that the clouds are the dust of his feet. Unless
the Word is acknowledged to be divinely inspired, and expressed
according to the law of correspondence, these expressions will only be
regarded as figurative, and as such, understood as having a certain
undefined sublimity. To those only who see the true nature of
divine revelation can the spiritual sense be acceptable. Having,
then, stated the facts generally, that the Lord's coming is not natural
but spiritual, therefoi-e not to the sense but to the mind, and that it
is to be effected through the medium or teaching of the Word, wo
will proceed to explain this important prophecy as it stands.
" Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven." Be
tween the appearing of the sign and the coming of the Son of man
there is a distinction, but there is also a connection. We will first
state this distinction in technical language, and then explain it. The
sign of the Son of man is truth diviue, the Son of man is divine
truth. The first is truth from the Lord, the second is the Lord as
the truth. The first gives us to know the Lord out of ourselves, the
second gives us to know the Loid in ourselves. The difference
between them is, in fact, expressed by the Lord in speaking of himself
as the Spirit, when he said, " He dwelleth with you, and shall be in
you." Trath divine is with us, divine truth is in us. The first is
not the truth itself, but its sign. It is its precursor. The sign comes
before the thing signified, and prepares the way for it. This prepara
tion is not made without the tribulation of temptation, for it is by
anguish and trial that the mind is humbled and purified, and made
fit to receive the truth in its fulness and perfection. It is therefore
said that, on the appearing of the sign of the Son of man in heaven,
" then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn." The tribes of the
earth are those within the church who are in good and trath, and
their mourning is expressive of the tribulation and sorrow they
experience in passing from the first state to the second. And, indeed,
all new truth induces spiritual trial, for it disturbs the old states of
the mind, which it is its purpose to remove. In the purely spiritual
sense this is more easily seen. In this sense the tribes mean the
principles of good and truth themselves, and the earth is the natural
mind, in which these principles are. When the sign of the Son of
inan appears in heaven— that is, when truth divine is first perceived

Chap. XXIV] ST. MATTHEW. . 541
in the spiritual mind, which is heaven — its influx into, or influence
upon, the natural mind causes distress and mourning, and the days of
mourning continue till the state- is inverted, and inversion of state
takes place when the Son of man comes, and is received at his
coming. We may here remark that there is and must be an analogy
between the flrst and second coming of the Lord. We are in
structed that, when the Lord was in the world, he first made his
humanity truth divine, ancl then made it divine truth. This may be
otherwise expressed by saying that he first regenerated his humanity,
and then glorified it; he first made it an image of the Divinity, and
then made it divine, or, what is the same, he first made it heavenly,
and then made it divine. And this was not effected without the
bitterness of mourning or temptation. Although the Lord cannot
now undergo these states in himself, he still undergoes them in his
church and peojile. At his second coming he has to make his
humanity in us truth divine before he can make it divine truth.
And a corresponding, progression goes on in the church and in the
world in general. And the first we see going on before us. We see the
sign of the Son of man in all new truth that is manifested in the
world, and not only all new religious truth, but all truth in philo
sophy, and science, and government; for all such truth is from the
Lord, though it is not the Lord. Some do not even know the source
from whom it comes. Yet it is the sign of his coming, though here
also we see that the tribes of the earth mourn; for all the mighty
changes that are going on are not effected without blood, and fire,
and vapour of smoke.
We have already explained what is meant by the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven. The Lord comes as Divine Truth,
and he comes in and through the Word of truth. The internal sense
of the Word, Uke the internal of the human mind, is meant by
heaven, and its external seuse is meant by the clouds of heaven. We
have now to explain the meaning of "the Son of man coming in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory." The Lord comes in the
literal sense of the Word, revealing its spiritual sense. He comes in
the literal sense, because from the literal sense all doctrine is to be
drawn and confirmed ; and genuine doctrine derived from the literal
or natural sense of Scripture is the very vehicle in which the Lord
comes to his church and to the human mind. " He maketh the
clouds his chariot;'' and a chariot signifies doctrine, and doctrine,
deduced by right interpretation from the letter of the Word, is the
necessary receptacle and medium of all the higher degrees of know-

542 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.
led^e But while the Son of man comes in the clouds of heaven, he
comes with power and great glory. These are the properties of the
internal or spiritual sense of the Word, the revelation of which forms
one of the essential and peculiar features of the Lord's second advent.
The cloud ofthe letter is indeed the chariot in which he comes, but
the power and great glory in which he appears are the attributes that
give a distinctive and transcendent character to his second -coming.
Plis first coming in the flesh was in weakness, his second coming in
the spirit is with power; his first coming was in humility, his second
is with glory. The spiritual sense of the Word has power, because
by it the Lord is more able to regenerate the human will, which he
does by the principle of spiritual goodness, which power signifies;
and the spiritual sense has glory, for by it the Lord has more Ught to
enlighten and regenerate the human understanding, v/hich he does by
spiritual truth, which glory signifies. Yet in all the power and glory
of his divine majesty the clouds are under his feet, nor can we see
him invested with the power and glory of the internal sense of his
Divine Word but in the cloud of the letter, for none are or can be
admitted into the spiritual sense of the Word but those who are in
the genuine doctrines of its literal sense. The spiritual sense of the
Word does not set aside the letter, nor does it even diminish its
importance and sanctity; on the contrary, it increases and exalts
them. As the glory of the Lord filled the temple where he had his
habitation, so does the glory of the spiritual sense fill the temple of
the letter, where it dwells, and through which alone it can be
approached by men on earth.
31. It is remarkable that the second coming of the Lord is not
foUowed by any such catastrophe as it is generally considered shall
accompany or follow that event. The first act of the Lord after his
coming is to send Ms angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they
shall gather together his elect from ihe four winds, from one end of
heaven to the other. Spiritually understood, this description is highly
expressive. The church, not the world, having come to its end, the
Lord has come through his Divine Word to establish a new one His
first act therefore is, to gather together the remnant of the faithful—
the elect — those who have in them as much spiritual principle as can
be laid hold of by the power of the Lord's love and truth, and can be
gathered together into the Lord's fold. No doubt angels are em
ployed in this beneficent work, but the angels here are emblems as
well as agents; for while they are agents of the Lord, they are
emblems of his divine attributes, and their trumpets are symbols of

Chap. XXIV] ST. MATTHEW. 543
the truths of his Word. The angels are emblems, too, of the angelic
heaven, whence descend the influences that draw men into the Lord's
• church, g-athering and holding them together in the unity of the
Spirit and the bond of peace. But this, though it varies, does not
alter the signification, for the Lord is the all of heaven, as well as all
that constitutes the angelic nature. Whatever mediums he uses, the
origin and essence of every one of them is from him. The Lord's
sending his angels with a great sound of a trumpet is his divine
influx through angels by the truths of his Word. These truths are
the trumpets that sound in the ears of the faithful, and draw them
into the Lord's church and kingdom. The trumpets used in the
Israelitish church for proclaiming their festivals and calling the
scattered members to the holy convocations, were types of the holy
truths of the Word, by which, as by the voice of God, the children of
God are brought together. Here they are called from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other. The calUng the elect from the
ends of heaven is the caUing of all who have anything of heaven in
them. The four winds or quarters are expressive of every kind and
degree. The same thing is meant here by the four winds as by the
east, and the west, and the south, and the north, from which men
should come to the kingdom when the rebellious Jews should be cast
out. Those from the east and west are those in all degrees of good,
from the most internal to the most external; and those from the south
ancl north are those in all degrees of trath, from the clearest to the
obscurest. AU, therefore, who are in any degree whatever of the
love and practice of good and truth are invited, and will be received
into the Lord's church as the gate of heaven. The Lord speaks of
the four winds, and of the extremities of heaven ; and although
naturally they mean the same, spiritually there is a difference between
them. The winds are symbolical of the spirit of intellectual life, and
the heavens are symbolical of voluntary life, and are applied to the
spiritual and the celestial. We may remark, in conclusion, that,
understood in reference to the iudividual mind, to whom the Lord's
coming is the beginning of regeneration, the gathering together of the
elect from the four winds is the gathering of all the affections of
goodness and perceptions of truth, which is effected when they are
directed to one supreme object, and subordinated to one ruling end.
That one object is the Lord, that one end is to do his wiU.
32. We now come to contemplate the flrst fruits ofthe Lord's glorious
coming. In the parable of the flg tree we have a picture of life, and
freshness, and promise. Now learn a pa/rahle of the fig tree; When

544 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.
his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer
is nigh. No image of the church is more common, both general and
individual, than the fruit-bearing tree, whether it be the fig, the vine,
or the olive. These are the emblems of the three great characters by
which all churches, and all the men of the church, are distinguished
— natural, spiritual, and celestial. That the fig tree should furnish
the emblem of the first signs of returning life is not surprising ; for
should it not begin at the lowest, that it might ascend to the highest?
The natural is before the spiritual, and the spiritual before the
celestial. And although this church of the second advent is to be the
crown of all churches, ou the banks of whose living stream the tree of
life, first planted in Eden, is to grow and bear its monthly fruits ; yet
for that very reason its life should be developed from the humblest
and commonest of its forms. The sign of returning summer — for in
Scripture there is no word for spring — is, that the branch of the fig
tree is tender, and putteth forth leaves. The branches of a tree are
the emblems of the affections in man ; for the affections gi'ow out
from the will as branches do from the stem of the tree. And as the
will produces affections, like as the tree sends forth branches, so the
affections produce thoughts, as the branches put forth leaves. The
branches and leaves of the fig tree are therefore the symbols of affec
tions and thoughts ; and the quickening of the affections and the
unfolding of the thoughts are the spiritual ideas presented in the
natural imagery of this brief parable. WhUe the branch is yet
tender. And what makes the branch tender ? Is it not the gentle
warmth and the early dew ? And are not these themselves the
emblems of returning love and faith, under whose genial influence
and refreshing power the aff'ections grow tender and the thoughts
expand ? This is equally true of the members and of the body — of
the parts and of the whole. In the external church this beautiful
parable has been strikingly exemplified. The second coming of the
Lord has already taken place. More than a century ago a solitary
voice, but one clear, and calm, and solemn as an angel's trumpet,
sounded in the ear of Christendom the awful but joyful tidings that
the judgment had come, and that the dispensation of the first advent
had passed away, and that of the second advent had commenced.
The Son of man had indeed come as a thief in the night, unseen and
unacknowledged; and men slept and waked, and bought and sold, as if
nothing had occurred to disturb the dead calm of their settled
naturalism. But old things are passing away, and all things are
becoming new. A new influence has begun to descend, and new

Chap. XXIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 545
truths have begun to be diffused ; and ignorant as men generally are
as to the cause, all confess that a new power operates on the world,
and that signs of a new life are everywhere visible. The branch of
the flg tree is tender, and putteth forth leaves. Men's affections have
received a new impulse, and their thoughts a new direction. True,
this mental activity has as yet been manifested chiefly on the natural
side. But how great has been that activity, how extraordinary its
results ! Knowledge has increased, science has advanced, invention
and discovery have progressed with a rapidity and to an extent alto
gether unprecedented. It is not, however, to the facts only, but to
their results, that we are to look for the signs of a new Ufe. Steam
has been turned into a beast of burden, and electricity has been
endued -with the power of speech. The first has suppUed the world
with a new muscular power, the second with a new nervous system.
They have brought the inhabitants of the earth nearer to each other,
and established amongst them a community of goods. These confer
upon the inhabitants of the world material advantages chiefiy. Ad
mitting this to be the case, they are not in themselves unimportant,
and they give the promise of higher things. They do not bring us
the summer, but they tell us that the winter is past, and that the
summer is nigh. They are but the leaves of the fig tree, and those
leaves but in their budding forth. Their unfolding is yet to come, and
in this they will display yet greater beauty, and produce yet greater
results. But although the human mind has been developed chiefiy
on the natural side, it -has by no means been developed on this side
only. The moral and religious side has been to some extent developed
also. This we see in the growing desire and increasing efforts to
ameliorate the condition and improve the character of the masses, and
in the greater tolerance and more liberal views that are beginning to
prevail in the religious world. All these are signs of the spring, ancl
give the promise of summer. Spring is the time for the tree to unfold
its leaves and put forth its blossoms ; summer is the time for it to
produce its fniits. That season will come, but the time of figs is not
yet. This is the age of intelligence, but behind that intelligence there
is a prevailing selfishness. Men generally serve others with a view
to serve themselves. Each does a little for others, and as much as he
can for himself There is, therefore, in the world a much greater
inequality of natural and spiritual wealth than is consistent with
general happiness. The summer will bring the fruits of righteousness
to fill up the measure of human good, to make men brothers of a
common family, whose Father is Christ, and give that evidence of
2n

546 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. XXIV,
their being what they profess to be, which our Lord pointed out:
" By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one
another." 33. Our Lord directs us to the use of his parable, by saying, So like-
vjise ye, when ye shall see cdl these things, know that it is near, even ai
the doors. Those who see all these things, which include the dai-ken-
ing of the sun and moon, the coming of the Son of man, and the
budding of the fig tree, must see them spiritually ; and the spiritual
discernment of these things will indeed enable the mind to know that
these great events and changes are near, even at the doors. Nearness
is not nearness of time and place, but of state. This proximity of
state will be best understood when it exists in ourselves. And these
doors at which these things are, where are they but in our own minds
— these doors by which spiritual things enter into the mind from
within, and natural things from without? The doors are those ofthe
natural mind, because good and truth first gain admission into this
degree of the mind when man is being regenerated and made a
church. 34. The nearness of these things is presented under another form
in the next words : Verily I say unto you. This generation shall not
pass, till all these things be fulfilled. This is sometimes understood to
be a promise that all these predictions would be fulfilled during the
time of those who were then living. In the historical sense, the
generation meant is the race of the Jews ; and the promise is, that
that race should continue even to the time of the second advent. This
promise has had a literal fulfilment. And this is the more remark
able, considering that for eighteen centuries the people have had no
national existence, but have been scattered and persecuted in most of
the countries of the world. Among the purposes of Providence in
preventing the extinction of this extraordinary people, the preserva
tion of the Hebrew Scriptures was undoubtedly one ; for it is probable
that but for their conservative care, neither the books nor the
language of the Old Testament revelation would have survived.
Spiritually understood, generation means regeneration ; and in this
se-nse the promise is, tiiat these things are fulfiUed in regeneration and
iu the regenerate, and that regeneration shall not be completed untU
the corresponding states are realized.
35. From the time, the Lord proceeds to the certainty, of the
events. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass
away. In explaining the 29th verse, we took occasion to show that
the darkening of the sun and moon was not to be expected to have a

Chap. XXIV] ST. MATTHEW. 547
literal accomplishment. We may here also show that a similar
prophecy to this had previously been fulfilled, but of course without
disturbing the existing order of the physical universe — being fulfilled,
in fact, spiritually. In Isaiah li., at the 6th verse, there is a
simUar prediction connected with the work of human redemption
at the time of the Incarnation. " Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look upon the earth beneath : for the heavens shall vanish away
like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that
dwell therein shall die in like manner : but my salvation shall be for
ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished." Independently of
its application to the time of the first advent, the prediction has tho
appearance of a figurative enunciation. And other passages in the
prophecies confirm this view. Take, for instance, one from the same
prophet : " Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth : and the
former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind," The prediction
in which this occurs relates to the calling of the Gentiles at the
Lord's coming in the flesh, when it could have received only a
spiritual fulfilment. Indeed, the heavens and the earth are figures of
the church — heaven its internal, and earth its external. And that this
prediction relates to the church is made almost absolutely certain from
the words which immediately follow : " Be ye glad and rejoice for ever
in that which I create ; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and
her people a joy." It is surprising that, with such obvious reference
to the church, these prophecies should still be regarded as declaring the
approaching end of the visible world, — an event which, supposing it to
be destined to take place, can have no real connection with the religious
condition of mankind. Science has now come to the aid of theology,
and gives its testimony to the youth and stability of the universe, —
for these prophecies, literally understood, involve no less than the
destruction of the whole. When the Lord declared that heaven and
earth should pass away, he taught that the church would come to its
end ; yet he gave a promise that his Word would endure, which was
equivalent to promising that, while the eternal truth which formed
the church remains, there is a sure ground of hope for the human
race ; that, in brief, the endurance of the Word is a promise of the
renewal of the church — of the creation of a new heaven and a new
earth. And so we find that he who here declares that heaven and
earth shall pass away, in showing John the vision of future events,
enabled him to record : " I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for
the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea." And
here, again, Jerusalem was created a rejoicing and her people a joy:

548 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.
for John beheld the holy city, new Jerusalem, descending from God out
of this new heaven to this new earth, " prepared as a bride adorned
for her husband." Who can doubc that the whole of the splendid
vision was a symbolic representation of the glorious church of the
future ?
36. The Lord returns again to the time of the end, and speaks of its
beinf hid in the mind of the Eternal. But of that day and hour
knoweth no man, no, not ihe angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Time means state Not the time of the end of the world, but the
state of the church at its end, is the subject of which the Lord here
speaks. Why should the Lord mention the day and the hour ? Be
cause the day means the general state of the church, and the hour
means its particular state, which is the particular state of every person
in it. This no man or angel knows, nor can know. It is remarkable,
and whispers to us the existence in it of a secret and sacred meaning,
that in Mark (xiii. 32) the Lord mentions himself as one of those
from whom the time is concealed. Is it supposable that the very
person -who was to come should be ignorant ofthe day of his coming?
- — that he who was to judge the world knew not the time when the
judgment was to take place? Impossible. Does not this teach us
that the Lord's words are spirit and not flesh ? The reason that the
Father alone knew the time of the end is to be found in the signifi
cance of the names and principles of the Godhead. The Father is the
infinite Divine Love, the Son is the infinite Divine Wisdom, and angels
and men are but the finites answering to these infinites. Yet why
should not the Son, who is the infinite Wisdom, know this time ? One
might think that he was the very one to possess this knowledge. The
reason is to be found in the character of the time — in the nature of
the state of the church at its consummation. The Lord is said in
Scripture to know those who know him, and not to know those who
know not him ; and the same is said of finite beings. When it is said
that the day and hour were not known to men and angels, we are
instructed that in the church at its end there would remain nothing
truly human or angelic ; that the church, both general and particular,
would be entirely destroyed, internally and externaUy. This is
analogous to the declaration that heaven and earth would pass away,
for as angels are inhabitants of heaven and men are inhabitants of the
earth, when these had ceased to exist, there was no ground for the
perceptions of the truly human and angelic mind, and, indeed, no
reception of truly human or angelic principles ; and when men reject
all good and truth of heaven and the church, there is no longer in

Chap. XXIV] ST. MATTHEW. 549
them anything by which holy men ancl angels can know them. But
even the Son did not know, but the Father only. And this singular
declaration teaches us that, in the end which was coming upon the
world, there would be no remains of truth or wisdom left in the
church, or in the minds of its members, so that there would be noth
ing for the Divine wisdom to know or acquire All that would be left
in the church, or in the human mind, would be some remains of good
or love, which would preserve them in some connection with the
Divine love and goodness, and by which the Divine Father might
spiritually know them. This the Lord taught in another form, when
he ,said to Peter, respecting John — " If I will that he tarry till I
come, what is that to thee? follow thou me;" meaning that some
remains of good or charity would be preserved to the time of the
Lord's second coming at the end of the church, but that truth or faith
¦would pass away.
37. The same truth which we have now considered is carried out in
the words that follow. But as tlie days qf Noe were, so shall also tlie
coming qftlie Son of man be. The devastation of the church is here
described. But Noe signifies the spiritual church, or the church
which is principled in truth or wisdom ; as Adam signifies the
celestial church, or the churcli which is principled in goodness or love.
This comparison of the state of the church with that of Noe implies
that the church was devastated as to truth ; but as no comparison is
made between its days and those of Adam, it was not devastated as
to good, of which some still remained. And, indeed, as celestial
remains are stored up in infancy, and are the most interior, they are
the last to be destroyed ; and if they were destroyed, the restoration
of the church and the salvation of men would be impossible. Then
the day and the hour would be unknown, not only to the Son, but to
the Father also, and the day and hour of the church would be blotted
out for ever. But, blessed be God, whose mercy never faUeth, a
very small remnant is ever preserved, which divine love can take hold
of to form a new seed in the earth ! The state of the first Christian
church at its end is compared to that of Noe, because the first
Christian church was analogous to the ancient church. The Christian
church was the ancient church unswathed, for its principles lay
infolded in the representatives of the ancient church. But the
analogy may seem not to hold good here, since the days of Noe, to which
those of the Christian church are likened, are not the last days of the
ancient, but of the most ancient church, before the flood came and
swept them all away. The seeming incongruity will disappear when

550 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. XXIV,
we reflect that the course of the Christian churches is the inverse of
that of the pre-Christian. The first church was analogous to the
ancient church, and the second is analogous to the most ancient.
The states of the devastation of the Christian church are compared
to those of the most ancient church, which were of a direful character.
Yet they are called the days of Noe, to indicate their spiritual origin.
But Noe's is a name of promise as well as of devastation. His
name means comfort ; and as Noah signifles those who can be saved
by temptations, the comfort which succeeds temptation, which is the
flood, is included in the name of the last of the most ancient and the
first of the ancient church. So may we say of the coming of the Son
of man. He comes as the Judge and as the Comforter ; for it is the
same divine truth that condemns the evil and comforts the good.
38. The nature of the states signified by the days of Noe are
next described. For as in the days that were before the fiood they
were eating and drinking — that is, they appropriated evil and
falsity; marrying and giving in marriage — that is, they conjoined
evil and falsity. This "marrying and giving in marriage" is
expressive of the mutual and reciprocal desire and activity of e-vil
and falsity to unite with each other. Evil marries what is false, and
what is false gives itself in marriage to evil. This is the infernal
marriage— the union of will and intellect, of heart and head, in loving
and thinking evil; and it is also the union of heart and hand in
willing and doing it. This continued until the day that Noe entered
into the ark. Noe was the remnant saved out of the earliest church,
as the germ out of whicli the second might be produced. The ark
was the means by which he was preserved during the flood, and
carried him, as it were, from the old over into the new world. And
what is the ark of safety for the church, and for the man of the church,
but the Word of God ? It is from that we derive the materials, as
it is from God we receive the wisdom, to form a refuge and covert
from the tempest. And this is just that which the wicked despise,
and to which they will not betake themselves. The day when Noe
entered into the ark is the state when the piure are separated from the
impure, the righteous from the wicked, and when the faithful separate
themselves from the world, and place themselves under the protection
of the Most High.
39. The evil knew nothing of the coming judgment until the fiood
came, and took them all away. The flood, spirituaUy understood — and
it had no historical existence — is an inundation of falses. It was this
that brought the first church to an encL This it was that took them

Chap, XXIV.] ST. MATTHEW, 551
all away. So shall also the coming qf the Son qf man he. This does
not mean that the end of the Christian church would come with a
flood. The end of this dispensation or " world " is declared to be
with flre. Fire is an emblem of love, and evil love is the fire by
which the church of the first advent has been consumed. When it is
said, " So shall also the coming of the Son of man be," it is in refer
ence to the evil not knowing the time of their visitation. The Word
always speaks of the day overtaking the evil in the midst of their
traffic and their pleasures. The righteous know not, indeed, the day
or the hour, but they watch, that the Lord at his coming may find
them ready.
40, 41. And the Lord at his coming finds both evil and good. For
Tlien shall two be in tlie field ; ihe one shall he taken, and the other left.
Two women shall be grinding at tlie mill ; tlie one shall he taken, and
the other left. These twos are evidently in opposite states. The two
in the field are those of whom some are in good and some in evil; and
the two grinding at the mill are those of whom some are in truth and
some in falsity. The two are therefore not two persons, but two
classes; and these the two classes everywhere treated of in the Word
— those who act more from the will, and those who act more from the
understanding. In the figure by which the Divine Speaker repre
sents the second class there is a peculiarity that deserves attention.
There are two "grinding at the mill." Grinding is the symbol of inquir
ing and investigating, and therefore implies an intellectual operation.
The two grinding at the mill are two who are in the same doctrine,
but who are in opposite states of life- — a circumstance which is always
possible, but which is more common in a declining or degraded state
of the church. And from this we leam that it is not doctrine, but
life, that determines the real and final state of man. The same
doctrine may be studied ancl maintained from opposite loves, which is
indicated by those grinding at the mill being women.
42. The Lord now turns from the immediate subject of the con
summation of the age and his second coming, to teach his disciples,
and us through them, some solemn lessons for our guidance in relation
to it. The first is an admonition and a warning combined. Watch
tlierefore : for ye know noi wliat hour your Lord doth come. Spiritual
watchfulness is not merely an act, but a state ; not a duty only, but a
principle. Watchfulness implies devotion to an end, and faithfulness
in keeping that end constantly in view, and in doing everything
necessary to secure it. Watchfulness is a state of the good of faith,
or a state of truth and a life according to it; and the good of faith is

552 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.
the life of faith. Watchfulness is thus preparedness. The reason
given for watching is, that we know not what hour our Loi-d doth
come. The end of a church and the end of life are equally hid from
us, that we may be influenced, by the general knowledge, to do what
the particular knowledge would incapacitate us for doing. And as
the Lord comes to each of us at the time of the end, as truly as he
comes to the church at the time of its consummation, we may, with
more direct practical advantage, consider the remainder of the Lord's
address as it applies more immediately to ourselves. In relation to
our own last day and hour. Divine Providence has wisely and merci
fully concealed them from us, for the very purpose of making us
watch, and being always ready. We are not to watch as one does
who is to meet and repel an enemy, but as one who is to meet and
welcome a friend. The coming of the Son of man is in itself
inevitable and irresistible. It is an event that most of us would
ward off' or avoid if we could. But as there is no use in attempting
this, we ought to do that which alone is wise — prepare our.selves for
the event. We know not what hour the Lord .shall come, but we
know that he will come. This is all we require to know in order to
be always ready.
43. But this seems to be rather set aside by our Lord's next words.
But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what
watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would noi have
suffered liis house io he broken up. At first sight this seems as if it
would be an advantage for the possessor of the house to know when
the thief would come. This, however, is rather a description of what
man would do, than of what he should do. A man would indeed
watch if he knew in what hour he should be called away; but, then,
he would never think of watching till the hour aj'proached. We see
this disposition and its consequence in the world. Many speak of
giving up their pleasures or their business in time to devote them
selves to religion, as advancing age gives its monition of their
approaching end. All such plans are the results of spurious feelings
and mistaken views. They proceed on the mistake that religion is
something separate from the duties and enjoyments of common life.
Common life is the appointed and congenial sphere for the daily
cultivation and practice of religious virtue Religion is to be infused
into all the actions of life Life is a school for practically learning
the way to heaven. That way Ues through active usefulness. He
leads a heavenly life who sanctifies his earthly deeds witii heavenly
ends. The heavenly life must be lived without reference to time.

Chap. XXIV] ST. MATTHEV/. 553
We know not what a day may bring forth. There is some difference
in the expression here. The Lord does not speak of the hour, but of
the watch. " If the good man had known in what watch the thief
would come'' A watch in the Old Testament times was four hours;
at this time it was three. A watch therefore indicates a more
general state than an hour. It also has relation to a state of truth,
or an inteUectual state, as the idea of watching ancl watchfulness
implies. In the good, watchfulness is truth terminating in good, or
intellect grounded in will ; with the evil, it is truth without good,
intellect grounded in concupiscence. This is the state of the man
who, if he had known the time of visitation, " would not have suffered
his house to be broken up "• — more literally, to be " dug through."
And here again we have an expression that has reference to intellectual
action ; for to dig is to inquire, to investigate, or search thoroughly
into anything. Here, it is true, digging is not cultivating the soil
in order to sow and reap, but digging into the house to obtain by
stealth what one is too indolent to procure by industry. How would
this supposed watcher not have suffered his house to be dug through ?
His intellect would have been awake, so as to keep the character of his
mind from being discovered ; for the house is a symbol of the mind,
digging through which is to enter into it, and take away the know
ledge it has acquired.
44. Therefore he ye also ready, says our Lord : for in such an hour
as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Readiness is now substituted for
watchfulness. To be ready is to be prepared as to the will and good
ness, as to be watchful is to be prepared more especiaUy as to the
understanding. Watchfulness prepares the way for readiness ; truth,
for goodness. He that is watchful will find himself ready — he that
faithfully uses knowledge will come to the virtue which it teaches.
To' be in this state is to be ready. And this is a state at which all
should aim. When that hour comes that the Son of man appears,
that hour which we know not, then shall we feel the value of being
prepared. 45. The Saviour now illustrates the subject of his teaching by a
parable. In this he describes the man that watcheth as a servant
whom his lord made ruler over his house, and whom he found faithful
at his coming ; and the man who does not watch he represents as a
servant who, thinking his lord delayed his coming, began to smite his
fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken. The end of
the one was honour, that of the other, degradation. We proceed to
examine this divine simile. Who then is a faithful and wise servant,

554 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.
whom- his lord hath made ruler over Ms houseliold, to give them meat
in due season? We are servants of God, who created us to serve
him. And we find in what our service to him consists. We too
often make our service to God to consist in serving him in wor
ship. The service he requires is here described as ministering to his
household — doing good to our fellow-servants, both as members of his
church and of his human family. The name " servant" has spiritually
reference to those who are in possession of the truth ; but these may
be either good or bad servants, as they employ the truth to do good
or to do evib The servant is made ruler over his lord's household.
The house is the church, and the household are its members. The
servants in the church are its ministers, whose office it is to give to the
members of the household, which they have been called to rale or
feed, meat in due season — suitable and seasonable instruction. In au
enlarged sense every one is a servant, for it is the duty of every mem
ber of the household of faith to serve, or do service to the brethren ;
so that every one is accountable for the way in which he discharges
his duty as a servant of God by serving his neighbour. Those espe
cially who are in truth above others are able to serve their simpler
brethren, and lead them where the truth directs them to walk. If
they perform their duty, the servants will be blessed ; if they do not,
their final lot will be weeping and gnashing of teetlr. The general
lesson of the parable lies near the surface. The purely spiritual sense
leads us into a more interior and even more practical wisdom, and on
this sense we offer a few remarks. It is a characteristic of this sense
that it applies to the individual mind, leading one to look into the
state and workings of his own heart and interior life. In the internal
sense, we may find the lord, and the servant, .^d the household in
ourselves. The internal man is the lord, and the external is the
servant ; more interiorly, the principle of good in the internal is
lord, and the principle of truth in the external is servant, and the
household, or family, are the affections of goodness and perceptions of
trath. The servant is appointed by his lord to rule over his house
hold. The household being the affections and thoughts ofthe natural
mind, truth is ruler over them ; for it is the office of truth to produce
and maintain order. Good may indeed be called the ruling power ;
but good rules by means of truth, or, what amounts to the same, the
will rules by means of the understanding. Good aud the will cannot
rule by themselves, or immediately ; for good is mere affection, and will
is blind impulse. To truth and intellect belong discrimination and
judgment — in one word, laws by which rule and order exist. Hence

Chap. XXIV.] ST. MATTHEW. 555
it is that to bring and keep the affections and thoughts in order, good
must employ truth, or the will must employ the understanding. Rule
is not exercised by the higher as an active power through the lower
as a passive instrument. If this were the case, the servant could have
no choice, and incur no blame, and would have no title to either
praise or blame. But the internal and external of man are distinct.
They form the inseparable parts of every man, but they have a dis
tinct will and action. The internal acts upon the external, but it
does not act ihrough it. The external is a re-agent, and so much is it
so, that it can re-act either with or against the internal, and may then
be either a "faithful and wise," or "an evil" servant. Besides these
two parts ofthe mind, there is a third — a sort of intermediate. Of the
existence of this we are conscious ; for we can look into and see both
sides of our own mind and character, both the good and the bad, the
true and the false. Who then is a faithful and wise servant ? The
external is such a servant when it submits itself to the will of the
internal, and carries out its purposes by ruling over the natural affec
tions and appetites, and giving them their meat in due season, which
is to give them the nourishment which they require to sustain them,
including seasonable orderly gratification. Meat more especially
means the good necessary to support them. Yet that good is not so
much imparted as acquired. The Lord showed how the mind was to
be fed when he said, " My meat is to do the will of him that sent me,
and to finish his work.'' Just as" the Lord's humanity was fed by doing
the will of the indwelling divinity, or, just as his external man was
fed by doing the will of his internal, so are the affections of our
external man fed by a faithful and wise subordination of the external
to the internal — of the natural to the spiritual. The servant is to
give the household their meat in due season, which is, to make them
do good according to truth, or to exercise charity according to faith, — ¦
or, as it may be expressed, to do good with discrimination ; for truth
discriminates, as good desires and loves.
46. Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shcdl find
so doing. The blessing promised, or pronounced, on the wise and
faithful servant, is the result of his fidelity and wisdom. The result
of ruling and feeding the affections and perceptions of the external
man, in obedience to the will of the internal, is, that these two parts
of our nature become harmonized and united. And this union is
itself blessing, for it introduces the mind into a tranquil, peaceful,
happy state. NaturaUy, the inner and outer man are entirely oppo
site. This opposition is the cause of mental disorder and misery; and

656 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV.
it is only when their opposition is removed, and true peace between
them is restored, that the Divine blessing is received. The blessing is
promised to him whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
The lord is represented as being absent, the servant being left with
the entire charge of the family, indicating that our natural man is as
it were left to himself in the exercise of his freedom, to do or not to
do as his will may determine. It implies also the necessity of per
severing unto the end, when the Lord cometh to judgment.
47. And what is in this case the result of judgment ? Verily I say
unto you. That he shall m.ake Mm 7-uler over all his goods. When the
Lord was speaking of his union with the Father, he said, " All things
that the Father hath are mine" The divinity and the humanity
were related to each other as the internal and the external man. All
that was accomplished in the Lord was the grand prototype of what
can be effected in man. As by glorification the Lord's humanity
became possessed of all the attributes of the divinity, so by regenera
tion the external man becomes possessed of all the jiroperties of the
internal. They are not, indeed, his owa as independent possessions.
Such a claim would deprive him of them. He is only appointed over
tliem, and holds them and uses them under the internal as their
owner, under whom they ought to be administered. It is enough
that all the good and truth, and, with them, all the joys and delights,
of the inner man should be enjoyed by the outer, as the reward of
fidelity in the use of his own. He that is faithful over a few things
is made ruler over many things, and enters into the joy of his
Lord. 48. But the opposite side of the extern-al man is presented in con
trast to this. But if that evil servant shall say in Ms heart. My Lord
delayeth Ms coming. The case of a wicked servant is here supposed,
but one who has been entrusted with the charge of the household,
and who so far feels his obUgation as to look for his lord's return,
but who abuses his trust when he thinks his lord delays his coming.
He represents one, therefore, who is nominally a Christian, but who
is really, as this servant is called, a hypocrite Considered as a type
of the natural man, he presents to our view the external of one who
has been trained in the forms and habits of religion, and has preserved
an outward conformity with the order of spiritual life. In this case
the inner man, flowing into the orderly external, gives it that power
which is necessary to its free and independent action. And, indeed,
the servant denoting not only the external man in general, but truth
in the external man in particular, we here see the character of the

Chap. XXIV.] ST. MATTHEW, 557
mind when it has truth, but has no corresponding good. The first
manifestation of the true character is in the servant saying in his
heart, " My lord delayeth his coming." SpirituaUy, this is more
than a secret doubt ; it is a thought, the offspring of a wish. A voice
¦within the heart is a thought that springs out of the will, which is
desire speaking. Delay has in it something more than the idea of
procrastination. Time being the symbol of state, haste and delay sig
nify certainty and uncertainty. When the Lord said to John,
" Behold, I come quickly,'' he did not promise to come soon, but to
come certainly. When the evil servant said his lord delayed his
coming, he entertained a secret disbelief that his lord would come at
all. This is the spiritual idea it contains, and the spiritual state it
describes. And this disbelief in the lord's coming is spiritually a
denial of the existence of an internal man, and with it a doubt of
every corresponding internal — a denial of the internal of the church,
of heaven, of the Word, and of the Lord. This state results in a state
and in acts described in the next verse.
49. And shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink
with the drunken. The fellow-servants are co-ordinate and subordi
nate truths. Truths disagree, not that truths have any disagreement
among themselves, but they are set at variance in ill-regulated and
contentious minds, and among discordant men. It is good that makes
men agree with one another, and it is good that makes truths agree
with one another. So far as we are evil, so far do the truths we
possess come into conflict. We see this exemplified in open and ex
treme cases in infidel minds, who consider that revealed religion is a
system of contradictions. This is more or less the case, though dif
ferently manifested, in every mind where evil has a controlling influ
ence. And that ruUng trath which evil has perverted, smites every
other. It is the Ishmaelite whose hand is against every man. And
when truths are silenced or rejected, there is then the appropriation
of evil and falsity, which is to eat and drink with the drunken. The
drunken are they who imbibe falsities, so that this being opposite to a
state of truth, which a good servant signifies, the servant's conduct is
expressive of the falsification of truth.
50. But a day of reckoning comes. The lord of that servant shall
come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is
not aware of. If the lord signifies the internal man, and j'et the evil
have no proper internal, what are we to understand the lord's coming
to mean ? Every man has an internal, although the internal of the
evil is different from that of the good. EvU closes the true internal,

558 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXIV,
and makes it as if it did not exist ; and in this state it is that the
servant says in his heart that his lord delays his coming. His coming
as the author of good and the dispenser of blessing is indeed delayed-—
delayed or prevented by the evil itself that rules in the external.
But tbe lord does come, if not in this world, at least in the next.
For judgment is effected by laying open the internal — opening the
book of the internal memory, where all the life is written^ — not the
actions, but the ends from which they have been performed. For
while the word and deed are written in the external memory, the
motive is engraven at the same time in the internal memory. And
when this is laid open, and explains every recorded word and deed in
the external, then does the lord come. And he comes in a day when
he looketh not for him ; for the inner memory of the spirit is
unknown to man while he lives in the world, and therefore, during it,
it remains silent, till death breaks the seals and reveals its contents.
And so complete is this revelation of every one's interior state that
men are not only convicted but convinced of their evils.
51. The consequences of the lord's coming are described by the lord
saying of the servant that he shall cut him asunder, and aiipoint Mm
his portion with the hypocrites. This cutting asunder describes the
result of judgment, or the opening the internal, in separating from
the nominal and deceitful disciple everything good and true. Those
who are of this formal religious character have good and truth out
wardly, which they have put on, as the false prophets put on a hairy
garment to deceive. Stripped of this outward vesture, they stand out
in their own undisguised character, as evil servants. And those
assumed excellencies of good and truth, of love and faith, adhere only
to the external man, and have had no real conformity with their
essential character. They are therefore appointed a portion with the
hypocrites, or profane; and where these are, there shall he weeping and
gnashing of teeth. Weeping is misery arising out of evil, and gnash
ing of teeth is misery arising from falsities. Weeping is grief of
heart, gnashing of teeth is sorrow of intellect— not, alas ! weeping or
sorrow for sin, but rather of rage and disappointment; grief for the
restrained evU of a malevolent will and the transparent fallacies of a
perverse and deceitful understanding. Evil and falsehood carry their
own punishment in themselves, and in the other life it comes out and
returns upon the evil doer.

