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Pastor Lars Larson, PhD                                                                                         FBC Sermon #623
First Baptist Church, Leominster, MA                                                                      August 7, 2011
Words for children: law, gospel, grace                                                                      Text: Matthew 22:23-33

The Gospel of Matthew (87)
The Scribes:  Which is the most important commandment?

Our current progress through Matthew:

I.  Prologue (chs. 1, 2)
II.  The Kingdom Comes (chs. 3-7)
III.  The Works of the Kingdom (chs. 8-10)
IV.  The Nature of the Kingdom (chs. 11-13)
V.  The Authority of the Kingdom (chs. 14-18)
VI.  Kingdom Blessings and Kingdom Judgments (chs. 19-25)
        A.  From Galilee to Jerusalem (chs. 19, 20)
        B.  The King enters Jerusalem (chs. 21-23)
                 1.  Triumphal Entry and Cleansing the Temple (21:1-22)
                 2.  Parables of Resistance to the King (21:23-22:14)
                 3.  Conflict with the Pharisees and Sadducees (22:15-23:39)

*****************

        In this portion of Matthew’s Gospel we have read of how Lord engaged those who opposed Him and sought to discredit Him before the crowds and charge Him before the Roman authorities.  In His response to their challenges, we learn much more about the person of our Lord and Savior and we are able to learn more fully how our Lord would have us understand Him and how we should live before Him as His disciples. 
        Today we will address a matter of great importance in understanding how we relate to God through the Gospel, particularly as it touches the matter of His law as well as His gospel, that He has revealed to us in Scripture.  I have included a many extended quotations of notable Christian leaders of the past and present to help us understand these matters clearly and fully.  As we will see, how we relate to God through Jesus Christ when reflecting upon His law and Gospel has far reaching consequences for us.  If we are not right on these matters, we will be in error of such a nature and to such a degree that our very claim to be Christian may be called into question.  This is an important matter.  And so today we are addressing basic things, but most important things.  May our Lord grant us grace, illuminating our minds to these truths, so that we might walk before Him in true faith and love.

        We read of our Lord engaging in debate with the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem.  Our Lord confronted the Pharisees and Herodians (22:15-22), and last week we considered how He confronted and refuted the Sadducees.  We next see how our Lord answered a question posed by a scribe, one of the scribes of the Pharisees.

       C.  The Scribes:  Which is the most important commandment?  (22:23-33)

                  34But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  35And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question to test Him.  36“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  37And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  38This is the great and first commandment.  39And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  40On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

        The “lawyer”, another name for a scribe, who was an expert in the Hebrew Scriptures, particularly the Mosaic Law, asked Jesus a question concerning the Law.  He was not enquiring of our Lord because he was seeking a truthful answer to his inquiry; he “asked Him a question to test him.”  The scribe came to Jesus as one more effort of the Jewish leaders to catch our Lord in His words that they might find some basis to discredit Him or convict Him.  And so he asked, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  Even though our Lord knew this man’s duplicity, He gave an answer that would have helped this man to understand the will of God, even the Word of God.
        The scribe had asked for the single most important law in God’s Word.  Our Lord answered by stating two of God’s laws, which are the sum of all of God’s preceptive will.  And so, our Lord taught that the sum of all things is that we are to love God and we are to love our neighbors.  This is the summation of God’s will, of God’s law.  This summarizes the two tablets of the Ten Commandments—man’s duty toward God and man’s duty toward his fellow man.  Both of these qualities are essential to true spiritual life.  Both of these are characteristic of the true Christian.  If a Christian lives in accordance to these two laws, He will find that he is living faithfully to all God’s law.  To live in this manner is the duty and the practice of every true Christian.  And both laws are to be followed as they are both are necessary and essential of one’s claim to have eternal life is to pass the test of Scripture.  This was the assumption of the apostle John: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom He has not seen” (1 John 4:20). Furthermore, keeping God’s law, that is, employing God’s law as the standard of our relating to God and our fellow man, is the essence of love; it is, by definition what love is, how love looks.  Now, when we say that “God’s law is a standard for our relating to God”, we are speaking of the standard which informs and governs our relationships, not the “basis” in the sense of the ground or reason that we have a relationship, for that is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.  But that the law of God is to inform and characterize our relationship with God and man is clear.  As the apostle John wrote:

1 John 5:2.  “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments.”

1 John 5:3.  “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.  And His commandments are not burdensome.”

2 John 1:6.  “And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.”

        Listen to these words:

Let it never be forgotten that what the law demands of us the gospel really produces in us.  The law tells us what we ought to be, and it is one object of the gospel to raise us to that condition.  Hence our Saviour’s teaching, though it be eminently practical, is always evangelical; even in expounding the law He has always a gospel design.  Two ends are served by His setting up a high standard of duty: on the one He slays the self-righteousness which claims to have kept the law by making men feel the impossibility of salvation by their own works; and, on the other hand, He calls believers away from all content with the mere decencies of life and the routine of outward religion, and stimulates them to seek after the highest degree of holiness--indeed, after that excellence of character which only His grace can give...  I shall not hold up the love of our neighbour as a condition of salvation, but as fruit of it.”(1)

        Even though we speak of the law of God as the abiding rule of life for the believer in Jesus Christ, nevertheless, we recognize the difference and we acknowledge the need to always emphasize the distinction between the principles of law and grace, or law and the Gospel.  Because of the mention of the law of God in our passage and due to the importance of this subject, I thought that it would be good for us today to rehearse the essential truths relating to this subject.  First, let us consider…

              A.  The importance of the law and gospel distinction.

        The distinction between what God’s Word teaches us about His law and His Gospel is extremely important for every Christian to understand.  Some have argued that this is the single greatest theological issue in the Bible.  It was Theodore Beza (16th c.), the disciple and the successor of John Calvin, who wrote, “Ignorance of the distinction between the Law and Gospel is one of the principle sources of all the abuses which corrupt and still corrupt Christianity.” Martin Luther (16th c.) wrote of this distinction between law and gospel in his commentary on Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians:

        This difference between the Law and the Gospel is the height of knowledge in Christendom.  Every person and all persons who assume or glory in the name of Christian should know and be able to state this difference.  If this ability is lacking, one cannot tell a Christian from a heathen or a Jew; of such supreme importance is this differentiation.  This is why St. Paul so strongly insists on a clean-cut and proper differentiating of these two doctrines.(2) John Murray, one of the most respected reformed theologians of the twentieth century also spoke of the importance of this understanding of the distinction of these two biblical themes:

        No subject is more intimately bound up with the nature of the gospel than that of law and grace.  In the degree to which error is entertained at this point, in the same degree is our conception of the gospel perverted.  An erroneous conception of the function of law can be of such a character that it completely vitiates our view of the gospel; and an erroneous conception of the antithesis between law and grace can be of such a character that it demolishes both the substructure and the superstructure of grace.  Nothing could advertise this more than the fact that two of the major Epistles of the New Testament, and the two most polemic, have this subject as their theme.  Our attention is irresistibly drawn to the gravity of the issue with which the apostle is concerned in his Epistle to the Galatians when we read at the outset, ‘But even if we or an angel from heaven preach to you any gospel other than that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema.  As we have said before, so now again I say, if anyone preach any gospel to you other than that which ye received, let him be anathema’ (Gal. 1:8, 9).  And we are no less startled when we read in the same apostle’s Epistle to the Romans, ‘I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ on behalf of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh’ (Rom. 9:1-3).  What was the question that aroused the apostle to such passionate zeal and holy indignation, indignation that has its kinship with the imprecatory utterances of the Old Testament?  In a word it was the relation of law and gospel.  ‘I do not make void the grace of God: for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died in vain’ (Gal. 2: 21).  ‘For if a law had been given which could make alive, verily from the law righteousness would have been’ (Gal. 3: 21).  ‘By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight’ (Rom. 3: 20).(3)

        In order to best understand the distinction between the law of God and the gospel of God, we need to understand what characterizes each.

