BEING LESSONS FROM THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW.

CHAPTER V. (Continued from page 160.)

The Lord now takes up the necessary principle of law, to contrast it with that non-resistance of evil which He enjoins upon His disciples. The righteousness of the law, of course, remains righteousness, but it does not require of any that they should exact for personal wrongs. There is no supposition, on the other hand, of the abrogation of law or of its penalties. The government of the world is not in question, but the path of disciples in it. Where they are bound by the law, they are bound, and have no privileges; they are bound, too, to sustain it in its general working, as ordained of God, for good. Within these limits there is still abundant room for such practice as is here enjoined. We may turn the left cheek to him that smites the left, or let the man that sues us have the cloak, as well as the coat he has fraudulently gained :for that is clearly within our rights. If the cause were that of another, we should have no rights of this kind, nor to aid men generally in escape from justice, or in slighting it. The Lord could never lay down a general rule that His people should allow lawlessness or identify themselves with indifference to the rights of others. He speaks only of what is personal to one's self,-"smite thee," "sue thee" "compel thee:" and here the law itself would recognize your liberty.

His disciples are not only to yield, but to show readiness, at least, to do more. They are not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome it with good. They are under a higher than any earthly government, which will take abundant care of them, and are free from advocating their own cause or taking arms in their own defense. And they are partakers of such royal bounty that they are to be themselves bountiful. "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away."

All this needs wisdom in following out, that it may answer to its end:-that God may be honored in it, and men be blessed. It must not be allowed to degenerate into a moral laxity which may counterfeit it, but thus be its opposite. True love alone will find here the way, but will certainly find it,-clear sighted, as all true love is. To this, therefore, the Lord now goes on.

Men understand, at least, that they ought to love their neighbor; but their qualifications narrow even their idea of such a duty, while they have invented a duty of hate which no law-giver, perhaps, would dare inscribe upon his tables, but to which, nevertheless, there is given a too ready and practical obedience. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy" is what he would justify to his conscience, as he approves it in his heart. But the law has no other word but "neighbor" here, and no other duty but to love him :and the Lord specifically puts even one's enemies into this class. "But I say unto you, Love your enemies:"not even, "do them good" merely, though that might seem much, but love them. Hard work, indeed, and impossible, save in the light of a greater love :for every day that the sun shines, or the rain falls upon this evil world, which has turned away from God, such love is demonstrated, leading men to repentance. God blesses those who curse Him, does good to those who hate Him,-sets us the sweetest and most wonderful example of infinite compassion, which He who was Speaker here has filled out to the full by taking His place among those despitefully used and persecuted, and pouring out not only His heart, but His heart's blood for His persecutors. Thus that which might seem impossible even with God, is in God become Man made actual.

When the Lord spoke, this last word had not yet been uttered; but He was there who was to utter it, the Son of the Father, and opening to men the way into divine relationship, which He encourages His disciples to apprehend and realize in a way unknown till now. "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven," implies acceptance of this wondrous place in such a way as to let it be manifest, in the character displayed. And how responsible are they to whom such grace is given! To live in it is to acquire power for it.

They must not, then, with this high place, accept the moral code that would suit even those typical sinners the publicans-those instruments of Roman greed and oppression. For these even were capable of returning love for love. For those whose Father is in heaven, nothing but perfection can be permitted as the standard,-His own moral perfection. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect," is supreme, flawless perfection. And nothing else would do as a standard. The moment we admit evil into this, that evil has become part of the standard, and God is made to go with the thing He hates.

We must, however, distinguish between the having perfection before us,-condemning ourselves for whatever is not that, and honestly pressing after it, -and the self-flattery that can assert, "we have attained." It is in fact because perfection is before us, that we cannot say so. Will any one indeed venture to say he is morally perfect as God is ? The highest pretensions must surely shrink a little from making such a claim. Yet here is the pattern:we are to be "imitators of God, as dear children" (Eph. 5:i, Gk.), aspiring after that which will always be beyond us, and which, as being so, will always work in us self-abasement and humiliation, instead of self-complacency.

This, then, is to be the aim; and, while it is owned that we fall short, let us remember that the very falling short implies an aim:if we do not aim, we cannot fall short; if we only aim at something lower, the standard is given up; we are then doing our own wills, and not God's.

Let us remember also that there are two kinds of perfection, which it is important to distinguish from one another :perfection in degree, something that cannot be exceeded; and perfection, as wholeness, entireness. We say of a wheel, it is perfect, because it has all its parts, while, as to its workmanship, it may be very imperfect. Now the child of God may be feeble, and is; but as a partaker of eternal life, he should not be maimed. In God, love and light belong together:no one of these, apart from the other, could represent His nature. Love without righteousness would not be divine love. Righteousness without love would not be divine righteousness. So love, too, just to those who love us, may (as the Lord tells us) be a publican's love, not God's:it is not a feeble likeness, but a distortion, a misrepresentation. Where the new nature is, there the moral character of God is found,-infantile, perhaps, as to development, and yet in it the Father's image shines. "Love," then, "your enemies," says the Lord, "that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven."

This closes the second part of the sermon on the mount with the seal of divine perfection. The greater prophet than Moses speaks in it, with a brighter glory in His face than Moses's face could show. F. W. G. (To be continued.) F. W. G.