Chap. XXV.] ST. MATTHEW. 559

CHAPTER XXV.
This chapter is a continuation of the discourse which our Lord
addressed to his disciples on the subject of his second coming, and of
the judgment connected with it. The whole of this concluding por
tion of his discourse relates to judgment. This is presented under
three different images, — the parables of the ten virgins, of the talents,
and of the sheep and the goats. The last may not be strictly a
parable, but it is, no doubt, in some of its features parabolical. These
parables, like the others delivered by our Lord, are distinguished for
their beauty, richness, and instructive wisdom.
Before proceeding to consider these parables, it may be useful to
say a few words on the subject of general and particular judgments.
This distinction is not sufficiently attended to, and seems not to be
well understood. Most Christians have an impression, amounting
almost to a conviction, that the soul enters immediately after death
into heaven or hell ; and yet a belief almost universally prevails, that
all are to be judged at the last day, which is understood to mean the
end of the world. A revelation of the spiritual sense of the Word,
and of the nature and economy of the spiritual world, has shown how
these two ideas may be reconcUed with each other. What the reli
gious world has hitherto understood to mean the end of the world, is,
we have seen (ch. xxiv. 3), the end of the church, or the close of the
religious dispensation. And as there have been several dispensations
in the world, there have been several general judgments. There has
been such a judgment at the end of every dispensation ; for the
general judgment is that which brings the dispensation to a close,
and prepares for or forms the commencement of a new one. The
judgment which is described in this chapter, is that which our Lord
predicted would take place at the end of the dispensation which he
then established. And this is called the last judgment, both because
that dispensation is the last which will ever come to an end, and
because the judgment upon it is the last general judgment that will
ever take place. The church of the Lord's second advent is the
crowning dispensation, and will endure for ever. No general judg
ment wUl therefore ever again take place, because none wUl ever be
required. Every individual will in future be judged immediately
after death. It is only when circumstances exist that prevent the
regular occurrence of particular judgment, that a general judgment
can take place. We will explain how this is. The whole spiritual
world consists of three general divisions. Heaven and hell form two of

560 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXV.
these, and are opposite to each other in situation, as they are in state.
Between these there is a third region ; and this is intermediate in
situation, because its inhabitants are intermediate in state, between
the two opposite kingdoms we have mentioned. Heaven and hell are
the ultimate and eternal abodes of the good and the evU. But the
intermediate region, called the world of spirits, is the immediate and
temporary abode of all who depart from the natural world. Both
the good and the evil pass through it ou their way to their final
abode. Here they are prepared for their ultimate destination. The
])reparation consists in separating from the good any evil that adheres
to them before they enter heaven, and in separating from the evil any
good that adheres to them before they enter hell. The time they
remain in the world of spirits is determined by the ease or difficulty with
which this separation is effected. This is the normal state of things
— the appointed order of progression. That which gives rise to a general
judgment is an interruption of this order, a derangement of that state.
Circumstances arise out of the decline of the church on earth which
prevent the regular and progressive separation of good and evil in those
who enter the world of spirits ; and the consequence is, that those in
whom the separation cannot be effected, remain in that intermediate
place till the end ofthe dispensation, when a general judgment effects
upon aU what a particular judgment could not previously accomplish
upon each. So long as evil and good are mixed in the minds of
departed spirits, so long good and evil spirits, like good and evil
men on earth, can remain together ; but when an extraordinary
divine operation separates good and evil in the minds of such spirits,
then, as a natural and necessary consequence, good and evil spirits
are separated from each other, and the good pass into heaven, and
the evil into hell. This is the judgment which is treated of in the
present chapter — a judgment that took place in the spiritual world,
where all judgment must and does take place, and which was effected
on those only who had belonged to the Christian dispensation, not on
all who had Uved from the beginning of the world. This mingling of
the evil and the good in the world of spirits, or intermediate state,
is described in the parable of the wheat and tares being aUowed to
grow up together until the harvest, which is called the end of the
world — literally, the consummation of the age — and which spirituaUy
means the end of the church. The general judgment which took place
at the time of the Lord's incarnation was upon the Noetic dispen.sa-
tion, which commenced after the event described as a flood. The dis
pensation that succeeded this, called the Israelitish, was not, as we

Chap. XXV] ST. MATTHEW, 561
have seen, a church in the proper sense of the term, but only the
representative or shadow of a church, and may be considered as a pro
longation of the dispensation proper, till the fulness of time, when the
Lord should come into the world. The good and the evil belonging to
this dispensation, who, like the wheat ancl the tares, had been allowed
to grow up together in the world of spirits until the harvest, were
those on whom the Lord performed a general judgment at the time of
liis first coming. This judgment could not be effected till after the
Lord had completed the gloriflcation of his humanity and the subju
gation ofthe powers of darkness ; for these two works prepared the
way for the separation of the good and the evil in the intermediate
state, and for the evil being cast iuto hell, and the good raised into
heaven. Besides being described in these parables, this work is
spoken of in other parts of the Scriptures. We read that the Lord
was " put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit : by which
also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison ; which sometime
were disobedient, when once the long-suff'ering of God waited in the
days of Noah" (1 Pet. iii. 18). These .spirits in prison were of the
Noetic dispensation. The prison in which they were cannot mean
hell, from which there is no deliverance, but must be the intermediate
state, to the temporary inhabitants of which the Lord could preach
redemption. These spirits were the prisoners of hope spoken of by
the prophet Zechariah (ix. 12), and the bound and in prison whom the
Redeemer came to deliver (Isa. Ixi. 1 ; xlii. 7). In agreement with thi.s,
the Apostles' Creed states as an article of early faith, thatthe Lord, when
put to death, descended into hell — that is, into hades, the name, among
the early Christians, of the intermediate state. The spirits in prison who
accepted the deliverance which the Lord preached, he carried with
him into heaven at the time of his ascension ; as it is written, " Thou
hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive " (Ps. Ixviii.
18). The whole subject ofthe Lord's ascension into heaven after his
descent into hades is stated by the apostle Paul. " When he ascended
up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now
that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended flrst into the
lower parts of the earth ? He that descended is the same also that
ascended up far above all heavens, that he might flU all things " (Eph.
iv. 8).
The description which the Scriptures give of the judgn-ient which
took place at the Lord's first coming enables us to form an idea ot
that which took place at his second advent, a vision of which was
presented to the Apocalyptic seer, which he thus describes, — " And I
2o

562 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXV,
saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the
earth and the heaven fled away ; and there was found no place for
them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; and
the books were opened : and another book was opened, which is the
book of Ufe : and the dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave
up the dead which were in it ; and death and hell (hades) delivered up
the dead which were in them : and they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell (hades) were cast into
the lake of fire. This is the second death '' (Rev. xx. 1 1-14). Hades is
clearly a different place from the burning lake, and is evidently the
temporary abode of souLs, preparatory to the final judgment. This
intermediate world presents to us in this instance its evil side, as it
sometimes does in the Word. We have here only to concern our
selves with the fact that, as hades was cast into the lake at the time
of the judgment, it must be a different place from it.
In all the parables recorded in this chapter there are three leading
points in which they have a common resemblance. The good and the
evil form one company, or congregated mass of human beings, mixed
together, and undistinguished from each other as to their opposite
characters. This is the first aspect in which they are presented before
us. Then comes the judgment. Its first effect is to distinguish and
separate the evil from the good — the wise from the foolish vii-gins, the
faithful from the unfaithful servants, the sheep from the goats ; and
its second effect is to consign the good and the evil to their proper and
final habitations.
1. Having offered these remarks on the subject of judgment, we nov/-
proceed to consider the parables in which it is described. The parable
of the ten virgins is one of the most attractive of the many which our
Lord deUvered and has left for the edification of his church. Impor
tant as it is to have right views on the nature ofthe general judn-ment,
yet particular judgment is that in which we have the deepest, because
an immediate personal interest. It will therefore be most profitable
for us to consider the parable in this application. For every divine
work is like itself in its general and particular operations. The less
is an image or epitome of the greater ; aud the same description
appUes to both. So with the parable of the ten virgins. Then shall
ilie kingdom of heaven he likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps,
and went forth to meet the bridegroom. A virgin is a common symbol
of the church, and of the church both in its pure and corrupt state.
The virgin daughter of Zion and of Jerusalem are other names for the

Chap. XXV] ST. MATTHEW. 563
church, but even the virgin daughters of Israel can do a very horrible
thing (Jer. xviii. 13), and in doing it, must represent the church, and
the members of the church, in a corrupt state. Among the reasons
for virgins being taken to represent the church in the present instance,
there is one that appears to deserve attention. The three parables
which the Lord employs in this chapter to describe the same event,
we cannot suppose to be mere variations of the same idea. The
things signified are as different as the symbols. The three parables
are descriptions of the judgment on three different classes of persons.
The virgins are they who are judged as to their affection for and
against the principles of goodness ; the servants to whom the Lord
delivered talents are they who are judged as to their affections for or
against the principles of trath ; and the sheep ancl the goats are they
who are judged as to their affections for or against goodness and truth
in the actions of Ufe. Thus discriminated, the parables may be under
stood in relation to an individual as well as to a multitude. There
are ten virgins. In the natural sense this may be considered to mean
an indefinite number, but in the spiritual sense numbers have a
definite signification. Both revelation and creation bear testimony to
these numbers being the result of a divine law. All the laws of
divine order are collected into the ten commandments. But these
are still more summarily expressed in the two general precepts of
love to God and love to man, as the ten commandments were
written on two tables by the finger of God. The number of the
virgins in the parable, sjiiritually understood, has therefore a distinct
and instructive meaning. The virgins are ten in number, not only
because that is an indefinite numVier, used to express all who were to
be judged, but because it expresses all who have been instructed in the
knowledge of the Divine laws, and have had the abUity, the means,
and the opportunity of preparing themselves to enter with the bride
groom into the marriage — with the Lord the Saviour into the kingdom
of heaven. One ofthe particulars in which these ten virgins were alike
was that diey took tlieir lamps. The lamp, as the means of affording light,
is employed here, and in other parts of Scripture, as a symbol of light
itself ; and light is a universally recognized emblem of truth, which is
intellectual light. As a lamp is the emblem of truth that enlightens
the mind, so is it of the Word itself, from which all true enlighten
ment comes. " Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto
my path " (Ps. cxix. 105). The possession of the Word as an imme
diate revelation from God is that which peculiarly distinguishes the
members of the Lord's visible church from tho heathen. God has

564 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXV.
nowhere left himself without a witness, but the direct light of revela
tion is the highest testimony which he vouchsafes to man. It is not,
however, the Word as a book, precious as it is, that makes it a lamp
which we can take to light us on our way, but it is the Word as a
record in our mind. The Word can only be a lamp to guide us on
our way so far as its truths are engraven on our heart or inscribed on
our memory. The parable assumes that the ten virgins were each
possessed of a lamp. Each one of those whom they represent is in
possession of the Word, even to having its general truths impressed
upon their minds. But the parable begins by saying of the virgins
that they took their lamps. To take the lamp is to apprehend the
truths of the Word, and even to take hold of them by faith ; for those
who belong to the church, and profess to be Christians, must at least
have some nominal belief in its principles. There is another parti
cular in which the ten virgins resembled each other : they went forih
fo meet the bridegroom. The taking of their lamps and going forth
to meet the bridegroom describes the commencement of the religious
life, when the Word, previously possessed, becomes an object of mental
apprehension and personal faith, when men go forth to meet the bride
groom, by coining to the Lord, either really or nominally, as the
Redeemer and Saviour.
2. But while all possessed the Word, and had a knowledge of its
truths, and professed belief in them, the virgins were yet essentially
different in character, for five of tliem, were wise, and five were foolish.
No words could express greater opposition of state and character than
this. In the language of Scripture, wisdom and folly do not mean
keenness and obtuseness of intellect, but moral excellence and deprav
ity. The wise and the foolish of the Scriptures are the good and the
evil. Wisdom and knowledge are sometimes confounded with each
other, but they are entirely different. Wisdom is knowledge reduced
to practice ; knowledge teaches us the way of life and happiness, and
the wise are they who walk in it. But he who knows how to be
happy, and yet acts in such a way as to bring certain misery on him
self, cannot be considered wise, but in the most emphatic sense is
foolish. There can be no wisdom without knowledge, but there may
be knowledge without wisdom.
3, 4. The Lord, after telling us that five were wise and flve were
foolish, shows in what their wisdom and folly consisted, and in what
it was exhibited. They that were foolish took their lamps, and look no
oil with them: hut the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
All alike had the lamp of truth, but the wise only had the oil of

Chap. XXV.] ST. MATTHEW. 565
love. Here is the grand distinction between wisdom and folly.
Splendid talents, high intelligence, ardent zeal, may not be claimed by
the wise more than by the foolish. In all matters of intellect, the
spiritually foolish may even outshine the spiritually wise. Intellectual
acuteness does not constitute wisdom, and is not incompatible with
folly. But this is a point that will be more clearly seen in a future
part of the parable. We need only remark here, that wherever oil is
mentioned throughout the Scriptures, love is the grace which is meant
by it. And the Scriptures throughout as invariably teach that love
is the essence of religion : " God is love, and he that dwelleth in love
dwelleth in God, and God in him" (1 John iv. 16). If Christian love
is that which enables us to dwell in the bosom of divine love, it is
evident that those who are destitute of that heavenly grace cannot
enter heaven.
5. The bridegroom whom the ten virgins went out to meet did not
immediately come. And while ihe bridegroom tarried, they all slum
bered and slept. Whether we consider the scene of this transaction to
be in the natural or in the spiritual world, it teaches us here an
instructive lesson. As the lord, when he delivered talents to his
servants, left them and went into a far country, whence he returned
to receive his own with usury, so does the bridegroom tarry, after he
has invited the guests to the wedding. His tarrying is the interval
between our being endowed with the means of living for heaven, and
our entering into the spiritual world, to reaUze what we have pre
pared ourselves for receiving. During this important period the wise
and foolish live undistinguished from each other, and even are all
slumbering and sleeping. This common condition is significant. An
external state of life is meant by sleep, and an internal state by wake
fulness. Life in this world is as sleep, compared with life in the eter
nal world, which, comparatively, is wakefulness. The spirit of man,
which is the real man, while in the body, is in a state of comparative
dullness and obscurity, both as to the will and understanding, which
in the parable is expressed by slumbering and sleeping. This is a
state or condition of being which is incident to the real and the
nominal members of the church alike, the difference being, that the
same external condition covers two different states of mind.
6. And at midnight ihere was a cry made, Beliold, the bridegroom
comeih; go ye out to meet him. Midnight is the time of the end, and
the midnight cry is the announcement of a new beginning. The end
of the church, the end of Ufe, the end of a particular state, is expressed
in the Scriptures by night, and especially by midnight. When the

oGG ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXV.
midnight of the Jewish church arrived, there was a cry made of the
same purport as that in the parable. John was " The voice of him
that crieth in the wUderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make
his paths straight." So with every one individually at the end of life.
When the day of preparation is ended, the midnight cry is raised, that
the bridegroom cometh, and that we must go out to meet him. The
Lord comes to us by the messenger of death, and calls us to go out of
the body and out of the world to meet him.
7. Awakened by the midnight ciy, then all those virgins arose, and
trimmed their lamps. When we pass out of time into eternity, we
awaken to the consciousness of a new and higher state of existence.
The material body and all the conditions of time and space being
removed, the soul is set free ; and the spiritual world, which before
was a matter of faith, becomes an object of sight. What an awaken
ing is this ! Its immediate effect is to call into activity the faculties
both of the will and the understanding, which is expressed by the
virgins arising and trimming their lamps. Arising is predicated of
the will and its affections, and trimming the lamp, of the understand
ing and its thoughts. When, even in this life, the aff'ections are
greatly excited, they rise above their ordinary condition into one of
intense feeUng, and when the thoughts are powerfully directed to a
subject, they concentrate theu- energies, and endeavour to bring
increased light to bear upon it. How much more must this be the
case with us all when we awake in the eternal world, and hear the
midnight cry, " Prepare to meet thy God ! "
8. And now the fatal truth dawns upon the minds of the foolish
ones. The lamps which they have trimmed are going out, and they
have no oil to feed the dying flame. And the foolish said unto fhe unse,
Giveus of your oil; for our lamps are gone (going) out. During their abode
in the world they were able to keep the lamp of faith from dying out
by that flctitious love which simulates the true — the love of know
ledge, that simulates the love of truth. But in the spiritual world,
where earthly counterfeits are of no avail, the fictitious fountain
dries up, and the lamp of faith which has no true spiritual love to
support it gradually dies out. But the foolish see that the wise
have oU, and they desire to receive from them what they had
neglected to acquire for themselves.
9. But the wise refused to supply the need of their destitute com
panions. They answered, saying. Not so ; lest there be noi enough for
us and you : hut go ye rather to ihem that sell, and buy for yourselves.
Works of supererogation find no place here. " None of them can by

Chap. XXV.] ST. MATTHEW. 667
any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, that
he should still live for ever " (Ps. xlix. 7, 9). The wise know that
the greatest measure of goodness is little enough for themselves, and
that, little or much, it is incapable of being imparted to another.
They therefore give the sage advice, " but go ye rather to them that
sell, and buy for yourselves." The heavenly oil cannot be obtained
as a gift; it must be bought with a price. But who are they that
sell ? The Divine Being himself is the only Author of love and
goodness, and he calls upon all to come to him and buy. But the
laws of divine order are the delegated sellers of the holy oil, and they
teU us the price at which we must purchase it. We must sell all that
we have, do the work of repentance, and bring forth the fruits of
righteousness. These laws are holy truths, which yield the oil of love
and goodness to all who obey them. We must therefore go and buy
for ourselves. For although the Lord gives without money and
without price, yet he cannot give of his own love except to those who
relinquish their self-love to obtain it.
10. And while they went to buy, tlie bridegroom came; and they that
loere ready went in with him io the marriage : and the door was shut.
The bridegroom's coming during the absence of the foolish virgins, or
their absence at the time of his coming, is expressive of an entire
dissimilarity of state between them and him, and of their consequent
unpreparedness to enter into the marriage. But the wise, who were
ready, entered with him. Entering with the Lord into the marriage
is not only entering into heaven as a place, but into heaven as a state,
and this is a state of the internal mind, and of the conjunction of
goodness and truth there ; for the Lord enters with the righteous into
the heaven of their inner man, and there dwells with them eternally
in the union of love and faith. And when he has entered with them
into this heavenly and eternal marriage, the door is effectually and
for ever shut against the intrusion of all external things that can
disturb their peace and happiness. But the door which shuts the
i-ighteous in shuts the unrighteous out. The door that is shut against
the foolish is the door of their own minds — in particular, that by
which there is a communication between the spiritual and natural
minds ; for the spiritual mind is man's particular heaven. During a
man's life in the world that door is never absolutely shut — at least,
never so fixedly closed as to be incapable of being opened by sincere
repentance. For the Lord stands at this door and knocks ; and the
door at which God knocks, man must be able to open. But in the
other life he can no longer do so. He who has not opened the door

568 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. XXV.
of his heart in this world, cannot open it in the next. And when
the door that opens into the inner man is closed, the natural mind is
left in darkness and death. The darkness of the outer mind, when all
light from the inner mind is shut out, is the outer darkness into which
the wicked are said to be cast at the judgment ; and is that in which
the virgins are understood to have been left, when, with extinguished
lamps, they were shut out from the glory of the mai-riage in heaven.
11. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying. Lord, Lord,
open io us. As the desire to be happy is common to all mankind, so
the desire to enter heaven is common to all who have belonged to the
church, who believe heaven to be the abode of happiness, admission
into which many think is all that is necessary to be made for ever
happy. And if heaven be considered as the heaven of the inner
man, the evil still desire that the door that gives admittance into it
should be opened by the Lord even in the other life.
12. But the Lord answers the foolish virgins: Verily I say unto
you, I know you not. God's knowledge of the evil is like their know
ledge of him. The evil may know the Lord intellectually, but they
know him not savingly. So the Lord with them. As God, the Lord
knows the evil ; but as Saviour, he knows them not. Their names
are not written in the Lamb's book of life. They have no savin"-
knowledge of, no saving interest in, his incarnation and redemption.
Neither have they the mark of his children. The Lord's name is not
written in their foreheads, nor in their hands — neither in their hearts,
nor in their lives, — how, then, can the Lord know them ? Their names
are not written in lieaven, how can they be known there ? They are
not in the Lord, and the Lord is not in them. The inevitable con
sequence is, that there is no ground of communion, no means of
conjunction, between them ; nothing but the great gulf, which makes
complete and eternal separation.
13. How solemn, then, is the warning, Watch therefore, for ye
know neither ihe day nor the hour wherein the Sonof man comethl Our
liappy ignorance of the time when we shall be called into the presence
of the Lord, aff'ords us the opportunity of preparing for the judgment.
Our preparation must be begun when we are free from the immediate
apprehension of the event which ends it. We must keep watch even
when we see no signs of danger. We know that the thief will come,
therefore our watching can never be in vain. And unless we are
constantly watchful, we may at any time be surprised, and all our
previous anxiety and labour lost. Watch, therefore But what is
the duty of a spiritual watchman ? It is not to live in fear and

Chap. XXV,] ST, MATTHEW, 569
apprehension ; for this rather exposes us to danger than preserves us
from it. Those who are prepared for the intruder watch with a tran
quil mind ; it is the unready that need to fear the enemy. To watch,
therefore, is to have set our house in order, and wait the coming of the
event which we know must come. And come when he may, may the
Lord then find us ready !
14-30. The parable of the talents presents the subject of proba
tionary life and final decision, under another aspect than the parable
of the ten virgins. It throws considerable light upon the nature of
the state which awaits us hereafter, and the conditions on which
our future happiness or misery depends. Nothing can be more clear
than the testimony it gives to the doctrine, that every human
being has faculties given him by the Lord, which he is at liberty
either to use or to abuse, and that in the use which he makes of
them he is left to his own free determination. It, indeed, is plain
that this faculty of free determination, and everything else that he
possesses, is given him by the Lord ; and that, if he is saved, the Lord
is sole Author of his salvation. This is the reason that all the traders
in this parable are described as the Lord's servants, who of course
ascribe all that they possess to him, as properly his own, both
what they had originally received and what they had gained by
trading. Regarded in the light of the spiritual sense, it brings
before us another class of minds, or the human mind in another
of its conditions than the previous parable. The virgins representing
those who are favourable or opposed to that principle of the kingdom
of God which is the object ofthe will and its affections — the principle
of love, — the servants represent those whose affections are favourable
or opposed to that principle of the kingdom which is the immediate
object of the understanding and its thoughts — the principle of truth.
14. The first thing we have to notice in the parable is the Lord's being
compared to a man travelling into a far country, who called his own
servants, and delivered unto tliem Ms goods. This teaches two im
portant particulars relating to the manner in which the Lord proceeds
in his dealings with his creatures. The first is, that all that man
possesses, by the use of which he may attain to eternal happiness, is a
free gift to him from the Lord alone, and which, if he makes right use
of it, is finally given to him as his own — that is, is confirmed to him so
as never to be taken from him — although he himself will ever ac
knowledge with thankfulness that it, together with himself, of right
belongs wholly to the Lord. This is plainly taught by the circum
stance that the talents which each of the servants received were

570 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXV.
given them by their lord, who evidently is the Lord the Saviour.
Another important trath we learn is, that during man's abode in the
world, he is left so much to his own disposal that, according to aU
appearance, he is entirely his own master, independently of the Being
from whom all that he has is derived. Of the Divine presence he has
no sensible perception, insomuch that if he were to judge by outward
appearance only, as exhibited by his senses, or even as suggested by
his consciousness, without the testimony of revelation or the dictates
of enlightened reason, he might fall into doubt even of the existence
of a God, as we know many actually do. This is evidently taught by
the circumstance of the lord of the seiwants " travelling into a far
country.'' In this, as in many other sayings in the Holy Word, an
action or proceeding is ascribed to the Lord which in reality is an
appearance produced by a change of state which takes place in man.
Heaven, and the spiritual world in general, being the scene of the
Lord's more immediate presence, is called " a far country," in respect
to the natural world, as is also the natural world in respect to
heaven. But man is so created that he possesses in his own mind
both a spiritual world and a natural. His soul, or spiritual part,
which is to live after death, is his spiritual world ; and his body, or
natural part, is his natural world. His soul or spiritual part, again,
is divided into distinct regions, in the inmost of which the Lord him
self has his residence, and by virtue of possessing which he receives
from the Lord, who dwells in it, the faculties of liberty and ration
ality, and with these, the faculty of living to eternity. In the order
of his creation, the inmost region is first formed by the Lord, and the
lower i-egions of his mind and body in their respective order ; and it
is in the lowest of these that he first comes to be sensible of his exist
ence. While the Lord remains ever present in the inmost of his soul,
man, as it were, recedes from the Lord, which is expressed by the
Lord's going into a far country. Here, then, we see, man stands in
this world of nature, and having come from God, he is to return to
God again. In the meantime, he is endowed with talents to trade
with, on the use or abuse of which his eternal happiness or misery
depends. Those on whom the Lord bestows his goods are called his
own servants. They are called his own, because the parable relates
more especially to those who are within the church, and who nomin
ally, at least, belong to the Lord, from their possessing that Divine
revelation through which there is a more immediate communication,
and may be a more intimate connection, between God and men.
There is a special reason, also, for their being called servants. The

Chap. XXV.] ST. MATTHEW. 571
servants so often spoken of in Scripture were not free, but bond ; and
being the property of their masters, their entire gains, like themselves,
belonged to him who bestowed the talents upon them. In the
spiritual sense, servants denote those within the church who are
possessed of truth — of that truth which makes meu free, if they employ
it to attain to a state of good, which is a state of freedom.
15. The goods which the lord gave consisted of talents, and these
are given to three different servants. And unto one lie gave five talents,
to another two, and to another one ; to every man according to his
several ability ; and straightway took his journey. As the parable
describes the divine economy more especiaUy with the professing
members of the church, the number of members is limited to three,
because this nuniber expresses the idea of completeness, as applicable
to those ofthe spiritual class, or who are receptive of truths, and who
are especially meant by servants not only here, but wherever they
are mentioned in the Word. The servants, too, receive each a dif
ferent nuniber of talents. The talents denote the knowledges of divine
truth which are given by the Lord to every man, with the faculty of
apprehending and using them aright. But are we to understand that
these are given in allotted portions — to some more, to others less ?
Here again the language is adapted to express the appearance rather
than the reality. The Holy Word and the influences of the Holy
Sjjirit are offered in equal fulness to all, and are received by every one
" according to his several ability," the measure of reception being only
limited by the capacity to receive, which every one acquires for him
self, chiefly by his habits and manners of Ufe. Thus, out of the
treasury of infinite wisdom some take five talents, some two, and some
one. And when it is said that the Lord gives them, the meaning is,
that whatever each takes is a free gift from him. But the numbers
of the talents, like that of the servants, has a distinct spiritual signifi
cation. And here also the appearance is different from the reality.
Numbers signify quality rather than quantity. The larger number
does not therefore always stand for more, and the smaller for less; but
each has a meaning determined by its relation to the principles whose
quality it is intended to express. The five talents signify goodness and
tmth stored up in the human mind as remains, which is done chiefly
during infancy, childhood, and youth ; the two talents signifj' good and
truth acquired by instruction and study at a more advanced age, and
possessed as knowledge; and the one talent signifies truth alone, acquired
from some degi-ee of choice at a still nearer approach to manhood, and
laid up in the memory. These may be said to include all principles

572 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXV.
acquired, and all states formed during that period of Ufe when, by the
Lord's providence, man is being gifted with the possessions which pro
perly constitute the talents necessary for every one to possess, that he
may be qualified for entering on the regenerate life. Spiritually under
stood, the talents are not bestowed all at once; they are given gradually,
and the period occupied in God's bestowing and man's acquiring them
extends from earliest infancy to the age of manhood and womanhood,
and includes both the storing up of remains and the acquisition of
knowledge. 16, 17. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded
with the same, a-nd made them other five talents. And likewise he that had
received, two, he also gained other two. The talents bestowed by the
Lord were given to trade with, and in this their true value consists.
In all the comparisons which infinite wisdom has adopted to instruct
us as to the nature of the kingdom of heaven, there is one prevailing
idea ever presented before us. That one idea is the earnest use of
means to attain some great practical end ever presented before us.
There must be fervent prayer, earnest seeking, determined striving and
persevering labour, — and all these with the promised end in view of
securing a blessing, finding a treasure, reaching a goal, gathering the
clustered grapes, or reaping the abundant harvest. The whole duty
of man as a probationary being may be expressed in the Lord's one
word, " Labour." God gives the means and the power ; man has to
use the means. In this his great duty consists ; on this his salvation
depends. God cannot do more for man than give him the talents ;
man should not do less for himself than use them, that he may render
them back to their Giver with increase. To say that the Lord does
not save his creatures without their own exertions is the same as to
say that he cannot. There is no doubt he would if he could. He who
made man what he is must deal with him as he is, — a free agent. He
who gave him free-will cannot force or act against it. This would be
a contradiction, which with God is impossible. We must therefore
use our talents : we must trade with them. The knowledge, of which
the talents are the symbol, is the knowledge of our duty, and at the
same time the faculty of doing it. Our duty is to do the will of God,
which is, that we do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our
God. Spiritual life is not separate from natural life, but within it.
We trade with the Lord's talents when we employ the Lord's princi
ples in doing our daily work.
But here we come to the ever-recurring fact, that whUe a bountiful
Providence sees that all receive talents sufficient for their need, and

Chap. XXV] ST. MATTHEW, 573
which only require to be used to make their possessors rich towards
God, yet some only of these favoured servants carry out the purpose
and do the will of their merciful Benefactor, Happily, there are some
who are wise and grateful enough to apply their talents to the great
use for which they were bestowed. " Then he that had received the
five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five
talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other
two." They who gain five talents by trading, and they who gain two,
are such as make a good use of divine mercies, and acquire to them
selves intelligence and wisdom by living a Ufe of charity and faith.
And here we observe that each gains by trading a sum equal to that
with which he had commenced his career in life. In this circumstance
there is an instructive truth. The trading of the servants signifies
that part of man's duty and labour which consists in reducing one's
knowledge to practice — in making the religion of the mind the religion
of the life. This is the true labour, and the result is the true gain of
life. Our great labour consists in bringing the external into harmony
with the internal, the natural mind with the spiritual, our words and
works with our affections and thoughts. And this is done gradually
by intelligence, zeal, and perseverance. Every evil that we success
fully resist removes some principle or element of discord, and every
good we do establishes a harmony between the inner and the outer
life. And as we go on in this progressive way, ceasing to do evil and
learning to do well, our principles grow out into habits. Every talent
that we faithfully use gains another talent ; and it is indeed a solid
and eternal gain ; for that which has become practical has become
confirmed, and remains with us for ever.
18. But lie that had received one went and digged in tlie earth, and
hid his lord's money. This one talent, if it were to be considered as
representing the most limited capacity which man can have for the
reception of God's spiritual gifts, and the least of the gifts which God
bestows, is yet evidently intended to be understood as sufficient for
all the purposes for which God's gifts are bestowed. The servant
who received the one talent was left, Uke the others, to occupy till his
lord came ; and he, like the others, had it in his power to double his
sum by trading. So far, therefore, the Lord is equal, giving all the
capacity and the means of eternal life ; and so far all men are equal,
in being placed every one in a condition to work out his salvation.
Considered in its spiritual sense, it teaches a still more distinct and
instructive lesson. For, understanding the one talent as the symbol
of truth which the Lord teaches every one through Holy Scripture,

574 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap, XXV.
every one has it in his power, because the power is ever given him, to
add to his truth goodness ; and this is all that God requires of man,
and all that is necessary for his salvation. But this servant, instead
of employing his one talent, went and digged in the earth, and hid his
lord's money. Every one sees in this slothful servant a type of those
who neglect to improve the talents and means which God bestows
upon them for spiritual and eternal uses. But the sjiiritual sense
gives emphasis to this lesson. For the earth, as we have often had
occasion to point out, is a symbol of man's earthly or natural mind. The
picture here is most instructive This servant did not spend his lord's
talent as the prodigal son wasted his father's substance. He carefully
preserved it ; and that he might be able to restore it to its owner, he
buried it in the earth, where it might safely remain till the time of
restitution. This servant is the type of those in the church who
cultivate a knowledge of the truth, not from any spiritual love or
for any practical purpose, but for the mere pleasure of knowing it for
the vanity of display. This cultivation of the truth, or of the natural
mind for its recejition, is meant by digging; and to express the idea
that the end for which the mind was cultivated was earthly, he who
hid the talent is said to have digged in the earth. This servant is by
no means necessarily a singular character. Many an intellect may be
dazzled with the light and charmed with the beauty of truth, without
the heart being influenced by its moral excellence, or brought under
its moral power. These, and all others who make an intellectual
acknowledgment of the truth, but go no further, " hide their lord's
money." They do not conceal or neglect the knowledge of which the
money is the symbol. Men hide the talent, as their Lord's, when
they do not in heart acknowledge the talent they possess to be his,
and when they hide its spiritual worth in their unspiritual lives, not
letting their light so shine before men that they may see their good
works, and glorify their Father who is in heaven.
19. But the day of reckoning conies at last; and then is it seen
who have been faithful and who unfaithful to the trust reposed in
them ; and then are to be revealed the opposite consequences of
industry and idleness. After a long time the lord of those servants
cometh, and reckoneth with them. We speak of the brevity, the uncer
tainty of even the longest time allotted to man on earth. But time
spiritually is state. The long time of the Lord's coming to judgment
is his long-suffering. This is the experience of each of us, how long
or short soever our stay may be in this present probationary
world. His unerring wisdom measures out our needful period of

Chap. XXV.] ST. MATTHEW. 575
existence in this world; and his unfailing love attends us in every
state through which we pass. Ancl all that a watchful Providence
can do is done to make our time of reckoning a time of joy and the
realization of eternal happiness. This long time is with the Lord a
time of striving with us, prompting us with his love, guiding us with
his wisdom, and aiding us with all the agencies he has appointed, to
lead us to rejientance and holiness. But, long as the period may be
that the Lord affords to his servants to improve their talents, the
time comes when he " reckoneth with them." Reckoning is an
ordeal through which all must pass.
20. When the lord reckoned with his servants, he that had received
five talents came and brought other five talents, saying. Lord, thou
deliveredst unto me five talents : behold, I have gained beside tliem five
talents more. It is a principle plainly laid down, and a duty
strenuously enforced, in the Divine Word, that man is to regard
nothing as his own, but that whatever he acquires or possesses is to
be ascribed to God as its true Owner. It may seem, as to many it
has seemed, that God is jealous of his honour, and makes this demand
upon his creatures that he may receive from them what is his due.
The true view of this important matter is, that the Lord makes this
demand, not because he can derive any honour from the homage of
his creatures, but because it is the means of increasing their own
perfection and blessedness. Spiritual gifts and acquirements are
blessings, because they are the means of connecting us with the Lord,
who is the only source of blessing. They are the channels through
which the love and light of God flow down into the soul, and can only
be so in virtue of man looking through them to him as the Author of
every good. This is the reason the Lord comes to reckon with us, as
we shall see in the result to the faithful servants. The Lord comes
indeed to every one at an hour when he thinks not, by the solemn
visitation which brings us into his more immediate presence in the
eternal world. And as this is an event that is common to all, the
subject of the final reckoning is to all one of deep and solemn interest.
In the parable the lord reckons first with the servants who had
improved their talents. They bring the original sum, with the
increase they had acquired by industry, and give the whole to their
lord as his,^tlius not only acknowledging him as the giver of the
means of acquiring riches, but as the rightful owner of the wealth
acquired. And in this they are figures of those who claim no merit
for their works, but ascribe all the merit of goodness to him who alone
has a title to it. We have already spoken of the important practical

