Matthew 22

If there be but one God, then it excludes all other gods. Some have feigned that there were two Gods, so the Valentinians; others, that there were many gods, so the Polytheists; the Persians worshipped the Sun, the Egyptians the lion and elephant, the Greeks worshipped Jupiter;…

And the more honor God has put upon us in adopting us the more he has magnified his love towards us. What honor that God has made us so near in alliance to him, sons of God the Father, members of God the Son, temples of God the Holy Ghost, that he has made us [〈 in non-Latin alp…

In the First Commandment is forbidden the worshipping a false God, in this, the worshipping the true God in a false manner. 1. You shall not make to you any graven image; this forbids not the making an image for civil use (Matthew 22:20). Whose is this image and superscription?

If we had knowledge as the angels, or faith of miracles, yet without love it would profit nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2). Love is the first and great commandment (Matthew 22:38). It is so, because if this be wanting, there can be no religion in the heart, there can be no faith, fo…

3. The bodies of saints, when they arise, shall be swift and nimble; our bodies on earth are dull and heavy in their motion; then they shall be swift and made fit to ascend, as the body of Elijah in the air. Now the body is a clog; in heaven it shall be a wing: we shall be as th…

2. It is to be preferred before salvation (Romans 9:1): God's glory is more worth than the salvation of all men's souls. As Christ said of love (Matthew 22:37): This is the first and great commandment; so I may say of this petition, Hallowed be your Name, it is the first and gre…

The Lord takes notice of the frame of our hearts when we come to his table. Matthew 22:11: The king came in to see the guests. We dress ourselves when we come to the table of some great monarch.

It is said, not only Christ was with God before the beginning, but he was God (John 1:1), and (1 Timothy 3:16), God manifest in the flesh. The title of Lord so often given to Christ in the New Testament does answer to the title of Jehovah in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6:5; M…

Answer. 1. Get sound knowledge; we must know God's will before we can do it. Knowledge is the eye to direct the foot of obedience: the Papists make ignorance the mother of devotion, but Christ makes ignorance the mother of error (Matthew 22:29): You err, not knowing the Scriptur…

If God's people are thus shut up in darkness, what darkness is reserved for you? Even as Jude says in verse 13: 'blackness of darkness' — darkness where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 22:13) — blackness of darkness because there is not a crack of light nor…

For he is a God of mercy and of life itself: and therefore though they abide long in the earth, yet they must at length be revived again. This argument Christ uses against the Sadducees, which denied the resurrection: God is not the God of the dead but of the living, but God is…

Therefore the saints in heaven do the like, for they are equal to the good angels (Luke 20:36). Answer: The place in Luke is to be understood of the estate of holy men at the day of the last judgment, as appears in Matthew 22:30, where it is said that the servants of God in the…

Second, it serves for the distinction of coins, according to the practice of emperors and princes of all nations. When Christ was asked in Matthew 22 whether it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar or no, he called for a penny and said: Whose image or superscription is this? The…

This is our religion; and when at death your soul (your poor lonesome soul) being stripped of all things in this world; even the body and all, shall come before the great God and Jesus Christ, what will the inquiry be? as Matthew 22:11. When the King came in to see the guests, h…

Now the Scriptures of the New Testament do improve this relation of God's to us, to two inferences drawn from Abraham's instance: of which the one is the point before us. The first is Christ's inference from there, that therefore Abraham's soul lives, and Abraham both soul and b…

They do not look upon it as their happiness to have communion with God. Those who are invited to the marriage of the king's son (Matthew 22) will not come, and the reason is given: they made light of it; the offer of the Gospel has no weight, it has no appeal. If a market of fin…

We shall give the second doctrine (and then speak to the use of both jointly) which is this: That there is nothing more culpably accessory to the abounding of unbelief, than the poor thoughts and little estimation that men have of Jesus Christ; the undervaluing of him is the gre…

1. It's set down under the expression of wooing, as (2 Corinthians 11:2), I have espoused you as a chaste virgin to Christ, this is ordinary, and supposes a marriage, and a bridegroom, that is by his friends wooing and suiting in marriage; so that (as we show) wherever the call…

Thus also to act and exercise faith on him, for temporal, or for spiritual things, it's to expect the event from God, but so, as we expect and look for it on this ground, that Christ has purchased it, and we have accepted him on his offer, which gives us a right to these things…

To whom much preaching, is but a beating in the air, to whom such preaching is fruitless, and Christ useless. It is of these that He speaks (Matthew 22), who being invited to the wedding, they made light of it, and went away, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. There is…

The great ground that makes God expostulate with the hearers of the Gospel, and that makes them come under the complaint, (John 5:40) "You will not come to me that you may have life," and (Matthew 23:37) "How often would I have gathered you, and you would not;" and for substance…

For 1. a correction of the human will seems to import a jarring and a discord; 2. Christ desired that, the contrary of which, he knew was from eternity decreed of God. 3. The Law of God is so spiritual, strict and holy, that it requires not only a conformity to it, and our will,…

We teach no such thing, as that reasonings, syllogisms, or the Scriptures, without the Spirit can produce faith, yet it is vain arguing, to say rain, and dew, the summer sun, good soil cannot bring forth roses, flowers, vines, grains; because sure, it is a work of omnipotence, t…