              B.  What are the distinctives of the law of God.

        The law of God is the will of God for His creatures.  It is the revelation of His righteous demands of the Creator toward His creatures.  When God created mankind, He had imprinted His law upon their souls.  God wrote His law upon the heart of every human being in His world.  This is taught in Paul’s description of Gentiles who had never been exposed to the revealed will of God in His written Word, but had, nevertheless, God’s law upon their hearts.

“For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them…” (Rom 2:14f)

        The law of God is both a revelation of God’s will in the form of commandments as well as a principle by which God relates with His creatures.  God relates to people either according to His law, or according to His grace, that is in the gospel of His Son.  When God relates to a man based upon His law, God will condemn that man as guilty and deserving of His eternal unending punishment that all law-breakers deserve and will receive.  When God relates to a man according to His grace, there is mercy extended to him, even the forgiveness of sins, the gift of righteousness, and the certain inheritance of everlasting life.  Two ways resulting in two different destinies. 
        How then, first, may we understand the principle of God’s law?  This is critical.  It was John Newton that wrote, “Ignorance of the nature and design of the law is at the bottom of most religious mistakes.”(4)  What, then, are the characteristics of the law of God?  There are several.    

            (1)  The Law of God makes commands and demands upon people.
            (2)  The Law of God pronounces approval and blessing upon the conformity to its demands. 
            (3)  The Law of God pronounces the judgment of condemnation upon every infraction of its precept.
            (4)  The Law of God exposes and convicts people of sin.
            (5)  The Law of God excites and incites sin to greater and more violent transgression.

        But in contrast to the law of God,…

              C.  What are the distinctives of the Gospel, or of the grace of God in the Gospel?

        The Gospel is very different in nature and substance than the Law of God.  We might understand these distinctive when weighing the Gospel alongside the Law of God.

In one of his earliest writings, Calvin defended this evangelical distinction between Law and Gospel: All this will readily be understood by describing the Law and describing the Gospel and then comparing them. Therefore, the Gospel is the message, the salvation-bringing proclamation concerning Christ that he was sent by God the Father...to procure eternal life.  The Law is contained in precepts, it threatens, it burdens, it promises no goodwill.  The Gospel acts without threats, it does not drive one on by precepts, but rather teaches us about the supreme goodwill of God towards us.  Let whoever therefore is desirous of having a plain and honest understanding of the Gospel; test everything by the above descriptions of the Law and the Gospel.  Those who do not follow this method of treatment will never be adequately versed in the Philosophy of Christ.(4)

        One of the most well-respected reformed English puritans, William Perkins, whose books sold more copies and editions during his lifetime than those of John Calvin, wrote these words comparing and contrasting the biblical teaching regarding law and gospel:

        “That we may further conceive aright the moral law, we must make a difference between it and the gospel.  For the gospel is that part of the word which promises righteousness and life everlasting to all that believe in Christ.  The difference between them stands especially in five things.
        First, the law is natural, and was in man's nature before the fall; but the gospel is spiritual, revealed after the fall, in the covenant of grace.
        Second, the law sets forth God’s justice, in rigor, without mercy; but the gospel sets out justice and mercy, united in Christ.
        Third, the law requires a perfect righteousness within us; but the gospel reveals our acceptance with God by imputed righteousness.
        Fourth, the law threatens judgements without mercy, and therefore is called the ministry of condemnation, and of death; but the gospel shows mercy to man’s sin, in and by Christ, if we repent and believe.
        Last, the law promises life to the worker and doer of it, ‘Do this and thou shalt live’; but the gospel offers salvation to him that ‘worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly’; not considering faith as a work, but as an instrument apprehending Christ by whom we are made righteous.”(5)

              D.  The Law and the Gospel are two major principles by which the teaching of Scripture may be discerned and divided.

        Michael Horton described the centrality of this principle of interpretation, distinguishing between Law and Gospel, as being at the heart of Protestant Reformers’ interpretation of the Bible:

        At the heart of the reformation’s hermeneutics (i.e. the basic principles of how to interpret the Bible) was the distinction between “Law” and “Gospel.”  For the Reformers, this was not equivalent to “Old Testament” and “New Testament;” rather, it meant, in the words of Theodore Beza, “We divide this Word into two principal parts or kinds: the one is called the ‘Law,’ the other the ‘Gospel.’  For all the rest can be gathered under the one or other of these two headings.”  The Law “is written by nature in our hearts,” while “What we call the Gospel (Good News) is a doctrine which is not at all in us by nature, but which is revealed from Heaven (Mt. 16:17; John 1:13).”  The Law leads us to Christ in the Gospel by condemning us and causing us to despair of our own “righteousness.”  “Ignorance of this distinction between Law and Gospel,” Beza wrote, “is one of the principal sources of the abuses which corrupted and still corrupt Christianity.”(6)

        In our worship services we have been rehearsing the statements of the Heidelberg Catechism for many weeks.  This was originally drafted by Zacharias Ursinus.  In his commentary on the catechism, his opening comments set forth the most basic of Christian truths.  Under the second heading, which he entitled, “What are the Parts of the Doctrine of the Church, and in what do they differ from each other?”, he wrote the following:

        The doctrine of the church consists of two parts: the Law, and the Gospel; in which we have comprehended the sum and substance of the sacred Scriptures.  The Law is called the Decalogue (which is another name for the Ten Commandments), and the gospel is the doctrine concerning Christ the mediator, and the free remission of sins, through faith.  This division of the doctrine of the church is established by these plain and forcible arguments. 
        1.  The whole doctrine comprised in the sacred writings, is either concerning the nature of God, his will, his works, or sin, which is the proper work of men and devils.  But all these subjects are fully set forth and taught, either in the law, or in the gospel, or in both.  Therefore, the law and gospel are the chief and general divisions of the Holy Scriptures, and comprise the entire doctrine comprehended therein.
        2.  Christ himself makes this division of the doctrine which he will have preached in his name, when he says, “Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name” (Luke 24:46, 47).  But this embraces the entire substance of the law and gospel.
        3.  The writings of the prophets and apostles, comprise the Old and New Testament, or covenant between God and man.  It is, therefore, necessary that the principle parts of the covenant should be contained and explained in these writings, and that they should declare what God promises and grants unto us, viz: his favor, remission of sins, righteousness, and eternal life; and also that he, in return, requires from us: which is faith and obedience.  These, now, are the things that are taught in the law and the gospel.
        4.  Christ is the substance and ground of the entire Scriptures.  But the doctrine contained in the law and gospel is necessary to lead us to a knowledge of Christ and his benefits: for the law is our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ, constraining us to fly to him, and showing us what that righteousness is, which he has wrought out, and now offers unto us.  But the gospel, professedly, treats the person, office, and benefits of Christ.  Therefore we have, in the law and gospel, the whole of the Scriptures, comprehending the doctrine revealed from heaven for our salvation.
        The principle differences between these two parts of doctrine of the church, consist in these three things:
        1.  In the subject, or general character of the doctrine, peculiar to each.  The law prescribes and enjoins what is to be done, and forbids what ought to be avoided: whilst the gospel announces the free remission of sin, through and for the sake of Christ.
        2.  In the manner of the revelation peculiar to each.  The law is known from nature; the gospel is divinely revealed.
        3.  In the promises which they make to man.  The law promises life upon the condition of perfect obedience; the gospel, on the condition of faith in Christ and the commencement of new obedience.(7) 

            E.  The danger and proneness to blur and confuse these two principles

        At the heart of much error in “Christendom” is the failure to understand the distinctions between the Law and the Gospel, confusing the principles and failing to keep them as clear and separate principles in our faith and practice.  Charles Spurgeon wrote of the danger of failing to distinguish between law and grace in the churches of his time, mid 19th century England.  He wrote:

       There is no point upon which men make greater mistakes than upon the relation which exists between the Law and the Gospel.  Some men put the Law instead of the Gospel—others put the Gospel instead of the Law.  Some modify the Law and the Gospel and preach neither Law nor Gospel—and others entirely abrogate the Law by bringing in the Gospel.  Many there are who think that the Law is the Gospel and who teach that men by good works of benevolence, honesty, righteousness and sobriety, may be saved.  Such men do err.  On the other hand, many teach that the Gospel is a Law—that it has certain commands in it by obedience to which men are meritoriously saved.  Such men err from the Truth and understand it not.  A certain class maintain that the Law and the Gospel are mixed and that partly by observance of the Law and partly by God’s grace men are saved.  These men understand not the Truth and are false teachers.(8)