576 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXV,
truth expressed in the servants doubling the sum which had been
entrusted to them for the purjiose of trading with it. This, we have
seen, is done when we use truth so as to make it the means of
acquiring goodness — faith as the means of acquiring charity.
21. But the doubling of our talent by trading not only implies that
what was received into the mind has been rejiroduced in the life, but
that this has been done faithfully and fully, as expressed in the
salutation of the lord. Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
Good is a quality of the will, and faithfulness is a quality of the
understanding ; the one is an attribute of charity, the other of faith.
To be entitled to the approbation of having done well, we must be
both good and faithful. To have the Divine approbation for fidelity
and goodness is great comfort. But this is followed by reward.
Thou hast heen faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over
many things. The principles of goodness and trath which have been
confirmed in the life are, in the other life, greatly multiplied and
exalted. This is the general lesson which this award of the lord to
the servants teaches us. But it contains a more specific meaning.
Few and many, we have seen (ch. xx. 16), signify principles of goodness
and truth. But how does this apply in the present case ? We have
seen that their receiving talents and trading with them means
receiving truth, ancl by means of that truth acquiring goodness.
When goodness is acquired, it gives the capacity of being further
enriched with truth, but with truth of a higher kind. We have, on
a foriner occasion, shown that there is truth which leads to good, and
there is trath which is derived from good. The truth which is
derived from good may be rather called wisdom than truth. It is not
the light of knowledge, which teaches us what goodness is, and shows
us the way to attain it, but the light of love, or the tmth by which
love goes forth in wise, and therefore beneficent acts — deeds of
enlightened charity. That the reward of the servants of this parable
consists in enriching goodness with truths of wisdom, appears from
the manner in which the reward is expressed in Luke, where the
lord says to the servant who had gained ten pounds, "Be thou over
ten cities ; " and so of the other who had gained five pounds, " Be
thou over five cities" (ch. xix. 16, 19). Cities, wherever mentioned in
the Word, have relation to the understanding, and to truths and
doctrines of which the understanding is receptive But the servants
being made rulers over many things is further expressive of the good
and faithful being gifted with the rule and government of all their
lower affections and thoughts, which implies the complete submission

Chap. XXV.] ST. MATTHEW. 677
of the external to the will and wisdom of the internal man. Besides
all this, there was one other and final reward bestowed upon them in
the blessed words addressed to each. Enter ihou into the joy of thy lord.
This is the highest award that the Lord can make to the regenerate
man. The joy of our Lord is the joy of having his love dwelling in
the heart, and manifesting itself in all the delights of heaven for ever.
In accordance with the particular sense, in its ajiplication to the
mind, the servant enters into the joy of his lord when the joy of the
internal man and his spiritual affections is imparted to the external
man and his natural aff'ections; for when these two parts of the
mind are brought into harmony and unity, all internal joys descend
into external joy and delight, that the Christian's joy may be full.
Then, too, it is that the joy of the Lord is imparted to man, and that
he is prepared to enter into the joy of heaven.
22, 23. What is said of the servant who gained five talents is
repeated in these verses of him who gained two, the meaning of which
it is unnecessary further to explain.
24, 25. We come now to the less pleasing, but not less necessary
and profitable, siiVjject of neglected talents, as presented to us under
the character of the unfaithful servant. Then he which liad received
ilie one talent came. This servant comes iuto the presence of his lord
with as much confidence as the others. He does not confess to
having been guilty of any want of fidelity to him; on the contrary,
he considered that he had discharged his duty when he restored
to him the money he had placed in his hands. He even justifies
himself in the course he had followed, on the ground of his master's
severity. Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping wliere
thou hast not sown, and gathering where tliou hast not strawed : and I
was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth : lo, there thou hast
that is thine. In these words we have an exact description of the
manner in which every merely natural man views the merciful Lord,
the Author of all good. Although every blessing he enjoys is from
the Lord, he still regards him as a hard man, reaping where he has
not sown, and gathering where he has not strawed. In their hearts
all view the Lord as a hard master whose state of mind is wholly
uninfiuenced by a spirit of love, of which he is the Source, and is
immersed in love of an opposite nature, as is the love of self and of
the world. And as they nevertheless know that the Lord requires of
man the fruits of charity and faith, whilst they are conscious of being
destitute of both, they in their own minds throw the blame on the
Lord, endeavouring to justify tliemselves by pretending that their
2p

578 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXV.
deficiency is owing to his not having implanted those gifts in their
nature. It is indeed true that genuine charity and faith are not
implanted in our nature, which by birth is replete with contrary
sentiments; yet it is equaUy true that the means are affoi-ded, the
talents given, by which we may acquire them; but because such per
sons as are here spoken of live only according to their natural inclina
tions, they never make the acquisition. To be afraid is a term
expressive of the inward dread which such persons feel, when they
think of the Lord, from a consciousness of the contrariety between
their own state and his nature ; as to go and hide their talent in
the earth is to immure the noble faculties with which they are
endowed in the corruptions of the natural man, by making them
subservient to merely natural ends and objects.
26, 27. But it may appear remarkable that the lord, in.stead oi
expressing any displeasure at the injustice of calling him a man who
reaps where he has not sown, goes in his answer on the supposition
that he is so, but thence infers a duty to have devolved on the servant
which he had not performed. His lord answered and said unto Mm,
Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I
sowed not, and gatlier where I liave noi strawed : thou ouglitest therefore
to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should
have received, mine own with usury. By this he teaches us that the
duty of serving him is incumbent even on the natural man, and that
those who are so engaged in outward things as not to acquire a prin
ciple of pure and exalted charity and faith, ought nevertheless to' do
good from the simple motive of obedience, and to keep the divine
laws, if only with a view of being rewarded in heaven. To do good
merely with a view to reward, though that be a reward in heaven, is
the lowest motive from which man can do anything Uke real good at
all; yet if those who do it are sincere in their obedience, and in
shunning evils as sins, their motive may be purified, and they will not
be finally rejected. In brief, a service which begins in fear may end
in love ; if not in the perfect love which casteth out fear, at least in
love that casts out the slavish element that makes fear unworthy of
him who is its Object.
28. While the servants that improved their talents were made
rulers over more than they had thus faithfully used, the slothful
servant was deprived of the one talent which he had neglected to
improve Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him
which hath ten talents. We know it is a universal law that any power
is enfeebled by neglect, whilst it is increased by action. Spiritual

Chap. XXV.] ST. MATTHEW. 579
gifts are subject to the same law. If we neglect the right use of our
faculties, they become enfeebled or depraved. If we neglect the use
of knowledge, it will vanish away. The use of knowledge does not
consist in teaching it to others, but in applying it to ourseh'es ; not in
communicating it to another's understanding, but in applying it to
our own heart. If religious knowledge is not thus applied, it will be
taken from us. Not that the Lord forcibly deprives us of it, but
because, having no spiritual capacity or love for it, it cannot remain.
There can be no truth where there is no good, no faith without love.
Those who enter the other world with knowledge which they mistake
for truth, and with persuasion which they mistake for faith, soon find
themselves destitute of even the semblance of any. On the other
hand, they who have doubled their talents, by adding goodness to
their truth and charity to their faith, have increased their capacity,
and find themselves enriched with a great and endless increase. The
one talent is taken from the unfaithful servant and given to him that
hath ten talents. It is not given unto him that had two, although
he had been as faithful, and had gained as much, accordingto the
extent of his means, as the other. There is a reason for this. The
five talents, we have seen (v. 15), denote a state less full and perfect
than the two. The two signify the knowledge of good and truth in
equality, and the two gained besides them signify good and truth, or
charity and faith, acquired as principiles of life ; and this practical
union of charity and faith constitutes the heavenly marriage. But the
number five signifies the remains of good and truth; and, indeed, a
defective state of remains, such as they may be supposed to have
acquired who have enjoyed to but a limited extent the advantages of
a right education. That these were able to gain their other five
talents, teaches us that even a defective state of remains is no hin
drance to salvation. A full state of remains is meant by ten. Such a
state as that meant by five, though imperfect, may be filled up and
perfected in the other Ufe. And such a state is perfected by know
ledges. Therefore it was that the talent of received knowledge, of
which the mere inteUectual cultivator of truth was deprived, was
given to him who had ten talents.
29. The contrast, expressed as a seeming paradox, that unto every
one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance : but from him
that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath, is thus to be
understood : he who has good shall be enriched with truth ; but he
who is destitute of good will be deprived of truth. In the Gospel of
Luke (viii. 18), "that which he hath'' is called "that which he

580 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXV.
seemeth to have ;" for with the evU and faithless trath is but a seem
ing possession. They have it in tiieir memory, but not in their hearts ;
and the memory is but the storehouse of the mind — the Scripture
"barn" of hoarded wealth, of which death deprives a man for ever
" This night thy soul shall be required of thee : then whose shall these
things be?" The great law of heaven, and indeed of life, is,— so
much of good, so much of truth ; so much of charity, so much of faith.
He who has no good has in reality no tmth ; he who has no charity
has no faith. Good and charity can, however, have a certain existence
without truth and faith. Men may live in this world, of which the
heathen furnish an example, without the knowledge of revealed
truth, and therefore without the faitli of Jesus Christ as revealed in
the gospel ; but they may nevertheless live in charity and virtue, as
far as their own knowledge extends. Such, in the other life, will have
trath added to their goodness, and faith to their charity.
30. The sentence upon such is : Cast ye the unprofitable servant
into outer da,rkness. We have already spoken of the meaning of this
language. The darkness into which the evil are cast is the darkness
of their own minds, from which the light of saving truth has been
excluded, the light in which they lived in the world being only the
light of knowledge. It is like that which the earth is said to have
enjoyed before the sun was made and placed in the firmament, — a
temporary light which precedes that of the permanent, but which
cannot continue to be a substitute for it. But this is called not
simply darkness, but outer darkness ; for this is the darkness not of
ignorance, nor even of error, but the darkness of perverted truth — the
light turned into darkness ; "and if the light that is in thee be dark
ness, how great is that darkness!" There shall he weeping and gnashing
of teeth, which is expressive of the bitterness of suffering arising from
the absence of all good and truth, and the presence of evil and falsity
in the moral and intellectual Iffe.
Here again we find a solemn lesson. Life and death are set before
us in strong terms. Life, if we are faithful to the mercies we enjoy ;
death, if we are unfaithful and unprofitable.
31-46. Another parable the Lord puts forth, that of the sheep and
the goats, which is one of the most impressive that he delivered,
or the Word contains. The certainty of a final judgment by a
just and omniscient Judge is one of the most solemn admonitions
that Revelation addresses to the children of men. God has wisely
implanted in our nature a dread of pain and a love of pleasure ; and
on this parent stem he engrafts the religious fear and hope which

Chap. XXV.] ST, MATTHEW. 581
become our guard and incentive in the progress of the Christian life.
Without these to keep the mind awake and active, there could be no
determination of its powers, either of understanding or will, to the
concerns of eternal life; for without fear and hope there could be no
interest awakened in the doctrine of heaven and hell, nor, conse
quently, in that of a judgment to the one or the other. Certain that
we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, to receive
according to the things done in the body, whether they be good or
evU, we may see in tins jjarable, as it may be caUed, the nature of the
ordeal through which we must pass.
31. The scene presented before us is of the utmost grandeur and
solemnity. When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the
holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. By
outward glory, which affects the sense, the Scriptures describe inward
glory, which affects the mind. The glory in whicli the Lord comes is
the lustre of his divine truth. But the glory of the Lord's second
coming iu the Spirit is presented as a contrast to the humility in
which he made his first advent in the flesh. He is still, indeed, " the
Son of man." And this name is descriptive of the Lord as the Word
that was made flesh, the Divine tmth accommodated to the appre
hension of men ; which, being that by which men were redeemed and
are saved, is that by which they are to be judged. But while the
Lord is still the Son of man, he is the Son of man glorified. He
comes in his glory. Instead of being attended by a few humble dis
ciples, as on earth, he has " all the holy angels with him." These are
not, indeed, a different race from the disciples, but are the disciples them
selves, and such as they, glorified. Having all the angels, he has all
heaven with him, for "angels" is but another name for heaven.
But why has he the angels with him ? They cannot judge, nor assist
him in judgment. Is it to add splendour and dignity to the grand
tribunal ? Angels rather shade the Lord's glory than enhance it. It
is therefore to moderate the effects of his own transcendent glory upon
those who are to be judged that the Lord comes to judgment, having
all his holy angels with him. He comes through heaven : he bows
the heavens and comes down, shading his glory by the finite percep
tion of angelic minds. And the very " throne of his glory " upon
which he sits is intended to moderate his judgment; for heaven is
God's throne. And men are judged by the Divine truth as it is in
heaven ; for they are judged by the laws of the kingdom in which
they are to Uve, or from which they are to be excluded.
32. Seated on the throne of his glory, befot'e Mm shall be gathered

582 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXV,
all nations. Nations denote those who are in good or in evil, as
peoples denote those who are in truth or falsity. But nations in this
instance include all who were to be judged, both the good and the
evil. They are " gathered before him." This impUes more than
bringing all in a body into his presence, which is but a natural idea.
The spiritual idea is that of being brought under the immediate
inspection of his searching truth, that their state may be made mani
fest, as it were, in the light of his countenance. The first act of the
Divine Judge was to separate them one from another. The good and
the evil were mingled together until the time of the judgment; and
one part of the judgment was to separate them into two great
divisions. How this separation was effected has already been
spoken of It was by making their interior characters manifest.
Persons can live in society with each other so long as they unite
in matters in which they have a common interest, or so long as
they meet on common ground. Persons can act very harmoniously
in business or pleasure, or even on morals, who would disagree on
reUgion : in short, people can go on very well together in worldly
matters who could not go on together in spiritual matters. When
ever their minds are raised to this higher platform, many of the best
natural friends disagree aud separate. Such was the case in the
judgment. When their internals, where spiritual things reside and
eternal concerns reign, are opened, and they are brought together, not
as moral but as spiritual beings, they separate from each other as a
necessary result. It is said that the Lord separated them, because
his divine truth was the cause of separation, by bringing their inter
nal states to view. He separated them one from another, as a shep
herd cliv'ideth his sheep from the goats. Here the Lord is the Pastor,
and the people are his sheep. And he is represented under this
character when his love is that attribute of his nature which is being
exhibited in relation to his people; and they are called his sheep
when their love to him and to each other is understood. Sheep are
the symbols of those who are principled more especially in the grace
of charity. And those who are of the opposite character are called
goats. Goats are the types of those who are in faith ; but here they
denote those who are in faith alone, without charity. The goats
are those who have lived within the pale of the church, and have
made profession of faith, but have been destitute of any of that living
charity without which faith is dead.
In the New Testament Jesus is invariably set forth as the Judge of
the world. Not that he is a distinct person from the Father, but

Chap. XXV.] ST. MATTHEW. 583
because Jesus in the New Testament is the same with Jehovah in the
Old. In the Old Testament Jehovah is declared to be the Judge of
all the earth ; and we have no reason to suppose that in this diviue
work he will give his glory to another. Yet there is a distinction.
In the New Testament it is said the Father judges no man, but hath
committed all judgment unto the Son, because he is the Son of man.
When we understand that the Father is the principle of Divine Love
in the Deity, and the Son is the principle of Divine Wisdom or Truth
in the Deity, we see clearly the meaning of the declaration of the
gospel to be, what we know must be the case, that all judgment is
effected by Divine Truth, not by Divine Good. Divine Good judges
uo man but by Truth. And so it is said that God will judge the
world by Jesus Christ (Rom. ii. 16), and, indeed, by the man Jesus
Christ (Acts xvii. 31) : for it is by the Word made flesh that all judg
ment is performed. But what is it that God does not do by Jesus
Christ? He created (John i. 10) and redeemed the world by Jesus
Christ; nor is the sanctification and salvation of the world an excep
tion, for the Son sends the Holy Spirit from the Father. And what
is this but the same law operating, that all which Divine Good does,
it does by Trath ; all that Divine Love does, it does by Wisdom?
33. A further and still more decisive sign of the characters of these
two classes is afforded by what is further related of them, that the
Lord shall set the slieep on his right hand, hut tlie goats on the left. For
right and left are expressive of good and truth. Those on the right
hand of the Judge are those who are in good, and thence in truth;
and those on the left are those who are in truth without good.
34. But we now come to the deeply interesting subject of the judg
ment itself. And here we may remark that the Lord now calls him
self a King. This name has the same spiritual signification as tho
Son of man ; but it denotes divine truth of a higher degree — that is,
in relation to man. This character corresponds with the throne on
which it is said he shall sit. Then shall the King say unto ihem on
his right hand. Come, ye blessed of my Father, inlierit the kingdom
prepared for you from ilie foundation of tlie world. Those who are
blessed of his Father are they who are blessed with his love — who
have his love dwelling in their hearts, and who enjoy all the blessing
which results from it. This is that of inheriting the kingdom; which
implies, that those who have the love of God dweUing in their hearts
shall receive as an inheritance the truth of God, which is his king
dom, into their understandings, and shall have the government of
that truth established in them. This kingdom is said to be prepared

584 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXV.
from the foundation of the world. In the proximate sense this means
from the foundation of the church, which the world signifies. The
Lord is said to have been slain from the foundation of the world,
which literally was from the foundation of the Christian church. But
the kingdom is prepared for the righteous individually from the
foundation of the church in themselves. It is no less truly prepared
.for us, because it is prepared in us. It is no less a divine provision
because it is a state of life within us, than it would be if it were
solely a jilace without us. We carry our inheritance in ourselves,
yet it is the Lord's gift, being entirely his M'ork.
35, 36. Having saluted those on his right hand as the blessed of
his Father, the Lord, as the Judge, proceeds to show forth the grounds
of their blessedness and their acceptance. For I was an hungered,
and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a
stranger, and ye took me in : naked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, o,nd
ye visited me : I v:as in prison, and ye came unto m,e. In reading the
Scriptures we are constantly met with the declaration that we are to
be judged by the deeds done in the body. And in this portion of the
Word, where the very process of judgment is described, there is no
mention of anything but works. The assembled multitude are not
judged on the ground of what they had believed, nor even of what
they had felt, but of what they had done. Not that faith and feeling
are excluded. Without faith and love there can be uo good work.
Every work that is really good must include both. Hence it is, that
in judging men by their works, God judges them at the same time by
the faith and love that produced them. The whole of our affections
and thoughts are comprehended in our works. There they are in their
fulness. They are fixed when they are lived, and form our permanent
and individual character. In their simplest acceptation, the Lord's
words addressed to the blessed contain a beautiful summary of the
woiks of charity, in relation to the temporal condition of men. And
although, when understood spirituaUy, they relate to the still higher
uses of ministering to the soul in its sufferings and sorrows, we are by
no means to suppose that the greater supersedes the less. The charity
that ministers to the body is not to be severed from the charity that
ministers to the souL Those who are principled in spiritual charity
will never dream that they perform the whole duties of Christian love
by ministering only to the spiritual wants of their fellow-creatures ;
they will extend their active sympathies to their entire nature, the
physical and the spiritual. It is incumbent on us to take our share
in the labour of love necessary for diminishing the sum of human

Chap. XXV.] ST. MATTHEW. 585
misery. But to be able to do even the natural works of charity with
advantage, it is necessary to understand what spiritual charity is,
which the spiritual meaning of our Lord's language makes known.
In the spiritual sense the hungry are those who from affection desire
good, and the thirsty are those who desire tmth ; the strangers or
sojourners are those who desire knowledge, for sojourners were those
from other lands who came to leam the law among the Israelites ;
the naked are those who see their need of, and desire to be clothed
with the garment of righteousness ; the sick are those who are sensible
of their diseased moral and spiritual condition, and desire to be
restored to health of mind and soul ; and the prisoners are those who
are in bondage to sin, or are .suffering from trial and temptation, and
earnestly desire to realize in their lives and experience the truth that
makes them free. To minister to these is the work of spiritual charity.
To be able, under Providence, in any degree to satisfy the desire of
the human will with good, and of the understanding with truth ; to
give knowledge to the ignorant, and lead to righteousness him who is
out of the way; to heal the diseased affections, and give freedom to the
imprisoned thoughts ; these are works as much more important than
the deeds of natural charity, as the value of the soul is greater than
that of the body. But to be able and willing to perform this work of
spiritual charity to others, we must be careful to do it for ourselves.
This personal duty is equally involved in the Lord's words with that
which we owe to our neighbour. This we shall perceive if we take
the terms in their abstract sense. For while the hungry denote those
who desire good, hunger is the desire itself of good ; thirst is the desire
of trath ; sojourning is the desire for instruction; nakedness and sick
ness are the acknowledgment that we have nothing good or tme of
ourselves; and being in prison, is the confession that in ourselves we
are wholly possessed by falsities. In our own case, as well as in that of
our neighbour, we may see the force and beauty of the Lord's lan
guage. "/ was an hungered, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty,
and ye gave me drink." Our sense of spiritual wants, and our desire
to have those wants supplied, are from the Lord, and are the Lord iu
us; for he is present with us in everything that we derive from him,
and in every desire we have for his love and truth. And every
act we do, to satisfy our own or our neighbour's spiritual wants, is an
act of charity done to the Lord himself The Lord is our neighbour
in the highest sense and in the sujier-eminent degree, and he is the
origin of all spiritual brotherhood. Men are our neighbours and our
brethren sjiiritually, so far as they have the Lord dwelling in them.

586 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXV.
It is not the person of any man, but the Lord's image in him that is
the neighbour, we are to love. It may seem from this as if none but
the good are our neighbours, and are to be loved and ministered unto.
We are to love the evil, not as evil, but as having a capacity fbr good ;
and our charity to them consists in acting towards them in such a
way as to turn them from evil to good. Good is our neighbour. So
far as our actions tend to strengthen this heavenly attribute in our
selves and others, so far are we in the true love ofthe neighbour; and
so far as our actions tend to weaken this attribute in ourselves and
others, so far we are destitute of that love. Whenever this attribute,
this grace, in ourselves and in others, is hungry, and thirsty, and
naked, and sick, and in prison, it is the duty of Christian charity to
minister to its wants; to give it the food it requires for its support;
the clothing it needs for its protection; the medicine it needs for its
cure; the comfort it needs in its temptations. These are the deeds
of charity for which the Lord called the sheep the blessed of his
Father 37-39. Then shall ihe righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw
we thee an hungered, and fed ihee? or thirsty, and gave ihee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took ihee in ? or naked, and clothed
thee ? or when saw we ihee sick, or in prison, and came unto ihee ?
This disavowal by the righteous of the virtue ascribed to them is
designed to show the absence of all idea of merit from true righteous
ness. The good do not think of the value of their works : they do
good for the sake of good. They do it, indeed, in obedience to the
Lord, and thus for his sake ; but what they do for the Lord's sake
they do for the sake of the goodness which the Lord essentiaUy
and pre-eminently is. They know that the good they are enabled to
do is from him, but they do not think of good being done to him, as
if it enriched him or added to his glory. Therefore they say, "When
saw we thee in need, and ministered unto thy necessities?"
40. To this disavowal of merit in the good they had done the King
answeis. Verily I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one
ofthe least of these m,y brethren, ^ye have done ii unto me. What merciful
condescension is this ! Wliat love, to call his creatures brethren I It is
true that he had borne their frail nature, and had hungered and
thirsted, and endured the extreme of all human suffering. But he was
now in glory. Yet he caUs the needy and the suffering his brethren.
It is remarkable that the Lord never directly calls his disciples his
brethren till after his glorification, or in reference to it. After he was
risen he desired Mary Magdalene to go and tell his " brethren " that

Chap. XXV] ST. MATTHEW. 587
he ascended to his Father and their Father. Why was this? Because
the Lord was more truly and fully man after his resurrection than
before it. Then also his disciples could become more truly meu than
before, because they could be more fully regenerated. And Jesus
glorified and men regenerated are more nearly related than Jesus
unglorified and man unregenerated. But there is a profounder truth
in the Lord's language than this. It is when the Lord is glorified in
us that we become truly those whom he acknowledges as his brethren.
This our Lord taught when he said, " My brethren are they who hear
the word of God and do it." But the brethren recognized in this
judgment are all poor and needy. These objects of charity are such
as are in the good which makes them tarethien, but whose good
labours under those privations and suff'erings which goodness itself in
the person of the Lord endured. It is in returning this good given
by the Lord to man, and restoring it to strength and freedom, that
the work of real charity consists. The Lord, therefore, speaks not
only of his brethren, but of the least of his brethren ; for those who
possess the least of real goodness have in them a ground of regenera
tion — a capacity for goodness and for being saved. And what an
extended field forthe exercise of love and charity does this open to us, — •
a field, we are happy to say, that Christian philanthropy, acting under
a new spiritual influence, is now industriously cultivating. And what
dignity does the Lord stamp upon the lowliest offices and acts of
Christian charity, by declaring that he himself is the object of every
one of them. " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the. least of
these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Is any object too
mean for our charity whom the King of kings condescends to call his
brother ? There is not one who sincerely calls himself by the name
of Christ, but who believes that if Jesus walked our streets he would
think it an honour, and feel it a blessing to minister to the wants of
the man of sorrows who had not -n'here to lay his head. Let us behold
him in sorrowing and suffering humanity — in every virtuous sufferer;
and on his own divine assurance let us know that if we withhold a real
good while we can bestow it on one of the least of these, the Divine Man
still walks in the midst of us unacknowledged and unaided. Let good
be our object, as it was our Lord's when on earth, and let us imitate
him by spiritually as well as naturally feeding the hungry, clothing
the naked, instructing the ignorant, visiting the sick ancl the prisoner,
and we shall receive the joyful salutation : " Come, ye blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prejiared for you from the foundation of
the world."

588 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. XXV,
41-45. How terrible the contrast to this is the Lord's addres.^ to
those on his left hand ! Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasiing fire,
prepared for the devil and Ms angels : for I was an hungerul, and ye
gave me no meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink : I was a
stranger, and ye took me not in : naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and
in prison, and ye visited me not. Tlien shall they also answer him, saying.
Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked,
or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he
answer them, saying. Verily I say unto you. Inasmuch as ye did it n-it
io one ofthe least of these, ye did it not to me. It is not neces.'-ary to
enter into the particulars of tlie charge brought again.st them. It is
simply the reverse of the commendation bestowed on the righteous.
This only may be remarked, that the goats are not accused of having
done evil, but of not having done good. For these form the class who
have led a moral life, but not a spiritual life, and morality without
sjiirituality is not heavenly. This want of spirituality and reference
to the Lord is indicated by the mode of address. "/ was au hungered,
and ye gave me no meat." They may have ministered to men, but
they have not ministered to the Lord in meu.
The manner of our Lord's address to these may seem severe. We
are to remember that the Divine judgments are simply the revelations
of men's states, and of their consequences. The curse which the Lord
pronounces upon the unregenerate is not an anathema proceeding
from him, but a blight arising out of their own corruptions. His
Word, -which is his divine truth, lays open that which had been
concealed, and makes all things manifest. And so with the sentence,
"Depart from me,'' which is the announcement of a result, the cause
of which is in the wicked themselves. For the state of the soul is
that which causes nearness and distance from the centre of life, and
according to their state the righteous come to the Lord and the
unrighteous depart from him. And when they depart into everlasting
flre, they only become immersed iu their own burning loves, or rather
lusts, of hatred, revenge, and all uncleanness. The fire into which
they go is said to have been prepared for the devil and his an.^els.
The devil is another name for those who have confirmed themselves
in evil, and his angels are those who are in the principles proceeding
from them. The devil is hell personified, as the fire — the everlastinf
burnings— in which he dwells is a figure for the evil love which is at
once the element and the torment of depraved human souls.
46. The opposite results of righteousness and unrighteousness — of
spirituality and carnality — are set before us as a conclusion. And

Chap. XXVI.] ST. MATTHEW. 589
these shall go aviay into everlasting punishment : but the righteous into
life Vernal. Punishment and its endless duration are here placed in
opyiosition to life eternal. Both are undoubtedly the doctrine of the
Scrijitures, and both are the result of a law which is unchangeable —
that states that have been confirmed in this life remain unchanged for
ever. It is not, therefore, because God will not have mercy that the
evil are punished, but because his mercy cannot save them from a
punishment which is inseparable from themselves as evil beings.
Torment can no more be separated in the other world from evil than
pain can in this be separated from burning. They are as inseparable
as cause and effect. So, on the other hand, holiness and happiness
are united. The one word, " life," is most expressive of all that is
desirable. Life in its original state must have been a sense of pure
enjoyment, arising from the healthy condition of all the powers of
mind aud body ; and eternal life is this sense in man when living in
the spiritual world. This is heaven, the opposite of which is hell.
Let us choose between them while the choice is in our power. Happy
are they who have done the work of true charity in this world, where
men must sow in righteousness if they would reap in joy. The Lord
grant that we may stand at last on his right hand, and hear the joyful
salutation, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'"

CHAPTER XXVL

The discourse which the Lord had finished concluded his public
ministry. He had commenced it by preaching the acceptable year of
the Lord, and he ends it by declaring the certainty of a final judgment.
Having delivered his last address to those who were without, he now
addresses himself to those who were within.
1, 2. And it came io pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings,
he said unto his disciples. Ye know that after two days is the feast of the
passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to he crucified. The passover
was instituted to mark the Lord's mercy in passing over the houses
of the children of Israel on the night that he went through Egypt
and slew all the first-born of the Egyptians. This last plague was the
means of Israel's deliverance, of which the passover was also the sign.
The Holy Supper, which the Lord instituted instead of the Jewish
passover, was a sign of the great redemption which he was about to
complete, and by which the faithful were to be saved from a slavery

590 ST. MATTHEV/. [Chap. XXVL
more cruel than that of Egypt. The Lord thus kept the passover,
because the deliverance of Israel from Egypt was typical of the
redemption which he accomplished. The Lord says to the disciples,
"Ye know that after two days is the passover." Two signifies
conjunction — the conjunction of good and trath, or the conjunction
of evil and falsity, according to the nature of the subject. Here
the two days signify both — the union of good and truth in the
Lord's humanity, and the conjunction of evil and falsity in the Jewish
church. Both were ready — the one for glorification, the other for
consummation. The betrayal and crucifixion of the Son of man were
the means of completing both. This is expressed in the two acts that
v/ere to be committed by the Jews, as well as by the two days after
which they were to be done; for it is the false principle that betrays
the Lord, and the evil principle that crucifies him.
3, 4. While the Lord was instructing his disciples respecting his
death, the Jewish council were plotting how to effect it. Then assem
bled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people,
unto the palace ofthe high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted
that they might take Jesus by subtilly, and kill him. The prophetic
Psalm was being fulfilled, " Why do the heathen rage, and the people
imagine a vain thing ? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the
rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed"
(ii. I). The whole powers of evil and falsity in the church and in the
world, represented by the Jews and the Romans, were combined against
the Lord as the supreme good and truth ; for everything they did to
the Lord proceeded from, and therefore involved, opposition to the
Word, as the expression of the Divine love and wisdom which Jesus
was. The palace of the high priest was the place where the mem
bers of the Jewish hierarchy were assembled, and Caiaphas the high
priest presided over them. As, in the Word, he who forms the first
or the head of an assembly gives a character to the whole, we may
judge of the character of the church which this council naturally
represented, indicating a state of utter corruption and complete
devastation. A palace, as distinguished from a house, signifies the intellect, as
distinguished from the will, thus the intellectual principle of the
church. It is in the understanding that the thoughts assemble
when they deliberate on anything either good or evil. And this
character of the people and the palace is more clearly indicated by the
object being, not simply to take Jesus, but to take him by subtilty, —
an attempt which expresses the idea that in the Jewish church they

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW, 691
not only were opposed to the Word, but employed the subtilty of
their intellects to pervert and destroy it.
The high priest, who headed and encouraged the council, deserves
our especial attention. Caiaphas is one of those persons, several of
whom are mentioned in the Scriptui-es, who unite high official gifts
with degraded personal qualities. Caiaphas it was who spoke " not
of himself : but being high priest that year, he prophesied that
Jesus should die for that nation ; and not for that nation only, but
that also he should gather together in one the children of God that
were scattered abroad" (John xi. 61). Yet he who uttered this great
truth, when speaking under the inspiration of the Almighty, could
conspire with the unprincipled Sanhedrim when they "consulted that
they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him." He was like
Balaam, "which heard the words of God, which saw the vision
of the Almighty," uttering sublime truths while meditating a
diabolical action, — willing to curse him whom it was his duty to
bless. More effectually did the purpose of Caiaphas work against
Jesus, as "the Star that should come out of Jacob, and the Sceptre
that should rise out of Israel," than did the will of Balaam, to use
enchantment against Jacob and divination against Israel, But
Providence had a beneficent end in preventing the one and permitting
the other. In the time of Caiaphas it was expedient "that one man
should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not;" and
the high priest himself was a suitable instrument for promoting the
accomplishment of the prophecy he uttered. Can we, then, fail to see
in Caiaphas, the high priest of the Jews, a type of the Jewish church,
and of every corrupt member of the church, when intellectual en
lightenment and moral corruption go hand in hand, when the under
standing can see and speak from the light of heaven, while the will
feels ancl acts from the fire of hell ?
6. When the whole Sanhedrim had determined to take Jesus,
their subtilty was displayed in the resolution they adopted to take
him, noi on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among ihe people.
The Lord was, however, taken on the feast day ; but it was at the
suggestion and through the agency of one still more wicked and subtile
than themselves — Judas, the traitor. The feast day of the passover was
a type of the Lord's redemption, and the paschal lamb which was then
killed and eaten was a type of the Redeemer himself Appropri
ately was the Lord's death accomplished during the celebration of
the passover ; and appropriately was he led as a lamb to the
slaughter on the day that the paschal lamb was killed. Yet the

592 ST, MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
Jewish priesthood wished to avoid this day lest there might be an
uproar among the people. The multitude, though often hostile to
Jesus, were not actuated by the same deadly h;»,tred against him as
their rulers, nor did they deal with him with the subtilty of the
priesthood. The rulers were Uke Pharaoh and his servants, who
attempted to defeat the Divine purpose to redeem Israel, while the
people, who inclined to follow the Lord, were like the mixed multi
tude that went up with the children of Israel out of Egypt.
6. A striking contrast to this wicked conspiracy of the rulers of
the Jewish church to effect the Lord's destruction, is presented in the
tender and beautiful scene exhibited when Jesus was in Bethamy, in
the house of Simon ihe leper. As Bethany was the town of Lazarus^
whose resurrection from the dead typified the raising up of a church
among the Gentiles, the Lord's presence in Simon's house, and the
anointing of his head with oil, are expressive of the loving reception
of the Lord by the Gentiles when he was rejected by the Jews.
7. When Jesus was in the house of Simon, ihere came unto Mm a
woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured
it on his head, as he sat at meat. As Simon was a type of faith in the
Lord, the woman was a type of love to him. This woman, as we
leam from John xii. 3, was Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Mary is the
recognized type of those devoted souls who have chosen "the one
thing needful," the love of Jesus, as their all ; and who sit at his feet,
and hear his word. And such will imitate Mary, also, in the costly
offering which she made to her Saviour. Mary's pious act was a
significant one. Anointing was practised in the representative church
on all solemn and important occasions ; in particular, it was employed
in the inauguration of kings and priests. Types of the Lord, their
unction was representative of his. He was truly the Loed's Anointed,
The oil with which Jesus was anointed was the Divine love itself, of
which the holy oil was the symbol. In the secondary sense, holy oil
was the symbol of brotherly love, " Behold, how good and how
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity ! It is like the
precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even
Aaron's beard ; that went down to the skirts of his garments,"
(Ps. cxxxiii.) Unity among brethren is cemented by brotherly love.
The precious ointment brought by Mary was a symbol of her love to
her Saviour ; as it is love that unites man to man, it is love that
unites man to the Lord, Love is precious in proportion as it has cost
us much — as we have purcha.sed it with much self-denial and devoted
service, and have then enriched it with wisdom and experience. Mary

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 593
brought her ointment in an alabaster box. True faith, filled with
pure love, is the alabaster box of precious ointment which Mary poured
upon the head of Jesus. Those whom Mary represents imitate Mary's
act of devotion when they reciprocate the love which they have received
from Jesus ; and they pour the precious ointment on his head when they
seek conjunction with himin the celestial degree, of which the Lord's
head is the symbol. John (xii. 3) says that Mary anointed the feet
of Jesus; and to reconcile the two statements, commentators offer the
conjecture that Mary anointed both his head and his feet. Whether
this be the case or not, there is a reason for the apparent discrepancy.
The head signifies first principles, from which all lower principles are
derived; and the feet signify lowest principles, in which all the higher
are contained. The anointing of the head and the anointing of the
feet have the same signification, so far as this, that the anointing of
each signifies the sanctifying of the whole man — the one, all as pro
ceeding from the first; the other, all as included in the last. And the
anointing of the feet is recorded in John, because his gospel describes
regeneration in its greatest fulness — when the first is in the last, the
highest in the lowest.
8. This grateful tribute of tender love and exalted devotion on
the part of Mary did not receive from all who witnessed it the
approval it deserved. But when his disciples saw it, they liad indigna
tion, saying. To what purpose is this waste ? This is not the only
instance in which the disciples sho-wed less love aud devotedness to
the Lord than the pious women who foUowed him. The different
character of the male and female mind accounts for this. Women
act more from affection, men more from intellect. Every one, in
deed, has both these essentials of humanity in himself, although the
sexes have not both in the same degree. The difference between
Mary and the disciples may therefore Vie seen by every one in his own
experience. Warm and generous impulses sometimes prompt us to
noble or generous actions, but when the calculating faculty comes
into play, it condemns as wasteful what the heart had conceived as
necessary. Second thoughts are sometimes best ; but in the present
state of human nature they are often less disinterested than the first.
It is for this reason that the church, when personified, is represented
as a woman; because it is the will, and not the understanding — love,
and not faith — that essentially constitutes the church, and which is
the virgin daughter of Zion and Jerusalem, the bride and wife of the
Lamb. Every true member of the church has both these elements of
religion, but love is the essence of all his true worship, and the grace
2 o

594 ST, MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
which unites his soul to his Saviour Intellect, truth, faith, when
alone, have nothing devotional or conjunctive in them, but tend
rather to self-worship, and therefore to disjunction and division.
The disciples on this, as on some other occasions, presented an image
of the mind when too much under the influence of faith as a separate
grace, and therefore of faith as opposed, , rather than favourable, to
true love and its precious offering. In regard to the conduct of the
disciples on this occasion, Judas Iscariot was the author of this
censure of waste, and according to John (xii. 4), he alone uttered the
complaint; and this he did, "not that he cared for the poor, but
because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put
therein." According to the rule that the first of a series marks the
general character of the whole, we have here a representation of the
intellectual state of the church, when self-love and self-interest are
allowed to infiuence our thoughts. Even the man of the church,
when he takes a merely intellectual view of divine worship, asks, " To
what purpose is this waste ? God cannot be exalted by our praise,
nor persuaded by our petitions. The time and the means that are
devoted to anointing him who in himself is holy might have been sold
for much and given to the poor." Yet acts proceeding from these
nobler sentiments would frequently be acts done to the Lord himself — •
acts that had less of self and more of him — acts such as those which he
himself ascribed to the righteous, when he said, " Inasmuch as ye have
done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
9. The difference between the woman and the disciples, as types of
the celestial and spiritual, is further manifested in the remark. For
this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to ihe poor.
She thought of the Lord ; they thought of the neighbour. With the
celestial the Lord is first; with the spiritual the neighbour is first.
Do we not sometimes hear it objected, " To what purpose is this
waste of time and energy which you devote to pious meditation and
prayer ? Why not give them to the poor ? God does not require all
this service. You cannot exalt him with your praises, nor move him
with your prayers. Your brother can be benefited by your service,
and requires all you can render him. That which is most beneficial
to man is most serviceable to God." True ; but the highest form of
love to the neighbour comes through love to God. True love to the
neighbour is love to man from love to God. When the prophet
would increase the famishing widow's handful of meal, he required
her first to make him a cake. And that he might bless the harvests
of Israel, God required the first-fruits, the gleanings of which were

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 595
left for the poor. Why was this ? To teach us that the acknow
ledgment of the Giver sanctifies the gift, and makes its secondary use
more excellent and beneficial. But the disciples thought it might
have been sold for much, and given to the poor. We read, indeed, of
something similar to this in the Lord requiring a would-be disciple to
sell all that he had, and give to the poor. But his possessions were a
hindrance to his becoming a disciple of Jesus. The woman had pur
chased the ointment to show her devotion to the Lord. To have sold
it again, to give the money to the poor, would have been to forsake
the Lord with the view of doing service to men. As this woman
represents the church, and specifically the Gentile church, she is to be
considered as standing between the Lord as the All-sufficient, and the
poor as the destitute.
10. But wlien Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye
the woman ? Our Lord alludes to this good work in what foUows.
We may confine our attention at present to the inquiry how this act
could operate as a good work upon him. As this woman pouring
. ointment on the Lord's head represented the church seeking conjunc
tion through love with the Lord's divine humanity, the good work
she -wi'ought upon Jesus, in regard to herselfj is the union effected
with him, by the reciprocation of his love on the part of the church.
The spiritual trouble the celestial when they judge of their state by
their own, and insinuate their own spirit into them, or make them
the subjects of their infiux. The lower acting upon the higher causes
them disturbance. For she hath wrought a good work upon me, said
our Lord. This work is afterwards mentioned, and will be considered
when we come to it.
11. The reason the Lord gives for not disturbing or hindering the
-woman in her pious work is. For ye have ilie poor always with you;
but me ye have not always. There are two kinds of poor, and many
degrees of poverty. There are the poor in the natural sense, who
have a scant share of this world's goods, and the poor in a spiritual
sense, who have but a small share of heaven's wealth. Of the spirit
ually poor there are some who, though yet poor, think they are rich,
and in need of nothing ; and there are some who are sensible of their
poverty, and desire to receive the true riches. There are the poor
distinct from ourselves, in the persons of others, and the poor within
us, in our own impoverished faculties. These we too certainly have
with us always. But Jesus we have not always. His spirit of meek
ness and lowliness of heart, of love and mercy, of forbearance, for
giveness, of patience and endurance, — this is not always with us.

