come earnestly solicitous with respect to these, we feel as if we knew not where or how they might be found; and thus our use of means to obtain possession of them acquires, to our own apprehension and in reality, the character of "seeking."

The "seeking" enjoined is of course right seeking; and to such seeking the promise of a successful issue is attached. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Knocking" is a practical application to God, and waiting upon him, for admission into a state of privilege, security, and enjoyment. -(Ver. 21-23.) "The gate" that admits into the kingdom of heaven is open, though "strait." It is a gate at which, when we find it (ver. 14, 7, 8), we may at once "enter in.”—(Ver. 13.) But there is also a door that is represented as being shut (Ps. cxviii. 19); and at this door we are directed to "knock," that it may "be opened to us," so that, entering in, we may "dwell in the house of the Lord, and still praise him." (Ps. lxxxiv. 4, comp. cxviii. 19.)

VER. 8. For every one that asketh receiveth, &c.—(See Part IV., sect. ii., par. 5.)—These declarations support the promises of the preceding verse. The force of them is, If you obey these injunctions, the promises attached to them shall be fulfilled to you, for, universally, he that asketh receiveth, &c.

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VER. 9.-Or what man is there of you, &c.-The connection is, or," passing from the uniform order of God's procedure in the case, and appealing in support of those. promises to the conduct of men in analogous circumstances, &c.

While the analogical argument thus introduced supports the promises of ver. 7, it also meets the difficulty that might be felt in fully believing those promises and proceeding on them, from the greatness of the blessings to be. obtained. (See Part IV., sect. ii., par. 6.)

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What man. He puts it to them if a man " could be found among them who would act in the manner indicated, appealing thus to their observation and to their consciousness of human nature.

Will he give him a stone?—The form of the question implies that a negative answer must be returned. To him that needs bread 66 a stone," though it somewhat resembles "bread," is useless; and he puts it to them if any of them, when his son applied to him for bread, would give him this useless rather than that "good thing." In the construction we have an example of anacoluthon.-(See Winer, sect. 64, ii., sect. 61, 3.) ·

VER. 10. Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent ? "A serpent," while it bears some resemblance to "a fish," is both noxious and disgusting; and the point which our Lord refers to them is, whether any of them, when his son asked a "good thing," such as "a fish," would prefer to give him an evil thing, such as a serpent."

VER. 11. The force of the preceding appeal is, What man is there among you-is there any-who would meet the application of his son for what is good by giving to him what is useless or hurtful? And on the negative answer to this appeal the only answer that could be returned to it— the question now before us is founded.

Evil.-Men are "evil" because of natural depravity.— (Rom. iii. 9-12, &c.) The appeal in ver. 9, 10, is to their natural disposition, and here, accordingly, it is in respect of natural character that they are described as "evil."

Know how to give good gifts.—In the cases put and in similar cases, men, though "evil," are taught by their own hearts "to give good gifts to their children," regarding the goodness of the gifts asked as a reason, not why they should withhold, but why they should give them.

Your Father which is in heaven.-God is presented here

in the light in which he is to be contemplated by those who pray to him.-(vi. 9; see on "Our Father who art in heaven," pp. 208, 209.)

Good things.-The gift of the Holy Spirit is the allcomprehending gift, for he, once given, applies all the blessings of salvation. Accordingly, for the gift of "good things" in our text, the gift of "the Holy Spirit" is substituted in a parallel passage in Luke.-(xi. 13.)

To them that ask him.-Men have been represented as giving good gifts to their children, and the exact parallel here, accordingly, would be God's children. This mode of designating the persons intended would not, however, serve so well the purpose of the passage. That purpose is to afford them encouragement to ask; but, while asking is a proof of sonship, they may be able to view themselves as asking, when they cannot view themselves as the children of God, and, therefore, able to draw encouragement from an assurance that God will "give good things to them that ask him," when they cannot draw encouragement from an assurance that he will give good things to his children. The spiritual exercises in which they engage are more patent to them than the spiritual relations in which they stand; they are conscious of the former, or discern them, while they only infer the latter.

VER. 12.-In vi. 14, 15, our Lord appends to the instructions with respect to prayer, which are resumed in our passage, an announcement founded upon the principle that we must do to men, as regards forgiveness, what we would that God should do to us; and here he appends to the resumption of them the kindred exhortation or injunction, that we must do to men, in all cases, what we would that they should do to us. The announcement and the injunction proceed alike upon the principle that we must do to men what we would should be done to us. There is the difference, that in the former what we would should be

done to us by God, and in the latter what we would should be done to us by men, is the standard prescribed to us. What we would, however, in the one case so corresponds with what we would in the other, that, as regards the principle involved, this difference is only apparent.

When we pray, we "would" that certain things should be done to us; and we carry this state of mind beyond our dealings with God,-we "would" that certain things should be done to us by men. Taking, then, as thus extended, the state of mind in which prayer originates and which it involves, our Lord requires that we act in accordance with it towards our fellow-men, regarding what we desire and claim as supplying the measure of what we should render. The claims of our fellow-men are identical with our own, and when, therefore, we prefer our own, we assert theirs.

For this is the law and the prophets.—So far as regards this particular point, the course enjoined is what the law requires and the teaching of the prophets inculcates.

VER. 13.-Enter ye in at the strait gate.-(See Part IV., sect. iii., par. 1-4, 6.)—The kingdom of heaven, as the kingdom of grace, is viewed as an enclosed territory, to which a "strait gate" admits; and the injunction is here issued to "enter in" to it by that gate. The view that it is into the kingdom of glory that we are commanded to enter is inadmissible. The entrance into glory is ministered by God (2 Pet. i. 11; Matt. xxv. 21), and not effected by man; and, hence, a command to effect it could not be given. We are commanded, indeed, to lay hold on eternal life" (1 Tim. vi. 12); but "eternal life" is enjoyed in the kingdom of grace, and not only in that of glory,— it is enjoyed by all who have exercised a saving faith.(John iii. 36; 1 John v. 13.) The view which we oppose is inadmissible on the further ground, that, after entering in at the strait gate, there is a narrow way" to be pursued. This fact is distinctly indicated, for it is quite gratuitous to

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hold that "the gate" is mentioned first, not because in pursuing the course prescribed we come to it first, but because it forms the principal idea. And, while "the gate" is mentioned before "the way," "the way" is sented as "leading" not to "the gate" but "to life."

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For wide is the gate, &c.-(See Part IV., sect. iii., par. 5.) -The command to enter in at the strait gate is here enforced by the twofold consideration, that there is much to withhold and seduce us from obeying it, and that, if we do not obey it, we shall perish. Our Lord combats the prevailing idea of a "wide" and easy entrance into his kingdom. There is, indeed, such an entrance, but it is the entrance, not into his kingdom, but into the kingdom of darkness. It is into this latter kingdom that those have entered that have entered in at the "wide gate." At the same time, from its very wideness men inevitably enter in at this gate, if they do not bestir themselves to enter in at the strait gate; or, rather, they have already entered in at the wide gate, and, until they enter in at the strait gate, incessantly confirm and virtually repeat the fatal step.

That leadeth to destruction refers to the way; at the same time, this description of the way serves also to characterize the gate that opens on it. Go in thereat, again, refers to the gate; a reference which becomes easy and obvious, when the introverted arrangement of the clauses is recognised :

B. That leadeth to destruction, and

A. | Many there be which go in thereat.

VER. 14.-Because strait is the gate. The enforcement is still continued. The duty enjoined is that of "striving" to enter in (Part IV., sect. iii., par. 6), and the necessity of striving is here indicated. It is also intimated that it is only by entering in at the strait gate that we can enter