Luke 6:17

And stood in the plain;— Dr. Macknight is of opinion that this sermon was not the same with that declared in the fifth and following Chapter s of St. Matthew. Amongst other reasons which he urges to shew the difference, he remarks, that the sermon recorded by St. Matthew was delivered on a mountain, in a sitting posture; for he went up into a mountain, and sat down to pronounce it, Matthew 5:1 and after he had finished it, came down to the plain, Matthew 8:1 whereas when he pronounced this which St. Luke speaks of, he was in a plain or valley, where he could not sit because of the multitude which surrounded him, but stood with his disciples. But though there were not an evident disagreement in the facts preceding and following these two sermons, the reader might easily have allowedthat they were pronounced at different times, because he will find other instances of things really different, notwithstanding in their nature they be alike, and were preceded and followed by similar events. For example, the two miraculous dinners were not only alike in their natures, but in their circumstances also; for they were introduced by the same discourses, and followed by like events; particularly at the conclusion of both, Jesus passed over the sea of Galilee; nevertheless, both being in the same evangelist, no reader can possibly think them the same. See the note on Matthew 5:1.