596 ST, MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
When the heavenly graces and virtues in which he dwells are active,
then is he with us. And then is the time to pour out the affections
of our love and devotion, as the woman poured upon his head the
precious ointment — the sign of her grateful homage and profound
adoration. 12. A further reason the Lord gave the disciples not to trouble the
woman was. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she
did it for my burial. Burial is the symbol of resurrection ; for when
the body dies and is buried, the soul rises into its true aud complete
life. But the Lord's resurrection was also his glorification; and this
is included in the signification of his burial. The angels know
not about death and burial, but only about life and resurrection.
Therefore, when the language of men is translated into the language
of angels, mortality is changed into immortality. What, then, does
our Lord mean when he said of the woman, "In that she hath poured
this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial?" It is well
known that Jesus was called Christ from his being the Anointed of
Jehovah. The holy oil with which he was to be anointed signifies the
Divine love. " The Lord alone, as to his divine humanity, was the
anointed of Jehovah ; for in him, from conception, was the Divine
good itself of the Divine love, and from that he made his humanity
Divine truth itself when in the world; and, moreover, by union with
his essential Divinity he made that also the Divine good of his
Divine love." .As Jesus was the anointed of Jehovah, so was he the
anointed of heaven and the church. But the anointing by the church
¦was only the reciprocation of his own gifts — the return of her love
to him as the fountain as well as the object of her love. But this love
was directed to the Lord in his humanity glorified ; and as its glorifi
cation was about to be completed in his resurrection, therefore he said
the woman had poured it on his body for his burial. To see this sub
ject in its practical bearing, we must consider it in reference to the
Lord's resurrection and glorification in ourselves. It is by love from
his Divinity that his humanity can be glorified in u.s, and become the
true object of our love and worship. That love is the precious ointment
which the loving and grateful disciple pours upon his head, as a sign
of the heart's acknowledgment of Jesus as the Author of the soul's
salvation. 13. The Lord further declares to his disciples respecting the woman.
Verily I say unto you, Wlieresoever this gospel shall be preached in
the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, he told
Jor a memorial of her. LiteraUy has this been fulfiUed, And worthy

Chap, XXVI,] ST, MATTHEW. 597
must the deed have been to obtain the promise of an imperishable
fame But there is a promise within this promise, whose memorial is
not on earth, but in heaven; not without in the world, but within in
the heart. The Lord's language seems to suggest another meaning.
It is not the genius of his religion to promise temporal rewards for
heavenly services. The record of the righteous is on high. According
to the spiritual sense, the world signifies the world within — the human
mind. Wheresoever here the gospel is preached, or the glad tidings of
salvation are revealed and received — in a word, wherever the Lord's
saving truth is accepted — there the good to which it leads is made
known ; but made known as a memoi ial, a lesson impressed upon the
outer man, of an act that has been performed in the inner man, and
which is prospective to its being realized in the outer man also.
14. It is remarkable that this touching act of love to the Saviour
should be immediately foUowed by the traitorous act of him who
originated the complaint against the waste of the ointment. The
Lord had spoken of the woman having by anticipation embalmed his
body for burial ; and then, as if the mention of the subject had
awakened a slumbering idea, one of die twelve, called Judas Iscariot,
went unto the chief priests. Taking the character and the act
of Judas as they are represented to us in the plain and unqualified
language of Scripture, we cannot imagine any consummation of
iniquity more complete than we find it in him. It is needless to
enlarge upon this. Every one sees it. Judas has become a name to
express the lowest depth of humanity ; and his case affords, if not an
example, at least a type of the extremity of human degradation and
depravity which rendered the Lord's death at once inevitable , and
necessary; for the very evil which procured his death was that which
his resurrection provided against. As the woman who poured the
precious ointment on the Lord's head represented the Gentile church,
which in her representative act gave a token that that church was
about to receive the Lord from the dead, so Judas represented the
Jewish church, which was about to betray and crucify him, killing the
Just One, whom they professed to be longing and looking for as their
deliverer. But Judas, besides representing the Jewish church, repre
sented a possible character in the Christian church, and still more a
principle or element in human nature in every age of the church. He
represented the lowest, and now the most degraded, principle of human
nature. He was in the last age of the world what the serpent was in
the first — the betrayer of innocence, the bringer-in of death. But
there was this overruled difference; the last death was the conquest

598 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
as well as the consummation of the first. By death Jesus overcame
him who had the power of death, and opened again the way to the
tree of life, which the fall of man had closed. Life and immortality,
brought to Ught by the gospel, were realized in the resurrection.
Thus did evU become the permitted means of working the overthrow
of its own dominion. The principle in human nature which Judas
represented is that which is called the sensual and corporeal, or what in
the apostolic writings is called the carnal, which is in man's fallen
state hostile to the spiritual. This principle is therefore in deadly
opposition to the Lord in man ; it is the Judas of the human heart,
and is ever ready and seeks opportunity to betray him. But this
carnal principle seeks to effect its purpose by leaguing itself with, or
rather becoming the willing instrument of the powers and principles
of the corrupt and perverted church, as Judas did by acting into the
hands of the chief priests.
15. But while Judas offers his services to the enemies of Jesus, he
does it for the sake of reward. He says to the chief priests. What
will ye give me, and I xvill deliver him unto you ? It would appear
from this and the subsequent part of Judas's history, that he was not
actuated so much by hatred of Jesus as by the love of himself He
appears rather as one who has given himself so entirely up to that
all-devouring avarice which is the root of all evil, as to be wUling to
sacrifice his best friend to gratify his ruling passion, which indicates a
state still worse than that of a personal enemy. " What will ye give
me?" is the question and the object. We might well ask how could
this be possible in a disciple of Jesus, if we did not see and do the
like. For what is the sacrifice of acknowledged religious principle to
avarice and selfishness but a betraying the Lord afresh, and putting
him to an open shame? But there is an avarice of another and still
deadlier kind than the sordid love of money — the sordid love of know
ledge. Knowledge is to man spiritually what money is to him natur
ally—the means of life. Truth and goodness are the principles of
life ; but if these are sold for knowledge, knowledge becomes the
means of death instead of life. The price for which Judas sold the
Lord, and for which the chief priests purchased him for his destruction,
implies the little value which the Jewish church attached to his merit,
and his redemption and salvation. And they covenanted with him for
thirty pieces of silver. Thisnumber signifies somewhat Uttle in respect to
that of which it is predicated. In the parable of the sower, the seed
sown in good ground brought forth some thirty, some sixty, some an
hundredfold, thirty being the measure of the least productive. Judas

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW, 599
and the Jewish priests individually made no account of the Lord and
his works ; but what they did represented what the people thought —
the general estimation in which the Lord and his redemption were held.
These thirty pieces of silver were the price at which the Saviour of the
world was valued. Do we value him more ? If so, how much is his
price ?
16. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray Mm. The
state, to which time corresponds, was the potential consummation of
the Jewish church. In relation to individual life the state of mind
which seeks opportunity to betray the truth and good, or to deliver
them into the hands of their enemies, is one in which the proprium
or selfhood is in intense activity, and tending to the ultimate destruc
tion of the human principle.
17-30. We come now to a deeply important part ofthe gospel history
— the account of the Lord's eating the passover with his disciples, and
his instituting the sacrament of the Holy Supper. The institution of
the new ordinance on the occasion of celebrating the old was most
appropriate and significant. The Jewish passover had been instituted
to foreshadow what the Christian supper was instituted to com
memorate : or rather, the passover was instituted to commemorate
the shadow, while the supper was instituted to commemorate the
substance The redemption of Israel from the bondage of Egypt was
a type of the redemption of mankind from the bondage of hell. The
paschal lamb, the sprinkling of whose blood upon the door-posts made
the angel of death pass over the houses of Israel, was a type of the
Lamb of God, whose blood cleanseth from all siu; and the flesh of
the paschal lamb, which the Israelites were to eat as the feast of their
deliverance, was a type of the flesh of the Son of man, which he
gives for the Ufe of the world, as the food of the soul. We do not
mean that the flesh and blood of the Lord's natural body possessed
these virtues. His words were spirit and Ufe ; and what is spiritually
meant by the Lord's flesh and blood we shall see when we come to
the institution of the Lord's Supper. It was well known by the
apostles that the paschal lamb represented the Lord ; for Paul says,
" Christ our passover is sacriflced for us" (1 Cor. v. 7).
17, Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples
came to Jesus, saying unto him. Where wilt thou that we prepare for
thee to eat ihe passover ?• The feast of passover was called sometimes
the feast of unleavened bread, because bread unleavened was com
manded to be eaten during its continuance. The feast lasted seven
days. It commenced on the fourteenth day of the month Abib,

600 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. XXVL
which was thenceforward to be the first month of the Israelitish year,
and ended on the twenty-first (Exod. xU. 7). The year of which the
month Abib was to be the beginning represented the year of the
Lord's redemption, which commenced a new epoch in the spiritual
history of the human race. " The passover represented the Lord's
glorification, and thereby the conjunction of the Divine Being with
mankind. And since the conjunction of the Lord with mankind is
effected by love and charity, and by faith derived from them, these
celestial and spiritual principles were represented by the unleavened
bread which was to be eaten on the days of the Passover. Bread sig
nifies in general all food, both celestial and spiritual ; thus all celestial
and spiritual thing.s. That these should be free from all impurities
was represented by unleavened bread ; for leaven signifies evU and
falsity, by which celestial and spiritual principles are rendered impure
and profane. It was to prevent the defilement of these principles by
anything profane that leaven was forbidden, under the penalty of
being cut off from Israel ; for they who profane what is celestial and
spiritual must inevitably perish." The first day of unleavened bread
was the first of the seven days during which the feast lasted. It
therefore signified the beginning of a new state. In regard to the
Lord himself, the new state, the beginning of which was represented
by the feast of unleavened bread, was that full and flnal state of
glorification which was completed by the passion of the cross. The
Lord's glorification was a successive as well as a continuous work. It
advanced by distinct as well as by continuous degrees : and the last
was that upon which he was now about to enter. The Lord therefore
said to his disciples, " With desire have I desired to eat this passover
with you before I suffer" (Luke xxii. 16). The bitterness of his
trials, temptations, and sufl'erings, which were to form his dark
passage into transcendent glory, was significantly pointed to by the
bitter Iierbs which were to be eaten with the paschal lamb. As with
the Lord, so with the disciples who follow him in the regeneration.
The Lord's disciples asked him, " Where wUt thou that we prepare ?"
The question here is one which every true disciple requires to ask.
Place signifies state. The question involves the desire to know the
stale which enables the disciple to unite with the Lord in eating the
Christian passover, and to be directed and led by him to its attain
ment. And this is essentially necessary when we consider that the
question is, " Where wUt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the
passover?" It is possible for the disciple to eat the passover without
the Lord eating it with him, or the feast being his. Unless the

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 601
Lord is present, and eats with us, the feast is not his, and does not
conjoin the soul with him.
18. To the disciples' question, "Where?" the Lord answers. Go
into the city to such a man, and say unto him. The Master saith. My
time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.
According to Luke xxii. 7, the disciples were not directed to the man
of the house, but when they entered the city they were to meet a man
bearing a pitcher of water, and to follow him into whatsoever house
he entered. As the city, Jerusalem, in its genuine sense represented
the doctrine of the church, a house in the city represented the good
which all true doctrine contains. The disciples were to be led to the
house in which the passover was to be celebrated, by following a man
bearing a pitcher of water, to teach us, representatively, that if we
follow where truth leads, we shall be introduced into a principle and
state of goodness. Water being the symbol of truth, he who bears
the pitcher of water is the type of one who is instructed in the truths
of the church, and possessed of spiritual inteUigence Thus under
stood, we can see a reason for the Lord directing the disciples to the
city, besides the miraculous character of the transaction, for all the
Lord's miracles are instructive. When the disciples entered the house,
they were directed to address the householder in these remarkable
words, "The Master saith. My time is at hand; I will keep the
passover at thy house with my disciples." This is not the man whom
Luke speaks of as guiding the disciples to the house, but him whom
he calls the goodman of the house; he signifies, therefore, truth con
joined with good, or the understanding united to the will. What the
Lord says to any one, spiritually means an inward perception or
dictate from him of the truth expressed. The time of which our Lord
speaks was not the time of eating the passover, but the time when he,
as the true Paschal Lamb, was to be killed. The man probably
understood not this saying; it was hid from the most privileged of
the apostles. It was sufficient that his word had power, and that it
has the power of spiritual instruction. Time, like place, is expressive
of state, and the Lord's death was also his glorification. Near at hand
signifies proximity of state. To see the force of this practically, we
must consider it experimentally. The Lord's time is at hand with us
when his glorification is about to be realized in our regeneration —
when he is about to be born again from the dead in our hearts and
lives. The consent as well as the perception of the understanding is
meant by the disciples announcing this to the man of the house; its
consent that the will be the receptacle of the Divine love, and be

602

ST. MATTHEW, [Chap, XXVL

conjoined, throu,gh love, with the Lord himself Jesus does not,
however, ask the man's permission, but simply expresses his will
to occupy his house The Lord does not overbear our freedom; but
when we are disposed to be the Lord's, there is nothing more
needed than to know his will, that we may do it. His wiU is ex
pressed in his words, "I wUl keep the passover at thy house with my
disciples." We have already remarked that the will is the place
where the Lord dwells with man, and enters into conjunction with
him ; and this is expressed in the Lord's message to the householder
to whom his messengers were led. In the house the Lord was to eat
the passover with his disciples. The disciples represented all the
principles of goodness and truth which constitute the Lord's kingdom
in the human mind. To eat the passover with the disciples in the
house, is to conjoin to himself, by his communication and their appro
priation of good, all the principles of love and faith, when elevated
into the human will.
19. And the disciples did as Jesus had appioiiited tliem; and ihey
made ready the passover. We are not informed here who these disciples
were ; but in Luke we leam they were Peter and John, who repre
sent truth and goodness, or faith and love, and therefore stand for the
disciples generally, for these are the general principles of which the
others are the particulars. And these make ready the passover : they
prepare the mind for the full reception of the Lord and heaven, and
for the confirmation of the principles of his kingdom of love and peace
in the heart.
20. The celebration of the passover, as the last meal which the
Lord partook with his disciples before his death, comes now to be con
sidered. Now wlien the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.
We have already spoken of the distinction between the passover and
the Lord's Supper. In their spiritual import the passover treats of
the Lord's work of redemption, and his supper of the work of salva
tion ; or what is the same, the first treats of the work of reformation,
the second of the work of regeneration. The one passes into the other,
and in it finds its completion and fulness. We have therefore a deep
and eternal interest in these two great representative feasts. And as
the greater includes the less, we have in the Lord's Supper all that was
contained in the passover. Indeed, that sacred ceremonial of the
Christian church includes all that was represented in the entire circle
of feasts and sacrifices which belonged to the Israelitish church, all
these being embodied in the sacrament of the holy supper, as all the
washings were embodied in the sacrament of baptism. Althou"h,

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 603
therefore, the ritual law was abolished, yet an epitome of the rituals
of the law was preserved, to form the ceremonial worship of the
Christian church. The even, in the Scripture sense, was the beginning
of the day, which consisted of " the evening and the morning." The
even on which the Lord assembled with his disciples to keep the pass-
over was the beginning of the new day, the day of salvation. To the
Jewish church this even was the beginning of the night, for to it no
morning ever dawned again. To the Lord it was the even of the
night of his darkest and direst temptation, previous to the morning of
his resurrection in transcendent glory.
21. In conformity with this, the first -words that the Lord addressed
to his disciples had immediate reference to this dark stage of his expe
rience, and to the still darker part -which one of their number was to
act in regard to it. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto
you, that one of you shall betray me. We shall not now speak of
the crime itself which the Lord declares one of his disciples would
commit, but of the Lord's revealing this while they were eating the
jiassover. As the even represented two opposite states, the feast
represented two opposite things. It was eaten by the Israelites on
that night when a complete and final separation was effected between
them and the Egyptians, followed by a judgment which drowned their
enemies in the Red Sea, and placed them in freedom on its oppesite
shore. A simUar separation and judgment were signified by the
passover which the Lord ate with his disciples. Judgment was about
to pass on the -Jewish church; the faithful and the unfaithful were
about to be separated from each other — the former to be rejected and
the latter saved. The unfaithful were represented by Juda.s, who,
in the general sense, was a type ofthe Jewish church ; and the faithful
by the rest of the disciples. It was during the passover, therefore,
that the character of Judas was developed, that his treason was fore
told, and that the awful judgment of Divine Truth was pronounced
upon him ; and it was immediately after it that he went out and
offered to the chief priests to deliver his Master into their hands.
The subsequent history of Judas and the rest of the disciples further
exemplifies their representative characters ; for while the traitor, like
the Egyptians, perished, the others, like the Israelites, passed through
trials before they were established in righteousness. There was a
peculiar propriety in the Lord being betrayed by one of his own disciples.
The distinction between the true disciples and the false is, that the true
are principled in faith grounded in charity, and the false are in faith
without charity ; and it is faith without charity that betrays the Lord.

604 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
22. When Jesus had declared that one of his disciples should
betray him, they were exceeding sorrowful. Sorrow signifies tempta
tion. The Lord is said to bear our sorrows, because he suffered
temptations for our sake, when his soul was exceeding sorrowful even
unto death. This sorro-w leads to self-examination. And, indeed, one
of the uses of temptation is, that evils may be excited, and so dis
covered, that they may be put away. The form of the inquiry of the
disciples is most instructive. They individually ask, not "Who is it?"
but, "Is it I?" They began every one of ihem to say unto him. Lord, is
it I? True self-examination is not a general but a particular search,
and with the view of discovering the particular evil that tempts us to
sin, and where it lies concealed. This is a discovery that cannot be
made by the light of our own reason, but by the Ught that comes from
above; the Lord alone can reveal the hidden evil to our minds. To
him every one must look and say, "Lord, is it I?"
23. To their question the Lord did not give a direct reply. And he
answered and said. He that dippeth his hand with me in tlie dish, the
same shall betray me. The dish used at the passover is said to have
contained a bitter sauce, in which the guests dipped their morsel before
eating it. The bitter herbs used in this ritual signified, as we have
seen, the bitterness of temptation. The word dip is derived from that
which means to baptize, and baptism also includes the idea of tempta
tion. The hand of Judas being with that of Jesus in the dish, tells
us of the suffering which one was to inflict, and tlie other to endure, in
the approaching day of trial. The hand is the symbol of power. The
hand of Judas was the symbol of the power of hell itself, — for Satan
had put it into his heart to betray him, and when he had taken
the sop, Satan entered into him (John xiii. 27). The hand of Jesus
was there to resist and to overcome that power; for his hand was the
symbol of that power which he possessed as the Word made flesh.
This mutual dipping in the dish, no doubt, implies also the familiarity
of friendship, as expressed by David in Psalm xii. 9 : "Yea, mine
own famiUar friend, iu whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread,
hath lifted up his heel against me." Eating bread with one generally
denotes communion with him by good. Of course, in the case of
hypocrites, it can only denote simulated goodness and hollow pro
fession. In regard to the Jews, whom Judas represented, their
eating the Lord's bread denotes their possessing and reading the
Word ; other expressions of friendship, such as taking sweet counsel
together, and walking to the house of God in company, being ex
pressive of the delight which that church took in external knowledge

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 605
and worship, while at the same time they were in a state of inward
rebellion against him, which showed itself in their cruel hostility to
Jesus, whose destruction they breathed and finally effected.
24. The Lord continues. The Son of man goeth as it is written of
him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it
had heen good for thai man if he had not been born. It had been foretold
that the Messiah would be cut off out of the land of the living (Dan.
ix. 26; Isa. liii. 3). Although Divine wisdom and mercy brought an
infinite good out of the Lord's death, it was no less criminal in those
who compassed it. That wickedness recoiled upon the head of Judas,
and upon the Jewish church, which Judas so fitly represented. But
he also represented those by whom the truth is betrayed — those who
know and profess themselves its discijiles, and yet profane it by making
it subservient to their own selfish and worldly purposes. They pro
fane it to their own destruction. The "woe" of everlasting ruin
hangs over them; and good would it have been for such if they
had never been born. This does not signify natural but spiritual
birth, for the real profaner is one who has been bom from above, but
has destroyed the life of heaven in himself. Good had it been for
this man if he had never been bom.
25. When the Lord had spoken these terrible words against him
who was to be his betrayer, Judas answered and said, Master, is ii I?
It seems extraordinary that Judas should ask this question, knowing
that it was his settled purpose to betray his Lord. He might have
known that Jesus also knew what his intention was. Perhaps in this
Judas affords an instance of the double mindedness of those he repre
sents. All who are in truth, and yet in evil, know and do not know
that the Lord sees them. They know, but do not believe; and there
fore their knowledge has no influence on their Uves, nor even on their
inward thoughts. Yet it was necessary, spiritually, that Judas should
ask the question, and that Jesus should answer it. Self-examination
would be fruitless if it did not result in discovering where the
evil lurks. And now that it was brought to Ught, the evil could be
separated from the good. Although there is no recoid of it here, yet
we learn from John xiii. 30, that, "having received the sop, he went
immediately out" to execute his purpose. And as, in relation to
man, Judas represented the corporeal principle of human nature, it is
here we are to flnd the root of evil, especially of the cupidity which
would sell the Saviour and salvation for a base and momentary
gratification. 26. We now come to the institution of the holy supper. And as

606 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
ihey were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and
gave it to the disciples, and said. Take, eat; this is my body. The
holy supper, the most .sacred solemnity of worship, was instituted as
a perpetual remembrance of the Lord's mercy in our redemjjtion, ancl
as a representative and a means of his giving himself to his people for
their regeneration and salvation. It was instituted instead of the
passover. By the holy supper we are to understand the same thing
as by the paschal supper, bread and wine being received in the one
instead of the lamb and herbs of the other. In instituting the supper,
the Lord called the bread his body and the wine his blood. But what
are the body and blood of the Saviour ? They cannot be material ;
and if they were, they could not be received by the soul, nor could
they, if their reception were possible, support its spiritual life. Nor
are the Lord's body and blood mere figures of speech. His humanity
is no longer material, having been glorified and made divine. But it
has in it divine principles corresponding to the flesh and blood of the
material body which he had upon earth. These divine principles are
goodness itself and truth itself These constitute the very humanity
of the Lord, the body and blood which the Christian can eat and
drink, and without eating and drinking which he has no life in him.
Of these divine principles in the Lord's humanity the bread and wine
used in the holy supper are the symbols. As bread and wine
nourish the body, divine goodness and truth nourish the soul. Bread
signifies the same as flesh, or the body, and wine the same as blood.
It was for this reason that the Lord used these, and appointed their
use, as the elements of the holy supper. But what connection is
there between the natural reception of bread and -wine in the outward
ordinance, and the spiritual reception of goodness and tmth from the
Lord in the inward operation of his Spirit ? There is a connection by
correspondence. By correspondence earth is connected with heaven,
and natural things with spiritual, and men with angels, and the body
with the soul, and all with the Lord. When we devoutly and
intelligently partake of the holy supper, assuming that our devotion
rests upon holiness, without which there can be no true worship, we
come into more immediate connection with the Lord and heaven, and
more perfectly into the capacity of receiving the divine and heavenly
principles to which the bread and wine correspond. The external
man comes also into more perfect correspondence with the internal ¦
and in these circumstances, what affects the lower disposes it to
receive corresponding impressions from the higher Thus is the
devout recipient of the holy supper brought into a state in which

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 607
the true bread, which cometh down from heaven, can enter iuto and
strengthen his heart. From these general views let us turn to the
divine narrative before us. When the Lord took the bread and
blessed, he performed an act that signified, in respect to himself, the
elevation of his humanity into union with his divinity, by which it
was sanctified; and when he brake the bread, and gave it to the
disciples, he performed acts which meant that his sanctified humanity
is accommodated to the varying wants and capacities of his children,
and imparted to them for their salvation. The Lord therefore said of
the bread, " This is my body.'' The form of this divine sacrament
thus represented both the ascent and descent of the Son of man — the
glorification of the humanity, and its descent as the Holy Spirit into
the minds of men. The Lord's body and the bread signify the
humanity as to divine good, which is the principle received by the
human will ; and his asking the disciples to take and eat teaches
what we have to do to realize the offered good. The Lord gave the
bread to the disciples, but they had to take it. We have to co-operate
with the Lord by freely and actively receiving what he freely gives.
We have also to eat, to appropriate or make his good our own. As
earthly food must be eaten, that it may enter into the body for its
support, so must heavenly food be appropriated or made our own by
use, that it may enter into the soul, and nourish it unto eternal life.
27, 28. When the Lord had given the bread, he took the cup, and
gave thanks, and gave it to ihem, saying, Drink ye all of it ; for this is
my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for tlie remission
of sins. The same acts here have the same signification. We need
only notice what in this is peculiar. Mention is here made of the
Lord taking the cup, not the wine. It is true that the wine is
understood. But the cup, as a vessel containing the wine, signifies
the external, in which is the internal. In reference to the Lord, it
implies that in the humanity the very recipient vessels of the truth
were made divine; but in relation to the Word, it implies that the
Lord never instructs his church and people by the internal sense
immediately or alone, but gives them the spirit in and by the letter.
As the Lord called the bread his flesh, so he calls the wine his blood.
And although the wine is considered the symbol of his blood, yet both
terms are symbolical, and each has a distinct though similar meaning.
The wine is the symbol of spiritual truth, and the blood of celestial
tmth; and the same may be said of bread aud body. And this
duality is introduced, that the holy supper might represent the
Lord's love to the whole human race, both celestial and spiritual, and

608 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
the reciprocal love of men towards him. The Lord therefore calls his
blood "the blood ofthe new testament "^more correctly, of the new
covenant. A testament is an instrument by which one bequeaths
property to another; but a covenant is an agreement between two,
implying conditions on both sides. This is the nature of the new
covenant in the Lord's blood, or in his divine truth. That covenant
differs from the old covenant in this : the old covenant was made by
the law written on tables of stone, but the new covenant was written
on the heart (Jer. xxxii. 33). The sacrament of the holy supper is
therefore a covenant; for to those who receive it worthily it is
a signing, sealing, and testifying that they are the children of God,
and heirs of his kingdom. But the Lord speaks of his blood of the
new covenant as being "shed for many for the remission of sins."
The shedding of his blood upon the cross, as being 'the last of his
sufferings, is put for the whole, and is an expressive and compendious
phrase for all that he endured for his creatures' sakes. The Lord's
sufferings were, in the first place, the means of overcoming the
powers of darkness and perfecting his humanity ; and, in the second
place, are the means of perfecting his creatures, for he was tempted
that he might succour them that are tempted. It is said that his
blood cleanseth from all sin, and that the saints wash their robes ancl
make them white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. vii. 14). This is
figurative language. So far as it may be understood of the Lord's
material blood, it cleanses by enabling us, through the Lord's suffer
ings and death, which are meant by the shedding of his blood, and
the blood which he shed, to pass triumphantly through the sufferings
of temptation and the death of sin, by which sin is removed or
remitted. This is in agreement with what is said of those who had
washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that " these are
they thai have come out of great tribulation!' Tribulation was
tlie means of their purification, and this effect of Christian
tribulation is the result of the tribulation which the Saviour
himself passed through. But the Lord's blood has a spiritual mean
ing. The blood of his material body was the symbol of the divine
truth of his glorified body. This is the blood of the Son of man
which the disciples must drink that they may live (John vi. 35), and
which cleanses from all sin. This meaning of the Lord's blood does
not invalidate the other. It is within it, and concordant with it.
The shedding of his blood on the cross was the necessary precursor
and means of shedding forth his Spirit on the day of Pentecost — as
necessary as it was for him to suffer those things, and to enter into

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 609
his glory (Luke xxiv. 26). The regenerating spirit that the Lord then
shed and now sheds forth is that of his humanity, and, as a regener
ating spirit, did not actuaUy exist till the Lord was glorified. This
blood of the new covenant is said to be shed for many. Does this
mean that he died for and redeemed a certain number of the human
race ? The universality of redemption is too distinctly declared in
Scripture to admit of such an interpretation. " He tasted death for
every man.'' The many for whom the Lord's blood is shed are those
on whose hearts it is shed abroad; and this number is determined,
not by a divine decree, but by human choice. The Lord foresees the
number of those who will receive his truth, but he does not determine
what that number shall be. God wills that all men should be saved;
and if it depended only on his will, none would be lost. The Lord's
will towards the whole human race may be expressed in his words to
the disciples, "Driuk ye all of it."
29. When the Lord had sent round the cup, he said, / uiill not drink
henceforth of this fruit of ilie vine, until that day when I drink it new with
you in my Father's kingdom. This was, literaUy, the last supper the
Lord was to eat with his disciples upon earth ; but the feast was to
be renewed with them again in heaven. How beautiful the truth !
how comforting the promise ! The last supper on earth is the
beginning of a perpetual feast in heaven. Yet this experience is not
entirely limited to the other life. The Father's kingdom is not heaven
only, but the church, and the man of the church in whom are the
Lord's love and truth. In agreement with this the Lord speaks not
of the cup, nor even of wine, but of the fruit of the vine ; for wine
signifies spiritual tmth, and the fruit of the vine celestial truth ; and
the fruit of the vine is new when this new and higher state is
attained; and this state and government of love is meant by his
Father's kingdom.
30. And when ihey had sung an hymn, they went out into ihe mount
of Olives. What a hymn was that which the Lord of life and glory
sung with his humble followers in the upper room in Jerusalem !
Angels had sung at his birth, when they announced that event as
tidings of great joy which should be to all jieople ; and they no
doubt now took up this song of completed redemption — for the Lord's
supper celebrated by anticipation his finished work — a song that will
never cease, but will for ever go on increasing in fervour and harmony
on earth and in heaven. But what is expressed iu the singing of this
hymn? There are two elements in human language — sound and
articulation. Sound is the expression of affection, articulation of
2e

610 ST, MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
thought. In sacred songs both these elements are present; and the
true hymn is " perfect music set to noble words." What a theme
does redemption afford for this form of glorification !
What is the thought that we should utter with the fervour of holy
affection in contemplating the Lord's divine work as celebrated by us
in the sacrament ? Is it not the Lord's marvellous love, in doing and
suffering, to save us from sin and its miseries ? Our ,song should be
praise to him who has brought us up out of an horrible pit, and set
our feet upon a rock, and established our goings, and put a new song in
our mouth, even praise to our God. But to praise the Lord we must
sing with melody in our hearts. There is the seat of true harmony,
the music of the affections, which brings them into unison with those
of angels. When the Lord and his disciples had sung a hymn, they
went into the mount of Olives. This mount, above all others, was
the symbol of divine and heavenly love. Thither the Lord went,
and led his disciples, to teach us that he ascends with his redeemed
into a state of holy love, when they have received into their hearts
and understandings the Uving principles of his redeeming goodness
and trath.
31. This love introduces the disciples into the mystery of the Lord's
sufferings and death, and of their own as the result of his. Then saith
Jesus unto them. All ye shall he offended because of me this night.
Startling announcement to those who had risen from a feast in which
all their best affections towards the Lord had been brought out, and
the happiness of communion with him had been highly exalted ! But
how tenderly does our Lord proceed to speak of this defection ! It is
the fulfilment of prophecy, and comes rather from the loss of their
divine Pastor than from any disposition of their own to wander.
For it is written, I vnll smite the shepherd, and the sheep of tlie flock
shall be scattered abroad. Truly, those who rightly trusted so much
to the care of their Shepherd might be excused for being unable to
endure the shook of his apprehension. Their conduct is a lesson to
us. These are the types of trials which fall to the lot of all true
disciples. We have repeatedly had occasion to remark that the
history of the Lord's life in the world is spiritually the history
of his life in us ; for we are regenerated as he was glorified. In a
general sense, indeed, the Lord's treatment by the Jews represented
the manner in which the Jewish church had treated the Word, per
verting and torturing it even to its entire destruction. But even this
has its spiritual counterpart in each of us, our evil nature being still
the origin of such rebellious passions as those which led the corrupt

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 611
descendants of Israel to the great evils they committed against the
Incarnate Word. When the Lord said to his disciples, " AU ye shall
be offended because of me this night," he alluded to the night of deep
temptation, when the powers of evil stir up the dark and corrupt
passions of the human heart, and cause them to assault the very life
of love and truth in the soul. The disciples are the affections of
goodness and truth, in which the Lord dwells within us; and these
are offended because of the Lord when, the power of evil has a
temporary ascendancy over the power of goodness. This is expressed
in the language of correspondence when the Lord adds, " for it is
written, I will smite the shepherd, and the .sheep of the flock shall be
scattered abroad." The Lord is our Shepherd as to his divine love,
and the sheep of his flock are the affections of charity. When love
is smitten, the affections of charity, in which that love dwell.-j, are
scattered. When in the hour of temptation love to God seems to
fail, the affections and perceptions of charity to man have for the
time no central power to sustain and unite them, they are scattered
abroad, severed at once from the Lord and from each other. Such is
the effect of that temptation which the Lord foretold would befall his
devoted disciples.
32. The trial of which the Lord warned his disciples extended over
the whole of his subsequent sufferings, including his crucifixion. But
he did not leave them without promise and without hope. He directed
their minds to his resurrection. But after I am risen again, I will go
before you into Galilee. This still is the promise and hope of the
Christian disciple. " If we be dead with Christ, we shall also rise
with him." To die with the Lord is to realize his death in ourselves.
The disciples of the Lord died with him when they laid down their
carnal views of him and of his kiiigdom, and they arose with him when
they received spiritual views of him and his kingdom. So is it
in every renewed heart and mind. But the Lord promised to his
disciples that after he was risen he would go before them into Galilee.
Smitten by the Jews, he was, as a shepherd, to go before his flock into
Galilee, as a sign that his church was transferred to the Gentiles; and,
in reference to the Christian disciple, that when the Lord has risen
in the heart, he goes before, and leads the principles of goodness and
truth out into the affections aud perceptions of the natural mind, there
to manifest himself ; for when the natural mind is regenerated, the
whole man is new.
33. When the Lord had told his disciples of their coming defection,
Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended

612 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
because of thee, yet will I never he offended. Self-confidence is the cause,
and shows the need of trial. The Lord permits us to be tried, that we
may see ourselves as we are, and be humbled by our experience.
Before we are tried we cannot believe that our hearts contain evils so
great as those of which experience makes us conscious. Peter there
fore only expressed the common conviction of those in this condition
of devoted and zealous but untried disciples, when he protested that
though all men should be offended, he, at least, would not.
34. Our Lord repeated his prediction, but now addresses it, not to
the disciples generally, but to Peter individually. Verily I say unto
ihee. Thai this night, before the cock crow, ihou shall deny me thrice.
The others forsook the Lord. Peter denied him, not once only, but
three times. The dawn, when the cock crows, is the commencement
of a new state of light and love which follows the night of temptation.
Thrice to deny the Lord implies complete denial. In regard to those
who are being regenerated, Peter's sin represents the Christian's tempta
tion, when, in the dark hour of trial, his faith in the Lord as his
Saviour almost fails. But this prediction of our Lord, and Peter's
denial, have reference to the state of the church, and extend beyond
the Jewish to the Christian dispensation. Peter represented the
principle of faith ; and the night and the morning signified the end of
the old church and the beginniug of the new. Peter's denying the
Lord in the night represented that at the end of the church faith
would utterly fail, even to an entire denial of the Lord as the God of
heaven and earth.
35. If the Lord was more emphatic in his second declaration of
Peter's defection, that apostle was also more positivein his second promise
of fideUty. Peter said unto Mm, Though I should die with thee, yet unll I
not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. We know how this
promise was fulfilled. Yet Peter and the others were no doubt sincere
in making it. Their defection was without premeditation and malice.
In this respect their conduct was entirely unlike that of Judas. Their
failure was caused not by the strength of bad piinciples, but by the
weakness of good ones. Their love for Jesus was sincere, but it was
feeble, because it was as yet more natural than spiritual. They con
fided in their own strength, and the result convinced them of their
own weakness. A most necessary and useful lesson does this teach
us. To die with Jesus is to die to self and the world — voluntarily
to crucify our entire evil nature. Before the sacrifice has been
demanded of us we may sincerely think that nothing could induce us
to shrink from it when the trial comes. This is not the weakness of

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 613
the Peters of the church only. All the disciples promised to die with
the Lord rather than deny him. Yet it was just because they were
unprepared to die with him that they forsook him and fied, and that
he who had the greatest confidence in himself made the most signal
failure. Naturally, it seems almost incredible that all the eleven, after
being so distinctly and solemnly warned, should have so completely
fulfilled the Lord's prediction and falsified their own promise They
seem even to have forgotten both promise and warning. It is when
tmth is in the memory only that it is most readUy forgotten. Advers
ity and trial remove it from the mind's view. Only when it is rooted
in the heart can it avail us in the hour of temptation. But in that
dark hour, although the truth may vanish from the memory, if the
good ground of faith is preserved, the truth will re-appear, and pro
duce its fruits in repentance, when faith of the heart will succeed to
faith of the understanding.
36. We now come to an event in the Lord's life of the most
solemn importance. Then cometh Jesus with iliem unto a place called
Gethsemane. Gethsemane is only exceeded by Calvary in awful
solemnity and moral grandeur. The Lord's sufferings in the garden
were mental — those ou the cross were of the body also. Gethsemane
signifies an " oilpress.'' No name could be more expressive of the
conflict of which it was the scene, and is now the memorial. The
olivepress, like the winepress, was the symbol of temptation. No
more expressive symbolism is employed in the Word to describe the
Lord's conflict with the powers of darkness, and his victories over
them, than that in Isaiah, " Who is this that cometh from Edom,
with dyed garments from Bozrah ? this that is glorious in his apparel,
travelling in the greatness of his strength ? I that speak in righ-
teousuesss, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel,
and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat ? I have
trodden the winepress alone ; and of the people there was none with
nie : for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my
fury ; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I
will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine
heart, and the year of my redeemed is come" (Isa. Ixiii. 1-4). The
olivepress only differs in its signification from the -winepress in its being
expressive of still deeper temptation. For while the vine, in relation
to the Lord, signifies his divine truth, the olive signifies his divine
love. Those, therefore, who are trodden in the olivepress are the
powers of darkness who are more directly opposed to the Divine love,
and who cause temptations of the most direful kind. Such was the

614 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
character of the temptation which the Lord endured in Gethsemane.
Jesus coming to Gethsemane implies his entering into that state in
which his love for the human race was to be opposed by the powers
of darkness from their deepest hatred to mankind, hell bringing its
greatest power to bear upon the Redeemer, to prevent, if possible, the
com})letion of his divine work. When the Lord came unto the place,
he saith unto tlie disciples. Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
Those who were desired to " sit here " were such of the disciples as
represented the members of the Church who are not able to enter
with the Lord into the interiors of that state to which such a tempta
tion as he was now about to endure is incident. He desired them lo
sit where he left them — to remain steadfast in the state to which he
had thus far mercifully conducted them. Some are able to go so far
with him in his temptations ; while others are able to follow him
whithersoever he goeth. But while they patiently wait where they
are desired to remain, the Lord is preparing a higher and more
interior place for them ; therefore Jesus, when he said to his disciples,
" Sit ye here," added, " while I go and pray yonder.'' His prayer,
like his temptation, had for its end their redemption and salvation.
37. But while the Lord desired certain of the disciples to remain
where he appointed them, he took with him Peter and the two sons
of Zebedee. On important occasions the Lord selected these three
disciples to be with him. One of these occasions was his transfigu
ration. As they were the chosen witnesses of his transcendent
glory, so were they the selected .spectators of his deep humiliation.
The reason of this selection, we have seen (ch. xvii. 1), had a spiritual
ground. Peter, James, and John represented the three great essen
tials of religion — faith, charity, and good works ; and they were
chosen to accompany the Lord on great occasions, to teach us repre
sentatively that those who have these essentials of reUgion enter with
the Lord into the heights and depths of his experience ; and that
these principles in the incUvidual mind are in more immediate con
nection with the Lord, and are the immediate recipients of his love
and truth. In the presence of these three disciples Jesus began to be
sorrowful and very heavy. The last and darkest cloud of temptation,
which finally descended so low as to darken the earth at the cruci
fixion, began to gather around the Son of man. Hell, that had been
moved to meet the Lord at his coming, was now moved to its lowest
depths, to prevent, if possible, the completion of the Lord's redemp
tion and glorification which drew nigh. As the lowest hell is
opposed to the highest heaven, as the worst evil is opposed to the

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 616
greatest good, as the lowest affections of the natural mind are
opposed to the highest affections of the spiritual mind, temptation,
which consists in a conflict between those opposites, becomes more
severe as the perfection of life increases. Lower states are opened,
and lower evils are brought into activity, in the natural mind, as
higher states are opened and become active in the spiritual ; and as
the ofiposition is greater, the conflict is more severe. As the Lord
was truly man, his temptations were of the same nature, and were
subject to the same law as those of any other human being. .But as
humanity in him was infinitely and for ever perfected, whereas in us
perfection is finite and progressive to eternity, his trials were infinitely
more severe than ours. The severity as well as the nature of this
temptation is indicated by the terms in which its effects upon the Lord
are described. The expression, "to be sorrowful," conveys, in the Greek,
the idea of horror ; and the word translated, " to be very heavy,"
impUes the loss of pleasure derived from other objects. The
horror which the Lord felt, like the horror of great darkness that fell
upon Abraham (Gen, xv. 12), is expressive ofthe effect of temptation
produced by the interception of divine light, as it descends from
the internal into the external of the mind ; while heaviness is ex
pressive of the deprivation of delight, such as men feel in deep
sorrow, when the world appears to them a blank, because they have
no pleasure therein. What must have been the sorrow and heaviness
felt by the Lord, whose " delight was with the sons of men,'' as the
objects of his redeeming love I
38. The temptation increases. Then saith he unto them. My soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. The nature of the Lord's
temptations may be understood, because in this respect they were like
those of men; but their severity is above all human comprehen.sion,
fbr the love from which the Lord contended in his temptations was
the love of the whole human race, which love in itself is divine.
What must have been the anguish of the Lord when even the sense
of death came over him ! His was not the fear of bodily death ; it
was his soul that was exceeding sorrowful. But it may be inquired.
How could the Lord's soul be sorrowful unto death, when his soul
was the Divinity itself? The soul which was sorrowful was not,
however, the soul or life which the Lord derived from the Father,
but that which he inherited from the mother; it was the life of his
external, not of his internal man. It was that of which the Lord
spake when he said, "I lay down my life (or soul) for the sheep"
(John X. 15: see ch. x. 39). We know that divinity can neither bo

616 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
tempted, nor be sorrowful, nor die. That in the Lord which actually
died, the life which he laid down, was the human principle and
life which he inherited from the mother, and which was fallen and
flnite. But the sorrow which he experienced in temptation, Uke
that which the regenerate man endures, did not originate in the
maternal, but in the paternal soul — thus, not in the old man, but in
the new; not in the body, but in the soul ; not in the external man,
but in the internal. The natural man knows no temptation, ancl
therefore no sorrow of soul in resisting evil. The anguish of tempta
tion is caused by the love from which we resist evil being assaulted,
and by the fear of losing the object for which we contend. That from
which a mere man resists temptation is the love of eternal life, tho
danger of losing which makes his soul sorrowful, and, in extreme
temptation, sorrowful even unto death. But this sorrow does not
really invade the soul, but is the sorrow which is of the soul in the
body. Whatever is of God, and therefore whatever is truly good,
shrinks from evil, as the apple of the eye. The soul does not suffer
with the body, but when the body suffers the soul mourns. So with
the internal and external man. Evil and temptation do neither of
them penetrate into the internal, but the internal is in the external,
as the soul is in the body; and the anguish and sorrow which tempta
tion produces are the external feelings that proceed from internal
principles. When the Lord's soul was thus sorrowful in an intensifled
degree, he said to the three, as he had said to the others, tarry ye here,
and, he added, watch with me. Even these, the chosen three, were
only able to see a certain amount of his sorro-«'s. The disciples are to
be with the Lord in his temptations, but there is a limit in their
companionship with him in his tribulations beyond which the best
and most perfected of them cannot go, "Sit here," and "tarry ye
here," must ever be the law of progression in following the Lord in
the regeneration. But the Lord said to his disciples, "Watch with
me." To watch is to keep the understanding awake to the concerns
of eternity, guarding against the dangers that threaten the souL But
there must be something special in watching with the Lord. "Watch
with me." Watch while I watch; watch as I watch. The tempta
tions that were then directed against him were directed also against
his church; and as she participated in the danger, so ought she
in the vigilance required to meet and avert it. But how are the
disciples in our time to watch with him? The Lord still watches
over us and in us. That his watchful Providence may turn aside the
machinations of Satan, we must watch with him in his protecting and

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 617
saving work. We must watch with him, that he may guard us ; as well
as work with him, that he may bless us.
39. While the Lord desired his three disciples to tarry where they
were, and watch with him, he himself went from them to pray. And
he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, 0
my Father, if it he possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless
not as I will, but as thou wilt. We have already spoken of the Lord's
deep temptation in Gethsemane ; we will here direct our attention to
some of the particulars respecting it. He " fell on his face." Pros
tration is the posture expressive of the deepest humiliation; and
humUiation is a sense of our own nothingness and vileness in the
presence of the All-perfect One. It is deep humUiation that empties
man of himself, that he may be filled with all the fulness of God. In
mere man this humiUation and its results are but imperfect in degree
at best, and limited in extent. Jesus became perfect man ; we can
never be more than images of his perfection. His humiliation was as
much deeper than ours as his exaltation was greater. The depth of
his humiliation is expressed by his falling on his face, for the face
signifies the interior of the mind. To fall down in worship expresses
humUiation ; to fall on the face, interior humiliation. "And prayed,
saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." This
cup was, no doubt, naturally the passion of the cross ; but this, the
cup of the Lord's sufferings, was not filled up by the apprehension of
natural death, cruel as was its mode of infliction. Natural death was
but the cup ; spiritual death was the bitter draught which it contained,
and which the Lord had to drain to the last drop. This spiritual
death included in it all the evil of human suffering, especially the
suffering of temptation ; all the misery which the fall had introduced,
and which then existed in the whole spiritual and in the natural
world. The ground of all suffering the Lord took upon him, hered
itarily, as the son of Mary ; all hell pressed in upon him through
that hereditary nature ; all the power of hell he had to contend
against ; all in the humanity that formed the ground of infernal
assault he had to die to ; all this, in dying, he had to overcome. Such
was the cup the Lord had before him when he prayed in the Garden
of Gethsemane. Can we be surprised at the tenor of his prayer : " 0
my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." He well
knew, and had repeatedly told his disciples, that this last trial awaited
him. He had looked forward to it and spoken of it with the calm
ness of perfect composure. Can we imagine that its near prospect
now appalled him ? We may freely admit that there was some

618 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
analogy between the Lord's experience and that of man, in the near
pro.spect of a violent death. The virtuous and innocent look death in
the face with serenity. What must have been our Lord's experience?
The ground of his sorrow and of his serenity was far different from
that of man. Human trial and sorrow, under the fear of spiritual
death, can alone furnish a true image of our Lord's. But our Lord's
fear was not for the loss of life to himself, but for the loss of the
spiritual and eternal life of the whole human race, — fear lest the final
cause of creation might be frustrated. This was the Lord's fear. It
was the fear lest the humanity which he bore might prove too weak
for tills great trial. As he said to his disciples, so he felt : " The
Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." But the Lord -«'as at
this time sufi'ering from temptation. And the climax of every severe
temptation is despair — that is, despair of the end or object contended
for. In temptation we have to resist self, and yet there is something of
self in our resistance. We have to use God's communicated power as
if it were our own, and there is something of our own in using it.
Despair is the prostration of this power — the feeling that we have no
power to resist, but that the opposing power is about to overwhelm
us. This is the horror of great darkness that falls upon the soul,
which quenches hope, and leaves us a prey to blank despair. Such
was the state through which our Lord passed in Gethsemane, and in
the e.xtreme of which he was when he prayed, " If it be possible, let
this cup pass from me." There was, indeed, a reservation ; his prayer
was not absolute, but conditional. He only asked for exemption, if
within the range of moral possibility. Had he asked for it absolutely
he would have failed absolutely. We see here the weakness of the
flesh, but the strength of the spirit. This is still further evinced in
the Lord's words to the Father, " Nevertheless not as I will, but as
thou wilt." We have the human will and the divine. There is a
most important consideration here. The will of the humanity shrunk
from the last trial, and at the same time submitted itself entirely to
the supreme wiU of the Divinity. But it was not the same element
in the wiU. In the Lord were the human and the divine; but in the
human itself there were the flesh and the spirit— the external and the
internal. The spirit in itself was willing, but the weakness of the
flesh re-acted against the spirit, and for the time overshadowed it ; but
still the sjiirit was there, moderating and controlling, distinguishing
between the desirable and the possible, between the will of the human
and the will of the Divine. Many of our Lord's sayings have come
to be the universal language of Christian wisdom and experience.

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 619
This is one of them, and one of the most expressive, because all who
know what spiritual trial is, feel it to be the very language of their
state and their duty. " Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt,"
is expressive at once of the weakness of the flesh and the strength of
the spirit — of the strong disposition to rebel, but the still stronger
desire to submit to the will of him whose will ought to be supreme in
all things.
40. When he had finished this prayer, he cometh unto the discipiles,
and findeth ihem asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch
with me one hour ? It is remarkable that both on the occasion of his
transfiguration (Luke ix. 32), and on that of his great temptation, his
disciples should have fallen asleep. They could not have been
indifferent to the grandeur of the one and the solemnity of the other.
The sleep was evidently supernatural. It was caused by the Lord's
divine sphere then acting immediately and powerfully upon them,
and which, after the Lord's glorification, caused John to fall down at
his feet as dead. While this sleep of the disciples had a supernatural
cause, it had a spiritual signification. Sleep, as opposed to wakeful
ness, signifies a natural state of life as opposed to a spiritual state.
The disciples being drowsy and asleep while the Lord was in states of
wakefulness, implies that they were yet too external to be able to
enter into those interior states in which the Lord then was. The
Lord desires, indeed, that his disciples should be as their Ma.ster, even
in his highest ancl deepest states of experience, and therefore he says
unto them, " Watch with me." And when he comes unto them
and finds them asleep, and administers a gentle reproof, it is to
express the desire of his love that they should be in a state of con
scious and active co-operation with him, all whose works are for their
salvation. This gentle and affectionate reproof is addressed im
mediately to Peter, implying that when faith is as yet natural, the
mind is incapable of that sustained wakefulness and watchfulness
which keeps the disciple in the Lord. And furthermore, Jesus asks
Peter if he could not watch with him one hour. Time is the symbol
of state, and the hour of the Lord's sufl'erings was the state itself of
his watchfulness, lest he should yield in his awful temptation.
41. The Lord exhorts the disciples. Watch and pray, that ye enter
not into tempitaiion. If the disciple cannot Avatch with the Lord,
he is exhorted to follow him — to watch with the understanding, and
pray with the heart — and to do this, that he enter not into temptation.
It is the duty of the disciple to watch and pray against being tempted.
Temptation is indeed necessary, and therefore unavoidable; but it is

620 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. XXVI.
equally necessary for us to have a salutary fear of a state of trial,
which is attended with danger, and which is never so dangerous as
when we brave or despise it. Let him who thinks he standeth take
heed lest he fall. The reason of this danger, and of the necessity of
watchfulness and prayer against it, our Lord explains. The spirit
indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. The weakness of the flesh is
the ground of danger and of apprehension. The flesh is another and
expressive name for the whole natural mind, with all its natural
affections and appetites ; and this mind is weak because the natural
affections and appetites are of the earth, earthly. The spirit is the
spiritual mind, consisting of all the new affections born of the spirit,
This in its own nature is willing to do and submit to the Lord's « iU.
but frail and deceitful nature is ever inclined to yield to the solicita
tions of the world and self.
42-44. He went away again ihe second time, and prayed, saying, 0
my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it,
thy will he done. And he came and found ihem asleep again : for their
eyes were lieavy. And he left tliem, and went away again, and, prayed
tlie third time, saying ihe same words. The Lord, we find, goes away
and prays " the same words " the second and the third time, returning
after each to the disciples again. This iteration of the prayer implies,
no doubt, as many distinct trials or temptations ; yet there is more
than the fact involved in the nuniber of his conflicts. The number
three signifies what is full, and what is progressive to the end of a
complete state. These three acts of temptation, like the three tempta
tions in the wilderness, represented the fulness of temptation, and
the fulness of perfection resulting from his overcoming the tempter,
and also the Lord's endurance unto the end, by which redemption
was accompUshed, and his humanity fully glorified. There is another
truth represented in this. The kingdom of darkness, which the Lord
overcame in temptation, is a triple kingdom. Hell descends, as heaven
ascends, by three distinct degrees. The Lord overcame the whole
kingdom of darkness, but he did so progressively by three distinct
series of temptation.s. These were his three temptations. And as
he thus successively overcame hell, he successively opened heaven.
While, therefore, the Lord went away three times into the depth of
the garden to pray, he returned three times to the disciples, who
represented the church and heaven ; for as far as the Lord shuts hell,
he opens heaven. And so does he in each of us. As he by regenera
tion overcomes the evil in the outer man, who is an image of hell,
so he opens the inner man, who is an image of heaven.

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 621
46. When the Lord had prayed for the third time. Then cometh he
to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and talte your resi.
In Luke (xxii. 46) this is expressed interrogatively, "Why sleep ye?"
and some are of opinion that this is its meaning here. As the evan
gelists wrote by Divine inspiration for different states of the church
and of men, and for different steps of the regenerate Ufe, such
diff'erences, if they exist, do not involve any internal discordance.
Our Lord says, behold, ilie hour is at hand, and the Son of man is
betray^ into the hands of sinners. The betrayal of the Son of man
into the hands of sinners was a sign of the profanation of the Lord's
divine truth by the Jewish church. The Lord calls himself the Son
of man when he is treated of as the Truth or the Word. The Jews
treated him as they had treated his Word. The hour which was at
hand was the hour, the state, of the church's consummation, when it
was about to fill up the measure of its iniquity — when hypocrisy was
the instrument of violence.
46. The Lord now says to his disciples. Rise, let us be going. Their
sleep represented an external and obscure state ; so now he bids them
rise, which always expresses spiritual elevation — rising out of sin and
darkness. The present is like the exhortation ofthe apostle : " Awake,
thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, aud Chri.st .shall give thee
life." Rising signifies especially elevation of the affections of the
heart ; not elevation of feeling, but elevation from a lower into a
higher state of goodness. Hence the Lord further says, " Let us be
going;" for to go is spirituaUy to live, and, in this instance, to Uve a
life of goodness — to act from that state of the love of gooduess into
which the disciples had risen. How necessary is this exhortation
when danger is near, as it was when our Lord added, heliold, he is at
hand that doth betray me. The betrayer is in the corrupt heart of
each of us : how necessary is it, theu, that the good and the faith that
the Lord has implanted in our minds should rise out of sleep, and go
forth into action, to form a countervailing force against the debased
selfhood in the hour of trial.
47, And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one ofthe twelve, came, and
with Mm a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief
priests and elders of the people. Judas is here introduced as one of the
twelve. The twelve apostles represented the church, and, abstractly,
all the principles that constitute the church in man. Collectively,
they thus represented the Lord's mystical body, which in some
measure and degree they formed. But the Lord's mystical body is
an image of his own body. The Lord's temptations and sufferings

622 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVI.
had also their analogies, or images, in those of his discijiles. In the
Lord's humanity there was that which in prophecy is called the
" heel "—the lowest and most vulnerable part, which the serpent was
to bruise. Judas, as one of the twelve, was the heel which Satan was
to bruise among the disciples and in the infant church. Judas
represented the corporeal principle in man and in the Lord's mystical
body ; and the heel, which the serpent bruised, represented the same
principle in the Lord's own body. This was the reason that Judas
was chosen an apostle, and why he betrayed the Lord. The bruising
ofthe Lord's heel, or the corpoieal principle ofhis humanity, was the
extreme of his temptations, and had its cause in the perverted state of
the corporeal principle of fallen human nature. Therefore Judas, who
represented that principle, committed the crime of be/traying the
Lord. It is through the corporeal principle in us that the Lord is
still betrayed, or that we are tempted to betray him. It is therefore
written in Psalm xii., " Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I
trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath Ufted up his heel against me.''
But we have also said that Judas represented the Jewish church,
because the church had become corporeal or carnal ; and indeed the
corporeal in the Jewish church, in the infant Christian church, and in
individual man, and in the Lord himself, was simultaneously acted
upon when redemption was being effected. The great multitude with
swords and staves who came with Judas from the chief priests and
elders of the people, represented the numerous affections and thoughts
that originated in the ruling principles — the loves of self and the
world — which the chief priests and elders represented; the swords and
staves signifying the falsities and evils which were used as instruments
of offence against him who was truth and goodness itself.
48, 49. Judas, in acting the part of a treacherous enemy, assumed the
character of a loving friend. Now he that betrayed him gave ihem a sign,
saying. Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold Mm fast. And
forthwith he came to Jesus, and said. Hail, master; and kissed Mm.
Kissing signifies conjunction by love. Hence it is said in Psalm
ii., " Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way."
That of Judas was a treacherous kiss, a feigned affection. The kiss of
Judas has come to be an expression for the greatest of all hypocrisies 
the betrayal of innocence by simulated love It is Satan as an angel
of light seeking to compass hellish ends by heavenly means. His kiss
was to be a sign to those who accompanied him. This was indeed a
sign that all virtue was consummated — that falsehood imprinted its
deceitful and polluted kiss upon the lips of truth, that death mio-ht

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 623
seal them for ever in silence. Such was the object of those who were
concerned intentionally in this diabolical plot to destroy him who was
traly, as he had declared himself, the light of the world, to quench
that light lest their deeds should be reproved. The kiss of Judas was
indeed a- sign of the seeming veneration for the Divine name, and rev
erence for his Word, that prevaUed in the Jewish church, but under
which there was the most malignant hatred of the Divine will and the
principles of eternal truth. It was a sign of the ceremonial homage
the priesthood paid to the letter of the law while they violated its
spirit, leading the people by that very simulation to violate the law,
as the multitude laid hands upon Jesus.
50. When Judas had kissed him, Jesus said unto him. Friend,
wherefore art thou come ? There are two different words which our
translators have rendered friend— one implying affection and regard,
the other not. One is properly rendered friend, the other expresses
more nearly what we mean by companion. It is this less endearing
word which is given to Judas in this place. A friend, spirituaUy, is one
who is in the good of charity and in the truth of faith ; a companion
is one who is in the truth of faith, but not in the good of charity. "Ye
are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." Judas and those
whom he represents are so far in the truths of faith as to know the
Lord, but they use their knowledge to betray him. It is only those
who know him that can act so directly and cruelly against him. But
Jesus demanded of Judas, "Wherefore art thou come?" This
searching question, which should lead us to reflect on the motives of
our acts, does not seem to have received any answer but this, Then
came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him. The Jews had often
attempted to lay hands on Jesus and take him. It was only now that
they succeeded, and in this instance, it would seem, only through the
treachery of one of his own disciples. It is not by hatred, but by
simulated love — not by opposition, but by treachery — that the Son of
man is delivered into the hands of sinners, to be mocked, and
scourged, and crucifled. This was the first act of that crime which
the Jews had long meditated, and were now about to complete, in the
death of Jesus.
51. When the disciples saw what was done, one of them which
were with Jesus stretched out Ms hand, and drew his sword, and
struck a servant of the high priest! s, and smote off his ear. This
one was Peter (John xviii. 10). It might seem that the apostle
who represented the grace of faith was here acting the part of one of
the faithful, and used the sword of truth in defence of the Truth itself

624 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVI,
But here Peter practically showed his offence at the cross of Christ.
His sword was employee to defeat the permitted means of his Master's
glorification. And the sword of tmth used falsely is turned into what
is false. Peter did not indeed intend evil, but he acted from intemperate
zeal undirected by knowledge; and such zeal, however well-intentioned,
is often evil in its results. Such was Peter's. Jesus submitted to the
high priest's authority, and his disciples should not with carnal
weapons have opposed that of his servant. To show that he did not
wish to be defended by such weapons, the Lord healed the servant
whose ear Peter had cut off (Luke xxii, 51). But the cutting off of
Malchus' ear has a spiritual meaning. The ear is a symbol of per
ception, and of hearkening and obedience, the right ear signifying the
perception of truth from goodness. When the high priest was con
secrated, the blood of the sacrifice was put upon his right ear (Exod,
xxix. 20), as a sign that the perceptive faculty should be consecrated
to the hearing and obeying of the Word of God. The cutting off the
ear of the high priest's servant was a sign that in these last days of
the church the perceptive faculty was destroyed, and with it all
spiritual hearing and obedience. The prophet Ezekiel, treating of the
corrupt church under the figure of a lewd woman, says to her of her
lovers, "they shall take away thy nose and thine ears" (ch. xxiii. 25),
meaning that her impure loves would deprive her of the perception of
goodness and truth.
52. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into Ms place.
The place of the sword is its scabbard ; and a scabbard, like a quiver,
signifies doctrine, where truth should be put up when it has been
used in opposing the purpose of divine mercy, for there it is in safety,
and thence only should it be drawn forth to fight against the enemies
of our own hearts. This, it would seem, was the first and the last
time that the sword was employed by the immediate disciples of the
Lord in the cause of the gospel ; and, as in every other subsequent
instance, it was used against the will of its divine Author. In all
cases where faith draws the sword to defend the cause of the Lord
Jesus Christ, his command is, " Put up thy sword into his place"
And this duty is enforced by a reason which ought to be a warning.
For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Christianity
perishes by the carnal sword that is used in its cause But, spiritually,
all who, by a false application of truth, obstruct the progress of regen
eration by refusing to submit to the trials which lead to it, which is to
refuse life by refusing the conditions on which its allotment depends,
shall perish.

Chap. XXVI. ST. MATTHEW. 625
63. Had the Lord seen good to defeat the object of his enemies, he
could have overwhelmed them by a display of his own divine power.
Thinkest thou, he said in rebuking Peter, that I cannot now pray to my
Father, and lie shall presently give me more than twelve legions of
angels ? Twelve legions means the whole angelic host ; more than
this is omnipotence. The Lord speaks of obtaining this power by
praying to his Father. The divinity within him was the Father ;
and had his divine power been exerted against his enemies, they
would have been consumed like stubble.
54. But how then, as our Lord continues, shall the scriptures be ful
filled, tliat thus it must be ? Peter knew not yet of this great mystery.
But our Lord, in addressing these words to that zealous disciple,
speaks to his disciples in all future ages who, in similar circumstances,
act from zeal without knowledge. The disciples remained, even after
the Lord's crucifixion, in ignorance of what the Word taught on the
subject ; and one of his first acts after his resurrection was to teach
them that " it behoved Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into
his glory ;" and to expound to them " in all the scriptures the
things concerning himself" (Luke xxiv. 26). Such, no doubt, will
ever be the disciples' experience. The Scripture abundantly teaches
us that the way to glory is through suffering ; but our human nature
desires to have the end without this painful means. " But how then
shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be ? "
55. From calmly commanding and reasoning with his disciple on
the subject of his death, the Lord turns with equal calmness to the
multitude, and says to them, Are ye come out as against a thief with
swords and staves for to take me ? I sat daily unth you teaching in
the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. They treated as a thief or a
robber him who had come to restore that which he took not away
(Ps. Ixix. 4). They laid no hold on him in the temple, but sent to
seize him in the garden. The temple was tlie seat of his power, and
Gethsemane was the place of theirs. By the mere show of his power
he had expelled the whole throng of sacrilegious traders from his
Father's house. He who spake as never man spake, when he taught
in the temple, must have unnerved and disarmed his enemies. The
temple was the consecrated symbol of his humanity ; and, considered
in relation to the world without, was the type of his humanity, where
his divinity more immediately dwelt. -On the other hand, the wilder-
nerness and Gethsemane represented his humanity as to its exterior
part, where infirmity resided and where temptation had place In
Luke's account of this event the Lord adds, "This is your hour, and

626 ST, MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
the power of darkness.'' And Gethsemane was the place, as the night
was the hour ; for both the time and the place were the suitable
representatives of the state in which the powers of the world and of
hell had the temporary ascendency which the end required, and which
the Lord therefore permitted.
56. But all this was done, that the scrijitures of the prophets might be
fulfilled. Of course, the prophecies were made for the event, not the
event for the prophecies. In the Lord's case every prophecy was
accompUshed, every promise was performed. In a more comprehen
sive view, all that took place in the Lord's history, as the means of
his glorification, was written in the Word in its inmost sense ; and
all that takes place in the regeneration of man is written in the
Word in its spiritual sense. Even the temptations of the Lord are
described most minutely there ; so that all which the Jews did to
secure his death, partiaUy revealed in the letter, is fully unfolded in
the spirit. The fact of the disciples forsaking him in his hour of
trial had been piredicted in the prophets ; for Zechariah (xiii. 7) had
written, as our Lord had already declared, " I will smite the shep
herd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad." Tho Jews were
against him. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fied. SpirituaUy,
good and truth in the Lord and his Word received no support from
the goods and truths of the church. Not that the church can add
anything to the Lord's power, for the church derives all her power
from him. When temptation is extreme, the internal and the
external appear to be separated, as the Lord and his disciples were in
his last ancl severest trial. This separation has place both as to
will and understanding, or as to goodness and truth, as it is said of
the disciples that they forsook him, and fled.
57. And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away io Caiaphas
ihe high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. Pie
who was the supreme good and truth was brought to be judged by
the deepest evil and falsity. The Sanhedrim, or supreme council of
the Jewish church, represented the ruling evils and falsities by which
the Lord as the Divine truth was opposed, and they represented these
principles as they existed in the church. The Lord's being led away
to Caiaphas and the scribes and elders, is spirituaUy descriptive of the
Lord's divine truth being brought under the power and dominion of
the evil and false principles that ruled in the church, by which the
whole Word was perverted and profaned.
58. Although, when the Lord was rudely seized by the multitude,
the disciples had forsaken him and fled, yet, when he was led away, Peter

Chap, XXVL] ST, MATTHEW, 627
followed him afar off, indicating that the young church, though too
unstable to adhere to the Lord in his trial, was yet remotely con
nected with him by faith ; and so, in the interior sense, is the external
with the internal in states of temjstation. Peter even went unto
the high priest's palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the
end. The servant of Jesus and the servants of the high priest are
seated together, the concealed friend with the open enemies. So
strikingly is exemplifled the character of the disciples, and the
nature of the principles they represented. Truth and falsity are
together in the external church and in the external man, but they
are there not openly as opposites, but seemingly as associates. Peter
only desires to see the end. His is the faith that looks forward to
the end, but shrinks from the trial that leads to it. The trial now
commences. 69. Now the chief priests, cmd elders, and all the council, sought false
witness against Jesus, to piut him to death. To bear false witness, in
the spiritual sense, is to declare, and try to persuade others, that what is
false is true, and what is true is false; and also, that what is good is evil,
and what is evil is good; and, in the highest sense, to blaspheme the
Lord and his Word. The object of the council in seeking false witness
against Jesus was to put him to death. And as all that the Jewish
rulers and people did to the Lord represented how the church had
come to treat the Word, their long-cherished purpose, now sought to
be effected, of putting him to death, represented that last act of a
corrupt church — the falsification of truth, and the consequent blas
pheming of the Lord and his Word.
60, 61. But although they sought false witness against Jesus, they
found none : yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found ihey
none. At the last came two false witnesses, and said, This fellow said,
I am able to destroy tlie temple of God, and to build it in three days.
It was a law of Moses that, " At the mouth of two witnesses, or three
witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death ; but at
the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death" (Deut. xvii. 6).
This law was enacted to teach us that no one is condemned to
spiritual death for evil in one faculty only — iu the will, or the under
standing, or in the Ufe — but that two or three of these must unite
their testimony against any one to make him worthy of death. The
two witnesses required are the will and the understanding, or evil and
falsity. As the union of good and truth makes heaven, the union of
their opposites makes hell. It was not possible to procure more than
tvvo false witnesses against the Lord. They accused him of saying.

628 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
" I am able to destroy the temple." In this they accused him falselj',
his words being, " Destroy (you) this temple, and in three days / will
raise it up." Their testimony was a perversion of his words, and
represented falsification of his divine truth. Falsification of truth
consists in putting a false construction on the declarations of the
Word, so as to make them teach error instead of truth.
62. The high priest considered this accusation a sufflcient charge
against Jesus. And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest
thou nothing ? what is it which these witness against thee ? It may be
assumed that the high priest had waited a sufficient time to allow
Jesus to speak, and at last demanded of him why he did not answer
the accusation. The council had procured the false witnesses, ancl
yet the high priest appeals to Jesus, as if he wished to give him an
opportunity of vindicating himself So those who in their own hearts
have negatived the truth,even after they have made a foregone conclusion
against it, profess to be wilUng to allow the Word to speak for itself
63, 64. But Jesus held his peace. Why was this ? It may seem as if
the Lord encouraged the lie by saying nothing against it. This could
not be his intention. We may presume that he held his peace
because he knew that his assertion would go for nothing. But there
is a deeper reason for his .silence than this. The Lord, as the incar
nate Word, did as his written Word does. The Word does not
answer idle and insincere questions. It does not vindicate its own
truth to those who have determined that its testimony shall not
produce conviction. Even in respect to these, the letter of the Word
is a sword that turns every way, to guard the way of the tree of Ufe.
Truths that could not be perverted would be blasphemed, and would
increase men's condemnation. Therefore the Word, in certain appeals
to it, is silent. To sinister interrogations it gives no answer. There
fore it was that the Word made flesh was dumb before his unjust
judges and false accusers. " He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet
he opened not his mouth : he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth "
(Isa. liii. 7). But even to the appeal of the high priest Jesus made no
answer. "Jesus held his peace." Andthe high priest answered and said
unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether
ihou be ihe Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto Mm, Thou hast said.
Why did the Lord now answer this question ? It was because he was
not now asked to admit or deny a false accusation, but to admit or deny
a great truth — to confess whether he was the Christ or no. The Word,
too, declares its own eternal and immutable truth, and the divinity cf

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 629
its origin, as Jesus acknowledged himself to be the Christ, the Son of
God. But the Lord added. Nevertheless I say unto you. Hereafter
slmll ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming
in the clouds of heaven. "Nevertheless " should rather be " moreover,
besides." " Not only do I confess myself the Christ, but I tell you that
the day is coming when you yourself will be compelled to confess it
also, when he who now appears before you in human weakness will be
revealed to you in divine power." The event to which our Lord here
refers in the general sense is his second coming ; and at his second
advent, it is said, "every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced
him." This advent of the Lord was a coming to judgment, not, indeed,
iu the natural, but in the spiritual world, at the end of the church ; and
when he would be manifested to the evil and the good. Regarded as a
universal truth addressed to the high priest, and through him to all
who belong to the church, these words of our Lord have an important
meaning. We have already explained this imagery as it occui's
in chap, xxiv., where it is shown that the Lord's coming in the
clouds signifies a revealing of himself in his Word, even in the very
letter. There are two additional particulars which our Lord here
introduces. His sitting at the right hand of power means that his
humanity was about to be made divine, and thus become omnipotent
for the salvation of men ; and his coming in the clouds of heaven
means that he was about to open his Divine Word, and give men a
clearer revelation of himself as their Saviour. The point here emphatic
is, that even the evil would see him thus exalted and revealed. By
this is meant that after his coming they should manifestly see the pre
dictions concerning him in the prophetical parts of the Word which
they had not seen before ; and that they should see them still more
manifestly at the time of his second coming, when the spiritual sense of
the Word should be revealed.
65. When the Lord had made this acknowledgment and declaration,
ihe high priest rent his clothes, saying. He hath spoken blasphemy ; what
further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his
blaspliemy. Rending the clothes signifies mourning on account ofthe
destruction of truth ; the high priest therefore rencUng his clothes, and
saying that the Lord blasphemed because he confessed he was the
Christ, the Son of God, signified that he believed no otherwise than
that the Lord spake against the Word, and thus against truth divine.
The conduct of the high priest shows that those who in heart deny the
divinity of the Lord and of his Word find a confirmation of their
denial in the testimony of the Word itself

630 ST, MATTHEW, [Chap, XXVL
66. The high priest then appealed to the council for their judgment.
What think ye? They answered and said. He is guilty cf death. This
is like the will appealing to the understanding, not for counsel but for
confirmation. This act of the Jewish Sanhedrim was the inteUectual
consummation of the deed which theyhad long meditated, andusedeverv
means to effect. In that judgment was involved the denial of all that
is divine in the Word, and the consequent consummation of the church
amongst them. It was they who were guilty of blasphemy ; and this
crime is still further manifest in their dreadful treatment of the Lord
after they had pronounced this iniquitous sentence.
67. Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and otliers
smote him with the palms of their hands. By this was i-epresented and
signified that the Jewish nation was merely extemal, for all things
meutioned in the Word relating to the Lord's passion represent and
signify arcana of heaven and of the church, and specifically of what
quaUty the Jews were in relation to the Word, to the church, and to
worship. The Jews showed great moral depravity in opposing them
selves to one who uttered such wisdom and performed such beneficent
works as Jesus did ; but when the highest amongst them offered such
indignities as these to a pure and holy being, what must have been
their blindness and hardness of heart ! Such deeds are true symbols
of the spiritual evils which their acts represented. For by spitting in
his face is signified the deepest contempt for, and opposition to, his
divine truth ; and by buffeting him is signified the d.-epest hatred of,
and oiiposition to, his divine goodness ; while their striking him with
their hands and with rods signifies still further and fuller violation
and rejection of his love and truth. The three acts of violence offered
to the Lord express the entire rejection of him and of his Word from
the will, the understanding, and the Ufe,
68. Those who struck him demanded of him, saying, Prophesy
unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee? Luke (xxii. 64) records
that they had blindfolded him, which is, indeed, necessary to be un
derstood to see the force of the demand to prophesy or tell who smote
him. Alas! how many besides the Jews have committed this cruel
mockery! Mockers and unbelievers, like the Jews, first put out the
eyes of the tmth, and then demand of it to prophesy who smote it.
The demand, in these instances, is made in the belief that it cannot
be complied with. And in this case, too, the Lord permits the
wicked to remain in the conviction that they have demanded an im
possible act. Jesus knew, but did not prophesy, who smote him. He
held his peace They remained in then: infidelity. Had he spoken.

Chap. XXVL] ST. MATTHEW. 631
he would only have added to their condemnation. So does the Lord
through his Word. He refuses to prophesy when men have closed their
eai's against the truth.
69-74. From the trial of Jesus before the Jewish councU, the evan
gelist turns to the trial of Peter's faith. Now Peter sat without in the
palace : and a damsel came unto Mm, saying. Thou also wast with Jesus of
Galilee. But he denied before tliem all, saying, I know not what ihou sayest.
A nd when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said
unto ihem that were there. This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after
a while came unto him they thai stood hy, and said to Peter, Surely thou
also art one of them; for thy speech hewrayeth thee. Then began he to
curse and to swear, saying, I know not ilie man. The apostle had
witnessed the trial, listened to the false witnesses, heard the judg
ment, and beheld the indignities heaped upon his innocent and
beneficent Master. He could not have remained unmoved. It is
only surprising that his impetuous temper and generous nature
did not break forth in some passionate demonstration in favour
of his beloved Lord. But ready as he had been to defend his
Master with his sword, he was now as ready to deny him with his
tongue. How striking and instructive is the contrast between the
disciple and his Lord ! Jesus, forsaken by those whom he called his
friends, and unjustly condemned and cruelly treated by his enemies,
betrays no sign either of fear or resentment ; while Peter, with his
Master's exalted example before him, shrinks from the slightest glance
of recognition, terrified at the thouglit of being known as one of his
disciples. But while we make these reflections for the purpose of
learning of the Lord as our example, we must not, in judging of
Peter's conduct, overlook the fact that this was their hour, and the
power of darkness (Luke xxii. 53). That the power of the world and
of hell, acting upon Jesus in every possible way, did not move him
from his sublime integrity, is only to be accounted for on the principle
that in him humanity was exhibited in its highest moral perfection.
These events have, however, a spiritual signification. Peter's confident
perjury is a symbol of the character of faith when it is alone, even
with the example of the Lord before the eyes of the believer Peter's
conduct represents the character of faith at the end of the church. In
this application, his thrice denying the Lord represented the prac
tical and plenary denial which lies concealed in faith alone, which is
the last form that religion assumes in a declining or expiring church.
The cock-crowing is the end of the old church and the beginning of

632 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVL
the new, when men are restored to faith by repentance, and turn to
the Lord with a pure heart.
But this subject has relation to ourselves while the church is being
formed in us. The facts relating to Peter describe the crisis in our
spiritual life, when the old man and his natural faith die, and the new
man and his spiritual faith begin traly to live. In the three different
yet similar circumstances we see the trial of faith in the will, the
understanding, and the Ufe. In the first instance, Peter is found sitting
in the palace of the high priest; but in the second he is found standing
in the porch. These describe states of the will and of the understanding.
Considered in relation to a house, a palace is emblematical of the un
derstanding; but considered in relation to a porch, it is emblematical
of the will. The will is as a palace, where the ruling love, like
the high priest, has its residence ; but the understanding is a porch
which leads into it. The will is within ; the understanding is without.
Again, sitting is expressive of a state of the will ; while standing is
expressive of a state of the understanding. Peter being accused, first
in the palace and then in the porch, implies temptation, first in the
will and then in the understanding. . He was accused by damsels, who
represent affections, the first damsel denoting an affection of the
will, and the second an affection of the understanding ; and Peter's
being accused by them, signifies that the temptations which those of
Peter represented originated in such affections in the mind itself.
But a third accusation was preferred against Peter by the persons
generally around him, " they that stood by," and these represented
all the affections and thoughts of the natural mind ; and their accusa
tion is expressive of temptation that has reference to the outward life.
In the first of these instances, too, the Lord is called Jesus of Galilee;
and in the .second, Jesus of Nazareth. Galilee is a province, Nazareth
is a city — pointing again to the Lord's love in the will, and his truth
in the understanding. Jesus is not named in the third instance, but
Peter is simply accused of being one of them — one of those who
formed the brotherhood of which Jesus was the head ; or what these
men would regard as a band of religious agitators and disturbers of
the peace. This, too, is expressive of that general and more indis
criminate assemblage of thoughts and feelings that pertain to the
natural mind and to the outward life. Peter's denial becomes more
vehement as the accusation proceeds. First he simply denies; then he
denies with an oath ; and at length he curses and swears. Simple
denial belongs to the will, with which everything is yea and nay; the
understanding confirms with an oath, for an oath signifies confirma-

Chap, XXVL] ST, MATTHEW, 633
tion ; but denial with cursing and swearing is not of reason, but of
passion. It does not follow that the Christian disciple, Uke Peter,
gives way in temptation so far as to be guilty of actually denying the
Lord, or his good and truth, Peter's sin, like the sins of other Scrip
ture characters, represented the sins to which the Christian disciple is
tempted. In his fall we are admitted to a view of our own tendency
to fall, and are taught how impossible it would be for us to stand,
were it not that the Lord was tempted in order to aid us in temjita-
tion. Peter's temptations were comparatively extemal, because he
was as yet a comparatively extemal man. His was as yet chiefly a
personal attachment and devotion to the Lord ; he loved him as the
restorer of the temporal kingdom to Israel, and the Lord's apprehen
sion threatened the entire overthrow of this object of hope and
ambition. The Christian disciple shares, indeed, in Peter's natural
views and desires, but they are directed to a spiritual and eternal
kingdom ; and therefore eternal life and glory are the objects of his
aspirations and of his temptation-conflicts. When Peter had uttered
for the third time his denial of the Lord, imiriediately the cock crew.
75, The words of the Saviour rushed into his mind and pierced his
heart. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him,
Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and
wept bitterly. This touching incident reveals something truly child
like in the character of this strong-minded apostle. The sudden
recollection, the poignant remorse, the passionate contrition, and,
indeed, his previous forgetfulness and denial, are much more like those
of a child than of a man. During the long and sad hours he waited in
the palace, both his memory and his conscience seem to have been
asleep; aud not until startled by the cock's shrill clarion does he
seem to have had any distinct impression of his sinfulness. This is
accountable only on the principle that both he and the new church,
of which he was the first-fruits, were then in the infancy of their spirit
ual life. As representative of the states of the church, it is equally
striking and instructive. The crowing of the cock was the announce
ment that the night was past, and that the day had dawned. The
oblivion of the truth in Peter's mind was the moral darkness which
had closed upon the church, and his returning consciousness was the
effect of a new light that broke in upon his soul. And in the Ufe of
the Christian disciple analogous states are experienced. When the
night of temptation spreads its pall over the soul, so that no ray of
light can enter to guide and cheer the mind, prophecy, and promise,
and hope fail, and extremity induces despair. But the ending of

634 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. XXVIL
the night is the d-awning ofthe day. The influence ofthe morning is
felt even before light is visible, and produces convictions and change
in correspondence with itself When Peter remembered the words of
the Lord, " he went out, and wept bitterly." He went out from the
palace of the high priest — from the scene and state of his temptation,
which is a state of constraint, into a state of liberty. He wept
bitterly. Bitter are the tears of repentance for presumptuous sins.
Weeping, as distinguished from shedding tears, we have had occasion
to remaik, signifies the deepest degree of sorrow for sin — that which
flows at once from the heart and the understanding, which expresses
at once a sense of the natural contrariety of our hearts to the Lord's
love, and of our understandings to his truth. When the soul not only
weeps, but weeps bitterly, it is a sign that a deep ground of evil has
taken away all the delights of life. But the more bitter the tears of
repentance, the sweeter the delight of the regenerated life, and the
more settled the peace that succeeds conflict.

CHAPTER XXVIL

1. The day whose dawn brought repentance to Peter found the
Jewish rulers impenitent and unbelieving, and still plotting how they
might become murderers of the Just One. When the morning was
come, all the chief joriests and elders of tlie people took counsel against
Jesus to put him to death. The chief priests are evils of the wUl, and
the elders of the people are evils of the understanding ; and their
taking counsel together is their combining to procure the destruction
of heavenly goodness in the person of Jesus.
2. A nd vdien they had hound Mm, they led him, away, and delivered
him to Pontius Pilate the governor. We bind Jesus when our evil affec
tions restrain and control the Word; and this is the case when we
subject it to the dominion of our own will ancl wisdom. When the
•Jews had bound Jesus, they led him away, and delivered him to
Pilate the governor. A Roman and Gentile, Pilate represented
natural reason, or the natural understanding. Hence we find that
Pilate, though he manifests some better traits of character than the
Jews, yet lends himself as an instrument to carry out their wicked
designs against Jesus.
The Sanhedrim had already declared Jesus to be worthy of death,
but as the Jews had not at this time the power of life and death, the
priesthood had to contrive how they might induce the Roman gov-

Chap. XXVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 635
ernor to condemn him. Hence their leading him away to Pilate Their
binding Jesus was an expressive act, the meaning and form of which
may be learned from the Lord's words to Peter after his resurrection :
" When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither
thou wouldest : but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth
tliy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou
wouldest not" (John xxi. 18). Although this was spoken naturaUy
of Peter's death, yet it spiritually describes the condition of faith at
the end of the church. In its youth faith was free; in its old age it
is bound, — the understanding is reduced to obedience, and led whither
the church will. The binding of Jesus represented the binding of
the Word itself, so as to bring it into subjection to the will of
man. 3. The evangelist here introduces the sequel of the history of
Judas. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he
ivas condemned, repented himself and brought again the thirty pieces qf
silver to tlie chief priests and elders. The history of Judas forms a con
trast to that of Peter. Both sinned, and both repented. But how
different the nature and results of their repentance I The one was
humbled, and became a new man ; the other died by his own hand.
But Judas and Peter stand in contrast to each other in their repre
sentative characters as well as in their personal history. Judas
represented the Jewish church ; Peter represented the Christian
church. The repentance of Judas represented the repentance which
needs to be repented of (2 Cor. vii. 10). His was the conversion
against which the Lord hardens the heart and blinds the understand
ing — the conversion which is followed by profanation, which brings
upon the soul the greater condemnation. The restitution and con
fession which Judas makes is a revelation, rather than a change, of
state. The returning of the thirty pieces of silver is the rendering
back to the Jewish church the truth which had been profaned by being
employed for so evil a purpose. Knowledge of truth, like mcmey,
which is one of its symbols, is in itself the same whether possessed
by the good or the evil, or employed for good or evil purposes.
When a church comes to an end, or an individual is judged, the
knowledge of tmth is taken away from them, according to the law,
" he that hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he
seemeth to have."
4. But Judas confessed, saying, I have sinned in thai I have be
trayed the innocent blood. This represents the laying open of the
state of the church, and her own mouth condemning her of having

636 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVII.
violated and profaned the Word, and so betrayed the Lord. To the
confession of Judas the chief priests and elders answered, What is
that to vs ? see ihou to that. These men did not concern themselves
about the innocence of Jesus ; they had paid the price of his blood,
and were determined to shed it ; their unworthy agent had only to
settle the question with himself And thus it is when a false under
standing, penetrated with gleams of light, revolts against an evil will,
it finds it is unheeded, and receiving no reciprocation, has to fall back
ujton itself.
5. When the priests and elders would not accept, for the release of
Jesus, what they had paid for securing him, Judas cast down the pieces
of silver in ihe temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. Truth
profaned in the understanding cannot deliver divine truth from
bondage and condemnation in the will: it can only be cast down in the
temple, and left as an unclaimed treasure. It has been much dis
cussed whether Judas died by his own hands or fell a victim to re
morse. The last opinion is considered to be favoured by the statement
ofhis end in Acts i. 18. The account of the evangelist necessitates
the idea of strangulation in some way, and most probably by his own
agency. This is all that the spiritual sense requires. For hanging,
or strangulation, or sufibcation, which have all been suggested, signi
fies destroying the connection between the internal and the external,
and the consequent destruction of both. The neck, as the means of
connection between the head and the body, signifies the connecting
medium between the internal ancl external of our minds. Judas
hanging himself, represented that in the Jewish church the con
junction of the internal and external was broken, by which the church
was utterly destroyed.
6. And ihe chief priests took ihe silver pieces, and said. It is not lawful for
to put them into the treasury, because it is ihe price qf blood. This was con
sidered to be in agreem ent with a law of Moses (Deut. xxiii. 1 8), though
not expressly mentioned in it. The money, as they had given it, was
the price of blood ; it was given to compass the wicked end of put
ting Jesus to death. But the blood of the Lord has two meanings.
The Jews shed the Lord's blood for evil — the Lord permitted it for
good ; that which was death to them was life to the world. It was
so ordered, therefore, that the price of Jesus' blood should not return
into the treasury of the Jewish church. As the high priests, by
procuring the Lord's death, had been unwilling agents in procuring
the redemption of the world, so, in the final disposal of the price of
the Lord's blood, they unconsciously did an act which represented

Chap. XXVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 637
the reception of the Lord's salvation by others, as mentioned ill the
next verse.
7. And they took counsel, and bought with ihem the potter's field, to bury
strangers in. The work of the potter signifies the work of regeneration.
This is clear from Jeremiah xviii. 4. The prophet, by divine command,
goes down to the potter's house to see a work on the wheel. " The
vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter : so
he macle it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make
it." Every one, as he now comes from the hand of his Creator, is a
marred vessel, but every one who comes from the hand of his Re-
creator is another vessel, made as seems good to the potter to make
it. He is renewed according to the will and into the image of God.
The silver given by the Jews as the price of the Lord's blood was
given to buy the potter's field, to represent that the truth originally
revealed to the Jewish church, which that church had perverted, to
destroy the very end for which it had been given, was now to be
transferred to the Gentiles, to become with them the means of that
regeneration which the Jews had wilfully refused. The potter's field is
the Gentile church, including the idea of a capacity and desire for
being regenerated. This idea is included also in the use for which the
potter's field was purchased — to bury strangers in. Burial, in the first
place, signifies resurrection ; for burial to the body is resurrection to
the spirit. When the body returns to the dust as it was, the spirit
returns to God who gave it. But in the second place, burial, like
resun-ection, signifies regeneration, which is the resurrection from
the death of sin into the life of righteousness. When the Jews
purchased the potter's field to bury strangers in, they no doubt
intended that the cursed means should be devoted to a cursed use —
to provide sepulture for the outcast and the destitute, perhaps that
their own dust might not mingle with that of the unknown wan
derer. But how expressive is this despised use to which the price of
the Lord's blood was devoted ! In Jesus the stranger finds a friend ;
in his blood, salvation; in his resurrection, Ufe. The price ofthe Lord's
blood is his merit and righteousness ; and, despised and valueless as
these were in the estimation of the Jews, they are precious to the
stranger, — to him who is a spiritual sojourner in the earth, seeking
for a home in heaven.
8. Wherefore that field was culled. The field of blood, unto this day.
Aceldama, the namewhich the potter's field acquired, sounds of violence
in its historical associations, but in its spiritual sense of salvation and
life eternaL All that is comprehended iu the meaning of the Saviour's

638 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. XXVIL
blood, as realized in Christian experience, is expressed iu the " field of
blood." On the one hand, the Lord's temptations, sufferings, and
death ; on the other, his resistance, his triumphs, and his life — all are
included in the meaning of his blood. His blood is his divine truth.
And when the Christian has, through his truth, suffered and died
with Christ, then does he share in his triumphs and his life. " For if
we be planted in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the
likeness of his resurrection " (Rom. vi. 5). The field of blood is
therefore the field of regeneration, and it will ever continue so to be.
When the evangelist tells us it is so called "unto this day,'' he reveals
an eternal truth. AVith the Word, as with the Lord, to-day is for
ever. In the concerns of the soul and eternity, to-day is not a por
tion of time, but a state. And the state of regeneration which has
been purchased by the price of the Loi-d's blood will be available to
the spiritual stranger, world without end.
9-11. Then loas fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy theprropliet,
saying. And they took the thirty jneces of silver, the price of him tliat was
valued, whom they qftlie child.reri of Israel did value; and gave tliem
for the potter s field, as the Lord appointed me. The purchase of the
potter's field was the fulfilment of a prophecy. This prediction the
evangelist ascribes to Jeremiah, when yet it is found in Zechariah.
Various explanations of the difficulty have been offered. Noble
thinks that the subject of the prophecy properly belongs to Jeremiah,
the mourning prophet, but had been put into the mouth of Zechariah,
to show the inspiration of the evangelist in assigning it to its true
place. The text is found as it is in many ancient manuscripts, though
not in all. We incline to think the most reasonable conjecture to be
that the passage in Matthew did not originally contain the prophet's
name, but read, " then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the pro
phet," and that "Jeremiah" was inserted by some early transcriber.
It is surprising the chief priests were not aware, when tbc;y " took
counsel," that their deliberations should result in the literal fulfil
ment, in every particular, of a prediction uttered centuries before by
an inspired prophet. But the thirty pieces, the price of him that was
valued, are expressive of the little estimation in which the Lord was
held by the Jewish peopjle By the priesthood the Lord was hated.
But in this transaction they unconsciously did what was symboUcal of
the estimation in which the Lord and his redemption were held by
the Jewish people as a whole. Thirty is a number which, wherever
it occurs in the Word, signifies comparatively little. And lightly
indeed were the Lord's merit and redemption esteemed by the decrene-

Chap. XXVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 639
rate descendants of Israel. After recording these circumstances con
cerning Judas, the evangelist returns to Jesu.s, who had been delivered
bound to Pontius Pilate. And Jesus stood before the governor: and tlie
governor asked Mm, saying. Art thou the King of the Jews ? And Jesus
said unto him, Thou sayest. This was a form of acknowledgment. The
Lord did not offer any explanation or qualification of his affirmation, so
as to enlighten or conciliate the judge. He was a king, but his kingdom
was not of this world. He was not the king ofthe temporal, but of the
spiritual Jews of the church which the kingdom of Judah represented.
The Lord is called a king and a priest. He is a king as divine trath,
and a priest as divine good. Truth rules, and good ministers. But
when he is called the King of the Jews, truth grounded in good is
meant. There were two kingdoms after the time of Solomon. The
kingdom of Israel then represented the government of divine truth in
the church, and the kingdom of Judah represented the government of
divine good in the church.
12-14. It is remarkable that, when questioned by Pilate, the Lord
answered him, but when he was accused ofthe chief priests and elders,
he answered nothing. The chief priests were Jews; Pilate was a
Gentile. In the Jewish church the voice of Divine Truth was now
for ever silenced; among the Gentiles, who were to form the new
church, there was a disposition to hear it, though, as we shall see, not
the capacity to receive it directly. As indicative of the negative state
of the Jews, which quenched the voice of the Truth amongst them,
and of the affirmative state of the Gentiles, which gave utterance to
the truth so far as they knew it, the prie.sts and elders only dealt in
accusations against Jesus, while Pilate asked a question, which on his
part contained no accusation, and admitted, as it received, an affirma
tive answer. And even when appealed to by Pilate, who said unto
him, Hearest thou not how many things tliey witness against ihee?
He answered him to never a word; insomuch tliat the governor
marvelled greatly. PUate, Uke the simple-minded, when they hear
learned unbelievers accuse the Word, or professed believers main
tain views that involve an accusation of its divine truth, are liable to
be disturbed with doubts, and to demand for them an instantaneous
and direct answer ; and when that answer is not vouchsafed, they are
further liable to experience great perplexity, which is expressed by
Pilate's marvelling greatly. The Word, like the Lord, does not accept
the challenge of the unbeliever, but leaves every man to work out his
own conviction, as it leaves him to work out his salvation, of which
conviction is a part, with fear and trembling. This lesson PUate

640 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIL
had not yet wrought out for himself, as we shall see in the
sequel. 15-17. At the fea.st of the passover, the governor was wont to release
unto tlie people a prisoner, whom iliey would. We come now to see
how the people were affected towards Jesus, as shown in the exercise
of that singular privilege which the Roman government had conferred
on their Jewish subjects. In this case the body of the people could
have defeated the purpose of the priesthood. They had then a notable
prisoner, called Barabhas. The choice was given them to claim the
release either of Barabhas, or Jesus which is called Christ. This
privUege conferred upon the people the free choice between guilt
and innocence, evil and good ; and they chose the evil, and rejected
the good.
18. Pilate made this offer to the people, in the hope, it would seem,
that they would ask for the release of Jesus, For he knew that for envy
they had delivered him. Envy is one of the worst of passions ; hatred
presumes the imputation of a fault, but envy is the acknowledgment
of an excellence. It is traly hatred without a cause. How truly
must this have been the ground of the priestly aversion to Jesus !
Their eye was evil, because he was good. This was the last form
which the hatred of the Jewish rulers took against Jesus ; and it
implied the deepest and most causeless opposition, not only to the
trath, but to the good of which Jesus was the impersonation. Envy,
therefore, impUes aversion of the worst kind, and the most deeply
rooted. 19. When he was set down on the judgment seat, before the people had
made their decision, his wife sent vnto him, saying. Have thou nothing to
do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream
because of him. Dreams had been made by Divine Providence the
vehicles of several messages from on high to those who had duties to
perform in relation to the Messiah. And now the wife of his judge
is made the medium of an admonition to him to refrain from any act
that might do him injustice. It is worthy of remark how entirely
Jesus is left alone in his last great trial, as if the powers of darkness
had succeeded in turning the whole tide of human action, if not of
human sympathy, against him. The .Jews persecute him ; Judas
betrays him ; Peter denies him ; the rest forsake him ; and now the
Roman, otherwise indifferent, plays into the hands of his enemies
against hiin. Had human ingenuity strained its powers to contrive
a plot to show the moral grandeur of a hero, not braving, but endur
ing with dignity and meekness the accumulated wrongs of an evil

Chap. XXVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 641
world, nothing could have exceeded or even equalled the reality
here so naturally developed and so simply related. All this was but
the outbirth of spiritual agents and elements against which the Lord
had to contend, and from which, indeed, he came to redeem and save
mankind. It was an exemplification of the truth of the Scriptures
themselves, that all, both Jews and Gentiles, were included under sin,
and that while we were yet enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of his Son. While Jews and Gentiles were both included
under sin, there was this important difference between them, that the
Jews had sinned against the clear light of revelation, the Gentiles -had
sinned against the dim Ught of tradition and indirect transmission.
With the Gentiles there was an affection in favour of the truth, and
some obscure perception of its exceUence. This affection -for truth
was the wife of PUate ; this obscure perception of its excellence was
her dream. But the intellect of the Gentile world, like Pilate, was
not yet prepared to act under the influence of this better affection of
the wUl. It was no doubt necessary that human nature as it was
among the Gentiles should have a share in the catastrophe out of
which the redemption of the world was to be educed ; and this Gen
tile humanity was appropriately represented by Pilate. The much
suffering which the wife of Pilate endured on account of Jesus,
shows that there was a conscience in the Gentile world that revolted
against the crime which the Jews, without compunction, were thirst
ing to commit.
20-23. Left by Pilate to choose whether he would release unto
them Jesus or Barabhas, the chief priests and elders persuaded the multi
tude thai they should ask Barabhas, and destroy Jesus. The governor
answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release
unto you? They said, Barabhas. Pilate saith unto them.. What shall I do
then with Jesus which is called Christ ? They all say vnto him. Let him be
crucified. The people Ustened. They demanded that Barabbas should
be released, and that Jesus should be crucified. To the question of
Pilate, Why, what evil hath he done ? they cried out the more, saying.
Let liim he crucified. Considered as a matter of solemn choice, it
seems as if PUate might have adopted the words of Moses, " Behold, I
bave set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil ; there
fore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." Life and good
-were personally manifested in the Lord, who now stood before them;
and in Barabbas, who, we have reason to fear, was sometbiilg like
the incarnation of their opposites, death .and evU. And this wicked
preference of the murderer to the sinless Saviour was truly the choice
2 T

642 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIL
of evU rather than good, and of death rather than life They who
could make such a choice showed that they were disposed to exalt in
their own hearts the evil which they let loose in Barabbas, and to
crucify the good which they were anxious to destroy in Jesus. De
moniacal as it seems in the Jews to have thus inverted all the prin
ciples of justice and benevolence, we must remember that we ourselves
inherit with them a common nature, and are capable, and may be
guUty, of doing spirituaUy what they did naturally ; and many of
them, it is to be feared, spirituaUy also. When the internal intends
evil, how easy is it to persuade the external to carry out the evil
intention ! When the internal and the external are united under one
common end, animated by one common object, and that object an evil
one, the choice, when it is to be exercised between opposites, is sure
to select the evil and leave the good. " Not this man, but Barabbas,"
is still the cry of those who hate good and love evU — who have inverted
spiritual order in themselves ; who have put evU for good, and good
for evil ; who have put darkness for light, and Ught for darkness.
24. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a
tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the ¦multi
tude, saying, I am innocent of tlie blood of this just person : see ye to it.
Pilate's act is easily recognized as a symbolical mode of testifying his
innocence of the crime of condemning a just person. But the act has
a spiritual as well as a figurative sense. To wash the hands, figura
tively, is to declare one's self blameless ; to wash the hands, spiritually,
is to make one's self blameless — to purify the life from evil and the soul
from guilt by the trath of God's Holy Word. Water is the symbol
of that trath, and the hands are the symbols of power, as manifested
by the will in act. The psalmist says, " I will wash mine hands in
innocency: so will I compass thine altar, 0 Lord" (Ps. xxvi. 6),
where washing is expressive of the act of purifying, not simply of
¦ asserting purity. Pilate is a faithful representation of those who are
in good without truth, who are easily overborne by those who are in
trath without good. The heathens who are in simple good learn the
vices sooner than the virtues of their more civilized neighbours, not
only because their nature inclines them to evil, but because they are
deficient in that intelligence which shows the inherent and distinctive
characters of virtue and vice. PUate saw that Jesus was a just man,
but allowed the envious Jews to carry out their determined purpose
to destroy him, washing his hands to clear himself from the guilt of a
crime which he had aUowed, but to which neither the law nor his
conscience consented.

Chap. XXVIL] ST. MATTHEW, 643
25, But if Pilate shrunk from the guilt of innocent blood, the
Jews did not. When the governor said, "See ye to it," Then answered
all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Awful
imprecation I too faithfully fulfilled ! The children of Judah, as a
people, continue to this day to treat the Just and Holy One as an
impostor, and still look for a Messiah whose kingdom is of this
world, and who will exalt them above other nations. Why should
the Jews invoke the curse of this flagrant crime on the chUdren as
well as on themselves? Guilt, descending from parents to children,
expresses the spiritual law that evil, once confirmed in the heart,
descends into aU the affections and thoughts which derive their
existence from it,
26. When Pilate had released Barabbas unto them, then commenced
that series of indignities to which Jesus was subjected, and which only
terminated with his death. And when lie had scourged Jesus, he
delivered him to he crucified. The whole of this treatment of .lesus, as
the incarnate Word, represents, as we have had occasion to remark,
the treatment which the written Word received at the hands of the
Jews. It may seem as if it were lessening the force and sanctity of
the relation to understand the cruel indignities and mockeries offered
to the person of the Lord, as representing treatment to which the
written Word had been subjected. This subject can only be under
stood, and its importance appreciated, when we see the essential
identity of the written and the incarnate Word — the written Word
being the Divine Wisdom revealed, and the incarnate Word the Divine
Wisdom manifested. The incarnate Word came to do for man what
the written Word had failed to accomplish. He came to do for man
what man had failed to do for himself He came to fulfil the law — ¦
that is, the Word, which man had made of no effect. As the Lord
fulfiUed the whole Word perfectly, his life was the written Word
acted out. His life was a practical revelation. His life (including his
teaching) was a living refutation of the errors, a living reproof and
condemnation of the evils, of the Jewish church. It is on this ground
that the treatment which the Lord received at the hands of the Jews
represented their treatment of the Word. His enduring these effects
of their evils was meant by his bearing their iniquities. It is to be
observed that the last sufferings of the Lord were legally inflicted
by the Romans, because the Jews had not then the power of adminis
tering the criminal law; but they were inflicted by the Jews morally,
because they were the authors of all that Jesus endured. The Lord
mentioned this on a previous occasion, when he said of the chief

644 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIL
priests, they "shall deliver him to tbe GentUes to mock, and to
scourge, and to crucify" (Matt. xx. 19). Nevertheless, the Jews
were personally guilty of many of the indignities which the Lord
now suffered. We therefore read of Pilate, that "when he had
scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified." This scourg
ing and crucifying are here mentioned to express, generaUy, all
kinds of opposition to the Lord and his Word. This is of two kinds,
— the opposition of falsity to truth and the opposition of evil to good;
crucifying signifies the destruction of good by evil. These acts have
this meaning, because the cords with which scourging was performed
signify falses, and the wood on which crucifixion was inflicted signifies
evil. This is the signification of crucifying as distinguished from
stoning — the two modes of capital punishment among the Jews ;
stoning signifying to destroy by falses, and crucifying to destroy by eviL
27. Tlien the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall,
and gathered unto him ilie whole band of soldiers. Soldiers, in the
genuine sense, signify those who defend the truth ; in the opposite
sense, as here, those who assault the truth, and who themselves are in
the falses of evil. Pilate, therefore, delivering Jesus into the hands
of the soldiers signifies the truth being deUvered over and made
subject to falsities; and not to some only, but to all — "the whole
band " being " gathered unto him," and united against him. The
"common hall" into which they took Jesus was the praetorium — the
governor's palace — and signifies here the understanding, where all
falsities are collected.
28. And tliey stripped Mm, and put mi him- a scarlet robe. The
profane mockeries to which our blessed Lord was subjected are almost
too painful to dwell upon, except to impress upon us the deep corrup
tion of humanity in his tormentors, in which we participate ; and to see
the spiritual state of mankind in reference to the Word as it then
existed, and is more or less the state of every natural man. The outer
garment of the Lord represented the literal sense of the Word. The
soldiers' stripping Jesus does not, indeed, signify that those whom the
soldiers represent deprive the Word of the letter; but that they
deprive the letter of its meaning, and substitute for it a meaning of
their own, which is meant by the soldiers putting upon Jesus a scarlet
robe. In putting this robe upon the Lord, they insulted him with
the mock honour of royalty. The Lord was indeed a king, -for truth
is a king ; nay, he was the king, for he was the truth ; but the mock
royalty with which they invested him was the derision of the truth,
aud the substitution of falsehood in its place.

Chap. XXVIL] ST, MATTHEW, 645
29. They invested the Lord with other mock emblems of royalty.
And wlien they had platted a. crown of thorns, tliey put it upon his head,
and a reed in Ms right hand. The Lord crowned with thorns has
furnished a study for Christian artists to work out the ideal of meek
suffering. No less worthy is the spiritual idea of being realized to
the mind than the natural suffering to the sense. Thorns, in the
Word, signify the falsities of concupiscence. The thorn was the first
fruit of the ground after it was cursed for fallen man's sake; and now
the thorn is placed as a fitting diadem on the brow of the Son of man.
Such was the triumph of the principle that had its birth with man's
fall. The head of the Son of man represented divine truth in first
principles, as revealed in the Word and manifested in the Lord ; and
a crown is the emblem of wisdom. We still crown the Son of man
with thorns when we exalt our own sensual intelligence above the
wisdom of God, and glory in such profane mockery. But they also
put a reed in his hand as a sceptre. The reed is a striking emblem of
the letter of the Word without its spirit. The Lord's own compari
son of the people's ideas of John the Baptist, who also represented the
Word, shows this. "What went ye out for to see? a reed shaken with
the wind?" — the letter of the Word, the sport of every wind of
doctrine, — every breath of human opinion ? As the head of the Son
of man signifies divine truth in first principles, his hand signifies
divine truth in last principles, such as it is in the letter of the Word.
In its ultimate seuse divine truth is in its fulness and power, of
which fulness and power the hand is also the emblem. Divine truth
in ultimates is the Lord's sceptre; and "the sceptre of thy kingdom
is a right sceptre" (Ps. xlv. 6): his is a true, righteous, equitable
dominion. Ultimate truth is also the rod of the Lord's strength,
with which he rules in the midst of his enemies (Ps. ex. 2). But the
Son of man with a reed in his baud for a sceptre is his Divine Word
with the form of power without the reality; so that the reed is a
symbol of man's power over and by the Word, in place of its power
over him. This is, indeed, sufficiently evinced in what follows. And
they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying. Hail, king of ihe
Jewsl The Jews, in their normal state, represented the church, the
ruling principle of which is love to the Lord; so that the Lord, as
King of the Jews, is the Divine truth ruling in the heart and life
The profane mockery of saluting Jesus as King of the Jews repre
sented the StiU more profane mockery of paying the homage of love
to the Lord, and reverence to his Word, when there is nothing but
contempt and hatred in the heart.

646 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIL
30. And they spit vpon liim, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
Spitting in the face was one of the most determined expressions of
contempt. It was a law of Moses, that when a man refused to take
his brother's wife, she should loose his shoe and spit in his face ; by
which was spirituaUy meant, that one who refuses to comply with the
law of marriage, or that of the union of good and truth, is destitute of
all genuine goodness and truth, internal and external. The internal
is meant by the face, the external by the foot, the shoe of which was
loosed. The Lord's face and his head signify the inmost of the Word
as to love and wisdom. To spit in his face and to strike him upon
the head represent contempt and violence offered to the highest and
purest principles of, the divine goodness and truth as revealed in the
Word, and manifested in the person and exemplified in the Ufe of the
Lord. The reed, we have seen, was a symbol of the letter -n-ithout
the spirit of the Word. To strike the Lord on the head with the
reed was, therefore, to turn the letter against the spirit — the external
against the internal, of the Word — and thus to prevent and destroy
divine order.
31. And after that ihey had mocked him, they took the robe off from him,
and put his own raiment on him, and led him away io crucify him. It may
seem as if, by removing the robe and restoring his own raiment, the
soldiers were undoing what they had done, and restoring what they
had taken away. Not so, however. They had ended one act of their
cruelty ; they were now about to commence another ancl greater.
Instead of being scourged, he was to be nailed to the cross ; he was to
be a second time stripped of his garments, that they might be rent in
pieces. Putting his own garments on the Lord was therefore only
doing naturally what those do spiritually who cease from the Word,
when they have subjected it to one series of profanations in order to
subject it to another. They now therefore " led him away to crucify
him." It is error that leads away ; it is evil that crucifies. The
Lord's being thus led away to be crucified represents a part of the
dark passage to fhe cross through which the Son of man was led in
his temptations, so far as they originated in the natural reason of man,
to which the natural will gives him up to be scoui'ged and crucified.
Outwardly, indeed, as to the body, he was led away by tlie Roman •
soldiers; but that outward leading was the effect and the type of
another and interior leading, in which the whole powei-s of darkness
were urging forward the crisis on which rested their last hope of
success against the Redeemer and redemption. But in leading the
Lord away to be crucified, a new agent is introduced.

