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16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Do men gather

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn. down, and cast into the fire.

g Luke vi. 43.

prophets; but what follows, inwardly they are ravening wolves, shows that the expression is proverbial, and describes a designing religious hypocrite. The cruel nature and the devouring rapacity of the wolf rendered that beast of prey a fit emblem of the Jewish doctors, whom our Lord so severely reproves for devouring widows' houses under a pretence of sanctity, and for an unbounded avarice, and whose rage against him and his disciples could only be satisfied with blood. The emblem is equally descriptive of the corrupt priesthood of all fallen churches, when not restrained by the civil authorities. Avarice is their sin, deception the means by which they gratify it, and to their hatred and rage must every faithful man be exposed who brings their doctrines and characters into the reproving light of truth.

Verse 16. By their fruits.—Some take fruits to mean their doctrines, others, their works. Both may be understood. Bad men sometimes, indeed, teach good doctrines, but not the class of men here referred to. Error is the instrument by which they delude, in order that they may devour. Still the conduct, comprehending the spirit and temper, is the most certain rule of judgment. "Try a man," says Demophilus, "rather by his works than by his speeches; for many can talk well that live ill."

Grapes of thorns, &c.-Grapes and figs were among the valuable produce of Palestine. Thorn, akavea, is the general name for all prickly shrubs, from aкŋ, ɑ point. Some of these appear to have borne a kind of useless, noxious berry;

h Matt. iii. 10.

for the Jews speak of "thorn grapes," in opposition to the grapes of the vine. The word тpißoλos, thistle, is, in Hebrews vi. 8, rendered brier. Like axavea, it is a general term for prickly, useless, or noxious plants or shrubs. How apposite are these metaphors to express the characters of these false teachers, and to show that not only is nothing profitable to man, either in doctrine or example, to be expected from them, but that they are mischievous and noxious! This is strengthened by what follows.

Verses 17, 18. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, &c.-As is the tree so is its fruit, and the tree must be good before the fruit can be good; a plain declaration that as GOOD TEACHERS must first be GOOD MEN, SO no one can fulfil the office of a minister of Christ in his church, or ought to be appointed to that office, who has not given previous evidence of the renewal of his own heart by the power of the Holy Ghost. Nor, in case of his having fallen from this grace, ought he to be continued in his office; for a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit. Aevdgov σапρоν properly signifies a tree which is decayed and rotten, but is here evidently used for trees which are bad IN KIND, bringing forth noxious fruit, in opposition to good trees, those which bear salutary and refreshing fruits.

Verse 19. Every tree that bringeth not forth, &c.-This verse being repeated from Matt. iii. 10, some critics have determined it to be an interpolation from the margin, under the pretence that it interrupts the sense; a sufficiently poor

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21 Not every one that saith unto me, 'Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

i Rom. ii. 23; James i. 22.

reason for rejecting it, and quite unfounded. For as to the argument that it interrupts the sense, it appears on the contrary most appositely to close this branch of the discourse, by warning the false teachers themselves of their final doom, and destroying, by that sentence, all sympathy between them and the people they might lead astray. It is as though he had said, Can you be instructed in the way to heaven by those who are themselves in the road to hell? Will you commit your souls to the care of those who have no care for their own? The infallible test of the false prophets is also repeated,-Wherefore, agaye, CERTAINLY, if in no other way, yet by their fruits ye shall know, eniyνwoeobe, clearly discern and distinguish them; for the compound verb has a heightened sense. It is the duty of all Christians, with candour and fidelity, to bring all to this test who profess to be their teachers "in faith and verity;" and the rule will not deceive them.

Verse 21. Not every one that saith unto me. Here the same subject is continued; and lest Christ should be thought by any to confine his caution against false teachers and guides to the Jewish doctors, he shows that his words looked forward to those also who should appear in the Christian church, those who should call him LORD. That he speaks prospectively, appears also from the reference to those miraculous gifts which were to be bestowed upon the first preachers of the gospel. The duty of rejecting false teachers is mightily enforced; for if a man be "a worker of iniquity," he is not to be received as a Christian minister, although he may be able to prophesy, in

the proper sense, that is, foretel things to come; and cast out devils, and do many wonderful works. But if so, the lower gifts of learning and eloquence in a minister are never to be thought a substitute for true piety, and in themselves give no claim to the office. The awful words are also applicable to the case of all unholy professors of Christ's holy religion, though not ministers.

