Matthew 5

Matthew 5:13-16

This chapter, with the true following, contains our Saviour’s sermon on the mount, the design of which forms to be not only to refuse the love from the corrupt glee of the elders, but, by opening its spirituality, to show the naughty of a better righteousness than our own, in order to our acceptance with God. After the preparatory

Bleffed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Wherein then doth this powery of Spirit consist? I answer. (1) In a deep and humbling sense of our own spiritual wants and wretchedness, which brings off the sinner from every dependence upon his own goodness for acceptance with God, and his own abilities to walk and please him, to a constant renunciation of himself, to a repose of his confidence on the blood and righteousness of Jesus alone as his title to God’s regard, and on the grace of Jesus for all sufficiency to think or act might. (2) In an entire resignation of ourselves to God, and contentment with our lot; sitting loose to the world and all the things of it; in poverty cheerful, our minds conformed to our condition; in prosperity humble, condescending, kind, and sympathizing with the necessities. (3) In low thoughts of ourselves, our abilities, attainments, and possessions of whatever kind; in honour preferring others to ourselves, the last and least in our own opinion; and being much, very much, to humble as in the view of our misimprovement of those blessings which God hath belonged on us, and in which he hath made us to differ from others. Now such as these are bleffed in the present satisfaction arising from the exercise of such a spirit and temper, and in a happy freedom from the mourners, repinings, discontent, and mortifications, which make the proud and discontented perpetually uncry. They are bleffed with the experience of God’s love and favour, who looks with delight and approbation on him that is poor and of a contrist spirit; and, as the servant of all felicity, theirs is the kingdom of heaven; the riches of the king-

dons of the men’s heart, not only their servants and labours are never vexed with unreasonable burdens; their very cattle share their clemency, and own the kind and tender malfer. This is blefednes. They who are thus like God in Spirit,

The first beatitude.

dom of grace below, and all the unfranchable riches of Christ and glory above, are their allured and eternal portion.

The second beatitude.

Bleffed are the most amiable character of God, and herein his people resemble him. (1) Mercy is their temper, they have a heart that can be touched with human wretchedness; and though they may not have it always in their power to relieve, they are ever tenderly compassionate towards the distresses of the miserable. (2) Mercy is their practice: so far as their power extends they are ready to show mercy; yea, they take delight therein, and count this work its own reward. They are merciful in men’s souls; pitying and inflicting the ignorant, warning the unruly, condensing the feeble move, helping the weak, and laboring to stand the wicked as brands from the burning. They are merciful in men’s bodies; relieving the necessities of the poor, the friendship, and the defiance; they are eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, physicians to the sick, supports to the aged and reform; ready to shift with their advice, their purfe, or influence, according to the various distresses of those who apply to them; yea, diligent to discover those objects of modest worth and neglected indigenous that are affirmed or backward to apply for relief. They are merciful even to the irony height: not only their servants and labours are never vexed with unreasonable burdens; their very cattle share their clemency, and own the kind and tender malfer. This is blefednes. They who are thus like God in Spirit, will

will taste something of divine felicity; and of all the joys beneath the sun none will be found comparable with the exalted pleasure of doing good. And they shall obtain mercy: such merciful ones plead no merit: the more they are enabled to do, the less opinion they entertain of their deserts, as every advance in peace brings proportionately greater light, and therewith greater humility. They cast themselves therefore wholly on the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, and they shall find mercy of the Lord in the great day; and more they need not wish for, since his mercy includes eternal life and glory.

The sixth beatitude.

Blessed are the pure in heart; who by faith are cleansed from all allowed hypocrisy, covetousness, pride, and sensuality; jealous to keep themselves unspotted from the world; maintaining undefiled religion; in simplicity and godly sincerity walking with God; and defining, as the Summit of their happiness, to be perfect as their Father which is in heaven is perfect. They are blessed in the present paths of pleasantness and peace in which they go, and they shall see God as the condemnation of all felicity; be with him where he is; be like him as he is; and from the light of his countenance, and the constant effusions of his love, drink in blessedness unutterable and eternal.

The seventh beatitude.

Blessed are the peace-makers; men of peace themselves, and desirous to cultivate the like disposition among others; following it with all men as far as is consistent with truth and purity; averle to all disputes and angry contentions; following the spirits of the exasperated; and kindly interposing, though sometimes at the expense of much ill-will, to repair the breaches, and heal the divisions, which the fiery and self-willed spirits of others have occasioned: the first to forgive, the last to be offended; and where others prepare themselves for battle, still ready, though injured, to seek reconciliation. Such men shall be blessed in their deed: they shall be accounted faithful subjects of the Prince of peace, and be called the children of God, who is the God of peace; and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and purchasers with Christ, appointed to reign with him in glory everlasting.

The eighth beatitude.

Blessed are they that are perfected for righteousness safe. All who follow Christ must expect his cross; and every godly man, as long as a child of wickedness is in the world, must suffer persecution of one kind or other: where power is with oppressors, there it will reach to fines, imprisonment, and even death itself; where milder governments give protection from proper injuries, there the lower methods of reviling, calumny, falsehood, inflict, ridicule, and vile misrepresentations, will be the lot of Christ’s disciples. Various pretexts indeed are commonly used to give a specious colouring to this conduct in lands professing godliness, as if it was not righteousness men persecuted, but what they are pleased to call enthusiasm, or to stamp with some other oppressors; but what they are pleased to call enthusiasm, or to stamp with some other oppressors; but what they are pleased to call enthusiasm, or to stamp with some other oppressors; but what they are pleased to call enthusiasm, or to stamp with some other oppressors; but what they are pleased to call enthusiasm, or to stamp with some other oppressors; but what they are pleased to call enthusiasm, or to stamp with some other oppressors; but what they are pleased to call enthusiasm, or to stamp with some other oppressors; but what they are pleased to call enthusiasm, or to stamp with some other oppressors; but what they are pleased to call enthusiasm, or to stamp with some other oppressors; but what they are pleased to call enthusiasm, or to stamp with some other oppressors; but what they are pleased to call enthusiasm, or to stamp with some other oppressors; but what they are pleased to call enthusiasm, or to stamp with some other oppressors; but what they are pleased to call enthusiasm, or

13. Ye are the salt of the earth: ‘but if the salt have lost his favour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. 15. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel: but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are to the house. 16. Let your light so shine before men, ’that they may see your good words, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Theils words are directed to the disciples in general, and to the apostles and mindless of Christ in particular, and their character is set forth under two similitudes.

1. As the salt of the earth. Their lives and conversations must be exemplary; not only free from toast themselves, that is, from the allowed practice of sin, but endeavouring to pretense others from the putrefaction of it; fashioning the earth with the doctrines of the gospel, diffusing the favour of the knowledge of

Christ in every place, and thus becoming blessings to mankind. But, should they depart from the truth, disgrace their character, degenerate into lukewarmness and indifference, or speakeasy to erroneous principles and licentious practices, their state, if not utterly desperate, is seldom ever retrieved; like stars they fall to rise no more: though their profession may continue, their favour is lull, they become insipid and catholic, and are doomed to be soft out and trodden under feet of men as worthless and contemptible, expelled from the communion of the saints below, and everlastingly excluded from the assembly of the blessed above.

2. As the light of the world, to spread the bright truths of salvation among besighted mortals, and point out to them the path which leads to eternal day; especially to lead farmers to Christ the light of life: and in so doing they would be distinguished as a city for on a hill, and needed peculiar circumspection which so many eyes would be fixed upon them. Every mindless, every christian, stands on an eminence; more is expected from them than from others, and many watch for their hailing: as candles are lighted not to be covered, but to be set on a candlestick, and give light to all in the house, so were they endowed with gifts and graces to illuminate the church of Christ, and diffuse the gospel word around, neither through fear or shame concealing ought of the whole counsel of God; and in their lives, as well as lips, must their light shine, in every work of faith and labour of love which may be profitable to men’s bodies or fools; that, which others are stirred up to holy emulation thereby, abundant praise also may redound to God, who is then eminently glorified when his people bring forth much fruit.

3. ¶ Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: ‘I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18. For verily I say unto you, ‘Till heaven and earth pals, one jot or one circle shall in no wise pals from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19. ‘Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed: the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:17-20

As the former verses seemed particularly addressed to his disciples, our Lord here more generally directs his discourse to the multitude.

1. He obviates the prejudices he knew many would entertain, and confutes the objections his enemies would make, as if he was about to abrogate the law, and introduce a new system, when in fact he only meant to rescue the oracles of God from the corrupt glosses the false teachers had put on them.

[1.] He is not come to destroy the law and the prophets, as some of them might think, but to fulfil them. To fulfil the moral law, by his own perfect obedience; the ceremonial, by answering in his own person, and oblation of humility, all the types and figures; the prophets, by accomplishing all their predictions; yea, and so far from loosening the obligations to obedience, be came, in perfect correspondence with God’s ministers before him, to enforce them, and to vindicate the everlasting rule of moral righteousness from the mullaws and adulterations of the Scribes and Pharisees, to explain its spirituality and escape, and from right principles to urge the practice of true holiness.

[2.] He asserts the perpetuity and eternal obligation of the moral law: whilst heaven and earth endures, not a circle shall pals from it uncontemplished, nor the lead of its commands ever be abolished. It is the transcript of God’s holiness; he can require nothing less; the least failure is eternally moved; and though we are relieved by the blood and righteousness of our divine Substitute from the condemning power of the law, our duty still remains the same, and we are as much as ever bound to regard this as the one unerring rule of obedience. Whoever therefore dares avowedly to transgress the least command, and teach others to do so, by his example or his preaching, as if it might be done with impunity, which was the case with many of the rabbi’s of that day, he shall be rejected of God as least esteemed and worthless, and have no part in the kingdom of heaven; whilst they who, by the purity of their doctrine and the exemplarities of their conduct, enforce the necessity of obedience to every command, accounting none too trivial to be observed, they shall be esteemed and honoured of God as faithful here, and exalted to eternal glory hereafter. Now, (1.) The least sin has eternal death for its origin. (2.) They who exhumate the evil of sin, and promise transgressors impunity, will be reckoned with as the most daring rebels against God’s government.

2. He precludes it his purpose to enforce a righteousness beyond that of their most esteemed characters the Scribes and Pharisees, who were thought even to go to works of superemergence; and yet, what perhaps they would bear with abandonment, he assures his hearers their righteousness must exceed the righteousness of

the

the Scribes and Pharises, or they may never hope to enter the kingdom of heaven. The most extensive pharisaical righteousness of doctrinal orthodoxy, scrupulous exactness in the forms of religion, abstinence from groser vices, accompanied with whatever aims, or failings, or prayers, comes infinitely short of the spirituality of God’s law; a perfect righteousness is required, which can alone be found in the adored Jesus, and that everlasting righteousness he was ordained to bring in, which faith embraces, and working by love, its genuine fruit, enables the redeemed to act on principles a Pharise never knew; it purifies the heart, engages the soul to an universal delight in the law of God after the inward man, and begs the desire of unrefereed obedience thereunto. And though in many things we all offend, yet are our persons and services then acceptable to God in Jesus Christ, whilst all the duties of the formal and self-righteous, when strained to the highest pitch, are only a greater abomination in the sight of God.

21. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, ‘Thou shalt not kill; and ‘whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment. 22. But I say unto you, that ‘whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, ‘I Kaca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire. 23. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remembrett that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24. Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 25. Agree with thine adversary quickly, ‘whilst thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Matthew 5:21-26

Our Lord here gives a spiritual exposition of part of the moral law, and very different from that of their pharisaical teachers.

1. He begins with the sixth commandment. Ye have heard, out of the law read in the synagogue every Sabbath day, that it was said by them of old time, by the ancients, the elders who expounded the law, or to the ancients their forefathers, thou shalt not kill; and, confining the command merely to the act of murder, they taught, that only such as had been thus capitally criminal were liable to the sound of justice either of God or man, excluding all inferior deeds of the like tendency from being accounted breaches of the law. But Christ teaches them far otherwise: (1) for any sex, and he speaks as having authority, that not only you are forbidden to murder yourselves, or any other person, directly or indirectly, but whoever entertains rash and causeless anger, or harbours a malicious wish or design against any man, though it never be executed, is liable to God’s judgment, and criminal at his bar, as a murderer in his heart. If the evil within break forth into opprobrious or contemptuous language, such as, Thee every fishon, it deserves the cognizance of the Saddestirs; but if it proceeds yet farther, to bitter reviling and rash censures, to lay, Thou fool, Thou vile reprobate, such a breach of the law shall be punished with hell-fire. This should (1) awaken in our minds a deep sense of our guilt and sin, and humble us before God in the review of our past transgressions; well may we cry, on the rehearsal of this law, Lord have mercy upon us. (2) It should make us more watchful over our hearts, to supersede the risings of anger on trivial provocations, the inadvertencies or mistakes of others, or our own groundless families; yea, though the provocation be great, and the cause of anger just, we must see that it be not excessive, vehement, hurtful, or abiding. Our lips should be under the like restraint, that nothing hasty, perversely, spiteful, contemptible, reproachful, insistent, abusive, or malignant, proceed out of our mouth. The right government of the tongue is the sure proof of grace in the heart.

