(47-49) Whosoever cometh to me. — See Notes on Matthew 7:24. Here again the all but verbal reproduction of the parable shows the impression which its repetition had left on the minds of men. The variations, however, are not without significance. St. Luke alone reports that the wise man “digged deep” (better, digged, and made it deep), and so brings out the toil and labour which attends the laying the foundation. It is not a passing emotion of assurance, a momentary act of faith, but involves a process that goes deep through the surface strata of the life, till it finds a foundation in a purified and strengthened will, or, to anticipate St. Paul’s teaching, in the “new man” within us, which is one with the presence of Christ as “the hope of glory” (Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 1:27).

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