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had also lately given them. Ever since the Transfiguration, and his plain statement respecting the near approach of his kingdom, the apostles had displayed feelings of ambition, and were congratulating themselves on the place they held as the chosen attendants of the future monarch, and even disputing amongst themselves about priority. It was this feeling which seems to have stimulated the complaint against the stranger, who, at this critical moment, was presuming to assume a part like theirs; and it was against this feeling that our Lord directed the remarks which conclude this chapter. They convey a solemn warning to his apostles, against throwing any impediments in the way of those who were likely to join them, as candidates for his favour, and partakers of his free grace. By way of reminding them of former lessons, in which he had taught them what manner of spirit they were of, he connects his present admonition with that which he before gave them, when they, as now, disputed amongst themselves for priority. For this purpose it is, that he introduces into his language the image of a child-the symbol which he had on that occasion adopted. At that time

he had set a child in the midst of them; he now recalls the lesson to their minds, and connects it with the present by the metaphor he uses, "Whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea." The various strong figures, by which he goes on exhorting them to sacrifice the dearest and most cherished prejudices, rather than fail in this respect, may perhaps have been in like manner connected with some expressive action or word which is not recorded. Their meaning however, and its connection with the reproof, is plain-they were the salt of the earth; their rewards were to be proportioned to their alacrity in spreading that society which they seemed desirous to circumscribe -in removing, not in creating, scruples.

CHAPTER X.

THE QUESTION OF THE PHARISEES RESPECT

ING DIVORCE.

Ver. 1-12.

And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judæa by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again. And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

As it is expressly stated, that the object which the Pharisees had in view, when they put the question to our Lord respecting divorce, was to "tempt" him—that is, to ensnare him into some reply which might form a ground of accusation -they were probably already aware of the doctrine which he held concerning divorce. Moses had permitted divorce, at the pleasure of the husband, except in a case of marriage to which the husband had been compelled by law, on the ground of previous seduction". In objecting therefore to the morality of the permission to divorce, Christ would afford, it was thought, a handle for being charged with contradicting the law of Moses. From this snare, we may observe, he escapes, by asserting the immorality of the practice, not on his own authority, (as he would have done to believers,) but on the authority of those very Scriptures, which Moses had written, and sanctioned by his miracles. He appeals to the original form of marriage pronounced by God himself on the first pair; and reminds them, that

The right of the wife to divorce the husband was not part of the Mosaic law; but was a practice introduced only in the age of Christ.

this being the original appointment of God, it could only have been owing to their hardness of heart-their stubborn natures-their monstrous prejudices-that Moses was compelled to relax the law; whilst he left at the same time this record, to serve as a registered protest against the measure.

It is somewhat singular, that so important a qualification of Christ's rule, as the exception in case of fornication, (or conjugal infidelity,) should be recorded, neither in this account of St. Mark, nor in St. Luke's, but only in St. Matthew's Gospel. As it is found in St. Matthew's Gospel, we are quite sure that it proceeded from Christ; and to us therefore the case remains practically the same, as if all the Evangelists had recorded it. But then, did those for whom St. Mark and St. Luke wrote require this qualifying clause less than those for whom St. Matthew wrote ? Did they require that for a time it should not be laid before them? It would be difficult to conjecture. Perhaps the Gentile churches of Rome and Asia Minor, who first received the Gospels of St. Mark and St. Luke, required, from the prevailing loose notions among Gentiles concern

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