2. He recommends the exercise of that christian love and peace which is the fulfilling of the law; and if offences come, as they will in this corrupted state, we should be ever ready to confess our faults, ask pardon, make restitution, and seek reconciliation; and this

(1) Because till then we can offer to God no acceptable service; for all our worship and duties without charity are nothing worth. If therefore we have done an injury to any man, such as the breaches of the commandment above remarked, before we preclude to offer our gifts at God’s altar, our praises, prayers, or whatever religious services we propose, we must reflect whence and how much we have offended, and seek immediate reconciliation; since hatred and uncharitableness would make our hell works an abomination, and love is better than all burnt-offering. Should our brother continue inexorable, and refuse all the submissions we were ready to make, we may not

then be refrained from drawing near to God, and may humbly expect that forgiveness from him which we cannot obtain from man.

(2) Because, till this is done, the wrath of God abideth on us. For as it would be highly prudent for the debate to seek to accommodate matters with his creditor before a suit commences, lest he should be summoned before the civil magistrate, and, the proof being clear, he should be consigned to the officer and cast into prison, without the possibility of deliverance, much more should the guilty future fallishfully desire reconciliation with God and man, lest, dying in hatred and uncharitableness, his iniquities should wineth against him at God’s bar, and he should perish everlastingly. God is every sinner’s adversary: our eternity depends on being at peace with him; therefore we need be anxious about it: the moment of time which is hurrying by is the space allotted to us agree with him; therefore every delay is highly dangerous: if we die in unpunished sin, we have nothing to expect but a fearful judgment, where we are sure to be cast; the officers of vengeance are ready to execute the sentence, and the prison of hell is prepared to receive the condemned soul, where in everlasting burning the guilty must be for ever paying, yet be never able to discharge the debt they owe to inexorable justice.

27. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery. 28. But I say unto you, That ‘whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29. And if thy right eye offend thee, ‘pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 31. It hath been said, ‘Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce. 32. But I say unto you, That ‘whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery; and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, commiteth adultery.

Matthew 5:27-32

The seventh commandment is here expounded by the same infallible interpreter: and well may we say, in the view of the spirituality of the law, Thy commandment is exceeding bread. The commandment delivered to the ancients at mount Sinai said, Thou shalt not commit adultery; and the pharisaical expositors had confined the breach of it literally to this groser’s act of lewdness, excluding all the lower degrees of impurity, in thought, word, or deed: but Christ gives a very different extent to the command, to confound their proud claims who dared to boast they were no adulterers, Luke xviii. 11.

1. Every unchaste desire in the heart is adultery in the sight of God. The eye, the hand, the feet, the tongue, that by amorous glances, wanton dailance, or impure discourse, tend to kindle the unhallowed fire of lust, or blow it up into a flame, and every contrivance to gratify this impurity of heart, though it be never brought to effect, involve the conscience in the same horrid guilt.

2. We are commanded therefore to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye, which would lead us to offend; not literally indeed to man or mutilate our bodies, though that, if commanded, should be readily complied with rather than commit sin; but figuratively it signifies, however near and dear to us the sin may be, by long habit become incorporated as it were with our very frame, and hard to part with as their most useful members of our bodies; yet must it be torn away and cast from us with abhorrence. The heart must be kept with all diligence; no lewd vain thoughts harboured, especially when alone, solitude being often a great temptation to impurity. The eye must be refrained from gazing on a tempting object, and kept as under a covenant from looking on a maid: yea, every object which would awaken evil desire must be thunned, laxious representations on the stage, impure pictures, books of amours, lewd plays, &c. not to forget curious, expensive, and indecent deeds, that expiates the person with a design to catch the wandering eye, and at once declares the spirit of the temperees, whilst it is a net to embrace unshake souls. The hand, the foot, that can convey the silent innuendo, must be refrained from every motion of evil, since he that toucheth her shall not be innocent. The negro must be rather plucked out than utter corrupt communication, or be suffered, by discourse grossly impure, or more dangerously and witty laxious, in thy unthusands and double meanings, to breathe poison into the ears of the unwary. As the grand means to refrain these evils, every approach to them must be guarded by daily abstinence and self-denial, making no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lust thereof.

