to GOD and serve Him.] What does GOD say to these [Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.-Eccl. xii. 1.] What is meant by the words, Take no thought for the morrow? [Do not be disquieted or over-anxious about the future.] What things are mentioned about which men are often anxious? [Food and clothing.] How does Our Lord teach that we need not be anxious about food? [Verse 26.] How does He teach us that we need not be anxious about clothing? [Verses 28-30.] Does this mean that we are not to work and to exercise forethought to provide ourselves with the necessaries of life? [No! we are told in the Catechism that it is our duty to learn and labour truly to get our own living.] What are we to do then? [We are to do our duty, to work at our trade or calling, and leave the future in God's hand.] Under what name does Our Lord speak of GOD, to lead us to trust in Him? [Our Heavenly Father.] What may we learn from this title of GOD? [That He will care for us as a father cares for his children.] How does Our Lord show the uselessness of over-anxiety? [Verse 27.] How is this saying applied to the subject on which Our Lord was speaking? [If ye then be not able to do that which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?] What is meant by the saying, Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof? [Each day has its own work, its own difficulties, its own worries, and therefore it is foolish for us to distract and distress ourselves by dwelling upon the work and difficulties and worries of the future.] What is Our Lord's warning against judging others? [Chapter vii. 1, 2.] What sin is forbidden? [What is called censoriousness the passing of severe and uncharitable judgments on our fellow-men.] What reason does Our Lord give why we should not judge others? [Because we shall ourselves have to be judged by GOD.] What other reason? [That we are not in a fit state to judge others, owing to our own sins.] What did Our Lord say on one occasion to some Pharisees who were judging another harshly? [He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.—St. John viii. 7.] To what did Our Lord compare a sinful man judging the sins of others? [Verse 3.] Why does Our Lord call one who judges another a hypocrite? [Because he who condemns others seems to make out that he himself is free from fault.] What is Our Lord's advice to those who judge others? [Verse 3.] What is the meaning of this? What is meant by casting pearls before swine? [Presenting religious truths to those who are unfit to receive them, and who will be likely to treat them with contempt.] HYMN Hymns Ancient and Modern, No. 276. O Lord, how happy should we be.' SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS. EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT (continued). 'He taught them as one having authority.' God's Fatherly Love in answering Prayer, Read St. Matthew vii. 7-12. Commentary and Explanation.-The first two verses of this section are the Christian's Charter of Prayer; they assure us that the prayers we offer will be granted. But are not prayers very often seemingly unanswered? Did not St. Paul, for example, pray to GOD that some affliction, which he calls" a thorn in the flesh,' might be taken away from him? Did he not three times make this request, and yet it was not granted? (See 2 Cor. xii. 7-9.) This teaches us that the promise, Ask, and it shall be given you,' is only fulfilled when we ask for that which GOD knows to be for our good. And Our Lord gives us an illustration which will help us to understand God's willingness to answer prayer, and also the conditions under which alone our prayers are answered. No earthly father, Our Lord says, would refuse to grant the request of his child for that which is good or necessary for him; and if this is true of earthly fathers, who are not perfectly good or perfectly wise, will it not be much more true of our heavenly Father, who is perfect both in goodness and wisdom? May we not be sure that our Father in heaven will withhold no good thing from them that ask Him? Thus the first words of the Lord's Prayer-Our Father-teach us that our prayers will be granted, if the granting of them will be for our good. A wise father does not give his child everything that he asks for, knowing that some of his requests, if granted, would be harmful to him; and so Our Heavenly Father, in His love, refuses to grant some of our prayers (as He did that of St. Paul) because He knows that it is not good for us to have what we ask for. To this Our Lord adds the shortest and best summary of our duty to our neighbour which can possibly be given: What soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; or, as it might be more briefly expressed, Do AS YOU WOULD BE DONE BY; this, Our Lord says, is the law and the prophets―i.e., it sums up, in a short and concise form, the main teaching of the Law of Moses and the Old Testament Prophets. Compare the opening clause of 'The Duty towards our Neighbour': 'My duty towards my neighbour is to love him as myself, and to do to all men as I would they should do unto me.' How we should be kept from all unkindness, and malice, and evil speaking, and revenge, if we followed this royal law ! The Strait Gate. Read St. Matthew vii. 13, 14. Commentary and Explanation.-Our Lord here tells us that the life of godliness is a life of difficulty; it is compared to a narrow way, the entrance to which is strait [i.e., close and confined]; this is the way that leadeth to life [i.e., to God's favour now, and God's glory hereafter]; and, because of the straitness of the entrance and the narrowness of the way, there are few that enter upon it. On the other hand, the way of self-pleasing and of sin is broad, the entrance to it is wide; and many walk along this broad and easy way which leads to destruction [i.e., to ruin of body and soul]. Thus Our Lord teaches us that we must expect difficulties in our Christian course, and that we are more likely to be right when we are following the track of the few than when we are journeying with the many. True Teachers distinguished from False by their Lives. Commentary and Explanation.