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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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, sh-all they that have riches enter into the kingdom of Gad !" Thie practice of quoting texts of Scripture vaguely , and from recollection is , ia evel T view > to be avoided - r ,, ' this habit we are in danger of
making the authors speak our Ianffuaffe , and not their own . An example , which concerns the passages just cited , shall be produced . Wa are informed that t € it is comibou to put the impossibility of a thing for its great difficulty . " I will not dispute the accuracy of the remark . But I object to the mode of illustration which follows .
" ft is Impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven . When the disciples seemed startled at so severe a sentence , Jesus immediately qualified what he had said by explaining Ms meaning ; it is impossible for those who trust in riches , to enter the kingdom of heaven . *
On this criticism let it be observed , that our Lord does not , in terms , speak of the case as an impossibility . Mr . Gilpin should have studiously quoted the very words of Jesus Christ , and not have substituted for them his own gloss , or that of any other expositor . Even our Saviour ' s
explanation of his statement is distinct from the statement itself . His proposition sets forth nothing more than an extreme difficulty , ** a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven . " Afterwards , he employs an image , for the purpose of impressing the thought on the minds of his
disciples : lie borrows from the Jewish schools ie a phrase intimating a thing veiy unusual and very difficult / 'f and adds , that " what is impossible with men , " or to human apprehension , "is possible with God" —the Being who has all events at his
disposal , and all hearts under his controul , can subdue those worldly attachments which , at present , obstruct the reception and efficacy of the crospei . The clause [ Mark x . 24 ] " them that trust in riches , " must be taken ex of
^ planatory " a r ich man , " of fnose who seek and possess riches : « unfolds our Lord ' s sentiment and
* Sermons , by the late W . Gilpin , Sec . Vol -ll . 29 , &c . t Lightfoot ' s Works , Vol . II . 219 .
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reasoning , but , if considered verbally , has nothing- to do with the impossibility supposed . Mr . Gilpin was so valuable a writer , * and so excellent a man , that it is of some importance to guard his readers against those misinterpretations of Scripture , which have the sanction of his name . Luke xvi . 12 , — -if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man ' s , who shall give you that which is your own V Our Lord ' s parables , whether prophetic or ethical , have always in view a single object of instruction , to which every thing beside is subordinate . In that of the unjust steward he appears desirous of enforcing one capital duty—a wise application of wealth . He argues from the less to the greater . The twelfth verse illustrates the eleventh ; that which is another man ' s , answering to the unrighteous or deceitful riches—that which is your own , to the true or substantial riches . Nothing merits the name of property , except durable riches and
righteousness . Worldly possessions may quickly exchange masters : the estate which is mine to-day , may be another man ' s to-morrow ; its nature is to pass away . Not so , intellectual , moral , religious acquisitions , which are always , in a memorable signification , our own , and have solid value and a permanent existence . Jesus virtually condemns the dishonest steward : but no parable was requisite to render injustice more odious in the eyes of his apostles and first disciples . Heb . vi . 12 , '' — followers of them , who through faith and patience
inherit the promises . " The key to this passage , is found in chap . xii . 1 , " — seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses . " They who through faith and patience inherit the promises , and the great cloud of witnesses , are the same—the illustrious fathers of the Jewish nation , the most memorable of whom the writer enumerates in the eleventh chapter . I
* By his " Analysis of Paul's Epistle to tho Romans , " and " Illustrations used by Paul , " &c . j ( Sermons , Vol . IV . 393 , &c ., ) the reader may be eminently instructed .
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Notes on Passages of Scripture . 451
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1826, page 451, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2551/page/7/
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