The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 123

by a mere ritual that was so comprehensive, so minute, and yet so ridiculous, that it must have made men hate the very name of religion, I. MAN-MADE RELIGIOUB RULES ARE ATTRACTIVE TO MEN, It may be said, to all men. It can with confidence be said, to some men. There are, in every age and society, persons who prefer to have their religion done for tbm; who cannot, and will not, bear the burden of personal responsibility. They ask to have their conduct arranged by rules. And there have always been those who were willing to meet their requests, and to claim authority for so doing. It is a seemingly easy way in which to get through the difficult business of religion, if only it could be made satisfactory; but that it can never be, In all ages, and to-day, the man-made rules are sure to "make the Word of God of none effect." They are sure to push God out of those direct and personal rela- tions which he bears to each one, II. MAN-MADE RELIGIOUS RULES ABE RUINOUS FOR MEN, If they could keep them as mere helps and guides, all would be well, But that is just what man has never been able to do. Man-ma.de rules are always pushing out of their place, and into a. place which does not properly belong to them, The following points may be worked out and illustrated. 1. Man-ma.de rules shift the basis of authority in religion from God to man, from the true authority to an altogether false one. 2. Man-ma.de rules exaggerate the place of self in religion. For the authority of man is only the authority of idealized self. 3. Man-made rules substitute a religion of hand (conduct) for the religion of the heart.-R. T. Ver. 8.-Bincerity the key-'Mteofpiety. Formality is always imperilling piety. The representation of religious truths in ritual and ceremonial is a necessary condescension to the weakness of men, who want material aid in their effort to grasp spiritual things. But material things have a constant tendency to enslave men. And the enslaving work is done with so much subtlety that many a man who is a slave to his rituals, and to his rules, thinks himself to be a free man to-day. But, worse than that, and the thing that so much distressed our Lord, when a man knows that all his spiritual religion is gone, he will keep up his ritual, and be more exact in obeying his rules, and try to persuade himself that "formality" will do instead of "spirituality." Then the searching Lord pleads, "This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." I. RELIGION IS EXPRESSION. We ought to "draw nigh unto God with our mouth, and to honour him with our lip." Religion id holy worship, wise ordering of conduct, bearing honourable responsibilities, taking part in Christian activities, bringing the body into subjection, No man can wisely or safely restrain the e:,;pressian of religion. A faith which says nothing is no real faith. A love that does nothing is no real love. If there is life in the seed, the blade will appear above the soil. Secret religion is self- delusion. If a man is religious, it will get expression in his life and relations. II. RELIGION IB FEELING. It is something that can get expression. It is a et.ate of mind and heart. It is a spiritual relationship with the Divine Spirit, into which man, the spirit, has been brought. It is the quickening of the soul's love, and setting it wholly on God. It is the redirection of the soul's trust, and fixing it on God. It is the sanctifying of the soul's will unto the choice of God's will. "The kingdom of God is within you." Piety is a soul affair. Religion is the expression of piety in conduct and relation. III. SINOERITY IS THE BIGHT RELATION BETWEEN FEELING .L"ID EXPRESSION Sincerity Obrist asked for. Insincerity Christ denounced. Sincerity psalmists prayed for and prophets pleaded for. Weakness, incompleteness, failure, can be patiently home; insincerity cannot be borne; nothing can be done with it. To a man's own self he must be true. To his fellow-men he must be true. To God he must be true. A man must say, by lip and act, what he feels, and only what he feels. The vice of modern external religion is its utterance of more and better things than are really )I men's hearts.-R. T. Vere. 11, 19, 20.-The secret of human defilement. It is quite possible to exaggerate In presenting the teachings of our Lord in those verses. We do so if we make too absolute the distinctio1:1 betweQn whl\t goes into a man and wba~ comes out of a ipan,  126 THE GOSPEL ACOORDJNG TO ST. MATTHEW. [oH. xv. 1-39,