The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 431

is an awful ideal if it is selected by itself. Its prophet is Machiavelli, and its hero Mephistopheles. But the dove alone will not suggest the most perfect saint; its gentleness may be feeble, Yet too often people choose one or the other as their ideal of perfection. Christ blends the two in himself; he is skilful in confounding the clever scribes by keen replies, and he is meek and gentle, harmless and undefiled.- W. F. A. Ver. 28.-What to/ear. Fear has a place in the economy of life, but the common mistake of people is to put it in the wrong place. We have clangers, but not where we commonly look for them, There is a needless fear which should be discouraged, and there is a necessary fear which has to be cultivated. L 'l'BB DISCOURAGEMENT OP' NEEDLESS J'EAB. 1. In what it C0'118Uts. This is the fear of man. The apostles were sent out as sheep among wolves. The gathering opposition of the authorities of lsrael against their Master was likely to turn against them also if they showed themselves zealous in advocating his cause. The fear of the disciples under these circumstances would be a type of worldly rear. With us this is not the dread of martyrdom; it is a horror of ridicule, a terror or being despised by fashion. 2. Wny it is stimulated. There was real danger to the apostles. Men can kill the body, and Christ does not deny this obvious fact. He does not offer his disciples a smooth course; on the contrary, he distinctly affirms that he has come to send a sword (ver. 34). 3. How it is discouraged, Various considerations prove this to be a needless and even an unworthy fear, (1) The example of Christ. He is ill used. Why should the disciples complain if they receive the same treatment as their Master (vers. 24, 25)? (2) The future revelation. Hidden things will be made manifest. Then the true life which seems to end in darkness will be brought to light and fully vindicated. ]t is hard to die under false opprobrium; but this is not the end. There will be a final declaration and justification of the wronged (vers. 26, 27). (3) The limit of man's power. He can kill the bocly, but he cannot touch the soul. Epictetns's master cannot destroy his slave's liberty of soul. The Christian's per- secutor may rob him of his brief bodily life, but not of his eternal spiritual life. (4) The merciful care of God, who sees every sparrow that falls and counts the very hairs of our head, watching the least-valued creatures, observing Lhe lea.st minutire of his children's condition (vers. 29, 30). This we must take on faith; for the sparrow falls in spite of God's watchfulness. But Christ, who kuows God, assures us that it is so; and if God is infinite it mus~ be so. (5) The guilt of cowardice. Dare we shrink from confessing Obrist for fear of man? Such conduct will merit his rejection of us (vers. 32, 33). II. THE CULTIVATION OP' LEGITIMATE FEAB. 1. The object of this fear. This is the awful destroyer of souls-he who goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. There is a childish fear of the devil that haunts the minds of superstitious people-a terror that sat like a nightmare on the people of the Middle Ages. Such a fear is but physical. But that which Christ would inculcate is mora.1.-the dread of sin. Our great enemy is the spirit of evil, and he attacks us whenever we are tempted. Christ wants us to have a horror of doing wrong. 2. The grfYUnds of this/ear. (1) Soul-destruction. Man can but kill the body; sin kills the soul. This is the peculiar effect of wickedness. If it only brought pain, the infliction might be a merciful chastisement, leading us to repentance. But it does far worse; it kills the soul. The wages of sin is death; the broad road leads to destruction; evil conduct paralyzes our better self, saps our higher energy, robs us of our faculties, blinds, crushes, deadens the life within. (2) Future ruin. The power of. man only appertains to earth; the results of sin are seen after death. Therefore we do well to be on our guard, not with abject terror, but seeking security in Christ.-W. F. A. Ver. 34.-Ghrist ,ending a sword. Jesus Christ came as the "Prince of Peace," and his advent was heralded by o.ngels, who sang of "peace on earth." When one of his disciples drew a sword to defend him, he bade the man put it back in its sheath, saying, "They that take the sword shall perish with the sword" (eh. xxvi. 52). His kingdom is not of this world, and because it is not, he told Pilate that his servants would not fight (John xviii. 36). How, then, can he speak of sending a sword? 428 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [orr. x.1-42.