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THE REDEEMER
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FOR
ANDREW ELLIOT, EDINBURGH
•TAMES NISBET & CO., . . . LONDON
KIPPEX CHURCH.
4
THE REDEEMER
$$tivi8 Jour ILectures
ON
THE NATIVITY, THE BAPTISM, THE CRUCIFIXION, AND THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD
BY
WILLIAM WILSON
MINISTER OF KIPPEN, AUTHOR OF 'FAMILY PRAYERS'
EDINBUEGH ANDKEW ELLIOT, 17 PEINCES STEEET
1874
TO
JAMES SCOTT, ESQUIRE,
THE HOLLIES, TUNBRIDGE WELLS, KENT,
Wxt*t |Cecturc0
ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHOE.
PREFACE.
HE Author of these Lectures would neither be stating the whole truth, nor doing justice to his own feel- ings, were he merely to say that he took the occasion of two Memorial Windows being erected in his Church, to direct the attention of his flock to those subjects of surpassing interest and importance which have been so beautifully and graphically delineated. There was this, but there was more, as the motive for delivering these Lectures in the ordinary course of his pulpit duties, and for now giving to them a more permanent form. He wishes them to be a simple expression of his great respect and affection for the gentleman to whom they are dedicated, and who erected the windows in memory of de- parted worth.
The Author cannot refrain from express-
x PREFACE.
ing his great satisfaction with these windows — memorials at once so pleasing to his own sympathies with the sorrow that is mingled with hope, and so much in accordance with the opinion he has ever held, that the House of God should not be without the ornamen- tation which gives to it becoming dignity, and gratifies the natural desire of sacred associations.
As works of art these windows are ad- mirable examples of the taste and skill of Messrs Ballantine & Son of Edinburgh, by whom they have been designed and executed.
The subjects illustrated in the windows and in the following Lectures, are the Annunciation of the Birth, the Baptism, the Crucifixion, and the Ascension of our Redeemer.
Manse of Kippen, March 1874.
CONTENTS.
LECTURE I.
PAGE
The Redeemer — His Nativity, ... 3
LECTUEE IT.
The Eedeemer — His Baptism, . . .35
LECTUEE III.
The Eedeemer — His Crucifixion, . . .75
LECTUEE IV.
The Redeemer — His Ascension, . . .113
'If He is ours, We fear no powers Of earth or Satan, sin or death !
Lindemaxv.
echirc Just.
THE REDEEMER-HIS NATIVITY.
' And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them : and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not : for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.' — Luke ii. 8-14.
LECTURE I.
THE REDEEMER HIS NATIVITY
T is my purpose to deliver a Series of Lectures on the various subjects embraced in the Memorial Win- dows which have lately been placed behind the pulpit in this Church.
God should receive the best of every- thing we have. God seeks our best. God seeks first of all our heart. If that is withheld from Him, all our efforts toward refinement or outward adornment, here or elsewhere, are vain and frivolous. But when we give our heart to God, when we have an intelligent apprehension of Christ by faith, we are in possession of a principle which prevents us from running into ex- cesses alike superstitious and dangerous,
4 THE REDEEMER.
and which regulates us in all our efforts to glorify God.
Art finds its purest and grandest de- velopments in the service of Christianity. According to the constitution of our nature, sacred art awakens within us more or less the finer sensibilities. Religious thought is quickened through the medium of the eye as well as the ear. The principles of Presby- terianism are in no sense unfriendly to the adoption of every help which art and genius can produce to beautify the House of God, and excite or keep alive holy feelings. I hail, therefore, these windows with thank- fulness and satisfaction, and earnestly hope that they may be useful to you and me, and to all future ministers and congrega- tions who shall worship within these walls.
The nativity, the baptism, the crucifixion, and the ascension of our Lord, embrace the foundations of our faith. They set before us the principal grand doctrines which we hold to be fundamental for our belief, and essential to the existence and growth of
HIS NATIVITY. 5
the higher life of the soul. There are truths presented to us here within the com- prehension of the most unlettered, which, if accepted and believed, will make him wise unto salvation ; there are also deeps which the most cultivated can never hope to fathom.
In every age of the Christian Church these subjects have given rise to endless speculations and controversies. Men of the highest order of mind have spent their lives in contending about their meaning, and the principles upon which they are founded. Much strife and bitterness of feeling have been engendered. This is greatly to be deplored. But perfect agreement in reli- gious doctrine and thought is what we need scarcely hope to have, so long as human nature remains under the opposing mysteries of iniquity and of godliness. Still it is pos- sible for those who hold different opinions to maintain them charitably and humbly.
In dealing with the subjects before us, I shall endeavour to avoid the perilous points of controversy and the lines of speculative inquiry, preferring rather to study them
6 THE REDEEMER.
simply and devoutly — striving" to realize their import, and some of the momentous lessons which they teach.
The subject which is to engage our atten- tion to-day is the angel's annunciation of the Nativity of our Lord to the shepherds.
He is born — the Lord of light and life — the eternal Son of the Highest has actually come into the world in the person of a feeble infant! That is the 'Annunciation.'
In the preceding context the Evangelist informs us, that in the secluded village of Nazareth, a virgin called Mary had be- come betrothed to a man named Joseph. It was the custom then, as it is still with Jewish maidens, for the betrothed to re- main at least twelve months with her parents prior to the ceremony of marriage. Shortly after her betrothal an angel, com- missioned by God, appeared to Mary, and announced to her that she would conceive and bring forth a son. The mystery caused Mary to tremble, but the angel explained — ' The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
HIS NATIVITY. 7
and the power of the Highest shall over- shadow thee : therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.'
A token wras further given to Mary by the angel whereby she might know that the announcement meant a reality — viz., 1 Thy cousin Elizabeth hath also conceived a son.' Although the distance was consider- able, Mary immediately set out to Hebron, one of the cities of Judah, to visit her cousin. When Elizabeth saw Mary, she at once — by inspiration — saluted her as the Lord's mother. After sojourning with Elizabeth for about three months, Mary returned home.
These intimations connected with the Nativity of our Lord are recorded only by the Evangelist Luke. Turning now to the Evangelist Matthew, we are told that Joseph — being troubled about Mary's state — was minded to put her away privily, — that is, to dissolve the betrothal, by privately giving her a written certificate to that effect. But the angel appeared also to him, and in
8 THE REDEEMER.
a dream removed his doubts. The period of betrothal, therefore, being concluded, Joseph took unto him his wife. But the Son of David, according to prophecy, could not be born anywhere but in David's city. A decree of the Roman Emperor that all the world should be taxed, or more pro- perly enrolled, — that is, that a census of the population should be made, — rendered it necessary that every one should repair to his own place of extraction for that purpose. Accordingly, Joseph and Mary, who were both of the house and lineage of David, went up from Nazareth in Galilee, to Bethle- hem in Judea, to fulfil the requirements of the imperial decree. Thus, in the provi- dence of God, was it ordered that the Scrip- tures might be fulfilled. Arrived at Beth- lehem, they found the inn — indeed, every available place — full of visitors. They were, therefore, compelled to take shelter in a stable, and here the Child was born.
What a transcendent mystery ! The In- finite coming into the finite ! The eternal Son of God not merely appearing on the
HIS NATIVITY. 9
earth, but uniting our nature with His own — blending our manhood with His Divine essence ! This great mystery of the incarna- tion surpasses all other mysteries. It occupies a region, the confines of which we cannot approach. Still, although remote from our comprehension, the more reverently and lov- ingly Ave come to the meditation of it, the more clearly do we understand the beauty and glory of the revelation.
It is this mystery, then, of the birth of our Lord that the angel announced to the shepherds while they were in the fields watching their flocks. The Evangelist tells us that the appearance of the angel and the accompanying glory struck terror into their hearts. But the angel addressed them, saying, ' Fear not : for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you ; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.'
10 THE REDEEMER.
These words were no sooner uttered than there appeared with the angelic messenger a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and singing, ' Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men ! '
This revelation was the Divine answer to the earnest inquiries and longings of men from the beginning. The time of its utter- ance is called in the language of Scripture ' the fulness of the time.' Of all others it was the most momentous time in the history of the ancient world. For centuries events the most startling had occurred amongst the nations. Great dynasties quickly arose, and almost as quickly passed away. The lan- guage of Greece had reached a high state of perfection, and along with it science, and art, and philosophy in every department. Moreover, with the advance of Grecian civi- lization, Rome had risen into influence and power, and had braced herself up to ' devour the whole earth, and tread it dowm and break it in pieces.' As for the Jews, they
HIS NATIVITY. 11
were no longer a separated people. They had been dispersed amongst the nations, and, though they had been restored to their own land after their seventy years' captivity, the Holy Land was now under the imperial sway of Caesar. Their dispersion, however, had been blessed to them. The years they spent by the rivers of Babylon — where they hanged their harps upon the willows — had purged them from all idolatrous tendencies. But, apart altogether from external cir- cumstances, there was a peculiar moral fit- ness in the time, marking this as indeed ' the fulness of the time.' Man had fully tested his powers. Philosophy had done its utmost and failed. The world by wisdom knew not God. Man was unhappy in his ignorance. There was still a void in his soul and a yearning for more light. Seek- ing to appease this craving, the Greek became a worshipper of beauty, and strove to embody the beautiful in works of art. He endeavoured to delineate his ideas of the Divine in the most exquisite forms of human loveliness. But after all there were
12 THE REDEEMER.
darkness — impotence — unrest. The pro- blems of existence remained without solu- tion— the bitterness of life continued un- changed.
Again, the Roman felt that his concep- tions of unity and law were onlv shadows of something more abiding — some universal source — some eternal truth. Philosophy might suggest to him to be reckless of danger, and might strive even to divert his mind from sorrow, saying, ( Be strong, and bear it well ; be brave — be a man ; ' but he could find no comfort in such cold counsel. His soul longed after something which nothing in this world enabled him to attain. Surely, therefore, this was the emptiness of which the coming of the ' Desire of all nations ' was the answering fulfilment.
Even the Jew, who was acquainted with the one living and true God — who had erected a temple to His service — who was in possession of the Scriptures of the Old Testament — who maintained the ordinances which God had instituted, and which had been handed down to him for generations —
HIS NATIVITY.
13
felt that external advantages could not meet inward necessities — that outward decorum and regular waiting upon the synagogue and temple — that the privilege of being the lineal descendant of Abraham — that punctilious attention to the courtesies of society in con- nection with religion — were of no avail with- out something deeper and more permanent.
Let us now consider the tidings brought by the angelic messenger, and inquire wherein they were adapted to meet the wants and longings of the human heart. ' Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.' The term ' Saviour ' was one which was familiar to the Greek and the Roman. It was associated in their minds, not merely with deliverance from danger or distress, but with the enjoyment of every temporal comfort and blessing. Both the Greek and the Roman frequently applied the term to their gods, especially after any signal deliverance. They fur- ther applied it to their fellows, to whom they were indebted for any help or succour.
14 THE REDEEMER.
The term ' Saviour ' was also most familiar to the Jew of our Lord's time. Indeed, there was a charm for him in the name, which we in this age cannot fully appreciate. As in the case of the Greek and Roman, the term was understood by the Jew in the double sense of deliverer and protector, and was associated in his mind with many of the most glorious episodes in the history of his forefathers. In Old Testament Scripture this term is frequently used. Thus it is written: ' The Lord raised up a saviour to Israel;' ' He shall send them a saviour;' and 'The Lord gave Israel a saviour.' But while these passages, and others that might be adduced, pointed to events of a more immediate and temporal nature, they had also reference to something higher. And while the name of ' Saviour ' was applied, as in these instances, to human deliverers, the most spiritual amongst the people felt that it was a sha- dow of some other and greater one to come. Indeed, the very name of ' Saviour' in various passages in Old Testament Scrip- ture is directly applied to the Lord Him-
HIS NATIVITY. 15
self; and there are hints even at the manner in which salvation was to be accomplished, by associating with ' Saviour ' the words ' Ransom' and ' Redeemer.'
But, in the message to the shepherds, the angel not merely announced a Saviour, but designated who he was — ' A Saviour, which is Christ the Lord,' — in other words, a Saviour, who is the Messiah of prophecy — for Christ and Messiah are equivalent — being merely the Greek and Hebrew terms for the anointed one. Anointing with oil was a religious rite practised among the Jews from the earliest period, and was the commonest ceremony of consecration to a sacred purpose or office. We read, for ex- ample, that the pillar at Bethel, which Jacob set up in token of God's love and care, was anointed with oil. And, when the Mosaic economy was introduced, Moses anointed and thereby set apart both the tabernacle and the furniture to the service of God. Besides, throughout the history of the com- monwealth, consecration to the offices of pro- phet, priest, and king was frequently effected
lfi THE REDEEMER.
by anointing with oil. When, therefore, this title of ' Christ ' was applied, as in the pas- sage before us, to the Virgin Mary's Son, it must be understood that He was duly com- missioned and consecrated to those offices which, under the law, were merely types and shadows.
From the beginning, ere man was driven from Paradise, the Messiah was foretold as the seed of the woman who should bruise the serpent's head, and deliver man from the curse and penalty of sin. How or when that was to be accomplished was not re- vealed. Prophecy after prophecy, however, was given, and the world prepared for the Messiah. Thus it was foretold that He should be of the seed of Abraham, and in the line of Isaac and of Jacob. It was also dis- tinctly stated that He should come of the family of David, and actually appear when the second temple was in existence, and be born in Bethlehem ; that He should not be born of natural generation, but of a virgin ; that His appearance should be so humble that many even of His followers should scarcely believe
HIS NATIVITY. 17
in Him ; that He should be as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground ; that He should have no form nor comeliness, nor any beauty for which He should be desired. Further, the prophecies relating to the Mes- siah were delivered by different individuals without any possible collusion, and were spread over nearly four thousand years. They were often minute in detail, and some- times appeared to be opposite and con- tradictory in nature. For example, we find it predicted that the Messiah should be man — nay, a worm, and no man — the very scorn of men, and the outcast of the people, — and yet in another passage He is described as the AVonderful, the Counsellor, the mighty God, the Father of the everlasting age, the Prince of Peace ; that He should be exalted, and yet abased ; that He should be the root, and yet the offspring of David ; that He should be a lion, and yet a lamb ; that He would embody in His person the offices of prophet, priest, and king.
