\ v
*>— WHO I
"ZLFHK
CHRIST OUR LIFE:
IN
ITS ORIGIN, LAW, AND END.
BY
JOSEPH ANGUS, D.U
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ^SliT'C-^OCtrXT.
: J V
"Christ . . . our life." " To me to live is Christ." — Col. iii. 4 : Phil. i. 21.
PHILADELPHIA : AMEKICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY,
1420 CHESTNUT STREET.
scHbt
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
741119
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDAT IONS
R 1916 L
Entered according to Act of Congress., in the year 1853, by the
AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY,
In the Clerk's O/nce of the District Court of the United States, in : « ■ ,^nd for .the Eastern District of Pennsyly&nia.
ADVERTISEMENT.
In republishing the following work the American Baptist Publi- cation Society has been influenced by several independent consider- ations. Its peculiar design, so far from giving it a limited local bearing, has given it a peculiarly broad and catholic character, adapted to intelligent minds in every region of the earth, in every condition of culture or of creed. It also imparts a comprehensive- ness to its plans, and a freshness of view in its execution. Its general merit is sufficiently attested by the unanimous decision of the Committee — all of them members of the Church of England — after an examination of sixty-four manuscripts. Its Author, Dr. Angus, late Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society, is now President of Stepney College, London.
In the Editorial revision of the work for the American public, very few changes have been required or admitted. The style is distinguished by its clearness and classic beauty. Wherever any difference of judgment of sufficient moment occurred, the Editor has preferred to express it in the Notes. The Editor's Notes are distinguished from those of the Author by the initials — J. N. B.
For general reading, for the aid of the young theological student, for Bible Classes, and for Sabbath School Teachers in particular, this volume will be found a peculiar treasure. Christ, in His vari- ous interesting relations, is the centre, the soul, and the glory of the book. It is a book for the whole world — and especially so in these times of expanding knowledge, of commercial and missionary movement, and of almost universal transition to a new and better order of things.
(3)
TO THE UNKNOWN FRIEND
(WITH WHOSE GENEROUS LIBERALITY THIS ESSAY ORIGINATE!))
AND
TO ALL OF EVERY NAME
WHO HAVE RECEIVED FROM CHRIST A MISSION 'FOR THE OBEDIENCE Of
FAITH AMONG ALL NATIONS'
THESE PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.
PREFACE.
The following pages originated in the public appli- cation of a gentleman in the civil service of the East India Company for an " Essay ox the Life of Christ, adapted to missionary purposes, and suitable for translation into the vernacular languages of India."
The subjects recommended for special discussion and illustration were: — The Original Deity of the Son of God : The circumstances of His life and death, so as to show the wonders of His love in the work of redemption, and the sinfulness of sin : The glorious exaltation of Christ, and His second coming : the whole being intended to exhibit most forcibly to the minds of intelligent heathen the wonderful character of the Son of God.
A nobler theme never occupied the pen or heart of man !
When the writer's attention was called to this announcement, the condition of the heathen and of India had long occupied his thoughts ; and he was at the time engaged in reading the life of our Lord with a class of students entrusted to his care. His own mind had been profoundly impressed with the richness and depth of the Gospel narrative, and he was induced to set forth his conceptions of it in the
1* (5)
6 PREFACE.
following form. The Essay was sent in to the adju- dicators— the Kev. Professor Scholefield, of the Uni- versity of Cambridge; the Eev. John Tucker, Secre- tary of the Church Missionary Society ; and the Kev. Thomas Sale, now Vicar of Sheffield — and of the sixty-four submitted to them, it was declared by their unanimous decision to be the best adapted for the purpose contemplated by the advertiser.
In the narrative of the Gospels, the writer has adopted the arrangement of Dr. Eobinson of New York, deeming it on the whole the most satisfactory that has been published. In the sections on " Christ incarnate a Saviour through suffering," and on " Christ crucified afresh," he has availed himself of sermons by Dr. Wayland, of Brown University, Ehode Island; and the late Kev. Professor Butler, of Dublin. In both sections he has given little more than their thoughts in his own words, and in such order as seemed best suited to the special design of the volume.
If these pages succeed in calling attention to the devout study of our Lord's life, the writer can from experience promise to such readers an ample recom- pense; and he will himself feel that, so far as' this country is concerned, his end is gained.
CONTENTS.
PAGfl
Chapter I. Introductory . . . . ,9
Sect. 1. Different families but one blood . . .
2. Progress in error .....
3. Resuits moral and practical . . . .
4. Palestine tbe scene of the labors of the Messiah
5. The Gospels the record of His life . .
Chapter II. The Birth and Childhood of Christ
Sect. 1. Events connected with the birth and childhood of our Lord ......
2. Christ perfect man and perfect God . .
3. The fullness of time ....
4. State of the Jews when the Messiah appeared .
2. The Temptation, and John's second testimony concern-
ing Christ
3. The beginning of signs
4. Christ's first public act
5. Christ's first discourse
6. Christ's first journey
7. The first rejection of Christ by his countrymen .
8. Christ incarnate' the revelation of God and the model of
holiness ......
9. Christ incarnate a Saviour through suffering
00
11
16 27 37 43
53
55
61
70 79
Chapter III. Events connected with Christ's entrance on-
His personal Ministry . . . . 87
Sect. 1. The mission of John, and his testimony concerning Christ
89
95 102 111
112 120 127
131 133
8 CONTENTS.
PAGE
Chapter IV. The Teacher and Prophet: the Law: His own
work ....... 149
Sect. 1. Lessons taught in tho earlier miracles of our Lord . 153
2. The Sermon on tho Mount. Christ the fulfillment of
the Law . . . . . . .166
3. Christ's teaching in relation to His own work and the
necessity of faith ..... 184
4. Christ's further disclosures in Galilee and Judaea . 204
5. Teaching by parables ..... 222
Chapter V. Christ the Priest and Sacrifice . . . 235
Sect. 1. Christ goes up to Jerusalem to be crucified . . 239
2. The Church and the institution of the Lord's Supper . 245
3. The denial of Peter, and the crucifixion of our Lord . 253
4. Christ crucified afresh, or the feelings that actuated
His murderers common to every age . . . 261
5. Christ our Propitiation and Priest; the influence of the
cross on God and man ..... 269
Chapter VI. Christ as King ..... 293 Sect. 1. The Resurrection cf our Lord, and lessons connected
with it . . . . . . . 295
2. Christ the King of Hades — the Forerunner — the First-
Fruits of them that Slept .... 305
3. The Invisible King ..... 311
4. His second coming . t 323
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
§ 1. Different Families, but one Blood. § 2. Progress in Error. § 3. Results Moral and Practical. § 4. Palestine, the Scene of the Labors of the Messiah.
§ 5. The Gospels, the Record of his Life.
(»)
CHAPTEK I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Sect. I. — Different Families, but one Blood.
1. A thousand years before the Yedas were , written, (B. C. 1400,) and at least 1800 before the laws Gatherings at of Menu, which form the basis of Hindoo juris- sllinaar- prudence, were composed, (B. C. 600,) the descendants of the second father of the human family (who had been miraculously "saved from a fearful flood, began to multiply on the earth. As they multiplied, they removed from the mountain districts of Armenia to the well-watered plains of Shinaar, between the rivers Hiddekel (Tigris) and Eu- phrates, "the swift-flowing" and "the fruitful." Here, in very early times, men were formed into families, and esta- blished in towns and villages. Here also they followed agriculture, built cities, and practised many of the arts of civilized life.
2. As they grew in numbers they grew in wickedness ; till at length, partly as a punishment of their
sins, and partly as a consequence of failing pasture and deficient produce, they became scattered ; each band retaining the civilization and the fragments of reli- gious truth which the better men among them had pre- served. From a book of demonstrable antiquity, contain- ing records that can be traced to within a comparatively short period of the time when these events took place, we
(H)
12 INTRODUCTORY.
gather that, even then and for ages later, there was a gene- ral belief in the unity of God, in the creation and preserva- tion of all things by Divine power, in a general and par- ticular Providence, in a Divine law fixing distinctions between right and wrong, in the fall and corruption of man, in the doctrine of atonement through vicarious suf- fering, in direct Divine spiritual influence, in human respon- sibility, and in the necessity for practical holiness. True religion, in fact, has ever been faith and obedience ; an humble, submissive repose of the heart on Divine truth, and appropriate holiness. Whether it be regarded as a system of truth — objective religion, or as a system of holy affection — subjective religion, it has never changed.
3. Nor is it difficult to account for either the complete- its origin ex- ness or *ne diffusion of this knowledge. The plained. flood of waters occurred in the life-time of the
third generation from Adam, our first parent. He had been created by God in his own image ; but yielding to temptation he fell, and involved us all in his ruin. For many years Lamech was his contemporary ; Lamech again was the father of Noah, and the contemporary for many years of Shem, as Shem was of Abraham, the father of the people " of whom, according to the flesh, Christ came."
Methuselah, again, was for more than two hundred years a contemporary of Adam, and for six hundred years of Noah ; and through him, or other similar channels, might the knowledge of the true God have been trans- mitted and preserved.* During the whole of this interval, too, many eminently holy men appeared — Abel, Seth, Enoch, and Noah, all of them preachers of righteousness, and valiant for the truth upon the earth.
* This is the Hebrew chronology. The chronology of the LXX. makes the insertion of another generation necessary both before and after the Deluge. But this difference is of little moment. The transmission of Di- vine knowledge is nearly equally etasy in either case.
§ 1. DIFFERENT FAMILIES, BUT ONE BLOOD 13
4. In spite of these influences, however, human nature goon showed its true character, and its lamen- Speedy deteri. table tendency to deterioration. Before the oration- flood, God had seen that the wickedness of men was great, that every imagination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil continually, and the flood left them unchanged.
As early as the days of Shem, the son of Noah, idolatry was openly practised in Chaldea, the country of Abraham ; and not more than a hundred years after the death of Noah, the whole district of Sodom and Gomorrah was de- stroyed in consequence of the guilt of its inhabitants. Fire from heaven, combined with the bitumen and sulphur of that region, consumed them. The plain is now filled with the Dead Sea, whose waters exhibit in their saltness, and slimy bituminous qualities, evidences of the fearful catastrophe with which it was visited.
5. As the first settlers in Shinaar were dispersed, they went in different directions, and according to the Migration of families to which they belonged. The sons of early settlers- Japhet, the eldest-born, travelled northward, Madai and his descendants settling on the borders of the Caspian, and Gomer and his descendants on the borders of the Black Sea. Here their numbers increased ; till, at length, many of the descendants of Madai moved down ioto Hindustan, while many of the descendants of Gomer moved westward, (with other branches of the same great family) into Europe. The primaeval inhabitants, therefore, of India, those who first spoke the Sanscrit tongue, and nearly all who after- wards migrated among them from the north, were, eth- nographically, Caucasians,* and belonged to the same division of the human family which have since made the inhabitants of the western world, and of Britain especially, the moving spirits of the earth. India and Europe are
* So called from the range of mountains near which they had originally settled.
2
14 INTRODUCTORY.
allied, therefore, not only through a common interest, but through the close connection of the races that first peopled them.
From Shem, whose descendants remained at Shinaar, and ultimately occupied Arabia and Syria, were descended the Chaldeans, the Persians,* the Assyrians, the Jews and the Mohammedan nations, who have since modified the character of the population of the east, either by migra- tion or conquest. Through this branch of the
Connection of •
Europe and in- great family of man, India has closer ethno-
dia.
graphical connection with the natives of Pales- tine than Europeans ; and it is clear that, if Europe has received the Messiah of the Jews, it is not because He is of her race, but because she is convinced of the divinity of His claims.
The descendants of Ham settled in Egypt and in other parts of Africa, and have had frequent intercourse, by sea, with India. From that country, indeed, it is generally thought, they imported their arts and learning.
6. If we seek for further evidence of this connection
between Europe and " utmost Ind," it is
Evidence ofthis
connection in found in the affinities which subsist between
Mythology and .
the languages and the mythologies of the two regions. The polluted streams of Greek, Slavonic, and Hindoo mythology have, evidently, a common source; their myths a common basis, and their rites and ceremonies a common authority. Many of the gods which crowd the Pantheon of the East were known, under appropriate names, to Homer and Hesiod, and to our Saxon fore- fathers. The Indra and Yama of the East are the Pluvius and Pluto of Rome. The god of the waters (Peruna), and the goddess of love, (Rembha), are the Neptune and
* The Shemitish Persians, however, were early overcome by tribes descended from Japhet. Modern Persians, therefore, belong chiefly to the Caucasian race, some to the family of Ham.
§ 1. DIFFERENT FAMILIES, BUT ONE BLOOD. 15
Venus of the West. The very names of the days of the week are called, in India, by names taken from the same deities as preside in "Western calculations over those por- tions of time. This general conclusion is not affected by the fact, that the religion of each of these nations was influenced by peculiarities of position and of climate. The German and the Briton kindled their devotion beside their blood-stained altars, in the depth of the forest ; the Koman blended his religion with luxury or war ; the Greek with poetry, philosophy, or art. But these differences refer rather to the forms of devotion most popular among these various tribes, than to the objects of their worship. The people had really the same gods, though the services offered to them changed with the national character and circumstances of the worshippers. To complete this evidence, it must be added, that nearly all the branches of the Shemitish nations were monotheistic, and, instead of supplying Europe and Asia with idols, borrowed them when guilty of idolatry, from the descendants of Japhet or of Ham.
Y. Further, it is notorious that the Sanscrit language, with its numerous derivatives, is closely con- nected, both in matter and in form, with the Greek, Latin, German, and Sclavonic tongues. There are in Sanscrit no less than nine hundred words having the same root as corresponding words in the languages of the West, while affinities of form supply evidence of a common origin no less striking and decisive ; indeed it is indispu- table, that the ancestors of those who now speak the Sanscrit and the Gothic, (including, under the former, most of the derivative dialects of the East, and, under the latter, the Sclavonic, the German, high and low, and the classic languages of ancient Europe,) had once a common tongue, and interchanged their thoughts by similar ele-
16 INTRODUCTORY.
ments of speech. So true is the Scripture declaration, that men were divided "according to their families," though made of one blood, and possessing, first in Adam, and then in Noah, a common progenitor. This truth, — the identity of India and Europe, — is completed when we add to it the fact, that both have fallen through a common calamity, and are, in Christ, invited to an interest in what is emphati- cally a "common salvation."
Sect. 2. — Progress in Error.
8. It may seem a long and a useless task to enumerate
and classify the religious errors that prevailed
Error is appa- ^
rentiy infinite, in the Western world when the Saviour ap-
but • •
peared. Truth is unchanging, but error is,
from its nature, mutable and endless.
9. But though the forms of error are, in themselves,
infinite, error is practically limited. To be
really limited. ' L °
study of it believed at all, it must be blended with truth,
Useful,
or it must be adapted to the human heart "Under either necessity the number of its forms is lessened, and they all become objects of interest, for the study of them throws light either upon truth, or upon human nature, or upon both.
10. In another respect, too, the history of error is
important. If we ascertain its character and
in various ways. . . . , „ .
working in one religious system, we shall have a key to systems less accurately known. Popular errors repeat themselves; and, if we analyze them once, we are prepared to trace and investigate them elsewhere. Phari- saism, for example, is found the world over. Sadduceeism is rationalistic infidelity, whether in India or in Europe. The cosmogonies of the Ionic school of philosophy, in Greece, have been revived in China ; and we find, in our own Western continent, both the polytheism and the
§ 2. PROGRESS IN ERROR. 17
pantheistic tendencies of the systems of Brahma and Buddh.
11. " There is one God; he is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
Monotheism
truth," are lessons of Holy Scripture, once and ppitttaoi
worship once
known to all mankind. Tradition still preserved universal.
... . Shown in philo-
among the primitive tribes of America, speaks sopincai tradi- of the Great Spirit." Greece had its " Father of Gods," who was himself before them all, Kpoi>o?. Even Parseeism had "illimitable time," whose essence enshrouds both Ormuzd and Ahriman ; as Hindooism has its " abso- lute intelligence," its "essential light," "rest," and "con- templation ;" forms of expression which connect the pan- theism of India with the antagonistic Buddhism of Ceylon and China.
12. And while philosophy has disclosed the existence among the intelligent of a belief of this truth, in the popular its existence is attested by the language of feelms- common life. "In the deepest emotions of their minds, the heathen," says Tertullian, "never direct their exclama- tions to their false gods, but employ the words — ' God help me,' — 'as God liveth;' and then moreover, they look not to the capitol but to the heavens." Aulus Gellius informs us, (Noctes Atticae, ii. 28.) in the same strain, that the ancient Romans were not accustomed during earthquakes to pray to some gods individually, but only to God in general, as to the Great Unknown. Even in India, the Hindoo speaks of God as possessed of a unity of which he certainly finds no counterpart in his present system. He regards Him as Creator, Preserver, and Ruler. He calls Him as a witness of his integrity ; and, when not thinking of the creed which he is bound to defend, employs forms of speech and inadvertent references, which show that the teaching of his conscience is better than the teaching of his faith.
2*
18 INTRODUCTORY.
13. This view takes for granted, of course, that falsr;
religions are more modern than the true ; and
True religion ° . . .
older than this representation all history sustains. '.Most nations," says J. von Miiller, "though entirely uncultivated in other things, had perfectly correct views of God, of the world, of immortality ; while the arts, which pertain to the conveniences of life, are much younger. It seems, in fact, as if the breath of the Divinity within us, our spirit, had acquired through the immediate teaching of a higher Being, and for a long time had retained, certain indispensable ideas and habits, while what pertains to the employment of material capacities was left for the exercise of our own mental powers." Herder and F. Schlegel, and a host of others, concur in this view; while in ancient times, Plato and Aristotle agree in affirming that the early state of man was neither savage nor corrupt, but a simple and holy state, approaching nearer to the Divine — a state from which the savage and the corrupt man are equally removed.
14. How this belief in the being of one Supreme Deity Origin of false ended m the belief of many gods, is explained syatems. in t]ie Epistle to the Romans. " Tie wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungod'iness and unholiness of men, who through unholiness suppress the 1 ruth. For so much as can be known of God is manifested to them ; for what in him is peculiarly invisible — his eternal power and divinity — appears visible in his works since the creation of the world as soon as we contemplate them ; so that the heathen are without excuse; they knew God indeed, but they honored him not as God, nor were they thankful to him as such ; but they became trifling and vain in their speculations, and their apprehension was daiktned — pretending to be wise they became fools, ani put ffi the place* of the glory of the incorruptible God, an ifiihge of
§ 2. PROGRESS IN ERROR. 19
the form of corruptible man, and of birds, of four-footed beasts, and of creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up through the lusts of their sense to impurity, so that they have dishonored their own bodies; they have changed the truth of God into a lie, and have reverenced and worshipped the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever, amen. Wherefore God gave them up to debasing passions. And as they did not regard it as worth their pains to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do things abominable, being full of all unholiness, whoredom, malice, avarice, base- ness, full of envy, of murder, of strife, deceit, and malig- nity, calumniators, slanderers, despisers of God, haughty, proud, boastful, mischief-makers, disobedient to parents, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful ; who, though they well know the law of God, that they who do such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also bestow praise on those who do them." Moral corruption, therefore, first led to idolatry.
15. As long as man remained in a living moral relation to God, the diversity which seems to pervade
. -, . Polytheism.
all nature created little attention and no mis- giving. Accustomed to exercise faith, men saw through the diversity into the unity that lay beneath it ; or they had at least no guilty fear. But when this condition was lost, and the holiness of the Divine character grew distaste- ful, the visible alone came gradually to be regarded ; the heavens, the earth, the winds, the sea. Men found it diffi- cult perhaps to look away from what lay before their eyes ; and disliking conclusions which brought them into imme- diate relation to a God almighty, omnipresent, and per- fectly holy, they ended in finding a god in each individual appearance, or in every hope or fear which distracted their hearts. Thus Polytheism arose.
20 INTRODUCTORY.
16. More sagacious minds started back from the results
of this system ; and thinking that they per- ceived unity amidst all the diversity of nature, but still renouncing the knowledge of one holy, self-existent G od above the world, they regarded as God that collective vitality which appeared in the whole. Hence arose Pan- theism— a system which reunited the animating principles of the previous theory, and taught, on the one hand, that all its separate deities were parts of the soul of the world, or emanations of the great Fountain of mind ; and held on the other, that* mind and matter were distinctions purely metaphysical and imaginary ; that every thing was God, and God every thing, the whole universe being one and indivisible. Possibly some sages ascended higher still, and recognised in this poetical pantheism the foundation of a moral monotheism, which, however, was too sublime and simple for even their own faith.
17. Whether this order of error be the universal one, Progress and may ^e disputed. Among some nations, the mutU8of ^eS pantheistic tendency seems to have developed systems. itself first, and transmigration was one of its results — a doctrine that resolves all souls into one — the soul of the world, which first divides its essence, and then reabsorbs the parts. Among other nations, polytheism first appeared under the form of the worship of the visible heavens, and of the Spirit who was supposed to animate them ; then of the heavenly bodies ; then of the represen- tatives of the various energies of nature, as distinct deities ; then, perhaps, of deceased heroes. From this polytheism again sprung pantheism. The idea of separate deities was too gross to please the philosopher. As the common peo- ple had marked the various phenomena of the universe, and ascribed each to a separate god, he took those gods, and traced them all in the same way to a common infinite in- telligence. " God," says Zeno, " is the Author and Father
§ 2. PROGRESS IN ERROR. 21
of all ; and he is called by various names, according to the power manifested. He is Dis, because all things are through him ; Zeus* because all live by him ; Athene, because his directing power is diffused in air.f These etymologies may be questioned, but the remark illustrates a principle of admitted truth.
In most countries, probably, the two systems prevailed contemporaneously, as in Greece. The Yedas, too, favor the application of this conclusion to India ; for they seem to suggest doubts whether man and all things were not parts of the Divinity, though they abound in polytheistic instructions. Buddhism, professedly pantheistic, and at first anti-polytheistic, is notoriously polytheistic ; for while it admits one Buddha, it reverences and worships even animals, as possibly containing proper forms of that Intel- ligence which is all-pervading and supreme.
18. The tendencies of these systems may be easily illustrated from the history of Grecian sects. Illustrated in In the time of our Lord the whole western Greece- world was divided into three great classes : the followers of Epicurus, of Zeno, and of Plato. The first admitted the existence of a Divine Being as a philosophical
. Epicureanism.
truth, on condition only that He should have no connection with the world ; and held, at the same time, that there were inferior deities, as represented in the mythologies of the day ; the belief in those gods being, in the opinion, of the founder of this sect, a proof of their existence ; for all belief he maintained to be an effluence of real objects. J
* The Greek derivation is here adopted; hut hoth Zeis and Acs are forms of an old Sanscrit word, applied also to the supreme God.
■j- In Diog- Laertius, vii. 147.
X Nothing can represent more accurately than the language ascribed by Cicero to Velleius, the views of the Epicureans: — Imposuistis in cer- vicibus nostris sempiternum dominum, quern dies et noctes timeremua.
22 INTRODUCTORY.
The followers of Zeno, or the Stoics, were strictly pan- theists ; holding that the world itself is divine, and that the Deity dwells in it. Nor do the Academics, the followers of Plato, greatly differ from the Stoics in these respects : for all held that God is deified living nature ; that this deity is the source of the human soul, and the principle into which it will ultimately
The Platonists.
return and be absorbed. Man, therefore, in both systems, was taken as the sample of the Godhead, whom he was to judge of and measure by himself. In both systems common men, with minds dissipated amid the multitude of visible things, have intercourse only with those mediatorial deities who approach nearest to them- selves : while the spiritual man, living in contemplation, soars upwards, in thought at least, to the supreme original Essence.*
19. Concerning these sects, it is obvious to remark, that the first is atheistic in its spirit. Epicu-
AU Pantheis- . r 2
tic, Atheistic, rcauism believed in the existence of a supreme
or
God, but it robbed him of all his attributes. He neither sees, nor does he desire or act. He is without- superintendence or control ; without power or life. The inferior deities are, like himself, eternal and imperishable, living in a state of complete repose. The very God of
Quis enim non tinieat omnia providentem, et cogitantem, et animadcer- tentem, et omnia ad ae pertinere putuntem, curiosum et plenum negoti Deum ? Be Nat. Deor. i. 20.
* Plato's u>v is distinguished from the Qcoi ye.vi)ro\ of his system. Attempts, such as Plato's, to bring back the faith of man from the visible deities to the Great Invisible, have been made in all ages ; though, per- haps, never (apart from Revelation) with greater originality and purity than are manifested in Plato's writings. There is at present a society in India, formed for the same purpose, a kind of Hindoo Unitarians. The futility of all such attempts — apart from Revelation — is proved from the history of all ancient philosophy.
§ 2. PROGRESS IN ERROR. 23
Epicurus, therefore, is a mere negation : and his nature is denied in the very terms that admit his being.
This atheistic spirit was confirmed by other parts of his system. He taught that the world is not the work of an intelligent Cause, but a fatherless child, a causeless effect, disowned by all superior natures, the result of a fortuitous concourse of atoms. The soul, he maintained, is cor- poreal, and perishes with the dissolution of the atoms of which it is composed. Pleasure is our sovereign good; and man's chief end is exemption from suffering, and tha gratification of natural desires. In this system, therefore, we are our own law, without higher governor or judge. Death is nothing, and there is nothing beyond it.
Stoicism, in some of its sects, held that matter and spirit are identical ; mind being the bright fountain of all things, but becoming gross and dim as it flowed at a distance from its source. What is called creation is but the expansion of the Deity. The contraction again of the same object to its original dimensions, will be the annihilation of the world. Hence all that is, is God ; and there is no exist- ence but God. As the tree of the forest is but the growth of the original germ, and the leaves, fruit, and stem are, though diverse in form, but one tree ; so is the universe an expansion of God. As the diamond and the coal are both carbon ; as air and water are but the same elements in different proportions ; so all nature is but the varied God. It is he who
Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms, in the trees, Lives through all life, extends through all extent, Spreads undivided, operates unspent.
Such is speculative Stoicism.
Platonism again applied this doctrine of emanation to spirit, rather than to matter ; but, with this exception, used language not different from that of the Stoic. And con-
24 INTRODUCTORY.
cerning both systems, it may be affirmed that they tend, both logically and in popular feeling, either to practical atheism, or to polytheism. Stoicism taught that every thing which is, is God, and will be absorbed into the Divine essence ; Platonism confines this dogma to the souls of men. In both a real Deity is denied. The true God is as we know, indivisible. Both systems divided him into infini- tesimal portions. He is incapable of change, of impurity, of suffering. Both systems make him subject to them all. A God whose attributes are identical with men, or with nature, is clearly robbed of all that is characteristic and divine. The one system taught that God is matter and Creator; the other, that he is spirit and Creator. Both make him to be the material out of which either all things, or all rational agents, at least are made. He is at once potter and clay, master and servant, father and child, governor and subject, judge and criminal.
In such systems, where all souls are not only God's but God, he himself, and all the relations that refer to him, are virtually disowned, and all moral government is overthrown. The very distinction between good and evil is rendered impossible; holiness and sin are attributes of the same Spirit, and the only real Spirit is the Godhead. Evil is but a development of his character. When men speak, it is the Divine Spirit speaking through them ; when they act, it is the Divine Spirit acting in them ; and in a fear- fully unholy sense, it is " one God who worketh all in all."
20. Nor is it difficult to see how these systems tended to roivtheistic encourage Polytheism. The idea of a universal and God, identical in the one system with the uni-
verse, and in the other with the spirits of men, was too vague for the popular mind; but it led naturally to the deification of the several parts of the material universe. Everything is part of the Deity ; everything, therefore, may be adored. But as some selection must be made, those
§ 2. PROGRESS IN ERROR. 25
objects which transcend the rest, either in the force with which they strike the fancy, or in their utility, come to be considered specially divine. Does the sun warm and fructify the earth ? It is divine. Does the moon light up tne darkness of the night ? It is divine. Does the mighty river flow throughout the land ; now marking its course with lines of verdure and tracts of fruitfulness, and now sweeping away the towns and villages that had flourished on its bounty ? It is divine. By a very easy generalisa- tion, the principles of preservation and of destruction themselves are deified ; and thus systems the most abstract and apparently spiritual, foster a Polytheism the most cumbrous and degrading.
21. Hero-worship and mystical asceticism spring from the same source; or if already existing, are
• rm n t favorable to
nourished by it. The benefactors ot the human Hero-worship race, men eminent for their wisdom or power, appear as literally partakers of a Divine nature. Their voice is the voice of God. "When they die, whatever was mortal of them passes away ; what remains is Divine, in origin, in power, and why not also in destiny and honors.
If man, again, would elevate and perfect his own nature, let him destroy his conscious individuality, let him leave the world, gratify no sense, and receive from the external universe no impressions. Let him turn his thoughts within ; the kingdom of God is there. By contemplation the inquirer may become the sage, and the neophyte be prepared for intercourse with the Great Spirit from whom he sprang, and of whom he is part.
22. Such was Grecian philosophy, and such to the very letter are the systems which now prevail in the
distant East. Christianity appeared when theEasTchrL" these philosophical systems were in their glory toathemaaiiPte( in the western world, and they fell before it. What was true in them it had already embodied. What
3
26 INTRODUCTORY.
was false it swept way. It can encounter no new forms of error, and our conviction of its final triumph is confirmed, not only by a persuasion of the power of its Author, but by the history of the past.
Of course the systems of the Eastern and Western worlds, while in spirit they are identical, have their characteristic differences. In every clime man is always man. He is exposed nevertheless, in different regions, to different in- fluences. According to these influences, every thing which belongs to him, worship, custom, literature, each receives its peculiar impress. In Greece religion was devotion to external nature, and at last to art ; in Rome it was de- votion to country, and then to power. The Greek wor- shiped taste, the Roman energy. The Oriental, on the other hand, of fervid imagination and of contemplative tendencies, learns little of nature or of the world,, retires into the recesses of his own consciousness, and weaves into his mythology traditions and fancies innumerable ! Ilence have sprung systems, of which it is difficult to say whether We wonder most at their luxuriancy or powerlessness. Everything seems there, but truth and life. Throughout all these characteristic differences, however, there is essen- tial sameness ; and the tendencies which we trace in the mythologies of the West, are found at work in the godless temples of China, and in the pantheons of Hindustan.
Yery touching it is to notice in these systems, moreover, a singular blending of the sublime and the degrading ; of the spiritual and the earthly. Men seem to have found it impossible to realize clearly the idea of God, or their re- lation to him. The Epicurean and the Buddhist think they do him most honor in deeming him a mere abstraction. The Stoic connects him with every change and form of life to be traced in the universe. Some call him the Good Spirit ; others rather fear than trust him ; while in the creed of most he is clothed with attributes which are, in
§ 3. MORAL AND PRACTICAL RESULTS. 27
fact, the reflection of their own. It was reserved for the Christian system to meet the wants which these various theories represent — a God vast, invisible, spiritual, eternal, and yet revealing himself in our own nature, and in such a form as Commends his character at once to our reverence and love.
Sect. 3. — Moral and Practical Result.
23. The statements and reasonings of the previous sec- tion might be regarded as rather curious than
Men's Tiews of
important, but for two facts. The first, that Gocianevi- men's conceptions of God, are a decisive evi- means of their dence of their own character ; and the second, that the characters of men are further influenced by those conceptions. Both facts are affirmed in the quotations given from St. Paul. Where once the knowledge of the true God is forgotten, men feign the existence of deities like themselves ; and where such deities are worshiped, their influence degrades and pollutes the worshipers. Let us know what men worship, and we can tell what they are. Let ns know what they worship, and we can tell what they will become. The idolatries of nations are at once an evidence and an aggravation of their depravity.
24. What that depravity is, and what it involves, is a solemn question, which we now proceed to exa- now deprav: mine in the light of Scripture. "In the light may be proved- of Scripture," because though the question is answered in other quarters, it is only in Scripture that it is fully answered ; for it is one effect of our depravity, that it has enfeebled our very power of perception. Right and wrong are less distinctly seen, and much less distinctly felt, than they wo,uld have been if we had never sinned. Let the reader look again at Paul's description of human nature, and examine it. He will find that every statemen
28 INTRODUCTORY.
it contains, even the darkest, is supported (as may be teen in such writings as those of Wetstein or of Lcland,)* by quotations without number from ancient poets, satirists, and philosophers. It is supported by every system of human law, and by the whole history of our race. It is not, however, to these authorities we now mean to appeal. Having the Bible in our hands, we desire to decide this question by its teaching ; and it will be found that its requirements, contrasted with the admitted condition of human nature, give at once the true rule of holiness and the true measure of our guilt.
25. Virtue or holiness, most comprehensively defined, Man's twofold *s ^ne acting of moral agents in accordance consequent du! w^n ^ne rations they sustain. The relations ties- sustained by man are relations towards God
and towards men,f and virtue in him is right feeling and consistent practice towards both. This division is sanctioned by the ablest writers on moral science, and is repeatedly recognised in Scripture, of which we need no better example than the first chapter of the Romans ; where the depth of our degradation is shown from the fact that the obligations consequent on this twofold relation are left Love to God. unfulfilled. What is due to each we may learn Love to Man. from the Bible. " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." Our moral nature corroborates the justness of this rule. Men admit that if they do not love God with all their hearts, and their neighbors as themselves, then is their moral character imperfect, and they become exposed to the desert of wrong doing. If, on the contrary, neither
* See Wetstein on Rom. iii., and Leland on the Advantage and Necessity of the Christian Revelation. See also Dr. Tholuck on the Moral Influence of Heatlienism.
f See Wayland's Moral Science and Sermons, for an admirable sum mary of the duties involved in these relations.
§ 3. JHORAL AND PRACTICAL RESULTS. 29
part of this precept is violated, then may they claim the just rewards of obedieuce.
Let us take these rules in the order in which we have indicated them, and ask how far men love
, Men have not
their neighbors as themselves. We desire fulfilled their happiness and we seek it. The desire and the search are both commendable. We claim the right of using all proper means for attaining our end ; and if any power interfere between us and the end, we are aggrieved and complain. What we thus claim for our-
• • T T T ^0Ve t0 maD-
selves, is due to our neighbor ; and he has the right to expect, at our hands, the same feeling, and, as far as possible, the same effort for his welfare that we cherish and put forth for our own. Such is the law of Scripture, and the universal consciousness of men must admit that iiis law is just.
26. How far men have declined from this law Scripture .as not told us ; for in this respect men have How broken, linned in very dissimilar degrees. It intimates, marTIaand £ jowever, most plainly, that the most eminent relatl0n t0 God- in virtue are still imperfect ; that with all, the tendency is not to virtue but to vice. Selfishness and not benevolence — undue preference, in fact, for themselves is the law, and the contrary the exception.
Nor does the testimony of Scripture on this point differ from the lessons of individual experience. Our fellow- men are everywhere around us. We see particularly their dispositions, and we can ascertain our own. Upon what principle are the" most approved maxims of business framed, and what truth do they embody ! What, moreover, is civil government, but a system of limitations and punish- ments, invented for defending the community against the selfishness of its members ? In ourselves, too, what is the natural bias — strong self-love or disinterested feeling ? Are acts of justice, when they involve some sacrifice of
3*
30 INTRODUCTORY.
our own advantage, done without effort ? Is pure, impar- tial justice between man and man the rule of human life ? But we need not multiply questions. It is notorious that man's love to his neighbor yields continually to the de- mands of self-interest or of passion ; and the result is, that in spite of law and conscience, the earth has been filled with violence. Everywhere mankind plead guilty to the charge of disobeying the great social command, though that command is sanctioned by reason and Scripture.
We are not ascribing to this corruption the same form or degree, though asserting that all men are guilty. The holiest come short of the requirement, and this is all we affirm. All short-coming, moreover, flows from the same fountain. Selfishness and passion, murder and jealousy, theft and envy, tyranny and petty vanity, are but modifi- cations of what all feel to be corrupt. The forms vary, but the principle is the same, and that principle is uni- versal.
Looking, therefore, simply at the extent of the Divine command, and contrasting with it the endlessly diversified forms of human character, we affirm that men do not any- where love their neighbors as themselves. Everywhere, and by every one, the law is broken ; and so far the whole world is declared guilty before God.
Infinitely more important than our relation to one an- other, is our relation to God. He is our Creator and Preserver. The law, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," is in the high- est degree just. No one can question it, or offer any other importance of ^aw as a substitute for it, without involving tine duty. himself in absurdity. Once maintain that a being of infinite benevolence is not deserving of gratitude, or that a being of just and boundless authority can claim no submission, eternal holiness no reverence, immutable faithfulness no trust — and the very foundation of excellence
/
§ 3. MORAL AND PRACTICAL RESULTS. 31
is overturned, and virtue becomes impossible. The love of God is the element of all goodness. Other relations are mutable and transient, as are the obligations that spring from them. This relation is immutable and eternal ; so are its obligations. The relation itself comprehends every other. Gravitation in the material world is, in truth, but a faint emblem of the importance of this principle in the moral. Let either be withdrawn, and all things — both heaven and earth — must speedily fall back into disorder and ruin.
Now, the distinct assertion of Scripture is, that men are in a godless condition ; that is, that their estimate of duty is not fixed by a regard for God's authority — that their obedience, even to natural laws, is not prompted by reverence for him — that he is not loved, as from his character, he deserves to be. It asserts further, that he is, in himself and in his perfections, viewed with hatred and dismay. Over and above the charge of immorality, therefore, Scripture brings against all men the charge either of ungodliness, or of positive aversion to God, or, most generally, of both. And the whole of these charges may be sustained.
In men of acknowledged excellence, fair in character, and upright in conduct, this ungodliness pre- Men live with vails. They have no sense of God. They act out God- as they would act were they certain that there was neither Divine law, governor, nor judge. The law of God is never the reason why they do, or forbear, a single act of their lives. Their virtue is purely earthly and secular — gathers its motives from a sense of social obligation, or from a concern for personal character ; so that while in itself lamentably defective, even for present duty, it can clearly have no place in the world where God is all and in all.
And though this may seem to be an extreme case, yet
32 INTRODUCTORY.
let any man look at his own heart, and ask himself these questions in relation to the acts of a single day — ' Was it God's will that guided my steps ? Do its transactions belong to a self-regulating being, or to a being ever look- ing upwards to his Creator, and subordinating himself in all things to the rightful authority of the God that made him ? If not in every act, yet certainly in a large propor- tion of the acts of every day, did I not prefer to be " with- out God," to walk after my own heart, and in the sight of my own eyes — and, because God is not in all my thoughts, am I not justly condemned V
Nor must this godlessness be supposed a sinless condi- tion. It is really a violation of all moral pro-
Sinfulness of a . .... , ■, -,
godless coudi- priety. It is base injustice, the deepest in- gratitude, unreasonable pride, and the coru- pletest selfishness. It is the condition of one who seizes upon the gifts of another, and is unmindful of the giver ; of one who is willing to forego a regard for his Maker, if only his Maker will leave him alone, and keep from him that terrible death which he fears, and the still more terri- ole judgment that is to follow it. The total carelessness of a child for the parent that gave him birth — that has fed and clothed him all his days — is an imperfect type of this atheism of the heart. Men say unto God, "depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." "A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is my honor ; and if I be a master, where is my fear, saith the Lord of Hosts." (Mai. i. C.) And when once God is thus banished from the hearts of men as their supreme law, his place is occu- does not rule, pied by infinitely less worthy guests. It is authority evidently God's will that men should seek
happiness from all around them. They ha\e appetites and passions, faculties and affections ; and all are, within their proper limits, appropriate impulses to
§ 3. MORAL AND PRACTICAL RESULTS. 33
action, and means of enjoyment. Let these powers be exercised in due subordination to the will of the Creator, and the happiness of man is perfect. Passion is under the control of reason, and reason and passion obedient to God. But when the higher power is withdrawn, and God is banished from the heart, man becomes "sensual, earthly, devilish." He fulfills "the desires of the flesh and of the mind ;" he seeks the present, regardless of the future ; the temporal, to the neglect of the eternal. What is good in the lowest sense, and what is pleasant to the taste or eyes, not what is holy, or just, or true, becomes his first question. Appetite and unhallowed inclination take God's place. The highest motive ceases ; lower motives succeed to it ; sometimes sensual, sometimes social, but always earthly and selfish ; till at length the description of the Holy Ghost is a literal reality : " God looked down from heaven to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God; . . . there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Ps. liii. 2.
The next step in this downward progress is either posi- tive enmity against God, or a positive denial God an obj-ect of his character; hatred, that is, or practical £i chSact'er°r atheism. Whatever change takes place in man, denied- the law of God remains unchanged. Man has fixed his affection upon the creature instead of the Creator. The law of selfishness has taken the place of the law of love ; and in consequence, what is really lovely in God is not loved, but either abhorred or disowned. Poetical conceptions of the Creator may still be admired. The natural attri- butes of the true God may be studied with all the enthu- siasm which is excited by what is in the highest degree sublime ; but God's moral character is neither studied nor admired. It is either hated or disowned. Admit His omniscience, and it is hated, because it brings under its piercing inspection the secret recesses of our nature.
34 INTRODUCTORY.
Admit His holiness, and it is hated, because it is opposed to our sins. Admit His justice, and it is hated, because it will recompense to every man according to his works. Admit even his goodness, and it is hated, for it is goodness exercised under moral conditions, giving happiness only to the holy or the penitent. So long indeed as these attributes are restrained or controlled by the exercise of divine for- bearance, or so long as the feelings which exist in the heart are not made matter of reflection, this enmity of human nature may be concealed ; but once let God's true character appear and be pressed upon our thoughts, and the opposition of our character to his will shows itself in all its intensity. Our hearts are not hostile merely, they are hostility itself. Rom. viii. T. Disown these attributes, and God himself is disowned.
And this is the condition of our nature : selfish, seeking our personal happiness at any cost ; godless, obeying even God's law from no regard to Divine authority, cherishing towards Him no feelings such as become our relation to Him, and either hating His perfections, or seeking peace in denying them.
Conceive this state as eternal. Suppose men to enter Conceive this the unseen world with this moral character state as eternal, unchangeably stamped upon them for ever; intelligent creatures knowing no law but passionate selfish- ness ; each seeking his own gratification at the expense of the happiness of the rest; refusing to submit themselves to the law of God ; preferring the government of their cor- rupt nature, and given over to the government they have preferred ; at perpetual war with infinite holiness and good- ness— sustained, as those attributes are, by almighty power ; the knowledge of those attributes creating despair, that despair rendered the more agonizing by reproaches of conscience : and the awful result is selfishness, passion, enmity to holiness, growing daily and for ever more
§ 3. MORAL AND PRACTICAL RESULTS. 35
intense. Such is the destiny for which, if Divine grace prevent not, men are preparing.
It is to counteract these tendencies, and to avert this destiny, that the gospel has been revealed.
2*7. If we turn to Scripture and ask the consequence of this condition, we find it summed in one word — mis state is de- it is " death;" while, on the contrary, the sal- ISffi^aa vation of the gospel is described as " eternal dtath* life," through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yery impressive are these descriptions. Let us mark what they involve. (1) Men are sinners ; they It ia so in four have broken the divine command, and have senses: therefore incurred the penalty of transgression ; they are dead in law. " The soul that sinneth it shall die," (Eze. xviii. 4.) is God's own sentence. The malefactor, who ha"s been tried and found guilty of some capital offence, is, the moment his sentence is pronounced, in this condition. He is held to be dead in law. Thenceforth he can claim no rights ; he can exercise no civil function ; his property and life even belong to the State. There may be delay in the execution of the sentence and successive reprieves ; yet is he, in the certainty of his destiny, and in the denial of all present immunities, a dead man. So with sinners : " As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse ; for it is written, cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." (Gal. iii. 10). "He that believeth not is condemned already ; because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John iii. 18.) (2) Men in this condition are dead to holy affections. The emotions of spiritual life are not known. As the blind man is dead to the beauty of color, and the deaf man to the harmonies of music, so is the sinner to all noble and divine feeling. Sin is not hated, nor is God loved. (3) Men are dead to righteousness. The law is holy, but they are
36 INTRODUCTORY.
"carnal," sold under sin." They are "not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can they be." The language of the inspired Apostle is emphatically true of them : that
Inch they allow not, they do, and what they would, they do not. (Horn. vii. 15.) Conscience may approve of Divine law ; but there is another law in their members warring against the law of their minds, and bringing them into cap- tivity to the law of sin. Even in the regenerate there are traces of this struggle ; but in them the new nature is ever victorious. In the unregenerate it is not the new nature which struggles, but conscience only. They are guilty and helplessly guilty ; as powerless for movements of holiness, as dead men are powerless for the movements of common life — a powerlessness of will confirmed by habitual transgression. And (4) to complete the idea involved in these terms, Men are dead to happiness. Sin always brings misery ; sin is misery; and sin unchecked brings misery as lasting and illimitable as are the obligations it has disowned.
Such is man's natural state. He is dead in law — dead
in the benumbing influence of depraved affection — dead in
enfeebled powers — dead to the blessedness and purity in
which he was created. Of this moral corrup-
Death of the . l
body an em- tion the death of the body is the emblem and result ; deeply significant, but representing only a small portion of the effects of human guilt, or of the punishment justly due to transgressors of a holy, per- fect law.
28. Now, it is with reference to this four-fold aspect of sin, that the salvation of Christ presents itself
The Gospel l
contempiatea most clearly to the Christian. As sin brings
a four-fold * . , . . °
change called death, so salvation brings life : life in the can-
life.
celment of the sentence of the broken law; for Christ has redeemed us from the curse ; being made a curse for us : life in quickening our dead feelings by the regenerating influence of his Spirit through the truth : life
§ 4. THE SCENE OF THE LABORS OF OUR LORD. 37
in endowing us with the powers of spiritual obedience. By the same Spirit we are dead unto the law, that we may live unto God ; we live, and yet not we, but Christ in us, being made free from sin we have our fruit unto holiness, and the end, everlasting life ; and lastly, life in imparting eternal and unchanging joy. (Eph. ii. 1-5 ; Gal. ii. 19 ; Rom. vi. 22.)
As the four-fold view of death is really one, so is this four-fold view of life. "The wages" i. e. the Thefour-foid desert and the actual consequence "of sin is EhTeafiy death," in all senses : and, in all senses, the 0U6— so of life* gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Every effect of sin is repelled by his suffering and righteous- ness. For condemnation he gives pardon ; for apathy or hatred, awakened or re-created love ; for the guilty corrup- tion of our faculties, the power of practical holiness ; for mourning and heaviness, the garments of praise, and, at last, eternal blessedness. In every case, indeed, the body dies. But with the sinner death is an evidence of its cor- ruption, and a type of his real spiritual condition. With the Christian, the body dies only in order that it may be renewed, not a "natural body, but a spiritual;" not "in weakness, but in power."
Sect. 4. — Palestine the Scene of the Labors of our
Lord.
29. Midway between England and India, the lands of Eastern luxuriance and of Western civilization, Its geogra. lies one of the most remarkable countries of JJS^pJSJl^! the globe, Palestine,* — the land of the shep- tles- herds — so called from the pursuit of tribes who early peopled it. It is about two hundred miles long, and at
* Pali-stan is the Sanscrit for land of the Shepherds.
4
38 INTRODUCTORY.
widest seventy miles broad, a small region , which at timee reckoned more than five millions of inhabitants,* and now containing less than one-tenth of that number. Once it was the most beautiful country on the earth, and is now a desolation, hardly able to maintain the scattered population who occupy it. Its ancient inhabitants are a byeword on the earth.
The geographical appearances of the region are also Shut in on all remarkable. It seems shut in on all sides. Its sides. western boundary is the Great Sea, the sea on
whose shores lie the mouldering remains of the ancient kingdoms of Egypt, of Greece, of Carthage, and of Home. And yet that sea was never covered with the commerce of the Jews. On the southwest, "as thou comest to Gaza,'* it is desert. On the south, a range of high hills and the barren sands of the Arabah forbid all access to the wilder- ness of Sinai, and the waters of the Red Sea. On the east, we have the sandy plains of Arabia, stretching away to the great river, " the river Euphrates :" and, on the north, the bands, f of what was once the settlement of Asher, are still "iron and brass," a mountain chain ter- minating on the snow-capped summits of Lebanon. Horses and ships, (both those of the sea and those of the desertj) were alike forbidden to the inhabitants of this region, and it was clearly intended that they should live alone among the nations.
• Western authorities have doubted whether a country so small could have maintained five millions of people, or five hundred to each square mile. Holland is nearly as populous ; the West riding of Yorkshire is quite so; but India supplies the completest reply. In its most fertile parts six hundred souls are found to a square mile; and, even in the north-west provinces, the population to the square mile is between three and four hundred.
f The more accurate rendering of Deut. xxxiii. 25.
X The camel is called in Eastern speech, " the ship of the desert."
§ 4. THE SCENE OF THE LABORS OF OUR LORT1. 39
And yet this region seems adapted to play no unimpor- tant part in the history of our race. It is nearly Fitted by posi in the centre of the ancient world, equally dis- JJenro^ther tant from the heart of Asia, of Africa, and of nations- Europe, and on the high road between them all. One of its plains has been a battle-field of successive armies, for more than 3000 years.* Assyrians and Persians, Persians and Greeks, Jews and Gentiles, Crusaders and Saracens, Egyptians and Turks, Arabs and Franks, have all fought here ; and here, in very recent times, a victory was gained Dy Bonaparte, which might have changed the destinies of the East. From this region have flowed the truths and precepts which have civilized and blessed the earth. All western nations look to it as the origin of their greatness, and Mohammed himself has extolled the religion for which it is illustrious : the religion of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob : the religion which was taught by the lips, and embodied in the life of the Son of God. All indeed that is commendable in the teaching of that false prophet is taken from those disclosures which the earlier religion of the people of this district had revealed.
Nor is it uninteresting to glance over the surface of this region, and mark its peculiarities. Here, by the Represents ail sea-board, lie the beautiful plains of Philistia climes- and Sharon ; and between the two ranges of hills, (the Eastern and Western Ghauts, as we may call them,) which run nearly parallel from north to south throughout the whole land, lies the valley of the Jordan, reaching from the sides of Lebanon to the Dead Sea. Beyond Lebanon again, the valley stretches away still northward (under the name of Ccelo-Syria), to the very centre of Asia the Less. This mountain range of Lebanon, it may be noticed, rises to the height of 10,000 feet, and is covered, during most
* The plain of Esdraelon or Megiddo, near Acre.
40 INTRODUCTORY.
part of the year, with snow. On its sides and at its base are found most of the productions both of the tropical and of the temperate zones. Near the summit are the cedar and fir. Higher still are the lichens and moss of the polar regions. Around the centre belt grow the oak and other hard woods of Europe, with corn and olives. Lower still is the vine; and over Damascus and Palmyra may be still seen groves of the palm and the fig. Similar districts of hill and valley cover the whole country. Here in the north is the pasture-ground of Carmel, where the prophet Amos fed his flocks. Here near Jericho, the city of palm-trees, is perpetual summer. Everywhere there is enough to justify the hope that one day in seven, and even one year in seven, might be kept free from toil, and yet the people live in the midst of abundance. A careful observer, moreover, looking only at the surface of the country itself, would pro- nounce it the fitting residence of a hardy and prosperous race. It combines the bracing cold of Darjeeling with the fruitfulness of the alluvial districts of Bengal or Gujerat. Here may have lived a race who combined the qualities of the patriotic Swiss with those of the accomplished Greek, or the fortitude of the Affghan, with the softness and repose of the Bengali, the virtues of both without the vices of either. *
Of the unevenness of these regions, and the consequent variety of temperature and production, we may judge from the fact that this river, the Jordan, springs from hills whose base is more than 2000 feet above its final resting place in the Dead Sea, and the surface of that sea is nearly 3000 feet lower than Jerusalem, though only twenty miles distant ; while Jerusalem itself is so surrounded by hills, as to be an emblem of the good ; for " as the mountains are round about" it, " so the Lord is about them that fear him."
§ 4. THE SCENE OF THE LABORS OF OUR LORD. 41
30. Clearly if it had been one purpose of the Christian faith to foster a spirit of superstitious reverence
_ . . n .. . .. n Lessons in re-
for places, no country in the world would have lation to God's furnished richer materials than "the land of purpose' an the Bible." That faith is indeed almost as much superior to heathen systems in touching incident, historical associ- ations, and hoar antiquity, as it is in spiritual truth. It is in this region, this central spot of the earth, this temperate and tropical clime, this country of industry, of diligence, and of tempting repose, that we find the scenes of the life we are about to describe. The country is itself a micro- cosm, a picture of the world, and admirably fitted to be the theatre of facts destined to influence the condition of the whole human race. With this view it was at first chosen, for " when the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, ... he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel." Deut. xxxii. 8. The selected family was placed there, that God might be the more readily exalted among the heathen, and at last known throughout the earth.
31. It is instructive, too, to notice that it is to this
region that the personal ministry of our Lord in re]at;on to
was confined, though his Gospel was finally to Christ's work-
be diffused throughout the earth. In his relation to our
race of every kindred and of all lands, he is the second
Adam ; yet he was born in that little land of promise,
under the Mosaic law, within the range of a temporary
and local covenant ; and to that land he restricted his
ministry. He might have acted upon another principle.
The same wisdom that in his boyhood confounded the
doctors of his own nation might have been displayed, if
he had chosen it, at an earlier age, and the holy child
Jesus might have preached the gospel in that country
where his kindred sought refuge. Endowing himself with
the miraculous gifts which he reserved to celebrate the
4*
42 INTRODUCTORY.
completion of his work and his ascension io his Father, he might have visited land after land, proclaiming to all man- kind in their own tongue the truths which he came to reveal. He might have been the first to carry the gospel to Rome, and have followed the profligate Tiberius to his retreat at Caprese, and have reasoned there on righteous- ness, and temperance, and judgment, till he, like an infe- rior ruler of a later time, had trembled on his throne. " He might have anticipated the labors of his servant Paul, by bearing the news of the unknown God, and of the resurrection, to the philosophers at Athens. To the Roman people he might have declared himself the great deliverer, of whom their Yirgil had recently sung ; and the sages of Greece might have been compelled to own in him that heavenly teacher for whom their Socrates had longed ; and the nations of the East, then intently looking for the advent of a king whose dominion was to be a universal one, might have learned from our Lord's own lips the spiritual nature of that kingdom which they justly but blindly expected."* Instead of taking this course, how- ever, he remained in Judea ; nor, except during one visit to the coast of Tyre and Sidon, did his personal instruc- tions reach beyond the bounds of the promised land. It is evident that the primary object of his coming was not to teach the nations ; not so much, in fact, to reveal a gospel, as to act one ; to lay the foundation of those trnths which his Apostles were afterwards to proclaim abroad. He was himself the truth, and in what he did and suffered the greater part, incomparably, of the work of human salvation was to be achieved. For a life of holy, quiet obedience, (and such was His as our example) it was essential that the Son of Man should neither strive nor cry, nor let his voice be heard in the streets. For a life of intense and mysterious
* See Christ a Home Missionary, by Dr. Williams.
§ 5. THE RECORD OF THE LIFE OF OUR LORD. 43
suffering (such was His life as a substitutionary sacrifice) it was no less essential that he should move on a narrow stage : and, above all, was it essential that His life and death should be first accomplished, before the message of mercy, a message justified only by his suffering, should be communicated to the nations. The very restrictedness of his sphere, therefore, and the quiet, unostentatious charac- ter of his personal labors, are really among the evidences of the divinity of his mission. They are explained by the prominence which he himself attached to his death. It was the end of his life to die : and he left it to his Apostles after his death to carry the doctrines, of which that death was the embodiment and the foundation, throughout Judea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts i. 8.
Sect. 5. — The Gospels the Record of the Life of our
Lord.
32. The record of the life of Christ is found in the Gospels, a word meaning, in this connection, Meaning ofthe the record of good news, and corresponding term" exactly to the Greek term by which this portion of sacred Scripture is distinguished. At first the name was given to the message, which began to be given when the angels announced to the shepherds of Bethlehem that the Messiah was born. Afterwards it was given to the books in which the message is now contained.
The writers were called, by a name borrowed from the Greek, Evangelists.
33. These Gospels were written at different times, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, by the men The Gospels whose names they bear. It was the object of "Jf^ES" me- the writers, not to give a complete history of moirs-
the Saviour's life, or of his miracles and discourses, but to record such facts and discourses as might explain the
44 INTRODUCTORY.
nature, and prove to different readers the Divine origin of the Christian faith. " Many other signs" (miracles, that is, which give evidence of a Divine mission) "did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." John xx. 30, 31. The four books make, not a biography, but a memoir, and are yet adapted, by their unity and diversity, to give such a complete view of the life of our Lord as shall interest and instruct all classes of character in every age.
34. The first Gospel by Matthew, or as Matthew viewed
The Gospel by an(^ was directed to record it (xata Mai^atoi/),*
Matthew. was intended for pious Hebrews and for the
Jews generally. The author therefore gives no explana- tion of Jewish customs, or of Jewish topography. He traces the genealogy of our Lord through his reputed father to Abraham, and shows how the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old. He exhibits Christ chiefly in his earthly relations and character, as the Lawgiver and Teacher of the Church ; and his Gospel was sometimes called on this account, the earthly or material one.
35. The Second Gospel was written at Rome, for the The Gospel by instruction of Roman converts. Jewish cus- Mark. toms and places have consequently explana- tions appended ; narrative is preferred to discourse ; and the writer dwells upon the actions rather than upon the teach- ing of our Lord. His Gospel is thoroughly practical ; and though he has added but twenty-four verses which are not found in the Gospels of Matthew or Luke, the whole is recast so as to be adapted to the energetic and practical habits of the Roman people.
* Perhaps, however, this phrase is merely Hellenistic for rov MirSoiou.
§ 5. THE RECORD OF THE LIFE OF OUR LORD. 4$
36. The third Gospel was written by Luke foi the use of the Greeks. Here, again, Christ ap- The Gos a by pears under another aspect ; not as the minis- Luke-
ster of the circumcision, which is his character in Matthew ; nor yet as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, his character in Mark ; but as the Saviour of the world. His genealogy is traced through his mother to Adam, the head of the whole human family. While Matthew speaks of the twelve Apostles who were sent to Israel, Luke speaks also of the seventy disciples, who were sent as to the nations of the earth. Several parables are found in this Gospel alone ; and among them " the Good Samaritan" and " the Prodigal Son ;" the one humbling to Jewish pride, and the other cheering to the Gentile penitent. Jewish customs and chronological statements are made intelligible to a foreign- er j while the fullness of the record of the discourses of our Lord meets the curiosity of the Grecian character.
37. In the fourth Gospel we have something that meets the higher speculative tendencies of men. This Tbe Gospel b Gospel corrects much that was false in the John' Jewish and Grecian systems of religious philosophy, and completes what was deficient in previous revelations. None has spoken so fully as its author of the Divine character of our Lord, or of the inward spiritual life which springs from union with him. As Matthew's Gospel was called the material one, John's was called the spiritual or divine. Hence it is that his Gospel begins with a statement of the divine nature of the Word, by whom all things were made ; while among the last things it records is the confession of Thomas, which repeats in the twentieth chapter the truth which John had stated in the beginning of the first. In the other Evangelists the Saviour is represented as moving in the mournful majesty of his humiliation. Here, though there is much of humiliation, there is more of power. They love to dwell on his relations to the earth : this
46 INTRODUCTORY.
Apostle to proclaim his relations to Heaven. In reading Matthew and Luke and Mark, we might forget that in the humble teacher of Galilee we are listening to- Him who was the Divine Word ; while in John the Manhood seem3 almost lost in the fullness of the God.
38. Thus is it that the Gospel stands " four square,"
with a side fronting each side of the spiritual
All compared.
world and of human character. Matthew addresses the Jew, Luke the inquisitive Greek and men in every age. Mark shows the power and vital force of truth, and John its attractive and subduing love. Matthew exhibits chiefly the Jewish, and the human, John the spiritual and divine in our Redeemer; Mark, his official character; Luke, his personal history. In all combined we have not incongruity, but variety and fullness ; and everywhere Jesus is represented as the Messiah, the Teacher, the Pattern, and the God.
It is quite consistent with these distinctions that the different Evangelists have each employed a peculiar die tion.
39. Matthew quotes largely from the Old Testament;
prefacing his quotations bv the formula, " Then
Peculiarities of x ° * .
diction and was fulfilled," (or, I his was done that there might be fulfilled) "that which was spoken by the prophet."* Jerusalem is called the Holy City. " The Kingdom of heaven " is his common title for what is else- where called "the kingdom of God;" and "our heavenly Father" is a phrase applied in Matthew to God much more frequently than in the other Gospels.
Luke entirely avoids all Aramaean and Hebrew words,
(such as "Rabbi," "Amen," &c.) ; speaks of the "Lake"
of Tiberias, not of the Sea; and connects in a remarkable
ay mental acts with the heart, (Luke i. 66, iii. 15,) con-
* Fully written in chap. i. 22, ii. 15, afterwards more briefly.