Chap. XXVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 647
32. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon hy name:
him ihey compelled lo bear his cross. Executions took place beyond the
city, as originally they did out of the camp. This fact regarding Jesus
is mentioned in the New Testament. "Wherefore Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the
gate " (Heb. xiii. 12). The reason of this practice was, that the camp
and the city signified heaven, and without signified hell; and capital
punishments were inflicted there because they signifled the death
which is spiritual and eternal. It was in accordance with the repre
sentative character of the Lord's death that he should suffer without
the gate ; for he was made a cui-se for us, that he might redeem us
from the curse (Gab iii. 13). It is true that Jerusalem was at that
time full of wickedness, and that the Lord was condemned within the
city, though he was crucifled beyond it. Understood in its profane
sense, the Lord's being condemned in the city, and being led out of it
to be crucified without the gate, represented that he, as the Divine
Truth, was condemned internally and crucified externally in the
church ; for we condemn the Lord in our minds, and crucify him in our
Uves. When malefactors were led to execution, it was customary to
make them carry the cross on which they were to be crucified; and
our Lord was not exempted from this cruel indignity. John speaks
of the Lord, aud of him only, as the bearer of the cross. " And he,
bearing his cross, went forth " (ch. xix. 17). The other three evangelists
mention Simon only as the bearer of this burden. It is reasonably
supposed that Jesus had been made to bear it first, and that Simon
had been compelled to bear it afterwards. There is a spiritual reason
for the seeming difference in the recorded fact. In John, where the
Lord's deepest'and highest states are described, both as they were in
him and as they are iu us, the record appropriately speaks of Jesus
only as the bearer of his cross ; and the other gospels as appropriately
mention only Simon. The Lord's bearing of the cross was only the
physical and degrading labour done in the sight of men which he had
all along been doing spiritually in the sight of angels ; and Simon,
bearing it " after him," as Luke (xxiii. 26) expresses it, was only doing
what the disciple who foUows Jesus has spiritually to do. Simon
bearing the cross after the Lord was an outward sign of an inward
spiritual labour to be performed by those who would follow the Lord
in the regeneration. But if this is the truth represented in the present
circumstance, why was it not divinely ordered that one of his own
disciples should have been selected and compelled to bear his cross ?
His own avowed disciples had all forsaken him and fled. In the Lord's

648 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIL
hast trial, not only was he condemned by those who represented tho
world, as the Romans, and by those who represented the church, as the
Jews, but he was forsaken by those who represented the truths of hia
own blessed Word, as the disciples ; and all this was done to describe
the extent and severity of his last temptation, when he not only had
to endure the assaults of all the powers of evil, but had to endure the
absence of all the opposite powers of good. The Lord had yet one
stay. He was now in the veiy state of which he himself had spoken :
" Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered,
every man to his own, and shall leave me alone : and yet I am not alone,
because the Father is with me " (John xvi. 32). The hour was approach
ing when he should be forsaken even by the Father. Then, indeed,
would the Son of man be alone. This crisis, awful and mysterious,
has not yet arrived. We shall not anticipate it, but reverentiaUy
follow the Lord to the scene of his passion, with Simon, the Cyrenian,
bearing the cross on which the last temptation is to be endured and
human redemption completed. There is no doubt a providential
similarity of name between the bearer of the cross and Simon Peter,
to whom the cross was such an offence. Simon, among the disciples,
represented faith ; but Simon Peter represented faith within the
church; while Simon the Cyrenian represented faith without the
church — among the GentUes; for Cyrene -was out of the land of Canaan.
There is this also to be remembered respecting Simon, — that this was
the name of the Lord's first disciple when he first received the gospel,
but afterwards surnamed Peter. Simon the Cyrenian represented
faith as it exists among the remoter Gentiles, and among the simple
in heart, before they are instructed in the truths of the gospel. There
is reason to believe that Simon became a disciple of the'Lord. He is
spoken of by Mark (xv.21)as the father of Alexander and Rufus.
And the apostle Paul speaks highly of two of Simon's household.
"Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine" (Rom.
xvi. 13). It is pleasing to think that he who bore the burden of the
natural cross of Christ should have come to take up his spiritual
cross, and follow the Lord to a mount stUl more sacred than the mount
Calvary, on which he was crucified.
33. The place which forms the termination of the cros,s-bearing
journey is Golgotha, called also Calvary, which have both the same
mea.-amg— the place of a skull. The name speaks for itself regarding
the spot as a place of common execution, where he who was "numbered
with the transgressors " was appointed to suffer The opinion that the
mount was named from its shape is not so probable Suitable emblem

Chap. XXVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 649
was this place of the state of the church which was about to put to
death him -who was himself the Life ! The ghastly remnant of the
noblest part of man's material frame, so fearfully and wonderfuUy
made — the empty skull — speaks also of the Word emptied of its living
and spiritual contents, and reduced to a mere dead letter, having iu
relation to the church neither life nor power. Golgotha or Galvarv,,
emblematical as it is of the utterly devastated state of the church
which crucified the Lord, and of every church and member of the
church who crucifies the Lord afresh, yet it is to the repentant sinner
the end of death and beginning of life. There the Lord died for him;
and there he is himself to die, to lay down the life of his corrupt
nature, and crucify every lust and imagination of his evil heart.
34. When they came to Golgotha, ihey gave Mm vinegar to drink
mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drinlc.
It was customary to administer to criminals, before or during execu
tion, a drink that deadened their nervous sensibUity, and thus dimin
ished the intensity of their sufferings. The Lord refused this human
means of mitigating pain. There was a spiritual reason for this : for
everything which was done to the Lord, and which he did, teaches us
some great lesson. Vinegar, from its sourness, is the symbol of what
is false ; and gaU, from its bitterness, is the symbol of what is evil.
The Lord's refusing to drink of the -vinegar mingled with gaU was
intended to instruct us that what is false mingled with evil can find
no acceptance with him, or that those in whom error and evil are
united cannot enter into his kingdom. But although the Lord
refused the vinegar mingled with gall, he took the vinegar alone.
" Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the
scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set
a vessel full of vinegar : and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and
put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore
had received the vinegar, he said. It is finished : and he bowed his
head, and gave up the ghost" (John xix. 28-30). The prophecy is no
doubt very specific, and was as specifically fulfilled. " They gave me
also gall for my meat ; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink"
(Ps. Ixix. 21). It is almost impossible to suppose that the prophecy
and its fulfilment had only a historical connection and purpose If
his meat was to do the wiU of his Father, and to finish his work,
must not this have been his drink also? The Lord's natural thirst
¦was but the outward expression of his divine thirst — his desire for the
salvation of the human race ; for this was the will, the desire of his
own infinite love, which was the Father that dwelt within him, and

650 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap, XXVIL
that originated all his desires, and words, and works (John v. 30;
xiv. 10). How appropriate, then, after receiving the vinegar which
was offered him to quench his thirst, the Lord's exclamation. It is
FINISHED ! His last drink indeed was vinegar ; for that which
vinegar symbolized was the best that the church and the world
could supply. Truth was extinct; error and falsity everywhere pre
vaUed. There was nothing to quench the Lord's thirst but vinegar;
but when it was offered unmingled with the gall of bitterness, the
Lord in mercy received it, and it allayed his burning thirst. So
ardent is his divine desire for the salvation of his lost creatures that
he refuses not those who are iu error ; for if error be of the intellect
only, free from dissimulation, and from the deliberate evil of a corrupt
heart, it is not an absolute cause of separation between man and the
Lord, In the absence of an evil purpose, there underlies religious
error a desire for purification ; and it is this desire that not only
removes from reUgious error its negative character and separating
power, but makes it the means of conjoining the soul with God ; for
there may be religious principle where there is no pure religious
truth. This desire of purification was meant by the hyssop on
which the sponge containing the vinegar was placed, to be held to
the lips ofthe dying Saviour; for hyssop was used in the representa
tive church as a means of legal purification, as in the purification of
the greatest of all uncleanness, that of the leprosy (Lev. xiv. 4).
35. But we are drawn from the contemplation of this beautiful and
instructive incident in the history of the crucifixion to another of
those acts that have a far different character and meaning. And
they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken hy the prophet, They parted my garments among
ihem, and vpon my vesture did ihey cast lots. It is remarkable that
most of the particulars connected with the Lord's crucifixion should
have been special subjects of prophecy. The fulfilment of these pre
dictions having been the work of his enemies, this serves to confirm
the historical truth of Jesus being the Messiah. But a higher evi
dence is afforded by the spiritual significance of the circumstances
themselves. This teaches some important facts respecting the treat
ment of the Word by the church. The psalm from which Matthew
cites these prophetic passages is singularly minute in its description
of most of the incidents that occurred at the crucifixion. " They
part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture (Ps,
xxii. 18). Matthew himself does not mention the inner and outer
garment, this information being supplied by the prophetic passage he

Chap, XXVIL] ST, MATTHEW, 651
adduces. As all that the Jews did to Jesus represented the manner
in which the Jewish church had treated the Word, this act is most
significant. The Lord's outer garment represented the outward or
literal sense of the Word, and his inner garment represented its inner
or spiritual sense. Their dividing his garments represented that the
Jewish church had dissipated all the truths of the literal sense of
the Word. This, indeed, was done by the soldiers; but we have seen
that, being instruments in carrying out the purpose of the Jews, the
soldiers represent the militant principle in that church. Among them
selves, the Jews were, like Christians of the present day, divided into
sects, each contending against the others for what each called the truth,
when yet the tmth of each was but a variety ofthe common error, so that
amongst them the Word was rent in pieces and dissipated. The Lord,
however, provides that this division and dissipation of the truths of
the Word shall have a limit ; otherwise the Word would be destroyed,
and salvation rendered impossible. It is only the literal sense of the
Word that is capable of this kind of division ; for the truths of the
letter of the Word are for the most part apparent truths, admitting of
different interpretations, and therefore forming the means of various
and discordant opinions. But the internal sense of the Word does
not consist of apparent but of pure or genuine truths. These are
not, therefore, subject to the changeful and sinister interpretations of
men, nor are they capable of being severed from, much less of being
set up against, each other. Like all real truths, each is in harmony
with all the others, and all combine to form one grand and indivisible
whole. This is the Lord's vesture, woven without seam throughout.
However the letter may be divided, this is preserved for ever entire.
It is not parted, but is disposed of by lot; and this lot is the Provi
dence of God, which passes it on uninjured from one dispensation of
the church to another. The diff'erence between the internal and the
external of the Word is like the difference between the church and
the dispensation. Dispensations pass away, but the church never
dies. Dispensations grow corrupt, and die by corrupting and dissi
pating the truths of the letter of the Word; but the church, con
sisting of internal vital religion, never dies, but is preserved entire in
some minds, that the seed of a new tree may be sown when the old
one has fallen into decay. Were the internal sense of the Word to
be perverted and destroyed by the church on earth, the connection
between angels and men would be entirely cut off, and its renewal
would be impossible.
36. When his enemies had carried out their long-cherished desire

652 ST. MATTHEW- [Chap. XXVII.
of naUing him to the cross, sitting down they watched him ihere. Natu
raUy, this is sufficiently expressive of official indifference to the
suffering, combined with care to prevent the release of the sufferer
Spiritually, it teaches another and deeper lesson. Sitting signifies a
state of the will ; watching signifies a state of the understanding. The
murderers of Jesus "sitting down" after his crucifixion, signifies a
confirmed state of the will in favour of that which the crucifixion
represented— the destruction and profanation of the whole Word, and
consequently a confirmed state of opposition to all true goodness.
Their watching Jesus signifies the vigilance of the understanding to
keep the Word in that state of profanation, and prevent any argument
or intellectual force from being exerted by those in favour of the
Word, so as to deUver it from their power.
37. They also set up over Ms head his accusation written, THIS
IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. There was a difference
between the Jews and Pilate respecting this inscription. They
wished him to alter it to " He said I am the King of the Jews,"
but Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written." The
Lord provided that his cross should be crowned with the truth ; so
that, while we look at his cross as the very emblem of suffering, we
may see over the head of the holy sufferer the promise of triumph and
the hope of glory, its inseparable and sanctified fruits. The difference
between the Jews and Pilate expresses the difference between the Jew
and the Gentile, — the Gentile writing the truth as the Jewish accusa
tion, the Jew denying the accusation to be the truth. The inscription
itself expresses the Lord's character as divine truth from divine
good ; for a king signifies truth, and the Jews, Uke Judah, from whom
they were derived, signified good; in other words, the King of the Jews
denotes divine celestial truth reigning in the hearts of those who are
crucified to self and the world.
38. Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on ihe right
hand, and another on the left. These represented — the same as the sheep
and the goats on the Lord's light hand and on his left in the judg
ment — those who are in charity and faith, and those who are in faith
without charity. Of these we say nothing further at present, as we
shall have to speak of them again.
39, 40. Our Lord now undergoes another series of insults, involving
another series of temptations. And they that passed by reviled, or blas
phemed, him. The chief priests, with the elders and scribes, mocked
him ; and the thieves iterated what the others uttered. They who
passed by rejiresented those who are in falsity ; the chief priests repre-

Chap. XXVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 653
sent those who are in evil; and the thieves represent those who are in
both. We will briefiy consider them apart. In the passers by v/e
see the children of this world too eagerly engaged in its pursuits and
pleasures to bestow more than a passing glance on divine and spiritual
things, and then only to revile and contemn them, if not with their Ups,
at least in their hearts. 'Wagging their heads. These revilers wao-
their heads to betoken the supreme contempt which those who are
wiser in their generation than the children of light have for the Light
itself, when eclipsed by their own materialized apprehensions. These
signs of unbelief are such as indicate intellectual opposition to the
truth, as does also their argument: Thou that desiroyest the temple, and
huildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down
from ihe cross. Here the Lord seems to be assailed by the self-
righteous, the irreligious, and the lawless. All are united against him ;
as if every possible agency was, by every possible means, to try to
shake his confidence, to overwhelm his spirit, and to drive him to utter
despair. The arguments made use of by these Jewish unbelievers
are just such as have been employed by infidels of all ages, being, in
fact, the natural suggestions of the human mind in the negative state,
which knows nothing, and believes nothing, of the necessity of tho
cross as the means to salvation. To such minds, the Lord's claims
and his end must seem to be an entire contradiction. He claims
divine power, yet shows the most absolute human weakness; asserts
divine glory, and is exposed to public shame and degradation; asserts
the highest virtue, and dies as a malefactor; claims allegiance as a
king, yet submits to be treated as the meanest subject; declares him
self able to raise the temple in three days, yet cannot deliver his own
body from the cross; assumes to be the king of Israel, yet cannot come
down from the cross ; has saved, or pretended to save, many, and even
to raise some from death, yet cannot save himself These contradic
tions arise out of, because they answer to, the contrariety that exists
in fallen human nature between the carnal and the spiritual mind.
It is the unwillingness of the carnal natural mind to submit to
spiritual indignity, and humUiation, and shame, and death, that makes
one unwilling to recognize and unable to feel the need of a Saviour
who passed through them all. Like the prophets, the Saviour was a
sign unto his people. He came to do that for proud man which
proud man despised to do for himself He came to take upon him
that natural mind which in itself is so lofty, and proud, and greedy
of honour, and in love with life, that he might humble and abase
it, and dishonour and ei-ucify it, as the only means of its reconciliation

654 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIL
with the spiritual man, and of its becoming his obedient servant. It
was because the natural man had exalted himself above the spiritual,
and despised and trampled upon him, that the Lord came into
the world to subdue him. Such were his sufferings. But these
were but the means to a glorious end. They were the passage to
glory. True exaltation arose out of them. The true glory of the
natural man consists in his being the honoured servant of the
spiritual. That which was created to serve cannot be honoured
by ruling. Is the body honoured by ruling over the soul ? Is it
honoured by gluttony, and drunkenness, and lust ? Are the appe
tites honoured by ruling over the reason ? Is the world honoured
by contemning heaven ? Is matter honoured by denying spirit ? Is
nature honoured by denying God ? The temple was the Lord's
body — his humanity — which his enemies were to destroy; but as
these accusers represent those who oppose falsity to the truth, they
repeat this false accusation against him. The temple also repre
sented the Lord's divine spiritual principle, which is, indeed, that
which is contemned and blasphemed by lovers of the world. They
deny and, indeed, ridicule the idea of a divine humanity, of which
they think the passion of the cross is a sufficient refutation. And
this is but the natural or spontaneous language of the heart that
refuses to yield submission to the cross. The passers by chaUenged
the Lord to show that he was the Son of God, by coming down from
the cross. The Lord did not suffer as the Son of God, but as the Son
of man; not as divine good, but as divine truth; not as to his diviue,
but as to his natural humanity. A prevailing idea is, that if the
world was governed bya righteous Being, the just would never suffer;
and, of course, if the Lord had been divine, being just, he would have
prevented the Jews from putting him to death.
41-43. In the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, we see the
children of the church; and in the mockery of these we see the bla.s-
phemy of the church against the Lord, and of those who are in the
evil of self-love, against the divine good of his love. These say. He
saved others; himself lie cannot save. If he has saved others, he must
be able to save himself ; if he cannot save himself, how can he save
others ? The sentiment itself is true in a certain sense, though the
application of it is false. The Lord glorified himself as he regenerated
others ; the two works were inseparably connected with each other.
These works are meant by salvation. StUl further, salvation is
effected by the Lord from his diviue love or goodness, as redemp
tion is by his divine truth; aud the Lord became the Saviour by

Chap. XXVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 655
becoming or making his humanity divine good. The faUacy of the chief
priests consisted in .supposing that the Lord must show his power of
salvation by coming down from the cross, and this fallacy they shared
in common with the passers by. But this was the very opposite of the
way which the Lord himself had taught men to look for salvation from
him. The Lord had said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
wUl draw all men unto me." His televation on the cross represented
this lifting up— this glorification. But these men did not desire to be
drawn up from the earth to the Lord ; they required that the Lord
should come down to the earth to them. And so it is with every
natural man. He does not desire a reUgion that wiU raise him above
the world, but one that wUl come down to and consent to his worldly
desires and appetites ; lea,st of all does he wish to be raised by means
of the cross, by being crucified to the world and the world to him ;
to attain to glory through suffering, life through death. Many would
believe him if he would show himself to be the King of Israel by
coming down from the cross; for what communion is there, in the
eyes of the natural man, between sovereignty and suffering ? Much
of what is said by the chief priests is found, almost word for word, in
Psalm xxii. ; and it is particularly deserving of attention, from its
connection with the context. At the 8th verse we read, " He trusted
on the Lord that he would deliver him : let him deliver him, seeing
he delighted in him." It immediately follows : " But thou art he
that took me out of the womb." This is the key to the mystery of
the Lord's seemingly unheeded sufferings and humiliation, but one
that the natural man will not consider, and does not comprehend.
The new birth is the end which Divine Providence has in view in
permitting sufferings which, to the righteous, are indeed as the pains
of a woman in travail, who hath sorrow when her hour is come, but
who, as soon as her child is born, remembereth no more her anguish,
for joy that a man is born into the world.
44. But the thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same
in Ms teeth. We have already stated (¦;;. 38) that these two thieves repre
sented the same as the sheep and the goats. This rests on. the relation
of Luke, who says (xxiii. 39) that one of the malefactors railed on him,
while the other acknowledged and prayed to him. It is an opinion
that both thieves had at first joined in the reproaches of the spectators,
but that one of them had been converted on the cross. If such had
been the case, we can hardly imagine so interesting a fact would have
been passed over unnoticed. We do not well see how the penitent
thief could have rebuked his companion for conduct of which he

656 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIL
himself had just been guUty. Nor are we to overlook the great
improbability of an entire change of state in so brief a space. It
seems more consistent to suppose that one evangelist mentions the
circumstance in a general, and another in a special manner. So much
for the mere historical sense. The spiritual sense no doubt required
both relations to supply a complete basis for itself To see the spiritual
sense, we must, in the first plac^, consider these two thieves as repre
senting two classes of sinners — one representing those who are in evil
and falsity, the other representing those who are in falsity but not in
evil. In the historical sense, therefore, they represent the Jews and
the GentUes. Matthew and Mark, who speak of both thieves reviling
the Lord, describe them as they were in their first state, both included
under sin ; but Luke, who gives the account of the penitent thief,
describes them in their second state, when the Gentiles acknowledged
the Lord, and were accepted as his future church, and the Jews, by
persisting in unbelief, forfeited their election, and became reprobate.
There is an analogous view of this incident in reference to the regen
eration of man, the gospels describing the progress of this work ; but
under the present passage we are hardly justified in pursuing it, for
the subject here treated of is the first phase, when the light and the
darkness are yet undivided.
45. And now, as if the moral darkness by which the dying Saviour
was surrounded and assailed were not enough to try his troubled soul,
the sun of nature hides his face, and the most alarming and oppressive
of all gloom — that which suddenly over,spreads the world at noonday
— comes to complete the scene of horror and desolation. Now from
ihe sixth hour there was darkness over all fhe land unto the ninth hour.
The sixth hour of the Jewish day was noon. The spiritual darkness
of which this natural darkness was but the image is repeatedly spoken of
in the prophets. " And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the
Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will
darken the earth in the clear day " (Amos viii. 9). The darkness that
fell upon the scene of the crucifixion was an emblem of the state of
falsity, and of evil derived from it, that overspread the whole church;
the three hours, also, during which it prevailed signified that the state
was full and final, as well as universal. This darkness taking place
at noon did not imply that the church was then in the zenith of its
glory. The sun that was darkened was the Sun of Righteousness that
even then shone from the cross, the closing of their eyes and hearts
against whom brought them into darkness. As the outward appear
ances were the shadows also of the Lord's inward states, this dark-

Chap. XXVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 667
ness was the symbol of that horror of great darkness which culminated
in despair of the end for which tbe Saviour was suffering, which
formed the extremity of his last temptation, the utmost limit of
inward suffering which even the incarnate Word could endure
without yielding.
46. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,
Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani ? that is to say. My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? This exclamation is expressive of a deep and
awful state, which by us can be but imperfectly understood, and even
in our own experience but faintly realized. In all the previous history
of the Lord's last sufferings, we have seen that he was forsaken by
men, even by those who were his most devoted followers ancl friends ;
and now we find him at last forsaken by God also. This may
present some difficulties to the mind. How could the Lord be
forsaken by God when he himself was God as well as man ? Was he
a different and divine being, or a different person, from that God to
whom he uttered this despairing cry ? One truth is a sufficient answer
to these ancl all such questions. The Lord united in his person two
distinct natures — the divine and the human. The human nature was
alone capable of suffering, and of having a sense of being forsaken.
We sometimes hear language that seems to imply that the Son, as
a divine person, might be forsaken by the Father as a divine
person. In states of humiliation the Lord's human nature had
a sense of dependence upon, and even of separation from, his
di-vine nature, although the divine nature dwelt within the
human as the soul dwells within the body. These were natural
and necessary parts of the Lord's human experience. It is
important to remember that the Lord passed through all human
experience, and in order to do so he must have had all human
consciousness and sensation. Does not man, in states of severe
trial and deep temptation, feel as if he were forsaken of God ? The
Lord must have had the same feeling, else his trials would have been
unlike ours, and would have provided no succour for us under them.
StiU, some wiU think, and perhaps say. But the Divine dwelt within
him, as our soul dwells within our body. Yes. But do not we fre
quently speak as we feel, according to the sensations of the body ? Man,
while possessing an immortal soul, can reason against, and even deny,
the soul's immortality. The consciousness may thus be contrary to
the reality. So is it in temptation. The Divine support seems to be
withdrawn— the Divine itself to have forsaken us. The words which
the Lord uttered on the cross had been uttered by the psalmist in his
2 u

668 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIL
own states of trial (Ps. xxii. 1), to show that the Lord came to endure
and to sanctify human suffering. Temptation in extreme cases pro
ceeds even to despair. Such extreme temptation is necessary to effect
the conjunction of the external with the internal man, and, as a
consequence, of man with God ; and the conjunction of the internal
with the external is regeneration, and the conjunction of man with
God is salvation. The union of the human with the Divine in the
Lord was the great pattern of this work in man; for the Lord was
glorified as man is regenerated. On this great subject the writings of
the church speak with great clearness and power. " Glorification is
the uniting of the humanity of the Lord with the divinity of his
Father. This was effected successively and permanently by the
passion of the cross. The reason why that real union was fully effected
by the passion of the cross is, because it was the last temptation which
the Lord underwent during his abode in the world, and conjunc
tion is effected by temptations ; for in them man is, to all appearance,
left to himself alone. Yet it is but in appearance, for God is then
most present with him in the inmost principles ofhis mind, and supports
him. When, therefore, a person conquers in temptation, he is then
most intimately conjoined with God ; and this was the case with the
Lord in his union with his Father. That the Lord, during his suffering
on the cross, was left to himself, is evident from his exclamation, and
also from his own words : ' No man taketh my life from me, but I
lay it down of myself I have power to lay it down, and I have power
to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father'
(John X. 18). It is evident, then, from this, that the Lord did not
suffer as to his divinity, but as to his humanity, and that at the time
of suffering, the most intimate, and therefore the most complete, union
was effected. This may be illustrated by the fact, that whilst man
suffers with respect to the body, his soul does not suffer, but only
mourns, which mourning God removes after victory, and, as it were,
wipes the tears from his eyes.'' This union of the Divine and the
human in the person of the Lord was the great work of atonement
or reconcUiation, through which man is atoned or reconciled to God.
47. When the Lord uttered the exclamation we have now been
considering. Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said.
This man calleth for Elias. This would have been a call from the
living to the dead. But they misunderstood him. So does the
natural man misunderstand the Word of the Lord, changing its divine
into human ideas, and substituting trust in man for trust in God.
But EUas was himself a representatioa of the written Word. What

Chap. XXVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 669
then, is spiritually involved in this misunderstanding? It is, to
mistake the dead representatives in the Word for the living principles
which they represented, and to imagine that life and power can be
derived from that which only symbolized them.
48. The false principle which the misconception of these persons
symbolized, with some is an error, with others persuasion ; for with
some it is in the understanding only, with others it is also in the wiU.
Those with whom it is only an error, and not an evil, are represented
by the one which ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar,
and put if on a reed, and gave him to drink. We found that when
they offered the Lord vinegar mingled with gall, he would not drink,
because to have drank that mixture would have represented his
acceptance of those who are principled in falsity united to evil. But
here the Lord is offered vinegar without the gall, and he drinks it,
because he accepts those who are in error, when not at the same time
in eviL The sponge which contained the vinegar was put upon a
reed, to represent that these errors are derived from the letter of the
Word by unintentional misinterpretations. From John we learn
that this vinegar was given to the Lord to drink, in response to his
uttering the words, " I thirst," which expressed his desire for the
salvation of the human race ; and his accepting the vinegar repre
sented his will and his power to save unto the uttermost, by accepting
all, whatever errors they may entertain even respecting himself, if
their errors are not rooted in evil.
49. But there is another class who show no active love for the
Lord ; no tender desire to satisfy his thirst, even for their own salva
tion; and who would even hinder others from doing so for themselves.
These are the rest who said. Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to
save him. Elias appeared with the Lord on the mount, and spoke
with him concerning his decease which he should accomplish at Jeru
salem. It was a misapprehension, therefore, to suppose that Elias
would come to prevent that which he had previously confirmed. So
is it a mistake to expect that the written Word can teach salvation
by saving the life of the selfhood ; for he who saves his Ufe shall lose
it, and he who loses his life shall find it.
50. Jesus, when he had cried again unth a loud voice, yielded up the
ghost Luke tells us what this last utterance of our Lord was:
"Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." In the two
separate cries of our Lord we see, both in the character of the
feelings expressed and in the language in which the Lord expressed
them, the distinction which we have had occasion repeatedly to note,

660 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIL
— the distinction between the Trath and the Good, or between the
Lord's intellectual and voluntary life The first has reference to the
intellectual principle of the humanity; the second to the voluntary
principle. The first expresses a sense of being forsaken ; the second, a
feeling of confidence : the one expresses fear; the other, love. In the
first instance the Lord addresses the Divine by the name of God, in
the second by the name of Father; the first of these being expressive
of the Divine Truth, the second of the Divine Good, or the first of
the Divine Wisdom, the second of the Divine Love. Although
Matthew does not relate the words which the Lord uttered on the
second occasion, he uses a term which conveys the same idea that the
words express. He says, " Jesus cried with a loud voice," more
literally, with a great voice; and the term great, whenever it occurs
in the Word, is expressive of goodness or love; so that a great voice
is the voice of love. So here the very sentiment is expressive of love,
with its unbounded trust. When the Lord had uttered the great
voice, " he yielded up the ghost " — he rendered up the spirit into his
hands to whom he had commended it. Thus died the Saviour. And
what a death was that 1 When the Lord expired, it was not life, but
death itself that died. We do not speak of natural death. The Lord
did not come to abolish this death, for natural death did not originate
with the fall. He came to abolish spiritual death, the death which
man had incurred by eating the forbidden fruit. By assuming our
fallen nature, the Lord became subject to this death, or rather, he
took this death upon himself; and this was essentially the death that
died upon the cross, and which was within the natural death which
the body suffered. " In that he cUed, he died unto sin once" (Rom.
vi. 10). This was the great death out of which life was educed. This
was the agonizing death which our Lord endured. Natural death, by
itself, could have been no terrible endurance to him. In that spiritual
death hell originated and had its life; and in causing that death to
die, the Saviour had to resist and conquer the whole powers of dark
ness, for death and hell are the same. But the apostle who says of
the Lord, " In that he died, he died unto sin once," continues, " but
in that he liveth, he liveth unto God." " He yielded up the spirit,"
and so became united in spirit to the Father; and when his body had
risen from the dead, he Uved unto God wholly, for the human was
then wholly born of and united to the Divine, and became life
itself, and the fountain of life to all who, like himself, die unto
sin. 61, When the Lord by his death had finished the work of redemp-

Chap. XXVII,] ST, MATTHEW. 661
tion and glorification, the effects of that divine work began to be
manifested. And, behold, ihe veil ofthe temple was rent in twain from
ilie top to ihe bottom. This was evidently a miracle wrought for the
sake of its significance. The temple, we know, was a symbol of the
Lord's body; and the Divinity that dwelt within the veil was the hidden
Divinity that dwelt in the temple of the Lord's humanity. When
death rent asunder the veil of mortality within which the eternal
Divinity dwelt in the person of the Lord, one grand purpose of the
incarnation was accomplished — an immediate communication was
opened between God and man. We say immediate, because, although
the Lord's humanity is a medium, or a mediator, between God and
man, yet, being (Uvine-human, it brings the divine and the human-
God and man — into the most direct and intimate saving relation to
each other. This holy event was indeed represented in the temple
and tabernacle service, and is clearly pointed out in the apostolic
writings. In the epistle to the Hebrews we read — " There was a
tabernacle made . . . and after the second veil, the tabernacle which
is called the Holiest of all. . . . Into the second went the high priest
alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself,
and for the errors of the people : the Holy Ghost this signifying, that
ilie way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest. . . . But
Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands ... by his
own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us" (Heb, ix. 2, 3, 7, 8, 11, 12). "Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of
Jesus, by a new and Uving way, which he hath consecrated for us,
through the veil, that is to say, his fiesh; and having an high priest over
the house of God ; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance
of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our
bodies washed with pure water " (Heb. x. 19). Thus the rending ofthe
veU symbolized the glorification ofthe Lord's humanity; andthe veil is
said to have been rent from the top to the bottom, to represent the
completeness of that divine work by which the humanity was glorified
for ever, from first principles to ultimates. The rending of the veil
represented also the effects of the Lord's glorification— iu rending the
veil of the letter, which gave access to the internal of the Word ; in
rendino- the veil of ceremonial worship, by which an internal church
could exist ; and tn rending the veil of appearances in the human
mind, by which a way was opened to the internal man, so that from
being natural he might become spiritual. The entire change in the

662 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVII.
state of the church is further described by the words ; and the earth did
quake, and the rocks rent. The earth means the church, and an earth-
cpiake signifies- the entire subversion of the church. The change in
the state of the church which was effected by the Lord's advent was
very different from all previous changes from one dispensation to
another. All pre-existing churches were representative churches :
they saw truth in the shade. After the incarnation the church was
actual, and saw truth in the light.
52, 53. A further result of the Lord's crucifixion was that the
graves were opened ; and many bodies qf tlie saints which slept arose,
and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy
city, and appeared unto many. This opening of the graves and
resurrection of the saints were not material but spiritual events.
Had it been a natural transaction, would not these open graves have
been seen ? and would not risen saints — the first-fruits of the Lord's
resurrection — have been afterwards found amongst the disciples ?
But not one word more is ever said about these liberated tenants
of the tomb. The relation describes two results of the Lord's
finished work. The graves here spoken of were the places in the
intermediate region of the spiritual world where spirits were in
prison, waiting to be delivered by the Lord at his coming. These
were the prisoners, so often mentioned in the prophets, whom the
Lord the Redeemer was to bring forth out of the prison-house.
Death and the grave frequently in the Word mean the state of those
who are politically or spiritually dead and buried. Thus, iu Ezek.
xxxvU. 12: "Behold, O my people, I wiU open your graves, and
cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land
of Israel . . . and shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall
Uve." This relates literally to the restoration of the Israelitish
people from captivity, though in the internal historical sense it
relates to the same event in the spiritual world, to which the
evangelist refers. To this event the Lord himself alludes when he
says in John—" Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming, in the
which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come
forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of Ufe; and they
that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation" (ch. v. 28, 29).
The risen saints, it is said, went " into the holy city, and appeared
unto many.'' Risen saints appeared, indeed, in Jerusalem to some in
vision. But as the event relates to the spiritual world, in which it
actually took place, the opening of the graves, and the rising of the
saints, and their appearing in the holy city, signify the deUverance of

Chap. XXVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 663
the faithful from the lower earth in the world of spirits, and their
elevation into heaven. In the spiritual sense, this opening of the
graves and rising of many of the saints signified the spiritual resur
rection of regeneration, which the Lord's finished work had provided
for, and which was its final cause To describe this saving effect of
the Lord's glorification, a resurrection of the saints only is spoken of
Yet it may be asked. How, in this case, can the .saints be said to be
dead and buried? or. Plow can those who are dead in trespasses and
sins be called by that holy name? In the spiritual sense persons
signify principles. And man's siiiritual resurrection consists in the
holy principles of truth and goodness being raised out of his natural
into his spiritual mind. These principles are man. In the natural
mind they are dead, even buried; it is only when raised up into the
spiritual mind that they acquire life and Uberty. Spiritual resurrec
tion always implies the pre-existence of this element of true humanity.
It may exist but as a germ, but exist it must. Therefore the dead
and buried are always supposed to be capable of hearing the divine
voice that calls them forth. Thus in John: "The hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God:
and they that hear shall Uve" (v. 25).
54. Now when ike centurion, and tliey that were with him, watching
Jesus, saw fhe earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared
greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. These Gentile soldiers
represented the Gentile world, who were about to receive the Lord as
their Saviour, whom the Jews had so entirely rejected. It may
naturally seem that the Romans could have had very imperfect ideas
of what their confession involved ; but the effect of the Lord's
character — the power of the divine sphere with which he was sur
rounded — was such as to produce extraordinary impressions upon
impressible minds. But their acknowledgment does not necessarily
imply a true knowledge of the divine character of Jesus. It only
implies that they were struck with the conviction that he was a Son
of God, according to their own ideas of divine sonship ; although it
may be understood that they now admitted Jesus to be, what in the
course of these events they had heard him accused of having claimed
to be, the Son of God. The definite article is not here used before
" God" and " Son." In this respect the confession of these Romans
differs from the famous confession of Peter (Matt. xvi. 16), where the
language has the definite form, which is, too, expressive of a definite
idea. But, perhaps, this more vague language of these Gentile soldiers
better expresses the more general and obscure light then diffused

664 ST. MATTPIEW. [Chap. XXVIL
through the Gentile world ; as also the nature of the first perception
of this divine truth in every Gentile mind.
56, 56. Besides the centurion and those that were with him, there
were others who looked with deeper interest on the scene. And
many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from
Galilee, ministering unto him : among which was Mary Magdalene, and
Mary tlie mother of Jam.es and Jose^, and the mother of Zebedee's
children. These were some of the devoted women who were disciples
of the Lord, and whose characters shine foi-th with such heavenly
lustre in the sacred page. Unlike the men, they -were mute specta
tors. Silence best befitted, as it best expressed, their feelings. And
they themselves represent the feelings, the affections, of the devoted
heart. As the centurion and his men represent the inteUectual prin
ciples of the Gentile church, these women represent the will principle
of the Gentile church. They are therefore said to have come from
GalUee (of the Gentiles), which, we have seen (ch. ii. 22), represented
the Gentile element. The three Marys represent the three affections —
the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural. They ministered unto the
Lord. Ministering is the work of the affections of the heart, as serv
ing is the work of the thoughts of the understanding. We minister
unto the Lord when, for his sake, we do good from love
67,68. Anotherpious minister was Joseph of ArimatiiEea. Whenthe
even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathcea, named Joseph, who
also himself ivas Jesus' disciple: he went io Pilate, and begged the body of
Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. " When the
even was come " he went to PUate and sought the body of Jesus.
Joseph was a second Nicodemus. He also was a master in Israel and
a disciple of Jesus ; yet secretly, for fear of the Jews (John xix. 38),
Nicodemus, at the commencement of the Lord's ministry, came
secretly to him during the night to learn some of the mighty truths
Jesus was teaching in public. And now, when the Lord had sealed
his testimony with his blood, these two secret but faithful disciples
came forward to perform his funeral rites. While Joseph furnished
the sepulchre, Nicodemus supplied the spices ; and these two pious
men embalmed the body, and laid it in the tomb (John xix. 38).
None of the other male disciples — none even of the twelve  were
present ; only the women beheld where he was laid. Providence
reserved these two secret converts for this pious duty. We have to
consider what is meant by this, what is here related of Joseph of
Arimathsea. We have first a description of Joseph himself He was
a rich man — rich in the knowledge of the truths of the Word. He