But the angel in the announcement be- fore us added yet another characteristic — a
18 THE REDEEMER.
Saviour, who is the Lord. In the Greek — or, as it is termed, Septuagint — version of the Old Testament, which was in common use in our Lord's time, the Hebrew term ' Jeho- vah ' is almost invariably rendered ' Kurios; ' and our translators have followed this prece- dent, and rendered the Hebrew ' Jehovah ' and the Greek ' Kurios ' By the English word ' Lord.' The prophet Hosea says, ' I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God ' — in the Hebrew, Jehovah their God. Zechariah says, ' The Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people ' — in the Hebrew, it is Jehovah their God. Again, Jesus Himself, quoting from Deuteronomy, repels the Devil's temptation thus — ; It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God' — in the Hebrew it is Jehovah, and in the Greek Kurios. Once more : Saint Peter, quoting from the same book of the Old Testament, says, ' For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me.' Here also the Hebrew is Jehovah,
HIS NATIVITY. 19
and the Greek Kurios. Innumerable other passages might be cited showing the same thing. In a word, ' the Lord' is the term usually applied to God. It would, therefore, appear that this descriptive title, as applied by the angel to the Babe of Bethlehem, was meant to point to His Divine nature. It corresponds to the Hebrew Jehovah.
But this title of ' Lord,' while it is syno- nymous with Jehovah, signifies dominion or power. And as Jesus possessed two natures — the divine and human — so the dominion exercised by Him may also be described as of two kinds --dominion as God, and domi- nion as man. In the opening page of the Gospel which bears his name, the Evan- gelist John says, ' In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' The other Evangelists begin their narratives with the appearance of Jesus in time, while Saint John traces Him back before all time. In the beginning the Word was with God, which implies pre- vious existence, having a glory with Him before the world was created — sharing" in
20 THE REDEEMER.
all that the Father possessed. The Word is said to have come forth from God, even from His bosom, where He had been from everlasting. But not only so, the "Word was God — even the mighty God Himself. He was therefore correctly named ' Immanuel — God with us.' The Apostle Paul, moreover, affirms to the Colossians, that ' by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or principalities, or powers : all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all tilings consist.'
Again, in His human nature, there was bestowed on Jesus as Lord a plenary power over all things. This is implied in the title Christ, which we have seen means anointed. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, while tracing the correspondence betwixt the Jewish and Christian dispensations, and showing that the latter was the un- folding and completing of an eternal pur- pose, quotes the following passage from the Psalmist David : ' Thou madest Him a
HIS NATIVITY. 21
little lower than the angels. Thou crown- edst Him with glory and honour, and didst set Him over the works of Thy hand. Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet.' Now, if the prophetic intimation to which allusion is here made was not fulfilled in Jesus Christ, in whom, it may be asked, was it fulfilled ? What created being ever experienced such humilia- tion and exaltation? However exalted, the angels cannot enter into comparison with Him who is their Creator and God. In His human nature Jesus Christ was made a little lower than the angels. In His Divine nature He was infinitely above them. But that Jesus Christ in His human nature really fulfilled this prophecy, there can be no shadow of doubt, for the Apostle says of Him, ' Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputa- tion, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became
22 THE REDEEMER.
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God also hath highly ex- alted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.'
And so the Saviour announced by the angel is Lord, and has dominion over us, inasmuch as He became incarnate in order that He might die for the race. By sin man lost the Divine image, and became ex- posed to God's wrath and curse. But pro- vision had been made in the councils of Eternity for his salvation ; and it was to restore in him that lost image, and deliver him from the doom which he had incurred, that was the grand object of Christ's mis- sion. For this He left His Father's bosom, and became a little child. For this He lived a life of holy obedience, amidst the bitterest trials and sorrows, allowing no- thing to divert Him from the object before
HIS NATIVITY. 23
Him. With a sublime steadfastness of pur- pose He pursued that object until He ex- claimed upon the cross, ' It is finished ! ' For this He rose again from the dead, and ascended up into heaven.
In the affairs of the world, for the most part, a thing is valued in propor- tion to the efforts made to procure it. Now, if this standard be applied to the subject before us, what is there that can be compared with the redemption of man ? That it should have occupied a place at all in the Divine mind, is a marvel utterly beyond our comprehension, which not only attests the transcendent importance of the work, but bewilders and confounds our in- tellects. In this sense, therefore, the appli- cation of ' Lord ' to Jesus Christ must appear obvious.
This leads us to inquire more particu- larly into the nature of the announcement by the angel, and the light in which it should be received by us : ' Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great
24 THE REDEEMER.
joy, which shall be to all people.' On account of sin, man was in a state of aliena- tion from God. He was wretched and mis- erable; he could not deliver himself; he was utterly hopeless; but help was brought. Intimations regarding the Saviour, we have seen, were given long before His appearance in human form. The angelic visitant pro- claimed His advent. The tidings were essen- tially good — good tidings of great joy !
I have already remarked that the natural instinct of the Greek was to embody deity in the form of humanity. Now, without unduly magnifying the fact, we cannot help regarding it as a foretoken of, and a groping after, the Incarnation of the Son of God. When there fell, therefore, upon the ear of the Greek the announcement of a Saviour, and when he carefully considered His origin and claims, he could not foil to regard Him as the one Saviour for whom his soul had often and earnestly craved — the embodi- ment of the truth which he had been feeling after. And if the Greek found a peculiar satisfaction in such tidings, we
HIS NATIVITY, 25
cannot doubt but that the Roman also dis- covered in Him the object of his intense practical longings and desires. And in pro- portion as he studied Christ's words and actions, and viewed His anxiety to fulfil the will of His Father, were the inexpli- cable cries of his heart answered. Then, while the Jew possessed privileges superior to the Greek and the Roman, he had but vague and indistinct notions regarding God, and the method of acceptance with Him. Still the whole structure of his religious system and polity was hopeful, and had reference to some great One to come, who would unite and harmonize the severed rela- tions betwixt God and man. Thus the an- nouncement of the angel did not crush or destroy the cravings or religious instincts of the race, but rather met and satisfied them. It could not, therefore, fail to be hailed with joy.
And so in every age, and amongst all classes of people, wherever these tidings of a Saviour have been proclaimed and believed, through the agency of the Holy Spirit they
D
26 THE REDEEMER.
have produced marvellous results. No tidings in this world have so answered man's doubts and deepest wants and longings. They have come not merely to those who were bowed down with sorrow and troubled with unrest, but to those who were lost in the cares and pleasures of the world, and have proclaimed to them peace, and opened up visions of Divine joy and light. In his immortal epic Milton gives us a lofty idea of God's power, in the person of Jesus Christ, as scattering the fallen angels and driving them before Him:
' Thunder-struck, pursued With terrors and with furies to the bounds And crystal wall of heaven, which opened wide, Eolled inward, and a spacious gap disclosed Into the wasteful deep.'
But, it might have increased our concep- tions, perhaps, of Christ's great power, if, while the rebels were arrayed before Him in bitter hostility, He had caused every one to fall prostrate at His feet in love and adoration. Now this is the victory, glory be to God, which has been actually achieved
HIS NATIVITY. 27
in all ages amongst men, by the marvellous story of the Saviour's love and condescen- sion. Oh ! how many have borne testimony to the truthfulness of this conquest ! How many have been lifted from the dust to God, and, emptied of pride and delivered from self-willedness, have experienced the con- sciousness of a present salvation, and there- fore the enjoyment of perfect peace and
Has the Holy Spirit of God, then, I inquire, shown Christ to you as your Sa- viour? Is Christ indeed your Saviour; and does the thought of Christ as your Saviour fill you with joy? It is recorded of a Roman general who had proclaimed liberty to the states of Greece, that the people, in transports of joy, cheered him to the echo, crying, ' A saviour ! A saviour ! ' The race was under condemnation through sin. Death had passed upon all men, for that all had sinned. Before man could be restored, how- ever, the law which was broken had to be satisfied and vindicated. And so the eternal Son of God became man, that He mio-ht
28 THE REDEEMER.
deliver Himself up to death, even the death of the cross, as a sacrifice of atonement for the sinful and the lost. How much more, then, ought Ave to joy in the Lord our Saviour !
But while redemption was secured for man through Jesus Christ, salvation is not secured to you individually, until you bend your will to believe in Christ, and long and pray to become a new creature in Him. Be assured, it is not enough to know that Jesus is the Messiah. You must give yourselves up entirely to Him, and seek an interest in the blessings which He purchased with His blood. When the Israelites gazed for the first time upon the newly-fallen manna, they inquired earnestly, What is this? and, on making the discovery that it was food, they at once applied it to the use intended, and found nourishment and life therefrom. Now, this is what you must do with the Saviour ; you must believe in Him, and live on Him by faith. The Holy Spirit of God testifies of Christ ; and if you ask the Spirit's aid,
HIS NATIVITY. 29
you shall receive the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The angel and the heavenly host sang glory to God over the lowly cradle of the Saviour ; and the Eastern Magi, under the guidance of the star, came and prostrated themselves before Him with gifts of gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. I inquire, What have you given to Christ — what of your money — your talents — your time? Why, all that you have belongs to God. There is only one thing in the whole world that God has made but cannot take without your leave. It is your heart. God will not force you to give Him your heart. But He pleads with you for it, nevertheless. He says, ' My son, give me thine heart.' Only do this meekly, humbly, trustfully, and you shall be saved from the power and the guilt of sin, and be strengthened day by day to repeat the angel's song. Let your language be —
' Give Thee mine heart, Lord, so I would, And there's great reason that I should,
If it were worth the having ; Yet sure Thou wilt esteem that good,
30 THE REDEEMER.
Which Thou hast purchased with Thy blood,
Aud thought it worth the craving. Give Thee mine heart, Lord, so I will, If Thou wilt first impart the skill
Of bringing it to Thee. But should I trust myself to give Mine heart, as sure as I do live,
I should deceived be. Yet since my heart's the most I have, And that which Thou dost chiefly crave,
Thou shalt not of it miss. Although I cannot give it so As I should do, I'll offer it though —
Lord, take it, here it is.'
But some of you may refuse to accept of the good tidings which the angel brought. What then? What will you put in their place? You may continue to reject the Saviour who was born in Bethlehem ; but where, I ask, will you find another Saviour? There is no other name under heaven whereby you can be saved. You may affect to live without Christ, but you are deluded by an impossibility. The trials and disappointments of life, — the events which are sure to come upon you and oppress your hearts, — the emptiness and unsatisfactori- ness of earthly possessions, — thoughts of
HIS NATIVITY. 31
death, and judgment, and eternity, which will yet intrude more vividly into your minds, — will discover your need of Christ. Let the great condescension of Christ, then, move you to yield to the strivings of the Holy Spirit of God with you. Oh ! quench not the Spirit of God!
According to the terms of the good tid- ings, observe the angel says they are for all people. Yet let no one presume or pro- crastinate. Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. Whatever you are, however sinful or depraved, hear the good tidings, — believe them and live. In other words, confess your sins — cry to God now for forgiveness — and live. The martyr Cranmer, in a moment of strong temptation, took his pen and abjured his faith in Christ. A short time afterwards, he again abjured his abjuration ; and when he was dragged to the stake to die for the truth, he lifted up his right hand, and exclaimed before his enemies, i This is the one — this is the hand that signed — this is the hand that sinned ! ' — and thrust-
32 THE REDEEMER.
ing it amongst the blazing fagots, added, ' Let it perish first!' And so, my unconverted brother! bring out your sins. Confess them to God. Implore forgiveness for Jesus Christ's sake. ' All things are possible to him that belie veth.' And you will most surely become possessed with the peace of God which passeth all understanding, which will keep your heart and mind, and be filled with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.
Tfutnxt Sftonb.
THE REDEEMER-HIS BAPTISM.
' Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of Thee, and coniest Thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now ; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered Him. And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water : and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Ilim, and lie saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him : And lo a voiee from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' — Matt. hi. 13-17.
LECTURE II.
THE REDEEMER HIS BAPTISM.
HERE are few facts recorded in the Gospel narratives regarding the childhood, and youth, and early manhood of our Lord. We have glimpses, it is true, but they are only glimpses, of how He spent His life at Nazareth. We would gladly know more, but we cannot. If we had given us full details of our Lord's growth, from His birth till He entered upon His public ministry; if we were told minutely how He acted during His early years towards His earthly relations and amongst His earthly surroundings, curiosity might be somewhat indulged; but it is not probable that there would have been any additional motive afforded for the exercise
3(3 THE REDEEMER.
or increase of faith in Him. There is wis- dom in the silence as well as in the reve- lations of Holy Scripture.
While made of a woman, our Lord was also made under the law, and became sub- ject to all its rites and ceremonies. And so, eight days after His birth, He was circum- cised, and called Jesus by instruction of the angel; and when forty days were accom- plished, He was taken to Jerusalem and pre- sented in the temple. The spirit of pro- phecy having been quickened, it was revealed to one named Simeon that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. This aged saint had waited for many years on the services of the temple, in patient and devout expectation of the appear- ing of the promised One. He had long and earnestly searched the Scriptures, and studied the prophetic intimations regarding the Messiah, whose coming seemed so protracted. Yet his faith foiled not. At length the Virgin appeared ; and when Simeon gazed upon the Child, and saw in Him the ful- filment of prophecy, he took Him in his
HIS BAPTISM
37
arms, and gave expression to his feelings in the memorable words, 'Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word ; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people ; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.'
Simeon had no sooner finished this pro- phetic hymn, than Anna, an aged pro- phetess, who served God with fastings and prayers night and day, entered the temple. When she beheld the Child Jesus, she also raised her voice of thanks unto the Lord, and spake of Him to all them that looked for redemption in Israel.
Some time thereafter — it is not very clear how long — a number of pilgrims, from Persia or Arabia, appeared in Jeru- salem, inquiring anxiously for Him who was born King of the Jews. The mystery of the birth of our Lord had probably been divinely revealed to those men. We have the assurance, however, that a special illu- mination in the heavens had been vouch- safed to guide their way, for they themselves
38 THE REDEEMER.
added, ' We have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.' As a people, the Jews seemed quite unconscious of the marvellous event that had occurred at Beth- lehem till those strangers arrested their atten- tion. The city was immediately filled with excitement. Herod the king, as might be supposed, was moved wTith alarm. He there- fore hastily called the chief priests and scribes together, and demanded information regarding the birth-place of Christ — the ex- pected Messiah of the Jews. Being informed that, according to the prediction of the pro- phet, Bethlehem must be His birth-place, he despatched, without delay, a private sum- mons to the pilgrims to appear before him. He then questioned them about the appear- ance of the star, and expressed the desire that, after they had found the Child, they would bring him word, that he too might come and worship Him. The amount of sincerity in this request of Herod's may be gathered from his subsequent wicked com- mand to slay all the young children of Bethlehem.