§ 5. THE RECORD OF THE LIFE OF OUR LORD. 47
veying in this phraseology a great moral truth. " Saviour" and " salvation" are found only in Luke, except that they occur once in John. " Grace" (unmerited favor) is pecu- liar to Luke and John. " To bring glad tidings" is fre- quently found in Luke, and but once in Matthew. The Law in Luke is not once named, as that word must have been, in the peculiar scriptural sense of it (Mosaic Law,) unintelligible to his readers.
John has a large number of phrases which he uses in a deep Christian sense. " The world," " the flesh," " death," "life," " the word," "the light," "the truth," "born of God," " to know," " to believe," " the Comforter," " to live in love," "to walk in light," &c, are employed with peculiar meaning, often both in a literal and in a figurative sense. These expressions, as used by the latest of the Evangelists, illustrate beautifully the gradual unfolding of Divine truth ; while they send us for the solution of much that appears mysterious in the teaching of our Lord to the disclosures of his Apostles. (John xvi. 12-15.)
40. In the following pages we intend to combine these views : now giving the facts in chronological A11 combine(i order, and now grouping them together for jL^SLJ110*" the illustration and enforcement of religious StoSmeifS truth. The law of gradual development which, a11 truth and rightly explained, pervades all the works of God, spiritual not less than physical, points also to the necessity of examining that life in its connection both with the past and the future. The Gospels include a Jewish element, are built upon Jewish history, authenticate themselves by Jewish prophecy, and proclaim their great object to ba the fulfillment of Jewish types. We must therefore under- stand the ancient system of the Jewish people. They appeal also both to Jews, and to Greeks, and, through these nations, to all whom they represent. We must, therefore, understand the pride, the self-reliance, the spiritual igno-
\
48 INTRODUCTORY.
ranee, and the formality of the first class, and the prevalent philosophy of the second. Above all, these Gospels, con- tain, not so ranch the doctrine of Christ, as the facts on which that doctrine is based. And therefore we must compare the life with the religious system, the facts with the explanations of them which inspired men have supplied. Our theme, then, though it be the life of our Lord, is really the life of our Lord as the centre of the whole of the dispensations of God, the point to which all previous revela- tions converge, and whence light streams down to our own times. The Gospel may be called a biography ; but it is a biography that illustrates and harmonises all history, forms the basis of all evangelic truth, and sums up all pre- vious disclosures of the Divine will. It is a life, illimitable in duration, connection, and dependencies. The plans which it embodies were formed before the foundation of the earth ; and the victories it achieved are, in their influ- ence, everlasting. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.* He is the subject of the first and of the latest promise. f He begins and closes both dis- pensations ;| and His work and honor will form the theme of an eternal song.§
41. But the life and character of Christ not only form of ail excel- the substance of both dispensations, they are the lence. model of all excellence. It is a proof and a
consequence of his Divine nature that his example is uni- versally applicable. As we have a many-sided Gospel for instruction, so we have a many-sided character as our pattern. Human examples are only partial exhibitions of virtue. They are moulded by circumstances, and fitted only for departments of duty. Hence it is impossible for one man to follow implicitly the footsteps of another, without some
* Rev. i. 8. f Gen. iii. 15 ; Rev. xxii. 20.
J Gen. i-iii; Mai. iii. iv. ; Matt. i. ; Rev. xxii. I Rev. i. 5, C ; 2 Pet. iii. 18.
§ 5. THE RECORD OF THE LIFE OF OUR LORD. 49
deviations from that line of conduct which the providence of God has assigned him. What was graceful in the human model, becomes forced and childish in the copy. But in imitating Christ no man is led out of his sphere. He is all mankind's epitome. Every movement after him is performed with ease, and His likeness sits becomingly on all who bear it. The rich and the poor, the contem- plative and the active, the gifted and the ungifted, men of every class and of all dispositions, find in Him the teaching they need ; and all are led, by looking to Him, into that path which is most suitable for them. He is the contrast of all that men should shun, and the perfection of all they should copy. Let the restless or active, who are tempted to embody all religion in practical devotedness, contemplate His nights of prayer. Let the indolent trace the progress of His labors of love. The high and lofty learn humility when they behold Him washing the feet of His disciples. The fastidious, when they see Him mingling freely with publicans and sinners, are taught to deny themselves for the sake of truth and usefulness. The poor learn content- ment from Him who had not where to lay His head ; the rich, benevolence in contemplating Him who was the unspeakable gift : and all see in Him the highest example brought low, and yet losing nothing of its perfectness. This many-sidedness is an evidence of His Divine nature, and it invests with a proportionate value the examination and study of His life. Not even the examples of inspired Apostles can supply, in this respect, the place of Christ. If we copy Paul, we shall be in danger of caricaturing his virtues, and shall certainly neglect the grace in which his character was deficient. If John be made our model, we shall excel in love, but not, probably, in strength. Both were defective copies of Christ ; and if we imitate them, our rule will be imperfect, and we shall lose the very prin- ciple to which they owed their excellences, their deter-
5
50 INTRODUCTORY.
mination, namely to copy, not one another, but Christ Jesus their Lord.
42. The importance which is thus seen to belong to the Christ's life pe- Gospels from their connection with the whole Cortmffrom °f ^he dispensations of God is increased by the times. tne pecuiiar aspect of our times. In the days of Luther the Epistles formed the battle-ground of the faith ; and the doctrinal significance of the Gospels was the chief subject of inquiry and discussion. Men admitted the facts, but overlooked or denied the inferences which inspired Apostles drew from them. Now, on the contrary, it is not so much the inferences which are denied, as the facts themselves. Foiled in their attempts to subvert the truths of one part of Scripture, the enemies of Christianity have gathered up their broken weapons, and assail an- other. No Christian, no man of intelligence, can fear the result. But we must follow the foe to the field he has chosen. It is not the doctrines of the Gospel which are now directly assailed, but the facts on which these doc- trines rest. Neither are outposts of our faith. Both are vital ; but the facts are in one respect the more important. An objective religion is essential to a subjective one ; facts to feelings ; and historical to doctrinal truth. The one is the basis of the other ; and if the foundation be destroyed, what shall the righteous do ?
Nor is it only as Christians we use this language. Lord Bacon, as a philosopher, calls Theology the haven of all sciences. More pointedly Madame de Stael affirms, that the history of the world resolves itself entirely into two periods — that which preceded Christ's appearance, and that which followed it. John Von Miiller, the dis- tinguished German historian, holds the same language. Animadverting on Herder's Philosophy of History, he says justly: "I find every thing here but Christ; and what is the history of the world without Christ ?" In
§ 5. THE RECORD OF THE LIFE OF OUR LORD. 51
fact, all God's works, both in nature and in providence, looked forward to the life of our Lord, or have been influ- enced by it, and rightly to understand their lessons, we need rightly to understand and appreciate Him. Christ, in his character and cross, supplies the only element ade- quate to the solution of the great problems presented in the history of our race,
CHAPTER II.
| 1. Events connected with the birth and childhooi of our Lord.
§ 2. Christ perfect Man and perfect God.
§ 3. The Fullness of Time.
§ 4. State of the Jews when the Messiah appeared
(58)
A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS.
EVENTS CONNECTED WITH THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD 0.: OUR LORD. THIRTEEN YEARS AND A HALF.
Scripture. |
Plac:. |
Narrative. |
Miracle. |
Discourse. |
Parable. |
Matt. |
Luke. |
||||
1 |
i. 1-4 |
Preface to St. Luke's Gospel. |
|||
1 |
i. 5-25 |
Jerusalem. |
1 An angel appears to Zechariah. |
||
i. 2C-38 |
Nazareth. |
| An angel appears to Mary. |
|||
i. 39-56 |
Jutta? |
Mary visits Elizabeth. |
|||
i. 57-80 |
Jutta ? |
Birth of John the Baptist. |
|||
i. 18-25 |
Nazareth. |
An angel appears to Joseph. |
|||
ii. 1-7 |
Bethlehem. |
The birth of Jesus. |
|||
ii. 8-20 |
Near Beth. |
An angel appears to Shepherds. |
|||
ii. 21-38 |
Beth. Jerus. |
Jesus circumcised and presented in the Tempie. |
|||
ii 1-12 |
Jems. Beth. |
The Magi. |
|||
ii. 13-23 |
ii. 39, 40 |
Beth. Nazar. |
The flight into Egypt. The return. |
||
ii. 41-52 |
Jerusalem. |
Jesus goes to the Passover. , |
|||
i. 1-17 |
Genealogy to Abraham thro' David and Joseph, i |
||||
iii. 23-38 |
Genealogy to Adam through David and Mary. |
(54)
CHAPTER II.
Sect. 1. — Events connected with the Birth aud Childhood of our Lord.
1. Our history begins with the Gospel of Luke. True to his principle of tracing the history of events completeness from their source,* he only of the Evangelists Pfe,fand nat°u- gives account of the birth of John, the fore- ralness- runner of our Lord, and of the occurrences which, even before his birth, united him and our Lord together in mys- terious union.
In the very opening sentence we have characteristic remarks. Luke addresses his friend, tells him of his acquaintance with the things of which he is about to write, as no other evangelist does ; thus bringing some- thing of the style of a human composition to his holy task. He appears with the faculties and affections of a man, exercised with the things that engaged his thoughts, and addressing another in the same earthly strain. But, though his words assume this tone, the Holy Spirit is as simply and as fully in every thought, as if the writer m ^
J J . . Though natu-
had been entirely dependent upon his teaching, rai, net the less Our Lord in his own person delivered com- mands to his Apostles, and yet he is said to have given them through the Spirit, f The Berseans were more noble than the men of Thessalonica, and, giving heed to the mes- sage spoken by the Apostles, examined the Scriptures to
* aviodcv napaKo'XovOeTv, — Lute i. 3. f Acts i. 2.
(55)
56 CHAPTER II.
ascertain its truth ; and therefore, it is said, they believed ; though elsewhere, both the attention which men exercise, and the faith in which it ends, are ascribed to God. Divine teaching has but seldom superseded human effort; and where God's grace most abounds, it abounds "in all wis- dom and prudence."
2. The simplicity and naturalness of the following verses Birth or John are remarkably impressive. They give notice and of Christ. 0f $ie km(j 0f revelation which is at hand. " There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest." No pompous introduction, no startling announcement is here. All is calm, natural, and severely chaste, though the theme might have justified the most elaborate preparation.
The- birth and parentage of John are first recorded. The scene is laid in the midst of human sympathies such as Luke loves to describe. In due time John is born, through the special gift of God endowing his parents with a natural faculty : then Jesus is born, the Son of God ; not through any endowment of nature, but by the influence of the Creator Spirit, a miracle from the first ; the one the child of a barren woman, the other of a virgin ; both fore- told at least four hundred years before they appeared, the one as the morning star, the other as the day ; the one as the prophet of the Highest, the other the Highest himself.
3. Considering man's guilt and God's majesty, the ad- joy at Christ's ventr °f a God to our world might have been ex- advent. pected to be a season of awe. And a season
of awe it is, but of awe full of gladness ; such emotion being represented in Scripture as attending the Blessed God whenever he comes forth out of his place — awe only to his enemies, but to them that wait for him awe and gladness combined. The foundations of the first creation were laid with shouts of joy, and the sons of God sang together. The foundations of the new heaven and the new earth are here
§ 1. THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF OUR LORD. 57
laid, and all is gladness again. " Glory and honor are in his presence, strength and gladness in his place." 1 Chr. xvi. 27. The angels celebrate his praise : devout shepherds, hardly catching the meaning of the strain, repeat the song. The lips of Mary, and Zechctriah, and Elizabeth, are unsealed ; the expectation of Simeon is answered ; the widowhood of Anna is blest ; and the very babes leap for joy. Yc:mg men and maidens, old men and children, all bless the Lord together, and all exalt his name. This joy may soon be hushed in tears, and these children may be for the falling of many in Israel ; but, so far as God is concerned, his work is perfect. Its final issue, moreover, will certainly be glorious ; and, therefore, though the angels come to announce the advent of an infinitely holy Being to a world that was ruined and fallen, they come " singing ' Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men ;' " and the shepherds return the song, glorifying and praising Him for all they had heard and seen.*
4. Even thus early, however, the difference between the master and the servant appears. John was Difference be- welcomed as he that was to "prepare the way runnVandtE of the Lord." Christ, who was as to his per- Messiah- sonality Jesus, and as to his dignity and office the Christ, the Anointed One, is the Lord himself. John was great in his spiritual endowments, and in his relation to the Sa- viour. Christ was great as the Son of God, and as heir of a kingdom without end — not earthly and temporal, therefore, but spiritual and eternal, (i. 15, IT, 33.) John gives but the knowledge of salvation ; salvation itself is the gift of Christ, (i. 32, 71, 77.) In their origin espe- cially were they distinguished. John was the child of natural faculty ; Jesus is born through the creative power
* See Lectures on the Gospel of St. Lulce, Loudon, 1S48; a beautiful exposition of tbis Gospel.
08 CHAPTER II.
of the Most High * Such was their relation to one another. They were united in the mystery of their birth, but, so far as we know, had little or no intercourse again ; nor perhaps did they meet till both appeared amid other scenes, and in fulfillment of the solemn office to which God had called them.
5. Already, too, is the nature of the salvation which Salvation ai- Christ is to secure disclosed. It is to interest ready defined. }leayen anc] earth. God and angelic beings are concerned in its results. It fulfills a previous dispen- sation ; for it is the substance of that mercy which was re- vealed in type unto the fathers (ver. 55, 72.) Its fruits are the deliverance of the church of God from all that hate her, that she may serve him in holiness and righteousness all her days ; redemption from sin,f and the extension of these blessings to all nations. This last fact is remarkable and peculiar. The Magnificat of Mary is the expression of thankfulness for personal favor. The Song of Zechariah celebrates personal mercy, and regards Christ only as the national deliverer. But the Nunc dimittis of Simeon re- cognizes in him a light to lighten the Gcntilcs,\ as well as the glory of his people Israel. This Gospel then is clearly a system of universal truth, at once redeeming and sancti- fying all who receive it. Most appropriately, therefore, though the Jews first heard the tidings of the Advent, the first act of worship was paid by Gentiles ; whose gifts proved a providential supply to the holy family when escaping from the jealous hatred of Herod, the head of the Jewish nation. (Matt. ii. 11-13.)
* Note, wcua aytov, equals here Swa/jag 'YipicTov; an interpretation re- quired by other passages of Scripture, which represent Christ as the Son of the Father, not of the Spirit; and favored both by the absence of the article and by the parallelism of the verse.
| See Luke ii. 38 ; Matt. i. 21.
J £§vr)f \ao; ■ the first the name of those who were not the chesen people of God.
§ 1. THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF OUR LORD. 59
6. There is something instructive too in the character of those who were selected as witnesses and agents Wisdom M
in these scenes. Things heavenly and things ^ntays inSOg£ earthly are blended; priests and women, the J^i"! em- poor carpenter the reputed father of our Lord, Ployed- and the poor shepherds, all bear their part ; and the tender mercy of God, which only could have accounted for such a revelation even if kings and princes had received it, is rendered doubly illustrious through the temporal condition of those to whom it was first given. And yet "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." The character of the, great Teacher, no less than his condescension, are seen in the agents he employed. Eve fell through unbe- lief, and under its influence hoped to become like God. Mary believed, and under the influence of faith doubted not that God would become like men. Zechariah was a man of prayer, (i. 13.) Elizabeth recognized in the babe Christ her Lord, and with her husband had been previously walk- ing in the ordinances and commandments of God blameless. (44.) Joseph was a just man ; and Simeon just and de- vout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. It is difficult to tell which fact is the more significant — that those whom God thus favored were not among the noble and mighty, or that the qualities which he honored were holiness and faith.
7. The growth of Christ in stature and in wisdom is noticed here, and here only. Luke ii. 39-52. Christ as a These glances at his childhood are all touch- child-
ing, and in keeping with the character of this Gospel ; for thus the man is kept before us. His wisdom first appeared in the robe of humility. He heard and asked questions ; surprising his hearers not by profound discourses unsuited to his years, but by his ' answers.' Already he was about his Father's business, though still subject to Mary and Joseph. He is the anointed child now, as by and bye he
60 CHAPTER II.
will be the anointed man ; in each season equally pleasing to God, consecrating to Him and to His laws every period of human life, in favor with God as well as with man. This description, though sufficient to set forth Christ, as a highly instructive pattern to the young in humility, in filial obedience, and in piety, suggests, by its very brevity, that the inspired author of the Gospel wrote under sacred con- trol. Such a history as Xenophon has given of the youth of Cyrus ; or as the early apocryphal biographies have given of our Lord, is much more in accordance with the natural tendency of the human mind ; and but for inspira- tion, such a history the Evangelist would have written. 8. This history of the birth of Christ ends with his lineage. Nor are the tables given by the two
His OotiPfilo^Y
and what it hi- Evangelists, Matthew and Luke, insignificant;
volved. ,1! • i •
the latter table tracing up his parentage through Mary to David and Adam, and the former through his reputed father Joseph to David and Abraham.
The appearance of the Messiah among the human race presupposes conditions both negative and positive : nega- tive, that man needed redemption ; and positive, that the Messiah must be obviously connected with the race, and not a portion separated from it. A double connection, with the ancient favored people of God and with the whole human family, was essential ; and this connection is estab- lished here by such evidence as no other family records can produce. The genealogy, comprising three times fourteen generations on the father's side, and seventy-five genera- tions on the mother's, extends over a period of two thousand and four thousand years respectively. The construction of such tables in an uninterrupted line, and relating to families that dwelt for a long time in retirement, would be inexplicable, had not their members an ultimate object of faith before them, which rendered the preservation of the lineage of deepest interest. It was foretold that the
§ 1. THE BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD OF OUR LORD. 61
Messiah was to be born from the race of Abraham and of David. The ardent desire to behold him, and to become identified with his mercy and glory, kept up attention to these records through a period embracing thousands of years. Each successive head of the lineage thus became easily distinguishable, and his presence and name kept alive the hope of a final fulfillment of the ancient predictions, till that hope was realised in the person of our Lord. If Messiah be the life of the world, we trace the first veins of that life in Adam. If he be the blossoming of human nature, we can trace its development from the very root. This connection with the race, and with the chosen family of the race, is thus not only the fulfillment of a prophecy : it has a deep spiritual meaning. He is a brother of us all : partner of our weakness and nature, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh — the true Kinsman-Redeemer of men.
Sect. 2. — Christ perfect Man and perfect God.
9. Very noticeable is the language of Scripture on the twofold condition of the Messiah. He was Christ's two- man, and he was God : man, with all his pecu- foIdnature liarities and weakness, (though without sin ;) and God, with all his dignity and perfections.
10. He was man. So he is called. Scripture speaks of him as "a man of sorrows;" as "a man 7,ro„ • MM
' Juan in name
approved of God;" as "the one Mediator and between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." With touching condescension he calls himself by a name which his Apostles never employ, "the Son of Man." The whole story of his life represents him with the form and features of our nature. In our likeness he was found, and in our image he was fashioned.
The properties of man are ascribed to him. He was hungry and thirsty, was weary, and rested and
in properties.
slept ; he was subject to trials and pain ; he
6
62 CHAPTER II.
was grieved, and wounded, and pierced ; he ^\*ed and was buried.
He sustained human relations. He was the Son of Mary, the friend of Lazarus, and " the brother"
in relations. .
(certainly the relative) ot James. He had the mind of man. By study of the Scriptures, and under the special teaching of the Holy
in faculty. . .
Spirit, he "increased in wisdom." He gained his knowledge of the works of God, and of the mysteries of that spiritual kingdom to which they all belonged, as a man. His was a human judgment, and a human memory, and a human imagination. He was indeed without sin ; but in every thing besides he became flesh, and was made "like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."
11. But he was God also. He existed and acted before he came in the flesh.* " All things were made by him."f He had glory with the Father " before the world was. "J He " came down from heaven. "§ He was rich before he was poor. || To take the form of a servant, he "emptied or divested himself of his glory. "^f The whole tenor of these passages implies previous dignity, and they would be unmeaning if he were man only.
Divine attributes are everywhere ascribed to him in Scripture. He is the " Everlasting Father," "the begin- ning and the ending, who was, and who is, and who is to come, the Almighty." He "upholds all things by the word of his power." He is "able to subdue all things unto himself." He knows all things. He searches the heart, he tries the thoughts of men. He is the only wise
* John viii. 58. f John i. 3. J John xvii. 5.
I John vi. 38. || 2 Cor. viii. 9. f Phil. ii. 6. 7.
§ 2. CHRIST PERFECT MAN AND PERFECT GOD. 63
God our Saviour," to whom be glory for ever.* He has life in himself, and is ever present with his church. * Where two or three are gathered together in his name, there is he in the midst of them, "f
He is called by the name of God in the INTew Testament, and by the incommunicable name of Jehovah in the Old. " The Word (the utterance, that is, of infinite wisdom) was God." Of the Jews Christ came, and he "is over all, God blessed for ever." We wait for his coming, the " appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ." On the very charge of making himself equal with God he was condemned. He, therefore, "is the true God and eternal life. "J
12. It is under this double character that we mark the following peculiarities in his life. The inspired statements ex- writers attribute to him all human properties fwifoid S- Ms and relations, such even as seem at first sight ture- inconsistent with his Godhead. He was tempted, he prayed, he was heard in that he feared ; with strong crying and tears he presented his petitions ; he was troubled in spirit ; he had angels to comfort him ; he had limited knowledge, for he knew not the time of the day of judg- ment. With startling simplicity are all these facts re- corded : and it can hardly excite surprise that reverence for his dignity, though in this case falsely applied, has attempted in every age to modify the form, or to soft> the meaning of the terms in which these truths have been conveyed.
Let no Christian, however, scruple to employ these expressions, or to give them their appropriate meaning.
* Isa. ix. 6; Rev. i. 8; Phil. iii. 21; Heb. i. 3; John xxi. 17; Jude 25; Rev. ii. 23.
f Matt xviii. 20 ; xxiii. 28 ; John v. 26.
} John i. 1; Rom. ix. 5; Tit. ii. 13; 1 John v. 20. For the Old Testament see Gen. xvi. 7, 13; Hos. xii. 4, 5; Is. xl. 3; (John i. 23;) *Tal. iii. 1; (John iii. 28;) Isa. vi. 1—10; (John xii. 41.)
f)4 CHAPTER II.
What may seem to be gained by restricting them, will be lost in the diminished fitness of Christ for his office as our Sacrifice and Advocate ; in the unintelligibleness of the evangelical history; the introduction of a partial system of interpretation, and the exaltation of human reason above the plain and obvious import of Scripture. Such passages contain a truth as precious as it is obvious, as consolatory as it is ennobling. lie stooped to our nature, that he might make us partakers of his own.
It is a natural result of the dignity of his character, and Acts as God in Meed an evidence of it, that he wrought ins own name. mimc]es jn nis own name, claimed God-like
authority in all his teaching, and received with acceptance the Divine honors that were paid him. "With authority and power he commanded the unclean spirits, and they came out. He rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still; and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm :" an act of power which the Jews regarded as appropriate only to Jehovah, and which drew from the disciples the confession, " Of a truth thou art the Son of God." The prayer of the leper was, " Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean," and the reply of our Lord, " I will ; be thou clean." " The Son," said he, on another occasion, " quickeneth whom he will." So fully did he identify himself with Him whose counsel shall stand, and who will do all his pleasure. In marked contrast is the language of the Apostles, who speak uniformly in terms of delegated authority. "I command thee," said Paul, " in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to come out of her."*
When he ascended, he gave gifts to men. He granted signs and wonders to be done by the hands of Paul and Barnabas. His name, through faith in his name, made
* Mark iv. 39; Matt. viii. 2, 3; John v. 21 ; Acts xvi. 18.
§ 2. CHRIST PERFECT MAX AND PERFECT GOD. 65
the lame man strong. " JEneas," said Peter on another occasion, " Jesus Christ maketh thee whole."*
ISTor less striking is his reception of Divine honor. He wrought miracles that he himself might be Kec-eives divins glorified by them,f while the Apostles dis- hoaors- claimed both the power and the praise ; and when the peo- ple were about to offer sacrifices to them for miracles they had wrought, "they rent their clothes, and ran in among the crowd, crying out and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things ? We also are men of like passions with you."
Concerning Christ, moreover, it is said that angels wor- shipped him. X The Apostles testified that they beheld his glory, as the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. § Thomas addressed him as "my Lord and my God;" and Jesus spoke of this language as the utterance of faith simply, and pronounced all others blessed who, without the same evidence, should express like con- viction. He commanded his disciples to baptize (not, surely, in the name of God, and of man, and of an attri- bute, but) in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. He forgave sins, and received homage for the bestowment of such grace. As he was taken up to heaven, the Apostles worshipped him ; and they besought him when in glory, as he knew the hearts of men, to show whom he had chosen in the room of Judas. Stephen in- voked his name as he fell asleep, and said, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Paul sought his help for the removal of a thorn in the flesh, and Christ heard and relieved him, not by fulfilling the letter of his prayer, but by higher communications of strength. Repeatedly the inspired writers of the Epistles beseech him to comfort and estab- lish the churches, to direct the path of his servants, to give grace and love to those who believed ; and> as fre-
* Acts ix. 33. f John xi. J Heb. i. 6.
$ John i. 14.
66 ' HAPTER II.
quently do they ascribe dominion, and honor, and glory, and power " to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." Such, too, is the song of the heavenly hosts.* Christ is evidently the theme of adoration in heaven and on earth.
Let these facts, with the whole tenor of Scripture, be studied. Let it be remembered that they are recorded in a volume which condemns all idolatry, and most-of which was addressed to a people who expected a Messiah, that was to be honored equally with the Father ; and the con- clusion is irresistible that Christ was not man only, but man and God gloriously and mysteriously combined. Deny either truth, and the language of Scripture becomes con- tradictory or unintelligible.
13. It is a natural consequence of this double character,
that some things are ascribed in Scripture to
consistencies Christ generally, which are true only of Christ
as human; and that others are ascribed to
Christ which are true only of Christ as Divine ; while, for
most of his work he needed both natures.
Nor let the first of these facts excite surprise. There is much analogous to it in the language of common life. Man is constituted of body and mind. In every human being these two opposite principles are so united as to form but one person. The peculiar properties of each remain un- changed, and the acts of each are ascribed to both. We say with equal propriety that man walks, or thinks, or moves, or loves ; though one set of these acts belongs pro- perly to the body, and the other to the soul. Even when the terms we employ are direct contraries, we never hesi- tate to use them in describing the complex man. It is equally true that he is mortal and immortal — that he is
* Jobn xx. 28; Matt, xxviii. 19; Luke vii. 47, 48; xxiv. 52; Acts i. 24; vii. 59; 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9; Heb. xiii. 21; 2 Pet. iii. 18; Rev. i. 5, 6; v. 13.
§ 2. CHRIST PERFECT MAN AND PERFECT GOD. 67
corporeal and spiritual. The sentence of God to our first parents creates no misgiving — "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return :" we still apply it to man, though it is fulfilled only in the history of the body ; a far different destiny awaits the soul. And as in man we have two dis- tinct elements, matter and spirit, so in Christ we have the human nature — body and soul — in union with the Divine : the human in all its weakness, though without sin ; and the Divine in all its dignity and perfection.
This analogous case may help us to understand many passages in the life of our Lord ; while it serves to recon- cile apparent contradictions which some in forgetfulness of it have seemed to discover in the sacred page.
14. Most, however, of the statements of Scripture con- cerning Christ are true of him in both charac-
t in i pi- -i • Both parts of
ters. In the work, for example, of his media- his nature
needed for most
tion, it is impossible to separate the idea of his of his work of Divine perfection from that of his humanity. As Mediator he was God, but God " manifest in the flesh." We see his humiliation, for he was the partner of our weakness. But to form a just conception of his office, we need to remember the infinite condescension that assumed it. As our Friend and Priest, he is a brother man. But a true conception of either character involves the recogni- tion of the homage that is due to him as God over all, an Almighty Friend, a spotless Priest. We confide at once in his sympathy and power, in his meekness and majesty, in his Divinity and humanity. His very nature, in fact, fills the wide interval between the Creator and the creature, and unites both. His person is thus a symbol of his works, and sets forth at once the means and the end of our salva- tion. Thus it is, that in contemplating every part of his office, faith, and gratitude, and holy reverence, are com- bined. The fear of his eternal power and Godhead is
68 CHAPTER II
strangely blended with the emotions which are excited by at tributes of his character allying him to ourselves.
15. This double truth is beautifully illustrated in the
titles given Him in Scripture, " Son of man,'' andn" son oT and " Son of God." The first indicates his
condescension, his sympathy, and his relation to ourselves ; its full force depending, however, on the second, "the Son of God." If we use one phrase only, each is robbed of its emphasis, and of most of its interest. Using both, so as to combine and contrast them, we make them doubly significant. The meaning of the first we have seen ; what then is involved in the second ? Clearly, com- paring the passages indicated below, it may be affirmed that he is so called on account of the divine agency put forth in his conception ;* the peculiar love and favor which the Father bears him ;f his most perfectly filial temper ;J his possession of the Divine nature ;§ his conformity to the Divine will;|| his title to inherit the kingdom of the Fa- ther ;■[[ and, in one word, on account of his character, nature, and office, as the appointed King, and Prophet, and Priest of the Church.** He is therefore Son of God and Son of Man. God-man in one person for ever : the precious bond of union between the criminal and the judge, between heaven and earth, between our fallen state and our restoration to more than primeval purity and bliss.
16. Nothing is easier than on such a question to rnul- Theories of the tiply words without knowledge, and to specu- Eaturesta*0 ^ate on the Pomt of how three are one, and one Christ. js three. Many eminent names have lent their sanction to such speculations. Augustine illustrated the whole doctrine by supposing that the Divine nature is like
* Lu'se i. 35. f Matt iii. 17. J John v. 30 ; Matt. xxvi. 39.
I John xix. 7 ; x. 30. |] John v. 19 ; viii. 28.
f John v. 22, 23 ; iii. 35
**Actsxiii. 32, 33; John i. 14; John x. 33-36; Ileb. v. 5.
§ 2. CHRIST PERFECT MAN AND PERFECT GOD. 6tf
the three faculties of the mind — the memory, the under- standing, and the will. Melancthon held that God from his infinite understanding produces thought, and that to this thought (which bore his image) he imparted person- ality, and that this personality is his Son. "God," says another eminent writer, "God reflecting on and conceiving himself, is God the Father. God conceived as his own most glorious image, is God in the person of his Son. G-<d enjoying himself as his own chiefest good, in relation to the Father and the Son, is God the Holy Ghost."* Others, including many of the earlier writers of the Church, held that the Son is God of God, and that he has the same Divine nature as the Father, but that he received it by com- munication from him. Others still (including the whole sect of the Sabellians) taught that God is one Being only, and that there is no distinction of persons in the Godhead at all. On this theory, it is the same God exhibiting him- self under different aspects. As God the Creator, he is the Father ; as God the Redeemer, he is the Son ; as God the agent of illumination and holiness, he is the Holy Ghost.
17. Now, without attempting to point out how far these theories are true or false, it may be said that
• t Contrasted
they all contain something which is theory with scripture only. In many respects they are remarkably analogous to speculations which have been entertained both in ancient Greece and in modern India. But in the very spirit and form they assume, they stand out in strong con- trast to the simple teaching of the Bible. The world was ruined by sin ; a broken law needed to be upheld ; life and immortality, the very hope of which had become nearly extinct, had to be brought to light ; provision was to be made for man's pardon and holiness ; for pardon on princi- ples of justice, and for holiness with due regard to his im-
* Dr. Chauncy.
70 CHAPTER II.
perfection. To meet these conflicting claims, God the Father, whose law had been broken, too just to pass by- transgression, yet unwilling to inflict the penalty upon the sinner, sent his beloved Son. That Son, the object of universal adoration, took upon him the form of a servant ; became obedient to that law which we had dishonored ; exhausted the penalty which we had incurred; and, after a life of holy beneficence and suffering, died for our sins, rose again, and now reigns on high, gives eternal life to all who believe and honor him, and is the Judge of all. This Sa- viour possesses the attributes of the Godhead, and is to be honored even as the Father. He possesses also our nature. By it he became capable of death. From it, quickened by the Divinity, proceed mysterious influences to his Church. With it he pleads before the Father. To it all his people are to be conformed, and in it he will rule for ever ; dis- pensing the terrors of his judgment, and the treasures of his love.
The bearing of these facts on the subject of our enquiry will presently appear. They are stated thus broadly at the outset, that they may guide and tinge the thoughts of both writer and readers. It is the history of the God-man we are about to investigate and describe.
Sect. 3. The Fullness of Time.
18. It may be gathered from what has already been ad- vanced, that the design of the coming of chTist'scom- Christ was most noble. Man had fallen. Placed under a righteous law, in a state of probation at once merciful and just, he had chosen sin and broken the law. He was therefore under its curse. Sin had brought fear, and fear had excited hostility, and hos- tility had fostered ignorance, and all combined had deep- ened his misery and aggravated his guilt, till God was entirely forgotten, and human life had become a scene of
§ 3. THE FULLNESS JF TIME. 71
mourning and woe." This ruin Christ came to restore, revealing God not as Judge only, but as Saviour ; offering a full, free, and universal pardon, and imparting to is many as believe and obey his gospel, purity, holiness, and eternal life.
19. This was his design. Bit a question arises. How comes it that this way of salvation was not Delay of his earlier revealed ; that thousands of years were comins- suffered to pass away before he brought relief ? Indirect indications were, indeed, given in Eden, that, though all was lost, all was not lost irrecoverably. But these intima- tions were mysterious, and were in effect confined to one nation.
20. To this question various replies may be given. Mercy, it may be said, is an act of sovereignty possiWe rea. and of favor. Those, therefore, who have no sons- claim for pardon, cannot justly ask why pardon was not earlier announced, or more profusely bestowed. Or it may be said that the delay was an act of One who is infinitely wise, and infinitely good ; and that the question betrays a groundless suspicion of His goodness, or an equally ground- less presumption of man's ability to comprehend His reasons. Or, it may be said, that God purposed to exhibit to the universe the evils of sin, and to impress upon the minds of all intelligent creatures the great lessons taught in human apostacy, and the fearful consequences of even one act of wilful rebellion. Scripture, however, has given us a more definite answer than any of The true rea. these. It intimates clearly that before God son-
could reveal himself or his truth in all its fullness, prepara- tion must be made for the revelation ; and that it was "in the fullness of time he sent forth his Son to redeem them that were under the Law, and that we might receive the adoption of sons."
21. This answer is susceptible of several illustraticns.
72 CHAPTER II.
(1.) It is one of the fundamental truths of the Gospel, that by the deeds of the law no man can be
Illustrations of J .
-the fullness of justified ; and that if man be saved at all, it
time." J J
Hopelessness of must be by the intervention of another. All sJhemfproved his acts are sinful, even the holiest. They are by the delay. defective either in themselves, or in the motives that prompt them ; and even if it could be shown that any single act was perfect, its perfection could not cancel the guilt of other acts confessedly sinful. Added to this judi- cial difficulty is one no less serious. Man is degraded and fallen : never yet, apart from the Gospel, has human nature been renewed.
These truths, however, are among the last that men be- lieve or admit : and needed to be proved by experiment, in order that a practical demonstration might be given of the necessity of redemption. This demonstration is one object of all history. From the beginning man had some divine light. The Gentile world had in addition the teach- ing of natural religion, while the Jews had superadded the teaching of a written revelation. For four thousand years men were left to these influences, that it might be known whether or no they would feel after God, if haply they might find him. The Gentiles, we know from history as well as from Scripture, did not like to retain God in their knowledge. The Jews, who had received a pure system, corrupted and abused it. And so far was man from show- ing any tendency to " regain self-raised his native seat," that every where his depravity became more intense ; until, at the time of the advent of the Messiah, the world, and the civilized world especially, had reached a pre-eminence in wickedness which had never been surpassed.
This experiment, moreover, was made under every variety of circumstances. First, different forms of govern- ment were tried : Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy. Authority was given successively into the hands of the one,
§ 3. THE FULLNESS OF TIME. 73
of the many, and of the few ; but all failed. To originate a form of government which, under favorable conditions, might raise a poor and industrious people to power and wealth, seemed easy enough ; but the very attainment of these objects rendered their downfall inevitable. Wealth and power brought luxury and licentiousness, and these, ultimately, retribution and defeat. . Every system of law, and every constitution of government, had, in fact, either in itself or in human nature, the seeds of decay. If vicious, it worked its own failure ; if perfect, it led the sooner to greatness, which (as human nature is) is itself ruin. Un- less, therefore, help arise from some other source, the con- dition of our race is desperate, and our moral redemption impossible.
Nor, during these political changes, were influences wanting of a more subtle order. The human mind had made great acquirements in philosophy and knowledge. From Pythagoras to Socrates (B. C. 600-400) questions of physical and moral truth had been incessantly discussed ; and the wisdom of that age reached its perfection in the intellectual reign of the Sophists — a race who boasted of their ability to prove the same act either right or wrong, and the same proposition either false or true ; thus sub- verting the very principles of virtue. Then Socrates appeared — one of the noblest lights of his age. He com- batted the errors of his countrymen ; proved, from the things that are made, the existence and attributes of God, and from his character the relations which he sustains to man. The life of the philosopher was the price he paid for his fidelity ; and though his sentiments survived in Plato, they were employed by him as themes of philoso- phical speculation, and not of practical concern. Sublime and beautiful these speculations are, but, like the stars, they are too high above us to be of real use ; and the ten- dency of his teaching was seen in the writings of his suc-
t
74 CHAPTER II.
cesser Aristotle, who possessed one of the clearest and strongest intellects, and yet contributed not a single offer- ing to the cause of religion or morality. He found men under the bondage of sin. The passions that bound them he analyzed with matchless skill, but not one effort did he put forth for their relief.
A third fact remains. The aesthetic and the moral are closely allied. Does not, therefore, the cultivation of the taste lead to reformation ? And to this question history has given a reply no less distinct. The age of Plato was the golden age of Grecian art. Sculpture, and poetry, and eloquence, had all framed their faultless models — and all ministered to vice. If the eye rested on any part of the streets of Athens, (the altar of Greece, as Pausanias after- wards called it,) it discovered every where the most finished specimens of sculpture ; but each filled the imagination with all that was morally revolting. Taste presided over every department of life ; but it was taste revelling in licen- tiousness. So that it became a common remark, that the days in which men worshipped their clay idols were less godless and immoral than those in which they bowed down to marble and gold.
Whether, therefore, if man had been left in his first apostacy, he would ever have recovered himself from that condition, is a question settled by the experience of four thousand years ; and settled in terms so decisive, as to prove our need of the Gospel, and to supply important evidence of its truth.
22. (2.) While man's moral helplessness was receiving these painful illustrations, there misrht have
The Gospel a x to
spiritual sys- been traced preparations for the comma; of
tem, and . x x °
adapted to an Christ of a more positive kind.
If, for example, we examine the Christian dispensation, and compare the form in which it is revealed with the form in which truth is revealed under the Law, it
§ 3. THE FULLNESS OF TIME. 75
will be seen that the conceptions of the former belong essentially to an advanced stage of civilization. Adapted in its facts to every age, and in its precepts and teaching too, it nevertheless addresses itself, in a very large extent, to the spiritual nature of man. It has to do with thought, feeling, sentiment, and motive — in a word, with truth sub- jectively considered ; while earlier revelations have to do chiefly with objective truth, and with objective truth in simple and material forms. The history both of nations and languages proves that, in the earlier periods of our race, the conceptions of man are mainly from without. So that the ideas of the Gospel as embodied, for example, in the Epistles, could hardly have been comprehended till man had passed the first stage of his progress, and had become intellectually somewhat refined. In our own day, an Afri- can can understand its facts. Its elevating tendency is moreover so strong, as rapidly to prepare him for admiring its simplicity and nobleness. But even under such teaching, generations may pass before the Gospel, as a spiritual revelation, is adequately appreciated ; nor can even the best instructed among ourselves affirm that he has fathomed its depths. To have tempered these quali- ties of the Gospel with an admixture of earthliness would have marred its beauty ; and to have revealed a Gospel equally spiritual in an earlier age, would have rendered necessary a much larger amount of evidence to authenticate it, while a continued miracle must have been required to preserve parts of it to the world.
23. (3.) The Gospel, moreover, is revealed in human
language, and attested by miracle. But the Ian- Needs a lan- guage of a barbarous age would have been une- guageeminent-
. ]y spiritaal.
qual to the task 01 embodying and transmitting its evidence
.. ., -1,1 i r»i it • ■, requires some
its truths, and the state or knowledge in such knowledge of
an age would have rendered miracles impossible.
Unless the laws of nature are to some extent known, men
76 CHAPTER II.
cannot determine when in particular cases tlicy are leparted from or not. Savages are governed by imagination rather than by reason, and court deception by their credulity. The testimony of savage nations, therefore, in relation to the marvelous, is always received with suspicion. A reve- lation like the Gospel, with disclosures so stupendous, and sustained by facts so unusual, could hardly have been trans- mitted to Europe from New Zealand, for example, in a form to gain or deserve credence. There are in that coun- try no words capable of conveying truth, and having at the same time a critical apparatus sufficient to guide future ages in discovering their meaning ; nor is there there the intellect requisite to appreciate and prove the facts by which truth is sustained.
It illustrates these remarks, and proves the superintend- ence of the Providence of God, to notice that, although when Christ appeared the Greeks had sunk morally into the lowest state of degradation, they had been cultivating for ages, and with the greatest success, a language which has long been the admiration of the human race. It com- bines the opposite qualities of strength and flexibility ; is equally adapted for the expression of logical distinctions, and of tenderest sentiment ; and we doubt whether it appears to most advantage in the "terrible vehemence" of Demosthenes, the lyric softness of Anacreon, the high ima- ginative philosophy of Plato, or the exactness of Aristotle. It certainly adorns and illustrates them all. As a conse- quence of this perfection, partly as its cause, the language has attracted to itself whatever is most delightful in litera- ture and profound in philosophy. A large apparatus is ever therefore ready to aid all who wish to explore its treasures. The study of it has ever revived with the revi- val of letters. It may be added that those- remains which have come down to us are especially rich in the expressions of spiritual truth, and in terms which are adapted to illus-
§ 3. THE FULLNESS OF TIME. 77
trate the Bible, so that, though the doctrines of the Gospel are new and Divine, hardly a term required to be modified in order to adapt this language to the purpose of express- ing them ; and for such slight modifications the Jews and Hellenists were already prepared by the influence of the Septuagint, and the connection of Alexandria with Judaea and Europe.
24. (4.) The language which thus became adapted from its richness to express religious truth, was no As a unjVersai less adapted to transmit it in consequence of its efto™^"^" universality. When the Greek tongue attained feviratteVo us in the writings of Plato and Aristotle its high- claims-
est perfection, the hero appeared who was to give it its widest influence. Alexander, after subduing Greece and the eastern districts of Europe, extended his conquests eastward, and in a few years all Asia to the borders of India became tributary. Throughout all these regions the authority of the Greeks was established, and their literature introduced. Greek soon became the language of rank, of intelligence, and even of commerce. The conquest of Greece by Rome only extended its influence. The lan- guage and philosophy of Athens became in Italy the theme of almost idolatrous admiration. The victories and uni- versal empire of the imperial city carried the Greek tongue to all the countries washed by the Mediterranean ; and in the time of Christ whatever was written in Greek became accessible to all who, by their religion, (as the Jews) or their intelligence, (as the Greeks) or their power (as the Romans,) gave character to their age, or conferred distinc- tion on their nation.
25. These successive changes, involving a slow and gradual development of the Divine purpose,
Beem essential to the establishment of a religion which was intended from the first to become universal, and
7*
78 CHAPTER II.
♦vhosc evidence and doctrines were to be examined and believed by the whole human race. It ill becomes ns at least to question either the wisdom or the goodness of this delay ; for it has secured to us ample historical confirma- tion of the most humbling of the truths of revelation, the completeness, namely, of our ruin; while it supplies a fullness of evidence, a beauty and explicitness of language, which on any other supposed arrangement would have been impossible for us to attain. If previous dispensations have suffered, it is for "our consolation and salvation." The very disadvantages of past ages, and the mystery of the Gospel in withholding its light, add to our privilege and responsibility.
If these reasonings seem strained, let it only be supposed that the great fact of the Gospel, the coming of Christ as our pattern and sacrifice, had been revealed with all the spiritual lessons it involves in the days of the Exode, and in even the Hebrew tongue. The solemn evidence of the complete ruin of the human race must then have been with- held. That the world by wisdom knew not God would have been a truth of revelation only, not of experience. Sophistry and licentiousness, which had corrupted natural religion, would have spent their force upon the revealed The language of Scripture, which, even with all the avail- able helps supplied by Grecian and Hellenistic literature, has been perverted so as to subserve nearly every form of error, would have been incapable of definite exegesis ; and, in a word, the religion intended to become universal must have been confessed to be unfit for its work, unless strength- ened and sustained by a multiplication of miracles, as incon- sistent with the economy of the Divine procedure as it would have been injurious to human faith.*
* The latter views of this section are largely discussed and illustrated by Dr. YVayland, and in a recent work by Rev. W. J. Conybeare and Rev. J. S. Howson on the Life and Fnistles of St Paul.
5} 4. state of the jews at tee messiah's coming. 79
Sect. 4. — The State of the Jews at the coming of the
Messiah.
26. "While these preparatory changes were taking place in other parts of the world the Jews themselves were undergoing an important change. Their changes in intercourse with the Gentiles, and the severe punishment which they had suffered in Babylon and in Judaea, checked their tendency to idolatry and confirmed them in their faith. Since the captivity the Scriptures were more frequently consulted, and synagogues were established in most of the larger cities of Palestine.
2T. This intercourse with strangers became also more extensive. In Egypt colonists early settled,
• . .t . Diffusion of
and Alexander gave them privileges in his new Judaism and city of Alexandria. A little later, they built a temple for themselves in that country, and thus weakened the ties that bound them to the Holy City. As the con- nection of the Jews with Egypt had at first been a scourge, so now it became a snare. From choice or necessity, settlers also established themselves in Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy ; and, in the time of our Lord, there was scarcely a country in the whole Roman empire in which Jewish colonies might not be found. In almost every city Moses had those who preached him ; (Acts xv. 21 ;) a fact that influenced on the one hand the national character, and on the other prepared the way more completely for the coming of the Messiah and the diffusion of his truth.
28. Other influences were at work of a directly religious kind. Most of the rites of the ancient law
Prevail in0* for-
derived their importance from their symbolical maitem of the character. They were doctrines and precepts in acts, as we have in the New Testament doctrines and precepts in words. Some of those rites were no doubt intended to preserve the Jews as a distinct nation ; but .
80 CHAPTER II.
most teach lessons of morality and piety, or point attention to the work and office of the Messiah. Towards the close of that dispensation, however, all that was spiritual and significant in the law was forgotten ; the ritual and formal alone was remembered, and dead corrupted truth became even more potent for evil than heathen error.
29. As, therefore, we see among Pagans the effects of True religion ignorance of true religion, so among the Jews corrupted. we notice the direction the human mind takes when true religion decays. There were every where mere formalism and hypocrisy ; but these qualities were modi- fied by the different tendencies of men.
30. (1.) There was the traditional tendency. Under
its influence human elements were miugled with
In Pharisaism. .
the Divine, and forms that compressed and destroyed the substance of piety were substituted for such as grew out of it. In the place of the real essence there came a dead ceremonial, much of which was of earthly origin ; while what was heavenly became, in consequence of the place assigned to it in the prevalent system, corrupt and abominable. This was Pharisaism, or legal Judaism. The disciples of this sect reflected most truly the national character, and were favorites with the people. Their tra- ditions are noticed in various parts of the Gospels.* Some of these traditions were harmless ; others of them made void the law. It is, however, the spirit of this sect, and their estimate of religion, that our Lord condemns. Rigid- ly severe in avoiding transgressions of the ritual precepts, they were ready at any time for violations of the moral law, and able by casuistry to excuse them. They com- mended frequent fastings and "long prayers in the syna- gogues," but allowed hypocrisy and covetousness. Their motive was the praise of men ; their righteousness, the observance of outward duty ; their very humility, spiritual
* Matt. XV. 2; Mark vii. 9.
§ 4. STATE OF THE JEWS AT THE MESSIAH'S COMING. 81
pride. They were, it need hardly be added, the bitterest enemies of our Lord ; and it is more than once said in the Gospels, that there was less hope of their amendment, than of the amendment of the most impious and immoral. Such was their general character. In some few, religion was the expression of honest but misguided zeal.*
31. (2.) JBut extremes beget or strengthen one another. The foreign additions made to Scripture by in sadducee- one sect were disowned by others ; and with lsm- the rejection of the additions came the rejection of much that was genuine and true. Hence arose Sadduceeism, ratw?ialisfic Judaism, or infidelity. This sect denied the authority of all tradition, and objected to all development even of such truths as were plainly implied in the Penta- teuch itself; so that they often misunderstood the very books which they professed to receive. They denied also the doctrine of the resurrection and the immortality of the soul ; deeming these doctrines not proved by the letter of the Mosaic record, and inconsistent with the disinterested obedience which man is required to give to God. Their denial of the existence of spirits and of angels is hardly explicable on any principle, except that when once the mind of man has yielded to skeptical feeling, its unbelief becomes even more credulous than a heathen's faith. The precepts of the law, in their least spiritual signification, were all they regarded. "Without denying a Providence, they made God, as far as possible, an idle spectator of the affairs of the universe ; and were led to embrace a' system of Deism, which all but completely set aside the authority of revelation. Their doctrines were favorably received by the young men of Judea ; and produced, as Josephus had remarked, dispositions in the highest degree cold and repulsive.
The Sadducees were mostly persons of wealth, who lived
* Rom. x. 2, 3.
82 CHAPTER II.
lives of easy enjoyment, without opening their minds to any higher aspirations. From their position they occupied some of the most important posts in the country. Caia- phas, who condemned our Lord, was a Sadducee ;* and Josephus states, that the Herod who felt John's preaching so keenly belonged to this sect.f He thus furnishes an illustration of the power of conscience over infidelity — a system which his heart, rather than his reason, had be- lieved.
32. (3.) Neither of these views, however, met the wants Among the °f men °f warmer devotional feeling. The Esseues. Pharisees believed too much, and the Saducees too little. Both failed, in the opinion of this third sect, to understand the import of the Divine word, which is not on the surface, but beneath, and must be reached by allegori- cal interpretations. Hence arose the Essenes, the repre- sentatives of the mystics and ascetics of the middle ages. They differed from the Pharisees in not relying on tradi- tion, and in not strictly regarding the law ; and from the Sadducees, in their self-denying habits and belief of a future state. They despised all outward forms of worship, ne- glected the plain literal meaning of Scripture, and sought only for what was mystical and concealed. They professed to have sought after a life abstracted from all earthly things, and devoted to the contemplation of God. (Col. ii. 16--19.) In their creed they were unqualified fatalists. Some parts of the Epistles of John are supposed to refer to their doctrines ; but, as they had seceded from the body of the Jewish people before the coming of our Lord, they are not noticed by name in the narratives of his ministry.
33. (4.) Closely allied to the Pharisees in their religious
views, were the Galileans. They were distin-
Tbe Galileans. , . ...
guished from that sect chiefly by their political tenets ; holding that all foreign domination, whether secu-
* Acts iv. 6; v. 17. f M:irk vi- 20-
§ 4. STATE OF THE JEWS AT THE MESSIAH'S COMING. 83
lar or religious, was unscriptural, and that God was the only King of the Jews. As our Lord came from Galilee, the Pharisees attempted to identify him with this sect.
34. (5.) The Herodians were chiefly Sadducees in their religious tenets, but were a political rather than
& ' r The Ilerodians
a religions sect. It was their principle to pro- mote intimacy with the Roman power by flattery and un- limited submission ; and, above all, by introducing into Judea the usages and customs of the Roman people. This union with idolatry, on the. ground of worldly policy, was probably the leaven against which our Lord cautioned his disciples, as it involves hypocrisy. (Mark viii. 15.)
35. (6.) The Scribes were not a religious sect, but a learned profession. It was their business to ♦
The Scribes.
write copies of the Law, and to expound its meaning ; and hence they are called "lawyers," and " doc- tors of the law." As religionists, they generally favored the Pharisees. All sects, however, had friends among them.
36. (T.) The Samaritans claimed an interest in the Mosaic covenant, but are distinguished by Thegamari- Christ himself from "the lost sheep of the tans- house of Israel," and from their Gentile neighbors. Those of the time of Christ sprang from colonists, with whom the king of Assyria peopled Samaria, after the ten tribes were carried away. A captive priest was sent to teach them ; and though they at first regarded God as a kind of tutelary deity, and much of their system was corrupt, yet they afterwards attempted to become united with the Jews, so as to form one church. This attempt did not succeed ; but a considerable body of Jews, under one of their priests, settled in Samaria, and erected upon Mount Gerizim an independent temple (which remained till the days of John Hyrcanus, b. c. 109), and established what they deemed a
84 CHAPTER II.
more orderly observance of the Mosaic law. They founded all their religious practices and faith upon the Pentateuch, and rejected the other inspired writings. This division had been overruled for good. The mutual enmity of the two parties had tended to make both the more zealous for the purity of their respective copies of the Law. The separation of the Samaritans kept them free from the pride and narrowness so prevalent among their neighbors. Of spurious descent themselves, and despised by the people around them, they had a juster appreciation of the com- prehensive purpose of the Gospel, and regarded all nations as entitled to its blessings. They accordingly received one of the earliest intimations from our Lord that he was the Messiah, (John iv.) and were otherwise frequently noticed by him in the course of his ministry.
37. (8.) Proselytes were, in the time of our Lord, a very numerous body. Some were proselytes
X*rosi.ilvt6S.
of the gate only (as they were called) ; and had simply pledged themselves to renounce all idolatry, and to worship the true God. This class had all heard of the coming of Messiah, and had generally little sympathy with Jewish prejudice. Others were proselytes of righteousness. These took upon themselves all the obligations of the Mosaic Law, and joined in offering sacrifice in the outer court of the temple to the God of Israel. The Pharisees took great pains to make these proselytes, and were aided by the fading authority of the old religions, and the rever- ence in which the God of the Jews was held even by the heathen. As these teachers had no true idea of their reli- gion, they could impart none. Their converts, therefore, only changed their superstition, hushed the accusations of conscience, and became two-fold more the children of hell than before. (Matt, xxiii. 15.) They were ever among the bitterest enemies of the Christian faith.
§ 4. STATE OF THE JEWS AT THE MESSIAH'S COMING. 85
38. Such were the Jews in the time of Christ ; the peo- ple were divided between these sects, and mis- The tendencies led by them all. And, strange as it may KJ^SuX appear, such is human nature still. In all lands Tersal- there are some who, with the Sadducees, deify reason, and others who compile and adore traditions. These sects still live. Sadduceeism is cold, sneering selfishness ; Pharisee- ism, spiritual pride, or dead Scripture learning ; the doc- trine of the Essenes, sentimental mysticism and monkery ; the leaven of the Galileans, unhallowed fanaticism ; of the Herodians, unblushing worldliness : the very qualities which are found in our own day iu all regions of the globe. It is an evidence of the divine origin of our faith, that, while it counteracts temporary forms of evil, it counteracts them on principles that are permanent, and that it so reveals their true character, as to help us in tracing them under their different disguises throughout all lands.
39. It was the result of these errors, that when Christ appeared, all parties misapprehended his mis- influence of sion. Without any just appreciation of spiri- cSo^men^ tual truth, accustomed to interpret the precepts TiewsoiClmst- of Scripture rather according to the letter than according to the spirit, feeling deeply the degradation of their coun- try as a mere tributary to Rome, and unmindful of the deeper degradation from which it sprung, they all thought of Christ as a temporal deliverer ; expected what they most prized, and overlooked the predictions of their sacred Scriptures, which spoke of him in a way altogether incon- sistent with the establishment of a temporal kingdom. That they should expect the Gentiles to be excluded from the benefits of the Messiah's reign, was equally natural. Jerusalem was still to be in their esteem the seat of empire ; and if others were in any way to share in the blessing, it could only be, they thought, by submitting to their autho- rity, and never as equals and friends. The same low,
8
86 CHAPTER II.
earthly system of interpretation was applied to all parts of
the new economy, including the atonement and the doctrine
of eternal life ; so that it became difficult for our Lord to
clear away the incrustation with which the law had been
covered, and to show them in their own Scripture the
germs of the truth which he was commissioned to reveal.
In every age Divine truth has been spiritually discerned ;
and the worst interpreter of it is a wordly and unbelieving
mind.
40. Those among the Jews, on the contrary, who felt
their sinfulness, and were waiting for the con- Exceptions.
solation of Israel, knew not indeed all that was
to be revealed, but they were prepared to appreciate all ; and when the prophecies were interpreted according to their spiritual meaning, and the law according to its high- est import, and the kingdom of God and eternal life accord- ing to the estimates which those men had formed of the value of personal holiness, they felt, that though in this teaching was much that was new, it was all consistent with whatever was noble and spiritual in the previous economy. To multitudes thts Gospel was foolishness, a rock of stum- bling and a stone of offence ; to a few it was light, and joy, and peace ; to those who were (au>£o/j.£vot) being saved, it was life unto life ; to them that were being lost, (drtoxxv pevoii) it was death unto death. 2 Cor. ii. 16.
CHAPTEE III.
SCENES CONNECTED WITH CHRIST'S EN- TRANCE UPON HIS PERSONAL MINISTRY.
§ 1. The mission of John and his testimony concerning Christ.
§ 2. The temptation, and John's second testimony
§ 3. The beginning of miracles.
§ 4. Christ's first public act
§ 5. Christ's first discourse.
§ 6. Christ's first journey.
§ T. Christ rejected by his countrymen.
§ 8. Christ incarnate — a revelation of God, and a modej of holiness.
§ 9. Christ incarnate: — a Saviour through suffering.
f8T)
88
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CHAPTER III.
Sect. 1. — The mission of John and his testimony con- cerning Christ.
1. Eighteen years elapse between the events recorded of the childhood of Christ, and the commence- Christ's a»-e ment of his ministry. His office was to be a Jjjj ^°"Ma solemn and responsible one. It was connected, offiee- moreover, with ancient institutions, and required in the person who filled it ample evidence of sobriety and pru- dence. It was therefore when Christ " began to be about thirty years of age," that He entered upon his work. The interval He seems to have spent at Nazareth (Mark i. 9 ; Luke iv. 16.) At that age priests, under the 'law, were deemed qualified for the full duties of the priest- Reasons for its hood. By that age the human nature of Christ maturity- may be supposed to have been perfectly developed, so as to be thoroughly prepared for the rich communications of the Spirit, which he was about to receive. Against one of his years, moreover, the charge of youthful enthusiasm, or of unripe purpose, must have fallen utterly powerless.
2. Even for one so completely matured, a threefold pre- paration was required ; the first, external, such
as was supplied by the preaching of John the paction re- Baptist ; the second, Divine, imparted in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, for even the pure offspring of God needed for His work a special anointing ; and the
(89)
90 CHAPTER III.
third, inward and experimental, such as was supplied by the temptation in the wilderness.
3. John's was purely a preparatory ministry. He came, as had been foretold, in the spirit and power
Nature of
John's minis- of Elias ; one of the earliest prophets under the ancient monarchy, and the boldest of the reformers of the ancient church. In his whole ministry, he represents the majesty of the law. He appears rough and severe. Separated from the world, and revealing to it the sternness of the judge, he recalls the attention of his countrymen to the Divine institutions ; shows how, among all classes, those institutions had been broken, and exhorts to repentance. It illustrates how far the Jews as a nation had fallen, that repentance had its Divinely appointed symbol in baptism — an ordinance appropriate to the recep- tion of converts, or at least to a consecration of something previously defiled. It was not so much, therefore, a resto- ration as a re-formation of character which he sought to produce ; a re-formation, however, chiefly legal, for the Spirit was not given, and the reign of heaven was as yet only at ha-nd.*
* In this account of John's ministry it appears to us that the esteemed author is somewhat defective and one-sided. John can -with no propriety be classed with the teachers or prophets of the legal dispensation, since he received a special mission, with a special institution to introduce the new. The Evangelists do not hesitate to declare his ministry " the begin- ning of the Gospel." Mark i. 1. Christ expressly affirms that "the law and the prophets were until John; since then the kingdom of God is preached." The arguments that would invalidate John's ministry as a part of the Gospel dispensation, especially those presented by our author, would also invalidate the whole ministry of onr Lord himself, and that it all the Apostles and the Seventy during his lifetime. For this reason they must be inconclusive. Our Lord and his Apostles received baptism from his hands; they preached the same things; they "made and bap- tized disciples" in the same manner, and at the same time; nor did John deem it necessary to cease from his work even after the manifestation of Christ in his baptism, but continued it « t ill as the servant of his acknow-
§ 1. THE MISSION OF JOHN. 91
John's then was a baptism of repentance ; and repent- ance was a preparation for the forgiveness A ra]1 10 rc_ of sins, (hs S+aw, Luke iii. 3.) The exhi- fSlSto^S bition of the law could do little more than don- to give to man a knowledge of his sins, and a long- ing for the grace that was to remove them. The re- pentance, therefore, which he preached, though really a change in the deepest recesses of the mind (/Atrdroia,) was chiefly negative, and needed something positive to complete it ; even the influence of the Spirit which men were to receive through faith in Christ. It was thus his office to enforce and explain the law, and thereby to awaken the necessity which the Redeemer came to appease.
