The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 517

showA manifestly very differently from the character of men, and from the general intense craving of human nature for praise and for early manifestation, specially where the law that obtains is to prefer the praise of men to that of God. It rebukes passion as distinguished from patience; boastingness as compared with humility; and ostenta- tion as compared with retiringness. But it does something much more. It presents Christ as the Embodiment of a series of very remarkable contrasts, or of what would generally be held to be such. God's chosen Servant, his ineffable delight, the residence of the fulness c,f the Spirit, is nevertheless meekness, silence, and tenderness itself. The crowd of sufferers gather round one Deliverer; the crowd of sinners round one Saviour; the crowd of grateful worshippers round the one Object of their worship, "God manifest in the flesh." But this one Deliverer, this only Saviour, this loving and true God incarnate, appears not here dressed in authority, His look, his garb, his commands, are unlike those of one who would clothe himself with authority, other than that which his actual deeds and sleeping strength might shadow forth. The text fixes one of those characteristics, gentleness. He is so gentle that he will not break a bruised reed, nor quench smoking flax. What others would tread upon or cast into the fire, he will stoop and pick up and save; what others would crush, and quench its dying smoke, as the remnant of a taper, he will not quench; but while there is life will give light, while there is light will sustain it. The bruised stem for the by-passer he will stay to bind up, reed only though it be; and will rekindle, not quench, life's spent taper. Uncommonly and sublimely simple, even.for Scripture, as is the double figure of Isaiah, here quoted by St. Matthew, and in so unexpected a connection, it is intended to speak (1) an unknown tenderness of heart; (2) an unknown gentleness of touch; and (3) an unknown patience of forbearance--all unknown at least till he of whom they are now spoken made them known, This verse, then, one of the golden links of connection between the Old and the New Testament, what the prophet of old foretold of him, what the evangelist echoes and re-echoes, speaks of Christ and claims for him- I. A.N UNKNOWN TENDERNESS OF HEART. Even the perfect simplicity and the fresh charming naturalness of a child's affection would scarcely dictate the carefulness not to break a bruised reed, or the regretful watching of the last curling rings of some taper's departing life. Yet the figure here used is no exaggeration, for it tells and helps us to get some approach to a correcter notion of Christ's tender love to the bruised reed, called one's self; and to the smoking flax, which is another name for the inner life and inner light which God put within, but which we have gone so near to put out, While the Divine One was here there was not a bruised limb nor a damaged sense which he did not repair and renew; not an inner spring, or power, or flickering flame of life to which he did not give its own vigour and native energy in place of its own degenerate smouldering and smoke. Reason's flickering rushlight and the soul's just dying lamp of life did he rekindle, and fed them both from the sources of the eternal light. "Infinite pity touched the heart of God's almighty Son." It considered not difficulty nor expenditure, nor the shame and anguish of the cross; but one thing only-that object on which it had set itself. This is the tenderness of the immortnl love of the strong Son of God-man's matchless Friend and man's enemy's overmastering Foe; and thus is it written of him, "He will not break a bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax." Infinite power achieves the immortal victory over Satan, and the conquest of sin and death; but infinite tenderness achieves the counterpart victory, to take for ever captive our loving soul. II. A.N UNKNOWN GENTLENESS OF TOUOB, Given the former, it may seem thnt all is given, and that all the rest must follow as matter of course. But it is not exactly so; ,it is not necessarily so. Often, indeed, the will surpasses the deed, and often indeed, with confessed kindness and tenderness of heart, there may fa.ii to be found a happy or a tender way of expressing it, Innumerable, in fact, are tho instances of those who would be very surprised and hurt if they wore plainly told that there was no one yet suspected them of having the one very thing they never suspected themselves of not having-a truly kind heart; but whose deeds, or want of deeds, or way of showing forth their deeds, have long, loudly, irresistibly, told it to all others, though not to themselves. If a bruised reed is to be handled at all, it must be handled very care• fully; and if the flickering, flaxen taper is not to be utterly extinguished, it must, whether lifted or only approached, be very cautiously approached, and be lifted very »ATTilEW, 2L  614 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATl'HEW. [on. xn. 1-60.