Matthew 19:30

30. But many This verse belongs properly to the next chapter. The maxim it contains introduces and closes the parable of the labourers, Matthew 20:16. Our Lord has answered Peter’s question. Matthew 19:27. He now turns to warn Peter, in the parable of the next chapter, how the hireling spirit of that question is disapproved by God. It shows great want of a sense of the wickedness of our own heart, and the imperfectness of our own services, when a man expects his doings to entitle him to God’s gratitude.

Bishop Butler, of England, lived unmarried, and spent his immense revenues in charity and alms. He wrote a great work, The Analogy, which has, perhaps, converted many an infidel. Yet in his latter days awful thoughts of his sinfulness overwhelmed his soul. He felt how little his charities weighed against the impurities of the heart. And through the glory of God had prompted his book, visions of his own fame therefrom had also entered his mind. He trembled before God. But that text, “Whosoever cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out,” which many would suppose calculated only for viler sinners, was brought to his relief. He flung himself by faith upon it, and was richly consoled with the hope not of being saved by works of righteousness but by grace alone.