All ranks seem to have felt his appeals. The general determination was obvious. Each sect blamed the preten- sions and corruptions of the rest. Men's minds were every where restless and excited concerning the fulfillment of the ancient predictions and the coming of a Messiah. No wonder, therefore, that all Judea and Jerusalem flocked to his baptism.*
lodged Lord, as "the friend of the Bridegroom," rejoicing to do Hirn honor, even to the sacrifice of his liberty and life.. This "more than a prophet,-" this "messenger;" this 'angel' of the new dispensation, (Luke vii. 27, 27,) is very improperly represented as ' chiefly the expounder and reformer of the old.' It is in fact overlooking his most peculiar and pre- eminent glory.
The comparison of our Lord in Matt. xi. 11, appears to he misunder- stood by many, and by our author among the rest. " The least in the kingdom of God is," indeed " greater" than John the Baptist; in this sense — that his privileges as a child and heir of God are infinitely more precious than the highest official honor conferred on man. "Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist; notwithstanding he that is least in tha kingdom of heaven is greater than he." J. N. B.
* Luke says that the crowds (i\\oi) went to it. Matthew mentions par ticularly Pharisees and Sadducees, thus indicating the prevalence of those sects. Luke iii. 7; Matt. iii. 7.
92 CHAPTER III.
4. Like all the prophets, he made the theme of his
preaching, not himself, but One that was to
Announces the l ° ,
kingdom of come. He, however, enforced his appeals by the assurance that the kingdom of heaven, or, as St. Luke calls it, " the kingdom of God," was nigh. Some- times, but rarely, that kingdom was afterwards called, " the kingdom of the Son of man" (Matt. xiii. 41) ; sometimes, with reference to the typical character of the old economy, "the kingdom of David." (Mark xi. 10.) And all those phrases are significant, though it was many years before their meaning was fully explained. Christ gradually unfolded the laws of His king- opmont of this dom. First, He described the character of His subjects. Then distinctly announced that His kingdom came not with outward show, or worldly pomp, but was within ; that it began as the smallest seed, and grew up with the growth of his word ; then further, that it did not seek the aid of temporal power. (Matt. v. vi. xiii. ; Luke xvii. 10 ; John xviii. 36.) His meaning was still further unfolded in the history of the early church ; and the Apostles completed the disclosure by reminding their converts that that kingdom was not meat and drink, (no mere ritual observance, no mere earthly blessing,) but, in relation to individuals, " righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost ;" and in relation to the church, the prevalence of those principles among men. (Rom xiv. IT.) In reference to this kingdom, John was the forerunner, the voice (tywrj) crying in the wilderness, (Matt. iii. 3) : the ford, (o xoyoj, John i. 1,) the distinct utterance of inCnite wisdom and love, being as yet to come.
5. This revelation of the kingly character of Christ, even ^ . . rr- at tne outset, is highly instructive. lie ap-
Christ a King. ' ° •* *
peared to bring back the world to its itllegiante
Nature of m« — to knit together again the broken relation kingdom. in which the crcature lia(j stood t0 lhe creator
§ 1. johx's testimony concerning Christ. 93
and to himself. His constituted representative in the theocracy, David, probably suggested the name — "the kingdom or reign of God," (Ps. lxxii., xcvii,) though this title is not found in any ancient writings till after the canon of the Old Testament had closed. The idea, however, pervades Scripture, and is frequently introduced in the prophets.* Daniel even describes in express terms the expected sanctification of all things, and the coming of a Messiah, whom all nations were to obey.f This kingdom of God, or of the Messiah, or of righteousness, is opposed to the reign of sin,J and of its representative, the ruler or priuce of this world. Under the one, iniquity has long triumphed in the hearts of men and on earth : under the other, the dominion of iniquity is to be overthrown, and the dominion of holiness to be re-established ; first in the secret recesses of each Christian's life, then in things exter- nal to it, afterwards, and by degrees, among the family of man. All things are to be ultimately subject to Christ and holiness, both things external and internal ; but mainly and first the internal ; and thence is his influence to extend throughout the world. §
This explanation of the nature of Christ's kingdom is of the deepest interest, and is essential to a complete under- standing of the discourses of our Lord. The Jews thought of it as external only, and as thoroughly Jewish and secu- lar. Others, on the contrary, (and among them the Gnos- tics,) denied its future external manifestation, and spoke of it only as invisible and spiritual. The true theory is that which represents it as not of the world, but still in the world ; beginning in individual hearts, extending out-
* Isa. ii. 1— 14 j xi. 1, &c. j Ps. Ixxxy. 11, 12 j Jer. xxiii. 5, 9j xxxiv. 23, &c.
f Dan. ii. 44: vii. 14, 27; ix. 25.
\ fiaaiktia rfjs ajxnpria^ — apxt?s rov k6(t^ov t6vto\*
| See Appendix.
94 CHAPTER III.
ward to the sanctification of the life, and ultimately reach- ing and influencing the whole race. Of this kingdom Christ is the head ; its seat is the heart and the church. In the narrowest sense it comes whenever a human soul is made submissive and obedient to Christ. It came in power at Pentecost, when thousands were converted to the faith ; and in its largest sense it is still to come. It had its type in the Jewish theocracy, and it will have its complete real- ization in heaven.
6. As became the head of this spiritual kingdom, He obedience of entered upon His ministry by an act of obedi- pointedStu- ence- IQ his childhood he received the sign tions. 0f tke covenant, and submitted to the ceremo-
nial purification required by the law. In later years He took part in the sacrificial offerings of the temple worship. So now He is anxious to obey the Divine will, not only as revealed by the founder of the ancient institutions, but as revealed by the herald of the New Dispensation. He ful- filled all righteousness. "He came to John to be baptized of him." Matt. iii. 13, 11.
John felt that this application was, in one respect, unbe- john's first tes- coming ; and yet, as he was only the repre- tunony. sentative of a Divine institute, he at once
yielded to Christ's decision ; thus avoiding the mock humi- lity (but real pride) which a pertinacious refusal of it would have involved, and honoring by his submission the authority of Divine law.
1. The moment of obedience was selected by God as the The time of obe- moment of the manifestation of Christ as the ofTco^tioT Messianic King, of course, as the accepted by the Father. prophet> The baptism of water became the symbol and accompaniment of the promised influence of the Spirit. Christ now attained, as man, the height of that knowledge which had gradually developed itself in Him ; and now was imparted that fullness of power which was
§ 2. THE TEMPTATION. 95
essential to the performance of His ministry. Here, there- fore, the character of (the zplo?6$,) the Anointed One, first appears ; and here He is solemnly consecrated to his office in His own presence, and in that of his forerunner and prophet John ; for as he came up out of the water, the Spirit of God in bodily shape (visible both to Christ and to His messenger) descended as a dove and abode upon Him ; and a voice was heard from heaven, saying, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
8. At His birth his person was owned (Luke i. 35) ; in His baptism His ministry is owned, and the sUCCessiTe Father is pleased in Him ; by and bye He will, g^ift^ for the third time, be owned again, when His JatToCand^re- regal glory shines for a moment around him ; surrection- and then there will be the addition, " hear ye Him." (Luke ix. 36). Later still these attestations will all be confirmed ; not by words only, but by solemn acts, and the resurrec- tion will at length declare him to be the Son of God with power. (Rom. i. 4). Each is fitting in its season. At His birth, His baptism, His transfiguration, and His resurrec- tion, His sonship is attested. His person, His ministry, and His dominion, all are owned. At each stage the full pleasure of God rests upon Him ; and at last the full sub- jection of the earth is demanded for Him. God is "well pleased in Him," and the church and the world are to "hear Him."
Sect. 2. — The Temptation, and John's Second Testimony concerning christ.
9. This recognition of the public ministry of Christ is followed by a far different scene. His transfigu-
. . .„ After the recog.
ration immediately preceded His death: and mtionofour
• • -r-r- l • ti Lord comes the
the recognition of Him here is speedily fol- temptation:
. ., t b°rti prepara-
lowed by the temptation in the wilderness, torytohis After great honor, let Christians count upon
96 CHAPTER II.
something that is humbling. The favored Christian needs to double his guard.
10. Christ was led up by the Spirit to be tempted of the devil in the wilderness. He was in himself
How Christ
could be sinless, but human ; both free from actual
tempted. .
;ransgression, and positively holy; yet the moral elen.ents of our nature were in Him. He had the power of choosing between good and evil, with a human conscience and human appetites. He was accessible to unholy influences ; and not raised (in one sense at least, that is, subjectively, or in his own feeling) above the possibility of sinning. In the end, His desire of good was perfect and triumphant; yet it must be supposed that, as He was made perfect through sufferings, (Heb. ii. 10,) so was there a lower stage of progress, in which His will was rather the free power of choice than actual decision.*
In mother sense, indeed, it was impossible that Christ could sin. His sinlessness forms part of the plan of human salvation ; a plan that had been in preparation for thou- sands of years, and which was destined to influence our race for an eternity to come. Millions probably of the ancient church were waiting till his triumph was achieved ; failure would have involved their ruin and the frustration of the purpose of God. It is true also that a divine prin- ciple lived and operated in Christ in union with His human nature, and that the Spirit, given without measure unto Him, secured him against the commission of iniquity. But then, in considering these facts in connection with His temptation, it must be remembered, on the other hand,
* Our author appears here inconsistent with facts and with himself. " Actual decision" for rectitude, is essential to the lowest stage of moral progress, without which no being can be, as Christ was, "positively holy." It is, however, capable of infinite increase in intensity and power, and can be perfected only by trial and discipline. J. N. B.
§ 2. THE TEMPTATION. 97
that a 'perfect obedience was required at His hands. He was to be without sin ; the pure and spotless Lamb of God, who needed not to bring an offering for Himself. As the founder of a kingdom of perfect righteousness and love, He was to be to all a lawgiver, a pattern, and
„'...,,'., Aspect of His
a judge ; the very image of the invisible God. temptation
. . towards man.
A single stain would have marred his work, and have exposed him to the Divine law. It is certain, moreover, that whatever was the Divine purpose, and whatever the efficacy of the spiritual influence that resided in Him, these did not alleviate His temptations, or make it less true that He was tempted on all points as we are, though without sin ; and that thus He has become quali- fied to aid, and to feel for his tempted disciples. (Heb. iv. 15 ; ii. 18.) It was as man that he entered upon this struggle — yet as man with a holy nature ; for the tempta- tions all sprang from without, deriving neither origin nor strength from anything within. (John xiv. 30.)
And while this is the aspect of the temptation of Christ towards human sufferings, it has an aspect no
° ' L Aspect of it in
less significant in relation to the reign which relation to ins
_^ kingdom.
He came co establish. The very idea of a Messiah, a Prince, implies a kingdom of righteousness, and the overthrow of an opposing kingdom. Twice in the life of our Lord did he struggle with the combined force of evil, and twice He conquered it ; now at the outset of His ministry, and afterwards at its close. Here the entice- ment is to the commendable desires and feelings of His nature, as afterwards it was to his fear of suffering and death. Both forms, doubtless, presented themselves again at different periods of His ministry ; but here, at least, they came in a state of concentration, when he was exhausted by hunger ; terrible in themselves, but giving in their re- sults an assurance that the triumph of the great Conqueror would be ultimately complete. As man, therefore, he was
9
98 CHAFTER III.
tempted, but no less as Leader and King. The same act that insures to us His sympathy, insures to us the certainty of our own success. He suffers with us, and we triumph in Him.*
11. The first temptation is a skillful appeal to unbelief, The first tempt- to *ne gratification of sensual instinct, and to ation. ||ie exercjse by our Lord of supernatural power for the purpose of appeasing His necessities. The Tempter suggests a doubt of His sonship, pleads in proof His poverty and suffering, and bids Him put forth His power for His own preservation. Christ refused. Compliance would have questioned the truth of the voice from heaven, and implied distrust of God's power and goodness. It would, moreover, have exercised on Himself those wondrous powers which throughout His whole ministry he employed only for the benefit of others.
12. But extremes are closely allied. This faith in the The. =econ<i Divine power, may, perhaps be fostered into temptation. presumption ; and this confidence of His son- ship may be excited to display itself in the public and dazz- ling exhibition of attributes connected with this relation. (Matt. iv. 5, 6.) " Cast thyself down," said the Tempter again, and the people will acknowledge that thou art under Divine protection, Scripture will be fulfilled, and the Mes- senger of the Covenant will be seen to have " come suddenly to his temple." (Mai. ill. 1.) A scripture promise is even quoted in favor of this appeal ; true in general, and true of Christ. By humble obedience, however, and by complete freedom from the least portion of self-will, He
* This union of the possibility of sinning, and of the necessity of vic- tory, is involved in the very nature of the God-man. It is very observa- ble that in the last temptation, the Redeemer Himself declares His abandonment by the Father. (Matt, xxvii. 46.) That isolation in which the humanity of Christ stands alone, gives a true picture of the terrible etruggle of that hour. Nothing is related of a similar abandonment in this place.
§ 2. THE TEMPTATION 99
resists these appeals, and conquers. Such an act must have implied the need of some further confirmation of the Divine promise — have required special interposition for delivery from difficulties to which our Lord was not called ; and have been, in short, a perversion of Scripture, and a tempt- ing of God.
13. Thus far was our Lord tempted by things apparently innocent. At last He is tempted by things Thethird desirabb. The devil even appears as the friend temPtatlon- of His mission. "It is a kiugdom thou hast come to establish. Be my vicegerent ; or, if thou wilt, reign in my stead. The world and all its kingdoms will I give to thee, for it has been delivered unto me ;* and the only return I require, is an act of homage to my authority, and of allegiance to my law." To a human ear there seems much force in this appeal, and a human mind might have deemed it an easy way of attaining a commendable end. Every thing, moreover, is acknowledged to be delivered into Satan's hand. Rightful independent authority he disowns. But Christ at once detects his sophistry. One truth of Scripture answers it all. " There is but one true and ever- lasting God; and Him only shalt thou serve." The assumption of Divine prerogative is sure evidence of dia- bolical interference. (2 Thess. ii. 4.) This temptation there- fore revealed the true character of the Tempter ; and Christ at once rebuked and defeated him. The temptation then closed, and the devil left him for a season. (Luke iv. 13.)
14. Every thing here is significant. The first man stood in Eden, where the garden and its fruits, with
. His tempta-
the willing service ot ten thousand tributary tions a type of
creatures, bound him to his allegiance. But
Jesus was in the wilderness, an hungered, and with the
* Neander, in his Lifo of Jesus, thinks this offer of Satan implies tliQ use of secular power to establish Christianity — an idea of vast signifi- cance. How many this temptation deceives ! J. N. B.
v*y Mt^"
100 CHAPTER II.
savage beasts. (Mark i. 12, 13.) All things probably pleaded with the Tempter against God. In the garden paradise was lost, and in the wilderness it was regained. The temptations in which this first victory was achieved represent our own. They were of every kind (rfavraTtcipuc n6v). They appealed to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. They sought for distrust, and presumption, and pride. As the fall gives in brief the history of all sin, so the history of all our victories over sin may be seen in this triumph of our Lord. At its close angels visit Him, to celebrate the result and admin- ister relief.
With the same Spirit there are diversities of gift. Full of the Holy Ghost, (Luke iv. 1,) He withstood and con- quered the devil. Full of the same spirit, (ver. 14,) He meets sinners to heal and to save them.
15. But before Christ commenced his public ministry, second testi- He received fresh testimony from His forerun-
monyofJohn. ner> rphe firgt meeting with Jolm had im.
pressed itself indelibly on the mind of the forerunner. He had then spoken of His dignity, (John i. 20,) and now he reveals him under a new character. " The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world :" the Lamb who is to remove human transgression, both in its guilt and in its power. All that this designation contains we cannot now consider ; but to the Jews, and to men who were probably at this time on their way to the feast of the Passover, it is highly instructive. The paschal lamb was originally appointed as the means of deliverance from otherwise inevitable destruction. It arrested the progress of the destroying angel. (Ex. xii. 1-14.) All upon whose houses the blood was sprinkled were preserved alive ; while all who were without this symbol perished. Christ, as the Lamb of God, is our deliverer from a bondage more fearful
§ 2. THE TEMPTATION. L01
than that of Egypt ; and from a ruin more awful than tem- poral destruction. His death stands always as a complete vindication of the law, and an authentic instrument of sanc- tification and of acceptance for all to whom His blood is applied. The full significance of this truth will be noticed hereafter. In the mean time it is important to notice that His sacrificial office was revealed as early as His kingly ; and that from the first He was set forth, not only as suffering, and in suffering leaving us an example that we should follow His steps, but as Himself bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. Most appropriately, therefore, did this testimony close with the recommenda- tion, " Behold the Lamb of God ;" and most appropriately did two of John's disciples, on hearing this recommenda- tion, go and follow Jesus. Half a century afterwards this fact was recorded by St. John, who was one
The result : Je-
of the two. The circumstances were all present sus numbers
disci dIcs
to him. The minutest details and the very hour he remembered (John i. 39). But with characteristic modesty he has said nothing of those early discourses of Christ, which bound him, the beloved disciple, to his Lord as long as he lived. Here, as elsewhere, every thing per- sonal (unless Christ's character is to be illustrated) is with- held ; and all that is told us is, that henceforth Christ begai? to number disciples. For some years they were few and despised, nor did they at first relinquish their earthly voca- tion. Their summons to personal companionship with our Lord was given at a somewhat later period of His history. (Matt. iv. 18.)
16. The faith awakened in the minds of the first disci- ples immediately became manifest. Like fire,
Diffusive spirit
it extended itself, and kindled every thing sus- oftmediscipie-
ship.
ceptible of its influence. Andrew mentioned the fact of his having found the Messiah to Peter; and
9*
102 CHAPTER III.
Philip, whom Christ had also called, proclaimed it to Nathanael or Bartholomew. He questioned the truth of Philip's declaration, and alluded to the contempt generally entertained for Galilee, of which province Nazareth was an unimportant town, in no good repute, moreover, for moral- ity. Philip repeats his message, wisely avoiding a useless discussion ; and a personal interview with Christ removes the scruples of this candid inquirer. ''Rabbi," says he, "thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel." Christ had hitherto but told Nathanael what took place when he thought himself unseen by human eye ; and the obedience pre- disclosure produced conviction (John i. 48-50). pares for fur- q\iy{^ now tells him that he shall learn more
ther cnsclo-
sures. sublime disclosures ; and that both things
earthly, and things heavenly, should be seen as subservient to Him. "In me," says He, "heaven is opened; union between the higher world of spirits and the lower sphere of things is restored ; and, for a time at least, the angelic hosts are in effect transferred to the earth to do my will, and to promote the interest of my kingdom. The head of the kingdom being among men, angels shall be seen ascend- ing and descending* under the authority, and in relation to the concerns of the Son of man."
Sect. 3. — The Beginning of Signs. It. From Jordan, where the scene of our narrative has The miracle at lam thus far, Christ moves to Cana, the town Cana. 0f Nathanael, accompanied by His disciples and
relatives. Here He performed His first public miracle. Already had He manifested His omniscience, and already had the miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost attested to John and Himself the divinity of His mission ; but this is
* ava(iaivovTZs comes first, it will bo noticed.
§ 3. THE BEGINNING OF SIGNS. 103
the first public appeal, and here he first shows forth His glory, proving that the fullness of the Deity dwelt in Him.-)*
18. Here, moreover, the mother of our Lord is first introduced in connection with His public minis- The reiaiionof try; and the terms in which He addresses her Mary t0 Chnst- arrest our thoughts. Let us, once for all, ascertain and decide her place in the Gospel.
It is observable, first, that of the Virgin Mary very little is recorded ; and then, that that little is very different from what might have been expected. None of the inspired writers, except the Evangelists, mention her name, and of these, but two record the conception of Christ. One of these, John, her adopted son, though, in all likelihood, he outlived her many years, does not record her death ; nor does he give any particulars of her life ; and yet he wrote to supply the omissions of the other Evangelists. It is only incidentally mentioned that Jesus committed her to his care. Why this infrequent mention of her, whom all generations were to call blessed ? Why, but to guard against that superstitious veneration, to which, as experi- ence has shown, there is naturally so strong a tendency in the minds of Christians ? Mariolatry is, alas, the religion of Italy and of Rome. For one prayer to Christ, Roman breviaries offer ten to the Virgin. How different the reli- gion of Apostles and of the Bible ! And when her name is introduced, it is in such connections as form a strong confirmation of this view. When, after our Lord had entered upon His public ministry, His mother and kindred were announced as desirous of speaking with Him, He turned to His disciples, and said, " Behold my mother and my brethren." (Matt. xii. 40.) When, again, the woman exclaimed, "Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked," "Yea, rather blessed,"
-j- <pavipo)ms 66^ ; Manifesting the Divine power — the Shekinah which dwelt in him.
104 CHAPTER III.
replied He, " are they that hear the word of God and keep it." (Luke xi. 27.) Her maternal relation, as such, there- fore, implied a blessedness inferior to that of the humblest of His hearers. In the narrative of this chapter, His mother is invited as well as His disciples ; and seems to have been apprized of His design to perform some miracle, or perhaps merely remembered the memorable scenes of His youth ; at all events, she applied to Him when the wine was deficient, and, though his answer (ywr;) is free from the roughness which the English version implies, He plainly forbids her interference, and intimates that His filial reverence, which as man He expressed on the cross, did not extend to any question connected with His minis- try. The idea of the Virgin's intercession with her Son, or with God, therefore, He himself condemns. " There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Tim. ii. 5 ) Between Him and man none is needed, and none is given. Of all who come unto Hint, not one shall be cast out. (John vi. 37.)
19. Let us now peruse the narrative of this miracle, and mark its significance. The disciples of our
The miracle ° l
and its twofold Lord had all been disciples Of Johu. Rigid- meaning.
ness and penitential austerity were the charac- teristics of His life. He came neither eating nor drinking. Christ came as the model of our race, and begins his work by an expression of genial and kindly feeling ; honoring with His presence an institution of primeval authority, symbolical, moreover, of His own union with His church.
Nor was the act without even a deeper meaning. He came to fulfill the ancient institution. He was grace and truth, as opposed not only to the errors of the heathen, but as opposed to the shadows of the Jewish law. And this object of His coming, this characteristic of the whole Gospel, His first miracle was intended to express. All nis miracles were indeed symbols. They were acted pa-
§ 3. THE BEGINNING OF SIGNS. 105
rabies — conveying relief to the suffering — giving evidence of His mission, and at the same time exhibiting spiritual truth ; so that we claim nothing for this miracle which may not be found equally in them all. The miracle con- sisted in substituting wine for the water which had been put into vessels used in Jewish purification. Water, under the Law, was symbolical ; denoting the means of inward purity, that is, of justification and holiness : ita antitype or substance, the sacrifice of Christ and the influ- ence of the Spirit. Other vessels might have been chosen, and the presence of the water was not essential to the per- formance of the miracle ; but the miracle would in that case have been robbed of its significance. The vessels are filled and the water changed, to suggest that for the carnal washings of the law, we are to have His blood ; and that He came not to destroy that ancient economy, but to fulfill and complete it. The Jews, indeed, in their interpretation of that dispensation, rejected the idea of typical incom- pleteness, and then, as now, maintained that when Mes- siah should come, he would not alter or abolish their law. The good wine they believed to have been given at the commencement of the feast, and not to have been left to the close. The principle of the Divine procedure is the contrary ; and the reservation of the more glorious dispen- sation of God's will till the time of Christ's coming, was among the truths incidentally taught in the miracle.
20. Nor ought we to omit noticing that Christ's first manifestation of Himself to His disciples, like Christ's first His last, (before He suffered,) sanctified the Sg££"5T fruit of the vine, and made it the emblem of llar- His atoning sacrifice, the shedding of that blood without which there is no remission.
And now may we fitly introduce a few remarks on the miracles of our Lord, and on their place in the Gospels.
106 CHAPTER III.
21. The success of Christianity is connected in Scrip- ture, and by all early Christian writers, with the possession on the part of our Lord of mi- raculous power. Men believed His message because Divine works or miracles, facts, that is, which could not have taken place from natural causes, or without superhuman aid,, attested its truth. To these works our Lord appealed as works which none other man did, and as a decisive evi- dence of the divinity of His mission. (Matt. xi. 2-6 ; John v. 36 ; x. 37, 38.) He healed the sick, He raised the dead ; not once only, but in many hundreds of cases ; for it is said repeatedly that they brought sick people unto Him, and He healed them all. (Matt, iv. 24; xii. 15; xiv. 14 ; xv. 30 ; Mark i. 34 ; iii. 10 ; Luke vi. 17 ; ix. 11.) He gave the same power to His disciples ; first to the twelve, and then to the seventy. After His departure His apostles received the power of bestowing this miraculous gift on all upon whom they laid their hands ; so that many hundreds were thus endowed. Hence the gift of healing is spoken of in Scripture as a thing familiarly known, and is reckoned among the signs of a Divinely appointed teacher. Indeed, in the absence of a New Testament, or of written records of the Divine will, miraculous power seems to have been a necessary evidence of a communication from God.
The sufficiency of the evidence which our Lord exhibited in this form, was admitted by all and maintained by Him- self. (John iii. 2 ; vii. 31 ; ix. 30-33 ; xi. 47, 48 ; xv. 24 ; Acts ii. 22.)
22. These actions of our Lord are called in Scripture by Miracle* cahed different names ; and each name is instructive. names?1 ^each ^-s *ney were manifestations of power, they are significant. called mighty works ; (Swa/mj ;) as adapted to prove the truth of His mission, and to strengthen the faith of His disciples, they are called signs ; (or^usia ;) as cre- ating surprise, they are called wonders ; (rspata ;) while in
§ 3. THE BEGINNING OF SIGNS. 107
John they are called by a title of yet greater significance, simply " His works ;w (John vii. 3 ; ix. 4 ; xv. 24 ;) the appropriate and natural acts, that is, of one who was him- self the mighty God, and a wonder (rlpa?) to the people.
That they were justly called mighty works, is plain ; for since the beginning of the world, as the man in
]\Ji°*litv "works.
the Gospel reasoned, hath it not been heard that a man opened the eyes of the blind ; or, could a man do these works unless God were with him ? (John iii. 2 ; x. 21.) They were embodiments of divine power.
That they were wonders, too, is clear, for the people were astonished at them. And indeed our Sa- viour had occasion, more than once, to rebuke the sensuous curiosity with which the crowds followed and watched him, not that they might receive instruction, but that they might see the miracles which He did. (John iv. 48.)
In what sense and to what degree they were signs — evi- dences, that is, of His divine mission — is a more difficult question ; and yet it may be readily solved.
The religion of the Bible, it must be remembered, is the only one founded on properly miraculous evidence. In Mahometanism there is not a single miracle belonging to the history of the false prophet alleged as evidence of his mission. The systems of heathenism submit no such cre- dentials ; and even in the case of John the Baptist, he wrought no miracles, because he made no addition to the previous economy. He sought to restore all things ; to revive, as far as he might, the spirit of the Law, by preaching repentance to those who had broken it ; and so to prepare for the coming of Christ. Christ came preach- ing faith in His own mission ; and miracles were the appro- priate evidence of His authority. It is not, therefore, as if we had to judge between various religious systems, all profess- ing to be founded on miraculous evidence ; for in this respect
108 CHAPTER III.
the Bible stands alone. The only question is, whether the evidence is credible and decisive. Peruse any of the narra- tives of these miraculous works, and let the reader ask him self the following questions : Were they done in public ? Were they acts of which men's senses could judge ? If they were, it is impossible that men could be deceived at the time. Then let him ask himself besides : Were public monuments kept up, and outward actions performed in memory of these events publicly performed ; and have such monuments, set up at the time they were wrought, been continued without intermission ? And, if so, it is equally impossible that deception should have been practised in any subsequent age.* We can but indicate the rules which are admitted to be infallible as tests of the reality of apparently miraculous appearances.
The only alternative open to the malicious suggestion of an opponent are — either Christ wilfully deceived the people, or was Himself deceived. He deceived the people ! But how ? He introduced his religion among enemies, who rejected and contemned Him, and who throughout narrowly watched (rcapstr^ow) His proceedings, and sought occasion against Him. And why ? He foresaw and foretold His own death. He promised His disciples persecution and suffering, He enforced and practised uuiversal holiness. He ivas himself deceived ! Whence, then, the sobriety and beauty of his precepts, the disheartening faithfulness of his warnings, the contrast between his teaching and the expec- tations of his countrymen ? No one mark of either enthu- siasm or imposture is to be found in Him.
23. If, after all, we set aside the evidence supplied by Tf these mira- these miracles, we must then suppose a miracle JJSSft greater than all. If Christ was not from cie is admitted. q0(^ we kave ^en a j^jgh peasant changing
* See Leslie's Short and Easy Method with the Deists.
§ 3. THE BEGINNING OF SIGNS. 109
the religion of the world ; weaving, with the story of his life, the fulfillment of ancient predictions, and a morality of the purest order, as unlike the traditional teaching of his countrymen, as it was superior to the precepts of Gen- tile philosophy; anticipating and enduring, with most un- earthly composure, intense suffering, and inducing his fol- lowers to submit to similar sufferings, and many of them to a cruel death, in support, not so much of opinions, as uf alleged facts, beginning with the miracle of his birth, and ending with the miracle of his resurrection. We have, then, these followers, "unlearned men," going forth and dis- coursing upon the sublimest themes ; persuading the occu- piers of Grecian and Roman cities to cast away their idols, to renounce the religion of their fathers, to reject the instruction of their philosophy, and to receive instead, as a teacher sent from God, a Jew of humble station, who had nothing earthly to offer but persecution and poverty, and who had himself been put to a shameful death. To receive this explanation of the admitted facts, is to receive a greater miracle than any which the Bible contains.
24. The appropriate effect of these miracles on those who witnessed them, is told us in John vi. 14. The effect of
" Then those men, on seeing the miracle that these miracles- Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world." And the appropriate effect of the record that contains them, is told us in John xx. 30, 31 : "And many other signs did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name."
25. Very obvious are the distinctions between the mira- cles of the New Testament and those of the ri ^reriCe be. Old. The miracles of Moses are generally of g£ " °ld_ana an external kind only ; wrought on nature and mcnt mhacIes-
10
110 CHAPTER III.
the elements ; adapted rather to lay hold on what may be called the lower powers of the soul, and of the imagination especially. In the miracles of the New Testament, we The latter exhi- na(^ a higher spiritual character. They were cyUandofsJS£ never performed for effect, never for the per- tuai power. SOnal advantage of those who wrought them. They are all (with perhaps one exception) exhibitions of mercy, showing that physical nature is under God's control, as prophecy shows also that history is. They are all, moreover, didactic, teaching, in a most significant form, the great spiritual truths of the Gospel ; and they often seem to enter in a remarkable way upon the peculiar pro- vince of God. Of this last kind is the cure of leprosy ; a disease which was regarded as a sign of the displeasure of God ; inflicted, and only to be removed by Him (2 Kings v. 1). So, too, when our Lord cast out devils, He showed His power, not so much over material nature, as over the author of evil himself.
26. Between the miracles of our Lord and those of His
disciples, may also be noted a marked distinc- miraciea of tion. Theirs were wrought in His name : His those of ins were wrought in His own. He had the power
in Himself. In them, on the contrary, it seems to have been developed according to their faith. (Matt. x. 1-8; xvi. 19.) This power, it may be added, seems to have lasted for some time after the apostles had been with- drawn, until the foundation of the church was completely laid ; and then (with the last generation on which their hands were laid) it gradually disappeared from the world.
§ 4. Christ's first public act. Ill
Sect. 4. — Christ's First Public Act.
27. By way of Capernaum our Lord now pays his first public visit to Jerusalem at the feast of the Christ drives Passover, and as his first public act, he pro- ^j1^ ceeds to the temple. Here he found the traders ple- changing the Roman denarius and Grecian drachma for the Jewish shekel, and all these for coins of a lower deno- mination. The first only were received by the Roman collectors, and the last only at the temple treasury. Here also were sold the victims used in the Jewish worship. All this business was transacted within the precincts of the temple (*6 Up6v), and involved an unseemly union of things secular and sacred. The whole was conducted, moreover, in a spirit of grasping, godless gain, little less guilty than theft. Our Lord, therefore, took occasion to rebuke both evils, and at the same time to indicate one purpose of His coming. He appeared to purify the house of God, and to free it from earthly defilement. This object He symbolized both now at the commencement of His ministry, and afterwards at its close, by the act
. And again at
of purifying the court of the outer sanctuary, the close of ma
ministry
The boldness of His conduct is sufficiently clear, and seems to have excited the surprise of the Sanhe- drim ; for on both occasions they asked Him for His autho- rity, and hinted that what was done, was defensible only on the supposition of His having a Divine commission. (John ii. 18 ; Mark xi. 28. The answer he gave them clearly implied that he was himself, in a very emphatic sense, the temple of God, with no common des-
Both acts ex-
tmy ;* and the announcement was afterwards pressive ot au- employed, although in a perverted form, against Himself. (Matt. xxvi. 61.)
* va';, it will be noticed, is the word he uses, and not <e/»n
112 CHAPTER III.
28. Once more, between these two scenes, He intimated Another signi- his connection with the temple in another form. SionCtt0nthe When the Jewish officer demanded the pay. temple. ment of the temple tax, (half a shekel from each Jew,) He suggested that as the Son of God He was properly free (Matt. xvii. 27) ; though not unwilling on other grouuds to admit their claim.
29. Most of the other acts of our Lord display the
mildness of love — this displays its severity
An instance of
our Lord's se- As the first was shown to the modest and
verity.
the humble, so was the second to the froward and shameless ; sometimes by deeds, as here, but more generally only by strong and withering rebuke. See Matt. xxiv. ; Luke xix. 27.
Sect 5. — Christ's First Discourse.
30. This act of our Lord could not fail to turn men's thoughts to Himself. He had come up from Galilee to Jerusalem as a Jew of humble rank, and with four or five followers, belonging, apparently, to the same class. His expulsion of the traders from the temple, and His miracles, excited much interest ; and many began to regard him as a divine prophet ; some, perhaps, as the prophet, though, they had, no doubt, the most inaccurate notions of the design of the Messiah's mission, and of the nature of the kingdom which he was to establish.
25. Among this number was Nicodemus, a member of the sect of the Pharisees, and a ruler of the
Character and
purpose of Nic- Jews ; a councillor, that is, or member of the
odemus.
Sanhedrim, the highest Jewish judicial court, and an expositor of the Jewish law. He probably, like the rest of his countrymen, looked for a temporal deliverer ; but seems to have been a man of a candid and thoughtful mind. That he expected to find in Christ the promised Messiah, is not at all probable. He must have known that the Mes-
§ 5. Christ's first discourse. 113
siah was to come, not from Nazareth, but from Bethlehem ; nor can he be supposed to have sought for him in an obscure Galilean stranger, when he must have known that the Mes- siah, " the Prince," was to descend from the ancient royal house of David. He came, therefore, to have some private conversation with this stranger, respecting that kingdom of God which Jesus and John had both declared to be at hand ; and as his interview might have been attended with inconvenience, if not with danger, should his colleagues Happen to hear of it, he made it as private as possible, and therefore, came to Jesus by night. He introduced himself by acknowledging his conviction that Christ was a teacher come from God ; and was about to announce the object of his visit, when Christ interrupted, and answered, (as he often did,) the thoughts of the inquirer. (See John vi. 26, 35, 64, 65 ; John viii. 7.)
31. Instead of showing Himself nattered by the recog- nition of His divine mission by a man of such Christ explains rank and influence, He in effect states that n?skinSn?f His visitor was entirely mistaken on the subject ^L^mln7 m about which he came to converse ; and that, enter lt- without a complete change, both of feeling and of thought, he could never see (that is, he could neither understand nor enter) the kingdom of which he doubtless deemed himself a member. " Except a man, Jew as well as Gentile, undergo a thorough and radical change — such a change as lays the foundation of a new life — he cannot see the kingdom of God." That such words might have been addressed to a Gentile heathen, Nicodemus would perhaps have allowed ; but that they should be addressed to one who, as a Jew, was already a child of the kingdom, was to him quite incomprehensible — so much so, that the literal, rather than the figurative meaning of our Lord's words, seemed the more natural to him, though that meaning seemed scarcely possible. " How can a man be born," said he, " when he
10*
114 CHAPTER III.
is old ? Can he enter a second time into . his mother's womb, and be born ?"* Our Lord repeats His statement, and adds an explanation or two that might serve to make it more intelligible. " Yerily, verily," says He, "except a man be born, not naturally and of blood, as you have supposed, but of water and of the Spirit — of a pure and spiritual influence — he cannot enter the kingdom of God. All the outgoings of flesh are flesh, human and sinful ; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. All that is holy, and fitted therefore for my kingdom, is, in its origin and nature, not fleshly and natural, but spiritual and divine. Nor is it an objection to this doctrine that men have no notion how this inward change is produced, or how it differs from the natural workings of the human mind. Under the old economy the Spirit breathed in inspiring the prophets as he pleased ; why or how none can tell : men only heard ' his voice,' and received his communica- tions. In nature, too, ' the wind bloweth where it listeth ; its power is acknowledged, though none can tell ' whence it cometh and whither it goeth.' So in my kingdom the reason and the manner of Divine operations are not known, but their results only. (John iii. 5-8.) ' Thus it is with every one that is born of the Spirit.' "f
This explanation completes the perplexity of the inquirer. How an internal spiritual change can be necessary for one who is already a Jew, is inconceivable. Therefore, says he, " How can these things be ?" " The kingdom of heaven is ours. We are already its subjects, and only wait its appearance." Our Lord again replies that the truth ought to have been familiar to him as a reader of the
* That this is the stress of the passage, is highly probable; 17*0$ ytwrjinvai urwScv seems the emphasis.
f The fact that irvtvjia is used in both verses of the original, makes the English translation rather forced. Both meaning?, therefore, are em- bodied above.
§ 5. Christ's first discourse. 115
ancient Scriptures — referring, probably, to passages in* which. God sets forth the necessity of an internal, spiritual change, and his intention to effect such a change in the days of the Messiah ; (Ezekiel xxxvi. 25, 2? ; Jer. xxxi. 31, 33 ;) or perhaps intimating that the law itself ought to have awakened within him a conviction of his own need. "Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things ?" Again our Lord rebukes his ignorance, and asks how he can be prepared for further disclosures, if facts so immediately within his own cognizance be misun- derstood or unknown. " If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" (v. 10-12.) "The doctrine I have taught you is within the domain of your own conscious- ness. It is part of ancient prophecy. It is the great lesson of the law. Spiritual subjects alone are fit for a spiritual kingdom ; and if this truth, which can be verified on earth, be not understood, my revelation of heavenly things will be incredible and useless."
32. The nature of this kingdom, however, he proceeds to explain in terms that convey the most im- FUrther ex- portant truths, and in a permanent form, Plamed- though the whole is especially adapted to the views of a Pharisaic Jew, laboring under the mistaken notions common to his nation and sect. The question which Nicodemus had come to ask, had reference to the kingdom of the Mes- siah ; and if his feelings had been uttered in words, he would probably have said, " The coming kingdom is at hand. Tell me when it will appear. Messiah is to be lifted up, and exalted to a glorious throne. The Jews are to be delivered from their degradation. Christ, the Son of the Father, is their ruler. The Gentiles are to be punished and destroyed, such only excepted as submit themselves willingly to the authority of the chosen race. All Jews will, of course, have their part in this kingdom ; but tell me what is the
116 CH AFTER III.
time of its appearance, and what are the rules and require- ments of its service ?" The reply of our Lord is deeply significant. " Messiah," says He, *' the Son of Man, who is at once in heaven and on earth, shall indeed be exalted, (i^iiaita'.,Y^n\t it will be as the serpent was
His kingdom . _
ppirUuai, uni- lifted up in the wilderness. Hie design 01
versal, and , ^
founded on this arrangement is not Israels temporal de- liverance, but marts spiritual and everlasting salvation ; and the means of this salvation is not submis- sion to Judaism, or any outward connection with the ancient economy, but a believing confidence in this mes- sage, and in the person and office of him who reveals it. 'For God so loved,' not Israel only, but 'the world, that he devoted to death (gave) his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'" "And so decisive is this law, that all who do not believe, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, shall be excluded from the blessings of the kingdom of Christ, and be punished for the rejection of his message." Nor is that all. For, while the rejection of the message may condemn many, the willful neglect of it, the avoidance of the element of light, and the love of darkness will con- demn more. ' And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.' (v. 14-21.) Here the discourse with Nicodemus ends.* The rest of the chapter is occu- pied with a further explanation of our Lord's office, and an additional testimony from His forerunner, John the Bap- tist. What effect was produced by the whole on the mind of Nicodemus is not told us; but that it did not fiil to produce some impression, is quite clear from the latter chapters of this history, (vii. 50 ; xix. 39.)
* Olshausen, Neander, and others, think that it ends witi, «he 16th rerse.
§ 5. Christ's first discourse. Ill
33. The great facts of this narrative are exceedingly sig- nificant. At the very outset of His ministry, Tha t our Saviour foretells »His death, reveals His E^i^v^in own character as "the only begotteD Son of this discourse- God," and as "the Son of Man ;" unfolds the design of His mission, not to condemn even the guiltiest, but "that the world through Him may be saved ;" sets forth the means of the accomplishment of this design — His exaltation on the cross, His sacrificial death, and the way in which an interest in the blessings He secured may be obtained — a living faith ; traces the origin of this economy to the mercy and love of God, and warns men of the punishment to be inflicted on all who neglect His message. The con- dition of the world as perishing, the need of an inward, holy change on man's part, the adjustment of the claims of justice, with the exercise of mercy on God's ; the mighty Agent by whose influence this inward change is wrought, and the cost of this adjustment, with the end of the whole dispensation, that all things may be given into the hands of the Son, are fully disclosed, (iii. 35.) The first scenes, therefore, of the public ministry of our Lord, shadow forth the truths which were embodied, with terrible reality, in the last.
34. Whether the last verses of this chapter were spoken by John the Baptist, or by John the Evangelist,
. , . Importance of
is not clear ; but in either case the lesson is in- the last verses
it i °f John iii.
structive. If the former spoke them, then they form an attestation from the lips of the preacher of repent- ance, to the impotency of repentance without faith to secure salvation : and if the latter, they are as strong an attestation from the preacher of love to the reality of the Divine judgments, (v. 35, 36.) In the one case, it is the preacher of repentance, who bids men to believe ; in the other, it is the preacher of love expatiating on the fearful- ness of the wrath of God ; and we may be sure it is in
118 CHAPTER Ii;
substance the attestation of both; "He that belie veth on the Son hath life, and he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."
35. The thing that startles most in this record, is per-
haps the announcement that the kingdom of
The kingdom .
of God is not God is not seen without the teaching and re-
n'ootrnized . . ~ . .
without the generating influence ot the spirit. We know as a fact that much may be done in the exposition of Scripture, the volume of the mysteries of the kingdom, without any supernatural aid. A man may declaim with overwhelming energy upon the majestic truths of Provi- dence and Grace, may rouse feelings both of tenderness and terror, and neither he nor his audience have known in any sense that shall influence their eventual salvation, one emotion of spiritual life. By thousands the Bible is studied as an exercise of the intellect. Reason is strength- ened under it. Imagination is delighted with it. The gentler affections are even softened and ennobled by it. And yet there may be total inward death. The organ even that perceives its real import may be wanting in vital action ; for it is spiritually discerned.
36. To complete this view, however, it must be added,
that the change which the Spirit produces in veais no new human hearts, is a change, not of new facul- ties for old, but of new objects of affection only. It is no part of his work to bestow faculties — some- thing which is neither hope, nor fear, nor love ; he simply directs those affections to more exalted ends. His whole design is manifestly not to annihilate human feelings ; bv:t to direct and govern them upon better principles, and un- der holy guidance. The change is in the object revealed, and in the corresponding attraction of the heart towards it. The man, who becomes in Christ Jesus a new creature, is not gifted with other eyes ; he only sees what other eyes cannot or will not see, and loves what either hearts will
§ 5. Christ's first discourse. 119
not love. In mind and heart he is the same man ; only with all his heart and with all his mind he serves Christ. Every thought remains, and his faculty of thought ; but are all brought into captivity to the obedience of faith. In motive, in character, in aim, in the objects of his love, but in these, and such as these only, "old things are past away, and behold all things are become new."- (2 Cor. v. 17.)
37. It is only therefore where this change is undergone, that the kingdom of God is begun, and it is
„ , pl.. t , -, . All true pro-
from the seat ot this inward change that this gressofthe kingdom spreads — first through the whole man, individual cou- and then through our race. Christ's kingdom is not founded on our outward condition, or on the circum- stances of our life ; its place is in the soul. Sincere repen- tance and deep personal faith are its prerequisites ; and they supply the exact measure of all amelioration, private and social ; truths self-evident, and yet constantly over- looked. Each vice and grievance, the whole mass of evil which afflicts society, is apt to be charged upon faulty in- stitutional arrangements, upon laws, or want of laws ; and can be removed (it is thought) only by external appliances. The world (it is held) must be mended before its inhabit- ants can be better. Men, therefore, attempt to get the reign of righteousness established first ; and then, it is sup- posed, individual moral renovation will begin. " Set up the kingdom, and citizens will enter and be enrolled." But the Scripture scheme reverses this order. It teaches that new systems of society cannot perfect individuals, but that individuals must first find in themselves the germs of nobler systems ; and that those germs have their origin, not in considerations of selfishness, nor in the gratification of any thing purely human, but in the awakening of a life that is divine. " Except a man be born aneiv, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
120 chapter iii.
Sect. 6. — Christ's First Journey.
38. The attention which Christ's ministry had now ex- cited induced Him to leave Judcea, where his disciples had already baptized several converts (John iii. 22; iv. 1), rhrist visits anc* ^e resolved to revisit Galilee. On his s.imana. way jje went through Samaria ; thus intimating
at the outset that, though his labors were to begin at Je- rusalem, they were not to end there. After traveling between twenty and thirty miles, He reached at mid-day the ancient city of Sychar, and being wearied with His The well of j°urney> sat and rested himself near the well, Sychar. which, seventeen hundred years before, Jacob
had purchased of the people of the country. In the mean time His disciples went into the city "to buy bread." While they were gone, a poor woman of loose character visited the place to draw water. As was His custom, Christ availed himself of the opportunity, and conversed with her, telling her of the "living water"
Living water. °
which He was able to supply. She thought only of a running spring ; and as Christ found it impossible to get her to understand His meaning, He pointedly re- minds her of her guilt, and discovers to her His knowledge of her true condition. She in return acknowledged Him to be a prophet, and immediately consults Him on the great controversy between the Samaritans and the Jews ; chiefly, however, to avoid continued attention to herself. That this was her motive is plain from the fact that the question she asks is one of purely historical interest ; the temple at Mount Gerizim having been destroyed more than spiritual wor- a hundred years before. In His reply Christ shlp> condemns the origin of the Samaritan schism,
rebukes the unmeaning formalism of the worship of her nation, and assures her that the time was now come when
§ 6. Christ's first jourxey. 121
true worshipers were to worship the Father neither in that mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem only, but everywhere in spirit and in reality not externally (tfapxt), but with the heart (Ttucu/tatft); not in shadows, but in substance and in truth (a^£fia*). He then revealed himself to her as the Christ ; and His declaration, connected with the recollec- tion of His previous disclosures concerning her own history, led her to believe. To impart her convictions, and partly to confirm them, she hastens to her fellow-citizens, and with the natural exaggeration of a new convert, said, " Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did ; is not this the Christ ?" (John iv. 1-29.)
Ever true to the great end of His calling, and finding His bodily frame strengthened by His work, our Lord, immediately after the woman had withdrawn, seeks to deepen spiritual life in the minds of His disciples. He had spoken to the woman of living water, and now He speaks of living bread ; and answers their request that He would eat, and their wondering unbelief of His meaning, (v. 34,) by reminding them that, to do the will of God Activity itsell from the heart, is itself the source of spiritual sustainins- and even of physical strength.
Before the lesson is quite learned, their attention is called to a new scene. From the city crowds follow the woman towards the well where the stranger is seated, and the ripening harvest suggests an appropriate image both of their numbers, and of the results of our Saviour's message, (v. 35.) For the first time Christ is invited to remain with them, and in the end very many believed some for the saying of the woman, but many more because of His own word ; " for," said they, " we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the
* Here, as frequently, d^rj^eta must be taken to mean the opposite of OKia, not of xpcv^os ; substance rather than truth.
11
Many believe.
122 CITAPTER III.
Christ, the Saviour of the world." (v. 42.) This is the first awakening on a large scale, and has few
First extensive n -i -i • t • •
success of the parallels during our Lord's personal ministry. Ordinarily the seed of the kingdom found a resting-place in only individual hearts — here it is deposited in the hearts of the people generally, producing results which became in this very district still more extensive in the first age of the church. (Acts viii. 5-8.)
39. It is to us peculiarly instructive that the first exten- Achieved with- s*ve success of the Gospel message was mani- out miracles. festccl among those who witnessed no miracle. The message itself seems to have been to this people an evidence of its truth. They heard the words of our Lord, and in simple faith they believed.
In the whole narrative, too, there is much that is in- structive, especially in relation to the provisions of the Gospel, and the nature of true worship. The living water that Christ gives, His Spirit, His doctrine
Christ Himself . . ... ... .. n .
the living wa- itself, is said to quench the thirst and satisfy
tor.
the desires of all who drink. The longings of the mind are drawn away by it from all transitory things, and are fixed upon the continued enjoyment of the bless- ings which are here rendered accessible to man ; and in that continued enjoyment all human desire is fulfilled. "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst."
Let us illustrate this truth. If men need pardon, and Meets the do- listen to the divine message, " It is a faithful sire for pardon, saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners," "being justified by faith," they " have peace with God." If they need holiness, and remember believingly the
Holiness. .
truth that Christ came to redeem men from all iniquity, (Tit. ii. 14,) and to present them perfect be- fore the presence of His Father, that the certainty of this
§ 6. chbist's first journey. 123
result is secured by the power of the truth, by the influence of the Spirit, by the reward due to Christ's suffering, by the oath and character of God, they become holy. If amid ten thousand foes they need conscious safety, let them remember that He that is with them is mightier than all that are against them ; that God will not suffer (1 Cor. x. 13) them to be tempted above what they are able to bear ; and they will feel secure. If they need happiness, in spite of saddening change and multiplied affliction, Christ reminds them that they are to "take no thought." "All things" are theirs ; the world itself being but the scaffolding of the church ; God has not spared His own Son, and will as- suredly, having given Him, give with Him all things ; that they have moreover in heaven a more enduring substance. If they need preparation for death, they may remember that those who believe in Christ never die ;
i • Eternal life.
that to them death is but a change in the cir- cumstances of their life ; and that though that change is it- self terrible, with its groans, and agonies, and dying strife, it is but a shadow with which they contend — a foe, yet an un- substantial one ; while even in that conflict God is with them, His rod and His staff, the symbol of His power, and His sustaining word, comforts them. This, then, is our Lord's teaching. Let men but receive the doctrine and Spirit of Christ, and the largest desires of their heart — for pardon, for safety, for holiness, for present and future hap- piness— are all fulfilled. Drinking of the water He gives, they " shall never thirst." And now the figure is changed. The water which thus meets the desires of all Christians, is also a diffusive and fructifying stream, blessing others as well as themselves ; nor does it rest till, bearing along all who are partakers of it, it has reached the eternal fountain whence it sprung (ver. 10-14).
124 CHAPTER III.
40. Xot less striking are the sublime disclosures which Christ here makes on the nature of spiritual
The nature of . .
ppirituai wor- service, and on the folly of making our worship depend on our presence amid scenes of imagi- nary sacredncss. "The hour is coming, when neither in this mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, shall men worship the Father." (v. 21.) He, in this one sentence, overturns a whole host of Jewish predilections, and lays the basis of the spiritual consecration of the Gospel.
Under the earlier dispensation God had specially visited various scenes ; but without making them by Christ's teach- His visit the more suitable for purposes of wor- jecSt t" the'an- ship. Moses reared no altar at the burning 3my' bush, though God's presence for the time made it holy. Joshua put no permanent structure for worship on the place which had been pressed by the feet of the Captain of the Lord's host, though this, too, for the time of the vision, was also holy. Even several visits to a spot did not consecrate it as a place where worship would be peculiarly acceptable. Moses therefore pitched no taberna- cle amid the crags of Sinai, honored as its rocky heights had been by the cloud, and flame, and voice, and law. Nor did even the selection of a place by God Himself for purposes of worship make it holy, independently of the character of the worshipers, and of His own immediate presence. He chose the threshing-floor of Oman for the site of His temple, and as the place where He would put His name ; yet when thus designated, and crowned by an edifice which was planned by Himself and built by His chosen servant, it was not truly consecrated till God Himself came there, and the Shekinah settled in glory upon the mercy-seat between the wings of the cherubim. It was God's stay in the place, therefore, that gave it sacredness ; and when man wrought provocation and idolatries there, this sacredness passed away.
§ 6. c.tirist's first journey. 125
So it was in earlier times with Bethel, where Jacob and his children long after him worshipped. In the time of the prophets, it was called no more Bethel (God's house), but Bethaven, because idolatry had made it the '•'house of vanity." So in later times with Jerusalem, the wickedness of Manasseh profaned the temple, and the sym- bols of the Divine presence were withdrawn. (Ezek. x. 4, 18.)
This great truth, — that holiness is not the place where God has been, that it is not even in the place which God has selected, but in the Divine presence itself, — had been, towards the end of the Jewish dispensation, gradually per- verted and forgotten. Men attached to the place the reverence due only to God. They forgot that the char- acter of the worshipers, even under that dispensation, might affect and destroy the sacredness of the Sanctuary itself ; and they did not understand that Christ was come to call attention to the nature of true worship,
, . , , * • , . . No sanctity of
and to give prominence to a truth which was place under wrapped up in the old economy, and readily discoverable, but which the worldly minds of the Jews had overlooked or disregarded. The sanctity of places was about to pass away. Instead of one spot, all regions were about to become available for worship. When Christ had risen, therefore, the temple, though still retaining to the eyes of the Jews its old glory, had lost it to the spiritual and in- structed disciples. Its sacrifices were now unmeaning after the great oblation of Golgotha. Its veil was rent at the cruci- fixion, and its holy place made common. In prospect of this event Christ disowned it : "Your house is left unto you deso- late." It was still rich in marble, and purple, and gold ; but its Great Inhabitant was gone, and it was a temple no more. Another dispensation had been introduced, and a far different worship. Let us mark these worship- niustrated in ers, and the scene of their meeting. In an men^of Se obscure lane in Jerusalem the disciples are earlychurch
11*
126 CHAPTER III.
assembled. It is the humble resort of humble people, but it is the resort of spiritual worshipers. The rushing mighty wind of the Holy Spirit has shaken and filled this dwelling ; not to remain here, but to rest upon the company that occupies it. Henceforth God is with them ; he has no longer one site for his temple ; that temple pitches itself wherever his people wander and sojourn. Its sanctity is to be ever after in the character of its occupants.
And it is instructive to notice how, in all the earlier arrangements of the Apostolic churches, God's providence seems to have developed and confirmed this principle. Every thing seems done to guard the disciples against practices that might have favored this obsolete idea of a local sanctity. " If any soil could have retained such a quality under the new dispensation, it would have been that of Calvary ; but the upper chamber, where the Pente- costal baptism of the Holy Ghost was received, was not, as far as we have any reason to suppose, built upon the spot where Christ's cross was planted. Nor did Joseph of Arimathea give up for holy purposes the sepulchre where Christ had been buried, and which had been the scene of his resurrection. The next in sacredness certainly was the Mount -of Olives. Near its ridge, toward the Jordan, he had raised Lazarus from the dead ; from its side towards Jerusalem he had shed tears over the doomed city of his murderers — doomed, because she knew not the day of her visitation ; near its foot he had suffered the anguish of Gethsemane ; from its summit he ascended to the skies."* Yet it was not here that the first houses of prayer were erected, and the lesson is thus rendered com- God is where- plete. The sanctity of our dispensation belongs and true^oJ1- to the worshipers and to the service ; not to shippers are. ^he pjace# jf Christ's truth and ordinances
* Dr. Williams.
§ 7. THE FIRST REJECTION OF CHRIST. 127
are administered, and there are spiritual worshipers, there is He ; the waiting heart every where meets a waiting God:
"Where'er we seek him he is found, And every place is hallowed ground."
How touching that these truths were first delivered to one who had no earthly temple, and to whom they must have come, not only as a rebuke, but as the richest conso- lation !
Sect. 7. — The First Rejection of Christ by his Countrymen.
41. To complete the view we have given of Christ's entrance upon his ministry, we need last of all Chrjst Tisitg to contemplate the result of His labors in Nazareth- Nazareth, "where he had been brought up." His work began, as we have seen, at Cana, where he wrought his first miracle. His miraculous powers were next put forth in Jerusalem, (John iv. 45,) though nothing is told of the works He performed there. At Jerusalem, too, He ex- plained to Nicodemus the doctrine of regeneration, and announced His own sacrifice. Afterwards His mission was attested for the third time (John iii. 30) by John the Baptist ; and subsequently to this last attestation, Jesus proceeds through Samaria ; till at length He reaches the place where He had resided for several years. When at Cana, on His way, He wrought His second miracle in Galilee ; healing a nobleman's son, who was lying sick at the neighboring town of Capernaum. (John iv. 46-54.)
42. At Nazareth He was known as a poor and appa- rently unlettered man. He was regarded as the son of a carpenter ; He had himself exercised the same craft in the place.* His immediate connections were also still there —
* Hence Mark says they called him the carpenter, (o tLktmv.) Matthew
128 CHAPTER III.
His mother and His relatives — the reputed father having probably died some time before. Here Christ entered the Heads and an- synagogue, and, being invited, stood up aud om"e?n the rea(^ providentially, or perhaps in the ordinary synagogue. course of reading, part of the 61st chapter of Isaiah. In that passage the prophet speaks of one who was yet to be revealed, and to whom the title of "the servant of the Lord" was to be peculiarly applicable. This servant is anointed, or consecrated by the Spirit for a great work, not so much of majesty as of condescension j of miraculous love rather than of miraculous power. " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He hath anointed (^pio-f) me to preach the Gospel to the poor ; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the cap- tives, and recovering of sight to the blind ; to set at liberty them that are bruised, and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord" — the year, that is, of acceptance and of release. The whole passage our Lord explains as fulfilled in himself, whom, therefore, He represents as the Messiah the Anointed One, the Christ.
43. This disclosure was simple, and appropriate to the
occasion. In Nazareth Christ was known as nessofhismes- poor ; He therefore reveals Himself as the
friend of the poor. The Nazarenes were of old despised, and to the despised and broken-hearted, He tells them, He came. As soon as He had delivered the message, He saw at once that His hearers could not pene- trate the concealing cloud of earthly circumstances which veiled his glory. They knew His connections, and deemed Him one of themselves. At first, indeed, they were pleased with His communication, and were constrained to acknow- ledge that a Divine grace pervaded it; but ultimately their earthly conceptions prevailed. (Luke iv. 24.) Christ
says they called him (o to") tcktovo*; nld ) the son of a carpenter: and, no doubt, both descriptions are employed
§ 7. THE FIRST REJECTION OF CHRIST. 129
had foreseen this issue, and now showed them at once their failing. " Ye will say to me," said He, "phy- RemonstrateB &ician, heal thyself." "Thou hast spoken of ^thefrCS our poverty, remove thine own ; of our being hef' fretted and exhausted in heart, art thou less so than we ? Heal thyself, and we may believe." How unworthy these thoughts ! It was not of the earthly poor He had spoken ; though, as ever, His language was sufficiently mysterious to mislead the negligent. Nor does true benevolence heal itself in the first instance, though selfishness may prefer that order. Both parts of their reply, therefore, are degrading. " Show us at least (as our Lord continues to express their feelings) such miracles as thou hast exhibited elsewhere ; and let us share the benefit that Capernaum has received."* But Christ saw their unbelief. (Matt. xiii. 58 ; Mark vi. 6.) " Prophets have least honor," says he again, "among their relatives, and in their father's house." The divine or heavenly element in holy characters becomes con- cealed, or is overlooked through familiarity ; and one who has seemed near in the flesh, cannot easily be regarded as superior in the spirit. " And besides," He adds, " God has always been a sovereign in the gifts of his grace, and in the exercise of that sovereignty has been free to pity and heal the distant, withholding the blessing from those that are near." The fact was undoubted. It ought to have humbled, and might have cheered them. But their pride had been wounded, and they proceeded to drive
Is rejected.
out their prophet, and so to fulfill His own intimation. They were even bent upon taking His life ; but "He, passing through the midst of them, Hardly escapeB went His way," miraculously withdrawing that wlthHlsllfe- teaching which would have proved its miraculous power in saving them, if only they had believed. (Luke iv. 30. v
* These miracles are said to be done si's KaTxpvaovp.