HIS BAPTISM. 39
By means of the star the strangers were directed to the place where the Child was ; and on entering they fell down at His feet, and presented Him with their homage and their gifts. Being warned of God, they did not obey Herod's command, but returned to their own country another way. Enraged by their non-appearance, and stung with jealousy, the king sent messengers to slay all the children in Bethlehem, from two years old and under, in order to destroy Him who was called the Messiah. But before the command could be executed, Joseph, being divinely warned, was on his way to Egypt with Mary and the Child. Herod survived this cruel deed only a few weeks ; and now Joseph, by the express command of God, was recalled from Egypt, and re- turned with the infant Jesus and His mother into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth.
Here a veil drops over that home circle ; and only once, indeed, for thirty years, has it been withdrawn. We have the testi- mony, however, of inspiration, that < the
40 THE REDEEMER.
Child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom ; and the grace of God was upon Him.'
During the annual visit, on the occasion of the passover feast, Jesus, at the age of twelve, accompanied His parents to Jeru- salem. The solemnity over, Joseph and Mary returned home. While on their way — a con- siderable distance — they missed Jesus, and anxiously inquired at their kinsfolk, and others who were travelling with them, about Him. They examined the caravans care- fully, but to no purpose. Jesus was not with them. At once, therefore, l they re- turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.' With mingled feelings of joy and amazement, Mary addressed Him, saying, ' Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us ? behold, Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing.' In His reply Jesus reminded His mother of His Divine origin. ' How ' — says He — ' How is
HIS BAPTISM. 41
it that ye sought Me ? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?' In other words, ' You know whence I am, and the end for which I was sent into the world ; and you might have known that I would be properly engaged.' Mary failed to com- prehend the saying, but she treasured it in her heart. It is vain for us, even with clearer light, to conjecture the fulness of the saying. But withal Jesus acknowledged the claim of His earthly parents to His filial obedience. He therefore returned with them to Nazareth, and was subject unto them, and ' increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.'
We hear no more of Jesus for eighteen years. Tradition, however, has striven to fill up what appeared lacking in the history. Painters have even represented Him as en- gaged at the handicraft trade of Joseph. There is always danger in seeking to be wise above what is written. Still there were some grounds for the artists' con- ception, inasmuch as, by the Jewish law, it was binding upon every father to teach
42 THE REDEEMER,
his son a trade ; and in every particu- lar we are assured Jesus obeyed the law and made it honourable. We have the testimony, besides, that, during the early part of the ministry of our Lord, many of the people who were attracted towards Him recognised Him not merely as Joseph's son, but raised the inquiry, ' Is not this the car- penter ? ' Beyond this Holy Scripture is profoundly silent.
After those eighteen years, Jesus emerged from Nazareth, and mingled with the crowd that was pouring in from all quarters to the wilderness to wait upon the ministry of the Baptist. ' Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad Him, saying. I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered Him. And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of
HIS BAPTISM. 43
God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'
The antecedents of the Baptist were strangely peculiar and grand. Descended for many generations, by both parents, from a priestly race, he was foretold by Isaiah, as ' the voice of one crying in the wilder- ness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord.' His birth was announced by an angel to Zacha- rias, his father, while he was engaged in his priestly functions in the temple. The pro- phetic intimations regarding his character and office were also confirmed by the heavenly messenger, and the name of John assigned to him. Alarmed at the vision, and faithless about the communication — and espe- cially now because of his own and his wife's advanced age — Zacharias inquired, ' Whereby shall I know this ? ' The angel replied, ' Thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be per- formed ; because thou belie vest not my words,
44 THE REDEEMER.
which shall be fulfilled in their season.' By the delay, consequent upon the vision, the people, who were praying without, marvelled that Zacharias tarried so long in the temple ; and when he came out he could only beckon to them. After her conception, Elisabeth retired to the hill country of Judea, where she remained for some time, as we saw in the previous lecture, and was joined by her cousin Marv. After the child was born, and when they came to circumcise him, he was called Zacharias ; but his mother said, ' Not so, he shall be called John.' And on signs being made to his father — who was still speechless — ' he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake and praised God.'
Like Him whom he was divinely sent to introduce, Ave know almost nothing con- cerning John till he burst upon the world, over thirty years of age, full of the Holy Ghost, to commence his mission. Indeed, the Evangelist Luke, in a single verse, gives
II IS BAPTISM. 45
us all that we know concerning him, viz., c The child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel.' The desert was singu- larly fitted for the exercise of self-denial, and self-conquest, and communion with God ; and so, while the Baptist's body w^as fed and clothed with the productions of the desert, his soul put on the whole armour of God. When he came forth, therefore, to enter upon his official duties, clad in a strange dress, and having a strange history, and bearing on his lips the strange message, * Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,' we are not astonished to read that he attracted many who sought to be bap- tized of him, confessing their sins.
In contemplating the Baptist and his relations to Jesus, we are sometimes apt to forget the man in the godlike energy and unity of purpose which appeared in every- thing he said and did. With a sublime indifference to self, he surrendered himself entirely to God, and to his work of preparing the way of the Lord. Devoted to his mis-
46 THE REDEEMER.
sion, he never seemed to forget that he was not one, but merely the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Next to our Lord Him- self, history furnishes us with no character more truly humble, and therefore great and noble.
There can be no doubt there was a general feeling among the Jewish people at this time that the Messiah was about to appear. But their ideas regarding Him were entirely opposed to the true nature of the kingdom to be established. They expected a temporal king who would redress their wrongs, and inaugurate a reign of grandeur and magnificence, equal, if not superior, to anything experienced under Solomon. But Christ's kingdom was not to be of this world. How then were such false views and deep- rooted prejudices to be eradicated? Would Christ by His great power so flash the truth upon the minds of men, that, when He ap- peared, they must recognise Him as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world ; or would He by His own lips give such ex- positions of Old Testament Scripture and
HIS BAPTISM, 47
prophecy as would lead the Jews to acknow- ledge their errors and follies? God's ways are not as man's ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts. Christ adopted neither course, but raised up the Baptist to make straight in the desert a highway for Him. It is important, therefore, to observe, that there was something more implied in John's dress, and mode of life, than at first sight ap- peared. The rude garment of camel's hair with which he was clothed, and the com- mon leathern girdle with which his loins were encircled, as well as the coarse and pre- carious food in which he found his susten- ance, had a deep spiritual significance, and must not only have served as an instructive contrast to the false notions of the Jews, but have proved an inarticulate warning against all their material conceptions of the Messiah's kingdom.
But if the mere dress and mode of life of the Baptist were calculated to produce such an effect, let us try to imagine with what force his ministry came to those who gathered around him. His mission was to
48 THE REDEEMER.
preach and baptize, and the general burden of his sermons or addresses was, Repent ye ; trust not in rites and ceremonies; seek to be delivered from your foolish national pre- judices and carnal affections ; give yourselves no rest till you obtain a change of heart and life, for the Messiah is at hand. ' I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance : but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire : wdiose fan is in His hand, and he will throughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.'
There was something very startling in this doctrine, but in reality it was not new. The prophets ages before had revealed it under various types and figures. The people had only obscured it with tradition. It came, however, from the Baptist with a freshness and power hitherto unknown, and created a new stimulus.
HIS BAPTISM. 49
In my last lecture, I remarked that in the councils of Eternity provision was made for the salvation of man, and that the know- ledge of a Eedeemer was to some extent im- parted to our first parents ere they passed out of Eden. But observe, before the Re- deemer was actually announced by the angel to the shepherds, the world was prepared for His advent by a succession of dispensa- tions. And while each dispensation was in some special aspects distinguished from the one preceding it, the Spirit of God was never wanting in any of them. Under every dispensation souls were saved. Before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the one condition of salva- tion was faith in God's promise; afterwards the grand object of faith was revealed — viz., Christ, and Him crucified. Now, the mission of John occupied a place betwixt the Law and the Gospel. It was specially appointed by God, having for its object, as expressed by our Lord Himself, the restora- tion of all things. By this we understand not the ritual of the Mosaic law, which was
G
50 THE REDEEMER.
about to pass away, but the things of the kingdom of God.
The rite of baptism had no part what- ever in the original law. It was only added to it, as something to be specially observed by proselytes. But God imparted to it a fresh and deeper significance in the minis- try of the Baptist, when He sent him to baptize all who sought admission to the Messiah's kingdom. Before inquiring, then, why our Lord came to John to be baptized of him, it is of some importance that we should clearly understand the nature of John's Baptism, and also the Baptism that was introduced by Christ — the Baptism with the Holy Ghost and with fire — and their rela- tion to Christian baptism which is in daily observance amongst us, and forms one of the sacraments of the Christian Church.
In the preceding context we read that Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, were not only startled by the cry, ' The kingdom of heaven is at hand,' but were moved to repentance and faith. They saw that their whole lives had
HIS BAPTISM. 51
been a continued forgetfulness of God, and rebellion against His holy law, and that they were exposed to eternal destruction ; they therefore made public confession, and sought baptism by water for the remission of sins. The Baptism of John therefore involved the grace of justification, which has been the grand requirement in every age and under every dispensation. The Baptism of our Lord, on the other hand, was with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Our Lord never ad- ministered baptism by water. But on the day of Pentecost — some days after He had ascended to His Father — He sent down the Holy Ghost, causing Him to rest upon His waiting disciples in the shape of cloven tongues of fire. Thus the conditions neces- sary in the Baptism of John — viz., repent- ance and faith — were presupposed in our Lord's Baptism; and the bestowal of Divine gifts, and not the remission of sins, was the effect. What relation then, I ask, do the Baptism of John, and the Baptism of our Lord, bear to baptism, as understood by us in the Christian Church ? I answer, they are
52 THE REDEEMER.
both included in the Christian rite. After the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, the nature of the Gospel being more fully understood and believed, the Baptism of John by water among Jew- ish and Gentile converts was superseded by looking to Christ crucified, and having faith in His blood. With the new dispensation Baptism had a new signification. It was a sign and a seal of the righteousness of faith, or a Christian profession, and is to us in the Christian Church w^hat circumcision was under the Old Testament economy.
But in order more fully to understand the nature of Christian baptism, it is neces- sary that we should comprehend first of all what was implied in circumcision, which it superseded. Circumcision was ordained to be the token or seal of the covenant made by God with the patriarch Abraham. In Egypt and in the wilderness circum- cision fell into desuetude amongst the Is- raelites ; but after the promised land was actually possessed, it was renewed, and con- tinued to be administered until the cere-
HIS BAPTISM. 53
monial law gave place to the fuller light of the Gospel. It was incorporated with the law, and indeed was the initiatory ordi- nance by which a man became a partaker of the privileges and blessings of the earlier dispensation. But while this, in point of fact, was what circumcision accomplished, it was not really an essential means of salvation; for in the Epistle to the Romans we read that Abraham ' received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being un- circumcised.' By the mere fact, how- ever, of being circumcised, a man, under the Old Testament dispensation, was laid under the most solemn obligations to put away the sins of the flesh, and put on the fruits of the Spirit — in short, to serve and obey God. And so in the Epistle to the Galatians also we find the Apostle saying, ' I testify to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.'
Circumcision, then, being associated with a law wThich, in its types and symbols, found fulfilment in the sacrifice of Christ.
5-4 THE REDEEMER.
it was proper that, along with the cere- monies of that law, it too should be abol- ished. But while circumcision, which was the seal of the covenant made with Abra- ham, ceased to be observed, the covenant itself, in its spirit and essence, remained, and found a new seal in Christian baptism. Bap- tism is the rite which introduces us to the advantages aiid blessings of the Christian dispensation ; and is to us, under the revela- tion of the Gospel, what circumcision was to those who lived under the old economy of the law. If it be admitted, therefore, that a man, by the initiatory rite of circumcision, might be introduced to the Old Testament economy, and still not find salvation, Ave are bound also to conclude that one may be introduced by Christian baptism to the privi- leges of the New Testament Church, and still remain unsaved. In the same Epistle to the Galatians, the Apostle puts this be- yond all dispute when he says, ; In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.' It must not be thought, however, for
HIS BAPTISM, 55
one moment, that we account Christian bap- tism a meaningless ceremony. On the con- trary, we regard it as one of the profound- est mysteries of our holy religion. In His parting address to His disciples, our Lord instituted this most sacred rite, saying, ' All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.' Throughout the various dispensations of which we have any knowledge, faith in the eternal covenant of redemption was always required of man. And so in connection with Baptism in the Gospel dispensation we find it written, ' Repent, and be baptized;' ' If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest be baptized;' ' He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved.'
Baptism is thus a seal of the Christian's faith. But it is more than that: it is a sym- bol of the Christian's high and holy calling. In baptism we are planted in the likeness
56
THE REDEEMER.
of Christ's death. By that is meant the submission of our will to the will of God in the same spirit in which Christ submitted to it. We are also in baptism planted in the likeness of Christ's resurrection; that is, that by His resurrection power we may rise to newness of life. While faith, therefore, is the pre-requisite of the baptismal covenant, its one condition is faithfulness. We are called to take up our cross and follow Christ, — to renounce our own wills, — to suffer with Christ, if we would reign with Him, — to die to self, if we would rise with Christ to newness of life. The power, observe, of dying and rising with Christ is given to us by covenant at baptism. The thing is done, and yet to do; and the law is, that in proportion as we become conformable to the death of Christ, so does He impart His resurrection power. This is the dis- tinguishing nature and design of Christian baptism.
