FOR THE CHRISTIAN's MAGAZINE.

Explication and Vindication of MATT. xix. 16-22.

(Continued from p. 212.)

BUT let us proceed further in the explanation of

the context, and we shall find our Saviour again laying claim to divinity. After the Ruler has been directed to keep the commandments, animated with the presumptuous hope, that he had already given all that obedience which was required, and would now receive the approbation, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," he asks, "which ?" Our Saviour answers, these"Thou shalt do no murder," &c. &c. &c.

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This reply, and that immediately preceding, has been adduced as proof of the second opinion which we mentioned, that our Saviour here directs us to our own personal obedience to the moral law, as the foundation of our hope towards God, and as forming our title to eternal life: thus rejecting the doctrine, that our justification and acceptance before him depended on his righteousness, imputed to us and received by faith alone." Against this notion we think the following objection decisive. As the Ruler requires not merely a general rule of obedience, but a rule which specifies those distinct duties which lead to the inheritance of life; if our Saviour had intended to prescribe a rule to him which he could observe to this end, no doubt it would have comprised and

distinctly specified at least the capital parts of moral duty. But examine our Saviour's answer, and we shall find that he mentions no commandments, but those which are found in the second table of the law---no other but those which require love to our neighbour. "Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not," &c. &c. But in this enumeration of duties, there is not mentioned one of those precepts which require love to God. Now can any one imagine that our Saviour would specify duties, by observing which we can gain the inheritance of life, and leave out of their number every thing which requires love to God? If our justification and acceptance depend on our own obedience, does our love to God form no part of it? or does it not, on the contrary, form a principal and very essential part of it? If so, the point is at once given up, that our Saviour is here prescribing a rule, by our observance of which eternal life is to become

ours.

Something else must, then, be the meaning of our Saviour. And to discover it, we must recollect whom he is here addressing. This Ruler was one of those self-righteous sinners who believe that, notwithstanding the Scripture hath declared, "there is not a just man upon earth who doeth good and sinneth not," yet they can and do yield perfect obedience to God's law-can fill up every requirement which is contained in this rule of righteousness. That this was the state of the Ruler's mind is evident from his answer to our Saviour" These things have I kept from my youth up." His conscience appears to have been so blinded, that he was totally unconscious of guilt in transgressing this part of dis vine law. Our Saviour acts with him as every faith. ful and wise. minister of truth will act in similar cases. Men must be beaten out of error before they will betake themselves to the truth. A sinner must

be made to see the insufficiency of his own righteousness before he will accept of the righteousness of the Redeemer. To teach this self-righteous ruler the insufficiency of his own righteousness, is the design of our Saviour in this part of the context. And he does it most effectually too. To leave him without the possibility of evasion, without the shadow of excuse, the Saviour meets him on that very ground on which he imagined he was most able to defend himself. He examines him on the reality and truth of his obedience to that part of the law which requires love to man. For it is much easier for unsanctified men to exhibit, in their conduct, something which resembles true love to man, than any thing which resembles love to God. The latter never can be possessed, nor is it easy to exhibit even the shadow of it, until we are reconciled to him through the blood of the cross.. But a regard to the peace of civil society, the habits of polite education, and other things, conspire to produce in unsanctified men a conduct which resembles the former. Accordingly, when the ruler declares, This part of divine law, I have kept; from my youth to this very hour, I have lived in the most faithful and undeviating observance of it; I am liable to no reproof for a failure in this part of duty'-The Saviour, grieved to see a temper, naturally mild and amiable, bound under so unhappy a mistake, replies, " If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me." Our Saviour's design and meaning in this reply may be thus explained: You would persuade yourself that you have yielded perfect obedience to that part of my law which requires love to man: this belief arises from an utter mistake as to the spirituality and extent of my righteous law. You fail in that very point which lies at the founda

tion of all true obedience-a conscientious regard to the authority of God. What has been your motive in keeping these commandments? Have you acted merely from expediency-because you found an honest behaviour would advance your interest among men? or have you acted from a tender and conscientious regard to the authority of God, who requires these things? Without this, your obedience has not been perfect. And if this has been your motive, I require you now to give a proof of it. As I am God, I will give you a command, to prove how far my authority has governed your conscience-a command not binding on every man, but still as binding on those to whom I give it, as if it were expressly contained in that rule of obedience which you boast that you have kept. This is a time when they who pos sess the world, should be as though they possessed it not. Judgments are soon to overtake this land, which will drive its present possessors from their places, and fill the land with confusion and blood. I am now also to erect a kingdom, in which I am to employ my disciples as the means of my hand. The duties in which I am about to employ them are incompatible with the possession of houses and lands. They are to travel from city to city, and from kingdom to kingdom, to proclaim my name. My authority calls them to the work, and my strength shall quali fy them for it. I now invite you to take part with them*. Looking out for the inheritance of heaven,

This phrase," follow me," is the appropriate call which our Saviour gave to those whom he called to attend him during his personal ministry, and whom, after he had thus trained them to the work, he commissioned to preach the Gospel to every creature. See Matt. iv. 19. and ix. 9. and viii. 22. compared with Luke ix. 59, 60: All those who believed on the Saviour, during his personal ministry, did not follow him wherever he travelled; nor did he require it Vol. III.-No. XII.

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go and sell your possessions, give the price of them to the poor, come and take up the cross, by which the world shall be crucified unto you, and you unto the world, and be satisfied to follow me, that I may teach you the things which relate to my kingdom, and prepare you for going out on my messages of life to the world. If a regard to the authority of God has produced your honesty, you will readily consent to this requirement, while a refusal must show, that you are labouring under that ruinous mistake which confounds the generous conduct of a good-hearted man, or the specious pretences of an artful hypocrite, with the obedience which flows from a heart formed and governed by purifying grace.',

The effect of this reply from our Saviour was instant. Disappointed and vexed, a sudden gloom covers the ruler's face; silence seals his lips; the · obedience of the Gospel is too high for his reach, and going away to enjoy his possessions, he forsakes the Saviour who had offered to him eternal life.

from them as a duty. He laid the duty to forsake houses, and lands, and families, only upon those whom he sent abroad to preach the Gospel; and, as Peter declares, they did forsake all and follow him. Matt. xix. 27. And this shows us that our Saviour does not here enjoin that community of goods which some have conjectured to have been the universal practice in the primitive ages of the Church, and which others have endeavoured to perpetuate to the present day. He gives the ruler a call to be something more than a believer. He calls him to become one of those whose duties were quite incompatible with the management of houses and lands: and, therefore, his command, "Go, and sell," cannot be considered as binding upon Christians in general. Besides, it is not merely community of goods that is here enjoined, but a total alienation of them.