130 CHAPTER in.
Matthew and Mark intimate, in conclusion, that Jesus performed few miracles in Nazareth ; Mark adding, that He healed a few sick people only, by laying His hands upon them ; and that he could not do any mighty work there, because of their unbelief.
44. Faith is here very strikingly taught as a condition Faith on man's indispensable to the prudent exercise of mira- part essential. cu]ous power. As God can save no impenitent sinner, as such, who refuses to humble himself for his sin, so Christ cannot heal where faith is wanting. The aim of miracles, therefore, was not first of all to create faith in those who were the subjects of them ; but at most, to purify and confirm it. They presuppose faith, which is clearly a quality more of the affections than of the intellect ; and involves, at least, a willing, receptive, and obedient heart.
45. Nor does this issue of our Lord's labors differ ma- The conduct of terially from other events in His personal min- repeaNtedacriesr istl7- As tne fellow-townsmen of Christ did where. n0{. beiievej so neither at first did his own re- latives (John vii. 5) ; nor as a nation did the Jews, for " He came unto His own and His own received Him not ;" and therefore ultimately the kingdom of God passed over to the Gentiles. Clearly, those who are most familiar with Christ may know him least ; and their rejection of Him supplies the saddest evidence of the worldliness of human conceptions, and of the pride of the human heart. From the very first the rule seems to have obtained — " some believed and some believed not." (Acts xxviii. 24.) To a faithful minister it is a sad consolation that the failure of his ministry in conversion may spring, not from the deficien- cies of his own service, but from the guilty unbelief of those who hear him.
§ 8. CHRIST INCARNATE. 131
Sect. 8. — Christ Incarnate. The Revelation o* God and the Model of Holiness.
" He that hath seen the Son hath seen the Father." " Walk even as he walked."
46. From the history of our Lord, thus far, it is clear that there is a mysterious dignity connected Import 0f the with His person. St. John describes him as InGarnation- the Word made flesh ; and the other Evangelists use ex- pressions no less startling and peculiar ; implying as they do a nature at once human and divine. This doctrine of the incarnation of Christ, " God manifest in the flesh," has excited mnch discussion ; and has sometimes been regarded as a grave objection to the Christian scheme. A little in- quiry, however, will be found not only to justify the doctrine itself, but to show that if revelation is to be adapted to man's expectations and wants, a God incarnate is one of the truths which revelation is most likely to contain.
47. An infinite being cannot in his nature be known by men. God is infinite and absolute. But the
. . An Infinite
idea of an infinite and an absolute being it is being cannot
in his nature
impossible to describe or conceive. There is be known by
• 1 i • i men.
nothing m heaven nor on earth which we can use to define him ; and all analogies rather confound than clear our conceptions. In His own nature He is without form ; yet he is neither a point in space nor space without limit. He dwells everywhere and always, and is yet with- out parts and above time. The only definition we can give is His own ; He is the I am — the self-existent Jehovah.
If we proceed to speak not of his nature but of His perfections, our conceptions become, if possible, Kor Jn Ma pep. even less adequate, He thinks ; but free from fections- what is essential to our thought, succession, and time. He reasons without inference ; decides without deliberation ;
132 chapter in.
feels without emotion ; acts and rests without movement or change.
48. Wherever therefore God is revealed by creation, it must be under conditions in themselves neither
Whore reveal- ed, it must be infinite nor spiritual. There is no such thing
through some m p
medium: such in nature as an infinite medium of revelation.
revelation ue-
cessaniy im- The One must appear in the many ; the spirit in forms ; the infinite in the finite ; the absolute in the conditional. He must show himself by acts, or signs, or words, each of which will represent much, but each of which will certainly misrepresent more. When He appears in creation, it is as power limited,
Creation. rr l
goodness mixed, eternity evanescent and chang- ing ; when He employs human speech, He is constrained Human ian- to use terms that are already devoted to visible guage. or jnfer[or things. Every such revelation is
more or less imperfect and contradictory ; though there was once a being made in God's image, and who, as a creature adapted to the highest ends of intelligence and moral action, was a noble illustration of His wisdom and an evi- dence of His love ; yet that being is now de- formed. Sin, prejudice, passion, stains of every color so mar our race, that the glory of the Divine Creator is visible So longer ; and even if man had remained unfallen, he must have been at best a finite and imperfect type : truer and more complete because of his noble spi- ritual character, than anything inanimate ; but still involv- ing, as a revelation of God, many obvious contradictions. If, therefore, it be any objection to the doctrine of the Incarnation, that it involves the mystery of an embodiment af the infinite in the finite, and that even with this revela- tion God is not so efficiently revealed as to be cleared of all incomprehensibleness ; the answer is at hand. Every revelation, which God has ever given, is liable to the same objection ; nor to finite minds can any revelation be given
§ 8. Christ's incarnate. 133
that shall be free from it. Every disclosure of such a Being must be necessarily imperfect. Creation, which outwardly represents his character, does its office inade- quately. Words which utter human thought and feeling are equally inadequate ; and even divine insti-
. .. . Divine institu-
tutions contain in their phraseology or mci- tions : an un- dents something repugnant to the very idea of the God they represent.
48. If it be true, moreover, that it is for Man this Divine revelation is intended, and that man was ori- Chr:st incar. ginally adapted to express the character of* complete ^e'vL God, it follows that the Incarnation may be- laticn come the richest and most appropriate manifestation of all. As creation sets forth " His eternal power and Godhead," so may the incarnation set forth with those attributes His moral perfections ; and the one will be found to contain no contradiction or mystery which is not already contained in the other. Both are miraculous. Both are in certain aspects incomprehensible to finite minds ; and the latter is on these accounts the more credible that the necessity for it was deeper, the circumstances of it are mightier, and the attributes it reveals livelier and holy. These attributes, moreover, are such as could be revealed only in human form ; the attributes of condescension, of patience, of for- giveness, in one word — of love.
49. The necessity of such a revelation is fully attested by various heathen systems. The idea of an
J . Necessity of
embodiment of the divine in the human is com. ™ch a reveia-
... tion attested by
mon to them all. Hmdooism has its uncreated heathen sys- light, and its successive incarnations ; Brahm is now creator, and now preserver, and now destroyer; and in each relation he sustains a personal character. Buddhism, though professedly monotheistic and anti-mate- rial, believes in many incarnations ; and regards every ex- hibition of intellect and power as a portton of the God-
12
134 CHAPTER III.
head. It protested against the Brahminical doctrine that God had become man ; and ended in maintaining the Buddhistic one that man was God. Mahomedanism, indeed, may be deemed an exception ; and yet the God of the false prophet is entirely a personal agent, with only human feel- ings and schemes. He is always set forth in the person of the successors of Mahomet as he was pre-eminently in Ma- Andbythe hornet himself. To decide the question, it may Jewish. . jje addgd that the ancient Jewish economy, which was certainly monotheistic, abounds with represen- tations which are unmeaning, unless on the supposition that God himself appeared in the likeness of man ; guiding, in- structing, and helping his people — representations that have all the effect of independent testimony ; for though the Jews believed that those representations pointed to a Divine Messiah, the books that contain them were written before Christ appeared, and under circumstances that make collusion between their writers and our Lord absolutely incredible. An incarnate God, therefore, is the doctrine of all systems ; and the peculiarity of Scripture is, that only there He is worthily and truly revealed.*
50. Nor is it only that the doctrine of the incarnation of Christ has its representative in other sys-
The purposes ^
of such incar- terns. In one system or another the very pur-
uation recoy- .
nized in one or poses of His incarnation, and the necessity for
other of the . .
heathen By* it in order to accomplish them, are more or less distinctly recognised. The northern Odin, who answers to the Roman Mercury, was the messenger of the gods. The chief object of worship among the ancient Germans was one who connected heaven with earth, and both with the shades below. Sometimes he is man only, and has his personal history ; sometimes he is God : but,
* This was a frequent argument of the early apologists ; and Cicero has rK>t overlooked the fact, " Totum prope Coelum nonne humano genera completum est." Tuac. quca. i. 13.
§ 8. CHRIST INCARNATE. 135
in either capacity, it is his character of restorer of the broken relations between the invisible world and ourselves that attracted the reverence of those ancient tribes.* Plato deemed the visit of such a being essential for the discovery of true wisdom, and the solution of the innumerable pro- blems which human inquiry had started but could not solve. The sacrificial institutes of all nations pointed with more or less clearness to man's need of a propitiation ; and for propitiation must not the victim be as to his flesh mortal, yet so gifted as to become an immaculate and effi- cacious offering. Others again, like the Mohammedans, worshipped energy, and regarded the Deity as the king of men. They sought, therefore, in their idea of religion for a Ruler and Head.
51. All these wants, it will be observed, are met in Christ. He came as the very image of the Father's person and the brightness of His glory, to teach by example and by precept : as man, to die ; as JJSSiis the^rl God-man, to unite heaven and earth, and to jiws^anlT the rule in God's stead over man. Thus did He JJ£ J&SE of take up at his coming the unfulfilled promises
of every system, and accomplish them. He was not the prophet, priest, and king of the covenant only, but the Desire of all nations concentering in himself the longings of all. " In Him did all fullness dwell." On His head are many crowns ; and concerning his teaching it may be affirmed, that not Israel only, but the isles (the regions of the Gentiles) waited for His law. (Is. xlii. 4.)
52. Viewed therefore only as a medium of revelation, the incarnation of Christ seems natural ; view-
. Incarnation:
mg Him still further, as our example, His in- natural as a
revelation of
carnation seems absolutely necessary. In the God; necessary first character He comes to announce the of perfect vir- Diyine will, and manifests, as far as our capa-
* Tacitus, Germania.
136 CHAPTER III.
cities will allow, the attributes of the invisible God ; thus bringing God to man. In the second character He comes to aid and exalt our piety ; to engage our affections ; to give us a perfect type of holiness ; in one word, to bring man to God ; and for this purpose His incarnation seems not only appropriate but essential.
Man is naturally imitative. Example sways him more than precept. All human models of excellence
Man imitative. . „ . ,, . ., ■,
are imperiect ; in copying them we insensibly a perfect ex- blend their virtues with their faults, and too
simple adapted
to influence often admire both. At once to satisfy this
human feel- .
itig nece.s- tendency of human nature, and to guard against the evils connected with it, the ancient Stoics formed their model man ; seeking by this creation to avoid on the one hand the dullness of abstract description, and on the other the imperfections incident to all visible excel- lence. Copying a perfect example as the surest way of attaining a perfection became, in their teaching, a settled law.
To this scheme (which, however, was perhaps the best that was practicable in their position) there lay the fatal objection that the whole character was ideal ; defective of course in its virtue, and above all in its influence. It in- spired no interest ; it awakened no sympathy. The whole plan was but one short remove from an abstract morality ; it was free no doubt from many of the imperfections of living models, but eliciting none of the affectionate reve- rence which is excited by a real existing object, and ex- erting therefore no personal practical power.
This double want, first of a perfect character, and se- condly of a perfect character vested with all that can in- Both f0Und in terest human feeling, the Incarnation supplies chnst. jt exhibits spotless, living virtue ; corrects in
actual practice the errors of human nature ; and realizes a nobler picture of excellence than the conceptions of ancient
§ 8. CHRIST IXCARNATE. 13t
philosophy ever formed ; the more touching and impressive from the hnmble station which Christ filled, and the solemn duties he came to discharge. His was virtue struggling that it might be triumphant ; the very form which it must ever assume in the history of our race.
53. The best exposition of these remarks is found in the way in which the apostles speak of holiness. To begin the Divine life we are "quickened These views
• i /^i • t i • • confirmed by
with Christ." In our baptism we are buried apostolic teach- with Christ ;" " we rise with Christ ;" we re- member Him who before many witnesses wit- Virtue copying
^ Christ.
nessed a good confession, and so we are "to put on Christ." (Eph. ii. 5; Rom. vi. 4 ; 1 Tim. vi. 13; Rom. xiii. 14.) In persecution we are told of Him who "endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself ; and who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame." Beneficence is enforced by appeals to the example of Him, who " though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor." We are to love one another as " Christ loved us." Even relative duties are enjoined in the same form; and husbands are to "love their wives as Christ loved the church." All excellence is summed up in the comprehensive precept that we are to do what is pleasing to the Lord, and to purify ourselves even as He is pure ; " looking unto Him the author and finisher of our faith." (Heb. xii. 3.)
And as all virtue is thus represented, not in the abstract, but in the person of Christ, so all happiness is
• i tt- t/» Happiness.
dependent on our union with Him. " If a man union with love me he will keep my words ; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." To die, is, in apostolic language, "to depart and be with Christ." The sum of all blessedness is "to be forever with the Lord." " Having suffered with Him, we shall also be glorified together." This is the sum
12*
138 CHAPTER III.
of all blessedness ; for another apostle is contented to re- main in comparative ignorance of a future life, under the conviction that it involves conformity to the pattern of the Great Master, and admission to His presence. " Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (1 John iii. 2.) To be like Him is complete holiness, and to be with Him is eternal unspeakable joy ; terms that clearly imply a personal Christ ; the incarnation at once of virtue and love.
54. It is in fact through His incarnation that the church consequent *s identified with her Lord. She reads in His Christ and ins history her own ; she follows His steps, she church. becomes the image and reflection of His life. He came at first in lowliness, and in lowliness His church began ; He was visited with the Holy Ghost at the Jordan, and she at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost ; He labored in weariness and watchings, and she is still a pilgrim and a stranger upon the earth ; He was made perfect through suffering, and ascended from the cross to His crown, and here, too, she is the heir of His destiny. In this respect He has left her an example ; and to "follow the Lamb wither- soever He goeth," is a description of both her nobles^ office and her richest reward.
Sect. 9. — Christ incarnate a Saviour through Suf
FERING.
55. In the person of our Lord, then, we have God re- vealed and the law set forth. He is at once the expies^ image of the Father, and the living model of holiness. Ir
Him we see what God is, and what man ough>
The incurnn,-
tion in relation to be. The connection between His incarna tion and his sufferings is yet to be considered. He became man that He miffht suffer and die. He wa#
§ 9. CHRIST INCARNATE. 139
"made of a woman . . . under the law that He might re- deem us from its curse, and that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Gal. iii. 13; iv. 4.) "Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil ; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." " Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren." " And in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted." (Heb. ii. 14, 15, 18.)
Let us mark what these expressions entail.
56. He came in our nature. He was made of a woman. The Creator appeared as a creature ; the ever
Christ man :
blessed God, a mourner. The Author of life, what this in- light, and happiness, has Himself wept tears. One who is infinitely holy, and the Giver of all law, has become obedient to law, and has been seen in strange contact with sin : these are facts whose amazing signifi- cance can be forgotten only through familiarity, and they are of the deepest interest to our race,
Sin and misery, holiness and happiness, form the oppo- site sides of the universe. The whole of the contact with mystery connected with them none can unravel. sm" We know little more than that they are irreconcileable antagonists, and that by a gracious arrangement the dark elements of evil will be in the end subservient to the prin- ciple of good. To the side of holiness Christ belonged. Sin, which is opposed to it, he abhorred with an intensity which no fallen creature can conceive ; and yet, by sin and its shadow — misery — He was for years surrounded. They touched him in every nerve. Heaven and its purity were exchanged for earth and its corruptions. Here he lived, and here at length He died in such suffering as can be ex-
140 CHAPTER III.
plained only on the supposition that He had been charged with the sins of the world, and was bearing the penalty due to them all.
What such a life involved it is not easy to say ; but it might be imagined, if one eminently holy were called, by some mysterious arrangement, to spend part of his eternity in hell. In the case of such a sufferer, however, the shock which his moral nature would undergo in listening to the blasphemy and in witnessing the wretchedness of the lost, would be less painful than was endured on earth by our Lord. Heaven and earth must have presented contrasts more striking to Him than would be presented by earth and hell to the holiest of mankind. Amidst the sadness and temptations to which this hourly contact with evil ex- posed Him, our Lord entered upon His work and fulfilled the duties of His ministry.
57. Nor was it only that Christ appeared as man. Christ under He was made under the law ; placed therefore law' in the same position in relation to it as were
those whom he came to redeem. His mental and moral constitution was essentially the same as ours. He had an intellect like our own, adapted for the investigation of truth. He had a conscience, too, to perceive the relation in which He stood to other beings, and to recognize the duties which those relations implied. He had a will to decide His choice, and affections to impel him to action. In all points (sin only excepted) He was one of ourselves. He was under the law, and therefore subject to all its requirements. He was bound to obey what it
Subject to it. * . . . , . . J
enjoined ; to avoid what it condemned. Cre- ated under it, he was also to be judged by it ; and, though this subjection was founded on His own act, yet still it was as complete as if He had been descended immediately and directly from the first transgressors.
§ 9. CHRIST INCARNATE. 141
In this condition He was of course liable personally to all the consequences of His acts. To Him the Answerable for command came, as to ourselves, with both hlsacts- promise and threatening: " Indignation, wrath, tribula- tion, and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil ;" " glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good." (Rom. ii. 8-10.) With this announcement before Him, He became, by fulfilling the law, entitled in His human nature to its rewards, as by disobedience He would have become in His human nature, and on His own account subject to its penalty and curse.
In this condition, moreover, He was entitled to the results of His obedience for all whom he repre- Entitled for sented. It is clearly a principle of God's consequences'16 present government that we suffer through one of them- another. The state and interests of each generation depend largely on the character and doings of preceding generations, as all have suffered in consequence of the acts of our first parents. How this connection is main- tained, we need not enquire. Still less need we enquire whether the constitution of the world might not have been so arranged as to make all men independent of one another for good and for evil. The fact is, that Christ came into a world where this close connection had been already established, and himself subject to it. By one man's offence many were made sinners ; by one man's obedience (if he be obedient) many shall be made righteous. (Rom, v. 19.)
Under this law, then, and subject to its conditions, Christ appeared. He came to obey ; He exposed himself to all the consequences of failure ; and, in the event of His success, he became entitled, as Mediator, to all the honors of obedience. If He keep the law without blemish, He is himself accepted, and for us there is hope. If, on the other hand, He fail ; if, through his own weakness or
142 CHAPTER III.
by the subtility of the devil, He shall be seduced in thought or word from the narrow line of perfect holiness, our ruin is irremediable and complete. Paradise lost is lost for ever. Christ must bear the common curse : the Divine plan of recovery, which embodies the maturest fruits of infinite wisdom, proves abortive ; and the blessed God himself is left to deplore the ruin, which His own frustrated benefi- cence makes only the more touching and profound.
58. With these facts in view, we may appreciate in some measure the fearful responsibility and consequent suf- fering which the life of Christ involved.
In common life the happiness and destiny of men some- times depend upon the acts of an hour or a day. When the importance of such seasons is seen, men Toived in this enter upon them with the keenest anxiety ; and, if that anxiety continues, it becomes intolerable. Protracted doubt under such circumstances is what few can bear.
Sometimes, again, in the history of our race, not only men's own destiny is dependent upon their decisions, but the destiny of others ; and then the anxiety is, to benevolent minds, yet more oppressive. Happily there are few occa- sions on which men are called to act habitually under the weight of such responsibility ; but, when the occasion occurs, it is generally found that, unless they be sustained by eminent virtue, either their hearts become callous, or their minds give way under the strain. History abounds with illustrations of both results.
Now in the case of the Messiah,, the happiness, not of Man's happi- Himself alone, but of millions, was suspended nor8'Suspended uPon the results of His obedience. If He fall, on lt- the world must fall, and fall for ever. For not
only were the interests of time and of the body at stake, but the interests of eternity and of the soul. Nor these interests alone. He had undertaken to magnify the law ;
§ 9. CHRIST INCARNATE. 143
to honor what man had treated with contempt ; and to give to the universe an example of perfect obedience. If He fall, the law and the government of God must fall ; and thenceforth the justice and the mercy of the Eternal are covered with confusion. Can any finite mind measure the weight of this responsibility ?
What wonder that Christ Himself longed for the time when it should cease; " I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished !" (Luke xii. 50.) And what wonder that angels ministered to Him ; that Moses and Elias, the representatives of earlier dispensations, appeared and conversed with Him on His coming death ; (Matt, xvii ;) and that God Himself cheered and strengthened Him when he seemed sinking under His load! (John xii. 28.)
59. Everything, moreover, was adapted to increase the burden. The responsibility rested on Him
. Burden in-
not for an hour or a day, but during every act, creased by dr. and thought, and motive of His whole life. Had He been influenced by one guilty, or even imperfect motive, had His love to God or man for one moment faltered, His probation must have ceased, and His con- templated sacrifice have been rendered of no avail for us, being required for Himself. . . . All around Him, too, was calculated to exhaust His love, and to tempt Him to diso- bedience. Everywhere was contamination, had He been disposed to yield to it. By all He was treated unjustly, and injustice might have exasperated Him. His country- men returned hatred for love, and His love might have failed. . . . Doubts were thrown upon His relation with the Father ; facts were appealed to in confirmation of them, and His filial confidence might have given place to dis- trust. . . . Men who are engaged in arduous enterprises unite with themselves others who comprehend their plans and sympathize *with their purpose. Such association
144 CHAPTER III.
lightens anxiety, even when it does not bring complete relief. But Christ stood by Himself. His brethren did not believe in Him. (John vii. 5.) His most promising disciples misunderstood the very designs of His mission. (Luke xviii. 34 ; John xii. 26.) " He trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with Him.". . . In this burdened and lonely state, He encountered sufferings such as no other being on earth ever endured. He came to redeem, and how was He welcomed ? Within a few months of His birth, Herod sought His life. He travels over Judea and Galilee ; and, wherever He goes, heals all manner of sickness and disease ; but He is without a home. " The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests ; but the Son of man had not where to lay His head." If He work miracles, they are ascribed to the devil ; if He does not work them, the people deny His authority. (Matt. xii. 24-38.) He comes in humble form, and calls Him- self the Son of man. His hearers then take occasion to despise His poverty and birth. He claims to be the equal of the Father, and they accuse Him of blasphemy. (John vi., vii.) He speaks plainly, and they seek to put Him to death ; He speaks in proverbs, and they say He is mad, and hath a devil. (John x. 19, 20, 36-39.) In either case He is regarded as an impostor of the vilest description, as smitten and blasted even of God. (Isa. liii. 4.) They that hated him without a cause, were more than the hairs of His head. (Ps. lxix. 1-4.) . . . Nor was this all. The hosts of darkness seem to have had, in the days of our Lord, pecu- liar power over the human race, and that power was no doubt exerted to the utmost. Of all who ever appeared in human nature, Christ was most exposed to it. With the view of seducing Him into sin, the temptations of the wilderness were conducted by the Prince of darkness him- self; and from that history it may be concluded that every circumstance of the life of Christ was employed in succes-
. § 9. CHRIST INCARNATE. 145
sion with consummate skill to lead him astray. Those temptations occurred in the wilderness, and before the more severe of the trials of His ministry had bes;un. What must they have been among the multitude, when the malig- nity of His enemies and the falseness of His friends had so bitterly wounded Him, and the various incidents of His life afforded better hope that they might be tried with success !
60. Amid such trials, and under the burden of these responsibilities, Christ moved on to the closing Approach of scenes of His life. In prospect of these, He final 8trusgle- prayed earnestly that the cup might pass from Him. So intense was the struggle, that blood was forced from every pore of His body; the agony too great for endurance. For this hour, however, He had come. The cup was not removed, and He was now to drink it to its last dregs. His disciples leave Him; the boldest and most zealous of their number denies with oaths that he even knew Him. He is charged with blasphemy • a reproach that might well have broken His heart. The people whom He came to save have const ired to murder Him; and they begin the accomplishment (f their purpose with the cruelty of merciless ruffians. The night that in- troduced the day on which He suffered, had been spent in the agony of the garden — in visiting, at the command of his persecutors, all parts of the city, and in pleading before five successive tribunals. These exhausting struggles have passed, and now He is condemned. The spotless Son of God is to die the death of a felon and a slave. He is smitten with the fist, and tauntingly asked to tell who smote Him. He is spit upon and scourged, crowned with thorns and mocked, and then led away to be crucified. Compelled to carry His cross, He faints under it; but at length He is nailed to it, to endure a painful and lingering death. Here, with an emaciated frame, His physical strength prostrated
13
146 CHAPTER III.
by continued watching, His power of self-control, weakened by suffering and the approach of death, began a conflict severer than any He had yet known, and involving in its result the permanence of all his past achievements, and the destinies of the moral universe of God.
"It was the hour and the power of darkness." The That struggle warfare was well nigh accomplished; but one cSydpo0"siWeth &n^ struggle remained. Every human aid had disadvantage. for some i\me been withdrawn ; the moment of nature's utmost weakness was come ; and that moment was chosen by his foes for the crisis of our race. If now He can be tempted — if but one impatient desire or selfish thought can be excited within, there is hope that the plan of mercy may prove a failure, and the dominion of fallen spirits be restored.
Nor only so. So far He had been sustained by commu- nion with His Father. Often had He retired from active labor, to seek solace in the consciousness of that presence and love. But all is now at an end. He has chosen His work : He is pleased to bear our sins, and He must abide by the consequences of His choice. Since that agony of the garden, another trial has been completed, and another sentence passed. In spirit, Christ has been arraigned at God's bar under the imputation of human guilt ; and now justice claims her own. Even with the representative of sinners, in that dread moment, God can hold no inter- course, nor can God give help. " 0 my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not." " Our fathers trusted in thee ; they trusted, and thou didst deliver them." " But ] am a worm, and no man ; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." " My God, My God ! why hast thou for saken me ?"*
* Psalm xxii. 2, 4c, 6,1.
§ 9. CHRIST INCARNATE. 147
61. "The moments of agony roll slowly away — the power of hell has gained no advantage — the Ita successful Messiah, strong in His own unaided virtue, has lssue' baffled every attack of earth and hell, and shines glorious in untarnished holiness. His last moment has arrived Doth He yet retain His integrity ? Doth He, amidst these unfathomable trials of His benevolence, still love His neighbor as Himself? Hearken to the prayer that quivers upon his parched and fevered lips : ' Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they do.' Although forsaken of His Father and His God, doth He yet trust in Him with filial confidence ? Hearken again : ' Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit.' "* The conflict is over; all is finished ; man is still the object of pity and love, and God of reverence and trust.
The work of our salvation is now achieved. The apos- tate race of Adam is delivered from the curse ; the broken law is doubly vindicated — first, by the obedience of the Lawgiver, and then by His endurance of the penalty; and the whole has been effected at a cost of suffering, and under a continued burden of responsibility, such as none on earth can conceive. Hence the dignity of the Conqueror. " Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name above every name ; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess." (Phil, ii. 9.) Hence also, as He ascended into heaven, a new song burst from the lips of the redeemed of every kindred and tongue : " saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." Hence the repetition of the strain: "Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."
* Dr. Wayland's Sermons. 14
148 CHAPTER III.
Such were the sufferings of our Lord. How blessed the arrangement that laid help on one so mighty ! How un- speakable the love that was willing to endure such suffer- ing, and incur such risks for the sake of a race that had willfully broken a righteous and beneficent law 1
G2. To complete the view of the sufferings of Christ, we must regard them from another poiut. As
Efficacy of
His sufferings man, He was rendered capable of suffering ; 'divinity; the but it is as God that His sufferings have an in- tbem His man- finite value, and become more than equivalent to the penalty originally denounced against transgression. His human nature made suffering possible ; His Divine made it efficient ; and both illustrate the wis- dom and love which devised and executed the scheme. This point of view we shall occupy hereafter. The thing to be noticed now, is, that the very incarnation and obe- dience of our Lord involved sufferings and responsibility such as no finite mind had ever known or can now con- ceive ; and that under the continued burden of this respon- sibility He went forth teaching and preaching, exhibiting in Himself, in the meantime, the great truths of the king- dom of God.
63. Combining the facts of this section with those of the
preceding, we gain a new view of the sufferings
"under law," of our Lord. Even if He had not come to
our example as . » T ,
well as sacri- make atonement for sin, an Incarnate teacher, free from suffering, could never have been a perfect model of holiness. As our example, no less than as our sacrifice, He needed to be made under the law.
CHAPTER IV.
CHRIST THE TEACHER AND PROPHET: THE LAW : HIS OWN WORK : FAITH.
§ 1. Lessons taught in the earlier miracles of our Lord.
§ 2. The sermon on the mount. Christ the fulfill- ment OF THE LAW IN MORALITY AND DOCTRINE.
§ 3. Christ's teaching in relation to His own work, and the necessity of faith in hlm.
§ 4. Christ's further disclosures in Galilee and Ju-
D.EA.
§ 5. Teaching by parables.
150
HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS.
- .-
8
a
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CHAPTER IV.
CHRIST A TEACHER AND PROPHET: SCENES AND LESSONS CONNECTED WITH OUR LORD'S PERSONAL MINISTRY.
Sect. 1. — Lessons taught in the earlier miracles of our
Lord.
1. And now the character of Christ as a teacher sent from God is fully announced : He has proved
• • tt i i i Summary of
His mission ; He has been honored and re- Christ's jour- jected by His countrymen. On the banks of the Jordan, at Jerusalem, and throughout Samaria, He has proclaimed His message, though as yet without any extensive success. The next two years and a half of His life are devoted to the establishment of His prophetic teaching-office. Thrice in this time He makes the circuit of Galilee, preaching everywhere the Gospel of the king- dom ; once He visits Jerusalem (John v. 1-41), once the coasts of Tyre and Sidon (Luke vii., viii.), and once the regions of Samaria. At the close of these labors, He goes up to Jerusalem, and thence to Peraaa ; and after six months more of such itineracy, He goes once again to Je- rusalem immediately before He suffered.
2. It is to His labors in Galilee, however, that our attention is first called. Here He wrought
° Galilee the
most of His miracles; here He first revealed chief scene of
His teaching,
the great moral truths contained in the sermon
(153)
154 CHAPTER IV.
on the monnt ; and here, moreover, He spoke some of His parables, though most of them were delivered towards the close of His career. At the commencement of His min* istry, His miracles and direct discourses were the chief means of His teaching.
3. It is Matthew who notices the instructive fact, that as Christ was Himself despised by His countrymen, so He selected one of the most despised localities of Palestine as the scene of His labors ; and that this choice was in ful- fillment of an ancient prediction. (Matt. iv. 14, 16.) Thu natives of this region were lightly esteemed by their Jew- ish neighbors ; partly because of their distance from the temple, and partly also because of their frequent contact
with Pagans. Here as elsewhere, however, the
Reasons. .
very debasement of the people proved their need of redemption, and enhanced its value. Sinners are nearer to the kingdom of God than the self-righteous; and so the poor Gallilean was nearer than the proud Pharisee. (Matt, ix. 13.) The theme of Christ's teaching was ever repentance and faith (Mark i. 14, 15) ; expressions that implied at first little more than a sense of need and guilt, together with a spirit of dependence upon the power and grace of the Messiah. For the conscious sinner, this mes- sage was of all others the most welcome.
4. In entering upon His work as teacher, He deemed it Selects ms dis- important to select His companions, in order cipIes- that they might be eye-witnesses of His mira- cles, and of His resurrection, and be enabled to record what they had themselves seen and heard. Four of the eight writers of the New Testament were therefore chosen at the commencement of His ministry, and all remained with Him to its close. Simon Peter, James, John, and after- wards Matthew, were all formally invited to become His followers.
§ 1. LESSONS TAUGHT IN THE EARLIER MIRACLES. 155
5. This invitation was preceded by a remarkable miracle. The first three of the disciples iust named were
r J The first mira-
iishermen, and had been following their craft euioua draught
of fishes.
on the Lake of Tiberias — they were busy wash- ing their nets on the shore of the lake. Through Peter's ready compliance with the request of our Lord, He had been enabled to teach the people uninterrupted by the pressure of the crowd who attended to hear Him. In re- turn, perhaps, for this civility, our Lord bade Peter to push out into deep water, and to let down his nets for a draught ; designing, as has been said, to take the fisher- men in His net. To this suggestion Peter replied, that they had been all night laboring without success ; but, added he, with the beginnings of no feeble faith working in him, " Nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net." This act of faith was immediately rewarded; for "they inclosed a multitude of fishes, so that the net began to break," and the boatmen were obliged to beckon to their partners to come to their help. This miraculous act (mira- culous in its knowledge) became to the fishermen the sign of a higher presence than they had yet recognized, filling them with astonishment and fear. And with Christ rever. other feelings, too — Peter yields freely to the euced impulse of the moment, and as he first saw the highest glory of his Saviour, so now he is the first to confess his own sinfulness : " Depart from me, for I am a Peter,s confes. sinful man, 0 Lord." sion-
6. Thus it has ever been. The discovery of a Divine presence leads to conviction, and conviction The Divine pre- to a dread of deserved wrath. In old times it produced3 con- was the common judgment, that none could vlction of sin- see God and live. That feeling had existed ever since Adam had retreated from the presence of his Creator, and nad hidden himself among the trees of the garden. Manoah judged that he must die, because he had seen God. Isaial
l5f> CHAPTER IV.
learnt aad confessed the uncleanness of his lips, when he saw " the King, the Lord of Hosts." Ezekiel fell upon his face — and Daniel's beauty was changed, when he came in contact with the Divine glory. So long as men but hear of God, they deem themselves safe ; but when once their eye sees Him, they either abhor themselves and repent as in dust and ashes, or in despair they cry to the rocks to cover them. It is in God's light that men see themselves and feel their guilt
7. Christ admits his confession, but bids him to lay Christ receives aside his fear ; intimating, that in the living rion^chwra^ manifestation of God in Christ, the near ap- and caiis him. proach 0f the Holy One is not only support- able, but ever refreshing. "Fear not," says He, "for nenceforth thou shalt catch men" — clothing his promise in the language of the craft with which Peter was familiar — and when they had brought the ships to land, " they for- sook all and followed Him."
Everything is here significant ; not the words only, but the acts. Christ had said nothing of His kingdom, and nothing of His requirements ; and yet discipleship evi- dently involved repentance, and the abandonment both of earthly possessions and of earthly love. From the first the disciples gave up the world, and that to them perhaps was not much. They gave up worldly affections too, and that was as much to them as to ourselves.
8. Not unlike this early miracle was the last that Christ c h risfs last performed (John xxi. 1-23). Then, again, He dranght of the *s sa^ *° nave s^own himself to his disciples ;. fishes. alluding probably to His first manifestation at Cana,* and perhaps also to the invisibility of His spiritual nature ; for that nature (whether as belonging to Christ or to angels) is ever said in Scripture to appear to man, and
* John ii. 11. etpavipu)j£.
§ 1. LESSONS TAUGHT IN THE EARLIER MIRACLES. 157
often to be withdrawn. At this last manifes- £)0S(! rtscm"
blance be-
tation, three at least of the same apostles were tween the two present, and probably the whole. Here also there had been a night of fruitless toil, and already perhaps the dim feeling had arisen in their minds, that this second night was a spiritual counterpart of the first ; but the feeling must have been dim, or they would earlier have recog- nized the voice and the looks of their Friend. At early dawn He stood by the shore, and with friendly interest in the result of their labors, asked after their success. They answer, they have taken nothing — Christ's power requiring, even in natural things, that a confession of poverty precede the bestowment of His gifts. " Cast the net," said He, "on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes."
And this was enough. One disciple, at least, has dis- covered his Lord ; and Peter, to whom John communicated his discovery, unable to wait until the ship reached the land, throws himself into the sea that he may find himself the sooner at his Master's feet.
How beautiful do both apostles come out here in their proper characters. It was love in the person of John that first detected the presence of Christ, and it was courage and energy in Peter that first reached him. When the disciples gained the shore, they found a fire kindled, with fish laid upon it (whether by earthly or by miraculous mi- nistration we are not told), and they were bidden by our Lord to bring the fish they had taken (an hundred and fifty and three), and to unite in a common meal. Numer- ous as the fish were, and all of them large, yet, it is added, was not the net broken.
9. If the first miraculous draught of fishes suggested to the apostles of our Lord their appropriate signifiCance of office, and its earthly results, this last miracle th'ese mir^' s-
14
158 CHAPTER IT.
suggests no less strongly the glorious ingathering of the nations into the kingdom of the Father. There some of the fish were lost ; here all are secured. There the number is not told us, and those that were taken were both good and bad ; here everything is fixed, and the fish that were taken were all preserved. Here, moreover, the toil ends in a meal of the Lord's preparing, and symbolical perhaps of the great festival in heaven with which he will refresh his servants, when they sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God.
Again, awe and fear are shed upon the hearts of the disciples by His presence, for their love is yet imperfect, and none of them durst give utterance to any feeling of doubt, or ask for further manifestations of grace, "for they knew that it was the Lord."
19. The scene is again changed, and we enter the syna- gogue of the town of Capernaum. Christ is
Healing of the , „ L
demoniac in here before us, and it is the Sabbath. As was His custom, He had come up to worship, and was engaged in teaching the people. They are astonished at the authority with which He speaks, and He is about to show Himself mighty not in words only, but in deeds. An opportunity is here to be offered of making yet deeper im- pressions of His power, and of showing His authority over a domain which no human arm had yet entered. There was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. Hith- erto Christ had ruled in nature — changing the water and healing disease ; now He is to prove that even the spirits obey Him.
The demon who occupied the person of this poor man, 'Hit, as soon as Christ entered the place, that now he was near one who was stronger than all ; and hoping to avoid an attack by a hasty expression of inferiority, he cried out : "Let us alone, what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth ? Art thou come to destroy us ? I know who
§ 1. LESSONS TAUGHT IN THE EARLIER MIRACLES. 159
thou art, the Holy One of God." The earth had not jet received her King, but heaven and hell had both borne witness to him. " The devils believe and tremble."
Such testimony, however, was likely to bring truth itself into suspicion, and Christ therefore rebuked him, saying : 11 Hold thy peace and come out of him ;" addressing the unclean spirit on His own authority and in His own name. The spirit at once obeyed the call, and having torn the man, .though without doing him permanent mischief, he came out ; teaching us here, as we are taught elsewhere (Mark ix. 26), that Satan torments most those whom he is com- pelled to resign.
11. The precise nature of the fearful affliction which was here relieved, will be noticed hereafter. It is
Result on the
enough now to remark that the result of this minds of the
• • • ttti neople.
miracle was unmixed astonishment: "What
word," said they, "is this; for with authority and powei
He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out."
12. On the same day our Lord healed the mother of Peter's wife, and in the evening crowds of sick
Connection be-
people visited or were brought to Him, and tween these
cures and the
He healed them all. "The devils also came -sufferings of
our Lord.
out of many, crying out and saying, Thou art the Christ;" to which record Matthew adds the remark that these miracles were all in fulfillment of the ancient prophecies: "Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses ;" intimating (as St. Peter explains) not so much that he relieved them, nor merely that in relieving them He exhausted His own nature ; but also that He stooped and came under the conditions of which those out- ward sicknesses were but the external sign. The sins they represented were laid upon Him ; and in bearing the mortal life which included them, and the guilt which caused them, He bore them in their curse and significancy for ever away.
160 CHAPTER IV.
13. The next two miracles of our Led add yet more tc iieaiiD" of the our knowledge of His power and mission, leper. Whether they really occupied the place in His
ministry which we assign them, is somewhat uncertain ; but they were clearly at the commencement of it, and are both highly instructive. The first was the cure of the leper, and the second of the paralytic. The disease of the first suf- ferer had spread over his whole body, and he was leprous from head to foot. This leprosy was undoubtedly the most fearful disease known in the East, and was doubly fearful under the Jewish law. It was the type of moral pollution. All sickness, indeed, was more or less indi- cative of a tainted nature ; but this was the chosen symbol of it. It was in itself a living death ; a dissolution by degrees, limb after limb, of the whole frame. It was, moreover, incurable by human art, and was regarded as a direct infliction from God, by whose power alone it could be healed. (2 Kings v. 7.) Hence it was that the leper bearing about, as he did, the visible token of sin in hi8 soul, was treated everywhere as a great sinner — as one in whom sin had reached its highest manifestation, himself polluted, and polluting all he touched. He went covered in garments of mourning, as if lamenting his own decease ; his clothes rent, his head bare, his lip unshaven, himself and all that pertained to him unclean. The disease itself the Jews called " the finger of God," and emphatically, "the stroke." To heal it was one of the most decisive evidences of Mes- siahship. "The lepers," said our Lord, "are cleansed," and on such maladies he delighted to exercise His power and love.
In this case the leper comes manifesting his faith, bow- ing and worshiping (though the terms of themselves do not imply a recognition of any thing specially divine). He asks healing. He acknowledges Christ's power, and leaves the result to His pity and wisdom. "If Thou wilt," says
§ 1. LESSONS TAUGHT IN THE EARLIER MIRACLES. 161
he, " Thou canst make me clean." An appeal which showed a heart open to Divine influence, and readily receptive of it. Thereupon Christ "put forth His hand and said, 1 will ; be thou clean, and immediately his leprosy was cleansed."
14. A double injunction followed this cure. He first commanded to tell no man ; and then bade him
Christ's injunc-
go and show himself to the priests, and offer tions on the
occasion.
the gifts appointed by the law. (Lev. xiv. 2.) The first command has several parallels in the
Their meaning.
Gospels; (Matt. ix. 30; xii. 16; xvi. 20; xvii. 9 ; Mark iii, 12 ; v. 43 ; vii. 36 ; viii. 13, 26 ; ix. 9 5 Luke viii. 56 ; ix. 21 ;)" and it is probable that it was prompted by different reasons on different occasions. Some- times it was intended to prevent popular tumult, and a public effort of the people to take and make Him a king ; a result that would have frustrated the great end of His life. Sometimes, as Luther suggests, it was meant to set an example of humility ; and often, perhaps, (for the com- mand is given to the man healed, and not to the multitudes who witness the miracles,) to secure the spiritual profit of the sufferer. Very occasionally, our Lord ordered the person healed to a sphere of external activity ; (Mark v. 19 ;) but generally He enforced quietness and retirement, seeking, doubtless, in each case, the prosperity of the inward life. In this particular instance the precept was neglected, (without sin, perhaps, for Christ might mean that he was first of all to tell the priests, and then that he should be free to tell it to others too,) and, in consequence, Christ was unable to enter into the city openly, (Mark i. 45,) that is, without offering some gratification to the earthly and selfish hopes of the people. There is clearly a kind of popularity, quite as unfavorable to the diffusion of truth, as concealment itself. The second precept is also instructive. He implied by it, that the institutions of the
14*
162 CHAPTER IV.
law were to be observed, and that not even the shadow was to be removed, till He had established the substance in its room. " Go show thyself for a testimony unto them, a proof that thou art healed, that thou mayest be admitted again into the congregation of Israel, and that the priests themselves may have an evidence of my power, and the unreasonableness of their unbelief."
14. The scene again changes. Christ has entered the Healing of the court of some friendly dwelling, and multitudes cbSKvowed- crowded around to hear Him. Pharisees and iy forgives sm. c]oc<j-,ors 0f the law are present from the distant parts of Galilee, and from Jerusalem itself; nor is there room to receive them — "no not so much as about the door. The occasion was evidently important, and the truth which Christ had taught in His previous miracle by implication, He resolves to teach plainly in this. A poor paralytic, whose friends could not come near for the press, is carried by them to the roof of the house, (by the steps against the outside wall of the building,) and is let down before the Lord. This manifestation of faith was novel, and it was inconvenient, for Christ was teaching at the time ; but He condescends to our need, and ever welcomes our faith. Seeing their faith, therefore — at once theirs and the poor man's — He addressed him, " Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee." No word had been spoken, no petition presented ; but Christ loves to do above what we ask. He saw, no doubt, the man's heart, and the deep sense of sinfulness that was excited there ; and, adapting His message to his case, gave him the assu- rance, not of healing, but of pardon.
Here is a new claim. " This man," said the Pharisees The thoughts ni their thoughts, " blasphemeth ; pretending we^andour t° exercise a power which belongs only to Lords reply. G0d." And here again is a new miracle Perceiving in His spirit what thoughts were stirring in
§ 1. LESSOXS TAUGHT IX THE EARLIER M RAGLES. 163
their breasts, Christ at once repels them ; giving, in the vindication of His language, an evidence of His divinity, "for the thoughts of the hearts of men are open only to God. (1 Sam. xvi. T ; 1 Chron. xxviii. 9 ; Jer. xvii. 10.) He even indicates the line of argument which, in their thoughts, they had taken. "You suppose," His answer implies, " that my command is powerless — a blas- phemous intention, but without result ; its issues are in a world concealed from your view. It is easy to say, ' thy sins be forgiven thee,' but to say 'be healed,' would be a surer test of the divinity of my mission. I will fulfill your implied demand. You ask an outward sign of the commu- nication of inward grace — a proof within the cognizance of your senses of miraculous power ; and that proof I will supply. That ye may know that the Son of Man hath power to forgive sins, I will now utter the harder saying, 1 Arise, take up thy bed, and walk.' And immediately he arose, took up his bed, and went forth before them all."
How the Pharisees felt or thought on witnessing this miracle, we are not told ; but the people, far less hardened against the truth, were all amazed, and glorified God.
16. Ordinarily the miracles of Christ were miracles rather of healing, than of forgiveness. There are some other instances, however, in addition timesn?omSct- to the one now under consideration ; and in ^v^ness^o"™?- these, as well as by other passages of Scripture, J^TtoTt1™™" this power of Christ is confirmed (Luke xvii. 19 ; John v. 14). It is probable that in many instances bodily healing prepared men to receive these better bless- ings of which it was the appropriate sign. Here, at least, it is clearly shown that Christ had the power to bestow the greater gift, and that the straitening was not in Him, but in the narrow contracted views of those who applied for healing. The greater faith of this applicant, though itself a sift, was counted worthy of the richer reward.
1C)4 Cn AFTER IV.
17. This act of forgiveness prepares the way for even a
more remarkable development of the true cba- inkrm man at racter of our Lord. The Pharisees whom he
had met at Capernaum had returned to Jeru- salem, and Christ himself has gone up to the feast. (John v. 1-4.) In the neighborhood of the pool of Bethesda (the upper fountain probably of the pool of Siloam) a great multitude of impotent folk lay. One of these poor sufferers, who had been thirty and eight years " in that case," Christ addressed ; seeking first to excite hope in the breast that must by this time have often yielded to de- sponding feeling. "Wilt thou," said He, "be made whole ?" The man was thus led to trust the love of the questioner in order that he might ultimately trust His power ; and Christ is thus seen awakening the faith which in a few moments He will demand. " Most gladly," is the spirit of the reply; "my infirmity is no consequence of unwillingness, only when the water has its healing power I have no man to put me into the pool, and while I am entering another steppeth down before me." But now the long years of disappointed expectation are at an end. Jesus saith unto him : " Rise, and take up thy bed and walk ;" and the man, believing that power went forth with the word, was immediately made whole, and took up his bed and walked.
18. The same day, however, was the Sabbath — the day Christ claims sacred to worship and rest. The Jews there-
LToV°work* fore' tliat is> the sPiritual neads of the nation,* contmuaiiy. fouucl fault with the man for carrying his bed
on that day. Doubtless the act might seem to be forbid- den by the letter of the ancient law ; but really it was part
* So John generally employs this phrase. John i. 19; vii. 1 j xviii 12, 14.
§ 1. LESSONS TAUGHT IN THE EARLIER MIRACLES. 165
of the healing, and was included therefore among those acts which (as Christ tells us elsewhere) it may be sinful to leave undone. (Luke vi. 9.) In His next miracle in- deed our Lord took this ground, and showed that forms must ever yield to the life ; and that as "the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" — He Himself as Lord of man, and still more therefore of the Sabbath too, has power to alter its requirements as He will. Here, however, He takes even higher ground, affirming that in this act He kept the Sabbath — kept it, that is,
.•,-,,.■■ , n .. . His beneficent
with the highest beneficent activity, which in activity is the
tt« • rr- -n • i holiest rest.
His case, as in His Father's, was identical with the holiest rest. The quietism of the Sabbath is con- fined, He implies, to beings framed like you, ever in danger of losing the full repose of your nature amid the multitude of earthly toils ; but with Me and My Father rest and activity are one.
19. This defence exasperates His adversaries the more. He is now in their esteem not only a Sabbath-
TX. Asserts bis
breaker, but a blasphemer, for He makes Him- identity with self equal with God. So far from denying this claims equal charge, Christ confirms it with the most em- phatic protestation. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee." (ver. 19.) He asserts the complete unity of operation be- tween the Father and Himself; first denying all action of His own independently of God, and then affirming posi- tively that his acts are also the acts of God. As an evi- dence of this oneness, He appeals to His quickening power, for He giveth life in all senses (see chap. i. sec 3), to whomsoever He will, then to His office as Judge, and then to His consequent dignity. Now, says He, God will be worshiped and adored in me ; all therefore must honor the Son even as they honor the Father ; and all who dis- honor the Son shall be condemned.
J 66 CHAPTER IV.
20. In proof of the truth of the claims He calls in the
testimony of John His forerunner, reminds
Evidence in
proof of this them of the voice that was heard at His bap-
usseriion. . .
tism, of the mighty works which He had Him- self performed, of their own Scriptures, and lastly, of the witness of their ancient prophet, Moses. " For he," adds He, " wrote of me." (John v. 31-46.) The unbelief of His hearers He ascribes distinctly to their denial of the teaching of Moses — who had spoken of a prophet to be raised up like unto Himself — and especially to the fact that they had not Christ's words remaining in them. Sin and selfishness, their preference of the falsehood that exalted them, to the truth that laid them low (vers. 39-44), hatf diminished their susceptibility of religious impression. They loved not God, and were obstinately bent on reject* ing their Teacher, and therefore both himself and His mes- sage were disowned.
21. And now the revelation of Christ's personal cha- The revelation racter seems complete. He has been recog- B^Sharac'ter nized by the Father. Even unclean spirits complete. k&Ye owne(j Him. He heals diseases, exhausts Himself with days of weariness and toil, manifesting wherever He goes His power and love. He forgives sin. He substitutes for the shadowy observances of the Mosaic economy, what He as lawgiver pronounced to be substan- tial obedience ; and now he claims distinctly the functions of God, identity with the Father, together with the honor and responsibilities which belonged exclusively to Him.
Sect. 2. — The Sermon on the Mount. Christ the ful- fillment of the Law in Morality and in Doctrine.
22. How Christ as man maintained the holiness and cnrist's hoii- dignity of His position, is an interesting ques- ty8nu5ntained ^on- Contact with the world must have tended by prayer. ^o ruffle the tranquility of His feelings ; and
§ 1. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 167
certainly that contact was more frequent and harassing than anything His disciples afterwards knew. We find Him now in Galilee and now in Jerusalem, walking several times in the course of a few years over nearly the whole of Palestine, and even when residing in Capernaum sur- rounded with crowds of hearers. He seems to have lived in public rather than alone.
It is certain, hovever, that this activity was sustained by meditation and prayer. It was thus he prepared at first for His work ; and soon after the disclosures mentioned in the previons section, we find him spending the whole night in prayer ; an occupation that formed a fitting close to His labors in Jerusalem, and as fitting an introductiou to the selection of His apostles, and the delivery of the Sermon on the Mount. The fact of this prayer is men- tioned only by Luke (Luke vi.), though on other occasions a similar fact is recorded by other evangelists.
23. Thus it is that our Lord's was an angelical life (as Leighton calls it), devoted both to contempla- Herein our ex_ tion and to activity. And we need in this re- amPle- s'pect to copy him. Contemplation we require, that our troubled spirits may be quieted ; that truth may produce its appropriate impression upon our hearts ; and then acti- vity, that we may spend the strength gained by prayer in beueficent consecration. True piety ought ever to be en- ergetic and practical ; it ought also to be meditative and secluded. Days spent among the multitude need nights of calmness and devotion. (Matt. xiv. 23 ; Luke vi. 12.)
25. After this solemn preparation, Christ selected twelve of His disciples and constituted them apostles.
1 _ Sermon on the
Having descended from the mountain where Mount: where
delivered.
He had prayed for and chosen them, He went up to an extended plain in (r6 6po$) the mountain district of Capernaum, (see Luke compared with Matthew,) and in the presence of His disciples and of a large multitude
168 CHAPTER IV.
of people, He proceeded to give what may be considered as a delineation of the moral law of Christianity, considered both in itself and its connection with the previous dispen- sation.
Throughout this discourse He seems to have a double object of this object in view — first to correct the misinterpre- uTmon. tation of the precepts of the law by Jewish
teachers, and then to unfold and develope in its utmost depth the spirit of the old economy ; indicating, moreover, the application of its principles, not only to the Jews, but to the whole of the human race.
25. But this last statement makes it necessary that we
should retrace our steps. Christ is Himself
Christ the ful- r .
fiiiment of the the fulfillment and completion (rt^pwoi?) of the law. If that ancient economy be regarded as an outline, Christ in His office and ministry is the reality it represented. If it be regarded as the type, He is the substance. The type itself therefore we must study — not independently, but in its connection with the antitype, in order that we ma^y understand the full significance of both. The truth, therefore, we mean to illustrate is, that the Gospel in all its parts is the completion of a gradual and progressive revelation.
26. The truths and purpose of God are in themselves What meant incapable of either progress or change ; but Sveadeve°o^s" the revelation of those truths is capable of ment of truth. both# Apart from divine teaching, the whole world of religious truth is shrouded in darkness ; but the sun of revelation rises, and ever as it rises the mists are scattered, and there is brought out first one prominence and then another, till every hill and valley is bathed in splendor. The landscape was there before, but it was not seen. The development is not of new creations, spreading as the light extends ; it is development of light only, show- ing, and not forming, the beauty it reveals.
§ 2. THE SERMON ON THE MOUN1. 169
3T. From the first God taught the unity of the Divine natnre, but that there was a plurality in the Examples as to Godhead was but indistinctly disclosed. Seve- GodtheFather- ral expressions in the very earliest books imply,* and are evidently calculated to suggest it. In the later prophets the truth comes out with greater distinctness ; but it is in the New Testament only that it is revealed.
So also the work of the Holy Spirit is recognized in the Old Testament, and with increasing clearness The Holy as we' approach the times of the Gospel. It Spmt is in the New alone, however, that we have a full view of His character and work.
28. This gradual disclosure of the Divine will is still more remarkable in the case of our Lord.
Especially true
The first promise contains a prophetic declara- of the work of
1 r i Christ.
tion of mercy. It foretold His coming and work, though in mysterious terms. The first act of accept- able worship was a type, expressing by an action the faith of the offerer in the fulfillment of the first prediction. There was to be triumph through suffering, and there was to be the substitution of the innocent for the guilty.
These promises and types were multiplied with the lapse of time. In the person or worship of Enoch, of Noah, of Melchisedeck, and of Job, there was much that was typical
* The first set of expressions which clearly suggest a plurality of per- sons in the Godhead, include all those in which " the Angel of the Lord" has applied to Him the incommunicable name of Jehovah, or in which He speaks in His own name ; Gen xvi. 7. and ver. 13. Similar expres- sions may be found in Gen. xxii. 11 — 18; xxxiii. 11 — 13 ; xxxii. 28 — 30; Rosea xii.4,5; Ex. iii. 2— 15 ; xix. 19, 20; xx. 1; xxiii. 20, 21; com- pared with Acts vii. 38 ; Jos. v. 13— 15 ; vi. 2 ; Isa. lxiii. 8, 9 ; Mai. iii. 1#
Another set of expressions includes such as these — " Let us make man in our own image," and the use of the plural noun to indicate the true God, with a singular verb. Gen. i. 1 ; Ps. lviii. 12 (Heb.) ; Prov. ix. 10 (Heb.) ; &c.
The third set includes such passages as Num. vi. 22 — 27 ; Isa. vi. 3—8 ; Isa. xlviii. 16; Jer. xxiii. 5, 6, 7.
15
170 CHAPTER IV.
or predict.ve, and still more in the history of Abraham and his immediate descendants.
Under the Mosaic dispensation other typical persons, and places, and things were instituted, and the design of these institutions was more distinctly explained.
Between the days of Samuel and Malachi, a period of six hundred years, a succession of prophets were sent, who gradually set forth the person and work of the Messiah. They foretell, too, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the general prevalence of the truth.
In the extent of their predictions the prophets have not gone beyond the first promise, which was intended to give hope of a complete redemption. But in their clearness in the detailed account they give of what redemption in- volved, and of what it cost, the difference is most marked ; while in the same qualities the Gospel has gone at least as far beyond the prophets as the prophets had gone beyond the law.
29. It is noticeable, too, that the predictions of the Old So of practical Testament and its practical doctrines go hand holiness. jn han(j ^he revelation spreads on each
point. The light that illuminates the living spring or the harvest field of truth, shows with equal clearness the way that leads to them. The law gives divine precept with greater clearness than previous dispensations ; and the prophets go beyond the law, occupying a middle place between it and the Gospel. They insist more fully on personal holiness as distinguished from national and cere- monial purity, and their sanctions have less reference to temporal promises. The law had said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," and the extern or this precept nothing could exceed. The prophets expound, and enforce, and animate it with a new spirit, and direct its application to greater holiness. The rule of life be- comes in their hands increasingly luminous and practical.
§ 2. THE SERMON OX THE MOUNT. 171
30. This gradual development of the truth may be illus- trated from the law and the Gospel. Mark, The illustra_ for example, how under the ancient economy, towfofhoiiness the idea of the holiness of God was revealed. howtausht- The heathen nations have no word which properly repre- sents this attribute, and to the Jews it needed to be sug- gested by a special institution. In preparation for this arrangement, all animals were divided from the first into clean and unclean. From the clean, one was afterwards chosen without spot or blemish ; a peculiar tribe, selected from the other tribes, was appointed to present it, the offering being first washed with pure water, and the priest himself undergoing a similar ablution. Neither priest nor victim, however, much less the offerer, was deemed suffi- ciently holy to come into the Divine presence ; but the offering was made without the holy place. The idea of the infinite purity of God was thus suggested to the minds of observers ; and holiness in things created came to mean, under the law, purification for sacred uses. Under the Gospel it has higher significance, and is taught by an infi- nitely holier sacrifice. Now it involves freedom from sin, and the possession by spiritual intelligences " of a Divine nature."
The demerit of sin, and the doctrine of an atonement, were taught in words taken from an equally
& . 1 J The guilt of sin,
instructive rite, though still imperfectly. The how taught
° # . under the Law
victim was slain, and its blood, which was the and under the
Gospel.
life, sprinkled upon the mercy-seat and to- wards the holy place, the abode of the Invisible King ; and while the people prayed in the outer court, they beheld the dark volume of smoke ascending from the sacrifice which was burning in their stead. How mysteriously, yet plainly, did this suggest that God's justice was a consuming fire, and that the souls of the people escaped through a vica- rious atonement !
It 2 CHAPTER IV.
The moral lesson, it will be noticed, of both these exam- ples, is identical with the teaching of the Gospel ; but how much clearer and fuller are the statements of the second economy than those of the first. And if we compare these two revelations with an intermediate one — for example the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, where the Great Victim is repre- sented as God's servant, and as Himself dying for the ini- quity of the people, and as making intercession for trans- gressors, the gradual development appears plain. What was ritual at first is here mysteriously linked with some human sufferer ; but who he is, and who are to profit by his sufferings, are questions unsolved till we turn to the Gospel, and there we find that both predictions, the type and the prophecy, are fulfilled and completed in the cross.
If we compare the precepts of the Pentateuch on repent- ance, with those of the prophets on the same duty,* or the statements of both, on the relation between the Jews, or the world generally, and Him who came to enlighten the Gentiles as well as His people Israel ; or mark the increa- sing clearness and spirituality of the whole horizon of spiritual truth as the dawn of the Gospel-day drew on, we shall not fail to be struck with the consistency and yet gradual development of the whole. Throughout there will be found evidences of the presence of that God who, as Bishop Butler expresses it, appears ''deliberate in all His operations," and who accomplishes his ends by slow and successive stages, whether they refer to the changes of the seasons, the movements of providence, or the more formal disclosures of His will.f
* Deut. xxx. 1 — 6; Ez. xviii.; Isa. lvii. 15, 16; Ps. li.