I have said that, under every dispensation, faith in the eternal covenant of redemption has always been required on the part of
HIS BAPTISM. 57
man, and that baptism is the seal of the Christian's faith on the part of Gocl. This is clearly enough understood with regard to an adult who seeks to be baptized. But, it is asked, what of infants? How is the covenant to be understood as applicable to them ? Here faith, as a pre-requisite, is not wanting. The parent, who in our Church is almost always the sponsor, covenants with God for his child, and assumes the responsi- bilities implied in the covenant. If faith, however, is not exercised, he has no right whatever to take such a position and assume such responsibilities. As a believer in Christ, a parent — or whoever may be sponsor — undertakes to bring up the child in the fear and nurture and admonition of the Lord, — in other words, he promises to lead him to Christ, to whom in baptism he dedicates him. And whenever the child is old enough to understand the obligations undertaken on his behalf, and personally believes in Christ, it becomes his duty to assume those responsibilities, and from that period be- gins, in the history of the child, what was
H
58 THE REDEEMER
symbolized when he was baptized — viz., con- formity to Christ's death and resurrection by renouncing the world, crucifying the flesh, resisting the devil, and living a godly, right- eous, and sober life.
All this I have said to make at once more interesting and more intelligible the subject of our Lord's baptism by John, to which I wish nowT especially to direct your thoughts.
Our inquiry is, Why did Jesus come to be baptized of John? He could not seek the Baptism of John as the Baptism of repentance, because He was Himself abso- lutely holy — proved by His incarnation, witnessed to by His whole life. But this matter is put beyond the possibility of a doubt by the colloquy between Him and John, which virtually contains a disclaimer by our Lord, that He sought John's Bap- tism for the reasons which moved the mul- titude to seek it. Whatever darkness there may have been on the minds of the multi- tude as to John, considered as the forerunner
HIS BAPTISM. 59
of the Messiah, it is evident, as we have seen, that they quite understood the preach- ing and Baptism of repentance. But the answer of Christ to John's question — ' I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me ? ' — viz., ' Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness,' plainly points to an exceptional reason for the coming of Christ to the Baptism of John. Now, what was that exceptional reason ? Wherein lay the exceptional position of Christ in reference to this matter? There is every good ground for interpreting the words ' all righteousness ' as meaning every requirement of the ordinance of God. It is in this interpretation that we are to see the meaning of our Lord's resort to the Baptism of John.
In the first place, we may believe that our Lord intended that this act of obe- dience to God's ordinance was becoming in Him in relation to His mission, which was throughout one of submission to all Divine ordinances as man, and as the representative of man. Let us consider what His whole
60 THE REDEEMER.
life was in this respect. His mission cer- tainly was of the most exalted character, yet in nothing did He claim exemption from the common lot of men — not of humanity in general merely, but from the common lot of men in the circumstances in which, by the Divine appointment, He was placed. Thus He was contented to bear all that was implied in the lowly circumstances of His birth and parentage, — to be poor and lowly, — to be submissive to His parents, — to grow as others might do in bodily and mental strength, — to fulfil all that was re- quired of Him by the civil state of Jewish society at the period, — as, for example, when He paid tribute to the heathen Emperor at Borne. In all things our Lord conformed to the requirements of His position, whether arising out of His natural or civil relations ; in all things He was obedient to the Divine ordinance, however that ordinance might be expressed. Can we wonder, therefore, after these considerations, that He should have resorted to the Baptism of John? Was it not in conformity with all we know of Him,
HIS BAPTISM. 61
that He should have gone forth to Jordan, and willingly submitted to what we cannot but believe was regarded by Him as a Divine ordinance ? That He should do this was a part of that obedience to the will of His Father which characterized His whole life.
This, I believe, is what we must under- stand to be the meaning of our Lord's own words, by which He put aside the remon- strance of John against His coming to a baptism which was emphatically and openly understood as a ' Baptism of repentance.' Our Lord needed no repentance; but sab- mission was demanded of Him in everything that man submitted to. Moreover, beyond this submission to the Divine will, which was the character of our Lord's whole life, there seems to have been a special require- ment for it in these two things, — in His circumcision, which in one sense was not needed, but in another — that of His being 1 made under the Law ' — was ; — and in His baptism, not needed as significant of re- pentance and remission of sins, but yet im-
62 THE REDEEMER,
perative as expressive of His implicit obedi- ence to the Divine will. In short, in the whole character and life of Christ we behold submission to whatever was demanded by the ceremonial, or natural, or civil relation- ships of a human being in the circumstances in which, by the Divine appointment, He was placed. Altogether, we can see in this act of submission the entire character of the life of Christ, and the meaning of His own words to the Baptist, ' Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness ' — every ordi- nance of God.
Then, secondly, as matter of fact, the baptism of Christ was the initial act of His own public ministry. From this time He ceased to be, as we may say, a private person, and entered upon what is commonly called His ' public ministry.' It has been supposed that, by His baptism, our Lord in- tended to furnish an example in His own person of that which He enjoined as the ini- tiatory rite of the Gospel dispensation. For His command to His Apostles was, ' Go ye therefore and teach all nations ; baptizing
HIS BAPTISM. 63
them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' However that may be, there can be no doubt that it formed the starting-point in His own public ministry; and it is lawful for us to suppose, that it was His Divine policy that, from its very com- mencement, that ministry should have all the advantage which could arise from the alarm and agitation which the preaching and Baptism of John undoubtedly had pro- duced in the society amongst whom it was to be exercised. I say it is lawful for us to believe that the resort of Christ to the Bap- tism of John had in it this important ele- ment as a reason. At all events, we can conceive that His public ministry obtained an advantage, in its commencement, from His identification with the work by which His own forerunner had already created such extensive popular attention and excitement. In the third place, on the occasion of our Lord's baptism by John, a Divine mani- festation in Christ's favour was made, which we cannot but pronounce as of incalculable value in these three respects :
64 THE REDEEMER.
First, To John himself, inasmuch as it confirmed whatever belief he had in the Messiahship of Jesus. We read that ' he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him ; and lo a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.' The Bap- tist possibly understood the words of Jesus to imply, that by His baptism He was to be solemnly and publicly inaugurated into His office, and that His public ministry was to commence from that time. But the Baptist, it would appear, had some doubts regarding Jesus, whether indeed He was the promised One of whom he was the forerunner. Now, however, he had the certainty of His Mes- siahship by the testimony of heaven.
Secondly, It was invaluable to the multi- tude through John. It was the Baptist's exalted privilege to introduce the Saviour to the world, which he did in words with which we are all familiar : ' Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.' This was a short time after His baptism and temptation in the wilderness.
HIS BAPTISM. 65
And the Baptist added to this striking introduction of Christ the remarkable testi- mony, ' And I knew Him not : but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost ; and I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God.' Can we fail to perceive, how in the Divine arrangements whereby Christ has become so extensively known and received as the Lamb of God, this testimony was most valuable, not only to John himself, but to those to whom he spoke, or to whom his words might be re- ported ? In this view, therefore, the baptism of Christ must be regarded as a most im- portant circumstance in the success of His mission among the people to whom He first came, and also to the world at large.
And this leads me to say,
Thirdly, That this testimony, on the occa- sion of Christ's baptism, is invaluable, con- sidered historically ; that is, to the Church in all time. We all know how valuable
66 THE REDEEMER.
is the testimony that Christ is the Son of God, in whom God is well pleased. This was the witness borne so unequivocally by the voice from heaven on the occasion of His baptism; and this witness is all the more important when we regard it as we ought to do as our Lord's submission to an ordinance which, though in its general accep- tation as the Baptism of repentance, could have no application to Him, yet in its accompanying circumstances has been the support and solace of the Church in all ages of its history, and will be to the end.
Having said this much to show the rea- son in our Lord's mind, and the importance, in every point of view, of this submission to baptism by His own forerunner, may I not say now, what a glorious exhibition we have here of the Trinity of God acquiescing in the plan of salvation, — the Son in hu- man form standing in the waters of the sacred river, — the Spirit of God descending upon Him in the form of a dove, — and the Father witnessing with an audible voice
HIS BAPTISM. 67
from heaven, that Jesus is indeed His Son, in whom He is well pleased?
There are one or two points of a prac- tical nature which this subject suggests, and which I would set before you very briefly in conclusion.
In the first place, look at the Baptist. Is there anything about you like him? How devoted he was to his mission, — how humble withal! When priests and Levites came to him at Bethabara, asking ' Who art thou ? ' he replied, ' I am not the Christ. I am not worthy to unloose the latchet of Christ's shoe.' See him before Herod. Oh, how faithful — witnessing for Christ even unto death ! What a splendid character was John ! Our Lord Himself said of him, 1 Among them that are born of woman there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.' Is there anything about you like what was displayed by John ? Do you wit- ness for Christ?
But further, our Lord adds, ' Notwith- standing, he that is least in the kingdom
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of heaven is greater than he.' We are living under the economy of the Gospel. Do we really acknowledge the obligations of the Gospel? The fact of being bap- tized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, has brought you into covenant with Christ, and into the Church in which are great and precious privileges and promises. But I in- quire, Are you fulfilling your part of the covenant? Have you repentance and faith? — in other words, Do you really believe in Christ, and are you partakers of the pro- mises of the Gospel ? The mere fact of being baptized can avail a man nothing, if he lives practically as if there were no God, no Christ, no Holy Spirit, no eternity. Cir- cumcision under the Old Testament economy was of no value whatever to the man who violated the covenant. In his Epistle to the Romans, St Paul says, ' For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly ; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh : but he is a Jew which is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the
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spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.' Now we may say, with equal truth, that he is not a Christian who is one outwardly ; neither is that baptism which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Christian who is one in- wardly; and baptism is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. There is often a tremendous inconsistency betwixt the high and holy doctrines of the Gospel, and the earthly and unholy lives of many profess- ing Christians. Inquire at yourselves then, individually, How is it with me? Have I only a name to live while I am really dead ? Called by my baptism into the fellowship of Christ's people, am I yet walking un- worthy of my high vocation? In a word, is my Christian profession a profession only ? And lastly, under all the dispensations, life has come to the soul by faith. We are not called upon to work for life; we are to receive it. It is a gift purchased by Christ, and freely offered to us in the Gospel. But observe, we are to work from life. I would
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only be trifling with the soul of an uncon- verted man were I to say to him, Deny your- self, my brother ; — take up your cross, and follow Jesus Christ. But to a man who is justified by faith, and has peace with God in Christ, this is precisely what ought to be said. In a spiritual sense, conversion is what baptism symbolizes. It makes a man a Christian really, as baptism does by pro- fession— not a Christian in the complete sense, but still a Christian in heart; for he is born again, and is a true member of Christ. But after conversion comes faith- fulness to baptismal engagements — dying to self, and living unto God through Christ's indwelling.
See that you realise fully your position before God as baptized souls. This brief life of ours is fast passing away, and when it is passed there is no returning to start afresh. Let me entreat you to beware of substituting anything outward for Christ's hidden life in the soul; or of acknowledg- ing with your lips your belief in the high doctrines of the Gospel, while your hearts
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are in the world. Christianity is a life, not a mere act or observance. Seek for that life. It comes by the blood of Christ. Pray for the Holy Spirit to form Christ in you the hope of glory, and you will most surely display the fruits of His indwelling. Con- secrate yourselves to Christ and to His glory. Pray for the spirit implied in the words —
' To do or not to do, to have
Or not to have, I leave with Thee ;
To be or not to be, I leave : Thy only will be done in me !
All my requests are lost in one —
Father ! Thine only will be done.
' Welcome alike the crown, the cross !
Trouble I cannot ask, nor peace ; Nor toil, nor rest, nor gain, nor loss,
Nor joy, nor grief, nor pain, nor ease, Nor life, nor death ; but every groan — Father ! Thine only will be done.'
ttttvat Iljtrlt.
THE REDEEMER-HIS CRUCIFIXION.
He bowed His bead, and gave op the ghost.'— John xix. 30.
!■!■! TTT~
■8 l-'-l B tT
LECTURE III.
THE REDEEMER-
HIS CRUCIFIXION
MMEDIATELY after His baptism, our Lord was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where He remained for forty days. During this period He was tempted of the devil and overcame him. He was also ministered unto by angels. Afterwards He returned to the banks of the Jordan. The Baptist, when he saw Jesus coining, directed the attention of his hearers to Him, saying, ' Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world;' and then proceeded to explain how he had witnessed the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove from heaven, and how Jesus had been revealed to him as the Son of God. Yet no one as vet followed Jesus.
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The day after, while in company with Andrew and another disciple — probably the disciple whom Jesus loved — the Baptist said to them again, ' Behold the Lamb of God.' The two disciples immediately followed Jesus, and remained with Him that day.
Very soon our Lord began to gather disciples. Andrew brought his brother Peter. Jesus Himself, having 'found Philip, bade him follow Him. And again, Philip brought Nathaniel, who — despite all his prejudices — was forced, in the fulness of his conviction, to acknowledge, ' Master, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel.'
Thus our Lord commenced His public ministry, and remained chiefly in the neigh- bourhood of the Jordan until the Baptist's imprisonment. He then proceeded northward to the busy towns of Galilee, with the view of prosecuting more actively His labours. During the early part of this period He for- mally ordained the twelve apostles who were His personal attendants.
In the previous Lecture I observed that the Jewish people expected that the Messiah
HIS CRUCIFIXION. 77
would establish a temporal kingdom. While they recognised Jesus, therefore, as a Rabbi, and permitted Him to preach in their syna- gogues ; and while many of them even were proud of Him as a prophet and a worker of mighty deeds, yet they refused to acknow- ledge Him as the Messiah. Everything about Him seemed at variance with their precon- ceived notions. His birth, and family, and station, his meekness and gentleness, were all stumblingblocks to them. Though His soul was full of love and benevolence to man, yet He was misunderstood, and called a Sabbath-breaker and a blasphemer. His own brethren even believed not in Him.
Now, one of the grand objects of our Lord's mission to the earth was to remove, by personal teaching, the dark shades of ignorance from the minds of men, by pointing out the principles of Divine truth which were needful to be known and be- lieved. He came to reveal the Father, and to teach that He was the only commis- sioned way to the Father, — or, as He Him- self declared in the Temple, ' I am the light
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of the world;' ' I and my Father are one.' Yet it was very gradually that our Lord gave indications of His Messiahship.
Our Lord's favourite mode of address was by parable. Indeed, we are told with- out a parable spake He not unto the people. This method of teaching, though simple, was always attractive, and always attended with power. The common people heard Him gladly, and glorified God, saying, that a great prophet was risen among them, and that God had visited His people. Even the officers whom the Sanhedrim sent to arrest Jesus could not lay hands upon Him ; and, on being questioned on their return why they had not brought Him, they replied, ' Never man spake like this man.'
But if our Lord's words came with power, so also did His works. His miracles were revelations not merely about the Father, but manifestations of His Own oneness with the Father.
