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' Have lost his savour: Become foolish; the unsavouriness of salt is, (as Euthimius saith,) the weakness of its acrimony: the meaning is, if you have not grace in you, and zeal to reprove sinners.

'Wherewith shall it be salted? As nothing else can recover the taste of salt once lost; so, bad ministers cannot easily be mended by others.

So it is

Good for nothing: Other things may be good for somewhat else, when they decay; salt cannot. with unsavoury ministers, and relapsing sinners.

To be cast out: Of the church, as unprofitable. To be trodden under foot: as not good for any use, see Luke xiv. 35. xxi. 34.' Annot. in loc.

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MACKNIGHT. If ye, whose business it is to reform mankind, be wicked yourselves, ye cannot be reclaimed, but will be the most useless and contemptible of men.' Harm. Evan. sect. xxvi.

THEOPHYLACT.To be cast out: From the dignity of

teachers.

Trodden under foot: That is, despised.'

Some have understood the passage in Mark to imply misery after death, particularly the phrase, salted with fire. But that there is sufficient orthodox authority, for applying these words to the concerns of this life, the following quotations will show:

BROWNELL. Mark ix. 49. The opinions of commentators on this very obscure verse, are almost endless; but the following seems as probable as any; viz. after declaring that every sacrifice, however painful, must be made, rather than renounce our faith, ver. 43-48, Christ adds as a reason, that “ every one " who devotes himself to the service of God "shall be salted with fire," i. e. shall be fitted for that service by trials, and difficulties, and mortifications; in the same way as every sacrifice "offered under the law was to be "salted with salt," Lev. ii. 13, before it could be acceptable to God. According to this, "every one" means every Christian, or person who devotes himself to God; "to be salted" is

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taken figuratively for to be perfected, rendered acceptable in the sight of God, which is sanctioned by Matt. v. 13, Col. iv. 6; and "fire" denotes trials and sufferings. Comp. 1 Cor. iii. 13-15.' Expos. in loc.

TOMSON'S BEZA. 'We must be seasoned and powdered, by God, both that we may be acceptable sacrifices unto him, and also that we, being knit together, may season one another.

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"Salted with fire: i. e. shall be consecrate to God, being seasoned with the incorruptible word.' Note in loc. GILPIN. As the sacrifice is purified by salt; so is the professor of the gospel by his trials. The great truths you receive, are in themselves good: be you properly prepared to dispense them.' Expos. in loc.

MACKNIGHT. Every one shall be salted for the fire of God's altar; i. e. shall be prepared to be offered a sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable. For, although the proposition be universal, it must be limited by the nature of the subject, thus: Every one who is offered a sacrifice to God, shall be salted for the fire, as every sacrifice is salted with salt.' Harm. Evan. sec. lxxiii.

It will be observed, that Macknight is so far from supposing this passage to imply endless misery after death, that he thinks it necessary to qualify it somewhat, to prevent his readers from concluding that it teaches absolute universal salvation. All these authors understand the fire, with which men were to be salted, to signify, not the fire of hell, but either the gracious influence of God's spirit, or the indirect influence of that same spirit, manifested in the trials to which their faith was subjected. To the same effect is the following:

BEAUSOBRE AND LENFANT. The crosses, afflictions and severe sacrifices, occasioned by the practice of piety and the profession of true Christianity, are here compared to fire; even to a fire which produces the same effect on the mind, which salt produces on flesh,-preserving it from corruption.' Com. in loc.

I only add, that we may judge what these writers intend by being offered a sacrifice to God, by examining the passage to which I suppose Macknight particularly refers, i. e. Rom. xii. 1, 'I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.' Comp. Hebrews x, 19-23.

SECTION VII.

'For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.' MATT. v. 20.

For a tolerably full exposition of the phrase kingdom of heaven, see Hammond's note on Matt. iii. 2. See also Lightfoot's notes on Matt. iv. 17, and xvi. 28. It denoted that state of things in the world, which was produced by the ministry of Jesus Christ; a state of things existing, not in the next life, but in the present. Hence Jesus said to the Jews, 'the kingdom of God is within you,' Luke xvii. 19, 20. And again, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof,' Matt. xxi. 43. Hence, to enter the kingdom of heaven, is to become a disciple of Jesus; to believe his gospel; to submit to his laws; to conform to his requirements; and thus to become entitled to all the privileges and immunities of discipleship. the notes on John iii. 3, 5. It may not be improper to add, that kingdom of heaven, and kingdom of God, and other similar phrases, are used by the

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Evangelists as convertible terms; what one expresses by one phrase, another describes by the other. Comp. Matt. iv. 17 with Mark i. 15; Matt. v. 3 with Luke vi. 20, &c.

The righteousness of the Pharisees was external, consisting in ceremonies and observances, which did not purify the heart; see Matt. xxiii. the whole chapter. The kingdom of heaven, which Jesus came to establish, was designed to operate on the heart; and its laws required not only propriety in external behaviour, but purity of intention. See this point very fully illustrated in that compendium of all Christian duty, the sermon on the mount, recorded in Matthew, chaps. v. vi. and vii. It was with reference to this feature in its character, and to the blessed effects which conformity to its spirit produces, that the apostle said, 'The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.' Rom. xiv. 17.

To be unable to enter the kingdom of heaven, then, as the phrase is here used, does not imply the impossibility of salvation, in the future life; but the inability of becoming true disciples, in the present life. Doubtless, the blessed, in the future life, will be holy. But with this subject, the text under consideration has no immediate concern. I proceed to quote a few authorities, in agreement with this exposition:

GILPIN. In his paraphrase of this verse, Gilpin retains the phrase kingdom of heaven; but he elsewhere gives his opinion of its import as follows:

'Jesus told him, that his doctrine lay in a very short compass. A man, said he, must be born again, before he can be a member of my kingdom. Nicodemus not comprehending the expression, Jesus explained himself, by saying, that nobody could be his disciple, who, after

professing himself such by baptism,' &c. (See the place.) Expos. in John iii. 3-5.

HENRY. This writer gives the phrase, kingdom of heaven, both significations, the gospel kingdom on earth, and the kingdom of glory, in the life to come; but prefers the former, as may appear from the following remark on ver. 19,

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'He that doth so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, in the kingdom of glory; he shall never come thither, but be eternally excluded; or rather, in the kingdom of the gospel church. He is so far from deserving the dignity of a teacher in it, that he shall not so much as be accounted a member of it. The prophet that teacheth these lies, he shall be the tail in that kingdom. Isa. ix. 15, &c.' Com. in loc.

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BEZA. 'Ye shall in no case enter: that is, ye shall be unworthy to teach in the church: for this is said, not of the pious indiscriminately, but of the teachers alone and by the phrase kingdom of heaven is intended, not the church triumphant, (as is vulgarly said,) but the church militant; and as yet needing the service of teachers.' Annot. in loc.

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JONES. (19) Observe he is speaking of persons "who shall be called the least," who shall be held in the lowest esteem, in the kingdom of heaven, i. e. under the Christian dispensation."

(20) 'He therefore informs his hearers that, unless their moral conduct exceeds that of the Pharisees, they shall by no means be considered as members of the new dispensation, nor entitled to the blessed fruits of it.' Illustrations, &c. sec. xi.

SECTION VIII.

'Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever

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