■f- Sornotirues this gradual development of truth is spoken of as suc- cessive dispensations — the Adamic, the Patriarchal, the Mosaic, and the Christian. Dispensation meaning in this connection the way in which God deals with man. The Adamic continued only during man's inno- cency; the Patriarchal lasted 2,500 years; (Gen. iii. ; Ex. xx. ;) the
§ 2 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 113
31. With the books of the Gospel, however, (it must be added,) the development of the Evangelical
Development
truth (so far as the present state is concerned) ceases with the
v x y Gospel.
ends. There may be passages in the Bible whose full meaning is not yet discovered, and which are perhaps " reserved," as Boyle expressed it, "to quell some future heresy, or solve some yet unformed doubt, or con- found some error that hath not yet a name," or proved, by fresh prophetic evidence, that it came from God ; but we are to look for no further revelation, nor are we to regard as developments of Scripture doctrine the additions or ex- positions of men. The gradual development of truth in Scripture is one thing ; accretions that overlay that truth is another ; and it is for the first only that we contend.
32. Two practical conclusions may be gathered from these facts, in addition to the great lessons for Tw0 practicai which they are here adduced. conclusions.
First. The Bible must be regarded, not as a series of distinct revelations, but as one and indivisible. Reveiation one Doctrines clearly revealed in the New Testa- and indivisible- ment depend for many of their evidences, and yet more for their illustrations, on the Old. The one dispensation is the completion of the other. The first is the type, or the early figure ; the second, the heavenly reality. The nature of the " good things to come" may be learned both from the shadow and from the things themselves.
Hence, secondly, we have an important test of truth, and of the relative value of truth. If it be said,
n Truths com-
for example, that the sacrifice and priesthood mon to both
. , . . ~ dispensation^.
of Christ are not revealed m the Gospel, or
their subordinate truths, we look to the law ; and if it be
maintained that there is now no priesthood and no sacri-
Mosaie 1,500 more. The Patriarchal contains many of the first princi- ples of the Mosaic, in sacrifice and circumcision, for example, as do both dispensations of the Gospel.
15*
1T4 CHAPTER IV.
fice, either we have a series of shadowy observances with- out reference or meaning ; the blood, the altar, the holy place, the propitiatory intercession, are all types of nothing ; and the previous economy is robbed of all its significance ; or if it be supposed that the earlier dispensation is abol- ished, the substitution of the Gospel in its place implies a change in the very principles of the Divine government. Under that dispensation law was inexorable ; now it is yielding and remiss. Then repentance alone was power- less to save ; now it is mighty and efficacious. At first, man was pardoned through an atonement ; at least, by pre- rogative. As it is, the mystery is solved. Revelation is a consistent whole ; the doctrines of the later manifestations unfold their meaning when studied amidst the patterns of the earlier ; and each dispensation is strengthened by its agreement with the other.
33. The object of these remarks, however, is chiefly to
explain our Lord's relation to previous dis- which Christ pensations. As they were typical, He came
to complete them {nXiq^aaC^ • putting the sub- stance in the place of the shadow. As they were predic- tive, He fulfills them. As they inculcate precepts and truths in relation to God and man, he develops and ex- plains them ; giving them a clearer, wider, and more spi- ritual application to the various duties of human life, and making them and Himself a full and perfect revelation of the will and character of His Father.
34. With the view of commencing this fuller revelation, scene amid our Saviour now addressed His disciples and rn^rfVa^deiT- tne multitude. They were assembled in the verod. early morning (Luke vi. 13), amidst some of the finest scenery in the world, under an oriental sky, to listen to words such as were never before uttered on earth. God spake to Moses and to the Israelites in Sinai with a voice so terrible, that the people desired to hear it no
§ 2. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 175
more ; and even Moses said, " I exceedingly fear and quake ;" but Christ spoke with meekness and love, in tones and amid scenes which were in beautiful harmony with the truths He came to reveal. M The law came by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ."
35. The people were evidently gathered together with curious excited feeling. Many of them had ,
° J Spoken by no
witnessed His miracles : some saw in Him the common teach-
' er.
promised Messiah ; others, at the least, a teacher from God. The character of the sermon, and the phrases employed, plainly indicate that more than a common teacher was speaking ; and at its close His hearers acknowledged, that this was also their impression ; for He taught, said they, "as one having authority, and not as the scribes." (Matt. vii. 29.)
Most of His hearers, it is probable, had the common ex- pectation of their nation. They looked for a Expectation of temporal deliverer, hoped for the establishment hls hearers- of a temporal kingdom, and counted as a matter of course on their admission to all its immunities.
36. At the very outset of His discourse Christ comes into collision with all these carnal expecta- First peCuiiari- tions. The nature of His kingdom and the four's doc- ^ character of its members are at once revealed. tnue-
He announces Himself not as a judge of the heathen, nor as an avenger of the wrongs of His country ; but as the bcstower of spiritual blessings, and that upon those only who had no hope in themselves. (Matt. v. 3-11.) He formally blesses those who are poor in spirit, who are con- scious of their spiritual poverty, and then those who under the influence of this feeling have a deep sense of guilt and imperfection. This disposition, again, gives rise in them to a spirit of humble meekness ; to a strong desire after righteousness. In proportion as this desire is fulfilled and they obtain forgiveness, there springs up a compassionate
176 CHAPTER IV.
love for others ; they endeavor to impart to their brethren the peace which they themselves enjoy. The world, how- ever, misunderstands their aims, and dislikes what they are seeking to diffuse. They are therefore reviled and per- secuted ; and for this condition, too, a special blessing is reserved.
To each of these classes Christ makes a promise of grace and love proportioned to the character of the receiver. To the poor is given the possession of a kingdom ; to the mourner, comfort ; to the suffering meek, lordship and do- mion ; to the hungry, the supply of their wants ; to the merciful, mercy ; to those whose hearts are pure, the vision of God ; and to the promoters of peace, the recognition of their resemblance to him.
These promises are interwoven, it may be observed, with quotations from ancient predictions, explaining, appropri- ating, and fulfilling them all.
After this introduction, which is common to both Mat- thew and Luke, our Lord proceeds to state
The promised
blessedness uot His relation to the Law. He first intimates,
intended to
take men from however, that the blessedness He had an-
duty. '
nounced to his disciples was not intended to justify any abandonment of the world. " Ye are," says He, " the salt of the earth, and the light of the world." As if He had said : "Ye are a noble and indispensable element in this lower state ; the image and means of its purity, the secret of its preservation, especially as through you the Spirit of God will exercise his enlightening, quickening, and consecrating power. What salt is in the covenant — what it is in preserving from decay, in seasoning and puri- fying acceptable sacrifice — what light is to a darkened and guilty world — such are ye The kingdom is yours — by and by ye shall enter it — but now I leave you to your wcrk, and after work will come your reward He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved."
§ 2. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 1?T
31. Then follows (in Matthew only, as is most fitting) a disclosure of his relation to the Law. "I am Chr]St>s re]a. come," says He, "to give you a deeper insight tl0n t0 the law" into its requirements, and therefore to exhibit a noble and perfect performance of them. (Matt. v. 17, 18.) Nor let it be supposed that mine is a revelation unknown to the ancient prophets. It is, on the contrary, the fulfillment of their predictions and of the law itself. If that law be regarded as a collection of moral precepts, I appear to disclose their depth, to yield them in myself complete satisfaction, and afterwards to show to my church in its practical holiness the fullness of all that purity which they demand. If it be regarded as a collection of ritual insti- tutes, I appear to achieve the great sacrifice of my own oblation, and then to secure to my church in its holy con- secration the realized spirit of the ancient theocracy, that all my disciples may become kings and priests unto God." That all this fullness of meaning was in the mind of our blessed Lord, is plain ; for He contemplates the fulfillment of the law as extending into the distant future, and as reaching in fact to the end of time. " Heaven and earth," lays He, "shall pass away; but the law shall not pass iway till all be fulfilled." Most of what was ceremonial ended in Him. What was spiritual and moral is to be embodied by His grace and power in His church.
38. In studying the following verses (21-48), there are two rules laid down by the commentators, of
. „. . „ T , Rules for in-
great importance.* The sayings of our Lord terpretmg
t i ,, Christ's expo-
herein are all to be regarded as expressing the sition of the spiritual sense of the Old Testament com- mands ; and His explanations (with His moral precepts generally) must themselves be interpreted in His spirit. The first rule Luther has well illustrated in his tii
Illustrated.
commentary on the passage : " Mark," says he,
* Tholuck.
178 CHAPTER IV.
" how Chris., takes up the command. Ye have heard from the Pharisee how Moses ordained, and how, from ancient times, it has been said, ' Thou shalt not kill;' and on that account you natter yourselves as persons diligent in study- ing and practising God's commands as they have learned them from his own prophet. You build upon and boast of it, that it is Moses who tells you, ' Thou shalt not kill ;' you stop short, however, at the letter, and will let it have no other than the plain meaning the sound conveys ; and thus you darken the words with your crude assertions and corrupt glosses, so that it is impossible to see what they imply or express. But do you suppose He speaks merely of your hand when he says, ' Thou shalt not kill ?' What then dost thou mean ? It implies not simply the hand, the foot, or tongue, or any other single member, but all that thou art in body and in soul. He addresses himself not to the hand, but to the whole person. Hence it is that ' Thou shalt-not kill,' expresses as much as if he had said : Whatever members you have, and however you may kill — whether by hand, or tongue, or heart, or gesture — whether you look fiercely and refuse with your eyes to let your neighbor live, or whether you mean with your ears to kill, and hate to hear him praised, all is condemned ; for then is your heart and all within you so disposed as to wish him dead. Though, therefore, the hand be motionless, and the tongue silent ; and though eyes and ears refrain, still may the heart be full of murder and blood."*
So also must we interpret the language of our Lord in the spirit in which it was spoken. He speaks broadly and impressively, reckoning upon the candor and common sense of His hearers to apply His truth : " Whosoever shall say to his brother, ' Thou fool,' shall be in danger of hell- fire y and yet sin is folly, and the sinner is really a fool.
* From Luther, slightly abridged.
§ 2. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 179
And is this language always forbidden ? No ; our common sense and the spirit of our Master teach the exception. "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out." Shall the members suffer for the unholy desires of the heart ? ]S"o ; but common sense and the spirit show us the meaning ; better lose an object as dear as the eye than risk your soul. " Let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay ; for what is more than this cometh of evil." Is then every oath for- bidden ? Nay, but it is elsewhere said to be an end of strife. God, and our Lord, and His Apostles, have all ap- pealed (as the oath does) to God in confirmation of their statements. Again, the spirit limits the precept and shows the meaning.
Let it be remembered, moreover, that in all the teaching of our Lord there is much that is figurative. . A happy figure is, as Augustine expressed it, Lord's teaching "little to the little, and great to the great;" intelligible to the child, and when received into the mind, is like a seed, which, through the fructifying influence of thought and meditation, casts off the husk and becomes a tree. It is something addressed to all men, and to all parts of men ; fancy, wit, intellect, and feeling, only it must be interpreted with care. So the following are to be inter- preted ; " Whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also;" "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth ;" "When thou fastest anoint thy head and wash thy face ;" " Let the dead bury the dead;" "Salute no man by the way." Expressions that Imve a beautiful spiritual meaning, but not all the meaning which the figures may seem to imply. After all the pains which may be taken, however, to reach the full sense of the teaching of our Lord, it will remain a ques- tion whether we have seen down into the depth of Hid meaning. His words are ever like the deep sea, intensely clear, but immeasurably profound.
180 CHAPTER IV.
39. His morality, as between man and man, is summed Morality of the UP m tw0 forms ; in each case in a single pre-
Gospel. cept> The firgt ig> « CQpy Go(j .» u Be ye per.
feet even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (v. 48) ; and the second, which is, perhaps, more direct and prac- tical in its application, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them" (vii. 12). 40 Our Lord then proceeds to expose and correct pre- valent opinions or practices in relation to reli-
llis precepts in . . . -,-_. .. , .
r-iation to re- gious duty. All ostentation He absolutely condemns ; whether in alms-giving, in fasting. The love of the or iR prayer. Prayer itself He explains and world. illustrates. The besetting sin of our nature,
i he eager desire of earthly treasures, He rebukes (Matt vi. 1-24) for a threefold reason ; the treasure itself is pe- rishable— the pursuit of such treasure as our great aim, is a perversion of our powers ; and if it be pursued, it must be at the cost of heaven ; for no man can serve Mammon and God.
Having cautioned His hearers against this tendency, He further forbids all anxious feeling in relation even to subsistence. Distract not your minds with the question what ye shall eat, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed ; your anxiety is useless (v. 27). It is heathen- ish (v. 32). It is a denial of the love, or an invasion of the province of God (v. 32). Spend your energies, there- fore, on duty temporal and spiritual, and leave the issues of your diligence with Him (v. 33).
After these general precepts, He goes on to condemn uncharitable the spirit of harsh and uncharitable judgment judgments. jn ^j^ jjjs hearers were especially prone to indulge, and bids them direct their attention chiefly to the correction of their own faults. "When these are removed, it will be time enough to examine and censure your neigh- bors." (Matt. vii. 1-5.)
§ 2. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 181
41. These precepts seem to have produced a double im- pression. Some sneered and others were huni-
x Results on dif
bled. The first class He rebuked (vii. 6), and ferent classes
of bearers.
the second He cheered, leading their thoughts to the sufficiency of Divine grace, and presenting encour- agement to confiding and affectionate prayer (v. 7-11).
His discourse is closed with a brief description of the different paths He and His hearers had been End of the dif. considering — obedience ending in life, disobe- pu^ueToy^ dience in death (vii. 14). To the one termi- them- nation, He tells them they can be led only through a nar- row gate, and by a narrow way ; to the other the way is broad, easy, and plain Some, He intimates, may attempt to combine the guilty indulgences of the broad road, with a claim to religious influence, and a heavenly reward. The attempt, however, our Lord repudiates, and teaches all to repudiate it too. " By their fruits ye shall know them" (v. 20). Their end, He tells His hearers, will not differ from their course ; and that course will at length appear to be as foolish and disastrous as it is inconsiderate and sinful (v. 26).
42. Never was morality revealed so humbling, so en- nobling, so spiritual. It makes the character
of God our model,, and the grace of God our racter of this encouragement. It brings us at once into con- mma 1 y" tact with Him, and the blessed result is a nobleness and reality of holiness, as far removed from bitterness and hypocrisy, as it is from selfishness and pride.
43. These truths appear and re-appear during the min- istry of our Lord, sometimes with ample illus- Its iessona re. tration, and sometimes in new and instructive Peatod- connections, but the substance is not changed. What is here said may be said more at length, but more than this, it seems hardly possible to say. These other passages, how- ever, may all be examined with instruction and advantage
16
182 CHAPTER IV.
The forbearance, and humility, and love, which form the groundwork of all inward religion, are repeat- edly enforced by our Lord, and often with touching emphasis, as in Matt, xviii. 1-35, and the parallel passages; again in Luke xvii. 1-10; and again in Mark x, 1, 3-16. The grace of humility is indeed expressly commended and illustrated on no less than seven different occasions.
The contrary vices of ambition and contention are point- edly rebuked in Matt. xx. 20-28, and in Luke
Ambition, &c. ..«.„« ^i • , -i • tt- t • i
xxn. 24-30 ; Christ reminding His disciples in the last passage, that the chief distinction among them is to consist in a larger share of service, and in more exhaust- ing toils ; " for whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." These precepts He enforced by His own example, and illustrated from the spirit of little chil- dren, whom He took and set in the midst.
But though this is the true spirit of His gospel, and His
disciples were to be sustained in cherishing it,
Persecutions
He warns them that men will resent their efforts, reject their message, and visit them with bitter per- secution, such as He Himself encountered, (Matt. x. 16 ; xvi. 24-27 ; Luke xiii. 26-35 ; xxi. 12-19 ; John xv. 18-27 ; xvi. 33,) assuring His disciples in several of these pas- sages, that they are to be conformed to His sufferings, (though in an infinitely lower sense,) and that, having suf- fered with Him, they shall also be partakers of His glory.
The spirituality and comprehensiveness of the Divine The spiritual- ^aw m its two great commandments, He illus- h?n*?TeneMPof trated in most of His discourses, especially in we law. His answer to the lawyer. (Mark xii. 28—34.)
Its application to all of every nation, He taught in reply to the question of another lawyer, at an earlier period of His ministry. (Luke x. 25-27.) The spirit of the law was still further illustrated in His fearful denunciations of
§ 2. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 183
the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, (Luke xi. 37-54 ; Matthew xii. 38-42; xvi. 1-12; John viii. 2-10,) and especially in Matthew xxiii. 13-39. The law of divorce He also took occasion to explain, freeing it from licentious abuse. (Matthew xix. 3-12.)
Uncharitable judgments Christ rebuked from the history of the Galileans, and at the same time corrected uncharitable the impression which the Jews had gained Judsments- from a perversion of their own dispensation, to the effect that providential calamities were not so much the evidence of the general disorder of human nature, as of individual guilt. (Luke xiii. 1-9.) The persecuting spirit of His disciples He also severely condemns. (Luke ix. 56.)
The great lesson of prayer He repeated, (Luke xi. 1-13,) also the lesson of confidence in the provi- Prayer Trust dence of God ; (Luke xii. 1-59 ;) frequently ^P^ence. recognizing, in the directest forms, the dependence of man for all spiritual blessings and Divine attainment, on the sovereign grace of His Father. (Matt. xi. 25-27 ; Luke x. 11-24 ; John xvii.)
44. These passages are all independent, it will be no- ticed, of His parables and miracles, each of Miracles> para. which was intended to set forth some great ^chSt in-*8 moral or spiritual truth. They are indepen- mora?teTch?18 dent, moreover, of the acts of His life, which 1Dg'
were in themselves an embodiment of divinest law, exhi- biting in deeds what His teaching set forth in the common tongue.
45. What our Lord taught in relation to Himself, (faith in Him being represented elsewhere as the The great evan- foundation of all acceptable service,) and in fhatmoSitP relation to the union of His disciples, will be ^"teuSit noticed hereafter. It is enough to state, in elsewhere- passing, that Christ regards the feeling of reliance on God's covenant mercy as essential to obedience. Without
184 CHAPTER IV.
it there is no true sense of sin, no recognition of God, no desire for holiness, and therefore no virtue. The connec- tion between these excellencies and faith, which last is but a persuasion by the heart of our true condition, and of the fullness of the mercy that saves us, is one of the sublimest, as it is one of the most important practical truths of the Gospel.
§ 3. Christ's teaching in relation to His own work.
46. In the last section, Christ appears as the expounder Chnst pro- °f the moral law. In this character the peo- t™dXd<>r" ple admired Him. As a worker of miracles Fares, ^lQj a]so ]j0re testimony to His power and grace. But He had other and more significant lessons, and was soon to show how far the Jews, and how far His own disciples, even, were prepared to receive them. A right understanding of the Divine law, and admiration of Christ's works and character, were far from being all the Gospel which our nature required.
It needed time, however, to prepare the people for far- thou"h gradu- ^her disclosures ; and in the interval our Lord al]y- proceeded with His mission of love, revealing
as much in miracles, and afterwards in parables, as they were able to bear.
47. The first narrative that meets us after the sermon
on the mount, is the healing of the centurion's centurion's sur- servant. Matthew, writing for Jewish con- verts, omits the fact that this soldier sent to our Lord through the Jews, as it might have ministered to She old national pride. (Matt. viii. 5.) Luke, writing for Gentile converts, mentions it to keep in mind the favor in which the. Jews once stood to God. (Luke vii. 1, &c.) With like moral purpose, Luke does not notice our Lord's comment on this Gentile's faith as fully as Matthew does ; the one inserting what might check the corrupt tendency
§ 3. Christ's teaching. 185
of his Jewish readers, and the other omitting what might have strengthened similar feelings in the minds of Gentiles. (Matt. viii. 11, 12.)
The quality which drew forth our Saviour's remarks was the centurion's faith ; and involving, as it did, ghows import. a recognition of Christ's relation to the spiri- ouTLofrd'sth ia tual world, it is very beautiful. Christ appears P°wer- to him as the true Imperator ;* the ruler of both heaven and of earth. " Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed."
48. Luke's next miracle is highly characteristic of His Gospel. It is the history of the widow's son,
i t i • i i . , The raising of
her only son ; a word which he uses with the widows quite touching human emphasis. (Luke vii. 12.) We find it again in the case of the daughter of Jairus ; and again in the miracle of the child possessed with an evil spirit, (viii. 42 ; ix. 38.) The whole narrative is rich in suggestions ; and exhibits the tenderness of the character of Christ in striking contrast with the dignity and power ascribed to Him in the earlier verse.
49. Though these miracles had a deep spiritual mean- ing, a direct spiritual revelation of Christ had A spirituai not yet been given in Galilee. At Jerusalem JernlSghhST1" he had distinctly announced his office in all self ftt hand" its dignity, and had excited bitter hostility amongst the leaders of the people. (John v.) He had intimated, more- over, that the time was at hand when all true obedience would be tested by the way in which men received His mes- sage, and submitted to His claims ; (ver. 20 ;) but we do not find, as yet, any announcement of these truths to His countrvmen in Galilee. It was now, however, at hand.
* Trench on the Miracles,
16*
186 CHAPTER IV.
50. For the last several months John the Baptist had been in prison, paying the penalty of his messengers to fidelity; and, though he had long ago borne witness to the person and office of our Lord, he, or perhaps the little band that still adhered to him, was not prepared for all the results of His mission. (Matt. xi. 1-6; Luke vii. 18, 19.) He perhaps expected a tem- poral king, or had counted at least on personal favor. His own protracted imprisonment had, perhaps, weakened his faith ; and had certainly weakened the faith of his fol- lowers. He therefore sends them to Christ, not to ask whether He was a prophet, for this fact he does not seem to doubt, but whether He was the Messianic prophet whom Moses foretold (npo^tr^ ^ ip%6usvos). In reply our Lord appeals to His miracles, and quotes a passage from the ancient prophets, applicable only to the Messiah, and ful- filled in Himself; adding, in the hearing of John's disci- ples, though not of the multitude, " Blessed is he whoso- ever shall not be offended in Me." He then proceeds to honor and defend before the people the ministry of John, and tells them the character which they had
Christ's reply .
and defence of gamed by their treatment of His message. "God," says He in substance, "finds it impos- possible to meet the expectations of unsanctified men. He has addressed them by different ministries, and has adapted His truth to their condition, but all in vain. When one servant came mourning, men had no tears ; when another came in joy, men ^rrfnot dance. It is impossible to please them. A just God is approved by the conscience, but soon becomes an object of dread and hatred to their hearts. A God all mercy might^rifease their hearts, but by their con- science would certainly be condemned. At last, however, the wisdom of God will commend itself, in all its disclo- sures, and methods of disclosure, to His children. "
§ 1. Christ's teaching. 18T
51. A significant fact soon threw light on the intima- tions which Christ was about to give. He had _
° Dines •with a
entered the house of a Pharisee, at his invita- rharisee; re- ceives a woman tion, to dine, and had met with a kindly recep- ^ho is a sin-
tion. (Luke vii. 36.) But Christ's higher cha- racter is not that of a common guest, nor yet of a worker of miracles. Neither did Simon, nor on an earlier occa- sion, did Nicodemus fully see His power or grace. This favor was reserved for a humbler visitant. A poor woman enters the house, a sinner of the city ; and after an inter- view with Him, left it with a clearer knowledge of our Lord, and with holier satisfaction with His teaching, than either the Jewish rabbi or the courteous host had gained. No- thing rightly introduces us to Christ but sin, significance of and nothing rightly reveals Him but a sense of thls fact* sin. His highest character is, that He forgives and can- cels it. He is the prophet and the teacher, but he is above all the Redeemer ; and those only know Him who come to Him with this feeling. So she came, weeping and anoint- ing His feet, and wiping them with her hair. Her faith opened the door of her heart, and entertained Christ there as He most loved to be entertained ; while everything else, the hospitality of the Pharisee and the enquiries of Nico- demus, left Him still without. And it is this truth which Christ came to reveal — that men are lost, and that He ap- peared to seek and to save them. Sin only leads us to Him ; and He leads us only as sinners to God. The same truths — that a sense of need is the quaynTation that helps men to see Christ, and that Christ's highest character is that of a Saviour — came out in other parts of the inspired narrative, but nowhere in action motfef clearly than here.
With true Pharisaic spirit, the host saw in this reception of a sinner, an evidence against the Messiahship of his guest ; but Christ rebuked his reasoning. (Luke vii. 39.) The gift of her love He honored before the least of His
188 CHAPTER IV.
host ; not as the ground of her acceptance, but as the evi- dence and fruit of it. " Much has been forgiven ; for (thou seest) she loves much." "Thy faith (adds He, to make this truth clear) hath saved thee. Go in peace." 2. It is in connection with some such scene, and pro
Christ's excia- bably with this, that our Lord answered and mation. gaid . « j thank the(^ 0 Father) Lord of hea-
ven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. ..." Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart ; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." (Matt. xi. 25-30.) Here are clearly the rudiments of a teaching not less im- portant, and infinitely more cheering, than the right expo- sition of the law. (Luke viii. 1.) But these lessons were to receive in a few weeks an ampler explanation.
53. The feeling that found utterance, in the case of the woman who was a sinner, in tears and gifts, prompted others of her sex to services of personal kindness. (Luke
viii. 2, 3.) The sorrows of the one, and the
Christ served m '
and followed active labors of the other, were alike accepted,
by women.
and were both probably the fruits of conscious forgiveness and spiritual blessing.
54. And now commences the second circuit of Galilee.
In company with His disciples, our Lord
The second and t . .
third circuit of visited every city and village, preaching the
Galilee. ax
glad tidings of the kingdom. (Luke viii. 1.) A third time was the journey taken. by the apostles (ix. 1) ; and afterwards by the seventy (x. 1) ; all working and preaching as they went.
At the commencement of this tour our Lord healed the Miracles mari possessed of a devil, blind, and dumb ;
begSrdSg of e the Scribes blaspheming, and asking further
the°se journeys. gigng of Wg miggion JJe fl^ with Hig dis.
§ 3. Christ's teachixg. 189
ciples, crossed the lake of Tiberias, healing the demoniacs of Gadara ; raising the daughter of Jairus ; stopping the issue of blood ; opening the eyes of the blind, and casting out a dumb spirit. (Luke xi. 14 ; viii. 26, 41-56.) Through- out the whole of these miracles we trace a double charac- teristic. Everywhere the destructive power of the devil is rebuked, and the redeeming power of the Saviour is re- vealed. If He judged at all, it is sin or unbelief, not the sinner. The poor and guilty are ever welcome.
55. Every act of healing, moreover, performed on the bodies of men, represented significantly the
' r -i Lessons taught
spiritual healing that they required ; and ex- in these mira-
cles.
ceptmg the miracles that were wrought upon the devils, or upon the sea, all taught the necessity of a sense of need and faith. When the poor sufferer, who had a fountain of uncleanness in her very flesh, said : " If I may but touch the hem of His garment, I shall be clean ;" He replied : "Daughter, thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." (Luke viii. 48.) " Eear not," said he again, "only believe." (Mark v. 36.) "Believe ye that I am able to do this unto you ? And they said, Yea, Lord. According to your faith be it unto you." (Matt. ix. 28, 29.) How instructive is this truth — that faith, which is nothing in itself, is everything under the Gospel, because it places us in living connection with Him in whom all is stored !
56. And now that the coming of the kingdom of God has been twice announced throughout Galilee, rurther notice and Christ's character as a teacher revealed, the j£ethtVeiYer? °f time seems come for more spiritual disclosures. results-
But the result of the labors of the disciples is instruc- tive, and first claims our regard. Twice during his per- sonal ministry did our Lord commission and send forth His disciples. To the tribes of Israel, He first sent the twelve ; afterwards the seventy (a number answering to what the Jews supposed to be the number of the nations of
190 CHAPTER IV.
the earth) ; and now the former return to tell the success of their message.
He sent them out to announce the approach of the king- owect of their dom of heaven ; He conferred upon them the mission. power of working miracles; He bade them
make no provision for their journey, but trust in God ; to be content with whatever was offered to them ; to abide in the first house that was kindly opened to them, and thence to extend their labors round it. (Luke ix. 1-6.) In the end they found their wants all supplied, and they admitted that they had lacked nothing. (Luke xxii. 35.) In their work they were to combine purity with wisdom, the quali- ties of the serpent and dove.
As soon as He had sent them, He Himself went forth to Christ Himself teach and preach " in their cities ;" thus show- tempo?LCe°-n ^nS tnat under His kingdom He gives no com- ously- mands which He does not Himself obey. (Matt,
xi. 1.) He first bears the cross, and then says to His dis- ciples: "Follow Me."
57. He seems to have selected a well-known spot at the head of the lake, as the place of meeting after
The twclv© TG-
turn; and com- this first missionary tour was completed. " The Christ the re- apostles," we are told, "gathered themselves together, and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught." (Mark vi. 30.) How delightful is this confidence ! They told Him of their failures and of their success ; of their wisdom and of their folly ; of their reliance and of their unbelief. We can easily imagine the blessedness of this meeting; the honest greetings with which every new comer was wel- comed by those who had chanced to arrive before him. We seem to see Christ listening with affectionate earnest- ness to the recital of their adventures ; and interposing from time to time a word of encouragement or of caution, as the character and narrative of each might demand.
§ 3. Christ's teaching. 191
The heart of each was unveiled, and the words spoken were eminently in season. The fatigues of their journey were none of them remembered, as each received from the Saviour the smile of His approval. That was truly a joyful meeting ; and of all that company not one has for- gotten the day, nor will ever forget it
58. Christ saw, however, that His disciples needed fur- ther counsel. By doing His will they were They retire t0 prepared for richer communications, and they a desert placP nad committed errors which needed correction. Sur rounded as they were, moreover, by the crowds, they found rest and retirement equally impossible; "there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure, no, not so much as to eat bread." (Mark vi. 31.) " Come ye," said He, " yourselves into a desert place, and rest awhile."
The religion of Christ requires retirement, as certaiuly as it requires publicity. The disciples had for some time been living before the eyes of men, and they needed com- munion with one another and with their Lord. For some weeks they had traveled on foot under a tropical sun, rea- soning with unbelievers and instructing the ignorant, obe- dient to every call of weakness and poverty ; and now they needed rest. His rule is ever consistent with benevolence ; He cares for the benefactor as well as for the recipient. "He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust."
Partly to meet these necessities, and partly, perhaps, to be out of the jurisdiction of Herod, whose anxious curiosity concerning Him might have interfered with our Lord's plans, He and His disciples cross the lake and enter the desert, i. e., the thinly peopled country of Bethsaida. Here, in the cool and retired neighborhood of the lake, He began to instruct them, and without interruption to make known to them the mysteries of His kingdom. It was a season such as our Lord seldom enjoyed; and it must have been delightful to all who witnessed and shared His love.
192 CHAPTER IV.
59. Soon, however, the scene was changed. The mul- vssited by the titude from Capernaum, making a hasty journey crowds. round the north end of the lake, discover the
place of His retreat ; an immense crowd approaches, and the little band is surrounded by them. Some of these suitors present most importunate claims ; healing and strength are sought by most for themselves or for their friends ; and every one, believing his own claim to be most urgent, presses forward with anxious importunity.
The interruption could not fail to be unwelcome. The apostles needed rest ; they required further instruction, and such opportunities of intercourse with Christ were exceed- ingly rare. But what did they do ; rebuke and dismiss the multitudes ? Not so. The providence of God had sent them, and that same providence forbade our Lord to send them away unblessed. He at once broke up the conference with His disciples, and addressed Himself to the work before Him. His instructions were doubtless of great value ; but it may be questioned whether even they were more important than the example of humility, kindness, and compassion, which He here exhibited.
His presence awed and stilled the crowd. He views them as "sheep scattered without a shepherd.'*
A day devoted L
to teaching (Matt. ix. 36; Luke ix. 11.) He seeks at
and healing.
once to relieve and instruct them ; speaking to them of the kingdom of God, and healing those that had need of healing.
The greater part of a long summer's day had been em- ployed in this double work. Now the shades of evening The people are gathering around the multitude, who have need bread. nothing to eat. To send them away fasting would be inhuman, for most of them had come from far, and many of them were women and children, who could not perform their journey homeward without previous re-
§ 3. Christ's teaching. 193
freshment. Even Philip, moreover, who was a native of that district, knew not where it was possible to buy bread for them, had the money to pay for it been at hand. The crowds, therefore, were thrown upon the bounty of our Lord. He had not led them into the wilderness ; they came to Him of themselves, to hear His words, and be healed of their infirmities ; he could not send them away, however, "lest they should faint by the way." (Matt. xv. 32.) Nothing remained to be done, therefore, but to put forth Divine power.
60. The little basket of provisions in the hands of the disciples seems barely enough for themselves. The miracle of It consists of only five loaves and two small the loaTCS- fishes ; but with God's blessing and the Saviour's power it is enough for all. The large mass of human beings, amounting now to five thousand, besides women and chil- dren, are arranged in groups of orderly guests all seated on the grass. Silence is obtained ; the blessing of God is implored upon the scanty meal ; and immediately He begins to break the loaves and the fishes. He distributes them to His disciples, and His disciples distribute them to the mul- titude. He continues to break and distribute ; basket after basket is filled and emptied ; and at last the baskets are returned full, and it is announced that the wants of the multitude are supplied. The miracle then ceases, and the miraculous provision of food is at an end. (Mark v. 25-44.)
Everything here is instructive. To have led the crowds into this position without providing; for them,
° Lessons.
would have been presumption ; to sustain them when there, was unmingled mercy.
He began to break and distribute in faith the meal which had been provided only for Himself and His disciples ; the supply increased as it was required, and it ceased not until All that had been prayed for was accomplished.
IT
J94 CHAPTER IV.
And these were the acts of a single day. Private kind These the acts ncss an(^ instruction, the cure of disease, pub- of a single day. ylc teaching, and the relief of the wants of famishing crowds, filled up the day. Such were the occu- pations of the Son of God.*
The impressions these labors produced upon the multi- tude were deep and general, though alas ! not
Result.
of the holiest kind. It was concluded that He must be their deliverer ; and many of the people were dis- posed to employ all the means in their power to induce Him to assume those royal honors which He had shown that He could so easily maintain.
61. Aware of this feeling, our Lord first sent away His The crowd di*- disciples ; and the multitude, supposing that misled. Christ must remain in the desert till the morn- ing, and that they would find Him there, quietly dispersed ; our Lord retiring, after they left Him, to spend the greater part of the night in communion with God.
The night itself was an important and instructive one ; abounding too in evidences of the Saviour's kindness and power. (Matt, xiv.)
Early in the morning the people collected to carry their purpose into effect, and began to seek for Jesus ; He was nowhere, however, to be found. They therefore crossed over the lake in some boats that had arrived that morning from Tiberias, and entered Capernaum, where they found Him in the synagogue teaching the people.
62. And now comes the decisive disclosure of our Sa-
viour's character. The people had expected a naum/nisdis- temporal king. Christ's power had seemed to
course there. . . TT. A, . -\r • i i
point Him out as the coming Messiah, and they appear to hail and crown Him. But the higher their hopes the greater their disappointment, and ultimately the
* See Dr. "Wayland's Sermon on "a Day in the life of Jesus of Naza- reth," from which many of these thoughts are taken.
§ 3. Christ's teaching. 195
greater their rage, when He offered them something en- tirely different from what they sought. Carnal, earthly enthusiasm easily passes over to opposition, and Christ was about to feel the truth of this rule. " Master," said they, "when earnest thou hither?" (John vi. 25-27; 35, 51.) Their question, which sprung probably from idle curiosity, which must say something, and hoped, perhaps, to hear how He had come, our Lord answered only with a rebuke: "Yerily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labor not for the meat that pe- risheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting- life ; and which the Son of man shall give unto you, for him hath the Father, God, sealed." " Not conviction, out self-interest; not a spiritual kingdom, but secular bless- ing— ■ the meat that perisheth' is the object of your pur- suit. The meat which, imperishable in its nature, supports an immortal life, is what I have come to reveal ; and that meat I give ; and that meat," he adds, " I am."
By what works of Divine appointment (they answer) may we obtain this blessing — this meat, and the eternal life which you profess to impart ? " Credit my testimony, believe on me," is His reply, " and the gift shall be yours. With this faith everything is bestowed ; pardon and holi- ness, and a blessedness such as your largest thoughts have never conceived."
This answer suggests other questions. "You profess to be the greater prophet of whom Moses wrote. What sign showest thou ? Give us not human food, but heavenly, such at least as Moses gave ; nay more, let it be angels' food, celestial manna, and so fulfill our expectations of millennial bliss." " That celestial bread," our Lord replies, " is Myself; heavenly bread Moses did not give, but I give it. I give it for the life of the world. He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me
196 CHAPTER IV.
shall never thirst. Receive Me as Redeemer, Sanctifier, King, and All, and your happiness shall be complete."
This effort to awaken the desire of the Jews for the bread that Christ came to supply failed ; they scrupled about His meaning, and murmured at His sayings. He did not, therefore, reason with them on their scruples, but points out the source of them ; the dispositions of their hearts and minds. Of these it was necessary that they should be rid, before they could receive His divine mani- festation. " Murmur not among yourselves ; no man can come unto me, except the Father draw him." (John vi. 43, 44.) Seek within you, and not without you, the cause of your surprise. It lies here, that you have no sense of spiritual need, and no sense therefore of the value of the provision I have made. This lesson God teaches, as your own prophets have foretold. Not, however, that any man can know and be united to God but through the Son ; for He only hath seen the Father, and He only hath revealed Him.
The rejection of Christ is ever the expression and result The general °f unsanctified natural feeling. The salvation truth. 0f Qhrist is too spiritual for the unrenewed ;
too humbling for the proud ; too holy for the sinful ; too heavenly for the sensual and earthly. The influence of the Spirit, and the cogency of the truth understood and believed, are required to induce men to come to Christ, and these are from above. Man's ruin, therefore, belongs to himself; his salvation to God. The first is the fruit of our corruption and depravity ; the second originates with the Father, is effected by the Son, and is received through the Spirit. We have ruined ourselves, and in God only is our help to be found.
These great truths our Lord puts in+o other forms, and Remarkable repeats them. He gives Himself, He tells S^dTitr them> "as the bread of heaven;" He gives
meaning. tl ^ g^,, Hig b()dy> Qr j-^ tQ ^^ hap>
§ 3. Christ's teaching. 197
piness. " This," adds He, " is the bread I give. It is by this I secure for them that believe everlasting life." " Yerily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh, and drink the blood of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you " His "flesh and blood" is clearly a phrase equiva- lent to his sufferings and death ; not separated from his earthly existence, and teaching, and spirit, but involving them all. He, the bread — His flesh and blood, our life, exhausts the whole truth ; and these expressions embody, though in dark and figurative phraseology, the sublimest truths. All figures apart, Christ himself as our sacrifice — ■ Christ himself as the substance of all blessings, the staff of our strength, the support of our life — must be believed and trusted. He must be in us, and we in Him, in order that we may be saved. As the Father is the life-giving Father, so I, adds He, am the life-giving bread : " he that eateth Me shall live."
63. Throughout the chapter these figures are inter- changed, and literal interpretations are added A hard saying. Most of His hearers, however, failed to under- M hy reJected- stand how His words explained and illustrated each other. Adhering to the outward and material sense, they seized upon the expressions which were most striking ; hesitated, from the low position of the teacher, to give them their deepest meaning ; and found in the whole hard sayings which they could not bear ; comparatively difficult, but superlatively distasteful. Jesus, moreover, knowing in Himself that His disciples also (for not a word had been espoken by them) murmured, said unto them: "Doth this offend you ? What if ye shall see the Son ascend up whither He was before ? (John vi. 61, 62.) All your hopes of an earthly kingdom must then vanish, and the idea of eating my flesh in a literal sense become perfectly groundless. Can ye not perceive that it is a spiritual truth T am teaching ; and it is to spiritual influences, and doc-
11*
198 rilAlTKK IV
trines, and blessings I refer ; but in that spirit ye are defi- cient, and, as I said before, your carnal sense is the cause of your misunderstanding and unbelief." (ver. 65.)
64. Then followed a sifting of His disciples. " From Many of the that time many went back, and walked no disciples leave. more wj^ Him." They were not prepared
for a spiritual kingdom ; and Christ rather favored than discouraged their going. (John vi. 66-69.) To the twelve he said, "Will ye also go?" And Peter, speaking, as usual, for the rest, bore testimony to his experience of the Peter's comes- blessedness of his fellowship with Christ: S10n- " Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the
words of eternal life;" therefore, he adds, "We believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
65. In His reply to this confession, Christ warned them The traitor in- that there was one who did not share their dicated. conviction. He had chosen them and called them ; but one of them had the heart of a foe. Even the traitor was not unwarned ; these words might have led to repentance and pardon — failing this result, they must have deepened his enmity. Probably it may have been from this very conversation (which embodied statements quite incon- sistent with the idea of a temporal kingdom) that Judas gathered fresh motives for the betrayal of Christ ; and if so, it is an instance of spiritual truth becoming, as it often does, life to them that are saved, and death to them that perish.
66. The revelation of Christ that is most spiritual, is General les- a^s0 m°st humbling. Some reject Him, as did sonB- His countrymen at Nazareth, because of the lowliness of His guise and position ; others, as here, for the humbling depth of his doctrine, and the spirituality of His reign. Those who, like Peter, acknowledge the com- pleteness of their dependence on Christ, are the first to
§ 3. Christ's teaching. 199
ascribe to Him His true dignity : " Thou givest eternal life ; Thou, therefore, art the Son of the living God."
61. The miracle of the loaves evidently suggested to oui Lord the phraseology of His discourse to the
i sh ill ti«i Christ's mira-
people at Capernaum ; and the bread which cies aii signm- He had broken was a symbol of the bread of life He was about to supply. The eating, the division into companies, the ministration of the disciples, and the subse- quent care of the fragments, may all be regarded as more or less symbolical of the order and duties of the church His miracles are thus not only evidences — they are lessons. As He was Himself the Word of God, so all the acts of this Word are words. They are not pictures merely, which we are to examine and admire ; they are words which we are to understand ; for they have each, if we are to studj them, their own, and often the deepest meaning.
68. Nine of the miracles recorded in the Gospels were wrought in nature. The water He made wine ;
tt tt i Enumerated
the tempest He stilled ; the sea He made as and classified.
t t i tut • • tt ^n nature.
solid as earth, and walked upon it ; twice He multiplied the bread, till now five thousand, and then four thousand were filled ; twice He found in the miraculous draughts of fishes emblems of the work and progress of His kingdom ; once the fish supplied Him, through Peter, with proof of His sonship ; and once the barren fig-tree was blasted and withered as an emblem of the fate of the city near which He stood.
The remainder of the miracles were all wrought in a nobler field. Twice He healed persons afflicted
tt it 0Q man.
with leprosy ; four times He opened the eyes of the blind ; thrice He cast out devils ; thrice He raised the dead ; and many times besides He healed all manner of diseases. These are His recorded miracles — many others of the same kind He did in all parts of Judea, " which are not written" in these books.
200 CHAPTER IV.
69. All these miracles illustrate the blessings Christ came to introduce ; all, the necessity of power in these mira- and of faith ; and each miracle has, besides, lessons of its own.
How beautifully does His power over nature illustrate His providence. "All things are put under His feet." He was about to send forth His disciples into a cold perse- cuting world, but He bids them distrust neither His in- clination nor His ability to help them. " 0 fear the Lord, ye His saints ; for there is no want to them that fear him." (Ps. xxxiv. 9.) Nature and providence are His ; He is nead over them all for the church.
How instructive when the lepers are cleansed ; the blind eyes opened ; the possessed restored to their right mind ; the dead raised ! Each act an emblem of the spiritual blessings which Christ came to bestow ; and each, \fi ex- amined in detail, illustrative of the principles on which Hfe still acts in imparting His gifts.
Man and God are alike revealed in these portions of the sacred page.
TO. As the miracles of Christ are illustrative of His character and work, so are His acts and the
All flic sets of
Christ part of circumstances of His life. Every thing He
His revelation. . .
did aud suffered was instructive ; revealing sometimes the nature of His work, and sometimes the character to which Christians are to be conformed.
71. Prophets, for example, had described Him as gentle illustrated in au<^ compassionate. " He shall not cry, nor ins gentleness, y^ ^ nor cause His voice to be heard in the
street; "a bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench." (Is. xlii. 2, 3.) " He shall feed His flock like a shepherd ; so shall He gather the lambs in His arms, and carry them in His bosom."
And turning to His life, how does He sustain this dis- tinction ? His emblem was the lamb; the Holy Ghost
§ 3. Christ's teaching. 201
descends upon Him as a dove descends ; angels speak of the truth He reveals, as "peace on earth, and good will to men." (Luke ii. 14.)
How does He employ the power with which God en- dowed Him ? Once, it is true, He cursed the barren fig- tree, and it withered away ; but it was barren and unowned. The curse, moreover, was intended to be an instructive and solemn warning. It is true also, that He destroyed the herd of swine belonging to the Gadarenes ; but the miracle was in rebuke of the worldliness it elicited, and was in- tended, moreover, as an evidence of the reality of the power He had dispossessed. All His other miracles were entirely and distinctly acts of love.
And what utterances has He given ? It is true that He denounced the Scribes and Pharisees ; and against them His voice was heard. But then they were hypocrites, and He came to teach truth as well as mercy. His gentleness was never intended as a renunciation of wisdom or of righteousness ; and to disabuse the minds of the people concerning their false guides, was clearly part of his office. In relation to others, however, how lowly was His whole deportment ; how easy of access ; how tender in invita- tion ; how mild in rebuke ; how ready to suggest excuse when the offender himself had none. How did He address the people? "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matt. xi. 28.) How did He receive children ? " Suffer them," said He to His disciples, to " come unto me, and forbid them not" . . . "and He took them up in His arms and blessed them." (Luke xviii. 16.) At the grave of Lazarus "Jesus wept." (John xi. 35.) His mother He commended to the care of His disciples. How gentle in all His dealings with Hi3 apostles ; bearing with their mistakes, forgiving their infir- mities, and loving them, in spite of repeated provocations, even unto the end. . How pitiful towards His enemies,
202 CHAPTER IV.
weeping over the city whose inhabitants were about to Imbrue their hands in His blood ; healing the ear of the servant of His bitterest foe ; not destroying those who came to apprehend Him, but surrendering himself quietly, ar- ranging only for the escape of His followers. On the cross He prayed for His murderers, and afterwards bade His disciples proclaim to them first the Gospel of peace.
He is the same still — He relieves, and teaches, and chastens, and pities, and employs us with the same conde- scension. It becomes us, therefore, to dismiss all slavish dread ; to trust Him, to admire Him, to follow and copy Him, till by studying His character we are " changed from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Co*", iii. 18.)
12. Again, He commanded His disciples to practise illustrated in self-denial ; and Himself illustrated, in every ins poverty, circumstance of his condition, the virtue He thus enjoined. He has told us, "the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." During his private life, indeed, He lived with Joseph and Mary at Nazareth ; and after He had entered upon His ministry, He had some friends who, like Martha, afforded Him the accommodation of their dwellings ; but these advantages were occasional, and of the nature of hospitality. He never possessed an apart- ment He could call His own. He was born in another man's house. Widows ministered to him of their substance. He partook of the last Passover in another man's chamber. At last He was buried in another man's grave. And He felt this condition the more painful from the dignity He had left. It was part of his humiliation to bear it. Yet He never repented of His engagement. It was ever His feeling : " Lo, I come — / delight to do thy will, 0 God." (Ps. xl. t, 8.) As His agony drew nearer, He even longed for it : "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished." (Luke xii. 50.)
§ 3. Christ's character. 203
And does not this poverty fit Him for His position ? How it illustrates His grace ! How cheering What taugM to the poor ! It is enough that the servant be by this fact as his Master, and the disciple as his Lord. How sugges- tive of the test of true greatness. Such greatness is per- sonal, and not circumstantial ; it is in the character, and not in the condition. How humbling to our nature ! The people allowed Him to suffer, and so proved their real character. It was a reproach to the Corinthians, that Paul, while preaching and working miracles among them, had to labor day and night for his support. How much greater the reproach that this was Christ's condition ! Surely (our first feeling is) men will " reverence the Son.' At His coming nobles and princes will welcome Him to their homes ; and they will deem themselves amply repaid by His condescension in accepting their invitations. But He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. (John i. 10, 11.) The Lord -of all, and the acquaintance of grief — the image of the Invi- sible God, and yet "the despised and rejected of men." And is human nature changed ? How do we receive His Gospel — the members of Christ — the poor ? The rule still holds: "He that receiveth you, receiveth me." It may still form the ground of our own sentence : " Inasmuch as ye did it not unto the least of these my brethren, ye did it not unto me." — Depart. (Matt. xxv. 45.)
13. The miracles and parables, the sayings and acts, and the sufferings of our Lord, therefore, are A11 chat's all instructive, and reveal some truth connected JJ^ f^uc!7' either with God, or with ourselves, or with tlTe- both.
204 chapter iv.
Sect. 4. Christ's further Disclosures in Galilee and
IN JuDJEA.
74. Christ's desire for further private intercourse with Resolves to His disciples, and the continued presence of visit Gaiiiee. Herod in Galilee, induced our Lord to remove from the neighborhood of Capernaum. He resolved to visit the north of Galilee, and thither He now proceeded with His disciples
75. Before leaving Capernaum, however, He had a long
conversation with Scribes and Pharisees from
Conversation
with the Jerusalem on the use of tradition, and espe-
Scribes. . ,
cially on the importance of inward religion, as compared with ceremonial purity (Mark vii. 1-23) ; Christ teaching, in opposition to the common doctrine of the Pharisees, that the things which are within are those that defile, and that for evil thoughts, and unholy desires (rather than for neglect of ceremonial observances) men will be condemned.
76. The first visit of our Lord is paid to the region of visits Tyre and Tyre and Sidon ; and there the Syro-Phoeni- s,llou' cian woman pleaded with Christ for her daugh- ter (against even His own discouragements) and prevailed. " 0 woman," said He, " great is thy faith ; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." (Matt. xv. 28.)
77. In the district of Decapolis the miracle of feeding
a large multitude was repeated ; and a deaf and dumb man was healed. Again the Scribes
seek a sign, and again the disciples of our Lord are warned
against their temper and spirit.
78. At Bethsaida a blind man received his sight, and
the common admonition was added — that he
Bethsaida
should tell no man what Jesus had done. And here, being in the neighborhood of Csesarea Phi- lippi, our Lord found himself once more alone with His
§ 4. DISCLOSURES IX GALILEE AND JUD.EA. 205
disciples, and continued the conversation which He had broken off a little time before. He resumed it (in the midst of a season of solemn prayer) by asking the opinions generally prevalent concerning himself. Peter renewed the confession he had made on a previous occasion ; and in contrast with those who said that Jesus was only a pro- phet, he affirmed : " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matt. xvi. 16, 11.)
79. Thus had Peter twice borne testimony to our Lord : first, in opposition to those whom Christ's spi- peter>a second ritual teaching had estranged ; and now, in confess'OD- opposition to those who entertained inferior views of His person. His answer our Lord expressly ascribes to no human teaching, but directly to God : " Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father, who is in heaven."
80. On receiving this confession of Peter, in relation to the truth which forms the unchangeable basis Christ's pro- of the kingdom of God, Christ called him by mise-
the name which, in the exercise of a prophetic spirit, he had already assigned him : " Thou art Peter, the man of rock ; and on thee, as a steadfast witness in my name, I will build my church ; a church that is to remain imperish- able, triumphant over both hell and death." (Matt. xvi. 18.) In fulfillment of this promise, we find that the labors of Peter formed the foundation — that is, the com- , m _„
Its fulfillment.
mencement of the spiritual temple which Christ
came to found — both Jews and Gentiles having been first
called and converted under his ministry. (Acts ii. and x.)*
* It is with reluctance we differ from our excellent author ; but in this instance, as in a few before, we must express our decided dissent from his interpretation of this important passage. The facts here mentioned respecting Peter's labors may be fully admitted, without regarding them as at all concerned in the fulfillment of this particular promise.
To us it appears clear, from the preceding context, that Peter spoke here simply as a true disciple, in the name of the rest, (as he did in John
18
206 CHAPTER IV.
81. Christ then adds, " and I will give thee the keys of a second rro- the kingdom of heaven ; whatsoever thon shalt mise- bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven ;" a promise which was afterwards extended to all
vi. 68, 69,) in reply to a question of our Lord as to the nature of their com- mon faith in Him. That faith our Lord approves as divine in its origin, and true in its object; and therefore worthy of being* recognized as the essential characteristic of his disciples in all ages. By means of this faith He will build His Church ; for this alone unites the soul to Him, the true foundation, and makes it partaker of His life, stability, and useful- ness. So Peter himself, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, understood and clearly expounds his Master. " Unto whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as living stones, are built up, a spiritual house." (1 Pet. ii. 4, 5.) No merely human authority can set aside this inspired interpretation, sustained, as it is, by the concurrent voice of all the Apostles and Pro- phets. (Ps. cxviii. 22; Isa. xxviii. 16; Acts iv. 11, 12; Rom. ix. 33; 1 Cor. iii. 11; Ephes. ii. 20-22; 1 Peter ii. 6-8.)
It follows, " that the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven" are given to Peter, not as the Primate of the Church (as Rome contends), nor as an Apostle or Preacher of the Gospel (as most Protestants, with our author, suppose) ; but as the representative of all true believers in Christ, building on Him as the true foundation. These coustitute the Christian Church in all ages, against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail. The pro- fession of this faith in the appointed mode makes them members of the Visible Church — which is only the aggregate of all particular local " churches of the saints." The power of the Keys, or Church Power in general, is here given by Christ alike, and equally, to the individual be- lievers of whom they are composed, to be exercised under His laws in thoir united capacity. This interpretation is so impregnably fortified by the repetition of the same term in Matt, xviii. 18, in immediate connec- tion with the action of particular churches, that we can only wonder at the pertinacity with which a different opinion is held.
Hence it is impossible for us to agree in the opinion of our author in paragraphs 80-82 ; much less in the Note which aims to support it. To suppose our Lord would say what he does in Matt, xviii. 15-20, in reference to a Jewish synagogue, is, in our judgment, opposed to all sound exegesis, all facts, all analogies ; not to mention that near this time all Christians were excluded from the Jewish synagogues. (John ix. 22.) —J. N. B.
§ 4. DISCLOSURES IN GALILEE AND JUDJ2A. 207
the twelve (John xx. 23), and implied that the laws and truths of the kingdom of Christ were to be
° Its meaning
revealed and enforced in the personal ministry and fulfill- ment.
of his apostles, and then to be committed by them in a permanent written form to the custody of his church. (2 Cor. ii. 15; Matt. x. 13.) This kingdom, however, the disciples did not yet understand ; and there- fore they are strictly forbidden to proclaim Christ's dig- nity and office — a caution which the result of the very first subsequent disclosure of our Lord proves not to be un- ueeded.
82. Here, it will be observed, the word " church" occurs for the first time in the Gospel; nor do we
. . T ,T . The church.
meet with it again m the Inspired JSlarrative, in the same sense, till we come to the Acts of the Apos- tles.* -
83. We have already seen that Christ frequently spoke of himself in mysterious terms. He had told
■XT- i T-r -it. tt Christ's king.
JNicodemus that He was to be lifted up; He dom founded had assured the multitude that unless they ate His flesh, and drank His blood, they could not live ; but the truth involved in these declarations had not been dis- tinctly revealed, and the declarations themselves, therefore, were in a great measure incomprehensible. " From this time," however, "He began to show unto His disciples how He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, and be killed, and after three days rise again;" and "this saying He spake even openly." (Mark viii. 32.)
* Twice it is found afterwards in Matthew : " Go tell it to the church," and "if he hear not the church ;" hut in this passage, probably, the reference is rather to the ecclesiastical assemblies of the Jews. The principle embodied in the command is universally applicable ; but it is doubtful whether there was any intention upon the part of our Lord to bring out there the peculiar ideas of the Church of Christ. [But see the preceding Editorial Note. — J. N. B.]
208 CHAPTER IV.
♦ 84. This idea, that His kingdom was to be established Peter's opinion through suffering, His apostles could not ad- of this truth. mjk Peter, therefore, took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ''Be it far from thee, Lord ;" (Matt. xvi. 22, 23;) an exclamation inspired, doubtless, by love — but by love of an earthly origin. As Christ had commended Peter for a confession which flesh and blood had not revealed unto him, so now He reproves him for utterances which sprung from a feeling entirely selfish.
85. " Get thee behind me, Satan," says our Lord, in
language of stronger indignation than any he
Christ's reply.
had yet used in addressing His followers. He then turned to His disciples, and gave them a lesson the very opposite of what Peter had sought to enforce, reminding them that life itself is to be held in subordina- tion to the interests of the kingdom of God. " Be ready," his language implies, " to sacrifice everything on its behalf, and remember that this precept is of present importance, for ' there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God coming writh power ;' " an expression which the disciples did not understand, but which became plain in the events of Providence, and had its fulfillment in the days of Pentecost.
86. Six days after this conversation our Lord took Peter, The transfigu- James, aud John, up into a mountain to pray, fngfoiiOTre?1" and as he prayed, the fashion of his counte- by glory. nance was altered, "and his raiment became white and glistening." (Luke ix. 29.) The earth had dis- owned her King ; His last words with His disciples had been of suffering ; now heaven owns Him, and the suffer- ing is seen to be followed by glory. The representatives of the ancient law and prophets appear, and talk with Him of the issues of His approaching decease ; and in the end they both disappear, while Christ is revealed as the King whom all nations are henceforth to obey (v. 31).
§ 4. DISCLOSURES IN GALILEE AXD JUDAEA. 209
87. This act seems doubly significant. Coming after the declaration of His suffering, it was proba- . . ,M
° L Its significance
bly intended as a solemn installation of our to the disci-
. . p1cs-
Lord before His three chosen disciples, adapted
to confirm them in their previons confession, and to reveal more clearly his dignity. He is here formally set forth as the King of the Church, and His word is declared to be her law. (Matt. xvii. 5.)
Nor was the fact without significance to our Lord him- self. The transfiguration takes its place with
• . To our Lord.
His baptism and the temptation, as essential
to His complete preparation for his final conflict. It
cheered and sustained Him.
The whole transaction may also be regarded as a repre- sentative prefiguration to us of the kingdom of God, in which Christ's chosen disciples shall witness and share His glory ; and all of every dispensation make the Divine counsel in the work of redemption the great theme of their thoughts — a theme that shall fill them with admiration and praise.
These three disciples, it may be noticed, witnessed and shared His glory, as still later they beheld his sorrow. (Matt, xxvi. 37.)
88. The object of the mission of the apostles Christ had already explained, and the spirit of self-denial
J r ' r The spirit
in which that mission was to be undertaken, which becomes
TT.li • i/»i apostles.
Additional lessons are now imparted ol the most instructive kind.
A man, whose son was possessed by an evil spirit, had appealed to the disciples to heal him — but they had failed. From this failure the Scribes took occasion to dispute the miracles and authority of their Master ; and, during the dispute, Christ suddenly appeared among the crowd, rebuked the multitude, gently chided the unbe-
18*
210 CHAPTER IV.
lief of the lather, and then healed his son. (Mark, ix
This defective power of the disciples Christ afterwards Great faith explained, ascribing it to the deficiency of needed. their faith ; and the deficiency of their faith to
the want of that collectedness and devotion which are ex- pressed by fasting and prayer : the whole lesson being intended to impress on their minds that they were not yet fully prepared for the duties of their ministry — duties which required, in an eminent degree, self-renunciation and trust.
Another lesson was taught, no less impressively, in Teaches by an another form. Though Christ had repeatedly tyof acMdlike discouraged tie earthly conceptions which His disposition. disciples had formed of His reign, their hopes in this respect were not yet eradicated. As an evidence of such expectations, tinged as they often were with some- thing even worse than erroneous thoughts, the disciples dis- puted, on their way back to Capernaum, who was most active in their Master's service, and who should, therefore, have the first place in His kingdom. (Mark ix. 33-37.) "When they reached the town, Christ asked them on what subject they had disputed by the way, intending that the very shame of answering His question should be a suffi- cient rebuke. Nor did he say more ; but proceeded, by a very significant act, to show them the impropriety of their contention, and the spirit which they must cherish under His authority : " He is greatest," said He in effect, "who is most childlike and unassuming ; nor is it, in religious acts, the action itself which gives worth, but the motive and spirit of the actor;" "to receive, therefore, a little child in my name, is to receive even me." A principle that destroys all pride, for it measures acts by their mo« tives, and motives by their humility.
