SUBJECT OF SERMON. MAT. V. 20. In the peculiar circumstances in which the Sermon on the Mount was delivered, Jesus deemed it right to approach the chief subject of His sermon with great caution, preparing the minds of His hearers by such an exhibition of the principles of the Gospel scheme as would most effectually divest their minds of prejudice. The subject was new and alien from their ordinary modes of thinking. And, besides, the manner in which it was expounded by Christ was so very different from the teaching of the Scribes, that they were in danger of conceiving of Christ's doctrines as opposed to those of Moses. But He shows that His principles were the very principles of the Jewish law in its true sense. It was not He that was in error, but the Scribes and Pharisees, and that not on an unimportant but a vital point. They had perverted the great principle on which depended man's present happiness and eternal bliss, and, therefore, Jesus plainly and openly declares :— V. 20. "I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes the Scribes and Pharisees. If we would enter the kingdom of heaven we must excel even these men who stood the highest in the estimation of their Jewish countrymen. The attainment of a righteousness so pure, so complete as to meet the demands of the law and the justice of God, has, since the fall, been the grand object after which man has been constantly aspiring. His language has ever been "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" The law of God demands a perfect obedience ere we can either find acceptance with God or be fitted to dwell for ever in His presence. As long as the infinitely great, and holy, and just God exists or wields the sceptre of the universe, this law must ever retain its original purity, unsullied as the Lawgiver Himself. When, therefore, man had trampled under foot those righteous statutes which bound in holy and harmonious subjection the whole intelligent creation to its God; there remained only a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which certainly awaited him as an adversary of God. Before a reconciliation could be effected between rebellious man and his justly offended precepts which constitutes the very essence of religion in the soul. There may be an appearance of sanctity in the outward demeanour, but it is the prevailing influence and power of God's law in the heart which alone entitles a man to the appellation of a true Christian. SUBJECT OF SERMON. MAT. V. 20. In the peculiar circumstances in which the Sermon on the Mount was delivered, Jesus deemed it right to approach the chief subject of His sermon with great caution, preparing the minds of His hearers by such an exhibition of the principles of the Gospel scheme as would most effectually divest their minds of prejudice. The subject was new and alien from their ordinary modes of thinking. And, besides, the manner in which it was expounded by Christ was so very different from the teaching of the Scribes, that they were in danger of conceiving of Christ's doctrines as opposed to those of Moses. But He shows that His principles were the very principles of the Jewish law in its true sense. It was not He that was in error, but the Scribes and Pharisees, and that not on an unimportant but a vital point. They had perverted the great principle on which depended man's present happiness and eternal bliss, and, therefore, Jesus plainly and openly declares : V. 20. "I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes |