The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 155

cieath, anrl to fix in their minds that in following him to Jerusalem they were going to i;ee him die. Again and again we find him solemnly assuring tbP-m that he must be taken and put to death, e.nd that he would rise e.gain. And yet when he was crucified they were entirely disheartened, and had no expectation of his rising again. Our wonder e.t the email impression made by our Lord's words is lessened when we consider the originality of his conception of the Messiah's glory. Only by Divine illumination, he said, could Peter have known him to be the Christ, but even a higher Divine illumine.tion was needed to teach him the doctrine of the cross. So clean counter to natural human belief ie this law that the truest glory is in humiliation for others, that even now each one bas to discover this law for himself, and, when he discovers it, thinks he alone has had it revee.led to him. So difficult ie it for us to comprehend that what the world needs for its regeneration more than the strong hand of a wise Ruler is the entrance iuto it, and the diffusion throughout it, of e. meek and lowly spirit, of a righteoua and God-fearing life. But our Lord assures us that not only for the Leader, but for the follower, this law holds good; those who would be with him in his glory must take his own path to it. The man who means to keep near Christ must not only deny himself one or two enjoyments or sinful indulgences, but must absolutely deny himself, must renounce self as an object in life, must give himself up as the enthusiastic physician gives himself up, regardless of all consequences to self, to the relief of his patients or to the advancement of science. You may say that the physician who does so does not deny himself, but gives expression to his highest and best self, and that is what our Lord means when be adds as his .first proof of the truth of his law, "For whosoever will se.ve his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my se.ke shall find it." So long as you make self your object, your end, and your centre, you are losing your life and your self; but when you are enabled to abandon self and to live for righteousness, for God, for Christ, for the community, you emerge into life eternal, you find your truest self. "And what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" This is one of those truths that need no demonstration, and yet are very difficult to act upon. To gain even a very small part of the world is so appreciable a gain, whereas the loss of the soul is so inappre- ciable often in the process, and it seems so easy to regain it, that we are tempted to act as if it were a very small matter. A third ground on which our Lord rests his injunction to follow him is laid down in the twenty-seventh verse. All permanent happiness is so bound np with character that he can only make men happy in propor- tion to their growth. The reward chiefly desired by every one who loves him is an increase of that love and a truer likeness to himself, and in eternity, as on earth, Christ and all who are like him, will find their glory in works of self-sacrificing compassion and helpful mercy. Vers. 27, 28: As far as can be gathered from the abbreviated form we have in the text, our Lord meant to say that the man who spent his life on self, and so lost his truest life, would find his mistake in the day when at Christ's second coming things are for ever arranged according to the principles be himself laid down and Jived on in his first coming, and then, as if to answer the donbt whether such a day of true judgment should ever come, he goes on to say that the kingdom of heaven would, even in the lifetime of some standing there, be sufficiently manifested to make his Divine power clear to them.-D. Vera. 1-4.-TM signs qf the Messiah. Coming into the borders of Magadan, after the miracles of the mountain in which he healed all manner of diseases, and miraculously feasted about eight thousand persons, Jesus encountered the Pbarise~ and Sadducees, who, sinking their sectarian differences for the time, agreed to tempt or test him by demanding a special sign of his Messiahship. Jesus declined to gratify them in this, appealing to the signs of the times which should be sufficient for them, and giving them himself a special sign. Let us consider, then- I. THE SPECIAL BIQN WHIOH THE PHARISEES BOUGHT. 1. They SC'll.gh~ a Bign from heaven. (1) This was clearly the sign of the Prophet Daniel (see .Dan. vii. 9-14). The Pharisees then deHirnd Jesus then and there to prove his Messiabship to them by appearing in the heavens as the Son of man in glory, and to establish a visible king- dom. (2) This Is a true sign of the Messiah. Not only is it a favourite sign with the Jews, but one also which Jesus acknowledged. He commonly spoke of himself, in  158 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [on. xvt. 1-28.