§ 3. DISCLOSURES IN GALILEE AND JUDAEA. 211
On a later occasion, when a similar question was dis- cussed. Christ laid down the rule that those are
' Activity and
greatest in His kingdom, who are most labori- humility tests
43 ° of greatness.
ous and humble : " He that is greatest among you, let him be your servant." (Matt, xxiii. 11.)
The principle that things are to be estimated by the motive in which they are done, suggests a question to John's mind which brings out another lesson. " We saw men," said he, " casting out devils in thy name, and we forbad them, for they followed not us;" but Noeffortin Christ says, "Forbid them not; for no man Christ's name
* ' ' to be con-
that does miracles in my name, can lightly demnedwith-
J out reason.
speak evil of me." (Mark ix. 38-40.) This act may have proceeded from inward opposition, and then the principle applies — he that is not with me is against me. But it may have proceeded from inward affinity, and some measure of reverence which may lead to full discipleship ; and then — he that is not against us is on our part. At all events, forbid them not. Test acts by their motives, and so tested, there seems no reason why in this case they should be condemned.
Another lesson He had to teach them. The disciples remembered the scenes of the transfiguration, Unhoiy zeai and the character of Christ had since appeared condemncd- to them more glorious than before. In passing through a village of the Samaritans, the people had formally rejected Him ; and the disciples, reminded, probably, by what they had witnessed, or perhaps by the locality in which they then were, of the example of Elijah, asked permission to call down fire from heaven to destroy these despisers — a request that Christ immediately rebuked. " The way of tne Son of Man," said he, " is different ; through rejection, rather than through judgment, He is to pass to His glory ; He came not to destroy men's lives, but to TheSonofMa» save them." " And they went," it is added, " to came t0 save'
212 CHAPTER IV.
another village." (Luke ix. 51.) Whether ncre is the greater, the patience or the zeal ; the unwearied diligence, or the inexhaustible endurance — we need not decide. Christ is equally perfect ; in meekness as our model, and in activity as our Redeemer.
Mercy finally rejected, however, is followed ultimately but win finally bv judgment; and, therefore, before leaving judge. ^jg district, He began to upbraid those cities
in which His mighty works were done, because they repented not. (Matt. xi. 20-24. His first advent was only to save ; His second will be both to save and to condemn.
90. After again annouucing His approaching decease,
Finally leaves aild giving instructions to His ApOStleS in
uaiiiee. reference to the spirit which is to be cherished
by all His followers, (Matt, xviii.,) He takes His final leave of Galilee, and goes up to Jerusalem.
Samaria He takes by the way, sending seventy of His The seventy disciples into the various villages and towns sent out. 0f ^hat district, to proclaim the approach ol
His kingdom.
91. It was now eighteen months since Christ had visited
the capital ; the interval he had employed in
Goes up to Je- , . .
rusaiem pn- preaching in Galilee, and in training the Apos- tles for their work. Now, however, He re- solved again to visit it ; partly to confirm the impressions which His previous labors had produced, and partly to avoid the imputation that He feared to give evidence of His mission in the presence of the Sanhedrim. As it was His pule to "deal prudently," He determined (though against the remonstrances of His family) to go up privately, and to app#ar suddenly in the city, before the Chief Priests had timt to take measures for seizing His person.
After His relatives, therefore, had left Galilee, He him- self set out for Jerusalem, and arrived about the middle of .he feast : the feast was that of Tabernacles, and the time,
§ 4. DISCLOSURES IN GALILEE AND JUD.EA. 213
the month* of October. In Jerusalem and its neighborhood He remained till the feast of Dedication, held in the mid- dle of the following December.
92. Already great anxiety had been expressed in the city for His reappearance, and the most oppo-
. . iTT TT, „, Christ's address
site opinions were held concerning Him. lhe at Jerusalem, charge of Sabbath breaking, which had been urged against Him eighteen months before, and since through Galilee by the Pharisees and their friends, was still fresh in the public mind, and Christ found it necessary again to explain His conduct. (John vii. 11-24.
On hearing His defence, the people expressed great surprise that one uneducated taught so well; "but my teaching," said He in explanation, " is not mine, but his that sent me :" as you yourselves might also
7 J J ° Desire to learn
know, had you the heart and the desire (dtteiv) essential to
knowledge.
to learn, (ver. IT.)
This boldness still further surprises them ; and they ask whether, as the Scribes had not laid hands upon Him, they really knew that He was the Messiah ; but they themselves answer the question by affirming, that, as they know whence Jesus is, He cannot be the Christ, who is to reveal him- self suddenly and in His glory, (ver. 27.)
on • i • . , ,,. , Christ known
Christ refutes their reasoning, by telling them and not that they both know Him and know Him not ; real knowledge requiring obedience and love.
The Pharisees then attempt to take Him, but Chris* warns them that, before long, they shall seek him and no+ find Him ; the Jews maliciously interpreting His words to imply that He was about to publish His Gospel to the Gentiles. (John vii. 34, 35.)
Christ then announces Himself as the living water, and as the true light of the world ; foretells in mysterious terms His own death ; (John vii. 3t, 38 ;) affirms that the free- dom He comes to proclaim was not from the Roman yoke,
214 CHAPTER IV.
but from sin, and that truth was the great instrument of imparting it ; that in their hatred of truth they proved themselves to be no true children of Abraham, their boasted progenitor, but children of the devil. " Him," adds He, " whom Abraham longed for, ye seek to destroy."
93. These announcements on the part of our Lord The feeling of elicited different expressions of feeling. Some the crowd. ga^ ^hat jje wag a (jaiiiean j some that He
was a Samaritan, and had a devil ; many believed, think- ing Him " a good man," or " a prophet," or even " the Christ ;" but at the close the crowds cried out : " He hath a devil," and took stones to stone him. (John viii. 48 ; vii. 12-40; viii. 59.)
94. During these popular discussions the Pharisees were Movements of n°t idle. After the failure of their officers to the Sanhedrim. take Qhrig^ the Sanhedrim met, and discussed what steps should be taken in reference to Him. Some thought that He had broken the law and was a blasphemer. Others (among whom Nicodeinus was one) thought that He ought not to be condemned unheard ; and at length they seem to have resolved that, though no decisive judg- ment should be pronounced upon Him, it should be punish- able for any one apart from the authority of the Sanhe- drim, to acknowledge Him as the Messiah. (John vii. 52 ; ix. 22.
95. They attempted in the meantime to entrap Him by
the case of a woman taken in adultery. If He taken in adui- had excused her, they would have appealed to
His decision as evidence of His contempt for the law ; and if He had condemned her, her death would have made Him amenable to the civil power. (John viii. 3—11.) His reply to their questions is as just as it is ingenious. The lesson to her accusers, and to the woman nerself, and Christ's defence of the law, are equally com- plete.
§ 4. DISCOURSES IN GALILEE AND JUD^A. 215
96. As the cure of the impotent man, on the occasion of Christ's previous visit to Jerusalem, had pro- The blind man duced such results, our Lord now performs a healed- similar miracle, healing on the sabbath day a man born blind. He first corrects the interpretation which the dis- ciples were disposed to put upon the man's affliction, and then healed him ; first curing his physical blindness, and then giving him to understand His own character and truth. I must work (said our Lord in explanation of this miracle) while the time of my personal ministry lasts (" the day"), for the end of my labors (" the night") approaches, when no man can work ; while I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John ix. 4, 5.)
By the gradual progress of the cure our Lord taught important spiritual lessons.
A great sensation was produced by this miracle ; and the Sanhedrim attempted to corrupt, or to alarm the blind man, to induce him to deny the reality of the miracle, or the true character of Him who had performed it. With all courtesy and firmness, however, he maintained the truth, stating the fact in the simplest terms, but in such a form as implied that he deemed Christ no common man. In the end they cast him out — the first decisive public act of the rulers against our Lord.
97. Our Lord afterwards lays hold of this history — the miracle and its results — as an instance of the
T-^. T Lessons taugb
two opposite tendencies of His teaching. I by this bis-
tory.
am come into this world," says He, " that they who see not, might see, and that they who see might be made blind :" a principle spiritually fulfilled in this case, and in all time. (John ix. 39.) Wheresoever the truth of Christ operates among men, the blind are made to see, and the seeing become blind ; the grace and the condemnation go hand in hand.
216 CHAPTER IV.
m
98. This treatment of the poor blind man, and the gene- Christ the good ra^ conduct of the Pharisees, prepare the way shepherd. for ^q beautiful parable of the good shepherd. Ctrist is Himself set forth as the divinely-appointed leader of His people ; His voice harmonizes with the divine draw- ing within ; they know it, and admit Him, and he knows them and their wants ; and, as they need, supplies them all.
Contrasted with Him is the hireling and the thief — the Contrasted second sacrificing to wholly selfish ends the in-
SJaSftKT" terests of tbe flock; ancl the first without
thief. courage to risk much for their good. " But I,"
says our Lord, " know my sheep, and am known of mine ; and I lay down my life for the sheep.11 (John x. 14-16.)
With this view of His self-sacrifice before Him, His thoughts glance to that greater development of His king- Corn which that sacrifice is to introduce. "And other sheep I have which are not of this flock ;" souls ready for His truth among other nations. " Them also," he adds, " I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd." • 99. Slightly varying the picture, He tells them, more- over, that He is not only the shepherd, but the
Christ the doo ;. . . ,
door of the flock. By him men enter into the fold. Entering by Him men find safety, "they shall be saved j" liberty, "they shall go in and out;" plenty, "and they shall find pasture." Freedom, sufficiency, and salva- tion are combined in Christ ; and all are imparted to those who believe.
100. To the wo/V.ly-mmded hearers of our Lord these
words conveyed no meaning. Instead of inspi-
All deemed hy . , ,-t • i
the people ex- ratior, they saw in them nothing but extrava- ga^re. " He hath a devil," said they, "and is mad." But others were irresistibly attracted to Him. They heard words which no other man could utter, and they saw icurte which no other man could do. On another
§ 4. DISCLOSURES IN GALILEE AND JUDAEA. 21 *
occasion during this same visit, His words became yet more decided. (John x. 22-42.)
101. New divisions arose; the life of Christ was every day endangered, and His ministry disturbed ; Chri8t retire8 He therefore left Jerusalem, and went with intoPenea- His disciples into Persea.
102. During the two months Christ remained in the neigh- borhood of Jerusalem, He delivered the para- ble of the good Samaritan (Luke x.) ; visited
Martha and Mary at Bethany ; a second time taught the disciples to pray, and received the report of the seventy, who were now returned from their mission into Samaria. (Luke x.)* Our Lord's remarks on receiving this reporf are highly instructive.
103. Christ's stay in Persea was shortened by a message from the family at Bethany. With this family, Recalled to Be who resided within a mile and a half of Jeru- thany- salem, Christ seems to have formed, during his protracted visit to the city, a close and affectionate intimacy ; and it is expressly said, " that Jesus loved them." The brother of the family was taken ill, and the sisters sent messengers into Peraea (about two days' journey) to inform our Lord of their affliction. Our Lord replied by informing their messenger that Lazarus should not be separated from his sisters by death; and having dismissed him, Christ remained for two days longer in the district to which He had gone. In the meantime Lazarus died. Christ announced the fact of his death to the disciples, and then proposed to go to Bethany and visit him. This resolution alarmed the dis-
* This is the order of Wieseler and Robinson, and seems on the whole to agree best with the history. Neander supposes that our Lord spent part of the interval between the feast of Tabernacles and the feast of the Dedication iu Galilee, and that He there received the report of the seventy. Though adopting this arrangement, however, he seem? to prefer the order given above.
19
218 CHAPTER IY.
ciples ; who had not forgotten the hostility of the Sanhe- drim, and Thomas deemed the result so hopeless, that he supposed their return to Jerusalem identical with a resolu- tion to die with their friend. (John xi. 7—15.) Christ, however, proceeds to dispel their fears. He reminds them that they still had His personal guidance, and that walking in His light they were secure.
104. He returns at length to Bethany; the anxieties of
the sisters are calmed. Jesus weeps at the grave of His friend, and offers audibly His prayer and thanksgiving to His Father ; not for His own sake, or as if this prayer and answer were something pecu- liar, but for the sake of the Jews ; and closes the scene by raising the dead man from his grave. (John xi.) The miracle is so striking, that the disciples had their faith strengthened, and many, even of the Jews, believed.
105. The narrative of this chapter is one of the most „ . , touching and instructive in Scripture, as a re-
Christ the re- ° # L
surrectioa and velation in relation to Christ, and in relation
the life. '
to individual experience. Here, for the firsl time, He is himself clearly revealed as "the resurrection and life." Parables and particular passages had involvea this truth — here it is stated plainly, under circumstances peculiarly affecting.
The Resurrection and the Life ! He has announced it. He is himself the pledge of it. It is to His death we owe it. It is His power that achieves it. Mark how these thoughts are illustrated in different parts of Scripture. " Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming when they that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth." " God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He hath loved us, even when we were dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ." " Since by man came death, by man came also the resur- rection of the dead." "The first man is of the earth
§ 4. DISCLOSURES IN GALILEE AND JUDJEA. 219
earthy ; the second man is the Lord from heaven ; and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." " This is the will of Him that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and be- lieveth on Him, may have everlasting life ; and I will raise him up at the last day." "lam the resurrection and the life." "Lo! this is our God ; we have waited for Him we will be glad, and rejoice in his salvation." (John v. 28 Eph. ii. 4 5; 1 Cor. xv. 21, 47-49; John vi. 40; xi. 25 Is. xxv. 9.)
106. Looking at the fifteenth verse of the chapter, how instructive to notice the facts it contains. LflFsons iu re. Christ's movements regulated by regard for chSS/sVo- the welfare of His disciples ; all done for the cecdmss- increase of their faith — the quality on which, mainly, Christian excellence depends — all done in a way contrary to their hopes ; (" If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died;") one disciple suffering for the benefit of his brethren : Christ, never too confident of His power, nor too late in His movements ("Let us go unto him"). These are truths illustrated in every Christian's life, but never more impressively than in this touching history.
107. The raising of Lazarus exerted an important influ- ence in hastening the final catastrophe of the
° - L The influence
life of our Lord. On the one hand, it led of this miracle
, . -ion *'ie move-
many to believe ; and, on the other, it induced ments of the
, . Sanhedrim.
the ruling party to take active measures against Him. They were satisfied that their sentence of excom- munication against His followers had failed, and they began to fear, that if they let Him alone, all men would believe. A meeting of the Sanhedrim was therefore summoned, and the most turbulent race that ever lived made the peace of the state their plea for decisive measures. " If this thing- go on," said they, " the people will proclaim Him king, and the Romans will come and take away our place and nation."
220 CHAPTER IV.
(John xi. 48-50.) Caiaphas, the high priest, concurring in this view, decided (in language of prophetic import) that it was better that one should die for all, than that the nation should perish." It was therefore resolved, on pre- tence of the safety of the state, that Jesus must die ; and an order was issued for seizing His person, in the event of His attending the coming festival of the Passover.
08. After this decision Christ retired again to Pera^a, Christ retiree where great multitudes followed Him. Many again to Peraea. miracles were wrought by Him during this journey, and the details of a few are recorded. His chief teaching, however, was by parables. The whole narrative is instructive, and may be found between the thirteenth and nineteenth chapters of Luke. Twice, during those four months, He foretells His own death : first, as recorded in Luke xiii. 33 ; again, in Luke xviii. 31-35 ; in the second case, with most remarkable minuteness and pathos. Again also, a third time, in reply to the ambitious request of the mother of James and John, where He speaks of His baptism of suffering, and of His giving His life " a ransom for many ;" an expression which itself suggests the vica- rious and atoning character of His death. (Matt. xx. 28.)
109. In relation to the law, Christ taught, as we have
seen, its spirituality and its comprehensiveness.
In relation to . . _ ' _
the law, obedi- It is summed up in love — love to God and
G11CG is lOYC
love to man ; and its requirements can be fulfilled by no other obedience. We are now prepared to appreciate the meaning and significancy of faith.
110. In relation to Himself, Christ teaches, as we now
see, that He is the Saviour of our race, the
In relation to
Christ, owi- hope of the guilty, the bread of the perishing"
ence is faith. r ° J ' r b>
the life of the dead ; that to save us He gives His life for ours, and that to profit by His work we need to believe. The nature of the relation of His death to our salvation belongs properly to another place ; the truth to
§ 4. DISCLOSURES IN GALILEE AND JUD.EA. 221
be noticed here, is the connection between salvation and faith.
111. All the blessings of the Gospel are represented as
depending upon this principle. Is sin can-
AU blessings „ , „
dependent on celled ? Are we accepted as though we were guiltless ? " Being justified by faith, we have peace with God." Are we exhorted to be holy ? We must be "sanctified by faith that is in Christ." Do we need consolation ? " In Him believing we rejoice with joy un- speakable and full of glory." Do we live ? It is " by the faith of the Son of God." Do we walk ? "We walk by faith." Do we stand? "We stand by faith." Do we conquer? " This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." In a word, without it there is no salva- tion. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." It is to man all that Christ is ; for It is t0 m.m al, it is by faith only that we accept Him for the tbat Christ is purposes which He is sent to accomplish. He is God's unspeakable gift, therefore receive Him. He is the refuge of the guilty, enter into Him. He is the prophet, listen to His voice. He is priest — trust His sacrifice. He is king — obey His commands. He is our brother man — cherish towards Him a brother's love. He is the mighty God, reverence and adore Him. These feelings are faith, and by faith we are saved.
112. Unbelief, on the other hand, is the damning sin. All else may be forgiven, but not this. It is
' . . . Unbeliefthe
contempt of Divine law; "for this is God's condemuing •' commandment, that we should believe on the Dame of His Son, Jesus Christ." (1 John iii. 23.) It is the denial of the truth of God ; of His wisdom and love. It involves the rejection of mercy and the exclusion of hope. " He that despised Moses' law, died without mercy under two or three witnesses ; of how much sorer punish- ment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath
10*
222 CHAPTER IV.
trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace." " He that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark xvi. 16 ; Heb. x. 28, 29.)
Sect. 5. — Teaching by Parables.
113. Some few weeks before our Lord fed the five thou- sand, and delivered His discourse in the syna-
poY»oTjipc first
gogue of Capernaum, but many months after used by our the commencement of His ministry, He seems to have introduced a new and very favorite form of teach- ing ; new to Him, but very familiar to Jewish teachers. We refer to His parables.
114. The advantage of this kind of teaching is, that it
tests men's dispositions, (Matt. xiii. 13.) and
Advantage of .
this kind of is well adapted to give a figurative exhibition
teaching. L & °
of truth before it is intended clearly to reveal it. It is often useful, moreover, in gaining a man's judg- ment against himself; and even where there is no need of concealment, it attracts the attention of men, who might otherwise have remained indifferent. It is for one or other of these purposes that the parable is employed with such frequency by our Lord.
115. For the interpretation of these parables, one or
two rules may be mentioned as important- Rules for the interpretation It may be gathered from the place which
this form of teaching occupies in His public ministry, that parables must never be made the first or sole ground of doctrine. Doctrines otherwise proved may be illustrated or confirmed by them, but beyond this we must not go. It is a modification of this rule, that what- ever in them is abstruse must be interpreted according to those parts of Scripture which are plain.
The great rules of interpretation are: Ascertain the
§ 5. TEACHING BY PARABLES. 223
scope, either by reference to the context or to parable pas- sages ; seize the one truth which the parallel is intended to set forth, and let those parts of the parable which are explained be explained in harmony with it. Any inter- pretation of a particular part which is not consistent with the great truth which the whole represents, or which does not tend to elucidate it, reject ; and even of doctrines which are consistent with the general design, no one must be received that does not agree with the clear revelations of Scripture.
116. How far the different parts of a parable may be interpreted and applied, is an interesting How farall the question. From the specimens of parable in- ^ertsaJg gjJJSJl terpretation which are given in Scripture, it cant may be gathered that we must avoid both the extreme of supposing that only the general design is to be regarded, and the extreme of insisting upon every clause as having a double and spiritually significant meaning. In the parable of the sower, for example, which our Lord himself inter- preted, the moral application descends to the minutest par- ticulars. (Matt. xiii. 4T.) The birds, the stony ground, the thorns have all their meaning; and, as Tholuck has re- marked, it may be said generally, that the similitude of a parable is perfect in proportion as it is on all sides rich in practical applications. In the parables of the tares and of the unjust steward, again, not all the circumstances are explained. "While men slept," in the first, (Matt. xiii. 25,) and the phrase " I cannot dig, and to beg I am ashamed," in the second, have neither of them any application in the inspired explanation of our Lord. (Luke xvi. 3.)
Provided, however, we keep in view the great lesson of a parable, and interpret all its parts in harmony with that lesson, there is little danger of our abusing this form of instruction. If it be abused, the habit of mind which such a practice tends to strengthen must prove mischievous ;
224 CHAPTER IV.
t
either leading into serioas errors, or tempting ns to leave uncultivated one of the richest fields of Scriptural study.
117. We come now to the first parable. Our Lord's first miracle taught the superiority of His Gospel as compared with the law ; His first discourse, the nature and require- ments of His kingdom, and the means of its establishment. Christ's first His first parable is also, in its own way, parable. solemn and appropriate.
It was spoken in Galilee. An atrocious act of Pilate's which had excited attention at the time, induced some of our Lord's hearers to ask His opinion upon it ; hinting, probably, that as the blood of the murdered Galileans had been mingled with their sacrifices, they had been guilty of some enormous sin. Christ rebuked this uncharitable spirit ; reminded them that in the chastisement which had overtaken others, they might see an image of the chastise- ment that might one day overtake themselves ; and inti- mated that however true it might be that the sufferings of the human race are the consequence of transgression, par- ticular individual suffering may not be the consequence of individual sin. Such events (he shows thein by another instance) are rather calls to repentance to those who are spared, than evidences of the special anger of God or of the peculiar guilt of the sufferers. (Luke xiii. 1-9.)
After this warning he again brings the side of grace prominently forward ; and while he represents the punish- ment of neglected opportunity as certain, he reminds them that punishment is deferred that men may turn and live.
His first parable, therefore, teaches the long-suffering
and severity of God. In the world, as a fig-tree in a
vineyard, the Jewish people were established
Its meaning. x A
that they might bear fruit to God's glory. Fruit they were to bear, the organic produce, that is, of the inner life ; not something growing as an excresence, or merely attached from without. On coming to seek fcr this
§ 5 TEACHING BY PARABLES. 225
fruit, the owner found none ; poisonous fruit (tpyo nov^d) he might have found; withered fruit ("pya v$xpd), fruit fair perchance in appearance, but not of living growth, he might also have found ; but good fruit Qpya xaxa, ipya ayol^a) there was none. For three years — a time quite sufficient to have exhausted His patience and prove the nature of the tree ; or perhaps intimating by this expression that under three dispensations He, the great proprietor, had visited them, that of the law, that of the prophets and His own ; or again by the appeals of natural law, and of written law, and now, last of all, of His gospel — for three years (at all events) have I come, says He, seeking fruit and finding none. " Cut it down ; for why should it, in ad- dition to its worthlessness, injure and impoverish the ground" (xatapyd xal t-qv yr>v)1 At the request of the dresser of the vineyard, however, it is spared for another year, and the interval is spent in digging around and ma- nuring ; in the appliance, in short, of all those means which in God's dealings with man are generally multiplied immediately before they are forever withdrawn.
And such is the general principle of God's procedure Before the flood the world had Noah, a
The general
preacher of righteousness ; and one hundred principle in-
1 ' volved.
and twenty years were allowed them to return. Before the catastrophe of the captivity the Jews had most of their greatest prophets, who for many years warned and instructed them. Before the final destruction of Jerusalem, they had the ministry of Christ and his apostles.
How affecting that God should thus threaten, that He may not chastise, and chastise that He may
Lessons.
not condemn. Postponements of judgment are intended as mercies ; but they may be abused to the aggravation of our guilt. As God thus deals with nations, so He deals with individual inquirers. All abused privi- lege will ultimately magnify divine love and justice : love
226 CHAPTER IV.
in bestowing it, and justice in the consequent ruin that our abuse of it will have incurred.
118. The significance of this parable is increased by
comparing it with one of those which our Lord one of his latest delivered during the few last days of His life.
Here it is the fig-tree to which the Jews are compared ; a tree not generally planted in vineyards, but suffered to grow in the hedge, and even there expected to be fruitful. (Luke xiii. T.) In the other parable the tree is the vine, which seems chosen to represent the value of the plant, and the care required in cultivating it.* (Luke xx. 9.) The image is also in frequent use in the Old Testament, so that it is doubly appropriate ; itself familiar and connecting the two dispensations.")" There, too, the husbandman is the planter as well as owner, and the whole is let out to vine dressers. It was solemnly entrusted to them, and they were to bring a proportion of its fruit in its season. He afterwards sent his servants to receive his share ; but one they slew, and another they ill treated, till at length he was constrained to send his own son, his only son, his well- beloved : phrases all intended to indicate, as strongly as possible, the difference between him and the servants he had previously sent — the worth, and dignity, and dearness of his person. "And when the husbandmen saw him, they said, This is the heir ; come, let us kill him, and the inherit- ance will be ours; and they cast him out of the vineyard ('without the gate'), and slew him."
The moral and the application are immediate. The three evangelists all notice the exasperation of the Pha- risees and Scribes (the vine-dressers of the parable); and Christ only stays to intimate, by a change of the figure, that after all the purpose of God will be achieved; the
* Nulla possessiopretiosior, nulla majorem operas r^uirens. •f Deut. xxxii.; Ps. lxxx. ; Isa. v. ; xxvii. ; Jer. ii. ; TCzek xy.
§ 2. TEACHING BY PARABLES. 227
vineyard will yet yield its fruit, and the rejected stone be- come the head of the corner.
Among the first and last parables, therefore, which our Lord spoke, were two in which He set forth man's profit- lessness and guilt, God's severity and love ; truths at the foundation of our faith.
119. The whole of the parables of our Lord belong more or less completely to the doctrine of His Parabies divid. kingdom ; and they may be arranged so as to ^JCSSE exhibit its progress, its peculiarities, and its Jf* k[n|dom°f final development. of God.
1. Parables on the progress of the kingdom of Christ.
The sower. Matt. xiii. 3; Luke viii. 5; Mark iv. 3.
The tares. Matt. xiii. 24.
The mustard seed. Matt. xiii. 31 ; Mark iv. 31; Luke xiii. 18, 19.
The leaven. Matt, xiii. 33 ; Luke xiii. 20, 21.
The hidden treasure. Matt. xiii. 44.
The pearl. Matt. xiii. 45, 46.
The net. Matt. xiii. 47
2. Call to enter the kingdom of Christ.
The feast. Luke xiv. 16-24.
The royal marriage. Matt. xxii. 1-14.
3. Moral requisites for entering the kingdom * f Christ.
A. Anti-pharisaic.
The lost sheep. Matt, xviii. 12 ; Luke xv. 4,
The lost piece of money. Luke xv. 10.
The prodigal son. Luke xv. 11-22.
Strife for the first places at feasts. Luke xiv. 7-11.
B. Positive requisites.
The sower. Matt. xiii. 3-23.
The wedding garment. Matt. xxii. 12.
The two sons. Matt. xxi. 28. *
The tower and the warring king. Luke xiv. 28-33.
4. The true spirit of the kingdom of Christ.
A. Forgiveness and love.
The good Samaritan. Luke x. 25-37.
The unforgiving servant. Matt, xviii. 23; Luke vii. 41
228 CHAPTER IV.
B. Prayer.
The importunate friend. Luke xi. The importunate widow. Luke xviii. 1.
c. The right use of worldly possessions. The rich fool. Luke xii. 7, 16-21. The unjust steward. Luke xvi. 1-13. The rich man and Lazarus. Luke xvi. 19-31.
D. The Spirit of the kingdom under the character of prudence and watchfulness. The householder. Matt. xxiv. 45-51. The ten virgins. Matt. xxv. The pounds. Luke xix. 2-28 ; Matt. xxv.
5. Activity in the kingdom of Christ.
a. Its source.
The vine. John xv. 1.
The barren fig-tree. Luke xiii. 6.
The wicked vine-dressers. Matt. xxi. 33-41.
The talents. Matt. xxv. 14-30.
B. Favor independent of works.
The laborers. Matt. xx. 1-16. c. Duties belonging to man, results to God.
The ripening corn. Mark iv. 26.
We but indicate the significance and meaning of these parables. No paraphrase can exhaust or fairly represent them. They may be studied and restudied. There is nothing more profound or instructive in all the teachings of our Lord.
120. There are two peculiarities more in these parables Each parable which need to be understood, in order that we JSSriSJo? ma>T Justly appreciate them. Most of them truth. exhibit but partial views of truth, some phase
or corner, and not the whole ; we must therefore compare them — and some of them are prophetic.
The parable of the ten virgins, for example, sets forth
the duty of a waiting Christian. (Matt, xxv.)
The five wise are those who are prudently and
thoughtfully conscious of their responsibilities and office
§ 5. TEACHING BY PARABLE?. 229
(ppoptpoi). The five foolish have only an external profes- sion of Christian life ; life in outward manifestation only, not fed from any internal fountain. There is in both, even among the faithful, a certain acquiescence in present things ; though between the two classes there is the wide distinction, that the case of the wise is remediable, while that of the unwise is without remedy.
Comparing this parable with the marriage of the king's son, where the unworthy guest actually finds Hence the im. admission to the marriage supper, and is only JJm^n? thence cast out, (Matt, xxii 1-14,) we gather them' that there is a church on earth with a feast of blessings, as well as a church in heaven, and that some will be found in the one, and not in the other.
Comparing this parable of the virgins with the parable of the ten talents which immediately follows it, we gather that Christians are not only to wait for Christ, but to work for Him ; and that not only is decay and declension in the spiritual life condemned, but also sloth and idleness in our outward and earthly engagements. The two com- pared may also suggest, that the contemplative and the active character make up the complete Christian ; and that the one element may predominate in one man, and the other in another.
Comparing the two parables of Matthew and Luke, other minor instructive facts appear. (Matt. xxv. ; Luke xix.) To every man these talents were given according to his individual ability ; the privileges of grace not destroying the peculiarities of personal character, nor bringing all to the same standard, but rather filling the vessel which is formed by the natural gift.
In Matthew the faithful servant says : " Behold I have gained ;" while in Luke his language is, " Thy pound hath gained :" the two accounts making up the acknow- ledgment of Paul, " I, yet not I, but the grace of Christ
20
230 CHAPTER IV.
in me." The servant who is punished, moreover, is not one who, like the unjust steward, has wasted his master's goods. Nor has he spent his portion in riotous living like the Prodigal. Nor was he ten thousand talents in debt, like the unmerciful servant. Still his guilt was great and peculiar ; and the lesson taught is, that men are answerable not only for positive sin, but for the neglect of privilege. The pound wrapped in the napkin, and the talent hid in the earth, are subjects of just condemnation.
Nor is it undeserving of notice, that while the virgins sinned through over-confidence, the man with the one talent sinned through distrust. To doubt our Lord's forgiving love, and his gracious acceptance of our work, with all its faults, if done from a true heart, is itself sinful, and the cause of sin ; as powerful a cause perhaps as the excessive confidence, and consequent indifference of his sleeping church. To both classes Scripture has words of counsel ; to the second, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. ii. 12) ; and to the first, " Ye are not come unto the mount that might not be touched, and that burned with fire ; nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest. . . . But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God .... and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprink- ling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." (Heb. xii. 18-24.)
What a fearful picture does this parable of the talents give us of the condemned sinner, half-cowering and half- defying; and even on his own ground how justly is he condemned ! The opportunities and the place which he had left unused, and has therefore forfeited, God (as His rule is) hands over to another. And not only ip the talent forfeited, but the unprofitable servant is himseK cast into outer darkness. While within there is joy, and light, and feasting, to celebrate the master's return, the darkness
§ 5. TEACHING BY PARABLES. 231
without is his portion, the blessedness he might have gained forever lost.
Study, therefore, the truths and the parables of the Gospel as a whole. So shall we gain juster conceptions of their meaning, and a clearer insight into the love and wisdom which the Bible reveals.
121. The second peculiarity of the parables of Christ, is their prophetic character. They contain de- scriptions both of the past and of the future ; times Pro-me of human nature in all time, and of the pre- P * gress and development of the kingdom of God.
The parables of the thirteenth of Matthew, for example, are individually highly instructive ; and they are no less so in their connection as embodying a complete history of the church.
In the first parable, that of the sower, we have the his- tory of the commencement of the Gospel. It
-, . ,. n. o, . , , __. Illustrated in
is descriptive of our saviours own work ; His the parables instructions scattering the seed of the kingdom by every mountain, and stream, and city of His native land, with most diversified results. Some heard, but History of the understood not His sayings. Others heard ohurch- with joy, and gave some fair promise of blossom and fruit ; but the seed perished because it had no root, no fixed vital principle in them. In others the seed was choked by the cares of the world, or by stealthy attachment to its plea- sures. Others, again, received it, and bore fruit, thirty, sixty, or an hundred fold : a distinction of character re- tained throughout Scripture, which tells us that there are little children, and young men, and fathers in Christ, (1 John ii. 13,) as there are in the world the ungodly, the sinner, and the scornful.
And this fulfillment might have been witnessed and studied in the lifetime of our Lord. He well said to His
232 CHAPTER IV.
disciples : " Know ye not this parable ; how then can ye know all parables?" (Mark iv. 13.)
In the parable of the tares, He gives the history of the church in the ages immediately following His own. Cor- ruption and evil sprang up almost as early as truth, and ripened more quickly.*
The third parable exhibits the rapid growth of the visible church. The .seed speedily becomes a tree, so strong, that others made it their shelter : " The birds of the air came and dwelt in the branches thereof."
This union was found signally unfavorable to the purity of truth. At first the visible church had been well nigh identical with the invisible ; but now whole nations are nominally converted in one day ; and at length, in the dark ages, the most fearful crimes are perpetrated under the name, and with the sanction of what was called religion.
Even then, however, the true spirit existed somewhere, though dormant. In the mass, however lifeless, there was concealed a little leaven, working unseen, still retaining its energy and power, and gradually assimilating the lump to itself. In the fullness of time (as the fourth parable teaches) the whole will be leavened, and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.
But how is this result to be achieved ? A question answered in the fifth and sixth parables of this chapter.
Some will find the truth who have not sought it, and these are the accidental treasure-finders. Others will find it as the result of diligent search.
The fifth parable represents the man who stumbles unexpectedly upon the Gospel, and recognizes its worth. His judgment and his feelings are all interested in the dis-
* The seeds of corruption were sown secretly ; unworthy members being admitted unawares. The evil is confined to no age ; but requires habitual watchfulness in our own. " While men slept, the enemy came and sowed tares." J. N. B.
§ 5. TEACHING BY rABABLES. 233
eovery. So is it with the converted prodigal, with the man reclaimed by some awakening dispensation of the providences of God, or by the earnest address of the preacher. So was it with the Reformation of the sixteenth century. So also with the revivals of true religion in modern times, with all epidemic movements of piety (if they may be so called) as distinguished from the earnest perse- vering spirit which the next parable suggests. Nor is it insignificant to notice, that the man who thus lights upon truth, buys the field in which the treasure is found. Cap- tivated with religion and the blessings it confers, he finds at first a difficulty in distinguishing between the accidental and the real ; between its adjuncts and its essentials. In time he is able to say, " Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ;" (Eph. vi. 24 ;) but this sentiment is the fruit of expanded charity; and his first feeling is somewhat exclusive and restricted.
The sixth parable describes another class of converts, already pretty numerous in our age, and likely to be largely augmented — the truth-seeker; the merchantman dealing in goodly pearls. It is his business to seek the goodliest. Continuously and determinately he employs his skill. At length he succeeds ; and, finding true piety, the kingdom of God, to be the pearl of great price, he secures it with no less firmness and decision than the trea- sure-finder, but with less boisterous joy ; and with the advantage of purchasing only the pearl, not also the field that contained it.
The unity and the love of the last days of the church will depend much on the general diffusion in our age of intelligent piety. The careless and the ignorant may be surprised into the Gospel, and be blessed and saved by it j but they are not likely to take the Gospel only. There are sure to be in their faith human admixtures of prejudice,
20*
234 CHAPTER IV.
of party feeling. The' age of pearl-seeders will be the brighest for the church.
The last parable closes the scene : it foretells the univer- sal spread of the Gospel, and intimates that not till the end of the dispensation will the separation of the wicked and the holy be complete.
The whole of the parables, it will be noticed, admit and receive a beautiful personal application to individual cha- racter ; but they are, in the opinion of many thoughtful men, no less applicable to distinct eras in the history cf the church.*
122. Especially does this prophetic character belong 1j Prophetic para- the later parables of our Lord: the laboreis bles* in the vineyard, the ten pounds, the wicked
husbandmen, the marriage of the king's son, the ten vir- gins, and the talents — all spoken within the last days of His life — contain intimation of His second coming ; and some of them of the decisions of the judgment.
* Alexander Knox has given this view of the parables of this chapter; and his remarks have been made an illustration of the general truth. The volume of Mr. Maurice on the Parables is rich in happy illustrations of Scripture truth. See also Storr, Neander, Lisco, and Trench.
CHAPTER V.
CHRIST THE PRIEST AND SACRIFICE.
§ 1 Christ goes up to Jerusalem to be crucified. § 2. The Church and the institution of the Last Supper § 3. The denial of Peter, and the Crucifixion of our Lord.
§ 4, Christ crucified Afresh — or the feelings that actu ated his murderers common to every age.
§ 5. Christ our Propitiation and Priest — the influence of the cross on God and on man.
236
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CHAPTER V.
Sect. 4. — Christ goes to Jerusalem to be crucified.
1. To avoid the snares of His enemies, and to secure a short season of undisturbed intercourse with His disciples, Jesus retired to the Tillage of Ephraim, in the Christ in desert of Judaea, and thence to the valley of peraea-
the Jordan. (John xi. 54.) Here He spent some time delivering the parables which are recorded between the tenth and thirteenth chapters of Luke, and preparing the minds of His disciples for the closing scenes of His life.
As He knew that His return to the city would expose Him to the machinations of the Pharisees, it may be asked why He did not remain still longer in secret. Might He not by such a course have carried on the religious training of His disciples, and so have prepared a greater number of agents to disseminate His truth.
2. This question is natural ; and if Christ had been a mere teacher of truth like other prophets, it would not be easy to answer it. He, however, was not only a teacher ; He was to become a sacrifice. He had been manifested, in order that in Him all previous Vto the Pass-
over.
revelations might be fulfilled ; and especially that the types of the law and the predictions of the pro- phets might have in His death their appropriate realization. He did not seek this termination of His course ; but went to meet it, in the execution of His calling, in obedience to
(239)
240 CHAPTER V.
the Divine will, and with a love that was prepared for any suffering. As therefore a few months before He had " set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem," so now He leaves Peraea with the same purpose, and with a clear perception of the final issue of His journey.
3. On the way He heals the blind men near Jericho, Reaches Beth- visits Zacchasus, and at length, six days before any- the Passover, arrives at Bethany.
The fame of Christ had already reached the ears of the thousands of Jews who were now gathering from all quar- ters to the Holy City. The resurrection of Lazarus, in particular, had created a great sensation ; and as soon as Crowds visit tne sabbath-law allowed, crowds flocked to iiim there. Bethany to see Jesus, and to convince them- selves, by inquiry and other evidence, of the reality of the miracle. The enthusiasm on our Lord's behalf was so strong, that the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death. (John xii. 10.)
4. Attended by His disciples and the multitude that
had gathered to Bethany, Christ set out for
His triumph-
ant entry into Jerusalem. Many others advanced from the
Jerusalem. .
city to meet Him, and in the increasing throng Monday morn- Christ mounted an ass which His disciples had ing' found in a village near, and so. rode towards
the gates. He thus aptly represented the peaceable cha- racter of His kingdom, and its total rejection of worldly display, as foretold by Zachariah. With joyous shouts He was introduced into the city, while on all sides was heard the cry: " Hosannah, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord."
As he descended the Mount of Olives, before entering the city, he saw it and wept over it ; and uttered a pro- phecy, which its later history amply verified. (Luke xix. 43, 44)
5. The raisins: of Lazarus had, as might have been ex-
§ 1. CHRIST GOES TO JERUSALEM TO BE CRUCIFIED. 241
pected, hastened the resolution of the Sanhedrim to put Jesus to death. The time and mode of His p]anfl of the execution depended on the manner of His Pharisees- arrival in the city ; and the Sanhedrim had already ordered that, if any one ascertained His place of abode, they should be informed of it, that measures might be taken for His arrest. (John xi. 53-57.) The triumphant entry of Christ, and the shouts of the multitude, was a severe blow to their party. " See," said they in anger, " how ye pre- vail nothing ; behold the world is gone after Him" (xii. 19). They determine, therefore, to make use of craft in order to ensnare Him ; and though they had already gathered abundant material from His labors in Galilee and Jerusa- lem to sustain the charge they were seeking to bring against Him, namely, that He claimed to be the Messiah, they thought it better to seek some new facts that might either justify an accusation on the ground of the Jewish law, or enable them to present Him as a culprit to the Roman authorities.
6. They first of all sent some of their number to ask for the authority on which he founded his assump-
■* m L They send to
tion. In reply, Christ admitted their right to to ask his au-
r J ' ° thority.
ask the question, but seemed to doubt their ability to judge of the evidence that ought to guide their decision. He therefore tested them ; and as they could not answer His question, He declined to tell them by what au- thority He performed His miracles and asserted His claim. (Matt. xxi. 23-27.)
7. They then combined with the Herodians, and framed a question which, they thought, could hardly Wi{h the He_ be answered without offending either priests or as^mm^Smt the politicians. "Master," said they, "we tribute- know that Thou art true. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not V (Matt. xxii. 15-21.) To deny the obli- gation would have subjected Him to accusation before the
21
242 CHAPTER V.
Roman tribunal ; to acknowledge it, would have laid Him open to the charge of degrading the nation. Christ's reply indicated that it was not His office to alter the relations of civil society, and that "the things of Caesar are to be given to Caesar, and the things of God to God."
Both attempts therefore failed, and it was clearly impos- sible to render Christ justly amenable to either tribunal.
8. A question asked by the Sadducees, with no political The question of reference, however, received an equally deci- onetheaidedsu^es siye answer ; and after that "they durst not rection. agk Him any questi0n." (Luke xx. 20-40.)
The days of this week He spent in Jerusalem and at Bethany, in healing the blind and the lame,
Engagements . . . . .
oftwpiast receiving their ascriptions ot praise; and in delivering some of the most solemn of His parables. To this period belong the parables of the two sons, of the wicked husbandmen, of the kingdom, of the ten virgins, of the king's son, and of the talents.
To the same period also belong His predictions in refer- ence to His second coining and the destruction of Jerusa- lem (Matt. xxiv. xxv.) ; His lamentation over the city (Matt, xxiii.) ; and His warning against the evil example of the Pharisees.
The significant miracle is the cursing of the barren fig- The miracle of tree ; a symbolical representation of the ap- theng-tiee. proaching destiny of the city.
9. As in previous sections we have seen how He insists on the necessity of faith in His mission ; so here He repre- sents faith as proving itself by works (Matt. xxv. 31-46) ; and the importance of his doctrine on a working practical faith is enforced by representations of its connection with the decisions of the final judgment.
10. Among the visitors at Jerusalem there were a few The visit of the Gentiles who had come to the knowledge of
Gentiles. ^ |rue q.Q(^ &n(j were accustomed to WOrsllip
§ 1. CHRIST GOES TO JERUSALEM TO BE CRUCIFIED. 243
statedly at the feast. Christ's triumphal entry into the city awakened their attention, and made them desirous of speaking with Him. Not venturing to address Him per- sonally, they sought the mediation of His disciples. They spoke to Philip, Philip to Andrew, and both together "told Jesus." (John xii. 20-22.)
11. Seeing in these cases a prefiguring of the great re- sults that were to flow from His own sufferings,
t • ^ mi 1 • o( Announces the
Jesus said : " The hour is come that the bon of effect* of n;s man should be glorified," and then He set forth the necessity of His death. The seed corn abideth alone, said He, except it die ; but when it dies it brings- forth much fruit. (John xii. 23-31.) As He, therefore, was to be glorified through suffering, He then intimates to His disciples that the glory destined for them was to be secured only in the same way. " He that loveth his life (that is, makes this life his chief good) shall lose it ; but he that hateth his life in this world (that is, deems it valueless in comparison with the interests of my kingdom) shall keep it unto life eternal."
12. " Now is my soul troubled." The kingdom which His death was about to establish, brought to
. . His trouble of
His mmd the struggles He must undergo be- spirit ana fore His death could be accomplished. His will, however, is unshaken, and the calmness of His mind undisturbed. I cannot say, "Father, save me from this hour. For this cause came I unto this hour, not to escape but to suffer it." To this completion of His work He had looked forward from the beginning ; all His feelings and wishes, therefore, are now centred upon it, that God may be glorified among men by His death. "Father, glorify thy name."
13. As He uttered this prayer, the very outgoing of unselfish holiness, there came a voice from hea- ven, saying, " I have both glorified it, and
241 CHAPTER V.
will glorify it again." His previous life, in which the perfect manifestation of God had been revealed, had glori- fied the name of the Father ; and now His sufferings and their results were to glorify it yet more in the establish- ment of His kingdom.
He now interprets the voice, and shows how God is to
be glorified. "Now is the judgment of this
world ; now shall the prince of this world be
cast out ; and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all men unto me." His sufferings are His victory; His
work is finished by them, and they form the sentence of
.condemnation to the ungodly world; or, possibly, on this
hour are suspended the interests of the world. This is the
crisis of its destiny.
14. The public ministry of Christ now closes. His The last words ^as^ words are a repetition of His earliest : " He of ins ministry. ^^ ke]ieVeth on me, believeth not on me, but on Him that sent me ; and he that seeth me, seeth Him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in dark- ness. If any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not ; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him ; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. (John xii. 34-48.) See John iii.
15. Christ then left the temple, and spent the few hours
that intervened between the end of His public
His last hours
spent with iiis ministry and His arrest, in instructing and
disciples.
comforting His disciples. In these conversa- tions He displayed unequalled love and calmness, mingled with loftiness and humility. The last hours of His life He thus devoted, not to the comforting of His own mind, but of theirs ; in preparing not Himself but them for His approaching departure and the severe conflicts which were
§ 2. THE CHURCH AND THE SUPPER OF OUR LORD. 245
to accompany the formal commencement of His king- dom.
16. The Sanhedrim, as we have seen, had resolved upon His death ; all that remained was to decide
• Plan of the
when and how it should be accomplished. An Sanhedrim
, . aided by Judas.
unexpected opportunity was soon afforded them
•by the proposition of Judas to deliver Him into their
hands. (Luke xxii. 3-6.)
IT. In the end Christ was condemned — not for inter- fering with the secular power, for He disclaimed Charge on all such interference ; nor yet for any violation Jjjchut \list of the Jewish law, for no charge was brought deatil- against Him on that ground ; but because He announced Himself to be the Messiah, (Matt. xxvi. 65,) in terms that implied equality with God. The connection of this fact with the innocence of His character and the completeness j>f His work will hereafter appear.
Sect. 2. — The Church — and the Supper of our Lord.
18. The public ministry of Christ is now completed. He has delivered His last discourse, and the
hour of His death is at hand. Having come His work as to Jerusalem with a full knowledge of what institutes the waited Him, he regards His work as virtually dosed. He therefore administers to His disciples the last supper, gives them His parting counsel, and offers His intercessory prayer. In the narrative of these last hours of His life are some of the most touching exhibitions of His love.
19. The whole is introduced by a significant act: He washes the feet of His disciples ; partly to re- Washes H5 move those carnal expectations of an earthly disciPles' fee*. kingdom which still cleaved to them, and partly to teach them by a specific act an important spiritual truth.
20. This act, doubtless, surprised more than one of
9[*
246 CHAPTER V
their number ; but their reverence for Him prevented their Peter's rcmon- resisting His will. Peter only impetuously ex- ChSSexpiar claimed: " Lord, dost thou wash my feet?" nation. ancj even wnen cnrist told him that he should
know the meaning of this act by and bye, he was not satis- fied ; till at length his self-will was rebuked by the decla- ration, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in me." (John xiii.) As if Christ had said, "the renunciation of this spirit is essential to true discipleship ; nor can any enter my communion unless spiritually purified by me." Alarmed at this assurance, Peter cries out, " Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." To which Christ answers, "That is too much. He that is washed and clean, needs but to wash his feet. Ye have already received the purifying principle of life through faith in me, and all that is now required is continued purification. Your natures are renewed, and what you require is rather ontward than inward ; the cleansing of the thoughts and feelings more than of the man /"
21. "Ye are clean," said He, "but not all." He thus prepared the way for the disclosure which He
Indicates the r L J
traitor, who was about to make more plainly, that one of
retires.
them should betray Him. At this announce- ment the disciples were all confounded. Each began to say, "Is it I ?" nor did the one who was guilty ask the question till all had expressed, with the self-diffidence of true disciples, their suspicion of themselves. (John xiii. 10.) The Passover supper was now in progress, and Jesus answered their questions by intimating to John, who sat next Him at table, that the traitor was he to whom He was about to give a morsel of lamb or of bread, after He had dipped it in the sauce ; and, having dipped, he gave it to Judas. This warning of our Lord's, coupled as it was with an act expressive of close intimacy, might have awak- ened the conscience of the traitor ; failing to do this, it must
§ 2. THE CHURCH AND THE SUTTER OF OUR LORD. 24f
have made him anxious to leave such a fellowship, and to take the last step in his guilty course. He therefore went out immediately, and left the disciples with their Lord.
22 " And now," said Christ, " is the Son of man glori- fied," (the ideal of all holiness is about to be Christ lori. realized,) and God is about to be glorified in fied- Him (the Divine holiness and love alike revealed) ; and if God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in himself, (shall raise Him, that is, to His own glory,) and shall straightway glorify Him. (John xiii. 31, 32.)
23. He then instituted the last supper at the close, and in the place, therefore, of the paschal feast,
The supper in-
givmg the disciples the bread as His bodv, stituted its
significant-}'.
and the wine as His blood. The one, corn bruised, that the eater might live ; the other, the grape crushed, that those who partook of it might be refreshed — "His body broken for us;" " His blood, the seal and emblem of the new covenant, and given for many for the remission of sins."
The first rite, therefore, which Christ observed and in- stituted, denotes the spiritual birth of the And relation to Christian. The last denotes the origin and the baPtism- continued support of His spiritual life. Both are eminently simple, and highly significant.
24. The nature of the church of Christ has already been intimated in connection with the repeated reve- Hischurch Hia
ations of His kingdom. His church is His kinsdom- kingdom, and all in whose hearts He reigns are its mem- bers. But the meaning of this reign, its dependence above all on Himself and His priestly office, is gathered only from the closing chapters of St. John's Gospel. We shall therefore now notice the thoughts which are there expressed ; comparing them especially with acts and ex- pressions of our Lord on other occasions.
248 CHAPTER IV.
25. Under the law God was the temporal ruler of the Theiawt-mpo- Jews, as well as their invisible King. He pre- ral* scribed not only the religious rites, but the civil regulations under which they were to live ; and He enforced obedience by temporal sanctions.
The worship enjoined under the law was also, to a great extent, carnal. It consisted in outward bodily acts ; and though most of them had an inward meaning, which be- came distinct when they were explained by the Gospel, yet were they in themselves profitless — figures only of things to come.
The whole institution, moreover, was local and tempo- Local and par- rarV >' designed and adapted only for one peo- tial- pie. It had for its center Jerusalem, and for
its limits the borders of Palestine ; so that no Gentile, even though a convert to Judaism, was admitted to equal privileges. What he did enjoy, moreover, was in the way of favor only, and not of right.
26. Already has our Lord announced that His kingdom
, is spiritual ; and, less distinctly, that it is to be
Christ's church l , ' J '
spiritual aud one and universal — announcements which are
universal.
brought out clearly in the closing chapters. His is a spiiitual kingdom and a spiritual church. It is formed in man's heart, and it admits of no
Bestowing . . ,
moreover equal other authority than is m accordance with
privilcffc.
this character. Our Lord therefore disclaims all right to interfere in temporal concerns ; saying to one who wished Him to decide between him and his brother : Who made me a judge or a divider over you F" (Luke xii. 13.) He bids His disciples submit to the civil power; and so far from promising long life and worldly prosperity as the rewards of obedience. He prepared them for suffering apd death. (Malt, xxviii. 20.)
So also, under this dispensation, worship \s to be pre- sented in spirit and in truth — not v-itb many outward vV«.
§ 2. THE CHURCH AND THE SUPPER OF OUR LORD. 249
ble signs, as under the law, but with two simple ordi- nances ; the whole subject to the law of Christ, with the general rules given afterwards by His apostles, ordaining that all things should "be done decently and in order," and "for the edifying of the church." (1 Cor. xiv. 12-40.)
As the old dispensation was intended for one nation, so is the new for all nations. The people of God is to com- prise henceforth not children of Abraham merely after the flesh, but as many as embrace the Gospel.
All who thus embrace it are admitted to equal privi- leges. " One Lord, one faith, one baptism." (Eph. iv. 5.) " Neither circumcision avail eth anything, nor uncircum- cision, but a new creature." (Gal. vi. 15.) Here there is "neither Greek nor Jew, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free." (Col. iii. 11.)
The one church of Christ, therefore (His kingdom), is the whole body of the faithful ;* with duties which none but spiritual persons can discharge — privileges which none but spiritual persons can appreciate — and promises which none but spiritual persons can obtain. The spirituality of its members forms part at least of the essence of the church.
21. If, with these explanations before us, we traverse "the holy place" of the Gospel, as Olshausen
. x Proyed.
calls it (John xiv.-xvii.), we shall sqe at once how these truths pervade this discourse, explain its mean- ing, and add to its impressiveness.
In describing His disciples, He speaks of their privileges, their character, and their duties, and all are
. . ' Christians spi-
spintual. Once they knew not God, but by ritual in pm-i- believing on Christ they learned to know Him, and to come to Him (xiv. T). Faith brings them into closest communion with their Lord. Henceforth He is in them. If he is the Vine, they are the branches. If he is the Head, they form His body. He goes to prepare a
* See the note on page 205-6, and Appendix, Note II.
250 CHAPTER V.
place for them, that He may receive theni to Himself Given by the Father to the Son, they are preserved by Al- mighty grace, and none shall pluck them out of the Father's hand. Hated of the world, they are loved of God, and at last they shall behold and share His glory.
As their privileges are spiritual, so is their character;
so also are their duties. They have believed, character and They are men of prayer ; and whatsoever they
ask the Father in Christ's name (in dependence, that is, upon His merits, and for the interest of His Church), they are to receive. They are not servants, but friends, for their knowledge is founded on holy intimacy, and their activity is a willing obedience. They keep His sayings. They bear much fruit. They are in the world as Christ was in the world, blessing it, yet not identified with it, and as He sanctified Himself for their salvation, so are they sanctified by His truth. Among themselves they have but one law — old, yet new ; for it grows out of new relations, was illustrated in Christ by a new example, gathers strength from new motives, and is the sum of the holiness of the new man — to love one another even as Christ hath loved them : this law being the evidence of their discipleship, and the decisive proof of the divinity of His mission.
28. The Church, then, is the noblest form of social life.
It is the perfection of union. It is not a nation,
The church not .
a nation or fa- but something more extensive, for it may in- clude all nations. It is, however, more select, for it takes none on the mere ground of national right. It is not a family, but something more expansive, for it is to comprehend all the families of the earth. It is yet equally caste, or secret tender in its bonds of union. It is not a caste, eoShing* f°r it despises none and rejects none. Yet, ad^ante'jjfs^f like the caste, it preserves, amid human depra- vity and change, a sacred order, not of minis-
§ 2. THE CHURCH AND THE SUPPER OF OUR LORD. 251
ters ; but of saints, all kings and priests unto God. It is not a secret society, for it makes no reserve of its doctrines or practices from the world ; yet each of its members find, in the secret communings of his soul with God, the sources of a hidden life. "Without the defects, therefore, of the nation, the family, the caste, or the secret society, it com- bines the advantages of them all. Its members are brethren ; they form a holy nation, a peculiar people — a band whose life, and principles, and motives, and strength, are all con- cealed and hidden with Christ in God.
29. Such is the idea of the Church of Christ, as He Himself developed it. Where his Gospel was preached among the nations, churches were churches haTe formed ; little sections, that is, of this universal lege and cha- Church, were gathered together under the same laws, and for the same beneficent purposes.* They are therefore all described in similar terms. In Rome a church was formed, and its members were " beloved of God, whose faith was spoken of throughout the whole world." So in Corinth, they were "the sanctified in Christ Jesus." In Galatla, they were "the children of the promise." In Ephesus, they were "the saints, the faithful in Christ Je- sus." In Philippi, they had " fellowship in the Gospel," and "the good work was begun in them." In Colosse, they were " saints who had been delivered from the king- dom of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son." In Thessalonica, they were those to whom "the Gospel had come; not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." And those whom the Apostle James addressed, were those whom God had " begotten by the word of truth, that they might be a kind of first. fruits of his creatures."
All these expressions, it is not necessary to show, sup- port the conclusion drawn from the discourses of «ur Lord,
* See Appendix, Note II.
252 CHAPTER V.
that the one Church of Christ (with all sections of that church) is composed of spiritual, faithful, i. e. believing men, converted by Divine grace, through the power of the truth. They rely on Christ as their salvation, and by vir- tue of their faith in Him, they bring forth appropriate fruit — a life of holiness and of love.
30. It is in perfect accordance with this view of the The church the church that it is represented in Scripture as temple of God. the tempie 0f the Holy Ghost. Under the
Law the temple was at Jerusalem. There only, after the tabernacle was taken down, did God dwell and manifest His presence. In the days of our Lord He was Himself the temple ; not, it will be observed, the synagogue, a place of assembly for worshipers, nor even the sacred precinct in which the temple was reared (to Up6v), but " the habita- tion itself (iaoi), where His honor dwelleth." Now, how- ever, the Church of Christ (not a literal building, not the body of our Lord, but the Church of Christ,) the great body of the faithful, forms the dwelling of the Spirit, and individual Christians are the living stones. "Ye," says the apostle, "are built together into a holy temple to the Lord." (Eph. ii. 21.)
31. This temple is without an altar, without sacrifices, peculiarities of a,1(l without a sacrificing priest on earth. Its this temple. ^rue a^-ar js j-j^ cross ; its sacrifice the one offer- ing of our Lord ; its priest, He who has passed into the heavens." Or, if the worshipers be regarded as offerers, the altar is their hearts ; the sacrifice is faith, and love, and praise ; and the priest is our Advocate on high. Us and our services He presents, with other merit than our own, unceasingly to Gofl. (Rom. xii. 1 ; xv. 16.)
32. We have but glanced at the truths of these chapters
in John. They embrace, it will be observed,
Deep signifi- .
cance of John the whole work of Christ ; that work which
xiy .-— xvii.
has its foundation in Himself, and is to be con-
§ 3. TRIAL AND CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST. 253
summated in the complete communion of His people with Him — beginning in a kindred spirit, and in kindred labors on earth, and ending in kindred blessedness in heaven.
Sect. 3. — The Denial of Peter — the Trial and Cruci- fixion of Christ.
33. And now the life of our Lord is drawing to its close. He and His disciples have partaken of the last Christ's warn- supper. Judas was already at work for the ing" betrayal of his Master; and our Lord, foreseeing His danger, had forewarned them of its approach. " All of you," said He, " shall be offended because of Me this night." (Mark. xiv. 27-31.) Peter, with his wonted bold- ness, denies our Lord's assertion: "though all should be offended, yet will I never be offended." Christ repeated the warning, and gave it in a personal form. " Before cock-crowing," said He, "thou wilt deny me thrice." But he spake only the more vehemently : " If I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee." So also said they all.
34. Nor was this self-confidence unnatural. The disciples had just listened to the parting words of our Peter's seif-con Saviour, and had been melted into tears at the someCrespects announcement of His approaching departure. natural-
As they walked through the quiet streets of the city to the garden of Gethsemane, all Jerusalem seemed wrapt in repose. Within the week Christ had entered the temple amidst the hosannas of the multitudes ; hypocritical pro- fessions of attachment seemed more easy at that hour than offence or denial.
35. As soon as the disciples reached the garden our Lord renewed His warning, and desired them to pray lest they should enter into temptation ; while he went beyond them and prayed also. Taking with Him Peter and James and John, the three who had witnessed His transfiguration, He retired into a more secluded part of the garden. Here
22
254 CHAPTER V.
He began "to be sorrowful and very heavy." (Matt. xxvi. 37-39.) Anxious to be kept from interruption while He prepared His own mind for the events which were ap- proaching, He said to this chosen band: " Tarry ye here and watch with Me while I go and pray yonder," and then Our Lord's ^^ them. Soon he was overwhelmed with agony. agony. Falling down to the ground, his body
streaming with blood, he cried : " Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt." He then rose, and visited these disciples ; but they were already asleep. He rouses them, want oV watch- exhorts them to watch, and again retires to
fulmss. . . . , . . ,
pray with yet stronger crying and tears. And again He had to rebuke their slumbers (v. 40-45). How affecting, that the only personal request Christ ever asked of His disciples should have been denied by the boldest and most ardent of them ! Peter must long have remem- bered these scenes.