Chap. XXVIL] ST. liIATTHEW. 665
w^as of Arimathaea. It is not known where or what this place was.
It has been supposed to be the same as Rama. We only know it was
"a city of the Jews" (Luke xxiii. 51), which intimates thathe was in
the good of the doctrine of the church. Everything else recorded of
him agrees with this. He was a good man and a just, ancl had not
consented to the counsel and deed of his brethren (v. 50). He waited for
the kingdom of God ; he was only an expectant ; yet the other disciples
were no more. Looking for a temporal kingdom, it is remarkable that
when the ignominious death of Jesus destroyed all hopes of him being
the restorer of Israel, his disciples should still have clung to him, and
regarded his crucified body with all the tenderness of the most devoted
love. This clearly shows that although their understandings were not
opened to understand the Lord's truth, their hearts had been brought
under the power of the Lord's love. But why should this pious duty
of burying the Lord's body have been performed by one who had not
openly followed or even avowed him ? It is evident that none but
an opulent or dignified Jew could have had sufficient influence with
PUate to obtain from him possession of the body of Jesus. There was
a spiritual, even if there had been no natural reason, why Jesus, while
put to death by his enemies, should be buried by his friends. It was
necessary that the Lord's crucified body should be buried, not only by
a disciple, but by one who stood in the relation to him that Joseph or
Nicodemus did. Burial signifies resurrection. It signifies also, and
proximately, the rejection ofthe old man as the necessary precursor of
the resurrection of the new ; for the old man must die, that the new
man may live. We find, therefore, in the apostolic writings, t-n-o
distinct thoughts expressed, and two distinct regenerative acts repre
sented by the Lord's burial and his resurrection. The apostle Paul
say,s, " We are buried with him by baptism into death : that like as
Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been
planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in tiie
likeness of his resurrection " (Rom. vi. 4, 5). "Wherefore, my brethren,"
he says again, "ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ ;
that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from
the dead " (Rom. vii. 4). The reason, then, it would appear, why
Joseph of Arimathsea and Nicodemus buried the body of Jesus,
was that they themselves were connected with the Jewish church
actually, and only to the Christian church potentially. The burial
of the Lord's body signified the putting off of the residue of the
humanity from the mother; and this residue belonged to the old dis-

666 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIL
pensation, and not to the new. It was meet, therefore, that men that
belonged to the old, should embalm and lay his sacred body in the
tomb. Yet it is no less meet that while they were in the old
Jewish dispensation, they shoiUd not be of it. Externally belonging
to the old, and internally to the new, they were the links that con
nected the past with the future, and were therefore the suitable
mediums through -n'hom the Lord passed from the one to the other.
They did not merely stand between the future of the Christian church
and the past of the Jewish, but between the past and the future of all
time; between the two great epochs whi. -h the incarnation at once
separated and united. We find, therefore, that while these two secret
disciples received the Lord at his death, it was his open disciples who
received him at his resurrection. Having performed their pious office
to their crucified Saviour, we hear of them no more. But those who
had forsaken him in his last great trial came again into the relation
of disciples, with all their doubts removed, and new Ught imparted to
them. But we have yet to consider the particulars respecting Joseph
of Arimathsea.
59. And when Joseph had taken the body, lie wrapped it in a clean
linen cloth. The garments of the Lord which the soldiers divided
among them represented the letter of the Word. The linen clothes
in which Joseph wrapped his body must also have represented the
external of the Word ; and as the Lord, when he rose, left them in the
tomb (John xx. 6), we must understand them to represent something
which served but a temporary use. "Fine linen is the righteousness
of saints " (Rev. xix. 8); for genuine truths, which linen garments
signify, are the means of acquiring the good of Ufe. The clean linen cloth
in which Joseph wrapped the body of Jesus signified the genuine truths
of the letter of the Word, as they existed in the Jewish church, but
purified from the defilement which the Jews had brought upon it. The
clean linen provided by Joseph, and the spices suppUed by Nicodemus,
unitedly represented the understanding of truth and the affection of
good in which the Lord is received by those of the external church. For
the Jews to have buried the Lord with their own impious hands in one
of their own whited sepulchres would have been an act of aggravatecl
profanation ; and would have represented, not resurrection, but damna
tion; not Ufe, but death. Joseph of Arimathsea, while a sincere
disciple of Jesus, was a Jew, whose circumcision was that of the heart
in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise was not of men, but
of God (Rom. ii. 29).
60. Joseph laid the Lord's body in his own new tomb, which he had

Chap. XXVIL] ST. MATTHEW. 667
hewn out in the rock. This new tomb, out of which Jesus was to rise
new-born, represented the Word itself, in which the Lord was laid.
Yet it was Joseph's own tomb. It did not, therefore, represent the
Word as it had been desecrated and profaned by the Jews, but the
Word as apprehended by the pure in heart and holy in life, such as
Joseph was. The rock out of which it was hewn was the .symbol of
divine truth. As Joseph's own new tomb, and as hewn out of the
rock, the tomb represented also the regenerate mind, as made new for
the reception of the divine truths of the Word, these divine truths
being the rook out of which it was hewn. But there is a sense in
which it relates to, and may be realized by, the pure in heart. Jesus
even now can be crucified afresh; and he is so crucified in every truth
of his Holy Word that is profaned. But there are those who act
Joseph's part, by taking the injured truth and wrapping it in the
clean linen of pure thought, and laying it in the new tomb of a con
trite heart, embalmed in their grateful affections; and those who
perform this pious duty will receive it again from the dead. Joseph
further rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre. This stone
represented the literal sense of the Word. A stone signifies truth,
and the term great is expressive of goodness ; so that a great stone is
expressive of truth grounded in goodness. Thus the Loid in the
tomb, the door of which is closed by a great stone, represented the
Lord in his Word, covered, and at the same time protected, by the
literal sense— dead to one dispensation, but not yet alive to another.
Joseph, when he had performed his pious office, departed. He had
accompUshed his use, and now retires, perhaps with the impression
that he had covered up with the stone the tomb where his own hopes
were buried with the crucified body of the Just One. He departs,
that God may work in the final, as in every previous stage of the
glorification of his humanity, alone.
61. Two of the Marys who beheld the crucifixion saw also the
burial of the Lord. And there was Mary Magdalene, and the oilier
Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre. These signify those who are
in celestial and spiritual affection of love and truth. They are said
to sit- for this posture signifies an interior state — one of settled
intention, and is here expressive of interior devotion to the Lord in
the hope of his resurrection in the heart. These loving ones had not,
perhaps, any such hope. It was their hour of darkness, and despair
rather than hope filled their hearts; but where there is love there is
everything, which wUl be brought forth in due time, as the ways of
God's providence advance

668 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIIL
62-66. But another of the contrasts that so frequently stand out in
the New Testament history comes again into view. The Lord s
pious disciples having, as they supposed, performed the last rites to
him whom they regarded with extinguished hope, but with un-
dimiuished love, had left the tomb to its own silent tenant. But if
the disciples had relinquished all hope, the Jews had not lost all fear.
They remembered, what the disciples most unaccountably seem to have
utterly forgotten, that Jesus, while he was yet alive, had said. After three
days I vnll rise again. VerUy the children of this world are in their
generation wiser than the children of light. The next day, therefore,
tiie chief priests and Pharisees came to Pilate, and having stated their
case, and obtained his sanction, went, and made the sepulchre sure,
sealing the stone, and setting a watch. It is not, perhaps, necessary to
dwell further upon this than to say, that the priests and Pharisees
sealing the stone represented what the Jews had done with the
Word, in making it a sealed book in all that related to the Lord and
his kingdom, by perverting the letter and denying the spirit, and so
doing everything in their power to falsify its promises and negative
its teaching. To seal is therefore a figure employed in the Word,
signifying to close up, conceal, hinder from being known. The Jews,
on this occasion, did what Jesus himself, after his ascension, forbade
his servant to do, — " Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this
book: forthe time is at hand" (Rev. xxii. 10). But the Jews not
only sealed the stone, but set a watch, implying not only their deter
mination, but their vigilant care, to prevent the possibility of the
result which they feared so much.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

The evangelist now brings us to the splendid conclusion of that
divine history which opens with the birth of the Saviour into the
world, and ends with his ascension into heaven. The desires and the
hopes of the nations are now realized, though, like many other human
desires and hopes, even of the noblest kind, in a manner very different
from that in which it had been expected. Prone to trace their
miseries and their happiness no further than to the nearest cause, men
look for relief and support to external things. By many who looked
for redemption to Israel the Lord had been received as the promised
deliverer, and followed as their leader to a temporal kingdom, in
which all grievances were to be redressed, and aU desirable blessino-s

Chap. XXVIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 669
¦were to be enjoyed. That vision had died away; but out of the
tomb in which their hopes had been buried one now arises, as the
conqueror, not of natural, but of spiritual liberty, and the sovereign,
not of a temporal, but an eternal kingdom. This great event — the
Lord's resurrection — had already taken place, unseen by mortal eye.
How the knowledge of the risen Saviour came to be communicated to
his disciples — ^how their eyes were opened to see the grand trath, and
their hearts to receive it — and how their minds were prepared for
proclaiming the great salvation, — this concluding chapter unfolds.
1. In tlie end ofthe sabbath, as if began to dawn toward the first day
of the week, came Mary Magdalene and tlie other Mary to see the
sepulchre. The Sabbath of the Jewish church was the highest repre
sentative of the Lord's glorification. The six days in which God
is said to have created the world are expressive of the states through
which the Lord passed while engaged in the work of Redemption ;
and the Sabbath, in which God is said to have rested, is expressive of
the rest into which the Lord entered when that stupendous work was
completed. It would seem to be appropriate, therefore, that the Lord's
life of labour and temptation should end with the sixth day of the
Jewish week, that he should rest in the grave during the Jewish
Sabbath, and that he should rise from the dead on the morning of the
first day of a new week, thence to be called the Lord's day, and be
thereafter consecrated as the Christian Sabbath. As the last Sabbath
of the old dispensation departed and the first of the new drew near,
the two Marys came to see the sepulchre. "The last at the cross and
the first at the sepulchre,'' the female disciples of the Lord will ever
be conspicuous iu the Word, and honoured in the church, as the
patterns of affectionate and devoted attachment to the Lord Jesus,
when " despised and rejected of men." Suitable types are they of the
pure and ardent affections of the regenerate heart, which go out while
it is yet dark to see the sepulchre where the body of Jesus is laid,
which go in the hour of mental obscurity and temptation, to see the
Divine Word, where love has its centre and hope has its grave.
Theirs was a pilgrimage of devotion, to weep over the dead, and pour
some fresh ointment over one whom they desired to preserve, but
dreamt not of being able to restore
2. But when they came, behold, there was a great earthquake : for
the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back
the stone from the door, and sat upon it. Their minds must have
received as great a shock as the earth by the conviUsion. A new and
unexpected scene was presented to their sight, in which wonder and

670 ST, MATTHEW, [Chap, XXVIIL
joy must have been contending emotions. But let us consider the
spiritual import of these extraordinary circumstances. The earthquake
betokened an entire change in the state of the church, and of the
world itself It was the fulfilment of the prophecies, "the earth
shook and trembled — the foundations of the earth are out of ccur?e —
the earth is moved out of its place." " The angel of the Lord had
descended from heaven." Who was this angel ? As angels derive
from the Lord all that is angelic in their nature, an angel in the
Word means some attribute of the Lord himself This angel had
descended from heaven to roll away the stone from the door of the
sepulchre. We know that no angel was needed for this purpose,
except for the representative use that required it. For the Lord
who rose from the dead could have burst open the sepulchre, or could
have come forth without disturbing the stone, as he entered into the
room where the disciples were assembled without opening the door.
But when we know that the stone on the mouth of the sepulchre re
presented the letter of the Word, and that the Word must be unsealed,
and the letter, as it were, removed, iu order that the Lord may come
forth in the power and glory of his resurrection, we can see a suf
ficient spiritual reason, though there be no sufficient natural reason,
for the removal of the stone by an angel, who should represent the
Divine power itself; for who can break the seal and open the Word
but the Lord alone ? When the strong angel proclaimed. Who is
worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? no one in
heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the
book, neither to look thereon. The Lamb who was in the midst of the
throne was alone found worthy to take the book, and to open the
seals thereof (Rev. v. 2, 3, 9). But the angel, after he had rolled away
the stone, sat upon it. The power of the spirit of the Word resting
upon and teaching from the letter, is meant by the angel sitting upon
the stone, as the Lord sat on Jacob's well and instructed the
woman of Samaria.
3. This angel is described as the Lord himself in his glory is de
scribed. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as
snow. The countenance, as it is the index, so is it the symbol, of the
mind, thus of the interiors, more especiaUy as to love and goodness.
But the original term is not limited in its signification to the face,
but includes the aspect of the whole person. As the countenance
signifies good, garments signify truths that invest good. As this
angel represents the Lord as to the power of the Word, his counte
nance signifies the celestial sense, his raiment the spiritual sense, as

Chap. XXVIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 671
the stone on which he sat denotes the literal sense. Therefore his
countenance is said to be like lightning, and his raiment white as
snow ; for the countenance is expressive of interior love, seen in the
light of celestial truth, and this truth, like lightning, is a burning as
•well as a shining Ught, while spiritual truth is comparatively a snowy
white, because comparatively without the warmth of love.
4. The aspect of the angel produced very different effects on the
keepers of the sepulchre and on the women who came to see it. The
keepers, indeed, had felt the earthquake and seen the stone, which
they had been set to watch, rolled away ; whereas the women saw but
the effects, and the angel sitting peacefuUy on the stone after the
shock had passed away. The keepers were the representatives of the
old subverted church, the women were the representatives of the new.
And for fear of him ihe keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
Shaking signifies the effect of the change upon the understanding, and
becoming as dead signifies the effect upon the will. To the under
standing belongs power, to the will life. Fear, which the keepers felt,
is an affection common to both.
5. And the angel answered and said unto the women. Fear not ye:
for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. The women had
fear, but it was the fear that accompanies love, which is holy fear, but
which even love eventually casts out. The angel knew that they
sought Jesus ; and those who seek him, under whatever circum
stances, shall receive an answer of peace. And even if they seek him
crucified, they will find him risen.
6. The angel, therefore, continued, — He is not here: for he is risen,
as lie said. O joyful sound ! not to these pious and adventurous dis
ciples only, but to all his disciples in all ages. If the birth of Jesus
was announced as glad tidings of great joy, which should be to all
people, should not his resurrection ? Yes. But his nativity looked
forward to all that followed, even to the salvation for which he came
into the world. Yet the disciples did not see the connection between
his birth and his resurrection. It required a kind of second revela
tion to enable them even to understand it ; so slow of heart is man to
believe all the prophets have written respecting the necessity of Christ
suff'ering and entering into his glory. But here is the secret. It is
through suffering in us that he is glorified in us. This is one of the
truths, therefore, that can only be learned by experience. We must
suffer with him, that we may rise with him. The disciple must him
self be risen before he can know him, and the power of his resurrection,
Nor is it tUl then that the disciple can understand that the Lord is

672 ST. MATTHEW, [Chap. XXVIIL
risen "as he said." How this must have struck the women ! "As he
said." Verily the operation of the Lord's Spirit is required to bring
all things to their remembrance, whatsoever he has said unto them.
While the women were told that the Lord was not there, they were
invited to covie and see tlie place where the Lord lay. The "place"
where he lay signifies the state of humiliation to which he submitted
for our sakes. We look at the place where the Redeemer lay when
we look into the Word, in order to contemplate the sufferings, and
temptations, and death which he voluntarily underwent for our sakes
— when we follow him into the wilderness, and the garden, and to the
cross ; and when we look at what he endured for our sakes, imperfect
as our estimate of his sufferings must be, we cannot but wonder and
adore. But while we are invited and enabled to look into the Word,
and see described in it the state of humiliation to which for our sakes
the Lord submitted, we are at the same time instructed and enabled
to see that he is not there, — that, having put off all infirmity and
finiteness, he is risen in a humanity completely glorified.
7, The angel then said to them : And go quickly, and tell his dis
ciples that he is risen from the dead. The female disciples representing
the affections of the will, through which the Lord first flows in with
his love, the male disciples represent the thoughts of the understand
ing, which thence receive a perception of truth. We see in this a pro
vidential arrangement. The affections are held under the influence
of the Lord's love in states of trial; and even when the understanding
may be clouded with doubts, and almost overcome with unbelief, light
may be conveyed to it by an internal way, and faith and confidence
restored. They were desired further to say : and, behold, lie goeth
before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.
Galilee represented the church among the Gentiles. The Lord went
there after his resurrection, to represent that he would be received
by the Gentiles, and be acknowledged by them. Galilee represented
also the natural mind, which is analogous to the Gentile mind, for
the Gentile world forms the natural mind of man collectively, the
church forming the spiritual mind. This was that mind which our
Lord assumed and glorified in the world. Therefore, when he had
risen from the dead he went into Galilee. And there, also, he desires
his disciples to go. For as regeneration is an image and effect of the
Lord's glorification, where the Lord goes, there must his disciples go
Ukewise. The Lord goes before them. He leads and directs them
thither. He still goes before his disciples into Galilee after his resur
rection. His resurrection signifies that he rises, yea, is every moment

Chap. XXVIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 673
rising, in the hearts of the regenerate : and those in whose hearts he
rises he leads into the good of life ; there they see him ; for they
who do his will shall know his truth to be truth.
8. We read that they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear
and great joy; and did run to bring Ms disciples word. To depart or
go is to live, or carry out a purpose or direction actually ; and to do
this quickly is to do it fuUy and certainly ; for time signifies state,
and thence quickly and speedily signifies a present state of affection
and thought; thus, what is certain and full. Running also signifies a
state of eager affection ; and to run to tell signifies the affection of
making known.
9. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met tliem,
saying. All hail ! The Divine purpose in thus meeting his overjoyed
disciples was, no doubt, to give them the assurance of personal sight
that he was really risen, and to enable them to carry the glad tidings
to their brethren, confirmed by their own experience, and, with the
words of Jesus himself upon their lips, require them to go to meet
him in Galilee. We can imagine with what excess of astonish
ment and joy these women niu.st have beheld their beloved Lord and
Saviour alive. To see him with their own eyes, to hear him with
their own ears- — what transpjort of feeling must it have produced; and
so soon after they had gone to the sepulchre, to look with blank
sorrow on the bloodless body ! And, oh, what blessedness to hear salva
tion sounded in their willing ears! Health, spiritual, saving health,
is the first salutation that issues from his sacred lips — health to them,
and to poor diseased and suffering humanity -wherever it exists. No
wonder that these loving and overjoyed ones came and held him hy the
feet, and worshipped him. This is supposed by some to mean, not that
they actuaUy clung to the person of the Lord, but that they prostrated
themselves before him ; and this is supposed to be necessary to be
understood to make the relation consistent with the Lord's words to
Mary alone, " Touch me not." It is highly desirable to use all legiti
mate means of harmonizing the literal sense of the Scriptures. But
when we are convinced that the letter is designed as a vehicle for the
siiirit, absolute literal consistency is not to be regarded as an absolutely
necessary evidence of the inspiration of the Word, nor of its power of
instruction in righteousness. Certain it is, that the words carry the
impression which we naturally draw from them ; and it is the mean
ing of the relation, rather than the absolute nature of the fact, that
forms the basis of the spiritual sense. Thus considered, their holding
Jesus by the feet signifies conjunction with him by the cUvine natural
2 X

674 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIIL
principle ofhis humanity, now glorified; and their worshipping him
denotes that they rendered him the homage of their best and purest
affections. 10. Jesus then addresses to them almost the same words which had
been addressed to them by the angel : Be not afraid : go tell my
brethren that tliey go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. While
this may be regarded as, like all repetitions in the Word, the same
thing addressed to a higher or different faculty, flowing from a
higher principle, there is one momentous point in which it differs
from the other. The Lord calls his disciples his brethren. This
expresses a most profound, encouraging, and consolatory truth. It
impUes that the Lord, by the humanity he assumed and glorified, had
come nearer to us — that he had become, so to speak, bone of our bone,
and flesh of our flesh. The Creator had taken on himself the form of
the creature. And although he had put off all imperfection and
finiteness, he retained all that was really human, and is therefore most
truly man as well as God. Having, indeed, made the human divine
and the Divine human, the Lord is truly God with us, because he is
God-man. Thence the Lord condescends to call his disciples brethren.
In the spiritual sense a brother, as distinguished from a disciple, is one
who is connected with the Lord by love, as distinguished from one
who is connected with him by faith. In the abstract sense a
brother is the principle of love, and a disciple is the principle of
faith ; so that the same person may be at once a disciple and a
brother : and it was because the Lord's followers were now capable
of entering into this more intimate connection and relationship with
their Lord that he tenderly invited them as brethren to meet him
in Galilee. A distinction similar to that now noticed is involved in
servant and friend, — as where the Lord said to his disciples, " Hence-
f irth I call you not servants ; for the servant knoweth not what his
lord doeth : but I have called you friends ; for all things that I have
heard of my Father I have made known unto you" (John xv. 15).
11-18. At the time these women left the sepulchre, some of the
watch came into the city, and showed unto the chief priests all the things
that were done. When the councU were assembled, unable to resist
the evidence of the soldiers that the Lord's resurrection had taken
place, they bribed the guard to say that his disciples had stolen him
away whUe his keepers slept— an account that acquired credence and
currency among the Jews. It is needless to use any arguments to
refute this theory. They may be found in literal commentaries. The
fact presents a melancholy instance of the power of unbeUef Unbe-

Chap. XXVIIL] ST. MATTHEV/. 675
lievers often plead want of evidence. Here is an instance of
determined unbelief against admitted evidence. It is too seldom
considered that belief or unbelief is but a means to an end. Belief
or unbelief has its roots in the end we have in view — in the ruling
love by which we are actuated. Hence that grand doctrine of the
church, that faith has no ground but charity, and that where there is
no charity, or love, there can be no faith. How marveUously, but
painfully, was this exemplified in the whole course of the conduct of
the Jewish leaders in relation to Jesus, and most of all in this climax
of their cruel hatred and unprincipled opposition to the sinless, the
just, the beneficent One! How instructive a lesson does this circum
stance convey I It tells that the ground of unbelief is in our
selves, that nothing can give us faith that enters no further than
the understanding, and that the clearest evidence will be repelled by
evil cherished in the heart. And how does this sad relation tend to
produce humiliation of heart, when we refiect that these false and
malevolent rulers of the Jews are types of evils and falsities that are
inherent in our own fallen nature, that rise up against the good and
the truth which through divine mercy we may have received. This is
an opposition from within that the faithful will ever have to encounter
in becoming experimentally convinced of the great truth of the Lord's
resurrection — against his rising in the heart itself We refrain from
a more minute consideration of this part of the history. We are told
that the reason that certain passages relating to the sin of profanation
are not minutely explained in the writings is, that the angels cannot
contemplate this crime, nor even the subject itself, without horror.
Let us therefore draw a veil over this last and most presumptuous
instance of profanation of the truth relating to Jesus the Saviour by
the Jews.
16. We proceed to the more agreeable and stUl more useful subject
of the Lord's meeting with his disciples. Then the eleven discijjles went
away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had apjxinted them.
In the order of the history as derived from a comparison, and what is
called a harmony, of the gospels, this is not understood to be the first
meeting between the apostles and Jesus after his resurrection.
MattheV has recorded only this one meeting, his gospel ending with
it, without including the account of the ascension, when the greatest
number of his disciples were assembled at once in his presence after
his resurrection. It is certain, however, tiiat Matthew has brought
into the account of this one meeting circumstances that belong to
several which shows how subordinately the sacred writers, or rather

676 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIIL
the Spirit which guided them, regarded mere historical accuracy,
on which the mere literalist lays so much stress. Jesus met his
disciples in a mountain in GalUee Galilee, we have seen, represented
the glorified natural principle in the Lord, and consequently the
regenerate natural principle in man. This is the ground on which
the Lord and his disciples meet after his resurrection ; and this meet
ing in Galilee was the meeting, the one that had been alluded to by
Jesus, even before his death, " I will go before you into Galilee "
(ch. xxvi. 32). But this meeting took place in a mountain, to repre
sent that love is the basis of the conjunction of the Lord and man —
the very princiiile in and by which they are united. And what is this
natural principle as to love iu which there is union ? The Lord him
self expressed it when he said, " If ye keep my commandments, ye
shall abide in my love " (John xv. 10). The natural principle, though
the last in order, is not the least in importance There are, indeed,
two tilings in the order of succession, which are the best and the
greatest — the first and the last ; the first, where every good begins as
an end, and the last, where it terminates as a use. When the Lord
met his disciples in the mountain in Galilee, he gave us a sign, " that
all religion has relation to Ufe, and that the life of religion is to do
good." 17. The meeting between the Lord and his disciples in the moun
tain in Galilee must have been an affecting one, if such an ordinary
term can be applied to a meeting between Jesus andhis disciples, who
now had found all their temporal ideas ancl feelings cast into the
shade, and higher views and purer motives dawning, at least, upon
their hearts and minds. No wonder, then, that when they saw him,
they worshipped him. There are several other cases recorded, in this
and the other gospels, of Jesus being worshipped. We have not
hitherto said much on this point, and cannot enter largely into it here.
Nor is it necessary. The divinity of the Lord is so convincingly
provable, and proved bj' every direct and indirect evidence, that it is
not difficult to discover in such passages as this another evidence of
that great truth. It is true that the word here employed is used to
express a kind of worship that is also paid to men, as in Matt, xviii.
26 ; but this is the same word that expresses the worship which Peter
deprecated when offered by Cornelius (Acts x. 28), and which the
angel refused when offered him by John, and which that celestial
messenger desired him to render to God, as its only proper Object
(Rev. xix. 10). Jesus never refused worship, even when offered by
all the host of heaven (see Rev. v., vi., (fee). In accepting, then, on

Chap. XXVIIL] ST. MATTHEW. G77
this and other occasions, the homage which men and angels refused,
he practically acknowledged himself to be God, the supreme Object
of human worship. But it is not necessarv to pursue this
subject further We assume that members of the true Christian
church have settied views on this all-important point. It is
enough to know that Jesus is the True God and Eternal Life ;
supreme worship becomes his due as a consequence. Every one
worships the Lord according to his state ; and whatever may have
been the character of the worship of the disciples then, worship by the
Christian disciple is the worship of Christ as God. It is of much
importance here to know what the worship is which the disciples
render to Jesus. The quality of the worship we offer is of still more
importance than the understood character of the Object of our worship.
Worship is the practical homage of all the thoughts and affections to
Him who is their Author. To worship is to serve; and we only truly
worship the Lord when every affection of good and perception of truth
IS employed, in word and act, in his service— in doing his will. While
the disciples generally worshipped the Lord, some doubted. It is
probable, as some suppose, that the eleven were not the only disciples
who met the Lord on this occasion ; for no one but Thomas had with
held beUef However, some doubted. And these doubters represent
some doubts that may trouble even the sincere worshipper. And what
are doubts but contradictions in ourselves to the unity and harmony
of truth ?— contradictions not in the perceptions only, but in the affec
tions also ; doubts that haunt many a mind, and that only depart as
the Lord gains an ascendency in the heart and life, or is glorified in
our souls and in our bodies, which are his.
18. When the disciples worshipped the Lord, then Jesus came and
spake unto them. It appears from this that at the very sight of Jesus,
while they were yet at some distance from him, they fell down and
worshipped him ; and that, while they were thus engaged in adoration,
Jesus drew near to them. The scene is impressive; but the relation
itself is instructive. It reminds us of the promise, " Draw nigh to
God, and he will draw nigh to you " (.lames iv. 8). Nearness is
jiroximity of state ; and true worship brings him near who was before
afar off', and makes him, when near, still neai-er. And what words
those were which the Lord addressed to his adoring disciples ! All
power is given unto me in lieaven and in earth. These words are
indeed of the highest significance, and teach the greatest truth — one
of the highest, if not the very highest, ever delivered by God to man.
They teach the truth that Jesus Christ is the great and only God, the
2x2

678 ST, MATTHEW, [Chap, XXVIII,
Governor of heaven and earth— that is,, of the whole spiritual and
material universe. This truth is precious for what it contains, which
is not merely the fact that Christ is God, but that God is in Christ —
the eternal Divinity exercising all its powers in and by the Divine
humanity. What must have been the impression of the disciples
when they heard this declaration from the lips of Jesus ! They had
seen him, they had followed him, they had been with him in his
temptations, and he had called them brethren ; and now he tells
them that he with whom they had become familiar had all power in
heaven and in earth. This is just the value of this great truth — that
Jesus, who has entered into all our states and sympathies, is Ruler
over the two worlds to which we belong, one of which we live in for
a time here, the other in which we are to Uve hereafter for ever.
Need we say one word on the seeming incompatibility of this language
with that of supreme divinity ? How could he possess independent
divine power when he only received it ? To all such questions it is
enough to answer, This language is equally inconsistent with the
notions either of Christ's being a second divine person or a mere man.
A divine person could not receive such power; a mere human person
could not contain it. The Lord's declaration can only be rationally
understood on the principle that the power of the Lord's divinity was
given to his humanity. This humanity was not the same as that of a
mere man, "A body hast thou prepared for me," was pronounced
from heaven in anticipation of the incarnation. The body which
became the temple of the Divinity was prepared even in the womb of
the virgin, by being begotten by that very power of the Highest, of
which it had now become the sole possessor, and was raised from the
dead by that same power. The humanity was thus a temple builded
by the Divinity as a residence for itself, and now the power of the
Divine is in the human, as all the power of the human soul is in the
human body. Thus the power, Uke the presence, of God is with us
in the humanity of Christ, that is kindred to our own. But there is
another truth with this general one. Heaven and earth mean
S]nrituaUy not only the church in heaven and the church on earth,
they mean also the two corresponding parts and principles in every
member of the church — the internal man, which is heaven in him,
and his external man, which is earth in him. Jesus has all power in
both ; and his possession of power in these is to be contrasted with
the power of which they were the subjects before the incarnation.
Before God was manifest in the flesh, the Divine power in man was
operative mediately through heaven, and men were ruled throu<Th

Chap. XXVIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 679
angels, for these were nearest to him; but since the Lord's glorifica
tion, the Divine power is operative immediately through the humanity
in which God dwells, and in which he is immediately and intimately
present with him, and he is therefore now ruled by the Lord himself
The Lord as a man is nearer to us than angels are— and when I speak
of nearness, I do not mean nearness in space, but nearness in nature
—for the Lord has a humanity, not only spiritual, like that of angels,
but natural, like that of men — always understanding that, when we
speak of the Lord's natural humanity, we mean divine-natural — a
humanity analogous to ours, but as much more perfect as the Creator
is more perfect than the creature,
19. When the Lord had thus instructed his disciples regarding tiie
power which he had acquired by glorification, and which he was now
to exercise in and amongst them, he gave them the commission ou
which they were to act. Go ye, tlierefore, and teach all nations.
When first sent forth to preach the gospel of the kingdom, they were
required to go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ; now they
are commanded to go into all the world. These two commissions
were consistent with the different conditions in which they then stood.
Their first labour was to be bestowed upon the internal ; now it was
to be extended to the external also. And their commission was to
teach all nations. Nations, meaning naturally the heathen, spiritually
signify those who are in states of good, especially of simple good, for
these only are in the desire, and thence in the capacity to receive
truth. In the abstract sense nations signify the principles themselves
of good in the extemal or natural mind, as the lost sheep of the house
of Israel signify the principles of good in the internal or spiritual
mind; so that we are here instructed that even in ourselves we are to
see that there is good to receive truth, and to see that where there is
good it ought to be supplied with truth, to enlighten and guide it —
in fact, to save it — for natural good is only made spiritual and saving
by means of truth. The disciples were further commanded fo baptize
the nations whom they instructed. There can be no doubt that this
command has reference to the formal baptism of all who receive the
Christian faith, or are admitted into the Christian church. It is not our
object to consider baptism as a Christian sacrament, to be administered
in the Christian church. The doctrine of the church, as well as the
words of the Lord, declare this to be of perpetual obligation, and to
be of importance to us, both as a sign of introduction into the
Christian church, and, at the same time, of connection with the
church in heaven, and a memorial that the person baptized with water

680 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIIL
is to be regenerated by the truth and the Spirit of truth. Spiritual
baptism, therefore, which is the antitype and the end of water baptism,
is the washing of regeneration. Baptism was to be performed in the
name qf the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. These are
three names of the one Divine Being; but they are the names of three
distinct principles or essentials of his nature. The Father is the
Essential Divinity, the Son is the Divine Humanity, and the Holy
Spirit is the Divine Operation of the Father and the Son. In a more
interior but harmonious sense, the Father is the Divine Love, the
Son is the Divine Wisdom, and the Holy Spirit is the Divine Power.
Those who were taught were to ^--e baptized in the name of these.
And when we reflect that in the Word a name of any person or thing
means the quality of that person or thing, we are enabled to understand
the instructive import of this command. For to baptize in the name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is to regenerate by the com
munication and reception of lov3 from God, of wisdom from God, and
power from God. But to see the full significance of this formula, we
must further consider that man was created an image of God, and
that he can not only be restored to the Divine image, but renewed in
all the parts or faculties of his nature, by the reception into them of
a finite measure of the qualities or principles that make up the perfect
nature of God. Man has a will, created after the likeness and
adapted forthe reception of God's love; he has an understanding,
created after the image and adapted for the reception of God's wis
dom ; and he has the faculty of acting, created after the image and
adapted to the reception of God's power. Now, man is regenerated
when he receives of God's love into his wUl, of God's wisdom into his
understanding, and of God's power into his words and works.
Nothing can baptize the heart but love, nothing can baptize the
understanding but wisdom, and nothing can baptize the life but the
power of these principles manifested in a Ufe of true holiness. This
is the baptism of the soul, and that which makes us members of the
Lord's body.
20. The disciples were to teach the nations, or the baptized of them,
to observe all things whatsoever the Lord had comm,anded them. Salva
tion can only be secured by doing all things which the Lord has com
manded in his teaching— that is, throughout his whole Word, of which
he is the Author. But the force of this part of the Lord's commission
depends on the circumstance that bajitism is to be foUowed up by this
teaching. A teaching is to precede baptism, and another is to succeed
it. The first is a teaching of principle!, the second of duties, or, what

Chap. XXVIIL] ST. MATTHEW. 681
is the same, the first is a teaching of the internal, the second a teach
ing of the external Further, the teaching which is to follow baptism
IS the teaching of duties that are to follow baptism, on the prin
ciple that, unless the regenerate continue faithful in persevering
hoUness to the end of life, there can be no salvation, "He that
putteth his hand to the plough and looketh back, is not fit for the
kingdom of God." And how encouraging is the final promise of
the Lord to his faithful followers! And, lo, I am with you alway,
even^ unto the end of the world. The Lord promised to be with his
dksciples at the very time he was about to leave them. Here we see
the difference between real and apparent, between spiritual and bodily
presence. WeU was this difference stated by the Lord himseff in the
course of his teaching. When promising his faithful ones that when
he went away from them he would send another Comforter, even the
Spirit of truth, saying at the same time, ZwUl not leave you comfort
less ; / -wiU come unto you; he says respecting the Spirit, " For he
dweUeth with you, and shall be in you " (John xiv. 17). It is this
presence ofthe Lord in his disciples that is the real source of their com
fort and power It was this presence that the Lord promised. And this
presence they were to enjoy to the end of the world. In the general
meaning, the sa-ving presence of the Lord with his people tUl the end
of the church is promised. The world does not mean even literally the
world as the habitation of man, the theatre of human action, — it means
the age, the religious dispensation, the consummation of which is meant
by the end. In reference to the members of the church individually,
the end of their age is the end of life with those who persevere unto
the end ; for those who are faithful unto death, to them the Lord will
give a crown of life. But with all the Lord is present unto the end.
He never withdraws his presence from any. The Lord's words,
literally rendered, are still more expressive and comforting. " I am
¦with you all the days, even unto the consummation of the age." He
is with his church and people in all their states, to enlighten them
with his truth, to influence them with his love, and to support
them with his power. If the church decUnes, he never leaves her,
but continues to be with her, and watch over her, even till her end
comes, when she rejects him, and brings an end upon herself. If
the member of the church, who has been baptized in the sacred name
of the Lord, falls away, and turns to the beggarly elements of the
world, the Lord is even with him alway, even to the end of his state.
But let us endeavour so to sanctify our minds and lives by the in
fluence of his Spirit, and by the teaching of his Word, that we may

682 ST. MATTHEW. [Chap. XXVIII,
know no end but that which Providence appoints us, when we have
completed our course here below, and are called into the higher
mansions of his house, where we may be with him alway, for ever.
Amen. Although this does not appear to be a part of the inspired
text, it may be considered as the response of the church, by which it
has been added. Even so, let us desire, and pray, and labour to secure
the fulfilment of this diviue promise — that Jesus may be our portion
in time and in eternity.

i ¦ <¦

1 f, f.

I,