       This danger of failing to distinguish law and gospel has occurred throughout church history and continues today.  Michael Horton addressed the matter quite well:

      When the Law is softened into gentle promises and the Gospel is hardened into conditions and exhortations, the believer often finds himself in a deplorable state.  For those who know their own hearts, preaching that tries to tone down the Law by assuring them that God looks on the heart comes as bad news, not good news: “The heart is deceitful above all things...” (Jer. 17:9).  Many Christians have experienced the confusion of Law and Gospel in their diet, where the Gospel was free and unconditional when they became believers, but is now pushed into the background to make room for an almost exclusive emphasis on exhortations.  Again, it is not that exhortations do not have their place, but they must never be confused with the Gospel and that Gospel of divine forgiveness is as important for sinful believers to hear as it is for unbelievers.  Nor can we assume that believers ever progress beyond the stage where they need to hear the Gospel, as if the Good News ended at conversion.  For, as Calvin said, “We are all partly unbelievers throughout our lives.”  We must constantly hear God’s promise in order to counter the doubts and fears that are natural to us.
      But there are many, especially in our narcissistic age, whose ignorance of the Law leads them into a carnal security. Thus, people often conclude that they are “safe and secure from all alarm” because they walked an aisle, prayed a prayer, or signed a card, even though they have never had to give up their own fig leaves in order to be clothed with the righteousness of the Lamb of God.  Or perhaps, although they have not perfectly loved God and neighbor, they conclude that they are at least “yielded,” “surrendered,” or “letting the Spirit have his way”; that they are “living in victory over all known sin” and enjoying the “higher life.”  Deluding themselves and others, they need to be stripped of their fig leaves in order to be clothed with the skins of the Lamb of God.  Thus, Machen writes, A new and more powerful proclamation of law is perhaps the most pressing need of the hour; men would have little difficulty with the gospel if they had only learned the lesson of the law.  As it is, they are turning aside from the Christian pathway; they are turning to the village of Morality, and to the house of Mr. Legality, who is reported to be very skillful in relieving men of their burdens...  ‘Making Christ Master’ in the life, putting into practice ‘the principles of Christ’ by one’s own efforts--these are merely new ways of earning salvation by one’s obedience to God’s commands.  And they are undertaken because of a lax view of what those commands are.  So it always is: a low view of law always brings legalism in religion; a high view of law makes a man a seeker after grace.
      We must, therefore, recover Law and Gospel, and with such preaching, the Christocentric message of Scripture, or no good will come of our work, regardless of how committed we are to inerrancy.  We cannot say that we are preaching the Word of God unless we are distinctly and clearly proclaiming both God’s judgment and his justification as the regular diet in our congregations.  To recover Scripture’s sufficiency we must therefore, like the Reformers, recover the distinctions between Law and Gospel.(9)

        John Bunyan, a Baptist pastor who ministered in the 17th century, wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress, which has been historically the second greatest selling book of all time, second to the Bible.  Through the story of his character, Christian, he was able to illustrate in a clever and clear way the trials and troubles, as well as the errors and lessons of the Christian life.  He addressed the proneness of a man to fall into the error of looking to the law as the way of salvation rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He describes the subtlety and the great difficulty and distress that comes to a person’s soul when he fails in this area of the faith.  Here is the account:

        Now, as Christian was walking solitarily by himself, he espied one afar off, come crossing over the field to meet him; and their hap was to meet just as they were crossing the way of each other.  The gentleman's name that met him was Mr. Worldly Wiseman, he dwelt in the town of Carnal Policy, a very great town, and also hard by from whence Christian came. This man, then, meeting with Christian, and having some inkling of him,(for Christian's setting forth from the City of Destruction was much noised abroad, not only in the town where he dwelt, but also it began to be the town talk in some other places,) ' Mr. Worldly Wiseman, therefore, having some guess of him, by beholding his laborious going, by observing his sighs and groans, and the like, began thus to enter into some talk with Christian.