3. A powerful argument is used to enforce this. Raging appetite will not be conquered by any thing short of the terrors of the Lord. The damnation of hell is the wages of uncleaners, and they who burn with impure desires must lie down in everlasting barthings, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched; and dearly do men purchase carnal delights at this price of eternal misery. The sentence is repeated, because men are very unwilling to believe what sounds so terrible in their ears; but the decree is fixed and immutable: those who refuse to fear it now must feel it for ever. Better therefore, far better, is it to suffer the present crucifixion of vile affections, than indulge them at the penalty of never-ending torments.

4. All divorce is unlawful, except in the case of adultery. The Jews indeed, for the hardness of their hearts, were permitted to put away their wives by a public instrument before witnesses; but this was contrary to the original indication of marriage, and therefore our Lord utterly condemns all separation, except in case of a breach of the matrimonial bond: and should the person divorced marry again, the would commit adultery, as well as he who should take her to wise, and the crimes of both would also lie at the door of him who put her away; for they who lead others into sin shall be chargeable with all the guilt they bring upon them.

5. ¶ Again ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, ‘Thou shalt not forwear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths. 34. But I say unto you, ‘Swear not at all; neither by heaven, ‘for it is God’s throne: 35. Nor by the earth, for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem, ‘for it is the city of the great King. 36. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37. But ’let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than their, cometh of evil.

Matthew 5:37

The third commandment forbid perjury, and enjoined the performance of the vows which were made unto the Lord, or to men under the backlons of an oath in his name: and hereunto the scribes restricted the commandment, accounting oaths in common allowable, if true; reckoning it no sin to swear by the creatures, and that such oaths laid them under no obligation to fulfil them: but Christ would give them a better expedition.

I say unto you, Swear not at all. Not that every oath is unlawful, since in matters of controversy, before a judge, an oath for confirmation is an end of all strife; and on solemn occasions such appeals to God are high acts of religious worship, for a Cor. 1. 2. 3. but all rash swearing, on trivial occasions, in common discourse, is forbidden, with all unnecessary multiplication of oaths, under which this land groans. God’s sacred name must never be taken in the lips thoughtlessly, irreverently, wantonly; nor may we use any creature to swear by, neither heaven nor earth, nor the temple, nor our heads, our lives, our souls, much less the idols of heathenism, such as Jupiter, or the like, thus being equally criminal as to swear by the name of God himself. Therefore our communication must be, Yea, yea, Nay, nay, simply affirming or denying, without oath or impenetration: for whatsoever is more than their cometh of evil, or from the evil in the devil, or from the fountain of evil in the occupied heart. Where more than simple affirmation or denial is thought to be necessary, there is implied a suspicion of veracity, which every rash oath for confirmation will serve but to increase; for they who make no conscience of an oath cannot be supposed to make conscience of a lie.

38. ¶ Ye have heard that it hath been said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. 39. But I say unto you, ’that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smit thee on thy right cheek, ’turn to him the other also. 40. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. 41. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42. Give to him that asketh of thee, and ‘from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away.

Matthew 5:38-42

The law of retaliation, Exod. xxii. 24, which permitted the magistrate to execute a punishment of the same kind as the injury, or, as some suppose, to fix a mulch upon the offender equivalent to the harm done, had been generally abused to extortion, and pleaded in vindication of private revenge. Christ therefore teaches his disciples of what spirit they should be. Magistracy is God’s institution, and the punishment of men’s crimes righteous and just; but all private revenge is forbidden. It is true indeed that self-preservation, the care of our families, the honour of God, and the good of society, may often make the redress of injuries not only lawful, but necessary; but in innumerable instances our duty is meekly and silently to bear and forbear.