Christ manifested His power over nature and the great enemy. He also showed His benevolence bv healing disease in all its
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forms, and by raising the dead. A word, a look even was enough. On one occasion messengers came to Him from the Baptist with the inquiry, 'Art thou He that should come, or look we for another?' Appealing to His miracles, our Lord replied, ' Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard ; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised.'
Still, it was not merely to reveal the Father, and to give testimony by the mighty works which He performed, that He Him- self was the Messiah, — it was not merely to do this that the Son of God appeared upon earth. He came to offer up the sacri- fice of Himself as an atonement for the sin of the world. From the beginning this object was kept steadily before His mind. A few months after He had entered upon His public ministry, He twice referred to it. First in the words to Nicodemus — ' As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.' Again in the words to the people — ' Destroy this
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temple, and in three days I will build it up again.' And about a year afterwards, while He was transfigured upon the Mount, there talked with Him two men, who were Moses and Elias — the former the represen- tative of the law, the latter the representa- tive of the prophets — and testified that it was a Messiah who should suffer, whom the law and the prophets had foretold : ' They spake of His decease, which He should ac- complish at Jerusalem/
But the Jewish people, although alive to a Messiah who should conquer, were blind to one who should suffer ; yet both were foretold. At length the time drew nigh, and our Lord steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. Knowing how the city swarmed with enemies, His disciples were alarmed. But our Lord took the twelve aside, and said unto them, ' Behold, we go up to Jeru- salem : and the Son of man shall be be- trayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes ; and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gen- tiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify
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Him, and the third day He shall rise again.' But being still full of the thought of a tem- poral kingdom and of a conquering Mes- siah, the disciples even understood none of these things.
Every step of our Lord's career, which had been foretold centuries before, was actually fulfilled by Him. Of this parti- cular crisis the prophet had written, * Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass.' As He drew nigh to the city, the ass is found, and the colt with her. The disciples ' brought him to Jesus ; and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.' Multitudes followed. Meanwhile Jerusalem was ringing with the news that the Messiah was coming. Many therefore left the city, and met the procession at Bethphage. In their joy some tore down branches from the palm trees, and waved them, crying, ' Ho- sanna!' while others strewed branches, and spread even their garments on the ground
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before Him, — the cry being still repeated, ' Hosanna ! Hosanna ! blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord.'
But how soon was all this changed ! The loyalty of the crowd, with the proverbial fickleness of a crowd, was of brief dura- tion. Indeed, it immediately wavered in presence of a suffering Messiah. Thus the very people who had come with Jesus to Jerusalem, in whose hearing He had spoken many marvellous words, and before whose eyes He had performed many mar- vellous deeds, — the very people who had, only a few days before, sung Hosanna, now began to desert Him. When they found it was not as a king to sit upon the throne of David that He had come, they were filled with disappointment and resentment, and were just in that frame of mind in which a spark would set their passions in a blaze. This, in a great mea- sure, explains what happened soon afterwards, when they so readily took up the cry which His bitter and vindictive enemies put into their mouth, ' Away with Him ! crucify
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Him ! crucify Him ! ' The conspiracies and plots of these same enemies — the Scribes, and Pharisees, and rulers of the people — were hastening on the momentous end. His time was come, and their time was come — the ' hour and the power of darkness.' He had come to Jerusalem, not to reign as a king, but to die. The Divine Sacrifice was ready to be offered up.
Having partaken, therefore, of the pascal feast with His disciples, and having insti- tuted the sacramental rite, which was to continue in His Church in remembrance of Him until He should come again, our Lord and His disciples repaired to the Mount of Olives. Here, in ' dark Gethsemane,' He poured out His soul to His Father with strong crying and tears. Here He prayed, ' Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me : nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done.' And the answer was an angel from heaven strengthening Him. Here being in an agony, His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Then came the kiss of
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Judas, and the arrest of Jesus, — the denial of Him by one disciple, and the desertion of Him by all, — the unjust trial and con- demnation in the Jewish and Roman courts, — the indignities and insults to which He was subjected — the crown of thorns — the purple robe — the mock allegiance of the sol- diers — the scourging, — the words to the women who bewailed Him while He bent beneath the weight of His cross, — the parting of His garments, — the crucifixion, and the blaspheming taunts of the onlookers, — the episode of the two thieves who were crucified with Him, and the reply to one of them who appealed to Him for help and remem- brance— ' To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise,' — the darkness of nature, — the cries of our Lord — His Spirit being in mortal agony, — and finally, His last exclamation, uttered with a loud voice, ' It is finished ! ' which proclaimed the victory won — the glo- rious work accomplished — and * He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.'
This subject is beyond all argument.
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Indeed, it is the one of all others which makes us feel the utter powerlessness of human words, even imperfectly to deal with it. Mysteries there are which we can but dimly grasp, — truths so vast that we can but faintly comprehend them. The mysteri- ous truth on which we are now called upon to meditate seems infinitely to surpass our powers of conception, and to overwhelm our capacity of realization. The last act in the awful drama, at which angels and men stand amazed, is finished.
The work accomplished by the death of Christ as our Eedeemer, was in effect finished from all eternity. Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, although the conditions betwixt the Father and the Son were not fulfilled on the part of the latter until He actually came into the world and died. The cup of woe was now, however, drained to the very dregs. ' It is finished,' He said — finished the glorious pledge and proof of the eternal longings for man's good — the pain of con- descending to man's estate — the suffering
86 THE REDEEMER.
in that estate from the cradle to the cross — the fast and vigil that wore out His sacred body — all horror and anguish of soul — all that types foreshadowed and pro- phets foretold — all miracles — all attestations of Divine power and of His own divinity — all prophesyings of man's malice and His own death — all is finished ! No more shall He learn obedience by the things He suffered. No more shall thirst and hunger be His portion. No more shall His soul be oppressed by the deepest of all agonies — the withdrawal of His Father's face. All is over. It is all finished. ' He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.'
We speak of death as the culmination of a man's life, of his plans and purposes, his ambitions and rivalries, his hopes and fears, his joys and sorrows. But this death, of what was it the culmination? What mar- vellous purpose and works had in it their end? Christ died the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God. And His death was voluntary. Men have tried to show this, by the very expressions used in the text.
HIS CRUCIFIXION. 87
' He bowed His head,' as if in this He gave Himself up to the last end ; and ' He dis- missed His spirit,' as if by this it is shown that it was not wrung from Him by compul- sion, but was freely surrendered as a man might, by his own will breathe out his breath. But methinks it needs not this to prove that our Lord died voluntarily. In these expres- sions there may be this meaning, but we need not rest the mighty truth on these alone. There is a wider field on which to rest it, — Christ's whole mission and character — what He came to do, and what he actually did — all moving to this end, not to the will of others, but by His own will, in submission to, and in harmony with, His Father's will from everlasting.
There have been many theories pro- pounded about the death of Christ. You know what is the doctrine of our Church upon this subject — viz., that Christ, as our Representative and Substitute, gave Himself an offering and sacrifice to God ; and that by His death He made a complete atonement for sin. And I need hardly say, after the
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teaching of years from this place, how fully my own mind has adopted this theory. I say theory, but I use the word in no dis- paragement of the doctrine of the Church, which I hold and value above all price; but that I may the more distinctly and clearly express wThat I believe to be the thing — the essential thing — for you, and me, and all men, whatever theory may be held — viz., that Christ died for our sins, — that His death was the appointment of God for that purpose, — and that through His death alone can we be saved. Jesus died for us. This is the great and glorious truth that we have to rest upon as sinners, as rational and immortal creatures. Now observe, in the first place, that the death of Christ was needed. The very fact that Jesus died implies the necessity for dying. Man had fallen, and could not save himself. In order to establish this, we mast go back to the time when the relations betwixt God and our first parents were severed — when, by their disobedience, they violated the covenant which God made with them, and involved themselves and all their
HIS CRUCIFIXION. 89
posterity in utter helplessness and ruin. To meet this exigency, the eternal purpose was declared, and in the fulness of time actually was manifested : ' God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.' It pleased the Father, in His sovereign mercy, to send His Son to seek and to save that which was lost.
But it was not the life of Christ merely that was needed for the purpose of man's salvation : it was essentially His death ; and when I say needed, it must not be under- stood that the death of Christ was needed in order to appease the wrath of the Father ; for is it not written, ' God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life ?' Yet it was not a martyr's death. Emphatically it was a death for us — for our sins — in what- ever way you may explain the fact. Men have yielded up their lives as the necessary result, as we say, of a life-long struggle for some great cause. In such cases the death
M
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has been the fitting end of a sincere life ; and we may call it the necessary end, looking to the hostility amidst which the life-long advocacy was carried on. But not in this sense do we pronounce the death of Christ as necessary. It was needed for an end — that of man's salvation — which through it alone could be accomplished. In common martyrdom, the death of violence has only a negative character. It is but the end violently accomplished of the life of which alone we can predicate the positive. But the death of Christ had in it all of positive we can conceive of. It was an act which carried in its train all of positive that is included in the words salvation for man — salvation to the uttermost, — all of blessing, and comfort, and everlasting happiness which we are accus- tomed to associate with these words.
Again, secondly, the death of Christ was the crowning act of submission and obedience to His Father's will. It was foretold of Christ in the volume of the Book that He should come to do the will of God. And when the fulness of the time was come. He left the adorations
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of heaven, where He had been with the Father from all eternity, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and made Him- self of no reputation. ' He crossed the whole diameter of existence to bind Himself with His own opposite.' He was born in a low estate, wras circumcised, was subject to His parents, and sought baptism at the hands of John. He experienced fatigue, and hunger, and thirst, and privation ; — ' The foxes . have holes,' He Himself said, ' and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.' He was despised and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. He submitted to be buffeted, and spit upon, and called a deceiver, a gluttonous man, a wine-bibber, and a sinner. His own words were, — ' My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and finish His work ; ' — ' I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I strait- ened till it be accomplished ! ' — ' Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Fa- ther, save Me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify
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Thy name ; ' — ' If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Thine be clone.' In His life, our Lord yielded entire submission to the will of the Father; and in His death we have the crown- ing act of that submission.
In contemplating the death of Christ, we are apt, for the most part, to fix our thoughts upon the bodily sufferings which He endured ; whereas it was chiefly in His soul that He experienced anguish and suffering, and sub- mitted to the wTill of the Father, and made atonement for sin. The agony of the soul more than that of the body is the sinner's portion ; and though our dear Lord could not really endure what the sinner was doomed to endure, inasmuch as He could know nothing experimentally of the stings of an accusing conscience, the bitterness of remorse, the anguish of despair, and the like ; yet the fact is manifest, in whatever way it may be explained, that His sufferings of soul were infinitely more intense than those of the body. It is evident it was not bodily torture He was suffering, but deep and unutterable
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agony of soul, when in Gethsemane He ex- claimed, ' My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death ! ' and when ' His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.' It was not the mere suffer- ing of a painful and ignominious death that He endured on the cross. Others both before and since have been subjected to torture of body at least as great. History furnishes us with innumerable examples, and in many cases records the triumphs in which martyrs have gone to the scaffold and the stake. In the moment of death they experienced the presence of God, and were strengthened by the consolations of the Spirit to give utter- ance to expressions of transport. The very place from which they passed to God often became radiant with heavenly glory. But it was not thus with Christ in death. There was something here — sometimes described as ' the hidings of His Father's face ' — which we are as utterly unable to comprehend as we are to describe. Who is able to sound the depths of that mysterious woe and desola- tion which darkly swept across His soul, and
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wrung from Him that great and exceeding bitter cry, ' My God ! my God ! why hast Thou forsaken me ? ' Yes, it was in His soul Christ suffered most; and it was His making His soul an offering for sin that above all was the crowning act of submission and obedience to His Father's will.
But once more the death of Christ was sufficient. The whole tenor of the apostolical epistles is without question to the effect that the death of Christ wras sufficient to deliver the sinner from the dreadful consequences of the fall; and moreover, we have the witness of all Christians, and of the Church in all ages, in the same direction.
By His death Christ made a full and perfect atonement for sin. And it is the very glory of the Gospel that He receiveth sinners. But while this is true, salvation depends upon a certain condition, which the sinner may comply with or not — viz., faith in Christ, that no flesh may glory in His presence. Thus, when the sinner believes in Christ, he accepts the benefits of re- demption, which were purchased by Him,
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and takes his position before God as a re- deemed soul. Salvation is offered without money and without price. It is the office of the Holy Spirit to convince the world of sin ; and the more aggravated the guilt, the more anxiously does the Spirit strive. If any man, therefore, remains unsaved, the blame is his own ; he has not with a grateful heart believed the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. When we are first aroused to a sense of our danger, one of our earliest thoughts is to endeavour to do something to win the favour of God. In his. extremity the jailer cried, ' Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' And it is not until the awakened soul feels itself powerless — utterly lost and ruined — that it casts itself in simple trust into the arms of Christ. We cannot save ourselves. Indeed, there is no need — Jesus died for our sins — the atonement is suf- ficient. Salvation is wrought out for us ; we have simply to accept of it — we can never merit it. Oh ! if only the sufficiency of the death of Christ were clearly understood; — if only the blessed truth that sin has been
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fully atoned for were realized and accepted, we should soon hear from the one end of the earth to the other the triumphant shout, * Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, be glory and dominion for ever and ever ! '
But observe further, that Christ's death was sufficient not merely to deliver us from the effects of the fall, but to make us one icith Him, even as He is one with the Father. By His sufferings and death Christ redeemed the race. Not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with His own most pre- cious blood, has He ransomed them from the power of Satan, that they might serve and obey Him in newness of life; and that He might purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Thus, while salvation belongs to us by faith in Christ, the glorious privilege of oneness with Christ, even as He is one with the Father, is the result of faith- fulness ; and in proportion as the saved soul realizes the truth that he is not his ow^n but Christ's, by the closest of all possible ties, so does he deny himself for Christ, and take
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up his cross and follow Christ, and work out his salvation with fear and trembling.
These three points, then — viz., that the death of Christ was needed, that it was the crowning act of submission to the will of the Father, and that it was sufficient — are consistent, I take it, with all theories of the Christian Church upon the death of Christ, and I recommend them to your most earnest and devout consideration.
But let me recall you to the scene of the crucifixion, and the contemplation of the marvellous spectacle on Calvary.
