THE

CHRISTIAN PIONEER.

No. 184.

DECEMBER, 1841.

Vol. XV.

A BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW. (Continued from page 493.)

CHAFTER XXIII.

In the beginning of this chapter, Jesus exposes the proverbial hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees. He declares that they bind on men's shoulders "the heavy and grievous burdens" of their Traditions, and exact for them a tenacious and merciless observance. He asserts, from that acquaintance with the thoughts and intents of the heart which he had received from on high, "that all their works they do for to be seen of men." Among other modes which they adopted, to impress the unreasoning multitude with a belief in their superior sanctity, they (verse 5) "made broad their phylacteries, and enlarged the borders of their garments." Phylacteries were small slips of parchment or vellum, on which were written various passages or quotations from the Old Testament. They were introduced, from the Israelites understanding literally certain metaphorical expressions in their Scriptures. Thus, in Deut. vi. 6-9, it is enjoined" And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."-See also Exodus xiii. 9, 16. This is highly figurative language, intended to depict the reverence and attention which should be paid to the word of God, by all true believers. The Jews, however, with their accustomed preference of the ceremonial to the spiritual, understood it literally; and, in consequence,

inscribed certain portions of the law of Moses on parchment, which they actually bound "as a sign upon their hand, and a frontlet between their eyes." Such was the origin of the phylacteries. It appears that by the more superstitious among the Hebrews, they were farther used as charms to defend their wearers from the assaults of demons and evil spirits-beings universally believed in and dreaded by the uneducated. The Targum in Cant. viii. 3 [see Whitby on this text], introduces a Jew speaking thus," I am chosen above all people, because I bind frontals to my head and my left hand, and my parchment is fixed to the right side of my door, so that a third part of it comes up to my bed, that the evil spirits may not hurt me." While some devoted them to the purposes of a formal religion, and some to those of a gross superstition, the Pharisees enlisted them in the cause of hypocrisy. They wore their phylacteries unusually broad, that they might have more written on them; that the texts might be in larger characters, and therefore more visible; and generally, that they might be observed, admired, and reverenced by the wondering populace.

We read, in the book of Numbers, xv. 37-39, "And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments, throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: and it shall be unto you for a fringe that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of Jehovah to do them." It may, to the unreflecting, be deemed beneath the dignity of the Creator that he should legislate about the garments of his people. But nothing is undignified or trifling, which has a tendency to make men wiser, better, and happier. It is not beneath the greatness of the Creator of cherubim and seraphim, that he should superintend the pameunk, and take counsel for the enjoyment of the worm that crawls along the pathway. Besides, the wisdom of any arrangement must be judged of by its adaptation to produce the effect contemplated; and if the wearing of this fringe and of this ribband, was efficacious to mark the separation of the Jews from the rest of mankind, to preserve them from idolatry, to retain them in the worship of One Su

preme Intelligence, and to remind them constantly of their various duties, whether religious or moral,-the legislation which secured all these most desirable and beneficent results, must have had its origin in love, and its operation in wisdom, and was, in every way, worthy of Him whose essence is a compound of both. A kind parent thinks nothing beneath his notice, or his care, or his interference, which is calculated to promote the wellbeing of his children. Moreover, God does every day in his works, what he is here represented as having done in his word; for he has adapted external nature to the mind of man, and so fixed the laws which regulate the association of our ideas, that a flower casually seen or an air casually heard, may recall events, persons, thoughts and emotions, long since past and gone,-and the wampum-belt of the Indian, be the suggestor and the record of historical incidents which occurred centuries before. Similar was the design of the fringes commanded to the Jews. Not that there is any necessary connection between a particular dress and the principles of genuine piety; but if any two things, however originally apart or discordant, are for a long time connected in the mind, the one necessarily and invariably suggests the other. Thus, different portions of the fringe, might, in this Mosaic system of Mnemonics, come, in process of time, easily and readily to remind the wearer of different portions of God's commandments. These fringes were worn by all the Jews; but the Scribes and Pharisees made a greater display than others; for they "enlarged the borders of the garments," that the people might behold how mindful they were of the precepts of the Law and of the injunctions of the Deity. These practices, Jesus unsparingly condemns: in his perfect code of morality, even habits of dress are not innocent, when they are assumed with the express intent of deceiving others as to our real character.