WORLDLY WISEMAN. How now, good fellow, whither away after this burdened manner?

CHRISTIAN. A burdened manner, indeed, as ever, I think, poor creature had! And whereas you ask me, 'Whither away?' I tell you, 'Sir, I am going to yonder wicket-gate before me; for there, as I am informed, I shall be put into a way to be rid of my heavy burden.'

WORLDLY WISEMAN. Hast thou a wife and children?

CHRISTIAN. Yes; but I am so laden with this burden that I cannot take that pleasure in them as formerly; methinks I am as if I had none. (Christian’s “burden” was a heavy bundle on his back which represented his sense of guilt before God due to his sin.)

WORLDLY WISEMAN. Wilt thou hearken unto me if I give thee counsel?

CHRISTIAN. If it be good, I will; for I stand in need of good counsel.

WORLDLY WISEMAN. I would advise thee, then, that thou with all speed get thyself rid of thy burden; for thou wilt never be settled in thy mind till then; nor canst thou enjoy the benefits of the blessing which God hath bestowed upon thee till then.

CHRISTIAN. That is that which I seek for, even to be rid of this heavy burden; but get it off myself, I cannot; nor is there any man in our country that can take it off my shoulders; therefore am I going this way, as I told you, that I may be rid of my burden.

WORLDLY WISEMAN. Who bid thee go this way to be rid of thy burden?

CHRISTIAN. A man that appeared to me to be a very great and honourable person; his name, as I remember, is Evangelist.

WORLDLY WISEMAN. I beshrew him for his counsel! there is not a more dangerous and troublesome way in the world than is that unto which he hath directed thee; and that thou shalt find, if thou wilt be ruled by his counsel. Thou hast met with something, as I perceive, already; for I see the dirt of the Slough of Despond is upon thee; but that slough is the beginning of the sorrows that do attend those that go on in that way. Hear me, I am older than thou; thou art like to meet with, in the way which thou goest, wearisomeness, painfulness, hunger, perils, nakedness, sword, lions, dragons, darkness, and, in a word, death, and what not! These things are certainly true, having been confirmed by many testimonies. And why should a man so carelessly cast away himself, by giving heed to a stranger?

CHRISTIAN. Why, Sir, this burden upon my back is more terrible to me than all these things which you have mentioned; nay, methinks I care not what I meet with in the way, if so be I can also meet with deliverance from my burden.

WORLDLY WISEMAN. How camest thou by the burden at first?

CHRISTIAN. By reading this book in my hand.

WORLDLY WISEMAN. I thought so; and it is happened unto thee as to other weak men, who, meddling with things too high for them, do suddenly fall into thy distractions; which distractions do not only unman men, as thine, I perceive, have done thee, but they run them upon desperate ventures to obtain they know not what.

CHRISTIAN. I know what I would obtain; it is ease for my heavy burden.

WORLDLY WISEMAN. But why wilt thou seek for ease this way, seeing so many dangers attend it? especially since, (hadst thou but patience to hear me,) I could direct thee to the obtaining of what thou desirest, without the dangers that thou in this way wilt run thyself into: yea, and the remedy is at hand. Besides, I will add, that instead of those dangers, thou shalt meet with much safety, friendship, and content.

CHRISTIAN. Pray, Sir, open this secret to me.

WORLDLY WISEMAN. Why, in yonder village (the village is named Morality) there dwells a gentleman whose name is Legality, a very judicious man, and a man of very good name, that has skill to help men off with such burdens as thine are from their shoulders: yea, to my knowledge, he hath done a great deal of good this way; ay, and besides, he hath skill to cure those that are somewhat crazed in their wits with their burdens. To him, as I said, thou mayest go, and be helped presently. His house is not quite a mile from this place, and if he should not be at home himself, he hath a pretty young man to his son, whose name is Civility, that can do it (to speak on) as well as the old gentleman himself; there, I say, thou mayest be eased of thy burden; and if thou art not minded to go back to thy former habitation, (as, indeed, I would not wish thee,) thou mayest send for thy wife and children to thee to this village, where there are houses now stand empty, one of which thou mayest have at reasonable rates; provision is there also cheap and good; and that which will make thy life the more happy is, to be sure, there thou shalt live by honest neighbours, in credit and good fashion.
        Now was Christian somewhat at a stand; but presently he concluded, if this be true, which this gentleman hath said, my wisest course is to take his advice; and with that he thus further spoke.