Verse 22. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, &c.-As before they called Christ LORD, in the language of heartless profession, now they shall say to him, LORD! LORD! in the imploring language of convicted culprits, urging vain and hopeless pleas for admission into his kingdom. In that day, evidently meaning the day of judgment, THAT DAY, emphatically the last day, the day which closes the course of time, and fixes the states of men in eternity; so that here Christ declares himself to be the future Judge of the world, and, by implication, he asserts his divinity, for who can judge the world but the Being who knows the secrets of all hearts?

Prophesied in thy name.-Both teaching, in the common sense of the term, and foretelling things to come, or, as prophesying also means, the power of speaking in lofty strains of eloquence under special impulses. That all these may be included in prophesying in the name of Christ, is probable, because our Lord is speaking of the supernatural gifts with which his disciples would be endowed. This gift was not in every case confined to good men. Balaam had the gift of prophecy; and the prophetic spirit fell also, for the time, on Saul and Caiaphas.

k

23 And then will I profess unto them, 'I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

j Luke xiii. 27.

Cast out devils.-Judas had this power given to him, as one of the twelve apostles, and that of healing diseases miraculously. See chapter x. 1. And Origen testifies that devils were sometimes cast out by wicked men using the name of Christ; all which was permitted, not to accredit the character of the persons, but the truth of the doctrine of Christ. "An awful consideration," says one, "that a man should be able to cast out devils, and at last be himself cast to the devil."

Verse 23.-And then will I profess unto them, &c. — Ομολογεω has the sense of declaring openly and publicly. Christ will declare their sentence before the assembled world at the day of final judgment.

I never knew you.-To know signifies here, to acknowledge, to approve. Examples of this sense of yvwσкw are not only found in the LXX. and in the New Testament, but in classic Greek authors. I never acknowledged and approved you as ministers; ye had not my sanction in that character; nor shall you have the reward of faithful ministers: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. But though the words were primarily spoken of false prophets, or public teachers, they also foretel the doom of false disciples. There, is some difficulty in conceiving how miraculous gifts should be possessed by those whom our Lord calls "workers of iniquity." If it be urged that such persons might have fallen from a grace they once possessed, we are met by the strong negative, I never, oudeотe, knew you." Perhaps this is a mysterious circumstance which we must wholly resolve into the sovereignty of Him who, as to those gifts, says the apostle Paul, “divideth to every man severally as HE WILLS." Still it

does not follow that they were bestowed at first on men entirely devoid of true religious feeling. This no doubt prompted them to join the churches of Christ; and they gave such evidence of it as warranted the reception of them by its members;

k Psalm vi. 8.

but as miraculous gifts were imparted sometimes to great numbers at once, the communication of them could not be regulated by some particular degree of religious attainment in the recipient, for then we must suppose the same degree in all. When Peter preached to the company in the house of Cornelius, the Holy Ghost fell upon all present, and yet they were not all equal in knowledge, or in the strength of religious principle. Gifts were very general in the church at Corinth; yet many of them were "carnal," says St. Paul; not wholly carnal, indeed, but comparatively so, for he addresses them all as acknowledged members of the church. And if the gifts of the Spirit had been wholly confined to mature Christians, or even to entirely sound and decided ones, a visible distinction of character would have been made, somewhat inconsistent with the lesson taught in the parable of the wheat and the tares, which indicates that no infallible test, universally applicable, is placed in the church in the present world, by which perfectly to ascertain the good from the evil. Perhaps the character of Judas will assist us on this difficult subject. That he was an inquirer after truth, and not wholly an hypocrite, from the first, appears to have been the fact; but it is equally clear that he was strongly avaricious by natural disposition, which evil quality not being at any time fully and entirely mortified and renounced by him, though suppressed in the first stage of his discipleship, it at length prevailed against those better feelings and convictions by which, it is reasonable to conclude, he was once influenced, so that he became first a secret, then an open, "worker of iniquity." Of him Christ NEVER fully APPROVED, because the latent evils of his heart had never been fully mortified, so that they prevailed speedily against him; and having no depth of earth," the good seed sown there, and

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24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock :

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

1 Luke vi. 47.

which, indeed, at one time began to spring up, quickly "withered." In such an imperfect state, as to the power of religion in the heart, the "carnal members of the Corinthian church were; and such might be the general character of those of whom our Lord here speaks. They were not, when they received these supernatural gifts, openly wicked, and wholly dead to religion, but superficial and halting in their best state of mind, although under that degree of religious influence which, if improved, would have led to full salvation. They could never, therefore, be fully approved by Christ, though admitted as disciples; and they finally became workers of iniquity, though endowed with miraculous gifts, which never appear to have been among the appointed means of grace, and were never regarded more or less as infallible evidences of it.

Verses 24-27. Therefore, whosoever heareth, &c.-The conclusion of this discourse tends solemnly to impress the whole upon our attention. The result, as to our eternal interests, depends upon our HEARING these sayings of Christ, and DOING them; so that they are presented to us in the very form of Christian LAW, with the sanctions of life and death annexed; another proof that our Lord here speaks, not as a mere man, but as the lawgiver himself. For what mere man, though acting under a divine commission, could use

such language in such a connexion?These sayings of mine. Referring to no higher an authority than his own, and promising eternal safety, and threatening final ruin, as his hearers might be obedient to His sayings, or otherwise. On the fine comparison which follows, it will be remarked, that the wise man is both a hearer and a doer of Christ's sayings; the foolish man a hearer only, which implies, it is true, approval, and profession of discipleship, but nothing more. The wisdom of the former consists in choosing a rock for the foundation of his house; prudently foreseeing that not only would storms arise, but that the coming rains would produce those "floods," oi moтaμoi, land floods, or torrents, by which its strength would be put to severe tests, and that it could only resist the assaults of the elements by virtue of an immovable foundation. The folly of the latter is marked by his want of regard to the trials and dangers of the stormy season, and his trusting his whole building upon the sand or earth, which is apparently firm in summer, but liable, after that season, to be swept away by the tempestuous rains of those climates; the xeμарроi Tотаμot, as Homer expresses it, the winter torrents, which either swell the streams, or themselves form temporary rivers by their own copiousness. It is by these references to the climate of Palestine, the violence of its winter winds, the impetuous rush of its sudden rains,

28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

CHAPTER VIII.

2 Christ cleanseth the leper, 5 healeth the centurion's servant, 14 Peter's mother in law, 16 and many other diseased: 18 showeth how he is to be followed: 23 stilleth the tempest on the sea, 28 driveth the devils out of two men possessed, 31 and suffereth them to go into the swine.

1 WHEN he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

m Mark i. 22; Luke iv. 32.

and the power of the torrents, thus formed, that the force of the comparison is made manifest. By these three words, rain, winds, and floods, the severity of our great trials in the hour of death, and at the day of judgment, is strongly pointed out. Rain and hail fall with violence upon the roof and upper parts; winds try the sides of the house; floods and rushings of water, the foundation. And then, should it fall, great will be the fall of it. "It made a great show,” says one, "while it stood, and it made as great a noise when it fell; the fall being the more notorious by how much the former profession was the more specious."

Verse 28. Were astonished at his doctrine. These doctrines came indeed to them with so powerful an evidence of their truth and reasonableness, that they appear to have commanded universal assent among the people who heard them; but they were so distant from common opinion and practice, so different from what they had been accustomed to hear from their own teachers, so clear and full, so practical and hallowed, so solemn and weighty, so searching and convincing, that it is no wonder that they were astonished, eğeλnoσovтo, struck with astonishment at his doctrine. And, familiar as we are with this divine discourse, it can never be seriously read and pondered over with out reviving the same feeling. are indeed the TRUE WORDS of God."

"These

Verse 29. As one having authority, and not as the Scribes.-He taught them, not as a mere expounder of the law, which the scribes professed to be, nor merely in a more perfect manner, though this did not escape them; but there was something beyond this, which most strongly arrested their attention. This was the authority with which he spoke; for he spoke not as an interpreter of the law only, but as the legislator himself; giving his interpretations the same authority as the original precept, and adding others as of equal obligation and consequence. A frequent mode of speaking by the scribes, when they were teaching, was, The wise men say; Our Rabbins have determined. Those of the school of Hillel referred to him as their authority; those who followed that of Shammai appealed to him. This practice of referring to human authority, seeing that everything almost was explained by traditions, or the transmitted sentiments of the ancients, was probably used by the scribes of our Lord's time; and, if so, his usual formula, But I say unto you, is rendered the more remarkable and striking: he puts aside all human authority, and asserts his own.

CHAPTER VIII. Verse 1. Great multitudes followed him.-They had been deeply affected by his discourse on the mount, and the charm still drew them after him. The circumstance is, however,

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