Render therefore to God his own: let our first honour be paid to him who has a first right to it: and let our hopes, and fears, and affections, and services, be all centered in him who is alone worthy of them.

23. The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,

24. Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother:

25. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother.

26. Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.

27. And last of all the woman died also.

28. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.

29. Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.

30. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

It is possible, that the case here alleged, or something like it, might have occurred. But more probably it was invented for the purpose of argument: and served as a plausible reason to the infidels of the time, why they should put away the subject of the resurrection from their minds. In the hands of infinite wisdom, it became an opportunity of recording a most solemn truth. In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

Unscriptural and incorrect ideas of the world to come, are not confined to these adversaries of our Lord. It is too common to speak and think of it, without any deliberate consideration of its nature. And this leads to the practical error of supposing that men may pass from this world to the next, with no more preparation for the heaven which they presume upon, than if they were leaving one. earthly country for another. Whereas we are told, that, in the resurrection, "God shall dwell with men, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And there shall in no wise enter into his kingdom any thing that defileth."

994

A

Here let every one contemplate his own state; and consider, how far he is preparing for such a kingdom: for the presence, the immediate presence of Him who "cannot look upon evil," in whose eyes "even the stars are not pure." Those who belong to it, are as the angels of God. daily reflection upon this great truth, should lead all to examine themselves, whether they are living as those who have so high a destination held forth to them living, and seeking to live more and more, under the influence of that Spirit which alone can renew the heart, and make it meet for a kingdom in which "dwelleth righteousness."

31. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 32. I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Revel, xxi.

33. And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.

Our Lord here points out, how a proper attention to their own Scriptures should have satisfied every Jew who professed to receive them, that there is a resurrection of the dead. The Scriptures revealed God to them, as the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Yet Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, being like other men, strangers and pilgrims upon earth, had been long ago buried in their graves. To suppose, therefore, that these, although taken from this world, and returned to dust, were really extinct and lost to existence, was to suppose that God had distinguished himself as the God of the dead: of those who had no consciousness of his regard, and could return him no allegiance. And the force with which his argument came home to their conscience and understanding, so unlike the subtilties to which they had probably been accustomed from their usual teachers, astonished the multitude, and convinced them. But we are told nothing further. We are not told that it converted them. To that something more is necessary, than an argument which cannot be gainsaid.

We need not argument to convince us of the truth which the Sadducees denied. We, from our youth up, have professed to look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Our great business is to live as those should live, who have "no continuing city" here, but are waiting for the coming of their Lord.

Mark xii.

28-34.

LECTURE LV.

THE LOVE OF GOD AND OUR NEIGHBOUR.-
JESUS MORE THAN DAVID'S SON.

MATT. xxii. 34-46.

34. But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

35. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36. Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38. This is the first and great commandment.

The question thus replied to, was asked with no good purpose. The lawyer did not seek our Lord with a desire of instruction, but tempting him. Divine wisdom converts evil into good. Our Lord, in answer to this insidious question, has left a reply which is to be the rule of Christians in all ages; the rule to walk by, the rule to examine themselves by. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great com mandment. Not because the commandments of God can be separately weighed, as if one was more important than another. But because this, the love of God, is the principle of all obedience, the foundation of all duty: the regulating movement of our hearts and lives. If this is wanting, every

thing is wanting: if this is really present, every thing else will follow.

We cannot doubt, but this would be the natural feeling of the heart, if mankind had not been estranged from God by sin, and alienated from the proper object of their love. It is the carnal mind which is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God. What therefore is foreign from our corrupt nature, must be produced in it by the power of divine grace; and He to whom we owe a perfect and undivided love, must add this to all his other mercies, that he engrave that love on our hearts, and "write it on our minds."

39. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

All the revelation of himself and of his will, which God has vouchsafed to man, is comprehended in these two rules. "For what does the Lord require of thee, O man, but to do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God?” The one therefore, we are assured, is like the other. It is like it, in intrinsic excellence. Love of God, which sanctifies every thing which we conceive, or say, or do, is the highest perfection of which our nature is capable. And the love of our neighbour is like unto it. Contemplate it in those who have shown it most completely in those who have given up, for the sake of the interests of others, their own interests, their own natural desires, and comforts: compare a life of charity like this, with the