CHRISTIAN. Sir, which is my way to this honest man's house?

WORLDLY WISEMAN. Do you see yonder high hill?

CHRISTIAN. Yes, very well.

WORLDLY WISEMAN. By that hill you must go, and the first house you come at is his.
So Christian turned out of his way to go to Mr. Legality's house for help; but, behold, when he was got now hard by the hill, it seemed so high, and also that side of it that was next the wayside did hang so much over, that Christian was afraid to venture further, lest the hill should fall on his head; wherefore there he stood still and wotted not what to do. Also his burden now seemed heavier to him than while he was in his way. There came also flashes of fire Exodus 19:16, 18, out of the hill, that made Christian afraid that he should be burned. Here, therefore, he sweat and did quake for fear. Hebrews 12:21. And now he began to be sorry that he had taken Mr. Worldly Wiseman's counsel. And with that he saw Evangelist coming to meet him; at the sight also of whom he began to blush for shame. So Evangelist drew nearer and nearer; and coming up to him, he looked upon him with a severe and dreadful countenance, and thus began to reason with Christian. 'What dost thou here, Christian?' said he: at which words Christian knew not what to answer; wherefore at present he stood speechless before him. Then said Evangelist further, Art not thou the man that I found crying without the walls of the City of Destruction?

CHRISTIAN. Yes, dear Sir, I am the man.

EVANGELIST. Did not I direct thee the way to the little wicket-gate?

CHRISTIAN. Yes, dear Sir, said Christian.

EVANGELIST. How is it, then, that thou art so quickly turned aside? for thou art now out of the way.

CHRISTIAN. I met with a gentleman so soon as I had got over the Slough of Despond, who persuaded me that I might, in the village before me, find a man that would take off my burden.

EVANGELIST. What was he?

CHRISTIAN. He looked like a gentleman, and talked much to me, and got me at last to yield; so I came hither; but when I beheld this hill, and how it hangs over the way, I suddenly made a stand lest it should fall on my head.

EVANGELIST. What said that gentleman to you?

CHRISTIAN. Why, he asked me whither I was going, and I told him.

EVANGELIST. And what said he then?

CHRISTIAN. He asked me if I had a family? And I told him. But, said I, I am so loaden with the burden that is on my back, that I cannot take pleasure in them as formerly.

EVANGELIST. And what said he then?

CHRISTIAN. He bid me with speed get rid of my burden; and I told him that it was ease that I sought. And said I, I am therefore going to yonder gate, to receive further direction how I may get to the place of deliverance. So he said that he would show me a better way, and short, not so attended with difficulties as the way, Sir, that you set me in; which way, said he, will direct you to a gentleman's house that hath skill to take off these burdens, so I believed him, and turned out of that way into this, if haply I might be soon eased of my burden. But when I came to this place, and beheld things as they are, I stopped for fear as I said of danger: but I now know not what to do.

EVANGELIST. Then, said Evangelist, 'Stand still a little, that I may show thee the words of God.' So he stood trembling. Then said Evangelist, 'See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven.' Hebrews 12:25 He said, moreover, 'Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.' Hebrews 10:38 He also did thus apply them: 'Thou art the man that art running into this misery; thou hast begun to reject the counsel of the Most High, and to draw back thy foot from the way of peace, even almost to the hazarding of thy perdition.'