7. All these graces are particular. 1. Election to glory is particular: few are chosen (Matthew 22:14; John 10:26, 29; Ephesians 1:4; Romans 9:11). The promise is particular to the sons of the promise (Romans 9:8-9), made to Christ and his seed only (Galatians 3:16-18; Galatians…

They are alive, and were to live for ever; and though dead, shall rise again. So Christ reasons from it (Matthew 22:32), I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: God is the God of the living, (says he) and not of the dead: and so, though Abraham be ignorant of his children (as…

And if the communicant at the Lord's table, does not eat the bread of the Lord as well as the bread of the Lord (as Augustine speaks) that is, if he does not receive Christ spiritually by the hand of his faith, as he does corporally receive the element by his bodily hand, he rec…

To be short, it appears sufficiently that neither Jews nor Gentiles are threatened in this place, but that both of them rather are invited to a goodly banquet. This may the better be understood by the words of Christ himself, where he compares the kingdom of heaven to a marriage…

For we know that the understanding and will, are the two principal parts of man's soul: and God will have both of them; as good reason is he should. And to this appertains that commandment, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with al…

Nor can it be doubted, that this divine intimation, which he received in his individual and private capacity, was intended generally for the confirmation of all the godly. Jesus is called the Lord's Christ, because he was anointed It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader, t…

This single point includes the whole of the former doctrine: for he who shall bring his mind to love those who hate him, will naturally refrain from all revenge, will patiently endure evils, will be much more prone to assist the wretched. Christ presents to us, in a summary view…

Matthew 22:1-14 1. And Jesus answering, spoke again by parables, and said,

Matthew 22:15-22 15. Then the Pharisees went away, and took counsel how they might entrap him in his words.

Matthew 22:23-33 23. The same day came to him the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, and interrogated him,

Matthew 22:34-40 34. But when the Pharisees heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they assembled together.

Matthew 22:41-46 41. And when the Pharisees were assembled, Jesus asked them,

So our blessed Saviour represents the Matter, in answer to the Lawyer, who asked him, which was the great Commandment of the Law. Matthew 22. 37, 38, 39, 40. 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.

Christ, when he was here on earth, appeared full of holy reverence toward the Father; he paid the most reverential worship to him, praying to him with postures of reverence. Thus we read of his kneeling down and praying (Matthew 22:41). This became Christ, as he was one that had…

That they have trouble is not so bad, as that they have no peace. And the worst part of that everlasting woe which ungodly men shall suffer is a punishment of loss: The heat of the fire shall not trouble them so much, as the want of light: God has fully resolved that their day s…

Our savior proves it from the tenour of the covenant, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead but of the living, Matthew 22:32. They are yet alive, alive unto God, and with him, by vertue of the covenant; or after their dea…

His Table or feasting-house is the Gospel (Proverbs 9:1, etc.), where the feast of fat things is prepared (Isaiah 25:6). His sitting at his Table, or her sitting with him at it, imports familiar fellowship with him by the Gospel; so the Table of the Lord is taken (1 Corinthians…

If it should be asked, Why is this sinful distemper of hers registered, and put upon record? Why say, 1. For her own good; It's profitable for believers to mind and record their miscarriages to Christ, as well as his kind dealings with them. 2. It's for the honor of the Bridegro…

David sent messengers to commune with Abigail, that he might take her to wife: Now (says she) our little sister is not ready, nor spoken for, but when she shall be suited or communed with, what shall we do then? This communing, is the Lord's dealing by his Ministers in the Gospe…

The first is, that there is no passage of this Song cited in the New Testament: but citation of scriptures in the New Testament does not give authority to them. They are cited as having authority, and not to get it; and therefore there are many scriptures in the Old Testament, w…

First, Some allegories at the first view seem plain, and imprint their meaning on these that have the least capacity, that it may be known, at least, what in general they aim at; and therefore, such are left frequently in Scripture unexpounded, and are used to press most obvious…

And because the violation of these laws by outward and flagitious acts proceeds from the latent wickedness and concupiscence of the heart, therefore God, who is a Spirit, and whose law and authority can reach even to the soul and spirit, has not only prohibited the gross perpetr…

First, all those precepts which are dispersed in the Holy Scriptures, and concern the regulating of our lives and actions, although they are not to be found expressly mentioned in the Decalogue, yet may they very aptly be reduced under one of these ten commands. There is no duty…

No wonder then if God grows angry at such contempts and affronts as were hereby offered to him, and eases them so much of their burden, and withdraws the food so much, which they grew so weary of: no wonder that he suffers so many of their teachers to be thrust into corners, and…

This made Moses forsake the visible glory of Egypt, and endure intolerable things in the wilderness, for he saw him that was invisible (Hebrews 11:27). Thus Christians are to realize divine things, and account highly of them, for no man will treasure up that which he accounts no…

Where's the fault, what can you say for yourselves? Suppose God should put you to it, to bring forth your strong reasons, (as he expostulated with the man that wanted the wedding garment (Matthew 22:12),) and should say, friend (for so will you needs be accounted, and as such yo…

He sees how it is with us in prayer, whether we are deeply affected with those things we pray for. The King came in to see the guests (Matthew 22:11). So when we go to pray, the King of glory comes in to see in what frame we are: he has a window which looks into our breasts, and…