n us to preach it to all. We
can only tell most men's disposition towards it by offering it to them,
and we are not to be in a hurry to conclude that men are dogs and swine.

III. It may be a question whether, in verse 8, the emphasis is to be
laid on 'every one' or on 'that asketh,' or, in other words, whether the
saying is an assurance that the universal law will be followed in our
case, or a statement of the universal condition without which no
receiving is possible, and, least of all, the receiving of the gifts of
the kingdom by its subjects. In either case, this verse gives the reason
for the preceding exhortation. Then follows the tender illustration in
which the dim-sighted love of earthly fathers is taken as a parable of
the all-wise tenderness and desire to bestow which move the hand of the
giving God. There is some resemblance between an Eastern loaf and a
stone, and some between a fish and a serpent. However imperfect a
father's love, he will neither be cruel enough to cheat his unsuspecting
child with what looks like an answer to his wish but is useless or
hurtful, nor foolish enough to make a mistake. All human relationships
are in some measure marred by the faults of those who sustain them. What
a solemn attestation of universal sinfulness is in these words of
Christ's, and how calmly He separates Himself by His sinlessness from
us! I do not know that there is anywhere a stronger scriptural proof of
these two truths than this one incidental clause, 'ye, being evil.' I
wonder whether the people who pit the Sermon on the Mount against
evangelical Christianity are ready to take this part of it into their
creeds. It is noteworthy, also, that the emphasis is laid, not on the
earthly father's willingness, but on his knowing how to give good gifts.
Our Lord seems to think that He need not assure us of the plain truth
that of course our Father in heaven is willing, just because He is our
Father, to give us all good; but He heartens us with the assurance that
His love is wisdom, and that He cannot make any mistakes. There are no
stones mingled with our bread, nor any serpents among the fish. He gives
good, and nothing but good.

IV. The great precept which closes the section is not only to be taken
as an inference from the immediately preceding context, but as the
summing up of all the duties to our neighbours, in which Christ has
been laying down the law of the kingdom from Matthew v. 17. This general
reference o