CHAPTER III.

PERVERSION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF ALL LAW.

MAT. V. 43-48.

We have now come to the climax and the conclusion of the faithful exposure which our Lord makes of the defective righteousness of the Scribes. He has already shown clearly and convincingly that they had perverted both the Moral and the Civil Law, and He now proceeds to establish, with equal clearness, that they had perverted the very principle of love itself— a principle which constitutes the foundation and the fulfilment of the whole law of God.

V. 43. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy."

No such command is to be found in the Sacred Scriptures. The passage to which Jesus most probably refers, as having been misinterpreted by the

"the

Scribes, is to be found in Lev. xix. 18. "Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord." There can be no doubt, that in this verse, strictly speaking, the word "neighbour" might be interpreted as referring to the Israelites, who are described in the first clause as children of thy people." But not contented with restricting the term "neighbour" to the Jewish nation, the Scribes drew from the command itself the unwarranted inference, that they were permitted, if not commanded, to hate all who were not of their own nation, and whom they were accustomed to consider as their enemies. And so extensively had this pernicious doctrine of the Scribes gained ground among the Jewish people, that by them the words stranger and enemy were considered as almost identical in meaning. Frequently in the course of His ministry, did our Lord seek to rectify their views upon this point. Thus, in the parable of the good Samaritan, He shows by a beautiful and affecting example, that it is our duty to shew benevolence and kindness to the stranger and the enemy. Nor did the Scribes receive countenance in their false notions from the law of Moses, although, undoubtedly, its precepts were chiefly directed to the welfare of the Jewish people. Thus, in Exod. xxiii. 4, 5, we find the command given, “If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray,

thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him; thou shalt surely help with him." And it is worthy of notice that when the same precept is recorded in fuller detail in Deut. xxii. 1-3, Moses exchanges the word "enemy" for that of "brother," thus plainly teaching the Israelites that it was their duty to regard even their enemies as brethren. The perverse doctrine of the Scribes, therefore, "Thou shalt love thy neigh-. bour, and hate thine enemy," was opposed to the whole spirit and genius of the Word of God.

Our Lord goes on accordingly to unfold the law of love in its true character and extent.

V. 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 despitefully use you, and persecute you."

The plain command of Christ is, that we love our enemies. This is a difficult and a high attainment. The love of the believer is a grace born from above. It flows from Him who is essentially love, and its purest and highest exercise is the love of God. But the question is asked by an apostle, "If we love not our brother whom we have seen, how can we love God whom we have not seen?" We are thus taught that he who loves God, loves his Christian brother

also. The love, however, of which the Redeemer speaks, is of a different kind. It is not a love to one who is a partaker of like precious faith with ourselves, one whom we can love, in the Lord, and whom we can recognize as bearing the Lord's image, a brother beloved. The love here referred to is a love to our enemies, a love which can break through all obstacles, all discouragements, all provocations, a love which flows forth even to those who hate us, who curse us, who despitefully use us and perse

cute us.

The love that animates the bosom of the child of God is of a twofold character. It is a love of benevolence which doeth good to all men as it hath opportunity, and a love of approving complacency which doeth good to those more especially who are of the household of faith. To all mankind, whether they be our countrymen or strangers, whether they be friends or foes, we owe a love of benevolence or good-will. If a man be our enemy, the duty of loving him becomes all the more difficult, and yet not the less binding. Love triumphs over difficulties, and the stronger the principle the more it is able to over

come.

The Redeemer, however, requires from us not only that we cherish a feeling of love to our enemies, but He demands an outward expression of the feeling, both in word and in deed. The three forms of exter

nal manifestation of love to our enemies, as mentioned in the 44th verse, constitute an ascending series or climax; 1st, blessing, "speaking well of" them that curse us; 2d, "doing good" to them that hate us; and, 3d, "praying for them that despitefully use us and persecute us." Each of these forms of love is so expressed, as to be in direct opposition to the various forms of hatred here enumerated.

The first mode in which enmity is often displayed towards the believer is by cursing. The angry feelings of the heart find vent in harsh, reproachful language, and even in bitter imprecations. What can be more unseemly, what more completely opposed to the Word of God, than such an exhibition of malicious and revengeful feeling! We are commanded, by the benevolent Jesus, to meet a spirit of this kind by a directly opposite temper,-"Bless them that curse you." The provocation may be great,—much grace may be necessary to subdue the risings of a wrathful spirit, yet the command is imperative. Let the world curse, the believer must bless. It is not only his duty to abstain from all unhallowed and vindictive language, but so subdued and sanctified will be his temper and disposition, if grace be in a lively condition, that instead of "rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing," he will only render blessing; knowing that he is thereunto called, that he should inherit a blessing. Thus it is that he will " overcome evil with