word, and exhorting all men to study it with diligence, as our only infallible guide.* The miner will not neglect the smallest vein of precious metal; neither may we pass over one jot or one tittle of the Scriptures. Nothing is trivial or superfluous, which is spoken by the Holy Ghost; we should therefore investigate that which seems to be so with the greater care.† It has been said that not a word in the finer parts of Demosthenes and of Milton can be changed without in some degree marring their force and beauty. Surely, then, it cannot be safe or prudent in us to overlook a single letter of Holy Writ, pronounced by its Divine Author to be so sacred, or to neglect the strict meaning of words set down by writers, so much wiser and more careful, under the superintendence of an unerring Spirit. It is a maxim of philosophers, well calculated to stimulate them to nice and accurate observation, that nature most clearly discloses itself in the least particulars. It has even been affirmed that the fall of an apple elicited the train of thought, which led a Newton to the discovery of the laws of gravity. Be that as it may, some short or neglected Scriptures, which we may have perused a thousand times without due attention, may ultimately be recognised as a most important link * See the quotation from Augustine in Roger Bacon in the 13th century. "Ego solis iis libris qui canonici appellantur hunc honorom ferre didici ut nullum horum scriptorum errasse firmissime credam." Compare also Chrysost. Hom. in Gen. xi. T. ii. p. 108. † See Chrysost. T. i. p. 3; and T. viii. p. 181, (on John iv. 54.) in the chain of proof, by which a great truth is firmly established, or some master illusion permanently dispelled. But as Chrysostom said with special reference to the words of St. Paul, "there is an inexhaustible mine in every part of the book of God." Centuries have elapsed, and many writers and many teachers and interpreters have drawn much from it, and that continuously; but they have not exhausted the rich deposit. For it is not the object of sense, and therefore it is not destroyed by the number of those who dig, but increases and abounds the more! And as spiritual things cannot be expended, they may be understood more clearly in successive ages, as more prayerful and enlarged intellects are engaged in the work of investigation. Nor can any, who have not set about this work in earnest, have any adequate idea of the marvellous fulness of the Scriptures. CHAPTER IV. The necessity of attaining to a more perfect righteousness than that of the Scribes and Pharisees; and an explanation of its leading Characteristics. OT only will loss of privilege result from the NOT violation of one of the least commandments of the law, but also from neglect of that habitual earnestness, which is implied by hungering and thirsting after righteousness. A Jewish proverb has been cited, in which it is asserted that if only two were admitted into heaven, the one would be a Pharisee, and the other a Scribe; and it is probably true, that many of these men, like Saul of Tarsus, were strictly conscientious, and really zealous for God; but whatever might be their pretensions, or their credit with an ignorant and undiscerning multitude, they had no qualifications really acceptable in the sight of God. The Lord, therefore, (as already intimated,) here warns his disciples against any false estimate of their character, lest they should be led to acquiesce in their standard, and to imitate their example. "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." (v. 20.) Their ordinary doctrine and practice seem to have been essentially defective in four points; and first, in an inadequate view of the character, and of the requirements, of the law, which caused them to acquiesce in their own imperfect obedience, as if it were sufficient unto justification and life; and this view was in a great measure dependent upon the traditions and glosses, by which they too habitually obscured the holiness of the divine commandments. St. Paul appears to acknowledge this in his memorable declaration in the epistle to the Romans. "I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died; and the commandment, which was ordained to life, found to be unto death."* He had neither seen its extent, nor felt its power; but the words, "thou shalt not covet," seemingly aroused his conscience, and brought him to a sense of sin. But, in the second place, the Pharisees performed those religious duties, on which they most relied in their ignorant attempt to establish their own righteousness, in a false and ostentatious spirit; or, as the Lord himself expressly asserts, they invariably acted with * Rom. vii. 9, 10. † Id. 7. Rom. x. 3. exclusive regard to their fellow men,* as if their applause, and the transitory honour, thus acquired, were sufficient to satisfy their grovelling minds. For their religious profession was really disgraced, in the third place, by an intense worldliness, and by the vain attempt to combine the service of two masters; so that their devotion was often a mere cloak of insatiable covetousness.† And yet farther, as if the better to screen themselves, and to maintain the appearance of superior sanctity, they indulged in censorious judgments, and frequently in hypocritical rebukes of their fellows;" "trusting in themselves that they were righteous, and despising others." Now it appears, that, in the combination of these points, unquestionably characteristic of the Scribes and Pharisees, we have the true key to the connection in the discourse before us, and the central idea, round which the various precepts of the Lord naturally group themselves in admirable order. For true righteousness must be conformity to the mind or will of God, as that is made known to us in His law, as altogether holy, just, and good.§ The Psalmist clearly perceived its breadth || and spirituality, and therefore had a deep sense of his shortcomings,¶ and earnestly appealed to the mercy of God, as his only *Matt. xxiii. 5. † Luke xvi. 13-15. ¶ Psalm clxiii. 2, &c. |