Matthew 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. What are the limits of lawful showing of our deeds, so that we may not break the law which bids us be secret? 1. The passage read to the end will remove the difficulty suggested. "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them." Secrecy in good deeds is not absolute, but relative; not positive, and for its own sake, but in order to exhibit the vitiating effect of ostentation. 2. And so the text seems to offer the antidote to its own difficulty. "And glorify your Father which is in Heaven." Your good works may be seen, and ought to be seen, but to God's glory, and not your own. Not to let our works be seen when they ought to be seen would be to desert our Lord. This rule may serve for some external direction in this perplexed case. Let the separate deeds be hidden, according to the precept of the sixth chapter; let the general design of goodness be known, according to the text. But the principle guide in cases like these is not to be found so much in an external rule as in a spiritually enlightened discrimination, which feels instinctively when is the time for secrecy and when for publicity.How dangerous to our Christian modesty everything must be which takes off from the delicacy of our natural modesty. 1. Do not fear that you incur any danger of ostentation in performing visibly such religious observances as your parents or teachers direct. 2. Be real, let all be really addressed to God. 3. Be consistent. 4. Be modest in other things. These rules will aid spiritual modesty. (G. Moberley, D. C. L.) Parallel Verses KJV: Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.WEB: You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can't be hidden. |
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