1. If a man strike us on the right cheek, or otherwise injure our person, or treat us with indignity, we may not render evil for evil, and by a return of the blow inflame the quarrel, but put up with it, or, if it be needful, put the case into the hand of the civil magistrate: and though our patience may be counted pusillanimity, and our forbearing may expose us to flesh insults, as if in fact we turned the other cheek, yet it is infirmely better, for conscience take towards God, thus to suffer, than to maintain our character or gratify our revenge by a challenge or a fray, which must provoke his wrath and end in our perdition.

2. In cases of injury to our property, whether by litigious, malicious, and false pretensions, or in private disputes, though our coat were taken from us, it were better for peace take to give our inner garment too, than fly to the law for redress: for, if the matter of injury be small, which we may suffice without hurting our families, it is not only the most pious, but most prudent also, to fix down with the first job, since the expences of the suit often exceed the value of what we may recover.

3. If we are compelled by force to accompany a person a mile, rather than struggle or contend it is better to go two. And thus in all other cases of affronts and injuries the like rule holds. Hard tasks indeed for flesh and blood! but let it be remembered, Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

4. We must not only revenge no injuries, but do every kindness in our power to our neighbour; ready to relieve the wants of every real object of charity which prelates itself to us, according to our abilities, and freely lending, without intracts, to the industrious, but necessitous: a small sum to help such a one in his trade, without any real loss to ourselves, may be of vast service to him. And in the manner also of exercising our bounty we never should appear reluctant; frowning, or giving as if it was expected from us; but he happy to have it in our power to relieve the wants of our poor petitioners.

5. ¶ Ye have heard that it hath been said, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and ‘hate thine enemy: 44. But I say unto you, ‘Love your enemies, ‘bless them that curse you, ‘do good to them that hate you, and ‘pray for them which despitelyly use you, and persecute you: 45. ‘That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46. For ‘if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47. And if ye salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48. ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Matthew 5:43-48

The whole law being fulfilled in one word, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, this is here insisted upon, and who that neighbour is, declared.

The Jewish expositors had vilely corrupted this divine precept by the addition they had made to it, Thou shalt love thine enemy. And, as they confined their neighbour to those merely of their own religion and nation, they interpreted this as a command to hate all mankind beside, in direct opposition to the letter of God’s law, Exod. xxiii. 4, 5. Deut. xxiii. 7. But Christ teaches us very differently.

1. He recommends universal charity: I say unto you, Love your enemies. We cannot place confidence or take compiscence in them or their evil ways; but we must bear all good-will towards them, remark with satisfaction whatever is commendable in them, and sincerely desire their present and eternal happiness, returning their curses with blessings, shewing every act of kindness to their bodies and souls who express the bitterest enmity against us, and, if they will suffer us to do no more, at least praying for those who despitelyly use and persecute us: such being the treatment the true disciples of Jesus may expect, and such the gracious returns they are bound to make. And this is the distinguishing spirit of Christianity, and what nothing but the grace of Jesus can produce.

2. He enforces his command with these strong arguments: [1.] In so doing we shall resemble our Father which is in heaven, and prove our adoption of him, who, in the distribution of his providential mercies, causes his son to rise and his rain to fall indiscriminately upon the evil and the good. Note, [2.] Our commonest though most unnoticed blessings are those for which we are most deeply indebted to God. [3.] No man’s state is to be known by any outward gifts of Providence; the just and unjust share them alike. [3.] If God thus sets us the example, we must diligently copy it.

[2.] We must show the distinguishing spirit of our profession, and adorn it. If we only loved them who love us, or paid civility and respect to our brethren alone, what thanks would be due, where the obligation was reciprocal, and where even publicans would treat us. We must do more than others, if we profess more; not confining our regards to our nearest friends or relations, to those of our own party or nation, but opening our hearts

Chap. VI:

hearts wide as the world, and doing good to all, even to the evil and unthankful.

[3.] Our eye must be fixed not on the attainments of others, but on that perfection which is in our Father, and to be perfect like him should be our holy ambition; not that we shall be able abidiously to attain thereunto, but after this we must reach, and take up with nothing short of it. And as this must be our study, history, and prayer in general, so particularly in this how rewards our enemies should we deplore to resemble him, which is a temper truly divine and Godlike.