Death by crucifixion was known and practised by many of the ancient nations, and notably by the Romans, at whose hands our Lord was now suffering. I need not stop to describe how upon His condemnation the fierce soldiers — having ruthlessly placed the body upon the transverse beam — drove the nails into the hands and feet, and then placed the cross in the ground.
Over the cross of one crucified it was customary to place his accusation — the crime
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of which he had been accused, and for which he had been condemned to die — whatever it Pilate, therefore, wrote a title in He-
was.
brew and Greek and Latin, and put it on the cross of Jesus : the writing, according to the Evangelist John, was, ' Jesus of Naza- reth, the King of the Jews.''
I shall not speak of the six hours of dreadful agony which our Lord endured while He hung suspended upon the cross, nor of the blaspheming taunts which were hurled towards Him by the chief priests, and elders, and scribes. I shall not speak of the Divine portents — the sympathy of all nature with the Sufferer — the gloom and darkness which hung over the land. I wish to fix your thought upon this truth only, that the great Teacher and Worker of miracles, the loving Friend and wise Coun- sellor, is dead. Oh, what a marvellous con- clusion to a life which throbbed with every- thing that was kind and good and holy !
It is a striking characteristic of our nature, that when we gaze upon the dead form of an earthlv friend, all the love that
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is in us comes forth. How much more should this be so when we gaze upon Him who loved us, and who — when we were yet sinners ■ — gave Himself up to die for us ! What a lesson of love and gratitude do we gather from the group who are still linger- ing around Calvary ! How beautiful, while one disciple betrayed our Lord, and another denied Him, and all for a time forsook Him and fled, that one returned and took up his position at the foot of the cross! How very beautiful too, and touching, that the Marys should cling to Him to the last, and mingle their tears of sorrow and sym- pathy with His agony of suffering ! What courage to make their way through the crowd, and station themselves also at the foot of the cross ! They were not ignorant of the danger to which they were exposed, but nothing could deter them from giving to their Divine Master even then and there this pledge of their love. The poet, on this very subject, has thus expressed him- self,—
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Peruse the sacred volume. Him who died Her kiss betrayed not, nor her tongue denied; For while Apostles even left Him to his doom, She lingered round the cross, and watch'd the tomb.'
It hath been said, that the noblest linea- ments of woman's nature shine brightest as the shadows of life grow darker. It is then — in pain and anguish and woe — that she rises to the sublime glory of her true character, and becomes indeed a ministering angel. What a splendid example we have of this in the scene before us !
We now come to consider this subject more directly in its bearing upon ourselves — upon each of us personally.
What is the great practical lesson to be learned from this subject? It is this: — that we may ever be inspired with, and manifest the spirit in which, Christ died, as the actuat- ing spirit of our life.
As I have already said, our Lord's suffer- ings were endured by Him as the ordinance of God. And in this respect our sufferings are not different, — thev also are the ordinance of
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God. Without disparagement to what is usually understood by the words of resigna- tion, ' The will of the Lord be done,' there is undoubtedly vastly more implied in them than a mere submission to the inevitable, which is often all that is meant by those who quote them. These words imply — and this is in truth the highest privilege (ay, and bless- ing too) of a Christian — suffering in sympathy with Christ, and in His spirit. This is what is meant by entering into the fellowship of Christ's sufferings — sympathising with Him wThen we think of His sufferings, and desir- ing, above all things, to be brought to that blessed frame of mind, when we shall be enabled to bear our sufferings in the same spirit in which He bore His.
Consider this thought a little more closely. What is the profound reason for that in- terest which for ages men of various edu- cation, civilization, and habits of thought have taken in Christ? I answer emphati- cally, it is because He is presented as a suffering man. Why is it that the most gorgeous pageants of kings and conquerors
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are read by us with a sensational interest that lasts hardly longer than our reading of the record? They leave no trace be- hind in our interests or our sympathies. They have left none in the interests or the sympathies of any people. They pass away as if they had never been. But suffering ! this remains deep graven in the hearts of men, moulding and fashioning their permanent sentiments, and thence their life. Look to it in the instances of the personages whose lives and deeds the Bible records. Who cares aught for the magnificence — and we wrill grant you the material prosperity — of the reign of Solomon ? But Joseph and his trials, — Moses and his trials, — David and his trials, — the prophets pouring out their wail of sorrow over a people undone by their sins, denounc- ing the judgment that must come, laying- bare their lacerated hearts before their people — before us, — this is what has moved the heart of humanity, and moves us, and will move men to the end of time. And thus it is with the sufferings of our blessed Lord and Saviour. I speak not now of the sacri-
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ficial element which they involve. I speak of the moral force which has been in them for human hearts and lives. For more than eighteen centuries they have been the mov- ing power, the grandest, the most effectual, as to moral issues, in the heart of nations and of individual men. We cannot think of them without emotions sublimely un- selfish— loftily good. We cannot think of them without desiring that our sentiments and our lives may ever run in the direction in which they move us ; and without feeling that nothing can in any conceivable way be so good for us, as that our sufferings, which, as I have said, are the ordinance of God, may always be borne by us in sympathy with Christ in His sufferings, and in the spirit of His meek yet lofty endurance. See how the Apostle Paul had caught this spirit, as when he exclaims, ' We glory in tribulations.' 1 Most gladly, therefore, will I glory in mine infirmities.' On this subject the Apostle Peter also says, ' For even hereunto were ye called : because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example.'
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Now Christ's example may be expressed in one word — submission to God. For the most part this is regarded as something purely negative, and theologians have drawn a distinction between the active obedience and the submission of Christ. I have no desire to question this distinction. I only wish to say that the submission of Christ has always seemed to me to have had of necessity a distinctly positive character. He submitted to the will of God ; was it possible for Him to do so without an active preference for the will of God, to what the weakness of His human nature might have inclined Him to? What virtue could there be in His submission, unless we understand it as the positive compliance with the ordinance of God, however tortur- ing to flesh and blood? And so of such a character is all true Christian submission to any Divine ordinance. If our life is to be Christ-like, it must be a life of self-denial, of self-sacrifice; and such a life under any known Christian condition must denote the positive exercise of our will against — not such sinless
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weakness as might be in Christ — but against all sinful desires and affections. All this I hold to be contained in the exhortations to crucify the flesh — to give ourselves a living- sacrifice to God — to die daily unto daily sin.
And now let us inquire individually, Does my heart go out in love and gratitude to Christ Jesus who died for me ? Have I accepted of Him by a thankful, confiding act of the soul? Am I trusting in Him, and in His sacrifice alone? It is a miser- able and fatal delusion to think, as many do, that anything else — anything they can do — can procure or merit salvation. But do you say — ' I am so wicked ; ' — or, — ' I have not repented enough ; ' — or, — ' I am doing- all I can for my soul?' These expressions may appear to be very good. They may have even a show of humility, but in reality they are very bad thoughts, and very dis- honouring to our heavenly Father. You may have some general notions regarding the death of Christ ; but until, by the in-
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fluence and power of the Holy Spirit, you make Christ's death yours, you are still in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity ; whereas, on the other hand, you may have doubts and difficulties regard- ing what I might term the minor truths or doctrines of Holy Scripture, — you may be regarded as unsound, and called even an heretic ; but if you hold fast by the truth that Jesus, the eternal Son of God, died for you, and if you claim your position as a redeemed soul before God, you have made yours what is essential — the one thing need- ful; you have built upon a rock against which the gates of hell can never prevail.
My unconverted brother, Jesus loves you ! May the Holy Spirit of God imprint this truth upon your heart! Jesus loves you! Can you gaze upon the cross of Jesus and doubt that He loves you ? In Him, too, God the Father has done His utmost for you. You offend and grieve Him by refusing or neglecting to accept of the atonement of Christ. But although you have hitherto refused or neglected Christ, God does not
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abandon you. He loves you still, and mourns over your obduracy and hardness of heart. There is one thing above all others that grieves Him — one thing above all others He has against you — you have despised and rejected His Son. Oh ! let this no longer be your condemnation ! Turn from the error of your ways. Turn unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon you; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. He loves you ! He has proved it by the gift of His Son for you. He strives with you by His Spirit — by His providential dealings with you — by His goodness and severity — by trials and afflic- tions. Yes, God loves you ! Can you burst this girdle of holy charity? Can you con- template Jesus, with arms outstretched in death, and refuse to yield yourself up to Him? You have the power to give your- self. Whatever your temptations and sins are, you have the power. The Holy Spirit gives you the power when, with a reso- lute act of the will, you give yourself up, in love and gratitude, to Jesus Christ. But do you say, I can do nothing of myself?
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The man with the withered hand knew that he was powerless to use his hand ; but when he was commanded by Jesus to stretch it out he obeyed, and experienced an in- stantaneous cure. How easy this ! Yet how difficult it seems to the soul untaught of God ! But the difficulty is with the sinner himself, and not with God.
I have heard the humble circumstances — and especially the shame and cruelty to which our Lord was subjected in His life and death — given as a reason for man's lukewarmness and indifference. But I rather think it is in consequence of what the adop- tion of the cross of Christ demands. It is the doctrine of the cross, and not the cross itself — the doctrine of salvation by the sacri- fice of Christ as God's free gift, — it is this that men stumble at. The sinner will do anything to obtain salvation rather than accept it as a free gift.
Oh ! let us put away our wilfulness ! Let us yield ourselves up to Christ, and let us cultivate a loving obedience to Him ! This
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is the day of our merciful visitation. It is drawing to its close. The end may be we know not how soon. Let us see that we are not resting our hopes in ourselves, or upon a mere theory. There is no hope apart from Christ.
It is curious that men upon their death- bed, even those who have committed them- selves most argumentatively to theories about the death of Christ, find their consolation and their stay, apart from all theories, in this one fact, — ' Jesus died for me.' Accept that blessed truth now, and you will not rest in the first principles of the doc- trine of Christ. You will strive after the higher truths and the higher life. You will take up your cross and follow Christ. You will put away from you all pride and self- seeking and self-pleasing. You will witness for God. You will cultivate holiness. The Divine nature will be manifest in your mortal bodies; and, like your loving Lord, you will devote yourselves to the spiritual good of your fellowmen. Everything will be second to the grand aim — the glory of God. Be-
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coming conformed unto Christ, and so drawn closer and closer to your Father in heaven, you will be able more and more to compre- hend His unspeakable love for you, and in some measure to realise the sentiment em- bodied in these lines, which is no less true than beautifully expressed: —
* So near, so very near to God, Xearer I cannot be ; For in the person of His Son I am as near as He.
1 So dear, so very dear to God, Dearer I cannot be; The love wherewith He loves His Son, Such is His love to me.'
*$trtuxt J^urilj.
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1 And He led them out as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.' — Luke xxiv. 50, 51.
LECTURE IV.
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HE tragedy of the crucifixion con- cluded, and the darkness cleared away, the Jews, that they might not violate a requirement of their law, and to avoid polluting the Sabbath with the bodies of the crucified — if left suspended after sun- set— repaired to Pilate, and sought permis- sion to break their legs, that death might be hastened and the bodies interred. The request was granted. The soldiers, there- fore, immediately proceeded to break the legs of the two thieves. Finding, however, that Jesus was dead already, they brake not his legs, — thus unconsciously fulfilling the Scripture, ' A bone of Him shall not be broken.' But in order, possibly, to make
1 1 4 THE R E DE EME /?.
sure that Jesus was really dead, one of the soldiers took a spear and thrust it into His side, and forthwith came there- out blood and water, — still further fulfilling what had been prophesied regarding Him, 1 They shall look on Him whom they have pierced.'
While the soldiers were engaged in what seemed to them routine duties, another per- sonage was on his way to solicit an audi- ence of Pilate, viz., Joseph of Arimathsea. His request was a bold one — even the body of Jesus. He knew well that he would be censured for this act by his friends, — nay, that he was exposing himself to peril ; but he was determined to brave all consequences. After certain inquiries, Pilate yielded to the request. In this kind devotion to the dead Jesus, Joseph was joined by Nicodemus — the same who came on a former occasion to Jesus by night — bearing a costly offering of myrrh and aloes. Both these men, though members of the Sanhedrim, were true be- lievers. With tender sorrow they therefore received the mangled and bleeding body,
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and proceeded at once to the performance of their sad yet affectionate duty.
In the immediate neighbourhood of the cross there was a garden belonging to Joseph, and within it a rock-hewn sepulchre, in which never man was laid before. After swathing the body in linen, with the spices which had been provided, they reverently laid it in the sepulchre, and afterwards rolled a stone across the entrance, and de- parted.
The two Marys, who stood by the cross of Jesus and witnessed all that had passed, as also the entombment, and who cherished to the last the thought that the Master whom they loved so well was indeed He who should have redeemed Israel, took their departure also from the sepulchre, with hopes crushed and hearts sad and sorrowful, to comply with the requirements of the Sab- bath.
While the devoted friends of our Lord, probably on account of their deep revulsion of feeling, had forgotten their Master's words about rising from the dead, the chief priests
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and Pharisees, having recalled them, repaired to Pilate and made known to him the say- ing of Jesus, ' After three days I will rise again.' To prevent the removal of the body, therefore, without their knowledge, which they suggested His disciples might do, and then say He had risen from the dead, the stone was sealed, and a guard of soldiers set to watch the sepulchre. Thus, all that His enemies could do to secure against decep- tion was done. And there was no deception. The third, the appointed day dawned; and the power of death and the grave, and men and devils, could no longer hold captive the Lord of life and glory.
No mortal eye witnessed the resurrection. Still it is beyond all dispute that, on the third day, Jesus arose. The Evangelist Matthew gives some details concerning this most stu- pendous event in these words : ' Behold, there was a great earthquake : for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like light- ning, and his raiment white as snow : and for
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fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.'
But while no one saw our Lord rise from the dead, still the fact of the resurrection itself received the testimony of many wit- nesses.
