2. The privilege in debate, that wliich is denied or hardly vouch- safed to them is, ' Entering into the kingdom of God.' By which is meant —
[1.] The kingdom of grace; and so the meaning is, they are in- capable of the doctrine of Christ, as the thorny ground was of the good seed. Now what are they that answer to the thorny ground ? ' They that are choked with the cares, and riches, and pleasures of this life,' Luke viii. 14 ; that is, the heart wherein Christianity cannot enter with any good eff"ect and success : these choke and destroy many hopeful seeds of grace, which would otherwise spring forth in a lively diligence, and earnest pursuit of that one thing necessary. And this may be the meaning of 'How hardly do they enter ! ' viz., the great difficulty of rich men's becoming the disciples of Christ ; and the truth is, at the first setting forth of the gospel, it was verified by plain experience, for it is said, Mat. xi. 5, among other miracles which Christ wrought, he tells us ' the poor have the gospel preached unto them ; ' it is tttcoxoI evayyeXl^ovrai, they are all to be gospelled ; and ov ttoWoI, * Not many wise men after the flesh, nor many mighty, nor many noble are called,' 1, Cor. i. 26 ; not many of that order and rank.
[2.] Entering into the kingdom of God may be expounded of being made partakers of his glory in the kingdom of heaven ; this follows necessarily upon the former, for if they are incapable of grace, they are incapable of glory. And this is true too : James ii. 5, ' Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom ? ' And this was such a truth that even the scoffers and opposers of the christian religion took notice of it. Julian the apostate, in his epistle to Ecebolius, speaking scoffingly of those passages, saith, I have taken away from these Galileans some of their wealth, that they might not be deprived of the heavenly kingdom which their master promised them.
3. The thing spoken of these persons with respect to that pri- vilege ; there the form, ttw?, ' How : ' it is OavfjidaTiKov eTnpprj/uia, saith Hesichius, a form of admiration ; and the matter, ' How hardly ! ' It is not an utter impossibility, but a very great difficulty. All men are
VeR. 23.] SERMONS UPON MARK X. 17-27. 29
saved with difficulty : ' If the righteous scarcely are saved,' 1 Peter. iv. 18. It is no easy matter, but it is more difficult for them than others. It is passionately expressed, ' Oh, how hardly ! ' it is the greatest difficulty imaginable, such as made the disciples wonder : ' They were astonished at his words,' ver. 24. Afterwards it is set forth ])y the j^roverb of ' a camel passing through the eye of a needle,' ver. 25. Many foolish conceits men have about this, whereas in truth it is nothing but a Jewish proverb, to show it is a very unusual thing, of extra- ordinary difficulty, not to be removed but by the almighty power of God, ' but with God all things are possible,' ver. 27. Not that riches are evil in themselves, but that it is hard for such creatures as we to possess them without sinful and inordinate affections.
4. Consider who it is that speaks it. Alas ! if it had been the say- ing of any private divine or particular minister, we might tax it as rash and rigorous ; but the mouth of truth itself hath spoken it, even Jesus Christ, whom we own as our Lord and Master. He knew the way of salvation, and knew the state and danger of souls, and he hath interposed his authority, and represents the difficulty. It is Jesus Christ, that had so much wisdom to judge aright of matters, Jesus Christ, that had so much regard to the comfort and happiness of men, that he would not fright them with a needless danger ; and therefore certainly you should take such an admonition to heart from the mouth of him whom you call your Lord and master, and from whom at last you expect your doom and judgment ; he hath said it. If any wise man had said it from the experience of almost all ages and persons, you ought to have regarded it ; but when our Lord hath said it, he who is the ' Amen, the faithful and true witness,' why should we not believe him ? I pray what do you think of Christ ? Was not he able to judge of the case ? It was the saying of Plato, ayaOov ehai BLa<f>6p6vTco<;, Koi iryo'uaiov eXvai hiai^epovTfo^ ahvvarov — It is impos- sible to be excellently good and eminently rich ; therefore Celsus, a heathen who sought all occasions to disgrace the gospel, saith that Christ borrowed this saying of Plato, but he is confuted by Origen in his book against him. This proud heathen was sensible there was wisdom in the speech, therefore he would deprive Christ of the honour of it. But now since we believe the doctrine of Christ, and own it as the speech of Christ, who is our Lord and master, therefore it should more sink into our hearts. Thus for the explanation of the point, from the chcumstances of the text.