        Then Christian fell down at his feet as dead, crying, 'Woe is me, for I am undone!' At the sight of which Evangelist caught him by the right hand, saying, 'All manner of sin and blasphemies shall be forgiven unto men.' Matthew 12:31. 'Be not faithless, but believing.' John 20:27. Then did Christian again a little revive, and stood up trembling, as at first, before Evangelist.
        Then Evangelist proceeded, saying, 'Give more earnest heed to the things that I shall tell thee of. I will now show thee who it was that deluded thee, and who it was also to whom he sent thee. The man that met thee is one Worldly Wiseman, and rightly is he so called; partly, because he savoureth only the doctrine of this world, 1 John, 4:5, (therefore he always goes to the town of Morality to church): and partly because he loveth that doctrine best, for it saveth him best from the cross, Galatians 6:12: And because he is of this carnal temper, therefore he seeketh to pervert my ways though right. Now there are three things in this man's counsel, that thou must utterly abhor:  1. His turning thee out of the way.  2. His laboring to render the cross odious to thee.  3. And his setting thy feet in that way that leadeth unto the administration of death.
        'First, Thou must abhor his turning thee out of the way; and thine own consenting thereunto: because this is to reject the counsel of God for the sake of the counsel of a Worldly Wiseman. The Lord says, 'Strive to enter in at the strait gate,' Luke 13:24, the gate to which I sent thee; 'for strait is the gate that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.' Matthew 7:13, 14. From this little wicket-gate, and from the way thereto, hath this wicked man turned thee, to the bringing of thee almost to destruction; hate, therefore, his turning thee out of the way, and abhor thyself for hearkening to him.
        'Secondly, Thou must abhor his laboring to render the cross odious unto thee; for thou art to prefer it before the treasures of Egypt. Hebrews 11:25, 26. Besides the King of glory hath told thee, that he that will save his life shall lose it; and he that cometh after me, and hateth not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Mark 8:38; John 12:25; Matthew 10:39; Luke 14:26. I say, therefore, for man to labor to persuade thee, that that shall be thy death, without which, the truth hath said, thou canst not have eternal life; this doctrine thou must abhor.
        'Thirdly, Thou must hate his setting of thy feet in the way that leadeth to the ministration of death. And for this thou must consider to whom he sent thee, and also how unable that person was to deliver thee from thy burden.
        'He to whom thou wast sent for ease, being by name Legality, is the son of the bond-woman which now is, and is in bondage with her children, Galatians 4:21-27, and is, in a mystery, this Mount Sinai, which thou hast feared will fall on thy head. Now, if she, with her children, are in bondage, how canst thou expect by them to be made free? This Legality, therefore, is not able to set thee free from thy burden. No man was as yet ever rid of his burden by him; no, nor ever is like to be: ye cannot be justified by the works of the law; for by the deeds of the law no man living can be rid of his burden: therefore, Mr. Worldly Wiseman is an alien, and Mr. Legality is a cheat; and for his son Civility, notwithstanding his simpering looks, he is but a hypocrite and cannot help thee. Believe me, there is nothing in all this noise, that thou hast heard of sottish men, but a design to beguile thee of thy salvation, by turning thee from the way in which I had set thee.' After this, Evangelist called aloud to the heavens for confirmation of what he had said: and with that there came words and fire out of the mountain under which poor Christian stood, that made the hair of his flesh stand up. The words were thus pronounced: 'As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.' Galatians 3:10.
        Now Christian looked for nothing but death, and began to cry out lamentably; even cursing the time in which he met with Mr. Worldly Wiseman; still calling himself a thousand fools for hearkening to his counsel; he also was greatly ashamed to think that this gentleman's arguments, flowing only from the flesh, should have the prevalency with him as to cause him to forsake the right way. This done, he applied himself again to Evangelist in words and sense as follows.

CHRISTIAN. Sir, what think you? Is there hope? May I now go back and go up to the wicket-gate? Shall I not be abandoned for this, and sent back from thence ashamed? I am sorry I have hearkened to this man's counsel. But may my sin be forgiven? Then said Evangelist to him, 'Thy sin is very great, for by it thou hast committed two evils: thou hast forsaken the way that is good, to tread in forbidden paths; yet will the man at the gate receive thee, for he has goodwill for men; only,' said he, 'take heed that thou turn not aside again, lest thou 'perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.' Psalm 2:12.

          May the Lord help each of us to keep our eyes upon Christ alone, looking for and hoping in the grace of God alone to save us from our sin our selves through faith alone in Jesus Christ.

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Footnotes