The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 449

mystic grace shares in the BBme offence. In fairness it should be seen that Romanist priests aud their imitators do not claim to set a.side the work and honour of Je811B Christ, but merely to administer his grace. Yet practically thoir functions are sub- stituted for Obrist's, and the people are induced to look to them instead of going to Obrist, the one High Priest, a.nd to God, as themselves kings and priests. Il. THE CREED. Theologians only profess to interpret the mind and will of Christ Nevertheless, the echolasticism of the Church ha.s led to the exaltation of doctrinal statementll into the place which of right belongs to Christ himself. Thus it wa.s once a popular presentation of the gospel to describe it as a group of saving truths which a person wiu; to believe. The great thing was for him to see the way of ealvation clearly. 'l'he whole idea of salvation by orthodoxy was the substitution of dogma for Christ. It taught that men are saved by believing a Creed; but the New Testament teache1 that salvation is dependent on faith in Christ alone. III. 'I'HE CHURCH. This is an institution founded by Christ himself. It is his own body, the body of which he is the Head. But there is a great perversion when the body is put in the pla.ce of the Head, and is thought to perform it.s functions. The Churchly notion of religion is that men are saved through their connection with the Church. It is true that all Christians maintain that salvation is in and through Christ alone. There is no formal and confessed. substitution of the Ohurch for Christ. But the perversion is not the less real in practice. As a fact, multitudes of people are led to think much more of their inclusion in the Church than of their being in Christ. The assertion that there is no salvation outside the Church is soon twisted into the idea that thereisSBlvationfor all in the Church, and that membership therein is the primary condi• tion of salvation. Against these and all other substitutes for Christ we have to be on our guard, that we may look alone to the living personal Saviour for grace and life.-W. F. A. Ver. 13.-FifMIZ perseverance. It is evident that our Lord was speaking with especial reference to the series of calamities that was to accompany the death•throes of the Jewish state. In them are typified and illustrated. the trials which test the fidelity of the Christian in many walks of life. L WE ARE WARNED TO EXPECT HEAVY TBIALB. No woes can have been greater than the troubles of that tragedy of history, the fall of Jerusalem. But Job justly tells us that" man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward" (Job v. 7). It is foolish to anticipate calamity, for" sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof;" but it is equally foolish to deny its possibility, or to be astounded and amazed when we have our she.re of wbat, after all, is just the common Jot of mankind. Most assuredly the feeble faith that will be swamped in the first gale of adversity is not fit to be launched on the uncertain seas of life. Il. THESE TBlALB WilJL REQUIRE THE GB.ACE OF OONTINUOUB ENDURANCE, It might be possible to muster courage for the encounter with one huge calamity in a rare crisis of life. The exceptional necessity wonld call out exceptional energy, and the very excitement of the novel situation would help to brace the spirit of heroism. But in many lives the trial of faith is long and tedious. There is not one brief and brilliant hour of martyrdom, but there are years of repeated difficulties and renewed troubles. To face such experiences a gift of patience and stubborn endurance is requisite. For most of us this is needed, because in some form the whole of life is a course of discipline, although it is not the purgatory pessimists paint it. IlL THE ENDURANCE OF ADVERSITY AND TEHPTATION IS NOT INDEPENDENT OF OUR oWN EFFORTS. It is not solely dependent on those efforts. Nobody can stand firm in his own strength alone. If we are enabled to be faithful, this is because God is with us, our Strength and our Stay. There is no possibility of continuous endurance excepting through his presence and help. The trials are certainly too severe for unaided human strength. But this is not alL It is but one side of the situation. The Divine gm.ce is given to those who seek it; it is given according to the measure of faith; and it is given to inspire and energize our efforts, not to supersede them, We must strive, or we shall fail. IV. A GREAT DELIVERAllT0E WILL CROWN TIIE ENDUBANOE THAT 18 PEBBEVEBED IN TO THE El!!D. 1. There will be an end. "Now we fight the battle." OH, XXIV. 1-51.] THE GOSPEL AOCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW, 455