-Our Lord warns His disciples against the false prophets or false teachers who should arise; they would come in sheep's clothing [i.e., in an outward guise of harmlessness and simplicity], while inwardly they would be ravening wolves [intent on bringing mischief on those who gave heed to them]. How were these false teachers to be known? Our Lord. answers by their fruits [i.e., by their lives]. It is a law of Nature that a good tree brings forth good fruit, and a bad tree brings forth bad fruit; and just as surely will a man good at heart do good deeds, and one bad at heart do bad deeds. Thus a man's life is the key to his character-a bad life warning us off from. a man, while a good life should draw us to him. And Our Lord goes on to point out that it is by their deeds. and not by their mere words that men will be judged at the last day. It is not merely saying, 'Lord, Lord' it is not mere pious language-which will secure for us admission into the Kingdom of Heaven, but earnest effort to do what GOD wills. us to do. At the great day, when God shall judge the world, many will expect a reward because they have been professed servants of GOD, but will be rejected because they have been, in spite of their profession, workers of iniquity.* * I cannot refrain from quoting some solemn words on this subject from Bishop Walsham How's 'Commentary on the Gospels Hearing and Doing God's Word. Read St. Matt. vii. 24-27. Commentary and Explanation. Men are often content to hear God's word without doing it. [Scholars listen to a teacher's lesson, and learn, perhaps, texts of Holy Scripture, but do not think of acting up to them. How many, for example, will really try to live by the rule we have learnt to-day of Doing as we would be done by?] There are some who hear and do; these are like men building on a rock- -on a sure and firm foundation ; the structure they build will stand unmoved by the temptations and trials of life; there are others who hear and do not; these are like men building on the sand, on an insecure and shifting foundation; their building will give way under the first attack that is directed against it from without. This is the conclusion of Our Lord's great Discourse or Sermon on the Mount. It has taught us many weighty lessons; may we all both hear and do them, that so our lives may stand firm amidst the shocks of temptation, and all the trials to which we are exposed! * The Effect of Our Lord's Sermon on the Multitude. Read St. Matthew vii. 28, 29. Commentary and Explanation. We are told that Our Lord's teaching caused astonishment to the people who heard it, and the reason of this was, He taught as one having authority [i.e., He spoke with the weight and impressiveness of a Divine Teacher] and not as the Scribes. The Scribes, the religious teachers of the day, only repeated the lessons and explanations which they had received from the teachers that went before them; but Our Lord spoke with the authority of one whose word was law, who had come down from heaven to teach and to save men, and thus His teaching commanded attention and respect. Questions.-What is Our Lord's promise with reference to prayer? [St. Matt. vii. 7, 8.] Where in the Prayer Book is this promise quoted? [In the Baptismal Service, where we pray on behalf of the child, 'Receive him, O Lord, as Thou hast (S.P.C.K.): This verse (22) should be a very serious one to all who are engaged in any holy work. Besides ordained ministers of the Gospel, will there be no teachers in Sunday Schools, no district visitors, no singers in churches, who "in that day" may say, "Lord, Lord, have we not taught in Thy name, and ministered to Thy sick and poor, and sung Thy praises in Thy holy house?" to whom He may make answer, "I never knew you!" *It has been impossible, within the limits of these lessons, fully to annotate the Sermon on the Mount. The teacher will find much valuable matter in Mr. Benham's excellent Commentary on St. Matthew (National Society). promised by Thy well-beloved Son, saying, Ask and ye shall have seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you' (2nd Collect).] How does Our Lord confirm this promise? [By speaking of GOD as Our Father in heaven.] How does this title assure us that GOD will grant our prayers? [An earthly father gives to his child such things as he knows are necessary for it, and much more will Our heavenly Father give good things to them that ask Him.] On what condition only will God grant our prayers? [On condition that what we ask is really for our good.] What example have we of one asking GOD to grant something and being denied? [St. Paul-that the thorn in the flesh might be removed-2 Cor. xii. 7-9.] What was GOD's answer to this prayer? [My grace is sufficient for thee.'] What did this mean? [That though GOD did not take away the thorn in the flesh,' yet He gave to St. Paul His grace, or Divine assistance, to enable him to overcome his difficulty.] What does this teach us? [That if GOD does not answer our prayers in the way we expect, He may yet enable us to do without that for which we pray, or to bear that which we pray to be set free from.] What is Our Lord's summary of our duty towards our neighbour'? [Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye, even so to them.] What did He mean by saying, This is the Law and the Prophets? [This expresses, in a short form, the essence of God's teaching through Moses and the Prophets.] Quote Our Lord's saying about the Strait Gate and the Narrow Way. [St. Matt. vii. 13, 14.] What is the meaning of this? [That it is much easier to do wrong than to do right— to get into bad ways than into good ways.] What is Our Lord's warning about false prophets? [St. Matt. vii. 15.] Who are meant by false prophets? [False teachers, claiming to speak in Christ's name, but without His authority.] How does Our Lord say they are to be distinguished from true teachers? [By their fruits-i.e., by the lives they lead and the works they do.] In what other way does Our Lord express the same thing? [St. Matt. vii. 21.] How does Our Lord contrast those who hear His sayings and do them, with those who hear His sayings and do them not? [St. Matt. vii. 24-27.] Mention some of Our Lord's sayings in this sermon which we should try to do? [We should love our enemies; abstain from all angry, bitter, and unkind words; be careful never to judge others harshly; do to others as we would like them to do to us.] HYMN. Hymns Ancient and Modern, No. 273. 'O Lord, how joyful 'tis to see." |