The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 216

Abraham received angels unawares. Let ns love and cherish Christian-minded friends ; they bring a precious blessing to our houses, for they briog the gracious presence of Christ. 2. The g,uile of causing them to stwmble. A heathen poet tells us that the greatest reverence is due to childhood; he bids us exclude carefully from the sight of children everything that is coarse and evil. The Lord enforces the same duty under more awful sanctions. The simplicHy, the receptivity, of little children expose them to evil influences. In Christian homes they a.re taught to believe in Christ. Amon" their companions, in their schools, they are sometimes exposed to manifold temptations"'. But woe to those who purposely set stumbling-blocks in their way I Woe to those, schoolfellows or others, who try to entrap the innocent and simple-hearted into pro- fanity and neglect of their souls I Such are acting the part of the devil; they are doing his work; they are the enemies of Christ, the murderers of souls for which Christ died. Better that they had died before they came to this pitch of guilt. For souls are very precious in the sight of Christ; he shed his precious blood for them. How must he regard those who entice them to ruin and death? 3. There must be offences. Human nature being what it is, the power of the devil being what it is, there must be always in the world men who set an evil example, who a.re as stumbling-blocks, as snares. It is a necessity, part of the great mystery of the existence of evil. This necessity is not absolute; it follows from the existence of sin; and sin is voluntary, or it would not be sin. Sin is voluntary in individuals; but while the world remains as it is, there must, as a fact, be sin in the world, as there must be heresies (1 Cor. xi. 19); and where there is sin there must be offences. But woe to that man by whom the offence cometh I The guilt of sin is increased by its contagions character. The sinner sins against his own soul; he sins also against the souls of others ; for his sin becomes a centre of evil influence, spreading its foul attractions among hearts rendered only too susceptible by the inherited corruption of human nature. None can tell the ma.as of moral disease which may spring from one source of infection. Then woe to that man by whom the offence cometh I He knows not what fearful mischief may follow from his wicked or thoughtless act. He ma.y repent, thank God; but his repentanc.i must be deep, his sorrow great; he may be saved, yet so as by fire. "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." 4. They must be avoided at all costs. Those who ensnare others, who cause them to stumble, have first been .ensnared, have stumbled themselves. The first occasion of stumbling must be avoided. The danger is great, the consequences are fearful; better any sacrifice, any self-deniaL Self-denial leads to heaven, self-indulgence to hell We must cut off the ea.uses, the occasions of sin, though they be as closely bound up with our life as the hand, or foot, or eye. The Lord repeats the lesson which he had already given in the sermon on the mount (eh, v. 29, 30). There are some cautions which must be given again and again- enforced with all manner of illustrations, "precept upon precept, line upon line." And surely this warning or the deep necessity of real self-denial is one which needs the most constant repetition, one which must be urged again and again, even unto weari- ness. And it must be urged very strongly and forcibly. The hand, the foot, the eye, are very valuable to us. The loss of one such member would be very serious. To cut iL off Qr to pluck it out would be a. great sacrifice, involving much pa.in, requiring very stern self-denial. But any self-denial, the Lord himself tells us, is better than the risk of suffering that eternal fire which must be the end of sin and self-indulgence. Eternal fire I soften the awful words as far as you dare; say that there is a possibility, a bare possibility, that the word "eternal" may not necessarily involve that endless- ness which is the froper meaning of the less correct rendering "everlasting; " say that the word "fire' is figurative, that the Lord did not mean a material fire, corporeal torments ;-after all, there remains enough of most fearful meaning in the words of Christ (and let us remember that it was Christ, the most gentle, the most loving Saviour, who used those words) to make us feel what must be the dreadful danger of those who entice others into 8in, to make thoughtful, believing Christians willing to deny themselves in every way, if so be they may escape from the wrath to come, and save their souls alive in the great day of God. 6. Offences come from contempt; con- tempt of tlld little ones is a grievous sin. To despise others was characteristic of the Pharisees; it is very sinful in Christians. The Lord is loving unto every man ; the Saviour died for all. Christiane may not dare to despise thollB whom the Lord loved, 2'.?0 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [on. :icvm.1-36.