36. The time for prayer had now passed. The soldiery, The approach w^n lanterns and torches, are already in the of the soldiery. gar(jen . again Jesus calls the sleepers, and tells them of the approach of the betrayer. Before He had completed His warning, Peter found himself surround- ed with armed men ; the recollection of his Master's pre- diction flashed across his mind ; and the time of trial he supposes to have come — he has now a character to redeem. To show therefore that, though just now asleep, he is pre- pared for any emergency, he drew his sword, and smote off the ear of the servant of the high-priest. This act sprung no doubt from enthusiastic religious feeling ; but from reli- gious feeling guided by passion or pride, and unchecked by a watchful sober frame. Whatever its origin,
Peter's unhal- . . ° '
lowed zeal is it was one chief cause of the temptations that
rebuked.
afterwards befell him. It awakened his own fears, and probably excited the ill will of the soldiers.
§ 3. TRIAL AND CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST. 25o
31. Christ rebuked the zeal of His disciple, healed the wounded man, and gave Himself into their hands. " Put up thy sword into its sheath," said the meek Sufferer : " the cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it ?" Peter now felt that he had done wrong. As His guilty cow. this sudden explosion of impetuosity had no ardlce' principle to sustain it, it was soon succeeded by cowardice. Seeing that Jesus offered no resistance, but suffered Him- self to be bound like a common criminal, Peter with the rest forsook him and fled. They who had said : "Though we die with Thee, we will not be offended," were now hiding themselves among the trees of the garden. Having secured their Prisoner, the guard retired from the garden.
38. The glare of lanterns and torches soon grows dim in the distance. Gethsemane is again as still as when the disciples entered it. Peter gropes from his hiding-place. His alarm is subsiding, and he begins to reflect upon his conduct. His Master is on His way to the hall of the high priest, without, as far as he knows, a single friend. Is it curiosity that prompts him, or is he subdued by the recollection of his own previous vow and his Master's love ? From whatever cause, he turns his steps towards Jerusalem, and slowly follows the crowd that is bearing his Lord into the presence of the Sanhedrim. His motives, however, are not the purest. His decision is half-hearted and incomplete. It is therefore only afar off he follows ; and on gaining admission into the hall, he takes his place among the soldiers and servants, waiting at his leisure to see the end. The association is suspicious, and betrays a state of feeling ill suited to contend with the difficulties that are soon to surround him.
39. The trial of the Son of God had already begun. He was asked concerning His disciples and doc-
° L The trial before
trine ; He was accused of threatening to de- the tfanhedrim
has begun.
stroy the temple, but the evidence proved con-
206 CHAPTER V.
tradictory. Having failed to elicit a confession, and to establish their charge, the high priest solemnly adjured Him, and asked pointedly : " Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed ?" And Jesus said, " I am. And here- after ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coining in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes and said, what need we any further witnesses ? Ye have heard His blasphemy, what Christ is con- think ye ?" (Mark xiv. 61-64.) And they demnod. condemned Him to be guilty of death. He
was condemned, it will be observed, because He made Himself equal with God.
40. He was now mocked and spit upon. The men who
held Him blindfolded Him, struck Him on the
Is mocked.
face, and in ridicule of his claims to super- natural knowledge, cried out : " Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee." (Matt. xxvi. 68.)
41. And was there none present to shield the Lamb of Peter's neu- God from this insult and pain ? Yes, there sat traiity. one Qf jjjg c|10Sen apostles tamely beholding
the whole of this outrage. A few hours before he had professed his readiness to lay down his life for His sake ; but now he dare not, or will not interpose.
42. In this condition a more decisive trial awaits him. As the light of the fire shone upon his troubled counte- nance, and before the worst of these outrages had begun, a little maid coming up said, apparently without much in- tention: "Thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth." The word so fitly spoken roused his conscience and fears. He felt immediately the inconsistency of his position. He was looking on as an unconcerned spectator ; he had been silent when questions affecting his Redeemer's character had been discussed — questions which none was so qualified to answer as himself. To confess himself a disciple would be to plead guilty to ingratitude, and would probably have ex-
§ 3. TRIAL AND CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST. 257
posed himself to personal danger. And yet he was not prepared to deny his Lord ; he takes shelter, therefore, in an equivocal answer, which was meant to be IIis equivcca_ denial, but which seemed less awful than the tlon' open avowed apostacy of which he was ultimately guilty : " I know not," said he, " what thou sayest."
43. Fearing lest the charge should be repeated, he re- tired to the porch. The very change, however,
1 J ° ' ' His denial.
led to farther inquiry ; another servant met him with the same taunt : " This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth." He had now gone too far to recede: To acknowledge the fact would convict him both of ingrati- tude and of falsehood ; for every one understood his former answer as a positive denial. A simple affirmation, more- over, is not enough ; he therefore declares with an oath, " I know not the man."
44. Again he enters the hall, and is. once more in the immediate presence of Christ. The torment- IIis denial with ing accusation is again repeated, not by a maid oaths
only, but by the whole company of the soldiers. One ex- claims, as the light of the fire falls upon Peter's face, " Did I not see thee with Him in the garden ?" and another, shrewdly noting his replies, adds, " Surely thou art a Galilean ; for thy speech betrayeth thee." Surrounded on all sides by the evidence of his guilt, agitated with fear and remors >, every unholy passion bursting forth with ungovernable power, he began to curse and to swear, saying, " I know not the man." And immediately the cock crew.
45. During this whole scene the trial and mockery of Christ had continued. He, however, was marking the succes- sive steps of the apostacy of His servant, and was more deeply wounded by what He saw than by the treatment of the priests who condemned, or of the crowds who reviled Him. One look of mingled sorrow and love broke the heart of the faithless disciple, softened the hard brow, and sent
258 CHAPTER V.
him out weeping bitterly. It is not easy to tell which is the more instructive here — the fall of the apostle, or the ten- derness of his Lord,
46. But we proceed with the main thread of the story.
Caiaphas and the Sanhedrim had already con-
Christ is L J
brought before deinned our Lord. In the dependent condi-
Pilate, who . .
nDds no fault tion of the Jewish nation, however, they had
in Him. . . .
no power to visit His alleged crime of blas- phemy with the punishment which, under their own law, it deserved ; they therefore took Him to the Roman governor. Pilate questioned Him, and affirmed that he found no fault in Him. But hearing that He had been in Galilee, under Herod's jurisdiction, and that Herod was then in Jerusa- sends iiim to lem> ne sen^ Him to that king — an act of cour- iierod. .£eSy agajnst Christ, which healed old feuds and
made the two governors friends.
47. Herod set Him at naught, and mocked Him ; in ridicule arrayed Him in (a.a/*7tpdv) the white royal robe of the Hebrews, and sent Him back to Pilate. (Luke xxiii. 11.) Again Pilate expressed his conviction that Christ
was innocent, and appealed to the people,
Pilate again . .
appeals to the ottering to release Him, or to chastise Him
people. - . T_, . , . .
and let Him go. But the people and the chief priests cried, " Away with Him ; not this Man, but Barab- bas ;" till at length Pilate, " fearing a tumult," complied with their request ; and, having scourged Him, " delivered Jesus to their power." (Luke xxiii. 25.) The crown of thorns and the imperial purple robe {xoxxivrtv ^xa^vSd Ipdriov rtop^poin') were now put upon Him. Again He is spit Christ is a<-ain upon and smitten ; and the soldiery, mocking mocked. Him, bowed their knees and worshiped, say-
ing, "Hail, King of the Jews."
48. While Christ was thus clothed in purple and crowned with thorns, Pilate a third time appealed to the people. "Behold, I bring Him forth to you," said he, "that ve
§ 3. TRIAL AND CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST. 259
may know that I find no fault in Him. Behold the Man. But when the chief priest and the officers saw Him, they cried out, Crucify Him, crucify Him." Wea- Afterathird ried out with their importunity, and under the ed^Ter'to bed" significant threat that if he let Him go, he was crucified- not Ceesar's friend, Pilate yielded, and delivered Jesus unto them to be crucified. (John xix. 4-16.)
49. The whole of the previous night had been spent in such toils and anguish as must have exhausted Christ sinks His strength. Our Lord had thrice traversed under h5scross- the greater part of Jerusalem, and was therefore little qualified, physically at least, for the suffering that awaited Him. In carrying His cross to the place where He was to be crucified, He sunk under it. Another was pressed into this service, and at length they reach the place of exe- cution.
Here they stripped Him ; nailed Him to the wood ; strong iron pins being driven through the Is nai]t.d to the nerves and sinews of the hands and feet. As cros8- these tortures began, some friendly hand, probably, offered Him a draught of the stupefying drink which criminals were wont to take on such occasions, a mixture of wine and bitter herbs (" vinegar and gall," " wine and myrrh") ; but when He had tasted, He would not drink. (Matt, xxvii. 34.) In the fullest consciousness our Lord entered upon the last hours of His life.
At nine in the morning He was nailed to the cross ; He was then lifted up, a thief on either hand ; and there He hung till three, mocked by the priests, cruelly tortured by offers of drink to quench His thirst, (Luke xxiii. 36,) railed at by one, at least, of the malefactors who suffered with Him, and deserted of God. At length, " between the evenings," at the time of the offering of the Paschal lamb, Christ our passover was sacrificed for us. He died literally
2 GO CHAPTER V.
of a broken heart ; His heart bursting asunder from the intensity of His responsibility and suffering.
His death. J L J °
" It is finished," were His last words ; " Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit ;" and, having said this, He gave up the ghost. (Luke xxiii. 46 ; John xix. 30.)*
51. Amid these sufferings, it was not of Himself that Christ's last our Lord was thinking. As He passed early dVresseda?o m the morning along the streets of the cityf Srheutteredreoa' and beheld the crowds of women who followed their behalf. an(j bewailed Him, He turned to them and said, " Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me ; but weep for yourselves and for your children." (Luke xxiii. 28.) As they nailed Him to the cross, He remembered the fierce invocation upon themselves of His blood ; and He there- fore prayed : " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." As the weary hours wore on, one of the malefactors who were crucified with Him, after owning the justice of his own punishment, and vindicating the inno- cence of Christ, said unto Jesus: "Lord, remember me, when thou comest iuto thy kingdom ;" thus acknowledging His sovereignty and mercy. And Jesus said, " Verily I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be with me in Para- dise ;" asserting, in a practical form, the qualities which the penitent thief had acknowledged and owned.
As life ebbed away, another scene, no less touching, was witnessed. There were standing by the cross His mother, His mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. "When, therefore, Jesus saw His mother and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, (so John ever prefers to describe himself,) He saith unto His mother,
* Dr. Stroud has shown, in an essay on the physical causes of the death of Christ, that He exhibited all the symptoms of thj somewhat uncommon disease here named, and that nothing less could account for them.
§ '. CHRIST CRUCIFIED AFRESH. 261
"Woman, behold thy Son;" and then saith He to the disciple, "Behold thy mother ;" and from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. (John xix. 25-27.)
Even, therefore, at Calvary, Christ thought of the weep- ing crowds that followed Him — of the guilt of the men who murdered Him — of the danger of even to the the thieves who were crucified with Him — and of His widowed and disconsolate mother, whom He was leaving behind. If His life was noble and beneficent, His death was divine.
52. How characteristic and instructive, even in these scenes, are our Lord's last words, as recorded characteristics by the different evangelists ! In Matthew and ^^Sms Mark we have the cry of conscious desertion : last words-
" My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" the cry of the smitten Lamb. In Luke it is the cry of a Son, still at the close dependent upon God as a Father, and sure of support and acceptance : " Into thy hands I commend my spirit." In John it is the cry of one divinely conscious of himself, securing with His own hands the completion of His work : " It is finished !"
Sect. 4. Christ crucified afresh — or, the feelings that actuated his murderers common to every age.
53. The fact of the crucifixion of Christ stands as the centre of the Gospel. All the doctrines of Christianity cluster around it, and become distinct in the light it sheds upon them. It harmonizes and explains the justice and mercy of God, and is the key of all the insti-
Christ's (3(?p th
tutes and mysteries of the ancient law. As a a revelation of
, . . ,, , . -in • , • human nature.
revelation ot human nature and of man, it is no less instructive.
54. During His life, Christ had been known only as the benefactor of our race. He was ever ready to The holiness o{ give up His own comforts at the slightest wish Christ's life-
262 CHAPTER V.
of those round Him. His miraculous power, never exerted on His own behalf, was at the service of the humblest peti- tioner. His benevolence was unwearying ; His sympathy with all that was lovely and harmless in man was perfect ; and the purity of His life was complete. He rebuked sin indeed, but He always pitied the sinner. He claimed to be the Messiah of prophecy, but this claim interfered with no temporal throne. For such a being to die a death of violence seems an outrage on some of our most cherished conceptions, both of the government of God and of the better nature of man.
As this death was designed to atone for all guilt, nearly all guilt combined to accomplish it. It ga-
The malig- & I O
nancy of the thered tribute from every bad passion. It was
passions that
conspired cowardice that led the disciples of our Lord to
against Him ,
lead us to hope desert Him ; it was covetousness that betrayed
that the cruci- , . - .
fixion is nev<£ Him ; it was perjury that bore false witness against Him ; it was envy that delivered Him up. Cruelty scourged and crowned Him with thorns. Popular fickleness chose Barabbas, and rejected Him ; while, in the soldiers, coarse brutality buffeted and mocked Him. In contemplating these scenes, our first reflection is : "never surely is man to repeat this wickedness. May we not hope tha*, it will remain a crime without a parallel ; a sad, yet solitary monument, of human guilt."
55. And yet, against this hope, it must be remembered, that the thing which has been is the thing also
And yet the ■•■»*• i •
contrary is the that shall be." Mankind repeat themselves from age to age ; each generation is the echo of its predecessors. Throughout all time, our besetting sins remain unchanged ; they have ever been worldliness and unbelief. With all the records that have come down to us, telling how our fathers fought and fell, we begin the divine life like children, and are vanquished by temptations which were old in the days of Abraham or of Paul. Add
§ 4. CHRIST CRUCIFIED AFRESH. 263
to the fact of this tendency, that in the early church were some who, after Christ had suffered, "crucified him afresh, and put Him to an open shame ;" and it becomes plain that this fearful catastrophe of the crucifixion
Christ may be
may be repeated. Men are still capable of crucified
J r x afresh,
disowning and rejecting Christ. They have the power, and too often the disposition, to bufifet and scourge Him — to crown and crucify Him. Nor was there a single act with which either the disciples, or the judges of our Lord, or the Jews generally, were chargeable, which may not be repeated, and is not repeated, even in our own day.
56. Mark, for example, the conduct and bearing of the favored disciples of our Lord amid those scenes. By some who Peter, as we have seen, deserted and denied St-oftSdis- Him. Judas, another of His disciples, de- ciples- praved by paltry hope of gain, or, at the very best, by impatient unbelief, sold Him. "What will ye give me," said he to the Pharisees, "and I will deliver Him unto you ?" and, for thirty pieces of silver, he betrayed to death one who had been his best friend, and whose innocence he himself attested. Among the bitterest of the ingredients of the cup which He had to drink was this fickleness and desertion. Two of their number at least, Peter and John, had heard their master accused, and had uttered no word of defence ; they had quietly looked on while He was smitten and mocked, and attempted neither to succor nor to console Him. They might have vindicated His charac- ter, even if they could not have obtained His release. One of them, the boldest, had denied, in the presence of the multitude, that he ever knew Him ; a statement which those who heard it knew to be false. If this was the cha- racter of the disciple, they might have reasoned, what can the character of the Master be ? Whence comes the teach- ing that produces such results ? This conduct had doubt-
264 CHAPTER V
less wounded the Lamb of God more deeply than the treat- ment of His foes ; and this wounding He received in the house of His friends !
Alas ! for us, Peter and Judas still live ; and it may- be safely affirmed, that Christ is seldom treated in His truth or in His followers with insult and wrong, but there are professed disciples who contribute to this treatment, who desert Him in the presence of His enemies, or who are ready to give him up into their hands.
57. But let us look again at this scene, and at the con- duct of the judges of Christ. Among the
By others who . . . ,
copy the eon- most instructive parts of the history is the
duct of the . .
judges of record of the wavering, timorous Pilate. As Roman governor, he no doubt held in his hands the power of life and death. He believed Christ to be guiltless, and was willing to save Him. He appeared anxious to do right, so long as His virtue cost him nothing ; and yet, in the end, pre- ferred ease and influence to conscience.
And is not Pilate living still ? Are there not now many who would be models of piety, if their piety did not dis- turb their tenure of wealth and station ; who would save the Son of God from degradation, if they were not appre- hensive that in the task they might degrade themselves ; who "find no fault in Him," and would therefore "let Him go ;" and yet, if the crowd threaten a tumult, or the powerful hint that such conduct bespeaks a man no friend of Cossar's, hand over the Lord to His foes, and consign Him and His cause even to the cross ?
Not very different was the course taken by the chief The sauhe- rulers. '• Among the chief rulers," says John dnm' " many believed Him, but because of the Pha-
risees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue ; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." (John xii. 42.) They were
§ 4. CHRIST CRUCIFIED AFRESH. 265
members of the Sanhedrim, and they had a voice in its deliberations ; they were present, probably, when our Lord was condemned, and they either joined in the cry, "He is guilty of death," or they silently acquiesced in it ; for the sentence seems to have been passed without a dissentient voice.
It cannot be affirmed that the rulers were peculiar in yielding to this fear of men. False shame operated in all ranks, as we may learn from the case of the parents of the man who was born blind ; but it is said to have operated chiefly among the higher classes — an instructive fact. (John v. 14.) How many are there now with whom the verdict of men outweighs every other consideration ; and who are ever ready to sacrifice their convictions to their position ? In heathen countries this influence deters the true disciple from Christian profession itself; and in countries avowedly Christian it acts yet more insidiously, that it is not open disavowal of Christ at which it aims, but secret neglect, The world seldom asks us formally to disown the Gospel, but only to forget it. Act as if principles were false and error true ; you may then leave it to others to repudiate the principles you hold, and to defend the error upon which you act. The world may thus gain all it seeks ; and men fall into the- sin of the chief rulers, and do their part to crucify the Son of God afresh, without giving up one outward badge of Christian discipleship.
There is one more fact connected with the decision of the judges, no less striking. Christ was con- Those who demned on the charge of blasphemy. The vSy^four evidence which was first adduced against Him Lord- having broken down, He was then asked the question: " Art thou the Son of God ?" and He replied in the appro- priate idiom of the language He spoke, " Thou hast said;" i. e. " I am." Then said the judges : "Ye have heard his blasphemy, what think ye?" and they answered, "He is
266 CHAPTER V.
guilty of death." (Matt. xxvi. 63.) Nor did He, when brought before Pilate, deny the character which He thus claimed; and on the charge of "making Himself equal with God," to use the language of the other Evangelist, His judges condemned Him. Is it not a startling fact, that there are those in our own time who say that Christ was not the Son of God in any true sense ; who maintain that it is blasphemy to ascribe this title to Him in any other sense than as it belongs to all revealers and inter- preters of the Divine will ?
If Christ were not the Son of God, He deceived the people. But if He was the Son of God, then those who would withhold that title, who affirm that either He never used it with a deep full meaning, or that if He did so use it, He used it wrongfully, really express their readiness to join in the decision of the Sanhedrim, "We have heard His blasphemy; He is guilty of death." To deny His sonship is to concur in the sentence ; for it is to charge Him either with blasphemy or with deception. And, in either case, if guilty, He was justly condemned.
57. But let us mark the conduct, not of the rulers only^ but of the Jews themselves, as they gathered Iiy thoso wh0 around the cross. Christ was evidently a Smt of the n" favorite with them. His kindly bearing, His Pe°Ple- unwearied beneficence, perhaps the mystery that lent dignity to his life, seem to have caught and pleased the popular mind. More than once it is said that the great obstacle to the success of the plans of the Pharisees was, that "they feared the people." It is certain, moreover, that with such a governor as Pilate, any outburst of popu- lar feeling would have delayed, even if it had not pre- vented, the crucifixion. And yet how impressive is their silence. The poor sufferer carries His cross till He faints under it. The crowd follow, and watch Him till the person of our Lord is nailed to it. The cross is lifted up in the
§ 4. CHRIST CRUCIFIED AFRESH. 267
air, and shook down into its socket among the holes of Cal- vary. Thousands, probably, of that crowd had witnessed His miracles, and very many of them had shared in the gifts of His bounty. ISTot a week before they had thronged His steps as he entered their city, and had swelled the cry — " Hosanna ! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!" but now, though looking with eager gaze, they utter no sounds but of taunting curiosity, or of gross igno- rance. " Let us see if Elias will come and save Him." To the very end, amid all the horrors acquiescence of the actual sufferings of our Lord, they pre- served the spirit they had manifested at the beginning, when they fearlessly invoked His blood upon themselves and upon their children.
And are there not such among the people still ? They honor Christ so long as He confers easy blessings ; ex- press boundless admiration of His Gospel ; speak glow- ingly of the dignified simplicity of His character, of the beauty of His precepts ; and can contrast with these qua- lities the conduct of some who profess, and, alas ! only pro- fess, to be his disciples. But let him contradict their prejudices, or seek to enforce practical holiness, and they blindly follow their guilty guides, disown the truths they once admired, and persecute the cause they seemed to love !
'But surely,' it will be said, 'human nature has not sunk to the level of Jewish degradation. Men In theiT cry no longer prefer the thief and the murderer for Barabbas- to the noble and virtuous Nazarene.' Not sunk to this depth of degradation ! Who, then, are the darling idols of worldly applause ? Whom do men follow, and with whom do they most associate ? Is the heroic character, or the patient and teachable, the favorite with the people ? Put on one side the Barabbases of history, the men who have gained influence and wealth (by whatever means), and
268 CHAPTER V.
who have those gifts to distribute ; and, on the other, tne self-denial, the meekness, and the suffering of the cross. Bid men take their sides ; and how many will liuger with Christ, " deeming His reproach greater riches than the treasures of Egypt ?" What the Jews did is done still. Multitudes act in accordance with their decision ; and if they were compelled to speak they would join the cry, "If we must choose — not this man, but Barabbas."
1 But, at least,' it will be said, ' even if this were their cry, it would be consistent and open. Men do not e?yof ChiSt* ac^ insult to injury. None now put on Him. the scarlet robe, or the crown of thorns. None bow the knee in derision of His claims.' It may be hoped not. And yet how many of us have confessed guilt which we did not feel ! How often have we joined in public prayer while our hearts were unconscious of the submission which our knees expressed ! For how many mercies have we presented thanksgivings, though receiving them as our right, and wasting them on our lusts ! And does this conduct differ from the sin of the soldiers, who called Him king, and despised the royalty they ascribed ; or can we hope that the mocking reverence which shocks so much when offered to Him when He was poor, will appear less guilty when offered to Him now that He is exalted !
58. If we look, then, beneath the outward acts of human ah classes conduct to the hidden principles from which guilty. they spring, it will be found that the guilt of
crucifying the Lord is oft repeated — by avowed disciples, who desert and deny, and would even sell Him, and with Him every principle of conscience ; by men of rank and wealth, who would aid His cause, but they fear a tumult or think that to identify themselves too closely with Christ might compromise them with the world ; by 1 hose who believe but do not confess ; who admit Him to have been a good man, but deem it blasphemy to regard Him as
§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 269
more ; by the people, whose fickle admiration ends when they feel the pressure of the morality of His Gospel, and the self- denying character of the Christian life ; and by those who in every age have preferred the specious to the real, or who have mocked with empty lip-service that Divine King who is satisfied with nothing less than the homage of the heart !
59. But this event of the crucifixion throws light upon other facts. It is the revelation of Man. It shows what he has done and what he is. It is also The cruci. the revelation of God. It sets forth his char- SVgS™1* acter in forms and colors more distinct than weiiasofMan. are to be seen in creation. And to the study of this aspect of the cross we now proceed.
Sect. 5. — Christ the Propitiation.
60. Man is created under law. That law is not an ar- bitrary institution ; it is the embodiment of principles ne- cessary to the happiness of intelligent beings. A1I guiity.
It has its origin not in the sovereignty of God, by r?gntVm™ but in his character. Love to himself and to P°*slble- our neighbor is the sum of its requirements ; requirements which it is impossible to conceive of otherwise than as ex- tended "throughout the moral universe of God.
Sin is the transgression of law, and all men are sinners. "The whole world lieth in wickedness." "All have gone astray." "There is not a just man upon earth that sin- neth not." "If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John v. 19; Ps. xiv. 3; Ecc. vii. 20 ; 1 John i. 8.) No language jan be more clear or decisive ; and the purpose for which it is used is de- clared to be, "that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God." (Rom. iii. 19.) Justification by right therefore, that is, freedom from guilt and punishment on the ground of innocence, is impossible.
•23*
27 0 CHAPTER V.
The simple statement of our true condition leads by one step to this result.
61. But after a man has been pronounced guilty by May man be law> ^' ^s possible to arrest the consequences ieasSnhim- °^ ms n11^ 5 ne mav be forgiven. Reasons may tencea?eforma- ^e f°uncl *w himself, or in another, to justify tion? the interference on his behalf of the supreme
power. Mercy may be extended to him as the reward of previous good conduct ; as a consequence of his penitence, or of his promise of amendment ; or as an answer to his humble and earnest appeals to the government. In cases where the crime is trivial, or the propriety of the law is doubted, or the evidence is unsatisfactory, such pleas are sometimes admitted ; the penalty clue to transgression is not inflicted, and the man who is himself guilty, is nevertheless treated as innocent. May we not expect pardon, if it is asked on similar grounds, at the hands of our Creator ?
G2. A thousand voices give a ready and affirmative How angered ™VlY- " My son acknowledges his fault, and I by many. forgive him. Am I better than the great Father of all ! Are not the yearnings of my heart in such a case a faint image of the yearnings of His ? His tender mercies are over all His works ; and He is ever ready to forgive."
63. He is : our forgiveness is the result of His mercy ; The true an- an(^ yet neither penitence nor mercy is properly swer. the ground of forgiveness. Keeping in view
the case of a pardoned criminal, it must be remembered (in contrast with it) that our sins against God are not trivial. They are capital ; subversive of all authority, and in violation of all law. Our guilt is not questioned, irow byanaio- We have done evil from our youth up, and are Snfo/the8 na" Jus^y chargeable with ten thousand transgres- case- sions. The law we have broken is righteous
and beneficent, eternal and immutable The penalties it
§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 271
inflicts are involved in a great degree in transgression it self; punishment being but the unavoidable perpetuation of sin, and requiring for the removal or prevention of il miraculous interposition. God, moreover, is not only pa- rent of His creatures, He is judge, and has to discharge official functions ; and these cannot be neglected without injury to His character and the very foundations of His government.
In perfect accordance with these views are the convic- tions of human nature as expressed in the re- ligious rites of all nations. Those rites imply and human a state not of innocence, but of guilt. They include sacrifice and suffering as grounds of forgiveness ; and clearly teach that the heart of man, when not misled by a false philosophy, has an instinctive consciousness that something else is required for pardon besides penitence. History confirms these impressions by presenting a thou- sand examples, in which it is evident that guilt is not can- celled by sorrow, however profound, or by promises of amendment, however sincere.
64. But let us turn to the Bible. Having broken the law, whence comes, according to its teaching, our hope of forgiveness — from ourselves or from another ? TI
o liow answered
Is pardon suspended there on man's virtues inScriPture. and penitence, or on something else ? And again a thou- sand voices will reply : repentance and sincerity are con- stantly spoken of as the pre-requi sites of par- Repentanee don. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and needed- the unrighteous man his thoughts ; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and unto our God, for He will abundantly pardon." "If we con- fess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit : a broken and a con- trite heart, thou wilt not despise." (Is. Iv. *J ; 1 John i. 9;
272 CHAPTER V.
Ps. li. 17.) And, it will be added, the very precepts of our Lord we have already considered point to the same results. No true penitent is ever condemned.
These passages we joyfully admit. They form an im- portant part of the gospel ; but only a part. To regard them as teaching that repentance is alone ne
But not the i • . , -, P n
meritorious cessary, or that it is the ground of forgiveness,
no llSfl
is a fearful abuse, and subversive both of re- pentance and of holiness. For if this view be sound, we if so, what nave several consequences. It then follows then? that the law is changed, both its denunciations
and precepts. It tells us that "death" is the "wages," i. e., the just desert "of sin;" but to maintain that re- pented sin, being cancelled, has no such desert, is clearly to limit and even to contradict this principle. To those under law it affirms that " he that doeth these things shall live by them ;" but now others besides may live ; not only those who do them, but those also who repent of their mis- doings.
Does it not follow also, if this reasoning be admitted, that God himself is changed ? He can clearly cherish no abhorrence of sin as sin, but only of sin as unrepented. The innocent and the penitent-guilty are alike in His sight. Sin wept over is annihilated and forgotten.
Nor can it be deemed a refinement of reasoning to main- tain, that if repentance is a meritorious ground of pardon, repentance itself is impossible. True repentance is hatred of sin as such ; but on this reasoning sin as such is not hateful, but only the sin which is not the subject of peni- tence. But if sin is not of itself wrong, but only sin un- repented of, it follows that men can repent only of their impenitence. But impenitence itself is not wrong if cherished in relation to what is not wrong. So that both sin and penitence are destroyed. Sin has no existence
§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 273
without impenitence ; and impenitence can involve no guilt, nor penitence have existence, where there is no sin.
To maintain therefore, as is the tendency of our nature, that repentance cancels sin by some mysterious influence of its own, is to subvert the very foundation of morals. Such a view overturns the first principles of holiness. If the law is just, it is just that it should be enforced. To confess that it is just does not destroy its justness, and to acknowledge that we deserve to die cannot alter our de- serts. " Therefore by the deeds of the law can no flesh living be justified ; for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
May it not be added that if repentance were the ground of forgiveness, our state would be but little alleviated by the knowledge of such a truth. Repentance is the hatred of sin, and the practice of holiness. Even if these only be the terms on which salvation is offered to our race, are we prepared to fulfill them ? And if we need even for re- pentance Divine help, whence, and on what grounds, is that help to be obtained ?
65. The conclusions to which reason and law thus lead are confirmed by the express teachings of Scrip-
Scripture
ture. That repentance is necessary to salvation teaching on the we have seen. That it is not the only thing necessary, nor in any sense the meritorious ground of it, are conclusions drawn from the fact that salvation is al- ways ascribed in Scripture to something else ; and from the further fact that nothing man does can in any de- gree deserve pardon. "Without shedding of blood there is no remission." "If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins." "The Son of Man came to give His life a ransom for many." (Heb. ix. 22; John viii. 24 ; Mark x. 45.) " This is my blood shed for many for the remission of sins." " God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." " Christ
274 CHAPTER V.
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." " And in Him we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of his grace." (Matt. xxvi. 28; John iii. 16; Gal. iii. 13; Eph. i. 7; Col. i. 14.) Whatever the full meaning of these statements is, they imply that more than penitence is required for salvation, and that it is not to penitence as a ground or meritorious cause that our salva- tion is ascribed.
Further, it must be noticed, that the insufficiency of all On salvation personal acts to deserve pardon is stated in by grace. Scripture to be absolute. It is an insufficiency
in kind, not in degree. The teaching of the Bible is not that with Christ they will together secure the blessing, as if all contributed to the result ; but that the effective in- fluence belongs to Christ alone ; and that our acts, whether of activity or of emotion, are demanded for other purposes. This is the doctrine of the Epistle to the Romans ; in which it is repeatedly affirmed, that our salvation is the re- sult of a reception of Christ, or of faith in Him, inde- pendently of works, whether of simple obedience, or of penitential reformation. " We are justified by faith with- out the deeds of law." " It is of faith that it might be of grace." " Christ is made unto us redemption ; and in Him we have redemption through His blood, even the for- giveness of our sins." " We are justified freely by His grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." " He hath made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God (righteous in the sight of God) in Him." (Rom. iii. 28; Rom. iv. 16; 1 Cor. i. 30; Eph. i. 7; Rom. iii. 24; 2 Cor. v. 21.) And that nothing in man can efficiently contribute to the result, is made plain by the general conclusion reiterated elsewhere — one purpose indeed of the whole arrangement.
§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 275
"He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." (1 Cor. i. 31 ; 2 Cor. x. 17.)
66. Pardon, therefore, it seems, is the result of Christ's death — and of Christ's death alone. Repent- But the propi. ance, and other personal acts, have no power cJjjj" Beni- to obtain it : they are but the conditions or Hnce an<* faith
* the conditions
qualifications, on which His death is made °n ^cn it be-
* ' comes ayail-
available for sinners. able-
67. But how, it may now be asked, is the death of Christ the ground of our justification ? All the reasons
that weigh with God in this arrangement it is Christ the
impossible for us to know; but such as are re- justification/
vealed may be examined, and they cannot fail
to be examined as themes of the deepest interest.
From what has been already said, it is clear that God's
government is a government according to law ; perfections of
He has himself both official functions and a G.0?' an,d prin- ciples of his go- personal character ; sin is a grave and fearful Ternment-
offence against Him. Therefore, however compassionate God may be towards the sinner, the arbitrary exercise of prerogative in remitting sin is impossible, because incon- sistent with holiness. And while these are principles in relation to this question which spring, so to speak, out of the very nature of the Divine government, there are facts no less important, resting on experience. Men are sinners ; and, as such, are exposed to the punishment connected with disobedience. The infliction of punishment, however, is, in a great degree, suspended. In the mean time an extra- ordinary measure has been introduced into the world by God himself. This measure provides a valid ground for the bestowment of pardon ; and is nothing less than the sacrifice and death of His Son. The following passages place these facts in the clearest light. " The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." "God sent forth his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
276 CHAPTER V.
for sir." "He who knew no sin was made sin for us." " Sacrifice and offering" (the ritual appointments of the law) "thou wouldest not; but a body hast thou prepared me. Lo ! I come to do thy will, 0 God." (1 John i. T ; Rom. viii. 3 ; 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Heb. x.) Here a simple- minded believer might pause ; and, believing these truths, be saved. The death of the Messiah is recognized in all these passages, and in many others, as the ground or con- sideration, on account of which pardon is revealed and be- stowed on man. God must punish, is the first truth. Through Christ punishment is suspended or remitted, is the second.
68. But Scripture goes still farther. It not only tells The truth ex- us what constitutes the ground of pardon ; it riamed. a|g0 eXp]ains ^0 some extent how it is so. It
gives undoubted intimations respecting the design, the ne- cessity, and the nature of the appointment ; the properties which impart to it its power with God, and with man. It tells us, for example, that the scheme itself originated in the love of the Father, and was, moreover, intended to illustrate His holiness. " God so loved the world, that He sent His Son" to reconcile it to Himself. God hath "set forth His Son a propitiation for sin, to declare, or display His righteousness ; that He might be just, and the justi- fier of him that belie veth in Jesus." (Rom. iii. 25.)
The influence of this act upon God's government is also revealed. " Christ hath redeemed us from the
His death satis- fies justice and curse of the law, being made a curse for us ;''
reveals mercy.
" He died the just for the unjust ;" Christ gave " Himself a ransom for us."
That God regarded His death as a sufficient reason why Thus glorify- a^ wn0 believe in Him should be forgiven, is conciHnghtsrc" equally plain. Because He laid down His life, Effidai reia- tae Father gave him power to give eternal life tlon8, to as many as God had given Him. Through
§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATIOX. 277
His dignity and innocence "He bare our sins (not His own) in His own body on the tree ;" " He became obedient unto death ;" and, therefore, " God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name above every name." (Phil ii. 8.) " If the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God, purge our conscience from dead works ?" (Heb. ix. 13) — from the burden and the condemnation of works which end in death.
The conclusion, therefore, is, that in Christ and His Dbeclience unto death God beholds an adequate reason for ;he exercise of mercy. There the rectitude of the Judge and the love of ftie Father are equally displayed. His people, accepted in the Beloved, have the punishment of their sins cancelled. They are judicially placed in the condition and character of personal virtue. They become objects both of complacency and affection. God looks on Christ, and He sees in Him the both look tothe ground of forgiveness. They look on Christ, and are justified through faith, which faith is itself an in- strument of holiness. Heaven and earth, God and man, are thus alike influenced by the cross.
69. Every part of this scheme, it must be added, " is witnessed by the law and the prophets." Throughout the whole of revelation, God is witnessed by everywhere presented as the moral Governor of man. For thousands of years he appears teaching the great truth of His own righteous demands, and of man's inability to meet them.
The Bible is a record of God's requirements on the one hand, and of man's incompetency on the other. The con- nection of sin with punishment is everywhere asserted ;
24
278 CHAPTER V.
and more than this, the doctrine of the transference cf punishment is repeatedly and forcibly revealed. Reason concurs in these lessons. The experience of common life sustains them ; and thus all lend their evidence to confirm what becomes to us glad tidings of great joy — a message of wrath blended with a message of love ; tidings happily as universal in their announcement and adaptation as is the disease they are intended to heal.
70. The terms in which the various aspects of this great in what terms work are described are all significant. The described. death of Christ is called a propitiation, for it makes it possible for God to receive sinners into favor, and prompts to the exercise of mercy in a way consistent with the claims of justice. It is called an expiation, for it covers sin, and provides for the removal of guilt and con- sequent punishment. It is an atonement, both expiating and propitiating, while it brings into friendship those who were once opposed. It is vicarious or substitutional, being endured in our stead. And it is satisfactory, for it vindicates the broken law, answers all the moral purposes of punishing the trangressors, and is deemed by the Law- giver himself to be a sufficient reason for pardoning all who believe. Its first fruit is forgiveness said peace — com- placency on God's part, and confidence on ours ; its ultimate fruits, redemption and salvation — that is, actual freedom from sin in its guilt, power, and misery, and in the end eternal life : redemption differing from salvation only in suggesting the price paid for these gifts. In part they are already enjoyed, but in their fullness they are yet to come.
71. We must not go farther on this question than Scnp- The Divinity of ture guides us ; but it is impossible to over- fnrthV"ffieIcy look the fact, that if the Being who suffered ofthis sacrifice, ^ pena]ty 0f human guilt be not He whose justice demanded the sacrifice, our notions of satisfaction
§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 279
are all confounded ; and the atonement not only leaves the attributes of justice and love unreconciled, but it does ab- solute violence to both.
If our Lord were man only, then we have the law of God satisfied, and even honored, by the sufferings eisenomeritin of One who Himself owed to that law all the His sufferi°g- obedience He could give. There could in that case have been no merit in His humiliation ; none in His submission ; none in His obedience ; and (inasmuch as the law of God requires us to give up our lives for the brethren) none in His death. And to all created intelligences will this rea- soning apply ; to all, in fact, except to that one Being who owes no duty but to Himself. To Christ it does not apply, because He was at once the Great God and our Sa- viour— the Child and the Everlasting Father — Jehovah- man !
Nor is it easier, if the divinity of our Lord be denied, to reconcile the attributes of God's character. What infinite justice is there in placing the tion of the di- penalty of human transgression upon one totally distinct from the Lawgiver, an inferior and inno- cent ? "What infinite love in accepting the endurance of pain, which was, after all, no satisfaction ? And if it be maintained that the infinite love was in Christ, and the infinite holiness in Him, then it follows that the merit of our redemption is practically transferred from Jehovah to the man who achieved it ; leaving the blessed God Him- self to be outdone by His own creature in the manifestation of His noblest perfections, and in the very dispensation intended to display them ! Admit the Scriptural scheme, and all is consistent. The love and holiness on the part both of Gor] and of Christ are infinite ; yet there is no fear of idolatry, though men " honor the Son even as they honor the Father !"
280 CHAPTER V.
72. This great fact of the life of our Lord, ending in Hi&
death, may be variously regarded. On the
Prfiotiojil lTiflu*
enceofthc side towards God it is the instrument of our justification. By His obedience many are made righteous. We are justified by His blood — we are reconciled by His death. On the side towards men it is the instrument of our holiness. With both God and man it is omnipotent, containing every element of power ; in itself, adapted to stir to its utmost depth all human feeling, and appointed by God as a reason on account of which the influences of His Holy Spirit may be infused into all hearts. " He has received gifts for men," even "the pro mise of the Holy Ghost." (Ps. lxviii. 18; Acts ii. 33.) His is " a name above every name, that every knee should bow, and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the Father."
But the fact that the death of Christ is adapted to have power with men claims additional illustration.
73. At first sight His obedience unto death may seem to
embody neither wisdom nor power. The Jew
Its influence . 1 n .
over natural deemed it not only powerless and inanimate, but a weakness and an offence. The Greek called it foolishness. (1 Cor. i. 23.) In the event of the crucifixion, Christ is no doubt exhibited in His deepest humiliation. As He passed from the hall of judgment to the hill of Calvary, He seemed a common criminal ; His brow still marked with the thorns, and His face swollen with the agony of the previous night and the blows of the soldiery. When He reached the spot where they meant to crucify Him, He appeared as one of the poorest and most friendless of men. Amid shouts and taunts He was lifted up. Others are crucified with Him. To the eye of man all are abject, and He most abject of all.
"There are not wanting, however, even amid those in- dications of weakness, mysterious tokens of a Divine, pre-
§ 5. CHRIST THE TROriTIATION. 281
sence, and of the solemn significance of His death. The earth, and the sky, and the temple, fit representations of all created and divine things, are moved at the scene. Angels that excel in strength are watching the sufferer with reve- rent interest. That victim, seemingly disowned by earth and heaven, and therefore suspended between them, is our Maker. In that meek and lowly form is veiled the incar- nate God. Angels that smote a camp, and destroyed the first-born of a nation in a night, have worshiped Him. His very enemies, who put Him to death, and who have often watched Him in His acts and speech, can bring against Him no consistent or intelligible accusation. His judges ' find no fault in Him.' There, amid the scoffs of His murderers, dies the only One of Adam's race that knew no sin. A life of unequalled beneficence is consummated by a death of violence and anguish, itself an expression of the noblest beneficence. Thus viewed, elements of gran- deur and tenderness, of loftiest splendor and the lowliest condescension, all blend in that dread sacrifice. Do men look with interest on greatness in misery ? It is here : The King of Glory despised and rejected of men ! Are they touched with sympathy for distress ? How deep must have been His anguish, when even His patient spirit cried out, * My God, my God ! why hast Thou forsaken me V — and rejoiced when He was able to say, ' It is finished V Do they need, in order to feel most deeply, to have some con- nection with the sufferer ? They have a suspicion that, somehow or other, the case might have been their own. It is the man Christ Jesus who dies, and dies in the stead of men. Should wisdom attract ? Here was the great Teacher Himself, speaking as man never spoke, giving les- sons even from the cross ! The God-man, of whom Plato had glimpses, is here dying ignominiously, an example of perfect innocence, and enduring the treatment due to con- summate wickedness ! Are men strongly affected by what
24*
282 CHAPTER V.
they know as affecting others ? This sacrifice stirs all worlds — hell is losing its prey — heaven is stooping to be- hold its King incarnate and dying, that He may recover to His allegiance a lost province of His empire, indulging His mercy and satisfying His justice, whilst His last breath magnifies His law and proclaims His Gospel."* Looking through history, it appears that this scene has influenced the noblest of our race, and has prompted to deeds of unparalleled devotedness. Children have felt its power, without being repelled by the mystery. The mightiest intellects have studied it, without grasping its vastness. Those living by faith in it have become par- takers of a Divine nature ; the world has become crucified to them, and they to the world. No earthly terrors could appal, no earthly charms could allure them. The very miracles of the life of our Lord wrought upon the bodies of men, seem to be but faint types of the mightier miracles wrought through the Spirit in their souls by this miracle of grace.
If we look more deeply into this power, we shall find that it has elements of even a nobler kind.
74. Human life is made up in a large measure of sin and suffering. The first shows us our guilt,
Influence oyer
religious emo and the second our helplessness. Guilt leads us to view God with distrust, and suffering makes it needful that we should have a Friend who can show us how to suffer, and give us, at the same time, an assurance of sympathy and relief. No religious system that fails to provide for these necessities of our condition can have a permanent hold upon the human heart. The
* Abridged from Dr. Williams's Lecture on " The Cross the Conser- vative Principle of our Literature." Some of the following thoughts will be found expanded and illustrated with great beauty in the same address.
§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 283
provision supplied in this respect by the Gospel is identified with the cross.
Conscious of our guilt, and judging God by ourselves, it is hard to believe that He is ready to be " pacified towards us for all our abominations." (Ezek. xvi. 62.) Till this is believed we cannot love Him. It is confidence only that brings man back to God. This is the true principle of our recovery. But what is so adapted to produce this confidence as the death of Christ ? He appears as "the way, and the truth, and the life." Herein God " commendeth His love to us, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly." (Rom. v. 8.) The reasoning is irresistible : " He that spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things." (Rom. viii. 32.)
But still, though God is thus shown to be love, He is felt to be infinitely above us. We shrink from telling Him of our cares and weakness. If we knew of Assurance of one who had experienced human life, and yet P>'mPathy- had the almighty power of God, in Him we might trust . His personal recollections of our condition would encourage our application and dependence. And is not this want nobly met in our Lord? "We have not a High-Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Heb. iv. 15.) If poor, we may remember that He "had not where to lay His head." If suffering reproach, it is told us that He was deemed "a glutton and a wine- bibber ;" "a friend of publicans and sinners;" "a blas- phemer," and "mad." If unjustly treated by men, and apparently deserted by God, we need but to turn to Cal- vary, and, while gazing there, we cease to think it strange concerning the fiery trial that has befallen us. We are crucified together. He knows our sorrows. " He remem- bers that we are dust."
284 CHAPTER V.
And is an example needed ? Would even the teaching An example of °f our Lord be imperfect if He had not Him- patieuce. sejf shown us how i0 Sllffer ? Q0 again to the
cross. When He was reviled He reviled not again ; when He suffered He threatened not, but committed Himself unto Him that judgeth righteously." (1 Pet. ii. 23.) Am I forbidden to feel ? Is stoic indifference a Christian virtue? " Jesus wept." He was "troubled in spirit." (John xi. 35; xiii. 21.) "Father," said He, "if it be possible, let this cup pass from me ; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." Men murder Him, and He prays for them. His Father deserts Him, and yet He trusts Him. Herein He suffered, " leaving us an example that we should follow His steps." (1 Pet. ii. 21.)
15. Nor are there wanting other influences. What am its influence I* anc^ what is my condition ? is a question that Sm rfSSt lies at the foundation of all religion. Rightly as to ourselves. ^Q k110w ourselves is the beginning of all know- ledge. Contemplate, then, in the light of the cross, the condition of human nature. Ancient and modern philoso- phies have delighted to flatter our pride. They have traced up our pedigree to God, and they have claimed for us a dignity which would be very welcome, if only it could be maintained. Brahmins, for example, speak of them- selves as an incarnation of the Deity ; and the Pantheistic tendencies of men, or their pride, tempt them to hold the sentiment even when they have not shaped it into words.
It follows from this doctrine that in beings so noble, there can be no deep inherent depravity. A taint of evil on the surface there may be, but that is all, and it is easily removed. Perhaps (it is darkly hinted) their condition is properly chargeable on matter, on provoking circumstances, or even on the blessed God ; so that, after all, men may be guiltless of any worse evil than misfortune. But bring this language to the cross. What lessons are taught
§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 285
there ? He who hung upon it tasted death for every man, because every man had sinned, and so had deserved to die. He is the just one, and for the unjust He suffers. In the agony and passion of this second Head of the race, I read the desert of the first. I am no God, nor part of God, but a condemned sinner. The blood of a divine atonement was needed to purge my sins. Am I told of the native dignity and innocence of man, and of his sympathy wi1h the divine ? The divine in all its perfection became incar- nate. For that perfection man had no sympathy. Nor was it even welcomed in the world it came to redeem. Yeiled at first, the Divine glory gradually shone through the veil more brightly till the world was illumined ; but ever as it shone, the hatred in men's hearts burned fiercer, and here, on the cross, they are doing what they can to extinguish it forever.
Am I told that the Jews, the murderers of our Lord, were worse than men ; and that now, at least, virtue needs but to be seen in order to be worshiped ? I look again at the cross. Every tendency of human nature which these murderers exhibited I mark around me still. Men are capable of doing over again that deed of blood. They crucify the Son of God afresh in His followers, His prin- ciples, and His kingdom. They put Him even now to an open shame. And is it amid these scenes, and with the history of this teacher before me, that I am to speak of my native worth, and claim equality with God ? Thoughts like these, everywhere absurd, are impious here. The cross, the exhibition of man's deserts, itself the expression of man's depravity, is clearly adapted to annihilate all such dreams. In the end it may exalt us to unknown dignities, but its first lesson is of humiliation and guilt. What man deserves, and what man has done, what therefore man is, are truths revealed at Calvary in characters which none need misunderstand.
286 CHAPTER V.
T6. What again is religion, and what are its claims ? The nature of Men's characters are moulded by the object of true religion, their worship, and by the truths they hold ; those especially that refer to God and holiness. Every religious faith some deem to be alike. There is true piety, they say, in all creeds. Sincerity is its essence. Men will never 'see eye to eye.' Have charity; and receive as brethren, if they be but sincere, the worshipers of Bud- dha and of Jehovah, of Mahomet and of Christ.
All such equality the cross disclaims. Had Christ been content to blend Sadduceeism, and Pharisaism, and Hea- thenism into one religion, to sanction all as meaning the same thing, or even to allow them a place in that pure and exclusive system He came to reveal, He would never have suffered. Instead of such blending, however, He de- nounced all compromises. He assailed every false system, and by the advocates of all He himself was condemned. Truth was not on His lips an eclectic faith, a compound of all human opinions, and, as such, adapted to meet the prejudices of all. Like its Author, it stood out distinctly from every thing earthly, formed no secular alliances, and al- lowed no rival. Had He been contented to share the throne of men's hearts, or to elaim for the religion of the Bible a place among other systems, neither He Himself would have suffered, nor would His apostles have had to contend with the ten thousand opposing influences in Jerusalem, in Athens, and at Rome. Of this peculiarity of the teaching of our Lord, the cross is at once an evidence and a result.
IT. But it answers another question. May not God And the supre- Pass by transgression ? Is not law the ema-
SSuSfrtf nation of Gocl's wiU? He instituted, and law- may He not abrogate it ? He is beneficence
and grace. He is the Father of His creatures, and may He not indulge the yearnings of His parental heart, and look with equal eye on all His children ; pitying the weak-
§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. . 287
ness of the sinful ; but in the exercise of a mercy which no finite mind can comprehend, pardoning all, and ultimately receiving them into favor again ? A question of deepest interest, answered partly in nature and in history. The prevalence of misery in a world created by one who is Almighty, bespeaks a character, if merciful, yet certainly just. The deluge, the history of the Jews, chastened and disowned, the voice of conscience, and the natural fore- bodings which all men feel of a coming jndgment, bespeak the existence somewhere of a holy law. But in the cross these questions are completely solved. If ever under God's government mercy might revolt against justice, it was surely here. The Saviour had been sold by the traitor, and deserted by His disciples. He had been assailed by false accusers, and condemned by a judge who acknow- ledged the injustice of the sentence. He is now handed over to a brutal soldiery and fickle people whom He had often befriended. It was hard to bear, and yet it was to be borne. He meekly drank the cup of His woe ; and it was the Father who mingled it. It was His hand that held it to His lips. If tenderness could have saved our Lord, He must have been saved, for tenderness was there as the heart of man, in its hour of most impassioned feel- ing, has never conceived it. If mercy could have saved our race at a smaller cost, His death was a needless sacri- fice. But it behoved Him to suffer. Divine pity ever leans on truth. Mercy, as she forces her way to the sinner, must do homage to justice, and pay the debt before she can free the captive. Nowhere else in the universe does the sanctity of law and the reality of the holiness of God stand out in bolder relief. The lesson is taught in facts, is proclaimed to heaven and earth, and may be read by all. There is mercy, but it is in harmony with justice. There is love, but it spends its force in the gift of the Son. Par- don there is, but it is obtained through no weakness in the
288 CHAPTER V.
law, through no fickleness or false benevolence on the part of the Judge !
18. Whether, therefore, we look at the death of Christ as adapted of itself to excite pity and awe ; to touch our religious feelings as guilty and mis- erable ; to instruct and quicken our conscience in relation to ourselves, to religion, and morality, or to God, it is clearly "the power of God to every one that believeth." " To every one that believeth ;" for without faith the whole sacrifice is robbed of its significance. I must believe that He is the gift of the Father's love ; that in dying He does homage to law ; that I deserve what He suffers ; and that in earnestly pleading His death, I acknowledge my own guilt, and desire to be freed from it — or these truths are powerless. Believing them, forgiveness is inseparable from holiness.
Nor let it be thought that we make more of this prac- tical power of the cross than the Bible makes.
Results affirm- . . . .
ed in Scrip- It is the mightiest plea it employs. Christ "loved us, and gave Himself for us," and His love "constrains us to live not unto ourselves, but unto Him that died for us, and rose again." We " are bought with a price," and feel that we are therefore bound to glo- rify Him "in our bodies and spirits which are His." (2 Cor. v. 14; 1 Cor. vi. 20.) When is Christ set forth as " the power and wisdom of God ?" As crucified. Where did He spoil "principalities and powers, and make a show of them openly?" On the cross. When was " the judg- ment of this world," and when was "the prince of this world cast out " from his throne ? In the last hours of our Saviour's agony. What was the chosen theme of the most successful preacher who ever lived ? " Jesus Christ and Him crucified," whom alone Paul determined to know. What is the vow of every Christian, and what the reason for it? " God forbid that I should glory save in the cross
§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 289
of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (1 Cor. ii. 2; Gal. vi. 14.) So completely in truth does this doctrine operate upon our virtue, and so adapted is it, by the view it gives of the consequences of sin, of the excellence of the law, of the love and faithfulness of God, of the tenderness and grace of Christ, that those who profess to receive it and are not virtuous, are represented not as the " enemies" of the precepts and example of Christ only, but as emphati- cally the " enemies of the cross." (Phil. iii. 18.)
T9. The death of our Lord, as we have now viewed it, was the work of the people. "By wicked Intercessor hands " was he crucified and slain. In another and pnest sense, it was the work of God. " According to His deter- minate counsel," He was delivered up into their hands. In yet a third sense, it was the work of our Lord. He gave Himself for us. He had power to lay down His life, and He had power to take it again. (John x. 18.) Dying, He was the victim offered once for all. Giving Himself to die, He was the intercessor and priest.
Properly the priesthood and intercession of Christ are terms that refer to His whole work. Derivately and in ac- tual usage, they express all He has done for us. As priest, (toft's, t. e. tfpa pe^ei!/.) He attends to things that pertain to God ; teaching His will, offering atonement for sin, bring- ing us near, and pleading on our behalf. As mediator (fisait^i) or intercessor, He goes between God and man, satisfies divine justice, and removes from us the sentiment of wrath (opy»j xcifspyoj) with which God cannot but regard iniquity. This blessing He achieves for our race, and at His own cost. Sent forth from God, He appears on earth, finishes His work, and then, as our (artoj-oxoj) apostle (as well as our Father's), enters for us into the glory he had left. Having sanctified Himself for this office, He now sanctifies us, and is in His own person (J aytdfav. tyyroj.
25
290 CHAPTER V.
TtpoSpo/toj. <v*r,o,) the pledge of the fulfilment of every covenant promise, the forerunner and the author of our salvation.
More commonly, however, these terms are restricted in meaning to the work of Christ in heaven ; especially the two first. He is high priest for ever. He liveth to make intercession for us. Even as so restricted, however, care must be taken to include in them all the Bible includes. The intercession of Christ is properly the completion of His sacrifice. It perpetuates the efficacy of His expiation. It bears to atonement the same relation that providence bears to creation. The covenant of pardon and eternal life is founded on the atonement of the cross ; the adminis- tration of the covenant on the continuance of the power of the atonement in heaven. God created and now sustains. Christ died and now intercedes.
His work in heaven is to appear for us in our nature — (Heb. ix. 24 ; Acts vii. 56) as our substitute, having obeyed and suffered in our stead ; and generally as our friend : to exhibit His atoning sacrifice as the ground on which the blessings for which He pleads may be bestowed, both largely and righteously, and to intimate His will, either in words or in some form of appeal yet more impres- sive, that the gifts He purchased may be shed down upon His Church. (Heb. ix. 10-12, 23 ; John xvii. 24 ; Heb. vii. 25.) So regarded, the intercession of our Lord justi- fies our largest expectations, and is the pledge of our final success.
Let it not be supposed, however, that this office of our Redeemer is needed to awaken the love of the Father, or to remind Him of what He might otherwise forget, or to draw down blessings which are grudgingly bestowed. In the love of the Father the office itself originated. His people and their interest are graven upon the palms of His hands, and He can never forget them. What He giveth, He
§ 5. CHRIST THE PROPITIATION. 291
giveth liberally. The office is rather a provision intended to impress upon all, that mercy is exercised even still in harmony with justice, and that our communion with God is ever through the mediation of Christ. Its first great truth is, that if God is at peace with sinners, it is through the sacrifice of the cross ; and its second truth, that as Jesus pleads, so He must prevail, and they in Him. We are to come boldly to the throne, though ever feeling that it is a throne of grace. He links Himself with us as peti tioner, asking His rights, that we may feel our depend- ence, and that we may be linked with Him as Heir and King.
CHAPTER VI.
CHRIST AS KING.
§ 1. The Resurrection of our Lord, and Lessons cok nected with it.
§ 2. Christ the King of Hades — the Forerunner — the First Fruits of them that slept.
§ 3. The Invisible King.
§ 4. The Second Coming of our Lord
294
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CHAPTEE VI
CHRIST AS KING.
Sect. 1. — The Resurrection op our Lord, and lessons connected with it.
1. And now the overthrow of the scheme that Christ came to proclaim seems complete. His disci- ples had deserted Him ; the boldest of their apparent^ the number had denied Him, and the Founder of thThopeTof the new faith has Himself been put to death. 1S lsc,ples# In this impression the apostles evidently shared. With the crucifixion of their Master, they seem to have abandoned all expectation of the establishment of His kingdom.
2. Within six weeks, however, after this apparent ter- mination of their hopes, the views of the dis- change in their ciples are entirely changed. We find them Tiews' again assembled in Jerusalem, neither sorrowing nor de- spondent, but declaring publicly that the Jesus, whom the Jews with wicked hands had crucified and slain, was both Lord and Christ, and that through faith in Him alone are men to be accepted and forgiven. (Acts ii. 36.)
3. And what intermediate historical fact is there to ex- plain this transition ? Christ has re-appeared
among them ; He is raised from the dead ; their faith in His previous promises has thence received a
(295)
296 CHAPTER VI.
new impulse ; and convictions have been imparted which ins resurrec- were before unknown. His resurrection has tlon' given the idea of new and even closer commu-
nion with Him ; communion, moreover, which is never to be dissolved. According to their own assertions — asser- tions repeated in one form or another more than fifty times in the Acts and Epistles — this event was the foundation of their steadfast faith in His person and in Himself as Mes- siah, as well as of their own certain hope of a blessed im- mortality. His resurrection, in fact, justified their previous convictions, and for ever confirmed them.
4. This issue of His death He had Himself foretold. Foretold by "I nave power to lay down my life, and I have himself. power," said He, "to take it again." (John x. 17, 18.) Elsewhere, even more clearly (Matt. xvi. 21 ; xvii. 23 ; Luke ix. 22 ; Mark ix. 31), specifying in these passages the precise interval of three days, during which He was to remain in the grave. The full import of these predic- tions, however, had been hidden from the disciples ; nor did they gather comfort from them till now they were fulfilled.
5. But if this was to be the issue of the sufferings of
our Lord, must it not have deprived them of
Difficulty of ,.«.
these previous much of their bitterness : A difficulty that
predictions. ,
cannot be perfectly solved. It is answered, however, as far as it can be answered, in the mystery of His incarnation, and the nature of His atonement. The consciousness that death was but a passage to glory did not prevent the struggle of nature with suffering, especially such suffering as His for our sins. We know that He reached heaven through faith (Heb. xii. 2), as must all His followers ; and His sacrifice lost as little of its moral import, and His sufferings as little of their intensity from the assurance of His resurrection, as do the present trials of believers from the equally certain assurance of an im- mortal life.
