1

Solomon in all his glory, he whom the Lord's hearers were wont to regard as the most magnificent of monarchs, could not compare with one of these. All his array, curious and costly as it was, could not match that grace which God had given to one of these simple flowers of the field. Art vies with nature in vain. So one of the wise men of Greece is reported to have said, when he was asked, as he saw King Croesus sitting on his throne of pride, whether he had ever seen a more glorious sight. I have seen, he said, fowls of the air, adorned with their natural and more beauteous bloom. So much for ornament. Now for necessity. God so adorns the fields with flowers, short as their time is; for the grass which grows to-day is used, according to the custom. of the East, for fuel to-morrow. Will He not much more, at least, clothe you who are so causelessly distrustful? 4. He tries to shame Israelites into trustfulness, as the Prophets did of old, by showing them that to do as He denounced was to be no better than the unenlightened heathen whom they despised. 5. He reminds them that they have a Father in Heaven who knows all their need; and bids them (instead of, with the Gentiles of whom He has spoken, minding earthly things), give their minds first of all to that Kingdom of God He came to proclaim, that Church into which He would gather them; to that righteousness of God which was something very different to the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees. Then all these things, of which God their Father knows their need, shall be added in due course.2 6. He concludes, as it were, this paragraph of His Divine Sermon, by repeating, with a variation, the note He had struck at the beginning; winding up the whole with what seems to have been a Jewish proverb to this effect: The morrow brings its own affairs. Why add to the difficulties of to-day by entertaining them before their time ?3

'So Grotius tells the story of Solon. 2 Phil. iv. 19.

See the beautiful concluding

stanza in The Christian Year for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity.

Р

CXXVII.

CENSORIOUSNESS.

St. Matthew vii. 1-5.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

From covetousness and worldly care, our Lord turns to another state of mind against which He warns His hearers, censoriousness. It is not of course all judgment that is here forbidden. To some judgment is committed. But a private person is not to usurp the province of the judge. And let this thought restrain us from being hasty and severe in judging others, that both men in general,' and God at the last, will deal with us according to our own rule. "Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee." Our Lord here reminds His hearers of proverbs which it appears were in circulation even among themselves. He restrains us too from censoriousness, not only by our self-love, but by our self-knowledge. We must be merciful not only because we hope for mercy, but because we need it; need it even more than those whom we are disposed to censure. Here again our Lord adopts a Jewish proverb. He reminds us too that the offender is after all our brother. We are of the same fallen family. Why are we always gazing at the mote, the mere straw, the lesser mischief in our brother's eye, instead of looking within at the beam, the greater blemish in our

1 St. Luke vi. 38. See Hor. Sat. I. i. 72.

2 Compare the three words in the

original for "beholdest," "considerest," see clearly."

99 66

own? With what face can we do this ? It is like the conduct of the unmerciful servant in the Parable.2 It is hypocrisy. Indeed this ignorance of self and this self-love so blind us that, until we have cured our own graver fault, we shall not be able to see with sufficient clearness to assist our brother in the correction of his lesser failing. The Ancients had a fable to this effect, that every man carried two wallets; one in front, filled with his neighbour's faults; the other behind his back, containing his own.3

CXXVIII.

HOLY THINGS NOT TO BE CAST TO DOGS.

St. Matthew vii. 6.

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

Our Lord had been speaking against censoriousness, against rash and uncharitable judgment; but lest some scrupulous mind, slave of the latter, should suppose from this all liberty taken away of judging, even in matters the most manifest, He adds this precept, which shows that prudence must go with simplicity; the wisdom of the serpent, to use His own illustration elsewhere, must be joined with the harmlessness of the dove. Our Lord quotes and applies proverbs of their own. His saying here would be full of meaning to the Jews. "That which is holy " meant literally meat offered in sacrifice. Later on, it was applied to the consecrated elements in Holy Communion. "Sacraments are not for such as are continually returning, like dogs, to their former sins."5 There must be discrimination too, generally, in the dissemi

1 Hor. Sat. I. i. 73.

2 St. Matt. xviii. 23, ff.

* Phædrus iv. 10. Comp. Cic. Tusc. Disp. iii. 30. Hor. Sat. I. iii. 24 seq.

See Abp. Trench's note in Expos. of Sermon on the Mount, p. 295.

$ Quesnel.

nation of Christian doctrine. The Jews used to call the precepts of wisdom pearls. Our Lord speaks of His Gospel as "a pearl of great price." Pearls resemble pease or pulse, the natural food of swine. These animals, wilder and more ferocious in the East than the more domestic species with which we are familiar, would soon discover the mistake. Unable to appreciate the precious gem, caring only for gross food, they would turn again and rend with their tusks the injudicious donor. Swine were regarded among the Jews as unclean animals, and they seem to be put here especially for men of corrupt mind, for those who care only for the pleasures of sense, on whom gospel mysteries would be thrown away. Our Lord elsewhere tells us, "It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs." St. Paul bids us "beware of dogs;"" and St. Peter couples both these animals together in another proverbial sentence.3 The whole teaches us that as there is a time to speak, so is there also a time to keep silence.*

CXXIX.

ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER.

St. Matthew vii. 7-12.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that

1 See Abp. Trench's note again on this phrase.

2 Phil. iii. 2; Ps. lix. 6, 14; Rev.

xxii. 15.

32 St. Pet. ii. 22.

4 Eccles. iii. 7; Prov. ix. 7, 8.

men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Our Lord here returns to a subject of which He had spoken before in His Sermon. Again He teaches us to pray, and annexes a gracious promise to prayer. Earnestness and perseverance in prayer are suggested by these similitudes. It is as though He said, in this triple charge, Pray, pray, pray. We need not perplex ourselves, as some do in this matter, with things too high for us. The promise is universal. Every one may ask, and "every one that asketh receiveth." "I said not unto the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain." To him who will continue knocking at heaven's gate, it shall in due time be opened. The Church in her Baptismal Office pleads this promise of her Lord. Our Lord appeals to their own practice. Even men, and evil men, will not utterly disappoint their own children, and put them off with what is worthless and injurious when they ask for simple food.2 This is the practice of all the fallen race of Adam. "How much more" will the perfect God,3" your Father which is in Heaven, give good things to them that ask Him!" To all who ask as He directs He will give, not always all they ask for, but always all things good for them. From such He will withhold no manner of thing that is good. He will give them the chief good, even His Holy Spirit." Our Lord winds up this portion of His divine discourse in words which remind us of the first two verses of the chapter. He gives us His golden rule. The sum and scope of what the Law and the Prophets taught concerning our duty towards our neighbour are here contained. "Love is the fulfilling of the

1 Is. xlv. 19.

2 The Author of A Plain Commentary notices that it was with "bread" and "fish" that our Saviour Himself on three several occasions fed the people and His Disciples.

3 St. Matt. v. 48.

This à fortiori argument is found again in St. Luke xviii. 6, 7. It is beautifully employed in The Christian Year (Ash Wednesday) "They love

us-will not God forgive?" Augustine observes that the persons now addressed are the same who had just been taught to say Our Father.

5 St. Luke vi. 13. He adds the similitudes of the egg and the scorpion. See also St. Matt. iv. 3.

Abp. Trench (Expos. of Sermon on the Mount, p. 302) well replies to Gibbon's sneer that he had seen the same thing in Isocrates.