First of all, Mary Magdalene and several other women having prepared spices and ointments to embalm the body, set out for the sepulchre very early in the morning of the first day of the week. They had seen the great stone placed across the door of the sepulchre by Joseph and Nicodemus ; and, as they drew near, they inquired amongst them- selves who should roll it away. Imagine their feelings, therefore, when they arrived and found the stone already rolled away ! Mary Magdalene would appear to have in- stantly surmised that the body had been re- moved, and at once returned to the city to bring word to Peter and John. The other women lingered by the sepulchre, and to them appeared an angel of the Lord, who addressed them, ' Fear not ye : for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not
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here : for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead.' In great astonish- ment and perturbation of mind, mingled, we cannot doubt, with a great joy, they hastened to execute their errand. Meantime Peter and John, followed by Mary Magdalene, came with all speed to the sepulchre. Being swift- est of foot, John reached the sepulchre first, and, stooping down, saw the linen clothes, but did not enter. Soon afterwards Peter arrived, and went in and found the linen clothes lying, and the napkin which bound Jesus' head not lying with the clothes, but wrapped in a place by itself. John now entered also, and ' he saw and believed. For as yet they knew not the Scripture that He must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.'
' But Mary stood without at the sepul- chre weeping ; and as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white sitting, the
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one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.' ' Woman, why weepest thou?' said they. ' Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him,' was her disconsolate reply. Mary, we have seen, was with Jesus at His death, and had witnessed — if not actually taken part in — His entombment ; and she had looked forward to the mournful satisfaction of still testifying her love and gratitude by anointing the body, but it was gone. Her passionate sorrow and tears seemed to burst forth afresh. The intensity of her grief, at that moment, may be gathered from the fact, that it was not arrested by the ap- pearance and words of the angelic visitants. One all-absorbing thought, and one alone, possessed poor Mary's bleeding heart — ' They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.' Mary, probably hearing a footstep behind her, or seeing the shadow of some approaching figure, or from some change of look or attitude in the angels, turned half round from looking into the
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sepulchre, and saw Jesus Himself standing, but knew not that it was He. Jesus saith unto her, ' Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?' She, blinded by tears, and distracted by the words of the angels, and supposing Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, ' Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away.' Jesus saith unto her, c Mary ! ' Oh ! how must the tones of that well-known voice — pronouncing her name — have thrilled to her inmost soul ! At once she was at his feet, with the respon- sive cry of joy, c Rabboni! ' But Jesus saith unto her, ' Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended unto my Father; but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God.'
Betwixt our Lord's resurrection and as- cension a period of forty days elapsed. How these forty days were spent, and where, Holy Scripture is silent. At intervals during that period, however, our Lord vouchsafed no less than ten — more probably eleven — differ-
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ent appearances. These appearances were frequently sudden and unexpected. Like an apparition, He came to His disciples, some- times passing noiselessly through closed doors, and then vanishing from sight. But while there was something strange and weird-like in our Lord's post-resurrection life, His dis- ciples never lacked proofs of His identity. Everything about Him — His voice, His features, His words and deeds — gave evidence that it was He indeed.
Here I Avish you to notice a circumstance worthy of our attention. After our Lord's resurrection, He ceased to have any inter- course with men in general — I mean with any but those who were ' disciples.' Even of the five hundred to whom He appeared in Galilee, it is said that ' they were breth- ren.' Now, what did this mean? It could not mean that He was to be less than heretofore the Saviour of sinners. The preaching and waitings of the Apostles — whom He left to instruct the world in His doctrine — are sufficient to show that this
Q
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could not be His meaning. But He did, undoubtedly, withdraw Himself from men in general, within the circle of His own disciples. There was no more preaching to miscellaneous audiences, — no more miracles within sight of the promiscuous multitude. It was to His own disciples that He showed Himself after His resurrection. It was to them He spoke. It was in their presence that He manifested, on the few occasions when He did so, His supernatural power. I ask, What did this mean, but just the ele- vation of Himself to that Headship of the Church which He still maintains, as His characteristic relationship to the children of men in His exalted state? And may not this teach us, that, while our Lord may in isolated instances, even as in the days of His personal ministry, show Himself the Saviour of sinners in what we may term a direct manner, it is mainly through His Church, as the exponent of His mind and the treasury of His spirit, that sinners are to be saved and saints are to be edified? Observe Him, then, in this brief interval.
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lavishing His sympathies entirely upon His own disciples — the infant Church from which the grand universal Church of the future was to be developed, — and say, Is He not already appearing, as we have always been wont to regard Him, as Head of His Church? And has not this a lesson for us, not only to recognise Christ as our Head, but also to realise our mission as the Church of which He is the Head — the mission of evan- gelization— not by ourselves individually so much as by the Church, — not by separating ourselves from the membership which is His body, and in our individual capacity seek- ing to bring souls to Him, — not by spas- modic or eccentric movements, but by com- pactness— the whole body — each member of the body being compacted with the rest, — and thus, by various members or instru- mentalities, striving to bring souls now far from Him into union with Him who is our Head?
I have already recounted our Lord's ap- pearance to Mary Magdalene. This devoted
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woman was honoured above all others in being the first to see the risen Saviour. The other women returning from the sepulchre to the disciples with the news and message of the angel, were met by Jesus Himself. On the same day, apparently. He appeared to Simon Peter alone, as Saint Paul in- forms us. In the afternoon — also of the same day — He appeared to Cleopas and an- other disciple while they journeyed to Emmaus, a village about seven miles dis- tant from Jerusalem. Being so bewildered by the story they had heard of their Master having risen from the dead, these two dis- ciples failed to recognise Jesus when He actually joined them in the way, and con- versed with them, and upbraided them for their unbelief, and even when He expounded to them the types and prophecies of Old Testament Scripture, showing that the Messiah must not only suffer, but enter into glory. Having reached Emmaus and the house whither they were going, Cleopas and his fellow-disciple constrained their Com- panion to tarry with them. At supper, while
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He took bread, and blessed it, and brake and gave to them, their eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight. We can imagine how those men would gaze with amazement upon the spot that had so suddenly become vacant ! Kecovering from their astonishment, and their hearts filled with joy and gladness, they returned in all haste to Jerusalem with the news to their friends and fellow-disciples gathered together in an upper chamber. Here our Lord vouchsafed His fifth appear- ance after His resurrection. The place was full. The apostles were all present save Thomas. What a meeting ! Deep emo- tion filled their hearts as incident after in- cident of their risen Lord was narrated. While they were engaged speaking, Jesus Himself appeared in the midst of them with the words, ' Peace be unto you.' Supposing He was a spirit, they were terrified; but Jesus addressed them and said, ' Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I myself; handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have.' Our Lord then,
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in the presence of His disciples, partook of a broiled fish and honeycomb, and afterwards gave them His blessing.
Eight days later our Lord again appeared to His followers while they were convened in the upper room, with the same precious salutation, ' Peace be unto you.' Thomas, who had refused to believe that Jesus was risen, was now present. Addressing him, therefore, specially, our Lord saith, ' Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands ; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side, and be not faithless but be- lieving.' Overwhelmed by the evidence, Thomas, in the fulness of his heart, ex- claimed, ' My Lord and my God ! '
Then w^e have our Lord's appearance to the seven disciples by the shore of the sea of Galilee.
Then He appeared to the eleven apostles on a mountain in Galilee.
We have also His appearance in Galilee to five hundred brethren at once ; and Saint Paul informs us, that ' after that He was seen of James.'
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And finally, we have His appearance to the eleven, as recorded in the text.
In all these appearances of our Lord there was, observe, a gradual increase of evidence, preparing the minds of His disciples to re- ceive the stupendous truth they were so slow to believe, and leading them up to the con- viction that He had fulfilled His promise that He would rise from the dead. This fact — the fact of the resurrection of our Lord — the apostles and the Christian Church in all ages have ever regarded as the glorious pledge and proof that God has accepted of Christ's sacrifice for our salvation.
We have now to consider His ascension, of which the eleven were witnesses.
Our Lord led them, the Evangelist tells us, to Bethany — that is, the district of Bethany or Olivet, on the slope of which the village of Bethany lay. Bethany ! how many are the tender and sacred memories associated with the name ! Weary and worn with the toils of the day in Jerusalem — the sin and suffering and misery which everywhere He
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witnessed — the bitter hatred and opposition of His enemies — the indifference of the people — it was to Bethany He was wont to repair for the night, and to seek in communion with His Father, and in the society and sympathy of His faithful friends, rest and refreshment for the morrow's work. It was at Bethany that He had wrought that perhaps most won- derful of all His miracles — the raising of Lazarus from the dead. It was in Gethse- mane, in the district of Bethany, that He passed through the agony of His passion. It was in the same district probably that He was crucified. Here, then, it was at Bethany, associated, as I have said, with so many tender and sacred memories, that our Lord led the eleven to witness His triumphant ascension into heaven. We feel the solem- nity of bringing our minds to the contem- plation of this final and fundamental fact in the earthly history of our Lord. We are overwhelmed by the thought that it was here that Christ the Lord was seen for the last time — that this was the closing scene in the great drama.
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Holy Scripture gives us a very brief account of this momentous event, yet we have all that it is necessary for us to know. We have the fact itself — that our Lord journeyed with the eleven to Olivet, and after silencing their curiosity about times and seasons, and point- ing to the spread of His Gospel, repeating His promise of the Comforter, and bidding them remain in Jerusalem until the Com- forter should come, He was parted from them in the attitude of lifting up His hands to bless them. How simple, yet how sublime ! No sound was heard — no whirlwind — no chariot of fire — not even a visible ministra- tion of angels, — nothing, indeed, to appeal to the senses, save that calmly and serenely He parted from them, and passed from their astonished gaze into a cloud.
Instead of further dwelling upon the mere fact itself, that our Lord ascended into hea- ven, let us endeavour to understand its objects, and to learn the grand and all-im- portant lessons which the fact was intended to teach.
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First, then, our Lord's ascension was to His disciples and to the world the last and conclusive proof of the truth of His preten- sions— the only consistent and harmonious termination of the great work which He had just accomplished on earth, and a pledge of His glorious inauguration into that office which He was now entering into heaven to fulfil for His people in all time as their great Mediator and High Priest. In His most human manifestations Christ appeared as one more closely related to the Divine Being than other men. He asserted His own un- derived divinity. He said that ' He came from God, and went to God.' He spoke of His Father in such a way as no human being, who was nothing more than a human being, could speak, or could be conceived to speak. He prayed to Him as no merely human being can pray. In short, Christ's whole history was in perfect harmony with His pretensions as the Son of God sent into the world for a specific object; and His ascension was the final proof of the reality of these pretensions. And it only requires
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to be stated, for it cannot but be manifest to every unprejudiced mind, that there was no other way in which Christ's great work on earth could so fittingly terminate, and the equally great work which He was enter- ing heaven to carry on, could so fittingly be inaugurated, as by His glorious ascension in presence of those whom He was leaving behind Him to be His witnesses unto all nations and the apostles of His Gospel.
Again, the ascension of Christ was ne- cessary to satisfy the heart of man. Wher- ever there is a human soul, there is a voice whose cry is after the supernatural. Apart from revealed truth, this natural instinct is always erring, and for the most part runs into the wildest absurdities and excesses. It shows itself in the most grotesque forms — in fantastic interpretations of material objects and forces — in grovelling fears — in monstrous superstitions, and in horrid cruelties. But because men have thus shown this craving in ways foolish and reprehensible, we must not therefore deny the craving itself, or regard it as a weakness of our nature. I say it is
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an essential element of our nature. Men yearn to know something more than is attain- able from the material world which hems them round. They feel that besides matter there is spirit. They suspect that beyond this gross world somewhere there are other orders of being or intelligences. They never can be satisfied with what their eyes see or their ears hear. They never can be satisfied till they know something of spirit and the spirit world. Metaphysics alone cannot afford that knowledge. The greatest intellects have tried and miserably failed. Their proudly vaunted discoveries have been but specula- tions and guesses at truth. There never was anything in them that met and satisfied the cravings of the human soul. But the ascen- sion of Christ throws a flood of light on the mysteries of the unseen world. In Him- self— in all He said and did — there was the revelation of that spiritual world to know something of which is an object of intense desire. And His ascension was, in point of fact, the natural and necessary completion of that revelation.
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Perhaps we may be able to realise still more the paramount importance of our Lord's ascension if we suppose for a moment that it had not taken place, — that after He rose from the dead, He lived a few years longer on the earth, and then died as other men die, and was buried as other men are buried, and that His body was resolved into its original ele- ments,— as is the case with all other human beings. I ask, would that have satisfied the instinct — would that have answered the crav- ings of the human soul to which I have adverted ?
In contrast with such a supposition, then, consider our Lord as ascended into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of God, and see what the great and glorious fact has done for you, in the satisfaction it gives to the longing desire which all men feel to have the spiritual world not only revealed to them, but brought close to their sympathies and their affections.
But further, in connection with the truth that the ascension of Christ satisfies the heart of man, we have to consider how much of
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that satisfaction we owe to the union of the divine and human natures in the person of our Lord. This union is the great essential fact in His mediatorship. Through His humanity, in which Christ is one with us, we are raised to the divine, in which He is one with God. As our Lord appeared on the earth, our Brother in our nature, and tempted in all points like as Ave are, He is able to sympathise with us — to enter into all our joys and sorrows — our hopes and fears — our trials and tribulations ; — in a word, He is One to be touched with the feeling of all our infir- mities— and One therefore to whom we can come with all boldness for mercy and grace to help in every time of need.
When our Lord left this world, He ceased to be a sufferer, but He did not denude Himself of human sympathies. He took our nature with Him into heaven. He was our Mediator when He lived upon the earth, leading us to God, or bearing us in His heart before God. He is our Mediator still, because in our humanity — in the true body and the reasonable soul in which He appeared
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on earth and represented God to man — He now in the human nature represents man to God. His mediatorship has not ceased. He calls us to Himself still, and through Himself to God, as truly as when He said, ' No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.' This day, and all days, then, we think of Christ not as a man that was, but as a man who is ; and amid all perplexities, and difficulties, and trials, we repose in this thought, that Christ, in the likeness of our nature, brings us to God by a human hand, and draws from God Himself the daily help we need for daily trial and weakness.
This touches upon the question of His priesthood, to which I would now more par- ticularly refer.
In the first place, I observe that the ascension of our Lord was necessary to the completion of His priestly office. Jesus is our great High Priest. He comes before us as the fulfilment of the typical priesthood of the older dispensation. It may well occur to us to ask what was the meaning of all the religious ceremonies which constituted
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so much of the religion of the Jew? They were not empty forms. They did not rest in themselves. They constituted part of that education by which the race, as represented by the favoured nation, were trained into the expectation of the Deliverer that was to come. As a special characteristic of those religious ceremonies, the priest, his functions, his per- formances, were ever present to the mind and the eye of the Jewish nation.