§ 1. THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD. 297
6. Paley has pointed out the fact, that if the Gospel had been a forgery, the inspired writers would never
° J * The resurrec-
have represented Christ as appearing after His tion an evi-
. . * dence and con-
resurrection to His disciples only ; and no sedation only
. . . to disciples.
doubt this remark is just. But there is in the fact itself a still deeper truth. During His life He showed Himself to all, beseeching men to be reconciled, and at- tracting their confidence by services of unwearied love ; but in His resurrection He was known only to His own. It was a miracle, by which believers were to be con- vinced. Those whose hearts had received no saving im- pression from His ministry, would have received no such impression from His re-appearance. If the living Christ had not led them to repentance, neither were they to be persuaded though He rose from the dead.
7. Another reason still is suggested by the fact, that His resurrection was not only intended to seal and
A preparation
confirm the faith of those who already believed, for invisible
communion.
but also to teach to such the great lesson, that communion with a visible Saviour was now to yield to communion with a spiritual being ever present, though mostly invisible. Forty days He remained on earth to give them the full assurance that He was risen — to afford them a clearer insight into the mysteries of His kingdom ; but only forty days, for He did not mean them to cleave to any visible manifestation of Himself. His re-appearance was but a preparation for higher and eternal union. To such as believed, therefore, it was an instructive lesson and a decisive evidence ; but to unbelievers it would have been inappropriate and useless.
8. In accordance with this fact He appeared to His dis- ciples only, and all His appearances were in
Christ appears
love ; that love showing itself differently, how- to disciples ever, according to the condition of its object.
298 CHAPTER VI.
Such as were in sorrow it soothed ; such as were walking in light it gladdened ; such as had gone astray it rebuked and restored.
9. Christ's first appearance was graciously afforded to Christ's first tQe two women who visited His tomb. As appearance. ^ey returned in sadness from the place where He had lain, He met them. T^iey were filled at once with successive aP- j°y> surprise, and fear. Immediately they fell pearances. before Him and embraced His feet. "Be not afraid," said He ; and then bade them go and announce His resurrection to His disciples, of whom he spoke as His "brethren."
Next He visits Mary, who had remained at the grave second appear- oppressed with grief and anxiety. Seeing Him ance* unexpectedly in the morning twilight, she did
not know Him ; He therefore called her by name, and im- mediately she recognized His voice. With an exclamation of joy she stretched forth her hands, probably intending to touch Him, but Christ warned her that He had not yet ascended to His Father ; that the time of His union with His people (of which He had previously spoken) was not yet come ; and that henceforth the fellowship that was to subsist between Himself and His disciples was to be not personal, but spiritual : " Cleave not," therefore says He, "to me ; for I am not yet ascended to my Father."
Early in the afternoon of the same day, He appeared to Third appear- Peter (Luke xxiv. 33, 34 ; 1 Cor. xv. 5) ; and ance. Fourth. iater ^0 tw0 ^{sc[^\es going to Emmaus, a small
village a mile distant from Jerusalem. They had heard that the body of Christ was not found in the sepulchre ; but the news that He had appeared to any had not reached them. As they walked, they conversed freely of all that had occurred, and of the disappointment of their hopes. While absorbed in conversation a stranger joined them, and took part in it. By degrees he ascertained their feel-
§ 1. THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD. 299
ing, and thence began to expound the Scriptures, and to show that the facts which were shaking their faith ought really to confirm it. "For thus," said he, "it behoved Christ to suffer." Under the power of His teaching, their hearts burned within them — a new light dawned upon their souls. The person of the speaker, however, was not recognized ; they were not aware of the appearance of their risen Lord ; perhaps their attention was so occupied with the thoughts He uttered, that they did not particularly notice His appearance ; or perhaps His sufferings and re- surrection had somewhat changed Him. When they ar- rived, therefore, at their journey's end, " He made as if He would have gone farther." He had no reason to intrude upon them, but they courteously urged Him to remain, and on His complying they courteously gave Him the place of the host. Before they began, He pronounced a blessing, then brake the bread and gave it them ; and in this act they discerned the Friend who had so often sat with them at table and shared their meal. (Luke xxiv. 30, 31.)
Christ seems to have returned to Jerusalem ; and in the evening of the same day He met the assembled Fifth apPear- apostles, all being present except Thomas. On ance" the following Lord's day He appeared to the apostles again, Thomas being; with them. Afterwards He ap-
o. n m-i Sixth. Seventh
peared to seven of them on the Sea of Tibe- Eighth. Ninth
Tenth.
rias ; then in the mountain of Galilee to the apostles, and the five hundred other brethren ; then to James ; then again to the eleven at Jerusalem, immediately before His ascension.
10. His conduct and language on these dif- J^S^awgh- ferent occasions are highly instructive. ly instructive.
When He first appeared to the disciples they were as- sembled with closed doors, and suddenly He stood in the
300 CHAPTER VI
midst of them, and said, repeating the usual salutation, ins language though with deeper significance: "Peace be auns£sCtPles unt0 y°u-" " And theJ were affrighted, sup- Tisit. posing they had seen a spirit." He gently
rebuked their fears ; and, to prove that He was there in bodily presence, He appealed to His hands and His feet, and ate before them. He then explained to them the Scriptures, and opened their hearts to understand them. And then were " the disciples glad when they saw the Lord."
Again He said : " Peace be unto you ;" and added, " As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you ;" thus consecrating them as the messengers of His peace to men.
He then breathed upon them, as a symbol of the in- spiration they were to receive from the Father to prepare them to preach His gospel, and to proclaim in His name forgiveness of sins. That this symbolical act might be- clearly significant, He added the explanation : " Receive ye the Holy Ghost." His previous disclosures must now have been remembered by them. Their higher life pro- bably became stronger ; though what farther was implied in this act was not imparted till the day of Pentecost. It was indeed affirmed to be partly prophetic, and had refer- ence to the promise of the Father, and the power with which they were hereafter to be endued from on high. (Mark xvi. It, 18.)
11 The week following Christ appeared to the eleven a second time, when Thomas was with them.
His language . .
at His second Again He stood mysteriously in their midst, offering the very sign that Thomas had unbe- lievingly required. "Reach hither thy finger," said He, 11 and behold My hands :" — a manifestation at once of knowledge and of love, that drew from this disciple an expression of faith stronger than any that we have yet heard from the disciples : " Mv Lord and my God." (John
§ 1. THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD. 301
xx. 27, 28.) This utterance of faith sprang clearly rather from outward evidence than from inward feeling : and therefore Christ adds, when expressing His acceptance of it, the significant promise : "Because thou hast seen thou hast believed ; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed ;" intimating that in after time true faith must be impossible if it depend on present sensible signs of assurance ; and that such true faith, connected as it is with the consciousness of religious want, and the percep- tion of Christ's grace, rather than with visible evidence, is doubly blessed.
12. In later appearances Peter is formally reinstated in his office, and his fears are removed ; the dis- His languag0 ciples are commissioned to preach the gospel m later T1Plts* to every creature, and to admit men of all nations to Christ's communion and fellowship.* He assures them (the
* We think it somewhat surprising that our author should pass so cursorily over the final Great Commission j under which all Christ's ministers must proceed in the spread of Christianity throughout the world. " It is required of stewards," says the apostle, " that a man be found faithful ;" and this Commission, without doubt, is the ultimate rule and test of our fidelity.
It is, indeed, a just and beautiful view of Dr. Angus, that the ministers of Christ are authorized by the Commission, to " admit men of all nations to Christ's communion and fellowship." But this language is too general to convey to any intelligent reader, much less to an intelligent heathen, any definite ideas of the prescribed order, or manifold natnre of that fellowship. The least that could be said with propriety, it seems to us, wonld be to point out that this communion with Christ required in the Commission is threefold — vital, by faith in the Gospel ; visible, by bap- tism in the Triune Name; and practical, by a life of universal obedience to His will — " teaching them to observe all things ichatsoever I have commanded you." This is Gospel order. The Acts and the Epistles show how faithfully the apostles observed it. In so doing we act in communion with Christ — we walk in His light, and He is with us to the end of the world. But let no man deceive himself. " If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not tho truth." (1 John i. 6.)— J. N. B.
26
302 CHAPTER VI.
assurance being given in instructive connection with their last commission) that all authority is given to Him in Heaven and in earth, and that He will be with them even unto the end.
13. During one of these interviews, the old worldly spirit of the disciples again appeared ; and they asked Him whether He intended then to establish His kingdom in its glory ? " It is not for you," He contents Himself with re- plying, "to know the times and the seasons." (Acts i.) You know your own calling, and I have given you a pro- mise whereby that calling shall be fulfilled, even the pro- mise of the Spirit ; all else you may leave
Christ ascends. . ,^. ... , , .
with me. With this reply and this promise, he was carried up out of their sight ; ascending in His glo- rified human nature to His Father.
14. And now the great work of Christ's incarnation is Glorified hu- complete. In ancient times He was spoken of 2£k£E«. as -the Angel of God," "the Angel of His chrSSevCTai* presence," the Messenger of the covenant," pears- "the Lord." In some of the prophets (espe- cially Ezekiel and Daniel) " His likeness is as the appear- ance of a man." Henceforth these titles cease : likeness has become reality. It is the appearance of a man no more, for His manhood has been verified and adored. The glory has taken a 'permanent form, and as a glorified man He is ever after set forth in the book of God. As such He stands in the midst of the golden candlesticks ; as such He Himself tells us He will hereafter be seen, "sit- ting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven ;" and as such, when the judgment is past, His name will be made excellent in all worlds.
15. To the very close the Gospels retain their pecu- Pecuiiaritiesof Hanties ; and nowhere are those peculiarities proservedSu more strikingly seen than in the narrative of the dose. our Lord's ascension. In Matthew it is the
§ 1. THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD. 303
Messiah claiming rightful dominion, and promising HU presence. " All authority is given unto Me in heaven and earth. Go ye, and teach all nations : Lo, I am with you ;" and this position he seems to occupy still, for nothing follows to weaken the impressiveness of this last utterance. He still stands in the attitude of authority and of love. In Mark He is received up into heaven ; but as His apostles go forth to preach His Gospel, He is spoken of as working with them, and confirming their words with signs following. There we have Christ in his energy and might. In Luke he appears as a man ; as a priest taken from among men, executing the functions of His priestly office ; for as He is parted from His followers, He lifts up His hands and blesses them. Luke had commenced his history with the man Jesus in his infancy, and in His va- rious human relations ; and he now closes it with a view of the same Jesus, a man still, though risen and glorified ; entering the heavenly temple, and as He enters it, receiving man's adoration and praise. In John, again, the great office of the Comforter, Christ's representative on earth, is distinctly revealed. He is to reign in the place of the Lord, and, therefore, after a beautiful exhibition of Christ's dignity, as attested by Thomas, and a no less beautiful ex- hibition of His love, as shown in His treatment of Peter, Christ is mysteriously withdrawn. The last scene shows us Peter and John following Him. The Gospel ends, and we see Him no more.
We may say, therefore, that in Matthew he is everywhere Messiah, the Prince. In Mark he ascends to the right hand of power, as the Captain of Salvation, in order to share the ministry of His servants. In Luke, as the Priest to be alone in the sanctuary of heaven ; and in John, as the Son of the Father, introducing the children to the Father's house, and quietly leaving the interests of His king-daw to the immediate government of His Spirit
304 CHAPTER VI
16. The permanent influence of the presence of Christ in heaven, of Christ as having our nature in
Influence of . , .
Christ's incar- union with His own, it is not difficult to con • ing aii crea- ceive. By this uuion He has embraced in on< bond of love all intermediate orders of intelli gences, without annulling any real and native difference. He has thus introduced a law of relationship, which obliges the highest to recognise the lowest, and enables the lowest, without presumption, to take the place assigned them. The Incarnate Word now glorified, brings together in the mystery of His person the angelic and the human — the most recent and the most ancient of God's intelligent tribes. Things in heaven and things on earth find a com- mon centre in Him.
It. Nor can we be surprised at the result of this mys- influenceof terious change on the minds of his disciples. SttJSS? " They worshiped Him, and returned to Jeru- of ms disciples. saiem wj^]1 great j0y : and were continually in
the Temple, praising and blessing God." Sorrow had filled their hearts, but henceforth their worship was praise, and their whole life a psalm. The First Fruits of the Resurrection had been accepted for them, and the feast of the resurrection, like every feast of first fruits, must be kept with joy. Another festival was indeed at hand, and at Pentecost the first fruits of all their ground, in yet another sense, were to be offered to God. (Lev. xxiii. 10.) But in- dependently of that blessing, Jesus and the resurrection formed now their feast, and with no other feelings than of gladness could they look upon Him. His new life, His glorified nature, the first trophy ever won from the grave, was at once the pledge and the model of their own.
§ 2. christ the king of hades. 305
Sect. 2. — Christ the King of Hades. The Forerunner The First Fruits of them that slept.
18. The great questions that have continued to perplex all heathen nations in their religious inquiries,
relate to God, his nature, and attributes ; to difficulties of holiness, its rules, and motives; and to another trriiooifa'rov life, its reality, and the preparation for it. On V"J '' all these questions it may be said that the heathen have no knowledge. They form conjectures, sometimes commend- able, sometimes fearfully defective ; but knowledge they have none. All these questions, however, are answered in the Gospel. In Christ we have God manifest in the flesh ; in His life and person we have law embodied ; and we have now to consider His relation to the future. His very incarnation solves innumerable difficulties con- How solved . nected with the Godhead ; His life and teach- Lbc GosPel- ing are no less decisive in regard to ethical questions ; while in His resurrection and ascension we find "life and immortality brought to light," revealed with as much clear- ness as is consistent with our condition.
19. The teaching of Scripture on this question is highly instructive. It calls Him the conquorer of The question death. He has the keys of the invisible state. Jj^by the (Rev. iii. ?.) " He shutteth and no man open- GosPeL
eth ; he openeth and no man shutteth." He is our fore- runner, for he hath shown us the path of life. "For us He has entered within the veil." One in human form has passed through the dark valley — has gone in a nature, on which death can have no more dominion, into the presence of God, and has become a pledge of the in- Itsthreefold gathering of the whole harvest of the Church. asPect- As conqueror he has gained a right to complete our re- demption. As forerunner he has shown us in what senses, and to what an extent, our redemption will be complete.
2G*
306 CHAPTER VI.
Aud as the first fruits of them that sleep, He gives the assurance of the accomplishment of His work, and of the final manifestation of the sons of God.
21. But what is immortality, and what the future life on which men are to enter ? Questions which the
What is Iin- . .
mortality?— heathen answer in most contradictory forms ;
Christ illus- .
trates it as the proving the correctness of their replies, even
Forerunner
when sound, by arguments altogether incon- clusive.
With many of them future life was something between opinions of the being and not being — a state corresponding to heathen. ^ state 0f man's mind in dreams or in infancy.
Its happiness, even in the case of the noble and generous, was unreal, " a shadow dealt out to shadows ;" or, if it as- sumed form and substance, it was sensual only.
With some it was the destruction of all individual con- sciousness, the annihilation of distinct personal existence, the absorption by the Spirit of the Universe of all indivi- dual derived spirits. With none did it involve or suppose the revivification of the body. Hence Achilles preferred the condition of the meanest slave on earth to the very highest of the unsubstantial glories of Elysium. Hence Ho- mer describes the souls of his heroes as going to the shades, and the heroes themselves (avtov? 6f) as a prey to dogs and birds. Hence also the remarkable fact, that nowhere in ancient systems was the punishment of another life made a practical motive to virtue.
The arguments employed to prove even such a future life, as some were disposed to admit, were none
Reasons in sup- . . . a .
port of their of them conclusive. The soul, it was said, is
views
not material, and therefore it cannot die. There are serious irregularities in this life, said others, and a future state of retribution is necessary to vindicate the justice of God, and to equalise His dealings. Men are capable of continued improvement, and have evidently a
§ 2. CHRIST THE FORERUNNER. 307
disposition to entertain fears and hopes of something after death. And, it was sometimes added, is not eternal hap- piness a necessary consequence of virtue ; or if not, then of the goodness of the Creator ? Thus they reasoned, but never in such forms as to produce conviction. Probability was the utmost point they ever reached, and the probability was never practical.
It is in Christ only that life and immortality have been brought to light ; and it is in the Gospel only that the powers of the world to come (to use that expression with new meaning) exercise holy influence over men's hearts. In the Gospel, moreover, the same act that seals our title to it reveals its nature, and proves its reality ; the resur- rection, namely, of our Lord. Mortal life with its humi- liation and fears, death with its anguish and dismay, and Hades (the world unseen), were all included in His victory. He subdued and explained them all ; and by a double title — the title of conquest and of experience — has gained authority alike over the dead and the living.
22. To the Christian, therefore, the hope of immortality is not merely an inference of reason. Nor is our knowledge it a feeling excited by a mere verbal promise, SuHtf alT which might be interpreted with latitude of actualfact- meaning. It is a deduction from an actual fact, all the parts of which have been set before us. Our conclusions are not fancy, nor even reason. They are knowledge. If the future had only been announced, analogy and conscience might have suggested, no doubt, many cheering lessons, and have justified the conclusion that, after a protracted probation and successive stages of improvement, the human soul might reach a higher state of enjoyment and of virtue. But any such scheme would clearly have formed a striking contrast to that blessedness which the Gospel reveals. Christ has gone through the several stages of our course, and we know from His history that there is but a step be-
308 CHAPTER VI.
tween us and the highest promotion. One who was made in all points like unto us, has, in our view, trodden upon the earth, and passed immediately " into the heavens," entering from this earth into the presence of God, nor fear- ing to show Himself there in the form of man.
What that future life is, may be said, in one sense, to be unrevealed. The fact of our personal con-
C'hrist illus- . .
trates it as the sciousness, the spiritual elements of the state itself, are indeed told us ; but the mode of life, its transactions, its condition, are all hidden. And wisely hidden ; for human life would be a burden, and human probation an impossibility, if heaven and hell were present to the senses as they are now to our faith. This much only is told us, that when we come to the end of our course, and our next step must rest upon ground that is unseen, we have but to put our hand into Christ's hand and be led by Him. Trusting His guidance and care we are secure ; on that unseen ground He stands ; over it He reigns. The awful solemnity of entering upon it He has known. If in that hour our hearts begin to fail, we have but to realise the personal affection of our Redeemer — to remember, that the moment we cast off our moorings {avd-kvais) from the shores of mortality, we are at once and forever with the Lord. If we long for a clearer conception of what this union involves, we are shut up to analogies and figures We know only that it includes whatever is involved in the union of the members with the Head — that Head itself divine. We are heirs with Him. We shall share His glory. We shall possess something incorruptible and un- dented. What these expressions precisely mean, we know not ; but they mean something which human nature can bear ; something adapted to that nature, and in its condi- tion of perfect holiness ; something, in short, which is a reward even to Him who is " the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person ;" something
§ 2. CHRIST THE FORERUNNER. 309
fhat repays the agonies of the garden and the cross ; and this knowledge is enough.
23. And if, again, the question be raised, how can man live again, and with what body will he come ?
- 1 So He illus-
we nave at once an answer in the resurrection trates our ro- of our Lord. It is human nature in its essen- tial elements, though glorified, that is to inherit eternity. The very body now subject to dissolution is to escape the power of death, and to appear in imperishable vigor. The animal tendencies of our frame will doubtless cease. "When this mortal puts on immortality," what is natural will become spiritual; but that frame will be a body still. To suppose that it will be a mere rudiment, something saved from the wreck of the former tabernacle, and only needed to connect the earthly with the heavenly state, is to rob the language of Scripture of its significance. "Our citizenship (^ jto'kitka) is in heaven, whence we look for the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies and fashion them like unto His glorious body, by that mighty power whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Him- self." (Phil. iii. 21 ) The very nature of the change is illustrated and confirmed in the resurrection of our Lord.
24. And this state is to be uninterrupted and endless : ' while life, or thought, or being last.' "Ever go our end]es8 with the Lord," is the phrase that indicates the hfe- nature, and origin, and duration of our joy ; conformed to His image in body and in spirit, and therefore in bliss.
25. An obvious objection to these doctrines is their sublimity, and the disproportionateness between . . them and man. That human nature should be these doctrines
founded on
thus ennobled, gifted in all its faculties with an their subiimi-
. ty.
endless life, and with a chief place in the family of God, seems so little accordant with our deserts or pre- sent condition, that we shrink at first from affirming or ad- mitting it.
310 CHAPTER VI.
26. But let the truth of man's original creation and the Answered by truth of Christ's death be considered, and the man^Torfginai objection is answered. Human wisdom com- greatness, and mjts jjere a double mistake. Looking at man as he is, it assumes for him, in his own unassisted power, too much. Looking at man as originally created, it assigns to him as certainly too little. Man as redeemed it entirely disregards. The inspired writers, on the other hand, while they deal faithfully with man in regard to his actual corrup- tion, magnify, without scruple, his character as related to God and the future. The general style of the Bible prepares us, in fact, to receive whatever it may declare to be his ultimate destiny. Its first statement concerning us fore- shadows our final greatness : " God created man in His own image. In the image of God created He him." The very aim of the New Testament confirms this view ; for its great and precious promises were revealed that we might be made partakers of a "divine nature." And constantly is human salvation spoken of as a restoration and recovery. It brings man back to the state he has lost. In it we are "begotten again to a lively hope."
27. But it is the scheme of redemption which makes
these expressions not only intelligible, but al- of the scheme most natural. That scheme sets forth the fact,
indeed, that man is to live forever, and as part of the family of the blessed God. But it lessens the sur- prise excited by this miracle by announcing another. This result is, it tells us, the effect of the union of our nature Men identified w^n the Divine in the person of the Messiah, with Christ, The second includes the first, as the greater includes the less ; and the miracle of the results is for- gotten in the miracle of the means.
Thi; truth of the indissoluble union between Christ and His disciples, He continually exhibits in His teaching ; sometimes in figures of speech, and sometimes in literal
§ 3. THE INVISIBLE KING. 311
statements. Christ calls Himself "the shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep." He is a vine, and the source of life to every branch. Nor is this enough. It is part of His intercessory prayer for His followers, that "they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee ; that they may be one in us." Language can scarcely be more intense or decisive. His oneness with the Father is made a type of our oneness with Him.
28. As, therefore, Christ is Himself "the Prince of life," "the living One," "He who has life And hence ^ in Himself," who is "the life and the light of mortaL men," who "liveth for evermore," "whose goings forth are from everlasting," and who is Himself " the Father of an eternal age," so all His followers share His existence, and are identified with His eternity. " Because He lives they shall live also." They may, therefore, fear extinction only when He, the Lord of life, is Himself no more.
Sect. 3. — The Invisible King.
29. Zechariah has described in a beautiful prediction the nature and the results of the Gospel. "In
* The Gospel
that day," says he, "a fountain shall he opened overthrows ail for all sin to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem :" and, as the consequence of this blessing, "the idols shall cease from the land." This prediction has been partially fulfilled. The fountain is opened, and as Christianity extends, idolatry recedes.
30. But, in the Bible sense of the word, idolatry includes more than the adoration of an image. It in-
^ t and makes God
eludes the withdrawal of a spiritual affection the object of
supreme lore.
from God, and the bestowment of that affection on other beings. It is a sin not of outward worship only, but of the heart. When, therefore, idolatry is for- bidden in the Bible, it is implied that God, and God only, is to be the object of supreme love. Reverence and obe-
312 CHAPTER VI.
dience are ultimately due only to Him ; and it is the recognition of this truth which is to be an evidence and the result of the success of the Gospel. The tenor of all ancient prophecy confirms this prediction. When the mountain of the Lord's house is established on the top of the mountains . . . the idols shall be utterly abolished. (Is. ii. 1-17.)
31. And yet both in Scripture prediction and in Scrip-
ture history we have an apparently contradic- preme love and tory fact. Everywhere throughout the Bible
worship are
ascribed and a mysterious Being is found besides Jehovah,
due to Christ. , i • •»-» •
vested with Divine honors. To this Being, He himself assures us, there has been committed a power which embraces all things in heaven and in earth ; while elsewhere we find intimations which seem to teach that His authority is recognised in other worlds besides our own. Apostles pray to Him. Pious men ascribe to Him, their creation, and forgiveness, and safety. Titles of highest dignity are awarded to Him. " On His thigh is a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords." He is even the " Prince of the kings of the earth." One prophet, Jude, quotes from another to show that He is surrounded by ten thousands of His saints, and that He is to be our Judge ; and the last book of inspiration discloses the fact that heaven resounds with His praise, owing to Him the very light that fills and beautifies the place.
32. This dignity, moreover, is not assumed by Himself, Not assumed but formally given to Him by the Father as nvmbytte the consequence of His human nature. The fiw&ftoni Father gave Him this authority, "because He
our obligations Jg t]ie £on of man» YOT t^e same reaSOn
Christians render Him homage. As the Son He redeemed us, and therefore we love Him. As the Son He offers us salvation, and we believe on Him. As the Son He is to re- ceive us to glory, and we hope in Him. As the Son He
§ 3. THE INVISIBLE KING. 313
is c ur strength and life, and we rejoice in Him. As the Son He is our king and head, and we obey and adore Him. These emotions, moreover, are supreme. They constitute all that we have to offer — love, and fear, and joy ; adora tion, obedience, and praise.
33. Nor is there really any contradiction between these facts and the language of the prophets. The
This supreme
Son of Man is not the rival God of the Crea- love and wor-
rrn i • c oi • Ship no£ idola-
tor. The dictate 01 Scripture, which bids us try, for Christ to worship God, is not here at war with the impulse of the heart which bids us to worship man. The appointed Sovereign and the eternal Sovereign are one. Our nature is interwoven with the Godhead. The Re- deemer is King, and the Father is honored in the Son.
34. This supremacy of Christ is His Kingship ; it rests on a foundation which forms part Of the very wu-
* j ±nis supre-
throne of God. His dominion is established in nifcyJs , •
Christ s king- human hearts. It is founded in willing submis- sbip-
sion. It is maintained by spiritual authority. It is esta- blished in righteousness. It will ultimately unite heaven and earth. It begins, as we have found, in its peCuiiari- individual conversion. Its grandest earthly tks- manifestation will be seen in the general extension of truth ; the richest and noblest manifestation of all will be seen in heaven. Christ's death founds it ; Christ's Spirit forms it ; Christ's will (which is ever in harmony with the will of the Father) rules it ; Christ's glory (which is also the glory of the Father, and comprehends the full blessed- ness of the redeemed) is its end.
35. The establishment of this kingdom is the great theme of ancient prophecy, and the very pur-
_' _ Zr : J Where the Gos-
pose of the gospel. JN early every narrative of pel is Pro-
«, ...«.• . i . n claimed, and
Christ's sunerings ends in the creation of a men believe,
s-,i 1 .,, —,, a kingdom is
Church co-extensive with our race. The stone founded, and which the builders rejected is immediately seen is to be tniver as the head of the corner. (Ps. cxviii. 22.)
314 CHAPTER VI.
The most mournful of the ancient predictions first shows Him as despised and afflicted, and then as having the many for His portion, and the mighty for His spoil. (Is. liii.) The 22d Psalm, which opens with His awful exclamation, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me ?" and run3 through every mood of sadness, closes with the assurance that all the ends of the earth shall worship before God.
These predictions are fulfilled in the record of His life. The sufferings of Christ terminate in the glory which should follow. He made reconciliation for iniquity, brought in an everlasting righteousness, that all peoples, and nations, and languages may serve Him. He tasted death for every man, and God hath therefore crowned Him with glory and honor. Because He took upon Him the form of a ser- vant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, "God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. ii. 9, 10.)
36. And yet the Governor of this kingdom is Himself The King mm- unseen. His Church is established and extend- seif unseen. j^ The members of His living body are all complete, but there is no visible head. T';e dome of the temple seems perfect, but the top-stone, v hich binds and sustains the whole, is hidden in the jlouds. Christ's is clearly an invisible reign. To the world the church is His only visible representative upon earth. In the church herself we have only the Spirit, whose presence on earth we enjoy on the condition, it seems, of the absence of the Lord. "It is expedient," said He to His disciples, "that I go away ; for if I go not away, the Comforter cannot come ; but if I go, I will send him unto you. And he shall take of mine, and show it unto you." (John xvi. T)
§ 3. THE INVISIBLE KING. 315
37. The wisdom and necessity of this arrangement we cannot thoroughly understand. A thousand
° J All the reasons
proprieties may be harmonized by it, and-pos- of this arrange-
11 J J x merit not re-
sibly all classes of intelligent beings are con- veaied; some
J . . are-
templating the fact, and admiring it on
different grounds. We may, however, notice one or two of the subordinate fitnesses involved in it, connected espe- cially with the condition of the church.
Nor must it be thought that in thus attempting to find in ourselves reasons for this procedure, we are attaching to man an importance which he may not justly claim. The whole tenor of Scripture sanctions what would else be proud assumption. The promotion of human interests is every where reckoned one great end, amongst deeper rea- sons doubtless, of the dispensations of God. When Christ emptied Himself of glory, and visited our world in poverty and weakness, it was for our sakes He became poor. (2 Cor. viii. 9.) After He entered it, He endured sufferings most mysterious and intense ; carrying our griefs and bear- ing our sorrows. (Is. liii.) He then passed into glory, not reigning on earth or continuing with His followers ; and the reason He has Himself given : " It is expedient for you that I go." (John xvi. 7.) His exaltation even has direct reference to our welfare. He ascended to re- ceive gifts for men, and to become our advocate with God. Clearly then we may regard the indivisibility of Christ in connection with His church, and seek in that connection for some of the reasons of the arrangement.
38. It is obvious then, first of all, that if Christ's king- dom is to be co-extensive with the world, and A un;Terpai its members are to be scattered through all JSeJantaTt lands, this universality is best secured by the Slb!e kmg" influence of an unseen Ruler, and an energy purely spiri- tual. To fix Christ's position on earth ; to announce that He was here rather than there, would inevitably result in
SI 6 CHAPTER VI.
collecting the church round one centre of influence and blessing. Now, the image of His reign is the air, or the light, the element that surrounds the earth, sustaining and purifying all that breathe. Under another constitution this image would fail, and the church would become a scene of exclusiveness and privilege appropriated by such only as happen to reside in the vicinity of the court, or have personal access to the Great King. There might in that case be light and warmth at the centre, but at the extremities we should have little else than coldness and death.
39. Nor need we insist on difficulties which the suppo- sition of a visible king would involve, difficul-
fortditiori of ^ .
the world, and ties, however, both obvious and important.
of the church .--,_, ,., n , P i i •
adapted to this Where could we find a place tor such a being, constituted as the world and the church are ? Are they either of them moulded into meetness for His personal presence, or are they likely to be under the exist- ing conditions of our probation ? And even if a place could be found for Him, and Christ did appear, is it con- ceivable that such a visitant could reside amongst us with- out disarranging the business of life ? If He came in humiliation, would men recognise His majesty ? If in glory, would not the veneration of those who love Him, and the curiosity of the world, be destructive of all atten- tion to earthly concerns ? Would it be possible, moreover, fur our eyes to behold Him ? It is certain that when apos- tles saw Him in the transfiguration, they fell on their faces and were sore afraid : and even the disciple who knew Him so well, when in Patmos he saw His glory, fell at His feet as dead. Till therefore the church is free from all impedi- ments, till earthly duties and earthly relations cease or change, till we have spiritual bodies to make the presence of Christ no longer isolated or partial, our very physical
§ 3. THE INVISIBLE KING. 317
condition demands that Christ be unseen. His invisibility seems essential to His reign.
40. A second reason of this arrangement is found in the spiritual life of all Christians. Faith is its
. Faith, the prin-
basis and condition; but iaith is the ground cipieofspiri- and confidence of things hoped for, the convic- tachmentto "
„ -, . -i~» ,1 • • i the invisible.
tion of things not seen. By this principle
man's spiritual life is maintained, and to perfect it is one
grand design of nature, providence, and revealed truth.
Upon our faith, moreover, all holiness depends. It is the chief element of happiness and of virtue ; and as the whole are perfected by use, an invisible Redeemer is re- quired to meet this necessity of our condition. Faith, to conquer, must fight. Hope, to be triumphant, must not see. Love must seek its object through clouds and dark- ness ; patience have her perfect work, and even joy smile through tears. A visibly present Christ would interrupt their process : stop our growth, or bring on a forced matu- rity. In any case it is a blessing adapted only to the per- fection of heaven.
41. A third reason is found in the fact that Christ's kingdom is designed to be in every condition
Christ nneeen,
the image of Himself. It is to reflect Him in the church .is
-r-r. t .<,. . n . -n-. • t conformed to
His humiliation, as well as in His triumph ; his humiiia-
ln • -ii tion.
and, by progressive stages, to grow up m all things into Him who is the Head. " The Head of man," says the apostle, "is Christ, and the Head of Christ is God." (1 Cor. xi. 3.) Our relation therefore to Him is analogous to His relation to the Father. Suffering is the condition of our glory, and the apostle Peter tells us it was the condition of Christ's. His suffering consisted, in its essence, in the absence of the Father : ours consists, in a great measure, in the absence of our Lord. His sufferings ceased on. His ascension ; and ours cease at His second coming.
21*
318 CHAPTER VI.
Herein again " He hath left us an example that we should follow His steps."
42. But though not visibly present with His church, He is, however, Christ is with her, both in the whole body and chureh IndVn ^n each °f ^s members. He has promised to
each member. be wjt^ ]ier a]wavSj eYen unt0 the end of tllC
world ; He has declared her to be "His fullness, (or com- pletion,) the fullness of Him that filleth all in all."
Individual members are instructed that the same truth is applicable to them ; they are told that they " eat His flesh and drink His blood ;" that Christ is in them except they be reprobates; that if He be in them "the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of right- eousness," and that " they live, yet not they, but Christ liveth in them." That Christ Himself, therefore, will in- habit the hearts of His people and reign in them, entire in each and entire in all, is His own clear and reiterated promise.
But what do these expressions involve ? All that they involve none perhaps can tell. The presence and influence of His Spirit is certainly involved : and, judging from the facts of His own history, perhaps more.
43. We know that He Himself was God manifest in the Personally per- nesh, Deity enshrined in our nature; and we haps. know that, moreover, the Holy Ghost was given without measure unto Him. Applying this case to our own, it may, perhaps, be said, that as Christ is God, He pervades, by His mysterious omnipresence, the whole body of His earthly followers, and each of them. As God He is certainly the appropriate source and principle of holiness ; as man, He is the appropriate channel for its conveyance. As God-man, therefore, He is both spring and stream ; Himself the holiness He gives ; Himself the divine nature, which, through His Spirit, is to be united by Him with our own.
§ 3. THE INVISIBLE KING. 319
44. Or, if we take lower ground, we have then th« truth that Christ reigns by His Spirit in the and CPrta;niy church ; an agency which the previous suppo- by llls Spint- sition does not however supersede. Over and above the personal indwelling of Christ (if that view be admitted), the faithful follower of Christ is blessed with the presence of the indwelling Spirit himself; not indeed as an inde- pendent agent, but as proceeding from Christ, and as re- presenting Him. This last modification is important, be- cause it secures the dignity of our Lord, and harmonizes the statements of Scripture. Hence He is called the " Spirit of the Son," " the Spirit of Jesus." Hence it is that the two divine Personages bear in the scheme of mediation the same title ; they are both Paracletes, — Com- forters, Teachers, Exhorters, Helpers, and Advocates. The worK of intercession, which, perhaps, the title mainly implies, is expressly said to be carried on by both. (See John xiv. 16 ; 1 John ii. 1 ; Rom. viii. 26.) As Christ is the consolation of Israel, so the Spirit is the other Com- forter (still the same term) ; expressions that imply the complete adaptation of both to human nature in all its misery and wants.
45. It is a consequence of this view of His office that all the duties of the Spirit have reference to
~ TT , , . .The Spirit hon-
Chnst. The things He reveals are things that ors and re- belong to him. " He shall receive of mine," said our Lord, " and shall show it unto you ; He shall bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have told you ; He shall not speak of himself a<j>' savtov. (i. e. of His own authority), but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak." His power of convincing the world, whether of sin, or of righteousness, or of judgment, is exercised with exclusive reference to the work of the Redeemer ; He will prove to men that they are guilty, for they do not believe : that they are to be justified only in Christ, and amply in Him,
320 CHAPTER VI.
for He has ascended to the Father, and that His is the only authority, for the power of the prince of this world is justly condemned and is now overthrown. So complete is this practical identification, that the position of both in the world is the same. By Christ, of himself it was said, " The world hateth me," and " hath not known me ;" and of the Spirit, He said," "The world cannot receive Him, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him." (John xv. 18 ; John xiv. It.)
46. What an affecting view does this give of our nature Father, son, and of Divine love: the Father and the Son concernedin11 anc^ the Spirit, all subjected to rejection, and redemption. ajj boaring wjth our guilt and seeking our recovery !
47. It is owing (it may be added) to this miraculous
union of these divine persons, that they are re-
The acts of all . .
in a sense the presented as co-operating in each part of the
acts of each.
work of human redemption. It is now "the Spirit that giveth life," and now it is Christ, the second Adam, who is " made a quickening Spirit." (1 Cor. xv. 45.) So when Christ is in us, "the Spirit is life ;" and our law is " the law of the Spirit of life in Christ." (Rom. viii. 2, 10.) Every act of each person of the blessed Trinity is thus the act of all : nothing seems done in which all are not, though diversely, the agents ; a union that is made to represent the union of the church — that "they all may be one," said our Lord, "as we are one."
48. The effect of the work of the Spirit in the heart is By the spirit simply the subjugation of all to Christ. He im-
Christ reigns. partg j-fe an(j }10liness> « By Qne gplrit Wfi
are baptized into one body ;" by the same Spirit " we have access to the Father," and through Him Christ reigns and will reign till every foe, inward and external, be forever subdued.
49. Why there should be, as we know there is, a close
5ome reasons.
§ 3. THE INVISIBLE KING. 321
connection between the departure of Christ and The gift of the the communication of the Spirit, it is not per- ^"de^Xt-""1 haps possible to discover ; but the fact is clearly ure of ChnPt revealed, and there are circumstances in our Saviour's work which may in part explain it.
50. Christ is our Priest, ever living to make intercession for us ; but His advocacy could scarcely begin till His sacrifice was finished, nor His sacrifice take effect till it had been publicly and solemnly presented before God.
Christ is our Teacher and Model, and His purpose is to conform His Church to Himself. He is therefore presented in Scripture as in everything preparing the way for the progress of His church. It is His appropriate function as our forerunner, Himself to touch the goal ; nor till then is He in a position to appeal to His example, and to bequeath His Spirit, and to say to us, " Follow me." Or, changing the figure, it is the work of the Spirit to complete in each Christian the image of his Lord, by effecting in him a death unto sin and a resurrection to holiness, and an ascen- sion of his affections, and finally, of his soul to God ; but the Divine Workman could not begin the copy till the original was finished : before He could stamp the image the die must be complete.
Christ is our King ; His Spirit is the fruit of victory and the gift of conquest ; but the influence of the Spirit cannot be bestowed till the triumph is consummated and attested by the appearance of the living Sacrifice, Priest and Victor, in the presence of the Father. The enlargement, there- fore, and the establishment of the kingdom, is postponed till the acknowledged defeat of evil through the spirit of righteousness incarnate in Christ.
Here we gain, therefore, a view of a double empire, re- quiring a double agency. Christ has a sove-
10 , A double em-
reignty m heaven and another on earth: there pirem heaven He intercedes with the rather on the throne in
322 CHAPTER VI.
His glory, so also does His Spirit in the unspoken utterances of the hearts of His disciples. There he makes mention of His sacrifice, pleading on behalf of the guilty His obedience unto death : so does His Spirit in convincing the sinner, " making mention of His righteousness and of His only." (Ps. lxxi. 16.) To heaven He gives His bodily presence, itself a com- memoration and a perpetual advocacy, and on earth He works with a power and a vitality which His bodily pre- sence never diffused. We gain, therefore, by this arrange- ment, an agency which is the perfect image of His own, better adapted to our condition of probation, and more mighty in promoting our holiness ; " for Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the pre- sence of God for us." (Heb. ix. 24.) "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God ; as it is written, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Now if any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy." (1 Cor. iii.)
52. And this is the ministration which begins with the
Acts of the Apostles, or, as they have been Apostles the called, the Acts of the Holy Ghost. The in-
c&rlicst liistorv
of this minis- carnation and ministry of our Lord was the manifestation of the Father and of the Son ; our age is the manifestation of the Spirit.
53. In Matthew and Mark we have nothing of this
truth; in Luke a little, but most in John.
Tli 6 truth £r3r
dually reveal- The Lord thus reveals one secret after another, bringing forth each in its season, and leading the devout inquirer to say, "0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God."*
* "As the Son was working in the world long before His incarnation, so did the Holy Ghost also act upon mankind long before His effusion j but as it was at the incarnation of the Son that the fullness of His life first manifested itself, so it was not until the effusion which took place
§ 4. THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD. 323
54. But though this spiritual reign is, in its final uni- versality and blessedness, the chief part of His caution, kingdom, it is not all. The affairs of the whole ^^"f^ earth, and, as we may gather from some pas- nature- sages of Scripture, of the universe of God, are under His management. It is He who " determines concerning a nation to establish, and concerning a people to establish or to destroy," to enlarge or to diminish. " He is King of kings, and Lord of lords." All are amenable to His authority, and controlled by His power. He girds them and guides them, though they know Him not. When they move in the direction of His purpose, they are invincible, and when they oppose it, they are overthrown.
There is thus a kingdom within a kingdom — the king- dom of His grace within the kingdom of His providence : and the one is subservient to the other. He is Head over all things unto the church. An almighty Spirit, and bound- less resources are at His disposal. Therefore "this King shall reign and prosper." " He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him : all nations shall serve Him. His name shall endure for ever : His name shall be continued as long as the sun : and men shall be blessed in Him : all nations shall call Him blessed."
Sect 4. — The Second Coming of our Lord.
55. In every age the Church of Christ has sought con- solation in the past and in the future. In the
. . . Christians ever
one she contemplates the origin of her mercies ; look to the past
. . . ana the future.
in the other, the completion of them ; and m both, the unaltered author and channel, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." It can there- on the day of Pentecost that the Spirit poured forth all His power."— OhTiausen,
324 CHAPTER VI.
fore excite no surprise to find in Scripture, that the grace given to us at the first advent, and the grace to be revealed in us at the second, are topics of constant precept and encouragement : (1 Cor. i. 4-7 :) or that Christians are The coming of described as "waiting for the Son from hea- of'deeplnfe™6 ven >" an(^ as "looking for the blessed hope e8t* and the appearing of the glory of the great
God our Saviour." Christ's first coming and His second are the grand objects of their faith and hope. (2 Pet. iii. 12.)
56. But though the coming of Christ is thus a theme of Much that is deepest interest, there is much in the commu- bie°inPre?atiou nications of Scripture in relation to it that is tolt- incomprehensible. The union of Christ with
His Church is most intimate ; and yet is there between them a mysterious? separation. How long that separation is to continue is a question not answered in the Bible. It has already lasted for ages, nor can we tell when it will close. " The times and the seasons which the Father has put in His own power," He allows us to examine and discuss, but we cannot clearly define them ; they are not revealed.
5t. That this separation will one day cease is undoubted. The fact of ins ^ne uni°n between Christ and His church coming certain. must ke made apparent. Nature and grace alike proclaim the coming of a glorified Messiah as essen- tial to complete their course. Nature through all her regions cries aloud for Him who is to restore her unwilling frailty, (Rom. viii.,) and to make all things new; and if creation groan and travail together in pain for the mani- festation of the sons of God, what must be the desire of the sons of God themselves, what their ardor, to find them- selves perfect in Him ; to behold their labors recognized, their faith vindicated, and truth triumphant. This desire and hope He will fulfill. The promise of final reunion
§ 4. THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD. 325
with His people is connected by our Lord himself with the declaration of His Messiahship ; for in the same sen- tence in which He avows Himself to be the Son of God, He foretells that "hereafter men shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power and great glory." (Matt, sxiv. 30.) His apostle repeats the truth, and assures us that the " Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God;" (1 Thes. iv. 16;) and that, when He comes, His people will be gathered together unto Him. (2 Thes. ii. 1.) And so shall they " ever be with the Lord."
58. But while the fact of His coming is certain, the time is concealed ; concealed, however, in such a
. .^ . The time con
way as deserves careful inquiry. AY rapt up in ceaied: so con-
. . , . ceaied as to
this concealment are most instructive lessons, excite expccta
59. Very often, for example, the coming of
our Lord is spoken of as impending, and at hand. In the twenty-fourth of Matthew the words of Christ Now s ken of read as if He meant to imply that, immediately as"athand." after the overthrow of Jerusalem, the standard of His glory should appear in the heavens : the first event indicating to the disciples that their redemption drew nigh. In the first Epistle to the Thessalonians again, St. Paul seems to speak of himself and of his fellow-disciples, as those who "are alive and remain to the coming of Christ" in glory; and declares elsewhere that He who is coming (o ipxofisvoi) will come, and will not tarry. The apostle James is equally explicit: "Be patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." " The end of all things," says Peter, " is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer;" and our Lord Himself appearing in the book of Revelation, closes His warnings with the repeated assertion, " Behold I come quickly." (Heb. x. 37 ; James v. 8 ; 1 Pet. iv. 7.)
On the other hand, passages in the same inspired writers
28
326 CHAPTER VI.
Now "as re- as strongly point to a remote period as the mote." ^me 0f pjjs coming ; while others teach plainly
that all definite information in relation to it is purposely withheld. In the chapter of Matthew, for example, just quoted, our Lord warns His disciples that the Gospel is first to be preached for a witness unto all nations, before the end come ; and in the following chapter He com- pares Himself to a master of servants who cometh " after a long time," and " reckoneth with them." (v. 14 ; 25-29.) The same Paul, who, in the first Epistle to the Thes- salonians, addressed the church as if those who were then alive were to behold Christ, warns them in his second Epistle, that his words were not meant to justify any such conviction, inasmuch as that day was to be preceded by a great apostasy, and of course by a still greater diffusion of truth. The apostle who speaks of His coming a3 "draw- ins: niffh " exhorts Christians to endurance from the exam- pie of the long patience of the husbandman waiting for the fruits of the earth. (James v. ?.) And Peter, who, in his first Epistle speaks of the end of all things as at hand, and bids Christians hope for the grace that is to be brought unto them at the revelation of Jesus Christ, in his second Epistle meets objections to the tardy approach of the Judge ; not by denying the fact, but by reminding his readers, that the march of Providence is not to be measured by earthly conceptions, and that with God a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years. (2 Pet, iii. 8.) So also in Revelation the promise of the speedy advent of Christ is preceded by a description of antecedent events which seem to fill up long ages of time.
61. Yet more decisive as proof of a purpose to conceal Now as though tne t"Tie' are tne Passages which tell us plainly formation6 ™' tnat a^ definite information on this subject is were withheld, withheld. " Of that day and hour," says our Lord, " knoweth no man ; no, not the angels which are
§ 4. THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD. 327
in heaven ; neither the Son, but the Father." " The Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not." The master of the house may come "at even, or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning ;" but whenever he comes it " shall be as a thief; as the flood of Noah, and as a snare to all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth." (Mark xiii. 35.) " And ye yourselves know per- fectly," says the apostle, " that that day so cometh as a thief in the night." (1 Thess. v. 2 ; 2 Pet. iii. 10.)
62. The apparent contradiction of these passages — a contradiction only apparent — has often excited
J rr . Hence the
uneasiness and even suspicion. Infidels and doubts of some
Christians and
professed Christians have taken occasion from the scoffs of
• t infidelity.
them either to doubt the coming of our Lord itself, or to examine, with curious unsettled feeling, the question of the time. The doubts and suspicion of both these parties are expressly foretold. Our Lord
, , . „ -rr- Both foretold.
intimates that before He appears, even His servants may begin to say in their hearts, "My Lord delayeth His coming." (Luke xii. 45.) And Peter says plainly that " in the last days scoffers shall come walking after their own lust; and saying, where is the promise of His coming ? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." (2 Pet iii. 3.) Nothing, therefore, is unforeseen ; and even the unbelief of man contributes evidence in support of the Divine origin of the Gospel.
63. How, then, are we to account for the peculiar phraseology of the Scriptures on this question,
the mingled light and obscurity, the seeming this apparent
contradiction.
opposition of announcements : In reply, we
remark that there are facts which relieve the difficulty ;
and, perhaps, remove it.
64. First : it deserves to be noticed that " the coming of Christ" is a phrase used in Scripture in different senses,
328 CHAPTER VI.
(1.) His appearance in the flesh is so called, both at Meaning of the His birth and on His entrance upon His public SmhT^oftbe ministry. In this sense He is come (John jm. Lord/ 28; 1 John iv. 2, 3 ; 2 John 7 ; Matt, xviii.
11 ; xx. 28; Eph. ii. 17;) and in this sense for thirty years of His life He was to come. (Matt. ill. 11 ; Mark i. 7 ; Luke iii. 16; John i. 15-30 ; Matt. xi. 19.)
(2.) Any great interposition either of His Providenca or of His Spirit is so called : " Repent," says He, in ad- dressing an early church, "or I will come, and take thy candlestick out of its place." (Rev. ii. 5.)
He himself applies it to the outpouring of His Spirit and the consequent beginning of His reign. "Verily I say unto you, there are some standing here that shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." "Ye shall not have gone through the cities of Judah till ye see the Son of Man coming in power." (John xiv. 18—28; Matt. xvi. 28; Mark ix. 1.)
His coming to destroy Jerusalem, to end the previous dispensation, to manifest the justice and the faithfulness of God, is emphatically so called ; and His predictions of this coming were fulfilled within forty years of our Lord's death. (Matt. xxiv. 27-30 ; see ver. 34 ; Luke xxi. 27, &c.)
(3.) It is applied to His visible appearance for judgment, (Matt. xvi. 27 ; 1 Thess. v.,) and, as some Christians hold, for the complete establishment of His kingdom. Whether this last be a visible appearance is, so far as the present question is concerned, unimportant. The reign of righteousness is foretold, and is even begun. In that glorious issue all believe. Some, however, hold that right- eousness will reign in the person of our Lord ; while others think that His reign is spiritual only : having commenced at Pentecost, and being completed in the universal diffu- sion of His truth. That His coming to judgment is per-
§ 4. THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD. 329
Bonal, nearly all agree. He is to appear in the clouds of heaven, and every eye is to see Him. (Acts i. 11.)
The use to be made of these facts is obvious. It is clear that we must set aside, as free from difficulty, all the passages that speak of our Lord's first coming, of the destruction of Jerusalem, or of any unexpected visitation in the early church. The announcements they contain of a speedy return have all been fulfilled.
Of other passages, and the difficulties they involve, we have other solutions.
Secondly : the coming of Christ in His kingdom and for judgment is not a single act, but many combined. He came to reign at Pentecost ; He comes as each Christian repents and believes His Gospel ; in all the glory of His reign He is still to come. He came in judgment at the destruction of Jerusalem : He comes in judgment at the death of the sinner : for final judgment He is still to come. To each believer redemption is drawing nigh. Every sinner is already hastening to the coming of the day of God. And within a few brief years we all shall have passed to our account with shame or with honor. It may be affirmed, therefore, as a fact, that Christ comes to re- deem or to judge at death, and that each instance of His coming is a kind of type of His final appearance — is to the man, what that will be to the race. The final coming will in truth but confirm and perpetuate what is done, when we die. As a principle of interpretation, therefore, the amplest announcements of complete salvation for the church, and of awful vengeance for those who reject the Gospel, have repeated fulfillments. For each of us, "the end of all things is at hand." Christ is coming, and is even now '' at the door."*
•=• See this truth illustrated in the fulfillment of Christ's promise that He would come to His disciples, as given in John xiv. 3. The fulfillment began with His resurrection, v. IS; was carried on in their spiritual life,
28*
330 CHAPTER VI.
65. Thirdly : these expressions may be justified on an« Things near or other ground. The language of Scripture must SgSthescaie &lways De interpreted with reference to the employed. scheme of things of which it treats. What is near on one scale is distant on another.
The coming of our Lord may be remote when measured on the scale of human life ; but, measured on the scale suggested by the interval between the first promise and its fulfillment, or by the eternity which His coming is to intro- duce, it may seem even at hand. We are now occupying a place between the two advents ; the whole interval fills the sphere of our vision, and seems therefore vast and boundless. Let us wait, however, till we look back upon it the day after the last judgment, when it will be seen as the commencement of an endless progress, and it will have lessened to a point. Then the scenes of Calvary and the glory that has followed them will appear in retrospect as they did appear to the prophet. There He is seen " taken from prison and from judgment ;" " despised and rejected of men." Here He sees "the travail of His soul and is satisfied." (Is. liii. 8, 3, 11.) Between the two events thousands of years may have intervened ; but they are thought of no more.
And this form of announcement, it may be added, has
been God's plan from the first. The primaeval
the language promise sounded as if it was to be fulfilled in
of Scripture
the first age after the fall ; but four thousand years passed away before the Seed of the woman was born, and the power of the old serpent was subdued. The tem- poral promise to Abraham, that his seed should inherit the land in which he was himself a stranger, seemed at first to require an early accomplishment ; but at the end of two hundred years his seed did not number seventy souls ; and
v. 23; advanced when each Christian died. Phi!, i. 23; and is completed at His coming in glory. 1 The*, iv. 17.
§ 4. THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD. 331
it was not till David's time that the greater part of that prediction was realized. The last prophet, Malachi, spoke as if the first advent was to be witnessed by the men of that age : " The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple," (Mai. iii. 1,) and yet ten generations died before the time came ; and the temple even of which he spoke needed almost to be rebuilt, before it could be filled with the glory of its great Guest. The truth seems to be, that the movements of the providence of God may be pro- nounced near or remote, large or small, as we measure them by God's standard or by our own. Now He speaks as if the coming of His Son were at hand, as if a few more years were to bring in the new heaven and the new earth ; and again, as if His days were thousands of years ; and both descriptions are true. Here, it is God that speaks as God, and there He speaks as man, condescending to our weakness, and addressing us in tones and forms familiar to ourselves.
But, fourthly, these facts have a deeper significanc}^ This apparent contradiction (which is really ah intended to none,) this clear obscurity is intended ; it is {^^JJJJiSJ salutary ; it forms an important part of our for Cbrist discipline. God means us to examine and conjecture ; and, doubtless, the investigations of good men into the mean- ing of the prophetic Scriptures, conducted in an humble practical spirit, are acceptable to Him. To cherish expec- tation, and to encourage inquiry, He has permitted gleams of light to cross our path. But it is at least as clear that, while He means us to inquire, He does not mean us to define ; and, therefore, our light consists only of gleams. He that is coming will come. His coming is as certain as His existence ; for He is equally the existing and the coming One (j <Z» and u sp^o^oj ;) but all certainty concern- ing the time of His coming is withheld.
And withheld so as to excite our watchfulness and hope.
332 CHAPTER VI.
Had the time of His appearance been foretold, the cer- tainty would have destroyed our hope, and His coming would have been regarded with comparative unconcern by all except the single generation that was to witness it. The anxious solicitude now cherished amongst us would have been chilled into indifference ; the movements of the providence and the grace of God, which are now studied so thoughtfully, would have been watched with little inter- est ; and it may be safely affirmed that the character of the piety of the church would have been seriously changed. We should have been saved by hope — by the patient wait- ing for God — no more.
With consummate skill, therefore, has the whole lan- guage of revelation been constructed, in real harmony, though in apparent contradiction, so as to produce this one result. When and how Christ is to appear we know not ; but we are waiting for Him. Our feeling is watchfulness and hope, certainty and doubt, inquiry and awe. It is Christ's purpose thus "to live in our faith, remote yet near, pledged to no moment, possible at any ; worshiped, not with the consternation of a near, or the indifference of a remote certainty ; but with the watchful vigilance that awaits a contingency that is ever at hand."* These feel- ings He who knows us best knows to be best for us ; and therefore He preserves the salutary suspense which ensures and deepens them.
66. But every provision of Divine wisdom is liable to
abuse. God is a spirit, and nis spirituality is ment liable to His glory ; but because He is a spirit, and
therefore unseen, men have denied His exist- ence. The time of Christ's coming is not told us ; and therefore men are tempted to deny the judgment ; or, at least, the uncertainty which was meant for holy watchful- ness is abused to godless security.
+ Prof, Butler's Sermons. Dublin, 1819.
§ 4. THE SECOND COMING OF OUR LORD. 333
Alas for us ! The forbearance of God leadeth to repent- ance; but men know it not: "The Lord is
,11 . -n- • i , • i The delay is
not slack concerning His promise, but is long- owing to His suffering to usward ; not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Pet. iii. 9.) He would rather be known in love than in terror. Christ, the sacrifice, continues to be revealed, that Ave may not one day be dragged into the presence of Christ, the judge. Now He is mighty to save ; then he will be mighty to destroy. He defers the hour of His coming that He may multiply the number of His redeemed. De- spise not this grace : seek not to frustrate this purpose. If His first advent is loved, we shall welcome and wait fo<* His second ; but if His first advent is despised, his second will be contemplated with dismay. If our hearts are not prepared to receive this glorious Redeemer ; if we have no taste for a kingdom of purity, and meekness, and love, no desire for the bringing in of " an everlasting righteousness," His coming will not therefore be annulled : but it will be to us a coming in wrath. Our feeling will correspond with fearful accuracy to the description of the prophet : " Then shall the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the mighty men cry, saying to the moun- tains, and to the rocks, Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." " The wrath of the Lamb I" The wrath of exhausted patience ; the wrath of rejected media- tion, and of despised love : " The wrath of the Lamb!"
And now our work is done. Rapidly and imperfectly have we sketched that Life which is the source of all life, and to which we owe our all. We have traced Him in infancy and in manhood ; in secret and among the crowds ; at work and in prayer. We have listened to His teaching We have watched His sacrifice. We have heard the an-
334 CHAPTER VI.
noimcement of His kingdom. As man He has won our love. As God He has claimed our reverence. He has appeared as Creator ; as Redeemer ; as Judge. Religion begins in submission to His righteousness, and it is com- pleted in likeness to His character. Conformity to His death and the truths it teaches is renewal and pardon ; conformity to His life is holiness and bliss. " Be wise now, therefore, 0 ye kings : be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trem- bling ; kiss the Son lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed
ARE ALL THEY THAT PUT THEO TRUST IN HlM."
APPENDIX.
Note I. (Page 93.)
Although the idea of the Messianic Kingdom of God may be truly said to pervade the Old Testament prophe- cies, the phraseology of the New Testament seems clearly derived from the language of Daniel, in expounding the symbolic imagery of Nebuchadnezzar's first grand prophetic dream. " In the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed," &c. In the seventh chapter, this kingdom is disclosed as strictly Messianic (vs. 13, 14; comp. ix. 25, 26,) and holy, (v. 27 ;) being given to the Messiah, and through Him to "the people of the saints of the Most High."
Hence the language of John the Baptist, of Christ, and His Apostles ; " The time is fulfilled ; the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the Gospel" — words which do not merely designate the prophetic time, but more strongly still the spiritual and holy nature of the approach- ing kingdom. This last point is strikingly demonstrated by our Lord himself at the beginning of his ministry, in his conversation with Nicodemus ; " Yerily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John iii.) In precise accordance with this view, Paul speaks of Christians as " delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son." (Col. i. 13.) This kingdom then properly includes only the regenerate, the holy — those who receive Christ, and submit to His authority as their Su- preme Head. Of such only, as far as man could judge, were the primitive churches organized ; and the fearful
deaths of Judas, Ananias and Sapphira, were evidently
(335)
336 APPENDIX.
designed as warnings against the intrusion of others into the visible fold of Christ. (Acts i. 18; v. 11-14.)
Yet inasmuch as such intruders could not always be de- tected, and it was foreseen that their number would increase through relaxation of vigilance in future time, the phrases " kingdom of God, and of Heaven," appear to be used by- Christ in some of the prophetic parables with greater lat- itude— as embracing all who profess submission to Christ, whether that profession is made in sincerity or not. (Matt, xiii.) J. N. B.
Note II. (Page 249 and 251.)
One fertile source of practical error has been the con- founding of the Visible with the Invisible Church, and reasoning from this assumed identity, that they differ from each other only as a part differs from the whole.
The essential difference between the two, appears in the following extract from Curtis on Communion:
" So far from it being a manifest truth, that it is only a difference of numbers that constitutes the distinction be- tween a particular Visible Church and the Universal Church, which is invisible ; there arc at least two ob- vious points of distinction as to qualification necessarily arising from the fact, that the one is a visible, and the other an invisible body. 1. He who possesses true piety without any profession, becomes at once a member of the invisible Church, while he only, who makes some credible and appropriate profession, (without here determining what it is) is eligible to visible Church fellowship. 2. ^l cred- ible profession of faith in Christ, in some particular way or ways, is all that can be required for admission to the one, while no conceivable profession without the reality admits to the other." J. N. B.
THE END.
DEC 2 0 1928