It throws light on a subject, which has perplexed the minds of many sincere lovers of the Bible, and ought therefore to be specially observed.
This repetition shows us that our Lord was in the habit of saying the same things over again. He did not content Himself with saying a thing once, and afterwards never repeating it. It is evident that it was His custom to bring forward certain truths again and again, and thus to impress them more deeply on the minds of His disci- 23les. He knew the weakness of our memories in spiritual things. He knew that what we hear twice, we remember better than what we hear once. He therefore brought out of His treasury old things as well as new.
Now what does all this teach us ? It teaches us that we need not be so anxious to harmonize the narratives we read in the four Gospels, as many are disposed to be. It does not follow that the sayings of our Lord, which we find the same in St. Matthew and St. Luke, were always used at the same time, or that the events with which they are connected must necessarily be the same. — St. Matthew may be describing one event in our Lord's life. St. Luke may be describing another. And yet the words of our Lord, on both occasions, may have been precisely alike. — To attempt to make out the two events to be one and the same, because of the sameness of the words used, has often led Bible students into great difiiculties. It is far safer to hold the view here maintained, that at differ- ent times our Lord often used the same words.
The second point which deserves special notice in these verses is, the solemn ivarning lohich our Lord takes occa- sion to give to His disciples. His mind was evidently