On the great day of atonement, which occurred once a year, the high priest entered into the holy place bearing the blood of the sacrifice. And this entering within the veil was typical — as we are taught — as indeed were all the offices of the priesthood — typical of the priesthood of Christ, who is distinctly called the High Priest of our profession, who hath entered wathin the veil, having offered Himself up a sacrifice for our sins. Reading thus the character of Christ in the light of those things which we are authoritatively taught were typical of Him, we obtain this understanding of His priestly office, that it consisted of these two essential things — viz.,
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sacrifice and intercession. On the earth, be- fore sight of all men, Christ gave Himself in sacrifice for us — just as the sacrifice was offered in presence of the whole assembly of Jewish worshippers; and now, even as the high priest within the veil, alone and separated from the people, offered interces- sion to God, it is His, in fulfilment of His priestly office, to intercede for us with His Father away from the gaze of men, yet bearing in His person the evidence of His sacrifice.
This is what I wish you to see of meaning in the ascension of Christ. The cloud that received Him is the veil which hides Him from our sight. The heavens, in which He now appears as an Intercessor, are the fulfilment of that Holy of Holies which the Jews regarded with reverential awe, but into which no foot of Jewish man but that of the typical representative of the great High Priest of our humanity ever passed.
Let this be a fixed thought, then, in your minds, that the intercession of Christ
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is an office of His priesthood as essential to our salvation as was the sacrifice of Him- self which He offered up. And although with your bodily eyes you have never seen Christ's bodily presence, yet wTith the eye of faith you may behold Him appearing before the throne on high as your Mediator and Advocate, and your heart may be filled with devout thankfulness that He ever liveth to make intercession for you.
The only other point I wish you to consider in connection with the ascension of Christ is of surpassing interest and im- portance, and one which we cannot ourselves so well express as in Christ's own words to His disciples. To them — desolate of heart and sorrowful, as He foreknew they would be by His removal from them — He said, ' It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send Him unto you.' Now, of all things this seemed most inexpedient to the disciples. Their views of Christ being contracted and unsettled, their thoughts when this declara-
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tion fell upon their ears immediately tra- velled into the past. They had left all, in- deed, and followed Christ, and for three years their hearts had been strangely knit to His; but it was chiefly, if not entirely, after the flesh. It was more Christ in His human aspect that the disciples revered and loved than Christ in His equality with the Father; and so their views of Him required to be enlarged and spiritualized. But this could only be effected by going away and sending the Comforter to reveal Him — though in- visible— as always near.
Besides, the Gospel had to be preached to every creature ; and one of the grand and fundamental truths of the Gospel was, that Christ not only died, and rose again from the dead, but ascended up into heaven, and is alive for evermore. To press home this message, therefore, upon the hearts and consciences of men is the office of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. Herein we see the expediency of Christ's departure, that the Comforter might be sent.
And, in connection with this, let me
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recall to your remembrance the words also which the Apostle Paul uttered, not for himself personally — who perhaps had never seen the Lord, and certainly had not been one of His disciples in the days of His flesh — but speaking collectively for the dis- ciples,— let me, I say, recall the words which Paul uttered, ' Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now hence- forth know we Him no more.' Now, what does this assertion of the apostle mean, but just this, that a spiritual Christ was better for them, and more precious to them, than any Christ they could know after the flesh? Some of them had seen Jesus in His human form. To some of them He had been related by the ties of earthly kin- ship. He had been of the nation of the Jews. But now it was their delight to know Him, not as a Jew — not even as a kins- man— but as the representative of all hu- manity in His spiritual relationship to men of every clime and country and nation.
At first it may seem a strange thing that Christ should say to His disciples, ' It
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is expedient for you that I go away;' and it may give us at first something like a shock of surprise that Saint Paul should also say, as a thing to be thankful for, that the Christians of his day did not know Christ after the flesh. But when we think the matter over, we shall be brought to feel the wisdom of Christ's words, and the reason for thankfulness which there was in His apostle's declaration. How could we desire to think of Christ as being of any earthly nation or any earthly family ? Is it not our chief happiness to be assured that He is the representative of all humanity, and that we can take Him by faith into our hearts, not in any sectional relationship, but in that in which we understand Him to be, the Saviour of all men ?
There are one or two thoughts of a practical nature, arising out of these views, to which I should like to give prominence.
First, of comfort. Christ hath ascended up where He was before. He hath left this world, not as other men leave it — the spirit
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returning to God, the body resting in the grave till the resurrection. He has gone to God in our complete humanity — purified, ennobled, immortal; yet still in our human- ity— spirit, soul, and body. We look to Him — not we alone, but all ends of the earth, and all generations of men, no matter where, no matter in what earthly condition, look to Him by faith as our Eedeemer — as the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, to all who look to Him, to all who look for Him in His second appearing without sin unto sal- vation. Need I say how favourable all this is to our peace — to that self-possession in which alone we can rightly discharge our- selves of the duties to which God calls us in this life?
Nor is this the only view of the ascen- sion of Christ in its more intimate relation to us. His own declaration to His disciples, that He was about to go away from them, was connected with the promise that He would come again and receive them unto Himself. And I wish to call your atten- tion to the bearing which this state of
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things, present and prospective, has upon Christian activities wherever it is rightly entertained.
Quite consistently with what I have just said about mental peace and self-possession, it is also true that, under the visible absence of Christ, there is in every Christian believer a certain uneasiness. In our reason we feel, as Saint Paul felt, that it is better for us that Christ should not be here in His bodily presence ; and yet we feel a wish — a desire — an earnest longing — sometimes that it might have been otherwise, that we might have seen Him as his first disciples saw Him.
Now, it is this balancing of the mind be- tween what the reason assents to, and the sym- pathies are disappointed at, which constitutes the uneasiness to which I refer. And yet is not all this wisely appointed in the providence of God — not so much for our repose as for our Christian activities ? For is it not the fact that all human activity — in whatever direction — is just the seeking of a relief from some uneasiness or other?
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What, for example, is much of human activity to be attributed to, but to ambi- tions, longings, desires, loves, which have no real gratification in the present, but impel us forward, as by an irresistible force, to a gra- tification which somehow may be realised in the future ? If Christ had still been with us in the flesh, we almost fear that, like John at the last supper, just for the love we bear to Him, we would have sought our chief de- light in reposing on His bosom ; and we are justified, we think, in this belief by the fact that, so long as Christ remained with His disciples, they were contented to be re- cipients of His wisdom rather than labourers for His cause; and that it was not until He was gone from them, and the Holy Spirit the Comforter sent, that they gave themselves indeed to Christ by faith, and to those works of love in His name which have been the admiration of the world ever since, and in which we find them our ex- amples fully more than in anything that is recorded of them while Christ was still with them.
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The disciples, it is true, mourned an absent Lord, but it was not the inactive mourning which men have over a loss which is irretrievable. They would see Christ again — not with any lessening, but, as they knew, with an inconceivable heightening of all that spiritual communion with Him, for the sake of which it was needful they should wait for His visible presence. And so with labours sublimated by faith, and made ener- getic by hope, they held on their way, will- ing to endure, and even to count as gain, whatever hardships they might encounter.
And this is the state of all true Chris- tians— of all who have received the invisible Christ, and are sustained by the hope of knowing Him, even as they are known. This is that condition, we believe, out of which spring the highest and holiest activi- ties of believers and of the Church. It is well for us that Christ has gone away. It is well for us also that we shall one day see Him where He is in His complete glori- fied humanity. Meantime, let us seek to emulate the active lives and the patient
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endurance of those who had known Christ in the flesh, and yet counted it meet that for a little while they should know Him thus no more, and lived in the expectation that, when the demands of duty in this life were over, they would rejoice with Him amid enjoyments and activities purer and loftier than they had ever experienced.
Although much more might be said on a subject so extensive, I must not omit finally to call your attention to this one thought, viz., the ennobling view of man which we gain by this truth of the ascension of Christ in our humanity to the right hand of God, and that not merely as a specu- lation, but as being fraught in the loftiest sense with great practical issues.
It may appear to some to be a matter of indifference, in regard to everyday life and duty, what the estimate is which men have of the human nature which they bear; but we venture to say that nothing can be more pernicious, not only in the view of religion, but of the very commonest morality, than the low and grovelling views
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of man, whether as concerns His origin or destiny, which are only too common, I am sorry to say, in the present day. I shall not further allude to such degrading esti- mates, but I call you to observe how greatly the possession of our humanity by our ascended and glorified Redeemer helps us to, and sustains us in, those lofty views of man, by which alone we can reach to those aims which are necessary to an ex- alted life.
Think of Christ, I beseech you, as He now is, not in another nature, but in the same nature — though spotless and glorified — which we ourselves bear. Think of our future as being that in which our nature purified shall be raised near to His, and, by fellowship with Him, shall be exalted more and more throughout eternal ages.
What a dignity does not this give to the humblest Christian labour ! What nobility to every prayer for purity ! What a value to every effort for the suppression of sinful desires, the enlargement of spiritual capa- cities, the elevation of holy aims ! What
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better thing can we say to you, as well for your present as for your future good, than to dwell upon the ascension and exaltation of your Redeemer — to think of Him, not only as crucified and slain for you, but as being still in your humanity in the presence of God, with all heaven shining upon that nature which you wear? Habituate your- selves, I beseech you, daily to the considera- tion of this glorified manhood, and cherish the belief, that through all your trials and sorrows you shall yet be brought very near to Christ, to be sharers in the same un- dying light, and the same immortal blessed- ness.
And now, my Christian brethren, at the close of these four Lectures, most inadequate as I feel them to be, there are two things which I cannot help seeking to impress upon you, because they have weighed more and more heavily upon myself as I have proceeded.
The first is, that what we have been
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exhibiting to you is the received faith of all Christian Churches. There is no branch of the Church of Christ which does not acknowledge the Redeemer under all the various aspects in which we have presented Him to you. This is the wide field, with- out intermediate fences or other obstructions, which God in great mercy has opened up before the eye of our faith. Is it not strange that a prospect so unbroken, as God has given it to us, should be traversed in so many directions by distinctions of human invention, that this fair landscape should be broken up and enclosed into so many sec- tions, each surrounded by a wall of separa- tion so high that the intercourse of Christians has well-nigh become, and, in not a few instances, has actually become, an impos- sibility? We do not wish to speak unrea- sonably of denominational differences. Let us grant that they are a necessary result of that liberty to inquire, which our Pro- testantism not only permits but enjoins. Yet surely we may say that they are carried to the length of sinful excess when they
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mar the universality of God's representa- tion of our Redeemer and our redemption, when they hinder us from feeling our brotherhood with every man who holds Christ as the Elder Brother, and our real oneness with all the race whom He has redeemed.
The second is, that what we have been exhibiting to you is professedly the faith of all Christian countries. A Divine messenger has appeared in our nature — has submitted Himself for our sakes to every ordinance of God— has died for us a death of ignominy, a death of inconceivable self-sacrifice; and, having risen from the dead, has ascended up into heaven, and is at this moment re- presenting our humanity before God for the sake of our redemption. With this mighty truth before us, let us direct our thoughts to the world, to what men are saying and doing in every day of their brief life. I ask, Is the aspect of the world consistent with the complexion of that truth which men say that they believe? I speak not now of those delinquencies which the world
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itself condemns, but of those things which the world somehow has come to allow — that hastening to be rich, — that feverish anxiety about things temporal, — that excessive value set upon material progress and prosperity, — that loose notion of human obligation in any higher sense than the success of the present hour, — all of which, it is no exag- geration to say, the world exhibits to what- ever side we turn our eyes. I ask, Are these things consistent, or at all compatible, with any serious belief in those eternal reali- ties of which we have been speaking to you ?
Our Lord Himself speaks of the world as something distinct from the society which He came to form ; and although it may be thought that through the civilisation which has come indirectly from Christian ideas and beliefs, the distinction is not now so marked and broad as when the Jewish and the Gentile world alike stood aloof from Christ and His doctrine, yet the spirit of the world is far from being synonymous with the spirit of Christ. Let us remember, then,
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the faith which we profess to hold, and the high vocation wherewith we are called; and belonging as we do to that society which Christ came to establish, and ourselves re- joicing in the blessedness of a present sal- vation, let it be our daily endeavour and our daily prayer, that we may use whatever force may be supplied by our enlightened conscience, or by the combination of the Church, to make Christ known to others, and thus help to moderate and utterly de- stroy the pernicious spirit of the world. .
Oh ! what glorious results might be looked for, not only in this parish, but throughout the entire sphere of our in- fluence, if we were all truly alive to our responsibility before God; if we all counted it our chiefest joy and our highest privilege to be fellow-workers with God, to witness for Christ, to labour for the conversion of souls; if we all obeyed the invitation, and were cheered by the thoughts embodied in these lines of the Christian poet —
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1 Come, labour on ! Claim the high calling angels cannot share, — To young and old the Gospel gladness hear : Redeem the time; its hours too swiftly fly, The night draws nigh.
' Come, labour on ! Away with gloomy doubts and faithless fear ! No arm so weak but may do service here ; By feeblest agents can our God fulfil His righteous will.
* Come, labour on ! No time for rest, till glows the western sky, While the long shadows o'er our pathway lie, And a glad sound comes with the setting sun, — " ' Servants, well done ! ' "
But though we feel that by our words we are able to do little for the conversion of souls, still let us witness for Christ by the godly, righteous, and sober lives we lead. ' Let our daily life be an unuttered yet perpetual pleading with men for God. Let men feel in contact with us the grandeur of that reli- gion to whose claims they will not listen, and the glory of that Saviour whose name we may not name.'
In all this, so far beyond our unaided
strength, let us be thankful that we have
u
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the promise ' Lo ! I am with you alway,' and that we have the Holy Spirit with us. Let us pray, then, for the Spirit. Let us walk in the Spirit, using rightly every faculty which God has given us. Let us depend for enlightenment, and strength, and purity, upon the Spirit, the need of whose office our Lord Himself declared more emphatically than we can either declare it or feel it, when He said, ' It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Com- forter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send Him unto you.'
0 God, give us Thy Holy Spirit, Fill us with the Spirit. Holy Spirit of God, take away from us all that is mean, and grovelling, and selfish. Make us worthy of His love who died to redeem us. Increase our faith in Christ. Purify our thoughts and affections. Make us holy. Inspire us to renounce all, and follow Christ. And unto Thee, with the Father and the Son, be all the glory, now and evermore. Amen.
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