Another practice of the Hypocrites was,-verses 6, 7, that they "loved the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi." This epithet, signifying "Master," does not appear to have been used as a prefix to a proper name, till shortly before the

appearance of the Anointed. The Jewish writers are of opinion, that it was first borne by the Rabban Simeon, who is supposed by many Christian divines, to have been identical with the person mentioned in Luke ii. 28, who took the infant Jesus in his arms in the temple. After this, it was assumed by the disciples of the opposite schools of Hillel and Shammai; and eventually became so common, that it was freely awarded to all teachers and learned men. They were intensely gratified by such a salutation, and rigorously exacted it from their followers and the populace. There were many similar titles, derived from the same root, and having a corresponding signification. Of these, the most usual were Rab, Rabbi, and Rabban, which seem to rise in excellency like the three degrees of comparison; Rabban being esteemed more honourable than Rabbi, and Rabbi than Rab. Our Lord warns his followers against these assumptions of superiority, in the ever memorable words (verses 8-10), "But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Teacher, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ." An old Bible, published in the reign of Edward VI. shortly after the commencement of the Reformation in England, has a note in these words, on the expression "call no man your father upon the earth,""Here is the Bishoppe of Rome, declared a plaine Antichriste, in that he woulde be called the most Holye Father; and that all Christen men shoulde acknowledge him for no lesse than their spyrituall Father, notwithstandinge these plaine wordes of Christe." Dr. Adam Clarke, while citing this note in his "Commentary," adds,

"It is true; nothing can be plainer; and yet, in the face of these commands, the Pope has claimed the honour; and millions of men have been so stupid as to concede it." How clearly all of us can discern the mote in a brother's eye, while we cannot after much searching discover the beam that is in our own! If the Bishop of Rome arrogate the title of " Most Holy Father," do not the Bishops of one of our National Establishments, arrogate the equally presumptuous title of "Right Reverend Fathers in God"? and if the assumption of the name

"Father" prove the one to be Antichrist, does not the very same assumption, of the very same name, prove equally as much respecting the others? It is idle to quarrel with a name or a title, whoever may wear it; but it is fit and proper to quarrel with the thing itself which these epithets denote. Antichrist is not a per

son, Antichrist is not an individual church, Antichrist is not a spirit limited to one special denomination of believers; wherever it be found, that which fetters the minds of men in their inquiries after religious truth-that which places itself upon an equality with the declarations of Holy Writ-that which exalts its authority above the words of the Lord Jesus, is, so far, ANTICHRIST. How opposed to every manifestation of this spirit of evil, are the exhortations and commands of the Anointed!" Be not ye called Rabbi," assume not a spiritual despotism over your fellow-creatures; "for one is your Leader, even Christ," ye and all the rest of mankind are under subjection to him; "and all ye are brethren," placed upon a perfect equality as to religious rights and privileges, none tyrants and none slaves under the dispensation of the Gospel. This is a warning to them against presuming to legislate for the consciences of men, against daring to "lord it over God's heritage." But whilst they are not to impose mental and spiritual fetters on others, they are equally forbidden to wear these fetters themselves. "And call no man your father upon the earth," submit to no one's dictation in matters that affect your immortal interests; "for one is your Father, who is in heaven." He is the only being to whom we must bow with implicit submission and obedience; "God alone is Lord of conscience." Happy would it have been for Christendom, had the followers of Jesus remembered these two injunctions, neither to command, nor to be commanded, in religious concerns. Many cruel wars and barbarous murders would never have occurred in ancient days; and exclusions from citizenship, petty persecutions, and thousand heart-burnings, would have been less frequent in our own times.

Verse 13: "But woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye