СССІІ. SCANDALS. St. Mark ix. 41, 42. For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. 1 Having pronounced upon the case which had been proposed to Him, the Lord returns to the subject He had been speaking of before this interruption. This mention again of His name marks its connection with what went before. Those who minister to His messengers, for His sake, shall find that even their slightest acts of kindness are not lost labour. Though indeed this act of giving water to the traveller in that dry and thirsty land is no slight benefit. It may save a life. "In our temperate climates we can hardly understand the full force of this expression . . . but in hot Eastern climates, a cup of cold water is often a very essential relief In some parts of the East considerable pains and expense have been bestowed on contrivances to supply travellers with water." It is stated of the people "in some parts of India, that they sometimes go a considerable distance to fetch water, and bring it to the road-side, where travellers are likely to pass, and offer it to them in honour of the gods.'" This custom will give a peculiar force to our Lord's words concerning the same thing done for His sake. marks something more than mere humanity. Such acts must of course, after the pattern of the good Samaritan, be done for all; but the doing it with a special intention to those who are of the household of faith,3 evidences also the community of faith. The Lord turns now from the reward of 2 Harmer in D'Oyly and Mant. 2 1 V. 37 above. 3 Gal. vi. 10; Heb. vi. 10. It succouring, to the crime of injuring, even one of the humblest of His servants. To offend, here means to cause another to stumble, to tempt him to sin. Rather than put a stumblingstone in another's way, it would be better for a man to have a mill-stone put about his own neck to sink him in the deep of the sea. This was an ancient mode of punishment. And even such a punishment would be more tolerable than what must ensue to him who causes another to offend. "A violent death is not so much to be dreaded, as the being, through bad counsel or example, the cause of the fall of one soul."2 The Lord addressed this warning to the world3 because of the offences He foresaw. The scandals He saw coming were a consequence of the spirit of rebellion which had entered into the world. This must therefore be resisted by each, for woe to that man by whom the offence cometh. In a fallen world it would be vain to expect immunity from scandals. Let them not be discouraged at the appearance of these even in the Church. But let each be careful lest he become a cause of scandal. Let each look to himself. 'CCCIII. THE SAME SUBJECT-continued. St. Mark ix. 43-50. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is 1 St. Matt. xviii. 6. 2 Quesnel. 3 St. Matt. xviii. 7. 4 St Luke xvii. 1, 2. Heb. xii. 15; Acts xx. 29, 30. "If thou art the lily and the rose of Christ, know that thy place is among the thorns. Only take heed lest. . . thou thyself become a thorn." not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. 3 The Lord proceeds to put each man on his guard, bidding him, as before,' be ready to sacrifice hand or foot or eye rather than that these should be suffered to be a cause of sin, offending the majesty of God. The hand which represents action, the foot which is swift to sin, the eye, that "window of the soul," through which evil enters,-things as dear to us, and seemingly as indispensable as these, must, if need be, be given up, lest they consign us to an abyss deeper than that sea in which the criminal was drowned. Life is cheaply purchased at the loss of these. Who would not submit to maiming or lameness or partial blindness for the sake of life? Who, for the sake of preserving these a little longer, would consign himself to what is pictured to us under the dreadful images of an undying worm and quenchless fire? Three times too is the awful warning emphatically uttered. The words are derived from the end of Isaiah's prophecy.* The carcases of the men that transgressed against God were cast out, as the corpses of condemned criminals were wont to be cast into the Valley of Hinnom, where the worm was ever found feeding on that corruption, and a fire was kindled which never went out. The hell here is not Hades, the place of departed spirits, into which the Lord, as we confess in the Creed, went down after death. It is Gehenna, the place of retribution, with its degrees of this; the least of which is dreadful enough; and which, let no offender flatter himself, shall be quenched before it have laid hold on him. From this the Lord passes to another fire, the fire of temptation or 1 St. Matt. v. 29, 30. They are repeated also by the same Evangelist, xviii. 8, 9. 2 "This is a circumcision grievous to nature, but necessary to salvation." Quesnel. Gal. v. 24. -- 3 Jer. Taylor. 4 Is. lxvi. 24. trial,' with which every Christian must expect to be seasoned, even as the sacrifices of old were seasoned with salt,2 that he may be "a living sacrifice." And having made mention also of this figure of salt, He repeats that former saying,3 in which He likens His servants to salt, which cannot season anything or keep it from corruption if it has lost its savour. He adds this charge, that they be careful to have such salt in themselves, and that they "follow the things that make for peace, things whereby one may edify another."4 CCCIV. CONTEMPT. St. Matthew xviii. 10. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. This discourse grew out of a contention which should be the greatest.5 "These little ones" are those who are furthest from this ambition. They however who indulge this spirit are apt to despise those who are exempt from it. The Lord warns His disciples from regarding any as despicable. They are not to treat with contempt, as though beneath their notice, either those who are literally children, or those who are like children in their freedom from that spirit which He reproved; " the children in age, and the children in grace." "The phrase little ones, on our Lord's lips, denotes as many as have child-like hearts." The world, for a place in which they cared not to contend, may treat them with contempt. He who came down from Heaven, and also knows what passes there,' reveals to us their real dignity." They are an object of interest to Angels who are near the throne. You who are contending for earthly honours may be disposed to despise them; whereas Angels, which are greater in power and might, delight to minister to them.3 They have guardian Angels, Angelic guardians, who, not just now and then,-like those who are highest in earthly courts, like the most privileged courtiers of an earthly king, are admitted to the sovereign's society, but who are always beholding the face of Him whom, as my Father, I am able to declare unto you. "Here is Jacob's ladder planted before our 2 The phrase "for I say unto you' is "an introduction to a revelation of some previously unknown fact in the spiritual world."-Alford, who notes "the present general neglect of the doctrine of angelic tutelage," which he regards as a recoil or reaction from the Angel-worship of the Church of Rome. We will not say the whole truth because others have said more than the truth. Because others have over stated, we understate. Such creatures are we of extremes! From a letter regarding Toplady in the Life of Rowland Hill, p. 134, we learn that "When he drew near his end he asked, 'Who can fathom the joys of the third heaven?' And believing the doctrine of the ministration of Angels to God's Saints, he said, 'What can be the reason that the ministers of the Gospel speak so little upon it?" It is interesting to note this convergence at the last between two such diverse minds as Hooker and Toplady. See Walton's Life of Hooker. "Meek souls there are who little dream Their daily strife an Angel's theme." The Christian Year, Wednesday before Easter. 3 Heb. i. 14. The notices of Angels in the New Testament, no less than in the Old, are more numerous than we might imagine. The Jewish belief, which our Lord here to some extent countenances, not only regarded each person as having his attendant Angel, but supposed that this guardian bore a resemblance towards the person he guarded. Acts xii. 15. We may compare the distant echoes of this belief in the Genii of the Persians, and the tutelary demi-gods of Greece and Rome. Bp. Ken in one of the less familiar verses of his Evening Hymn presents the Christian idea, "O may my guardian, while I sleep, See Hooker Eccl. Pol. I. iv. 1-3, xvi 4. i. 14. |