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PART VI-(A.) VII. 24-27.

SECTION 1.-RESUMED DELINEATION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

1. In the first member of the sermon (v. 3-10) our Lord delineates righteousness (See Part I., sect. i.), and here, in the concluding and parallel member (See Intro., sect. ii., par. 2), he resumes the delineation of it. In his delineation of it in the former passage he exhibits it under its different aspects by direct description or specification; but in his resumed delineation of it, in the passage now under consideration, he exhibits it at one view, by an indirect description of it as consisting in practical conformity to the searching and authoritative deliverances with respect to it which he had just uttered" Whosoever doeth these sayings of mine." Each mode of delineation is evidently adapted to the place which it occupies in the sermon,-the former preceding, and the latter following the discrimination of righteousness with which the sermon is mainly occupied.

2. Here, as in the parallel member, the delineation of righteousness is clearly intended, and effectually serves to expose and correct the reliance on mere outward and relative distinction, apart from personal character and conduct, as sufficient to secure the advantages to be sought in religion, which was then, and alas! has always been, prevalent. In opposition to this reliance, our passage represents the hearing of Christ's sayings to which it refers, and the disciple

ship founded upon it, as common to some who should be excluded from the blessedness of his kingdom with those who should enjoy it. While he that heareth the sayings in question and doeth them is likened unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not; every one that heareth them and doeth them not is likened to a foolish man which built his house upon the sand, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. The hearing of the sayings is a common element in the two cases; it is the doing of them that distinguishes those who are pronounced blessed. (See Intro., sect. i.)

In our passage Christ claims to be recognised as a sovereign who required obedience to his sayings, and intimates that, whatever resources he possessed and whatever victories he would achieve, he would confer the blessedness of his kingdom upon those alone who rendered the required obedience.—(See Part I., sect. ii., par. 2.)

3. To do the sayings which had just been uttered by our Lord, is, as we conceive our exposition of them has evinced and established, to purify ourselves, in obedience to the prohibitions of the law, from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit (see Part III., sect. i.), and, in obedience to the positive requirements of the law, to perfect holiness in the fear of God (see Part III., sect. ii.), and to lay hold on eternal life (see Part III., sect. iii.) Accordingly, not only those who fall short of outward compliance with them, but those also who stop short at such compliance, do · them not.

SECTION II.-ADVANTAGE ATTACHED TO RIGHTEOUSNESS

RESUMED STATEMENT.

1. Having already, in the parallel member of the sermon (v. 3-10), set forth in detail the advantage attached to righteousness (Part I., sect. ii., par. 4-12), our Lord here, in the resumed statement of it, only adds that without fail it will be fully realised in the case of each of the righteous, the realization of it forming the necessary and appropriate accompaniment or consequence of the realization of righteousness- "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man," &c. wise man that builds his house upon a rock makes adequate provision for his own future accommodation,—such provision as will avail him under the most trying circumstances; and all who practise and cultivate righteousness make analogous provision for eternity-they have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."-(2 Cor. v. 1.)

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2. The advantage attached to righteousness, that its greatness may be the more clearly seen, is presented in contrast with the opposite and only other issue, the ruin attached to unrighteousness.-(See Intro., sect. ii., par. 2.) That ruin will be total, and none of the unrighteous will escape it. It is the necessary and inevitable consequence of the distinctive procedure of the class or subdivision of the unrighteous with which our Lord particularly deals, -those who hear his sayings but do them not.

SECTION III. -DETAILED EXPOSITION.

VER. 24.-Therefore. The connection is, blessedness awaits the righteous (ver. 21), and the righteous only (ver. 23), "therefore," &c.

Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine. Whosoever

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assumeth outwardly the relation of a disciple to me. hearing intended comprehends the enjoyment of a privilege and the performance of a duty, for here the one implies the other. The meaning therefore is, Whosoever enjoyeth the outward privilege and performeth the outward duty of hearing, &c.

And doeth them.-The contents of the " 'sayings," or the duties which they enjoin, discriminate, and enforce, are alone regarded in this clause and, generally, in the phraseology which it exemplifies-" doeth them."

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I will liken him.-We cannot regard the future here as referring to "that day." It is to be viewed as an instance of a mode of expression, the origin of which is to be found in cases that involved uncertainty and required deliberation. In such a case there would be a present conscious purpose, say, to " liken," but the execution of this purpose, being in the meantime impracticable, could be spoken of only as future "I will liken; or, rather, the question would arise with respect to the execution of it, To whom or to what shall I liken? (Matt. xi. 16; Mark iv. 30; Luke xiii. 18), and the declaration of the execution of it would thus assume the form of an answer to this question-"I will liken." This mode of expression, thus originated, would be employed in cases generally analogous, though not actually characterised by uncertainty and a necessity for deliberation. Our Lord employs it in accommodation to the usage of human language, as moulded by the conditions of human knowledge and determination. Thus the force of the language before us is, proceeding to indicate the position and prospects of him, whosoever he be, who heareth, &c., I will liken him, &c.

A wise man.-Practical wisdom is intended, comprehending the right sympathies and the right procedure, as well as the right judgment-the use of the right means, as well as the choice of the right end.

His house.-Not a house, but "his house "—the house in which he dwelt. The comparison respects the provision made for the future in the cases compared. In the illustrative case, the "wise man " made provision for the future,— he "built his house;" he made provision for it in full adaptation to circumstances, he built it "on a rock,” that it might not fall when the rain, and the floods, and the winds should beat upon it; he made adequate and effectual provision for it,—his house "fell not.” And what the illustration is intended to present is, that, in like manner, in the illustrated case, he that heareth Christ's sayings and doeth them, makes provision for the future—for eternity,―makes provision for it in full adaptation to circumstances, makes adequate and effectual provision for it. These are the points to which the illustration applies. The particular manner of making suitable and adequate provision, and the particular circumstances to be dealt with, in the illustrative case, are not to be regarded as forming points of comparison.

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Beat upon that house.-These words seem to have a common reference"* to the three preceding clauses. This peculiarity of connection may be thus exhibited :—

And the rain descended,
And the floods came,

And the winds blew,

› And beat upon that house.

It in no way militates against this view of the connection that the verb rendered beat upon is plural, while the noun in the first of the three clauses is singular. The verb received its number either from the immediately preceding clause, or from the plurality of agents before the mind when it was uttered. Luke distinctly states that the 66 stream," or "the floods" of the second clause, beat upon the house. (vi. 48.)

For it was founded upon a rock.—Under the circumstances, * See Boys's "Tactica Sacra."

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