iiÓ MonAL LASA UNDER THE GOSPEL. for he comes in a humble manner as to a divine prophet, he seertin to be in good earnest in the question which he puts to Christ, and seriously concerned about the welfare of his soul: He did not come with a design to ensnare Christ in his words, as that sort of men, viz. the Pharisees often did : Nor did he come with useless perpleäing questions; as the scribes and sadducees and lawyers sometimes had done : But as St: Mark relates the history, he shewed some tokens of sincerity ; Mark x. 17. for he came run- ning to Jesus with diligence and speed, longing to have the opinion of a new prophet about a matter of such importance, as the obtaining of eternal life : He kneeleddown to him, and paid our Saviour much civil respect: He received the directions of Christ with attention, and when he found in his heart that his Iove to his riches would not let him comply with the terms pro- posed, he went away sorronful. There was something in his de- sign and in his deportment; that was lovely and amiable, and we find that our Saviour, as a man, looked on him with a love of complacency ; Mark x. 21. But he was not so zealous a lover of God as to part with earth for heaven. We may suppose this young gentleman, who seems to be a follower or ,disciple of the Pharisees, might probably have one or more of these three de- signs in his question, viz. I. Whereas the law of Moses promises long life in the land of Canaan, and the blessings of this world to those that are obe- dient to the statutes andordinances which God enjoined to Israel ;; but it scarce ever mentions, plainly and expressly, any promises of eternal life in another world, nor the methods to attain it ; and whereas this ,youth was fully convinced from several of the wri- tings of the prophets, that there was a future state and eternal happiness inanother world to beobtained, he comes now to Jesus, as a new and divine teacher, to seek an answer to this question about eternal life, which lie could not find an express answer to in the law of Moses ;'and he would fain know whether he must obtain eternal life the same way that he was to seek for a long life on earth, and temporal blessings, namely, by an outward obe- dience to the laws already given to the Jews. H. We may suppose him enquiring after some shorter and morecompendious way to eternal life, by practising some one or two extraordinary instancesof duty, and thereby to atone for the neglect of the rest. This was an error that prevailed among the Pharisees in our Saviour's time, as seems to be sufficiently evi- dent from their doctrine, as it is represented; Mat. xv. 5, 6. Whosoever shall make a great present to God and his temple, as some interpret the word corban, or, a gift, he shall be free from all relative duties to parents, &c. So Mat. xxiii. 23. if they didbut pay tithes duly to the priest they might be saved, though they neg- lected the weighty ?natters of the law, justice,judgment and mercy,
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